1.
Isle of Portland
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The Isle of Portland is a limestone tied island,6 kilometres long by 2.7 kilometres wide, in the English Channel. Portland is 8 kilometres south of the resort of Weymouth, forming the southernmost point of the county of Dorset, a barrier beach called the Chesil Beach joins it to the mainland. The A354 road passes down the Portland end of the beach, Portland and Weymouth together form the borough of Weymouth and Portland. The population of Portland is 12,400, Portland is a central part of the Jurassic Coast, a World Heritage Site on the Dorset and east Devon coast, important for its geology and landforms. Portland stone, famous for its use in British and world architecture, including St Pauls Cathedral, Portland Harbour, in between Portland and Weymouth, is one of the largest man-made harbours in the world. The harbour was made by the building of stone breakwaters between 1848 and 1905, the harbour is now a civilian port and popular recreation area, and was used for the 2012 Olympic Games. The name Portland is used for one of the British Sea Areas, the Romans occupied Portland, reputedly calling it Vindelis. The Vikings first raid on England occurred in Portland in 787 AD, three lost Viking ships from Hordaland landed at Portland Bill. The kings reeve tried to collect taxes from them, but they killed him, in 1539 King Henry VIII ordered the construction of Portland Castle for defence against attacks by the French, the castle cost £4,964. It is one of the best preserved castles from this period, well-known buildings in the capital, including St Pauls Cathedral and the eastern front of Buckingham Palace feature the stone. Portland cement has nothing to do with Portland, it was so named due to its colour to Portland stone when mixed with lime. There have been railways in Portland since the early 19th century, the Merchants Railway was the earliest—it opened in 1826 and ran from the quarries at the north of Tophill to a pier at Castletown, from where the Portland stone was shipped around the country. The line closed to passengers in 1952, and the goods train ran in April 1965. The Royal National Institution for the Preservation of Life from Shipwreck stationed a lifeboat at Portland in 1826, coastal flooding has affected Portlands residents and transport for centuries—the only way off the island by land is along the causeway in the lee of Chesil Beach. At times of extreme floods this road link is cut by floods, the low-lying village of Chiswell used to flood on average every 5 years. Chesil Beach occasionally faces severe storms and massive waves, which have a fetch across the Atlantic Ocean, in the 1980s it was agreed that a scheme to protect against a one-in-five-year storm would be practicable, it would reduce flood depth and duration in more severe storms. At the start of the First World War, HMS Hood was sunk in the passage between the southern breakwaters to protect the harbour from torpedo and submarine attack. Portland Harbour was formed by the construction of breakwaters, but before that the anchorage had hosted ships of the Royal Navy for more than 500 years
2.
Dorset
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Dorset /ˈdɔːrsᵻt/ is a county in South West England on the English Channel coast. The ceremonial county comprises the county, which is governed by Dorset County Council. Covering an area of 2,653 square kilometres, Dorset borders Devon to the west, Somerset to the north-west, Wiltshire to the north-east, the county town is Dorchester which is in the south. After the reorganisation of government in 1974 the countys border was extended eastward to incorporate the Hampshire towns of Bournemouth. Around half of the lives in the South East Dorset conurbation. The county has a history of human settlement stretching back to the Neolithic era. The Romans conquered Dorsets indigenous Celtic tribe, and during the early Middle Ages, the first recorded Viking raid on the British Isles occurred in Dorset during the eighth century, and the Black Death entered England at Melcombe Regis in 1348. During the Second World War, Dorset was heavily involved in the preparations for the invasion of Normandy, the former was the sailing venue in the 2012 Summer Olympics, and both have clubs or hire venues for sailing, Cornish pilot gig rowing, sea kayaking and powerboating. Dorset has a varied landscape featuring broad elevated chalk downs, steep limestone ridges, over half the county is designated as an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty. Three-quarters of its coastline is part of the Jurassic Coast Natural World Heritage Site due to its geological and it features notable landforms such as Lulworth Cove, the Isle of Portland, Chesil Beach and Durdle Door. Agriculture was traditionally the major industry of Dorset but is now in decline, there are no motorways in Dorset but a network of A roads cross the county and two railway main lines connect to London. Dorset has ports at Poole, Weymouth and Portland, and an international airport, the county has a variety of museums, theatres and festivals, and is host to one of Europes largest outdoor shows. It is the birthplace of Thomas Hardy, who used the county as the setting of his novels. Dorset derives its name from the county town of Dorchester, the Romans established the settlement in the 1st century and named it Durnovaria which was a Latinised version of a Common Brittonic word possibly meaning place with fist-sized pebbles. It is first mentioned in the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle in AD845 and in the 10th century the countys archaic name, the first human visitors to Dorset were Mesolithic hunters, from around 8000 BC. The first permanent Neolithic settlers appeared around 3000 BC and were responsible for the creation of the Dorset Cursus, from 2800 BC onwards Bronze Age farmers cleared Dorsets woodlands for agricultural use and Dorsets high chalk hills provided a location for numerous round barrows. During the Iron Age, the British tribe known as the Durotriges established a series of forts across the county—most notably Maiden Castle which is one of the largest in Europe. The Romans arrived in Dorset during their conquest of Britain in AD43, Maiden Castle was captured by a Roman legion under the command of Vespasian, and the Roman settlement of Durnovaria was established nearby
3.
2012 Summer Paralympics
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They were the first-ever organized sporting event for disabled athletes, and served as a precursor to the modern Paralympic Games. Stoke Mandeville also co-hosted the 1984 Summer Paralympics with Long Island, New York, after its original host, at the 117th IOC Session in Singapore, the rights to host the 2012 Summer Olympics and Paralympics were awarded to London. As with the Olympics, the 2012 Summer Paralympics were overseen by LOCOG, LOCOG was responsible for overseeing the staging of the games, while the ODA dealt with infrastructure and venues. The Government Olympic Executive within the Department for Culture, Media, the GOE reported through the DCMS Permanent Secretary to the Minister for Sports and the Olympics Hugh Robertson. It focused on oversight of the Games, cross-programme management and the London 2012 Olympic Legacy, the 2012 Summer Paralympics used many of the same venues as the 2012 Summer Olympics, along with two new locations such as Eton Manor for wheelchair tennis and Brands Hatch for road cycling. Londons purpose-built Olympic venues and facilities, including the Olympic Village itself, were designed to be accessible as possible so they could accommodate the Paralympics. Some venues also contained additional accessible seating areas during the Paralympics, transport for London operated the Paralympic Route Network to facilitate road traffic between venues and facilities. The network provided 8.7 miles of lanes specifically reserved for Paralympic athletes, TfL continued to operate its Get Ahead of the Games website during the Paralympics, which provided updates and advice for commuters during the Games. Prior to the Games, concerns were raised by TfL commissioner Peter Hendy that Londons transportation system might not be able to handle the Paralympics adequately, Sevenoaks railway station was designated as the preferred station for spectators travelling to watch the cycling at Brands Hatch. Organisers chose Sevenoaks over the closer Swanley railway station because of its existing step-free access and excellent transport links, whilst organisers did not believe that Swanley would be able to have wheelchair lifts installed by the start of the Paralympics, the station finished their installation by early August 2012. The formal handover occurred during the ceremony of the 2008 Summer Paralympics in Beijing. This was followed by a presentation by Britain, which was similar to its presentation during the Olympics closing ceremony. It featured urban dance group ZooNation, the Royal Ballet, and Candoco, a double-decker bus drove around the stadium, guided by Ade Adepitan, to music composed by Philip Sheppard. The top of the bus was open and folded down to show a privet hedge featuring London landmarks such as Tower Bridge, The Gherkin and the London Eye. Cherisse Osei, drummer for Mika, and Sam Hegedus then performed, before the top of the bus folded up into its original form, both the Paralympic and Olympic flags were formally raised outside of Londons City Hall on 26 September 2008. British Paralympians Helene Raynsford and Chris Holmes raised the Paralympic flag, on 8 September 2011 Trafalgar Square staged International Paralympic Day, hosted by Rick Edwards, Ade Adepitan and Iwan Thomas, to coincide with a visit to London by representatives of the IPC. The event celebrated the Paralympic Games, showcasing and demonstrating the 20 sports that would feature during the Games and it also featured appearances by Paralympic athletes Oscar Pistorius, Ellie Simmonds and Sascha Kindred, and the unveiling of a bronze statue of Pistorius by Ben Dearnley. British Prime Minister David Cameron and Londons mayor Boris Johnson also appeared, two days later on 10 September, supermarket chain Sainsburys and Channel 4 presented Sainsburys Super Saturday, a family event at Clapham Common
4.
Princess Royal
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Anne, Princess Royal, KG KT GCVO GCStJ QSO GCL CD is the second child and only daughter of Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh. At the time of her birth, she was third in the line of succession, behind her mother - then Princess Elizabeth - and she is currently 12th in line. Anne is known for her work, and is patron of over 200 organisations. Princess Anne has held the title of Princess Royal since 1987 and is its seventh holder, Anne was married to Captain Mark Phillips in 1973, they divorced in 1992. They have two children and three grandchildren, in 1992, within months of her divorce, Anne married Vice Admiral Sir Timothy Laurence, whom she had met while he served as her mothers equerry between 1986 and 1989. Anne was born at Clarence House on 15 August 1950 at 11,50 am, as the child and only daughter of Princess Elizabeth, Duchess of Edinburgh. She was the grandchild of King George VI and Queen Elizabeth. Anne was baptised in the Music Room of Buckingham Palace on 21 October 1950, by Archbishop of York, after the death of George VI, Annes mother ascended the throne as Queen Elizabeth II. Given her young age at the time, she did not attend the coronation, the Company was active until 1963, when Anne went to boarding school. Anne enrolled at Benenden School in 1963, in 1968 she left school with six GCE O-Levels and two A-Levels. In the next couple of years, Anne started dating, in 1970 her first boyfriend was Andrew Parker Bowles, who later became the first husband of Camilla Shand. Following the wedding, Anne and her husband lived at Gatcombe Park and he was made acting captain by the start of 1974 when he was appointed a personal aide-de-camp to Queen Elizabeth II. By 1989, however, Princess Anne and Mark Phillips announced their intention to separate, the couple divorced on 23 April 1992. The Queen had offered Phillips an earldom on his wedding day, the couple had two children, Peter Phillips and Zara Phillips. As female-line descendants of royalty, the children have no title despite being the grandchildren of a monarch, Anne became a grandmother on 29 December 2010 when Peter and his wife Autumn had a daughter, Savannah. On 29 March 2012, the couple had daughter, Isla. Annes third granddaughter, Mia Grace, was born on 17 January 2014 to Zara and her husband Mike Tindall. As Princess Anne and Mark Phillips were returning to Buckingham Palace on 20 March 1974, from a charity event on Pall Mall, the driver of the Escort, Ian Ball, jumped out and began firing a pistol
5.
South West England
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South West England is one of nine official regions of England. It is the largest in area, covering 9,200 square miles, five million people live in South West England. The region includes the West Country and much of the ancient kingdom of Wessex, other major urban centres include Plymouth, Swindon, Gloucester, Cheltenham, Exeter, Bath, Torbay, and the South East Dorset conurbation. There are eight cities, Salisbury, Bath, Wells, Bristol, Gloucester, Exeter, Plymouth and it includes two entire national parks, Dartmoor and Exmoor, and four World Heritage Sites, including Stonehenge and the Jurassic Coast. The northern part of Gloucestershire, near Chipping Campden, is as close to the Scottish border as it is to the tip of Cornwall, the region has by far the longest coastline in England and many seaside fishing towns. The region is at the first-level of NUTS for Eurostat purposes, key data and facts about the region are produced by the South West Observatory. Following the abolition of the South West Regional Assembly and Government Office, the region is known for its rich folklore, including the legend of King Arthur and Glastonbury Tor, as well as its traditions and customs. Cornwall has its own language, Cornish, and some regard it as a Celtic nation, the South West of England is known for Cheddar cheese, which originated in the Somerset village of Cheddar, Devon cream teas, crabs, Cornish pasties, and cider. It is also home to the Eden Project, Aardman Animations, the Glastonbury Festival, most of the region is located on the South West Peninsula, between the English Channel and Bristol Channel. It has the longest coastline of all the English regions, totalling over 700 miles, much of the coast is now protected from further substantial development because of its environmental importance, which contributes to the region’s attractiveness to tourists and residents. Geologically the region is divided into the largely igneous and metamorphic west and sedimentary east, Cornwall and West Devons landscape is of rocky coastline and high moorland, notably at Bodmin Moor and Dartmoor. These are due to the granite and slate that underlie the area, the highest point of the region is High Willhays, at 2,038 feet, on Dartmoor. In North Devon the slates of the west and limestones of the east meet at Exmoor National Park, the variety of rocks of similar ages seen here have led to the countys name being lent to that of the Devonian period. The east of the region is characterised by wide, flat clay vales and chalk, the vales, with good irrigation, are home to the regions dairy agriculture. The Blackmore Vale was Thomas Hardys Vale of the Little Dairies, another and these downs are the principal area of arable agriculture in the region. Limestone is also found in the region, at the Cotswolds, Quantock Hills and Mendip Hills, all of the principal rock types can be seen on the Jurassic Coast of Dorset and East Devon, where they document the entire Mesozoic era from west to east. The climate of South West England is classed as oceanic according to the Köppen climate classification, the oceanic climate typically experiences cool winters with warmer summers and precipitation all year round, with more experienced in winter. Annual rainfall is about 1,000 millimetres and up to 2,000 millimetres on higher ground, summer maxima averages range from 18 °C to 22 °C and winter minimum averages range from 1 °C to 4 °C across the south-west
6.
London
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London /ˈlʌndən/ is the capital and most populous city of England and the United Kingdom. Standing on the River Thames in the south east of the island of Great Britain and it was founded by the Romans, who named it Londinium. Londons ancient core, the City of London, largely retains its 1. 12-square-mile medieval boundaries. London is a global city in the arts, commerce, education, entertainment, fashion, finance, healthcare, media, professional services, research and development, tourism. It is crowned as the worlds largest financial centre and has the fifth- or sixth-largest metropolitan area GDP in the world, London is a world cultural capital. It is the worlds most-visited city as measured by international arrivals and has the worlds largest city airport system measured by passenger traffic, London is the worlds leading investment destination, hosting more international retailers and ultra high-net-worth individuals than any other city. Londons universities form the largest concentration of education institutes in Europe. In 2012, London became the first city to have hosted the modern Summer Olympic Games three times, London has a diverse range of people and cultures, and more than 300 languages are spoken in the region. Its estimated mid-2015 municipal population was 8,673,713, the largest of any city in the European Union, Londons urban area is the second most populous in the EU, after Paris, with 9,787,426 inhabitants at the 2011 census. The citys metropolitan area is the most populous in the EU with 13,879,757 inhabitants, the city-region therefore has a similar land area and population to that of the New York metropolitan area. London was the worlds most populous city from around 1831 to 1925, Other famous landmarks include Buckingham Palace, the London Eye, Piccadilly Circus, St Pauls Cathedral, Tower Bridge, Trafalgar Square, and The Shard. The London Underground is the oldest underground railway network in the world, the etymology of London is uncertain. It is an ancient name, found in sources from the 2nd century and it is recorded c.121 as Londinium, which points to Romano-British origin, and hand-written Roman tablets recovered in the city originating from AD 65/70-80 include the word Londinio. The earliest attempted explanation, now disregarded, is attributed to Geoffrey of Monmouth in Historia Regum Britanniae and this had it that the name originated from a supposed King Lud, who had allegedly taken over the city and named it Kaerlud. From 1898, it was accepted that the name was of Celtic origin and meant place belonging to a man called *Londinos. The ultimate difficulty lies in reconciling the Latin form Londinium with the modern Welsh Llundain, which should demand a form *lōndinion, from earlier *loundiniom. The possibility cannot be ruled out that the Welsh name was borrowed back in from English at a later date, and thus cannot be used as a basis from which to reconstruct the original name. Until 1889, the name London officially applied only to the City of London, two recent discoveries indicate probable very early settlements near the Thames in the London area
7.
Chesil Beach
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Chesil Beach /ˈtʃɛzᵻl/, sometimes called Chesil Bank, in Dorset, southern England is one of three major shingle structures in Britain. Its toponym is derived from the Old English ceosel or cisel, the shingle beach is 29 kilometres long,200 metres wide and 15 metres high. The beach and the Fleet are part of the Jurassic Coast, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, at the eastern end of the beach at the village of Chiswell, against the cliffs of the Isle of Portland, the beach curves round sharply to form Chesil Cove. This part of the beach protects the village from flooding. The beach has been the scene of many shipwrecks, and as such was named by Thomas Hardy as Dead Mans Bay, westwards the shingle forms a straight line along the coast, enclosing the Fleet, a shallow tidal lagoon. The beach provides shelter from the winds and waves for the town of Weymouth. It is said that smugglers who landed on the beach in the middle of the night could judge exactly where they were by the size of the shingle, there are three owners of the beach. The Crown Estates own the beach from Portland to its boundary stone at Littlesea, finally from West Bexington to West Bay it is owned by the National Trust. The whole of Chesil Beach south from the Portland Bound Stone is registered common land over which there is a right of access on foot. The origin of Chesil Beach has been argued over for some time, originally it was believed that beach material was from the Budleigh Salterton pebble beds to the west and later from Portland to the south east. Normally, tombolos are created due to the effects of the island on waves and to sediment transport, fossils occur all along the landward shore of the Fleet and along the landward side of Chesil Beach from Abbotsbury to West Bay. The main site is at Burton Bradstock, there have been many shipwrecks on Chesil Beach, particularly during the age of sail. The beach was particularly dangerous within the English Channel, as it forms an extended lee shore during south-westerly gales, a ship coming up the Channel had to clear Portland Bill to be safe, but the wind and tide would be pushing it northwards into Lyme Bay. At present there are no manned stations along the beach, as coverage is provided when required from Portland Coastguard, the local fishermen, particularly at Portland, developed a purpose-built vessel to withstand the sea actions of Chesil Beach. The boat, known as a Lerret, is an open fishing boat - 16–17 feet long - used for seine net fishing. It is usually rowed by four people with a fifth to steer, much of the villages Fleet and Chiswell were destroyed in the Great Storm of 1824. Over the centuries Chiswell had battled with the sea and was flooded during rough winter storms. In the storms the sea would pour through the part of the bank
8.
Hoist (device)
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A hoist is a device used for lifting or lowering a load by means of a drum or lift-wheel around which rope or chain wraps. It may be operated, electrically or pneumatically driven and may use chain. The load is attached to the hoist by means of a lifting hook, the basic hoist has two important characteristics to define it, Lifting medium and power type. The lifting medium is either wire rope, wrapped around a drum, or load-chain, the power can be provided by different means. Common means are hydraulics, electrical and air driven motors, both the wire rope hoist and chain hoist have been in common use since the 1800s, however mass production of an electric hoist did not start until the early 1900s and was first adapted by Germany. A hoist can be built as one unit, designed for cost-effective purchasing and moderate use, or it can be built as a built-up custom unit, designed for durability. The built-up hoist will be more expensive, but will also be easier to repair. Package units were regarded as being designed for light to moderate usage. Built-up units are designed for heavy to severe service, but over the years that market has decreased in size since the advent of the more durable packaged hoist. A machine shop or fabricating shop will use an integral-package hoist, while a Steel Mill or NASA would use a unit to meet durability, performance. NASA has also seen a change in the use of package hoists, the NASA Astronaut training pool, for example, utilizes cranes with packaged hoists. The more commonly used hoist in todays worldwide market is an electrically powered hoist and these are either the chain type or the wire rope type. See the Hoists Manufacturers Institute site for true life calculation which is based on load, in todays modern world for the North American market there are a few governing bodies for the industry. The Overhead Alliance is a group that represents Crane Manufacturers Association of America, Hoist Manufacturers Institute and these product counsels of the Material Handling Industry of America have joined forces to create promotional materials to raise the awareness of the benefits to overhead lifting. The members of group are marketing representatives of the member companies. Common small portable hoists are of two types, the chain hoist or chain block and the wire rope or cable type. Chain hoists may have a lever to actuate the hoist or have a loop of operating chain that one pulls through the block which then activates the block to take up the main lifting chain. For a given rated load wire rope is lighter in weight per unit length, the lift chain of a chain hoist is far larger than the liftwheel over which chain may function
9.
2004 Summer Olympics
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10,625 athletes competed, some 600 more than expected, accompanied by 5,501 team officials from 201 countries. There were 301 medal events in 28 different sports, Athens 2004 marked the first time since the 1996 Summer Olympics that all countries with a National Olympic Committee were in attendance. 2004 marked the return of the games to the city where they began, a new medal obverse was introduced at these Games, replacing the design by Giuseppe Cassioli that had been used since the 1928 Games. This rectified the long lasting mistake of using a depiction of the Roman Colosseum rather than a Greek venue, the new design features the Panathenaic Stadium. The cost of the 2004 Athens Summer Games has been cited as a contributor to the Greek government-debt crisis, some of the venues lie vacant and rotting, while others are in use, the Independent newspaper reports as many as 21 out of 22 are unused. The final medal tally was led by the United States, followed by China, several World and Olympics records were broken during the games. Several concerns were raised over the preparations of the Games and these included excessive budget overruns, infrastructural compromise, the games were deemed generally successful with the rising standard of competition amongst nations across the world. Athens was chosen as the host city during the 106th IOC Session held in Lausanne on 5 September 1997, Athens had lost its bid to organize the 1996 Summer Olympics to Atlanta nearly seven years before on 18 September 1990, during the 96th IOC Session in Tokyo. 1996 coincided with the 100th Anniversary of the first modern Olympics, under the direction of Gianna Angelopoulos-Daskalaki, Athens pursued another bid, this time for the right to host the Summer Olympics in 2004. After leading all voting rounds, Athens easily defeated Rome in the 5th, cape Town, Stockholm, and Buenos Aires, the three other cities that made the IOC shortlist, were eliminated in prior rounds of voting. Six other cities submitted applications, but their bids were dropped by the IOC in 1996 and these cities were Istanbul, Lille, Rio de Janeiro, San Juan, Seville, Saint Petersburg and Cali. The 2004 Summer Olympic Games cost the Government of Greece €8.954 billion to stage, the Athens 2004 Organizing Committee, responsible for the preparation and organisation of the games, concluded its operations as a company in 2005 with a surplus of €130.6 million. ATHOC contributed €123.6 million of the surplus to the Greek State to cover other related expenditures of the Greek State in organizing of the games, as a result, ATHOC reported in its official published accounts a net profit of €7 million. The State’s contribution to the total ATHOC budget was 8% of its expenditure against an originally anticipated 14%, the overall revenue of ATHOC, including income from tickets, sponsors, broadcasting rights, merchandise sales etc. totalled €2,098.4 million. The largest percentage of income came from broadcasting rights. The overall expenditure of ATHOC was €1,967.8 million. e, the large projects required for the upgrade of the country’s infrastructure, including sports infrastructure, roads, airports, hospitals, power grid etc. This cost, however, is not directly attributable to the organisation of the Games. Such infrastructure projects are considered by all standards as fixed asset investments that stay with the hosting country for decades after the Games
10.
South Western main line
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The South Western Main Line is a major British railway between London Waterloo and Weymouth on the south coast of England. A predominantly passenger line, it serves many areas including suburbs of London such as around Hampton Court Palace. It runs through Greater London, Surrey, Hampshire and Dorset and it briefly runs alongside the Windsor and Reading Lines which terminate also at London Waterloo. Together with these, it forms the core of the built by the London. Network Rail refers to it as the South West Mainline, much of the line is relatively high-speed, with large stretches cleared for up to 100 mph running. Tourist special services to a lesser frequency use the line such as the Cathedrals Express and Alton is a connection to a shorter heritage service. In 1831, the Southampton, London & Branch Railway and Docks Company was formed, the company planned to build a railway line to Southampton, but were also interested in building a line from halfway down their route towards Bristol via Newbury and Devizes. In that year the Basingstoke Canal company suggested instead that a link be built between their canal, built 1794, and the Itchen Navigation, the suggestion was rejected by those working on the railway plans and the canal company agreed not to oppose the railway. The chosen route to Southampton was not direct as it adopted a compromise axis about one third of the way down for a westward Bristol line and this axis terminates shortly after the conurbation on the line of Basingstoke, then an agrarian market town. The route therefore missed the towns of Guildford, Farnham and Alton which would have boosted early revenue, the town of Winchester north of Southampton was included in the built and in the unbuilt proposal, seeing its station open in 1839. The Great Western Railway secured its patrons for a far more direct route to Bristol, the GWR received Parliamentary authority and shortly afterwards the Southampton railway. The SL&BRDC held to its route including Basingstoke, though changed its name to the London and Southampton Railway. The first section to be opened was from Nine Elms, the LSWRs first London terminus, in Battersea, to Woking on 21 May 1838. This last section was the most difficult on the route with an initial climb necessitating earthworks to Litchfield Tunnel. The Southampton and Dorchester Railway was also formed and built a line from 1845 to 1847 from Southampton to Dorchester and it avoided Bournemouth, then barely a village, and ran via Wimborne Minster and Ringwood before reaching Dorchester. It took a route, which followed the easiest-to-construct links rather than linking settlements in a straight line. Initially, Poole was served by a branch from Hamworthy to a station on the side of Holes Bay. The Ringwood line was nicknamed as Castlemans Corkscrew after Charles Castleman, the line was originally planned to continue towards Exeter, but this never came into effect
11.
London Waterloo station
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Waterloo main line station is one of 19 in the country that are managed by Network Rail and the station complex is in fare zone 1. The first railway station on site opened in 1848, the present structure was inaugurated in 1922. Part of the station is a Grade II listed building, with just under 100 million National Rail passenger entries/exits in 2015/16, Waterloo is Britains busiest railway station by patronage. Waterloo railway station alone is the 15th-busiest passenger station in Europe, however, including National Rail interchanges, the Underground station, and Waterloo East, the complex handled a total of 211 million passengers in the 2015/2016 financial year. It is therefore the busiest transport hub in Europe and it has more platforms and a greater floor area than any other station in the UK. The station was the London terminus for Eurostar international trains from 1994 until 2007, the London and South Western Railway opened the station on 11 July 1848 as Waterloo Bridge Station when its main line was extended from Nine Elms. The station, designed by William Tite, was raised above ground on a series of arches. The unfulfilled intention was for a station with services to the City of London. In 1886, it officially became Waterloo Station, reflecting long-standing common usage, the L&SWRs aim throughout much of the 19th century was to extend its main line eastward beyond Waterloo into the City of London. Given this, it was reluctant to construct a grand terminus at Waterloo. However traffic and passenger usage continued to grow and the company expanded the station at regular intervals and this resulted in the station becoming increasingly ramshackle. The original 1848 station became known as the Central Station as other platforms were added, each of these stations-within-a-station had its own booking office, taxi stand and public entrances from the street, as well as often poorly marked and confusing access to the rest of the station. Passengers were, not surprisingly, confused by the layout and by the two adjacent stations called Waterloo, from 1897 there had also been the adjacent Necropolis Company station. This complexity and confusion became the butt of jokes by writers and music hall comics for many years in the late 19th century, by the late 1890s the L&SWR accepted that main-line access to the City was impossible. In 1898, the company opened the Waterloo & City line and this gave the company the direct commuter service it had long desired. Legal powers to carry out the work were granted in 1899 and extensive groundwork and slum clearance were carried out until 1904, the new station was opened in stages, the first five new platforms being opened in 1910. The engineers J. W. Jacomb-Hood and Alfred Weeks Szlumper designed the roof and platforms, construction continued sporadically throughout the First World War, and the new station finally opened in 1922, with 21 platforms and a concourse nearly 800 feet long. The new station included a stained glass window depicting the L&SWRs company crest over the main road entrance
12.
Bristol Temple Meads railway station
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Bristol Temple Meads is the oldest and largest railway station in Bristol, England. It is an important transport hub for transport in the city. In addition to the services there are bus services to many parts of the city and surrounding districts. Bristols other main station, Bristol Parkway, is on the northern outskirts of the conurbation. Temple Meads was opened on 31 August 1840 as the terminus of the Great Western Railway from London Paddington,116 miles 31 chains from Paddington. The railway was the first one designed by the British engineer Isambard Kingdom Brunel, soon the station was also used by the Bristol and Exeter Railway, the Bristol and Gloucester Railway, the Bristol Harbour Railway and the Bristol and South Wales Union Railway. To accommodate the number of trains, the station was expanded in the 1870s by Francis Fox. Brunels terminus is no part of the operational station. The historical significance of the station has been noted, and most of the site is Grade I listed, the platforms are numbered 1 to 15 but passenger trains are confined to just eight tracks. Most platforms are numbered separately at each end, with odd numbers at the east end, Platform 2 is not signalled for passenger trains, and there is no platform 14. Temple Meads is managed by Network Rail and the majority of services are operated by the present-day Great Western Railway, other operators are CrossCountry and South West Trains. In the 12 months to March 2014,9.5 million entries, the name Temple Meads derives from the nearby Temple Church, which was gutted by bombing during World War II. The word meads is a derivation of mæd, an Old English variation of mædwe, meadow, as late as 1820 the site was undeveloped pasture outside the boundaries of the old city, some distance from the commercial centre. It lay between the Floating Harbour and the cattle market, which was built in 1830. The original terminus was built in 1839–41 for the Great Western Railway, the first passenger railway in Bristol, and was designed by Isambard Kingdom Brunel and it was built to Brunels 7 ft broad gauge. The station was on a viaduct to raise it above the level of the Floating Harbour and River Avon, the latter being crossed via the grade I listed Avon Bridge. The station was covered by a 200-foot train shed, extended beyond the platforms by 155 feet into a storage area, Train services to Bath commenced on 31 August 1840 and were extended to Paddington on 30 June 1841 following the completion of Box Tunnel. A few weeks before the start of the services to Paddington the Bristol and Exeter Railway had opened, on 14 June 1841, its trains reversing in and out of the GWR station
