Manor House

Sunday, 23 December 2012

Manor House (Edwardian Country House) - Episode 3/6

Manor House (Edwardian Country House) - Episode 6/6

Manor House (Edwardian Country House) - Episode 5/6

Manor House (Edwardian Country House) - Episode 2/6

Manor House (Edwardian Country House) - Episode 4/6

Medal of Honor Frontline OST - Manor House Rally

SKYRIM House Hunters - Proudspire Manor (Solitude)

Joyce Manor - House Warning Party (Nervous Energies Halloween session - Fog Machine version)

Alexander Borodin - Nocturne from String Quartet no. 2 in D

MoH Frontline Soundtrack - Manor House Rally

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Abramtsevo
Abramtsevo (Russian: Абра́мцево) is an estate located north of Moscow, in the proximity of Khotkovo, that became a center for the Slavophile movement and artistic activity in the 19th century.
Originally owned by author Sergei Aksakov, other writers and artists — such as Nikolai Gogol — at first came there as his guests. Under Aksakov, visitors to the estate discussed ways of ridding Russian art of Western influences to revive a purely national style. In 1870, eleven years after Aksakov's death, it was purchased by Savva Mamontov, a wealthy industrialist and patron of the arts.
Under Mamontov, Russian themes and folk art flourished there. During the 1870s and 1880s, Abramtsevo hosted a colony of artists who sought to recapture the quality and spirit of medieval Russian art in the manner parallel to the Arts and Crafts movement in Great Britain. Several workshops were set up there to produce handmade furniture, ceramic tiles, and silks imbued with traditional Russian imagery and themes.
Working together in a cooperative spirit, the artists Vasily Polenov and Viktor Vasnetsov designed a plain but picturesque church, with murals painted by Polenov, Vasnetsov and his brother, a gilded iconostasis by Ilya Repin and Mikhail Nesterov, and folklore-inspired sculptures by Viktor Hartmann and Mark Antokolsky. Towards the turn of the 20th century, drama and opera on Russian folklore themes (e.g., Rimsky-Korsakov's The Snow Maiden) were produced in Abramtsevo by the likes of Konstantin Stanislavsky, with sets contributed by Vasnetsov, Mikhail Vrubel, and other distinguished artists.

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Alatskivi
Alatskivi is a small borough (Estonian: alevik) in Tartu County, Estonia. It's the administrative centre of Alatskivi Parish.
Poet Juhan Liiv (1864–1913) was born in Alatskivi.
Alatskivi castle
Grave of Juhan Liiv in Alatskivi cemetery

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Alford Manor House
The Manor House is a Grade II listed building which can be found on West street within Alford, Lincolnshire, England. It is believed to be the largest thatched manor house in England and was built to a traditional H plan in 1611. It is a very rare example of a composite structure, featuring a wooden frame with reed and plaster (visible from within the house), encased in brick. Ground floor and first floor rooms feature design interventions from Georgian through to Victorian times, whilst the attic floor is virtually untouched since 1611.
The house owes much of its existence to the wealth of one of its owners, Sir Robert Christopher. The house was inherited by his granddaughter, Lucy, who married John Manners, Duke of Rutland. Thereafter Alford Manor House was inhabited by tenants, one of whom was John Higgins, who arrived in about 1820. He was a friend of Charles Darwin's father, Robert, and was the local Land Agent. He established his office in the nineteenth century annex which you can see on the east wing of the house.

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Angeln
Modern Angeln, also known as Anglia (German: Angeln, Danish: Angel, Latin: Anglia), is a small peninsula (within the larger Jutland peninsula) in Southern Schleswig in the northern Schleswig-Holstein, Germany, protruding into the Bay of Kiel. It is separated from the neighbouring peninsula of Schwansen (Danish: Svans or Svansø) by the Schlei inlet, and from the Danish island of Als by the Flensburger Förde ("Firth of Flensburg"). Whether ancient Angeln conformed to these borders is uncertain. It may have been somewhat larger; however, the ancient sources mainly concur that it included the territory of modern Angeln. Angeln has a significance far beyond its current small area and country terrain, in that it is believed to have been the original home of the Angles, Germanic immigrants to central and northern England, and East Anglia. This migration led to their new homeland being named after them, from which the name "England" derives. Both England and the English language, thus, ultimately derive their names from the Angles and Angeln.

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Aquitaine
Aquitaine (French pronunciation: [a.ki.tɛn], English /ˌækwɪˈteɪn/; Occitan: Aquitània; Basque: Akitania), archaic Guyenne/Guienne (Occitan: Guiana), is one of the 27 regions of France, in the south-western part of metropolitan France, along the Atlantic Ocean and the Pyrenees mountain range on the border with Spain. It is composed of the 5 departments of Dordogne, Lot et Garonne, Pyrénées-Atlantiques, Landes and Gironde. In the Middle Ages Aquitaine was a kingdom and a duchy, whose boundaries fluctuated considerably.
There are traces of human settlement by prehistoric peoples, especially in the Périgord, but the earliest attested inhabitants in the south-west were the Aquitani, who were not proper Celtic people, but more akin to the Iberians (see Gallia Aquitania). Although a number of different languages and dialects were in use in the area during ancient times, it is most likely that the prevailing language of Aquitaine during the late pre-historic to Roman period was an early form of the Basque language. This has been demonstrated by various Aquitanian names and words that were recorded by the Romans, and which are currently easily readable as Basque. Whether this Aquitanian language (Proto-Basque) was a remnant of a Vasconic language group that once extended much farther, or whether it was generally limited to the Aquitaine/Basque region is not currently known. One reason the language of Aquitaine is important is because Basque is the last surviving non-Indo-European language in western Europe and it has had some effect on the languages around it, including Spanish and, to a lesser extent, French.

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Arnhem
Arnhem (Dutch pronunciation: [ˈɑrn.ɦɛm] ( listen), South Guelderish: Èrnem) is a city and municipality, situated in the eastern part of the Netherlands. It is the capital of the province of Gelderland and located on both banks of the river Nederrijn as well as on the Sint-Jansbeek, which was the source of the city's development. Arnhem has almost 150,000 residents (per 1 January 2012) as one of the larger cities of the Netherlands. The municipality is part of the city region Arnhem-Nijmegen, a metropolitan area with 736,500 inhabitants. Arnhem is home to the Hogeschool van Arnhem en Nijmegen and ArtEZ Institute of the Arts.
Arnhem was first mentioned as such in 893 as Arneym or Arentheym, referring to the many eagles that inhabited the hills and forests of Arnhem back then. Traces of human residence date back much further, however.
The oldest archeological findings of human activity around Arnhem are two firestones of about 70,000 years ago. This comes from the stone age, when the Neanderthals lived in this part of Europe. In Schuytgraaf, tracks of a hunter's camp have been discovered from around 5000 BC. In Schaarsbergen, 12 grave mounds were found from 2400 BC, which brought the so-called Neolithic revolution to the area of Arnhem, i.e. the rise of the farmers.

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Baddesley Clinton
The moated manor house of Baddesley Clinton (grid reference SP199714), located just north of the historic town of Warwick in the English county of Warwickshire, was probably established sometime in the 13th century. When large areas of the Forest of Arden were cleared and eventually converted to farmland this large fortified manor house was probably also built. The site is a Scheduled Ancient Monument and the Hall is a Grade I listed building.
In 1438, John Brome, the Under-Treasurer of England, bought the manor. It then passed to his son, Nicholas, who is thought to have built the east range, which is the main entrance. Nicholas is also responsible for the extensive rebuilding of the nearby parish church dedicated to St. Michael, done as penance for killing the parish priest, a murder reputed to have taken place in the great house itself. The house from this period was equipped with gun-ports, and possibly a drawbridge. When Nicholas Brome died in 1517, the house passed to his daughter, who married Sir Edward Ferrers (High Sheriff of Warwickshire) in 1500. The house remained in the ownership of the Ferrers family until 1940 when it was purchased by Thomas Walker, a relative of the family who changed his name to Ferrers. His son, who inherited in 1970, sold the estate in 1980 to the National Trust, who now manage it.

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Ballylickey
Ballylickey or Ballylicky (Irish: Béal Átha Leice) is a village on the N71 national secondary road near Bantry, County Cork, Ireland. The River Ovane flows into Bantry Bay at Ballylickey.

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Bank Hall
Bank Hall is a Jacobean mansion in Bretherton, Lancashire, England. It is a Grade II* listed building. The hall was built on the site of an older house in 1608 by the Banastres who were lords of the manor. The hall was extended during the 18th and 19th centuries. Extensions were built for George Anthony Legh Keck, in 1832–1833 to the design of architect George Webster.
Legh Keck died in 1860 and the estates passed to Thomas Powys, 3rd Baron Lilford. The contents were auctioned in 1861 and the hall used as a holiday home and later leased to tenants. During the Second World War the Royal Engineers used it as a control centre. After the war the estate was returned to the Lilfords whose estate offices moved to the east wing of the house until 1972 when the house was vacated. The building was used as a location for the 1969 film The Haunted House of Horror.
The house was vandalised causing rapid deterioration. In 1995 the Bank Hall Action Group was formed to raise public awareness, collect funds, host events, and clear the overgrown grounds. In 2003 Bank Hall featured in the BBC's Restoration television series. Since 2006 the action group and Urban Splash have planned to restore the house as apartments retaining the gardens, entrance hall and clock tower for public access and the Heritage Trust for the North West (HTNW) plans to renovate the potting sheds and walled gardens.

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Bantry Bay
Bantry Bay (Irish: Cuan Baoi / Inbhear na mBárc / Bádh Bheanntraighe) is a bay located in County Cork, southwest Ireland. The bay runs approximately 35 km (22 mi) from northeast to southwest into the Atlantic Ocean. It is approximately 3-to-4 km (1.8-to-2.5 miles) wide at the head and 10 km (6.2 mi) wide at the entrance.
Bantry Inshore Search & Rescue Association (BISRA) provides an emergency lifeboat service to the Bantry Bay community. Equipped with a high speed rescue RIB BISRA is a declared resource of the Irish Coastguard.
The bay is a deep (approx 40 meters in the middle) and large natural harbor, with one of the longest inlets in southwest Ireland, bordered on the north by Beara Peninsula, which separates Bantry Bay from Kenmare Bay. The southern boundary is Sheep's Head Peninsula, separating Bantry Bay from Dunmanus Bay. The main islands in the bay are Bere Island and Whiddy Island. Bere Island is located near the entrance to the bay on the north side, across from the villages Curryglass, and Castletown Bearhaven. The town of Rerrin is the largest settlement on the island. The village of Ballynakilla is also located there. Whiddy Island is at the head of the bay near the south shore. It is the main petroleum terminus for Ireland, the harbor ideally suited for large ocean going tankers. ConocoPhillips now maintains a Single Point Mooring (SPM) at the Whiddy Island oil terminal. Bantry Bay was featured during a famous Gulf Oil commercial showing the supertanker "Universe Kuwait" that aired during Apollo space coverage in 1971

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Barkham
Coordinates: 51°24′07″N 0°52′34″W / 51.402°N 0.876°W / 51.402; -0.876
Barkham is a village and civil parish about 2 miles (3 km) south-west of the centre of Wokingham in Berkshire.
The old part of Barkham is the small settlement by the parish church at grid reference SU781666 and close to Barkham Street. However most of the population lives in the north-east of the parish, around the post office, or in the Arborfield Garrison, which is largely in Barkham, as is the REME Museum of Technology. It is a rural parish, mostly consisting of dairy farmland and woods, despite being surrounded by the town of Wokingham and the large villages of Winnersh, Arborfield Cross and Finchampstead.
The toponym "Barkham" is derived from the Old English bercheham meaning "birch home" referring to the birch trees on the edge of Windsor Forest. The name evolved via forms including Berkham' in the 14th century and Barcombe in the 18th century.
In King Edward III's reign the income from Barkham Manor helped to pay for the rebuilding of Windsor Castle and, not long afterwards, timber from Barkham was sent to make the roof of Westminster Abbey.

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Beara Peninsula
Coordinates: 51°43′48″N 9°50′24″W / 51.73°N 9.84°W / 51.73; -9.84
The Beara Peninsula (Irish: Béarra) is a peninsula on the south-west coast of Ireland, bounded between the Kenmare "river" (actually a bay) to the north side and Bantry Bay to the south. It has two mountain ranges running down its centre: the Caha Mountains and the Slieve Miskish Mountains. The northern part of the peninsula from Kenmare to near Ardgroom is in County Kerry, while the rest forms the barony of Bear in County Cork.
Beara is a colloquial name for the area which, while geographically defined, actually straddles two county administrations and is not used officially by any civil administration or by An Post (the Irish Postal service).
Beara was the traditional seat of power of the O'Sullivan Beare and was one of the last points of native Irish resistance after the Battle of Kinsale. Allihies, on the tip of Beara, later became major copper mines and featured in the Daphne du Maurier novel 'Hungry Hill' also made into a film.

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Beemster
Beemster [ˈbeɪ̯m.stər] ( listen) is a municipality in the Netherlands, in the province of North Holland. Also, the Beemster is the first so-called polder in the Netherlands that was reclaimed from a lake, the water being extracted out of the lake by windmills. The Beemster Polder was dried during the period 1609 through 1612. It has preserved intact its well-ordered landscape of fields, roads, canals, dykes and settlements, laid out in accordance with classical and Renaissance planning principles. A grid of canals parallels the grid of roads in the Beemster. The grids are offset: the larger feeder canals are offset by approximately one kilometer from the larger roads.
The municipality of Beemster consists of the following cities, towns, villages and/or districts: Middenbeemster, Noordbeemster, Westbeemster, Zuidoostbeemster.
Around 800 AD the area of the modern municipality of Beemster was covered in peat. The name "Beemster" has been derived from "Bamestra" (see Groenedijk, 2000), the name of a small river in the area. In the period 1150-1250 peat-digging by people, and storm floods, enlarged that small river into an inland sea, a lake in open connection with the Zuiderzee. Around 1605 private investors started to drain the Beemster lake. In 1610, this was almost complete, but the lake re-filled because of a break in the Zuiderzee dikes. It was decided to make the ring-dike a meter high above the surrounding country. In 1612 the polder was dry and the country was divided among the investors. In the earlier days of the polder, farmers occupied its lands for growing the crops necessary for long sea journeys by the VOC to the East Indies. It turned out that the farmland was so good that the project was considered then to be an economic success, in contrast to e.g. the Heerhugowaard. Since 1999 the entire Beemster polder has been on the UNESCO world heritage list.

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Begbroke
Coordinates: 51°49′19″N 1°19′08″W / 51.822°N 1.319°W / 51.822; -1.319
Begbroke is a village and civil parish in Oxfordshire about 1 mile (1.6 km) west of Kidlington and 5 miles (8 km) northwest of Oxford.
The toponym "Begbroke" is Old English for "Little Brook". This refers to Rowel Brook which runs through the village and was the reason for its early settlement. Rowel Brook is a tributary of the River Cherwell.
Fragments of early pottery have been found in the parish, as well as flints, scrapers, and an axe and arrow head. Aerial photographs show ancient crop marks.
The Church of England parish church of Saint Michael is a 12th century Norman building.
The former Begbroke Hill Farm was owned by the Giffard and FitzHerbert families for nearly 500 years. It was built early in the 17th century for either Humphrey FitzHerbert (died 1616) or his son Robert (died 1632). It is now the site of the Oxford University Begbroke Science Park (which, despite the name, is accessible only from the neighbouring village of Yarnton and but is in the boundary of Begbroke parish). Land belonging to the farm has been designated for an upmarket residential development.^{[citation needed]}

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Berkshire
Berkshire ( /ˈbɑrkʃər/ or /ˈbɑrkʃɪər/, abbreviated Berks) is both a ceremonial county and a historic county of England. The administrative county of Berkshire including the Berkshire County Council were abolished in 1998. The county is often referred to as the Royal County of Berkshire because of the presence of the royal residence of Windsor Castle in the county; this usage, which dates to the 19th century at least, was recognised by the Queen in 1957, and letters patent issued confirming this in 1974.
The ceremonial county has the same boundaries as the former administrative county, but historically the county was not co-terminous with this. The county borders the counties of Oxfordshire, Buckinghamshire, Surrey, Wiltshire and Hampshire. Historically the county included several towns to the northwest of the county (including Abingdon, Didcot and Wantage) that were moved into Oxfordshire in 1974 boundary changes. At the same time the town of Slough was moved into Berkshire from Buckinghamshire.

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Bettiscombe
Coordinates: 50°48′03″N 2°51′36″W / 50.80089°N 2.85988°W / 50.80089; -2.85988
Bettiscombe is a hamlet in west Dorset, England, situated in the Marshwood Vale four miles west of Beaminster. The village has a population of 63 according to the United Kingdom Census 2001.
Bettiscombe Manor, a manor house in the village, is known as "The House of the Screaming Skull" due to a legend dating from the 17th century. Other ghost stories are also associated with the manor.

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Birtsmorton Court
Birtsmorton Court is a medieval moated manor house near Malvern in Worcestershire, in the former woodlands of Malvern Chase. The English place name element birt-, which often signifies the birches such as grow in this low-lying site, in this particular case may be a transformation of de Brute, holding the manor under Edward I. The manor was mentioned in Domesday; the present house, partly half-timbered built on a courtyard plan, is in part of the 13th century. In 1424-25 Birtsmorton became the seat of John Nanfan, who demolished most of the earlier structure before his death, ca 1447. The house was remodelled for Giles Nanfan, ca. 1572, as heraldry in the Great Hall suggests. The last male heir, Bridges Nanfan, left the estate to his daughter Catherine.
The present picturesque aspect of the house is in part due to antiquarian restoration and emendation by Frederick S. Waller, 1871-72. The east range, destroyed by fire in the 18th century, was in 1929-30 by A. Hill Parker and Son, in what Pevsner called a "successful pastiche".

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Bitterne Manor
Coordinates: 50°55′06″N 1°22′56″W / 50.9183°N 1.3822°W / 50.9183; -1.3822

Bitterne Manor is a suburb of Southampton surrounding the manor house of the same name.
Bitterne Manor is the site of the original Roman settlement of Clausentum, the forerunner to today's City of Southampton.
The manor house has existed from Norman times and possibly earlier, and was built from the stones of Clausentum. The house was used by the Bishop of Winchester, who travelled from manor to manor with his court throughout each year. The manor house also operated as a farm, and was surrounded by parkland.Bitterne Park today, though, is a built-up area.
With its easy access to the River Itchen and the navigation to Winchester, Bitterne Manor was used by the bishops as a distribution centre for wine and salt, which was panned in the river.
Arrangements were made to determine the exact boundaries between the manor and the Abbey lands at Hound and Netley in January 1246. This boundary remained in place until the mid 19th century, and was used in part as the subsequent boundary between the Itchen Urban District Council and Bitterne Parish Council.

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Bletchingdon
Coordinates: 51°51′25″N 1°16′05″W / 51.857°N 1.268°W / 51.857; -1.268
Bletchington (also known as Bletchingdon) is a village and civil parish 2 miles (3 km) north of Kidlington and 6 miles (10 km) southwest of Bicester in Oxfordshire, England.
The Domesday Book records that in 1086 Robert D'Oyly held a manor of eight hides at Bletchington and his tenant was one Gilbert. Gilbert was an ancestor of Roger d'Amory, who was Lord of the Manor of Bletchington until he died in prison in 1322.
In about 1139 Robert d'Amory gave 50 acres (20 ha) at Bletchington to Godstow Abbey, and Walter Pery gave the abbey one yardland and 10 acres (4 ha) at Bletchingdon. Godstow retained this estate until it surrendered all its property to the Crown in the Dissolution of the Monasteries in 1539.
Before 1151 Ralph Fitzniel and his mother Agnes gave half a hide at Bletchington to the Knights Templar preceptory at Cowley. The preceptory later moved to Sandford-on-Thames. In the reign of Edward II the Templars were suppressed and in 1513 the Knights Hospitaller held the same half hide at Bletchington.

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Boarstall Tower
Boarstall Tower is a 14th-century moated gatehouse located in Boarstall, Buckinghamshire, England, and now, with its surrounding gardens, a National Trust property.
The gatehouse was built by John de Haudlo in 1312 and is all that remains of Boarstall House, a fortified manor house that was demolished in 1778. Although it was updated in 1615 for use as a banqueting pavilion or hunting lodge, it retained its mediaeval belfry, cross loops and crenellations. The exterior and many rooms are essentially unchanged. The property is tenanted with limited opening arrangements. Exterior rooms remain virtually unchanged since 1615.
Coordinates: 51°49′24″N 1°05′45″W / 51.8234°N 1.0957°W / 51.8234; -1.0957

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Bodysgallen Hall
Bodysgallen Hall is a manor house in Conwy county borough, north Wales, near the village of Llanrhos. Since 2008 the house has been owned by The National Trust. It is a grade I listed building, and is currently used as a hotel. This listed historical building derives primarily from the 17th century, and has several later additions. Bodysgallen was constructed as a tower house in the Middle Ages to serve as defensive support for nearby Conwy Castle. According to tradition, the site of Bodysgallen was the 5th century AD stronghold of Cadwallon Lawhir, King of Gwynedd, who had wide ranging exploits as far as Northumberland.
Cadwallon Lawhir's 5th century AD residence ruins are extant atop a woodland knoll above the present Bodysgallen Hall, but as early as 1835 was in ruin and totally overgrown by thorns. According to the ancient record of Caernarvon, Bod Caswallon (Bodysgallen) was one of those townships called Tre Welyog, meaning it was a unit of hereditary land (gwely) held in common by members of a wider family unit in medieval Wales, which often became divided and subdivided among heirs to the fourth descent; with the passage of time some of the smaller landholders might be "bought out" and become tenants of a larger estate. This possibly might have been one of three gwelys, originally belonging to Gloddaeth.

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Bradninch
Coordinates: 50°50′00″N 3°25′00″W / 50.8333°N 3.4167°W / 50.8333; -3.4167
Bradninch is a small town in Devon, England, lying about three miles south of Cullompton. Bradninch dates back to before the 7th century and at this time there was a Saxon fortress on Castle hill. The feudal Baron of Bradninch in the 12th century was Sir William de Tracy, one of the assassins of the Archbishop of Canterbury, Thomas Becket. Much of the surrounding farmland belongs to the Duchy of Cornwall.
The place-name 'Bradninch' is first attested in the Domesday Book of 1086, where it appears as 'Bradenese'; the name is thought to mean 'broad oak'.
The town was largely destroyed in a fire in 1666 (the same year as the Great Fire of London). It used to be served by the railway station at Hele, which is now closed.
Notable buildings in the town include Bradninch Guildhall, the Castle Pub, the manor house, Earlsland House, Comfort House, and the parish church.
This 15th-century church is currently dedicated to St Disen, a unique dedication in the British Isles, who is considered to have been an Irish missionary saint. Previously this church was dedicated to St Dionysius, and some confusion has arisen between the two. It possesses a finely decorated screen. In the panels at the screen's base are nearly 50 paintings of saints and biblical scenes. Another screen in the church is simpler, with panels of various saints, including an unusual one of St Francis of Assisi receiving the stigmata.

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Bretherton
Coordinates: 53°40′42″N 2°47′47″W / 53.678313°N 2.796266°W / 53.678313; -2.796266
Bretherton is a small village and civil parish in the Borough of Chorley, Lancashire, England situated to the south west of Leyland and east of Tarleton. Its name suggests pre-conquest origins and its early history was closely involved with the manor house Bank Hall and the families who lived there. Bretherton remained a rural community and today is largely residential with residents travelling to nearby towns for employment.
Bretherton derives from either the Old English brothor and tun or Norse brothir and means "farmstead of the brothers". It was first recorded in documents in 1190. Bretherton has been variously recorded as Bretherton in 1242, Brotherton occurs in 1292, Bertherton in 1292 and Thorp was mentioned in 1212.
Bretherton, was part of the Penwortham fee and assessed as two plough-lands. It was given by the Bussels to Richard le Boteler of Amounderness, who made grants to Cockersand Abbey around 1200 and Lytham Priory. In 1242 the manor was held by six families of Richard Banastre, Walter de Hoole, Richard de Thorp, William de Brexes, Thomas de Gerstan and Simon del Pool who held the land from the Lord of Penwortham. Over time these six parts were consolidated into two moieties held by different branches of the Banastre family, the Banastres of Bank, and that of Sir Thomas Banastre. The Bank moiety remained with the Banastres until 1690 when Christopher Banastre died leaving two daughters. His eldest daughter, Anne, married Thomas Fleetwood who made the first to attempt at draining Martin Mere. Their daughter, Henrietta Maria, married Thomas Legh of Lyme Park and subsequently the manor descended to Lord Lilford. This branch of the family built or rebuilt Bank Hall in the Jacobean style in 1608.

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Brittany
Brittany (French: Bretagne [bʁətaɲ] ( listen); Breton: Breizh, pronounced [brɛjs]; Gallo: Bertaèyn) is a cultural region in the north-west of France. Previously a kingdom and then a duchy, Brittany was united to the Kingdom of France in 1532 as a province. Brittany has also been referred to as Less, Lesser or Little Britain (as opposed to Great Britain). Brittany is considered as one of the six Celtic nations.
Brittany occupies the northwest peninsula of continental Europe in northwest France. It is bordered by the English Channel to the north, the Celtic Sea and the Atlantic Ocean to the west, and the Bay of Biscay to the south. Its land area is 34,023 km² (13,136 sq mi). The historical province of Brittany is divided into five departments: Finistère in the west, Côtes-d'Armor in the north, Ille-et-Vilaine in the north east, Loire-Atlantique in the south east and Morbihan in the south on the Bay of Biscay.
In 1956, French regions were created by gathering departments between them. The Region of Brittany comprises, since then, four of the five Breton departments (80% of historical Brittany), while the remaining area of the old Brittany, the Loire-Atlantique department, around Nantes, forms part of the Pays de la Loire region. This territorial organisation is regularly contested. The Kingdom and the Duchy of Brittany, the province of Brittany, and the modern Region of Brittany cover the Western part of Armorica, as it was known during the period of Roman occupation.

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Bromley Palace
Bromley Palace (also known as the Bishop's Palace) is a manor house in Bromley, London Borough of Bromley; and was the residence of the Bishops of Rochester from the 12th century to 1845. It is now part of Bromley Civic centre.

In the 8th century, King Æthelbert II of Kent granted 6 "sulings" of land, which came to be known as the Manor of Bromley, to Eardwulf, Bishop of Rochester. In 862 Æthelberht III, king of Wessex and Kent, granted 10 sulings in Bromley to his minister Dryhtwald. In 967, King Edgar I of England again granted 10 sulings of land to Bishop Ælfstan in return for a large sum in gold and silver.
In the year 987, a dispute between King Ethelred II and the Bishop of Rochester led to the land being seized and given to one of the king's ministers (Æthelsine) though a royal act of contrition led to its return in 998. After the conquest, another expropriation was attempted by Bishop Odo of Bayeux (half-brother of William the Conqueror himself) and Archbishop Lanfranc (of Canterbury) had to intervene to restore the land to the diocese.

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Brooksby Hall
Brooksby Hall is a 16th century manor house in 3.2 square kilometres (800 acres) of land between Leicester and Melton Mowbray and is 13 kilometres (8.1 mi) northeast of Leicester.
It was the home of Admiral Beatty. Many other famous and influential people have also lived at the hall. The Villiers family lived at the hall for almost 500 years from 1235 to 1711, when the last baronet, Sir William Villiers, 3rd Baronet, died.
Whilst the hall is now used for weddings, the rest of the estate forms part of the merged Brooksby Melton Agricultural College.
Coordinates: 52°44′17″N 1°00′27″W / 52.7380°N 1.0074°W / 52.7380; -1.0074

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Brympton d'Evercy
Brympton d'Evercy (also known as Brympton House) is a manor house near Yeovil in the county of Somerset, England. It has been described as the most beautiful house in England, in a country of architecturally pleasing country houses; whatever the truth of that statement, in 1927 the British magazine Country Life published a set of three articles on the house, in which Christopher Hussey, near the start of his 50-year career as a notable architectural authority and documentor of British country houses, described Brympton d'Evercy as "The most incomparable house in Britain, the one which created the greatest impression and summarises so exquisitely English country life qualities". Hussey's articles remain the only detailed account of the mansion. During its long history Brympton d'Evercy has belonged to just five families, the d'Evercys, the Sydenhams, the Fanes, the Weeks (from 1992 to 2007) and the most recent owner who purchased the property in 2007.
Brympton D'Evercy's was not built in a single campaign as an entirety; instead, it was slowly expanded between about 1220, when it was begun by the D'Evercy family, and the 18th century. During three quarters of a millennium it has remained little known, and little recorded. For a few years following World War II Brympton d'Evercy was a boys' school, before being reclaimed by its owners as a private house. Today occasionally hired out as a location for filming, or a hospitality event, it remains essentially a private residence.

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Burghley House
Burghley House is a grand 16th-century country house near the town of Stamford, Lincolnshire, England (Burghley House itself is just within Cambridgeshire). Its park was laid out by Capability Brown.
Burghley was built for Sir William Cecil, later 1st Baron Burghley, who was Lord High Treasurer to Queen Elizabeth I, between 1558 and 1587 and modelled on the privy lodgings of Richmond Palace. It was subsequently the residence of his descendants, the earls and marquesses of Exeter and, since 1961, is owned by a charitable trust established by the family.
Lady Victoria Leatham, a daughter of the 6th marquess and a well-known antiques expert and television personality, ran the house as a director of the trust from 1982 to 2007. She has been succeeded by her daughter Miranda Rock.
The house is one of the principal examples of 16th-century English Elizabethan architecture and also has a suite of rooms remodelled in the baroque style, with carvings by Grinling Gibbons. The main part of the house has 35 major rooms on the ground and first floors. There are more than 80 lesser rooms and numerous halls, corridors, bathrooms and service areas.

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Børglum Abbey
Børglum Abbey was an important Premonstratensian abbey of medieval Denmark, located in Børglum parish, in the commune of Hjørring, approximately five kilometers east of Løkken in north central Jutland (Region Nordjylland).
Børglum Abbey was originally a royal farm (Danish: gård) which dated back as far as 1000, if not earlier. In 1086 King Canute IV fled from his residence at Børglum when the peasants revolted against him. The royal residence was burned to the ground but rebuilt sometime later.
At some point between 1134 and 1139, the royal estate at Børglum was granted to the church to become the new seat of the bishopric of northern Jutland, also known as the bishopric of Vendsyssel, previously established at Vestervig. Bishop Self (or Sylvester) of Vestervig became the first Bishop of Børglum (Vendsyssel) in 1139, and Børglum remained the seat of the diocese until the Reformation.
It is unclear exactly who first established a monastery there, but it seems possible that the Augustinians previously settled at Vestervig had moved to Børglum by 1134.

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Calcot Manor
Calcot Manor is a historic building 3 miles west of Tetbury, Gloucestershire, England, near the junction of the A46 and A4135 roads (National Grid Reference ST 841180 94891). The original building was established in approximately 1300 AD by Henry of Kingswood as a tithe barn annex of Kingswood Abbey. The estate was expanded to include a 16th century manor house and other buildings. Structures added in the Late Middle Ages to mid 17th century include a chapel, granary and stables and other buildings. The buildings are all constructed from limestone; which locally quarried stones are typically flat and easily stacked for drystone wall purposes.
It is known that there was a Roman presence at the site as early as the 5th century AD based upon the archeological finds of carved stones, Roman coins and other discoveries.^{[citation needed]}
Many Roman artifacts have been discovered at Calcot, some of which are now displayed at the Gloucester City Museum and the Stroud Museum. One of the principal finds is a curved, limestone ornate bas-relief. This stone had been originally embedded in the wall of the tithe barn. This particular stone is now located in the Ashmolean Museum in Oxford.

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Castle Combe
Coordinates: 51°29′41″N 2°13′11″W / 51.49463°N 2.21971°W / 51.49463; -2.21971
Castle Combe is a small village in Wiltshire, England, with a population of about 350. It is renowned for its attractiveness and tranquillity, and for fine buildings including the medieval church. The 14th century market cross, erected when the privilege to hold a weekly market in Castle Combe was granted, is situated where the three principal streets converge. Some small stone steps near the cross were for horse riders to mount and dismount and close by are the remains of the buttercross. The village has twice played host to the Combe Sunday event, a music extravaganza which attracted 4,000 visitors to the village in 2006.
The 4-star Manor House Hotel in the village was built in the 14th century. It has 48 rooms and 365 acres (1.5 km²) of gardens.
The village prospered during the fifteenth century, when it belonged to Millicent, the wife of Sir Stephen Le Scrope and then of Sir John Fastolf (1380–1459), a Norfolk knight who was the effective lord of the manor for fifty years. He promoted the woollen industry, supplying his own troops and others for Henry V's war in France.

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Chambercombe Manor
Chambercombe Manor is a Norman manor house located near Ilfracombe, Devon, which dates back to the 11th century and was recorded in the Domesday Book. It is said to be one of the most haunted buildings in the United Kingdom.
The Manor was owned by the Champernon family until the 15th century, when it passed through various families until 1979 when it was donated to the Chambercombe Manor Trust. The house lost its status as an estate at some point, and for a long time it was used as a farmhouse. However, it did not lose its former grandeur during this period, and today the manor is open to the public. The house contains eight period rooms available to view, ranging from Elizabethan to Victorian.
The manor's most infamous ghost originated in a room known as the "Haunted Room". This room adjoins the Lady Jane Grey Room, who herself descended from the Champernon family. It was discovered in 1865 when the owner at the time was making some roof repairs, and noticed the outline of a window that did not have a room associated with it inside. After exploring the building in the area where the window was, he and his wife knocked through a wall and discovered a large four poster bed, and on it was a skeleton.

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Chavenage House
Chavenage House is an Elizabethan era manor house situated 2.414 km or 1.5 miles northwest of Tetbury, in the Cotswolds area of Gloucestershire, England.
It is constructed of Cotswold stone, with a Cotswold stone tiled roof.
Particularly famous features of the house are Cromwell's Room, with history of the English Civil War, the Great Hall, featuring stained glass windows, the Ballroom (an Edwardian era addition), and the Oak Room, which features elaborate oak panels dating from 1590.
Chavenage offers personal tours, usually conducted by the owner, David Lowsley-Williams. His daughter Caroline (seen on John Bishop's Britain) is also a guide. It is also a conference, function and wedding venue.
Chavenage has been used in films and for television programmes, including The ghost of Greville Lodge, a Hercule Poirot story The Mysterious Affair at Styles; a 'Gotcha' for Noel's House Party, Sleuth, Berkeley Square; Cider with Rosie; Grace & Favour; in 2007 the BBC's Lark Rise to Candleford. Scenes from Bonekickers, Tess of the D'Urbervilles and In Love with Barbara were shot at Chavenage in 2008. Recent credits include Rosamund Pilcher's 'The Four Seasons', the BBC's 'Nightwatch' and the new CBBC's 'Sparticles'.

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Cheddington
Coordinates: 51°50′49″N 0°39′50″W / 51.847°N 0.664°W / 51.847; -0.664
Cheddington is a village and civil parish in the Aylesbury Vale district of Buckinghamshire. The parish has an area of 1,429 acres (578 ha). The village is about 6 miles north-east of Aylesbury and three miles north of Tring in Hertfordshire. The hamlet of Cooks Wharf has grown up where the main road into the village from Pitstone crosses the Grand Union Canal.
At Southend Hill near the village are the remains of an Iron Age hill fort which has been largely obliterated through arable cultivation.
The earliest known record of the village is in the Domesday Book in which it is called Cetendone, which is Old English for "Cetta's Hill". The Church of England parish church of Saint Giles was originally Norman. There is also a Methodist church with a large congregation.
Cheddington manor house is a much gabled and half timbered red brick building under a tiled roof, dating from the 16th century.
In 1963 Cheddington featured in the national press as it was near the location of the "Great Train Robbery" of 1963 at Bridego Railway Bridge in the hamlet of Ledburn.

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Chenies Manor House
Chenies Manor House, at Chenies, Buckinghamshire, southern England, a Grade I Listed Building, known formerly as Chenies Palace, was owned by the Cheyne family who were granted the manorial rights in 1180. The current house was built around 1460 by Sir John Cheyne. His widow, Lady Agnes Cheyne, left the manor house in a contested will to her niece, Anne Semark, wife of Sir David Phelip in 1494.
It is believed Chenies passed to the Semark family, of Thornhaugh Northamptonshire to re-promote the family at court. The Sapcote family was on the side of Richard at Bosworth. Phelip married Ann Semark after Bosworth, Phelip had a close friendship with the Cecil's of Burghley, the Cecil's and Semark were kin.
Additions were made to the house in 1526 by John Russell, 1st Earl of Bedford and in 1560 it was restyled by Francis Russell, 2nd Earl of Bedford, who had made it his principal home. Henry VIII was entertained here, as was Queen Elizabeth I in 1570. The manor remained in the possession of the Russells until 1954 and is now the Macleod Matthews family home.

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Château d'Harcourt
The Château d'Harcourt, situated in the commune of Harcourt in the Eure département of France, is a masterpiece of medieval architecture. The cradle of the Harcourt family, the castle is one of the best preserved castles in the country and contains the oldest arboretum in France.
Although the lords of Harcourt trace their origins to the year 1000, it is only in the second half of the 12th century that the existence of a castle can be proven from historical texts. Robert II d'Harcourt was a companion in the crusade of Richard Lionheart; the first stone castle was certainly built by him. Harcourts appear later among the most important barons of Normandy. Jean II d'Harcourt, for example, was named Marshal of France (French: maréchal de France) and accommodated in his residence king Philip III. In 1338, king Philip VI, set up the seigniory of Harcourt, with the Château d'Harcourt forming its principal town.
The fortress appears to have seldom been under siege through history. It is only at the time of the Hundred Years' War that Harcourt became a military base. In 1418, the castle was claimed by the English, but they were eventually expelled by the counts of Dunois, Eu and Saint-Pol in 1449. As the war came to a close, the domain returned to the Rieux family, then, starting from the second half of the 16th century, to the powerful Lorraine-Guise family. The French Wars of Religion caused an increase in defensive fortifications in the castle. In 1588, the members of a league occupied the castle. In the 17th century, the castle lost all military interest; it was then partially abandoned and invaded by vegetation after Louis Gervais Delamarre acquired it in 1802. With his death, Harcourt was bestowed to the Royal Academy of Agriculture of France (French: L'académie royale d'Agriculture). Today, the council general of Eure is the owner.

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Château de Gratot
The château de Gratot is a ruined medieval castle in the commune of Gratot, in the Manche département in Basse-Normandie (France).
It is located only a few kilometers from the English Channel.
The first Château de Gratot was built during the 14th century, but underwent many transformations until the 18th century. It was constructed by the family of Argouges, barons of Gratot: they sold the castle in 1771. The castle is built in a number of styles, the most recent addition being a pavilion built in the 18th century.
The castle was neglected in the 19th century, and was used as a fodder warehouse for local farmers. It was definitively abandoned at the start of the 20th century. Since 1968 it has been recovering its past glories owing to a team of volunteers who restore it lovingly. The main restoration work took place in the late 60's and 70's, requiring tonnes of rubble to be removed from the cellars and ground floor, and the castle grounds to be cleared of undergrowth. Since then some buildings, including two of the towers, have been rebuilt, including adding wooden roofs to the towers and some buildings. Historical documents and 19th century paintings showing the castle as a romantic ruin were used to guide reconstruction efforts. The 18th century pavilion has been fully restored with roof, floors, a staircase, windows and electricity, allowing it to be used for exhibitions and cultural events. The latest renovation work concentrates on the formal gardens: only the shape of the gardens can currently be seen, with no paths or planting

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Château de Kérouzéré
The Château de Kérouzéré is a 15th century Breton castle (or manor-house) in the commune of Sibiril in the Finistère département of France.
The castle was built in granite in the first half of the 15th century for Jean and Yves de Kérouzéré, seneschal of Morlaix, and followers of the dukes of Brittany. Visible from the sea, Kérouzéré was dangerously exposed and was particularly vulnerable to English attacks. As such the duke permitted him to erect a single tower of more than twenty-four feet in width with crenellations and ditches. This construction caused a major controversy with the neighboring seigneur of Kermorvan. As a result, from 1466 the building was always unfinished and, in 1468, François II had to grant a second authorization for its completion. The original tower is the part of the manor-house located to the west of the current entry (the window of the chapel sits above it).
It was besieged in 1590 during the French Wars of Religion and seriously damaged as the southeast tower was destroyed. It was rebuilt around 1600. There are four superimposed halls: the lowest hall is on the right of the entry and the upper-hall, arranged in the roof, gives access to the covered wall-walk. The kitchen, the common rooms and the private quarters, above, are directed towards the west. There were originally four corner towers; the moat, of which vestiges remained until the last century, has been filled in. The interior of the manor-house still has some 17th century wall paintings. The roof of the northwest tower was restored at the end of the 19th century.

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Château de Milandes
The Château des Milandes is a small castle in the commune of Castelnaud-la-Chapelle in the Dordogne département of France. Built around 1489, it was the main house of the lords of Caumont until 1535, who preferred to live in this manor house instead of the large, uncomfortable medieval castle of Château de Castelnaud-la-Chapelle.
In 1940, the entertainer Josephine Baker rented the château and then bought it in 1947.
It has been listed as a monument historique by the French Ministry of Culture since 1986.
Coordinates: 44°49′25″N 1°06′48″E / 44.82361°N 1.11333°E / 44.82361; 1.11333

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Château de Pirou
The Château de Pirou is a castle in the commune of Pirou, in the département of Manche (Basse-Normandie), France.
The castle was initially built of wood, then of stone in the 12th century and belonged to the lords of Pirou. It was constructed near the shore of the English Channel, and used to watch upon the west coast of the Cotentin, to protect the town of Coutances.
The castle was transformed into a farm during the 18th century, and then began to deteriorate.
In 1968 the castle was listed in the Inventaire supplémentaire des Monuments historiques by the French Ministry of Culture. Restoration was begun on the initiative of the abbot Marcel Lelégard (1925-1994).
The castle now lies in the middle of an artificial pond. The drawbridge has been replaced by a stone bridge. The curtain walls from the 12th century enclose two residential houses from two different periods (16th and 18th centuries).
A famous legend of Normandy originates in the castle at Pirou. Besieged by the Normans, the lord of Pirou and his family transformed themselves into geese, using an old wizard’s book, in order to escape during the assault. But a few days later, when they tried to read the reverse spell to recover their human shapes, they realized that the wizard’s book had burnt with the castle, set on fire by the Normans. This is why wild geese stop in the Cotentin each year in March, during their annual migration.

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Château de Puymartin
The Château de Puymartin is a castle in the commune of Marquay, France, located between Sarlat (8 km) and Les Eyzies (11 km), in the Dordogne department.
The castle was built during the 13th century. It was taken by the English in 1357. The consuls of Sarlat bought the domaine back from the English but then abandoned the castle.
Radulphe de Saint-Clar re-purchased it in 1450 and enlarged it.
During the 16th century, Raymond de Saint-Clar defeated the Protestants during the French Wars of Religion. Under the name of Capitaine de Puymartin, he expelled the Huguenots from Sarlat.
During the 18th Century, Jean de Saint-Clar contended with his sister Suzanne for possession of the castle. Suzanne won and kept Puymartin. The castle was finally abandoned during the 18th century.
During the 19th century, the marquis of Carbonnier de Marzac restored the castle in a neo-gothic style.
Château de Puymartin is listed as a monument historique by the French Ministry of Culture.
Coordinates: 44°54′38″N 1°8′33″E / 44.91056°N 1.1425°E / 44.91056; 1.1425

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Château de Trécesson
The Château de Trécesson which has preserved its medieval aspect, is one of the most impressive castles of Brittany. It is located in the commune of Campénéac in the Morbihan département of France, near the Paimpont forest and on the edge of the military camp of Coëtquidan. It is a private property.
The castle's imposing reddish schist walls are reflected in the waters of the lake which surrounds it. The front gate is reached by a bridge which spans the moat. The entry is guarded by an imposing gatehouse flanked by two narrow towers on corbelling, joined together by an old gallery with machicolations. On the right, a long almost windowless frontage, covered with a steep slate roof, ends in a hexagonal corner tower. Around the trapezoidal inner courtyard, to the right is a corps de logis of more recent vintage, undoubtedly 18th century; and on the left stand the domestic buildings, protected by a watchtower on the exterior facade, and a small 15th century seigneurial chapel.
It has been listed since 1922 as a monument historique by the French Ministry of Culture.

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Clausholm Castle
Clausholm Castle is a large Danish country house located some 12 km southeast of Randers in eastern Jutland. It is one of Denmark's finest Baroque buildings.
The castle's origins appear to go back to the 12th century but it is first mentioned in the 14th century when its owner, Lage Ovesen, was one of the leaders of the Jute uprising against Valdemar Atterdag. At the time, Clausholm was a four-winged building surrounded by a moat. But when the first Danish primeminister, Grand Chancellor Conrad von Reventlow, acquired the property in the 1690s, it was in such a sorry state that he pulled it down and had today's two-storeyed, three-winged building constructed in its place. It was designed by Danish architect Ernst Brandenburger with the assistance of the Swede Nicodemus Tessin the Younger.
The castle was designed so that the Grand Chancellor could live on the ground floor while the first floor, with higher and more decorative ceilings, was intended for royal visitors. Both the castle and the park are among Denmark's earliest and finest from the Baroque period.

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Conwy valley
The River Conwy (Welsh: Afon Conwy) is a river in north Wales. From its source to its discharge in Conwy Bay it is a little over 27 miles (43 km) long. "Conwy" is sometimes Anglicized as "Conway."
It rises on the Migneint moor where a number of small streams flow into Llyn Conwy, then flows in a generally northern direction, being joined by the tributaries of the rivers Machno and Lledr before reaching Betws-y-Coed, where it is also joined by the River Llugwy. From Betws-y-coed the river continues to flow north through Llanrwst, Trefriw (where it is joined by the Afon Crafnant) and Dolgarrog (where it is joined by Afon Porth-llwyd and Afon Ddu) before reaching Conwy Bay at Conwy. During spring tides the river is tidal as far as Llanrwst.
The Conwy is bounded to the east by the rolling ancient mudstone hills of the Silurian period, the Migneint Moors. These acid rocks are generally covered in thin, often acid soils and for large parts of the upland areas the cover is of moor-grass — Mollinia spp and Erica communities. As a result the water entering the river tends to be acidic and often coloured brown with humic acids

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County Armagh
County Armagh (named after its county town, Armagh) is one of six counties that form Northern Ireland, situated in the north-east of the island of Ireland. Adjoined to the south shore of Lough Neagh, the county covers an area of 1,254 km², with a population of approximately 159,085. It is also one of the thirty-two traditional counties of Ireland, lying within the historical province of Ulster. County Armagh is known as the "Orchard County" because the land is very fertile for apple-growing.
The name "Armagh" derives from the Irish word Ard meaning "height" and Macha, together meaning "height (or high place) and Macha. Macha is mentioned in the Book of the Taking of Ireland, and is also said to have been responsible for the construction of the hill site of Emain Macha (now Navan Fort near Armagh City) to serve as the capital of the Ulaid kings (who give their name to Ulster), also thought to be Macha's height.
From its highest point at Slieve Gullion, in the south of the County, Armagh's land falls away from its rugged south with Carrigatuke, Lislea and Camlough mountains, to rolling drumlin country in the middle and west of the county and finally flatlands in the north where rolling flats and small hills reach sea level at Lough Neagh.

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County Clare
County Clare (Irish: Contae an Chláir) is a county in Ireland. It is located in the Mid-West Region and is also part of the province of Munster. Clare County Council is the local authority for the county. The population of the county is 116,885 according to the 2011 census.
Clare is north-west of the River Shannon covering a total area of 3,400 square kilometres (1,300 sq mi). Clare is the 7th largest of Ireland’s 32 traditional counties in area and the 19th largest in terms of population. Clare's nickname is the Banner County.
Bodies of water define much of the physical boundaries of Clare. To the southeast is the River Shannon, Ireland's longest river, and to the south is the Shannon Estuary. The border to the northeast is defined by Lough Derg which is the third largest lake on Ireland. To the west is the Atlantic Ocean, and to the north is Galway Bay.
County Clare contains The Burren, a unique karst region, which contains rare flowers and fauna. At the western edge of The Burren, facing the Atlantic Ocean, are the Cliffs of Moher. The highest point in County Clare is Moylussa, 532m, in the Slieve Bernagh range in the east of the county. The following islands lie off the coast of the county:

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County Fermanagh
County Fermanagh (pronunciation: /fərmˈænə/) (from Irish: Fear Manach meaning "men of Manach") is the only one of six counties that form Northern Ireland to not adjoin Lough Neagh. Lying within the historical province of Ulster, it is also one of the thirty-two traditional counties of Ireland.
The county covers an area of 1,691 km² (653 sq; mi), with a population of approximately 57,527, with Enniskillen its county town. It is a mainly rural landscape.
It is one of four counties of Northern Ireland presently to have a majority of the population from a Catholic background, according to the 2001 census.
Fermanagh borders County Tyrone to the north-east, County Monaghan to the south-east, County Cavan to the south-west, County Leitrim to the west and County Donegal to the north-west.
The county is situated mostly in the basin of the River Erne. It is approximately 120 km (75 mi) from Belfast and 160 km (99 mi) from Dublin.
The Annals of Ulster which cover medieval Ireland between AD 431 to AD 1540 were written at Belle Isle on Lough Erne near Lisbellaw.

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County Sligo
County Sligo (Irish: Contae Shligigh) is a county in Ireland. It is located in the Border Region and is also part of the province of Connacht. It is named after the town of Sligo. Sligo County Council is the local authority for the county. The population of the county is 65,270 according to the 2011 census. An archaeological recovery suggests the county may have been one of the earliest places of human settlement in Ireland.
Sligo is the 22nd largest of Ireland's 32 counties in area and 26th largest in terms of population. It is the fourth largest of Connacht's 5 counties in size and third largest in terms of population.
Sligo County Council is the governing body for the county. It is divided into five Local Electoral Areas (LEAs) Ballymote, Dromore, Sligo-Drumcliffe, Sligo-Strandhill and Tubbercurry. There are 25 members elected to Sligo County Council.
Sligo is part of the Sligo-North Leitrim constituency and has three representatives (TD's) in Dáil Éireann, Tony McLoughlin (FG), John Perry (FG) and Michael Colreavy (SF). It also has two representatives to Seanad Éireann, Marc MacSharry and Geraldine Feeney.

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County Westmeath
County Westmeath (/wɛstˈmiːð/; Irish: Contae na hIarmhí) is a county in Ireland. It is part of the Midlands Region and is also located in the province of Leinster. It is named after the ancient Kingdom of Mide (meaning "middle") following the division of the Kingdom. Westmeath County Council is the local authority for the county. The population of the county is 85,961 according to the 2011 census.
Westmeath is the 20th largest of Ireland's 32 counties by area and the 22nd largest in terms of population. It is the sixth largest of Leinster’s 12 counties in size and eighth largest in terms of population. It was named after the historic kingdom and province of Mide, of which the county was the most western part. Westmeath was shired under The Counties of Meath and Westmeath Act of 1543. The Hill of Uisneach in the barony of Moycashel is sometimes regarded as the notional geographical centre of Ireland although the actual geographic centre of Ireland lies in neighbouring County Roscommon.
The head office of Westmeath County Council is located in Mullingar. There are currently 22 councillors. The five electoral areas of Westmeath are Athlone (7 seats), Coole (3 seats), Kilbeggan (3 seats), Mullingar East (4 seats) and Mullingar West (5 seats). The Local Government (Ireland) Act 1898, provided the framework for the establishment of County Councils throughout Ireland. The first meeting of Westmeath County Council was held on 22 April 1899.

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Cranborne
Coordinates: 50°55′08″N 1°55′19″W / 50.919°N 1.922°W / 50.919; -1.922
Cranborne is a village in East Dorset, England. In 2001 the village had a population of 779 people. The town is situated on chalk downland called Cranborne Chase, part of a large expanse of chalk in southern England which includes the nearby Salisbury Plain and Dorset Downs.
The village dates from Saxon times and was recorded in the Domesday Book of 1086 as Creneburne, meaning stream (bourne) of cranes.
In the 10th century the Benedictine abbey known as Cranborne Abbey was founded by a knight by the name of Haylward Snew who made it the parent house of the religious foundation at Tewkesbury. This arrangement lasted until 1102, when Robert Fitz Hamon greatly enlarged the church of Tewkesbury and transferred the community from Cranborne there transforming Cranborne Abbey into a priory subject to Tewkesbury Abbey. The priory was fully subject to Tewkesbury until the dissolution of the abbey in 1540. The priory buildings were demolished in 1703, but the Norman priory church of St Mary and St Bartholomew survives as the parish church.

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Damsgård Manor
Damsgård Manor (Norwegian: Damsgård hovedgård) is a landmark manor and estate in Bergen, Norway. It is noted for its distinct rococo style and is possibly the best preserved wooden building from 18th century Europe.
The area surrounding the manor was most likely populated during the Viking era or earlier, but literary evidence shows it was a population center in 1427, listed as church property. Following the Reformation in 1536, the estate was taken over by the crown and then sold to foreign interests.
The name is most likely derived from Dam Tønneson, who in 1654 inherited the farm from his father Tønnes Klausson, who in turn received it from Frederick II of Denmark due to his service during the Northern Seven Years' War. The oldest sections of the structure, however, are probably from around 1720, when Severin Seehusen (1664-1726) owned the estate. At the time, the buildings were painted bright red and green. An estimate for the main house from 1731 exists and indicates the general layout of the structure. By all accounts, the estate was a year-round farm and a recreational property.

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Desning Hall
Desning Hall is a manor house in the Risbridge Hundred, in Suffolk, England, dating from Anglo-Saxon times.
Coordinates: 52°14′25″N 0°32′24″E / 52.2403°N 0.5400°E / 52.2403; 0.5400

Desning Hall was demolished decades ago. Its last resident (head of the household) was my great grandfather Sidney Arthur King who left the property in 1927. The house then stood vacant, becoming derelict, until I think the early 1980's when it was demolished.

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Dordogne
Dordogne (French pronunciation: [dɔʁ.dɔɲ]; Occitan: Dordonha) is a départment in south-west France. The départment is located in the region of Aquitaine, between the Loire valley and the High Pyrénées named after the great Dordogne River that runs through it. It roughly corresponds with the ancient county of Périgord.
The county of Périgord dates back to when the area was inhabited by the Gauls, it was home to four tribes, the name for "four tribes" in the Gaulish language was "Petrocore". The area eventually became known as the county of Le Périgord and its inhabitants became known as the Périgordins (or Périgourdins). There are four Périgords in the Dordogne: the "Périgord Vert" (Green Périgord) with its main town of Nontron, consists of verdant valleys in a region crossed by many rivers and streams; the "Périgord Blanc" (White Périgord) situated around the department's capital of Périgueux, is a region of limestone plateaux, wide valleys and meadows; the "Périgord Pourpre" (Purple Périgord) with its capital of Bergerac, is a wine region; and the "Périgord Noir" (Black Périgord) surrounding the administrative center of Sarlat, overlooks the valleys of the Vézère and the Dordogne, where the woods of oak and pine give it its name.

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Dragsholm Castle
Dragsholm Castle (Danish: Dragsholm Slot) is a historic building in Hørve, Denmark‎.
For about 800 years there has been a building on the islet by the “drag”. From the original palace over the medieval castle to the current baroque style, Dragsholm Castle has had an influence on and been influenced by changing times and the surrounding community. Today, Dragsholm Castle has restaurant and hotel facilities.
Prior to the damming of Lammefjord, Odsherred was connected to the rest of Zealand by a narrow stretch. A ”draugh” or ”drag” means a small stretch of land, which in this case connected Odsherred to the rest of Zealand. The stretch of land was located east of Dragsholm where the mill, Dragsmølle, lies today. In the Viking Age, “drag” meant that you could drag the ships across the land and thereby avoid the dangerous waters north of Zealand. The islet on which Dragsholm Castle was built is surrounded by lakes and meadows just south of the border moraine deposit, which ends at Vejrhøj (123 m) to the north. Consequently, Dragsholm means the islet by the ”drag”.

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Drawbridge
A drawbridge is a type of movable bridge typically associated with the entrance of a castle surrounded by a moat. The term is often used to describe all different types of movable bridges, like bascule bridges and lift bridges.
Medieval castles were usually defended by a ditch or moat, crossed by wooden bridge. In early castles the bridge might be designed to be destroyed or removed in the event of an attack, but drawbridges became very common. A typical arrangement would have the drawbridge immediately outside a gatehouse, consisting of a wooden deck with one edge hinged or pivoting at the gatehouse threshold, so that in the raised position the bridge would be flush against the gate, forming an additional barrier to entry. It would be backed by one or more portcullises and gates. Access to the bridge could be resisted with missiles from machicolations above or arrow slits in flanking towers.
The bridge would be raised or lowered using ropes or chains attached to a windlass in a chamber in the gatehouse above the gate-passage. Only a very light bridge could be raised in this way without any form of counterweight, so some form of bascule arrangement is normally found. The bridge may extend into the gate-passage beyond the pivot point, either over a pit into which the internal portion can swing (providing a further obstacle to attack), or in the form of counterweighted beams that drop into slots in the floor.

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Duns Tew
Coordinates: 51°57′14″N 1°20′10″W / 51.954°N 1.336°W / 51.954; -01.336
Duns Tew is a village and civil parish about 7.5 miles (12 km) south of Banbury in Oxfordshire. With nearby Great Tew and Little Tew, Duns Tew is one of the three villages known locally as "The Tews".
Before the Norman conquest of England, Leofwine of Barton held the manor of Duns Tew along with those of Dunthrop, Little Tew and Westcott Barton.
The Domesday Book of 1086 records four estates in the parish, of which the two largest belonged to Robert D'Oyly and Robert de Stafford. In addition, Gilbert de Magminot, Bishop of Lisieux held an estate of three hides and Odo, Bishop of Bayeux and half-brother of William I held an estate of one hide.
The present manor house contains 17th century remnants and a wing added in the 19th century, but the main part of the present house is 18th century. The house has a 17th century dovecote. Priory Court, a 19th century house east of the church, used to be the vicarage.
The Church of England parish church of St. Mary Magdalene existed in the 12th century, from which period the font and one Early English Gothic lancet window in the chancel survive. The north aisle was added late in the 13th or early in the 14th century. The tower, south porch and many of the present windows were added late in the 14th or early in the 15th century. The tower collapsed in 1647, damaging the south side of the church. It was rebuilt in 1664–65. In 1861–62 Sir George Gilbert Scott completely rebuilt the chancel and north aisle and partly rebuilt the south wall of the nave.

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Dzików Castle
Dzików Castle in Tarnobrzeg, or Tarnowski Family Castle in Dzików (Polish: Zamek Dzikowski w Tarnobrzegu) is a 15th century (or perhaps a 14th century) castle with the park complex and gardens, located in Tarnobrzeg, Poland.
The Castle was a site of Dzików Confederation of 5 November 1734, led by Adam Tarło, starosta from Jasło, organized in order to reinstate Stanisław Leszczyński as a king of Poland after the death of August II the Strong. However, Leszczyński resigned his command over the confederation not believing in its success against the superior Saxon and Russian armies. He limitted himself only to calls for support from France, Sweden, Turkey and Prussia, but ultimately did not receive any. As a result, Leszczyński consented to abdicate on 26 January 1736; and, as a token of gratitude, received the perpetual right to use the royal title. Dzików Confederation ended in failure.

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Dänischer Wohld
The Danish Wahld (German: Dänischer Wohld, Danish: Jernved) is a peninsula in Schleswig-Holstein, Germany. It is located between Eckernförde Bay in the north and Kiel Fjord in the south. The Amt "Dänischer Wohld" in the district of Rendsburg-Eckernförde is named after the peninsula, but only encompasses a central part of the region.
The southern Danish Wahld is bordered by the Kiel Canal and remnants of the Eider Canal. It predominantly was composed of the older Eckernförde district, now within Rendsburg-Eckernförde. The main settlement of the region is Gettorf. Individual settlements in the southeast, such as Schilksee, Holtenau, and Friedrichsort, now are part of the city of Kiel.
Coordinates: 54°25′N 10°4′E / 54.417°N 10.067°E / 54.417; 10.067

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East Riddlesden Hall
East Riddlesden Hall is a 17th century manor house in Keighley, West Yorkshire, now owned by the National Trust. The hall was built in 1642 by a wealthy Halifax clothier, James Murgatroyd. There is a medieval tithebarn in the grounds.
East Riddlesden Hall perches on a small plateau overlooking a bend in the River Aire on its way downstream from the town of Keighley. Interesting features include well-restored living accommodation on two floors, two Yorkshire Rose windows, walled garden, the ruined Starkie wing and several ghosts (reputedly). A hiding place for Catholic priests was installed during the 16th century.
The property was extended and re-built by James Murgatroyd and his wife Hannah, using local Yorkshire stone, in 1648. He also built other stone manor houses throughout the West Riding of Yorkshire. In the great hall, a small fireplace can be seen above the main fire place, where the floor for the first floor accommodation was not built. James Murgatroyd was a Royalist and this can be seen in royalist symbols and graffiti on and in the building. For example, the Bothy (now the tea room and shop) has the heads of Charles I of England and Henrietta Maria of France carved in the top most stone work.

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Egeskov Castle
Egeskov Castle (Danish: Egeskov Slot) is located in the south of the island of Funen, Denmark. The castle is Europe's best preserved Renaissance water castle.
Egeskov's history dates to the 14th century. The castle structure was erected by Frands Brockenhuus in 1554.
Due to the troubles caused by the civil war known as the Count's Feud (Danish: Grevens fejde), general civil unrest, and a civil war introducing the Protestant Reformation, most Danish noblemen built their homes as fortifications. The castle is constructed on oaken piles and located in a small lake with a maximum depth of 5 metres (16 ft). Originally, the only access was by means of a drawbridge. According to legend, it took an entire forest of oak trees to build the foundation, hence the name Egeskov (“oak forest”).
The castle consists of two long buildings connected by a thick double wall, allowing defenders to abandon one house and continue fighting from the other. The double wall is over one meter thick and contains secret staircases and a well. Defenders were able to attack an enemy's flanks from the two round corner towers. Other medieval defences include artillery ports, scalding holes and arrow slits. The bricks composing the castle are of an oversized medieval type sometimes called "monks bricks". The conical towers are constructed in a series of separate panels.

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Eidsvoll Verk
Eidsvoll Verk is a village in Eidsvoll, in Akershus County, Norway. It is served by Eidsvoll Verk Station on the Gardermoen Line. It was the site of the former Eidsvold Iron Works. It is also the site of the Eidsvoll Manor, where the Constitution of Norway was signed in 1814.
Eidsvold Iron Works (Eidsvoll Jernverk) was a former ironworks which was in operation from 1624-1822. Eidsvold Verk was opened by King Christian IV in 1624 as a foundry for iron, driven by water power from Andelva River. The iron works was its best era of operation under Heinrich von Schlanbusch (1688-1705) who received the property as the gift of King Christian V and his son Georg Theodor (1705-1750). Carsten Anker bought the Eidsvold Iron Works in 1794 and settled on site in 1811.
Eidsvoll Manor (Eidsvollsbygningen) is a historic Manor House. The building was first constructed ca. 1770. As it stands today, the manor is the result of an extensive renovation and modernization in the years around 1800 by Carsten Anker. He took residence in Eidsvoll in 1811, rebuilding the house which is now the Eidsvoll Manor. When the building was finished, it was one of the largest and most modern private residences in the country. Inspiration had been received from the then-modern Danish and French architecture. The building bears stylistic stamp of classical architecture. The total floor area of the building is over 2,000 square meters.

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Farleigh House
Farleigh House (or Farleigh Castle) is a large country house in the English county of Somerset that was formerly the centre of the Farleigh Hungerford estate, and much of the stone came from Farleigh Hungerford Castle.
The house is a Grade II listed building.
The house has sometimes been called Farleigh New Castle. Indeed, it was largely built with stone taken from the ruins of the mediaeval Castle itself. A Trowbridge clothier, Joseph Houlton, bought the Farleigh estate in 1702. His son, Joseph Houlton, Junior, lived at Church Farm within the estate. He completely rebuilt and turned an old gabled house into Farleigh House, a modest gentleman's residence complete with a 120-acre (49 ha) deer park. In 1806, Colonel John Houlton inherited the estate. He enlarged and altered the house in the fashionable Gothic Revival style spending £40,000 - several million in today‘s values - on extensions to the main house, a chapel, hot houses, conservatories, stables and six lodges. Most of the present house dates from that period. One of the lodges was called the Castle Lodge and is now the Bath Lodge Hotel.

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Finchcocks
Finchcocks is an early Georgian manor house in Goudhurst, Kent, which houses a large collection of historical keyboard instruments: harpsichords, clavichords, fortepianos, square pianos, organs and other musical instruments. The house and collection are owned by Richard and Katrina Burnett.
The house was built in 1725 and named after the family who lived on the site in the 13th century. It is noted for its brickwork and has a dramatic front elevation attributed to Thomas Archer. It is located in 13 acres (53,000 m²) of grounds. There is parkland to the front and a garden to the rear with wide lawns, mature shrub borders, an orchard for wild flowers and a walled garden. There are extensive views over the Kentish landscape of park, farmland, and hop-gardens. The house, with its high ceilings and oak panelling, provides an ideal setting for music performed on period instruments and the house and instruments have been used regularly for recordings by leading exponents of early music such as Trevor Pinnock, Simon Preston and Nigel North.

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Finistère
Finistère (French pronunciation: [fi.nis.tɛʁ]; Breton: Penn-ar-Bed) is a département of France, in the extreme west of Brittany.
The name Finistère derives from the Latin Finis Terræ, meaning end of the earth, and may be compared with Land's End on the opposite side of the English Channel. The Breton name for Finistère Penn ar Bedd translates as Head/End of the World and is cognate with the Cornish equivalent for Land's End Pen-an-Wlas (Head/End of the country). Finistère is not to be confused with Finisterre in Spain.
The present department consists of the historical region of Léon and parts of Cornouaille and Trégor.
The largest population center in Finistère is Brest. Other large towns in the department include Quimper (the capital), Morlaix, Carhaix, and Douarnenez. Finistère includes the island of Ushant (Eusa in Breton, Ouessant in French).
Finistère is the westernmost region of France (excluding the overseas departments). By several criteria, Finistère can also claim to be the most coastal department in Metropolitan France. Of its 283 communes, 118 are located on the coast. Its total coastline of approximately 1,250 km (776.71 mi) accounts for almost a quarter of the entire French coast-line.

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Forde Abbey
Forde Abbey is a privately owned former Cistercian monastery in Dorset, England. The house and gardens are run as a tourist attraction while the 1,600-acre (6.5 km²) estate is farmed to provide additional revenue. Forde Abbey is a Grade I listed building.
Between 1133-36, wealthy nobleman Richard de Brioniis built a priory on his land at Brightley (meaning "bright" or "clear" pasture) and invited Gilbert, Abbot of Waverley in Surrey, to send 12 monks to form a new Cistercian community there. One story is that the agricultural land surrounding the new priory was insufficiently fertile, forcing the monks to consider returning to the mother house in 1141. However, Adelicia de Brioniis, the sister of Richard and successor to his estate, offered them an alternative site close to the River Axe in the manor of Thorncombe. Here, between 1141–48, they built a new priory which came to be known as "Ford" due to its proximity to an old river crossing. The monastery was dedicated to the Virgin Mary.

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Frogner Manor
Frogner Manor (Frogner Hovedgård) is located on a former estate in an area that became part of today's borough of Frogner in Oslo, Norway. The estate is now the site of Frognerparken. The 18th century buildings on the grounds are now maintained by the Oslo City Museum.
In 1790 the estate was bought by timber merchant and shipowner, Bernt Anker (1746–1805), Norway's richest person at the time. He extended the main building to its present size. He died a childless widower in 1805, and Frogner was bought by his nephew Morten Anker in 1807. His business was hard hit by the economic depression during and after the Napoleonic wars, and he eventually went bankrupt and was forced to sell Frogner by auction in 1836. The buyer was the Director General of the Modums Blaafarveværk, Jacob Benjamin Wegner. In 1848 Fredrik Georg Gade, a wealthy merchant from Bergen, Norway, purchased the manor. His heirs held the property in joint ownership, under the management of his son Gerhard Gade (1839–1909). He was married to an American, Hellen Allyne, and was the United States consul in Oslo. The former U.S. president and general Ulysses S. Grant visited Kristiania in the summer of 1878, and attended a gala dinner at Frogner with his entourage.

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Fuglsang Manor
Fuglsang is a 19th-century manor house and former artist's retreat on the island of Lolland, serving as a cultural centre as well as an active agricultural estate. The manor house serves as a venue for classical concerts and other cultural activities. The cultural centre also includes Fuglsang Art Museum, located in a purpose-built building designed by British architect Tony Fretton.
The history of the estate can be tracked back to 1368. The original defensive castle was located a few hundred metres further north, where remains can still be seen. The location at the edge of marshland where Flintinge Stream mouths in the Guldborgsund Strait, close to the only ford in the area, has made it of strategic importance in the area.
In the 16th century, Fuglsang was moved to its current location on a larger islet, surrounded by broad moats. This building was demolished in 1849 and replaced by a Neoclassical main building. The park, still seen today, was also founded at this event.
Rolf Viggo de Neergaard took over the property from his parents in 1866, but due to fungal attacks om the timber, the only 26 year old building had to be demolished.

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Galicia (Spain)
Galicia (English ⁱ/ɡəˈlɪsiə/, /ɡəˈlɪʃə/; Galician: [ɡaˈliθja]; Spanish: [ɡaˈliθja]) is an autonomous community in northwest Spain, with the official status of a nationality of Spain.
Its component provinces are A Coruña, Lugo, Ourense and Pontevedra. It is bordered by Portugal to the south, the Spanish autonomous communities of Castile and León and Asturias to the east, the Atlantic Ocean to the west, and the Bay of Biscay to the north. Besides its continental territory, Galicia includes Arousa Island, and the archipelagos of Cíes, Ons, Sálvora Island, Cortegada Island, Malveiras Islands, Sisargas Islands, and other minor isles and islets.
Galicia has roughly 2.79 million inhabitants as of 2011, with the largest concentration in two coastal areas, from Ferrol to A Coruña in the north-west, and from Vilagarcía to Vigo in the south-west. The capital is Santiago de Compostela, in the province of A Coruña. Vigo, in the province of Pontevedra, is the most populous municipality with 297,332 inhabitants and the second most populous city with 206,411 habitants; while A Coruña is the most populous city with 220,581 habitants and the second most populous municipality with 246,056 habitants in its municipality (INE 2009). Both cities are the cores of the two major metropolitan areas of Galicia.

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Garsington Manor
Garsington Manor, in the village of Garsington, near Oxford, England, is a Tudor building, best known as the former home of Lady Ottoline Morrell, the Bloomsbury Group socialite. The house is currently owned by the family of the late Leonard Ingrams and has been the setting for an annual summer opera season, the Garsington Opera up until 2011 when the opera relocated to Wormsley, the home of Mark Getty in Oxfordshire.
The manor house was built on land once owned by the son of the poet Geoffrey Chaucer, and at one time had the name "Chaucers". Lady Ottoline and her husband, Philip Morrell, bought the manor house in 1914, at which time it was in a state of disrepair, having been in use as a farmhouse.
They completely restored it in the 1920s, creating landscaped Italian-style gardens. The parterre has 24 square beds with Irish yews at the corners; the Italian garden has a large ornamental pool enclosed by yew hedges and set about with statues; beyond, is a wild garden, with lime-tree avenues, shrubs, a stream and pond.

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Gidea Hall
Gidea Hall was a manor house, located in Gidea Park, the historic parish and Royal liberty of Havering-atte-Bower, whose former area today forms the north eastern extremity of Greater London, England.
The first record of Gidea Hall is in 1250, and in 1466 Sir Thomas Cooke (c.1410-1478), a lord mayor of London, was granted a licence to crenellate, which is a licence for the manor house to be fortified. The manor work started in 1466 with the construction of a moat and other alterations which were not finished until 1568. The main manor house and two adjacent wings formed three sides of a courtyard with an open colonnade on the fourth side and various outbuildings. Maria de Medici, the mother-in-law of King Charles I stayed at Gidea Hall in 1638 on her way from Harwich to London, although the hall was falling into decay. By the time of the Commonwealth the buildings were ruinous, but were not finally demolished until 1720 when a mansion was built on the site.
In 1783 a book entitled ‘An enquiry by experiment into the properties and effects of the medicinal waters in the County of Essex’ includes an entry for Gidea Hall water, describing the source as rising on the "bank of the canal in the park of Richard Benyon, Esq". The canal referred to is now the lake in Raphael Park, Romford which was recorded on the 1888 Ordnance Survey map as Black's Canal after the Black family; a map prepared for Alexander Black in 1807 clearly shows the spring. An investigation into the spring in 1910 recorded that it had "been drained, filled up and turfed about 4 years ago". The later Gidea Hall was of brick.

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Glorup Manor
Glorup is a manor house located between Nyborg and Svendborg in the south-east of the Danish island Funen. Rebuilt to the design of Nicolas-Henri Jardin and his pupil Christian Josef Zuber in 1763-65, it is considered one of the finest Baroque complexes in Denmark.
Glorup is first mentioned in 1390, but nothing is known about the building at that time and the name may refer to a village rather than a building.
The first reliable documentation of Glorup is from the Renaissance, when Christoffer Valkendorff built a four-winged house in two storeys with four towers, surrounded by a moat. It was an impressive building for its time but only the foundation with the cellar and a sandstone tablet with a horse and the Valkendorf coat of arms are left of this house. Nowadays the tablet is placed over a door in the old riding-house.
Glorup was owned by the Valkendorf family from 1400 to 1661, when they were forced to sell the estate following the destructions of the Northern Wars. Glorup was then owned by the Ahlefeldt family from 1661-1711 before coming into the pocession of the Plessen family in 1711.

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Gower Peninsula
Gower or the Gower Peninsula (Welsh: Gwyr or Penrhyn Gŵyr) is a peninsula in south Wales, jutting from the coast into the Bristol Channel, and administratively part of the City and County of Swansea. Locally it is known as "Gower" (not "the Gower"). In 1956 Gower became the first area in Britain to be designated an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty.
About 70 square miles (180 km²) in area, Gower is known for its coastline, popular with walkers and outdoor enthusiasts, especially surfers. Gower has many caves, including Paviland Cave and Minchin Hole Cave. The peninsula is bounded by the Loughor Estuary to the north and Swansea Bay to the east. Gower Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty covers 188 km², including most of the peninsula west of Crofty, Three Crosses, Upper Killay, Blackpill and Bishopston. The highest point of Gower is The Beacon at Rhossili Down at 193m/633 ft overlooking Rhossili Bay. Pwll Du and the Bishopton Valley form a statutory Local Nature Reserve.
The interior of Gower consists mainly of farmland and common land. The population resides mainly in villages and small communities, though suburban development has made a number of communities in eastern Gower part of the Swansea Urban Area.

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Great Snoring
Coordinates: 52°52′25″N 0°53′29″E / 52.8736°N 0.8914°E / 52.8736; 0.8914
Great Snoring (archaic English: Snoring Magna) is a rural village in North Norfolk by the River Stiffkey, in the east of England. Its population in the 2001 census was 168, a dramatic decrease since 1841 when it was 556 (this included 81 people in the Walsingham Union Workhouse).
At the centre of the village is the 13th century St. Mary's Church and the Old Rectory. There is a rather narrow main street with houses built of brick and flint. Behind the church stands the Manor House which was built in about 1490, and is now a hotel, accommodating up to 16 guests.
The nearest inn and shop are in the larger village of Little Snoring, which is about two miles (3 km) away.
1086 - The Domesday Book calls the village by the Saxon name Snaringa/Snarringes, named after an inhabitant called Snear. The book includes mention of a water mill, which now features on the village sign.
1611 - Sir Ralph Shelton, lord of the manor, sold Great Snoring to Lord Chief Justice Richardson. Sir Ralph is reported to have said "I can sleep without Snoring".

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Grebnevo
Grebnevo (Гребнево) is a former country seat of the Galitzine, Trubetskoy, and Bibikov noble families. The manor is situated about 30 km east of Moscow, on the outskirts of Fryazino, on the bank of the Lyuboseyevka River.
Among the early owners were Bogdan Belsky and Dmitry Troubetskoy. The last Russian boyar, Ivan Trubetskoy, gave the property to his daughter Anastasia, the wife of Prince Dimitrie Cantemir, whose daughter Catherine further expanded the estate. Mikhail Kheraskov, the foremost poet of Catherine the Great's time, was the next owner. It was in Grebnevo that he completed the Rossiad, arguably the longest Russian poem.
The surviving Neoclassical buildings were constructed between the 1780s and the 1830s by Major General Gavrila Bibikov and Prince Sergey D. Galitzine. These include the palatial house of three stories with the six-columned portico (1790s), the Doric entrance gate resembling a Roman triumphal arch (1821), and two Neoclassical churches. An elaborate network of ponds also dates from that period.

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Grimshaw Hall
Built in c.1560, Grimshaw Hall (grid reference SP184774) is a half-timbered Tudor manor house located in the village of Knowle, approximately 15 miles from the city of Birmingham, England. The Hall takes its name from the Grimshaw family who occupied it from 1620 to around 1765.
Grimshaw Hall is Grade I listed and is considered to be a fine example of Elizabethan domestic architecture. It has a main hall block between two cross-wings which project forwards about six feet; in the centre is a fine two-storeyed porch, which completes the E plan often favoured at that time.
The hall is visible during winter months through the bare hedgerows of Hampton Road running between Knowle and Hampton-in-Arden. At most other times of the year the hall retains its seclusion.
Coordinates: 52°23′40″N 1°43′52″W / 52.39431°N 1.73103°W / 52.39431; -1.73103

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Groby Old Hall
Groby Old Hall is partly a 15th century brick built manor house and grade II* listed building located very near the site of Groby Castle in the village of Groby in Leicestershire.
The grand hall which preceded the current building was probably built by the Ferrers family, Barons of Groby, the 1st Baron Ferrers of Groby having been ennobled for services to Edward 1 and Edward II . The Hall and Barony passed to the Greys by marriage after Sir Edward Grey married Elizabeth Ferrers, grand-daughter and heir to the 5th Baron Ferrers around 1432. The Grey family's most celebrated members were the two Queens of England Elizabeth Woodville and Lady Jane Grey.
Elizabeth Woodville married Sir Edward Grey's son John, joining him at Groby, where they had two sons. After John's death in battle at the Second Battle of St Albans in 1461, she petitioned King Edward IV for return of her confiscated lands, and won not just her case but his heart and hand in marriage. As Queen she set about promoting the causes of her Woodville relatives, her sons by John Grey, and her children by Edward IV, with mixed results. Of the royal children, the two boys became the ill-fated Princes in the Tower, whereas her daughter, also Elizabeth, married the victor of Bosworth Field, Henry VII, uniting the houses of Lancaster and York to end the Wars of the Roses. Elizabeth Woodville lived to see the birth of two royal grand-children, Prince Arthur and the future Henry VIII.

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Groningen (province)
Groningen (Dutch pronunciation: [ˈɣroʊ̯.nɪ.ŋə(n)], locally [ˈxroː.nɪ.ŋən] ( listen); Gronings: Grönnen; West Frisian: Grinslân) is the northeasternmost province of the Netherlands. In the east it borders the German state of Niedersachsen (districts of Leer and Emsland), in the south Drenthe, in the west Friesland and in the north the Wadden Sea. The capital of the province is the city of Groningen.
Land use in Groningen is mainly agricultural; it has a large natural gas field near Slochteren. but, Groningen has many historical monuments and many old buildings in almost every villages
Originally a part of Frisia, Groningen became a part of the Frankish Empire around 785. Charlemagne assigned the Christianization of this new possession to Ludger. In the 11th century, the city of Groningen was a village in Drenthe that belonged to the Bishopric of Utrecht, while most of the province was in the diocese of Münster. During the Middle Ages, central control was remote, and the city of Groningen acted as a city state, exerting a dominating influence on the surrounding Ommelanden. Around 1500, Maximilian I, Holy Roman Emperor gave Groningen and Friesland to Albert, Duke of Saxony, who could however not establish permanent control. In 1514/15 Groningen came to the Duchy of Guelders, and in 1536 to the Habsburg Netherlands. In 1594, Groningen was conquered by the United Netherlands, to which it belonged henceforth.

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Guernsey
Guernsey, officially the Bailiwick of Guernsey ( /ˈɡɜrnzi/ GURN-zee; French: Bailliage de Guernesey, IPA: [bajaʒ də ɡɛʁnəzɛ]), is a British Crown dependency in the English Channel off the coast of Normandy.
The Bailiwick of Guernsey embraces not only all 10 parishes on the Island of Guernsey, but also the islands of Herm, Jethou, and Lihou. Furthermore, the Bailiwick includes Alderney and Sark, which each has its own parliament.
Although its defence is the responsibility of the United Kingdom, the Bailiwick of Guernsey is not part of the UK; and while it participates in the Common Travel Area, it is not part of the European Union.
The Bailiwick of Guernsey is included (along with the Bailiwick of Jersey) in the grouping known as the Channel Islands.
The name of Guernsey, as well as that of neighbouring Jersey, is of Old Norse origin. The second element of Guernsey (-ey) is the Old Norse for "island". Guern similar to Spanish "Cuerno", French "Coi(r)n", Dutch "Hoorn", Frisian "Hoarn", Swedish "Hörn", Swiss "Gorn" means "Corner". - Corner Island.

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Guimarães
Guimarães (Portuguese pronunciation: [ɡimɐˈɾɐ̃jʃ]) is a northern Portuguese city located in the district of Braga, in the Ave Subregion (one of the more industrialized subregions of the country), with a population of 52 181 inhabitants, distributed throughout 20 parishes (freguesias in Portuguese), in an urban area of 23,5 km² with a population density of 2 223,9/km².
It is the seat of a municipality with an area of 241,05 km² and 162 636 inhabitants (2008), divided in 69 parishes. The municipality is bordered to the north by the municipality of Póvoa de Lanhoso, to the east by Fafe, to the south by Felgueiras, Vizela and Santo Tirso, to the west by Vila Nova de Famalicão and the northwest by Braga.
It is an historical city that had an important role in the formation of Portugal and it was settled in the 9th century, at which time it was called Vimaranes. This denomination might have had its origin in the warrior Vímara Peres, when he chose this area as the main government seat for the County of Portugal which he conquered for the Kingdom of Galicia.

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Gwydir Castle
Coordinates: 53°07′58″N 3°48′04″W / 53.1328°N 3.8010°W / 53.1328; -3.8010
Gwydir Castle is situated in the Conwy valley, Wales, a mile to the west of the ancient market town of Llanrwst and 1.5 miles (2.4 km) to the south of the large village of Trefriw. An example of a fortified manor house dating back to c1500, it is located on the edge of the floodplain of the river Conwy, and overlooked from the west by the now-forested slopes of Gwydir Forest.
There has been a fortification of some sort on the site since AD 600, and in the Dark Ages a large number of skirmishes were fought in this area between the various rival Welsh princes and their forces, the most significant being in 610 and 954.
By the 14th century some form of manorial house had evolved, and the first recorded owner was Howell ap Coetmor, who fought in the Hundred Years' War and was a commander of longbowmen under Edward, the Black Prince at the Battle of Poitiers in 1356.
Gwydir became the ancestral home of the powerful Wynn family, descended from the Kings of Gwynedd, and one of the most significant families of North Wales during the Tudor and Stuart periods.

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Haddo House
Haddo House is a Scottish stately home located near Tarves in Aberdeenshire, approximately 20 miles north of Aberdeen (grid reference NJ868347). It has been owned by the National Trust for Scotland since 1979.
The Gordons, who later became the Earls of Aberdeen and Marquesses of Aberdeen, have lived on the site for over 500 years. Haddo House sits in or near the site of the old Kellie Castle, the family's previous dwelling which was burnt down by the Covenanters and dates from 1732; it was designed by William Adam in the Georgian Palladian style. The interior of the house though is late Victorian in style, having undergone refurbishment in 1880 by Wright and Mansfield. Haddo contains a large art collection, including a series of 85 castles by James Giles. There are also several portraits of 19th century British politicians.
Haddo House's most notable former resident was George Hamilton-Gordon, 4th Earl of Aberdeen, the British Prime Minister from 1852–1855.
Another notable period in its history was during WW2 when the house became a maternity hospital for the evacuated mothers of Glasgow. Nearly 1200 babies were born at Haddo Emergency Hospital, as it was known, and many still come back to visit known affectionately as the Haddo Babies.

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Hall
In architecture, a hall is fundamentally a relatively large space enclosed by a roof and walls. In the Iron Age, a mead hall was such a simple building and was the residence of a lord and his retainers. Later, rooms were partitioned from it, so that today the hall of a house is the space inside the front door through which the rooms are reached....
This:
On the same principle:
Similarly:
Following a line of similar development:

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Halltorp
Halltorp is one of the earliest manor houses on the island of Öland, Sweden, dating from the 11th century AD. In early documents it is known as Hauldtorp, and it is cited as one of the early Viking settlements of Öland. In earlier times it has functioned as a royal farm associated with the Swedish Crown and was considered one of the finest hunting preserves on the island. There is a relict oak forest on the present grounds which contains numerous trees that are centuries old. Halltorp is in an area rich in history and biodiversity, and most of the island of Öland has been designated as a World Heritage Site. The site is adjacent to the perimeter highway, Route 136.
Only Borgholm and Ottenby are documented in early writings to have been Viking settlements along with Halltorp, although archaeological records show evidence of Vikings at a number of other locations on Öland: namely, Gettlinge, Alby and Hulterstad. A manor house is thought to have existed here since at least the Late Middle Ages. In the 17th century Halltorp was integrated to the royal Borgholm estate, where Borgholm Castle is situated about seven kilometers to the north. The extensive forest area west of Halltorp Manor house ran all the way to Kalmar Strait. The kings of the House of Vasa used this woodland area as one of their prime hunting preserves. Also on site is a great European hornbeam forest, one of the largest within Sweden, that is documented to derive from at least as early as the 17th century.

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Hampton Gay
Coordinates: 51°50′53″N 1°18′11″W / 51.848°N 1.303°W / 51.848; -01.303
Hampton Gay is a village in the Cherwell valley about 1.5 miles (2.4 km) north of Kidlington, Oxfordshire.
After the Norman Conquest of England Robert D'Oyly gave an estate of three hides at Hampton Gay to his brother in arms Roger d'Ivry, while a second estate of two hides at Hampton Gay belonged to the Crown. D'Ivry's holding became part of the honour of St. Valery, which in the 13th century was owned by Richard, 1st Earl of Cornwall. Under his successor Edmund, 2nd Earl of Cornwall towards the end of the 13th century the d'Ivry holding was merged with the Duchy of Cornwall. The royal estate at Hampton Gay became part of the honour of Gloucester and thereby followed the same descent as the manor of Finmere.
The Domesday Book of 1086 records that one Rainald was the tenant of both the d'Ivry and the royal estate. The de Gay family were tenants of both estates by about 1137 and remained so until 1222. Hampton Gay's toponym combines their surname with the Old English for a village or farm.

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Harpsund
Harpsund is a manor house located in Flen Municipality, Södermanland County, Sweden. Since May 22, 1953 Harpsund has been used as a country residence for the Prime Minister of Sweden.
The oldest parts of the mansion are from the 17th century, but the main building was built first in 1914. The Estate, with its farm and forestry, was donated to the government December 27, 1952 in accordance to the industrialist Carl August Wicander's will. It was to be used as recreational estate for the Prime Minister of Sweden. The donation was approved by the Swedish parliament May 22, 1953. The estate consists of 4077 acre (16.5 km²). Some adjustments were made in the conditions of the donation, which states that, with the exception of the main building, the estate could be made available to governmental conferences. Harpsund would soon be a venue for informal summits between the government, industry and organizations of Sweden. It was called "Harpsundsdemokrati" (Harpsund Democracy). Through the years many of the world's leaders have stayed here. Especially noticed was the visit by Nikita Khrushchev, leader of the Soviet Union. It is tradition that guests at the estate takes a small trip, with the Prime Minister, in the rowing boat (Harpsundsekan), a tradition introduced by Prime Minister Tage Erlander.

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Hatfield House
Hatfield House is a country house set in a large park, the Great Park, on the eastern side of the town of Hatfield, Hertfordshire, England. The present Jacobean house was built in 1611 by Robert Cecil, First Earl of Salisbury and Chief Minister to King James I and has been the home of the Cecil family ever since. It is a prime example of Jacobean architecture and is currently the home of Robert Gascoyne-Cecil, 7th Marquess of Salisbury. The house is open to the public.
An earlier building on the site was the Royal Palace of Hatfield. Only part of this still exists, a short distance from the present house. This palace was the childhood home and favourite residence of Queen Elizabeth I. Built in 1497 by the Bishop of Ely, Henry VII's minister John Cardinal Morton, it comprised four wings in a square surrounding a central courtyard. The palace was seized by Henry VIII with other church properties.
Henry VIII's children Edward and Elizabeth spent their youth at Hatfield Palace. His eldest daughter Queen Mary lived there between 1533 and 1536, when she was sent to wait on the then Princess Elizabeth, as punishment for refusing to recognise Henrys marriage to Anne Boleyn and his religious reforms. In 1548, when she was only 15 years old, Elizabeth was under suspicion of having illegally agreed to marry Thomas Seymour, the House and her servants were seized by Edward VI's agent Robert Tyrwhit, and she was interrogated there. She successfully defended her conduct with wit and defiance. Seymour was executed in 1549 for numerous other crimes against the crown. After her two months of imprisonment in the Tower of London by her sister Queen Mary, Elizabeth returned to Hatfield. The Queen Elizabeth Oak on the grounds of the estate is said to be the location where Elizabeth was told she was Queen following Mary's death, but is considered unlikely as Mary died in November. In November 1558, Elizabeth held her first Council of State in the Great Hall.

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Hearst Castle
Hearst Castle is a National Historic Landmark mansion located on the Central Coast of California, United States. It was designed by architect Julia Morgan between 1919 and 1947 for newspaper magnate William Randolph Hearst, who died in 1951. In 1957, the Hearst Corporation donated the property to the state of California. Since that time it has been maintained as a state historic park where the estate, and its considerable collection of art and antiques, is open for public tours. Despite its location far from any urban center, the site attracts about one million visitors per year.
Hearst formally named the estate "La Cuesta Encantada" ("The Enchanted Hill"), but usually called it "the ranch". Hearst Castle and grounds are also sometimes referred to as "San Simeon" without distinguishing between the Hearst property and the adjacent unincorporated area of the same name.
Hearst Castle is located near the unincorporated community of San Simeon, California, approximately 250 miles (400 km) from both Los Angeles and San Francisco, and 43 miles (69 km) from San Luis Obispo at the northern end of San Luis Obispo County. The estate itself is five miles (eight kilometers) inland atop a hill of the Santa Lucia Range at an altitude of 1,600 feet (490 m). The region is sparsely populated because the Santa Lucia Range abuts the Pacific Ocean, which provides dramatic seaside vistas but few opportunities for development and hampered transportation. The surrounding countryside visible from the mansion remains largely undeveloped. Its entrance is adjacent to San Simeon State Park.

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Herzogtum Lauenburg
Herzogtum Lauenburg (English: Duchy of Lauenburg) is the southernmost Kreis, or district, of Schleswig-Holstein, Germany. It is bordered by (from the west and clockwise) the district of Stormarn, the city of Lübeck, the state of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern (districts of Nordwestmecklenburg and Ludwigslust-Parchim), the state of Lower Saxony (districts of Lüneburg and Harburg), and the city state of Hamburg. The district of Herzogtum Lauenburg is named after the former Duchy of Saxe-Lauenburg.
The district's territory comprises most of the former Duchy's territory north of the river Elbe, except of the Amt Neuhaus. All the former Saxe-Lauenburgian areas beyond the Elbe belong today to the Lower Saxon districts of Cuxhaven (Land of Hadeln), Harburg and Lüneburg.
The district's area contains a number of historically important towns, e.g. Lauenburg/Elbe, Mölln and Ratzeburg. This importance was due to the Old Salt Route (Alte Salzstraße), one of the major medieval trade routes. Salt from the salt-works south of the Elbe river was transported northward to Lübeck. The transport of salt was also the motive for constructing the oldest artificial waterway of Europe, the Stecknitz Canal (1398). It was replaced in 1900 by the Elbe-Lübeck Canal.

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Hever Castle
Hever Castle is located in the village of Hever, Kent near Edenbridge, 30 miles (48 km) south-east of London, England. It began as a country house, built in the 13th century. From 1462 to 1539 it was the seat of the Boleyn, originally 'Bullen', family.
Anne Boleyn, the second queen consort of King Henry VIII of England, spent her early youth there, after her father, Thomas Boleyn had inherited it in 1505. He had been born there in 1477, and the castle passed to him upon the death of his father, Sir William Boleyn. It later came into the possession of King Henry's fourth wife, Anne of Cleves. In the 21st century the castle is a tourist attraction.
There have been three main periods in the construction of this historic castle. The oldest part of the castle dates to 1270 and consisted of the gatehouse and a walled bailey. The second period was when the castle, then in need of repair, was converted into a manor in 1462 by Geoffrey Boleyn. He added a Tudor dwelling within the walls. The third period of repair and renovation was in the 20th century when it was acquired by William Waldorf Astor.

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House of Dun
House of Dun, together with the adjacent Montrose Basin nature reserve, is a National Trust for Scotland property in Angus, Scotland.
The Dun Estate was home to the Erskine (later Kennedy-Erskine) family from 1375 until 1980. John Erskine of Dun was a key figure in the Scottish Reformation. The current house was designed by William Adam and was finished in 1730. There is elaborate plasterwork in some of the rooms. The writer and poet Violet Jacob was a member of the Kennedy-Erskine family and was born in the house.
The proximate area evinces archaeological evidence of early man dating back 9000 years. Besides finds at the House of Dun property itself, there is a large standing stone a few miles to the north known as the Stone of Morphie.
Coordinates: 56°43′45″N 2°32′25″W / 56.729277°N 2.540306°W / 56.729277; -2.540306

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Hughenden Manor
Hughenden Manor is a red brick Victorian mansion, located in High Wycombe, Buckinghamshire, England. In the 19th century, it was the country house of the Prime Minister, Benjamin Disraeli. Today, it is owned by the National Trust and fully open to the public.
The house sits on the brow of the hill to the west of the main A4128 road that links Hughenden to High Wycombe (Ordnance survey reference 165:SU866955).
The manor of Hughenden is first recorded in 1086, when formerly part of Queen Edith's lands it was held by William, son of Oger the Bishop of Bayeux, and was assessed for tax at 10 hides.
Benjamin Disraeli, British Prime Minister (1868 and 1874–1880, and Earl of Beaconsfield 1876), whose father rented a house at nearby Bradenham, purchased the manor in 1848 with the help of a loan of £25,000 (equivalent to almost £1,500,000 today) from Lord Henry Bentinck and Lord Titchfield, because as leader of the Conservative Party "it was essential to represent a county," and county members had to be landowners. He and his wife Mary Anne Disraeli, alternated between Hughenden and several homes in London.

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Icomb Place
Icomb Place (pronounced "Ickum") is a medieval manor house on the edge of the village of Icomb, near Stow on the Wold in Gloucestershire.
The word "Place" in this context is thought to be a precursor of the word "Palace".
Mentioned in the Domesday Book, the present house dates from three distinct periods. The oldest parts of the present house date from c. 1230 and include the chapel and solar (with barrel vaulted timber roof) and undercroft (northwest wing) and the southeast wing, originally the kitchens and servants quarters.
The front of the house, including the battlemented gateway and the Great Hall, both with massive oak timber roof supports, connecting the original 13th century buildings were added by Sir John Blacket (who fought alongside Henry V of England at the Battle of Agincourt), c. 1420. At this point the house had two courtyards.
After a period of dereliction during the 18th and 19th centuries the house was restored at the beginning of the 20th century and the rear wing and courtyard demolished. At the same time as the restoration, an arboretum was laid out in the grounds contains plants from around the globe.

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Ightham Mote
Ightham Mote (pronounced "item moat") is a medieval moated manor house close to the village of Ightham, near Sevenoaks in Kent (grid reference TQ 5839 5346).
The name "mote" derives from "moot", "meeting [place]", rather than referring to the body of water. Ightham Mote and its gardens are owned by the National Trust and open to the public.
Originally dating to around 1320, the building's importance lies in the fact that successive owners effected relatively few changes to the main structure, after the completion of the quadrangle with a new chapel in the 16th century. Nikolaus Pevsner called it "the most complete small medieval manor house in the country", and it remains an example that shows how such houses would have looked in the Middle Ages. Unlike most courtyard houses of its type, which have had a range demolished, so that the house looks outward, Nicholas Cooper observes that Ightham wholly surrounds its courtyard and looks inward, into it, offering little information externally.
It was bequeathed to the National Trust in 1985 by an American businessman, Charles Henry Robinson, who had bought it in 1953. The house is now a Grade I listed building, and parts of it are a Scheduled Ancient Monument.

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Jabłonna Palace
Jabłonna Palace (Polish: Pałac w Jabłonnie) is a palace, hotel and publicly accessible park-complex in Jabłonna, Poland whose uses include conferences and weddings.
During the Middle Ages Jabłonna was the property of the Bishops of Płock, who built a summer residence here in the 15th century. In 1773 the brother of the King Stanisław August - Michał Poniatowski, then Bishop of Płock and later the primate of Poland, bought the property in Jabłonna with the intention of turning it into an elegant palace-and-park residential complex. In 1774 he commissioned the royal architect, Dominik Merlini, to design the new residence. The construction of a three-building complex was proposed: a one-storey palace, which was intended to be the residence of the owner, was to be situated in the middle and flanked on both sides by separate three-storey pavilions.
A scenic English-style park was developed in the 1770s and 1780s, based on the design of architect Szymon Bogumił Zug. The same architect also constructed a series of pavilions, of which three still remain today: the Grotto, the Orangerie and the Chinese Pavilion.

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Jersey
Jersey, officially the Bailiwick of Jersey, French: Bailliage de Jersey ( /ˈdʒɜrzi/, French: [ʒɛʁzɛ]; Jèrriais: Jèrri), is a British Crown Dependency off the coast of Normandy, France. As well as the island of Jersey itself, the bailiwick includes two groups of small islands that are no longer permanently inhabited, the Minquiers and Écréhous, and the Pierres de Lecq and other rocks and reefs.
Jersey is a self-governing parliamentary democracy under a constitutional monarchy, with its own financial, legal and judicial systems.
The island of Jersey is the largest of the Channel Islands. Although the Bailiwicks of Jersey and Guernsey are often referred to collectively as 'the Channel Islands', they are not a constitutional or political unit. Jersey has a separate relationship to the British Crown from the other Crown Dependencies of Guernsey and the Isle of Man. It is not part of the United Kingdom, and has an international identity separate from that of the UK but the United Kingdom is constitutionally responsible for the defence of Jersey. Jersey is not a part of the European Union but has a special relationship with it, being treated as part of the European Community for the purposes of free trade in goods.

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Kelmscott Manor
Kelmscott Manor is a limestone manor house in the Cotswold village of Kelmscott, Oxfordshire, England. It dates from around 1570, with a late 17th-century wing, and is a Grade I listed building. It is situated close to the River Thames, and it is frequently flooded. The nearest town is Faringdon in the Vale of the White Horse.
The house was built by local farmer Thomas Turner and remained in the family for many generations. After George Turner died in 1734, the house was rented out. The house was originally called Lower House, but became Kelmscott Manor when James Turner (d.1870) purchased 53½ acres of manorial land together with the lordship in 1864. After James died the manor passed to his nephew, Charles Hobbs, who let out the property.
Kelmscott Manor was the country home of the writer, designer and socialist William Morris from 1871 until his death in 1896. Today it is owned by the Society of Antiquaries of London, and is open to the public on Wednesdays and Saturdays during the summer.

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Kemerton Court
Coordinates: 52°1′42″N 2°4′54″W / 52.02833°N 2.08167°W / 52.02833; -2.08167
Kemerton Court is the principal manor house of the village of Kemerton, near Tewkesbury in Gloucestershire.
The manor was granted by King Henry III to Sir Robert de Musgrove (or Mucegros) in 1240. Since that time, apart from the brief period 1918–1949, it has remained in the possession of his descendants and their relatives, passing through the families of Beauchamp, Lygon of Madresfield, Parsons and Darby. The current owner is 23rd in direct descent from Sir Robert de Musgrove. A celebrated 15th century owner was John Beauchamp, 1st Baron Beauchamp of Powick, Lord High Treasurer of England.
The house is built of local Cotswold stone, dating from the late 16th century onwards. In the early 18th century a 9-bay baroque façade of some elegance was added by the squire, John Parsons III (1649–1722). Thomas White of Worcester, has been suggested as the architect.
Kemerton Court is set in parkland and is surrounded by a farming estate of around 1,300 acres (5.3 km²). It is owned by conservationist Adrian Darby OBE, president of Plantlife and former chairman of the RSPB. He is married to Lady Meriel Darby, daughter of the former Prime Minister, Alec Douglas-Home, 14th Earl of Home, who was a frequent visitor to the Court.

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Killadeas
Coordinates: 54°26′03″N 7°40′57″W / 54.4341°N 7.6826°W / 54.4341; -7.6826
Killadeas (from Irish: Cill Chéile Dé meaning "church of the Culdees") is a small village in County Fermanagh, Northern Ireland. It is about 7 miles north of Enniskillen near the shores of Lower Lough Erne. In the 2001 Census it had a population of 90 people.
In the cemetery of the Parish "Priory" Church of Killadeas are several stones, the most noted of which is known as the Bishops Stone, a carved figure. To the west of this stone is a large slab, one side of which has at least ten cup-shaped hollows, which is possibly a multiple bullaun stone. Near to this is a hole stone and a pillar.
Near Killadeas, on Lower Lough Erne, is Gublusk Bay, a Royal Air Force base for Short Sunderland and PBY Catalina flying boats during World War II. Building at RAF Killadeas started in January 1941 and the first Catalinas arrived two months later. The site is now the home of the Lough Erne Yacht Club.
The Manor House (Hotel), a converted and extended 19th century country manor, is also in Killadeas. The Killadeas Estate was acquired by Captain J. Irvine in 1660, and the Manor House, formerly known as "Rockfield" (rebuilt 1860) remained part of the Irvine Estate until 1957, when it was purchased for use as a hotel. The Manor House, which has seen many alterations to its design over the centuries, was for a brief period used as an Officer's Mess and Headquarters for the American Forces during World War II.

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Kirby Muxloe Castle
Kirby Muxloe Castle, known also as Kirby Castle is an unfinished 15th century fortified manor house in Kirby Muxloe, Leicestershire, England (grid reference SK524046).
It was begun in 1480 by William Hastings, 1st Baron Hastings, during the period of the Wars of the Roses. He already owned a manor house on the site (some of the original manor house foundations are visible as ruins within the enclosure of the castle), for which he planned to totally redevelop. His ambition was to create a fortified residence on a rectangular plan enclosed by walls, towers and a moat. However work stopped at the castle when he was executed in 1483 for treason by Richard III and it was never completed. Parts of the castle were occupied by the remaining Hastings family members, but by the 16th century the site had been left to ruin.
The manor house on the site dates back to the 13th Century, and was once the home of the Pakeman family, Sir Simon Pakeman was the Lord of the Manor and a knight of the Shire at Parliament. The castle changed hands in 1364 when Robert de Herle, dying without an heir, left his land to his sister Margaret's son, Ralph Hastings of Wistow. Ralphs father was Sir Ralph Hastings of Wistow, who had married Margaret Herle, daughter of the then Lord of the Manor some years earlier.

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Knole House
Knole is an English country house in the town of Sevenoaks in west Kent, surrounded by a 1,000-acre (4.0 km²) deer park. One of England's largest houses, it is reputed to be a calendar house, having 365 rooms, 52 staircases, 12 entrances and 7 courtyards. It is known for the degree to which its early 17th-century appearance is preserved, particularly in the case of the state rooms: the exteriors and interiors of many houses of this period, such as Clandon Park in Surrey, were dramatically altered later on. The surrounding deer park has also survived with little having changed over the past 400 years except for the loss of over 70% of its trees in the Great Storm of 1987.
The house was built by Thomas Bourchier, Archbishop of Canterbury, between 1456 and 1486, on the site of an earlier house belonging to James Fiennes, the Lord Say and Sele who was executed after the victory of Jack Cade's rebels at the Battle of Solefields. On Bourchier's death, the house was bequeathed to the See of Canterbury — Sir Thomas More appeared in revels there at the court of John Morton — and in subsequent years it continued to be enlarged, with the addition of a new large courtyard, now known as Green Court, and a new entrance tower. In 1538 the house was taken from Archbishop Thomas Cranmer by King Henry VIII along with Otford Palace.

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Krasiczyn Palace
Krasiczyn Castle (Polish: Zamek w Krasiczynie) is a Renaissance structure in Krasiczyn, Poland, located on a lowland on the right bank of the San, along the route Przemyśl-Sanok (about 10 kilometres southwest of the city of Przemysl). The castle across the centuries belonged to several noble Polish families, and was visited by many Polish kings. Together with a picturesque garden, it now belongs to the Industrial Development Agency (Polish: Agencja Rozwoju Przemyslu S.A.).
The construction of the castle started in 1580, initiated by a local nobleman Stanislaw Siecienski of Siecin, who came to the area from Mazovia. Works lasted for 53 years, and the castle was not completed until 1633, by Marcin Krasicki, son of Stanisław and Voivode of Podolia, who in the meantime had changed his name. Originally, the castle was a fortified stronghold, protecting southern border of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth. However, Marcin Krasicki, who was regarded as one of the most important promoter of arts in the country, turned the fortress into a sophisticated residence (palazzo in fortezza), under supervision of Italian architect, Galleazzo Appiani. Also, he dubbed the complex Krasiczyn, after his last name. Later, a village of Krasiczyn grew near the castle, also bearing the same name. The Krasiczyn castle was built on the site of an older, wooden complex, called Sliwnica, which had probably been built in the 14th century.

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Książ
Książ (German: Schloss Fürstenstein) is a castle in Silesia, Poland in Wałbrzych. It was built in 1288-1292 under Bolko I the Strict. It lies within a protected area called Książ Landscape Park.
The original fortification was destroyed in the year 1263 by Ottokar II of Bohemia. Bolko I, Duke of Świdnica and Jawor built a new castle between 1288 and 1292. Duke Bolko II of Świdnica died in 1368 without having children with his wife Agnes von Habsburg. After her death in the year 1392 King Wenceslaus IV of Bohemia obtained the castle. In 1401 Janko z Chociemic obtained the castle. The Bohemian Hussites occupied the castle between 1428-1429. In the year 1464 Birka z Nasiedla obtained the castle from the Bohemian crown. He sold it to Hans von Schellendorf. This second castle was destroyed in 1482 by Georg von Stein. In the year 1509 Konrad I von Hoberg (from 1714: Hochberg) obtained the castle hill. The Hochberg family owned the castle until 1941. It was a part of the Project Riese until 1945. The castle was occupied by the Red army in 1945. All artifacts were lost or destroyed.

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Kuskovo
Kuskovo (Russian: Куско́во) was the summer country house and estate of the Sheremetev family. Built in the mid-18th century, it was originally situated several miles to the east of Moscow but now is part of the East District of the city. It was one of the first great summer country estates of the Russian nobility, and one of the few near Moscow still preserved. Today the estate is the home of the Russian State Museum of Ceramics, and the park is a favourite place of recreation for Muscovites.
In the 17th century Kuskovo became the property of Boris Petrovich Sheremetev (1652–1719), a Russian Field Marshal under Czar Peter the Great, who led the Russian Army in the victory over the Swedes at the Battle of Poltava (1707) in the Great Northern War. There was already a wooden church on the site, a house and several pond.
The palace was constructed by his son Petr Borisovich Sheremetev (1713–1787). Count Sheremetev was one of the richest men in Russia, close to the court and a patron of the arts. He built Kuskovo at approximately the same time that he built a city palace on the banks of the Fontanka River in St. Petersburg. When he decided to build a palace at Kuskovo, he ordered that it be larger and more beautiful than the estates of other nobles, and equal to any residence of the Czars. Since it was less than a day's journey from the center of Moscow, it was not designed to accommodate overnight guests, nor for agriculture or any other practical purpose, but purely as a place for entertainment, ceremony and festivities.

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Langdon, Devon
Coordinates: 50°19′43″N 4°05′16″W / 50.3285°N 4.0877°W / 50.3285; -4.0877
Langdon Court is a former English Manor House, in Wembury, South Devon, United Kingdom. It consists of a single courtyard mansion from 1693 and a walled formal garden. It is currently used as the Langdon Court Hotel.
It was noted in the Domesday Book as having been granted to the Norman Baron Judhael, Lord of Totnes for his support of King William I of England after the Battle of Hastings. Jodhel in turn granted Langdon to one of his knights named Walden.
Langdon was transferred from Knight Walden to the Pipard family and then to the great Courtenay family of Devon. This family held the estate for nearly 200 years, with the last Courtenay being Marquis of Exeter who was beheaded for treason by Henry VIII in 1538. This was probably for his opposition to Henry’s break with Rome and the creation of the Church of England during the uprising known as the Pilgrimage of Grace.
The house later passed to Henry's widow Catherine Parr. In 1564 Queen Elizabeth I granted Langdon Court to Vincent Calmady for services to the Royal Navy. This was the start of a of great building and landscaping period, much of which is seen at Langdon today. The Calmady family also created an early English Renaissance garden which can still be admired. Langdon Court remained in the Calmady family until 1875 when the last daughters in the Calmady line died.

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Leckhampton
Leckhampton is a district in south Cheltenham, Gloucestershire, England. The area constitutes a civil parish and is part of the district of Cheltenham.
Leckhampton is mentioned in the Domesday Book (1086) as 'Lechametone' and 'Lechantone', meaning 'homestead where garlic or leeks are grown'. The earliest recorded mention comes from the 8th century, as the home farm of the royal manor of Cheltenham.
There are remnants of a moat at Church Farm that dates from Saxon times (grid reference SO941195})
The old village of Leckhampton stands at the foot of Leckhampton Hill, around the medieval parish church of St. Peter's. During the 19th and 20th centuries, there was residential development in the direction of Cheltenham.
Leckhampton Court is a mediaeval manor house dating from about 1320, built by the Giffard family of Brimpsfield. It is now a Sue Ryder Care hospice.
Between 1881 and 1962, Leckhampton had its own railway station with services on both the Great Western Railway line between Cheltenham and Banbury and on the north-south Midland and South Western Junction Railway. Until 1930, Leckhampton was served by the Cheltenham and District Light Railway.

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Lesingham House
Lesingham House is in Surlingham, Norfolk, England.
Lesingham House was supposedly built in 1655, and parts of the original structure may be included in the building we see today. A tablet in the house at the bottom of the staircase reads, “Lesingham House 1655 Rebuilt in part in 1834 by Gibbs Murrell”. It is possible that the building stood on the site of an older house owned by the Lesingham family who lived in Surlingham in the sixteenth century - perhaps the house owned by Thomas Wode, who died in 1588. Wode left at his death an inventory of goods indicating that his house in Surlingham had at least nine rooms and a stable. The Wode and the Lesingham families were related, and the families owned lands in Rockland and Bramerton as well as Surlingham. In his will Thomas Wode asked his late uncle Jeremy Lesingham to bury him in St Mary’s parish church. The Lesingham family is first found in Yorkshire where they were anciently seated as Lords of the Manor; migrants settled along the eastern seaboard of America from Newfoundland, to Maine, Virginia, the Carolinas, and to the islands.

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Levens Hall
Levens Hall is a manor house in the county of Cumbria in northern England. The first house on the site was a pele tower built by the Redman family in around 1350. Much of the present building dates from the Elizabethan era, when the Bellingham family extended the house. The Bellinghams, who were responsible for the fine panelling and plasterwork in the main rooms, sold the house and estate in 1689 to Colonel James Grahme, or Graham, Keeper of the Privy Purse to King James II, who made a number of additions to the house in the late 17th century. His son Henry Graham was a knight of the shire for Westmorland.
Further additions were made in the early 19th century.
Levens is now owned by the Bagot family and is open to the public. It has a celebrated topiary garden, which was started in 1694. There is also a deer park inhabited by black fallow deer and Bagot goats. The small collection of steam road vehicles includes several traction engines which are usually steamed on Sundays and Bank Holidays.

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Linderud
Linderud is a neighborhood in Bjerke borough, Oslo, Norway. The area originally formed part of the estate of Linderud Manor.
Linderud Manor (Linderud gård) was owned by the Catholic Church before the Reformation of 1536, and thereafter by the Crown. It was bought by Peder Griffenfeldt in 1673, then by Mogens Lauritzen in 1679, and belonged to the latter's family for over a century. By the late eighteenth century, the manor was a part of a property which included vast amounts of forest, some timber industrial sites and about 350 farms.
Lauritzen's ancestor Mogens Larsen Monsen passed it down to his son-in-law Haagen Mathiesen in 1802. Later owners include Haaken C. Mathiesen from 1875 to 1891,Christian Pierre Mathiesen from 1893 to 1940 and Jørgen Mathiesen from 1940. Jørgen Mathiesen set up the Linderud Foundation in 1954, which now owns the main building of the manor as well as the surrounding park. Since 1960 parts of the park are preserved due to botanical value.
The farmland surrounding Linderud manor was largely built in the 1950s and 1960s, eventually forming an urban neighborhood. A primary and a secondary school were constructed between 1964 and 1968, although a school had existed in conjunction with the farming community between 1860 and 1900. The Norwegian Military Academy is located at Linderud as well. The shopping mall Linderud senter was opened in 1968, and enlarged in 1992 and 2009. Since 1966 the neighborhood is served by Linderud station of the Oslo T-bane network.

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Linford Manor
Linford Manor, also known as Great Linford Manor, is a seventeenth century mansion or manor house converted into a recording studio complex in Great Linford, Milton Keynes, England. It is now owned by Pete Winkelman who is chairman of Milton Keynes Dons football club.
The current manor was originally built in 1678 by Sir William Pritchard on land bought from the Napier family on the site of an older medieval manor. In 1704 the manor passed to the Uthwatts, his relatives, and extended the house over time. It was originally the manor of Little Linford as well as of Great Linford.
In 1972 the Manor was bought by Milton Keynes Development Corporation to be an arts centre but was closed in 1984. The surrounding parkland remains open to the public and is now owned by Milton Keynes Parks Trust. In 1993 Pete Winkelman bought the manor and converted into a recording studio.
Biffy Clyro recorded their second album, The Vertigo Of Bliss, there - and, according to an urban myth, took just 24 hours to do so. Other artists to record there are: Jamiroquai, ELO, Oasis, Wildhearts, PJ Harvey and Matmatah.

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Little Barford
Coordinates: 52°11′56″N 0°16′23″W / 52.199°N 0.273°W / 52.199; -0.273
Little Barford is a village and civil parish located in Bedfordshire, England. It lies on the county boundary with Cambridgeshire, adjacent to the town of St Neots. The village itself is very small and is close to the east bank of the River Great Ouse.
The village contains a small church, a manor house, several cottages and a farmhouse, while almost a kilometre away to the north is Little Barford Power Station feeding the National Grid.
The parish church is dedicated to Saint Denys. Nicholas Rowe, the dramatic poet, was born in "Rowe's Cottage" 1674.
Artist Mike Chaplin, known to many as resident art expert on Watercolour Challenge was born in the village in 1943.
Media related to Little Barford at Wikimedia Commons

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Little Snoring
Coordinates: 52°51′14″N 0°53′56″E / 52.854°N 0.899°E / 52.854; 0.899
Little Snoring is a village and a civil parish in the English county of Norfolk. The village is 4.7 miles (7.6 km) east-north-east of the town of Fakenham, 19.8 miles (31.9 km) west-south-west of Cromer and 118 miles (190 km) north-north-east of London. The nearest railway station is at Sheringham for the Bittern Line which runs between Sheringham, Cromer and Norwich. The nearest airport is Norwich International Airport. The village is situated on the north west side of the A148 King’s Lynn to Cromer road. The parish had, in the 2001 census, a population of 603. For the purposes of local government, the parish falls within the district of North Norfolk.
Little Snoring has an entry in the Domesday Book of 1085. In the great book Little Snoring is recorded by the names Esnaringa, Snaringa and Snarlinga. It was the king's land with the main landholders being William de Warenne and Peter de Valognes and his main tenant is said to be Ralph.

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Little Tew
Coordinates: 51°57′22″N 1°26′31″W / 51.956°N 1.442°W / 51.956; -1.442
Little Tew is a village and civil parish about 4.5 miles (7 km) northeast of Chipping Norton and 8.5 miles (14 km) southwest of Banbury in Oxfordshire. The parish is bounded to the northwest by the River Swere and a road between Little Tew and Hook Norton, to the north by a tributary of the River Cherwell and to the south by an ancient drovers' road called Green Lane. The remaining parts of the parish bounds are field boundaries.
Before the Norman conquest of England, Leofwine of Barton held the manor of Little Tew along with those of Dunthrop, Duns Tew and Westcott Barton.
The Domesday Book records that in 1086 Odo, Bishop of Bayeux held Little Tew. The manor was divided between three tenants: Wadard and Humphrey each had three and a half hides and Ilbert de Lacy had two hides. On or before Odo's death in 1097 the tenants succeeded Odo as tenants-in-chief, thus dividing Little Tew into three separate manors.
Wadard's lands were the beginnings of the barony of Arsic. In 1103 Manasser Arsic founded a priory of the Benedictine Abbey of Fécamp at Cogges and gave the priory an endowment including the Wadard manor at Little Tew. In 1441 Henry VI seized the priory and its estates and gave them to Eton College, which sold most of its land at Little Tew in 1921.

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Llancaiach fawr
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Longleat
Longleat is an English stately home, currently the seat of the Marquesses of Bath, adjacent to the village of Horningsham and near the towns of Warminster in Wiltshire and Frome in Somerset. It is noted for its Elizabethan country house, maze, landscaped parkland and safari park. The house is set in over 900 acres (360 ha) of parkland, landscaped by Capability Brown, with 100,000 acres (40,000 ha) of woods and farmland. It was the first stately home to open to the public, and also claims the first safari park outside Africa.
The house was built by Sir John Thynne, and designed mainly by Robert Smythson, after the original priory was destroyed by fire in 1567. It took 12 years to complete and is widely regarded as one of the finest examples of Elizabethan architecture in Britain. Longleat is currently occupied by Alexander Thynn, 7th Marquess of Bath, a direct descendant of the builder; however, the peer passed the management of the business to his son Viscount Weymouth early in 2010.
Longleat was purchased by Sir John Thynn in 1541. He was the first of the Thynne 'dynasty' – the family name was Thynn or Thynne in the 16th century, later consistently Thynne, but the present head of the family reverted to the spelling Thynn in the 1980s.

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Luke Manor
Luke Manor (Estonian: Luke mõis) is a manor near Tartu, Estonia. It's located in Luke village, Nõo Parish.
The earliest mentionings of Luke Manor (German: Lugden) originate from 1557, but it's even believed to have been established back in 1299 by Johann von Löwenwolde^{[citation needed]}. The main building has been destroyed twice, first during the Livonian War and again during World War II. The last owners of Luke Manor were the Knorring family and it was managed by the Lestal family.
Nowadays the manor park is one of the main visitor attractions in the area. With cascading ponds, decorative elms and a lime-tree labyrinth, visitors are enchanted by the grounds. Recently, the manor complex, gardener’s house, pond with a series of cascades, and small pavilion have all been restored.
Coordinates: 58°14′35″N 26°34′30″E / 58.24306°N 26.575°E / 58.24306; 26.575

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Manoir de Mathan
The Manoir de Mathan is a manor house located in the town of Crépon in the Calvados region of France.
The original structure was built in 1605, when it included a coach entry, which has since been removed. At that time, the manor belonged to the Hue de Mathan family after whom it was named. As well as the main house, there was a cellar, kitchen garden, and a bread oven in a separate outbuilding. A pond fed by a stream that flowed through the grounds completed the ensemble.
The building’s most notable characteristics are its grand stone staircase, and the triangular pediments above the doors and the entryway.
A century after it was built, the west end of the building was extended to twice its original size; later a barn, storage building, and stables were added, arranged around a square courtyard. This is the current configuration of the manor. The building was raised slightly and a new entryway was constructed. An old-fashioned water pump has been preserved in the middle of the courtyard.
The Manoir de Mathan has been noted in the general inventory of the cultural patrimony of Low Normandy.

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Manor House Hotel
Manor House Hotel is a 14th century country house hotel in Castle Combe, Wiltshire in the south of England.
The Manor House is noteworthy for several reasons throughout history. First of all, its land is the site of an old Norman castle settlement which has hosted a number of Lords throughout its history, the most famous of which was Sir John Oldcastle, the figure Shakespeare based his character of Sir John Falstaff upon in his play Henry IV in the late 16th century.
It was also the home of English geologist and political economist George Poulett Scrope throughout the 19th century. He lived at the Manor House from the start of his first marriage until the death of his wife Emma (the great-granddaughter of Sir Robert Long), in 1866; his wife's family had owned the land since the 14th century.
Scrope was responsible for the creation of the grounds' Italian, Classical and medieval Gothic styled gardens and Summerhouse in the mid-19th century , which can still be seen today.
Coordinates: 51°29′38″N 2°13′56″W / 51.4937538°N 2.2320887°W / 51.4937538; -2.2320887

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Mateus Palace
The Mateus Palace (Portuguese: Palácio de Mateus, Solar de Mateus or Casa de Mateus) is a palace located in the civil parish of Mateus, municipality of Vila Real, Portugal. Architect Nicolau Nasoni was involved in the project for the construction of the palace, which took place in the 18th century.
Coordinates: 41°17′49″N 7°42′45″W / 41.29694°N 7.7125°W / 41.29694; -7.7125

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Muchalls Castle
Muchalls Castle stands overlooking the North Sea in the countryside of Kincardine and Mearns, Aberdeenshire, Scotland. The lower course is a well preserved Romanesque, double-groined 13th century towerhouse structure, built by the Frasers of Muchalls. Upon this structure, the 17th century castle was begun by Alexander Burnett of Leys and completed by his son, Sir Thomas Burnett, 1st Baronet, in 1627. The Burnetts of Leys built the remaining four storey present day castle.
One of the most interesting castles of northeast Scotland, according to noted architectural historian Nigel Tranter, it is designed in the classic L style with a further extension wing at the west end. Muchalls Castle entered national history in 1638 when a seminal Covenanter gathering took place here precedent to the English Civil War.
The plasterwork ceilings of the principal drawing rooms are generally regarded as among the three finest examples of plasterwork ceilings in Scotland. These adornments date to 1624 and are in virtually perfect condition. They consist of heraldry of the Burnett of Leys family, along with heraldry of relations and friends intermixed with biblical iconography. The overmantel of the Great Hall fireplace features the arms of King James VI flanked by impressive egyptianesque figures.

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Muranovo
Muranovo is the Fyodor Tyutchev state museum located in Pushkino, Moscow Oblast, Russia.
The estate was founded in 1816 and since then has belonged to four families, including Fyodor Tyutchev's family. Its main house was built in wood in 1842 by Yevgeny Baratynsky, another renowned Russian poet. In August 1920, the estate became a museum.
Muranovo contains many historically important relics such as original furniture, manuscripts and artwork, which originally belonged to Tyutchev, Baratynsky and their families.
In July 2006, a fire from a lightning nearly destroyed the main building. Nevertheless, almost all exhibits were saved, and the estate has since been restored.
Coordinates: 56°10′43″N 37°54′09″E / 56.1786°N 37.9025°E / 56.1786; 37.9025

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Netherlands
The Netherlands (ⁱ/ˈnɛðərləndz/; Dutch: Nederland [ˈneːdə(r)lɑnt] or [ˈneɪ̯də(r)lɑnt] ( listen); West Frisian: Nederlân; Papiamento: Hulanda) is a constituent country of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, located mainly in North-West Europe and with some islands in the Caribbean. Mainland Netherlands borders the North Sea to the north and west, Belgium to the south, and Germany to the east, and shares maritime borders with Belgium, Germany and the United Kingdom. It is a parliamentary democracy organised as a unitary state. The country capital is Amsterdam and the seat of government is The Hague. The Netherlands in its entirety is often referred to as Holland, although North and South Holland are actually only two of its twelve provinces (a case of pars pro toto; see terminology of "the Netherlands").

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Newton Surmaville
Newton Surmaville is a small park and house south of Yeovil, Somerset in the district of South Somerset, in England. It lies just outside the town in the parish of Barwick.
The house, which is also known as Newton House, was built between 1608 and 1612, on the site of an earlier building, but was extensively altered and enhanced in the 1870s. It was built for Robert Harbin, a Yeovil merchant. The house still contained much of its original furniture and an eclectic library of many thousands of volumes. There were also 17th-century tapestries, portraying scenes of "Elijah Rising into Heaven and the Melting of the Golden Calf" in sculpted gold frames, and collections of antique pewter and pistols and swords. Some of the contents were given to the Museum of Somerset, the Somerset Military Museum and auctioned at Sothebys in London.
It has been designated by English Heritage as a Grade I listed building. The Surmaville part of the name comes from the de Salmonville family.
There are various outbuildings including the stables, gardeners cottage, and barn.

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North Wales
North Wales (Welsh: Gogledd Cymru) is the northernmost unofficial region of Wales. It is bordered to the south by the counties of Ceredigion and Powys in Mid Wales and to the east by the counties of Shropshire in the West Midlands and Cheshire in North West England. North Wales is divided in to three traditional regions, viz; Upper Gwynedd (or Gwynedd above the Conwy defined as the area north of the River Dyfi and west of the River Conwy); Lower Gwynedd (or Gwynedd below the Conwy also known as the Perfeddwlad and defined as the region east of the River Conwy and west of the River Dee) and Ynys Môn (or Anglesey), a large island off the north coast.^{[citation needed]}.
The southern boundary is arbitrary and its definition may depend on the use being made of the term. For example the boundary of North Wales Police differs from the boundary of the North Wales area of the Environment Agency Wales.
North Wales is steeped in history and was for almost a millennium known as the Kingdom of Gwynedd. The mountainous stronghold of Snowdonia formed the nucleus of that realm and would become the last redoubt of independent Wales — only overcome in 1283. To this day it remains a stronghold of the Welsh language and a centre for Welsh national and cultural identity.

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Northumberland
Northumberland ( /nɔrˈθʌmbərlənd/; abbreviated Northumb. or Northd, the latter being preferred by the Royal Mail) is the northernmost ceremonial county and a unitary district in North East England. It borders Cumbria to the west, County Durham to the south and Tyne and Wear to the south east and the Scottish Borders council area to the north. Its North Sea coastline is a designated Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty with a 64 mile (103 km) long distance path. Since 1981, the county council has been located in Morpeth, situated in the east of the county.
The historical boundaries of the county of Northumberland included Newcastle upon Tyne, the traditional county town, as well as Tynemouth and other settlements in North Tyneside, all areas transferred to Tyne and Wear in 1974 under the Local Government Act 1972. The historical county boundaries are sometimes taken to exclude Islandshire, Bedlingtonshire and Norhamshire (collectively North Durham), exclaves of County Durham which were incorporated into Northumberland in 1844. For Eurostat purposes Northumberland is a NUTS 3 region (code UKC21) and is one of three local authority areas that comprise the "Northumberland and Tyne and Wear" NUTS 2 region.

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Nysø Manor
Nysø Manor, located near Præstø in the southeast of the Danish island of Sealand, was built in 1673 for Jens Lauridsen, a local functionary.
The first manor house in Denmark to be designed in the Baroque style, it is built in red brick and sandstone with a red-tiled roof and a granite plinth as a foundation. It is thought to be the work of master builder Ewert Janssen who probably also built Charlottenborg Palace in Copenhagen shortly afterwards.
The house consists of a main wing with 11 bays and lateral wings to the north with an entrance in between. The central projects on the north and south sides are decorated with four Ionic pilasters which support triangular pediments. On the north side, there is a clock with two figures whose bells strike the hour.
A moat originally encircled the entire building but in 1780 the moat on the north side was filled in to accommodate estate buildings. The Thorvaldsen Collection is housed in one of the red-brick buildings to the east.
The Nysø Estate extends over 1,041 hectars with Jungshovedgaard, Christinelund, Henriklund and Mariannelund.

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Nütschau Priory
Nütschau Priory (in German Kloster Nütschau or Priorat Sankt Ansgar) is a house of the Benedictine Order located at Travenbrück near Bad Oldesloe, Stormarn, Schleswig-Holstein in Germany.
Occupying the former Nütschau manor house (Herrenhaus Nütschau), built in 1577-79 by Heinrich Rantzau, this community originated after World War II as a refuge for displaced persons, particularly Catholics from the former German territories.
The church acquired the site in 1951 and at the request of Hermann Wilhelm Berning, the Bishop of Osnabrück, it was developed by and staffed from Gerleve Abbey. St. Ansgar's House (Haus Sankt Ansgar) opened in 1951. In 1955 the community was raised to the status of a priory under Gerleve, and in 1975 Nütschau became an independent monastery, which now includes a training house and a youth house.
The priory is part of the Beuronese Congregation.
Under direct control of the Abbot of Gerleve:
Priory of Gerleve Abbey
Independent priory
Coordinates: 53°49′21″N 10°19′36″E / 53.8225°N 10.32667°E / 53.8225; 10.32667

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Ostankino Palace
Coordinates: 55°49′29″N 37°36′52″E / 55.82472°N 37.61444°E / 55.82472; 37.61444
Ostankino Palace is a former summer residence and private opera theater of Sheremetev family, originally situated several kilometres to the north from Moscow but now a part of the North-Eastern Administrative Okrug of Moscow. Extant historical Ostankino includes the main wooden palace, built in 1792-1798 around a theater hall, with adjacent Egyptian and Italian pavilions, a 17th century Trinity church, and fragments of the old Ostankino park with a replica of Milovzor folly.
Ostankino Palace is third-largest wooden building in the world after Tōdai-ji and Old Government Buildings.
First documental evidence of Ostankino - then known as Ostashkovo - emerged in the middle of 16th century, when tsar Ivan IV of Russia granted these lands to the hold of Alexey Satin, relative of statesman Alexey Adashev. Satin, however, was executed by Ivan in 1560, and the lands passed to someone Horn, a German mercenary, and in 1585 - to notable diak (statesman) Vasily Schelkalov. Under Schelkalov, the unpopulated lands of Ostashkovo developed into a relatively prosperous manor estate with ponds and cedar park. This manor was destroyed by plunder and fire in the Time of Troubles.

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Ostholstein
Ostholstein is a district in Schleswig-Holstein, Germany. It is bounded by (from the southwest and clockwise) the districts of Stormarn, Segeberg and Plön, the Baltic Sea and the city of Lübeck.
The district was established in 1970 by merging the former districts of Eutin and Oldenburg in Holstein. These former districts have different histories.
The District of Eutin emerged from the Principality, and later Region of Lübeck, which again ermerged from the secularised prince-bishopric of Lübeck. In 1803 it became an exclave of the Duchy of Oldenburg (which confusingly has nothing to do with the Holsteinian city of Oldenburg). In 1937 it was moved to Prussia as the district of Eutin within the Prussian province of Schleswig-Holstein.
The region of Oldenburg was a part of the duchy of Holstein. In 1864 Holstein became subordinate to Prussia, which soon afterwards established the district of Oldenburg in Holstein.
The district consists of the Wagrien peninsula between the Bay of Lübeck and the Bay of Kiel, the island of Fehmarn, the eastern part of the region called "Holsteinische Schweiz" (Holsatian Switzerland) and the northern suburbs of Lübeck.

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Owlpen Manor
Owlpen Manor is a Tudor Grade I listed manor house of the Mander family, situated in the village of Owlpen in the Stroud district in Gloucestershire, England. There is an associated estate set in a picturesque valley within the Cotswold Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty. The manor house is about one mile east of Uley, and three miles east of Dursley.
Owlpen Manor is widely recognised as one of the most romantic early manor houses in England. It has been designated by English Heritage as a grade I listed building. The manor house is of medieval origins, incorporating fabric dated to c. 1200, but was largely built and rebuilt in the Tudor period by the Daunt family, between 1464 and 1616. Since then it has hardly been touched except for small improvements early in the 18th century, when the east wing of the house, together with the gardens, church and Grist Mill, were reordered by Thomas Daunt IV between 1719 and 1726.
Owlpen (pronounced locally "Ole-pen") derives its name, it is thought, from the Saxon thegn, Olla, who first set up his pen, or enclosure, by the springs that rise under the foundations of the manor, about the 9th century.

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Oxfordshire
Oxfordshire ( /ˈɒksfərdʃər/ or /ˈɒksfərdʃɪər/; archaically the County of Oxford; abbreviated Oxon from the Latinised form of "Oxford", Oxonia) is a county in the South East region of England, bordering on Warwickshire and Northamptonshire (to the north/northeast), Buckinghamshire (to the east), Berkshire (to the south), Wiltshire (to the southwest) and Gloucestershire (to the west).
The county has major education and tourist industries. The area is noted for the concentration of performance motorsport companies and facilities. Oxford University Press is the largest firm among a concentration of print and publishing firms; the University of Oxford is also linked to the concentration of local biotechnology companies.
The main centre of population is the city of Oxford. Other significant settlements are Banbury, Bicester, Kidlington, and Chipping Norton to the north of Oxford; Witney to the west; Thame and Chinnor to the east; and Abingdon, Wantage, Didcot, Wallingford and Henley-on-Thames to the south. Future population growth in the county is hoped^{[clarification needed]} to be concentrated around Oxford, Banbury, Bicester, Didcot and Witney, near the South Midlands growth area.

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Oxon Hoath
Oxon Hoath is a Grade II* listed Châteauesque-style former manor house with 73 acres (29½ hectares) of grounds at West Peckham, Kent. The spellings Oxenhoath, Oxen Hoath and Oxonhoath are common alternatives. The spelling Oxenholt was also used it the past. The manor is a former royal deer park. Oxon Hoath has been the seat of two baronetcies, and of five High Sheriffs of Kent. It has a surviving example of parterre gardens in its grounds.
Oxon Hoath (sometimes rendered as Oxenholt) was built by Sir John Culpeper during the reign of King Edward III, as a Royal Park for oxen and deer. The Culpepers had been in West Peckham since c1355, a date of 1372 is claimed for the house. On Sir John's death in 1416, the manor passed to his son Sir William Culpeper, who was High Sheriff of Kent in 1426-27. On Sir William's death, the manor passed to his son Sir Richard Culpeper. He died without male issue in 1484, and his estate passed to his daughters Elizabeth, Joyce, and Margaret. Oxon Hoath passed to Margaret's husband, William Cotton. On his death, Oxon Hoath passed to his son Sir Thomas Cotton, who alienated the estate to John Chowne of Fairlawne, Plaxtol.

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Pays de Caux
The Pays de Caux (pronounced: [pɛi də ko]) is an area in Normandy occupying the greater part of the French département of Seine Maritime in Haute-Normandie. It is a chalk plateau to the north of the Seine Estuary and extending to the cliffs on the English Channel coast - its coastline is known as the Côte d'Albâtre. In the east, it borders on the Pays de Bray where the strata below the chalk show through.
Cauchois is a notable dialect of the Norman language. The Pays de Caux is one of the remaining strongholds of the Norman language outside the Cotentin.
The principal settlements are Le Havre, Dieppe, Fécamp, Yvetot and Étretat.
In the Norman language caux means lime, calcium carbonate. In French, for comparison, the word is chaux (the French 'ch' being pronounced as an English 'sh'. Example: Caux dialect candelle, English candle, French chandelle ). The name of the neighbouring Pays de Bray comes from an Old French word of Gaulish origin for mud. They appear to be so named as their soils distinguish them; the one of sticky clay, the other on dry chalk, but that is only a legend. In fact, according to something common in the former Gaul, the name derives from the Celtic tribe that lived here in ancient time: the Caletes (or Caleti. It means "the hard or the courageous people", Breton kaled hard, Welsh caled hard ) and this land was their territory. They are sometimes considered as Belgae or as Armoricans. The word Caletes shifted to *Caltes, then *Calz, Cauz, to be spelled "Caux" in modern time.

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Portugal
Portugal ⁱ/ˈpɔrtʃʉɡəl/ (Portuguese: Portugal, IPA: [puɾtuˈɣaɫ]), officially the Portuguese Republic (Portuguese: República Portuguesa) is a country situated in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula . Portugal is the westernmost country of mainland Europe, and is bordered by the Atlantic Ocean to the West and South and by Spain to the North and East. The Atlantic archipelagos of the Azores and Madeira are part of Portugal. The country is named after its second largest city, Porto, whose Latin name was Portus Cale.
The land within the borders of the current Portuguese Republic has been continuously settled since prehistoric times: occupied by Celts like the Gallaeci and the Lusitanians, integrated into the Roman Republic and later settled by Germanic peoples such as the Suebi, Swabians, Vandals and the Visigoths. In the 8th century most of the Iberian Peninsula was conquered by Moorish invaders professing Islam, which were later expelled by the Knights Templar under the Order of Christ. During the Christian Reconquista, Portugal established itself as an independent kingdom from León in 1139, claiming to be the oldest European nation state.

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Priory Palace
Coordinates: 59°33′29″N 30°7′17″E / 59.55806°N 30.12139°E / 59.55806; 30.12139
Priory Palace is an original palace in Gatchina (Гатчина), Russia. It was built in 1799 by the architect N. A. Lvov on the shore of the Black Lake (Chyornoye ozero / Чёрное озеро). Constructed for the Russian Grand Priory of the Order of St John, it was presented to the Order by a decree of Paul I of Russia dated August 23, 1799.

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Przyszowice
Przyszowice [pʂɨʂɔˈvit͡sɛ] (German Preiswitz) is a village in the administrative district of Gmina Gierałtowice, within Gliwice County, Silesian Voivodeship, in southern Poland. The village has a population of 3,199. It lies approximately 5 kilometres (3 mi) north-east of Gierałtowice, 7 km (4 mi) south-east of Gliwice, and 18 km (11 mi) west of the regional capital Katowice.
Among the most notable landmarks of the area is an eclectic palace of the von Raczek family built between 1890 and 1895, the St. John of Nepomuk's Church built in 1938 and a wooden granary of 1829. During the final stages of World War II the village was the site of the Przyszowice massacre in which roughly 70 Polish civilians were murdered by the Red Army.
Coordinates: 50°15′N 18°45′E / 50.25°N 18.75°E / 50.25; 18.75

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Riisipere
Riisipere is a small borough (alevik) in the county of Harju, Estonia, and is the Nissi Parish administrative center. Located on the Ääsmäe-Haapsalu road, its distance from Tallinn is 45 km, from Haapsalu 50 km, Märjamaa 30 km, Rapla 40 km.
Riisipere railway station, the terminus of the Tallinn-Keila-Riisipere line, has been electrified since 1981. Originally the railway continued to Haapsalu, but the Riisipere-Haapsalu section was taken up in 2004.
Major attractions are Riisipere manor house and Nissi Church The composer Raimond Valgre was born here.
Riisipere manor house
Nissi church
Riisipere train station building
Water tower in railway station

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Roos Hall
Roos Hall (or sometimes Rose Hall) is a manor house and former manor ½ a mile (¾km) west of Beccles in Suffolk. It is a Grade I listed building.
It is said to be among the most haunted houses in England. It was owned by the Suckling family in the 17th century having been bought by Sir John Suckling in 1600. It subsequently passed to the Rich family following the marriage between Sir John Suckling's widow and Sir Edwin Rich. According to English Heritage, it is once again owned by a member of the Suckling family.
Coordinates: 52°28′N 1°33′E / 52.46°N 1.55°E / 52.46; 1.55

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Ropsha

Ropsha (Russian: Ропша) is a settlement in Leningrad Oblast, Russia, situated about 20 kilometres (12 mi) south of Peterhof and 49 kilometres (30 mi) south-west of central Saint Petersburg, at an elevation of 80 metres (260 ft) to 130 metres (430 ft) in elevation.
The settlement was first mentioned in the documents of the Novgorod Republic in the 15th century, when its name was spelled as "Khrapsha". It passed to Sweden following the Treaty of Stolbovo but was recaptured by Peter the Great during the Great Northern War. Upon hearing about the curative properties of Ropsha's mineral springs, the tsar planned to make it his summer retreat; a timber palace and small church were built there. Subsequently, when he discovered a more favourable location of Strelna and contrived a system of pipes to bring water from the Ropsha heights to the fountain cascades projected in Peterhof, he abandoned his previous plans for Ropsha and made a present of it to his senior associate, Prince Fyodor Romodanovsky, or the "Caesar-Pope" as he was wont to style him.

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Rosenholm Castle
Rosenholm Castle (Danish: Rosenholm Slot) is Denmark's oldest family-owned castle, and is one of the best-preserved complexes from the golden age of the manor house – from 1550 to 1630. Rosenholm Castle is founded in 1559 by the Danish nobleman Jørgen "George" Rosenkrantz. His family are among the oldest and most famous in the Danish history. Shakespeare chose to use the name in the play Hamlet. Later extended, standing complete in 1607 with four wings, clearly influenced by the Italian Renaissance style. The castle interior was modernised in the 1740s in the baroque style, at which time a large baroque garden was laid out, covering an area of 5 ha., with avenues of limetrees and hedgerows of beech. Rosenholm is fully furnished, with hundreds of items of furniture, paintings and tapestries.
Sights & attractions: Built 1559-1607. Manor house milieu over 450 years. Anthroposophic paintings by the painter Arild Rosenkrantz. Baroque park with symmetrical avenues. Rare gazebo, named Pirkentavl, from around 1560. The manor Holm is known from the 14th century. It was owned by the Catholic Church, but at the Reformation in 1536 it came in possession of The Crown. King Frederick II exchanged it for some other estates to Jørgen Rosenkrantz in 1559. Same year he began the construction of a new main building called Rosenholm. Its architecture was very much different from other castles in Denmark. It was mostly inspired from Italy. On the main facade there was an open loggia.

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Sark
Sark (French: Sercq; Sercquiais: Sèr or Cerq) is a small island in the Channel Islands in southwestern English Channel, off the French coast of Normandy. It is a royal fief, geographically located in the Channel Islands in the Bailiwick of Guernsey, with its own set of laws based on Norman law and its own parliament. It has a population of about 600. Sark's economy depends primarily on tourism. Sark has an area of 2.10 square miles (5.44 km²).
Sark consists of two main parts, Greater Sark, located at about 49° 25' N x 2° 22' W, and Little Sark to the south. They are connected by a narrow isthmus called La Coupée which is 300 feet (91 m) long and has a drop of 330 feet (100 m) on each side. Protective railings were erected in 1900; before then, children would crawl across on their hands and knees to avoid being blown over the edge. There is a narrow concrete road covering the entirety of the isthmus, built in 1945 by German prisoners of war under the direction of the Royal Engineers. Due to isolation, the inhabitants of Little Sark had their own distinct form of Sercquiais, the native Norman dialect of the island.^{[citation needed]}

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Sawston
Coordinates: 52°07′29″N 0°10′23″E / 52.12471°N 0.17315°E / 52.12471; 0.17315
Sawston is a large village in Cambridgeshire in England, situated on the River Cam seven miles (11 km) south of Cambridge. It has a population of 7,150 (Census 2001). It is officially listed as a village, despite fulfilling many of the criteria for town status such as a High Street with shops and banks.
The village has been twinned with the German town of Selsingen since Klaus Bruno Pape's visit to Sawston in 1984, as a result of a link being established between the two in Walther Piroth of Frankfurt University's PhD thesis.
Although the current village of Sawston has only existed as anything more than a hamlet for 400 to 600 years, there is evidence for a settlement in the vicinity dating back to the early Bronze Age almost 5000 years ago. The northern high-ground in Sawston would have been the only vantage point from which to view the ancient Hill figures discovered in the Wandlebury section of the Gog-Magog hills.

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Scotney Castle
Scotney Castle is an English country house with formal gardens south-east of Lamberhurst in the valley of the River Bewl in Kent, England. It belongs to the National Trust.
The gardens, which are a celebrated example of the Picturesque style, are open to the public. The central feature is the ruins of a medieval, moated manor house, Scotney Old Castle, which is on an island on a small lake. The lake is surrounded by sloping, wooded gardens with fine collections of rhododendrons, azaleas and kalmia for spring colour, summer wisteria and roses, and spectacular autumn colour.
At the top of the garden stands a house which was built to replace the Old Castle between 1835 and 1843. This is known as Scotney New Castle, or simply Scotney Castle, and was designed by Anthony Salvin. It is an early, and unusually restrained, example of Tudor Revival architectural style in 19th century Britain. Following the death of the resident, Elizabeth Hussey, in 2006, this house was opened to the public for the first time on June 6, 2007

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Sign of the Takahe
The Sign of the Takahe is today a restaurant and function centre built in the style of an English Manor House. Designed by J. G. Collins, construction was carried out between 1918 and 1948. The Takahe also provides one of the better panoramic views of the city of Christchurch, New Zealand, the Canterbury Plains and the Southern Alps.
Named after the flightless native New Zealand bird, the Takahe, it was initially one of the roadhouses planned by Henry George (Harry) Ell as part of his scheme to preserve the natural state of the Port Hills which overlook Christchurch and Lyttelton harbour.
Ell had envisaged four roadhouses being built, and three were completed before Ell's death in 1934. These were Sign of the Kiwi, Sign of the Bellbird and Sign of the Packhorse.
However, Ell wished the Takahe to be a more substantial structure and spent years studying design of English Manors, castles and inns, to be incorporated into the final construction of the Takahe. Indeed, the dining room is an exact replica in the historic Haddon Hall in Derbyshire.

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Simpson's Place
Simpson's Manor, or Simpson's Place, was a moated medieval manor house in Bromley, Kent, England, with evidence of habitation going back to the reign of Edward I (r. 1272-1307). It was demolished around 1870 but survives in the name of a (minor) local road - Simpson's Place.
Historical records show that the site belonged to the "Bankewell" (aka "Banquelle" or "de Banquelle") family as far back as 1302 (during the reign of Edward I) with John de Bankewell holding a charter of free warren to his lands there. His descendant Thomas de Bankewell is recorded as dying as a fief in 1352 (during Edward III's reign). The land eventually passed to the Clark family, and during the reign of Henry V (1413–1422) William Clark applied for a license to build a fortified manor house with crenellated walls and a deep moat (the latter being recorded as "supplied and nourished with a living spring").
John Simpson acquired the manor in the latter part of the reign of Henry VI (r. 1422–1461), made improvements to the site and gave his name to it. His descendent Nicholas Simpson (fl. 1530-1541) was the barber to Henry VIII and featured in the painting "Henry VIII Presenting a Charter to the Barber Surgeons Company" by Hans Holbein the younger. It is thought that he had a "huge and very handsome red-brick chimney" added to the house.

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Snowshill Manor
Snowshill Manor is a National Trust property located in the village of Snowshill, Gloucestershire, England.
Snowshill Manor was the property of Winchcombe Abbey from 821 until 1539 when the Abbey was confiscated by King Henry VIII during the Dissolution of the Monasteries.
Between 1539 and 1919 it had a number of tenants and owners until it was purchased by Charles Paget Wade, an architect, artist-craftsman, collector, poet and heir to the family fortune. He restored the property, living in the small cottage in the garden and using the manor house as a home for his collection of objects. He gave the property and the contents of this collection to the National Trust in 1951.
There are two aspects of Snowshill Manor: its garden and the manor house, which is now home to Wade's eclectic collection.
The garden at Snowshill was laid out by Wade, in collaboration with Arts and Crafts movement architect, M. H. Baillie Scott, between 1920 and 1923 as a series of outside rooms seen as an extension to the house. Features include terraces and ponds.

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Somerton Castle
Somerton Castle is located approximately one mile west of the hamlet of Boothby Graffoe in Lincolnshire, England.
Inherited from his mother, the castle was rebuilt in the latter part of the 13th century by Antony Bek, then Bishop of Durham, who was granted a licence to crenellate in 1281. In 1309 Bek gave the castle as a gift to King Edward II.
The property and estate were later bought by the notable Lincolnshire and Sussex landowners, Marfleet Battle in 1812, from Sir Montague Cholmondeley, Baronet. The property and estate later passed on to several of the family's descendants.
King John II of France was imprisoned at Somerton Castle between 1359 and 1360, having been take prisoner after the Battle of Poitiers.
Some prominent and visible earthworks still enclose the site, including parts of the moat. What remains of the castle walls are incorporated into the present farmhouse. The castle has been recognised as an important building and has been classified as a Grade I listed building.
Coordinates: 53°07′01″N 0°34′30″W / 53.117°N 0.575°W / 53.117; -0.575

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Speke Hall
Speke Hall is a wood-framed wattle-and-daub Tudor manor house in Speke, Liverpool, England. It is one of the finest surviving examples of its kind.
Construction of the current building began in 1530, though earlier buildings had been on the site, parts of which are incorporated into today's structure. The Great Hall was the first part of the house to be built, in 1530. The Great (or Oak) Parlour) wing was added in 1531. Around this time the North Bay was also added to the house. Between 1540 and 1570 the south wing was altered and extended. The west wing was added between 1546 and 1547. The last significant change to the building was in 1598, when the north range was added by Edward Norris. Since then there have only been minor changes to the Hall and gardens.
The oak frame, typical of the period, rests on a base of red sandstone surrounded by a now dry moat. The main beams of the house are stiffened with smaller timbers and filled with wattle and daub.
The house features a thunderbox toilet, a priest hole and a special observation hole built into a chimney in a bedroom to allow the occupant to see the approach to the house to warn the priest that people were coming. There is also an eavesdrop (a small open hole under the eaves of the house) which allowed a servant to listen in on the conversations of people awaiting admission at the original front door.

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Stins
A stins (pl. stinsen, West Frisian for "stone house") is a former stronghold or villa in the province of Friesland, the Netherlands. Many stinsen carry the name "state."
Stinsen used to belong to noblemen or prominent citizens. Most stinsen were demolished in the 19th century, when maintenance became too expensive. Several surviving stinsen are now used as museums.
Stinsen also appear in East Frisia, and are known as borg (pl. borgen) in the province of Groningen.
List of castles in the Netherlands
Coordinates: 53°05′N 5°51′E / 53.083°N 5.85°E / 53.083; 5.85

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Ston Easton Park
Ston Easton Park in Somerset was built in the 18th century for John Hippisley Coxe. The Hippisley family had been Lords of the Manor of Ston Easton since 1544, and in the 17th century had moved from the old manor house by the parish church to a new Jacobean house. This Jacobean house was converted into a Palladian mansion by John Hippisley Coxe.
The identity of the architect is not known, and although the design is reminiscent of the work of William Kent modern research tends to suggest Thomas Paty was the architect. It is also not known exactly when the house was built. John Hippisley Coxe died in 1769 and his sons Richard and Henry further embellished the house and grounds. Henry Hippisley Coxe employed Humphry Repton to design a landscape park, although only part of this plan was actually created. Henry's widow Elizabeth further developed the grounds in about 1814.
In 1956 Richard John Bayntun Hippisley died, and his son John Preston Hippisley was obliged to sell Ston Easton in order to pay death duties. The house was neglected and fell into disrepair - it was even proposed that the building should be demolished, though it was thankfully saved by a Preservation Order in 1958. In 1964 Ston Easton was purchased by William Rees-Mogg who restored the building. In 1978 Rees-Mogg sold the house to the Smedley family, who further restored the house and grounds and subsequently converted it into a luxurious hotel. The house was sold again in 2001 to Von Essen Hotels, the present owners.

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Stourhead
Stourhead is a 1,072-hectare (2,650-acre) estate at the source of the River Stour near Mere, Wiltshire, England. The estate includes a Palladian mansion, the village of Stourton, gardens, farmland, and woodland. Stourhead has been in the ownership of the National Trust since 1946.
The Stourton family, the Barons of Stourton, had lived in the Stourhead estate for 500 years until they sold it to Sir Thomas Meres in 1714. His son, John Meres, sold it to Henry Hoare I, son of wealthy banker Sir Richard Hoare in 1717. The original manor house was demolished and a new house, one of the first of its kind, was designed by Colen Campbell and built by Nathaniel Ireson between 1721 and 1725. Over the next 200 years the Hoare family collected many heirlooms, including a large library and art collection. In 1902 the house was gutted by fire. However, many of the heirlooms were saved, and the house rebuilt in a near identical style. The last Hoare family member to own the property, Henry Hugh Arthur Hoare, gave the Stourhead house and gardens to the National Trust in 1946, one year before his death. His sole heir and son, Captain "Harry" Henry Colt Arthur Hoare, of the Queen's Own Dorset Yeomanry, had died of wounds received at the Battle of Mughar Ridge on 13 November 1917 in World War I. Captain "Harry" Hoare is commemorated by a plaque on the Memorial Hall at Stourhead. The last Hoare family member to be born inside the house is Edward Hoare on 11 October 1949.

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Strelna
Coordinates: 59°51′13″N 30°3′35″E / 59.85361°N 30.05972°E / 59.85361; 30.05972
Strelna (Russian: Стре́льна) is a municipal settlement in Petrodvortsovy District of the federal city of St. Petersburg, Russia, situated about halfway between St. Petersburg proper and Petergof and overlooking the shore of the Gulf of Finland. Population: 12,773 (2010 Census preliminary results); 12,751 (2002 Census).
Formerly a Swedish chancellor's estate, Strelna was chosen by Peter the Great as a place for his future summer residence in 1714. Jean Baptiste Le Blond, famous for his work with André Le Nôtre at Versailles, was commissioned to prepare designs for the would-be palace and park. Le Blond envisaged the palace as a Chateau d'Eau, situated on a round island. The gardens were laid out to Le Blond's design, but the master's death prevented him from completing a more elaborate project for the palace.
In 1718, a temporary wooden palace was constructed in Strelna. It had been used by the Russian royalty as a sort of hunting lodge, and has been faithfully preserved to this day. After Le Blond's death, the commission to build the grand palace passed to Nicholo Michetti, a disciple of the great Carlo Fontana. A cornerstone was laid in June 1720, but next year it became apparent that the place was ill-adapted for installation of fountains, so Peter decided to concentrate his attention on the nearby Peterhof. Disappointed Michetti left Russia, and all works in Strelna were suspended.

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Sturminster Newton
Coordinates: 50°55′N 2°18′W / 50.92°N 2.3°W / 50.92; -2.3
Sturminster Newton, known to locals as Stur, is a town in the Blackmore Vale area of Dorset, England. It is situated on a low limestone ridge in a meander of the River Stour. The town is at the centre of a large dairy agriculture region, around which the town's economy is built. The larger part of the town (Sturminster) lies on the north side of the river, and includes most shops and services, whilst to the south is the smaller Newton. Between these two areas is a wide flood plain. The town is famous as the home of poet and author William Barnes, and, for part of his life, Thomas Hardy. The town had a population of 3,105 during the 2001 census, but is growing fast. 30.93% of the population are retired^{[citation needed]} The town has 43 shops, a primary and secondary school, and a school catering for children with special educational needs.
A market is held in the town on Mondays. One of the largest cattle markets in England used to be held here, but the market was closed in 1998 and now in its place stands a housing estate and a 300-seat community arts centre called The Exchange. The town is part of the historic West Country Carnival circuit.

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Sulgrave
Coordinates: 52°06′11″N 1°11′02″W / 52.103°N 1.184°W / 52.103; -1.184
Sulgrave is a village and civil parish in South Northamptonshire, England, about 5 miles (8.0 km) north of Brackley.
The Church of England parish Church of St James the Less is part of the benefice of Culworth, with Sulgrave and Thorpe Mandeville, and Chipping Warden, with Edgcote and Moreton Pinkney.
By the church are the earthwork remains of a Norman ringwork castle.
Sulgrave Manor, near the village, is famous for having been the home of the ancestors of George Washington. Washington Old Hall in Washington, Sunderland is the original ancestral home of the Washington family and was occupied by the family from 12th century to 1539. There is also an area of Washington, close to Washington Old Hall, named Sulgrave. Sulgrave Manor has a road named after it: Sulgrave Court, situated in a housing district of Milton Keynes called Great Holm.
Leaving Wharton, Lancashire (now Cheshire), to which the family had spread in the 14th century, Lawrence Washington bought the Priory of St. Andrew, Northampton, from the Crown in 1539, following Henry VIII's Dissolution of the Monasteries and turned it into Sulgrave Manor.

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Svanholm
Svanholm is a country estate and former manor 55 kilometres (34 mi) west of Copenhagen, Denmark. In 1978 an association of over 100 persons bought the estate to create Denmark's largest intentional community. The Svanholm Collective grows its own food and was one of the pioneers of organic farming in Denmark. As of January 2006, membership consisted of 70 adults and 35 children aged 0 to 80, jointly owning around 400 hectares (988 acres) of farmland, park, and woodlands.
The name comes from svan meaning "swan" and holm meaning "islet".
The Svanholm estate is located north of the village of Skibby in Krogstrup parish, on the Hornsherred peninsula between Roskilde Fjord and Ise Fjord on the north coast of Zealand. It consists of a main building (the former manor house) plus 12 other dwellings and utility buildings nearby or elsewhere on the grounds.
The earliest mention of Svanholm in historical documents is in 1346. Its owner at the time was the knight Niels Knudsen Manderup.^{[citation needed]}

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Taagepera
Taagepera is a village in Helme Parish, Valga County, in southern Estonia. It has a population of 109 (as of 1 January 2011).
Taagepera is famous for its Jugendstil castle.

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Temple Trees
Prime Minister's House, most commonly known as Temple Trees, is the official residence of the Prime Minister of Sri Lanka. It is located in Colombo, Sri Lanka. Several recent Presidents have used it as their official residence too.
Currently it is used by HE Mahinda Rajapakse, the 5th Executive President of Sri Lanka.
The history of Temple Trees dates back to early 19th century. Its ownership passed though several prominent British administrators and traders. It was owned between 1830-1834 by John Walbeoff of the British Civil Service, who headed the Cinnamon Department of Ceylon. The house was subsequently acquired by George Winter, a wealthy merchant and the first editor of the Colombo Observer. Later it was sold to John Philip Green who named it "Temple Trees" in 1856 for the Temple Trees that grew around the bungalow.
The house was purchased by the British Government of Ceylon and became the residence of the Colonial Secretary. Since 1948 it became the residence of the Prime Minister of Ceylon and D. S. Senanayake became the first Prime Minister to take up residence. Some Prime Ministers since then have preferred to stay at their private homes and only use Temple Trees for official functions. As such S W R D Bandaranaike, who was assassinated while at his private residence at Rosmead Place.

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Thorndon Hall
Thorndon Hall is a Georgian Palladian country house within Thorndon Park, Ingrave, Essex, England, approximately two miles south of Brentwood and 25 miles (40 km) from central London.
Formerly the country seat of the Petre family who now reside at nearby Ingatestone Hall, the house is located within nearly 600 acres (240 ha) of ancient medieval deer park, meadows and forest.
The current house was originally designed by James Paine and construction started in 1764. The park was then landscaped between 1766 and 1772 by Lancelot 'Capability' Brown at a cost of £5,000, much of which still survives, albeit merged into the landscaping of Thorndon Park Golf Course. The main driveway extended from what is now Shenfield Common for nearly two miles southwards to the northern face of the house. It can still be traced with maps, although it is now made up of public parks and golf courses.
The current house replaced Old Thorndon Hall which was located about a mile to the south in what is now known as "ruin wood" next to Old Hall pond.

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Tretower Court
Tretower Court is a medieval fortified manor house situated in the village of Tretower, near Crickhowell in modern day Powys, previously within the historical county of Breconshire or Brecknockshire.
The Court evolved from the adjacent Tretower Castle site and is a very rare example of its type, in that it shows the way in which a castle gradually developed into another significant type of medieval building, the fortified manor house or defended house [1]. It is also a rare survival, escaping destruction in wars or conflicts, partial damage or slighting, for example during the English Civil War, and total redevelopment over time.
The initial construction of Tretower Court dates from the early years of the 14th century, when the castle site was also still in use. The earliest part of Tretower Court is the north range. The masonry of the walls, the internal fireplaces, the windows and the projecting latrine tower all indicate a date maybe as early as 1300. The 14th century building consisted of a central ground floor hall open to its high roof, a solar or private bedchamber and a private living room. The hall probably served as a local court for paying fines and tithes.

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Trondheimsfjord
The Trondheimsfjord (or Trondheimsfjorden), an inlet of the Norwegian Sea, is Norway's third longest fjord at 130 kilometres (81 mi) long. It is located in the west central part of the country, and it stretches from Ørland in west to Steinkjer in north, passing the city of Trondheim on its way. Its maximum depth is 617 metres (2,024 ft), just inside of Agdenes.
The largest islands in the fjord are Ytterøy and Tautra; the small Munkholmen is located near the harbor of Trondheim; and there are several islands at the entrance of the fjord. The narrow Skarnsundet is crossed by the Skarnsund Bridge. The part of the fjord to the north of the strait is referred to as Beitstadfjorden. The main part of Trondheimsfjord is ice free all year; only Verrasundet, a long and narrow fjord branch in the northern part of the fjord, might be ice covered in winter. The Beitstadfjorden might also freeze over in winter, but only for a few weeks.
The towns Stjørdal, Levanger, and Steinkjer are found on the eastern and northeastern shore of the fjord. Aker Verdal in Verdal produces large offshore installations for the petroleum sector. A yard in Rissa completed the luxurious apartment ship MS The World. Fiborgtangen is a peninsula along the eastern shore of the fjord where a large paper mill owned by Norske Skog is situated.

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Utrecht (province)
Utrecht (Dutch pronunciation: [ˈytrɛxt] ( listen)) is the smallest province of the Netherlands in terms of area, and is located in the centre of the country. It is bordered by the Eemmeer in the north, Gelderland in the east, the river Rhine in the south, South Holland in the west, and North Holland in the northwest. Utrecht makes up one region of the International Organization for Standardization world region code system, having the code ISO 3166-2:NL-UT. Important cities in the province are its capital (also called Utrecht), Amersfoort, Veenendaal, Houten, Nieuwegein and Zeist.
In the Middle Ages, most of the area of the current province was ruled by bishops of the Bishopric of Utrecht. The bishopric was founded in 722 by Willibrord. Many wars were fought between Utrecht and the neighbouring counties and duchies, Holland, Guelders and Brabant. In 1527, the bishop of Utrecht sold his worldly power over his territories to Emperor Charles V, who already owned most other Dutch provinces. However, the Habsburg rule did not last long, as Utrecht joined the revolt of the United Provinces against Charles's son Philip II of Spain in 1579. In World War II, Utrecht was held by German forces until the general capitulation of the Germans in the Netherlands on May 5, 1945. It was occupied by Canadian Allied forces on May 7, 1945. The towns of Oudewater, Woerden and Vianen were transferred from the province of South Holland to Utrecht in 1970, 1989 and 2002 respectively.

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Utrecht Hill Ridge
Utrecht Hill Ridge (Dutch: Utrechtse Heuvelrug) is a ridge of low sandhills that stretches in a direction from southeast to northwest over the Dutch province of Utrecht and over a part of North Holland. The total length of the region is about 50 km. It covers an area of approximately 23.000 ha. The part of the ridge in North Holland is commonly called “Het Gooi”.
On the southeastern side the ridge rises sharply from the valley of the Nederrijn (“Lower Rhine”). Here the famous Grebbeberg (“Grebbe Mountain”) forms a landmark (52 m. high) where Battle of the Grebbeberg took place in 1940 as important part of Battle of the Netherlands. The highest peak of the ridge is the Amerongse Berg (“Amerongen Mountain”) of 68 m. On the northern side the ridge continues to the shores of the Gooimeer (“Lake Gooi”).
The Utrecht Hill Ridge was created 150.000 years ago as a push moraine in the Wolstonian Stage, a middle Pleistocene glacial period. Before that time the rivers Rhine and Meuse flowed more north, and created deposits of sand. The glaciers pushed this deposits in a southern and western direction.

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Vecht (Utrecht)
The Vecht is a Rhine branch in the Dutch province of Utrecht. It is sometimes called Utrechtse Vecht to avoid confusion with its Overijssel counterpart. The area along the river is called the "Vechtstreek".
The Vecht originates in the city of Utrecht, where the Kromme Rijn stream forks into two branches: the Leidse Rijn/Oude Rijn branch to the west and the Vecht to the north. Originally the Vecht branched off south of the city near the Roman fort Fectio, flowing eastwards around the city, but in the 12th century a northern shortcut was dug out.
The Vecht twists and turns north past the towns and villages of Maarssen, Breukelen and Nigtevecht, crosses the border into the province of North Holland, passes the town of Weesp and discharges into the Markermeer (Lake Marken, part of the former Zuiderzee) at Muiden. The Amsterdam-Rijnkanaal (Amsterdam-Rhine Canal) was dug in the Vecht basin.
The Roman historian Tacitus tells us that in the first century CE, a Roman fleet sailed due north down a Rhine branch, then sailed past Lake Flevo (now the Markermeer and IJsselmeer lakes) into the North Sea; since the river IJssel was not yet connected to the Rhine in those days, it is assumed they sailed on river Vecht.

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Vila Real, Portugal
Vila Real is a city in Vila Real Municipality, Trás-os-Montes, northern Portugal. According to the 2001 census, the city had a total of 24,481 inhabitants.
The region shows traces of being inhabited since the paleolithic. Later settlements, like Panóias, show roman presence. However with the barbaric and islamic invasions there's a decline of population.
The city is the headquarters and main campus for the Universidade de Trás-os-Montes e Alto Douro (UTAD), a public university founded in 1986.
Vila Real is served by:
The city has a bus network run by Corgobus.
Vila Real has a train station, which was part of the Corgo line, a metre gauge (narrow gauge) line which linked Chaves and Regua. The line between Vila Real and Chaves closed down in 1990. The remaining line closed down for renovations in 2009.
Vila Real's Airfield, located in Vila Nova de Cima, approximately 4 Km from the city center, has regular flights connecting to Bragança and Lisboa.
Sport Club Vila Real is a football club that was founded in 1920. Presently, plays in the national III division.

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Waddesdon Manor
Waddesdon Manor is a country house in the village of Waddesdon, in Buckinghamshire, England. The house was built in the Neo-Renaissance style of a French château between 1874 and 1889 for Baron Ferdinand de Rothschild (1839–1898). Since this was the preferred style of the Rothschilds it became also known as the Goût Rothschild. The house, set in formal gardens and an English landscape park, was built on a barren hilltop overlooking Waddesdon village.
The last member of the Rothschild family to own Waddesdon was James de Rothschild. He bequeathed the house and its contents to the National Trust in 1957. Today, following an extensive restoration, it is administered by a Rothschild charitable trust that is overseen by Jacob Rothschild, 4th Baron Rothschild. In 2007–08 it was the National Trust's second most visited paid-entry property, with 386,544 visitors.
The Baron wanted a house in the style of the great Renaissance châteaux of the Loire Valley. The Baron, a member of the Viennese branch of the Rothschild banking dynasty, chose as his architect Gabriel-Hippolyte Destailleur. Destailleur was already experienced in working in this style, having overseen the restoration of many châteaux in that region, in particular that of the Château de Mouchy. Through Destailleur's vision, Waddesdon embodied an eclectic style based on the châteaux so admired by his patron, Baron Ferdinand. The towers at Waddesdon were based on those of the Château de Maintenon, and the twin staircase towers, on the north facade, were inspired by the staircase tower at the Château de Chambord. However, following the theme of unparalleled luxury at Waddesdon, the windows of the towers at Waddesdon were glazed, unlike those of the staircase at Chambord. They are also far more ornate.

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Washington Old Hall
Washington Old Hall is a manor house located in the Washington area of Tyne and Wear. It lies in the centre of Washington, being surrounded by other villages.
The manor was the ancestral home of the family of George Washington, the first President of the United States.
William de Hertburne, an ancestor of George Washington, assumed tenancy of the Wessyngtonlands from the Bishop of Durham for an annual fee of £4. Soon after, he changed his name to William de Wessyngton (later Washington). Although he used the Norman French spelling (based on a Middle English rendition of the original), the estate is of Anglo-Saxon (specifically Anglic) origin, originally being "Hwæssaingatūn", meaning "estates of the descendents of Hwæssa" (Hwæssa being rendered Wassa in Modern English). In 1613 the Washington family moved south to Sulgrave Manor, and the manor was sold to the Bishop of Durham.
The Hall continued to be used as a residence until the 19th century, when it became tenement flats and gradually fell into disrepair. In 1936 the building was declared unfit for human habitation, and was rescued from demolition by Fred Hill, a local teacher, who created what is now the "Friends of the Old Hall" to press for restoration of the building. Preservation work stopped during World War II, but was completed in 1955. In 1957 the National Trust assumed responsibility for the building.

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Wassenaar
Wassenaar pronunciation (help·info) (population: 25,651 as of June 1, 2007) is a town in the western Netherlands, in the province of South Holland.
A fairly affluent suburb of The Hague, Wassenaar lies 10 km (6 mi) north of that city on the N44 highway near the North Sea coast. It is part of the Haaglanden region. The municipality covers an area of 62.50 km², of which 11.65 km² is covered by water. Inhabitants of Wassenaar are called Wassenaarders.
It is known^{[citation needed]} that a 12th century Romanesque church in Wassenaar lies on the spot where the Northumbrian missionary Willibrord once landed in the Netherlands; the high dunes to the west were not formed until later.
Wassenaar long remained an unremarkable little town, known only as the home of the House of Wassenaer. It only began to gain notoriety in the 19th century when Louis Bonaparte ordered the construction of the Heerweg ("Army Road") between The Hague and Leiden, which forms the current Rijksstraatweg. In approximately 1840, Prince Frederik had the De Paauw (Peacock) palace built, where he lived for many years; it now serves as the city hall of Wassenaar.

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Watergraafsmeer
The Watergraafsmeer is a polder in The Netherlands. It was reclaimed in 1629. In the 17th and 18th centuries, there were many buitenplaatsen in the Watergraafsmeer, though nowadays only one, Frankendael, remains.
Since 1921, the Watergraafsmeer is part of the city of Amsterdam and its rural character has all but disappeared. It is located in the stadsdeel Oost/Watergraafsmeer. The most important streets in the Watergraafsmeer are the Middenweg and the Kruislaan.
They grow up in Betondorp a neighbourhood in the Watergraafsmeer.
Coordinates: 52°21′N 4°56′E / 52.35°N 4.933°E / 52.35; 4.933

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Wenlock Edge
Wenlock Edge is a limestone escarpment near Much Wenlock, Shropshire, England. It is 24 km (15 mi) long and runs from South West to North East between Craven Arms and Much Wenlock. It is roughly 330 metres high (above sea level). The deciduous woodland which runs along it covers much of the steep slopes of the escarpment and in parts it is very well preserved.
It is perhaps best known as the setting for A. E. Housman's poem "On Wenlock Edge the Wood's in Trouble". Ralph Vaughan Williams composed 'On Wenlock Edge' in 1909. It is also the subject of several works by the famous artist L. S. Lowry with the best known piece "A Bit of Wenlock Edge" which is a fine pencil drawing of the escarpment detailing the woodland.
It was featured on the 2005 TV programme Seven Natural Wonders as one of the wonders of the Midlands.
Wenlock Edge contains many interesting features such as Flounder's Folly, Wilderhope Manor and Shipton Hall and waymarked walks such as the Shropshire Way and bridleways such as the Jack Mytton Way. It is a popular area for hillwalking, cycling, mountain biking and horseriding and is also frequented by tourists and sightseers.

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Wightwick Manor
Wightwick Manor (pronounced 'Wittick') is a Victorian manor house located on Wightwick Bank, Wolverhampton, West Midlands, England. It is one of only a few surviving examples of a house built and furnished under the influence of the Arts and Crafts movement. Wightwick was built by Theodore Mander, of the Mander family, who were successful 19th-century industrialists in the area, and his wife Flora, daughter of Henry Nicholas Paint, member of Parliament in Canada. It was designed by Edward Ould of Liverpool in two phases; the first was completed in 1887 and the house was extended with the Great Parlour wing in 1893.
This family house portrays life during the Victorian era and is a notable example of the influence of William Morris, with original Morris wallpapers and fabrics, De Morgan tiles, Kempe glass, and Pre-Raphaelite works of art. The house has splendid Victorian gardens and the outbuildings house stables, a handmade pottery shop, studio workshop and an antiquarian bookshop.
The house was presented to the National Trust by Sir Geoffrey Mander under the Country Houses Scheme in 1937. Descendants of the family retain rooms in the manor.

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Wilderhope Manor
Coordinates: 52°31′53″N 2°40′22″W / 52.53139°N 2.67278°W / 52.53139; -2.67278 Wilderhope Manor is a country manor house in the care of the National Trust in the county of Shropshire, England, United Kingdom.
Wilderhope Manor is located on Wenlock Edge some 7 miles south west of Much Wenlock.
Wilderhope Manor is a Tudor or Elizabethan period manor house, built of local limestone [1] and dating from 1585 when England was enjoying a period of prosperity and stability. The house was built for Francis Smallman who built the house in 1585 – in fact his initials can still be seen on the ceilings. The manor remained in the family until 1742 and few changes have been made to it.
The property is also a Youth Hostel and managed by the YHA who lease it from the National Trust. It is therefore unfurnished and not lived in by an owner-resident.
The original oaken stairways, oak spiral stairs and plaster ceilings are of great value as rare survivors.
The surrounding manor of Wilderhope is also managed by the NT and comprises wooded valleys, pasture, flower rich meadows and ancient hedgerows dating back centuries along unchanged field boundaries. Evidence of medieval ridge and furrow ploughing can still be seen in fields below Wilderhope Coppice.

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Woburn Abbey
Woburn Abbey (pronounced Woe-burn, or until c.1960 "Woob'n"), near Woburn, Bedfordshire, England, is a country house, the seat of the Duke of Bedford and the location of the Woburn Safari Park.
Woburn Abbey, comprising Woburn Park and its buildings, was originally founded as a Cistercian abbey in 1145. Taken from its monastic residents by Henry VIII and given to John Russell, 1st Earl of Bedford in 1547, it became the seat of the Russell family and the Dukes of Bedford. The Abbey was largely rebuilt starting in 1744 by the architects Henry Flitcroft and Henry Holland for the 4th Duke.Anna Maria, the wife of the 7th Duke, originated the afternoon tea ritual in 19th-century England.
Following World War II, dry rot was discovered and half the Abbey was subsequently demolished. When the 12th Duke died in 1953, his son the 13th Duke was exposed to heavy death duties and the Abbey was a half-demolished, half-derelict house. Instead of handing the family estates over to the National Trust, he kept ownership and opened the Abbey to the public for the first time in 1955. It soon gained in popularity as other amusements were added, including Woburn Safari Park on the grounds of the Abbey in 1970. Asked about the unfavourable comments by other aristocrats when he turned the family home into a safari park, the 13th Duke said, "I do not relish the scorn of the peerage, but it is better to be looked down on than overlooked."

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Woodeaton
Coordinates: 51°48′18″N 1°13′30″W / 51.805°N 1.225°W / 51.805; -1.225
Woodeaton or Wood Eaton is a village and civil parish about 4 miles (6.4 km) northeast of Oxford.
There was a Romano-Celtic temple north of where the parish church now stands, and probably a Romano-British settlement and shrine as well. The shrine was used successively by Roman pagans and Christians.
A small square temple was built in the first century AD. This was replaced with a more substantial building that had moulded stonework and decorated plasterwork, and a rectangular perimeter wall was added that enclosed an area around the temple building.
Numerous notable bronze artefacts have been discovered at and around the site and are now housed in the Ashmolean Museum in Oxford. A sixth century Anglo-Saxon pendant has also been found at the site, but the reason for its presence at a Roman site is not clear.
The Old English toponym was originally Eatun. By the 12th century it had become Wood Eaton, perhaps to distinguish it from Water Eaton just over 1 mile (1.6 km) to the west.

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Woodstock Palace
Woodstock Palace was a royal residence in the English town of Woodstock, Oxfordshire.
Henry I of England built a hunting lodge here and in 1129 he built seven miles of walls to create the first enclosed park, where lions and leopards were kept. The lodge became a palace under Henry's grandson, Henry II, who spent time here with his mistress, Rosamund Clifford. Important events that took place at the palace include:
Woodstock Palace was destroyed during the English Civil War, and Blenheim Palace was later built nearby.
Coordinates: 51°50′31″N 01°21′42″W / 51.84194°N 1.36167°W / 51.84194; -1.36167

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Woolsthorpe Manor
Woolsthorpe Manor in Woolsthorpe-by-Colsterworth, near Grantham, Lincolnshire, England, was the birthplace of Sir Isaac Newton on 25 December 1642 (old calendar). At that time it was a yeoman's farmstead, principally rearing sheep (hence the wool reference in the name — thorpe comes from a Viking word meaning farmstead^{[citation needed]}).
Newton returned here when Cambridge University closed due to the plague, and here he performed many of his most famous experiments, most notably his work on light and optics. This is also believed to be the site where Newton observed an apple fall from a tree, inspiring him to formulate his law of universal gravitation.
Now in the hands of the National Trust and open to the public from spring to autumn, it is presented as a typical seventeenth century yeoman's farmhouse (or as near to that as possible, taking into account modern living, health and safety requirements and structural changes that have been made to the house since Newton's time).
New areas of the house, once private, were opened up to the public in 2003, with the old rear steps (that once led up to the hay loft and grain store and often seen in drawings of the period) being rebuilt, and the old walled kitchen garden, to the rear of the house, being restored.

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Yalding
Coordinates: 51°13′27″N 0°25′43″E / 51.2242°N 0.4286°E / 51.2242; 0.4286
Yalding is a village and part of Yalding civil parish in the Maidstone District of Kent, England. The village is situated six miles south-west of Maidstone at a point where the Rivers Teise and Beult join the River Medway.
There are three bridges in the village; the Twyford Bridge (meaning twin ford, where there was originally a double crossing of the two rivers) is one of the finest medieval bridges in the south-east of England. Yalding was one of the principal shipment points on the River Medway for cannon, from villages of the Wealden iron industry. One iron master was John Browne from Horsmonden.
The wharf was later used for transporting fruit from the many orchards in the area. Garden Organic, the UK's leading organic growing charity, created a demonstration garden located near the village. This was closed in 2007 but leased and reopened by the local business Maro Foods, in 2008. The gardens are now known as The Yalding Gardens.

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Yarnton
Coordinates: 51°48′40″N 1°18′36″W / 51.811°N 1.310°W / 51.811; -1.310
Yarnton is a village and civil parish in Oxfordshire about 1 mile (1.6 km) southwest of Kidlington and 4 miles (6.4 km) northwest of Oxford.
Early Bronze Age decorated beakers have been found in the parish. These suggest human activity in the area somewhere between 2700 and 1700 BC.
A series or irregular late Iron Age to early Roman enclosures in the parish, two of which are between 10 metres (33 ft) and 12 metres (39 ft) across, are known from cropmarks.
The toponym has evolved from Erdington in Old English to Eyrynten in 1495–96, Yardington in the 16th century but also Yarnton from 1517. The form "Yarnton" eventually prevailed.Erdington may have originally meant either "dwelling place" or "Earda's farm".
Most of the land at Yarnton was granted to Eynsham Abbey in 1005 but Remigius de Fécamp, a supporter of William the Conqueror, took it during the Norman conquest of England in 1066. In 1226 King Henry III gave it to Richard, 1st Earl of Cornwall, and in 1281 Edmund, 2nd Earl of Cornwall gave it to Rewley Abbey. In the Dissolution of the Monasteries in 1536 Rewley Abbey was dissolved and King Henry VIII sold Yarnton to his physician.

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Yasnaya Polyana
Coordinates: 54°04′34″N 37°31′34″E / 54.07611°N 37.52611°E / 54.07611; 37.52611
Yasnaya Polyana (Russian: Я́сная Поля́на, literally: "Clear Glade") was the home of the writer Leo Tolstoy, where he was born, wrote War and Peace and Anna Karenina, and is buried. Tolstoy called Yasnaya Polyana his "inaccessible literary stronghold". It is located 12 kilometres (7.5 mi) southwest of Tula, Russia and 200 kilometers (120 mi) from Moscow.
In June 1921, the estate was nationalized and formally became his memorial museum. It was at first run by Alexandra Tolstaya, the writer's daughter. The current director of the museum is Vladimir Tolstoy, also one of Tolstoy's descendants. The museum contains Tolstoy's personal effects and movables, as well as his library of 22,000 volumes. The estate-museum contains the writer's mansion, the school he founded for peasant children and a park where Tolstoy's unadorned grave is found.
The estate of Yasnaya Polyana was originally owned by the Kartsev family. At the end of the 18th century it was purchased by Prince Nikolai Volkonskiy, the grandfather of the writer, who created a formal French garden and an English landscape garden, as well as long alleys of birch and oak trees.

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Yelagin Palace
Coordinates: 59°58′45″N 30°16′12″E / 59.9793°N 30.27°E / 59.9793; 30.27 Yelagin Palace (Елагин дворец; also Yelaginsky or Yelaginoostrovsky Dvorets) completed in 1822 is a palace in Saint Petersburg which is situated on Yelagin Island in the Neva River and served as a royal summer palace during the reign of Tsar Alexander I. Constructed on the site of an earlier mansion built during the rule of Catherine the Great, the villa was designed for Alexander's mother, Maria Fyodorovna, by the architect Carlo Rossi. The palace was destroyed during World War II but was rebuilt and currently houses a museum.
The isle to the north of the imperial Russian capital owes its name to its former proprietor, Ivan Yelagin (1725-94), a close ally of Catherine II from her early days as Grand Duchess. His Palladian villa might have been designed by Giacomo Quarenghi. After the Dowager Empress Maria Feodorovna declared that she was too old to make daily trips to such distant residences as Pavlovsk Palace and Gatchina Castle, her son Alexander I bought the estate from Yelagin's heirs and asked Carlo Rossi to redesign the villa. Its lavish Neoclassical interiors were decorated by Giovanni Battista Scotti, Vasily Demuth-Malinovsky, and Stepan Pimenov.

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Övralid
Övralid is a manor house north of Motala in Östergötland County, Sweden.
Övralid was home to poet, writer, and Nobel Prize laureate Verner von Heidenstam. Övralid was built in 1925 on the east hillside of lake Vättern. Originally it had no electricity. Övralid houses a library, a study, a dining hall, two bed rooms, and three guest rooms. In the kitchen stands one of Sweden's oldest still running refrigerators from the 1930s. The interior has been kept the way it was when Heidenstam died in 1940. No one has lived in Övralid after Heidenstam. The building is open for visitors in the summer and the personal belongings of Heidenstam can be seen where he left them in 1940. Heidenstam is buried nearby.
Coordinates: 58°36.454′N 14°56.648′E / 58.607567°N 14.944133°E / 58.607567; 14.944133

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Aberdeenshire
Aberdeenshire (Scottish Gaelic: Siorrachd Obar Dheathain, Scots: Aiberdeenshire) is one of the 32 unitary council areas in Scotland and a lieutenancy area.
The present day Aberdeenshire council area does not include the City of Aberdeen, now a separate council area, from which its name derives. Together, the modern council area and the city formed historic Aberdeenshire - one of the counties of Scotland formerly used for local government purposes. Within these borders, the County of Aberdeen remains in existence as a registration county.
Aberdeenshire Council is headquartered at Woodhill House, in Aberdeen; the only Scottish council whose headquarters are based outwith its area's border. Aberdeenshire borders Angus and Perth and Kinross to the south, and Highland and Moray to the west.
Aberdeenshire has a rich prehistoric and historic heritage. It is the locus of a large number of Neolithic and Bronze Age archaeological sites, including Longman Hill, Kempstone Hill, Catto Long Barrow and Cairn Lee. Since medieval times there have been a number of crossings of the Mounth (a spur of mountainous land that extends from the higher inland range to the North Sea slightly north of Stonehaven) through present day Aberdeenshire from the Scottish Lowlands to the Highlands. Some of the most well known and historically important trackways are the Causey Mounth and Elsick Mounth.

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George Washington
George Washington (February 22, 1732 [O.S. February 11, 1731] – December 14, 1799) was the first President of the United States of America, serving from 1789 to 1797, and the dominant military and political leader of the United States from 1775 to 1799. He led the American victory over Great Britain in the American Revolutionary War as commander-in-chief of the Continental Army from 1775 to 1783, and presided over the writing of the Constitution in 1787. Washington became the first president, by unanimous choice, and oversaw the creation of a strong, well-financed national government that maintained neutrality in the wars raging in Europe, suppressed rebellion, and won acceptance among Americans of all types. His leadership style established many forms and rituals of government that have been used since, such as using a cabinet system and delivering an inaugural address. Washington is universally regarded as the "Father of his country."

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Groby Old Hall
Groby Old Hall is partly a 15th century brick built manor house and grade II* listed building located very near the site of Groby Castle in the village of Groby in Leicestershire.
The grand hall which preceded the current building was probably built by the Ferrers family, Barons of Groby, the 1st Baron Ferrers of Groby having been ennobled for services to Edward 1 and Edward II . The Hall and Barony passed to the Greys by marriage after Sir Edward Grey married Elizabeth Ferrers, grand-daughter and heir to the 5th Baron Ferrers around 1432. The Grey family's most celebrated members were the two Queens of England Elizabeth Woodville and Lady Jane Grey.
Elizabeth Woodville married Sir Edward Grey's son John, joining him at Groby, where they had two sons. After John's death in battle at the Second Battle of St Albans in 1461, she petitioned King Edward IV for return of her confiscated lands, and won not just her case but his heart and hand in marriage. As Queen she set about promoting the causes of her Woodville relatives, her sons by John Grey, and her children by Edward IV, with mixed results. Of the royal children, the two boys became the ill-fated Princes in the Tower, whereas her daughter, also Elizabeth, married the victor of Bosworth Field, Henry VII, uniting the houses of Lancaster and York to end the Wars of the Roses. Elizabeth Woodville lived to see the birth of two royal grand-children, Prince Arthur and the future Henry VIII.

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James I of England
James VI and I (19 June 1566 – 27 March 1625) was King of Scots as James VI from 24 July 1567 and King of England and Ireland as James I from the union of the English and Scottish crowns on 24 March 1603 until his death. The kingdoms of England and Scotland were individual sovereign states, with their own parliaments, judiciary, and laws, though both were ruled by James in personal union.
He became King of Scotland at the age of thirteen months, succeeding his mother Mary, Queen of Scots, who had been compelled to abdicate in his favour. Four different regents governed during his minority, which ended officially in 1578, though he did not gain full control of his government until 1583. In 1603, he succeeded the last Tudor monarch of England and Ireland, Elizabeth I, who died without issue. He continued to reign in all three kingdoms for 22 years, a period known as the Jacobean era after him, until his death in 1625 at the age of 58. After the Union of the Crowns, he based himself in England (the largest of the three realms) from 1603, only returning to Scotland once in 1617, and styled himself "King of Great Britain and Ireland". In his reign, the Plantation of Ulster and British colonization of the Americas began.

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Regenten
In the 16th, 17th and 18th centuries, the regenten (the Dutch plural for regent) were the rulers of the Dutch Republic, the leaders of the Dutch cities or the heads of organisations (e.g. "regent of an orphanage"). Though not formally a hereditary "class", they were de facto "patricians", comparable to that ancient Roman class. Since the late Middle Ages Dutch cities had been run by the richer merchant families, who gradually formed a closed group. At first the lower-class citizens in the guilds and schutterijen could unite to form a certain counterbalance to the regenten, but in the course of the 15th century the administration of the cities and towns became oligarchical in character. From the latter part of the 17th century the regent families were able to reserve government offices to themselves via quasi-formal contractual arrangements. In practice they could only be dislodged by political upheavals, like the Orangist revolution of 1747 and the Patriot revolt of 1785.
The regenten as the cities' ruling class originated in the 13th century, arising over the course of time under the influence of several factors. Commoners managed to obtain emancipation from dependent status as serfs by making skillful use of the power struggle between the sovereign and the nobility; the result was that their towns became a new power in medieval feudal society which could ultimately be dominated by neither the sovereign nor the nobility. The nobility's and rulers' incomes were often not enough to pay their mercenaries or their own army. They therefore needed financial assistance from the up-and-coming merchant class in the growing towns. This class could thus induce the sovereigns to grant municipal charters and city rights, establishing autonomy in the regulating of the city's internal affairs.

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Manor House (Edwardian Country House) - Episode 3/6

Episode 4: www.youtube.com Follow a team of volunteers and a modern family who turn back t...

published: 06 Mar 2011

author: moosegeek123

Manor House (Edwardian Country House) - Episode 6/6

Follow a team of volunteers and a modern family who turn back the clock to recreate life a...

published: 07 Mar 2011

author: moosegeek123

Manor House (Edwardian Country House) - Episode 5/6

Episode 6: www.youtube.com Follow a team of volunteers and a modern family who turn back t...

published: 07 Mar 2011

author: moosegeek123

Manor House (Edwardian Country House) - Episode 2/6

Episode 3: www.youtube.com Follow a team of volunteers and a modern family who turn back t...

published: 06 Mar 2011

author: moosegeek123

Secrets of the Manor House - Part 1/4

A look back at the British aristocracy and how the first World War changed the entire fina...

published: 11 Mar 2012

author: MasterpieceFan

Manor House (Edwardian Country House) - Episode 4/6

Episode 5: www.youtube.com Follow a team of volunteers and a modern family who turn back t...

published: 06 Mar 2011

author: moosegeek123

Medal of Honor Frontline OST - Manor House Rally

Medal of Honor Frontline OST - Manor House Rally...

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SKYRIM House Hunters - Proudspire Manor (Solitude)

IMGUR ALBUM: imgur.com Since many people have nicely asked, and a few not so nicely, I wil...

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author: surfbuckeyesbc

Joyce Manor - House Warning Party (Nervous Energies Halloween session - Fog Machine version)

Barry from Joyce Manor and I wanted their very first acoustic session, well first one play...

published: 31 Oct 2012

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Minecraft Manor House

Something a bit different, Based of Georgian Manor Houses that you can find in England and...

published: 18 Dec 2012

author: JamziboyMinecraft

Alexander Borodin - Nocturne from String Quartet no. 2 in D

Third movement - Andante - from Alexander Porfiryevich Borodin's String Quartet no. 2 in D...

published: 23 Jul 2009

author: ManorHouseMusic

MoH Frontline Soundtrack - Manor House Rally

'Manor House Rally' from the game Medal of Honor Frontline....

published: 17 Mar 2008

author: matsui90

(ACT 1) 2010 McKamey Manor Home Haunt (Complete Tour)

(ACT 1) of (5) from the 2010 (CompleteTour) of McKamey Manor in San Diego, CA....

published: 10 Feb 2011

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MH 4x12 Manor House Restaurant pt 2

Most Haunted 4x12 Manor House Restaurant...

published: 20 Jan 2008

author: fanmhgirl

Manor House (Edwardian Country House) - Episode 2/6

Episode 3: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=791vd7o8qXs Follow a team of volunteers and a m...

published: 06 Mar 2011

author: moosegeek123

Manor House (Edwardian Country House) - Episode 3/6

Episode 4: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5UWxs1pk6js Follow a team of volunteers and a m...

published: 06 Mar 2011

author: moosegeek123

Manor House (Edwardian Country House) - Episode 4/6

Episode 5: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-CgO2xq-J08 Follow a team of volunteers and a m...

published: 07 Mar 2011

author: moosegeek123

Manor House (Edwardian Country House) - Episode 5/6

Episode 6: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZD480Mwz75I Follow a team of volunteers and a m...

published: 07 Mar 2011

author: moosegeek123

Manor House (Edwardian Country House) - Episode 6/6

Follow a team of volunteers and a modern family who turn back the clock to recreate life a...

published: 07 Mar 2011

author: moosegeek123

Frontier House- Episode 1 (1/5)

Part 2: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MYnpAo-DNSE Follow the lives of three family group...

published: 21 Jul 2011

author: Ithilwen689

Manor House (Edwardian Country House) - Episode 3/6

Episode 4: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5UWxs1pk6js Follow a team of volunteers and a m...

published: 21 Jul 2011

author: Ithilwen689

Manor House (Edwardian Country House) - Episode 4/6

Episode 5: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-CgO2xq-J08 Follow a team of volunteers and a m...

published: 21 Jul 2011

author: Ithilwen689

Frontier House- Episode 3 (1/4)

Part 2: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1psrK4HJZx0&feature;=related Follow the lives of th...

published: 12 Sep 2011

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Texas Ranch House - Episode 4/8

Texas Ranch House sends a family back in time to post-Civil War Texas where they experienc...

published: 14 Sep 2011

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Regency House Party part01

Now, in the tradition of THE 1900 HOUSE, MANOR HOUSE, FRONTIER HOUSE and COLONIAL HOUSE, c...

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coal house at war Episode 1 part 1

coal house at war Episode 1 part 1...

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published: 16 Sep 2011

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coal house at war Episode 5 part 1

coal house at war Episode 5 part 1...

published: 18 Sep 2011

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coal house at war Episode 7 part 3...

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The sci-fi drama of time travel meets true-life drama in THE 1900 HOUSE -- a four-part doc...

published: 19 Sep 2011

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1900 House part07

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Most.Haunted.S04.E03.Jamaica.Inn.-1

Most.Haunted.S04.E03.Jamaica.Inn.-1...

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MH 4x12 Manor House Restaurant pt 1

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MH 4x12 Manor House Restaurant pt 2

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MH 4x12 Manor House Restaurant pt 3

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photo: AP / Alfred de Montesquiou

In this May 12, 2010 photo, Malian troops and soldiers from other African countries train with the U.S. Special Forces in the Sahara Desert near the town of Gao in northeastern Mali.

U.N. OKs offensive to oust extremists in Mali

Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

21 Dec 2012

UNITED NATIONS -- The U.N. Security Council on Thursday authorized military action to wrest northern Mali from the control of al-Qaida-linked extremists, but it demanded progress first on political reconciliation, elections and training African troops and police ... Instead, it set out benchmarks to be met before the start of offensive operations, starting with progress on a political roadmap to restore constitutional order ... U.N ... On Nov ... ....(size: 3.1Kb)

photo: AP / Carolyn Kaster

FILE - In this June 26, 2012 file photo, President Barack Obama speaks in Atlanta. The presidential race enters the sultry summer _ a final lull before a sprint to Election Day _ with President Barack Obama and Republican Mitt Romney neck and neck and no sign that either can break away. Both sides have money concerns _ for all the flood of cash _ as well as political worries.

Obama promises gun control early next year

Sowetan Live

20 Dec 2012

Obama held a White House news conference on Wednesday to announce that Vice President Joe Biden will lead an interagency effort to craft new gun policies ... Biden and other cabinet members planned to meet with law enforcement leaders from across the country to discuss policy ideas on Thursday, a White House official said....(size: 6.1Kb)

photo: AP / Aijaz Rahi

Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, right, listens to his wife Asma Assad during their visit to the campus of Infosys Technologies Ltd., an Indian software services company, in Bangalore, India, Friday, June 20, 2008. Al-Assad is on five day official visit to India.

The incredible elegance of Syrian first lady Asma al-Assad

The Examiner

22 Dec 2012

Tweet. 0 Email. Report. Photo 1 of 18. In 2009, ELLE Magazine named Mrs Assad the most stylish woman in world politics. She is an icon of fashion in her country. Credit. Aimee Kligman. In 2009, ELLE Magazine named Mrs Assad the most stylish woman in world politics. She is an icon of fashion in her country.In 2009, ELLE Magazine named Mrs Assad the most stylish woman in world politics ... Syrians detained by the Assad regime. 13 Photos ... 10 Photos ... ....(size: 6.3Kb)

photo: Public Domain / Tm

Soldiers from the 1st Battalion, 10th Special Forces Group (Airborne) teach mounted infantry tactics to soldiers from the Malian Army in Timbuktu, Mali. U.S. Army Special Forces, assigned to Special Operations Command Europe, are training selected military units in Mali and Mauritania on mobility, communications, land navigation, and small unit tactics.

UN Security Council Approves Mali Intervention Force

Jakarta Globe

21 Dec 2012

The UN Security Council on Thursday unanimously approved sending an African-led intervention force to help Mali’s army reconquer much of the country from Islamist militants. The 15-member council gave the force an initial one year mandate to use “all necessary measures” to help the Mali government take back the northern half of the country from “terrorist, extremist and armed groups.” ... Agence France-Presse ....(size: 1.9Kb)

photo: AP / Kirsty Wigglesworth

Chelsea's Raul Meireles scores during the Champions League Group E soccer match between Chelsea and KRC Genk at Stamford Bridge stadium in London, Wednesday, Oct. 19, 2011.

Raul Meireles 'handed 11-match ban' for spitting at referee

The Daily Telegraph

21 Dec 2012

Former Chelsea and Liverpool midfielder Raul Meireles is said to have been given an 11-match ban by the Turkish Football Federation (TFF) for spitting at a referee. In trouble. Raul Meireles is alleged to have spat at the referee after being sent-off . By Telegraph Sport. 10.14AM GMT 21 Dec 2012. Comments ... It is alleged that Meireles spat at the official and also made a homophobic comment ... After the match he said ... . European ... View ... ....(size: 8.6Kb)

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Extremedays.com release new Zombie Experience Days

Yahoo Daily News

22 Dec 2012

Extremedays.com have added a brand new selection of Zombie experience days to the website ... Dan Jones, Operations Manager for DSG said “2012 has seen the rise of dozens of Zombie survival experiences across the UK ranging from Zombie boot camps to an abandoned Manor House ‘zombie battle’ ... Simon Boynton. Extreme Days ... ....(size: 1.6Kb)

Trinity Cathedral hosts its annual Boar's Head and Yule Log Festival (Photos)

The Examiner

22 Dec 2012

For an unique medieval Christmas experience, visit the 50th annual presentation of the Boar's Head and Yule Log Festival at Trinity Cathedral on Saturday, December 29. There will be performances at 3 p.m. and at 5.30 p.m ... View slideshow ... Somewhere around the mid-1300's, the great manor houses began including the ceremony of the Boar's Head in their Christmas celebrations. Today it is considered a service of praise ... The 3 p.m ... 392 ... ....(size: 2.4Kb)

History and architecture [link]

The manor house was the dwelling house, or "capital messuage", of a feudal lord of a manor, which he occupied only on occasional visits if he held many manors. As such it was the place in which sessions of his "court baron", or manor court, were held. Sometimes a steward or seneschal was appointed by the seigneurial lord to oversee and manage his different manorial properties. The day-to-day administration was delegated to an official, who in England was called a bailiff, or reeve.

Although not typically built with strong fortifications as castles were, many manor-houses were partly fortified: they were enclosed within walls or ditches that often included the farm buildings as well. Arranged for defence against robbers and thieves, it was often surrounded by a moat with a drawbridge, and equipped with small gatehouses and watchtowers; but was not provided with a keep or with large towers or lofty curtain walls so as to withstand a siege. The primary feature of the manor-house was its great hall, to which subsidiary apartments were added as the lessening of feudal warfare permitted more peaceful domestic life.

By the beginning of the 16th century, manor-houses as well as small castles began to acquire the character and amenities of the residences of country gentlemen. This late 16th-century transformation produced many of the smaller Renaissance châteaux of France and the numerous country mansions of the Elizabethan and Jacobean styles in England.

Manor Houses in the British Isles [link]

Channel Islands [link]

Sausmarez Manor in Guernsey
Flamborough Manor
Longueville Manor, Jersey
Sark Manor, Sark

England [link]

Main articles: English country houses and Stately homes

Forde Abbey.

Before around 1600, larger houses were usually fortified, reflecting the position of their owners as feudal lords, de facto overlords of their manors. The Tudor period of stability in England saw the building of the first of the unfortified great houses. Henry VIII's Dissolution of the Monasteries saw many former ecclesiastical properties granted to the King's favourites, who then converted them into private country houses. Woburn Abbey, Forde Abbey and many other mansions with Abbey or Priory in their name often date from this period as private houses.

It was during the second half of the reign of Elizabeth I and under her successor James I that the first architect-designed mansions, thought of today as epitomising the English country house, began to make their appearance. Burghley House, Longleat House, and Hatfield House are among the best known.

These houses were not all referred to as "manor houses" or called "Manor". Other terms used include "Palace", "Castle", "Court", "Hall", "Mansion", "Park", "House, "Place" and "Tower".

Cothay Manor
Cothelstone Manor
Cranborne
Desning Hall
Duns Tew Manor
East Riddlesden Hall
Edlingham Castle
Etal Manor on the Ford Castle and Etal Castle estate
Farleigh House
Finchcocks
Gainsborough Old Hall
Garsington Manor
Gidea Hall
Great Chalfield Manor
Great Snoring/Snoring Magna Manor
Great Tew Manor
Greaves Hall
Grimshaw Hall
Groby Old Hall
Garsington Manor
Halsway Manor
Halswell House
Hampton Gay Manor — burnt out
Harlaxton Manor
Hartham Park, Corsham
Hatfield House
Hinxworth Place
Hestercombe House
Hever Castle, Kent
Hughenden Manor
Holly Tree House, Benfleet
Ightham Mote

Snowshill Manor
Somerton Castle
Speke Hall
Stanford Hall
Stockbridge Manor
Stokesay Castle
Ston Easton Park
Stourhead
Sturminster Newton
Sulgrave
Sutton Court
The Manor House Bishop Bridge
Theobalds
Thorndon Hall
Tyntesfield
Ufton Court
Waddesdon Manor
Walton Hall, Milton Keynes
Wanborough Manor
Washington Old Hall (ancestral home of George Washington)
Water Eaton^{[disambiguation needed ]} Manor
Whalton Manor
Wightwick Manor
Wilderhope Manor on Wenlock Edge
Wingfield Manor — deserted
Woodeaton Manor
Woodstock Manor
Woolsthorpe Manor
Yalding Manor
Yarnton Manor

Ireland [link]

Dunboy Castle, is located on the Beara Peninsula in south-west Ireland
Ballylickey Manor House on Bantry Bay
Temple House, Ballymote, County Sligo
Mount Juliet Estate Manor House, Country Kilkenny
Temple House Manor, County Westmeath
Bunratty House, County Clare

Northern Ireland [link]

Killadeas, 'Manor House Hotel', County Fermanagh
Richhill Castle, County Armagh^[1]

Scotland [link]

Muchalls Castle, a 17th-century house in Aberdeenshire, Scotland

Brodie Castle
Drum Castle, started as a 13th-century tower house.
Haddo House
House of Dun
Lingo House
Monboddo House
Muchalls Castle
Raasay

Wales [link]

Bodysgallen Hall near Conwy Castle
Gwydir Castle, Conwy valley, North Wales
Weobley Castle, Gower
Tretower Court near Crickhowell
Llancaiach fawr near Abercynon and Ystrad Mynach

Manor Houses in Western Europe [link]

France [link]

Château de Trécesson, a 14th-century manor-house in Morbihan, Brittany

In France, the terms château or manoir are often used synonymously to describe a French manor-house. Maison-forte is another French word to describe a strongly fortified manor-house, which might include two sets of enclosing walls, drawbridges, and a ground-floor hall or salle basse that was used to receive peasants and commoners. The salle basse was also the location of the manor court, with the steward or seigneur's seating location often marked by the presence of a crédence de justice or wall-cupboard (shelves built into the stone walls to hold documents and books associated with administration of the demesne or droit de justice). The salle haute or upper-hall, reserved for the seigneur and where he received his high-ranking guests, was often accessible by an external spiral staircase. It was commonly "open" up to the roof trusses, as in similar English homes. This larger and more finely decorated hall was usually located above the ground-floor hall. The seigneur and his family's private chambres were often located off of the upper first-floor hall, and invariably had their own fireplace (with finely decorated chimney-piece) and frequently a latrine.

In addition to having both lower and upper-halls, many French manor-houses also had partly fortified gateways, watchtowers, and enclosing walls that were fitted with arrow or gun loops for added protection. Some larger 16th-century manors, such as the Château de Kerjean in Finistère, Brittany, were even outfitted with ditches and fore-works that included gun platforms for cannons. These defensive arrangements allowed maisons-fortes, and rural manors to be safe from a coup de main perpetrated by an armed band as there was so many during the troubled times of the Hundred Years War and the wars of the Holy League; but it was difficult for them to resist a siege undertaken by a regular army equipped with (siege) engines.^[2]

Château d'Harcourt in Eure, Normandy.
Château de Beaumont-le-Richard in Calvados, Normandy. (Fr)
Château de Bienassis in Côtes-d'Armor, Brittany. (Fr)
Château de Bonnefontaine in Ille-et-Vilaine, Brittany. (Fr)
Château de Gratot in Manche, Normandy.
Château de Hac, 14th century, Côtes-d'Armor, Brittany
Manoir de Kerazan in Finistère, Brittany. (Fr)
Château de Kérouzéré in Finistère, Brittany.
Château des Milandes in Dordogne, Aquitaine.

Château de Pirou in Manche, Normandy.
Château du Plessis-Josso in Morbihan, Brittany.
Château de Puymartin in Dordogne, Aquitaine. (French)
Château de la Roche-Jagu in Côtes-d'Armor, Brittany. Strategically important maison-forte in Trégor. (Fr)
Château des Rochers-Sévigné in Ille-et-Vilaine, Brittany. (Fr)
Château de Rustéphan in Finistère, Brittany. Ruins of large 15th–16th century manor house.
Château de Trécesson in Morbihan, Brittany.
Manoir de Dur-Écu, 16th century manor in Urville-Nacqueville, Normandy.
Manoir de Mathan, 16th century manor in Crépon, Normandy.
Manoir de Mézarnou, 16th century manor in Finistère, Brittany. (under extensive restoration)
Château de la Motte, Joué du Plain

Netherlands [link]

Warmond House (Huis te Warmond), the manor house for the Hoge Heerlijkheid of Warmond in the Netherlands

There are many historical manor houses throughout the Netherlands.^[3] Some have been converted into museums, hotels, conference centres, etc. Some are located on estates and in parks.

Many of the earlier houses are the legacy of the feudal heerlijkheid system. The Dutch had a manorial system centred on the local lord's demesne. In Middle Dutch this was called the vroonhof or vroenhoeve, a word derived from the Proto-Germanic word fraujaz, meaning "lord". This was also called a hof and the lord's house a hofstede. Other terms were used, including landhuis (or just huis), a ridderhofstad (Utrecht), a stins or state (Friesland), or a havezate (Drente, Overijssel and Gelderland). Some of these buildings were fortified. A number of castles associated with the nobility are found in the country. In Dutch, a building like this was called a kasteel, a slot, a burcht or (in Groningen) a borg.

During the Dutch Golden Age in the 17th century, merchants and regents looking for ways to spend their wealth bought country estates and built grand new homes, often just for summer use. Some purchased existing manor houses and castles from the nobility. Some country houses were built on top of the ruins of earlier castles that had been destroyed during the Dutch Revolt. The owners, aspiring to noble status, adopted the name of the earlier castle.

Buitenplaats Frankendael in Watergraafsmeer, near Amsterdam

These country houses or stately homes (called buitenplaats or buitenhuis in Dutch) were located close to the city in picturesque areas with a clean water source. Wealthy families sent their children to the country in the summer because of the putrid canals and diseases in the city. A few still exist, especially along the river Vecht, the river Amstel, the Spaarne in Kennemerland, the river Vliet and in Wassenaar. Some are located near former lakes (now polders) like the Wijkermeer, Watergraafsmeer and the Beemster. In the 19th century, with improvements in water management, new regions came into fashion, such as the Utrecht Hill Ridge (Utrechtse Heuvelrug) and the area around Arnhem.

Today there is a tendency to group these grand buildings together in the category of "castles". There are many castles and buitenplatsen in all twelve provinces. A larger-than-average home is today called a villa or a herenhuis, but despite the grand name this is not the same as a manor house.

A few of the more prominent Dutch manor houses are:

Huis Doorn (Doorn, near Utrecht)
Slot Heemstede (Heemstede, near Haarlem)

Manor Houses in Central Europe [link]

Germany [link]

Wellingsbüttel Manor

The German equivalent of a manor house is a Gutshof (or Gut, Rittergut, Landgut or Bauerngut). Also used are Herrenhaus and Domane. Schloss (pl. Schlösser) is another German word for a building similar to manor house, stately home, château or palace. Other terms used in German are Burg (castle), Festung (fort/fortress) and Palais/Palast (palace).

Manor Houses in Scandinavia [link]

Denmark [link]

File:Rosenholm Castle.jpg

Rosenholm Castle in Denmark

Norway [link]

Austråttborgen on the Trondheimsfjord is one of the oldest Norwegian manors

Sweden [link]

A manor house called Charlottenborg in Motala, Sweden

Manor Houses in the Iberian Peninsula [link]

Paço de São Cipriano, Guimarães.

Solar de Mateus, Vila Real.

Spain [link]

A pazo is a type of grand old house found in Galician. Similar to a manor house, a pazo is usually located in the countryside and the former residence of an important nobleman or other important individual. They were of crucial importance to the rural and monastic communities around them. The pazo was a traditional architectural structure associated with a community and social network. It usually consisted of a main building surrounded by gardens, a dovecote and outbuildings such as a small chapels for religious celebrations. The word pazo is derived from the Latin palatiu(m) ("palace").

In Spain a good many old manor houses, palaces, castles and grand homes have been converted into a type of hotel called parador.

Portugal [link]

In Portugal, it was quite common during the 17th to early 20th centuries, for the aristocracy to have country homes. These homes, known as solars (paços, when the manor was a certain stature or size; quintas, when the manor included a sum of land), were found particularly in the northern, usually richer, Portugal, in the Beira, Minho, and Trás-os-Montes provinces. Many have been converted into a type of hotel called pousada.

Some famous quintas, paços and, solars:

Manor Houses in Eastern Europe [link]

Russia [link]

Kuskovo manor

Estonia [link]

Taagepera manor house in Estonia

Alatskivi Manor, Alatskivi Parish, Tartu County
Aaspere Manor, Haljala Parish, Lääne-Viru County
Luke Manor, Nõo Parish, Tartu County
Mooste Manor, Mooste Parish, Põlva County
Palmse Manor, Vihula Parish, Lääne-Viru County
Pädaste Manor, Muhu Parish, Saare County
Riisipere Manor, Nissi Parish, Harju County
Roosna-Alliku Manor, Roosna-Alliku Parish, Järva County
Sagadi Manor, Vihula Parish, Lääne-Viru County
Taagepera Manor, Helme Parish, Valga County
Vaimõisa Manor, Märjamaa Parish, Rapla County

Latvia [link]

See: List of palaces and manor houses in Latvia

Poland [link]

File:Kozłówka.jpg

Kozłówka Palace, a classicist manor house in Kozłówka, South-Eastern Poland

For more information, see Dwór (manor house) and Nowy Dwór (nameplaces derived from "New Manor").

Manor Houses Outside of Europe [link]

The term "manor house" can be used to refer to any grand, stately home, including those that do not have a history rooted in European feudalism.

United States [link]

New Zealand [link]

The Sign of the Takahe

Sign of the Takahe (New Zealand)

Sri Lanka [link]

References [link]

^ "European Heritage Open days - Armagh". http://www.ni-environment.gov.uk/events/events-ehod/events-ehod-armagh.htm?show%3D10%26page%3D4&id=36132. Retrieved 16 August 2010.
^ Barbier, Pierre (2005). Le Trégor Historique et Monumental. Saint-Brieuc: La Decouvrance Editions. pp. 419.
^ The information in this section has been drawn from various unreferenced articles found in the Dutch version of Wikipedia.

External links [link]

Look up manor house in Wiktionary, the free dictionary.

Reality TV show recreating life in an Edwardian manor house.
Timelines TV Interactive video timeline of British history with section on medieval manors.
UK Manor House news blog
Estonian Manors Portal – the English version gives the brief overview of 438 best preserved manor houses in Estonia.
Portal of Association of Latvia's castles, palaces and manors – the English version gives the information about all manors and castles in Latvia, routes and photos.

http://wn.com/Manor_house

http://fr.wn.com/Manoir

http://pt.wn.com/Solar (habitação)

http://de.wn.com/Herrenhaus (Gebäude)

http://it.wn.com/Maniero

This page contains text from Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Manor_house

This article is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License, which means that you can copy and modify it as long as the entire work (including additions) remains under this license.

Alexander Borodin
Aleksandr Borodin
Born	12 November 1833 Saint Petersburg
Died	27 February 1887 (age 53) Saint Petersburg
Nationality	Russian
Fields	Composer and chemist
Doctoral advisor	Nikolay Zinin

Alexander Porfiryevich Borodin^[1] (12 November 1833 – 27 February 1887)^[2] was a Russian Romantic composer and chemist of Georgian–Russian parentage. He was a member of the group of composers called The Five (or "The Mighty Handful"), who were dedicated to producing a specifically Russian kind of art music.^[3]^[4]^[5] He is best known for his symphonies, his two string quartets, and his opera Prince Igor. Music from Prince Igor and his string quartets was later adapted for the US musical Kismet.

1 Life and profession
- 1.1 Career as a chemist
- 1.2 Musical avocation
  - 1.2.1 Opera and orchestral works
  - 1.2.2 Chamber music
2 Musical legacy
3 Subsequent references
4 References
5 External links
6 Further reading

Life and profession [link]

Borodin was born in Saint Petersburg, the illegitimate son of a Georgian noble, Luka Gedevanishvili (Georgian: ლუკა სიმონის ძე გედევანიშვილი) and a 24-year-old Russian woman, Evdokia Konstantinovna Antonova (Евдокия Константиновна Антонова). The nobleman had him registered as the son of one of his serfs, Porfiry Borodin.^[6] As a boy he received a good education, including piano lessons.^[7] He entered the Medico–Surgical Academy in 1850, which was later home to Ivan Pavlov, and pursued a career in chemistry. On graduation he spent a year as surgeon in a military hospital, followed by three years of advanced scientific study in western Europe.

In 1862 Borodin became a professor of chemistry at the Academy of Medicine, and eventually was able to establish medical courses for women (1872). He spent the remainder of his life lecturing and overseeing the education of others.

He began taking lessons in composition from Mily Balakirev in 1862. He married Ekaterina Protopopova, a pianist, in 1863.^[8] Music remained a secondary vocation for Borodin outside of his main career as a chemist and physician. He suffered poor health, having overcome cholera and several minor heart attacks. He died suddenly during a ball at the Academy, and was interred in Tikhvin Cemetery at the Alexander Nevsky Monastery, in Saint Petersburg.

Career as a chemist [link]

In his profession Borodin gained great respect, being particularly noted for his work on aldehydes.^[9] Between 1859 and 1862 Borodin held a postdoctorate in Heidelberg. He worked in the laboratory of Emil Erlenmeyer working on benzene derivatives. He also spent time in Pisa, working on organic halogens. One experiment published in 1862 described the first nucleophilic displacement of chlorine by fluorine in benzoyl chloride.^[10] A related reaction known to the West as the Hunsdiecker reaction published in 1939 by the Hunsdieckers was promoted by the Soviet Union as the Borodin reaction. In 1862 he returned to the Medico–Surgical Academy, where he worked on self-condensation of small aldehydes. He published papers in 1864 and 1869, and in this field he found himself competing with August Kekulé.

Borodin is co-credited with the discovery of the Aldol reaction, with Charles-Adolphe Wurtz. In 1872 he announced to the Russian Chemical Society the discovery of a new by-product in aldehyde reactions with alcohol-like properties, and he noted similarities with compounds already discussed in publications by Wurtz from the same year.

He published his last full article in 1875 on reactions of amides and his last publication concerned a method for the identification of urea in animal urine.

His son-in-law and successor was fellow chemist A. P. Dianin.

Musical avocation [link]

Opera and orchestral works [link]

Borodin met Mily Balakirev in 1862. While under Balakirev's tutelage in composition he began his Symphony No. 1 in E flat major; it was first performed in 1869, with Balakirev conducting. In that same year Borodin started on his Symphony No. 2 in B minor, which was not particularly successful at its premiere in 1877 under Eduard Nápravník, but with some minor re-orchestration received a successful performance in 1879 by the Free Music School under Rimsky-Korsakov's direction. In 1880 he composed the popular symphonic poem In the Steppes of Central Asia. Two years later he began composing a third symphony, but left it unfinished at his death; two movements of it were later completed and orchestrated by Glazunov.

In 1868 Borodin became distracted from initial work on the second symphony by preoccupation with the opera Prince Igor, which is seen by some to be his most significant work and one of the most important historical Russian operas. It contains the Polovtsian Dances, often performed as a stand-alone concert work forming what is probably Borodin's best known composition. Borodin left the opera (and a few other works) incomplete at his death. Prince Igor was completed posthumously by Rimsky-Korsakov and Glazunov. It is set in the 12th century, when the barbarous Polovtsians invaded southern Russia. The story tells of the capture of Prince Igor and son Vladimir of Russia by Polovtsian leader Khan Konchak, who entertains his prisoners lavishly and calls on his slaves to perform the famous Polovtsian dances, which provide a thrilling climax to the second act.

Chamber music [link]

No other member of the Balakirev circle identified himself so openly with absolute music as did Borodin in his two string quartets. Himself a cellist, he was an enthusiastic chamber music player, an interest that deepened during his chemical studies in Heidelberg between 1859 and 1861. This early period yielded, among other chamber works, a string sextet and a piano quintet. In thematic structure and instrumental texture he based his pieces on those of Felix Mendelssohn.^[11]

In 1875 Borodin started his First String Quartet, much to the displeasure of Mussorgsky and Vladimir Stasov. That Borodin did so in the company of The Five, who were hostile to chamber music, speaks to his independence. From the First Quartet on, he displayed mastery in the form. His Second Quartet, in which his strong lyricism is represented in the popular "Nocturne", followed in 1881. The First Quartet is richer in changes of mood. The Second Quartet has a more uniform atmosphere and expression.^[11]

Musical legacy [link]

The bust of Borodin at his tomb in Tikhvin Cemetery. (The visible musical notation on the tile monument in the background shows themes from (1) "Gliding Dance of the Maidens" from Polovtsian Dances; (2) "Song of the Dark Forest"; and (3) the "Scherzo" theme from Symphony No. 3.)

Main article: List of compositions by Alexander Borodin

Borodin's fame outside the Russian Empire was made possible during his lifetime by Franz Liszt, who arranged a performance of the Symphony No. 1 in Germany in 1880, and by the Comtesse de Mercy-Argenteau in Belgium and France. His music is noted for its strong lyricism and rich harmonies. Along with some influences from Western composers, as a member of The Five his music exudes also an undeniably Russian flavor. His passionate music and unusual harmonies proved to have a lasting influence on the younger French composers Debussy and Ravel (in homage, the latter composed in 1913 a piano piece entitled "À la manière de Borodine").

The evocative characteristics of Borodin's music made possible the adaptation of his compositions in the 1953 musical Kismet, by Robert Wright and George Forrest, perhaps most notably in the song, "Stranger in Paradise". In 1954, Borodin was posthumously awarded a Tony Award for this show.

Borodin's music is full of romantic charm and enticing melody, and much of it also rings with the pageantry and landscape of old Russia; of onion-domed churches, richly decorated icons, and the vastness of the land. (Betty Fry)

Subsequent references [link]

The Borodin Quartet was named in his honour.
The chemist Alexander Shulgin uses the name "Alexander Borodin" as a fictional persona in the books PiHKAL and TiHKAL.
In his book Burning in Water, Drowning in Flame (1974) Charles Bukowski wrote a poem about the life of Borodin entitled "the life of borodin".

References [link]

^ Russian: Алекса́ндр Порфи́рьевич Бороди́н, tr. Aleksandr Porfir'evič Borodin.
^ Old Style dates 31 October 1833 – 15 February 1887.
^ Abraham, Gerald. Borodin: the Composer and his Music. London, 1927
^ Dianin, Sergei Aleksandrovich. Borodin. London, New York, Oxford University Press, 1963
^ Oldani, Robert, William. "Borodin, Aleksandr Porfir′yevich," Grove Music Online (Accessed 27 January 2006, subscription required)
^ 8Notes website
^ By his teens Borodin could speak German, French, Italian and English, and could play the piano, flute and cello (Betty Fry, Tutor.com)
^ Habets, Alfred (2005). Borodin and Liszt: I. Life and works of a Russian Composer. II. Liszt, as sketched in the letters of Borodin. Adamant Media Corporation. ISBN 978-1-4212-5305-3.
^ Michael D. Gordin (1996). "Facing the Music: How Original Was Borodin's Chemistry?" (PDF). Journal of Chemical Education 83 (4): 561–566. DOI:10.1021/ed083p561. http://www.jce.divched.org/HS/Journal/Issues/2006/Apr/clicSubscriber/V83N04/p561.pdf.
^ E. J. Behrman (2006). "Borodin?" (PDF). Journal of Chemical Education 83 (8): 1138. DOI:10.1021/ed083p1138.1. http://www.jce.divched.org/HS/Journal/Issues/2006/Aug/clicSubscriber/V83N08/p1138_1.pdf.
^ ^a ^b Maes, 72

External links [link]

Free scores by Alexander Borodin in the Werner Icking Music Archive (WIMA)
Famous "In the Steppes of Central Asia", Alexander Borodin in Film "Moscow clad in snow", 00:07:22, 1908 on YouTube
List of compositions (German)
Free scores by Borodin at the International Music Score Library Project
Free scores by Alexander Borodin in the Choral Public Domain Library (ChoralWiki)
Borodin's tomb

Persondata
Name	Borodin, Alexander
Alternative names
Short description
Date of birth	12 November 1833
Place of birth	Saint Petersburg
Date of death	27 February 1887
Place of death	Saint Petersburg

This page contains text from Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alexander_Borodin

This article is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License, which means that you can copy and modify it as long as the entire work (including additions) remains under this license.

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