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Is it a village or town?

(48 Posts)
kittylester Sat 30-Jan-21 08:49:14

The village in which we live has a population of about 6,000 (so quite big as villages go) a distant relative in America lives in a town with a population of 753. How odd is that?

cornishpatsy Sat 30-Jan-21 12:07:24

Just looked up the population of the village I live in was surprised it is 1600, thought it was less.

BlueBelle Sat 30-Jan-21 12:22:12

And I live in a town without a market We did have a town hall which has now been debunked into a concrete box of a council building

PamelaJ1 Sat 30-Jan-21 12:44:19

Mamacaz snap, except we also have a small school.

Redhead56 Sat 30-Jan-21 14:34:36

There’s a place on Anglesey called City Dulas which I have never understood as it’s a village.

Chewbacca Sat 30-Jan-21 15:02:00

St David's is the capital city of Wales; the smallest city in the UK, and has a population of around 2000. It takes about 5 minutes to walk around, has only 3 or 4 shops and a HUGE castle!

SueDonim Sat 30-Jan-21 16:58:20

I live in a village with a population in the low-hundreds . My nearest town has a population of about 8,000 but lots of people call it ‘the village’, as in ‘I’m just going into the village for my messages.’ grin

Blossoming Sat 30-Jan-21 17:36:28

We live in a city, our little corner is quite cut off so feels like a small community ?

PaperMonster Sat 30-Jan-21 18:07:05

The village I live in has 500 residents. My parents live very rurally and I was surprised to see there are 1200 residents - they’re not in a village, I don’t know what you’d call it! It’s lots of fields with a few houses scattered about. However there is a housing estate which is entered through another village, which most people would assume was part of that village but is actually part of the area where my parents live.

Kaimoana Sun 31-Jan-21 06:10:10

No doubt someone has already stated this but I'll add my two penn'orth anyway.

A hamlet is a small community with
out a church. Once a church is built, it becomes a village. Once it has a (cattle) market, even if there are only 300 people living there, it's a town. A town becomes a city only when it has a cathedral.

It has nothing to do with size if you wish to be strictly accurate but common misusage and multiple inaccurate online dictionary entries have made most people think city simply means a high population.

BlueBelle Sun 31-Jan-21 06:26:55

But not all cites have a cathedral

grandMattie Sun 31-Jan-21 06:41:06

We live in a “small” mediaeval town of about 6k inhabitants, it’s designation as a town is a hangover from its importance as a port in the XVth century. We have markets, guildhall and all that. I think the average age is about 120! ???

kittylester Sun 31-Jan-21 07:11:06

Derby has had a cathedral for around 500 years and only became a City about 20 years ago so that theory doesn't hold up Kaimoana.

NanKate Sun 31-Jan-21 07:17:39

14,000 live in our riverside town in South Bucks. The centre of the town only has 4 roads of shops, restaurants and cafes. There is little room for further development I’m pleased to say.

FannyCornforth Sun 31-Jan-21 09:38:01

kittylester

Derby has had a cathedral for around 500 years and only became a City about 20 years ago so that theory doesn't hold up Kaimoana.

Kitty I'm sure that you'll find this as strange as I do...
I could have sworn that Derby became a city around 1992/93 when I first came here as a student, which is a little later than you thought, but still in the ball park (or baseball ground wink).
However, accordingly to various sources, Derby became a city in 1977 shock

kittylester Sun 31-Jan-21 10:33:07

Crumbs, fanny, is it that long ago? I thought it related to the millenium but must have been the Silver Jubilee.

Chewbacca Sun 31-Jan-21 10:47:06

A town becomes a city only when it has a cathedral

Their are 18 cities in the UK that have no cathedral:

Brighton, Bath, Cambridge, Hull, Lancaster, Leeds, Newry, Nottingham, Plymouth, Preston, Salford, Southampton, Stirling, Stoke, Sunderland, Swansea, Westminster and Wolverhampton.

PaperMonster Sun 31-Jan-21 19:39:41

And Blackburn has a cathedral but doesn’t have City status!

kittylester Sun 31-Jan-21 20:22:59

As did Derby for nearly 500 years!

Urmstongran Sun 31-Jan-21 20:34:11

Urmston is a town in Trafford, Greater Manchester, England, which had a population of 41,825 at the 2011 Census. Within the boundaries of the historic county of Lancashire, it is about five miles (8 km) southwest of Manchester city centre.

My Scottish stepfather was born in Plockton, Wester Ross. He sold his home just before Christmas. It had been in his family for over a hundred years. The population there is a very busy 278!

Urmstongran Sun 31-Jan-21 20:37:50

Sorry, Plockton actually has 378 residents in the village. A third more than I thought! It’s on the edge of Loch Carron. His house is in this photo. It really is picturesque.

SueDonim Sun 31-Jan-21 20:46:39

Dunkeld has a cathedral but it is a village.

Marmight Sun 31-Jan-21 20:53:33

My village in the SW has a population of 1,400 with one shop, one pub and a Church. My previous village in Scotland with 13 shops, 2 Churches and 3 pubs has a population of 1,680 but many refer to it as a town ?. Town v village