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Wigan Greater Manchester

Approximate Population: 81,203

In the Anglo-Saxon period, the area of Wigan was probably under the control of the Northumbrians and later the Mercians.   In the early 10th century there was an influx of Scandinavians expelled from Ireland.   This can be seen in place names such as Scholes – now a part of Wigan – which derives from the Scandinavian skali meaning “hut”.   Further evidence comes from some street names in Wigan which have Scandinavian origins.
Although Wigan parish church was mentioned in the Domesday Book, the current building dates to the 15th century.

Although Wigan is not mentioned in the Domesday Book, possibly because it was included in the Neweton barony (now Newton-le-Willows), it is thought that the mention of a church in the manor of Neweton is Wigan parish church.  The rectors of the parish church were lords of the manor of Wigan, a sub-manor of Neweton, until the 19th century.   The incorporation of Wigan as a borough happened in 1246 following the issue of a Charter by King Henry III to John Maunsel, the local church rector and lord of the manor.  The borough was later granted another Charter in 1257–1258, allowing the lord of the manor to hold a market on every Monday and two annual fairs.

Edward II visited Wigan in 1323 in an effort to stabilise the region which had been the source of the Banastre Rebellion in 1315.   Edward stayed in nearby Upholland Priory and held court in the town over a period of several days.  During the medieval period Wigan expanded and prospered and in 1536, antiquarian John Leland described the town, saying “Wigan paved; as big as Warrington and better builded.   There is one parish church amid the town. Some merchants, some artificers, some farmers”.

Houses for Sale Wigan Greater Manchester

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Milton Keynes Buckinghamshire

Approximate Population: 184,506

The flood plains of the Great Ouse and of its tributaries (the Ouzel and some brooks) have been protected as linear parks that run right through Milton Keynes.  The Grand Union Canal is another green route (and demonstrates the level geography of the town – there is just one minor lock in its entire 10 mile route through from Fenny Stratford to the “Iron Trunk” Aqueduct over the Ouse at Wolverton.

The Milton Keynes redway system of cycleways and footpaths uses these and other routes.   The Park system was designed by landscape architect Peter Youngman, who also developed landscape precepts for the whole town: groups of grid squares were to be planted with different selections of trees and shrubs in order to give them distinct identities.   However the landscaping of parks and of the grid roads was evolved under the leadership of Neil Higson, who from 1977 took over as Chief Landscape Architect and made the original grand but not entirely practical landscape plan more subtle.

A policy of creating “settings, strings, beads” for landscape features was introduced: ’settings’ for historic villages and landscape features, ’strings’ of landscape to make the linear parks hang together and ‘beads’ of public space where residents might linger.   Higson also made the landscaping of the Grid Roads, one of the glories of Milton Keynes, more subtle, with ‘windows’ cut into the roadside planting so that motorists travelling through had a sense of the major town they were in; early critics had said of Milton Keynes ‘there is no there there’, as the town could not be seen by the motorist just passing through.   Now that the trees and shrubs have matured, the skill and lavish scale of the Grid Road planting makes a dramatic and welcome change from the monotony of many British towns.

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Milton Keynes Buckinghamshire

Houses for Sale Woodbridge Suffolk

Approximate Population: 10,956

Woodbridge is a town in Suffolk, East Anglia, England. It is in the East of England, not far from the coast. It lies along the River Deben and the town is served by Woodbridge railway station on the Ipswich Lowestoft East Suffolk Line. Woodbridge is twinned with Mussidan in France.

Sutton Hoo, a group of low grassy mounds famous for turning up Anglo-Saxon treasure of one of the earliest English kings, Rædwald, overlooks Woodbridge from the Eastern Bank of the Deben.

There is a museum devoted to the Suffolk Punch, a breed of heavy working horse, in the Shire Hall on the Market Hill. Local folklore has it that the route from the river to the top of Drybridge Hill (via Church Street, the Market Hill and Seckford Street) is the hill which was marched up by the Grand Old Duke of York in the popular Nursery Rhyme. Woodbridge is also the location of two prisons: HMP Hollesley Bay is an open prison for adult males, while HMP Warren Hill holds male juveniles.

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Halifax West Yorkshire

Approximate Population: 82,056

Halifax was incorporated as a municipal borough in 1848 under the Municipal Corporations Act 1835, and with the passing of the Local Government Act 1888 became a County Borough in 1889.   Since 1974, Halifax has been the administrative centre of the Metropolitan District of Calderdale, part of the metropolitan county of West Yorkshire.

North Halifax is noted for its local support of the far-right British National Party; the suburb of Mixenden became the first area in West Yorkshire to popularly vote in a BNP councillor, with Illingworth soon to follow.

Topographically, Halifax is located in the south-eastern corner of the moorland region called the South Pennines. Halifax is situated about 4 miles (6.4 km) from the M62 motorway close to Bradford, Huddersfield and Rochdale.   The Tees-Exe line passes through the A641 road, which links nearby Brighouse with Bradford and Huddersfield, The town lies 65 miles (105 km) from Kingston upon Hull and Liverpool, and about 200 miles (320 km) from the cities of London, Edinburgh, Belfast, Dublin and Cardiff as the crow flies. The major waterway is the River Calder.

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Bournemouth Dorset

Approximate Population: 163,444

Bournemouth  is a large coastal resort town in the Borough of Bournemouth in Dorset, England.   The town has a population of 163,444 according to the 2001 Census, making it the largest settlement in Dorset.   With Poole it forms the main part (discluding Christchurch) of the South East Dorset conurbation.   It is also the largest town on the English south coast between Southampton and Plymouth.

The town was founded by Lewis Tregonwell in 1810 and grew steadily until becoming a proper town in 1870, with the arrival of the railway.   Originally part of Hampshire, it became part of Dorset with the reorganisation of local government in 1974.   Since 1997 the town has been administered by a unitary authority, meaning that it has autonomy from Dorset County Council.

Bournemouth’s location on the south coast of England has made it a popular destination for tourists.  The town is a regional centre of business, home of the Bournemouth International Centre and financial companies that include: Liverpool Victoria and Standard Life Healthcare.

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Lancaster Lancashire

Approximate Population: 45,952

Lancaster is a city in North West England and the county town of Lancashire. It is situated on the River Lune and has a population of 45,952.   Lancaster is a constituent settlement of the wider City of Lancaster, local government district which has a population of 133,914 and encompasses several outlying towns, including neighbouring Morecambe.

Long existing as a commercial, cultural and educational centre, Lancaster is the settlement that gives Lancashire its name. Lancaster has several unique ties to the British monarchy; the House of Lancaster was a branch of the English royal family, whilst the Duchy of Lancaster holds large estates on behalf of Queen Elizabeth, who herself is also the Duke of Lancaster. Lancaster was granted city status in 1937 for its “long association with the crown” and because it was “the county town of the King’s Duchy of Lancaster”.

With its history based on its port and canal, Lancaster is an ancient settlement, dominated by Lancaster Castle.

Houses for Sale Lancaster Lancashire

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Wolverhampton West Midlands

Approximate Population: 239,100

Wolverhampton is a city and metropolitan borough of the West Midlands, England.   In 2004, the local government district had an estimated population of 239,100; the wider Urban Area had a population of 251,462, which makes it the 13th most populous city in England.

Historically a part of Staffordshire, and forming part of the metropolitan county of the West Midlands from 1974, the city is commonly recognised as being named after Lady Wulfruna, who founded the town in 985: its name coming from Anglo-Saxon Wulfrūnehēantūn = “Wulfrūn’s high or principal enclosure or farm”.  Alternatively, the city may have earned its original name from a local Danish leader who was called Wulfere.  Nevertheless, the name Wulfruna is commonly used in the city – for example, for the Wulfrun Centre or for Wulfrun Hall.

The city’s name is often abbreviated to “W’ton” or “Wolves”.  The city council’s motto is “Out of darkness, cometh light”.   People from Wolverhampton are known as Wulfrunians.

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Wolverhampton West Midlands

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Bradford West Yorkshire

Approximate Population: 293,717

To support the textile mills, a large manufacturing base grew up in the city, providing textile machinery, and this led to diversification with different industries thriving side by side.   Bradford’s manufacturing history includes the Jowett Motor Company, which had many great achievements during its 50 years of existence.

The textile industry started to decline in the 1920s, and Bradford has been cited as an example of deindustrialisation.   However, today a spirit of rebirth has taken hold and Bradford is one of the north’s important cities, with modern technology, chemicals, engineering, academic and financial sectors replacing the “dark satanic mills” image of the Industrial Revolution.

The grandest of the mills (no longer used for textile production) is Lister Mills, the chimney of which can be seen from most places in Bradford.   It has recently become a beacon of regeneration in the city after a £100 million conversion to apartment blocks by property developers Urban Splash.

Salts Mill is another large mill that has an exciting new life in the modern era. The mill is occupied by high-technology companies, contemporary design shops and gallery spaces. It is the hub of the world heritage site of Saltaire, three miles (4.8 km) north of Bradford city centre.   The Bradford district also contains the villages of Thornton and Haworth, the birthplace and home of the world famous Brontë sisters.

Houses for Sale Bradford West Yorkshire

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Swindon Wiltshire

Approximate Population: 155,432

In 1840, Isambard Kingdom Brunel chose Swindon as the site for the railway works he planned for the Great Western Railway.   Eastwards towards London the line was gently graded, while westwards there was a steep descent towards Bath. Swindon was the junction for the proposed line to Gloucester.

Swindon Junction station opened in 1842 and until 1895 every train stopped for at least 10 minutes to change locomotives. As a result, the station hosted the first recorded railway refreshment rooms.   There were three storeys to the station in 1842, with the refreshment rooms on the ground floor, the upper floors housing the station hotel and lounge.   That building was demolished in 1972, and replaced by an office building with a single-storey modern station under it.

The town’s railway works were completed in 1842.   The GWR built a small railway ‘village’ to house some of its workers.   People still live in those houses and several of the buildings that made up the railway works remain, although many are vacant.   The Steam Railway Museum now occupies part of the old works.   In the village were the GWR Medical Fund Clinic at Park House and its hospital, both on Faringdon Road, and 1892’s Health Centre in Milton Road – which housed clinics, a pharmacy, laundries, baths, Turkish baths and swimming pools – was almost opposite.

Houses for Sale Swindon Wiltshire

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Blackpool Lancashire

Approximate Population: 142,900

Much of Blackpool’s growth and character from the 1870s on was predicated on the town’s pioneering use of electrical power.   In 1879, it became the first municipality in the world to have electric street lighting, as large parts of the promenade were wired.   The lighting and its accompanying pageants reinforced Blackpool’s status as the North’s most prominent holiday resort, and its specifically working class character.

It was the forerunner of the present-day Blackpool Illuminations.   In 1885 one of the world’s first electric tramways was laid down as a conduit line running from Cocker Street to Dean Street on the Promenade.   The line was operated by the Blackpool Electric Tramway Company until 1892 when their lease expired and Blackpool Corporation took over running the line.   A further line was added in 1895 from Manchester Square along Lytham Road to South Shore, and the line was extended north, first to Gynn Square in 1899, and then to Fleetwood.   The tramway has remained in continuous service to this day.

By the 1890s, the town had a population of 35,000, and could accommodate 250,000 holidaymakers.   The number of annual visitors, many staying for a week, was estimated at three million. 1894 saw the opening of two of the town’s most prominent buildings; the Grand Theatre on Church Street, and Blackpool Tower on the Promenade.

The first decade of the new century saw the development of the Promenade as we know it today, and further development southwards beyond South Shore towards Harrowside and Squires Gate.   The Pleasure Beach was first established about this time. Seasonal static illuminations were first set up in 1912, although due to World War I and its aftermath, they only enjoyed two seasons until they were re-introduced in 1925.   The illuminations extended the holiday season into September and early October.

Houses for Sale Blackpool Lancashire