1.
England
–
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west, the Irish Sea lies northwest of England and the Celtic Sea lies to the southwest. England is separated from continental Europe by the North Sea to the east, the country covers five-eighths of the island of Great Britain in its centre and south, and includes over 100 smaller islands such as the Isles of Scilly, and the Isle of Wight. England became a state in the 10th century, and since the Age of Discovery. The Industrial Revolution began in 18th-century England, transforming its society into the worlds first industrialised nation, Englands terrain mostly comprises low hills and plains, especially in central and southern England. However, there are uplands in the north and in the southwest, the capital is London, which is the largest metropolitan area in both the United Kingdom and the European Union. In 1801, Great Britain was united with the Kingdom of Ireland through another Act of Union to become the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland. In 1922 the Irish Free State seceded from the United Kingdom, leading to the latter being renamed the United Kingdom of Great Britain, the name England is derived from the Old English name Englaland, which means land of the Angles. The Angles were one of the Germanic tribes that settled in Great Britain during the Early Middle Ages, the Angles came from the Angeln peninsula in the Bay of Kiel area of the Baltic Sea. The earliest recorded use of the term, as Engla londe, is in the ninth century translation into Old English of Bedes Ecclesiastical History of the English People. According to the Oxford English Dictionary, its spelling was first used in 1538. The earliest attested reference to the Angles occurs in the 1st-century work by Tacitus, Germania, the etymology of the tribal name itself is disputed by scholars, it has been suggested that it derives from the shape of the Angeln peninsula, an angular shape. An alternative name for England is Albion, the name Albion originally referred to the entire island of Great Britain. The nominally earliest record of the name appears in the Aristotelian Corpus, specifically the 4th century BC De Mundo, in it are two very large islands called Britannia, these are Albion and Ierne. But modern scholarly consensus ascribes De Mundo not to Aristotle but to Pseudo-Aristotle, the word Albion or insula Albionum has two possible origins. Albion is now applied to England in a poetic capacity. Another romantic name for England is Loegria, related to the Welsh word for England, Lloegr, the earliest known evidence of human presence in the area now known as England was that of Homo antecessor, dating to approximately 780,000 years ago. The oldest proto-human bones discovered in England date from 500,000 years ago, Modern humans are known to have inhabited the area during the Upper Paleolithic period, though permanent settlements were only established within the last 6,000 years
2.
Wales
–
Wales is a country that is part of the United Kingdom and the island of Great Britain. It is bordered by England to the east, the Irish Sea to the north and west, and it had a population in 2011 of 3,063,456 and has a total area of 20,779 km2. Wales has over 1,680 miles of coastline and is mountainous, with its higher peaks in the north and central areas, including Snowdon. The country lies within the temperate zone and has a changeable. Welsh national identity emerged among the Celtic Britons after the Roman withdrawal from Britain in the 5th century, Llywelyn ap Gruffudds death in 1282 marked the completion of Edward I of Englands conquest of Wales, though Owain Glyndŵr briefly restored independence to Wales in the early 15th century. The whole of Wales was annexed by England and incorporated within the English legal system under the Laws in Wales Acts 1535–1542, distinctive Welsh politics developed in the 19th century. Welsh Liberalism, exemplified in the early 20th century by Lloyd George, was displaced by the growth of socialism, Welsh national feeling grew over the century, Plaid Cymru was formed in 1925 and the Welsh Language Society in 1962. Established under the Government of Wales Act 1998, the National Assembly for Wales holds responsibility for a range of devolved policy matters, two-thirds of the population live in south Wales, mainly in and around Cardiff, Swansea and Newport, and in the nearby valleys. Now that the countrys traditional extractive and heavy industries have gone or are in decline, Wales economy depends on the sector, light and service industries. Wales 2010 gross value added was £45.5 billion, over 560,000 Welsh language speakers live in Wales, and the language is spoken by a majority of the population in parts of the north and west. From the late 19th century onwards, Wales acquired its popular image as the land of song, Rugby union is seen as a symbol of Welsh identity and an expression of national consciousness. The Old English-speaking Anglo-Saxons came to use the term Wælisc when referring to the Celtic Britons in particular, the modern names for some Continental European lands and peoples have a similar etymology. The modern Welsh name for themselves is Cymry, and Cymru is the Welsh name for Wales and these words are descended from the Brythonic word combrogi, meaning fellow-countrymen. The use of the word Cymry as a self-designation derives from the location in the post-Roman Era of the Welsh people in modern Wales as well as in northern England and southern Scotland. It emphasised that the Welsh in modern Wales and in the Hen Ogledd were one people, in particular, the term was not applied to the Cornish or the Breton peoples, who are of similar heritage, culture, and language to the Welsh. The word came into use as a self-description probably before the 7th century and it is attested in a praise poem to Cadwallon ap Cadfan c. 633. Thereafter Cymry prevailed as a reference to the Welsh, until c.1560 the word was spelt Kymry or Cymry, regardless of whether it referred to the people or their homeland. The Latinised forms of names, Cambrian, Cambric and Cambria, survive as lesser-used alternative names for Wales, Welsh
3.
Northern Ireland
–
Northern Ireland is a constituent unit of the United Kingdom in the north-east of Ireland. It is variously described as a country, province, region, or part of the United Kingdom, Northern Ireland shares a border to the south and west with the Republic of Ireland. In 2011, its population was 1,810,863, constituting about 30% of the total population. Northern Ireland was created in 1921, when Ireland was partitioned between Northern Ireland and Southern Ireland by an act of the British parliament, Northern Ireland has historically been the most industrialised region of Ireland. After declining as a result of the political and social turmoil of the Troubles, its economy has grown significantly since the late 1990s. Unemployment in Northern Ireland peaked at 17. 2% in 1986, dropping to 6. 1% for June–August 2014,58. 2% of those unemployed had been unemployed for over a year. Prominent artists and sports persons from Northern Ireland include Van Morrison, Rory McIlroy, Joey Dunlop, Wayne McCullough, some people from Northern Ireland prefer to identify as Irish while others prefer to identify as British. Cultural links between Northern Ireland, the rest of Ireland, and the rest of the UK are complex, in many sports, the island of Ireland fields a single team, a notable exception being association football. Northern Ireland competes separately at the Commonwealth Games, and people from Northern Ireland may compete for either Great Britain or Ireland at the Olympic Games. The region that is now Northern Ireland was the bedrock of the Irish war of resistance against English programmes of colonialism in the late 16th century, the English-controlled Kingdom of Ireland had been declared by the English king Henry VIII in 1542, but Irish resistance made English control fragmentary. Victories by English forces in war and further Protestant victories in the Williamite War in Ireland toward the close of the 17th century solidified Anglican rule in Ireland. In Northern Ireland, the victories of the Siege of Derry and their intention was to materially disadvantage the Catholic community and, to a lesser extent, the Presbyterian community. In the context of open institutional discrimination, the 18th century saw secret, militant societies develop in communities in the region and act on sectarian tensions in violent attacks. Following this, in an attempt to quell sectarianism and force the removal of discriminatory laws, the new state, formed in 1801, the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, was governed from a single government and parliament based in London. Between 1717 and 1775 some 250,000 people from Ulster emigrated to the British North American colonies and it is estimated that there are more than 27 million Scotch-Irish Americans now living in the US. By the close of the century, autonomy for Ireland within the United Kingdom, in 1912, after decades of obstruction from the House of Lords, Home Rule became a near-certainty. A clash between the House of Commons and House of Lords over a controversial budget produced the Parliament Act 1911, which enabled the veto of the Lords to be overturned. The House of Lords veto had been the unionists main guarantee that Home Rule would not be enacted, in 1914, they smuggled thousands of rifles and rounds of ammunition from Imperial Germany for use by the Ulster Volunteers, a paramilitary organisation opposed to the implementation of Home Rule
4.
Protected area
–
Protected areas or conservation areas are locations which receive protection because of their recognized natural, ecological or cultural values. There are several kinds of protected areas, which vary by level of protection depending on the laws of each country or the regulations of the international organisations involved. There are over 161,000 protected areas in the world with more added daily, by contrast, only 1. 17% of the worlds oceans is included in the worlds ~6,800 Marine Protected Areas. Protected areas are essential for biodiversity conservation, often providing habitat, Protection helps maintain ecological processes that cannot survive in most intensely managed landscapes and seascapes. Generally, protected areas are understood to be those in human occupation or at least the exploitation of resources is limited. As a result, Protected Areas can encompass a range of governance types. Indeed, governance of protected areas has emerged a critical factor in their success, subsequently, the range of natural resources that any one protected area may guard is vast. Of all global terrestrial carbon stock,15. 2% is contained within protected areas, Protected areas in South America hold 27% of the worlds carbon stock, which is the highest percentage of any country in both absolute terms and as a proportion of the total stock. Rainforests,18. 8% of the worlds forest is covered by protected areas, of the 670 ecoregions with forest cover, 54% have 10% or more of their forest cover protected under IUCN Categories I – VI. Mountain protected area coverage has increased globally by 21% since 1990, the categories provide international standards for defining protected areas and encourage conservation planning according to their management aims. Protecting places and resources is by no means a modern concept, over 2000 years ago, royal decrees in India protected certain areas. In Europe, rich and powerful people protected hunting grounds for a thousand years, moreover, the idea of protection of special places is universal, for example, it occurs among the communities in the Pacific and in parts of Africa. However, the protected areas movement doesnt begin until late nineteenth-century in North America, Australia, New Zealand and South Africa. While the idea of protected areas spread around the world in the twentieth century, thus, in North America, protected areas were about safeguarding dramatic and sublime scenery, in Africa, the concern was with game parks, in Europe, landscape protection was more common. The spectrum of benefits and values of protected areas is recognised not only ecologically, international programmes for the protection of representative ecosystems remain relatively progressive, with less advances in marine and freshwater biomes. There is increasing pressure to take account of human needs when setting up protected areas. Such negotiations are never easy but usually stronger and longer-lasting results for both conservation and people. In some countries, protected areas can be assigned without the infrastructure and networking needed to substitute consumable resources, one of the main concerns regarding protected areas on land and sea is their effectiveness at preventing the ongoing loss of biodiversity
5.
Gower Peninsula
–
Gower or the Gower Peninsula is a peninsula in the south of Wales, projecting westwards into the Bristol Channel. It is the most westerly part of the county of Glamorgan, in 1956, Gower became the first area in the United Kingdom to be designated an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty. About 70 square miles in area, Gower is known for its coastline, popular with walkers and outdoor enthusiasts, Gower has many caves, including Paviland Cave and Minchin Hole Cave. The peninsula is bounded by the Loughor Estuary to the north, Gower Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty covers 188 km², including most of the peninsula west of Crofty, Three Crosses, Upper Killay, Blackpill and Bishopston. The highest point of Gower is The Beacon at Rhossili Down at 193 metres overlooking Rhossili Bay, Pwll Du and the Bishopton Valley form a statutory Local Nature Reserve. The interior of Gower consists mainly of farmland and common land, the population resides mainly in villages and small communities, though suburban development has made a number of communities in eastern Gower part of the Swansea Urban Area. The southern coast consists of a series of small, rocky or sandy bays, such as Langland and Three Cliffs, the north of the peninsula has fewer beaches, and is home to the cockle-beds of Penclawdd. Wales is known to have inhabited since at least the Upper Paleolithic period. In 1823 archaeologists discovered a fairly complete Upper Paleolithic human male skeleton in Paviland Cave and they named their find the Red Lady of Paviland because the skeleton is dyed in red ochre, though later investigators determined it was actually a male. This was the first human fossil to have found anywhere in the world. The most recent re-calibrated radiocarbon dating in 2009 indicates that the skeleton can be dated to around 33,000 Before Present, in 1937 the Parc Cwm long cairn was identified as a Severn-Cotswold type of chambered long barrow. Also known as Parc le Breos burial chamber, it is a partly restored Neolithic chambered tomb, the megalithic burial chamber, or cromlech, was built around 6,000 BP. In the 1950s, members of Cambridge University excavating in a cave on the peninsula found 300–400 pieces of flint related to toolmaking, and dated it to between 14, 000–12,000 BC. In 2010 an instructor from Bristol University, exploring caves in the area, discovered a rock drawing of a red deer from the same period. Gower is also home to menhirs or standing stones from the Bronze Age, of the nine stones, eight remain today. One of the most notable of the stones is Arthurs stone near Cefn Bryn and its 25-ton capstone was most likely a glacial erratic, the builders dug under it and supported it with upright stones to create a burial chamber. The remains of Sweyne Howes on Rhossili Down, Penmaen Burrows Tomb, during the Bronze Age, people continued to use local caves for shelter and for burying their dead. Bronze Age evidence, such as urns, pottery and human remains, has been found in Tooth Cave at Llethryd, Culver Hole
6.
River Tamar
–
The Tamar is a river in south west England, that forms most of the border between Devon and Cornwall. The area is a World Heritage Site due to its mining activities. The Tamars source is less than 6 km from the north Cornish coast, the total length of the river is 61 miles. At its mouth, the Tamar flows into the Hamoaze before entering Plymouth Sound, tributaries of the river include the rivers Inny, Ottery, Kensey and Lynher on the Cornish side, and the Deer and Tavy on the Devon side. The name Tamar was mentioned by Ptolemy in the century in his Geography. The name is said to mean Great Water, the Tamar is one of several British rivers whose ancient name is assumed by some to be derived from a prehistoric river word apparently meaning dark flowing and which it shares with the River Thames. The seventh century Ravenna Cosmography mentions a Roman settlement named Tamaris, Plymouth, Launceston and the Roman fort at Calstock have been variously suggested. The river is designated as a Site of Special Scientific Interest, a European Special Area of Conservation, and it is also designated as a UNESCO World Heritage Site as part of the Cornwall and West Devon Mining Landscape. In November 2013, South West Water was fined £50,000 after it admitted permitting the discharge of sewage from its Camels Head treatment plant into a tributary of the River Tamar for eight years. Together, the Tamar, Tavy and Lynher form the Tamar Valley, the Tamar Valley Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty covers around 195 km2 around the lower Tamar and its tributaries the Tavy and the Lynher. It was first proposed in 1963, but was not designated until 1995, the highest point in the AONB is Kit Hill,334 metres above sea level. The Plymouth Sound and Estuaries are a European Special Area of Conservation, rocky reefs in low salinity estuarine conditions far inland on the Tamar are very unusual and support species such as the hydroid Cordylophora caspia. The Tamar is one of few estuaries where zonation of rocky habitats can be observed along an estuarine gradient, the Tamar–Tavy Estuary is a Site of Special Scientific Interest covering the tidal estuaries of the River Tamar and the River Tavy. Part of the Tamar estuary also forms the Tamar Estuary Nature Reserve, the site was designated in 1991 for its biodiversity and varying habitats that support a large number of wader and wildfowl species, as well as the special interest of its marine biology. The site supports an important wintering population of avocet and supports species such as black-tailed godwit, whimbrel, greenshank, spotted redshank, green sandpiper. The valley, with the town of Tavistock was added to the World Heritage List during the 30th Session of the UNESCO World Heritage Committee in Vilnius. According to Ordnance Survey mapping, the source of the Tamar is at Woolley Moor, approximately 3.5 miles from the north Cornish coast, at 50. 9235°N4. 4622°W /50.9235, -4.4622. The location of the spring is a windswept plateau largely devoid of farmland
7.
Strangford Lough
–
Strangford Lough is a large sea loch or inlet in County Down, in the east of Northern Ireland. It is the largest inlet in the British Isles, covering 150 km2, the loch is almost totally enclosed by the Ards Peninsula and is linked to the Irish Sea by a long narrow channel or strait. The main body of the loch has at least seventy islands along with many islets, bays, coves, headlands, Strangford Lough was designated as Northern Irelands first Marine Conservation Zone under the introduction of the Marine Act 2013. It has also designated a Special Area of Conservation under the EU Habitats Directive. In the medieval and early modern period Strangford Lough was known in Irish as Loch Cuan, Strangford Lough is a popular tourist destination noted for its fishing and scenery. Towns and villages around the loch include Killyleagh, Comber, Newtownards, Portaferry, the latter two are connected by a car ferry. The name Strangford comes from Old Norse Strangr-fjörðr, meaning strong sea-inlet, the Vikings were active in the area during the Middle Ages. Originally, this referred only to the narrow channel linking the loch to the sea. Up until about the 18th century, the body of the loch was better known by the Irish name Loch Cuan. This name was anglicized as Lough Coan, Lough Cone, Lough Coyn, Lough Coin, the narrow channel may have been known in Latin as the fretum Brene. In Ulster-Scots the lochs name is spelt Strangfurd or Strangfirt Loch, common cord-grass C. E. Hubbard was introduced in the mid-1940s is now abundant. The rocky and boulder shores toward the south of the lough are dominated by the seaweed knotted wrack Ascophyllum nodosum, a brown seaweed named Sargassum muticum, originally from the Pacific was discovered on 15 March 1995 in Strangford Lough at Paddys Point. The plants were established on mesh bags containing oysters. The bags had been put out in 1987 containing Pacific oysters imported from Guernsey and this Sargassum is known to be a highly invasive species. Other algae include, Apoglossum rusciofolium J. Ag, Compsothamnion gracillimum de Toni, Compsothamnion thuyoides Schmitz, Calliothamnion corymbosum Lyngb, Rhodymenia delicatula P. Dang. Haemescharia hennedyi Vinogradova, Rhodophyllis divaricate Papenf, calliblepharis ciliata Kütz, Peyssonnelia dubyi P. et H. Crouan, Plagiospora gracilis Kuck, Gloiosiphonia capillaris Carm. Scinaia pseudocrispa Cremades/S. turgida Chemin, Porphyropsis coccinea Rosenv, Fucus vesiculosus L. var volubilis Turn. Fucus cottonii Wynne et Magne, Colpomenia peregrine Hame, Asperococcus compressus Griff, Strangford Lough and Islands is an Important Bird Area
8.
Isles of Scilly
–
The Isles of Scilly are an archipelago off the south western tip of the Cornish peninsula of Great Britain. It is the southernmost location in England and the United Kingdom, the population of all the islands at the 2011 census was 2,203. Scilly forms part of the county of Cornwall, and some services are combined with those of Cornwall. However, since 1890, the islands have had a local authority. Since the passing of the Isles of Scilly Order 1930, this authority has had the status of a county council, the adjective Scillonian is sometimes used for people or things related to the archipelago. The Duchy of Cornwall owns most of the land on the islands. Tourism is a part of the local economy, along with agriculture — particularly the production of cut flowers. Scilly has been inhabited since the Stone Age, and until the early 20th century its history had been one of subsistence living, farming and fishing continue, but the main industry now is tourism. The islands may correspond to the Cassiterides visited by the Phoenicians, however, the archipelago itself does not contain much tin—it may be that the islands were used as a staging post. It is likely that until recent times the islands were much larger. The word Ennor is a contraction of the Old Cornish En Noer, remains of a prehistoric farm have been found on Nornour, which is now a small rocky skerry far too small for farming. There once was an Iron Age Britain community here that extended into Roman times and this community was likely formed by immigrants from Brittany, probably the Veneti who were active in the tin trade that originated in mining activity in Cornwall and Devon. At certain low tides the sea becomes shallow enough for people to walk between some of the islands and this is possibly one of the sources for stories of drowned lands, e. g. Lyonesse. Ancient field walls are visible below the tide line off some of the islands. Some of the Cornish language place names appear to reflect past shorelines. The whole of southern England has been sinking in opposition to post-glacial rebound in Scotland, this has caused the rias on the southern Cornish coast, e. g. River Fal. Scilly has been identified as the place of exile of two heretical 4th century bishops, Instantius and Tiberianus, who were followers of Priscillian, in 995, Olaf Tryggvason became King Olaf I of Norway. 960, Olaf had raided various European cities and fought in several wars, in 986 he met a Christian seer on the Isles of Scilly
9.
Cotswolds
–
The area is defined by the bedrock of Jurassic limestone that creates a type of grassland habitat rare in the UK and that is quarried for the golden coloured Cotswold stone. It contains unique features derived from the use of this mineral, the well-established boundaries of the Cotswolds have expanded considerably since moving out of the cities and into the countryside gained popularity. Now the Cotswolds boundaries are roughly 25 miles across and 90 miles long, stretching south-west from just south of Stratford-upon-Avon to just south of Bath. It lies across the boundaries of several English counties, mainly Gloucestershire and Oxfordshire, the hills give their name to the Cotswold local-government district in Gloucestershire, which administers a large part of the area. The highest point of the region is Cleeve Hill at 1,083 ft, there is evidence of Neolithic settlement from burial chambers on Cotswold Edge, and there are remains of Bronze and Iron Age forts. Later the Romans built villas, such as at Chedworth, settlements such as Gloucester, the area still preserves numerous large, handsome Cotswold Stone wool churches. The affluent area in the 21st century has attracted wealthy Londoners and others who own homes there or have chosen to retire to the Cotswolds. The name Cotswold is popularly attributed the meaning sheep enclosure in rolling hillsides, incorporating the term, wold, compare also the Weald from the Saxon/German word Wald meaning wood. Cod was interpreted as an Old English personal name, which may be recognised in further names, Cutsdean, Codeswellan, the spine of the Cotswolds runs southwest to northeast through six counties, particularly Gloucestershire, west Oxfordshire and south western Warwickshire. The northern and western edges of the Cotswolds are marked by steep escarpments down to the Severn valley and this feature, known as the Cotswold escarpment, or sometimes the Cotswold Edge, is a result of the uplifting of the limestone layer, exposing its broken edge. This is a cuesta, in geological terms, the dip slope is to the southeast. On the eastern boundary lies the city of Oxford and on the west is Stroud, to the southeast, the upper reaches of the Thames Valley and towns such as Lechlade, Tetbury and Fairford are often considered to mark the limit of this region. To the south the Cotswolds, with the uplift of the Cotswold Edge, reach beyond Bath. The area is characterised by small towns and villages built of the underlying Cotswold stone. This limestone is rich in fossils, particularly of fossilised sea urchins, Cotswold towns include Bourton-on-the-Water, Broadway, Burford, Chipping Norton, Dursley, Moreton-in-Marsh, Northleach, Stow-on-the-Wold, Stroud and Winchcombe. Bath, Cheltenham, Cirencester, Gloucester and Stroud are larger urban centres that border on, or are surrounded by. The town of Chipping Campden is notable for being the home of the Arts and Crafts movement, founded by William Morris at the end of the 19th, William Morris lived occasionally in Broadway Tower, a folly, now part of a country park. Chipping Campden also is known for the annual Cotswold Olimpick Games, Cotswold stone is a yellow oolitic Jurassic limestone
10.
National park
–
A national park is a park in use for conservation purposes. Often it is a reserve of natural, semi-natural, or developed land that a sovereign state declares or owns, although individual nations designate their own national parks differently, there is a common idea, the conservation of wild nature for posterity and as a symbol of national pride. An international organization, the International Union for Conservation of Nature, although Yellowstone was not officially termed a national park in its establishing law, it was always termed such in practice and is widely held to be the first and oldest national park in the world. The first area to use national park in its legislation was the USs Mackinac Island. Australias Royal National Park, established in 1879, was the third official national park. In 1895 ownership of Mackinac Island was transferred to the State of Michigan as a state park, as a result, Australias Royal National Park is by some considerations the second oldest national park now in existence. The largest national park in the meeting the IUCN definition is the Northeast Greenland National Park. According to the IUCN,6,555 national parks worldwide met its criteria in 2006, IUCN is still discussing the parameters of defining a national park. National parks are almost always open to visitors, in 1971, these criteria were further expanded upon leading to more clear and defined benchmarks to evaluate a national park. In 1810, the English poet William Wordsworth described the Lake District as a sort of property, in which every man has a right and interest who has an eye to perceive. It was known as Hot Springs Reservation, but no authority was established. Federal control of the area was not clearly established until 1877, John Muir is today referred to as the Father of the National Parks due to his work in Yosemite. He published two articles in The Century Magazine, which formed the base for the subsequent legislation. President Abraham Lincoln signed an Act of Congress on July 1,1864, ceding the Yosemite Valley, according to this bill, private ownership of the land in this area was no longer possible. The state of California was designated to manage the park for use, resort. Leases were permitted for up to ten years and the proceeds were to be used for conservation, a public discussion followed this first legislation of its kind and there was a heated debate over whether the government had the right to create parks. The perceived mismanagement of Yosemite by the Californian state was the reason why Yellowstone at its establishment six years later was put under national control, in 1872, Yellowstone National Park was established as the United States first national park, being also the worlds first national park. In some European countries, however, national protection and nature reserves already existed, such as Drachenfels, Yellowstone was part of a federally governed territory
11.
Imperial College London
–
Imperial College London is a public research university located in London, United Kingdom. Its founder, Prince Albert, envisioned an area comprised of the Victoria and Albert Museum, Natural History Museum, Royal Albert Hall, the Imperial Institute was opened by his wife, Queen Victoria, who laid the foundation stone in 1888. Imperial College London was granted a charter in 1907. In the same year, the joined the University of London. The curriculum was expanded to include medicine after merging with several medical schools. In 2004, Queen Elizabeth II opened the Imperial College Business School, Imperial is organized through faculties for Science, Engineering, Medicine, and Business. The main campus is located in South Kensington, the universitys emphasis is on emerging technology and its practical application. Imperials contributions to society include the discovery of penicillin, the development of fibre optics, Imperial is consistently ranked among the top universities in the world. In 2017, it ranked 8th in the Times Higher Education World University Rankings, 9th in the QS World University Rankings, in 2015, Imperial was also ranked the most innovative university in Europe, and in 2017 as the 5th most international university in the world. Staff and alumni include 15 Nobel laureates,2 Fields Medalists,70 Fellows of the Royal Society,82 Fellows of the Royal Academy of Engineering, and 78 Fellows of the Academy of Medical Sciences. The Great Exhibition in 1851 was organised by Prince Albert, Henry Cole, Francis Fuller and other members of the Royal Society for the Encouragement of Arts, Manufactures and Commerce. The Great Exhibition made a surplus of £186,000 used in creating an area in the South of Kensington encouraging culture and education for everyone. Its founder, Prince Albert, envisioned an area composed of the Victoria and Albert Museum, Natural History Museum, Royal Albert Hall. Several royal colleges and the Imperial Institute merged to form what is now Imperial College London, as a result of a movement earlier in the decade, many politicians donated funds to establish the college, including Benjamin Disraeli, William Gladstone and Robert Peel. It was also supported by Prince Albert, who persuaded August Wilhelm von Hofmann to be the first professor, William Henry Perkin studied and worked at the college under von Hofmann, but resigned his position after discovering the first synthetic dye, mauveine, in 1856. It is considered the highest honour given in the chemical industry. The Royal School of Mines was established by Sir Henry de la Beche in 1851, developing from the Museum of Economic Geology and he created a school which laid the foundations for the teaching of science in the country, and which has its legacy today at Imperial. The Royal College of Science was established in 1881, the main objective was to support the training of science teachers and to develop teaching in other science subjects alongside the Royal School of Mines earth sciences specialities
12.
Falmer Stadium
–
The stadium was handed over from the developers to the club on 31 May 2011. The first competitive game to be played at the stadium was the 2010–11 season final of the Sussex Senior Cup between Brighton and Eastbourne Borough on 16 July 2011. The first ever game was against Doncaster Rovers, who were also the opponents in the last ever game played at Brightons former stadium. The plans were initiated by Brighton & Hove Albion after the previous home. When the club was evicted at the end of the 1996–1997 season, the site at Falmer was identified during the 1998–99 season and it was hoped that the stadium would be ready in the early to mid-2000s. Planning permission was given by the authority of Brighton and Hove in June 2002. The plans for the stadium were opposed by neighbouring Lewes District Council, while the stadium lies completely within Brighton and Hove, part of the north-east of the site is in Lewes. Bennets Field, as it is known, is now used for parking and this led to the designation of the stadium plans being the subject of a separate planning inquiry by the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister. John Prescott, then Deputy Prime Minister, approved the plans on 28 October 2005, however, Lewes District Council immediately mounted a new legal challenge to the stadium plan. In April 2006, Prescott admitted that he had given his approval based on the misconception that only a part of the stadium site lay on the Lewes side. Hazel Blears, the Secretary of State responsible for planning, re-affirmed the approval on 25 July 2007 and her decision went against the advice of planning inspectors. Lewes District Council, Falmer Parish Council and the South Downs Joint Committee announced shortly afterwards that they would not mount a high court challenge, on 4 September 2007, the deadline for appealing the new grant of permission expired and the club received full permission to proceed. On 27 November 2008 the Buckingham Group signed the contract for the new stadium. The stadium is set three storeys down into the ground,138,000 cubic metres of chalk was excavated during its construction, which was put on the field on the south side of Village Way. This has been estimated to prevent 22,000 lorry trips taking the chalk to off-site landfill, construction at the site officially started on 17 December 2008 and finished in May 2011. The stadium was designed with scope for expansion, and plans were put in place to increase the capacity, the stadium was designed by London-based architects, KSS. The stadium capacity has expanded, with an extra seating tier being installed above the East Stand. The deal with American Express Europe, Brighton and Hoves biggest private-sector employer, the stadium uses hawks to scare away seagulls and pigeons
