RICS Chartered Surveyors Sutton Coldfield West Midlands

Approximate Population: 105,452

Sutton Coldfield ( pronunciation (help·info)) is a town within the City of Birmingham, in the West Midlands of England. Sutton (as it is often abbreviated to) is located about 8 miles (13 km) from central Birmingham, in the northeast of the city, with a population of 105,452 recorded in the 2001 census. It forms part of the West Midlands conurbation.

At the turn of the 18th century, Sutton Coldfield was introduced to industry. The manufacture of blades, gun barrels, spades and spade handles as well as the grinding of knives, bayonets and axes, further helped the town prosper. Mills were set up along the pools in Sutton Park and on the banks of Ebrook. A cotton spinning machine was tested at Powells Pool Mill (demolished in 1936) by John Wyatt with the help of Lewis Paul. These mills were not the first in Sutton Coldfield, as there had been windmills at Maney Hill and Langley Hall, but these were the first mills constructed for industrial purposes in the town.  It has been claimed that the first all-steel garden fork was produced in the town.   Pools that had been drained during the 17th century for rich meadow land were recreated in the 18th century, as well as new pools such as Blackroot Pool and Longmoor Pool.

Sutton Coldfield’s economy witnessed a boom in that the residents were now experiencing new luxuries, such as seafood.  Products for sale in the town were 10% more expensive than in the neighbouring villages. In 1791, following the Priestley Riots in Birmingham, William Hutton, whose home had been attacked by protesters, travelled to Sutton Coldfield to stay for the summer. Rioting was supposedly due to spread to Sutton Coldfield.   It was believed that John Horsfall’s home at Penns, in the south of Sutton, was a target for the protesters and so cavalry arrived to protect it.   No rioting took place. Despite this, Hutton was forced to move to Tamworth when local residents objected to his arrival, fearing his presence would encourage the rioters to come to the town.

RICS Chartered Surveyors Sutton Coldfield West Midlands

RICS Chartered Surveyors Oldham Greater Manchester

Approximate Population: 103,544

Much of Oldham’s history is concerned with textile manufacture during the Industrial Revolution; it has been said that “if ever the Industrial Revolution placed a town firmly and squarely on the map of the world, that town is Oldham.”  Oldham’s soils were too thin and poor to sustain crop growing, and so for decades prior to industrialisation the area was used for grazing sheep, which provided the raw material for a local woollen weaving trade.

By 1756, Oldham emerged as centre of the hatting industry in England. The rough felt used in the production process is the origin of the term “Owdham Roughyed” a nickname for people from Oldham.  It was not until the last quarter of the 18th century that Oldham changed from being a cottage industry township producing woollen garments via domestic manual labour, to a sprawling industrial metropolis of textile factories.

The climate, geology, and topography of Oldham were unrelenting constraints upon the social and economic activities of the human inhabitants.  Located 700 feet (213 m) above sea level with no major river or visible natural resources, Oldham had poor geographic attributes compared with other settlements for investors and their engineers.  

As a result, Oldham played no part in the initial period of the Industrial Revolution, although it did later become seen as obvious territory to industrialise because of its convenient position between the labour forces of Manchester and southwest Yorkshire.

RICS Chartered Surveyors Oldham Greater Manchester

RICS Chartered Surveyors Chelmsford Essex

Approximate Population: 120,000

Chelmsford is the county town of Essex, England – the principal settlement of the borough of Chelmsford.   It is located 32 miles (51 km) northeast of Charing Cross in London.   Chelmsford is steeped in history and was one of the original settlements in the United Kingdom.   Residents of Chelmsford are known as ‘Chelmsfordians’.   The town has a population of roughly 120,000 and is still growing.   It is a modern, well placed town that has a large number of commuters who work in the City of London financial sector.

The town is surrounded by many small villages that retain their original charm (examples of these are Writtle, Good Easter, Roxwell, Mashbury, Chignal Smealy, Broomfield, Great and Little Baddow, Great and Little Waltham, Pepper’s Green and Pleshey). Chelmsford is home to three active local radio stations. Essex FM has been on air since 12 September 1981 and is owned by Global Radio. It moved to studios in Glebe Road in late 2004, having previously been based in Southend.

Since the 1980s Chelmsford has suffered from a decline in its defence-related industries, most notably Marconi with several factories closing. Also the one-time largest employer in Chelmsford, Hoffman’s, closed its Chelmsford site in 1988 the buildings remain and have been converted to apartments and a health club. However, the town’s location close to London and at the centre of Essex has helped it grow in importance as an administrative and distribution centre.

Originally an agricultural and market town, Chelmsford has been an important centre for industry since the 19th century. Following the opening of the Chelmer and Blackwater Navigation in 1797, cheaper transportation and raw materials made milling and malting the main industries until the 1850s, when increasing prosperity created a local market for agricultural machinery.

RICS Chartered Surveyors Chelmsford Essex

RICS Chartered Surveyors Leamington Spa Warwickshire

Approximate Population: 45,114

Leamington Spa, properly Royal Leamington Spa, commonly Leamington and “Leam” to locals, is a spa town in central Warwickshire, England.

According to the 2001 census the town had a population of 45,114 making it the third largest town in the county after Nuneaton and Rugby. It is named after the River Leam which flows through the town.

Leamington is a relatively modern town. Until the beginning of the 1800s, Leamington was a village named Leamington Priors. Leamington was first mentioned in the Domesday Book of 1086 as Lamintone. For 400 years, the settlement was under the control of Kenilworth Priory, whence the older suffix.

Leamington would have probably remained as a small village near Warwick, had it not been for the rediscovery of the healing properties of spa waters (they had been known about in Roman times). The first spring to be used for commercial purposes was discovered in Leamington in 1784 by William Abbotts and Benjamin Satchwell, and steps were soon underway to develop the town.

Leamington Spa is administered by several local authorities, each with different responsibilities, the two main authorities are Warwickshire County Council and Warwick District Council. Since 2002 Leamington has also been a civil parish and therefore has its own Town Council.

Between 1875 and 1974 Leamington was a municipal borough. As part of the 1974 local government reform it was merged with Warwick, Kenilworth and surrounding rural areas into the Warwick district, the headquarters of which are based in Leamington.

Leamington is part of the Parliamentary constituency of Warwick and Leamington. Since the 1997 general election the sitting MP has been James Plaskitt of the Labour Party, but before then was considered a safe Conservative constituency, with former Prime Minister Anthony Eden once a Leamington MP. At the 2005 general election, James Plaskitt had a majority of just 266 votes.

Lillington, Milverton and Sydenham are the main suburban districts within Leamington Spa. Whitnash is a town which merges with Leamington directly to the south of the town and is generally considered as a suburb. Similarly, Cubbington (comprising of the old village Cubbington and New Cubbington) is a sizeable village which merges with the Leamington urban area to the northeast and is often regarded as a suburb of the town. The village of Radford Semele only 4km to the east is sometimes referred to as one of the town’s suburbs, however it does not quite merge with Leamington’s urban area at any point and is distinctly separate.

RICS Chartered Surveyors Leamington Spa Warwickshire

RICS Chartered Surveyors Dewsbury West Yorkshire

Approximate Population: 54,341

Dewsbury is a market town within the Metropolitan Borough of Kirklees, in West Yorkshire, England. It is to the west of Wakefield, and lies by the River Calder and the Calder and Hebble Navigation.

Historically a part of the West Riding of Yorkshire, after undergoing a period of major growth in the 19th century as a mill town, Dewsbury went through a period of decline. More recently there has been rapid and ongoing redevelopment of derelict mills into apartments, and other projects concerned with regenerating run-down or deprived areas.

The Domesday Book of 1086 records the name of the town as Deusberia and Deusberie. The name is believed to mean “fortified place by a stream”, from Old English deaw “dew” (in the sense stream) and burg “fort”.

Dewsbury had two grammar schools – The Wheelwright Grammar School for Boys and, further up the hill, the Wheelwright Grammar School for Girls. The 1970s education reforms downgraded these two establishments to high schools. They are now used by Dewsbury College. In the 2005 School League Tables, Dewsbury’s Eastborough Junior, Infants and Nursery schools were reported to have the most consistently improved results over the past four years. However, the headteacher of the school, Nicola Roth, has been highly critical of School League Tables in the UK and has been reported to have said “It would be better if league tables did not exist”.

Batley College of Art and Design, which is part of Dewsbury College, has a strong reputation for print and textile-based art work.

RICS Chartered Surveyors Dewsbury West Yorkshire

RICS Chartered Surveyors Wallasey Merseyside

Approximate Population: 58,710

Wallasey is a town within the Metropolitan Borough of Wirral, in Merseyside, England, on the mouth of the River Mersey, at the northeastern corner of the Wirral Peninsula. According to the 2001 Census, the town had a total resident population of 58,710.

The name of Wallasey originates from the Germanic word Walha, meaning stranger or foreigner, which is also the origin of the name Wales. The suffix “-ey” denotes an island or area of dry land. Originally the higher ground now occupied by Wallasey was separated from the rest of Wirral by the creek known as Wallasey Pool (which later became the docks), the marshy areas of Bidston Moss and Leasowe, and sand dunes along the coast.

Before the 19th century the area was sparsely populated. Horse races organised for the Earls of Derby on the sands at Leasowe in the 16th and 17th centuries are regarded as forerunners of the modern Derby.

Old maps show that the main centre and parish church (St Hilary’s) were located at what is now called Wallasey Village, and there were smaller hamlets at Liscard, Poulton and Seacombe, from where there were occasional ferries across the Mersey. There was also a mill (at Mill Lane), and from the mid-18th century a gunpowder store or magazine at Rock Point, located well away from the built-up areas.

By the early 19th century, the shoreline between Seacombe and Rock Point started to become an attractive area to which affluent Liverpool merchants and sea captains could retire. Development at Egremont began around this time, and gained pace with the introduction of steam ferries across the river. The area also had a defensive role overlooking the growing port of Liverpool. In 1829, Fort Perch Rock was built, and in 1858 Liscard Battery.

RICS Chartered Surveyors Wallasey Merseyside

RICS Chartered Surveyors Dunstable Bedfordshire

Approximate Population: 33,805

Dunstable is a market town in Bedfordshire, England. It lies on the eastward tail spurs of the Chiltern Hills, 30 miles north of London. These geographical features form several steep chalk escarpments most noticeable when approaching Dunstable from the north.

The 19th century saw the straw hat making industry come to Luton and a subsequent decline in Dunstable, to be replaced in the early 20th century by the printing and motor vehicle industries with companies such as Waterlows and Vauxhall Motors respectively. But with the closure of the main factories and the decline of manufacturing in the area, this distinctiveness has been lost.

Shops were concentrated along the main High Street (Watling Street) until in 1966 The Quadrant Shopping Centre opened, becoming the main retail centre of Dunstable. Additionally in 1985 the Eleanor’s Cross retail area was developed to cater mainly for smaller independent shops.

With the rise of out-of-town retail parks, as with many other market towns the town centre has suffered a decline in trade. Few original independent shops remain. Of the oldest Moore’s Of Dunstable (opened in 1908) closed in 2008, leaving The Cottage Garden Flower Shop of Chiltern Road, established in 1898, as the oldest independent retail business still trading.

Since its opening in April 2007 the Grove Theatre has replaced the Queensway Hall as the town’s premier arts centre, located within the council owned Grove Gardens.

National and local productions take place regularly at this cornerstone of Dunstable’s cultural exploits. Additional facilities include units fit for six bars or restaurants along with a 1,000 seated auditorium.  (Currently a Wetherspoons entitled The Gary Cooper, an Italian, and a Dim Sum restaurant have opened.)

One of the town’s little gems is that of the Little Theatre, home of the Dunstable Rep Theatre Group that also hosts dramatic performances throughout the year. The auditorium, once part of the Chews Trust was fully opened in 1964 by Bernard Bresslaw. It sits next to the historic Chews House on High Street South.  The town also has numerous amateur dramatics societies that perform several shows a year. These include ‘The Square Drama Circle’ and ‘Dunstable Amateur Operatics Society’.

RICS Chartered Surveyors Dunstable Bedfordshire

RICS Chartered Surveyors Middlesbrough North Yorkshire

Approximate Population: 142,691

Middlesbrough is a town in the Tees Valley conurbation of North East England and sits within the ceremonial county of North Yorkshire. It is the largest and most populous settlement within the Borough of Middlesbrough, which encompasses the town and several outlying villages which have become suburbs.

In Middlesbrough in 686 a monastic cell was consecrated by St. Cuthbert at the request of St. Hilda Abbess of Whitby and in 1119 Robert Bruce granted and confirmed the church of St. Hilda of Middleburg to Whitby.   Up until its closure on the dissolution of the monasteries by Henry VIII in 1537, the church was maintained by 12 Benedictine monks, many of whom became vicars or rectors of various places in Cleveland.   The importance of the early church at “Middleburg”, later known as Middlesbrough Priory, is indicated by the fact that in 1452 it possessed four altars.

After the Angles the area became home to Viking settlers and it is argued by some that ‘old’ Cleveland has the highest density of Scandinavian parish names in Britain. Names of Viking origin (with the suffix by) are abundant in the area – for example, Thornaby, Ormesby, Stainsby, Lackenby, Maltby and Tollesby were once separate villages that belonged to Vikings called Thormad, Orm, Steinn, Hlakkande, Malti and Toll, but now form suburbs of Middlesbrough. Lazenby was the village belonging to a Leysingr – a freeman; Normanby, a Norseman’s village and Danby (in neighbouring North Yorkshire), a Dane’s village.   The name Mydilsburgh is the earliest recorded form of Middlesbrough’s name and dates to Anglian times (400 to 1000 AD), while many of the aforementioned villages appear in the Domesday Book of 1086.

Other links persist in the area, often through school and/or road names, to now-outgrown or abandoned local settlements, such as the medieval settlement of Stainsby, deserted by 1757, which amounts to little more today than a series of grassy mounds near the A19 road.  In 1952 Stainsby Secondary Modern School, now renamed Acklam Grange Secondary School, was named for this village.

RICS Chartered Surveyors Middlesbrough North Yorkshire

RICS Chartered Surveyors Derby Derbyshire

Approximate Population: 236,300

Derby is a city in the East Midlands region of England. It lies upon the banks of thTe River Derwent and is located in the south of the ceremonial county of Derbyshire. In the 2001 census, the population of the city was 233,700, whilst that of the Derby Urban Area was 229,407.

Derby’s two biggest employers, Rolls-Royce plc (commonly known in the area as ‘Royce’s’) and the Toyota Motor Corporation, are both in the engineering manufacturing trade. Egg, the Internet and telephone bank, has its national base in Derby. Other companies of note include Bombardier who manufacture train systems and aircraft, and Alstom who manufacture large power plant boilers and heat exchangers.

As already noted, Derby was for many years a significant railway centre, being the former headquarters of the Midland Railway, with both British Rail workshops and research facilities in the town. Although much less important than in years gone by, train manufacture continues in Derby and Derby railway station retains an important strategic role in the railway network. Moreover many major railway manufacturers retain a presence and, as reported in the Derby Evening Telegraph, the city is favoured as a possible site for a new national railway centre.

The annual open-air concert at Darley Park is one of the biggest free concerts of its kind. It is one of many performances given throughout the year by Sinfonia Viva, a professional chamber orchestra based in Derby. The Derby Jazz group caters for the jazz interest in the city and is regarded as one of the UK’s leading live jazz organisations. There is also a summer rock music festival Prom in the Park which takes place in late July every year.

RICS Chartered Surveyors Derby Derbyshire

RICS Chartered Surveyors Maidenhead Berkshire

Approximate Population: 58,848

Maidenhead is a town within the Royal Borough of Windsor and Maidenhead, in Berkshire, England. It lies on the River Thames and is situated 25.7 miles (41.4 km) west of Charing Cross in London.

Maidenhead’s name, strictly speaking, refers to the busy riverside area where the ‘New wharf’ or ‘Maiden Hythe’ was built, perhaps as early as Saxon times. It has been suggested that the nearby Great Hill of Taplow was called the ‘Mai Dun’ by the Iron Age Brythons. The area of the town centre was originally known as ‘South Ellington’ and is recorded in the Domesday Book as Ellington in the hundred of Beynhurst.

The Maidenhead urban area includes urban and suburban regions within the bounds of the town, called Maidenhead Court, North Town, Furze Platt, Pinkneys Green, Highway, Tittle Row, Boyn Hill, Fishery and Bray Wick; as well as suburbs in surrounding civil parishes: Cox Green and Altwood in Cox Green parish, Woodlands Park in White Waltham parish, and part of Bray Wick in Bray parish. Bray village itself is still just about detached.

Immediately surrounding Maidenhead are to the east, on the opposite side of the river, the village of Taplow. A few miles further on is Slough. To the north the Cookhams (Cookham Village, Cookham Rise & Cookham Dean). Also in this area is the wealthy area of Pinkneys Green. These lie south of the Berkshire-Buckinghamshire border, which is formed by the River Thames (which then bends southwards to form the Maidenhead-Taplow border). To the south is the village of Holyport. Continuing by road to the South-East leads to the town of Windsor.

RICS Chartered Surveyors Maidenhead Berkshire