Hereford and Worcester was an English

non-metropolitan county A non-metropolitan county, or colloquially, shire county, is a county-level entity in England that is not a metropolitan county. The counties typically have populations of 300,000 to 1.8 million. The term ''shire county'' is, however, an unoffi ...

created on 1 April 1974 by the

Local Government Act 1972 The Local Government Act 1972 (c. 70) is an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom that reformed local government in England and Wales on 1 April 1974. It was one of the most significant Acts of Parliament to be passed by the Heath Gov ...

from the areas of the former

administrative county An administrative county was a first-level administrative division in England and Wales from 1888 to 1974, and in Ireland from 1899 until either 1973 (in Northern Ireland) or 2002 (in the Republic of Ireland). They are now abolished, although mos ...

Herefordshire Herefordshire () is a county in the West Midlands of England, governed by Herefordshire Council. It is bordered by Shropshire to the north, Worcestershire to the east, Gloucestershire to the south-east, and the Welsh counties of Monmouths ...

, most of

Worcestershire Worcestershire ( , ; written abbreviation: Worcs) is a county in the West Midlands of England. The area that is now Worcestershire was absorbed into the unified Kingdom of England in 927, at which time it was constituted as a county (see H ...

(except Halesowen,

Stourbridge Stourbridge is a market town in the Metropolitan Borough of Dudley in the West Midlands, England, situated on the River Stour. Historically in Worcestershire, it was the centre of British glass making during the Industrial Revolution. The ...

and Warley, which became part of the West Midlands) and the

county borough County borough is a term introduced in 1889 in the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, to refer to a borough or a city independent of county council control, similar to the unitary authorities created since the 1990s. An equivalent te ...

Worcester Worcester may refer to: Places United Kingdom * Worcester, England, a city and the county town of Worcestershire in England ** Worcester (UK Parliament constituency), an area represented by a Member of Parliament * Worcester Park, London, Engla ...

. An aim of the Act was to increase efficiency of local government: the two counties are among England's smaller and less populous counties, particularly after the same Act transferred some of Worcestershire's most urbanised areas to the West Midlands. The county bordered

Shropshire Shropshire (; alternatively Salop; abbreviated in print only as Shrops; demonym Salopian ) is a landlocked historic county in the West Midlands region of England. It is bordered by Wales to the west and the English counties of Cheshire to ...

Staffordshire Staffordshire (; postal abbreviation Staffs.) is a landlocked county in the West Midlands region of England. It borders Cheshire to the northwest, Derbyshire and Leicestershire to the east, Warwickshire to the southeast, the West Midlands C ...

and the West Midlands to the north,

Warwickshire Warwickshire (; abbreviated Warks) is a county in the West Midlands region of England. The county town is Warwick, and the largest town is Nuneaton. The county is famous for being the birthplace of William Shakespeare at Stratford-upon-Avo ...

to the east,

Gloucestershire Gloucestershire ( abbreviated Glos) is a county in South West England. The county comprises part of the Cotswold Hills, part of the flat fertile valley of the River Severn and the entire Forest of Dean. The county town is the city of ...

to the south, and Gwent and

Powys Powys (; ) is a county and preserved county in Wales. It is named after the Kingdom of Powys which was a Welsh successor state, petty kingdom and principality that emerged during the Middle Ages following the end of Roman rule in Britain. Geog ...

in Wales to the west. It was abolished in 1998 and reverted, with some transfers of territory, to the two separate historic counties of Herefordshire and Worcestershire.

Creation

The Local Government Boundary Commission in 1948 proposed a merger of the two counties, but the proposals of this Commission were not implemented. A merger of Herefordshire with South Worcestershire was again proposed by the Redcliffe-Maud Report in 1969, and was retained in the

Conservative Party The Conservative Party is a name used by many political parties around the world. These political parties are generally right-wing though their exact ideologies can range from center-right to far-right. Political parties called The Conservative P ...

's February 1971 White Paper (gaining more of Worcestershire), although no name was given. In the Local Government Bill introduced into Parliament in November 1971, it was named "Malvernshire", after the Malvern Hills, which were roughly in the geographical centre of the new county and formed the former border. This name was ridiculed and was altered during the Bill's passage through Parliament. The name Wyvern was also suggested, combining the names of the rivers that run through the two cities and counties: the

River Wye The River Wye (; cy, Afon Gwy ) is the fourth-longest river in the UK, stretching some from its source on Plynlimon in mid Wales to the Severn estuary. For much of its length the river forms part of the border between England and Wales ...

through Hereford, and the

River Severn , name_etymology = , image = SevernFromCastleCB.JPG , image_size = 288 , image_caption = The river seen from Shrewsbury Castle , map = RiverSevernMap.jpg , map_size = 288 , map_c ...

through Worcester; a

wyvern A wyvern ( , sometimes spelled wivern) is a legendary winged dragon that has two legs. The wyvern in its various forms is important in heraldry, frequently appearing as a mascot of schools and athletic teams (chiefly in the United States, U ...

is a dragon emblem often found in heraldry. A commercial radio station for the area,

Wyvern FM Free Radio Herefordshire & Worcestershire (formerly Radio Wyvern) is a local commercial radio station owned and operated by Bauer as part of the Hits Radio network. It broadcasts to Herefordshire and Worcestershire. As of September 2022, the s ...

was set up in 1982 using this allusion. It was also used much later by the

FirstGroup FirstGroup plc is a British multi-national transport group, based in Aberdeen, Scotland.First Wyvern as opposed to the more historical First Midland Red used previously. Herefordshire had about 140,000 people, far fewer than Worcestershire, with about 420,000 and the change was thus perceived in Herefordshire as a takeover rather than a merger, especially after it emerged that the administrative centre was to be located to the east of Worcester city. It never attracted the loyalties of residents. A "Hands off Herefordshire" campaign was set up, and the proposal was opposed by Herefordshire County Council. A Hereford bull was led down

Whitehall Whitehall is a road and area in the City of Westminster, Central London. The road forms the first part of the A3212 road from Trafalgar Square to Chelsea. It is the main thoroughfare running south from Trafalgar Square towards Parliament Sq ...

on 6 April 1972, as part of a protest, which also involved a petition handed in at 10 Downing Street calling for the preservation of Herefordshire. Despite the opposition of many of the population of Herefordshire, neither of the county's two Conservative MPs opposed the merger. Parliamentary opposition had to be led from outside the county by Terry Davis, MP for Bromsgrove, who noted that the petition had been signed by 60,000 people.

Clive Bossom Sir Clive Bossom, 2nd Baronet, (4 February 1918 – 8 March 2017) was a British Conservative politician and Member of Parliament (MP). Early life and political career Bossom was the son of Alfred Charles Bossom (also an MP, later ennobled as ...

, the MP for Leominster in Herefordshire, supported the merger, noting that "much of South Worcestershire is very like Herefordshire". It was originally proposed to have a single large Herefordshire district within Hereford and Worcester. But this was divided, with separate

Hereford Hereford () is a cathedral city, civil parish and the county town of Herefordshire, England. It lies on the River Wye, approximately east of the border with Wales, south-west of Worcester, England, Worcester and north-west of Gloucester. ...

, South Herefordshire and

Leominster Leominster ( ) is a market town in Herefordshire, England, at the confluence of the River Lugg and its tributary the River Kenwater. The town is north of Hereford and south of Ludlow in Shropshire. With a population of 11,700, Leominster i ...

districts, and part of Herefordshire in the Malvern Hills district. Meanwhile, large sections of Worcestershire in the

Black Country The Black Country is an area of the West Midlands county, England covering most of the Metropolitan Boroughs of Dudley, Sandwell and Walsall. Dudley and Tipton are generally considered to be the centre. It became industrialised during its ...

and Birmingham suburbs were moved to the West Midlands. This was intended to create a more unified

metropolitan county The metropolitan counties are a type of county-level administrative division of England. There are six metropolitan counties, which each cover large urban areas, with populations between 1 and 3 million. They were created in 1974 and are each di ...

, since prior to this the conurbation had been split between Staffordshire, Warwickshire, and Worcestershire. As a result, Hereford & Worcester was quite rural in character. These transfers continued a slow process of simplifying Worcestershire's boundaries, which once had included a complex set of exclaves within other counties.

Districts

Hereford and Worcester was divided into nine

districts A district is a type of administrative division that, in some countries, is managed by the local government. Across the world, areas known as "districts" vary greatly in size, spanning regions or counties, several municipalities, subdivisions ...

Abolition

As part of the 1990s English local government reform, the Local Government Commission under John Banham recommended that Herefordshire should become a

unitary authority A unitary authority is a local authority responsible for all local government functions within its area or performing additional functions that elsewhere are usually performed by a higher level of sub-national government or the national governmen ...

, with the rest of the former county retaining a two-tier structure. This came into effect on 1 April 1998.''The Hereford and Worcester (Structural, Boundary and Electoral Changes) Order 1996'' – SI 1996/1867 A new Herefordshire district was formed from the Herefordshire parts of Malvern Hills and Leominster, along with Hereford and South Herefordshire, and became a unitary authority. The remainder of those two districts became a new Malvern Hills district, in the new two-tier

of Worcestershire, along with the remaining districts. Despite its abolition, some remnants of Hereford & Worcester's existence remain. For example, there is still a

Hereford and Worcester Fire and Rescue Service The Hereford and Worcester Fire and Rescue Service (HWFRS) is the statutory fire and rescue service covering Herefordshire and Worcestershire in the West Midlands region of England. The service covers an area of , and a population of around 7 ...

. Also, the name is still used by some organisations, such as the BBC local radio station BBC Hereford and Worcester. There is also a Hereford and Worcester

Chamber of Commerce A chamber of commerce, or board of trade, is a form of business network. For example, a local organization of businesses whose goal is to further the interests of businesses. Business owners in towns and cities form these local societies to ...

. If Hereford and Worcester still existed, the population of the county would be 787,893 people in 2019.

References

External links

Images of Hereford and Worcester
at the English Heritage Archive {{DEFAULTSORT:Hereford And Worcester History of Herefordshire History of Worcestershire Counties of England established in 1974 Counties of England disestablished in 1998 Herefordshire Worcestershire Local government in Herefordshire