London Underground
The London Underground is a public rapid transit system serving London and some parts of the adjacent counties of Buckinghamshire and Hertfordshire in the United Kingdom. The Underground has its origins in the Metropolitan Railway, the world's first underground passenger railway. Opened in January 1863, it is now part of the Metropolitan lines; the network has expanded to 11 lines, in 2017/18 carried 1.357 billion passengers, making it the world's 11th busiest metro system. The 11 lines collectively handle up to 5 million passengers a day; the system's first tunnels were built just below the surface. The system has 250 miles of track. Despite its name, only 45% of the system is underground in tunnels, with much of the network in the outer environs of London being on the surface. In addition, the Underground does not cover most southern parts of Greater London, with fewer than 10% of the stations located south of the River Thames; the early tube lines owned by several private companies, were brought together under the "UndergrounD" brand in the early 20th century and merged along with the sub-surface lines and bus services in 1933 to form London Transport under the control of the London Passenger Transport Board.
The current operator, London Underground Limited, is a wholly owned subsidiary of Transport for London, the statutory corporation responsible for the transport network in Greater London. As of 2015, 92% of operational expenditure is covered by passenger fares; the Travelcard ticket was introduced in 1983 and Oyster, a contactless ticketing system, in 2003. Contactless card payments were introduced in 2014, the first public transport system in the world to do so; the LPTB was a prominent patron of art and design, commissioning many new station buildings and public artworks in a modernist style. The schematic Tube map, designed by Harry Beck in 1931, was voted a national design icon in 2006 and now includes other TfL transport systems such as the Docklands Light Railway, London Overground and Tramlink. Other famous London Underground branding includes the roundel and Johnston typeface, created by Edward Johnston in 1916; the idea of an underground railway linking the City of London with the urban centre was proposed in the 1830s, the Metropolitan Railway was granted permission to build such a line in 1854.
To prepare construction, a short test tunnel was built in 1855 in Kibblesworth, a small town with geological properties similar to London. This test tunnel was used for two years in the development of the first underground train, was in 1861, filled up; the world's first underground railway, it opened in January 1863 between Paddington and Farringdon using gas-lit wooden carriages hauled by steam locomotives. It was hailed as a success, carrying 38,000 passengers on the opening day, borrowing trains from other railways to supplement the service; the Metropolitan District Railway opened in December 1868 from South Kensington to Westminster as part of a plan for an underground "inner circle" connecting London's main-line stations. The Metropolitan and District railways completed the Circle line in 1884, built using the cut and cover method. Both railways expanded, the District building five branches to the west reaching Ealing, Uxbridge and Wimbledon and the Metropolitan extended as far as Verney Junction in Buckinghamshire, more than 50 miles from Baker Street and the centre of London.
For the first deep-level tube line, the City and South London Railway, two 10 feet 2 inches diameter circular tunnels were dug between King William Street and Stockwell, under the roads to avoid the need for agreement with owners of property on the surface. This opened in 1890 with electric locomotives that hauled carriages with small opaque windows, nicknamed padded cells; the Waterloo and City Railway opened in 1898, followed by the Central London Railway in 1900, known as the "twopenny tube". These two ran electric trains in circular tunnels having diameters between 11 feet 8 inches and 12 feet 2.5 inches, whereas the Great Northern and City Railway, which opened in 1904, was built to take main line trains from Finsbury Park to a Moorgate terminus in the City and had 16-foot diameter tunnels. While steam locomotives were in use on the Underground there were contrasting health reports. There were many instances of passengers collapsing whilst travelling, due to heat and pollution, leading for calls to clean the air through the installation of garden plants.
The Metropolitan encouraged beards for staff to act as an air filter. There were other reports claiming beneficial outcomes of using the Underground, including the designation of Great Portland Street as a "sanatorium for asthma and bronchial complaints", tonsillitis could be cured with acid gas and the Twopenny Tube cured anorexia. With the advent of electric Tube services, the Volks Electric Railway, in Brighton, competition from electric trams, the pioneering Underground companies needed modernising. In the early 20th century, the District and Metropolitan railways needed to electrify and a joint committee recommended an AC system, the two companies
London Borough of Barnet
Barnet is a suburban London borough in North London, England. It forms part of Outer London and is the largest London borough by population with 384,774 inhabitants and covers an area of 86.74 square kilometres, the fourth highest. It borders Hertfordshire to the north and five other London boroughs: Harrow and Brent to the west and Haringey to the southeast and Enfield to the east; the borough was formed in 1965 from parts of the counties of Hertfordshire. The local authority is Barnet London Borough Council, based in Hendon; the borough was formed under the London Government Act 1963 in 1965 from the Municipal Borough of Finchley, Municipal Borough of Hendon and the Friern Barnet Urban District of Middlesex and the East Barnet Urban District and Barnet Urban District of Hertfordshire. The Act did not include a name for the new borough. A joint committee of the councils due to be amalgamated suggested "Northgate" or "Northern Heights". Keith Joseph, the Minister of Housing and Local Government chose Barnet.
The place name Barnet is derived from the Old English bærnet meaning "Land cleared by burning". The area covered by the modern borough has a long history. Evidence of 1st-century Roman pottery manufacturing has been found at Brockley Hill and Roman coins from the 3rd and 4th centuries were found at Burnt Oak. Both sites are on the Roman road Watling Street from London and St Albans which now forms the western border of the borough. Hendon is mentioned in the Domesday Book of 1086, but the districts of Barnet and Finchley were not referred to because these areas were included in other manors. In 1471 the Battle of Barnet was fought in Monken Hadley, just within the present borough's boundary, it was here that Yorkist troops led by King Edward IV killed the "Kingmaker" Richard Neville, Earl of Warwick and his brother, John Neville, 1st Marquess of Montagu. Individual articles describe the history and development of the districts of Church End, East Finchley, Golders Green and North Finchley; the residents of London Borough of Barnet are represented at Westminster by Members of Parliament for three parliamentary constituencies.
All three MPs are Conservative. Chipping Barnet is represented by Theresa Villiers. Finchley and Golders Green is represented by Mike Freer. Hendon, in 2010 the most marginal Conservative-held seat in London with a majority of 106 votes, is represented by Matthew Offord; the borough is divided into each with 3 councillors. Following the local government election on 4 May 2006 the Conservative party gained a working majority and full control of the council. Mike Freer became leader of the council on 11 May 2006, replacing Brian Salinger as Conservative group leader, having been Salinger's deputy. Barnet had £27.4 million invested in Icelandic banks Glitnir and Landsbanki when they collapsed October 2008. A report showed; the Conservatives retained control at the 2014 local elections, after which the political composition of the council was: Conservative: 32 Labour: 30 Liberal Democrat: 1 Barnet Council along with the 31 other London boroughs and the City of London Corporation share local government powers with Greater London Authority.
The area covered by London Borough of Barnet and the London Borough of Camden is jointly represented in the London Assembly by Andrew Dismore, a Labour politician, the Member of Parliament for Hendon until 2010. Campaigning on parking, he beat Conservative politician Brian Coleman at the 2012 London Assembly election overturning a 20,000 vote deficit and turning this into a 21,000 vote majority. In 2009, the authority started to introduce a new model of local government delivery in the borough, called'Future Shape', after commissioning a six-month external study; the first stages of'Future Shape' were agreed by the council's cabinet in July 2009. The public-sector union UNISON commissioned its own report on the issues involved in'Future Shape'; the scheme has been dubbed easyCouncil because of its similarity to EasyJet's business model. It is referred to as the commissioning council; the borough covers a group of hills on the northern edge of the London Basin. The bedrock is chalk, covered with clay.
Some of the hills are formed from glacial till deposited at the farthest extent of glaciers during the Anglian glaciation. The pattern of settlement is somewhat diverse. In the north of the borough on the eastern side is Barnet known as High Barnet or Chipping Barnet and Whetstone. In the north on the western side is Edgware and Mill Hill; the central northern part of the borough is countryside. This division is because the eastern side grew around what is now the High Barnet Underground branch of the Northern line; the western side grew around the Midland Railway and what is now the Edgware branch of the Northern line. The north is affluent and rural, although it does include Edgware, a major town. Further south, around the borough's centre, the development becomes more intensive around the suburbs of Cricklewood, Colindale and Finchley. Golders Green is renowned for its Jewish minority ethnic population and forms part of the south of the borough, along with Hampstead Garden Suburb and Childs Hill, which are a mix of being affluent like the north, urban like the central areas.
The A5 forms the border between Barnet and the boroughs of Brent and Harrow, with an exception being the West Hendon area and part of the Welsh Harp. There are 15 council run libraries in the London Borough of Barnet, mobile library and home library services, a local studies an
High Wycombe
High Wycombe referred to as Wycombe, is a large town in Buckinghamshire, England. It is 29 miles west north west of Charing Cross in London, it is 13.2 miles south-south-east of the county town of Aylesbury, 23.4 miles southeast of Oxford, 15.4 miles north east of Reading and 7.7 miles north of Maidenhead. According to the ONS official estimates for 2016, High Wycombe has a population of 125,257 and it is the second largest town in the county of Buckinghamshire after Milton Keynes. High Wycombe Urban Area, the conurbation of which the town is the largest component, has a population of 133,204. High Wycombe is an unparished area in the Wycombe district. Part of the urban area constitutes the civil parish of Chepping Wycombe, which had a population of 14,455 according to the 2001 census – this parish represents that part of the ancient parish of Chepping Wycombe, outside the former municipal borough of Wycombe. Wycombe is a combination of industrial and market town, with a traditional emphasis on furniture production.
There has been a market held in the High Street since at least the Middle Ages. The name Wycombe appears to come from the river Wye and the old English word for a wooded valley, but according to the Oxford English Dictionary of Place-Names the name, first recorded in 799-802 as'Wichama', is more to be Old English'wic' and the plural of Old English'ham', means'dwellings'. Wycombe was noted for having six mills; the town once featured a Roman villa, excavated three times, most in 1954. Mosaics and a bathhouse were unearthed at the site on. High Wycombe was the home of 19th-century Prime Minister Benjamin Disraeli; the existence of a settlement at High Wycombe was first documented as'Wicumun' in 970. The parish church was consecrated by Wulfstan, the visiting Bishop of Worcester, in 1086; the town received market borough status in 1222, built its first moot hall in 1226, with a market hall being built in 1476. The Barony of Wycombe is one of the few titles in history that's so associated with negotiations that influence the rights of individuals that today that it's hard to dismiss.
The men who held the title played such a meaningful supporting role in the signing of one of the most important documents on record – the Magna Carta – that anyone connected with it is touching living history. For not only has it shaped the British rule of law, but the American Constitution; the manor and Lordship of Wycombe was given to a member of the Basset family, Thomas Gilbert, in 1171. A fitting offering for the man who was, at that time, the Sheriff of Oxfordshire, but from this standard start for a title, being only a lordship, within thirty odd years it was to be allied with the King. Passing through a small number of Bassets as they died, by 1215 Wycombe was resting with Alan Basset... as a Barony. When this upgrade occurred is not clear, but the fact that Alan Basset was one of but a handful of barons who accompanied King John to Runnymede on 15 June for the signing of Magna Carta means he'd become an individual of influence. Listed as a King's counsellor, through Alan Basset the Barony of Wycombe had begun its parallel wanderings with The Great Charter and the throne.
When John died in 1216, the title's association with both remained strong. Henry III took the crown and Alan Basset was, again, a witness to a reworked version of Magna Carta on 11 November; the Basset family remained allied with the King over the next few years, upon Alan's demise in 1232 his son Gilbert became 2nd Baron of Wycombe. It's at this point, that things started to get a little rocky, it would seem that despite being in the good favour of Henry III, Gilbert joined a political group headed by Richard, Earl Marshall. He was summoned, with other barons, to meet Henry's foreign relations... but he refused to attend. As any child discovers, petulant behaviour tends to elicit a punishment. Henry took back one of Gilbert's manors; when he tried to reclaim it, the King announced him to be a traitor and threatened him with hanging unless he left the court. Further peevish behaviour saw him outlawed by the King, orders were sent out to destroy all towns and parks that belonged to him, his associates.
However, as was the case in this turbulent medieval era, the pendulum swung back the following year when the Earl Marshal died. Gilbert was asked to take his place, his estates were returned. What prompted Henry's change of heart is unclear... but the politics of the time were far from straightforward. Sadly for Gilbert, in 1241 he was paralysed, he never recovered and his son soon inherited the title. But he too was short-lived, within the same year Gilbert's brother, Fulk – Dean of York – inherited the barony and he became the 4th Baron of Wycombe, it appears that Fulk, was destined to clash with the King. That year he was elected Bishop of London, much to Henry's disgruntlement, who'd wanted the Bishop of Hereford to get the role. Within five years, however, he'd redeemed himself in the eyes of the King, only to displease Pope Innocent IV instead; the Pope had decided all beneficed clergy should give him up to half their income for three years, he'd entrusted Fulk to see this was enacted. Henry forbade it, Fulk sided with the King on this.
It was a dispute that would rumble for a number of years and saw Fulk at first excommunicated... before being absolved from excommunicat
Dollis Brook
Dollis Brook, runs through the London Borough of Barnet in north London. It is a tributary of the River Brent, itself a tributary of the River Thames; the Dollis Valley Greenwalk follows all of Dollis Brook, apart from a short section at the beginning which passes through private land, the London Loop follows it as far as Barnet Lane. The name Dollis is derived from the Middle English word'dole', meaning the shares of land in the common field. Dollis Brook rises at two points, one on Mote End Farm and the other on the London Loop and Dollis Valley Greenwalk at TQ 21714 94551 - the latter only has water after heavy rain; the brook flows through private land under Hendon Wood Lane. Its course is eastwards through Totteridge Fields, a Site of Metropolitan Importance, through fields and open spaces to King George V Playing Fields in Totteridge; the brook turns southwards and forms the eastern boundary of Totteridge. It passes through Wyatts Farm Open Space and Brook Farm Open Space to Totteridge Lane near Totteridge and Whetstone Underground station, continues south through Woodside Park and West Finchley, before passing under the Dollis Brook Viaduct which carries the Northern line between Finchley Central and Mill Hill East Underground stations.
Until 1965 Dollis Brook formed the boundary between the municipal boroughs of Hendon. Dollis Brook passes under Dollis Road and through Windsor Open Space to the Great North Way. Near Bridge Lane in Hendon it merges with Mutton Brook to form the River Brent. Upper Dollis Brook between Mill Hill and Woodside Park, including neighbouring open spaces, is a Site of Borough Importance for Nature Conservation, Grade I, it is too shaded for aquatic plants, but plants such as yellow iris and water-pepper grow along its banks and kingfishers, grey wagtails, moorhens can be seen along the stream. Lower Dollis Brook is a Site of Borough Importance for Nature Conservation, Grade II, it starts at Woodside Park and includes Brent Park and the River Brent until it passes under the Northern line near Brent Cross Flyover. It is less ecologically rich than Upper Dollis Brook, but forms a valuable green corridor through suburban areas. Nature reserves in Janet. Nature Conservation in Barnet. London Ecology Unit. ISBN 1 871045 27 4
Totteridge & Whetstone tube station
Totteridge & Whetstone is a London Underground station in Whetstone of the London Borough of Barnet, North London. The station is the penultimate one on the High Barnet branch of the Northern line, between Woodside Park and High Barnet stations, in Travelcard Zone 4, it was first built in 1872. It is on the north side of Totteridge Lane, to the east of the Dollis Brook so narrowly in the latter; the Totteridge & Whetstone station was planned by the Edgware and London Railway and was opened as Whetstone and Totteridge on 1 April 1872 by the Great Northern Railway. The station was on a branch of a line whose main part ran from Finsbury Park to Edgware via Highgate. After the 1921 Railways Act created the Big Four railway companies the line was, from 1923, part of the London and North Eastern Railway; the section of the High Barnet branch north of East Finchley was incorporated into the London Underground network through the "Northern Heights" project which begun in the late 1930s. Totteridge and Whetstone station was first served by Northern line trains on 14 April 1940 and, after a period where the station was serviced by both operators, LNER services ended in 1941.
British Rail freight trains continued to serve the station's goods yard until 1 October 1962, when it was closed. The station retains much of its original Victorian architectural character today; the station is not wheelchair accessible owing to flights of stairs to the two platforms. The station has in the 21st century undergone subtle changes to enable the policy of no ticket offices, chiefly: an automatic double-wide access and buggy-friendly barrier A help desk instead of the ticket office; the station is not manned but is during peak hours. The station has four gates, two toilets, payphones, a car park and waiting rooms. Train frequencies vary throughout the day, but operate every 3–6 minutes between 6:04 and midnight in both directions. London Bus routes 34, 125, 234, 251, 263, 326, 383, 605, 626, 628, 634 and 688 and night route N20 serve the station. Northern Line Embankment, High Barnet London Transport Museum Photographic Archive Station in 1937 during LNER period prior to London Transport's take over Station in 1956
Henry Edward Manning
Henry Edward Manning was an English Cardinal of the Roman Catholic church, the second Archbishop of Westminster from 1865 until his death in 1892. Manning was born on 15 July 1808 at his grandfather's home, Copped Hall, Hertfordshire, he was the third and youngest son of William Manning, a West India merchant, who served as a director and as a governor of the Bank of England and sat in Parliament for 30 years, representing in the Tory interest Plympton Earle, Lymington and Penryn consecutively. Manning's mother, daughter of Henry Leroy Hunter, of Beech Hill, sister of Sir Claudius Stephen Hunter, 1st Baronet, came of a family said to be of French extraction. Manning spent his boyhood at Coombe Bank, Kent, where he had for companions Charles Wordsworth and Christopher Wordsworth bishops of St Andrews and Lincoln respectively, he attended Harrow School during the headmastership of George Butler, but obtained no distinction beyond playing for two years in the cricket eleven. However, this proved to be no impediment to his academic career.
Manning matriculated at Balliol College, Oxford, in 1827 and soon made his mark as a debater at the Oxford Union, where William Ewart Gladstone succeeded him as president in 1830. At this date he had ambitions of a political career, but his father had sustained severe losses in business and, in these circumstances, having graduated with first-class honours in 1830, he obtained the year following, through Frederick John Robinson, 1st Viscount Goderich, a post as a supernumerary clerk in the Colonial Office. Manning resigned from this position in 1832, his thoughts having turned towards a clerical career under Evangelical influences, including his friendship with Favell Lee Mortimer, which affected him throughout life. Returning to Oxford in 1832, he gained election as a fellow of Merton College and received ordination as a deacon in the Church of England. In January 1833 he became curate to Rector of Lavington-with-Graffham, West Sussex. In May 1833, following Sargent's death, he succeeded him as rector due to the patronage of Sargent's mother.
Manning married Caroline, John Sargent's daughter, on 7 November 1833, in a ceremony performed by the bride's brother-in-law, the Revd Samuel Wilberforce Bishop of Oxford and Winchester. Manning's marriage did not last long: his young and beautiful wife came of a consumptive family and died childless on 24 July 1837; when Manning died many years for decades a celibate Roman Catholic cleric, a locket containing his wife's picture was found on a chain around his neck. Though he never became an acknowledged disciple of John Henry Newman, the latter's influence meant that from this date Manning's theology assumed an High Church character and his printed sermon on the "Rule of Faith" publicly signalled his alliance with the Tractarians. In 1838 he took a leading part in the church education movement, by which diocesan boards were established throughout the country. In December of that year he paid his first visit to Rome and called on Nicholas Wiseman in company with Gladstone. In January 1841 Philip Shuttleworth, Bishop of Chichester, appointed Manning as the Archdeacon of Chichester, whereupon he began a personal visitation of each parish within his district, completing the task in 1843.
In 1842 he published a treatise on The Unity of the Church and his reputation as an eloquent and earnest preacher being by this time considerable, he was in the same year appointed select preacher by his university, thus being called upon to fill from time to time the pulpit which Newman, as vicar of St Mary's, was just ceasing to occupy. Four volumes of Manning's sermons appeared between the years 1842 and 1850 and these had reached the 7th, 4th, 3rd and 2nd editions in 1850, but were not afterwards reprinted. In 1844 his portrait was painted by George Richmond, the same year he published a volume of university sermons, omitting the one on the Gunpowder Plot; this sermon had annoyed Newman and his more advanced disciples, but it was a proof that at that date Manning was loyal to the Church of England. Newman's secession in 1845 placed Manning in a position of greater responsibility, as one of the High Church leaders, along with Edward Bouverie Pusey, John Keble and Marriott. Manning's belief in Anglicanism was shattered in 1850 when, in the so-called Gorham judgement, the Privy Council ordered the Church of England to institute an evangelical cleric who denied that the sacrament of baptism had an objective effect of baptismal regeneration.
The denial of the objective effect of the sacraments was to Manning and many others a grave heresy, contradicting the clear tradition of the Christian Church from the Fathers of the Church on. That a civil and secular court had the power to force the Church of England to accept someone with such an unorthodox opinion proved to him that, far from being a divinely created institution, that church was a man-made creation of the English Parliament; the following year, on 6 April 1851, Manning was received into the Catholic Church and soon afterwards, on 14 June 1851, was ordained a Catholic priest. Given his great abilities and prior fame, he rose to a position of influence, in 1865 he was appointed Archbishop of Westminster. Among his accomplishments as head of the Catholic Church in England were the acquisition of the site for Westminster Cathedral and a expanded system of Roman Catholic education, including the establishment of the short live
Totteridge
