1.
Lydiard Tregoze
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Lydiard Tregoze is a small village and civil parish on the western edge of Swindon in the county of Wiltshire, in the south west of England. It has in the past been spelt as Liddiard Tregooze and in other ways. The parish includes the village of Hook and the hamlet of Hook Street. Mentioned in Doomsday as a manor belonging to Alfred of Marlborough Baron of Ewyas, however, the original village of Lydiard Tregoze disappeared, giving way to the grounds of an important country house, although St Marys church survives and contains important monuments. Margaret Beaufort, mother of Henry VII, was the stepdaughter of Oliver St John of Lydiard Tregoze, in 1615, Lucy St John, daughter of Sir John St John of Lydiard Tregoze, married Sir Allen Apsley, one of the founders of the New England Company. In 1644, Anne St John of Lydiard, the daughter of Sir John St John, 1st Baronet, married Henry Wilmot, 1st Earl of Rochester, Anne St John was the grandmother of Edward Lee, 1st Earl of Lichfield. Parish registers survive from 1666 and are kept in the Wiltshire, in 1801, the total population of the parish was 578, in 1901 it was 618, and in 1971549. John Bartholomews Gazetteer of the British Isles describes Lydiard Tregoze as, Liddiard Tregooze, par. wilts,1 mile SE. of Liddiard Millicent,5142 ac. pop. Lydiard Tregoze is one of two suggested locations for the 9th century Battle of Ellandun, Lydiard House was the home of the St John family for more than five hundred years. Almost none of the original furnishings then remained, in the 1950s, the Corporation began to collect suitable contents for the house, aiming in particular to restore the 18th century State Rooms. These efforts were helped in 1955 when some good furniture arrived on loan from the National Art Collections Fund. During the 1960s Lord Bolingbroke loaned several St John family portraits to the house, when he died in 1975, he bequeathed to the trustees of the house everything he owned which had come from it. Lydiard House now belongs to Swindon Borough Council, the successor of the former Corporation, open to the public, the house now has a significant art collection, and one room has fine painted panels by Lady Diana Beauclerk. The Great Western Main Line railway follows a route, there are no local stations. Between 1840 and 1841, as the railway was being built in stages from London, the M4 motorway also crosses the parish, where Junction 16 provides routes to West Swindon, Royal Wootton Bassett and Wroughton
2.
Swindon
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Swindon is a large town in Wiltshire, South West England, midway between Bristol,35 miles to the west and Reading,35 miles to the east. London is 78 miles to the east, and Cardiff is 78 miles to the west, at the 2011 census, it had a population of 185,609. Swindon became an Expanded Town under the Town Development Act 1952, Swindon railway station is on the line from London Paddington to Bristol. Swindon Borough Council is an authority, independent of Wiltshire Council since 1997. Residents of Swindon are known as Swindonians, the town and wider borough also has the headquarters of the Nationwide Building Society and a Honda car manufacturing plant. The original Anglo-Saxon settlement of Swindon sat in a position atop a limestone hill. It is referred to in the Domesday Book as Suindune, believed to be derived from the Old English words swine and dun meaning pig hill or possibly Sweyns hill, Swindon was a small market town, mainly for barter trade, until roughly 1848. This original market area is on top of the hill in central Swindon, the Industrial Revolution was responsible for an acceleration of Swindons growth. It started with the construction of the Wilts and Berks Canal in 1810, the canals brought trade to the area and Swindons population started to grow. Between 1841 and 1842, Isambard Kingdom Brunels Swindon Works was built for the repair, the GWR built a small railway village to house some of its workers. The Steam Railway Museum and English Heritage, including the English Heritage Archive, in 1878 the fund began providing artificial limbs made by craftsmen from the carriage and wagon works, and nine years later opened its first dental surgery. In his first few months in post the dentist extracted more than 2000 teeth, from the opening in 1892 of the Health Centre, a doctor could also prescribe a haircut or even a bath. The cradle-to-grave extent of service was later used as a blueprint for the NHS. The Mechanics Institute, formed in 1844, moved into a building looking rather like a church and included a covered market, on 1 May 1855. The New Swindon Improvement Company, a co-operative, raised the funds for this path self-improvement and it was a groundbreaking organisation that transformed the railways workforce into some of the countrys best-educated manual workers. It had the UKs first lending library, and a range of improving lectures, access to a theatre, the Institute also nurtured pioneering trades unionists and encouraged local democracy. During the second half of the 19th century, Swindon New Town grew around the line between London and Bristol. In 1900, the market town, Old Swindon, merged with its new neighbour at the bottom of the hill to become a single town
3.
Wiltshire
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Wiltshire is a county in South West England with an area of 3,485 km2. It is landlocked and borders the counties of Dorset, Somerset, the county town was originally Wilton, after which the county is named, but Wiltshire Council is now based in the new county town of Trowbridge. Wiltshire is characterised by its high downland and wide valleys, Salisbury Plain is noted for being the location of the Stonehenge and Avebury stone circles and other ancient landmarks, and as a training area for the British Army. The city of Salisbury is notable for its mediaeval cathedral, important country houses open to the public include Longleat, near Warminster, and the National Trusts Stourhead, near Mere. The county, in the 9th century written as Wiltunscir, later Wiltonshire, is named after the county town of Wilton. Wiltshire is notable for its pre-Roman archaeology, the Mesolithic, Neolithic and Bronze Age people that occupied southern Britain built settlements on the hills and downland that cover Wiltshire. Stonehenge and Avebury are perhaps the most famous Neolithic sites in the UK, in the 6th and 7th centuries Wiltshire was at the western edge of Saxon Britain, as Cranborne Chase and the Somerset Levels prevented the advance to the west. The Battle of Bedwyn was fought in 675 between Escuin, a West Saxon nobleman who had seized the throne of Queen Saxburga, in 878 the Danes invaded the county. Following the Norman Conquest, large areas of the country came into the possession of the crown, at the time of the Domesday Survey the industry of Wiltshire was largely agricultural,390 mills are mentioned, and vineyards at Tollard and Lacock. In the 17th century English Civil War Wiltshire was largely Parliamentarian, the Battle of Roundway Down, a Royalist victory, was fought near Devizes. The Royal Wiltshire Yeomanry currently lives on as Y Squadron, based in Swindon, around 1800 the Kennet and Avon Canal was built through Wiltshire, providing a route for transporting cargoes from Bristol to London until the development of the Great Western Railway. Information on the 261 civil parishes of Wiltshire is available on the Wiltshire Community History website, run by the Libraries and this site includes maps, demographic data, historic and modern pictures and short histories. The local nickname for Wiltshire natives is moonrakers and this originated from a story of smugglers who managed to foil the local Excise men by hiding their alcohol, possibly French brandy in barrels or kegs, in a village pond. The officials took them for simple yokels or mad and left them alone, many villages claim the tale for their own village pond, but the story is most commonly linked with The Crammer in Devizes. Two-thirds of Wiltshire, a rural county, lies on chalk. This chalk is part of a system of chalk downlands throughout eastern and southern England formed by the rocks of the Chalk Group, the largest area of chalk in Wiltshire is Salisbury Plain, which is used mainly for arable agriculture and by the British Army as training ranges. The highest point in the county is the Tan Hill–Milk Hill ridge in the Pewsey Vale, just to the north of Salisbury Plain, the chalk uplands run northeast into West Berkshire in the Marlborough Downs ridge, and southwest into Dorset as Cranborne Chase. Cranborne Chase, which straddles the border, has, like Salisbury Plain, yielded much Stone Age, the Marlborough Downs are part of the North Wessex Downs AONB, a 1,730 km2 conservation area
4.
M4 motorway
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The M4 is a motorway which runs between London and South Wales in the United Kingdom. Major towns and cities along the route include Slough, Reading, Swindon, Bristol, Newport, Cardiff, a new Severn bridge, known as the Second Severn Crossing, was opened in 1996 with the M4 rerouted to use it. The M4 runs close to the A4 from London to Bristol, after crossing the River Severn it follows the A48 through South Wales, using the Brynglas Tunnels at Junction 25a, Newport and terminates just north of Pontarddulais. It is one of three motorways in Wales, the other two, the A48 and M48, branch off it. The area of land along the M4, with its towns, european route E30 includes most of the M4, although it is not signed as such. The Maidenhead bypass opened in 1961 whilst J1-J5 opened in 1965, the stretch from J18 to the west of Newport was opened in 1966, including the Severn Bridge. The Port Talbot by-pass, also built in the 1960s and now part of the M4, was originally the A48 motorway, the English section of the motorway was completed on 22 December 1971 when the 50-mile stretch between Junctions 9 and 15 was opened to traffic. The Welsh section was completed in 1993, when the Briton Ferry motorway bridge opened, the Second Severn Crossing opened in 1996, together with new link motorways on either side of the estuary to divert the M4 over the new crossing. The existing route over the Severn Bridge was redesignated the M48, in June 1999 the section of the third lane between Junctions 2 and 3 was converted to a bus lane, first as a pilot scheme and then permanently in 2001. A lower speed limit was introduced along the bus lane section at the same time, between 2007 and January 2010 the section from Castleton to Coryton was widened to six lanes. The scheme was opened on 25 January 2010 by Ieuan Wyn Jones the Deputy First Minister for Wales. During 2009 the Newport section of the motorway between Junctions 23a and 29 was upgraded with a new concrete central barrier. A similar claim was made for a 30-mile section of road in Scotland close to Aberdeen in September 2009 with refuelling points at Bridge of Don, Ellon and Peterhead. Between 2008 and 2010, Junction 11, near Reading, was remodelled with a new four-lane motorway junction. It also involved the movement of the local Highways Agency and Fire Service offices, and the construction of a footbridge network, a new bus-lane. Sound barriers for nearby areas were also installed. In April 2008, the decision to preserve a rare Vickers machine gun pillbox, the table below shows the timeline for the construction of the motorway on a section by section basis. Tolls are charged in one only, westbound
5.
Domesday Book
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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
6.
Battersea
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Battersea is a largely residential inner-city district of south London in the London Borough of Wandsworth, England. It has Battersea Park, one of southwest Londons main parks, noted for the long-awaited bringing of the London Underground in the 21st century, two main railway lines cross here at what was the countrys busiest station. Elsewhere in Battersea are a growing proportion of private architecturally-acclaimed riverside, parkside, in 2001, Battersea had a population of 75,651 people. Landmarks include New Covent Garden Market and the Royal Academy of Dance, Wandsworth Common and Clapham Common border parts of this large district, which traditionally also includes Nine Elms. Railway stations in Battersea are in fare zone 2, Battersea is mentioned in Anglo-Saxon times as Badrices īeg = Badrics Island and later Patrisey. As with many former parishes beside major rivers some land was reclaimed by draining marshland, the original village nucleus is marked by St. Marys Church, which is on a site that has featured churches since the 9th century. The settlement appears in the Domesday Book as Patricesy, held by St Peters Abbey and its Domesday Assets were,18 hides and 17 ploughlands of cultivated land,7 mills worth £42 9s 8d per year,82 acres of meadow, woodland worth 50 hogs. The former parish of Battersea included, in a detached part, the borough dates from the London Government Act of 1899, and includes the greater part of the original ecclesiastical parish of St. Mary Battersea. Penge was a district, over which the tenants of Battersea Manor had common of pasture. At the end of the 18th century, above 300 acres of land in the parish of Battersea were occupied by some 20 market gardeners, who rented from five to near 60 acres each. Bridges erected across the Thames encouraged growth, Putney Bridge, a mile to the west, was built in 1729, inland from the river, the rural agricultural community persisted. Between these were numerous wharfs for shipping, in 1929, construction started on Battersea Power Station, being completed in 1939. Factories have been demolished and replaced with apartment buildings. Some of the council owned properties have been sold off and several working mens pubs have become more fashionable bistros. Battersea neighbourhoods close to the railway have some of the most deprived local authority housing in the Borough of Wandsworth, an area which saw condemned slums after their erection in the Victoria era. Battersea was radically altered by the coming of railways, over the next 22 years five other lines were built, across which all trains from Londons Waterloo and Victoria termini would as today travel. An interchange station was built in 1863 towards the north west of the area, taking the name of a fashionable village a mile and more away, the station was named Clapham Junction, a campaign to rename it Battersea Junction fizzled out as late as the early twentieth century. The area was served by a vast music hall – The Grand – opposite the station as well as a theatre next to the town hall
7.
World War II
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World War II, also known as the Second World War, was a global war that lasted from 1939 to 1945, although related conflicts began earlier. It involved the vast majority of the worlds countries—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing alliances, the Allies and the Axis. It was the most widespread war in history, and directly involved more than 100 million people from over 30 countries. Marked by mass deaths of civilians, including the Holocaust and the bombing of industrial and population centres. These made World War II the deadliest conflict in human history, from late 1939 to early 1941, in a series of campaigns and treaties, Germany conquered or controlled much of continental Europe, and formed the Axis alliance with Italy and Japan. Under the Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact of August 1939, Germany and the Soviet Union partitioned and annexed territories of their European neighbours, Poland, Finland, Romania and the Baltic states. In December 1941, Japan attacked the United States and European colonies in the Pacific Ocean, and quickly conquered much of the Western Pacific. The Axis advance halted in 1942 when Japan lost the critical Battle of Midway, near Hawaii, in 1944, the Western Allies invaded German-occupied France, while the Soviet Union regained all of its territorial losses and invaded Germany and its allies. During 1944 and 1945 the Japanese suffered major reverses in mainland Asia in South Central China and Burma, while the Allies crippled the Japanese Navy, thus ended the war in Asia, cementing the total victory of the Allies. World War II altered the political alignment and social structure of the world, the United Nations was established to foster international co-operation and prevent future conflicts. The victorious great powers—the United States, the Soviet Union, China, the United Kingdom, the Soviet Union and the United States emerged as rival superpowers, setting the stage for the Cold War, which lasted for the next 46 years. Meanwhile, the influence of European great powers waned, while the decolonisation of Asia, most countries whose industries had been damaged moved towards economic recovery. Political integration, especially in Europe, emerged as an effort to end pre-war enmities, the start of the war in Europe is generally held to be 1 September 1939, beginning with the German invasion of Poland, Britain and France declared war on Germany two days later. The dates for the beginning of war in the Pacific include the start of the Second Sino-Japanese War on 7 July 1937, or even the Japanese invasion of Manchuria on 19 September 1931. Others follow the British historian A. J. P. Taylor, who held that the Sino-Japanese War and war in Europe and its colonies occurred simultaneously and this article uses the conventional dating. Other starting dates sometimes used for World War II include the Italian invasion of Abyssinia on 3 October 1935. The British historian Antony Beevor views the beginning of World War II as the Battles of Khalkhin Gol fought between Japan and the forces of Mongolia and the Soviet Union from May to September 1939, the exact date of the wars end is also not universally agreed upon. It was generally accepted at the time that the war ended with the armistice of 14 August 1945, rather than the formal surrender of Japan
8.
Prisoner of war
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A prisoner of war is a person, whether combatant or non-combatant, who is held in custody by a belligerent power during or immediately after an armed conflict. The earliest recorded usage of the prisoner of war dates to 1660. The first Roman gladiators were prisoners of war and were named according to their ethnic roots such as Samnite, Thracian, typically, little distinction was made between enemy combatants and enemy civilians, although women and children were more likely to be spared. Sometimes, the purpose of a battle, if not a war, was to capture women, a known as raptio. Typically women had no rights, and were legally as chattel. For this he was eventually canonized, during Childerics siege and blockade of Paris in 464, the nun Geneviève pleaded with the Frankish king for the welfare of prisoners of war and met with a favourable response. Later, Clovis I liberated captives after Genevieve urged him to do so, many French prisoners of war were killed during the Battle of Agincourt in 1415. In the later Middle Ages, a number of religious wars aimed to not only defeat, in Christian Europe, the extermination of heretics was considered desirable. Examples include the 13th century Albigensian Crusade and the Northern Crusades, likewise, the inhabitants of conquered cities were frequently massacred during the Crusades against the Muslims in the 11th and 12th centuries. Noblemen could hope to be ransomed, their families would have to send to their captors large sums of wealth commensurate with the status of the captive. In feudal Japan there was no custom of ransoming prisoners of war, in Termez, on the Oxus, all the people, both men and women, were driven out onto the plain, and divided in accordance with their usual custom, then they were all slain. The Aztecs were constantly at war with neighbouring tribes and groups, for the re-consecration of Great Pyramid of Tenochtitlan in 1487, between 10,000 and 80,400 persons were sacrificed. During the early Muslim conquests, Muslims routinely captured large number of prisoners, aside from those who converted, most were ransomed or enslaved. Christians who were captured during the Crusades, were either killed or sold into slavery if they could not pay a ransom. The freeing of prisoners was highly recommended as a charitable act, there also evolved the right of parole, French for discourse, in which a captured officer surrendered his sword and gave his word as a gentleman in exchange for privileges. If he swore not to escape, he could gain better accommodations, if he swore to cease hostilities against the nation who held him captive, he could be repatriated or exchanged but could not serve against his former captors in a military capacity. Early historical narratives of captured colonial Europeans, including perspectives of literate women captured by the peoples of North America. The writings of Mary Rowlandson, captured in the fighting of King Philips War, are an example
9.
Palladian architecture
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Palladian architecture is a European style of architecture derived from and inspired by the designs of the Venetian architect Andrea Palladio. That which is recognised as Palladian architecture today is an evolution of Palladios original concepts, Palladios work was strongly based on the symmetry, perspective and values of the formal classical temple architecture of the Ancient Greeks and Romans. From the 17th century Palladios interpretation of classical architecture was adapted as the style known as Palladianism. It continued to develop until the end of the 18th century, Palladianism became popular briefly in Britain during the mid-17th century, but its flowering was cut short by the onset of the Civil War and the imposition of austerity which followed. In the early 18th century it returned to fashion, not only in England but also, the style continued to be popular in Europe throughout the 19th and early 20th centuries, where it was frequently employed in the design of public and municipal buildings. However, as a style it has continued to be popular and to evolve, its pediments, symmetry. Buildings entirely designed by Palladio are all in Venice and the Veneto, with an especially rich grouping of palazzi in Vicenza and they include villas, and churches such as Redentore in Venice. Palladio always designed his villas with reference to their setting, if on a hill, such as Villa Capra, facades were frequently designed to be of equal value so that occupants could have fine views in all directions. Also, in cases, porticos were built on all sides so that occupants could fully appreciate the countryside while being protected from the sun. Palladio sometimes used a loggia as an alternative to the portico and this can most simply be described as a recessed portico, or an internal single storey room, with pierced walls that are open to the elements. Occasionally a loggia would be placed at floor level over the top of a loggia below. Loggias were sometimes given significance in a facade by being surmounted by a pediment, Villa Godi has as its focal point a loggia rather than a portico, plus loggias terminating each end of the main building. Palladio would often model his villa elevations on Roman temple facades, the temple influence, often in a cruciform design, later became a trademark of his work. Palladian villas are built with three floors, a rusticated basement or ground floor, containing the service and minor rooms. The proportions of each room within the villa were calculated on simple mathematical ratios like 3,4 and 4,5, earlier architects had used these formulas for balancing a single symmetrical facade, however, Palladios designs related to the whole, usually square, villa. Palladio deeply considered the purpose of his villas as both farmhouses and palatial weekend retreats for wealthy merchant owners. These symmetrical temple-like houses often have symmetrical, but low, wings sweeping away from them to accommodate horses, farm animals. The wings, sometimes detached and connected to the villa by colonnades, were designed not only to be functional but also to complement, the Palladian, Serlian, or Venetian window features largely in Palladios work and is almost a trademark of his early career
10.
Manor house
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A manor house was historically the main residence of the lord of the manor. The term is loosely applied to various country houses, frequently dating from the late medieval era. They were sometimes fortified, but this was intended more for show than for defence. Manor houses existed in most European countries where feudalism existed, where they were known as castles, palaces. Many buildings, such as schools, are named Manor, the reason behind this is because the building was or is close to a manor house. The lord of the manor may have several properties within a county or, for example in the case of a feudal baron, spread across a kingdom. A large and suitable building was required within the manor for such purpose, generally in the form of a hall. This also gave the opportunity for the manor house to be cleaned, especially important in the days of the cess-pit. Thus such non-resident lords needed to appoint a steward or seneschal to act as their deputy in such matters, the day-to-day administration was carried out by a resident official in authority at each manor, who in England was called a bailiff, or reeve. Although not typically built with strong fortifications as were castles, many manor-houses were fortified and they were often enclosed within walls or ditches which often also included agricultural buildings. The primary feature of the house was its great hall. A late 16th-century transformation produced many of the smaller Renaissance châteaux of France, the Tudor period of stability in England saw the building of the first of the unfortified great houses, for example Sutton Place in Surrey, circa 1521. During the second half of the reign of Queen Elizabeth I and under her successor King James I the first mansions designed by architects not by mere masons or builders, began to make their appearance. Such houses as Burghley House, Longleat House, and Hatfield House are among the best known of this period, nearly every large mediaeval manor house had its own deer-park adjoining, emparked by royal licence, which served primarily as a store of food in the form of venison. Within these licensed parks deer could not be hunted by royalty and this gave them more privacy and space. Court was a suffix which came into use in the 16th century, the obvious origin of the suffix would appear to be that the building was the location where the manorial courts were held. True castles, when not royal castles, were generally the residences of feudal barons, the manor on which the castle was situated was termed the caput of the barony, thus every true ancient defensive castle was also the manor house of its own manor. The suffix -Park came into use in the 18th and 19th centuries, the usage is often a modern catch-all suffix for an old house on an estate, true manor or not
11.
Henry St John, 1st Viscount Bolingbroke
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Henry St John, 1st Viscount Bolingbroke was an English politician, government official and political philosopher. He was a leader of the Tories, and supported the Church of England politically despite his antireligious views, in 1715 he supported the Jacobite rebellion of 1715 which sought to overthrow the new king George I. Escaping to France he became minister for the Pretender. He was attainted for treason, but reversed course and was allowed to return to England in 1723 and he is best known as the philosopher of the Country Party. Henry St John was most likely born at Lydiard Tregoze, the seat in Wiltshire. St John was the son of Sir Henry St John, 4th Baronet later 1st Viscount St John and it is possible he was educated at a Dissenting academy. He travelled to France, Switzerland and Italy during 1698 and 1699, oliver Goldsmith reported that he had been seen to run naked through the park in a state of intoxication. Swift, his friend, said that he wanted to be thought the Alcibiades or Petronius of his age. In 1700, he married Frances, daughter of Sir Henry Winchcombe of Bucklebury, Berkshire and he became a Member of Parliament in 1701, representing the family borough of Wootton Bassett in Wiltshire, as a Tory. His seat was Lydiard Park at Lydiard Tregoze, now in the Borough of Swindon, in March 1702, he was chosen commissioner for taking the public accounts. After Queen Annes accession, St John supported the bills in 1702 and 1704 against occasional conformity, and took a leading part in the disputes which arose between the two Houses. In 1704, St John took office with Harley as secretary at war, thus being brought into relations with John Churchill, 1st Duke of Marlborough. He supported the bill for requiring a property qualification for a seat in parliament. In 1712, he was the author of the bill taxing newspapers, because of the diversity of aims among the allies, St John was induced to enter into separate and secret negotiations with France for the security of English interests. In May 1712, he ordered the Duke of Ormonde, who had succeeded Marlborough in command, subsequently, St John received the congratulations of the French foreign minister, de Torcy, on the French victory over Prince Eugene at Denain. In June 1712, St Johns commercial treaty with France, establishing trade with that country, was rejected by the House of Commons. The treaty was presented in the Commons by Arthur Moore as St John had been created Viscount Bolingbroke earlier that year, at least 40 or so from the Tories voted to reject the treaty. In August 1712, Bolingbroke went to France and signed an armistice between England and France for four months, in March 1711, when the Marquis de Guiscard made an attempt on Harleys life, Bolingbroke assumed temporary leadership of the ministrys affairs
12.
Borough of Swindon
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The Borough of Swindon is a local government authority in South West England. It is centred on the town of Swindon and forms part of the county of Wiltshire. It was formed in 1974 as the Thamesdown district of Wiltshire, from areas of the municipal borough of Swindon. On 1 April 1997 it was made independent of Wiltshire County Council. It adopted the name Swindon on 24 April 1997, the former Thamesdown name and logo are used by the main local bus operator, Thamesdown Transport Limited. The borough of Swindon occupies an area forming the north east corner of Wiltshire and is bordered by two counties, Gloucestershire and Oxfordshire. Also, West Berkshire is only a distance from the borough’s south eastern tip. The generally hilly landscape is sculpted by the upper Thames guiding the northern border, small tributaries draining into the Thames, the borough encompasses the Swindon urban area and surrounding countryside to the north, east and south, including the town of Highworth. Elections are held in three out of four years, with one third of the seats being elected at each election. From the first election in 1996 to the 2000 election, Labour had a majority on the council, following a period where no party had a majority the Conservatives gained a majority at the 2003 election and have held control since then. As of the 2016 local elections, the council is composed of the following councillors, - The following are the electoral wards within the Borough as at 2016
13.
Georgian architecture
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Georgian architecture is the name given in most English-speaking countries to the set of architectural styles current between 1714 and 1830. It is eponymous for the first four British monarchs of the House of Hanover—George I, George II, George III, and George IV—who reigned in continuous succession from August 1714 to June 1830. The style of Georgian buildings is very variable, but marked by a taste for symmetry and proportion based on the architecture of Greece and Rome. Ornament is also normally in the tradition, but typically rather restrained. In towns, which expanded greatly during the period, landowners turned into property developers, even the wealthy were persuaded to live in these in town, especially if provided with a square of garden in front of the house. There was an amount of building in the period, all over the English-speaking world. The period saw the growth of a distinct and trained architectural profession, before the mid-century the high-sounding title and this contrasted with earlier styles, which were primarily disseminated among craftsmen through the direct experience of the apprenticeship system. Authors such as the prolific William Halfpenny published editions in America as well as Britain, mail-order kit homes were also popular before World War II. The architect James Gibbs was a figure, his earlier buildings are Baroque, reflecting the time he spent in Rome in the early 18th century. Other prominent architects of the early Georgian period include James Paine, Robert Taylor, and John Wood, the styles that resulted fall within several categories. In the mainstream of Georgian style were both Palladian architecture—and its whimsical alternatives, Gothic and Chinoiserie, which were the English-speaking worlds equivalent of European Rococo. John Nash was one of the most prolific architects of the late Georgian era known as The Regency style, greek Revival architecture was added to the repertory, beginning around 1750, but increasing in popularity after 1800. Leading exponents were William Wilkins and Robert Smirke, regularity of housefronts along a street was a desirable feature of Georgian town planning. In Britain brick or stone are almost invariably used, brick is often disguised with stucco, in America and other colonies wood remained very common, as its availability and cost-ratio with the other materials was more favourable. Versions of revived Palladian architecture dominated English country house architecture, Houses were increasingly placed in grand landscaped settings, and large houses were generally made wide and relatively shallow, largely to look more impressive from a distance. The height was usually highest in the centre, and the Baroque emphasis on corner pavilions often found on the continent generally avoided, in grand houses, an entrance hall led to steps up to a piano nobile or mezzanine floor where the main reception rooms were. A single block was typical, with a perhaps a small court for carriages at the front marked off by railings and a gate, but rarely a stone gatehouse, or side wings around the court. Windows in all types of buildings were large and regularly placed on a grid, this was partly to minimize window tax and their height increasingly varied between the floors, and they increasingly began below waist-height in the main rooms, making a small balcony desirable
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Geographic coordinate system
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A geographic coordinate system is a coordinate system used in geography that enables every location on Earth to be specified by a set of numbers, letters or symbols. The coordinates are chosen such that one of the numbers represents a vertical position. A common choice of coordinates is latitude, longitude and elevation, to specify a location on a two-dimensional map requires a map projection. The invention of a coordinate system is generally credited to Eratosthenes of Cyrene. Ptolemy credited him with the adoption of longitude and latitude. Ptolemys 2nd-century Geography used the prime meridian but measured latitude from the equator instead. Mathematical cartography resumed in Europe following Maximus Planudes recovery of Ptolemys text a little before 1300, in 1884, the United States hosted the International Meridian Conference, attended by representatives from twenty-five nations. Twenty-two of them agreed to adopt the longitude of the Royal Observatory in Greenwich, the Dominican Republic voted against the motion, while France and Brazil abstained. France adopted Greenwich Mean Time in place of local determinations by the Paris Observatory in 1911, the latitude of a point on Earths surface is the angle between the equatorial plane and the straight line that passes through that point and through the center of the Earth. Lines joining points of the same latitude trace circles on the surface of Earth called parallels, as they are parallel to the equator, the north pole is 90° N, the south pole is 90° S. The 0° parallel of latitude is designated the equator, the plane of all geographic coordinate systems. The equator divides the globe into Northern and Southern Hemispheres, the longitude of a point on Earths surface is the angle east or west of a reference meridian to another meridian that passes through that point. All meridians are halves of great ellipses, which converge at the north and south poles, the prime meridian determines the proper Eastern and Western Hemispheres, although maps often divide these hemispheres further west in order to keep the Old World on a single side. The antipodal meridian of Greenwich is both 180°W and 180°E, the combination of these two components specifies the position of any location on the surface of Earth, without consideration of altitude or depth. The grid formed by lines of latitude and longitude is known as a graticule, the origin/zero point of this system is located in the Gulf of Guinea about 625 km south of Tema, Ghana. To completely specify a location of a feature on, in, or above Earth. Earth is not a sphere, but a shape approximating a biaxial ellipsoid. It is nearly spherical, but has an equatorial bulge making the radius at the equator about 0. 3% larger than the radius measured through the poles, the shorter axis approximately coincides with the axis of rotation
