1.
East of England
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The East of England is one of nine official regions of England at the first level of NUTS for statistical purposes. It was created in 1994 and was adopted for statistics from 1999 and it includes the ceremonial counties of Bedfordshire, Cambridgeshire, Essex, Hertfordshire, Norfolk and Suffolk. Essex has the highest population in the region and its population at the 2011 census was 5,847,000. Bedford, Luton, Basildon, Peterborough, Southend-on-Sea, Norwich, Ipswich, Colchester, Chelmsford, the southern part of the region lies in the London commuter belt. The region has the lowest elevation range in the UK, North Cambridgeshire and the Essex Coast have most of the around 5% of the region which is below 10 metres above sea level. The Fens are partly in North Cambridgeshire which is notable for the lowest point in the country in the land of the village of Holme 2.75 metres below sea level which was once Whittlesey Mere. The highest point is at Clipper Down at 817 ft, in the far corner of the region in the Ivinghoe Hills. In the late 1960s, the Roskill Commission considered Thurleigh in Bedfordshire, Nuthampstead in Hertfordshire, the East of England succeeded the standard statistical region East Anglia. The East of England civil defence region was identical to todays region, England between the Wash and Thames Estuary has since post-Roman times been and continues to be known as East Anglia, including the county traversing the west of this line, Cambridgeshire. Essex, despite meaning East-Saxons, previously formed part of the South East England, as did Bedfordshire and Hertfordshire, the earliest use of the term is from 1695. Charles Davenant, in An essay upon ways and means of supplying the war, wrote, The Eleven Home Counties, then cited a list including these four. The term does not appear to have used in taxation since the 18th century. East Anglia is one of the driest parts of the United Kingdom with average rainfall ranging from 450 mm to 750 mm. This is usually because low pressure systems and weather fronts from the Atlantic have lost a lot of their moisture over land by the time they reach Eastern England, however the Fens in Cambridgeshire are prone to flooding should a strong system affect the area. Northerly winds can also be cold but are not usually as cold as easterly winds, westerly winds bring milder and, typically, wetter weather. Southerly winds usually bring mild air but chill if coming from further east than Spain, spring is a transitional season that can be chilly to start with but is usually warm by late-April/May. The weather at this time is often changeable and occasionally showery, summer is usually warm and continental air from mainland Europe or the Azores High usually leads to at least a few weeks of hot, balmy weather with prolonged warm to hot weather. The number of storms from the Atlantic, such as the remnants of a tropical storm usually coincides with the location of the jet stream
2.
England
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England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west, the Irish Sea lies northwest of England and the Celtic Sea lies to the southwest. England is separated from continental Europe by the North Sea to the east, the country covers five-eighths of the island of Great Britain in its centre and south, and includes over 100 smaller islands such as the Isles of Scilly, and the Isle of Wight. England became a state in the 10th century, and since the Age of Discovery. The Industrial Revolution began in 18th-century England, transforming its society into the worlds first industrialised nation, Englands terrain mostly comprises low hills and plains, especially in central and southern England. However, there are uplands in the north and in the southwest, the capital is London, which is the largest metropolitan area in both the United Kingdom and the European Union. In 1801, Great Britain was united with the Kingdom of Ireland through another Act of Union to become the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland. In 1922 the Irish Free State seceded from the United Kingdom, leading to the latter being renamed the United Kingdom of Great Britain, the name England is derived from the Old English name Englaland, which means land of the Angles. The Angles were one of the Germanic tribes that settled in Great Britain during the Early Middle Ages, the Angles came from the Angeln peninsula in the Bay of Kiel area of the Baltic Sea. The earliest recorded use of the term, as Engla londe, is in the ninth century translation into Old English of Bedes Ecclesiastical History of the English People. According to the Oxford English Dictionary, its spelling was first used in 1538. The earliest attested reference to the Angles occurs in the 1st-century work by Tacitus, Germania, the etymology of the tribal name itself is disputed by scholars, it has been suggested that it derives from the shape of the Angeln peninsula, an angular shape. An alternative name for England is Albion, the name Albion originally referred to the entire island of Great Britain. The nominally earliest record of the name appears in the Aristotelian Corpus, specifically the 4th century BC De Mundo, in it are two very large islands called Britannia, these are Albion and Ierne. But modern scholarly consensus ascribes De Mundo not to Aristotle but to Pseudo-Aristotle, the word Albion or insula Albionum has two possible origins. Albion is now applied to England in a poetic capacity. Another romantic name for England is Loegria, related to the Welsh word for England, Lloegr, the earliest known evidence of human presence in the area now known as England was that of Homo antecessor, dating to approximately 780,000 years ago. The oldest proto-human bones discovered in England date from 500,000 years ago, Modern humans are known to have inhabited the area during the Upper Paleolithic period, though permanent settlements were only established within the last 6,000 years
3.
United Kingdom
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The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom or Britain, is a sovereign country in western Europe. Lying off the north-western coast of the European mainland, the United Kingdom includes the island of Great Britain, Northern Ireland is the only part of the United Kingdom that shares a land border with another sovereign state—the Republic of Ireland. The Irish Sea lies between Great Britain and Ireland, with an area of 242,500 square kilometres, the United Kingdom is the 78th-largest sovereign state in the world and the 11th-largest in Europe. It is also the 21st-most populous country, with an estimated 65.1 million inhabitants, together, this makes it the fourth-most densely populated country in the European Union. The United Kingdom is a monarchy with a parliamentary system of governance. The monarch is Queen Elizabeth II, who has reigned since 6 February 1952, other major urban areas in the United Kingdom include the regions of Birmingham, Leeds, Glasgow, Liverpool and Manchester. The United Kingdom consists of four countries—England, Scotland, Wales, the last three have devolved administrations, each with varying powers, based in their capitals, Edinburgh, Cardiff and Belfast, respectively. The relationships among the countries of the UK have changed over time, Wales was annexed by the Kingdom of England under the Laws in Wales Acts 1535 and 1542. A treaty between England and Scotland resulted in 1707 in a unified Kingdom of Great Britain, which merged in 1801 with the Kingdom of Ireland to form the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland. Five-sixths of Ireland seceded from the UK in 1922, leaving the present formulation of the United Kingdom of Great Britain, there are fourteen British Overseas Territories. These are the remnants of the British Empire which, at its height in the 1920s, British influence can be observed in the language, culture and legal systems of many of its former colonies. The United Kingdom is a country and has the worlds fifth-largest economy by nominal GDP. The UK is considered to have an economy and is categorised as very high in the Human Development Index. It was the worlds first industrialised country and the worlds foremost power during the 19th, the UK remains a great power with considerable economic, cultural, military, scientific and political influence internationally. It is a nuclear weapons state and its military expenditure ranks fourth or fifth in the world. The UK has been a permanent member of the United Nations Security Council since its first session in 1946 and it has been a leading member state of the EU and its predecessor, the European Economic Community, since 1973. However, on 23 June 2016, a referendum on the UKs membership of the EU resulted in a decision to leave. The Acts of Union 1800 united the Kingdom of Great Britain, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland have devolved self-government
4.
Lowestoft
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Lowestoft is a town in the English county of Suffolk. The town is on the North Sea coast and is the most easterly settlement of the United Kingdom and it is 110 miles north-east of London,38 miles north-east of Ipswich and 22 miles south-east of Norwich. It is situated on the edge of The Broads system and is the settlement within the district of Waveney with a population of 71,010 in 2011. Some of the earliest evidence of settlement in Britain has been found in Lowestoft and it is a port town which developed due to the fishing industry, and a traditional seaside resort. It has wide, sandy beaches, two piers and a number of other tourist attractions and this role has since declined and the town has begun to develop as a centre of the renewable energy industry within the East of England. Following the discovery of flint tools in the cliffs at Pakefield in south Lowestoft in 2005 and this establishes Lowestoft as one of the earliest known sites for human habitation in Britain. The area was settled during the Neolithic, Bronze and Iron Ages and during the Roman and Saxon periods, the settlements name is derived from the Viking personal name Hlothver and toft, a Viking word for homestead. The towns name has been spelled variously, Lothnwistoft, Lestoffe, Laistoe, at the Domesday survey the village was known as Lothuwistoft and was relatively small with a population of around 16 households comprising, in 1086, three families, ten smallholders and three slaves. The manor formed part of the kings holding within the Hundred of Lothingland and was worth about four geld in tax income, roger Bigod was the tenant in chief of the village. The village of Akethorpe may have been located close to Lowestoft, in the Middle Ages Lowestoft became an increasingly important fishing town. The industry grew quickly and the town grew to challenge its neighbour Great Yarmouth, the trade, particularly fishing for herring, continued to act as the towns main identity until the 20th century. In June 1665 the Battle of Lowestoft, the first battle of the Second Anglo-Dutch War, the battle resulted in a significant victory for the English fleet over the Dutch. The factory, built on the site of a pottery or brick kiln, was later used as a brewery. Most of its buildings were demolished in 1955. In the 19th century, the arrival of Sir Samuel Morton Peto brought about a change in Lowestofts fortunes, Railway contractor Peto was contracted by the Lowestoft Railway & Harbour Company to build a railway line between Lowestoft and Reedham. This stimulated the development of the fishing industry and the Port of Lowestoft in general. The development of the port boosted trade with the continent, during World War I, Lowestoft was bombarded by the German Navy on 24 April 1916 in conjunction with the Easter Rising. In World War II, the town was targeted for bombing by the Luftwaffe due to its engineering industry
5.
River Waveney
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The Waveney is a river which forms the boundary between Suffolk and Norfolk, England, for much of its length within the Broads. The source of the River Waveney is a ditch on the east side of the B1113 road between the villages of Redgrave, Suffolk and South Lopham, Norfolk. The ditch on the side of the road is the source of the River Little Ouse which continues the county boundary and, via the Great Ouse. It is thus claimed that during periods of heavy rainfall Norfolk can be considered to be an island, the explanation of this oddity is that the valley in which the rivers rise was formed, not by these rivers but by water spilling from Lake Fenland. This was a lake of the Devensian glacial, fifteen or twenty thousand years ago. This valley was its spillway into the southern North Sea basin, the river rises close to the 82-foot contour, and flows in an easterly direction though the towns of Diss, Bungay and Beccles. From its source it forms the boundary of Bressingham and Roydon before it reaches Diss. At Scole it is crossed by the course of a Roman road, there is a weir at Billingford and Billingford Windmill is situated a little to the north of the river. Beyond Billingford Bridge the River Dove, flowing northwards from Eye, joins on the bank, the Mid Suffolk Footpath crosses. It turns to the north-east to reach Brockdish and Needham before passing to the south of Harleston, there are several lakes on the south bank, the largest covering 100 acres, which were once Weybread Gravel Pits, but are now used for fishing. Below the lakes are the remains of a Cluniac Priory and the drained area of Mendham Marshes. Mendham, which is the birthplace of the artist Alfred Munnings, lies on the Suffolk bank, Wortwell is in Norfolk, in 1869, Homersfield Bridge, one of the first bridges to be constructed from concrete and iron was built across the river here. It was commissioned by Sir Shafto Adair, had a span of 50 feet and it is now the oldest concrete bridge in England and is a Grade II* listed structure. Road traffic was diverted onto a new bridge in 1970 and it was acquired by Norfolk County Council in 1994, at Earsham the Otter Trust had one of its three UK centres, which opened in 1978 and closed in 2006, having successfully boosted otter numbers on the river. This has now reopened as the River Waveney Study Centre, managed by the River Waveney Trust, at Bungay, the historic head of navigation, the Waveney forms a wide oxbow meander, carrying with it the Norfolk/Suffolk border. Next come Ditchingham, Broome and Ellingham before Geldeston, where an isolated pub stands next to the site of a lock and this is the current limit of navigation for craft larger than a rowing or paddling boat and at this point the Waveney becomes a tidal river. A short way further along is a dyke that leads to the village, gillingham comes next before the river gathers waters at Beccles, as it enters the Broads. Beccles was a port for many years and the parents of Lord Nelson were married in the church of St Michael
6.
Somerleyton
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Somerleyton is a village close to the River Waveney in the Waveney District of the English county of Suffolk. Somerleyton is located around 5 miles north-west of Lowestoft and 7 miles south-west of Great Yarmouth, the village lies on the edge of The Broads National Park. Somerleyton Hall is still a residence, and is open to the public. The village has a County Primary school and a combined post office. Somerleyton railway station is nearby, on the Norwich to Lowestoft line, there is also a pub, The Dukes Head, until circa 1959 another pub, The Crown was also open in the village. The Crown was officially an off-licence meaning alcoholic drinks could only be bought, both are now private houses as is The Reading Room, which was provided for the use of residents with snooker table etc. until being closed and converted to a dwelling circa 1968. Somerleyton is described in the Domesday Book under the name of Sumerledetuna, Somerleyton Hall was established in 1240 and has been home to Admiral Sir Thomas Allin and Samuel Morton Peto, who oversaw the latest rebuilding in 1843. Unveiled in 2010 the Hovercraft Column commemorates Cockerells invention, the River Waveney runs along the edge of Somerleyton giving access to the Broads and visitors may find the rail swing bridge which crosses the river in Somerleyton of interest. This can be viewed by taking the road down to the river adjacent to the Dukes Head. There was a brickworks in the village which provided bricks for the construction of Liverpool Street station among other sites before closing circa 1947. The remains can still be seen on the track leads from the Brickfields cottages to the railway station. The last remaining chimneys were demolished with dynamite in about 1959, the aircraft was an RAF Mosquito nightfighter being flown by two young airmen of the United States Navy. On 14 November 1944, they were chasing an air-launched V1 flying bomb but were shot down by British anti-aircraft fire. The full story can be found in Final Flights by Ian McLachlan, the BBC programme Antiques Roadshow was recorded at Somerleyton Hall on 10 September 2009 and broadcast in 2010. Media related to Somerleyton at Wikimedia Commons
