1.
Tower of London
The Tower of London, officially Her Majestys Royal Palace and Fortress of the Tower of London, is a historic castle located on the north bank of the River Thames in central London. It lies within the London Borough of Tower Hamlets, separated from the edge of the square mile of the City of London by the open space known as Tower Hill. It was founded towards the end of 1066 as part of the Norman Conquest of England. The White Tower, which gives the castle its name, was built by William the Conqueror in 1078 and was a resented symbol of oppression. The castle was used as a prison from 1100 until 1952, a grand palace early in its history, it served as a royal residence. As a whole, the Tower is a complex of buildings set within two concentric rings of defensive walls and a moat. There were several phases of expansion, mainly under Kings Richard the Lionheart, Henry III, the general layout established by the late 13th century remains despite activity on the site. The Tower of London has played a prominent role in English history and it was besieged several times, and controlling it has been important to controlling the country.
The Tower has served variously as an armoury, a treasury, a menagerie, the home of the Royal Mint, a record office. From the early 14th century until the reign of Charles II, in the absence of the monarch, the Constable of the Tower is in charge of the castle. This was a powerful and trusted position in the medieval period, in the late 15th century, the castle was the prison of the Princes in the Tower. Under the Tudors, the Tower became used less as a royal residence and this use has led to the phrase sent to the Tower. Executions were more commonly held on the notorious Tower Hill to the north of the castle, in the latter half of the 19th century, institutions such as the Royal Mint moved out of the castle to other locations, leaving many buildings empty. Anthony Salvin and John Taylor took the opportunity to restore the Tower to what was felt to be its medieval appearance, in the First and Second World Wars, the Tower was again used as a prison and witnessed the executions of 12 men for espionage.
After the Second World War, damage caused during the Blitz was repaired, the Tower of London is one of the countrys most popular tourist attractions. Under the ceremonial charge of the Constable of the Tower, it is cared for by the charity Historic Royal Palaces and is protected as a World Heritage Site. The Tower was orientated with its strongest and most impressive defences overlooking Saxon London and it would have visually dominated the surrounding area and stood out to traffic on the River Thames. The castle is made up of three wards, or enclosures, the innermost ward contains the White Tower and is the earliest phase of the castle
2.
Stirling Castle
Stirling Castle, located in Stirling, is one of the largest and most important castles in Scotland, both historically and architecturally. The castle sits atop Castle Hill, a crag, which forms part of the Stirling Sill geological formation. It is surrounded on three sides by cliffs, giving it a strong defensive position. Its strategic location, guarding what was, until the 1890s, most of the principal buildings of the castle date from the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries. A few structures of the fourteenth century remain, while the outer defences fronting the town date from the eighteenth century. Before the union with England, Stirling Castle was one of the most used of the many Scottish royal residences, several Scottish Kings and Queens have been crowned at Stirling, including Mary, Queen of Scots, in 1542, and others were born or died there. Stirling Castle is a Scheduled Ancient Monument, and is now a tourist attraction managed by Historic Scotland and it is likely that this natural feature was occupied at an early date, as a hill fort is located on Gowan Hill, immediately to the east.
The Romans bypassed Stirling, building a fort at Doune instead, the area came under Pictish control after the defeat of the Northumbrians at the Battle of Dun Nechtain thirty years later. However, there is no evidence for occupation of Castle Hill before the late medieval period. Other legends have been associated with Stirling, or Snowdoun as it was more poetically known, boece is, considered an unreliable historian. Another chronicler, William Worcester, associated Stirling with the court of the legendary King Arthur, the first record of Stirling Castle dates from around 1110, when King Alexander I dedicated a chapel here. It appears to have been a royal centre by this time. During the reign of his successor David I, Stirling became a burgh. There is no evidence that the English actually occupied the castle, Stirling continued to be a favoured royal residence, with William himself dying there in 1214, and Alexander III laying out the New Park, for deer hunting, in the 1260s. Stirling remained a centre of administration until the death of Alexander III in 1286.
His passing triggered a crisis, with Edward I of England invited to arbitrate between competing claimants. Edward came north in 1291, demanding that Stirling, along with the royal castles. Edward gave judgement in favour of John Balliol, hoping he would be a puppet ruler, in 1296, Edward invaded Scotland, beginning the Wars of Scottish Independence, which would last for the next 60 years
3.
Temple Newsam
Temple Newsam is a Tudor-Jacobean house with grounds landscaped by Capability Brown, in Leeds, West Yorkshire, England. The estate lies to the east of the city, just south of Halton Moor, Whitkirk, Temple Newsam is the name of an electoral ward for Leeds City Council, which includes the areas of Halton Moor, Whitkirk and Austhorpe. The population of the ward at the 2011 Census was 21,543, in the Domesday Book the property is known as Neuhusam and was owned by Ilbert de Lacy. Before that it had been owned by Dunstan and Glunier, Anglo-Saxon thanes, around 1155 it was given to the Knights Templar, who built Temple Newsam Preceptory some distance from the current house. In 1307 the Templars were suppressed and in 1377 by royal decree the estate reverted to Sir Philip Darcy, between 1500 and 1520 a Tudor country house, Temple Newsam House, was built on the site. It has been described by some as the Hampton Court of the North and it has been spelled Newsham in the past. In 1537 Thomas, Lord Darcy was executed for the part he played in the Pilgrimage of Grace, in 1544 Henry VIII gave it to his niece Margaret, Countess of Lennox and her husband Matthew Stuart, Earl of Lennox.
Their son Henry, Lord Darnley was born in the house in 1545, Darnley married Mary, Queen of Scots, and Temple Newsam was again seized by the Crown in 1565. In 1603 James I granted it to his relative Ludovic, Duke of Lennox, in 1622 the estate was bought by Sir Arthur Ingram for £12,000. During the next 20 years the mansion was rebuilt, incorporating some of the house in the west wing. In 1661 Sir Arthurs grandson Henry Ingram was created Viscount of Irvine and he married Lady Essex Montagu, between 1736 and 1746 Henry Ingram, 7th Viscount of Irvine, remodelled the west and north wings of the house, creating new bedrooms and dressing rooms and the picture gallery. In the 1760s Charles, 9th Viscount, employed Capability Brown to re-landscape the park, the work was continued by his widow Frances, née Shepheard, who rebuilt the south wing, and lived at Temple Newsam until her death in 1807. Lady Hertford inherited the house in 1807, in 1841 the estate was inherited by Hugo Francis Meynell Ingram.
Following his death in 1871 his wife inherited the estate and considerably developed it until her own death in 1904 when it was left to her nephew Edward Wood, 1st Earl of Halifax. In 1909610 acres of the estate were purchased by Leeds Corporation at Knostrop to build a sewage plant. In 1922 Edward Wood sold the park and house to Leeds Corporation for a nominal sum, the house and estate are owned by Leeds City Council and open to the public. The estate is made up of woodland, many areas of which join onto the surrounding estates of Leeds. There are facilities for sports including football, running, horse-riding and orienteering, there is a childrens play park
4.
James V of Scotland
James V was King of Scots from 9 September 1513 until his death, which followed the Scottish defeat at the Battle of Solway Moss. His only surviving child, succeeded him when she was just six days old. James was son of King James IV of Scotland and his wife Margaret Tudor, a daughter of Henry VII of England, and was the only legitimate child of James IV to survive infancy. He was born on 10 April 1512 at Linlithgow Palace and baptized the day, receiving the titles Duke of Rothesay and Prince. He became king at just seventeen months old when his father was killed at the Battle of Flodden Field on 9 September 1513, James was crowned in the Chapel Royal at Stirling Castle on 21 September 1513. Other regents included Robert Maxwell, 5th Lord Maxwell, a member of the Council of Regency who was bestowed as Regent of Arran. In February 1517 James came from Stirling to Holyroodhouse, Edinburgh, at Stirling, the 10-year-old James had a guard of 20 footmen dressed in his colours and yellow. When he went to the park below the Castle, by secret and in fair and soft wedder.
Poets wrote their own nursery rhymes for James and advised him on royal behavior, as a youth, his education was in the care of University of St Andrews poets such as Sir David Lyndsay. In the autumn of 1524 James dismissed his Regents and was proclaimed an adult ruler by his mother, several new court servants were appointed including a trumpeter, Henry Rudeman. Thomas Magnus, the English diplomat, gave an impression of the new Scottish court at Holyroodhouse on All Saints Day 1524, trumpets and shamulles did sounde and blewe up mooste pleasauntely. Magnus saw the young king singing, playing with a spear at Leith, and with his horses, and he was given the impression that the king preferred English manners over French fashions. In 1525 Archibald Douglas, 6th Earl of Angus, the young kings stepfather, took custody of James, another attempt that year, on 4 September at the battle of Linlithgow Bridge, failed again to relieve the King from the clutches of Angus. When James and his came to Edinburgh on 20 November 1526, she stayed in the chambers at Holyroodhouse.
In February 1527 Henry Fitzroy, Duke of Richmond, gave James twenty hunting hounds, Magnus thought the Scottish servant sent to Sheriff Hutton Castle for the dogs was intended to note the form and fashion of the Dukes household, for emulation in Scotland. James finally escaped from Anguss care in 1528 and assumed the reins of government himself, the first action James took as king was to remove Angus from the scene. The Douglas family were forced into exile and James besieged their castle at Tantallon and he subdued the Border rebels and the chiefs of the Western Isles. Even his pursemaster and yeoman of the wardrobe, John Tennent of Listonschiels, was sent on an errand to England, James increased his income by tightening control over royal estates and from the profits of justice and feudal rights
5.
Bess of Hardwick
Elizabeth Talbot, Countess of Shrewsbury, known as Bess of Hardwick, was a notable figure of 16th century Elizabethan English society. By a series of marriages, she rose to the highest levels of English nobility. Bess was a business woman, increasing her assets with business interests including mines. An accomplished needlewoman, Bess joined her husbands captive charge at Chatsworth House for extended periods in 1569,1570, and 1571, during which time they worked together on the Oxburgh Hangings. Bess is known for her building projects, the most famous of which are, now the seat of the Dukes of Devonshire. Elizabeth Hardwick was the daughter of John Hardwick of Derbyshire by his wife Elizabeth Leeke, daughter of Thomas Leeke and it cannot be than 1527 because of the date of her fathers death, given in his Inquisition Post Mortem. By the mid-fifteenth century the family had risen to gentleman-yeoman stock, the Hardwick coat of arms of Hardwick was probably granted c.1450 to William Hardwick. The blazon is, Argent, a saltier engrailed azure on a chief of the second three cinquefoils of the first.
When giving evidence of his right to arms in 1569, Besss only brother, James Hardwick, provided the heralds with a pedigree of his family began with this William. James was the last surviving male member of the Hardwick family. The Hardwicks were members of the gentry of Scarsdale, no male member of the Hardwick family rose above the status of esquire or held any important local or county offices. Bess was born into this relatively minor gentry family and her fourth marriage to the earl of Shrewsbury in 1567 elevated her to the rank of countess, and following the earls death in November 1590, Bess became one of the richest women in the kingdom. She set about building her greatest monument, Hardwick New Hall, John Hardwick died aged about 40 leaving a widow and four daughters. His widow, Elizabeth Leeke remarried to the son of the neighbouring Leche family of Chatsworth. Little is known of Besss early life and she appears to have been espoused to her first husband during the 1530s, and probably married for the first time in 1543.
Not surprisingly, this coincides with that Dugdale claimed Bess was in service to Anne Gainsford in London. However, there is no evidence to support the story, and she certainly married Sir William at Bradgate, but that in itself does not prove that Bess was in service at Bradgate. It remains possible that she met Sir William elsewhere, possibly at Codnor, in 1543, Bess married 13-year-old Robert Barley, heir to a neighbouring estate
6.
Elizabeth I of England
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, 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
7.
Isle of Arran
Arran or the Isle of Arran, at 432 square kilometres, is the largest island in the Firth of Clyde and the seventh largest Scottish island. It is in the council area of North Ayrshire. In the 2011 census it had a resident population of 4,629, though culturally and physically similar to the Hebrides, it is separated from them by the Kintyre peninsula. It is divided into highland and lowland areas by the Highland Boundary Fault and has described as a geologists paradise. Arran has been inhabited since the early Neolithic period. From the 6th century onwards, Goidelic-speaking peoples from Ireland colonised it and it became a centre of religious activity, during the troubled Viking Age, Arran became the property of the Norwegian crown, until formally absorbed by the kingdom of Scotland in the 13th century. The 19th century clearances led to significant depopulation and the end of the Gaelic language, the economy and population have recovered in recent years, the main industry being tourism. There is a diversity of wildlife, including three species of endemic to the area.
Arran is therefore not unusual in that the derivation of the name is far from clear, mac an Tàilleir states that it is said to be unrelated to the name Aran in Ireland. Any other Brythonic place names that may have existed were replaced on Arran as the Goidelic-speaking Gaels spread from Ireland via their adjacent kingdom of Dál Riata. During the Viking Age the island, along with the vast majority of the Scottish islands, became the property of the Norwegian crown, as a result of this Norse influence, many current place names on Arran are of Viking origin. The island lies in the Firth of Clyde between Ayr and Ardrossan, and Kintyre, the profile of the north Arran hills as seen from the Ayrshire coast is a well-known sight referred to as the Sleeping Warrior due to its resemblance to a resting human figure. The highest of these hills is Goat Fell at 873.5 metres, there are three other Corbetts, all in the north east, Caisteal Abhail, Cìr Mhòr and Beinn Tarsuinn. Beinn Bharrain is the highest peak in the north west at 721 metres, the largest valley on the island is Glen Iorsa to the west, whilst narrow Glen Sannox and Glen Rosa to the east surround Goat Fell.
The terrain to the south is mountainous, although a considerable portion of the interior lies above 350 metres. There are two other Marilyns in the south and Beinn Bhreac, Arran is sometimes referred to as Scotland in miniature, as it is divided into Highland and Lowland areas by the Highland Boundary Fault which runs northeast to southwest across Scotland. Most of the interior of the half of the island is taken up by a large granite batholith that was created by substantial magmatic activity around 58 million years ago in the Paleogene period. This comprises a ring of coarse granite and an inner core of finer grained granite
8.
Scotland
Scotland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom and covers the northern third of the island of Great Britain. It shares a border with England to the south, and is surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean, with the North Sea to the east. In addition to the mainland, the country is made up of more than 790 islands, including the Northern Isles, the Kingdom of Scotland emerged as an independent sovereign state in the Early Middle Ages and continued to exist until 1707. By inheritance in 1603, James VI, King of Scots, became King of England and King of Ireland, Scotland subsequently entered into a political union with the Kingdom of England on 1 May 1707 to create the new Kingdom of Great Britain. The union created a new Parliament of Great Britain, which succeeded both the Parliament of Scotland and the Parliament of England. Within Scotland, the monarchy of the United Kingdom has continued to use a variety of styles, the legal system within Scotland has remained separate from those of England and Wales and Northern Ireland, Scotland constitutes a distinct jurisdiction in both public and private law.
Glasgow, Scotlands largest city, was one of the worlds leading industrial cities. Other major urban areas are Aberdeen and Dundee, Scottish waters consist of a large sector of the North Atlantic and the North Sea, containing the largest oil reserves in the European Union. This has given Aberdeen, the third-largest city in Scotland, the title of Europes oil capital, following a referendum in 1997, a Scottish Parliament was re-established, in the form of a devolved unicameral legislature comprising 129 members, having authority over many areas of domestic policy. Scotland is represented in the UK Parliament by 59 MPs and in the European Parliament by 6 MEPs, Scotland is a member nation of the British–Irish Council, and the British–Irish Parliamentary Assembly. Scotland comes from Scoti, the Latin name for the Gaels, the Late Latin word Scotia was initially used to refer to Ireland. By the 11th century at the latest, Scotia was being used to refer to Scotland north of the River Forth, alongside Albania or Albany, the use of the words Scots and Scotland to encompass all of what is now Scotland became common in the Late Middle Ages.
Repeated glaciations, which covered the land mass of modern Scotland. It is believed the first post-glacial groups of hunter-gatherers arrived in Scotland around 12,800 years ago, the groups of settlers began building the first known permanent houses on Scottish soil around 9,500 years ago, and the first villages around 6,000 years ago. The well-preserved village of Skara Brae on the mainland of Orkney dates from this period and it contains the remains of an early Bronze Age ruler laid out on white quartz pebbles and birch bark. It was discovered for the first time that early Bronze Age people placed flowers in their graves, in the winter of 1850, a severe storm hit Scotland, causing widespread damage and over 200 deaths. In the Bay of Skaill, the storm stripped the earth from a large irregular knoll, when the storm cleared, local villagers found the outline of a village, consisting of a number of small houses without roofs. William Watt of Skaill, the laird, began an amateur excavation of the site, but after uncovering four houses
9.
Rough Wooing
The Rough Wooing was a war between Scotland and England. Edward VI, crowned king in 1547, continued the war until changing circumstances made it irrelevant in 1550, in Scotland, the war was called the Eight or Nine Years War. The idea of the war as a Wooing was popularised many years by Sir Walter Scott, more recently, Marcus Merriman titled his book The Rough Wooings to emphasise the division of the conflict into two or three distinct phases. In 1542, a Scottish army came to grief at the Battle of Solway Moss and James V died soon after, the English marriage for Mary proposed by the Treaty of Greenwich was conditionally accepted by the Scottish government led by Regent Arran. However, Arran was slow to advance the marriage due to strong internal factions favouring alliance with France, twenty years later, the English diplomat Ralph Sadler reported Adam Otterburns words to him on the Scottish opinion of the marriage, Our people do not like of it. And though the Governor and some of the nobility have consented to it, yet I know that few or none of them do like of it, and our common people do utterly mislike of it.
I pray you give me leave to ask you a question, if your lad was a lass, and lykewise I assure you that our nation will never agree to have an Englishman king of Scotland. And though the whole nobility of the realm would consent, yet our common people, in Scotland civil war ensued with the Regent opposed by the Douglas faction in the East and Matthew, Earl of Lennox in the West at Glasgow. With this internal background, the Scots faced the anger of Henry VIII, five days later, on 20 December, war was declared in Edinburgh by the messenger Henry Ray, Berwick Pursuivant. Henry had released a number of Scottish noblemen captured at the battle of Solway Moss on licence, in March 1544, he sent his Richmond Herald to the Privy Council of Scotland to demand their return. Major hostilities began with an attack on Edinburgh on 3 May 1544, led by the Earl of Hertford, Hertford had instructions to burn Edinburgh and issue Henrys proclamation of 24 March 1544, which laid the blame on Cardinal Beatons sinister enticement of Regent Arran.
Hertford had considered establishing an English garrison at Leith but the Privy Council had vetoed this plan, Henry VIII had asked him to destroy St Andrews, but Hertford pointed out the extra distance would be troublesome. After burning St Mynettes on the side of the Forth and taking fishing boats for landing-craft. Hertford parleyed with Adam Otterburn who was Provost of Edinburgh but he had been instructed not to make terms, the next day the troops entered Edinburghs Canongate, and set the city on fire. Edinburgh Castle was defended by cannon fire commanding the Royal Mile, Hertford decided not to lay siege but thoroughly burn the city. According to the English contemporary account, all the houses within the suburbs and city walls were burnt including Holyroodhouse, the English ships at Leith were loaded with looted goods and sailed with the captured Unicorn and Salamander. The army returned to England by land, burning towns and villages along the way, soon after the English force landed, Regent Arran released the Earl of Angus and George Douglas of Pittendreich who had been imprisoned in Blackness Castle.
Although they had been supporters of the English marriage, Arran now needed the support of the Douglas family against an English invasion
10.
William Cecil, 1st Baron Burghley
William Cecil, 1st Baron Burghley KG PC was an English statesman, the chief advisor of Queen Elizabeth I for most of her reign, twice Secretary of State and Lord High Treasurer from 1572. Albert Pollard says, From 1558 for forty years the biography of Cecil is almost indistinguishable from that of Elizabeth, Burghley set as the main goal of English policy the creation of a united and Protestant British Isles. His methods were to complete the control of Ireland, and to forge an alliance with Scotland, protection from invasion required a powerful Royal Navy. While he was not fully successful, his successors agreed with his goals, derek Wilson says, Few politicians were more subtle or unscrupulous than William Cecil. He was the founder of the Cecil dynasty which has produced politicians including two Prime Ministers. Cecil was born in Bourne, Lincolnshire, in 1520, the son of Sir Richard Cecil, owner of the Burghley estate, seisyllt is the original Welsh spelling of the anglicised Cecil. There is now no doubt that the family was from the Welsh Marches, the family had connections with Dore Abbey.
However, the move to Stamford provides information concerning the Lord Treasurers grandfather, David, he, according to Burghleys enemies, David somehow secured the favour of the first Tudor king, Henry VII, to whom he seems to have been Yeoman of the Guard. He was Sergeant-of-Arms to Henry VIII in 1526, Sheriff of Northamptonshire in 1532, and his eldest son, Yeoman of the Wardrobe, married Jane, daughter of William Heckington of Bourne, and was father of three daughters and the future Lord Burghley. William, the son, was put to school first at The Kings School and Stamford School. The precaution proved useless and four months Cecil committed one of the rare acts of his life in marrying Mary Cheke. The only child of this marriage, the future Earl of Exeter, was born in May 1542, and in February 1543 Cecils first wife died. William Cecils early career was spent in the service of the Duke of Somerset, who was Lord Protector during the years of the reign of his nephew. Cecil accompanied Somerset on his Pinkie campaign of 1547, being one of the two Judges of the Marshalsea and he seems to have acted as private secretary to the Protector, and was in some danger at the time of the Protectors fall in October 1549.
The lords opposed to Somerset ordered his detention on 10 October, Cecil ingratiated himself with Warwick, and after less than three months he was out of the Tower. On 5 September 1550 Cecil was sworn in as one of King Edwards two secretaries of state, in April 1551, Cecil became chancellor of the Order of the Garter. But service under Warwick carried some risk, and decades in his diary, to protect the Protestant government from the accession of a Catholic queen, Northumberland forced King Edwards lawyers to create an instrument setting aside the Third Succession Act on 15 June 1553. Cecil resisted for a while, in a letter to his wife, he wrote, Seeing great perils threatened upon us by the likeness of the time, but at Edwards royal command he signed it
11.
Glasgow
Glasgow is the largest city in Scotland, and third largest in the United Kingdom. Historically part of Lanarkshire, it is now one of the 32 council areas of Scotland and it is situated on the River Clyde in the countrys West Central Lowlands. Inhabitants of the city are referred to as Glaswegians, Glasgow grew from a small rural settlement on the River Clyde to become the largest seaport in Britain. From the 18th century the city grew as one of Great Britains main hubs of transatlantic trade with North America. Glasgow was the Second City of the British Empire for much of the Victorian era and Edwardian period, in the late 19th and early 20th centuries Glasgow grew in population, reaching a peak of 1,128,473 in 1939. The entire region surrounding the conurbation covers about 2.3 million people, at the 2011 census, Glasgow had a population density of 8, 790/sq mi, the highest of any Scottish city. Glasgow hosted the 2014 Commonwealth Games and is well known in the sporting world for the football rivalry of the Old Firm between Celtic and Rangers.
Glasgow is known for Glasgow patter, a dialect that is noted for being difficult to understand by those from outside the city. Glasgow is the form of the ancient Cumbric name Glas Cau. Possibly referring to the area of Molendinar Burn where Glasgow Cathedral now stands, the Gaelic name Baile Glas Chu, town of the grey dog, is purely a folk-etymology. The present site of Glasgow has been settled since prehistoric times, it is for settlement, being the furthest downstream fording point of the River Clyde, the origins of Glasgow as an established city derive ultimately from its medieval position as Scotlands second largest bishopric. Glasgow increased in importance during the 10th and 11th centuries as the site of this bishopric, reorganised by King David I of Scotland and John, there had been an earlier religious site established by Saint Mungo in the 6th century. The bishopric became one of the largest and wealthiest in the Kingdom of Scotland, bringing wealth, sometime between 1189 and 1195 this status was supplemented by an annual fair, which survives as the Glasgow Fair.
Glasgow grew over the following centuries, the first bridge over the River Clyde at Glasgow was recorded from around 1285, giving its name to the Briggait area of the city, forming the main North-South route over the river via Glasgow Cross. The founding of the University of Glasgow in 1451 and elevation of the bishopric to become the Archdiocese of Glasgow in 1492 increased the towns religious and educational status and landed wealth. Its early trade was in agriculture and fishing, with cured salmon and herring being exported to Europe, Glasgow was subsequently raised to the status of Royal Burgh in 1611. The citys Tobacco Lords created a water port at Port Glasgow on the Firth of Clyde. By the late 18th century more than half of the British tobacco trade was concentrated on Glasgows River Clyde, at the time, Glasgow held a commercial importance as the city participated in the trade of sugar and cotton
12.
Dumbarton Castle
Dumbarton Castle has the longest recorded history of any stronghold in Scotland. It overlooks the Scottish town of Dumbarton, and sits on a plug of volcanic basalt known as Dumbarton Rock which is 240 feet high, at least as far back as the Iron Age, this has been the site of a strategically important settlement. Its early residents were known to have traded with the Romans, the presence of a settlement is first recorded in a letter Saint Patrick wrote to King Ceretic of Alt Clut in the late 5th century. David Nash Ford has proposed that Dumbarton was the Cair Brithon listed by Nennius among the 28 cities of Sub-Roman Britain, from the fifth century until the ninth, the castle was the centre of the independent Brythonic Kingdom of Strathclyde. Alt Clut or Alcluith, the Brythonic name for Dumbarton Rock, the king of Dumbarton in about AD570 was Riderch Hael, who features in Welsh and Latin works. During his reign Merlin was said to have stayed at Alt Clut, the medieval Scalacronica of Sir Thomas Grey records the legend that Arthur left Hoël of Brittany his nephew sick at Alcluit in Scotland.
Hoël made a recovery, but was besieged in the castle by the Scots and Picts. The story first appeared in Geoffrey of Monmouths Historia Regum Britanniae and this battle appears in stories of Myrddin Wyllt, the Merlin of Geoffrey of Monmouths Vita Merlini, perhaps conflated with the battle of Arfderydd, located as Arthuret by some authors. In 756, the first losses of Dumbarton Rock were recorded, a joint force of Picts and Northumbrians captured the fortress after a siege, only to lose it again a few days later. By 870, it was home to a tightly packed British settlement, in 871, the Irish-based Viking kings Amlaíb and Ímar laid seige to Dumbarton Rock. The fortress fell in four months, after its water supply failed, the kings are recorded to have returned to Ireland with 200 ships and a host of British and Pictish captives. These prisoners may have included the family of Alt Clut including the king Arthgal ap Dyfnwal. In medieval Scotland, Dumbarton was an important royal castle and it sheltered David II and his young wife, Joan of The Tower after the Scottish defeat at Halidon Hill in 1333.
In 1425 the castle was attacked by James the Fat, youngest son of Murdoch Stewart, Duke of Albany, James the Fat became a rallying point for enemies of the King, and raised a large rebellion against the crown. He marched on the town of Dumbarton and burned it, but was unable to take the castle, the former supporters of James III under the leadership of John Stewart, 1st Earl of Lennox met up at Dumbarton Castle in October 1489. They had hoped to gain the support of Henry VII of England, James IV defeated them in a battle between the Touch and Menteith hills near Stirling on 11 and 12 October. James IV used Dumbarton as the west coast base for his navy, James was at Dumbarton with the Chancellor of Scotland, Colin Campbell, 1st Earl of Argyll, in November 1489. He had the use of a ship belonging to the Laird of Luss, in the following February a royal ship was chaysit by the English and lost some of her cables
