County borough is a term used refer to a local government area between 1889 and 1974 in the United Kingdom. When the first county councils were created, it was decided that to let them have authority over the large towns in them would be impractical, and so any large incorporated place would have the right to be a county borough, an administrative county in its own right.
The county boroughs were abolished in 1974, with some being made metropolitan boroughs, and others being made districts of administrative counties. This situation did not persist and many of the old county boroughs that were annexed, have now regained independence as unitary authorities - essentially the same as county boroughs, but renamed. Some unitary authorities in Wales today use the style 'county borough' in their name.
It is also used, perhaps anachronistically, to refer to the counties of Bristol, Coventry, London, Reading, that had been created long before 1889.
England
Wales
