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A county corporate or corporate county was a form of local government in England, Ireland and Wales.

Counties corporate were created during the Middle Ages, and were effectively small self-governing counties. They usually covered important towns or cities, which were deemed to be important enough to be independent from their host counties. A county corporate could also be known as a county of itself.

There is some uncertainty as to whether counties corporate were considered "real" counties, being separate entities from their host ancient counties, or whether they remained geographically part of their traditional county, but with separate administration.

By the 14th century, the growth of some towns had led to strong opposition to their government by local counties. While charters giving various rights were awarded to each borough, some were awarded complete effective independence including their own sherriffs, Quarter Sessions and other officials, and were sometimes given governing rights over a swathe of surrounding countryside. They were referred to in the form "Town and County of ..." or "City and County of ...", and so became known as the counties corporate.

Other counties corporate were created to deal with specific local problems, such as border conflict (in the case of Berwick-upon-Tweed) and piracy (in the case of Poole and Haverfordwest).

In the late nineteenth century counties corporate lost their independence from their parent counties. By the Militia Act 1882 the lieutenancies of the cities and towns were combined with those of their surrounding counties, while those that were not created county boroughs by the Local Government Act 1888 became part of the administrative county in which they were situate. There were two exceptions: the City of London, which retained its status until the creation of Greater London in 1965 and Haverfordwest which had a separate lieutenancy until 1974.

In England and Wales counties corporate were not formally abolished until 1974, although the only vestiges of their existence were the right of the city or borough corporation to appoint a ceremonial sheriff; and the fact that the letters patent appointing lord lieutenants still included the names of the town or city. For example, the Lord Lieutenant of Gloucestershire's full title was "Lieutenant of and in the County of Gloucester, and the City and County of Gloucester, and the City and County of City of Bristol"..

In contrast, the Irish counties corporate were explicitly abolished in 1899 under the terms of the Local Government (Ireland) Act 1898.

Counties corporate and county boroughs were roughly equivalent to a modern unitary authority.

The counties corporate (listed with date of creation where known) were:^[1]

• Berwick upon Tweed (1551)
• Bristol (1373)
• Carmarthen (1604)
• Canterbury (1471)
• Chester (1238/1239)
• Coventry (1451, abolished 1842)
• Exeter (1537)
• Gloucester (1483)
• Haverfordwest (1479)
• Kingston upon Hull (County of Hullshire) by charter of 1440, restricted to town and county of Kingston-upon Hull 1835
• Lichfield (1556)
• Lincoln (1409)
• City of London (1132 until 1965)†
• Newcastle upon Tyne (1400)^[2]
• Norwich (1404)^[3]
• Nottingham (1448)
• Poole (1571)
• Southampton (1447)
• Worcester (1622)^[4]
• York (1396)^[5]

† The City retains a separate shrievalty and lieutenancy

• Carrickfergus (date unknown, predates charter of Elizabeth I)
• Cork (County and City of Cork created by charter of 1608, area restricted to borough boundaries 1840)
• Drogheda (1412)
• Dublin (1665)
• Kilkenny (1609)
• Limerick (1609)
• Waterford (1574)^[6]

1. ^ F A Youngs, Guide to Local Administrative Units of England, 2 volumes, London, 1979 and 1991
2. ^ Newcastle-upon-Tyne (1911 Encyclopedia Britannica)
3. ^ Norwich, England (1911 Encyclopedia Britannica)
4. ^ Worcester, England (1911 Encyclopedia Britannica)
5. ^ York, England (1911 Encyclopedia Britannica)
6. ^ Samuel Lewis, A Topographical Dictionary of Ireland, Comprising the Several Counties, Cities, Boroughs, Corporate and Post Towns, Parishes and Villages, with Historical and Statistical Descriptions; embellished with Engravings of the Arms of the Cities, Bishopricks, Corporate Towns and Boroughs and of the seals of the several municipal corporations, London, 2 Volumes, 1837 Library Ireland

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