1.
Maldon, Essex
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Maldon is a town on the Blackwater estuary in Essex, England. It is the seat of the Maldon District and starting point of the Chelmer and Blackwater Navigation and it is most renowned for Maldon Sea Salt which is produced in the area. The place-name Maldon is first attested in 913 in the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, maldons name comes from Mael meaning monument or cross and dun meaning hill, so translates as monument on the hill. East Saxons settled the area in the 5th century and the area to the south is known as the Dengie Peninsula after the Dæningas. It became a significant Saxon port with a hythe or quayside, evidence of imported pottery from this period has been found in archaeological digs. From 958 there was a royal mint issuing coins for the late Anglo-Saxon and it was one of the only two towns in Essex, and King Edward the Elder is thought to have lived here while combating the Danish settlers who had overrun North Essex and parts of East Anglia. A Viking raid was beaten off in 924, but in another raid in 991 the defenders were defeated in the Battle of Maldon and it became the subject of the celebrated Old English poem The Battle of Maldon. The battle is commemorated by a window in St Marys Church, according to the Domesday Book there were 54 households and an estimated 180 townsmen in 1086. The town still had the mint and supplied a warhorse and warship for the service in return for its privileges of self-government. The town was awarded a charter by Henry II in 1171, stating the rights of the town as well as defining its borders, the towns All Saints Church, unique in England in having a triangular tower, dates from around this period. While the precise building date is unknown, the church existed by 1180, a Charter of Richard I of December 1189 confirms certain grants to Beeleigh Abbey, including the Church of Blessed Peter in Maldon and the Church of All Saints in the same town. St Marys Church, on the Hythe Quay has a grade 1 listed Norman nave from 1130, there were strong urban traditions, with two members elected to the Commons and three guilds which hosted lavish religious plays until they were suppressed by Puritans in 1576. Then, until 1630, professional actors were invited to perform plays, from 1570 to about 1800 a rival tradition of inviting prominent clergy to visit the town also existed. In 1629 a series of riots took place, led by the wife of a local butcher. The Plume Library is to be found at St Peters Church, only the original tower survives, the rest of the building having been rebuilt by Thomas Plume to house his library and what was Maldon Grammar School. Maldon was chosen as one of the sites of a planned French invasion of Britain in 1744. However, the French invasion fleet was wrecked in storms, in the church of All Saints is a memorial window to George Washington, whose great-great grandfather, Lawrence Washington, is buried here. Unveiled by an American diplomat on 5 July 1928, the window displays Saint Nicholas with the Mayflower, Saint George, at the top are the arms of the Washington family, and the arms of the USA, England, Scotland and Wales
2.
Harwich
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Harwich /ˈhærɪtʃ/ is a town in Essex, England and one of the Haven ports, located on the coast with the North Sea to the east. It is in the Tendring district, nearby places include Felixstowe to the northeast, Ipswich to the northwest, Colchester to the southwest and Clacton-on-Sea to the south. It is the northernmost coastal town within Essex, the town became a naval base in 1657 and was heavily fortified, with Harwich Redoubt, Beacon Hill Battery, and Bath Side Battery. Harwich today is contiguous with Dovercourt and the two, along with Parkeston, are referred to collectively as Harwich. The towns name means settlement, from Old English here-wic. The town received its charter in 1238, although there is evidence of earlier settlement – for example, a record of a chapel in 1177, because of its strategic position, Harwich was the target for the invasion of Britain by William of Orange on 11 November 1688. However, unfavourable winds forced his fleet to sail into the English Channel instead, due to the involvement of the Schomberg family in the invasion, Charles Louis Schomberg was made Marquess of Harwich. Writer Daniel Defoe devotes a few pages to the town in A tour thro the Whole Island of Great Britain, visiting in 1722, he noted its formidable fort and harbour of a vast extent. The town, he recounts, was known for an unusual spring rising on Beacon Hill. The locals also claimed that the spring is said to turn wood into iron. Harwich Dockyard was established as a Royal Navy Dockyard in 1652 and it ceased to operate as a Royal Dockyard in 1713. The Royal Navy is no longer present in Harwich but Harwich International Port at nearby Parkeston continues to offer regular services to the Hook of Holland in the Netherlands. Many operations of the container port at Felixstowe and of Trinity House. The port is famous for the phrase Harwich for the Continent, seen on road signs, at least three pairs of lighthouses have been built over recent centuries as leading lights, to help guide vessels into Harwich. The earliest pair were wooden structures, the High Light stood on top of the old Town Gate, in 1818 these were replaced by stone structures, designed by John Rennie Senior, which can still be seen today. They were owned by General Rebow of Wivenhoe Park, who was able to charge 1d per ton on all cargo entering the port, for upkeep of the lights. They were in turn replaced by the pair of cast iron lights at nearby Dovercourt, these too remain in situ, the extant medieval structures are largely private homes. The house featured in the image of Kings Head St to the left is unique in the town and is an example of a sailmakers house, thought to have been built circa 1600
3.
Thames sailing barge
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A Thames sailing barge was a type of commercial sailing boat common on the River Thames in London in the 19th century. The flat-bottomed barges were perfectly adapted to the Thames Estuary, with its shallow waters, the barges also traded much further afield, to the north of England, the South Coast and even to continental European ports. Cargoes varied enormously, bricks, mud, hay, rubbish, sand, coal and grain, due to the efficiency of a Thames barges gear, a crew of only two sufficed for most voyages, although by todays standards it would have been hard physical work at times. The vast majority of barges were wooden hulled, between 80–90 ft long with a beam of around 20 feet, the hull form was as distinctive as their rig, being flat-bottomed with a degree of flare to the sides and plumb ends. The stern was a transom, shaped like a section through a champagne glass, on which was hung a large rudder. The hull was mainly a hold with two living areas in the bow and stern, and access was through two large hatchways, the smaller before the main mast and a much larger aperture behind. They were usually rigged on two masts. Most had a topsail above the huge mainsail and a large foresail, the mizzen was a much smaller mast on which was set a single sail whose main purpose was to aid steering when tacking. The rig also allowed a large sail area on the upper part of the mast, to catch wind when moored ships. Sail areas varied from 3000-5000 sq ft depending on the size of the barge, the typical, rusty-red colour of the flax sails was due to the dressing used to waterproof them. No auxiliary power was used originally but many barges were fitted with engines in later years, a barge with no topsail - or top mast sailing stumpy-rigged - enabled the barge to pass under Londons bridges, get in close to shore for offloading goods and get far up river. In good conditions, sailing barges could attain speeds over 12 knots, the unusual spritsl rig allowed any combination of sails to be set, even the topsail on its own could be effective in some conditions. The flat-bottomed hull made these craft extremely versatile and economical and they could float in as little as 3 feet of water and could dry out in the tidal waters without heeling over. This allowed them to visit the narrow tributaries and creeks of the Thames to load cargoes, or to dry out on the sand banks. The main mast could be lowered to clear bridges, furthermore, unlike most sailing craft, these barges could sail completely unballasted — a major saving in labour and time. Their heyday came at the turn of the 20th century when over 2000 were on the registry and that century saw a steady decline in their numbers. The last Thames barge to trade entirely under sail was the Everard-built Cambria in 1970, Roberts sailed the Cambria for more than twenty years, and gained a reputation for hard sailing and fast passages in other Everard barges. Cambrias last mate was Dick Durham from Leigh-on-Sea, Essex, with whom Bob carried the last freight under sail alone,100 tons of cattle cake from Tilbury Docks to Ipswich in October 1970, Dick wrote Bob Roberts biography, The Last Sailorman
4.
Wood
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Wood is a porous and fibrous structural tissue found in the stems and roots of trees, and other woody plants. It is a material, a natural composite of cellulose fibers which are strong in tension embedded in a matrix of lignin which resists compression. Wood is sometimes defined as only the secondary xylem in the stems of trees, in a living tree it performs a support function, enabling woody plants to grow large or to stand up by themselves. It also conveys water and nutrients between the leaves, other growing tissues, and the roots, Wood may also refer to other plant materials with comparable properties, and to material engineered from wood, or wood chips or fiber. In 2005, the stock of forests worldwide was about 434 billion cubic meters. As an abundant, carbon-neutral renewable resource, woody materials have been of intense interest as a source of renewable energy, in 1991 approximately 3.5 billion cubic meters of wood were harvested. Dominant uses were for furniture and building construction, a 2011 discovery in the Canadian province of New Brunswick discovered the earliest known plants to have grown wood, approximately 395 to 400 million years ago. Wood can be dated by carbon dating and in species by dendrochronology to make inferences about when a wooden object was created. People have used wood for millennia for many purposes, primarily as a fuel or as a material for making houses, tools, weapons, furniture, packaging, artworks. Constructions using wood date back ten thousand years, buildings like the European Neolithic long house were made primarily of wood. Recent use of wood has changed by the addition of steel. The year-to-year variation in tree-ring widths and isotopic abundances gives clues to the climate at that time. This process is known as growth, it is the result of cell division in the vascular cambium, a lateral meristem. These cells then go on to form thickened secondary cell walls, composed mainly of cellulose, hemicellulose, if the distinctiveness between seasons is annual, these growth rings are referred to as annual rings. Where there is little seasonal difference growth rings are likely to be indistinct or absent, if the bark of the tree has been removed in a particular area, the rings will likely be deformed as the plant overgrows the scar. It is usually lighter in color than that near the portion of the ring. The outer portion formed later in the season is known as the latewood or summerwood. However, there are differences, depending on the kind of wood
5.
Steel
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Steel is an alloy of iron and other elements, primarily carbon, that is widely used in construction and other applications because of its high tensile strength and low cost. Steels base metal is iron, which is able to take on two forms, body centered cubic and face centered cubic, depending on its temperature. It is the interaction of those allotropes with the elements, primarily carbon. In the body-centred cubic arrangement, there is an atom in the centre of each cube. Carbon, other elements, and inclusions within iron act as hardening agents that prevent the movement of dislocations that otherwise occur in the lattices of iron atoms. The carbon in steel alloys may contribute up to 2. 1% of its weight. Steels strength compared to pure iron is possible at the expense of irons ductility. With the invention of the Bessemer process in the mid-19th century and this was followed by Siemens-Martin process and then Gilchrist-Thomas process that refined the quality of steel. With their introductions, mild steel replaced wrought iron, further refinements in the process, such as basic oxygen steelmaking, largely replaced earlier methods by further lowering the cost of production and increasing the quality of the product. Today, steel is one of the most common materials in the world and it is a major component in buildings, infrastructure, tools, ships, automobiles, machines, appliances, and weapons. Modern steel is generally identified by various grades defined by assorted standards organizations, the noun steel originates from the Proto-Germanic adjective stakhlijan, which is related to stakhla. The carbon content of steel is between 0. 002% and 2. 1% by weight for plain iron–carbon alloys and these values vary depending on alloying elements such as manganese, chromium, nickel, iron, tungsten, carbon and so on. Basically, steel is an alloy that does not undergo eutectic reaction. In contrast, cast iron does undergo eutectic reaction, too little carbon content leaves iron quite soft, ductile, and weak. Carbon contents higher than those of steel make an alloy, commonly called pig iron, while iron alloyed with carbon is called carbon steel, alloy steel is steel to which other alloying elements have been intentionally added to modify the characteristics of steel. Common alloying elements include, manganese, nickel, chromium, molybdenum, boron, titanium, vanadium, tungsten, cobalt, and niobium. Additional elements are important in steel, phosphorus, sulfur, silicon, and traces of oxygen, nitrogen, and copper. Alloys with a higher than 2. 1% carbon content, depending on other element content, cast iron is not malleable even when hot, but it can be formed by casting as it has a lower melting point than steel and good castability properties
6.
Mast (sailing)
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The mast of a sailing vessel is a tall spar, or arrangement of spars, erected more or less vertically on the centre-line of a ship or boat. Its purposes include carrying sail, spars, and derricks, and giving necessary height to a light, look-out position, signal yard, control position. Large ships have several masts, with the size and configuration depending on the style of ship, nearly all sailing masts are guyed. Until the mid-19th century all vessels masts were made of wood formed from a single or several pieces of timber which typically consisted of the trunk of a conifer tree. From the 16th century, vessels were built of a size requiring masts taller and thicker than could be made from single tree trunks. On these larger vessels, to achieve the height, the masts were built from up to four sections, known in order of rising height above the decks as the lower, top, topgallant. Giving the lower sections sufficient thickness necessitated building them up separate pieces of wood. Such a section was known as a made mast, as opposed to sections formed from pieces of timber. Jigger-mast, typically, where it is the shortest, the aftmost mast on vessels with more than three masts. On a two-masted vessel with the main-mast forward and a smaller second mast, such as a ketch, or particularly a yawl. Although two-masted schooners may be provided with masts of identical size, the aftmost is still referred to as the main-mast, schooners have been built with up to seven masts in all, with several six-masted examples. On square-rigged vessels, each mast carries several horizontal yards from which the sails are rigged. A two-masted merchant vessel with a sizable foresail rigged on a slightly inclined foremast is depicted in an Etruscan tomb painting from 475–450 BC. While most of the ancient evidence is iconographic, the existence of foremasts can also be deduced archaeologically from slots in foremast-feets located too close to the prow for a mainsail. Artemon, along with mainsail and topsail, developed into the rig of seagoing vessels in imperial times. The imperial grain freighters travelling the routes between Alexandria and Rome also included three-masted vessels, a mosaic in Ostia depicts a freighter with a three-masted rig entering Romes harbour. Special craft could carry many more masts, Theophrastus records how the Romans imported Corsican timber by way of a raft propelled by as many as fifty masts. Throughout antiquity, both foresail and mizzen remained secondary in terms of size, although large enough to require full running rigging
7.
Topsail
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A topsail is a sail set above another sail, on square-rigged vessels further sails may be set above topsails. On a square rigged vessel, a topsail is a sail rigged above the course sail. A full rigged ship has either single or double topsails on all masts, the single or lower topsail being the second sail above the deck, the bottom edge of the topsail, like that of other square sails, is slightly concave. Although topsails of a kind were used at least as early as Roman times, they first came into use in Europe some time in the 15th century. It was quite common for a ship to sail with topsails and jibs alone, the larger topsails were difficult and dangerous to handle in strong winds. Sometime in the 1680s, reef-bands were introduced to tie up part of the sail, with topsails eventually getting four of these, and reefing the sails became a regular occupation of sailors. In the mid 19th century, topsails of merchant vessels were split into upper and lower topsails that could be managed separately. Competing versions of the double topsail were invented by Robert Bennet Forbes, although Forbes strove to defend his rig, the Howe rig dominated. In the Forbes rig, both topsail yards are fixed vertically, in the Howe rig, the upper topsail yard slides on the topmast so it can be lowered in a few seconds to close reef the upper topsail. Howe had the foot of the upper topsail closely attached to the lower topsail yard, in 1865 the British clipper Ariel introduced a gap there. Forbes first tried his rig in the topsail schooner Midas in 1844. The clipper Climax built in 1853 under the supervision of Howes was the first ship with Howe rig, gaff topsails, like gaff rigs in general, may still be seen at Tall Ships gatherings. The gaff rig has been superseded by the Bermuda rig. On a gaff-rigged sailing boat, topsails may take a few different forms, a gaff-rigged vessel might have a gaff topsail above any or all of its gaff sails. A yard topsail is similar, but set on a yard, early 19th-century topsail yards were set almost horizontally, but gradually increased in angle until they became almost vertical extension of the topmast. A jack-yard topsail instead has its lower edge extended out beyond the end of the gaff with a short yard, a jack-yard topsail may also have the aforementioned vertical yard, although this makes for a very large topsail. A cornish topsail is a triangular sail having its luff extended well above the masthead by being laced to a yard hoisted by a halyard rove through a sheave fitted diagonally in the mast. The heel of the yard fits immediately about the gaff and is kept in place by a called a timminoggy. A square topsail is a sail, carried above the foresail only
8.
Flax
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Flax, Linum usitatissimum, is a member of the genus Linum in the family Linaceae. It is a food and fiber crop cultivated in regions of the world. The textiles made from flax are known in the Western countries as linen, and traditionally used for bed sheets, underclothes, the oil is known as linseed oil. In addition to referring to the plant itself, the word flax may refer to the fibers of the flax plant. The plant species is only as a cultivated plant, and appears to have been domesticated just once from the wild species Linum bienne. Several other species in the genus Linum are similar in appearance to L. usitatissimum, cultivated flax, including some that have similar blue flowers, some of these are perennial plants, unlike L. usitatissimum, which is an annual plant. Cultivated flax plants grow to 1.2 m tall, with slender stems, the leaves are glaucous green, slender lanceolate, 20–40 mm long, and 3 mm broad. The flowers are pale blue, 15–25 mm in diameter. The fruit is a round, dry capsule 5–9 mm in diameter, containing several brown seeds shaped like an apple pip. Flax was first domesticated in the Fertile Crescent region, evidence exists of a domesticated oilseed flax with increased seed size by 9,000 years ago from Tell Ramad in Syria. Use of the crop steadily spread, reaching as far as Switzerland, in China and India, domesticated flax was cultivated also by at least 5,000 years ago. Flax was extensively cultivated in ancient Egypt, where the walls had paintings of flowering flax. Egyptian priests only wore linen, as flax was considered a symbol of purity, phoenicians traded Egyptian linen throughout the Mediterranean, and the Romans used it for their sails. Eventually, Flanders became the center of the linen industry in the European Middle Ages. Since then, flax has lost its importance as a commercial crop, Flax is grown for its oil, used as a nutritional supplement, and as an ingredient in many wood-finishing products. Flax is also grown as a plant in gardens. Flax fibers are used to make linen, the Latin species name usitatissimum means most useful. Flax fibers are taken from the stem of the plant, and are two to three times as strong as those of cotton, additionally, flax fibers are naturally smooth and straight
9.
Barge
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A barge is a flat-bottomed boat, built mainly for river and canal transport of heavy goods. Some barges are not self-propelled and must be towed or pushed by towboats, Barge is attested from 1300, from Old French barge, from Vulgar Latin barga. The word originally could refer to any small boat, the modern meaning arose around 1480, bark small ship is attested from 1420, from Old French barque, from Vulgar Latin barca. The more precise meaning three-masted ship arose in the 17th century, both are probably derived from the Latin barica, from Greek, βάρις, translit. Egyptian boat, from Coptic, ⲃⲁⲁⲣⲉ bāri small boat, hieroglyphic Egyptian, by extension, the term embark literally means to board the kind of boat called a barque. The long pole used to maneuver or propel a barge has given rise to the saying I wouldnt touch that with a barge pole. On the British canal system, the barge is used to describe a boat wider than a narrowboat. In the United States, deckhands perform the labor and are supervised by a leadman or the mate, the captain and pilot steer the towboat, which pushes one or more barges held together with rigging, collectively called the tow. The crew live aboard the towboat as it travels along the river system or the intracoastal waterways. These towboats travel between ports and are also called line-haul boats, poles are used on barges to fend off the barge as it nears other vessels or a wharf. These are often called pike poles, barges are used today for low-value bulk items, as the cost of hauling goods by barge is very low. Barges are also used for heavy or bulky items, a typical American barge measures 195 by 35 feet. The most common European barge measures 76.5 by 11.4 metres, as an example, on June 26,2006, a 565-short-ton catalytic cracking unit reactor was shipped by barge from the Tulsa Port of Catoosa in Oklahoma to a refinery in Pascagoula, Mississippi. Extremely large objects are normally shipped in sections and assembled onsite, of the reactors 700-mile journey, only about 40 miles were traveled overland, from the final port to the refinery. Canal barges are made for the particular canal in which they will operate. Many barges, primarily Dutch barges, which were designed for carrying cargo along the canals of Europe, are no longer large enough to compete in this industry with larger newer vessels. Many of these barges have been renovated and are now used as hotel barges carrying holidaymakers along the same canals on which they once carried grain or coal. This holds true today, for areas of the world
10.
World War I
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World War I, also known as the First World War, the Great War, or the War to End All Wars, was a global war originating in Europe that lasted from 28 July 1914 to 11 November 1918. More than 70 million military personnel, including 60 million Europeans, were mobilised in one of the largest wars in history and it was one of the deadliest conflicts in history, and paved the way for major political changes, including revolutions in many of the nations involved. The war drew in all the worlds great powers, assembled in two opposing alliances, the Allies versus the Central Powers of Germany and Austria-Hungary. These alliances were reorganised and expanded as more nations entered the war, Italy, Japan, the trigger for the war was the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria, heir to the throne of Austria-Hungary, by Yugoslav nationalist Gavrilo Princip in Sarajevo on 28 June 1914. This set off a crisis when Austria-Hungary delivered an ultimatum to the Kingdom of Serbia. Within weeks, the powers were at war and the conflict soon spread around the world. On 25 July Russia began mobilisation and on 28 July, the Austro-Hungarians declared war on Serbia, Germany presented an ultimatum to Russia to demobilise, and when this was refused, declared war on Russia on 1 August. Germany then invaded neutral Belgium and Luxembourg before moving towards France, after the German march on Paris was halted, what became known as the Western Front settled into a battle of attrition, with a trench line that changed little until 1917. On the Eastern Front, the Russian army was successful against the Austro-Hungarians, in November 1914, the Ottoman Empire joined the Central Powers, opening fronts in the Caucasus, Mesopotamia and the Sinai. In 1915, Italy joined the Allies and Bulgaria joined the Central Powers, Romania joined the Allies in 1916, after a stunning German offensive along the Western Front in the spring of 1918, the Allies rallied and drove back the Germans in a series of successful offensives. By the end of the war or soon after, the German Empire, Russian Empire, Austro-Hungarian Empire, national borders were redrawn, with several independent nations restored or created, and Germanys colonies were parceled out among the victors. During the Paris Peace Conference of 1919, the Big Four imposed their terms in a series of treaties, the League of Nations was formed with the aim of preventing any repetition of such a conflict. This effort failed, and economic depression, renewed nationalism, weakened successor states, and feelings of humiliation eventually contributed to World War II. From the time of its start until the approach of World War II, at the time, it was also sometimes called the war to end war or the war to end all wars due to its then-unparalleled scale and devastation. In Canada, Macleans magazine in October 1914 wrote, Some wars name themselves, during the interwar period, the war was most often called the World War and the Great War in English-speaking countries. Will become the first world war in the sense of the word. These began in 1815, with the Holy Alliance between Prussia, Russia, and Austria, when Germany was united in 1871, Prussia became part of the new German nation. Soon after, in October 1873, German Chancellor Otto von Bismarck negotiated the League of the Three Emperors between the monarchs of Austria-Hungary, Russia and Germany
11.
Calais
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Calais is a town and major ferry port in northern France in the department of Pas-de-Calais, of which it is a sub-prefecture. Although Calais is by far the largest city in Pas-de-Calais, the prefecture is its third-largest city of Arras. The population of the area at the 2010 census was 126,395. Calais overlooks the Strait of Dover, the narrowest point in the English Channel, which is only 34 km wide here, the White Cliffs of Dover can easily be seen on a clear day from Calais. Calais is a port for ferries between France and England, and since 1994, the Channel Tunnel has linked nearby Coquelles to Folkestone by rail. Due to its position, Calais since the Middle Ages has been a major port and it was annexed by Edward III of England in 1347 and grew into a thriving centre for wool production. The town came to be called the brightest jewel in the English crown owing to its importance as the gateway for the tin, lead, lace. Calais was a possession of England until its capture by France in 1558. In 1805 it was an area for Napoleons troops for several months during his planned invasion of the United Kingdom. The town was razed to the ground during World War II. During World War II, the Germans built massive bunkers along the coast in preparation for launching missiles on England, the old part of the town, Calais proper, is situated on an artificial island surrounded by canals and harbours. The modern part of the town, St-Pierre, lies to the south, south east of the Place is the church of Notre-Dame, built during the English occupancy of Calais. It is arguably the only built in the English perpendicular style in all of France. In this church former French President Charles de Gaulle married his wife Yvonne Vendroux, south of the Place and opposite the Parc St Pierre is the Hôtel-de-ville, and the belfry from the 16th and early 17th centuries. Today, Calais is visited by more than 10 million annually, although the early history of habitation in the area is limited, the Romans called the settlement Caletum. Julius Caesar mustered 800 to 1,000 sailing boats, five legions, as the pebble and sand ridge extended eastward from Calais, the haven behind it developed into fen, as the estuary progressively filled with silt and peat. Calais was improved by the Count of Flanders in 997 and fortified by the Count of Boulogne in 1224, in 1189, Richard the Lionheart is documented to have landed at Calais on his journey to the Third Crusade. Angered, the English king demanded reprisals against the citizens for holding out for so long
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