Places in History: United Kingdom

This page is about places in the United Kingdom that have historical significance for one reason or another. It may be a place where some significant event occurred (e.g. Berkeley Castle), or it may have had a significance at some point or period in history that it no longer has (e.g. Coalbrookdale), or it may simply be somewhere that's of interest for historical reasons (e.g. South Crofty tin mine).

See also Places in History: Rest of the World.

Welsh village (in Mid Glamorgan) where 116 children and 28 adults lost their lives in October 1966, when a colliery spoil tip slipped, burying homes and part of a school		Aberfan
Fortress hiding place in the Somerset Levels, from which Alfred the Great went on to defeat the Danes at the Battle of Edington in May 878; it's while hiding here that he is supposed to have burnt the cakes		Isle of Athelney
Jail in which John Bunyan wrote Pilgrim's Progress		Bedford
Gloucestershire: Edward II was murdered at		Berkeley Castle
Cheshire town (now in Merseyside) where Britain's first street tramway opened in 1860		Birkenhead
Camp Hill and Kings Norton (both the scenes of battles in the English Civil War) are areas of		Birmingham
Britain's last trolleybus service closed on 26 March 1972, in		Bradford
Britain's first casino opened in 1962, at the Metropole Hotel in		Brighton
Britain's first nude bathing beach opened in 1979, in
English city where local people boycotted the buses for four months in 1963 in protest against the bus company's policy of not employing black or Asian staff on the buses		Bristol
William of Orange landed 1688 with an army of 12,000, to claim the throne from James II		Brixham
Island in Poole Harbour: venue of the first Boy Scout camp, 1907		Brownsea Island
Hertfordshire oil storage depot, scene of what was said to be Europe's biggest peace–time fire, 2005 – owned by Total (60%) and Texaco (40%)		Buncefield
English spa town, referred to by Mary, Queen of Scots (who spent seven summers there while under the charge of the Earl of Shrewsbury) as 'La Fontagne de Bogsby'		Buxton
Street in the East End of London where anti-fascist demonstrators clashed with police protecting a march by the blackshirts of Oswald Mosley's British Union of Fascists, in 1936, in the so–called Battle of ...		Cable Street
Prince Charles's investiture as Prince of Wales (1969) took place in		Caernarfon Castle
A temperature of 38.7°C – a British record – was recorded in July 2019, in (English city)		Cambridge
Cornish town at the centre of a scandal over the pollution of its water supply in 1988 (when 20 tons of aluminium sulphate was poured into the wrong tank at a water treatment plant on Bodmin Moor)		Camelford
Castle on the Isle of Wight, where Charles I was imprisoned from 1647 until January 1649		Carisbrooke
Town on the River Medway (Kent): home to a Royal Navy dockyard for over 500 years until its closure in 1984; now a museum and heritage site		Chatham
Confederation of coastal towns in Kent and Sussex, formed in late Anglo–Saxon times for military and trade purposes, but declined with the growth of other ports; surrendered their charters in 1685 and now entirely ceremonial		Cinque Ports
Shropshire village where Abraham Darby built the world's first iron smelting works, from 1709		Coalbrookdale
Town in Lincolnshire where the UK's highest ever temperature – 40.3° – was recorded on 19 July 2022		Coningsby
Most southerly town (now a city) reached by Bonnie Prince Charlie and the Jacobites in 1745		Derby
Region of ancient Italy, covering most of modern Tuscany (and parts of Lazio and Umbria): Josiah Wedgwood gave its name to the factory and site that he established in 1769, which is now a suburb of Stoke–on–trent		Etruria
Derbyshire village that cut itself off in 1666 to prevent the spread of the plague		Eyam
Pembrokeshire town: scene of the last (unsuccessful) invasion of Britain, in 1797		Fishguard
Chemical plant where 28 people died in an explosion, 1974		Flixborough
Castle in Northants where Richard III was born and Mary Queen of Scots was executed		Fothering(h)ay
The so–called 'ice cream wars' took place in the 1980s, in (city)		Glasgow
Scottish glen in which 38 members of Clan MacDonald were massacred by soldiers of the Earl of Argyll's Regiment of Foot, in February 1692 (for more details, see Events, Periods etc.)		Glencoe
Prince Charles Edward raised his standard in 1745 at		Glenfinnan
Brighton hotel bombed by the IRA 1984, during the Conservative Party Conference		Grand
Berkshire RAF base where a 'Women's Peace Camp' was set up in protest against the siting of Cruise missiles there, 1981–2000 (returned to common use in 1997)		Greenham Common
Stadium at which a crowd of 149,415 – still the British record, and a record for an internatiional match in Europe – attended a football match in 1937		Hampden Park (Glasgow)
1558: Princess Elizabeth was told of her accession to the throne while sitting under an oak tree at		Hatfield House
Aerodrome near Hounslow, Middlesex, where Neville Chamberlain took off and landed for the Munich Conference in September 1938 and made his "Peace for our time" speech; closed in 1947, part of its land now belongs to the motorway service area that shares its name		Heston
Branch or inlet of the Firth of Clyde, used as a submarine base during WWII and as a base for US Polaris and Poseidon nuclear submarines 1961–92 (deemed unnecessary following the demise of the Soviet Union)		Holy Loch
Berkshire town where Michael Ryan shot and killed 16 people, then himself, in August 1987		Hungerford
Football ground where 66 people died, 2 January 1971		Ibrox Park, Glasgow
Naval port on the Firth of Cromarty: gave its name to a 'mutiny' by sailors of the British Atlantic Fleet in 1931, in protest against proposed pay cuts, which caused a panic on the London Stock Exchange and a run on the pound, bringing Britain's economic troubles to a head and forcing it off the Gold Standard five days later		Invergordon
London building where 25 staff and visitors, and policeman Trevor Lock, were held hostage for 6 days in 1980 by gunmen demanding the release of Arab prisoners; after one of the hostages was killed by the gunmen, the building was stormed by SAS personnel who abseiled from the roof and forced entry through the windows (Operation Nimrod); they killed all but one of the gunmen; all hostages were rescued, except for one who was shot by the gunmen		Iranian Embassy
Area of East Anglia, surrounded by fenland and an island until the 17th century: where Hereward the Wake, the Anglo–Saxon nobleman who led a revolt against the Norman conquest in 1070 (reputedly the last Saxon leader to hold out against the Normans) had his base		Isle of Ely
Came under Norwegian rule, after Viking raids from about 800 AD; sold to Scotland by Norway in 1266; came under English control in 1341; granted to Sir John Stanley in 1406; his family ruled it until 1736, refusing to be called kings but preferring the title Lords; passed to the dukes of Atholl in 1736, and sold to the British crown in 1765 for £70,000		Isle of Man
Subjected to what's thought to have been the longest siege in English mediaeval history – in 1266, during the Second Barons' War		Kenilworth Castle
Mountain in the Peak District – the highest in the National Park, and in Derbyshire: scene of a mass trespass in 1932 in protest at the denial of access to areas of open country		Kinder Scout
England's most important port, in mediaeval times (and until the development of Atlantic trade in the 17th century): Hanse House and Marriott's Warehouse are the only surviving Hanseatic League buildings in the UK		King's Lynn King's Lynn
Britain's first trolleybus service opened on 20 June 1911, in		Leeds
Lazar Houses were built in the reign of King Stephen in Burton Lazars, Leics, to house		Lepers
Adolf Hitler's sister–in–law claimed in 1939 that he had lived with her (and her husband, his half–brother) for five months in 1912 and 1913, in (English city)		Liverpool
Town in the Scottish Borders where Pan Am flight 103 landed after a bomb exploded on board, in 1988		Lockerbie
Name of the RAF station where the "H–blocks" of Maze Prison were built in 1976; the prison closed in 2000 as part of the peace process, and demolition began in 2006; as of 2019 the intention was to use the site as a showground		Long Kesh
Devonshire seaside town(s), devastated by floods August 1952		(Lynton and) Lynmouth
Market town, in Powys: the seat of Owain Glyndwr's Welsh Parliament in 1404, where he was crowned Prince of Wales – on which grounds it claims to be the "ancient capital of Wales"		Machynlleth
Tree near Edwinstowe, Notts – said to be the site of Robin Hood's headquarters – first recorded use of this name was in 1790		Major Oak
Market town in Suffolk: gave its name to a major hoard of Roman silverware that was discovered in 1942 by a farmer in the nearby village of West Row		Mildenhall
Ancient forest in Hampshire, declared a royal hunting ground by William I in 1097; designated a National Park in 2005		New Forest
Model industrial community set up on Clydeside, early 19th century, by the Welsh industrialist and social reformer Robert Owen		New Lanark
Site of the earliest settlement of Salisbury: one of the most notorious of the rotten boroughs that existed before the Reform Act of 1832; served as a pocket borough of the Pitt family		Old Sarum
During the Civil War (1641–5) and the Great Plague of London (1665–6), the royal courts (of Charles I and II respectively) moved to		Oxford
North Sea oilrig that exploded in 1988 with the loss of 167 lives		Piper Alpha
Public space where Francis Drake was (according to popular tradition) playing bowls when the Spanish Armada was sighted		Plymouth Hoe
Street in Liverpool, known as "the Harley Street of the North", because of the number of doctors that have private practices there; the Anglican cathedral stands at one end of it; birthplace of W. E. Gladstone (1809) and poet Arthur Clough (1819); No. 59 is owned by the National Trust and is a museum to the Irish–born photographer (Edward) Chambré Hardman, who lived and worked there (active 1920–50; died 1988)		Rodney Street
Site in the New Forest that commemorates the death of King William II		Rufus Stone
Thames–side meadow where King John put his seal to the Magna Carta (1215)		Runnymede
Group of islands in the Atlantic, some 40 miles west of the Outer Hebrides, whose last 36 inhabitants were evacuated in 1930 following years of declining population, with poor harvests and (particularly latterly) disease related to increased contact with the mainland		St. Kilda
Became Scotland's first UNESCO World Heritage site in 1986, for its natural features; this was extended in 2005 to recognise its cultural status
Ancient forest in Wiltshire, location of the seat of the Seymour family in Tudor times – Wulfhall, which inspired the 2009 Booker prize–winning novel by Hilary Mantel		Savernake Forest
Capital of the Kingdom of Alba (900–1286) – near Perth – famous today as the site of the Abbey where Scottish kings were crowned, and home of the famous Coronation Stone		Scone
West Sussex town hit by a tornado in January 1998		Selsey
English city: flooded in 1864, when Dale Dyke Dam (Bradfield Reservoir) burst as it was being filled for the first time		Sheffield
Royal forest in Nottinghamshire, famous through its historical association with Robin Hood		Sherwood Forest
Street in Stepney, east London; scene of a gun battle in 1911 when police besieged a Latvian anarchist gang after three constables were shot dead; leader Peter Piatkov (Peter the Painter) was never caught; home secretary Winston Churchill caused a major political row by taking personal charge		Sidney Street
The last Cornish tin mine to close (1998)		South Crofty
Lincolnshire town, left largely untouched by the Industrial Revolution: its "old town" area was designated as England and Wales's first conservation area in 1967		Stamford
London underground station at which 27–year–old Brazilian national Jean Charles de Menezes was shot by police in 2005		Stockwell
Scene of a riot in 1990, that lasted for 25 days and was the longest prison riot in British history		Strangeways (Manchester)
Scene of Elizabeth I's famous speech ("I know I have the body of a weak, feeble woman ... ") to the troops assembled by the Earl of Leicester to fight the Armada		Tilbury
Inner city area of Liverpool, also known (from its postcode) as Liverpool 8: scene of violent riots in 1981		Toxteth
Kellingley Colliery – Britain's last deep coal mine, closed in December 2015 – was just outside the town of Knottingley, which is part of the city of		Wakefield King's Lynn
Prison that Ronnie Biggs escaped from in 1965		Wandsworth
Cheshire town: two IRA bombs exploded on 20 March 1993, killing two children – one (Johnathan Ball, aged 3) at the scene, the other (Tim Parry, aged 12) five days later when his life support machine was switched off		Warrington
Area of London's east end that saw the murders of 11 prostitutes between 1888 and 1891 – all of which have been ascribed at various times to "Jack the Ripper"		Whitechapel
Uffington (Oxfordshire, prehistoric), Westbury (Wiltshire, earliest record 1742), and Kilburn (North Yorkshire, 1857) are the sites of		White horses (carved into chalk hillsides)
Commonly described as the ancient capital of Wessex; capital of England in the 11th and 12th centuries – superseded by London		Winchester

© Haydn Thompson 2017–24