Talk:West Country

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"the further West the less Easterly one would consider part of the region" um. right. Jafafa Hots 02:55, 4 June 2006 (UTC)

it means culturally, not just geographically. --Krsont 17:03, 18 June 2006 (UTC)

Contents

[edit] Cornwall

I snipped a lot of information out which may seem dramatic, but here are the reasons why:

1. The historical info is very interesting, but strictly speaking irrelevant to an article about the West Country, and certainly irrelevant to a section defining what counties the West Country includes. It should be in an article on Cornish history. The same applies to whether or not Cornish people consider themselves English. It assumes that to be part of the West Country is to be English. Cornwall is indubitably part of England, so I don't see how that works.

2. I found the wording of the paragraph hard to understand. It states that Cornwall (I assume its people) have a "distinct view", but it doesn't say what this view is. Also, what does "the exclusivity of what defines a West Country county" mean? I suspect (with no offence to the writer) that these are words for words sake.

I trust no one is offended by the change, and I apologise for any offense caused. 219.89.19.187 (talk) 08:02, 9 December 2007 (UTC)

Good call! However the phrase "Cornwall is considered by many" is unencyclopaedic / imprecise and really should be re-worded accompanied by a reference. --Cheesy Mike (talk) 08:57, 9 December 2007 (UTC)
Thanks. I agree that the phrase is imprecise. It's the best I could think up at the time. The problem is that "West Country" is an informal designation, so common understanding is the only basis for saying whether a county is or isn't in it. I shall try and think up an improvement; in the meantime, please feel free to alter. 122.57.187.208 (talk) 20:03, 9 December 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Gloucestershire is not part of the West Country

Gloucestershire is in the Midlands. The guidelines are generally considered to be historical and modern cultural: Gloucestershire was never a core shire of the Kingdom of Wessex unlike the other counties (excluding Cornwall), and indeed the northern border of Wessex was generally held to be the River Thames and the Bristol Avon. Moreover, all but very southern Gloucestershire receives Midlands local broadcasting.

I'd disagree with that. Gloucester is regularly referred to as being in the west country by the media. I've even heard Hereford reffered to as a west country town, but that is much more rare. A quick Google search finds loads of references to Gloucester being in the west country. The problem with an informal area like this is that everyone will have their own definition of it and you can never conclusively say which borderline areas are in and which are out. Gasheadsteve 19:43, 13 March 2007 (UTC)
Gloucestershire certainly isn't in the Midlands offically, and in common use the vast majority of people I've heard refer to it as being in the west country or south west England. The fact it wasn't usually considered part of Wessex is irrelivant as this article is about the modern day west country. Also, the BBC West page and [1] would disprove your theory about the broadcasting, it can't be in both regions. As for culture, I'd consider Gloucestershire to have much more in common with Bristol, than Birmingham, for example. Marky-Son 22:56, 13 March 2007 (UTC)
I live in Gloucestershire, and its definately part of the West Country. The Midlands start at Worcestershire. Scibah

IMHO any talk of "Wessex" on here is a complete red herring...we are talking about a modern reality and not something that existed 1000+ years ago. It's a nice idea but to subscribe to the idea of any exact boundaries to something which by its very nature has for a millenium been amorphous borders on farce. I mean anyone in the rest of England knows what the West Country is and that has nothing to do with a "concept" which would include counties such as Oxfordshire or Berkshire.PS As a Gloucester person form a Goucester family I've never heard anyone seriously contend that the county is in the Midlands...whatever next Norfolk is in Yorkshire..well if we're going to talk rubbish we might as well extend it to the rest of the country... —Preceding unsigned comment added by 86.147.127.188 (talk) 00:02, 10 December 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Avon

There is no such county as Avon anymore.

--Cardinal Wurzel 18:57, 28 June 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Principal Towns

"The area is mostly rural, with a few notable cities (principally Plymouth)"

Hmmm. What about Bristol, Exeter(Devon), Bournemouth/Poole(Dorset)?

Does anyone else think that the list of towns and cities is getting a bit long? Perhaps it should be restricted to cities only, and after each county have a link to it's list of towns (e.g. List of places in Cornwall). Any objections to this? At the very least I think we should remove some of the smaller towns from the list, like Calne and Totnes. Gasheadsteve 15:26, 5 February 2007 (UTC)

It cannot be resricted to just cities as Truro, Plymouth and Exeter are the only cities in the westcountry. (for whichever fool listed bristol as within the westcountry go look at an atlas!!!!) --Greatestrowerever 13:42, 31 May 2007 (UTC)

You find me an atlas with the Westcountry labelled on it and you're very lucky, it is an informal area. Bristol clearly is in the Westcountry. "For the ITV franchise, see Westcountry Television." Marky-Son 14:03, 31 May 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Another definition

When I look up this word recently, a dictionary says West Country is "west of a line between Southhampton and the River Severn". This is a common definition that should be in Wiki article, or not?

I've never heard of this before. What part of the River Severn?! Depending on where the line would go, you could well be leaving out places like Swindon and Cheltenham, and certainly places west of the River Severn, like the Forest of Dean. Dividing up geographical areas in straight lines annoys me, unless it's an American state, it's just silly. Marky-Son 13:48, 20 July 2007 (UTC)