Can you name the county towns of England's historic counties?

County	Town
Bedfordshire
Berkshire
Buckinghamshire
Cambridgeshire
Cheshire
Cornwall
Cumberland
Derbyshire
Devon
Dorset
Durham
Essex
Gloucestershire
Hampshire
Herefordshire
Hertfordshire
Huntingdonshire
Kent
Lancashire
Leicestershire

County	Town
Lincolnshire
Middlesex
Norfolk
Northamptonshire
Northumberland
Nottinghamshire
Oxfordshire
Rutland
Shropshire
Somerset
Staffordshire
Suffolk
Surrey
Sussex
Warwickshire
Westmorland
Wiltshire
Worcestershire
Yorkshire

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Historic county towns of England Quiz

Rating:	Nominate Report game
Created by: peanut4 -
Contributed: September 27th, 2009
Category: Geography
Plays: 1,460

Tags: England, historic, county, town

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	UEAdam:	Sep 30th, 2009 at 13:20 GMT	2 points
	Very interesting quiz. I only really got the obvious ones and embarrassingly missed out on Kent's county town after living nearby for seven years.

	Pistol:	Oct 6th, 2009 at 16:07 GMT	1 point
	Enjoyed that. Thanks

	nickisposh:	Oct 15th, 2009 at 19:09 GMT	2 points
	Can't believe I missed Alnwick. My brother's school mate owns the castle!

	ammek:	Oct 24th, 2009 at 19:22 GMT	5 points
	Reading was recorded as the county town of Berkshire as early as the 17th century. It officially took over from Abingdon in 1869. I think you should include both answers, since the 1870s seem pretty "historic" to me!

	LincsReg:	Nov 6th, 2009 at 07:01 GMT	2 points
	Very enjoyable game, thanks....

	yossarian74:	Jan 31st, 2010 at 03:17 GMT	0 points
	I'm with ammek on that one, Reading should be ok. Abingdon's been in Oxfordshire for ages for starters! Good quiz though, cheers. I'd never have got Appleby if I'd sat there all night...

	Crickeet:	Mar 11th, 2010 at 22:54 GMT	1 point
	Great quiz

	sjorford:	Mar 15th, 2010 at 13:18 GMT	1 point
	Interesting quiz this, a lot of easy answers mixed with a few fiendishly difficult ones. Never would have got Westmorland - I only vaguely even know where it is!

	zeppelinoid:	May 2nd, 2010 at 09:46 GMT	4 points
	Excellent geographic/historical quiz. I would suggest a few additions/amendments. The City of London, Soke of Peterborough and Isle of Ely were all historic counties of equal standing and should be included (although their county towns are obvious). Yorkshire, Lincolnshire, Suffolk and Sussex were all subdivided and there "ridings" or subdivisions had their own county towns (including Northallerton, Wakefield, Beverley, Sleaford, Spalding and Bury St Edmunds). The original county towns of Wiltshire, Buckinghamshire and Hampshire were Wilton, Buckingham and Southampton respectively (after which each county was named). Reading preceded Abingdon as county town of Berkshire, and Bodmin preceded Truro in Cornwall (as Lanceston preceded Bodmin). However we could go on like this ad infinitum.

	tamotu:	Jul 12th, 2010 at 18:57 GMT	2 points
	i dont think spalding was ever a county town, i live about 4 miles away, originally there were parts of lincolnshire lindsey, holland and kesteven, but spalding was never the largest or most important town in its part, that honour going to boston

	zeppelinoid:	Aug 5th, 2010 at 16:01 GMT	1 point
	@tamotu: You are absolutely right, County Hall for the "Parts of Holland" was Boston. I got confused with the modern South Holland Distict Council which is based in Spalding.

	dspritchett:	Sep 29th, 2010 at 00:09 GMT	2 points
	yes! I definitely agree that Buckingham should be Buckinghamshire's county town. The source used is odd, as it included abingdon and aylesbury. Abingdon is very archaic, yet aylesbury is the modern county town. Maybe a more accurate historic county town quiz should have taken the county towns in say 1500, a period i would defo define as historic. At least state a time period on the quiz title.

	samjones9999:	Mar 17th, 2011 at 07:46 GMT	0 points
	I think Matlock rather than Derby is the county town of Derbyshire. Might be wrong?

	Imperium:	Jun 23rd, 2011 at 10:41 GMT	1 point
	In the same vein as Reading for Berkshire, Newcastle was usually used for the business of governing Northumberland, with Alnwick being simply the seat of the Duke.