1.
Lincolnshire
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Lincolnshire is a county in the east of England. It also borders Northamptonshire in the south for just 20 yards, Englands shortest county boundary, the county town is Lincoln, where the county council has its headquarters. The ceremonial county of Lincolnshire is composed of the county of Lincolnshire. Therefore, part of the county is in the Yorkshire and the Humber region of England. The county is the second-largest of the English ceremonial counties and one that is predominantly agricultural in land use, the county is fifth largest of the two-tier counties, as the unitary authorities of North Lincolnshire and North East Lincolnshire are not included. The county can be broken down into a number of geographical sub-regions including, Lincolnshire derived from the merging of the territory of the ancient Kingdom of Lindsey with that controlled by the Danelaw borough of Stamford. For some time the county was called Lindsey, and it is recorded as such in the 11th-century Domesday Book. In 1888 when county councils were set up, Lindsey, Holland and these survived until 1974, when Holland, Kesteven, and most of Lindsey were unified into Lincolnshire. A local government reform in 1996 abolished Humberside, and the south of the Humber was allocated to the unitary authorities of North Lincolnshire. These two areas became part of Lincolnshire for ceremonial such as the Lord-Lieutenancy, but are not covered by the Lincolnshire police and are in the Yorkshire. The remaining districts of Lincolnshire are Boston, East Lindsey, Lincoln, North Kesteven, South Holland, South Kesteven and they are part of the East Midlands region. Lincolnshire is home to Woolsthorpe Manor, birthplace and home of Sir Isaac Newton and he attended The Kings School, Grantham and its library has preserved his signature, applied to a window sill when he was a teenager. Lincolnshire is an area, growing large amounts of wheat, barley, sugar beet. In South Lincolnshire, where the soil is rich in nutrients, some of the most common crops include potatoes, cabbages, cauliflowers. Most such companies are long gone, and Lincolnshire is no longer an engineering centre, however, as a result of the current economic climate some food production facilities have closed down, this has caused some reduction in the levels of migrant workers. The large number of people from Portugal is still obvious in the town of Boston. A coalition of Conservatives, Liberal Democrats and Independents currently controls Lincolnshire County Council, the Conservative Party comfortably controlled the County Council following the 2009 local elections, in which they increased their majority to 43 seats. The Labour Party lost a total of 15 seats including 7 in Lincoln, the Lincolnshire Independents gained a total of four seats, although one of their number moved to the Conservative group during 2010, increasing the number of Conservative seats to 61
2.
Bolingbroke, Lincolnshire
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Bolingbroke, now called Old Bolingbroke, is a village and civil parish in the East Lindsey district of Lincolnshire, England. The population at the 2001 census was 298 in 128 households, the parish population at the census 2011 had risen to 325. Bolingbroke is 3 miles west of Spilsby, the village of New Bolingbroke is 6 miles to the south-west. The Prime Meridian passes through the parish to the west of Old Bolingbroke, Bolingbroke appears in the Domesday survey as Bolingborg, one of 38 places associated with Stori of Bolingbroke at the time of the Norman conquest. William de Roumare, Earl of Lincoln, built Old Bolingbroke Castle in the 12th century as a motte, in the early 13th century a new castle was constructed at the present site by Ranulph de Blondeville, 4th Earl of Chester. Later John of Gaunt, the son of Edward III, acquired the castle, in 1367 it was the birthplace of Johns son, Henry, known as Henry Bolingbroke, who became King Henry IV of England. The castle was under siege in 1643 during the Civil War when the Royalists used it to troops prior to the Battle of Winceby. The last remaining structure fell down in 1815, the site became a grassy hillock, which archeologists excavated in the 1970s. The village sits in a valley of the Lincolnshire Wolds. These eventually become what is known to the south as Hagnaby Beck, the village is at about 25m above sea level. To the North West the land rises to the 105m on Horncastle Hill, to the north west the road called Spilsby Hill climbs to a separate high point at Highfield Farm. Between these two the narrow Sow Dale leads down to the village, where another Knoll called Knoll Hill stands, Sow Dale is the largest of the narrow valleys that cut through the Spilsby Sandstone ridge that forms the high plateau above the village. The traditional grazed landscape is now represented by two nature reserves only, only the Lower one is in the parish, the upper one is adjacent to the boundary. Another hill to the south east more high ground forms Keal Hill and Hall Hill where the boundary is drawn. So there is another small dale leading down into the village from the east, to the southwest another hill known as Kirkby Hill is topped with a former windmill that sits just within the parish boundary. The high portions of the parish are composed of the Spilsby Sandstone, the parish boundary is complex, but can be summarised as surrounding the village, which is broadly central, and enclosing the rising ground in all directions. It generally does not include the plateau above the village, no major roads cross the parish, but the village is joined by minor roads to many surrounding settlements. There are, and were, no railway connections, events at the castle site are overseen by Heritage Lincolnshire, and locally by The friends of Bolingbroke Castle, who also arrange other local charitable functions
3.
England
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England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west, the Irish Sea lies northwest of England and the Celtic Sea lies to the southwest. England is separated from continental Europe by the North Sea to the east, the country covers five-eighths of the island of Great Britain in its centre and south, and includes over 100 smaller islands such as the Isles of Scilly, and the Isle of Wight. England became a state in the 10th century, and since the Age of Discovery. The Industrial Revolution began in 18th-century England, transforming its society into the worlds first industrialised nation, Englands terrain mostly comprises low hills and plains, especially in central and southern England. However, there are uplands in the north and in the southwest, the capital is London, which is the largest metropolitan area in both the United Kingdom and the European Union. In 1801, Great Britain was united with the Kingdom of Ireland through another Act of Union to become the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland. In 1922 the Irish Free State seceded from the United Kingdom, leading to the latter being renamed the United Kingdom of Great Britain, the name England is derived from the Old English name Englaland, which means land of the Angles. The Angles were one of the Germanic tribes that settled in Great Britain during the Early Middle Ages, the Angles came from the Angeln peninsula in the Bay of Kiel area of the Baltic Sea. The earliest recorded use of the term, as Engla londe, is in the ninth century translation into Old English of Bedes Ecclesiastical History of the English People. According to the Oxford English Dictionary, its spelling was first used in 1538. The earliest attested reference to the Angles occurs in the 1st-century work by Tacitus, Germania, the etymology of the tribal name itself is disputed by scholars, it has been suggested that it derives from the shape of the Angeln peninsula, an angular shape. An alternative name for England is Albion, the name Albion originally referred to the entire island of Great Britain. The nominally earliest record of the name appears in the Aristotelian Corpus, specifically the 4th century BC De Mundo, in it are two very large islands called Britannia, these are Albion and Ierne. But modern scholarly consensus ascribes De Mundo not to Aristotle but to Pseudo-Aristotle, the word Albion or insula Albionum has two possible origins. Albion is now applied to England in a poetic capacity. Another romantic name for England is Loegria, related to the Welsh word for England, Lloegr, the earliest known evidence of human presence in the area now known as England was that of Homo antecessor, dating to approximately 780,000 years ago. The oldest proto-human bones discovered in England date from 500,000 years ago, Modern humans are known to have inhabited the area during the Upper Paleolithic period, though permanent settlements were only established within the last 6,000 years
4.
Defensive wall
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A defensive wall is a fortification used to protect a city, town or other settlement from potential aggressors. In ancient to modern times, they were used to enclose settlements, beyond their defensive utility, many walls also had important symbolic functions – representing the status and independence of the communities they embraced. Existing ancient walls are almost always masonry structures, although brick, depending on the topography of the area surrounding the city or the settlement the wall is intended to protect, elements of the terrain may be incorporated in order to make the wall more effective. Walls may only be crossed by entering the city gate and are often supplemented with towers. Simpler defensive walls of earth or stone, thrown up around hillforts, ringworks, early castles, from very early history to modern times, walls have been a near necessity for every city. Uruk in ancient Sumer is one of the worlds oldest known walled cities, before that, the city of Jericho in what is now the West Bank had a wall surrounding it as early as the 8th millennium BC. The Assyrians deployed large labour forces to build new palaces, temples, some settlements in the Indus Valley Civilization were also fortified. By about 3500 B. C. hundreds of small farming villages dotted the Indus floodplain, many of these settlements had fortifications and planned streets. Mundigak in present-day south-east Afghanistan has defensive walls and square bastions of sun dried bricks, babylon was one of the most famous cities of the ancient world, especially as a result of the building program of Nebuchadnezzar, who expanded the walls and built the Ishtar Gate. Exceptions were few — notably, ancient Sparta and ancient Rome did not have walls for a long time, initially, these fortifications were simple constructions of wood and earth, which were later replaced by mixed constructions of stones piled on top of each other without mortar. In Central Europe, the Celts built large fortified settlements which the Romans called oppida, the fortifications were continuously expanded and improved. In ancient Greece, large stone walls had been built in Mycenaean Greece, in classical era Greece, the city of Athens built a long set of parallel stone walls called the Long Walls that reached their guarded seaport at Piraeus. Large tempered earth walls were built in ancient China since the Shang Dynasty, although stone walls were built in China during the Warring States, mass conversion to stone architecture did not begin in earnest until the Tang Dynasty. The large walls of Pingyao serve as one example, likewise, the famous walls of the Forbidden City in Beijing were established in the early 15th century by the Yongle Emperor. The Romans fortified their cities with massive, mortar-bound stone walls, the most famous of these are the largely extant Aurelian Walls of Rome and the Theodosian Walls of Constantinople, together with partial remains elsewhere. These are mostly city gates, like the Porta Nigra in Trier or Newport Arch in Lincoln, apart from these, the early Middle Ages also saw the creation of some towns built around castles. These cities were only protected by simple stone walls and more usually by a combination of both walls and ditches. From the 12th century AD hundreds of settlements of all sizes were founded all across Europe and these cities are easy to recognise due to their regular layout and large market spaces
5.
Ranulf de Blondeville, 6th Earl of Chester
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For the other Earls of Chester named Ranulf, see Earl of Chester. He was described as almost the last relic of the feudal aristocracy of the Conquest. Ranulf, born in 1170, was the eldest son of Hugh de Kevelioc and he was said to have been small in physical stature. He succeeded to the earldom of Chester as a minor and was knighted in 1188 or 1189, although he used, not inconsistently, the style Duke of Brittany, he never had the control of the duchy, and is not known to have played an important role there. Richard Coeur de Lion, Johns brother, had no legitimate issue. The King had named Arthur of Brittany as his adopted son, Henry did not envy the Duchess and wanted her married to a magnate whom he could trust. The marriage gave Ranulf control of the earldom of Richmond, but it wasnt a success, in 1196, King Richard I of England nominated the nine-year-old Arthur as his heir, and summoned him and his mother, Duchess Constance, to Normandy. Constance left Nantes and travelled towards Rouen, on the way she was abducted by her estranged husband. Richard, furious, marched to Brittany at the head of an army, Arthur was secretly taken away by his tutor to the French court to be brought up with Louis, son of the French king Philip II. In 1199, Constance escaped from her husband and their marriage was dissolved on the grounds of desertion. In 1200 Ranulf cemented his power in Normandy by marrying Clemence of Fougères, she was the daughter of William of Fougères, widow of Alan de Dinant and he had opposed Johns attempted coup of 1193–4, and retained many contacts with partisans of his former stepson Arthur. He spent most of 1199–1204 in France and his loyalty was bought by John with further patronage. However the King was suspicious of the Earl, perhaps with some reason, in the winter of 1204-5, Ranulph, suspected of dealings with the rebellious Welsh and of contemplating revolt himself, had extensive estates temporarily confiscated by the king. This episode apparently convinced Ranulph to show loyalty in future, thereafter he was showered with royal favours. In return he fought John’s Welsh wars 1209–12, helped secure the peace with the pope in 1213–14, and was with the king in Poitou in 1214. Loyal to the king in 1215–16, he was one of the few magnates to witness the Magna Carta of 1215 and he played a leading military role in the civil war by virtue of his extensive estates and numerous castles. Ranulf stood with William Marshal and the Earls of Derby and Warwick with the King, Chester was appointed in 1215 Lord of the County of Lancashire with the power to appoint sheriffs. He was also High Sheriff of Lancashire, High Sheriff of Staffordshire, on Johns death in 1216, Ranulfs influence increased further
6.
Lumber
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Lumber, or timber is wood that has been processed into beams and planks, a stage in the process of wood production. Lumber may also refer to currently un-needed furniture, as in Lumber room, or an awkward gait, ultimately derived from the look of unfashionable, Lumber may be supplied either rough-sawn, or surfaced on one or more of its faces. Besides pulpwood, rough lumber is the raw material for furniture-making and it is available in many species, usually hardwoods, but it is also readily available in softwoods, such as white pine and red pine, because of their low cost. Lumber is mainly used for structural purposes but has other uses as well. It is classified more commonly as a softwood than as a hardwood, in Australia, Ireland, New Zealand and Britain, the term timber describes sawn wood products, such as floor boards. In the United States and Canada, generally timber describes standing or felled trees, before they are milled into boards, Timber there also describes sawn lumber not less than 5 inches in its smallest dimension. The latter includes the often partly finished lumber used in timber-frame construction, remanufactured lumber is the result of secondary or tertiary processing/cutting of previously milled lumber. Specifically, it is cut for industrial or wood-packaging use. Lumber is cut by ripsaw or resaw to create dimensions that are not usually processed by a primary sawmill, resawing is the splitting of 1-inch through 12-inch hardwood or softwood lumber into two or more thinner pieces of full-length boards. For example, splitting a ten-foot 2×4 into two ten-foot 1×4s is considered resawing, structural lumber may also be produced from recycled plastic and new plastic stock. Its introduction has been opposed by the forestry industry. Blending fiberglass in plastic lumber enhances its strength, durability, logs are converted into timber by being sawn, hewn, or split. Sawing with a rip saw is the most common method, because sawing allows logs of lower quality, with grain and large knots. There are various types of sawing, Plain sawn —A log sawn through without adjusting the position of the log, quarter sawn and rift sawn—These terms have been confused in history but generally mean lumber sawn so the annual rings are reasonably perpendicular to the sides of the lumber. Boxed heart—The pith remains within the piece with some allowance for exposure, heart center—the center core of a log. Free of heart center —A side-cut timber without any pith, free of knots —No knots are present. Dimensional lumber is lumber that is cut to standardized width and depth, carpenters extensively use dimensional lumber in framing wooden buildings. Common sizes include 2×4, 2×6, and 4×4, the length of a board is usually specified separately from the width and depth
7.
Earth
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Earth, otherwise known as the World, or the Globe, is the third planet from the Sun and the only object in the Universe known to harbor life. It is the densest planet in the Solar System and the largest of the four terrestrial planets, according to radiometric dating and other sources of evidence, Earth formed about 4.54 billion years ago. Earths gravity interacts with objects in space, especially the Sun. During one orbit around the Sun, Earth rotates about its axis over 365 times, thus, Earths axis of rotation is tilted, producing seasonal variations on the planets surface. The gravitational interaction between the Earth and Moon causes ocean tides, stabilizes the Earths orientation on its axis, Earths lithosphere is divided into several rigid tectonic plates that migrate across the surface over periods of many millions of years. About 71% of Earths surface is covered with water, mostly by its oceans, the remaining 29% is land consisting of continents and islands that together have many lakes, rivers and other sources of water that contribute to the hydrosphere. The majority of Earths polar regions are covered in ice, including the Antarctic ice sheet, Earths interior remains active with a solid iron inner core, a liquid outer core that generates the Earths magnetic field, and a convecting mantle that drives plate tectonics. Within the first billion years of Earths history, life appeared in the oceans and began to affect the Earths atmosphere and surface, some geological evidence indicates that life may have arisen as much as 4.1 billion years ago. Since then, the combination of Earths distance from the Sun, physical properties, in the history of the Earth, biodiversity has gone through long periods of expansion, occasionally punctuated by mass extinction events. Over 99% of all species that lived on Earth are extinct. Estimates of the number of species on Earth today vary widely, over 7.4 billion humans live on Earth and depend on its biosphere and minerals for their survival. Humans have developed diverse societies and cultures, politically, the world has about 200 sovereign states, the modern English word Earth developed from a wide variety of Middle English forms, which derived from an Old English noun most often spelled eorðe. It has cognates in every Germanic language, and their proto-Germanic root has been reconstructed as *erþō, originally, earth was written in lowercase, and from early Middle English, its definite sense as the globe was expressed as the earth. By early Modern English, many nouns were capitalized, and the became the Earth. More recently, the name is simply given as Earth. House styles now vary, Oxford spelling recognizes the lowercase form as the most common, another convention capitalizes Earth when appearing as a name but writes it in lowercase when preceded by the. It almost always appears in lowercase in colloquial expressions such as what on earth are you doing, the oldest material found in the Solar System is dated to 4. 5672±0.0006 billion years ago. By 4. 54±0.04 Gya the primordial Earth had formed, the formation and evolution of Solar System bodies occurred along with the Sun
8.
Battle of Winceby
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The Battle of Winceby took place on 11 October 1643 during the English Civil War near the village of Winceby, Lincolnshire about 4 miles east of Horncastle. During the summer of 1643, the Royalists laid plans to win the war by marching on London. While these sieges were under way, Charles I of England decided to make the best use of his time by reducing Gloucester, Parliamentary forces relieved Gloucester on 5 September. Meanwhile, the second Royalist siege of Hull had commenced, fortunately for the Parliamentary forces, the sea communications of Kingston upon Hull were open. In return, the old Lord Fairfax, who remained in Hull, received infantry reinforcements, on 9 October Parliamentary forces under Manchester laid siege to Bolingbroke Castle. After a sharp skirmish they took Horncastle from an outlying detachment of Fairfaxs force. The Parliamentary detachment reported back to the army that the Royalists were moving towards them. The next morning, leaving men to stop the Bolingbroke garrison from launching a sortie, Manchester arrayed his army on Kirkby Hill. Sometime between 12,00 and 14,00 hours he ordered an advance towards Horncastle. The Parliamentary horse, which moved faster than the infantry, met the Royalists advancing in the direction at Winceby. The field of battle was not ideal as the land falls away into sharp gullies on one side, the two forces were roughly the same size and composition because, as with the Parliamentarians, the Royalist infantry was not present. The ensuing battle lasted about half an hour, cromwell feigned a retreat and lured the Royalists from a good defensive position onto flat ground. A small party of Parliamentarians advanced on the Royalists who discharged their weapons at them, cromwell then led his main body of horse in a charge hoping to press home his attack before the Royalists had time to reload. But dismounted Royalist dragoons managed to fire a volley, hitting several of the Ironsides. Cromwell had his shot from under him, apparently by Sir Ingram Hopton. Royalist cavalry under Sir William Savile counterattacked hitting Cromwells right flank and they in turn were attacked in the flank by Fairfaxs horse. In the resulting melee, the Royalists lost cohesion when the command by Savile to about face was taken to be an order to retreat and Saviles horse fled the battle. On the Roundheads left wing the Cavaliers enjoyed greater initial success, a flanking attack by Cromwells reformed cavalry was enough to cause the Royalists to flee the field in confusion back towards Newark
9.
Henry IV of England
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Henry IV, also known as Henry of Bolingbroke, was King of England and Lord of Ireland from 1399 to 1413, and asserted the claim of his grandfather, Edward III, to the Kingdom of France. Henry was born at Bolingbroke Castle in Lincolnshire, one of Henrys elder sisters, Philippa of Lancaster, married John I of Portugal, and the other, Elizabeth, was the mother of John Holland, 2nd Duke of Exeter. His younger half-sister Catherine, the daughter of his fathers second wife and he also had four half-siblings by Katherine Swynford, originally his sisters governess, then his fathers longstanding mistress, and later his third wife. These four children were given the surname Beaufort after a castle their father held in Champagne, Henrys relationship with his stepmother, Katherine Swynford, was a positive one, but his relationship with the Beauforts varied. In youth he seems to have close to all of them. His brother-in-law Ralph Neville remained one of his strongest supporters, and so did his eldest half-brother John Beaufort, Thomas Swynford, a son from Katherines first marriage to Sir Hugh Swynford, was another loyal companion. Thomas was Constable of Pontefract Castle, where King Richard II is said to have died, Henrys half-sister Joan Beaufort through his fathers relationship with Katherine Swynford was the grandmother of Edward IV and Richard III. Joan had married Ralph Neville, the 1st Earl of Westmorland, when their daughter Cecily married Richard Plantagenet, the 3rd Duke of York, and had several offspring, including Edward IV and Richard III, Joan became the grandmother of two York kings of England. Henry experienced a rather more inconsistent relationship with King Richard II than his father had, first cousins and childhood playmates, they were admitted together to the Order of the Garter in 1377, but Henry participated in the Lords Appellants rebellion against the king in 1387. After regaining power, Richard did not punish Henry, although he did execute or exile many of the rebellious barons. In fact, Richard elevated Henry from Earl of Derby to Duke of Hereford, Henry spent the full year of 1390 supporting the unsuccessful siege of Vilnius by Teutonic Knights with his 300 fellow knights. During this campaign he bought 300 captured Lithuanian princes and then took them back to England. Henrys second expedition to Lithuania in 1392 illustrates the benefits to the Order of these guest crusaders. His small army consisted of over 100 men, including longbow archers and six minstrels, despite the efforts of Henry and his English crusaders, two years of attacks on Vilnius proved fruitless. In 1392–93 Henry undertook a pilgrimage to Jerusalem, where he made offerings at the Holy Sepulchre, later he vowed to lead a crusade to free Jerusalem from the infidel, but he died before this could be accomplished. The relationship between Henry Bolingbroke and the king met with a second crisis, in 1398, a remark by Bolingbroke regarding Richard IIs rule was interpreted as treason by Thomas de Mowbray, 1st Duke of Norfolk. The two dukes agreed to undergo a duel of honour at Gosford Green near Caludon Castle, Mowbrays home in Coventry, yet before the duel could take place, Richard II decided to banish Henry from the kingdom to avoid further bloodshed. Mowbray himself was exiled for life, John of Gaunt died in 1399
10.
Spilsby
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Spilsby is a market town, civil parish and electoral ward in the East Lindsey district of Lincolnshire, England. The town is adjacent to the main A16 trunk road,33 miles east of the county town of Lincoln,17 miles north-east of Boston and 13 miles north-west of Skegness and it lies at the southern edge of the Lincolnshire Wolds and north of the Fenlands. The town has been a market town for more than 700 years. It has changed little in size since the beginning of the 19th century, at the centre of town is an open square or traditional market place, from which the four main town streets radiate. Markets take place on a Monday, as Spilsby is located within a predominantly agricultural area, much of the market produce consists of locally grown vegetables and meat. The population of the town was 2,336 in the 2001 census, the area has been occupied since pre-historic times. Evidence for this can be found at nearby West Keal, where an Iron Age hill fort and defensive terraced earthworks were built at the tip of the Wolds promontory, the Spilsby area was visited and occupied by the Romans during the 1st century and until the 4th century AD. During the 1960s, a dig and field walk at nearby Keal Cotes, in a large field south of the village, discovered tessellated mosaic floor tiles. These indicated that a substantial Roman villa or high-status Romano-British farmhouse once stood on the site, the recorded finds from the site are stored at the Museum of Lincolnshire Life in Lincoln. In 1849 six Roman funeral urns were dug up in nearby Fulletby, Spilsby was probably named before or no later than the 9th century Dane rule period. It literally translates from the phrase Spilas-by, where by is old Norse for place of dwelling, hence, it meant Spilas village or, more accurately, Spila lives here, Spila being the local Viking warlord or chieftain, who acted as head of the immediate area. The town was recorded in the Domesday book as Spilesbei, in 1082 it was not much more than a large farmstead and few surrounding crofts under the squireship of the Bishop of Durham. According to historian Graham Platts, a charter was granted to a John de Beke in 1255 to hold a market in Spilsby each Monday. Four years later, in 1259, the same John de Beke was granted a charter to hold a three-day Christmas fair from 5–8 December. The next recorded charter to hold a weekly Monday market in the town, a copy of this charter is in the parish church. At the east end of the town market place stands a medieval Buttercross monument. The historian Nikolaus Pevsner suggests that the Spilsby Buttercross dates from as early as the 14th, the stepped bases of these monuments were used by early traders on market day to display their goods, usually milk, cheeses and butter. Standing in the centre of the place is a building originally known as the town hall
11.
Greensand
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Greensand or Green sand is either a sand or sandstone, which has a greenish color. This term is applied to shallow marine sediment, that contains noticeable quantities of rounded greenish grains. These grains are called glauconies and consist of a mixture of clay minerals. Greensand is also applied to any glauconitic sediment. Greensand forms in anoxic marine environments that are rich in organic detritus, having accumulated in marine environments, greensands can be fossil-rich, such as in the late-Cretaceous deposits of New Jersey, USA. Important exposures are known from northern and western Europe, North America, and north Africa. Well known and important greensands are the Upper and Lower Greensands of England and occur within Eocene and Cretaceous sedimentary strata underlying the coastal plains of New Jersey, in Great Britain, greensand usually refers to specific rock strata of Early Cretaceous age. A distinction is made between the Upper Greensand and Lower Greensand, the soil of the greensand is quite varied, ranging from fertile to fairly sterile. On the fertile soils chestnut and stands of hazel and oak are common, while Scots Pine and these Greensand Ridges are popular long distance walking routes, for instance the Greensand Way in Kent. The Lower Greensand is of Aptian age, the Upper Greensand is of Albian age. It represents a sandy lithofacies deposited in areas of stronger currents than the Gault Clay, outcrops of the Upper Greensand occur in the south-west of England including the Blackdown Hills and East Devon Plateau and the Haldon Hills, remnants of a once much wider extent. It is an ingredient as a source of potassium in organic gardening and farming fertilisers. Greensand glauconite is used as a softener for its chemical-exchange properties. It is also used as a type of rock for stone walls in areas where greensand is common, in Roman times in Britain, coarse grits derived from the lower greensand were used to line the inner surface of mortaria produced in the Oxfordshire pottery kilns
12.
Keep
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A keep is a type of fortified tower built within castles during the Middle Ages by European nobility. The Anglo-Normans and French rulers began to stone keeps during the 10th and 11th centuries, these included Norman keeps, with a square or rectangular design. Stone keeps carried considerable political as well as military importance and could take up to a decade to build, during the 12th century, new designs began to be introduced – in France, quatrefoil-shaped keeps were introduced, while in England polygonal towers were built. In Spain, keeps were increasingly incorporated into both Christian and Islamic castles, although in Germany tall towers called Bergfriede were preferred to keeps in the western fashion, in the second half of the 14th century, there was a resurgence in the building of keeps. In France, the keep at Vincennes began a fashion for tall, heavily machicolated designs, meanwhile, tower keeps in England became popular amongst the most wealthy nobles, these large keeps, each uniquely designed, formed part of the grandest castles built during the period. By the 16th century, however, keeps were slowly falling out of fashion as fortifications, many were destroyed in civil wars between the 17th and 18th centuries, or incorporated into gardens as an alternative to follies. During the 19th century, keeps became fashionable once again and in England, despite further damage to many French and Spanish keeps during the wars of the 20th century, keeps now form an important part of the tourist and heritage industry in Europe. Since the 16th century, the English word keep has commonly referred to large towers in castles. The word originates from around 1375 to 1376, coming from the Middle English term kype, meaning basket or cask, the term came to be used for other shell keeps by the 15th century. By the 17th century, the word keep lost its reference to baskets or casks. Early on, the use of the keep became associated with the idea of a tower in a castle that would serve both as a fortified, high-status private residence and a refuge of last resort. By the 19th century, Victorian historians incorrectly concluded that the etymology of the keep and tenazza were linked. As a result of evolution in meaning, the use of the term keep in historical analysis today can be problematic. Contemporary medieval writers used various terms for the buildings we would today call keeps, in Latin, they are variously described as turris, turris castri or magna turris – a tower, a castle tower, or a great tower. The 12th-century French came to them a donjon, from the Latin dominarium lordship, linking the keep. Similarly, medieval Spanish writers called the buildings torre del homenaje, in England, donjon turned into dungeon, which initially referred to a keep, rather than to a place of imprisonment. This ambiguity over terminology has made historical analysis of the use of keeps problematic, while the term remains in common academic use, some academics prefer to use the term donjon, and most modern historians warn against using the term keep simplistically. The fortifications that we would today call keeps certainly did not necessarily part of a unified medieval style
13.
Moat
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A moat is a deep, broad ditch, either dry or filled with water, that is dug and surrounds a castle, fortification, building or town, historically to provide it with a preliminary line of defence. In some places evolved into more extensive water defences, including natural or artificial lakes, dams. In older fortifications, such as hillforts, they are referred to simply as ditches. In later periods, moats or water defences may be largely ornamental and they could also act as sewerage. Some of the earliest evidence of moats has been uncovered around ancient Egyptian castles, one example is at Buhen, a castle excavated in Nubia. Other evidence of ancient moats is found in the ruins of Babylon, and in reliefs from ancient Egypt, Assyria, and other cultures in the region. Evidence of early moats around settlements has been discovered in archaeological sites throughout Southeast Asia, including Noen U-Loke, Ban Non Khrua Chut, Ban Makham Thae. The use of the moats could have been either for defensive or agriculture purposes, moats were excavated around castles and other fortifications as part of the defensive system as an obstacle immediately outside the walls. In suitable locations they might be filled with water, a moat made access to the walls difficult for siege weapons, such as siege towers and battering rams, which needed to be brought up against a wall to be effective. A water-filled moat made the practice of mining, digging tunnels under the castles in order to effect a collapse of the defences, segmented moats have one dry section and one section filled with water. Dry moats cut across the part of a spur or peninsula are called neck ditches. Moats separating different elements of a castle, such as the inner and outer wards are cross ditches, the shared derivation implies that the two features were closely related and possibly constructed at the same time. The term moat is also applied to natural formations reminiscent of the artificial structure, the walls were further protected from infantry attack by wet or dry moats, sometimes in elaborate systems. When this style of fortification was superseded by lines of forts in the mid-19th century. The Walls of Benin were a combination of ramparts and moats, called Iya and it was considered the largest man-made structure lengthwise, second only to the Great Wall of China and the largest earthwork in the world. With more recent work by Patrick Darling, it has established as the largest man-made structure in the world. It enclosed 6,500 km² of community lands and its length was over 16,000 km of earth boundaries. It was estimated that earliest construction began in 800 and continued into the mid-15th century, the walls are built of a ditch and dike structure, the ditch dug to form an inner moat with the excavated earth used to form the exterior rampart
14.
Curtain wall (fortification)
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A curtain wall is a defensive wall between two towers of a castle, fortress, or town. In medieval castles, the area surrounded by a curtain wall, the outermost walls with their integrated bastions and wall towers together make up the enceinte or main defensive line enclosing the site. In earlier designs of castle and town, the walls were often built to a considerable height and were fronted by a ditch or moat to make assault difficult. Evidence for curtain walls or a series of walls surrounding a town or fortress can be found in the sources from Assyria. Some notable examples are ancient Lachish and Buhen, enceinte Curry, Anne, Hughes, Michael, eds. The Popular Encyclopedia, or, Conversations Lexicon, I, Glasgow, Edinburgh, and London, Blackie & Son, p.444
15.
Beeston Castle
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Beeston Castle is a former Royal castle in Beeston, Cheshire, England, perched on a rocky sandstone crag 350 feet above the Cheshire Plain. It was built in the 1220s by Ranulf de Blondeville, 6th Earl of Chester, the castle was slighted in 1646, in accordance with Cromwells destruction order, to prevent its further use as a stronghold. The castle is now in ruins, the walls of the outer bailey, along with the walls and gatehouse of the inner bailey, are separately recorded in the National Heritage List for England as designated Grade I listed buildings. The castle is also a Scheduled Ancient Monument, owned by English Heritage and it is rumoured that treasure belonging to Richard II lies undiscovered in the castle grounds, but the many searches that have been carried out have failed to find any trace of it. During the 18th century the site was used as a quarry, Beeston crag is one of a chain of rocky hills stretching across the Cheshire Plain. Pits dating from the 4th millennium BC indicate the site of Beeston Castle may have inhabited or used as a communal gathering place during the Neolithic period. Archaeologists have discovered Neolithic flint arrow heads on the crag, as well as the remains of a Bronze Age community and it may have been a specialist metalworking site. Beeston was built by Ranulf de Blondeville, 6th Earl of Chester, as an impregnable stronghold, the siting of the castles outer bailey walls was chosen to take advantage of the fortifications remaining from the earlier Iron Age rampart. In medieval documents the castle is described as Castellum de Rupe and it is one of three major castles built by Ranulph in the 1220s, shortly after his return from the Fifth Crusade. The others are Bolingbroke in Lincolnshire, and Chartley, Staffordshire, unlike many other castles of the period, Beeston does not have a keep as its last line of defence. Instead the natural features of the land together with walls, strong gatehouses. The defences consisted of two parts, firstly, a rectangular castle on the summit of the hill, with a sheer drop on three sides and a defensive ditch up to 30 feet deep in places cut into the rock on the fourth side. Secondly, a bailey was built on the lower slopes. The outer bailey was rectangular, with 6 feet thick walls faced in sandstone. The walls, parts of which remain, contain a number of D-shaped towers. The towers allowed defenders to shoot across the walls as well as forwards, the inner bailey was situated on the rocky summit at the western end of the crag. To provide the inhabitants with a supply of fresh water two wells were dug into the rock, one of them, at 370 feet deep. Although most of the defences were in place by the time of Ranulphs death in 1232, there were no living quarters, John died without a male heir, allowing King Henry III to take over the Earldom of Cheshire
16.
Norman people
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The Normans were the people who, in the 10th and 11th centuries, gave their name to Normandy, a region in France. They were descended from Norse raiders and pirates from Denmark, Iceland and Norway who, under their leader Rollo, through generations of assimilation and mixing with the native Frankish and Gallo-Roman populations, their descendants gradually adopted the Carolingian-based cultures of West Francia. The distinct cultural and ethnic identity of the Normans emerged initially in the first half of the 10th century, the Norman dynasty had a major political, cultural and military impact on medieval Europe and even the Near East. The Normans were famed for their spirit and eventually for their Christian piety. They adopted the Gallo-Romance language of the Frankish land they settled, their becoming known as Norman, Normaund or Norman French. The Normans are noted both for their culture, such as their unique Romanesque architecture and musical traditions, and for their significant military accomplishments and their chief men were specially lavish through their desire of good report. They were, moreover, a race skillful in flattery, given to the study of eloquence, so that the boys were orators. They were enduring of toil, hunger, and cold whenever fortune laid it on them, given to hunting and hawking, delighting in the pleasure of horses, and of all the weapons and garb of war. The treaty offered Rollo and his men the French lands between the river Epte and the Atlantic coast in exchange for their protection against further Viking incursions. The area corresponded to the part of present-day Upper Normandy down to the river Seine. The territory was equivalent to the old province of Rouen. Before Rollos arrival, its populations did not differ from Picardy or the Île-de-France, the Norman language was forged by the adoption of the indigenous langue doïl branch of Romance by a Norse-speaking ruling class, and it developed into the regional language that survives today. The Normans thereafter adopted the growing feudal doctrines of the rest of France, the new Norman rulers were culturally and ethnically distinct from the old French aristocracy, most of whom traced their lineage to Franks of the Carolingian dynasty. Most Norman knights remained poor and land-hungry, and by 1066 Normandy had been exporting fighting horsemen for more than a generation, many Normans of Italy, France and England eventually served as avid Crusaders under the Italo-Norman prince Bohemund I and the Anglo-Norman king Richard the Lion-Heart. Opportunistic bands of Normans successfully established a foothold in Southern Italy, probably as the result of returning pilgrims stories, the Normans entered Southern Italy as warriors in 1017 at the latest. In 999, according to Amatus of Montecassino, Norman pilgrims returning from Jerusalem called in at the port of Salerno when a Saracen attack occurred. The Normans fought so valiantly that Prince Guaimar III begged them to stay, the Hauteville family achieved princely rank by proclaiming prince Guaimar IV of Salerno Duke of Apulia and Calabria. He promptly awarded their elected leader, William Iron Arm, with the title of count in his capital of Melfi
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Motte-and-bailey castle
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The Normans introduced the design into England and Wales following their invasion in 1066. Motte-and-bailey castles were adopted in Scotland, Ireland, the Low Countries, by the end of the 13th century, the design was largely superseded by alternative forms of fortification, but the earthworks remain a prominent feature in many countries. The term motte and bailey is a modern one, and is not medieval in origin. The word bailey comes from the Norman-French baille, or basse-cour, in medieval sources, the Latin term castellum was used to describe the bailey complex within these castles. One contemporary account of these comes from Jean de Colmieu around 1130. De Colmieu described how the nobles would build a mound of earth as high as they can and dig a ditch about it as wide and deep as possible. The space on top of the mound is enclosed by a palisade of very strong hewn logs, inside the enclosure is a citadel, or keep, which commands the whole circuit of the defences. Mottes were made out of earth and flattened on top, some were also built over older artificial structures, such as Bronze Age barrows. The size of mottes varied considerably, with these mounds being 3 metres to 30 metres in height and this minimum height of 3 metres for mottes is usually intended to exclude smaller mounds which often had non-military purposes. In England and Wales, only 7% of mottes were taller than 10 metres high, a motte was protected by a ditch around it, which would typically have also been a source of the earth and soil for constructing the mound itself. A keep and a wall would usually be built on top of the motte. Smaller mottes could only support simple towers with room for a few soldiers, wooden structures on mottes could be protected by skins and hides to prevent them being easily set alight during a siege. The bailey was a courtyard overlooked by the motte and surrounded by a wooden fence called a palisade. The bailey was often kidney-shaped to fit against a circular motte, the bailey would contain a wide number of buildings, including a hall, kitchens, a chapel, barracks, stores, stables, forges or workshops, and was the centre of the castles economic activity. The bailey was linked to the motte either by a bridge stretching between the two, or, more popularly in England, by steps cut into the motte. Typically the ditch of the motte and the bailey joined, forming a figure of eight around the castle, wherever possible, nearby streams and rivers would be dammed or diverted, creating water-filled moats, artificial lakes and other forms of water defences. In practice, there was a number of variations to this common design. A castle could have more than one bailey, at Warkworth Castle an inner, some baileys had two mottes, such as those at Lincoln
18.
Fifth Crusade
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The Fifth Crusade was an attempt by Western Europeans to reacquire Jerusalem and the rest of the Holy Land by first conquering the powerful Ayyubid state in Egypt. Later in 1218, a German army led by Oliver of Cologne, in order to attack Damietta in Egypt, they allied in Anatolia with the Seljuk Sultanate of Rûm which attacked the Ayyubids in Syria in an attempt to free the Crusaders from fighting on two fronts. After occupying the port of Damietta, the Crusaders marched south towards Cairo in July 1221, a nighttime attack by Sultan Al-Kamil resulted in a great number of crusader losses, and eventually in the surrender of the army. Al-Kamil agreed to a peace agreement with Europe. Pope Innocent III had already planned since 1208 a crusade to recapture Jerusalem, in April 1213 he issued the papal bull Quia maior, calling all of Christendom to join a new crusade. This was followed by another bull, the Ad Liberandam in 1215. Pope Innocent wanted it to be led by the papacy, as the First Crusade should have been, to avoid the mistakes of the Fourth Crusade, which had been taken over by the Venetians. Pope Innocent planned for the crusaders to meet at Brindisi in 1216, every crusader would receive an indulgence, including those who simply helped pay the expenses of a crusader, but did not go on crusade themselves. Oliver of Cologne had preached the crusade in Germany, and Emperor Frederick II attempted to join in 1215, Frederick was the last monarch Innocent wanted to join, as he had challenged the Papacy. Innocent died in 1216 and was succeeded by Pope Honorius III, who barred Frederick from participating, Andrew had the largest royal army in the history of the crusades. The first to take up the cross in the Fifth Crusade was King Andrew II of Hungary, Andrew and his troops embarked on 23 August 1217, in Split. They were transported by the Venetian fleet, which was the largest European fleet in the era, until his return to Hungary, king Andrew remained the leader of Christian forces in the Fifth Crusade. In Jerusalem, the walls and fortifications were demolished to prevent the Christians from being able to defend the city, if they did manage to reach it, Muslims fled the city, afraid that there would be a repeat of the bloodbath of the First Crusade in 1099. King Andrews well-mounted army defeated sultan Al-Adil I at Bethsaida on the Jordan River on 10 November 1217, muslim forces retreated in their fortresses and towns. The crusaders catapults and trebuchets did not arrive in time, so they had fruitless assaults on the fortresses of the Lebanon and on Mount Tabor, afterwards, Andrew spent his time collecting alleged relics. At the beginning of 1218 Andrew, who was very sick, Andrew and his army departed to Hungary in February 1218, and Bohemund and Hugh also returned home. Later in 1218 Oliver of Cologne arrived with a new German army, with Leopold and John they discussed attacking Damietta in Egypt. To accomplish this, they allied with Keykavus I, the leader in Anatolia, in July 1218 the crusaders began their siege of Damietta, and despite resistance from the unprepared sultan Al-Adil, the tower outside the city was taken on August 25
19.
Henry of Grosmont, 1st Duke of Lancaster
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He was a founding member and the second Knight of the Order of the Garter in 1348, and in 1351 was created duke. Grosmont was also the author of the book Livre de seyntz medicines and he is remembered as one of the founders and early patrons of Corpus Christi College, Cambridge, which was established by two of the guilds of the town in 1352. Grosmonts uncle, Thomas of Lancaster, was the son and heir of Edward Is brother Edmund Crouchback, through his inheritance and a fortunate marriage, Thomas became the wealthiest peer in England, but constant quarrels with King Edward II led to his execution in 1322. Having no heir, Thomass possessions and titles went to his younger brother Henry – Grosmonts father, Earl Henry of Lancaster assented to the deposition of Edward II in 1327, but did not long stay in favour with the regency of Queen Isabella and Roger Mortimer. When Edward III took personal control of the government in 1330, relations with the Crown improved, little is known of Grosmonts early years, but that he was born at Grosmont Castle in Grosmont, Monmouthshire, Wales, and that he was born c. 1310, not around the turn of the century as previously held, according to his own memoirs, he was better at martial arts than at academic subjects, and did not learn to read until later in life. In 1330 he was knighted, and represented his father in parliament, the next year he is recorded as participating in a royal tournament at Cheapside. In 1333 he took part in Edwards Scottish campaign, though it is whether he was present at the great English victory at the Battle of Halidon Hill. After further service in the north, he was appointed the Kings lieutenant in Scotland in 1336, the next year he was one of the six men Edward III promoted to the higher levels of the peerage. One of his fathers titles, that of Earl of Derby, was bestowed upon Grosmont. With the outbreak of the Hundred Years War in 1337, Grosmonts attention was turned towards France and he took part in several diplomatic missions and minor campaigns and was present at the great English victory in the naval Battle of Sluys in 1340. Later the same year, he was required to commit himself as hostage in the Low Countries for the considerable debts. He remained hostage until the year and had to pay a large ransom for his own release. On his return he was made the lieutenant in the north. The next years he spent in negotiations in the Low Countries, Castile. In 1345 Edward III was planning an assault on France. A three-pronged attack would have the Earl of Northampton attacking from Brittany, the ransom from the prisoners has been estimated at £50,000. The next year, while Edward was carrying out his Crécy campaign, Grosmont laid siege to, in 1345, while Grosmont was in France, his father died
20.
John of Gaunt
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John of Gaunt, 1st Duke of Lancaster, KG was a member of the House of Plantagenet, the third of five surviving sons of King Edward III of England and Philippa of Hainault. He was called John of Gaunt because he was born in Ghent, when he became unpopular later in life, scurrilous rumours and lampoons circulated that he was actually the son of a Ghent butcher, perhaps because Edward III was not present at the birth. This story always drove him to fury, due to some generous land grants, John was one of the richest men in his era. John of Gaunts legitimate male heirs, the Lancasters, include Kings Henry IV, Henry V and his other legitimate descendants include his daughters Queen Philippa of Portugal and Elizabeth, Duchess of Exeter, and Queen Catherine of Castile. John fathered five children outside marriage, one early in life by a lady-in-waiting to his mother, the children of Katherine Swynford, surnamed Beaufort, were legitimised by royal and papal decrees after John and Katherine married in 1396. Through his daughter Philippa, he was grandfather of King Edward of Portugal, through John II of Castiles great-granddaughter Joanna the Mad, John of Gaunt is also an ancestor of the Habsburg rulers who would reign in Spain and much of central Europe. When John of Gaunt died in 1399, his estates and titles were declared forfeit to the crown, since King Richard II had named Henry a traitor, Henry Bolingbroke returned from exile to reclaim his inheritance and depose Richard. Bolingbroke then reigned as King Henry IV of England, the first of the descendants of John of Gaunt to hold the throne of England, John was the fourth son of King Edward III of England. His first wife, Blanche of Lancaster, was also his third cousin and they married in 1359 at Reading Abbey as a part of the efforts of Edward III to arrange matches for his sons with wealthy heiresses. He also became the 14th Baron of Halton and 11th Lord of Bowland, John inherited the rest of the Lancaster property when Blanches sister Maud, Countess of Leicester, died without issue on 10 April 1362. John received the title Duke of Lancaster from his father on 13 November 1362, by then well established, he owned at least thirty castles and estates across England and France and maintained a household comparable in scale and organisation to that of a monarch. He owned land in almost every county in England, a patrimony that produced a net income of between £8,000 and £10,000 a year, however, Johns ascendancy to political power coincided with widespread resentment of his influence. Although he fought in the Battle of Nájera, for example, when Edward III died in 1377 and Johns ten-year-old nephew succeeded as Richard II of England, Johns influence strengthened. However, mistrust remained, and some suspected him of wanting to seize the throne himself, John took pains to ensure that he never became associated with the opposition to Richards kingship. As de facto ruler during Richards minority, he made unwise decisions on taxation that led to the Peasants Revolt in 1381, when the rebels destroyed his home in London, the Savoy Palace. Unlike some of Richards unpopular advisors, John was away from London at the time of the uprising and thus avoided the direct wrath of the rebels. In 1386 John left England to seek the throne of Castile, claimed in Jure uxoris by right of his wife, Constance of Castile. However, crisis ensued almost immediately in his absence, and in 1387 King Richards misrule brought England to the brink of civil war
21.
Blanche of Lancaster
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Blanche of Lancaster was a member of the English royal House of Plantagenet and the daughter of the kingdoms wealthiest and most powerful peer, Henry of Grosmont, 1st Duke of Lancaster. She was the first wife of John of Gaunt, the mother of King Henry IV, Blanche is said to have been born on 25 March 1345, although the year 1347 has also been suggested. She was the daughter of Henry of Grosmont, 1st Duke of Lancaster. She and her elder sister Maud, Countess of Leicester, were born at Bolingbroke Castle in Lindsey, Maud married Ralph de Stafford and then William I, Duke of Bavaria, however, Maud did not have children so her younger sister inherited their fathers titles and estates. On 19 May 1359, at Reading Abbey, Reading, Berkshire, Blanche married her cousin, John of Gaunt. The whole royal family was present at the wedding, and the King gave Blanche expensive gifts of jewellery, the title Duke of Lancaster became extinct upon her fathers death without male heirs in 1361. However, John of Gaunt became Earl of Lancaster, Earl of Derby, Earl of Lincoln, the Duchy of Lancaster was later bestowed on Gaunt. The influence associated with the titles would lead him to become Lord High Steward of England, Jean Froissart described Blanche as jone et jolie. Gaunt and Blanches marriage is believed to have been happy. Blanche and Gaunt had seven children, three of whom survived infancy, Blanche died at Tutbury Castle, Staffordshire, on 12 September 1368 while her husband was overseas. She was 23 years of age at the time of her death and it is believed that she may have died after contracting the Black Death, which was rife in Europe at that time. Her funeral at St. Pauls Cathedral in London was preceded by a magnificent cortege attended by most of the upper nobility, John of Gaunt held annual commemorations of her death for the rest of his life and established a joint chantry foundation on his own death. In 1373, Jean Froissart wrote a poem, Le Joli Buisson de Jonece. The poem tells the story of the poets dream, wandering a wood, the poet discovers a knight clothed in black, and inquires of the knights sorrow. The knight, perhaps representing Gaunt, is mourning a terrible tragedy, in 1374, six years after her death, John of Gaunt commissioned a double tomb for himself and Blanche from the mason Henry Yevele. The magnificent monument in the choir of St Pauls was completed by Yevele in 1380, with the assistance of Thomas Wrek, Gaunt himself died in 1399, and was laid to rest beside Blanche. The two effigies were notable for having their hands joined. An adjacent chantry chapel was added between 1399 and 1403, Blanche and John of Gaunt together had seven children, Philippa of Lancaster, wife of John I of Portugal
22.
Tudor period
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The Tudor period is the period between 1485 and 1603 in England and Wales and includes the Elizabethan period which ends with the completion of the reign of Elizabeth I in 1603. The Tudor period coincides with the rule of the Tudor dynasty in England whose first monarch was Henry VII. In terms of the century, Guy argues that England was economically healthier, more expansive. Following the Black Death and the depression of the late 15th century. The export of woollen products resulted in an upturn with products exported to mainland Europe. Henry VII negotiated the favourable Intercursus Magnus treaty in 1496, the high wages and abundance of available land seen in the late 15th century and early 16th century were replaced with low wages and a land shortage. Various inflationary pressures, perhaps due to an influx of New World gold and this was a period of significant change for the majority of the rural population, with manorial lords beginning the process of enclosure. Historian Geoffrey Elton revolutionized the study of Tudor government with his 1953 book The Tudor Revolution in Government and he argued that Thomas Cromwell, who was Henry VIIIs chief minister from 1532 to 1540, was the author of modern, bureaucratic government, which replaced medieval, government-as-household-management. Cromwell introduced reforms into the administration that delineated the Kings household from the state and he injected Tudor power into the darker corners of the realm and radically altered the role of Parliament. This transition happened in the 1530s, Elton argued, and must be regarded as part of a planned revolution, by masterminding these reforms, wrote Elton, Cromwell laid the foundations of Englands future stability and success. However, Eltons thesis has been challenged by recent historians. The Tudor Government raised an amount of revenue from the Dissolution of the Monasteries. The clerical income from First Fruits and Tenths, which went to the Pope. The Tudor Government gained further revenue from the lands by receiving rents from confiscated lands. Altogether, between 1536 and Henrys death, the Government collected £1.3 million, this influx of money caused Cromwell to change the Crowns financial system to manage the money. He created a new department of state and a new official to collect the proceeds of the dissolution, the Court of Augmentations and number of departments meant a growing number of officials, which made the management of revenue troublesome and expensive. Partly because of the new revenue raised from the dissolution of monasteries and these were the six courts or departments of state, each fully organised with its own specialised officials, equipped with seals and habitat, and responsible for a particular kind of revenue. The growing number of departments meant that the number of officials involved increased, there were further financial and administrative difficulties in 1540–58, aggravated by war, debasement, corruption and inefficiency, which were mainly caused by Somerset
23.
First English Civil War
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The First English Civil War began the series of three wars known as the English Civil War. The English Civil War can be divided into three, the First English Civil War, the Second English Civil War, and the Third English Civil War. For the most part, accounts summarise the two sides fought the English Civil Wars as the Royalist Cavaliers of Charles I of England versus the Parliamentarian Roundheads of Oliver Cromwell. However, as many civil wars, loyalties shifted for various reasons. During this time, the Irish Confederate Wars continued in Ireland, starting with the Irish Rebellion of 1641, the first and last of these motives animated the foot-soldiers of the Royal armies. These sturdy rustics who followed their squires to the war, saw the enemy as rebels, the cavalry was composed largely of the higher social orders. The rebel troops on the hand were mainly drawn from the ranks of the middle class or bourgeois. The other side of the war saw the causes of the initially as a constitutional issue. Thus, the elements of resistance in Parliament and the nation were at first confused, but the backbone of resistance was the Puritan element, and this waging war at first with the rest on the political issue, soon brought the religious issue to the front. But for a generation before the war broke out, the system had disciplined and trained the middle classes of the nation to centre their will on the attainment of their ideals, the parliamentarians had the stronger material force. They controlled the navy, the nucleus of an army that was being organised for the Irish war and they had the sympathies of most of the large towns, where the trained bands, drilled once a month, provided cadres for new regiments. Also, by recognising that war was likely, they prepared for war before Royalists did, the Earl of Warwick, the Earl of Essex, the Earl of Manchester, and other nobles and gentry of the Parliamentary party, had great wealth and territorial influence. On the other hand, Charles could raise men without authority from Parliament by using impressment and the Lords-Lieutenant, thus he depended on financial support from his adherents, such as the Earl of Newcastle and the Earl of Derby. Both the king and the Parliament raised men when and where they could, Parliament claimed to be justified by its own recent Militia Ordinance, while the king claimed the old-fashioned Commissions of Array. For example, in Cornwall the Royalist leader Sir Ralph Hopton indicted the enemy before the jury of the county for disturbing the peace. In effect, both sides assembled local forces wherever they could do so by valid written authority and this thread of local feeling and respect for the laws runs through the early operations of both sides, almost irrespective of the main principles at stake. Many promising schemes failed because of the reluctance of militiamen to serve outside their own county, as the offensive lay with the King, his cause naturally suffered from this far more than that of Parliament. However, the spirit of the struggle proved very different
24.
Roundhead
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Roundhead was the name given to the supporters of the Parliament of England during the English Civil War. Also known as Parliamentarians, they fought against Charles I of England and his supporters, the Cavaliers or Royalists, who claimed rule by absolute monarchy, the goal of the Roundhead party was to give the Parliament supreme control over executive administration. Most Roundheads sought constitutional monarchy in place of the absolutist monarchy sought by Charles I, englands many Puritans and Presbyterians were almost invariably Roundhead supporters, as were many smaller religious groups such as the Independents. However many Roundheads were Church of England, as were many Cavaliers, Roundhead political factions included the proto-anarchist Diggers, the diverse group known as the Levellers and the apocalyptic Christian movement of the Fifth Monarchists. Some Puritans, but by no means all, wore their hair closely cropped round the head or flat, during the war and for a time afterwards, Roundhead was a term of derision—in the New Model Army it was a punishable offence to call a fellow soldier a Roundhead. This contrasted with the term Cavalier to describe supporters of the Royalist cause, Roundheads appears to have been first used as a term of derision toward the end of 1641, when the debates in Parliament in the Clergy Act 1640 were causing riots at Westminster. The demonstrators included London apprentices and Roundhead was a term of derision for them because the regulations to which they had agreed included a provision for closely cropped hair. However, Richard Baxter ascribes the origin of the term to a made by Queen Henrietta Maria of France at the trial of Thomas Wentworth, 1st Earl of Strafford. Referring to John Pym, she asked who the man was. The principal advisor to Charles II, Edward Hyde, 1st Earl of Clarendon, remarked on the matter and they who were looked upon as servants to the king being then called Cavaliers, and the other of the rabble contemned and despised under the name of Roundheads. By the end of this period some Independent Puritans were again using the term Roundhead to refer to the Presbyterian Puritans. Likewise during the Exclusion Bill crisis, the term Cavalier was replaced with Tory, an Irish term introduced by their opponents, the History of England from the Accession of James II. Historical Memorials Relating to the Independents Or Congregationalists, From Their Rise to the Restoration of the Monarchy, religious Thought in England, from the Reformation to the End of Last Century, A Contribution to the History of Theology. Heavy Words Lightly Thrown, The Reason Behind Rhyme, attribution This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain, Anonymous
25.
Slighting
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Slighting is the deliberate destruction, partial or complete, of a fortification without opposition, to render it unusable as a fortress. In England during the Middle Ages, adulterine castles, if captured by the king, during the Wars of Scottish Independence, King Robert the Bruce adopted a strategy of slighting Scottish castles to prevent them being occupied by the English. A strategy of slighting castles in the Levant was also adopted by the Mamluks in their wars with the Crusaders and these included the recent fortifications at Dunbar Castle, Leith and Eyemouth. On the island of Inchkeith a token garrison of 60 French soldiers were allowed to remain for a time, Inchkeith and Dunbar were finally slighted in 1567. During the English Civil War many castles and fortified houses were slighted by the Parliamentarians to stop them being used by the Royalists, most of the destruction was in Wales, the Midlands, and Yorkshire e. g. Pontefract Castle. The coastal fortifications were spared by the Commonwealth, as they might have been useful for hindering a Royalist or foreign invasion, situated on the left bank of the Rhine, Rheinfels Castle was started in 1245 by Diether V, Count of Katzenelnbogen. By the late 17th century it was a fortress complex and it was the only Rhineland fortress to hold out against the French in the War of the Palatine Succession. During the French Revolutionary Wars, the bank of the Rhine was annexed by the French Republic. Under the orders of the French Revolutionary government, Burg Rheinfels was slighted in 1797, in the 19th century many of the obsolete fortifications were slighted in order to provide more space in the area for growing cities. This process of eliminating urban fortifications is specifically referred to as defortification, the resulting slag bricks, clinker, boulders, etc. served as building material for construction. The slighting was carried out by the removal of walls and ramparts. Most of the time, the land on which the fortifications stood was used as parks, the term boulevard is an Old French word meaning fortification. Walking the River Rhine Trail, Germany, perry, David R. Blackburn, Mark A. S. Castle Park, Dunbar, two years on a fortified headland. Monograph, Society of Antiquaries of Scot land, discovering Fortifications, from the Tudors to the Cold War. Goode, Dominic, ed. Fortified Places, Edinburgh, the Walls of Edinburgh, A short guide. A general history of Scotland from the earliest accounts to the present time, understanding the Castle Ruins of England and Wales, How to Interpret the History and Meaning of Masonry and Earthworks. The Concise Encyclopedia of the Revolutions and Wars of England, Scotland, the Yorkshire Countryside, a landscape history
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English Heritage
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English Heritage is a registered charity that manages the National Heritage Collection. This comprises over 400 of Englands historic buildings, monuments and sites spanning more than 5,000 years of history, within its portfolio are Stonehenge, Dover Castle, Tintagel Castle and the best preserved parts of Hadrians Wall. English Heritage also manages the London Blue Plaques scheme, which links influential historical figures to particular buildings and it was created to combine the roles of existing bodies that had emerged from a long period of state involvement in heritage protection. The British government gave the new charity an £80 million grant to establish it as an independent trust. Over the centuries, what is now called Heritage has been the responsibility of a series of state departments. There was the Kings Works after the Norman Conquest, the Office of Works, the Office of Woods, Forests, Land Revenues and Works, and the Ministry of Works. Responsibility subsequently transferred to the Ministry of Public Building and Works then to the Department of the Environment and now the Department for Culture, Media, the states legal responsibility for the historic environment goes back to the Ancient Monuments Protection Act 1882. Central government subsequently developed several systems of protection for different types of assets, introducing listing for buildings after WW2. The Historic Buildings and Monuments Commission was formed under the terms of the National Heritage Act 1983 on 1 April 1984, soon after, the commission gained the operating name of English Heritage by its first Chairman, Lord Montagu of Beaulieu. A national register of parks and gardens, was set up in 1984. Registration is a consideration in the planning process. In 2010–2011 it recorded 4.3 million unique online user sessions, in 2012 the section responsible for archive collections was renamed the English Heritage Archive. As a result of the National Heritage Act 2002, English Heritage acquired administrative responsibility for historic wrecks, the administration of the listed building system was transferred from DCMS to English Heritage in 2006. It was retained on grounds of performing a function which should remain independent from Government. However the department also suffered from budget cuts during the recession of the 2010s resulting in a deficit of £100 million. In June 2013 the British Government announced plans to provide an £80 million grant to enable English Heritage to become a self-financing charity, the national portfolio of historic properties remain in public ownership, but the new English Heritage will be licensed to manage them. The change occurred on 1 April 2015 with the planning and heritage protection functions remaining an independent, non-departmental public body. The new trust has a licence to operate the properties until 2023, English Heritage is the guardian of over 400 sites and monuments, the most famous of which include Stonehenge, Iron Bridge and Dover Castle
27.
Shakespeare
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William Shakespeare was an English poet, playwright, and actor, widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the worlds pre-eminent dramatist. He is often called Englands national poet, and the Bard of Avon and his extant works, including collaborations, consist of approximately 38 plays,154 sonnets, two long narrative poems, and a few other verses, some of uncertain authorship. His plays have been translated into every major living language and are performed more often than those of any other playwright, Shakespeare was born and brought up in Stratford-upon-Avon, Warwickshire. At the age of 18, he married Anne Hathaway, with whom he had three children, Susanna, and twins Hamnet and Judith. Sometime between 1585 and 1592, he began a career in London as an actor, writer. He appears to have retired to Stratford around 1613, at age 49, Shakespeare produced most of his known work between 1589 and 1613. His early plays were primarily comedies and histories, which are regarded as some of the best work ever produced in these genres. He then wrote mainly tragedies until about 1608, including Hamlet, Othello, King Lear, in his last phase, he wrote tragicomedies, also known as romances, and collaborated with other playwrights. Many of his plays were published in editions of varying quality and it was prefaced with a poem by Ben Jonson, in which Shakespeare is hailed, presciently, as not of an age, but for all time. In the 20th and 21st centuries, his works have been adapted and rediscovered by new movements in scholarship. His plays remain highly popular and are studied, performed. William Shakespeare was the son of John Shakespeare, an alderman and a successful glover originally from Snitterfield, and Mary Arden and he was born in Stratford-upon-Avon and baptised there on 26 April 1564. His actual date of birth unknown, but is traditionally observed on 23 April. This date, which can be traced back to an 18th-century scholars mistake, has proved appealing to biographers because Shakespeare died on 23 April 1616 and he was the third child of eight and the eldest surviving son. At the age of 18, Shakespeare married 26-year-old Anne Hathaway, the consistory court of the Diocese of Worcester issued a marriage licence on 27 November 1582. The next day, two of Hathaways neighbours posted bonds guaranteeing that no lawful claims impeded the marriage, twins, son Hamnet and daughter Judith, followed almost two years later and were baptised 2 February 1585. Hamnet died of unknown causes at the age of 11 and was buried 11 August 1596, after the birth of the twins, Shakespeare left few historical traces until he is mentioned as part of the London theatre scene in 1592. The exception is the appearance of his name in the bill of a law case before the Queens Bench court at Westminster dated Michaelmas Term 1588 and 9 October 1589
28.
Castles in Great Britain and Ireland
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Castles have played an important military, economic and social role in Great Britain and Ireland since their introduction following the Norman invasion of England in 1066. During the 12th century the Normans began to build castles in stone – with characteristic square keeps – that played both military and political roles. Royal castles were used to control key towns and the economically important forests, following the Norman invasion of Ireland in the 1170s, under Henry II, castles were established there too. Castles continued to grow in sophistication and comfort during the 12th century, leading to a sharp increase in the complexity. The tower house style would also be adopted in the north of England and Ireland in later years, in North Wales Edward I built a sequence of militarily powerful castles after the destruction of the last Welsh polities in the 1270s. By the 14th century castles were combining defences with luxurious, sophisticated living arrangements and heavily landscaped gardens, many royal and baronial castles were left to decline, so that by the 15th century only a few were maintained for defensive purposes. A small number of castles in England and Scotland were developed into Renaissance Era palaces that hosted lavish feasts, such structures were, however, beyond the means of all but royalty and the richest of the late-medieval barons. The defences of castles around the British Isles were improved to deal with this threat. Nevertheless, in the civil and religious conflicts across the British Isles during the 1640s and 1650s. Modern defences were built alongside existing medieval fortifications and, in many cases, castles successfully withstood more than one siege. At the end of the war castles were slighted to prevent future use. Other castles were used as county gaols, until parliamentary legislation in the 19th closed most of them down, such renovations raised concerns over their protection so that today castles across the British Isles are safeguarded by legislation. Primarily used as tourist attractions, castles form a key part of the heritage industry. The English word castle derives from the Latin word castellum and is used to refer to the fortified residence of a lord or noble. The presence of castles in Britain and Ireland dates primarily from the Norman invasion of 1066, before the arrival of the Normans the Anglo-Saxons had built burhs, fortified structures with their origins in 9th-century Wessex. Most of these, especially in areas, were large enough to be best described as fortified townships rather than private dwellings and are therefore not usually classed as castles. Although rural burhs were relatively secure their role was primarily ceremonial, there were, however, a small number of castles which were built in England during the 1050s, probably by Norman knights in the service of Edward the Confessor. These include Hereford, Clavering, Richards Castle and possibly Ewyas Harold Castle, William, Duke of Normandy, invaded England in 1066 and one of his first actions after landing was to build Hastings Castle to protect his supply routes
29.
Historic England
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Historic England is an executive non-departmental public body of the British Government sponsored by the Department for Culture, Media and Sport. It is tasked with protecting the environment of England by preserving and listing historic buildings, ancient monuments. The body was created by the National Heritage Act 1983. Historic England has a remit to and complements the work of Natural England which aims to protect the natural environment. Historic England inherits English Heritages position as the UK governments statutory adviser and this includes archaeology on land and under water, historic buildings sites and areas, designated landscapes and the historic elements of the wider landscape. It monitors and reports on the state of Englands heritage and publishes the annual the Heritage at Risk survey which is one of the UK Governments Official statistics and it is tasked to secure the preservation and enhancement of the man-made heritage of England for the benefit of future generations. Giving grants national and local organisations for the conservation of buildings, monuments. In 2013/14 over £13 million worth of grants were made to support heritage buildings, advising central UK government on which English heritage assets are nationally important and should be protected by designation. Administering and maintaining the register of Englands listed buildings, scheduled monuments, registered battlefields, conservation areas and protected parks and this is published as an online resource as The National Heritage List for England. Advising local authorities on managing changes to the most important parts of heritage, providing expertise through advice, training and guidance to improve the standards and skills of people working in heritage, practical conservation and access to resources. In 2009–2010 it trained around 200 professionals working in local authorities, consulting and collaborating with other heritage bodies, local and national planning organisations e. g. It is not responsible for approving alterations to listed buildings, the management of listed buildings is the responsibility of local planning authorities and the Department for Communities and Local Government. It also owns the National Heritage Collection of nationally important historic sites, however they do not run these sites as this function is instead carried out by the English Heritage Trust under licence until 2023. Britain from Above, presents the unique Aerofilms collection of photographs from 1919-1953. Images of England website Heritage Explorer, Education site for teachers Department for Culture Media and Sport
30.
International Standard Book Number
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The International Standard Book Number is a unique numeric commercial book identifier. An ISBN is assigned to each edition and variation of a book, for example, an e-book, a paperback and a hardcover edition of the same book would each have a different ISBN. The ISBN is 13 digits long if assigned on or after 1 January 2007, the method of assigning an ISBN is nation-based and varies from country to country, often depending on how large the publishing industry is within a country. The initial ISBN configuration of recognition was generated in 1967 based upon the 9-digit Standard Book Numbering created in 1966, the 10-digit ISBN format was developed by the International Organization for Standardization and was published in 1970 as international standard ISO2108. Occasionally, a book may appear without a printed ISBN if it is printed privately or the author does not follow the usual ISBN procedure, however, this can be rectified later. Another identifier, the International Standard Serial Number, identifies periodical publications such as magazines, the ISBN configuration of recognition was generated in 1967 in the United Kingdom by David Whitaker and in 1968 in the US by Emery Koltay. The 10-digit ISBN format was developed by the International Organization for Standardization and was published in 1970 as international standard ISO2108, the United Kingdom continued to use the 9-digit SBN code until 1974. The ISO on-line facility only refers back to 1978, an SBN may be converted to an ISBN by prefixing the digit 0. For example, the edition of Mr. J. G. Reeder Returns, published by Hodder in 1965, has SBN340013818 -340 indicating the publisher,01381 their serial number. This can be converted to ISBN 0-340-01381-8, the check digit does not need to be re-calculated, since 1 January 2007, ISBNs have contained 13 digits, a format that is compatible with Bookland European Article Number EAN-13s. An ISBN is assigned to each edition and variation of a book, for example, an ebook, a paperback, and a hardcover edition of the same book would each have a different ISBN. The ISBN is 13 digits long if assigned on or after 1 January 2007, a 13-digit ISBN can be separated into its parts, and when this is done it is customary to separate the parts with hyphens or spaces. Separating the parts of a 10-digit ISBN is also done with either hyphens or spaces, figuring out how to correctly separate a given ISBN number is complicated, because most of the parts do not use a fixed number of digits. ISBN issuance is country-specific, in that ISBNs are issued by the ISBN registration agency that is responsible for country or territory regardless of the publication language. Some ISBN registration agencies are based in national libraries or within ministries of culture, in other cases, the ISBN registration service is provided by organisations such as bibliographic data providers that are not government funded. In Canada, ISBNs are issued at no cost with the purpose of encouraging Canadian culture. In the United Kingdom, United States, and some countries, where the service is provided by non-government-funded organisations. Australia, ISBNs are issued by the library services agency Thorpe-Bowker
31.
Geographic coordinate system
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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
32.
Duchy of Lancaster
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The Duchy of Lancaster is, since 1399, the private estate of the British sovereign as Duke of Lancaster. The principal purpose of the estate is to provide a source of independent income to the Sovereign, the estate consists of a portfolio of lands, properties, and assets held in trust for the Sovereign, and is administered separately from the Crown Estate. The Duchy of Lancaster is one of two duchies, the other is the Duchy of Cornwall, which provides income to the Prince of Wales. In the financial year ending 31 March 2015, the estate was valued at about £472 million, the net income of the Duchy is paid to the reigning Sovereign as Duke of Lancaster, it amounts to about £16 million per year. As the Duchy is an asset of the Crown held in trust for future Sovereigns. The Duchy of Lancaster is not subject to tax, although the Sovereign has voluntarily paid both income and capital gains tax since 1993. As such, the income received by the Privy Purse, of which income from the Duchy forms a significant part, is taxed once official expenditures have been deducted. Since the Local Government Act 1972, The Queen in Right of the Duchy appoints the High Sheriffs and Lords Lieutenant in Greater Manchester, Merseyside, and Lancashire. The Duchy of Lancaster was created for a son of King Edward III, John of Gaunt. As the Lancaster inheritance it dates to 1265, when Henry III granted his son, Edmund, lands forfeited by Simon de Montfort. In 1266, the estates of Robert de Ferrers, 6th Earl of Derby, in 1267 the estate was granted as the County, Honour and Castle of Lancaster. In 1284 Edmund was given the Manor of Savoy by his mother, Eleanor of Provence, Edward III raised Lancashire into a county palatine in 1351, and the holder, Henry of Grosmont, Edmunds grandson, was created Duke of Lancaster. After his death a charter of 1362 conferred the dukedom on his son-in-law John of Gaunt, Earl of Lancaster, and the heirs male of his body lawfully begotten for ever. The first act of Henry IV was to declare that the Lancastrian inheritance be held separately from the possessions of the Crown. The Duchy thereafter passed to the monarch and in 1760 its separate identity preserved it from being surrendered with the Crown Estates in exchange for the civil list. It is primarily a landed inheritance belonging to the reigning sovereign, in 2011, the Duchy established a rebalancing asset plan and sold most of the Winmarleigh estates farms and donated a plot of land to the Winmarleigh Village Hall committee by June 2012. The duchy is the property of the monarch and has been since 1399. The chief officer is the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster, the monarch derives the privy purse from the revenues of the Duchy
33.
Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster
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The Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster is appointed by the Sovereign on the advice of the Prime Minister. The Chancellor is answerable to Parliament for the governance of the Duchy, however, the involvement of the Chancellor in the running of the day-to-day affairs of the Duchy is slight, and the office is held by a senior politician whose main role is usually quite different. The position is held by Patrick McLoughlin. The position has often given to a junior Cabinet minister with responsibilities in a particular area of policy for which there is no department with an appropriate portfolio. In 1491, the office of Vice-Chancellor of the County Palatine of Lancaster was created, in recent times, the Chancellors duties have been said to occupy an average of one day a week. Under the Promissory Oaths Act 1868, the Chancellor is required to take the oath of allegiance, the Office of the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster is part of the Cabinet Office. From 1997 until 2009, the holder of the title served as the Minister for the Cabinet Office. This was true of Alan Milburn, who was given the title by Prime Minister Tony Blair in 2004, however, in the reshuffle of 5 June 2009, the Chancellorship went to the Leader of the House of Lords, the Baroness Royall. In David Camerons first cabinet, announced on 12 May 2010, the position is currently held by Patrick McLoughlin, who is also Chairman of the Conservative Party, following Theresa Mays appointment as Prime Minister. The last holder of the post was Oliver Letwin, having been appointed in July 2014 when he was also Minister for Government Policy, following the 2015 general election, he was also given overall responsibility for the Cabinet Office and made a full member of the Cabinet. He has also been the Member of Parliament for West Dorset since 1997, list of Chancellors of the Duchy of Lancaster County Palatine of Lancaster
34.
Lord Lieutenant
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The Lord-Lieutenant is the British monarchs personal representative in each county of the United Kingdom. Historically, the Lord-Lieutenant was responsible for organising the militia but it is today a largely ceremonial position. Lieutenants were first appointed to a number of English counties by King Henry VIII in the 1540s and he raised and was responsible for the efficiency of the local militia units of the county, and afterwards of the yeomanry, and volunteers. He was commander of forces, whose officers he appointed. Lieutenancies soon became more organised, probably in the reign of his successor King Edward VI, however, it was not until the threat of invasion by the forces of Spain in 1585 that lieutenants were appointed to all counties and counties corporate and became in effect permanent. Although not explicitly stated, from that date lieutenants were appointed to counties at large, the origin of this anomaly may have lain in the former palatine status of Pembrokeshire. The City of London was uniquely given a commission of lieutenancy, an Act to make the Militia of this Kingdom more useful was passed by the Parliament of Ireland in 1715. The lieutenants were empowered to embody militia regiments, in 1921, with the establishment of Northern Ireland, lord-lieutenants continued to be appointed through the Governor of Northern Ireland to the six counties and two county boroughs. By the Militia Act 1797, the lieutenants appointed for the Counties, Stewartries, Cities, the Lord Provosts of Edinburgh, Glasgow, Aberdeen, and Dundee are, by virtue of office, also the Lord-Lieutenant of their respective city. The Militia Act 1802 provided for the appointment of lieutenants to Lieutenants for the Counties, Ridings, and Places in England and Wales, and gave them command of the county militia. In the case of towns or cities which were counties of themselves, the Militia Act 1882 revested the jurisdiction of the lieutenants in the crown. Counties for lieutenancy purposes were also redefined as a county at large, the text of the letters patent appointing lieutenants under the act stated they were to be. Haverfordwest was permitted to retain a lieutenant while the Tower Hamlets, from 1889 lieutenancy counties in England and Wales were to correspond to groupings of administrative counties and county boroughs established by the Local Government Act 1888. The creation of a new County of London also led to the ending of the Tower Hamlets lieutenancy, the Act also extinguished the lieutenancy of the Cinque Ports. Section 69 of the Local Government Act 1898 realigned the lieutenancy counties with the new counties created by the Act. The one exception was County Tipperary, which administered by two county councils, was to remain united for lieutenancy. In contrast to the legislation in England and Wales, each county borough was to have its own lieutenant, and those counties corporate not made county boroughs were abolished. The effect of this was to create a lieutenant for the county boroughs of Belfast and Londonderry, the office of lieutenant was honorary, and held during the royal pleasure, but virtually for life
35.
Lord Lieutenant of Greater Manchester
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The Lord Lieutenant of Greater Manchester is the representative of the monarch, Queen Elizabeth II in the metropolitan county of Greater Manchester in North West England. As Greater Manchester remains part of the Lancashire County Palatine, the Lord Lieutenant is appointed by the monarch in their capacity as Duke of Lancaster, the office was created on 1 April 1974. Before 1974 the area had been covered by the Lord Lieutenant of Lancashire, the Lord Lieutenant of Cheshire, the role of the Lord Lieutenant is to first and foremost. To uphold the dignity of the Crown, the Lord Lieutenant also acts as Keeper of the Rolls. It also promoted the work of service and benevolent organisations. The Lord Lieutenant is aided in his office by over 70 Deputy Lieutenants, high Sheriff of Greater Manchester Lord Lieutenant of Greater Manchester
36.
High sheriff
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The office existed in what is now the Republic of Ireland but was abolished there in 1926. In England and Wales, the term High Sheriff arose to distinguish sheriffs of counties proper from sheriffs of cities and boroughs designated counties-of-themselves but not counties properly speaking. These cities and boroughs no longer have sheriffs except for the City of London, in England and Wales the offices civil enforcement powers exist but are not exercised by convention. The office was termed that of sheriff until 1 April 1974, except in the City of London and their jurisdictions, the shrieval counties, are no longer co-terminous with administrative areas, representing a mix between the ancient counties and more recent local authority areas. The post contrasts with that of sheriff in Scotland, who is a sitting in a sheriff court. The word sheriff is a contraction of the shire reeve. The term, from the Old English scīrgerefa, designated an official responsible for keeping the peace throughout a shire or county on behalf of the king. The term was preserved in England notwithstanding the Norman Conquest, the office of sheriff had its origins in the 10th century, the office reached the height of its power under the Norman kings. While the sheriffs originally had been men of standing at court. The Provisions of Oxford established a yearly tenure of office, the appointments and duties of the sheriffs in England and Wales were redefined by the Sheriffs Act 1887. Under the provisions of the Local Government Act 1972, on 1 April 1974 the office previously known as sheriff was retitled high sheriff, the serving high sheriff submits a list of names of possible future high sheriffs to a tribunal which chooses three names to put to the Sovereign. The nomination is made on 12 November every year and the term of office runs from 25 March, no person may be appointed twice in three years, unless there is no other suitable person in the county. These officers nominate three candidates for each county in England and Wales, which are enrolled on a parchment by the Queens Remembrancer, the practice of pricking is an ancient custom used to appoint the high sheriffs of England and Wales. In February or March of each year, two parchments prepared the previous November are presented to the Sovereign at a meeting of the Privy Council, a further parchment is drawn up in November for Cornwall and presented to the Duke of Cornwall. Certain eligible persons nominate candidates for each county shrievalty, one of whom is chosen for each by the Sovereign. In practice, the first name on the list is always the one chosen. The Sovereign signifies assent by pricking the document with a silver bodkin by the relevant name for each county, the parchment for the Duchy of Lancaster is known as the Lites, and the ceremony of selection known as Pricking the Lites. The term lites, meaning list, was reserved for Yorkshire
37.
High Sheriff of Lancashire
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The High Sheriff of Lancashire is an ancient officer, now largely ceremonial, granted to Lancashire, a county in North West England. High Shrievalties are the oldest secular titles under the Crown, in England, throughout the Middle Ages, the High Sheriff was a powerful political position, the sheriffs were responsible for the maintenance of law and order and various other roles. Some of its powers were relinquished in 1547 as the Lord Lieutenant of Lancashire was instated to deal with military duties and it was in 1908 under King Edward VII of the United Kingdom that the Lord Lieutenant position became more senior than the High Sheriff. Since that time the High Sheriff has broadly become a title, with many of its previous roles been taken up by High Court judges, magistrates, coroners, local authorities. The sheriff conventionally serves for a term of a year, with the term of office starting in March, unlike other counties, the honour in Lancashire is bestowed by the monarch in their role as Duke of Lancaster, by pricking the Lites. This page lists persons to have held the position, and is divided by sovereign state, another list of sheriffs of Lancashire from 1087 to 1886 is compiled in Edward Bainess History of the County Palatine and Duchy of Lancaster. This names many individuals for the earliest years of the office. In April 2015 Amanda Parker of Browsholme Hall, Clitheroe, became High Sheriff and launched a website to promote the office, highsheriffoflancashire. co. uk
38.
Lancaster Castle
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Lancaster Castle is a medieval castle in Lancaster in the English county of Lancashire. Its early history is unclear, but may have founded in the 11th century on the site of a Roman fort overlooking a crossing of the River Lune. In 1164, the Honour of Lancaster, including the castle, in 1322 and 1389 the Scots invaded England, progressing as far as Lancaster and damaging the castle. It was not to see action again until the English Civil War. The castle was first used as a prison in 1196 although this became more important during the English Civil War. The castle buildings are owned by the British sovereign as Duke of Lancaster, until 2011, the majority of the buildings were leased to the Ministry of Justice as Her Majestys Prison Lancaster. The Castle was returned to the Duchys ownership by the Ministry of Justice in 2011, in 79 AD, a Roman fort was built at Lancaster on a hill commanding a crossing over the River Lune. Little is known about Lancaster between the end of the Roman occupation of England in the early 5th century and the Norman Conquest in the late 11th century. The layout of the town was influenced by the Roman fort and the civilian settlement. After the Norman Conquest in the half of the 11th century, Lancaster was part of the Earldom of Northumbria. In 1092, William II established a permanent border with Scotland further to the north by capturing Carlisle, Lancaster castle still has a bin from the Roman times on site. It is generally thought that Lancaster Castle was founded in the 1090s on the site of the Roman fort in a strategic location, the castle is the oldest standing building in Lancaster and one of the most important. The history of the structure is uncertain, if it was Roger who began construction, the structure would have been built of timber, probably incorporating the earthworks of the Roman fort into its defences. The form of the castle is unknown. There is no trace of a motte, so it may have been a ringwork – a circular defended enclosure, Roger de Poitou fled England in 1102 after participating in a failed rebellion against the new king, Henry I. As a result, the king confiscated the Honour of Lancaster, the Honour changed hands several times. Henry granted it to Stephen of Blois, his nephew and later king, when the Anarchy erupted in 1139 – a civil war between Stephen and Empress Matilda for the English throne – the area was in turmoil. Stephen secured his northern frontier by allowing David I of Scotland to occupy the Honour in 1141 and it is possible that David refortified the castle at this time
39.
Salwick
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Salwick is a village between Kirkham and Preston in Lancashire, England. The village is rural and is an extension of the smaller Clifton to the south. It is in the borough of Fylde, and in the Parliamentary Constituency of Fylde and it is at grid reference SD466320, and is served by Salwick railway station. The area of Clifton With Salwick was in the Archdeaconry of Richmond in the Diocese of Chester, the etymology of Salwick is unclear. The wick may come from Old English wic, meaning an earlier Romano-British settlement specialised in farming, Salwick is the home of the Springfields nuclear fuel manufacturing plant. Listed buildings in Newton with Clifton Genealogy of Salwick
40.
Whitewell
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Whitewell is a hamlet within the civil parish of Bowland Forest Low and Ribble Valley borough of Lancashire, England. It is in the Forest of Bowland Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty and it stands above a bend in the River Hodder. The hamlet comprises Upper and Lower Whitewell, Lower Whitewell is the site of St Michaels, a Chapel of Ease built in the late medieval period, certainly no later than 1400, which comes under the Lancashire parish of Whalley. The restaurant and hotel, The Inn at Whitewell, is situated in Lower Whitewell. From the late century, The Inn anciently housed the Forest courts of the Forest of Bowland. There is evidence of Master Foresters in Bowland dating back as early as the twelfth century. It is thought that the ancient administrative centre of the Forest was at Hall Hill, sir Walter Urswyk was Master Forester to John of Gaunt, 11th Lord of Bowland and it is Urswyk who seems to have been responsible for the shift to Lower Whitewell sometime between 1372–1403. After 1660, the office of Master Forester fell into abeyance, the Parkers of Browsholme Hall have traditionally claimed the office of Bowbearer as an hereditary right but this claim was an early nineteenth fabrication and has now been discredited. On an official visit by the Lord of Bowland to the Forest in April 2011, since 1938, much of the land and property in the area has formed part of the Duchy of Lancaster Whitewell Estate, as black plaques throughout the area serve to remind. The surrounding forest has been the ground of kings since the time of William Rufus. The present monarch is said to be fond of the area, nearby settlements include Dunsop Bridge which claims to be the centre of the United Kingdom, and Clitheroe, the administrative centre of the borough. Previously, the Lordship of Bowland had been thought lost or in the possession of the Crown having disappeared from the record in late nineteenth century. The Towneleys had owned the Bowland Forest Estate from 1835 and it transpired that the title had been retained by a family trust. Controversially, Lord OHagan went on to sell the title, the 16th Lord of Bowland was later revealed to be a Cambridge University don. The appointment was short-lived, however, and in May 2011, the Inn at Whitewell was featured in TV series The Trip directed by Michael Winterbottom, starring Steve Coogan and Rob Brydon. Listed buildings in Bowland Forest Low
41.
Cloughton
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Cloughton is a small village and civil parish in the Scarborough district of North Yorkshire, England. It is situated approximately 4 miles north of Scarborough town centre and it has a parish church and two pubs - the Blacksmiths Arms and the Red Lion. It is home to a conference centre and hotel called Cober Hill. It has cricket and football pitches, according to the 2011 UK census, Cloughton parish had a population of 687, a reduction on the 2001 UK census figure of 711. The parish council is Cloughton Parish Council, craig White, Yorkshire cricketer, lives in Cloughton. It was also the home of the Reverend G P Taylor, author of Shadowmancer, craig Hiley, Yorkshire Photographer, lives in Cloughton. Cloughton Parish Council website History of Cloughton
