Is It God's Own Country, County?

It’s the time of the year, where we celebrate being Yorkshire, not that we don’t every day. After all we are living in God’s Own Country, or is it county? Many people like to argue either point – so we thought we’d have a little look into it.

The annual Yorkshire Day celebration takes place on August 1st every single year. The 2022 day will be hosted by Keighley, who’ll be hosting parades, food and drink, activities for children to enjoy and an artisan market.

The event will take place on both Sunday 31st July and Monday 1st August in Keighley town centre, between the hours of 10am and 4pm.

First celebrated in 1975 In Beverley, East Yorkshire, Yorkshire Day has become an annual fixture in the region’s calendar, where people celebrate being from God’s Own Country. But what does it all mean?

Where did Yorkshire get its name?

Yorkshire’s name is derived from York which came from the Viking Jorvik and has the symbol of the white rose which was adopted by Edmund of Langley, the fist Duke of York and the founder of the House of York.

Is it God’s Own Country, or County?

God’s Own Country is a term used by a range of places around the world including Australia, Brazil and India, but more commonly in Yorkshire and its meaning is a place favoured by God.

Yorkshire’s use of God’s Own Country is interchangeably used with God’s Own County. Since Yorkshire is England’s largest county and has a population double the size of Wales, and the same as Scotland with over 5 million people living here it seems fair to say that we have the right to claim ourselves as a country.

You guys gave your opinion on whether it’s county or country and you can read the answer below.

One person wrote: “Country. As it’s the best place on earth. Anywhere else is insignificant. It is our own little country.

Whilst another agreed writing: “God’s own country. He got Yorkshire right and then did everything else.”

Another person disagreed writing: “Always has been and always will be God’s own county”.

And another agreed with them saying; “county until independence is declared, then it will be country.”

If you ask the people of Yorkshire it seems that it is a split between county and country, but what is the right answer?

If you look at how people use the phrase God’s Country around the world, it refers to the symbolic meaning of a place preferred by God, which doesn’t revolve around boundaries, giving the idea that it should be referred to as a country.

But, who are we to decide? People will carry on having their own idea of which one is correct until Yorkshire becomes its own country and then it can only be called one of the two. Until then have fun arguing the point in God’s Own Country – or county…