Approximate Population: 190,200

Stockton-on-Tees is a market town in North East England. It is the major settlement in the unitary authority area and borough of Stockton-on-Tees. For ceremonial purposes, the borough is split between County Durham and North Yorkshire as it also incorporates a number of smaller towns including Billingham, Yarm and Thornaby. The combined size of the borough equates to approx 180,000 people and makes it larger than Middlesbrough in terms of population and square miles.

Stockton began as an Anglo-Saxon settlement on high ground close to the northern bank of the River Tees.

The manor of Stockton was created in around 1138. It was purchased by Bishop Pudsey of Durham in 1189 and since then has undergone many changes.

Stockton’s market can trace its history back to 1310, when Bishop Bek of Durham granted a market charter - to our town of Stockton a market upon every Wednesday for ever.

Stockton Castle is first referred to in 1376. It was captured by the Scottish in 1644 and was occupied by them until 1646, but was destroyed on the orders of Oliver Cromwell at the end of the Civil War. There is now a shopping centre, called the Castlegate Centre, where the original castle stood. There are no known accurate depictions of the castle in existence.

In June 1890 Major Robert Ropner offered a piece of land to the people of Stockton which could be used as a public park, providing the local council would lay it out tastefully and keep it forever. Just over three years later, on 4 October 1893, the park was officially opened by the then Duke & Duchess of York. After a century of regular use by the people of Stockton, the park was refurbished and renovated between 2004-2007 to its former glory by Stockton Council, thanks to a £2.65m grant from the Heritage Lottery Fund. It includes a new bandstand, based on the original design, a Park Ranger’s Office and a cafe, (run by the local charity, the Friends of Ropner Park).

It was the home, 1781 - 1859, of John Walker, who invented the friction match in 1826. Until recently, a roundabout in the centre of Stockton commemorated it as the birthplace of the friction match, but the roundabout has since been demolished to make way for a new road system which circles the Simon Bailes Peugeot garage. Thomas Sheraton, the famous furniture designer, was born in Stockton in 1751; he moved to London in 1790, where he died in 1806.

Stockton on Tees South Yorkshire Computer Services

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Approximate Population: 50,400

Hereford is a cathedral city, civil parish and county town of Herefordshire, England. It lies on the River Wye, approximately 16 miles (26 km) east of the border with Wales, 21 miles (34 km) southwest of Worcester, and 23 miles (37 km) northwest of Gloucester. With a population of 50,400 people, it is the largest settlement in the county.

The name “Hereford” is said to come from the Anglo Saxon “here”, an army or formation of soldiers, and the “ford”, a place for crossing a river. If this is the origin it suggests that Hereford was a place where a body of armed men forded or crossed the Wye. The Welsh name for Hereford is Henffordd (or Henfordd).

Hereford Cathedral dates from 1079 and contains the Mappa Mundi, a medieval map of the world dating from the 13th century which was restored in the late 20th century. It also contains the world famous Chained Library.

Hereford is home of Hereford United Football Club, best known for beating Newcastle in the FA Cup in January 1972, when they were still a non-league side and Newcastle were in the top division of English football. They had a spell in the Football League from 1972 to 1997 reaching the second tier of English football in 1976, and were relegated to non-League status in 1997 before returning to beat Halifax Town A.F.C. 3-2 in the Nationwide Conference play-off final in 2005-06 to book a return to the Football League. They were again promoted, this time automatically, during the 2007-08 season, projecting them to this level of football for the first time since the late 1970s.

Hereford Herefordshire Computer Services

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Approximate Population: 306,000

Coventry is a city and metropolitan borough in the county of West Midlands in England. With a population of 303,475 at the 2001 Census (306,000 est. 2007), Coventry is the 9th largest city in England and the 11th largest in the United Kingdom. It is also the second largest city in the English Midlands, after Birmingham.

Coventry is near the M6, M69, M45 and M40 motorways.   It is also served by the A45 and A46 dual carriageways. Coventry has a much used inner ring road opened in the 1960s (approx.).   Phoenix Way, a dual carriageway running north – south opened 1998 (approx.), has improved traffic flows through the city.

For rail, Coventry railway station is served by the West Coast Main Line, and has regular rail services between London and Birmingham (and stations beyond). It is also served by railway lines to Nuneaton via Bedworth. There is a line linking it to Leamington Spa and onwards to the south coast. Coventry also has two Suburban Rail stations in Canley and in Tile Hill.

Bus service operators in Coventry include National Express Coventry, Travel De Courcey and Stagecoach in Warwickshire. Pool Meadow Bus Station is the main bus and coach interchange in the city centre.  The nearest major airports are Birmingham International Airport, some 17 km (11 miles) to the west of the city and Coventry Airport in Baginton, located 8 km (5 miles) south of the city centre.  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.

Coventry West Midlands Computer Services

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Approximate Population: 136,082

Stockport is a large town in Greater Manchester, England. It lies on elevated ground on the River Mersey at the influx of the rivers Goyt and Tame, 6.1 miles (9.8 km) southeast of the city of Manchester.   Stockport is the largest settlement of the Metropolitan Borough of Stockport, and has a population of 136,082, the wider borough being 281,000.

Stockport in the 16th century was known for the cultivation of hemp and rope manufacture and in the 18th century the town had one of the first mechanised silk factories in the United Kingdom.   However, Stockport’s predominant industries of the 19th century were the cotton and allied industries.   Stockport was also at the centre of the country’s hatting industry which by 1884 was exporting more than six million hats a year.   In December 1997 the last Stockport hat works closed. The town’s hatting heritage is preserved at ‘Hat Works - the Museum of Hatting’.

Dominating the western approaches to the town is the Stockport Viaduct. Built in 1840, the viaduct’s 27 brick arches over the River Mersey carry the mainline railways from Manchester to Birmingham and London.   This structure featured as the background in many paintings by L.S. Lowry.

The Municipal Corporations Act 1835 made Stockport a municipal borough divided into six wards with a council consisting of 14 Aldermen and 42 Councillors. In 1888, its status was raised to County Borough, becoming the County Borough of Stockport. Since 1972, Stockport has been twinned with in Béziers in France. In 1974, under the Local Government Act 1972 Stockport amalgamated with neighbouring districts to form the Unitary Authority of the Metropolitan Borough of Stockport in the now ceremonial metropolitan county of Greater Manchester.

Stockport Greater Manchester Computer Services

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Approximate Population: 146,234

Huddersfield was incorporated as a municipal borough within the ancient West Riding of Yorkshire in 1868.   The borough comprised the parishes of Almondbury, Dalton, Huddersfield, Lindley-cum-Quarmby and Lockwood. When the West Riding County Council was formed in 1889, Huddersfield became a county borough, exempt from county council control.

Huddersfield expanded in 1937, including parts of the Golcar, Linthwaite, and South Crosland urban districts.  The county borough was abolished in 1974 and its former area was combined with that of other districts to form the Metropolitan Borough of Kirklees in West Yorkshire.

Attempts by the local council to gain support for city status were rejected by the town’s population in an unofficial referendum held by the local newspaper, the Huddersfield Daily Examiner. The council did not apply for that status in either the 2000 or 2002 competitions.  City status is given to districts, so it would have been Kirklees rather than Huddersfield that would have been declared a city.

According to the United Kingdom Census 2001 the population of the Huddersfield urban sub-area of the West Yorkshire Urban Area was 146,234, and the population of the former area of the county borough was 121,620. The wider South Kirklees area had a population of 216,011.

Huddersfield West Yorkshire Computer Services

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Approximate Population: 79,216

Redditch lies just south of (but is not part of) the West Midlands urban area, northwest of Studley on the A435, which skirts it to the East. The main route of access is the A441, a trunk road from Birmingham to Cookhill, via junction 2 of the M42 Motorway. The Roman Road known as Icknield Street is prominent, running North to South through the eastern side of the town.

The first recorded mention of Redditch (”Red-Dych”, thought to be a reference to the red clay of the nearby River Arrow) is in 1348, the year of the outbreak of the Black Death. During the Middle Ages it became a centre of needle-making and later prominent industries were fish-hooks, fishing tackle, motorcycles and springs, the latter notably by Herbert Terry and Sons. It was designated a new town in 1964 and the population increased dramatically from 32,000 to around 77,000. Housing developments such as Church Hill, Matchborough, Winyates, Lodge Park and Woodrow were created to accommodate the large overspill from an industrially expanding Birmingham. Redditch was built as a ‘flagship’ town using new methods and new town planning, all the main roads in Redditch were banked to reduce noise to the new housing estates and the whole of Redditch was landscaped.

Redditch schools operate a three-tier system, where students progress from a ‘First (or Primary) School’, to a ‘Middle School’, and then to a High School (rather than the more common two-tier system). Redditch currently has four high schools, Saint Augustine’s High School, Kingsley College, Trinity High School and Arrow Vale High School.

North East Worcestershire College (often referred to locally as “NEW College”) is a large general further education college: one of its two campuses is in central Redditch; the other is in Bromsgrove.

In 1956 Redditch was twinned with Auxerre in Burgundy, France. This twinning proved sufficiently popular to form an organisation named The Friends of Auxerre (FoA). At the beginning of June each year the coupling of these two towns is officially celebrated.

In 1986 Redditch was twinned with Mtwara in Tanzania. Frequent events are organised with assistance from the community of Tanzanian students at Birmingham University and Selly Oak College.

Redditch Worcestershire Computer Services

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Approximate Population: 56,000

Gravesend is a town in northwest Kent, England, on the south bank of the Thames, opposite Tilbury in Essex. It is the administrative town of the Borough of Gravesham and, because of its geographical position, has always had an important role to play in the history and communications of this part of England. It still retains today a strong link with the river. The opening of the Eurostar railway station at Ebbsfleet, and the fact that it lies with the Thames Gateway, add to the town’s importance.

The town was recorded as Gravesham in the Domesday Book in 1086 as belonging to Odo, Bishop of Bayeux: the name probably derived from “graaf-ham”: the home of the Reeve, or Bailiff, of the Lord of the Manor. Another theory suggests that the name Gravesham may be a corruption of the words grafs-ham – a place “at the end of the grove”. The Domesday spelling is the only historical record; all other spellings - in the later (c1100) Domesday Monarchorum and in Textus Roffensis the town is Gravesend/Gravesende. Gravesham has however been adopted for the 1974 Borough title.

Stone Age implements have been found in the area; as has the evidence of an Iron Age settlement at nearby Springhead. Extensive Roman remains have been found nearby, at Vagniacae (Springhead); and Gravesend lies immediately to the north of their road connecting London with the Kent coast – now called Watling Street. The Domesday Book recorded mills hythes and fisheries here.

In the Fort Gardens is Milton Chantry, Gravesend’s earliest existing building of the late 13th century. It was refounded about 1321 on the site of a hospital founded in 1189. At the time it was supported by lands in Essex.

Gravesend has one of the oldest surviving markets in the country, its earliest charter dating from 1268. Town status was granted to the two parishes of Gravesend and Milton, the Charter of Incorporation being received in that year. The first Mayor of Gravesend was elected in that year, although the first Town Hall was in place by 1573: it was replaced in 1764. A new frontage was built in 1836. Although its use as a Town Hall came to an end in 1968, when the new Civic Centre was opened, it continued in use as the Magistrates’ Courts. At present (2004) it is disused, and discussions are being held with a view to its future.

Gravesend Kent Computer Services

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Approximate Population: 99,773

Gillingham is a town in the unitary authority of Medway in South East England. It is part of the ceremonial county of Kent. The town includes the settlements of Brompton, Hempstead, Rainham, Rainham Mark, Twydall and Lidsing. Gillingham means a homestead of Gylla’s family, from Old English ham (village, homestead) and ingas (family, followers), and was first recorded in 10th century as Gyllingeham.

Within Gillingham there are many churches from different denominations of Christianity.   In 1896, Our Lady of Gillingham Roman Catholic Church was built close to the site of the Saint Mary Magdalene Church, which overlooks the River Medway.

It followed after other Catholic churches in the area, the closest, St Michael’s in Chatham (built 1863).   Our Lady of Gillingham was built on the town of New Brompton, as Gillingham was then called, to mainly cater for the new workforce - those employed at Chatham Dockyard.   The church itself was started in 1890, and was completed by 1896, being opened on 12 May 1896.

A local Catholic school was established on the site of the church in 1894.   The schoolrooms were used until 1972, when the infant section of the school relocated to nearby Greenfield Road.   In 1988, after more building work on the new site, the whole school was reunited on its new site at Greenfield Road. The Church celebrated its centenary in May 1996, two years after the local school.  Gillingham also has the Jāmi’ah mosque and a Hindu Sabha Mandir.

Gillingham Kent Computer Services

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Approximate Population: 92,500

Cannock is a town in Staffordshire, England, just north of the West Midlands conurbation. It sits to the south of Cannock Chase, an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty, and is administered as part of the Cannock Chase district. With a population of 92,500 people at the 2001 census, Cannock is the second largest town in the ceremonial county, after Stoke on Trent.

Cannock lies on the M6 Toll, A34 and A5 roads, to the north of the Black Country (about 11 kilometres (6.8 mi)) and south of Stafford (about 13 kilometres (8.1 mi)). It is served by a railway station on the Chase Line. The post town of Cannock includes Bridgtown, Heath Hayes, Hednesford, and Norton Canes. Other nearby towns and villages include Burntwood (which includes Chase Terrace and Chasetown), Cannock Wood, Cheslyn Hay, Great Wyrley, Huntington, Penkridge, and Rugeley.

Its name comes from the Celtic cnoc, meaning hill. It is first recorded in the unlikely form Chenet in the Domesday Book, probably due to the information being written down by a Norman scribe with less than perfect knowledge of English.

The town was very small until coal mining increased heavily during the mid to late nineteenth century. The area then continued to grow rapidly with many industries coming to the area because of its proximity to the Black Country and because of its coal reserves. After the Second World War the town’s population again increased and has kept on increasing ever since as many new residential developments are built as commuting areas for Birmingham, Wolverhampton, Walsall and Stafford.

Cannock Staffordshire Computer Services

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Approximate Population: 458,100

Manchester is a city and metropolitan borough of Greater Manchester, England. Manchester was granted city status in 1853. It has a population of 458,100, and lies at the centre of the wider Greater Manchester Urban Area, which has a population of 2,240,230, the United Kingdom’s third largest conurbation. Manchester has the second most populous Larger Urban Zone (LUZ) in the UK and the fourteenth most populated in Europe.

The name Manchester originates from the Ancient Roman name Mamucium, the name of the Roman fort and settlement, generally thought to be a Latinisation of an original Celtic name (possibly meaning “breast-like hill” from mamm- = “breast”), plus Old English ceaster = “town”, which is derived from Latin castra = “camp”. An alternative theory suggests that the origin is British Celtic mamma = “mother”, where the “mother” was a river-goddess of the River Medlock which flows below the fort. Mam means “female breast” in Irish Gaelic and “mother” in Welsh. Manchester is also the 10th most common place name in the United States.

Manchester has recently been regarded by the international press, British public, and government ministers as being the second city of the United Kingdom. A 2007 poll by the BBC placed it ahead of Birmingham and Liverpool in the category of second city of England, but also ahead in the category of third city. Neither categories are officially sanctioned, and criteria for determining what ’second city’ means are ill-defined.

Manchester is not the second largest city in size or population, but it is argued that cultural and historical criteria are more important. The BBC reports that redevelopment of recent years has heightened claims that Manchester is the second city of the UK. This title however, which is unofficial in the UK, has traditionally been held by Birmingham since the early 20th century.

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