What is the county town of Tipperary?

dublincc2 · 18-12-2021 8:01pm #1

Hi folks,

I know that Nenagh was the county town of North Tipp and Clonmel of South Tipp, but what is considered to be the single county town of Tipperary? Before the division in 1838 what was the county town? I have not been able to find this information online.

Thanks.

zell12 · 18-12-2021 8:35pm

Still is Clonmel and Nenagh according to Tipp CoCo

dublincc2 · 19-12-2021 9:49pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118344331#Comment_118344331

Simultaneously? Was there ever a single county town for Tipp?

Gael23 · 19-12-2021 9:55pm

Why not Tipperary Town?

zell12 · 20-12-2021 4:50am

Or why not Leitrim in Co Leitrim or Mayo Co Mayo or Donegal Co Donegal

Peregrinus · 20-12-2021 6:55am

The "county town" is the town in which the county council has its principal administrative offices. It will usually be the largest, or one of the largest, towns in the county. There's no rule or practice that, if there is a town that has the same name as the county, it must or should be the county town. Counties Louth, Donegal, Leitrim and Tipperary all contains towns with the same name as the county but which are not the county town, and in each case the town is a very small one.

The real question is not "why is Tipperary not the county town of County Tipperary?" but "why does County Tipperary take its name from Tipperary town?" County Tipperary was established in 1210 by the Normans as part of their attempt to establish Norman rule at the expense of the Gaelic chieftains. It may be that at that time Tipperary town was a more significant place that it is now, or it may simply be that it was controlled by Norman interests, and larger settlements in the region were under the influence of rival Gaelic families.

Ash.J.Williams · 20-12-2021 7:29am

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118349108#Comment_118349108

Because it’s an absolute mental town

dublincc2 · 21-12-2021 2:34pm

Clonmel was the county town of South Tipp and Nenagh for North Tipp, but was there ever a single county town for the entire county?

Peregrinus · 22-12-2021 1:10am

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118356580#Comment_118356580

You don't really have the idea of a "county town" until you have the county councils - the county town is the town in which the council meets, and where it has its principal administrative offices. County Councils date from 1898, whereas Tipperary was divided into North and South Ridings well before that, in 1838. Before 1838, Tipperary wouldn't have had anything considered to be the "county town"; no county did.

Still, the reason for the split in 1838 was that, up to that time, the grand jury (which had some of the functions that we now consider to be local government) met twice a year in Clonmel to file its public works plans for the year in court, which is how things were done at the time. So I suppose you could say that Clonmel was the nearest thing Tipperary had to a county town. Clonmel is at the extreme southern end of what is a large county, and this was not convenient for grand jurors who lived at the other end of the county, so a petition was launched to move the grand jury sittings to a more central location. This was opposed by the MP for Clonmel at the time, so instead the county was split into two ridings, each with its own grand jury. The North Riding grand jury met in Nenagh.

BorneTobyWilde · 22-12-2021 1:29am

Tipperary City

Paddico · 24-01-2022 1:56pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118350053#Comment_118350053

Cant go wrong then 😁

cml387 · 11-02-2022 10:45am

Since Tipperary became a unitary county in 2014, administrative duties have been split between Nenagh and Clonmel. So in essence Tipp now has two county towns.

What is the county town of Tipperary?

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