Middleton topographic map

Sheffield nestles on the eastern foothills of the Pennines and is sculpted by a dramatic hill-and-valley system formed where five rivers — the Don, Sheaf, Rivelin, Loxley and Porter — converge, producing steep-sided valleys and gritstone ridgelines with much of the urban area built directly onto hillsides…

Average elevation: 168 m

Average elevation: 66 m

Average elevation: 55 m

Average elevation: 56 m

Birmingham is a snowy city relative to other large UK conurbations, due to its inland location and comparatively high elevation. Between 1961 and 1990 Birmingham Airport averaged 13.0 days of snow lying annually, compared to 5.33 at London Heathrow. Snow showers often pass through the city via the Cheshire gap…

Average elevation: 138 m

Kent was also the location of the largest number of art schools in the country during the nineteenth century, estimated by the art historian David Haste, to approach two hundred. This is believed to be the result of Kent being a front line county during the Napoleonic Wars. At this time, before the invention…

Average elevation: 37 m

The city, like most of the UK, has a maritime climate highly influenced by the Gulf Stream. Located in the driest region of Britain, Cambridge's rainfall averages around 570 mm (22.44 in) per year, around half the national average, with some years occasionally falling into the semi-arid (under 500 mm (19.69…

Average elevation: 18 m

Average elevation: 96 m

Average elevation: 21 m

Average elevation: 73 m

Average elevation: 115 m

Due to its central location in England and altitude range from 27 metres in the south to 636 metres in the north, Derbyshire contains many species at the edge of their UK distribution ranges. Some species with a predominantly northern British distribution are at the southern limit of their range, whilst others…

Average elevation: 144 m

Average elevation: 64 m

The west of the county lies on more resistant Cretaceous chalk. This chalk is responsible for a sweeping tract of largely downland landscapes that stretches from Dorset in the south west to Dover in the south east and north through East Anglia to the Yorkshire Wolds. The chalk is less easily eroded so forms…

Average elevation: 35 m

The East of England region has the lowest elevation range in the UK. Twenty percent of the region is below mean sea level, most of this in North Cambridgeshire, Norfolk and on the Essex Coast. Most of the remaining area is of low elevation, with extensive glacial deposits. The Fens, a large area of reclaimed…

Average elevation: 39 m

In Museums Without Walls, Jonathan Meades declares that "Portland is a bulky chunk of geological, social, topographical and demographic weirdness. It is the obverse of a beauty spot. 'Beauty' in this construction implies the picturesque. Portland is gloriously bereft of this quality. It is awesome. There is…

Average elevation: 11 m

Average elevation: 29 m

The Lake District is a roughly circular upland massif, deeply dissected by a broadly radial pattern of major valleys which are largely the result of repeated glaciations over the last 2 million years. The apparent radial pattern is not from a central dome, but from an axial watershed extending from St Bees…

Average elevation: 206 m

Average elevation: 120 m

Average elevation: 113 m

Cambridgeshire has a maritime temperate climate which is broadly similar to the rest of the United Kingdom, though it is drier than the UK average due to its low altitude and easterly location, the prevailing southwesterly winds having already deposited moisture on higher ground further west. Average winter…

Average elevation: 32 m

Average elevation: 103 m

All of the county is drained by the Thames. Berkshire divides into two topological (and associated geological) sections: east and west of Reading. North-east Berkshire has the low calciferous (limestone) m-shaped bends of the Thames south of which is a broader, clayey, gravelly former watery plain or belt from…

Average elevation: 100 m

Average elevation: 66 m

Average elevation: 54 m

Average elevation: 78 m

Buxton has an oceanic climate with short, mild summers and long, cool winters. At about 1,000 feet (300 m) above sea level, As the highest market town in England, Buxton's elevation makes it cooler and wetter than surrounding towns, with a daytime temperature typically about 2 °C lower than Manchester.

Average elevation: 334 m

London's topography is characterized by a gently rolling terrain shaped by the River Thames and its tributaries. The city lies within the London Basin, a natural depression bordered by higher grounds such as the North Downs to the south and the Chiltern Hills to the northwest. The Thames flows west to east,…

Average elevation: 66 m

Average elevation: 28 m

Average elevation: 23 m

Average elevation: 36 m

Average elevation: 22 m

Average elevation: 298 m

Average elevation: 195 m

Average elevation: 97 m

Average elevation: 113 m

Average elevation: 94 m

The interior of the county consists of a roughly east–west spine of infertile and exposed upland, with a series of granite intrusions, such as Bodmin Moor, which contains the highest land within Cornwall. From east to west, and with approximately descending altitude, these are Bodmin Moor, Hensbarrow north…

Average elevation: 55 m

Bath is in the Avon Valley and is surrounded by limestone hills as it is near the southern edge of the Cotswolds, a designated Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty, and the limestone Mendip Hills rise around 7 miles (11 km) south of the city. The hills that surround and make up the city have a maximum altitude…

Average elevation: 100 m

Average elevation: 40 m

Average elevation: 28 m

Near Weybridge are the UK headquarters of Sony with SSP Group (situated in Byfleet) and Procter & Gamble (next door to each other on The Heights Business Park near the former Brooklands racing circuit) with Kia Motors UK and Petroleum Geo-Services UK, and Gallaher Group (cigarettes) is to the north, next to…

Average elevation: 69 m

Average elevation: 10 m

Ely is built on a 23-square-mile (60 km2) Kimmeridge Clay island which, at 85 feet (26 m), is the highest land in the Fens. It was due to this topography that Ely was not waterlogged like the surrounding Fenland, and was an island separated from the mainland. Major rivers including the Witham, Welland, Nene…

Average elevation: 4 m

Average elevation: 94 m

Average elevation: 80 m

Average elevation: 57 m

The highest elevation in Surrey is Leith Hill near Dorking. It is 295 m (968 ft) above sea level and is the second highest point in southeastern England after Walbury Hill in West Berkshire which is 297 m (974 ft).

Average elevation: 69 m

An Iron Age shrine in the north of Hayling Island was later developed into a Roman temple in the 1st century BC and was first recorded in Richard Scott's Topographical and Historical Account of Hayling Island (1826). The site was dug between 1897 and 1907 and again from 1976 to 1978. The remains are now buried…

Average elevation: 1 m

Average elevation: 109 m

Average elevation: 95 m

Average elevation: 36 m

Ipswich experiences an oceanic climate, like the rest of the British Isles, with a narrow range of temperature and rainfall spread evenly throughout the year. One of the two nearest for which data is available is East Bergholt, about 7 miles (11 km) south west of the town centre and at a similar elevation, and…

Average elevation: 29 m

Average elevation: 175 m

Average elevation: 7 m

Average elevation: 61 m

Average elevation: 23 m

Average elevation: 44 m

Average elevation: 16 m

Average elevation: 61 m

It lies on a ridge between the valleys of the rivers Lea and Roding. It contains areas of woodland, grassland, heath, streams, bogs and ponds, and its elevation and thin gravelly soil (the result of glaciation) historically made it less suitable for agriculture. The Forest was historically managed as a common;…

Average elevation: 44 m

Average elevation: 195 m

Average elevation: 13 m

Average elevation: 146 m

As with the rest of the British Isles and Yorkshire, Malton possesses a maritime climate with cool summers and mild winters. The nearest Met Office weather station for which records are available is High Mowthorpe, about 6 miles (10 km) east of the town centre. Due to its lower elevation, the town centre is…

Average elevation: 28 m

Average elevation: 124 m

Bicester has expanded rapidly in recent generations due to the town's picturesque historical town centre, garden town layout, independent and high-street shops, restaurants, as well as a rail connection to Oxford. It also boasts imminent connection to Cambridge, as well as rail links to Birmingham and London.…

Average elevation: 77 m

The name Bury is etymologically connected with borough, which has cognates in other Germanic languages such as the German burg meaning "fortress, castle"; Old Norse borg meaning "wall, castle"; and Gothic baurg meaning "city". They all derive from Proto-Germanic *burgs meaning "fortress". This in turn derives…

Average elevation: 54 m

Average elevation: 24 m

Average elevation: 49 m

Average elevation: 166 m

In Yorkshire there is a very close relationship between the major topographical areas and the geological period in which they were formed. The Pennine chain of hills in the west is of Carboniferous origin. The central vale is Permo-Triassic. The North York Moors in the north-east of the county are Jurassic in…

Average elevation: 130 m

Average elevation: 246 m

North East England has a Marine west coast climate (generally found along the west coast of middle latitude continents) with narrower temperature ranges than the south of England and sufficient precipitation in all months. Summers and winters are mild rather than extremely hot or cold, due to the strong…

Average elevation: 165 m

Jane Austen attended Reading Ladies Boarding School, based in the Abbey Gateway, in 1784–1786. Mary Russell Mitford lived in Reading for a number of years and then spent the rest of her life just outside the town at Three Mile Cross and Swallowfield. The fictional Belford Regis of her eponymous novel, first…

Average elevation: 54 m

Average elevation: 111 m

Elevations are higher in the north and west, reaching more than 800 feet (240 m) in the Chilterns near Tring. The county centres on the headwaters and upper valleys of the rivers Lea and the Colne; both flow south, and each is accompanied by a canal. Hertfordshire's undeveloped land is mainly agricultural,…

Average elevation: 82 m

Average elevation: 141 m

Average elevation: 44 m

Average elevation: 82 m

Average elevation: 39 m

Average elevation: 81 m

The city of Exeter was established on the eastern bank of the River Exe on a ridge of land backed by a steep hill. It is at this point that the Exe, having just been joined by the River Creedy, opens onto a wide flood plain and estuary which results in quite common flooding. Historically this was the lowest…

Average elevation: 56 m

Average elevation: 113 m

Average elevation: 38 m

Average elevation: 73 m

Average elevation: 31 m

Average elevation: 101 m

Average elevation: 70 m

Average elevation: 29 m

Average elevation: 16 m

Average elevation: 23 m

In 1919, the borough proposed to expand further and annex the neighbouring borough of Newcastle-under-Lyme and the Wolstanton United Urban District, both to the west of Stoke. This never took place, due to strong objections from Newcastle Corporation. A further attempt was made in 1930, with the promotion of…

Average elevation: 168 m

Average elevation: 32 m

In the Yorkshire and the Humber region, there is a very close relationship between the major topographical areas and the underlying geology. The Pennine chain of hills in the west is of Carboniferous origin. The central vale is Permo-Triassic. The North York Moors in the north-east of the region are Jurassic…

Average elevation: 120 m

Neither the thin infertile sands of the High Weald or the wet sticky clays of the Low Weald are suited to intensive arable farming and the topography of the area often increases the difficulties. There are limited areas of fertile greens and which can be used for intensive vegetable growing, as in the valley…

Average elevation: 41 m

Average elevation: 25 m

Sheffield nestles on the eastern foothills of the Pennines and is sculpted by a dramatic hill-and-valley system formed where five rivers — the Don, Sheaf, Rivelin, Loxley and Porter — converge, producing steep-sided valleys and gritstone ridgelines with much of the urban area built directly onto hillsides…

Average elevation: 169 m

Average elevation: 119 m

The River Wye is protected by two Sites of Special Scientific Interest, one covering the Upper Wye (Gwy Uchaf) above Hay-on-Wye, and one covering the Lower Wye (Gwy Isaf) downstream to Chepstow. The criteria for inclusion of the river as an SSSI include geology, topography, flora, mammals, invertebrates, fish…

Average elevation: 207 m