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Aberystwyth Wales

Approximate Population: 11,607

The recorded history of Aberystwyth, however, may be said to date from the building of a fortress in 1109 by Gilbert Fitz Richard (grandfather of Richard de Clare, known as Strongbow, the Cambro-Norman lord notable for his leading role in the Norman invasion of Ireland).   Gilbert Fitz Richard was granted lands and the Lordship of Cardigan by Henry I, including Cardigan Castle.   The fortress built in Aberystwyth was located about a mile and a half south of today’s town, on a hill over the south bank of the Ystwyth River.

Edward I replaced Strongbow’s castle in 1277, after its destruction by the Welsh.   His castle was however built in a different location, at the current Castle Hill, the high point of the town.   Between the years 1404 and 1408 Aberystwyth Castle was in the hands of Owain Glyndŵr, but finally surrendered to Prince Harry (the future King Henry V of England).   Shortly after this the town was incorporated under the title of Ville de Lampadarn (the ancient name of the place being Llanbadarn Gaerog, or the fortified Llanbadarn, to distinguish it from Llanbadarn Fawr, the village one mile (1.6 km) inland).

It is thus styled in a Royal charter granted by Henry VIII, but by Elizabeth I’s time the town was invariably termed Aberystwyth in all documents.   In 1649 the Parliamentarian troops razed the castle[5], so that its remains are now inconsiderable, though portions of three towers still exist.   Excavations in the 1970s within the castle, in what is believed to be a stables area, revealed a complete male skeleton, deliberately buried.[citation needed] Rarely surviving in Wales’ acidic soil, this skeleton was probably preserved by the addition of lime from the collapsed building.   Affectionately known as “Charlie”, he probably dates from the English Civil War period, probably dying during the Parliamentarian siege and is now housed in the Ceredigion Museum in the town.

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Portsmouth Hampshire

Approximate Population: 197,700

Portsmouth is administered by Portsmouth City Council, which is currently a unitary authority.   Portsmouth was granted its first charter in 1194. In 1904 the boundaries were extended to finally include the whole of Portsea Island. The boundaries were further extended in 1920 and 1932, taking in areas of the mainland.

Until April 1, 1997 it was a non-metropolitan district of Hampshire.   Portsmouth remains part of the Ceremonial county of Hampshire.   The city is divided into two parliamentary constituencies, Portsmouth South and Portsmouth North, represented in the House of Commons by, respectively, a Liberal Democrat Member of Parliament, Mike Hancock, and a Labour MP, Sarah McCarthy-Fry.

The city council is made up of 42 councillors. There is no overall majority control of the city council, with 19 Liberal Democrat, 19 Conservative, 2 Labour, and 2 members of the Independent group. The Council is currently led by the Liberal Democrats with the two independents forming part of the administration. Gerald Vernon-Jackson is the council leader. Councillors are returned from 14 wards, each ward having three councillors. Councillors have a 4 year term, only one council seat is up for election in each Ward at any one election.

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Sheds Suppliers 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”.

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Sheds Suppliers Crawley

West Sussex

Approximate Population: 99,744

Although Crawley itself is not mentioned in the Domesday Book of 1086, the nearby settlements of Ifield and Worth are recorded.  The first written record of Crawley dates from 1202, when a licence was issued by King John for a weekly market on Wednesdays.  Crawley grew slowly in importance over the next few centuries, but was boosted in the 18th century by the construction of the turnpike road between London and Brighton.   When this was completed in 1770, travel between the newly fashionable seaside resort and London became safer and quicker, and Crawley (located approximately halfway between the two) prospered as a coaching halt.

By 1839 it offered almost an hourly service to both destinations.  The George, a timber-framed house dating from the 15th century, expanded to become a large coaching inn, taking over adjacent buildings.  Eventually an annexe had to be built in the middle of the wide High Street; this survived until the 1930s.  The original building has become the George Hotel, with conference facilities and 84 bedrooms; it retains many period features including an iron fireback.

Crawley’s oldest church is St John the Baptist’s, between the High Street and the Broadway. It has 13th century origins, but there has been much rebuilding (especially in the 19th century) and the oldest part remaining is the south wall of the nave, which is believed to be 14th century.   The church has a 15th-century tower (rebuilt in 1804) which originally contained four bells cast in 1724.   Two were replaced by Thomas Lester of London in 1742; but in 1880 a new set of eight bells were cast and installed by the Croydon-based firm Gillett, Bland & Company.

The Coventry Canal terminates near the city centre at Coventry Canal Basin and is navigable for 61 km (38 miles) to Fradley Junction in Staffordshire.

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Sheds Suppliers Cardiff Wales

Approximate Population: 317,500

In 1536, the Act of Union between England and Wales led to the creation of the shire of Glamorgan, and Cardiff was made the county town.   Around this same time the Herbert family became the most powerful family in the area.

In 1538, Henry VIII closed the Dominican and Franciscan friaries in Cardiff, the remains of which were used as building materials.  A writer around this period described Cardiff: “The River Taff runs under the walls of his honours castle and from the north part of the town to the south part where there is a fair quay and a safe harbour for shipping.”

Cardiff had become a Free Borough in 1542.  In 1573, it was made a head port for collection of customs duties, and in 1581, Elizabeth I granted Cardiff its first royal charter.  Pembrokeshire historian George Owen described Cardiff in 1602 as “the fayrest towne in Wales yett not the welthiest.”  The town gained a second Royal Charter in 1608.

During the Second English Civil War, St. Fagans just to the west of the town, played host to the Battle of St. Fagans.   The battle, between a Royalist rebellion and a New Model Army detachment, was a decisive victory for the Parliamentarians and allowed Oliver Cromwell to conquer Wales.  It is the last major battle to occur in Wales, with about 200 (mostly Royalist) soldiers killed.

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Sheds Suppliers Croydon Greater London

Approximate Population: 316,283

Croydon is a large town and major commercial centre in South London, and the principal settlement of the London Borough of Croydon.   It is 9.5 miles (15.3 km) south of Charing Cross, and is one of the major metropolitan centres identified in the London Plan. It is located on the natural transport corridor between London and England’s south coast, just to the north of a gap in the North Downs.

Historically a part of Surrey, at the time of the Norman conquest of England Croydon had a church, a mill and around 365 inhabitants (as recorded in the Domesday Book of 1086).   Croydon expanded during the Middle Ages as a market town and a centre for charcoal production, leather tanning and brewing.   The Surrey Iron Railway from Croydon to Wandsworth opened in 1803 and was the world’s first horse-drawn railway, which later developed into an important means of transport – facilitating Croydon’s growth as a commuter town for the City of London and beyond.

In the early 20th century Croydon was an important industrial area, known for metal working, car manufacture and its airport.   In the mid 20th century these sectors were replaced with retailing and service economy, brought about as a result of a massive redevelopment of office blocks and the Whitgift shopping centre. Croydon was amalgamated into Greater London in 1965. Road traffic is now diverted away from a largely pedestrianised town centre, but its main railway station, East Croydon, is still a major hub within the national railway transport system.   The town is expected to have its urban planning changed as part of Croydon Vision 2020.

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Sheds Suppliers London Greater London

Approximate Population: 7,556,900

London has a temperate marine climate, like much of the British Isles, so the city rarely sees extremely high or low temperatures.   Summers are warm with average high temperatures of 23 °C (73 °F) and lows of 14 °C (57 °F), however, temperatures can exceed 25 °C (77 °F) on many days.  Winters in London are chilly, but rarely below freezing with daytime temperatures around 2 - 8 °C (36 - 46 °F), while spring has mild days and cool evenings.

London has regular but generally light precipitation throughout the year, with average precipitation of 583.6 millimetres (22.98 in) every year.   Snow is relatively uncommon, particularly because heat from the urban area can make London up to 5 °C (9 °F) hotter than the surrounding areas in winter. Some snowfall, however, is usually seen up to a few times a year.   London is in USDA Hardiness zone 9, and AHS Heat Zone 2.

In the second half of the 19th century and the first half of the 20th, London was noted for its dense fogs and smogs. Following the deadly Great Smog of 1952, the Clean Air Act 1956 was passed, leading to the decline of such severe pollution in the capital.

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Shrewsbury West Midlands

Approximate Population: 70,689

Shrewsbury is home to the Ditherington Flax Mill, the world’s first iron-framed building, which is commonly regarded as “the grandfather of the skyscraper”. Its importance was officially recognised in the 1950s, resulting in it becoming a Grade I listed building.  Shrewsbury in the Industrial Revolution was also located on the Shrewsbury Canal which linked it to the Shropshire Canal and wider canal network of Great Britain.

Shrewsbury has also played a unique part in Western intellectual history, by being the town in which the naturalist Charles Darwin was born and raised. Darwin later published his seminal text On the Origin of Species and developed the theory of natural selection.   Nearby is the village of Wroxeter, 5 miles (8 km) to the south-west, where the now ruined Roman city of Viroconium Cornoviorum lies. Viroconium was the fourth largest civitas capital in Roman Britain. As Caer Guricon it may have served as the early Dark Age capital of the kingdom of Powys.

The town avoided bombing in World War II and so many of its ancient buildings remain intact and there was little redevelopment during the 1960s and 1970s, which arguably destroyed the character of many historic towns in the UK. However, a large area of half timbered houses and businesses was destroyed to make way for the Raven Meadows multi-story car park, and other historic buildings were demolished to make way for the brutalist architectural style of the 1960s.  The town was saved from a new ‘inner ring road’ due to its challenging geography.

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Sheds Suppliers Barnet Greater London

Approximate Population: 314,019

The town was the site of the Battle of Barnet in 1471 (more accurately, Hadley), where Yorkist troops led by King Edward IV killed the rebellious “Kingmaker” Richard Neville, Earl of Warwick and Warwick’s brother, John Neville, 1st Marquess of Montagu.

It is the site of an ancient and well-known horse fair, hence the Cockney rhyming slang of Barnet Fair or barnet for “hair”.   The fair dates back to 1588 when Queen Elizabeth I granted a charter to the Lord of the Manor of Barnet the right to hold a twice yearly fair.

Chipping Barnet (chipping meaning market) was historically a civil parish of Hertfordshire and formed part of the Barnet Urban District from 1894.   The parish was abolished in 1965 and the Chipping Barnet section of its former area was transferred to Greater London and the newly-created London Borough of Barnet.  In 1801 the parish had a population of 1,258 and covered an area of 1,440 acres (6 km²).   By 1901 the parish was reduced to 380 acres (1.5 km²) and had a population of 2,893.   In 1951 the population was 7,062.

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Lincoln Lincolnshire

Approximate Population: 101,000

After the first destructive Viking raids Lincoln once again rose to some importance. In Viking times Lincoln was a trading centre important enough to issue coins from its own mint.   After the establishment of Dane Law in 886, Lincoln became one of The Five Boroughs in the East Midlands.   Over the next few centuries, Lincoln once again rose to prominence.   In 1068, two years after the Norman Conquest, William I ordered Lincoln Castle to be built on the site of the former Roman settlement, for the same strategic reasons and using the same road.

Construction of the first Lincoln Cathedral, within its close or walled precinct facing the castle, began when the see was removed from Dorchester and completed in 1092; it was rebuilt after a fire but was destroyed by an unusual earthquake in 1185.

The rebuilt Lincoln Minster, enlarged to the east at each rebuilding, was on a magnificent scale, its crossing tower crowned by a spire reputed to have been 160 m (525 ft) high, the highest in Europe.   When completed the central of the three spires is widely accepted to have succeeded the Great Pyramids of Egypt as the tallest man-made structure in the world.

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