Counties of Northern Ireland

Origins

The English administration in Ireland in the years following the Anglo-Norman invasion of Ireland created counties as the major subdivisions of an Irish province. This process lasted from the 13th to 17th centuries; however, the number and shape of the counties that would form the future Northern Ireland would not be defined until the Flight of the Earls allowed the shiring of Ulster from 1604. Each county would have an associated county town, with county courts of quarter sessions and assizes.

The area of the modern counties of Antrim and Down was the Earldom of Ulster based on John de Courcy's 1170s conquest of Gaelic Ulaid. Between the late 13th and early 14th centuries it was subdivided into multiple shires based around centres of Norman power such as Antrim, Carrickfergus, and Newtownards. The Bruce invasion (1315–18) saw the devastation of the Earldom of Ulster and its overlordship over the neighbouring Gaelic districts. With the murder of the last de Burgh earl in 1333, the resulting Gaelic recovery expanded Clandeboy and eroded the earldom's territory until by the 15th century only the areas of Carrickfergus and coastal enclaves in Down remained.

It was not until the reign of Queen Elizabeth I that Ulster would be shired into more counties. After the 1567 death and 1570 attainder of Shane O'Neill, much of Clandeboy was added to the surviving English enclaves to form the new counties of Antrim and Down, preparing for an abortive private English plantation. In 1584, Lord Deputy of Ireland Sir John Perrott created six counties in Ulster, based largely on the boundaries of existing lordships; four of the six are now Northern Ireland: Armagh, Coleraine, Fermanagh, and Tyrone. The noncooperation and later rebellion of Hugh O'Neill, Earl of Tyrone made Perrott's scheme largely notional until the Nine Years' War ended and the Flight of the Earls allowed the Plantation of Ulster to reinforce the county government. The County of the town of Carrickfergus remained separate from County Antrim until the Local Government (Ireland) Act 1898, which also promoted the boroughs of Belfast and Derry to county boroughs separate from the adjoining administrative counties.

Development of Northern Ireland's counties

Baronies

Each county is divided into a number of baronies, midway between a county and a parish. Baronies are now obsolete as administrative units, partially derived from the territory of an Irish chieftain. By the time the process of turning local Irish kingdoms into baronies occurred throughout the whole of Ulster by the early 17th century as part of the Plantation of Ulster, it was already being used for taxation and administrative purposes.

Baronies were used for many records from the 17th to 19th centuries such as: the Civil Survey; Petty's Down Survey; the Books of Survey and Distribution; the 19th century valuation books and census returns. The Grand Jury representment system would also be based on the barony.

Government and modern usage

The counties were also used as the administrative unit of local government introduced in Ireland under the 1898 Local Government Act along with county boroughs. In regards to Northern Ireland the cities of Belfast and Londonderry became county boroughs. The administrative counties and county boroughs were abolished as local government areas in Northern Ireland in 1972 and replaced with twenty-six unitary councils, many of which cross county boundaries.

The six administrative counties and two county boroughs remain in use for some purposes, including car number plates. The six counties were also used as postal counties by the Royal Mail for sorting purposes until their abolition in 1996. Outside government, the counties are used for cultural purposes, for example in the Gaelic Athletic Association.

Lieutenancy areas

Like the rest of the United Kingdom, Northern Ireland is divided into lieutenancy areas. These are areas that have an appointed Lord Lieutenant, who acts as the representative of the British monarch. Northern Ireland has eight lieutenancy areas, which are defined as the areas of the six counties and two county boroughs with the boundaries they had for local government purposes immediately prior to the local government reforms of 1973.

Former counties

Former counties which formed part of the six modern counties of Northern Ireland:

• County Coleraine formed from the territory of the O'Cahans in 1584 by Queen Elizabeth I, formed the basis of modern County Londonderry.
• Carrickfergus was formerly a county of itself, it extended further than the modern borough of Carrickfergus. It was merged into County Antrim in 1899.
• Antrim, Blathewyc, Cragferus, Coulrath, del Art, Dun, Ladcathel and Twescard, the seven counties that formed the Earldom of Ulster in 1333.
• In 1549, Ulster itself was called a county containing the baronies of Arde, Bentry, Dondalk, Dufferens, Gallagh, Grenecastle, Kroghfergous, Lacayall, Maulyn, Twscard, and Glyns.