With a granite-built townscape that exudes respectability, Bodmin owes its appearance to Cornwall’s tin-mining boom in the 19th century. This was also Cornwall’s county town until the late-19th century, and buildings like the Shire Hall and the ominous silhouette of Bodmin Jail point to that former status. Bodmin Moor is a haunting landscape of granite …
In Medieval times this Cambridgeshire town was on the Isle of Ely, a patch of high ground amid miles of watery fenland. Slowly the impassable landscape was conquered using ditches and pumps that were powered by wind and then diesel engines. The name Ely comes from eels, and for hundreds of years this creature was …
The seat of the second-oldest diocese in England, Rochester is at an ancient crossing on the River Medway, fortified by a sturdy Medieval castle that has survived in amazing condition. Rochester cathedral blends Romanesque and Gothic architecture, with a west front that dates back almost 900 years. Charles Dickens, who lived nearby in Higham, was …
If you have to choose one borough that epitomises the real London in the 21st century, Hackney may be as close as it gets. Vibrant and culturally diverse, Hackney in London’s old East End is scattered with social housing, so still has a working class spirit and a bit of an edge. But since the …
The neat and well-to-do town of Lewes is embedded in a gap in the South Down in East Sussex. Lewes’ Medieval streets are set off beautifully by the neighbouring green hillsides, and poking around the town you’ll come by independent galleries, artist studios and lots of shops you won’t find anywhere else. For a town …
On the western moors of the Peak District, Macclesfield is a market town that became the world’s largest producer of finished silk in the 19th century. In 1832 there were 71 silk mills in Macclesfield, and one has been preserved along with its jacquard looms as part of the Silk Museum. Macclesfield has a pretty …
On Dorset’s Isle of Purbeck, Swanage is a seaside town that will have people of all ages under its spell. Here you’re at the eastern gateway to the Jurassic Coast, a UNESCO World Heritage Site on the Dorset and Devon coasts, inspiring wonder for its limestone formations and fossils. You can venture off to stunning …
Blessed with one of the few west-facing beaches on England’s east coast, Hunstanton is a picture perfect Victorian seaside resort built from nothing in the middle of the 19th century. The sand and pebble beaches in Hunstanton face the Wash, an immense estuary where four rivers enter the North Sea. This is a crucial coastal …
In the 1950s Grimsby was the largest fishing port in the world. This came after more than a century of constant expansion, leaving the town’s docks with giant monuments like the Victoria Mill and the Grimsby Dock Tower. It’s sobering to think that thousands of men have lost their lives on fishing expeditions from this …
A town with industry in its veins, Bolton began producing textiles when Flemish weavers brought the trade with them in the 1300s. In the 18th century two local men, Richard Arkwright and Samuel Crompton, discovered ways to lift yarn production to unimagined levels. The cotton industry departed Bolton in the 20th century, but the town …