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englishtowns.net www.EnglishTowns.net - The website about visiting and appreciating historic English towns. Architecture, pubs, shopping, sport, culture, walks, photos...

01/07/2017

City could be scrubbed from world heritage list unless regeneration plans for its historic waterfront are reconsidered

is said to have the most picturesque setting, with the best medieval street plan ('the chequers'), with the finest clo...
20/06/2016

is said to have the most picturesque setting, with the best medieval street plan ('the chequers'), with the finest close, with the tallest cathedral, with the oldest working clock in England. Built in 1220 but only renamed from New Sarum in 2009, its predecessor's misfortunes including being burned by Sweyn Forkbeard. England's last Catholic monarch, James II assembled his forces here in 1688 against William II, but lost his nerve and fled to France. Stonehenge is on Salisbury plain.

US President John Adams declared "all England should come in pilgrimage" to . The English Civil War started and ended h...
12/06/2016

US President John Adams declared "all England should come in pilgrimage" to . The English Civil War started and ended here, and only a desperate cavalry charge down the High Street allowed the King to escape. Days before he had surveyed the likely battlefield across the Severn from the fine Perpendicular Gothic cathedral tower. This is the Guildhall; the classical Shire Hall is also special. The City was home to Royal Worcester porcelain for 250 years, Berrow's Worcester Journal is still printed after 260, and Worcestershire Sauce is still made here after 180.

The Cathedral Church of the Blessed Virgin Mary and St Æthelberht in has the best medieval map in the world (it shows ...
05/06/2016

The Cathedral Church of the Blessed Virgin Mary and St Æthelberht in has the best medieval map in the world (it shows the Garden of Eden; and Paradise nr Japan), the best chained library in the world (including the C8 Hereford gospel), a Magna Carta, the bones of a saint, and a grave from 900AD. But not its West tower, since it collapsed in 1768. The City has been burned by the Welsh, but Æthelstan summoned the Welsh kings here to pay tribute. It is also spiritual home to one of the world's most successful breeds of cattle, and to the SAS, and it has the biggest cider vat in the world. And this old butcher's house. And Animal, Fozzie and Yoda were born here.

This is the house of Robert Raikes, whose 1780 school was a precursor of universal education. , and thus the Severn cro...
30/05/2016

This is the house of Robert Raikes, whose 1780 school was a precursor of universal education. , and thus the Severn crossing to Wales, was taken by the Saxons in 577, forever dividing the British in Wales from those in Devon and Cornwall. An abbey was founded in 678 and its church, started 1079, became the present cathedral - and it has the earliest known pictures of golf and football in its windows. On a Roman road out of the city, Brockworth was birthplace of the Gloster VI seaplane and Meteor world airspeed record holders. Any minute now, a horde will chase a handmade Double (morning and evening full cream milk) Gloucester down a 45º hill. And back up again. Alice Through the Looking Glass, beat that...

This week we travel from the latest English football champions, to the earliest - . Considering it's named after a prie...
23/05/2016

This week we travel from the latest English football champions, to the earliest - . Considering it's named after a priest's place, it's ironic that whilst it has become a civil City, Blackburn became the seat of the diocese. For the pic, we have steered away from another bus station and plumped for the impressive Harris Museum, which dominates the City centre. The building was begun in a Guild year - a celebration of Preston Guild which has celebrated its members since 1179 (every 20 years since 1542) with all manner of processions, performances and festivals.

Time for a market. Struggling to remember where this is... I know there were remains of an abbey, and there was this car...
16/05/2016

Time for a market. Struggling to remember where this is... I know there were remains of an abbey, and there was this car park, there was beer and crisps and curry and blue sausages and something to do with the Romans and Adrian Mole.

With pictures of 750 bank branches on the site, it's probably time to post one here. This is Lloyds in , just opposite ...
09/05/2016

With pictures of 750 bank branches on the site, it's probably time to post one here. This is Lloyds in , just opposite the cathedral. The bars are to protect the bank from rioting cotton weavers. Twenty years ago, the town's FC shocked the world by winning the Premier League against all the odds... And, what's not to like, entrance to the town is dominated by a (fine) ale brewery. In 1857, all the mills closed for the opening of a park and 14000 people came in by train! The park is still there and, like the market, rejuvenated.

Well done, ! Apparently, it's 5000-1 to win the Premiership... (again). The sculpture celebrates 700 years a town. For...
04/05/2016

Well done, ! Apparently, it's 5000-1 to win the Premiership... (again). The sculpture celebrates 700 years a town. For much of this time, it was the centre of a farming community with some wool working. Water-powered cotton mills were built in the mid C18, and the town also became well-known for mill machinery. A magnificent survival is the Queen St Mill, the last surviving C19 steam-powered weaving mill. It is currently operated by the County Council but budget pressures have put its future in doubt. Gandalf and King Lear were born in Burnley... :)

Here we have The George, , which has been here since the C16, much altered in the C19. Its home town is set in the Chil...
23/04/2016

Here we have The George, , which has been here since the C16, much altered in the C19. Its home town is set in the Chiltern Hills Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty and has its own arm of the Grand Union Canal, which is steadily being rewatered. Alongside, in a very green setting, is the C14-C19 parish church and separately listed lychgate. The town has an iconic clock tower, which, despite modest footprint was once a prison and later a fire station. Wendover has a C14 market charter but has a 'parish' council, so may no longer not be a town at all!

This is 's market cross, still the focal point of the long High Street, lined with historic buildings including timber-...
17/04/2016

This is 's market cross, still the focal point of the long High Street, lined with historic buildings including timber-framed houses from the C15-C16 and the C16 White Swan Inn. The market charter was granted in 1140 (and 1220) to the owner of the castle around which the town grew up. The market has been under threat but many independent businesses survive. The ancient Court Leet still meets annually in the timber-framed Guild Hall. Arden was the forest, a mixed blessing for the town as it apparently gave shelter to criminals and the dreaded poor. Henley was later famous for lunatic asylums.

is a small but lively market town. A free museum celebrates the the town's Roman origins and some of 100 digs. Many fi...
10/04/2016

is a small but lively market town. A free museum celebrates the the town's Roman origins and some of 100 digs. Many fine C16-C18 buildings survive, including those on Malt Mill Lane, which is lined with houses with exposed timber-frames. There are lots of interesting shops and pubs on the High Street, which is watched over by the Church itself a happy mix of work from C13-C19. A striking sculptured globe on a roundabout commemorates 60 years of peace (and 'The Globe' now underneath said roundabout).

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