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Historic Towns & Picturesque Villages

Counties in Wales

Exploring the counties of Wales with history and pictures.

The history of the counties of England dates back to early Anglo-Saxon times when ‘shires’ were first formed as a way of raising taxes and when the nation of England was first created. These Anglo-Saxon shires usually had a fortified town at the centre, known back then as the ‘shire town’. The word ‘County’ came later, being first introduced by the Normans when they conquered England back in 1066 and has its origins in French, simply meaning a jurisdiction under the sovereignty of a ‘Count’.

The words ‘county’ and ‘counties’ therefore are derived from French (from the Normans) but most of the county names themselves still kept (and retain today) their original Anglo-Saxon names, such as ‘Worcestershire’ or ‘Bedfordshire’ which is simply the name of the shire or county town, with the suffix of shire.

There are other counties however that got their name differently, such as Cornwall, and Devon, both of which take their names from the Celtic tribes that inhabited the regions, such as the ‘Cornovii’ in Cornwall . Other exceptions include todays Kent, which derives from the Kingdom of Kent, and Sussex (both East and West) and Essex. These names derive from the East Saxons (Essex) and the South Saxons (Sussex). The county names of Norfolk and Suffolk, derive from the ‘North Folk’ and ‘South Folk’ of the ancient Kingdom of East Anglia.

Each county link below will take you to the main county page where we list all the wonderful historic towns, villages and attractions that each county has to offer. You will also find a Picture Tour for each county, offering a diverse selection of the wonderful towns, attractions and varying landscapes. We hope you enjoy viewing the beautiful counties of England..

Blaenau Gwent

Steel works and ebbw vale

Bridgend

No picture available

Caerphilly

Caerphilly Castle, with daffodils bloomimg in the grounds in the Spring of 2002.

Carmarthenshire

Kidwelly Castle, Carmarthenshire, Wales

Ceredigion

Looking over Aberystwyth

Conwy

Gwrych Castle, Abergele, Wales

Denbighshire

Rhuddlan Castle

Flintshire

FLINTSHIRE BRIDGE, FLINT, NORTH WALES

Glamorgan

Barry coast line

Gwynedd

Portmeirion Sands

Isle of Anglesey

LLanddwyn Island Anglesey. Wales

Merthyr Tydfil

Mountain Railway Routemaster

Monmouthshire

Tintern Parva from the Bridge

Neath Port Talbot

Picture taken of Crynant from Gelli Galed mountain

Newport

View to Clevedon

Pembrokeshire

Fishguard Fort

Powys

Arenig Fawr, from the summit of Foal Cwm Sian Llwyd, Llangynog.

Rhondda Cynon Taff

St Davids Church Miskin

Torfaen

No picture available

Wrexham

St Giles Church, Wrexham, Wales