County town

From Freepedia

A county town is the 'capital' of a county in the United Kingdom or Ireland. 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 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.

Contents

List of county towns

Traditional counties of England

Other counties of England

Traditional counties of Scotland

Traditional counties of Wales

Traditional counties of the Republic of Ireland

Other counties of the Republic of Ireland

Traditional counties of Northern Ireland

Note - Despite the fact that Belfast is the capital, it is not the county town of any county as it is in two counties (Antrim and Down).

Former county towns

In 1965 and 1974 there were major administrative boundary changes in the United Kingdom. In some areas (particularly Scotland and Wales) the old administrative counties were replaced by new administrative areas. 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

Former administrative 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 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.

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