"Peter Masson" wrote:
Not specifically Irish, but used where the county and a town in it
have the same name, and the shire suffix doesn't apply. The one
English example is County Durham.

Durham was - until 1820 or so, I think, the County Palatine of Durham
(the princes in question being the bishops of Durham). About 98% sure
that's why the name has that form (it's many years since I spent time
grubbling through 16th century correspondence in the Lit. and Phil.
in Newcastle, but I'm pretty sure still that there were usages of
"County Durham" explicitly as a short form for the full title in
some of those - official - letters)

Not sure that there were actually railways within the County until some
years after the Civil Wars, though. Development was much faster north
of the Tyne.

--
From the Model M of Andy Breen, speaking only for himself