Aberystwyth Wales

Approximate Population: 11,607

The recorded history of Aberystwyth, however, may be said to date from the building of a fortress in 1109 by Gilbert Fitz Richard (grandfather of Richard de Clare, known as Strongbow, the Cambro-Norman lord notable for his leading role in the Norman invasion of Ireland).   Gilbert Fitz Richard was granted lands and the Lordship of Cardigan by Henry I, including Cardigan Castle.   The fortress built in Aberystwyth was located about a mile and a half south of today’s town, on a hill over the south bank of the Ystwyth River.

Edward I replaced Strongbow’s castle in 1277, after its destruction by the Welsh.   His castle was however built in a different location, at the current Castle Hill, the high point of the town.   Between the years 1404 and 1408 Aberystwyth Castle was in the hands of Owain Glyndŵr, but finally surrendered to Prince Harry (the future King Henry V of England).   Shortly after this the town was incorporated under the title of Ville de Lampadarn (the ancient name of the place being Llanbadarn Gaerog, or the fortified Llanbadarn, to distinguish it from Llanbadarn Fawr, the village one mile (1.6 km) inland).

It is thus styled in a Royal charter granted by Henry VIII, but by Elizabeth I’s time the town was invariably termed Aberystwyth in all documents.   In 1649 the Parliamentarian troops razed the castle[5], so that its remains are now inconsiderable, though portions of three towers still exist.   Excavations in the 1970s within the castle, in what is believed to be a stables area, revealed a complete male skeleton, deliberately buried.[citation needed] Rarely surviving in Wales’ acidic soil, this skeleton was probably preserved by the addition of lime from the collapsed building.   Affectionately known as “Charlie”, he probably dates from the English Civil War period, probably dying during the Parliamentarian siege and is now housed in the Ceredigion Museum in the town.

Surveyor Valuer Aberystwyth Wales

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Approximate Population: 13,725

Bangor is a city in Gwynedd, Wales, and one of the smallest cities in Britain. The origins of the city date back to the founding of a monastic establishment on the site of Bangor Cathedral by the Celtic saint Deiniol in the early 6th century AD.   The name ‘Bangor’ itself is an old Welsh word for a type of fenced-in enclosure, such as was originally on the site of the cathedral.   The present cathedral is a somewhat more recent building and has been extensively modified throughout the centuries.
Bangor in 1610.

While the building itself is not the oldest, and certainly not the biggest, the bishopric of Bangor is one of the oldest in Britain.   Another claim to fame is that Bangor allegedly has the longest High Street in Wales.   Friars School was founded as a free grammar school in 1557, and Bangor University was founded in 1884.

Surveyor Valuer Bangor Wales

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Lichfield Staffordshire

Approximate Population: 31,000

At Wall, 3 miles to the south of the present city, there was a Romano-British village called Letocetum (from the Celtic for “grey wood”), from which the first half of the name Lichfield is derived.   It was based on a Roman fort next to Watling Street which was used in the first centuries AD, until about AD 160-170, when the fort’s mansio was destroyed by fire at the same time the forum in Wroxeter was also destroyed by fire.

This suggests a revolt of the local British. Legend has it that a thousand Christians were martyred in Lichfield around AD 300, during the reign of the Roman Emperor Diocletian, and that the name ‘Lichfield’ actually means ‘field of the dead’.   There is however, no evidence to support this legend.

The history of Lichfield in the following centuries is obscure. The Historia Britonum lists the city as one of the 28 cities of Britain around AD 833.   In the Welsh poem The Lament of Cynddylan, Caer Luytcoed (cf modern Welsh Caerlwytgoed — Lichfield) or Lichfield is said to have been taken by the sword by pagan opponents, most likely the Mercians to the east.

Surveyor Valuer Lichfield Staffordshire

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Inverness Scotland

Approximate Population: 40,949

Most of the traditional industries in Inverness such as distilling have been replaced by high-tech businesses, including the design and manufacture of diabetes diagnostic kits.   Highlands and Islands Enterprise has partly funded a Centre for Health Science with a view to attracting more businesses in the medical and medical devices business to the area.   Inverness is home to Scottish Natural Heritage following that body’s relocation from Edinburgh under the auspices of the Scottish Government’s decentralisation strategy.   SNH provides a large number of jobs in the area.

Inverness City Centre lies on the east bank of the river and is linked to the west side of the town by three road bridges (Ness Bridge, Friars Bridge and the Black (or Waterloo) Bridge) and by one of the town’s suspension foot bridges, the Grieg Street Bridge.  The traditional city centre was a triangle bounded by High Street, Church Street and Academy Street, within which Union Street and Queensgate are cross streets parallel to High Street.

Between Union Street and Queensgate is the Victorian Market, which contains a large number of small shops.   The main Inverness railway station is almost directly opposite the Academy Street entrance to the Market.   From the 1970s, the Eastgate Shopping Centre (Inverness) was developed to the east of High Street, with a substantial extension being completed in 2003.

Surveyor Valuer Inverness Scotland

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Stirling Scotland

Approximate Population: 41,243

Standing near the castle, the Church of the Holy Rood (Holy Cross) is one of Stirling’s most historically important buildings.   The Church of the Holy Rude, which was rebuilt in the 1400s after Stirling suffered a catastrophic fire in 1405, is the only surviving church in the United Kingdom apart from Westminster Abbey, to have held a coronation.   On the 29 July 1567 the infant son of Mary Queen of Scots was crowned James VI of Scotland here. Musket shot marks from Cromwell’s troops during the War of the Three Kingdoms are clearly visible on the tower and apse.   Another important historical religious site in the area is Cambuskenneth Abbey.

During the War of the Three Kingdoms, the Battle of Stirling also took place in the centre of Stirling on 12 September 1648.

The fortifications continued to play a strategic military role during the 18th century Jacobite Risings. In 1715, the Earl of Mar failed to take control of the castle.   In January 1746, the army of Bonnie Prince Charlie seized control of the town but failed to take the Castle.   On their consequent retreat northwards, they blew up the church of St. Ninians where they had been storing munitions; only the tower survived and can be seen to this day.

Surveyor Valuer Stirling Scotland

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Approximate Population: 162,000

Southend is known for its seafront. Since 1986, a diesel-hydraulic railway has run the length of pier, replacing the electric service which opened in 1890.   A fire in October 2005 damaged the far end of the pier.   The pier has been beset by fires; a fire in 1995 destroyed the bowling alley at the start of the pier.   The pier was also run through by a boat in 1984.

The Kursaal was one of the earliest theme parks, built at the start of the 20th century.   It closed in the 1970s and much of the land was developed as housing.   The entrance hall, a listed building, is a bowling alley arcade operated by Megabowl and casino.   A newer theme park, Adventure Island, developed on land formerly occupied by Peter Pan’s Playground, straddles the pier entrance. It has grown into a large amusement park with 50 rides. The seafront also houses the “Sea-Life Adventure” aquarium.

The cliff gardens, which included Never Never Land and Victorian bandstand were an attraction until slippage in 2003 made parts of the cliffs unstable, and the bandstand has been removed.  The council wants to re-erect the bandstand but a location has to be found.

A cliff lift links the base of the High Street with the new pier entrance.   The older lift, a short funicular, is a few hundred metres away, closed because structural and mechanical work needs to be done in order to meet European Union legislation which classes it as a cablecar.

In August Southend Carnival opens along the Golden Mile with the lighting of the Southend Illuminations. On the second and fourth Saturdays of the month, Southend hosts a farmers’ market.

Surveyor Valuer Southend Essex

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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.

Surveyor Valuer Eastbourne East Midlands

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Southampton Hampshire

Approximate Population: 228,600

There are 120,305 jobs in Southampton, and 3,570 people claiming job seeker’s allowance, approximately 2.4 per cent of the city’s population, as of March 2007.  This compares with an average of 2.5 per cent for England as a whole.

As of June 2006, 74.7 per cent of the city’s population are classed as economically active.

Just over a quarter of the jobs available in the city are in the health and education sector.   A further 19 per cent are property and other business and the third largest sector is wholesale and retail, which accounts for 16.2 percent.  Between 1995 and 2004, the number of jobs in Southampton has increased by 18.5 per cent.

As of January 2007, the average annual salary in the city was £22,267.   This was £1,700 lower than the national average and £3,800 less than the average for the South East.

Southampton has always been a maritime centre, and the docks have long been a major employer in the city.   In particular, it is a port for cruise ships; its heyday was the first half of the 20th century, and in particular the inter-war years, when it handled almost half the passenger traffic of the UK. Today it remains home to luxury cruise ships, as well as being the largest freight port on the Channel coast and fourth largest UK port by tonnage, with several container terminals.

Unlike some other ports, such as Liverpool, London, and Bristol, where industry and docks have largely moved out of the city centres leaving room for redevelopment, Southampton retains much of its inner-city industry. Part of the docks has been redeveloped, however, as the Ocean Village development, a local marina and entertainment complex.   Southampton is home to the headquarters of both the Maritime and Coastguard Agency and the Marine Accident Investigation Branch of the Department for Transport.

Surveyor Valuer Southampton Hampshire

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Approximate Population: 14,590

The city is run by Armagh City and District Council, headquartered in Armagh, which covers a larger area than just the city, but not the entire county. Together with part of the district of Newry and Mourne, it forms the Newry & Armagh constituency for elections to the Westminster Parliament and Northern Ireland Assembly.   The Member of Parliament is Conor Murphy of Sinn Féin, who is a former Provisional Irish Republican Army prisoner and a member of the Sinn Féin negotiations team.   He won the seat in the United Kingdom general election, 2005, after the retirement of long-serving SDLP MP Seamus Mallon.

The city has a long reputation as an administrative centre and currently located in the city is the headquarters of the Southern Education and Library Board and the Southern Health and Social Services Board.

The secretariat of the North-South Ministerial Council is based in Armagh, and consists jointly of members of the civil services of both Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland.  Armagh is the seat of both the Church of Ireland Archbishop of Armagh and the Roman Catholic Archbishop of Armagh, both of whom hold the position of Primate of All Ireland for their respective denominations.

Surveyor Valuer Armagh Northern Ireland

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Approximate Population: 99,773

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.

Surveyor Valuer Gillingham Kent

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