List of county days in the United Kingdom
County days in the United Kingdom are relatively recent observances, formed to celebrate the cultural heritage of a particular British county. County days may be selected to coincide with the observance of a Saint's Day that has local significance.
County | Date | First observed | Origin |
Bedfordshire | Date decided by a public vote organised by The Friends of Bedfordshire society | ||
Buckinghamshire | 2015 | Date selected to remember the founding of the Paralympic Movement at Stoke Mandeville Hospital, near Aylesbury. | |
Cornwall | Previously a local holiday, revived as part of Cornish nationalism movement | ||
Devon | Traditional | It is Saint Petroc’s Day | |
Dorset | Traditional | The Feast Day of St Wite. | |
Durham | Traditional | The Feast Day of St Cuthbert. | |
Hampshire | 2019 | Hampshire County Council | |
Huntingdonshire | 2002 | Huntingdonshire Society | |
Kent | Traditional | The feast day of Augustine of Canterbury, first Archbishop of Canterbury | |
Lancashire | 1996 | Friends of Real Lancashire | |
Lincolnshire | 2006 | Commemorates Lincolnshire Rising 1536 | |
Middlesex | John Randall originated early day motion | ||
Norfolk | 2018 | Norfolk Day is a project between BBC Radio Norfolk and the Eastern Daily Press. Northumberland Day Last Sunday in May each year First observed in 2017 Northumberland Day is a privately run day originally started by Catapult PR and Langley Castle Hotel, after consultation with a variety of key stakeholders and businesses. It is now run by Catapult PR and The County Day Company and has been hugely successful, scooping the national Chartered Institute of Public Relations Excellence Award for the Best Tourism PR Campaign in the UK, in May 2018, as well as other awards thus far. Northumberland Day in 2020 has become the first 'virtual' county day. | |
Northamptonshire | 2014 | The feast day of Saints Crispin and Crispinian, the patron saints of cobblers, date decided by a public vote | |
Orkney | Traditional | The feast day of Saint Magnus | |
Oxfordshire | ? | Also called Saint Frideswide's Day. | |
Shetland | Traditional | Celebrated in the Shetland Isles annually. | |
Shropshire | Traditional | The feast day of St Milburga, the abbess of Wenlock Priory, Shropshire. | |
Staffordshire | 1 May | 2016 | Date decided by a public vote organised by Destination Staffordshire |
Suffolk | 21 June | 2017 | |
Sussex | 2007 | The feast day of St Richard of Chichester, Sussex's patron saint Recognised by county councils of East and West Sussex | |
Yorkshire | 1975 | Yorkshire Ridings Society |
Proposals exist for various days in Somerset.
There is also a proposal to make the 29th of July Buckinghamshire Day. This date was chosen because of its importance to the founding of the Paralympic Games movement. The games grew from events held at Stoke Mandeville hospital in Buckinghamshire for British World War II veterans with spinal cord injuries.
The Memorial Mob, a Bucks-based group which creates Memorials to Lost & Forgotten events of the Armed & Emergency Services, felt it was appropriate to honour Buckinghamshire.