While regional associations remained completely informal, the county community early assumed institutional form. The concept itself was fundamental to many important political developments in the thirteenth century, and H. Cam could describe the county even at this stage ‘as an organism – a unit held together by proximity, by local feeling and above all by common living traditions and common responsibilities’. At the same time none can doubt the vital role played by communities of the shire in the evolution and the progressive integration of English society until comparatively recent times. Yet surprisingly little work has been done on their composition and activities in the later middle ages. Perhaps the main deterrent has been a lack of the right sort of sources, particularly material of a personal nature. Still, the Namierian researches of J. S. Roskell testify to the existence of much relevant data, and have often made it available in convenient form. The copious documentation provided by the palatinate administrators, coupled with the rich muniment collections of local gentry families, in fact, offer an embarrassing wealth of evidence regarding the county communities of the Northwest.

The following discussion of the Cheshire and Lancashire communities centres on an analysis of the social relations of the gentry. Although the interests and connections of the more illustrious lineages transcended their own shire, the social world of most gentlemen was rooted in the network of personal connections and collective responsibilities which constituted the county community.