From its early fame as the terminus of the Stockton to Darlington Railway, the world's first passenger rail line, to its Victorian heyday as an important centre of railway manufacturing and bridge building, the County Durham town of Darlington has a proud and distinctive identity.
Chatham History Tour is a unique insight into the illustrious history of this historic Kentish town and its former dockyard, now a major tourist attraction.
From the granting of borough status in 1614 through to its development as an industrial port and then as a fashionable seaside resort, the west Cornwall town of Penzance has a proud and distinctive history.
Despite the attention of bombs and planners, Coventry still contains many fascinating buildings whose history in stone, brick and concrete has shaped the last thousand years.
From its days as a booming coal-mining and shipbuilding port in the mid-nineteenth century through post-industrial decline and late twentieth-century regeneration, to its current status as a growing commercial centre and popular tourist destination, South Shields has a proud and distinctive identity.
From humble beginnings Woking grew with the opening of the Wey Navigation Canal in the mid-seventeenth century, carrying traffic from Guildford to the River Thames, then more significantly with the arrival of the railway in 1838 and subsequent development of 'New Woking' in the mid-nineteenth century.
High Wycombe, or simply Wycombe, has had a long and remarkable past: the Royal military academy was founded in the town in the late eighteenth century before moving to Sandhurst; Charles I passed through on his way to the scaffold in 1649; and Benjamin Disraeli, MP for the town between 1874 and 1880, made his first political speech from a portico in the high street.
'The Gateway to the Broads', Beccles is a thriving market town in Suffolk that has been central to local communications for two millennia, prospering as a hub of trade and industry, while still retaining its cohesiveness and welcoming atmosphere.
Newcastle upon Tyne is one of England's great cities and one of the most historically significant, with a proud heritage dating all the way back to Roman times.
The city of Leicester can boast a long and distinguished history and has been at the very heart of the country's political and economic development for over two millennia.
The town of Dumfries, in the south-west of Scotland and known as 'the Queen of the South', became a royal burgh in 1186 and grew into an important market town and port in the medieval period.
A new town established in the 1800s, Colwyn Bay thrived with the coming of the railway, growing over the last century into one of the largest communities in North Wales.
Salt has been a valuable commodity for thousands of years, and it is because of this that Droitwich - under which lies vast quantities of salt - has prospered, particularly since Roman times.
The Area of Outstanding National Beauty known as the Cotswolds is famous for its range of rolling green hills and quaint English towns and villages, filled with honey-coloured stone cottages and hosting bustling weekend markets.
The origins of Chichester, Winchester and nearby Portchester are from the Roman era, while Southampton (Hamwic) and Fareham date back to the Anglo-Saxon period, but it was not until the twelfth century that Portsmouth was founded, and, even then, it was not until the time of the Tudor monarchs - notably Henry VIII and Elizabeth I - that it acquired its true role as the home of the Royal Navy.
From its days as the largest city in England after London and, until the Industrial Revolution, capital of the most populous county in the country, to its current status as a major regional centre and one of the most prosperous and attractive cities in England, Norwich has a proud and distinctive identity.
