Straddling the Derwent River, the cathedral city of Derby, its foundations in the Roman occupation of Britain, can directly attribute its contemporary status to the Industrial Revolution.
From its heyday in the nineteenth century as a major manufacturing town and centre of wire-making, textiles, tanning, chemical production and brewing through to its designation as a new town in the late 1960s and subsequent development as a thriving business and commercial centre, Warrington has always proudly called itself the 'Town of Many Industries', having a varied economy that created one of the great industrial centres of north-west England.
The south coast city of Brighton has long been one of Britain's most famous and influential places, ever since the Prince of Wales, later George IV, began to visit regularly, constructed the Royal Pavilion and thus encouraged its development as a fashionable seaside resort.
The LSWR was quite different to the other southern railways in that it covered not only Home Counties suburban traffic, but also the long reach out to Cornwall in competition with the Great Western Railway.
The SE&CR was born as an unholy alliance between two bitter rivals and, after it had buried the hatchets they had been throwing at one another, found success.
The Prince Regent first popularised Brighton as a pleasure destination in the eighteenth century, and the town acquired a reputation for pleasure for the masses after the coming of the railway.
Sheffield has an enviable reputation for manufacturing quality, and as a global 'steel city', the home of major innovations in steel manufacture and processing.
Canterbury is one of the most delightful cities in England and in addition to its well-known attributes has a wealth of lesser-known and secret sites and histories.
Swansea History Tour is a unique insight into the illustrious history of this South Wales city, its well-known streets and famous faces, and explains what they meant to local people throughout the nineteenth and into the twentieth century.
Witney History Tour is a unique insight into the illustrious history of this Oxfordshire town, its well-known streets and famous places, and explains what they meant to local people throughout the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries.
From a small market town to its heyday as a fashionable watering place and recognition as 'the most complete Regency town in Britain', through to its subsequent reinvention as a centre for religion, education, shopping and festivals, Cheltenham has a proud and distinctive identity.
Petersham, or Patricesham as it was originally called, is mentioned in the Domesday Book, while Ham came under the manor of Kingston, so was not individually mentioned.
The 'A-side' of Cheltenham's history as a fashionable Regency spa and subsequent reinvention as a town of colleges, churches and festivals is well documented, but what about its 'flip-side'?
The ancient Shropshire market town of Oswestry, just to the west of Shrewsbury and close to the Welsh border, has not changed a great deal since the Battle of Maserfield in 642, which is perhaps why the town is so popular among discerning tourists and those in search of a quiet life.
'Lord Leverhulme was one of those special people who used talent, hard work and the fruits of his success to make a difference to people's lives for the better; this book is a celebration of a great man.
The town of Wrexham and its immediate vicinity has a rich heritage of industry, including coal, iron and steel, brewing, tanning, brick and tile making and lead mining.
Well known for its lace industry and connections to notable figures such as John Bunyan and John Howard, the county town of Bedford has a long and fascinating history.
Bournemouth Airport was first opened as RAF Hurn on 1 August 1941, one of the bases established by the RAF to counter the Luftwaffe presence across the Channel in northern France.
Aldeburgh and Southwold are now very much delightful, fashionable coastal towns, set amid Suffolk's flat farming country, but in the eighteenth century the poet George Crabbe, a native and local clergyman, characterised the poverty wrought by Suffolk's ruined agricultural economy in his poem 'The Village'.
From its earliest days as a Roman legionary fortress, through the Middle Ages when the town grew as a major trading centre and became Henry VIII's northern capital; through the grandeur and decadence of Georgian York and into the nineteenth century when the city became an important railway hub, confectionery manufacturer and pioneer of social housing, to its current status as a majour tourist destination and sustainable city, York has a proud and distinctive identity.
