List of towns and cities in England by historical population facts for kids

This article looks at how the biggest cities and towns in England have changed over hundreds of years. Before 1801, there wasn't a proper way to count everyone in England. So, historians have to use old records like tax lists or surveys to guess how many people lived in different places. This means the numbers aren't always exact, but they give us a good idea of which towns were important at different times.

Early Towns (Iron Age)

The first real towns in England started appearing around 100 BC. Archaeologists call these early towns oppida. These oppida often became the main cities when the Romans arrived later.

Some examples of these early towns include Colchester, St Albans, Silchester, Winchester, and Canterbury. Most of these were in the south of England. It's really hard to guess how many people lived in them, so we don't have exact rankings. However, most experts agree that Colchester was probably the largest when the Romans invaded, with Silchester possibly being second.

Roman Times

When the Romans arrived in AD 43, their main goal was to capture Colchester, which was the capital of a powerful tribe called the Catuvellauni. Many of the old oppida in the south slowly became Roman towns.

The Romans were also the first to build towns outside of southeast England. Some towns grew naturally around big army forts, like Caerleon or Exeter. These were called vici. Londinium (which is now London) was different. It grew from a trading post and eventually became bigger and more important than even Colchester. This was because it was in a great spot on the River Thames for trade. We don't have exact population numbers for this time either, but by the 2nd century, London was definitely the biggest. After London, York, Winchester, and Lincoln were likely the next largest.

Anglo-Saxon Period

After the Romans left, towns became much smaller and less important until about the 9th century. Later in the Anglo-Saxon period, the biggest cities were Winchester, London, and York. Winchester was the largest at first, but London grew to be bigger than Winchester by the 11th century. We don't have many details about their exact populations.

Norman Period

The Norman Conquest in 1066 changed England a lot. Many towns were damaged or destroyed by the invading army. In 1086, William the Conqueror ordered a huge survey of England called the Domesday Book. This book counted houses and people in over 100 settlements that were considered "boroughs" (important towns).

However, it's still hard to know the exact population of any borough. This is because we don't know how many people lived in each house. Also, some big places like London, Winchester, and Bristol weren't fully counted in the Domesday survey. Their populations have to be guessed using other information. London was by far the largest borough in England and has stayed that way ever since.

Late Medieval Period

By the early 1300s, many English towns had changed a lot since the Domesday survey. More towns were allowed to hold markets, and they grew because of local trade. It's also interesting to see that Winchester, which used to be a very important Anglo-Saxon capital, became less significant.

While not a direct count of people, the tax records from 1334, called "lay subsidies," show how big and important a town was. This tax, an early form of poll tax, didn't count everyone, though.

In 1377, the first real poll tax was collected. Everyone over 14 who wasn't exempt had to pay a small coin called a groat to the King. These records listed the name and location of everyone who paid. This gives us a great way to guess the population at that time. We just have to remember that about a third of the population was under 14 and didn't pay.

Early Modern Period

We don't have much clear information about populations in the 1400s. Most modern guesses come from looking at old baptism records. For the 1500s, tax records from 1523-1527, called "lay subsidy returns," are very helpful. They give us a good idea of how many households and adults there were, which helps us guess the total population.

The table for 1523 shows how important East Anglia was, especially because of the wool trade. Eleven of the top thirty towns were from this area. Today, only one of them, Norwich, is still in the top thirty largest towns.

17th and 18th Centuries

The 1600s and 1700s were a difficult time for getting good population numbers in Britain. There weren't any big, organized surveys of the whole country. The best way to guess populations from this time is using the hearth tax of 1662. This tax counted the number of hearths (fireplaces) in each home.

Like the Domesday survey, this wasn't a direct count of people. But it can be used to estimate how many people lived in a town. The table for 1662 shows the approximate order of towns back then. What's really interesting is that cities like Manchester, Birmingham, Leeds, Liverpool, and Sheffield weren't even in the top thirty. Yet, within about 100 years, they would become England's biggest cities outside of London! The table for 1750 also uses estimates.

Rankings by year

19th Century

The Census Act 1800 led to Great Britain's first modern census a year later, in 1801. Since then, a census has been taken every ten years, except for 1941 during World War II. The population numbers from these censuses clearly show how the Industrial Revolution changed cities. Many cities in the north and northwest of England grew very quickly. The information in the tables below comes directly from these census reports.

Rankings by year

20th Century

Counting the population of England's towns and cities in the 20th century gets a bit tricky. This is because it's hard to decide what counts as a separate "town" and where its exact borders are. City boundaries often changed.

The lists below show the populations of individual towns and cities, not bigger areas like districts or conurbations (groups of towns that have grown together). For example, Salford is counted separately from Manchester, and Gateshead from Newcastle. The only exception is London, where the number refers to the whole Greater London area. You can find more details about English cities by population in the English cities by population article.

Rankings by years

See also

• List of towns and cities in England by population
• Demographics of England - for the population of England at various points in history.
• List of lost settlements in the United Kingdom