1.
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
2.
Portsmouth
–
Portsmouth is a port city in Hampshire, England, mainly on Portsea Island,70 miles south-west of London and 19 miles south-east of Southampton. It is the United Kingdoms only island city and has a population of 205,400, the city forms part of the South Hampshire built-up area, which also covers Southampton and the towns of Havant, Waterlooville, Eastleigh, Fareham, and Gosport. The citys history can be traced to Roman times, a significant naval port for centuries, Portsmouth has the worlds oldest dry dock and was Englands first line of defence during the French invasion in 1545. Special Palmerston Forts were built in 1859 in anticipation of invasion from continental Europe. The worlds first mass production line was set up in the city, during the Second World War, the city was a pivotal embarkation point for the D-Day landings and was bombed extensively in the Portsmouth Blitz, which resulted in the deaths of 930 people. In 1982, the city housed the entirety of the forces in the Falklands War. Her Majestys Yacht Britannia left the city to oversee the transfer of Hong Kong in 1997, Portsmouth is one of the worlds best known ports. HMNB Portsmouth is the largest dockyard for the Royal Navy and is home to two-thirds of the UKs surface fleet, the city is home to some famous ships, including HMS Warrior, the Tudor carrack Mary Rose and Horatio Nelsons flagship, HMS Victory. The former HMS Vernon naval shore establishment has been redeveloped as a park known as Gunwharf Quays. Portsmouth is among the few British cities with two cathedrals, the Anglican Cathedral of St Thomas and the Roman Catholic Cathedral of St John the Evangelist, the waterfront and Portsmouth Harbour are dominated by the Spinnaker Tower, one of the United Kingdoms tallest structures at 560 feet. Nearby Southsea is a resort with a pier amusement park. Portsmouth F. C. the citys football club, play their home games at Fratton Park. The city has several railway stations that connect to London Waterloo amongst other lines in southern England. Portsmouth International Port is a cruise ship and ferry port for international destinations. The port is the second busiest in the United Kingdom after Dover, the city formerly had its own airport, Portsmouth Airport, until its closure in 1973. The University of Portsmouth enrols 23,000 students and is ranked among the worlds best modern universities, Portsmouth is also the birthplace of author Charles Dickens and engineer Isambard Kingdom Brunel. The Romans built Portus Adurni, a fort, at nearby Portchester in the third century. The citys Old English name Portesmuða is derived from port, meaning a haven, and muða and it was mentioned in an Anglo-Saxon Chronicle entry for the year 501, Her cwom Port on Bretene 7 his. ii
3.
William Denny and Brothers
–
William Denny and Brothers Limited, and often referred to simply as Denny, was a Scottish shipbuilding company. The shipbuilding interests of the Denny family date back to William Denny, by 1823 the company name had changed to William Denny & Son. From 1845 the company became Denny Brothers, and in 1849 the firm was reconstituted as William Denny & Brothers, although the Denny yard was situated near the junction of the River Clyde and the River Leven, the yard was on the Leven. The founder developed the companys interests in ship owning and operation with interests in the British & Burmese Steam Navigation Company, the Company built all types of ships but were particularly well known as producers of fine cross-channel steamships and ferries. It was a pioneer in the development of the ships stabiliser in conjunction with Edinburgh-based Brown Brothers & Company, in 1913 the Channel steamer Paris was one of the first ships to use geared turbine engines utilising new Michell tilting-pad fluid bearing. It also undertook work in hovercraft and helicopter-type aircraft. A marine engineering company, also based in Dumbarton, was formed by Peter Denny, John Tulloch, in 1862 the company was renamed Denny & Co. The company manufactured a range of types of marine engines and was absorbed into William Denny & Brothers in 1918. Dennys were always innovators and were one of the first commercial shipyards in the world to have their own experimental testing tank, William Denny & Company went into voluntary liquidation in 1963. Inspired by the work of eminent naval architect William Froude, Dennys completed the worlds first commercial example of a ship testing tank in 1883, the facility was used to test models of a variety of vessels and explored various propulsion methods, including propellers, paddles and vane wheels. Experiments were carried out on models of the Denny-Brown stabilisers and the Denny hovercraft to gauge their feasibility, after the Denny yard closed, the test tank facility was taken over by Vickers Shipbuilding and Engineering Limited and used for the testing of submarines until the early 1980s. Re-opened as part of the Scottish Maritime Museum in 1982, it retains many of its original features, existed under multiple roles and ownerships for over 80 years before finally being scrapped in Japan. She was a Roll-on/roll-off Road/Rail ferry built for New Zealand Railways Department, the flag was unusual in having an elephant as its emblem. The flag consisted of an elephant against a white field. This image was taken from the arms of Dumbarton, and it also served to symbolise the strength. History of Dennys Shipyard - Clyde Waterfront Heritage
4.
Dumbarton
–
Dumbarton is a town in West Dunbartonshire, Scotland, on the north bank of the River Clyde where the River Leven flows into the Clyde estuary. In 2006, it had an population of 19,990. Dumbarton was the capital of the ancient Kingdom of Alclud, Dumbarton Castle, on top of Dumbarton Rock, dominates the area. Dumbarton was a Royal burgh between 1222 and 1975, Dumbarton emerged from the 19th century as a centre for shipbuilding, glassmaking, and whisky production. However these industries have declined, and Dumbarton today is increasingly a commuter town for Glasgow 13 miles east-southeast of it. Dumbarton F. C. is the football club. Dumbarton is home to BBC Scotlands drama studios, Dumbarton history goes back at least as far as the Iron Age and probably much earlier. It was the site of a strategically important Roman settlement known as Alcluith of a province named Valentia, the next record of a settlement in Dumbarton is a record in Irish chronicles of the death of Guret, rex Alo Cluathe, in AD658. The loss of the British power base led to the emergence of the new kingdom of Strathclyde, or Cumbria, the title king of the Britons of Srath Clúade was first used in 872. Dumbarton was later the county town of the county of Dunbartonshire, in September 1605 Chancellor Dunfermline reported to King James VI that inundations of the sea were likely to destroy and take away the whole town. It was estimated that the defences would cost 30,000 pounds Scots. During World War II Dumbarton was heavily bombed by the German air force, the Germans were targeting the shipyards, and the area in the vicinity of the yards was consequently hit, with Clyde and Leven Street being severely damaged. The ploy was sometimes successful in diverting the bombers and many bombs fell harmlessly onto the moors, Dumbarton Castle sits on Dumbarton Rock, at the east bank mouth of the River Leven, where it flows into the Clyde estuary. The Castle has a history and many well-known figures from Scottish and British history have visited it. The castle was a royal fortress long before Dumbarton became a Royal Burgh, its ownership went from Scottish to English, the castle was an important place during the Wars of Independence and was used to imprison William Wallace for a short time after his capture by the English. It was from here that Mary, Queen of Scots, was conveyed to France for safety as a child, Mary was trying to reach Dumbarton Castle when she suffered her final defeat at Langside. In later times, Queen Victoria and Queen Elizabeth II visited the castle, today, Dumbarton Rock is a Scheduled Ancient Monument, it has legal protection in order to maintain and conserve the site for the future. As such any sort of work on the rock is strictly regulated by the Scottish Government, from the top of the castle can be seen both the River Clyde and Leven Grove Park
5.
Paddle steamer
–
A paddle steamer is a steamship or riverboat powered by a steam engine that drives paddle wheels to propel the craft through the water. In antiquity, paddle wheelers followed the development of poles, oars and sails, modern paddle wheelers may be powered by diesel engines. The paddle wheel is a steel framework wheel. The outer edge of the wheel is fitted with numerous, regularly-spaced paddle blades, the bottom quarter or so of the wheel travels underwater. An engine rotates the wheel in the water to produce thrust. More advanced paddle wheel designs feature feathering methods that keep each paddle blade closer to vertical while in the water to increase efficiency, the upper part of a paddle wheel is normally enclosed in a paddlebox to minimise splashing. There are two ways to mount paddle wheels on a ship, either a single wheel on the rear, known as a sternwheeler, or a paddle wheel on each side. Both sternwheelers and sidewheelers were used as riverboats in the United States, some still operate for tourists, for example on the Mississippi River. Sidewheelers are used as riverboats and as coastal craft and this extra maneuverability makes sidewheelers popular on the narrower, winding rivers of the Murray-Darling system in Australia, where a number still operate. European sidewheelers, such as the PS Waverley, connect the wheels with solid drive shafts that limit maneuverability, some were built with paddle clutches that disengage one or both paddles so they can turn independently. However, wisdom gained from experience with sidewheelers deemed that they be operated with clutches out. Crews noticed that as ships approached the dock, passengers moved to the side of the ready to disembark. The shift in weight, added to independent movements of the paddles, could lead to imbalance, in a simple paddle wheel, where the paddles are fixed around the periphery, power is lost due to churning of the water as the paddles enter and leave the water surface. Ideally, the paddles should remain vertical while under water and this ideal can be approximated by use of levers and linkages connected to a fixed eccentric. The eccentric is fixed slightly forward of the wheel centre. It is coupled to each paddle via a rod and lever, the geometry is designed such that the paddles are kept almost vertical for the short duration that they are in the water. One of the drawings of the Anonymous Author of the Hussite Wars shows a boat with a pair of paddle-wheels at each end turned by men operating compound cranks. In 1704, the French physicist Denis Papin constructed the first ship powered by his steam engine and this made him the first to construct a steam-powered boat
6.
Southern Railway (UK)
–
The Southern Railway, sometimes shortened to Southern, was a British railway company established in the 1923 Grouping. It linked London with the Channel ports, South West England, South coast resorts, the construction of what was to become the Southern Railway began in 1838 with the opening of the London and Southampton Railway, which was renamed the London & South Western Railway. The railway was noted for its use of public relations. At 2,186 miles, the Southern Railway was the smallest of the Big Four railway companies and, unlike the others and it created what was at that time the worlds largest electrified main line railway system and the first electrified InterCity route. The Southern Railway operated a number of named trains, including the Brighton Belle, the Bournemouth Belle, the Golden Arrow. The West Country services were dominated by summer holiday traffic and included named trains such as the Atlantic Coast Express. The companys best-known livery was highly distinctive, locomotives and carriages were painted in a bright Malachite green above plain black frames, with bold, the Southern Railway was nationalised in 1948, becoming the Southern Region of British Railways. These companies were amalgamated, together several small independently operated lines and non-working companies, to form the Southern Railway in 1923. The first main line railway in southern England was the London and Southampton Railway and it was quickly followed by the London and Brighton Railway, and the South Eastern Railway in February 1844. The LSWR branched out to destinations including Portsmouth, Salisbury and later Exeter and it grew to be the largest of the four constituent companies. The LBSCR was a smaller railway than its LSWR neighbour, serving the port of Newhaven and several holiday resorts on the south coast. It had been almost bankrupt in 1867, but during the last twenty-five years of its existence it had been well-managed and it had begun to electrify routes around London from 1909 to compete with the new electric trams that were taking away some of its traffic. Finally, the SECR had been created after years of wasteful, both companies had been unpopular with the travelling public and operated poorly maintained vehicles and infrastructure. Nevertheless, real progress had made in rectifying this during the period 1899–1922. The formation of the Southern Railway was rooted in the outbreak of the First World War, many members of staff joined the armed forces and it was not possible to build and maintain equipment at peacetime levels. The resultant amalgamation of the four south coast railways to form the Southern Railway meant that several duplicate routes, the LSWR had most influence on the new company, although genuine attempts were made to integrate the services and staff after 1923. In addition to its operations, the Southern Railway inherited several important port and harbour facilities along the south coast, including Southampton, Newhaven. It also ran services to the harbours at Portsmouth, Dover and these had come into being for handling ocean-going and cross-channel passenger traffic and the size of the railway-owned installations reflected the prosperity that the industry generated
7.
Isle of Wight
–
The Isle of Wight /ˈaɪl əv ˈwaɪt/ is a county and the largest and second-most populous island in England. It is located in the English Channel, about 4 miles off the coast of Hampshire, the island has resorts that have been holiday destinations since Victorian times, and is known for its mild climate, coastal scenery, and verdant landscape of fields, downland and chines. The island has been home to the poets Swinburne and Tennyson and to Queen Victoria and it has a maritime and industrial tradition including boat building, sail making, the manufacture of flying boats, the hovercraft, and Britains space rockets. The island hosts annual festivals including the Isle of Wight Festival. It has well-conserved wildlife and some of the richest cliffs and quarries for dinosaur fossils in Europe, the Isle was owned by a Norman family until 1293 and was earlier a kingdom in its own right. Rural for most of its history, its Victorian fashionability and the affordability of holidays led to significant urban development during the late 19th. The island was part of Hampshire until 1890 when it became its own administrative county, apart from a shared police force, there is now no administrative link with Hampshire, although a combined local authority with Portsmouth and Southampton is being considered. Until 1995 the island had a governor, the quickest public transport link to the mainland is the hovercraft from Ryde to Southsea, while three ferry and two catamaran services cross the Solent to Southampton, Lymington and Portsmouth. During the Ice Age, sea levels were lower and the Solent was part of a river flowing south east from current day Poole Harbour towards mid-Channel. As sea levels rose, the valley became flooded. The first inhabitants are assumed to have been hunter-gatherers migrating by land during the Paleolithic or Old Stone Age period, as the ice age began to recede. From the Neolithic era onwards, there are indications that the island had wide trading links, with a port at Bouldnor, evidence of Bronze Age tin trading, caesar reported that the Belgae took the Isle of Wight in about 85 BC and gave its name as Vectis. The Roman historian Suetonius mentions that the island was captured by the commander Vespasian, the Romans built no towns or roads on the island, but the remains of at least seven Roman villas have been found, indicating the prosperity of local agriculture. During the Dark Ages the island was settled by Jutes as the kingdom of Wihtwara under King Arwald. In 685 it was invaded by Caedwalla, who tried to replace the inhabitants with his own followers and it suffered especially from Viking raids, and was often used as a winter base by Viking raiders when they were unable to reach Normandy. Later, both Earl Tostig and his brother Harold Godwinson held manors on the island, the Norman Conquest of 1066 created the position of Lord of the Isle of Wight, the island being given by William the Conqueror to his kinsman William FitzOsbern. Carisbrooke Priory and the fort of Carisbrooke Castle were then founded, allegiance was sworn to FitzOsbern rather than the king, the Lordship was subsequently granted to the de Redvers family by Henry I, after his succession in 1100. For nearly 200 years the island was a semi-independent feudal fiefdom, the final private owner was the Countess Isabella de Fortibus, who, on her deathbed in 1293, was persuaded to sell it to Edward I
8.
Island Harbour Marina
–
Island Harbour Marina, on the Isle of Wight, UK, is a commercial marina on the River Medina in the small hamlet of Binfield. It is located halfway between Cowes and the County Town of Newport. Visiting yachtsmen will find it just past the Folly Inn on the East bank, being a relatively small marina, it best suits pleasure craft of up to 20 metres in length. The marina accommodates both annual berthholders and short-term visiting craft, as the River Medina is tidal, the marina has lock gates to maintain a sufficient operational depth. It also means access to the marina by boat is dependent on the state of the tide. A table showing the approximate access times is shown below, Island Harbour Marina was built in 1966 on the site of a demolished water mill, with the main part of the marina being formed by enlarging the original millponds. The marinas creators and first owners were brothers Alan and Colin Ridett, as well as arriving by boat, access to the marina can be gained by car, bus and river water taxi. A new riverbank cycle-way has recently completed between Newport and Island Harbour Marina, with further plans for it to be extended to the Folly Inn in the future. As well as the marina, there is a large hardstanding area for around 100 boats to be stored ashore, the marina also has its own on-site restaurant. There is an on-site chandlery, boat builders and repair workshop, at Island Harbour there are also 96 holiday homes and three permanent dwellings situated within the marina grounds. In November 2014, work began on building a further 25 holiday apartments, a brand new customer showerblock was completed in June 2015 and in 2016, work was started on two more blocks of apartments. Also in 2016, the restaurant was greatly enlarged and refurbished. A major feature of the site is the paddle steamer Ryde, more details of this vessel are shown below. At the far end of the marina is a nature reserve. On the southern boundary of the land is a fairly large lake. Road access to Island Harbour is via Mill Lane, which connects to North Fairlee Road, in Mill Lane, adjoining Island Harbour, is Binfield Farm. The farm has long associated with Island Harbour and been in common ownership. A90 degree turn to port just before it, will take vessels parallel to the pontoon, yachtsmen should be beware of the mudbanks either side of the entry channel and stay within the channel markers
.jpg)
.jpg)
