English Place Name Categories

Date: [unknown] [unknown]
Location: England
Surnames/tags: England Categories

This page is part of the England Project.

Place name categories are in the format "Place, County", as follows:

• [[Category: England]]
  • [[Category: Hertfordshire]]
    • [[Category: Shenley, Hertfordshire]]

English place names have changed over time. Not only that, there have been numerous county boundary changes as well. However, there should only be one category for each place, regardless of time period. In order to keep things as simple as possible when categorising English place names, we use the thirty-nine historic counties of England, plus the City of London and the Isle of Wight.

For the "Place" element of the name we use the most specific location which is on both Wikipedia and A Vision of Britain.

Only the Category Information Boxes should be on the category pages themselves. Any other information can be put on a free-space page and linked via the CIB. Country houses and castles should be sub-categories under the nearest settlement with the people born there under that sub-category.

We do not use hyphens in place names, and where the name includes the word Saint we abbreviate this with St and no punctuation.

We do not use intermediate levels such as parishes or districts between "Place" and "County" in the categorisation structure.

Profiles should be categorised at the narrowest possible level. (See How to Categorise a Profile.) Within large cities, this means the locality or district within the city, rather than the city itself, wherever possible, if the locality is on both Wikipedia and A Vision of Britain. In rural areas, we use the smallest possible location (hamlet, village or township) which is on both Wikipedia and A Vision of Britain.

For guidance on how to set up new categories, see this page.

Further guidance on how to deal with boundary changes is given on this page.

If you have any questions about this category structure, or if you wish to combine it with a global topic please contact Stephen Heathcote.