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A county town is the 'capital' of a county in Ireland or the United Kingdom. County towns are usually the location of administrative or judicial functions, or established over time as the de facto main town of a county.
In the case of Yorkshire in England, there are three county towns, one for each Riding: Northallerton for the North Riding, Beverley for the East Riding, and Wakefield for the West Riding. Contrary to popular belief, there are no civil administrative offices for the county of Yorkshire as a whole (not even in York).
Note that in Eastern Canada and the United States of America, the term county seat is usually used for the same purpose. However, in the state of Louisiana the term parish seat is used instead.
List of county towns
England
Historic counties of England
- Bedfordshire - Bedford
- Berkshire - Reading formerly Abingdon
- Buckinghamshire - Aylesbury formerly Buckingham
- Cambridgeshire - Cambridge
- Cheshire - Chester
- Cornwall - Truro although the County Assizes Court sat at Bodmin.
- Cumberland - Carlisle
- Derbyshire - Derby, though County Hall is in Matlock
- Devon - Exeter
- Dorset - Dorchester
- County Durham - Durham
- Essex - Chelmsford
- Gloucestershire - Gloucester
- Hampshire - Winchester although the county is named after Southampton
- Herefordshire - Hereford
- Hertfordshire - Hertford
- Huntingdonshire - Huntingdon
- Kent - Maidstone
- Lancashire - Lancaster, though County Hall is in Preston
- Leicestershire - Leicester, though County Hall is in Glenfield, Blaby District
- Lincolnshire - Lincoln
- Middlesex - Brentford, Clerkenwell or Westminster for different functions
- Norfolk - Norwich
- Northamptonshire - Northampton
- Northumberland - Newcastle-upon-Tyne though County Hall is in Morpeth
- Nottinghamshire - Nottingham, though County Hall is in West Bridgford, Rushcliffe Borough
- Oxfordshire - Oxford
- Rutland - Oakham
- Shropshire - Shrewsbury
- Somerset - Taunton
- Staffordshire - Stafford
- Suffolk - Ipswich
- Surrey - Guildford, though County Hall is in Kingston upon Thames which is not within the area currently administered by the county council.
- Sussex - Chichester, (also Lewes)
- Warwickshire - Warwick
- Westmorland - Appleby, though the former county council sat in Kendal
- Wiltshire - Wilton (near Salisbury), now Trowbridge
- Worcestershire - Worcester
- Yorkshire - traditionally York, but the ridings were administered as distinct counties from an early date
- North Riding (also North Yorkshire) - Northallerton
- East Riding - Beverley
- West Riding - Wakefield
Non-metropolitan counties of England
Scotland
Counties of Scotland
- Aberdeenshire - Aberdeen
- Angus - Forfar
- Argyll - Lochgilphead
- Ayrshire - Ayr
- Banffshire - Banff
- Berwickshire - Duns (formerly Berwick-upon-Tweed)
- Bute - Rothesay
- Caithness - Wick
- Clackmannanshire - Alloa (formerly Clackmannan)
- Cromartyshire - Cromarty
- Dumfriesshire - Dumfries
- Dunbartonshire - Dumbarton
- East Lothian - Haddington
- Fife - Cupar
- Inverness-shire - Inverness
- Kincardineshire - Stonehaven (formerly Kincardine)
- Kinross-shire - Kinross
- Kirkcudbrightshire - Kirkcudbright
- Lanarkshire - Lanark
- Midlothian - Edinburgh
- Morayshire - 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 - Linlithgow
- Wigtownshire - Wigtown
Wales
Historic counties of Wales
- Anglesey - Llangefni (formerly Beaumaris)
- Brecknockshire - Brecon
- Caernarvonshire - Caernarfon
- Cardiganshire - Cardigan
- Carmarthenshire - Carmarthen
- Denbighshire - Ruthin (formerly Denbigh)
- Flintshire - Mold (formerly Flint)
- Glamorgan - Cardiff
- Merionethshire - Dolgellau
- Monmouthshire - Monmouth
- Montgomeryshire - Montgomery
- Pembrokeshire - Haverfordwest (formerly Pembroke)
- Radnorshire - Presteigne (formerly New Radnor)
Northern Ireland
Historic counties of Northern Ireland
- County Antrim - Antrim
- County Armagh - Armagh
- County Down - Downpatrick
- County Fermanagh - Enniskillen
- County Londonderry - Derry
- 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).
Republic of Ireland
Traditional counties of the Republic of Ireland
- County Carlow - Carlow
- County Cavan - Cavan
- County Clare - Ennis
- County Cork - Cork
- County Donegal - Lifford
- County Dublin - Dublin
- County Galway - Galway
- County Kerry - Tralee
- County Kildare - Naas
- County Kilkenny - Kilkenny
- County Laois - Portlaoise
- County Leitrim - Carrick-on-Shannon
- County Limerick - Limerick
- County Longford - Longford
- County Louth - Dundalk
- County Mayo - Castlebar
- County Meath - Trim (Navan - de facto)
- County Monaghan - Monaghan
- County Offaly - Tullamore
- County Roscommon - Roscommon
- County Sligo - Sligo
- County Tipperary - Tipperary
- County Waterford - Waterford
- County Westmeath - Mullingar
- County Wexford - Wexford
- County Wicklow - Wicklow
Other counties of the Republic of Ireland
- County of Dun Laoghaire-Rathdown - Dún Laoghaire
- County of Fingal - Swords
- County of North Tipperary - Nenagh
- County of South Dublin - Tallaght
- County of South Tipperary - Clonmel
Former county towns
In 1965 and 1974 there were major administrative boundary changes in England and Wales and administrative counties were replaced with new metropolitan and non-metropolitan counties. The boundaries underwent more major alterations between 1995 and 1998 to create unitary authorities and some of the traditional counties and county towns were restored for administrative purposes.
Former administrative counties of England
- Cambridgeshire and Isle of Ely - Cambridge
- East Suffolk - Ipswich
- Holland - Boston
- Huntingdon and Peterborough - Huntingdon
- Isle of Ely - March
- Kesteven - Sleaford
- Lindsey - Lincoln
- London - London
- Soke of Peterborough - Peterborough
- West Suffolk - Bury
Former non-metropolitan counties of England
Former counties of Wales
The eight administrative counties that existed in Wales between 1974 and 1996 were subsequently retained as lieutenancy areas. Since these areas have no administrative or judicial functions they no longer have county towns. The county towns in Glamorgan were seldom referred to as such even when the administrative counties existed.- Clwyd - Mold
- Dyfed - Carmarthen
- Gwent - Cwmbran
- Gwynedd - Caernarfon
- Mid Glamorgan - Cardiff (extraterritorial)
- Powys - Llandrindod Wells
- South Glamorgan - Cardiff
- West Glamorgan - Swansea
"County town"