1.
Hampshire
–
Hampshire is a county on the southern coast of England in the United Kingdom. The county town of Hampshire is Winchester, the capital city of England. The larger South Hampshire metropolitan area has a population of 1,547,000, Hampshire is notable for housing the birthplaces of the Royal Navy, British Army, and Royal Air Force. It is bordered by Dorset to the west, Wiltshire to the north-west, Berkshire to the north, Surrey to the north-east, the southern boundary is the coastline of the English Channel and the Solent, facing the Isle of Wight. At its greatest size in 1890, Hampshire was the fifth largest county in England and it now has an overall area of 3,700 square kilometres, and measures about 86 kilometres east–west and 76 kilometres north–south. Hampshires tourist attractions include many seaside resorts and two parks, the New Forest and the South Downs. Hampshire has a maritime history and two of Europes largest ports, Portsmouth and Southampton, lie on its coast. The county is famed as home of writers Jane Austen and Charles Dickens, Hampshire takes its name from the settlement that is now the city of Southampton. Southampton was known in Old English as Hamtun, roughly meaning village-town, the old name was recorded in the Domesday book as Hantescire, and it is from this spelling that the modern abbreviation Hants derives. From 1889 until 1959, the county was named the County of Southampton and has also been known as Southamptonshire. The region is believed to have continuously occupied since the end of the last Ice Age about 12,000 BCE. At this time Britain was still attached to the European continent and was covered with deciduous woodland. The first inhabitants came overland from Europe, these were anatomically and behaviourally modern humans, notable sites from this period include Bouldnor Cliff. Agriculture had arrived in southern Britain by 4000 BCE, and with it a neolithic culture, some deforestation took place at that time, although it was during the Bronze Age, beginning in 2200 BCE, that this became more widespread and systematic. Hampshire has few monuments to show from early periods, although nearby Stonehenge was built in several phases at some time between 3100 BCE and 2200 BCE. It is maintained that by this period the people of Britain predominantly spoke a Celtic language, hillforts largely declined in importance in the second half of the second century BCE, with many being abandoned. Julius Caesar invaded southeastern England briefly in 55 and again in 54 BCE, notable sites from this period include Hengistbury Head, which was a major port. There is a Museum of the Iron Age in Andover, the Romans invaded Britain again in 43 CE, and Hampshire was incorporated into the Roman province of Britannia very quickly
2.
Ordnance Survey National Grid
–
The Ordnance Survey National Grid reference system is a system of geographic grid references used in Great Britain, different from using Latitude and Longitude. It is often called British National Grid, the Ordnance Survey devised the national grid reference system, and it is heavily used in their survey data, and in maps based on those surveys. Grid references are commonly quoted in other publications and data sources. The Universal Transverse Mercator coordinate system is used to provide references for worldwide locations. European-wide agencies also use UTM when mapping locations, or may use the Military Grid Reference System system, the grid is based on the OSGB36 datum, and was introduced after the retriangulation of 1936–1962. It replaced the previously used Cassini Grid which, up to the end of World War Two, had issued only to the military. The Airy ellipsoid is a regional best fit for Britain, more modern mapping tends to use the GRS80 ellipsoid used by the GPS, the British maps adopt a Transverse Mercator projection with an origin at 49° N, 2° W. Over the Airy ellipsoid a straight grid, the National Grid, is placed with a new false origin. This false origin is located south-west of the Isles of Scilly, the distortion created between the OS grid and the projection is countered by a scale factor in the longitude to create two lines of longitude with zero distortion rather than one. Grid north and true north are aligned on the 400 km easting of the grid which is 2° W. 2° 0′ 5″ W. OSGB36 was also used by Admiralty nautical charts until 2000 after which WGS84 has been used, a geodetic transformation between OSGB36 and other terrestrial reference systems can become quite tedious if attempted manually. The most common transformation is called the Helmert datum transformation, which results in a typical 7 m error from true, the definitive transformation from ETRS89 that is published by the OSGB is called the National Grid Transformation OSTN02. This models the detailed distortions in the 1936–1962 retriangulation, and achieves backwards compatibility in grid coordinates to sub-metre accuracy, the difference between the coordinates on different datums varies from place to place. The longitude and latitude positions on OSGB36 are the same as for WGS84 at a point in the Atlantic Ocean well to the west of Great Britain. In Cornwall, the WGS84 longitude lines are about 70 metres east of their OSGB36 equivalents, the smallest datum shift is on the west coast of Scotland and the greatest in Kent. But Great Britain has not shrunk by 100+ metres, a point near Lands End now computes to be 27.6 metres closer to a point near Duncansby Head than it did under OSGB36. For the first letter, the grid is divided into squares of size 500 km by 500 km, there are four of these which contain significant land area within Great Britain, S, T, N and H. The O square contains an area of North Yorkshire, almost all of which lies below mean high tide
3.
Districts of England
–
The districts of England are a level of subnational division of England used for the purposes of local government. As the structure of government in England is not uniform. Some districts are styled as boroughs, cities, or royal boroughs, these are purely honorific titles, prior to the establishment of districts in the 1890s, the basic unit of local government in England was the parish overseen by the parish church vestry committee. Vestries dealt with the administraction of both parochial and secular governmental matters, parishes were the successors of the manorial system and historically had been grouped into hundreds. Hundreds once exercised some supervising administrative function, however, these powers ebbed away as more and more civic and judicial powers were centred on county towns. From 1834 these parishes were grouped into Poor Law Unions, creating areas for administration of the Poor Law and these areas were later used for census registration and as the basis for sanitary provision. In 1894, based on these earlier subdivisions, the Local Government Act 1894 created urban districts and rural districts as sub-divisions of administrative counties, another reform in 1900 created 28 metropolitan boroughs as sub-divisions of the County of London. Meanwhile, from this date parish-level local government administration was transferred to civil parishes, the setting-down of the current structure of districts in England began in 1965, when Greater London and its 32 London boroughs were created. They are the oldest type of still in use. In 1974, metropolitan counties and non-metropolitan counties were created across the rest of England and were split into metropolitan districts, in London power is now shared again, albeit on a different basis, with the Greater London Authority. During the 1990s a further kind of district was created, the unitary authority, metropolitan boroughs are a subdivision of a metropolitan county. These are similar to unitary authorities, as the county councils were abolished in 1986. Most of the powers of the county councils were devolved to the districts but some services are run by joint boards, the districts typically have populations of 174,000 to 1.1 million. Non-metropolitan districts are second-tier authorities, which share power with county councils and they are subdivisions of shire counties and the most common type of district. These districts typically have populations of 25,000 to 200,000, the number of non-metropolitan districts has varied over time. Initially there were 296, after the creation of unitary authorities in the 1990s and late 2000s and these are single-tier districts which are responsible for running all local services in their areas, combining both county and district functions. They were created in the out of non-metropolitan districts, and often cover large towns. In addition, some of the smaller such as Rutland, Herefordshire
4.
Test Valley
–
Test Valley is a local government district and borough in Hampshire, England, named after the valley of the River Test. Its council is based in Andover, the borough was formed on 1 April 1974 by a merger of the boroughs of Andover and Romsey, along with Andover Rural District and Romsey and Stockbridge Rural District. Test Valley covers some 250 square miles of western Hampshire, stretching from boundaries with Southampton in the south to Newbury in the north, Test Valley is a predominantly rural area. It encompasses the North Wessex Downs Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty, home of the Houghton Fishing Club, an exclusive fishing club founded in 1822, which meets in the Grosvenor Hotel in Stockbridge. In December 2006, Sport England published a survey revealed that residents of Test Valley were the 8th most active in England in sports. 26. 9% of the population participate at least 3 times a week for 30 minutes, in March 2012 Test Valley was ranked 14th best rural area to live out of 119 local authority areas in Great Britain by the Halifax. This was based on factors including employment and income levels, the weather, health and life expectancy, education, crime, broadband access, Test Valley Arts Foundation is local charitable trust which exists to promote arts and local artists in the borough of Test Valley
5.
Regions of England
–
The regions are the highest tier of sub-national division in England. Between 1994 and 2011, nine regions had officially devolved functions within Government, while they no longer fulfil this role, they continue to be used for statistical and some administrative purposes. They define areas for the purposes of elections to the European Parliament, Eurostat also uses them to demarcate first level Nomenclature of Territorial Units for Statistics regions within the European Union. The regions generally follow the boundaries of the former standard regions, the London region has a directly elected Mayor and Assembly. Six regions have local authority leaders boards to assist with correlating the headline policies of local authorities, the remaining two regions no longer have any administrative functions, having abolished their regional local authority leaders boards. In 1998, regional chambers were established in the eight regions outside of London, the regions also had an associated Government Office with some responsibility for coordinating policy, and, from 2007, a part-time regional minister within the Government. House of Commons regional Select Committees were established in 2009, Regional ministers were not reappointed by the incoming Coalition Government, and the Government Offices were abolished in 2011. Regional development agencies were public bodies established in all nine regions in 1998 to promote economic development and they had certain delegated functions, including administering European Union regional development funds, and received funding the central government as well. After about 500 AD, England comprised seven Anglo-Saxon territories – Northumbria, Mercia, East Anglia, Essex, Kent, the boundaries of some of these, which later unified as the Kingdom of England, roughly coincide with those of modern regions. During Oliver Cromwells Protectorate in the 1650s, the rule of the Major-Generals created 10 regions in England, proposals for administrative regions within England were mooted by the British government prior to the First World War. In 1912 the Third Home Rule Bill was passing through parliament, the Bill was expected to introduce a devolved parliament for Ireland, and as a consequence calls were made for similar structures to be introduced in Great Britain or Home Rule All Round. On 12 September the First Lord of the Admiralty, Winston Churchill, within England, he suggested that London, Lancashire, Yorkshire, and the Midlands would make natural regions. While the creation of regional parliaments never became official policy, it was for a widely anticipated. In 1946 nine standard regions were set up, in central government bodies, statutory undertakings. However, these had declined in importance by the late 1950s, creation of some form of provinces or regions for England was an intermittent theme of post-Second World War British governments. The Redcliffe-Maud Report proposed the creation of eight provinces in England, one-fifth of the advisory councils would be nominees from central government. The boundaries suggested were the eight now existing for economic planning purposes, a minority report by Lord Crowther-Hunt and Alan T. Peacock suggested instead seven regional assemblies and governments within Great Britain, some elements of regional development and economic planning began to be established in England from the mid-1960s onwards
6.
South East England
–
South East England is the most populous of the nine official regions of England at the first level of NUTS for statistical purposes. It consists of Berkshire, Buckinghamshire, East Sussex, Hampshire, as with the other regions of England, apart from Greater London, the south east has no elected government. It is the third largest region of England, with an area of 19,096 km², and is also the most populous with a population of over eight. Its proximity to London and connections to several national motorways have led to south east England becoming an economic hub and it is the location of Gatwick Airport, the UKs second-busiest airport, and its coastline along the English Channel provides numerous ferry crossings to mainland Europe. The region is known for its countryside, which includes the North Downs, the River Thames flows through the region and its basin is known as the Thames Valley. The region has many universities, the University of Oxford is ranked among the best in the world. South east England is host to sporting events, including the annual Henley Royal Regatta, Royal Ascot and the Epsom Derby. Some of the events of the 2012 Summer Olympics were held in the south east, including the rowing at Eton Dorney, the largest city in the region is Brighton & Hove. The dominant influence on the economy is neighbouring London. The highest point is Walbury Hill in Berkshire at 297 metres, until 1999, there was a south east Standard Statistical Region, which also included the counties of Bedfordshire, Greater London, Essex and Hertfordshire. The former south east Civil Defence Region covered the area as the current government office region. The South East is also used as a synonym for the home counties. The population of the region at the 2011 census was 8,634,750 making it the most populous English region, the major conurbations of the region include Brighton/Worthing/Littlehampton, Portsmouth, Southampton and Reading. Settlements closer to London are part of the known as the Greater London Urban Area. The South East has the highest percentage of people born outside of Britain other than London. Estimates in 2007 state 87. 2% of people as White British,4. 8% Other White,3. 5% South Asians,1. 5% Mixed Race,1. 6% Black British,0. 7% Chinese,0. 7% Other. The area also has some seats where there is support for other parties, for example, Slough and Oxford for Labour. Buckingham, the seat of Speaker John Bercow, is also in this region, out of 83 parliamentary seats, the Conservatives hold 78
7.
Countries of the United Kingdom
–
The United Kingdom comprises four countries, England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland. Within the United Kingdom, a sovereign state, Northern Ireland, Scotland. England, comprising the majority of the population and area of the United Kingdom, England, Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales are not themselves listed in the International Organization for Standardization list of countries. However the ISO list of the subdivisions of the UK, compiled by British Standards, Northern Ireland, in contrast, is described as a province in the same lists. Each has separate governing bodies for sports and compete separately in many international sporting competitions. Northern Ireland also forms joint All-Island sporting bodies with the Republic of Ireland for most sports, the Channel Islands and the Isle of Man are dependencies of the Crown and are not part of the UK. Similarly, the British overseas territories, remnants of the British Empire, are not part of the UK, southern Ireland left the United Kingdom under the Irish Free State Constitution Act 1922. * Figures for GVA do not include oil and gas revenues generated beyond the UKs territorial waters, various terms have been used to describe England, Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales. Wales was described as the country, principality, and dominion of Wales, outside Wales, England was not given a specific name or term. The Laws in Wales Acts have subsequently been repealed, the Acts of Union 1707 refer to both England and Scotland as a part of a united kingdom of Great Britain The Acts of Union 1800 use part in the same way to refer to England and Scotland. The Northern Ireland Act 1998, which repealed the Government of Ireland Act 1920, the Interpretation Act 1978 provides statutory definitions of the terms England, Wales and the United Kingdom, but neither that Act nor any other current statute defines Scotland or Northern Ireland. Use of the first three terms in other legislation is interpreted following the definitions in the 1978 Act and this definition applies from 1 April 1974. United Kingdom means Great Britain and Northern Ireland and this definition applies from 12 April 1927. In 1996 these 8 new counties were redistributed into the current 22 unitary authorities, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland are regions in their own right while England has been divided into nine regions. The official term rest of the UK is used in Scotland, for example in export statistics and this term is also used in the context of potential Scottish independence to mean the UK without Scotland. The alternative term Home Nations is sometimes used in sporting contexts, the second, or civic group, contained the items about feeling British, respecting laws and institutions, speaking English, and having British citizenship. Contrariwise, in Scotland and Wales there was a much stronger identification with each country than with Britain, studies and surveys have reported that the majority of the Scots and Welsh see themselves as both Scottish/Welsh and British though with some differences in emphasis. The propensity for nationalistic feeling varies greatly across the UK, and can rise and it reported that 37% of people identified as British, whilst 29% identified as Irish and 24% identified as Northern Irish
8.
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
9.
United Kingdom
–
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom or Britain, is a sovereign country in western Europe. Lying off the north-western coast of the European mainland, the United Kingdom includes the island of Great Britain, Northern Ireland is the only part of the United Kingdom that shares a land border with another sovereign state—the Republic of Ireland. The Irish Sea lies between Great Britain and Ireland, with an area of 242,500 square kilometres, the United Kingdom is the 78th-largest sovereign state in the world and the 11th-largest in Europe. It is also the 21st-most populous country, with an estimated 65.1 million inhabitants, together, this makes it the fourth-most densely populated country in the European Union. The United Kingdom is a monarchy with a parliamentary system of governance. The monarch is Queen Elizabeth II, who has reigned since 6 February 1952, other major urban areas in the United Kingdom include the regions of Birmingham, Leeds, Glasgow, Liverpool and Manchester. The United Kingdom consists of four countries—England, Scotland, Wales, the last three have devolved administrations, each with varying powers, based in their capitals, Edinburgh, Cardiff and Belfast, respectively. The relationships among the countries of the UK have changed over time, Wales was annexed by the Kingdom of England under the Laws in Wales Acts 1535 and 1542. A treaty between England and Scotland resulted in 1707 in a unified Kingdom of Great Britain, which merged in 1801 with the Kingdom of Ireland to form the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland. Five-sixths of Ireland seceded from the UK in 1922, leaving the present formulation of the United Kingdom of Great Britain, there are fourteen British Overseas Territories. These are the remnants of the British Empire which, at its height in the 1920s, British influence can be observed in the language, culture and legal systems of many of its former colonies. The United Kingdom is a country and has the worlds fifth-largest economy by nominal GDP. The UK is considered to have an economy and is categorised as very high in the Human Development Index. It was the worlds first industrialised country and the worlds foremost power during the 19th, the UK remains a great power with considerable economic, cultural, military, scientific and political influence internationally. It is a nuclear weapons state and its military expenditure ranks fourth or fifth in the world. The UK has been a permanent member of the United Nations Security Council since its first session in 1946 and it has been a leading member state of the EU and its predecessor, the European Economic Community, since 1973. However, on 23 June 2016, a referendum on the UKs membership of the EU resulted in a decision to leave. The Acts of Union 1800 united the Kingdom of Great Britain, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland have devolved self-government
10.
Postcodes in the United Kingdom
–
Postal codes used in the United Kingdom are known as postcodes. They are alphanumeric and were adopted nationally between 11 October 1959 and 1974, having been devised by the GPO, a full postcode is known as a postcode unit and designates an area with a number of addresses or a single major delivery point. For example, the postcode of the University of Roehampton in London is SW15 5PU, the postcode of GCHQ is GL51 0EX, where GL signifies the postal town of Gloucester. The postal town refers to an area and does not relate to a specific town. GL51 is one of the postcodes for the town of Cheltenham which is where GCHQ is located, the London post town covers 40% of Greater London. On inception it was divided into ten districts, EC, WC, N, NE, E, SE, S, SW, W. The S and NE sectors were later abolished and these divisions changed little, usually only changed for operational efficiency. Some older road signs in Hackney still indicate the North East sector/district, following the successful introduction of postal districts in London, the system was extended to other large towns and cities. Liverpool was divided into Eastern, Northern, Southern and Western districts in 1864/65, in 1917 Dublin – then still part of the United Kingdom – was divided into numbered postal districts. These continue in use in a form by An Post. In 1923 Glasgow was divided in a way to London. In January 1932 the Postmaster General approved the designation of some urban areas into numbered districts. In November 1934 the Post Office announced the introduction of numbered districts in every town in the United Kingdom large enough to justify it. Pamphlets were issued to each householder and business in ten areas notifying them of the number of the district in which their premises lay, the pamphlets included a map of the districts, and copies were made available at local head post offices. The public were invited to include the district number in the address at the head of letters. A publicity campaign in the following year encouraged the use of the district numbers, the slogan for the campaign was For speed and certainty always use a postal district number on your letters and notepaper. A poster was fixed to every box in the affected areas bearing the number of the district. Every post office in the district was also to display this information
11.
Telephone numbers in the United Kingdom
–
Telephone numbers in the United Kingdom are administered by the UK governments Office of Communications. For this purpose Ofcom established a telephone numbering plan, known as the National Telephone Numbering Plan, since 28 April 2001, almost all geographic numbers and most non-geographic numbers have 9 or 10 national numbers after the 0 trunk code. All mobile telephone numbers have 10 national numbers after the 0 trunk code, regions with shorter area codes, typically large cities, permit the allocation of more telephone numbers as the local number portion has more digits. Local customer numbers are four to eight figures long, the total number of digits is ten, but in a very few areas the total may be nine digits. The area code is referred to as an STD or a dialling code in the UK. The code allocated to the largest population is for London, the code allocated to the largest area is for all of Northern Ireland. The UK Numbering Plan also applies to three British Crown dependencies—Jersey, Guernsey and the Isle of Man—even though they are not part of the UK itself. Possible number formats for UK telephone numbers are as follows, Number ranges starting 01 can have NSN length as 10 or 9 digits, the 0800 range can have NSN length as 10,9 or 7 digits. The 0845 range can have NSN length as 10 or 7 digits, the 0500 range has NSN length as 9 digits only. There are no numbers in the UK with an NSN length of 8 digits. Geographic telephone numbers in the UK always have nine or ten digits, four-digit area codes have either six-digit subscriber numbers or a mix of five- and six-digit subscriber numbers. Xxxxxx This is the used by most areas. It has an area code and a six digit subscriber number. These area codes were changed by adding a 1 directly after the zero as a part of PhONEday in 1995. Just short of 581 areas use this format, and the area range from 01200 to 01998. A small number of areas also have a few subscriber numbers that have only five digits. That is, almost all area codes now have only six digit local numbers, six of the four-digit area codes are known as mixed areas as they share those four digits with the twelve five-digit area codes. The numbers therefore have only nine digits after the initial zero trunk code and these area codes were changed by adding a 1 directly after the initial zero as a part of PhONEday in 1995
12.
Hampshire Constabulary
–
Hampshire Constabulary is the territorial police force responsible for policing the counties of Hampshire and the Isle of Wight in South East England. The force area includes the city of Winchester, and the largest city in South East England of Southampton. The force also covers the New Forest National Park, sections of the South Downs National Park, the constabulary, as it is currently constituted, dates from 1967 but modern policing in Hampshire can be traced back to 1832. Since late 2015 the force has shared the headquarters of the Hampshire Fire, the forces central administration is based here together with the Chief Constable and staff officers. Between 2013 and 2017 a number of stations were closed. Some are currently up for sale, the IT departments of the forces merged in early 2011. The force is overseen by Hampshire Police and Crime Commissioner Michael Lane, in April 2015, Hampshire Constabulary announced a new-look policing model. The change included the introduction of borderless policing - a shift away from the forces previous Operational Command Units towards flexibility for officers in response and patrol. The change saw the repurposing of a number of stations which were closed to the public into 12 new patrol hubs - the places from which response officers now start. Finally, the former Safer Neighbourhood Teams were adjusted, becoming Neighbourhood Police Teams aligned with local authority wards and this is currently Conservative Michael Lane. The first fully constituted police force formed in Hampshire was the Winchester City Police, the Hampshire County Constabulary was established seven years later in December 1839 as a result of the passing of the County Police Act that year. Initially the force had a chief constable and two one of whom was based in Winchester, and the second based on the Isle of Wight which the Hampshire force then incorporated. The first separate police force on the island was formed in 1837 when the Newport Borough Police was established, but the separate Isle of Wight Constabulary was not formed until 1890 when the island was the granted administrative county status. The two city forces, Southampton City Police and Portsmouth City Police, remained independent, the name was changed once again in 1957, to Hampshire and Isle of Wight Constabulary. In 1967 Hampshire, and the city forces were amalgamated, as a result of the reforming Police Act 1964, and became the current Hampshire Constabulary. In 1974, the Local Government Act lead to a number of local government boundary changes, with the exception of some minor boundary changes since, the force area has remained the unchanged. 1839–1842 - Captain George Robbins 1842–1856 - Captain William C, crushed against a wall he dies several days later from his injuries and is later buried in the Fellowes family plot at Westhill Cemetery, Winchester. 1914 - In Andover, the imprisonment of a mother and daughter sparks rioting involving crowds of up to two thousand people, Local officers seek the assistance of the fire brigade who are pelted with stones and retreat to their station
13.
Fire services in the United Kingdom
–
The fire services in the United Kingdom operate under separate legislative and administrative arrangements in England and Wales, Northern Ireland, and Scotland. Emergency cover is provided by over fifty fire and rescue services, many FRS were previously known as brigades or county fire services, but almost all now use the standard terminology. They are distinct from and governed by an authority, which is the legislative, public and administrative body. Fire authorities in England and Wales, and therefore fire and rescue services, Scotland and Northern Ireland have centralised fire and rescue services, and so their authorities are effectively committees of the devolved parliaments. The total budget for services in 2014-15 was £2.9 billion. The devolved government in Scotland has an agency, HMFSI Scotland. This Act provided for centralised co-ordination of fire brigades in Great Britain,1947, Fire Services Act 1947 This Act transferred the functions of the National Fire Service to local authorities. Now repealed entirely in England and Wales by Schedule 2 of the Fire,1959, Fire Services Act 1959 This Act amended the 1947 Act, it dealt with pensions, staffing arrangements and provision of services by other authorities. It was repealed in England and Wales along with the 1947 Act,1999, Greater London Authority Act 1999 This act was necessary to allow for the formation of the Greater London Authority and in turn the London Fire and Emergency Planning Authority. In 2002, there was a series of fire strikes. In December 2002, the Independent Review of the Fire Service was published with the action still ongoing. Bains report ultimately led to a change in the relating to firefighting. 2002, Independent Review of the Fire Service published 2004, Fire and Rescue Services Act 2004, generally only applying to England and it came into force on 1 October 2006. The DfCLG has published a set of guides for non-domestic premises,2006, The Government of Wales Act 2006 gave the National Assembly for Wales powers to pass laws on Fire, promotion of fire safety otherwise than by prohibition or regulation. But does not prevent future legislation being passed by the UK government which applies to two or more constituent countries, There are further plans to modernise the fire service according to the Local Government Association. The fire service in England and Wales is scrutinised by a House of Commons select committee, in June 2006, the fire and rescue service select committee, under the auspices of the Communities and Local Government Committee, published its latest report. For example, where FRSs were historically inspected by HMFSI, much of this work is now carried out by the National Audit Office, Fire Control On 8 February 2010 the House of Commons Communities and Local Government Select Committee heard evidence on the Fire Control project. Called to give evidence were Cllr Brian Coleman and Cllr James Pearson from the Local Government Association, also giving evidence Matt Wrack from the Fire Brigades Union and John Bonney Chief Fire Officers Association
14.
Hampshire Fire and Rescue Service
–
Hampshire Fire and Rescue Service is the statutory fire and rescue service for the county of Hampshire, on the south coast of England. The services chief fire officer is Dave Curry, the Service was formed on 4 April 1948 as a result of the Fire Services Act 1947. Previously all local authorities were duty-bound to make provision for firefighting under the Fire Brigades Act 1938, with ongoing expansion, the service was under increasing pressure to open a service HQ. In May 1948, the admiralty gave up the premises and allowed the service to operate it, however twenty years later in 1968, the service HQ moved to a floor of Ashburton Court, The Castle, Winchester as well as the control room. In 1997, Hampshire County Council lost control of the FRS, transferring responsibility to the newly formed Hampshire Fire and Rescue Authority. As well co-location of senior staff from both services, several functions such as Human Resources, IT and Equipment Stores are now being shared from the Leigh Road site. Appliances in bold are temporary allocations whilst the rebuild of Basingstoke fire station is taking place, the Intermediate Capability appliances will remain at their allocated stations for the duration of their 12-month trial. The First Response Capability appliances will move between stations every three months throughout their 11-month trial, currently,21 areas have been identified as having a greater need for ambulance cover. Annually, the service attends over 13,000 medical emergencies supporting the ambulance service, the aim of a co-responder is to preserve life until the arrival of either a Rapid Response Vehicle or an ambulance. Co-Responder Vehicles are single manned by a trained firefighter, who will take the vehicle to his or her workplace/home. This includes a defibrillator, Entonox and patient monitoring equipment, as of October 2016, all appliances and front line crews had received the IEC training and equipment. Hampshire Fire and Rescue Service is facing a potential gap in Government funding by 2020. Following a public consultation in Autumn 2015, the final proposals confirmed that none of the 51 fire stations in Hampshire will close, the Risk Review aims to match vehicle capability and disposition to the prevailing local risk by introducing three different types of response capability based on risk parameters. Each fire station will hence have vehicles deemed appropriate for the incidents they are likely to face, the three response capabilities are, First Response Capability This will be a much smaller vehicle than a traditional fire engine whilst retaining significant capability. They will be able to get to incidents quicker due to their small size, some will have 4 wheel drive to improve access to rural incidents. They will be fitted with the latest technology, including a Ultra High Pressure Lance and it will also carry RTC cutting gear, enhanced medical equipment and breathing apparatus, along with a selection of other fire and rescue equipment. Most crucially, it can be mobilised with a crew of two and four depending on the type of incident. This means that stations with a reduced number of available firefighters can still respond to certain low-risk incidents with a smaller crew
15.
Emergency medical services in the United Kingdom
–
Emergency care including ambulance and emergency department treatment is free to everyone, regardless of immigration or visitor status. The NHS commissions most emergency services through the 14 NHS organisations with ambulance responsibility across the UK. As with other services, the public normally access emergency medical services through one of the valid emergency telephone numbers. This led to the formation of predominantly county based ambulance services, which gradually merged up and changed responsibilities until 2006, when there were 31 NHS ambulance trusts in England. Following further changes as part of the NHS foundation trust pathway, the commissioners in each region are responsible for contracting with a suitable organisation to provide ambulance services within their geographical territory. The primary contract for each area is held by a public NHS body, of which there are 11 in England. The service was operated before reorganisation in 1974 by the St Andrews’ Ambulance Association under contract to the Secretary of State for Scotland, the Northern Ireland Ambulance Service was established in 1995 by parliamentary order, and serves the whole of Northern Ireland. The Welsh Ambulance Service NHS Trust was established on 1 April 1998, there is a large market for private and voluntary ambulance services, with the sector being worth £800m to the UK economy in 2012. This places the voluntary providers in direct competition with private services, expenditure on private ambulances in England increased from £37m in 2011−12 to £67. 5m in 2013/4, rising in London from £796,000 to more than £8. 8m. In 2014−15, these 10 ambulance services spent £57.6 million on 333,329 callouts of private or voluntary services - an increase of 156% since 2010−11, in 2013, the CQC found 97% of private ambulance services to be providing good care. These private, registered services are represented by the Independent Ambulance Association, there are also a number of unregistered services operating, who do not provide ambulance transport, but only provide response on an event site. These firms are not regulated, and are not subject to the checks as the registered providers, although they may operate similar vehicles. There are a number of ambulance providers, sometimes known as Voluntary Aid Services or Voluntary Aid Societies, with the main ones being the British Red Cross. The history of the ambulance services pre-dates any government organised service. As they are in competition for work with the private ambulance providers. Voluntary organisations have also provided cover for the public when unionised NHS ambulance trust staff have taken industrial action, there are a number of smaller voluntary ambulance organisations, fulfilling specific purposes, such as Hatzola who provide emergency medical services to the orthodox Jewish community in some cities. These have however run into difficulties due to use of vehicles not legally recognised as ambulances, all emergency medical services in the UK are subject to a range of legal and regulatory requirements, and in many cases are also monitored for performance. This framework is largely statutory in nature, being mandated by government through a range of primary and secondary legislation and this requires all providers to register, to meet certain standards of quality, and to submit to inspection of those standards
16.
South Central Ambulance Service
–
It is one of 10 NHS Ambulance Trusts providing England with emergency medical services, and is part of the National Health Service, receiving direct government funding for its role. There is no charge to patients for use of the service, as an ambulance service, SCAS primarily responds to emergency 999 calls, in addition to calls from the NHS non-emergency number. The service also provides a transport service for patients in life-threatening condition. The NEPTS transports patients unable to use public transport due to their conditions, patients using outpatient clinics. The Trust also has a division, which provides first aid training to members of the public. It has a resilience and specialist operations department which plans for major or hazardous incidents and this includes a Hazardous Area Response Team, which responds to emergencies involving chemical, biological, radiological or nuclear materials, as well as major incidents. The Trust also trains and supports volunteer community first responders and it is the only NHS ambulance organisation in the UK to be supported by its own League of Friends, a registered charity. This group had founded in 1982 to raise funds for the former Oxfordshire Ambulance NHS Trust. The Trust achieved Foundation status on 1 March 2012, becoming known as South Central Ambulance Service NHS Foundation Trust. In June 2011 it was named Englands top performing ambulance service, managing to respond to 77. 5% of Cat A calls within the 8 minute target time, compared to the national average of 74. 9%. In October 2011 the BBC discovered that SCAS spent more on private ambulance services to cover 999 calls than any other service in the country, on 1 March 2012, the Trust became an NHS Foundation Trust. In October 2013 the Trust accidentally published on its website a document listing the age, sexuality and it took over patient transport services in Hampshire in October 2014. In 2014 the trust held a recruitment drive in Poland to help fill vacancies, on November 1st 2016, it was announced that the trust would take over the running of NEPTS in the south-east of England from April 2017. Performance of SCAS is provided by national NHS England Ambulance Quality Indicators,1. ^ A Red 1 call is assigned to patients in cardiac arrest. 2. ^ A Red 2 call is assigned to other potentially life-threatening incidents, such as stroke,3. ^ A Red 19 call is assigned to other incidents in which patient transport is needed
17.
Romsey (constituency)
–
Romsey was a parliamentary constituency represented in the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. It elected one Member of Parliament by the first past the post system of election, the main town within the constituency was Romsey. The constituency was created in 1983 from parts of the seats of Eastleigh and it was originally named Romsey and Waterside and included areas such as Hythe and Fawley on the west side of Southampton Water. In 1997 it lost the Waterside area and gained the Bassett Ward of the City of Southampton, and new territory in the north of the Test Valley district, the first MP, Michael Colvin, held the constituency from its creation until his death in 2000. This led to a by-election, which was won by Liberal Democrat Sandra Gidley, Sandra Gidley lost to the Conservatives in the 2010 General Election when she contested the new seat. She was succeeded by Caroline Nokes, list of Parliamentary constituencies in Hampshire
18.
Geographic coordinate system
–
A geographic coordinate system is a coordinate system used in geography that enables every location on Earth to be specified by a set of numbers, letters or symbols. The coordinates are chosen such that one of the numbers represents a vertical position. A common choice of coordinates is latitude, longitude and elevation, to specify a location on a two-dimensional map requires a map projection. The invention of a coordinate system is generally credited to Eratosthenes of Cyrene. Ptolemy credited him with the adoption of longitude and latitude. Ptolemys 2nd-century Geography used the prime meridian but measured latitude from the equator instead. Mathematical cartography resumed in Europe following Maximus Planudes recovery of Ptolemys text a little before 1300, in 1884, the United States hosted the International Meridian Conference, attended by representatives from twenty-five nations. Twenty-two of them agreed to adopt the longitude of the Royal Observatory in Greenwich, the Dominican Republic voted against the motion, while France and Brazil abstained. France adopted Greenwich Mean Time in place of local determinations by the Paris Observatory in 1911, the latitude of a point on Earths surface is the angle between the equatorial plane and the straight line that passes through that point and through the center of the Earth. Lines joining points of the same latitude trace circles on the surface of Earth called parallels, as they are parallel to the equator, the north pole is 90° N, the south pole is 90° S. The 0° parallel of latitude is designated the equator, the plane of all geographic coordinate systems. The equator divides the globe into Northern and Southern Hemispheres, the longitude of a point on Earths surface is the angle east or west of a reference meridian to another meridian that passes through that point. All meridians are halves of great ellipses, which converge at the north and south poles, the prime meridian determines the proper Eastern and Western Hemispheres, although maps often divide these hemispheres further west in order to keep the Old World on a single side. The antipodal meridian of Greenwich is both 180°W and 180°E, the combination of these two components specifies the position of any location on the surface of Earth, without consideration of altitude or depth. The grid formed by lines of latitude and longitude is known as a graticule, the origin/zero point of this system is located in the Gulf of Guinea about 625 km south of Tema, Ghana. To completely specify a location of a feature on, in, or above Earth. Earth is not a sphere, but a shape approximating a biaxial ellipsoid. It is nearly spherical, but has an equatorial bulge making the radius at the equator about 0. 3% larger than the radius measured through the poles, the shorter axis approximately coincides with the axis of rotation
19.
Village
–
A village is a clustered human settlement or community, larger than a hamlet but smaller than a town, with a population ranging from a few hundred to a few thousand. Though often located in areas, the term urban village is also applied to certain urban neighbourhoods. Villages are normally permanent, with fixed dwellings, however, transient villages can occur, further, the dwellings of a village are fairly close to one another, not scattered broadly over the landscape, as a dispersed settlement. In the past, villages were a form of community for societies that practise subsistence agriculture. In Great Britain, a hamlet earned the right to be called a village when it built a church, in many cultures, towns and cities were few, with only a small proportion of the population living in them. The Industrial Revolution attracted people in numbers to work in mills and factories. This also enabled specialization of labor and crafts, and development of many trades, the trend of urbanization continues, though not always in connection with industrialization. Although many patterns of life have existed, the typical village was small. Homes were situated together for sociability and defence, and land surrounding the living quarters was farmed, Traditional fishing villages were based on artisan fishing and located adjacent to fishing grounds. The soul of India lives in its villages, declared M. K. Gandhi at the beginning of 20th century, according to the 2011 census of India,68. 84% of Indians live in 640,867 different villages. The size of these villages varies considerably,236,004 Indian villages have a population of fewer than 500, while 3,976 villages have a population of 10, 000+. Most of the villages have their own temple, mosque, or church, auyl is a Kazakh word meaning village in Kazakhstan. According to the 2009 census of Kazakhstan,42. 7% of Kazakhs live in 8172 different villages, to refer to this concept along with the word auyl often used the slavic word selo in Northern Kazakhstan. Peoples Republic of China In mainland China, villages 村 are divisions under township Zh, 乡 or town Zh, Republic of China In the Republic of China, villages are divisions under townships or county-controlled cities. The village is called a tsuen or cūn under a rural township, japan South Korea In Indonesia, depending on the principles they are administered, villages are called Kampung or Desa. A Desa is administered according to traditions and customary law, while a kelurahan is administered along more modern principles, Desa are generally located in rural areas while kelurahan are generally urban subdivisions. A village head is respectively called kepala desa or lurah, both are elected by the local community. A desa or kelurahan is the subdivision of a kecamatan, in turn the subdivision of a kabupaten or kota, the same general concept applies all over Indonesia
20.
Civil parish
–
In England, a civil parish is a territorial designation which is the lowest tier of local government below districts and counties, or their combined form, the unitary authority. It is a parish, in contrast to an ecclesiastical parish. A civil parish can range in size from a town with a population of around 80,000 to a single village with fewer than a hundred inhabitants. In a limited number of cases a parish might include a city where city status has been granted by the Monarch. Reflecting this diverse nature, a parish may be known as a town, village. Approximately 35% of the English population live in a civil parish, as of 31 December 2015 there were 10,449 parishes in England. On 1 April 2014, Queens Park became the first civil parish in Greater London, before 2008 their creation was not permitted within a London borough. The division of land into ancient parishes was linked to the system, parishes. The manor was the unit of local administration and justice in the early rural economy. Later the church replaced the court as the rural administrative centre. After the dissolution of the monasteries, the power to levy a rate to fund relief of the poor was conferred on the authorities by the Act for the Relief of the Poor 1601. Both before and after this optional social change, local charities are well-documented, the parish authorities were known as vestries and consisted of all the ratepayers of the parish. As the number of ratepayers of some parishes grew, it increasingly difficult to convene meetings as an open vestry. In some, mostly built up, areas the select vestry took over responsibility from the body of ratepayers. This innovation improved efficiency, but allowed governance by a self-perpetuating elite, by the 18th century, religious membership was becoming more fractured in some places, due for instance to the progress of Methodism. The legitimacy of the parish came into question and the perceived inefficiency. Sanitary districts covered England in 1875 and Ireland three years later, the replacement boards were each entitled to levy their own rate in the parish. The church rate ceased to be levied in many parishes and became voluntary from 1868, the ancient parishes diverged into two distinct systems of parishes during the 19th century
21.
Andover, Hampshire
–
Andover /ˈændoʊvər/ is a town in the English county of Hampshire. The town is on the River Anton some 18 miles west of the town of Basingstoke,18 miles north-west of the city of Winchester and 25 miles north of the city of Southampton. Andover is twinned with the towns of Redon in France, Goch in Germany and its name is recorded in Anglo-Saxon in 955 AD as Andeferas, and is thought to be of Celtic origin, compare Welsh onn dwfr = ash water. Andovers first mention in history is in 950 when King Edred is recorded as having built a hunting lodge there. In 962 King Edgar called a meeting of the Saxon parliament at his hunting lodge near Andover, of more importance was the baptism, in 994 of a Viking king named Olaf. The identity of man was either Olav Trygvason or Olof Skötkonung. The baptism was part of a deal with King Ethelred II of England whereby he stopped ravaging England, Olav Tryggvason became king of Norway in 995 and tried to convert his country to Christianity before his death in the Battle of Svolder in 1000. Olof Skötkonung was already king of Sweden and became its first Christian king, at the time of the Domesday Book Andover had 107 male inhabitants and probably had a total population of about 500. It was quite a large settlement by the standards of the time, Andover also had 6 watermills which ground grain to flour. In 1175 King Richard I sold Andover a charter granting the townspeople some rights, the members elected two officials called bailiffs who ran the town. In 1201 King John gave the merchants the right to collect taxes in Andover themselves. In 1256 Henry III gave the townspeople the right to hold a court, Andover also sent MPs to the parliaments of 1295 and 1302–1307. The town was ravaged by two fires, one in 1141 and another in 1435. Andover remained a market town. Processing wool appears to have been the industry and street names in the area of the town known as Sheep Fair commemorate this. A weekly market, and a fair were held. As well as the Church of St Mary the town had a priory and a run by monks, dedicated to St John the Baptist. In 1538 during the Reformation Henry VIII closed the priory and the hospital, in 1571 a free school for the boys of Andover was established
22.
A303 road
–
The A303 is a trunk road in southern England, running between Basingstoke in Hampshire and Honiton in Devon via Stonehenge. Connecting the M3 and the A30, it is part of one of the routes from London to South West England. It is a primary A road throughout its length, passing through five counties, the road has evolved from historical routes, some of which are thousands of years old including the Harrow Way and the Fosse Way. The modern route was first laid out in the early 19th century as the New Direct Road and it was initially in demand but fell into disuse as railways became popular from the 1840s onwards. It was not thought of as a significant through route when roads were initially numbered, since then, the A303 has gradually been upgraded to modern standards, though there are still several unimproved parts. As a primary route to southwestern England, the A303 is frequently congested on its single carriageway sections, as it passes through the Stonehenge World Heritage Site and the Blackdown Hills Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty, attempts to upgrade the road in those areas have been controversial. In particular, the Stonehenge tunnel, which would see the A303 rerouted underground, has proposed and delayed several times. Nevertheless, the remains a popular alternative to motorway driving. The A303 is about 93 miles long and it starts at the M3 motorway south of Basingstoke at Junction 8, as a dual carriageway. It heads south west, crossing the A34 near Bullington before passing south of Andover, the road then passes by Solstice Park and Bulford Camp before bypassing Amesbury and entering the Stonehenge World Heritage Site. The route then becomes single carriageway before passing Stonehenge itself, the presence of the road through a World Heritage Site has been controversial for decades. After Winterbourne Stoke the route again becomes dual carriageway from Yarnbury Castle and across the Wylye valley. Continuing west, it passes south of Wincanton and then north of Sparkford to a roundabout where the road once more to single carriageway. The road then bypasses Ilchester and RNAS Yeovilton and widens to dual carriageway again, between Ilchester and Shores Bridge the road follows the course of the Roman Fosse Way. At Yeovilton the road becomes dual two lane again, and connects with the A37 which joins it until it reaches the end of the bypass and this final section of dual carriageway ends at South Petherton. It runs north of Ilminster as a road where it meets the A358. The A303 is of a lower standard west of Ilminster and is no longer considered part of the road network. It passes through the Blackdown Hills as a road following the contours of the land
23.
A30 road
–
The A30 is a major road in England, running south-west from London to Lands End. The road has one of the most important in Britain since the 17th century. It used to provide the most direct route from London to the South West, nowadays much of this function is performed by the M3 motorway, however, the section from Honiton to Lands End is a dual carriageway for most of its length and retains trunk road status. The A30 begins at Henlys Roundabout, a junction with the A4 near Hounslow and it runs along the south side of Heathrow Airport, then past Ashford and Staines-upon-Thames, before reaching the M25 motorway. This first section is entirely dual carriageway, after crossing the M25, the A30 runs parallel to the M3 all the way to Basingstoke, bypassing Egham and passing through Bagshot, Camberley, Hartley Wintney and Hook. Just west of Basingstoke, at junction 8 of the M3, the A30 runs parallel to this road all the way to just north-east of Honiton, passing through Stockbridge, Salisbury, Shaftesbury, Sherborne, Yeovil, Crewkerne and Chard. Between the M25 and Honiton, the A30 is mostly single carriageway, however, there are short stretches of dual carriageway from Camberley to Basingstoke, which has a dualled inner ring road, two between Stockbridge and Salisbury, and between Sherborne and Yeovil. This section is a road as far as Penzance. It is mostly dual carriageway, but there are short sections of single carriageway. To pass Exeter, through traffic can join the M5 motorway for three miles, West of Exeter, the A30 is dual carriageway through Devon and into Cornwall, bypassing Whiddon Down, Okehampton and Launceston. The dual carriageway continues through Cornwall to Bodmin Moor, where there is a stretch of single carriageway. The dual carriageway resumes until Carland Cross, after there is a single carriageway stretch to Chiverton Cross. Highways England are currently progressing plans to dual this section of carriageway, from Chiverton Cross, the dual carriageway bypasses Redruth and Camborne. The A30 returns to single carriageway west of Camborne, and a bypass takes the road around Hayle. Between Hayle and Penzance, the A30 returns to the original route, approaching Penzance, the A30 briefly becomes a dual carriageway once again. Once west of Penzance, the A30 becomes a rural road running through or past several villages. A large section of the A30 follows the course of the historic London – Lands End coaching road, the road appeared on John Ogilbys map of Britain in 1675, and was covered by Ogilbys later strip-maps showing The Road from London to The Lands End in Cornwall. Beyond Exeter, the route went via Plymouth and then followed the Cornish south coast via St Austell down to Penzance, some distance away from the modern A30
24.
A34 road
–
The A34 is a major road in England. It runs from the A33 and M3 at Winchester in Hampshire, to the A6 and it forms a large part of the major trunk route from Southampton, via Oxford, to Birmingham, The Potteries and Manchester. For most of its length, it part of the former Winchester-Preston Trunk Road. Improvements to the section of road forming the Newbury Bypass around Newbury were the scene of significant direct action protests in the 1990s. The road is in two sections and it then continues south via Stone, Stafford, Cannock and Walsall, passes through the middle of Birmingham, before meeting the M42 motorway at junction 4 south of Solihull. The road in effect combines with the network and resumes. The southern section begins 45 miles SSE, at the Bicester /ˈbɪstə/ junction and it continues south as the straightest part of the Oxford Ring Road, crossing the River Thames on the A34 Road Bridge. It then bypasses Abingdon, Didcot, and Newbury before finishing at the southern Winchester turning of the M3 motorway and this part of the A34 forms the E05 European route. It is a dual carriageway throughout, together with parts of the M3 and the M40, the A34 forms an important route carrying freight from Southampton to the Midlands. Because of the volume of traffic, bypasses were built along this route – at Newbury on the A34, notably instead of cutting a short road tunnel through Twyford Down, the escarpment was carved out for the road traffic of the motorway and fledgling A34. In 2004 works were carried out, at a cost of £38 million, continuing the road without being interrupted by a roundabout at junction 13 of the M4 motorway, plans are in discussion regarding possible re-opening of this closed access point. Route of A34 overlaid on OpenStreetMap The original route of the A34 was Winchester to Oxford and it was extended to Manchester on 1 April 1935, replacing part of the A42, A455, part of the A449 and A526. By 1953 the route was as follows, When the Oxford Ring Road was completed to the west of Oxford in 1962, in 1991, shortly after the completion of the M40 motorway, the road between Oxford and Solihull was renumbered. Between Chipping Norton and Solihull the road lost its primary status and was renumbered A3400. The A34 was diverted north from the Oxford Ring Road to the M40 along parts of the routes of the A43. Much of the traffic carried by what is now the A3400 now uses the M40 to Birmingham. When the Newbury Bypass was opened in 1998, the old route through Newbury became part of the A339, the long planned and often postponed Alderley Edge bypass was completed in November 2010, ahead of schedule and within the £52 million budget. The official opening ceremony was conducted by the Chancellor of the Exchequer, the Highways Agency Management Strategy for Bicester to Winchester
25.
M3 motorway (Great Britain)
–
The M3 is a motorway that runs from Sunbury-on-Thames, Surrey, to Southampton, Hampshire, a distance of approximately 59 miles. From Junction 9 near Winchester, to Junction 14 on the fringe of Southampton. It was constructed as a dual three-lane motorway for most of its length, the motorway was opened in phases, beginning with the first section in 1971. Since then, the motorway has become a major artery to the South Coast, consequently, the M3 faces regular delays and congestion on its busiest sections during rush hours and seasonal periods. The Junctions 2 to 4A section is currently being upgraded to a Smart Motorway, the eastern section, from Sunbury-on-Thames in Surrey to Popham near Basingstoke opened in sections, first the Hampshire section in 1971, and then the Surrey section in 1974. The cost for this first phase was £46m, the completed road acts as a continuation of the A316 Country Way, an express three-lane road from Apex Corner, Hanworth, in Greater London to Sunbury-on-Thames. A second public inquiry was held in 1976–77, the scope of the M3 extension was reduced to defer the difficult decision about the section around Winchester and it was built in two sections in 1995. When this opened, the junction to the A33 parallel route was removed. The section of the M3 from near Junction 12 to the last, Junction 14 for the M27 replaced part of the A33 road which was upgraded to motorway standard and opened in 1991. In 2008 the busiest section of the motorway, at Chandlers Ford and its service station was envisaged at Basingstoke upon the motorways completion but not built – superseded by one just north of Fleet and another north of Winchester. An additional junction, numbered 4A, opened in April 1992 for Fleet and its third junction is for Camberley, Bagshot, Bracknell, Ascot and Worplesdon. The Spitfire Bridge carries the B3404 Alresford Road to Winchester over the M3 motorway and this is known as the Spitfire Link. It replaced a concrete arch bridge under which a Curtiss P-40 had been flown by George Rogers in October 1941. It was generally assumed locally that the aircraft had been a Spitfire hence the name, a private exit of the northern roundabout connected to Junction 4a provides access to the UK headquarters of Sun Microsystems. The section of the M3 between J2 and J4a is currently being made into a Managed Motorway, due to be completed in December 2016, the coroner recorded a verdict of accidental death. On 1 April 2000, a crossing was illegally painted across the northbound carriageway of the M3 between Junctions 4 and 4a. Data from driver location signs are used to distance and carriageway identification information. List of motorways in the United Kingdom Notes References Chriss British Road DirectoryMotorway Database – M3 Bad Junctions – M3/A31 The Motorway Archive – M3
26.
The Midlands
–
The Midlands is a cultural and geographic area roughly spanning central England that broadly corresponds to the early medieval Kingdom of Mercia. It borders South East England, South West England, North West England, Yorkshire and Humber, East of England and its largest city is Birmingham, and it was an important location for the Industrial Revolution of the 18th and 19th centuries. The greater part of the area is formed of two English statistical regions, the West Midlands and East Midlands, the Midlands does not correspond to any current administrative area, and there is therefore no strict definition. With more restricted boundaries than the area known as the Midlands. These are also constituencies of the European Parliament, the East Midlands region comprises the shire counties of Derbyshire, Leicestershire, Lincolnshire, Northamptonshire and Nottinghamshire and the unitary county of Rutland. The two regions have a population of 10,135,000, and an area of 11,053 sq mi. The largest Midlands conurbation, which includes the cities of Birmingham, various part of the Midlands are somewhat poetically referred to as the Heart of England, especially in tourist literature. The various areas of the Midlands have their own character, giving rise to a high number of local history. Nottingham played a part in the English Civil War, which is commemorated in a number of place names. Areas such as Derbyshires Amber Valley and Erewash combine attractive countryside with industrial heritage and are home to historic canals, the Black Country, broadly the boroughs of Dudley, Sandwell, Wolverhampton and Walsall, played an important part in the Industrial Revolution. The Midlands is predominantly low-lying and flat in character, although isolated hills such as Turners Hill have extensive views. Upland areas lie in the west and north of the region with the Shropshire Hills to the west, close to the Welsh border, the Shropshire Hills reach heights of over 500 m, including the Long Mynd, Clee Hills and Stiperstones ridge. Wenlock Edge, running through the middle of the Shropshire Hills AONB, is a long, low ridge, the Peak District reaches heights of between 300 m and 600 m with Kinder Scout being the highest point at 636 m. Further south, the Welsh border reaches over 700 m high, at Black Mountain, other small areas of lower hills in the Midlands include Cannock Chase in Staffordshire, Charnwood Forest in Leicestershire, and the Lincolnshire Wolds in Lincolnshire. The Cotswolds – designated an AONB in 1966, – extend for over 90 miles through six counties, but centred on Gloucestershire. They reach a highest point of 330 m at Cleeve Hill, the Malverns are formed of some of the oldest rock in England and extend for some 13 km through two West Midlands counties as well as northern Gloucestershire in the southwest. The highest point of the hills is the Worcestershire Beacon at 425 m above sea level, the Midlands has a temperate maritime climate. With cold, cloudy, wet winters and comfortable, mostly dry, the temperature usually ranges from −0.4 °C during winter nights to 24.1 °C during summer days
27.
Braided river
–
Not to be confused with the River Braid, Ballymena, Northern Ireland. Braided streams occur in rivers with high slope and/or large sediment load, braided channels are also typical of environments that dramatically decrease channel depth, and consequently channel velocity, such as river deltas, alluvial fans and peneplains. Braided rivers, as distinct from meandering rivers, occur when a level of sediment load or slope is reached whilst a steep gradient is also maintained. A threshold slope was experimentally determined to be 0.016 for a 0.15 cu ft/s stream with poorly sorted coarse sand. Any slope over this threshold created a stream, while any slope under the threshold created a meandering stream or— for very low slopes—a straight channel. Also important to development is the proportion of suspended load sediment to bed load. The channels and braid bars are highly mobile, with the river layout often changing significantly during flood events. Channels move sideways via differential velocity, On the outside of a curve, deeper, swift water picks up sediment, the braided channels may flow within an area defined by relatively stable banks or may occupy an entire valley floor. The Rakaia River in Canterbury, New Zealand has cut a channel 100 metres wide into the surrounding plains, extensive braided river systems are found in Alaska, Canada, New Zealands South Island, and the Himalayas, which all contain young, rapidly eroding mountains. The enormous Brahmaputra-Jamuna River in Asia is an example of a braided river. Braided river systems are present in Africa, for example in the Touat Valley, a notable example of a large braided stream in the contiguous United States is the Platte River in central and western Nebraska. The sediment of the arid Great Plains is augmented by the presence of the nearby Sandhills region north of the river, a portion of the lower Yellow River takes a braided form. Others have interpreted the depositional environment for this unit as a tidal delta, ait Anabranch Lagoon Shoal Hibbert, Barry, Brown, Kerry, eds
28.
River Test
–
The River Test is a river in Hampshire, England. It has a length of 40 miles and it flows through downland from its source near Ashe to its estuary at Southampton. In its upper reaches it is a stream, and is used for fly fishing for trout. The river is managed by the Environment Agency, whilst the Port of Southampton is the authority for the tidal section below Redbridge. The River Test has given its name to the Test Valley District, a government district, and to Southampton Test. The rivers name is believed to be Celtic in origin possibly related to the Welsh tres or trais and it then proceeds through the villages of Longparish and Middleton to Wherwell and Chilbolton, where the Rivers Dever and Anton join. From Chilbolton the river goes through the villages of Leckford, Longstock, Stockbridge and Houghton to Mottisfont and Kimbridge, from here the village of Timsbury is passed, then through the grounds of Roke Manor before reaching the town of Romsey. On the western edge of Romsey, Sadlers Mill, an 18th Century watermill, south of Romsey, the river passes the country house of Broadlands, and then Nursling that was once the site of a Roman bridge. The Test estuary then meets that of the River Itchen and the two continue to the sea as Southampton Water, between Chilbolton and Redbridge, the river was once paralleled by the Andover Canal, which was itself converted to a railway in 1865, and then in turn abandoned. Most traces of the canal have disappeared, although the remains of a stretch can still be seen between Timsbury and Romsey, the river plays a part in Richard Adams novel Watership Down. Watership rabbits are pursued by a force, one rabbit carries out a plan which leads to their successful escape down the Test on a punt. In the text we are told that this plan would not have been possible on most rivers, the punt becomes lodged on a low bridge, and the surviving rabbits are forced to swim under it. The following are the tributaries of the River Test, listed in order upstream from Southampton Water. Tanners Brook River Blackwater River Dun Wallop Brook River Anton Pillhill Brook River Dever Bourne Rivulet River Swift Rivers of the United Kingdom Map sources for the source and mouth
29.
Trout
–
Trout is the common name for a number of species of freshwater fish belonging to the genera Oncorhynchus, Salmo and Salvelinus, all of the subfamily Salmoninae of the family Salmonidae. The word trout is also used as part of the name of some fish such as Cynoscion nebulosus. Trout are closely related to salmon and char, species termed salmon, a rainbow trout that spends time in the ocean is called a steelhead. Arctic char and brook trout are part of the char family, Trout are an important food source for humans and wildlife including brown bears, birds of prey such as eagles, and other animals. They are classified as oily fish, mostly, these colors and patterns form as camouflage, based on the surroundings, and will change as the fish moves to different habitats. In general trout that are about to breed have extremely intense coloration and they can look like an entirely different fish outside of spawning season. It is virtually impossible to define a color pattern as belonging to a specific breed, however, in general, wild fish are claimed to have more vivid colors. Trout have fins entirely without spines, and all of them have an adipose fin along the back. The pelvic fins sit well back on the body, on side of the anus. The swim bladder is connected to the esophagus, allowing for gulping or rapid expulsion of air, unlike many other physostome fish, trout do not use their bladder as an auxiliary device for oxygen uptake, relying solely on their gills. There are many species, and even more populations, that are isolated from each other, the trout found in the eastern United States are a good example of this. Lake trout, like brook trout, belong to the char genus, Lake trout inhabit many of the larger lakes in North America, and live much longer than rainbow trout, which have an average maximum lifespan of 7 years. Lake trout can live many decades, and can grow to more than 30 kilograms, Trout are usually found in cool, clear streams and lakes, although many of the species have anadromous strains as well. Young trout are referred to as troutlet, troutling or fry and they are distributed naturally throughout North America, northern Asia and Europe. Several species of trout were introduced to Australia and New Zealand by amateur fishing enthusiasts in the 19th century, the introduced species included brown trout from England and rainbow trout from California. The rainbow trout were a strain, generally accepted as coming from Sonoma Creek. The rainbow trout of New Zealand still show the tendency to run up rivers in winter to spawn. In Australia the rainbow trout was introduced in 1894 from New Zealand and is a popular gamefish in recreational angling
30.
Hamlet (place)
–
A hamlet is a small human settlement. The word and concept of a hamlet have roots in the Anglo-Norman settlement of England, in English geography, a hamlet is considered smaller than a village and distinctly without a church. The word comes from Anglo-Norman hamelete, corresponding to Old French hamelet and this, in turn, is a diminutive of Old French ham, possibly borrowed from Franconian languages. Compare with modern French Hameau, Dutch heem, German Heim, Old English hām, in Australia a hamlet is a small village. Officially, a hamlet differs from a village in having no commercial premises, in Bangladesh, Hamlet is known as Para or Paara. A village is divided by more than one Para and that is the smallest partition of a place in Bangladesh. Each para contains some families, or a group of families, in Canadas three territories, hamlets are officially designated municipalities. Canadas two largest hamlets – Fort McMurray and Sherwood Park – are located in Alberta and they each have populations, within their main urban area, in excess of 60, 000—well in excess of the 10, 000-person threshold that can choose to incorporate as a city in Alberta. As such, these two hamlets have been designated by the Province of Alberta as urban service areas. An urban service area is recognized as equivalent to a city for the purposes of provincial and federal program delivery, during the 18th century, for rich or noble people, it was up-to-date to create their own hameau in their gardens. They were a group of houses or farms with rustic appearance. The best known in the Hameau de la Reine built by the queen Marie-Antoinette in the park of the Château de Versailles, or the Hameau de Chantilly built by Louis Joseph, Prince of Condé in Chantilly, Oise. Lieu-dit is another name for hamlet, the difference is that a hamlet is permanently inhabited, but a lieu-dit is not. In Germany hamlets are called Weiler and they are often part of bigger villages and municipalities. Most German hamlets are situated in Bavaria, Rhineland-Palatinate and Hesse, in the low Saxon dialect of northwestern Germany hamlets are called Bauerschaft. In different states of India, there are different words for hamlet, in Gujarat a hamlet is called a nesada, which are more prevalent in the Gir forest. In Maharashtra its called a paadaa, in southern Bihar, especially in the Magadh division, a hamlet is called a bigha. All over Indonesia, hamlets are translated as small village, or kampung and they are known as dusun in Central Java and East Java, banjar in Bali, jorong or kampuang in West Sumatra
31.
Ministry of Defence (United Kingdom)
–
The Ministry of Defence is the British government department responsible for implementing the defence policy set by Her Majestys Government and is the headquarters of the British Armed Forces. The MoD states that its objectives are to defend the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland and its interests and to strengthen international peace. The MoD also manages day-to-day running of the forces, contingency planning. As rearmament became a concern during the 1930s, Stanley Baldwin created the position of Minister for Coordination of Defence. Winston Churchill, on forming his government in 1940, created the office of Minister of Defence to exercise control over the Chiefs of Staff Committee. The post was held by the Prime Minister of the day until Clement Attlees government introduced the Ministry of Defence Act of 1946, the new ministry was headed by a Minister of Defence who possessed a seat in the Cabinet. These departments merged in 1964, the functions of the Ministry of Aviation Supply merged into the Ministry of Defence in 1971. The Ministers in the Ministry of Defence are as follows, The Ministers and Chiefs of the Defence Staff are supported by a number of civilian, scientific, the Permanent Under-Secretary of State for Defence is the senior civil servant at the MoD. His or her role is to ensure the MoD operates effectively as a department of the government, Permanent Under-Secretary of State, Stephen Lovegrove—commencing April 2016 Defence Equipment & Support CEO - Tony Douglas — commencing 2016 Chief Scientific Adviser, Professor Vernon C. He is supported by the Vice Chief of the Defence Staff, vice-Chief of the Defence Staff, General Sir Gordon Messenger, Royal Marines. First Sea Lord and Chief of the Naval Staff, Admiral Sir Philip Jones, Royal Navy Chief of the General Staff, General Sir Nick Carter, the Surgeon General, represents the Defence Medical Services on the Defence Staff, and is the clinical head of that service. These forces must be capable of representing Britain as lead nation in any coalition operations, the ability, at longer notice, to deploy forces in a large-scale operation while running a concurrent small-scale operation. The MoD has since been regarded as a leader in elaborating the post-Cold War organising concept of defence diplomacy, the UK is establishing air and naval bases in the Persian Gulf, located in the UAE and Bahrain. A presence in Oman is also being considered, the Strategic Defence and Security Review 2015 included £178 billion investment in new equipment and capabilities. The review set a policy with four primary missions for the Armed Forces, Defend and contribute to the security and resilience of the UK. Contribute to improved understanding of the world through strategic intelligence and the defence network. Reinforce international security and the capacity of our allies, partners. Conduct operations to restore peace and stability, conduct major combat operations if required, including under NATO Article 5
32.
John, King of England
–
John, also known as John Lackland, was King of England from 6 April 1199 until his death in 1216. The baronial revolt at the end of Johns reign led to the sealing of Magna Carta, John, the youngest of five sons of King Henry II of England and Duchess Eleanor of Aquitaine, was at first not expected to inherit significant lands. Following the failed rebellion of his brothers between 1173 and 1174, however, John became Henrys favourite child. He was appointed the Lord of Ireland in 1177 and given lands in England, Johns elder brothers William, Henry and Geoffrey died young, by the time Richard I became king in 1189, John was a potential heir to the throne. John unsuccessfully attempted a rebellion against Richards royal administrators whilst his brother was participating in the Third Crusade, John spent much of the next decade attempting to regain these lands, raising huge revenues, reforming his armed forces and rebuilding continental alliances. Johns judicial reforms had a impact on the English common law system. An argument with Pope Innocent III led to Johns excommunication in 1209, Johns attempt to defeat Philip in 1214 failed due to the French victory over Johns allies at the battle of Bouvines. When he returned to England, John faced a rebellion by many of his barons, although both John and the barons agreed to the Magna Carta peace treaty in 1215, neither side complied with its conditions. Civil war broke out shortly afterwards, with the barons aided by Louis of France and it soon descended into a stalemate. John was born to Henry II of England and Eleanor of Aquitaine on 24 December 1166, Henry had inherited significant territories along the Atlantic seaboard—Anjou, Normandy and England—and expanded his empire by conquering Brittany. The result was the Angevin Empire, named after Henrys paternal title as Count of Anjou and, more specifically, its seat in Angers. The Empire, however, was fragile, although all the lands owed allegiance to Henry. As one moved south through Anjou and Aquitaine, the extent of Henrys power in the provinces diminished considerably, scarcely resembling the concept of an empire at all. Some of the ties between parts of the empire such as Normandy and England were slowly dissolving over time. It was unclear what would happen to the empire on Henrys death, most believed that Henry would divide the empire, giving each son a substantial portion, and hoping that his children would continue to work together as allies after his death. To complicate matters, much of the Angevin empire was held by Henry only as a vassal of the King of France of the line of the House of Capet. Henry had often allied himself with the Holy Roman Emperor against France, shortly after his birth, John was passed from Eleanor into the care of a wet nurse, a traditional practice for medieval noble families. Eleanor then left for Poitiers, the capital of Aquitaine, and sent John and this may have been done with the aim of steering her youngest son, with no obvious inheritance, towards a future ecclesiastical career
33.
North Wessex Downs
–
The North Wessex Downs Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty is located in the English counties of West Berkshire, Hampshire, Oxfordshire and Wiltshire. The AONB covers an area of some 1,730 km2 and it takes the form of a horseshoe on its side, with the open end facing east, surrounding the town of Newbury and the River Kennet watershed. The western extreme of the AONB reaches as far as Calne, at its northeast extreme, Lardon Chase within the North Wessex Downs AONB faces across the Goring Gap to the Chilterns AONB on the other side of the River Thames. This area includes the village of Lambourn and is hence sometimes known as the Lambourn Downs. Here too can be found the area of Savernake Forest. Finally, the highest stretch of the Downs runs east along the Berkshire-Hampshire border on the side of the River Kennet from the Berkshire Downs. Again the scarp slope is to the north and the dip slope is to the south into Hampshire, the area is a site of scientific interest in numerous fields and has an internationally important habitat for early gentian. Horse racing forms a major industry in the area, largely because of the good quality turf that comes with the chalk underlay, several of the upland villages, and especially the large village of Lambourn, are home to major racing stables. Other villages with strong horse racing connections include Beckhampton, Kingsclere, the term steeplechase originated in this area, a steeplechase originally being a race between two villages, navigated by reference to the church steeples visible across the rolling downs. On the south-east arm of the AONB can be found Watership Down where the book Watership Down by Richard Adams is set, to the north of the market town of Whitchurch. Significant parts of Jude the Obscure by Thomas Hardy are set on, the Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty was designated in 1972. North Wessex Downs Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty Website
34.
South Downs National Park
–
The South Downs National Park is Englands newest National Park, having become fully operational on 1 April 2011. The national park covers the hills of the South Downs and a substantial part of a separate physiographic region. The South Downs Way spans the length of the park and is the only National Trail that lies wholly within a national park. the characteristic landscape beauty is strictly preserved. The South Downs was the last of the original twelve recommended national parks to be designated and it did however recognise the great natural beauty of the area and proposed to take forward discussions to designate it as an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty. In September 1999 the government, following a review of national policy, declared its support for the creation of a South Downs National Park. In January 2003 the then Countryside Agency made an Order to designate the park in 2003 which was submitted to the Secretary of State for the Environment on 27 January 2003. Following an appeal on the High Court case and new legislation included in the Natural Environment and Rural Communities Act 2006, the Secretary of State invited objections and representations on new issues relating to the proposed national park in a consultation that ran from 2 July to 13 August 2007. In the light of the received, the Secretary of State decided that it was appropriate to re-open the 2003–05 public inquiry. The inquiry re-opened on 12 February 2008 and was closed on 4 July 2008 after 27 sitting days, the Inspectors report was submitted on 28 November 2008. On 31 March 2009 the result of the inquiry was published, the Secretary of State, Hilary Benn, announced that the South Downs would be designated a national park, and on 12 November 2009 he signed the order confirming the designation. Importantly, he confirmed that a number of disputed areas, including the western Weald, the town of Lewes. The new national park came into operation on 1 April 2011 when the new South Downs National Park Authority assumed statutory responsibility for it. The occasion was marked by a ceremony which took place in the market square of Petersfield. The national park is administered by the South Downs National Park Authority, the SDNPA was established on 1 April 2010, and became fully functioning, including becoming the planning authority for the national park, on 1 April 2011. It is responsible for promoting the statutory purposes of the national park and it must also fulfill the following duty, In carrying out its role, the Authority has a duty to seek to foster the economic and social well-being of the communities living within the National Park. The SDNPA is a body, funded by central government. The chair of SDNPA is Margaret Paren, a civil servant who after retirement became involved in campaigning for the national park. The South Downs National Park stretches for 140 km across southern England from St Catherines Hill near Winchester in Hampshire in the west to Beachy Head, near Eastbourne in East Sussex in the east
35.
Downland
–
A downland is an area of open chalk hills. This term is used to describe the chalk countryside in southern England. Areas of downland are often referred to as downs, deriving from a Celtic word for hills, downland is formed when chalk formations are raised above the surrounding rocks. The chalk slowly erodes to form characteristic rolling hills and valleys, where the downs meet the sea, characteristic white chalk cliffs form, such as the White Cliffs of Dover and Beachy Head. Chalk deposits are very porous, so the height of the table in chalk hills rises in winter. This leads to characteristic chalk downland such as dry valleys or coombes. The modern practice of extracting water from reservoir, in order to satisfy demand for water. In the valleys below the downs there is typically a clay soil, along this line, settlements and farms were often built, as on the higher land no water was available. This is demonstrated very clearly beneath the scarp of the White Horse Hills, in many chalk downland areas there is no surface water at all other than artificially created dewponds. The soil profile of chalk downland in England is a thin soil overlaying the parent chalk, weathering of the chalk has created a characteristic soil known as rendzina. This is largely because of the purity of the chalk, which is about 98% calcium carbonate, steep slopes on chalk downland develop a ribbed pattern of grass covered horizontal steps a foot or two high. Although subsequently emphasised by cattle and sheep walking along them, these terracettes were formed by the movement of soil downhill, in temperate regions chalk downland is typically calcareous grassland, a habitat formed by grazing from both livestock and wild animals. Chalk downland is often unsuitable for agriculture, horticulture, or development because of the nutrient-poor, shallow soil. For this reason downland often survived uncultivated when other, more easily worked land was ploughed or reseeded and this shallow soil structure makes downland ecosystems extremely fragile and easy to destroy. The UK cover of lowland calcareous grassland has suffered a decline in extent since the middle of the twentieth century. Much remaining chalk downland has been protected against future development to preserve its unique biodiversity
36.
Arable land
–
Arable land is, according to one definition, land capable of being ploughed and used to grow crops. In Britain, it was contrasted with pasturable lands such as heaths which could be used for sheep-rearing. A quite different kind of definition is used by various agencies concerned with agriculture, the abandoned land resulting from shifting cultivation is not included in this category. Data for ‘Arable land’ are not meant to indicate the amount of land that is potentially cultivable, a briefer definition appearing in the Eurostat glossary similarly refers to actual, rather than potential use, land worked regularly, generally under a system of crop rotation. According to Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations the worlds Arable land amounted to 1,407 M ha, out of a total 4,924 M ha land used for agriculture, as for year 2013. Agricultural land that is not arable according to the FAO definition above includes, Permanent crop - land that produces crops from woody vegetation, other non-arable land includes land unsuitable for any agricultural use. Although such limitations may preclude cultivation, and some will in some cases preclude any agricultural use, for example, US NRCS statistics indicate that about 59 percent of US non-federal pasture and unforested rangeland is unsuitable for cultivation, yet such land has value for grazing of livestock. Similar examples can be found in many rangeland areas elsewhere, land incapable of being cultivated for production of crops can sometimes be converted to arable land. New arable land makes more food, and can reduce starvation and this outcome also makes a country more self-sufficient and politically independent, because food importation is reduced. This process is extremely expensive. An alternative is the Seawater Greenhouse which desalinates water through evaporation and condensation using solar energy as the energy input. This technology is optimized to grow crops on land close to the sea. The people covered the islands with a layer of seaweed. Israel, The construction of desalination plants along Israels coast allowed agriculture in areas that were formerly desert. The desalination plants, which remove the salt from water, have created a new source of water for farming, drinking. Slash and burn agriculture uses nutrients in wood ash, but these expire within a few years, terra preta, fertile tropical soils created by adding charcoal. Some examples of fertile land being turned into infertile land are. Rainforest deforestation, The fertile tropical forests are converted into infertile desert land, for example, Madagascars central highland plateau has become virtually totally barren, as a result of slash-and-burn deforestation, an element of shifting cultivation practiced by many natives
37.
Malting process
–
The malting process converts raw grain into malt. The malt is used for brewing or whiskey making. Various grains are used for malting, the most common are barley, sorghum, wheat, there are a number of different types of equipment that can be used to produce the malt. A traditional floor maltings germinates the grains in a layer on a solid floor. In a modern malt house the process is automated. Large mechanical turners keep the much thicker bed loose with higher productivity, the grain is received at the malt house from the farmer. It is taken in from the field and cleaned and dried if necessary to ensure the remains in the best condition to produce good malt. The barley is tested to check for suitability for malting and to prevent dead or unfit barley from entering the process, the moisture is removed by circulating heated air through the grain and can either be performed using dedicated grain driers or as a batch process using a kiln. High temperatures or over-drying will damage or kill the barley embryo, the dry barley can safely be stored for up to 18 months without fungal growth or loss of grain vigour. The aim of cleaning is to remove foreign matter found in the incoming grain. Magnets are used to remove metals from the grain, in reducing the possibility of sparks. Rotating and shaking sieves are used to remove unwanted foreign matter either larger or smaller than the barley grain. During the sieving process an aspiration system removes the dust and chaff, de-stoners or shaking screens are used to separate small stones from the barley. The stones, which are more dense than the barley, move out the top of the machine, half corn separators may be used to remove broken kernels. Half kernels need to be removed as only the one half will germinate, at the end of the cleaning process the grain is weighed to determine the cleaning losses and it is transferred to a silo for storage. The barley must be stored to maintain the grain vigour for germination. Storage at a house is normally in vertical silos made of steel or concrete for ease of use. The grain is stored in a manner that protects it from moisture, a typical silo will store between 5,000 and 20,000 tons of clean dry barley ready for malting
38.
Barley
–
Barley, a member of the grass family, is a major cereal grain grown in temperate climates globally. It was one of the first cultivated grains, particularly in Eurasia as early as 10,000 years ago, Barley has been used as animal fodder, as a source of fermentable material for beer and certain distilled beverages, and as a component of various health foods. It is used in soups and stews, and in barley bread of various cultures, Barley grains are commonly made into malt in a traditional and ancient method of preparation. In 2014, barley was ranked fourth among grains in quantity produced behind corn, rice, the Old English word for barley was bære, which traces back to Proto-Indo-European and is cognate to the Latin word farina flour. The direct ancestor of modern English barley in Old English was the derived adjective bærlic, the first citation of the form bærlic in the Oxford English Dictionary dates to around 966 CE, in the compound word bærlic-croft. The underived word bære survives in the north of Scotland as bere, the word barn, which originally meant barley-house, is also rooted in these words. Barley is a member of the grass family and it is a self-pollinating, diploid species with 14 chromosomes. The wild ancestor of domesticated barley, Hordeum vulgare subsp, spontaneum, is abundant in grasslands and woodlands throughout the Fertile Crescent area of Western Asia and northeast Africa, and is abundant in disturbed habitats, roadsides and orchards. Outside this region, the barley is less common and is usually found in disturbed habitats. However, in a study of genome-wide diversity markers, Tibet was found to be a center of domestication of cultivated barley. Wild barley has a spike, upon maturity, the spikelets separate. Domesticated barley has nonshattering spikes, making it easier to harvest the mature ears. The nonshattering condition is caused by a mutation in one of two linked genes known as Bt1 and Bt2, many cultivars possess both mutations. The nonshattering condition is recessive, so varieties of barley that exhibit this condition are homozygous for the mutant allele, spikelets are arranged in triplets which alternate along the rachis. In wild barley, only the central spikelet is fertile, while the two are reduced. This condition is retained in certain cultivars known as two-row barleys, a pair of mutations result in fertile lateral spikelets to produce six-row barleys. Recent genetic studies have revealed that a mutation in one gene, two-row barley has a lower protein content than six-row barley, thus a more fermentable sugar content. High-protein barley is best suited for animal feed, Malting barley is usually lower protein which shows more uniform germination, needs shorter steeping, and has less protein in the extract that can make beer cloudy
39.
Sheep
–
The sheep is a quadrupedal, ruminant mammal typically kept as livestock. Like all ruminants, sheep are members of the order Artiodactyla, although the name sheep applies to many species in the genus Ovis, in everyday usage it almost always refers to Ovis aries. Numbering a little over one billion, domestic sheep are also the most numerous species of sheep. An adult female sheep is referred to as a ewe, a male as a ram or occasionally a tup, a castrated male as a wether. Sheep are most likely descended from the wild mouflon of Europe, one of the earliest animals to be domesticated for agricultural purposes, sheep are raised for fleece, meat and milk. A sheeps wool is the most widely used animal fiber, and is harvested by shearing. Ovine meat is called lamb when from younger animals and mutton when from older ones, Sheep continue to be important for wool and meat today, and are also occasionally raised for pelts, as dairy animals, or as model organisms for science. Sheep husbandry is practised throughout the majority of the inhabited world, in the modern era, Australia, New Zealand, the southern and central South American nations, and the British Isles are most closely associated with sheep production. Sheepraising has a lexicon of unique terms which vary considerably by region. Use of the sheep began in Middle English as a derivation of the Old English word scēap. A group of sheep is called a flock, herd or mob, many other specific terms for the various life stages of sheep exist, generally related to lambing, shearing, and age. Being a key animal in the history of farming, sheep have a deeply entrenched place in human culture, as livestock, sheep are most often associated with pastoral, Arcadian imagery. Sheep figure in many mythologies—such as the Golden Fleece—and major religions, in both ancient and modern religious ritual, sheep are used as sacrificial animals. Domestic sheep are relatively small ruminants, usually with a crimped hair called wool, domestic sheep differ from their wild relatives and ancestors in several respects, having become uniquely neotenic as a result of selective breeding by humans. A few primitive breeds of sheep retain some of the characteristics of their wild cousins, depending on breed, domestic sheep may have no horns at all, or horns in both sexes, or in males only. Most horned breeds have a pair, but a few breeds may have several. Another trait unique to domestic sheep as compared to wild ovines is their variation in color. Wild sheep are largely variations of brown hues, and variation within species is extremely limited, colors of domestic sheep range from pure white to dark chocolate brown, and even spotted or piebald
40.
Grazing
–
Grazing is a method of feeding in which a herbivore feeds on plants such as grasses, or other multicellular organisms such as algae. In agriculture, grazing is one method used whereby domestic livestock are used to convert grass and other forage into meat, milk, many small selective herbivores follow larger grazers, who skim off the highest, tough growth of plants, exposing tender shoots. For terrestrial animals, grazing is normally distinguished from browsing in that grazing is eating grass or forbs, Grazing differs from true predation because the organism being grazed upon is not generally killed. Grazing differs from parasitism as the two live together in a constant state of physical externality. Water animals that feed for example on algae found on stones are called grazers-scrapers, grazers-scrapers feed also on microorganisms and dead organic matter on various substrates. Grazing is a method of feeding in which a herbivore feeds on such as grasses. In zoology, graminivory is a form of grazing, a graminivore is an herbivorous animal that feeds primarily on grass. The word is derived from Latin graminis, meaning grass, and vorare, horses, cattle, capybara, hippopotamuses, grasshoppers, geese, and giant pandas are examples of graminivores. Some carnivores, such as dogs and cats, are known to eat grass occasionally, giant pandas have evolved to be obligate bamboo grazers, and 99% of their diet consists of sub-alpine bamboo species. Rabbits are herbivores that feed by grazing on grass, forbs and they graze heavily and rapidly for about the first half-hour of a grazing period, followed by about half an hour of more selective feeding. If the environment is relatively non-threatening, the rabbit will remain outdoors for many hours and their diet contains large amounts of cellulose, which is hard to digest. Rabbits solve this problem by using a form of hindgut fermentation and they pass two distinct types of feces, hard droppings and soft black viscous pellets, the latter of which are known as caecotrophs and are immediately eaten. Rabbits reingest their own droppings to digest their food further and extract sufficient nutrients, capybara are herbivores that graze mainly on grasses and aquatic plants, as well as fruit and tree bark. As with other grazers, they can be selective and will feed on the leaves of one species. They eat a variety of plants during the dry season. While they eat grass during the wet season, they have to switch to more abundant reeds during the dry season, the capybaras jaw hinge is not perpendicular and therefore they chew food by grinding back-and-forth rather than side-to-side. Capybara are coprophagous, as a source of gut flora, to help digest the cellulose in the grass that forms their normal diet. They may also regurgitate food to masticate again, similar to cud-chewing by a cow, as with other rodents, the front teeth of capybara grow continually to compensate for the constant wear from eating grasses, their cheek teeth also grow continuously
41.
Chalk stream
–
Chalk streams are streams that flow through chalk hills towards the sea. They are typically wide and shallow, and due to the effect of the chalk they are alkaline. There are 210 chalk streams in the world, and 160 of those are in England, chalk streams are popular with fly fishermen who fish for trout on these rivers. Chalk is a porous and permeable rock and rain falling onto chalk topography percolates directly into the ground. The groundwater flows through the bedrock, re-emerging lower down the slope in springs. The chalk acts as a reservoir by regulating the amount of water supplied to the springs. This is why many chalk streams in the UK have stable flow regimes that vary slightly over time. The temperature of the surface water is fairly stable and rarely deviates from 10°C. On cold winter mornings, water vapour from the warm stream condenses in the cold air above to form fog. Chalk is a soluble in rainwater because rain is slightly acidic. The products of weathering are dissolved in rainwater and are transported in stream flow. Chalk streams transport little suspended material, but are considered mineral-rich due to the dissolved calcium, the surface water of chalk streams is commonly described as gin clear. The channel bed consists of angular flint gravel derived from the natural flint deposits found embedded within the chalk geology that contains low amounts of clay. The unique characteristics of chalk stream ecology are due to temperature and flow regimes combined with highly transparent water. The chalk streams have been managed for many generations. In the 20th and 21st centuries, much of that management has been aimed at producing the best conditions for fly fishing, the chalk streams hold a good number of wild salmonid fish species such as the brown trout, Atlantic salmon and grayling. In addition to there are also considerable numbers of stocked brown trout. The rich invertebrate life and characteristic transparent shallow water make chalk rivers, many of the chalk stream springs are also used as sites for watercress production, due to the constant temperature and clean, alkaline, mineral-rich spring water
42.
Recreational fishing
–
Recreational fishing, also called sport fishing, is fishing for pleasure or competition. It can be contrasted with fishing, which is fishing for profit, or subsistence fishing. The most common form of fishing is done with a rod, reel, line, hooks. Other devices, commonly referred to as terminal tackle, are used to affect or complement the presentation of the bait to the targeted fish. Some examples of terminal tackle include weights, floats, and swivels, lures are frequently used in place of bait. Some hobbyists make handmade tackle themselves, including plastic lures and artificial flies, the practice of catching or attempting to catch fish with a hook is known as angling. Big-game fishing is conducted from boats to catch large species such as tuna, sharks. Noodling and trout tickling are also recreational activities, the early evolution of fishing as recreation is not clear. For example, there is evidence for fly fishing in Japan as early as the ninth century BCE. But for the early Japanese and Macedonians, fly fishing was likely to have been a means of survival and it is possible that antecedents of recreational fly fishing arrived in England with the Norman conquest of 1066. Although the point in history where fishing could first be said to be recreational is not clear, the earliest English essay on recreational fishing was published in 1496, shortly after the invention of the printing press. The authorship of this was attributed to Dame Juliana Berners, the prioress of the Benedictine Sopwell Nunnery, the essay was titled Treatyse of Fysshynge wyth an Angle, and was published in the second Boke of Saint Albans, a treatise on hawking, hunting, and heraldry. During the 16th century the work was read, and was reprinted many times. Treatyse includes detailed information on fishing waters, the construction of rods and lines, and it also includes modern concerns about conservation and angler etiquette. Another Civil War veteran to enthusiastically take up fishing, was Richard Franck and he was the first to describe salmon fishing in Scotland, and both in that and trout-fishing with artificial fly he was a practical angler. He was the first angler to name the burbot, and commended the salmon of the River Thames, Compleat Angler was written by Izaak Walton in 1653 and described the fishing in the Derbyshire Wye. It was a celebration of the art and spirit of fishing in prose and verse,6 verses were quoted from John Dennyss earlier work, a second part to the book was added by Waltons friend Charles Cotton. More than 300 editions of The Compleat Angler have been published, the pastoral discourse was enriched with country fishing folklore, songs and poems, recipes and anecdotes, moral meditations, and quotes from classic literature
