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, such as York Minster .]] 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 in England And Wales 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 . HISTORY Until the 16th century, a town was recognised as a city by the English 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 — notably Wells (population about 10,000) and St David's (population about 2,000) (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). The presence of a cathedral in a Scottish town before the Reformation led often, but not universally, to its recognition as a city. Dornoch , for instance, has never generally been called a city despite having had a pre-Reformation cathedral. The status of Royal Burgh was, in terms of privileges, more relevant in Scotland than the status of city. After the Reformation, city status crystallized and no changes were made until the nineteenth century. City status in Ireland tended historically to be granted by royal charter. There are many towns in Ireland with Church Of Ireland cathedrals which have never been called cities. In spite of this, the seat of the Primate Of All Ireland , Armagh , was considered a city (despite its never having been granted a charter) until this status was lost in a local government reorganization in the nineteenth century. The only historic city with a charter in present-day Northern Ireland is Derry , which was renamed "Londonderry" by its city charter. CITY STATUS CONFERMENT City status is conferred by Letters Patent and not by a royal charter (except historically in Ireland) but there are some cities in England and Wales that predate the historical monarchy, and have been regarded as cities since " Time Immemorial ". The holding of city status brings no especial benefits other than the right to be called a city. 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), and also previously in St. David's and Armagh , although both of these latter have regained city status since losing it. All three of these had been cities since time immemorial before the loss of city status. Charters originated as Charters Of Incorporation , allowing a town to become an incorporated Borough , or to hold Market s. 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. The formal definition of a city has been disputed, in particular by inhabitants of towns that have been regarded as 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. OFFICIALLY-DESIGNATED CITIES 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. MODERN PRACTICE OF GRANTING CITY STATUS 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. In 1911 an application for city status by Portsmouth was refused. Explaining the Home Secretary 's reason for not recommending the King to approve the petition, the Lord Advocate stated: ..during the reign of his late Majesty it was found necessary, in order to maintain the value of the distinction, to lay down a rule as to the minimum population which should ordinarily, in connexion with other considerations, be regarded as qualifying a borough for that higher status.''House of Commons - Status of Portsmouth'', The Times, June 21, 1911 In 1927 a Royal Commission On Local Government was examining local authority areas and functions in England and Wales. The question arose as to which towns were entitled to be called cities, and the chairman, the Earl Of Onslow , wrote to the Home Office to seek clarification. The Home Office replied with a memorandum which read: The title of a city which is borne by certain boroughs is a purely titular distinction. It has no connexion with the status of the borough in respect of local government and confers no powers or privileges. At the present time and for several centuries past the title has been obtained only by an express grant from the Sovereign effected by letters patent; but a certain number of cities possess the title by very ancient prescriptive right. There is no necessary connexion between the title of a city and the seat of a bishopric, and the creation of a new see neither constitutes the town concerned a city nor gives it any claim to the grant of letters patent creating it a city. 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 Coronation s, royal jubilees or the Millennium . Lord Mayors . Patrick John Stannard (Lord Mayor of Oxford ) wears the chain of that office, 2004]] 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 . In Ireland , as a historical result of English rule, the head of local government of Dublin is also the Lord Mayor Of Dublin . Whilst previously retaining the formal title of Right Honourable , this was repealed in 2001. In addition, there is also a Lord Mayor Of Cork . The Former City of Rochester , 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. BBC News - Thursday, 16 May, 2002 - Error costs Rochester city status Medway Council - REGENERATION AND COMMUNITY OVERVIEW AND SCRUTINY COMMITTEE - DATE 4 MARCH 2003 - TITLE OF REPORT ROCHESTER CITY STATUS Pretenders
LIST OF OFFICIALLY-DESIGNATED CITIES The following are the officially-designated cities in the United Kingdom, as at 2004. Cities which have held such status since Time Immemorial are indicated with "TI" in the column headed "Year granted city status". The column headed "(Diocesan) cathedral" shows the applicable diocesan cathedrals that were the grounds for the granting of city status, ie cathedrals of the Church Of England or the formerly established Church In Wales , or pre-Reformation cathedrals in the Church Of Scotland , in the case of cities recognised prior to 1888. Certain cities also have Roman Catholic cathedrals, but these are not listed. As from 1888, the presence of a cathedral ceased to be a relevant factor in granting city status and all entries after this date are, therefore, marked ''not applicable''. Cities which have acquired cathedrals since 1888 are Birmingham , Bradford , Derby , Leicester , Newport , Portsmouth and Sheffield , while Llandaff Cathedral was included within the boundaries of the city of Cardiff in 1922. CITY COUNCILS The holding of city status gives a settlement no special rights other than that of calling itself a "city". Nonetheless, this appellation carries its own prestige and consequently, 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 Council s. 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, in fact, Cities in the traditional sense of the word (that is, a large urban area) but are Local Government Districts which have city status and which often encompass large rural areas. Examples are the City Of Canterbury and City Of Wakefield . The largest "city" district in terms of area is the City Of Carlisle , which covers some 400 square miles (1040 km&2) 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. Four examples of this are Manchester (where the traditional area associated includes areas of the neighbouring authorities of Trafford, Tameside, Oldham, Bury and the City of Salford), Glasgow (where suburban areas of the city are located in East Dunbartonshire, East Renfrewshire, North Lanarkshire and South Lanarkshire), 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. APPLICATIONS FOR CITY STATUS 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 — St David's and Armagh — 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:
The three winners were Brighton & Hove , Wolverhampton , and Inverness , which were subsequently dubbed "Millennium Cities". For the 2002 applications, held to celebrate the Queen's (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. CATHEDRAL TOWNS England, Wales and Northern Ireland In relation to the fact that being the seat of a Church Of England Diocese is no longer sufficient or necessary to gain city status, a number of cathedral towns exist. In Ireland, as noted above, possession of a diocesan cathedral has never (except in the anomalous case of Armagh) been sufficient to attain this status. Towns with cathedrals may nevertheless be referred to as "cities" by their inhabitants — particularly in the case of 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 Church of Ireland Cathedrals that do not have city status — 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 . Scotland The National Church of Scotland , the Church Of Scotland , is Presbyterian in governance with no Bishop s or Dioceses , and thus has High Kirks rather than Cathedrals . However the pre- Reformation dioceses do have extant cathedrals. Perth is often called a city, the ''fair city of Perth''. Additionally, St. Andrews , Brechin and Elgin are often referred to as cities, as they have (ruined) pre-Reformation cathedrals. In the past Elgin, Brechin and Perth were all cities. Stirling , which was awarded city status in 2002, has never had a cathedral. LARGE TOWNS 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 ten urban sub-areas outside London not a part of a city or having a city as a component:
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
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