1.
Mail coach
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In Great Britain, the mail coach or post coach was a horse-drawn carriage that carried mail deliveries, from 1784. In Ireland, the first mail coach service from Dublin in 1789. The coach was drawn by four horses and had seating for four passengers inside, further passengers were later allowed to sit outside with the driver. The mail was held in a box to the rear, where a Royal Mail post office guard stood, the mail coach was faster than the stage coach as it only stopped for delivery of mail and generally not for the comfort of the passengers. They were slowly phased out during the 1840s and 1850s, their role being replaced by trains as the network expanded. The riders were frequent targets for robbers, and the system was inefficient, under the old system the journey had taken up to 38 hours. The coach, funded by Palmer, left Bristol at 4pm on 2 August 1784, impressed by the trial run, Pitt authorised the creation of new routes. By the end of 1785 there were services from London to Norwich, Liverpool, Leeds, Dover, Portsmouth, Poole, Exeter, Gloucester, Worcester, Holyhead and Carlisle. A service to Edinburgh was added the year and Palmer was rewarded by being made Surveyor. Initially the coach, horses and driver were all supplied by contractors, there was strong competition for the contracts as they provided a fixed regular income on top of which the companies could charge fares for the passengers. By the beginning of the 19th century the Post Office had their own fleet of coaches with black, the mail coaches continued unchallenged until the 1830s but the development of railways spelt the end for the service. The first rail delivery between Liverpool and Manchester took place on 11 November 1830, by the early 1840s other rail lines had been constructed and many London-based mail coaches were starting to be withdrawn from service, the final service from London was shut down in 1846. Regional mail coaches continued into the 1850s, but these too were replaced by rail services. The mail coaches were designed for a driver, seated outside. The guard travelled on the outside at the next to the mail box. Later a further passenger was allowed outside, sitting at the front next to the driver, travel could be uncomfortable as the coaches travelled on poor roads and passengers were obliged to dismount from the carriage when going up steep hills to spare the horses. The coaches averaged 7 to 8 mph in summer and about 5 mph in winter, fresh horses were supplied every 10 to 15 miles. Stops to collect mail were short and sometimes there would be no stops at all with the throwing the mail off the coach
2.
London
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London /ˈlʌndən/ is the capital and most populous city of England and the United Kingdom. Standing on the River Thames in the south east of the island of Great Britain and it was founded by the Romans, who named it Londinium. Londons ancient core, the City of London, largely retains its 1. 12-square-mile medieval boundaries. London is a global city in the arts, commerce, education, entertainment, fashion, finance, healthcare, media, professional services, research and development, tourism. It is crowned as the worlds largest financial centre and has the fifth- or sixth-largest metropolitan area GDP in the world, London is a world cultural capital. It is the worlds most-visited city as measured by international arrivals and has the worlds largest city airport system measured by passenger traffic, London is the worlds leading investment destination, hosting more international retailers and ultra high-net-worth individuals than any other city. Londons universities form the largest concentration of education institutes in Europe. In 2012, London became the first city to have hosted the modern Summer Olympic Games three times, London has a diverse range of people and cultures, and more than 300 languages are spoken in the region. Its estimated mid-2015 municipal population was 8,673,713, the largest of any city in the European Union, Londons urban area is the second most populous in the EU, after Paris, with 9,787,426 inhabitants at the 2011 census. The citys metropolitan area is the most populous in the EU with 13,879,757 inhabitants, the city-region therefore has a similar land area and population to that of the New York metropolitan area. London was the worlds most populous city from around 1831 to 1925, Other famous landmarks include Buckingham Palace, the London Eye, Piccadilly Circus, St Pauls Cathedral, Tower Bridge, Trafalgar Square, and The Shard. The London Underground is the oldest underground railway network in the world, the etymology of London is uncertain. It is an ancient name, found in sources from the 2nd century and it is recorded c.121 as Londinium, which points to Romano-British origin, and hand-written Roman tablets recovered in the city originating from AD 65/70-80 include the word Londinio. The earliest attempted explanation, now disregarded, is attributed to Geoffrey of Monmouth in Historia Regum Britanniae and this had it that the name originated from a supposed King Lud, who had allegedly taken over the city and named it Kaerlud. From 1898, it was accepted that the name was of Celtic origin and meant place belonging to a man called *Londinos. The ultimate difficulty lies in reconciling the Latin form Londinium with the modern Welsh Llundain, which should demand a form *lōndinion, from earlier *loundiniom. The possibility cannot be ruled out that the Welsh name was borrowed back in from English at a later date, and thus cannot be used as a basis from which to reconstruct the original name. Until 1889, the name London officially applied only to the City of London, two recent discoveries indicate probable very early settlements near the Thames in the London area
3.
York
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York is a historic walled city at the confluence of the rivers Ouse and Foss in North Yorkshire, England. The municipality is the county town of Yorkshire to which it gives its name. The city has a heritage and has provided the backdrop to major political events in England throughout much of its two millennia of existence. The city offers a wealth of attractions, of which York Minster is the most prominent. The city was founded by the Romans as Eboracum in 71 AD and it became the capital of the Roman province of Britannia Inferior, and later of the kingdoms of Northumbria and Jórvík. In the Middle Ages, York grew as a wool trading centre and became the capital of the northern ecclesiastical province of the Church of England. In the 19th century, York became a hub of the railway network, in recent decades, the economy of York has moved from being dominated by its confectionery and railway-related industries to one that provides services. The University of York and health services have become major employers, from 1996, the term City of York describes a unitary authority area which includes rural areas beyond the old city boundaries. In 2011 the urban area had a population of 153,717, the word York derives from the Latinised name for the city, variously rendered as Eboracum, Eburacum or Eburaci. The first mention of York by this name is dated to circa 95–104 AD as an address on a wooden stylus tablet from the Roman fortress of Vindolanda in Northumberland, the toponymy of Eboracum is uncertain because the language of the pre-Roman indigenous population was never recorded. They are thought to have spoken a Celtic language related to modern Welsh, in his Historia Regum Britanniae the 12th century chronicler, Geoffrey of Monmouth, suggests the name derives from that of a pre-Roman city founded by the legendary king Ebraucus. Alternatively, the word already existed as an Old English word for wild swine. The Anglo-Saxon newcomers probably interpreted the part as eofor, and -rac as ric, while -um was a common abbreviation of the Saxon -heem. To them, it sounded as a home rich in boar, as is common in Saxon place names, the -um part gradually faded, eoforic. When the Danish army conquered the city in 866, its name became Jórvík, the Old French and Norman name of the city following the Norman Conquest was recorded as Everwic in works such as Waces Roman de Rou. The form York was first recorded in the 13th century, many company and place names, such as the Ebor race meeting, refer to the Roman name. The Archbishop of York uses Ebor as his surname in his signature, archaeological evidence suggests that Mesolithic people settled in the region of York between 8000 and 7000 BC, although it is not known whether their settlements were permanent or temporary. By the time of the Roman conquest of Britain, the area was occupied by a known to the Romans as the Brigantes
4.
Edinburgh
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Edinburgh is the capital city of Scotland and one of its 32 local government council areas. Located in Lothian on the Firth of Forths southern shore, it is Scotlands second most populous city and the seventh most populous in the United Kingdom. The 2014 official population estimates are 464,990 for the city of Edinburgh,492,680 for the authority area. Recognised as the capital of Scotland since at least the 15th century, Edinburgh is home to the Scottish Parliament and it is the largest financial centre in the UK after London. Historically part of Midlothian, the city has long been a centre of education, particularly in the fields of medicine, Scots law, literature, the sciences and engineering. The University of Edinburgh, founded in 1582 and now one of four in the city, was placed 17th in the QS World University Rankings in 2013 and 2014. The city is famous for the Edinburgh International Festival and the Fringe. The citys historical and cultural attractions have made it the United Kingdoms second most popular tourist destination after London, attracting over one million overseas visitors each year. Historic sites in Edinburgh include Edinburgh Castle, Holyrood Palace, the churches of St. Giles, Greyfriars and the Canongate, Edinburghs Old Town and New Town together are listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site, which has been managed by Edinburgh World Heritage since 1999. It appears to derive from the place name Eidyn mentioned in the Old Welsh epic poem Y Gododdin, the poem names Din Eidyn as a hill fort in the territory of the Gododdin. The Celtic element din was dropped and replaced by the Old English burh, the first documentary evidence of the medieval burgh is a royal charter, c. 1124–1127, by King David I granting a toft in burgo meo de Edenesburg to the Priory of Dunfermline. In modern Gaelic, the city is called Dùn Èideann, the earliest known human habitation in the Edinburgh area was at Cramond, where evidence was found of a Mesolithic camp site dated to c.8500 BC. Traces of later Bronze Age and Iron Age settlements have found on Castle Rock, Arthurs Seat, Craiglockhart Hill. When the Romans arrived in Lothian at the end of the 1st century AD, at some point before the 7th century AD, the Gododdin, who were presumably descendants of the Votadini, built the hill fort of Din Eidyn or Etin. Although its location has not been identified, it likely they would have chosen a commanding position like the Castle Rock, Arthurs Seat. In 638, the Gododdin stronghold was besieged by forces loyal to King Oswald of Northumbria and it thenceforth remained under their jurisdiction. The royal burgh was founded by King David I in the early 12th century on land belonging to the Crown, in 1638, King Charles Is attempt to introduce Anglican church forms in Scotland encountered stiff Presbyterian opposition culminating in the conflicts of the Wars of the Three Kingdoms. In the 17th century, Edinburghs boundaries were defined by the citys defensive town walls
5.
A1 road (Great Britain)
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The A1 is the longest numbered road in the UK, at 410 miles. It connects London, the capital of England and the United Kingdom, with Edinburgh, the course of the A1 has changed where towns or villages have been bypassed, and where new alignments have taken a slightly different route. Several sections of the route have been upgraded to motorway standard, between the M25 and the A696 the road has been designated as part of the unsigned Euroroute E15 from Inverness to Algeciras. The A1 is the latest in a series of north from London to York. It was designated in 1921 by the Ministry of Transport under the Great Britain road numbering scheme, the earliest documented northern routes are the roads created by the Romans during the period from AD43 to AD410, which consisted of several itinera recorded in the Antonine Itinerary. A combination of these were used by the Anglo-Saxons as the route from London to York, Ermine Street later became known as the Old North Road. Part of this route in London is followed by the current A10, by the 12th century, because of flooding and damage by traffic, an alternative route out of London was found through Muswell Hill, and became part of the Great North Road. A turnpike road, New North Road and Canonbury Road, was constructed in 1812 linking the start of the Old North Road around Shoreditch with the Great North Road at Highbury Corner, the A1 route was modified in 1927 when bypasses were built around Barnet and Hatfield. In the 1930s bypasses were added around Chester-le-Street and Durham, in 1960 Stamford, Biggleswade and Doncaster were bypassed, as were Retford in 1961 and St Neots in 1971. Baldock was bypassed in July 1967, during the early 1970s plans to widen the A1 along Archway Road in London were abandoned after considerable opposition and four public inquiries during which road protesters disrupted proceedings. The scheme was dropped in 1990. The Hatfield cut-and-cover was opened in 1986, few of the surviving coaching inns can be seen while driving on the A1, because the modern route now bypasses the towns with the inns. The A1 runs from New Change in the City of London at St. Pauls Cathedral to the centre of Edinburgh, the road skirts the remains of Sherwood Forest, and passes Catterick Garrison. It shares its London terminus with the A40, in the City area of Central London and it runs out of London through Islington, up Holloway Road, through Highgate, Barnet, Potters Bar, Hatfield, Welwyn, Stevenage, Baldock, Biggleswade, Sandy and St Neots. Scotch Corner, in North Yorkshire, marks the point where before the M6 was built the traffic for Glasgow, as well as a hotel there have been a variety of sites for the transport café, now subsumed as a motorway services. Most of the English section of the A1 is a series of alternating sections of dual carriageway and motorway, from Newcastle upon Tyne to Edinburgh it is a trunk road with alternating sections of dual and single carriageway. The table below summaries the road as motorways and non-motorways sections, A 13-mile section of the road in North Yorkshire, neolithic remains and a Roman fort were discovered. The total cost of works was some £50 million
6.
Coaching inn
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There are few motels with the function of refueling to motor vehicles, but the feeding function to horses was required for coaching inn. Coaching inns stabled teams of horses for stagecoaches and mail coaches, traditionally they were seven miles apart but this depended very much on the terrain. Hence any suspiciously elaborate tale would become a cock and bull story and this is a cock-and bull story in itself, however, as there is no evidence to suggest that this is where the phrase originated. The phrase, first recorded in 1621, may instead be an allusion to Aesops fables, as this slightly predates coaching inns, the names of the two inns could have been a reference to Cock and Bull stories as to encourage the passing of such anecdotes within their doors. Historic inns in Oxford include The Bear Inn and the Lamb & Flag, examples of historic inns in Wales include the Black Boy Inn and the Groes Inn. The Black Lion in Cardigan is probably the oldest Welsh coaching inn, Inn Public house Stagecoach Inn Coaching Era, The, Stage and Mail Coach Travel in and Around Bath, Bristol and Somerset, Roy Gallop, Fiducia, ISBN 1-85026-019-2 Coaching inns. Photos of examples of what may be considered coaching inns in geograph. org. uk
7.
Hicks Hall
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Hicks Hall was a building in St John Street, Clerkenwell, London. The estimated cost of building alone was estimated at up to £900, at the first session in the new building, it was resolved that the building would be named Hicks-hall in honour of its patron. For 167 years, Hicks Hall was used to hear cases in the county of Middlesex and it is mentioned in many contemporary reports and in Samuel Pepyss diary. One notable case was on 9 October 1660, when a jury was convened to try several men who signed the death warrant of Charles I. Hicks Hall remained in use until 1778. By that time the building had fallen into disrepair so was closed and demolished, Hicks Hall sessions were transferred to the new Middlesex Sessions House at Clerkenwell Green. When it closed in 1921, cases spanning an Inner London area on both sides of the Thames were moved to the Sessions House in Newington. Measurements were taken from the front, which was approximately in the middle of St John Street. Dictionary of National Biography Samuel Pepys diary,6 December 1660
8.
Clerkenwell
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Clerkenwell is an area of central London in the London Borough of Islington. It was an ancient parish and from 1900 to 1965 formed part of the Metropolitan Borough of Finsbury, the well after which it was named was rediscovered in 1924. The watchmaking and watch repairing trades were once of great importance, in the 1850s the south-western part of Clerkenwell was known as Londons Little Italy because around 2,000 Italians had settled in the area. There are officially over 200,000 Italians in London, the Italian Procession of Our Lady of Mount Carmel and Sagra takes place each July in the streets surrounding the church. A small number of Italian businesses remain from the century including organ builders Chiappa Ltd. Many other Italian firms survive from the period but have relocated elsewhere, Clerkenwell took its name from the Clerks Well in Farringdon Lane. In the Middle Ages, the London Parish clerks performed annual mystery plays there, Part of the well remains visible, incorporated into a 1980s building called Well Court. It is visible through a window of that building on Farringdon Lane, access to the well is managed by Islington Local History Centre and visits can be arranged by appointment. The Monastic Order of the Knights Hospitallers of St John of Jerusalem had its English headquarters at the Priory of Clerkenwell, St Johns Gate survives in the rebuilt form of the Priory Gate. Its gateway, erected in 1504 in St Johns Square, served various purposes after the Dissolution of the Monasteries, for example, it was the birthplace of the Gentlemans Magazine in 1731, and the scene of Dr Johnsons work in connection with that journal. In modern times the gatehouse again became associated with the order and was in the early 20th century the headquarters of the St John Ambulance Association, an Early English crypt remains beneath the chapel of the order, which was otherwise mostly rebuilt in the 1950s after wartime bombing. The notorious deception of the Cock Lane Ghost, in which Johnson took great interest, was perpetrated nearby, the Charterhouse, near the boundary with the City of London, was originally a Carthusian monastery. Following the Dissolution of the Monasteries the Charterhouse became a mansion and one owner, Thomas Sutton, subsequently left it with an endowment as a school. The almhouse remains but the relocated to Surrey and its part of the site is now a campus of Barts and The London School of Medicine. As it was a suburb beyond the confines of the London Wall, Clerkenwell was outside the jurisdiction of the somewhat puritanical City fathers, during the Elizabethan era Clerkenwell contained a notorious brothel quarter. In Shakespeares Henry IV, Part 2, Falstaff complains about Justice Shallow boasting of the wildness of his youth, the Clerkenwell Bridewell, a prison and correctional institute for prostitutes and vagrants, was known for savage punishment and endemic sexual corruption. In the 17th century South Clerkenwell became a place of residence. Oliver Cromwell owned a house on Clerkenwell Close, just off the Green, several aristocrats had houses there, most notably the Duke of Northumberland, as did people such as Erasmus Smith
9.
Middlesex
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Middlesex is a historic county in south-east England. It is now entirely within the wider urbanised area of London and its area is now also mostly within the ceremonial county of Greater London, with small sections in other neighbouring ceremonial counties. It was established in the Anglo-Saxon system from the territory of the Middle Saxons, the largely low-lying county, dominated by clay in its north and alluvium on gravel in its south, was the second smallest county by area in 1831. The City of London was a county in its own right from the 12th century and was able to exert control over Middlesex. Westminster Abbey dominated most of the financial, judicial and ecclesiastical aspects of the county. As London grew into Middlesex, the Corporation of London resisted attempts to expand the city boundaries into the county, in the 18th and 19th centuries the population density was especially high in the southeast of the county, including the East End and West End of London. From 1855 the southeast was administered, with sections of Kent and Surrey, the City of London, and Middlesex, became separate counties for other purposes and Middlesex regained the right to appoint its own sheriff, lost in 1199. In the interwar years suburban London expanded further, with improvement and expansion of public transport, after the Second World War, the population of the County of London and inner Middlesex was in steady decline, with high population growth continuing in the outer parts. Since 1965 various areas called Middlesex have been used for cricket, Middlesex was the former postal county of 25 post towns. The name means territory of the middle Saxons and refers to the origin of its inhabitants. The word is formed from the Anglo-Saxon, i. e. Old English, middel, in an 8th-century charter the region is recorded as Middleseaxon and in 704 it is recorded as Middleseaxan. The Saxons derived their name from seax, a kind of knife for which they were known, the seax has a lasting symbolic impact in the English counties of Essex and Middlesex, both of which feature three seaxes in their ceremonial emblem. Their names, along with those of Sussex and Wessex, contain a remnant of the word Saxon, there were settlements in the area of Middlesex that can be traced back thousands of years before the creation of a county. Middlesex was formerly part of the Kingdom of Essex It was recorded in the Domesday Book as being divided into the six hundreds of Edmonton, Elthorne, Gore, Hounslow, Ossulstone and Spelthorne. The City of London has been self-governing since the century and became a county in its own right. Middlesex also included Westminster, which also had a degree of autonomy. Of the six hundreds, Ossulstone contained the districts closest to the City of London, during the 17th century it was divided into four divisions, which, along with the Liberty of Westminster, largely took over the administrative functions of the hundred. The divisions were named Finsbury, Holborn, Kensington and Tower, the county had parliamentary representation from the 13th century
10.
City Road
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City Road or The City Road is a road that runs through inner north and central London. The northwestern extremity of the road is at Angel where it forms a continuation of Pentonville Road, Pentonville Road itself is the modern name for Londons first bypass, the New Road from Paddington to Islington, which was constructed in 1756. The City Road was built in 1761 as a continuation of route to the City of London. These roads form an entry point into the City of London. The part of the north of Old Street is on the London Inner Ring Road. The ringroad continues east along Old Street, nearby London Underground stations are Angel, Old Street and Moorgate. The disused City Road tube station was on City Road itself, London Bus routes serving the length of City Road include 43,205,214,394. The rhyme appears on the wall of the Eagle, honourable Artillery Company Museum City Road in Ben Weinreb and Christopher Hibbert The London Encyclopedia
11.
Pentonville Road
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Pentonville Road is a road in Central London that runs west to east from Kings Cross to City Road at The Angel, Islington. The road is part of the London Inner Ring Road and part of the boundary of the London congestion charge zone, the road was originally built in the mid-18th century as part of the New Road, a bypass of Central London for coach traffic. It was named Pentonville Road after the new town of Pentonville, numerous factories and commercial premises became established on the road in the 19th and 20th centuries, particularly after the arrival of London railways in the 1840s. As industrial manufacturing fell out of favour in London in the late 20th century, current premises include the Crafts Council Gallery on the site of a former chapel, the Scala nightclub in a former cinema, and The Castle, a public house. The road is 0.7 miles long and runs east from Kings Cross railway station as a continuation of Euston Road and it ends at the Angel, Islington, at a junction with Islington High Street and Goswell Road, the road ahead becoming City Road. Only eastbound traffic can travel on the extent of the road. The road is on the London Inner Ring Road and as such part of the boundary of the London congestion charge zone. Since 1995, it has been a red route, prohibiting stopping of any kind, London Underground and National Rail stations in the vicinity include Kings Cross and Angel tube station. There has been a bus service on Pentonville Road since 1829, regular bus routes running along the road are 30,73 and 146. What is now Pentonville Road was built as the section of the New Road in 1756, connecting the City of London to the western suburbs. At the time, the now covered by Pentonville Road was mostly fields. It included a known as Busbys Folly, a meeting place of a drinking group known as the Society of Bull Feathers. It is marked on John Ogilbys map of London in 1675 and it was moved around 1780 to Penton Street and renamed the Belvedere Tavern. The current building dates from 1876, the road was designed as part of Pentonville, a new suburb away from the City and became a local hub for manufacturing in the area. As it was intended to be a main road, a coach service began in 1798 between Paddington and Bank but was quickly withdrawn. The road was turnpiked in 1830 and renamed Pentonville Road after landowner Henry Penton in 1857, until 1882, the upkeep of the road was paid by the local parish, paying a ground rent to Pentons estate for the disused toll house at No.274. The street is distinguished by the set back housing lines originally intended to provide an atmosphere of spaciousness along the thoroughfare, the original 1756 act to create the New Road prohibited the construction of any building within 50 feet of its side. Though the area had been designed to be a pleasant suburb, the original bylaw restricting property on the front of the road was ignored and shops were built on top of gardens
12.
Upper Street
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Upper Street is the main shopping street of the Islington district of inner north London, and carries the A1 road. The southernmost 500 metres, from the junction to Islington Green, henry VIII hunted duck in the ponds off Upper Street, while Walter Raleigh lived in Upper Street and owned a pub in Lower Street. Lower Street has since been renamed Essex Road, St. Marys Church was rebuilt in 1754 and dominates the Islington skyline. It is still in use today, and is a venue for performances of traditional religious music. The Little Angel Theatre is a puppet theatre in a former Temperance hall. Directly opposite St. Marys Church is the Kings Head Theatre and it was the first pub theatre in the UK, located in the back room behind the bar at the Kings Head pub. The fields around Upper Street, with their proximity to the growing city of London, were a major farming area. Islington was the home of the Royal Agricultural Hall, and a number of pubs, in the 18th century Upper Street began to be redeveloped from an agricultural to a residential area. Ten houses were built in 1768, and a group built immediately south of Hornsey Row in 1792. A William Beverley, the first to solve the problem of a knights tour resided in these buildings. In the late century, the Upper Street area became notorious for its night-time entertainments. In 1870, Charles Dickens described the area as amongst the noisiest and most disagreeable thoroughfares in London, and in 1885, it was widely known as The Devils Mile on account of its prostitution, crime and the level of drunkenness. At the southern end of Upper Street is a tram shed. By the 1940s the service had ceased, and it was converted to an electricity substation, which was then closed by the 1970s. Following some years of lying derelict, it was reopened on 14 November 1979 as The Mall Antiques Arcade, the building also housed other businesses, such as a restaurant in its upper floors, but the mall closed in 2008. Since 2013, the building has housed several chains and it is currently a sofa. com outlet. The closure of the arcade reflects the reduction in the number of traders in the nearby Camden Passage. Upper Street was one of the settings for local resident Douglas Adamss The Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy series, the London-based sections of the later books are set in and around Upper Street, the home address of Fenchurch
13.
The Angel, Islington
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The Angel, Islington is a historic landmark and a series of buildings that have stood on the corner of Islington High Street and Pentonville Road in Islington, London, England. The land originally belonged to the Clerkenwell Priory and has had various properties built on it since the 16th century, the site was bisected by the New Road, which opened in 1756, and properties on the site have been rebuilt several times up to the 20th century. The corner site gave its name to Angel tube station, opened in 1901, the current structure was completed in 1903 and was known as the Angel Hotel. The building was acquired by J. Lyons and Co. in 1921 and was used as a restaurant, in 1935 it was chosen as a property for the British version of Monopoly. The building was sold to the London County Council in 1959 to be demolished as part of plans for improvement works that did not take place. It was returned to ownership, renovated from 1979 and reopened in 1982 as the Angel Corner House. It is currently used as offices and a branch of the Co-operative Bank, in 1998 a new pub called the Angel, operated by J D Wetherspoon, opened at an adjacent premises. In the early 16th century, a building in area of London on the Great North Road was known as the Sheepcote. It was named after lands belonging to St Johns Priory, the building was being used as an inn by the end of the 16th century and was known as the Angel by 1614. The inn took its name from the Angel of the Annunciation which appeared on the sign. The Angel Inn became a stop when travelling to the City of London, as the rural area outside it was considered dangerous. Despite its name, and common association with Islington, the grounds of the inn, by 1630, the inn was owned by William Riplingham, officer of the Great Wardrobe. Riplingham built an extension of the ranges on the site of the Angel Inn around 1638. These ranges survived up to the early 19th century, by 1677, the Angel was owned by James Compton, 3rd Earl of Northampton and occupied by Edward Fawcett, who ran the inn until his death in 1696. The premises accommodated livestock traders destined for Smithfield Market as well as long distance travellers, in the early 18th century, the Angel was the largest coaching house in a row of several along Islington High Street. Robert Bartholomew took over ownership of the inn in 1744 and was succeeded by his son, Christopher around 1766, the inn was the subject of William Hogarths 1747 drawing, The Stage-Coach, Or The Country Inn Yard, which depicted busy coaching inn trade and traffic. In his book The Inns and Taverns of Old London published in 1909, shelley said The Angel dates back to before 1665. In the seventeenth century and later, as old pictures testify, the building of the New Road in 1756 bisected the Angel Inn site and the stable buildings were cut off on the southern side
14.
Red Bull Theatre
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The Red Bull was a playhouse in London during the 17th century. For more than four decades, it entertained audiences drawn primarily from the suburbs, developing a reputation for rowdy. After Parliament closed the theatres in 1642, it continued to host illegal performances intermittently, and it burned in the Great Fire of London, among the last of the Renaissance theatres to fall. Less is known of the Red Bulls provenance than of other venues such as the Globe Theatre. It was constructed in 1604 on St John Street in Clerkenwell and this origin accounts for its square floor plan, a design shared only by the original Fortune among period playhouses. It may have named for cattle that were driven down St John Street toward the markets at Smithfield. Apart from these few facts, little is known of the theatres particulars, W. C. Lawrence argued that the theatre was roofed over in the early 1620s, but his arguments were largely refuted by Leslie Hotson and G. E. Bentley. Its occupancy was perhaps less than the nearly 3,000 of the Globe. In addition to Greene, Martin Slater, Aaron Holland, Queen Annes Men stayed at the theatre until 1617. The audience appears to have booed The White Devil in 1611, in 1617, the Queens Men, now directed by impresario Christopher Beeston moved to Beestons new Cockpit Theatre, the move prompted a mob of apprentices to burn the Cockpit on Shrove Tuesday 1617. The Queens Men returned to the Red Bull, however, only until the Cockpit was repaired and they were succeeded at the Red Bull by Prince Charles Men, partly financed by Edward Alleyn. The disintegration of Queen Annes men after Annes death in 1618 produced a little-understood reshuffling of these companies, after Jamess death, Charles assumed patronage of the Kings Men, and the former Prince Charles Men disbanded. From this date, a less reputable company took up residence at the Red Bull. Scholars generally call this troupe the Red Bull company, as the actors called themselves when in London, in 1627, Henry Herbert, acting on a request from John Heminges, ordered this company to cease performing Shakespeares plays. By 1634, the Red Bull housed a new company patronized by the child Prince Charles II, along with all the other theatres in London, the Red Bull was closed for plays in 1642 by the Puritans. There followed a crackdown on performances by Parliament, which grew wiser to the implications of advertisements for rope dancing. On 20 December 1649, the Red Bull was successfully raided, a number of arrested and imprisoned. The Red Bull is the only theatre incontestably associated with drolls, in 1653, Robert Cox was arrested at the Red Bull for a performance which crossed the line and was deemed a play
15.
Great Fire of London
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The Great Fire of London was a major conflagration that swept through the central parts of the English city of London from Sunday,2 September to Wednesday,5 September 1666. The fire gutted the medieval City of London inside the old Roman city wall and it threatened but did not reach the aristocratic district of Westminster, Charles IIs Palace of Whitehall, and most of the suburban slums. It consumed 13,200 houses,87 parish churches, St Pauls Cathedral and it is estimated to have destroyed the homes of 70,000 of the Citys 80,000 inhabitants. The death toll is unknown but traditionally thought to have been small, a melted piece of pottery on display at the Museum of London found by archaeologists in Pudding Lane, where the fire started, shows that the temperature reached 1250 °C. The Great Fire started at the bakery of Thomas Farriner on Pudding Lane shortly after midnight on Sunday,2 September, by the time that large-scale demolitions were ordered on Sunday night, the wind had already fanned the bakery fire into a firestorm that defeated such measures. The fire pushed north on Monday into the heart of the City, order in the streets broke down as rumours arose of suspicious foreigners setting fires. The fears of the focused on the French and Dutch, Englands enemies in the ongoing Second Anglo-Dutch War. The social and economic problems created by the disaster were overwhelming, evacuation from London and resettlement elsewhere were strongly encouraged by Charles II, who feared a London rebellion amongst the dispossessed refugees. Despite numerous radical proposals, London was reconstructed on essentially the same street plan used before the fire, by the 1660s, London was by far the largest city in Britain, estimated at half a million inhabitants. By inartificial, Evelyn meant unplanned and makeshift, the result of organic growth, London had been a Roman settlement for four centuries and had become progressively more crowded inside its defensive city wall. It had also pushed outwards beyond the wall into squalid extramural slums such as Shoreditch, Holborn, and Southwark, the City was surrounded by a ring of inner suburbs where most Londoners lived. The City was then, as now, the heart of the capital. The aristocracy shunned the City and lived either in the countryside beyond the suburbs, or in the exclusive Westminster district. The relationship was tense between the City and the Crown. The City magistrates were of the generation that had fought in the Civil War and they were determined to thwart any similar tendencies in his son, and when the Great Fire threatened the City, they refused the offers that Charles made of soldiers and other resources. Even in such an emergency, the idea of having the unpopular Royal troops ordered into the City was political dynamite, by the time that Charles took over command from the ineffectual Lord Mayor, the fire was already out of control. The City was essentially medieval in its plan, an overcrowded warren of narrow, winding. It had experienced major fires before 1666, the most recent in 1632
16.
James Burnett, Lord Monboddo
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James Burnett, Lord Monboddo, was a Scottish judge, scholar of linguistic evolution, philosopher and deist. He is most famous today as a founder of comparative historical linguistics. In 1767 he became a judge in the Court of Session, as such, Burnett adopted an honorary title based on the name of his fathers estate and family seat, Monboddo House. Monboddo was one of a number of scholars involved at the time in development of concepts of evolution. Some credit him with anticipating in principle the idea of selection that was developed into a scientific theory by Charles Darwin. James Burnett was born in 1714 at Monboddo House in Kincardineshire, after his primary education at the parish school of Laurencekirk, he studied at Marischal College, Aberdeen, from where he was graduated in 1729. He also studied at University of Edinburgh and the University of Groningen, at Edinburgh University he graduated in law and was admitted to the Faculty of Advocates in 1737. Burnett married Elizabethe Farquharson and they had two daughters and a son, burnetts younger daughter Elizabeth Burnett was an Edinburgh celebrity, known for her beauty and amiability. Tragically, she died from consumption at the age of 24, burnetts friend the Scottish poet Robert Burns had a romantic interest in Elizabeth and wrote a poem, Elegy on The Late Miss Burnet of Monboddo, praising her beauty, which became her elegy. Monboddos early work in practising law found him in a piece of litigation of his time, known as the Douglas cause. Burnett, as the solicitor for the young Douglas heir, was victorious after years of legal battle, from 1754 until 1767 Monboddo was one of a number of distinguished proprietors of the Canongate Theatre. He clearly enjoyed this even when some of his fellow judges pointed out that the activity might cast a shadow over his sombre image as jurist. Here he had occasion to further associate with David Hume who was an actor in one of the plays. He had actually met Hume earlier when Monboddo was a curator of the Advocates Library, from 1769 until 1775 John Hunter acted as his personal secretary. In the era after Monboddo was appointed to Justice of the court, he organised learned suppers at his house on 13 St John Street. Local intellectuals were invited to attend attic repasts, Monboddo rode to London on horseback each year and visited Hampton Court as well as other intellectuals of the era, the King himself was fond of Monboddos colourful discussions. Monboddo is buried in Greyfriars Kirkyard in Edinburgh along with his daughter Elizabeth where they have unmarked graves in the enclosure of Patrick Grant of Elchies. In The Origin and Progress of Language Burnett analysed the structure of languages, Burnett was the first to note that some languages create lengthy words for rather simple concepts
17.
James Boswell
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James Boswell, 9th Laird of Auchinleck, was a Scottish biographer and diarist, born in Edinburgh. Boswells surname has passed into the English language as a term for a constant companion and observer, Boswell was born in Blairs Land on the east side of Parliament Close behind St Giles Cathedral in Edinburgh on 29 October 1740. He was the eldest son of a judge, Alexander Boswell, Lord Auchinleck, as the eldest son, he was heir to his familys estate of Auchinleck in Ayrshire. Boswells mother was a strict Calvinist, and he felt that his father was cold to him, as a child, he was delicate and suffered from some type of nervous ailment which appeared to be inherent and would afflict him sporadically all through his life. At the age of five, he was sent to James Mundells academy, an institution by the standards of the time. Boswell was unhappy there, and his sickliness began to manifest itself in the physical incidents associated with nightmares, in view of this, the now-eight-year-old was removed from the academy and educated by a string of private tutors who included John Dunn and a Mr. Fergusson. The former had more success than his successor, he versed his charge in the joys of literature. Dunn was also present during, if not directly involved in, Boswells serious affliction of 1752 and this afforded him his first experience of genuine society, and his recovery was rapid and complete. It may, however, have inculcated the notion that travel, at thirteen, Boswell was enrolled into the arts course at the University of Edinburgh, studying there from 1753 to 1758. Midway through his studies, he suffered a depression and nervous illness, but. Boswell had swarthy skin, black hair and dark eyes, he was of average height and his appearance was alert and masculine, and he had an ingratiating sense of good humour. Upon turning nineteen, he was sent to continue his studies at the University of Glasgow, while at Glasgow, Boswell decided to convert to Catholicism and become a monk. Upon learning of this, his father ordered him home, instead of obeying, though, Boswell ran away to London, where he spent three months, living the life of a libertine, before he was taken back to Scotland by his father. Upon returning, he was re-enrolled at Edinburgh University and forced by his father to sign away most of his inheritance in return for an allowance of £100 a year, on 30 July 1762, Boswell took his oral law exam, which he passed with some skill. Upon this success, Lord Auchinleck decided to raise his sons allowance to £200 a year and it was during his second spell there that Boswell wrote his London Journal and, on 16 May 1763, met Johnson for the first time. The pair became friends almost immediately, the first conversation between Johnson and Boswell is quoted in Life of Samuel Johnson as follows, Mr. Johnson, I do indeed come from Scotland, but I cannot help it. That, Sir, I find, is what a great many of your countrymen cannot help. It was around three months after this first encounter with Johnson that Boswell departed for Europe with the goal of continuing his law studies at Utrecht University
18.
Robert Burns
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Robert Burns, also known as Rabbie Burns, the Bard of Ayrshire, Ploughman Poet and various other names and epithets, was a Scottish poet and lyricist. He is widely regarded as the poet of Scotland and is celebrated worldwide. He is the best known of the poets who have written in the Scots language, although much of his writing is also in English and he also wrote in standard English, and in these writings his political or civil commentary is often at its bluntest. Celebration of his life and work became almost a national charismatic cult during the 19th and 20th centuries, in 2009 he was chosen as the greatest Scot by the Scottish public in a vote run by Scottish television channel STV. As well as making original compositions, Burns also collected songs from across Scotland. His poem Auld Lang Syne is often sung at Hogmanay, and he was born in a house built by his father, where he lived until Easter 1766, when he was seven years old. William Burnes sold the house and took the tenancy of the 70-acre Mount Oliphant farm, here Burns grew up in poverty and hardship, and the severe manual labour of the farm left its traces in a premature stoop and a weakened constitution. By the age of 15, Burns was the principal labourer at Mount Oliphant, during the harvest of 1774, he was assisted by Nelly Kilpatrick, who inspired his first attempt at poetry, O, Once I Lovd A Bonnie Lass. In the summer of 1775, he was sent to finish his education with a tutor at Kirkoswald, despite his ability and character, William Burnes was consistently unfortunate, and migrated with his large family from farm to farm without ever being able to improve his circumstances. Subsequently, the family became integrated into the community of Tarbolton, to his fathers disapproval, Robert joined a country dancing school in 1779 and, with Gilbert, formed the Tarbolton Bachelors Club the following year. His earliest existing letters date from this time, when he began making overtures to Alison Begbie. In spite of four songs written for her and a suggestion that he was willing to marry her, Robert Burns was initiated into masonic Lodge St David, Tarbolton, on 4 July 1781, when he was 22. This venture accordingly came to an end, and Burns went home to Lochlea farm, during this time he met and befriended Captain Richard Brown who encouraged him to become a poet. He continued to write poems and songs and began a book in 1783. The case went to the Court of Session, and Burnes was upheld in January 1784, a fortnight before he died. During the summer of 1784 Burns came to know a group of girls known collectively as The Belles of Mauchline, one of whom was Jean Armour, the daughter of a stonemason from Mauchline. His first child, Elizabeth Paton Burns, was born to his mothers servant, Elizabeth Paton, while he was embarking on a relationship with Jean Armour, Burns signed a paper attesting his marriage to Jean, but her father was in the greatest distress, and fainted away. To avoid disgrace, her parents sent her to live with her uncle in Paisley, although Armours father initially forbade it, they were eventually married in 1788
19.
Samuel Johnson
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Johnson was a devout Anglican and committed Tory, and is described by the Oxford Dictionary of National Biography as arguably the most distinguished man of letters in English history. He is also the subject of perhaps the most famous biography in English literature, born in Lichfield, Staffordshire, Johnson attended Pembroke College, Oxford for just over a year, before his lack of funds forced him to leave. After working as a teacher, he moved to London, where he began to write for The Gentlemans Magazine and his early works include the biography Life of Mr Richard Savage, the poems London and The Vanity of Human Wishes, and the play Irene. After nine years of work, Johnsons A Dictionary of the English Language was published in 1755 and it had a far-reaching effect on Modern English and has been described as one of the greatest single achievements of scholarship. This work brought Johnson popularity and success, until the completion of the Oxford English Dictionary 150 years later, Johnsons was viewed as the pre-eminent British dictionary. His later works included essays, an annotated edition of The Plays of William Shakespeare. In 1763, he befriended James Boswell, with whom he travelled to Scotland. Towards the end of his life, he produced the massive and influential Lives of the Most Eminent English Poets, Johnson was a tall and robust man. His odd gestures and tics were disconcerting to some on first meeting him, after a series of illnesses, he died on the evening of 13 December 1784, and was buried in Westminster Abbey. Born on 18 September 1709, to Michael Johnson, a bookseller and he did not cry and, with doubts surrounding the newborns health, his aunt exclaimed that she would not have picked such a poor creature up in the street. Since it was feared that the baby die, the vicar of St Marys was summoned to perform a baptism. Two godfathers were chosen, Samuel Swynfen, a physician and graduate of Pembroke College, Oxford, and Richard Wakefield, a lawyer, coroner, Johnsons health improved and he was put to wet-nurse with Joan Marklew. He soon contracted scrofula, known at time as the Kings Evil because it was thought royalty could cure it. Sir John Floyer, former physician to King Charles II, recommended that the young Johnson should receive the royal touch, however, the ritual was ineffective, and an operation was performed that left him with permanent scars across his face and body. Johnson demonstrated signs of intelligence as a child, and his parents, to his later disgust. His education began at the age of three, and was provided by his mother, who had him memorise and recite passages from the Book of Common Prayer. When Samuel turned four, he was sent to a nearby school, a year later, Johnson went to Lichfield Grammar School, where he excelled in Latin. During this time, Johnson started to exhibit the tics that would influence how people viewed him in his years
20.
Post Office Ltd
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The company is owned by the British Governments Department for Business, Innovation and Skills, through Postal Services Holding Company Limited. Post Office branches, along with the Royal Mail delivery service, were part of the General Post Office. Post Office Counters Ltd was created as an owned subsidiary of the Post Office corporation in 1986. After the Post Office corporation was renamed Royal Mail Group in 2001, Post Office Ltd has in recent years announced losses, a reported £102 million in 2006. This has raised concerns in the media regarding Post Office Ltds ability as a company to operate efficiently. Plans to cut the subsidy for rural post offices led to the announcement that 2,500 local post offices were to be closed. This announcement resulted in a backlash from local communities that relied on the service, in 2007, the government gave a £1.7 billion subsidy to Royal Mail Group so that it could turn a profit by 2011. This was to be used to invest across the network of Royal Mail, Post Office Ltd. 85 Crown post offices were closed,70 of which were sold to WHSmith and this followed a trial of six Post Office outlets in WHSmith stores. WHSmith was expected to make up to £2.5 million extra in annual profit,2,500 sub-post offices closed between 2008 and 2009. Redundancy packages were provided from public funding, in November 2010, the government committed £1.34 billion of funding up to 2015 to Post Office Ltd to enable it to modernise the Post Office network. As part of the Postal Services Act 2011, Post Office Ltd became independent of Royal Mail Group on 1 April 2012, a ten-year inter-business agreement was signed between the two companies to allow post offices to continue issuing stamps and handling letters and parcels for Royal Mail. The Act also contained the option for Post Office Ltd to become an organisation in the future. On 8 February 2013, Post Office Ltd announced it was planning to move around seventy of its Crown post offices into shops and this would reduce the Crown network, which it stated was losing £40 million a year, to around 300. On 27 November 2013, the government committed an additional £640 million of funding for 2015 to 2018 to allow Post Office Ltd to complete its network modernisation. There are currently around 11,500 post office branches across the UK, the majority of other branches are either run by various franchise partners or local subpostmaster or operators, as sub-postoffices. The Post Office has a variety of services throughout the network of branches. Products and services available vary throughout the network, main post offices generally provide the range of services
21.
St. Martin's Le Grand
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St. Martins Le Grand was a former parish and liberty within the City of London, and is the name of a one-way street north of Newgate Street and Cheapside and south of Aldersgate Street. To the east of the road stood the collegiate church and monastic precinct of St Martins. The precinct was within the City, but was not subject to its jurisdiction, according to a somewhat dubious tradition, the church dated to the 7th or 8th century and was founded by King Wihtred of Kent. It was, more certainly, rebuilt or founded about 1056 by two brothers, Ingelric and Girard, during the reign of Edward the Confessor and its foundation was confirmed by a charter of William the Conqueror, dating to 1068. The church was responsible for the sounding of the bell in the evenings. It was dissolved by King Henry VIII and demolished in 1548 and it retained certain rights of sanctuary until 1697 and, as such, was a notorious haven for malefactors. One who sought sanctuary here was Miles Forrest, one of the murderers of the Princes in the Tower. The General Post Office established its headquarters on the site of the precinct in 1829. From here mail coaches departed for destinations across the country, coaches bound for the north went up St Martins Le Grand through Aldersgate – the first section of the Great North Road to York and Edinburgh. It replaced the previous starting point at Hicks Hall in Smithfield Market, the Post Office building, a Neoclassical design by Robert Smirke, was demolished in 1911 and replaced by new premises immediately to the west, on the former site of Christs Hospital school. St Martins Le Grand was part of the course of the 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games. Guglielmo Marconi and assistant George Kemp successfully demonstrated the wireless telegraphy system between two Post Office buildings on 27 July 1896, a transmitter was placed on the roof of the Central Telegraph Office and a receiver on the roof of the General Post Office South. The distance between the two buildings was 300 metres, later that year the Post Office provided funding for Marconi to conduct further experiments on Salisbury Plain. A plaque now appears at the BT Centre site, no such marker on the building replaced the GPO South in the early years of the 21st Century. The narrator in H. G. Wells War of the Worlds mentions that news of the Martians deaths was first spread by a survivor who had gone to St. Martins-le-Grand, the nearest London Underground station is St. Pauls, at the southern end of the street
22.
Aldersgate
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Aldersgate is a Ward of the City of London, named after a gate in the ancient London Wall around the City. The gate also gave its name to Aldersgate Street, which runs north from the site of the gate towards Clerkenwell. The name Aldersgate is first recorded around 1000 in the form Ealdredesgate, the gate, constructed by the Romans in the 2nd or 3rd centuries when London Wall was constructed, probably acquired its name in the late Saxon period. The ward of Aldersgate straddles the line of London Wall and the old gate and historically was divided into Within and Without divisions and it took in the liberty of St. Martins Le Grand when that was dis-established in the 16th century. However, since boundary changes in 2003, almost all of the ward is Without. In 1554 Aldersgate Street was the scene of a fraud where Elizabeth Crofts was smuggled into a wall to pretend to be a heavenly voice, reputedly 17,000 people came to listen to her give out anti-catholic propaganda. The old gate was taken down in 1617, and rebuilt in the year from a design by Gerard Christmas. The gate was damaged in the Great Fire of London in 1666 but was repaired and remained until 1761, the house of Sarah Sawyer, in Rose and Rainbow Court, formed one of the earliest Quaker meetings in London. In 1675, it became a meeting house, the Box Meeting, used mainly by Quaker women for poor relief. Aldersgate Street forms a section of the A1 route towards Edinburgh. It is located on the west side of the Barbican Estate and Barbican Centre, near St Bartholomews Hospital, northbound it continues into Goswell Road at the junction with Fann Street, southbound it continues into St. Martins Le Grand. Barbican tube station is located on Aldersgate Street and when it was opened in 1865 was named Aldersgate Street tube station, in 1910 it was renamed Aldersgate, then Aldersgate & Barbican in 1924, before finally being renamed Barbican in 1968. Originally Aldersgate Street only corresponded to the starting from the church of St Botolph without Aldersgate towards Long Lane. The portion of the road from Long Lane till Goswell Street was formerly named Pickax Street and this name may derive from Pickt Hatch, an area of brothels said to be in this part of London during the Elizabethan era. Pick Hatch is mentioned in The Merry Wives of Windsor and in The Alchemist, by the late eighteenth century the name Pickax was no more in use, and the road was fully incorporated into Aldersgate Street. 28 Aldersgate Street is the former location of a Moravian Church. On 24 May 1738, attending a meeting at the church, the following year, he broke with the Moravians and founded the Methodist Society of England. The yearly anniversary of his experience is celebrated by Methodists as Aldersgate Day, wesleys Chapel, in nearby City Road, remains a major focal point of the international Methodist movement
23.
Highgate
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Highgate is a suburban area of north London at the north-eastern corner of Hampstead Heath,4.5 miles north north-west of Charing Cross. Highgate is one of the most expensive London suburbs in which to live and it has an active conservation body, the Highgate Society, to protect its character. Until late Victorian times it was a village outside London. The area retains many green expanses including the part of Hampstead Heath. The village is at the top of North Hill which provides views across London, the area is divided between three London boroughs, Haringey in the north, Camden in the south and west, and Islington in the south and east. Historically, Highgate adjoined the Bishop of Londons hunting estate, Highgate gets its name from these hunting grounds, as there was a high, deer-proof hedge surrounding the estate, the gate in the hedge. The bishop kept a toll-house where one of the main roads out of London entered his land. A number of pubs sprang up along the route, one of which, in later centuries Highgate was associated with the highwayman Dick Turpin. Hampstead Lane and Highgate Hill contain the red brick Victorian buildings of Highgate School, the school has played a paramount role in the life of the village and has existed on its site since its founding was permitted by letters patent from Queen Elizabeth I in 1565. The area north of the High Street and Hampstead Lane was part of Hornsey parish and also later the Municipal Borough of Hornsey, Highgate Hill, the steep street linking Archway and Highgate village, was the route of the first cable car to be built in Europe. It operated between 1884 and 1909, like much of London, Highgate suffered damage during World War II by German air raids. The local tube station was used as a bomb shelter, some notable favourites are the Angel, the Flask, the Dukes Head and the Wrestlers. The 2011 census showed that the Highgate ward of Haringey was 82% white, the Highgate ward of Camden meanwhile was 80% white, and 3% Black African. For details of education in the Haringey portion of Highgate see the London Borough of Haringey article, on Friday 26 August 1988, Michael Williams, a 43-year-old father from Highgate who worked for the Home Office in Pimlico, disappeared whilst travelling back home after an employee social. His body was found at Highgate Wood the next day and his killer has never been found. The case remains unsolved despite being featured heavily in the national press, between 1930 and 1939, the wife and son of Adolf Hitlers half-brother, Alois, lived in Highgate, before moving to the United States. Bridget and Patrick Hitler lived at 26 Priory Gardens, leslie Compton, formerly an Arsenal footballer and a Middlesex cricketer, owned a pub in Highgate after he retired from sports. Singer George Michael owned an ₤8 million house in Highgate, southend United striker Nile Ranger was born in Highgate
24.
Chipping Barnet
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Chipping Barnet or High Barnet is a market town in the London Borough of Barnet, England. Its name is often abbreviated to just Barnet, which is also the name of the borough of which it forms a part. Chipping Barnet is one of the urban settlements in London. The towns name derives from an ancient settlement, recorded as Barneto c,1070, Barnet 1197, La Barnette 1248, that is the land cleared by burning, from Old English bærnet, referring to the clearing of this once densely forested area in early times. This was one of the most important battles of the Wars of the Roses, Barnet Hill is said to be the hill mentioned in the nursery rhyme The Grand Old Duke of York. It is also the site of an ancient and well-known horse fair, the fair dates back to 1588 when Queen Elizabeth I granted a charter to the Lord of the Manor of Barnet to hold a twice yearly fair. The famous Barnet Market is now over 810 years old, on 23 August 1199 King John issued a charter for a market at Barnet to the Lord of the Manor, the Abbot of St. Albans, John de Cella. Chipping Barnet was historically a parish of Hertfordshire and formed part of the Barnet Urban District from 1894. The parish was abolished in 1965 and the Chipping Barnet section of its area was transferred from Hertfordshire to Greater London. In 1801 the parish had a population of 1,258, by 1901 the parish was reduced to 380 acres and had a population of 2,893. In 1951 the population was 7,062, in Saxon times the site was part of an extensive wood called Southaw, belonging to the Abbey of St Albans. The name of the town appears in deeds as Bergnet – the Saxon word Bergnet meant a little hill. Barnets elevated position is indicated in one of its alternative names, which appears in many old books and maps. The area was historically a common resting point on the traditional Great North Road between the City of London and York and Edinburgh, Barnet Council has been treating any such alterations to public road signs as vandalism. Playing on its antiquity, it continues to call itself Barnet Church, the parish church of St Mary the Virgin, Monken Hadley also has parish boundaries which include a significant part of High Barnet, including much of Barnet High Street. The living of Barnet is a curacy, held with the rectory of East Barnet till the death of the last incumbent in 1866, in addition to the charity established to maintain his fathers tomb, James Ravenscroft established a charity to support six poor and ancient women. The tower of Barnet parish church — St John the Baptist — at the top of Barnet Hill claims to be the highest point between itself and the Ural Mountains 2,000 miles to the east, however, the same has been said of numerous other points. Since the opening of the railway, development has increased considerably, especially in the west of the area near Arkley, for a London town, Barnet lies very high
25.
Hatfield, Hertfordshire
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Hatfield is a town and civil parish in Hertfordshire, England, in the borough of Welwyn Hatfield. It had a population of 29,616 in 2001, increasing to 39,201 at the 2011 Census, the settlement is of Saxon origin. Hatfield House, the home of the Marquess of Salisbury, is the nucleus of the old town, Hatfield was one of the post-war New Towns built around London and has much modernist architecture from the period. The University of Hertfordshire is based there, Hatfield is 20 miles north of London and is connected to the capital via the A1 and direct trains to London Kings Cross, Finsbury Park and Moorgate. As a result, the town has seen a recent increase in commuters who work in London moving to the area. In the Saxon period Hatfield was known as Hetfelle, but by the year 970, No other records remain until 1226, when Henry III granted the Bishops of Ely rights to an annual four-day fair and a weekly market. The town was then called Bishops Hatfield, Hatfield House is the seat of the Cecil family, the Marquesses of Salisbury. Elizabeth Tudor was confined there for three years in what is now known as The Old Palace in Hatfield Park. Legend has it that it was here in 1558, while sitting under an oak tree in the Park and she held her first Council in the Great Hall of Hatfield. In 1851, the route of the Great North Road was altered to avoid cutting through the grounds of Hatfield House, the town grew up around the gates of Hatfield House. Old Hatfield retains many buildings, notably the Old Palace, St Etheldredas Church. The Old Palace was built by the Bishop of Ely, Cardinal Morton, in 1497, during the reign of Henry VII, and the only surviving wing is still used today for Elizabethan-style banquets. St Etheldredas Church was founded by the monks from Ely, in 1930 the de Havilland airfield and aircraft factory was opened at Hatfield and by 1949 it had become the largest employer in the town, with almost 4,000 staff. It was taken over by Hawker Siddeley in 1960 and merged into British Aerospace in 1978, in the 1930s it produced a range of small biplanes. During the Second World War it produced the Mosquito fighter bomber and developed the Vampire, after the war, facilities were expanded and it developed the Comet airliner, the Trident airliner, and an early bizjet, the DH125. British Aerospace closed the Hatfield site in 1993 having moved the BAe 146 production line to Woodford Aerodrome, the land was used as a film set for Steven Spielbergs movie Saving Private Ryan and most of the BBC/HBO television drama Band of Brothers. It was later developed for housing, higher education, commerce, today, Hatfields aviation history is remembered by the names of certain local streets and pubs as well as The Comet Hotel built in the 1930s. The de Havilland Aircraft Heritage Centre, at Salisbury Hall in nearby London Colney, preserves and displays many historic de Havilland aeroplanes, the Abercrombie Plan for London in 1944 proposed a New Town in Hatfield
26.
Baldock
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Baldock is a historic market town in the local government district of North Hertfordshire in the ceremonial county of Hertfordshire, England where the River Ivel rises. It lies 33 miles north of London,15 miles southeast of Bedford, nearby towns include Royston to the northeast, Letchworth and Hitchin to the southwest and Stevenage to the south. Paleolithic, Neolithic and Bronze Age settlements show the site of Baldock has been occupied since prehistoric times. At the beginning of the Iron Age there was a hillfort at Arbury Banks,5 km to the northeast of Baldock, in the Late Iron Age, the local power base shifted from the hillfort to the vicinity of Baldock. The soil was easily farmed and transportation was more convenient, in the Roman and late Roman eras the community appears to have been both a market town and religious centre. There is no entry for Baldock in the Domesday Book, Baldock was founded by the Knights Templar as a medieval market town in the 1140s. It was laid out by the Knights Templar on land in the manor of Weston in the hundred of Broadwater, granted by the earl of Pembroke, Gilbert de Clare, before his death in 1148. The 1850 tithe map, drawn up before the parish boundaries were extended in the later 19th century, clearly shows the boundaries of the land grant made from the manor of Weston in the 12th century. It is a parcel of land beside the old Roman Road cut out from an older estate. Founding contemporaneous documents use the spelling Baudac and this place is first recorded as Baldac in the Pipe Rolls of Hertfordshire in 1168. It is possible the Knights Templar used an already in use. Other etymologies have suggested, including Middle English balled meaning bald together with Old English ac meaning oak. In addition the settlement was thriving as a late-Saxon part of Weston. Marco Polo relates that in 1225 Alau the Great Lord of the Tartars captured the Calif and the great city of Baudac, achieving what the Crusaders had not. The connection between the city of Baudac and the ruins of Babylon, in the facile minds of the Templars, were obscurely compared with the great city of London. The modern layout of the town and many buildings in the date from the sixteenth century. The town thrived where the old Great North Road and the Icknield Way crossed. Despite the construction of the A1 motorway in 1963, which bypassed the town, it was still a major traffic bottleneck until March 2006, when a new bypass removed the A505 road from the town
27.
Biggleswade
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Biggleswade is a market town and civil parish located on the River Ivel in Bedfordshire, England. New housing developments mean that expansion is predicted to continue into the foreseeable future, Biggleswade is located about 40 miles north of Central London and 20 miles to the west-south-west of Cambridge. Situated with a station on the East Coast Main Line, Biggleswade is around half-an-hour from the city by train. In 2011 the population of the town was about 16,550, the Biggleswade civil parish also includes the nearby hamlet of Holme, Bedfordshire. The town lies just off the A1, Britains Great North Road between London and Edinburgh - and the B1040, which leads to Potton in the north, Biggleswade is also situated on the A6001, which leads to Langford and Henlow to the south. At the north end of Biggleswade past Shortmead House lies a solar farm, whilst a wind farm of ten turbines sits beyond the south end of the town. The area around Biggleswade is thought to have been inhabited from around 10,000 BC, in Roman times, a loop road known as the White Way passed through Biggleswade, linking up with the Ermine Way at Godmanchester. Biggleswade is mentioned in the Domesday Book, the entry reads Bichelesuuade/Pichelsuuade, Ralph de lIsle. 2 mills Variations on spelling include Bykeleswad, in 1396, the spelling Bykleswade and its variations occur in Law records of the 15th century, e. g. in 1430. In 2001 a gold bearing the name Coenwulf was discovered at Biggleswade on a footpath beside the River Ivel. The 4.33 g mancus, worth about 30 silver pennies, is only the eighth known Anglo-Saxon gold coin dating to the mid to late Anglo-Saxon period, the coins inscription, DE VICO LVNDONIAE, indicates that it was minted in London. In 1132, Henry I granted the manor of Biggleswade to Bishop Alexander – Alexander the Magnificent – of Lincoln to help endow Lincoln Cathedral. The town was granted a charter to hold a market during the reign of King John – a market is held in the market place in the centre of the town every Tuesday and Saturday. The medieval Church of St Andrew is the parish church. Biggleswade Castle existed in earlier times, as did a manor at Stratton Park Moated Enclosure, on 16 June 1785 there was a large fire in the town. The fire started at the Crown Inn and spread rapidly through the neighbouring streets, by the time the fire had been brought under control, nearly one-third of the town had been destroyed, including 103 houses leaving 332 people homeless. A national appeal was launched to raise funds for the people who had lost their homes. In the local church there is a stained glass window depicting the fire
28.
Alconbury
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Alconbury is a village and civil parish in Cambridgeshire, England. Alconbury is situated within Huntingdonshire which is a district of Cambridgeshire as well as being an historic county of England. Alconbury lies approximately 5 miles north-west of Huntingdon, in 1085 William the Conqueror ordered that a survey should be carried out across his kingdom to discover who owned which parts and what it was worth. The survey took place in 1086 and the results were recorded in what, Alconbury was listed in the Domesday Book in the Hundred of Leightonstone in Huntingdonshire, the name of the settlement was written as Acumesberie and Almundeburie in the Domesday Book. In 1086 there was just one manor at Alconbury, the rent paid to the lord of the manor in 1066 had been £12. The Domesday Book does not explicitly detail the population of a place, there is no consensus about the average size of a household at that time, estimates range from 3.5 to 5 people per household. Using these figures then an estimate of the population of Alconbury in 1086 is that it was within the range of 61 and 87 people, the Domesday Book uses a number of units of measure for areas of land that are now unfamiliar terms, such as hides and ploughlands. By 1086, the hide had become a unit of tax assessment rather than a land area. The survey records that there was 18 ploughlands at Alconbury in 1086, in addition to the arable land, there was 80 acres of meadows at Alconbury. The tax assessment in the Domesday Book was known as geld or danegeld and was a type of land-tax based on the hide or ploughland and it was originally a way of collecting a tribute to pay off the Danes when they attacked England, and was only levied when necessary. Following the Norman Conquest, the geld was used to raise money for the King and to pay for continental wars, by 1130, the geld was being collected annually. Having determined the value of a land and other assets. While this was two shillings in the pound the amount did vary, for example, in 1084 it was as high as six shillings in the pound. For the manor at Alconbury the total tax assessed was 5 geld, in 1086 there was no church at Alconbury. The church is dedicated to St Peter and St Paul, the Great North Road passed through the village and Alconbury Weston to the north-west. The A1 was dualled from Water Newton to Alconbury Hill in three stages in 1958, the £1. 25m two mile A1 bypass opened in December 1964, joining the road at the point where it now meets the A14 at the junction at the top of a hill. It followed part of the former A604, in November 1998, the bypass was converted into the A1 which terminates next of the village. The former road is partly the B1043 which is part of the former A14
29.
Ermine Street
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Ermine Street is the name of a major Roman road in England that ran from London to Lincoln and York. Armingford, and Arrington share the same Old English origin, the original Roman name for the route is unknown. It is also known as the Old North Road from London to where it joins the A1 Great North Road near Godmanchester, Ermine Street begins at Bishopsgate, where one of the seven gates in the wall surrounding Roman London was located. From here it runs north up Norton Folgate, Shoreditch High Street and Kingsland Road through Stoke Newington, Tottenham, Edmonton and this section of Ermine Street from London to Royston, Hertfordshire is now largely part of the A10. At this point it crosses the Icknield Way, from Royston, it was formerly the A14 to the A1 but now it is the A1198 to Godmanchester. Ignoring bypasses and modern diversions, the road through Huntingdon to the Alconbury junction on the A1 gives the line, the section from Alconbury to Water Newton, ignoring modern bypasses such as that at Stilton, follows the A1. Ermine street used to pass through Durobrivae, the remains of which can be seen to the east. The modern road returns to Ermine Street north-west of Stamford, near Great Casterton, the post-Roman road wandered off for two and half miles through Colsterworth, but Ermine Street continues as the B6403, through Ancaster to the A17. It then continues as a right of way, easily walked. The route from Colsterworth, through Ancaster, to Bracebridge Heath is known as High Dike and it runs roughly parallel with and to the east of the A607 between Carlton Scroop and Harmston. High Dike takes to the level, open, dry country of the Lincolnshire Heath while the A607 wanders through the villages on the line below. Roman Winteringham was the terminal for the ferry to Petuaria on the shore of the Humber. From there, the road curved westwards to York and this landing place on the south shore of the Humber is significant because Winteringham translates as the homestead of Wintas people. Apart from Woden, the god, the first leader on Lindseys list of kings is Winta, clearly, the end of the Jurassic limestone ridge at the Humber was significant in the English settlement of Lincolnshire. Winterton is a further inland. Ermine Street and the River Trent together were evidently an important early route of entry into early post-Roman Britain, the Roman Map of Britain above shows a sector of Ermine Street for which there was an alternative route. As Ermine Street extended north out of Lincoln and past Scampton an alternative course of Ermine Street curved left and formed a semicircle on a wide heading west of the Humber Estuary. The straight northerly route, traced in red on the map, thus an alternative route was established
30.
Stilton
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In 1085 William the Conqueror ordered that a survey should be carried out across his kingdom to discover who owned which parts and what it was worth. The survey took place in 1086 and the results were recorded in what, Stilton was listed in the Domesday Book in the Hundred of Normancross in Huntingdonshire, the name of the settlement was written as Stichiltone and Sticilitone in the Domesday Book. In 1086 there were three manors at Stilton, the rent paid to the lords of the manors in 1066 had been £4. The Domesday Book does not explicitly detail the population of a place, there is no consensus about the average size of a household at that time, estimates range from 3. Using these figures then an estimate of the population of Stilton in 1086 is that it was within the range of 35 and 50 people, the Domesday Book uses a number of units of measure for areas of land that are now unfamiliar, such as hides and ploughlands. By 1086, the hide had become a unit of tax assessment rather than a land area. The survey records that there were 6,37 ploughlands at Stilton in 1086 and that there was the capacity for a further 1. In addition to the land, there was 32 acres of meadows and 10 acres of woodland at Stilton. The tax assessment in the Domesday Book was known as geld or danegeld and was a type of land-tax based on the hide or ploughland and it was originally a way of collecting a tribute to pay off the Danes when they attacked England, and was only levied when necessary. Following the Norman Conquest, the geld was used to raise money for the King and to pay for continental wars, by 1130, the geld was being collected annually. Having determined the value of a land and other assets. While this was two shillings in the pound the amount did vary, for example, in 1084 it was as high as six shillings in the pound. For the manors at Stilton the total tax assessed was five geld, in 1086 there was no church at Stilton. At one time there were 14 public houses for a population of around 500, the main inns of the period were The Bell and The Angel, both of which are still in existence. The Bell Inn has been recorded since 1515 and was rebuilt in 1642, the Angel Inn, dating from the early 17th century, was rebuilt as an impressive red brick house in the 18th century. It ceased to be an inn and was burned in 1923. Fires also damaged the village as a whole in 1729,1798 and 1895. 25-mile-long A1 bypass on 21 July 1958 by David Renton, Baron Renton reduced passing trade through the village to almost nil. The bypass was the first from London to Newcastle when the A1 was completely improved in the late 1950s, the Bell Inn closed and fell into disrepair and the village as a whole lost many businesses
31.
River Welland
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The River Welland is a lowland river in the east of England, some 65 miles long. It drains part of the Midlands eastwards to The Wash, the river rises in the Hothorpe Hills, at Sibbertoft in Northamptonshire, then flows generally northeast to Market Harborough, Stamford and Spalding, to reach The Wash near Fosdyke. It is a waterway across the part of the Fens called South Holland. There are two channels between widely spaced embankments with the intention that flood waters would have space in which to spread while the tide in the estuary prevented free egress. The canal section was known as the Stamford Canal, and was the longest canal locks in Britain when it was built. Navigation on the river, including the Stamford Canal, had ceased by 1863. The traditional head of navigation was Wharf Road in Stamford, Wildlife in the river varies along its length, the faster headwaters being a habitat for trout and the slower lower reaches for perch. The estuary conditions and flat landscapes beyond Fosdyke favour wading birds, the River Welland, with its tributaries, form a river system with a catchment area of 609 square miles. Within this area,257 miles of waterway are designated as main river, within the catchment area,179 square miles are below sea level, and would be flooded without such defences. The basin runs in a broadly south-west to north-east direction, with an extension to the north around the West Glen, the underlying geology consists of Lias clays at the western end of the catchment, with Lincolnshire limestone in the centre, including the valleys of the Glen. The eastern third is mostly alluvial soils, and it is this part that relies on pumping to prevent flooding. For much of its length the Welland forms the county boundary between Northamptonshire and Leicestershire or Rutland, and lower down between Lincolnshire and Cambridgeshire, the Welland rises in the Hothorpe Hills, close to the 540-foot contour, near Welland Rise, Sibbertoft in Northamptonshire. Within 2 miles, the stream forms the border between Northamptonshire and Leicestershire. It flows westwards, before looping round, passing through the grounds of Hothorpe Hall in Theddingworth, now a conference centre, one of the driveways to Thorpe Lubenham Hall is carried over the river by an early nineteenth century ashlar bridge which is a Grade II listed structure. To the east of Lubenham, the river passes Old Lubenham Hall, part of an H-plan house built in the sixteenth century. King Charles I is believed to have stayed there before the Battle of Naseby, three arms of a square moat surround the house, and the site is a scheduled ancient monument. The county border leaves the river on the west side of Market Harborough, as the town is wholly in Leicestershire, the River Jordan joins the Welland in the centre of Market Harborough, flowing northwards to the railway station. Langton Brook and Stonton Brook join from the west near Welham, the county border meanders from side to side across relatively straight sections of the river, suggesting that the channel has been engineered
32.
Stamford, Lincolnshire
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Stamford is a town on the River Welland in Lincolnshire, England,92 miles north of London on the A1. The population at the 2001 census was 21,800 including the adjacent parish of St Martins Without, the town has 17th and 18th-century stone buildings, older timber-framed buildings and five medieval parish churches. In 2013, Stamford was rated the best place to live by the Sunday Times, in AD61 Boudica followed the Roman 9th Legion across the river. The Anglo-Saxons later chose Stamford as their town, being on a more important river than the Gwash. In 972 King Edgar made Stamford a borough, the Anglo-Saxons and Danes faced each other across the river. The town originally grew as a Danish settlement at the lowest point that the Welland could be crossed by ford or bridge, Stamford was the only one of the Danelaw Five Burghs not to become a county town. Stamford was a town but only a very small portion of the walls now remain. Stamford became a port on the Great North Road, the latter superseding Ermine Street in importance. Notable buildings in the include the mediaeval Brownes Hospital, several churches and the buildings of Stamford School. A Norman castle was built about 1075 and apparently demolished in 1484, the site stood derelict until the late twentieth century when it was built over and now includes a bus station and a modern housing development. A small part of the wall survives at the junction of Castle Dyke. Stamford has been hosting a fair since the Middle Ages. Stamford fair is mentioned in Shakespeares Henry IV part 2, the mid-Lent fair is the largest street fair in Lincolnshire and one of the largest in the country. On 7 March 1190, crusaders at the fair led a pogrom, for over 600 years Stamford was the site of the Stamford Bull Run festival, held annually on 13 November, St Brices day, until 1839. According to local tradition, the custom was started by William de Warenne, 5th Earl of Surrey, some butchers came to part the combatants and one of the bulls ran into the town. Stamford Museum was in a Victorian building in Broad Street from 1980 to 2011, in June 2011 it closed because of Lincolnshire County Council budget cuts. Some of the exhibits have been relocated to the Discover Stamford area at the towns library. Stamford is part of the Parliamentary constituency of Grantham and Stamford, the incumbent Member of Parliament is the Conservative, Nick Boles
33.
Colsterworth
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Colsterworth is a village and civil parish in the South Kesteven district of Lincolnshire, England. It lies less than half a mile west of the A1, about 7 miles south of Grantham, the village, with the hamlet of Woolsthorpe-by-Colsterworth, had a population of 1,713 at the time of the 2011 Census in an area of 1,465 hectares. The civil parish includes the village of Woolsthorpe-by-Colsterworth,0.6 miles north west of Colsterworth, the parish shares a grouped parish council with Gunby and Stainby and North Witham, known as Colsterworth and District Parish Council. Woolsthorpe-by-Colsterworth is notable as the birthplace of Sir Isaac Newton, his home, Woolsthorpe Manor, Woolsthorpe-by-Colsterworth village hall was built as a result of an appeal in Newtons memory, and is named after him. Newton was christened at the church of St John the Baptist. The name Colsterworth is from the Old English colestre + worth for enclosure of the charcoal burners, the village dates from the Roman era. It is close to Ermine Street, the old Roman road that ran from London directly north to Lincoln, a Roman smelting furnace was found at Colsterworth in 1931, as was a small defended Late Iron Age settlement in the 1940s. Colsterworth is raised upon a limestone ridge, with the River Witham running below on the western side. The old hamlet of Twyford has been incorporated by the growth of Colsterworth, the area between Colsterworth Church and Twyford was once known as Dunkirk. Colsterworth, Woolsthorpe and Twyford are all entered in the Domesday Book of 1086. The village belonged to the wapentake of Winnibriggs and Threo. The enclosures of the land in 1808 allowed the landlords to increase their holdings. Thirty villagers also received land, but some sold on to avoid the expense of fencing it. Colsterworth. The rector commuted his tythes for 398 acres, in addition to his 11 acres of glebe, the position of Colsterworth on the Great York Road, later the Great North Road, became important as soon as the turnpike road was completed in 1752. It was appointed a post town, and by the century had a thriving coaching trade. There were numerous inns - ten at one time, however, the village was bypassed in 1935. The old coaching inns have been transformed into houses or business properties, such as The George House and The Sun Pottery, the White Lion public house, standing opposite the parish church of St John the Baptist, alone now serves the population. About that time, ironstone workings began and these were closed in the 1970s and the site rehabilitated
34.
A151 road
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The A151 road is relatively minor part of the British road system. It lies entirely in the county of Lincolnshire, England and its western end lies at coordinates 52°48. 1892′N 0°36. 5179′W otherwise, grid reference SK9382381. This article attempts to deal with its several aspects by treating some separately, before integrating them with the others into an overall picture, sequentially from its western end. In Britain, roads of greater and medium importance are numbered according to a system in which the number of digits indicates a more major route. The motorways are prefixed by M and the other roads by the letter A. The roads A1 to A6 radiate from London with A1 as the route of the country. Roads with numbers beginning with 1 lie to the east of the A1, the details are explained under Great Britain road numbering scheme. In the early 19th century, the A151 would have called a cross-road2 since it runs across the pattern of these radial routes. As originally designated, it ran from the A15 at Bourne Market Place, eastwards to Fleet Hargate and its present western section, between Colsterworth and Bourne, was part of the B676 road3. On the way, it passes to the north of Grimsthorpe Castle and at TF076200, then at TF095201, it bisects Bourne. It enters The Fens on the edge of that small town. At TF154207, it passes through the hamlet of Twenty, in Bourne North Fen, at Guthram Gowt, it leaves Kesteven by crossing the South Forty-Foot Drain into Holland. The principal town of South Holland is Spalding, which is also the town on the A151 route. Across the River Welland, lie Moulton, then Holbeach, near which the A151 ends at the A17 and that road leads on to Kings Lynn and East Anglia. As elsewhere, roads in England have developed many years. Perhaps some of the A151 lies on lines which are pre-Roman, in other words, parts are two thousand or more years old. However, change is constant and little of the road is that old, in the nature of things, these changes are poorly or not at all documented, so will be treated generally, in that light, in an overview below. The historical part of the story begins with the turnpike roads, the A151 was originally designated such in 1921
35.
Stilton cheese
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Stilton is an English cheese, produced in two varieties, Blue, known for its characteristic strong smell and taste, and the lesser-known White. Thus cheese made in the village of Stilton in Cambridgeshire cannot be so called, traditional legend has it that in 1730, Thornhill discovered a distinctive blue cheese while visiting a small farm near Melton Mowbray in rural Leicestershire – possibly in Wymondham. He fell in love with the cheese and made an arrangement that granted the Bell Inn exclusive marketing rights to Blue Stilton. Soon thereafter, wagon loads of cheese were being delivered to the inn, since the main stagecoach routes from London to Northern England passed through the village of Stilton he was able to promote the sale of this cheese and the fame of Stilton rapidly spread. However, the first known reference to Stilton cheese actually pre-dates this and was in William Stukeleys Itinerarium Curiosum, Letter V. The recipe for a Stilton cheese was published by Richard Bradley, first Professor of Botany at Cambridge University in his 1726 book A General Treatise of Husbandry and Gardening. Bradley records a letter from a correspondent, John Warner, which states the cheese is made in Stilton, Blue Stiltons distinctive blue veins are created by piercing the crust of the cheese with stainless steel needles, allowing air into the core. The manufacturing and ripening process takes approximately nine to twelve weeks, for cheese to use the name Stilton, it must be made in one of the three counties of Derbyshire, Leicestershire and Nottinghamshire, and must use pasteurised local milk. The manufacturers of Stilton cheese in these counties applied for and received Protected Geographical Status in 1996, as of September 2016 just six dairies are licensed to make Stilton, each being subject to regular audit by an independent inspection agency accredited to European Standard EN45011. Four of the dairies are based in the Vale of Belvoir. Another Leicestershire dairy was located in the grounds of Quenby Hall near the village of Hungarton, Quenby Hall restarted Stilton production in a new dairy in August 2005 but the business folded in 2011. Two former employees set up the Hartington Creamery at Pikehall in Hartington parish which was licensed in 2014, Stilton cheese cannot be produced in the village that gave the cheese its name. Stilton village is not in the three permitted counties, it is in the county of Cambridgeshire, and in the historic county of Huntingdonshire. The Original Cheese Company applied to Defra to amend the Stilton PDO to include the village, to be called Blue Stilton, a cheese must, Be made only in the three counties of Derbyshire, Leicestershire and Nottinghamshire from local milk, which is pasteurised before use. Form its own crust or coat, contain delicate blue veins radiating from the centre. Have a taste profile typical of Stilton, minimum 48% milk fat in the dry matter Stilton has a typical fat content of approximately 35%, and protein content of approximately 23%. A number of cheeses are made in a similar way to Blue Stilton. These cheeses get their blue veins and distinct flavour from the use of one or more saprotrophic fungi such as Penicillium roqueforti and Penicillium glaucum
36.
Dere Street
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Portions of its route are still followed by modern roads, including the A1 and the A68 north of Corbridge. The Roman name for the route is lost and its English name corresponds with the post-Roman Anglo-Saxon kingdom of Deira, through which the first part of its route lies. That kingdom possibly took its name from the Yorkshire River Derwent, the term street derives from its Old English sense, which referred to any paved road and had no particular association with urban thoroughfares. Portions of the road in Scotland were later known as St Cuthberts Way, owing to this, some stretches or the entirety of Dere Street is sometimes referenced as Watling Street. It should not, however, be confused with the route between Canterbury and Wroxeter in the south nor with the Carlisle route to its west. The Itinerarys 2nd and 5th British routes—which split off to reach the western territories—share the stations between Eboracum and Cataractonium, the forts along the roads were manned by infantry cohorts and cavalry alae of the Roman armys auxiliaries. Margary notes that the last entry is probably in error and should be emended to 10 Roman miles, the modern route omits the now-lost road south of York but continues farther north along Roman roads either omitted by the compiler of the Antonine Itineraries or constructed after his time. The route begins at York and crosses the River Ure near Aldborough close to Boroughbridge and it crosses the Swale near Catterick. The A66 road preserves the route of the Roman-era Watling Street, branching off here to cross Stainmore to Penrith, Dere Street crossed the River Tees over a stone arch bridge near the present-day Piercebridge Roman Fort ruins. Such bridges were rare in Roman Britain except for here in the far north, the original bridge was replaced by one on a different alignment. There is evidence of minor realignments of Dere Street over the Roman period. In 1994, construction of a garage at Cliffe exposed a section of the Roman road and discovered pottery, selkirk suggested that the ruins on the south side of the Tees at Cliffe are the remains of a jetty, the archaeological television programme Time Team investigated this in 2009. The next river crossing occurred over the Wear near present-day Bishop Auckland, at this point, the fort Vinovia guarded a branch road that turned off to the right heading for Durham, Chester-le-Street, and Newcastle. There, the Pons Aelius crossed the River Tyne, Dere Street, meanwhile, travels onward past Lanchester and Ebchester, the sites of the former forts of Longovicium and Vindomora. At Coria, it met the Stanegate road which runs parallel to Hadrians Wall, crossing at Corbridge, the route passed though Portgate on the Wall and passed into lands only tenuously claimed by Rome. The route passes north into Redesdale and thence into the Cheviot Hills, where there are the remains of marching forts at Fourlaws, West Woodburn, Rochester, and at Chew Green. Brementium was the last stop listed for Antonine Itinerary, but the Roman roads remains now lead further, nearby, there are the remains of a camp at Pennymuir. Further on, well-preserved sections of the road part of St Cuthberts Way to Trimontium near Melrose
37.
Boroughbridge
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Boroughbridge is a small town and civil parish in the Harrogate district of North Yorkshire, England. Historically part of the West Riding of Yorkshire, it is situated approximately 16 miles north-west from the county town of York, until its road bypass was built, the town lay on the main A1 road from London to Edinburgh. The A1 crosses the River Ure here, the civil parish includes the villages of Aldborough and Minskip. The origin of the name Boroughbridge lies in its location relative to Aldborough, dere Street, the Roman road heading north from York, originally crossed the River Ure just north of Aldborough, but at an unknown date the road was diverted to cross the river at Boroughbridge. The place was first mentioned in 1155 in the Latin form pontem de Burgo, a new town grew up at the bridge and the Old Town became known as the Ald-Borough. A line of three menhirs, or standing stones, known as the Devils Arrows, believed to have erected in the Bronze Age, can be found on the outskirts of Boroughbridge. The tallest stone is 22 feet tall, the stones are of millstone grit, probably quarried from Plompton, the closest source of this material. The stones stand on an almost north–south alignment, with the central stone slightly offset, the first reference to the stones is from the journal of a fisherman, Peter Frankck who visited Boroughbridge in 1694, and claims he saw seven stones. The antiquarian John Leyland saw four stones, which is the verifiable number, the absent fourth stone stood close to the central stone and was dug out and broken up, allegedly by treasure hunters. Most of it was used to build a bridge in Boroughbridge called Peg Bridge, according to tradition the top of the fourth stone was to be found in the grounds of Aldborough Hall, which stands between Boroughbridge and Aldborough. Boroughbridge was not mentioned in the Domesday Book, but was described as part of the manor of Aldborough. In 1229 Boroughbridge, as part of the manor of Aldborough, was granted to Hubert de Burgh and it then remained a royal manor until Charles I granted it to several citizens of London. In 1318, Boroughbridge was devastated by the Scots, under Sir James Douglas following the Capture of Berwick upon Tweed, from medieval times Boroughbridge was part of the parish of Aldborough in the West Riding of Yorkshire. In 1553 it became a borough, electing two Members of Parliament to the unreformed House of Commons. Boroughbridge was an important stage for stagecoaches because of its position on the Great North Road midway between London and Edinburgh, performed, if God permits, by your dutiful servant HOSEA EASTGATE. Boroughbridge became a civil parish in 1866. In 1938 the civil parish absorbed the parishes of Aldborough and Minskip, in 1945 the bridge carrying the A1 road over the River Ure collapsed under the weight of a heavy transport vehicle carrying an 80-ton steel mill roll housing from Sheffield to Falkirk. The incident interrupted the main route for a short time
38.
Dishforth
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Dishforth /ˈdɪʃfəθ/ is a village and civil parish in the Harrogate district of North Yorkshire, England. Dishforth translates from Old English as dic-ford, a ford by a dike or ditch, the population of the parish taken at the 2011 census was 905. It is just north of Dishforth Airfield, which up until April 2016 was an Army Air Corps helicopter station, the village is close to the A1 and the A168. The original route of the Great North Road runs through the village but RAF Dishforth was built over the old road used to be the A1. The closest town is Boroughbridge 3 miles to the south, the village has two pubs adjacent to one another, the Black Swan and the Crown Inn. The village has a small Methodist church, a village hall, media related to Dishforth at Wikimedia Commons
39.
Topcliffe, North Yorkshire
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Topcliffe is a village and civil parish in the Hambleton district of North Yorkshire, England. The village is situated on the River Swale, on the A167 road and it is about 5 miles south-west of Thirsk and 11 miles south of the county town of Northallerton. It has a population of 1,489, an Army Barracks, formerly a Royal Air Force base, is located to the north of the village. The village is mentioned in the Domesday Book as Topeclive in the Yarlestre hundred, at the time of the Norman invasion, the manor was the possession of Bernwulf. Afterwards it was granted to William of Percy, the manor became the chief seat of the Percy family until the middle of the 17th century, though there was some confusion of the line of inheritance in the 12th century. This was reversed in 1469 and the manor restored to the Percy family, in the 16th century there were two other brief periods when the manor was granted first to the Archbishop of York and then to the Earl of Warwick. The manor was restored to the Percy family in 1557, the last of the family to hold the manor in their name was Josceline Percy, 11th Earl of Northumberland, though it passed to his daughter who married Charles Seymour, 6th Duke of Somerset. Their son inherited the manor, but he died heirless and the manor was passed to his nephew Charles Wyndham, the manor remained in the Wyndham family into the 20th century. This was the residence of the Percy family until the early part of the fourteenth century. The castle was succeeded by a manor house on an adjacent site. The manor house was the home of John Topcliffe, Lord Chief Justice of Ireland, the name is derived from the Old English words topp and clif and combined give the meaning top of the cliff. The village used to be a stop between Baldersby and Thirsk on the Leeds & Thirsk Railway, a station was opened on 1 June 1848 and closed on 14 September 1959. It was located at the junction of the A167 and Catton Moor Lane to the north of the village near the present day MOD base. During the Second World War an airfield was constructed 1.5 miles from the village which was for some time a Royal Canadian Air Force base. After the war it had a number of roles until 1972 when much of it was taken over by the army, the airfield continues to be used for RAF glider training. The village is located in the Thirsk and Malton UK Parliamentary constituency and it is also in the Sowerby electoral division of North Yorkshire County Council and the Topcliffe ward of Hambleton District Council. The population of this ward taken at the 2011 Census was 2,604, Topcliffe District ward includes the settlements of Skipton-onSwale, Catton, Dalton, Crakehill, Sessay and Hutton Sessay. The civil parish of Topcliffe is bounded by the parishes of Sowerby, Carlton Miniott, Catton, Rainton, Asenby, Crakehill
40.
Northallerton
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Northallerton /ˌnɔːrˈθælətən/ is a market town and civil parish in the Hambleton district of North Yorkshire, England. It lies in the Vale of Mowbray and at the end of the Vale of York. It has a population of 15,741 according to the 2001 census and it has served as the county town of the North Riding of Yorkshire and since 1974, of North Yorkshire. The population of Northallerton was 16,832 in 2011, there has been a settlement at Northallerton since Roman times, however its growth in importance began in the 11th century when King William II gifted land to the Bishop of Durham. Under the Bishops authority Northallerton became an important centre for religious affairs. It was also a focus for conflict in subsequent years between the English and the Scots, most notably the Battle of the Standard, nearby in 1138. In later years trade and transport became more important, the surrounding area was discovered to have large phosphorus reserves which brought industry to Northallerton due to the easy trade routes. Lying on the route between Edinburgh and London it became an important stopping point for coaches travelling the route, eventually superseded by the growth of the railways in the 19th century. Lying in the centre of a rural area Northallerton was established as a market town in 1200 by Royal Charter. It continues to be a retail centre for the local area today. As the administrative centre for Hambleton district and the county of North Yorkshire, the councils, due to the proximity of the Roman road, entrenchments and relics it seems that the earliest settlement at Northallerton was some form of Roman military station. The first church was set up by St Paulinus of York on the site of the present All Saints Parish Church sometime in the early 7th century and it was made from wood and nothing survives of it. In 855 a stone church was built on the same site and it was then believed that a Saxon town known as Alvertune developed. Later, in the 10th century, Danes settled at Romanby, a fine example of English stonecarving from the period, the Brompton Hogbacks, can be found in Brompton Parish Church. Alternatively it may be referring to the Alder trees which grew nearby, the prefix of North was added in the 12th century to differentiate from the parish of Allerton Mauleverer,25 miles to the south. Its position on a major route way brought death and destruction to the town on many occasions, in 1069, in an attempt to quell rebellion in the north, the area between the Ouse and the Tyne was laid to waste by the armies of William the Conqueror. The town of Northallerton was almost totally destroyed or depopulated, just a few years later it is described in the Domesday Book as modo est in manu regis et wastum est. In 1318, the town was destroyed again by the Scots, on 22 August 1138, English forces repelled a Scottish army on Cowton Moor in Brompton parish, around 2 mi north of the town
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Darlington
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Darlington is a large market town in County Durham, in North East England, and part of the Tees Valley. With a population of 106,000 in 2011, the lies on the River Skerne. The town is colloquially referred to as Darlo. Darlington started life as an Anglo-Saxon settlement, the name Darlington derives from the Anglo-Saxon Dearthington, which seemingly meant the settlement of Deornoths people, but by Norman times the name had changed to Derlinton. During the 17th and 18th centuries the town was known by the name of Darnton. Darlington has a market area in the town centre. Built in 1183, the Grade I listed St Cuthberts Church is one of the most important early English churches in the north of England. However the oldest church in the town happens to be that of St Andrews Church built around 1125 and presides in the Haughton area of Darlington. Visiting during the 18th century, Daniel Defoe noted that the town was eminent for good bleaching of linen, however he also disparaged the town, writing that it had nothing remarkable but dirt. The Durham Ox came from Darlington, during the early 19th century, Darlington remained a small market town. As the century progressed, powerful Quaker families such as the Pease and Backhouse families were prominent employers, darlingtons most famous landmark, the clock tower, was a gift to the town by the industrialist Joseph Pease in 1864. The clocks face was produced by T. Cooke & Sons of York, and these bells were in fact the sister bells to those which are inside the Elizabeth Tower at the Houses of Parliament in London, the most famous of which is called Big Ben. The Darlington Mechanics Institute was opened in 1854 by Elizabeth Pease Nichol, the 91-acre South Park was redeveloped into its current form in 1853, with financial backing from the Backhouse family. George Gordon Hoskins was responsible for much of the architecture in this period. Darlington is known for its associations with the birth of the modern railway and this is celebrated in the town at Darlington Railway Centre and Museum. On the 27th of September 1825 George Stephensons engine Locomotion No, the town later became an important centre for railway manufacturing. An early railway works was the Hopetown Carriage Works which supplied carriages and locomotives to the Stockton and Darlington Railway, the engineering firm of William and Alfred Kitching also manufactured locomotives in the 19th century. To commemorate the contribution to the railways, David Machs 1997 work Train is located alongside the A66
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Durham, England
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Durham is a historic city and the county town of County Durham in North East England. The city lies on the River Wear, to the west of Sunderland, south of Newcastle upon Tyne, founded over the final resting place of St Cuthbert, its Norman cathedral became a centre of pilgrimage in medieval England. The cathedral and adjacent 11th-century castle were designated a World Heritage Site by UNESCO in 1986, the castle has been the home of Durham University since 1832. HM Prison Durham is also located close to the city centre, the name Durham comes from the Celtic element dun, signifying a hill fort, and the Old Norse holme, which translates to island. The Lord Bishop of Durham takes a Latin variation of the name in his official signature. The city has been known by a number of names throughout history, the original Nordic Dun Holm was changed to Duresme by the Normans and was known in Latin as Dunelm. The modern form Durham came into use later in the citys history, archeological evidence suggests a history of settlement in the area since roughly 2000 BC. Local legend states that the city was founded in A. D.995 by divine intervention, Aldhun, Bishop of Chester-le-Street and leader of the order, decreed a holy fast of three days, accompanied by prayers to the saint. During the fast, Saint Cuthbert appeared to a monk named Eadmer. After Eadmers revelation, Aldhun found that he was able to move the bier, the legend of the Dun Cow, which is first documented in The Rites of Durham, an anonymous account about the Durham Cathedral, published in 1593, builds on Symeons account. According to this legend, by later that day, the monks came across a milkmaid at Mount Joy. She stated that she was seeking her lost dun cow, which she had last seen at Dun Holm, the monks, realising that this was a sign from the saint, followed her. They settled at a wooded hill-island – a high wooded rock surrounded on three sides by the River Wear, there they erected a shelter for the relics, on the spot where the Durham Cathedral would later stand. Symeon states that a modest wooden building erected there shortly later was the first building in the city, Bishop Aldhun subsequently had a stone church built, which was dedicated in September 998. It no longer remains, having been supplanted by the Norman structure, during the medieval period the city gained spiritual prominence as the final resting place of Saint Cuthbert and Saint Bede the Venerable. The shrine of Saint Cuthbert, situated behind the High Altar of Durham Cathedral, was the most important religious site in England until the martyrdom of St Thomas Becket at Canterbury in 1170, Saint Cuthbert became famous for two reasons. Firstly, the healing powers he had displayed in life continued after his death, with many stories of those visiting the saints shrine being cured of all manner of diseases. This led to him being known as the worker of England
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Newcastle upon Tyne
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Newcastle is the most populous city in the North East and forms the core of the Tyneside conurbation, the eighth most populous urban area in the United Kingdom. Newcastle is a member of the English Core Cities Group and is a member of the Eurocities network of European cities. Newcastle was part of the county of Northumberland until 1400, when it became a county of itself, the regional nickname and dialect for people from Newcastle and the surrounding area is Geordie. Newcastle also houses Newcastle University, a member of the Russell Group, the city developed around the Roman settlement Pons Aelius and was named after the castle built in 1080 by Robert Curthose, William the Conquerors eldest son. The city grew as an important centre for the trade in the 14th century. The port developed in the 16th century and, along with the lower down the River Tyne, was amongst the worlds largest shipbuilding and ship-repairing centres. Newcastles economy includes corporate headquarters, learning, digital technology, retail, tourism and cultural centres, among its icons are Newcastle United football club and the Tyne Bridge. Since 1981 the city has hosted the Great North Run, a marathon which attracts over 57,000 runners each year. The first recorded settlement in what is now Newcastle was Pons Aelius and it was given the family name of the Roman Emperor Hadrian, who founded it in the 2nd century AD. This rare honour suggests Hadrian may have visited the site and instituted the bridge on his tour of Britain, Pons Aelius population at this period was estimated at 2,000. Fragments of Hadrians Wall are visible in parts of Newcastle, particularly along the West Road, the course of the Roman Wall can be traced eastwards to the Segedunum Roman fort in Wallsend—the walls end—and to the supply fort Arbeia in South Shields. After the Roman departure from Britain, completed in 410, Newcastle became part of the powerful Anglo-Saxon kingdom of Northumbria, conflicts with the Danes in 876 left the river Tyne and its settlements in ruin. After the conflicts with the Danes, and following the 1088 rebellion against the Normans, Monkchester was all, because of its strategic position, Robert Curthose, son of William the Conqueror, erected a wooden castle there in the year 1080. The town was known as Novum Castellum or New Castle. The wooden structure was replaced by a castle in 1087. The castle was again in 1172 during the reign of Henry II. Much of the keep which can be seen in the city dates from this period. Throughout the Middle Ages, Newcastle was Englands northern fortress, incorporated first by Henry II, the city had a new charter granted by Elizabeth in 1589
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Scotch Corner
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Scotch Corner is an important junction of the A1 and A66 trunk roads near Richmond in North Yorkshire, England. The A1 leads north towards North East England and Scotland, the A66 leads north west towards Penrith and the M6 motorway. There are also two exits from the junction, the A6108 towards the Yorkshire Dales and Richmond and a minor road to Middleton Tyas. The name originates from being the junction where travellers to eastern Scotland are separated from travellers to western Scotland, the route now called the A66 was once the winter road from Scotch Corner to Glasgow, by way of Carlisle. The summer road runs from Barnard Castle, along Teesdale to Alston, Cumbria, then through Brampton, Carlisle, Cumbria to Gretna, particularly for cattle droving, the shorter route was advantageous when passable. The Summer Road is one of the most spectacular routes in England, the summer road follows what is now the B6278, B6277, and A689. The Romans were responsible for building the first roads to meet at this point, in AD71 the Romans took control of the North when they defeated the Brigantes, a Northern Celtic tribe at the Battle of Scotch Corner. The location remained significant as a staging post with an inn, the £8 million Scotch Corner diversion opened in 1971, which created a grade separated junction on the A1. Scotch Corner is notable for the large Scotch Corner Hotel established in 1939, built on the site of a mid-16th century inn and it recently underwent a £3 million refurbishment. It is also marked by a Moto Hospitality service station built in 1980 with an attached Travelodge motel, the Moto offers the usual services such as Costa Coffee, Marks & Spencer, Burger King. W H Smith, an Esso petrol station and a vehicle charging station Scotch Corner was formerly one of the stops on Megabuss M20 route. Jethro Tull refer to the Scotch Corner in the track of their 1976 Too Old to Rock n Roll. List of road junctions in the United Kingdom, S Page detailing the history of Scotch Corner The Scotch Corner Hotel Website
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Stagecoach
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A stagecoach is a type of covered wagon used to carry passengers and goods inside. It is strongly sprung and generally drawn by four horses, usually four-in-hand, widely used before the introduction of railway transport, it made regular trips between stages or stations, which were places of rest provided for stagecoach travelers. The business of running stagecoaches or the act of journeying in them was known as staging, the yard of ale drinking glass is associated by legend with stagecoach drivers, though it was mainly used for drinking feats and special toasts. The stagecoach was a vehicle pulled by horses or mules. The primary requirement was that it was used as a conveyance, running on an established route. Vehicles that were used included buckboards and dead axle wagons, surplus Army ambulances, on the outside were two back seats facing one another, which the British called baskets. In addition to the driver who guided the vehicle, a shotgun messenger, armed with a coach gun. The stagecoach traveled at an speed of about five miles per hour. The term stage originally referred to the distance between stations on a route, the coach traveling the route in stages, but through metonymy it came to apply to the coach. A fresh set of horses would be staged at the next station, under this staging system, the resting, watering and feeding of the spent horses would not delay the coach. This system based on making fresh horses regularly available along a route had been in use by a number of different civilisations, the stagecoach was also called a stage or stage carriage. Varieties included, mail coach or post coach, used for carrying mail, mud coach, lighter and smaller, with flat sides and simpler joinery. Road coach, revived in Great Britain and Ireland during the half of the 19th century. The first crude depiction of a coach, not necessarily a stagecoach, was in an English manuscript from the 13th century, crude coaches were built from the 16th century. Without suspension, these coaches achieved very low speeds on the poor quality rutted roads of the time, by the mid 17th century, a basic stagecoach infrastructure had been put in place. The first stagecoach route started in 1610 and ran from Edinburgh to Leith and this was followed by a steady proliferation of other routes around the country. A string of coaching inns operated as stopping points for travellers on the route between London and Liverpool by the mid 17th century, the coach would depart every Monday and Thursday and took roughly ten days to make the journey during the summer months. They also became adopted for travel in and around London by mid-century
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Selby
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Selby is a town and civil parish in North Yorkshire, England. The town population had increased at the 2011 census to 14,731, historically a part of the West Riding of Yorkshire, much of the wealth of the town was facilitated via Selbys position upon the banks of the River Ouse. In the past, Selby had a shipbuilding industry and was an important port. Selby is home to Selby Town F. C. who play in the Northern Counties East Football League, the town’s origins date from the establishment of a Viking settlement on the banks of the River Ouse. Archaeological investigations in Selby have revealed remains, including waterlogged deposits in the core of the town dating from the Roman period onwards. It is believed that Selby originated as a settlement called Seletun which was referred to in the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle of AD779, king Henry I is reputed to have been born there in either 1068 or 1069. A notable feature of the abbey is the 14th century Washington Window, featuring the arms of the ancestors of George Washington. The design is cited as an influence for the Stars. The abbey was founded when Benedict saw three swans on a lake in Selby, and he saw it as a sign of the Father, Son and that is why the official crest of Selby Abbey is three swans. Selby Abbey was closed in 1539 as part of the Dissolution of the Monasteries under Henry VIII, the central nave of the abbey church survived and in 1618 it became the parish church of Selby. There was also an important battle in the English Civil War. There are many historical sites, like the cholera burial ground on the north side of the abbey, the market cross. The Market Place has existed since the early 14th century when the market was moved away from the monastery churchyard. The Crescent which curves eastwards from James Street was planned in the early 19th century by a man, John Audus, after seeing Lansdown Crescent in Bath. Selby is expanding to become a larger town, meanwhile, the riverfront area is being revamped with modern housing and fashionable flats. Selby was also a centre for shipbuilding, with vessels launched into the river and this often required the more unusual technique of launching the vessels side-on into the river due to lack of space for a more conventional stern first or bow first launch. One famous vessel of the Cochrane and Sons shipyard of the town is the preserved trawler Ross Tiger at Grimsbys National Fishing Heritage Centre, Cochrane launched their last vessel into the Ouse in 1998, a historical occasion which people around the area went to see. Once Cochrane had closed, the massive cranes still stood over the skyline of Selby until 2001, most of the shipyard buildings are still standing and the site along with interviews with former employees and archive film was featured in a 2013 video production Cochranes of Selby
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