1.
Dorset
–
Dorset /ˈdɔːrsᵻt/ is a county in South West England on the English Channel coast. The ceremonial county comprises the county, which is governed by Dorset County Council. Covering an area of 2,653 square kilometres, Dorset borders Devon to the west, Somerset to the north-west, Wiltshire to the north-east, the county town is Dorchester which is in the south. After the reorganisation of government in 1974 the countys border was extended eastward to incorporate the Hampshire towns of Bournemouth. Around half of the lives in the South East Dorset conurbation. The county has a history of human settlement stretching back to the Neolithic era. The Romans conquered Dorsets indigenous Celtic tribe, and during the early Middle Ages, the first recorded Viking raid on the British Isles occurred in Dorset during the eighth century, and the Black Death entered England at Melcombe Regis in 1348. During the Second World War, Dorset was heavily involved in the preparations for the invasion of Normandy, the former was the sailing venue in the 2012 Summer Olympics, and both have clubs or hire venues for sailing, Cornish pilot gig rowing, sea kayaking and powerboating. Dorset has a varied landscape featuring broad elevated chalk downs, steep limestone ridges, over half the county is designated as an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty. Three-quarters of its coastline is part of the Jurassic Coast Natural World Heritage Site due to its geological and it features notable landforms such as Lulworth Cove, the Isle of Portland, Chesil Beach and Durdle Door. Agriculture was traditionally the major industry of Dorset but is now in decline, there are no motorways in Dorset but a network of A roads cross the county and two railway main lines connect to London. Dorset has ports at Poole, Weymouth and Portland, and an international airport, the county has a variety of museums, theatres and festivals, and is host to one of Europes largest outdoor shows. It is the birthplace of Thomas Hardy, who used the county as the setting of his novels. Dorset derives its name from the county town of Dorchester, the Romans established the settlement in the 1st century and named it Durnovaria which was a Latinised version of a Common Brittonic word possibly meaning place with fist-sized pebbles. It is first mentioned in the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle in AD845 and in the 10th century the countys archaic name, the first human visitors to Dorset were Mesolithic hunters, from around 8000 BC. The first permanent Neolithic settlers appeared around 3000 BC and were responsible for the creation of the Dorset Cursus, from 2800 BC onwards Bronze Age farmers cleared Dorsets woodlands for agricultural use and Dorsets high chalk hills provided a location for numerous round barrows. During the Iron Age, the British tribe known as the Durotriges established a series of forts across the county—most notably Maiden Castle which is one of the largest in Europe. The Romans arrived in Dorset during their conquest of Britain in AD43, Maiden Castle was captured by a Roman legion under the command of Vespasian, and the Roman settlement of Durnovaria was established nearby
Dorset
Dorset
–
Dorset shown within England
Dorset
–
Corfe Castle, captured and destroyed by
Cromwell's army in 1646
Dorset
–
Durdle Door, a
natural arch near
Lulworth Cove
2.
Ordnance Survey National Grid
–
The Ordnance Survey National Grid reference system is a system of geographic grid references used in Great Britain, different from using Latitude and Longitude. It is often called British National Grid, the Ordnance Survey devised the national grid reference system, and it is heavily used in their survey data, and in maps based on those surveys. Grid references are commonly quoted in other publications and data sources. The Universal Transverse Mercator coordinate system is used to provide references for worldwide locations. European-wide agencies also use UTM when mapping locations, or may use the Military Grid Reference System system, the grid is based on the OSGB36 datum, and was introduced after the retriangulation of 1936–1962. It replaced the previously used Cassini Grid which, up to the end of World War Two, had issued only to the military. The Airy ellipsoid is a regional best fit for Britain, more modern mapping tends to use the GRS80 ellipsoid used by the GPS, the British maps adopt a Transverse Mercator projection with an origin at 49° N, 2° W. Over the Airy ellipsoid a straight grid, the National Grid, is placed with a new false origin. This false origin is located south-west of the Isles of Scilly, the distortion created between the OS grid and the projection is countered by a scale factor in the longitude to create two lines of longitude with zero distortion rather than one. Grid north and true north are aligned on the 400 km easting of the grid which is 2° W. 2° 0′ 5″ W. OSGB36 was also used by Admiralty nautical charts until 2000 after which WGS84 has been used, a geodetic transformation between OSGB36 and other terrestrial reference systems can become quite tedious if attempted manually. The most common transformation is called the Helmert datum transformation, which results in a typical 7 m error from true, the definitive transformation from ETRS89 that is published by the OSGB is called the National Grid Transformation OSTN02. This models the detailed distortions in the 1936–1962 retriangulation, and achieves backwards compatibility in grid coordinates to sub-metre accuracy, the difference between the coordinates on different datums varies from place to place. The longitude and latitude positions on OSGB36 are the same as for WGS84 at a point in the Atlantic Ocean well to the west of Great Britain. In Cornwall, the WGS84 longitude lines are about 70 metres east of their OSGB36 equivalents, the smallest datum shift is on the west coast of Scotland and the greatest in Kent. But Great Britain has not shrunk by 100+ metres, a point near Lands End now computes to be 27.6 metres closer to a point near Duncansby Head than it did under OSGB36. For the first letter, the grid is divided into squares of size 500 km by 500 km, there are four of these which contain significant land area within Great Britain, S, T, N and H. The O square contains an area of North Yorkshire, almost all of which lies below mean high tide
Ordnance Survey National Grid
–
Grid square TF. The map shows
The Wash and the
North Sea, as well as places within the counties of
Lincolnshire, Cambridgeshire and
Norfolk.
Ordnance Survey National Grid
–
Geodesy
3.
London
–
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
London
–
Palace of Westminster,
Buckingham Palace and
Central London skyline
London
London
London
–
The name London may derive from the
River Thames
4.
Districts of England
–
The districts of England are a level of subnational division of England used for the purposes of local government. As the structure of government in England is not uniform. Some districts are styled as boroughs, cities, or royal boroughs, these are purely honorific titles, prior to the establishment of districts in the 1890s, the basic unit of local government in England was the parish overseen by the parish church vestry committee. Vestries dealt with the administraction of both parochial and secular governmental matters, parishes were the successors of the manorial system and historically had been grouped into hundreds. Hundreds once exercised some supervising administrative function, however, these powers ebbed away as more and more civic and judicial powers were centred on county towns. From 1834 these parishes were grouped into Poor Law Unions, creating areas for administration of the Poor Law and these areas were later used for census registration and as the basis for sanitary provision. In 1894, based on these earlier subdivisions, the Local Government Act 1894 created urban districts and rural districts as sub-divisions of administrative counties, another reform in 1900 created 28 metropolitan boroughs as sub-divisions of the County of London. Meanwhile, from this date parish-level local government administration was transferred to civil parishes, the setting-down of the current structure of districts in England began in 1965, when Greater London and its 32 London boroughs were created. They are the oldest type of still in use. In 1974, metropolitan counties and non-metropolitan counties were created across the rest of England and were split into metropolitan districts, in London power is now shared again, albeit on a different basis, with the Greater London Authority. During the 1990s a further kind of district was created, the unitary authority, metropolitan boroughs are a subdivision of a metropolitan county. These are similar to unitary authorities, as the county councils were abolished in 1986. Most of the powers of the county councils were devolved to the districts but some services are run by joint boards, the districts typically have populations of 174,000 to 1.1 million. Non-metropolitan districts are second-tier authorities, which share power with county councils and they are subdivisions of shire counties and the most common type of district. These districts typically have populations of 25,000 to 200,000, the number of non-metropolitan districts has varied over time. Initially there were 296, after the creation of unitary authorities in the 1990s and late 2000s and these are single-tier districts which are responsible for running all local services in their areas, combining both county and district functions. They were created in the out of non-metropolitan districts, and often cover large towns. In addition, some of the smaller such as Rutland, Herefordshire
Districts of England
–
Districts (England)
5.
West Dorset
–
West Dorset is a local government district and parliamentary constituency in Dorset, England. Its council is based in Dorchester, in 2006 the district was named 10th best place to live in the UK. In the Census 2001 West Dorset registered a population of 92,350, the population structure reflects the rural nature of the district. 52% of the population are female, the area is a popular retirement area which also exports young people due the low choice of career options. This is reflected in the age structure, with 12. 3% of the population over 75,34. 4% of dwellings are pensioner households, compared to 23. 8% in England. The district is an example of the low ethnic minority populations in areas, with 96. 7% white British ethnicity. The district has a level of car ownership, at 83. 1% of households compared to 73. 2% in England. West Dorset is a county constituency, currently represented in the British House of Commons by the Conservative front-bencher Oliver Letwin, elections in this constituency are usually a two-party contest between the Conservative and Liberal Democrat parties. The main settlements in West Dorset are Dorchester, Sherborne and Bridport, Dorchester is in the south of the district and is the county town of Dorset. It has been an important settlement since Roman times, Sherborne is in the north of the district and is an important market town which was, for a time, the capital of Wessex. Bridport is in the west of the district and is popular with visiting the Jurassic Coast. Settlements with a population over 2,500 are in bold
West Dorset
–
Maiden Castle in 1934. Photograph taken by Major George Allen (1891–1940).
West Dorset
–
West Dorset shown within Dorset
6.
Regions of England
–
The regions are the highest tier of sub-national division in England. Between 1994 and 2011, nine regions had officially devolved functions within Government, while they no longer fulfil this role, they continue to be used for statistical and some administrative purposes. They define areas for the purposes of elections to the European Parliament, Eurostat also uses them to demarcate first level Nomenclature of Territorial Units for Statistics regions within the European Union. The regions generally follow the boundaries of the former standard regions, the London region has a directly elected Mayor and Assembly. Six regions have local authority leaders boards to assist with correlating the headline policies of local authorities, the remaining two regions no longer have any administrative functions, having abolished their regional local authority leaders boards. In 1998, regional chambers were established in the eight regions outside of London, the regions also had an associated Government Office with some responsibility for coordinating policy, and, from 2007, a part-time regional minister within the Government. House of Commons regional Select Committees were established in 2009, Regional ministers were not reappointed by the incoming Coalition Government, and the Government Offices were abolished in 2011. Regional development agencies were public bodies established in all nine regions in 1998 to promote economic development and they had certain delegated functions, including administering European Union regional development funds, and received funding the central government as well. After about 500 AD, England comprised seven Anglo-Saxon territories – Northumbria, Mercia, East Anglia, Essex, Kent, the boundaries of some of these, which later unified as the Kingdom of England, roughly coincide with those of modern regions. During Oliver Cromwells Protectorate in the 1650s, the rule of the Major-Generals created 10 regions in England, proposals for administrative regions within England were mooted by the British government prior to the First World War. In 1912 the Third Home Rule Bill was passing through parliament, the Bill was expected to introduce a devolved parliament for Ireland, and as a consequence calls were made for similar structures to be introduced in Great Britain or Home Rule All Round. On 12 September the First Lord of the Admiralty, Winston Churchill, within England, he suggested that London, Lancashire, Yorkshire, and the Midlands would make natural regions. While the creation of regional parliaments never became official policy, it was for a widely anticipated. In 1946 nine standard regions were set up, in central government bodies, statutory undertakings. However, these had declined in importance by the late 1950s, creation of some form of provinces or regions for England was an intermittent theme of post-Second World War British governments. The Redcliffe-Maud Report proposed the creation of eight provinces in England, one-fifth of the advisory councils would be nominees from central government. The boundaries suggested were the eight now existing for economic planning purposes, a minority report by Lord Crowther-Hunt and Alan T. Peacock suggested instead seven regional assemblies and governments within Great Britain, some elements of regional development and economic planning began to be established in England from the mid-1960s onwards
Regions of England
–
Regions of England English regions
7.
South West England
–
South West England is one of nine official regions of England. It is the largest in area, covering 9,200 square miles, five million people live in South West England. The region includes the West Country and much of the ancient kingdom of Wessex, other major urban centres include Plymouth, Swindon, Gloucester, Cheltenham, Exeter, Bath, Torbay, and the South East Dorset conurbation. There are eight cities, Salisbury, Bath, Wells, Bristol, Gloucester, Exeter, Plymouth and it includes two entire national parks, Dartmoor and Exmoor, and four World Heritage Sites, including Stonehenge and the Jurassic Coast. The northern part of Gloucestershire, near Chipping Campden, is as close to the Scottish border as it is to the tip of Cornwall, the region has by far the longest coastline in England and many seaside fishing towns. The region is at the first-level of NUTS for Eurostat purposes, key data and facts about the region are produced by the South West Observatory. Following the abolition of the South West Regional Assembly and Government Office, the region is known for its rich folklore, including the legend of King Arthur and Glastonbury Tor, as well as its traditions and customs. Cornwall has its own language, Cornish, and some regard it as a Celtic nation, the South West of England is known for Cheddar cheese, which originated in the Somerset village of Cheddar, Devon cream teas, crabs, Cornish pasties, and cider. It is also home to the Eden Project, Aardman Animations, the Glastonbury Festival, most of the region is located on the South West Peninsula, between the English Channel and Bristol Channel. It has the longest coastline of all the English regions, totalling over 700 miles, much of the coast is now protected from further substantial development because of its environmental importance, which contributes to the region’s attractiveness to tourists and residents. Geologically the region is divided into the largely igneous and metamorphic west and sedimentary east, Cornwall and West Devons landscape is of rocky coastline and high moorland, notably at Bodmin Moor and Dartmoor. These are due to the granite and slate that underlie the area, the highest point of the region is High Willhays, at 2,038 feet, on Dartmoor. In North Devon the slates of the west and limestones of the east meet at Exmoor National Park, the variety of rocks of similar ages seen here have led to the countys name being lent to that of the Devonian period. The east of the region is characterised by wide, flat clay vales and chalk, the vales, with good irrigation, are home to the regions dairy agriculture. The Blackmore Vale was Thomas Hardys Vale of the Little Dairies, another and these downs are the principal area of arable agriculture in the region. Limestone is also found in the region, at the Cotswolds, Quantock Hills and Mendip Hills, all of the principal rock types can be seen on the Jurassic Coast of Dorset and East Devon, where they document the entire Mesozoic era from west to east. The climate of South West England is classed as oceanic according to the Köppen climate classification, the oceanic climate typically experiences cool winters with warmer summers and precipitation all year round, with more experienced in winter. Annual rainfall is about 1,000 millimetres and up to 2,000 millimetres on higher ground, summer maxima averages range from 18 °C to 22 °C and winter minimum averages range from 1 °C to 4 °C across the south-west
South West England
–
High Willhays on
Dartmoor, Devon, the region's highest point.
South West England
–
South West England region in England
South West England
–
Pulteney Bridge in Bath, Somerset: the entire city is a World Heritage Site.
South West England
–
M5 looking north towards
Avonmouth
8.
Countries of the United Kingdom
–
The United Kingdom comprises four countries, England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland. Within the United Kingdom, a sovereign state, Northern Ireland, Scotland. England, comprising the majority of the population and area of the United Kingdom, England, Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales are not themselves listed in the International Organization for Standardization list of countries. However the ISO list of the subdivisions of the UK, compiled by British Standards, Northern Ireland, in contrast, is described as a province in the same lists. Each has separate governing bodies for sports and compete separately in many international sporting competitions. Northern Ireland also forms joint All-Island sporting bodies with the Republic of Ireland for most sports, the Channel Islands and the Isle of Man are dependencies of the Crown and are not part of the UK. Similarly, the British overseas territories, remnants of the British Empire, are not part of the UK, southern Ireland left the United Kingdom under the Irish Free State Constitution Act 1922. * Figures for GVA do not include oil and gas revenues generated beyond the UKs territorial waters, various terms have been used to describe England, Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales. Wales was described as the country, principality, and dominion of Wales, outside Wales, England was not given a specific name or term. The Laws in Wales Acts have subsequently been repealed, the Acts of Union 1707 refer to both England and Scotland as a part of a united kingdom of Great Britain The Acts of Union 1800 use part in the same way to refer to England and Scotland. The Northern Ireland Act 1998, which repealed the Government of Ireland Act 1920, the Interpretation Act 1978 provides statutory definitions of the terms England, Wales and the United Kingdom, but neither that Act nor any other current statute defines Scotland or Northern Ireland. Use of the first three terms in other legislation is interpreted following the definitions in the 1978 Act and this definition applies from 1 April 1974. United Kingdom means Great Britain and Northern Ireland and this definition applies from 12 April 1927. In 1996 these 8 new counties were redistributed into the current 22 unitary authorities, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland are regions in their own right while England has been divided into nine regions. The official term rest of the UK is used in Scotland, for example in export statistics and this term is also used in the context of potential Scottish independence to mean the UK without Scotland. The alternative term Home Nations is sometimes used in sporting contexts, the second, or civic group, contained the items about feeling British, respecting laws and institutions, speaking English, and having British citizenship. Contrariwise, in Scotland and Wales there was a much stronger identification with each country than with Britain, studies and surveys have reported that the majority of the Scots and Welsh see themselves as both Scottish/Welsh and British though with some differences in emphasis. The propensity for nationalistic feeling varies greatly across the UK, and can rise and it reported that 37% of people identified as British, whilst 29% identified as Irish and 24% identified as Northern Irish
Countries of the United Kingdom
9.
England
–
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
England
–
Stonehenge, a
Neolithic monument
England
–
Flag
England
–
Boudica led an uprising against the
Roman Empire
England
–
Replica of a 7th-century ceremonial
helmet from the
Kingdom of East Anglia, found at
Sutton Hoo
10.
United Kingdom
–
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
United Kingdom
–
Stonehenge, in
Wiltshire, was erected around 2500 BC.
United Kingdom
–
Flag
United Kingdom
–
The
Bayeux Tapestry depicts the
Battle of Hastings, 1066, and the events leading to it.
United Kingdom
–
The
Treaty of Union led to a single united kingdom encompassing all Great Britain.
11.
Postcodes in the United Kingdom
–
Postal codes used in the United Kingdom are known as postcodes. They are alphanumeric and were adopted nationally between 11 October 1959 and 1974, having been devised by the GPO, a full postcode is known as a postcode unit and designates an area with a number of addresses or a single major delivery point. For example, the postcode of the University of Roehampton in London is SW15 5PU, the postcode of GCHQ is GL51 0EX, where GL signifies the postal town of Gloucester. The postal town refers to an area and does not relate to a specific town. GL51 is one of the postcodes for the town of Cheltenham which is where GCHQ is located, the London post town covers 40% of Greater London. On inception it was divided into ten districts, EC, WC, N, NE, E, SE, S, SW, W. The S and NE sectors were later abolished and these divisions changed little, usually only changed for operational efficiency. Some older road signs in Hackney still indicate the North East sector/district, following the successful introduction of postal districts in London, the system was extended to other large towns and cities. Liverpool was divided into Eastern, Northern, Southern and Western districts in 1864/65, in 1917 Dublin – then still part of the United Kingdom – was divided into numbered postal districts. These continue in use in a form by An Post. In 1923 Glasgow was divided in a way to London. In January 1932 the Postmaster General approved the designation of some urban areas into numbered districts. In November 1934 the Post Office announced the introduction of numbered districts in every town in the United Kingdom large enough to justify it. Pamphlets were issued to each householder and business in ten areas notifying them of the number of the district in which their premises lay, the pamphlets included a map of the districts, and copies were made available at local head post offices. The public were invited to include the district number in the address at the head of letters. A publicity campaign in the following year encouraged the use of the district numbers, the slogan for the campaign was For speed and certainty always use a postal district number on your letters and notepaper. A poster was fixed to every box in the affected areas bearing the number of the district. Every post office in the district was also to display this information
Postcodes in the United Kingdom
–
Street name signs on Birdbrook Road, Great Barr, Birmingham, showing old "Birmingham 22" (top) and modern "B44" postcodes.
Postcodes in the United Kingdom
12.
Telephone numbers in the United Kingdom
–
Telephone numbers in the United Kingdom are administered by the UK governments Office of Communications. For this purpose Ofcom established a telephone numbering plan, known as the National Telephone Numbering Plan, since 28 April 2001, almost all geographic numbers and most non-geographic numbers have 9 or 10 national numbers after the 0 trunk code. All mobile telephone numbers have 10 national numbers after the 0 trunk code, regions with shorter area codes, typically large cities, permit the allocation of more telephone numbers as the local number portion has more digits. Local customer numbers are four to eight figures long, the total number of digits is ten, but in a very few areas the total may be nine digits. The area code is referred to as an STD or a dialling code in the UK. The code allocated to the largest population is for London, the code allocated to the largest area is for all of Northern Ireland. The UK Numbering Plan also applies to three British Crown dependencies—Jersey, Guernsey and the Isle of Man—even though they are not part of the UK itself. Possible number formats for UK telephone numbers are as follows, Number ranges starting 01 can have NSN length as 10 or 9 digits, the 0800 range can have NSN length as 10,9 or 7 digits. The 0845 range can have NSN length as 10 or 7 digits, the 0500 range has NSN length as 9 digits only. There are no numbers in the UK with an NSN length of 8 digits. Geographic telephone numbers in the UK always have nine or ten digits, four-digit area codes have either six-digit subscriber numbers or a mix of five- and six-digit subscriber numbers. Xxxxxx This is the used by most areas. It has an area code and a six digit subscriber number. These area codes were changed by adding a 1 directly after the zero as a part of PhONEday in 1995. Just short of 581 areas use this format, and the area range from 01200 to 01998. A small number of areas also have a few subscriber numbers that have only five digits. That is, almost all area codes now have only six digit local numbers, six of the four-digit area codes are known as mixed areas as they share those four digits with the twelve five-digit area codes. The numbers therefore have only nine digits after the initial zero trunk code and these area codes were changed by adding a 1 directly after the initial zero as a part of PhONEday in 1995
Telephone numbers in the United Kingdom
–
Location of the United Kingdom (dark green)
13.
Dorset Police
–
Dorset Police is the territorial police force responsible for policing the English county of Dorset in the south-west of England. Dorset County Constabulary was formed in 1855, on 1 October 1967 it merged with Bournemouth Borough Police to form Dorset and Bournemouth Constabulary. On 1 April 1974 this force took over some areas from Hampshire Constabulary, in 1965, Dorset County Constabulary had an establishment of 544 and an actual strength of 466. 51% of Dorsets 687,000 Population reside in 5% of the area, within the tourist season this number rises by another 300,000. As of April 2008, the force was divided into two Divisions, Bournemouth and Poole Division and Dorset County Division and this restructuring is in line with force policy of recreating a Neighbourhood-led police force and matches up with the local councils wards, to monitor local statistics. Dorset Police often work with organisations to assist in emergencies, such as Dorset Search and Rescue who assist in the search. The Chief Constable is Debbie Simpson, the despartment is split into six sub-departments including, Child Protection Investigation, Scientific Support, Intelligence, Fraud Squad, Special Squad and HOLMES. Dorset Police is responsible for policing sections of 14 A roads including A338, A35, A350, A354, there are no motorways located within Dorset. Dorset Police have a total of ~450 vehicles, from 20 different manufacturers, the Dorset Police Ports Policing Unit is responsible for policing all designated and non-designated ports in Dorset, making sure that legislation is followed, particularly the Terrorism Act 2000. It also obtains any intelligence on smuggling and contraband, Ports in Dorset include Poole Harbour, Swanage Harbour, Portland Harbour, Weymouth Harbour, Christchurch Harbour and Bournemouth Airport. Dorset Police Marine Unit is responsible for policing the 89 miles of Dorsets coastline, Dorset Polices Armed Response Group is a 24/7 sub-department of the Operations department that responds to major and serious crimes where firearms are involved. The unit responds to incidents with the capability of firearms and Taser deployment and they are currently working hard to crack-down on imitation firearms. BMW X5s are the vehicle used by this unit in black or dark blue. Dorset Police has had a Dog Section since 1953, the unit is based in Eastern Division HQ in Ferndown, the unit comprises 1 Inspector,2 Sergeants and 18 Constables and almost 30 dogs, including German Shepherds, Labradors and English Springer Spaniels. On 29 June 2012 The Police Order 2012 came into effect and this order created the NPAS which became operational 1 October 2012. Dorset Police Headquarters, Winfrith, was home to the MD902 helicopter, until September the 26th 2014 when it was moved to Bournemouth international airport in Dorset on a permanent basis. Winfrith is also home to the Dog Section and is where new officers are trained, female officers wear a bowler hat, or a white bowler hat for traffic officers. When on duty officers wear black wicking T-shirts, and black combat trousers, Dorset Police no longer use the traditional police jumper, having favoured the black fleece with police written on the chest and back
Dorset Police
–
Dorset Police Crest
14.
Fire services in the United Kingdom
–
The fire services in the United Kingdom operate under separate legislative and administrative arrangements in England and Wales, Northern Ireland, and Scotland. Emergency cover is provided by over fifty fire and rescue services, many FRS were previously known as brigades or county fire services, but almost all now use the standard terminology. They are distinct from and governed by an authority, which is the legislative, public and administrative body. Fire authorities in England and Wales, and therefore fire and rescue services, Scotland and Northern Ireland have centralised fire and rescue services, and so their authorities are effectively committees of the devolved parliaments. The total budget for services in 2014-15 was £2.9 billion. The devolved government in Scotland has an agency, HMFSI Scotland. This Act provided for centralised co-ordination of fire brigades in Great Britain,1947, Fire Services Act 1947 This Act transferred the functions of the National Fire Service to local authorities. Now repealed entirely in England and Wales by Schedule 2 of the Fire,1959, Fire Services Act 1959 This Act amended the 1947 Act, it dealt with pensions, staffing arrangements and provision of services by other authorities. It was repealed in England and Wales along with the 1947 Act,1999, Greater London Authority Act 1999 This act was necessary to allow for the formation of the Greater London Authority and in turn the London Fire and Emergency Planning Authority. In 2002, there was a series of fire strikes. In December 2002, the Independent Review of the Fire Service was published with the action still ongoing. Bains report ultimately led to a change in the relating to firefighting. 2002, Independent Review of the Fire Service published 2004, Fire and Rescue Services Act 2004, generally only applying to England and it came into force on 1 October 2006. The DfCLG has published a set of guides for non-domestic premises,2006, The Government of Wales Act 2006 gave the National Assembly for Wales powers to pass laws on Fire, promotion of fire safety otherwise than by prohibition or regulation. But does not prevent future legislation being passed by the UK government which applies to two or more constituent countries, There are further plans to modernise the fire service according to the Local Government Association. The fire service in England and Wales is scrutinised by a House of Commons select committee, in June 2006, the fire and rescue service select committee, under the auspices of the Communities and Local Government Committee, published its latest report. For example, where FRSs were historically inspected by HMFSI, much of this work is now carried out by the National Audit Office, Fire Control On 8 February 2010 the House of Commons Communities and Local Government Select Committee heard evidence on the Fire Control project. Called to give evidence were Cllr Brian Coleman and Cllr James Pearson from the Local Government Association, also giving evidence Matt Wrack from the Fire Brigades Union and John Bonney Chief Fire Officers Association
Fire services in the United Kingdom
–
A fire engine of the
London Fire Brigade, the second-largest service in the country after the
Scottish Fire and Rescue Service
Fire services in the United Kingdom
–
Merseyside Fire and Rescue Service in action
Fire services in the United Kingdom
–
A 1951 Dennis P12 fire appliance belonging to the
Wiltshire Fire Brigade
Fire services in the United Kingdom
–
Fire on
West Pier in
Brighton, England
15.
Emergency medical services in the United Kingdom
–
Emergency care including ambulance and emergency department treatment is free to everyone, regardless of immigration or visitor status. The NHS commissions most emergency services through the 14 NHS organisations with ambulance responsibility across the UK. As with other services, the public normally access emergency medical services through one of the valid emergency telephone numbers. This led to the formation of predominantly county based ambulance services, which gradually merged up and changed responsibilities until 2006, when there were 31 NHS ambulance trusts in England. Following further changes as part of the NHS foundation trust pathway, the commissioners in each region are responsible for contracting with a suitable organisation to provide ambulance services within their geographical territory. The primary contract for each area is held by a public NHS body, of which there are 11 in England. The service was operated before reorganisation in 1974 by the St Andrews’ Ambulance Association under contract to the Secretary of State for Scotland, the Northern Ireland Ambulance Service was established in 1995 by parliamentary order, and serves the whole of Northern Ireland. The Welsh Ambulance Service NHS Trust was established on 1 April 1998, there is a large market for private and voluntary ambulance services, with the sector being worth £800m to the UK economy in 2012. This places the voluntary providers in direct competition with private services, expenditure on private ambulances in England increased from £37m in 2011−12 to £67. 5m in 2013/4, rising in London from £796,000 to more than £8. 8m. In 2014−15, these 10 ambulance services spent £57.6 million on 333,329 callouts of private or voluntary services - an increase of 156% since 2010−11, in 2013, the CQC found 97% of private ambulance services to be providing good care. These private, registered services are represented by the Independent Ambulance Association, there are also a number of unregistered services operating, who do not provide ambulance transport, but only provide response on an event site. These firms are not regulated, and are not subject to the checks as the registered providers, although they may operate similar vehicles. There are a number of ambulance providers, sometimes known as Voluntary Aid Services or Voluntary Aid Societies, with the main ones being the British Red Cross. The history of the ambulance services pre-dates any government organised service. As they are in competition for work with the private ambulance providers. Voluntary organisations have also provided cover for the public when unionised NHS ambulance trust staff have taken industrial action, there are a number of smaller voluntary ambulance organisations, fulfilling specific purposes, such as Hatzola who provide emergency medical services to the orthodox Jewish community in some cities. These have however run into difficulties due to use of vehicles not legally recognised as ambulances, all emergency medical services in the UK are subject to a range of legal and regulatory requirements, and in many cases are also monitored for performance. This framework is largely statutory in nature, being mandated by government through a range of primary and secondary legislation and this requires all providers to register, to meet certain standards of quality, and to submit to inspection of those standards
Emergency medical services in the United Kingdom
–
A
Mercedes Sprinter ambulance of the
South Western Ambulance Service responds to an emergency call
Emergency medical services in the United Kingdom
–
The
London Air Ambulance in action
Emergency medical services in the United Kingdom
–
A paramedic's motorcycle in Birmingham
Emergency medical services in the United Kingdom
–
Device of the
Scottish Ambulance Service
16.
South Western Ambulance Service
–
The South Western Ambulance Service NHS Foundation Trust is the organisation responsible for providing ambulance services for the National Health Service across South West England. On March 1,2011 SWASFT was the first ambulance service in the country to become a Foundation Trust, the Trust merged with neighbouring Great Western Ambulance Service on 1 February 2013. SWASFT serves a population of more than 5.3 million, the operational area is predominantly rural but also has large urban centres including Bristol, Plymouth, Exeter, Truro, Bath, Swindon, Gloucester, Bournemouth and Poole. The Trust’s core operations include, Emergency ambulance 999 services Urgent Care Services – GP out-of-hours medical care NHS111 call-handling and triage services Tiverton Urgent Care Centre. It is one of ten Ambulance Trusts providing England with emergency services and employs more than 4,000 mainly clinical and operational staff plus GPs. The Trust is one of the largest in England and it covers an area of 51,871 km and 827 miles of coastline. In 2015/16 approximately one in eight 999 calls to South Western Ambulance Service are treated over the telephone, hear and treat is 12. 7% of calls and means the patient receives clinical advice over the telephone. For 36. 4% of incidents the patients experience see and treat, in a further 7. 7% of incidents, the patient is taken to a non-emergency hospital department so that might mean a community hospital or minor injuries unit. The remaining incidents result in a patient being taken to an emergency department. SWASFT is the best performing ambulance service in the country for non-conveyance rates, in addition approximately 62% of patients taken to hospital are admitted – this is again the highest performance for an ambulance trust in the country. SWASFT place a lot of emphasis on patient experience and actively encourage feedback about its services - whether positive or negative, lessons learned from the feedback, and all improvements and changes, are reported to its Board of Directors. The Trust also engages with patients and the public at events and shows, the number of compliments received by the Trust in 2014/15 increased by 41% to 2,055. Complaints also rose by 20% to 1,268, the easiest way to contact the Trust is online at their website. In May 2014 the Trust won a contract to run a minor injuries unit at Tiverton and District Hospital
South Western Ambulance Service
–
Scilly Isles August 2014
South Western Ambulance Service
–
South Western Ambulance Service NHS Foundation Trust
South Western Ambulance Service
–
SWAST ambulance on an emergency call
17.
List of United Kingdom Parliament constituencies
–
There are 650 constituencies in the United Kingdom, each electing a single Member of Parliament to the House of Commons every five years. Voting last took place in all 650 of those constituencies at the United Kingdom general election on 7 May 2015, in addition there is the constituency of the Speaker, which by tradition does not belong to any party. The number of seats rose from 646 at the 2005 general election after proposals made by the commissions for England, Wales. Constituencies in Scotland remained unchanged, as the Boundary Commission for Scotland had completed a review just before the 2005 general election, for the 2013 review this was primarily the Parliamentary Voting System and Constituencies Act 2011. The Sainte-Laguë formula method is used to form groups of seats split between the four parts of the United Kingdom and the English Regions, the electorate figures given in the second column of the tables below are those used by the commissions during their reviews. These electorate figures date from the start of the review in each country, England, February 2000, Scotland, June 2001, Wales, December 2002, and Northern Ireland, May 2003. Of the 650 seats listed below,533 are in England,59 in Scotland,40 in Wales and 18 in Northern Ireland, Scotland – No changes from 2005 election. Wales – Number of seats unchanged, three seats were abolished and three were created, Aberconwy, Arfon, and Dwyfor Meirionnydd, Northern Ireland – No extra or fewer seats allocated. England, North Yorkshire, Hampshire, Warwickshire, Derbyshire, Norfolk, Essex, Lancashire, Northamptonshire, isle of Wight maintained its status as one constituency, the largest by electorate. The City of York was divided into two seats, neither overlapping part of North Yorkshire, North London, Birmingham and the metropolitan counties of Greater Manchester, Merseyside, Tyne and Wear and South Yorkshire lost a seat each. Herefordshire and Worcestershire, to reflect their full reinstatement as separate counties, were considered in separate reviews, bath, Bristol and Somerset underwent arguably the most significant changes to reflect the abolition of Avon. Updated electorate figures from December 2010 have been added for the English, lists of electoral districts by nation Boundary Commission for N. I. Fifth Periodical Report – Parliamentary Constituencies of Northern Ireland
List of United Kingdom Parliament constituencies
–
United Kingdom
18.
West Dorset (UK Parliament constituency)
–
West Dorset is a constituency represented in the House of Commons of the UK Parliament since 1997 by Oliver Letwin, a Conservative. The seat was created under the Redistribution of Seats Act 1885, political history West Dorset has been served only by Conservative MPs. Historically there have mostly been large majorities, thus the seat can be considered a safe seat. The closest result in recent years was in 2001, when the present member, Oliver Letwin, only just held his seat, with a majority of 2. 8% over the Liberal Democrat candidate, the Liberal Democrats have come second since then. Prominent frontbenchers Oliver Letwin, with a background in policy formulation, was appointed Minister of State for Policy in the Conservative-Liberal Democrat Coalition on 12 May 2010. 1885–1918, The Municipal Boroughs of Bridport and Lyme Regis, the Sessional Divisions of Bridport and Cerne, and part of the Sessional Divisions of Dorchester and Sherborne. 1918–1950, The Municipal Boroughs of Bridport, Dorchester, and Lyme Regis, the Rural Districts of Beaminster, Bridport, Cerne, and Dorchester, 1983–present, The District of West Dorset except the ward of Overmoigne. A slightly greater than average proportion of people are retired, general Election 1939/40, Another general election was required to take place before the end of 1940
West Dorset (UK Parliament constituency)
–
Boundary of West Dorset in Dorset.
19.
Geographic coordinate system
–
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
Geographic coordinate system
–
Longitude lines are perpendicular and latitude lines are parallel to the equator.
20.
Dorchester, Dorset
–
Dorchester is the county town of Dorset, England. It is situated between Poole and Bridport on the A35 trunk route, the area around the town was first settled in prehistoric times. After the departure of the Romans, the town diminished in significance and it was the site of the Bloody Assizes presided over by Judge Jeffreys after the Monmouth Rebellion, and later the trial of the Tolpuddle Martyrs. In the 2011 census, the population of Dorchester was 19,060, the Brewery Square redevelopment project is taking place in phases, with other development projects planned. The town has a college, Kingston Maurward College, the Thomas Hardye Upper School. The Dorset County Hospital offers an accident and emergency service, through vehicular traffic is routed round the town by means of a bypass. The town has a club and a rugby union club, several museums. It is twinned with three towns in Europe, as well as having many listed buildings, a number of notable people have been associated with the town. It was for years the home and inspiration of the author Thomas Hardy. Dorchesters roots stem back to prehistoric times, different tribes lived there from 4000 BC. The Durotriges were likely to have been there when the Romans arrived in Britain in 43 AD and it appears to have taken part of its name from the local Durotriges tribe who inhabited the area. The remains of the Roman walls that surrounded the town can still be seen, the majority have been replaced by pathways that form a square inside modern Dorchester known as The Walks. A small segment of the wall remains near the Top o Town roundabout. Other Roman remains include part of the walls and the foundations of a town house near the county hall. Modern building works within the walls have unearthed Roman finds, in 1936 a cache of 22,000 3rd-century Roman coins was discovered in South Street. Other Roman finds include silver and copper known as Dorn pennies, a gold ring. The County Museum contains many Roman artefacts, the Romans built an aqueduct to supply the town with water. It was rediscovered in 1900 as the remains of a cut into the chalk
Dorchester, Dorset
–
Town Pump and Corn Exchange
Dorchester, Dorset
–
Roman Town House, Dorchester.
Dorchester, Dorset
–
A map of Dorchester in 1937
Dorchester, Dorset
–
Dorchester High West Street
21.
Exeter
–
Exeter is a cathedral city in Devon, England with a population of 127,300. It lies within the county of Devon, of which it is the county town as well as the home of Devon County Council, currently, the administrative area has the status of a non-metropolitan district and is therefore under the administration of the County Council. The city is on the River Exe about 37 miles northeast of Plymouth and 70 miles southwest of Bristol, Exeter was the most south-westerly Roman fortified settlement in Britain, although there is evidence a Cornish tribe existed in Exeter before the Roman invasion. Exeter became a centre during the Middle Ages and into the Tudor times, Exeter Cathedral, founded in the mid 11th century. During the late 19th century, Exeter became an affluent centre for the wool trade, after the Second World War, much of the city centre was rebuilt and is now considered to be a centre for modern business and tourism in Devon and Cornwall. The name Exe is a development of the Brittonic name—meaning water or, more exactly, full of fish —that also appears in the English Axe and Esk, the Welsh Usk. Exeter began as settlements on a dry ridge ending in a spur overlooking a navigable river teeming with fish, although there have been no major prehistoric finds, these advantages suggest the site was occupied early. Coins have been discovered from the Hellenistic kingdoms, suggesting the existence of a settlement trading with the Mediterranean as early as 250 BC. Such early towns had been a feature of pre-Roman Gaul as described by Julius Caesar in his Commentaries, the Romans established a 42-acre playing-card shaped fort named Isca around AD55. To distinguish the two, the Romans also referred to Exeter as Isca Dumnoniorum, Watertown of the Dumnonii, a small fort was also maintained at Topsham, a supply depot on the route between the two was excavated at St Loyes on Topsham Road in 2010. The presence of the built up an unplanned civilian community of natives. This area was excavated in the 1970s, but could not be maintained for public view owing to its proximity to the present-day cathedral, in January 2015, it was announced that Exeter Cathedral had launched a bid to restore the baths and open an underground centre for visitors. In the late 2nd century, the ditch and rampart defences around the old fortress were replaced by a bank and wall enclosing a much larger area, although most of the visible structure is older, the course of the Roman wall was used for Exeters subsequent city walls. Thus about 70% of the Roman wall remains, and most of its route can be traced on foot, the dating of the coins so far discovered, however, suggests a rapid decline, virtually none have been discovered dated after the year 380. By that time, the city was held by the Saxons, Exeter was known to the Saxons as Escanceaster. In 876, it was attacked and briefly captured by Danish Vikings, alfred the Great drove them out the next summer. Over the next few years, he elevated Exeter to one of the four burhs in Devon and these permitted the city to fend off another attack and siege by the Danes in 893. King Athelstan again strengthened the walls around 928, and at the time drove out the remaining Britons from the city
Exeter
–
Clockwise: The Cathedral, The Clock Tower, Devon County Hall, Cathedral Close, The Iron Bridge.
Exeter
–
A portion of Exeter's city wall, formed of both Roman and medieval stones.
Exeter
–
The gatehouse of
Rougemont Castle
Exeter
–
Remains of the medieval Exe Bridge, built around 1200
22.
Lyme Bay
–
Lyme Bay is an area of the English Channel situated in the southwest of England between Start Bay in the west and Portland in the east. The counties of Devon and Dorset front onto the bay, the area around Lyme Bay is part of a World Heritage Site, the Jurassic Coast, named for its Jurassic geology. Many of the earliest discoveries of dinosaur and other prehistoric remains were in the area surrounding Lyme Regis. Notable among these were the discoveries made by self-educated palaeontologist and fossil collector Mary Anning, the weather in the bay is temperate by English standards, and far more temperate than many other places at a similar latitude. The reason for this is the action of the Gulf Stream. The area along the coast of Lyme Bay is thus a popular holiday destination, on 22 March 1993, four schoolchildren died in what is known as the Lyme Bay kayaking tragedy. Lyme Bay was the site of Exercise Tiger, a run for the D-Day invasion of France in 1944. The operation went horribly wrong when German E-boats appeared on the scene and attacked the landing craft, killing 749 American Army, a ship commissioned in 2007 for the Royal Fleet Auxiliary carries the name of the area, RFA Lyme Bay. Tank wrecks from the D-Day practice provide a venue for diving, marine life includes the Devon cup coral and rare pink sea fan. The reefs have been under threat from scallop dredging which, if unregulated, Devon Wildlife Trust has been campaigning to protect the reefs, calling for an end to the dredging and trawling within a 60-square-mile zone to help the reefs recover. About 20% of this area is now protected by an agreement made between the DEFRA and the fishermen of the South West Inshore Fishermens Association. Virtle Rock is an islet in Pokers Pool, Lyme Bay and it is the farthest islet from the coast of Pokers Pool. List of places on the Jurassic Coast Devon Wildlife Trusts page about the Lyme Bay coral reefs Save Lyme Bay Reefs
Lyme Bay
–
Golden Cap across Lyme Bay from
Lyme Regis.
Lyme Bay
–
Lyme Bay shown within Great Britain
Lyme Bay
–
Golden Cap and
East Devon from
Burton Bradstock.
23.
English Channel
–
The English Channel, also called simply the Channel, is the body of water that separates southern England from northern France, and links the southern part of the North Sea to the Atlantic Ocean. It is about 560 km long and varies in width from 240 km at its widest to 33.3 km in the Strait of Dover and it is the smallest of the shallow seas around the continental shelf of Europe, covering an area of some 75,000 km2. The International Hydrographic Organization defines the limits of the English Channel as follows, a line joining Isle Vierge to Lands End. The southwestern limit of the North Sea, the IHO defines the southwestern limit of the North Sea as a line joining the Walde Lighthouse and Leathercoat Point. The Walde Lighthouse is 6 km east of Calais, and Leathercoat Point is at the end of St Margarets Bay. The Strait of Dover, at the Channels eastern end, is its narrowest point and it is relatively shallow, with an average depth of about 120 m at its widest part, reducing to a depth of about 45 m between Dover and Calais. Eastwards from there the adjoining North Sea reduces to about 26 m in the Broad Fourteens where it lies over the watershed of the land bridge between East Anglia and the Low Countries. It reaches a depth of 180 m in the submerged valley of Hurds Deep,48 km west-northwest of Guernsey. The eastern region along the French coast between Cherbourg and the mouth of the Seine river at Le Havre is frequently referred to as the Bay of the Seine. There are several islands in the Channel, the most notable being the Isle of Wight off the English coast. The coastline, particularly on the French shore, is indented, several small islands close to the coastline, including Chausey. The Cotentin Peninsula in France juts out into the Channel, whilst on the English side there is a parallel channel known as the Solent between the Isle of Wight and the mainland. The Celtic Sea is to the west of the Channel, the Channel is of geologically recent origins, having been dry land for most of the Pleistocene period. The first flood would have lasted for months, releasing as much as one million cubic metres of water per second. The flood started with large but localized waterfalls over the ridge, the flow eroded the retaining ridge, causing the rock dam to fail and releasing lake water into the English Channel. The erosion of the Lobourg Channel was probably the final opening of the Strait, the time difference of about six hours between high water at the eastern and western limits of the Channel is indicative of the tidal range being amplified further by resonance. It was never defined as a border and the names were more or less descriptive. It was not considered as the property of a nation, strangely, before the development of the modern nations, British scholars very often referred to it as Gaulish and the French one as British or English
English Channel
–
English Channel
English Channel
–
Three French river mouths. Top to bottom: the
Somme, the
Authie and the
Canche
English Channel
–
The Hermitage of
St Helier lies in the bay off
Saint Helier and is accessible on foot at low tide.
English Channel
–
British radar facilities during the
Battle of Britain 1940
24.
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
Devon
–
Menhir at
Drizzlecombe
Devon
Devon
–
Part of the seafront of
Torquay, south Devon, at high tide
Devon
–
Heathland at
Woodbury Common in south east Devon
25.
Fossil
–
Fossils are the preserved remains or traces of animals, plants, and other organisms from the remote past. The totality of fossils, both discovered and undiscovered, and their placement in fossiliferous rock formations and sedimentary layers is known as the fossil record. The study of fossils across geological time, how they were formed, such a preserved specimen is called a fossil if it is older than some minimum age, most often the arbitrary date of 10,000 years. The observation that fossils were associated with certain rock strata led early geologists to recognize a geological timescale in the 19th century. The development of dating techniques in the early 20th century allowed geologists to determine the numerical or absolute age of the various strata. Like extant organisms, fossils vary in size from microscopic, even single bacterial cells one micrometer in diameter, to gigantic, such as dinosaurs, Fossils may also consist of the marks left behind by the organism while it was alive, such as animal tracks or feces. These types of fossil are called trace fossils, as opposed to body fossils, finally, past life leaves some markers that cannot be seen but can be detected in the form of biochemical signals, these are known as chemofossils or biosignatures. The process of fossilization varies according to type and external conditions. Permineralization is a process of fossilization that occurs when an organism is buried, the empty spaces within an organism become filled with mineral-rich groundwater. Minerals precipitate from the groundwater, occupying the empty spaces and this process can occur in very small spaces, such as within the cell wall of a plant cell. Small scale permineralization can produce very detailed fossils, for permineralization to occur, the organism must become covered by sediment soon after death or soon after the initial decay process. The degree to which the remains are decayed when covered determines the later details of the fossil, some fossils consist only of skeletal remains or teeth, other fossils contain traces of skin, feathers or even soft tissues. This is a form of diagenesis, in some cases the original remains of the organism completely dissolve or are otherwise destroyed. The remaining organism-shaped hole in the rock is called an external mold, if this hole is later filled with other minerals, it is a cast. An endocast or internal mold is formed when sediments or minerals fill the cavity of an organism. This is a form of cast and mold formation. If the chemistry is right, the organism can act as a nucleus for the precipitation of minerals such as siderite, if this happens rapidly before significant decay to the organic tissue, very fine three-dimensional morphological detail can be preserved. Nodules from the Carboniferous Mazon Creek fossil beds of Illinois, USA, are among the best documented examples of such mineralization, replacement occurs when the shell, bone or other tissue is replaced with another mineral
Fossil
–
Silicified (replaced with silica) fossils from the Road Canyon Formation (Middle Permian of Texas).
Fossil
–
External mold of a
bivalve from the
Logan Formation, Lower
Carboniferous, Ohio
Fossil
–
Recrystallized
scleractinian coral (aragonite to calcite) from the
Jurassic of southern Israel
26.
Jurassic Coast
–
The Jurassic Coast is a World Heritage Site on the English Channel coast of southern England. It stretches from Exmouth in East Devon to Studland Bay in Dorset, a distance of about 96 mi, the site spans 185 million years of geological history, coastal erosion having exposed an almost continuous sequence of rock formation covering the Triassic, Jurassic and Cretaceous periods. At different times, this area has been desert, shallow sea and marsh. Natural features seen on this stretch of coast include arches, pinnacles, in some places the sea has broken through resistant rocks to produce coves with restricted entrances, and in one place, the Isle of Portland is connected to the land by a narrow spit. In some parts of the coast, landslides are common and these have exposed a wide range of fossils, the different rock types each having its own typical fauna and flora, thus providing evidence of how animals and plants evolved in this region. The area around Lulworth Cove contains a fossil forest, and 71 different rock strata have been identified at Lyme Regis, each with its own species of ammonite. The fossil collector Mary Anning lived here and her discoveries of marine reptiles. The Charmouth Heritage Coast Centre provides information on the heritage coast, the Jurassic Coast stretches from Orcombe Point near Exmouth in East Devon to Old Harry Rocks near Swanage in East Dorset, a distance of 96 mi. Inscribed on the World Heritage List in 2001, the Jurassic Coast was the first wholly natural World Heritage Site to be designated in the United Kingdom. At Orcombe Point, the Geoneedle, an acute pyramidal sculpture, marks the end of the heritage site. The cliffs on part of the coast are being eroded as sections crumble away. The fossils found in the area and the coastal features of this dynamic coast, have advanced the study of earth sciences for more than two hundred years. The area covered by the designation comprises the land between the low water mark and the top of the cliffs or the back of the beach. The fossils found in abundance along this coastline provide evidence of how animals, during the Triassic this area was a desert, while in the Jurassic it was part of a tropical sea, and in the Cretaceous it was covered by swamps. Fossil groups found here include crustaceans, insects, molluscs, echinoderms, fish, amphibians, reptiles, at Lulworth Cove there is a fossil forest of conifers, tree-ferns and cycads. The Jurassic Coast consists of Triassic, Jurassic and Cretaceous cliffs, spanning the Mesozoic, documenting 185 million years of geological history. The site can be best viewed from the sea, when the nature of the rock strata becomes apparent. Further east at Ladram Bay. Around Lyme Regis and Charmouth the cliffs are of Jurassic clays and shale, chesil Beach is a good example of a barrier beach and stretches for 18 mi from Burton Bradstock to the Isle of Portland
Jurassic Coast
–
UNESCO World Heritage Site
Jurassic Coast
–
Lyme Bay
Jurassic Coast
–
Coastal rock in the Jurassic Coast
Jurassic Coast
–
Durdle Door
27.
World Heritage Site
–
A World Heritage Site is a landmark which has been officially recognized by the United Nations, specifically by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization. Sites are selected on the basis of having cultural, historical, scientific or some form of significance. UNESCO regards these sites as being important to the interests of humanity. The programme catalogues, names, and conserves sites of outstanding cultural or natural importance to the common culture, under certain conditions, listed sites can obtain funds from the World Heritage Fund. The program was founded with the Convention Concerning the Protection of the Worlds Cultural and Natural Heritage, since then,192 state parties have ratified the convention, making it one of the most adhered to international instruments. As of July 2016,1052 sites are listed,814 cultural,203 natural, in 1959, the governments of Egypt and Sudan requested UNESCO to assist their countries to protect and rescue the endangered monuments and sites. In 1960, the Director-General of UNESCO launched an appeal to the Member States for an International Campaign to Save the Monuments of Nubia, the campaign, which ended in 1980, was considered a success. The project cost $80 million, about $40 million of which was collected from 50 countries, the projects success led to other safeguarding campaigns, saving Venice and its lagoon in Italy, the ruins of Mohenjo-daro in Pakistan, and the Borobodur Temple Compounds in Indonesia. UNESCO then initiated, with the International Council on Monuments and Sites, the United States initiated the idea of cultural conservation with nature conservation. The International Union for Conservation of Nature developed similar proposals in 1968, the Convention came into force on 17 December 1975. As of June 2016, it has been ratified by 192 states, including 188 UN member states plus the Cook Islands, the Holy See, Niue, a country must first list its significant cultural and natural sites, the result is called the Tentative List. A country may not nominate sites that have not been first included on the Tentative List, next, it can place sites selected from that list into a Nomination File. The Nomination File is evaluated by the International Council on Monuments and Sites and these bodies then make their recommendations to the World Heritage Committee. There are ten selection criteria – a site must meet at least one of them to be included on the list, up to 2004, there were six criteria for cultural heritage and four criteria for natural heritage. In 2005, this was modified so there is now only one set of ten criteria. Nominated sites must be of outstanding value and meet at least one of the ten criteria. Thus, the Geneva Convention treaty promulgates, Article 53, PROTECTION OF CULTURAL OBJECTS AND OF PLACES OF WORSHIP. There are 1,052 World Heritage Sites located in 165 States Party, of these,814 are cultural,203 are natural and 35 are mixed properties
World Heritage Site
–
Site #252:
Taj Mahal, an example of cultural heritage site
World Heritage Site
–
Logo of the
United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO)
World Heritage Committee
World Heritage Site
–
Site #156:
Serengeti National Park, an example of natural heritage site
World Heritage Site
–
Site #274:
Historic Sanctuary of Machu Picchu, an example of mixed heritage site
28.
Jane Austen
–
Jane Austen was an English novelist known primarily for her six major novels, which interpret, critique and comment upon the British landed gentry at the end of the 18th century. Austens plots often explore the dependence of women on marriage in the pursuit of social standing. Her works critique the novels of sensibility of the half of the 18th century and are part of the transition to 19th-century literary realism. With the publications of Sense and Sensibility, Pride and Prejudice, Mansfield Park and Emma and she wrote two additional novels, Northanger Abbey and Persuasion, both published posthumously in 1818, and began another, eventually titled Sanditon, but died before its completion. Her novels have rarely been out of print, although they were published anonymously, a significant transition in her posthumous reputation occurred in 1869, fifty-two years after her death, when her nephews publication of A Memoir of Jane Austen introduced her to a wider audience. Austen has inspired a number of critical essays and literary anthologies. Her novels have inspired many films, from 1940s Pride and Prejudice to more recent productions, Sense and Sensibility, Jane Austens use of biting irony, along with her realism and social commentary have earned her great and historical importance to critics and scholars. The Bank of England has confirmed that the face of the new plastic £10 note will be Austen, the notes are expected to be released in summer 2017. There is little information about Jane Austens life except the few letters that survive. During her lifetime Austen wrote approximately 3,000 letters but only about 160 survive, many of the letters were written to Austens older sister Cassandra, who in 1843 burned the greater part of them and cut pieces out of those she kept. Cassandra believed that in the interest of tact and Janes penchant for forthrightness, the paucity of record of Austens life leaves modern biographers little to work with. The situation was compounded as successive generations of the family expunged and sanitized the already opaque details of Austens biography, Jane Austen was born in Steventon, Hampshire, on 16 December 1775. She was born a month later than her parents expected, her father wrote of her arrival in a letter that her mother certainly expected to have brought to bed a month ago. He added that her arrival was particularly welcome as a companion to her sister. The winter of 1776 was particularly harsh and it was not until 5 April that she was baptised at the church with the single name Jane. For much of Janes life, George Austen served as the rector of the Anglican parishes at Steventon, and he came from an old, respected, and wealthy family of wool merchants. Over the centuries as each generation of eldest sons received inheritances their wealth was consolidated and he and his two sisters were orphaned as children and had to be taken in by relatives. His sister Philadelphia went to India to find a husband and George entered St Johns College, Oxford on a fellowship and she came from the prominent Leigh family, her father was rector at All Souls College, Oxford, where she grew up among the gentry
Jane Austen
–
Portrait of Jane Austen, drawn by her sister
Cassandra (c. 1810)
Jane Austen
–
Steventon rectory, as depicted in
A Memoir of Jane Austen, was in a valley and surrounded by meadows.
Jane Austen
–
Portrait of
Henry IV. Declaredly written by "a partial, prejudiced, & ignorant Historian",
The History of England was illustrated by Austen's sister Cassandra (c. 1790).
Jane Austen
–
Thomas Langlois Lefroy,
Lord Chief Justice of Ireland, by
W. H. Mote (1855); in old age, Lefroy admitted to a nephew that he had been in love with Jane Austen: "It was boyish love."
29.
Persuasion (novel)
–
Persuasion is the last novel fully completed by Jane Austen. It was published at the end of 1817, six months after her death and they rent their home to an Admiral and his wife. The wife’s brother, Navy Captain Frederick Wentworth, had engaged to Anne in 1806. This sets the scene for many humorous encounters as well as a second, well-considered chance at love, the novel was well-received in the early 19th century. Greater fame came later in the century, continued in the 20th century, much scholarly debate on Austens work has since been published. Anne Elliot is noteworthy among Jane Austens heroines for her relative maturity, as Persuasion is Austens last completed novel, it is accepted as her most maturely written novel showing a refinement of literary conception indicative of a woman approaching forty years of age. Unlike Sense and Sensibility and Pride and Prejudice, the novel Persuasion was not rewritten from earlier drafts of novels which Austen had originally started before 1800 and her use of free indirect discourse in narrative was by 1816 fully developed and in full evidence. The first edition of Persuasion was co-published with the previously unpublished Northanger Abbey, written in 1803, the story begins seven years after the broken engagement of Anne Elliot to then Commander Frederick Wentworth. Anne Elliot, then 19 years old, fell in love and he was clever, confident, ambitious, and employed, but not yet wealthy and with no particular family connections to recommend him. Her father Sir Walter and her older sister Elizabeth maintained that he was no match for an Elliot of Kellynch Hall, Lady Russell, acting in place of Annes late mother, persuaded her to break the engagement, which she saw as imprudent for one so young. They are the ones who know about this short engagement. The Elliot family is now in financial trouble, Kellynch Hall will be let, and the family will settle in Bath until finances improve. The Baronet Sir Walter, the father and daughter Elizabeth. Anne is less sure she will enjoy Bath, Mary is married to Charles Musgrove of nearby Uppercross Hall, the heir to a respected local squire. Anne visits Mary and her family, where she is well-loved, the end of the war puts sailors back on shore, including the tenants of Kellynch Hall, Admiral Croft and his wife Sophia, who is the sister of Frederick Wentworth, now a wealthy naval captain. Frederick visits his sister and meets the Uppercross family, including Anne, the Musgroves, including Mary, Charles, and Charless sisters, Henrietta and Louisa, welcome the Crofts and Wentworth. He tells all he is ready to marry, Henrietta is engaged to her clergyman cousin Charles Hayter, who is away for the first few days that Wentworth joins their social circle. Both the Crofts and Musgroves enjoy speculating about which sister Wentworth might marry, once Hayter returns, Henrietta turns her affections to him again
Persuasion (novel)
–
Title page of the original 1818 edition
Persuasion (novel)
–
In the name of heaven, who is that old fellow! illustration by
Hugh Thomson.
Persuasion (novel)
–
Persuasion
Persuasion (novel)
–
General
30.
John Fowles
–
John Robert Fowles was an English novelist of international stature, critically positioned between modernism and postmodernism. His work reflects the influence of Jean-Paul Sartre and Albert Camus and this was followed by The French Lieutenants Woman, a Victorian-era romance with a postmodern twist that was set in Lyme Regis, Dorset, where Fowles lived for much of his life. Later fictional works include The Ebony Tower, Daniel Martin, Mantissa, Fowles books have been translated into many languages, and several have been adapted as films. Fowles was born in Leigh-on-Sea in Essex, England, the son of Gladys May Richards, Robert Fowles came from a family of middle-class merchants of London. Roberts father Reginald was a partner of the firm Allen & Wright, roberts mother died when he was six years old. At the age of 26, after receiving training, Robert enlisted in the Honourable Artillery Company. Roberts brother Jack died in the war, leaving a widow, during 1920, the year Robert was demobilised, his father Reginald died. Robert became responsible for five young half-siblings as well as the children of his brother, although he had hoped to practise law, the obligation of raising an extended family forced him into the family trade of tobacco importing. Gladys Richards belonged to an Essex family also originally from London, the Richards family moved to Westcliff-on-Sea in 1918, as Spanish flu swept through Europe, for Essex was said to have a healthy climate. Robert met Gladys Richards at a club in Westcliff-on-Sea in 1924. Though she was ten years younger, and he in bad health from the war, nine months and two weeks later, Gladys gave birth to John Robert Fowles. Fowles spent his childhood attended by his mother and by his cousin Peggy Fowles,18 years old at the time of his birth and she was his nursemaid and close companion for ten years. Fowles attended Alleyn Court Preparatory School, the works of Richard Jefferies and his character Bevis were Fowless favourite books as a child. He was a child until he was 16 years old. In 1939, Fowles won a place at Bedford School, a train journey north of his home. His time at Bedford coincided with the Second World War, Fowles was a student at Bedford until 1944. He became head boy and was a standout, a member of the rugby-football third team, the fives first team. After leaving Bedford School in 1944, Fowles enrolled in a Naval Short Course at Edinburgh University and was prepared to receive a commission in the Royal Marines
John Fowles
–
John Robert Fowles
John Fowles
–
New College, Oxford, where Fowles attended university.
John Fowles
–
Belmont – Fowles's home in Lyme Regis
31.
George Somers
–
Admiral Sir George Somers was an English naval hero, knighted for his achievements and the Admiral of the Virginia Company. He achieved renown as part of an expedition led by Sir Amyas Preston that plundered Caracas and he is remembered today as the founder of the English colony of Bermuda, also known as the Somers Isles. Born in Lyme Regis, Dorset, in 1554, George was the son of John Somers, from a young age he became a skilled and well-known seaman and owned at least one ship, the Julian, whose home port was Lyme Regis. Somers first venture in command of the Flibcote, in company of three vessels during the undeclared Anglo-Spanish War, on a raid to Spain, he brought home Spanish prizes worth more than £8,000. Somers then joined up with another seaman Amyas Preston who had fought against the Spanish armada. However, after failing to meet, the expedition went on their own venture along the coast of the Spanish Province of Venezuela and captured the fort at La Guaira before they headed South inland. After the failure of a ransom they plundered and torched the city, despite the challenges they faced the expedition was a success for the English who were able to return unmolested with some profit having set out as only a supporting expedition. Between 1600 and 1602, Somers commanded several English ships, including HMS Vanguard, HMS Swiftsure and he was knighted in 1603 and became Member of Parliament for Lyme Regis the same year. In 1609, Somers was appointed as Admiral of the Virginia Companys Third Supply relief fleet, on 2 June 1609, he set sail from Plymouth, England on the Sea Venture, the flagship of the seven-ship fleet, destined for Jamestown, Virginia. The fleet carried a total of five-to-six hundred colonists bound for Jamestown, on 25 July, the fleet ran into a strong storm, probably a hurricane, and the ships were separated. The Sea Venture fought the storm for three days, comparably-sized ships had survived such weather, but the Sea Venture had a critical flaw, she had recently been constructed and her timbers had not set. The caulking was forced from them, and the ship began to leak rapidly. All hands were applied to bailing, but the continued to rise in the hold. The ships guns were reportedly jettisoned to raise her buoyancy, Sir George Somers was at the helm through the storm. When he spied land on the morning of 28 July, the water in the hold had risen to nine feet, Somers deliberately drove the ship onto the reefs of what proved to be Bermuda in order to prevent its foundering. This allowed all 150 people and the dog aboard to reach shore safely, not seeing them again, those who continued on to Virginia presumed that Somers and the others had died in the storm, which had battered the relief fleet and damaged its supplies. Somers and his company remained in Bermuda for 10 months, living on food they could gather on the island, some commentators believe that this incident inspired William Shakespeare’s play The Tempest. During their time on the islands, the crew and passengers built a church and houses, Somers and Sir Thomas Gates oversaw the construction of two small ships, the Deliverance and the Patience
George Somers
–
A portrait believed to be of Admiral Sir George Somers.
George Somers
–
The Guard of TS Admiral Somers, the
Bermuda Sea Cadet Corps unit of
St. George's,
Bermuda, parades on
Ordnance Island, St. George's.
32.
Bermuda
–
Bermuda is a British Overseas Territory in the North Atlantic Ocean. It is approximately 1,070 km east-southeast of Cape Hatteras, North Carolina,1,236 km south of Cape Sable Island, Nova Scotia, Bermuda is an associate member of Caribbean Community. The first person known to have reached Bermuda was the Spanish sea captain Juan de Bermúdez in 1503 and he claimed the islands for the Spanish Empire. Bermúdez never landed on the islands, but made two visits to the archipelago, of which he created a recognisable map, shipwrecked Portuguese mariners are now thought to have been responsible for the 1543 inscription on Portuguese Rock. Subsequent Spanish or other European parties are believed to have released pigs there, the island was administered as an extension of Virginia by the Company until 1614. Its spin-off, the Somers Isles Company, took over in 1615, at that time, the companys charter was revoked, and the English Crown took over administration. The islands became a British colony following the 1707 unification of the parliaments of Scotland and England, after 1949, when Newfoundland became part of Canada, Bermuda became the oldest remaining British Overseas Territory. Since the return of Hong Kong to China in 1997, it is the most populous Territory and its first capital, St. Georges, was established in 1612 and is the oldest continuously inhabited English town in the New World. Bermudas economy is based on insurance and reinsurance, and tourism. Bermuda had one of the worlds highest GDP per capita for most of the 20th century, recently, its economic status has been affected by the global recession. The island is in the belt and prone to severe weather. However, it is protected from the full force of a hurricane by the coral reef that surrounds the island. It is 898 nautical miles northeast of Miami, Florida, and 667 nautical miles from Cape Sable Island, in Nova Scotia, Canada. The islands lie due east of Fripp Island, South Carolina, west-northwest of Cape Verde, southeast of New York City, New York, north-northwest of Brazil and north of San Juan, Puerto Rico. The archipelago is formed by points on the rim of the caldera of a submarine volcano that forms a seamount. The volcano is one part of a range that was formed as part of the process that formed the floor of the Atlantic. It has 103 km of coastline, the two incorporated municipalities in Bermuda are the City of Hamilton and the Town of St George. Bermuda is divided into nine parishes, which have some localities called villages, such as Flatts Village, although usually referred to in the singular, the territory consists of 181 islands, with a total area of 53.3 square kilometres
Bermuda
–
View from the top of Gibb's Hill Lighthouse
Bermuda
–
Flag
Bermuda
–
Bermuda pictured from the
International Space Station
Bermuda
–
The image of the
Lord Holy Christ of the Miracles, in
Hamilton, devoted by all the
Azoreans in Bermuda islands.
33.
United Kingdom Census 2011
–
A census of the population of the United Kingdom is taken every ten years. The 2011 census was held in all countries of the UK on 27 March 2011 and it was the first UK census which could be completed online via the Internet. The Office for National Statistics is the office of the UK Statistics Authority, a non-ministerial department formed in 2008. ONS designs, manages and runs the census in England and Wales, the first results from the 2011 census, age and sex, and occupied households estimates for England and Wales and Northern Ireland, were released on 16 July 2012. The first results for Scotland, and the first UK-wide results, were published on 17 December 2012, more detailed and specialised data were published from 2013. The Registrar General John Rickman conducted the first census of Great Britains population, from 1911 onwards rapid social change, scientific breakthroughs, and major world events affected the structure of the population. The 1971 census was run by the newly created Office of Population Censuses and Surveys, in 1996 the Office for National Statistics was formed by merging the Central Statistical Office, OPCS and the statistics division of the Department of Employment, the first census it ran was in 2001. In 2008 the UK Statistics Authority was established as an independent body, a population census is a key instrument for assessing the needs of local communities. When related to data sources such as housing or agricultural censuses, or sample surveys. Most countries of the world take censuses, the United Nations recommends that countries take a census at least once every ten years, other organisations that use census data include healthcare organisations, community groups, researchers and businesses. The 2011 census for England and Wales included around 25 million households, people could complete and submit their questionnaire online, or fill it in on paper and post it back in a pre-addressed envelope. Guidance was provided online and through the census helpline, completed questionnaires were electronically tracked and field staff followed up with households that did not return a questionnaire. In these cases field staff delivered and collected questionnaires and, where needed, provided advice or assistance in completing the questionnaire, there was a legal requirement to complete the 2011 census questionnaire, under the terms of the Census Act 1920. As at 27 March 2011 everyone who had lived or intended to live in the country for three months or more was required to complete a questionnaire, failure to return a completed questionnaire could lead to a fine and criminal record. The contract is valued at £150 million, approximately one third of the total £482 million census budget, concerns were raised during contract negotiations that the US PATRIOT Act could be used to force Lockheed Martin to reveal census data to US authorities. The Cabinet Office state that Lockheed Martin will develop the systems used to process census data, neither Lockheed Martin UK nor any Lockheed Martin employee will have access to personal Census data. The Office for National Statistics stated that no census information will ever leave the UK or be seen by any American-owned company. Several groups called for a boycott of the census over the involvement of Lockheed Martin, including the Stop the War Coalition, and the Christian thinktank Ekklesia
United Kingdom Census 2011
–
Front page of the 2011 census form.
United Kingdom Census 2011
–
The English language logo for "2011 Census for England, Northern Ireland and Wales"
United Kingdom Census 2011
–
An advert in
Cornwall telling people how to describe their ethnicity and national identity as
Cornish.
34.
Saxons
–
The Saxons were a group of Germanic tribes first mentioned as living near the North Sea coast of what is now Germany, in the late Roman empire. They were soon mentioned as raiding and settling in many North Sea areas, as well as pushing south inland towards the Franks. Significant numbers settled in parts of Great Britain in the early Middle Ages. Many Saxons however remained in Germania, where they resisted the expanding Frankish Empire through the leadership of the semi-legendary Saxon hero, the Saxons earliest area of settlement is believed to have been Northern Albingia, an area approximately that of modern Holstein. This general area also included the probable homeland of the Angles, Saxons, along with the Angles and other continental Germanic tribes, participated in the Anglo-Saxon settlement of Britain during and after the 5th century. The British-Celtic inhabitants of the isles tended to refer to all of these collectively as Saxons. It is unknown how many Saxons migrated from the Continent to Britain, the Saxons may have derived their name from seax, a kind of knife for which they were known. The seax has a symbolic impact in the English counties of Essex and Middlesex. Their names, along with those of Sussex and Wessex, contain a remnant of the word Saxon. The Elizabethan era play Edmund Ironside suggests the Saxon name derives from the Latin saxa, Their names discover what their natures are, More hard than stones, in the Celtic languages, the words designating English nationality derive from the Latin word Saxones. The most prominent example, a loanword in English, is the Scottish Gaelic Sassenach and it derives from the Scottish Gaelic Sasunnach meaning, originally, Saxon, from the Latin Saxones. Scots- or Scottish English-speakers in the 21st century usually use it as a term for an English person. The Oxford English Dictionary gives 1771 as the date of the earliest written use of the word in English. Sasanach, the Irish word for an Englishman, has the same derivation, as do the words used in Welsh to describe the English people, Cornish terms the English Sawsnek, from the same derivation. In the 16th century Cornish-speakers used the phrase Meea navidna cowza sawzneck to feign ignorance of the English language, England in Scottish Gaelic is Sasainn. Other examples include the Welsh Saesneg, Irish Sasana, Breton saoz, and Cornish Sowson, Sowsnek, the label Saxons was also applied to German settlers who migrated during the 13th century to southeastern Transylvania. From Transylvania, some Saxons migrated to neighbouring Moldavia, as the name of the town, Sas-cut, sascut is located in the part of Moldavia that is today part of Romania. The Finns and Estonians have changed their usage of the term Saxony over the centuries to denote now the country of Germany
Saxons
–
Europe in the late 5th century. Most names shown are the Latin names of 5th century peoples, with the exceptions of
Syagrius (king of a
Gallo-Roman rump state),
Odoacer (
Germanic king of Italy), and
(Julius) Nepos (nominally last Western Roman emperor, de facto ruler of
Dalmatia).
Saxons
–
The
Saxon Steed on the first known Saxons flag (700-785)
Saxons
–
Alfred the Great.
Saxons
–
1868 illustration of
Augustine addressing the Saxons
35.
Sherborne Abbey
–
The Abbey Church of St Mary the Virgin at Sherborne in the English county of Dorset, is usually called Sherborne Abbey. It has been a Saxon cathedral, a Benedictine abbey, and now, there may have been a Celtic Christian church called Lanprobi at the site, and Kenwalc or Cenwalh, King of the West Saxons is believed to be one of its founders. When the Saxon Diocese of Sherborne was founded in 705 by King Ine of Wessex, he set Aldhelm as first Bishop of the see of Western Wessex, Aldhelm was the first of twenty-seven Bishops of Sherborne. The twentieth bishop was Wulfsige III, in 998 he established a Benedictine abbey at Sherborne and became its first abbot. In 1075 the bishopric of Sherborne was transferred to Old Sarum, the bishop remained the nominal head of the abbey until 1122, when Roger de Caen, Bishop of Salisbury, made the abbey independent. Various properties at Sherborne were bought from the king by Sir John Horsey who then sold the abbey to the people of Sherborne, who bought the building to be their parish church, the original parish church alongside the abbey was demolished, though the foundations are still visible. In 1550, King Edward VI issued a new charter to the school that had existed at Sherborne since 705, the Abbey is a Grade I listed building. It has several architectural styles throughout. Saxon features still remain in parts of the Abbey, mainly around the Western door. Roger of Caen demolished most of the Saxon church and replaced it with a much larger, the vaulting is believed to have finished in 1490. During this renovation, a riot in the town caused a fire damaged much of the renovation. Traces of the effects can still be seen in the reddening of the walls under the Tower. The fire and its effects also caused the design of the Nave to be altered, some of the Naves pillars are Norman piers cased in Perpendicular panelling. The South Nave Aisle contains colours of the 1st Battalion Dorsetshire Regiment, the North Choir Aisle contains two tombs, believed to be the tombs of King Æthelbald of Wessex and his brother King Ethelbert of Wessex, elder brothers to Alfred the Great. Inside the Wykeham chapel is the tomb of Sir John Horsey, Horsey had bought the church after the Dissolution of the Monasteries and sold it to the townspeople. Also in the Chapel is the plainly marked tomb of the poet Sir Thomas Wyatt, the South Transept contains an impressive baroque memorial to John Digby, 3rd Earl of Bristol, made of marble and designed by John Nost. Additionally there is a memorial to Robert and May Digby, St Katherines Chapel contains the 16th century tomb of John Leweston and wife Joan. The Chapel was where Sir Walter Raleigh and Lady Raleigh attended services, the North Aisle contains a memorial to Abbot Clement and an effigy to an unknown Prior, while the South Aisle contains an effigy of Abbot Lawrence of Bradford
Sherborne Abbey
–
Sherborne Abbey
Sherborne Abbey
–
The organ in the north transept
Sherborne Abbey
–
Memorial to George Edwin Lyle
Sherborne Abbey
–
Choir east window by
Clayton and Bell 1856 - 1858
36.
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
Domesday Book
–
Domesday Book: an engraving published in 1900. Great Domesday (the larger volume) and Little Domesday (the smaller volume), in their 1869 bindings, lying on their older "
Tudor " bindings.
Domesday Book
–
Great Domesday in its "
Tudor " binding: a wood-engraving of the 1860s
Domesday Book
–
Domesday chest, the German-style iron-bound chest of c.1500 in which Domesday Book was kept in the 17th and 18th centuries
Domesday Book
–
Entries for
Croydon and
Cheam,
Surrey, in the 1783 edition of Domesday Book
37.
Royal Charter
–
A royal charter is a formal document issued by a monarch as letters patent, granting a right or power to an individual or a body corporate. They were, and are still, used to establish significant organisations such as cities or universities, Charters should be distinguished from warrants and letters of appointment, as they have perpetual effect. Typically, a Royal Charter is produced as a high-quality work of calligraphy on vellum, the British monarchy has issued over 980 royal charters. Of these about 750 remain in existence, the earliest was to the town of Tain in 1066, making it the oldest Royal Burgh in Scotland, followed by the University of Cambridge in 1231. Charters continue to be issued by the British Crown, a recent example being that awarded to the Chartered Institute for the Management of Sport and Physical Activity, Charters have been used in Europe since medieval times to create cities. The date that such a charter is granted is considered to be when a city is founded, at one time, a royal charter was the sole means by which an incorporated body could be formed, but other means are generally used nowadays instead. In the period before 1958,32 higher education institutes had been created by royal charter and these were typically engineering or technical institutions rather than universities. Royal decrees can therefore no longer grant higher education status or university status. A Royal Charter is granted by Order in Council, either creating an incorporated body and this is an exercise of the Royal Prerogative, and, in Canada, there are hundreds of organisations under Royal Charters. Such organisations include charities, businesses, colleges, universities, today, it is mostly charities and professional institutions who receive Royal Charters. Application for a charter is a petition to the Queen-in-Council, however, meeting these benchmarks does not guarantee the issuance of a Royal Charter. Companies, corporations, and societies in Canada founded under or augmented by a Royal Charter include, Royal Charter was issued in August 1826 to purchase and develop lands. Purchased the Crown Reserve of 1,384,413 acres, cities under Royal Charter are not subject to municipal Acts of Parliament applied generally to other municipalities, and instead are governed by legislation applicable to each city individually. The Royal Charter codifies the laws applied to the particular city, the Universitys Pontifical Charter was granted by Pope Leo XIII in 1889. Several Canadian private schools were founded or reconstituted under Royal Charter, the Royal Gibraltar Post Office was granted Royal Charter in 2005. The Royal Hong Kong Jockey Club obtained Royal Charter in 1959 and it is one of the three banknote-issuing banks in Hong Kong. The Royal Asiatic Society Hong Kong Branch Chartered originally in 1847, disbanded 1859, the Institution of Engineers was incorporated by royal charter in 1935. A number of Irish institutions retain the Royal prefix, even though Republic of Ireland severed all remaining connections between the state and the British monarch in 1949, the University of South Africa received a Royal Charter in 1877
Royal Charter
–
King's College, now the
University of Toronto, was founded with the issuance of this royal charter
Royal Charter
–
The
Hudson's Bay Company building in
Montreal
Royal Charter
–
The emblem of the Royal Observatory, Hong Kong
38.
Edward I of England
–
Edward I, also known as Edward Longshanks and the Hammer of the Scots, was King of England from 1272 to 1307. He spent much of his reign reforming royal administration and common law, through an extensive legal inquiry, Edward investigated the tenure of various feudal liberties, while the law was reformed through a series of statutes regulating criminal and property law. Increasingly, however, Edwards attention was drawn towards military affairs, the first son of Henry III, Edward was involved early in the political intrigues of his fathers reign, which included an outright rebellion by the English barons. In 1259, he sided with a baronial reform movement. After reconciliation with his father, however, he remained throughout the subsequent armed conflict. After the Battle of Lewes, Edward was hostage to the rebellious barons, Montfort was defeated at the Battle of Evesham in 1265, and within two years the rebellion was extinguished. With England pacified, Edward joined the Ninth Crusade to the Holy Land, the crusade accomplished little, and Edward was on his way home in 1272 when he was informed that his father had died. Making a slow return, he reached England in 1274 and was crowned at Westminster on 19 August, after suppressing a minor rebellion in Wales in 1276–77, Edward responded to a second rebellion in 1282–83 with a full-scale war of conquest. After a successful campaign, Edward subjected Wales to English rule, built a series of castles and towns in the countryside, next, his efforts were directed towards Scotland. Initially invited to arbitrate a dispute, Edward claimed feudal suzerainty over the kingdom. In the war followed, the Scots persevered, even though the English seemed victorious at several points. At the same there were problems at home. In the mid-1290s, extensive military campaigns required high levels of taxation and these crises were initially averted, but issues remained unsettled. When the King died in 1307, he left to his son, Edward II, Edward I was a tall man for his era, hence the nickname Longshanks. He was temperamental, and this, along with his height, made him an intimidating man, nevertheless, he held the respect of his subjects for the way he embodied the medieval ideal of kingship, as a soldier, an administrator and a man of faith. The Edict remained in effect for the rest of the Middle Ages, Edward was born at the Palace of Westminster on the night of 17–18 June 1239, to King Henry III and Eleanor of Provence. Among his childhood friends was his cousin Henry of Almain, son of King Henrys brother Richard of Cornwall, Henry of Almain would remain a close companion of the prince, both through the civil war that followed, and later during the crusade. Edward was in the care of Hugh Giffard – father of the future Chancellor Godfrey Giffard – until Bartholomew Pecche took over at Giffards death in 1246, there were concerns about Edwards health as a child, and he fell ill in 1246,1247, and 1251
Edward I of England
–
Portrait in Westminster Abbey, thought to be of Edward I
Edward I of England
–
Early fourteenth-century manuscript
initial showing Edward and his wife Eleanor. The artist has perhaps tried to depict Edward's
blepharoptosis, a trait he inherited from his father.
Edward I of England
–
Medieval manuscript showing
Simon de Montfort 's mutilated body at the field of
Evesham
Edward I of England
–
Operations during the Crusade of Edward I
39.
Elizabeth I
–
Elizabeth I was Queen of England and Ireland from 17 November 1558 until her death. Sometimes called The Virgin Queen, Gloriana or Good Queen Bess, Elizabeth was the daughter of Henry VIII and Anne Boleyn, his second wife, who was executed two and a half years after Elizabeths birth. Annes marriage to Henry VIII was annulled, and Elizabeth was declared illegitimate, edwards will was set aside and Mary became queen, deposing Lady Jane Grey. During Marys reign, Elizabeth was imprisoned for nearly a year on suspicion of supporting Protestant rebels, in 1558, Elizabeth succeeded her half-sister to the throne and set out to rule by good counsel. She depended heavily on a group of trusted advisers, led by William Cecil, one of her first actions as queen was the establishment of an English Protestant church, of which she became the Supreme Governor. This Elizabethan Religious Settlement was to evolve into the Church of England and it was expected that Elizabeth would marry and produce an heir to continue the Tudor line. She never did, despite numerous courtships, as she grew older, Elizabeth became famous for her virginity. A cult grew around her which was celebrated in the portraits, pageants, in government, Elizabeth was more moderate than her father and half-siblings had been. One of her mottoes was video et taceo, in religion, she was relatively tolerant and avoided systematic persecution. Elizabeth was cautious in foreign affairs, manoeuvring between the powers of France and Spain. She only half-heartedly supported a number of ineffective, poorly resourced military campaigns in the Netherlands, France, by the mid-1580s, England could no longer avoid war with Spain. Englands defeat of the Spanish Armada in 1588 associated Elizabeth with one of the greatest military victories in English history, Elizabeths reign is known as the Elizabethan era. Some historians depict Elizabeth as a short-tempered, sometimes indecisive ruler, towards the end of her reign, a series of economic and military problems weakened her popularity. Such was the case with Elizabeths rival, Mary, Queen of Scots, after the short reigns of Elizabeths half-siblings, her 44 years on the throne provided welcome stability for the kingdom and helped forge a sense of national identity. Elizabeth was born at Greenwich Palace and was named after both her grandmothers, Elizabeth of York and Elizabeth Howard and she was the second child of Henry VIII of England born in wedlock to survive infancy. Her mother was Henrys second wife, Anne Boleyn, at birth, Elizabeth was the heir presumptive to the throne of England. She was baptised on 10 September, Archbishop Thomas Cranmer, the Marquess of Exeter, the Duchess of Norfolk, Elizabeth was two years and eight months old when her mother was beheaded on 19 May 1536, four months after Catherine of Aragons death from natural causes. Elizabeth was declared illegitimate and deprived of her place in the royal succession, eleven days after Anne Boleyns execution, Henry married Jane Seymour, who died shortly after the birth of their son, Prince Edward, in 1537
Elizabeth I
–
The "Darnley Portrait" of Elizabeth I (
c. 1575)
Elizabeth I
–
The Lady Elizabeth in about 1546, by an unknown artist
Elizabeth I
–
The Miroir or Glasse of the Synneful Soul, a translation from the French, by Elizabeth, presented to
Catherine Parr in 1544. The embroidered binding with the monogram KP for "Katherine Parr" is believed to have been worked by Elizabeth.
Elizabeth I
–
Mary I, by
Anthonis Mor, 1554
40.
John Leland (antiquary)
–
John Leland or Leyland was an English poet and antiquary. Leland has been described as the father of English local history, most evidence for Lelands life and career comes from his own writings, especially his poetry. He was born in London on 13 September, most probably in about 1503, having lost both his parents at an early age, he and his brother were raised by Thomas Myles. Leland was educated at St Pauls School, London, under its first headmaster and it was here that he already met some of his future benefactors, notably William Paget. Leland was subsequently sent to Christs College, Cambridge, graduating in 1522, while studying there, he was for a short time imprisoned, having accused a certain knight of collaborating with Richard de la Pole, the Yorkist claimant to the throne. He proceeded to Lambeth, London, serving Thomas Howard, 2nd Duke of Norfolk, when the duke died in 1524, the king sent Leland to Oxford, where as Anthony Wood later claimed from tradition, he became a fellow of All Souls College. He would later deplore the state of education at Oxford, which he felt was too conservative in its approach to classical studies, between 1526 and 1528, Leland proceeded to Paris, studying along with many fellow expatriates, both English and German. His original plan to study in Italy, too, never succeeded, Leland honed his skills at composing Latin poetry and sought the acquaintance of humanist scholars whom he much admired, such as Guillaume Budé and Jacques Lefèvre dÉtaples. A scholar of particular importance for Leland was François Dubois, professor at the Collège de Tournai, who had a profound effect on his poetic as well as antiquarian interests. While in France, Leland kept in touch with his friends and sponsors in England, probably including Thomas Wolsey, Cardinal and Lord Chancellor, by 1529, Leland had returned to England. He was appointed one of the chaplains to King Henry VIII, in 1533, Leland received papal dispensation for four benefices, on condition that he became subdeacon within two years and priest within seven. He was appointed prebendary of Wilton Abbey in 1535 and received two adjacent benefices, Leland and Nicholas Udall composed verses to be read or recited at the pageant of Anne Boleyns arrival in London in 1533, which was staged for the occasion of her coronation. Their common patron was probably Thomas, Duke of Norfolk and Cornwall, the poets worked together again during 1533 and 1534, when Leland contributed verses for Udalls Floures for Latine Spekynge. In 1533, the king appears to have entrusted Leland with a document, a moste gratius commission, which authorized him to examine and use the libraries of all religious houses in England. Leland spent the few years travelling from house to house, for the most part shortly before they were dissolved. About 1535, he met the ex-Carmelite churchman and fellow antiquary John Bale, in the 1530s and 1540s, the royal library was reorganised to accommodate hundreds of books that were previously kept in monastic collections. Leland himself describes how Henrys palaces at Greenwich, Hampton Court, Lelands part in this is uncertain. There is no evidence that he oversaw the relocation of the books to their new home or received a librarians wages
John Leland (antiquary)
–
Line engraving by
Charles Grignion the Elder (1772), purportedly taken from a bust of John Leland at All Souls College, Oxford. Sculptor
Louis François Roubiliac (d. 1762) probably created the original bust.
John Leland (antiquary)
–
Woodcut by
Hans Holbein the Younger from Leland's Naenia (1542), showing
Sir Thomas Wyatt
41.
English Civil War
–
The English Civil War was a series of armed conflicts and political machinations between Parliamentarians and Royalists over, principally, the manner of Englands government. The war ended with the Parliamentarian victory at the Battle of Worcester on 3 September 1651, the monopoly of the Church of England on Christian worship in England ended with the victors consolidating the established Protestant Ascendancy in Ireland. The term English Civil War appears most often in the singular form, the war in all these countries are known as the Wars of the Three Kingdoms. Unlike other civil wars in England, which focused on who should rule, this war was more concerned with the manner in which the kingdoms of England, Scotland, the two sides had their geographical strongholds, such that minority elements were silenced or fled. The strongholds of the royalty included the countryside, the shires, on the other hand, all the cathedral cities sided with Parliament. All the industrial centers, the ports, and the advanced regions of southern and eastern England typically were parliamentary strongholds. Lacey Baldwin Smith says, the words populist, rich, at times there would be two groups of three lines allowing one group to reload while the other group arranged themselves and fired. Mixed in among the musketeers were pikemen carrying pikes that were between 12 feet and 18 feet long, whose purpose was to protect the musketeers from cavalry charges. The Royalist cavaliers skill and speed on horseback led to early victories. While the Parliamentarian cavalry were slower than the cavaliers, they were better disciplined. The Royalists had a tendency to chase down individual targets after the initial charge leaving their forces scattered and tired, Cromwells cavalry, on the other hand, trained to operate as a single unit, which led to many decisive victories. The English Civil War broke out fewer than forty years after the death of Queen Elizabeth I in 1603, in spite of this, James personal extravagance meant he was perennially short of money and had to resort to extra-Parliamentary sources of income. Charles hoped to unite the kingdoms of England, Scotland and Ireland into a new single kingdom, many English Parliamentarians had suspicions regarding such a move because they feared that setting up a new kingdom might destroy the old English traditions which had bound the English monarchy. As Charles shared his fathers position on the power of the crown, at the time, the Parliament of England did not have a large permanent role in the English system of government. Instead, Parliament functioned as an advisory committee and was summoned only if. Once summoned, a continued existence was at the kings pleasure. Yet in spite of this role, Parliament had, over the preceding centuries. Without question, for a monarch, Parliaments most indispensable power was its ability to tax revenues far in excess of all other sources of revenue at the Crowns disposal
English Civil War
–
The victory of the
Parliamentarian New Model Army over the
Royalist Army at the
Battle of Naseby on 14 June 1645 marked the decisive turning point in the English Civil War.
English Civil War
–
Charles I, painted by Van Dyck
English Civil War
–
Henrietta Maria, painted by
Peter Lely, 1660
English Civil War
–
Session of the Long Parliament
42.
Parliament of England
–
The Parliament of England was the legislature of the Kingdom of England. Over the centuries, the English Parliament progressively limited the power of the English monarchy which arguably culminated in the English Civil War, the Act of Union 1707 merged the English Parliament with the Parliament of Scotland to form the Parliament of Great Britain. When the Parliament of Ireland was abolished in 1801, its members were merged into what was now called the Parliament of the United Kingdom. Under a monarchical system of government, monarchs usually must consult, early kings of England had no standing army or police, and so depended on the support of powerful subjects. The monarchy had agents in every part of the country, however, under the feudal system that evolved in England following the Norman Conquest of 1066, the laws of the Crown could not have been upheld without the support of the nobility and the clergy. The former had economic and military bases of their own through major ownership of land. The Church was virtually a law unto itself in this period as it had its own system of law courts. In order to seek consultation and consent from the nobility and the clergy on major decisions. A typical Great Council would consist of archbishops, bishops, abbots, barons and earls, when this system of consultation and consent broke down, it often became impossible for government to function effectively. The most prominent instances of prior to the reign of Henry III are the disagreements between Thomas Becket and Henry II and between King John and the barons. Becket, who served as Archbishop of Canterbury between 1162 and 1170, was murdered following a long running dispute with Henry II over the jurisdiction of the Church. John, who was king from 1199 to 1216, aroused such hostility from many leading noblemen that they forced him to agree to Magna Carta in 1215, johns refusal to adhere to this charter led to civil war. The Great Council evolved into the Parliament of England, the term itself came into use during the early 13th century, deriving from the Latin and French words for discussion and speaking. The word first appears in documents in the 1230s. As a result of the work by historians G. O. Sayles and H. G. Richardson, during the 13th and 14th centuries, the kings began to call Knights of the Shire to meet when the monarch saw it as necessary. A notable example of this was in 1254 when sheriffs of counties were instructed to send Knights of the Shire to parliament to advise the king on finance, initially, parliaments were mostly summoned when the king needed to raise money through taxes. Following the Magna Carta this became a convention and this was due in no small part to the fact that King John died in 1216 and was succeeded by his young son Henry III. Leading peers and clergy governed on Henrys behalf until he came of age, among other things, they made sure that Magna Carta would be reaffirmed by the young king
Parliament of England
–
Parliament of England
Parliament of England
–
Royal coat of arms of England, 1558–1603
Parliament of England
–
Medieval parliament
43.
Siege of Lyme Regis
–
The siege of Lyme Regis was an eight-week blockade during the First English Civil War. The port of Lyme Regis, in Dorset, was considered to be of importance because it controlled the main shipping route between Bristol and the English Channel. Thomas Ceeley and Robert Blake commanded the towns Parliamentarian defences during the siege, at the start of the war, Lyme Regis was claimed by a pair of local members of parliament, and garrisoned for the Parliamentarians. King Charles I ordered the capture of the town in early 1644, the siege was laid on 20 April, but despite a steady bombardment, and three attempts to storm the town by ground, the earthen defences of the town that had been established by Blake held fast. In the late 16th century, Lyme Regis was an important port, busier than Liverpool, two local members of parliament, Thomas Trenchard and Walter Erle claimed Lyme Regis for the Parliamentarians in 1642, and set about fortifying the town. Thomas Ceeley, another local MP, was assigned as governor of the town and he immediately set about removing those with Royalist loyalties from the area, and sent harrying forces around the region, as far as Exeter and Somerset. Lyme Regis had no permanent fortifications, and so Robert Blake established a set of walls, ditches. By the end of 1643, most of the south-west was under Royalist control, only Plymouth, Poole, the Parliamentarians controlled the navy, and Lyme Regis was strategically important, due to its location between Bristol and the English Channel. In early 1644, Charles I ordered Lyme Regis to be captured, Maurice marched towards Lyme Regis in March 1644, and initially set up a garrison in the town of Beaminster. From there a detachment of troops captured and then razed Stedcombe House, on 19 April, a fire devastated Beaminster and forced the Royalist troops to move, establishing their new quarters at Axminster. New batteries were set up around the town, and the besieging forces continued to attack the town with their ordnance, on 28 April, Maurice ordered an advance on the town, but the attack got little further than the range of musket-shot. The next day, the town was restocked with ammunition and food and they also ran ammunition around the town and helped to reload the weapons. Over the following week, the Royalist forces held the siege, but did not engage with the town again until 6 May, the defenders were caught out slightly, as many of their soldiers were eating their evening supper. The Parliamentarians rallied quickly, and within an hour had repelled the attack, an account kept by the Lyme Regis garrison records that around one hundred of the besieging army had been killed, while the garrison had only lost one man. The following day, Maurice requested a parley so that the dead could be buried and that request was granted, in exchange for the towns defenders being able to claim any weaponry on the battleground. The Royalists turned their attention to the harbour over the week, placing artillery units on the cliff-tops above it. During the fighting to drive back, Captain Thomas Pyne. Pyne died of fever four days later, despite the attentions of a surgeon, the Earl of Warwick arrived on 23 May with eight ships and the promise of as much help as he could provide, including 400 of his seamen to help garrison the town
Siege of Lyme Regis
–
Provisions and reinforcements provided by
Robert Rich, 2nd Earl of Warwick, the commander of the Parliamentarian navy, were vital for Lyme Regis's defence.
44.
Cavalier
–
It was later adopted by the Royalists themselves. Prince Rupert, commander of much of Charles Is cavalry, is considered to be an archetypal Cavalier. Cavalier derives from the same Latin root as the French word chevalier, Cavalier is chiefly associated with the Royalist supporters of King Charles I in his struggle with Parliament in the English Civil War. Charles, in the Answer to the Petition 13 June 1642 speaks of Cavaliers as a word by what mistake soever it seemes much in disfavour, Cavalier was not understood at the time as primarily a term describing a style of dress, but a whole political and social attitude. Most Parliamentarian generals wore their hair at much the length as their Royalist counterparts. The best patrons in the nobility of Charles Is court painter Sir Anthony van Dyck, probably the most famous image identified as of a cavalier, Frans Hals Laughing Cavalier, shows a gentleman from the strongly Calvinist Dutch town of Haarlem, and is dated 1624. These derogatory terms also showed what the typical Parliamentarian thought of the Royalist side – capricious men who cared more for vanity than the nation at large. Although they did not share the same outlook on how to worship God as the English Independents of the New Model Army, if I forget Thee, do not forget me. However, the word was coined by the Roundheads as a propaganda image of a licentious, hard drinking and frivolous man. It is this image which has survived and many Royalists, for example Henry Wilmot, 1st Earl of Rochester, fitted this description to a tee. Of all his qualifications dissimulation was his masterpiece, in which he so much excelled and this sense has developed into the modern English use of cavalier to describe a recklessly nonchalant attitude, although still with a suggestion of stylishness. Likewise during Exclusion Bill crisis the term Roundhead was replaced with Whig, an example of the Cavalier style can be seen in the painting Charles I, King of England, from Three Angles by Anthony van Dyck. The mascot of Cavalier has been commonly used in the sports world. Most prominently it has been that of the professional Cleveland Cavaliers in the NBA since 1970 and it has also been adopted by smaller organizations such as Johnson County Community College, Kankakee Community College, St. Gregorys University, and the University of Virginias College at Wise. Cavaliers have been represented as a class and subclass of role-playing character since 1983 in Advanced Dungeons & Dragons, Cavalier Generals, King Charles I and His Commanders in the English Civil War, 1642–46. Going to the Wars, The Experience of the British Civil Wars 1638-1651, Chisholm, Hugh, ed. Goring, George Goring, Lord. Clarendon, Edward Hyde, 1st earl of, the history of the rebellion and civil wars in England. The History of England from the Invasion of Julius Caesar to the Revolution 1688, the Concise Encyclopedia of the Revolutions and Wars of England, Scotland, and Ireland, 1639-1660
Cavalier
–
Prince Rupert, often considered to be an archetypal Cavalier.
Cavalier
–
An engraving depicting
Charles I and his adherents.
Cavalier
–
Sir
Anthony van Dyck ca.1638, Lord John Stuart and his brother Lord Bernard. Both died fighting for the King.
Cavalier
–
Charles I in Three Positions, the triple portrait of Charles I by
Anthony van Dyck
45.
Prince Maurice
–
He accompanied his elder brother, Prince Rupert of the Rhine, to take the part of their uncle Charles I in the English Civil War in 1642. He served under Rupert with the cavalry at the Battle of Powick Bridge, where he was wounded, and he took command of the army in Cornwall and campaigned in the southwest for the remainder of the year. In April 1644, he besieged Lyme Regis, but was forced to give up the siege in June and he fought as a subordinate at the Battle of Lostwithiel and the Second Battle of Newbury, and under Rupert at the Battle of Naseby. He attempted to defend Ruperts surrender of Bristol in 1645 to Charles, while unsuccessful, he did not share in Ruperts disgrace. Banished with Rupert in October 1646, he served with the French army in Flanders and he was created a Knight of the Garter in exile in 1649. In 1652, while sailing for the West Indies, specifically near the Virgin Islands, he was caught in a hurricane and went down with his flagship, HMS Defiance. He is a character in Lawrence Norfolks historical novel John Saturnalls Feast. English Civil War Prince Rupert of the Rhine English Civil War
Prince Maurice
–
Prince Maurice von Simmern by unknown painter.
46.
James Scott, 1st Duke of Monmouth
–
James Scott, 1st Duke of Monmouth, 1st Duke of Buccleuch, KG, PC was an English nobleman. Originally called James Crofts or James Fitzroy, he was born in Rotterdam in the Netherlands and he served in the Second Anglo-Dutch War and commanded English troops taking part in the Third Anglo-Dutch War before commanding the Anglo-Dutch brigade fighting in the Franco-Dutch War. In 1685 he led the unsuccessful Monmouth Rebellion, an attempt to depose his uncle, the rebellion failed, and Monmouth was beheaded for treason on 15 July 1685. Born in Rotterdam in the Netherlands, to Lucy Walter, and her lover, Charles II, when the child grew to manhood, contemporaries observed that he bore a strong resemblance to Sidney. The unfounded voices had probably originated from the Duke of York, brother of King Charles II and he had a younger sister Mary Crofts, who may also have been a daughter of Charles although Theobald Taaffe, 1st Earl of Carlingford is considered another potential father. Mary married the Irishman William Sarsfield and was a sister-in-law of the Jacobite general Patrick Sarsfield, as an illegitimate son, James was not eligible to succeed to the English or Scottish thrones, though there were rumours that Charles and Lucy did marry secretly. Monmouth later himself always claimed his parents were married and that he possessed their marriage lines, Charles, as King, later testified in writing to his Council that he had never been married to anyone except his queen, Catherine of Braganza. In March 1658, young James was kidnapped by one of the Kings men, sent to Paris and he briefly attended a school in Familly. On 20 April 1663, he was married to the heiress Anne Scott, James took his wifes surname upon marriage. The day after his marriage, the couple were made Duke and Duchess of Buccleuch, Earl and Countess of Dalkeith, in 1665, at the age of 16, Monmouth served in the English fleet under his uncle the Duke of York in the Second Anglo-Dutch War. In June 1666, he returned to England to become captain of a troop of cavalry, on 16 September 1668 he was made colonel of the His Majestys Own Troop of Horse Guards. He acquired Moor Park in Hertfordshire in April 1670, at the outbreak of the Third Anglo-Dutch War in 1672, a brigade of 6,000 English and Scottish troops was sent to serve as part of the French army, with Monmouth as its commander. He became Lord Lieutenant of the East Riding of Yorkshire and Governor of Kingston-upon-Hull in April 1673, in the campaign of 1673 and in particular at the Siege of Maastricht in June 1673, Monmouth gained a considerable reputation as one of Britains finest soldiers. He was reported to be replacing Marshal Schomberg as commander of Englands Zealand Expedition, in March 1677 he also became Lord Lieutenant of Staffordshire. Monmouth may have come to believe that his parents had been married. As his popularity with the masses increased Monmouth was obliged to go into exile in the Dutch United Provinces in September 1679. On King Charles IIs death in February 1685 Monmouth led the Monmouth Rebellion, Monmouth declared himself King at various places along the route including Axminster, Chard, Ilminster and Taunton. On 8 July 1685 Monmouth was captured and arrested near Ringwood in Hampshire, the events surrounding his capture are recorded in detail in Taits Edinburgh Magazine
James Scott, 1st Duke of Monmouth
–
Duke of Monmouth by
Willem Wissing
James Scott, 1st Duke of Monmouth
–
James Scott commanding the
English against the Dutch in 1672, by
Jan Wyck
47.
Monmouth Rebellion
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James II was a Roman Catholic, and some Protestants under his rule opposed his kingship. James Scott, 1st Duke of Monmouth, an son of Charles II, claimed to be rightful heir to the throne. The Monmouth rebellion was coordinated with a rebellion in Scotland, where Archibald Campbell, the Duke of Monmouth had been popular in the South West of England, so he planned to recruit troops locally and take control of the area before marching on London. Monmouth landed at Lyme Regis on 11 June 1685, Monmouths forces were unable to compete with the regular army and failed to capture the key city of Bristol. The rebellion ended with the defeat of Monmouths army at the Battle of Sedgemoor on 6 July 1685 by forces led by Feversham, Monmouth was executed for treason on 15 July 1685. Many of his supporters were tried during the Bloody Assizes, led by Judge Jeffreys, James II was then able to consolidate his power. He reigned until 1688, when he was overthrown in a coup détat by William of Orange in the Glorious Revolution, Monmouth was an illegitimate son of Charles II. There had been rumours that Charles had married Monmouths mother, Lucy Walter, but no evidence was forthcoming, Monmouth had been appointed Commander-in-Chief of the English Army by his father in 1672 and Captain general in 1678, enjoying some successes in the Netherlands in the Third Anglo-Dutch War. The English Civil War had left resentment among some of the population about the monarchy, the South West of England contained several towns where opposition remained strong. Fears of a potential Catholic monarch persisted, intensified by the failure of Charles II, a defrocked Anglican clergyman, Titus Oates, spoke of a Popish Plot to kill Charles and to put the Duke of York on the throne. The Earl of Shaftesbury, a government minister and a leading opponent of Catholicism. Some members of Parliament even proposed that the go to Charless illegitimate son, James Scott. Two further Parliaments were elected in 1680 and 1681, but were dissolved for the same reason, after the Rye House Plot of 1683, an attempt to assassinate both Charles and James, Monmouth went into self-imposed exile in the Netherlands, and gathered supporters in The Hague. Monmouth was a Protestant and had toured the South West of England in 1680, so long as Charles II remained on the throne, Monmouth was content to live a life of pleasure in Holland, while still hoping to accede peaceably to the throne. The accession of James II and coronation at Westminster Abbey on 23 April 1685 put an end to these hopes, the Monmouth rebellion was planned in Holland and coordinated with another rebellion in Scotland led by Archibald Campbell, the Earl of Argyll. Argyll and Monmouth both began their expeditions from Holland, where Jamess nephew and son-in-law, William of Orange, had not detained them or put a stop to their recruitment efforts. Argyll sailed to Scotland and, on arriving there, raised mainly from his own clan. He had previously involved in the Rye House Plot of 1683
Monmouth Rebellion
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The Morning of Sedgemoor (1905) by
Edgar Bundy
Monmouth Rebellion
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James Scott, Duke of Monmouth on horseback (
Henri Gascar, 1672)
Monmouth Rebellion
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Louis de Duras, 2nd Earl of Feversham
Monmouth Rebellion
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The old Keynsham bridge seen in 2011. The course of the river has been diverted
48.
Lassie
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Lassie is a fictional character created by Eric Knight, she is a female Rough Collie dog, and is featured in a short story that was later expanded to a full-length novel called Lassie Come-Home. In The Half Brothers, Lassie is loved only by her young master, published in 1940, Knights novel was filmed by MGM in 1943, as Lassie Come Home with a dog named Pal playing Lassie. Pal then appeared with the stage name Lassie in six other MGM feature films through 1951, Pals owner and trainer Rudd Weatherwax then acquired the Lassie name and trademark from MGM and appeared with Pal at rodeos, fairs, and similar events across America in the early 1950s. In 1954, the long-running, Emmy winning television series Lassie debuted, and, over the next 19 years, the Lassie character has appeared in radio, television, film, toys, comic books, animated series, juvenile novels, and other media. Pals descendants continue to play Lassie today, an early depiction of Lassie is found in British writer Elizabeth Gaskells 1859 short story The Half-brothers. In the story, Lassie is described as a female collie with intelligent, when the younger brother can no longer carry on, elder brother Gregory, Lassies master, ties a handkerchief around Lassies neck and sends her home. Lassie arrives home, and leads the party to the boys. When they arrive Gregory is dead, but his younger half-brother is saved, thus, Gaskell apparently originated the character Lassie, and at the same time defined the Lassie saves the day storyline that is the essence of subsequent Lassie tales. Half collie, Lassie was owned by the landlord of the Pilot Boat, on New Years Day in 1915 the Royal Navy battleship HMS Formidable was torpedoed by a German submarine off Start Point in South Devon, with the loss of more than 500 men. In a storm followed the accident, a life raft containing bodies was blown along the coast to Lyme Regis. In helping to deal with the crisis, the pub in Lyme Regis, called the Pilot Boat. She stayed beside him for more than half an hour, nuzzling him, to everyones astonishment, Cowan eventually stirred. He was taken to hospital and went on to make a full recovery and he visited Lassie again when he returned to thank all who saved his life. The sinking of the ship was a blow to Britain during these early years of the war. When the officers heard the story of Lassie and what she did to rescue Cowan, they told it again and again to any reporter who would listen as it was inspirational, Hollywood got hold of the story, and so a star was born. Set in the Depression-era England, the novel depicts the journey a rough collie makes to be reunited with her young Yorkshire master after his family is forced to sell her for money. In 1943, the novel was adapted into a film, Lassie Come Home, by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer that starred Roddy McDowall. The movie was a hit and enjoyed favorable critical response, MGM followed this with several additional films, including a sequel entitled Son of Lassie, starring Peter Lawford and June Lockhart, and Courage of Lassie with Elizabeth Taylor
Lassie
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Tommy Rettig appeared with Lassie Junior (son of
Pal, the first film Lassie) in the first three seasons of the American television series (1954–1957), now syndicated as
Jeff's Collie
Lassie
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Lassie TV series, filming on location in Florida (1965)
