1.
Falstaff
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Sir John Falstaff is a fictional character who appears in three plays by William Shakespeare. In the plays Henry IV, Part 1 and Part 2, he is a companion to Prince Hal, in The Merry Wives of Windsor, he is the buffoonish suitor of two married women. Though primarily a figure, Falstaff still embodies a kind of depth common to Shakespeares major characters. A fat, vain, boastful, and cowardly knight, he spends most of his time drinking at the Boars Head Inn with petty criminals, Falstaff leads the apparently wayward Prince Hal into trouble, and is ultimately repudiated after Hal becomes king. Falstaff has since appeared in media, notably in operas by Giuseppe Verdi, Ralph Vaughan Williams and Otto Nicolai. The operas focus on his role in The Merry Wives of Windsor, while the film adapts from the Henriad, Welles, who played Falstaff in his film, considered the character to be Shakespeares greatest creation. Falstaff appears in three of Shakespeares plays, Henry IV, Part 1, Henry IV, Part 2 and his death is mentioned in Henry V but he has no lines, nor is it directed that he appear on stage. However, many stage and film adaptations have seen it necessary to include Falstaff for the insight he provides into King Henry Vs character. The most notable examples in cinema are Laurence Oliviers 1944 version and Kenneth Branaghs 1989 film, the character is known to have been very popular with audiences at the time, and for many years afterwards. According to Leonard Digges, writing shortly after Shakespeares death, while many plays could not get good audiences, but let Falstaff come, Hal, Poins, adding to King Henrys troubles is the behaviour of his son and heir, the Prince of Wales. Hal has forsaken the Royal Court to waste his time in taverns with low companions and this makes him an object of scorn to the nobles and calls into question his royal worthiness. Hals chief friend and foil in living the low life is Sir John Falstaff, fat, old, drunk, and corrupt as he is, he has a charisma and a zest for life that captivates the Prince. The play features three groups of characters that interact slightly at first, and then together in the Battle of Shrewsbury. First there is King Henry himself and his immediate council and he is the engine of the play, but usually in the background. Next there is the group of rebels, energetically embodied in Henry Percy and including his father, the Scottish Earl of Douglas, Edmund Mortimer and the Welshman Owen Glendower also join. Finally, at the centre of the play are the young Prince Hal and his companions Falstaff, Poins, Bardolph, streetwise and pound-foolish, these rogues manage to paint over this grim history in the colours of comedy. Meanwhile, Henrys son Hal is joking, drinking, and thieving with Falstaff and he likes Falstaff but makes no pretense at being like him. Hal believes that this change of manner will amount to a greater reward and acknowledgment of prince-ship
2.
Kington, Herefordshire
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Kington is a market town, electoral ward and civil parish in Herefordshire, England. According to the Parish, the ward had a population of 3,240 while the 2011 census had a population of 2,626. Kington is 2.0 miles from the border with Wales and, the town is in the shadow of Hergest Ridge, and on the River Arrow, where it is crossed by the A44 road. It is 19 miles north-west of Hereford, the county town, nearby towns include Presteigne, Builth Wells, Knighton and Leominster. The centre of the town is situated at 522 feet above sea level, the civil parish covers an area of 860 acres. Kington may have derived from Kings-ton, being Anglo-Saxon for Kings Town, similar to nearby towns such as Presteigne meaning Priests Town. Kington is to the west of Offas Dyke so presumably this land was Welsh in the 8th century AD, the land was held by Anglo-Saxons in 1066, but devastated. After the Norman Conquest Kington then passed to the Crown on the downfall of Roger de Breteuil, before 1121 King Henry I gave Kington to Adam de Port, who founded a new Marcher barony in this part of the early Welsh Marches. Kington seems to have been a quiet barony and was associated with the office of sheriff of Hereford, in 1172, Adam de Port, probably the great-grandson of Henry Port, rebelled and fled the country. He returned in 1174 with a Scottish army, only to flee from the resulting Battle of Alnwick to the mirth of the Norman court. The castle then saw action in the Braose Wars against King John of England and was destroyed by royal forces in August 1216. Within a few years a new fortress was commenced at nearby Huntington Castle, all that remains of Kington Castle today is a great outcrop of rock topped by a few fragmentary earthworks. The old town clustered around the castle and Norman church on top of a hill above the River Arrow. ‘Chingtune was recorded in the Domesday Book in 1086, the name meaning Kings Town or Manor, high on the hill above the town where St. Marys Church now stands. The new Kington, called Kyneton in the Fields, was laid out between 1175 and 1230 on land bordering the River Arrow and possibly designated as part of the Saxon open field system. Situated on the route the drovers took from Hergest Ridge and with eight annual fairs, Kington grew in importance as a market town. The town retains the grid pattern of streets and back lanes. In the chapel of St. Marys Church, there is the tomb of Sir Thomas Vaughan of nearby Hergest Court, slain at the Battle of Banbury 1469
3.
England
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England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west, the Irish Sea lies northwest of England and the Celtic Sea lies to the southwest. England is separated from continental Europe by the North Sea to the east, the country covers five-eighths of the island of Great Britain in its centre and south, and includes over 100 smaller islands such as the Isles of Scilly, and the Isle of Wight. England became a state in the 10th century, and since the Age of Discovery. The Industrial Revolution began in 18th-century England, transforming its society into the worlds first industrialised nation, Englands terrain mostly comprises low hills and plains, especially in central and southern England. However, there are uplands in the north and in the southwest, the capital is London, which is the largest metropolitan area in both the United Kingdom and the European Union. In 1801, Great Britain was united with the Kingdom of Ireland through another Act of Union to become the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland. In 1922 the Irish Free State seceded from the United Kingdom, leading to the latter being renamed the United Kingdom of Great Britain, the name England is derived from the Old English name Englaland, which means land of the Angles. The Angles were one of the Germanic tribes that settled in Great Britain during the Early Middle Ages, the Angles came from the Angeln peninsula in the Bay of Kiel area of the Baltic Sea. The earliest recorded use of the term, as Engla londe, is in the ninth century translation into Old English of Bedes Ecclesiastical History of the English People. According to the Oxford English Dictionary, its spelling was first used in 1538. The earliest attested reference to the Angles occurs in the 1st-century work by Tacitus, Germania, the etymology of the tribal name itself is disputed by scholars, it has been suggested that it derives from the shape of the Angeln peninsula, an angular shape. An alternative name for England is Albion, the name Albion originally referred to the entire island of Great Britain. The nominally earliest record of the name appears in the Aristotelian Corpus, specifically the 4th century BC De Mundo, in it are two very large islands called Britannia, these are Albion and Ierne. But modern scholarly consensus ascribes De Mundo not to Aristotle but to Pseudo-Aristotle, the word Albion or insula Albionum has two possible origins. Albion is now applied to England in a poetic capacity. Another romantic name for England is Loegria, related to the Welsh word for England, Lloegr, the earliest known evidence of human presence in the area now known as England was that of Homo antecessor, dating to approximately 780,000 years ago. The oldest proto-human bones discovered in England date from 500,000 years ago, Modern humans are known to have inhabited the area during the Upper Paleolithic period, though permanent settlements were only established within the last 6,000 years
4.
Durham, England
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Durham is a historic city and the county town of County Durham in North East England. The city lies on the River Wear, to the west of Sunderland, south of Newcastle upon Tyne, founded over the final resting place of St Cuthbert, its Norman cathedral became a centre of pilgrimage in medieval England. The cathedral and adjacent 11th-century castle were designated a World Heritage Site by UNESCO in 1986, the castle has been the home of Durham University since 1832. HM Prison Durham is also located close to the city centre, the name Durham comes from the Celtic element dun, signifying a hill fort, and the Old Norse holme, which translates to island. The Lord Bishop of Durham takes a Latin variation of the name in his official signature. The city has been known by a number of names throughout history, the original Nordic Dun Holm was changed to Duresme by the Normans and was known in Latin as Dunelm. The modern form Durham came into use later in the citys history, archeological evidence suggests a history of settlement in the area since roughly 2000 BC. Local legend states that the city was founded in A. D.995 by divine intervention, Aldhun, Bishop of Chester-le-Street and leader of the order, decreed a holy fast of three days, accompanied by prayers to the saint. During the fast, Saint Cuthbert appeared to a monk named Eadmer. After Eadmers revelation, Aldhun found that he was able to move the bier, the legend of the Dun Cow, which is first documented in The Rites of Durham, an anonymous account about the Durham Cathedral, published in 1593, builds on Symeons account. According to this legend, by later that day, the monks came across a milkmaid at Mount Joy. She stated that she was seeking her lost dun cow, which she had last seen at Dun Holm, the monks, realising that this was a sign from the saint, followed her. They settled at a wooded hill-island – a high wooded rock surrounded on three sides by the River Wear, there they erected a shelter for the relics, on the spot where the Durham Cathedral would later stand. Symeon states that a modest wooden building erected there shortly later was the first building in the city, Bishop Aldhun subsequently had a stone church built, which was dedicated in September 998. It no longer remains, having been supplanted by the Norman structure, during the medieval period the city gained spiritual prominence as the final resting place of Saint Cuthbert and Saint Bede the Venerable. The shrine of Saint Cuthbert, situated behind the High Altar of Durham Cathedral, was the most important religious site in England until the martyrdom of St Thomas Becket at Canterbury in 1170, Saint Cuthbert became famous for two reasons. Firstly, the healing powers he had displayed in life continued after his death, with many stories of those visiting the saints shrine being cured of all manner of diseases. This led to him being known as the worker of England
5.
Actor
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An actor is a person who portrays a character in a performance. Simplistically speaking, the person denominated actor or actress is someone beautiful who plays important characters, the actor performs in the flesh in the traditional medium of the theatre, or in modern mediums such as film, radio, and television. The analogous Greek term is ὑποκριτής, literally one who answers, the actors interpretation of their role pertains to the role played, whether based on a real person or fictional character. Interpretation occurs even when the actor is playing themselves, as in forms of experimental performance art, or, more commonly, to act, is to create. Formerly, in societies, only men could become actors. When used for the stage, women played the roles of prepubescent boys. The etymology is a derivation from actor with ess added. However, when referring to more than one performer, of both sexes, actor is preferred as a term for male performers. Actor is also used before the name of a performer as a gender-specific term. Within the profession, the re-adoption of the term dates to the 1950–1960s. As Whoopi Goldberg put it in an interview with the paper, Im an actor – I can play anything. The U. K. performers union Equity has no policy on the use of actor or actress, an Equity spokesperson said that the union does not believe that there is a consensus on the matter and stated that the. subject divides the profession. In 2009, the Los Angeles Times stated that Actress remains the term used in major acting awards given to female recipients. However, player remains in use in the theatre, often incorporated into the name of a group or company, such as the American Players. Also, actors in improvisational theatre may be referred to as players, prior to Thespis act, Grecian stories were only expressed in song, dance, and in third person narrative. In honor of Thespis, actors are commonly called Thespians, the exclusively male actors in the theatre of ancient Greece performed in three types of drama, tragedy, comedy, and the satyr play. Western theatre developed and expanded considerably under the Romans, as the Western Roman Empire fell into decay through the 4th and 5th centuries, the seat of Roman power shifted to Constantinople and the Byzantine Empire. Records show that mime, pantomime, scenes or recitations from tragedies and comedies, dances, from the 5th century, Western Europe was plunged into a period of general disorder
6.
John Philip Kemble
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John Philip Kemble was an English actor. He was born into a family as the eldest son of Roger Kemble. His elder sister Sarah Siddons achieved fame with him on the stage of the Theatre Royal and his other siblings Charles Kemble, Stephen Kemble, Ann Hatton and Elizabeth Whitlock also enjoyed success on the stage. The second child of Roger Kemble – the manager of the theatre company the Warwickshire Company of Comedians – he was born at Prescot. His mother being a Roman Catholic, he was educated at Sedgley Park Catholic seminary, near Wolverhampton, in 1781 he obtained a star engagement at Dublin making his first appearance there on 2 November as Hamlet. He also achieved success as Raymond in The Count of Narbonne. In this role he awakened interest and discussion among the critics such as Harriet Evans Martin rather than the approval of the public. As Macbeth on 31 March 1785 he shared in the enthusiasm aroused by Sarah Siddons, brother and sister had first appeared together at Drury Lane on 22 November 1783, as Beverley and Mrs Beverley in Edward Moores The Gamester, and as King John and Constance in Shakespeares tragedy. Between 1785 and 1787 Kemble appeared in a variety of roles, in December 1787 he married Priscilla Hopkins Brereton, the widow of an actor and herself an actress. He was also able to experiment with whatever parts might strike his fancy, in 1785 the well-known actor, John Henderson, asked his friend, the critic Richard Conversation Sharp, to go and see the newcomer, Kemble, and to report back to him. Very careful study appears in all he says and all he does, excepting in serious parts, I suppose he will never put on the sock. His elocutionary art, his sense of rhythm and emphasis, enabled him to excel in declamation. In all the other great Shakespearean characters he was, according to the best critics, inferior to them, least so in Lear, Hamlet and Wolsey and his production of Cymbeline was staged regularly from 1801 on. In 1803 he became manager of the Theatre Royal, Covent Garden, Kemble had been nearly ruined by the fire, and was only saved by a generous loan, afterwards converted into a gift, of £10,000 from the Duke of Northumberland. Kemble took his leave of the stage in the part of Coriolanus on 23 June 1817. His retirement was hastened by the rising popularity of Edmund Kean. The remaining years of his life were spent chiefly abroad, although Kemble was interred at Lausanne, a life-size marble statue of him stands in the chapel of St Andrew in Westminster Abbey, close to that of his sister, Sarah Siddons. He is also commemorated in the name of a street in his place of birth, a bust of Kemble by Charles Molloy Westmacott was exhibited at the Royal Academy, London in 1822
7.
Sarah Siddons
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Sarah Siddons was a Welsh-born actress, the best-known tragedienne of the 18th century. She was the sister of John Philip Kemble, Charles Kemble, Stephen Kemble, Ann Hatton and Elizabeth Whitlock. She was most famous for her portrayal of the Shakespearean character, Lady Macbeth, a character she made her own, the Sarah Siddons Society continues to present the Sarah Siddons Award in Chicago every year to a prominent actress. Acting was only just becoming a profession for a woman. In 1774, Siddons won her first success as Belvidera in Thomas Otways Venice Preservd and she was, in her own words, banished from Drury Lane as a worthless candidate for fame and fortune In 1777, she went on the circuit in the provinces. For the next six years she worked in companies, in particular York. Her first appearance at Baths Old Orchard Street Theatre was in autumn 1778 at a salary of £3 per week and she lived with her husband and children at number 33 The Paragon until her final performance in May 1782. Having gradually built up a reputation, her next Drury Lane appearance, on 10 October 1782 and she was an immediate sensation playing the title role in Garricks adaptation of a play by Thomas Southerne, Isabella, or, The Fatal Marriage. Her most famous role was that of Lady Macbeth, it was the grandeur of her emotions as she expressed Lady Macbeths murderous passions that held her audiences spellbound, in Lady Macbeth she found the highest and best scope for her acting abilities. She was tall and had a figure, brilliant beauty, powerfully expressive eyes. She once told Samuel Johnson that Catherine was her favourite role and it was the beginning of twenty years in which she was the undisputed queen of Drury Lane. Her celebrity status has been called mythical and monumental, and by the mid-1780s Siddons was established as an icon, along with Hannah Murphy. She mixed with the literary and social elites of London society, and her acquaintances included Samuel Johnson, Edmund Burke, Hester Thrale Piozzi and she nevertheless continued to act in the provinces, appearing at The Theatre, Leeds in 1786 and on several other occasions. In a 1785 visit to her earliest friend the Hon and her approbation and unremitting kindness, when we were both very young indeed, kindled the latest sparks of genius to a flame, which she now gazes on with wonder and delight. Let this not appear like vanity, recollect what I am, and you will find it proceeds from a better source. In 1802 she left Drury Lane and subsequently appeared from time to time on the stage of the establishment, Covent Garden. It was there, on 29 June 1812, that she gave perhaps the most extraordinary farewell performance in theatre history and she was playing her most famous role, Lady Macbeth, and the audience refused to allow the play to continue after the end of the sleepwalking scene. Mrs. Siddons formally retired from the stage in 1812, and her last appearance was on 9 June 1819 as Lady Randolph in John Homes Douglas
8.
Newcastle upon Tyne
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Newcastle is the most populous city in the North East and forms the core of the Tyneside conurbation, the eighth most populous urban area in the United Kingdom. Newcastle is a member of the English Core Cities Group and is a member of the Eurocities network of European cities. Newcastle was part of the county of Northumberland until 1400, when it became a county of itself, the regional nickname and dialect for people from Newcastle and the surrounding area is Geordie. Newcastle also houses Newcastle University, a member of the Russell Group, the city developed around the Roman settlement Pons Aelius and was named after the castle built in 1080 by Robert Curthose, William the Conquerors eldest son. The city grew as an important centre for the trade in the 14th century. The port developed in the 16th century and, along with the lower down the River Tyne, was amongst the worlds largest shipbuilding and ship-repairing centres. Newcastles economy includes corporate headquarters, learning, digital technology, retail, tourism and cultural centres, among its icons are Newcastle United football club and the Tyne Bridge. Since 1981 the city has hosted the Great North Run, a marathon which attracts over 57,000 runners each year. The first recorded settlement in what is now Newcastle was Pons Aelius and it was given the family name of the Roman Emperor Hadrian, who founded it in the 2nd century AD. This rare honour suggests Hadrian may have visited the site and instituted the bridge on his tour of Britain, Pons Aelius population at this period was estimated at 2,000. Fragments of Hadrians Wall are visible in parts of Newcastle, particularly along the West Road, the course of the Roman Wall can be traced eastwards to the Segedunum Roman fort in Wallsend—the walls end—and to the supply fort Arbeia in South Shields. After the Roman departure from Britain, completed in 410, Newcastle became part of the powerful Anglo-Saxon kingdom of Northumbria, conflicts with the Danes in 876 left the river Tyne and its settlements in ruin. After the conflicts with the Danes, and following the 1088 rebellion against the Normans, Monkchester was all, because of its strategic position, Robert Curthose, son of William the Conqueror, erected a wooden castle there in the year 1080. The town was known as Novum Castellum or New Castle. The wooden structure was replaced by a castle in 1087. The castle was again in 1172 during the reign of Henry II. Much of the keep which can be seen in the city dates from this period. Throughout the Middle Ages, Newcastle was Englands northern fortress, incorporated first by Henry II, the city had a new charter granted by Elizabeth in 1589
9.
Oroonoko
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Oroonoko, or, the Royal Slave is a short work of prose fiction by Aphra Behn, published in 1688 by William Canning and reissued with two other fictions later that year. The eponymous hero is an African prince from Coramantien who is tricked into slavery, Behns text is a first person account of his life, love, rebellion, and execution. Behn, often cited as the first known professional female writer, was a playwright, poet, translator. She began writing fiction in the 1680s, probably in response to the consolidation of theatres that led to a reduced need for new plays. Published less than a year before she died, Oroonoko is sometimes described as one of the earliest English novels. Interest in it has increased since the 1970s, with critics arguing that Behn is the foremother of British women writers, coromantee people were Akan slaves brought from present-day Ghana, a polyglot band known for their rebellious nature. The king, too, falls in love with Imoinda and he gives Imoinda the sacred veil, thus commanding her to become one of his wives, even though she was already married to Oroonoko. After Imoinda unwillingly spends time in the harem, Oroonoko plans a tryst with the help of the sympathetic Onahal. They are eventually discovered, and because she has lost her virginity, the kings guilt, however, leads him to falsely inform Oroonoko that she has been executed, since death was thought to be better than slavery. Later, after winning another tribal war, Oroonoko is betrayed and captured by an English captain, Oroonoko and his men were carried to Surinam, at that time an English colony based in the West Indies. Unbeknownst to Oroonoko, Imoinda is at the same plantation, the two lovers are reunited under the new Christian names of Caesar and Clemene. The narrator and Trefry, the Cornish gentleman who bought Oroonoko, the narrator recounts various episodes of entertainment, including reading, hunting, visiting native villages and capturing an electric eel. Oroonoko and Imoinda live as husband and wife, when she becomes pregnant, after being put off with vague promises of the governors arrival, Oroonoko organizes a slave revolt. The slaves, including Imoinda, fight valiantly, but the majority are compelled to surrender when deputy governor Byam promises them amnesty, when the slaves surrender, Oroonoko and Tuscan, his second-in-command, are punished and whipped, by their former allies, at the command of Byam. To avenge his honor, Oroonoko vows to kill Byam and he predicts that this act would make Imoinda vulnerable to subjugation and rape after his death. They decide he should kill her, and Imoinda willingly dies by his hand, Oroonoko sever. her smiling face from her body and mourns for several days. He grows weaker, unable to complete his revenge, when he is discovered, to show his fearlessness in the face of death, he cuts off a piece of his own throat, disembowels himself, and stabs the first man who tries to capture him. Once captured, he is bound to a post, resigned to his death, Oroonoko asks for a pipe to smoke as Banister has him dismembered
10.
Berwick-upon-Tweed
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Berwick-upon-Tweed is a town in the county of Northumberland. It is the northernmost town in England and it is located 2 1⁄2 miles south of the Scottish border, at the mouth of the River Tweed on the east coast. It is about 56 miles east-south east of Edinburgh,65 miles north of Newcastle upon Tyne and 345 miles north of London, the United Kingdom Census 2011 recorded Berwicks population as 12,043. A civil parish and town council were created in 2008, Berwick was founded as an Anglo-Saxon settlement during the time of the Kingdom of Northumbria, which was annexed by England in the 10th century. The area was for more than 400 years central to historic border wars between the Kingdoms of England and Scotland, and several times possession of Berwick changed hands between the two kingdoms, the last time it changed hands was when England retook it in 1482. Berwick remains a market town and also has some notable architectural features, in particular its medieval town walls, its Elizabethan ramparts. The name Berwick is of Old English origin, and is derived from the term bere-wīc, combining bere, meaning barley, Berwick thus means barley village or barley farm. In the post-Roman period, the area was inhabited by the Brythons of Bryneich, later, the region became part of the Anglian kingdom of Bernicia. Bernicia later united with the kingdom of Deira to form Northumbria, Berwick remained part of the Earldom of Northumbria until control passed to the Scots following the Battle of Carham of 1018. The town itself was founded as an Anglo-Saxon settlement during the time of the Kingdom of Northumbria, between the late 10th and early 11th centuries, the land between the rivers Forth and Tweed came under Scottish control, either through conquest by Scotland or through cession by England. Berwick was made a burgh in the reign of David I. A mint was present in the town by 1153, while under Scottish control, Berwick was referred to as South Berwick in order to differentiate it from the town of North Berwick, East Lothian, near Edinburgh. Berwick had a hospital for the sick and poor which was administered by the Church. Dated at Edinburgh June 8, in the 20th year of his reign, Berwicks strategic position on the Anglo-Scottish border during centuries of war between the two nations and its relatively great wealth led to a succession of raids, sieges and takeovers. William I of Scotland invaded and attempted to capture northern England in 1173-74, after his defeat, Berwick was ceded to Henry II of England. It was later back to William by Richard I of England in order to raise funds for his Crusade. Berwick had become a town by the middle of the 13th century. In 1291–92 Berwick was the site of Edward I of Englands arbitration in the contest for the Scottish crown between John Balliol and Robert Bruce, 5th Lord of Annandale, the decision in favour of Balliol was pronounced in the Great Hall of Berwick Castle on 17 November 1292
11.
Northumberland
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Northumberland is a county in North East England. The northernmost county of England, it borders Cumbria to the west, County Durham and Tyne and Wear to the south, to the east is the North Sea coastline with a 64-mile long distance path. The county town is Alnwick although the county council is in Morpeth, the northernmost point of Northumberland and England is at Marshall Meadows Bay. The county of Northumberland included Newcastle upon Tyne until 1400, when the city became a county of itself, Northumberland expanded greatly in the Tudor period, annexing Berwick-upon-Tweed in 1482, Tynedale in 1495, Tynemouth in 1536, Redesdale around 1542 and Hexhamshire in 1572. Islandshire, Bedlingtonshire and Norhamshire were incorporated into Northumberland in 1844, Tynemouth and other settlements in North Tyneside were transferred to Tyne and Wear in 1974 under the Local Government Act 1972. Lying on the Anglo-Scottish border, Northumberland has been the site of a number of battles, the county is noted for its undeveloped landscape of high moorland, now largely protected as the Northumberland National Park. Northumberland is the most sparsely populated county in England, with only 62 people per square kilometre, Northumberland originally meant the land of the people living north of the River Humber. The present county is the core of that land, and has long been a frontier zone between England and Scotland. During Roman occupation of Britain, most of the present county lay north of Hadrians Wall, the Roman road Dere Street crosses the county from Corbridge over high moorland west of the Cheviot Hills into present Scotland to Trimontium. Northumberland has a rich prehistory with many instances of art, hillforts such as Yeavering Bell and stone circles like the Goatstones. Most of the area was occupied by the Brythonic-Celtic Votadini people, with another large tribe, later, the region of present-day Northumberland formed the core of the Anglian kingdom of Bernicia, which united with Deira to form the kingdom of Northumbria in the 7th century. Lindisfarne saw the production of the Lindisfarne Gospels and it became the home of St Cuthbert, bamburgh is the historic capital of Northumberland, the royal castle from before the unification of the Kingdoms of England under the monarchs of the House of Wessex in the 10th century. The Earldom of Northumberland was briefly held by the Scottish royal family by marriage between 1139–1157 and 1215–1217, Scotland relinquished all claims to the region as part of the Treaty of York. The Earls of Northumberland once wielded significant power in English affairs because, as powerful and militaristic Marcher Lords, Northumberland has a history of revolt and rebellion against the government, as seen in the Rising of the North against Elizabeth I of England. These revolts were led by the Earls of Northumberland, the Percy family. Shakespeare makes one of the Percys, the dashing Harry Hotspur, after the Restoration of 1660, the county was a centre for Roman Catholicism in England, as well as a focus of Jacobite support. Northumberland was long a wild county, where outlaws and Border Reivers hid from the law, however, the frequent cross-border skirmishes and accompanying local lawlessness largely subsided after the Union of the Crowns of Scotland and England under King James I and VI in 1603. Northumberland played a key role in the Industrial Revolution from the 18th century on, many coal mines operated in Northumberland until the widespread closures in the 1970s and 1980s
12.
Alnwick
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Alnwick is a large market town in north Northumberland, England. The population at the 2011 Census was 8,116, the town is on the south bank of the River Aln,32 miles south of Berwick-upon-Tweed and the Scottish border,5 miles inland from the North Sea at Alnmouth and 34 miles north of Newcastle upon Tyne. The town dates to about AD600, and thrived as an agricultural centre, Alnwick Castle was the home of the most powerful medieval northern baronial family, the Earls of Northumberland. It was a staging post on the Great North Road between Edinburgh and London, and latterly has become a centre and dormitory town. It was held by the De Vesci family for over 200 years, at various points in the town are memorials of the constant wars between Percys and Scots, in which so many Percys spent the greater part of their lives. A cross near Broomhouse Hill across the river from the marks the spot where Malcolm III of Scotland was killed during the first Battle of Alnwick. In 1314, Sir John Felton was governor of Alnwick, in winter 1424, much of the town was burnt by a Scottish raiding party. Again in 1448 the town was burnt by a Scottish army led by William Douglas, 8th Earl of Douglas and George Douglas, thomas Malory mentions Alnwick as a possible location for Lancelots castle Joyous Garde. The Alnwick by-pass takes the A1 London – Edinburgh trunk road around the town, Alnwick lies at 55°25′00″N 01°42′00″W1. The River Aln forms its northern boundary. Historically, the town was partly within the Bamburgh Ward and Coquetdale Ward, by the time of the 2011 Census an electoral ward covering only part of Alnwick Parish name existed. The total population of this ward was 4,766, formerly a largely rural and agrarian community, the town now lies well within the travel to work radius of Morpeth and Newcastle upon Tyne and has a sizeable commuter population. The castle is the hub of a number of commercial, educational, from 1945 to 1975, it was the location of a teacher training college for young women and mature students. The castle is open to tourists from April to September, and it is the second largest inhabited castle in England, after Windsor Castle. Benjamin Disraeli describes Alnwick as Montacute in his novel Tancred, the centre of town is the market place, with its market cross, and the relatively modern Northumberland Hall, used as a meeting place. Surrounding the market place are the shopping streets, Narrowgate, Fenkle Street. The last of these is a wide road fronted by commercial buildings, in medieval times, Alnwick was a walled town, although due to fluctuating economic conditions during the Middle Ages, the walls were never completed. Hotspur Tower, a gate, is extant, dividing Bondgate Within from Bondgate Without
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