 There are twenty towns in England and Wales that were recognised as cities by "ancient prescriptive right"; none of these communities had been formally declared a city, but they had all used the title since "time immemorial", that is, before 3 September 1189, and had been granted some form of privilege such as freedoms by way of a charter or being given borough or corporation status.A list of these ancient cities was produced by the Home Office in 1927 and were