1.
Macclesfield
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Macclesfield is a market town and civil parish in Cheshire, England. The population of Macclesfield at the 2011 census was 52,044, a person from Macclesfield is sometimes referred to as a Maxonian. Macclesfield, like other areas in Cheshire, is a relatively affluent town. Situated in the ancient Hundred of Hamestan, the town is recorded in the Domesday Book as Maclesfeld, the English Place-Name Society gives its name as being derived from the Old English name, Maccel, and field, yielding the meaning Maccels open country. Although Silk Town seems to be its preferred nickname, the nickname of Macclesfield is Treacle Town. This refers to an incident when a horse-drawn wagon overturned and split its load of treacle onto the street. Macclesfield was granted a charter by Earl Ranulf III of Chester, in the early 13th century. The parish church of All Saints was built in 1278, an extension of a built in approximately 1220. The borough had a market and two annual fairs, the Barnaby fair, was on St Barnabas day, the other on the feast of All Saints. Macclesfield was the centre of the Hundred of Macclesfield, which occupied most of east Cheshire. The Earl of Chesters manor of Macclesfield was very large, the manor house was on the edge of the deer park, on the west of the town. The Earls of Chester established the Forest of Macclesfield, which was larger than its present-day namesake. It was used for hunting deer and pasturing sheep and cattle, by the end of the 13th century, large areas of the forest had been ploughed because of the pressure of population growth. In 1356, two trees from the forest were given to archer William Jauderell to repair his home, Macclesfield Castle was a fortified town house built by the dukes of Buckingham in the later Middle Ages. Macclesfield was once surrounded by walls and ramparts with three gates, the Chester Gate, the Jordan Gate and the Church Wall Gate. These names are preserved in the names of three streets in the town, Chestergate, Jordangate and Back Wallgate, during the Civil War, in 1642 the town was occupied for the King by Sir Thomas Aston, a Royalist. The walls and castle were damaged when the town was subsequently bombarded, after the war the walls were completely destroyed on the orders of Cromwell and the Council of the Commonwealth. In the Jacobite Rising of 1745, Charles Stuart and his army marched through Macclesfield as they attempted to reach London, the mayor was forced to welcome the prince, and the event is commemorated in one of the towns silk tapestries
2.
Cheshire
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Cheshire is a county in North West England, bordering Merseyside and Greater Manchester to the north, Derbyshire to the east, Staffordshire and Shropshire to the south and Wales to the west. Cheshires county town is Chester, the largest town is Warrington, other major towns include Congleton, Crewe, Ellesmere Port, Macclesfield, Northwich, Runcorn, Widnes, Wilmslow, and Winsford. The county covers 905 square miles and has a population of around 1 million and it is mostly rural, with a number of small towns and villages supporting the agricultural and other industries which produce Cheshire cheese, salt, chemicals and silk. Cheshires name was derived from an early name for Chester. Although the name first appears in 980, it is thought that the county was created by Edward the Elder around 920, in the Domesday Book, Chester was recorded as having the name Cestrescir, derived from the name for Chester at the time. A series of changes occurred as English itself changed, together with some simplifications and elision, resulted in the name Cheshire. Because of the close links with the land bordering Cheshire to the west. The Domesday Book records Cheshire as having two complete Hundreds that later became the part of Flintshire. Additionally, another portion of the Duddestan Hundred later became known as Maelor Saesneg when it was transferred to North Wales. For this and other reasons, the Welsh name for Cheshire is sometimes used within Wales, after the Norman conquest of 1066 by William I, dissent and resistance continued for many years after the invasion. In 1069 local resistance in Cheshire was finally put down using draconian measures as part of the Harrying of the North, the ferocity of the campaign against the English populace was enough to end all future resistance. Examples were made of major landowners such as Earl Edwin of Mercia, William I made Cheshire a county palatine and gave Gerbod the Fleming the new title of Earl of Chester. When Gerbod returned to Normandy in about 1070, the king used his absence to declare the earldom forfeit, due to Cheshires strategic location on Welsh Marches, the Earl had complete autonomous powers to rule on behalf of the king in the county palatine. Cheshire in the Domesday Book is recorded as a larger county than it is today. It included two hundreds, Atiscross and Exestan, that became part of North Wales. At the time of the Domesday Book, it included as part of Duddestan Hundred the area of land later known as English Maelor in Wales. The area between the Mersey and Ribble formed part of the returns for Cheshire, an example is the barony of Halton. One of Hugh dAvranches barons has been identified as Robert Nicholls, Baron of Halton, in 1182 the land north of the Mersey became administered as part of the new county of Lancashire, thus resolving any uncertainty about the county in which the land Inter Ripam et Mersam was
3.
Haywards Heath
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Haywards Heath is a town in the Mid Sussex District of West Sussex, within the historic county of Sussex, England. It lies 36 miles south of London,14 miles north of Brighton,13 miles south of Gatwick Airport and 31 miles east northeast of the county town of Chichester. Nearby towns include Burgess Hill to the southwest, Horsham to the northwest, the name Hayward comes from Old English meaning an official who protected hedged enclosures from wandering livestock. There is a legend that the name comes from a highwayman who went under the name of Jack Hayward. Haywards Heath gets a mention in English Civil War records, early in December 1642 the High Sheriff of Sussex advanced with Royalist troops towards Lewes in East Sussex from Chichester in West Sussex. He was intercepted in Haywards Heath by local Parliamentarians and defeated, Haywards Heath as a settlement is a relatively modern development. Following the arrival of the London & Brighton Railway in 1841, Haywards Heath railway station opened on 12 July 1841 and served as the southern terminus of the line until the completion of Brighton station on 21 September. Other noted historical events in the towns include, The opening of the Sussex County Lunatic Asylum in 1859. The superintendent here was, for years, Dr Lockhart Robertson, later Lord Chancellors Visitor. The opening of Bannisters Cattle Market, the 12th largest in UK at one point and this was closed to make way for a Sainsburys supermarket in 1989. In the 1960s and 1970s, two industrial estates were built. Office development has resulted in the town being a regional or national centre for a number of national companies. The population has risen from 200 in the early 1850s to 22,800, the area of the civil parish is 974.99 hectares. The parish church, dedicated to St Wilfrid, and the Roman Catholic church of St Paul are among the churches, other places of worship include the Methodist church in Perrymount Road and two Baptist churches, St Richards, the Church of the Presentation and the Ascension Church. The Priory of Our Lady of Good Counsel on Franklynn Road was built in 1886 and is Grade II listed, in 1978 it was converted to a restaurant and offices. Haywards Heath was in East Sussex, but a change to the county boundary in 1974 brought it under the jurisdiction of West Sussex. Housing in Haywards Heath has been expanded significantly in the last ten years due to the creation of Bolnore Village, planning permission was first granted in the late 1990s for 780 new homes on a greenfield site. The first house was completed in October 2002, since then, phases 1,2 and 3 have been built by the house builders Crest Nicholson in conjunction with several other developers
4.
Sussex
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Sussex, from the Old English Sūþsēaxe, is a historic county in South East England corresponding roughly in area to the ancient Kingdom of Sussex. Brighton and Hove was created as an authority in 1997. Until then, Chichester was Sussexs only city, Sussex has three main geographic sub-regions, each oriented approximately east to west. In the south-west is the fertile and densely populated coastal plain, North of this are the rolling chalk hills of the South Downs, beyond which is the well-wooded Sussex Weald. The name derives from the Kingdom of Sussex, which was founded, according to legend, in 825, it was absorbed into the kingdom of Wessex and subsequently into the kingdom of England. It was the home of some of Europes earliest hominids, whose remains have been found at Boxgrove, in 1974, the Lord-Lieutenant of Sussex was replaced with one each for East and West Sussex, which became separate ceremonial counties. Sussex continues to be recognised as a territory and cultural region. It has had a police force since 1968 and its name is in common use in the media. In 2007, Sussex Day was created to celebrate the rich culture. Based on the emblem of Sussex, a blue shield with six gold martlets. In 2013, Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government Eric Pickles formally recognised and acknowledged the existence of Englands 39 historic counties. The name Sussex is derived from the Middle English Suth-sæxe, which is in turn derived from the Old English Suth-Seaxe which means of the South Saxons, the South Saxons were a Germanic tribe that settled in the region from the North German Plain during the 5th and 6th centuries. The earliest known usage of the term South Saxons is in a charter of 689 which names them and their king, Noðhelm. The monastic chronicler who wrote up the entry classifying the invasion seems to have got his dates wrong, the New Latin word Suthsexia was used for Sussex by Dutch cartographer Joan Blaeu in his 1645 map. Three United States counties, and a former division of Western Australia, are named after Sussex. The flag of Sussex consists of six gold martlets, or heraldic swallows, on a background, blazoned as Azure. Officially recognised by the Flag Institute on 20 May 2011, its design is based on the shield of Sussex. The first known recording of this emblem being used to represent the county was in 1611 when cartographer John Speed deployed it to represent the Kingdom of the South Saxons
5.
England
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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
6.
Evolution of fish
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The evolution of fish began about 530 million years ago during the Cambrian explosion. It was during this time that the early chordates developed the skull, the first fish lineages belong to the Agnatha, or jawless fish. During the late Cambrian, eel-like jawless fish called the conodonts, most jawless fish are now extinct, but the extant lampreys may approximate ancient pre-jawed fish. Lamphreys belong to the Cyclostomata, which includes the extant hagfish, the first jawed vertebrates probably developed during the late Ordovician period. They are first represented in the record from the Silurian by two groups of fish, the armoured fish known as placoderms, which evolved from the ostracoderms. The jawed fish that are extant in modern days also appeared in late Silurian, the Chondrichthyes. The bony fish evolved into two groups, the Actinopterygii and Sarcopterygii. During the Devonian period a great increase in fish variety occurred, especially that of the ostracoderms and placoderms, as well as lobe-finned fish and this has led to the Devonian being known as the age of fishes. It was from the fish that the tetrapods evolved, the non-fish four-limbed vertebrates, represented today by amphibians, mammals, reptiles. Transitional tetrapods first appeared during the early Devonian, and by the late Devonian the first tetrapods appeared, Fish do not represent a monophyletic group, but a paraphyletic one, as they exclude the tetrapods. Fish, like other organisms, have been greatly affected by extinction events throughout natural history. The Ordovician–Silurian extinction events led to the loss of many species, the late Devonian extinction led to the extinction of the ostracoderms and placoderms by the end of the Devonian, as well as other fish. The spiny sharks became extinct at the Permian–Triassic extinction event, the conodonts became extinct at the Triassic–Jurassic extinction event, the Cretaceous–Paleogene extinction event, and the present day Holocene extinction, have also affected fish variety and fish stocks. Fish may have evolved from a similar to a coral-like sea squirt. The first ancestors of fish, or animals that were closely related to fish, were Pikaia, Haikouichthys. These three genera all appeared around 530 Ma, Pikaia had a primitive notochord, a structure that could have developed into a vertebral column later. Unlike the other fauna that dominated the Cambrian, these groups had the basic body plan, a notochord, rudimentary vertebrae. All of these early vertebrates lacked jaws in the common sense and these were followed by indisputable fossil vertebrates in the form of heavily armoured fishes discovered in rocks from the Ordovician Period 500–430 Ma
7.
Piltdown Man
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The Piltdown Man was a paleoanthropological hoax in which bone fragments were presented as the fossilised remains of a previously unknown early human. In 1912 amateur archaeologist Charles Dawson claimed he had discovered the link between ape and man. After finding a section of a skull in Pleistocene gravel beds near Piltdown, East Sussex, Dawson contacted Arthur Smith Woodward. Dawson and Smith Woodward discovered more artifacts at the site, which connected to the same individual. These included a jawbone, more skull fragments, a set of teeth, Smith Woodward reconstructed the skull fragments and hypothesised that they belonged to a human ancestor from 500,000 years ago. The discovery was announced at a Geological Society meeting and was given the Latin name Eoanthropus dawsoni, the questionable significance of the assemblage remained the subject of considerable controversy until it was conclusively exposed in 1953 as a forgery. It was found to have consisted of the mandible and some teeth of an orangutan deliberately combined with the cranium of a fully developed, though small-brained. At a meeting of the Geological Society of London on 18 December 1912, according to Dawson, workmen at the site discovered the skull shortly before his visit and broke it up in the belief that it was a fossilised coconut. Revisiting the site on several occasions, Dawson found further fragments of the skull and took them to Arthur Smith Woodward, greatly interested by the finds, Woodward accompanied Dawson to the site. Though the two worked together between June and September 1912, Dawson alone recovered more skull fragments and half of the jaw bone. The skull unearthed in 1908 was the only discovered in situ. He went on to indicate that, save for two human-like molar teeth, the jaw bone was indistinguishable from that of a modern, young chimpanzee, almost from the outset, Woodwards reconstruction of the Piltdown fragments was strongly challenged by some researchers. This reconstruction, by Prof. Arthur Keith, was called Homo piltdownensis in reflection of its human appearance. French Jesuit paleontologist and geologist Pierre Teilhard de Chardin participated in the uncovering of the Piltdown skull with Woodward, Woodwards reconstruction included ape-like canine teeth, which was itself controversial. In August 1913, Woodward, Dawson and Teilhard de Chardin began a search of the spoil heaps specifically to find the missing canines. Teilhard de Chardin soon found a canine that, according to Woodward, a few days later Teilhard de Chardin moved to France and took no further part in the discoveries. Noting that the tooth corresponds exactly with that of an ape, Keith pointed out that human molars are the result of side to side movement when chewing. The canine in the Piltdown jaw was impossible as it prevented side to side movement, to explain the wear on the molar teeth, the canine could not have been any higher than the molars
8.
Fellow of the Royal Society
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As of 2016, there are around 1600 living Fellows, Foreign and Honorary Members. Fellowship of the Royal Society has been described by The Guardian newspaper as “the equivalent of a lifetime achievement Oscar” with several institutions celebrating their announcement each year. Up to 60 new Fellows, honorary and foreign members are elected annually usually in May, each candidate is considered on their merits and can be proposed from any sector of the scientific community. Fellows are elected for life on the basis of excellence in science and are entitled to use the post-nominal letters FRS, see Category, Fellows of the Royal Society and Category, Female Fellows of the Royal Society. Every year, Fellows elect up to ten new Foreign Members, like Fellows, Foreign Members are elected for life through peer review on the basis of excellence in science. As of 2016 there are around 165 Foreign Members, who are entitled to use the post-nominal ForMemRS, see Category, Foreign Members of the Royal Society. Honorary Fellows include Bill Bryson, Melvyn Bragg, Robin Saxby, David Sainsbury, Baron Sainsbury of Turville, Honorary Fellows are entitled to use the post nominal letters HonFRS. Others including John Maddox, Patrick Moore and Lisa Jardine were elected as honorary fellows, statute 12 is a legacy mechanism for electing members before official honorary membership existed in 1997. Fellows elected under statute 12 include David Attenborough and John Palmer, prime Ministers of the United Kingdom such as Margaret Thatcher, Neville Chamberlain, H. H. Asquith were elected under statute 12, see Category, Fellows of the Royal Society. The Council of the Royal Society can recommend members of the British Royal Family for election as Royal Fellows of the Royal Society. As of 2016 there are five royal fellows, Charles, Prince of Wales, Anne, Princess Royal, Prince Edward, Duke of Kent, Prince William, Duke of Cambridge and Prince Andrew, Duke of York. Her Majesty the Queen, Elizabeth II is not a Royal Fellow, Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh was elected under statute 12, not as a Royal Fellow. The election of new fellows is announced annually in May, after their nomination, each candidate for Fellowship or Foreign Membership is nominated by two Fellows of the Royal Society, who sign a certificate of proposal. Previously, nominations required at least five fellows to support each nomination by the proposer, the certificate of election includes a statement of the principal grounds on which the proposal is being made. There is no limit on the number of nominations each year. In 2015, there were 654 candidates for election as Fellows and 106 candidates for Foreign Membership. The final list of up to 52 Fellowship candidates and up to 10 Foreign Membership candidates is confirmed by the Council in April, a candidate is elected if he or she secures two-thirds of votes of those Fellows present and voting. A further maximum of six can be ‘Honorary’, ‘General’ or ‘Royal’ Fellows, nominations for Fellowship are peer reviewed by sectional committees, each with fifteen members and a chair
9.
Paleontology
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Paleontology or palaeontology is the scientific study of life that existed prior to, and sometimes including, the start of the Holocene Epoch. It includes the study of fossils to determine organisms evolution and interactions with each other, paleontological observations have been documented as far back as the 5th century BC. The science became established in the 18th century as a result of Georges Cuviers work on comparative anatomy, and developed rapidly in the 19th century. The term itself originates from Greek παλαιός, palaios, i. e. old, ancient, ὄν, on, i. e. being, creature and λόγος, logos, i. e. speech, thought, study. Paleontology lies on the border between biology and geology, but differs from archaeology in that it excludes the study of modern humans. It now uses techniques drawn from a range of sciences, including biochemistry, mathematics. The final quarter of the 20th century saw the development of molecular phylogenetics, molecular phylogenetics has also been used to estimate the dates when species diverged, but there is controversy about the reliability of the molecular clock on which such estimates depend. The simplest definition is the study of ancient life, paleontology is one of the historical sciences, along with archaeology, geology, astronomy, cosmology, philology and history itself. This means that it aims to describe phenomena of the past, hence it has three main elements, description of the phenomena, developing a general theory about the causes of various types of change, and applying those theories to specific facts. Sometimes the smoking gun is discovered by an accident during other research. Paleontology lies on the boundary between biology and geology since paleontology focuses on the record of past life but its source of evidence is fossils. In addition paleontology often uses techniques derived from other sciences, including biology, osteology, ecology, chemistry, techniques developed in engineering have been used to analyse how ancient organisms might have worked, for example how fast Tyrannosaurus could move and how powerful its bite was. As knowledge has increased, paleontology has developed specialised subdivisions, vertebrate paleontology concentrates on fossils of vertebrates, from the earliest fish to the immediate ancestors of modern mammals. Invertebrate paleontology deals with fossils of such as molluscs, arthropods. Paleobotany focuses on the study of plants, but traditionally includes the study of fossil algae. Palynology, the study of pollen and spores produced by plants and protists. Micropaleontology deals with all microscopic fossil organisms, regardless of the group to which they belong, one example is the development of oxygenic photosynthesis by bacteria, which hugely increased the productivity and diversity of ecosystems. This also caused the oxygenation of the atmosphere, together, these were a prerequisite for the evolution of the most complex eukaryotic cells, from which all multicellular organisms are built
10.
Natural History Museum, London
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The Natural History Museum in London is a museum of natural history that exhibits a vast range of specimens from various segments of natural history. It is one of three major museums on Exhibition Road in South Kensington, the others being the Science Museum, the Natural History Museums main frontage, however, is on Cromwell Road. The museum is home to life and earth science specimens comprising some 80 million items within five main collections, botany, the museum is a world-renowned centre of research specialising in taxonomy, identification and conservation. Given the age of the institution, many of the collections have great historical as well as scientific value, the museum is recognised as the pre-eminent centre of natural history and research of related fields in the world. Although commonly referred to as the Natural History Museum, it was known as British Museum until 1992. Originating from collections within the British Museum, the landmark Alfred Waterhouse building was built and opened by 1881, the Darwin Centre is a more recent addition, partly designed as a modern facility for storing the valuable collections. Like other publicly funded museums in the United Kingdom, the Natural History Museum does not charge an admission fee. The museum is a charity and a non-departmental public body sponsored by the Department for Culture, Media. Catherine, Duchess of Cambridge is a patron of the museum, there are approximately 850 staff at the Museum. The two largest strategic groups are the Public Engagement Group and Science Group and this purchase was funded by a lottery. Sloanes collection, which included dried plants, and animal and human skeletons, was housed in Montagu House, Bloomsbury, in 1756. Most of the Sloane collection had disappeared by the decades of the nineteenth century. Dr George Shaw sold many specimens to the Royal College of Surgeons and had periodic cremations of material in the grounds of the museum and his successors also applied to the trustees for permission to destroy decayed specimens. In 1833 the Annual Report states that, of the 5,500 insects listed in the Sloane catalogue, the inability of the natural history departments to conserve its specimens became notorious, the Treasury refused to entrust it with specimens collected at the governments expense. The huge collection of the conchologist Hugh Cuming was acquired by the museum and that collection is said never to have recovered. The Principal Librarian at the time was Antonio Panizzi, his contempt for the history departments. The general public was not encouraged to visit the Museums natural history exhibits, in 1835 to a Select Committee of Parliament, Sir Henry Ellis said this policy was fully approved by the Principal Librarian and his senior colleagues. Many of these faults were corrected by the palaeontologist Richard Owen and his changes led Bill Bryson to write that by making the Natural History Museum an institution for everyone, Owen transformed our expectations of what museums are for
