From: "John Beamish" 

(Uh, that would be you, Phil):

http://news.independent.co.uk/uk/this_britain/article2381075.ece

Winchcombeshire, England's lost county, to ring in its 1,000th year By Martin Hickman
Published: 22 March 2007

During Liz Hurley's glamorous wedding to Arun Nayar this month, the small
Cotswolds town of Winchcombe teemed with the world's media.

This spring, the 5,000 residents of this corner of Gloucestershire have
another celebration to mark, though it is unlikely to attract a single
red-top reporter or autograph hunter.

When the bells ring out in Winchcombe this May, they will be marking the
anniversary of a long-forgotten municipal oddity.

One thousand years ago, the county of Winchombeshire began its short life
under the ill-named Ethelred the Unready. Alas, just a decade later, in
1017, the county was abolished by the invading Dane King Cnut and absorbed
into Gloucestershire, Warwickshire, Wiltshire and Oxfordshire.

Its contribution to history would have remained lost in time but for a
small band of the town's residents. One of them, Clare Pritchard, 59, an IT
worker and campanologist, is organising a bell-ringing celebration on 7 May
to mark the 1,000th anniversary of one of the tiniest English counties. She
hopes to hear peals from 66 churches she has identified as residing within
its historic boundary.

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