City status in the United Kingdom
City status in the United Kingdom is granted by the
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
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 and not by a royal charter but there are some British cities that predate the historical monarchy, and have been regarded as cities since "
time immemorial". City status brings no benefits other than the right to be called a city. It should be noted that all cities have to be re-issued with letters patent reconfirming city status following local government re-organisation where the original city has been abolished. This process was followed by a number of cities since
1974, and
York and
Hereford's status was confirmed in both
1974 and again in the 1990s. Failure to do so leads to the loss of city status as happened at Rochester in
1998 (see below).
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 66 officially-designated cities in the UK, of which eight have been created since 2000 in competitions to celebrate the new
millennium and Queen
Elizabeth II's
Golden Jubilee. The designation is highly sought after, with over 40 communities submitting bids at recent competitions.
Charters originated as
charters of incorporation, allowing a town to become an incorporated
borough, or to hold
markets. Some of these charters recognised officially that the town involved was a city. Apart from that recognition, it became accepted that such a charter could make a town into a city. The earliest examples of these are
Hereford and
Worcester, both of which date their city status to 1189.
Until the sixteenth century, a town was recognised as a city by the Crown if it had a
diocesan cathedral within its limits. This means some cities today are very small, because they were unaffected by population growth during the
industrial revolution â€" notably
Wells, which has a population of about 10,000 (see
Smallest cities in the United Kingdom). After the sixteenth century, no new dioceses (and no new cities) were created until the nineteenth 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 did not have cathedrals to become cities (Birmingham's parish church later became a cathedral).
Towns that became seats of bishoprics in the twentieth century, such as
Chelmsford,
Guildford, and
Blackburn, were not automatically granted city status. However, well into the twentieth century it was often 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 said that
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.
 |
Only 28 cities have ceremonial Lord Mayors. Patrick John Stannard (Lord Mayor of Oxford) wears the chain of that office, 2004 |
A town can now apply for city status by submitting an application to the
Lord Chancellor, who makes recommendations to the sovereign. Such competitions are usually held to mark special events, such as
coronations, royal
jubilees or the
Millennium.
Some cities in England, Wales and Northern Ireland have the further distinction of having a
Lord Mayor rather than a simple
Mayor - in Scotland, the equivalent is the
Lord Provost. Lord Mayors have the right to be
styled "The Right Worshipful The Lord Mayor". The Lord Mayors and Provosts of
Belfast,
Cardiff,
Edinburgh,
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 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 was recognised as a city from 1211 to 1998. On
April 1 1974 the city was abolished, becoming part of the
Borough of Medway, a
local government district in the county of
Kent. However, under
letters patent the area of the former city was to continue to be styled the "City of Rochester" to "perpetuate the ancient name" and to recall "the long history and proud heritage of the said city".
[Letters Patent dated March 18, 1974, text retrieved from Medway Council archives website] The city was unique, as it had no council or charter trustees and no mayor or civic head. In
1979 the Borough of Medway was renamed as
Rochester-upon-Medway, and in
1982 further letters patent transferred the city status to the entire borough.
[Letters Patent dated January 25, 1982, text retrieved from Medway Council archives website] On
April 1,
1998, the existing local government districts of Rochester-upon-Medway and
Gillingham were abolished and became the new
unitary authority of
Medway. Since it was the local government district that officially held city status under the
1982 letters patent, 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. [
1] [
2]
After its unsuccessful attempt to gain city status, the
town of
Reading, Berkshire started using the phrase "City Centre" on its buses and car park signs.
The following are the official cities in the United Kingdom as in 2004. Those that 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.
City Status confirmed by
Letters Patent issued under the
Great Seal dated
April 1,
1974.
[London Gazette, issue no. 46255, April 4, 1974] City Status confirmed by
Letters Patent issued under the
Great Seal dated
June 25,
1974.
[London Gazette, issue no. 46303, June 28, 1974] City Status confirmed by
Letters Patent issued under the
Great Seal dated
May 28,
1974.
[London Gazette, issue no. 46334, May 31, 1974] Bath Abbey and
Westminster Abbey are no longer cathedrals.
Coventry has had three cathedrals: the first, St Mary's from 1043 to 1539; the second, St Michael's, from 1918 to 1940, when it was destroyed by German bombardment; and its replacement, also St Michael's, built alongside the old cathedral, consecrated in 1962.
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 boroughs. This can be compared to the
City of Brussels, within
Brussels.
City status was confirmed by
Letters Patent dated
July 9,
1974.
[London Gazette, issue no. 46352, September 24, 1974] The city status extends to the entire district, although the district council calls itself "St Albans District Council" or "St Albans City and District".
Letters Patent under the
Great Seal conferring City Status were issued to the unitary authority of York on
1st April,
1996, confirming the right of the Lord Mayor to be styled "Right Honourable", in continuation to those granted to the previous City Council abolished
March 31,
1996.
[London Gazette, issue no. 54363, April 4, 1996] Letters Patent under the
Great Seal were issued on
March 29,
1996 ordaining that that the counties of Swansea and Cardiff should have the status of cities from
April 1,
1996. The counties replaced the previous district councils which had enjoyed city status.
According to the
Municipal Year Book, 1972 the
royal burghs of
Perth and
Elgin officially enjoyed city status. The royal burghs of
Brechin,
Dunfermline and
Kirkwall had also been officially described as "cities". As all burghs were abolished in
1975, these areas are now often called "former cities".
The Provost of Inverness is the Area Convenor of the Inverness Area Committee of
Highland Council.
The Provost of Stirling is the civic head of the entire Stirling council area, although city status only extends to the town of Stirling.
Armagh had previously enjoyed city status, with
St Patrick's Cathedral the site of the metropolitan primate of all
Ireland. The city status was lost in
1840 when the city corporation was abolished. However, the successor
urban district council and district council frequently used the title of city without official sanction prior to
1994.
City Status confirmed by
Letters Patent issued under the
Great Seal dated
March 18,
1975.
[London Gazette, issue no. 46522, March 20, 1975] City status granted by
Letters Patent dated
June 7,
1977.
[London Gazette, issue no. 47246, June 14, 1977] City status granted to the "Town of Newport in the County Borough of Newport" and the "Town of Preston" by
Letters Patent dated
May 15,
2002.
[London Gazette, issue no. 56573, May 21, 2002] Letters Patent dated
January 31,
2001 ordained that "the Towns of Brighton and Hove shall have the status of a City".
[London Gazette, issue no.56109, May 2, 2001] Letters Patent dated
January 31,
2001 ordained that "the Town of Wolverhampton shall have the status of a City".
dated
November 4,
1980 ordained that the "Town of Lichfield shall have the status of a City". A town council had been constituted in
1980 leading to the dissolution of the
Charter Trustees of the City of Lichfield.
[London Gazette, issue no. 48364, November 7 1980],
[Lichfield City Council website] City status granted by
Letters Patent dated
March 23,
1992.
[London Gazette, issue no.52874, March 26, 1992] City status was conferred on Hereford Town Council
October 11,
2000.
[Charters of Hereford City Council] The status had previously been confirmed to the district council formed in
1974. When that council was abolished in
1996 charter trustees were formed for the City of Hereford. On the formation of a town council for Hereford in April
2000 the charter trustees were dissolved, and the city status temporarily lapsed.
Letters Patent dated
September 16,
1994 ordained that the "Town of St. David's shall have the status of a City".
[London Gazette, issue no. 53798, September 23, 1994] The title of City was used "by courtesy" after
1550 when Westminster ceased to be the see of a bishop. By
Letters Patent dated
October 27 1900 city status was conferred on the newly created
Metropolitan Borough of Westminster from
November 1.
[London Gazette issue no. 27242, October 30 1900] This status was continued on the creation of the
City of Westminster as a
london borough in
1965.
The letters patent conferring city status were regarded by Leicester corporation as conferring the "restoration to the town of its former status of a city"
[Leicester: The Dignity of a City 655-1926, Leicester's city status, its loss and its regaining over thirteen centuries by Daniel Williams]Letters Patent dated
December 10,
1969.
[London Gazette, issue no.44986, December 12, 1969]Letters Patent dated
April 21,
1926.
[London Gazette, issue no.33154, April 23, 1926]Letters Patent dated
March 21,
1951.
[London Gazette, issue no.39201, April 13, 1951]Letters Patent dated
May 14,
1937.
[London Gazette, issue no.34400, May 21, 1937]Letters Patent dated
October 18,
1928.
[London Gazette, issue no.33433, October 26, 1928]Letters Patent dated
June 5,
1925.
[London Gazettte, issue no.33063, July 3, 1925]Letters Patent dated
October 28,
1905, which also granted the title of Lord Mayor.
[London Gazette, issue no.27849, October 31, 1905]Letters Patent dated
March 22,
1982[London Gazette, issue no.48932, March 25, 1982]Letters Patent dated
July 13,
1988[London Gazette, issue no.51416, July 20, 1988]Letters Patent dated
March 10,
1992[London Gazette, issue no.52861, March 13, 1992]Letters Patent dated
June 6,
1953[London Gazette, issue no.39983, June 6, 1953]Letters Patent dated
May 1,
2002[London Gazette, issue no.56556, May 1, 2002]Declaration that the Chief Magistrate and Officer of the City to bear the style and title of Lord Mayor
June 26,
1914[London Gazette, issue no.28845, June 30, 1914]Declaration that the Chief Magistrate to bear the honorary title of Lord Mayor
July 11,
1906[London Gazette, issue no.52861, July 27, 1906]Declaration that the Chief Magistrate of the City to bear the style and title of Lord Mayor
July 10,
1928[London Gazette, issue no.33405, June 20, 1928]Letters Patent dated
October 23,
1962[London Gazette, issue no.42815, October 23, 1962]Letters Patent dated
May 10,
1935[London Gazette, issue no.34160, May 10, 1935]Letters Patent dated
March 11,
1966[London Gazette, issue no.43921, March 11, 1966]Style of "Right Honourable" conferred on Lord Mayor by Letters Patent dated
October 26,
1956. The city was designated the capital of wales at that date.
[London Gazette, issue no.40911, October 26, 1956]The first Lord Mayor was appointed
June 3,
1896[History of Mayoralty of Birmingham from Birmingham City Council website]Letters Patent dated
September 16,
1907[London Gazette, issue no.28065, October 1, 1907]The Lord Mayoralty of Bristol was granted in
1899[History of The Lord Mayor of Bristol from Bristol City Council website]The Lord Mayoralty was granted in
1897[Lord Mayor of Leeds from Leeds City Council website]The Lord Mayoralty was granted in
1928[Lord Mayors of Leicester from Leicester City Council website]The Lord Mayoralty was granted in
1892[List of Lord Mayors of Liverpool from Liverpool City Council website]The Lord Mayoralty was granted in
1892[List of Lord Mayors from Manchester City Council website]The Lord Mayoralty was granted in
1909[Norwich City Council website]The Lord Mayoralty was granted in
1927[Lord Mayors of Portsmouth from Portsmouth City Council website]The Lord Mayoralty was granted
July 12,
1897[History of the Lord Mayor from Sheffield City Council website]The Lord Mayoralty was granted
July 10,
1928[Stoke-on-Trent City Council website]These current
cities in the
Republic of Ireland were created using this system when Ireland was part of the
United Kingdom.
Being a city gives a settlement no special rights other than that of calling 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 authorities (including
metropolitan and
London boroughs) that are responsible for all local government services within their area. (The only
London borough having city status is the
City of Westminster). Many cities have ordinary
district councils, which share power with
county councils. 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
cities in the traditional sense of the word (that is, a large urban area) but are in fact
local government districts that 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 (1040 km²) of mostly rural landscape in the north of England, and is larger than 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 neighbouring 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 a report
Key Statistics for Urban Areas that separates the population of the actual town or city from the population of the area controlled by the council bearing its name.
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, Duke of Cornwall as
Prince of Wales. At the
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 fortieth anniversary of the Queen's reign.
Sunderland was the winner. In 1994 two historic seats of Bishoprics â€"
St David's and
Armagh â€" 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 & Hove,
Chelmsford,
Colchester,
Croydon,
Doncaster,
Dover,
Guildford,
Ipswich,
Luton,
Maidstone,
Medway,
Middlesbrough,
Milton Keynes,
Northampton,
Preston,
Reading,
Shrewsbury and Atcham,
Southend-on-Sea,
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 & 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
Southwark, together with
Greenwich and
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 â€" especially in
Wales â€" over the fact that two of the three winners of the 2000 competition were
English towns, 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) so that offence would not be caused to either community.
Exeter was awarded Lord Mayoralty status in a separate application.
England, Wales and Northern Ireland
Now that being the seat of a
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 â€" particularly St Asaph and Rochester.
Additionally
Llandaff, which is now part of the
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. (The latter two achieved city status formally in 1994 and 2002 respectively.)
There are four towns in Northern Ireland with Anglican Cathedrals that do not have city status â€"
Clogher,
Downpatrick,
Dromore and
Enniskillen.
In total there are
17 English, Welsh and Northern Ireland towns that have city status but do not have Anglican cathedrals within their borders -
Bath (a former cathedral),
Brighton & Hove,
Cambridge,
Hull,
Lancaster,
Leeds,
Newry,
Nottingham,
Plymouth,
Preston,
Salford,
Southampton,
Stoke-on-Trent,
Sunderland,
Swansea,
Westminster (but Westminster Abbey was a cathedral briefly during the reign of Henry VIII) and
Wolverhampton. Cities to have acquired cathedrals after 1888 are
Birmingham,
Bradford,
Derby,
Leicester,
Newport,
Portsmouth and
Sheffield.
Scotland
The
national church of
Scotland, the
Church of Scotland, is
presbyterian in governance with no
bishops or
dioceses, and thus has
high kirks rather than
cathedrals. However the pre-
Reformation and modern
Roman Catholic dioceses, and the modern dioceses of the
Scottish Episcopal Church, do have extant cathedrals. There are three towns in Scotland that have Episcopal cathedrals but do not have city status â€" Millport,
Oban and
Perth. Perth is often called a city, the
fair city of Perth, but Oban is not. Additionally,
Brechin and
Elgin are often referred to as cities, as they had pre-Reformation cathedrals. In the past Elgin, Brechin and Perth were all cities.
Stirling, which was recently made a city, has never had an Episcopal or Catholic cathedral.
As noted above, in ordinary discourse, "city" can refer to any large settlement, with no fixed limit.
There are certain towns which have large urban areas, which could qualify for city status on the grounds of their population size. Some have applied for city status and had the application turned down. Northampton is one of the most populous urban districts not to be a London Borough, metropolitan borough or city; on this basis the council claims that it is the largest town in England.
At every census the government produces the report
Key Statistics for Urban Areas which shows that the following are the largest nine urban sub-areas outside London not a part of a city or having a city as a component:
*
Reading â€" 232,662
*
Dudley â€" 194,919
*
Northampton â€" 189,474
*
Luton â€" 185,543
*
Milton Keynes (urban area) â€" 184,506
*
Walsall â€" 170,994
*
Bournemouth â€" 167,527
*
Southend-on-Sea â€" 160,257
*
Swindon â€" 155,432
See
List of English cities by population for further such examples in England.
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
City of Stirling and the
City of Inverness provide counterexamples here.
Stirling Council's application for city status was specifically for the urban area of the (now former)
Royal Burgh of Stirling - proposed city boundaries were included, and so not all of the
council area has city status.
This leads to the oddity whereby city status can be granted to areas that are not generally regarded as towns. Historical or "federal cities" of this type would be
Stoke on Trent,
Sunderland and
Brighton & Hove - in all these cases the borough was formed and then city status granted to it afterwards.
The largest local authorities to have applied for city status in the recent competitions are
*
London Borough of Croydon â€" 330,587
*
Metropolitan Borough of Wirral â€" 312,293
*
Metropolitan Borough of Doncaster â€" 286,866
*
Metropolitan Borough of Stockport â€" 284,528
*
Metropolitan Borough of Bolton â€" 261,037
*
Borough of Medway â€" 249,488
*
London Borough of Southwark â€" 244,866
*
London Borough of Greenwich â€" 214,403
*
Borough of Milton Keynes â€" 207,057
*
Borough of Northampton â€" 194,458
*
Borough of Warrington â€" 191,080
*
Borough of Luton â€" 184,371
*
Borough of Swindon â€" 180,051
*
Borough of Southend-on-Sea â€" 159,600
*
Cities in England*
Towns of the United Kingdom*
List of UK place names with royal patronage*
List of English cities by population*
Smallest cities in Britain*
List of conurbations in the United Kingdom*
UK topics*
Government list of UK cities*
BBC News: Rochester loses city status
