Rent Houses

Aberdeen Scotland

Approximate Population: 202,370

Aberdeen is locally governed by Aberdeen City Council, which comprises forty-three councillors who represent the city’s wards and is headed by the Lord Provost who is currently Provost Peter Stephen.

From May 2003 until May 2007 the council was run with a Liberal Democrat and Conservatives coalition.   Following the May 2007 elections the Liberal Democrats formed a new coalition with the Scottish National Party.  The council consists of: 15 Liberal Democrat, 13 SNP, 10 Labour, 4 Conservative councillors and a single independent councillor.

Aberdeen is represented in the Parliament of the United Kingdom by three constituencies: Aberdeen North, Aberdeen South and Gordon, of which the first two are wholly within the Aberdeen City council area while the latter also encompasses a large swathe of Aberdeenshire.

In the Scottish Parliament the city is represented again by three constituencies, all of which are solely within the council area: Aberdeen North, Aberdeen Central and Aberdeen South and by a further seven MSPs elected as part of the North East Scotland electoral region.

In the European Union, the city is represented by seven MEPs, as part of the all inclusive Scotland constituency in the European Parliament.

Rent Houses Aberdeen Scotland

Rent Houses Bracknell Berkshire

Approximate Population: 50,131

Bracknell is a town in the Bracknell Forest borough of Berkshire, England. It lies 18 km (11 miles) to the south-east of Reading, 16 km (10 miles) southwest of Windsor and 53 km (33 miles) west of London.

The town is surrounded, on the east and south, by the vast expanse of Swinley Woods and Crowthorne Woods. The town has absorbed parts of many local outlying areas including Warfield, Winkfield and Binfield.

The town covers all of the old village of Easthampstead (though not all of the old parish) and the hamlet of Ramslade. Easthampstead has a very long history. There is a Bronze Age round barrow at Bill Hill. Easthampstead Park was a favoured Royal hunting lodge in Windsor Forest and Catherine of Aragon was banished there until her divorce was finalised. It was later the home of the Trumbulls who were patrons of Alexander Pope from Binfield.

The town was successful in attracting high-tech industries, and has become home to companies such as Panasonic, Fujitsu (formerly ICL) and Fujitsu-Siemens Computers, Dell, Hewlett-Packard, Siemens (originally Nixdorf), Honeywell, Cable and Wireless, Avnet Technology Solutions and Novell. Its success subsequently spread into the surrounding Thames Valley or M4 corridor, attracting IT firms such as Cable and Wireless, DEC (subsequently Hewlett-Packard), Microsoft, Sharp Telecommunications, Oracle Corporation, Sun Microsystems and Cognos.

Rent Houses Bracknell Berkshire

Rent Houses St. Helens Merseyside

Approximate Population: 102,629

St Helens is a large town in Merseyside, England. It is the largest settlement of the Metropolitan Borough of St Helens with a population of just over 100,000 of an urban area with a total population of 176,843 at the time of the 2001 Census.

Historically a part of Lancashire, the area grew during the 18th and 19th century as a significant centre for coal mining, and glassmaking.  Both prior and during this time it was also home to a cotton and linen industry (notably sail making) that did not last through the mid 19th century as well as salt, lime and alkali pits, copper smelting, and brewing.

The town and borough is notable for being the site of the first fully man made canal opened in autumn 1757, and also the first competition for steam locomotives, in Rainhill Trials.

Today, St Helens is very much a commercial town. The main industries have since left, become outdated, or have been outsourced leaving the float and patterned rolled glass producer Pilkingtons, a world leader in their industry, as the town’s one remaining large industrial employer. Previously the town had been home to Beechams (now part of GlaxoSmithKline), Ravenhead glass (bought out by the Belgian nationalised Durobor), United Glass Bottles (U.G.B.), Triplex (owned by Pilkington, farmed out to India), Daglish Foundry (closed and demolished 1939), and Greenall’s (now located in nearby Warrington).

Rent Houses St. Helens Merseyside

Rent Houses

Bradford West Yorkshire

Approximate Population: 293,717

To support the textile mills, a large manufacturing base grew up in the city, providing textile machinery, and this led to diversification with different industries thriving side by side.   Bradford’s manufacturing history includes the Jowett Motor Company, which had many great achievements during its 50 years of existence.

The textile industry started to decline in the 1920s, and Bradford has been cited as an example of deindustrialisation.   However, today a spirit of rebirth has taken hold and Bradford is one of the north’s important cities, with modern technology, chemicals, engineering, academic and financial sectors replacing the “dark satanic mills” image of the Industrial Revolution.

The grandest of the mills (no longer used for textile production) is Lister Mills, the chimney of which can be seen from most places in Bradford.   It has recently become a beacon of regeneration in the city after a £100 million conversion to apartment blocks by property developers Urban Splash.

Salts Mill is another large mill that has an exciting new life in the modern era. The mill is occupied by high-technology companies, contemporary design shops and gallery spaces. It is the hub of the world heritage site of Saltaire, three miles (4.8 km) north of Bradford city centre.   The Bradford district also contains the villages of Thornton and Haworth, the birthplace and home of the world famous Brontë sisters.

Rent Houses Bradford West Yorkshire

Rent Houses

Bury Greater Manchester

Approximate Population: 60,718

A history of Bury is not complete without reference to its role as regimental town of the Lancashire Fusiliers.

In 1688 Prince William of Orange (later King William III) landed at Brixham, Devon. He was met by a number of noblemen who were then commissioned to raise Regiments to help him oppose James II.   Colonel Sir Robert Peyton raised a Regiment containing six independent companies in the Exeter area. In 1782 the title was changed to the XX or East Devon Regiment of Foot and from 1 July 1881 became the XX The Lancashire Fusiliers.

The link with Bury and the Fusiliers started at this time when, following successful recruiting in Lancashire a Regimental Depot was established in Bury, Wellington Barracks, in 1881.

The Regiment has been involved in many campaigns and peace keeping duties including the Jacobite uprising, the American War of Independence, the Napoleonic Wars, the Indian Mutiny and both World Wars.   Since moving to Bury the Lancashire Fusiliers were part, in 1898, of the force that relieved Khartoum and fought in the Battle of Omdurman and in 1899 – 1902 during the Boer War took part in the battles of Spion Kop and the Relief of Ladysmith.

Rent Houses Bury Greater Manchester

Rent Houses Wigan Greater Manchester

Approximate Population: 81,203

In the Anglo-Saxon period, the area of Wigan was probably under the control of the Northumbrians and later the Mercians.   In the early 10th century there was an influx of Scandinavians expelled from Ireland.   This can be seen in place names such as Scholes – now a part of Wigan – which derives from the Scandinavian skali meaning “hut”.   Further evidence comes from some street names in Wigan which have Scandinavian origins. Although Wigan parish church was mentioned in the Domesday Book, the current building dates to the 15th century.

Although Wigan is not mentioned in the Domesday Book, possibly because it was included in the Neweton barony (now Newton-le-Willows), it is thought that the mention of a church in the manor of Neweton is Wigan parish church.  The rectors of the parish church were lords of the manor of Wigan, a sub-manor of Neweton, until the 19th century.  

The incorporation of Wigan as a borough happened in 1246 following the issue of a Charter by King Henry III to John Maunsel, the local church rector and lord of the manor.  The borough was later granted another Charter in 1257–1258, allowing the lord of the manor to hold a market on every Monday and two annual fairs.

Edward II visited Wigan in 1323 in an effort to stabilise the region which had been the source of the Banastre Rebellion in 1315.   Edward stayed in nearby Upholland Priory and held court in the town over a period of several days.  During the medieval period Wigan expanded and prospered and in 1536, antiquarian John Leland described the town, saying “Wigan paved; as big as Warrington and better builded.   There is one parish church amid the town. Some merchants, some artificers, some farmers”.

Rent Houses Wigan Greater Manchester