City (Vereinigtes Königreich)

2005-12-28T16:02:33Z

195.93.21.5: /* Large towns */

[[Image:York Minster close.jpg|thumbnail|right|220px|Historically, city status was associated with the presence of a [[cathedral]], such as [[York Minster]].]]

'''[[City status in the United Kingdom]]''' is granted by the [[British monarchy|British monarch]] to a select group of communities. The status does not apply automatically on the basis of any particular criteria, although it was traditionally given to towns with [[List of Church of England dioceses|diocesan cathedrals]]. This association between having a cathedral and being called a city was established in the early 1540s when Henry VIII founded dioceses (and therefore cathedrals) in six English towns and also granted them all city status by issuing Letters Patent. [[City]] status is conferred by Letters Patent (an "open letter" and not by a royal charter) but there are some British cities which predate the historical monarchy and have been regarded as cities since "[[time immemorial]]". City status brings no special benefits, other than the right to be called a city.

Some people have disputed the official definition, especially inhabitants of places that have been considered cities in the past but are not generally considered cities today. Additionally, although the Crown clearly has the right to bestow 'official' city status, some have doubted the right of the Crown to define the word "city" in the United Kingdom. In informal usage, "city" can be used for large towns or conurbations that are not formally cities. The best-known example of this is [[London]], which contains two cities (the [[City of London]] and the [[City of Westminster]]) but is not itself a city.

There are currently sixty-six officially designated cities in the UK, of which eight have been created since 2000 in competitions to celebrate the new [[3rd millennium|millennium]] and Queen [[Elizabeth II of the United Kingdom|Elizabeth II]]'s [[Golden Jubilee]]. The designation is highly sought after, with over forty communities submitting bids at recent competitions.

==City status==
Charters originated as [[charters of incorporation]], allowing a town to become an incorporated [[borough]], or to hold [[market]]s. Some of these charters recognised officially that the town involved was a city. Apart from recognition, it became accepted that such a charter could make a town into a city. The earliest examples of these are [[Hereford]] and [[Worcester, England|Worcester]], both of which date their city status to 1189.

Until the 16th century, a town was invariably recognised as a city by the Crown if it had a [[List of Church of England dioceses|diocesan cathedral]] within its limits. This has led to some cities that are very small today, because they were unaffected by population growth during the [[industrial revolution]]—notably [[Wells]], which has a population of about 10,000 (see [[Smallest cities in Britain]]). After the 16th century, no new dioceses (and no new cities) were created until the 19th century, but the practice was revived with the creation of the diocese of [[Ripon]] in 1836. A string of new dioceses and cities followed. This process was changed in 1888 to allow [[Birmingham]] and other large settlements that didn't have cathedrals to become recognised as cities (Birmingham's parish church later became a cathedral).

Towns that became seats of bishoprics in the 20th century, such as [[Guildford]] and [[Blackburn]], were not automatically granted recognition as cities. However, well into the 20th century, it was assumed that the presence of a cathedral was sufficient to elevate a town to city status, and that for cathedral cities, the city charters were recognising its city status rather than granting it. On this basis, the [[1911 Encyclopedia Britannica]] makes the claim that [[Southwell, Nottinghamshire|Southwell]] (diocese established 1884) and [[St Asaph]] (an historic diocese) are cities. These towns were never granted letters patent recognising this by the Crown, and so when the letters patent became the important criterion they were no longer generally considered cities.

[[Image:LordMayorOxford20040228CopyrightKaihsuTai.png|thumb|left|250px|Only 28 cities have ceremonial [[Mayors in the United Kingdom|Lord Mayors]]. Patrick John Stannard wears the chain of that office to which he was appointed. [[2004|(2004)]]]]
A town can now apply for city status by submitting an application to the [[Lord Chancellor]], who makes recommendations to the sovereign. These application competitions are usually held to mark special events, such as [[Coronation of the British monarch|coronation]]s, royal [[jubilee]]s or the [[2000|Millennium]].

Some cities in England, Wales and Northern Ireland have the further distinction of having a [[Mayors in the United Kingdom|Lord Mayor]] rather than a simple [[Mayor]]. In Scotland, the equivalent is the [[Lord Provost]]. Lord Mayors have the right to be [[style (manner of address)|styled]] "The Right Worshipful The Lord Mayor". The Lord Mayors and Provosts of [[Belfast]], [[Bristol]], [[Cardiff]], [[City of Edinburgh|Edinburgh]], [[City of Glasgow|Glasgow]], [[City of London]], and [[York]] all have the further right to be styled "[[The Right Honourable]] the Lord Mayor" (or Provost), though they are not members of the [[Privy Council of the United Kingdom|Privy Council]] as this style usually indicates. The style is associated with the office, not the person holding it, so "The Right Worshipful Joe Bloggs" would be incorrect.

There are currently 66 recognised cities (including 30 Lord Mayoralties or Lord Provostships) in the UK: 50 cities (23 Lord Mayoralties) in [[England]], five cities (two Lord Mayoralties) in [[Wales]], six cities (four Lord Provostships) in [[Scotland]] and five cities (one Lord Mayoralty) in [[Northern Ireland]].

[[Rochester, Kent|Rochester]] was recognised as a city from 1211 to 1998. Until 1998, it was a [[Districts of England|local government district]] in the county of [[Kent]]. On [[April 1]], [[1998]], the existing local government districts of Rochester and [[Gillingham, Medway|Gillingham]] were abolished and became the new [[unitary authority]] of [[Medway]]. Since it was the local government district that officially held city status, when it was abolished, it also ceased to be a city. The other local government districts with city status that were abolished around this time ([[Bath]] and [[Hereford]]) had decided to appoint [[Charter Trustees]] to maintain the existence of the city and the mayoralty. However, Rochester upon Medway City Council had decided not to. Medway Council apparently only became aware of this when, in 2002, they discovered that Rochester was not on the [[Lord Chancellor's Office]]'s list of cities. [http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/england/1991827.stm] [http://www.medway.gov.uk/orc20030304r-5.pdf?file=10698]

==List of cities==
The following are the official cities in the United Kingdom as of 2004. Those which have been cities since [[time immemorial]] are indicated with "TI" in the "since" column.

Note that the Cathedral column lists the diocesan cathedrals that were the grounds for the granting of city status, that is, cathedrals of the established [[Church of England]], and the formerly established [[Church in Wales]] or [[Church of Ireland]], in cities recognised prior to 1888. The [[Church of Scotland]] has no bishops. Many of these cities have [[Roman Catholic]] cathedrals, but these are not listed.


{| border="1" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="2"
|- bgcolor="#efefef"
| '''City'''
| '''Mayor'''
| '''Since'''
| '''Cathedral'''
| '''Council'''
|-
|align=center colspan =5| '''''English Cities'''''
|-
| [[Bath]]
|  
| 1590
| [[Bath Abbey]] (1)
| [[Charter Trustees]]
|-
| [[Birmingham]]
| Lord Mayor
| 1889
| n/a
| [[metropolitan borough]]
|-
| [[City of Bradford|Bradford]]
| Lord Mayor
| 1897
| n/a
| [[metropolitan borough]]
|-
| [[Brighton and Hove]]
|  
| 2000
| n/a
| [[unitary authority]]
|-
| [[Bristol]]
| Lord Mayor (The Rt Hon.)
| 1542
| [[Bristol Cathedral]]
| [[unitary authority]]
|-
| [[Cambridge]]
|  
| 1951
| n/a
| [[Districts of England|district]]
|-
| [[City of Canterbury|Canterbury]]
| Lord Mayor
| TI
| [[Canterbury Cathedral|Christchurch Cathedral]]
| [[Districts of England|district]]
|-
| [[City of Carlisle|Carlisle]]
| Lord Mayor
| TI
| [[Carlisle Cathedral]]
| [[Districts of England|district]]
|-
| [[City of Chester|Chester]]
| Lord Mayor
| 1541
| [[Chester Cathedral]]
| [[Districts of England|district]]
|-
| [[Chichester, England|Chichester]]
|  
| TI
| [[Chichester Cathedral]]
| [[civil parish]]
|-
| [[Coventry]]
| Lord Mayor
| 1345
| [[Coventry Cathedral]](2)
| [[metropolitan borough]]
|-
| [[Derby, England|Derby]]
|  
| 1977
| n/a
| [[unitary authority]]
|-
| [[Durham]]
|  
| TI
| [[Durham Cathedral]]
| [[Districts of England|district]]
|-
| [[Ely]]
|  
| TI
| [[Ely Cathedral]]
| [[civil parish]]
|-
| [[Exeter]]
| Lord Mayor
| TI
| [[Exeter Cathedral]]
| [[Districts of England|district]]
|-
| [[Gloucester, England|Gloucester]]
|  
| 1541
| [[Gloucester Cathedral]]
| [[Districts of England|district]]
|-
| [[Hereford]]
|  
| 1189
| [[Hereford Cathedral]]
| [[civil parish]]
|-
| [[Kingston upon Hull]]
| Lord Mayor
| 1897
| none
| [[unitary authority]]
|-
| [[City of Lancaster|Lancaster]]
|  
| 1937
| n/a
| [[Districts of England|district]]
|-
| [[City of Leeds|Leeds]]
| Lord Mayor
| 1893
| n/a
| [[metropolitan borough]]
|-
| [[Leicester]]
| Lord Mayor
| 1919
| n/a
| [[unitary authority]]
|-
| [[Lichfield]]
|  
| 1553
| [[Lichfield Cathedral]]
| [[civil parish]]
|-
| [[Lincoln, England|Lincoln]]
|  
| TI
| [[Lincoln Cathedral]]
| [[Districts of England|district]]
|-
| [[Liverpool]]
| Lord Mayor
| 1880
| [[Liverpool Cathedral]] (1880)
| [[metropolitan borough]]
|-
| [[City of London]] (3)
| [[Lord Mayor of London|Lord Mayor]] (The Rt Hon.)
| TI
| [[St Paul's Cathedral]]
| [[Corporation of London]]
|-
| [[Manchester]]
| Lord Mayor
| 1853
| [[Manchester Cathedral]] (1847)
| [[metropolitan borough]]
|-
| [[Newcastle upon Tyne]]
| Lord Mayor
| 1882
| [[Newcastle Cathedral]] (1882)
| [[metropolitan borough]]
|-
| [[Norwich, England|Norwich]]
| Lord Mayor
| 1195
| [[Norwich Cathedral]]
| [[Districts of England|district]]
|-
| [[Nottingham]]
| Lord Mayor
| 1897
| n/a
| [[unitary authority]]
|-
| [[Oxford]]
| Lord Mayor
| 1542
| [[Christ Church, Oxford| Christ Church Cathedral]]
| [[Districts of England|district]]
|-
| [[City of Peterborough|Peterborough]]
|  
| 1541
| [[Peterborough Cathedral]]
| [[unitary authority]]
|-
| [[Plymouth]]
| Lord Mayor
| 1928
| n/a
| [[unitary authority]]
|-
| [[Portsmouth, England|Portsmouth]]
| Lord Mayor
| 1926
| n/a
| [[unitary authority]]
|-
| [[Preston]]
|  
| 2002
| n/a
| [[Districts of England|district]]
|-
| [[Ripon]]
|  
| 1836
| [[Ripon Cathedral]] (1836)
| [[civil parish]]
|-
| [[City of Salford|Salford]]
|  
| 1926
| n/a
| [[metropolitan borough]]
|-
| [[Salisbury, England|Salisbury]]
|  
| TI
| [[Salisbury Cathedral]]
| [[Charter Trustees]]
|-
| [[City of Sheffield|Sheffield]]
| Lord Mayor
| 1893
| n/a
| [[metropolitan borough]]
|-
| [[Southampton]]
|  
| 1964
| n/a
| [[unitary authority]]
|-
| [[City and District of St Albans|St Albans]](4)
|  
| 1877
| [[St Albans Cathedral]] (1877)
| [[Districts of England|district]]
|-
| [[Stoke-on-Trent]]
| Lord Mayor
| 1925
| n/a
| [[unitary authority]]
|-
| [[City of Sunderland|Sunderland]]
|  
| 1992
| n/a
| [[metropolitan borough]]
|-
| [[Truro]]
|  
| 1877
| [[Truro Cathedral]]
| [[civil parish]]
|-
| [[City of Wakefield|Wakefield]]
|  
| 1888
| [[Wakefield Cathedral]] (1888)
| [[metropolitan borough]]
|-
| [[Wells]]
|  
| 1205
| [[Wells Cathedral]]
| [[civil parish]]
|-
| [[City of Westminster|Westminster]]
| Lord Mayor
| 1540
| [[Westminster Abbey]] (1)
| [[London borough]]
|-
| [[City of Winchester|Winchester]]
|  
| TI
| [[Winchester Cathedral]]
| [[Districts of England|district]]
|-
| [[Wolverhampton]]
|  
| 2000
| n/a
| [[metropolitan borough]]
|-
| [[Worcester, England|Worcester]]
|  
| 1189
| [[Worcester Cathedral]]
| [[Districts of England|district]]
|-
| [[City of York|York]]
| Lord Mayor (The Rt Hon.)
| TI
| [[York Minster]]
| [[unitary authority]]
|-
|align=center colspan =5| '''''Welsh Cities'''''
|-
| [[Bangor, Wales|Bangor]]
|  
| TI
| [[Bangor Cathedral]]
| [[community council|community]]
|-
| [[Cardiff]]
| Lord Mayor (The Rt Hon.)
| 1905
| n/a
| [[unitary authority]]
|-
| [[Newport]]
|  
| 2002
| n/a
| [[unitary authority]]
|-
| [[St. David's]]
|  
| 1994
| n/a
| [[community council|community]]
|-
| [[Swansea]]
| Lord Mayor
| 1969
| n/a
| [[unitary authority]]
|-
|align=center colspan =5| '''''Scottish Cities'''''
|-
| [[City of Aberdeen|Aberdeen]]
| Lord Provost
| 1891
| n/a
| [[unitary authority]]
|-
| [[City of Dundee|Dundee]]
| Lord Provost
| 1889
| n/a
| [[unitary authority]]
|-
| [[City of Edinburgh|Edinburgh]]
| Lord Provost (The Rt Hon.)
| 1329
| n/a
| [[unitary authority]]
|-
| [[City of Glasgow|Glasgow]]
| Lord Provost (The Rt Hon.)
| 1492
| n/a
| [[unitary authority]]
|-
| [[Inverness]]
| Provost
| 2000
| n/a
| none
|-
| [[Stirling]]
| Provost
| 2002
| n/a
| none
|-
|align="center" colspan="5"| '''''Northern Irish Cities'''''
|-
| [[Armagh]]
|  
| 1994
| n/a
| [[unitary authority]]
|-
| [[Belfast]]
| Lord Mayor (The Rt Hon.)
| 1888
| n/a
| [[unitary authority]]
|-
| [[Londonderry]]
|  
| 1613
| [[Saint Columb's Cathedral]]
| [[unitary authority]]
|-
| [[Lisburn]]
|  
| 2002
| n/a
| [[unitary authority]]
|-
| [[Newry]]
|  
| 2002
| n/a
| none
|}
(1) [[Bath Abbey]] and [[Westminster Abbey]] are no longer cathedrals.

(2) Coventry has had three cathedrals, the first, St. Mary's from 1043–1539; the second, St. Michael's from 1918–1940, when it was destroyed by German bombardment; and its replacement, also St. Michael's, built alongside the old cathedral, consecrated in 1962.

(3) Note that the [[City of London]] covers only the "square mile", and is usually just referred to as "the City". The larger conurbation of [[London]] has no city charter, and consists of the City of London, the [[City of Westminster]] and 31 other [[London borough]]s. This can be compared to the [[City of Brussels]], within [[Brussels]].

(4) The City of St Albans is a local government district. [http://www.opsi.gov.uk/si/si1998/19982558.htm#note2] However, the district council calls itself "St Albans District Council" or "St Albans City and District". If the unparished area of St Albans did have city status, then it would have [[charter trustee]]s, or would have lost its city status like Rochester did.

==Cities now in the Republic of Ireland==
The current [[cities in Ireland|cities]] in the [[Republic of Ireland]] were created using this system, but have since left the [[United Kingdom]]. These cities are

{| border="1" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="2"
|- bgcolor="#efefef"
| '''City'''
| '''Mayor'''
| '''Since'''
| '''[[Church of Ireland]] Cathedral'''
| '''Council'''
|-
|align=center colspan =5| ''Republic of Ireland Cities''
|-
|[[Cork]]
|[[Lord Mayor of Cork|Lord Mayor]]
|1172
|[[Saint Finbarre's Cathedral]]
|[[county borough|City Council]]
|-
|[[Dublin]]
|[[Lord Mayor of Dublin|Lord Mayor]] (The Rt Hon.)
|1171
|[[Christchurch Cathedral, Dublin|Christchurch Cathedral]]
[[St. Patrick's Cathedral, Dublin|St Patrick's Cathedral]]
|[[county borough|City Council]]
|-
|[[Limerick City|Limerick]]
| 
|1197
|[[St. Mary's Cathedral, Limerick|St. Mary's Cathedral]]
|[[county borough|City Council]]
|-
|[[Galway]]
| 
|1484
|none
|[[county borough|City Council]]
|-
|[[Kilkenny]]
| 
|1609
|[[St Canice's Cathedral]]
|[[municipal borough|Borough Council]]
|-
|[[Waterford City|Waterford]]
| 
|1171
|[[Christ Church Cathedral, Waterford]]
|[[county borough|City Council]]
|}

==City councils==
Being a city gives a settlement no special rights other than that to call itself a city. Nonetheless, this is considered very prestigious and competitions for the status are hard fought.

Most cities have "city councils", which have varying powers depending upon the type of settlement. There are [[unitary authority|unitary authorities]] (including [[metropolitan borough]]s) that are responsible for all local government services within their area. The only current [[London borough]] having city status is the [[City of Westminster]]. Many cities have ordinary [[Non-metropolitan district|district councils]] which share power with [[county council]]s. At the bottom end of the scale, some cities have [[civil parish]] councils, with no more power than a [[village]].

Some cities have no council at all. Where they used to have a city council but it has been abolished they may have [[Charter Trustees]], drawn from the local district council, who appoint the mayor and look after the city's traditions.

Most "cities" are not [[city|cities]] in the traditional sense of the word (i.e. a large urban area) but are in fact [[districts of England|local government districts]] which have city status, and which often include large rural areas. For example the [[City of Canterbury]] and [[City of Wakefield]], cover large rural areas. The largest "city" district in terms of area is the [[City of Carlisle]], which covers some 400 square miles (1040km²) of mostly rural landscape in the north of England, and is larger than some of the smaller counties such as [[Merseyside]] or [[Rutland]]. The [[City of Sheffield]] contains part of the [[Peak District National Park]]. This is however merely a curiosity and has had no impact on the general usage of the word "city" in the UK, which has unambiguously retained its urban meaning in [[British English]]. Residents of the rural parts of the "City of Carlisle" and the like might be aware of the name of their local council, but would not consider themselves to be inhabitants of a city with a small "c".

Equally, there are some cities where the local government district is in fact smaller than the historical or natural boundaries of the city. Three examples of this are [[Manchester]] (where the traditional area associated includes areas of the neighboring authorities of Trafford, Tameside and Bury), [[Wolverhampton]] (areas of the neighbouring authorities of Walsall, Dudley and South Staffordshire) and most obviously, [[London]] (Greater London outside the City of London).

This contrasts with the situation in the United States, where the primary meaning of the word "city" is any area contained within [[city limits]], completely disregarding whether or not that area is recognisable as a traditional "city".

Due to the widespread interest in information about towns and cities, and for comparisons between urban populations and with those living outside towns, the Government at each census produces the report [http://www.statistics.gov.uk/census2001/ks_ub_ad.asp Key Statistics for Urban Areas] which separates the population of the actual town or city from the population of the area controlled by the council bearing its name.

==City applications==
City status grants have been used to mark special royal and other occasions. [[Swansea]] was granted city status in 1969 to mark the investiture of [[Charles, Prince of Wales|Charles, Duke of Cornwall]], as [[Prince of Wales]]. At the [[Elizabeth II of the United Kingdom|Queen]]'s [[Silver Jubilee]] in [[1977]], [[Derby]] was granted the honour. The use of formal competitions for city status is a recent practice. The first competition was held in 1992, to mark the 40th anniversary of the Queen's reign. [[City of Sunderland|Sunderland]] was the winner. In 1994 two historic seats of Bishoprics—[[St David's]] and [[Armagh]]—were granted city status. They had been considered cities historically, but this status had lapsed. For the city applications in 2000, held to celebrate the [[millennium]], the following towns and boroughs requested city status:

*''England'': [[Blackburn]], [[Blackpool]], [[Bolton]], [[Brighton and Hove]], [[Chelmsford]], [[Colchester]], [[Croydon]], [[Doncaster]], [[Dover]], [[Guildford]], [[Ipswich, England|Ipswich]], [[Luton]], [[Maidstone]], [[Medway]], [[Middlesbrough]], [[Milton Keynes]], [[Northampton]], [[Preston]], [[Reading, Berkshire|Reading]], [[Shrewsbury and Atcham]], [[Southend on Sea]], [[London Borough of Southwark|Southwark]], [[Stockport]], [[Swindon]], [[Telford and Wrekin]], [[Warrington]], [[Wolverhampton]].
*''Wales'': [[Aberystwyth]], [[Machynlleth]], [[Newport]], [[Newtown]], [[St Asaph]], [[Wrexham]].
*''Scotland'': [[Ayr]], [[Inverness]], [[Paisley]], [[Stirling]].
*''Northern Ireland'': [[Ballymena]], [[Lisburn]].
The three winners were [[Brighton and Hove]], [[Wolverhampton]], and [[Inverness]].

For the 2002 applications, held to celebrate the Queen's [[Golden Jubilee]], the entrants included all of the above towns except [[London Borough of Southwark|Southwark]], together with [[London Borough of Greenwich|Greenwich]] and [[Wirral (borough)|Wirral]] in England, [[Dumfries]] in Scotland and [[Carrickfergus]], [[Coleraine]], [[Craigavon]] and [[Newry]] in Northern Ireland. There was mild controversy in the rest of the UK over the fact that two of the three winners of the 2000 competition were [[England|English]] towns—especially in [[Wales]]—and so 2002 was run as four separate competitions. The winners in Great Britain were [[Preston]] in England, [[Newport]] in Wales, and [[Stirling]] in Scotland. In [[Northern Ireland]] it was decided to award city status to two entrants: [[Lisburn]] (predominantly unionist) and [[Newry]] (predominantly nationalist). [[Exeter]] was awarded Lord Mayoralty status in a separate application.

==Cathedral towns==
[[Image:Southwark-cathedral.jpg|thumb|Under the new system, [[Southwark Cathedral]] does not make [[London Borough of Southwark|Southwark]] a city.]]

Now that being the seat of a [[List of Church of England dioceses|Church of England diocese]] is no longer sufficient (or necessary) to become a city, there are a number of cathedral towns. These are sometimes referred to as cities by their residents—particularly St Asaph and Rochester.

{| border="1" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="2"
|- bgcolor="#efefef"
|'''Place'''
|'''Cathedral'''
|'''Diocese established'''
|-
|[[Blackburn]]
|[[Blackburn Cathedral]]
|1926
|-
|[[Brecon]]
|[[Brecon Cathedral]]
|1923
|-
|[[Bury St. Edmunds]]
|[[St Edmundsbury Cathedral]]
|1914
|-
|[[Chelmsford]]
|[[Chelmsford Cathedral]]
|1914
|-
|[[Guildford]]
|[[Guildford Cathedral]]
|1927
|-
|[[Rochester, Kent|Rochester]]
|[[Rochester Cathedral]]
|historic; previously a city, see above
|-
|[[London Borough of Southwark|Southwark]]
|[[Southwark Cathedral]]
|1905
|-
|[[Southwell, Nottinghamshire|Southwell]]
|[[Southwell Minster]]
|1884
|-
|[[St Asaph]]
|[[St Asaph Cathedral]]
|historic
|}

Additionally [[Llandaff]], which is now part of the [[Cardiff|City of Cardiff]] local government district, is home to [[Llandaff Cathedral]].

The [[1911 Encyclopedia Britannica]] refers to Llandaff, Southwell and St Asaph as cities, along with [[Armagh]] and [[Lisburn]] in [[Northern Ireland]], which only gained the status formally in 1994 and 2002 respectively.

There are 2 towns in Scotland that have Anglican Cathedrals but do not have city status — [[Oban]] and [[Perth, Scotland|Perth]]. Additionally, [[Brechin]] and [[Elgin]] are often referred to as cities.

There are 4 towns in Northern Ireland with Anglican Cathedrals that do not have city status — [[Clogher]], [[Downpatrick]], [[Dromore]] and [[Enniskillen]].

In total there are [http://www.lovemytown.co.uk/Cathedrals/CathedralsTable3.htm 18 UK towns ]that have city status but don't have Anglican cathedrals.

==Large towns==
As noted above, in ordinary discourse, "city" can refer to any large settlement, with no fixed limit.

At every census the government produces the report [http://www.statistics.gov.uk/census2001/ks_ub_ad.asp Key Statistics for Urban Areas] which shows that the following are the largest urban areas without city status:

* [[Reading, Berkshire|Reading]] - 232,662
* [[Dudley]] - 194,919
* [[Warrington]] - 191,084
* [[Northampton]] - 189,474
* [[Luton]] - 185,543
* [[Milton Keynes]] - 184,506
* [[Walsall]] - 170,994

It should be noted that city status is usually not granted to urban areas, but to local government areas such as civil parishes and boroughs — the boundaries, and hence populations, of which are not necessarily the same. The [[Stirling|City of Stirling]] provides a counterexample here, in that in [[Stirling (district)|Stirling district]]'s application for city status was specifically for the the urban area of Stirling - proposed city boundaries were included, and so not all of the district has city status.

This leads to the oddity whereby city status can be granted to areas that are not generally regarded as towns (despite them holding borough status). Examples include Wirral Council (main town Birkenhead) and Medway Council (main towns Gillingham and the former city of Rochester). Both Wirral and Medway Councils applied for city status in 2002 along with the London Boroughs of Croydon and Greenwich.

Examples of "federal cities" of this type would be the [[Stoke on Trent]] and [[Brighton and Hove]] - both of which are made up of a number of separate towns, although in both cases the borough was formed before city status was granted.

==See also==
*[[:Category:Cities in England|Cities in England]]
*[[Towns of the United Kingdom]]
*[[List of English cities by population]]
*[[Smallest cities in Britain]]
*[[List of conurbations in the United Kingdom]]
*[[UK topics]]

==External links==
* [http://www.dca.gov.uk/constitution/city/citygj.htm#part6 Government list of UK cities]
* [http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/england/1991827.stm BBC News: Rochester loses city status]

[[Category:Lists of cities|United Kingdom, List of cities in the]]
[[Category:Geography of the United Kingdom]]
[[Category:Cities in the United Kingdom]]
[[Category:United Kingdom-related lists|City status in the United Kingdom]]
[[Category:Local government of the United Kingdom]]