County Towns: England

Traditional Counties

This subject is littered with pitfalls for the unwary question setter.

According to Wikipedia, "A county town in Great Britain or Ireland is usually, but not always, the location of administrative or judicial functions within the county. The concept of a county town is ill–defined and unofficial. Following the establishment of county councils in 1889, the administrative headquarters of the new authorities were usually located in the county town of each county. However, this was not always the case and the idea of a "county town" pre–dates the establishment of these councils." By way of example, Wikipedia cites Lancashire (see below).

As a result, many counties have more than one candidate for the title of county town. I've tried to clarify matters in the table below, and if setting questions on this subject (it's a perennially popular one) you may wish to include clarification where appropriate.

The following are self–evident: Bedfordshire, Cambridgeshire, Durham, Gloucestershire, Hertfordshire, Herefordshire, Huntingdonshire (now a district of Cambridgeshire), Leicestershire, Lincolnshire, Northamptonshire, Nottinghamshire, Oxfordshire, Staffordshire, Warwickshire, Worcestershire

Berkshire	Since 1867		Reading
	Previously (sharing duties and honours with the above from 1714; town now in Oxfordshire)		Abingdon
Buckinghamshire			Aylesbury
Cheshire			Chester
Cornwall	Currently		Truro
	Previously		Bodmin
	Before 1835		Launceston
Cumberland			Carlisle
Derbyshire	County Council headquarters moved in 1956, from Derby to		Matlock
Devon			Exeter
Dorset			Dorchester
Essex			Chelmsford
Hampshire	(formerly Southampton)		Winchester
Kent			Maidstone
Lancashire	Traditionally		Lancaster
	County Council headquarters (County Hall), since 1882		Preston
Norfolk			Norwich
Northumberland	Traditionally		Alnwick
	County Council headquarters, 1889–1981		Newcastle–upon–Tyne
	County Council headquarters, since 1981		Morpeth
Rutland			Oakham
Shropshire			Shrewsbury
Somerset	Since around 1366		Taunton
	From the late 13th century (until around 1366)		Somerton
	Before that ...		Ilchester
Suffolk	Since 1974, when East and West Suffolk were merged (formerly the county town of East Suffolk)		Ipswich
	Some departments are at (former county town of West Suffolk)		Bury St. Edmunds
Surrey	Traditionally		Guildford
	Administrative headquarters (since 1893 – part of Greater London since 1974, with a borough named after it)		Kingston upon Thames
Wiltshire			Trowbridge

The following counties were created in 1888 but re–merged in 1974:

West Suffolk		Bury St. Edmunds
East Suffolk		Ipswich

1974 creations

The following counties were created in 1974:

Cumbria		Carlisle
Isle of Wight		Newport
East Sussex		Lewes
West Sussex		Chichester
North Yorkshire		Northallerton

Metropolitan counties, created in 1974 but abolished in 1986:

Greater Manchester		Manchester
Merseyside		Liverpool
South Yorkshire		Barnsley
Tyne & Wear		Newcastle–upon–Tyne
West Midlands		Birmingham
West Yorkshire		Wakefield

Greater London was created as a county in 1965 and abolished in 1986. The Greater London Authority was created in 2000 with an elected mayor.

The following counties were created in 1974 and abolished in 1996 (except for Hereford and Worcester, which survived until 1998):

Avon		Bristol
Cleveland		Middlesbrough
Hereford and Worcester		Worcester
Humberside		(Kingston–upon–)Hull

© Haydn Thompson 2017–23