1.
Non-metropolitan district
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Non-metropolitan districts, or colloquially shire districts, are a type of local government district in England. As created, they are sub-divisions of non-metropolitan counties in a two-tier arrangement, in the 1990s, several non-metropolitan counties were created that are unitary authorities and also have non-metropolitan district status. A third category is the districts of Berkshire, which are districts that are unitary authorities. Non-metropolitan districts are subdivisions of English non-metropolitan counties which have a structure of local government. Most non-metropolitan counties have a county council, and also have several districts, many districts have borough status, which means the local council is called a Borough Council instead of District Council and gives them the right to appoint a Mayor. Borough status is granted by charter and, in many cases, continues a style enjoyed by a predecessor authority. Some districts such as Oxford or Exeter have city status, granted by letters patent, by 1899, England had been divided at district level into rural districts, urban districts, municipal boroughs, county boroughs and metropolitan boroughs. This system was abolished by the London Government Act 1963 and the Local Government Act 1972, non-metropolitan districts were created by this act in 1974 when England outside of Greater London was divided into metropolitan counties and non-metropolitan counties. Metropolitan counties were sub-divided into metropolitan districts and the counties were sub-divided into non-metropolitan districts. The metropolitan districts had more powers than their non-metropolitan counterparts, initially, there were 296 non-metropolitan districts in the two-tier structure, but reforms in the 1990s and 2009 reduced their number to 201. A further 55 non-metropolitan districts are now unitary authorities, which combine the functions of county, in Wales, an almost identical two-tier system of local government existed between 1974 and 1996. In 1996, this was abolished and replaced with a unitary system of local government. Since the areas for Wales and England had been enacted separately and there were no Welsh metropolitan areas, a similar system existed in Scotland, which in 1975 was divided into regions and districts, this was also abolished in 1996 and replaced with a fully unitary system. In England 200 out of the 201 non-metropolitan district councils are represented by the District Councils Network, special interest group which sits within the Local Government Association. The network’s purpose is to “act as an informed and representative advocate for districts to government and other bodies, based on their unique position to deliver for ‘local’ people. ”This is a list of non-metropolitan counties. Some non-metropolitan districts are coterminous with non-metropolitan counties, making them unitary authorities and these are excluded from this list as is Berkshire which has no county council. For a full list of districts of all types including unitary authorities, metropolitan districts and London boroughs and this is a list of former two-tier districts in England which have been abolished, by local government reorganizations such as the 2009 structural changes to local government in England. It does not include districts that still exist after becoming an authority or those that transferred from one county to another
2.
United Kingdom
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The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom or Britain, is a sovereign country in western Europe. Lying off the north-western coast of the European mainland, the United Kingdom includes the island of Great Britain, Northern Ireland is the only part of the United Kingdom that shares a land border with another sovereign state—the Republic of Ireland. The Irish Sea lies between Great Britain and Ireland, with an area of 242,500 square kilometres, the United Kingdom is the 78th-largest sovereign state in the world and the 11th-largest in Europe. It is also the 21st-most populous country, with an estimated 65.1 million inhabitants, together, this makes it the fourth-most densely populated country in the European Union. The United Kingdom is a monarchy with a parliamentary system of governance. The monarch is Queen Elizabeth II, who has reigned since 6 February 1952, other major urban areas in the United Kingdom include the regions of Birmingham, Leeds, Glasgow, Liverpool and Manchester. The United Kingdom consists of four countries—England, Scotland, Wales, the last three have devolved administrations, each with varying powers, based in their capitals, Edinburgh, Cardiff and Belfast, respectively. The relationships among the countries of the UK have changed over time, Wales was annexed by the Kingdom of England under the Laws in Wales Acts 1535 and 1542. A treaty between England and Scotland resulted in 1707 in a unified Kingdom of Great Britain, which merged in 1801 with the Kingdom of Ireland to form the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland. Five-sixths of Ireland seceded from the UK in 1922, leaving the present formulation of the United Kingdom of Great Britain, there are fourteen British Overseas Territories. These are the remnants of the British Empire which, at its height in the 1920s, British influence can be observed in the language, culture and legal systems of many of its former colonies. The United Kingdom is a country and has the worlds fifth-largest economy by nominal GDP. The UK is considered to have an economy and is categorised as very high in the Human Development Index. It was the worlds first industrialised country and the worlds foremost power during the 19th, the UK remains a great power with considerable economic, cultural, military, scientific and political influence internationally. It is a nuclear weapons state and its military expenditure ranks fourth or fifth in the world. The UK has been a permanent member of the United Nations Security Council since its first session in 1946 and it has been a leading member state of the EU and its predecessor, the European Economic Community, since 1973. However, on 23 June 2016, a referendum on the UKs membership of the EU resulted in a decision to leave. The Acts of Union 1800 united the Kingdom of Great Britain, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland have devolved self-government
3.
Countries of the United Kingdom
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The United Kingdom comprises four countries, England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland. Within the United Kingdom, a sovereign state, Northern Ireland, Scotland. England, comprising the majority of the population and area of the United Kingdom, England, Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales are not themselves listed in the International Organization for Standardization list of countries. However the ISO list of the subdivisions of the UK, compiled by British Standards, Northern Ireland, in contrast, is described as a province in the same lists. Each has separate governing bodies for sports and compete separately in many international sporting competitions. Northern Ireland also forms joint All-Island sporting bodies with the Republic of Ireland for most sports, the Channel Islands and the Isle of Man are dependencies of the Crown and are not part of the UK. Similarly, the British overseas territories, remnants of the British Empire, are not part of the UK, southern Ireland left the United Kingdom under the Irish Free State Constitution Act 1922. * Figures for GVA do not include oil and gas revenues generated beyond the UKs territorial waters, various terms have been used to describe England, Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales. Wales was described as the country, principality, and dominion of Wales, outside Wales, England was not given a specific name or term. The Laws in Wales Acts have subsequently been repealed, the Acts of Union 1707 refer to both England and Scotland as a part of a united kingdom of Great Britain The Acts of Union 1800 use part in the same way to refer to England and Scotland. The Northern Ireland Act 1998, which repealed the Government of Ireland Act 1920, the Interpretation Act 1978 provides statutory definitions of the terms England, Wales and the United Kingdom, but neither that Act nor any other current statute defines Scotland or Northern Ireland. Use of the first three terms in other legislation is interpreted following the definitions in the 1978 Act and this definition applies from 1 April 1974. United Kingdom means Great Britain and Northern Ireland and this definition applies from 12 April 1927. In 1996 these 8 new counties were redistributed into the current 22 unitary authorities, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland are regions in their own right while England has been divided into nine regions. The official term rest of the UK is used in Scotland, for example in export statistics and this term is also used in the context of potential Scottish independence to mean the UK without Scotland. The alternative term Home Nations is sometimes used in sporting contexts, the second, or civic group, contained the items about feeling British, respecting laws and institutions, speaking English, and having British citizenship. Contrariwise, in Scotland and Wales there was a much stronger identification with each country than with Britain, studies and surveys have reported that the majority of the Scots and Welsh see themselves as both Scottish/Welsh and British though with some differences in emphasis. The propensity for nationalistic feeling varies greatly across the UK, and can rise and it reported that 37% of people identified as British, whilst 29% identified as Irish and 24% identified as Northern Irish
4.
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
5.
Regions of England
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The regions are the highest tier of sub-national division in England. Between 1994 and 2011, nine regions had officially devolved functions within Government, while they no longer fulfil this role, they continue to be used for statistical and some administrative purposes. They define areas for the purposes of elections to the European Parliament, Eurostat also uses them to demarcate first level Nomenclature of Territorial Units for Statistics regions within the European Union. The regions generally follow the boundaries of the former standard regions, the London region has a directly elected Mayor and Assembly. Six regions have local authority leaders boards to assist with correlating the headline policies of local authorities, the remaining two regions no longer have any administrative functions, having abolished their regional local authority leaders boards. In 1998, regional chambers were established in the eight regions outside of London, the regions also had an associated Government Office with some responsibility for coordinating policy, and, from 2007, a part-time regional minister within the Government. House of Commons regional Select Committees were established in 2009, Regional ministers were not reappointed by the incoming Coalition Government, and the Government Offices were abolished in 2011. Regional development agencies were public bodies established in all nine regions in 1998 to promote economic development and they had certain delegated functions, including administering European Union regional development funds, and received funding the central government as well. After about 500 AD, England comprised seven Anglo-Saxon territories – Northumbria, Mercia, East Anglia, Essex, Kent, the boundaries of some of these, which later unified as the Kingdom of England, roughly coincide with those of modern regions. During Oliver Cromwells Protectorate in the 1650s, the rule of the Major-Generals created 10 regions in England, proposals for administrative regions within England were mooted by the British government prior to the First World War. In 1912 the Third Home Rule Bill was passing through parliament, the Bill was expected to introduce a devolved parliament for Ireland, and as a consequence calls were made for similar structures to be introduced in Great Britain or Home Rule All Round. On 12 September the First Lord of the Admiralty, Winston Churchill, within England, he suggested that London, Lancashire, Yorkshire, and the Midlands would make natural regions. While the creation of regional parliaments never became official policy, it was for a widely anticipated. In 1946 nine standard regions were set up, in central government bodies, statutory undertakings. However, these had declined in importance by the late 1950s, creation of some form of provinces or regions for England was an intermittent theme of post-Second World War British governments. The Redcliffe-Maud Report proposed the creation of eight provinces in England, one-fifth of the advisory councils would be nominees from central government. The boundaries suggested were the eight now existing for economic planning purposes, a minority report by Lord Crowther-Hunt and Alan T. Peacock suggested instead seven regional assemblies and governments within Great Britain, some elements of regional development and economic planning began to be established in England from the mid-1960s onwards
6.
South East England
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South East England is the most populous of the nine official regions of England at the first level of NUTS for statistical purposes. It consists of Berkshire, Buckinghamshire, East Sussex, Hampshire, as with the other regions of England, apart from Greater London, the south east has no elected government. It is the third largest region of England, with an area of 19,096 km², and is also the most populous with a population of over eight. Its proximity to London and connections to several national motorways have led to south east England becoming an economic hub and it is the location of Gatwick Airport, the UKs second-busiest airport, and its coastline along the English Channel provides numerous ferry crossings to mainland Europe. The region is known for its countryside, which includes the North Downs, the River Thames flows through the region and its basin is known as the Thames Valley. The region has many universities, the University of Oxford is ranked among the best in the world. South east England is host to sporting events, including the annual Henley Royal Regatta, Royal Ascot and the Epsom Derby. Some of the events of the 2012 Summer Olympics were held in the south east, including the rowing at Eton Dorney, the largest city in the region is Brighton & Hove. The dominant influence on the economy is neighbouring London. The highest point is Walbury Hill in Berkshire at 297 metres, until 1999, there was a south east Standard Statistical Region, which also included the counties of Bedfordshire, Greater London, Essex and Hertfordshire. The former south east Civil Defence Region covered the area as the current government office region. The South East is also used as a synonym for the home counties. The population of the region at the 2011 census was 8,634,750 making it the most populous English region, the major conurbations of the region include Brighton/Worthing/Littlehampton, Portsmouth, Southampton and Reading. Settlements closer to London are part of the known as the Greater London Urban Area. The South East has the highest percentage of people born outside of Britain other than London. Estimates in 2007 state 87. 2% of people as White British,4. 8% Other White,3. 5% South Asians,1. 5% Mixed Race,1. 6% Black British,0. 7% Chinese,0. 7% Other. The area also has some seats where there is support for other parties, for example, Slough and Oxford for Labour. Buckingham, the seat of Speaker John Bercow, is also in this region, out of 83 parliamentary seats, the Conservatives hold 78
7.
Non-metropolitan county
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A non-metropolitan county, or colloquially, shire county, is a county-level entity in England that is not a metropolitan county. The counties typically have populations of 300,000 to 1.4 million, the term shire county is, however, an unofficial usage. Many of the non-metropolitan counties bear historic names and most end in the suffix -shire such as Wiltshire or Staffordshire, of the remainder, some counties had the -shire ending and have lost it over time, such as Devon and Somerset. Shire county is, strictly, a dual-language tautology since the French-derived county means the same as the older Anglo-Saxon word shire, prior to 1974 local government had been divided between single-tier county boroughs and two-tier administrative counties which were subdivided into municipal boroughs and urban and rural districts. The Local Government Act 1972, which came into effect on 1 April 1974, divided England outside Greater London, each county was divided into anywhere between two and fourteen non-metropolitan districts. As originally constituted, the counties were largely based on existing counties. Some counties were based on areas surrounding large county boroughs or were formed by the mergers of smaller counties, examples of the first category are Avon and Cleveland. Examples of the category are Hereford and Worcester and Cumbria. The Royal Mail adopted the counties for purposes in most areas. A Local Government Commission was appointed in 1992 to review the structure of the non-metropolitan counties. It was anticipated that a system of unitary authorities would entirely replace the two-tier system, the Commission faced competing claims from former county boroughs wishing to regain unitary status and advocates for the restoration of such small counties as Herefordshire and Rutland. The review led to the introduction of local government in some areas. In the majority of unitary authorities an existing district council took over powers from the county council, the 1972 Act required that all areas outside Greater London form part of a non-metropolitan county, and that all such counties should contain at least one district. Accordingly, the instruments that effected the reorganisation separated the unitary districts from the county in which they were situated and constituted them as counties. An exception was made in the case of Berkshire, which was retained with its boundaries in spite of the abolition of its county council. This was done in order to preserve its status as a royal county, with the creation of numerous new non-metropolitan counties, the areas used for lieutenancy and shrievalty began to diverge from local government areas. This led to the development of counties for these purposes. A further wave of unitary authorities were created in 2009 under the terms of the Local Government, while a number of new county counties were created, several of the new authorities continued to have the boundaries set in 1974
8.
Kent
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Kent /ˈkɛnt/ is a county in South East England and one of the home counties. It borders Greater London to the north west, Surrey to the west and East Sussex to the south west, the county also shares borders with Essex via the Dartford Crossing and the French department of Pas-de-Calais through the Channel Tunnel. France can be clearly in fine weather from Folkestone and the White Cliffs of Dover. Hills in the form of the North Downs and the Greensand Ridge span the length of the county, because of its relative abundance of fruit-growing and hop gardens, Kent is known as The Garden of England. The title was defended in 2006 when a survey of counties by the UKTV Style Gardens channel put Kent in fifth place, behind North Yorkshire, Devon. Haulage, logistics, and tourism are industries, major industries in north-west Kent include aggregate building materials, printing. Coal mining has played its part in Kents industrial heritage. Large parts of Kent are within the London commuter belt and its transport connections to the capital. Twenty-eight per cent of the county forms part of two Areas of Outstanding Natural Beauty, the North Downs and The High Weald, the area has been occupied since the Palaeolithic era, as attested by finds from the quarries at Swanscombe. The Medway megaliths were built during the Neolithic era, There is a rich sequence of Bronze Age, Iron Age, and Roman era occupation, as indicated by finds and features such as the Ringlemere gold cup and the Roman villas of the Darent valley. The modern name of Kent is derived from the Brythonic word Cantus meaning rim or border and this describes the eastern part of the current county area as a border land or coastal district. Julius Caesar had described the area as Cantium, or home of the Cantiaci in 51 BC, the extreme west of the modern county was by the time of Roman Britain occupied by Iron Age tribes, known as the Regnenses. East Kent became a kingdom of the Jutes during the 5th century and was known as Cantia from about 730, the early medieval inhabitants of the county were known as the Cantwara, or Kent people. These people regarded the city of Canterbury as their capital, in 597, Pope Gregory I appointed the religious missionary as the first Archbishop of Canterbury. In the previous year, Augustine successfully converted the pagan King Æthelberht of Kent to Christianity, the Diocese of Canterbury became Britains first Episcopal See with first cathedral and has since remained Englands centre of Christianity. The second designated English cathedral was in Kent at Rochester Cathedral, in the 11th century, the people of Kent adopted the motto Invicta, meaning undefeated. This naming followed the invasion of Britain by William of Normandy, the Kent peoples continued resistance against the Normans led to Kents designation as a semi-autonomous county palatine in 1067. Under the nominal rule of Williams half-brother Odo of Bayeux, the county was granted powers to those granted in the areas bordering Wales
9.
Royal Tunbridge Wells
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Royal Tunbridge Wells is a large affluent town in western Kent, England, about 40 miles south-east of central London by road,34.5 miles by rail. The town is close to the border of the county of East Sussex and it is situated at the northern edge of the High Weald, the sandstone geology of which is exemplified by the rock formations at the Wellington Rocks and High Rocks. Though its popularity waned with the advent of sea bathing, the town remains popular, the town has a population of around 56,500 and is the administrative centre of Tunbridge Wells Borough and the UK parliamentary constituency of Tunbridge Wells. The area which is now Tunbridge Wells was part of the parish of Speldhurst for hundreds of years, but the origin of the town as it is today, however, came in the seventeenth century. In 1606 Dudley, Lord North, a courtier to James I who was staying at a lodge in Eridge in the hope that the country air might improve his ailing constitution. He drank from the spring and, when his health improved and he persuaded his rich friends in London to try it, and by the time Queen Henrietta Maria, wife of King Charles I, visited in 1630 it had established itself as a spa retreat. Also in 1676 a subscription for a chapel of ease was opened, and in 1684 the Church of King Charles the Martyr was duly built and the town began to develop around it. Tradesmen in the town dealt in the luxury goods demanded by their patrons, which would certainly have included Tunbridge ware, a kind of decoratively inlaid woodwork. They have made the very commodious by the many good building all about it. All the people buy their own provisions at the market, which is just by the wells and is furnished with great plenty of all sorts of fish and fowl. and two rooms for the lottery and hazard board. He remained in position until his death in 1762. By the early nineteenth century Tunbridge Wells experienced growth as a place for the well-to-do to visit, during this time Decimus Burton developed John Wards Calverley Park estate. In 1889 the town was awarded the status of a Borough,1902 saw the opening of an Opera House, and in 1909 the town received its Royal prefix. The Second World War affected Tunbridge Wells in a different way—it became so swollen with refugees from London that accommodation was severely strained, over 3,800 buildings were damaged by bombing, but only 15 people lost their lives. Royal Tunbridge Wells is one of three towns in England to have been granted this. Although Wells has a form, it refers to the principal source. Royal Tunbridge Wells is the centre for both Tunbridge Wells Borough and the parliamentary constituency of Tunbridge Wells. The Borough is governed by 48 Councillors, representing 20 wards, elections are held for 16 Council seats each year on a rotational basis, with elections to Kent County Council taking place in the fourth year of the cycle
10.
Borough of Tunbridge Wells
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The Borough of Tunbridge Wells is a local government district and borough in Kent, England. It takes its name from its town, Royal Tunbridge Wells. The restricted area immediately to the north and west of Tunbridge Wells lies within the Weald, the presence of sandstone outcrops and the chalybeate springs, together with old workings, point to ancient iron manufacturing in the area. This plain is part of the so-called Garden of England, named for its orchards and former hop farms, sheep. A string of villages lies across this plain, from Brenchley and Horsmonden to Benenden, roads The main roads through the borough are the A21 London to Hastings road and in the east, the A229, which runs from the A21 at Hurst Green through Cranbrook to Maidstone. Railways The line of the former South Eastern Railway main line crosses the plain in an almost unbroken straight line between Redhill and Ashford, Kent. Tunbridge Wells Borough Council is composed of 48 councillors representing 20 wards across the borough, eight wards are within Royal Tunbridge Wells itself including Broadwater, Culverden, Pantiles & St Marks, Park, Rusthall, Sherwood & St Johns and St. James. The remainder are rural wards covering the main towns and villages. Each of the latter also have their own form of government in the form of a civil parish
11.
Conservative Party (UK)
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The Conservative Party, officially the Conservative and Unionist Party, is a political party in the United Kingdom. It is currently the party, having won a majority of seats in the House of Commons at the 2015 general election. The partys leader, Theresa May, is serving as Prime Minister. It is the largest party in government with 8,702 councillors. The Conservative Party is one of the two major political parties in the United Kingdom, the other being its modern rival. The Conservative Partys platform involves support for market capitalism, free enterprise, fiscal conservatism, a strong national defence, deregulation. In the 1920s, the Liberal vote greatly diminished and the Labour Party became the Conservatives main rivals, Conservative Prime Ministers led governments for 57 years of the twentieth century, including Winston Churchill and Margaret Thatcher. Thatchers tenure led to wide-ranging economic liberalisation, the Conservative Partys domination of British politics throughout the twentieth century has led to them being referred to as one of the most successful political parties in the Western world. The Conservatives are the joint-second largest British party in the European Parliament, with twenty MEPs, the party is a member of the Alliance of Conservatives and Reformists in Europe Europarty and the International Democrat Union. The party is the second-largest in the Scottish Parliament and the second-largest in the Welsh Assembly, the party is also organised in the British Overseas Territory of Gibraltar. The Conservative Party traces its origins to a faction, rooted in the 18th century Whig Party and they were known as Independent Whigs, Friends of Mr Pitt, or Pittites. After Pitts death the term Tory came into use and this was an allusion to the Tories, a political grouping that had existed from 1678, but which had no organisational continuity with the Pittite party. From about 1812 on the name Tory was commonly used for the newer party, the term Conservative was suggested as a title for the party by a magazine article by J. Wilson Croker in the Quarterly Review in 1830. The name immediately caught on and was adopted under the aegis of Sir Robert Peel around 1834. Peel is acknowledged as the founder of the Conservative Party, which he created with the announcement of the Tamworth Manifesto, the term Conservative Party rather than Tory was the dominant usage by 1845. In 1912, the Liberal Unionists merged with the Conservative Party, in Ireland, the Irish Unionist Alliance had been formed in 1891 which merged anti-Home Rule Unionists into one political movement. Its MPs took the Conservative whip at Westminster, and in essence formed the Irish wing of the party until 1922. The Conservatives served with the Liberals in an all-party coalition government during World War I, keohane finds that the Conservatives were bitterly divided before 1914, especially on the issue of Irish Unionism and the experience of three consecutive election losses
12.
Greg Clark
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Gregory David Clark PC is a British Conservative Party politician who is the MP for Tunbridge Wells and Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy. Clark was born in Middlesbrough and studied Economics at Magdalene College, Cambridge and he then gained his PhD from the London School of Economics. Between July 2014 and May 2015, he held the post of Minister for Universities, Science, in July 2016, he was appointed as Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy by new Prime Minister Theresa May. He is described as an economically liberal Conservative with a social conscience, greg Clark was born in Middlesbrough and attended St Peters Roman Catholic School in South Bank. His father and grandfather were milkmen running the business, John Clark and Sons. Clark read Economics at Magdalene College, Cambridge, Clark first worked as a business consultant before becoming special advisor to the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry, Ian Lang, between 1996 and 1997. Subsequently, he was appointed the BBCs Controller, Commercial Policy, between 2002 and 2005 he was also a councillor on Westminster City Council, serving as Cabinet Member for Leisure and Lifelong Learning. Clark was elected at the 2005 General Election for the constituency of Tunbridge Wells. He also noted with pride that Royal Tunbridge Wells had elected the countrys first Jewish Member of Parliament, Clark was appointed to the front bench, in an minor reshuffle in November 2006 by David Cameron, becoming Shadow Minister for Charities, Voluntary Bodies and Social Enterprise. In October 2007, Clark campaigned to save Tunbridge Wells Homeopathic Hospital, in October 2008, Clark was promoted to the Shadow Cabinet, shadowing the new government position of Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change. He was accused of hypocrisy, having staunchly opposed house-building while in opposition, however, since announcing the National Planning Policy Framework he has been praised by heritage NGOs and Simon Jenkins of the National Trust. From July 2011, he was responsible for cities policy since July 2011 as Minister for Cities, in this role he tried to promote the urban economies of the North, West and Midlands. In a cabinet reshuffle in September 2012, Clark was appointed Financial Secretary to the Treasury, on 15 July 2014 Clark was appointed to the role of Minister for Universities, Science and Cities, replacing David Willetts who was generally praised for his service in the post. The new portfolio combined the universities and science brief held by Willetts with the cities policy already handled by Clark and his appointment was met with concerns about securing future funding for universities and questions over his public support for homoeopathic treatments. Clark returned to the Department of Communities and Local Government as Secretary of State on 11 May 2015, Clark was appointed Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy on 14 July 2016, in Theresa Mays first cabinet. In October 2016, he appointed his predecessor as MP, Archie Norman, as Lead Non Executive Board Member for the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy. In February 2017, Clark travelled to Paris, in order to meet with executives from Peugeot, at the Privy Council meeting ratifying Mays cabinet appointments on 15 July 2016, Clark was mistakenly appointed as the President of the Board of Trade instead of Liam Fox. The error was corrected four days later and he and his wife Helen have three children
13.
Greenwich Mean Time
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Greenwich Mean Time is the mean solar time at the Royal Observatory in Greenwich, London. GMT was formerly used as the civil time standard, now superseded in that function by Coordinated Universal Time. Today GMT is considered equivalent to UTC for UK civil purposes and for navigation is considered equivalent to UT1, consequently, the term GMT should not be used for precise purposes. Due to Earths uneven speed in its orbit and its axial tilt, noon GMT is rarely the exact moment the sun crosses the Greenwich meridian. This event may occur up to 16 minutes before or after noon GMT, noon GMT is the annual average moment of this event, which accounts for the word mean in Greenwich Mean Time. Originally, astronomers considered a GMT day to start at noon while for almost everyone else it started at midnight, to avoid confusion, the name Universal Time was introduced to denote GMT as counted from midnight. Astronomers preferred the old convention to simplify their observational data, so each night was logged under a single calendar date. Today Universal Time usually refers to UTC or UT1, in some countries Greenwich Mean Time is the legal time in the winter and the population uses the term. For an explanation of why this is, see GMT in legislation below, synchronisation of the chronometer on GMT did not affect shipboard time, which was still solar time. Most time zones were based upon GMT, as an offset of a number of hours ahead of GMT or behind GMT and it was gradually adopted for other purposes, but a legal case in 1858 held local mean time to be the official time. On 14 May 1880, a signed by Clerk to Justices appeared in The Times, stating that Greenwich time is now kept almost throughout England. For example, our polling booths were opened, say, at 813 and closed at 413 PM. This was changed later in 1880, GMT was adopted on the Isle of Man in 1883, Jersey in 1898 and Guernsey in 1913. Ireland adopted GMT in 1916, supplanting Dublin Mean Time, hourly time signals from Greenwich Observatory were first broadcast on 5 February 1924, rendering the time ball at the observatory redundant in the process. The daily rotation of the Earth is irregular and constantly slows, on 1 January 1972, GMT was superseded as the international civil time standard by Coordinated Universal Time, maintained by an ensemble of atomic clocks around the world. Indeed, even the Greenwich meridian itself is not quite what it used to be—defined by the centre of the instrument at the Observatory at Greenwich. Nevertheless, the line in the old observatorys courtyard today differs no more than a few metres from that line which is now the prime meridian of the world. Historically GMT has been used two different conventions for numbering hours. The long-standing astronomical convention dating from the work of Ptolemy, was to refer to noon as zero hours and this contrasted with the civil convention of referring to midnight as zero hours dating from the Romans
14.
UTC0
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UTC±00,00 is the following time, Coordinated Universal Time, the basis for the worlds civil time. Time used there is 2 hours and 12 minutes ahead of time in the summer. The easternmost settlement where UTC with DST is applied is Lowestoft in Suffolk, East Anglia, note that Ireland uses the term standard time in reference to the summer months and winter time during what the rest of the time zone calls standard time. This is the reverse of the practice of most countries in the EU, see also Time in Antarctica The westernmost point where UTC with no DST is applied is Bjargtangar, at the northwest peninsula of Iceland. Time used there is 1 hour and 38 minutes ahead of physical time and this is the greatest deviation from physical time for UTC with no DST. The easternmost locale where UTC with no DST is applied is Bouvet Island, of Norwegian jurisdiction, at the South Atlantic Ocean
15.
Daylight saving time
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Daylight saving time is the practice of advancing clocks during summer months by one hour so that evening daylight lasts an hour longer, while sacrificing normal sunrise times. Typically, regions that use Daylight Savings Time adjust clocks forward one hour close to the start of spring, American inventor and politician Benjamin Franklin proposed a form of daylight time in 1784. New Zealander George Hudson proposed the idea of saving in 1895. The German Empire and Austria-Hungary organized the first nationwide implementation, starting on April 30,1916, many countries have used it at various times since then, particularly since the energy crisis of the 1970s. The practice has both advocates and critics, DST clock shifts sometimes complicate timekeeping and can disrupt travel, billing, record keeping, medical devices, heavy equipment, and sleep patterns. Computer software often adjusts clocks automatically, but policy changes by various jurisdictions of DST dates, industrialized societies generally follow a clock-based schedule for daily activities that do not change throughout the course of the year. The time of day that individuals begin and end work or school, North and south of the tropics daylight lasts longer in summer and shorter in winter, with the effect becoming greater as one moves away from the tropics. However, they will have one hour of daylight at the start of each day. Supporters have also argued that DST decreases energy consumption by reducing the need for lighting and heating, DST is also of little use for locations near the equator, because these regions see only a small variation in daylight in the course of the year. After ancient times, equal-length civil hours eventually supplanted unequal, so civil time no longer varies by season, unequal hours are still used in a few traditional settings, such as some monasteries of Mount Athos and all Jewish ceremonies. This 1784 satire proposed taxing window shutters, rationing candles, and waking the public by ringing church bells, despite common misconception, Franklin did not actually propose DST, 18th-century Europe did not even keep precise schedules. However, this changed as rail transport and communication networks came to require a standardization of time unknown in Franklins day. Modern DST was first proposed by the New Zealand entomologist George Hudson, whose shift work job gave him time to collect insects. An avid golfer, he also disliked cutting short his round at dusk and his solution was to advance the clock during the summer months, a proposal he published two years later. The proposal was taken up by the Liberal Member of Parliament Robert Pearce, a select committee was set up to examine the issue, but Pearces bill did not become law, and several other bills failed in the following years. Willett lobbied for the proposal in the UK until his death in 1915, william Sword Frost, mayor of Orillia, Ontario, introduced daylight saving time in the municipality during his tenure from 1911 to 1912. Starting on April 30,1916, the German Empire and its World War I ally Austria-Hungary were the first to use DST as a way to conserve coal during wartime, Britain, most of its allies, and many European neutrals soon followed suit. Russia and a few other countries waited until the year
16.
Ordnance Survey National Grid
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The Ordnance Survey National Grid reference system is a system of geographic grid references used in Great Britain, different from using Latitude and Longitude. It is often called British National Grid, the Ordnance Survey devised the national grid reference system, and it is heavily used in their survey data, and in maps based on those surveys. Grid references are commonly quoted in other publications and data sources. The Universal Transverse Mercator coordinate system is used to provide references for worldwide locations. European-wide agencies also use UTM when mapping locations, or may use the Military Grid Reference System system, the grid is based on the OSGB36 datum, and was introduced after the retriangulation of 1936–1962. It replaced the previously used Cassini Grid which, up to the end of World War Two, had issued only to the military. The Airy ellipsoid is a regional best fit for Britain, more modern mapping tends to use the GRS80 ellipsoid used by the GPS, the British maps adopt a Transverse Mercator projection with an origin at 49° N, 2° W. Over the Airy ellipsoid a straight grid, the National Grid, is placed with a new false origin. This false origin is located south-west of the Isles of Scilly, the distortion created between the OS grid and the projection is countered by a scale factor in the longitude to create two lines of longitude with zero distortion rather than one. Grid north and true north are aligned on the 400 km easting of the grid which is 2° W. 2° 0′ 5″ W. OSGB36 was also used by Admiralty nautical charts until 2000 after which WGS84 has been used, a geodetic transformation between OSGB36 and other terrestrial reference systems can become quite tedious if attempted manually. The most common transformation is called the Helmert datum transformation, which results in a typical 7 m error from true, the definitive transformation from ETRS89 that is published by the OSGB is called the National Grid Transformation OSTN02. This models the detailed distortions in the 1936–1962 retriangulation, and achieves backwards compatibility in grid coordinates to sub-metre accuracy, the difference between the coordinates on different datums varies from place to place. The longitude and latitude positions on OSGB36 are the same as for WGS84 at a point in the Atlantic Ocean well to the west of Great Britain. In Cornwall, the WGS84 longitude lines are about 70 metres east of their OSGB36 equivalents, the smallest datum shift is on the west coast of Scotland and the greatest in Kent. But Great Britain has not shrunk by 100+ metres, a point near Lands End now computes to be 27.6 metres closer to a point near Duncansby Head than it did under OSGB36. For the first letter, the grid is divided into squares of size 500 km by 500 km, there are four of these which contain significant land area within Great Britain, S, T, N and H. The O square contains an area of North Yorkshire, almost all of which lies below mean high tide
17.
Southborough, Kent
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Southborough is a town and civil parish in the District of Tunbridge Wells, in Kent, England. It lies immediately to the north of Tunbridge Wells itself and includes the district of High Brooms, according to the 2001 census it had a population of 11,124. The town is within the High Weald Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty, after the Norman Conquest, the area came within the domain of Tonbridge Castle, one of 4 boroughs to do so. Southborough separated from Tonbridge in 1871 when its own board of health was formed, in 1894, it was recreated to become an urban district, with its own elected council to manage its affairs. It retained that title until 1974, when local government reorganisation it became a civil parish. By historical accident, however, Southborough had a Town Council, Southborough Town Council consists of 18 members, from the three town wards, North, West, and East/High Brooms. The posts of mayor and deputy mayor are elected annually, as with many other Parish Councils, its responsibilities are less than those of the local Borough Council. At the same time, Southborough is part of Tunbridge Wells borough, the town has its own grant of heraldry, this includes reference to the cricket ball industry and contains two sprigs of broom, alluding to High Brooms. The Southborough Society’’ is the source for many of the facts in this part of the article The remains of an Iguanodon was discovered in High Brooms. Before the first millennium AD the land here was heavily forested, arrowheads and stone axe heads provide evidence of ‘’’prehistoric’’’ habitation of Southborough while burial sites from both the Bronze and Iron Ages have also been unearthed. The site of the Castle Hill Iron Age Fort, dating back to 315 BC, routes linking other forts are still part of the town’s road network. Little is then known about the district until the Norman Conquest as it was the most sparsely populated part of the Weald due to the almost impenetrable forest and he was also granted the right to build a castle at Tonbridge. The Manor of Southborough was one part of the Lowey, over the following seven hundred years it had a chequered history. After Richard de Clare, it was held by the Audley and Stafford families until 1521, when Edward Stafford, 3rd Duke of Buckingham, was beheaded on Tower Hill, henry VIII gave the estate to George Boleyn, brother of Anne Boleyn, whose fate he also suffered. It was then passed to John Dudley, Earl of Warwick, under Elizabeth I it had again reverted back to the Crown, she bestowed it on Sir Richard Sackville who sold it to Thomas Smythe of Westernhanger. He was commonly known as Customer Smythe, a “farmer” of the collection of customs, the whole area was part of the Royal forest of Southfrith until about the middle of the 16th century, reserved by royalty for hunting. The settlement consisted of a number of isolated hamlets including Nonsuch Green, Holden Corner, Modest Corner, High Brooms was a desolate tract inhabited by Romany Gypsies, very many of Kents population today will have Gypsy heritage - whether they choose to admit this is another matter. From 1639, lodging houses appeared in Southborough to accommodate visitors to the newly discovered chalybeate spring at The Pantiles, during the reign of King Charles I, the Cavalier faction tended to stay at Southborough, whilst nearby Rusthall tended to attract visitors from the Roundhead faction
18.
Urban district (Great Britain and Ireland)
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In England and Wales, Northern Ireland, and the Republic of Ireland, an urban district was a type of local government district that covered an urbanised area. Urban districts had an urban district council, which shared local government responsibilities with a county council. In England and Wales, urban districts and rural districts were created in 1894 as subdivisions of administrative counties and they replaced the earlier system of urban and rural sanitary districts the functions of which were taken over by the district councils. The district councils also had powers over local matters such as parks, cemeteries. An urban district contained a single parish, while a rural district might contain many. Urban districts were considered to have problems with public health than rural areas. Urban districts usually covered smaller towns, usually with populations of less than 30,000, originally there were 1013 urban districts. Under the Local Government Act 1929206 urban districts were abolished, many were merged with surrounding rural districts, and so many urban districts often covered some rural areas as well. Larger towns became municipal boroughs which had a higher status. Many parish councils in England were created for towns previously covered by urban districts, in Wales, all urban and rural areas are now covered by communities. In Ireland urban districts were created in 1898 by the Local Government Act 1898 based on the sanitary districts created in 1878. Urban districts had powers greater than towns with town commissioners but less than the municipal boroughs preserved by the Municipal Corporations Act 1840 or created subsequently, a few places were promoted or demoted between these three categories in subsequent decades. After the partition of Ireland in 1920–22 urban districts continued in both the Irish Free State and Northern Ireland, the rural and urban districts in Northern Ireland were abolished in 1973, and replaced with a system of unitary districts. In the Republic, while rural districts were abolished in 1925 and 1930, urban districts continued to exist but were renamed simply towns under the Local Government Act 2001
19.
Weald
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The Weald /ˈwiːld/ is an area in South East England situated between the parallel chalk escarpments of the North and the South Downs. It crosses the counties of Sussex, Hampshire, Kent and Surrey, the Weald once was covered with forest, and its name, Old English in origin, signifies woodland. The term is used today, as scattered farms and villages sometimes refer to the Weald in their names. The name Weald is derived from the Old English weald, meaning forest and this comes from a Germanic root of the same meaning, and ultimately from Indo-European. Weald is specifically a West Saxon form, wold is the Anglian form of the word. The Middle English form of the word is wēld, and the spelling is a reintroduction of the Anglo-Saxon form attributed to its use by William Lambarde in his A Perambulation of Kent of 1576. In the Anglo-Saxon period, the area had the name Andredes weald, meaning the forest of Andred, the derived from Anderida. The area is referred to in Anglo-Saxon texts as Andredesleage. The adjective for Weald is Wealden, the Weald is the eroded remains of a geological structure, an anticline, a dome of layered Lower Cretaceous rocks cut through by weathering to expose the layers as sandstone ridges and clay valleys. The oldest rocks exposed at the centre of the anticline are correlated with the Purbeck Beds of the Upper Jurassic. Above these, the Cretaceous rocks, include the Wealden Group of alternating sands and clays – the Ashdown Sand Formation, Wadhurst Clay Formation, Tunbridge Wells Sand Formation and the Weald Clay. The Wealden Group is overlain by the Lower Greensand and the Gault Formation, consisting of the Gault, the rocks of the central part of the anticline include hard sandstones, and these form hills now called the High Weald. The peripheral areas are mostly of sandstones and clays and form a gentler rolling landscape. The Weald–Artois Anticline continues some 40 miles further south-eastwards under the Straits of Dover, many important fossils have been found in the sandstones and clays of the Weald, including, for example, Baryonyx. The famous scientific hoax of Piltdown Man was claimed to have come from a pit at Piltdown near Uckfield. The first Iguanodon was identified after a Mary Mantell unearthed some fossilised teeth by a road in Sussex in 1822 and her husband, Gideon Mantell, noticed they were similar to modern iguana teeth but many times larger, this important find led to the discovery of dinosaurs. Some of the notes in the early part of this section are taken from the High Weald website. Prehistoric evidence suggests that, following the Mesolithic hunter-gatherers, the Neolithic inhabitants had turned to farming, with the Iron Age came the first use of the Weald as an industrial area
20.
Clay
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Clay is a fine-grained natural rock or soil material that combines one or more clay minerals with traces of metal oxides and organic matter. Geologic clay deposits are composed of phyllosilicate minerals containing variable amounts of water trapped in the mineral structure. Clays are plastic due to water content and become hard, brittle. Depending on the content in which it is found, clay can appear in various colours from white to dull grey or brown to deep orange-red. Although many naturally occurring deposits include both silts and clay, clays are distinguished from other fine-grained soils by differences in size, silts, which are fine-grained soils that do not include clay minerals, tend to have larger particle sizes than clays. There is, however, some overlap in size and other physical properties. The distinction between silt and clay varies by discipline, geologists and soil scientists usually consider the separation to occur at a particle size of 2 µm, sedimentologists often use 4–5 μm, and colloid chemists use 1 μm. Geotechnical engineers distinguish between silts and clays based on the plasticity properties of the soil, as measured by the soils Atterberg limits, ISO14688 grades clay particles as being smaller than 2 μm and silt particles as being larger. These solvents, usually acidic, migrate through the rock after leaching through upper weathered layers. In addition to the process, some clay minerals are formed through hydrothermal activity. There are two types of deposits, primary and secondary. Primary clays form as residual deposits in soil and remain at the site of formation, secondary clays are clays that have been transported from their original location by water erosion and deposited in a new sedimentary deposit. Clay deposits are associated with very low energy depositional environments such as large lakes. Depending on the source, there are three or four main groups of clays, kaolinite, montmorillonite-smectite, illite, and chlorite. Chlorites are not always considered to be a clay, sometimes being classified as a group within the phyllosilicates. There are approximately 30 different types of clays in these categories. Varve is clay with visible annual layers, which are formed by deposition of those layers and are marked by differences in erosion. This type of deposit is common in glacial lakes
21.
Plain
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In geography, a plain is a flat, sweeping landmass that generally does not change much in elevation. Plains occur as lowlands along the bottoms of valleys or on the doorsteps of mountains, as coastal plains, and as plateaus or uplands. In a valley, a plain is enclosed on two sides but in other cases a plain may be delineated by a complete or partial ring of hills, where a geological region contains more than one plain, they may be connected by a pass. Coastal plains would mostly rise from sea level until they run into elevated features such as mountains or plateaus, plains are one of the major landforms on earth, where they are present on all continents, and would cover more than one-third of the world’s land area. Plains may have formed from flowing lava, deposited by water, ice, wind, or formed by erosion by these agents from hills. Plains would generally be under the grassland, steppe, savannah or tundra biomes, in a few instances, deserts and rainforests can also be plains. Structural plains are relatively undisturbed horizontal surfaces of the Earth and they are structurally depressed areas of the world that make up some of the most extensive natural lowlands on the Earths surface. Erosional plains have been leveled by various agents of such as running water, rivers, wind and glacier which wear out the rugged surface. Plain resulting from the action of these agents of denudation are called peneplains while plains formed from wind action are called pediplains, depositional plains formed by the deposition of materials brought by various agents of transportation such as rivers, wind, waves, and glaciers. Their fertility and economic relevance depend greatly on the types of sediments that are laid down, flood plain, adjacent to a stream, river, lake or wetland that experiences occasional or periodic flooding. Scroll plain, a plain through which a river meanders with a low gradient. Lacustrine plain, a plain that originally formed in a lacustrine environment, lava plain, formed by sheets of flowing lava. Glacial plains, formed by the movement of glaciers under the force of gravity, Sandur, sandar consist mainly of stratified gravel and sand. Till plain, a plain of glacial till that forms when a sheet of ice becomes detached from the body of a glacier. Till plains are composed of unsorted material of all sizes, abyssal plain, a flat or very gently sloping area of the deep ocean basin. Planitia, the Latin word for plain, is used in the naming of plains on extraterrestrial objects, such as Hellas Planitia on Mars or Sedna Planitia on Venus
22.
River Teise
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The River Teise is a tributary of the River Medway in Kent, England. It begins in Dunorlan Park in Tunbridge Wells. and flows eastwards past Bayham Abbey,2 miles downstream of Lamberhurst the small River Bewl, on which is the reservoir Bewl Water, joins the Teise. Unusually the Teise bifurcates 1 1⁄4 miles south west of the village of Marden, the Lesser Teise flows for about 4 miles before joining the River Beult at Hunton. The Beult flows through Yalding, then joins the Medway about 6 furlongs below Twyford Bridge. Like many other rivers in southern England the River Teise was subject to a Land Drainage Improvement Scheme during the 1950s, the River Lesser Teise was widened, straightened and deepened from Horsmonden to the River Beult confluence. Hence it now carries much of the flow, the Greater Teise upstream of where the Lesser Teise bifurcates, and the section downstream of Marden to its confluence with the River Medway was also improved. A number of weirs were built at the time of this work and they split the flows between channels and some are also gauging stations. Some of the meanders of the Lesser Teise can still be seen today within retained areas of woodland. These provide a record of the character of the River Teise, as does the 4 km bifurcated section of the Greater Teise. Whilst this work effectively drained the land, it has massively impoverished the ecology of the river, a significant cost to river wildlife and fishing for the sake of a relatively tiny area of agriculture. The River Teise and its tributaries powered a number of watermills, from source to mouth they were, - This was a corn mill, driven by an overshot waterwheel. A painting of the mill by Charles Tattershall Dodd can be seen in Tunbridge Wells Museum & Art Gallery, TQ642366 51°06′20″N 0°20′41″E This forge was in operation in 1520, when it was leased by William Wybarne. It was still at work in 1667, the pond survives, TQ66153596 51°05′54″N 0°22′24″E This furnace was built in 1695 by William Benge. In 1700 the owner was Samuel Gott, the furnace produced 200 tons of iron in 1717 and John Legas was working it in partnership with William Harrison. William Collins and George Matthews leased the furnace in 1782 but it ceased production c.1787, there was a boring mill marked on Budgens map of 1795. TQ66223617 51°06′01″N 0°22′28″E Hoadly Forge was built in 1548 by Alexander Collins and it was sold by Stephen Collins to Richard Filmer in 1584. In 1614 it was owned by Sir Edward Filmer and leased to Thomas Sanders, the forge was bought by William Benge in 1694. The railings around St. Pauls Cathedral were cast here, TQ661361 51°06′00″N 0°22′24″E This was a corn mill, the building survives today converted to a dwelling, devoid of machinery except the sack hoist
23.
River Beult
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The River Beult is a tributary of the River Medway. It has several sources west of Ashford, including one at Woodchurch, at Hunton,7 furlongs above Yalding it is joined by the major stream of the River Teise. Town bridge lies 10 1⁄4 miles from Allington, it is the longest mediaeval bridge in Kent, the river enters the Medway at Yalding. The River Beult is crossed by the railway between Headcorn and Staplehurst, the bridge was the scene of the Staplehurst rail crash in 1865 in which Charles Dickens was involved. The River Beult was subject to a Land Drainage Improvement Scheme in the 1930s and this led to the river being widened, deepened and straightened from Smarden to Yalding. Despite this action the river is designated as a Site of Special Scientific Interest and it is one of the few clay rivers in England and Wales to retain much of its characteristic flora. It hasnt been heavily embanked like most clay rivers found in the midlands, the lack of shade coupled with retained areas of grazing means there are many wildlife rich margins to the river, with nearly 100 different species of aquatic and marginal plants recorded. The river is subject to significant agricultural run off and flows from wastewater treatment works, hence despite recent improvements, still suffers water quality problems. At one time the water was apparently crystal clear and this is certainly not the case today. Upstream of Smarden the river retains its natural meandering morphology, although it is subject to water level management. The vegetation communities are not so interesting here as the river is smaller, heavily tree lined, the River Beult and its tributaries powered a number of watermills. From source to mouth these were, - TQ708496 51°13′12″N 0°26′48″E This was a corn mill, the waterwheel was replaced by a turbine made by Messrs Drake & Fletcher of Maidstone. During the Second World War, Italian Prisoners of War were billeted in the mill building, the building survives today, converted into a house. A Domesday site, the mill was still in existence in 1336, the River Beult is unusual in that the majority of its watermills were not on the main river itself, but on the tributaries. A stream rises at Angley Woods, Cranbrook and flows into the Beult at Frittenden and it powered these mills, - This may have been a fulling mill. The miller here was Edmund Luckhurst in 1656 and 1660, TQ771384 approx 51°07′03″N 0°31′53″E An old fulling mill site. TQ775387 51°07′12″N 0°32′14″E This mill was sold to Alexander Courthope in 1523 and it remained in the Hovenden family for many years, until at least 1704. The mill later passed to the Bonnick family, TQ774395 51°07′38″N 0°32′10″E This was a corn mill
24.
Chalybeate
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Chalybeate /kəˈlɪbiː. eɪt/ waters, also known as ferruginous waters, are mineral spring waters containing salts of iron. The word chalybeate is derived from the Latin word for steel, chalybs, khálups is the singular form of Khálubes or Chalybes, who were mythical people living on Mount Ida in north Asia Minor who had invented iron working. Ferruginous /fəˈruːdʒᵻnəs/ comes from the Latin word ferreus meaning made of iron, early in the 17th century, chalybeate water was said to have health-giving properties and many people have promoted its qualities. Dudley North, 3rd Baron North discovered the spring at Tunbridge Wells in 1606. He also apparently said, in verse, These waters youth in age renew Strength to the weak, the Recoaro Spa is on the outskirts of Vicenza, Italy. In 1689, a spring of water rich in gas. Local residents called the water from this spring Saint Anthonys miraculous water because they claimed it had therapeutic properties and this led to a substantial increase in public interest in drinking mineral water. The town of Enfield, New Hampshire, even changed its name temporarily to Relhan because of the public interest in this form of therapy. Princess Victoria, later Queen Victoria, drank the waters every day during her stay in Tunbridge Wells in 1834 and she and her mother, the Princess Victoria, Duchess of Kent, would pay a visit to the spring and then enjoy a stroll along the Pantiles. The water contains a significant level of dissolved salts, with iron. The Spire Southampton Private Hospital in Chalybeate Close Southampton UK was formerly known as The Chalybeate Hospital until 2007, malmedy England Alexandra Park in Hastings, East Sussex Bermondsey Spa, south-east of the Tower of London. Around 1770 Thomas Keyse opened some tea gardens, with the discovery of a chalybeate spring the gardens became known as Bermondsey Spa. About 1784 Keyse received a licence to provide in his garden musical entertainments like those in the Vauxhall Pleasure Gardens and they were varied by occasional exhibitions of fireworks and the price of admission was one shilling. Anns Well Gardens, Hove, East Sussex St.1867, archived from the original on 2012-05-04
25.
Wealden iron industry
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The Wealden iron industry was located in the Weald of south-eastern England. It was formerly an important industry, producing a proportion of the bar iron made in England in the 16th century. Ironmaking in the Weald used ironstone from various clay beds, and was fuelled by charcoal made from trees in the wooded landscape. The industry in the Weald declined when ironmaking began to be fuelled by coke made from coal, Iron ore in the form of siderite, commonly known as iron stone or historically as mine, occurs in patches or bands in the Cretaceous clays of the Weald. Differing qualities of ore were extracted and mixed by experienced smelters to give the best results and this was less destructive of the land as spoil from one pit was used to backfill the previous pit allowing continued land use. The fuel for smelting was charcoal, which needed to be produced as close as possible to the smelting sites because it would crumble to dust if transported far by cart over rough tracks. Wood was also needed for pre-roasting the ore on open fires, large areas of woodland were available in the Weald and coppicing woodlands could provide a sustainable source of wood. Sustainable charcoal production for a post-medieval blast furnace required the production from a 3 miles radius of a furnace in a landscape that was a quarter to a third wooded. Forging and finishing of the iron from bloomeries and blast furnaces also required large quantities of charcoal and was carried out at a separate site. Water power became important with the introduction of blast furnaces and finery forges in the medieval period. Blast furnaces needed to operate continuously for as long as possible, finery forges with three or four waterwheels to drive bellows and hammers needed more water than a furnace at times, although continuity was not as important. They tended to be sited downstream from a furnace if they were in the same valley, ponds were created by building a dam known as a pond bay, which often served as a road, across one of the many valleys in the undulating Wealden landscape. In 1754 one furnace was so drought-stricken that its manager considered hiring workmen to turn the wheel as a treadmill and this need for continuous water power was an incentive in the development of the water-returning engine, a waterwheel driven by water raised by a steam engine pump. So far only two dozen sites have been identified where iron was made before the Roman invasion, mostly scattered across East Sussex. Continuity of pottery styles from the Iron Age into the early Roman period makes precise dating of sites to before or after the Roman conquest difficult. Carbon dating has identified a site at Cullinghurst Wood, Hartfield to between 350 and 750 BC, during his invasions of Britain in 55 and 54 BC Julius Caesar noted iron production near the coast, possibly at known sites at Sedlescombe and Crowhurst Park near Hastings. The sites of about 113 bloomeries have been identified as Roman, the Weald was in this period one of the most important iron-producing regions in Roman Britain. Excavations at a few sites have produced tiles of the Classis Britannica, suggesting that they were run by
26.
Hops
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Hops are the flowers of the hop plant Humulus lupulus. The hop plant is a vigorous, climbing, herbaceous perennial, usually trained to grow up strings in a called a hopfield, hop garden. Many different varieties of hops are grown by farmers around the world, the first documented use of hops in beer is from the 9th century, though Hildegard of Bingen,300 years later, is often cited as the earliest documented source. Before this period, brewers used gruit, composed of a variety of bitter herbs and flowers, including dandelion, burdock root, marigold, horehound, ground ivy. Early documents include mention of a hop garden in the will of Charlemagnes father, historically, traditional herb combinations for beers were believed to have been abandoned when beers made with hops were noticed to be less prone to spoilage. The first documented hop cultivation was in 736, in the Hallertau region of present-day Germany, however, in a will of Pepin the Short, the father of Charlemagne,768 hop gardens were left to the Cloister of Saint-Denis. Not until the 13th century did hops begin to start threatening the use of gruit for flavoring, gruit was used when taxes were levied by the nobility on hops. Whichever was taxed made the then quickly switch to the other. In Britain, hopped beer was first imported from Holland around 1400, yet hops were condemned as late as 1519 as a wicked, in 1471, Norwich, England, banned use of the plant in the brewing of ale. In Germany, using hops was also a religious and political choice in the early 16th century, there was no tax on hops to be paid on the Catholic church, unlike on gruit, for which the Protestant preferred hopped beer. Therefore, in the hop industry there are words which originally were Dutch words. Hops were then grown as far north as Aberdeen, near breweries for infrastructure convenience, in England there were many complaints over the quality of imported hops, the sacks of which were often contaminated by stalks, sand or straw to increase their weight. Hop cultivation was begun in the present-day United States in 1629 by English, before national alcohol prohibition, cultivation was mainly centered around New York, California, Oregon, and Washington. Problems with powdery mildew and downy mildew devastated New Yorks production by the 1920s, Hops production is concentrated in moist temperate climates, with much of the worlds production occurring near the 48th parallel north. Historically, hops were not grown in Ireland, but were imported from England, in 1752 more than 500 tons of English hops were imported through Dublin alone. Important production centers today are the Hallertau in Germany, the Yakima and Willamette valleys, the principal production centers in the UK are in Kent which produces Kent Goldings hops, Herefordshire and Worcestershire. Essentially all of the hops are used in beer making. Although hops are grown in most of the continental United States and Canada, as hops are a climbing plant, they are trained to grow up trellises made from strings or wires that support the plants and allow them significantly greater growth with the same sunlight profile
27.
Cranbrook, Kent
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Cranbrook is a small town in the Weald of Kent in South East England. It lies roughly half-way between Maidstone and Hastings, about 38 miles southeast of central London, the place name Cranbrook derives from Old English cran broc, meaning Crane Marsh, marshy ground frequented by cranes. Spelling of the name has evolved over the centuries from Cranebroca, by 1226 it was recorded as Cranebroc. By 1610 the name had become Cranbrooke, which evolved into the current spelling, iron-making was carried on at Bedgebury on the River Teise, an industry which dates back to Roman times. The tributaries of the River Beult around Cranbrook powered 17 watermills at one time, in 1290 the town received a charter from Archbishop Peckham, allowing it to hold a market in the High Street. Bakers Cross on the edge of the town is linked to John Baker, Chancellor of the Exchequer under Queen Mary. Legend holds that he was riding on his way to Cranbrook in order to have two local Protestants executed, when he turned back after the news reached him that Queen Mary was dead. Different versions of the legend have it that he heard the parish bells ringing. The place where this happened was, in the words of biographer and historian Arthur Irwin Dasent, popular legend also has it that Baker was killed at Bakers Cross, although in fact he died in his house in London. Cranbrook and Sissinghurst Parish Council are based in the Old Fire Station on Stone Street, in 1974 Cranbrook Rural District was merged into the Borough of Tunbridge Wells. In 2010 Francis Rook of the Liberal Democrats won the Benenden and Cranbrook ward from the Conservatives, located on the Maidstone to Hastings road, it is five miles north of Hawkhurst. The smaller settlements of Swattenden, Colliers Green and Hartley lie within the parish, Bakers Cross is on the eastern outskirts of the town. Cranbrook is on the Hastings Beds, alternating sands and clays which are resistant to erosion than the surrounding clays. The geology of the area has played a role in the towns development, deposits of iron ore and fullers earth were important in the iron industry. At the 2011 census, Cranbrook had 6,717 residents, the Kent Structure Plan calls it the smallest town in Kent, although Fordwich has a town council and just 381 residents. Since the decline of the trade, agriculture became the mainstay of the economy. The first bank was opened in Cranbrook in 1803 by Samuel Waddington, in 1804, the Cranbrook Bank was opened. It changed its name to the Weald of Kent Bank in 1812, the Tooth family of Great Swifts, near Cranbrook, established a brewery at Bakers Cross
28.
Maidstone
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Maidstone is the county town of Kent, England,32 miles south-east of London. The River Medway runs through the centre of the town, linking it with Rochester, historically, the river was a source and route for much of the towns trade as the centre of the agricultural county of Kent, known as the Garden of England. There is evidence of a settlement in the area dating back to before the Stone Age, the town is in the borough of Maidstone. In 2011, the town had a population of 113,137, maidstones economy has changed over the years from being involved in heavy industry, to more light industry and service industries. Saxon charters show the first recorded instances of the name, de maeides stana and maegdan stane. The latter meaning may refer to the nearby megalith around which took place. The name evolved through medestan/meddestane in the Domesday Book with possible variation Mayndenstan, the modern name appeared by 1610. It has been suggested that the name derives from stones set into the river to allow clothes to be rinsed in the water away from the banks. Neolithic finds have revealed the earliest occupation of the area, the Normans set up a shire moot, and religious organisations established an abbey at Boxley, hospitals and a college for priests. Today’s suburb of Penenden Heath was a place of execution in medieval times, maidstones charter as a town was granted in 1549, although briefly revoked, a new charter in 1551 created the town as a borough. The charter was ratified in 1619 under James I, and the coat of arms was designed, bearing a golden lion, recently to these arms were added the head of a white horse, a golden lion and an iguanodon. The iguanodon relates to the discovery in the 19th century of the remains of that dinosaur. Maidstone has had the right to a town gaol since 1604, during the English Civil War, the Battle of Maidstone took place in 1648, resulting in a victory for the Parliamentarians. Paper mills, stone quarrying, brewing and the industry have all flourished here. The paper maker James Whatman and his son invented wove paper at Turkey Mill from 1740, a permanent military presence was established in the town with the completion of cavalry barracks in 1798. Invicta Park Barracks is now home to the 36 Engineer Regiment, Maidstone Prison is north of the town centre and was completed in 1819. Modern Maidstone incorporates a number of outlying villages and settlements, the county council offices to the north of the town centre were built of Portland stone between 1910 and 1913. On 29 September 1975 a local pub serving Invicta Park Barracks, The Hare, Maidstone General Hospital opened on the outskirts of the town in 1983, replacing West Kent General Hospital, which opened 150 years earlier in Marsham Street
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South Eastern Railway, UK
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The South Eastern Railway was a railway company in south-eastern England from 1836 until 1922. The company was formed to construct a route from London to Dover, Branch lines were later opened to Tunbridge Wells, Hastings, Canterbury and other places in Kent. The SER absorbed or leased other railways, some older than itself, including the London and Greenwich Railway, most of the companys routes were in Kent, eastern Sussex and the London suburbs, with a long cross-country route from Redhill in Surrey to Reading, Berkshire. However, in 1899 the SER agreed with the LCDR to share operation of the two railways, work them as a system and pool receipts, but it was not a full amalgamation. The SER and LCDR remained separate companies until becoming constituents of the Southern Railway on 1 January 1923, on 21 June 1836, the Parliament of the United Kingdom passed a Private Act incorporating the South Eastern and Dover Railway, which shortly afterwards changed to the South Eastern Railway. At the time of there were two potential rail pathways south from London, and the Speaker of the House of Commons had said no further pathways would be permitted. The SER therefore considered routes to Dover from the proposed London and Southampton Railway line at Wimbledon, or from the existing London, the former left London in the wrong direction and then on a roundabout route. A new connection on this line near to Norwood could provide access to a route to Dover via Tonbridge, Ashford. This was less direct than the route but passed through easier country. It involved one significant 1, 387-yard tunnel through the Shakespeare Cliff near Dover and this was the route first chosen by the SER at its inauguration. The SER gave way to this proposal as it reduced the costs, although it resulted in a route 20 miles longer than by road, running south for 14.5 miles. It also meant that its trains from London Bridge passed over the lines of three companies, the L&GR to Corbetts Lane Junction, the L&CR as far as Jolly Sailor. Construction began in 1838 at several places simultaneously, and the Shakespeare Tunnel was complete by May 1841, the L&BR line to Redhill opened on 12 July 1841 and the SER line from Redhill to Tonbridge on 26 May 1842, when SER train services began. The main line reached Ashford on 1 December 1842, the outskirts of Folkestone by 28 June 1843, on the same day the SER offered to lease the L&BR for 21 years at £100,000 per year, but the offer was turned down. Later that year, the SER refunded to the L&BR £430,000, Trains ran toll-free to both companies on this stretch but still had pay on the L&CR from Norwood Junction railway station to Corbetts Lane Junction, and the L&GR into London Bridge. In 1843, when the reached the edge of Folkestone. The SER dredged the harbour and arranged for a packet company to provide a ferry to Boulogne. The following year it established the independent South Eastern & Continental Steam Packet Company, in December 1848 it opened a steeply graded branch from the Folkestone station to the harbour
30.
Redhill, Surrey
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Redhill is a town in the borough of Reigate and Banstead in Surrey, England. The town, which adjoins the town of Reigate to the west, is due south of Croydon in Greater London, Redhill is sited about 3 miles south of a minor pass at Merstham in the North Downs, through which passes the London-Brighton road. A major factor in the development of the town was the coming of the railways, Redhill railway station continues to be an important junction. A town formed here in part of the parishes of Reigate Foreign. The settlement was known as Warwick Town after Warwick Road. Redhill is one of the few places in the UK where Fullers Earth can be extracted, alfred Nobel demonstrated dynamite for the first time at a Merstham quarry,2 miles north of Redhill in 1868. Georges Fields, London, relocated to Earlswood in what was the south of Redhill in 1855, another inmate James Henry Pullen was an autistic savant. He was a brilliant craftsman and artist whose work was accepted by Queen Victoria, some of Pullens ship models, designs and art work used to be on display at the towns Belfry Shopping Centre but have now been moved to the Langdon Down Museum in Teddington. The principal building has been converted to apartments and the grounds provide green open space to balance the large common south-west of Earlswood railway station. Richard Carrington, an astronomer, moved to Redhill in 1852. Dome Way, where Redhills only tower block stands, is named after it, the site suited an isolated observatory, being on a spur of high ground surrounded by lower fields and marsh. Here in 1859 he made observations that first corroborated the existence of solar flares as well as their electrical influence upon the Earth. In 1863 he published records of observations that first demonstrated differential rotation in the Sun. In 1865 ill health prompted him to sell his house and move to Churt, St John the Evangelist, built in 1843, was the first of Redhills three Anglican parish churches. The parish originally stretched from Gatton in the north to Sidlow in the south, the construction, to the east of Redhill, of the M23 motorway between 1972 and 1975 reduced north-south traffic through the town. The natural gap in the North Downs north of Merstham is at an elevation of 120 metres above sea level, from this point run gently undulating slopes of significant chalk, sand, and some fullers earth deposits, underlying regular humus topsoil in the distance to Redhills town centre. Similarly, Reigate High Street, further along the Holmesdale gap, is at an elevation of around 85 metres or 280 feet with a hill immediately to the north where Reigate Castle is sited. Redhill Common, now built on at St Johns, is on the Greensand Ridge
31.
Ashford, Kent
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Ashford is a town in the county of Kent, England. It lies on the River Great Stour at the edge of the North Downs. In the 2011 census, it had a population of 74,204, the name comes from the Old English æscet, indicating a ford near a clump of ash trees. It has been a town since the 13th century. Ashford has been a hub and has stood at the centre of five railway lines since the 19th century. The arrival of the railways became a source of employment and contributed to the towns growth, with the opening of the international passenger station it is now a European communications centre, with new lines running between London and the Channel Tunnel. The M20 motorway also links Ashford to those two destinations for road traffic, the town has been marked as a place for expansion since the 1960s and appeared on several Government plans for growth. Changes have included the County Square shopping centre, the redevelopment of the Templer Barracks at Repton Park, and the award-winning Ashford Designer Outlet. In the 1970s, a ring road scheme and construction of the multi storey Charter House building destroyed significant parts of the old town. St Marys Church in Ashford has been a landmark since the 13th century. Today, the functions in a dual role as a centre for worship. Ashford has two schools, the Norton Knatchbull School and Highworth Grammar School. There has been evidence of habitation around Ashford since the Iron Age. Two axes from the Lower Paleolithic period have been found near Ashford, during the construction of the Park Farm estate in the late 1990s, excavation in the area revealed tools from the Upper Palaeolithic and Mesolithic period dating back to the 7th century BC. A number of other Mesolithic tools were discovered during construction of the Channel Tunnel Rail Link through Ashford, during Roman Britain, iron ore was mined in the Weald and transported to Ashford where two ironworks processed the ore into a workable metal. Archaeological studies have revealed the existence of a Roman town to the north of the current centre, roughly at the junction of Albert Road and Wall Road. The present town originates from a settlement established in 893 AD by inhabitants escaping a Danish Viking raid. The name comes from the Old English æscet, indicating a ford near a clump of ash trees, at the time of the Domesday Book of 1086 it was still known by its original Saxon name of Essetesford
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Hastings
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Hastings /ˈheɪstɪŋz/ is a town and borough in the county of East Sussex, within the historic county of Sussex, on the south coast of England. The town is located 24 mi east of the county town of Lewes and 53 mi south east of London, and has an population of 90,254. Hastings gives its name to the Battle of Hastings in 1066 and it later became one of the medieval Cinque Ports. The town became a seaside resort in the 19th century with the coming of the railway. Hastings is a port with a beach based fishing fleet. The first mention of Hastings is found in the late 8th century in the form Hastingas and this is derived from the Old English tribal name Hæstingas, meaning the constituency/followers of Hæsta. Symeon of Durham records the victory of Offa in 771 over the Hestingorum gens, that is, hastingleigh in Kent was named after that tribe. The place name Hæstingaceaster is found in the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle entry for 1050, evidence of prehistoric settlements have been found at the town site, flint arrowheads and Bronze Age artefacts have been found, Iron Age forts have been excavated on both the East and West Hills. This suggests that the inhabitants moved early to the safety of the valley in between the forts, the settlement was already based on the port when the Romans arrived in Britain for the first time in 55 BC. At this time, they began to exploit the iron, Iron was worked locally at Beauport Park, to the north of the town, which employed up to one thousand men and is considered to have been the third largest mine in the Roman Empire. With the departure of the Romans, the town suffered setbacks, the Beauport site had been abandoned, and natural and man-made attacks began. The Sussex coast has suffered from occasional violent storms, with the additional hazard of longshore drift. The original Roman port could well now be under the sea, Bulverhythe was probably a harbour used by Danish invaders, which suggests that -hythe or hithe means a port or small haven. It worked to retain its cultural identity until the 11th century. In 771 King Offa of Mercia invaded Southern England, and over the next decade gradually seized control of Sussex and Kent. Symeon of Durham records a battle fought at a location near Hastings in 771, at which Offa defeated the Haestingas tribe. By 790, Offa controlled Hastings effectively enough to confirm grants of land in Hastings to the Abbey of St Denis, during the reign of Athelstan, he established a royal mint in Hastings in AD928. It is thought that the Norman encampment was on the outskirts, where there was open ground
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Groombridge
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Groombridge is a village of about 1,600 people. It straddles the border between Kent and East Sussex, in England, the nearest large town is Tunbridge Wells, about 4.5 miles away by road. The main part of the lies in the Withyham civil parish. Across the county lies the much smaller and older part of the village. This is within the Speldhurst civil parish, which part of the Tunbridge Wells Borough of Kent. At the 2011 Census the population of the Kent portion of the village was included in the parish of Frant. New Groombridge has a school associated with the church of St Thomas. It has a store, a bakery, a post office, a hairdresser, a car dealership. Old Groombridge has the church of St John, which is part of the Diocese of Rochester and it also has the Crown Inn public house, but no shops. Groombridge Place is a visitor attraction, boasting an impressive 700-year history beginning in 1239. Groombridge Place has been owned by some of Kents most distinguished families, including the de Cobhams and Sir Richard Waller, Burrswood, situated in countryside north-west of Groombridge, is an independent non-surgical hospital which treats the whole person in a Christian environment. Specialities include palliative and respite care, post-surgical care, rehabilitation, counselling, as a charity, Burrswood runs an Access to Care bursary fund where individuals may apply for assistance with fees. Burrswood also offers regular healing services, guest house, tea room, gift shop, Burrswood was founded in 1948 when Dorothy Kerin established her healing ministry. In 2008 it celebrated its jubilee and a commemorative service was held in Rochester Cathedral. Www. burrswood. org. uk Groombridge stood on the Three Bridges to Tunbridge Wells Central Line, other stations included, Three Bridges, Rowfant, Grange Road, East Grinstead, Forest Row, Withyham, High Rocks, Tunbridge Wells West and Tunbridge Wells Central. The line was operated by the London, Brighton and South Coast Railway, then Southern, Groombridge station was finally closed on 6 July 1985. Groombridge is now on the Spa Valley Railway and is at present the southern terminus of that line, the current Groombridge station is on the east side of Station Road, and a joint ticket for the railway and Groombridge Place is available. A canopy has been erected on both sides of the station, using the former canopy supports from Gravesend West station, a brand new signal box has been constructed on the site and signalling is being installed in conjunction with the extension to Eridge which opened in 2013
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Medway Valley line
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The Medway Valley line is the name given to the railway line linking Strood and the Medway Towns with Maidstone West and onward to Paddock Wood, Tonbridge and London St Pancras International. The section from Maidstone West to Tonbridge passes through some of Kents most picturesque countryside along the sections of the River Medway. The line was built in two stages by the South Eastern Railway, the first stage opened on 24 September 1844 and was a branch off the SERs first main line that crossed Kent between the coast ports of Dover and Folkestone and the LBSCRs main line at Redhill. The junction was at Paddock Wood and followed the Medway Valley down to the county town of Maidstone that had been by-passed by the new main line. Twelve years later, on 18 June 1856 the extension of the further down the Medway Valley was opened. The extension was built by the railway contractor Edward Betts, who lived locally at Preston Hall, Betts arranged for his local station at Aylesford to be built in a much grander style than the other country stations along the line. The SER merged with local rival London, Chatham and Dover Railway on 1 January 1899 to form the South Eastern, post World War One, the railways were grouped and the SECR became part of Southern Railway. For a brief period in the 1990s some services were extended to Gillingham via Rochester and this involved reversing trains and switching tracks at Strood. It was designated by the Department for Transport as a community service on 28 September 2007. The line is double track throughout, apart from a section on approach to Paddock Wood. Between Paddock Wood and Tonbridge the maximum speed is 100 mph, further modifications have since been made with the expansion of the North Kent Signalling Centre. At Yalding, however, exists the only signal on the Southeastern network to display a white light as the proceed aspect at the ABCL level crossing. The line from Strood to Maidstone West was electrified by the Southern Railway, the rest of the line from Paddock Wood to Maidstone West was electrified under Stage 2 of Kent Coast electrification by BRs 1955 Modernisation Plan, opening to traffic on 18 June 1962. Trains typically run a service between Strood and Maidstone, with one train per hour carrying on through to Paddock Wood. There is no longer an early morning service to London Bridge, since the December 2009 timetable change, some trains continue on to Tonbridge rather than terminate at Paddock Wood. On 18 March 2011, Southeastern announced the start of a new high speed service from Maidstone to St Pancras International via Strood on a trial basis. During the morning rush hour, there are 3 trains from Maidstone West to St Pancras International, in the evening rush hour, the service is reversed. A trial service commenced on 23 May 2011 and comes as a result of changes on the North Kent line to improve punctuality of existing services and this service has since been made permanent
35.
Bedgebury National Pinetum
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Bedgebury National Pinetum at Bedgebury, Kent, in the United Kingdom, is a recreational and conservational arboretum and, with the National Arboretum at Westonbirt, comprises the UK National Arboreta. It was established as the National Conifer Collection in 1925 and is now recognised as the most complete collection of conifers on one site anywhere in the world, the collection has over 10,000 trees growing across 320 acres, including rare, endangered and historically important specimens. Bedgebury National Pinetum conducts conservation work and is home to some 56 vulnerable or critically endangered species and houses five NCCPG National Plant Collections, john de Bedgebury is listed as the earliest resident of Bedgebury, in the time of Edward II. Elizabeth I visited in August 1573, the current house was built in 1688 for Sir James Hayes, a little apart from the old house. Beresford initiated the pinetum in the 1850s and his successor, his stepson Alexander Beresford Hope, in 1919, the house was bought by the Church Education Corporation to operate as a school. A site at the end of Bedgebury Park was chosen, centred on Marshalls Lake. The first plants for the pinetum were raised at Kew Gardens in 1921 and transferred to Bedgebury in 1925 and 1926, development of the collection was managed by the Kew botanist William Dallimore, a world-renowned expert on conifers. In 1969 management of the pinetum reverted solely to the Forestry Commission, in the Great Storm of 1987 almost a quarter of the trees were brought down. The pinetum holds 10,000 specimens of conifers and other species grow in temperate zones, including 7,000 trees, as living gene banks. It holds 2,300 different species of conifer, specimens of which include the tallest tree in Kent and the three tallest Leyland Cypresses in the UK. The plan is for the pinetum to provide a mix of 70% conifers to 30% broadleaves, Bedgebury National Pinetum is home to five NCCPG National Plant Collections, Yew, Juniper, Thuja, Lawsons Cypress and Leyland Cypress. The collection contains 56 species that have officially declared vulnerable or critically endangered. The first plots were planted with Chilean plum yew by Boy Scouts celebrating their centenary in 2007, and future plantings will include samples from Europe, Asia, North America and Australasia
36.
Bewl Water
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Bewl Water is a reservoir in the valley of the River Bewl, straddling the boundary between Kent and East Sussex. It is about 2 miles south of Lamberhurst, Kent, England, the reservoir was part of a project to increase supplies of water in the area. It supplies not only Southern Water’s customers in the Medway towns, Thanet and Hastings, work began to construct the reservoir in 1973 by damming and then flooding a valley. It was completed in 1975 having been filled with over 31,300 million litres of water and it is now the largest body of inland water in south east England. In winter, when the flow in the River Medway exceeds 275 million litres per day, there is an outline plan to raise the water level by a further 3m to increase the yield by up to 30% to help with the growing water demand in south-east England. This will however put further demands on the River Medway to supply the water required with the potential for environmental degradation in the river. The reservoir in common with most large clean water lakes, is host to a variety of wildlife. Many recreational activities take place on and around the reservoir and these include sailing and windsurfing, rowing and sculling, Canoeing and Kayaking, trout fishing, walking and cycling. Bewl Water Outdoor Centre offers a range of training, team building and adventure opportunities, on. There is also a boat and a restaurant, conference facility. Bewl Water Bewl Water Outdoor Centre Bewl Canoe Club Bewl Canoe Club facebook page Bewl Valley Sailing Club Bewl Sailing Association Ltd Bewl Bridge Rowing Club Bewl Water Reservoir water level
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Sissinghurst Castle Garden
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The garden at Sissinghurst Castle in the Weald of Kent, in England at Sissinghurst village, is owned and maintained by the National Trust. It is among the most famous gardens in England and is grade I listed, sissinghursts garden was created in the 1930s by Vita Sackville-West, poet and gardening writer, and her husband Harold Nicolson, author and diplomat. The garden itself is designed as a series of rooms, each with a different character of colour and/or theme, Nicolson spent his efforts coming up with interesting new interconnections, while Sackville-West focused on making the flowers in the interior of each room exciting. The site is ancient, hurst is the Saxon term for an enclosed wood, a manor house with a three-armed moat was built here in the Middle Ages. In 1305, King Edward I spent a night here and it was long thought that in 1490 Thomas Baker, a man from Cranbrook, purchased Sissinghurst, although there is no evidence for it. In August 1573 Queen Elizabeth I spent three nights at Sissinghurst, Sackville-West and Nicolson found Sissinghurst in 1930 after concern that their property Long Barn, near Sevenoaks, Kent, was close to development over which they had no control. Although Sissinghurst was derelict, they purchased the ruins and the farm around it, Sissinghurst was first opened to the public in 1938. The National Trust took over the whole of Sissinghurst, its garden, farm and buildings, the garden epitomises the English garden of the mid-20th century. It is now popular and can be crowded in peak holiday periods. Their plan is to use the land to grow ingredients for lunches in the Sissinghurst restaurant, a fuller version of the story can be found in Nicolsons book, Sissinghurst, An Unfinished History. Vitas Other World, A Gardening Biography of V. Sackville-West, Sissinghurst Castle – An illustrated history, National Trust. Sissinghurst – The Making of a Garden, Michael Joseph, Sissinghurst, Vita Sackville-West and the Creation of a Garden, St. Martins Press. Sissinghurst, An Unfinished History by Adam Nicolson
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Vita Sackville-West
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Victoria Mary Sackville-West, Lady Nicolson, CH, usually known as Vita Sackville-West, was an English poet, novelist, and garden designer. Victoria Sackville-West was born at Knole House near Sevenoaks, Kent, the child of Victoria Sackville-West and Lionel Edward Sackville-West, 3rd Baron Sackville. Her mother was the daughter of Lionel Sackville-West, 2nd Baron Sackville. Christened Victoria Mary Sackville-West, the girl was known as Vita throughout her life to distinguish her from her mother, the usual English aristocratic inheritance customs were followed by the Sackville-West family, which prevented Vita from inheriting Knole on the death of her father. The house followed the title, and was bequeathed instead by her father to his nephew Charles, Vitas first close friend was Rosamund Grosvenor, who was four years her senior. She was the daughter of Algernon Henry Grosvenor, and the granddaughter of Robert Grosvenor, Vita met Rosamund at Miss Woolfs school in 1899, when Rosamund had been invited to cheer Vita up while her father was fighting in the Second Boer War. Rosamund and Vita later shared a governess for their morning lessons, as they grew up together, Vita fell in love with Rosamund, whom she called Roddie or Rose or the Rubens lady. Rosamund, in turn, was besotted with Vita, Lady Sackville, Vitas mother, invited Rosamund to visit the family at their villa in Monte Carlo, Rosamund also stayed with Vita at Knole House, at Rue Lafitte, and at Sluie. During the Monte Carlo visit, Vita wrote in her diary, upon Rosamunds departure, Vita wrote, Strange how little I minded, she has no personality, thats why. Their secret relationship ended in 1913 when Vita married, Rosamund died in London in 1944 during a German V1 rocket raid. Sackville-West was more involved with Violet Trefusis, daughter of the Hon. George Keppel and his wife, Alice Keppel. They first met when Vita Sackville-West was 12 and Violet was 10, the relationship began when they were both in their teens and strongly influenced them for years. Both later married and became writers, in 1913, during a visit to Spain, Sackville-West visited a Romany camp and was enchanted by she saw, writing God, how happy and free I feel. In 1913, at age 21, Vita married the 27-year-old writer, nicknamed Hadji, or pilgrim, by his father, he was the third son of British diplomat Arthur Nicolson, 1st Baron Carnock. The couple had an open marriage, writing in the third person Sackville-West wrote in her early years of her marriage she never knew the physical passion she had felt for Rosamund, she didnt really miss it either. Following the pattern of his fathers career, Harold Nicholson was at different times a diplomat, journalist, broadcaster, Member of Parliament, the couple lived from 1912 to 1914 in Cihangir, a suburb of Constantinople, the capital of the Ottoman empire. The couple had two children, Nigel, who became an editor, politician, and writer, and Benedict. That night, Sackville-West had dinner alone at the Ritz while Keppel watched her lovingly from the window in her room at a hotel while Denys Trefusis laid on the bed crying
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Hawkenbury, Tunbridge Wells
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Hawkenbury is a small village area located in the south east of Royal Tunbridge Wells, Kent. Hawkenbury was settled before Tunbridge Wells itself was founded in the 17th century and it was originally known as Hockenbury. Bacons 1912 map of Tunbridge Wells shows the centre of Hawkenbury lying along Hawkenbury Road, the Victorian estate around Sibbys Corner was not then considered part of Hawkenbury. Hawkenbury had no less than four places of worship, being a Congregationalist chapel at Sibbys Corner, beyond agriculture, the residents were employed in the Brickfields, lying due east of present-day Maryland Road. South of Brickfields were a plethora of now-vanished farm buildings, the remains of which can still be traced from the footpath off Chieveley Drive, in 1912 Halls Hole Road was called Marlpits Lane and Whybourne Gate Farm lay on the site of the current Whybourne Crest. Hawkenbury is located within the Park ward of Tunbridge Wells, Hawkenbury is not part of a parish council. Hawkenbury falls under the Tunbridge Wells South district at county level, Hawkenbury is part of the constituency of Tunbridge Wells at a national level, and South East England at a European level. The closest railway station is Tunbridge Wells, buses serve Hawkenbury from Monday to Saturday, and are provided by Nu-Venture. Farmcombe Road Open Space is an open green area. Camden Park contains an area, known as The Meadow. The Hawkenbury Recreation Ground is a public space that has cricket and football pitches, tennis courts, an all-weather pitch. There are also allotments in Hawkenbury, in Halls Hole Road, managed by the Hawkenbury Allotment Holders Association
