Chartered Surveyors Brent Greater London

Approximate Population: 278,500

Brent, Greater London, is divided into 21 Electoral Wards, some which share a name with the traditional areas above, others include Barnhill, Dudden Hill, Fryent, Mapesbury and Welsh Harp.

Brent is currently divided into three constituencies, Brent North, Brent East and Brent South. Following a boundary review, it will be divided into two constituencies contained wholly within the borough – Brent Central and Brent North – plus a third, Hampstead and Kilburn, which will be split between Brent and the neighbouring borough of Camden. These new seats are to be fought at the 2009 or 2010 United Kingdom general election.

In 1801, the civil parishes that form the modern borough had a total population of 2,022. This rose slowly throughout the 19th century, as the district became built up; reaching 5,646 in the middle of the century. When the railways arrived the rate of population growth increased. The population peaked in the 1960s, when industry began to relocate from London.

In the 2001 Census, the borough had a population of 263,464 – of whom 127,806 were male, and 135,658 female. Of those stating a choice, 47.71% described themselves as Christian, 17.71% as Hindu, 12.26% as Muslim and 9.96% as having no religion. Of the population, 39.96% were in full-time employment and 7.86% in part-time employment – compared to a London average of 42.64% and 8.62%, respectively. Residents were predominantly owner-occupiers, with 23.17% owning their house outright, and a further 31.33% owning with a mortgage. 10.59% were in local authority housing, with a further 13.29% renting from a housing association, or other registered social landlord.

Chartered Surveyors Brent Greater London

Chartered Surveyors Margate Kent

Approximate Population: 57,008

Margate, Kent, was recorded as “Meregate” in 1264 and as “Margate” in 1299, but the spelling continued to vary into modern times. The name is thought to refer to a pool gate or gap in a cliff where pools of water are found, often allowing swimmers to jump in. The cliffs of the Isle of Thanet are composed of chalk, a fossil-bearing rock.

Margate also consists of Cliftonville, Garlinge, Palm Bay and Westbrook.

The town’s history is tied closely to the sea and it has a proud maritime tradition. Margate was a “limb” of Dover in the ancient confederation of the Cinque ports. It was added to the confederation in the 15th century. Margate has been a leading seaside resort for at least 250 years. Like its neighbour Ramsgate, it has been a traditional holiday destination for Londoners drawn to its sandy beaches.

For at least 250 years, the town has been a leading seaside resort in the UK, drawing Londoners to its beaches, Margate Sands.

Margate has two paid for newspapers, the Isle of Thanet Gazette and Thanet Times which are owned by Trinity Mirror. Free newspapers for the town include the Thanet Extra, part of the KM Group; and yourthanet, part of KOS Media.Local radio stations are KMFM Thanet, owned by the KM Group; and the county-wide stations Heart Kent, Gold and BBC Radio Kent.

Chartered Surveyors Margate Kent

Chartered Surveyors Bury Greater Manchester

Approximate Population: 60,718

Bury, Greater Manchester, was formed around the ancient market place but even prior to this there is evidence of a activity dating back to the period of Roman occupation. Bury Museum has a Roman Urn containing a number of small bronze coins dated for AD 253-282 and found north of what is now the town centre.

Under Agricola the road building programme included a route from the fort at Manchester (Mamucium) to the fort at Ribchester (Bremetennacum) that ran through Radcliffe and Affetside. The modern Watling Street, that serves the Seddons Farm estate on the west side of town, follows the approximate line of the route.

The most imposing early building in the town would have been Bury Castle, a medieval fortified manor house. The castle was built in 1469 by Sir Thomas Pilkington, lord of the manors of Pilkington and Bury and a powerful member of Lancashire’s gentry. It sat in a good defensive position on high ground over looking the Irwell Valley. At that time the Pilkingtons had been lords of Bury for nearly a century, having inherited the manor from a family named de Bury.
Bury Parish Church

The Pilkington family suffered badly in the Wars of the Roses when, despite the geography they supported the House of York. When Richard III was killed in the Battle of Bosworth, in 1485, Thomas Pilkington was captured and later executed. The outcome of the battle was that the Duke of Richmond, representing the House of Lancaster was crowned Henry VII by Sir William Stanley. As a reward for the support of his family Thomas Stanley was created Earl of Derby and amongst other land the confiscated Pilkington estate in Bury was presented to him.

Chartered Surveyors Bury Greater Manchester

Chartered Surveyors High Wycombe Buckinghamshire

Approximate Population: 92,300

High Wycombe, Buckinghamshire, comprises a number of suburbs including Booker, Bowerdean, Castlefield, Cressex, Daws Hill, Downley, Green St- GSW, Holmers Farm, Micklefield, Sands, Terriers, Totteridge and Wycombe Marsh, as well as four former nearby villages: Hazlemere, Holmer Green, Penn and Tylers Green.

Although situated in the county of Buckinghamshire which is one of the most affluent parts of the country Wycombe contains some considerably deprived areas. In 2007, a GMB Union survey ranked the Wycombe district as the 4th dirtiest in the South East and the 26th dirtiest in the whole UK . The survey found litter on 28.5% of streets and highways. Data for the survey was taken from the Government’s 2005/06 Audit Commission.

The town is currently undergoing a large redevelopment of the centre, including the development of the town’s existing shopping centre and the completion of the new Eden Shopping centre and the redevelopment of the Buckinghamshire New University with a large student village and new building on Queen Alexandra road.

These two developments have brought new life to the town and caused an influx of interest in the town[citation needed], with larger apartment buildings and a new multi-million pound hotel being built in the centre and a new Sainsbury’s store on the Oxford road next to the Eden shopping centre and bus station.

Chartered Surveyors High Wycombe Buckinghamshire

Chartered Surveyors West Bromwich West Midlands

Approximate Population: 136,940

West Bromwich, West Midlands, is famous for its football club, West Bromwich Albion. The club was founded in 1878 and in 1888 it became one of the twelve founder members of the Football League. It won the league championship in 1920 and has won the FA Cup five times, most recently in 1968. The club recently won the Coca Cola Championship in 2008. Albion were based in and around the centre of West Bromwich during their formative years, but moved further out of the town in 1900 when they switched to their current ground, The Hawthorns.

Engineering and chemicals are important to the town’s economy, as it played a crucial part in the Industrial Revolution during the 19th century and still retains many manufacturing jobs to this day, despite a steady nationwide decline in this sector since the 1970s.

Sandwell General Hospital (On the site of the former Hallam Hospital) is located near the town centre. It is part of the Sandwell and West Birmingham Hospitals NHS Trust, one of the largest NHS teaching trusts in the United Kingdom.

William Legge, 2nd Earl of Dartmouth had his seat at Sandwell Hall. Legge was unusual as an aristocrat of this period by being a Methodist and attending the Wednesbury Methodist meetings, where fellow Methodists – many of them colliers and drovers – knew him as “Brother Earl”.

Chartered Surveyors West Bromwich West Midlands

Chartered Surveyors Lewisham Greater London

Approximate Population: 263,400

Lewisham, Greater London, is most likely to have been founded by a pagan Jute, Leof, who settled (by burning his boat) near St Mary’s Church (Ladywell) where the ground was drier, in the 6th century. As to the etymology of the name, Daniel Lysons (1796) wrote:

“In the most ancient Saxon records this place is called Levesham, that is, the house among the meadows; leswe, læs, læse, or læsew, in the Saxon, signifies a meadow, and ham, a dwelling. It is now written, as well in parochial and other records as in common usage, Lewisham.”

‘Leofshema’ was an important settlement at the confluence of the rivers Quaggy (from Farnborough) and Ravensbourne (Caesar’s Well, Keston), so the village expanded north into the wetter area as drainage techniques improved. In the mid-seventeenth century, then-vicar of Lewisham, Abraham Colfe, built a grammar school, primary school and six almshouses for the inhabitants. The Earl of Dartmouth became the (hereditary) Viscount Lewisham in 1711.

The village of Lewisham was originally centred further south around the parish church of St Mary, towards the present site of University Hospital Lewisham. The centre migrated north with the coming of the North Kent railway line to Dartford in 1849, encouraging commuter housing. Lewisham was administratively part of Kent until 1889, and formed part of the Metropolitan Borough of Lewisham in the County of London until 1965.

Chartered Surveyors Lewisham Greater London

Chartered Surveyors King’s Lynn Norfolk

Approximate Population: 34,564

King’s Lynn is mainly on the east bank of the River Great Ouse close to where it flows into the Wash, 35 miles (55 km) north-east of Peterborough, 44 miles (70 km) west of Norwich, and the same distance north of Cambridge. London lies about 112 miles (180 km) to the south.

The Great Ouse at Lynn is about 200 metres (220 yd) wide and the outfall for much of the drainage system created the Fens (systematically drained from the seventeenth century onwards). It flows into the Wash, a bleak landscape of saltmarsh, shifting sandbanks and tidal flows. The much smaller Gaywood River also flows through the town, joining the Great Ouse at the southern end of South Quay close to the town centre.

A small part, known as West Lynn, is on the west bank. Other districts of King’s Lynn include the town centre, North Lynn, South Lynn, Gaywood, North Wootton, South Wootton, and Fairstead.

In the town centre, the Guildhall (1421) and the Town Hall (1895) are King’s Lynn’s most impressive secular buildings, built with flint-chequered facades, and adjacent to the Saturday Market Place (the original hub of the town). It also has three impressive churches: All Saints’ Church, St. Margaret’s (also on the Saturday Market Place) and St Nicholas’ Chapel — the latter built close to the newer Tuesday Market Place, at the heart of a massive Georgian expansion and one of the finest public squares in England. The roads connecting the two markets contain many fine historic buildings, and run parallel to the quays that lined the River Great Ouse (now largely superseded by docks).

Chartered Surveyors King’s Lynn Norfolk

Chartered Surveyors Wallasey Merseyside

Approximate Population: 58,710

Before the 19th century the area around Wallasey, Merseyside, 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.

The main activities in the area around Wallasey were farming and fishing. The area also had a reputation for smuggling and “wrecking”, the act of luring ships onto rocks or sandbanks with false lights in order to raid their cargo. Underground cellars and tunnels, which were used to hide cargo pilfered from wrecked ships still exist in the town. As late as 1839, the “Pennsylvania” and two other ships were wrecked off Leasowe in a severe storm, and their cargoes and furnishings were later found distributed among local residents.

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.

Chartered Surveyors Wallasey Merseyside

Chartered Surveyors Redditch Worcestershire

Approximate Population: 79,216

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.

By the 21st century needle-making and other traditional industries had been replaced by modern light industry and services, with Redditch also functioning as a dormitory town for Birmingham. The automotive retailer Halfords and engineering giant GKN both have their headquarters in Redditch. Manufacturer of precious metal contacts Samuel Taylor Ltd have manufacturing plants within the town. With the redevelopment of the flagship Kingfisher Shopping Centre in 2002 Redditch is undergoing an economic and cultural renaissance.

The town is home to several historical sites. The National Needle Museum and the ruins of Bordesley Abbey are located in the Abbey Ward district of Redditch), and the remains of a medieval moated settlement called Moons Moat is situated within the Church Hill estate.

In 2007 the town’s publicity increased after its MP Jacqui Smith was apponted the country’s first female Home Secretary.

Chartered Surveyors Redditch Worcestershire

Chartered Surveyors Derby Derbyshire

Approximate Population: 236,300

Derby and Derbyshire were centres of Britain’s Industrial Revolution. In 1717, Derby was the site of the first water powered silk mill in Britain, built by John Lombe and George Sorocold, after Lombe had reputedly stolen the secrets of silk-throwing from Piedmont in what is now Italy (he is alleged to have been poisoned by Piedmontese as revenge in 1722).

In 1759, Jedediah Strutt patented and built a machine called the Derby Rib Attachment that revolutionised the manufacture of hose. This attachment was used on the Rev. Lee’s Framework Knitting Machine; it was placed in front of – and worked in unison with – Lee’s Frame, to produce ribbed hose (stockings). The partners were Jedediah Strutt, William Woollatt (who had been joined in 1758 by) John Bloodworth and Thomas Stafford, all leading hosiers in Derby.

The patent was obtained in January 1759. After three years, Bloodworth and Stafford were paid off, and Samuel Need – a hosier of Nottingham – joined the partnership. The firm was known as Need, Strutt & Woollatt. The patent expired in 1773, though the partnership continued until 1781 when Need died.

Messrs. Wright, the bankers of Nottingham, recommended that Richard Arkwright apply to Strutt & Need for finance for his cotton spinning mill. The first mill opened in Nottingham in 1770 and was driven by horses. In 1771 Richard Arkwright, Samuel Need and Jedediah Strutt built the world’s first water-powered cotton spinning mill at Cromford, Derbyshire, developing a form of power that was to be a catalyst for the Industrial Revolution.

Chartered Surveyors Derby Derbyshire