1.
Islington
–
Islington is a district in Greater London, England, and part of the London Borough of Islington. Islington grew as a sprawling Middlesex village along the line of the Great North Road and this gave rise to some confusion, as neighbouring districts may also be said to be in Islington. This district is bounded by Liverpool Road to the west and City Road and its northernmost point is in the area of Canonbury. The main north-south high street, Upper Street splits at Highbury Corner to Holloway Road to the west, Islington was originally named by the Saxons Giseldone, then Gislandune. The name means Gīslas hill from the Old English personal name Gīsla, the name later mutated to Isledon, which remained in use well into the 17th century when the modern form arose. In medieval times, Islington was just one of many small manors thereabouts, along with Bernersbury, some roads on the edge of the area, including Essex Road, were known as streets by the medieval period, possibly indicating a Roman origin, but little physical evidence remains. What is known is that the Great North Road from Aldersgate came into use in the 14th century and this was along the line of modern Upper Street, with a toll gate at The Angel defining the extent of the village. The Back Road, the modern Liverpool Road, was primarily a road where cattle would be rested before the final leg of their journey to Smithfield. Pens and sheds were erected along this road to accommodate the animals, the first recorded church, St Marys, was erected in the twelfth century and was replaced in the fifteenth century. Islington lay on the estates of the Bishop of London and the Dean, there were substantial medieval moated manor houses in the area, principally at Canonbury and Highbury. In 1548, there were 440 communicants listed and the atmosphere, with access to the City and Westminster, made it a popular residence for the rich. The local inns, however, harboured many fugitives and recusants, the Royal Agricultural Hall was built in 1862 on the Liverpool Road site of William Dixons Cattle Layers. The hall was 75 ft high and the glass roof spanned 125 ft. It was built for the annual Smithfield Show in December of that year but was popular for other purposes, including recitals and it was the primary exhibition site for London until the 20th century and the largest building of its kind, holding up to 50,000 people. It was requisitioned for use by the Mount Pleasant sorting office during World War II, the main hall has now been incorporated into the Business Design Centre. The hill on which Islington stands has long supplied the City of London with water and these included Sadlers Wells, London Spa and Clerkenwell. The river was opened on 29 September 1613 by Sir Hugh Myddelton and his statue still stands where Upper Street meets Essex Road. The course of the river ran to the east of Upper Street, the Regents Canal passes through Islington
2.
Dartmoor
–
Dartmoor is an area of moorland in southern Devon, England. Protected by National Park status as Dartmoor National Park, it covers 954 km2, the granite which forms the uplands dates from the Carboniferous Period of geological history. The moorland is capped with many exposed granite hilltops known as tors, the highest point is High Willhays,621 m above sea level. The entire area is rich in antiquities and archaeology, Dartmoor is managed by the Dartmoor National Park Authority, whose 22 members are drawn from Devon County Council, local district councils and Government. Parts of Dartmoor have been used as firing ranges for over 200 years. The public is granted land access rights on Dartmoor and it is a popular tourist destination. Dartmoor includes the largest area of granite in Britain, with about 625 km2 at the surface, the granite was intruded at depth as a pluton into the surrounding sedimentary rocks during the Carboniferous period, probably about 309 million years ago. A considerable gravity anomaly is associated with the Dartmoor pluton as with other such plutons, measurement of the anomaly has helped to determine the likely shape and extent of the rock mass at depth. Dartmoor is known for its tors – hills topped with outcrops of bedrock, more than 160 of the hills of Dartmoor have the word tor in their name but quite a number do not. However this does not appear to relate to whether or not there is an outcrop of rock on their summit, the best-known tor on Dartmoor is Haytor,457 m. For a more complete list see List of Dartmoor tors and hills, the high ground of Dartmoor forms the catchment area for many of Devons rivers. As well as shaping the landscape, these have provided a source of power for moor industries such as tin mining and quarrying. The moor takes its name from the River Dart, which starts as the East Dart and West Dart and it leaves the moor at Buckfastleigh, flowing through Totnes below where it opens up into a long ria, reaching the sea at Dartmouth. For a full list, expand the Rivers of Dartmoor navigational box at the bottom of this page, much more rain falls on Dartmoor than in the surrounding lowlands. As much of the park is covered in thick layers of peat. In areas where water accumulates, dangerous bogs or mires can result, some of these, topped with bright green moss, are known to locals as feather beds or quakers, because they can shift beneath a persons feet. Quakers result from sphagnum moss growing over the water accumulates in the hollows in the granite. The vegetation of the bogs depends on the type and location, the valley bogs have lush growth of rushes, with sphagnum, cross-leaved heath, sundews and several other species
3.
Devon
–
Devon, also known as Devonshire, which was formerly its common and official name, is a county of England, reaching from the Bristol Channel in the north to the English Channel in the south. It is part of South West England, bounded by Cornwall to the west, Somerset to the northeast, combined as a ceremonial county, Devons area is 6,707 km2 and its population is about 1.1 million. Devon derives its name from Dumnonia, which, during the British Iron Age, Roman Britain, the Anglo-Saxon settlement of Britain resulted in the partial assimilation of Dumnonia into the Kingdom of Wessex during the eighth and ninth centuries. The western boundary with Cornwall was set at the River Tamar by King Æthelstan in 936, Devon was constituted as a shire of the Kingdom of England thereafter. The north and south coasts of Devon each have both cliffs and sandy shores, and the bays contain seaside resorts, fishing towns. The inland terrain is rural, generally hilly, and has a low density in comparison to many other parts of England. Dartmoor is the largest open space in southern England at 954 km2, to the north of Dartmoor are the Culm Measures and Exmoor. In the valleys and lowlands of south and east Devon the soil is fertile, drained by rivers including the Exe, the Culm, the Teign, the Dart. As well as agriculture, much of the economy of Devon is linked with tourism, in the Brittonic, Devon is known as Welsh, Dyfnaint, Breton, Devnent and Cornish, Dewnens, each meaning deep valleys. One erroneous theory is that the suffix is due to a mistake in the making of the original letters patent for the Duke of Devonshire. However, there are references to Defenascire in Anglo-Saxon texts from before 1000 AD, the term Devonshire may have originated around the 8th century, when it changed from Dumnonia to Defenascir. Kents Cavern in Torquay had produced human remains from 30–40,000 years ago, Dartmoor is thought to have been occupied by Mesolithic hunter-gatherer peoples from about 6000 BC. The Romans held the area under occupation for around 350 years. Devon became a frontier between Brittonic and Anglo-Saxon Wessex, and it was absorbed into Wessex by the mid 9th century. This suggests the Anglo-Saxon migration into Devon was limited rather than a movement of people. The border with Cornwall was set by King Æthelstan on the east bank of the River Tamar in 936 AD, the arrival of William of Orange to launch the Glorious Revolution of 1688 took place at Brixham. Devon has produced tin, copper and other metals from ancient times, Devons tin miners enjoyed a substantial degree of independence through Devons Stannary Parliament, which dates back to the 12th century. The last recorded sitting was in 1748, agriculture has been an important industry in Devon since the 19th century
4.
Newton Abbot
–
Newton Abbot is a market town and civil parish on the River Teign in the Teignbridge District of Devon, England, with a population of 25,556. Newton Abbot holds a historic Cheese and Onion Fayre in honour of Saint Leonard, it was held from 5 to 7 November. The town grew rapidly in the Victorian era as it was home to the South Devon Railway locomotive works. This later became a steam engine shed and was retained to service British Railways diesel locomotives. The town has a nearby, the most westerly racecourse in Britain. Traces of Neolithic people have found at Berrys Wood Hill Fort near Bradley Manor. This was a hill fort that enclosed about 11 acres. Milber Down camp was built before the 1st century BC and was briefly occupied by the Romans. The remains of a Norman motte-and-bailey castle, known as Castle Dyke, are on Highweek Hill, a village grew up around the castle, first called Teignwick, and later Highweek – the village on the high ground. Another settlement developed on the low ground around the River Lemon, the New Town of the Abbots was given the right to hold a weekly market on Wednesdays sometime between 1247 and 1251. By 1300 the two settlements were renamed as Newton Abbot and Newton Bushel, on the strength of the market it quickly became a successful thriving town and a good source of income for the Abbots. Over the river on the Highweek side another weekly market was created and this one ran on Tuesdays and, because the Bushel family were the landowners this community, became known as Newton Bushel. Over the next 200 years Newton Bushel ran more annual fairs, a number of mills were set up, Newton Bushel was also a convenient place for travellers to stay. Torre Abbey was dissolved in 1539 and ownership of Wolborough was granted to John Gaverock who built himself a new house at Forde, the twin markets of Newton Abbot and Newton Bushel continued until they were merged in 1633 as a Wednesday weekly market under the ownership of Bradley Manor. By 1751 there was also a smaller Saturday market and three annual fairs—a cattle fair on 24 June, a cheese and onion fair in September, the markets continued to expand so in 1826 a new market was built. Over the next 50 years the buildings became dilapidated so a new market was built in 1871. The buildings included a market, a corn exchange and a public hall—the Alexandra. The river Lemon was also covered over, further enlargement took place in 1938 as a new cattle market and corn exchange were built
5.
Norman conquest of England
–
Williams claim to the English throne derived from his familial relationship with the childless Anglo-Saxon King Edward the Confessor, who may have encouraged Williams hopes for the throne. Edward died in January 1066 and was succeeded by his brother-in-law Harold Godwinson, within days, William landed in southern England. Harold marched south to confront him, leaving a significant portion of his army in the north, Harolds army confronted Williams invaders on 14 October at the Battle of Hastings, Williams force defeated Harold, who was killed in the engagement. Although Williams main rivals were gone, he faced rebellions over the following years and was not secure on his throne until after 1072. The lands of the resisting English elite were confiscated, some of the elite fled into exile, to control his new kingdom, William granted lands to his followers and built castles commanding military strongpoints throughout the land. More gradual changes affected the classes and village life, the main change appears to have been the formal elimination of slavery. There was little alteration in the structure of government, as the new Norman administrators took over many of the forms of Anglo-Saxon government. In 911 the Carolingian French ruler Charles the Simple allowed a group of Vikings under their leader Rollo to settle in Normandy as part of the Treaty of Saint-Clair-sur-Epte. In exchange for the land, the Norsemen under Rollo were expected to provide protection along the coast against further Viking invaders and their settlement proved successful, and the Vikings in the region became known as the Northmen from which Normandy and Normans are derived. The Normans quickly adopted the culture, renouncing paganism and converting to Christianity. They adopted the langue doïl of their new home and added features from their own Norse language, in 1002 King Æthelred the Unready married Emma of Normandy, the sister of Richard II, Duke of Normandy. Their son Edward the Confessor, who spent many years in exile in Normandy, childless and embroiled in conflict with the formidable Godwin, Earl of Wessex and his sons, Edward may also have encouraged Duke William of Normandys ambitions for the English throne. When King Edward died at the beginning of 1066, the lack of a clear heir led to a succession in which several contenders laid claim to the throne of England. Edwards immediate successor was the Earl of Wessex, Harold Godwinson, Harold was immediately challenged by two powerful neighbouring rulers. William and Harald at once set about assembling troops and ships to invade England, in early 1066, Harolds exiled brother, Tostig Godwinson, raided southeastern England with a fleet he had recruited in Flanders, later joined by other ships from Orkney. Threatened by Harolds fleet, Tostig moved north and raided in East Anglia and Lincolnshire, but he was back to his ships by the brothers Edwin, Earl of Mercia. Deserted by most of his followers, he withdrew to Scotland, King Harald Hardrada invaded northern England in early September, leading a fleet of more than 300 ships carrying perhaps 15,000 men. Haralds army was augmented by the forces of Tostig, who threw his support behind the Norwegian kings bid for the throne
6.
Domesday Book
–
Domesday Book is a manuscript record of the Great Survey of much of England and parts of Wales completed in 1086 by order of King William the Conqueror. The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle states, Then, at the midwinter, was the king in Glocester with his council. After this had the king a large meeting, and very deep consultation with his council, about this land, how it was occupied and it was written in Medieval Latin, was highly abbreviated, and included some vernacular native terms without Latin equivalents. The assessors reckoning of a mans holdings and their values, as recorded in Domesday Book, was dispositive, the name Domesday Book came into use in the 12th century. As Richard FitzNeal wrote in the Dialogus de Scaccario, for as the sentence of that strict and terrible last account cannot be evaded by any skilful subterfuge and its sentence cannot be quashed or set aside with impunity. That is why we have called the book the Book of Judgement, because its decisions, like those of the Last Judgement, are unalterable. The manuscript is held at The National Archives at Kew, London, in 2011, the Open Domesday site made the manuscript available online. The book is a primary source for modern historians and historical economists. Domesday Book encompasses two independent works, Little Domesday and Great Domesday, no surveys were made of the City of London, Winchester, or some other towns, probably due to their tax-exempt status. Most of Cumberland and Westmorland are missing, the omission of the other counties and towns is not fully explained, although in particular Cumberland and Westmorland had yet to be fully conquered. Little Domesday – so named because its format is smaller than its companions – is the more detailed survey. It may have represented the first attempt, resulting in a decision to avoid such level of detail in Great Domesday, some of the largest such magnates held several hundred fees, in a few cases in more than one county. For example, the chapter of the Domesday Book Devonshire section concerning Baldwin the Sheriff lists 176 holdings held in-chief by him, as a review of taxes owed, it was highly unpopular. Each countys list opened with the demesne lands. It should be borne in mind that under the system the king was the only true owner of land in England. He was thus the ultimate overlord and even the greatest magnate could do no more than hold land from him as a tenant under one of the contracts of feudal land tenure. In some counties, one or more principal towns formed the subject of a separate section and this principle applies more specially to the larger volume, in the smaller one, the system is more confused, the execution less perfect. Domesday names a total of 13,418 places and these include fragments of custumals, records of the military service due, of markets, mints, and so forth
7.
Lychgate
–
A lychgate, also spelled lichgate, lycugate, lyke-gate or as two separate words lych gate, is a gateway covered with a roof found at the entrance to a traditional English or English-style churchyard. Examples exist also outside the British Isles in places such as Sweden, compare modern German Leiche, Dutch lijk, Frisian lyk, and Swedish lik, all meaning corpse. The lychgate kept the rain off, and often have seats for the vigil watchers, bodies at that time were buried in just shrouds rather than coffins. At the funeral, the priest conducted the first part of the service under the shelter of the lychgate, lychgates consist of a roofed porch-like structure over a gate, often built of wood. They usually consist of four or six upright wooden posts in a rectangular shape, on top of this are a number of beams to hold a pitched roof covered in thatch or wooden or clay tiles. They can have decorative carvings and in later times were erected as memorials and they sometimes have recessed seats on either side of the gate itself, for the use of pall-bearers or vigil watchers. The body rested inside the Churchyard, so the gates themselves should be under the edge of the roof, the gateway was really part of the church. It was where the clergy met the corpse and the bier rested while part of the service was read before burial and it also served to shelter the pall-bearers while the bier was brought from the church. In some lych gates there stood large flat stones called lich-stones upon which the corpse, the most common form of lych gate is a simple shed composed of a roof with two gabled ends, covered with tiles or thatch. At Berrynarbor, Devon, there is a lychgate in the form of a cross, while at Troutbeck, Westmorland, some elaborate gates have chambers over them. Several new examples were built to mark the new Millennium, such as those at Lenton, Lincolnshire, Lincolnshire
8.
Dartmoor tin-mining
–
The Dartmoor tin mining industry is thought to have originated in pre-Roman times, and continued right through to the 20th century, the last commercially worked mine closing in November 1930. From the 12th century onwards tin mining was regulated by a Stannary Parliament which had its own laws, Tin is smelted from cassiterite, a mineral found in hydrothermal veins in granite, and the uplands of Dartmoor, in Devon, England, were a particularly productive area. The techniques used for the extraction of tin from Dartmoor followed a progression from streaming through open cast mining to underground mining. Today, there are archaeological remains of these three phases of the industry, as well as of the several stages of processing that were necessary to convert the ore to tin metal. Mining became such an important part of life in the region that as early as the 12th century, tin miners developed their own set of laws and, ultimately and these laws applied to anyone involved in the industry. Stannaries were established in Tavistock, Ashburton and Chagford by King Edward I in 1305, the Devon stannary parliament met in an open air forum at Crockern Tor from 1494. Anyone who broke a law could find himself imprisoned in the gaol at Lydford. The stannary courts were abolished in 1836, the majority of the tin mines on Dartmoor are located in granite country rock and most of the lodes trend ENE–WSW and are of limited length, though there are exceptions. In the underground workings, the tin ore, cassiterite, was found in association with large amounts of tourmaline. In the southern part of the moor, the cassiterite was usually found in relatively large grains and these factors, combined with the fact that none of the underground workings was found to be profitable at depth, are typical of the deepest zone of tin mineralisation. It was relatively easy to separate these minerals on the basis of their different specific gravities – cassiterite about 7. The separation was performed by passing a stream of water over the gravels, from there they would start working up the valley, using the stream of water to wash over the debris they had loosened from the bed with picks. They are found on sloping hillsides. The same study confirmed what documentary evidence also relates, that there was a boom in tin production in the 13th century, the earliest written record of tin streaming comes from the 12th century. Several of these gullies retain names that include the word beam, Gibby Beam, Willabeam and Scudley Beam and they are also known as openworks or gerts. Another method of surface mining involved digging pits at intervals along the lode – this was known as lodeback-work, at times these pits were dug in pairs along the back of the lode and the lode followed underground between them. This may have been the precursor to beamworks in a number of locations, the issue that mine managers had to decide was whether it was worth removing the extra overburden to form a gulley in order to be able to mine deeper into the lode. In a similar fashion to streamworking, much use was made of water for the removal of the overburden, means of collecting, diverting and storing water were always associated with openworks
9.
Haytor Granite Tramway
–
The Haytor Granite Tramway was a tramway built to convey granite from Haytor Down, Dartmoor, Devon to the Stover Canal. It was very unusual in that the track was formed of granite sections and it was built in 1820, the granite was in demand in the developing cities of England as masonry to construct public buildings and bridges. In 1850 the quarries employed about 100 men but by 1858 they had closed due to the availability of cheaper Cornish granite, the Haytor rocks and quarries are protected from development and disturbance as a Site of Special Scientific Interest. Coastal shipping was a transport medium, and the Stover Canal was available from Ventiford to the Teign Navigation. The Haytor Tramway was constructed to carry the granite the 10 miles to the canal and its form was a close relative of a plateway, where longitudinal L-shaped metal plates were used to support and guide the wheels of wagons. In the Haytor case, the plates were cut granite blocks. As the wagons had plain wheels without flanges, they could be manouevred at the terminals without the need for sidings, the gauge of the track was 4 ft 3 in, and at junctions the wheels were guided by point tongues, pivoted on the granite-block rails. Authorities differ on whether the point tongues were oak or iron, in the upward direction, the empty tram wagons were pulled to the quarries by teams of horses, the loaded trams were run downhill by gravity to the Stover Canal basin at Ventiford, Teigngrace. The route was carefully engineered to follow a consistent downward gradient to the canal basin, a siding at Manaton Road may have been used to allow trains to pass when meeting in opposing directions. The Stover Canal had been built between 1790 and 1792 by James II Templer of Stover House, Teigngrace, for the clay traffic, George Templer left Devon, only to return a few years later and build a new mansion at Sandford Orleigh on the outskirts of Newton Abbot. He became the companys chief Devonshire agent. An old sailor called Thomas Taverner wrote a poem gives us this information, The vehicles used were probably adapted road waggons and were about 13 feet long. The wheels were 2 ft in diameter with a 3-inch tread, the twelve-wheeled reference in the poem above means twelve waggons with wheels. Stover House itself, then the home of the Templer family, had constructed of Haytor granite in 1781. Granites popularity as a material was increasing and the reason for the quarry. Part of the British Museum, the old General Post Office in London, the last use of Haytor quarried granite was the building of the Exeter War Memorial. The new method worked by means of a series of holes was made along a line of fracture using a tool called a jumper. Feathers were metal prongs with a curved upper end, two of these were inserted into the holes, the curves in opposite directions at 90 degrees to the line of potential fracture
10.
London Bridge
–
London Bridge refers to several historical bridges that have spanned the River Thames between the City of London and Southwark, in central London. The current crossing, which opened to traffic in 1973, is a box girder bridge built from concrete and this replaced a 19th-century stone-arched bridge, which in turn superseded a 600-year-old medieval structure. This was preceded by a succession of bridges, the first built by the Roman founders of London. The current bridge stands at the end of the Pool of London but is positioned 30 metres upstream from previous alignments. The traditional ends of the bridge were marked by St Magnus-the-Martyr on the northern bank. Until Putney Bridge opened in 1729, London Bridge was the only road-crossing of the Thames downstream of Kingston-upon-Thames and its importance has been the subject of popular culture throughout the ages such as in the nursery rhyme London Bridge Is Falling Down and its inclusion within art and literature. The modern bridge is owned and maintained by Bridge House Estates and it carries the A3 road, which is maintained by the Greater London Authority. The crossing also delineates an area along the bank of the River Thames. The abutments of modern London Bridge rest several metres above natural embankments of gravel, sand, between the embankments, the River Thames could have been crossed by ford when the tide was low, or ferry when it was high. There is archaeological evidence for scattered Neolithic, Bronze Age and Iron Age settlement nearby, two ancient fords were in use a few miles upstream, beyond the rivers upper tidal reach. They were aligned with the course of Watling Street and led into the heartlands of the Catuvellauni, some time before Claudius conquest of AD43, power shifted to the Trinovantes, who held the region northeast of the Thames estuary from a capital at Camulodunum. Claudius imposed a major colonia on Camulodunum, and made it the city of the new Roman province of Britannia. The first London Bridge was built by the Roman military as part of their road-building programme, around AD55, the temporary bridge over the Thames was replaced by a permanent timber piled bridge, maintained and guarded by a small garrison. On the relatively high, dry ground at the end of the bridge, a small, opportunistic trading and shipping settlement took root. A smaller settlement developed at the end of the bridge. The bridge was destroyed along with the town in the Boudican revolt. Just downstream of the bridge were substantial quays and depots, convenient to seagoing trade between Britain and the rest of the Roman Empire, with the end of Roman rule in Britain in the early 5th century, Londinium was gradually abandoned and the bridge fell into disrepair. In the Saxon period, the became a boundary between the emergent, mutually hostile kingdoms of Mercia and Wessex
