Counties of England: The Myth of Middlesex

I go to university in North London, where the identity of the County of Middlesex is quite deeply ingrained into the fabric of the area. Many people who live nearby will associate themselves with the County by using it as part of a postal address, and a nearby University is named after it. If you hang around the student union bar on Gower Street long enough on a Wednesday sports-night, you may even hear the echoes of a tribute to the County:

Middle Middle Middle...
SEX! SEX! SEX!

With this in mind I realise I'm being controversial when I entitle my blog "The Myth of Middlesex". This blog post will briefly outline the evolution of Middlesex and English Counties as an administrative unit; including some of the out-of-date terminology that is still in common usage today.

Middlesex was a historical county of England, which encompassed much of North and West London including, amongst other areas, Barnet, Enfield, Uxbridge, Harrow and Staines-Upon Thames. It was considered by many to be the 'County of London', as it included the East and West End of the city and as a County had no formal County town (the 'capital' of a County, if you will). The map below shows Middlesex in relation to the surrounding Counties in the South East of England:

Adapted from: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:English_counties_1851_with_ridings.svg

However, the map above was adapted from a snap-shot of a map of Counties as they stood in 1851. They have undergone fairly substantial change since then. The first major alteration to the County of Middlesex was the creation of the County of London in 1889, which siphoned of some of inner-London into a purpose made metropolitan County. With the implementation of better transport links to the region surrounding London, Middlesex became more and more integrated into the capital. In 1963, as part of the London Government Act, Middlesex was fully absorbed into the newly created metropolitan county of Greater London (below), with small amounts going to surrounding counties. As an administrative entity, Middlesex did once exist, but has not now for over 54 years. 

Adapted from: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:English_ceremonial_counties_1998.svg

The definition of a 'County' is still somewhat fluid. Nowadays, the ceremonial Counties of England are co-terminate with Lieutenancy Areas, which have a designated Lord Lieutenant. This is the Monarch's representative in each County, and is a largely ceremonial position. The reason these are called 'ceremonial' is that in practical terms, a place may be administered as part of a County Council (i.e. Devon County Council, Somerset County Council, etc.) or a unitary authority, which is common for large towns and cities. I won't bore you with tons of maps, as the borders of English Counties change frequently. However some important historical Counties, which no longer exist in either a ceremonial or administrative form include:

• Huntingdonshire, which is now a part of Cambridgeshire
• Sussex, which is now split into East and West Sussex
• Yorkshire, which is now split into four separate counties
• Westmorland, which is now a part of Cumbria
• Avon, which is split between Somerset, Gloucestershire and the metropolitan County of Bristol

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Sri Lanka: When An Island Becomes An Island

I apologise for the delay in writing this blog post. Islands are my favourite geographical feature, as you can probably tell from the content of my blog so far. However, I want my blog to have a broader approach to both physical and human geography. After my last post about the Diomede islands, I promised to myself that my next post would focus on something other than islands.

So by the inclusion of Sri Lanka in the title of this post, you probably now think a promise of mine is not very valuable at all. If you keep reading, I may be able to convince you otherwise, however if I can't I hope you enjoy the post regardless.

Glance across a map of the world, or of South Asia specifically, and you will see the unmistakeable 'tear-drop' shaped outline of Sri Lanka, sitting off the south-east coast of India. Sri Lanka punches well above its weight in terms of biodiversity, and is said to be one of a few countries where you can see both elephants and blue whales- the largest mammals of the land and sea, respectively. The flag of Sri Lanka is a favourite of flag enthusiasts, as it has been designed to represent the huge ethnic, cultural, and religious diversity of the island.

https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Flag_of_Sri_Lanka.svg

However, Sri Lanka has not always been an island. Submerged in the water between India and Sri-Lanka is a collection of limestone shoals, known as Rama's Bridge (also, Adam's Bridge). This geographical feature has significance in Hindu Literature; believed to have been built by Rama's army to connect Sri Lanka to the continent. There is no consensus amongst Geologists as to the origin of the feature, but they believe it may be the remnant of the tombolo created by Sri Lanka's separation from the continent.

https://www.google.co.uk/maps/@9.1922377,79.4665992,235630m/data=!3m1!1e3

While geological events such as continental drift may occur over millions of years, the sinking of Rama's Bridge occured far more recently. In fact, there is evidence to suggest the bridge was patent until the 15th Century, when it was wiped out by a powerful cyclone. Sri Lanka, by a wisp, was connected to the Indian Subcontinent. 

At the very tip Pamban Island, on the Indian side of the Palk strait, lies a ghost town known as Danushkodi, which was destroyed in a 1964 cyclone. I've read a source which claims that here lies a 45 yard long border on a sand dune between India and Sri Lanka which persists today, making it one of the world's shortest land borders. Sadly, I cannot find any official recognition of this border, so I'll leave it up to you to decide whether you believe it or not.

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