A
county town is a county's current or former
administrative centre in the
United Kingdom,
Ireland, or
Jamaica. 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 or county hall is based. In fact, many county towns are no longer part of "their" administrative county. For example,
Nottingham is administered by a unitary authority entirely separate from the rest of
Nottinghamshire. Many county towns are classified as
cities, but all are referred to as county towns regardless of whether city status is held or not.