YORKSHIRE, the largest county of England, bounded on the south by Derbyshire, Nottinghamshire, and Lincolnshire; on the north by Durham and Westmoreland; on the east by the German ocean; and on the west by Lancashire, and a part of Cheshire.—It is upwards of 80 miles in length from east to west, near as much in breadth, and about 360 in circumference, containing, in the whole, 26 hundreds or wapentakes, 49 market-towns, 563 parishes, 242 vicarages, with many chapels of ease, and 2330 villages. Its area is computed by some at 4684 square miles, by others at 3,770,000 acres, and its inhabitants at upwards of 530,000. It is divided into three parts, or ridings, viz. the West, East, and North; so denominated from their situation, in respect of the city of York. Each of these is as large, if not larger, than any ordinary county. There are other divisions, as Richmondshire, Allertonshire, Howdenshire, Hallanshire, Craven, Cleveland, Marshland, Holderness, &c.
As the soil and face of the country vary greatly, so does the air. In the hilly parts the air is good, but the soil very indifferent; of the lower, some are marshy, others drier, and the soil of both rich; but the air of the former is more foggy and unhealthy than that of the latter.
The manufactures of this county are cutlery and hard-wares; particularly knives, bits, and spurs; but the principal are stockings and woollen cloth, with which it supplies, in a great measure, Germany and the North. As to the produce, it abounds in corn, cattle, horses, lead, and iron, coal, wood, lime, liquorice, alum, jet, &c. It lies wholly in the northern circuit, and much the greater part of it in the diocese of York; that only which is called Richmondshire, belonging to the diocese of Chester. The members it sends to parliament are 30; of which two are for the shire, and 28 for the towns.