A county town is the 'capital' of a county in Republic of 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. The concept of a county town eventually became detached from its original meaning of where the county administration is based (see County halls below). In fact, many county towns are no longer part of "their" administrative county e.g. Nottingham is administered by a unitary authority entirely separate from the rest of Nottinghamshire. Many county towns are in fact cities, but all are referred to as county towns irrespective of whether city status is held or not.

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

United Kingdom

Historic counties of England

This list shows county towns prior to the reforms of 1889. For 1889 and later see the "County Halls" section below

County	County town
Bedfordshire	Bedford
Berkshire	Abingdon 1
Buckinghamshire	Aylesbury 2, although the county is named after Buckingham
Cambridgeshire	Cambridge
Cheshire	Chester
Cornwall	Truro 3
Cumberland	Carlisle 4
Derbyshire	Derby
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 5
Lancashire	Lancaster 6
Leicestershire	Leicester
Lincolnshire	Lincoln
Middlesex	Brentford, Clerkenwell, the City of London or Westminster for different functions 7
Norfolk	Norwich
Northamptonshire	Northampton
Northumberland	Alnwick 8
Nottinghamshire	Nottingham
Oxfordshire	Oxford
Rutland	Oakham
Shropshire	Shrewsbury
Somerset	Taunton 9
Staffordshire	Stafford
Suffolk	Ipswich
Surrey	Guildford 10
Sussex	Chichester or Lewes 11
Warwickshire	Warwick
Westmorland	Appleby
Wiltshire	Trowbridge 12 although the county is named after Wilton
Worcestershire	Worcester
Yorkshire	York

1. 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 for the shire were nominated at Reading and elected at Abingdon.
2. Sir John Baldwin, Chief Justice of the Common Pleas, caused the county assizes to be moved to Aylesbury. Knights for the shire continued to be elected at Buckingham. The 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica considered Buckingham to be the county town.
3. The County Assize Court sat at Bodmin, and the 1911 Britannica considered Bodmin to be the county town. Launceston was also historically considered the county town.
4. Knights of the Shire were elected at Cockermouth
5. 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.
6. 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.III c.58) established that the principal administrative business of the county could be transacted only at Preston.
7. 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.
8. 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.
9. 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.
10. Southwark is listed as the county town by Stewart (1828). Quarter Sessions were held at Newington by Southwark.
11. 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.
12. Wiltshire County Council note that Wiltshire "never had a well recognised county town". Wilton had served as the seat of Quarter Sessions and for election of Knights of the Shire until 1832. Knights had been nominated at Devizes. A 1870s gazetteer describes "Salisbury and Devizes" as the "county towns". The 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica names only Salisbury.

Counties of Scotland

County	County town
Aberdeenshire	Aberdeen1
Angus (or Forfarshire)	Forfar
Argyll	Lochgilphead (formerly Inveraray)²
Ayrshire	Ayr
Banffshire	Banff
Berwickshire	Duns (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 - but not Kincardine-on-Forth)
Kinross-shire	Kinross
Kirkcudbrightshire	Kirkcudbright
Lanarkshire	Lanark³
Midlothian (or Edinburghshire)	Edinburgh4
Morayshire (or Elginshire)	Elgin
Nairnshire	Nairn
Orkney	Kirkwall
Peeblesshire	Peebles
Perthshire	Perth
Renfrewshire	Renfrew5
Ross-shire	Dingwall (also the county town of Ross and Cromarty)
Roxburghshire	Jedburgh (formerly Roxburgh)6
Selkirkshire	Selkirk
Shetland	Lerwick
Stirlingshire	Stirling
Sutherland	Dornoch7
West Lothian (or Linlithgowshire)	Linlithgow
Wigtownshire	Wigtown8

1. In 1900 Aberdeen became a county of a city and thus outside Aberdeenshire.
2. 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.
3. 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.
4. Edinburgh was a county of itself, and therefore lay outside the county of Midlothian.
5. The headquarters of Renfrew County Council were in Paisley from 1890.
6. Newtown St Boswells was the administrative headquarters of the county council established in 1890.
7. The headquarters of Sutherland County Council were at Golspie from 1890.
8. Stranraer became the administrative headquarters of the Wigtown county council in 1890, and was sometimes described as the "county town" thereafter.

Historic counties of Wales

This list shows county towns prior to the reforms of 1889. For 1889 and later see the "County Halls" section below

County	County town
Anglesey	Llangefni (formerly Beaumaris)
Brecknockshire	Brecon
Caernarfonshire	Caernarfon
Cardiganshire	Cardigan
Carmarthenshire	Carmarthen
Denbighshire	Ruthin (formerly Denbigh)
Flintshire	Mold (formerly Flint)
Glamorgan	Cardiff
Merionethshire	Dolgellau
Montgomeryshire	Montgomery
Monmouthshire 1	Monmouth 1
Pembrokeshire	Haverfordwest (formerly Pembroke)
Radnorshire	Presteigne (formerly New Radnor)

1. Between 1536 and 1974, Monmouthshire was included by successive English, British and UK governments within England for some administrative and legal purposes. Always regarded culturally and ecclesiastically as part of Wales, particularly by the Welsh, since 1974 when new local government legislation was introduced it has unequivocally been within that country. The county is named after Monmouth, but the Sheriff's county court was held alternately in Monmouth and Newport.

Historic counties of Northern Ireland

County	County town
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 Ireland

The term county capital is also used.

County	County town
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 (formerly Queen's County)	Portlaoise (formerly known as Maryborough)
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 (formerly King's County)	Tullamore (since 1835), originally Philipstown
County Roscommon	Roscommon
County Sligo	Sligo
County Tipperary	Previously Cashel and Clonmel. Since 1898 shared between Clonmel (south) and Nenagh (north). Tipperary Town has never been county town.
County Waterford	Dungarvan (previously Waterford).
County Westmeath	Mullingar
County Wexford	Wexford
County Wicklow	Wicklow

Other counties of Ireland

County	County town
Dun Laoghaire-Rathdown	Dún Laoghaire
Fingal	Swords
North Tipperary	Nenagh
South Dublin	Tallaght
South Tipperary	Clonmel

County Halls

Over time, the location of administrative headquarters (County Halls) have moved away from the traditional county town. Furthermore, 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 ancient counties and county towns were restored for administrative purposes. (Note: not all headquarters are or were called County Halls or Shire Halls eg: Cumbria County Council's HQ is called The Courts). Before 1974 many of the county halls were located in towns and cities that had the status of a county borough ie: a borough outside of the county council's jurisdiction.

England

County council	Date	Headquarters
Avon	1974 to 1996	Bristol
Bedfordshire	1889 to 2009	Bedford
Berkshire	1889 to 1998	Reading (county borough until 1974)
City and County of Bristol	1996 onwards	Bristol
Buckinghamshire	1889 onwards	Aylesbury
Cambridgeshire	1889 to 1965 1974 onwards	Cambridge
Cambridgeshire and Isle of Ely	1965 to 1974	Cambridge
Cheshire	1889 to 2009	Chester
Cleveland	1974 to 1996	Middlesbrough
Cornwall	1889 onwards	Truro
Cumberland	1889 to 1974	Carlisle (county borough from 1914)
Cumbria	1974 onwards	Carlisle
Derbyshire	1889 onwards	Matlock (moved from Derby, county borough 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.
Dorset	1889 onwards	Dorchester
Durham	1889 onwards	Durham
Essex	1889 onwards	Chelmsford
Gloucestershire	1889 onwards	Gloucester (county borough until 1974)
Greater London	1965 to 1986 2002 onwards	County Hall, Lambeth (Greater London Council) City Hall, Southwark (Greater London Authority)
Greater Manchester	1974 to 1986	Manchester
Hampshire	1889 onwards	Winchester
Herefordshire	1889 to 1974 1998 onwards	Hereford
Hereford and Worcester	1974 to 1998	Worcester
Hertfordshire	1889 onwards	Hertford
Humberside	1974 to 1996	Beverley
Huntingdonshire	1889 to 1965	Huntingdon
Huntingdon and Peterborough	1965 to 1974	Huntingdon
Isle of Ely	1889 to 1965	March, although geographically considered part of Cambridgeshire
Isle of Wight	1890 onwards	Newport
Kent	1889 onwards	Maidstone
Lancashire	1889 onwards	Preston (moved from Lancaster, County Hall opened in 1882, county borough until 1974)
Leicestershire	1889 onwards	Glenfield (moved from county borough of Leicester in 1967)
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
Lincolnshire	1974 onwards	Lincoln
London	1889 to 1965	Spring Gardens, Westminster until 1922, County Hall at Lambeth thereafter.
Merseyside	1974 to 1986	Liverpool
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	Newcastle upon Tyne 1889 - 1981: 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 Morpeth since 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, although geographically considered part of Northamptonshire
Rutland	1889 to 1974 1997 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
Suffolk	1974 onwards	Ipswich
Surrey	1889 onwards	Inner London Sessions House, Newington, until County Hall, Kingston upon Thames opened in 1893 (Kingston has been in Greater London since 1965)
East Sussex	1889 onwards	Lewes
West Sussex	1889 onwards	Chichester (originally jointly with Horsham)
Tyne and Wear	1974 to 1986	Newcastle upon Tyne
Warwickshire	1889 onwards	Warwick
West Midlands	1974 to 1986	Birmingham
Westmorland	1889 to 1974	Kendal
Wiltshire	1889 onwards	Trowbridge
Worcestershire	1889 to 1974 1998 onwards	Worcester (county borough until 1974)
Yorkshire, East Riding	1889 to 1974 1996 onwards	Beverley (later HQ of Humberside)
Yorkshire, North Riding	1889 to 1974	Northallerton
North Yorkshire	1974 onwards	Northallerton
South Yorkshire	1974 to 1986	Barnsley
Yorkshire, West Riding	1889 to 1974	Wakefield (county borough from 1915)
West Yorkshire	1974 to 1986	Wakefield

Wales

County council	Date	Headquarters
Anglesey	1889 to 1974 1996 onwards	Llangefni
Brecknockshire	1889 to 1974	Brecon
Caernarvonshire	1889 to 1974	Caernarfon
Carmarthenshire	1889 to 1974 1996 onwards	Carmarthen
Cardiganshire	1889 to 1974	Aberaeron
Clwyd	1974 to 1996	Mold
Denbighshire	1889 to 1974	Denbigh
Dyfed	1974 to 1996	Carmarthen
Flintshire	1889 to 1974	Mold
Glamorgan	1889 to 1974	Cardiff (county borough)
Gwent	1978 to 1996	Cwmbran
Gwynedd	1974 to 1996	Caernarfon
Mid Glamorgan	1974 to 1996	Cardiff (extraterritorial)
Merionethshire	1889 to 1974	Dolgellau
Montgomeryshire	1889 to 1974	Welshpool
Monmouthshire	1889 to 1974	Newport (county borough from 1891)
Pembrokeshire	1889 to 1974 1996 onwards	Haverfordwest
Radnorshire	1889 to 1974	Llandrindod Wells
Powys	1974 onwards	Llandrindod Wells
South Glamorgan	1974 to 1996	Cardiff
West Glamorgan	1974 to 1996	Swansea

References