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. On a ceremonial level, such towns 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. CountyNamed after or of same root Places that held county functions Bedford N/AReading or Abingdon Buckingham Aylesbury CambridgeEly Chester N/A Truro, Bodmin or Launceston Carlisle (county later renamed)Cockermouth or Penrith Derby N/AExeter DorchesterPoole DurhamBishop Auckland or Sadberge N/AChelmsford GloucesterBristol SouthamptonWinchester Hereford Hertford Huntingdon Canterbury (name of same origin) Maidstone LancasterPreston Leicester Lincoln N/ABrentford, Clerkenwell, London or Westminster N/ANorwich Northampton N/AAlnwick, Newcastle upon Tyne, Morpeth or Berwick upon Tweed Nottingham Oxford N/AOakham Shrewsbury (spellings diverged) Somerton Taunton, Ilchester, Bath or Wells Stafford Lichfield N/A Ipswich N/A Guildford, Newington or Southwark N/A Lewes, Chichester or Horsham WarwickCoventry N/A Appleby or Kendal Wilton Trowbridge, Salisbury or Devizes Worcester York Kingston upon Hull
Scotland County County town Aberdeen Angus (or Forfarshire) Forfar ArgyllLochgilphead (formerly Inveraray) AyrshireAyr Banff Duns, Scottish Borders (formerly Berwick-upon-Tweed, formerly Greenlaw) ButeRothesay Wick ClackmannanshireAlloa (formerly Clackmannan) CromartyshireCromarty DumfriesshireDumfries DunbartonshireDumbarton (or Haddingtonshire) Haddington FifeCupar Inverness-shireInverness KincardineshireStonehaven (formerly Kincardine) Kinross-shireKinross Kirkcudbright LanarkshireLanark Midlothian (or Edinburghshire) Edinburgh (or Elginshire) Elgin NairnshireNairn Kirkwall PeeblesshirePeebles PerthshirePerth RenfrewshireRenfrew Ross-shireDingwall (also the county town of Ross and Cromarty) RoxburghshireJedburgh (formerly Roxburgh) SelkirkshireSelkirk Lerwick StirlingshireStirling Dornoch West Lothian (or Linlithgowshire) Linlithgow WigtownshireWigtown
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.John Davies, A History of Wales, Penguin, 1993,
Name in English Name in Welsh County town in English County town in Welsh Ynys Môn BeaumarisBiwmares BrecknockshireBrycheiniogBreconAberhonddu (formerly Carnarvonshire)Sir GaernarfonCaernarfonCaernarfon CeredigionCardiganAberteifi CarmarthenshireSir GaerfyrddinCarmarthenCaerfyrddin DenbighshireSir DdinbychRuthin (formerly Denbigh)Rhuthun (formerly Dinbych) Sir y FflintMold (formerly Flint)Yr Wyddgrug (formerly Y Fflint) MorgannwgCardiffCaerdydd or MerionethshireMeirionnydd or Sir FeirionnyddDolgellauDolgellau MontgomeryshireSir DrefaldwynWelshpool (formerly Montgomery)Y Trallwng (formerly Trefaldwyn) Sir Fynwy MonmouthTrefynwy Sir BenfroHaverfordwest (formerly Pembroke)Hwlffordd (formerly Penfro) RadnorshireSir FaesyfedPresteigne (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 hall' or 'shire hall' 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 County council Date Headquarters Bedfordshire 1889 to 2009 Bedford Berkshire 1889 to 1998 Reading (county borough until 1974) Buckinghamshire 1889 onwards Aylesbury Cambridgeshire 1889 to 1965 and1974 onwards Cambridge (until 2021)Alconbury Weald (after 2021) Cheshire 1889 to 2009 Chester Cornwall 1889 onwards Truro Cumberland 1889 to 1974 Carlisle (county borough from 1914) Derbyshire 1889 onwards Matlock (moved from Derby, county borough 1958)Removal of County Headquarters, The Times, 28 January 1958 Devon 1889 onwards Exeter (county borough until 1974). In 1963 the Devon County Buildings Area was transferred from the county borough of Exeter to the administrative county of Devon, of which it formed an exclave until 1974.Frederic A. Youngs, Guide to the Local Administrative Units of England, Vol.1: Southern England, London, 1979, p.83 Dorset 1889 onwards Dorchester Durham 1889 onwards Durham Essex 1889 onwards Chelmsford Gloucestershire 1889 onwards Gloucester (county borough until 1974) Hampshire 1889 onwards Winchester Herefordshire 1889 to 1974 and1998 onwards Hereford Hertfordshire 1889 onwards Hertford Huntingdonshire 1889 to 1965 Huntingdon Isle of Ely 1889 to 1965 March Isle of Wight 1890 onwards Newport Kent 1889 onwards Maidstone Lancashire 1889 onwards Preston (county borough until 1974) Leicestershire 1889 onwards Leicester Lincolnshire, Parts of Lindsey 1889 to 1974 Lincoln (county borough) Lincolnshire, Parts of Holland 1889 to 1974 Boston Lincolnshire, Parts of Kesteven 1889 to 1974 Sleaford London 1889 to 1965 Spring Gardens, Westminster until 1922, County Hall at Lambeth thereafter Middlesex 1889 to 1965 Middlesex Guildhall at Westminster in County of London Norfolk 1889 onwards Norwich (county borough until 1974) Northamptonshire 1889 onwards Northampton (county borough until 1974) Northumberland 1889 onwards County Hall Newcastle upon Tyne 1889 – 1981Northumberland 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 extraterritorialCounty Hall Morpeth since 1981County Hall moved to Morpeth on 21 April 1981 (see notice in London Gazette issue 48579, dated 10 April 1981) Nottinghamshire 1889 onwards West Bridgford (moved from county borough of Nottingham in 1959) Oxfordshire 1889 onwards Oxford (county borough until 1974) Soke of Peterborough 1889 to 1965 Peterborough Rutland 1889 to 1974 and1997 onwards Oakham Shropshire 1889 onwards Shrewsbury Somerset 1889 onwards Taunton Staffordshire 1889 onwards Stafford East Suffolk 1889 to 1974 Ipswich (county borough) West Suffolk 1889 to 1974 Bury St Edmunds Surrey 1889 onwards Inner London Sessions House, Newington (until 1893)County Hall, Kingston upon Thames (18932020)Woodhatch Place, Reigate (2021 onwards) East Sussex 1889 onwards Lewes West Sussex 1889 onwards Chichester (originally jointly with Horsham) Warwickshire 1889 onwards Warwick Westmorland 1889 to 1974 Kendal Wiltshire 1889 onwards Trowbridge Worcestershire 1889 to 1974 and1998 onwards Worcester (county borough until 1974) Yorkshire, East Riding 1889 to 1974 and1996 onwards Beverley (later HQ of Humberside) Yorkshire, North Riding 1889 to 1974 Northallerton Yorkshire, West Riding 1889 to 1974 Wakefield (county borough from 1915)
England, from 1965 County council Date Headquarters Avon 1974 to 1996 Bristol Bristol 1996 onwards Bristol Cambridgeshire and Isle of Ely 1965 to 1974 Cambridge Cleveland 1974 to 1996 Middlesbrough Cumbria 1974 to 2023 Carlisle Greater London 1965 to 1986 and2002 onwards County Hall, Lambeth (Greater London Council) (19651986)City Hall, Southwark (Greater London Authority) (20022021)City Hall, Newham (Greater London Authority) (2021 onwards) Greater Manchester 1974 to 1986 Manchester Hereford and Worcester 1974 to 1998 Worcester Humberside 1974 to 1996 Beverley Huntingdon and Peterborough 1965 to 1974 Huntingdon Lincolnshire 1974 onwards Lincoln Merseyside 1974 to 1986 Liverpool Suffolk 1974 onwards Ipswich Tyne and Wear 1974 to 1986 Newcastle upon Tyne West Midlands 1974 to 1986 Birmingham North Yorkshire 1974 onwards Northallerton South Yorkshire 1974 to 1986 Barnsley West Yorkshire 1974 to 1986 Wakefield
Wales County council Date Headquarters Anglesey1889 to 1974Beaumaris1 Brecknockshire1889 to 1974Brecon Caernarvonshire1889 to 1974Caernarfon Carmarthenshire1889 to 19741996 onwardsCarmarthen Cardiganshire1889 to 1974Aberystwyth2 Ceredigion1996 onwardsAberaeron Clwyd1974 to 1996Mold Denbighshire1889 to 1974Denbigh Dyfed1974 to 1996Carmarthen Flintshire1889 to 1974Mold Glamorgan1889 to 1974Cardiff (county borough) Gwent1974 to 1996Newport (1974–78), Cwmbran (1978–96) Gwynedd1974 onwardsCaernarfon Mid Glamorgan1974 to 1996Cardiff (extraterritorial) Merionethshire1889 to 1974Dolgellau Montgomeryshire1889 to 1974Welshpool Monmouthshire1889 to 1974Newport (county borough from 1891) Radnorshire1889 to 1974Presteigne3 Pembrokeshire1889 to 19741996 onwardsHaverfordwest Powys1974 onwardsLlandrindod Wells South Glamorgan1974 to 1996Cardiff West Glamorgan1974 to 1996Swansea Isle of Anglesey1996 onwardsLlangefni Due to its better transport links and more central location, some administrative functions were moved to Llangefni. 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.
Republic of 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.