Several places claim to be the largest village in England. This title is disputed as there is no standard definition of a village and size might be determined by population or area.
One contender is Kidlington in Oxfordshire, which has a population of around 15,000. Whilst Kidlington might be described as a town in colloquial use due to its sheer size, 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, East Riding of Yorkshire and Lancing, West Sussex included) are part of larger urban areas, and it can be contended that such claimants are now suburbs rather than villages.
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).
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. There is the concept of postal towns, but these do not always fit with popular local definitions. Popular definitions can change over small areas. For example, Hebden Bridge in West Yorkshire is widely considered a "town" yet its population is half the size of nearby Birstall, which is considered a "village".
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. Since 1974, drawing the precise definition of town boundaries has not been important for local government. Somewhere such as Bessacarr in South Yorkshire was not part of Doncaster prior to 1974; it is often spoken of as a suburb of Doncaster now, but, if it is still a village, then it is one of the largest in England. Such difficulties in measurement mean that it is most unlikely that any definitive answer to the question could ever be obtained.
Places for which this claim has been made, and the reported population in the 2001 census (most recent available figures) include:
| Village | Ceremonial county | Population 2001 census |
Notes on basis of claim |
|---|---|---|---|
| Bembridge | Isle of Wight | 3,492 | Claimed by a personal website to be the "largest village in Europe" based on parish council control, claiming that larger contenders are town council controlled[1] |
| Rawmarsh | South Yorkshire | 17,443 | |
| Cranleigh[2] | Surrey | 11,241 | |
| Cottingham[3] | East Riding of Yorkshire | 17,768 | Has made the claim on the basis of including the 93 km² grounds of Cottingham Manor. |
| Culcheth[4] | Cheshire | 11,454[5] | |
| Horsforth[6] | West Yorkshire | 21,562 | Claim made in 19th century - now has a town council. |
| Hunmanby | North Yorkshire | 3,279 | Claims to have been the largest village in the past[7] |
| Kidlington[8] | Oxfordshire | 14,945 | Described by its parish council as the "second largest village in England".[9] |
| Lancing[10] | West Sussex | 18,700 | Population is for the parish of Lancing only |
| Wombourne[11] | Staffordshire | 12,768 | |
| Sheffield | South Yorkshire | 513,234 | The "largest village" nickname is due to its location in an isolated valley, its lack of grand architecture and its proletarian history.[12] City status was granted in 1893. |
The most populous civil parish in England not to have town status is Ecclesfield, with 31,609 people at the 2001 census.