1.
Scotland
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Scotland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom and covers the northern third of the island of Great Britain. It shares a border with England to the south, and is surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean, with the North Sea to the east. In addition to the mainland, the country is made up of more than 790 islands, including the Northern Isles, the Kingdom of Scotland emerged as an independent sovereign state in the Early Middle Ages and continued to exist until 1707. By inheritance in 1603, James VI, King of Scots, became King of England and King of Ireland, Scotland subsequently entered into a political union with the Kingdom of England on 1 May 1707 to create the new Kingdom of Great Britain. The union also created a new Parliament of Great Britain, which succeeded both the Parliament of Scotland and the Parliament of England. Within Scotland, the monarchy of the United Kingdom has continued to use a variety of styles, titles, the legal system within Scotland has also remained separate from those of England and Wales and Northern Ireland, Scotland constitutes a distinct jurisdiction in both public and private law. Glasgow, Scotlands largest city, was one of the worlds leading industrial cities. Other major urban areas are Aberdeen and Dundee, Scottish waters consist of a large sector of the North Atlantic and the North Sea, containing the largest oil reserves in the European Union. This has given Aberdeen, the third-largest city in Scotland, the title of Europes oil capital, following a referendum in 1997, a Scottish Parliament was re-established, in the form of a devolved unicameral legislature comprising 129 members, having authority over many areas of domestic policy. Scotland is represented in the UK Parliament by 59 MPs and in the European Parliament by 6 MEPs, Scotland is also a member nation of the British–Irish Council, and the British–Irish Parliamentary Assembly. Scotland comes from Scoti, the Latin name for the Gaels, the Late Latin word Scotia was initially used to refer to Ireland. By the 11th century at the latest, Scotia was being used to refer to Scotland north of the River Forth, alongside Albania or Albany, the use of the words Scots and Scotland to encompass all of what is now Scotland became common in the Late Middle Ages. Repeated glaciations, which covered the land mass of modern Scotland. It is believed the first post-glacial groups of hunter-gatherers arrived in Scotland around 12,800 years ago, the groups of settlers began building the first known permanent houses on Scottish soil around 9,500 years ago, and the first villages around 6,000 years ago. The well-preserved village of Skara Brae on the mainland of Orkney dates from this period and it contains the remains of an early Bronze Age ruler laid out on white quartz pebbles and birch bark. It was also discovered for the first time that early Bronze Age people placed flowers in their graves, in the winter of 1850, a severe storm hit Scotland, causing widespread damage and over 200 deaths. In the Bay of Skaill, the storm stripped the earth from a large irregular knoll, when the storm cleared, local villagers found the outline of a village, consisting of a number of small houses without roofs. William Watt of Skaill, the laird, began an amateur excavation of the site, but after uncovering four houses
2.
United Kingdom
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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
3.
Cable-stayed bridge
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A cable-stayed bridge has one or more towers, from which cables support the bridge deck. A distinctive feature are the cables run directly from the tower to the deck. The cable-stayed bridge is optimal for spans longer than cantilever bridges and this is the range where cantilever bridges would rapidly grow heavier if the span were lengthened, while suspension bridge cabling would not be more economical if the span were shortened. Cable-stayed bridges have been known since the 16th century and used widely since the 19th, early examples often combined features from both the cable-stayed and suspension designs, including the famous Brooklyn Bridge. The design fell from favor through the 20th century as larger gaps were bridged using pure suspension designs, Cable-stayed bridges date back to 1595, where designs were found in Machinae Novae, a book by Venetian inventor Fausto Veranzio. Their designers found that the combination of technologies created a stiffer bridge, john A. Roebling took particular advantage of this to limit deformations due to railway loads in the Niagara Falls Suspension Bridge. Eduardo Torroja designed an aqueduct at Tempul in 1926. Albert Caquots 1952 concrete-decked cable-stayed bridge over the Donzère-Mondragon canal at Pierrelatte is one of the first of the modern type, the steel-decked Strömsund Bridge designed by Franz Dischinger is, therefore, more often cited as the first modern cable-stayed bridge. Other key pioneers included Fabrizio de Miranda, Riccardo Morandi, early bridges from this period used very few stay cables, as in the Theodor Heuss Bridge. However, this involves substantial erection costs, and more modern structures tend to use many more cables to ensure greater economy, Cable-stayed bridges may appear to be similar to suspension bridges, but in fact, they are quite different in principle and in their construction. In suspension bridges, large main cables hang between the towers and are anchored at each end to the ground and this can be difficult to implement when ground conditions are poor. The main cables, which are free to move on bearings in the towers, before the deck is installed, the cables are under tension from their own weight. Along the main cables smaller cables or rods connect to the bridge deck, as this is done, the tension in the cables increases, as it does with the live load of traffic crossing the bridge. The tension on the cables is transferred to the ground at the anchorages. Difference between types of bridges In the cable-stayed bridge, the towers are the primary load-bearing structures which transmit the loads to the ground. A cantilever approach is used to support the bridge deck near the towers. The mono design uses a cable from its towers and is one of the lesser-used examples of the class. In the harp or parallel design, the cables are nearly parallel so that the height of their attachment to the tower is proportional to the distance from the tower to their mounting on the deck
4.
Inverness
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Inverness is a city in the Scottish Highlands. It is the centre for the Highland council area, and is regarded as the capital of the Highlands. It is the northernmost city in the United Kingdom and lies within the Great Glen at its north-eastern extremity where the River Ness enters the Moray Firth. At the latest, a settlement was established by the 6th century with the first royal charter being granted by Dabíd mac Maíl Choluim in the 12th century, the population of Inverness grew from 40,949 in 2001 to 46,870 in 2012. The Greater Inverness area, including Culloden and Westhill, had a population of 59,910 in 2012, Inverness is twinned with one German city, Augsburg, and two French towns, La Baule and Saint-Valery-en-Caux. Inverness College is the campus for the University of the Highlands and Islands. With around 8,500 students, Inverness College hosts around a quarter of all the University of the Highlands and Islands students, in 2014, a survey by a property website described Inverness as the happiest place in Scotland and the second happiest in the UK. Inverness was again found to be the happiest place in Scotland by a new study conducted in 2015, a 93 oz silver chain dating to 500–800 was found just to the south of Torvean in 1983. A church or a cell is thought to have been established by early Celtic monks on St Michaels Mount. The strategic location of Inverness has led to conflicts in the area. Reputedly there was a battle in the early 11th century between King Malcolm and Thorfinn of Norway at Blar Nam Feinne, to the southwest of the city, Inverness had four traditional fairs, including Legavrik or Leth-Gheamhradh, meaning midwinter, and Faoilleach. William the Lion granted Inverness four charters, by one of which it was created a royal burgh, of the Dominican friary founded by Alexander III in 1233, only one pillar and a worn knights effigy survive in a secluded graveyard near the town centre. Medieval Inverness suffered regular raids from the Western Isles, particularly by the MacDonald Lords of the Isles in the fifteenth century, in 1187 one Domhnall Bán led islanders in a battle at Torvean against men from Inverness Castle led by the governors son, Donnchadh Mac An Toisich. Both leaders were killed in the battle, Donald Ban is said to have buried in a large cairn near the river. Local tradition says that the citizens fought off the Clan Donald in 1340 at the Battle of Blairnacoi on Drumderfit Hill, Clan Munro defeated Clan Mackintosh in 1454 at the Battle of Clachnaharry just west of the city. Clan Donald and their allies stormed the castle during the Raid on Ross in 1491, the Clan Munro and Clan Fraser of Lovat took the castle for her. The house in which she lived meanwhile stood in Bridge Street until the 1970s, the only surviving modern remnant is a clock tower. Inverness played a role in the first Jacobite rising in 1689, in early May, it was besieged by a contingent of Jacobites led by MacDonell of Keppoch
5.
A9 road (Scotland)
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The A9 is a major road running from the Falkirk council area in central Scotland to Scrabster Harbour, Thurso in the far north, via Stirling, Bridge of Allan, Perth and Inverness. At 273 miles, it is the longest road in Scotland, historically it was the main road between Edinburgh and John o Groats, and has been called the spine of Scotland. The roads origins lie in the military roads building programme of the 18th century, the A9 route was formally designated in 1923, and originally ran from Edinburgh to Inverness. The route was extended north from Inverness up to John OGroats. By the 1970s the route was hampered by severe congestion. Between Falkirk and Bridge of Allan, the A9 survives as a more or less parallel road to the M9, the link between the M9 and the A9, by Bridge of Allan, is the Keir Roundabout. The A9s origins lie in the military roads building programme carried out by General Wade in the 18th century to allow deployment of forces in key locations within the Highlands. At this time there was already a road between Perth and Dunkeld, and between 1727 and 1730 a roadway was constructed between Dunkeld in Perthshire and Inverness. However, Wade had still to bridge the River Tay at Aberfeldy, construction began in 1733 to a design by William Adam. The bridge was completed within the year, but Wade wrote The Bridge of Tay. was a work of great difficulty, at a cost of over £4000, the bridge became the most expensive item on Wades road building programme. For most of its length between Perth and Inverness, the route was identical to the A9 prior to the commencement of the upgrading works in the 1970s. In 1802, Thomas Telford was requested by the Lords of the Treasury to carry out a survey of the interior of the Scottish Highlands, in his report, he highlighted the inadequacy of the old military roads to meet the requirements of the general population. In particular, he noted the difficulties caused by the absence of bridges over some of the principal rivers, as part of the improvements to the road system that were carried out in the following years, a bridge was built at Dunkeld, designed by Telford. The original cost estimate was £15,000 with costs to be split between the Government and the landowner, the 4th Duke of Atholl, however, costs spiralled up to around £40,000. The Government refused to increase their contribution, so the Duke of Atholl had to finance the extra cost. As a result, tolls were placed on the bridge to recoup costs. The realigned road north out of Dunkeld would evolve eventually into the A9, the formal scheme of classification of roads in Great Britain was first published on 1 April 1923. The original route of the designated A9 began in Edinburgh at the Corstorphine junction in the west of the city, the route went through Kirkliston and onwards to Polmont and Falkirk
6.
River Ness
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The river is the origin of the name of Inverness which is from the Scottish Gaelic, Inbhir Nis, meaning Mouth of the Ness. Dochgarroch weir at the end of Loch Dochfour delineates the start of the River Ness. At Carnarc Point on the west bank the river discharges into the end of the Beauly Firth. The northern section of the Caledonian Canal passes partly through the River Ness, the river Ness is of glacial origin. Although of short length the River Ness has one of the highest average discharge rates in the UK of 11,000 cu ft/s, River Garry, Inverness-shire River Tarff, Fort Augustus On a hill above the river in Inverness stands Inverness Castle. Next to the castle is the Inverness Museum and Art Gallery, the river is overlooked by the Eden Court Theatre, one of the largest theatres in Scotland. St. Andrews Cathedral also lies on the banks of the River Ness as does Old High St Stephens which stands on a known as St Michaels Mount. Inverness draws many tourists and there are hotels along the river, the 1685 bridge was sketched by J. M. W. The Greig Street Bridge is a suspension bridge built in Inverness in 1881. Upstream of Inverness city centre lie the Ness Islands which are popular for walks and have many fine tree specimens. The river flows through the heart of the City of Inverness, the Ness District Salmon Fishery Board is the statutory body responsible for the protection and enhancement of salmon and sea trout fisheries in the Ness District. The banks of the river are lined with lime trees, near the Ness Islands on the west bank is Bught Park which has facilities for sports and leisure. Further upstream from Bught Park is Whin Park which has a boating pond, in Cavell Gardens near the Infirmary Bridge is Inverness war memorial which commemorates the fallen of the two world wars. The memorial is made of red sandstone and is designed in the form of a Celtic cross, a major flood alleviation scheme is currently under construction in the city centre side of the river. The £8.5 million contract for this phase is being undertaken by Morgan Sindall, the Port of Inverness is situated at the mouth of the River Ness where there is also a recently constructed marina offering mooring for private yachts and other vessels. Columba went out of Brideis house and picked up a pebble from the river. He said that the pebble would be used to heal sick people in Pictland. After he had finished speaking, two came to tell them that Broichan had a seizure and they wanted Columba to help them
7.
Loch Ness
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Loch Ness is a large, deep, freshwater loch in the Scottish Highlands extending for approximately 23 miles southwest of Inverness. Its surface is 52 feet above sea level, Loch Ness is best known for alleged sightings of the cryptozoological Loch Ness Monster, also known affectionately as Nessie. It is connected at the end by the River Oich. At the northern end there is the Bona Narrows which opens out into Loch Dochfour, which feeds the River Ness and a further section of canal to Inverness. It is one of a series of interconnected, murky bodies of water in Scotland, its water visibility is exceptionally low due to a high peat content in the surrounding soil. Loch Ness is the second largest Scottish loch by area at 22 square miles after Loch Lomond. Its deepest point is 755 feet, making it the second deepest loch in Scotland after Loch Morar, a 2016 survey claimed to have discovered a crevice that pushed the depth to 889 feet but further research determined it to be a sonar anomaly. It contains more water than all the lakes in England and Wales combined, and is the largest body of water in the Great Glen. At Drumnadrochit is the Loch Ness Centre and Exhibition which examines the natural history, boat cruises operate from various locations on the loch shore, giving visitors the chance to look for the monster. Urquhart Castle is located on the shore,1 mile east of Drumnadrochit. Lighthouses are located at Lochend and Fort Augustus, Loch Ness is thought by some to be the home of the Loch Ness Monster, a cryptid, reputedly a large unknown animal. It is similar to other supposed lake monsters in Scotland and elsewhere, popular interest and belief in the animals existence has varied since it was first brought to the worlds attention in 1933 The following fish species are native to Loch Ness. A number of such as perch and roach have been introduced in the Loch or Caledonian Canal with various levels of success. Loch Ness has one island, Cherry Island, at the end of the loch. It is an island, known as a crannog, and was probably constructed during the Iron Age. There was formerly an island which was submerged when the water level was raised during the construction of the Caledonian Canal. Loch Ness serves as the storage reservoir for the Foyers pumped-storage hydroelectric scheme. The turbines were used to provide power for a nearby aluminium smelting plant
8.
Scottish Gaelic
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Scottish Gaelic or Scots Gaelic, sometimes also referred to as Gaelic, is a Celtic language native to Scotland. A member of the Goidelic branch of the Celtic languages, Scottish Gaelic, like Modern Irish and Manx, developed out of Middle Irish. The 2011 census of Scotland showed that a total of 57,375 people in Scotland could speak Gaelic at that time, the census results indicate a decline of 1,275 Gaelic speakers from 2001. A total of 87,056 people in 2011 reported having some facility with Gaelic compared to 93,282 people in 2001, only about half of speakers were fully literate in the language. Nevertheless, revival efforts exist and the number of speakers of the language under age 20 has increased, Scottish Gaelic is neither an official language of the European Union nor the United Kingdom. Outside Scotland, a group of dialects collectively known as Canadian Gaelic are spoken in parts of Atlantic Canada, mainly Nova Scotia and Prince Edward Island. In the 2011 census, there were 7,195 total speakers of Gaelic languages in Canada, with 1,365 in Nova Scotia and Prince Edward Island where the responses mainly refer to Scottish Gaelic. About 2,320 Canadians in 2011 also claimed Gaelic languages as their mother tongue, with over 300 in Nova Scotia, aside from Scottish Gaelic, the language may also be referred to simply as Gaelic. In Scotland, the word Gaelic in reference to Scottish Gaelic specifically is pronounced, outside Ireland and Great Britain, Gaelic may refer to the Irish language. Scottish Gaelic should not be confused with Scots, the Middle English-derived language varieties which had come to be spoken in most of the Lowlands of Scotland by the modern era. Prior to the 15th century, these dialects were known as Inglis by its own speakers, from the late 15th century, however, it became increasingly common for such speakers to refer to Scottish Gaelic as Erse and the Lowland vernacular as Scottis. Today, Scottish Gaelic is recognised as a language from Irish. Gaelic in Scotland was mostly confined to Dál Riata until the 8th century, when it began expanding into Pictish areas north of the Firth of Forth, by 900, Pictish appears to have become extinct, completely replaced by Gaelic. An exception might be made for the Northern Isles, however, however, though the Pictish language did not disappear suddenly, a process of Gaelicisation was clearly underway during the reigns of Caustantín and his successors. By a certain point, probably during the 11th century, all the inhabitants of Alba had become fully Gaelicised Scots, by the 10th century, Gaelic had become the dominant language throughout northern and western Scotland, the Gaelo-Pictic Kingdom of Alba. Its spread to southern Scotland, was even and totalizing. Place name analysis suggests dense usage of Gaelic in Galloway and adjoining areas to the north and west as well as in West Lothian, less dense usage is suggested for north Ayrshire, Renfrewshire, the Clyde Valley and eastern Dumfriesshire. In south-eastern Scotland, there is no evidence that Gaelic was ever widely spoken, the area shifted from Cumbric to Old English during its long incorporation into the Anglo-Saxon Kingdom of Northumbria
9.
Firth
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Firth is a word in the Scots and English languages used to denote various coastal waters in Scotland and England. In mainland Scotland, it is used to refer to a sea bay. In the Northern Isles, it usually refers to a smaller inlet. It is linguistically cognate to fjord which has a more constrained sense in English, bodies of water named firths tend to be more common on the east coast, or in the southwest of the country, although the Firth of Lorn is an exception to this. The Highland coast contains numerous estuaries, straits, and inlets of a kind, but not called firth, instead. The Pentland Firth is a rather than a bay or an inlet. Firth of Lorn (northernmost, connects with the Moray Firth via the Great Glen lochs, lochs adjoining the Firth, Loch Lochy, Loch Linnhe, Loch Leven, Loch Oich. Islands, Isle of Mull, Lismore and Kerrera, Firth of Clyde Sea lochs adjoining the Firth of Clyde, Gare Loch, Loch Long, Holy Loch, Loch Striven, Loch Riddon off the Kyles of Bute, Loch Fyne and Campbeltown Loch. Places, Helensburgh, Port Glasgow, Greenock, Gourock, Dunoon, Rothesay, Wemyss Bay, Largs, Brodick, Ardrossan, Troon, Ayr, Girvan and Campbeltown. Note that Glasgow is at the limit of the River Clyde, and Clydebank. The Firth is off the Solway Coast, rough Firth Places, Carlisle, England on the River Eden, Annan and Gretna, both in Scotland. Luce Bay, Wigtown, St Bees, Aspatria These are connected to, or form part of, Dornoch Firth Places, Dornoch, Dornoch Bridge, Bonar Bridge, Kyle of Sutherland, Tain, Portmahomack on Tarbat Ness. Rivers, Oykel, Cassley, Shin and Carron Headland, Tarbat Ness, the Firth runs out into the Moray Firth. Rivers, Conon, Orrin, Rusdale, Glass, Alness, Moray Firth and Beauly Firth connected with the Firth of Inverness. Places on the Moray Firth, Inverness, Nairn, Fortrose, headlands, Whiteness Head, Chanonry Point, Alturlie Point. Places on the Beauly Firth, Beauly, Places, Perth, Dundee, Monifieth, Tayport, Newport on Tay, Newburgh, Fife. It is spanned by the Forth Road Bridge,2,512 m long, and this is a strait between the Scottish mainland and the Orkney Islands, and forms a link between the Atlantic Ocean and North Sea. In Shetland in particular, firth can refer to smaller inlets, although geo, voe, bluemull Sound for example, is very similar to some of the firths in the Shetland Islands
10.
South Kessock
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South Kessock is an area of the city of Inverness in Scotland. It is to the north of Merkinch and is known, somewhat disparagingly. Prior to the construction of the Kessock Bridge, the Kessock Ferry sailed between North Kessock and here, south Kessock has featured in two novels by Alex Mabon, The Lads from the Ferry and War of the Ferry. It is traditionally viewed as a working class area, the area has a diverse set of wildlife habitats with a wide variety of plants and animals and as such was designated as a Local Nature Reserve in November 2007. Merkinch Local Nature Reserve is the 50th local nature reserve in Scotland and is the one in the Highlands. The reserve consists of pools, which are partially connected to the sea, open grassland. Habitats include salt marsh, fresh water marsh with reed beds, bog, scrub, south Kessock on Merkinch. info Merkinch Local Nature Reserve
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