Talk:List of towns in England

Cities

Just out of interest why are cities being included in this list, I thought they had their own list G-Man 19:54, 17 Nov 2003 (UTC)

Yes, included in List of cities in the United Kingdom. I suppose including them here is easier than constantly removing them when added by mistake ( 20:00, 17 Nov 2003 (UTC)

I don't think a town necessarily ceases to be such when it's included in a city. UK cities are administrative areas that may contain multiple towns. ( 20:03, 17 Nov 2003 (UTC)

They don't expand the list much, some of the cities are quite surprising (Wells?), and its nice to have them all in one place. I was pondering adding the remaining London Boroughs and so on to the list as well, but perhaps that would be going too far. I could see a case for adding Sutton Coldfield though, perhaps. Morwen 20:05, 17 Nov 2003 (UTC)

Entity

What exactly is the entity that receives the status of "town"? Is it typically a borough, or just a vaguely defined urban area? Is St Albans still a town? ( 20:10, 17 Nov 2003 (UTC)

It depends whether the town charters get revoked, I guess. But I think its ok to call things towns that aren't by law towns, just as long as there is sufficient town-ness. Morwen 20:19, 17 Nov 2003 (UTC)

Legally, it needs a Royal charter, which historically was granted so that the place could hold a market or a fair. Therefore is any large inhabited place has a regular market, it's most likely that it's a town (if not a city). If the place no longer holds a market however it may be the case that it still has Royal consent to hold one, as in the case of Brill which hasn't had one for years, yet is still considered a town because it still has royal charter to do so. -- Graham  :) 14:19, 9 Feb 2004 (UTC)

Village

When exactly does a village become large enough to be considered a town. For instance Southam and Towcester both have populations of around 5-6,000, and so could be considered large villages rather than towns, I've heard Southam refered to as a village before. Are there any solid rules for this G-Man 10:03, 18 Nov 2003 (UTC)

They both have town councils, so they must surely be towns. But for instance, Cranleigh with a population of over 11,000 is a village, while Moretonhampstead or Winchelsea with around 2,000 people are universally considered towns. So other than looking at common usage, or town councils, mayors, town halls, etc, there are no hard and fast rules. Warofdreams 12:48, 18 Nov 2003 (UTC)

Apparently both Cranleigh and Kidlington claim to be England's biggest village. Shepshed also had that claim, but has since acquired town status. But does anyone have any idea when this happened? -- Stewart 15:37, 13 Jan 2003 (UTC)

Names

Just wondering, should we list towns by their official names or by their common names. For example Leamington Spa which is currently filed under L is officially known as Royal Leamington Spa although hardly anyone calls it by its official title with the 'Royal' bit. So should it be left as it is under L or should it be called its official title and filed under R ? G-Man 12:40, 2 Mar 2004 (UTC)

Brighton and Hove

Is Brighton and Hove a town?, I dont think so, shouldent Brighton and hove be listed individually? G-Man 15:13, 18 Mar 2004 (UTC)

It is a city. A recent change.

This is an oddity of city status applying to the corporate body, rather than the place itself. Neither Brighton or Hove are cities by themselves, but together they are. In the current list Brighton is listed in bold, but Hove isn't. Perhaps they both should be emboldened with a footnote stating that they only hold this status when considered together. Owain 13:59, 14 Jun 2005 (UTC)

Expanding the list

Please, before adding more places to this list, check that they are towns. While the list is not currently comprehensive, it is not improved by adding random places which are moderately large and perhaps feel like they should be towns. If they have a town council, evidence of an extant town charter or are very commonly refered to as towns, please include them.

For instance, Barnt Green, recently added is a suburb of Birmingham. Googling for Barnt Green town does not return any articles about Barnt Green as a town. So I've removed it.

Cambourne (in Cambs., not to be confused with Camborne in Cornwall) was added. From the official website: "It’s one large settlement split into three smaller villages — Lower, Great and Upper Cambourne." i.e., it's not a town. It has no town council, no charter, no mayor and no market. So I've removed it. Warofdreams 13:28, 15 Jun 2004 (UTC)