market towns
Commercial village centers
Market towns are settlements that historically received official permission to hold regular markets, distinguishing them from ordinary villages.
In Britain, the designation dates to medieval times when a royal charter granted trading rights.
Many retain the name even after markets have ceased: Chipping Norton, Market Harborough.
The term suggests a town larger than a village but smaller than a city, serving as a commercial hub for surrounding rural areas.
- merchantsThose who conduct commerce
- stallsDelays or compartments
- trade routesPaths for exchanging goods
- toll roadsHighways requiring user fees
- commerceExchange of goods, services
corn exchange · charter · trading · guilds · vendors · livestock auction · fairs · hub · center · produce · drovers · burgesses · assizes · coaching inns · penny farthing · caravan routes · weekly · thatched
- Medieval Europekings, queens, knights, castles, castle
- British Countrysidehedgerow, village, hedgerows, hamlet, moorland
- settlementsvillage, cities, hamlet, city, villages
- economic historyIndustrial Revolution, trade routes, Great Depression, gold standard, Silk Road
- medieval economyfiefs, manors, serfs, vassals, lords
- English travelstagecoach, coaching inns, grand tour, turnpikes, travel diaries
market townsmetropolises
Large, densely populated cities
capital cities · megacities · conurbations · hamlets · global cities
market townsbedroom communities
Residential areas near cities
dormitory towns · commuter towns · ghost towns · company towns · garrison towns
market townsrural villages
Small countryside settlements
countryside · farmland · open country · agricultural land · wilderness
market, town, downtown, marketing, supermarket, uptown, towns, markets, hometown