A
county town is the 'capital' of a
county in the
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. In both instances, county seats or parish seats throughout the US or Eastern Canada range from large cities of 1,000,000 or more residents to towns with fewer than 200 residents and county populations of around 200.
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- 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.
[Samuel Lewis, A Topographical Dictionary of England, Vol. I, 1831]
- 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.
- 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.
- 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.
- 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.
- 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.
[Justice in Eighteenth-Century Hackney (Process and Procedures), by Ruth Paley ]
- 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.
- 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.
- 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.
[General history of Horsham - The town as county centre, Victoria County History of Sussex, Volume VI ]
- 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
- In 1900 Aberdeen became a county of a city and thus outside Aberdeenshire.
- 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.
- 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.
- Edinburgh was a county of itself, and therefore lay outside the county of Midlothian.
- The headquarters of Renfrew County Council were in Paisley from 1890.
- Newtown St Boswells was the administrative headquarters of the county council established in 1890.
- The headquarters of Sutherland County Council were at Golspie from 1890.
- 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- Between 1536 and 1974, Monmouthshire was included by successive English and later, British, 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
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.
Other counties of Ireland
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
Wales
