Editing Hereford and Worcester (section)

{{Short description|Former English county}}
{{Use British English|date=August 2023}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=May 2024}}
{{Infobox historic subdivision|
   |Name=              Hereford and Worcester
   |HQ=                [[Worcester, England|Worcester]]
   |Government=        [[Hereford and Worcester County Council]]
   |Status=            [[Non-metropolitan county]]
   |Start=             1974
   |End=               1998
   |Arms= [[File:Arms of Hereford and Worcester County Council.svg|150px]]<br />''Coat of arms of Hereford and Worcester County Council''
   |Replace=           [[Herefordshire]] (unitary)<br />[[Worcestershire]] (shire county)
   |Map=               [[File:Hereford and Worcester UK locator map 1974.svg|220px|Hereford and Worcester]]
   |Civic=   |Code=              25
   |CodeName=          [[ONS coding system|ONS code]]
   |Divisions=         [[Non-metropolitan district]]s
}}

'''Hereford and Worcester''' ({{IPAc-en|ˈ|h|ɛr|ɪ|f|ər|d|...|ˈ|w|ʊ|s|t|ər}} {{respell|HERR|if|ərd|_..._|WUUST|ər}}) was an English [[non-metropolitan county]] created on 1 April 1974 by the [[Local Government Act 1972]] from the areas of the former [[Administrative counties of England|administrative county]] of [[Herefordshire]], most of [[Worcestershire]] (except [[Halesowen]], [[Stourbridge]] and [[County Borough of Warley|Warley]], which became part of the [[West Midlands (county)|West Midlands]]<ref>Local Government in England: Government Proposals for Reorganisation (Cmnd. 4584) Circular 8/71 map</ref>) and the [[county borough]] of [[Worcester, England|Worcester]].<ref>Local Government Act 1972. 1972. c. 70</ref> An aim of the Act was to increase efficiency of local government: the two counties are among England's smaller and less populous counties, particularly after the same Act transferred some of Worcestershire's most urbanised areas to the West Midlands.

The county bordered [[Shropshire]], [[Staffordshire]] and the West Midlands to the north, [[Warwickshire]] to the east, [[Gloucestershire]] to the south, and [[Gwent (county)|Gwent]] and [[Powys]] in Wales to the west. It was abolished in 1998 and reverted, with some transfers of territory, to the two separate historic counties of Herefordshire and Worcestershire.