Beaufort

[Pat Martin]

Which British town was formerly known as Beaufort

[Old_Geezer]

Don't know. But there was a Duke of Beaufort (apart from the pubs). May still be for all I know. And a village of that name in Monmouthshire, if that's any help.

[stewey]

This doesn't really answer your question, but here is a reference to the Bristol Beaufort and one of your counties.
"The Beaufort came from Bristol's submission to meet Air Ministry Specifications M.I5/35 and G.24/35 for respectively a land-based twin-engined torpedo-bomber and a general reconnaissance aircraft. With a production order following under Specification 10/36, the Bristol Type 152 was given the name Beaufort[7][8] after the Duke of Beaufort, whose ancestral home was nearby in Gloucestershire."[9]

[Buenchico]

If this a quiz question, set by a particularly awkward quiz-setter, the answer might well be Calais.

Several towns in the Pas-de-Calais were known locally as 'Beaufort' at one time. (Beaufort Blavincourt retains that title). Calais was a British (or, more accurately, English) town from 1347 to 1558.

[stewey]

That was interesting, Chris. Finding answers to some questions just gets curiouser and curiouser doesn't it?

[jake-the-peg]

// The name Beaufort refers to a castle in Champagne, France (now Montmorency-Beaufort). It is the only current dukedom to take its name from a place outside the British Isles.//

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Duke_of_Beaufort

Too easy

[jno]

easy answer to another question, maybe

[stewey]

Precisely, jno. We're all sort of dancing around the question throwing in little bits of information; however, nobody has actually answered it.

[stewey]

Here is another piece of fuel to add to the burning question.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beaufort,_Blaenau_Gwent

[stewey]

I see that OG has already made reference to what I posted. Anyway, it still doesn't answer the question as Pat uses the term "formerly".

[jno]

Buenchico might have given the correct answer if it's a trick question except, as he points out, it was never British.