ArcGIS shapefile of 288 polygons providing boundary and attribute data for the fifty-five ancient counties of England and Wales as given in the 1831 census for England and Wales. As such this represents the counties of England and Wales as they were before the boundary changes caused by the Counties (Detached Parts) Act, 1844 (7 & 8 Vict. c. 61) which led to the elimination of some of the detached portions of counties.

These data were created as part of a research program directed by Leigh Shaw-Taylor and Tony Wrigley, which aims ultimately to reconstruct the evolution of the occupational structure of Britain from the late medieval period down to the early twentieth century.

Latest update: October 2025 Updated Boundaries of Ancient Woodland polygons covering England. This is the updated spatial dataset that describes the geographic extent and location of ancient woodland in England (excluding the Isles of Scilly). Ancient Woodland features will be approved county-by-county for publication throughout the first year of production until the data product coverage extends across England. Where available this dataset takes precedence over the Ancient Woodland – England dataset. The update revises the inventory to address problems and gaps in the previous iteration. Technological advances mean that small ancient woodlands (0.25-2ha) are being represented within the inventory for the first time as well as wood pasture and parkland being represented as its own category. The inventory identifies ancient woodland sites in England. Ancient woodland is identified by studying the presence or absence of woods from historic maps, information about the wood's name, shape, internal boundaries, location relative to other features, ground survey, and aerial photography. The information recorded about each wood and stored on the Inventory Database includes its grid reference, its area in hectares and how much is semi-natural or replanted. Prior to the digitisation of the boundaries, only paper maps depicting each ancient wood at 1:50 000 scale were available. Attribution statement: © Natural England 2024. Contains OS data © Crown copyright and database rights 2024. OS AC0000851168. It includes Ancient Semi-Natural Woodland (ASNW), which retains a native tree and shrub cover; Plantation on Ancient Woodland Sites (PAWS), where the original tree cover has been felled and replaced by planting, often with conifers; Ancient Wood Pasture (AWPP), where the trees are managed in tandem with a long established tradition of grazing, characteristically with at least some veteran trees or shrubs or; Infilled Ancient Wood Pasture (IAWPP) which has become infilled with trees arising from planting or natural regeneration. The AWI Update project will deliver an accurate inventory of the entirety of England’s ancient woodland resource, including those woods smaller than 2ha which are currently not mapped on the AWI. It will also ensure that the AWI is used and respected by planners, developers, land managers and all those who make and use spatial plans in England’s countryside. Lineage The ancient woodland boundaries are digitised to OS MasterMap - assessed by licencing staff as suitable for OS Presumption to Publish process. However, the maps that Ancient Woodlands are based upon include the OS 1” First Edition maps, the OS 1:25 000 and the OS 1:50 000 maps. The boundaries cannot be taken as precise, especially where they are surrounded by woodland, and are only precisely comparable with other boundaries at the 1” map scale (1:63 360). The inventory identifies over 22,000 ancient woodland sites in England. Ancient woodland is identified using presence or absence of woods from old maps, information about the wood's name, shape, internal boundaries, location relative to other features, ground survey, and aerial photography. The information recorded about each wood and stored on the Inventory Database includes its grid reference, its area in hectares and how much is semi-natural or replanted. Prior to the digitisation of the boundaries, only paper maps depicting each ancient wood at 1:50 000 scale were available. The datasets consulted: OS MasterMap, OS First Edition Maps (Historic County Series Maps Epoch 1-4), Historic OS Drawings, Aerial Imagery, Original AWI Datasheets, Open Source old historical maps (varies depending on county agreements), BSBI Indicator species data, County Tithe Maps, Forestry Commission National Forest Inventory and Forest Condition Survey. Besides the isolated and modified woodland boundaries derived from OS MasterMap that have been identified Ancient Woodland, additional third party data is viewed for informative purposes only during the creation of the project layer. No data from any other of these third party sources is copied, transferred or viewable in the layer to be published." Attributes Column HeadingFull NameFormatDescriptionNAMEWoodland NameText (150)The name of the ancient woodland (if known)THEMEHabitat ThemeText (19)Type of Habitat (In this case, Ancient Woodland)THEMENAMEWoodland StatusText (37)Whether it is Ancient Semi-Natural Woodland, Ancient Wood Pasture or Ancient Replanted WoodlandTHEMEIDUnique Identifier NumberText (255)The persistent ID for that wood, this comes in various formats depending on the ID number generated by the AWI Officer at the time and in kept persistent to match their records in case they need to be referenced back for queries e.g. ESS1001 for woodlands in Essex.STATUSWoodland Status (Abbreviated)Text (8)The abbreviated version of the ThemeName (for Ancient Semi-Natural Woodland this is ASNW, for Ancient Wood Pasture this is AWP or IAWP for infilled wood pasture, for Ancient Replanted Woodland this is PAWS for data legacy reasons).PERIMETERWoodland PerimeterDoubleThe perimeter of the wood in kilometresAREAAreaDoubleThe area of the wood in hectaresX_COORDCenter X CoordinateLongThe grid reference of the centroid of the wood (this should be in the centre of the wood, unless this does not fall inside the wood, in which case another centroid will be found guaranteed to be inside the woodY_COORDCenter Y CordinateLongThe grid reference of the centroid of the wood (this should be in the centre of the wood, unless this does not fall inside the wood, in which case another centroid will be found guaranteed to be inside the woodFull metadata can be viewed on data.gov.uk.

This file contains the digital vector boundaries for the historical ancient counties in England and Wales as at Census Day 1921.

The boundaries available are: (BGC) Generalised resolution - clipped to the coastline (Mean High Water mark).

Contains both Ordnance Survey and ONS Intellectual Property Rights.

The Oxfordshire Historic Landscape Characterisation (HLC) Project commenced in October 2012, funded by Historic England and hosted by Oxfordshire County Council (OCC). Due to a change in key personnel, the Project was not brought to a close until July 2017. The Oxfordshire HLC is the final project to be completed (outside of London) within Historic England’s national programme and represents the comprehensive coverage of HLC data across England. The aims of the Oxfordshire HLC were: To characterise, digitally map and make available in a web-based format, the historic dimension of the current landscape of Oxfordshire, in order to inform its management, conservation, and understanding at a local, county, regional, and national level. The Oxfordshire HLC project, therefore, identified and recorded evidence of the processes which have shaped the character of the current landscape. To achieve this, polygons, units of land grouped by shared characteristics, were mapped across the whole of the county. For each spatially distinct polygon, data were recorded in an Access database. This included information on the dominant attributes common to the polygon, the Broad and HLC Types those attributes assigned the polygon to, the date of origin of the current landscape type, previous landscape types, associated monuments, and evidence sources used. This methodology was primarily desk-based, using maps and aerial photographs as the primary sources of evidence. A photographic survey was conducted in the field to enhance understanding of different HLC Types. All mapping was carried out within MapInfo, a GIS program, and the linked database was created within the HLC module of HBSMR, an Access database developed and managed by Exegesis. Accuracy of Content: The level of detail and the accuracy of the information held on each HLC type reflect the nature or content of the sources used to compile the record. Users of this data should consult the HER to clarify the level of reliability and/or precision that should be afforded to information derived from the HBSMR. The Site and its Content is provided for your general information only; we do not undertake that Content will always be accurate and complete. Therefore, if you propose to do, or refrain from doing, something in reliance upon Content you find on the Site, you must check the accuracy of the relevant Content by some other means.

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Cornwall Council?s Historic Environment Service pioneered the methodology for Historic Landscape Characterisation (HLC), undertaking the first national countywide characterisation in 1994. The Cornwall Method is set out by Peter Herring in 'Historic Landscape Assessment, Presenting a Method' (1998). Characterisation continues to be fundamental to our interpretation and presentation of the historic environment. It allows the historic dimension of the whole landscape to be fully considered and provides a readily understood context for the surviving archaeological remains.

The HLC, of the whole of Cornwall, was undertaken as part of a general Landscape Assessment of the county (published as Cornwall County Council 1996). The HLC was supported and funded by the Countryside Commission (now the Countryside Agency), English Heritage, Cornwall County Council and the six local District Councils.

The Cornwall HLC was a pilot study encouraged by English Heritage who were investigating ways of assessing the historic environment, to enable it to be placed alongside the natural environment in discussions of sustainable development. The method was based on a comprehensive and systematic collection of disparate data that was then mapped, assessed and interpreted by the Service. It represented a new way of characterising the landscape and understanding its evolution. The Cornwall Method has since been adopted and adapted by local Authorities and heritage Agencies throughout the British Isles and Europe.

A basic premise of HLC is that the whole of Britain is one continuous but multifarious historic landscape. All natural habitats in Britain are 'semi-natural', being the products of natural conditions (geology, soils, exposure, native communities etc.) as altered by various land use systems. These systems may have been either deliberate, like woodland management, grazing of heathlands (including cliffs and coastal valleys), and creation of pastures, or incidental to other processes, like the silting of estuaries as a result of tinning, or the creation of marginal habitats alongside roads. As a result, all semi-natural habitats are part of the historic environment and so there are no parts of Britain that do not have a definable historic character.

It is possible to establish, through study, the predominant historic landscape character of each parcel of land in Cornwall. The landscape is comprised of a mosaic of blocks of land whose predominant historical landscape character is both various and repeating. This quality allows parcels to be assigned, using a number of systematic sources (mainly maps), to one of around twenty clearly distinguishable HLC Types. Most Types can be found scattered across the whole of Cornwall and most can be further subdivided according to the sensitivity of characterisation required. To create a smaller-scale and simplified characterisation of the whole county, the Types mapping can be simplified, generalised and, to some extent, reinterpreted, to produce a map of Historic Landscape Character Zones.

Accuracy of Content: The level of detail and the accuracy of the information held on each HLC type reflect the nature or content of the sources used to compile the record. Users of this data should consult the HER to clarify the level of reliability and/or precision that should be afforded to information derived from the HBSMR.
The Site and its Content is provided for your general information only; we do not undertake that Content will always be accurate and complete. Therefore, if you propose to do, or refrain from doing, something in reliance upon Content you find on the Site, you must check the accuracy of the relevant Content by some other means.

This data was compiled by the Washington Military Department on June 27, 2019. The Limited English Proficiency (LEP) information is summarized at the county level as well as at the census track/ county subdivision layer level. County level data was derived from the 2016 Office of Financial Management (OFM) study which provided an estimate of population with limited English proficiency at the state and county levels. The census tract data are derived from the 2015 census update and indicates language spoken at home and ability to speak English for those over five years old. All data displayed indicate a population of at least 1,000 or 5% of the population.LEPCountyv2 = Limited English Proficiency County version 2 – from OFM census dataLEPCSDv2 = Limited English Proficiency County Subdivision version 2 – data drawn from US Census 2010

LEPtractsv2 = Limited English Proficiency Census Tracts version 2 – data drawn from US Census 2010Attribute DescriptionCounty - County nameLanguage - Limited English Proficiency Language(s) spoken for the corresponding polygon - each Language is followed by a number to indicate a sequence number for each data fieldSym - Symbology field used to symbolize the polygons - holds the total count of LEP languages spoken for that polygonAFFGEOID - American Fact Finder Geospatial ID used to link tabular data to the polygons - consists of the -- Census block identifier; a concatenation of 2010 Census state FIPS code, 2010 Census county FIPS code, 2010 Census tract code, and 2010 Census block numberName - County Subdivision name from American Fact Finder (AFF) dataLanguage - Limited English Proficiency Language(s) spoken for the corresponding polygon - each Language is followed by a number to indicate a sequence number for each data fieldSym - Symbology field used to symbolize the polygons - holds the total count of LEP languages spoken for that polygonNAMELSAD10 2010 Census translated legal/statistical area description and the block group numberAFFGEOID - American Fact Finder Geospatial ID used to link tabular data to the polygons - consists of the -- Census block identifier; a concatenation of 2010 Census state FIPS code, 2010 Census county FIPS code, 2010 Census tract code, and 2010 Census block numberDisplay Label - Geographic name for each polygon from AFFSym - Symbology field used to symbolize the polygons - holds the total count of LEP languages spoken for that polygonLanguage - Limited English Proficiency Language(s) spoken for the corresponding polygon - each Language is followed by a number to indicate a sequence number for each data field