Old towns of Britain and Ireland

Old towns of Britain and Ireland outlines a list of notable old towns in Britain and Ireland. This list excludes many old towns which, due to their size, have lost their original character.

List

England

• 1 Bath a Georgian Spa town with Royal Crescent largely unchanged from when it was built in 1774 and Roman Baths dating back to 70 CE.
• 2 Berwick-upon-Tweed A town on the English-Scottish border with town walls rebuilt from 1560,
• 3 Canterbury Originally a Roman city. Its medieval walls are still visible and its cathederal is the seat of the Archbishop of Canterbury.
• 4 Chester Originally a Roman city noted for its medieval walls, black and white galleried shops and its cathederal.
• 5 Chichester Originally a Roman town linked to the nearby port. Today its medieval wall, road layout and cathedral are clearly in evidence.
• 6 Durham Originally an Anglo-Sxxon city built on a loop in the river as a protection against Viking raids. Today it is home to a cathederal, a castle and the third-oldest university in England.
• 7 Exeter Originally a Roman city whose medieval wall incorporates Roman masonary. Its cathederal dates back to medieval times.
• 8 Hastings has a medieval old town with half-timbered buildings. Hastings was recorded as a borough in the Domesday Book, compiled in 1086.
• 9 Lincoln dates from Roman times. Its medieval cathederal was built on the only hilltop in an otherwise flat countryside.
• 10 Oxford a medieval city with a 12th century university,
• 11 Stratford upon Avon with 16th-century half-timbered buildings including those associated with Shakespeare.
• 12 Warwick is a market town with buildings from almost every post-Roman era of British history.
• 13 Winchester Originally a Roman city and under Alfred the Great the original capital of the Saxon England.
• 14 York a city with medieval walls and 15th century timber framed shops in the Shambles.

Ireland

• 15 Derry (Londonderry) — The only city in Ireland with its walls (built 1613-1618) intact, and one of the finest examples in Europe.

Scotland

Although Scotland has relatively few medieval old towns, there are several notable towns and villages which were established in the late 18th and early 19th century, such as Ullapool which was founded in 1788 as a herring port, Inveraray which was rebuilt in the 1770s and Culross which was built in the16th and17th century to support local mining and limestone and is largely unchanged. There are a great many other towns which have 19th century town centres.

• 16 Edinburgh
  • New Town — Built between 1770 and 1820
  • Old Town — The medieval centre of town with much of the street plan unchanged, a UNESCO World Heritage site
• 17 Stirling — a royal fortress city, with a medieval old town on the hill leading to the historic and dramatic castle.

Wales

• 18 Caernarfon A market town dominated by its castle and city walls. It was the birthplace in 1284 of the first Prince of Wales who was later to become Edward II.
• 19 Conwy A medieval walled town with a castle and harbour.

See also

• Medieval Britain and Ireland
• Old towns of Benelux
• Old towns of France