Name and Shame

Tue 5 Feb 2008, 19:40

John: my comment was meant to be facetious. I am fully aware that Charlbury is (technically) a town; it has been drummed into me often enough on this Forum! However, does it really matter whether I think it is a town or a village? As far as I know, the status accorded a place (hamlet, village, town, city, etc.) is a fairly arbitrary administrative distinction, and one that is often governed by political considerations. This is why Kidlington is still considered a village, even though it is one of the largest villages in Europe (and many times bigger than the town of Charlbury!). Wells and Salisbury are classified as cities just because they have cathedrals, even though many English towns are bigger than those two cities.

I accept that when Henry came here in the twelfth century he must have said to himself "This is a pretty big, happening sort of place. I shall call it a town." However, at that time London was little more than a small collection of mudhuts clustered together along the banks of the Thames and would almost certainly have been classified as a village. Would you consider that London is still a village today, just because of the situation that prevailed in 1100-something?

If I choose to think of Charlbury as a village (and you can't stop me from doing that!) it is meant as a compliment, not a criticism. It seems more like a village (albeit a largish one) to me because of its size, composition, level of infrastructure and feeling of community. It has what is effectively a village green (The Playing Close) but no Town Hall and no focal point such as a marketplace (or indeed a weekly market). If Charlbury were truly a town I would expect it to possess more of the traditional trappings of a town, such as a bank and a wide range of shops as opposed to the admirable (but small and narrow) selection we have at present.

A friend of mine came to stay with me a few years ago and called Charlbury a village. I corrected him. He replied "Face it, it's a village." I tend to agree with him these days.