Largest village in England
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Many villages claim to be the largest village in England. This title is essentially a meaningless one, as it cannot be verified because of the lack of a common definition of a village, the absence of any particular benefits associated with the status, and the vagueness of 'largest' (population or area?).
The claim is complicated by disputes over what exactly constitutes a village. Definitions can refer to population, area, a key building (e.g. school, retail outlet, church or village hall), a village nameplate or a minimum number of houses (e.g. 20). One tongue-in-cheek requirement is that its High Street should not have a Woolworths.
The definition of a town is equally complex. One definition is a settlement with a town charter (see the list of towns in England). Another is that a town has a regular market. One thing that confuses popular definitions is the complicated system in Britain of "postal towns". Many Britons presume that anywhere that needs to be linked to a nearby city/town in an address is a village. However this not the case: for example, West Yorkshire's address system sees Liversedge count as a postal town despite being considered a village whilst Hemsworth, which is a town, comes under the postal town of Pontefract.
The typical English local government district contains a variety of settlements and their boundaries are not formally determined. Civil parishes do exist, but parishes can contain several distinct villages or hamlets. Informally, many settlements are described both as a town and a village by different people. Furthermore, settlements have a tendency to become larger and, when they do, many residents tend to prefer to think of their home as a village rather than a town, and institutions such as a village green or village hall will tend to retain the name that they were given when the settlement was smaller. For these reasons it is most unlikely that any definitive answer to the question could ever be obtained.
A typical contender is Kidlington in Oxfordshire, which has a population of around 17,000. Whilst Kidlington might be described as a town in colloquial use, it has not formally taken on this status and still has a parish council rather than a town council. Also, Kidlington has never in its past had a town charter. Many other villages are in a similar position. Some of the claimants below (Cottingham and Lancing included) are part of larger urban areas, and it can be contended that such claimants are now suburbs rather than villages.
[edit] Contenders
Places for which this claim has been made (with an estimate of their current population in brackets) include:
| Village | County | Population 2001 census |
Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Ashington | Northumberland | 27,335 | Considered to be the "world's largest coal-mining village" during the peak time of coal-mining. |
| Anston | South Yorkshire | 19,086 | Population figure includes Dinnington. |
| Barnt Green | Worcestershire | 5,249 | |
| Bayston Hill | Shropshire | 5,247 | |
| Bembridge | Isle of Wight | 3,492 | "One of the largest villages in Europe"[1] |
| Bessacarr | South Yorkshire | 19,803 | |
| Birchington | Kent | ||
| Braunton | Devon | 8,420 | |
| Codnor | Derbyshire | ||
| Cranleigh | Surrey | 9,046 | |
| Cottingham | East Riding of Yorkshire | Has made the claim on the basis of including the 93 km² grounds of Cottingham Manor. | |
| Churchdown | Gloucestershire | 12,998 | Population figure includes Innsworth; for census purposes considered part of the Gloucester Urban Area. |
| Flackwell Heath | Buckinghamshire | 12,795 | Population figure includes Bourne End; for census purposes considered part of the High Wycombe Urban Area. |
| Gnosall | Staffordshire | 4,080 | Whether neighbouring Gnosall Heath is part of the village is disputed. |
| Haddenham | Buckinghamshire | 4,720 | |
| Horndean | Hampshire | ||
| Hunmanby | North Yorkshire | 3,279 | |
| Kidlington | Oxfordshire | 14,945 | |
| Kingsteignton | Devon | 10,503 | |
| Lancing | West Sussex | 30,360 | Population figure includes Sompting; for census purposes considered part of the Brighton/Worthing/Littlehampton conurbation. |
| Marple | Greater Manchester | 18,475 | |
| Marske-by-the-Sea | Redcar and Cleveland | 8,921 | |
| North Baddesley | Hampshire | 6,234 | |
| Ruskington | Lincolnshire | 4,950 | |
| Sawston | Cambridgeshire | 7,150 | |
| Seaton | Cumbria | 5,126 | For census purposes considered part of the Workington Urban Area. |
| Street | Somerset | 11,669 | |
| Studley | Warwickshire | 6,257 | |
| Wombourne | Staffordshire | 12,768 | |
| Wroughton | Wiltshire | 6,850 |
Totton used to claim the title, but is now part of the town of Totton and Eling.
The most populous civil parish in England not to have town status is Ecclesfield, with 31,609 people at the 2001 census.
[edit] Similar claims
There are also claimaints to the titles of smallest and largest village, town and city in England.
- Smallest village claimants: Ault Hucknall, Duncannon (Devon)
- Smallest town claimant: Fordwich
- Largest town claimant: Northampton
- Smallest city claimant: Wells, although the City of London is technically smaller
The University of Lancaster is listed by the census as a settlement, and could claim to be the largest hamlet in Britain.[citation needed]
