England - Geography - Major conurbations

While many cities in England are quite large in size, such as Birmingham, Sheffield, Manchester, Liverpool, Leeds, Newcastle, Bradford, Nottingham and others, a large population is not necessarily a prerequisite for a settlement to be afforded city status.[130] Traditionally the status was afforded to towns with diocesan cathedrals and so there are smaller cities like Wells, Ely, Ripon, Truro and Chichester.[130] According to the Office for National Statistics the ten largest, continuous built-up urban areas are:

Reference 1: Population

Reference 2: Greater London Urban Area, Greater Manchester Urban Area, West Midlands Urban Area, West Yorkshire Urban Area, Liverpool Urban Area, South Hampshire, Tyneside, Nottingham Urban Area, Sheffield Urban Area and Bristol Urban Area.

Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/England