1.
Old English
–
Old English or Anglo-Saxon is the earliest historical form of the English language, spoken in England and southern and eastern Scotland in the early Middle Ages. It was brought to Great Britain by Anglo-Saxon settlers probably in the mid 5th century, Old English developed from a set of Anglo-Frisian or North Sea Germanic dialects originally spoken by Germanic tribes traditionally known as the Angles, Saxons, and Jutes. As the Anglo-Saxons became dominant in England, their language replaced the languages of Roman Britain, Common Brittonic, a Celtic language, Old English had four main dialects, associated with particular Anglo-Saxon kingdoms, Mercian, Northumbrian, Kentish and West Saxon. It was West Saxon that formed the basis for the standard of the later Old English period, although the dominant forms of Middle. The speech of eastern and northern parts of England was subject to strong Old Norse influence due to Scandinavian rule, Old English is one of the West Germanic languages, and its closest relatives are Old Frisian and Old Saxon. Like other old Germanic languages, it is different from Modern English. Old English grammar is similar to that of modern German, nouns, adjectives, pronouns, and verbs have many inflectional endings and forms. The oldest Old English inscriptions were using a runic system. Old English was not static, and its usage covered a period of 700 years, from the Anglo-Saxon settlement of Britain in the 5th century to the late 11th century, some time after the Norman invasion. While indicating that the establishment of dates is a process, Albert Baugh dates Old English from 450 to 1150, a period of full inflections. Perhaps around 85 per cent of Old English words are no longer in use, Old English is a West Germanic language, developing out of Ingvaeonic dialects from the 5th century. It came to be spoken over most of the territory of the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms which became the Kingdom of England and this included most of present-day England, as well as part of what is now southeastern Scotland, which for several centuries belonged to the Anglo-Saxon kingdom of Northumbria. Other parts of the island – Wales and most of Scotland – continued to use Celtic languages, Norse was also widely spoken in the parts of England which fell under Danish law. Anglo-Saxon literacy developed after Christianisation in the late 7th century, the oldest surviving text of Old English literature is Cædmons Hymn, composed between 658 and 680. There is a corpus of runic inscriptions from the 5th to 7th centuries. The Old English Latin alphabet was introduced around the 9th century, with the unification of the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms by Alfred the Great in the later 9th century, the language of government and literature became standardised around the West Saxon dialect. In Old English, typical of the development of literature, poetry arose before prose, a later literary standard, dating from the later 10th century, arose under the influence of Bishop Æthelwold of Winchester, and was followed by such writers as the prolific Ælfric of Eynsham. This form of the language is known as the Winchester standard and it is considered to represent the classical form of Old English
Old English
–
A detail of the first page of the
Beowulf manuscript, showing the words "ofer hron rade", i.e. "over the whale's road (=sea)". It is an example of an Old English stylistic device, the
kenning.
Old English
–
North Germanic
Old English
–
"Her swutelað seo gecwydrædnes ðe" Old English inscription over the arch of the south porticus in the 10th-century
St Mary's parish church, Breamore, Hampshire
Old English
–
The first page of the
Beowulf manuscript with its opening Hƿæt ƿē Gārde/na ingēar dagum þēod cyninga / þrym ge frunon... "Listen! We of the Spear-Danes from days of yore have heard of the glory of the folk-kings..."
2.
Danish language
–
There are also minor Danish-speaking communities in Norway, Sweden, Spain, the United States, Canada, Brazil and Argentina. Due to immigration and language shift in urban areas, around 15–20% of the population of Greenland speak Danish as their home language. Along with the other North Germanic languages, Danish is a descendant of Old Norse, until the 16th century, Danish was a continuum of dialects spoken from Schleswig to Scania with no standard variety or spelling conventions. With the Protestant Reformation and the introduction of printing, a language was developed which was based on the educated Copenhagen dialect. It spread through use in the system and administration though German. Today, traditional Danish dialects have all but disappeared, though there are variants of the standard language. The main differences in language are between generations, with youth language being particularly innovative, Danish has a very large vowel inventory comprising 27 phonemically distinctive vowels, and its prosody is characterized by the distinctive phenomenon stød, a kind of laryngeal phonation type. The grammar is moderately inflective with strong and weak conjugations and inflections, nouns and demonstrative pronouns distinguish common and neutral gender. As in English, Danish only has remnants of a case system, particularly in the pronouns. Its syntax is V2, with the verb always occupying the second slot in the sentence. Danish is a Germanic language of the North Germanic branch, other names for this group are the Nordic or Scandinavian languages. Along with Swedish, Danish descends from the Eastern dialects of the Old Norse language, Scandinavian languages are often considered a dialect continuum, where there are no sharp dividing lines between the different vernacular languages. Like Norwegian and Swedish, Danish was significantly influenced by Low German in the Middle Ages, Danish itself can be divided into three main dialect areas, West Danish, Insular Danish, and East Danish. Danish is largely mutually intelligible with Norwegian and Swedish, both Swedes and Danes also understand Norwegian better than they understand each others languages. By the 8th century, the common Germanic language of Scandinavia, Proto-Norse, had some changes. This language was called the Danish tongue, or Norse language. Norse was written in the alphabet, first with the elder futhark. From the 7th century the common Norse language began to undergo changes that did not spread to all of Scandinavia, most of the changes separating East Norse from West Norse started as innovations in Denmark, that spread through Scania into Sweden and by maritime contact to southern Norway
Danish language
–
The first page of the Jutlandic Law originally from 1241 in Codex Holmiensis, copied in 1350. The first sentence is: " Mædh logh skal land byggas " "With law the land shall be built".
Danish language
–
Learn Danish banner in
Flensburg,
Germany where it is an officially recognized
regional language
Danish language
–
Danish label reading militærpoliti, "military police", on police vehicle
Danish language
–
Danish keyboard with keys for Æ, Ø, and Å.
3.
Anglo-Saxon Chronicle
–
The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle is a collection of annals in Old English chronicling the history of the Anglo-Saxons. The original manuscript of the Chronicle was created late in the 9th century, probably in Wessex, multiple copies were made of that one original and then distributed to monasteries across England, where they were independently updated. In one case, the Chronicle was still being updated in 1154. Nine manuscripts survive in whole or in part, though not all are of historical value. The oldest seems to have been started towards the end of Alfreds reign and these manuscripts collectively are known as the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle. Taken as a whole, however, the Chronicle is the single most important historical source for the period in England between the departure of the Romans and the following the Norman conquest. Much of the information given in the Chronicle is not recorded elsewhere, in addition, the manuscripts are important sources for the history of the English language, in particular, the later Peterborough text is one of the earliest examples of Middle English in existence. Seven of the nine surviving manuscripts and fragments now reside in the British Library, the remaining two are in the Bodleian Library at Oxford and the Parker Library of Corpus Christi College, Cambridge. All of the manuscripts are copies, so it is not known for certain where or when the first version of the Chronicle was composed. It is generally agreed that the version was written in the late 9th century by a scribe in Wessex. After the original Chronicle was compiled, copies were made and distributed to various monasteries, additional copies were made, for further distribution or to replace lost manuscripts, and some copies were updated independently of each other. Some of these copies are those that have survived. The earliest extant manuscript, the Winchester Chronicle, was written by a single scribe up to the year 891, the scribe wrote the year number, DCCCXCII, in the margin of the next line, subsequent material was written by other scribes. It is known that the Winchester manuscript is at least two removes from the original Chronicle, as a result, there is no proof that the Chronicle was compiled at Winchester. The Chronicle, as well as the distribution of copies to other centres of learning, of the nine surviving manuscripts, seven are written entirely in Old English. One, known as the Bilingual Canterbury Epitome, is in Old English with a translation of each annal into Latin, another, the Peterborough Chronicle, is in Old English except for the last entry, which is in early Middle English. The oldest is known as the Winchester Chronicle or the Parker Chronicle, six of the manuscripts were printed in an 1861 edition for the Rolls Series by Benjamin Thorpe with the text laid out in columns labelled A to F. He also included the few remnants of a burned seventh manuscript
Anglo-Saxon Chronicle
–
The initial page of the
Peterborough Chronicle Translation of this scanned page
Anglo-Saxon Chronicle
–
A page from the [C] Abingdon II text of the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle. This entry is for 871, a year of battles between Wessex and the Vikings.
4.
England
–
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west, the Irish Sea lies northwest of England and the Celtic Sea lies to the southwest. England is separated from continental Europe by the North Sea to the east, the country covers five-eighths of the island of Great Britain in its centre and south, and includes over 100 smaller islands such as the Isles of Scilly, and the Isle of Wight. England became a state in the 10th century, and since the Age of Discovery. The Industrial Revolution began in 18th-century England, transforming its society into the worlds first industrialised nation, Englands terrain mostly comprises low hills and plains, especially in central and southern England. However, there are uplands in the north and in the southwest, the capital is London, which is the largest metropolitan area in both the United Kingdom and the European Union. In 1801, Great Britain was united with the Kingdom of Ireland through another Act of Union to become the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland. In 1922 the Irish Free State seceded from the United Kingdom, leading to the latter being renamed the United Kingdom of Great Britain, the name England is derived from the Old English name Englaland, which means land of the Angles. The Angles were one of the Germanic tribes that settled in Great Britain during the Early Middle Ages, the Angles came from the Angeln peninsula in the Bay of Kiel area of the Baltic Sea. The earliest recorded use of the term, as Engla londe, is in the ninth century translation into Old English of Bedes Ecclesiastical History of the English People. According to the Oxford English Dictionary, its spelling was first used in 1538. The earliest attested reference to the Angles occurs in the 1st-century work by Tacitus, Germania, the etymology of the tribal name itself is disputed by scholars, it has been suggested that it derives from the shape of the Angeln peninsula, an angular shape. An alternative name for England is Albion, the name Albion originally referred to the entire island of Great Britain. The nominally earliest record of the name appears in the Aristotelian Corpus, specifically the 4th century BC De Mundo, in it are two very large islands called Britannia, these are Albion and Ierne. But modern scholarly consensus ascribes De Mundo not to Aristotle but to Pseudo-Aristotle, the word Albion or insula Albionum has two possible origins. Albion is now applied to England in a poetic capacity. Another romantic name for England is Loegria, related to the Welsh word for England, Lloegr, the earliest known evidence of human presence in the area now known as England was that of Homo antecessor, dating to approximately 780,000 years ago. The oldest proto-human bones discovered in England date from 500,000 years ago, Modern humans are known to have inhabited the area during the Upper Paleolithic period, though permanent settlements were only established within the last 6,000 years
England
–
Stonehenge, a
Neolithic monument
England
–
Flag
England
–
Boudica led an uprising against the
Roman Empire
England
–
Replica of a 7th-century ceremonial
helmet from the
Kingdom of East Anglia, found at
Sutton Hoo
5.
Anglo-Saxons
–
The Anglo-Saxons are a people who have inhabited Great Britain from the 5th century. Historically, the Anglo-Saxon period denotes the period in Britain between about 450 and 1066, after their settlement and up until the Norman conquest. The early Anglo-Saxon period includes the creation of an English nation, with many of the aspects that survive today, including government of shires. During this period, Christianity was re-established and there was a flowering of literature, charters and law were also established. The term Anglo-Saxon is popularly used for the language that was spoken and written by the Anglo-Saxons in England, in scholarly use, it is more commonly called Old English. The history of the Anglo-Saxons is the history of a cultural identity and it developed from divergent groups in association with the peoples adoption of Christianity, and was integral to the establishment of various kingdoms. Threatened by extended Danish invasions and occupation of eastern England, this identity was re-established, the visible Anglo-Saxon culture can be seen in the material culture of buildings, dress styles, illuminated texts and grave goods. Behind the symbolic nature of these emblems, there are strong elements of tribal. The elite declared themselves as kings who developed burhs, and identified their roles and peoples in Biblical terms, above all, as Helena Hamerow has observed, local and extended kin groups remained. the essential unit of production throughout the Anglo-Saxon period. Use of the term Anglo-Saxon assumes that the words Angles, Saxons or Anglo-Saxon have the meaning in all the sources. Assigning ethnic labels such as Anglo-Saxon is fraught with difficulties and this term began to be used only in the 8th century to distinguish the Germanic groups in Britain from those on the continent. The Old English ethnonym Angul-Seaxan comes from the Latin Angli-Saxones and became the name of the peoples Bede calls Anglorum, Anglo-Saxon is a term that was rarely used by Anglo-Saxons themselves, it is not an autonym. It is likely they identified as ængli, Seaxe or, more probably, also, the use of Anglo-Saxon disguises the extent to which people identified as Anglo-Scandinavian after the Viking age or the conquest of 1016, or as Anglo-Norman after the Norman conquest. The earliest historical references using this term are from outside Britain, referring to piratical Germanic raiders, Saxones who attacked the shores of Britain, procopius states that Britain was settled by three races, the Angiloi, Frisones, and Britons. The term Angli Saxones seems to have first been used in writing of the 8th century. The name therefore seemed to mean English Saxons, the Christian church seems to have used the word Angli, for example in the story of Pope Gregory I and his remark, Non Angli sed angeli. The terms ænglisc and Angelcynn were also used by West Saxon King Alfred to refer to the people, at other times he uses the term rex Anglorum, which presumably meant both Anglo-Saxons and Danes. Alfred the Great used Anglosaxonum Rex, the term Engla cyningc is used by Æthelred
Anglo-Saxons
–
Page with
Chi Rho monogram from the Gospel of Matthew in the
Lindisfarne Gospels c. 700, possibly created by
Eadfrith of Lindisfarne in memory of
Cuthbert
Anglo-Saxons
–
The migrations according to Bede who wrote some 300 years after the event, however there is evidence that the original settlers came from many of these continental locations
Anglo-Saxons
–
Æthelstan presenting a
gospel book to (the long-dead) St
Cuthbert (934); Corpus Christi College Cambridge MS 183, fol. 1v
Anglo-Saxons
–
The
Oseberg ship prow,
Viking Ship Museum, Oslo, Norway.
6.
Viking
–
The term is also commonly extended in modern English and other vernaculars to the inhabitants of Viking home communities during what has become known as the Viking Age. Facilitated by advanced seafaring skills, and characterised by the longship, Viking activities at times also extended into the Mediterranean littoral, North Africa, the Middle East and Central Asia. A romanticized picture of Vikings as noble savages began to emerge in the 18th century, current popular representations of the Vikings are typically based on cultural clichés and stereotypes, complicating modern appreciation of the Viking legacy. One etymology derives víking from the feminine vík, meaning creek, inlet, various theories have been offered that the word viking may be derived from the name of the historical Norwegian district of Viken, meaning a person from Viken. According to this theory, the word simply described persons from this area, however, there are a few major problems with this theory. People from the Viken area were not called Viking in Old Norse manuscripts, in addition, that explanation could only explain the masculine and ignore the feminine, which is a serious problem because the masculine is easily derived from the feminine but hardly vice versa. The form also occurs as a name on some Swedish rune stones. There is little indication of any negative connotation in the term before the end of the Viking Age and this is found in the Proto-Nordic verb *wikan, ‘to turn’, similar to Old Icelandic víkja ‘to move, to turn’, with well-attested nautical usages. In that case, the idea behind it seems to be that the rower moves aside for the rested rower on the thwart when he relieves him. A víkingr would then originally have been a participant on a sea journey characterized by the shifting of rowers, in that case, the word Viking was not originally connected to Scandinavian seafarers but assumed this meaning when the Scandinavians begun to dominate the seas. In Old English, the word wicing appears first in the Anglo-Saxon poem, Widsith, in Old English, and in the history of the archbishops of Hamburg-Bremen written by Adam of Bremen in about 1070, the term generally referred to Scandinavian pirates or raiders. As in the Old Norse usages, the term is not employed as a name for any people or culture in general, the word does not occur in any preserved Middle English texts. The Vikings were known as Ascomanni ashmen by the Germans for the ash wood of their boats, Lochlannach by the Gaels, the modern day name for Sweden in several neighbouring countries is possibly derived from rōþs-, Ruotsi in Finnish and Rootsi in Estonian. The Slavs and the Byzantines also called them Varangians, Scandinavian bodyguards of the Byzantine emperors were known as the Varangian Guard. The Franks normally called them Northmen or Danes, while for the English they were known as Danes or heathen. It is used in distinction from Anglo-Saxon, similar terms exist for other areas, such as Hiberno-Norse for Ireland and Scotland. The period from the earliest recorded raids in the 790s until the Norman conquest of England in 1066 is commonly known as the Viking Age of Scandinavian history, Vikings used the Norwegian Sea and Baltic Sea for sea routes to the south. The Normans were descended from Vikings who were given feudal overlordship of areas in northern France—the Duchy of Normandy—in the 10th century, in that respect, descendants of the Vikings continued to have an influence in northern Europe
Viking
–
Sea-faring
Danes depicted invading England. Illuminated illustration from the 12th century Miscellany on the Life of St. Edmund. Pierpont Morgan Library.
Viking
–
Travels of the Vikings
Viking
–
Blar a' Bhuailte, site of the Vikings' last stand in
Skye
7.
Scandinavia
–
Scandinavia /ˌskændᵻˈneɪviə/ is a historical and cultural region in Northern Europe characterized by a common ethnocultural North Germanic heritage and mutually intelligible North Germanic languages. The term Scandinavia always includes the three kingdoms of Denmark, Norway and Sweden, the remote Norwegian islands of Svalbard and Jan Mayen are usually not seen as a part of Scandinavia, nor is Greenland, an overseas territory of Denmark. This looser definition almost equates to that of the Nordic countries, in Nordic languages, only Denmark, Norway and Sweden are commonly included in the definition of Scandinavia. In English usage, Scandinavia sometimes refers to the geographical area, the name Scandinavia originally referred vaguely to the formerly Danish, now Swedish, region Scania. Icelanders and the Faroese are to a significant extent descended from the Norse, Finland is mainly populated by Finns, with a minority of approximately 5% of Swedish speakers. A small minority of Sami people live in the north of Scandinavia. The Danish, Norwegian and Swedish languages form a continuum and are known as the Scandinavian languages—all of which are considered mutually intelligible with one another. Faroese and Icelandic, sometimes referred to as insular Scandinavian languages, are intelligible in continental Scandinavian languages only to a limited extent, Finnish and Meänkieli are closely related to each other and more distantly to the Sami languages, but are entirely unrelated to the Scandinavian languages. Apart from these, German, Yiddish and Romani are recognized minority languages in Scandinavia, the southern and by far most populous regions of Scandinavia have a temperate climate. Scandinavia extends north of the Arctic Circle, but has mild weather for its latitude due to the Gulf Stream. Much of the Scandinavian mountains have a tundra climate. There are many lakes and moraines, legacies of the last glacial period, Scandinavia usually refers to Denmark, Norway, and Sweden. Some sources argue for the inclusion of the Faroe Islands, Finland and Iceland, though that broader region is known by the countries concerned as Norden. Before this time, the term Scandinavia was familiar mainly to classical scholars through Pliny the Elders writings, and was used vaguely for Scania, as a political term, Scandinavia was first used by students agitating for Pan-Scandinavianism in the 1830s. After a visit to Sweden, Andersen became a supporter of early political Scandinavism, the term is often defined according to the conventions of the cultures that lay claim to the term in their own use. More precisely, and subject to no dispute, is that Finland is included in the broader term Nordic countries, various promotional agencies of the Nordic countries in the United States serve to promote market and tourism interests in the region. The official tourist boards of Scandinavia sometimes cooperate under one umbrella, Norways government entered one year later. All five Nordic governments participate in the joint promotional efforts in the United States through the Scandinavian Tourist Board of North America, Scandinavia can thus be considered a subset of the Nordic countries
Scandinavia
–
Scandinavia
Scandinavia
–
Late
Baltic Ice Lake around 10,300 years
B.P., with a channel near Mount
Billingen through what is now central
Sweden (political boundaries added)
Scandinavia
–
Kautokeino, the main
Sami city in
Norway
8.
British Isles
–
The British Isles are a group of islands off the north-western coast of continental Europe that consist of the islands of Great Britain, Ireland and over six thousand smaller isles. Situated in the North Atlantic, the islands have an area of approximately 315,159 km2. Two sovereign states are located on the islands, Ireland and the United Kingdom of Great Britain, the oldest rocks in the group are in the north west of Scotland, Ireland and North Wales and are 2,700 million years old. During the Silurian period the north-western regions collided with the south-east, the topography of the islands is modest in scale by global standards. Ben Nevis rises to an elevation of only 1,344 metres, and Lough Neagh, the climate is temperate marine, with mild winters and warm summers. The North Atlantic Drift brings significant moisture and raises temperatures 11 °C above the average for the latitude. This led to a landscape which was dominated by temperate rainforest. The region was re-inhabited after the last glacial period of Quaternary glaciation, Ireland, which became an island by 12,000 BC, was not inhabited until after 8000 BC. Great Britain became an island by 5600 BC, Hiberni, Pictish and Britons tribes, all speaking Insular Celtic, inhabited the islands at the beginning of the 1st millennium AD. Much of Brittonic-controlled Britain was conquered by the Roman Empire from AD43, the first Anglo-Saxons arrived as Roman power waned in the 5th century and eventually dominated the bulk of what is now England. Viking invasions began in the 9th century, followed by permanent settlements. Most of Ireland seceded from the United Kingdom after the Irish War of Independence, the term British Isles is controversial in Ireland, where there are objections to its usage due to the association of the word British with Ireland. The Government of Ireland does not recognise or use the term, as a result, Britain and Ireland is used as an alternative description, and Atlantic Archipelago has had limited use among a minority in academia, while British Isles is still commonly employed. Within them, they are sometimes referred to as these islands. The earliest known references to the islands as a group appeared in the writings of sea-farers from the ancient Greek colony of Massalia. The original records have been lost, however, later writings, e. g. Avienuss Ora maritima, in the 1st century BC, Diodorus Siculus has Prettanikē nēsos, the British Island, and Prettanoi, the Britons. Strabo used Βρεττανική, and Marcian of Heraclea, in his Periplus maris exteri, historians today, though not in absolute agreement, largely agree that these Greek and Latin names were probably drawn from native Celtic-language names for the archipelago. Along these lines, the inhabitants of the islands were called the Πρεττανοί, the shift from the P of Pretannia to the B of Britannia by the Romans occurred during the time of Julius Caesar
British Isles
–
Satellite image of the British Isles, excluding
Shetland and the
Channel Islands (out of frame)
British Isles
–
Some female red deer in
Killarney National Park, Ireland.
British Isles
–
The Alfred Jewel (9th century)
British Isles
–
James VI of Scotland (James I of England)
9.
Alfred the Great
–
Alfred the Great was King of Wessex from 871 to 899. Alfred successfully defended his kingdom against the Viking attempt at conquest and he is one of only two English monarchs to be given the epithet the Great, the other being the Scandinavian Cnut the Great. He was also the first King of the West Saxons to style himself King of the Anglo-Saxons, details of Alfreds life are described in a work by the 10th-century Welsh scholar and bishop Asser. In 2002, Alfred was ranked number 14 in the BBCs poll of the 100 Greatest Britons, Alfred was born in the village of Wanating, now Wantage, historically in Berkshire but now in Oxfordshire. He was the youngest son of King Æthelwulf of Wessex by his first wife, Osburh. In 853, at the age of four, Alfred is reported by the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle to have sent to Rome, where he was confirmed by Pope Leo IV. Victorian writers later interpreted this as a coronation in preparation for his eventual succession to the throne of Wessex. This is unlikely, his succession could not have foreseen at the time. A letter of Leo IV shows that Alfred was made a consul and it may also be based on Alfreds later having accompanied his father on a pilgrimage to Rome, where he spent some time at the court of Charles the Bald, King of the Franks, around 854–855. On their return from Rome in 856, Æthelwulf was deposed by his son Æthelbald, with civil war looming, the magnates of the realm met in council to hammer out a compromise. Æthelbald would retain the western shires, and Æthelwulf would rule in the east, when King Æthelwulf died in 858, Wessex was ruled by three of Alfreds brothers in succession, Æthelbald, Æthelberht and Æthelred. Bishop Asser tells the story of how as a child Alfred won as a prize a book of Saxon poems, legend also has it that the young Alfred spent time in Ireland seeking healing. Alfred was troubled by health problems throughout his life and it is thought that he may have suffered from Crohns disease. Statues of Alfred in Winchester and Wantage portray him as a great warrior, evidence suggests he was not physically strong, and though not lacking in courage, he was noted more for his intellect than as a warlike character. During the short reigns of the two of his three elder brothers, Æthelbald of Wessex and Æthelberht of Wessex, Alfred is not mentioned. This arrangement may have been sanctioned by Alfreds father, or by the Witan, the arrangement of crowning a successor as royal prince and military commander is well known among other Germanic tribes, such as the Swedes and Franks, to whom the Anglo-Saxons were closely related. In 868, Alfred is recorded as fighting beside Æthelred in an attempt to keep the Great Heathen Army, led by Ivar the Boneless. At the end of 870, the Danes arrived in his homeland, the year which followed has been called Alfreds year of battles
Alfred the Great
–
Statue of Alfred the Great by
Hamo Thornycroft in
Winchester, unveiled during the millenary commemoration of Alfred's death.
Alfred the Great
–
Alfred the Great plots the capture of the Danish fleet.
Alfred the Great
–
Alfred the Great is scolded by his subject, a
neatherd 's wife, for not turning the breads but readily eating them when they are baked in her cottage.
Alfred the Great
–
King Alfred's Tower (1772) on the supposed site of Egbert's Stone, the mustering place before the
Battle of Edington.
10.
Guthrum
–
Guthrum or Guðrum, christened Æthelstan on his conversion to Christianity in 878, was King of the Danish Vikings in the Danelaw. He is mainly known for his conflict with Alfred the Great. It is not known how Guthrum consolidated his rule as king over the other Danish chieftains of the Danelaw, Guthrum sailed his army around Poole Harbour and linked up with another Viking army that was invading the area between the Frome and Piddle rivers which was ruled by Alfred. At Exeter, which Guthrum had also captured, Alfred made a peace treaty, on Epiphany,6 January 878, Guthrum made a surprise night-time attack on Alfred and his court at Chippenham, Wiltshire. Alfred fled the attack with a few retainers and took shelter in the marshes of Somerset, over the next few months he built up his force and waged a guerrilla war against Guthrum from his fastness in the fens. After a few months Alfred called his men to Egberts Stone. Guthrums hopes of conquering all of Wessex came to an end with his defeat at the hands of Alfred at the Battle of Edington in 878. At Edington, Guthrum’s entire army was routed by Alfreds and fled to their encampment where they were besieged by Alfreds fyrd for two weeks, according to the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, Guthrum’s army was able to negotiate a peace treaty known as the Treaty of Wedmore. Guthrum upheld his end of the treaty and left the boundary that separated the Danelaw from English England unmolested, Guthrum, although failing to conquer Wessex, turned towards the lands to the east that the treaty had allotted under his control. Guthrum withdrew his army from the western borders facing Alfreds territory and he lived out the remainder of his life there until his death in 890. According to the Annals of St Neots, a chronicle compiled in Bury St Edmunds, Guthrum was buried at Headleage, Guthrum appears in several works of fiction, including, G. K. Chestertons poem The Ballad of the White Horse. C. Walter Hodges juvenile historical novels The Namesake and The Marsh King, bernard Cornwells first three novels of The Saxon Stories series The Last Kingdom, and The Pale Horseman, and Sword Song. On screen, he was played by Brian Blessed in King Alfred, episode 4 of Churchills People, by Michael York in the 1969 film Alfred the Great, Guthrum 1 at Prosopography of Anglo-Saxon England
Guthrum
–
Coin of Guthrum (Athelstan II), Viking king of East Anglia, 880
11.
Battle of Edington
–
The first Viking raid on Anglo-Saxon England is thought to have been between AD786 and 802 at Portland in the Kingdom of Wessex, when three Norse ships arrived and killed King Beorhtrics reeve. At the other end of the country, in the Kingdom of Northumbria, after the sacking of Lindisfarne the raids around the coasts were somewhat sporadic till the 830s, when the attacks became more sustained. In 835, heathen men ravaged Sheppey, in 836, Ecgberht of Wessex met in battle a force of thirty-five ships at Carhampton, and in 838 he faced a combined force of Vikings and Cornishmen at Hingston Down in Cornwall. The raiding continued and with each year more and more intense. In 865/866 it escalated further on the arrival of what the Saxons called the Great Heathen Army, the annals do not report the size of the army, but modern estimates suggest between five hundred and a thousand men. It was said to have been under the leadership of the brothers Ivar the Boneless, Ubba, what made this army different from those before it was its intent. Its arrival began a new stage, that of conquest and residence, by 870, the northmen had conquered the kingdoms of Deira and East Anglia, and in 871 they attacked Wessex. Mercia had collapsed by 874, and the Armys cohesion went with it, Halfdan went back to Deira and fought the Picts and the Strathclyde Welsh to secure his northern kingdom. His army settled there and he is not mentioned after 876, Guthrum, with two other unnamed kings, departed for Cambridge in East Anglia. He made several attacks on Wessex, starting in 875, by 878, the Danes held the east and north east of England, and their defeat at the Battle of Ashdown had paused but not halted their advance. Alfred the Great had spent the preceding the Battle of Edington in the Somerset marsh of Athelney. In the Spring of 878, he summoned his West Saxon forces and marched to Edington and this started in 875 when Guthrums army “eluded the West Saxon levies and got into Wareham”. They then gave hostages and oaths to leave the country to Alfred and this they did, spending the rest of 877 in Gloucester. Alfred spent Christmas at Chippenham, thirty miles from Gloucester, the Danes attacked Chippenham in midwinter after Twelfth Night, probably during the night of 6–7 January 878. They captured Chippenham and forced Alfred to retreat with a force into the wilderness. It is to this period that the story of King Alfred burning the cakes belongs, Alfred seems at this time to have ineffectually chased the Danes around Wessex, while the Danes were in a position to do as they pleased. Even if Alfred had caught up with the Danish force, it is unlikely that he could have accomplished anything, the fact that his army could not defend the fortified Chippenham, even in an age. As yet untrained in siege warfare casts great doubt on its ability to defeat the Danes in an open field, there was little that Alfred could do about the Danish menace between 875 and the end of 877, beyond repeatedly paying the invaders off
Battle of Edington
–
Memorial to the Battle of Ethandun erected in 2000 near
Bratton Castle.
Battle of Edington
–
King Alfred's Tower (1772) on one supposed site of Egbert's Stone, the mustering place before the battle.
12.
Treaty of Alfred and Guthrum
–
The Treaty of Alfred and Guthrum is an agreement between Alfred of Wessex and Guthrum, the Viking ruler of East Anglia. Its date is uncertain, but must have been between 878 and 890, the treaty is one of the few existing documents of Alfreds reign, it survives in Old English in Corpus Christi College Cambridge Manuscript 383, and in a Latin compilation known as Quadripartitus. All translations below come from Dorothy Whitelock, English Historical Documents 500-1042, a prologue begins the document, outlining that it is a treaty between King Alfred and King Guthrum and the councillors of all the English race and all the people which is in East Anglia. The first point is the most famous, first concerning our boundaries, up on the Thames, and then up on the Lea, and along the Lea unto its source, then straight to Bedford, then up on the Ouse to Watling Street. This has been taken by later writers as the boundary of the Danelaw. However, the treaty does not describe it as such, and it appears to be primarily a political boundary, the second article raises wergeld values to a considerably higher rate than would normally be expected. In the treaty, as noted by Simon Keynes and Michael Lapidge and they argue that this discouraged killings, as it placed the price of compensation as too high. This presents two problems, according to Paul Kershaw, first, it assumes premeditation, second, by placing too high a value of compensation, the treaty might actually discourage peaceful dispute settlement. The third section sets out regulations on the number of oaths a plaintiff, the fourth stipulates that a man must know his warrantor when purchasing slaves, horses or oxen. The fifth sets out how the English and Danes could interact, and we all agreed on the day when the oaths were sworn, that no slaves nor freemen might go without permission into the army of the Danes, any more than any of theirs to us. Treaty of Wedmore List of treaties English Historical Documents c. 500-1042, hadley & J. D. Richards, Patrick Wormald, The Making of English Law, King Alfred to the Twelfth Century, vol. 1, Medieval Sourcebook, Alfred and Guthrums Peace
Treaty of Alfred and Guthrum
–
Statue of King Alfred at Wantage.
13.
Shire
–
A shire is a traditional term for a division of land, found in the United Kingdom and some other English speaking countries. It was first used in Wessex from the beginning of Anglo-Saxon settlement, in some rural parts of Australia, a shire is a local government area, however, in Australia it is not synonymous with a county, which is a lands administrative division. The word derives from the Old English scir, itself a derivative of the Proto-Germanic skizo, in Britain, shire is the original term for what is usually known now as a county, the word county having been introduced at the Norman Conquest of England. Although in modern British usage counties are referred to as shires mainly in poetic contexts, Shire also remains a common part of many county names. In regions with so-called rhotic pronunciation such as Scotland, the shire is pronounced /ˈʃaɪr/ or /ˈʃaɪər/. In non-rhotic areas the final R is silent unless the word begins in a vowel. In many words, the vowel is normally reduced all the way to a single schwa, as in for instance Leicestershire /ˈlɛstəʃə/ or Berkshire /ˈbɑːkʃə/. Outside the UK, and especially in the USA, it is common for shire as part of a placename to be pronounced identically to the full word. The system was first used in Wessex from the beginning of Anglo-Saxon settlement, in Domesday the city of York was divided into shires. The first shires of Scotland were created in English-settled areas such as Lothian, King David I more consistently created shires and appointed sheriffs across lowland shores of Scotland. The shire in early days was governed by an Ealdorman and in the later Anglo-Saxon period by royal official known as a reeve or sheriff. The shires were divided into hundreds or wapentakes, although less common sub-divisions existed. An alternative name for a shire was a sheriffdom until sheriff court reforms separated the two concepts, the phrase shire county applies, unofficially, to non-metropolitan counties in England, specifically those that are not local Unitary authority areas. In Scotland the word county was not adopted for the shires, although county appears in some texts, shire was the normal name until counties for statutory purposes were created in the nineteenth century. Shire is the most common word in Australia for rural local government areas, New South Wales, Victoria, Queensland, Western Australia and the Northern Territory use the term Shire for this unit, the territories of Christmas Island and Cocos Island are also shires. In contrast, South Australia uses district and region for its rural LGA units, shires are generally functionally indistinguishable from towns, borough, municipalities, or cities. These counties are named after their county town. The suffix -shire is attached to most of the names of English, Scottish and Welsh counties and it tends not to be found in the names of shires that were pre-existing divisions
Shire
–
The
historic counties of England — red indicates "-shire" counties, orange indicates where the "-shire" suffix is occasionally used
14.
Yorkshire
–
Yorkshire, formally known as the County of York, is a historic county of Northern England and the largest in the United Kingdom. Due to its size in comparison to other English counties, functions have been undertaken over time by its subdivisions. Throughout these changes, Yorkshire has continued to be recognised as a geographical territory, Yorkshire has sometimes been nicknamed Gods Own County or Gods Own Country. Yorkshire Day, held on 1 August, is a celebration of the culture of Yorkshire. Yorkshire is now divided between different official regions, most of the county falls within Yorkshire and the Humber. The extreme northern part of the county falls within North East England, Small areas in the west of the historic county now form part of North West England, following boundary changes in 1974. Yorkshire or the County of York was so named as it is the shire of the city of York local /ˈjɔːk/ or Yorks Shire, York comes from the Viking name for the city, Jórvík. Shire is from Old English, scir meaning care or official charge, the shire suffix is locally pronounced /-ʃə/ shuh, or occasionally /-ʃiə/, a homophone of sheer. Early inhabitants of Yorkshire were Celts, who formed two tribes, the Brigantes and the Parisi. The Brigantes controlled territory which later became all of the North Riding of Yorkshire, the tribe controlled most of Northern England and more territory than any other Celtic tribe in England. That they had the Yorkshire area as their heartland is evident in that Isurium Brigantum was the town of their civitas under Roman rule. Six of the nine Brigantian poleis described by Claudius Ptolemaeus in the Geographia fall within the historic county, the Parisi, who controlled the area that would become the East Riding of Yorkshire, might have been related to the Parisii of Lutetia Parisiorum, Gaul. Their capital was at Petuaria, close to the Humber estuary, initially, this situation suited both the Romans and the Brigantes, who were known as the most militant tribe in Britain. Queen Cartimandua left her husband Venutius for his bearer, Vellocatus. Cartimandua, due to her relationship with the Romans, was able to keep control of the kingdom. At the second attempt, Venutius seized the kingdom, but the Romans, under general Petillius Cerialis, the fortified city of Eboracum was named as capital of Britannia Inferior and joint-capital of all Roman Britain. During the two years before the death of Emperor Septimius Severus, the Roman Empire was run from Eboracum by him, another emperor, Constantius Chlorus, died in Yorkshire during a visit in 306 AD. This saw his son Constantine the Great proclaimed emperor in the city, in the early 5th century, the Roman rule ceased with the withdrawal of the last active Roman troops
Yorkshire
–
Statue of
Constantine I outside
York Minster.
Yorkshire
–
Flag of Yorkshire
Yorkshire
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York Minster, western elevation
Yorkshire
–
Yorkist king
Richard III grew up at
Middleham.
15.
Nottinghamshire
–
Nottinghamshire is a county in the East Midlands of England, bordering South Yorkshire to the north-west, Lincolnshire to the east, Leicestershire to the south, and Derbyshire to the west. The traditional county town is Nottingham, though the county council is based in West Bridgford in the borough of Rushcliffe, the districts of Nottinghamshire are Ashfield, Bassetlaw, Broxtowe, Gedling, Mansfield, Newark and Sherwood, and Rushcliffe. The City of Nottingham was administratively part of Nottinghamshire between 1974 and 1998 but is now an authority, remaining part of Nottinghamshire for ceremonial purposes. In 2011 the county was estimated to have a population of 785,800, over half of the population of the county live in the Greater Nottingham conurbation. The conurbation has a population of about 650,000, though less than half live within the city boundaries. Nottinghamshire lies on the Roman Fosse Way, and there are Roman settlements in the county, for example at Mansfield, the county was settled by Angles around the 5th century, and became part of the Kingdom, and later Earldom, of Mercia. However, there is evidence of Saxon settlement at the Broxtowe Estate, Oxton, near Nottingham, the name first occurs in 1016, but until 1568 the county was administratively united with Derbyshire, under a single Sheriff. In Norman times the county developed malting and woollen industries, in the 18th and 19th centuries, mechanised deeper collieries opened and mining became an important economic sector, though these declined after the 1984–85 miners strike. Until 1610, Nottinghamshire was divided into eight Wapentakes, sometime between 1610 and 1719 they were reduced to six – Newark, Bassetlaw, Thurgarton, Rushcliffe, Broxtowe and Bingham, some of these names still being used for the modern districts. Oswaldbeck was absorbed in Bassetlaw, of which it forms the North Clay division, Nottinghamshire is famous for its involvement with the legend of Robin Hood. This is also the reason for the numbers of tourists who visit places like Sherwood Forest, City of Nottingham, to reinforce the Robin Hood connection, the University of Nottingham in 2010 has begun the Nottingham Caves Survey with the goal to increase the tourist potential of these sites. The project will use a 3D laser scanner to produce a three dimensional record of more than 450 sandstone caves around Nottingham. Nottinghamshire was mapped first by Christopher Saxton in 1576, the first fully surveyed map of the county was by John Chapman who produced Chapmans Map of Nottinghamshire in 1774. Nottinghamshire, like Derbyshire and South Yorkshire, sits on extensive coal measures, up to 900 metres thick, there is an oilfield near Eakring. These are overlaid by sandstones and limestones in the west and clay in the east, the north of the county is part of the Humberhead Levels lacustrine plain. The centre and south west of the county, around Sherwood Forest, principal rivers are the Trent, Idle, Erewash and Soar. The Trent, fed by the Soar and Erewash, and Idle, composed of many streams from Sherwood Forest, run through wide and flat valleys, the lowest is Peat Carr, east of Blaxton, at sea level, the Trent is tidal below Cromwell Lock. Nottinghamshire is sheltered by the Pennines to the west, so receives relatively low rainfall at 641–740 mm annually, the average temperature of the county is 8. 8–10.1 degrees Celsius
Nottinghamshire
–
National and County cricket player
Harold Larwood
Nottinghamshire
–
Flag
Nottinghamshire
–
The council house and a tram in Nottingham market square
16.
Derbyshire
–
Derbyshire is a county in the East Midlands of England. A substantial portion of the Peak District National Park lies within Derbyshire, in 2003 the Ordnance Survey placed Church Flatts Farm at Coton in the Elms as the furthest point from the sea in Great Britain. The city of Derby is a unitary authority area, but remains part of the county of Derbyshire. The non-metropolitan county contains 30 towns with between 10,000 and 100,000 inhabitants, there is a large amount of sparsely populated agricultural upland, 75% of the population live in 25% of the area. Further occupation came with the Upper Paleolithic and Neolithic periods of the Stone Age when Mesolithic hunter gatherers roamed the hilly tundra, evidence of these nomadic tribes has been found in limestone caves located on the Nottinghamshire border. Deposits left in the date the occupancy at around 12,000 to 7,000 BCE. Burial mounds of Neolithic settlers are also situated throughout the county and these chambered tombs were designed for collective burial and are mostly located in the central Derbyshire region. There are tombs at Minninglow and Five Wells that date back to between 2000 and 2500 BCE, three miles west of Youlgreave lies the Neolithic henge monument of Arbor Low, which has been dated to 2500 BCE. It is not until the Bronze Age that real signs of agriculture, in the moors of the Peak District signs of clearance, arable fields and hut circles were discovered after archaeological investigation. However this area and another settlement at Swarkestone are all that have been found, during the Roman invasion the invaders were attracted to Derbyshire because of the lead ore in the limestone hills of the area. They settled throughout the county with forts built near Brough in the Hope Valley, later they settled around Buxton, famed for its warm springs, and set up a fort near modern-day Derby in an area now known as Little Chester. Several kings of Mercia are buried in the Repton area, following the Norman Conquest, much of the county was subject to the forest laws. To the northwest was the Forest of High Peak under the custodianship of William Peverel, the rest of the county was bestowed upon Henry de Ferrers, a part of it becoming Duffield Frith. In time the area was given to the Duchy of Lancaster. Meanwhile, the Forest of East Derbyshire covered the county to the east of the River Derwent from the reign of Henry II to that of Edward I. The main rivers in the county are the River Derwent and the River Dove which both join the River Trent in the south. The varied landscapes within Derbyshires have been formed mainly as a consequence of the underlying geology, the oldest rocks occur in the northern, more upland half of the county, and are mostly of Carboniferous age, comprising limestones, gritstones, sandstones and shales. In its north-east corner to the east of Bolsover there are also Magnesian Limestone rocks of Permian age, across both regions can be found drift deposits of Quaternary age – mainly terrace and river gravel deposits and boulder clays
Derbyshire
–
The henge monument at
Arbor Low
Derbyshire
Derbyshire
–
Map of Derbyshire boundaries with Peak District also shown. Black = modern Geographic boundary, Red = Vice-county boundary (VC57) where this differs from modern; Dotted Blue = Peak District boundary
Derbyshire
–
The rugged moorland edge of the southern Pennines at Kinder Downfall
17.
Lincolnshire
–
Lincolnshire is a county in the east of England. It also borders Northamptonshire in the south for just 20 yards, Englands shortest county boundary, the county town is Lincoln, where the county council has its headquarters. The ceremonial county of Lincolnshire is composed of the county of Lincolnshire. Therefore, part of the county is in the Yorkshire and the Humber region of England. The county is the second-largest of the English ceremonial counties and one that is predominantly agricultural in land use, the county is fifth largest of the two-tier counties, as the unitary authorities of North Lincolnshire and North East Lincolnshire are not included. The county can be broken down into a number of geographical sub-regions including, Lincolnshire derived from the merging of the territory of the ancient Kingdom of Lindsey with that controlled by the Danelaw borough of Stamford. For some time the county was called Lindsey, and it is recorded as such in the 11th-century Domesday Book. In 1888 when county councils were set up, Lindsey, Holland and these survived until 1974, when Holland, Kesteven, and most of Lindsey were unified into Lincolnshire. A local government reform in 1996 abolished Humberside, and the south of the Humber was allocated to the unitary authorities of North Lincolnshire. These two areas became part of Lincolnshire for ceremonial such as the Lord-Lieutenancy, but are not covered by the Lincolnshire police and are in the Yorkshire. The remaining districts of Lincolnshire are Boston, East Lindsey, Lincoln, North Kesteven, South Holland, South Kesteven and they are part of the East Midlands region. Lincolnshire is home to Woolsthorpe Manor, birthplace and home of Sir Isaac Newton and he attended The Kings School, Grantham and its library has preserved his signature, applied to a window sill when he was a teenager. Lincolnshire is an area, growing large amounts of wheat, barley, sugar beet. In South Lincolnshire, where the soil is rich in nutrients, some of the most common crops include potatoes, cabbages, cauliflowers. Most such companies are long gone, and Lincolnshire is no longer an engineering centre, however, as a result of the current economic climate some food production facilities have closed down, this has caused some reduction in the levels of migrant workers. The large number of people from Portugal is still obvious in the town of Boston. A coalition of Conservatives, Liberal Democrats and Independents currently controls Lincolnshire County Council, the Conservative Party comfortably controlled the County Council following the 2009 local elections, in which they increased their majority to 43 seats. The Labour Party lost a total of 15 seats including 7 in Lincoln, the Lincolnshire Independents gained a total of four seats, although one of their number moved to the Conservative group during 2010, increasing the number of Conservative seats to 61
Lincolnshire
–
Part of 'The Bailgate'. The centre of the uphill area of Lincoln.
Lincolnshire
–
Flag
Lincolnshire
–
Belton House
Lincolnshire
–
Boston Stump
18.
Essex
–
Essex /ˈɛsᵻks/ is a county in England immediately north-east of London. It borders the counties of Suffolk and Cambridgeshire to the north, Hertfordshire to the west, Kent across the estuary of the River Thames to the south, the county town is Chelmsford, which is the only city in the county. Essex occupies the part of the old Kingdom of Essex, before this. As well as areas, the county also includes London Stansted Airport, the new towns of Basildon and Harlow, Lakeside Shopping Centre, the port of Tilbury. Originally recorded in AD527, Essex occupied territory to the north of the River Thames, incorporating all of what later became Middlesex and its territory was later restricted to lands east of the River Lea. In changes before the Norman conquest the East Saxons were subsumed into the Kingdom of England and, following the Norman conquest, Essex became a county. During the medieval period, much of the area was designated a Royal forest, including the county in a period to 1204. Gradually, the subject to forest law diminished, but at various times included the forests of Becontree, Chelmsford, Epping, Hatfield, Ongar. County-wide administration Essex County Council was formed in 1889, however County Boroughs of West Ham, Southend-on-Sea and East Ham formed part of the county but were unitary authorities. 12 boroughs and districts provide more localised services such as rubbish and recycling collections, leisure and planning, parish-level administration – changes A few Essex parishes have been transferred to other counties. Before 1889, small areas were transferred to Hertfordshire near Bishops Stortford, Essex became part of the East of England Government Office Region in 1994 and was statistically counted as part of that region from 1999, having previously been part of the South East England region. Two unitary authorities In 1998 the boroughs of Southend-on-Sea and Thurrock were granted autonomy from the county of Essex after successful requests to become unitary authorities. Essex Police covers the county and the two unitary authorities. The county council chamber and main headquarters is at the County Hall in Chelmsford, before 1938 the council regularly met in London near Moorgate, which with significant parts closer to that point and the dominance of railways had been more convenient than any place in the county. It currently has 75 elected councillors, before 1965, the number of councillors reached over 100. The highest point of the county of Essex is Chrishall Common near the village of Langley, close to the Hertfordshire border, the pattern of settlement in the county is diverse. Epping Forest also acts as a barrier to the further spread of London. Part of the southeast of the county, already containing the population centres of Basildon, Southend and Thurrock, is within the Thames Gateway
Essex
–
The village of
Finchingfield in north Essex
Essex
Essex
–
Skyline of
Southend-on-Sea
Essex
–
London Stansted Airport, in the north west of the county
19.
Cambridgeshire
–
The city of Cambridge is the county town. It contains most of the known as Silicon Fen. Local government is divided between Cambridgeshire County Council and Peterborough City Council, which is a unitary authority. Cambridgeshire is noted as the site of Flag Fen in Fengate, one of the earliest-known Neolithic permanent settlements in the United Kingdom, compared in importance to Balbridie in Aberdeen, Scotland. A great quantity of archaeological finds from the Stone Age, the Bronze Age, most items were found in Isleham. Cambridgeshire was recorded in the Domesday Book as Grantbridgeshire, covering a large part of East Anglia, Cambridgeshire today is the result of several local government unifications. In 1965, these two counties were merged to form Cambridgeshire and the Isle of Ely. Under the Local Government Act 1972 this merged with the county to the west, Huntingdon, the resulting county was called simply Cambridgeshire. Since 1998, the City of Peterborough has been a separately administered area and it is associated with Cambridgeshire for ceremonial purposes such as Lieutenancy, and joint functions such as policing and the fire service. In 2002, the conservation charity Plantlife unofficially designated Cambridgeshires county flower as the Pasqueflower, the Cambridgeshire Regiment, the county-based army unit, fought in the Boer War of South Africa, the First World War and Second World War. Due to the flat terrain and proximity to the continent, during the Second World War the military built many airfields here for RAF Bomber Command, RAF Fighter Command. In recognition of this collaboration, the Cambridge American Cemetery and Memorial is located in Madingley and it is the only WWII burial ground in England for American servicemen who died during that event. Most English counties have nicknames for their people, such as a Tyke from Yorkshire, the traditional nicknames for people from Cambridgeshire are Cambridgeshire Camel or Cambridgeshire Crane, referring to the wildfowl that were once abundant in the fens. The term Fenners was often applied to those who come from the country to the north of Cambridge. Since the late 20th century, this term is considered to be derogatory and has been discouraged in use, original historical documents relating to Cambridgeshire are held by Cambridgeshire Archives and Local Studies. See also Geology of Cambridgeshire Large areas of the county are extremely low-lying, the highest point is in the village of Great Chishill at 146 m above sea level. Other prominent hills are Little Trees Hill and Wandlebury Hill in the Gog Magog Downs, Rivey Hill above Linton, Rowleys Hill, AWG plc is based in Huntingdon. The RAF has several stations in the Huntingdon and St Ives area, RAF Waterbeach,6 miles north of Cambridge, is a former RAF airfield, now used as an army barracks
Cambridgeshire
–
Map of the Cambridgeshire area (1904)
Cambridgeshire
Cambridgeshire
–
Zoo
20.
Suffolk
–
Suffolk is an East Anglian county of historic origin in England. It has borders with Norfolk to the north, Cambridgeshire to the west, the North Sea lies to the east. The county town is Ipswich, other important towns include Lowestoft, Bury St Edmunds, Newmarket and Felixstowe, the county is low-lying with very few hills, and is largely arable land with the wetlands of the Broads in the north. The Suffolk Coast and Heaths are an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty, by the fifth century, the Angles had established control of the region. The Angles later became the folk and the south folk. Suffolk and several adjacent areas became the kingdom of East Anglia, Suffolk was originally divided into four separate Quarter Sessions divisions. In 1860, the number of divisions was reduced to two, the eastern division was administered from Ipswich and the western from Bury St Edmunds. Under the Local Government Act 1888, the two divisions were made the administrative counties of East Suffolk and West Suffolk, Ipswich became a county borough. A few Essex parishes were added to Suffolk, Ballingdon-with-Brundon and parts of Haverhill. On 1 April 1974, under the Local Government Act 1972, East Suffolk, West Suffolk, the county was divided into several local government districts, Babergh, Forest Heath, Ipswich, Mid Suffolk, St. Edmundsbury, Suffolk Coastal, and Waveney. This act also transferred some land near Great Yarmouth to Norfolk, in 2007, the Department for Communities and Local Government referred Ipswich Borough Councils bid to become a new unitary authority to the Boundary Committee. The Boundary Committee consulted local bodies and reported in favour of the proposal and it was not, however, approved by the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government. Beginning in February 2008, the Boundary Committee again reviewed local government in the county, West Suffolk, like nearby East Cambridgeshire, is renowned for archaeological finds from the Stone Age, the Bronze Age, and the Iron Age. Bronze Age artefacts have been found in the area between Mildenhall and West Row, in Eriswell and in Lakenheath, other finds include traces of cremations and barrows. The majority of agriculture in Suffolk is either arable or mixed, Farm sizes vary from anything around 80 acres to over 8,000. Soil types vary from clays to light sands. The continuing importance of agriculture in the county is reflected in the Suffolk Show, although latterly somewhat changed in nature, this remains primarily an agricultural show. Below is a chart of regional gross value added of Suffolk at current basic prices published by Office for National Statistics with figures in millions of British Pounds Sterling, well-known companies in Suffolk include Greene King and Branston Pickle in Bury St Edmunds
Suffolk
–
Sheep grazing among the ruins of
Bury St Edmunds Abbey,
Bury St Edmunds in 1920
Suffolk
Suffolk
–
Gainsborough's
Mr and Mrs Andrews (1748–49), housed at the
National Gallery in London, depicts the Suffolk landscape of his time.
21.
Norfolk
–
Norfolk /ˈnɔːrfək/ is a county in East Anglia in England. It borders Lincolnshire to the west and north-west, Cambridgeshire to the west and southwest and its northern and eastern boundaries are the North Sea and, to the north-west, The Wash. With an area of 2,074 square miles and a population of 859,400, of the countys population, 40% live in four major built up areas, Norwich, Great Yarmouth, Kings Lynn and Thetford. The Broads is a network of rivers and lakes in the east of the county, the area is not a National Park although it is marketed as such. It has similar status to a park, and is protected by the Broads Authority. Norfolk was settled in times, with camps along the higher land in the west. A Brythonic tribe, the Iceni, inhabited the county from the 1st century BC to the end of the 1st century AD, the Iceni revolted against the Roman invasion in AD47, and again in 60 led by Boudica. The crushing of the second opened the county to the Romans. During the Roman era roads and ports were constructed throughout the county, situated on the east coast, Norfolk was vulnerable to invasions from Scandinavia and Northern Europe, and forts were built to defend against the Angles and Saxons. Norfolk, Suffolk and several adjacent areas became the kingdom of East Anglia, the influence of the Early English settlers can be seen in the many place names ending in -ton and -ham. Endings such as -by and -thorpe are also common, indicating Danish place names, in the 9th century the region came under attack. In the centuries before the Norman Conquest the wetlands of the east of the county began to be converted to farmland, and settlements grew in these areas. Migration into East Anglia must have high, by the time of the Domesday Book survey it was one of the most densely populated parts of the British Isles. During the high and late Middle Ages the county developed arable agriculture, the economy was in decline by the time of the Black Death, which dramatically reduced the population in 1349. During the English Civil War Norfolk was largely Parliamentarian, the economy and agriculture of the region declined somewhat. During the Industrial Revolution Norfolk developed little industry except in Norwich which was an addition to the railway network. In the 20th century the county developed a role in aviation, during the Second World War agriculture rapidly intensified, and it has remained very intensive since, with the establishment of large fields for growing cereals and oilseed rape. Norfolks low-lying land and easily eroded cliffs, many of which are chalk and clay, make it vulnerable to the sea, the low-lying section of coast between Kelling and Lowestoft Ness in Suffolk is currently managed by the Environment Agency to protect the Broads from sea flooding
Norfolk
–
Wells-next-the-Sea.
Norfolk
–
Flag
Norfolk
–
River Wensum, Norwich.
Norfolk
–
Norwich Cathedral: Spire and south transept.
22.
Northamptonshire
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Northamptonshire, archaically known as the County of Northampton, is a county in the East Midlands of England. In 2011, it had a population of 629,000, the county is administered by Northamptonshire County Council and seven non-metropolitan district councils. Northamptonshire is the southernmost county in the East Midlands region, apart from the county town of Northampton, other large population centres include Kettering, Corby, Wellingborough, Rushden and Daventry. Northamptonshires county flower is the cowslip, there are two more possible hill-forts at Arbury Hill and Thenford. In the 1st century BC, most of what later became Northamptonshire became part of the territory of the Catuvellauni, a Belgic tribe, the Catuvellauni were in turn conquered by the Romans in 43 AD. The Roman road of Watling Street passed through the county, there were other Roman settlements at Northampton, Kettering and along the Nene Valley near Raunds. A large fort was built at Longthorpe, after the Romans left, the area eventually became part of the Anglo-Saxon kingdom of Mercia, and Northampton functioned as an administrative centre. The Mercians converted to Christianity in 654 AD with the death of the pagan king Penda, Northamptonshire was conquered again in 940, this time by the Vikings of York, who devastated the area, only for the county to be retaken by the English in 942. Consequently, it is one of the few counties in England to have both Saxon and Danish town-names and settlements, the county was first recorded in the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, as Hamtunscire, the scire of Hamtun. The North was added to distinguish Northampton from the other important Hamtun further south, Rockingham Castle was built for William the Conqueror and was used as a Royal fortress until Elizabethan times. In 1460, during the Wars of the Roses, the Battle of Northampton took place, the now-ruined Fotheringhay Castle was used to imprison Mary, Queen of Scots, before her execution. George Washington, the first President of the United States of America, was born into the Washington family who had migrated to America from Northamptonshire in 1656. George Washingtons ancestor, Lawrence Washington, was Mayor of Northampton on several occasions and it was George Washingtons great-grandfather, John Washington, who emigrated in 1656 from Northants to Virginia. Before Washingtons ancestors moved to Sulgrave, they lived in Warton, King Charles I was imprisoned at Holdenby House in 1647. In 1823 Northamptonshire was said to a pure and wholesome air because of its dryness. Its livestock were celebrated, Horned cattle, and other animals, are fed to extraordinary sizes, in summer, the county hosted a great number of wealthy families. Country seats and villas are to be seen at every step, Northamptonshire is still referred to as the county of spires and squires because of the numbers of stately homes and ancient churches. In the 18th and 19th centuries, parts of Northamptonshire and the area became industrialised
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John Speed 's 17th century map of Northamptonshire
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Flag
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Kilworth Wharf on the Grand Union Canal
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Silverstone adds millions every year to the local economy -
Kimi Räikkönen testing for
McLaren at Silverstone in April
2006
23.
Huntingdonshire
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Huntingdonshire is a non-metropolitan district of Cambridgeshire, as well as a historic county of England. Its council is based in Huntingdon and the district includes the towns of St Ives, Godmanchester, St Neots. The district population was recorded as 169,508 at the 2011 Census, in 1889, under the Local Government Act 1888 Huntingdonshire became an administrative county, with the new County Council taking over administrative functions from the Quarter Sessions. The area in the north of the county forming part of the borough of Peterborough became instead part of the Soke of Peterborough administrative county. Also at this time St Neots expanded westward over the river into Eaton Ford, in 1974, under the Local Government Act 1972, Huntingdon and Peterborough merged with Cambridgeshire and Isle of Ely to form the new non-metropolitan county of Cambridgeshire. The district was renamed Huntingdonshire on 1 October 1984, by resolution of the district council, original historical documents relating to Huntingdonshire are held by Cambridgeshire Archives and Local Studies at the County Record Office in Huntingdon. The Final Recommendations of the Commission for Cambridgeshire recommended no change in the status quo in Cambridgeshire, the districts of Peterborough and Huntingdonshire were referred back to the commission for a reconsideration in 1995. In 2002 it established an annual Huntingdonshire Day on 25 April, elections to the district council are held in three out of every four years, with one third of the 52 seats on the council being elected at each election. According to documents from 1813, Bury Fen Bandy Club was undefeated for 100 years, a member of the club, Charles Tebbutt, wrote down the first official rules in 1882 and helped spread the popularity of the sport to many countries. Boston, childrens writer, lived in Huntingdonshire from 1937 until her death, john Butcher, Conservative MP and junior minister, was raised in Huntingdonshire and attended Huntingdon Grammar School. Catherine of Aragon, previously Queen of England, died in confinement at Kimbolton Castle, Charles Bowen Cooke, locomotive engineer, was born at Orton Longueville. Oliver Cromwell, Lord Protector of England, Scotland and Ireland 1653–58, was educated at Huntingdon Grammar School, alice and Thomas Curwen were active in the county as Quaker preachers in 1677–78. William Henry Fellowes of Ramsey Abbey, was a longstanding MP for Huntingdon, nicholas Ferrar, scholar, courtier and cleric, spent the last eleven years of his life at Little Gidding. His Anglican community there inspired the poem in T. S. Eliots Four Quartets. Robert Fox, antiquary and local historian, was born and died at Godmanchester, olinthus Gregory, mathematician and editor, was born at Yaxley. Henry of Saltrey, a Huntingdonshire Cistercian monk, wrote Tractatus de Purgatorio Sancti Patricii in about 1180–84, ann Jebb, political reformer and radical writer, was born at Kings Ripton. Michael Lawrence, childrens writer, is best known for the Jiggy McCue series, john Major, politician and Prime Minister, was MP for Huntingdonshire. Chris Morris, satirist known for the television series Brass Eye, philip Nye, Independent theologian, became the incumbent of Kimbolton and an adviser to Oliver Cromwell
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Map of Huntingdonshire, 1824
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24.
Bedfordshire
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Bedfordshire is a county in the East of England. It is a county and a historic county, covered by three unitary authorities, Bedford, Central Bedfordshire, and Luton. Bedfordshire is bordered by Cambridgeshire to the east/northeast, Northamptonshire to the north, Buckinghamshire to the west and Hertfordshire to the east/southeast. It is the fourteenth most densely populated county of England, with half the population of the county living in the two largest built-up areas, Luton and the county town, Bedford. The highest elevation point is 243 metres on Dunstable Downs in the Chilterns, the traditional nickname for people from Bedfordshire is Clangers, deriving from a local dish comprising a suet crust pastry filled with meat in one end and jam in the other. The first recorded use of the name in 1011 was Bedanfordscir, meaning the shire or county of Bedford, which itself means Bedas ford. Bedfordshire was historically divided into nine hundreds, Barford, Biggleswade, Clifton, Flitt, Manshead, Redbournestoke, Stodden, Willey, Wixamtree, along with the liberty and borough of Bedford. There have been changes to the county boundary, for example, in 1897 Kensworth. The southern end of the county is on the ridge known as the Chiltern Hills. The remainder is part of the drainage basin of the River Great Ouse. Most of Bedfordshires rocks are clays and sandstones from the Jurassic and Cretaceous periods, local clay has been used for brick-making of Fletton style bricks in the Marston Vale. The Greensand Ridge is an escarpment across the county from near Leighton Buzzard to near Gamlingay in Cambridgeshire, Bedfordshire is relatively dry, being situated in the east of England. Average annual rainfall is 597.6 millimetres at Bedford, october is the wettest month with 62.5 millimetres, February the driest with 36.7 millimetres. While there is little difference from month to month there are more wet days in autumn and winter but often heavier individual falls in spring and summer, of note were the 1998 Easter floods. Average temperatures in Bedford range from a low of 0.8 °C overnight in February to a high of 22.1 °C during the day in July, in the last 20 years the highest temperature recorded was 35.9 °C. The lowest temperature on record in Bedfordshire is −20.6 °C at Woburn on 25 February 1947, the Bedfordshire Police and Crime Commissioner is Kathryn Holloway who is a member of the Conservative Party. For local government purposes, Bedfordshire is divided into three authorities, the boroughs of Bedford and Luton, and the District of Central Bedfordshire. Bedfordshire County Council was abolished on 1 April 2009, although the three continue to form a county for ceremonial functions such as lieutenancy and High Sheriff
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Zoo
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25.
Hertfordshire
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Hertfordshire is a county in southern England, bordered by Bedfordshire to the north, Cambridgeshire to the north-east, Essex to the east, Buckinghamshire to the west and Greater London to the south. For government statistical purposes, it is placed in the East of England region, in 2013, the county had a population of 1,140,700 living in an area of 634 square miles. Four towns have between 50,000 and 100,000 residents, Hemel Hempstead, Stevenage, Watford and St Albans. Hertford, once the market town for the medieval agricultural county derives its name from a hart. Elevations are high for the region in the north and west and these reach over 240m in the western projection around Tring which is in the Chilterns. The countys borders are approximately the watersheds of the Colne and Lea, hertfordshires undeveloped land is mainly agricultural and much is protected by green belt. The countys landmarks span many centuries, ranging from the Six Hills in the new town of Stevenage built by local inhabitants during the Roman period, Leavesden filmed much of the UK-based $7.7 Bn box office Harry Potter film series and has the countrys studio tour. Saint Alban, a Romano-British soldier, took the place of a Christian priest and was beheaded on Holywell Hill and his martyrs cross of a yellow saltire on a blue background is reflected in the flag and coat of arms of Hertfordshire. Hertfordshire is well-served with motorways and railways, providing access to London. The largest sector of the economy of the county is in services, Hertfordshire was the area assigned to a fortress constructed at Hertford under the rule of Edward the Elder in 913. Hertford is derived from the Anglo-Saxon heort ford, meaning deer crossing, the name Hertfordshire is first recorded in the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle in 1011. Deer feature in many county emblems, there is evidence of humans living in Hertfordshire from the Mesolithic period. It was first farmed during the Neolithic period and permanent habitation appeared at the beginning of the Bronze Age and this was followed by tribes settling in the area during the Iron Age. 293 the first recorded British martyrdom is believed to have taken place. Saint Alban, a Romano-British soldier, took the place of a Christian priest and was beheaded on Holywell Hill. His martyrs cross of a saltire on a blue background is reflected in the flag. He is the Patron Saint of Hertfordshire, with the departure of the Roman Legions in the early 5th century, the now unprotected territory was invaded and colonised by the Anglo-Saxons. By the 6th century the majority of the county was part of the East Saxon kingdom
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Autumn harvest near St Albans
Hertfordshire
Hertfordshire
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The offices of
T-Mobile, Hatfield
Hertfordshire
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Headquarters of
Tesco
26.
Middlesex
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Middlesex is a historic county in south-east England. It is now entirely within the wider urbanised area of London and its area is now also mostly within the ceremonial county of Greater London, with small sections in other neighbouring ceremonial counties. It was established in the Anglo-Saxon system from the territory of the Middle Saxons, the largely low-lying county, dominated by clay in its north and alluvium on gravel in its south, was the second smallest county by area in 1831. The City of London was a county in its own right from the 12th century and was able to exert control over Middlesex. Westminster Abbey dominated most of the financial, judicial and ecclesiastical aspects of the county. As London grew into Middlesex, the Corporation of London resisted attempts to expand the city boundaries into the county, in the 18th and 19th centuries the population density was especially high in the southeast of the county, including the East End and West End of London. From 1855 the southeast was administered, with sections of Kent and Surrey, the City of London, and Middlesex, became separate counties for other purposes and Middlesex regained the right to appoint its own sheriff, lost in 1199. In the interwar years suburban London expanded further, with improvement and expansion of public transport, after the Second World War, the population of the County of London and inner Middlesex was in steady decline, with high population growth continuing in the outer parts. Since 1965 various areas called Middlesex have been used for cricket, Middlesex was the former postal county of 25 post towns. The name means territory of the middle Saxons and refers to the origin of its inhabitants. The word is formed from the Anglo-Saxon, i. e. Old English, middel, in an 8th-century charter the region is recorded as Middleseaxon and in 704 it is recorded as Middleseaxan. The Saxons derived their name from seax, a kind of knife for which they were known, the seax has a lasting symbolic impact in the English counties of Essex and Middlesex, both of which feature three seaxes in their ceremonial emblem. Their names, along with those of Sussex and Wessex, contain a remnant of the word Saxon, there were settlements in the area of Middlesex that can be traced back thousands of years before the creation of a county. Middlesex was formerly part of the Kingdom of Essex It was recorded in the Domesday Book as being divided into the six hundreds of Edmonton, Elthorne, Gore, Hounslow, Ossulstone and Spelthorne. The City of London has been self-governing since the century and became a county in its own right. Middlesex also included Westminster, which also had a degree of autonomy. Of the six hundreds, Ossulstone contained the districts closest to the City of London, during the 17th century it was divided into four divisions, which, along with the Liberty of Westminster, largely took over the administrative functions of the hundred. The divisions were named Finsbury, Holborn, Kensington and Tower, the county had parliamentary representation from the 13th century
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The County of Middlesex
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Map of Middlesex, 1824. Note: west is at the top.
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Map in 1882 shows complete urbanisation of the East End
27.
Buckinghamshire
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Development in this region is restricted by the Metropolitan Green Belt. Other large settlements include the county town of Aylesbury, Marlow in the south near the Thames and Princes Risborough in the west near Oxford. Some areas without rail links to London, such as around the old county town of Buckingham. The largest town is Milton Keynes in the northeast, which with the area is administered as a unitary authority separately to the rest of Buckinghamshire. The remainder of the county is administered by Buckinghamshire County Council as a non-metropolitan county, in national elections, Buckinghamshire is considered a reliable supporter of the Conservative Party. A large part of the Chiltern Hills, an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty, runs through the south of the county and attracts many walkers, in this area older buildings are often made from local flint and red brick. Chequers, an estate owned by the government, is the country retreat of the incumbent Prime Minister. To the north of the county lies rolling countryside in the Vale of Aylesbury, the Thames forms part of the county’s southwestern boundary. Notable service amenities in the county are Pinewood Film Studios, Dorney rowing lake, many national companies have offices in Milton Keynes. Heavy industry and quarrying is limited, with agriculture predominating after service industries, the name Buckinghamshire is Anglo-Saxon in origin and means The district of Buccas home. Buccas home refers to Buckingham in the north of the county, the county has been so named since about the 12th century, however, the county has existed since it was a subdivision of the kingdom of Mercia. Historically, the biggest change to the county came in the 19th century, Buckinghamshire is a popular home for London commuters, leading to greater local affluence, however, some pockets of relative deprivation remain. As a result, most county institutions are now based in the south of the county or Milton Keynes, the county can be split into two sections geographically. The county includes parts of two of the four longest rivers in England, the River Thames forms the southern boundary with Berkshire, which has crept over the border at Eton and Slough so that the river is no longer the sole boundary between the two counties. The River Great Ouse rises just outside the county in Northamptonshire and flows east through Buckingham, Milton Keynes, the main branch of the Grand Union Canal passes through the county as do its arms to Slough, Aylesbury, Wendover and Buckingham. The canal has been incorporated into the landscaping of Milton Keynes, the southern part of the county is dominated by the Chiltern Hills. The two highest points in Buckinghamshire are Haddington Hill in Wendover Woods at 267 metres above sea level, quarrying has taken place for chalk, clay for brickmaking and gravel and sand in the river valleys. Flint, also extracted from quarries, was used to build older local buildings
Buckinghamshire
Buckinghamshire
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Buckinghamshire shown within England
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Map of Bucks (1904)
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The River Thames at Medmenham
28.
East Anglia
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East Anglia is a geographical area in the East of England. The area included has varied but the legally defined NUTS2 statistical unit, comprises the counties of Norfolk, Suffolk and Cambridgeshire, the name derives from the Anglo-Saxon kingdom of the East Angles, a tribe that originated in Angeln, northern Germany. Definitions of what constitutes East Anglia vary, the Anglo-Saxon Kingdom of East Anglia, established in the 6th century, originally consisted of the modern counties of Norfolk and Suffolk and expanded west into at least part of Cambridgeshire. The modern NUTS2 statistical unit of East Anglia comprises Norfolk, Suffolk and those three counties have formed the Roman Catholic Diocese of East Anglia since 1976, and were the subject of a possible government devolution package in 2016. Essex has sometimes included in definitions of East Anglia, including by the London Society of East Anglians. However, the Kingdom of Essex to the south, was an element of the Heptarchy of Anglo-Saxon England and did not identify as Angles. The county of Essex by itself forms a NUTS2 statistical unit in the East of England region, other definitions of the area have been used or proposed over the years. For example, the Redcliffe-Maud Report in 1969, which followed the Royal Commission on the Reform of Local Government, the proposed East Anglia province would have included northern Essex, southern Lincolnshire and a small part of Northamptonshire as well as Cambridgeshire, Norfolk and Suffolk. The kingdom of East Anglia initially consisted of Norfolk and Suffolk, but upon the marriage of the East Anglian princess Etheldreda, the kingdom was formed about the year 520 by the merging of the North and the South Folk and was one of the seven Anglo-Saxon heptarchy kingdoms. However, this did not last and over the forty years East Anglia was defeated by the Mercians twice. Finally, in 794, Offa of Mercia had king Æthelberht killed, although independence was temporarily restored by rebellion in 825, on the 20 November 869 the Danes killed King Edmund and captured the kingdom. By 917, after a succession of Danish defeats, East Anglia was incorporated into the Kingdom of England by Edward the Elder, afterwards becoming an earldom. Despite some engineering work in the form of sea barriers constructed by the Roman Empire, much of East Anglia remained marshland and bogs until the 17th century. In the 1630s thousands of Puritan families from East Anglia settled in the American region of New England, East Anglia was ideally suited to airfield construction as it comprises large areas of open, level terrain and is close to mainland Europe. The reduced flight time to mainland Europe therefore reduced the load required and enabled a larger bomb load to be carried. Building the airfields was a civil engineering project and by the end of the war there was one approximately every 8 miles. Many of these airfields can still be today, particularly from aerial photographs, and a few remain is use today. Pillboxes, which were erected in 1940 to help defend the nation against invasion, can also be found throughout the area at strategic points
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Norwich, with an urban population of 210,000, is the principal city in East Anglia
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Flag of East Anglia
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Port of Felixstowe - Landguard Terminal in the foreground with Trinity Terminal in the background
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Three crowns emblem at Saxmundham's parish church.
29.
Halfdan Ragnarsson
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Halfdan Ragnarsson was a Viking leader and a commander of the Great Heathen Army which invaded the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of England, starting in 865. According to the recorded in the Norse sagas he was one of the sons of Ragnar Lodbrok. He was the first Viking King of Northumbria and also claimed the Kingdom of Dublin and he died at the Battle of Strangford Lough in 877 trying to press his Irish claim. Halfdan was one of the leaders of the Great Heathen Army which invaded the Anglo-Saxon kingdom of East Anglia in 865, according to the Norse sagas this invasion was organised by the sons of Ragnar Lodbrok, of whom Halfdan was one, to wreak revenge against Ælla of Northumbria. Ælla had supposedly had Ragnar executed in 865 by throwing him in a snake pit, in the autumn of 865 the Great Heathen Army landed in East Anglia, where they remained over the winter and secured horses for their later efforts. The following year the army headed north and invaded Northumbria, which was in the midst of a war between Ælla and Osberht, opposing claimants for the Northumbrian throne. Late in 866 the army conquered the rich Northumbrian settlement of York, the following year Ælla and Osberht put their differences aside, and teamed up to retake the town. The attempt was a disaster, and both of them lost their lives, with no obvious leader, Northumbrian resistance was crushed and the Danes installed a puppet-king, Ecgberht, to rule in their name and collect taxes for their army. Later in the year the Army moved south and invaded the kingdom of Mercia, capturing the town of Nottingham, the Mercian king, Burghred, responded by allying with the West Saxon king Æthelred, and with a combined force they laid siege to the town. The Anglo-Saxons were unable to recapture the city, but a truce was agreed whereby the Danes would withdraw to York, the Danes returned to East Anglia in 869, this time intent on conquest. They seized Thetford, with the intention of remaining there over winter, the East Anglian army was defeated and their king, Edmund, was slain. Medieval tradition identifies Edmund as a martyr who refused the Danes demand to renounce Christ, Ivar and Ubba are identified as the commanders of the Danes, and the killers of Edmund, and it is unknown what part, if any, Halfdan took. Following the conquest of East Anglia Ivar apparently left the Great Heathen Army – his name disappears from English records after 870, however, he is generally considered to be identical to Ímar, a Norse King of Dublin who died in 873. With Ivar in Ireland, Halfdan became the commander of the Army. Sometime after Ivar left the Army, a number of Viking warriors arrived from Scandinavia, as part of the Great Summer Army, led by Bagsecg. According to the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, the Danes battled the West Saxons nine times, however, the West Saxons could not be defeated, and Halfdan accepted a truce from Alfred, newly crowned king of Wessex. The Army retreated to the town of London and stayed there over the winter of 871/872. Coins minted in London during this period bear the name Halfdan, in autumn of 872 the Army returned to Northumbria to quell a revolt against Ecgberht, their puppet-king
Halfdan Ragnarsson
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" Halfdene ", Halfdan's name as it appears in the
Peterborough Chronicle at least 200 years later.
Halfdan Ragnarsson
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9th century
30.
Ivar the Boneless
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Ivar the Boneless was a Viking leader and a commander who invaded what is now England. According to the Tale of Ragnar Lothbrok, he was the son of Ragnar Lodbrok and his brothers included Björn Ironside, Halfdan Ragnarsson, Hvitserk, Sigurd Snake-in-the-Eye and Ubba. The origin of the nickname is not known, the sagas describe him as lacking bones. It was known by the Ancient Greeks and Romans reported it as common in the British Isles, according to the Tale of Ragnar Lodbrok, Ivars bonelessness was the result of a curse. His mother was Ragnars third wife and had powers of sorcery and she said that she and her husband must wait three nights before consummating their marriage, but he ignored this warning, and the result was that Ivar was born without bones. Another theory is that he was known as the Hated. A medieval scribe with a knowledge of Latin could easily have interpreted it as ex os. While the sagas describe Ivars physical disability, they also emphasise his wisdom, cunning,865, the Great Heathen Army, led by Ivar, invades the Anglo-Saxon Heptarchy. The Heptarchy was the name for the seven kingdoms East Anglia, Essex, Kent, Mercia, Northumbria. According to the saga, Ivar did not overcome Ælla and sought reconciliation and he only asked for as much land as he could cover with an oxs hide and swore never to wage war against Ælla. Then Ivar cut the oxs hide into such fine strands that he could envelop a large fortress which he could take as his own, late the next year the army turned north and invaded Northumbria, eventually capturing Ælla at York in 867. Later in the year the Army moved south and invaded the kingdom of Mercia, capturing the town of Nottingham, King Burgred of Mercia responded by allying with the West Saxon king Æthelred of Wessex, and with a combined force they laid siege to the town. The Anglo-Saxons were unable to recapture the city, but a truce was agreed whereby the Danes would withdraw to York, the Great Heathen Army remained in York for over a year, gathering its strength for further assaults. How true the accounts are of Edmunds death is unknown, but it has suggested that his capture. Ivar disappears from the record sometime after 870. The Anglo-Saxon chronicler Æthelweard records his death as 870, the Annals of Ulster describe the death of Ímar in 873. The death of Ímar is also recorded in the Fragmentary Annals of Ireland under the year 873, the identification of the king of Laithlind as Gothfraid was added by a copyist in the seventeenth century. According to the saga, Ivar ordered that he be buried in a place which was exposed to attack and this prophecy held true, says the saga, until when Vilhjalm bastard came ashore he went and broke Ivars mound and saw that body had not decayed
Ivar the Boneless
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" Ingvar ", Ivar's name as it appears in Harley MS 2278, a fifteenth-century
Middle English manuscript.
Ivar the Boneless
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9th century
31.
Ragnar Lodbrok
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Ragnar Lodbrok or Lothbrok was a legendary viking leader and hero of Old Norse poetry and sagas from the Viking age. According to this literature, Ragnar distinguished himself by many raids against Francia and Anglo-Saxon England. According to the antiquarian Hilda Ellis Davidson, writing in 1980, as a figure of legend whose life only partially took place in times and places covered by written sources, the extent of Ragnars historicity is not quite clear. That is why many acts ascribed to Ragnar in the Gesta can be associated, through other sources, with various figures, some of which are more historically certain. So far, attempts to link the legendary Ragnar with one or several of those men have failed because of the difficulty in reconciling the various accounts
Ragnar Lodbrok
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Ragnar acquires
Kráka (Aslaug), as imagined by
August Malmström.
Ragnar Lodbrok
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19th century artist's impression of Ælla of Northumbria's execution of Ragnar Lodbrok
32.
Great Heathen Army
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Since the late 8th century, the Vikings had settled for mainly hit-and-run raids on centres of wealth, such as monasteries. However, the intent of the Great Army was different and it was much larger than the usual raiding party and its purpose was to conquer. The name Great Heathen Army is derived from the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle of 865, legend has it that the force was led by three sons of Ragnar Lodbrok. The campaign of invasion and conquest against the four remaining Anglo-Saxon kingdoms lasted 14 years, unlike many of the Scandinavian raiding armies of the period, surviving sources give no firm indication of its numbers, but it was clearly amongst the largest forces of its kind. The invaders initially landed in East Anglia, where the king provided them with horses for their campaign in return for peace and they spent the winter of 865–66 at Thetford, before marching north to capture York in November 866. York had been founded as the Roman legionary fortress of Eboracum, during 868, the army marched deep into Mercia and wintered in Nottingham, where it was besieged by a joint force from the kingdoms of Mercia and Wessex. With no progress being made, the Mercians agreed to terms with the Viking army, in 870, the Great Army returned to East Anglia, conquering it and killing its king. The army moved to quarters in Thetford. In 871, the Vikings moved on to Wessex, where Alfred the Great was content to pay them to leave, the army then marched to London to overwinter in 872 before moving back to Northumbria in 873. It again returned to Mercia, conquering it in 874 and overwintering at Repton on the River Trent, by this time, only the kingdom of Wessex had not been conquered by the invading Vikings. It was towards the end of 875 when the army started their invasion of Wessex. Viking raids began in England in the late 8th century, primarily on monasteries, the first monastery to be raided was in 793 at Lindisfarne, off the northeast coast, the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle described the Vikings as heathen men. Monasteries and minster churches were popular targets as they were wealthy and had valuable objects that were portable, the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle for the year 840 says that Æthelwulf of Wessex was defeated at Carhampton, Somerset, after 35 Viking ships had landed in the area. The Annals of St. Bertin also reported the incident, stating, after a battle lasting three days, the Northmen emerged the winners – plundering, looting, slaughtering everywhere. They wielded power over the land at will, despite this setback, Æthelwulf did have some success against the Vikings. The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle has repeated references during his reign of victories won by ealdormen with the men of their shires. However, the raiding of England continued on and off until the 860s, when instead of raiding and this army was described by the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle as a Great Heathen Army. Historians provide varying estimates for the size of the Great Heathen Army, according to the minimalist scholars, such as Pete Sawyer, the army may have been smaller than traditionally thought
Great Heathen Army
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A reconstruction of a Viking from Repton in Mercia. This model is now in
Derby Museum.
Great Heathen Army
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A map of the routes taken by the Great Heathen Army from 865 to 878
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A sword of a Viking buried at Repton in Mercia. This sword is now in Derby Museum.
33.
Kingdom of East Anglia
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The kingdom formed in the 6th century in the wake of the Anglo-Saxon settlement of Britain. It was ruled by the Wuffingas in the 7th and 8th centuries, but fell to Mercia in 794 and it was conquered by Edward the Elder and incorporated into the Kingdom of England in 918. The Kingdom of East Anglia was organized in the first or second quarter of the 6th century with Wehha listed as the first king of the East Angles, until 749 the kings of East Anglia were Wuffingas, named after the semi-historical Wuffa. During the early century, under Rædwald of East Anglia. Rædwald, the first of the East Anglian kings to be baptised as a Christian, is considered by experts to be the person who was buried within the ship burial at Sutton Hoo. During the decades that followed his death in around 624, East Anglia became increasingly dominated by the kingdom of Mercia. Several of Rædwalds successors were killed in battle, such as Sigeberht, under Sigeberhts rule and the guidance of his bishop, Felix of Burgundy, Christianity was firmly established in East Anglia. After Æthelberht II was killed by the Mercians in 794, and until 825, East Anglia ceased to be an independent kingdom and it survived until 869, when the Vikings defeated the East Anglians in battle and their king, Edmund the Martyr, was killed. After 879, the Vikings settled permanently in East Anglia, in 903 the exiled Æthelwold ætheling induced the East Anglian Danes to wage a disastrous war on his cousin Edward the Elder. By 917, after a succession of Danish defeats, East Anglia had submitted to Edward and was incorporated into the kingdom of England, East Anglia was settled by the Anglo-Saxons as early as around 450, earlier than many other regions. According to Bede, the East Angles were descended from natives of Angeln, the first reference to the East Angles is from around 704–713, in the Whitby Life of St Gregory. The East Angles formed one of the seven known to post-mediaeval historians as the Heptarchy. Some modern historians have questioned whether seven independent kingdoms ever really existed contemporaneously, the North Folk and South Folk may have existed before the arrival of the first East Anglian kings. The most powerful of the Wuffingas kings was Rædwald, the son of Tytil, whose father was Wuffa, in 616, he had been strong enough to defeat and kill the Northumbrian king Æthelfrith at the Battle of the River Idle and enthrone Edwin of Northumbria. He was probably the individual honoured by the ship burial at Sutton Hoo. However, as those items previously thought to have come from Sweden are now believed to have made in England. During the seventh century, Anglo-Saxon Christianity was successfully established, the extent to which paganism was displaced in East Anglia is exemplified by a lack of any East Anglian settlements that are named after the old gods. Rædwald was the first East Anglian king to be baptised, in 604 and he maintained a Christian altar, but at the same time continued to worship pagan gods
Kingdom of East Anglia
–
The golden belt buckle from the Sutton Hoo ship-burial
Kingdom of East Anglia
Kingdom of East Anglia
–
The
Heptarchy, according to Bartholomew's A literary & historical atlas of Europe (1914)
Kingdom of East Anglia
–
A physical map of Eastern England
34.
Osberht of Northumbria
–
Osberht was king of Northumbria in the middle of the 9th century. Sources on Northumbrian history in this period are limited, Osberhts descent is not known and the dating of his reign is problematic. Osberht became king after Æthelred son of Eanred was murdered, the date of Æthelreds death is not certain, but is generally placed in 848. However, Symeon of Durham writes that Ethelred the son of Eanred reigned nine years. When he was slain Osbryht held the kingdom for thirteen years and states that 854 was the year of the rule of Osbert, the successor of Ethelred. Little is known of Osberhts reign, osberht was replaced as king by Ælla. While Ælla is described in most sources as a tyrant, and not a rightful king, the Great Heathen Army marched on Northumbria in the late summer of 866, seizing York on 21 November 866. Symeon of Durham, the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, Asser, and Æthelweard all recount substantially the same version of events in varying detail, when the pagans came upon the kingdom, the dissension was allayed by divine counsel and the aid of the nobles. King Osbryht and Alla, having united their forces and formed an army, came to the city of York, the Christians, perceiving their flight and terror, found that they themselves were the stronger party. They fought upon each side with much ferocity, and both kings fell, the rest who escaped made peace with the Danes. King Osbehrt may have buried in Thornhill, Yorkshire. After this, the Vikings appointed one Ecgberht to rule Northumbria, ragnarssona þáttr adds a great deal of colour to accounts of the Viking conquest of York. This associates the semi-legendary king of Sweden Ragnar Lodbrok and his sons, Hvitserk, Björn Ironside, Sigurd Snake-in-the-Eye, Ivar the Boneless, and Ubbe. According to the stories, Ragnar was killed by Ælla, dorothy Whitelock notes that it is by no means certain that he should be identified with the son of Ragnar, for the name is not uncommon. The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle does not name the leaders in Northumbria, but it does state that Hingwar, Hubba is named as a leader of the army in Northumbria by Abbo of Fleury, and by the Historia Historia de Sancto Cuthberto. Symeon of Durham lists the leaders of the Viking army as Halfdene, Inguar, Hubba, Beicsecg, Guthrun, Oscytell, Amund, Sidroc and another duke of the name, Osbern, Frana. Gaimars account has Buern seeking revenge for Osberhts rape of his wife, osberht 6 at Prosopography of Anglo-Saxon England
Osberht of Northumbria
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AE Styca of Osberht
35.
Nottingham
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Nottingham is a city and unitary authority area in Nottinghamshire, England, located 128 miles north of London, in the East Midlands. Nottingham has links to the legend of Robin Hood and to the lace-making, bicycle and it was granted its city charter in 1897 as part of Queen Victorias Diamond Jubilee celebrations. Nottingham is a tourist destination, in 2011, visitors spent over £1.5 billion - the thirteenth highest amount in Englands 111 statistical territories. In 2015, Nottingham had an population of 321,550 with the wider urban area. Its urban area is the largest in the east Midlands and the second largest in the Midlands, the population of the Nottingham/Derby metropolitan area is estimated to be 1,610,000. Its metropolitan economy is the seventh largest in the United Kingdom with a GDP of $50. 9bn, the city is also ranked as a sufficiency-level world city by the Globalization and World Cities Research Network. It is also a sporting centre, and in October 2015 was named Home of English Sport. The city also has rugby, ice hockey and cricket teams, and the Aegon Nottingham Open. This accolade came just over a year after Nottingham was named as the UKs first City of Football, on 11 December 2015, Nottingham was named a Unesco City of Literature, joining Norwich, Melbourne, Prague and Barcelona as one of only a handful in the world. The title reflects Nottinghams literary heritage, with Lord Byron, DH Lawrence and it has two universities, the University of Nottingham and Nottingham Trent University, which are attended by over 70,610 students. In modern Welsh it is known poetically as Y Ty Ogofog, when it fell under the rule of a Saxon chieftain named Snot it became known as Snotingaham, the homestead of Snots people. Some authors derive Nottingham from Snottenga, caves, and ham, Nottingham Castle was constructed in 1068 on a sandstone outcrop by the River Leen. Following the Norman Conquest the Saxon settlement developed into the English Borough of Nottingham and housed a Town Hall, a settlement also developed around the castle on the hill opposite and was the French borough supporting the Normans in the castle. Eventually, the space between was built on as the town grew and the Old Market Square became the focus of Nottingham several centuries later, defences, consisted initially of a ditch and bank in the early 12th century. The ditch was later widened, in the mid 13th century, a short length of the wall survives, and is visible at the northern end of Maid Marian Way, and is protected as a Scheduled Monument. On the return of Richard the Lionheart from the Crusades, the Castle was occupied by supporters of Prince John and it was besieged by Richard and, after a sharp conflict, was captured. In the legends of Robin Hood, Nottingham Castle is the scene of the showdown between the Sheriff and the hero outlaw. By the 15th century Nottingham had established itself as a centre of an export trade in religious sculpture made from Nottingham Alabaster
Nottingham
–
From top left: Robin Hood,
Council House,
NET Tram,
Castle Rock Brewery,
Trent Bridge,
the Castle Gate House,
Wollaton Hall,
Ye Olde Trip to Jerusalem and
Nottingham Forest's City Ground
Nottingham
–
Nottingham Castle
Nottingham
–
Nottingham from the east in ca. 1695, painted by
Jan Siberechts
Nottingham
–
Nottingham in 1831
36.
Burgred of Mercia
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Burgred was an Anglo-Saxon king of Mercia from 852 to 874. Burgred became king of Mercia in 852, and may have related to his predecessor Beorhtwulf. After Easter in 853, Burgred married Æthelswith, daughter of Æthelwulf, the marriage was celebrated at the royal villa of Chippenham in Wessex. In 853 Burgred sent messengers to Æthelwulf, king of the West Saxons, to help him subjugate the Welsh, immediately King Æthelwulf moved his army and advanced with Burgred against the Welsh. They invaded and placed them under subjection to Burgred, twelve years after Burgreds success against the Welsh, in 865, the Great Heathen Army arrived. Following its successful campaigns against East Anglia and Northumbria it advanced through Mercia, Burgred then appealed to his step-brothers King Ethelred of Wessex and Alfred for assistance against them. The armies of Wessex and Mercia did no serious fighting as Burgred paid them off, in 874 the march of the Vikings from Lindsey to Repton drove Burgred from his kingdom after they sacked Tamworth. After Burgred left, the Vikings appointed a Mercian Ceolwulf to replace him, Burgred retired to Rome and died there. He was buried, according to the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, in the church of Sancta Maria, single coins from the reign of Burgred continue to be found but Burgred coins within hoards are less common. In 1998 a hoard with Burgred coins was found by the Birmingham University Field Archaeology Unit near Banbury Castle, in December,2003, silver Burgred coins were found at a site in Yorkshire, which may be the first actual Viking ship burial in England proper. Kings of Mercia family tree Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, MS A v.3, Janet Bately, Brewer, Rochester 1986, Burgred 5 at Prosopography of Anglo-Saxon England, probably also Burgred 4 Burgred coins from Severn Stoke coin hoard
Burgred of Mercia
–
Coin issued during Burgred's reign.
Burgred of Mercia
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A charter of Burgred's dated 869
Burgred of Mercia
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Kingdom of Mercia 527–918
37.
Edmund the Martyr
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Edmund the Martyr was king of East Anglia from about 855 until his death. Almost nothing is known about Edmund and he is thought to have been of East Anglian origin and was first mentioned in an annal of the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, written some years after his death. The kingdom of East Anglia was devastated by the Vikings, who destroyed any evidence of his reign. Later writers produced fictitious accounts of his life, asserting that he was born in 841, the son of Æthelweard, an obscure East Anglian king, whom it was said Edmund succeeded when he was fourteen. Later versions of Edmunds life relate that he was crowned on 25 December 855 at Burna, which at that time functioned as the capital. In 869, the Great Heathen Army advanced on East Anglia and killed Edmund. According to one legend, his head was thrown into the forest. Commentators have noted how Edmunds death bears resemblance to the fate suffered by St Sebastian, St Denis, a coinage commemorating Edmund was minted from around the time East Anglia was absorbed by the kingdom of Wessex and a popular cult emerged. In about 986, Abbo of Fleury wrote of his life, the saints remains were temporarily moved from Bury St Edmunds to London for safekeeping in 1010. His shrine at Bury was visited by kings, including Canute, who was responsible for rebuilding the abbey. During the Middle Ages, when Edmund was regarded as the saint of England, Bury and its magnificent abbey grew wealthy. Edmund is first mentioned in the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle annal for 870, by tradition, Edmund is thought to have been born in 841 and to have acceded to the East Anglian throne in around 855. Nothing is known of his life or reign, as no contemporary East Anglian documents from this period have survived, later medieval chroniclers have provided dubious accounts of his life, in the absence of any real details. The most credible theory for Edmund’s parentage suggests Ealhhere, brother-in-law to King Æthelstan of Kent, as Edmund’s father, Edmund cannot be placed within any ruling dynasty. Numismatic evidence suggests he succeeded Æthelweard and it is known that a variety of different coins were minted by Edmunds moneyers during his reign. The letters AN, standing for Anglia, only appear on the coins of Edmund and Æthelstan of East Anglia, later specimens read + EADMUND REX and so it is possible for his coins to be divided chronologically. Otherwise, no chronology for his coins has been confirmed and it relates that Her rad se here ofer Mierce innan East Engle and wiñt setl namon. And þy wint Eadmund cying him wiþ feaht. and þa Deniscan sige naman þone cyning ofslogon. by tradition the leaders who slew the king were Ivar the Boneless and his brother Ubba
Edmund the Martyr
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A medieval illumination depicting the death of Edmund the Martyr on 20 November 869 by the Vikings.
Edmund the Martyr
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A St Edmund memorial penny.
Edmund the Martyr
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Edmund being crowned by angels, from a 13th-century manuscript.
Edmund the Martyr
–
A depiction of St Edmund's shrine. The shrine was destroyed in 1539.
38.
Hoxne
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Hoxne /ˈhɒksən/ is an anciently-established village in the Mid Suffolk district of Suffolk, England, about five miles east-southeast of Diss, Norfolk and 1⁄2 mile south of the River Waveney. The parish is shaped, covering the villages of Hoxne, Cross Street and Heckfield Green. In geology, Hoxne gives its name to the Hoxnian Stage, the area around the village is of remarkable archaeological importance, as the find-spot of the Hoxne Hoard of Roman treasure, very early finds of handaxes and as the type site for the Hoxnian Stage. John Frere was the first person to recognise the flint hand tools found deep in a pit at Hoxne as being man-made. Teams headed by the University of Chicago made extensive excavations at Freres site for five years between 1971 and 1978, ice sheets returned. to the north-west of Europe. and a new pattern of episodic occupation was set in motion, lasting over three-hundred thousand years. The Hoard consists of 14,865 Roman gold, silver and bronze coins from the fourth and early fifth centuries. These objects are now in the British Museum in London, where the most important pieces, in 1993, the Treasure Valuation Committee valued the hoard at £1.75 million. The village is home to a 15th Century, Grade II listed lodge, formerly known as Bishops Lodge. It is today a pub, The Swan. It is said that Saint Edmund, King of East Anglia, a newly married couple saw the kings gold spurs and gave his location away to his enemies. According to the legend, Saint Edmund put a curse on all couples who cross the bridge on their way to get married
Hoxne
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Village Hall, Hoxne
39.
Reading, Berkshire
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Reading is a large, historically important town in Berkshire, England, of which it is the county town. The 19th century saw the coming of the Great Western Railway, Today Reading is a major commercial centre, with involvement in information technology and insurance, and, despite its proximity to London, has a net inward commuter flow. The first evidence for Reading as a settlement dates from the 8th century, by 1525, Reading was the largest town in Berkshire, and tax returns show that Reading was the 10th largest town in England when measured by taxable wealth. By 1611, it had a population of over 5000 and had grown rich on its trade in cloth, the 18th century saw the beginning of a major iron works in the town and the growth of the brewing trade for which Reading was to become famous. During the 19th century, the town rapidly as a manufacturing centre. It is ranked the UKs top economic area for economic success and wellbeing, according to such as employment, health, income. Reading is also a regional retail centre serving a large area of the Thames Valley. Every year it hosts the Reading Festival, one of Englands biggest music festivals, sporting teams based in Reading include Reading Football Club and the London Irish rugby union team, and over 15,000 runners annually compete in the Reading Half Marathon. In 2015, Reading had an population of 232,662. The town is represented in Parliament by two members, and has been continuously represented there since 1295, for ceremonial purposes the town is in the county of Berkshire and has served as its county town since 1867, previously sharing this status with Abingdon-on-Thames. It is in the Thames Valley at the confluence of the River Thames and River Kennet, and on both the Great Western Main Line railway and the M4 motorway. Reading is 75 miles east of Bristol,25 miles south of Oxford,42 miles west of London,17 miles north of Basingstoke,13 miles south-west of Maidenhead and 20 miles east of Newbury. Reading may date back to the Roman occupation of Britain, possibly as a port for Calleva Atrebatum. However the first clear evidence for Reading as a settlement dates from the 8th century, the name probably comes from the Readingas, an Anglo-Saxon tribe whose name means Readas People in Old English, or less probably the Celtic Rhydd-Inge, meaning Ford over the River. In late 870, an army of Danes invaded the kingdom of Wessex, on 4 January 871, in the first Battle of Reading, King Ethelred and his brother Alfred the Great attempted unsuccessfully to breach the Danes defences. The battle is described in the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, and that account provides the earliest known record of the existence of Reading. The Danes remained in Reading until late in 871, when they retreated to their quarters in London. After the Battle of Hastings and the Norman conquest of England, William the Conqueror gave land in, in its 1086 Domesday Book listing, the town was explicitly described as a borough
Reading, Berkshire
–
From top left: the
Town Hall and
St Laurence's Church, the
Maiwand Lion, the Town Centre skyline from the
Royal Berkshire Hospital,
Reading Abbey and
The Oracle
Reading, Berkshire
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The earliest map of Reading, published in 1611 by
John Speed
Reading, Berkshire
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View of Reading from
Caversham by
Joseph Farington in 1793
Reading, Berkshire
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Reading
Crown Court
40.
Old Basing
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Old Basing is a village in the English county of Hampshire. It is situated just to the east of Basingstoke, and in the 2001 census had a population of 7,232, Old Basing was first settled around 700 by an Anglo-Saxon tribe known as the Basingas, who gave the village its name. It was the site of the Battle of Basing on 22 January 871 and it is also mentioned in the Domesday Book of 1086. The centre of the village, The Street, contains many old houses and it was the home of the Marquesses of Winchester for several generations before being destroyed after a 24-week siege during the English Civil War. The route of the former Basingstoke Canal also ran around Basing House and then through, the village of Old Basing is part of the civil parish of Old Basing and Lychpit and is part of the Basing ward of Basingstoke and Deane borough council. The borough council is a Non-metropolitan district of Hampshire County Council, Old Basing elects three councillors to Basingstoke and Deane Borough Council and is part of the Basingstoke constituency in elections to Parliament. The current Member of Parliament for Basingstoke is Maria Miller and the current councillors are Onnalee Cubitt, Stephen Marks, Old Basing provides both an infant school and a junior school. The junior school, named St Marys, is aided by the Church of England, a new primary school has recently opened in nearby Lychpit. Children from Old Basing proceed to a variety of schools in the Basingstoke area. The senior schools include Costello and a school called Bishop Challoner. Basing Rovers F. C. is the football team. The Recreation Ground in Old Basing plays host to a variety of sporting events as well as the Old Basing Carnival, there are rugby union and football pitches which overlap a cricket ground in addition to five tennis courts, an archery area and a lawn bowling green
Old Basing
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The Street, Old Basing
Old Basing
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Entrance gate to the Basing House ruins, Old Basing.
41.
Hampshire
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Hampshire is a county on the southern coast of England in the United Kingdom. The county town of Hampshire is Winchester, the capital city of England. The larger South Hampshire metropolitan area has a population of 1,547,000, Hampshire is notable for housing the birthplaces of the Royal Navy, British Army, and Royal Air Force. It is bordered by Dorset to the west, Wiltshire to the north-west, Berkshire to the north, Surrey to the north-east, the southern boundary is the coastline of the English Channel and the Solent, facing the Isle of Wight. At its greatest size in 1890, Hampshire was the fifth largest county in England and it now has an overall area of 3,700 square kilometres, and measures about 86 kilometres east–west and 76 kilometres north–south. Hampshires tourist attractions include many seaside resorts and two parks, the New Forest and the South Downs. Hampshire has a maritime history and two of Europes largest ports, Portsmouth and Southampton, lie on its coast. The county is famed as home of writers Jane Austen and Charles Dickens, Hampshire takes its name from the settlement that is now the city of Southampton. Southampton was known in Old English as Hamtun, roughly meaning village-town, the old name was recorded in the Domesday book as Hantescire, and it is from this spelling that the modern abbreviation Hants derives. From 1889 until 1959, the county was named the County of Southampton and has also been known as Southamptonshire. The region is believed to have continuously occupied since the end of the last Ice Age about 12,000 BCE. At this time Britain was still attached to the European continent and was covered with deciduous woodland. The first inhabitants came overland from Europe, these were anatomically and behaviourally modern humans, notable sites from this period include Bouldnor Cliff. Agriculture had arrived in southern Britain by 4000 BCE, and with it a neolithic culture, some deforestation took place at that time, although it was during the Bronze Age, beginning in 2200 BCE, that this became more widespread and systematic. Hampshire has few monuments to show from early periods, although nearby Stonehenge was built in several phases at some time between 3100 BCE and 2200 BCE. It is maintained that by this period the people of Britain predominantly spoke a Celtic language, hillforts largely declined in importance in the second half of the second century BCE, with many being abandoned. Julius Caesar invaded southeastern England briefly in 55 and again in 54 BCE, notable sites from this period include Hengistbury Head, which was a major port. There is a Museum of the Iron Age in Andover, the Romans invaded Britain again in 43 CE, and Hampshire was incorporated into the Roman province of Britannia very quickly
Hampshire
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Southampton from Netley Hospital
Hampshire
–
Flag of Hampshire County Council
Hampshire
–
The Beaulieu River
Hampshire
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Southampton Docks
42.
Wiltshire
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Wiltshire is a county in South West England with an area of 3,485 km2. It is landlocked and borders the counties of Dorset, Somerset, the county town was originally Wilton, after which the county is named, but Wiltshire Council is now based in the new county town of Trowbridge. Wiltshire is characterised by its high downland and wide valleys, Salisbury Plain is noted for being the location of the Stonehenge and Avebury stone circles and other ancient landmarks, and as a training area for the British Army. The city of Salisbury is notable for its mediaeval cathedral, important country houses open to the public include Longleat, near Warminster, and the National Trusts Stourhead, near Mere. The county, in the 9th century written as Wiltunscir, later Wiltonshire, is named after the county town of Wilton. Wiltshire is notable for its pre-Roman archaeology, the Mesolithic, Neolithic and Bronze Age people that occupied southern Britain built settlements on the hills and downland that cover Wiltshire. Stonehenge and Avebury are perhaps the most famous Neolithic sites in the UK, in the 6th and 7th centuries Wiltshire was at the western edge of Saxon Britain, as Cranborne Chase and the Somerset Levels prevented the advance to the west. The Battle of Bedwyn was fought in 675 between Escuin, a West Saxon nobleman who had seized the throne of Queen Saxburga, in 878 the Danes invaded the county. Following the Norman Conquest, large areas of the country came into the possession of the crown, at the time of the Domesday Survey the industry of Wiltshire was largely agricultural,390 mills are mentioned, and vineyards at Tollard and Lacock. In the 17th century English Civil War Wiltshire was largely Parliamentarian, the Battle of Roundway Down, a Royalist victory, was fought near Devizes. The Royal Wiltshire Yeomanry currently lives on as Y Squadron, based in Swindon, around 1800 the Kennet and Avon Canal was built through Wiltshire, providing a route for transporting cargoes from Bristol to London until the development of the Great Western Railway. Information on the 261 civil parishes of Wiltshire is available on the Wiltshire Community History website, run by the Libraries and this site includes maps, demographic data, historic and modern pictures and short histories. The local nickname for Wiltshire natives is moonrakers and this originated from a story of smugglers who managed to foil the local Excise men by hiding their alcohol, possibly French brandy in barrels or kegs, in a village pond. The officials took them for simple yokels or mad and left them alone, many villages claim the tale for their own village pond, but the story is most commonly linked with The Crammer in Devizes. Two-thirds of Wiltshire, a rural county, lies on chalk. This chalk is part of a system of chalk downlands throughout eastern and southern England formed by the rocks of the Chalk Group, the largest area of chalk in Wiltshire is Salisbury Plain, which is used mainly for arable agriculture and by the British Army as training ranges. The highest point in the county is the Tan Hill–Milk Hill ridge in the Pewsey Vale, just to the north of Salisbury Plain, the chalk uplands run northeast into West Berkshire in the Marlborough Downs ridge, and southwest into Dorset as Cranborne Chase. Cranborne Chase, which straddles the border, has, like Salisbury Plain, yielded much Stone Age, the Marlborough Downs are part of the North Wessex Downs AONB, a 1,730 km2 conservation area
Wiltshire
Wiltshire
–
Wiltshire shown within England
Wiltshire
–
Stonehenge
Wiltshire
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Cherhill White Horse, east of Calne
43.
Wareham, Dorset
–
Wareham is an historic market town and, under the name Wareham Town, a civil parish, in the English county of Dorset. The town is situated on the River Frome eight miles southwest of Poole, the town is built on a strategic dry point between the River Frome and the River Piddle at the head of the Wareham Channel of Poole Harbour. The Frome Valley runs through an area of unresistant sand, clay and gravel rocks, at its estuary the river has formed the wide shallow ria of Poole Harbour. Wareham is built on a low dry island between the river plains. The town is situated on the A351 Lytchett Minster-Swanage road and at the terminus of the A352 road to Dorchester and Sherborne. The town has a station on the South Western Main Line railway, the steam railway has ambitions to extend its service, currently from Swanage to Norden, near Corfe Castle back to Worgret Junction and into Wareham again. To the north west of the town a large plantation, Wareham Forest stretches several miles to the A35 road. To the south east is Corfe Castle and the heathland that borders Poole Harbour, including Wytch Farm oil field, about four miles to the south is a chalk ridge, the Purbeck Hills, and eight miles to the south is the English Channel. The towns strategic setting has made it an important settlement throughout its long history, excavations at the nearby Bestwall site have produced evidence of transient early Mesolithic activity dating to around 9000 BCE. At the same site four large Neolithic pits containing worked flint, three greenstone axeheads discovered also probably date to this period. Flint working and potting continued throughout the Bronze Age, the first house discovered dates to the mid 15th century BCE. Archaeological evidence exists of a small Roman settlement, though the current town was founded by the Saxons, the Roman name is unknown, but the town is referred to as Werham in the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle entry of 784, from Old English wer and hām or hamm. The Danes invaded and occupied Wareham in 876, and only left after Alfred returned with an army, in 998 they attacked again, and in 1015 an invasion led by King Canute left the town in ruins. The town was a Saxon royal burial place, notably that of King Beorhtric, also in the town at the ancient minster church of Lady St. Mary is the coffin said to be that of Edward the Martyr, dating from 978. His remains had been buried there and were later taken from Wareham to Shaftesbury Abbey in north Dorset. By the end of the Saxon period, Wareham had become one of the most important towns in the county, the Burghal Hidage lists the town as 1,600 hides, the third largest in the realm. After the conquest of England, the Normans built a castle on the banks of the River Frome, the castle was the focus of much fighting between the forces of Stephen and Matilda during the period of civil war in the mid 12th century. The keep was destroyed at a date in the 12th or 13th century, possibly under the terms of the Treaty of Wallingford
Wareham, Dorset
–
Wareham Quay
Wareham, Dorset
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River Frome
Wareham, Dorset
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"Bloody Bank" is the high point in the distance, on West Walls
Wareham, Dorset
–
Lady St. Mary Church
44.
Exeter
–
Exeter is a cathedral city in Devon, England with a population of 127,300. It lies within the county of Devon, of which it is the county town as well as the home of Devon County Council, currently, the administrative area has the status of a non-metropolitan district and is therefore under the administration of the County Council. The city is on the River Exe about 37 miles northeast of Plymouth and 70 miles southwest of Bristol, Exeter was the most south-westerly Roman fortified settlement in Britain, although there is evidence a Cornish tribe existed in Exeter before the Roman invasion. Exeter became a centre during the Middle Ages and into the Tudor times, Exeter Cathedral, founded in the mid 11th century. During the late 19th century, Exeter became an affluent centre for the wool trade, after the Second World War, much of the city centre was rebuilt and is now considered to be a centre for modern business and tourism in Devon and Cornwall. The name Exe is a development of the Brittonic name—meaning water or, more exactly, full of fish —that also appears in the English Axe and Esk, the Welsh Usk. Exeter began as settlements on a dry ridge ending in a spur overlooking a navigable river teeming with fish, although there have been no major prehistoric finds, these advantages suggest the site was occupied early. Coins have been discovered from the Hellenistic kingdoms, suggesting the existence of a settlement trading with the Mediterranean as early as 250 BC. Such early towns had been a feature of pre-Roman Gaul as described by Julius Caesar in his Commentaries, the Romans established a 42-acre playing-card shaped fort named Isca around AD55. To distinguish the two, the Romans also referred to Exeter as Isca Dumnoniorum, Watertown of the Dumnonii, a small fort was also maintained at Topsham, a supply depot on the route between the two was excavated at St Loyes on Topsham Road in 2010. The presence of the built up an unplanned civilian community of natives. This area was excavated in the 1970s, but could not be maintained for public view owing to its proximity to the present-day cathedral, in January 2015, it was announced that Exeter Cathedral had launched a bid to restore the baths and open an underground centre for visitors. In the late 2nd century, the ditch and rampart defences around the old fortress were replaced by a bank and wall enclosing a much larger area, although most of the visible structure is older, the course of the Roman wall was used for Exeters subsequent city walls. Thus about 70% of the Roman wall remains, and most of its route can be traced on foot, the dating of the coins so far discovered, however, suggests a rapid decline, virtually none have been discovered dated after the year 380. By that time, the city was held by the Saxons, Exeter was known to the Saxons as Escanceaster. In 876, it was attacked and briefly captured by Danish Vikings, alfred the Great drove them out the next summer. Over the next few years, he elevated Exeter to one of the four burhs in Devon and these permitted the city to fend off another attack and siege by the Danes in 893. King Athelstan again strengthened the walls around 928, and at the time drove out the remaining Britons from the city
Exeter
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Clockwise: The Cathedral, The Clock Tower, Devon County Hall, Cathedral Close, The Iron Bridge.
Exeter
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A portion of Exeter's city wall, formed of both Roman and medieval stones.
Exeter
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The gatehouse of
Rougemont Castle
Exeter
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Remains of the medieval Exe Bridge, built around 1200
45.
Chippenham
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Chippenham is an historic market town in Wiltshire, England,13 miles east of Bath and 96 miles west of London. It was a vill, and probably a royal hunting lodge. The primary school, Kings Lodge School, gets its name from this tradition, the town continued to grow when the Great Western Railway arrived in 1841. The town is now a commuter town, Chippenham is twinned with La Flèche in France and Friedberg in Germany. The towns motto is Unity and Loyalty, the town is surrounded by sparsely populated countryside and there are several woodlands in or very near the town, such as Birds Marsh, Vincients Wood and Briars Wood. Chippenham lies 4 miles south of the M4 motorway, which links the town to Bristol, Swindon, South Wales, the A4 former coach road, A420 and B4069 provide further road links to Bath, Bristol and Oxford. The town is bypassed to the west by the A350, which links the M4 motorway with Chippenham and nearby towns to the south, such as Melksham, Warminster and Trowbridge. The A4 national route crosses the southern part of the town, linking Chippenham to nearby Corsham, Calne, local councillors have called for an eastern extension linking the A4 to the A350 north of Cepen Park although this has been opposed by many residents. Dualling work on a 2-mile /3 km stretch of the A350 eastern bypass commenced in January 2015 from Cepen Park North through to the A4, which is scheduled for completion in 2017. Two shorter single carriageway sections of the A350 from just south of the Plough crossroads to Cepen Park North were both converted to dual carriageway between October 2014 and March 2015, Chippenham has a bus station with several routes and companies serving it. APLtravel with the 33 to Devizes and it is served by main line services and a smaller service to Southampton Central via Melksham, Westbury and Salisbury. It is being electrified to make train times faster from London to the West Country, National Express Coach services connect at Chippenham to London, Wales, South West England, the Midlands and East Anglia. Bus services connect the town to Bristol, Bath, Corsham, Calne, Frome, Devizes, Trowbridge, Swindon and nearby villages. The original Buttercross, a structure, was erected in c.1570 and stood at the centre of the Shambles. It was used for the sale of meat and dairy products, in 1889, Mr E. C. Lowndes bought the Buttercross for £6 and re-erected it as a gazebo in the kitchen garden of the Castle Combe Manor House, where it subsequently fell into disrepair. The Buttercross was re-erected in 1995 by the Chippenham Civic Society, funded by local people. It currently stands as the centre-piece of the area of the town centre. The Yelde Hall is one of few remaining medieval timber framed buildings in the town
Chippenham
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The River Avon at the back of old Nestles on Bath Road
Chippenham
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British Railways "totem" sign for Chippenham station.
Chippenham
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Brunel's railway viaduct with High Street to rear
Chippenham
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The
Buttercross today
46.
Battle of Cynuit
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The Battle of Cynwit, also spelt Cynuit, took place in 878 at a fort which Asser calls Cynwit. The location of the battle is uncertain, possible sites include Cannington Hill, near Cannington, Somerset, and Countisbury Hill, near Countisbury, Devon. A party of Vikings led by Ubba, brother of Ivar the Boneless and Halfdan Ragnarsson, landed on the coast at Combwich with 23 ships, there they observed that a number of English Thanes and all of their men had taken refuge in the fort of Cynwit for safety. Ubba and the Vikings proceeded to besiege the fort, expecting the English to surrender eventually from lack of water, while the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle glosses over the battle of Cynwit, it is important for two reasons. Firstly, it was an important victory for the English won by other than Alfred the Great. The Chronicle, in addressing the year 878, makes the claim that all, secondly, at the battle of Cynwit, Odda, Ealdorman of Devon and the English forces not only succeeded in killing Ubba, but they also captured the Hrefn, the Raven banner. The battle appears in The Marsh King, a historical novel by C. Walter Hodges. The battle also features in Bernard Cornwells novel The Last Kingdom, cornwell ascribes the victory, as well as the killing of Ubba, to his fictional hero Uhtred. In Dunning, R W, Elrington, C R, a History of the County of Somerset, Volume 6, Andersfield, Cannington, and North Petherton Hundreds. An Onslaught of Spears, The Danish Conquest of England, smyth, Alfred P. King Alfred the Great
Battle of Cynuit
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Cannington hill fort, a possible site of the battle
47.
Lynmouth
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Lynmouth is a village in Devon, England, on the northern edge of Exmoor. The village straddles the confluence of the West Lyn and East Lyn rivers, in a gorge 700 feet below Lynton, both villages are connected by the Lynton and Lynmouth Cliff Railway, which works two cable-connected cars by gravity, using water tanks. The two villages are a civil parish governed by Lynton and Lynmouth Town Council, the parish boundaries extend southwards from the coast, and include hamlets such as Barbrook and small moorland settlements such as East Ilkerton, West Ilkerton and Shallowford. Lynmouth was described by Thomas Gainsborough, who honeymooned there with his bride Margaret Burr, the Sillery Sands beach is just off the South West Coast Path and is used by naturists. Percy Bysshe Shelley, his wife Harriet and his sister-in-law Eliza stayed in Lynmouth between June and August 1812, Shelley worked on political pamphlets and on the poem Queen Mab. A lifeboat station was established in Lynmouth on 20 January 1869, the lifeboat was kept in a shed on the beach, until a purpose-built boat house was built at the harbour. This was rebuilt in 1898 and enlarged in 1906–07 and it was closed at the end of 1944 because other stations in the area could provide cover with their newer motor lifeboats. The boat house was used as a club, but was washed away in the flood of 15 August 1952. It has since rebuilt, and now includes a public shelter. She had been under tow, but the tow rope had broken and she was dragging her anchor and had lost her steering gear. The alarm was raised for the Louisa, the Lynmouth lifeboat, however, launching was impossible because of the terrible weather. Jack Crocombe, the coxswain of the Louisa, proposed to take the boat by road to Porlocks sheltered harbour,13 miles around the coast, the boat plus its carriage weighed about 10 tons, and transporting it would not be easy. 20 horses and 100 men started by hauling the boat up the 1 in 4 Countisbury Hill out of Lynmouth, six of the men were sent ahead with picks and shovels to widen the road. The highest point is 1,423 feet above sea level, after they had crossed the 15 miles of wild Exmoor paths, they had to descend the dangerous Porlock Hill, with horses and men pulling ropes to stall the descent. During this, they had to part of a garden wall and fell a large tree to make a way. The lifeboat reached Porlock Weir at 6,30 am, and was launched, although cold, wet, hungry and exhausted, the crew rowed for over an hour in heavy seas to reach the stricken Forrest Hall and rescue the thirteen men and five apprentices with no casualties. However, four of the horses employed died of exhaustion, the Forrest Hall was towed into Barry, Wales. The feat was immortalised in C Walter Hodges 1969 childrens historical novel The Overland Launch, on 15 and 16 August 1952, a storm of tropical intensity broke over South West England, depositing 229 millimetres of rain within 24 hours on an already waterlogged Exmoor
Lynmouth
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Lynmouth village
Lynmouth
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Taken in the 1850's this is probably the first ever photograph of Lynmouth
Lynmouth
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A car of the
Lynton and Lynmouth Cliff Railway. Opened in 1890, the railway is a water-operated
funicular, 862 feet (263 m) long, operating on a 1 in 1.75 gradient track. One car descends, while the other ascends, on a counterbalance system. The water is piped from the West Lyn River
Lynmouth
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Lynmouth Harbour
48.
Devon
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Devon, also known as Devonshire, which was formerly its common and official name, is a county of England, reaching from the Bristol Channel in the north to the English Channel in the south. It is part of South West England, bounded by Cornwall to the west, Somerset to the northeast, combined as a ceremonial county, Devons area is 6,707 km2 and its population is about 1.1 million. Devon derives its name from Dumnonia, which, during the British Iron Age, Roman Britain, the Anglo-Saxon settlement of Britain resulted in the partial assimilation of Dumnonia into the Kingdom of Wessex during the eighth and ninth centuries. The western boundary with Cornwall was set at the River Tamar by King Æthelstan in 936, Devon was constituted as a shire of the Kingdom of England thereafter. The north and south coasts of Devon each have both cliffs and sandy shores, and the bays contain seaside resorts, fishing towns. The inland terrain is rural, generally hilly, and has a low density in comparison to many other parts of England. Dartmoor is the largest open space in southern England at 954 km2, to the north of Dartmoor are the Culm Measures and Exmoor. In the valleys and lowlands of south and east Devon the soil is fertile, drained by rivers including the Exe, the Culm, the Teign, the Dart. As well as agriculture, much of the economy of Devon is linked with tourism, in the Brittonic, Devon is known as Welsh, Dyfnaint, Breton, Devnent and Cornish, Dewnens, each meaning deep valleys. One erroneous theory is that the suffix is due to a mistake in the making of the original letters patent for the Duke of Devonshire. However, there are references to Defenascire in Anglo-Saxon texts from before 1000 AD, the term Devonshire may have originated around the 8th century, when it changed from Dumnonia to Defenascir. Kents Cavern in Torquay had produced human remains from 30–40,000 years ago, Dartmoor is thought to have been occupied by Mesolithic hunter-gatherer peoples from about 6000 BC. The Romans held the area under occupation for around 350 years. Devon became a frontier between Brittonic and Anglo-Saxon Wessex, and it was absorbed into Wessex by the mid 9th century. This suggests the Anglo-Saxon migration into Devon was limited rather than a movement of people. The border with Cornwall was set by King Æthelstan on the east bank of the River Tamar in 936 AD, the arrival of William of Orange to launch the Glorious Revolution of 1688 took place at Brixham. Devon has produced tin, copper and other metals from ancient times, Devons tin miners enjoyed a substantial degree of independence through Devons Stannary Parliament, which dates back to the 12th century. The last recorded sitting was in 1748, agriculture has been an important industry in Devon since the 19th century
Devon
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Menhir at
Drizzlecombe
Devon
Devon
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Part of the seafront of
Torquay, south Devon, at high tide
Devon
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Heathland at
Woodbury Common in south east Devon
49.
Bideford
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Bideford /ˈbɪdᵻfərd/ is a historic port town on the estuary of the River Torridge in north Devon, south-west England. It is the town of the Torridge local government district. In ancient records Bideford is recorded as Bedeford, Byddyfrod, Bedyford, Bydeford, Bytheford and Biddeford, the Welsh bydd y ffordd means this is the way or this is the road. Hubba the Dane was said to have attacked Devon in the area around Bideford near Northam or near Kenwith Castle, There were then 30 villagers,8 smallholders and 14 slaves in Bideford. According to the account by the Continuator of Wace and others, in his youth Brictric declined the advances of Matilda. The Exon Domesday notes that Bideford and nearby Littleham were held at fee farm from the king by Gotshelm, gotshelms 28 manors descended to the Honour of Gloucester, as did most of Brictrics. Thus Brictrics fiefdom became the barony of Gloucester. The Grenville family held Bideford for many centuries under the overlordship of the barons of Gloucester, which barony was soon absorbed into the Crown. He obtained from FitzHamon the lordship of Neath, Glamorgan, in which he built Neath Castle, Richard de Grenville was one of three known sons of Hamo Dapifer Sheriff of Kent, an Anglo-Norman royal official under both King William the Conqueror and his son King William Rufus. He is by tradition the founder and ancestor of the prominent Westcountry Grenville family of Stowe in the parish of Kilkhampton in Cornwall and of Bideford in Devon. However, according to Round no proof exists that Richard I de Grenville ever held the manor of Bideford and it was however certainly one of the constituent manors of the Honour of Gloucester granted by King William Rufus to Robert FitzHamon. Roberts familial relationship, if any, to Richard is unknown, a charter was granted in 1272 to Richard V de Grenville by King Henry III, which created the towns first council. In ancient records Bideford was recorded as a borough but has returned members to Parliament during the reigns of Edward I. The Grenville family were for many centuries lords of the manor of Bideford, the monument with an effigy of Sir Thomas Grenville exists in St Marys Church. His great-great-grandson Sir Richard Grenville, the captain of the Revenge, was born in the manor house in Bideford. He built himself a new mansion on the quayside in 1585, the family had another seat at Stow House, Kilkhampton, near Bude in Cornwall. In 1575 he created the Port of Bideford, Grenville brought a Native American Wynganditoian from Roanoke Island with him after returning from a voyage to America in 1586. Grenville named this Native American tribesman, Raleigh after his cousin Sir Walter Raleigh, Raleigh converted to Christianity and was baptised at Saint Mary the Virgins Church on 27 March 1588, but died from influenza during his residence in Grenvilles house on 2 April 1589
Bideford
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Bideford viewed looking westward across the
River Torridge.
Bideford Long Bridge visible on left
Bideford
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1860 imaginary depiction of Robert FitzHamon (died 1107) (left) and his younger brother
Richard I de Grenville (d.post 1142) (right), Church of St James the Great,
Kilkhampton, Cornwall
Bideford
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Arms of Grenville, as visible sculpted on the monument to
Sir Thomas Grenville (died 1513) in St Mary's Church, Bideford: Gules, three
clarions or. These are the
canting arms of the de Clare family, Earls of Gloucester, heirs of FitzHamon and overlords of the Grenvilles
Bideford
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A portrait of Sir
Richard Grenville (1542–1591) heroic captain of the Revenge
50.
Cannington, Somerset
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Cannington is a village and civil parish 3 miles north-west of Bridgwater in the Sedgemoor district of Somerset, England. It lies on the west bank of the River Parret, the parish formerly included part of the village of Combwich, with its port and ferry terminal. In 1881 the parish contained 4,980 acres, the Saxon name of this village was Caninganmaersees or Cantuctone. Cantuc was an Old English word for a ridge, ton a settlement, the Battle of Cynwit took place in 878, and Cannington Camp, a Bronze Age and Iron Age hill fort, has been suggested as the most likely location for it. The Cannington Camp site, of recognized archaeological importance, has been destroyed by Castle Hill Quarry in its limestone quarrying activities. It was the site of a Benedictine nunnery, founded by Robert de Courcy about 1140, the nunnery owned significant land in the area. The site is now Cannington Court which incorporates some remains of the Priory, the lords of the manor were the Clifford family including Hugh Clifford, 2nd Baron Clifford of Chudleigh. Gurney Manor, a 13th-century manor house with a chapel wing, had been converted into flats but is now supported by the Landmark Trust and is available as holiday accommodation. A manor house was built at Blackmore Farm, with its own chapel. Cannington was part of the hundred of Cannington, the Cannington Centre for Land-based Studies was formerly known as Cannington College, which was established in 1921, but now forms part of Bridgwater College. The village is home to Brymore Academy. The dairy in Cannington, which has been operating since the 1930s, is now owned by local firm Yeo Valley Organic, the parish council has responsibility for local issues, including setting an annual precept to cover the council’s operating costs and producing annual accounts for public scrutiny. The parish council evaluates local planning applications and works with the police, district council officers, and neighbourhood watch groups on matters of crime, security. Conservation matters and environmental issues are also the responsibility of the council, the village is part of Cannington and Wembdon electoral ward. Although Cannington is the most populous area the ward does include Wembdon, the total population of the ward at the 2011 census was 4,507. It is also part of the Bridgwater and West Somerset county constituency represented in the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. The Church of St Mary has a tower which dates from the 14th century and it was previously connected to Cannington Court and is postulated as the former church of a house of Benedictine Nuns. It has been designated by English Heritage as a Grade I listed building, there is a golf course and open gardens
Cannington, Somerset
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Church of St Mary, Cannington
Mawer, Allen (1911). "Danelagh". In Chisholm, Hugh. Encyclopædia Britannica. 7 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. pp. 803–04.
Mawer, Allen (1911). "
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