North Humberside is a former postal county of

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

. It was introduced by the Royal Mail on 1 July 1974, when some addresses were altered in response to the changes in administration brought about under the Local Government Act 1972. North Humberside former postal county

The postal county corresponded approximately to the part of the new

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 ...

Humberside Humberside () was a Non-metropolitan county, non-metropolitan and Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in Northern England from 1 April 1974 until 1 April 1996. It was composed of land from either side of the Humber Estuary, create ...

north of the River

Humber The Humber is a large tidal estuary on the east coast of Northern England. It is formed at Trent Falls, Faxfleet, by the confluence of the tidal rivers Ouse and Trent. From there to the North Sea, it forms part of the boundary between t ...

(including Goole, which is south of the Humber). All of the post towns included in the North Humberside had formerly been part of the

Yorkshire Yorkshire ( ; abbreviated Yorks), formally known as the County of York, is a historic county in northern England and by far the largest in the United Kingdom. Because of its large area in comparison with other English counties, functions have ...

postal county. A changeover period of one year was allowed by the postal authorities, with the new county compulsory from 1 July 1975. It included the following post towns (in the following postcode areas): *BEVERLEY ( HU) *BRIDLINGTON ( YO) *BROUGH (HU) *COTTINGHAM (HU) *DRIFFIELD (YO) *GOOLE ( DN) *HESSLE (HU) *HORNSEA (HU) *HULL (HU) *NORTH FERRIBY (HU) *WITHERNSEA (HU) Hull was a special post town, and letters addressed to Hull did not require a postal county. The postal county of

South Humberside South Humberside is a former postal county of England. It was introduced by the Royal Mail on 1 July 1974, when some addresses were altered in response to the changes in administration brought about under the Local Government Act 1972. The po ...

was also created at the same time, from areas previously postally in

Lincolnshire Lincolnshire (abbreviated Lincs.) is a Counties of England, county in the East Midlands of England, with a long coastline on the North Sea to the east. It borders Norfolk to the south-east, Cambridgeshire to the south, Rutland to the south-we ...

Abolition

In 1996 the Royal Mail ceased to use counties as part of the routing instructions for mail. North Humberside is now a "former postal county". Coincidentally, Humberside was abolished for local government purposes in the same year, with the area north of the Humber becoming two unitary authority areas:

East Riding of Yorkshire The East Riding of Yorkshire, or simply East Riding or East Yorkshire, is a ceremonial county and unitary authority area in the Yorkshire and the Humber region of England. It borders North Yorkshire to the north and west, South Yorkshire to t ...

and

Kingston-upon-Hull Kingston upon Hull, usually abbreviated to Hull, is a port city and unitary authority in the East Riding of Yorkshire, England. It lies upon the River Hull at its confluence with the Humber Estuary, inland from the North Sea and south-east o ...

. Although counties are no longer used for sorting mail, under the Royal Mail's ''flexible addressing policy'' users can choose to add a county to an address as long as the post town and postcode are included. The policy allows for the use of either the "former postal" (N. Humberside), "traditional" (Yorkshire) or "administrative" (East Riding of Yorkshire) county.Royal Mail, ''Address Management Guide'', (2004)

References

East Riding of Yorkshire Postal addresses in the United Kingdom Humberside {{EastRiding-geo-stub