County town

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A county town is the 'capital' or main town of a county. 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).

List of county towns within Ireland

Historic counties of Northern Ireland

County County town
County Antrim Antrim
County Armagh Armagh
County Down Downpatrick
County Fermanagh Enniskillen
County Londonderry Derry
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).

Republic of Ireland

Traditional counties of Ireland

The term county capital is also used.

County County town
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 (formerly Queen's County) Portlaoise (formerly known as Maryborough)
County Leitrim Carrick-on-Shannon
County Limerick Limerick
County Longford Longford
County Louth Dundalk
County Mayo Castlebar
County Meath Trim (Navan - de facto)
County Monaghan Monaghan
County Offaly (formerly King's County) Tullamore (since 1835), originally Philipstown
County Roscommon Roscommon
County Sligo Sligo
County Tipperary Previously Cashel and Clonmel. Since 1898 shared between Clonmel (south) and Nenagh (north). Tipperary Town has never been county town.
County Waterford Dungarvan (previously Waterford).
County Westmeath Mullingar
County Wexford Wexford
County Wicklow Wicklow

Other counties of Ireland

County County town
Dun Laoghaire-Rathdown Dún Laoghaire
Fingal Swords
North Tipperary Nenagh
South Dublin Tallaght
South Tipperary Clonmel

References