The Counties (Detached Parts) Act 1844 (7 & 8 Vict. c. 61), which came into effect on 20 October 1844, was an Act of Parliament of the United Kingdom which eliminated many outliers or exclaves of counties in England and Wales for civil purposes.
The areas involved had already been reorganised for some purposes: The Reform Act 1832 had abolished the outliers for parliamentary constituencies, the Counties (Detached Parts) Act 1839 allowed Justices of the Peace to act for exclaves surrounded by their county, and constabularies established under the County Police Act 1839 had jurisdiction over detached parts of other counties.
Section 1 of the Act read in part as follows:
[F]rom and after the Twentieth Day of October next every Part of any County in England or Wales which is detached from the main Body of such County shall be considered for all Purposes as forming Part of that County of which it is considered a Part for the Purposes of the Election of Members to serve in Parliament as Knights of the Shire [...]
The Act went on to state (s. 2) that the parts transferred would be incorporated in an existing "Hundred, Wapentake, Ward, Rape, Lathe, or other like Division by which it is wholly or for the most Part surrounded, or to which it is next adjoining, in the County to which it will thenceforth belong, unless the Justices of the County, [...] shall declare it to be a new or separate Hundred or other like Division [...]."
The Act itself did not list the areas transferred; these had already been detailed in the Parliamentary Boundaries Act 1832 (2 & 3 Will. 4 c. 64).
The Act transferred the detached parts to different counties but not to different parishes. Unless the detached part was an entire parish, this resulted in many cases of a detached part in one county belonging to a parish in a different county. Later legislation, including the Divided Parishes and Poor Law Amendment Act 1882, eliminated most instances of civil parishes belonging to two (or more) counties, and by 1901 Stanground in Huntingdonshire and the Isle of Ely was the sole remaining example.
The Act affected twenty-seven counties. The largest changes were to County Durham, which lost large areas to Northumberland, as well as a single parish to Yorkshire. By no means all detached areas were changed: seven counties still had exclaves. Many of these outlying parts changed their administration in the 1890s following the passing of the Local Government Act 1894. Large detached blocks of Warwickshire and Worcestershire interspersed with Gloucestershire remained until 1931, while Flintshire retained two exclaves until 1974 — a large one (the Maelor Saesneg area) east of Wrexham in Denbighshire and a single parish exclave (Marford & Hoseley) north of Wrexham.
Transferred to other counties:
The part of the hamlet of Tetworth (in the parish of Everton) in Bedfordshire transferred to HuntingdonshireThe part of the parish of Ickleford in Bedfordshire transferred to HertfordshireTransferred from other counties:
The part of the parish of Meppershall in HertfordshireThe part of the parish of Studham in HertfordshireThe part of the parish of Farndish in NorthamptonshireTransferred to other counties:
The part of the parish of Great Barrington in Berkshire transferred to GloucestershireThe tithing and chapelry of Little Faringdon (in the parish of Langford) transferred to OxfordshireThe part of the parish of Shilton in Berkshire transferred to OxfordshireThe tithing of Oxenwood (in the parish of Shalbourne) in Berkshire transferred to WiltshireThe part of the parish of Inglesham in Berkshire transferred to WiltshireTransferred from other counties:
The part of the parochial chapelry of Hurst (in the parish of Sonning) in WiltshireThe part of the parish of Shinfield in WiltshireThe part of the parish of Wokingham in WiltshireTransferred to other counties:
The hamlet of Studley (in the parish of Beckley) in Buckinghamshire transferred to OxfordshireThe parish of Caversfield transferred to OxfordshireThe part of the extra-parochial place of Luffield Abbey in Buckinghamshire transferred to NorthamptonshireThe part of the chapelry of Stratton Audley (in the parish of Bicester) in Buckinghamshire transferred to OxfordshireTransferred from other counties:
The parish of Lillingstone Lovell in OxfordshireThe township of Boycott (in the parish of Stowe) in OxfordshireThe chapelry of Ackhampstead (in the parish of Lewknor) in OxfordshireThe part of the hamlet of Coleshill (in the parish of Amersham) in HertfordshireTransferred to other counties:
The part of the parish of Bridgerule in Cornwall transferred to DevonTransferred from other counties:
The part of the parish of Maker in DevonThe part of the parish of North Tamerton in DevonTransferred to other counties:
The township of Carreghova (in the parish of Llanymynech) transferred to MontgomeryshireTransferred to other counties:
Part of the township of Foston and Scropton (in the parish of Scropton) transferred to StaffordshireAlso:
The part of the parish of Glossop on the Cheshire side of the River Etherow was declared to be in Derbyshire - its previous status was uncertainTransferred to other counties:
The part of the parish of Maker in Devon transferred to CornwallThe part of the parish of North Tamerton in Devon transferred to CornwallThe parish of Thorncombe transferred to DorsetTransferred from other counties:
The part of the parish of Axminster in DorsetThe part of the parish of Bridgerule in CornwallThe parish of Stockland (including the hamlet of Dalwood) in DorsetTransferred to other counties:
The part of the parish of Axminster in Dorset transferred to DevonThe parish of Stockland (including the hamlet of Dalwood) transferred to DevonTransferred from other counties:
The parish of Holwell in SomersetThe parish of Thorncombe in DevonTransferred to other counties:
Islandshire (consisting of the chapelry of Ancroft, part of the parish of Belford, the township of Holy Island, the chapelry of Kyloe, the extra-parochial place of Monks House and the chapelry of Tweedmouth) transferred to NorthumberlandBedlingtonshire (the parish of Bedlington) transferred to NorthumberlandNorhamshire (the parish of Norham) transferred to NorthumberlandThe extra parochial Farne Islands transferred to NorthumberlandCraikshire (the parish of Crayke) transferred to the North Riding of YorkshireTransferred to other counties:
The parish of Little Compton transferred to WarwickshireThe township of Lea Lower (in the parish of Lea) in Gloucestershire transferred to HerefordshireThe parish of Minety transferred to WiltshireThe parish of Shenington transferred to OxfordshireThe parish of Sutton-under-Brailes transferred to WarwickshireThe parish of Widford transferred to OxfordshireTransferred from other counties:
The hamlets of Alstone and Little Washbourne (both in the parish of Overbury) in WorcestershireThe part of the parish of Great Barrington in BerkshireGreat Lemhill Farm (in the parish of Broughton Poggs) in Oxfordshire (placed in the parish of Lechlade)The parish of Icomb (including the hamlet of Church Icomb) in WorcestershireThe parish of Kingswood in WiltshireThe parish of Poulton in WiltshireTransferred to other counties:
The tithings of North Ambersham and South Ambersham (both in the parish of Steep) transferred to SussexThe part of the parish of Rogate in Hampshire transferred to SussexTransferred to other counties:
Part of the township of Litton and Cascob (in the parishes of Cascob and Presteigne) transferred to RadnorshireThe hamlet of Bwlch Trewyn (in the parish of Cwmyoy) transferred to MonmouthshireThe chapelry of Farlow (in the parish of Stottesdon) transferred to ShropshireThe chapelry of Rochford (in the parish of Tenbury) transferred to WorcestershireTransferred from other counties:
The township of Lea Lower (in the parish of Lea) in GloucestershireThe parish of Welsh Bicknor in MonmouthshireTransferred to other counties:
The part of the hamlet of Coleshill (in the parish of Amersham) in Hertfordshire transferred to BuckinghamshireThe part of the parish of Meppershall in Hertfordshire transferred to BedfordshireThe part of the parish of Studham in Hertfordshire transferred to BedfordshireTransferred from other counties:
The part of the parish of Ickleford in BedfordshireTransferred from other counties:
The part of the hamlet of Tetworth (in the parish of Everton) in Bedfordshire. (Tetworth, which became a separate civil parish, remained in two distinct parts, one of which was an exclave of Huntingdonshire until 1965.)Transferred to other counties:
The parish of Welsh Bicknor transferred to HerefordshireTransferred from other counties:
The hamlet of Bwlch Trewyn (in the parish of Cwmyoy) in HerefordshireTransferred from other counties:
The township of Carreghova (in the parish of Llanymynech) in DenbighshireTransferred to other counties:
The part of the parish of Farndish in Northamptonshire transferred to BedfordshireTransferred from other counties:
The part of the extra-parochial place of Luffield Abbey in BuckinghamshireNorthumberland
Transferred from other counties:
Islandshire (consisting of the chapelry of Ancroft, part of the parish of Belford, the township of Holy Island, the chapelry of Kyloe, the extra-parochial place of Monks House and the chapelry of Tweedmouth) transferred from County DurhamBedlingtonshire (the parish of Bedlington) transferred from County DurhamNorhamshire (the parish of Norham) transferred from County DurhamThe extra parochial Farne Islands transferred from County DurhamTransferred to other counties:
Great Lemhill Farm (in the parish of Broughton Poggs) transferred to GloucestershireThe parish of Lillingstone Lovell transferred to BuckinghamshireThe township of Boycott (in the parish of Stowe) transferred to BuckinghamshireThe chapelry of Ackhampstead (in the parish of Lewknor) transferred to BuckinghamshireTransferred from other counties:
The hamlet of Studeley (in the parish of Beckley) in BuckinghamshireThe parish of Caversfield in BuckinghamshireThe tithing and chapelry of Little Faringdon (in the parish of Langford) in BerkshireThe parish of Shenington in GloucestershireThe part of the parish of Shilton in BerkshireThe part of the chapelry of Stratton Audley (in the parish of Bicester) in BuckinghamshireThe parish of Widford in GloucestershireTransferred to other counties:
The townships of Halesowen, Cakemore, Hasbury, Hawne, Hill, Illey, Lapal, Ridgacre, Hunnington, Oldbury and Romsley (all in the parish of Halesowen) transferred to WorcestershireTransferred from other counties:
The chapelry of Farlow (in the parish of Stottesdon) in HerefordshireTransferred to other counties:
The parish of Holwell transferred to DorsetTransferred to other counties:
The parish of Broome transferred to WorcestershireThe parish of Clent transferred to WorcestershireTransferred from other counties:
Part of the township of Foston and Scropton (in the parish of Scropton) in DerbyshireTransferred from other counties:
The tithings of North Ambersham and South Ambersham (both in the parish of Steep) in HampshireThe part of the parish of Rogate in HampshireTransferred to other counties:
The township of Tutnall and Cobley (in the parish of Tardebigge) transferred to WorcestershireTransferred from other counties:
The parish of Little Compton in GloucestershireThe parish of Sutton-under-Brailes in GloucestershireTransferred to other counties:
The part of the parochial chapelry of Hurst (in the parish of Sonning) in Wiltshire transferred to BerkshireThe parish of Kingswood transferred to GloucestershireThe parish of Poulton transferred to GloucestershireThe part of the parish of Shinfield in Wiltshire transferred to BerkshireThe part of the parish of Wokingham in Wiltshire transferred to BerkshireTransferred from other counties:
The part of the parish of Inglesham in BerkshireThe parish of Minety in GloucestershireTransferred to other counties:
The parish of Icomb (including the hamlet of Church Icomb) transferred to GloucestershireThe hamlets of Alstone and Little Washbourne (both in the parish of Overbury) transferred to GloucestershireTransferred from other counties:
The parish of Broom in StaffordshireThe parish of Clent in StaffordshireThe townships of Halesowen, Cakemore, Hasbury, Hawne, Hill, Illey, Lapal, Ridgacre, Hunnington, Oldbury and Romsley (all in the parish of Halesowen) in ShropshireThe chapelry of Rochford (in the parish of Tenbury) in GloucestershireTransferred from other counties:
The parish of Crayke in County Durham