County of northeast England, created in 1974 from most of the North Riding and parts of the East and West Ridings of Yorkshire (since April 1996 York has been a separate unitary authority). Area 8,037 sq km/3,103 sq mi Towns and cities Northallerton (administrative headquarters); resorts: Harrogate, Scarborough, Whitby Physical England's largest county; rivers Derwent, Esk, Ouse; includes part of the Pennines; the Vale of York (a vast plain); the Cleveland Hills; North Yorkshire Moors, which form a national park (within which is Fylingdales radar station to give early warning – 4 minutes – of nuclear attack) Features Rievaulx Abbey (1132); Yorkshire Dales National Park (including Swaledale, Wensleydale, and Bolton Abbey (1170) in Wharfedale); Fountains Abbey (1113) near Ripon, with Studley Royal Gardens (a World Heritage site); Castle Howard (1699), designed by Vanbrugh, has Britain's largest collection of 18th–20th-century costume; Battlefield Chamber at Ingleton, the largest…