Professional Photographers

Eastbourne East Midlands

Approximate Population: 94,816

In Eastbourne in 1793, following a survey of coastal defences in the southeast, approval was given for the positioning of infantry and artillery to defend the bay between Beachy Head and Hastings from attack by the French.   14 Martello Towers were constructed along the western shore of Pevensey Bay, continuing as far as Tower 73, the Wish Tower at Eastbourne.

Several of these towers survive: the Wish Tower is an important feature of the town’s seafront, and part of Tower 68 forms the basement of a house on St. Antony’s Hill. Between 1805 and 1807, the construction took place of a fortress known as the Eastbourne Redoubt, which was built as a barracks and storage depot, and armed with 10 cannons.

Eastbourne remained an area of small rural settlements until the 19th century.   Four villages or hamlets occupied the site of the modern town: Bourne (or, to distinguish it from others of the same name, East Bourne), is now known as Old Town, and this surrounded the bourne (stream) which rises in the present Motcombe Park; Meads, where the Downs meet the coast; South Bourne (near the town hall); and the fishing settlement known simply as Sea Houses, which was situated to the east of the present pier.

Professional Photographers Eastbourne East Midlands

Related posts

• No related posts.

Professional Photographers Rotherham South Yorkshire

Approximate Population: 117,262

From 2007 the town centre underwent an extensive urban regeneration project known as the “Rotherham Renaissance”: the buildings include apartments, retail units, outdoor cafés, and a new theatre.  The Guest and Chrimes factory site forms a significant part of the project, incorporating residential space, commercial space and council offices.   Forge Island (current Tesco site) is planned to form an anchor project containing a new Cultural Centre, retail & apartments.   In June 2007 construction began on the new St. Anne’s Leisure Complex and is currently well into construction with all the frame work up.   In October 2007 plans were announced for a new railway station which is planned to open in 2010.    The Renaissance will take up to 25 years to complete.

The project is well into work and is starting to show.   As of July 2008 one of the main apartment shopping buildings on Domine Lane is nearly completed and will be opening in October.   It is dominating the skyline of the town centre.   Next to this is Keppel Wharf which is similar hight to the Domine Lane complex.   This has started recently but is already as high as Dinine Lane and will take a year to complete.   The Imperial Buildings are well into its renovation.   The Guest and Chrimes site is almost cleared, and the All Saints Building has been prepared for demolition.

Professional Photographers Rotherham South Yorkshire

Related posts

• No related posts.

Professional Photographers

Doncaster South Yorkshire

Approximate Population: 67,977

During the 14th century a number of friars arrived in Doncaster who were known for their religious enthusiasm and preachings.   In 1307 Franciscan friars arrived and they were called Greyfriars because of the colour of their costumes.   Carmelites or Whitefriars arrived in the middle of the 14th century.   In the Mediaeval period other major features of the town included the Hospital of St Nicholas and leper colony of the Hospital of St James, a moot hall, grammar school, and the five-arched stone town bridge with a chapel dedicated to Our Lady of the Bridge.

By 1334, Doncaster was the wealthiest town in southern Yorkshire and the sixth most important town in Yorkshire as a whole, even boasting its own banker.   By 1379, it was already recovering from the Black Death and had a population of around 1,500 people, and by 1547, it had over 2,000.   The town was incorporated in 1461 and its first Mayor and corporation were established.

Today, many of Doncaster’s streets are named with the suffix ‘gate’.   The word ‘gate’ is derived from the old Danish word ‘gata’ which meant street. During Medieval times, craftsmen or tradesmen with similar skills, tended to live in the same street.   Baxter is an ancient word for baker thereby confirming that Baxtergate was indeed the bakers’ street.   It is assumed that ‘Frenchgate’ may be named after French speaking Normans who settled on this street.

Professional Photographers Doncaster South Yorkshire

Related posts

• No related posts.

Professional Photographers

Cheltenham Gloucestershire

Approximate Population: 110,013

The oldest school in Cheltenham is Pate’s Grammar School (founded in 1574).  Cheltenham College (founded in 1841) was the first of the major public schools of the Victorian period.  The school was the setting in 1968 for the classic Lindsay Anderson film if…..  It also hosts the annual Cheltenham Cricket Festival, first staged in 1872, and the oldest cricket festival in the world.  The most famous school in the town, according to the The Good Schools Guide, is Cheltenham Ladies’ College (founded in 1853).

Dean Close School was founded in 1886 in memory of the Reverend Francis Close (1797-1882), a former rector of Cheltenham and the founder of Cheltenham’s great tradition of education.  The town also includes several campuses of the University of Gloucestershire, one other public and six other state schools, plus institutions of further education.

Professional Photographers

Cheltenham Gloucestershire

Related posts

• No related posts.

Professional Photographers

Edinburgh Scotland

Approximate Population: 448,625

In the 10th century, with the collapse of the Danelaw the Scots captured the position.   Then in the 12th century a small town flourished at the base of the castle known as Edinburgh, along side which another community rose up to the East around the Abbey of Holyrood, known as Holyrood.

Together in the 13th century these became Royal Burghs. As a consequence of Edinburgh’s earlier Anglo-Saxon rule, Edinburgh and the Border counties lay in a disputed zone between England and Scotland, England claiming all Anglo-Saxon Domains as English territory, and Scotland claiming all territory as far south as Hadrian’s Wall.

The result was a long series of border wars and clashes, which often left Edinburgh Castle under English control.   It was not until the 15th century when Edinburgh remained for the most firmly under Scottish control, that King James IV of Scotland undertook to move the Royal Court from Stirling to Holyrood, making Edinburgh by proxy Scotland’s capital.

Professional Photographers Edinburgh Scotland

Related posts

• No related posts.

Professional Photographers

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.

Professional Photographers Chelmsford Essex

Related posts

• No related posts.

Professional Photographers Swansea Wales

Approximate Population: 169,880

Following the Norman Conquest, a marcher lordship was created.   Named Gower, it included land around Swansea Bay as far as the Tawe, and the manor of Kilvey beyond the Tawe, as well as the peninsula itself.   Swansea was designated its chief town and subsequently received one of the earlier borough charters in Wales.

Swansea’s port grew, shipping some coal and vast amounts of limestone (for fertiliser) out from the town by 1550. As the Industrial Revolution reached Wales, the combination of port, local coal, and trading links with the West Country, Cornwall and Devon, meant that Swansea was the logical place to site copper smelting works.   Smelters were operating by 1720 and proliferated.

Following this, more coal mines (everywhere from north-east Gower to Clyne and Llangyfelach) were opened and smelters (mostly along the Tawe valley) were opened and flourished.   Over the next century and a half, works were established to process arsenic, zinc and tin and to create tinplate and pottery.   The city expanded rapidly in the 18th and 19th centuries, and was termed “Copperopolis”.

Professional Photographers Swansea Wales

Related posts

• No related posts.

Professional Photographers Enfield Greater London

Approximate Population: 273,203

Enfield Town used to be a small market town on the edge of the forest about a day’s travel north of London. As Greater London has grown, Enfield Town and its surrounds have become a residential suburb, with fast transport links into central London.

The current borough was formed in 1965 from the former area of the Municipal Borough of Southgate, the Municipal Borough of Enfield and the Municipal Borough of Edmonton. The armorial bearings of these three boroughs were also merged.

The creature on the shield of the Enfield coat of arms is known in heraldry as an “Enfield” (or colloquially as the Enfield beast), and is used extensively as a logo representing Enfield, particularly by the borough council.

In Roman times, Enfield was connected to Londinium by Ermine Street, the great Roman road which stretched all the way up to York. Artefacts found in the early 1900s reveal that there were Roman settlements in the areas that are now Edmonton and Bush Hill Park.

Professional Photographers Enfield Greater London

Related posts

• Westminster (0)
• Wandsworth (0)
• London (0)
• Lewisham (0)
• Lambeth (0)

Professional Photographers York North Yorkshire

Approximate Population: 193,300

York is a walled city, sited at the confluence of the rivers Ouse and Foss in North Yorkshire, England.   The city is noted for its rich heritage and it has played an important role throughout much of its almost 2,000 year existence.

The city was founded as Eboracum in AD 71 by the Romans and was made the capital of Britannia Inferior.  During the Roman period influential historical figures, such as Constantine the Great, became associated with the city.   The entire Roman Empire was governed from York for two years by Septimius Severus.

After the Angles moved in, the city was renamed Eoferwic, and served as the capital of the Kingdom of Northumbria.  The Vikings captured the city in 866, renaming it Jórvík, the capital of a wider kingdom of the same name covering much of Northern England. Around the year 1000, the city became known as York.

Richard II wished to make York the capital of England, but before he could effect this he was deposed.  After the Wars of the Roses, York housed the Council of the North and was regarded as the capital of the North.   It was only after The Restoration that the political importance of the city began to decline.  The Province of York is one of the two English ecclesiastical provinces, alongside that of Canterbury.

From 1996, the term City of York describes a unitary authority area which includes rural areas beyond the old city boundaries.   The urban area has a population of 137,505, while the entire unitary authority has 193,300 (2007 est.) people.

Professional Photographers York North Yorkshire

Related posts

• No related posts.

Professional Photographers 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.

Professional Photographers Cardiff Wales

Related posts

• No related posts.