This is a list of towns in

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe ...

. Historically, towns were any settlement with a charter, including

market town A market town is a settlement most common in Europe that obtained by custom or royal charter, in the Middle Ages, a market right, which allowed it to host a regular market; this distinguished it from a village or city. In Britain, small rural ...

s and

ancient borough The ancient boroughs were a historic unit of lower-tier local government in England and Wales. The ancient boroughs covered only important towns and were established by charters granted at different times by the monarchy. Their history is larg ...

s. The process of incorporation was reformed in 1835 and many more places received borough charters, whilst others were lost. All existing boroughs were abolished on 1 April 1974 and

borough status Borough status is granted by royal charter to local government districts in England, Wales and Northern Ireland. The status is purely honorary, and does not give any additional powers to the council or inhabitants of the district. In Scotland, ...

was reformed as a civic honour for local government districts. At the same time a limited number of former boroughs and other settlements became successor parishes, with the right to be known as a town and preserve their charter. Boroughs that did not become successor parishes formed unparished areas, but were able to preserve their charters without a corporate body by appointing

charter trustees In England and Wales, charter trustees are set up to maintain the continuity of a town charter or city charter after a district with the status of a borough or city has been abolished, until such time as a parish council is established. Duties ar ...

. Since 1 April 1974 any parish council in England has the right to resolve to call itself a town council and many communities have taken up this right, including areas that preserved continuity with charter trustees. However, no successor parishes have exercised this right (e.g. Ilkley). This list does not include cities in England.

Chartered towns and town councils

This list includes: *civil parishes with town councils; *unparished areas that had borough charters before 1 April 1974 (including areas with charter trustees); and *towns with ancient/market charters that did not later gain borough charters or town councils.

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Designated new towns

Notes

*1 Successor parish under the

Local Government Act 1972 The Local Government Act 1972 (c. 70) is an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom that reformed local government in England and Wales on 1 April 1974. It was one of the most significant Acts of Parliament to be passed by the Heath Gov ...

*2 Rochester has held city status, but does not currently

References

{{England topics Towns in England

Chartered towns and town councils

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Designated new towns

See also

Notes

References