1.
Worcestershire sauce
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The ingredients are allowed to mature for 18 months before being blended and bottled in Worcester, where the exact recipe is kept a secret. Lea and Perrins devised the recipe in the 1830s, however it wasnt to their liking and was set aside and it was not until the barrels were rediscovered many months later that the taste had mellowed into what is now known as Worcestershire sauce. A high court decided on July 26,1876 that Lea & Perrins did not have the rights to the term Worcestershire sauce, Lea & Perrins claims to be The Original Worcestershire sauce and may be the leading global brand of Worcestershire sauce, but other brands offer similar recipes. Some may be vegetarian or vegan, and may add other spices, Worcestershire sauce is complex and unique in its flavour and aroma, and frequently used to enhance some food and drink recipes. For example, it is often an ingredient in Welsh rarebit, Caesar salad, Oysters Kirkpatrick, deviled eggs, the sauce is also used to flavour cocktails such as the Bloody Mary or Caesar. The use of similar fermented anchovy sauces in Europe can be traced back to the 17th century, the Lea & Perrins brand was commercialised in 1837 and has continued to be the leading global brand of Worcestershire sauce. The origin of the Lea & Perrins recipe is unclear, the packaging originally stated that the sauce came from the recipe of a nobleman in the county. The barony in the Sandys family /ˈsændz/ had been revived in 1802 for the second mother, Mary Sandys Hill, so at the date of the legend, in the 1830s. No identifiable reference to her could possibly appear on a commercially bottled sauce without a breach of decorum. A version of the story was published by Thomas Smith in 1885, We quote the following history of the well-known Worcester sauce, the label shows it is prepared from the recipe of a nobleman in the county. The nobleman may be Lord Sandys, many years ago, Mrs. Grey that she had in her desk an excellent recipe, which her uncle, Sir Charles, Chief Justice of India, had brought thence, and given her. Lady Sandys said that there were some clever chemists in Worcester, Lea and Perrins looked at the recipe, doubted if they could procure all the ingredients, but said they would do their best, and in due time forwarded a packet of the powder. Subsequently the happy thought struck someone in the business that the powder might, in solution, the profits now amount to thousands of pounds a year. According to historian and Herald for Wales, Major Francis Jones, Edwardes, originally of Rhyd-y-gors, Carmarthenshire, was a veteran of the Napoleonic wars and held the position of Deputy-Lieutenant of Carmarthenshire. He is believed to have brought the home after travels in India. The article does not say how the recipe found its way to Messrs Lea, looking to make space in the storage area a few years later, the chemists decided to try it again, and discovered that the sauce had fermented and mellowed and was now palatable. In 1838 the first bottles of Lea & Perrins Worcestershire sauce were released to the general public, on 16 October 1897, Lea & Perrins relocated manufacturing of the sauce from their pharmacy to a factory in the city of Worcester on Midland Road, where it is still manufactured. The factory produces ready-mixed bottles for domestic distribution and a concentrate for bottling abroad, in 1930, the Lea & Perrins operation was purchased by HP Foods, which was in turn acquired by the Imperial Tobacco Company in 1967
2.
Worcestershire County Council
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Worcestershire County Council is the county council for the non-metropolitan county of Worcestershire in England. It has 57 councillors and is controlled by the Conservative Party. The Councils headquarters is County Hall in Worcester which was also the headquarters for the preceding Hereford, Worcestershire County Council was created in 1889 and abolished in 1974, replaced by Hereford and Worcester County Council. The current county council was created in 1998 and it consists of 57 councillors elected every for years
3.
Counties of England
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Counties of England are areas used for the purposes of administrative, geographical, cultural or political demarcation. For administrative purposes, England outside Greater London and the Isles of Scilly is divided into 83 metropolitan and non-metropolitan counties and these counties may consist of a single district or be divided into several districts. As of April 2009,27 of these counties are divided into districts and have a county council, all of England is also divided into 48 ceremonial counties, which are also known as geographic counties. Most ceremonial counties correspond to a metropolitan or non-metropolitan county of the same name, the current arrangement is the result of incremental reform. Many of the counties have their origins in the Middle Ages, although the larger counties of Yorkshire, the geographic counties which existed before the local government reforms of 1965 and 1974 are referred to as ancient counties or historic counties. From 1889 to 1974 areas with county councils were known as administrative counties, from 1974 to 1996 the metropolitan and non-metropolitan counties, some of which were established only in 1974, corresponded directly with the ceremonial counties. For the purpose of sorting and delivering mail, England was divided into 48 postal counties until 1996, in these counties most services are provided by the county council and the district councils have a more limited role. Their areas each correspond exactly to ceremonial counties and they are Greater Manchester, Merseyside, South Yorkshire, Tyne and Wear, West Midlands and West Yorkshire. In these counties the district councils provide the majority of services, similarly, Berkshire is a non-metropolitan county with no county council and multiple districts and maps directly to a ceremonial county. Bristol, Herefordshire, Isle of Wight, Northumberland and Rutland are ceremonial counties consisting of a county of a single district. In total, there are 39 unitary authorities that do not share the names of any of the ceremonial counties, bedfordshire and Cheshire are counties that consist of a number of unitary authorities, none of which has the same name as the ceremonial county. The City of London and Greater London are anomalous as ceremonial counties that do not correspond to any metropolitan or non-metropolitan counties, large ceremonial counties often correspond to a single police force. For example, the four unitary authorities which make up Cheshire correspond to the area as the Cheshire Constabulary. Some counties are grouped together for this purpose, such as Northumberland with Tyne, in other areas a group of unitary authorities in several counties are grouped together to form police force areas, such as the Cleveland Police and Humberside Police. Greater London and the City of London each have their own forces, the Metropolitan Police Service. The fire service is operated on a basis, and the ambulance service is organised by the regions of England. Most ceremonial counties form part of a region, although Lincolnshire. Economic development is delivered using the regions, as is strategic planning, as of 2009, the largest county by area is North Yorkshire and the smallest is the City of London
4.
Flag of Worcestershire
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The Worcestershire flag is the flag of the county of Worcestershire. It was registered with the Flag Institute on 8 April 2013 as the entry of a BBC Hereford & Worcester competition. It was first flown in a ceremony at Worcester Cathedral on the same day, designed by Elaine Truby, the flag features the countys famed black pear – a symbol reported to have been used by Worcestershire units at the Battle of Agincourt. Additionally a pear tree is seen on the local councils arms, three of these pears are seen on a shield charged against a wavy green and blue background. These latter colours symbolise the verdant flood plain of the River Severn as it runs through the county, the dark green hue is that worn by the countys cricket team. An alternate flag offered for sale commercially is a banner of the arms of Worcestershire County Council and as such is the property of the council and only represents it, not the wider county. In the absence of a flag at the time, this council flag had been flown alongside the Union Flag above the Department for Communities
5.
United Kingdom
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The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom or Britain, is a sovereign country in western Europe. Lying off the north-western coast of the European mainland, the United Kingdom includes the island of Great Britain, Northern Ireland is the only part of the United Kingdom that shares a land border with another sovereign state—the Republic of Ireland. The Irish Sea lies between Great Britain and Ireland, with an area of 242,500 square kilometres, the United Kingdom is the 78th-largest sovereign state in the world and the 11th-largest in Europe. It is also the 21st-most populous country, with an estimated 65.1 million inhabitants, together, this makes it the fourth-most densely populated country in the European Union. The United Kingdom is a monarchy with a parliamentary system of governance. The monarch is Queen Elizabeth II, who has reigned since 6 February 1952, other major urban areas in the United Kingdom include the regions of Birmingham, Leeds, Glasgow, Liverpool and Manchester. The United Kingdom consists of four countries—England, Scotland, Wales, the last three have devolved administrations, each with varying powers, based in their capitals, Edinburgh, Cardiff and Belfast, respectively. The relationships among the countries of the UK have changed over time, Wales was annexed by the Kingdom of England under the Laws in Wales Acts 1535 and 1542. A treaty between England and Scotland resulted in 1707 in a unified Kingdom of Great Britain, which merged in 1801 with the Kingdom of Ireland to form the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland. Five-sixths of Ireland seceded from the UK in 1922, leaving the present formulation of the United Kingdom of Great Britain, there are fourteen British Overseas Territories. These are the remnants of the British Empire which, at its height in the 1920s, British influence can be observed in the language, culture and legal systems of many of its former colonies. The United Kingdom is a country and has the worlds fifth-largest economy by nominal GDP. The UK is considered to have an economy and is categorised as very high in the Human Development Index. It was the worlds first industrialised country and the worlds foremost power during the 19th, the UK remains a great power with considerable economic, cultural, military, scientific and political influence internationally. It is a nuclear weapons state and its military expenditure ranks fourth or fifth in the world. The UK has been a permanent member of the United Nations Security Council since its first session in 1946 and it has been a leading member state of the EU and its predecessor, the European Economic Community, since 1973. However, on 23 June 2016, a referendum on the UKs membership of the EU resulted in a decision to leave. The Acts of Union 1800 united the Kingdom of Great Britain, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland have devolved self-government
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Countries of the United Kingdom
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The United Kingdom comprises four countries, England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland. Within the United Kingdom, a sovereign state, Northern Ireland, Scotland. England, comprising the majority of the population and area of the United Kingdom, England, Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales are not themselves listed in the International Organization for Standardization list of countries. However the ISO list of the subdivisions of the UK, compiled by British Standards, Northern Ireland, in contrast, is described as a province in the same lists. Each has separate governing bodies for sports and compete separately in many international sporting competitions. Northern Ireland also forms joint All-Island sporting bodies with the Republic of Ireland for most sports, the Channel Islands and the Isle of Man are dependencies of the Crown and are not part of the UK. Similarly, the British overseas territories, remnants of the British Empire, are not part of the UK, southern Ireland left the United Kingdom under the Irish Free State Constitution Act 1922. * Figures for GVA do not include oil and gas revenues generated beyond the UKs territorial waters, various terms have been used to describe England, Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales. Wales was described as the country, principality, and dominion of Wales, outside Wales, England was not given a specific name or term. The Laws in Wales Acts have subsequently been repealed, the Acts of Union 1707 refer to both England and Scotland as a part of a united kingdom of Great Britain The Acts of Union 1800 use part in the same way to refer to England and Scotland. The Northern Ireland Act 1998, which repealed the Government of Ireland Act 1920, the Interpretation Act 1978 provides statutory definitions of the terms England, Wales and the United Kingdom, but neither that Act nor any other current statute defines Scotland or Northern Ireland. Use of the first three terms in other legislation is interpreted following the definitions in the 1978 Act and this definition applies from 1 April 1974. United Kingdom means Great Britain and Northern Ireland and this definition applies from 12 April 1927. In 1996 these 8 new counties were redistributed into the current 22 unitary authorities, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland are regions in their own right while England has been divided into nine regions. The official term rest of the UK is used in Scotland, for example in export statistics and this term is also used in the context of potential Scottish independence to mean the UK without Scotland. The alternative term Home Nations is sometimes used in sporting contexts, the second, or civic group, contained the items about feeling British, respecting laws and institutions, speaking English, and having British citizenship. Contrariwise, in Scotland and Wales there was a much stronger identification with each country than with Britain, studies and surveys have reported that the majority of the Scots and Welsh see themselves as both Scottish/Welsh and British though with some differences in emphasis. The propensity for nationalistic feeling varies greatly across the UK, and can rise and it reported that 37% of people identified as British, whilst 29% identified as Irish and 24% identified as Northern Irish
7.
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
8.
Regions of England
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The regions are the highest tier of sub-national division in England. Between 1994 and 2011, nine regions had officially devolved functions within Government, while they no longer fulfil this role, they continue to be used for statistical and some administrative purposes. They define areas for the purposes of elections to the European Parliament, Eurostat also uses them to demarcate first level Nomenclature of Territorial Units for Statistics regions within the European Union. The regions generally follow the boundaries of the former standard regions, the London region has a directly elected Mayor and Assembly. Six regions have local authority leaders boards to assist with correlating the headline policies of local authorities, the remaining two regions no longer have any administrative functions, having abolished their regional local authority leaders boards. In 1998, regional chambers were established in the eight regions outside of London, the regions also had an associated Government Office with some responsibility for coordinating policy, and, from 2007, a part-time regional minister within the Government. House of Commons regional Select Committees were established in 2009, Regional ministers were not reappointed by the incoming Coalition Government, and the Government Offices were abolished in 2011. Regional development agencies were public bodies established in all nine regions in 1998 to promote economic development and they had certain delegated functions, including administering European Union regional development funds, and received funding the central government as well. After about 500 AD, England comprised seven Anglo-Saxon territories – Northumbria, Mercia, East Anglia, Essex, Kent, the boundaries of some of these, which later unified as the Kingdom of England, roughly coincide with those of modern regions. During Oliver Cromwells Protectorate in the 1650s, the rule of the Major-Generals created 10 regions in England, proposals for administrative regions within England were mooted by the British government prior to the First World War. In 1912 the Third Home Rule Bill was passing through parliament, the Bill was expected to introduce a devolved parliament for Ireland, and as a consequence calls were made for similar structures to be introduced in Great Britain or Home Rule All Round. On 12 September the First Lord of the Admiralty, Winston Churchill, within England, he suggested that London, Lancashire, Yorkshire, and the Midlands would make natural regions. While the creation of regional parliaments never became official policy, it was for a widely anticipated. In 1946 nine standard regions were set up, in central government bodies, statutory undertakings. However, these had declined in importance by the late 1950s, creation of some form of provinces or regions for England was an intermittent theme of post-Second World War British governments. The Redcliffe-Maud Report proposed the creation of eight provinces in England, one-fifth of the advisory councils would be nominees from central government. The boundaries suggested were the eight now existing for economic planning purposes, a minority report by Lord Crowther-Hunt and Alan T. Peacock suggested instead seven regional assemblies and governments within Great Britain, some elements of regional development and economic planning began to be established in England from the mid-1960s onwards
9.
West Midlands (region)
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The West Midlands is one of nine official regions of England at the first level of NUTS for statistical purposes. It covers the western half of the area known as the Midlands. The city of Coventry is also located within the West Midlands county, the region is geographically diverse, from the urban central areas of the conurbation to the rural western counties of Shropshire and Herefordshire which border Wales. The region also encompasses five Areas of Outstanding Natural Beauty, the Wye Valley, Shropshire hills, Cannock Chase, Malvern Hills, Warwickshire is home to the town of Stratford upon Avon, the birthplace of the writer William Shakespeare. The highest point in the region is Black Mountain, at 703 metres in west Herefordshire on the border with Powys, Wales. The region contains five Areas of Outstanding Natural Beauty, including all of the Shropshire Hills, Malvern Hills and Cannock Chase, the Peak District national park also stretches into the northern corner of Staffordshire. Served by many lines in the areas such as the West Coast Main Line. The Welsh Marches Line and the Cotswold Line transect the region as well as the Cross Country Route, there are plans to reopen the Honeybourne Line. Numerous notable roads pass through the region, with most converging around the central conurbation, the M6 toll provides an alternative route to the M6 between Coleshill and Cannock, passing north of Sutton Coldfield and just south of Lichfield. The M40 connects the region through South East England to London, with its terminus at its junction with the M42, it passes close to Warwick. The M42 connects the M5 at Bromsgrove, passing around the south and east of Birmingham, joining the M40 and M6, passing Solihull and Castle Bromwich, to Tamworth, the M50 connects the M5 from near Tewkesbury to Ross-on-Wye in the southwest. The M54 connects Wellington in the west, passing Telford, to the M6 near Cannock, the A5 road traverses the region northwest-southeast, passing through Shrewsbury, Telford, Cannock, Tamworth and Nuneaton. As part of the planning system, the Regional Assembly is under statutory requirement to produce a Regional Transport Strategy to provide long term planning for transport in the region. This involves region wide transport schemes such as those carried out by the Highways Agency, within the region, the local transport authorities carry out transport planning through the use of a Local Transport Plan which outlines their strategies, policies and implementation programme. The most recent LTP is that for the period 2006-11, in the West Midlands region, the following transport authorities have published their LTP online, Herefordshire, Shropshire U. A. The transport authority of Stoke-on-Trent U. A, Major towns and cities in the West Midlands region include, Bold indicates city status. The region is based on the former region of Mercia. The Battle of Edgehill in October 1642 started the English Civil War, jane Bunford of Bartley Green until 1982 was the tallest woman ever in the world, and now the second tallest, and the tallest person ever in the UK, at 7 ft 11in
10.
Historic counties of England
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The historic counties of England were established for administration by the Normans, in most cases based on earlier kingdoms and shires established by the Anglo-Saxons and others. They ceased to be used for administration with the creation of the counties in 1889. They are alternatively known as ancient counties or traditional counties, where they are not included among the modern counties of England they are also known as former counties. Counties were used initially for the administration of justice, collection of taxes and organisation of the military and they continue to form the basis of modern local government in many parts of the country away from the main urban areas, although sometimes with considerably altered boundaries. The name of a county often gives a clue to how it was formed, either as a division took its name from a centre of administration. The majority of English counties are in the first category, with the name formed by combining the central town with the suffix -shire, for example Yorkshire. Former kingdoms, which became earldoms in the united England did not feature this formulation, so for Kent, Counties ending in the suffix -sex are also in this category and are former Saxon kingdoms. Many of these names are formed from compass directions, the third category includes counties such as Cornwall and Devon where the name corresponds to the tribes who inhabited the area. County Durham is anomalous in terms of naming and origin, not falling into any of the three categories, instead it was a diocese that was turned into the County Palatine of Durham, ruled by the Bishop of Durham. The expected form would otherwise be Durhamshire, but it was rarely used, there are customary abbreviations for many of the counties. In most cases these consist of simple truncation, usually with an s at the end signifying shire, some abbreviations are not obvious, such as Salop for Shropshire, Oxon for Oxfordshire, Hants for Hampshire and Northants for Northamptonshire. Counties were often prefixed with County of in official contexts, such as County of Kent and those counties named after central towns lost the -shire suffix, for example Yorkshire would be known as County of York. This usage was sometimes followed even where there was no town by that name, the -shire suffix was also appended for some counties, such as Devonshire, Dorsetshire and Somersetshire, despite their origin. There is still a Duke of Devonshire, Great Britain was first divided into administrative areas by the Romans, most likely following major geographical features such as rivers. Before their arrival there were distinct tribal areas, but they were in a constant state of flux as territory was gained, the areas that would later form the English counties started to take shape soon afterwards, with the Kingdom of Kent founded by settlers around 445. Once the Kingdom of England was united as a whole in 927 it became necessary to subdivide it for convenience and to this end. The whole kingdom was divided into shires by the time of the Norman conquest, robert of Gloucester accounts for thirty-five shires and William of Malmesbury thirty-two, Henry of Huntingdon, thirty-seven. In most cases the counties or shires in medieval times were administered by a sheriff on behalf of the monarch, after the Norman conquest the sheriff was replaced and the shires became counties, or areas under the control of a count, in the French manner
11.
Ceremonial counties of England
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The ceremonial counties, also referred to as the lieutenancy areas of England, are areas of England to which a Lord Lieutenant is appointed. The Local Government Act 1888 established county councils to assume the functions of Quarter Sessions in the counties. It created new entities called administrative counties, the Act further stipulated that areas that were part of an administrative county would be part of the county for all purposes. The greatest change was the creation of the County of London, which was both an administrative county and a county, it included parts of the historic counties of Middlesex, Kent. Other differences were small and resulted from the constraint that urban sanitary districts were not permitted to straddle county boundaries, apart from Yorkshire, counties that were subdivided nevertheless continued to exist as ceremonial counties. In 1974, administrative counties and county boroughs were abolished, at this time, Lieutenancy was redefined to use the new metropolitan and non-metropolitan counties directly. Following a further rearrangement in 1996, Avon, Cleveland, Hereford and Worcester, Cleveland was partitioned between North Yorkshire and Durham. Hereford and Worcester was divided into the counties of Herefordshire and Worcestershire. Humberside was split between Lincolnshire and a new county of East Riding of Yorkshire. Rutland was restored as a ceremonial county, many county boroughs were re-established as unitary authorities, this involved establishing the area as an administrative county, but usually not as a ceremonial county. Most ceremonial counties are therefore entities comprising local authority areas, as they were from 1889 to 1974, the Association of British Counties, a traditional counties lobbying organisation, has suggested that ceremonial counties be restored to their ancient boundaries, as nearly as practicable. In present-day England, the ceremonial counties correspond to the shrieval counties, the Lieutenancies Act 1997 defines counties for the purposes of lieutenancies in terms of metropolitan and non-metropolitan counties as well as Greater London and the Isles of Scilly. Although the term is not used in the Act, these counties are known as ceremonial counties. gov. uk
12.
Non-metropolitan county
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A non-metropolitan county, or colloquially, shire county, is a county-level entity in England that is not a metropolitan county. The counties typically have populations of 300,000 to 1.4 million, the term shire county is, however, an unofficial usage. Many of the non-metropolitan counties bear historic names and most end in the suffix -shire such as Wiltshire or Staffordshire, of the remainder, some counties had the -shire ending and have lost it over time, such as Devon and Somerset. Shire county is, strictly, a dual-language tautology since the French-derived county means the same as the older Anglo-Saxon word shire, prior to 1974 local government had been divided between single-tier county boroughs and two-tier administrative counties which were subdivided into municipal boroughs and urban and rural districts. The Local Government Act 1972, which came into effect on 1 April 1974, divided England outside Greater London, each county was divided into anywhere between two and fourteen non-metropolitan districts. As originally constituted, the counties were largely based on existing counties. Some counties were based on areas surrounding large county boroughs or were formed by the mergers of smaller counties, examples of the first category are Avon and Cleveland. Examples of the category are Hereford and Worcester and Cumbria. The Royal Mail adopted the counties for purposes in most areas. A Local Government Commission was appointed in 1992 to review the structure of the non-metropolitan counties. It was anticipated that a system of unitary authorities would entirely replace the two-tier system, the Commission faced competing claims from former county boroughs wishing to regain unitary status and advocates for the restoration of such small counties as Herefordshire and Rutland. The review led to the introduction of local government in some areas. In the majority of unitary authorities an existing district council took over powers from the county council, the 1972 Act required that all areas outside Greater London form part of a non-metropolitan county, and that all such counties should contain at least one district. Accordingly, the instruments that effected the reorganisation separated the unitary districts from the county in which they were situated and constituted them as counties. An exception was made in the case of Berkshire, which was retained with its boundaries in spite of the abolition of its county council. This was done in order to preserve its status as a royal county, with the creation of numerous new non-metropolitan counties, the areas used for lieutenancy and shrievalty began to diverge from local government areas. This led to the development of counties for these purposes. A further wave of unitary authorities were created in 2009 under the terms of the Local Government, while a number of new county counties were created, several of the new authorities continued to have the boundaries set in 1974
13.
Conservative Party (UK)
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The Conservative Party, officially the Conservative and Unionist Party, is a political party in the United Kingdom. It is currently the party, having won a majority of seats in the House of Commons at the 2015 general election. The partys leader, Theresa May, is serving as Prime Minister. It is the largest party in government with 8,702 councillors. The Conservative Party is one of the two major political parties in the United Kingdom, the other being its modern rival. The Conservative Partys platform involves support for market capitalism, free enterprise, fiscal conservatism, a strong national defence, deregulation. In the 1920s, the Liberal vote greatly diminished and the Labour Party became the Conservatives main rivals, Conservative Prime Ministers led governments for 57 years of the twentieth century, including Winston Churchill and Margaret Thatcher. Thatchers tenure led to wide-ranging economic liberalisation, the Conservative Partys domination of British politics throughout the twentieth century has led to them being referred to as one of the most successful political parties in the Western world. The Conservatives are the joint-second largest British party in the European Parliament, with twenty MEPs, the party is a member of the Alliance of Conservatives and Reformists in Europe Europarty and the International Democrat Union. The party is the second-largest in the Scottish Parliament and the second-largest in the Welsh Assembly, the party is also organised in the British Overseas Territory of Gibraltar. The Conservative Party traces its origins to a faction, rooted in the 18th century Whig Party and they were known as Independent Whigs, Friends of Mr Pitt, or Pittites. After Pitts death the term Tory came into use and this was an allusion to the Tories, a political grouping that had existed from 1678, but which had no organisational continuity with the Pittite party. From about 1812 on the name Tory was commonly used for the newer party, the term Conservative was suggested as a title for the party by a magazine article by J. Wilson Croker in the Quarterly Review in 1830. The name immediately caught on and was adopted under the aegis of Sir Robert Peel around 1834. Peel is acknowledged as the founder of the Conservative Party, which he created with the announcement of the Tamworth Manifesto, the term Conservative Party rather than Tory was the dominant usage by 1845. In 1912, the Liberal Unionists merged with the Conservative Party, in Ireland, the Irish Unionist Alliance had been formed in 1891 which merged anti-Home Rule Unionists into one political movement. Its MPs took the Conservative whip at Westminster, and in essence formed the Irish wing of the party until 1922. The Conservatives served with the Liberals in an all-party coalition government during World War I, keohane finds that the Conservatives were bitterly divided before 1914, especially on the issue of Irish Unionism and the experience of three consecutive election losses
14.
Worcester
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Worcester is a city in Worcestershire, England,31 miles southwest of Birmingham and 27 miles north of Gloucester. The River Severn flanks the western side of the city centre, the Battle of Worcester was the final battle of the English Civil War, where Oliver Cromwells New Model Army defeated King Charles Is Cavaliers. Worcester is known as the home of Royal Worcester Porcelain, composer Edward Elgar, Lea & Perrins, makers of traditional Worcestershire sauce, the trade route past Worcester which later formed part of the Roman Ryknild Street dates to Neolithic times. The position commanded a ford over the River Severn and was fortified by the Britons around 400 BC and it would have been on the northern border of the Dobunni and probably subject to the larger communities of the Malvern hillforts. It may have been the Vertis mentioned in the 7th-century Ravenna Cosmography, using charcoal from the Forest of Dean, the Romans operated pottery kilns and ironworks at the site and may have built a small fort. In the 3rd century, Roman Worcester occupied an area than the subsequent medieval city. Industrial production ceased and the settlement contracted to a position along the lines of the old British fort at the river terraces southern end. This settlement is identified with the Cair Guiragon listed among the 28 cities of Britain by the History of the Britons attributed to Nennius. This is not a British name but an adaption of its Old English name Weorgoran ceaster, the Weorgoran were precursors of Hwicce and probably West Saxons who entered the area some time after the 577 Battle of Dyrham. The oldest known church was St Helens, which was certainly British, the town was almost destroyed in 1041 after a rebellion against the punitive taxation of Harthacanute. During this time, the relocated to the nearby Bevere Island,2 miles upriver. The following century, the town was attacked several times during The Anarchy, by late medieval times the population had grown to around 10,000 as the manufacture of cloth started to become a large local industry. The town was designated a county corporate, giving it autonomy from local government. Worcester was the site of the Battle of Worcester, when Charles II attempted to regain the crown, in the fields a little to the west and south of the city. Worcester had supported the Parliamentary cause before the outbreak of war in 1642 but spent most of the war under Royalist occupation. After the war it used its location as the site of the final battles of the First Civil War. As part of this and not based upon any historical fact, it invented the epithet Fidelis Civitas, in 1670, the River Severn broke its banks and the subsequent flood was the worst ever seen by Worcester. The closest flood height to what is known as The Flood of 1670 was when the Severn flooded in the rains of July 2007
15.
NUTS statistical regions of the United Kingdom
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NUTS2006 came into force on 1 January 2008. NUTS2010 came into force on 1 January 2012, the two areas of UKD51 and UKD21 were amended by the transfer of Halton from the latter to former to from the new areas of UKD71 and UKD61. Bedfordshire CC UKH22 was replaced by UKH24 and UKH25 NUTS2013 came into force on 1 January 2015. Thus NUTS2 of Inner London West UKI11 becoming the NUTS3 area of UKI3 and likewise, Inner London East, Outer London East and North East, Outer London South and Outer London West and North West. The NUTS3 areas are now a single or a group of two or three boroughs
16.
Districts of England
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The districts of England are a level of subnational division of England used for the purposes of local government. As the structure of government in England is not uniform. Some districts are styled as boroughs, cities, or royal boroughs, these are purely honorific titles, prior to the establishment of districts in the 1890s, the basic unit of local government in England was the parish overseen by the parish church vestry committee. Vestries dealt with the administraction of both parochial and secular governmental matters, parishes were the successors of the manorial system and historically had been grouped into hundreds. Hundreds once exercised some supervising administrative function, however, these powers ebbed away as more and more civic and judicial powers were centred on county towns. From 1834 these parishes were grouped into Poor Law Unions, creating areas for administration of the Poor Law and these areas were later used for census registration and as the basis for sanitary provision. In 1894, based on these earlier subdivisions, the Local Government Act 1894 created urban districts and rural districts as sub-divisions of administrative counties, another reform in 1900 created 28 metropolitan boroughs as sub-divisions of the County of London. Meanwhile, from this date parish-level local government administration was transferred to civil parishes, the setting-down of the current structure of districts in England began in 1965, when Greater London and its 32 London boroughs were created. They are the oldest type of still in use. In 1974, metropolitan counties and non-metropolitan counties were created across the rest of England and were split into metropolitan districts, in London power is now shared again, albeit on a different basis, with the Greater London Authority. During the 1990s a further kind of district was created, the unitary authority, metropolitan boroughs are a subdivision of a metropolitan county. These are similar to unitary authorities, as the county councils were abolished in 1986. Most of the powers of the county councils were devolved to the districts but some services are run by joint boards, the districts typically have populations of 174,000 to 1.1 million. Non-metropolitan districts are second-tier authorities, which share power with county councils and they are subdivisions of shire counties and the most common type of district. These districts typically have populations of 25,000 to 200,000, the number of non-metropolitan districts has varied over time. Initially there were 296, after the creation of unitary authorities in the 1990s and late 2000s and these are single-tier districts which are responsible for running all local services in their areas, combining both county and district functions. They were created in the out of non-metropolitan districts, and often cover large towns. In addition, some of the smaller such as Rutland, Herefordshire
17.
Malvern Hills District
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Malvern Hills is a local government district in Worcestershire, England. Its council is based in the town of Malvern, and its area covers most of the half of the county, including the small towns of Tenbury. It was originally formed in 1974 and was subject to a significant boundary reform in 1998, in the 2011 census the population of the Malvern Hills district was 74,631. The current boundaries were formed on 1 April 1998 when the county of Hereford and Worcester reverted, with some border changes, the new Malvern Hills district boundary was formed from parts of the existing districts of Malvern Hills and Leominster. The remainder of these became part of Herefordshire. The 1998 boundary changes added Tenbury Wells to the district, but Bromyard, Malvern Hills is a non-metropolitan district of the county of Worcestershire, and comprises 68 civil parishes. The district is divided into 22 electoral wards, the Malvern Hills themselves form the border between, and offer scenic views over, the counties of Herefordshire and Worcestershire. The district includes approximately half of the Malvern Hills Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty, the district bounds onto the counties of Gloucestershire, Herefordshire and Shropshire, as well as the Worcestershire districts of Wychavon, Worcester and Wyre Forest. Historically, the Teme Valley was famous for its orchards and hop yards, though these declined during the half of the 20th century. The area has a significant spa heritage and Malvern water is bottled and distributed commercially worldwide, the spa buildings survive at Tenbury Wells and many free spring water sources are available to the public in and around Malvern. In the east of the district is Croome Court, a significant National Trust property. In May 2006, a commissioned by British Gas showed that housing in Malvern Hills produced the 6th highest average carbon emissions in the country at 7,329 kg of carbon dioxide per dwelling. Malvern Hills District Council elections Malvern Hills Conservators Malvern Hills District Council official web site
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Bromsgrove District
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Bromsgrove is a local government district in Worcestershire, England. Its council is based in the town of Bromsgrove and it borders the built up area of Birmingham to the north. Other places in the district include Alvechurch, Aston Fields, Belbroughton, Catshill, Clent, Hagley, Rubery, Stoke Prior, the current district was formed on 1 April 1974 by the merger of Bromsgrove urban district and Bromsgrove Rural District. The following table illustrates the change in the population between 1801 and 2011. Bromsgrove railway station is the station for the centre of the district. Road travel, especially to Birmingham, is important in the district. Barnt Green railway station and Alvechurch railway station are on the line to Redditch, Hagley railway station and Wythall railway station are also on lines leading into Birmingham, which pass through the edges of the district
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Redditch
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Redditch is a town and local government district in north-east Worcestershire, England, approximately 15 miles south of Birmingham. The district had a population of 84,300 in 2011, in the 19th century it became the international centre for the needle and fishing tackle industry. At one point 90% of the needles were manufactured in the town. In the 1960s it became a model for new town planning. It is known locally by the nickname The Ditch, the first recorded mention of Redditch is in 1348, the year of the outbreak of the Black Death. Redditch was designated a new town on 10 April 1964, housing developments such as Church Hill, Matchborough, Winyates, Lodge Park and Woodrow were created to accommodate a large overspill from the industrially expanding Birmingham. Redditch was built as a flagship town using new methods and new town planning, all the roads were banked to reduce noise to the new housing estates. By the 21st century needle-making and other industries had been replaced by modern light industry and services. The automotive retailer Halfords and engineering giant GKN both have their headquarters in Redditch, manufacturer of precious metal contacts Samuel Taylor Ltd has manufacturing plants within the town. Following the redevelopment of the flagship Kingfisher Shopping Centre in 2002 Redditch is undergoing an economic, the town is home to several historical sites. The parliamentary constituency of Redditch is represented by Karen Lumley of the Conservatives, Redditch has a Borough Council with councillors elected from the Wards of Redditch. Redditch is in Worcestershire, just south of the West Midlands urban area and it is 15 miles north of Evesham on the A435, which skirts it to the east. The main access routes are the A441 via junction 2 of the M42 Motorway, the A435 from junction 3 of the M42, the Roman Road known as Icknield Street is prominent, running north to south through the eastern side of the town. Redditch has a climate similar to almost all of the United Kingdom. The Borough of Redditch is divided into several districts, to the east of the town are New Town Districts built in the 1970s and 1980s. To the west of the Borough are older Former Village Districts that dominate the south, the M42 motorway is a short drive away and it is linked by dual carriageways and A-class roads to surrounding towns such as Bromsgrove and Evesham. There are regular bus services to Studley, Bromsgrove, Catshill, the Cross-City Line provides a regular train service via Birmingham New Street to Lichfield Trent Valley. Redditch railway station, the terminus of the line, was first opened as the terminus of the Redditch Railway on 19 September 1859
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Wychavon
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Wychavon is a local government district in Worcestershire, England. Its council is based in the town of Pershore, and the towns in the district are Droitwich Spa. The district extends from the south-east corner of Worcestershire north and west and it borders all the other districts of Worcestershire, as well as the counties of Gloucestershire and Warwickshire. The district was created under the Local Government Act 1972, on 1 April 1974 and it was a merger of the boroughs of Droitwich and Evesham along with Evesham Rural District and most of Droitwich Rural District and most of Pershore Rural District. The districts name, which was invented in 1973, contains two elements, wych recalls the Saxon Kingdom of Hwicca, and Avon is for the River Avon. Wychavon District Council was joint Council of the Year 2007, along with High Peak Borough Council and it was also featured as the Best Council to work for by the Sunday Times. It increasingly shares management and staff with neighbouring Malvern Hills District Council, Wychavon District Council is elected every four years, with currently 45 councillors being elected at each election. Since gaining a majority on the council in 1987 the Conservatives have had control apart from a period between 1995 and the 1999 election when no party had a majority, the Wychavon district includes the following civil parishes
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Robin Walker
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He was selected for the seat in August 2006 in which he was elected in 2010 and then was re-elected in the 2015 General Election, defeating Labour Challenger Joy Squires. His father was Peter Walker, Baron Walker of Worcester, who was MP for Worcester from 1961 to 1992, Walker was educated at St Pauls School in Barnes, London, followed by a scholarship at Balliol College, Oxford, where he read Ancient and Modern History. In 2010 he defeated incumbent MP Mike Foster to win the Worcester seat, eighteen years after his father retired as a member of parliament and joined the House of Lords. Walker was elected to the Business Innovation and Skills Committee in 2012, focusing on apprenticeships, SME policy and business rates reform to improve opportunities for young people and businesses. He was made Parliamentary Private Secretary to Elizabeth Truss, the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, in September 2014. Walker was one of a group of Conservative MPs who rebelled from the party line. Walker was made the Chairman of the All-Party Group for Credit Unions in October 2014, Walker has supported a number of cross party initiatives on making credit unions available in post offices as well as helping them to compete with larger lenders. In July 2014, Walker called on Prime Minister David Cameron to use every tool in the box to de-escalate the violence in Gaza, Walker is campaigning for a two-hour train service from Worcester to London citing benefits to local constituents and businesses. He spoke on this topic during a debate in the House of Commons calling for a faster. In 2015, Walker was made PPS to Secretary of State for Education and he also sits on the House of Commons Select Committee for Administration. Walker was opposed to Brexit prior to the 2016 referendum, in July 2016, he was appointed as Minister at the Department for Exiting the European Union in the government led by Theresa May. In October 2016, Walker formally debated a petition calling for the observance of a British Independence Day in the United Kingdom. Arguing against, he claimed that though that might be, I think the idea of an independence day would face fierce competition from the likes of St Georges Day, Trafalgar Day. Walker is a supporter of both Worcester RFC The Worcester Warriors and the Worcestershire County Cricket Club. He wore the Worcestershire CCC tie whilst delivering his maiden speech in the House of Commons. In 2011 Walker married Charlotte Keenan, former Chief Executive of the Tony Blair Faith Foundation, official website Worcester Conservatives Profile at Parliament of the United Kingdom Voting record at Public Whip Record in Parliament at TheyWorkForYou
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Sajid Javid
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Sajid Javid PC MP is a British Conservative Party politician and former managing director at Deutsche Bank. He has been the Member of Parliament for Bromsgrove since 2010 and he was Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills and President of the Board of Trade from 2015 to 2016. Javid was born in Rochdale, Lancashire, one of five sons of parents of Pakistani descent and his father was a bus driver. His family moved from Lancashire to Stapleton Road, Bristol, at Exeter he studied economics and politics and became a member of the Conservative Party. Javid joined Chase Manhattan Bank in New York City immediately after university, aged 25, he became the youngest vice-president in the history of the bank. He returned to London in 1997, and later joined Deutsche Bank as a director in 2000, in 2004 he became a managing director at Deutsche Bank and, one year later, global head of Emerging Markets Structuring. He left Deutsche Bank in 2009 to pursue a career in politics and his earnings at Deutsche Bank would have been roughly £3m a year at the time he left. Her resignation was confirmed in December 2009, after she attempted to withdraw it, in the election held on 6 May 2010, Javid received 22,558 votes, winning the seat by a majority of 11,308. Javid was also one of six new MPs profiled by the Financial Times, in October 2012, Iain Dale in The Daily Telegraph included Javid in his list of Top 100 most influential figures from the Right. Dale wrote, His fast rise up the pole into George Osbornes inner circle is not only proof of this mans ambition. Nicholas Watt in The Guardian has also suggested that Javid could rise to the top, a Conservative Home poll conducted in December 2014 marked Javid as the Conservative to Watch in 2015. The responses to the survey were tested against a control panel supplied by YouGov, in July 2014, Forbes magazine compared Sajid Javid to Barack Obama and suggested that Javid could become the next Prime Minister of the United Kingdom. Javid was one of the first new MPs to become a Parliamentary Private Secretary and he remained in this position until 4 September 2012, when he joined Osbornes ministerial team as Economic Secretary to the Treasury. He was later promoted to Financial Secretary to the Treasury on 7 October 2013. At a Conservative Friends of Israel lunch in 2012, The Jewish Chronicle reported Javid as stating that if he had to leave Britain to live in the Middle East, only there, he said, would his children feel the warm embrace of freedom and liberty. This made him the first MP to have been elected in 2010 to join the Cabinet, shortly after his appointment, he was made a Privy Councillor. Javid defended media freedom and the right of the press to investigate wrongdoing by politicians, the public were right to judge her on how she responded, theres absolutely nothing wrong with that, he said. And the media … I dont think you can blame this on Leveson or the media or something and it was reported in May 2015 that in March Javid had opposed plans by Theresa May to give Ofcom counter-extremism powers to vet British television programmes before they were broadcast
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Harriett Baldwin
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Harriett Mary Morison Baldwin is a British Conservative Party politician. She has been the Member of Parliament for West Worcestershire since 2010 and she was born Harriett Mary Morison Eggleston in Watford, Hertfordshire, the daughter of a teacher. Her childhood was spent in Cyprus and in the village of Felsted in Essex and she was educated at the Friends School, Saffron Walden, Marlborough College in Wiltshire, and read Modern Languages at Lady Margaret Hall, Oxford. She earned an MBA from McGill University in Montreal, Baldwin joined the investment bank JP Morgan Chase in 1986, becoming managing director and Head of Currency Management at their London office in 1998. She left the bank in 2008 and served as vice-chair of Social Investment Business between 2008 and 2012 and she contested the Stockton North constituency at the 2005 general election. Following the retirement of Michael Spicer at the 2010 general election and she has served both as vice-chair on the All-Party Parliamentary Group for Occupational Pensions and vice-chair and chair of the All-Party Parliamentary Group for Russia, leaving both APPGs in 2014. She has also represented the UK in the NATO Parliamentary Assembly, Baldwin was appointed to become the Prime Minister’s Trade Envoy to Russia before joining the Government in February 2014 as Assistant Government Whip. In the Government reshuffle of July 2014 she was promoted to the role of Government Whip, after the 2015 election of a Conservative government, again under David Cameron, she was promoted to Economic Secretary to the Treasury. In July 2016, Baldwin was appointed as the Parliamentary Under Secretary at the Ministry of Defence as part of the Government reshuffle by new Prime Minister Theresa May and she has a son and two step-daughters with husband Jim Baldwin
24.
Mark Garnier
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Mark Robert Timothy Garnier is a British Conservative Party politician who is the Member of Parliament for Wyre Forest, elected at the 2010 general election. Garnier was born in London in 1963 and he was educated at Charterhouse School. In 1981 he joined the London Stock Exchange as a clerk on the Gilts Markets. In 1986 he left to join a succession of investment banks and his occupation prior to becoming an MP was a Fund Manager. He set up his own investment company from 1999, Garnier was a district councillor of the Forest of Dean District Council from 2003 to 2007. He stood as the Conservative candidate in the 2005 general election, the election saw a 7. 4% swing towards Garnier, giving him a majority of almost 3,000 votes. The bulk of Garniers work in Parliament is focused on the constituency of Wyre Forest, including education, healthcare, in the latter category, Garnier is an enthusiastic supporter of HS2. He believes that Birmingham Airport will be a significant hub for the region that will help to ease pressure on Heathrow. He has also taken a centralist business approach to EU membership, choosing to eschew scepticism, developing the theme of deregulation Garnier perceives the right environment for business to be essential. This can be achieved for young people through vocational courses in education that offer practical skills to become entrepreneurial. In Westminster, Garnier serves on the Treasury Select Committee and raised a debate in the House on Commons on 29 November 2010 on the regulation of independent financial advisors, Garnier also serves on several All Party Parliamentary Groups and is Deputy Chairman of the APPG concerning Space. Garner was named by Conservative Home as one of a minority of loyal Conservative backbench MPs not to have voted against the government in any significant rebellions In September 2012, garner was subsequently one of 80 Conservative MPs to oppose the Coalitions Marriage Act 2013. In the lead-up to the United Kingdom European Union membership referendum,2016 Garnier supported the unsuccessful remain campaign, on 17 July 2016 he was appointed to the newly created position of Parliamentary Under Secretary of State for International Trade. Throughout his time in Parliament, Garnier has campaigned strongly to end tobacco smuggling, however, in 2012 it was revealed he had accepted tickets for the Chelsea Flower Show from Japan Tobacco International, costing £1,100. Commenting on this he said All of us who are MPs in Worcestershire have taken pay cuts of some form or other from coming out of the private sector, if we wanted to have our nose in the trough I could go back to being an investment banker. The reason Im an MP is the complete opposite to having my nose in the trough, two years of hundred hour weeks. To pick on one thing is really irritating. Garnier is married to Caroline, and they have three children and they live in Worcestershire, near the Wyre Forest constituency
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Bill Wiggin
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William David Wiggin is a British Conservative Party politician, Member of Parliament and a former Shadow Minister for Agriculture & Fisheries. He held the seat of Leominster from the 2001 election until the 2010 election, Wiggin now holds the seat of North Herefordshire, having been elected in 2010. Wiggin was born in London in 1966 and he attended Eton College and later read Economics at the Bangor University, gaining a Bachelor of Arts in 1988. He also served in the Royal Welch Fusiliers in the TA, being a commander for Holyhead, Bangor. Wiggin was selected as the Conservative candidate for Burnley for the 1997 election and he came second to Peter Pike, who recorded a 17,062 majority over him. He was selected as the Conservative Party candidate in the seat of Leominster in April 1999, replacing Peter Temple-Morris. He won his seat in 2001 with a 10,367 majority over his Liberal Democrat opponent, initially a backbencher, he became a member of the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs select committee in 2002. During 2003, Michael Howard appointed him to the position of Shadow Minister for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, in January 2009, Wiggin became a whip. He was re-elected at the 2005 general election with a 2. 4% swing in his favour, in the reshuffle following the election, he was moved to Shadow Minister of Agriculture & Fisheries, where he remained until the 2010 general election. Wiggin has voted against a ban on smoking in pubs and restaurants, the 2004 Hunting Bill. The candidate, Jim Miller, was disqualified by the returning officer and this left the Conservative candidate unopposed. According to The Telegraph, Miller was disqualified over a technicality that the previously told him had been resolved. The Mayor of Leominster expressed his astonishment at Wiggins intervention, I was just stunned that Wiggin contacted the returning officer, ” “It’s not totally blatant, but what in god’s name is an MP doing poking his nose into a little parish election. I can’t understand what he thinks he’s up to, in June 2013, Wiggin spoke in an Opposition Day debate in favour of the badger cull. In May 2015, Wiggin was re-elected once again increasing his share by 3. 9%. Following the election, Wiggin was initially set to contest the Chairmanship of the Environment, instead Wiggin was subsequently appointed as Chair of the Committee of Selection. As Chair of this Select Committee, Wiggin will also sit on the Liaison Committee which takes evidence from the Prime Minister, within his constituency, Wiggin successfully campaigned for improved broadband to rural areas, and helped to secure funding for a new swimming pool. In 2014 Wiggin met with Dafydd Evans, Environment Agency Area Manager for the West Midlands and it was then announced that £150,000 of work would take place in North Herefordshire over the following year
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Greenwich Mean Time
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Greenwich Mean Time is the mean solar time at the Royal Observatory in Greenwich, London. GMT was formerly used as the civil time standard, now superseded in that function by Coordinated Universal Time. Today GMT is considered equivalent to UTC for UK civil purposes and for navigation is considered equivalent to UT1, consequently, the term GMT should not be used for precise purposes. Due to Earths uneven speed in its orbit and its axial tilt, noon GMT is rarely the exact moment the sun crosses the Greenwich meridian. This event may occur up to 16 minutes before or after noon GMT, noon GMT is the annual average moment of this event, which accounts for the word mean in Greenwich Mean Time. Originally, astronomers considered a GMT day to start at noon while for almost everyone else it started at midnight, to avoid confusion, the name Universal Time was introduced to denote GMT as counted from midnight. Astronomers preferred the old convention to simplify their observational data, so each night was logged under a single calendar date. Today Universal Time usually refers to UTC or UT1, in some countries Greenwich Mean Time is the legal time in the winter and the population uses the term. For an explanation of why this is, see GMT in legislation below, synchronisation of the chronometer on GMT did not affect shipboard time, which was still solar time. Most time zones were based upon GMT, as an offset of a number of hours ahead of GMT or behind GMT and it was gradually adopted for other purposes, but a legal case in 1858 held local mean time to be the official time. On 14 May 1880, a signed by Clerk to Justices appeared in The Times, stating that Greenwich time is now kept almost throughout England. For example, our polling booths were opened, say, at 813 and closed at 413 PM. This was changed later in 1880, GMT was adopted on the Isle of Man in 1883, Jersey in 1898 and Guernsey in 1913. Ireland adopted GMT in 1916, supplanting Dublin Mean Time, hourly time signals from Greenwich Observatory were first broadcast on 5 February 1924, rendering the time ball at the observatory redundant in the process. The daily rotation of the Earth is irregular and constantly slows, on 1 January 1972, GMT was superseded as the international civil time standard by Coordinated Universal Time, maintained by an ensemble of atomic clocks around the world. Indeed, even the Greenwich meridian itself is not quite what it used to be—defined by the centre of the instrument at the Observatory at Greenwich. Nevertheless, the line in the old observatorys courtyard today differs no more than a few metres from that line which is now the prime meridian of the world. Historically GMT has been used two different conventions for numbering hours. The long-standing astronomical convention dating from the work of Ptolemy, was to refer to noon as zero hours and this contrasted with the civil convention of referring to midnight as zero hours dating from the Romans
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Daylight saving time
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Daylight saving time is the practice of advancing clocks during summer months by one hour so that evening daylight lasts an hour longer, while sacrificing normal sunrise times. Typically, regions that use Daylight Savings Time adjust clocks forward one hour close to the start of spring, American inventor and politician Benjamin Franklin proposed a form of daylight time in 1784. New Zealander George Hudson proposed the idea of saving in 1895. The German Empire and Austria-Hungary organized the first nationwide implementation, starting on April 30,1916, many countries have used it at various times since then, particularly since the energy crisis of the 1970s. The practice has both advocates and critics, DST clock shifts sometimes complicate timekeeping and can disrupt travel, billing, record keeping, medical devices, heavy equipment, and sleep patterns. Computer software often adjusts clocks automatically, but policy changes by various jurisdictions of DST dates, industrialized societies generally follow a clock-based schedule for daily activities that do not change throughout the course of the year. The time of day that individuals begin and end work or school, North and south of the tropics daylight lasts longer in summer and shorter in winter, with the effect becoming greater as one moves away from the tropics. However, they will have one hour of daylight at the start of each day. Supporters have also argued that DST decreases energy consumption by reducing the need for lighting and heating, DST is also of little use for locations near the equator, because these regions see only a small variation in daylight in the course of the year. After ancient times, equal-length civil hours eventually supplanted unequal, so civil time no longer varies by season, unequal hours are still used in a few traditional settings, such as some monasteries of Mount Athos and all Jewish ceremonies. This 1784 satire proposed taxing window shutters, rationing candles, and waking the public by ringing church bells, despite common misconception, Franklin did not actually propose DST, 18th-century Europe did not even keep precise schedules. However, this changed as rail transport and communication networks came to require a standardization of time unknown in Franklins day. Modern DST was first proposed by the New Zealand entomologist George Hudson, whose shift work job gave him time to collect insects. An avid golfer, he also disliked cutting short his round at dusk and his solution was to advance the clock during the summer months, a proposal he published two years later. The proposal was taken up by the Liberal Member of Parliament Robert Pearce, a select committee was set up to examine the issue, but Pearces bill did not become law, and several other bills failed in the following years. Willett lobbied for the proposal in the UK until his death in 1915, william Sword Frost, mayor of Orillia, Ontario, introduced daylight saving time in the municipality during his tenure from 1911 to 1912. Starting on April 30,1916, the German Empire and its World War I ally Austria-Hungary were the first to use DST as a way to conserve coal during wartime, Britain, most of its allies, and many European neutrals soon followed suit. Russia and a few other countries waited until the year
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Herefordshire
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Herefordshire is a historic English county in the West Midlands. It is a county and a unitary non-metropolitan county and district, also named in legislation as the County of Herefordshire. The Welsh unitary county covering the part of Gwent next to Herefordshire is Monmouthshire, Hereford is a cathedral city and is the county town, with a population of approximately 55,800 inhabitants it is also the largest settlement. The county is one of the most rural and sparsely populated in England, the land use is predominantly agricultural and the county is well known for its fruit and cider production, and the Hereford cattle breed. From 1974 to 1998, Herefordshire was part of the former county of Hereford. Herefordshire was reconstituted both as a new district and as a new county by Statutory Instrument as defined in The Hereford and this Order established Herefordshire as a unitary authority on 1 April 1998, combining county and district functions into a single council. Herefordshire is also called a unitary district, but this is not official nomenclature. Herefordshire is officially known as an authority for local government purposes. The Lieutenancies Act 1997 made Herefordshire a ceremonial county, covering the area of the unitary district. For Eurostat purposes it is a NUTS3 region and is one of three counties that comprise the Herefordshire, Worcestershire and Warwickshire NUTS2 region. The River Wye, which at 135 miles is the fifth-longest in the United Kingdom and it flows through both Hereford and Ross-on-Wye before returning to Wales. Leominster is situated on the River Lugg, a tributary of the Wye, there are two Areas of Outstanding Natural Beauty in the county. The Wye Valley is located in the valleys south of Hereford, while the Malvern Hills are in the east of the county. Herefordshire is one of the 39 historic counties of England, in 1974 it was merged with neighbouring Worcestershire to form the Hereford and Worcester administrative county. Within this, Herefordshire was covered by the government districts of South Herefordshire, Hereford. However, the county was dissolved in 1998, resulting in the return of Herefordshire and Worcestershire as counties, the current ceremonial county and unitary district have broadly the same borders as the pre-1974 historic county. However this has been from a base, with only Northumberland. The population is White 98. 2%, Asian 0. 8%, Mixed 0. 7%, Black 0. 2%, gypsies and Travellers have historically been Herefordshires largest minority ethnic group
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Hereford and Worcester
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The merger aroused much opposition from Herefordshire people, many of whom regarded it as not a merger but a takeover by Worcestershire. The county bordered Shropshire, Staffordshire and the West Midlands to the north, Warwickshire to the east, Gloucestershire to the south and it was abolished in 1998 and reverted, with some transfers of territory, to the two separate historic counties of Herefordshire and Worcestershire. The Local Government Boundary Commission in 1948 proposed a merger of the two counties, but the proposals of this Commission were not implemented and this name was ridiculed and was altered during the Bills passage through Parliament. A commercial radio station for the area, Wyvern FM was set up in 1982 using this allusion and it was also used much later by the FirstGroup who renamed their bus operations in the area First Wyvern as opposed to the more historical First Midland Red used previously. It never attracted the loyalties of residents, a Hands off Herefordshire campaign was set up, and the proposal was opposed by Herefordshire County Council. A Hereford bull was led down Whitehall on 6 April 1972, as part of a protest, despite the opposition of many of the population of Herefordshire, neither of the countys two Conservative MPs opposed the merger. Parliamentary opposition had to be led from outside the county by Terry Davis, MP for Bromsgrove, clive Bossom, the MP for Leominster in Herefordshire, supported the merger, noting that much of South Worcestershire is very like Herefordshire. It was originally proposed to have a single large Herefordshire district within Hereford, but this was divided, with separate Hereford, South Herefordshire and Leominster districts, and part of Herefordshire in the Malvern Hills district. Meanwhile, large sections of Worcestershire in the Black Country and Birmingham suburbs were moved to the West Midlands and this was intended to create a more unified metropolitan county, since prior to this the conurbation had been split between Staffordshire, Warwickshire, and Worcestershire. As a result, Hereford & Worcester was quite rural in character and these transfers continued a slow process of simplifying Worcestershires boundaries, which once had included a complex set of exclaves within other counties. This came into effect on 1 April 1998, a new Herefordshire district was formed from the Herefordshire parts of Malvern Hills and Leominster, along with Hereford and South Herefordshire, and became a unitary authority. The remainder of those two districts became a new Malvern Hills district, in the new two-tier non-metropolitan county of Worcestershire, despite its abolition, some remnants of Hereford & Worcesters existence remain. For example, there is still a Hereford and Worcester Fire Service, also, the name is still used by some organisations, such as the BBC local radio station BBC Hereford and Worcester. There is also a Hereford and Worcester Chamber of Commerce, images of Hereford and Worcester at the English Heritage Archive
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City status in the United Kingdom
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The holding of city status gives a settlement no special rights other than that of calling itself a city. Nonetheless, this appellation carries its own prestige and, consequently, the status does not apply automatically on the basis of any particular criteria, although in England and Wales it was traditionally given to towns with diocesan cathedrals. City status in Ireland was granted to far fewer communities than in England and Wales, in Scotland, city status did not explicitly receive any recognition by the state until the 19th century. At that time, a revival of grants of city status took place, first in England, where the grants were accompanied by the establishment of new cathedrals, and later in Scotland and Ireland. The abolition of corporate bodies as part of successive local government reforms. However, letters patent have been issued for most of the cities to ensure the continuation or restoration of their status. At present, Rochester and Elgin are the former cities in the United Kingdom. The name City does not, in itself, denote city status, a number of large towns in the UK are bigger than some small cities, but cannot legitimately call themselves a city without the royal designation. The initial cities of Britain were the fortified settlements organised by the Romans as the capitals of the Celtic tribes under Roman rule, the British clerics of the early Middle Ages later preserved a traditional list of the 28 Cities which was mentioned by Gildas and listed by Nennius. In the 16th century, a town was recognised as a city by the English Crown if it had a diocesan cathedral within its limits. This association between having a cathedral and being called a city was established when Henry VIII founded dioceses in six English towns, a long-awaited resumption of creating dioceses began in 1836 with Ripon. Ripon Town Council assumed that this had elevated the town to the rank of a city, the next diocese formed was Manchester and its Borough Council began informally to use the title city. When Queen Victoria visited Manchester in 1851, widespread doubts surrounding its status were raised, the pretension was ended when the borough petitioned for city status, which was granted by letters patent in 1853. This eventually forced Ripon to regularise its position, its city status was recognised by Act of Parliament in 1865, from this year Ripon bore city status whilst the rapidly expanding conurbation of Leeds – in the Ripon diocese – did not. The Manchester case established a precedent that any municipal borough in which an Anglican see was established was entitled to petition for city status, accordingly, Truro, St Albans, Liverpool, Newcastle upon Tyne and Wakefield were all officially designated as cities between 1877 and 1888. This was not without opposition from the Home Office, which dismissed St Albans as a fourth or fifth rate market town and objected to Wakefields elevation on grounds of population. In one new diocese, Southwell, a city was not created, because it was a village without a borough corporation and therefore could not petition the Queen. The diocese covered the counties of Derbyshire and Nottinghamshire, and the boroughs of Derby, the link with Anglican dioceses was broken in 1889 when Birmingham successfully petitioned for city status on the grounds of its large population and history of good local government
31.
Bromsgrove
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Bromsgrove is a town in Worcestershire, England. The town is about 16 miles north east of Worcester and 13 miles south west of Birmingham city centre and it had a population of 29,237 in 2001 Bromsgrove is the main town in the larger Bromsgrove District. Bromsgrove is first documented in the early 9th century as Bremesgraf, later in the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle of 909 AD Bromsgrove is mentioned as Bremesburh. Then in the Domesday Book Bromsgrove is referenced as Bremesgrave, the Breme part of the place name is almost certainly an Anglo-Saxon personal name. In the Anglo-Saxon times, Bromsgrove had a woodland economy consisting of hunting, maintenance of haies, at the time of Edward the Confessor, the manor of Bromsgrove is known to have been held by Earl Edwin. After the conquest, Bromsgrove was held by the King, among the manors possessions were 13 salt pans at Droitwich, with three workers, producing 300 mits. The King had the right to sell the salt from his pans before any other salt in the town and it was at the centre of a very large parish and its church of St John the Baptist was certainly of minster status. Bromsgrove, along all the towns in north Worcestershire, was committed to defending the city of Worcester and is recorded to have contributed burgesses to Droitwich in 1086. There may also have been Anglo-Saxon or Norman fortifications in Bromsgrove, Bromsgrove was first granted the right to a market day in 1200, and in 1317 was given the right hold a Tuesday market and three-day fair every 29 August at the Decollation of St John the Baptist. Market day changed several times over the period, settling on Tuesday from 1792 onwards, fairs were held twice yearly, in June and October by the eighteenth century, with the modern pleasure fairs originating from the June horse and pleasure fair. Bromsgrove and the area surrounding it was put under forest law when the boundaries of Feckenham Forest were extended hugely by Henry II, Forest law was removed from the Bromsgrove area in 1301 in the reign of Edward I, when the boundaries were moved back. In the later Middle Ages, Bromsgrove was a centre for the wool trade, manufacture of cloth, particularly narrow cloth and friezes is first recorded in 1533. It fell into decline by the 1700s, by 1778,140 hands were employed in the manufacture of linsey and linen employed 180. By comparison, nail making employed 900 hands by this time, nail making was introduced by the French Huguenots in the 17th century and became a thriving industry. At one point Bromsgrove was the centre of nail making. Mechanisation quickly put the industry into decline, the Bromsgrove Union Workhouse, on the Birmingham Road, was opened in 1838 and closed in 1948 and is in use as an office building today. In 1841, Bromsgrove railway works was established and it was primarily a maintenance facility but also built steam locomotives. The works provided employment for people in Bromsgrove, in 1964, following a reorganisation of railway workshops, the works closed and was demolished
32.
Droitwich Spa
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Droitwich Spa is a town in northern Worcestershire, England, on the River Salwarpe. The Spa was added in the 19th century when John Corbett developed the spa facilities. The River Salwarpe running through Droitwich is likely derived from Sal meaning salt, Droitwich is within the Wychavon area – the only Midlands area to be in the Halifax Quality of Life Survey of 2011. On 4 November 2013 Droitwich Spa Town Council made Max Sinclair an honorary Freeman of the town in recognition of the role he played in the restoration of Droitwich Canals. The town is situated on massive deposits of salt, and salt has been extracted there since ancient times, the natural Droitwich brine contains 2½ lbs. of salt per gallon – ten times stronger than sea water and rivalled only by the Dead Sea. During the Roman era the settlement was known as Salinae and was located at the crossroads of several Roman roads, Railway construction in 1847 revealed Roman mosaic pavements, and later excavations unearthed a Roman villa or corridor house some 44 yards long. The flooding was pictured in UK-wide news, having flooded the majority of the heavily subsided high street, many shops in the high street remained closed almost a year later. The flooding crossed from the stream and canal in Vines Park, crossed Roman Way, rock salt and brine was extracted by the Romans and this continued through to the Middle Ages. A salt tax was levied by the king until it was abolished in 1825, a local family named Wintour owned up to 25 salt evaporating pans in the area by the 1600s. Brine rose naturally to the surface at three sites along the River Salwarpe within Vines Park in the centre of Droitwich, unusually the brine was fully saturated with sodium chloride, and was extremely valuable because it was economic to boil, and the yield of salt was high. Because of its value the brine was divided into shares, one share comprising 6,912 gallons which produced eight tons of salt annually in the set boiling period. When it rained, particularly in the winter when brine was not being boiled, originally brine for boiling was extracted with buckets lowered into the pits which were naturally replenished. Upwich, the deepest of the three pits at 30 feet, supplied most of the brine, while the pit at Netherwich was only 18 feet deep. The Middlewich pit, located between the two, was affected by brine extraction at the other two pits and fell into disuse. Steynor in the 17th century discovered the pit and set up business for himself, with this production increased and pumps were used to draw brine, however, as a result parts of the town succumbed to subsidence. In the mid-19th century, Droitwich became famous as a Spa town, the spa water at Droitwich is the warmest in the United Kingdom outside Bath, but it does not meet the most common definition of a hot spring as the water is below standard human body temperature. The original Brine Baths have long closed, but a new brine bath opened to the public for relaxation. But this too was closed in December 2008 due to a dispute between the operator and Wychavon District Council over health and safety inspections
33.
Evesham
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Evesham is a market town and parish in the Wychavon district of Worcestershire, England with a population of 23,576, according to the 2011 census. It is located equidistant between Worcester, Cheltenham and Stratford-upon-Avon. It lies within the Vale of Evesham, an area comprising the flood plain of the River Avon, the town centre, situated within a meander of the river, is regularly subject to flooding. The 2007 floods were the most severe in recorded history, the town was founded around an 8th-century abbey, one of the largest in Europe, which was destroyed during the Dissolution of the Monasteries, with only Abbot Lichfields Bell Tower remaining. During the 13th century, one of the two battles of Englands Second Barons War took place near the town, marking the victory of Prince Edward who later became King Edward I. Evesham is derived from the Old English homme or ham, and Eof and it was originally named Homme or Haum and recorded as Eveshomme in 709 and Evesham in 1086. Some sources incorrectly cite holm as a source for the towns name, some sources incorrectly give the name of the swineherd as Eoves, but it should be Eof, as explained as long ago as 1920 by O. G. Knapp, It is impossible that Eoves should have been the Swineherds name for several reasons, but even if Eofes is older and more accurate than Eoves it cannot be the original form of the name. A moments reflection will show that if Evesham means the meadow of some person and this in modern English is nearly always denoted by s placed at the end of the word, the apostrophe showing that a vowel has dropped out of the termination. Anglo-Saxon had a selection of endings for the Genitive Case, but the one in –es belonged to what are called strong Masculine nouns. Eofes, therefore, would be the natural Genitive of a proper name. We may therefore take it as certain that the name of the Swineherd was not Eoves, Eofes, or even Eofa. And this is not a theoretical reconstruction, for Eof was actually a Saxon name. The form Eoves, though current for many centuries, is a mere blunder, the abbey was redeveloped and extended after the Norman Conquest, employing many tradesmen and significantly contributing to the growth of Evesham. Income for the abbey came from pilgrims to the abbey to celebrate the vision, as a result of Henry VIIIs dissolution of the monasteries, Evesham Abbey was dismantled in 1540 and sold as building stone, leaving little but the Lichfield Bell Tower. The abbey remains are a Scheduled Ancient Monument, and parts of the complex, Abbot Reginalds Wall. The abbeys coat of arms is used as the crest of Prince Henrys High School. It marked the victory of Prince Edward, who led the 8,000 strong army of his father Henry III, over the 6,000 men of de Montfort, and the beginning of the end of the rebellion
34.
Kidderminster
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Kidderminster is a large town and civil parish in the Wyre Forest district of Worcestershire, England. It is located approximately 17 miles south-west of Birmingham city centre, the 2011 census recorded a population of 55,530 in the town. The town is twinned with Husum, Germany and it forms the majority of the Wyre Forest Conurbation and this became the settlement of Stour-in-Usmere, which was later the subject of a territorial dispute settled by Offa of Mercia in 781, where he restored certain rights to Bishop Heathored. This allowed for the creation of a monastery or minstre in the area, and it was a large manor held by William I with 16 outlying settlements. Various spellings were in use – Kedeleministre or Kideministre, Kidereministre – until the name of the town was settled as Kidderminster by the 16th century. Between 1156 and 1162 Henry II granted the manor to his steward, Manasser Biset, in a visit to the town sometime around 1540, Kings Antiquary John Leland noted that Kidderminster standeth most by clothing. King Charles I granted the Borough of Kidderminster a Charter in 1636, the original charter can be viewed at Kidderminster Town Hall A parliamentary report of 1777 listed Kidderminster Borough as having a parish workhouse accommodating up to 70 inmates. Under the so-called Gilberts Act of 1782 Kidderminster Union was established for the purpose of relieving the indigent poor, the first was St. Georges church, on Radford Avenue. This was designed by Francis Goodwin and built in 1821–1824, finally being consecrated in April 1824 and it had the third largest grant by the Commission, of just over £17,000.00, of any church outside London. The second church was St. Johns Church, on the Bewdley Road and this church was built in 1843 and the architect was Matthew Steele, although the grant in this case was just over £4,000. To the south by the River Stour, dating from the 15th century, is a surviving tower of Caldwall Castle. The River Stour and the Staffordshire and Worcestershire Canal both flow through Kidderminster town centre, the town is noted for its particularly high record lows. Despite an average July low of 11.7 °C, the temperature has never fallen below 5 °C in that month, the coldest and warmest July nights were both recorded in 2015. By 1951 there were over thirty carpet manufacturers in the town, including, aided by a 2004 grant from the Heritage Lottery Fund, a museum dedicated to the Kidderminster Carpet Industry was officially opened by Lord Cobham in 2012. The Wyre was the towns first local radio station and began broadcasting on 12 September 2005 from studios in Kidderminster. Other radio stations providing local coverage are Free Radio, Sunshine Radio, the Wyre ceased broadcasting in 2012 and Signal 107 was launched on 26 March 2012. Kidderminster Town is a parish within Wyre Forest District, with Kidderminister Town Council created to take on the duties of a parish council following a referendum in May 2015. Prior to this, Charter Trustees maintained the traditions of the town, as of the last election in 2014 Wyre Forest District Council currently has no party with a majority on the council
35.
Malvern, Worcestershire
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Malvern is a spa town and civil parish in Worcestershire, England. At the 2011 census it had a population of 29,626 and it includes the historic settlement and commercial centre of Great Malvern on the steep eastern flank of the Malvern Hills, as well as the former independent urban district of Malvern Link. Archaeological evidence suggests that Bronze Age people had settled in the area around 1000 BC, the town itself was founded in the 11th century when Benedictine monks established a priory at the foot of the highest peak of Malvern Hills. During the 19th century Malvern developed rapidly from a village to a sprawling conurbation owing to its popularity as a hydrotherapy spa based on its spring waters, a further major expansion was the result of the relocation of the Telecommunications Research Establishment to Malvern in 1942. QinetiQ, TREs successor company, remains the towns largest local employer, Malvern is the largest place in the parliamentary constituency of West Worcestershire and the district of Malvern Hills, being also the districts administrative seat. It lies adjacent to the Malvern Hills Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty, the populous civil parish has a town council, Malvern Town Council, based in Great Malvern. The name Malvern is derived from the ancient British or old Welsh moel-bryn, meaning Bare or Bald Hill and it has been known as Malferna, Malverne, and Much Malvern. The Wyche Cutting, a pass through the hills, was in use in times as part of the salt route from Droitwich to South Wales. A 19th-century discovery of two hundred metal money bars suggests that the area had been inhabited by the La Tène people around 250 BC. The story remains disputed, however, as Roman historian Tacitus implies a site closer to the river Severn, there is therefore no evidence that Roman presence ended the prehistoric settlement at British Camp. However, excavations at nearby Midsummer Hill fort, Bredon Hill and this may suggest that the British Camp was abandoned or destroyed around the same time. A pottery industry based on the Malverns left remains dating from the Late Bronze Age to the Norman Conquest, products were traded as far as South Wales, via the River Severn. The Longdon and other marshes at the foot of Malvern Chase were grazed by cattle, woodland management was considerable, providing fuel for the kilns. Although a Malvern priory existed before the Norman Conquest, it is the settlement of nearby Little Malvern, the site of another, smaller priory, that is mentioned in the Domesday Book. A motte-and-bailey castle built on the top tier of the earthworks of the British Camp just before the Norman Conquest was probably founded by the Saxon Earl Harold Godwinson of Hereford and it was destroyed by King Henry II in 1155. The town developed around its 11th-century priory, a Benedictine monastery, several slightly different histories explain the actual founding of the religious community. St Werstans oratory is thought to have located on the site of St Michaels Chapel which is believed to have stood on the site of Bello Sguardo. Bello Sguardo was built on the site of Hermitage Cottage, the cottage was demolished in 1825 and ecclesiastical carvings were found within it
36.
Stourport-on-Severn
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Stourport lies on the River Severn, and at the time of the 2011 census had a population of 20,292. In 2006, Stourport-on-Severn was granted Fairtrade Town status, Stourport came into being around the canal basins at the Severn terminus of the Staffordshire and Worcestershire Canal, which was completed in 1768. The canal terminus was built on meadowland to the south west of the hamlet of Lower Mitton, the terminus was first called Stourmouth and then Newport, the final name of Stourport was settled on by 1771. The population of Stourport rose from about 12 in the 1760s to 1300 in 1795, in 1790 he found the town twice as large as two years ago. In 1870 the Cast Iron Stourport Road Bridge across the Severn was built, hartlebury was the residence of the Bishops of Worcester from the early 13th century until 2007, and Astley Hall was the home of Prime Minister Stanley Baldwin, who died here in 1947. In 1968 the Transport Act designated the canal a Cruise way” for pleasure purposes, in 1944, this was the location of a famous address to the troops, by USA General George S. Patton. The George Gilbert Scott church replaced a brick church of 1782 by James Rose. This building was never finished, and after suffering damage, had to be partly demolished. The current St. Michaels church sits partially within its ruins, the Font was salvaged from the ruins of the old church, and is still used in the current building. Stourport Ring Kidderminster and Stourport Electric Tramway Company The official Stourport-on-Severn website
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West Midlands conurbation
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According to the 2011 Census the area had a population of 2,440,986, making it the third most populated in the United Kingdom behind the Greater London and Greater Manchester Built Up Areas. The conurbation has several lesser used names, such as the Birmingham conurbation, the Birmingham-Wolverhampton conurbation. It should be noted that these settlements are not coterminous with the Metropolitan Boroughs of the same name, the area of conurbation between Birmingham and Wolverhampton is known as the Black Country. The Black Country has no centre, having grown up from a number of historic market towns. It remains essentially polycentric with many of the towns and villages remaining recognisable communities, coventry is separated from the West Midlands conurbation by the Meriden Gap, and other urban areas, such as Cannock and Codsall are also only narrowly avoided. For administrative purposes, the vast majority of the conurbation falls within the six Metropolitan Boroughs of Birmingham, Dudley, Sandwell, Solihull, Walsall, the West Midlands Built Up Area consists of the below settlements. In the 2011 Census, Coleshill and Water Orton are two separate areas with populations of 6,341 and 3,444 respectively. Prior to 2011, they were considered part of the West Midlands Urban Area, bentley Heath was not considered to be a settlement within the West Midlands Urban Area in 1981. Yew Tree is only considered part of the West Midlands Urban Area in the 2001 census, cheswick Green was not considered to be a settlement within the West Midlands Urban Area in 1981. Shelly Green was not considered to be a settlement within the West Midlands Urban Area in 1981 or 1991
38.
Shropshire
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Shropshire Council was created in 2009, a unitary authority taking over from the previous county council and five district councils. The borough of Telford and Wrekin has been a unitary authority since 1998. The county has many towns, including Whitchurch in the north, Newport north-east of Telford. The Ironbridge Gorge area is a UNESCO World Heritage Site, covering Ironbridge, Coalbrookdale, there are other historic industrial sites in the county, such as at Shrewsbury, Broseley, Snailbeach and Highley, as well as the Shropshire Union Canal. The Shropshire Hills Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty covers about a quarter of the county, Shropshire is one of Englands most rural and sparsely populated counties, with a population density of 136/km2. The Wrekin is one of the most famous landmarks in the county, though the highest hills are the Clee Hills, Stiperstones. Wenlock Edge is another significant geographical and geological landmark, the River Severn, Great Britains longest river, runs through the county, exiting into Worcestershire via the Severn Valley. Shropshire is landlocked and with an area of 3,487 square kilometres is Englands largest inland county, the county flower is the round-leaved sundew. The area was part of the lands of the Cornovii. This was a tribal Celtic iron age kingdom and their capital in pre-Roman times was probably a hill fort on the Wrekin. Ptolemys 2nd century Geography names one of their towns as being Viroconium Cornoviorum, after the Roman occupation of Britain ended in the 5th century, the Shropshire area was in the eastern part of the Welsh Kingdom of Powys, known in Welsh poetry as the Paradise of Powys. It was annexed to the Angle kingdom of Mercia by King Offa in the 8th century, in subsequent centuries, the area suffered repeated Danish invasion, and fortresses were built at Bridgnorth and Chirbury. Many defensive castles were built at this time across the county to defend against the Welsh and enable effective control of the region, including Ludlow Castle, the western frontier with Wales was not finally determined until the 14th century. Also in this period, a number of foundations were formed, the county largely falling at this time under the Diocese of Hereford. The county contains a number of historically significant towns, including Shrewsbury, Bridgnorth, additionally, the area around Coalbrookdale in the county is seen as highly significant, as it is regarded as one of the birthplaces of the Industrial Revolution. The village of Edgmond, near Newport, is the location of the lowest recorded temperature in England, the origin of the name Shropshire is the Old English Scrobbesbyrigscīr, which means Shrewsburyshire. The name may, therefore, be derived indirectly from a name such as Scrope. Salop is an old name for Shropshire, historically used as a form for post or telegrams
39.
Staffordshire
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Staffordshire is a landlocked county in the West Midlands of England. It adjoins Cheshire to the north west, Derbyshire and Leicestershire to the east, Warwickshire to the south east, West Midlands and Worcestershire to the south, and Shropshire to the west. The largest city in Staffordshire is Stoke-on-Trent, which is administered separately from the rest of the county as an independent unitary authority, Lichfield also has city status, although this is a considerably smaller cathedral city. Major towns include Stafford, Burton upon Trent, Cannock, Newcastle-under-Lyme, Leek, smaller towns include Stone, Uttoxeter, and Rugeley, and large villages Eccleshall, Wombourne, Kinver, Penkridge, Tutbury and Stretton. Cannock Chase AONB is within the county as well as parts of the National Forest, Wolverhampton, Walsall, West Bromwich, and Smethwick were historic Staffordshire towns until local government reorganisation created the West Midlands county in 1974. Historically, Staffordshire was divided into the five hundreds of Cuttlestone, Offlow, Pirehill, Seisdon, the historic boundaries of Staffordshire cover much of what is now the metropolitan county of West Midlands. The Act also saw the towns of Tamworth and Burton upon Trent united entirely in Staffordshire, in 1553 Queen Mary made Lichfield a county separate from the rest of Staffordshire. Handsworth and Perry Barr became part of the county borough of Birmingham in the early 20th century, Burton, in the east of the county, became a county borough in 1901, and was followed by Smethwick, another town in the Black Country in 1907. In 1910 the six towns of the Staffordshire Potteries, including Hanley, a major reorganisation in the Black Country in 1966, under the recommendation of the Local Government Commission for England led to the creation of an area of contiguous county boroughs. Meanwhile, the county borough of Dudley, historically a part of Worcestershire, expanded. County boroughs were abolished, with Stoke becoming a district in Staffordshire. On 1 April 1997, under a recommendation of the Banham Commission, in July 2009 the largest hoard of Anglo-Saxon gold ever found in Britain was discovered in a field near Lichfield. The artefacts, known as The Staffordshire Hoard have tentatively dated to the 7th or 8th centuries. Some nationally and internationally known companies have their base in Staffordshire. They include the Britannia Building Society which is based in Leek, JCB is based in Rocester near Uttoxeter and bet365 based in Stoke-on-Trent. The theme park Alton Towers is in the Staffordshire Moorlands and several of the worlds largest pottery manufacturers are based in Stoke-on-Trent, Staffordshire has a completely comprehensive system with eight independent schools. Most secondary schools are from 11–16 or 18, but two in Staffordshire Moorlands and South Staffordshire are from 13–18, there are two universities in the county, Keele University in Newcastle-under-Lyme and Staffordshire University, which has campuses in Stoke-on-Trent, Stafford, Lichfield and Shrewsbury. The modern county of Staffordshire currently has three football clubs – Stoke City and Port Vale, both from Stoke-on-Trent, and Burton Albion, who play in Burton upon Trent. They were among the 12 founder members of the Football League in 1888, in 1972, the club finally won a major trophy when they lifted the Football League Cup, but after relegation from the First Division in 1985 they would not experience top flight football for 23 years
40.
West Midlands (county)
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The West Midlands is a metropolitan county in western central England with a 2014 estimated population of 2,808,356, making it the second most populous county in England. It came into existence as a county in 1974 after the passage of the Local Government Act 1972. The county itself is a NUTS2 region within the wider NUTS1 region of the same name. The county consists of seven boroughs, the City of Birmingham, the City of Coventry, and the City of Wolverhampton, as well as Dudley, Sandwell, Solihull. The metropolitan county exists in law and as a frame of reference. And as a county it has a Lord Lieutenant and a High Sheriff. A new administrative body for the county, the West Midlands Combined Authority was created in June 2016, there will be a directly elected Mayor of the West Midlands from May 2017. Other county-wide bodies include the West Midlands Police, the West Midlands Fire Service, the county is sometimes described as the West Midlands metropolitan area or the West Midlands conurbation, although these have different, and less clearly defined, boundaries. The main conurbation, or urban area, does not include Coventry for example, Coventry was one of Englands most important cities during the Middle Ages, with its prosperity built upon wool and cloth manufacture. Birmingham and Wolverhampton have a tradition of dating back to the 16th century. Birmingham was known for its manufacture of arms, whereas Wolverhampton became a centre of lock manufacture. The coal and iron ore deposits of the Black Country area provided a source of raw materials. The area grew rapidly during the Industrial Revolution, and by the 20th century had grown into one large conurbation, Coventry was slower to develop, but by the early 20th century, it had become an important centre of bicycle and car manufacture. Around the periphery of this area, three towns remained separate, while Aldridge and Brownhills joined to form a single unit. The West Midlands Passenger Transport Authority was established in 1968, in 1974, the Local Government Act 1972 came into effect, creating the metropolitan county of West Midlands. This area was based on the seven county boroughs and the other non-county boroughs, the new area consisted of seven new metropolitan boroughs, with Aldridge-Brownhills added to Walsall, Halesowen and Stourbridge to Dudley and Sutton Coldfield to Birmingham. A new borough of Sandwell was formed by the merger of West Bromwich, the 1974 reform created the West Midlands County Council that covered the entire area and dealt with strategic issues. Between 1974 and 1986, the county had a system of local government
41.
Warwickshire
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Warwickshire is a landlocked county in the West Midlands of England. The county town is Warwick, although the largest town is Nuneaton, the county is famous for being the birthplace of William Shakespeare. Commonly used abbreviations for the county are Warks or Warwicks, the county is divided into five districts of North Warwickshire, Nuneaton and Bedworth, Rugby, Warwick and Stratford-on-Avon. The current county boundaries were set in 1974 by the Local Government Act 1972, the historic county boundaries also included Coventry and Solihull, as well as much of Birmingham. The northern tip of the county is only 3 miles from the Derbyshire border, an average-sized English county covering an area of almost 2,000 km2, it runs some 60 miles north to south. Equivalently it extends as far north as Shrewsbury in Shropshire and as far south as Banbury in north Oxfordshire, the majority of Warwickshires population live in the north and centre of the county. The market towns of northern and eastern Warwickshire were industrialised in the 19th century, and include Atherstone, Bedworth, Nuneaton, of these, Atherstone has retained most of its original character. Major industries included coal mining, textiles, engineering and cement production, of the northern and eastern towns, only Nuneaton and Rugby are well-known outside of Warwickshire. The south of the county is rural and sparsely populated. The only town in the south of Warwickshire is Shipston-on-Stour, the highest point in the county, at 261 m, is Ebrington Hill, again on the border with Gloucestershire, grid reference SP187426 at the countys southwest extremity. There are no cities in Warwickshire since both Coventry and Birmingham were incorporated into the West Midlands county in 1974 and are now metropolitan authorities in themselves, the largest towns in Warwickshire in 2011 were, Nuneaton, Rugby, Leamington Spa, Bedworth, Warwick, Stratford and Kenilworth. Much of western Warwickshire, including that area now forming part of Coventry, Solihull, thus the names of a number of places in the central-western part of Warwickshire end with the phrase -in-Arden, such as Henley-in-Arden, Hampton-in-Arden and Tanworth-in-Arden. The remaining area, not part of the forest, was called the Felden – from fielden, areas historically part of Warwickshire include Coventry, Solihull, Sutton Coldfield, Erdington, and some of Birmingham including Aston and Edgbaston. These became part of the county of West Midlands following local government re-organisation in 1974. Some organisations, such as Warwickshire County Cricket Club, which is based in Edgbaston, in Birmingham, Coventry is effectively in the centre of the Warwickshire area, and still has strong ties with the county. Coventry and Warwickshire are sometimes treated as an area and share a single Chamber of Commerce. Coventry has been a part of Warwickshire for only some of its history, in 1451 Coventry was separated from Warwickshire and made a county corporate in its own right, called the County of the City of Coventry. In 1842 the county of Coventry was abolished and Coventry was remerged with Warwickshire, in recent times, there have been calls to formally re-introduce Coventry into Warwickshire, although nothing has yet come of this
42.
Gloucestershire
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Gloucestershire is a county in South West England. The county comprises part of the Cotswold Hills, part of the fertile valley of the River Severn. The county town is the city of Gloucester, and other towns include Cheltenham, Cirencester, Stroud. Gloucestershire is a historic county mentioned in the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle in the 10th century, though the areas of Winchcombe, Gloucestershire originally included Bristol, then a small town. The local rural community moved to the city, and Bristols population growth accelerated during the industrial revolution. Bristol became a county in its own right, separate from Gloucestershire and it later became part of the administrative County of Avon from 1974 to 1996. Upon the abolition of Avon in 1996, the north of Bristol became a unitary authority area of South Gloucestershire and is now part of the ceremonial county of Gloucestershire. The official former postal county abbreviation was Glos, rather than the frequently used but erroneous Gloucs. or Glouc. In July 2007, Gloucestershire suffered the worst flooding in recorded British history, the RAF conducted the largest peace time domestic operation in its history to rescue over 120 residents from flood affected areas. The damage was estimated at over £2 billion, the county recovered rapidly from the disaster, investing in attracting tourists to visit the many sites and diverse range of shops in the area. This is a chart of trend of gross value added of Gloucestershire at current basic prices published by Office for National Statistics with figures in millions of British Pounds Sterling. Gloucestershire has mainly comprehensive schools with seven schools, two are in Stroud, one in Cheltenham and four in Gloucester. There are 42 state secondary schools, not including sixth form colleges, all but about two schools in each district have a sixth form, but the Forest of Dean only has two schools with sixth forms. All schools in South Gloucestershire have sixth forms, each has campuses at multiple locations throughout the county. Most of the old market towns have parish churches, at Deerhurst near Tewkesbury, and Bishops Cleeve near Cheltenham, there are churches of special interest on account of the pre-Norman work they retain. These are, however, adjudged to be of English workmanship, other notable buildings include Calcot Barn in Calcot, a relic of Kingswood Abbey. Thornbury Castle is a Tudor country house, the pretensions of which evoked the jealousy of Cardinal Wolsey against its builder, Edward Stafford, duke of Buckingham, near Cheltenham is the 15th-century mansion of Southam de la Bere, of timber and stone. Memorials of the de la Bere family appear in the church at Cleeve, the mansion contains a tiled floor from Hailes Abbey
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Malvern Hills
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The SSSI notification has 26 units of assessment which cover grassland, woodland and geological sites. The site is listed in the Forest of Dean Local Plan Review as a Key Wildlife Site, management of the hills is the responsibility of the Malvern Hills Conservators. The name Malvern is probably derived from the ancient British moel-bryn, meaning Bare-Hill and it has been known as Malferna, Malverne, and Much Malvern. Jabez Allies, a 19th-century antiquarian from Worcestershire speculated that vern was derived from the British words Sarn or Varn meaning pavement or seat of judgement, the Malvern Hills are part of an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty, with scenic views over both Herefordshire and Worcestershire. The Hills run north/south for about 13 km, in between Great Malvern and the village of Colwall, and overlook the River Severn valley to the east, the highest point of the hills is the Worcestershire Beacon at 425 metres above sea level. The hills are famous for their mineral springs and wells. Until recently, Malvern water was bottled commercially on a large scale, the site is thought to date back before the Common Era and has been extended subsequently by a medieval castle. The extensive earthworks remain visible today and determine the shape of the hill. It consists of a series of faults and folds which have the effect of bringing old Malvernian rocks to the surface. This line is considered to mark the edge of two terranes – two once separate fragments of the Earths crust now joined as one – the Wrekin Terrane to the west and the Charnwood Terrane to the east. The main face of Gullet Quarry shows a cross-section through the Precambrian rock and exhibits many rock types including diorite, granite, gneiss, schist, pegmatite and dolerite. The evidence of the history of earth movements which formed the Hills can be seen by multiple joints, fractures, faults and shears. Mineral deposits such as haematite, calcite and epidote can be seen within these features, there is a tiny, man-made cave near the ridge of the hills called Clutters Cave. The cave has been excavated into pillow lavas, some of the rounded pillow shapes are still visible around the entrance to the cave. The quality of Malvern water is attributable to its source, the rocks of the Malvern Hills are amongst the oldest and hardest found in England, the geology is responsible for the quality of Malverns spring water. The hills consist of Precambrian igneous and metamorphic rock, the oldest of which are about 670 million years old, the rocks are characterised by low porosity and high secondary permeability via fissures. When the fissures are saturated, a water table forms and the water emerges as springs around the lines between the strata. Depending on rainfall, the flow can vary from as little as 36 litres per minute to over 350 litres per minute
United Kingdom
England
listen) WUUS-tər-shər, /-ʃɪər/ -sheer; written abbreviation: Worcs) is a county in the West Midlands of England. Between 1974 and 1998, it was merged with the neighbouring county of Herefordshire as Hereford and Worcester.
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Media related to Worcestershire at Wikimedia Commons
Worcestershire travel guide from Wikivoyage
