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A county town is the location of the administrative headquarters 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.
List of County Towns
Bedfordshire - Bedford
Berkshire - Abingdon, then Reading
Buckinghamshire - Aylesbury
Cambridgeshire - Cambridge
Cheshire - Chester
Cornwall - Bodmin, now Truro
Cumberland - Carlisle
Derbyshire - Derby, now Matlock
Devon - Exeter
Dorset - Dorchester
County Durham - Durham
Essex - Chelmsford
Gloucestershire - Gloucester
Hampshire - Southampton, now Winchester
Herefordshire - Hereford (now a unitary authority)
Hertfordshire - Hertford
Huntingdonshire - Huntingdon (now no County Council, though the District Council is still in Huntingdon)
Kent - Maidstone
Lancashire - Lancaster, now Preston
Leicestershire - Leicester, now Glenfield
Lincolnshire - Lincoln
Middlesex - Brentford, Clerkenwell or Westminster for different functions
Norfolk - Norwich
Northamptonshire - Northampton
Northumberland - Alnwick, then Newcastle upon Tyne, now Morpeth
Nottinghamshire - Nottingham
Oxfordshire - Oxford
Rutland - Oakham
Shropshire - Shrewsbury
Somerset - Somerton, now Taunton
Staffordshire - Stafford
Suffolk - Ipswich
briefly East Suffolk - Ipswich
and West Suffolk - Bury
Surrey - Guildford, but the County offices are currently extraterritorial at Kingston upon Thames
Sussex - Chichester, (also Lewes)
now East Sussex - Lewes
and West Sussex - Chichester
Warwickshire - Warwick
Westmorland - Appleby (now part of Cumbria)
Wiltshire - Trowbridge (formerly Wilton, near Salisbury)
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
Other counties of England
Cumbria - Carlisle
Isle of Wight - Newport
Traditional 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
Kinross-shire - Kinross
Kirkcudbrightshire - Kirkcudbright
Lanarkshire - Lanark
Mid Lothian - 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
Traditional counties of Wales
Anglesey - Llangefni (formerly Beaumaris)
Brecknockshire - Brecon
Caernarvonshire - Caernarfon
Cardiganshire - Cardigan
Carmarthenshire - Carmarthen
Denbighshire - Denbigh (briefly Ruthin)
Flintshire - Flint
Glamorgan - Cardiff
Merionethshire - Dolgellau
Monmouthshire - Monmouth (Actually run from offices out of county in Cwmbran)
Montgomeryshire - Montgomery
Pembrokeshire - Haverfordwest (formerly Pembroke)
Radnorshire - Presteigne (formerly New Radnor)
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
County Monaghan - Monaghan
County Offaly - Tullamore
County Roscommon - Roscommon
County Sligo - Sligo
County Tipperary - Clonmel
County Waterford - Waterford
County Westmeath - Mullingar
County Wexford - Wexford
County Wicklow - Wicklow
Counties of Northern Ireland
County Antrim - Belfast
County Armagh - Armagh
County Derry - Derry
County Down - Downpatrick
County Fermanagh - Enniskillen
County Tyrone - Omagh
Former county towns
In 1974 the administrative boundaries of the United Kingdom were altered and in some areas (particularly Scotland and Wales) the old administrative counties were replaced by new administrative areas. The boundaries were altered again in 1996 to create Unitary Authorities and some of the traditional counties and county towns were restored for administrative purposes.
Counties of England created in 1974
Avon - Bristol (now unitaries)
Cleveland - Middlesbrough (now unitaries)
Humberside - Beverley (now unitaries)
Preserved counties of Wales
Since 1996, these towns have had no administrative functions and are no longer referred to as county towns, except where they have become county towns or administrative centres of new areas e.g. Cwmbran which is the administrative centre for Torfaen and Monmouthshire, although it actually lies in Torfaen. The county towns in Glamorgan were seldom referred to as such.
Clwyd - Mold
Dyfed - Carmarthen
Gwent - Cwmbran
Gwynedd - Caernarfon
Mid Glamorgan - Cardiff (extraterritorial)
Powys - Llandrindod Wells
South Glamorgan - Cardiff
West Glamorgan - Swansea
Category:Capitals
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