County town

County's administrative centre in Ireland and Great Britain

In Great Britain and Ireland, a county town is the most important town or city in a county.[dubious - discuss] It 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 county councils in England 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. Due 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.

## Great Britain, historic

[edit]

### England

[edit]

This list shows towns or cities which held county functions at various points in time.

County | Named after or of same root  | Places that held county functions

|
|

Bedfordshire | Bedford
Berkshire | N/A | Reading or Abingdon[a]
Buckinghamshire | Buckingham | Aylesbury[b]
Cambridgeshire | Cambridge | Ely
Cheshire | Chester
Cornwall | N/A | Truro, Bodmin or Launceston[c]
Cumberland | Carlisle (county later renamed) | Cockermouth or Penrith[d]
Derbyshire | Derby
Devon | N/A | Exeter
Dorset | Dorchester | Poole
County Durham | Durham | Bishop Auckland or Sadberge
Essex | N/A | Chelmsford
Gloucestershire | Gloucester | Bristol
Hampshire | Southampton | Winchester[3]
Herefordshire | Hereford
Hertfordshire | Hertford
Huntingdonshire | Huntingdon
Kent | Canterbury (name of same origin) | Maidstone[e]
Lancashire | Lancaster | Preston[f]
Leicestershire | Leicester
Lincolnshire | Lincoln[g]
Middlesex | N/A | Brentford, Clerkenwell, London or Westminster[h]
Norfolk | N/A | Norwich
Northamptonshire | Northampton
Northumberland | N/A | Alnwick, Newcastle upon Tyne, Morpeth or Berwick upon Tweed[i]
Nottinghamshire | Nottingham[j]
Oxfordshire | Oxford
Rutland | N/A | Oakham
Shropshire | Shrewsbury (spellings diverged)
Somerset | Somerton | Taunton, Ilchester, Bath or Wells[k]
Staffordshire | Stafford | Lichfield
Suffolk | N/A | Ipswich
Surrey | N/A | Guildford, Newington or Southwark[l]
Sussex | N/A | Lewes, Chichester or Horsham[m]
Warwickshire | Warwick | Coventry
Westmorland | N/A | Appleby or Kendal
Wiltshire | Wilton | Trowbridge, Salisbury or Devizes [n]
Worcestershire | Worcester
Yorkshire | York | Kingston upon Hull[o]

1. ^ 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.[1] Knights of the shire were nominated at Reading and elected at Abingdon.[1][2]
2. ^ Sir John Baldwin, Chief Justice of the Common Pleas, caused the county assizes to be moved to Aylesbury. Knights of the shire continued to be elected at Buckingham. The 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica considered Buckingham to be the county town.
3. ^ The county assize court sat at Bodmin, and the 1911 Britannica considered Bodmin to be the county town. Prior to 1835, it was Launceston.
4. ^ Knights of the shire were elected at Cockermouth; the assizes and quarter sessions courts were occasionally held at Penrith.
5. ^ 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.
6. ^ 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. 3. c. 58) established that the principal administrative business of the county could be transacted only at Preston.[4]
7. ^ Lindsey, Kesteven and Holland had separate administrations until 1974, with Holland sessions meeting at Boston, Kesteven at Sleaford, and Lindsey at Lincoln, the over-all county town.
8. ^ 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.[5]
9. ^ 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.[6] 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.[7][8]
10. ^ Nottingham was constituted a county corporate separate from Nottinghamshire in 1449. The area containing the Shire Hall however remained an exclave of Nottinghamshire.[9]
11. ^ 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.[10]
12. ^ Under the Surrey Gaol Act 1791 (31 Geo. 3. c. 22) the justices of the peace of the county of Surrey were empowered to build a new sessions house and county gaol at Newington adjacent to the borough of Southwark and in the suburbs of London.[11] By 1799 the buildings were completed and the county administration was based there until 1893.[12] Newington or Southwark (the ecclesiastical centre) were sometimes described as the county town thereafter, for instance in a school textbook of 1828.[13]
13. ^ Chichester was traditionally described as the capital city of Sussex and Lewes its county town.[14][15][16] 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.[17]
14. ^ Wiltshire County Council note that Wiltshire "never had a well recognised county town".[18] An 1870s gazetteer describes "Salisbury and Devizes" as the "county towns".[19] The 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica names only Salisbury.
15. ^ The county towns of the three "Ridings" are considered to be Beverley, Northallerton and Wakefield.

### Scotland

[edit]

County | County town

|

Aberdeenshire | Aberdeen[a]
Angus (or Forfarshire) | Forfar
Argyll | Lochgilphead (formerly Inveraray)[b]
Ayrshire | Ayr
Banffshire | Banff
Berwickshire | Duns, Scottish Borders (formerly Berwick-upon-Tweed, formerly Greenlaw)
Bute | Rothesay
Caithness | Wick
Clackmannanshire | Alloa (formerly Clackmannan)
Cromartyshire | Cromarty
Dumfriesshire | Dumfries
Dunbartonshire | Dumbarton
East Lothian (or Haddingtonshire) | Haddington
Fife | Cupar
Inverness-shire | Inverness
Kincardineshire | Stonehaven (formerly Kincardine)
Kinross-shire | Kinross
Kirkcudbrightshire | Kirkcudbright
Lanarkshire | Lanark[c]
Midlothian (or Edinburghshire) | Edinburgh[d]
Morayshire (or Elginshire) | Elgin
Nairnshire | Nairn
Orkney | Kirkwall
Peeblesshire | Peebles
Perthshire | Perth
Renfrewshire | Renfrew[e]
Ross-shire | Dingwall (also the county town of Ross and Cromarty)
Roxburghshire | Jedburgh (formerly Roxburgh)[f]
Selkirkshire | Selkirk
Shetland | Lerwick
Stirlingshire | Stirling
Sutherland | Dornoch[g]
West Lothian (or Linlithgowshire) | Linlithgow
Wigtownshire | Wigtown[h]

1.   2.   3.   4.   5.   6.   7.   8.

1. ^ In 1900 Aberdeen became a county of a city and thus outside the remit of the county council.
2. ^ 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.
3. ^ 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.[20]
4. ^ Edinburgh was a county of itself, and therefore lay outside the remit of the county council.
5. ^ The headquarters of Renfrew County Council were in Paisley from 1890.
6. ^ Newtown St Boswells was the administrative headquarters of the county council established in 1890.
7. ^ The headquarters of Sutherland County Council were at Golspie from 1890.
8. ^ Stranraer became the administrative headquarters of the Wigtown county council in 1890, and was sometimes described as the "county town" thereafter.

### Wales

[edit]

Following the Norman invasion of Wales, the Cambro-Normans created the historic shire system (also known as ancient counties). Many of these counties were named for the centre of Norman power within the new county (Caernarfonshire named for Caernarfon, Monmouthshire named for Monmouth) others were named after the previous medieval Welsh kingdoms (Ceredigon becomes Cardigan, Morgannwg becomes Glamorgan). The 1535 Laws in Wales Act established the historic counties in English law, but in Wales they were later replaced with eight preserved counties for ceremonial purposes and the twenty two principal areas are used for administrative purposes. Neither of these subdivisions use official county towns, although their administrative headquarters and ceremonial centres are often located in the historic county town.[21]

Name in English | Name in Welsh | County town in English | County town in Welsh

|
|
|

Anglesey | Ynys Môn | Llangefni
(formerly Beaumaris?) | Llangefni
Biwmares
Brecknockshire | Brycheiniog | Brecon | Aberhonddu
Caernarfonshire
(formerly Carnarvonshire) | Sir Gaernarfon | Caernarfon | Caernarfon
Cardiganshire | Ceredigion | Cardigan | Aberteifi
Carmarthenshire | Sir Gaerfyrddin | Carmarthen | Caerfyrddin
Denbighshire | Sir Ddinbych | Ruthin (formerly Denbigh) | Rhuthun (formerly Dinbych)
Flintshire | Sir y Fflint | Mold (formerly Flint) | Yr Wyddgrug (formerly Y Fflint)
Glamorgan | Morgannwg | Cardiff | Caerdydd
Merioneth or Merionethshire | Meirionnydd or Sir Feirionnydd | Dolgellau | Dolgellau
Montgomeryshire | Sir Drefaldwyn | Welshpool (formerly Montgomery) | Y Trallwng (formerly Trefaldwyn)
Monmouthshire | Sir Fynwy | Monmouth | Trefynwy
Pembrokeshire | Sir Benfro | Haverfordwest (formerly Pembroke) | Hwlffordd (formerly Penfro)
Radnorshire | Sir Faesyfed | Presteigne (formerly New Radnor) | Llanandras (former Maesyfed)

## Great Britain, post 19th-century reforms

[edit]

With the creation of elected county councils in 1889, the administrative headquarters in some cases moved away from the traditional county town. Furthermore, in 1965 and 1974 there were major boundary changes in England and Wales and administrative counties were replaced with new metropolitan and non-metropolitan counties. The boundaries underwent further alterations between 1995 and 1998 to create unitary authorities, and some of the ancient counties and county towns were restored. (Note: not all headquarters are or were called County Halls or Shire Halls e.g.: Cumbria County Council's HQ up until 2016 was called The Courts and has since moved to Cumbria House.) Before 1974, many of the county halls were in towns and cities that had the status of a county borough i.e. a borough outside the county council's jurisdiction.

### England, from 1889

[edit]

County council | Date | Headquarters

|
|

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)[22]
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.[23]
Dorset | 1889 onwards  | Dorchester
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
Lincolnshire, Parts of 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 – 1981[24]
County Hall Morpeth since 1981[25]
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 (1893–2020)
Woodhatch Place, Reigate (2021 onwards)[26]
East Sussex | 1889 onwards  | Lewes
West Sussex | 1889 onwards  | Chichester (originally jointly with Horsham)[17]
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)

### England, from 1965

[edit]

County council | Date | Headquarters

|
|

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) (1965–1986)
City Hall, Southwark (Greater London Authority) (2002–2021)
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

### Wales

[edit]

County council | Date | Headquarters

|
|

Anglesey | 1889 to 1974 | Beaumaris1
Brecknockshire | 1889 to 1974 | Brecon
Caernarvonshire | 1889 to 1974 | Caernarfon
Carmarthenshire | 1889 to 1974
1996 onwards | Carmarthen
Cardiganshire | 1889 to 1974 | Aberystwyth2
Ceredigion | 1996 onwards | Aberaeron
Clwyd | 1974 to 1996 | Mold
Denbighshire | 1889 to 1974 | Denbigh
Dyfed | 1974 to 1996 | Carmarthen
Flintshire | 1889 to 1974 | Mold
Glamorgan | 1889 to 1974 | Cardiff (county borough)
Gwent | 1974 to 1996 | Newport (1974–78), Cwmbran (1978–96)
Gwynedd | 1974 onwards | Caernarfon
Mid Glamorgan | 1974 to 1996 | Cardiff (extraterritorial)
Merionethshire | 1889 to 1974 | Dolgellau
Montgomeryshire | 1889 to 1974 | Welshpool
Monmouthshire | 1889 to 1974 | Newport (county borough from 1891)
Radnorshire | 1889 to 1974 | Presteigne3
Pembrokeshire | 1889 to 1974
1996 onwards | Haverfordwest
Powys | 1974 onwards | Llandrindod Wells
South Glamorgan | 1974 to 1996 | Cardiff
West Glamorgan | 1974 to 1996 | Swansea
Isle of Anglesey | 1996 onwards | Llangefni

1. Due to its better transport links and more central location, some administrative functions were moved to Llangefni.
2. Cardigan was often still referred to as 'the county town' due to the name link. However, assizes were held at Lampeter while Aberystwyth housed the administration of the county council. Aberystwyth was therefore the de facto county town.
3. Due to its better transport links and more central location, some administrative functions were moved to Llandrindod Wells.

## Ireland

[edit]

### Republic of Ireland

[edit]

The follow lists the location of the administration of each of the 31 local authorities in the Republic of Ireland, with 26 of the traditional counties.

County | Councils | County town | Notes

|
|
|

County Carlow | Carlow County Council | Carlow |
County Cavan | Cavan County Council | Cavan |
County Clare | Clare County Council | Ennis |
County Cork | Cork County Council | Cork city |
Cork City Council | Cork city |
County Donegal | Donegal County Council | Lifford |
County Dublin | Dublin City Council | Dublin city |
Dún Laoghaire–Rathdown County Council | Dún Laoghaire | Until 1994, formed Dublin County Council, with its administrative offices in Dublin city
Fingal County Council | Swords
South Dublin County Council | Tallaght
County Galway | Galway City Council | Galway city |
Galway County Council | Galway city |
County Kerry | Kerry County Council | Tralee |
County Kildare | Kildare County Council | Naas |
County Kilkenny | Kilkenny County Council | Kilkenny |
County Laois | Laois County Council | Portlaoise | Called Maryborough until 1929
County Leitrim | Leitrim County Council | Carrick-on-Shannon |
County Limerick | Limerick City and County Council | Limerick |
County Longford | Longford County Council | Longford |
County Louth | Louth County Council | Dundalk |
County Mayo | Mayo County Council | Castlebar |
County Meath | Meath County Council | Navan | previously Trim was the administrative town
County Monaghan | Monaghan County Council | Monaghan |
County Offaly | Offaly County Council | Tullamore | Prior to 1883, the county town was Daingean, then known as Philipstown
County Roscommon | Roscommon County Council | Roscommon |
County Sligo | Sligo County Council | Sligo |
County Tipperary | Tipperary County Council | Clonmel/Nenagh | Until the Local Government Reform Act 2014, these were respectively the administrative towns of South Tipperary County Council and North Tipperary County Council
County Waterford | Waterford City and County Council | Waterford | 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.
County Westmeath | Westmeath County Council | Mullingar |
County Wexford | Wexford County Council | Wexford |
County Wicklow | Wicklow County Council | Wicklow |

### Northern Ireland

[edit]

County | County town

|

County Antrim | Antrim
County Armagh | Armagh
County Down | Downpatrick
County Fermanagh | Enniskillen
County Londonderry | Coleraine
County Tyrone | 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.

## Jamaica

[edit]

Jamaica's three counties were established in 1758 to facilitate the holding of courts along the lines of the British county court system, with each county having a county town.[27] The counties have no current administrative relevance.

County | County town

|

Cornwall | Savanna-la-Mar
Middlesex | Spanish Town
Surrey | Kingston

## See also

[edit]

* Administrative centre
* County seat

## References

[edit]

1. ^ a b Lewis, Samuel (1831). "Berkshire". A Topographical Dictionary of England. Vol. I (1st ed.). p. 130.
2. ^ "Berkshire Quarter Sessions". Jackson's Oxford Journal. 4 July 1868.
3. ^ "Hampshire Placenames and their Meanings". Hampshire County Council. 17 February 2009. Archived from the original on 15 August 2013. Retrieved 31 August 2013.
4. ^ Webb, Sidney; Beatrice Webb (1906). English Local Government from the Revolution to the Municipal Corporations Act: The Parish and the County. London: Longmans Green and Co. pp. 432–433.
5. ^ Justice in Eighteenth-Century Hackney (Process and Procedures), by Ruth Paley British History Online
6. ^ "Alnwick (St. Mary and St. Michael), A Topographical Dictionary of England (1848), pp. 39–44". British-history.ac.uk. 22 June 2003. Retrieved 29 January 2012.
7. ^ "Morpeth (St. Mary), A Topographical Dictionary of England (1848), pp. 345–350". British-history.ac.uk. 22 June 2003. Retrieved 29 January 2012.
8. ^ "Northiam – Nortoft, A Topographical Dictionary of England (1848), pp. 433–439". British-history.ac.uk. 22 June 2003. Retrieved 29 January 2012.
9. ^ Nicholson, A P (11 November 2007). "Shire (County) Hall, Nottingham". Nottinghamshire History. Retrieved 2 June 2011.
10. ^ "Somerton archaeological survey (Somerset County Council)". Archived from the original on 28 March 2005. Retrieved 29 April 2007.
11. ^ "Southwark Prisons". Survey of London: volume 25: St George's Fields (The parishes of St. George the Martyr Southwark and St. Mary Newington). British History Online. 1955. Retrieved 6 September 2010.
12. ^ Edward Walford (1878). "The Old Kent Road". Old and New London: Volume 6. British History Online. Retrieved 6 September 2010.
13. ^ Stewart, Alexander (1828). A compendium of modern geography: with remarks on the physical peculiarities, productions of the various countries; Questions for Examination at the end of each Section; and Descriptive Tables. Oliver & Boyde.
14. ^ "About Sussex". Sussex County Flag. 11 March 2015. Retrieved 2 February 2019.
15. ^ A List of Some Towns of Commercial, Antiquarian, Historical or Sanitary Interest. A Reference Book of Modern Geography. Longmans, Green and Co. 1870.
16. ^ Chichester, Lewes. Sussex; being an historical, topographical, and general description of every rape, hundred, river, town, borough, parish, village, hamlet, castle, monastery, and gentleman's seat in that county, etc. E. Taylor. 1834.
17. ^ a b General history of Horsham – The town as county centre, Victoria County History of Sussex, Volume VI British History Online
18. ^ "Question: Why is Trowbridge the county town of Wiltshire?". Wiltshire and Swindon History Centre. Wiltshire Council. Retrieved 2 May 2023.
19. ^ Wilson, John Marius (1872). "Imperial Gazetteer of England and Wales: WILTS". A. Fullarton and Co.
20. ^ Notice in Edinburgh Gazette, 28 February 1964 that county council's address changed from Lanarkshire House, 191 Ingram Street, Glasgow C1 to County Buildings, Hamilton from 6 April 1964
21. ^ John Davies, A History of Wales, Penguin, 1993, ISBN 0-14-028475-3
22. ^ Removal of County Headquarters, The Times, 28 January 1958
23. ^ Frederic A. Youngs, Guide to the Local Administrative Units of England, Vol.1: Southern England, London, 1979, p.83
24. ^ Northumberland 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
25. ^ County Hall moved to Morpeth on 21 April 1981 (see notice in London Gazette issue 48579, dated 10 April 1981)
26. ^ "127 year chapter of history comes to an end as Surrey County Council moves home". Get Surrey. 23 December 2020. Archived from the original on 3 May 2021. Retrieved 3 May 2021.
27. ^ Higman, B. W.; Hudson, B. J. (2009). Jamaican Place Names. Mona, Jamaica: University of the West Indies Press. p. 31\. ISBN 978-976-640-306-5. Archived from the original on 13 December 2017. Retrieved 13 December 2017.