1.
Seat of local government
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In local government, a city hall, town hall, civic centre, a guildhall, a Rathaus, or a municipal building, is the chief administrative building of a city, town, or other municipality. It usually houses the city or town council, its associated departments and it also usually functions as the base of the mayor of a city, town, borough, or county / shire. By convention, until the mid 19th-century, a large open chamber formed an integral part of the building housing the council. The hall may be used for meetings and other significant events. This large chamber, the hall, has become synonymous with the whole building. The terms council chambers, municipal building or variants may be used locally in preference to town hall if no such large hall is present within the building, the local government may endeavor to use the town hall building to promote and enhance the quality of life of the community. In many cases, town halls serve not only as buildings for government functions and these may include art shows, stage performances, exhibits and festivals. Modern town halls or civic centres are designed with a great variety and flexibility of purpose in mind. As symbols of government, city and town halls have distinctive architecture. City hall buildings may also serve as icons that symbolize their cities. The term town hall may be a one, often applied without regard to whether the building serves or served a town or a city. This is generally the case in the United Kingdom, Australia, New Zealand, Hong Kong, english-speakers in some regions use the term city hall to designate the council offices of a municipality of city status. This is the case in North America, where a distinction is made between city halls and town halls, and is also the case with Brisbane City Hall in Australia. The great hall of the town-house or municipal building, now commonly applied to the whole building city hall. Conversely, cities that have subdivisions with their own councils may have borough halls, in Scotland, local government in larger cities operates from the City Chambers, otherwise the Town House. Elsewhere in English-speaking countries, other names are occasionally used, in London, the official headquarters of administration of the City of London retains its Anglo-Saxon name, the Guildhall, signifying a place where taxes were paid. In a small number of English cities the preferred term is Council House, this was also the case in Bristol until 2012, when the building was renamed City Hall. In Birmingham, there is a distinction between the Council House, the seat of government, and the Town Hall, a concert
2.
Italianate architecture
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The Italianate style of architecture was a distinct 19th-century phase in the history of Classical architecture. The style of architecture that was created, though also characterised as Neo-Renaissance, was essentially of its own time. The Italianate style was first developed in Britain about 1802 by John Nash and this small country house is generally accepted to be the first Italianate villa in England, from which is derived the Italianate architecture of the late Regency and early Victorian eras. The Italianate style was developed and popularised by the architect Sir Charles Barry in the 1830s. Barrys Italianate style drew heavily for its motifs on the buildings of the Italian Renaissance, the style was not confined to England and was employed in varying forms, long after its decline in popularity in Britain, throughout Northern Europe and the British Empire. From the late 1840s to 1890 it achieved popularity in the United States. A late intimation of Nashs development of the Italianate style was his 1805 design of Sandridge Park at Stoke Gabriel in Devon. Later examples of the Italianate style in England tend to take the form of Palladian-style building often enhanced by a belvedere complete with Renaissance-type balustrading at the roof level. Sir Charles Barry, most notable for his works on the Tudor, unlike Nash he found his inspiration in Italy itself. Barry drew heavily on the designs of the original Renaissance villas of Rome, the Lazio and his most defining work in this style was the large Neo-Renaissance mansion Cliveden. Thomas Cubitt, a London building contractor, incorporated simple classical lines of the Italianate style as defined by Sir Charles Barry into many of his London terraces. Following the completion of Osborne House in 1851, the became a popular choice of design for the small mansions built by the new. These were mostly built in cities surrounded by large but not extensive gardens, on occasions very similar, if not identical, designs to these Italianate villas would be topped by mansard roofs, and then termed chateauesque. However, after a modest spate of Italianate villas, and French chateaux by 1855 the most favoured style of an English country house was Gothic, the Italianate style came to the small town of Newton Abbot in Devon, with Isambard Brunels atmospheric railway pumping houses. An example that is not very known, but a clear example of Italianate architecture, is St. Christophers Anglican church in Hinchley Wood, Surrey. When the Ottomans exiled Fakhreddine to Tuscany in 1613, he entered an alliance with the Medicis, upon his return to Lebanon in 1618, he began modernising Lebanon. He developed an industry, upgraded olive-oil production, and brought with him numerous Italian engineers who began the construction of mansions. The cities of Beirut and Sidon were especially built in the Italianate style, the influence of these buildings, such as the ones in Deir el Qamar, influenced building in Lebanon for many centuries and continues to the present time
3.
Reading, Berkshire
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Reading is a large, historically important town in Berkshire, England, of which it is the county town. The 19th century saw the coming of the Great Western Railway, Today Reading is a major commercial centre, with involvement in information technology and insurance, and, despite its proximity to London, has a net inward commuter flow. The first evidence for Reading as a settlement dates from the 8th century, by 1525, Reading was the largest town in Berkshire, and tax returns show that Reading was the 10th largest town in England when measured by taxable wealth. By 1611, it had a population of over 5000 and had grown rich on its trade in cloth, the 18th century saw the beginning of a major iron works in the town and the growth of the brewing trade for which Reading was to become famous. During the 19th century, the town rapidly as a manufacturing centre. It is ranked the UKs top economic area for economic success and wellbeing, according to such as employment, health, income. Reading is also a regional retail centre serving a large area of the Thames Valley. Every year it hosts the Reading Festival, one of Englands biggest music festivals, sporting teams based in Reading include Reading Football Club and the London Irish rugby union team, and over 15,000 runners annually compete in the Reading Half Marathon. In 2015, Reading had an population of 232,662. The town is represented in Parliament by two members, and has been continuously represented there since 1295, for ceremonial purposes the town is in the county of Berkshire and has served as its county town since 1867, previously sharing this status with Abingdon-on-Thames. It is in the Thames Valley at the confluence of the River Thames and River Kennet, and on both the Great Western Main Line railway and the M4 motorway. Reading is 75 miles east of Bristol,25 miles south of Oxford,42 miles west of London,17 miles north of Basingstoke,13 miles south-west of Maidenhead and 20 miles east of Newbury. Reading may date back to the Roman occupation of Britain, possibly as a port for Calleva Atrebatum. However the first clear evidence for Reading as a settlement dates from the 8th century, the name probably comes from the Readingas, an Anglo-Saxon tribe whose name means Readas People in Old English, or less probably the Celtic Rhydd-Inge, meaning Ford over the River. In late 870, an army of Danes invaded the kingdom of Wessex, on 4 January 871, in the first Battle of Reading, King Ethelred and his brother Alfred the Great attempted unsuccessfully to breach the Danes defences. The battle is described in the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, and that account provides the earliest known record of the existence of Reading. The Danes remained in Reading until late in 871, when they retreated to their quarters in London. After the Battle of Hastings and the Norman conquest of England, William the Conqueror gave land in, in its 1086 Domesday Book listing, the town was explicitly described as a borough
4.
Geographic coordinate system
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A geographic coordinate system is a coordinate system used in geography that enables every location on Earth to be specified by a set of numbers, letters or symbols. The coordinates are chosen such that one of the numbers represents a vertical position. A common choice of coordinates is latitude, longitude and elevation, to specify a location on a two-dimensional map requires a map projection. The invention of a coordinate system is generally credited to Eratosthenes of Cyrene. Ptolemy credited him with the adoption of longitude and latitude. Ptolemys 2nd-century Geography used the prime meridian but measured latitude from the equator instead. Mathematical cartography resumed in Europe following Maximus Planudes recovery of Ptolemys text a little before 1300, in 1884, the United States hosted the International Meridian Conference, attended by representatives from twenty-five nations. Twenty-two of them agreed to adopt the longitude of the Royal Observatory in Greenwich, the Dominican Republic voted against the motion, while France and Brazil abstained. France adopted Greenwich Mean Time in place of local determinations by the Paris Observatory in 1911, the latitude of a point on Earths surface is the angle between the equatorial plane and the straight line that passes through that point and through the center of the Earth. Lines joining points of the same latitude trace circles on the surface of Earth called parallels, as they are parallel to the equator, the north pole is 90° N, the south pole is 90° S. The 0° parallel of latitude is designated the equator, the plane of all geographic coordinate systems. The equator divides the globe into Northern and Southern Hemispheres, the longitude of a point on Earths surface is the angle east or west of a reference meridian to another meridian that passes through that point. All meridians are halves of great ellipses, which converge at the north and south poles, the prime meridian determines the proper Eastern and Western Hemispheres, although maps often divide these hemispheres further west in order to keep the Old World on a single side. The antipodal meridian of Greenwich is both 180°W and 180°E, the combination of these two components specifies the position of any location on the surface of Earth, without consideration of altitude or depth. The grid formed by lines of latitude and longitude is known as a graticule, the origin/zero point of this system is located in the Gulf of Guinea about 625 km south of Tema, Ghana. To completely specify a location of a feature on, in, or above Earth. Earth is not a sphere, but a shape approximating a biaxial ellipsoid. It is nearly spherical, but has an equatorial bulge making the radius at the equator about 0. 3% larger than the radius measured through the poles, the shorter axis approximately coincides with the axis of rotation
5.
Alfred Waterhouse
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Alfred Waterhouse RA was an English architect, particularly associated with the Victorian Gothic Revival architecture. He is perhaps best known for his design for Manchester Town Hall, financially speaking, Waterhouse was probably the most successful of all Victorian architects. Though expert within Neo-Gothic, Renaissance revival and Romanesque revival styles, Waterhouse was born on 19 July 1830 in Aigburth, Liverpool, Lancashire, the son of wealthy mill-owning Quaker parents. Alfred Waterhouse was educated at the Quaker Grove House School in Tottenham and he studied architecture under Richard Lane in Manchester, and spent much of his youth travelling in Europe and studying in France, Italy and Germany. On his return to Britain, Alfred set up his own practice in Manchester. Waterhouse continued to practise in Manchester for 12 years, until moving his practice to London in 1865 and his earliest commissions were for domestic buildings. His success as a designer of buildings was assured in 1859 when he won the open competition for the Manchester Assize Courts. This work not only showed his ability to plan a building on a large scale. In 1860, he married Elizabeth Hodgkin, daughter of John Hodgkin, Elizabeth was herself the author of several books, including a collection of verse and some anthologies. Her best known work was The Island of Anarchy, a Utopian story set in the late 20th century, first published in 1887, Waterhouse had connections with wealthy Quaker industrialist through schooling, marriage and religious affiliation. Many of these Quaker connections commissioned him to design and build country houses, several were built for members of the Backhouse family, founders of Backhouses Bank, a forerunner of Barclays Bank. For Alfred Backhouse, Waterhouse built Pilmore Hall, now known as Rockliffe Hall, in the same village he built the Grange, now the Hurworth Grange Community Centre, which Alfred Backhouse had commissioned as a wedding gift for his nephew, James E. Backhouse. Another Backhouse family mansion designed and built by Waterhouse was Dryderdale Hall, near Hamsterley, in 1865, Waterhouse was one of the architects selected to compete for the Royal Courts of Justice. The University Club of New York was undertaken in 1866, girton College, Cambridge, a building of simpler type, dates originally from the same period, but has been periodically enlarged by further buildings. From the late 1860s, Waterhouse lived in Reading, Berkshire and these included his own residences of Foxhill House and Yattendon Court, together with Reading Town Hall, Grove House, a boarding house at Leighton Park School and Reading School. Foxhill House is still in use by the University of Reading, as are his Whiteknights House, for the Prudential Assurance Company, Waterhouse designed many offices, including their Holborn Bars head office in Holborn and branch offices in Southampton, Nottingham and Leeds. He also designed offices for the National Provincial Bank in Piccadilly, Liverpool Infirmary was Waterhouses largest hospital, and St Marys Hospital, Manchester, the Alexandra Hospital in Rhyl, and extensive additions at the Nottingham General Hospital, also involved him. He was involved in a series of works for the Victoria University of Manchester, St Marys Church in Twyford, Hampshire shows interestingly similar patterning to the Natural History Museum and was designed at the same time
6.
Berkshire
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Berkshire is a county in south east England, west of London. It was recognised as the Royal County of Berkshire because of the presence of Windsor Castle by the Queen in 1957, Berkshire is a county of historic origin and is a home county, a ceremonial county and a non-metropolitan county without a county council. Berkshire County Council was the main county governance from 1889 to 1998 except for the separately administered County Borough of Reading, in 1974, significant alterations were made to the countys administrative boundaries although the traditional boundaries of Berkshire were not changed. The towns of Abingdon, Didcot and Wantage were transferred to Oxfordshire, Slough was gained from Buckinghamshire, since 1998, Berkshire has been governed by the six unitary authorities of Bracknell Forest, Reading, Slough, West Berkshire, Windsor and Maidenhead and Wokingham. It borders the counties of Oxfordshire, Buckinghamshire, Greater London, Surrey, according to Asser, it takes its name from a large forest of box trees that was called Bearroc. Berkshire has been the scene of notable battles through its history. Alfred the Greats campaign against the Danes included the Battles of Englefield, Ashdown, Newbury was the site of two English Civil War battles, the First Battle of Newbury in 1643 and the Second Battle of Newbury in 1644. The nearby Donnington Castle was reduced to a ruin in the aftermath of the second battle, another Battle of Reading took place on 9 December 1688. It was the only military action in England during the Glorious Revolution. Reading became the new county town in 1867, taking over from Abingdon, boundary alterations in the early part of the 20th century were minor, with Caversham from Oxfordshire becoming part of the Reading county borough, and cessions in the Oxford area. On 1 April 1974 Berkshires boundaries changed under the Local Government Act 1972, Berkshire took over administration of Slough and Eton and part of the former Eton Rural District from Buckinghamshire. 94 Signal Squadron still keep the Uffington White Horse in their insignia, the original Local Government White Paper would have transferred Henley-on-Thames from Oxfordshire to Berkshire, this proposal did not make it into the Bill as introduced. On 1 April 1998 Berkshire County Council was abolished under a recommendation of the Banham Commission, unlike similar reforms elsewhere at the same time, the non-metropolitan county was not abolished. Berkshire divides into two distinct sections with the boundary lying roughly on a north-south line through the centre of Reading. The eastern section of Berkshire lies largely to the south of the River Thames, in two places the county now includes land to the north of the river. Tributaries of the Thames, including the Loddon and Blackwater, increase the amount of low lying land in the area. Beyond the flood plains, the land rises gently to the county boundaries with Surrey, much of this area is still well wooded, especially around Bracknell and Windsor Great Park. In the west of the county and heading upstream, the Thames veers away to the north of the county boundary, leaving the county behind at the Goring Gap
7.
Reading Abbey
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Reading Abbey is a large, ruined abbey in the centre of the town of Reading, in the English county of Berkshire. Reading Abbey is currently the focus of a major £3 million project called Reading Abbey Revealed and this project is conserving the ruins so that they can be re-opened to the public. Alongside the conservation, new interpretation of the Reading Abbey Quarter will be installed, Abbey Ward of Reading Borough Council takes its name from Reading Abbey, which lies within its boundaries. The abbey was founded by Henry I in 1121, as part of his endowments, he gave the abbey his lands within Reading, along with land at Cholsey. He also arranged for land in Reading, previously given to Battle Abbey by William the Conqueror, to be transferred to Reading Abbey. Following its royal foundation, the abbey was established by a party of monks from Cluny Abbey in Burgundy, the abbey was dedicated to the Virgin Mary and St John the Evangelist. The first abbot, in 1123, was Hugh of Amiens who became archbishop of Rouen and was buried in Rouen Cathedral, the adjacent rivers provided convenient transport, and the abbey established wharves on the River Kennet. The Kennet also provided power for the water mills, most of which were established on the Holy Brook. When Henry I died in Lyons-la-Forêt, Normandy in 1135 his body was returned to Reading, other royal persons buried in the abbey include parts of Matilda of Scotland, William of Poitiers, and Constance of York. The abbey also held over 230 relics including the hand of St James, a shrivelled human hand was found in the ruins during demolition work in 1786 and is now in St Peters RC Church, Marlow. The song Sumer is icumen in, which was first written down in the abbey about 1240, is the earliest known six part harmony from Britain, the original document is held in the British Library. Reading Abbey was frequently visited by kings and others, most especially by Henry III who often visited three or four times a year staying several weeks on each visit, the abbey was largely destroyed in 1538 during Henry VIIIs Dissolution of the Monasteries. The last abbot, Hugh Cook Faringdon, was tried and convicted of high treason and hanged, drawn. After this, the buildings of the abbey were extensively robbed, with lead, glass, some twenty years after the dissolution, Reading town council created a new town hall by inserting an upper floor into the former refectory of the hospitium of the abbey. The lower floor of this continued to be used by Reading School. For the next 200 years, the old building continued to serve as Readings town hall. Between 1785 and 1786, the old hall was dismantled and replaced on the site by the first of several phases of building that were to make up todays Reading Town Hall. St Jamess Church and School was built on a portion of the site of the abbey between 1837 and 1840 and its founder was James Wheble, who owned land in the area at that time
8.
St Laurence's Church, Reading
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St Laurences Church is a Church of England mission and former parish church in the town of Reading in the English county of Berkshire. It is situated alongside the site of Reading Abbey, formerly bounded by the main Compter Gate to the south, what was once the private chapel of the latter institution still remains in the north aisle. St Laurences was one of the three parish churches, along with St Marys and St Giles, serving the medieval borough of Reading. It was built to serve the people of the part of the town. Its location next to the Abbey stimulated trade in part of the town and St Laurences soon became surrounded by a large market place which included a pillory. The church dates from the Norman period but underwent major rebuildings in 1196, in the 15th century, the building is of flint with ashlar quoins. The principal feature of the church is a tower, built in 1458. The church is a Grade I listed building, in the 1970s, a declining congregation meant that the parish of St Laurence was merged with that of St Marys. Numbers continued to decline, and at the end of the 20th century it was decided to seek a new role for the church, the interior of the church was reorganised and a modern mezzanine floor inserted at one end of the nave. Today it serves as a church with a mandate to encourage the faith amongst young people
9.
Reading Museum
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Reading Museum is a museum of the history of the town of Reading, in the English county of Berkshire, and the surrounding area. Reading Town Hall was built in phases between 1786 and 1897, although the principal facade was designed by Alfred Waterhouse in 1875. In 1879, the stone was laid for a new wing containing a library and museum. Three art galleries were added in extension in 1897. In 1975, the offices moved out of the Town Hall, to Reading Civic Centre followed in 1985 by the Reading Central Library, leaving only the museum. After some debate, plans to demolish the Town Hall and replace it with a new centre were dropped. The museum was closed for renewal in 1989, reopening in stages from 1993 to 2000 and this includes the bronze Silchester Eagle that was immortalized by Rosemary Sutcliff in her children’s book The Eagle of the Ninth. The Bayeux Gallery contains the UKs only copy of the famous Bayeux Tapestry, made in 1885, together with information on the history of Saxon migration, the Green Space explains the geology and natural history of the Reading area, with a wide range of specimens. The Huntley & Palmers Gallery explains the history of the industry that was once one of the mainstays of the Reading economy, with special emphasis on the Huntley. The Windows Gallery displays the collection of sculpture and decorative art. The John Madejski Art Gallery is a recreation of the museums original Victorian era art gallery and it is named after John Madejski, the chairman of Reading F. C. The Exhibition Gallery houses changing exhibitions, both from the collection and external sources. As an example, in late 2004, the gallery contained an exhibition on the history of the Reading Festival, the museum is free to visit. As of October 2013, it is open from 10,00 to 16,00 on Tuesday to Saturday,11,00 to 16,00 on Sunday, and closed all day Monday, with exceptions for holidays
10.
Listed building
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A listed building or listed structure, in the United Kingdom, is one that has been placed on the Statutory List of Buildings of Special Architectural or Historic Interest. The statutory bodies maintaining the list are Historic England in England, Cadw in Wales, Historic Scotland in Scotland, however, the preferred term in Ireland is protected structure. In England and Wales, an amenity society must be notified of any work to a listed building which involves any element of demolition. Owners of listed buildings are, in circumstances, compelled to repair and maintain them. When alterations are permitted, or when listed buildings are repaired or maintained, slightly different systems operate in each area of the United Kingdom, though the basic principles of the listing remain the same. It was the damage to caused by German bombing during World War II that prompted the first listing of buildings that were deemed to be of particular architectural merit. The listings were used as a means of determining whether a building should be rebuilt if it was damaged by bombing. Listing was first introduced into Northern Ireland under the Planning Order 1972, the listing process has since developed slightly differently in each part of the UK. In the UK, the process of protecting the historic environment is called ‘designation’. A heritage asset is a part of the environment that is valued because of its historic. Only some of these are judged to be important enough to have legal protection through designation. However, buildings that are not formally listed but still judged as being of heritage interest are still regarded as being a consideration in the planning process. Almost anything can be listed – it does not have to be a building, Buildings and structures of special historic interest come in a wide variety of forms and types, ranging from telephone boxes and road signs, to castles. Historic England has created twenty broad categories of structures, and published selection guides for each one to aid with assessing buildings and these include historical overviews and describe the special considerations for listing each category. Both Historic Scotland and Cadw produce guidance for owners, in England, to have a building considered for listing or delisting, the process is to apply to the secretary of state, this can be done by submitting an application form online to Historic England. The applicant does not need to be the owner of the building to apply for it to be listed, full information including application form guidance notes are on the Historic England website. Historic England assesses buildings put forward for listing or delisting and provides advice to the Secretary of State on the architectural, the Secretary of State, who may seek additional advice from others, then decides whether or not to list or delist the building. In England and Wales the authority for listing is granted to the Secretary of State by the Planning Act 1990, Listed buildings in danger of decay are listed on the Historic England Heritage at Risk Register
