1.
United Kingdom
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The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom or Britain, is a sovereign country in western Europe. Lying off the north-western coast of the European mainland, the United Kingdom includes the island of Great Britain, Northern Ireland is the only part of the United Kingdom that shares a land border with another sovereign state—the Republic of Ireland. The Irish Sea lies between Great Britain and Ireland, with an area of 242,500 square kilometres, the United Kingdom is the 78th-largest sovereign state in the world and the 11th-largest in Europe. It is also the 21st-most populous country, with an estimated 65.1 million inhabitants, together, this makes it the fourth-most densely populated country in the European Union. The United Kingdom is a monarchy with a parliamentary system of governance. The monarch is Queen Elizabeth II, who has reigned since 6 February 1952, other major urban areas in the United Kingdom include the regions of Birmingham, Leeds, Glasgow, Liverpool and Manchester. The United Kingdom consists of four countries—England, Scotland, Wales, the last three have devolved administrations, each with varying powers, based in their capitals, Edinburgh, Cardiff and Belfast, respectively. The relationships among the countries of the UK have changed over time, Wales was annexed by the Kingdom of England under the Laws in Wales Acts 1535 and 1542. A treaty between England and Scotland resulted in 1707 in a unified Kingdom of Great Britain, which merged in 1801 with the Kingdom of Ireland to form the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland. Five-sixths of Ireland seceded from the UK in 1922, leaving the present formulation of the United Kingdom of Great Britain, there are fourteen British Overseas Territories. These are the remnants of the British Empire which, at its height in the 1920s, British influence can be observed in the language, culture and legal systems of many of its former colonies. The United Kingdom is a country and has the worlds fifth-largest economy by nominal GDP. The UK is considered to have an economy and is categorised as very high in the Human Development Index. It was the worlds first industrialised country and the worlds foremost power during the 19th, the UK remains a great power with considerable economic, cultural, military, scientific and political influence internationally. It is a nuclear weapons state and its military expenditure ranks fourth or fifth in the world. The UK has been a permanent member of the United Nations Security Council since its first session in 1946 and it has been a leading member state of the EU and its predecessor, the European Economic Community, since 1973. However, on 23 June 2016, a referendum on the UKs membership of the EU resulted in a decision to leave. The Acts of Union 1800 united the Kingdom of Great Britain, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland have devolved self-government
2.
West Midlands (region)
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The West Midlands is one of nine official regions of England at the first level of NUTS for statistical purposes. It covers the western half of the area known as the Midlands. The city of Coventry is also located within the West Midlands county, the region is geographically diverse, from the urban central areas of the conurbation to the rural western counties of Shropshire and Herefordshire which border Wales. The region also encompasses five Areas of Outstanding Natural Beauty, the Wye Valley, Shropshire hills, Cannock Chase, Malvern Hills, Warwickshire is home to the town of Stratford upon Avon, the birthplace of the writer William Shakespeare. The highest point in the region is Black Mountain, at 703 metres in west Herefordshire on the border with Powys, Wales. The region contains five Areas of Outstanding Natural Beauty, including all of the Shropshire Hills, Malvern Hills and Cannock Chase, the Peak District national park also stretches into the northern corner of Staffordshire. Served by many lines in the areas such as the West Coast Main Line. The Welsh Marches Line and the Cotswold Line transect the region as well as the Cross Country Route, there are plans to reopen the Honeybourne Line. Numerous notable roads pass through the region, with most converging around the central conurbation, the M6 toll provides an alternative route to the M6 between Coleshill and Cannock, passing north of Sutton Coldfield and just south of Lichfield. The M40 connects the region through South East England to London, with its terminus at its junction with the M42, it passes close to Warwick. The M42 connects the M5 at Bromsgrove, passing around the south and east of Birmingham, joining the M40 and M6, passing Solihull and Castle Bromwich, to Tamworth, the M50 connects the M5 from near Tewkesbury to Ross-on-Wye in the southwest. The M54 connects Wellington in the west, passing Telford, to the M6 near Cannock, the A5 road traverses the region northwest-southeast, passing through Shrewsbury, Telford, Cannock, Tamworth and Nuneaton. As part of the planning system, the Regional Assembly is under statutory requirement to produce a Regional Transport Strategy to provide long term planning for transport in the region. This involves region wide transport schemes such as those carried out by the Highways Agency, within the region, the local transport authorities carry out transport planning through the use of a Local Transport Plan which outlines their strategies, policies and implementation programme. The most recent LTP is that for the period 2006-11, in the West Midlands region, the following transport authorities have published their LTP online, Herefordshire, Shropshire U. A. The transport authority of Stoke-on-Trent U. A, Major towns and cities in the West Midlands region include, Bold indicates city status. The region is based on the former region of Mercia. The Battle of Edgehill in October 1642 started the English Civil War, jane Bunford of Bartley Green until 1982 was the tallest woman ever in the world, and now the second tallest, and the tallest person ever in the UK, at 7 ft 11in
3.
Shropshire
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Shropshire Council was created in 2009, a unitary authority taking over from the previous county council and five district councils. The borough of Telford and Wrekin has been a unitary authority since 1998. The county has many towns, including Whitchurch in the north, Newport north-east of Telford. The Ironbridge Gorge area is a UNESCO World Heritage Site, covering Ironbridge, Coalbrookdale, there are other historic industrial sites in the county, such as at Shrewsbury, Broseley, Snailbeach and Highley, as well as the Shropshire Union Canal. The Shropshire Hills Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty covers about a quarter of the county, Shropshire is one of Englands most rural and sparsely populated counties, with a population density of 136/km2. The Wrekin is one of the most famous landmarks in the county, though the highest hills are the Clee Hills, Stiperstones. Wenlock Edge is another significant geographical and geological landmark, the River Severn, Great Britains longest river, runs through the county, exiting into Worcestershire via the Severn Valley. Shropshire is landlocked and with an area of 3,487 square kilometres is Englands largest inland county, the county flower is the round-leaved sundew. The area was part of the lands of the Cornovii. This was a tribal Celtic iron age kingdom and their capital in pre-Roman times was probably a hill fort on the Wrekin. Ptolemys 2nd century Geography names one of their towns as being Viroconium Cornoviorum, after the Roman occupation of Britain ended in the 5th century, the Shropshire area was in the eastern part of the Welsh Kingdom of Powys, known in Welsh poetry as the Paradise of Powys. It was annexed to the Angle kingdom of Mercia by King Offa in the 8th century, in subsequent centuries, the area suffered repeated Danish invasion, and fortresses were built at Bridgnorth and Chirbury. Many defensive castles were built at this time across the county to defend against the Welsh and enable effective control of the region, including Ludlow Castle, the western frontier with Wales was not finally determined until the 14th century. Also in this period, a number of foundations were formed, the county largely falling at this time under the Diocese of Hereford. The county contains a number of historically significant towns, including Shrewsbury, Bridgnorth, additionally, the area around Coalbrookdale in the county is seen as highly significant, as it is regarded as one of the birthplaces of the Industrial Revolution. The village of Edgmond, near Newport, is the location of the lowest recorded temperature in England, the origin of the name Shropshire is the Old English Scrobbesbyrigscīr, which means Shrewsburyshire. The name may, therefore, be derived indirectly from a name such as Scrope. Salop is an old name for Shropshire, historically used as a form for post or telegrams
4.
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
5.
Telford
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Telford /ˈtɛlfərd/ is a large new town in the borough of Telford and Wrekin and ceremonial county of Shropshire, England, about 13 miles east of Shrewsbury, and 30 miles north west of Birmingham. With an estimated population of 170,300 in 2010 and around 155,000 in Telford itself, Telford is the largest town in Shropshire and it is named after civil engineer Thomas Telford, who engineered many road and rail projects in Shropshire. The town was put together in the 1960s and 1970s as a new town on previously industrial and agricultural land and smaller towns. Like other planned towns of the era, Telford was created from the merger of other, smaller settlements, most notably the towns of Wellington, Oakengates, many of the New Towns newer inhabitants were originally from Birmingham or Wolverhampton. Telford Shopping Centre, a shopping mall, was constructed at the new towns geographical centre. The M54 motorway was completed in 1983, improving the road links with the West Midlands conurbation. On Telfords southern boundaries is the Ironbridge Gorge, a scenic tourist destination, the town advertises itself as The Birthplace of Industry, due to it having Coalbrookdale and other places in the Ironbridge Gorge area, within its boundary. These areas are internationally recognised as being important to the Industrial Revolution, early settlement in the area was thought to be on the land that sloped up from the Weald Moors towards the line along which the Roman Watling Street was built. Farmland surrounded three large estates in the 10th century, namely Wellington, Wrockwardine and Lilleshall, from the 13th century there was urban development in Wellington and Madeley, where Wenlock Priory founded a new town. Six monastic houses, founded in the 11th and 12th centuries, had interests in the areas economic growth. They collectively acquired almost half of the area, and profited from coal and ironstone mines, the New Town was first designated on 16 January 1963 as Dawley New Town, covering 9,100 acres of Dawley, Wenlock, Oakengates, Wellington Rural District and Shifnal Rural District. Development started, guided by the Dawley New Town Development Corporation, initial planning and design concepts for Dawley New Town were produced by the Birmingham-based John Madin Design Group. The Minister proposed an extension of 12,000 acres in 1968, which saw objections and this Order also renamed the new town Telford, after the Scottish-born civil engineer Thomas Telford who, in 1787, became Surveyor of Public Works for Shropshire. Other suggested names at the time were Dawelloak and Wrekin Forest City, Telford was now 25 years old and was firmly established as one of the most important towns in the region. In 1983, after fierce opposition and three public enquiries, the M54 motorway was completed, connecting the town to the M6, other major roads are the A5, A518 and A442, which is commonly known as the Eastern Primary or EP, and is officially branded Queensway. Many of the new residents were originally from the West Midlands conurbation. The vast majority of the council house tenants in Telford were rehoused from inner city Birmingham. g, the new towns residents who arrived in the 1960s and 1970s earned the unwanted nickname overspill from people living in the existing towns and villages. The reason for expansion is that the original centre was only ever a shopping place with no real heart
6.
Madeley, Shropshire
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Madeley is a town and civil parish in Shropshire, England, now part of the new town of Telford. The parish had a population of 17,935 at the 2001 census, Madeley is recorded in the Domesday Book, having been founded before the 8th century. Historically, Madeleys industrial activity has largely been in mining, and later, manufacturing, parts of the parish fall within the UNESCO World Heritage Site of Ironbridge Gorge, the site of The Iron Bridge, and a key area in the development of Industry. The settlement of Madeley is recorded as far back as the Domesday Book, the town was founded prior to the 8th century, and subsequently became a market town in the 13th century. Sigward, a ruler in the time of King Æthelbald of Mercia, is said to have held 3 hides of land at Madeley. Between 727 and 736 he sold his holdings to Mildburh, daughter of Merewalh and she was the founder and first head of Wenlock Abbey. It passed to the Crown in 1540 and in 1544 was sold to Robert Broke, mining of coal began before 1322, and the extraction of ironstone had begun by 1540. The town played a role in the English Civil War, as it was home to a garrison of Royalist soldiers in 1645, two months later, Parliamentary forces occupied the parish church. Madeley is also home to a barn in which King Charles II hid after the Battle of Worcester in 1651, in the 17th century, Madeley was a small market town, but local tradesmen began to specialise, working in the river trade and in mining. The gatehouse to Madeley Court is a grade I listed building, Madeley is located within the civil parish and ward of the same name. The ward is within the Telford constituency, which is represented by Conservative MP Lucy Allen. The parish of Madeley formerly incorporated Ironbridge, which has become part of the new parish of The Gorge. Madeley is situated in the part of the new town of Telford, to the north of Ironbridge. Coalport, a part of the parish of Madeley can be found to the west of the town, the local area has reserves of coal and ironstone. Part of the UNESCO World Heritage Site of the Ironbridge Gorge falls within the Parish of Madeley, the majority of the site is within the parish of The Gorge, named for the Ironbridge Gorge, which is bridged by The Iron Bridge. At the 2001 census, the population of the parish of Madeley was 17,935, of this number,8,190 were economically active, and of them,7,477 were in employment. The ethnicity of the population was as follows, 96% of the population was found to be White,1. 3% of the population was mixed race,0. 6% Black or Black British and a further 0. 2% Chinese. In terms of religion, 77% of the population are Christian,0. 7% of the population are Muslim,0. 5% are Sikh,0. 3% are Hindu, and 0. 1% are Buddhist
7.
Newport, Shropshire
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Newport is a market town in the borough of Telford and Wrekin and ceremonial county of Shropshire, England. It lies some 6 miles north of Telford and some 12 mi west of Stafford, the 2001 census recorded 10,814 people living in the towns parish, making it the second largest town in Telford and Wrekin and the fifth in the ceremonial county of Shropshire. By the 2011 census, the population had risen to 11,387. Newport is a Britain in Bloom finalist and has awarded the silver gilt award from the Heart of England regional. The 2010 competition, wherein it won more points than any town in the United Kingdom gave Newport its seventh gold medal. The Normans planned a new town called Novo Burgo between the settlements of Edgmond and Plesc, near the Old Quarry and Mere Park garden centre. The first market charter was granted by Henry I, and over time the changed from Nova Burgo to Newborough. The site was partly because of its location near the Via Devana. The River Meese, which flows from Aqualate Mere, lies to the north of the town, formed from melting glaciers, it covered a vast area of North Shropshire. Early man fished here and two ancient log boats were uncovered 1 mi from Newport, one has been preserved and is kept at Harper Adams University at Edgmond. The villages of Church Aston, Chetwynd and Longford are adjoined to the south of Newport, the village of Edgmond is located just to the west, separated by Cheney Hill, Chetwynd Park and the Shrewsbury and Newport Canal. Newport is located in the kingdom of Mercia, near where Wreocensæte. Humans inhabited this area long before the creation of the town, once established, Newport became a market town in the centre of the rural farming area between Stafford and Shrewsbury. In Saxon times there were two settlements in the location of the modern day town, the first, Eastun, has been identified as Church Aston and the second, Plesc, lies south of the town near the Mere-park Garden centre. In 963AD, Plesc was described as having a High Street, a quarry. The name Plesc means fortified place or one with a palisade, few signs of the Saxon settlement exist today, apart from the Quarry, which has now been built around. At the time of the Norman Conquest, the land where Newport sits formed part of the manor of Edgmond, Henry I founded the borough, first called Newborough, after the manor came into his hands from Robert de Belesme. Newport was omitted from the Domesday Book, but this is not uncommon, other towns omitted include London, Tamworth, Oswestry and Ludlow, all boroughs since Saxon times
8.
Staffordshire
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Staffordshire is a landlocked county in the West Midlands of England. It adjoins Cheshire to the north west, Derbyshire and Leicestershire to the east, Warwickshire to the south east, West Midlands and Worcestershire to the south, and Shropshire to the west. The largest city in Staffordshire is Stoke-on-Trent, which is administered separately from the rest of the county as an independent unitary authority, Lichfield also has city status, although this is a considerably smaller cathedral city. Major towns include Stafford, Burton upon Trent, Cannock, Newcastle-under-Lyme, Leek, smaller towns include Stone, Uttoxeter, and Rugeley, and large villages Eccleshall, Wombourne, Kinver, Penkridge, Tutbury and Stretton. Cannock Chase AONB is within the county as well as parts of the National Forest, Wolverhampton, Walsall, West Bromwich, and Smethwick were historic Staffordshire towns until local government reorganisation created the West Midlands county in 1974. Historically, Staffordshire was divided into the five hundreds of Cuttlestone, Offlow, Pirehill, Seisdon, the historic boundaries of Staffordshire cover much of what is now the metropolitan county of West Midlands. The Act also saw the towns of Tamworth and Burton upon Trent united entirely in Staffordshire, in 1553 Queen Mary made Lichfield a county separate from the rest of Staffordshire. Handsworth and Perry Barr became part of the county borough of Birmingham in the early 20th century, Burton, in the east of the county, became a county borough in 1901, and was followed by Smethwick, another town in the Black Country in 1907. In 1910 the six towns of the Staffordshire Potteries, including Hanley, a major reorganisation in the Black Country in 1966, under the recommendation of the Local Government Commission for England led to the creation of an area of contiguous county boroughs. Meanwhile, the county borough of Dudley, historically a part of Worcestershire, expanded. County boroughs were abolished, with Stoke becoming a district in Staffordshire. On 1 April 1997, under a recommendation of the Banham Commission, in July 2009 the largest hoard of Anglo-Saxon gold ever found in Britain was discovered in a field near Lichfield. The artefacts, known as The Staffordshire Hoard have tentatively dated to the 7th or 8th centuries. Some nationally and internationally known companies have their base in Staffordshire. They include the Britannia Building Society which is based in Leek, JCB is based in Rocester near Uttoxeter and bet365 based in Stoke-on-Trent. The theme park Alton Towers is in the Staffordshire Moorlands and several of the worlds largest pottery manufacturers are based in Stoke-on-Trent, Staffordshire has a completely comprehensive system with eight independent schools. Most secondary schools are from 11–16 or 18, but two in Staffordshire Moorlands and South Staffordshire are from 13–18, there are two universities in the county, Keele University in Newcastle-under-Lyme and Staffordshire University, which has campuses in Stoke-on-Trent, Stafford, Lichfield and Shrewsbury. The modern county of Staffordshire currently has three football clubs – Stoke City and Port Vale, both from Stoke-on-Trent, and Burton Albion, who play in Burton upon Trent. They were among the 12 founder members of the Football League in 1888, in 1972, the club finally won a major trophy when they lifted the Football League Cup, but after relegation from the First Division in 1985 they would not experience top flight football for 23 years
9.
Shifnal
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Shifnal is a market town and civil parish in Shropshire, England, about 3 miles east of Telford. It has a station on the Shrewsbury-Wolverhampton Line and is near the M54 motorway. At the 2001 census, it had a population of 6,391, the town, also once known as Idsall, most probably began as an Anglian settlement, established by the end of the 7th century. Shifnal is thought to be the place named Scuffanhalch in a 9th-century charter, though this seems a dubious claim, and the ancient charter is in fact a 12th-century forgery, the full picture is more complex. The first part of the name Shifnal is reckoned to be a name, Scuffa, while the second part, from halh, means a valley. Unusually, the name of the town has alternated through the centuries between Idsall and Shifnal, Idsall is mentioned in a 9th-century charter as Iddeshale, meaning Idis nook or corner. A nook is said to be an area of land of approximately 20 acres, in the 19th century, J. C. Anderson, in his Shropshire its Early History and Antiquities, wrote that Idsall means Hall of Ide, a Key to English Place-names has an entry for Shifnal that reads *Scuffas nook of land. It was also known as Iddeshale, *Idis nook of land, the oldest part of the town is said to be the area around St Andrews Church, Church Street and Innage Road where excavations have turned up evidence of ancient buildings. The village, as it would have been in 1086, is recorded in the Domesday Book within the hundred of Alnodestreu, the initial part of the entry states, Robert, son of Theobald, holds of Earl Roger Iteshale. This entry records that possession was lost by the Saxon Earl Morcar when he rebelled against the Norman conquerors, the church of St Andrew has a Norman chancel and was almost certainly built on the site of an earlier church. It was a church or minster with a chapter of priests ministering to the needs of congregations in outlying settlements. St Andrews lost its status when it was given to Shrewsbury Abbey c. In 1245 Walter de Dunstanville, the lord of the manor, applied to King Henry III for, and was granted, Walter then laid out a broad market street that is Broadway, Bradford Street, Market Place and Park Street for the markets. This area to the east of the stream was known as Shifnal, Shifnal had something of an early industrial revolution during the late 16th century with the construction of a charcoal fired blast furnace near to the Manor House. A fire swept through the town on 7 July 1591, setting alight the roof of the church, the fire is thought to have been started by a maidservants candle that accidentally set fire to some hanging flax. The fire devastated many, if not all, of the buildings east of the now known as Wesley Brook. The church and the timber-framed Old Idsall House at its foot to the east, are said to be the two buildings to have survived the fire that destroyed the rest of the settlement
