1.
United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland
–
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland was established as a sovereign state on 1 January 1801 by the Acts of Union 1800, which merged the kingdoms of Great Britain and Ireland. The growing desire for an Irish Republic led to the Irish War of Independence, Northern Ireland remained part of the United Kingdom, and the state was consequently renamed the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland. Britain financed the European coalition that defeated France in 1815 in the Napoleonic Wars, the British Empire thereby became the foremost world power for the next century. The Crimean War with Russia and the Boer wars were relatively small operations in a largely peaceful century, rapid industrialisation that began in the decades prior to the states formation continued up until the mid-19th century. A devastating famine, exacerbated by government inaction in the century, led to demographic collapse in much of Ireland. It was an era of economic modernization and growth of industry, trade and finance. Outward migration was heavy to the colonies and to the United States. Britain also built up a large British Empire in Africa and Asia, India, by far the most important possession, saw a short-lived revolt in 1857. In foreign policy Britain favoured free trade, which enabled its financiers and merchants to operate successfully in many otherwise independent countries, as in South America. Britain formed no permanent military alliances until the early 20th century, when it began to cooperate with Japan, France and Russia, and moved closer to the United States. A brief period of limited independence for Ireland came to an end following the Irish Rebellion of 1798, the British governments fear of an independent Ireland siding against them with the French resulted in the decision to unite the two countries. This was brought about by legislation in the parliaments of both kingdoms and came into effect on 1 January 1801, however, King George III was bitterly opposed to any such Emancipation and succeeded in defeating his governments attempts to introduce it. When the Treaty of Amiens ended the war, Britain agreed to return most of the territories it had seized, in May 1803, war was declared again. In 1806, Napoleon issued the series of Berlin Decrees, which brought into effect the Continental System and this policy aimed to eliminate the threat from the British by closing French-controlled territory to foreign trade. Frances population and agricultural capacity far outstripped that of the British Isles, Napoleon expected that cutting Britain off from the European mainland would end its economic hegemony. The Spanish uprising in 1808 at last permitted Britain to gain a foothold on the Continent, after Napoleons surrender and exile to the island of Elba, peace appeared to have returned. The Allies united and the armies of Wellington and Blucher defeated Napoleon once, simultaneous with the Napoleonic Wars, trade disputes, arming hostile Indians and British impressment of American sailors led to the War of 1812 with the United States. The war was little noticed in Britain, which could devote few resources to the conflict until the fall of Napoleon in 1814, American frigates inflicted a series of defeats on the Royal Navy, which was short on manpower due to the conflict in Europe
2.
Sanitary sewer
–
A sanitary sewer or foul sewer is an underground carriage system specifically for transporting sewage from houses and commercial buildings through pipes to treatment or disposal. Sanitary sewers are part of a system called sewerage or sewage system. Sewage may be treated to water pollution before discharge to surface waters. Sanitary sewers serving industrial areas also carry industrial wastewater, separate sanitary sewer systems are designed to transport sewage alone. In municipalities served by sewers, separate storm drains may be constructed to convey surface runoff directly to surface waters. Sanitary sewers are distinguished from combined sewers, which combine sewage with stormwater runoff in the same pipe, sanitary sewer systems are considered beneficial because they avoid combined sewer overflows. To overcome these disadvantages, some cities built separate sanitary sewers to collect only municipal wastewater, the decision between a combined sewer system or two separate systems is mainly based on need for sewage treatment and cost of providing treatment during heavy rain events. Many cities with combined sewer systems built prior to sewage treatment have not replaced those sewer systems, in the developed world, sewers are pipes from buildings to one or more levels of larger underground trunk mains, which transport the sewage to sewage treatment facilities. Vertical pipes, usually made of precast concrete, called manholes, depending upon site application and use, these vertical pipes can be cylindrical, eccentric or concentric. The manholes are used for access to the pipes for inspection and maintenance. They also facilitate vertical and horizontal angles in otherwise straight pipelines, pipes conveying sewage from an individual building to a common gravity sewer line are called laterals. Branch sewers typically run under streets receiving laterals from buildings along that street, larger cities may have sewers called interceptors receiving flow from multiple trunk sewers. Design and sizing of sanitary sewers considers the population to be served over the life of the sewer, per capita wastewater production. Commercial and industrial flows are considered, but diversion of surface runoff to storm drains eliminates wet weather flow peaks of inefficient combined sewers. Pumps may be necessary where gravity sewers serve areas at lower elevations than the treatment plant. A lift station is a gravity sewer sump with a pump to lift accumulated sewage to a higher elevation, the pump may discharge to another gravity sewer at that location or may discharge through a pressurized force main to some distant location. Most of the solids are removed by the tanks, so the treatment plant can be much smaller than a typical plant. In addition, because of the vast reduction in solid waste, because the wastestream is pressurized, they can be laid just below the ground surface along the lands contour
3.
Blackheath, London
–
Blackheath is an area of south-east London, divided between the Royal Borough of Greenwich and the London Borough of Lewisham, located east of the town of Lewisham, and south of the town of Greenwich. It is notable for its pubs, village-y feel. The name is recorded in 1166 as Blachehedfeld and means the dark coloured heathland and it is formed from the Old English blæc and hǣth and refers to the open space that was the meeting place of the ancient hundred of Blackheath. The name was applied to the Victorian suburb that developed in the 19th century and was extended to the areas known as Blackheath Park. An urban myth is that Blackheath was associated with the 1665 Plague or the Black Death of the mid-14th century, virtually every part of London has a local tradition about plague pits under, say, a local school or shop. The sheer number of bodies meant that the traditional churchyards became, as one put it. During the seventeenth century Blackheath was, along with Hounslow Heath, in 1673 the Blackheath Army was assembled under Marshal Schomberg to serve in the Third Anglo-Dutch War. The Roman road that became known as Watling Street crosses the northern edge of Blackheath, probably heading for the mouth of Deptford Creek. Blackheath was a point for Wat Tylers Peasants Revolt of 1381. Wat Tyler is remembered by Wat Tyler Road on the heath, after pitching camp on Blackheath, Cornish rebels were defeated in the Battle of Deptford Bridge, just to the west, on 17 June 1497. With Watling Street carrying stagecoaches across the heath, en route to north Kent, in 1909 Blackheath had a local branch of the London Society for Womens Suffrage. The Vanbrugh Pits are on the north-east part of the heath, the site of old gravel workings, Vanbrugh Pits have long been reclaimed by nature and form one of the more attractive parts of the generally rather flat Blackheath. It is particularly attractive in spring when the extensive gorse blossoms, the pits are named after Sir John Vanbrugh, architect of Blenheim Palace and Castle Howard, who had a house nearby, adjacent to Greenwich Park, now called Vanbrugh Castle. Mince Pie House built for his family, survived until 1911, the sizeable estate of Blackheath Park, created on lands of Wricklemarsh Manor by John Cator is situated east of Blackheath. The Cator Estate was built on part of the formerly owned by Sir John Morden. The Cator Estate also contains innovative 1960s Span houses and flats by the renowned Span Developments, St Michael and All Angels Church, designed by local architect George Smith and completed in 1830, was dubbed the Needle of Kent in honour of its tall, thin spire. All Saints Church, situated on the heath, designed by the architect Benjamin Ferrey, another Anglican church, St John the Evangelists, was designed in 1853 by Arthur Ashpitel. The Pagoda is an example of a beautiful property situated in Blackheath
4.
Water supply
–
Water supply is the provision of water by public utilities commercial organisations, community endeavors or by individuals, usually via a system of pumps and pipes. However, about 14% did not have access to a water source and had to use unprotected wells or springs, canals. A clean water supply - in particular water that is not polluted with fecal matter from lack of sanitation - is the single most important determinant of public health. Destruction of water supply and/or sanitation infrastructure after major catastrophes poses the threat of severe epidemics of waterborne diseases. Water supply systems get water from a variety of locations after appropriate treatment, including groundwater, surface water, the water treatment steps include, in most cases, purification, disinfection through chlorination and sometimes fluoridation. Treated water then flows by gravity or is pumped to reservoirs. In the U. S, the single family home uses about 69.3 gallons of water per day. This includes toilet use, washing machine use, showers, baths, tap use, many of the 3.5 billion people having access to piped water receive a poor or very poor quality of service, especially in developing countries where about 80% of the world population lives. Water supply service quality has many dimensions, continuity, water quality, pressure, and it is estimated that about half of the population of developing countries receives water on an intermittent basis. Drinking water quality has a micro-biological and a physico-chemical dimension, there are thousands of parameters of water quality. For more details, please see the entries on water quality, water treatment. Water pressures vary in different locations of a distribution system, Water mains below the street may operate at higher pressures, with a pressure reducer located at each point where the water enters a building or a house. In poorly managed systems, water pressure can be so low as to only in a trickle of water or so high that it leads to damage to plumbing fixtures. Typical UK pressures are 4–5 bar for an urban supply, however, some people can get over eight bars or below one bar. A single iron main pipe may cross a valley, it will have the same nominal pressure. So people at the bottom of a 100-foot hill will get about 3 bars more than those at the top, the effective pressure also varies because of the pressure loss due to supply resistance even for the same static pressure. An urban consumer may have 5 metres of 15 mm pipe running from the main, so the kitchen tap flow will be fairly unrestricted. A rural consumer may have a kilometre of rusted and limed 22 mm iron pipe, for this reason, the UK domestic water system has traditionally employed a cistern feed system, where the incoming supply is connected to the kitchen sink and also a header/storage tank in the attic
5.
Marc Isambard Brunel
–
Sir Marc Isambard Brunel, FRS FRSE was a French-born engineer who settled in England. He preferred the name Isambard, but is known to history as Marc to avoid confusion with his more famous son Isambard Kingdom Brunel. His most famous achievement was the construction of the Thames Tunnel, Brunel was the second son of Jean Charles Brunel and Marie Victoire Lefebvre. Jean Charles was a farmer in Hacqueville, Normandy. It was customary for the first son to inherit the farm and his father therefore started Marc on a classical education, but he showed no liking for Greek or Latin and instead showed himself proficient in drawing and mathematics. He was also very musical from an early age, at the age of eleven he was sent to a seminary in Rouen. The superior of the seminary allowed him to learn carpentry, and he also sketched ships in the local harbour. As he showed no desire to become a priest, his father sent him to stay with relatives in Rouen, in 1786, as a result of this tuition, Marc became a naval cadet on a French frigate and during his service visited the West Indies several times. He made a quadrant for himself of brass and ivory, during Brunels service abroad, the French Revolution began, in 1789. In January 1792, Brunels frigate paid off its crew, and he was a Royalist sympathiser, as were most inhabitants of Normandy. In January 1793, whilst visiting Paris during the trial of Louis XVI, Brunel unwisely publicly predicted the demise of Robespierre and he was lucky to get out of Paris with his life, and returned to Rouen. However it was evident that he would have to leave France, during his stay in Rouen, Brunel had met Sophia Kingdom, a young Englishwoman who was an orphan and was working as a governess. Unfortunately he was forced to leave her behind when he fled to Le Havre and boarded the American ship Liberty, Brunel arrived in New York on 6 September 1793, and he subsequently travelled to Philadelphia and Albany. He got involved in a scheme to link the Hudson River by canal with Lake Champlain, the judges were very impressed with the design, but it was not selected. In 1796, after taking American citizenship, Brunel was appointed Chief Engineer of the city of New York and he designed various houses, docks, commercial buildings, an arsenal, and a cannon factory. No official records exist of the projects that he carried out in New York, in 1798, during a dinner conversation, Brunel learnt of the difficulties that the Royal Navy had in obtaining the 100,000 pulley blocks that it required each year to fit out its ships. Each of these was being made by hand, Brunel quickly produced an outline design of a machine that would automate the production of pulley blocks. He decided to sail to England and put his invention before the Admiralty and he sailed for England on 7 February 1799 with a letter of introduction to the Navy Minister, and on 7 March his ship, Halifax landed at Falmouth
6.
Francis Giles
–
Francis Giles was a canal engineer and surveyor who worked under John Rennie and later became a railway engineer. Kent & Sussex Junction Canal 1811 – with Netlam Giles surveyed the route as part of John Rennies check of Alexander Sutherlands work, stort - Cam Canal 1811 – re-surveyed the route with Netlam Giles under the direction of John Rennie. Western Union Canal project 1819 – plan of the canal for the Kennet & Avon Canal committee, river Ivel –1821 – costed river navigation from Biggleswade to Langford Bridge and to Hitchin and Baldock. River Ivel 1822 – costed river navigation to Shefford, aire & Calder Navigation – Wakefield Section 1822 - worked on alternative schemes based on John Rennines plans for deepening the river to 7 feet and to take 100 ton craft. Hertford Union Canal 1824 – appointed engineer, hants & Berks Junction Canal 1825 – surveyed proposed a 13 mile canal with a half-mile tunnel, one inclined plane and a number of locks. London to Portsmouth Ship Canal –1825 – took levels for the scheme of John Rennie, James Elmes. Liverpool Canal project 1830 – proposed route linking the Bridgewater, Sankey and Mersey & Irwell by a Mersey aqueduct, birmingham and Warwick Junction Canal 1830 – appointed engineer. Sankey Brook Navigation 1831 – appointed engineer for extension to Widnes, river Lee – surveyed the river and recommended that the number of locks be reduced to 17 from the 25 principal locks and 3 half locks. Newcastle and Carlisle Railway – appointed engineer London and Southampton Railway 1831 – appointed engineer, Rennie organised the opposition to George Stephensons route for the Liverpool and Manchester Railway. He made sure Giles was called as a witness, Giles famously stated, No engineer in his senses would go through Chat Moss if he wanted to make a railway from Liverpool to Manchester. In my judgement a railroad certainly cannot be made over Chat Moss without going to the bottom of the Moss. Giles was appointed engineer of the London & Southampton Railway in 1831, as a result of overestimate of the costs and difficulty of crossing Chat Moss he was regarded as a cautious and safe man. However he greatly underestimated the cost of building the London and Southampton and soon got into difficulties, stephenson was highly critical stating that the whole wealth of the company would be forever buried. In the St Georges Hill cutting at Weybridge, there were extensive delays and costs escalated out of hand. Giles came in for considerable criticism, at the time he was also surveying the Portsmouth Junction Railway and had become engineer to Southampton Docks. His original estimate of 1834 of £894,874 was amended to £1,507,753 in 1836, lancashire shareholders, demanded the figures be confirmed by another engineer, but even then should Giles remain in office, they recommend that no further capital should be forthcoming. Giles was dismissed and Joseph Locke appointed in his place, jim Sheads web page Francis Giles 1787–1847 Bull Wall RIVER IVEL NAVIGATION at the Wayback Machine The London & South Western Railway, Williams, R. A
7.
Hamburg
–
Hamburg, officially Freie und Hansestadt Hamburg, is the second largest city in Germany and the eighth largest city in the European Union. It is the second smallest German state by area and its population is over 1.7 million people, and the wider Hamburg Metropolitan Region covers more than 5.1 million inhabitants. The city is situated on the river Elbe, the official long name reflects Hamburgs history as a member of the medieval Hanseatic League, a free imperial city of the Holy Roman Empire, a city-state, and one of the 16 states of Germany. Before the 1871 Unification of Germany, it was a sovereign state. Prior to the changes in 1919, the civic republic was ruled by a class of hereditary grand burghers or Hanseaten. Though repeatedly destroyed by the Great Fire of Hamburg, the floods and military conflicts including WW2 bombing raids, the city managed to recover and emerge wealthier after each catastrophe. On the river Elbe, Hamburg is a port and a global service, media, logistics and industrial hub, with headquarters and facilities of Airbus, Blohm + Voss, Aurubis, Beiersdorf. The radio and television broadcaster NDR, Europes largest printing and publishing firm Gruner + Jahr, Hamburg has been an important financial centre for centuries, and is the seat of Germanys oldest stock exchange and the worlds second oldest bank, Berenberg Bank. The city is a fast expanding tourist destination for domestic and international visitors. It ranked 16th in the world for livability in 2015, the ensemble Speicherstadt and Kontorhausviertel was declared a World Heritage Site by the UNESCO in 2015. Hamburg is a major European science, research and education hub with several universities and institutes and its creative industries and major cultural venues include the renowned Elbphilharmonie and Laeisz concert halls, various art venues, music producers and artists. It is regarded as a haven for artists, gave birth to movements like Hamburger Schule. Hamburg is also known for theatres and a variety of musical shows. St. Paulis Reeperbahn is among the best known European entertainment districts, Hamburg is on the southern point of the Jutland Peninsula, between Continental Europe to the south and Scandinavia to the north, with the North Sea to the west and the Baltic Sea to the north-east. It is on the River Elbe at its confluence with the Alster, the city centre is around the Binnenalster and Außenalster, both formed by damming the River Alster to create lakes. The island of Neuwerk and two neighbouring islands Scharhörn and Nigehörn, in the Hamburg Wadden Sea National Park, are also part of Hamburg. The neighbourhoods of Neuenfelde, Cranz, Francop and Finkenwerder are part of the Altes Land region, neugraben-Fischbek has Hamburgs highest elevation, the Hasselbrack at 116.2 metres AMSL. Hamburg has a climate, influenced by its proximity to the coast
8.
Hamburg-Bergedorf Railway Company
–
The Hamburg-Bergedorf railway opened in 1842 is one of the oldest lines in Germany and was the first railway line in Northern Germany. The 16.5 km long line was extended to Berlin in 1846 and it linked Bergedorf Station in Hamburg, near Deichtorplatz with the original Bergedorf station at Neuen Weg in Bergedorf. Hamburg public opinion was most interested in a connection with the Baltic port of Lübeck. This route would have, however, needed to pass through Holstein, denmark’s consent was not required for a line from Hamburg to Bergedorf, since it would only run through areas controlled by Hamburg. The track was planned and surveyed by the English engineer William Lindley in 1838, the opening was scheduled for 7 May 1842. Two days earlier, the Great Fire of Hamburg broke out, the first trips were actually held prior to 7 May, they were used to transport fire-fighting equipment and fire-fighters to Hamburg and to evacuate the homeless. Therefore, no opening ceremony was held, the stations on the line were all designed by the Hamburg architect Alexis de Chateauneuf. Already during the planning of the railway an extension had been considered via Geesthacht, on 15 December 1846 Berlin–Hamburg Railway opened, however, on a route further north, through Büchen, the starting point of a line to Lübeck opened in 1851. A new station was established in Bergedorf and the old Bergedorf station closed, nearby Bergedorf Süd station opened on the Bergedorf-Geesthacht Railway opened in 1906 and closed in the 1950s. The Hamburg Bergedorf station was expanded after 1846 and was renamed Berlin Station, the Hamburg-Bergedorf Railway Company was taken over by the Berlin-Hamburg Railway Company. Lichtwark-Ausschuß, ed. Zur Geschichte der Hamburg-Bergedorfer Eisenbahn
"Lindley, William". Encyclopædia Britannica (11th ed.). 1911.
"
