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Worcester Worcestershire
Approximate Population: 93,700
The 2001 census recorded that Worcester had a population of 93, 353 with 96.5% White ethnicity including 94.2% White British, greater than the national average. The largest religious groups are Christian (77%) and No Religion or Not Stated (21%) with other religions totalling less than 2%. Ethnic minorities include people of Chinese, Indian, Pakistani, Italian and Polish origin, with the largest single minority group being the ethnic Pakistani population of around 1200 people (around 1.3%).
This has led to Worcester containing a small but diverse range of religious groups; as well as the commanding Worcester Cathedral (Church of England), there are also Catholic and Baptist churches, a large centre for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (Mormons), an Islamic mosque, and a number of smaller interest groups regarding Eastern Religions such as Buddhism and the Hare Krishnas.
Worcester is the seat of a Church of England bishop. His official signature is his Christian name followed by Wigorn, which is also occasionally used as an abbreviation for the name of the county.
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Belfast Northern Ireland
Approximate Population: 276,459
Today, Belfast remains a centre for industry, as well as the arts, higher education and business, is a legal centre of the United Kingdom, and is an economic engine of Ulster. The city suffered greatly during the period of disruption, conflict, and destruction called the Troubles, but latterly has undergone a sustained period of calmness and substantial economic and commercial growth. Belfast city centre has undergone considerable expansion and regeneration in recent years, with the newly developed Victoria Square area attracting international attention.
Belfast is partially composed of seven “quarters”, each dedicated to reflect the history of the city. It was first said at the Ireland-US Council that Belfast was once a city of two halves, but is now a city of seven quarters. The historic heart of Belfast, the Cathedral Quarter, has also seen substantial regeneration in recent years, and is seen as a sign of the resurgence of the City’s cultural heritage.
Belfast is served by two airports: Belfast International Airport to the north-west of the city, and George Best Belfast City Airport in the east of the city. Belfast is also a major seaport, with commercial and industrial docks dominating the Belfast Lough shoreline, including the famous Harland and Wolff shipyard. Belfast is a constituent city of the Dublin-Belfast corridor with a population of 3million, comprising of half the total population of the island of Ireland.
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Blackburn Lancashire
Approximate Population: 105,085
Blackburn is a large town in Lancashire, England. It lies to the north of the West Pennine Moors on the southern edge of the Ribble Valley, 8.9 miles (14.3 km) east of the city of Preston, and 21 miles (34 km) north-northwest of the city of Manchester. Blackburn is bounded to the south by Darwen, with which it forms the unitary authority area of Blackburn with Darwen, Blackburn being the administrative centre. At the time of the UK Government’s 2001 census, Blackburn had a population of 105,085, whilst the wider borough had a population of 137,470.
A former mill town, textiles have been produced in Blackburn since the middle of the 13th century, when locally produced wool was woven in people’s houses. Flemish weavers who settled in the area during the 14th century helped to develop the industry.
James Hargreaves, inventor of the spinning jenny, was a weaver in Blackburn. The most rapid period of growth and development in Blackburn’s history coincided with the industrialisation and expansion of textile manufacturing. Blackburn was a boomtown of the Industrial Revolution, and amongst the first industrialised towns in the world.
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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
Bed and Breakfast Bracknell Berkshire
Approximate Population: 50,131
Bracknell is a town in the Bracknell Forest borough of Berkshire, England. It lies 18 km (11 miles) to the south-east of Reading, 16 km (10 miles) southwest of Windsor and 53 km (33 miles) west of London.
The town is surrounded, on the east and south, by the vast expanse of Swinley Woods and Crowthorne Woods. The town has absorbed parts of many local outlying areas including Warfield, Winkfield and Binfield.
The town covers all of the old village of Easthampstead (though not all of the old parish) and the hamlet of Ramslade. Easthampstead has a very long history. There is a Bronze Age round barrow at Bill Hill. Easthampstead Park was a favoured Royal hunting lodge in Windsor Forest and Catherine of Aragon was banished there until her divorce was finalised. It was later the home of the Trumbulls who were patrons of Alexander Pope from Binfield.
The town was successful in attracting high-tech industries, and has become home to companies such as Panasonic, Fujitsu (formerly ICL) and Fujitsu-Siemens Computers, Dell, Hewlett-Packard, Siemens (originally Nixdorf), Honeywell, Cable and Wireless, Avnet Technology Solutions and Novell. Its success subsequently spread into the surrounding Thames Valley or M4 corridor, attracting IT firms such as Cable and Wireless, DEC (subsequently Hewlett-Packard), Microsoft, Sharp Telecommunications, Oracle Corporation, Sun Microsystems and Cognos.
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Luton Bedfordshire
Approximate Population: 202,500
In the 20th century, the hat trade severely declined and was replaced by other industries. In 1905, Vauxhall Motors opened the largest car plant in the United Kingdom in Luton. Electrolux built a household appliances plant which was followed by other light engineering businesses.
In 1904 councillors Asher Hucklesby and Edwin Oakley purchased the estate at Wardown Park and donated it to the people of Luton. Hucklesby went on to become Mayor of Luton. The main house in the park became Luton Museum & Art Gallery.
The town had a tram system from 1908 until 1932 and the first cinema was opened in 1909. By 1914 the population had reached 50,000.
The original town hall was destroyed in 1919 during Peace Day celebrations at the end of World War I. Local people including many ex-servicemen were unhappy with unemployment and had been refused the use of a local park to hold celebratory events. They stormed the town hall setting it alight. A replacement building was completed in 1936. London Luton Airport opened in 1938, owned and operated by the council.
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Slough Berkshire
Approximate Population: 119,070
1918 saw a large area of agricultural land to the west of Slough developed as an army motor repair depot, used to store and repair huge numbers of motor vehicles coming back from First World War in Flanders. In April 1920 the Government sold the site and its contents to the Slough Trading Co. Ltd. Repair of ex-army vehicles continued until 1925 when the Slough Trading Company Act was passed allowing the company (renamed Slough Estates Ltd) to establish the world’s first Industrial Estate. Spectacular growth and employment ensued, with Slough attracting workers from many parts of the UK and abroad.
After the Second World War, several further large housing developments arose to take large numbers of people migrating from war-damaged London.
In the 21st century Slough has seen major redevelopment in the town centre. Old buildings are being replaced with brand new offices and shopping complexes. Tesco have replaced an existing superstore with a larger Tesco Extra. The Heart of Slough Project is a highly ambitious, multi-million pound plan for the redevelopment of Slough’s Town Centre. The aim is to create a leading European and national focus, and cultural quarter for creative media, information and communications industries. It will create a mixed-use complex, multi-functional buildings, visual landmarks and a public space in the Thames Valley. Recommendations for the £400 million project have been approved, with work possibly starting in 2008 for completion in 2011. Most recent news, gives an estimate for work to commence in 2009 for completion in 2018.
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Stoke Staffordshire
Approximate Population: 457,165
An early proposal for a federation took place in 1888, when an amendment was raised to the Local Government Bill which would have made the six towns districts within a county of ‘Staffordshire Potteries’. It was not until 1 April 1910 that the Six Towns were brought together. The county borough of Hanley, the municipal boroughs of Burslem, Longton, and Stoke, together with the urban districts of Tunstall and Fenton now formed a single county borough of Stoke-on-Trent. The combined borough took the name of town of Stoke.
The borough proposed in 1919 to expand further and annex the neighbouring borough of Newcastle-under-Lyme and the Wolstanton United Urban District, both to the west of Stoke: this met strong objections from Newcastle Corporation and never took place. A further attempt was made in 1930, with the promotion of the Stoke-on-Trent Extension Bill. Ultimately, Wolstanton was added to Newcastle-under-Lyme instead in 1932. Although attempts to take Newcastle, Wolstanton and Kidsgrove (north of Tunstall) were never successful, the borough did however expand in 1922, taking in Smallthorne Urban District, and parts of other parishes from Stoke upon Trent Rural District. The borough was officially granted city status in 1925 with a Lord Mayor from 1928.
The city’s county borough status was abolished in 1974, and it became a non-metropolitan district of Staffordshire. Its status was restored as a unitary authority with the local authority as Stoke-on-Trent City Council whilst remaining part of the ceremonial county of Staffordshire on 1 April 1997.
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Derby East Midlands
Approximate Population: 233,700
Derby has Roman, Saxon and Viking connections.
The Roman camp of ‘Derventio’ was probably at Little Chester/Chester Green. The site of the old Roman fort is at Chester Green. Later the town was one of the ‘Five Boroughs’ (fortified towns) of the Danelaw. The Tower of Derby Cathedral, England’s third tallest (Anglican) cathedral church tower.
The popular belief is that the name ‘Derby’ is a corruption of the Danish and Gaelic Djúra-bý (recorded in Anglo-Saxon as Deoraby) (Village of the Deer). However some assert that it is a corruption of the original Roman name ‘Derventio’. The town was also named ‘Darby’ or ‘Darbye’ on some of the oldest maps, eg. Speed’s 1610 map. Derby recently celebrated its 2,000th year as a settlement.
Modern research (2004) into the history and archaeology of Derby has provided evidence that the Vikings and Anglo-Saxons probably co-existed, occupying two areas of land surrounded by water. The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle (c. 900) says that “Derby is divided by water”. These areas of land were known as Norþworþig (”Northworthy”, = “north enclosure”) and Deoraby, and were at the “Irongate” (North) side of Derby.
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Bed and Breakfast High Wycombe Buckinghamshire
Approximate Population: 92,300
High Wycombe is a large town in Buckinghamshire, England. It is 29 miles (47 km) west-north-west of Charing Cross in London; this figure is engraved on the Corn Market building in the centre of the town. According to the 2001 census High Wycombe had a population of 92,300, making it the largest town in the non-metropolitan county of Buckinghamshire now that Milton Keynes is a unitary authority area, and the second largest in the ceremonial county. The High Wycombe Urban Area, the conurbation of which the town is the largest component has a population of 118,219.
High Wycombe is mostly an unparished area in the Wycombe district. Part of the urban area constitutes a civil parish of Chepping Wycombe, which had a population of 14,455 according to the 2001 census — this parish represents that part of the ancient parish of Chepping Wycombe which was outside the former municipal borough of Wycombe.
The name Wycombe comes from the river Wye, and the old English word for a wooded valley, combe. Wycombe appears in the Domesday Book and was noted for having six mills. The town once featured a Roman Villa (2 A.D) which was excavated three times, most recently in 1954. Mosaics and a bathhouse were uncovered at the site on what is now the Rye parkland. High Wycombe was the site of a minor English Civil War battle featuring John Hampden, and the home of Prime Minister Benjamin Disraeli.
High Wycombe is home to the main campus of Buckinghamshire New University (BNU). The university college had plans for expansion in the Hughenden area of High Wycombe, and while these plans fell through, there are now plans to enlarge the main campus which will provide more up to date facilities. The university has now achieved full university status, (summer, 07) and it is now called Buckinghamshire New University / Bucks New Uni for short.
Bed and Breakfast High Wycombe Buckinghamshire
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March 11, 2010 9:21 am | 
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