In Ireland, the term city has somewhat differing meanings in Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland.
Historically, city status in the United Kingdom, and before that in the Kingdom of Ireland, was a ceremonial designation. It carried more prestige than the alternative municipal titles "borough", "town" and "township", but gave no extra legal powers. This remains the case in Northern Ireland, which is still part of the United Kingdom. In the Republic of Ireland, "city" has an additional designation in local government.
List of Irish cities This list includes places which have at some time had a legally recognised claim to the title "city". Informally the term may have been applied to other places or at other times.
Current Cities in Northern Ireland are denoted by a light blue background and "n/a" stands for not applicable. Under British ruleIndependent IrelandNameGranted statusMethod of grantingJurisdiction grantingRecognised or granted status ActPresent jurisdictionProvinceDublin11721835 Rep Comm Mun Corp Irl Vol 9 Pt 1 p.2royal charterLordship of Ireland1922 (1937)Constitution of the Irish Free State (Saorstát Eireann) Act 1922Republic of IrelandLeinsterLimerick1199Patrick Fitzgerald, John James McGregor; The history, topography and antiquities, of the county and city of Limerick Vol 2 App p.iiiroyal charterLordship of Ireland1923Local Government (Temporary Provisions) Act 1923Republic of IrelandMunsterWaterford1202Charles Smith, The ancient and present state of the county and city of Waterford p.106royal charterLordship of Ireland1923Local Government (Temporary Provisions) Act 1923Republic of IrelandMunsterCork1185Charters Cork City Councilroyal charterLordship of Ireland1924 (1929,1932, 2001)"City commissioner" appointedRepublic of IrelandMunsterGalwayn/an/an/a1985Local Government (Reorganisation) Act 1985Republic of IrelandConnachtKilkenny13831835 Rep Comm Mun Corp Irl p.534royal charterLordship of Ireland2014Local Government Reform Act 2014Republic of IrelandLeinsterDerryOfficially Londonderry. See Derry/Londonderry name dispute1604City commemorates the 400th Anniversary of the City’s first charter as illustrated by the Life and Times of Sir Henry Docwra Derry City Council 2004royal charterKingdom of Irelandn/an/aNorthern IrelandUlsterBelfast1888letters patentUnited Kingdom of Great Britain and Irelandn/an/aNorthern IrelandUlsterArmagh1994letters patentUnited Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Irelandn/an/aNorthern IrelandUlsterNewry2002letters patentUnited Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Irelandn/an/aNorthern IrelandUlsterLisburn2002letters patentUnited Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Irelandn/an/aNorthern IrelandUlsterBangor2022letters patentUnited Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Irelandn/an/aNorthern IrelandUlster Former Under British ruleNameGained statusMethod of grantingJurisdiction grantingLost statusPresent jurisdictionProvinceArmagh (1st time) By 1226prescriptionLordship of Ireland1840Northern IrelandUlsterDownpatrick ("Down")1835 Rep Comm Mun Corp Irl p.797 By 1403Lordship of Ireland By 1661Northern IrelandUlsterClogherLordship of Ireland1801Northern IrelandUlsterCashel16381835 Rep Comm Mun Corp Irl p.462royal charterKingdom of Ireland1840Republic of IrelandMunster
History up to 1920 Before the Partition of Ireland in 1920–22, the island formed a single jurisdiction in which "city" had a common history.
The first edition of the Oxford English Dictionary s.v. city (published 1893), explains that in England, from the time of Henry VIII, the word was applied to towns with Church of England cathedrals. It goes on to say: The history of the word in Ireland is somewhat parallel. Probably all or most of the places having bishops have been styled on some occasion civitas; but some of these are mere hamlets, and the term 'city' is currently applied only to a few of them which are ancient and important boroughs. Thom's Directory applies it to Dublin, Cork, Derry, Limerick ('City of the violated treaty'), Kilkenny, and Waterford; also to Armagh and Cashel, but not to Tuam or Galway (though the latter is often called 'the City of the Tribes'). Belfast was, in 1888, created a 'city' by Royal Letters Patent.
Cathair In most European languages, there is no distinction between "city" and "town", with the same word translating both English words; for example, ville in French, or Stadt in German.
In Modern Irish, "city" is translated cathair and "town" is translated baile; however, this is a recent convention; previously baile was applied to any settlement, while cathair meant a walled or stone fortress, monastery, or city; the term was derived from Proto-Celtic *katrixs ("fortification"). For example, Dublin, long the metropolis of the island, has been called Baile Átha Cliath since the fifteenth century, while its earliest city charter is from 1172. The Irish text of the Constitution of Ireland translates "city of Dublin" as cathair Bhaile Átha Chliath, combining the modern sense of cathair with the historic sense of Baile. Conversely, the original Irish names of such smaller settlements as Cahir, Cahirciveen, Caherdaniel, or Westport (Cathair na Mart) use cathair in the older sense.
Civitas
In the Roman Empire, the Latin civitas referred originally to the jurisdiction of a capital town, typically the territory of a single conquered tribe. Later it came to mean the capital town itself. When Christianity was organised in Gaul, each diocese was the territory of a tribe, and each bishop resided in the civitas. Thus civitas came to mean the site of a cathedral. This usage carried over generally to Anglo-Norman cité and English city in England. William Blackstone's Commentaries on the Laws of England of 1765 cites Edward Coke's Institutes of the Lawes of England of 1634: A city is a town incorporated, which is or hath been the see of a bishop; and though the bishoprick be dissolved, as at Westminster, yet still it remaineth a city. Subsequent legal authorities disputed this assertion; pointing out that the City of Westminster gained its status not implicitly from its (former) cathedral but explicitly from letters patent issued by Henry VIII shortly after the Diocese was established.
In any case it was moot whether the association of city with dioceses applied to Ireland. A 1331 writ of Edward III is addressed, among others, to "Civibus civitatis Dublin, —de Droghda, – de Waterford, de Cork, – de Limrik" implying civitas status for Drogheda.Gale 1834, Appendix 35; Writ of King Edward the Third, issued in the year 1331, to the prelates and peers, and cities of Ireland, to assist his Justiciary, p.cclii Some credence to the episcopal connection was given by the 1835 Report of the Commissioners into Municipal Corporations in Ireland and the 1846 Parliamentary Gazetteer of Ireland (see below).
Whereas the Normans moved many English sees from a rural location to a regional hub, the cathedrals of the established Church of Ireland remained at the often rural sites agreed at the twelfth-century Synod of Rathbreasail and Synod of Kells. The Roman Catholic church in Ireland had no cathedrals during the Protestant Ascendancy.
Downpatrick is noted as "the City of Down" in a 1403 record, although no granting instrument is known. The corporation was defunct by 1661, when Charles II initiated plans to revive it, which were not completed.
Although the charter of Clogher did not describe it as a city, the borough constituency in the Irish House of Commons was officially called "City of Clogher".1835 Rep Comm Mun Corp Irl pp.997–998 It was a pocket borough of the Bishop of Clogher, disestablished by the Acts of Union 1800.
John Caillard Erck records of Old Leighlin, "So flourishing indeed was this town in subsequent times, that it received the appellation of the city of Leighlin, and was inhabited by eighty-six burgesses during the prelacy of Richard Rocomb, who died in 1420."
Royal charters For seven settlements in Ireland (listed below), the title "city" was historically conferred by the awarding of a royal charter which used the word "city" in the name of the body corporate charged with governing the settlement. (In fact, charters were for centuries written in Latin, with civitas denoting "city" and villa "town".) Armagh had no charter recognising it as a city but claimed the title by prescription; acts of the Parliament of Ireland in 1773 and 1791 refer to the "city of Armagh".13 & 14 George III c.40 and 31 George III c.46 There is one reference in James I's 1609 charter for Wexford to "our said city of Wexford", but the rest of the charter describes it as a town or borough.Gale 1834, Appendix 17: Translation from enrolment in Chancery of the charter to the town of Wexford by James the First; pp.lxxxiii–lxxxiv
The label "city" carried prestige but was purely ceremonial and did not in practice affect the municipal government. However, a few acts of the Parliament of Ireland were stated to apply to "cities". A section of the Newtown Act of 174821 Geo. 2 c. 10 (Ir) s. 8 allowed for members of a Corporation to be non-resident of its municipality in the case of "any town corporate or borough, not being a city".Rept Comm Mun Corp Irl pp.19–20 This was enacted because there were too few Protestants in smaller towns to make up the numbers. The 1835 Report of the Commissioners on Municipal Corporations in Ireland questioned whether it was applicable in the case of Armagh and Tuam, both being episcopal sees and hence "cities" in Blackstone's definition. In fact, non-residents had served on both corporations.1835 Rep Comm Mun Corp Irl p.671–2 "City of Armagh" §101835 Rep Comm Mun Corp Irl p.432 "Borough of Tuam" §13 The provisions of a 1785 Act for "the lighting and cleaning of cities" were extended by a 1796 act to "other towns, not being cities". 25 Geo.3 c.54 s.3 and 36 Geo.3 c.51 s.1; see also preamble of 9 Geo.4 c.82 In the 1613 Irish House of Commons, members from a borough constituency were paid 50% more if it was a city.
After the Union After the Acts of Union 1800, Ireland was part of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, and British law governed the award and removal of the title "city".
The Municipal Corporations (Ireland) Act 1840 abolished both those corporations which were already defunct and those which were most egregiously unrepresentative. The latter category included Armagh and Cashel. It was moot whether these were no longer cities; some later sources continued to describe them as such.
The Parliamentary Gazetteer of Ireland