Product Code Database
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 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, and Brighton and Hove is separate from East Sussex. On a ceremonial level, both are in their own respective counties geographically.
| Bedford | ||
| Reading or Abingdon | ||
| Aylesbury | ||
| Ely | ||
| Chester | ||
| Truro, Bodmin or Launceston | ||
| Cockermouth or Penrith | ||
| Derby | ||
| Exeter | ||
| Poole | ||
| Bishop Auckland or Sadberge | ||
| Chelmsford | ||
| Bristol | ||
| Winchester | ||
| Hereford | ||
| Hertford | ||
| Huntingdon | ||
| Maidstone | ||
| Preston | ||
| Leicester | ||
| Lincoln | ||
| Brentford, Clerkenwell, London or Westminster | ||
| Norwich | ||
| Northampton | ||
| Alnwick, Newcastle upon Tyne, Morpeth or Berwick upon Tweed | ||
| Nottingham | ||
| Oxford | ||
| Oakham | ||
| Shrewsbury (spellings diverged) | ||
| Taunton, Ilchester, Bath or Wells | ||
| Lichfield | ||
| Ipswich | ||
| Guildford, Newington or Southwark | ||
| Lewes, Chichester or Horsham | ||
| Coventry | ||
| Appleby or Kendal | ||
| Trowbridge, Salisbury or Devizes | ||
| Worcester | ||
| Kingston upon Hull | ||
| Aberdeen |
| Forfar |
| Lochgilphead (formerly Inveraray) |
| Ayr |
| Banff |
| Duns, Scottish Borders (formerly Berwick-upon-Tweed, formerly Greenlaw) |
| Rothesay |
| Wick |
| Alloa (formerly Clackmannan) |
| Cromarty |
| Dumfries |
| Dumbarton |
| Haddington |
| Cupar |
| Inverness |
| Stonehaven (formerly Kincardine) |
| Kinross |
| Kirkcudbright |
| Lanark |
| Edinburgh |
| Elgin |
| Nairn |
| Kirkwall |
| Peebles |
| Perth |
| Renfrew |
| Dingwall (also the county town of Ross and Cromarty) |
| Jedburgh (formerly Roxburgh) |
| Selkirk |
| Lerwick |
| Stirling |
| Dornoch |
| Linlithgow |
| Wigtown |
| Biwmares |
| Aberhonddu |
| Caernarfon |
| Aberteifi |
| Caerfyrddin |
| Rhuthun (formerly Dinbych) |
| Yr Wyddgrug (formerly Y Fflint) |
| Caerdydd |
| Dolgellau |
| Y Trallwng (formerly Trefaldwyn) |
| Trefynwy |
| Hwlffordd (formerly Penfro) |
| Llanandras (former Maesyfed) |
| Bedfordshire | 1889 to 2009 | Bedford |
| Berkshire | 1889 to 1998 | Reading (county borough until 1974) |
| Buckinghamshire | 1889 onwards | Aylesbury |
| Cambridgeshire | 1889 to 1965 and 1974 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 |
| County Durham | 1889 onwards | Durham |
| Essex | 1889 onwards | Chelmsford |
| Gloucestershire | 1889 onwards | Gloucester (county borough until 1974) |
| Hampshire | 1889 onwards | Winchester |
| Herefordshire | 1889 to 1974 and 1998 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 |
| 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 extraterritorial County 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 and 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 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 and 1998 onwards | Worcester (county borough until 1974) |
| Yorkshire, East Riding | 1889 to 1974 and 1996 onwards | Beverley (later HQ of Humberside) |
| Yorkshire, North Riding | 1889 to 1974 | Northallerton |
| Yorkshire, West Riding | 1889 to 1974 | Wakefield (county borough from 1915) |
| 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 and 2002 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 |
| Beaumaris1 |
| Brecon |
| Caernarfon |
| Carmarthen |
| Aberystwyth2 |
| Aberaeron |
| Mold |
| Denbigh |
| Carmarthen |
| Mold |
| Cardiff (county borough) |
| Newport (1974–78), Cwmbran (1978–96) |
| Caernarfon |
| Cardiff (extraterritorial) |
| Dolgellau |
| Welshpool |
| Newport (county borough from 1891) |
| Presteigne3 |
| Haverfordwest |
| Llandrindod Wells |
| Cardiff |
| Swansea |
| Llangefni |
| Dún Laoghaire | Until 1994, formed Dublin County Council, with its administrative offices in Dublin city | |
| Swords | ||
| Tallaght | ||
| Called Maryborough until 1929 | ||
| previously Trim was the administrative town | ||
| Prior to 1883, the county town was Daingean, then known as Philipstown | ||
| Until the Local Government Reform Act 2014, these were respectively the administrative towns of South Tipperary County Council and North Tipperary County Council | ||
| Prior to the merger of Waterford County Council with Waterford City Council in 2014, Dungarvan was the county town and administrative centre of County Waterford. | ||
| Antrim |
| Armagh |
| Downpatrick |
| Enniskillen |
| Coleraine |
| 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.
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