County Tipperary is one of the thirty-two traditional counties of the island of Ireland, located in the province of Munster. It is not, however, an administrative county of the Republic of Ireland. It was named after the town of Tipperary. Tipperary is the sixth largest of the 32 counties by area and the 11th largest by population. It is the third largest of Munster’s 6 counties by size and the third largest by population. Tipperary was one of the first parts of Ireland to be shired during the 13th century following the Norman invasion of Ireland. For all local government purposes the county is divided into North Tipperary (county town: Nenagh) and South Tipperary (county town: Clonmel). This division dates back to the Local Government (Ireland) Act 1898, with the county's two "ridings" having had separate assize courts for much longer. The use of riding for the divisions was an historical misnomer, since the word derives from the dividing of an area into three parts. The expression "riding" has been discontinued for official purposes since 2002 (Local Government Act, 2001 section 10 and schedule 5).

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