World Travel City Photography

In the United Kingdom (UK), a city is a town which has been known as a city since time immemorial, or which has received city status by letters patent—which are normally granted on the basis of: Population (>300,000), metropolitan character, governance, importance and / or a Royal connection. In England and Wales, prior to 1907 the criterion was simply the establishment of an Anglican Cathedral. For example the small town of Ripon was granted city status in 1836 to coincide with the creation of the Diocese of Ripon, but also in recognition of its long-standing role as a supplier of spurs to royalty. In the United Kingdom, when people talk about cities, they generally include the suburbs in that. Some cathedral cities, such as St David's in Wales and Wells in England, are quite small, and may not be known as cities in common parlance. Preston became England's newest city in the year 2002 to mark the Queen's jubilee, as did Newport in Wales, Stirling in Scotland, and Lisburn and Newry in Northern Ireland. However, major towns such as Reading, Northampton, Luton, Swindon and Milton Keynes all harbour populations between 170,000 and 215,000 inhabitants but are not officially cited as cities.
The situation in London is a historical anomaly: the City of Westminster and the City of London are geographically small but historically significant parts of the Greater London conurbation that have independent city status.
A Review of Scotland's Cities led to the Fair City of Perth, Scotland, losing city status. By both legal and traditional definition, a town may be of any size, but must contain a market place. A village must contain a church. A small village without a church is called a hamlet.
The UK's five largest cities are generally considered to be London, Birmingham, Leeds, Manchester and Glasgow, but this is based on the population of the conurbation as a whole. In terms of formal city boundaries, the largest include Bristol, Cardiff, Edinburgh, Liverpool and Sheffield.