Wikipedia:WikiProject UK geography/How to write about settlements

{| role="presentation" class="wikitable mw-collapsible mw-collapsed" style="width:280px;float:right;clear:right"
 * Sample headings
 * == History ==
 * == History ==

Culture and community
=== Culture === === Community facilities ===

Editing UK settlement articles
Articles about UK settlements should normally follow the guidelines outlined below as well as the WP:UKGUIDE and the Manual of Style. However, these are not 'written in stone' and can be adjusted where common sense suggests that an exception is appropriate, with an overall aim of professionalism, simplicity and greater cohesion of Wikipedia articles.

See Naming conventions (geographic names) when choosing a title for the article, and Disambiguation for how to distinguish between multiple places with the same or similar names. Section titles should generally not start with the word The (see WP:HEAD).

Articles about parts of London should follow WikiProject London's guidelines, and names should follow WikiProject London/Naming conventions, using the format X is a place in the London Borough of Y in lead sections, without "England" or "the UK". Articles on transport in London and local government in London, together with the Greater London Authority and other administrative and ceremonial functions, use different writing and organisational methods than those recommended in this article.

Managing ambiguity and uncertainty
The settlements in the United Kingdom are very diverse and the meaning of "settlement" itself is subject to debate. There are several types of official administrative area that could be described as settlements, but they do not always correspond to what the residents would think of as their own town or city. Similarly, a town or city may spill out of its administrative boundaries; where this has occurred, suburbs and significant places of interest and employment outside the boundary should be mentioned in the article, though it should be noted that they lie within different administrative areas.

Writing about the very smallest settlements in the UK can be difficult due to the lack of source material. If there is no likelihood that an article could ever expand beyond a stub, the place should be dealt with in the article of the smallest notable area in which it lies, such as the council ward, civil parish, community (in Wales), or town, etc. In most cases a redirect should be left to help readers (see Crowden, Devon for an example).

A single name may be in use for a civil parish, an ecclesiastical parish, a council ward and an informal colloquial area, each with slightly different boundaries. On the other hand, one area may have two or three different names – those of a ward, church parish and local names with no official use, for instance. In both these cases, all of the variants should be covered in a single article unless one of the alternatives is sufficiently notable to have an article of its own.

City status
In the United Kingdom, city status can be granted to areas of varying size, from compact urban areas (e.g. Stirling) to large districts which include towns and villages outside their core urban area (e.g. City of Lancaster).

When city status has been granted to an area which includes multiple settlements, we should be guided by reliable sources when deciding whether or not to refer to a particular settlement within that area as a city. For example, although Lancaster, Morecambe, and Carnforth are all in the City of Lancaster district, only the former is referred to as a city in reliable sources. We should therefore refer to Lancaster as a city but Morecambe and Carnforth as towns. Reliable sources should be ignored where they predate the award of city status (see WP:AGEMATTERS). The exact area which was granted city status should always be noted in an appropriate place, such as the article body or a lead footnote.

When a district is awarded city status its local authority often begins to refer to it as 'City of [Settlement]' or similar. This name can, if necessary, act as a WP:NATURAL disambiguation between the articles about the settlement and the local government district.

Depopulated settlements
A deserted town or village that once had its own ecclesiastical parish (or equivalent) can, subject to consensus regarding its status as a standalone old settlement, have its own article if there is sufficient material to make a good article. Examples are Silchester and Gatton, Surrey. However, if a later city, town or village is located close to the centre of the old settlement and absorbs almost all of it, then it is fair to describe it under the new place's history and create a redirect for the old name, if it was different. If the place was not a town or village then it should not have its own article, but should be covered in an archaeology or history section within the appropriate place of today's name, unless it is sufficiently notable for some other reason.

Technically the term "deserted" is disliked because most villages shrank over a period of years and may have had, or continue to have, some sort of vestigial survival – in this case they are correctly termed "depopulated" rather than "former".

In the UK, the uncommonly used term "ghost town" describes somewhere with no more commerce and many vacant homes (Tyneham is an example). The important principles are whether the settlement had its own parish (in northern England, that is extended to cover townships), and that there are substantial remains (standing or archaeological).

Available categories are: Deserted medieval villages in England, Former populated places in England and Ghost towns in England. There is also a List of lost settlements in the United Kingdom.

Primary section headings and content
Articles should almost always conform to the basic structure of a lead/infobox followed by history, governance, geography, demography and economy, as those sections contain much of the basic information about any settlement. Beyond that, editors are advised to come to a consensus that works best for the settlement in question. Additional or alternative headings are listed under the "Optional headings" section below.

Infobox
Use Template:Infobox UK place at the top of the article for all settlements of the United Kingdom. There is one exception, for which Template:Infobox settlement should be used:
 * where the boundary is roughly coterminous with a local government district; examples include Liverpool, Leicester, and Bristol (see WP:UKDISTRICTS).

Where more than one infobox is used, it is recommended that Template:Infobox UK place is placed in the lead. For example Bath, Somerset has a second infobox in the Architecture section describing its status as a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

Infobox contents:
 * official name: The official name for the settlement. Do not use additions such as "City of..." unless this is necessary to distinguish the settlement from other similarly named settlements (e.g. City of London)
 * static_image_name: See Lead image section below
 * static_image_caption: short caption for the image with suitable wiki-links
 * population: The population for the settlement
 * ... other details can also be set. See infobox template for a full list of possible entries.

Lead image
A lead image to represent the settlement should be used within the main article infobox. For a small settlement this should be a picture of a notable local landmark such as a church, high street, marketplace or other streetscape.

For larger settlements such as cities a montage may be used, subject to consensus among the article's editors, however care should be taken to avoid creating montages that create a poor visual impression of the article.
 * All images used within a montage should be available on a free license and should be credited, with links to the original images.
 * Captions to montages should identify the subjects of individual images, with wikilinks to related articles
 * Images within a montage should have an orderly arrangement, using a regular row-based layout and consistent image proportions wherever possible.
 * Montages within infoboxes will normally appear with a width of 250px and will resize according to display device and user preferences when no size is specified, as is recommended by WP:Imagesize. Avoid creating a montage that will be excessively large when displayed at this width. A maximum aspect ratio of 1:1.5 is recommended.
 * The first and largest image with the montage should be a representative cityscape such as a skyline, panorama or significant streetscape.
 * Other images should be selected to be distinctive and broadly representative of the settlement, where possible including the settlement's most widely recognised landmarks, characteristic building-types, a representative spread of architectural styles and periods, and a representation of varied areas within the settlement.
 * Avoid including too many images. A small number of bold, identifiable, well-chosen images will represent the settlement more effectively than a greater number of less distinct images appearing at lower resolutions. Even the largest settlements should have no more than 6–8 images.
 * Images within montages appear at low resolution. For these to be intelligible it is recommended to use pictures made up of simple, recognisable shapes, filling the crop and with high levels of colour and tonal contrast.
 * Avoid duplicating images that appear elsewhere in the article.

Lead
The lead (see also WP:LEAD) is the text before the first heading. It should not exceed four paragraphs and should normally cover the following:


 * Geographic description
 * Name of settlement: if in doubt follow WP:COMMONNAME; use translated names in national languages where recognised officially or in common use.
 * Type of settlement: e.g. suburb, town, city, civil parish. A city must have city status by Letters Patent or by convention. An unparished area is neither a type of settlement nor an administrative area and so should not be mentioned in the lead; if necessary to understand the place it may be mentioned in a governance section in the body of the article.
 * Administrative district: its present council area (lower-tier or unitary authority area in England; principal area in Wales; council area in Scotland; administrative district in Northern Ireland). e.g. Jarrow is in the South Tyneside metropolitan borough of Tyne and Wear, England.
 * County: use the ceremonial county (England, Wales and Northern Ireland only) where not clear from the administrative district.
 * Constituent country.
 * Geographic location: distance from the district's or county's main town or city (unless it is itself the county town or such, in which case it should then be stated)
 * Physical geography: any rivers which run through or near the town; coastline on which the town or city is located; and any significant nearby or enclosing geographical features.
 * Total resident population. If the place name has multiple definitions (e.g. built-up area, parish, district) ensure it is clear which definition is being used for the population figure.
 * Historic county (if in England or Wales and if different from current county), and a brief paragraph about historical roots / founding.
 * Nicknames, if notable
 * Primary industries supporting its economy (e.g. service, manufacturing, tourism, etc...)
 * Notable unique characteristics and characteristics commonly associated with it.
 * Major churches or major landmarks.

The opening sentence of the lead is particularly important and should be kept as simple as possible in order to be easily understood by readers with no particular knowledge of administrative geography. If a place is part of a settlement which shares the same name as the district, or if the district / unitary authority / non-metropolitan county has the same name as the ceremonial county, there is no need in the opening sentence to repeat those names for every role they play in the hierarchy. For example: "...is a suburb of Colchester..." rather than "...is a suburb of Colchester in the Colchester district...", or "...is a village in County Durham..." rather than "is a village in the County Durham district in the ceremonial county of Durham...".

Lead: Example1 —Chew Stoke

Lead: Example2 —Neilston

History
The history section should normally include:
 * A note on the origin of the settlement's name. The Institute of Place-Name Studies at the University of Nottingham now has a helpful online resource. If there is sufficient material to justify a subsection heading, then it may be titled as etymology or toponymy. If a settlement has a name in another regional or national language, this can be presented here.
 * A note on the earliest known history of the settlement (any Bronze Age or Roman artefacts for example), and the earliest known mentions of the settlement (e.g. in Domesday Book).
 * Consider prose (or subheadings) on Industrial history, Social history or Political history where appropriate.
 * Manorial history. Where the village formed part of a former manor, almost always the case with English villages, the subject may be treated summarily as a sub-section within the history section, or where such text has expanded to make the article unbalanced, as a detailed stand-alone article, which should be linked to at the start of the sub-section with a main article tag.
 * Avoid using headings that arrange the history of a settlement according to century or decade.
 * Avoid organising prose into timelines. If these exist (or are developed), consider placing them in a History of _ or Timeline of _ article. Where such an article exists, include at the top of the history section linking to this more detailed article.

Governance
Include the following
 * Unitary Authority or 'County Council and District/Borough Council, plus, if applicable its civil parish(es) / town council(s)? Can you name its wards? Is it a ward? Does it have a mayor or Royal bestowments (charters)? etc.
 * Representatives – only list the numbers for the parties if a large place.
 * Changes in governance made throughout the history of the settlement—what was its former status? its former administrative district and/or county? etc.
 * Parliamentary constituency (both UK and, if other than England (minus London), its devolved/assembly level constituencies). If it is of sufficient importance relative to the constituency then identifying the local MP, MSP, MWA, MLA may be worth including here as well as on the existing page for that constituency.
 * For whole council districts, or where a place figures in local council heraldry, a note on any grants of arms to the council.
 * For London, see also the WikiProject London/Naming conventions.

Geography
The geography section should normally include the following:
 * Where the settlement is in relation to others.
 * Include the distance and direction from the constituent country's capital, or London, or both.
 * Include the distance and direction from the settlement's relevant regional or district capital, or county town.
 * A note on the topography of the settlement, including its elevation above sea level, mentions of notable rivers, mountains or natural landmarks.
 * A note on the geology of the territory.
 * A note on the built environment of the settlement, including how the land is used, if there is any notable infrastructure (a heavy rail line, motorway etc.), and a note on how the urban structure of the settlement is shaped and lies in relation to administrative boundaries and its central business district (if any).
 * A note on any divisions or suburbs of the settlement.
 * A note/section on the settlement's climate (where figures are available).
 * Consider using Template:Geographic location.
 * If local data is available, consider using Template:Climate chart.
 * Where there is extensive information, it may be appropriate to create a new more detailed article titled 'Geography of ...' or 'Climate of ...' and move most of the detail to this article. Where this is done include OR  AND/OR  at the top of the section.

Demography
OR Demography: Include the following only if data is available
 * Current population and where the figure is taken from.
 * The ethnic composition.
 * The religious composition.
 * Economic activity of the population.
 * The population change over the last century.
 * A note on social class (strictly where citation allows).
 * Consider including a statistic comparison table.

Economy
Economy: Include the following
 * A note on major employment sectors.
 * A note on major employers.
 * A note on traditional or former sectors.
 * A note on regeneration/gentrification projects is encouraged here if applicable.

Culture and community

 * This section may be split into Culture and Community facilities as below, or may cover both

Culture

 * A note on any local customs or traditions.
 * A note on any cultural events (such as an annual parade, sport or market).
 * This section could also encompass "cultural references", "landmarks" and "media" where standalone sections are unfeasible (see Wormshill example).
 * A note on twinning arrangements and activities.

Community facilities

 * A note on any parks, health centres (including hospitals), libraries etc.

Landmarks
Landmarks: Include the following
 * Note on any war memorials.
 * Notable buildings or architecture.
 * Grade I / Category A listed buildings are highly recommended to be mentioned here, though other listed buildings are also suitable for inclusion.
 * Notable sites of tourism.
 * Notable natural landmarks (such as a waterfall, or landform).

Transport
Transport: Include the following
 * A note on the transport infrastructure in place in and around the settlement, including, but not limited to:
 * The major road through the settlement, as well as any other A or B roads in the settlement.
 * Any significant public transport facilities (bus stations, mass transit services).
 * If a settlement lies within a Passenger Transport Executive area, this should be mentioned.
 * Any heavy rail or light rail stations and lines.
 * Any airports/ferryports that are associated with the settlement can be mentioned, but a detailed description of any of them should be placed in their own article, or else in the article dealing with the local government article that contains them.

Education

 * If a village, write about the local library and primary school or museums if any exist.
 * If a town, write about the local secondary school and any grammar, public or specialist schools. A list of primary schools is not usually appropriate (especially if there are more than three); although a total number of how many may be useful.
 * If a city, write about any universities or further education colleges, museums and any other educational institutions. Notable public schools may also be included. Listing the secondary schools should be discouraged if there are more than about three and primary schools should definitely not be listed. A total of how many primary schools and secondary schools there are can be useful, however.
 * If there is no notable people section, then list notable people associated with the field of science and engineering or notable people who attended local institutions for their education.

Religious sites
Religious sites (NOTE: May also use the alternative heading of "Religion" should the content extend to material beyond the places of worship themselves): Include the following
 * Any churches or other such religious sites, and, where applicable, to whom they are dedicated (i.e. which saint).

Sport
Sport (NOTE: May also use the alternative heading of "Sport and leisure"; alternatively this may be a sub-section of "Culture" (below)): Include the following
 * A note on notable sports teams or sports centres.
 * A note on any proposals involving leisure in the area

Sport and leisure: Example  —London Borough of Croydon

Notable people
Provide information of notable individuals that were born, or lived for a significant amount of time, in the settlement. Prose is preferred, though a bulleted list noting the connection the person has with the settlement as indicated in Manual of Style/Lists may be used if appropriate. Simple lists of names add little of value and may be subject to abuse. More developed articles, especially those which have gone through WP:GA and WP:FA, tend to have this section written out as prose. The talkpage may be used in the early stages of an article's development to simply list people who are connected with a settlement.

If the section grows then it may be split out per WP:Summary style into a stand alone article or list which can be linked to via the main template placed at the top of the section – example:.

Relevant guidelines are: WP:EMBED, WP:NLIST and WP:Source list, and should be consulted for up to date advice.


 * Everyone under this section must satisfy Notability (people).
 * A note on what people from this settlement are called, (e.g. people from Manchester are called Mancunians).
 * A note on any notable births in the settlement.
 * A note on any notable residents in the settlement.
 * Do not use a list format in this section. Please write this as prose, reference each person, and do not use the word "famous" or synonyms.

Optional headings
Some settlements' entries may be dominated so much by a specific landmark, person or movement (such as a terrorist attack or natural disaster) that it may require its own section (rather than just a sub-section). Where this is applicable, try to insert it beneath the heading to which it is most related. Similarly some of the smallest settlements may be lacking in extensive notability and source material, and so some of the latter sections may be suitable for amalgamation (such as a "Culture and community" section).

There is broad diversity in the settlements of the UK, and as such, some settlements may require extra or alternative headings. These could include:

Industry and commerce
(Note: consider if material for this section is more suitable for the "Economy" section).
 * A note on notable shopping centres (of regional or national notability).

Politics
(Note: this should be about political figures and political events, not local and national government arrangements)
 * A note on any notable political figures or events (such as the first successful election of an MP who later became Prime Minister, or a high-profile council strike or political movement which took place in the settlement).
 * A local election result breakdown table from available data.

Media

 * A note on any notable local newspapers, radio stations or other media productions.

Invention and discovery
(Note: this section may be suitable as a sub-section of "History")
 * A note on any notable inventions and/or discoveries made within the settlement, whether they be scientific, sporting, engineering or any other field of knowledge.

Future plans
(Note: this should not be of a speculative nature, but be referenced from published material as to certain development, regeneration or gentrification is set to occur)

Cultural references

 * Any references to the settlement in works of fiction, books, paintings etc.

Filmography

 * Any appearances in notable television productions, or movies.

Public services
Public services: Example  —Oldham
 * A note on which of the United Kingdom water companies supply water.
 * A note on any notable reservoirs which form part of the local supply of water.
 * A note on which body/authority is responsible for waste management and/or sewerage.
 * A note on which company is the Distribution Network Operator for electricity.
 * A note on any notable energy arrangements in the locality (i.e. wind farm, power station)
 * A note on any hospitals, surgeries, or other health centres in the settlement (with the possibility of elaborating where the nearest NHS hospital may be).
 * A note on which NHS Trust serves the area.
 * A note on which ambulance service operates in the area.
 * A note on which of the police forces serves the settlement, and if any stations are in the area.
 * A note on which fire service serves the settlement and if any stations are in the area.
 * A note on any other notable public services (telecommunications, social housing, and local businesses are not generally suitable).

Dos and don'ts

 * Per WP:TRIVIA, do not use a "trivia", "miscellaneous" or "other facts" section.
 * Per MOS:LISTBASICS, avoid using lists wherever possible (particularly for "notable people" or "subdivisions"); consider using tables, diagrams or prose.
 * Per WP:DATELINK, dates should only be linked if they have an independent significance in the article. The same applies to dates in the footnotes.
 * Avoid describing named areas that are verifiably part of a wider settlement as "districts" or "suburbs", unless citation supports this. Whilst these two terms have common usages, they also indicate a specific and technical geographic term to which an area may not actually conform.
 * Per WP:EL and WP:SPAM, be reluctant to add external links unless they are essential, and always restrict them to the External Links section, or to within an appropriately tagged reference.
 * Avoid one-sentence paragraphs wherever possible.
 * If wishing to promote an article to Good article status, it is recommended that it goes through the Wikipedia peer review process first.

Capitalisation

 * Only the first word in a section heading needs a capital letter (except in proper nouns).
 * "Century" does not need a capital, e.g. "15th century" rather than "15th Century"

Common words and phrases to avoid

 * Avoid weasel words, such as "it is believed that", "is widely regarded as", "some have claimed". (GA criteria)
 * The words "current", "recent" & "to date" should be avoided because they become outdated. Use "as of " or, if the information should be kept up to date, the As of template. (GA criteria)
 * "While" should be used only when emphasising that two events occur at the same time, or when emphasising contrast. It should not be used as an additive link.
 * Using "with" as an additive link leads to wordy and awkward prose, e.g. "the town has ten councillors, with one being the district mayor" → "the town has ten councillors; one is the district mayor"
 * Beginning a sentence with "there", when "there" does not stand for anything, leads to wordy prose, e.g. There are ten houses in the village → The village has ten houses. The same applies to sentences beginning with "it".
 * Avoid peacock terms, such as "beautiful", "famous", "popular", "well-known", "significant", "important" and "obvious". Precise descriptors such as country/county's "Most Beautiful Village", "Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty" and "National Park" is permitted but should be accompanied by sufficient, reliable and notable citations. (GA criteria)
 * Avoid contentious labels and peacock words, e.g. "Scotland's top-ranked golfer..." especially in a section that is a summary section only, e.g. in Notable People or in describing national/international history or any aspects of politics.
 * Avoid using "not" unnecessarily, e.g. "previously not developed" → "previously undeveloped"
 * Avoid contractions (such as "can't", "isn't" or "they're")
 * Avoid starting a sentence with "Its"; this is a possessive pronoun, its use can be in this way.
 * Avoid informal words, such as "pub", "carry out", "though", "tremendous" and "bigger".
 * Avoid vague words, such as "various", "many", "several", "long", "a number of", "just", "very" and "almost".
 * Avoid using overly formal words or wordy phrases, such as "circa", "utilise", "whilst", "upon", "commence", "the majority of", "generate", "due to the fact that" and "prior to".
 * Avoid redundant words such as "is located in", "the two are both", "they brought along", "they have plans to", "they were all part of", "the last ones to form", "both the towns", "outside of the town", "all of the towns", "received some donations", "still exists today", "it also includes others", "many different towns", "near to the town", "available records show", "to help limit the chance", "Christian church", "in order to", "first began", "joined together", "future plans" and "in the year 2007".
 * "Last few years" has ambiguous meaning; "past few years" is preferable in some contexts. However: avoid Relative time references
 * "Within" has a different meaning to "in". "Within" should be used only when emphasising that something is inside something, e.g. "the town is in the county", "the town is within the county boundaries"

Hyphens, dashes and spaces

 * Rather than hyphens, en dashes should be used for ranges, e.g. 5–10 years; unspaced em dashes or spaced en dashes should be used for punctuation, e.g. The building—now disused—was built in 1820.  may be used in your personal JavaScript page to fix dashes with one click.
 * Page ranges in the footnotes, and sports scores should also use en dashes.
 * " " (non-breaking space) should be typed between numbers and units, and other numerical/non-numerical components, e.g., "10 miles", which appears on writing 10 miles, similarly for "Boeing 747"
 * A hyphen should not be placed after an -ly word if it is an adverb, e,g., widely used road; except if the -ly word is or could be mistaken for an adjective, e.g., friendly-looking man.
 * Periods and spaces are needed after initials in people's names, e.g. P. G. Wodehouse
 * Compound adjectives need hyphens, for example, the 1000-year-old tree, but, the tree was 1000 years old.
 * Ampersands should not be used except in company/partnership names, e.g. Marks & Spencer.

Images

 * All fair-use images need a fair use rationale. (GA criteria)
 * An image caption should end with a full-stop only if it forms a complete sentence. (GA criteria)
 * Text should not be sandwiched between two adjacent images. (GA criteria)
 * Images need succinct captions. (GA criteria)
 * It is recommended not to specify the exact size of images. The sizes should be what readers have specified in their user preferences.

Lead

 * The lead should adequately summarise the content of the article. (GA criteria)
 * Anything in the lead should be mentioned elsewhere in the article. (GA criteria)

Linking

 * Wikilinks should be made only if they are relevant to the context. Common words do not need wikilinking.
 * A word needs to be wikilinked only once within each section.
 * Links within quotations should be avoided, if possible.
 * Logical quotation (British style) should be used on UK articles. That is, include within quotation marks only those punctuation marks that appeared in the quoted material, but otherwise place punctuation outside the closing quotation marks. For example – but
 * Dates should not be linked unless there is "reason to do so" per MOS:UNLINKDATES.
 * External links that are not references belong only in an External Links section.
 * Portal links such as to Wikimedia images are usually placed in the "See also" section.

Lists

 * Lists within articles should generally be turned into prose, unless they meet one of the criteria in Embedded list. (GA criteria)
 * Short sections and paragraphs are discouraged. (GA criteria)

Numbers

 * Imperial measurements (eg. miles, feet, acres) should be accompanied by the metric equivalent in brackets, and vice versa. If possible, use a conversion template, e.g. 5 mi . A further advantage of this is it inputs   without having to type it.
 * Whole numbers under 10 should be spelled out as words, except for distances between settlements and in lists, tables or infoboxes.
 * Sentences should not start with a numeral. The sentence should be recast or the number should be spelled out.

References and citations

 * Statements that are likely to be challenged, quotations and statistics need inline citations. (GA criteria)
 * Publication references are preferred with author, title, publisher, publishing date and page number.
 * Book references may also include city of publication and ISBN, but this is not required.
 * Web references are preferred with the author, publisher, publishing date, website and access date.
 * Web references preferably should include the language if it is not English, and the format if it is not HTML e.g. |format=PDF
 * References with consistent formatting, e.g. consistent author format, abbreviations for "page number", etc are often requested for Featured Articles, but are not required for GA or other articles.
 * Blogs and personal websites are not reliable sources, unless written by the subject of the article or by an expert on the subject. See WP:BLOGS.
 * Dead web references should not be removed, unless replaced.
 * Inline citations belong immediately after a relevant punctuation mark.