53 articles
Barton-in-Fabis
Barton-in-Fabis is a small Rushcliffe village in Nottinghamshire on the River Trent, six miles from Nottingham; Latin name means "in the beans"; features Grade I St George's church, a scheduled Roman villa, and a contested 2024 quarry application.
Birmingham
Birmingham, UK's second-largest city (population 1,176,960 in mid-2025), a West Midlands industrial hub founded as a Saxon settlement of Beorma, chartered 1166, historic metalworking and jewellery centre.
Boston, Lincolnshire
Boston, Lincolnshire: historic market town and port on the River Witham (the Haven) in the Fens. Medieval England's leading wool port after London, home of the Boston Stump, Pilgrim Fathers link, and the Boston Barrier flood defense.
Burton upon Trent
Burton upon Trent, Staffordshire town on the River Trent, also called Burton-on-Trent; famed as the world brewing capital for its gypsum-rich water, the source of Burtonisation, with an abbey founded in 1002 by Wulfric Spot.
Buxton
Buxton, Derbyshire: spa town, highest market town in England, Roman Aquae Arnemetiae, home of the Crescent and Buxton Mineral water; £100 million town centre regeneration under way.
Cannock
Cannock, Staffordshire market town, Domesday Book settlement, spa town in the 17th-18th centuries, transformed by coal mining from the 1850s; part of Cannock Chase district, population 100,500 in 2021.
Chesterfield, England
Chesterfield, Derbyshire: largest market town in Derbyshire, England, founded as a Roman fort around 70 AD, known for the Crooked Spire, coal and railway heritage under George Stephenson, and reorganisation into a unitary council from 2028.
Clun
Clun is a small town in south Shropshire, England, on the River Clun near the Welsh border, parish population 1,115 (2021). Known for Clun Castle, a Norman motte-and-bailey fortress of the de Say and Fitzalan families.
Corby
Corby, Northamptonshire: Midlands steel town, New Town from 1950, 'Little Scotland'; Stewarts & Lloyds steelworks closed 1980; 2009 toxic waste birth-defect ruling; regeneration and 2025 New Town bid.
Coventry
Coventry is a city in England's West Midlands, built around a monastery founded in 1043 by Leofric and Lady Godiva, and a historic center of the British motor industry.
Derby
Derby: city and unitary authority on the River Derwent in the East Midlands, England; county town of Derbyshire. Population 274,100 (2024); home of the 1721 Silk Mill and the Derwent Valley Mills World Heritage Site.
Dudley
Dudley, West Midlands market town, heart of the Black Country; home of Dudley Castle (1070), Silurian limestone hills, industrial heritage, Metro extension, and Dudley Local Plan 2041.
Grantham
Grantham is a market town in South Kesteven, Lincolnshire, on the River Witham near the Nottinghamshire border. Known for St Wulfram's 282.5 ft spire, Newton's schooling, Thatcher's birthplace, and its engineering and coaching heritage.
Great Malvern
Great Malvern is a Worcestershire spa town that grew around a Benedictine priory founded in 1085, dissolved under Henry VIII, and revived by the 19th-century water cure, railway, and Grade I priory church.
Grimsby
Grimsby, England: Humber Estuary port town in North East Lincolnshire, founded as Viking settlement Grimesbi, once the world's largest fishing port, now a major seafood processing and regeneration centre.
Hanley
Hanley, one of the six towns of Stoke-on-Trent, is the city's commercial and cultural centre. Formerly a municipal borough (1857) and pottery town, it is now the largest retail destination in North Staffordshire and South Cheshire.
Hednesford
Hednesford, Staffordshire: market town and gateway to Cannock Chase, first recorded 1153 as Hedenedford; coal mining town from the 1850s, WWI training camps, RAF Hednesford, and a Neighbourhood Plan adopted in 2018.
Hereford
Hereford, cathedral city and county town of Herefordshire, England, on the River Wye near the Welsh border; population about 58,000–62,000. Known for the Mappa Mundi, Hereford cattle, cider, and severe A49 congestion addressed by a planned bypass.
Kettering
Kettering is a Northamptonshire market town, chartered in 1227 under Peterborough Abbey, that grew through boot and shoe making; population 63,150 (2021), with Roman settlement remains and the Manor House Museum.
Kidderminster
Kidderminster: Worcestershire market town on the River Stour, about 16 miles southwest of Birmingham, population around 57,000; historic centre of the British carpet industry from 1735 and birthplace of Rowland Hill.
Leamington Spa
Royal Leamington Spa (formerly Leamington Priors) is a spa town in Warwickshire, England, on the River Leam. Its mineral springs, Royal Pump Rooms of 1814, and 1838 'Royal' title from Queen Victoria distinguish it.
Leicester
Leicester: largest city in the English East Midlands, a unitary authority of 368,581 people (2021 census). One of the UK's first minority-majority cities, 43.4% Asian, 41% born abroad, Roman Ratae Corieltauvorum, Richard III's burial city.
Lichfield
Lichfield is a small cathedral city in Staffordshire, England, founded around Bishop Chad's 669 bishopric. Known for its three-spired cathedral, 1553 county charter, Samuel Johnson links, and role as a Birmingham commuter city.
Loughborough
Loughborough is a large market and university town in Charnwood, Leicestershire, between Leicester and Nottingham, known for Loughborough University (founded 1909, first UK technological university), John Taylor & Co bellfoundry, and its 800-year-old market.
Ludlow
Ludlow is a historic market town in south Shropshire, England, near the Welsh border, population 10,041 (2021). Known for its Norman castle, Council of the Marches seat, around 500 listed buildings, 900-year-old market, and the Ludlow Food Festival begun in 1995.
Mansfield
Mansfield: largest market town and district of west Nottinghamshire, England; 110,500 people (2021). Former coal town hit by 1980s pit closures, high deprivation, £20m levelling-up funding, 1227 market charter.
Newcastle-under-Lyme
Newcastle-under-Lyme, Staffordshire market town and borough near Stoke-on-Trent, chartered by Henry II in 1173; 129,600 residents, medieval High Street layout, ongoing £90m town centre regeneration.
Northampton
Northampton, England: county town on the River Nene in the East Midlands, not the Massachusetts city. Saxon burh, Norman castle of Simon de Senlis, and historic center of English boot and shoe making.
Nottingham
Nottingham: East Midlands city in England, county town of Nottinghamshire, population 325,765 (mid-2025). Known for its sandstone caves, lace-making heritage, £11bn economy, two universities, and 2026-2028 local government reorganisation into two unitary councils.
Oswestry
Oswestry (Croesoswallt) is Shropshire's second largest market town, near the Welsh border on the A5. Known for Old Oswestry hillfort, the 1190 market charter, Cambrian Railways headquarters, and poet Wilfred Owen's birthplace.