The Saddleworth White Rose Society is an political advocacy group dedicated to the promotion of the historic county

Historic counties of England

The historic counties of England are subdivisions of England established for administration by the Normans and in most cases based on earlier Anglo-Saxon kingdoms and shires...

 of Yorkshire

Yorkshire

Yorkshire is a historic county of northern England and the largest in the United Kingdom. Because of its great size in comparison to other English counties, functions have been increasingly undertaken over time by its subdivisions, which have also been subject to periodic reform...

 as the primary geographic reference frame

Reference frame

Reference frame may refer to:*Frame of reference, in physics*Reference frame , frames of a compressed video that are used to define future frames...

 for Saddleworth

Saddleworth

Saddleworth is a civil parish of the Metropolitan Borough of Oldham in Greater Manchester, England. It comprises several villages and hamlets amongst the west side of the Pennine hills: Uppermill, Greenfield, Dobcross, Delph, Diggle and others...

 - a civil parish

Civil parish

In England, a civil parish is a territorial designation and, where they are found, the lowest tier of local government below districts and counties...

 amalgamated into the Metropolitan Borough of Oldham

Metropolitan Borough of Oldham

The Metropolitan Borough of Oldham is a metropolitan borough of Greater Manchester, England. It has a population of 219,600, and spans . The borough is named after its largest town, Oldham, but also includes the outlying towns of Chadderton, Failsworth, Royton and Shaw and Crompton, the village of...

 and metropolitan county

Metropolitan county

The metropolitan counties are a type of county-level administrative division of England. There are six metropolitan counties, which each cover large urban areas, typically with populations of 1.2 to 2.8 million...

 of Greater Manchester

Greater Manchester

Greater Manchester is a metropolitan county in North West England, with a population of 2.6 million. It encompasses one of the largest metropolitan areas in the United Kingdom and comprises ten metropolitan boroughs: Bolton, Bury, Oldham, Rochdale, Stockport, Tameside, Trafford, Wigan, and the...

 under the Local Government Act 1972

Local Government Act 1972

The Local Government Act 1972 is an Act of Parliament in the United Kingdom that reformed local government in England and Wales on 1 April 1974....

.

The group, associated with the more general Yorkshire Ridings Society

Yorkshire Ridings Society

The Yorkshire Ridings Society is a group affiliated to the Association of British Counties calling for the wider recognition of the historic borders of Yorkshire, and its traditional subdivisions, the North, East and West Ridings.-History:...

, aims to gain wider recognition for the use of the historic county system over the modern county system. It promotes their contention that Saddleworth remains in Yorkshire, as it asserts that the historic counties were never abolished and exist alongside the new metropolitan counties http://whiterose.saddleworth.net/stillpart.htm, via the publication of its newsletter and the organisation of various events.

Saddleworth is the only part of the Metropolitan Borough of Oldham or Greater Manchester, which formed part of the former administrative county

Administrative counties of England

Administrative counties were a level of subnational division of England used for the purposes of local government from 1889 to 1974. They were created by the Local Government Act 1888 as the areas for which county councils were elected. Some large counties were divided into several administrative...

 of Yorkshire, West Riding

West Riding of Yorkshire

The West Riding of Yorkshire is one of the three historic subdivisions of Yorkshire, England. From 1889 to 1974 the administrative county, County of York, West Riding , was based closely on the historic boundaries...

, the rest formerly being part of Lancashire

Lancashire

Lancashire is a non-metropolitan county of historic origin in the North West of England. It takes its name from the city of Lancaster, and is sometimes known as the County of Lancaster. Although Lancaster is still considered to be the county town, Lancashire County Council is based in Preston...

 or an independent county borough

County borough

County borough is a term introduced in 1889 in the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland , to refer to a borough or a city independent of county council control. They were abolished by the Local Government Act 1972 in England and Wales, but continue in use for lieutenancy and shrievalty in...

.

The Society is affiliated to the Association of British Counties

Association of British Counties

The Association of British Counties is a non-party-political outsider pressure group formed in 1989 that promotes the traditional counties of the United Kingdom. It claims that the traditional counties are an important part of Britain's cultural heritage and as such should be preserved and promoted...

 and has expressed support for the CountyWatch

CountyWatch

CountyWatch is a direct action group in the United Kingdom that was set up in 2004 to remove what they consider to be wrongly-placed county boundary signs that do not mark the historic or ancient county boundaries of England and Wales. Since 2005, Count Nikolai Tolstoy has been Patron of CountyWatch...

direct action group.