1.
Scottish Gaelic
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Scottish Gaelic or Scots Gaelic, sometimes also referred to as Gaelic, is a Celtic language native to Scotland. A member of the Goidelic branch of the Celtic languages, Scottish Gaelic, like Modern Irish and Manx, developed out of Middle Irish. The 2011 census of Scotland showed that a total of 57,375 people in Scotland could speak Gaelic at that time, the census results indicate a decline of 1,275 Gaelic speakers from 2001. A total of 87,056 people in 2011 reported having some facility with Gaelic compared to 93,282 people in 2001, only about half of speakers were fully literate in the language. Nevertheless, revival efforts exist and the number of speakers of the language under age 20 has increased, Scottish Gaelic is neither an official language of the European Union nor the United Kingdom. Outside Scotland, a group of dialects collectively known as Canadian Gaelic are spoken in parts of Atlantic Canada, mainly Nova Scotia and Prince Edward Island. In the 2011 census, there were 7,195 total speakers of Gaelic languages in Canada, with 1,365 in Nova Scotia and Prince Edward Island where the responses mainly refer to Scottish Gaelic. About 2,320 Canadians in 2011 also claimed Gaelic languages as their mother tongue, with over 300 in Nova Scotia, aside from Scottish Gaelic, the language may also be referred to simply as Gaelic. In Scotland, the word Gaelic in reference to Scottish Gaelic specifically is pronounced, outside Ireland and Great Britain, Gaelic may refer to the Irish language. Scottish Gaelic should not be confused with Scots, the Middle English-derived language varieties which had come to be spoken in most of the Lowlands of Scotland by the modern era. Prior to the 15th century, these dialects were known as Inglis by its own speakers, from the late 15th century, however, it became increasingly common for such speakers to refer to Scottish Gaelic as Erse and the Lowland vernacular as Scottis. Today, Scottish Gaelic is recognised as a language from Irish. Gaelic in Scotland was mostly confined to Dál Riata until the 8th century, when it began expanding into Pictish areas north of the Firth of Forth, by 900, Pictish appears to have become extinct, completely replaced by Gaelic. An exception might be made for the Northern Isles, however, however, though the Pictish language did not disappear suddenly, a process of Gaelicisation was clearly underway during the reigns of Caustantín and his successors. By a certain point, probably during the 11th century, all the inhabitants of Alba had become fully Gaelicised Scots, by the 10th century, Gaelic had become the dominant language throughout northern and western Scotland, the Gaelo-Pictic Kingdom of Alba. Its spread to southern Scotland, was even and totalizing. Place name analysis suggests dense usage of Gaelic in Galloway and adjoining areas to the north and west as well as in West Lothian, less dense usage is suggested for north Ayrshire, Renfrewshire, the Clyde Valley and eastern Dumfriesshire. In south-eastern Scotland, there is no evidence that Gaelic was ever widely spoken, the area shifted from Cumbric to Old English during its long incorporation into the Anglo-Saxon Kingdom of Northumbria
2.
Inverclyde
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Inverclyde is one of 32 council areas used for local government in Scotland. It borders the North Ayrshire and Renfrewshire council areas, and is surrounded by the Firth of Clyde. Inverclyde was formerly one of nineteen districts within Strathclyde Region, from 1975 until 1996 and its landward area is bordered by the Kelly, North and South Routen burns to the south west, part of the River Gryfe and the Finlaystone Burn to the south-east. It is one of the smallest in terms of area and population out of the 32 Scottish unitary authorities, the name derives from the extinct barony of Inverclyde conferred upon Sir John Burns of Wemyss Bay and his heirs. ‡ Taken from Inverclyde Ward 1 figure, minus Kilmacolm settlement population and this was rectified in the 2006 review. Following the Council elections of 2012,10 Labour Councillors were elected,6 SNP,2 Liberal Democrats,1 Conservative and 1 Independent, therefore, the current composition of Inverclyde Council is, • denotes coalition parties The election resulted in no overall control of the council. The council gained national notoriety in 2005 following harsh criticism from the Accounts Commission regarding poor leadership, following this criticism the Chief Executive of Inverclyde Council Robert Cleary stepped down and a new chief executive John Mundell was appointed. The position of Chief Executive commands a salary of £112,000. There was criticism over the benefits the outgoing chief executive received on leaving—he was given a six figure severance payment, in June 2006, changes were still ongoing, Inverclyde Council altered its directorship structure by adding new corporate director positions and removing senior manager positions. It was expected that the £90,000 a year posts will mostly be filled by new applicants, there was some criticism with regards to the merging of council services, for instance, Education and Social Work merged and now share the same director. This was frowned upon as at the time the Director responsible for the two merged departments had a qualification, not a social work one. The 2007 council elections took place at the time as the Scottish Parliament elections. The Liberal Democrats lost nine seats, Labour gained two, but fell short of a majority, the SNP and Conservatives both entered the council with five seats and one seat respectively, while an independent candidate also won a place. On the 18th September 2014, Inverclyde said No in the Scottish Independence Referendum with a 87% turnout - just, Inverclyde was one of nineteen local government districts in the Strathclyde region of Scotland, which existed between 1975 and 1996. The district was formed by the Local Government Act 1973 from part of the county of Renfrewshire, the boundaries remain the same as those of the modern council area. The remaining parts of the County of Renfrew where divided between two districts, Eastwood and Renfrew District. In 1996 Inverclyde District was abolished under the provisions of the Local Government etc, most of its area became the new Inverclyde council area, with the regions - such as Strathclyde - disappearing entirely. These are, Aileymill Primary School, Greenock, Head Teacher is Mrs Catriona Miller
3.
Ordnance Survey National Grid
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The Ordnance Survey National Grid reference system is a system of geographic grid references used in Great Britain, different from using Latitude and Longitude. It is often called British National Grid, the Ordnance Survey devised the national grid reference system, and it is heavily used in their survey data, and in maps based on those surveys. Grid references are commonly quoted in other publications and data sources. The Universal Transverse Mercator coordinate system is used to provide references for worldwide locations. European-wide agencies also use UTM when mapping locations, or may use the Military Grid Reference System system, the grid is based on the OSGB36 datum, and was introduced after the retriangulation of 1936–1962. It replaced the previously used Cassini Grid which, up to the end of World War Two, had issued only to the military. The Airy ellipsoid is a regional best fit for Britain, more modern mapping tends to use the GRS80 ellipsoid used by the GPS, the British maps adopt a Transverse Mercator projection with an origin at 49° N, 2° W. Over the Airy ellipsoid a straight grid, the National Grid, is placed with a new false origin. This false origin is located south-west of the Isles of Scilly, the distortion created between the OS grid and the projection is countered by a scale factor in the longitude to create two lines of longitude with zero distortion rather than one. Grid north and true north are aligned on the 400 km easting of the grid which is 2° W. 2° 0′ 5″ W. OSGB36 was also used by Admiralty nautical charts until 2000 after which WGS84 has been used, a geodetic transformation between OSGB36 and other terrestrial reference systems can become quite tedious if attempted manually. The most common transformation is called the Helmert datum transformation, which results in a typical 7 m error from true, the definitive transformation from ETRS89 that is published by the OSGB is called the National Grid Transformation OSTN02. This models the detailed distortions in the 1936–1962 retriangulation, and achieves backwards compatibility in grid coordinates to sub-metre accuracy, the difference between the coordinates on different datums varies from place to place. The longitude and latitude positions on OSGB36 are the same as for WGS84 at a point in the Atlantic Ocean well to the west of Great Britain. In Cornwall, the WGS84 longitude lines are about 70 metres east of their OSGB36 equivalents, the smallest datum shift is on the west coast of Scotland and the greatest in Kent. But Great Britain has not shrunk by 100+ metres, a point near Lands End now computes to be 27.6 metres closer to a point near Duncansby Head than it did under OSGB36. For the first letter, the grid is divided into squares of size 500 km by 500 km, there are four of these which contain significant land area within Great Britain, S, T, N and H. The O square contains an area of North Yorkshire, almost all of which lies below mean high tide
4.
Subdivisions of Scotland
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For local government purposes, Scotland is divided into 32 areas designated as council areas, which are all governed by unitary authorities designated as councils. The council areas have been in existence since 1 April 1996, historically, Scotland has been divided into 34 counties or shires. Although these no longer have any function, they are still used to some extent in Scotland for cultural and geographical purposes. Traditionally burghs have been the key unit of the government of Scotland, being highly autonomous entities. Even after the Acts of Union 1707, burghs continued to be the principal subdivision, until 1889 administration was on a burgh and parish basis. The years following 1889 saw the introduction of a hierarchy of local government administration comprising counties, counties of cities, large burghs, source,2011 Census for Scotland Scotland has several other administrative divisions, some of which are handled by joint boards of the councils. The Police and Fire Reform Act 2012 resulted in the merger of police and fire services on 1 April 2013 to form the Police Service of Scotland. Policing was the responsibility of the Cities and Burghs of Scotland, Police and fire service areas date from the era of regions and districts and island council areas. There are several joint boards for electoral registration and the purposes of property valuation for assessing council tax, see also NHS Scotland Until 1 April 2014 the towns of Cambuslang and Rutherglen were in the Greater Glasgow and Clyde health board area despite being located in South Lanarkshire. They are now part of NHS Lanarkshire, the Scottish Government has created seven Regional Transport Partnerships, for establishing transport policy in the regions. They broadly follow council area groupings and these areas in most cases resemble those of the pre-1975 administrative counties with Glasgow being the only current city to form a registration county. Although they have had no administrative function since 1930, they still exist and are used for statistical purposes such as the census. Many former civil parish areas also continue to form current registration districts and it should be noted that many boundary changes have occurred over the years and that an area currently derived from an old parish might no longer contain a place previously within that parish. The base level of sub-division in Scotland is that of communities, the main role of the CCs is to channel local opinion to larger local-government bodies. Otherwise, they have limited powers. There are around 1,200 communities in Scotland, not all communities have councils, some have joint councils. Scottish communities are the nearest equivalent to parishes in England. List of articles about local government in the United Kingdom ISO 3166-2, GB, subdivision codes for the United Kingdom
5.
Lieutenancy areas of Scotland
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The lieutenancy areas of Scotland are the areas used for the ceremonial lord-lieutenants, the monarchs representatives, in Scotland. The lord-lieutenants titles chosen by the monarch and her advisers are mainly based on placenames of the traditional counties of Scotland. In 1794 permanent lieutenancies were established by Royal Warrant, by the Militia Act 1797, the lieutenants appointed for the Counties, Stewartries, Cities, and Places were given powers to raise and command County Militia Units. Lieutenancy areas are different from the current local government council areas and they also differ from other subdivisions of Scotland including sheriffdoms and former regions and districts. The Lord Provosts of Aberdeen, Dundee, Edinburgh, and Glasgow also act ex officio as lord-lieutenants and this is a unique right in the United Kingdom, all other lord-lieutenants are appointed by the monarch, rather than being elected politicians. The regions and districts were themselves superseded in 1995, but the lieutenancy areas remain the same, the Lord-Lieutenants Order 1975, Statutory Instrument 1975 No.428. The Lord-Lieutenants Order 1996, Statutory Instrument 1996 No.731, subdivisions of Scotland List of burghs in Scotland List of places in Scotland Media related to Maps of traditional counties of Scotland at Wikimedia Commons
6.
Countries of the United Kingdom
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The United Kingdom comprises four countries, England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland. Within the United Kingdom, a sovereign state, Northern Ireland, Scotland. England, comprising the majority of the population and area of the United Kingdom, England, Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales are not themselves listed in the International Organization for Standardization list of countries. However the ISO list of the subdivisions of the UK, compiled by British Standards, Northern Ireland, in contrast, is described as a province in the same lists. Each has separate governing bodies for sports and compete separately in many international sporting competitions. Northern Ireland also forms joint All-Island sporting bodies with the Republic of Ireland for most sports, the Channel Islands and the Isle of Man are dependencies of the Crown and are not part of the UK. Similarly, the British overseas territories, remnants of the British Empire, are not part of the UK, southern Ireland left the United Kingdom under the Irish Free State Constitution Act 1922. * Figures for GVA do not include oil and gas revenues generated beyond the UKs territorial waters, various terms have been used to describe England, Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales. Wales was described as the country, principality, and dominion of Wales, outside Wales, England was not given a specific name or term. The Laws in Wales Acts have subsequently been repealed, the Acts of Union 1707 refer to both England and Scotland as a part of a united kingdom of Great Britain The Acts of Union 1800 use part in the same way to refer to England and Scotland. The Northern Ireland Act 1998, which repealed the Government of Ireland Act 1920, the Interpretation Act 1978 provides statutory definitions of the terms England, Wales and the United Kingdom, but neither that Act nor any other current statute defines Scotland or Northern Ireland. Use of the first three terms in other legislation is interpreted following the definitions in the 1978 Act and this definition applies from 1 April 1974. United Kingdom means Great Britain and Northern Ireland and this definition applies from 12 April 1927. In 1996 these 8 new counties were redistributed into the current 22 unitary authorities, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland are regions in their own right while England has been divided into nine regions. The official term rest of the UK is used in Scotland, for example in export statistics and this term is also used in the context of potential Scottish independence to mean the UK without Scotland. The alternative term Home Nations is sometimes used in sporting contexts, the second, or civic group, contained the items about feeling British, respecting laws and institutions, speaking English, and having British citizenship. Contrariwise, in Scotland and Wales there was a much stronger identification with each country than with Britain, studies and surveys have reported that the majority of the Scots and Welsh see themselves as both Scottish/Welsh and British though with some differences in emphasis. The propensity for nationalistic feeling varies greatly across the UK, and can rise and it reported that 37% of people identified as British, whilst 29% identified as Irish and 24% identified as Northern Irish
7.
Scotland
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Scotland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom and covers the northern third of the island of Great Britain. It shares a border with England to the south, and is surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean, with the North Sea to the east. In addition to the mainland, the country is made up of more than 790 islands, including the Northern Isles, the Kingdom of Scotland emerged as an independent sovereign state in the Early Middle Ages and continued to exist until 1707. By inheritance in 1603, James VI, King of Scots, became King of England and King of Ireland, Scotland subsequently entered into a political union with the Kingdom of England on 1 May 1707 to create the new Kingdom of Great Britain. The union also created a new Parliament of Great Britain, which succeeded both the Parliament of Scotland and the Parliament of England. Within Scotland, the monarchy of the United Kingdom has continued to use a variety of styles, titles, the legal system within Scotland has also remained separate from those of England and Wales and Northern Ireland, Scotland constitutes a distinct jurisdiction in both public and private law. Glasgow, Scotlands largest city, was one of the worlds leading industrial cities. Other major urban areas are Aberdeen and Dundee, Scottish waters consist of a large sector of the North Atlantic and the North Sea, containing the largest oil reserves in the European Union. This has given Aberdeen, the third-largest city in Scotland, the title of Europes oil capital, following a referendum in 1997, a Scottish Parliament was re-established, in the form of a devolved unicameral legislature comprising 129 members, having authority over many areas of domestic policy. Scotland is represented in the UK Parliament by 59 MPs and in the European Parliament by 6 MEPs, Scotland is also a member nation of the British–Irish Council, and the British–Irish Parliamentary Assembly. Scotland comes from Scoti, the Latin name for the Gaels, the Late Latin word Scotia was initially used to refer to Ireland. By the 11th century at the latest, Scotia was being used to refer to Scotland north of the River Forth, alongside Albania or Albany, the use of the words Scots and Scotland to encompass all of what is now Scotland became common in the Late Middle Ages. Repeated glaciations, which covered the land mass of modern Scotland. It is believed the first post-glacial groups of hunter-gatherers arrived in Scotland around 12,800 years ago, the groups of settlers began building the first known permanent houses on Scottish soil around 9,500 years ago, and the first villages around 6,000 years ago. The well-preserved village of Skara Brae on the mainland of Orkney dates from this period and it contains the remains of an early Bronze Age ruler laid out on white quartz pebbles and birch bark. It was also discovered for the first time that early Bronze Age people placed flowers in their graves, in the winter of 1850, a severe storm hit Scotland, causing widespread damage and over 200 deaths. In the Bay of Skaill, the storm stripped the earth from a large irregular knoll, when the storm cleared, local villagers found the outline of a village, consisting of a number of small houses without roofs. William Watt of Skaill, the laird, began an amateur excavation of the site, but after uncovering four houses
8.
United Kingdom
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The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom or Britain, is a sovereign country in western Europe. Lying off the north-western coast of the European mainland, the United Kingdom includes the island of Great Britain, Northern Ireland is the only part of the United Kingdom that shares a land border with another sovereign state—the Republic of Ireland. The Irish Sea lies between Great Britain and Ireland, with an area of 242,500 square kilometres, the United Kingdom is the 78th-largest sovereign state in the world and the 11th-largest in Europe. It is also the 21st-most populous country, with an estimated 65.1 million inhabitants, together, this makes it the fourth-most densely populated country in the European Union. The United Kingdom is a monarchy with a parliamentary system of governance. The monarch is Queen Elizabeth II, who has reigned since 6 February 1952, other major urban areas in the United Kingdom include the regions of Birmingham, Leeds, Glasgow, Liverpool and Manchester. The United Kingdom consists of four countries—England, Scotland, Wales, the last three have devolved administrations, each with varying powers, based in their capitals, Edinburgh, Cardiff and Belfast, respectively. The relationships among the countries of the UK have changed over time, Wales was annexed by the Kingdom of England under the Laws in Wales Acts 1535 and 1542. A treaty between England and Scotland resulted in 1707 in a unified Kingdom of Great Britain, which merged in 1801 with the Kingdom of Ireland to form the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland. Five-sixths of Ireland seceded from the UK in 1922, leaving the present formulation of the United Kingdom of Great Britain, there are fourteen British Overseas Territories. These are the remnants of the British Empire which, at its height in the 1920s, British influence can be observed in the language, culture and legal systems of many of its former colonies. The United Kingdom is a country and has the worlds fifth-largest economy by nominal GDP. The UK is considered to have an economy and is categorised as very high in the Human Development Index. It was the worlds first industrialised country and the worlds foremost power during the 19th, the UK remains a great power with considerable economic, cultural, military, scientific and political influence internationally. It is a nuclear weapons state and its military expenditure ranks fourth or fifth in the world. The UK has been a permanent member of the United Nations Security Council since its first session in 1946 and it has been a leading member state of the EU and its predecessor, the European Economic Community, since 1973. However, on 23 June 2016, a referendum on the UKs membership of the EU resulted in a decision to leave. The Acts of Union 1800 united the Kingdom of Great Britain, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland have devolved self-government
9.
Postcodes in the United Kingdom
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Postal codes used in the United Kingdom are known as postcodes. They are alphanumeric and were adopted nationally between 11 October 1959 and 1974, having been devised by the GPO, a full postcode is known as a postcode unit and designates an area with a number of addresses or a single major delivery point. For example, the postcode of the University of Roehampton in London is SW15 5PU, the postcode of GCHQ is GL51 0EX, where GL signifies the postal town of Gloucester. The postal town refers to an area and does not relate to a specific town. GL51 is one of the postcodes for the town of Cheltenham which is where GCHQ is located, the London post town covers 40% of Greater London. On inception it was divided into ten districts, EC, WC, N, NE, E, SE, S, SW, W. The S and NE sectors were later abolished and these divisions changed little, usually only changed for operational efficiency. Some older road signs in Hackney still indicate the North East sector/district, following the successful introduction of postal districts in London, the system was extended to other large towns and cities. Liverpool was divided into Eastern, Northern, Southern and Western districts in 1864/65, in 1917 Dublin – then still part of the United Kingdom – was divided into numbered postal districts. These continue in use in a form by An Post. In 1923 Glasgow was divided in a way to London. In January 1932 the Postmaster General approved the designation of some urban areas into numbered districts. In November 1934 the Post Office announced the introduction of numbered districts in every town in the United Kingdom large enough to justify it. Pamphlets were issued to each householder and business in ten areas notifying them of the number of the district in which their premises lay, the pamphlets included a map of the districts, and copies were made available at local head post offices. The public were invited to include the district number in the address at the head of letters. A publicity campaign in the following year encouraged the use of the district numbers, the slogan for the campaign was For speed and certainty always use a postal district number on your letters and notepaper. A poster was fixed to every box in the affected areas bearing the number of the district. Every post office in the district was also to display this information
10.
Telephone numbers in the United Kingdom
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Telephone numbers in the United Kingdom are administered by the UK governments Office of Communications. For this purpose Ofcom established a telephone numbering plan, known as the National Telephone Numbering Plan, since 28 April 2001, almost all geographic numbers and most non-geographic numbers have 9 or 10 national numbers after the 0 trunk code. All mobile telephone numbers have 10 national numbers after the 0 trunk code, regions with shorter area codes, typically large cities, permit the allocation of more telephone numbers as the local number portion has more digits. Local customer numbers are four to eight figures long, the total number of digits is ten, but in a very few areas the total may be nine digits. The area code is referred to as an STD or a dialling code in the UK. The code allocated to the largest population is for London, the code allocated to the largest area is for all of Northern Ireland. The UK Numbering Plan also applies to three British Crown dependencies—Jersey, Guernsey and the Isle of Man—even though they are not part of the UK itself. Possible number formats for UK telephone numbers are as follows, Number ranges starting 01 can have NSN length as 10 or 9 digits, the 0800 range can have NSN length as 10,9 or 7 digits. The 0845 range can have NSN length as 10 or 7 digits, the 0500 range has NSN length as 9 digits only. There are no numbers in the UK with an NSN length of 8 digits. Geographic telephone numbers in the UK always have nine or ten digits, four-digit area codes have either six-digit subscriber numbers or a mix of five- and six-digit subscriber numbers. Xxxxxx This is the used by most areas. It has an area code and a six digit subscriber number. These area codes were changed by adding a 1 directly after the zero as a part of PhONEday in 1995. Just short of 581 areas use this format, and the area range from 01200 to 01998. A small number of areas also have a few subscriber numbers that have only five digits. That is, almost all area codes now have only six digit local numbers, six of the four-digit area codes are known as mixed areas as they share those four digits with the twelve five-digit area codes. The numbers therefore have only nine digits after the initial zero trunk code and these area codes were changed by adding a 1 directly after the initial zero as a part of PhONEday in 1995
11.
Scotland (European Parliament constituency)
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Scotland constitutes a single constituency of the European Parliament. In 2014 it elected six MEPs, using the method of party-list proportional representation. The constituencys boundaries are the same as those of Scotland, one of the four countries of the United Kingdom, the constituency was formed as a result of the European Parliamentary Elections Act 1999, replacing a number of single-member constituencies. These were Glasgow, Highlands and Islands, Lothians, Mid Scotland and Fife, North East Scotland, South of Scotland, Strathclyde East, the number of MEPs returned by the constituency was eight in 1999, seven in 2004, and six in 2009 and 2014. Elected candidates are listed in bold, brackets indicate the number of votes per seat won. Elections in Scotland Scottish Elections Between 1997 and present
12.
Scottish Parliament
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The Scottish Parliament, is the devolved national, unicameral legislature of Scotland. Located in the Holyrood area of the city, Edinburgh. The most recent general election to the Parliament was held on 5 May 2016, as a consequence, both the Parliament of Scotland and the Parliament of England ceased to exist, and the Parliament of Great Britain, which sat at Westminster in London was formed. The Act delineates the legislative competence of the Parliament – the areas in which it can make laws – by explicitly specifying powers that are reserved to the Parliament of the United Kingdom. The Scottish Parliament has the power to legislate in all areas that are not explicitly reserved to Westminster, the British Parliament retains the ability to amend the terms of reference of the Scottish Parliament, and can extend or reduce the areas in which it can make laws. The first meeting of the new Parliament took place on 12 May 1999, initial Scottish proposals in the negotiation over the Union suggested a devolved Parliament be retained in Scotland, but this was not accepted by the English negotiators. Suggestions for a devolved Parliament were made before 1914, but were shelved due to the outbreak of the First World War, one of the principal objectives of the commission was to examine ways of enabling more self-government for Scotland, within the unitary state of the United Kingdom. Kilbrandon published his report in 1973 recommending the establishment of a directly elected Scottish Assembly to legislate for the majority of domestic Scottish affairs, the party argued that the revenues from the oil were not benefitting Scotland as much as they should. The combined effect of events led to Prime Minister Wilson committing his government to some form of devolved legislature in 1974. However, it was not until 1978 that final legislative proposals for a Scottish Assembly were passed by the United Kingdom Parliament, publishing its blueprint for devolution in 1995, the Convention provided much of the basis for the structure of the Parliament. Devolution continued to be part of the platform of the Labour Party which, in May 1997, an election was held on 6 May 1999, and on 1 July of that year power was transferred from Westminster to the new Parliament. Since September 2004, the home of the Scottish Parliament has been a new Scottish Parliament Building. The Scottish Parliament building was designed by Spanish architect Enric Miralles in partnership with local Edinburgh Architecture firm RMJM which was led by Design Principal Tony Kettle. Some of the features of the complex include leaf-shaped buildings. Throughout the building there are many repeated motifs, such as based on Raeburns Skating Minister. Crow-stepped gables and the upturned boat skylights of the Garden Lobby, Queen Elizabeth II opened the new building on 9 October 2004. In March 2006, one of the Holyrood buildings roof beams slipped out of its support and was left dangling above the back benches during a debate, the debating chamber was subsequently closed, and MSPs moved to The Hub for one week, whilst inspections were carried out. During repairs, all business was conducted in the Parliaments committee room two
13.
Geographic coordinate system
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A geographic coordinate system is a coordinate system used in geography that enables every location on Earth to be specified by a set of numbers, letters or symbols. The coordinates are chosen such that one of the numbers represents a vertical position. A common choice of coordinates is latitude, longitude and elevation, to specify a location on a two-dimensional map requires a map projection. The invention of a coordinate system is generally credited to Eratosthenes of Cyrene. Ptolemy credited him with the adoption of longitude and latitude. Ptolemys 2nd-century Geography used the prime meridian but measured latitude from the equator instead. Mathematical cartography resumed in Europe following Maximus Planudes recovery of Ptolemys text a little before 1300, in 1884, the United States hosted the International Meridian Conference, attended by representatives from twenty-five nations. Twenty-two of them agreed to adopt the longitude of the Royal Observatory in Greenwich, the Dominican Republic voted against the motion, while France and Brazil abstained. France adopted Greenwich Mean Time in place of local determinations by the Paris Observatory in 1911, the latitude of a point on Earths surface is the angle between the equatorial plane and the straight line that passes through that point and through the center of the Earth. Lines joining points of the same latitude trace circles on the surface of Earth called parallels, as they are parallel to the equator, the north pole is 90° N, the south pole is 90° S. The 0° parallel of latitude is designated the equator, the plane of all geographic coordinate systems. The equator divides the globe into Northern and Southern Hemispheres, the longitude of a point on Earths surface is the angle east or west of a reference meridian to another meridian that passes through that point. All meridians are halves of great ellipses, which converge at the north and south poles, the prime meridian determines the proper Eastern and Western Hemispheres, although maps often divide these hemispheres further west in order to keep the Old World on a single side. The antipodal meridian of Greenwich is both 180°W and 180°E, the combination of these two components specifies the position of any location on the surface of Earth, without consideration of altitude or depth. The grid formed by lines of latitude and longitude is known as a graticule, the origin/zero point of this system is located in the Gulf of Guinea about 625 km south of Tema, Ghana. To completely specify a location of a feature on, in, or above Earth. Earth is not a sphere, but a shape approximating a biaxial ellipsoid. It is nearly spherical, but has an equatorial bulge making the radius at the equator about 0. 3% larger than the radius measured through the poles, the shorter axis approximately coincides with the axis of rotation
14.
Burgh
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A burgh /ˈbʌrə/ was an autonomous corporate entity in Scotland and Northern England, usually a town, or toun in Scots. This type of administrative division existed from the 12th century, when King David I created the first royal burghs, Burgh status was broadly analogous to borough status, found in the rest of the United Kingdom. Following local government reorganization in 1975 the title of royal burgh remains in use in many towns, by 1130, David I had established other burghs including Edinburgh, Stirling, Dunfermline, Perth, Dumfries, Jedburgh, Montrose and Lanark. Most of the burghs granted charters in his reign probably already existed as settlements, charters were copied almost verbatim from those used in England, and early burgesses were usually invited English and Flemish settlers. They were able to impose tolls and fines on traders within a region outside their settlements, in the south-west, Glasgow, Ayr and Kirkcudbright were aided by the less profitable sea trade with Ireland and to a lesser extent France and Spain. The founding of 16 royal burghs can be traced to the reign of David I, in addition to the major royal burghs, the late Middle Ages saw the proliferation of baronial and ecclesiastical burghs, with 51 created between 1450 and 1516. Most of these were smaller than their royal counterparts. Excluded from foreign trade, they acted mainly as local markets, Burghs were centres of basic crafts, including the manufacture of shoes, clothes, dishes, pots, joinery, bread and ale, which would normally be sold to indwellers and outdwellers on market days. In general, burghs carried out far more local trading with their hinterlands, on which they relied for food and raw materials, Burghs had rights to representation in the Parliament of Scotland. Under the Acts of Union of 1707 many became parliamentary burghs, there were several types of burgh, including, Royal burgh, founded by Royal charter. Burgh of regality, granted to a nobleman or lord of regality, Burgh of barony, granted to a tenant-in-chief, with narrower powers. Parliamentary burgh or Burgh constituency, a type of parliamentary constituency, Police burgh, a burgh operating a police system of town government. Until 1833, each burgh had a different constitution or sett, the government of the burgh was often in the hands of a self-nominating corporation, and few local government functions were performed, these were often left to ad hoc bodies. Two pieces of reforming legislation were enacted in 1834, The Royal Burghs Act, the Royal Burghs Act provided for the election of magistrates and councillors. Each burgh was to have a council consisting of a provost, magistrates. Every parliamentary elector living within the royalty or area of the royal burgh, one third of the common council was elected each year. The councillors selected a number of their members to be bailies, the provost, or chief magistrate, was elected from among the council every three years. The Royal Burghs Act was also extended to the 12 parliamentary burghs which had recently been enfranchised and these were growing industrial centres, and apart from the lack of a charter, they had identical powers and privileges to the royal burghs
15.
Renfrewshire (historic)
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Renfrewshire or the County of Renfrew is a historic county and lieutenancy area in the west central Lowlands of Scotland. The area is known as Greater Renfrewshire to distinguish it from the modern local authority area. For the purposes of government, Renfrewshire is now divided into three council areas called Renfrewshire, East Renfrewshire and Inverclyde. The county borders the city of Glasgow and Lanarkshire to the east and Ayrshire to the south, the Firth of Clyde forms its northern boundary, with Dunbartonshire and Argyllshire on the opposing banks. Renfrewshires early history is marked by ancient British and Roman settlement, Renfrewshire can trace its origin to the feudal lands at Strathgryfe granted to Walter Fitzalan, the first High Steward of Scotland. Robert III of Scotland, a descendant of Fitzalan, established the shire of Renfrew-based out of the Royal burgh of Renfrew, during the Industrial Revolution, many of the larger towns became important centres of commerce and manufacturing. The goods produced were chiefly cottons, calicos and silks building on the countys long weaving heritage, other industries such as ship building, distilleries and printworks also contributed to the economy. At this time, Paisley was the largest urban and commercial centre in the county by some margin and this distinction saw the emergence of local government focused in Paisley, rather than the county town of Renfrew. Paisley remains the centre of the Renfrewshire council area today. Parts of the county, such as Govan and Nitshill were incorporated into Glasgow during the early 20th century as the city expanded, Renfrewshire was superseded by the Strathclyde local government region in 1975, until its abolition in 1996. The modern unitary council areas in the county - Renfrewshire, East Renfrewshire, Renfrewshires origins lie in the religious authority over the Strathgryfe area granted to Paisley Abbey by Walter Fitzalan. However its history goes further, with ancient Roman and Brythonic heritage. The earliest evidence of activity in the area is traces of an Iron Age fort in the Busby area. When the Romans advanced in the year 80 from the Solway Firth, the territory that would later become Renfrewshire was occupied by the Damnonii, the principal Roman stronghold in the area was at Vanduara. Following the end of Roman rule in Britain in 410, the Cumbrian Britons, with their capital at Dumbarton, during the High Middle Ages, Strathclyde was conquered by the Kingdom of Alba, which in turn developed into the Kingdom of Scotland. In the 12th century, during the reign of David I of Scotland, Walter Fitzalan fled the English county of Shropshire due to The Anarchy between Empress Matilda and Stephen. Walter rallied to the support of the Empress, but when her cause was lost, Walter befriended David I, King of Scots who was an uncle of Matilda, and became, Davids Dapifer or Steward. Accompanied by his brother Simon, Walter came to Scotland about 1136 and fought for Scotland at the Battle of the Standard at Northallerton in 1138 under the command of David Is son, Prince Henry
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Resort town
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A resort town, often called a resort city or resort destination, is an urban area where tourism or vacationing is the primary component of the local culture and economy. A typical resort town has one or more actual resorts in the surrounding area, sometimes the term resort town is used simply for a locale popular among tourists. The term can refer to either an incorporated or unincorporated contiguous area where the ratio of transient rooms. Generally, tourism is the main export in a resort town economy, shops and luxury boutiques selling locally themed souvenirs, motels, and unique restaurants often proliferate the downtown areas of a resort town. In the case of the United States, resort towns were created around the late 1800s, consistent, however, throughout many resort towns includes elements of ambitious architecture, romanticizing a location, and dependence on cheap labor. In addition, resort towns are popular with wealthy retirees and people wishing to purchase vacation homes, which typically drives up property values. Sometimes, resort towns can become due to the quick development of retirement. However, most of the employment available in towns are typically low paying. Many resort towns have spawned nearby bedroom communities where the majority of the resort workforce lives, local residents are generally receptive of the economic impacts of tourism. Increased economic activity in resort towns can also have effects on the countrys overall economic growth. Among the participants, 67% had lived in Antalya for over ten years, 66% had at least a high school degree, the results are as follows, Perceived impact on select economic impact items More recently, resort towns have come under greater scrutiny by local communities. Instances where resort towns are poorly managed have adverse effects on the local economy, one example is the uneven distribution of income and land ownership between local residents and businesses. This results in a preponderance of foreigners in the land market, the revenues amassed from tourism typically do not benefit the host country or the local communities. These funds are referred to as leakages, tourism has also been blamed for other negative economic impacts to local communities. Although resort towns usually boast more improved infrastructure than surrounding areas, reallocating government funds to subsidize infrastructure and tax breaks to firms shift available funding to local education and health services. In addition, resort towns typically do not have dynamic economies, economic dependence on tourism poses particular challenges to resort towns and its local residents given the seasonal nature of the job market in some areas. Local residents of resort towns face job insecurity, difficulties in obtaining training, medical-benefits, every resort town is unique and local governance should be viewed on a case-by-case basis. There are, however, several criteria for insuring the most effective governance models
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Firth of Clyde
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The Kilbrannan Sound is a large arm of the Firth of Clyde, separating the Kintyre Peninsula from the Isle of Arran. Within the Firth of Clyde is another major island - the Isle of Bute, given its strategic location, at the entrance to the middle/upper Clyde, Bute played a vitally important military role during World War II. The Firths climate enjoys the benefit of the Gulf Stream from America, at its entrance the firth is some 26 miles wide. Its upper reaches include an area where it is joined by Loch Long and this includes the large anchorage off Greenock known as the Tail of the Bank in reference to the sandbar which separates the firth from the estuary of the River Clyde. The Clyde is still almost 2 miles wide at the sandbar, in Scottish Gaelic the landward end is called Linne Chluaidh, while the area around the south of Arran, Kintyre and Ayrshire/Galloway is An Linne Ghlas. The Firth encompasses many Islands and Peninsulas and has ferry routes connecting them to the mainland. Sometimes called the Clyde Waters, this body is customarily considered an element of the Irish Sea. The ferry services are run by Caledonian MacBrayne and by Western Ferries, a great number of sea lochs adjoin the Firth, the largest being Loch Fyne. The Cowal peninsula extends into the Firth of Clyde and forms the upper firth west shoreline. The main town on the Cowal peninsula is Dunoon and these routes across the Firth of Clyde save time, rather than traveling round by road, via Loch Eck side, the Rest and be thankful and Loch Lomond side. The service between Dunoon and Gourock in Inverclyde, operated by the Caledonian MacBrayne subsidiary Argyll Ferries LTD is a passenger only service. This service connects directly with the ScotRail service to Glasgow, Western Ferries LTD operate the service between Hunters Quay and McInroys Point near Gourock and carry all types of vehicular transport and foot passengers. This lists the towns and some of the numerous villages along the firth. There are many islands in the firth, the largest all have thriving communities and regular ferry services connecting them to the mainland. They are, Arran Bute Cumbrae The Clyde formed an important sea route from the earliest times, and the Battle of Largs in 1263 marked the turning point for the end of Viking ambitions in Britain. During World War II Glasgow and the Clyde became Britains main entry point for Allied merchant shipping, military personnel and equipment, the Clyde formed the largest base of naval ships. The area became famous worldwide for its significant contribution to yachting and yachtbuilding with notable designers including, William Fife III, Alfred Mylne, G L Watson and it was also the location of many famous yacht yards. Clyde-built wooden yachts are known for quality and style today
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Greenock
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Greenock is a town and administrative centre in the Inverclyde council area in Scotland and a former burgh within the historic county of Renfrewshire, located in the west central Lowlands of Scotland. It forms part of an urban area with Gourock to the west. The 2011 census showed that Greenock had a population of 44,248 and it lies on the south bank of the Clyde at the Tail of the Bank where the River Clyde expands into the Firth of Clyde. The name of the town has had various spellings over time and it was printed in early Acts of Parliament as Grinok, Greenhok, Grinock, Greenhoke, Greinnock, and later as Greinok. Old Presbyterial records used Grenok, a common spelling until it was changed to Greenock around 1700 and it has also been suggested that Grian cnoc or sunny hill could refer to the hill on which the castle and mansion house stood, but this has not found much support. The towns modern indoor shopping centre is called The Oak Mall, the name is also recalled in a local song. Significantly, no green oak appears on the coat of arms which features the three chalices of the Shaw Stewarts, a sailing ship in full sail and two herring above the motto God Speed Greenock. Hugh de Grenock was created a Scottish Baron in 1296, around 1540 the adjoining barony of Finnart was passed to the Schaw family, extending their holdings westward to the boundary of Gourock, and in 1542 Sir John Schaw founded Wester Greenock castle. The coast of Greenock formed a bay with three smaller indentations, the Bay of Quick was known as a safe anchorage as far back as 1164. To its east, a sandy bay ran eastwards from the Old Kirk, the fishing village of Greenock developed along this bay, and around 1635 Sir John Schaw had a jetty built into the bay which became known as Sir Johns Bay. In that year he obtained a Charter raising Greenock to a Burgh of Barony with rights to a weekly market, further east, Saint Laurence Bay curved round past the Crawfurd Barony of Easter Greenock to Garvel Point. When a pier was built making the bay an important harbour, in 1642 it was made into the Burgh of Barony of Crawfurdsdyke, and part of the ill-fated Darien Scheme set out from this pier in 1697. This town was later renamed Cartsdyke, the fishing trade grew prosperous, with barrels of salted herring exported widely, and shipping trade developed. As seagoing ships could not go further up the River Clyde, a separate Barony of Cartsburn was created, the first baron being Thomas Craufurd. The work was completed in 1710, with quays extended out into Sir Johns Bay to enclose the harbour, in 1711 the shipbuilding industry was founded when Scotts leased ground between the harbour and the West Burn to build fishing boats. A whaling business operated for about 40 years, in 1714 Greenock became a custom house port as a branch of Port Glasgow, and for a period this operated from rooms leased in Greenock. Receipts rose rapidly from the 1770s, and in 1778 the custom house moved to new premises at the West Quay of the harbour. By 1791 a new pier was constructed at the East Quay, in 1812 Europes first steamboat service was introduced by PS Comet with frequent sailings between Glasgow, Greenock and Helensburgh, and as trade built up the pier became known as Steamboat Quay
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James IV of Scotland
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James IV was the King of Scots from 11 June 1488 to his death. He assumed the following the death of his father, James III, after the Battle of Sauchieburn. James was the son of James III and Margaret of Denmark, as heir apparent to the Scottish crown, he became Duke of Rothesay. In 1474, his father arranged his betrothal to Princess Cecily of England and his father was not a popular king and faced two major rebellions during his reign. James IIIs army rebelled against him and the English army reached Edinburgh, during the second rebellion, the rebels set up the 15-year-old James as their nominal leader. They fought James III at the Battle of Sauchieburn on 11 June 1488, the younger James took the throne and was crowned at Scone on 24 June. When he realised the role which he had played in the death of his father. From that date on, he wore an iron chain cilice around his waist, next to the skin, each Lent as penance. James IV quickly proved an effective ruler and a wise king and he defeated another rebellion in 1489, took a direct interest in the administration of justice and finally brought the Lord of the Isles under control in 1493. For a time, he supported Perkin Warbeck, pretender to the English throne, then, in August 1497, James laid siege to Norham Castle, using his grandfathers bombard Mons Meg. First he ratified the Treaty of Ayton in February 1498, then, in 1502 James signed the Treaty of Perpetual Peace with Henry VII. He also maintained his relations with France, with rumours that James would renew the Auld alliance, in April 1508 Thomas Wolsey was sent to discuss Henry VIIs concerns over this. Wolsey found there was never a man worse welcome into Scotland than I. they keep their matters so secret here that the wives in the market know every cause of my coming, James saw the importance of building a fleet that could provide Scotland with a strong maritime presence. James founded two new dockyards for this purpose and acquired a total of 38 ships for the Royal Scots Navy, including the Margaret, and the carrack Michael or Great Michael. The latter, built at great expense at Newhaven and launched in 1511, was 240 feet in length, weighed 1,000 tons and was, at that time, James IV was a true Renaissance prince with an interest in practical and scientific matters. He built a part of Falkland Palace, and Great Halls at Stirling and Edinburgh castles, figures associated with his court include William Dunbar, Walter Kennedy and Gavin Douglas, who made the first complete translation of Virgils Aeneid in northern Europe. His reign also saw the passing of the makar Robert Henryson and he patronised music at Restalrig using rental money from the Kings Wark. James was well educated and a fluent polyglot, in July 1498 the Spanish envoy Pedro de Ayala reported to Ferdinand and Isabella that The King is 25 years and some months old
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William III of England
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It is a coincidence that his regnal number was the same for both Orange and England. As King of Scotland, he is known as William II and he is informally known by sections of the population in Northern Ireland and Scotland as King Billy. William inherited the principality of Orange from his father, William II and his mother Mary, Princess Royal, was the daughter of King Charles I of England. In 1677, he married his fifteen-year-old first cousin, Mary, a Protestant, William participated in several wars against the powerful Catholic king of France, Louis XIV, in coalition with Protestant and Catholic powers in Europe. Many Protestants heralded him as a champion of their faith, in 1685, his Catholic father-in-law, James, Duke of York, became king of England, Ireland and Scotland. Jamess reign was unpopular with the Protestant majority in Britain, William, supported by a group of influential British political and religious leaders, invaded England in what became known as the Glorious Revolution. On 5 November 1688, he landed at the southern English port of Brixham, James was deposed and William and Mary became joint sovereigns in his place. They reigned together until her death on 28 December 1694, after which William ruled as sole monarch, Williams reputation as a staunch Protestant enabled him to take the British crowns when many were fearful of a revival of Catholicism under James. Williams victory at the Battle of the Boyne in 1690 is still commemorated by the Orange Order and his reign in Britain marked the beginning of the transition from the personal rule of the Stuarts to the more Parliament-centred rule of the House of Hanover. William III was born in The Hague in the Dutch Republic on 4 November 1650, baptised William Henry, he was the only child of stadtholder William II, Prince of Orange, and Mary, Princess Royal. Mary was the eldest daughter of King Charles I of England, Scotland and Ireland, eight days before William was born, his father died of smallpox, thus William was the Sovereign Prince of Orange from the moment of his birth. Immediately, a conflict ensued between his mother the Princess Royal and William IIs mother, Amalia of Solms-Braunfels, over the name to be given to the infant. Mary wanted to name him Charles after her brother, but her mother-in-law insisted on giving him the name William or Willem to bolster his prospects of becoming stadtholder. William II had appointed his wife as his sons guardian in his will, however, Williams mother showed little personal interest in her son, sometimes being absent for years, and had always deliberately kept herself apart from Dutch society. Williams education was first laid in the hands of several Dutch governesses, some of English descent, including Walburg Howard, from April 1656, the prince received daily instruction in the Reformed religion from the Calvinist preacher Cornelis Trigland, a follower of the Contra-Remonstrant theologian Gisbertus Voetius. The ideal education for William was described in Discours sur la nourriture de S. H. Monseigneur le Prince dOrange, in these lessons, the prince was taught that he was predestined to become an instrument of Divine Providence, fulfilling the historical destiny of the House of Orange. From early 1659, William spent seven years at the University of Leiden for a formal education, under the guidance of ethics professor Hendrik Bornius. While residing in the Prinsenhof at Delft, William had a personal retinue including Hans Willem Bentinck, and a new governor, Frederick Nassau de Zuylenstein
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Castlemilk
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Castlemilk is a district of Glasgow, Scotland. It lies to the south of the city adjacent to Rutherglen, Croftfoot, Simshill, Castlemilk House, a stately old mansion built around Cassilton Tower, which was started in 1460 on the site of a 13th-century castle, was demolished by Glasgow Corporation in December 1969. The area was developed by the Corporation as a housing scheme in the 1950s to accommodate 34,000 people from inner city slum areas such as the Gorbals. These people were provided with open spaces, an environment and indoor toilets. The population had dropped from 37,000 in 1971 to roughly half that number in 1991, community groups and Cooperative housing associations have done a lot to regenerate the housing and improve the amenities for local people. A swimming pool, sports centre, shopping arcade and community centres have been developed, while Carmunnock church remained with the Established Church, several of its ministers fought for the National Covenant. The Rev James Mowbrae was dismissed in 1639, his successor Rev Matthew McKail was transferred to Bothwell in 1649, Rev Morton was to return in 1687 upon the decline of the rule of bishops. According to Mrs Herbert, The villagers, joyfully taking the opportunity, over this period the Stuarts added to their estate. Again confusion surrounds the date in history of the Stuart connection with Cassiltoun, according to some sources, the Stuarts sold their Dumfriesshire estate of Castlemilk to Lord Maxwell in 1579, and from that date the Lanarkshire property of Cassiltoun became known as Castlemilk. Other sources give the date of development as 1759. Certainly in writing up his Statistical Account of the parish in 1796 the Rev Adam Forman seemed comfortable in his use of the term Castlemilk for the estate of Cassiltoun. This period saw further additions to the Stuart fortunes through their links with the parish of Torrance, Torrance House was built in 1605 and sold to the Stuarts of Castlemilk in 1650. It remained with the Stuarts until 1947, when it was acquired by the East Kilbride Development Corporation as their Headquarters, during the 18th Century, the valuable estate of Milton on the north side of Glasgow came by marriage into the possession of the family. It included an area north of Cowcaddens and Parliamentary Road, Hyndland, Barmulloch and Barlornock. In 1706 a deed of entail was obtained, obliging every future holder of the Milton estate to assume the name of Crawfurd. This fact, coupled with inter-marriage with the Stirlings of Keir and this complex family history was explored by Andrew Stuart of Torrance and Castlemilk who published The History of the Genealogy of the Stewarts in 1798. The remains of a structure which could have been a possible bridge was also uncovered running across the line of the ditch. Other trial trenches produced very little of interest, Castlemilk and the other peripheral housing schemes in Glasgow had their origins in the citys housing crisis after the end of the Second World War
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Jamaica
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Jamaica is an island country situated in the Caribbean Sea, consisting of the third-largest island of the Greater Antilles. The island,10,990 square kilometres in area, lies about 145 kilometres south of Cuba, Jamaica is the fourth-largest island country in the Caribbean, by area. Inhabited by the indigenous Arawak and Taíno peoples, the island came under Spanish rule following the arrival of Christopher Columbus in 1494, Many of the indigenous people died of disease, and the Spanish imported African slaves as labourers. Named Santiago, the island remained a possession of Spain until 1655, under British colonial rule Jamaica became a leading sugar exporter, with its plantation economy highly dependent on slaves imported from Africa. The British fully emancipated all slaves in 1838, and many chose to have subsistence farms rather than to work on plantations. Beginning in the 1840s, the British imported Chinese and Indian indentured labour to work on plantations, the island achieved independence from the United Kingdom on 6 August 1962. With 2.8 million people, Jamaica is the third-most populous Anglophone country in the Americas, Kingston is the countrys capital and largest city, with a population of 937,700. Jamaicans predominately have African ancestry, with significant European, Chinese, Hakka, Indian, due to a high rate of emigration for work since the 1960s, Jamaica has a large diaspora around the world, particularly in Canada, the United Kingdom, and the United States. Jamaica is a Commonwealth realm, with Queen Elizabeth II as its monarch and her appointed representative in the country is the Governor-General of Jamaica, an office held by Sir Patrick Allen since 2009. Andrew Holness has served as the head of government and Prime Minister of Jamaica from March 2016, the indigenous people, the Taíno, called it Xaymaca in Arawakan, meaning the Land of Wood and Water or the Land of Springs. Colloquially Jamaicans refer to their island as the Rock. Slang names such as Jamrock, Jamdown, or briefly Ja, have derived from this, the Arawak and Taíno indigenous people, originating in South America, settled on the island between 4000 and 1000 BC. When Christopher Columbus arrived in 1494, there were more than 200 villages ruled by caciques, the south coast of Jamaica was the most populated, especially around the area now known as Old Harbour. The Taino still inhabited Jamaica when the English took control of the island in 1655, the Jamaican National Heritage Trust is attempting to locate and document any evidence of the Taino/Arawak. Christopher Columbus claimed Jamaica for Spain after landing there in 1494 and his probable landing point was Dry Harbour, now called Discovery Bay, although there is some debate that it might have been St. Anns Bay. St. Anns Bay was named Saint Gloria by Columbus, as the first sighting of the land, the capital was moved to Spanish Town, then called St. Jago de la Vega, around 1534. Spanish Town has the oldest cathedral of the British colonies in the Caribbean, the Spanish were forcibly evicted by the English at Ocho Rios in St. Ann. In 1655, the English, led by Sir William Penn and General Robert Venables, the English continued to import African slaves as labourers
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Lyle Hill
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Lyle Hill is a viewpoint in Greenock, Inverclyde, Scotland. Providing a panoramic view across the Clyde, its highest point is 426 feet above sea level, on a clear day it is possible to see beyond the Erskine Bridge to Glasgow in the east, and the Island of Arran and beyond to the south west. The viewpoint is marked by a beacon which was constructed to mark the Silver Jubilee of Queen Elizabeth in 1977 and is lit on special occasions, there is also a view indicator on Craigs Top, the highest point of the hill. While there are steep crags on the north and west of the hill, formed by glacial erosion, a war memorial to the Free French forces who fought in the Second World War stands on the western brow of the hill. It was built in the shape of the Cross of Lorraine, however the name of the hill predates his successes, as it appears as Lyles Hill in James Knoxs Map of the Basin of the Clyde of 1836
24.
Traditional counties of Scotland
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The counties or shires of Scotland are geographic subdivisions of Scotland established in the Middle Ages. They ceased to be used for government purposes after 1975 under the Local Government Act 1973. Today, local government in Scotland is based upon council areas, which sometimes incorporate county names, counties continue to be used for the purpose of lieutenancy and land registration purposes, though the lieutenancy areas are not entirely identical. Malcolm III appears to have introduced sheriffs as part of a policy of replacing previous forms of government with Norman feudal structures and this policy was continued by Edgar, Alexander I, and in particular David I. David completed the division of the country into sheriffdoms by the conversion of existing thanedoms, the earliest sheriffdom south of the Forth which we know of for certain is Haddingtonshire, which is named in a charters of 1139 as Hadintunschira and in another of 1141 as Hadintunshire. Stirlingshire appears in a charter of 1150 under the name Striuelinschire, the shires of the Highlands were completed only in the reign of King Charles I. In 1305 Edward I of England, who had deposed John Balliol issued an Ordinance for the Government of Scotland, the document listed the twenty-three shires then existing and either appointed new sheriffs or continued heritable sheriffs in office. ^Note a, Gospatric was mentioned as sheriff in a number of charters of Earl David, the shire was one of those surrendered to Edward III of England in 1334. The remaining shires were formed either by the expansion of the Kingdom of Scotland. Many of the new shires had highly irregular boundaries or detached parts as they united the various possessions of the heritable sheriffs, C.1326, Argyll, lordship subdued by Alexander II in 1222. Norwegian claims over the area ended in 1266. First record of appointment of sheriff dates from 1326,1369, Kirkcudbright formed when area between Rivers Nith and Cree granted to Archibald the Grim. Archibald appointed a steward to administer the area, hence it became a stewartry, the islands formed part of Kintyre district of Argyll. A heritable sheriff was appointed to the shire in 1388,1402, Renfrew, separated from the Shire of Lanark by Robert III. 1503, Ross formed from part of Argyll by act of 1503, the Barony of Tarbert was annexed to Cromarty in 1685, but later returned. 1503, Caithness, Separated from the Shire of Inverness by act of 1503 during the reign of James IV. Under the legislation the sheriff of Caithness was to sit at Dornoch and Wick,1581, Orkney was erected into a lordship with the right of sheriffship. It was annexed to the Crown in 1612, although the term continued to be applied to the area
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Renfrewshire
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Renfrewshire is one of 32 council areas of Scotland. It also shares borders with Glasgow, North Ayrshire and West Dunbartonshire, Renfrewshire borders the south-west of Glasgow, lying on the south bank of the River Clyde, and contains many of Glasgows commuter towns and villages, as well as rural areas. Present day Renfrewshire borders the south-west of Glasgow and contains many of Glasgows commuter towns, Renfrewshire also has boundaries with North Ayrshire, East Renfrewshire, Inverclyde and West Dunbartonshire. The ancient county of Renfrewshire covered a larger area — including both Inverclyde and East Renfrewshire and this area still exists in the form of a lieutenancy area and registration county, and has a statutory funding board called the Renfrewshire Valuation Joint Board. The county was based around its seat, the Royal Burgh of Renfrew. There was also a district named Renfrew which existed between 1975 and 1996, Renfrewshire Council is the elected local authority for Renfrewshire, which is one of 32 local council areas in Scotland. The council is based at Renfrewshire House in Paisley, Renfrewshire Council recently won more awards than any other council in Scotland at the CoSLA Awards ceremony—winning three gold awards with a further three silver awards. This is the highest number of awards won by a single Scottish council since CoSLA started handing out its awards. Renfrewshire Council is administered by the Scottish Labour Party, the Provost of Renfrewshire is Anne Hall. Each department is headed by a Director, who is also an apolitical, as of 4 May 2012, the composition of the council is as follows, As such, the election resulted in the Scottish Labour Party gaining full control of the Renfrewshire Council. There was no party in control of Renfrewshire Council so therefore a Scottish National Party/Scottish Liberal Democrats coalition was formed to run the council for that four-year period. The electoral system of councils in Scotland is governed by the Local Governance Act 2004. Renfrewshire is represented by three constituencies in the Scottish Parliament, Renfrewshire North and West, Paisley and Renfrewshire South, the two constituencies covering Renfrewshire in the Westminster Parliament are Paisley and Renfrewshire North and Paisley and Renfrewshire South. The constituencies are represented by Gavin Newlands and Mhairi Black respectively and it is served by the M8 motorway, which terminates in the area, just east of Langbank, and is a major artery between northwest and southwest Scotland, via the Erskine Bridge. The presence of the airport and the proximity to Glasgow means that Renfrewshire supports one of the busiest transport infrastructures in Scotland, and is frequently congested. Renfrewshire also has bus links provided by, Mcgills Bus Services. The Braehead Arena in Renfrewshire close to the boundary with Glasgow is home to leading professional team, the Scottish Rocks. The arena was also host to the 2000 Ford World Curling Championships, Renfrewshire has 11 secondary schools,51 primary schools and 3 schools for children with additional support needs
26.
Herring
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Herring are forage fish, mostly belonging to the family Clupeidae. Herring often move in schools around fishing banks and near the coast. Three species of Clupea are recognised, and provide about 90% of all captured in fisheries. Most abundant of all is the Atlantic herring, providing half of all herring capture. Fishes called herring are found in India, in the Arabian Sea, Indian Ocean. Herring played a role in the history of marine fisheries in Europe. These oily fish also have a history as an important food fish. A number of different species, most belonging to the family Clupeidae, are referred to as herrings. The origins of the herring is somewhat unclear, though it may derive from the Old High German heri meaning a host, multitude. The type genus of the herring family Clupeidae is Clupea, Clupea contains three species, the Atlantic herring found in the north Atlantic, the Pacific herring found in the north Pacific, and the Araucanian herring found off the coast of Chile. Subspecific divisions have been suggested for both the Atlantic and Pacific herrings, but their biological basis remain unclear, in addition, a number of related species, all in the family Clupeidae, are commonly referred to as herrings. The table immediately below includes those members of the Clupeidae family referred to by FishBase as herrings which have been assessed by the International Union for Conservation of Nature. There are also a number of other species called herrings, which may be related to clupeids or just share some characteristics of herrings. Just which of these species are called herrings can vary with locality, some examples, The species of Clupea belong to the larger family Clupeidae, which comprises some 200 species that share similar features. These silvery-coloured fish have a dorsal fin, which is soft. They have no lateral line and have a lower jaw. At least one stock of Atlantic herring spawns in every month of the year, each spawns at a different time and place. Greenland populations spawn in 0–5 metres of water while North Sea herrings spawn at up to 200 metres in autumn
27.
Copper
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Copper is a chemical element with symbol Cu and atomic number 29. It is a soft, malleable, and ductile metal with high thermal and electrical conductivity. A freshly exposed surface of copper has a reddish-orange color. Copper is one of the few metals that occur in nature in directly usable metallic form as opposed to needing extraction from an ore and this led to very early human use, from c.8000 BC. Copper used in buildings, usually for roofing, oxidizes to form a green verdigris, Copper is sometimes used in decorative art, both in its elemental metal form and in compounds as pigments. Copper compounds are used as agents, fungicides, and wood preservatives. Copper is essential to all living organisms as a trace dietary mineral because it is a key constituent of the enzyme complex cytochrome c oxidase. In molluscs and crustaceans, copper is a constituent of the blood pigment hemocyanin, replaced by the hemoglobin in fish. In humans, copper is found mainly in the liver, muscle, the adult body contains between 1.4 and 2.1 mg of copper per kilogram of body weight. The filled d-shells in these elements contribute little to interatomic interactions, unlike metals with incomplete d-shells, metallic bonds in copper are lacking a covalent character and are relatively weak. This observation explains the low hardness and high ductility of single crystals of copper, at the macroscopic scale, introduction of extended defects to the crystal lattice, such as grain boundaries, hinders flow of the material under applied stress, thereby increasing its hardness. For this reason, copper is supplied in a fine-grained polycrystalline form. The softness of copper partly explains its high conductivity and high thermal conductivity. The maximum permissible current density of copper in open air is approximately 3. 1×106 A/m2 of cross-sectional area, Copper is one of a few metallic elements with a natural color other than gray or silver. Pure copper is orange-red and acquires a reddish tarnish when exposed to air, as with other metals, if copper is put in contact with another metal, galvanic corrosion will occur. A green layer of verdigris can often be seen on old structures, such as the roofing of many older buildings. Copper tarnishes when exposed to sulfur compounds, with which it reacts to form various copper sulfides. There are 29 isotopes of copper, 63Cu and 65Cu are stable, with 63Cu comprising approximately 69% of naturally occurring copper, both have a spin of 3⁄2
28.
Mining
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Mining is extraction of valuable minerals or other geological materials from the earth usually from an orebody, lode, vein, seam, reef or placer deposits. These deposits form a mineralized package that is of economic interest to the miner, ores recovered by mining include metals, coal, oil shale, gemstones, limestone, chalk, dimension stone, rock salt, potash, gravel, and clay. Mining is required to obtain any material that cannot be grown through agricultural processes, Mining in a wider sense includes extraction of any non-renewable resource such as petroleum, natural gas, or even water. Mining of stones and metal has been a human activity since pre-historic times, Mining operations usually create a negative environmental impact, both during the mining activity and after the mine has closed. Hence, most of the nations have passed regulations to decrease the impact. Work safety has long been a concern as well, and modern practices have significantly improved safety in mines, levels of metals recycling are generally low. Unless future end-of-life recycling rates are stepped up, some rare metals may become unavailable for use in a variety of consumer products, due to the low recycling rates, some landfills now contain higher concentrations of metal than mines themselves. Since the beginning of civilization, people have used stone, ceramics and, later and these were used to make early tools and weapons, for example, high quality flint found in northern France, southern England and Poland was used to create flint tools. Flint mines have been found in areas where seams of the stone were followed underground by shafts. The mines at Grimes Graves and Krzemionki are especially famous, other hard rocks mined or collected for axes included the greenstone of the Langdale axe industry based in the English Lake District. The oldest-known mine on archaeological record is the Lion Cave in Swaziland, at this site Paleolithic humans mined hematite to make the red pigment ochre. Mines of an age in Hungary are believed to be sites where Neanderthals may have mined flint for weapons. Ancient Egyptians mined malachite at Maadi, at first, Egyptians used the bright green malachite stones for ornamentations and pottery. Later, between 2613 and 2494 BC, large building projects required expeditions abroad to the area of Wadi Maghareh in order to secure minerals and other resources not available in Egypt itself. Quarries for turquoise and copper were found at Wadi Hammamat, Tura, Aswan and various other Nubian sites on the Sinai Peninsula. Mining in Egypt occurred in the earliest dynasties, the gold mines of Nubia were among the largest and most extensive of any in Ancient Egypt. These mines are described by the Greek author Diodorus Siculus, who mentions fire-setting as one used to break down the hard rock holding the gold. One of the complexes is shown in one of the earliest known maps, the miners crushed the ore and ground it to a fine powder before washing the powder for the gold dust
29.
PS Comet
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Bell had become interested in steam propelled boats, corresponded with Robert Fulton and learnt from the Charlotte Dundas. In late 1811 he got John and Charles Wood of John Wood and Company, shipbuilders of Port Glasgow, the 28 ton craft was 45 feet long and 10 feet broad. It had two wheels on each side, driven by engines rated at three horse power, at a later date the twin paddlewheels were replaced by a single paddlewheel on each side. The funnel was tall and thin, and a yardarm allowed it to support a sail when there was a following wind, a tiny cabin aft had wooden seats and a table. In August 1812 Bell advertised in a local newspaper The Greenock Advertiser, The fare was four shillings for the best cabin, Bell briefly tried a service on the Firth of Forth. Sir Walter Scott James Watt Bell had the Comet lengthened and re-engined, and from September 1819 ran a service to Oban and Fort William, on 13 December 1820 the Comet was shipwrecked in strong currents at Craignish Point near Oban, with Bell on board. One of the engines ended its days in a Greenock brewery. Bell built another vessel, Comet II, but on 21 October 1825 she collided with the steamer Ayr off Kempock Point, Gourock, Scotland. Comet II sank very quickly, killing 62 of the estimated 80 passengers on board, including the son-in-law of John Anderson, also drowned were recently married Captain Wemyss Erskine Sutherland of the 33rd Regiment and Sarah née Duff of Muirtown. After the loss of his ship, Bell abandoned his work on steam navigation. A replica of the Comet made by shipyard apprentices now stands prominently in Port Glasgow, clyde Pleasure Steamers Ian McCrorie, Orr, Pollock & Co
30.
Clyde steamer
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The Clyde steamer is a passenger service on the River Clyde in Scotland, running from Glasgow downstream to Rothesay and other towns, a journey known as going doon the watter. The Comet undertook her official trial run on 6 August 1812, henry Bell himself was on board along with John Robertson, maker of Comets engine and William McKenzie, formerly a schoolmaster in Helensburgh, acting as skipper. According to the Glasgow Courier newspaper two days later, the journey was completed in three and a half hours, after this success, other operators sprang up in competition and the Firth of Clyde became immensely popular with holidaymakers. By 1900 there were over 300 Clyde Steamers operating and going doon the watter was still in full swing in the early 1960s. Then competition from new forms of travel brought the era almost to a close. From the outset steamboat services were aimed at holidaymakers, with a stop at Helensburgh bringing passengers to Bells Baths Hotel, steamer services were also introduced onto the inland lochs, with the Marion appearing on Loch Lomond in 1816. Tiny villages, perhaps with a jetty, soon became resorts with wooden piers and villas, hotels. Local residents would let out rooms, and boarding houses developed, established towns like Dunoon and Rothesay became major resorts. The wealthy built sandstone villas at places like Kilcreggan, Blairmore and Innellan to which they could commute daily, or weekly, the first turbine powered merchant vessel, the Clyde steamer TS King Edward, was built in 1901. Her successor, the TS Queen Mary of 1933, was a restaurant on the River Thames in London until 2009. The PS Waverley, built in 1947, is the last survivor of these fleets, the 1900 steamer SS Sir Walter Scott still sails on Loch Katrine, while on Loch Lomond the PS Maid of the Loch is being restored
31.
Kilcreggan
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Kilcreggan is a village on the Rosneath peninsula in Argyll and Bute, West of Scotland. It developed on the shore of the Firth of Clyde at a time when Clyde steamers brought it within easy reach of Glasgow at about 25 miles west of the centre of Glasgow by boat. Many Glasgow shipowners and merchants made their summer retreats or even permanent residences there, not all have remained occupied, some were demolished and others have been converted into flats. Its location at the end of the Rosneath peninsula, between the Gare Loch and Loch Long, makes the journey 38 miles by road, about 2 miles north of Kilcreggan the road reaches the village of Rosneath then continues north along the shores of the Gare Loch. The majority of the houses look south across the Clyde towards the towns of Gourock and Greenock, to the east of the pier, houses at Portkil extend down to Portkil bay, and the 413–foot hill at Rosneath home farm is topped by a television mast. A ferry subsidised by Strathclyde Partnership for Transport provides a service from Kilcreggan pier across the Clyde to Gourock. After re-tendering, the contract for the Gourock to Kilcreggan route was awarded by SPT to Clydelink which bought the smaller MV Island Princess for the run, on 24 March 2012 more than 400 people protested at the pier over fears for the future of the service. Kilcreggan is in the county of Dunbartonshire. Before the local government reorganisation in 1975 it formed part of the joint police burgh of Cove and it then formed part of Dumbarton District and Strathclyde Region until the reorganisation of the 1990s. It has been part of Argyll and Bute unitary authority since then, craigrownie Parish Church of Scotland serves the communities of Ardpeaton, Cove and Kilcreggan
32.
Glasgow
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Glasgow is the largest city in Scotland, and third largest in the United Kingdom. Historically part of Lanarkshire, it is now one of the 32 council areas of Scotland and it is situated on the River Clyde in the countrys West Central Lowlands. Inhabitants of the city are referred to as Glaswegians, Glasgow grew from a small rural settlement on the River Clyde to become the largest seaport in Britain. From the 18th century the city grew as one of Great Britains main hubs of transatlantic trade with North America. Glasgow was the Second City of the British Empire for much of the Victorian era and Edwardian period, in the late 19th and early 20th centuries Glasgow grew in population, reaching a peak of 1,128,473 in 1939. The entire region surrounding the conurbation covers about 2.3 million people, at the 2011 census, Glasgow had a population density of 8, 790/sq mi, the highest of any Scottish city. Glasgow hosted the 2014 Commonwealth Games and is well known in the sporting world for the football rivalry of the Old Firm between Celtic and Rangers. Glasgow is also known for Glasgow patter, a dialect that is noted for being difficult to understand by those from outside the city. Glasgow is the form of the ancient Cumbric name Glas Cau. Possibly referring to the area of Molendinar Burn where Glasgow Cathedral now stands, the later Gaelic name Baile Glas Chu, town of the grey dog, is purely a folk-etymology. The present site of Glasgow has been settled since prehistoric times, it is for settlement, being the furthest downstream fording point of the River Clyde, the origins of Glasgow as an established city derive ultimately from its medieval position as Scotlands second largest bishopric. Glasgow increased in importance during the 10th and 11th centuries as the site of this bishopric, reorganised by King David I of Scotland and John, there had been an earlier religious site established by Saint Mungo in the 6th century. The bishopric became one of the largest and wealthiest in the Kingdom of Scotland, bringing wealth, sometime between 1189 and 1195 this status was supplemented by an annual fair, which survives as the Glasgow Fair. Glasgow grew over the following centuries, the first bridge over the River Clyde at Glasgow was recorded from around 1285, giving its name to the Briggait area of the city, forming the main North-South route over the river via Glasgow Cross. The founding of the University of Glasgow in 1451 and elevation of the bishopric to become the Archdiocese of Glasgow in 1492 increased the towns religious and educational status and landed wealth. Its early trade was in agriculture, brewing and fishing, with cured salmon and herring being exported to Europe, Glasgow was subsequently raised to the status of Royal Burgh in 1611. The citys Tobacco Lords created a water port at Port Glasgow on the Firth of Clyde. By the late 18th century more than half of the British tobacco trade was concentrated on Glasgows River Clyde, at the time, Glasgow held a commercial importance as the city participated in the trade of sugar, tobacco and later cotton
33.
Gourock railway station
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Gourock railway station is a terminus of the Inverclyde Line, located at Gourock pierhead, Scotland, and serving the town as well as the ferry services it was originally built for. The line from Glasgow was electrified as part of the Inverclyde Line electrification scheme by British Rail, the 25kV A. C system was used with electric operation commencing in September 1967. The station was built to large numbers of passengers boarding the steamers. In the 1980s the westernmost end of the station was cut back by 18 bays, alexander George was appointed preferred developer, but Network Rail was slow to come to an agreement on relocating the station. The work involved in shortening the tracks would have involved considerable expense, the delay left the station looking rather neglected. Then, near the end of September 2006, new plans were announced following intervention by the transport minister Tavish Scott. A considerable saving is to be made by not moving the station so far, so that the work involved is reduced, only one supermarket is now proposed, with 580 houses being constructed in blocks facing out onto the Clyde. In the interim, the station was renovated at a predicted cost of £630,000 to provide a new entrance, glass roof and toilets, and improved waiting facilities. By the end of 2010 the new building was in use. As part of a new one way system completed in 2016, the approach has been reorganised, with new car parking. The station is staffed throughout the hours of service, seven days per week. There are three platforms in use. There is a service to and from Glasgow Central via Paisley Gilmour Street on weekdays & Saturdays. Of these, two operate as limited stop expresses beyond Greenock Central, whilst the pair stop at all intermediate stations. In the evening, 2tph operate whilst on Sundays there is an hourly service calling at all intermediate stations, train times and station information for Gourock railway station from National Rail
34.
David MacBrayne
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David MacBrayne is a limited company owned by the Scottish Government. Formed in 1851 as a shipping company, it became the main carrier for freight. In 1973, it was merged with Caledonian Steam Packet Company as state-owned David MacBrayne, since 2006 it has been the holding company for ferry operators CalMac Ferries Ltd and Argyll Ferries. In 1851, Burns Brothers, G. and J. Burns of Glasgow passed their fleet of Hebridean vessels to their chief clerk, the new company, David Hutcheson & Co. had three partners, David Hutcheson, Alexander Hutcheson and David MacBrayne. In 1878, the passed to David MacBrayne, partner. The Company rapidly became the carrier on the West Highland routes, providing passenger. They initially operated from Glasgow down the Firth of Clyde through the Crinan Canal to Oban and Fort William and they added the mail run to Islay, Harris and North Uist from Skye and then the Outer Isles run from Oban to Barra and South Uist. As each opened, they added the railheads at Oban, Mallaig, Kyle of Lochalsh, MacBraynes remained in the hands of the family until 1928, when it was unable to support a bid for the renewal of the mail contract and effectively became bankrupt. No other operator was found for the contract and the company was reformed, the new owners rebuilt the ageing fleet with motor vessels such as MV Lochfyne, MV Lochnevis and MV Lochiel. After the Second World War, MV Loch Seaforth and MV Claymore were added, bus services, which had begun on the mainland in 1906, were expanded to Islay in 1941 and into the Outer Hebrides after the war, mainly by acquisition. In 1948 the shares in the company owned by the LMS passed to the British Transport Commission thus partially nationalising it. In July 1969, the remaining 50% passed into ownership, after which the mainland bus services passed to Highland Omnibuses. After lying dormant for a number of years, the company was reactivated in 2006 by Scottish Ministers to act as the company for state-owned ferry operators. Scottish Ministers are the sole shareholder of the group, and all subsidiaries are private companies, in 2011, newly created operator Argyll Ferries Ltd, which operates the Dunoon - Gourock passenger service was added to the group. CMAL leases the vessels and piers to the companies for the duration of the contracts. The ships are chartered to the relevant ferry operators, and the piers and harbours operated under fairly standard berthing charges, MacBrayne ships featured red funnels with a black top. One of the best known was RMS Columba, MacBraynes flagship from 1879 to 1935 and she was an early steel-hulled 301 foot vessel, built by J & G Thomson in 1878. Columba was the largest and most luxurious Clyde steamer of the day and operated the Glasgow to Ardrishaig service as part of MacBraynes Royal Route to Oban
35.
Dunoon
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Dunoon, is the main town on the Cowal peninsula in the south of Argyll and Bute, Scotland. It is on the west shore of the upper Firth of Clyde, to the south of the Holy Loch, the Gantocks rocks lie off the coast at Dunoon. The history of Dunoon is dominated by two clans, Clan Lamont and Clan Campbell, during the height of Doon the Watter, the travel by steamships around the Firth of Clyde, Dunoon was a popular destination. This ceased as firstly roads improved, then the popularity of overseas travel increased, the town then became a garrison town to the United States Navy, during the height of the cold war. When the US Navy closed the base at Holy Loch in 1992, the town and surrounding area are being recognised as a destination for outdoor pursuits, including walking, running, golfing, kayaking, sailing, fishing, climbing, triathlon, and mountain biking. Local wildlife includes seals, sea otters, dolphins, basking sharks, roe deer, red deer, red squirrels, the largest annual event held in the town is the Cowal Highland Gathering. The Royal National Mòd has been held in the seven times. Dunoon Castle was built on a small, partly artificial, conical hill beside the Firth of Clyde in the 12th century, and it eventually became a royal castle with the Earls of Argyll as hereditary keepers, paying a nominal rent of a single red rose to the sovereign. The castle was destroyed during the Argyll Rising, a rebellion in 1685 against James VII, Mary, Queen of Scots visited Dunoon Castle on 26 July 1563 and granted several charters during her visit. In 1646 the Dunoon Massacre of members of Clan Lamont by members of Clan Campbell took place, there is a memorial to this event on Auchamore Road. From 1812 to the late 1960s, fleets of Clyde steamers brought holiday-makers doon the watter from Glasgow to Dunoon, the PS Waverley is the last surviving seagoing paddle steamer and berths at the breakwater when visiting Dunoon, during the Waverleys summer season on The Firth of Clyde. In 1961 as the Cold War intensified, the Holy Loch became internationally famous when the U. S, Holy Loch was, for 30 years, the home port of US Navy Submarine Squadron 14. In 1991, the Holy Loch base was deemed unnecessary following the demise of the Soviet Union, the last submarine tender to be based there, the USS Simon Lake, left Holy Loch in March 1992, leading to a major and continuing downturn in the local economy. In May 2012, Dunoon and Campbeltown were jointly named as the places in Scotland most vulnerable to a downturn in a report by the Scottish Agricultural College. The vulnerability index ranked 90 Scottish locations according to factors associated with economic, the US Navy base was the subject of the 1988 film Down Where The Buffalo Go starring Harvey Keitel, many of the scenes were shot around Dunoon and the navy base itself. Dunoon is on the west coast of the Firth of Clyde, as with the rest of the British Isles, Dunoon has a maritime climate with cool summers and mild winters. It is an exceptionally wet part of the country, particularly so for a place near sea-level, the closest Met Office weather station is at Benmore Botanic Gardens, around 7 miles north of the town centre. Recorded temperature extremes since 1960 range from 29.6 °C during July 1983 to as low as −13.9 °C during January 1982, the Cowal Highland Gathering attracts contestants and spectators from all over the world
36.
Argyll Ferries
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Argyll Ferries were announced as the preferred bidder at the end of May 2011, contracts were exchanged on 7 June 2011 for the service, the service then commencened 23 days later on 30 June 2011. The Argyll Ferries service has suffered from cancellations due to technical problems, when this occurs, Argyll Ferries provide a relief bus service taking passengers to their destination via the Western Ferries Hunters Quay to McInroys Point ferry. In winter, the larger CalMac ferry MV Coruisk is redeployed to Gourock for peak sailings, Argyll Ferries Ltd operates two passenger vessels on the route, MV Ali Cat and MV Argyll Flyer. Both are leased from their owner Caledonian Maritime Assets, Caledonian Maritime Assets LTD had previously run the Ali Cat on a 9-year lease from Isle of Wight Cruises but she was bought outright for the new service. The Argyll Flyer, formerly the ten-year-old Irish ferry, Connemara Queen, was purchased specifically for the new service, when the service began on 30 June 2011, preparation of the Argyll Flyer had been held up by broken rear prop shafts. As an interim measure the cruise boat MV Clyde Clipper was leased from Clyde Cruises to start the service and she suffered breakdowns during the first day, then continued in interim service alongside the other two ferries for a short period. The service operates between a vehicle linkspan at the breakwater in Dunoon town centre and a vehicle linkspan in Gourock town centre adjacent to Gourock rail terminal. Regular trains to Glasgow Central via Paisley are available from the train station, Dunoon is located on the Cowal Peninsula. The service by Argyll Ferries saves journey time as the route along Loch Eck side, Rest and be thankful. Concerns were expressed about the suitability of these boats in rough weather. The service is operated under a Public Service Contract produced by Transport Scotland, weather and technical failures continue to be problematic in 2016, with continued numerous service cancellations. Weather and technical failures continue to be problematic in 2015, with continued numerous service cancellations, weather and technical failures continue to be problematic in 2014, with continued numerous service cancellations. In March 2012 Argyll Ferries announced performance figures for February and March and they stated that the service had been very reliable contractually, showing good punctuality, and said that passenger numbers were beginning to increase. In April the service cancelled 99 sailings In November 2011 the service suffered 88 weather-related cancellations, figures indicated cancellation or disruption of 3. 6% of sailings since July. Argyll Ferries Ltd - Official website Caledonian Maritime Assets LTD - website David MacBrayne LTD - website Transport Scotland - website Scottish Government - website
37.
Western Ferries
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Western Ferries Ltd is a private ferry company with its headquarters in Hunters Quay, Scotland. MacBraynes also operated a number of cargo vessels out of Glasgow, none of these vessels was equipped to deal with road transport. Three car ferries operated by MacBraynes were all side-loading and not suited to carrying the sharply increasing growth in tourist traffic or commercial vehicles, in 1966 three people engaged in contracting work on the west coast decided to set up the Eileann Sea Service. With the help of an HIDB loan a landing craft type vessel, but in November the ship capsized and this put the company in financial difficulty. If anything further were to happen, more money and technical back-up would be needed, Sound of Islay was ordered from Ferguson Brothers of Port Glasgow. She was designed to carry 20 cars or a combination of cars and she was launched amid a storm of derision. Trading began on 7 April 1968 between Kennacraig, West Loch Tarbert, and Islay, the service provided a new roll-on/roll-off facility, operated twice as frequently as the existing boat to Islay, and offered lower rates without the benefit of subsidy. Unlike its competitor, it operated seven days a week, at night if required, lower rates led to a general increase in trade so that a larger and faster vessel was required. Sound of Jura was ordered from Norway and she came into operation in 1969 with three sailings a day. The capital of the company was increased to £250,000, Western Ferries had already formed a very close working relationship with a local haulier. He opened depots near both ferry terminals so that trailers could be moved on and off the vessels quickly without drivers and tractors units having to cross with them. He provided a service as well as bulk service, and with dedication, grass roots expertise. At the beginning of 1969 the Port Askaig – Feolin service began – a high frequency service across a stretch of water with a landing craft type vessel. This effectively joined Islay and Jura and increased the traffic to the mainland, Jura was now served by three through sailings a day instead of three per week and both islands could now enjoy things which had hitherto been luxuries, like fresh fruit. In 1970, the Sound of Islay began the Campbeltown – Red Bay service and was successful with the help of a cement strike in Ireland. Attempts to keep up a service, primarily with timber, were unsuccessful. However the Sound of Islay, under Captain Alister Meenan, took over the Kennacraig - Port Askaig route offering, for the first time, Caledonian MacBrayne positioned a new ferry on the same route in 1974. The new Cal-Mac service was subsidised by the Government leaving Western unable to compete, Western Ferries started to lose traffic to the new ferry, and after receiving an offer from the Mexican Government, sold Sound of Jura in 1976
38.
Gourock
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Gourock is a town falling within the Inverclyde council area and formerly forming a burgh of the county of Renfrew in the West of Scotland. It has in the past functioned as a resort on the East shore of the upper Firth of Clyde. Its principal function today, however, is as a residential area, extending contiguously from Greenock, with a railway terminus. The name Gourock comes from a Gaelic word for rounded hill, as far back as 1494 it is recorded that James IV sailed from the shore at Gourock to quell the rebellious Highland clans. Two hundred years later William and Mary granted a Charter in favour of Stewart of Castlemilk which raised Gourock to a Burgh of Barony, in 1784 the lands of Gourock were purchased by Duncan Darroch, a former merchant in Jamaica. He built Gourock House near the site of the castle in what the family eventually gifted to the town as Darroch Park, later renamed by the council as Gourock Park. Within sight of Gourock, in the hours of Friday 21 October 1825, PS Comet was run into by the steamer Ayr. When the competing railway companies extended their lines to provide fast connections to Clyde steamer services the Pierhead was built as a railway terminus, nowadays a passenger ferry serves Kilcreggan and electric trains provide a service to Glasgow from Gourock railway station at the pierhead. The David MacBrayne Ltd headquarters is at the pier, a ferry service to Dunoon is run by their Argyll Ferries subsidiary. A car ferry service is run by Western Ferries from McInroys Point on the west side of the town to Hunters Quay to the north of Dunoon. Like many Scottish seaside towns, Gourocks tourist heyday was in the half of the nineteenth century. Evidence of this part of its past is gradually disappearing - The Bay Hotel and Cragburn Pavilion and The Ashton, three local landmarks, disappeared towards the end of the last century. At the same time, Gourock has continued to expand along the coastline, with new estates above the medieval Castle Levan which has restored and is in use as a bed. Further development is taking place, though a stretch of green belt still separates the town from the Cloch lighthouse which looks out over the firth to Innellan in Argyll. Gourock has one of the three remaining public outdoor swimming pools in Scotland. Gourock Outdoor Pool was built in 1909 and reconstructed in 1969, it was tidal and had a sandy floor. The pool was closed at the end of the 2010 summer season for an improvement project. The megalithic Kempock Stone, popularly known as Granny Kempock Stone, stands on a cliff behind Kempock Street, the superstition was that for sailors going on a long voyage or a couple about to be married, walking seven times around the stone would ensure good fortune
39.
Hunters Quay
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Hunters Quay, is a village, on the Cowal peninsula in Argyll and Bute, Scottish Highlands. Situated between Kirn to the south and Ardnadam to the north, Hunters Quay is the base of Western Ferries LTD. It is home to the Royal Marine Hotel, which is one hundred years old. The 12-metre class yacht race in the 1908 London Olympic Games took place at Hunters Quay, most of the sailing took place on the Solent, but only two boats entered the 12-metre class, Mouchette from the Royal Liverpool Yacht Club and Hera from the Royal Clyde Yacht Club. They were allowed to race on the Clyde for convenience, the course was twice round a 13-mile lap of the Clyde, starting and finishing at Hunters Quay. Jim Crow, a pointed rock lying horizontally on the beach, was known as the Jim Crow Stone in the 1880s, and by 1904 was painted with a face. The inspiration behind the name and design have suggested to be. Due to this link the rock has been painted over a number of times. Another is that it is named after the line So they canonized him by the name of Jem Crow. in the poem The Jackdaw of Rheims
40.
Castle Levan
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Castle Levan is a fortified tower house in Levan area of Gourock, Inverclyde, Scotland. A building had been on the site from the 14th century, in the 19th century a large mansion was built within a few metres of the ruined castle and was given the same name. The original castle was renovated in the 1980s, the castle has undergone further renovations in 2016 under its new owner, Kim Munro, who runs it as a bed & breakfast
41.
Bed and breakfast
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A bed and breakfast is a small lodging establishment that offers overnight accommodation and breakfast. Bed and breakfasts are often private family homes and typically have four and eleven rooms, with six being the average. Bed and breakfast is also used to describe the level of catering included in a hotels room prices, as opposed to room only, generally, guests are accommodated in private bedrooms with private bathrooms, or in a suite of rooms including an en suite bathroom. Some homes have private bedrooms with a bathroom which is shared with other guests, Breakfast is served in the bedroom, a dining room, or the hosts kitchen. B&Bs and guest houses may be operated as either a source of income or a primary occupation. Often the owners themselves prepare the breakfast and clean the rooms, properties with hired professional management are uncommon but may exist if the same owner operates multiple B&Bs. Some B&Bs operate in a niche market, floating bed and breakfasts are boats or houseboats which offer B&B accommodation, the CCGS Alexander Henry museum ship was one example. In some communities, former lighthouse keeper quarters have been turned into B&B rooms after the light has been automated or decommissioned, in China expatriates have remodelled traditional structures in quiet picturesque rural areas and opened a few rustic boutique hotels with minimum amenities. Most patrons are tourists but they are growing in popularity among the Chinese, in Hungary B&B is very popular. Usually is a small hotel, an intimate ambience and a pleasant atmosphere. It provides an alternate for the hotels. In Hungarian the B&B is called Panzió or Szálló, in India, the government is promoting the concept of bed & breakfast. The government is doing this to increase tourism, especially keeping in view the demand for hotels during the 2010 Commonwealth Games in Delhi and they have classified B&B in 2 categories - Gold & Silver B&B. All B&B will be approved by the Ministry of Tourism who will then categorize it as Gold or Silver based upon the pre-defined criteria, charges for standard B&B is around $100 to $120 each head for a month and for premium B&B services starts from $180 and above. Registered Irish B&Bs are star rated by Fàilte Ireland and along with the majority unregistered B&Bs, generally, B&Bs in Ireland are family owned & run, with a small percentage being leased/managed but still with the personal service expected in this sector. Owners / Managers nearly always live on premises, Breakfast can mean a cooked Irish Fry or continental style buffet. The Israeli B&B is known as a zimmer, all over the country, but especially in northern Israel the zimmers has developed an extensive industry. Settlements belonging to families and rural settlements are rented for a short period
42.
Cloch
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Cloch or Cloch Point is a point on the coast of the Firth of Clyde, Scotland. There has been a lighthouse since 1797 to warn ships off The Gantocks, Cloch Point lies on the A770, north of Inverkip, three miles south west of Gourock, on the east shore of the Firth of Clyde, directly opposite Dunoon. The Cloch Lighthouse was designed by Thomas Smith and his son-in-law Robert Stevenson, there appear to be two generations of keepers houses, the older now used as stores and the more recent having crow-stepped gables. The short circular-section tower has a walkway and triangular windows. The foghorns were added between 1895 and 1897, the light was built by John Clarkson, Kermack and Gall built the tower, while Smith and Stevenson installed the oil lantern which was first lit on 11 August 1797. The light was replaced in 1829 with a lamp and silvered reflector. About 1900, it was lit with acetylene, a radio beacon was installed about 1931. The dioptric and catadioptric lenses floated in baths of mercury, and were rotated by a mechanism powered by falling weights. As well as tending the light, the keepers had to wind the mechanism by hand every two to three hours, today, the light is fully automated and unmanned. The main light has been replaced by a light on a pole outside the lantern room
43.
Innellan
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Innellan, is a village that lies on the east shore of the Cowal peninsula, on the Firth of Clyde,4 miles south of the town of Dunoon, Argyll and Bute in Scotland. The origin of the name Innellan is obscure, the village was developed as a holiday destination in Victorian times on the site of a smaller and older farming settlement, and the first steamboat pier was built in 1851. Competing against resorts in Europe that enjoyed Mediterranean climates, the popularity of all the Clyde seaside resorts fell and it was around this time that an American naval base in the nearby Holy Loch was established, providing some aid to the local economy, although being controversial. The base was withdrawn in the 1990s, the villages most striking landmark from its heyday as a seaside resort - the large Royal Hotel that overlooked the pier - was destroyed by fire in 1981 and the site has yet to be redeveloped. The entrance gates to its site on Pier Road still show the sign for the hotel. Innellans pier, which passenger steamers regularly called at whilst the area was booming, was extended in 1901, after falling into increasing disrepair, it was fully dismantled in the mid-1990s. Innellan Primary School, established in 1868, has a distinguished history and its headmaster from 1938 to 1972 was the notable Latin scholar Thomas Muir, who was also an accomplished amateur geologist. The headmasters name was Thomas B Muir, taking his initials T B his pupils affectionately called him Teddy Bear Muir. On learning this he glared at his class and then gave a big grin thus establishing his nickname for evermore. Innellan once had four churches, two Church of Scotland, one Free Church and one Episcopal and he wrote this hymn after he had been jilted by his fiancee when he became blind and wrote it in his study at the manse. The only history of Innellan ever printed was written by the Rev John Hill, minister of the West Church and it is now out of print, and was somewhat preoccupied with religious affairs. During the second war a enemy German U-boat penetrated the Tail of the Bank. It was chased south from Dunoon close to the shore and was eventually depth-charged, Innellan, along with nearby Dunoon, has in recent years attempted to reclaim a role as a tourist destination. Nowadays its appeal lies more in being a pleasant and tranquil place to retreat to or as a location to commute to Glasgow or Dunoon from. Innellan boasts very impressive views across the Firth of Clyde, stretching from Kilcreggan and Loch Long to Cumbrae Head, there is a local golf club, with its 9-hole course on the hill. The villages strip of shops has now reduced to just the Post Office, but other services are provided by the nearby town of Dunoon
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Gourock Outdoor Pool
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Gourock Outdoor Pool is a salt water public lido in Gourock, Renfrewshire, Scotland. It is the oldest heated swimming pool in Scotland, the pool is heated and uses salt water taken from the River Clyde. The water is filtered, cleaned and maintained at a temperature of 29C. Facilities include a gym and a children’s pool, the lido opens from May to the first week in September. The pool is managed by Inverclyde Leisure, the lido was opened in 1909, and the water heating system was installed in 1969. The pool was closed at the end of the 2010 summer season for an improvement project. Official website Lidos in the UK
listen) GOOR-ək; Scottish Gaelic: Guireag [kuɾʲak]) is a town falling within the Inverclyde council area and formerly forming a burgh of the county of Renfrew in the West of Scotland. It has in the past functioned as a seaside resort on the East shore of the upper Firth of Clyde. Its principal function today, however, is as a popular residential area, extending contiguously from Greenock, with a railway terminus and ferry services across the Clyde.
Media related to Gourock at Wikimedia Commons
