Talk:Largest village in England
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Who exacly claims that Studley is the second largest village in England?.
I can tell you for a fact that it isnt even the second largest village in Warwickshire, both Polesworth and Bulkington are larger. G-Man 20:45, 18 Mar 2005 (UTC)
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[edit] Wombourne
Interestingly, the article on Wombourne claims that it is "officially the largest village in England". it's not even mentioned on this page. So, is it the largest or not? One of the pages must be wrong! Grutness...wha? 06:12, 13 September 2005 (UTC)
- So be bold! I'm surprised to see you of all people holding back! :) Put it on the list. And if you read the article, you'll see that they are probably all wrong. Or all right. And that it dosn't matter anyway. Naturenet | Talk 09:07, 5 October 2005 (UTC)
[edit] Wendover
The definition of what constitutes a village may be in dispute in the UK, but not what constitutes a town - Wendover in Buckinghamshire has had a town charter since 1464 and still holds it; it is therefore not a village and hasn't been for over 500 years. It has been removed from the article. -- Francs2000 
02:25, 5 October 2005 (UTC)
- Wendover doesn't have a town council though. And really the definition of 'town' is as muddled as 'village', but by the legal definition of town (which is a parish that calls itself a town), it ain't one. Of course, that's a stupid definition, also. But I think this claim ought to be reinserted. Morwen - Talk 13:57, 5 October 2005 (UTC)
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- Are you sure that's the legal definition? Aylesbury didn't have a town council until very recently and it's been the county town of Buckinghamshire since the mid 16th century. My understanding is that the legal definition of a town in the UK is that it should have a town charter or charter of incorporation; this is what the Towns of the United Kingdom article says is the official definition, and Wendover certainly does have a charter. -- Francs2000 15:47, 5 October 2005 (UTC)
- Are you sure that's the legal definition? Aylesbury didn't have a town council until very recently and it's been the county town of Buckinghamshire since the mid 16th century. My understanding is that the legal definition of a town in the UK is that it should have a town charter or charter of incorporation; this is what the Towns of the United Kingdom article says is the official definition, and Wendover certainly does have a charter. -- Francs2000
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- I'd argue that if it doesn't have a mayor right now, then it isn't a legal town, despite the fact that it may have been one once. It doesn't necessarily have to have a parish council - could have Charter Trustees instead - a concept that was set up solely in order to keep places as towns! Compare the situation with Rochester, which isn't a city because it doesn't have a mayor. City and town are different levels of honorifics, but fundamentally they have the same origin and kind (honours granted on settlements by the king). I'm not saying this isn't a stupid definition, and I'm not saying we should use it. But I don't like your definition either, as it leads to lots of parliamentary boroughs that are today considered villages, being considered towns, too. Old Sarum is not a town. :p Morwen - Talk 19:41, 5 October 2005 (UTC)
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- I would like to say for the record that I think the mayor definition is a bit silly as that would mean that a number of places that are considered to be historic market towns in this area are not towns any more, and I'll leave it up to you to inform the local residents. I live in a town (Aylesbury) and we identify with the town charter and celebrate it every year; local places like Wendover and Winslow are considered by most locals to be towns and while they don't have mayors they do have charters. In my experience the people who tend to think of Wendover as a village tend to be the newcomers who move there because it's so picturesque and identify with the village idea because it fits with their rose-tinted view of the countryside</POV>. Right, rant over, let's just agree to disagree. -- Francs2000 21:44, 5 October 2005 (UTC)
- I would like to say for the record that I think the mayor definition is a bit silly as that would mean that a number of places that are considered to be historic market towns in this area are not towns any more, and I'll leave it up to you to inform the local residents. I live in a town (Aylesbury) and we identify with the town charter and celebrate it every year; local places like Wendover and Winslow are considered by most locals to be towns and while they don't have mayors they do have charters. In my experience the people who tend to think of Wendover as a village tend to be the newcomers who move there because it's so picturesque and identify with the village idea because it fits with their rose-tinted view of the countryside</POV>. Right, rant over, let's just agree to disagree. -- Francs2000
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[edit] Population
Ideally we need estimates all from the same source. Combining estimates from different sources is bad. Morwen - Talk 13:42, 5 October 2005 (UTC)
- Absolutely - I should have put in a health warning. Probably the 2001 census would be the best source - is there information available for each of these "villages" yet? Warofdreams talk 13:48, 5 October 2005 (UTC)
[edit] "Smallest town in England"
Until just now, the Fordwich article claimed that Fordwich is the smallest town in England. I've altered that to non-specific "is said to be". Googling, I find other claimants to be Manningtree, Winchelsea, Axbridge, Bishop's Castle, although it is unclear how many places make this claim on an official basis. Now, the issues above regarding the definition of 'town' make this tricky. Fordwich currently has a town council and used to be a borough, so has a good claim. Morwen - Talk 23:08, 7 November 2005 (UTC)
- I will categorically state now that I have no idea where the smallest town in the UK is. I'm probably sitting on it for all I know. ;-p -- Francs2000 23:36, 7 November 2005 (UTC)
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- I did quite a bit of checking when I originally added that note to the Fordwich article. Fordwich is almost certainly the smallest place with a town council in England (or Wales) and seems to be the smallest town to claim to be the smallest town in England. Of course, this question is complicated by the lack of a good definition of "town". The smallest town ever could be Gatton - it only had seven voters to Old Sarum's ten! (reference: Unreformed House of Commons) Warofdreams talk 10:53, 8 November 2005 (UTC)
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[edit] "Smallest village"
And I am reminded of the claim made in Ault Hucknall that it is the "smallest village in England"! Morwen - Talk 12:35, 8 November 2005 (UTC)
[edit] Bessacarr
Don't know if it's ever claimed the title but Bessacarr, just south-east of Doncaster, has a high population. The census counts it as a village, so it must be one of the largest. I expect that its population are too busy enjoying their private swimming pools to bother with something as parochial as this. :) Epa101 13:07, 31 August 2006 (UTC)
[edit] Horsforth
When has Horsforth ever made claim to be a village? It has a town council, and everyone always refers to it as a town.
[edit] Street (Som)
Has an urban character though no town council. —The preceding unsigned comment was added by 88.105.237.181 (talk) 20:13, 20 March 2007 (UTC).
