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GY postcode area

postcode area within the United Kingdom

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General referenceInterpretive dossier study · Crown Archives visual atlas
Record originEnglish Wikipedia
Text licenseCC BY-SA 4.0
Source revisionJul 5, 2026
Entity authorityQ5515093
Source-derived summary

The GY postcode area, also known as Guernsey postcode area, its post town, is a group of 10 consecutive postal districts covering Guernsey, Alderney, Sark, Herm and the two inhabited lesser islets in that region of the Channel Islands. It was established in 1993 as an extension of the United Kingdom postcode system.

Coverage

The approximate coverage of the postal districts. The post town is GUERNSEY for all postcode districts

Previously, both Alderney and Sark were covered by the GY9 district. In March 2009, Royal Mail had "agreed in principle" for the creation of the GY10 district which would cover all addresses on the island of Alderney, leaving just those of smaller Sark in GY9. This was intended to reduce the amount of mail being sent to the wrong island. The States of Alderney opposed doing it that way round, and instead Sark changed from sector GY9 0 to GY10 1 on 5 January 2011.

Editorial summary

“GY postcode area” enters the record as postcode area within the United Kingdom. Crown Archives preserves that source wording while asking what postcode, area and within can confirm, complicate or overturn.

Editorial reviewA concise reference frame for defining the subject, testing terminology and identifying the institution closest to the evidence. The current lead gives the account dated anchors—1993, 2009, 2011—that can be checked directly. The selected authority fields contribute no independent date. Its strongest next move is a source search built around postcode, area and within.
Editorial analysis

Why this record matters

“GY postcode area” is worth following because a concise public description often conceals a longer documentary argument. Here, postcode, area and within provides the most credible route into that argument.

Evidence profile

Named sources, stable identifiers and responsible institutions provide the strongest route from overview to verifiable evidence. The source revision retrieved here is dated Jul 5, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q5515093. Authority coordinates are 49.466, -2.546. 1 of 1 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1993, 2009 and 2011.

Critical limits

A concise general-reference account can conceal disagreements about scope, terminology or the weight assigned to individual sources. The lead is largely declarative, so disagreement and counter-evidence require a deliberate search beyond the opening account. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.

How to read it

Use the entry as an orientation point, then follow its citations and revision history. Names, dates and institutional relationships should be checked against the original record.

Best used for
  • Subject orientation
  • Search vocabulary
  • Locating named sources
Verify next

The closest primary source, responsible institution and strongest cited specialist reference.

Three-step research path

  1. Establish the record: confirm the title “GY postcode area”, its source revision and the description used here.
  2. Expand the search: follow GY postcode area primary sources, GY postcode area archive and postcode research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
  3. Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.

Questions for further research

  1. Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “GY postcode area”?
  2. What terminology or title could unlock a more precise catalogue search?
  3. Which institution is responsible for the underlying evidence?
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Source & attribution

This entry incorporates text from GY postcode area” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.