Dear All,
Once upon a time, Thurnscoe was in the West Riding of Yorkshire. For some purposes, it still is.
Love,
Mousie
X is for eX-West Riding
As mentioned in the Elmet postcard, Thurnscoe was and is in the historic West Riding of Yorkshire. However, it is also in South Yorkshire under the Barnsley Metropolitan District Council. These means I ought to explain three things:
- Riding comes from a Norse word (thrithjungar) and is a division of a county. It’s a word used for several old Danelaw / Jorvik kingdom counties but has only survived in Yorkshire. It specifically means the division of a county into smaller thirds. It probably remains extent in Yorkshire (North, East, West) because Yorkshire is the biggest county in England. The original Ridings of Yorkshire and the territory they covered are the historic counties
- Administrative and historic counties exist side by side. (Although good luck with sending a letter address “Thurnscoe, West Riding”.) The administrative county for Thurnscoe is South Yorkshire, covering the boroughs of Barnsley, Doncaster, Rotherham and Sheffield. (Boroughs are a lower level than counties and ridings.)
- However, South Yorkshire county council only existed from 1974 to 1986. In 1986, the county council was dissolved, so the actual administrative council is Barnsley. (Effectively making Barnsley a unitary authority, with the next step up being national government.)