In Great Britain and Ireland, a county town is usually the location of administrative or judicial functions within a county, and the place where public representatives are elected to parliament. Following the establishment of county councils in England in 1889, the headquarters of the new councils were usually established in the county town of each county; however, the concept of a county town pre-dates these councils.
The concept of a county town is ill-defined and unofficial. Some counties in Great Britain have their administrative bodies housed elsewhere. For example, Lancaster is the county town of Lancashire, but the county council is in Preston. Owing to the creation of unitary authorities, some county towns in Great Britain are administratively separate from the county. For example, Nottingham is separated from the rest of Nottinghamshire, and Brighton and Hove is separate from East Sussex. On a ceremonial level, both are in their own respective counties geographically.
Great Britain, historic
England
This list shows towns or cities which held county functions at various points in time.
| County | Named after or of same root | Places that held county functions |
|---|---|---|
 Bedfordshire | Bedford | |
 Berkshire | N/A | Reading or Abingdon |
 Buckinghamshire | Buckingham | Aylesbury |
 Cambridgeshire | Cambridge | Ely |
 Cheshire | Chester | |
 Cornwall | N/A | Truro, Bodmin or Launceston |
 Cumberland | Carlisle (county later renamed) | Cockermouth or Penrith |
 Derbyshire | Derby | |
 Devon | N/A | Exeter |
 Dorset | Dorchester | Poole |
 County Durham | Durham | Bishop Auckland or Sadberge |
 Essex | N/A | Chelmsford |
 Gloucestershire | Gloucester | Bristol |
 Hampshire | Southampton | Winchester |
 Herefordshire | Hereford | |
 Hertfordshire | Hertford | |
 Huntingdonshire | Huntingdon | |
 Kent | Canterbury (name of same origin) | Maidstone |
 Lancashire | Lancaster | Preston |
 Leicestershire | Leicester | |
 Lincolnshire | Lincoln | |
 Middlesex | N/A | Brentford, Clerkenwell, London or Westminster |
 Norfolk | N/A | Norwich |
 Northamptonshire | Northampton | |
 Northumberland | N/A | Alnwick, Newcastle upon Tyne, Morpeth or Berwick upon Tweed |
 Nottinghamshire | Nottingham | |
 Oxfordshire | Oxford | |
 Rutland | N/A | Oakham |
 Shropshire | Shrewsbury (spellings diverged) | |
 Somerset | Somerton | Taunton, Ilchester, Bath or Wells |
 Staffordshire | Stafford | Lichfield |
 Suffolk | N/A | Ipswich |
 Surrey | N/A | Guildford, Newington or Southwark |
 Sussex | N/A | Lewes, Chichester or Horsham |
 Warwickshire | Warwick | Coventry |
 Westmorland | N/A | Appleby or Kendal |
 Wiltshire | Wilton | Trowbridge, Salisbury or Devizes |
 Worcestershire | Worcester | |
 Yorkshire | York | Kingston upon Hull |
- Lent assizes were held at Reading, where the county gaol and house of correction were situated; summer assizes were held at Abingdon, which was the site of the county bridewell. Knights of the shire were nominated at Reading and elected at Abingdon.
- Sir John Baldwin, Chief Justice of the Common Pleas, caused the county assizes to be moved to Aylesbury. Knights of the shire continued to be elected at Buckingham. The 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica considered Buckingham to be the county town.
- The county assize court sat at Bodmin, and the 1911 Britannica considered Bodmin to be the county town. Prior to 1835, it was Launceston.
- Knights of the shire were elected at Cockermouth; the assizes and quarter sessions courts were occasionally held at Penrith.
- East Kent and West Kent had separate administrations until 1814, with East Kent sessions meeting at Canterbury, and West Kent at Maidstone, the over-all county town.
- In 1787 the Lancashire Quarter Sessions decreed that in future the annual general sessions for transacting all business for the county at large should be held at Preston as it was "a central place in the county." The magistrates of Lonsdale Hundred refused to accept the decision and would meet only at Lancaster. The matter was settled only when a local act of parliament (38 Geo. 3. c. 58) established that the principal administrative business of the county could be transacted only at Preston.
- Lindsey, Kesteven and Holland had separate administrations until 1974, with Holland sessions meeting at Boston, Kesteven at Sleaford, and Lindsey at Lincoln, the overall county town.
- Knights of the shire were elected at Brentford; sessions presided over by Middlesex Justices of the Peace were held at Clerkenwell; trials for persons accused of the most serious crimes took place in the Old Bailey before the Aldermen of the City prior to the committing of the accused to Newgate Prison (which functioned as the county gaol for Middlesex) if found guilty; while the county council had its headquarters at the Middlesex Guildhall in Westminster from its establishment in 1889 until its abolition in 1965.
- Alnwick's position as the county town seems to have been based largely on its castle being the seat of the Duke of Northumberland, although knights of the shire were elected at the town too. Assizes for the county however were held mainly or exclusively in Newcastle upon Tyne. Morpeth Castle was used as the prison for Northumberland, and the county gaol was built there in 1824.
- Nottingham was constituted a county corporate separate from Nottinghamshire in 1449. The area containing the Shire Hall however remained an exclave of Nottinghamshire.
- Knights of the shire were elected at Ilchester. Somerton temporarily became the county town in the late thirteenth century, when the shire courts and county gaol were moved from Ilchester.
- Under the Surrey Gaol Act 1791 (31 Geo. 3. c. 22) the justices of the peace of the county of Surrey were empowered to build a new sessions house and county gaol at Newington adjacent to the borough of Southwark and in the suburbs of London. By 1799 the buildings were completed and the county administration was based there until 1893. Newington or Southwark (the ecclesiastical centre) were sometimes described as the county town thereafter, for instance in a school textbook of 1828.
- Chichester was traditionally described as the capital city of Sussex and Lewes its county town.Horsham was occasionally described as the county town of Sussex due to the presence of the county gaol and the periodic holding of the county assizes and quarter sessions in the town. The last assizes were held there in 1830, while the gaol was closed in 1845.
- Wiltshire County Council note that Wiltshire "never had a well recognised county town". An 1870s gazetteer describes "Salisbury and Devizes" as the "county towns". The 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica names only Salisbury.
- The county towns of the three "Ridings" are considered to be Beverley, Northallerton and Wakefield.
Scotland
| County | County town |
|---|---|
 Aberdeenshire | Aberdeen |
| Angus (or Forfarshire) | Forfar |
| Argyll | Lochgilphead (formerly Inveraray) |
| Ayrshire | Ayr |
 Banffshire | Banff |
 Berwickshire | Duns, Scottish Borders (formerly Berwick-upon-Tweed, formerly Greenlaw) |
| Bute | Rothesay |
 Caithness | Wick |
| Clackmannanshire | Alloa (formerly Clackmannan) |
| Cromartyshire | Cromarty |
| Dumfriesshire | Dumfries |
| Dunbartonshire | Dumbarton |
 East Lothian (or Haddingtonshire) | Haddington |
| Fife | Cupar |
| Inverness-shire | Inverness |
| Kincardineshire | Stonehaven (formerly Kincardine) |
| Kinross-shire | Kinross |
 Kirkcudbrightshire | Kirkcudbright |
| Lanarkshire | Lanark |
| Midlothian (or Edinburghshire) | Edinburgh |
 Morayshire (or Elginshire) | Elgin |
| Nairnshire | Nairn |
 Orkney | Kirkwall |
| Peeblesshire | Peebles |
| Perthshire | Perth |
| Renfrewshire | Renfrew |
| Ross-shire | Dingwall (also the county town of Ross and Cromarty) |
| Roxburghshire | Jedburgh (formerly Roxburgh) |
| Selkirkshire | Selkirk |
 Shetland | Lerwick |
| Stirlingshire | Stirling |
 Sutherland | Dornoch |
| West Lothian (or Linlithgowshire) | Linlithgow |
| Wigtownshire | Wigtown |
- Inveraray (the seat of the Duke of Argyll) was regarded as the county town until 1890, when the Argyll County Council was created with headquarters in Lochgilphead.
- The headquarters of the Lanark County Council were established in 1890 in Glasgow. In 1893 Glasgow became a county of itself, and was therefore outside the council's area. The county council moved to Hamilton in 1964.
- Edinburgh was a county of itself, and therefore lay outside the remit of the county council.
- The headquarters of Renfrew County Council were in Paisley from 1890.
- Newtown St Boswells was the administrative headquarters of the county council established in 1890.
- The headquarters of Sutherland County Council were at Golspie from 1890.
- Stranraer became the administrative headquarters of the Wigtown county council in 1890, and was sometimes described as the "county town" thereafter.
Wales
Following the Norman invasion of Wales, the Cambro-Normans created the historic shire system (also known as ancient counties). Many of these counties were named for the centre of Norman power within the new county (Caernarfonshire named for Caernarfon, Monmouthshire named for Monmouth) others were named after the previous medieval Welsh kingdoms (Ceredigon becomes Cardigan, Morgannwg becomes Glamorgan). The 1535 Laws in Wales Act established the historic counties in English law, but in Wales they were later replaced with eight preserved counties for ceremonial purposes and the twenty two principal areas are used for administrative purposes. Neither of these subdivisions use official county towns, although their administrative headquarters and ceremonial centres are often located in the historic county town.
| Name in English | Name in Welsh | County town in English | County town in Welsh |
|---|---|---|---|
 Anglesey | Ynys Môn | Llangefni (formerly Beaumaris?) | Llangefni Biwmares |
 Brecknockshire | Brycheiniog | Brecon | Aberhonddu |
 Caernarfonshire(formerly Carnarvonshire) | Sir Gaernarfon | Caernarfon | Caernarfon |
 Cardiganshire | Ceredigion | Cardigan | Aberteifi |
| Carmarthenshire | Sir Gaerfyrddin | Carmarthen | Caerfyrddin |
| Denbighshire | Sir Ddinbych | Ruthin (formerly Denbigh) | Rhuthun (formerly Dinbych) |
 Flintshire | Sir y Fflint | Mold (formerly Flint) | Yr Wyddgrug (formerly Y Fflint) |
 Glamorgan | Morgannwg | Cardiff | Caerdydd |
 Merioneth or Merionethshire | Meirionnydd or Sir Feirionnydd | Dolgellau | Dolgellau |
| Montgomeryshire | Sir Drefaldwyn | Welshpool (formerly Montgomery) | Y Trallwng (formerly Trefaldwyn) |
 Monmouthshire | Sir Fynwy | Monmouth | Trefynwy |
 Pembrokeshire | Sir Benfro | Haverfordwest (formerly Pembroke) | Hwlffordd (formerly Penfro) |
| Radnorshire | Sir Faesyfed | Presteigne (formerly New Radnor) | Llanandras (former Maesyfed) |
- Cardigan was often still referred to as 'the county town' due to the name link. However, assizes were held at Lampeter while Aberystwyth housed the administration of the county council. Aberystwyth was therefore the de facto county town.
- Due to its better transport links and more central location, some administrative functions were moved to Llandrindod Wells.
Ireland and Northern Ireland
Republic of Ireland
The follow lists the location of the administration of each of the 31 local authorities in the Republic of Ireland, with 26 of the traditional counties.
| County | Councils | County town | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| County Carlow | Carlow County Council | Carlow | |
| County Cavan | Cavan County Council | Cavan | |
| County Clare | Clare County Council | Ennis | |
| County Cork | Cork County Council | Cork city | |
| Cork City Council | Cork city | ||
| County Donegal | Donegal County Council | Lifford | |
| County Dublin | Dublin City Council | Dublin city | |
| Dún Laoghaire–Rathdown County Council | Dún Laoghaire | Until 1994, formed Dublin County Council, with its administrative offices in Dublin city | |
| Fingal County Council | Swords | ||
| South Dublin County Council | Tallaght | ||
| County Galway | Galway City Council | Galway city | |
| Galway County Council | Galway city | ||
| County Kerry | Kerry County Council | Tralee | |
| County Kildare | Kildare County Council | Naas | |
| County Kilkenny | Kilkenny County Council | Kilkenny | |
| County Laois | Laois County Council | Portlaoise | Called Maryborough until 1929 |
| County Leitrim | Leitrim County Council | Carrick-on-Shannon | |
| County Limerick | Limerick City and County Council | Limerick | |
| County Longford | Longford County Council | Longford | |
| County Louth | Louth County Council | Dundalk | |
| County Mayo | Mayo County Council | Castlebar | |
| County Meath | Meath County Council | Navan | previously Trim was the administrative town |
| County Monaghan | Monaghan County Council | Monaghan | |
| County Offaly | Offaly County Council | Tullamore | Prior to 1883, the county town was Daingean, then known as Philipstown |
| County Roscommon | Roscommon County Council | Roscommon | |
| County Sligo | Sligo County Council | Sligo | |
| County Tipperary | Tipperary County Council | Clonmel/Nenagh | Until the Local Government Reform Act 2014, these were respectively the administrative towns of South Tipperary County Council and North Tipperary County Council |
| County Waterford | Waterford City and County Council | Waterford | Prior to the merger of Waterford County Council with Waterford City Council in 2014, Dungarvan was the county town and administrative centre of County Waterford. |
| County Westmeath | Westmeath County Council | Mullingar | |
| County Wexford | Wexford County Council | Wexford | |
| County Wicklow | Wicklow County Council | Wicklow |
Northern Ireland
| County | County town |
|---|---|
| County Antrim | Antrim |
| County Armagh | Armagh |
| County Down | Downpatrick |
| County Fermanagh | Enniskillen |
| County Londonderry | Coleraine |
| County Tyrone | Omagh |
Note – Despite the fact that Belfast is the capital of Northern Ireland, it is not the county town of any county. Greater Belfast straddles two counties – Antrim and Down.
Jamaica
Jamaica's three counties were established in 1758 to facilitate the holding of courts along the lines of the British county court system, with each county having a county town. The counties have no current administrative relevance.
| County | County town |
|---|---|
| Cornwall | Savanna-la-Mar |
| Middlesex | Spanish Town |
| Surrey | Kingston |
See also
References
- Lewis, Samuel (1831). "Berkshire". A Topographical Dictionary of England. Vol. I (1st ed.). p. 130.
- "Berkshire Quarter Sessions". Jackson's Oxford Journal. 4 July 1868.
- "Hampshire Placenames and their Meanings". Hampshire County Council. 17 February 2009. Archived from the original on 15 August 2013. Retrieved 31 August 2013.
- Webb, Sidney; Beatrice Webb (1906). English Local Government from the Revolution to the Municipal Corporations Act: The Parish and the County. London: Longmans Green and Co. pp. 432–433.
- Justice in Eighteenth-Century Hackney (Process and Procedures), by Ruth Paley British History Online
- "Alnwick (St. Mary and St. Michael), A Topographical Dictionary of England (1848), pp. 39–44". British-history.ac.uk. 22 June 2003. Retrieved 29 January 2012.
- "Morpeth (St. Mary), A Topographical Dictionary of England (1848), pp. 345–350". British-history.ac.uk. 22 June 2003. Retrieved 29 January 2012.
- "Northiam – Nortoft, A Topographical Dictionary of England (1848), pp. 433–439". British-history.ac.uk. 22 June 2003. Retrieved 29 January 2012.
- Nicholson, A P (11 November 2007). "Shire (County) Hall, Nottingham". Nottinghamshire History. Retrieved 2 June 2011.
- "Somerton archaeological survey (Somerset County Council)". Archived from the original on 28 March 2005. Retrieved 29 April 2007.
- "Southwark Prisons". Survey of London: volume 25: St George's Fields (The parishes of St. George the Martyr Southwark and St. Mary Newington). British History Online. 1955. Retrieved 6 September 2010.
- Edward Walford (1878). "The Old Kent Road". Old and New London: Volume 6. British History Online. Retrieved 6 September 2010.
- Stewart, Alexander (1828). A compendium of modern geography: with remarks on the physical peculiarities, productions of the various countries; Questions for Examination at the end of each Section; and Descriptive Tables. Oliver & Boyde.
- "About Sussex". Sussex County Flag. 11 March 2015. Retrieved 2 February 2019.
- A List of Some Towns of Commercial, Antiquarian, Historical or Sanitary Interest. A Reference Book of Modern Geography. Longmans, Green and Co. 1870.
- Chichester, Lewes. Sussex; being an historical, topographical, and general description of every rape, hundred, river, town, borough, parish, village, hamlet, castle, monastery, and gentleman's seat in that county, etc. E. Taylor. 1834.
- General history of Horsham – The town as county centre, Victoria County History of Sussex, Volume VI British History Online
- "Question: Why is Trowbridge the county town of Wiltshire?". Wiltshire and Swindon History Centre. Wiltshire Council. Retrieved 2 May 2023.
- Wilson, John Marius (1872). "Imperial Gazetteer of England and Wales: WILTS". A. Fullarton and Co.
- Notice in Edinburgh Gazette, 28 February 1964 that county council's address changed from Lanarkshire House, 191 Ingram Street, Glasgow C1 to County Buildings, Hamilton from 6 April 1964
- John Davies, A History of Wales, Penguin, 1993, ISBN 0-14-028475-3
- Removal of County Headquarters, The Times, 28 January 1958
- Frederic A. Youngs, Guide to the Local Administrative Units of England, Vol.1: Southern England, London, 1979, p.83
- Northumberland County Hall was situated within an exclave of Northumberland (Moot Hall Precincts) within the county borough of Newcastle 1889 – 1974; the area became part of the county of Tyne and Wear in 1974 and was thus extraterritorial
- County Hall moved to Morpeth on 21 April 1981 (see notice in London Gazette issue 48579, dated 10 April 1981)
- "127 year chapter of history comes to an end as Surrey County Council moves home". Get Surrey. 23 December 2020. Archived from the original on 3 May 2021. Retrieved 3 May 2021.
- Higman, B. W.; Hudson, B. J. (2009). Jamaican Place Names. Mona, Jamaica: University of the West Indies Press. p. 31. ISBN 978-976-640-306-5. Archived from the original on 13 December 2017. Retrieved 13 December 2017.
In Great Britain and Ireland a county town is usually the location of administrative or judicial functions within a county and the place where public representatives are elected to parliament Following the establishment of county councils in England in 1889 the headquarters of the new councils were usually established in the county town of each county however the concept of a county town pre dates these councils The concept of a county town is ill defined and unofficial Some counties in Great Britain have their administrative bodies housed elsewhere For example Lancaster is the county town of Lancashire but the county council is in Preston Owing to the creation of unitary authorities some county towns in Great Britain are administratively separate from the county For example Nottingham is separated from the rest of Nottinghamshire and Brighton and Hove is separate from East Sussex On a ceremonial level both are in their own respective counties geographically Great Britain historicEngland This list shows towns or cities which held county functions at various points in time County Named after or of same root Places that held county functions Bedfordshire Bedford Berkshire N A Reading or Abingdon Buckinghamshire Buckingham Aylesbury Cambridgeshire Cambridge Ely Cheshire Chester Cornwall N A Truro Bodmin or Launceston Cumberland Carlisle county later renamed Cockermouth or Penrith Derbyshire Derby Devon N A Exeter Dorset Dorchester Poole County Durham Durham Bishop Auckland or Sadberge Essex N A Chelmsford Gloucestershire Gloucester Bristol Hampshire Southampton Winchester Herefordshire Hereford Hertfordshire Hertford Huntingdonshire Huntingdon Kent Canterbury name of same origin Maidstone Lancashire Lancaster Preston Leicestershire Leicester Lincolnshire Lincoln Middlesex N A Brentford Clerkenwell London or Westminster Norfolk N A Norwich Northamptonshire Northampton Northumberland N A Alnwick Newcastle upon Tyne Morpeth or Berwick upon Tweed Nottinghamshire Nottingham Oxfordshire Oxford Rutland N A Oakham Shropshire Shrewsbury spellings diverged Somerset Somerton Taunton Ilchester Bath or Wells Staffordshire Stafford Lichfield Suffolk N A Ipswich Surrey N A Guildford Newington or Southwark Sussex N A Lewes Chichester or Horsham Warwickshire Warwick Coventry Westmorland N A Appleby or Kendal Wiltshire Wilton Trowbridge Salisbury or Devizes Worcestershire Worcester Yorkshire York Kingston upon HullLent assizes were held at Reading where the county gaol and house of correction were situated summer assizes were held at Abingdon which was the site of the county bridewell Knights of the shire were nominated at Reading and elected at Abingdon Sir John Baldwin Chief Justice of the Common Pleas caused the county assizes to be moved to Aylesbury Knights of the shire continued to be elected at Buckingham The 1911 Encyclopaedia Britannica considered Buckingham to be the county town The county assize court sat at Bodmin and the 1911 Britannica considered Bodmin to be the county town Prior to 1835 it was Launceston Knights of the shire were elected at Cockermouth the assizes and quarter sessions courts were occasionally held at Penrith East Kent and West Kent had separate administrations until 1814 with East Kent sessions meeting at Canterbury and West Kent at Maidstone the over all county town In 1787 the Lancashire Quarter Sessions decreed that in future the annual general sessions for transacting all business for the county at large should be held at Preston as it was a central place in the county The magistrates of Lonsdale Hundred refused to accept the decision and would meet only at Lancaster The matter was settled only when a local act of parliament 38 Geo 3 c 58 established that the principal administrative business of the county could be transacted only at Preston Lindsey Kesteven and Holland had separate administrations until 1974 with Holland sessions meeting at Boston Kesteven at Sleaford and Lindsey at Lincoln the overall county town Knights of the shire were elected at Brentford sessions presided over by Middlesex Justices of the Peace were held at Clerkenwell trials for persons accused of the most serious crimes took place in the Old Bailey before the Aldermen of the City prior to the committing of the accused to Newgate Prison which functioned as the county gaol for Middlesex if found guilty while the county council had its headquarters at the Middlesex Guildhall in Westminster from its establishment in 1889 until its abolition in 1965 Alnwick s position as the county town seems to have been based largely on its castle being the seat of the Duke of Northumberland although knights of the shire were elected at the town too Assizes for the county however were held mainly or exclusively in Newcastle upon Tyne Morpeth Castle was used as the prison for Northumberland and the county gaol was built there in 1824 Nottingham was constituted a county corporate separate from Nottinghamshire in 1449 The area containing the Shire Hall however remained an exclave of Nottinghamshire Knights of the shire were elected at Ilchester Somerton temporarily became the county town in the late thirteenth century when the shire courts and county gaol were moved from Ilchester Under the Surrey Gaol Act 1791 31 Geo 3 c 22 the justices of the peace of the county of Surrey were empowered to build a new sessions house and county gaol at Newington adjacent to the borough of Southwark and in the suburbs of London By 1799 the buildings were completed and the county administration was based there until 1893 Newington or Southwark the ecclesiastical centre were sometimes described as the county town thereafter for instance in a school textbook of 1828 Chichester was traditionally described as the capital city of Sussex and Lewes its county town Horsham was occasionally described as the county town of Sussex due to the presence of the county gaol and the periodic holding of the county assizes and quarter sessions in the town The last assizes were held there in 1830 while the gaol was closed in 1845 Wiltshire County Council note that Wiltshire never had a well recognised county town An 1870s gazetteer describes Salisbury and Devizes as the county towns The 1911 Encyclopaedia Britannica names only Salisbury The county towns of the three Ridings are considered to be Beverley Northallerton and Wakefield Scotland County County town Aberdeenshire AberdeenAngus or Forfarshire ForfarArgyll Lochgilphead formerly Inveraray Ayrshire Ayr Banffshire Banff Berwickshire Duns Scottish Borders formerly Berwick upon Tweed formerly Greenlaw Bute Rothesay Caithness WickClackmannanshire Alloa formerly Clackmannan Cromartyshire CromartyDumfriesshire DumfriesDunbartonshire Dumbarton East Lothian or Haddingtonshire HaddingtonFife CuparInverness shire InvernessKincardineshire Stonehaven formerly Kincardine Kinross shire Kinross Kirkcudbrightshire KirkcudbrightLanarkshire LanarkMidlothian or Edinburghshire Edinburgh Morayshire or Elginshire ElginNairnshire Nairn Orkney KirkwallPeeblesshire PeeblesPerthshire PerthRenfrewshire RenfrewRoss shire Dingwall also the county town of Ross and Cromarty Roxburghshire Jedburgh formerly Roxburgh Selkirkshire Selkirk Shetland LerwickStirlingshire Stirling Sutherland DornochWest Lothian or Linlithgowshire LinlithgowWigtownshire WigtownInveraray the seat of the Duke of Argyll was regarded as the county town until 1890 when the Argyll County Council was created with headquarters in Lochgilphead The headquarters of the Lanark County Council were established in 1890 in Glasgow In 1893 Glasgow became a county of itself and was therefore outside the council s area The county council moved to Hamilton in 1964 Edinburgh was a county of itself and therefore lay outside the remit of the county council The headquarters of Renfrew County Council were in Paisley from 1890 Newtown St Boswells was the administrative headquarters of the county council established in 1890 The headquarters of Sutherland County Council were at Golspie from 1890 Stranraer became the administrative headquarters of the Wigtown county council in 1890 and was sometimes described as the county town thereafter Wales Following the Norman invasion of Wales the Cambro Normans created the historic shire system also known as ancient counties Many of these counties were named for the centre of Norman power within the new county Caernarfonshire named for Caernarfon Monmouthshire named for Monmouth others were named after the previous medieval Welsh kingdoms Ceredigon becomes Cardigan Morgannwg becomes Glamorgan The 1535 Laws in Wales Act established the historic counties in English law but in Wales they were later replaced with eight preserved counties for ceremonial purposes and the twenty two principal areas are used for administrative purposes Neither of these subdivisions use official county towns although their administrative headquarters and ceremonial centres are often located in the historic county town Name in English Name in Welsh County town in English County town in Welsh Anglesey Ynys Mon Llangefni formerly Beaumaris Llangefni BiwmaresBrecknockshire Brycheiniog Brecon Aberhonddu Caernarfonshire formerly Carnarvonshire Sir Gaernarfon Caernarfon Caernarfon Cardiganshire Ceredigion Cardigan AberteifiCarmarthenshire Sir Gaerfyrddin Carmarthen CaerfyrddinDenbighshire Sir Ddinbych Ruthin formerly Denbigh Rhuthun formerly Dinbych Flintshire Sir y Fflint Mold formerly Flint Yr Wyddgrug formerly Y Fflint Glamorgan Morgannwg Cardiff Caerdydd Merioneth or Merionethshire Meirionnydd or Sir Feirionnydd Dolgellau DolgellauMontgomeryshire Sir Drefaldwyn Welshpool formerly Montgomery Y Trallwng formerly Trefaldwyn Monmouthshire Sir Fynwy Monmouth Trefynwy Pembrokeshire Sir Benfro Haverfordwest formerly Pembroke Hwlffordd formerly Penfro Radnorshire Sir Faesyfed Presteigne formerly New Radnor Llanandras former Maesyfed Cardigan was often still referred to as the county town due to the name link However assizes were held at Lampeter while Aberystwyth housed the administration of the county council Aberystwyth was therefore the de facto county town Due to its better transport links and more central location some administrative functions were moved to Llandrindod Wells section Ireland and Northern IrelandRepublic of Ireland The follow lists the location of the administration of each of the 31 local authorities in the Republic of Ireland with 26 of the traditional counties County Councils County town NotesCounty Carlow Carlow County Council CarlowCounty Cavan Cavan County Council CavanCounty Clare Clare County Council EnnisCounty Cork Cork County Council Cork cityCork City Council Cork cityCounty Donegal Donegal County Council LiffordCounty Dublin Dublin City Council Dublin cityDun Laoghaire Rathdown County Council Dun Laoghaire Until 1994 formed Dublin County Council with its administrative offices in Dublin cityFingal County Council SwordsSouth Dublin County Council TallaghtCounty Galway Galway City Council Galway cityGalway County Council Galway cityCounty Kerry Kerry County Council TraleeCounty Kildare Kildare County Council NaasCounty Kilkenny Kilkenny County Council KilkennyCounty Laois Laois County Council Portlaoise Called Maryborough until 1929County Leitrim Leitrim County Council Carrick on ShannonCounty Limerick Limerick City and County Council LimerickCounty Longford Longford County Council LongfordCounty Louth Louth County Council DundalkCounty Mayo Mayo County Council CastlebarCounty Meath Meath County Council Navan previously Trim was the administrative townCounty Monaghan Monaghan County Council MonaghanCounty Offaly Offaly County Council Tullamore Prior to 1883 the county town was Daingean then known as PhilipstownCounty Roscommon Roscommon County Council RoscommonCounty Sligo Sligo County Council SligoCounty Tipperary Tipperary County Council Clonmel Nenagh Until the Local Government Reform Act 2014 these were respectively the administrative towns of South Tipperary County Council and North Tipperary County CouncilCounty Waterford Waterford City and County Council Waterford Prior to the merger of Waterford County Council with Waterford City Council in 2014 Dungarvan was the county town and administrative centre of County Waterford County Westmeath Westmeath County Council MullingarCounty Wexford Wexford County Council WexfordCounty Wicklow Wicklow County Council WicklowNorthern Ireland County County townCounty Antrim AntrimCounty Armagh ArmaghCounty Down DownpatrickCounty Fermanagh EnniskillenCounty Londonderry ColeraineCounty Tyrone Omagh Note Despite the fact that Belfast is the capital of Northern Ireland it is not the county town of any county Greater Belfast straddles two counties Antrim and Down JamaicaJamaica s three counties were established in 1758 to facilitate the holding of courts along the lines of the British county court system with each county having a county town The counties have no current administrative relevance County County townCornwall Savanna la MarMiddlesex Spanish TownSurrey KingstonSee alsoAdministrative centre County seatReferencesLewis Samuel 1831 Berkshire A Topographical Dictionary of England Vol I 1st ed p 130 Berkshire Quarter Sessions Jackson s Oxford Journal 4 July 1868 Hampshire Placenames and their Meanings Hampshire County Council 17 February 2009 Archived from the original on 15 August 2013 Retrieved 31 August 2013 Webb Sidney Beatrice Webb 1906 English Local Government from the Revolution to the Municipal Corporations Act The Parish and the County London Longmans Green and Co pp 432 433 Justice in Eighteenth Century Hackney Process and Procedures by Ruth Paley British History Online Alnwick St Mary and St Michael A Topographical Dictionary of England 1848 pp 39 44 British history ac uk 22 June 2003 Retrieved 29 January 2012 Morpeth St Mary A Topographical Dictionary of England 1848 pp 345 350 British history ac uk 22 June 2003 Retrieved 29 January 2012 Northiam Nortoft A Topographical Dictionary of England 1848 pp 433 439 British history ac uk 22 June 2003 Retrieved 29 January 2012 Nicholson A P 11 November 2007 Shire County Hall Nottingham Nottinghamshire History Retrieved 2 June 2011 Somerton archaeological survey Somerset County Council Archived from the original on 28 March 2005 Retrieved 29 April 2007 Southwark Prisons Survey of London volume 25 St George s Fields The parishes of St George the Martyr Southwark and St Mary Newington British History Online 1955 Retrieved 6 September 2010 Edward Walford 1878 The Old Kent Road Old and New London Volume 6 British History Online Retrieved 6 September 2010 Stewart Alexander 1828 A compendium of modern geography with remarks on the physical peculiarities productions of the various countries Questions for Examination at the end of each Section and Descriptive Tables Oliver amp Boyde About Sussex Sussex County Flag 11 March 2015 Retrieved 2 February 2019 A List of Some Towns of Commercial Antiquarian Historical or Sanitary Interest A Reference Book of Modern Geography Longmans Green and Co 1870 Chichester Lewes Sussex being an historical topographical and general description of every rape hundred river town borough parish village hamlet castle monastery and gentleman s seat in that county etc E Taylor 1834 General history of Horsham The town as county centre Victoria County History of Sussex Volume VI British History Online Question Why is Trowbridge the county town of Wiltshire Wiltshire and Swindon History Centre Wiltshire Council Retrieved 2 May 2023 Wilson John Marius 1872 Imperial Gazetteer of England and Wales WILTS A Fullarton and Co Notice in Edinburgh Gazette 28 February 1964 that county council s address changed from Lanarkshire House 191 Ingram Street Glasgow C1 to County Buildings Hamilton from 6 April 1964 John Davies A History of Wales Penguin 1993 ISBN 0 14 028475 3 Removal of County Headquarters The Times 28 January 1958 Frederic A Youngs Guide to the Local Administrative Units of England Vol 1 Southern England London 1979 p 83 Northumberland County Hall was situated within an exclave of Northumberland Moot Hall Precincts within the county borough of Newcastle 1889 1974 the area became part of the county of Tyne and Wear in 1974 and was thus extraterritorial County Hall moved to Morpeth on 21 April 1981 see notice in London Gazette issue 48579 dated 10 April 1981 127 year chapter of history comes to an end as Surrey County Council moves home Get Surrey 23 December 2020 Archived from the original on 3 May 2021 Retrieved 3 May 2021 Higman B W Hudson B J 2009 Jamaican Place Names Mona Jamaica University of the West Indies Press p 31 ISBN 978 976 640 306 5 Archived from the original on 13 December 2017 Retrieved 13 December 2017
