The Traditional County Postal Database comprises 6 fields which, between them, include all of the data contained in the Traditional County Postal Directory. Using the Database, the manager of an address database or the developer of Address Management software can easily incorporate the correct traditional County name into any U.K. postal address. Potential users of the Database are referred to Section 2 of Be Properly Addressed for detailed information on the precise nature of the contents of these fields and their potential uses, although some brief notes are included in Section A3 below.
The Database can be downloaded either as a comma separated variable file or a fixed length text file. Both can be downloaded for free from A.B.C.'s web site. They can be found at:
http://www.abcounties.co.uk/database/tcpdcsv.txt comma separated variable format
http://www.abcounties.co.uk/database/tcpdfixed.txt fixed length text file format.
If you prefer a version on diskette then please email us at postmaster@abcounties.co.uk.
The "Start" and "Length" information is for the use of those downloading the fixed length text file version of the Database.
Field 1. Start=1 Length=22 This lists all the present Post Towns of the U.K. in alphabetical order. Each London Postcode District is treated as a separate Post Town.
Field 2. Start=23 Length=4 In those cases where more than one Post Town has the same name, this field lists the Postcode Area or District for each Post Town so as to enable the avoidance of ambiguities. All of the LONDON Postcode Districts are noted in this field.
Field 3. Start=27 Length=18 This lists the traditional County name which A.B.C. recommends should be used as the "county line" in addresses for each Post Town. In most cases this will be the Ancient or Geographical County of that town from which the Post Town takes its name. There are several provisos to this:
(i) In the cases of "LONDON" Postcode Districts, the County given is that within which the majority of the addresses in that District lie.
(ii) Certain islands have been listed under their island name rather than that of their County (e.g. Isle of Wight, Isle of Lewis, Isle of Skye, Isle of Islay). Such islands have always been treated as separate postal counties and this is an uncontroversial and geographically sensible policy to continue. The traditional Counties of these islands are listed in Field 4. Note, however, that most Scottish islands (e.g. Isle of Jura, Isle of Bute) are used as Post Towns rather than postal counties. In these cases we have listed the Ancient or Geographical County in Field 3.
(iii) The list includes reference to the Isle of Man and the Channel Islands which are not part of the U.K. but are covered by the Royal Mail.
(iv) There are six Post Towns which lie within a "detached part" (i.e. a part of one County entirely separated from that County's main body). Such places can be described as being either in their parent County or within that County within which they are locally situated. In five cases ("AVIEMORE", "BOAT OF GARTEN", "CARRBRIDGE", "GRANTOWN-ON-SPEY" and "SHIPSTON-ON-STOUR") we have listed the latter County in Field 3 since this is the County with which they are most commonly associated (and which still has, historically, formed their postal county). However, for "DUDLEY" we have listed its parent County (Worcestershire) since this is the County with which it is most commonly associated (and which formed its postal county prior to 1974).
(v) There are two Post Towns ("ULLAPOOL" and "CROMARTY") which actually lie in Cromartyshire. Since Cromartyshire is generally considered as a single geographical unit with Ross-shire and "Ross-shire" has been the postal county of these towns for generations, Field 3 lists "Ross-shire" for these 2 Post Towns.
Field 4. Start=45 Length=25
For certain Post Towns this field provides what A.B.C. considers to be an acceptable alternative County name to that given in Field 3. The type of data in this field is indicated by the flag in Field 5.
Field 5. Start=70 Length=1
This is a flag (a number from 1 to 5) which indicates the nature of the alternative traditional County name which is given in Field 4. The numbers represent:
1 - Field 4 contains the name of the Ancient or Geographical County of an island for which the island name is listed under Field 3.
2 - Field 4 contains the name of the parent County of a Post Town which lies in a detached part and for which the host County (i.e. that in which it is locally situate) was listed in Field 3.
3 - Field 4 contains the Riding name of a Yorkshire Post Town.
4 - Field 4 contains the Welsh language version of the County name (Welsh Post Towns only)
5 - Field 4 contains the Ancient or Geographcial County name of "Cromartyshire" for the 2 Post Towns within this County but which are listed as "Ross-shire" in Field 3.
6 - Field 4 contains the standard alternative names for West Lothian, East Lothian, Midlothian, Dunbartonshire and Angus.
Field 6. Start=71 Length=1 This is a flag which indicates whether a postal county was a required part of the postal address immediately prior to the ending of the general requirement for the inclusion of postal counties in postal addresses. For those Post Towns which did not require a postal county, this field contains an "N". For those Post Towns which did require a postal county, this field contains a "Y".
(i) For any U.K. address for which the Post Town name is known, the database can be used to determine the correct traditional County (Field 3).
(ii) In cases where more than one Post Town has the same name, the Postcode Area or District (Field 2) can be used be unambiguously determine the correct traditional County.
(iii) Using Field 6 a decision can be made on whether to include a county name in an address based on whether a county name was a required part of that postal address prior to the introduction of Postcode Defined Circulation.
(iv) The most common alternative County names for traditional Counties are included in Field 4. These include Welsh language versions of Welsh County names and riding names for Yorkshire Post Towns.
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