Some people know Cirencester as the Capital of the Cotswolds, but in Roman times the town had a much loftier status. At that time Corinium Dobunnorum was the second largest …
The city of Derby was a market town in the 18th century, but grew sharply in the Industrial Revolution through its cotton and silk spinning trade. Derby was one of …
A working town in South Cheshire, Crewe was just a hamlet until the railway came through in the mid-19th century. The Grand Junction Railway chose this spot for its locomotive …
Once a small village in the Windsor Forest, Bracknell answered England’s need for extra housing after the Second World War and was developed as a “New Town”. After a few …
Always a textile town, Blackburn became the “weaving capital of the world” during the Industrial Revolution when the Leeds and Liverpool Canal unloaded a constant stream of raw cotton. Textile …
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 …
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 …
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. …
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 …
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 …