Streatham 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: 551 ft

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: 226 ft

Average elevation: 75 ft

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: 328 ft

Average elevation: 180 ft

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: 453 ft

Average elevation: 315 ft

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: 128 ft

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: 95 ft

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: 59 ft

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: 115 ft

Average elevation: 217 ft

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: 676 ft

Average elevation: 187 ft

Average elevation: 144 ft

Average elevation: 407 ft

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: 541 ft

Average elevation: 285 ft

Average elevation: 210 ft

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: 13 ft

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: 217 ft

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: 121 ft

Average elevation: 75 ft

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: 427 ft

Average elevation: 92 ft

Average elevation: 56 ft

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: 105 ft

Average elevation: 308 ft

Average elevation: 118 ft

Average elevation: 85 ft

Average elevation: 463 ft

Average elevation: 266 ft

Average elevation: 115 ft

Average elevation: 371 ft

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: 269 ft

Average elevation: 118 ft

Average elevation: 92 ft

Average elevation: 85 ft

Average elevation: 430 ft

Average elevation: 427 ft

Average elevation: 69 ft

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: 36 ft

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: 180 ft

Average elevation: 240 ft

Average elevation: 190 ft

Average elevation: 184 ft

Average elevation: 545 ft

Average elevation: 528 ft

Average elevation: 377 ft

Average elevation: 325 ft

Average elevation: 502 ft

Average elevation: 295 ft

Average elevation: 630 ft

Average elevation: 417 ft

Average elevation: 62 ft

Average elevation: 112 ft

Average elevation: 167 ft

The highest point at 636 m (2,087 ft) is Kinder Scout, in the Peak District of the southern Pennines in northwest Derbyshire near Glossop. Other hilly areas of 95 to 280 m (312 to 919 ft) in altitude, together with lakes and reservoirs, rise in and around the Charnwood Forest north of Peterborough, Leicester,…

Average elevation: 246 ft

Average elevation: 72 ft

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: 177 ft

Average elevation: 338 ft

Average elevation: 358 ft

As part of the United Kingdom, the North York Moors area generally has warm summers and relatively mild winters. Weather conditions vary from day to day as well as from season to season. The latitude of the area means that it is influenced by predominantly westerly winds with depressions and their associated…

Average elevation: 361 ft

Average elevation: -3 ft

The South Downs National Park's chalk downland is a feature that sets it apart from other national parks in Britain. However, almost a quarter (23%) of the national park consists of a quite different and strongly contrasting physiographic region, the western Weald, whose densely wooded hills and vales are…

Average elevation: 177 ft

Average elevation: 463 ft

Average elevation: 249 ft

Average elevation: 128 ft

Average elevation: 443 ft

Average elevation: 266 ft

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: 184 ft

Average elevation: 240 ft

Average elevation: 253 ft

Average elevation: 75 ft

Average elevation: 381 ft

Average elevation: 374 ft

The Tor is in the middle of the Summerland Meadows, part of the Somerset Levels, rising to an elevation of 518 feet (158 m). The plain is reclaimed fen above which the Tor is clearly visible for miles around. It has been described as an island, but actually sits at the western end of a peninsula washed on…

Average elevation: 108 ft

Average elevation: 49 ft

Average elevation: 85 ft

Average elevation: 299 ft

Average elevation: 676 ft

Average elevation: 335 ft

Average elevation: 292 ft

Average elevation: 10 ft

Average elevation: 207 ft

Average elevation: 138 ft

Average elevation: 873 ft

Average elevation: 512 ft

Average elevation: 295 ft

Although hardly damaged in the First and Second World Wars, Sleaford has close links with the Royal Air Force due to proximity to several RAF bases, including RAF Cranwell and RAF Waddington. Lincolnshire's topography – flat and open countryside – and its location in the east of the country made it ideal…

Average elevation: 59 ft

Skegness fronts the North Sea. It is located on a low-lying flat region called Lincoln Marsh, which runs along the coast between Skegness and the Humber and separates the coast from the upland Wolds. Much of the parish's elevation is close to sea level, although a narrow band along the seafront is 4–5 m…

Average elevation: 7 ft

Average elevation: 184 ft

Average elevation: 66 ft

The River Irwell catchment area extends from the moors above Bacup to the Manchester Ship Canal. The climate of the catchment area is wetter than the UK average, with rainfall of 1,456 millimetres (57.3 in) per annum compared to 1,231 millimetres (48.5 in) per annum, and the rivers quickly respond to rainfall.…

Average elevation: 584 ft

Average elevation: 197 ft

Average elevation: 292 ft

Average elevation: 10 ft

Average elevation: 394 ft

Average elevation: 318 ft

Average elevation: 276 ft