Editing Avon (county) (section)

== Creation ==
The county came into formal existence on 1 April 1974 when the [[Local Government Act 1972]] came into effect. The new county consisted of the areas of:

* The [[county borough]]s of [[County Borough of Bristol|Bristol]] and [[County Borough of Bath|Bath]],
* Part of the [[administrative counties of England|Administrative County]] of Gloucestershire:
** [[Kingswood, South Gloucestershire|Kingswood]] Urban District, [[Mangotsfield]] Urban District
** Warmley Rural District, most of Sodbury Rural District and most of [[Thornbury Rural District]]
* Part of the Administrative County of Somerset:
** Municipal Borough of [[Weston-super-Mare]]
** [[Clevedon]] Urban District, [[Keynsham]] Urban District, [[Norton-Radstock]] Urban District, [[Portishead, Somerset|Portishead]] Urban District,
** [[Bathavon Rural District]], [[Long Ashton Rural District]], part of [[Axbridge Rural District]] and part of [[Clutton Rural District]].

The county was divided into six districts:
*Bristol and Bath had identical boundaries to the former county boroughs.
*In the north, two districts were created:
**the urban districts of Kingswood and Mangotsfield, and the rural district of Warmley formed a single [[Kingswood (borough)|District of Kingswood]],
**the rest of the areas transferred from Gloucestershire (the rural districts of mostly Sodbury and mostly Thornbury) became the District of [[Northavon]].
*In the south, there were two districts:
**on the coast: [[North Somerset|Woodspring]] (merger of the municipal borough of Weston-super-Mare, the urban districts of Clevedon and Portishead, and the rural districts of Long Ashton and part of Axbridge),
**and in the interior: [[Wansdyke (district)|Wansdyke]] (merger of the urban districts of Keynsham and Norton-Radstock, and the rural districts of Bathavon and part of Clutton).

To the north the county bordered [[Gloucestershire]], to the east [[Wiltshire]] and to the south [[Somerset]]. In the west it had a coast on the [[Severn Estuary]] and [[Bristol Channel]].

The area of Avon was 520&nbsp;square&nbsp;miles (1,347&nbsp;km<sup>2</sup>) and its population in 1991 was 919,800. Cities and towns in Avon included (in approximate order of population) Bristol, Bath, Weston-super-Mare, [[Yate]], Clevedon, Portishead, [[Midsomer Norton]] & [[Radstock]], [[Bradley Stoke]], [[Nailsea]], [[Yatton]], [[Keynsham]], [[Kingswood, South Gloucestershire|Kingswood]], [[Thornbury, South Gloucestershire|Thornbury]], [[Filton]] and [[Patchway]].

The [[Armorial of county councils of England|coat of arms]] created for the county featured six blue and white waves representing the river Avon and parts of the coats of arms of the incorporated areas. The shield featured a dragon from the arms of Somerset divided into gold and red by a chevron from the arms of Gloucestershire.

The crest combined the unicorn of Bristol with the sword of [[Paul the Apostle|St. Paul]] (one of the patron saints of [[Bath Abbey]]) and the crown of [[Edgar, King of England|King Edgar]], who was crowned King of England by [[Dunstan|St. Dunstan]] in Bath Abbey.

The sea-stags were created for Avon to represent the historic importance of the Avon ports and the [[Kingswood, South Gloucestershire#Royal Forest|Royal Forest]] which covered a large part of the County. As a [[heraldic badge]], a sea-stag continued to be used by some organisations in the geographical area.<ref>{{Cite web |title=CIVIC HERALDRY OF ENGLAND AND WALES-OBSOLETE COUNTIES |url=http://www.civicheraldry.co.uk/avon_74to96.html |access-date=2023-05-01 |website=www.civicheraldry.co.uk}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |date=2022-01-14 |title=Our History - Girl Guiding Bristol & South Gloucestershire |url=https://www.girlguidingbsg.org.uk/our-history/ |access-date=2023-05-01 |language=en-GB}}</ref>