County town in the context of "Warwick"

A seat of government is a "building, complex of buildings or the city from which a government exercises its authority". When referring to a city, the seat of government is generally the capital of the state or administrative entity in question, although there are exceptions. Particular terms for the seat of certain territorial subdivisions are administrative centre, county seat (common in the United States), county town (United Kingdom and Ireland), or barrio-pueblo (Puerto Rico), among others; buildings that may function as seats of government include official residences, supreme court buildings, city or town halls, administrative or executive buildings, shire or county halls, legislative buildings, and barangay halls.

An administrative centre is a seat of regional administration or local government, or a county seat or town, or the place where the central administration of a commune or equivalent subdivision, is located.

In countries with French as the administrative language, such as Belgium, Luxembourg, Switzerland and many African countries, a chef-lieu (French pronunciation: [ʃɛfljø], pl. chefs-lieux, lit. 'chief place' or 'main place') is a town or city that is important from an administrative perspective.

A county hall or shire hall is a common name given to a building that houses the seat of local government for a county.

The location of the county hall has usually denoted the county town.

Lancaster (/ˈlæŋkəstər/ LANG-kə-stər or /ˈlænkæstər/ LANG-kast-ər) is a city in Lancashire, England, and the main cultural hub, economic and commercial centre of City of Lancaster district. The city is on the River Lune, directly inland from Morecambe Bay. Lancaster is the county town, although Lancashire County Council has been based at County Hall in Preston since its formation in 1889.

The city's long history is marked by Lancaster Roman Fort, Lancaster Castle, Lancaster Priory Church, Lancaster Cathedral and the Ashton Memorial. It is the seat of Lancaster University and has a campus of the University of Cumbria. It had a population of 52,234 in the 2011 census, compared to the district, which had a population of 138,375.

The West Midlands is one of nine official regions of England at the first level of International Territorial Level for statistical purposes. It covers the western half of the area known traditionally as the Midlands. The region consists of the counties of Herefordshire, Shropshire, Staffordshire, Warwickshire, West Midlands and Worcestershire. The region has seven cities: Birmingham, Coventry, Hereford, Lichfield, Stoke-on-Trent, Wolverhampton and Worcester.

The West Midlands region is geographically diverse, from the urban central areas of the West Midlands conurbation to the rural counties of Herefordshire, Shropshire which border Wales, and Worcestershire. The region is landlocked; however, the longest river in the UK, the River Severn, traverses the region south-eastwards, flowing through the county towns of Shrewsbury and Worcester, and the Ironbridge Gorge, a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Staffordshire is home to the industrialised Potteries conurbation, including the city of Stoke-on-Trent and the Staffordshire Moorlands area, which borders the south-eastern Peak District National Park near Leek. The region also encompasses five Areas of Outstanding Natural Beauty: the Wye Valley, Shropshire Hills, Cannock Chase, Malvern Hills and parts of the Cotswolds. Warwickshire is home to the towns of Stratford upon Avon, birthplace of writer William Shakespeare; Rugby, the birthplace of Rugby football; and Nuneaton, birthplace to author George Eliot.

Cardiff (/ˈkɑːrdɪf/ ; Welsh: Caerdydd [kairˈdiːð, kaːɨrˈdɨːð] ) is the capital and largest city of Wales. Cardiff had a population of 383,919 in 2024 and forms a principal area officially known as the City and County of Cardiff (Welsh: Dinas a Sir Caerdydd). The city is the eleventh largest in the United Kingdom. Located in the southeast of Wales and in the Cardiff Capital Region, Cardiff is the county town of the historic county of Glamorgan and in 1974–1996 of South Glamorgan. It belongs to the Eurocities network of the largest European cities. A small town until the early 19th century, its prominence as a port for coal when mining began in the region helped its expansion. In 1905, it was ranked as a city and in 1955 proclaimed capital of Wales. The Cardiff urban area covers a larger area outside the county boundary, including the towns of Dinas Powys and Penarth.

Cardiff is the main commercial centre of Wales as well as the base for the Senedd, the Welsh Parliament. At the 2021 census, the unitary authority area population was put at 362,400. The population of the wider urban area in 2011 was 479,000. In 2011, it ranked sixth in the world in a National Geographic magazine list of alternative tourist destinations. It is the most popular destination in Wales with 21.3 million visitors in 2017. It was voted as the best city in the UK at the 2023 Readers' Choice Awards.

Winchester (/ˈwɪntʃɪstər/, /-tʃɛs-/) is a cathedral city in Hampshire, England. The city lies at the heart of the wider City of Winchester, a local government district, at the western end of the South Downs National Park, on the River Itchen. It is 60 miles (97 km) south-west of London and 14 miles (23 km) from Southampton, its nearest major city. At the 2021 census, the built-up area of Winchester had a population of 48,478. The wider City of Winchester district includes towns such as Alresford and Bishop's Waltham and had a population of 127,439 in 2021. Winchester is the county town of Hampshire and contains the head offices of Hampshire County Council.

Winchester developed from the Roman town of Venta Belgarum, which in turn developed from an Iron Age oppidum. Winchester was one of the most important cities in England in the Anglo-Saxon period.