Gothic architecture
Gothic architecture is a style that flourished in Europe during the High and Late Middle Ages. It was succeeded by Renaissance architecture. Originating in 12th-century France, it was used for cathedrals and churches, until the 16th century, its most prominent features included the use of the rib vault and the flying buttress, which allowed the weight of the roof to be counterbalanced by buttresses outside the building, giving greater height and more space for windows. Another important feature was the extensive use of stained glass, the rose window, to bring light and color to the interior. Another feature was the use of realistic statuary on the exterior over the portals, to illustrate biblical stories for the illiterate parishioners; these technologies had all existed in Romanesque architecture, but they were used in more innovative ways and more extensively in Gothic architecture to make buildings taller and stronger. The first notable example is considered to be the Abbey of Saint-Denis, near Paris, whose choir and facade were reconstructed with Gothic features.
The choir was completed in 1144. The style appeared in some civic architecture in northern Europe, notably in town halls and university buildings. A Gothic revival began in mid-18th-century England, spread through 19th century Europe and continued for ecclesiastical and university structures, into the 20th century. Gothic architecture was known during the period as opus francigenum, The term "Gothic architecture" originated in the 16th century, was very negative, suggesting barbaric. Giorgio Vasari used the term "barbarous German style" in his 1550 Lives of the Artists to describe what is now considered the Gothic style, in the introduction to the Lives he attributed various architectural features to "the Goths" whom he held responsible for destroying the ancient buildings after they conquered Rome, erecting new ones in this style; the Gothic style originated in the Ile-de-France region of northern France in the first half of the 12th century. A new dynasty of French Kings, the Capetians, had subdued the feudal lords, had become the most powerful rulers in France, with their capital in Paris.
They allied themselves with the bishops of the major cities of northern France, reduced the power of the feudal abbots and monasteries. Their rise coincided with an enormous growth of the population and prosperity of the cities of northern France; the Capetian Kings and their bishops wished to build new cathedrals as monuments of their power and religious faith. The church which served as the primary model for the style was the Abbey of St-Denis, which underwent reconstruction by the Abbot Suger, first in the choir and the facade, Suger was a close ally and biographer of the French King, Louis VII, a fervent Catholic and builder, the founder of the University of Paris. Suger remodeled the ambulatory of the Abbey, removed the enclosures that separated the chapels, replaced the existing structure with imposing pillars and rib vaults; this created higher and wider bays, into which he installed larger windows, which filled the end of the church with light. Soon afterwards he rebuilt the facade, adding three deep portals, each with a tympanum, an arch filled with sculpture illustrating biblical stories.
The new facade was flanked by two towers. He installed a small circular rose window over the central portal; this design became the prototype for a series of new French cathedrals. Sens Cathedral was the first Cathedral to be built in the new style. Other versions of the new style soon appeared in Noyon Cathedral; the Gothic style was adapted by some French monastic orders, notably the Cistercian order under Saint Bernard of Clairvaux It was used in an austere form without ornament at the new Cistercian Abbey of Fontenay and the church of Clairvaux Abbey, whose site is now occupied by a French prison. The new style was copied outside the Kingdom of France in the Duchy of Normandy. Early examples of Norman Gothic included Coutances Cathedral. Through the rule of the Angevin dynasty, the new style was introduced to England and spread from there to Low Countries, Spain, northern Italy and Sicily; the Gothic style did not replace the Romanesque everywhere in Europe. The Late Romanesque continued to flourish in the Holy Roman Empire under the Hohenstaufens and Rhineland.
From the end of the 12th century until the middle of the 13th century, the gothic style spread from the Île-de-France to appear in other cities of northern France. New structures in the style included Chartres Cathedral; the early type of rib vault used of Saint Denis and Notre Dame, with six parts, was modified to four parts, making it simpler and stronger. Amiens and Chartres were among the first to use the flying buttress. At Reims, the buttresses were given greater weight and strength by the addition of heavy stone pinnacles on top; these were decorated with statues of ange
London Fire Brigade
The London Fire Brigade is the statutory fire and rescue service for London. It was formed by the Metropolitan Fire Brigade Act of 1865, under the leadership of superintendent Eyre Massey Shaw; the LFB is the busiest of all the fire services in the United Kingdom. It is the second largest in size, after the national Scottish Fire and Rescue Service, has the largest number of wholetime firefighters, it has 5,992 staff, including 5,096 operational firefighters and officers based at 102 fire stations. The LFB is led by the Commissioner for Fire and Emergency Planning, with the post being held by Dany Cotton since January 2017; the brigade and Commissioner are overseen by the Greater London Authority, which in April 2018 took over these responsibilities from the London Fire and Emergency Planning Authority. In the 2015-16 financial year the LFB received 171,488 emergency calls; these consisted of: 48,696 false alarms of fire and 30,066 other calls for service. As well as firefighting, the LFB responds to road traffic collisions, trapped-in-lift releases, other incidents such as those involving hazardous materials or major transport accidents.
It conducts emergency planning and performs fire safety inspections and education. It does not provide an ambulance service as this function is performed by the London Ambulance Service as an independent NHS trust, although all LFB firefighters are trained in first aid and all of its fire engines carry first aid equipment. Since 2016, the LFB has provided first aid for some life-threatening medical emergencies. Following a multitude of ad-hoc firefighting arrangements and the Great Fire of London, various insurance companies established firefighting units to tackle fires that occurred in buildings that their respective companies insured; as demands grew on the primitive firefighting units they began to coordinate and co-operate with each other until, on 1 January 1833, the London Fire Engine Establishment was formed under the leadership of James Braidwood, who had founded the first professional, municipal fire brigade in Edinburgh. He introduced a uniform that, for the first time, included personal protection from the hazards of firefighting.
With 80 firefighters and 13 fire stations, the unit was still a private enterprise, funded by the insurance companies and as such was responsible for saving material goods from fire. Several large fires, most notably at the Palace of Westminster in 1834 and the 1861 Tooley Street fire, spurred the insurance companies to lobby the British government to provide the brigade at public expense and management. After due consideration, in 1865 the Metropolitan Fire Brigade Act was passed, creating the Metropolitan Fire Brigade under the leadership of Eyre Massey Shaw, a former head of police and fire services in Belfast. In 1904 it was renamed as the London Fire Brigade; the LFB moved into a new headquarters built by Higgs and Hill on the Albert Embankment in Lambeth in 1937, where it remained until 2007. During the Second World War the country's brigades were amalgamated into a single National Fire Service; the separate London Fire Brigade for the County of London was re-established in 1948. With the formation of Greater London in 1965, this absorbed most of the Middlesex Fire Brigade, the borough brigades for West Ham, East Ham and Croydon and parts of the Essex, Hertfordshire and Kent brigades.
In 1986 the Greater London Council was disbanded and a new statutory authority, the London Fire and Civil Defence Authority, was formed to take responsibility for the LFB. The LFCDA was replaced in 2000 by the London Emergency Planning Authority. At the same time, the Greater London Authority was established to administer the LFEPA and coordinate emergency planning for London. Consisting of the Mayor of London and other elected members, the GLA takes responsibility for the Metropolitan Police Service, Transport for London and other functions. In 2007 the LFB moved to a site in Union Street, Southwark. In the same year, the Department for Communities and Local Government announced that LFB Commissioner Ken Knight had been appointed as the first Chief Fire and Rescue Adviser to the government. Knight was succeeded as Commissioner at that time by Ron Dobson, who served for ten years. Dany Cotton took over in 2017. Dany Cotton is the current commissioner, having taken up the role in January 2017, she holds the Queen's Fire Service Medal.
Ron Dobson was the prior commissioner and served in the LFB from 1979. 1833 to 1861: James Braidwood 1861 to 1891: Capt. Eyre Massey Shaw 1891 to 1896: James Sexton Simmonds 1896 to 1903: Capt. Lionel de Latour Wells 1903 to 1909: RAdm. James de Courcy Hamilton 1909 to 1918: Lt. Cdr. Sir Sampson Sladen 1918 to 1933: Arthur Reginald Dyer, KPM 1933 to 1938: Maj. Cyril Morris, MC 1938 to 1941: Cdr. Sir Aylmer Firebrace, CBE 1939 to 1941: Maj. Frank Jackson, CBE 1941 to 1948: all fire brigades nationalised 1948 to 1962: Sir Frederick Delve, CBE 1962 to 1970: Leslie Leete, CBE 1970 to 1976: Joseph Milner 1976 to 1980: Peter Darby 1980 to 1987: Ronald Bullers 1987 to 1991: Gerald Clarkson 1991 to 2003: Brian Robinson, CBE 2003 to 2007: Sir Ken Knight, CBE 2007 to 2016: Ron Dobson, CBE 2017 to present: Dany Cotton Historically, the London Fire Brigade was organised into two divisions: Northern and Southern, divided in most places by the River Thames
Brixton
Brixton is a district of South London, within the London Borough of Lambeth. The area is identified in the London Plan as one of 35 major centres in Greater London. Brixton is residential with a prominent street market and substantial retail sector, it is a multiethnic community, with a large percentage of its population of Afro-Caribbean descent. It lies within Inner South London and is bordered by Stockwell, Streatham, Tulse Hill and Herne Hill; the district houses the main offices of the London Borough of Lambeth. Brixton is 2.7 miles south-southwest from the geographical centre of London near Brixton Underground station. The name Brixton is thought to originate from Brixistane, meaning the stone of Brixi, a Saxon lord. Brixi is thought to have erected a boundary stone to mark the meeting place of the ancient hundred court of Surrey; the location is unknown but is thought to be at the top of Brixton Hill, at a road known at the time as Bristow or Brixton Causeway, long before any settlement in the area.
Brixton marks the rise from the marshes of North Lambeth up to the hills of Upper Norwood and Streatham. At the time the River Effra flowed from its source in Upper Norwood through Herne Hill to Brixton. At Brixton the river was crossed by low bridges for Roman roads to the south coast of Britain, now Brixton Road and Clapham Road; the main roads were connected through a network of medieval country lanes, such as Acre Lane, Coldharbour Lane, Brixton Water Lane and Lyham Road Black Lane. It was only at the end of the 18th century that villages and settlements formed around Brixton, as the original woodland was reduced until the area was covered in farmland and market gardens known for game and strawberries; the area remained undeveloped until the beginning of the 19th century, the main settlements being near Stockwell, Brixton Hill and Coldharbour Lane. With the opening of Vauxhall Bridge in 1816, improved access to Central London led to a process of suburban development; the largest single development, one of the last in suburban character, was Angell Town, laid out in the 1850s on the east side of Brixton Road, so named after a family that owned land in Lambeth from the late 17th century until well into the 20th.
One of a few surviving windmills in London, built in 1816, is just off Brixton Hill and surrounded by houses built during Brixton's Victorian expansion. When the London sewerage system was constructed during the mid-19th century, its designer Sir Joseph Bazalgette incorporated flows from the River Effra, which used to flow through Brixton, into his'high-level interceptor sewer' known as the Effra sewer. Brixton was transformed into a middle class suburb between the 1890s. Railways linked Brixton with the centre of London when the Chatham Main Line was built through the area by the London and Dover Railway in the 1860s. In 1888, Electric Avenue was so named after it became the first street in London to be lit by electricity. In this time, large expensive houses were constructed along the main roads in Brixton, which were converted into flats and boarding houses at the start of the 20th century as the middle classes were replaced by an influx of the working classes. By 1925, Brixton attracted thousands of new people.
It housed the largest shopping centre in South London at the time, as well as a thriving market, pubs and a theatre. In the 1920s, Brixton was the shopping capital of South London with three large department stores and some of the earliest branches of what are now Britain's major national retailers. Today, Brixton Road is the main shopping area, fusing into Brixton Market. A prominent building on Brixton High Street is Morleys, an independent department store established in the 1880s. On the western boundary of Brixton with Clapham stands the Sunlight Laundry, an Art Deco factory building. Designed by architect F. E. Simpkins and erected in 1937, this is one of the few art deco buildings, still owned by the firm that commissioned it and is still used for its original purpose; the Brixton area was bombed during World War II, contributing to a severe housing crisis, which in turn led to urban decay. This was followed by the building of council housing. In the 1940s and 1950s, many immigrants from the West Indies and Ireland, settled in Brixton.
More recent immigrants include other European citizens. Brixton has an ageing population, which affects housing strategies in the area; the first wave of immigrants who formed the British African-Caribbean community arrived in 1948 at Tilbury Docks on the HMT Empire Windrush from Jamaica and were temporarily housed in the Clapham South deep shelter. The nearest Labour Exchange was on Coldharbour Lane and the new arrivals spread out into local accommodation. Many immigrants only intended to stay in Britain for a few years, but although a number returned to the Caribbean, the majority remained to settle permanently; the arrival of the passengers has become an important landmark in the history of modern Britain, the image of West Indians filing off its gangplank has come to symbolise the beginning of modern British multicultural society. In 1998 the area in front of the Tate Library in Brixton was renamed "Windrush Square" to mark the 50th anniversary of the arrival of the Windrush. Brixton was the scene of riots in April 1981 at a time when Brixton underwent deep social and economic problems—high unemployment, high crime, poor housing, no amenities—in a predominantly African-Caribbean community.
The Metropolitan Police began Operation Swamp 81 at the beginning of April, aimed at reducing street crime through the repeated u
Ruskin Park
Ruskin Park is in Denmark Hill in Camberwell in the London Borough of Lambeth, England, taking up much of its south-west quarter starting at its station. It was opened on 2 February 1907 with an area of 24 acres in 1910, 12 acres was added on its south-west side; these two parts are undivided. It is named after John Ruskin, a poet, writer and a major champion of diverse green spaces as well as of the Arts and Crafts movement, who lived near the park, he gives his name to a college and square. During World War I, recruits of the 21st Battalion, London Regiment based at nearby Flodden Road in Camberwell, trained in the park. In 1967, photographer Colin Prime took Pink Floyd for their first official photoshoot, it took place in Ruskin Park and came about after Prime had met the band as an up-and-coming new group playing the London clubs. The photos see the band— Nick Mason, Syd Barrett, Roger Waters, Richard Wright—larking about in jovial spirits in the park, sitting on benches posing, or in or near the Ruskin Park Portico, a remaining part of the 18th century villas that once encircled Denmark Hill.
Named after John Ruskin who lived with his wife Effie in Denmark Hill
Emergency medical services in the United Kingdom
Emergency medical services in the United Kingdom provide emergency care to people with acute illness or injury and are predominantly provided free at the point of use by the four National Health Services of England, Scotland and Northern Ireland. Emergency care including ambulance and emergency department treatment is free to everyone, regardless of immigration or visitor status; the NHS commissions most emergency medical services through the 14 NHS organisations with ambulance responsibility across the UK. As with other emergency services, the public access emergency medical services through one of the valid emergency telephone numbers. In addition to ambulance services provided by NHS organisations, there are some private and volunteer emergency medical services arrangements in place in the UK, the use of private or volunteer ambulances at public events or large private sites, as part of community provision of services such as community first responders. Air ambulance services in the UK are not part of the NHS and are funded through charitable donations.
Paramedics are seconded from a local NHS ambulance service, with the exception of Great North Air Ambulance Service who employ their own paramedics. Doctors are provided by their home hospital and spend no more than 40% of their time with an air ambulance service. Public ambulance services across the UK are required by law to respond to four types of requests for care, which are: Emergency calls Doctor's urgent admission requests High dependency and urgent inter-hospital transfers Major incidentsAmbulance trusts and services may undertake non-urgent patient transport services on a commercial arrangement with their local hospital trusts or health boards, or in some cases on directly funded government contracts, although these contracts are fulfilled by private and voluntary providers; the National Health Service Act 1946 gave county and borough councils a statutory responsibility to provide an emergency ambulance service, although they could contract a voluntary ambulance service to provide this, with many contracting the British Red Cross, St John Ambulance or another local provider.
The last St John Division, to be so contracted is reputed to have been at Whittlesey in Cambridgeshire, where the two-bay ambulance garage can still be seen at the branch headquarters. The Regional Ambulance Officers’ Committee reported in 1979 that “There was considerable local variation in the quality of the service provided in relation to vehicles and equipment. Most Services were administered by Local Authorities through their Medical Officer of Health and his Ambulance Officer, a few were under the aegis of the Fire Service, whilst others relied upon agency methods for the provision of part or all of their services.” The 142 existing ambulance services were transferred by the National Health Service Reorganisation Act 1973 from local authority to central government control in 1974, consolidated into 53 services under regional or area health authorities. This led to the formation of predominantly county based ambulance services, which merged up and changed responsibilities until 2006, when there were 31 NHS ambulance trusts in England.
The June 2005 report "Taking healthcare to the Patient", authored by Peter Bradley, Chief Executive of the London Ambulance Service, for the Department of Health led to the merging of the 31 trusts into 13 organisations in England, plus one organisation each in Wales and Northern Ireland. Following further changes as part of the NHS foundation trust pathway, this has further reduced to 10 ambulance service trusts in England, plus the Isle of Wight which has its own provision. Following the passage of the Health and Social Care Act 2012, commissioning of the ambulance services in each area passed from central government control into the hands of regional clinical commissioning groups; the commissioners in each region are responsible for contracting with a suitable organisation to provide ambulance services within their geographical territory. The primary provider for each area is held by a public NHS body, of which there are 11 in England, 1 each in the other three countries. In England there are now ten NHS ambulance trusts, as well as an ambulance service on the Isle of Wight, run directly by Isle of Wight NHS Trust, with boundaries following those of the former regional government offices.
The ten trusts are: East Midlands Ambulance Service NHS Trust East of England Ambulance Service NHS Trust London Ambulance Service NHS Trust North East Ambulance Service NHS Foundation Trust North West Ambulance Service NHS Trust South Central Ambulance Service NHS Foundation Trust South East Coast Ambulance Service NHS Foundation Trust South Western Ambulance Service NHS Foundation Trust West Midlands Ambulance Service University NHS Foundation Trust Yorkshire Ambulance Service NHS TrustThe English ambulance trusts are represented by the Association of Ambulance Chief Executives, with the Scottish and Northern Irish providers all associate members. On the 14 November 2018 West Midlands Ambulance Service became the UK's first university-ambulance trust; the service was operated before reorganisation in 1974 by the St Andrews’ Ambulance Association under contract to the Secretary of State for Scotland. The Scottish Ambulance Service is a Special Health Board that provides ambulance services throughout whole of Scotland, on behalf of the Health and Social Care Directorates of the Scottish Government.
Due to the remote nature of many areas of Scotland compared to the other Home Nations, the Scottish Ambulance Service has Britain's only publi
A215 road
The A215 is an A road in South London, starting at Elephant and Castle and finishing around Shirley. It runs through the London Boroughs of Lambeth and Croydon. Beginning as Walworth Road, the A215 becomes Camberwell Road—much of, a conservation area—after entering the former Metropolitan Borough of Camberwell. Crossing the A202, the A215 becomes Denmark Hill known as Dulwich Hill, but renamed in 1683 to commemorate the marriage of Princess Anne to Prince George of Denmark. After passing Herne Hill railway station the road becomes Norwood Road, Knights Hill, Beulah Hill at its crossroads with the A214. Beulah Hill was the site of Britain's first independent television transmitter, built by the Independent Television Authority in 1955. Descending towards South Norwood the A215 becomes South Norwood Hill and Portland Road, just after crossing the A213. A short section starting at the junction with Woodside Green is known as Spring Lane, leading to Shirley Road, the final section into Shirley, Croydon.
The A215 was Britain's most crash-prone A-road between 1999–2010, having had 2,836 crashes over its 10 mile length. At its northernmost point at Elephant & Castle in Newington, the A215 begins as Walworth Road, which runs between Elephant and Castle and Camberwell Road, it is the major shopping street of the area. East Street Market is busy on Fridays and Sundays. Other attractions include the Cuming Museum, Newington Reference Library and John Smith House, a former Labour Party headquarters, now used by the local education authority. Charles Babbage, the Victorian mathematician and computer pioneer, was born at 44 Crosby Row, now Larcom Street, Walworth Road on 26 December 1791. A commemorative blue plaque is displayed on the Sexual Health Clinic at the junction of Larcom Street and Walworth Road. Just off the Walworth Road was Walworth Road railway station on the London and Dover Railway, opened in 1863 and shut in 1916 due to wartime constraints. Walworth Road transitions into Camberwell Road where the A215 enters the former Metropolitan Borough of Camberwell.
The road runs adjacent to the railway between Elephant & Castle tube station and Loughborough Junction railway station. Much of Camberwell Road is a conservation area, due to its well preserved large houses from the early 19th century. By the time of the Domesday Book, Camberwell was a significant settlement; the town remained a popular resort for Londoners due to its believed medicinal wells. In 1685, John Evelyn's Diary mentions a Roman urn filled with bones, uncovered intact during repairs to the road and exhibited at the Royal Society. Camberwell Green, at the junction of Camberwell Road and Camberwell Church Street, was the traditional site of Camberwell Fair, an annual fair held every August. Following complaints about the noise and high crime levels generated by the fair, a group of residents bought the fairground in 1855, converting it into the park which remains today. In Victorian times Camberwell Road was a focal point of South London's Music hall scene, with a number of music halls opening from the 1850s onwards.
Following the advent of the cinema and of television, the music halls fell into decline, with the last closing in 1956. Nearby Orpheus Street marks the site of the Metropole Music Hall. Since the New Works Programme of the 1930s, London Transport and its successors have planned to extend the Bakerloo line south to a station on Camberwell Road; the original plans were abandoned due to the war. Construction again was abandoned each time. Transport for London still intend to build this extension but no date has been set for this. After the A215 crosses the A202 it becomes Denmark Hill; this road was known as Dulwich Hill, was renamed in 1683 to commemorate the marriage of Princess Anne to Prince George of Denmark. The road runs between Kings College Hospital and The Maudsley Hospital before going alongside Ruskin Park. Further south the road passes the Denmark Hill Estate; the Victorian art critic and social critic John Ruskin lived at 163 Denmark Hill from 1842 to 1871. The house no longer is now the site of a block of council flats.
Ruskin Park south of the twin hospitals, is named in his honour. Denmark Hill is home to two of London's largest hospitals, the general King's College Hospital which moved to the site from its original central London location in 1913, the Maudsley psychiatric hospital, it is believed by historians that 168, 170 and 172 Denmark Hill were designed by noted architect and prison designer William Blackburn due their similarity in architectural style to his other buildings. However, as the original documentation relating to the construction of these houses has been lost or destroyed, it has proved impossible to confirm this. South of the Maudsley Hospital is Denmark Hill railway station, built in 1866 and rebuilt following fire in 1980, on the South London Line; this station forms part of the East London Line westward extension to Clapham Junction as part of the London Overground network. The road continues southwest into Herne Hill, a short stretch of road running through the area of the same name.
The origin of the name is disputed but derives from herons nesting on the River Effra. The earliest known usage of the name "Herne Hill" dates from 1798. St Paul's church was rebuilt in dramatic style by the gothic architect George Edmund Street in 1858. Herne Hill railway station is on a busy six-road junction, it opened in 1862 and was the southern terminus of the London, Chatham
