United Kingdom topographic map

Average elevation: 55 m

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A significant exception to the above are the fossil-bearing beds of Old Red Sandstones found principally along the Moray Firth coast. The Highlands are generally mountainous and the highest elevations in the British Isles are found here. Scotland has over 790 islands divided into four main groups: Shetland,…

Average elevation: 36 m

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Much of Wales' diverse landscape is mountainous, particularly in the north and central regions. The mountains were shaped during the last ice age, the Devensian glaciation. The highest mountains in Wales are in Snowdonia (Eryri), of which five are over 1,000 m (3,300 ft). The highest of these is Snowdon (Yr…

Average elevation: 99 m

Average elevation: 117 m

Glasgow itself was reputed to have been founded by the Christian missionary Saint Mungo in the 6th century. He established a church on the Molendinar Burn, where the present Glasgow Cathedral stands, and in the following years Glasgow became a religious centre. Glasgow grew over the following centuries. The…

Average elevation: 128 m

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Average elevation: 54 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

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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: 7 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

The River Plym, which flows off Dartmoor to the north-east, forms a smaller estuary to the east of the city called Cattewater. Plymouth Sound is protected from the sea by the Plymouth Breakwater, in use since 1814. In the Sound is Drake's Island which is seen from Plymouth Hoe, a flat public area on top of…

Average elevation: 81 m

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Average elevation: 41 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

Lincoln lies 157 mi (253 km) north of London, at an altitude of 67 ft (20.4 m) by the River Witham up to 246 ft (75.0 m) on Castle Hill. It fills a gap in the Lincoln Cliff escarpment, which runs north and south through central Lincolnshire, with altitudes up to 200 feet (61 metres). The city lies on the River…

Average elevation: 29 m

Leeds is located 169 miles (272 km) north-northwest of London, on the valley of the River Aire in the eastern foothills of the Pennines. The city centre lies in a narrow section of the Aire Valley at about 206 feet (63 m) above sea level; while the district ranges from 1,115 feet (340 m) in the far west on the…

Average elevation: 94 m

Average elevation: 58 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

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Average elevation: 246 m

Inland areas of low altitude experience the least amount of precipitation. They experience the highest summer maxima temperatures, but winter minima are colder than the coast. Snowfalls are more frequent in comparison to the coast, but less so in comparison to higher ground. It experiences the lowest wind…

Average elevation: 68 m

Average elevation: 21 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 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).

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Some have called Edinburgh the Athens of the North for a variety of reasons. The earliest comparison between the two cities showed that they had a similar topography, with the Castle Rock of Edinburgh performing a similar role to the Athenian Acropolis. Both of them had flatter, fertile agricultural land…

Average elevation: 104 m

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Two weather stations collect climate data for the area, Aberdeen/Dyce Airport, and Craibstone. Both are about 4 1⁄2 miles (7 km) to the north west of the city centre, and given that they are in close proximity to each other, exhibit very similar climatic regimes. Dyce tends to have marginally warmer daytime…

Average elevation: 52 m

The local topography is flat, and in some places, the land lies below sea level, for example in parts of the Fens to the east and to the south of Peterborough. Human settlement in the area began before the Bronze Age, as can be seen at the Flag Fen archaeological site to the east of the current city centre,…

Average elevation: 17 m

Average elevation: 36 m

Average elevation: 70 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

Average elevation: 23 m

Average elevation: 106 m

By road, Portsmouth lies 73.5 miles (118.3 km) from Central London, 49.5 miles (79.7 km) west of Brighton, and 22.3 miles (35.9 km) east of Southampton. Portsmouth is situated primarily on Portsea Island and is the United Kingdom's only island city, although parts of it have expanded onto the mainland. Gosport…

Average elevation: 28 m

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Average elevation: 39 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

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By the end of the 19th-century there were serious water shortages in the western parts of the historic county of Monmouthshire. The area had seen a massive population increase as a result of the steel and coal industries but the supply of water to the area was complicated due to its high altitude. A site for a…

Average elevation: 619 m

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Average elevation: 141 m

Bishop of Salisbury Hubert Walter was instrumental in the negotiations with Saladin during the Third Crusade, but he spent little time in his diocese prior to his elevation to archbishop of Canterbury. The brothers Herbert and Richard Poore succeeded him and began planning the relocation of the cathedral into…

Average elevation: 96 m

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Average elevation: 179 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

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Average elevation: 87 m

In 1831, the Gas Works was built by James Malam and gaslights were lit in the town for the first time on 22 December 1831. The Square was lit by a cast iron light bearing five gas lamps at that time. The Gas Works became a target on 2 September 1916 when a German Zeppelin dropped 14 bombs on Retford. The…

Average elevation: 31 m

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Dundee sits on the north bank of the Firth of Tay on the eastern, North Sea Coast of Scotland. The city lies 36.1 miles (58 km) NNE of Edinburgh and 360.6 miles (580 km) NNW of London. The built-up area occupies a roughly rectangular shape 8.3 miles (13 km) long by 2.5 miles (4 km) wide, aligned in an east to…

Average elevation: 82 m

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