When is a village a village and not a town?

[mez]

How does one differentiate between a village and town? What is the definition of "a village"? Is it to do with a church? Or is it to do with local authority administration? Or population? (or is it solely estateagent-ese?!)

[5029]

population

[mez]

To: 5029 - "Cover it with petrol and set fire to it" - good answer, dude.

[firefly]

St David's in Wales has the population and size of a village but is in fact a city. Grove in Oxfordshire has the population and size of a town but is in fact a village. I think any village could apply to become a town in same way any town could apply to become a city. Whether it gets accepted is another matter.

[geofbob]

I'm fairly certain that firefly's final point is wrong - a so-called village could not apply to be a town (though he's correct that a town can apply to be a city). The terms hamlet, village, township and town are very flexible, and estateagent-ese certainly comes into it. For example, a number of pleasant, though still very urban, enclaves within London like to be thought of as villages. It used to be said that a village (presumably as distinct from a hamlet) should have a church, public house and school, but many country pubs and schools have closed, though the locations concerned still call themselves villages.

[mez]

I am fairly sure that a town may only become a city if it has a cathedral. Thanks for your input.

[incitatus]

The definitions have varied over time. Originally a hamlet has no church, a village has. A town has a market, or at least a market cross and a city has a cathedral. This has been complicated by cities requiring a royal charter, but essentialy the rule stands. Wells is a city, while the much larger Taunton is a town. But wells has a cathedral.