County town facts for kids

In Great Britain and Ireland, a county town is the most important town or city in a county. It 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 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. Due 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

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

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)

Great Britain, post 19th-century reforms

With the creation of elected county councils in 1889, the administrative headquarters in some cases moved away from the traditional county town. Furthermore, in 1965 and 1974 there were major boundary changes in England and Wales and administrative counties were replaced with new metropolitan and non-metropolitan counties. The boundaries underwent further alterations between 1995 and 1998 to create unitary authorities, and some of the ancient counties and county towns were restored. (Note: not all headquarters are or were called County Halls or Shire Halls e.g.: Cumbria County Council's HQ up until 2016 was called The Courts and has since moved to Cumbria House.) Before 1974, many of the county halls were in towns and cities that had the status of a county borough i.e. a borough outside the county council's jurisdiction.

England, from 1889

England, from 1965

Wales

1. Due to its better transport links and more central location, some administrative functions were moved to Llangefni.
2. 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.
3. Due to its better transport links and more central location, some administrative functions were moved to Llandrindod Wells.

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.

Northern Ireland

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.