1.
Vale of York (UK Parliament constituency)
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Vale of York was a county constituency represented in the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. It elected one Member of Parliament by the first past the post system of election, the constituency was created in 1997 from parts of the seats of Ryedale, Harrogate, Skipton and Ripon, & Richmond. This constituency covered the more parts of the Vale of York and included the north-western suburbs of York. The three largest settlements were from the York suburbs, the reconfiguration of North Yorkshires constituencies by the Boundary Commission for England saw the creation of a York Central and a York Outer. The populous York suburbs became part of York Outer, Easingwold, Thirsk and surrounding villages joined rural Ryedale to form a new Thirsk and Malton constituency. Boroughbridge became part of an enlarged Harrogate seat, while Skipton & Ripon regained some of the surrounding villages, the enlarged Selby and Ainsty seat now encompasses Marston Moor and Spofforth. List of Parliamentary constituencies in North Yorkshire
2.
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
3.
Northern England
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Northern England or the North of England, also known as the North Country or simply the North, is the northern part of England, when considered as a single cultural area. The area roughly spans from the River Trent and River Dee to the Scottish border in the north, Northern England roughly comprises three statistical regions, the North East, North West and Yorkshire and the Humber. These have a population of around 14.9 million as of the 2011 Census. The region has been controlled by groups from the Brigantes. After the Norman conquest in 1066, the Harrying of the North brought destruction, a Council of the North was in place during the Late Middle Ages until the Commonwealth after the Civil War. The area experienced Anglo–Scottish border fighting until the unification of Britain under the Stuarts, in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, the economy of the North was dominated by heavy industry such as weaving, shipbuilding, steelmaking and mining. The deindustrialisation that followed in the half of the 20th century hit Northern England hard. For government and statistical purposes, Northern England is defined as the covered by the three statistical regions of North East England, North West England and Yorkshire and the Humber. This definition will be used in article, except when otherwise stated. Using historic county boundaries, the North is generally taken to comprise Cumberland, Northumberland, Westmorland, County Durham, Lancashire and Yorkshire, the Isle of Man is occasionally included in definitions of the North, although it is politically and culturally distinct from England. Additionally, some areas of Derbyshire and Nottinghamshire have been associated with the North. The geographer Danny Dorling includes most of the West Midlands and part of the East Midlands in his definition of the North, conversely, more restrictive definitions also exist, typically based on the extent of the historical Northumbria, which exclude Cheshire and Lincolnshire. Personal definitions of the North vary greatly and are sometimes passionately debated, when asked to draw a dividing line between North and South, Southerners tend to draw this line further south than Northerners do. Various towns have been described as or promoted themselves as the gateway to the North, including Crewe, Stoke-on-Trent, through the North of England run the Pennines, an upland chain often referred to as the backbone of England. This stretches from the Cheviot Hills on the border with Scotland to the Peak District, the geography of the North has been heavily shaped by the ice sheets of the Pleistocene era, which often reached as far south as the Midlands. On the other side of the Pennines, a glacial lake forms the Humberhead Levels, a large area of fenland which drains into the Humber. This has left the North a region of contrasts, the Lake District includes Englands highest peak, Scafell Pike, which rises to 978 m, its largest lake, Windermere, and its deepest lake, Wastwater. However, dense areas have emerged along the coasts and rivers
4.
River Tees
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The River Tees is in northern England. It rises on the slope of Cross Fell in the North Pennines. The river drains 710 square miles and has a number of tributaries including the River Greta, River Lune, River Balder, River Leven, before the reorganisation of the historic English counties, the river formed the boundary between County Durham and Yorkshire. The head of the valley, whose upper portion is known as Teesdale, has a grandeur, surrounded by moorland and hills. This area is part of the North Pennine Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty, the source of the river at Teeshead just below Cross Fell lies at an elevation of approximately 2,401 feet. It flows east-north-east through an area of shake holes through Carboniferous Limestone, below Viewing Hill, it turns south to the Cow Green Reservoir constructed to store water to be released in dry conditions to satisfy the industrial need for water on Teesside. Emerging from the reservoir at Cauldron Snout the river traverses a series of black basalt and dolerite rocks that intrude through the softer limestone. From this point downstream the Tees forms the boundary between the counties of Durham and Yorkshire almost without a break, although since 1974 much of it lies wholly in Durham. The dale widens below Cauldron Snout, and trees appear, contrasting with the rocks where the water descends over High Force. After a short turn northwards, the continues to meander south-easterly. Close to where the B6277 road begins to run parallel to the river is the 98-foot High Force waterfall, about 1 1⁄2 miles downstream is the smaller Low Force waterfall. The scenery becomes gentler and more picturesque as the river descends past Middleton-in-Teesdale and this locality has lead and ironstone resources. Just to the east of Middleton-in-Teesdale, the River Lune joins the Tees, after passing the village of Romaldkirk to the west, the river is joined by the River Balder at Cotherstone. The ancient town of Barnard Castle, Egglestone Abbey, and Rokeby Park, at Rokeby the Tees is joined by the River Greta. From the area near Eggleston, the river is crossing over millstone grit, from here the valley begins to open out, and traverses the rich plain east and south of Darlington in large meandering curves. The course of the valley down to here has been generally east-south-east, passing Ovington and Winston it runs parallel to the A67 south-east past Gainford and Piercebridge to Darlington, passing under the A1 and A66. The section from Piercebridge to Hurworth flows over magnesian limestone and it is at Croft-on-Tees that the River Skerne joins the Tees. The river now flows south past Croft-on-Tees before swinging northwards past Hurworth-on-Tees, a series of large meanders takes the course past Neasham, Low Dinsdale and Sockburn to Middleton St George
5.
Humber
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The Humber /ˈhʌmbər/ is a large tidal estuary on the east coast of Northern England. It is formed at Trent Falls, Faxfleet, by the confluence of the tidal rivers Ouse, from here to the North Sea, it forms part of the boundary between the East Riding of Yorkshire on the north bank and Lincolnshire on the south bank. Although the Humber is an estuary from the point at which it is formed, Ports on the Humber include the Port of Hull, Port of Grimsby, Port of Immingham, as well as lesser ports at New Holland and North Killingholme Haven. The estuary is navigable here for the largest of deep-sea vessels, inland connections for smaller craft are extensive but handle only one quarter of the goods traffic handled in the Thames. The Humber is now an estuary, when the world sea level was lower during the Ice Ages, the Humber had a long freshwater course across what was then the dry bed of the North Sea. In the Anglo-Saxon period, the Humber was a major boundary, the name Northumbria came from Anglo-Saxon Norðhymbre = the people north of the Humber. The Humber currently forms the boundary between the East Riding of Yorkshire, to the north and North and North East Lincolnshire, from 1974 to 1996, the areas now known as the East Riding of Yorkshire, North Lincolnshire and North East Lincolnshire constituted the county of Humberside. On 23 August 1921, the British airship R38 crashed into the estuary near Hull, the estuarys only modern crossing is the Humber Bridge, which was once the longest single-span suspension bridge in the world. Now it is the eighth longest, before the bridge was built in 1981, a series of paddle steamers operated from the Corporation Pier railway station at the Victoria Pier in Hull to the railway pier in New Holland. Steam ferries started in 1841, and in 1848 were purchased by the Manchester, Sheffield and they, and their successors, ran the ferry until the bridge opened in 1981. Although the railway to New Holland closed in 1977, passenger, the line of the bridge is similar to an ancient ferry route from Hessle to Barton upon Humber, which is noted in the Domesday Book and in a charter of 1281. The ferry was recorded as operating in 1856, into the railway era. The Humber was then one mile across, the Humber Forts were built in the mouth of the river for the First World War. Planned in 1914, their construction started in 1915 and they were not completed until 1919, a coastal battery at Easington, Fort Goodwin or Kilnsea Battery, faced the Bull Sands Fort. They were also garrisoned during the Second World War, and were abandoned for military use in 1956. Fort Paull is further downstream, a Napoleonic-era emplacement replaced in the early 20th century by Stallinborough Battery opposite Sunk Island, graham Boanas, a Hull man, is believed to be the first man to succeed in wading across the Humber since ancient Roman times. The feat, in August 2005, was attempted to cash and awareness for the medical research charity. He started his trek on the bank at Brough, four hours later
6.
Vale of Mowbray
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The Vale of Mowbray is a stretch of low-lying land between the North York Moors and the Hambleton Hills to the east and the Yorkshire Dales to the west. To the north lie the Tees Valley lowlands and to the south the Vale of Mowbray becomes the Vale of York proper, the Vale of Mowbray is distinguishable from the Vale of York by its meandering rivers and more undulating landscape. The main characteristic of the vale of Mowbray is the agricultural land used for crops and permanent grassland. The roads in the Vale of Mowbray are characteristically contained by low hedges with wide verges, the villages are often linear following the major through road, the houses are generally brick built with pantile roofs
7.
Humberhead Levels
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The national character area of the Humberhead Levels cover a large expanse of very flat, low-lying land towards the western end of the Humber estuary in northern England. The Levels occupies the area of the former Glacial Lake Humber, the area bounded to the east by the Yorkshire Wolds and the northern Lincolnshire Edge, a limestone escarpment, and to the west by the southern part of the Yorkshire magnesian limestone ridge. In the north the Levels merge with the more undulating Vale of York close to the Escrick glacial moraine. During the last ice age, a glacier extended across this area almost to where Doncaster now is, the main glacial front was at Escrick where the Escrick moraine marks its furthest extension. This formed the limit of an extensive lake which was impounded by the blocking of the Humber gap by another ice front. The lake bottom was gradually filled with sediments, which are up to 20 metres thick in some places. These clay sediments are overlain by peat deposits forming raised mires. At the base of the layers can be found the remains of a buried forest. The Humberhead levels have been settled for several thousand years, the drier northern area was settled before the Roman era. The lighter soils there were easier to drain with hand tools, the system of easily navigable rivers was used by invading late fifth- and sixth-century Angles and eighth- and ninth-century Vikings to penetrate deep into the countryside. Sea Level research in the area Humberhead Peatlands National Nature Reserve
8.
Howardian Hills
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The Howardian Hills take their name from the Howard family who still own local lands, and are located between the Yorkshire Wolds, the North York Moors National Park and the Vale of York. The Howardian Hills form 79 square miles of well-wooded undulating countryside between the flat agricultural Vales of Pickering and York, the irregular 558 feet high ridges of the Howardian Hills are a southern extension of the rocks of the Hambleton Hills in the North York Moors. Jurassic limestone and a network of pasture, extensive woodland, trees, on the eastern edge, the River Derwent cuts through the Hills in the Kirkham Gorge, a deep winding valley formed as an overflow channel from glacial Lake Pickering. Although there are no towns within the AONB, the towns of Helmsley. From Malton to Hovingham is a line of spring line villages, high grade arable land, pasture and managed woodland makes this rich farming country whose diversity contributes to its attractive rural character. Characteristic species include brown hare, lapwing, tree sparrow and barn owl as well as several local rarities such as knapweed broomrape, Kirkham Gorge on the River Derwent, Yorkshire is a unique glacial overflow channel of great scientific importance. Each of these attributes is important in its own right, as a working landscape, the interests of agriculture, forestry, rural enterprise and the economic and social needs of communities in the AONB are important. Providing advice, practical support and grant aid to farmers and landowners to protect and enhance wildlife habitat, working with the County Councils Rights of Way Team to improve access. Restoring historic field boundaries including hedgerows and stone walls, implementing habitat restoration and management projects. Safeguarding the historic environment by renovating traditional features and buildings, scutinising strategies and planning applications to avoid intrusive development. Bateman, J. Howardian Hills Field Collection Survey John Bateman, ampleforth Parish Council Village partly in the Howardian Hills AONB
