- published: 27 Jul 2009
- views: 65765
- author: braincellharmonics
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- 7603 Salopia
- A Room With a View
- A Shropshire Lad
- A41 road
- A49 road
- A53 road
- Abolitionism
- Abraham Darby I
- Adcote
- Adderley
- Adrian Jones
- Alison Williamson
- American football
- Ancient Rome
- Ancient trackway
- Anglican
- Anti-Tom literature
- AONB
- Aqualate Hall
- Aqueduct
- Area
- Area committee
- Arriva Trains Wales
- Association football
- Asteroid
- Atcham
- Attingham Park
- Barbara Pym
- Baschurch
- Bayston Hill
- BBC
- Bedford Borough
- Bedfordshire
- Benthall Hall
- Berkshire
- Birmingham
- Bishop's Castle
- Bishops Castle
- Blackpool
- Blandings Castle
- Blists Hill
- Bogs
- Borough
- Borough of Halton
- Borough of Swindon
- Boscobel
- Boscobel House
- Bournemouth
- Boxing the compass
- Bracknell Forest
- Bridgnorth
- Bridgnorth Castle
- Bridgnorth Town F.C.
- Brighton and Hove
- Bristol
- British Army
- British Waterways
- Broseley
- Broseley Pipe Museum
- Brother Cadfael
- Brown Clee Hill
- Buckinghamshire
- Burford, Shropshire
- Cadfael
- Caer Caradoc
- Cambrian
- Cambrian Line
- Cambrian Mountains
- Cambridgeshire
- Carboniferous
- Castle House School
- Celtic people
- Central Bedfordshire
- Charles Babbage
- Charles Darwin
- Charles Dickens
- Charlton School
- Cheshire
- Cheshire East
- Cheshire Plain
- Chetwynd Park
- Chirbury
- Chirk Aqueduct
- Chris Hawkins
- Church Stretton
- City of London
- Civil parish
- Clee Hills
- Cleobury Mortimer
- Climate
- Clockwise (film)
- Clun
- Clun Castle
- Clun Forest
- Clwyd
- Coalbrookdale
- Concord College, UK
- Condover
- Conference National
- Coral
- Cornovii (Midlands)
- Cornwall
- Cornwall Council
- Corve Dale
- Counties of England
- County council
- County Durham
- County flower
- County town
- Coventry
- Craig Phillips
- Craven Arms
- Cumbria
- D. H. Lawrence
- Daniel Kawczynski
- Dawley
- DCAE Cosford
- Deduce, You Say
- Derby
- Derbyshire
- Devon
- Diocese
- Districts of England
- Donnington, Telford
- Dorset
- Dudmaston Hall
- Earl of Craven
- Earl of Shrewsbury
- Earls of March
- East Midlands
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- Edgmond
- Edgmond, Shropshire
- Edith Pargeter
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- Edric the Wild
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- Elan aqueduct
- Elan Valley
- Ellesmere College
- Enclave
- English Channel
- English Restoration
- Ercall Hill
- Essex
- Eurostat
- Evangelical
- Exclave
- Farlow, Shropshire
- Flag of Shropshire
- Flounder's Folly
- Football League Two
- Fossil
- Frankton Junction
- Friends
- Gloucestershire
- Golf courses
- Greater London
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- Green belt
- Greg Davies
- Grindley Brook
- Guildhall, Newport
- Halesowen
- Hampshire
- Hanwood United F.C.
- Haughmond Abbey
- Haughmond Hill
- Hawkstone Park
- Herefordshire
- Heritage railway
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- Highley
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- Hill fort
- Horsehay
- House of Fraser
- Hull City Council
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- Iron age
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- Ironbridge Gorge
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- ISO 3166-2 GB
- Isobel Cooper
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- John Mytton
- Jonathan Corbett
- Judas Priest
- Jurassic
- K. K. Downing
- Kent
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- Knighton, Powys
- Knot (unit)
- Labour Party (UK)
- Lake Vyrnwy
- Lancashire
- Langley Chapel
- Lara Jones
- Laws in Wales Act
- Leicester
- Leicestershire
- Len Murray
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- Lilleshall
- Lilleshall Hall
- Lincolnshire
- Liverpool
- Llangollen Canal
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- London Midland
- Long Mynd
- Lord Emsworth
- Lord Hill's Column
- Lord Lieutenant
- Loton Park Hillclimb
- Ludlow
- Ludlow Castle
- Ludlow College
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- Luton
- M54 motorway
- M54 Motorway
- Madeley (Shropshire)
- Madeley, Shropshire
- Mal Lewis Jones
- Malcolm Saville
- Marcher Lords
- Market Drayton
- Mary Webb
- Marylebone station
- Matthew Webb
- Medway
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- Middlesbrough
- Mirabel Osler
- Mitchell's Fold
- Montgomery Canal
- Moor Park School
- Moreton Corbet
- Moreton Hall School
- Motocross
- Much Wenlock
- Much Wenlock Priory
- Müller (company)
- Naturalist
- Nesscliffe
- New Albion
- New College, Telford
- New Meadow
- New town
- Newport, Shropshire
- Nina Simone
- Norfolk
- Norman Conquest
- North Lincolnshire
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- North Somerset
- North Warwickshire
- North Yorkshire
- Northamptonshire
- Northumberland
- Nottingham
- Nottinghamshire
- Oakengates
- Offa
- Offa's Dyke
- Offa's Dyke Path
- Oldbury Wells School
- ONS coding system
- Ordovician
- Oswestry
- Oswestry (borough)
- Oswestry School
- Owen Paterson
- Oxfordshire
- P. G. Wodehouse
- Parish meeting
- PDSA
- Permian
- Pete Postlethwaite
- Peterborough
- Philip Sidney
- Phoenix School
- Plymouth
- Pontesbury
- Poole
- Population
- Population density
- Portsmouth
- Pound sterling
- Powys
- Precambrian
- Prees, Shropshire
- Prestfelde School
- Psmith
- Ptolemy
- Puleston Cross
- Quaternary
- Racecourse
- RAF Shawbury
- Rainshadow
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- Reading, Berkshire
- Redcar and Cleveland
- Redditch
- Regions of England
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- Robert Clive
- Roger de Montgomerie
- Roman Britain
- Roman Empire
- Round-leaved sundew
- Roy Wood
- Rugby (borough)
- Rutland
- Ruyton-XI-Towns
- Sandwell
- Seashell
- Shawbury
- Shawbury United F.C.
- Shifnal
- Shifnal Town F.C.
- Shrewsbury
- Shrewsbury Abbey
- Shrewsbury Canal
- Shrewsbury Castle
- Shrewsbury School
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- Shropshire
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- Shropshire Giants
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- Sport governing body
- Stafford
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- Stephen Marchant
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- Stokesay Castle
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- Template Shropshire
- The Country Wife
- The Iron Bridge
- The Marches School
- The New Saints F.C.
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- Thurrock
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- Triassic
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- Wales
- Warner Bros.
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- Wem
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- Wikipedia Link rot
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-
A41 road
The A41 is a major trunk road in England that links London and Birkenhead, although it has now in parts been superseded by motorways. It passes through or near various towns and cities including Watford, Kings Langley, Hemel Hempstead, Aylesbury, Solihull, Birmingham, West Bromwich, Wolverhampton, Newport, Whitchurch, Chester and Ellesmere Port.
It follows part of the line of the old Roman road, Akeman Street and the eighteenth century Sparrows Herne turnpike.
With the opening of the M40 extension in 1990 linking with the M42 near Birmingham, much of the route was downgraded in importance - with the sections between Bicester and the M42 near Solihull being renumbered as the A4141, A4177 and B4100.
The route begins near Marble Arch in London, at the junction with Oxford Street (A40). Here, north-bound traffic uses Gloucester Place, the south-bound uses Baker Street. It becomes a dual-carriageway on Finchley Road, through Swiss Cottage, and along Hendon Way, and intersects with the North Circular Road near Brent Cross shopping centre. The road passes through Hendon and after the junction with the A5150, (close to the Metropolitan Police's police college and the RAF Museum), it runs directly next to the M1. The A41 overlaps the A1 at Five Ways Corner with the section known as Watford Way. It passes through Mill Hill, separating with the A1 at Apex Corner roundabout After crossing the M1, near Elstree, it links the M1 at Junction 4, and then meets the A5 at a roundabout (where the A5 becomes the A5183). The A41 continues next to the M1 into Hertfordshire. This section is known as Elton Way, as far as the roundabout with the B462. The next section is dual-carriageway.
wn.com/A41_road -
A49 road
Coordinates: 52°49′12″N 2°41′14″W / 52.82°N 2.6873°W / 52.82; -2.6873
The A49 is an A road in western England, which traverses the Welsh Marches region. It runs north from Ross-on-Wye in Herefordshire via Hereford, Leominster, Ludlow, Shrewsbury and Whitchurch, then continues through central Cheshire to Warrington and Wigan before terminating at its junction with the A6 road just south of Bamber Bridge, near the junction of the M6, M65 and M61 motorways.
Through Wigan it meets the A577 and A571 at the Saddle Junction and the B5328 at the Marus Bridge Roundabout. The road meets the M6 at junction 23, Haydock and the A580 East Lancashire Road. This is near Haydock Park Racecourse. It enters Newton-le-Willows and passes close to the Newton-le-Willows High School and under the Liverpool to Manchester Line railway (northern route). The road enters the borough of Warrington. At Winwick there is a separate dual-carriageway spur of the A49 which leads to junction 25 of the M6 from a roundabout - the Bryn Interchange.
wn.com/A49_road -
A53 road
The A53 is a primary route in northern England, that runs from Buxton in Derbyshire to Shrewsbury in Shropshire.
The A53 begins in the centre of Buxton off the A6 road, before meeting the A515 road at a roundabout. Out of the town, it has a junction with the A54 road (to Congleton) before continuing in a south-westerly direction. It crosses the border into the county of Staffordshire, and after leaving the Peak District travels through the town of Leek. It meets the A523 road (to Macclesfield) and the A520 road (to Stone). It crosses the Caldon Canal and travels through the Stoke-on-Trent conurbation, including Hanley and Newcastle-under-Lyme, where it meets a number of major routes such as the A50 road (to Derby), the A500 road and the A525 road (to Whitchurch). It crosses the M6 motorway and goes through the village of Ashley. It crosses the border into Shropshire, and bypasses the town of Market Drayton, and passes the Müller factory. It meets the A41 road (to Wolverhampton) at a roundabout, then meets the A442 road (to Telford). It goes through the village of Shawbury, before it terminates at its junction with the A49 road, 3 miles (4.8 km) north-east of Shrewsbury town centre at Battlefield.
wn.com/A53_road -
Adderley
Coordinates: 52°57′20″N 2°30′00″W / 52.9555°N 2.5°W / 52.9555; -2.5
Adderley is a village and civil parish in the English county of Shropshire, several kilometres north of Market Drayton. It is known as Eldredelei in the Domesday Book. Adderley Hall was completed in 1881 but was demolished in 1955.
Here is the description of the village from The National Gazetteer of Great Britain and Ireland (1868):
"ADDERLEY, (or Atherley), a parish in the hundred of North Bradford, in the county of Salop, 4 miles to the N.W. of Market Drayton. It is situated on the Grand Junction canal and the river Weaver. It comprises the townships of the Morrey and Spoonley. The living is a rectory* in the diocese of Lichfield value £665, in the patronage of Richard Corbet. The church is dedicated to St. Peter. The parochial charities amount to £68 a year. Shavington Hall, the residence of the Earl of Kilmorey, and Adderley Hall are the principal seats."
Also of note is Tittenley Farm. The Tittenley Lodge has been a listed building since 1987.
wn.com/Adderley -
Aqualate Hall
Aqualate Hall a 20th century country house, is located in Staffordshire, England, some 3.5 km east of the market town of Newport, Shropshire and 17 km west of the County town of Stafford. It is a Grade II* listed building
The first manor house on the site, built above the mere in the 16th century by Thomas Skrymsher was rebuilt for Edwin Skrymsher ( Member of Parliament for Stafford) in the 17th century just after he had completed nearby Forton Hall. The original building remained in much the same style until, Sir John Boughey bought the house in the late 18th century and in 1808 commissioned John Nash to rebuild it in the Gothic style.
The building was destroyed by fire on 28 November 1910. The present house, which incorporates some elements of the 17th century house and of Nash's Gothic successor, was built between 1927 and 1930 by W.D. Caroe. An original range of gables by Nash joins the new house to an 18th century stable block.
The hall has a landscaped deer park with many old trees and stands alongside Aqualate Mere. In the grounds can be found two Gothic lodge-houses, and a red brick house with an attached castellated tower.
wn.com/Aqualate_Hall -
Atcham
Coordinates: 52°40′47″N 2°40′48″W / 52.6796°N 2.6799°W / 52.6796; -2.6799
Atcham is a village, ecclesiastical parish and civil parish in Shropshire, England. It is situated on the B4380 (the old A5), 5 miles south east of Shrewsbury. The River Severn flows around the village. To the south is the village of Cross Houses, and to the northwest the hamlet of Emstrey.
It was once part of, and gave its name to, Atcham Rural District, before that district merged with the Borough of Shrewsbury in 1974, and the village came under the control of Shrewsbury and Atcham Borough Council. From 2009, Shrewsbury & Atcham was merged with the other districts of non-metropolitan Shropshire to form Shropshire Council. The Parliamentary constituency which covers the borough remains as Shrewsbury and Atcham.
The only church in England to be dedicated to Saint Eata, bishop of Hexham, can be found in the village. Just why St Eata should have this one church bearing his name so far away from the area of his ministry is something of a mystery. There is no written record suggesting that he ever came so far south. There is, however, a crop photograph from the 1970s of a field in Attingham Park showing the ground-plan of a Saxon palace identical to one excavated near Hexham. Did a noble's daughter from Hexham move to Atcham to be married, bringing with her architect's plans and the memory of a favourite saint? 'Atcham' is a contraction of 'Attingham' which means 'the home of Eata's people.' The church dates back to the 11th century.
wn.com/Atcham -
Attingham Park
Coordinates: 52°41′7.66″N 2°40′11.78″W / 52.6854611°N 2.6699389°W / 52.6854611; -2.6699389
Attingham Park[needs IPA] is a country house in Shropshire, England, which is owned by the National Trust. It is a Grade I listed building.
It is located near to the village of Atcham, on the B4380 Shrewsbury to Wellington road.
Attingham Park was designed by George Steuart and was built in 1785 for Noel Hill, 1st Baron Berwick, on the site of an earlier house called Tern Hall (which had been built to his own designs by Richard Hill of Hawkstone). Later, John Nash added the picture gallery.
It was the seat of the Barons Berwick until that title became extinct in 1953.
Between 1948 and 1971 an Adult Education College occupied the hall, run by Sir George Trevelyan.
Attingham Park is now the regional headquarters of the National Trust and also on the estate is the Shropshire office of Natural England.
The park was landscaped by Humphry Repton and includes woodlands and a deer park, with between 200 and 300 head of Fallow deer (according to season).
wn.com/Attingham_Park -
Baschurch
Baschurch is a large village and civil parish in Shropshire, England. grid reference SJ425220
It lies in North Shropshire, north of Shrewsbury. Population: 1,475 (2001 census). The village has strong links to Shrewsbury to the south-east, Oswestry to the north-west, and Wem to the north-east. Baschurch is twinned with the town of Giat in the French département of Puy-de-Dôme, in the Auvergne région. There is a large village not far from Baschurch called Ruyton-XI-Towns.
A major feature of the village is All Saints' Church (Church of England)[1] which is one of the oldest standing structures in the village (perhaps the oldest). A timber church which burnt down is believed to have stood on the same site previously. Leading industrialist and builder Thomas Telford made numerous major alterations to the modern sandstone church.
The village has two schools including Baschurch Church of England Primary School, and the Corbet School formerly known as Baschurch Secondary Modern School. Just outside the village is Walford College, an agricultural and sports college which in 2002 merged with Oswestry-based North Shropshire College to form Walford and North Shropshire College.
wn.com/Baschurch -
Bayston Hill
Coordinates: 52°40′22″N 2°45′55″W / 52.6727°N 2.7654°W / 52.6727; -2.7654
Bayston Hill is a large village and civil parish in central Shropshire, England. It is 3 miles (5 km) south of the county town Shrewsbury and located on the main A49 road, the Shrewsbury to Hereford road.
Occupied continuously since before the Middle Ages the village is now home to over 5,000 residents and mainly serves as a dormitory village for nearby Shrewsbury. It has the largest population for a village in Shropshire and the 10th highest population of any Shropshire locality. The village has a larger than average retired population in comparison to many similar Shropshire villages, but lower than the national average. Bayston Hill has three public houses, two churches and one primary school called Oakmeadow.
The adjacent and popular Lyth Hill Country Park stands above the village.
The village was recorded in the Domesday Book and there is remaining evidence of both an ancient British Iron Age hillfort and a Roman settlement located on the village's high grounds. In the Middle Ages the heavily wooded Bayston Hill and Condover area was established as a Royal hunting forest. A busy rope works complete with its own windmill built in 1835, existed on Lyth Hill in the 19th century; supplying the many mines, farms and barge owners across the district. A church was built alongside the village glebelands in 1843 to serve the local miners, quarrymen and railway navvies.
wn.com/Bayston_Hill -
Bedford Borough
Bedford is a unitary authority with the status of a borough in the ceremonial county of Bedfordshire, England. Its council is based at Bedford, which is also the county town of Bedfordshire. The borough contains one large urban area, the 71st largest in the United Kingdom that comprises Bedford and the adjacent town of Kempston, surrounded by a rural area with many villages. 75% of the borough's population live in the Bedford Urban Area and the five large villages which surround it, which makes up slightly less than 6% of the total land area of the Borough. The borough is also the location of the Wixams new town development, which received its first residents in 2009. Unlike most English districts, Bedford's council is led by a directly elected mayor of Bedford, who has been Dave Hodgson since October 16, 2009.
The District of Bedford was formed on 1 April 1974 as a merger of the existing borough of Bedford, along with Kempston urban district and Bedford Rural District. In 1975 the district was granted a royal charter granting borough status as North Bedfordshire. The borough was renamed as Borough of Bedford in 1992. Over half of the former municipal borough of Bedford is unparished, however Brickhill is a parish, and Queens Park as well as Cauldwell & Kingsbrook elect their own urban community councils who have similar functions to parish councils. The rest of the district including Kempston is parished.
wn.com/Bedford_Borough -
Bedfordshire
Bedfordshire (
/ˈbɛdfərdʃər/ or /ˈbɛdfərdʃɪər/; abbreviated Beds.) is a ceremonial county of historic origin in England that forms part of the East of England region.
It borders Cambridgeshire to the north-east, Northamptonshire to the north, Buckinghamshire to the west and Hertfordshire to the south-east.
The highest elevation point is 243 metres (797 ft) on Dunstable Downs in the Chilterns.
As part of a 2002 marketing campaign, the plant conservation charity Plantlife chose the Bee Orchid as the county flower.
The traditional nickname for people from Bedfordshire is "Bedfordshire Bulldogs" or "Clangers", this last deriving from a local dish comprising a suet crust dumpling filled with meat or jam or both.
It is the 14th most densely populated county of England and the fifth most densly populated non-metropolitan county with over half the population of the county living in the two largest built up areas of Bedford (102,000) and Luton (236,000).
The first recorded use of the name was in 1011 as "Bedanfordscir," meaning the shire or county of Bedford, which itself means "Beda's ford" (river crossing).
wn.com/Bedfordshire -
Benthall Hall
Coordinates: 52°37′14″N 2°30′24″W / 52.6206°N 2.5067°W / 52.6206; -2.5067
Benthall Hall is a 16th century English country house located in Benthall close to the town of Broseley, Shropshire, England, and a few miles from the historic Ironbridge Gorge. It retains much of its fine oak interior, and an elaborate 17th century staircase. It is still occupied by the Benthall family, but has been owned by the National Trust since 1958, and is open to the public two to three afternoons a week during the summer season (March–September).
The Hall was built around 1580, probably on the site of an earlier 12th century medieval manor and manor house. During the Civil War it was garrisoned, and was a site of several skirmishes.
The garden is largely the product of two tenants. George Maw (1832–1912), local pottery manufacturer and crocus enthusiast developed the garden from around 1865 onwards. Subsequently, the Victorian era Romantic painter and sculptor Robert Bateman (1842–1922), who was the son of a famous horticulturalist, added the rockeries and terraces of the current garden.
wn.com/Benthall_Hall -
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.
wn.com/Berkshire -
Birmingham
Birmingham (
i/ˈbɜrmɪŋəm/ BUR-ming-əm, locally /ˈbɜrmɪŋɡəm/ BUR-ming-gəm) is a city and metropolitan borough in the West Midlands of England. It is the most populous British city outside the capital London, with a population of 1,036,900 (2010 estimate), and lies at the heart of the West Midlands conurbation, the second most populous urban area in the United Kingdom with a population of 2,284,093 (2001 census). Birmingham's metropolitan area is also the United Kingdom's second most populous with a population of 3,683,000.
A medium-sized market town during the medieval period, Birmingham grew to international prominence in the 18th century at the heart of the Midlands Enlightenment and subsequent Industrial Revolution, which saw the town at the forefront of worldwide developments in science, technology and economic organisation, producing a series of innovations that laid many of the foundations of modern industrial society. By 1791 it was being hailed as "the first manufacturing town in the world". Birmingham's distinctive economic profile, with thousands of small workshops practising a wide variety of specialised and highly-skilled trades, encouraged exceptional levels of creativity and innovation and provided a diverse and resilient economic base for industrial prosperity that was to last into the final quarter of the 20th century. Its resulting high level of social mobility also fostered a culture of broad-based political radicalism, that under leaders from Thomas Attwood to Joseph Chamberlain was to give it a political influence unparalleled in Britain outside London and a pivotal role in the development of British democracy.
wn.com/Birmingham -
Blackpool
Blackpooli/ˈblækpuːl/ is a borough, seaside town, and unitary authority area of Lancashire, in North West England. It is situated along England's west coast by the Irish Sea, between the Ribble and Wyre estuaries, 17.5 miles (28.2 km) northwest of Preston, 27 miles (43 km) north of Liverpool, 30 miles (48 km) northwest of Bolton and 40 miles (64 km) northwest of Manchester. It has an estimated population of 140,000, making it the third most populous settlement in North West England after Manchester and Liverpool, and a population density that makes it the fourth most densely populated borough of England and Wales outside Greater London.
Throughout the Middle Ages and Early Modern period, Blackpool was a coastal hamlet in Lancashire's Hundred of Amounderness, and remained such until the mid-18th century when it became fashionable in England to travel to the coast during the summer to bathe in sea water to improve well-being. In 1781, visitors attracted to Blackpool's 7-mile (11 km) sandy beach were able to use a newly built private road, built by Thomas Clifton and Sir Henry Hoghton. Stagecoaches began running to Blackpool from Manchester in the same year, and from Halifax in 1782. In the early 19th century, Henry Banks and his son-in-law John Cocker erected new buildings in Blackpool such that its population grew from less than 500 in 1801 to over 2,500 in 1851. St John's Church in Blackpool was consecrated in 1821.
wn.com/Blackpool -
Borough of Halton
Halton is a local government district in North West England, with borough status and administered by a unitary authority. It was created in 1974 as a district of Cheshire, and became a unitary authority area on 1 April 1998. It consists of the towns of Widnes and Runcorn and the civil parishes of Hale, Daresbury, Moore, Preston Brook, Halebank and Sandymoor. The district borders Merseyside, Warrington and Cheshire West and Chester. The borough straddles the River Mersey - the area to the north (including Widnes) is historically part of Lancashire, that to the south (including Runcorn) part of Cheshire.
Although Halton dates back to the 12th century (and beyond) when land on both sides of the river belonged to the Barony of Halton, the origin of the District Council was the outcome of the local government commission's suggested reforms of England, in 1969, the Redcliffe-Maud Report. This proposed to create metropolitan counties constituted of Metropolitan District Councils in the most urbanised parts of England. The model was that of the London Boroughs and Greater London Council formed in 1964. South Lancashire and North Cheshire were two of these and two new Metropolitan Counties were to be formed around Liverpool (as 'Merseyside' county) and Manchester/Salford (as 'Greater Manchester' county.) however, the towns of Widnes and Runcorn (and the County Borough of Warrington) which lay between these were reluctant to join either. The Commission agreed that the Halton group and Warrington were to become District Councils within Cheshire, as they were detached from Lancashire by the two new Metropolitan Counties controlling the territory to the north. However, the Metropolitan Counties ceased as local government units (along with the GLC) in 1984 and any remaining powers were devolved to the constituent Metropolitan Districts which cooperated over joint police authorities and fire services.
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Boscobel
Boscobel is a very small civil parish in the east of Shropshire, England, on the border with Staffordshire. To the north is the Staffordshire village of Bishops Wood.
According to the 2001 census it had a population of 12. Because of its small population, it shares a parish council with the neighbouring Donington parish. It is the smallest parish in Shropshire by population - the smallest by area is Deuxhill.
It is the site of Boscobel House, home to the Giffard family, owners of the Boscobel Royal Oak, where Charles II hid in an oak tree after losing the Battle of Worcester in 1651.
An historical romance on the subject was published as Boscobel in 1871 by William Harrison Ainsworth.
Also in the parish is White Ladies Priory.
Media related to Boscobel at Wikimedia Commons
Coordinates: 52°40′16″N 2°14′35″W / 52.671°N 2.243°W / 52.671; -2.243
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Boscobel House
Boscobel House (grid reference SJ837082) is a building in the parish of Boscobel in Shropshire. It has been, at various times; a farmhouse, a hunting lodge, and a holiday home; but it is most famous for its role in the escape of Charles II after the Battle of Worcester in 1651. Today it is managed by English Heritage.
The building is just inside Shropshire, as is clear from all Ordnance Survey maps of the area, although part of the property boundary is contiguous with the Shropshire - Staffordshire border, and it has a Stafford post code. Boscobel is on land which belonged to White Ladies Priory in the Middle Ages, and at that time it was extra-parochial. The priory was often described as being at Brewood, which is in Staffordshire, and this may have contributed to the widespread belief that the house and priory are in Staffordshire. Brewood is the neighbouring parish, and the house is just south of the small village of Bishops Wood, a constituent part of Brewood. Although technically still a separate civil parish, Boscobel's small population means it shares a parish council with Donington, Shropshire. Local government reform in 1974 brought the parish, including Boscobel House and White Ladies, into Bridgnorth District, which in 2009 was superseded by the new unitary authority of Shropshire Council.) The nearest city is Wolverhampton. The house is just north of the M54 Motorway.
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Bournemouth
Bournemouth ( pronunciation (help·info)) is a large coastal resort town in the ceremonial county of Dorset, England. According to the 2001 Census the town has a population of 163,444, making it the largest settlement in Dorset. It is also the largest settlement between Southampton and Plymouth. With Poole and Christchurch, Bournemouth forms the South East Dorset conurbation, which has a total population of approximately 400,000.
Founded in 1810 by Lewis Tregonwell, Bournemouth's growth accelerated with the arrival of the railway, becoming a recognised town in 1870. Historically part of Hampshire, it joined Dorset with the reorganisation of local government in 1974. Since 1997 the town has been administered by a unitary authority, meaning that it has autonomy from Dorset County Council. The local authority is Bournemouth Borough Council.
Bournemouth's location on the south coast of England has made it a popular destination for tourists. The town is a regional centre of business, home of the Bournemouth International Centre and financial companies that include Liverpool Victoria and PruHealth.
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Bracknell Forest
Coordinates: 51°25′01″N 0°44′49″W / 51.417°N 0.7469°W / 51.417; -0.7469
Bracknell Forest is one of six unitary authorities within Berkshire in southern England. It covers the two towns of Bracknell and Sandhurst as well as surrounding villages including Crowthorne and Binfield. It also includes the areas of North Ascot, Warfield and Winkfield. Parts of the borough border neighbouring boroughs such as Wokingham Borough Council and the Royal Borough of Windsor & Maidenhead. The south of the borough also borders onto Hampshire and Surrey.
Bracknell Forest was formed on 1 April 1974, as the non-metropolitan district of Bracknell. The district took on the territory of the former Easthampstead Rural District (in which the Bracknell new town had been developed). It changed its name in May 1988, at the same time as it was granted borough status.
On 1 April 1998, Berkshire County Council was abolished, as a consequence of the Banham Review, and Bracknell Forest Borough Council became a unitary authority. From 2008, references to 'borough' were phased out in favour of simply Bracknell Forest Council.
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Bridgnorth
Coordinates: 52°32′02″N 2°25′04″W / 52.534°N 2.4179°W / 52.534; -2.4179
Bridgnorth is a town in Shropshire, England, along the Severn Valley. It is split into Low Town and High Town, named on account of their elevations relative to the River Severn, which separates the upper town on the right bank from the lower on the left. The population of the town of Bridgnorth was 11,891 at the 2001 Census and a 2008 estimate puts it at 12,216.
Bridgnorth is named after a bridge over the River Severn, that was built further north than an earlier bridge at Quatford. The earliest historical reference to the town is in 895, at which time it is recorded that the Danes created a camp at Cwatbridge, and subsequently in 912, Æthelfleda constructed a mound on the west bank of the River Severn, or possibly on the site of Bridgnorth Castle, as part of an offensive against the Danes.
After the Norman Conquest, William the Conqueror granted the manor of Bridgnorth to Roger de Montgomerie. The town itself was not created until 1101, when Robert de Belesme, the son of Roger de Montgomerie, moved from Quatford, constructing a castle and church on the site of the modern-day town. The castle's purpose was to defend against attacks from Wales. On Robert's attainder, in 1102 the town became a royal borough. Bridgnorth's town walls were initially constructed in timber between 1216 and 1223; murage grants allowed them to be upgraded to stone between the 13th and 15th centuries. By the 16th century, the antiquarian John Leland reported them in ruins and of the five gates, only one survives today.
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Bridgnorth Castle
Bridgnorth Castle is a castle in the town of Bridgnorth, Shropshire beside the River Severn.
The castle was founded in 1101 by Robert de Belleme, the son of the French Earl, Roger de Montgomery, who succeeded his father to become the Earl of Shrewsbury. Its principal feature, a square great tower, was built during the reign of Henry II.
During the Civil War, Bridgnorth was one of the Midlands' main Royalist strongholds and in 1642 many Royalist troops were garrisoned there. In 1646, Cromwell’s Roundheads arrived with orders to take Bridgnorth for the Parliamentarians from the garrison led by Sir Robert Howard. Following a three week siege, Cromwell was successful and he ordered that the castle be demolished. By 1647 little of the structure remained. The Parliamentarians left it much as it is today, the stone from the castle being taken and used to repair the town's damaged buildings.
Parts of the great tower still remain, but because of the damage caused during the Civil War, it now leans at an angle of 15 degrees, 4 times the lean of the leaning tower of Pisa. The castle grounds were excavated over 3 days by Time Team, clarifying the layout of the castle and the history of its construction.
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Brighton and Hove
Brighton and Hove is a unitary authority area and city on the south coast of England. It is England's most populous seaside resort. The major part of the city consists of Brighton, with around 155,000 people of the total population of 251,000. Consequently, people usually refer to the city as just "Brighton". Brighton and Hove's urban area has a population of over 450,000 people. The city is famous for its history as a seaside town, and more recently for its reputation of having a large gay community. The city is also famous for its football team, Brighton & Hove Albion FC (commonly known as just "Brighton" or "Albion"). They currently play in the Football League Championship at the Amex Stadium, opened in 2011.
In 1997, the two large towns of Brighton and Hove were joined to form the unitary authority of Brighton and Hove, which was granted city status by Queen Elizabeth II as part of the millennium celebrations in 2000.
Brighton and Hove forms part of the Brighton/Worthing/Littlehampton conurbation, the 12th largest conurbation in the United Kingdom. Along this area of the south coast, there is little or no gap of countryside between these large towns and city. Directly to the west is Southwick and then Shoreham-by-Sea, and a short distance to the east are Peacehaven and Newhaven. The city, district and urban areas of Brighton and Hove have the biggest populations in the South East England region.
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Bristol
Bristoli/ˈbrɪstəl/ is a city, unitary authority area and ceremonial county in South West England, with an estimated population of 433,100 for the unitary authority in 2009, and a surrounding Larger Urban Zone (LUZ) with an estimated 1,070,000 residents in 2007. It is England's sixth and the United Kingdom's eighth most populous city, one of the group of English Core Cities and the most populous city in South West England.
Historically within Gloucestershire, the city received a Royal Charter in 1155 and was granted County status in 1373. From the 13th century, for half a millennium, it ranked amongst the top three English cities after London, alongside York and Norwich, on the basis of tax receipts, until the rapid rise of Liverpool, Birmingham and Manchester during the Industrial Revolution in the latter part of the 18th century. It borders the counties of Somerset and Gloucestershire, and is also located near the historic cities of Bath to the south east and Gloucester to the north. The city is built around the River Avon, and it also has a short coastline on the Severn Estuary, which flows into the Bristol Channel.
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Broseley
Coordinates: 52°36′44″N 2°28′55″W / 52.612357°N 2.481945°W / 52.612357; -2.481945
Broseley is a small town in Shropshire, England with a population of 4,912 (2001 census). The River Severn flows to the north and east of the town. Broseley has a town council and is part of the area controlled by Shropshire Council. The first iron bridge in the world was built in 1779 to link Broseley with Coalbrookdale and Madeley. This led to the development of the Ironbridge Gorge, which is now part of a World Heritage Site.
A settlement existed in 1086 and is listed as Bosle in the Domesday Book.
The town is located on the south bank of the Ironbridge Gorge and so shares much of the history of its better known, but more recent, neighbour, Ironbridge.
In 1600, the town of Broseley consisted of only 27 houses and was part of the Shirlett Royal Forest. The area was known for mining; some of the stone used to build Buildwas Abbey was taken from Broseley and there is evidence that wooden wagonways existed in Broseley in 1605 [1], giving Broseley a serious claim to the oldest railways in Britain. The wagonways were almost certainly constructed for the transport of coal and clay and it was these resources that led to the huge expansion of the town during the Industrial Revolution.
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Brown Clee Hill
Brown Clee Hill is the highest hill in the rural English county of Shropshire, at 540 metres above sea level. It is one of the Clee Hills, and is in the Shropshire Hills Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty.
Brown Clee Hill lies five miles north of its sister and neighbour, Titterstone Clee Hill. The highest peak of the hill is Abdon Burf, at 540 metres high with Clee Burf at 510m.
Much more of Brown Clee Hill is private land than on Titterstone Clee, and large areas are covered with coniferous plantations. The eastern expanse of the hill is in possession of the Burwarton Estate under ownership of Viscount Boyne, whilst the western fringes of the hill are owned by various private land owners and the parish of Clee St. Margaret.
The common land features the remains of where an Iron Age hill fort once stood (See Below).
Nearby towns are Ludlow, Cleobury Mortimer, Church Stretton, Broseley, Bridgnorth and Much Wenlock.
Several air traffic control radar masts on the summit of the hill can be seen for many miles around. They, along with the ones on top of Titterstone Clee Hill build up a picture of all the aircraft in a hundred mile radius.
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Buckinghamshire
Buckinghamshire ( /ˈbʌkɪŋəmʃər/ or /ˈbʌkɪŋəmʃɪər/; archaically the County of Buckingham; abbreviated Bucks) is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan home county in South East England. The county town is Aylesbury, the largest town in the ceremonial county is Milton Keynes and largest town in the non-metropolitan county is High Wycombe.
The area under the control of Buckinghamshire County Council, or shire county, is divided into four districts—Aylesbury Vale, Chiltern, South Bucks and Wycombe. The Borough of Milton Keynes is a unitary authority and forms part of the county for various functions such as Lord Lieutenant but does not come under county council control. The ceremonial county, the area including Milton Keynes borough, borders Greater London (to the south east), Berkshire (to the south), Oxfordshire (to the west), Northamptonshire (to the north), Bedfordshire (to the north east) and Hertfordshire (to the east).
Sections of the county closer to London are part of the Metropolitan Green Belt, which limits development. It is the location of the nationally important Pinewood Studios and Dorney Lake, which will be holding the rowing events at the 2012 Summer Olympics. It is also well known for the new town of Milton Keynes and the Chiltern Hills area of outstanding natural beauty.
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Caer Caradoc
Caer Caradoc (Welsh - Caer Caradog) is a hill in the English county of Shropshire. It overlooks the town of Church Stretton and the village of All Stretton and offers panoramic views to the north towards The Wrekin, east to Wenlock Edge, and west over the nearby Long Mynd. On a clear day it is possible to see the hills of north-east Wales to the north, the high-rise buildings of Birmingham to the east, Worcester Beacon in the Malvern Hills to the south-east, and Hay Bluff in the Black Mountains, Wales and the peaks of the Brecon Beacons, to the south. Caer Caradoc is hill G/WB-006 in Summits on the Air. This Caer Caradoc is not to be confused with the Caer Caradoc 1km to the west of Chapel Lawn village near Bucknell.
Caer Caradoc rises sharply and steeply up out of the narrow valley in which the town of Church Stretton is situated, known as the Stretton Gap. It is the highest point on a high, narrow, northeast–southwest "whaleback ridge", sometimes called a hogsback ridge. The Wrekin is a very similarly shaped hill and on the same alignment, some 10 miles (16 km) to the north-east. Caer Caradoc may be fairly easily climbed from Church Stretton town but the ascent / descent is steep; a more gentle climb is from the village of Cardington, which lies two miles (3 km) to the east. A good way of climbing Caer Caradoc is to do a linear walk from along the aforementioned ridge, including the nearby summits of Ragleth Hill and The Lawley to gain the best perspective on each [1]. Otherwise, the ascent of the hill and return is some 7 miles (11 km) from the town.
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Cambrian Mountains
The Cambrian Mountains (Welsh: Mynyddoedd Cambria, in a narrower sense: Elenydd) are a series of mountain ranges in Wales.
Originally the term "Cambrian Mountains" was applied in a general sense to most of upland Wales. Since the 1950s, its application has become increasingly localised to the geographically homogeneous Mid Wales uplands, known in Welsh as the Elenydd, which extend from Pumlumon to Mynydd Mallaen. This barren and sparsely populated 'wilderness' is often referred to as the Desert of Wales. The area includes the sources of the River Severn and River Wye, and was unsuccessfully proposed as a National Park in the 1960s and 1970s. The highest point of the range is Pumlumon (or Plynlimon), at 2,467 feet (752 m).
The wider, more historic, use of the term also includes Snowdonia in North Wales, and the Brecon Beacons and Black Mountains in South Wales. They range in height up to 3,560 feet (1,090 m) in Snowdonia.
While Snowdonia contains a mix of volcanic rocks and sedimentary rocks of Cambrian and Ordovician age, the mountains of South Wales are mainly Devonian age Old Red Sandstone and Carboniferous Limestone and similarly aged sandstones. The ranges of mid Wales on the other hand are predominantly formed from Ordovician and Silurian sandstones and mudstones which in many areas outcrop only infrequently so resulting in more rounded grassy hills. The Cambrian Mountains (in the modern sense of the term) are generally less popular with hillwalkers and scramblers than the ranges to their north and south. Since all of Wales' ranges face the predominant westerly air stream coming in from the Atlantic Ocean, they enjoy high levels of rainfall and are the source of numerous rivers, among which the rivers Severn and Wye, which rise on the eastern slopes of Pumlumon, are the largest.
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Cambridgeshire
Cambridgeshire ( /ˈkeɪmbrɪdʒʃər/ or /ˈkeɪmbrɪdʒʃɪər/; also known, archaically, as the County of Cambridge; abbreviated Cambs.) is a county in England, bordering Lincolnshire to the north, Norfolk to the northeast, Suffolk to the east, Essex and Hertfordshire to the south, and Bedfordshire and Northamptonshire to the west. The principal settlement is the city of Cambridge. Modern Cambridgeshire was formed from the historic counties of Cambridgeshire and Huntingdonshire, together with the Isle of Ely and the Soke of Peterborough; it contains most of the region known as Silicon Fen.
Cambridgeshire is twinned with Kreis Viersen in Germany.
Cambridgeshire is noted as the site of some of the earliest known Neolithic permanent settlements in the United Kingdom, along with sites at Fengate and Balbridie.
Cambridgeshire was recorded in the Domesday Book as "Grantbridgeshire" (or rather Grentebrigescire) (cf the river Granta). Covering a large part of East Anglia, Cambridgeshire today is the result of several local government unifications. In 1888 when county councils were introduced, separate councils were set up, following the traditional division of Cambridgeshire, for
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Central Bedfordshire
Central Bedfordshire is a unitary authority in the ceremonial county of Bedfordshire, England. It was created from the merger of Bedfordshire County Council, Mid Bedfordshire and South Bedfordshire on 1 April 2009. The unitary council provides over a hundred services to 120,000 homes and over a quarter of a million people.
Since 1974, Bedfordshire had been governed as a shire county, mostly under the control of Bedfordshire County Council. It was divided into three local government districts, Bedford Borough, Mid Bedfordshire, and South Bedfordshire. Luton Borough became a unitary authority in 1997.
In 2006 the Department for Communities and Local Government considered reorganising Bedfordshire's administrative structure as part of the 2009 structural changes to local government in England. The four proposals considered were:
On 6 March 2008 the DCLG decided to implement Proposal 2. This meant that from 1 April 2009 there would be three unitary authorities in Bedfordshire: Bedford, Luton and the new Central Bedfordshire. Bedfordshire County Council initially challenged this decision in the High Court, but on 4 April 2008 it was announced the Judicial Review in the High Court had been unsuccessful, and the County Council declared they would not be appealing the decision.
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Charlton School
Coordinates: 52°42′51″N 2°31′22″W / 52.71403°N 2.52284°W / 52.71403; -2.52284
The Charlton School is a Science College in Telford, Shropshire, England. It is consistently among the best performing comprehensive schools in the Telford & Wrekin Local Education Authority.
The Charlton is a successful[citation needed] secondary school in the Telford and Wrekin area. It has a wide range of subjects available to take for GCSE. The school is now part of a Learning Community in collaboration with the neighbouring Dothill Primary school.
Founded in the 1960s, the school was originally an all girls' school. The school's catchment area includes the small towns surrounding it like Wellington and Bratton. In 2003 a sports hall was built and in the following year the school was officially opened as a Science College.
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Cheshire
Cheshire ( /ˈtʃɛʃər/ or /ˈtʃɛʃɪər/; also known as the County Palatine of Chester, and archaically, as the County of Chester; abbreviated Ches.) is a ceremonial county in North West England. Cheshire's county town is the city of Chester, although the largest town since county boundary changes in 1974 is Warrington (moved from Lancashire for administrative purposes in 1974). Other major towns include Widnes (also moved from Lancashire in 1974), Congleton, Crewe, Ellesmere Port, Runcorn, Macclesfield, Winsford, Northwich, and Wilmslow. Historically the county contained the Wirral, Stockport, Altrincham and other towns. The county is bordered by Merseyside and Greater Manchester to the north, Derbyshire to the east, Staffordshire and Shropshire to the south, and Flintshire and Wrexham in Wales to the west. The county is a part of the Welsh Marches.
Cheshire's area is 2,343 square kilometres (905 sq mi) and its population is around 700,000. Apart from the large towns along the River Mersey and the historic city of Chester, it is mostly rural, with a number of small towns and villages that support an agricultural industry. It is historically famous as a former principality and for the production of Cheshire cheese, salt, bulk chemicals, and woven silk.
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Cheshire Plain
The Cheshire Plain is a relatively flat expanse of lowland situated almost entirely within the county of Cheshire in north-west England. It is bounded by the hills of north Wales to the west, and the Peak District of Derbyshire and North Staffordshire to the east and south-east. The Wirral Peninsula lies to the north-west whilst the plain merges with the South Lancashire Plain in the embayment occupied by Manchester to the north. In detail, the plain comprises two areas with distinct characters, the one to the west of the Mid Cheshire Ridge and the other, larger, part to its east.
The Plain is the surface expression of the Cheshire Basin, a deep sedimentary basin that extends north into Lancashire and south into Shropshire. It assumed its current form as the ice-sheets of the last ice age melted away between 20,000 and 15,000 years ago leaving behind a thick cover of glacial till and extensive tracts of glacio-fluvial sand and gravel.
The primary agricultural use of the Cheshire Plain is dairy farming, creating the general appearance of enclosed hedgerow fields.
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Chetwynd Park
Chetwynd Park is an 18th century landscape garden with woodland, on the edge of Newport, Shropshire.
The park can trace its history back to 1388, when it lay southeast of Chetwynd Park estate. The country house is now lost, but the medieval deer park survives as an agricultural showground, used for Newport Show and other events. The deer park was probably established early in the 18th century, and elements of the pleasure grounds in the 1860s. The country house was built on the banks of Chetwynd pool, which is a small lake considered to have formed in the same way as nearby Aqualate Mere
In the 19th century, the park was filled with deciduous trees, including oak, beech, wych elm, horse chestnuts and Spanish chestnuts, and some crab apples. It was stocked with 115 Père David's deer. Before 1891, there was a great arboretum at Chetwynd, which provided cuttings to plant the new church's drive (Leach 1891, 367). J.C.B. Borough also added a strip of land east of the park and north of the Longford, and created a drive to run around the outer edge of that extension, leading from Chetwynd Park to a new lodge on the Longford. This lay opposite the north end of Park Pool. There were other lodges at the south end of the pool, and at the bottom of the drive to the park. The northern part of the park featured a stone icehouse, probably dating from the mid- to late 18th century.
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Chirbury
Coordinates: 52°34′43″N 3°05′24″W / 52.5787°N 3.0901°W / 52.5787; -3.0901
Chirbury (pronounced Churbury) is a village in Shropshire, England. Situated close to the Wales–England border, it is about 3 miles (4.8 km) East of Montgomery and 7 miles (11 km) South of Welshpool, at the junction of the A490 and B4386 roads. Nearby is the River Camlad.
It forms, with the village of Brompton and a number of smaller settlements such as Priestweston and Wotherton, the Chirbury with Brompton civil parish, which according to the 2001 census had a population of 914 with the resident population of Chirbury at 348.
The placename was recorded in 915 as Cyricbyrig in the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, and means "the fort with a church".
Chirbury C. of E. Primary School was founded in 1675 by Reverend Edward Lewis and is school for just under 80 students. On the dissolution of Chirbury Priory, the school building was signed over by King Henry VIII and this original building is currently managed by the Edward Lewis trust .
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Church Stretton
Coordinates: 52°32′20″N 2°48′29″W / 52.539°N 2.808°W / 52.539; -2.808
Church Stretton is a small town and civil parish in Shropshire, England. The town lies entirely in the Shropshire Hills AONB, on the A49 road approximately 13 miles (21 km) south of Shrewsbury, the county town, and 15 miles (24 km) north of Ludlow. The population of the town was recorded as 2,789 in 2001, whilst the population of the wider parish (including the adjacent settlements of All Stretton and Little Stretton) was recorded as 4,186.
The town was nicknamed Little Switzerland in the late-Victorian and Edwardian period, due to its landscape and development as a health resort. The local geology is complex and incorporates some of the oldest rocks in England - a notable fault is named after the town. Today, Church Stretton continues to be a busy market town, as well as being a destination for visitors to the surrounding natural landscape, with the Long Mynd situated immediately to the west of the town and the Stretton Hills to the east.
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City of London
The City of London is an area in central London, England. In the medieval period it constituted most of London, but the conurbation has grown far beyond it. As the City’s boundaries have remained almost unchanged since the Middle Ages, it is now only a tiny part of the metropolis, though it remains a notable part of central London, holds city status in its own right, and is a separate ceremonial county.
It is often referred to as the City (often written on maps as "City") or the Square Mile, as it is just over one square mile (1.12 sq mi/2.90 km2) in area. These terms are also often used as metonyms for the United Kingdom's financial services industry, which continues a notable history of being based in the City.
The term London now refers to a much larger conurbation roughly corresponding to Greater London, a local government area which includes 32 London boroughs including the City of Westminster as well as the City of London. The local authority for the City, the City of London Corporation, is unique in the United Kingdom, and has some unusual responsibilities for a local authority in Britain, such as being the police authority for the City. It also has responsibilities and ownerships beyond the City's boundaries. The Corporation is headed by the Lord Mayor of the City of London, an office separate from (and much older than) the Mayor of London.
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Clee Hills
The Clee Hills are a range of hills in Shropshire, England near Ludlow, consisting of Brown Clee Hill 1,792 feet (546 m), the highest peak in Shropshire, and Titterstone Clee Hill 1,749 feet (533 m). They are both in the Shropshire Hills Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty.
The hills stretch over 15 miles and run north - south, and for about this distance the lowest point along the hills is just under 984 feet (300 m). Titterstone Clee Hill is around five miles south of Brown Clee Hill.
The B4364 road from Ludlow to Bridgnorth runs between the two hills, offering good views of both. The hills have been said to form a "gateway" from the built up areas of the West Midlands to the hills and rural landscape of Wales and are at the heart of the Welsh Marches. Much Quarrying has taken place on the hills over the years, and there are large air traffic control domes and radar towers on the summits of both hills which can be seen for many miles around.
Views from the west of the hills spread as far as Snowdonia and Cadair Idris, the Brecon Beacons, the Black Mountains, The Long Mynd, Stiperstones Shropshire's third highest peak, Corndon Hill and Radnor Forest. To the south are the Malvern Hills and the Cotswolds, and to the east are the Clent Hills, Turner's Hill, Barr Beacon and the spread of the West Midlands. To the north is Cannock Chase, and on a very clear day the hills of the Peak District including The Roaches and Winter Hill.
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Cleobury Mortimer
Coordinates: 52°22′43″N 2°28′56″W / 52.3785°N 2.4821°W / 52.3785; -2.4821
Cleobury Mortimer is a small rural market town in Shropshire, England. The town's parish has a population of 1,962 according to the 2001 census. It is the third smallest town in Shropshire (after Clun and Bishop's Castle), having been granted a town charter in 1253.
Several pronunciations of the town's name are in use. In Cleobury itself "Clib-bree" is commonly used, while in surrounding areas such variations as "Cleb-bree" and "Clee-bree" are used.[citation needed]
The name is believed to derive from the contraction of the Old English clifu meaning a steep place and bury meaning fortified settlement. Mortimer comes from Roger de Mortimer of Normandy to whom the land was granted after the Norman conquest. He founded the Mortimer dynasty of Marcher Lords who held power in the Welsh Marches throughout the Middle Ages and were closely involved with power struggles with successive English monarchs and other powerful Lords. Cleobury has a significant entry in the Domesday Book, and is the site of at least two castles. Cleobury Castle was destroyed in 1155 and only earthworks remain today.
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Clun
Coordinates: 52°25′17″N 3°01′47″W / 52.4214°N 3.0297°W / 52.4214; -3.0297
Clun ( /ˈklʌn/) is a small town in Shropshire, England. The town is located entirely in the Shropshire Hills Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty. The 2001 census recorded 642 people living in the town. Research by the Campaign for the Protection of Rural England suggests that Clun is one of the most tranquil locations in England.
The town's name is taken from that of the River Clun (Welsh: Colunwy), which flows from west to east through the settlement. The Clun Valley is dominated by agriculture, though some areas of woodland remain. The River Unk joins the Clun just to the west of the town.
The A488 and B4368 roads cross in the town of Clun. Craven Arms, Bishop's Castle (6 miles (10 km) to the north) and Ludlow are the neighbouring Shropshire towns, and Knighton, which is in Wales, is 7 miles (11 km) to the south. Nearby is Offa's Dyke and the Offa's Dyke Path. Clun Forest is to the west of the town, further upstream of the Rivers Unk and Clun. The Jack Mytton Way passes through the town as does the Shropshire Way and further significant historic routes pass through the area.
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Clun Castle
Clun Castle is a ruined castle in the small town of Clun, Shropshire. Clun Castle was established by the Norman lord Robert de Say after the invasion and went on to become an important Marcher lord castle in the 12th century, with an extensive castle-guard system. Owned for many years by the Fitzalan family, Clun played a key part in protecting the region from Welsh attack until it was gradually abandoned as a property in favour of the more luxurious Arundel Castle. The Fitzalans converted Clun Castle into a hunting lodge in the 14th century, complete with pleasure gardens, but by the 16th century the castle was largely ruined. Slighted in 1646 after the English Civil War Clun remained in poor condition until renovation work in the 1890s.
Today the castle is classed as a Grade I listed building and as a Scheduled Monument. It is owned by the Duke of Norfolk, who also holds the title of Baron Clun, and is managed by English Heritage.
Clun Castle is located on a bend in the river Clun, overlooking the local village of Clun and the church. The river provides natural defences from the north and west, whilst the main keep of the castle stands upon a large motte or mound. Most historians conclude that this is primarily a natural elevation of rock, which has then been cut and scarped into its current, although others argue that it is mostly artificial. Three similar, but less dramatic mounds around the main motte provide the basic structure for the castle defences.
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Clun Forest
Clun Forest is a remote, rural area of open pastures, moorland and mixed deciduous/coniferous woodland in the southwest part of the English county of Shropshire and also just over the border into Powys, Wales.
It was once a large forest covering an area that stretched from Ludlow up the Clun Valley. It now is only forested in some wooded areas, such as Radnor Wood, though a fairly large area of forest exists on the Wales–England border north of Anchor.
The ancient Offa's Dyke runs north-south through the area (and can be walked by the Offa's Dyke Path).
It is a deanery of the Church of England's Diocese of Hereford.
A. E. Housman wrote as part of his series of poems A Shropshire Lad:
Coordinates: 52°28′N 3°08′W / 52.467°N 3.133°W / 52.467; -3.133
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Clwyd
Clwyd (Welsh pronunciation: [ˈklʊɨd]) is a preserved county of Wales, situated in the north-east, bordering England with Cheshire to its east, Shropshire to the south-east, and the Welsh counties of Gwynedd to its immediate west and Powys to the south. It additionally shares a maritime border with the metropolitan county of Merseyside along the River Dee. Between 1974 and 1996, it was a county with a county council, and it was divided into six districts. It is named after the River Clwyd, which runs through the region. It was also a Royal Mail postal county before the postal county scheme was abolished in 1996. Clwyd County Council was based in the county town of Mold.
From the late 1950s, the radical reform of local government in Wales was considered more pressing than that in England, due to the small size of many of the existing authorities, especially the upper tier county councils. The Local Government Commission for Wales set up in 1958 was the first to recommend wholesale amalgamation of the administrative counties outside Glamorgan and Monmouthshire, with extensive boundary changes; however the then Minister of Housing and Local Government Sir Keith Joseph decided not to accept the report, noting that county amalgamations in England had been highly unpopular when proposed.
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Coalbrookdale
Coalbrookdale is a village in the Ironbridge Gorge in Shropshire, England, containing a settlement of great significance in the history of iron ore smelting. This is where iron ore was first smelted by Abraham Darby using easily mined "coking coal". The coal was drawn from drift mines in the sides of the valley. As it contained far fewer impurities than normal coal, the iron it produced was of a superior quality. Along with many other industrial developments that were going on in other parts of the country, this discovery was a major factor in the growing industrialisation of Britain, which was to become known as the Industrial Revolution. Today, Coalbrookdale is home to the Ironbridge Institute, a partnership between the University of Birmingham and the Ironbridge Gorge Museum Trust offering postgraduate and professional development courses in heritage.
Before the Dissolution of the Monasteries, Madeley and the adjacent Little Wenlock belonged to Much Wenlock Priory. At the Dissolution there was a bloomsmithy called "Caldebroke Smithy". The manor passed about 1572 to John Brooke, who developed coal mining in his manor on a substantial scale. His son Sir Basil Brooke was a significant industrialist, and invested in ironworks elsewhere. It is probable that he also had ironworks at Coalbrookdale, but evidence is lacking. He also acquired an interest in the patent for the cementation process of making steel in about 1615. Though forced to surrender the patent in 1619, he continued making iron and steel until his estate was sequestrated during the Civil War, but the works continued in use.
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Condover
Coordinates: 52°38′53″N 2°45′00″W / 52.648°N 2.75°W / 52.648; -2.75
Condover is a village and civil parish in Shropshire, England. It lies 4.7 miles (7.8 kilometres) south of the county town of Shrewsbury, and just east of the A49. The Cound Brook flows through the village on its way from the Stretton Hills to a confluence with the River Severn. Condover is near to the villages of Dorrington and Bayston Hill, and is the nearest notable settlement to the spot that is the centre point of the geographic county of Shropshire. The centre of the county lies just to the north in a field. The population of the Condover parish was estimated as 1,972 for 2008, of which an estimated 659 live in the village of Condover itself.
Condover contains a higher than normal proportion of Grade II and Grade I listed buildings and over half of the village has been classified as a conservation area since 1976. The more than forty listed structures in Condover range from six separate early cruck-framed buildings and many black-and-white timbered cottages to the present-day Vicarage and several funerary monuments in the churchyard. Of the early half-timbered houses, the most impressive are Church House, the Old School House and the Small House that is now known as Condover Court.
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Cornwall
Cornwall ( /ˈkɔrnwɔːl/ or /ˈkɔrnwəl/;Cornish: Kernow [ˈkɛrnɔʊ]; Latin: Cornubia or Cornuvia) is a unitary authority and ceremonial county of England, within the United Kingdom. It is bordered to the north and west by the Celtic Sea, to the south by the English Channel, and to the east by the county of Devon, over the River Tamar. Cornwall has a population of 537,400 and covers an area of 3,563 km2 (1,376 sq mi). The administrative centre and only city is Truro.
The area now known as Cornwall was first inhabited in the Palaeolithic and Mesolithic periods. It continued to be occupied by Neolithic and then Bronze Age peoples, and later (in the Iron Age) by Brythons with distinctive cultural relations to neighbouring Wales and Brittany. There is little evidence that Roman rule was effective west of Exeter and few Roman remains have been found. Cornwall was a division of the Dumnonii tribe—whose tribal centre was in the modern county of Devon—known as the Cornovii, separated from Wales after the Battle of Deorham, often coming into conflict with the expanding English kingdom of Wessex before King Athelstan in AD 936 set the boundary between English and Cornish at the Tamar. From the early Middle Ages, British language and culture was apparently shared by Brythons trading across both sides of the Channel, evidenced by the corresponding high medieval Breton kingdoms of Domnonee and Cornouaille and the Celtic Christianity common to both territories.
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County Durham
County Durham /ˈdʌrəm/ is a ceremonial county and (smaller) unitary district in north east England. The county town is Durham. The largest settlement in the ceremonial county (in its own unitary Borough) is the town of Darlington. The county has a mixture of mining and farming heritage, as well as a heavy railway industry, particularity in the southwest of the county in Darlington, Shildon and Stockton. Its economy was historically based on coal and iron mining. It is an area of regeneration and promoted as a tourist destination.
The ceremonial county borders Tyne and Wear, North Yorkshire and Northumberland forms part of the North East England region.
Many counties are named after their principal town, and the expected form here would be Durhamshire. The county is commonly known as County Durham but was officially named Durham until at least 1997. The structural change legislation in 2009, however, referred to the county of County Durham. The former postal county was known as "County Durham" to distinguish it from the post town of Durham. Durham is the only English county name to be prefixed with "County" in common usage - a practice more common in Ireland.
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Coventry
Coventry (i/ˈkɒvəntri/) is a city and metropolitan borough in the county of West Midlands in England. Coventry is the 9th largest city in England and the 11th largest in the United Kingdom. It is also the second largest city in the English Midlands, after Birmingham, with a population of 300,848, although Stoke-on-Trent, Leicester and Nottingham have larger urban areas. The population of Coventry had risen to 315,800 as of 2010, according to the Office of National Statistics.
Historically within Warwickshire, Coventry is situated 95 miles (153 km) northwest of central London and 19 miles (31 km) east-southeast of Birmingham, and is further from the coast than any other city in Britain. Although harbouring a population of almost a third of a million inhabitants, Coventry is not amongst the English Core Cities Group due to its proximity to Birmingham.
Coventry was the world's first twin city when it formed a twinning relationship with the Russian city of Stalingrad (now Volgograd) during World War II. The relationship developed through ordinary people in Coventry who wanted to show their support for the Soviet Red Army during the Battle of Stalingrad. The city is now also twinned with Dresden, Lidice and 23 other cities around the world.
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Craven Arms
Coordinates: 52°26′24″N 2°50′06″W / 52.440°N 2.835°W / 52.440; -2.835
Craven Arms is a small town and civil parish in Shropshire, England, on the A49 road and the Welsh Marches railway line, which link it north and south to the larger towns of Shrewsbury and Ludlow respectively. The Heart of Wales railway line joins the Welsh Marches line at Craven Arms and the town has a small railway station. The town is enclosed to the north by the Shropshire Hills Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty, and to the south is the fortified manor house of Stokesay Castle.
Craven Arms is a market town for the surrounding rural area, with a number of shops, banks, estate agents, a supermarket, an abattoir and many commercial/light industrial businesses. It is also a visitor destination, being home or nearby to a number of attractions, and being central for visitors to the area of outstanding natural beauty. It describes itself as the "Gateway to the Marches".
Craven Arms is a relatively new town (for Shropshire), being only a small village "Newton" on a map of 1695. The settlement grew when the railways came during the mid to late 19th century, making it a railway town. Newton or Newtown is still the name for the southeastern part of the present day town, while the northern part is called Newington or New Inn (another small village which existed prior to the town). The town takes its name from the Craven Arms Hotel, situated on the junction of the A49 and B4368 roads, which in turn is named after the Lords Craven (who owned nearby Stokesay Castle).
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Cumbria
Cumbria ( /ˈkʌmbriə/, locally [ˈkʊmbɾiə]) is a non-metropolitan county in North West England. The county and Cumbria County Council, its local authority, came into existence in 1974 after the passage of the Local Government Act 1972. Cumbria's largest settlement and county town is Carlisle and the only other major urban area is the town of Barrow-in-Furness on the south-western tip of the county. It consists of six districts, and in 2008 had a population of just under half a million. Cumbria is one of the most sparsely populated counties in the United Kingdom, with 73.4 people per km2 (190/sq mi). In comparison, the Borough of Barrow-in-Furness, in the south, has a population density over twelve times this at 921/km2 (2,385.3/sq mi).
Cumbria, the third largest ceremonial county in England by area, is bounded to the north by the Scottish council areas of Dumfries and Galloway and Scottish Borders, to the west by the Irish Sea, to the south by Lancashire, to the southeast by North Yorkshire, and to the east by County Durham and Northumberland.
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Dawley
Coordinates: 52°39′50″N 2°28′04″W / 52.6638°N 2.4677°W / 52.6638; -2.4677
Dawley is a small town in the borough of Telford and Wrekin and ceremonial county of Shropshire, England. Today it forms part of the new town of Telford (which was originally, in 1963, going to be named Dawley New Town before it was decided in 1968 to name the town Telford instead after the engineer and road builder Thomas Telford). Dawley is however one of the older settlements in Shropshire, being mentioned in the Domesday Book. It is divided into Dawley Magna ("Great Dawley") and Little Dawley (also shown as Dawley Parva ("Little Dawley") on older maps). The town's main parish is officially called Great Dawley - Dawley Hamlets is a separate parish, which covers Little Dawley and other neighbouring villages/suburbs.
The nearest railway station is Telford Central. Historically, the Great Western Railway maintained a line that passed through the parish, going through the tunnel at Heath Hill. This is currently part of Telford Steam Railway's expansion project
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Derby
Derby (i/ˈdɑːbi/ DAR-bi), is a city and unitary authority in the East Midlands region of England. It lies upon the banks of the River Derwent and is located in the south of the ceremonial county of Derbyshire. In the 2001 census, the population of the city was 233,700, whilst that of the Derby Urban Area was 229,407. According to the 2001 census, Derby was at that time the 18th largest settlement in England, measured by urban area.
The city has Roman, Saxon and Viking origins.
The Roman camp of 'Derventio' was probably at Little Chester/Chester Green (grid reference SK353375); The site of the old Roman fort is at Chester Green. Later the town was one of the 'Five Boroughs' (fortified towns) of the Danelaw.
Djúra-bý, recorded in Anglo-Saxon as Deoraby "Village of the Deer". This popular belief is asserted by Tim Lambert who states, "The name Derby is derived from the Danish words deor by meaning deer settlement" without reference or proof. However some[who?] assert that it is a corruption of the original Roman name 'Derventio'. The proven origin of the name "Derby" would seem to be elusive.
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Derbyshire
Coordinates: 53°8′N 1°36′W / 53.133°N 1.6°W / 53.133; -1.6
Derbyshire (i/ˈdɑrbɨʃə/ DAR-bi-shər or /ˈdɑrbɪʃɪər/ DAR-bi-sheer; abbreviated Derbys. or Derbs.) is a county in the East Midlands of England. A substantial portion of the Peak District National Park lies within Derbyshire. The southern extremity of the Pennine range of hills extends into the north of the county. The county contains within its boundary of approximately 225 miles part of the National Forest. It borders on Greater Manchester to the northwest, West Yorkshire to the north, South Yorkshire to the northeast, Nottinghamshire to the east, Leicestershire to the southeast, Staffordshire to the west and southwest and Cheshire also to the west. In 2003 the Ordnance Survey placed Church Flatts farm, near Coton in the Elms, as the furthest point from the sea in Great Britain.
The city of Derby is now a unitary authority area, but remains part of the ceremonial county of Derbyshire. The non-metropolitan county contains 30 towns with between 10,000 and 100,000 inhabitants. There is a large amount of sparsely populated agricultural upland: 75% of the population live in 25% of the area.[citation needed]
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Devon
Coordinates: 50°42′N 3°48′W / 50.7°N 3.8°W / 50.7; -3.8
Devon ( /ˈdɛvən/) is a large county in southwestern England. The county is sometimes referred to as Devonshire, although it has never been officially "shired" and that use often indicates a traditional or historical context. Nowadays, "Devonshire" is mostly a demonym.
The county shares borders with Cornwall to the west and Dorset and Somerset to the east. Its southern coast abuts the English Channel and its northern coast the Bristol Channel and Celtic Sea. The name "Devon" derives from the ancient Dumnonia, which was home to the independent kingdom of Brythonic Celtic speaking people who inhabited this area of the southwestern peninsula of Britain continuously from through the Roman era until partial absorption into the English-speaking Kingdom of Wessex some time in the eighth or ninth century, with some emigration to the sister Kingdom of Domnonee in Brittany taking place.
Devon is the fourth largest of the English counties by area and has a population of 1,141,600 making it the 11th most populous. The county town is the cathedral city of Exeter. In addition to Devon County Council, the county contains two unitary authorities (independent from Devon County Council's control): the port city of Plymouth and Torbay, a conurbation of seaside resorts. Plymouth is also the largest city in Devon. Much of the county is rural (including national park) land, with a low population density by British standards. It contains Dartmoor 954 km2 (368 sq mi), the largest open space in southern England. It is the only English county to have two separate coastlines – a north and southern coastline.
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Dorset
Dorset (
/ˈdɔrsɨt/) (or archaically, Dorsetshire), is a county in South West England on the English Channel coast. The county town is Dorchester which is situated in the south. The Hampshire towns of Bournemouth and Christchurch joined the county with the reorganisation of local government in 1974. The ceremonial county comprises the area covered by the non-metropolitan county, which is governed by Dorset County Council, together with the unitary authorities of Poole and Bournemouth. Dorset covers an area of 2,653 square kilometres (1,024 sq mi); it borders Devon to the west, Somerset to the north-west, Wiltshire to the north-east, and Hampshire to the east. Around half of Dorset's population lives in the South East Dorset conurbation. The rest of the county is largely rural with a low population density.
The county has a long history of human settlement and some notable archaeology, including the hill forts of Maiden Castle and Hod Hill. A large defensive ditch, Bokerley Dyke, delayed the Saxon conquest of Dorset for up to 150 years. In 1348 the black death came ashore at Melcombe Regis and spread throughout England, killing a third of the population. Dorset has seen much civil unrest: the first trade union was formed by farm labourers from Tolpuddle in 1834, the Glorious Revolution was instigated in an ice-house at Charborough Park, and the Duke of Monmouth and his rebels landed at Lyme Regis. During the English Civil War (1642–1651) angry yokels fought with Cromwell's forces near Shaftesbury. The naval base at Portland has had a pivotal role in the nation's defence for many years, and with Weymouth and Poole was one of the main embarkation points on D-Day.
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Dudmaston Hall
Dudmaston Hall is a 17th century country house in the care of the National Trust in the Severn Valley, Shropshire, England, United Kingdom.
Dudmaston Hall is located near the village of Quatt, a few miles south of the market town of Bridgnorth, just off the A442 road.
The property is a late 17th century country mansion and an example of a traditional Shropshire country estate, in that it comprises the main hall, the landscaped gardens, parkland, managed woodlands, lakeside, farmland and the estate cottages, for example at Quatt, a model village designed by London architect John Birch in 1870 for the workers and tenants of the estate.
The Dudmaston estate has been in the Wolryche family or the barely related Wolryche-Whitmore family since 1403, when William Wolryche of nearby Much Wenlock acquired it by marriage to the heiress of the former owners, Margaret de Dudmaston. It is likely that the medieval house was replaced by a structure on the site of the present building in the 16th century. This is shown in a stylised way on old maps as a fortified manor house. It is likely that the main source of income was sheep raising, an important part of the late medieval economy, in which the wool trade played a central role. Unlike many of the Shropshire and Staffordshire gentry, the Wolryches accepted the Reformation and became stalwart Anglicans, but were royalists, as loyal to the House of Stuart as to their Tudor predecessors.
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East Midlands
The East Midlands is one of the regions of England, consisting of most of the eastern half of the traditional region of the Midlands. It encompasses the combined area of Nottinghamshire, Derbyshire, Leicestershire, Rutland, Northamptonshire and most of Lincolnshire.
A looser definition of the East Midlands might also include the City of Peterborough (once part of Northamptonshire, but now Cambridgeshire), and North Lincolnshire.[citation needed]
The highest point in the region is Kinder Scout in the Peak District, at 2,088 ft (636 m). The centre of the East Midlands area lies roughly between Bingham and Bottesford. The geographical centre of England lies in Higham on the Hill in west Leicestershire, close to the boundary between the East and West Midlands. 88% of the land is rural, although agriculture accounts for less than three percent of the region's jobs. All of the coastline within the region falls within Lincolnshire.
The region is home to large quantities of limestone, and the East Midlands Oil Province. Charnwood Forest is noted for its abundant levels of volcanic rock, estimated to be approximately 600 million years old.
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East Staffordshire
East Staffordshire is a local government district with borough status in Staffordshire in England. It has two main towns, Burton upon Trent, famous for its breweries, and Uttoxeter, for its racecourse.
Villages in the area include Abbots Bromley, Tutbury, Barton-under-Needwood, Rolleston on Dove, Hanbury, Kingstone, Marchington, Mayfield and The Heath.
The borough was formed on April 1, 1974 by the merger of the former county borough of Burton upon Trent with Uttoxeter Urban District, Tutbury Rural District and Uttoxeter Rural District.
The main roads through the Borough are the A38 through Burton upon Trent and the A50 near Uttoxeter.
There are two railway stations in the Borough, Burton-on-Trent on the Cross Country Route and Uttoxeter on the Crewe to Derby Line, There is also a station serving Tutbury also on the Crewe to Derby Line called Tutbury and Hatton which is in the South Derbyshire district.
Coordinates: 52°48′29″N 1°38′45″W / 52.8080°N 1.6457°W / 52.8080; -1.6457
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East Sussex
East Sussex ( /ˈsʌsɨks/) is a county in South East England. It is bordered by the counties of Kent, Surrey and West Sussex, and to the south by the English Channel.
East Sussex is part of the historic county of Sussex, which has its roots in the ancient kingdom of the South Saxons, who established themselves there in the 5th century AD, after the departure of the Romans. Archaeological remains are plentiful, especially in the upland areas. The area's position on the coast has also meant that there were many invaders, including the Romans and later the Normans. Earlier industries have included fishing, iron-making, and the wool trade, all of which have declined, or been lost completely.
Sussex is traditionally divided into six sub-divisions known as rapes. From the 12th century the three eastern rapes and the three western rapes each had separate quarter sessions, with the county town of the three eastern rapes being Lewes. This situation was formalised by Parliament in 1865, and the two parts were made into administrative counties, each with distinct elected county councils in 1889 under the Local Government Act 1888. In East Sussex there were also three self-administered county boroughs: Brighton, Eastbourne and Hastings.
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Elan Valley
The Elan Valley (Welsh: Cwm Elan) is a river valley situated to the west of Rhayader, in Powys, Wales, sometimes known as the "Welsh Lake District". It covers 70 square miles (180 km2) of lake and countryside.
The valley contains the Elan Valley Reservoirs and Elan Village, designed by architect Herbert Tudor Buckland as part of the same scheme. Elan Village is the only purpose-built Arts and Crafts "Model Village" in Wales. It is also the spiritual home of Michael Waldron.
It is also famous for its picturesque scenery. Over 80% of the valley is designated as Sites of Special Scientific Interest, and a popular cycle trail, the Elan Valley Trail, makes a loop from Rhayader around the reservoirs. Part of the trail overlaps with a spur of National Cycle Route 81 (Lon Cambria).
Coordinates: 52°15′44″N 3°35′19″W / 52.26222°N 3.58861°W / 52.26222; -3.58861
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Ellesmere College
Coordinates: 52°53′43″N 2°53′31″W / 52.89522°N 2.89189°W / 52.89522; -2.89189
Ellesmere College is an independent co-educational English independent school located in Ellesmere and based in rural northern Shropshire, England.
It was founded in 1884 by Canon Nathaniel Woodard as a boys' school in association with the Church of England, on a 114-acre (460,000 m2) campus, with views across to the Breidden Hills.
Ellesmere College is a member of the Woodard Corporation, the largest group of independent schools in the United Kingdom. Pupils range in ages from 7 to 18, and the school consists of a Lower School, Middle School, Senior School and Sixth Form.Ellesmere offers the International Baccalaureate as well as A Levels in its Sixth Form. In addition to academic classroom work, the school places a strong emphasis on extra-curricular activities, such as artistic, sporting or outdoor activities. The school has in recent years become famous for its elite sporting academies, especially its swimming programme - Ellesmere College Titans - attracting top swimming pupils from all over the UK and Europe. The school also has Rugby, Tennis, Shooting and Cricket Academies and offers scholarships and bursaries for talented young people.
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English Channel
The English Channel (French: la Manche, Breton: Mor Breizh, Cornish: Mor Bretannek), often referred to simply as the Channel, is an arm of the Atlantic Ocean that separates southern England from northern France, and joins the North Sea to the Atlantic. It is about 560 km (350 mi) long and varies in width from 240 km (150 mi) at its widest to 34 km (21 mi) in the Strait of Dover. It is the smallest of the shallow seas around the continental shelf of Europe, covering an area of some 75,000 km2 (29,000 sq mi).
The International Hydrographic Organization defines the limits of the English Channel as follows:
On the West. A line joining Isle Vierge (48°38′23″N 4°34′13″W / 48.63972°N 4.57028°W / 48.63972; -4.57028) to Lands End (50°04′N 5°43′W / 50.067°N 5.717°W / 50.067; -5.717).
On the East. The Southwestern limit of the North Sea.
The IHO defines the southwestern limit of the North Sea as "a line joining the Walde Lighthouse (France, 1°55'E) and Leathercoat Point (England, 51°10'N)". The Walde Lighthouse is 6 km east of Calais (50°59′06″N 1°55′00″E / 50.985°N 1.9166667°E / 50.985; 1.9166667), and Leathercoat Point is at the north end of St Margaret's Bay, Kent (51°10′00″N 1°24′00″E / 51.1666667°N 1.4°E / 51.1666667; 1.4).
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Essex
Essex ( /ˈɛsɨks/) is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in the East of England, and one of the home counties. It is located to the northeast of Greater London. It borders with Cambridgeshire and Suffolk to the north, Hertfordshire to the west, Kent to the South and London to the south west. Essex County Council is the principal local authority for much of the county, sharing functions with twelve district councils. The county town is Chelmsford. The southern Essex boroughs of Thurrock and Southend-on-Sea are governed separately as unitary authorities. It was established in antiquity and formed the eastern portion of the Kingdom of Essex. Sections of the county closer to London are part of the Metropolitan Green Belt, which prohibits development. It is the location of the regionally significant Lakeside Shopping Centre and London Stansted Airport; and the new towns of Basildon and Harlow.
The name Essex originates in the Anglo-Saxon period of the Early Middle Ages and has its root in the Old English Ēastseaxe (i.e. the "East Saxons"), the eastern kingdom of the Saxons. Originally (in 527 AD) it occupied territory to the north of the River Thames, incorporating all of what later became Middlesex and most of what later became Hertfordshire, though its territory was later restricted to lands east of the River Lea.Colchester in the north east of the county is Britain's oldest recorded town, dating back to before the Roman conquest, when it was known as Camulodunum and was sufficiently well-developed to have its own mint. Subsequently the Kingdom of Essex was subsumed into the Kingdom of England and Essex eventually became a county.
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Frankton Junction
Frankton Junction (grid reference SJ369318) is the name of the canal junction where the Montgomery Canal terminates and meets the Llangollen Canal at Lower Frankton, Shropshire, England.
The Llangollen Canal is the modern name for a canal which was originally part of the Ellesmere Canal. Construction of the Ellesmere Canal was authorised by an Act of Parliament obtained in 1793. By 1796, the company had opened two sections of canal, one from Chester to Ellesmere Port, which was very successful commercially, and the other was the Llanymynech Branch, which left the Chester Canal at Hurleston Junction, and passed through Whitchurch, Ellesmere and Frankton to reach Llanymynech. Ten years later, a total of 68 miles (109 km) of canal had been built, including a navigable feeder from Frankton to a little beyond Llangollen, which brought water from the River Dee, and was the main water supply for much of the network. The completion of this branch effectively created the junction.
Many changes of ownership and name occurred, the first of which was the amalgamation of the Ellesmere and the Chester Canal companies to become the Ellesmere and Chester Canal in 1813. In 1845, this company amalgamated with the Birmingham and Liverpool Junction Canal, which linked the southern terminus at Nantwich to Autherley Junction near Wolverhampton. In the following year, this company was renamed to become the Shropshire Union Railways and Canal Company, which became part of the London and North Western Railway a few months later.
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Gloucestershire
Gloucestershire (i/ˈɡlɒstərʃər/ GLOSS-tər-shər; abbreviated Glos.) is a county in South West England. The county comprises part of the Cotswold Hills, part of the flat fertile valley of the River Severn, and the entire Forest of Dean.
The county town is the city of Gloucester, and other principal towns include Cheltenham, Cirencester, Stroud, and Tewkesbury.
When considered as a ceremonial county, Gloucestershire borders the preserved county of Gwent in Wales (now Monmouthshire), and in England the ceremonial counties of Herefordshire, Worcestershire, Warwickshire, Oxfordshire, Wiltshire and Somerset. Ceremonially, it includes the area covered by the South Gloucestershire unitary authority.
According to a 2002 campaign by the charity Plantlife, the county flower of Gloucestershire is the Wild Daffodil.
Gloucestershire is a historic county mentioned in the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle in the 10th century, though the areas of Winchcombe and the Forest of Dean were not added until the late 11th century. Gloucestershire originally included the then "small town" of Bristol. The "local" rural community moved to the port city, (as Bristol was to become) and Bristol's population growth accelerated during the industrial revolution. Bristol became part of the administrative County of Avon in 1974.
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Greater London
Greater London is the top-level administrative division of England covering London. It was created in 1965 and spans the City of London and the 32 London boroughs. This territory has the same boundaries as the London Government Office Region and the London European Parliament constituency. The region has by far the highest GVA per capita in the United Kingdom. It covers 1,572 km2 (607 sq mi) and had a 2009 mid-year estimated population of 7,753,600. The term Greater London was in use before 1965 to refer to a variously defined area, larger than the County of London and often similar to the Metropolitan Police District.
In addition to its administrative and statistical functions, Greater London (excluding the City of London) is one of the 48 ceremonial counties of England, and is under the Greater London Lieutenancy.
Instead of forming a single political unit, London is divided into the small, interior City of London and the much wider Greater London. This arrangement has come about because as the area of London grew and absorbed neighbouring settlements, a series of administrative reforms did not fully amalgamate the City of London with the metropolitan area, and its unique political structure was retained. Outside the limited boundaries of the old city, a variety of arrangements governed the wider area since 1855, culminating with the creation of the Greater London administrative area in 1965.
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Greater Manchester
Greater Manchester is a metropolitan county in North West England, with a population of 2.6 million. It encompasses one of the largest metropolitan areas in the United Kingdom and comprises ten metropolitan boroughs: Bolton, Bury, Oldham, Rochdale, Stockport, Tameside, Trafford, Wigan, and the cities of Manchester and Salford. Greater Manchester was created on 1 April 1974 as a result of the Local Government Act 1972.
Greater Manchester spans 493 square miles (1,277 km2). It is landlocked and borders Cheshire (to the south-west and south), Derbyshire (to the south-east), West Yorkshire (to the north-east), Lancashire (to the north) and Merseyside (to the west). There is a mix of high-density urban areas, suburbs, semi-rural and rural locations in Greater Manchester, but overwhelmingly the land use is urban. It has a focused central business district, formed by Manchester city centre and the adjoining parts of Salford and Trafford, but Greater Manchester is also a polycentric county with ten metropolitan districts, each of which has at least one major town centre and outlying suburbs. The Greater Manchester Urban Area is the third most populous conurbation in the UK, and spans across most of the county's territory.
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Grindley Brook
Coordinates: 52°58′55″N 2°42′40″W / 52.982°N 2.711°W / 52.982; -2.711
Grindley Brook is a small village in Shropshire, England, on the A41 trunk road around 1.5 miles north west of the market town of Whitchurch. It is the most northerly settlement in Shropshire and borders directly onto Cheshire, and is within the civil parish of Whitchurch Rural.
It is also the name of a small brook which flows past the village and marks the Cheshire-Shropshire border at this point.
The Llangollen branch of the Shropshire Union Canal passes through the village, and it is here that the canal descends to the Cheshire Plain. Three locks rise in a staircase near the village, and there are three other locks as the canal passes through the village.
The village is the starting point for four long-distance footpaths: the Maelor, Shropshire and South Cheshire Ways and the Sandstone Trail, and several others run through the village, including the Marches Way.
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Halesowen
Coordinates: 52°27′01″N 2°03′03″W / 52.450164°N 2.050935°W / 52.450164; -2.050935
Halesowen ( /heɪlzˈoʊ.ɨn/) is a town in the Metropolitan Borough of Dudley, in the West Midlands, England. After the construction of the M5 motorway a part of Halesowen's Lapal suburb, Carters Lane to the east of the M5 and the roads which culminate on it, were separated from the rest of it and thus fell within Birmingham City Council's boundary. It is now included in the city's Woodgate ward but retains Halesowen as its post town and the B62 postcode.
The population, as measured by the United Kingdom Census 2001, was 55,273. Halesowen is included in the Halesowen and Rowley Regis constituency which is held by the Conservative James Morris.
Halesowen was a detached part of the county of Shropshire but was incorporated into Worcestershire in 1844 by the Counties (Detached Parts) Act. Since the local government reorganisation of 1974 it has formed a part of the West Midlands Metropolitan County and Conurbation, in the Dudley Metropolitan Borough, which it joined at the same time as neighbouring Stourbridge.
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Hampshire
Hampshire (i/ˈhæmpʃɪər/ or /ˈhæmpʃər/; abbreviated Hants) is a county on the southern coast of England in the United Kingdom. The county town of Hampshire is Winchester, the former capital city of England. Hampshire is the most populous ceremonial county in the United Kingdom and if excluding newly formed metropolitan counties such as the West Midlands, Hampshire would be the most populous county in the whole of the United Kingdom. Hampshire is notable for housing the birthplaces of the Royal Navy, British Army, and Royal Air Force. The ceremonial county borders Dorset to the west, Wiltshire to the north-west, Berkshire to the north, Surrey to the north-east, and West Sussex to the east. The southern boundary is the coastline of the English Channel and The Solent.
Hampshire is the largest county in South East England and the third largest shire county in the United Kingdom despite losing more land than any other English county during the Local Government Act 1972 boundary changes. At its greatest size in 1889, Hampshire was the fifth largest county in England. It now has an overall area of 3,700 square kilometres (1,400 sq mi), and measures approximately 86 kilometres (53 mi) east–west and 76 kilometres (47 mi) north–south.
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Haughmond Abbey
Haughmond Abbey is a ruined, medieval, Augustinian monastery a few miles from Shrewsbury, England. It was probably founded in the early 12th century. The local pronunciation is approximately /ˈhoʊ.mənd/, hoe mund. Dissolved in 1539, its site is in the care of English Heritage and is open to the public.
The precise origins of the Abbey are unclear. It is known that it was put on a sound footing for the first time in the years around 1135, when Henry I died and the country passed into the Anarchy, in which Stephen and Empress Matilda competed for power. Around that time William Fitzalan granted a fishery at Preston Boats, about 3km south of the abbey on the River Severn - the first clear indication that the abbey existed. It is not certain that Wiliam Fitzalan founded or was the first to endow the community. His father, Alan fitz Flaad, acquired the abbey site, along with other large estates in Shropshire and Sussex from Rainald de Bailleul. It is possible that he was the founder, or even that it began before his time, as a small religious community towards the end of the 11th century. Augustinian communities often began as small gatherings around a noted hermit before growing into established monasteries, or even small religious orders: the Abbey of Arrouaise in northern France, which had a Shropshire community at nearby Lilleshall Abbey, is an example.
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Haughmond Hill
Haughmond Hill is a small, shallow hill in the English county of Shropshire. It is covered by woodland for the most part, although there is an open cast quarry (for stone aggregates) in use. Its proximity to the town of Shrewsbury has meant that it has become something of a forest park, with guided paths, car parking and picnic areas maintained in places. The rocky summit overlooks countryside and Shrewsbury itself. The villages of Uffington and Upton Magna lie below and the B5062, Shrewsbury to Newport, road runs through the northern half of the woodland.
Deer can be found in the woods, which are mixed deciduous/coniferous and are to some extent used for forestry to this day.
The hill has several dubious connections with the Battle of Shrewsbury in 1403. Queen Eleanor's Bower is a small enclosure on the hill from which the wife of Henry IV of England supposedly watched the battle's progress. Finally, the "bosky hill" mentioned in Act V Scene i of Shakespeare's Henry IV part 1 is almost certainly Haughmond, which looms to the east of the battlefield:
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Hawkstone Park
Hawkstone Park is an historic landscape park with pleasure grounds and gardens formerly belonging to Hawkstone Hall, near to Market Drayton, in Shropshire, England, UK, one mile (1.6 km) east of the A49 road.
Today the park consists of 100 acres (40 ha) of follies and landscaped parkland grounds and rocky outcrops, based around the authentic Norman castle of Red Castle.
The Hawkstone house was established by Richard Hill of Hawkstone (1655–1727), also known as 'The Great Hill', circa 1707, whilst the follies, estate and reputation were mainly established by his nephew and heir Sir Rowland Hill, 1st Baronet Hill of Hawkstone (1705–1783) and Sir Richard Hill, 2nd Baronet (1733–1808) in the 18th century.
The park then fell foul of a century of neglect and decay until an ongoing programme of restoration was started in 1990, enabling it to be re-opened in 1993. It is now scheduled as Grade-1 listed on the National Register of Historic Parks and Gardens. It takes a 2.5 hour hiking tour to completely see each folly and their landscapes (a reasonable level of physical fitness and mobility is required and there are many steps, ascents and descents). At some times of the year, not all site trails are accessible.
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Herefordshire
Herefordshire ( /ˈhɛrɨfərdʃər/; abbreviated Herefs.) is a historic and ceremonial county in the West Midlands region of England. For Eurostat purposes it is a NUTS 3 region (code UKG11) and is one of three counties that comprise the "Herefordshire, Worcestershire and Gloucestershire" NUTS 2 region. It also forms a unitary district known as the County of Herefordshire. It borders the English ceremonial counties of Shropshire to the north, Worcestershire to the east, Gloucestershire to the south-east, and the Welsh preserved counties of Gwent to the south-west and Powys to the west. Hereford is a cathedral city and is the county town; with a population of approximately 55,800 inhabitants it is also the largest settlement.
The county is one of the most rural and sparsely populated in England, with a population density of 82/km² (212/sq mi). The land use is predominantly agricultural and the county is well known for its fruit and cider production, and the Hereford cattle breed.
From 1974 to 1998, Herefordshire was part of the former non-metropolitan county of Hereford and Worcester.
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Hertfordshire
Hertfordshire (i/ˈhɑrtfərdʃɪər/ or /ˈhɑrfərdʃər/; abbreviated Herts) is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in the East region of England. The county town is Hertford.
Hertfordshire is one of the home counties and lies inland, bordered by Greater London (to the south), Buckinghamshire (to the west), Bedfordshire (including the unitary authorities of Luton and Central Bedfordshire to the north), Cambridgeshire (to the north east) and Essex (to the east).
Hertfordshire was originally the area assigned to a fortress constructed at Hertford under the rule of Edward the Elder in 913. The name Hertford is derived from the Anglo-Saxon heort ford, meaning deer crossing (of a watercourse). The name Hertfordshire first appears in the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle in 1011. Deer feature prominently in many county emblems.
There is evidence of human beings living in Hertfordshire since the Middle Stone Age. It was first farmed during the Neolithic period and permanent habitation appeared at the beginning of the Bronze Age. This was followed by tribes settling in the area during the Iron Age.
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Highley
Coordinates: 52°26′55″N 2°22′56″W / 52.44872°N 2.38219°W / 52.44872; -2.38219
Highley is a large village in Shropshire, England, on the west bank of the River Severn and on the B4555 road. Highley has a population of approximately 3,100, but is beset by transport problems due to the lack of a road bridge, resulting in a high unemployment rate.[citation needed]
Highley began as a rural farming community, including an entry in the Domesday Book, later becoming a significant area for stone quarrying which provided some of the stone for Worcester Cathedral. Coal mining began in the area in the Middle Ages but in the late 19th century the village was revolutionised by coal mining with large scale operations really beginning in 1878. A period of intense house-building also followed, giving Highley its distinctive red-brick terraced miners houses. In the 1930s, during the mine's peak production period, the mine was extended to the neighbouring village of Alveley across the River Severn. Both an underground tunnel and a bridge (known as 'the Pit Bridge') were constructed between the two villages. Two historical bridging points exist at Bridgnorth to the North and Bewdley to the South, and whilst the bridge belonging to the former National Coal Board was deemed unsafe for general vehicular traffic there exists in Hampton Loade a private bridge used by the emergency services.
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Horsehay
Coordinates: 52°39′23″N 2°29′27″W / 52.65648°N 2.490699°W / 52.65648; -2.490699
Horsehay is a village on the western outskirts of Dawley, which, along with several other towns and villages, now forms part of the new town of Telford in Shropshire, England. Horsehay lies in the Dawley Hamlets parish, and on the northern edge of the Ironbridge Gorge area.
Its name is Anglo Saxon for 'an enclosure for horses'. Horsehay has four pubs - The Station Inn, The Forester Arms, the All Labour In Vain and the Travellers Joy - a Methodist Chapel and a post office. Horsehay also has its very own golf course, complete with restaurant.
Originally Horsehay was nothing more than a farm, until the 1750s when Abraham Darby II built a blast furnace next to what is now known as Horsehay Pool. Coalbrookdale Company further developed the area, constructing brickworks and later a pottery in 1838. Coalbrookdale specialised in the smaller and more decorative ironwork pieces, whereas Horsehay produced many larger scale products, including the railway bridge in nearby Shifnal. As the iron trade in the area began to slump in 1857 the railway arrived, and Horsehay is still home to the Telford Steam Railway to this day. A.B. Cranes bought the site previously occupied by the ironworks to manufacture some of the largest cranes in Europe until it closed down in 1983. The site has been transformed into both a small factory estate and a housing estate. The houses which were kept for the ironworks employees were clustered around Horsehay Pool in Spring Village, and they are still lived in today.
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Idsall School
Coordinates: 52°40′20″N 2°21′58″W / 52.67220°N 2.36608°W / 52.67220; -2.36608
Idsall School is a comprehensive secondary school with Sports College status located in the small town of Shifnal in Shropshire, England. Idsall has its own Sixth Form Centre, which offers a range of A Level subjects.
When joining the school, pupils are assigned a house (usually, two tutor groups belong to each house) during their first week. The houses are named after four Shropshire hills (Caradoc, Longmynd, Ragleth and Wrekin). They take part in sports (and others, including scrabble) competitions throughout the year. Every year at the end of summer term, there is a whole school assembly. At this assembly the house that has collected the most points throughout the year is the winner and is awarded the Finney Shield.
The school holds annual residential trips to Plas Caerdion and Arthog (both in Wales) for years 7 and 9, respectively, and skiing trips in Austria/France for years 8,9,10,11 12 and 13. Also, a non-residential field trip for year 8s is Chester Zoo. During year 8, pupils take part in the year 8 challenge, which acts as a foundation to the Duke of Edinburgh's bronze award, and includes a walk up the 'House Hill' amongst other things.
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Ironbridge
Coordinates: 52°37′40″N 2°29′07″W / 52.6278°N 2.4854°W / 52.6278; -2.4854
Ironbridge is a settlement on the River Severn, at the heart of the Ironbridge Gorge, in Shropshire, England. It lies in the civil parish of The Gorge, in the borough of Telford and Wrekin. Ironbridge developed beside, and takes its name from, the famous Iron Bridge, a 30 metre (100 ft) cast iron bridge that was built across the river there in 1779.
The area around Ironbridge is described by those promoting it as a tourist destination as the "Birthplace of the Industrial Revolution". This description is based on the idea that Abraham Darby perfected the technique of smelting iron with coke, in Coalbrookdale, allowing much cheaper production of iron. However, the industrial revolution did not "begin" in one place, but in many. The growth of railways, spinning machines, weaving and other industrial inventions and activities were going on all over the country. Smelting iron by Darby was but one small part of this generalised revolution and was soon superseded by the great iron-smelting areas. However, the bridge - being the first of its kind fabricated from cast iron, and one of the few which have survived to the present day - remains an important symbol representative of the dawn of the industrial age.[citation needed]
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Ironbridge Gorge
The Ironbridge Gorge is a deep gorge formed by the River Severn in Shropshire, England.
Originally called the Severn Gorge, the gorge now takes its name from its famous Iron Bridge, the first iron bridge of its kind in the world, and a monument to the industry that began there. The bridge was built in 1779 to link the industrial town of Broseley with the smaller mining town of Madeley and the growing industrial centre of Coalbrookdale.
There are two reasons the site was so useful to the early industrialists. The raw materials, coal, iron ore, limestone and clay, for the manufacture of iron, tiles and porcelain are exposed or easily mined in the gorge. The deep and wide river allowed easy transport of products to the sea.
The gorge carries the River Severn south towards the Bristol Channel. It was formed during the last ice age when the output from the previously north flowing river became trapped in a lake (Lake Lapworth) created when the Irish Sea ice sheet dammed the river. The level of the lake rose until it was able to flow over the hills to the south. This flow eroded a path through the hills forming the gorge and permanently diverting the Severn southwards.
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Isle of Wight
The Isle of Wight is a county and the largest island of England, located in the English Channel, on average about 2–5 miles (3–7 km) off the south coast of the county of Hampshire, separated from the mainland by a strait called the Solent. The Island has many resorts which have been holiday destinations since Victorian times.
The Island has a rich history, including a brief status as an independent kingdom in the 15th century. Until 1995, like Jersey and Guernsey, the Island had its own Governor—most notably Lord Mountbatten from 1969 to 1974, after which he became Lord Lieutenant until his assassination in 1979.
It was home to the poets Swinburne and Alfred Lord Tennyson, and to Queen Victoria, who built her much-loved summer residence and final home Osborne House at East Cowes. The Island's maritime and industrial history encompasses boat building, sail making, the manufacture of flying boats, the world's first hovercraft and the testing and development of Britain's space rockets. It is home to the Isle of Wight International Jazz Festival, Bestival and the recently revived Isle of Wight Festival, which, in 1970, was the largest rock music event ever held. The Island has some exceptional wildlife and is one of the richest locations of dinosaur fossils in Europe.
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Jackfield
Coordinates: 52°37′25″N 2°27′54″W / 52.6235°N 2.465°W / 52.6235; -2.465 Jackfield is a village in Shropshire, England, bordering the small town of Broseley.
It lies on the south bank of the River Severn, in the Ironbridge Gorge, and opposite the village of Coalport. Jackfield is in both the Telford and Wrekin Council area and the Shropshire Council area of Shropshire — the border runs through the settlement.
In older times, Jackfield village was a group of 5 smaller settlements: Preens Eddy, The Werps, The Tuckies, Salthouses and Jackfield itself.
The central portion of the village was constructed on a particularly unstable part of the Ironbridge Gorge, where several landslips have been recorded. The landslip of 1952 devastated the core of Jackfield. Flooding also badly affects the part of Jackfield by the river from time-to-time.
The Severn Valley railway line ran through the area and there were sidings to support the several tile works in the area, along with a passenger halt station. Little remains of the railway except the unusually large level crossing gates, now the largest surviving in the UK.
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Kent
Kent /ˈkɛnt/ is a county in South East England, and one of the home counties. It borders East Sussex, Surrey and Greater London and has a defined boundary with Essex in the middle of the Thames Estuary. The ceremonial county boundaries of Kent include the shire county of Kent and the unitary borough of Medway. Kent has a nominal border with France halfway through the Channel Tunnel. Maidstone is its county town and historically Rochester and Canterbury have been accorded city status, though only the latter still holds it.
Kent's location between London and the continental Europe has led to its being in the front line of several conflicts, including the Battle of Britain during World War II. East Kent was known as Hell Fire Corner during the conflict. England has relied on the county's ports to provide warships through much of the past 800 years; the Cinque Ports in the 12th–14th centuries and Chatham Dockyard in the 16th–20th centuries were of particular importance to the country's security. France can be seen clearly in fine weather from Folkestone, and the iconic White Cliffs of Dover.
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Kingdom of Powys
The Kingdom of Powys was a Welsh successor state, petty kingdom and principality, that emerged during the Dark Ages following the Roman withdrawal from Britain. Based on the Romano-British tribal lands of the Ordovices in the west and the Cornovii in the east, its boundaries originally extended from the Cambrian Mountains in the west to include the modern West Midlands region of England in the east. The fertile river valleys of the Severn and Tern are found here, and this region is referred to in later Welsh literature as "the Paradise of Powys". The name is thought to derive from the Latin "pagus" meaning the country-side, also a cognate of 'pagan'. During the Roman Empire this region was organised into a Roman province, with the capital at Viroconium Cornoviorum (modern Wroxeter), the fourth largest Roman city in Britain.
Throughout the Early Middle Ages, Powys was ruled by the Gwerthrynion dynasty, a family claiming descent jointly from the marriage of Vortigern and Princess Sevira, the daughter of Magnus Maximus. Archaeological evidence has shown that, unusually for the post-Roman period, Viroconium Cornoviorum survived as an urban centre well into the 6th century and thus could have been the Powys capital. The 9th-century Historia Brittonum records the town as Caer Guricon, one of his "28 British Towns" of Roman Britain. In the following centuries, the Powys eastern border was encroached upon by English settlers from the emerging Anglian territory of Mercia. This was a gradual process, and English control in the West Midlands was uncertain until the late 8th century.
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Kingston upon Hull
Kingston upon Hull (i/ˌkɪŋstən əpɒn ˈhʌl/ KING-stən ə-pon HUL), usually referred to as Hull, is a city and unitary authority area in the ceremonial county of the East Riding of Yorkshire, England. It stands on the River Hull at its junction with the Humber estuary, 25 miles (40 km) inland from the North Sea. Hull has a resident population of 263,900 (2010 est.). The Larger Urban Zone (LUZ) population stands at 573,300.
Renamed Kings town upon Hull by King Edward I in 1299, the town and city of Hull has served as market town, military supply port, a trading hub, fishing and whaling centre, and industrial metropolis.
Hull was an early theatre of battle in the English Civil Wars. Its 18th-century Member of Parliament, William Wilberforce, played a key role in the abolition of the slave trade in Britain.
The city is unique in the UK in having had a municipally-owned telephone system from 1902, sporting cream, not red, telephone boxes.
After suffering heavy damage during the Second World War, Hull weathered a period of post-industrial decline, during which the city gained unfavourable results on measures of social deprivation, education and policing. In recent years the city has embarked on an extensive programme of economic regeneration, reconstruction and urban renewal. The economic crisis since 2008 has caused some setbacks to these developments.
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Lancashire
Lancashire ( /ˈlæŋkəʃər/ or, less commonly, /ˈlæŋkəʃɪər/) is a non-metropolitan county of historic origin in the North West of England. It takes its name from the city of Lancaster, and is sometimes known as the County of Lancaster. Although Lancaster is still considered to be the county town, Lancashire County Council is based in Preston. Lancashire is sometimes referred to by the abbreviation Lancs, as originally used by the Royal Mail. The population of the county is 1,449,700. People from the county are known as Lancastrians.
The history of Lancashire is thought to have begun with its founding in the 12th century. In the Domesday Book (1086), some of its lands had been treated as part of Yorkshire. The land that lay Inter Ripam et Mersam, "between the Ribble and Mersey", formed part of the returns for Cheshire. Once its initial boundaries were established, it bordered Cumberland, Westmorland, Yorkshire and Cheshire.
Lancashire emerged during the Industrial Revolution as a major commercial and industrial region. The county encompassed several hundred mill towns and collieries. By the 1830s, approximately 85% of all cotton manufactured worldwide was processed in Lancashire.Preston, Accrington, Blackburn, Bolton, Rochdale, Oldham, Chorley, Darwen, Nelson, Colne and Burnley were major cotton mill towns during this time. Blackpool was a major centre for tourism for the inhabitants of Lancashire's mill towns, particularly during wakes week.
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Langley Chapel
Langley Chapel is an Anglican church, built in 1601, located in a remote area (the parish of Ruckley and Langley) approximately 1.5 miles to the south of Acton Burnell, Shropshire, England.
It is now in the care of English Heritage, and is notable for having a complete set of original 17th century wooden furniture, and its lack of a chancel, in line both with its small size and Protestant attitudes to worship. It is one of the few new churches built in England in the Elizabethan period. Despite being built at the start of the 17th century, the east window tracery is in a simplified Gothic style, though the doorways are in plain vernacular styles, one with a flat lintel and another round-headed. The window on the north side is also plain and rectangular. It is a Grade I listed building.
Built on the site of an earlier medieval chapel, it provided worship for the nearby Langley Hall, whose ruins are contained within a nearby private farm. The Chapel was built with wooden box pews, a musicians desk and Communion table bench seats. It has no known dedication.
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Leicester
Coordinates: 52°38′03″N 1°08′19″W / 52.63422°N 1.13852°W / 52.63422; -1.13852
Leicester (/lɛstər/ LESS-tər pronunciation (help·info)) is a city and unitary authority in the East Midlands of England, and the county town of Leicestershire. The city lies on the River Soar and at the edge of the National Forest. In 2010, the population of the Leicester unitary authority was estimated at 306,600, the second highest in the region, whilst 441,213 people lived in the wider Leicester Urban Area in 2006, making Leicester the tenth most populous settlement in the United Kingdom and the UK's fourteenth largest urban area. It is the largest city in the East Midlands yet has the second largest urban area in the region behind Nottingham Urban Area. Eurostat's Larger Urban Zone listed the population of the area at 772,400 people as of 2004.
Ancient Roman pavements and baths remain in Leicester from its early settlement as Ratae Corieltauvorum, a Roman military outpost in a region inhabited by the Celtic Corieltauvi tribe. Following the demise of Roman society the early medieval Ratae Corieltauvorum is shrouded in obscurity, but when the settlement was captured by the Danes it became one of five fortified towns important to the Danelaw. The name "Leicester" is thought to derive from the words castra of the "Ligore", meaning camp of the dwellers on the (river) Legro. Leicester appears in the Domesday Book as "Ledecestre". Leicester continued to grow throughout the Early Modern period as a market town, although it was the Industrial Revolution that facilitated a process of rapid unplanned urbanisation in the area.
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Leicestershire
Leicestershire (i/ˈlɛstəʃɪər/ or /ˈlɛstərʃər/ or /ˈlɛstəʃə/; abbreviation Leics.) is a landlocked county in the English Midlands. It takes its name from the heavily populated City of Leicester, traditionally its administrative centre, although the City of Leicester unitary authority is today administered separately from the rest of Leicestershire. The county borders Derbyshire to the north-west, Nottinghamshire to the north, Rutland to the east, Warwickshire to the south-west, Staffordshire to the west, Lincolnshire to the north-east, and Northamptonshire to the south-east. The border with Warwickshire is Watling Street (the A5).
County Hall, situated in Glenfield, about 3 miles (5 km) north-west of Leicester city centre, is the seat of Leicestershire County Council and the headquarters of the county authority. The City of Leicester is administered from offices in Leicester itself and the City Council meets at Leicester Town Hall.
The River Soar rises to the east of Hinckley, in the far south of the county, and flows northward through Leicester before emptying into the River Trent at the point where Derbyshire, Leicestershire, and Nottinghamshire meet. A large part of the north-west of the county, around Coalville, forms part of the new National Forest area extending into Derbyshire and Staffordshire. The highest point of the county is Bardon Hill at 278 metres (912 ft), which is also a Marilyn.
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Lilleshall
Lilleshall is a village in Shropshire, England.
It lies between the towns of Telford and Newport, on the A518, in the Telford and Wrekin borough and the Wrekin constituency.
The village dates back to Anglo-Saxon times, the parish church being founded by St Chad. It is mentioned in the Domesday book.
Lilleshall Abbey, some distance to the east of the village, was an Augustinian house, founded in the twelfth century, the ruins of which are protected by English Heritage. After the dissolution of the monasteries the estate was bought by the Wolverhampton wool merchant James Leveson. His family held the site for four generations and, after two owners died without issue, it passed into the hands of the related Leveson-Gower family in the late 17th century.
There is a monument, a cricket club, a tennis club, a church and a primary school clustered around a bracken-covered hill named Lilleshall Hill. Lilleshall Monument is a 70-foot (21 m) high obelisk, a local landmark which stands on top of Lilleshall Hill and was erected in honour of the 1st Duke of Sutherland.
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Lilleshall Hall
Coordinates: 52°43′41″N 2°22′26″W / 52.728°N 2.374°W / 52.728; -2.374
Lilleshall Hall is a large former country house and estate located near Lilleshall in Shropshire, England. It was founded as an Augustinian Abbey in the 12th century, with its estate running to some 30,000 acres (120 km2). The ruins of the original abbey are protected today by English Heritage.
Now run by [Serco Leisure Operating Ltd on behalf of Sport England, Lilleshall is one of five National Sports Centres. It lies between Telford and Newport, off the A518, in the Shropshire Council area (though surrounded on two sides by the borough of Telford and Wrekin) and the Wrekin constituency.
The estate was purchased after it ceased to be an abbey in the dissolution by James Leveson in 1543 with the family living in the house until the Civil War. The royalists gained the estate until 1645 when it then fell to the Parliament troops. The estate returned to the family, who grew their power through a series of marriages and allegiances.
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Lincolnshire
Coordinates: 53°4′N 0°11′W / 53.067°N 0.183°W / 53.067; -0.183
Lincolnshire ( /ˈlɪŋkənʃə/ or /ˈlɪŋkənʃɪə/; abbreviated Lincs) is a county in the east of England. It borders Norfolk to the south east, Cambridgeshire to the south, Rutland to the south west, Leicestershire and Nottinghamshire to the west, South Yorkshire to the northwest, and the East Riding of Yorkshire to the north. It also borders Northamptonshire in the south for just 20 yards (18 m), England's shortest county boundary. The county town is Lincoln, where the county council has its headquarters.
The ceremonial county of Lincolnshire is composed of the non-metropolitan county of Lincolnshire and the area covered by the unitary authorities of North Lincolnshire and North-East Lincolnshire. Therefore, part of the ceremonial county is in the Yorkshire and the Humber region, and part is in the East Midlands region. The county is the second largest of the English counties and one that is predominantly agricultural in land use. The county can be broken down into a number of geographical sub-regions including: the Lincolnshire Fens (south Lincolnshire), the Carrs (similar to the Fens but in north Lincolnshire), the Lincolnshire Wolds, and the industrial Humber Estuary and North Sea coast around Grimsby and Scunthorpe.
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Liverpool
Liverpool ( /ˈlɪvəpuːl/) is a city and metropolitan borough of Merseyside, England, along the eastern side of the Mersey Estuary. It was founded as a borough in 1207 and was granted city status in 1880. According to the Office for National Statistics, the 2010 mid-year population estimate for Liverpool was 445,200 and was part of a larger urban area of 816,216.
Historically a part of Lancashire, the urbanisation and expansion of Liverpool were both largely brought about by the city's status as a major port. By the 18th century, trade from the West Indies, Ireland and mainland Europe coupled with close links with the Atlantic Slave Trade furthered the economic expansion of Liverpool. By the early 19th century, 40% of the world's trade passed through Liverpool's docks, contributing to Liverpool's rise as a major city.
Inhabitants of Liverpool are referred to as Liverpudlians but are also colloquially known as "Scousers", in reference to the local dish known as "scouse", a form of stew. The word "Scouse" has also become synonymous with the Liverpool accent and dialect. Liverpool's status as a port city has contributed to its diverse population, which, historically, were drawn from a wide range of peoples, cultures, and religions, particularly those from Ireland. The city is also home to the oldest Black African community in the country and the oldest Chinese community in Europe.
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Llangollen Canal
The Llangollen Canal (Welsh: Camlas Llangollen) is a navigable canal crossing the border between England and Wales. The waterway links Llangollen in Denbighshire, north Wales, with Hurleston in south Cheshire, via the town of Ellesmere, Shropshire.
Originally the Llangollen line was to be primarily a water source from the River Dee for the central section of the Ellesmere Canal. As such it was not built as a broad-gauge waterway but as a feeder branch. The Ellesmere Canal eventually became part of the Shropshire Union network in 1846. Despite its inherent narrow nature for cruising, the feeder branch from the Horseshoe Falls was used as a navigable waterway.
In 2009 the eleven-mile section of the canal from Gledrid Bridge near Rhoswiel (half-a-mile inside England) through to the Horseshoe Falls, which includes Chirk Aqueduct and Pontcysyllte Aqueduct, was declared by UNESCO to be a World Heritage site.
The grand plan for the Ellesmere Canal was to link the River Mersey with the River Severn. The northward section would begin at Netherpool (now Ellesmere Port) using part of the existing Chester Canal before reaching the River Dee at Chester. The southerly section of the waterway would pass through Overton before heading towards Shrewsbury.
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Llanymynech
Coordinates: 52°46′53″N 3°05′25″W / 52.781339°N 3.090279°W / 52.781339; -3.090279
Llanymynech is a village straddling the border between Montgomeryshire/Powys, Wales and Shropshire, England about 9 miles (14 km) north of the Welsh town of Welshpool. The name is Welsh for "Church of the Monks". The village is on the banks of the river Vyrnwy, and the Montgomery Canal crosses through it.
The border runs for the most part down the centre of the village's main street, with the eastern half of the village in England and the western half in Wales. The border also passed right through the now closed Lion pub, which had two bars in Shropshire and one in the former Welsh county of Montgomeryshire. At one time Welsh counties were referred to as "wet" or "dry" depending on whether people could drink in pubs on Sundays. When Montgomeryshire was dry it was legal to drink on Sundays in the two English bars of the Lion but not the Welsh bar. Two of the remaining open pubs in the village are entirely in England and the third is entirely in Wales.
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Ludlow
Coordinates: 52°22′05″N 2°43′03″W / 52.3681°N 2.7176°W / 52.3681; -2.7176
Ludlow is a market town in Shropshire, England close to the Welsh border and in the Welsh Marches. Located along the A49 road about 12 miles north of Leominster, it lies within a bend of the River Teme, on its eastern bank, forming an area of 350 acres (142 ha) and centred on a small hill. Atop this hill is the site of Ludlow Castle and the market place. From there the streets of the medieval walled town slope downward to the River Teme, and northward toward the River Corve. The town is in a sheltered spot beneath the Clee Hills which are clearly visible from the town. With a population of around 10,000, Ludlow is the largest town in South Shropshire and home to the southern area committee of Shropshire Council.
Ludlow has nearly 500 listed buildings. They include some fine examples of medieval and Tudor-style half-timbered buildings including the Feathers Hotel. The parish church, St Laurence Church, is the largest in the county.
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Ludlow Castle
Ludlow Castle is a partly ruined uninhabited medieval building in the town of the same name in the English county of Shropshire. It stands on a high point overlooking the River Teme and in the Middle Ages it was an important strategic stronghold for control of the Welsh Borders, and at times the seat of English government in Wales. The castle was probably founded by Walter de Lacy in the late 11th century. Possession of Ludlow Castle descended through the Lacy family until 1115 by which point had Hugh de Lacy died without any children and his property taken over by the king. Pain fitzJohn married Hugh de Lacy's niece, Sybil, and through her acquired a good deal of the family's lands.
During the Anarchy Gilbert de Lacy, Sybil's cousin, laid claim to the family's estates and during the course of the civil war control of the castle change hands several times. Gilbert regained the property and control of Ludlow Castle once again descended through the Lacy family. In the late 12th and early 13th centuries Ludlow Castle was taken into the care of the crown on multiple occasions to ensure the family's loyalty. The family owned the castle until the 14th century, when it came into the possession of the Mortimers through marriage. Early in the 14th century, the castle was enlarged into a magnificent palace for Roger Mortimer, 1st Earl of March, then the most powerful man in England.
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Ludlow College
Coordinates: 52°22′02″N 2°43′18″W / 52.3673°N 2.7217°W / 52.3673; -2.7217
Ludlow College is a sixth form college situated in the heart of Ludlow, Shropshire, England. Its history traces back to 1200, when it was known as Ludlow Grammar School. This makes Ludlow College one of the oldest educational institutions in England.
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Ludlow Racecourse
Ludlow Racecourse is a thoroughbred horse racing venue located near Ludlow, Shropshire, England.
The B4365 crosses the racecourse at three points of the tracks and traffic is stopped when the course is in use.
The venue is located between the small villages of Bromfield and Stanton Lacy, just off the A49.
The area within the racing tracks is entirely occupied by the Ludlow Golf Club, one of the oldest golf clubs and courses in Shropshire, having been founded in 1889. The course was extensively remodelled by James Braid in 1922. The 18-hole course is 6,277 yards long and is a par 70.
Coordinates: 52°23′38″N 2°44′56″W / 52.394°N 2.749°W / 52.394; -2.749
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Luton
Luton (i/ˈluːtən/ LOOT-ən, local /ˈluːʔən/) is a large town, borough and unitary authority of Bedfordshire, England, 30 miles (50 km) north of London. Luton and its near neighbours, Dunstable and Houghton Regis, form the Luton/Dunstable Urban Area with a population of about 250,000.
Luton is home to Blue Square Premier team Luton Town Football Club, whose history includes several spells in the top flight of the English league as well as a Football League Cup triumph in 1988. They play at Kenilworth Road stadium, which has been their home since 1905.
London Luton Airport, opened in 1938, is one of England's major airports. During the Second World War it doubled as an RAF base.
The University of Bedfordshire is based in the town.
The Luton Carnival, held on the late May bank holiday, is the largest one-day carnival in Europe.
The town was for many years famous for hat-making, and was also home to a large Vauxhall Motors factory; the head office of Vauxhall Motors is still situated in the town. Car production at the plant began in 1905 and continued until 2002, but commercial vehicle production remains.
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Market Drayton
Coordinates: 52°54′16″N 2°29′05″W / 52.9044°N 2.4848°W / 52.9044; -2.4848
Market Drayton is a small market town in north Shropshire, England. It is on the River Tern, between Shrewsbury and Stoke-on-Trent, and was formerly known as "Drayton in Hales" (c. 1868) and earlier simply as "Drayton" (c. 1695). Market Drayton is on the Shropshire Union Canal and on Regional Cycle Route 75. The A53 road by-passes the town. The counties of Staffordshire and Cheshire are both close by.
In 1965, sausage maker Palethorpe's built a new factory employing 400 people in the town. Purchased by Northern Foods in 1990, the company was merged with Bowyers of Trowbridge, Wiltshire and Pork Farms of Nottingham to form Pork Farms Bowyers. The sausage brand was sold in 2001 to Kerry Group, but the factory remains open to this day as the town's largest employer. It produces various meat based and chilled food products, under both the Pork Farms brand and for third parties, including Asda.
Müller Dairies have a factory making yogurts. The town is also the home of Tern Press, a highly respected and collectible small press publisher of poetry. Image on Food also makes local gingerbread.
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Marylebone station
Marylebone station (i/ˈmɑrlɨbən/ MAR-li-bən), also known as London Marylebone, is a central London railway terminus and London Underground complex. It stands midway between the mainline stations at Euston and Paddington, about 1 mile (1.6 km) from each. Originally the London terminus of the ill-fated Great Central Main Line, it now serves as the terminus of the Chiltern Main Line route.
Opened in 1899, it is the youngest of London's mainline terminal stations, and also one of the smallest, having opened with half the number of platforms originally planned. It is also the only terminal station in London to host only diesel trains, having no electrified lines. From 1967 for many years it was served only by diesel multiple-unit trains (DMUs). Occasionally special trains hauled by diesel or steam locomotives also visit Marylebone.
Two new platforms have been added recently to cope with an increase in services and a growing number of passengers. Marylebone is in Travelcard Zone 1.
The station stands just off Marylebone Road, a major thoroughfare in the Marylebone area of central London. Nearby attractions include Regents Park, Lord's Cricket Ground, Baker Street and Madame Tussauds.
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Mercia
Mercia ( /ˈmɜrsiə/, /ˈmɜrʃə/) was one of the kingdoms of the Anglo-Saxon Heptarchy. It was centred on the valley of the River Trent and its tributaries in the region now known as the English Midlands. The name is a Latinisation of the Old English Mierce or Myrce, meaning "border people".
Mercia's neighbours included Northumbria, Powys and the kingdoms of southern Wales, Wessex, Sussex, Essex and East Anglia.
The name Mercia is still in use today by a wide range of organisations, including military units, public, commercial and voluntary bodies; and occurs as a female given name.
Mercia's exact evolution from the Anglo-Saxon invasions is more obscure than that of Northumbria, Kent, or even Wessex. Also, Mercia developed an effective political structure and adopted Christianity later than the other kingdoms. Archaeological surveys show that Angles settled the lands north of the River Thames by the 6th century. The name Mercia is Old English for "boundary folk" (see Welsh Marches), and the traditional interpretation is that the kingdom originated along the frontier between the native Welsh and the Anglo-Saxon invaders. However, P. Hunter Blair argued an alternative interpretation: that they emerged along the frontier of Northumbria and the inhabitants of the Trent river valley.
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Merseyside
Merseyside ( /ˈmɜrzisaɪd/) is a metropolitan county in North West England, with a population of 1,365,900. It encompasses the metropolitan area centred on both banks of the lower reaches of the Mersey Estuary, and comprises five metropolitan boroughs: Knowsley, St Helens, Sefton, Wirral, and the city of Liverpool. Merseyside, which was created on 1 April 1974 as a result of the Local Government Act 1972, takes its name from the River Mersey.
Merseyside spans 249 square miles (645 km2) of land which border Lancashire (to the north-east), Greater Manchester (to the east), and Cheshire (to the south and south-west); the Irish Sea is to the west. North Wales is across the Dee Estuary. There is a mix of high density urban areas, suburbs, semi-rural and rural locations in Merseyside, but overwhelmingly the land use is urban. It has a focused central business district, formed by Liverpool City Centre, but Merseyside is also a polycentric county with five metropolitan districts, each of which has at least one major town centre and outlying suburbs. The Liverpool Urban Area is the seventh most populous conurbation in the UK, and dominates the geographic centre of the county, while the smaller Birkenhead Urban Area dominates the Wirral Peninsula in the south.
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Middlesbrough
Middlesbrough (i/ˈmɪdəlzbrə/ MID-əlz-brə) is a large town situated on the south bank of the River Tees in north east England, that sits within the ceremonial county of North Yorkshire. The local authority, a unitary authority, is Middlesbrough Borough Council.
Historically part of the North Riding of Yorkshire, in 1968 the town became the centre of the County Borough of Teesside, which was absorbed by the non-metropolitan county of Cleveland in 1974. In 1996 Cleveland was abolished, and Middlesbrough became a unitary authority, within the ceremonial county of North Yorkshire.
It is locally regarded that the town exceeds the confines of the Middlesbrough Borough to include the areas of Eston, Grangetown, Normanby, Ormesby, and South Bank which are wards of the neighbouring unitary authority of Redcar and Cleveland.[citation needed][by whom?]
To the northeast of Middlesbrough lies the Tees Estuary, approximately 6 miles (9.7 km) away. A few miles to the south lies the edge of the North York Moors National Park.
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Montgomery Canal
The Montgomery Canal (or Montgomeryshire Canal), known colloquially as "The Monty", is a partially restored canal in Powys, in eastern Wales, and in northwest Shropshire, in western England. Originally planned to run from Llanymynech to Newtown via Welshpool, the canal is today considered to run 33 miles (53 km) from the Llangollen Canal (at Frankton Junction) to Newtown.
Originally known as the Montgomeryshire Canal, after the former county of Montgomeryshire, along with the adjoining Llanymynech Branch of the Ellesmere Canal, the canal fell in to disuse following a breach in 1936, and was officially abandoned in 1944. With the revival of canal use in the late 20th century, the canal became known as the Montgomery Canal, which was considered to include the Llanymynech Branch of the Ellesmere Canal.
At present only 7 miles (11 km) of the northern section, from Frankton Junction to Gronwyn Wharf, a short stretch at Llanymynech, and a central section of the canal around Welshpool are navigable, though restoration work continues to expand this. The canal does not, and never did, go to the town of Montgomery.
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Moreton Corbet
Coordinates: 52°48′14″N 2°39′08″W / 52.8039°N 2.6522°W / 52.8039; -2.6522
Moreton Corbet is a small village located in the county of Shropshire, England, within the civil parish of Moreton Corbet and Lee Brockhurst. Its name refers to the Corbet Baronets, the local landowners. It lies just north of the larger villages of Shawbury and Shrewsbury, near to Stanton upon Hine Heath and the River Roden. Within the village lies the ruin of Moreton Corbet castle.
In 1870-72, John Marius Wilson's Imperial Gazetteer of England and Wales described Moreton Corbet like this: "A village and a parish in Wem district, Salop. The village stands on the River Roden, 3¾ miles E of Yorton r. station, and 4¾ SE of Wem. The parish contains part of the township of Preston Brockhurst, which has a post office under Shrewsbury. Pop., 255. Houses, 51. The manor and all the land belong to Sir V. R. Corbet, Bart. Moreton Corbet Castle was erected in the 16th century, on the site of a previous castle; was burnt in the civil war of Charles I.; and is now a fine ruin. Several mills are on the Roden, the church is ancient; has a tower and several stained windows; and contains ancient effigies and monuments of the Corbets charities". The village has been on a steady rise in population growth and development since the date of this entry.
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Moreton Hall School
Coordinates: 52°54′50″N 3°02′55″W / 52.914008°N 3.048637°W / 52.914008; -3.048637
Moreton Hall School is an independent boarding and day school for girls aged 4 to 18 and boys aged 4 to 11 years, situated in North Shropshire four miles from the historic market town of Oswestry. Founded in 1913, Moreton Hall is looking forward to its centenary celebrations in 2012/13. Much of the early history of the school is unrecorded, but Michael Charlesworth, chairman of the Governors for twelve years, has written the "Story of Moreton Hall" to mark the ninetieth anniversary.
Ellen Augusta Crawley LLoyd-Williams was left with a family of two sons and nine daughters to care for on the death of her husband, John Jordan Lloyd-Williams, who had been headmaster of Oswestry Grammar School, now Oswestry School. She had already addressed the problem of educating her family by setting up a small school in 1913, in Lloran house, which was once a boarding house for Oswestry School. Among the boarders were her three youngest daughters, some of their cousins and friends. There were also two boys on the rolls. Elder sisters Grace and Mary joined the teaching staff. Ellen, known universally as Aunt Lil, bought Moreton Hall in 1919. The building was reputed to have been built in 1527 in the reign of Henry VIII of England and remodelled in the time of William and Mary. However, the historical buildings provided little in the way of creature comforts and the school uniform boasted the djibbahs, a box pleated tunic worn for games and lessons (to avoid time lost for changing), and a full length all enveloping cloak, vital clothing in the chill surroundings.
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Much Wenlock
Coordinates: 52°35′48″N 2°33′29″W / 52.5966°N 2.5580°W / 52.5966; -2.5580
Much Wenlock, earlier known as Wenlock, is a small town in central Shropshire, England. It is situated on the A458 road between Shrewsbury and Bridgnorth. Nearby, to the northeast, is the Ironbridge Gorge, and the new town of Telford. The population of the town's parish, according to the 2001 census, was 2,605.
The "Much" was added to the name to distinguish it from the nearby Little Wenlock, and signifies that it is the larger of the two settlements. Notable historic attractions in the town are Wenlock Priory and the Guildhall. The name "Wenlock" as found in Much Wenlock and Little Wenlock (And also Great Wenlock, a now obsolete name, but found in some historic sources) is probably derived from the Old English *Wenan loca meaning "Wena's Stronghold" (wéna being feminine and meaning "hope") The town was recorded in the Domesday Book as Wenloch.
The town grew around an abbey or monastery founded around 680 by Merewalh, a son of King Penda of Mercia. King Penda installed his daughter Milburga as abbess in 687. Milburga of Wenlock was credited with many miraculous works. The abbey flourished until around 874 when a Danish Viking attack occurred. In the 11th century another religious house was built on the same site by Leofric, Earl of Mercia and Countess Godiva his wife. In the 12th century this was replaced by a Cluniac priory, established by Roger de Montgomerie after the Norman Conquest, the ruins of which can still be seen and which is now in the hands of English Heritage. It prospered until the Dissolution of the Monasteries in 1539.
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Nesscliffe
Nesscliffe is a village in Shropshire, England, located north of the River Severn. The village comes under the Great Ness parish.
The site of a cave used by the highwayman, Humphrey Kynaston, this now forms part of the Nesscliffe Hill Country Park. One mile south-west are the earthwork remains of Wilcott Castle, a small motte castle. The independent girl's boarding school Adcote is situated in the parish, in the nearby village of Little Ness.
The A5 road runs around the village on a new dual-carriageway by-pass.
During the 1930s, there was a recognition of a need to provide secure storage for munitions within the United Kingdom. The proposal was to create three Central Ammunition Depots (CAD) in easily-hewn and relatively horizontal rocks: one in the south (Monkton Farleigh); one in the north of England (Longtown, Cumbria); and one in the Midlands.
While Monkton Farleigh came into operations in 1939, CAD Nesscliffe was developed by the War Office/Ministry of Defence after the start of World War 2. In order to service the extensive property, the MoD tookover the virtually defunct Shropshire and Montgomeryshire Railway from 1941, and built extensive additional service tracks along the 8.75 miles (14.08 km) of railway line from Maesbrook to the former Ford and Crossgate railway station, south of the River Severn.
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New Meadow
The New Meadow, also known as the Greenhous Meadow for sponsorship purposes, is the home ground of English football club Shrewsbury Town, and is a UEFA Category Four stadium.
The stadium is situated on the southern outskirts of Shrewsbury, Shropshire, between the districts of Meole Brace and Sutton Farm, and close to the A5. It was completed in the summer of 2007, in time for the 2007–08 English football season, and was built to replace the Gay Meadow stadium, home of Shrewsbury Town since 1910.
"The New Meadow" was an unofficial name, used as the working title for ground during planning/construction, and along with other descriptive titles such as "Oteley Road Stadium" (pronounced Ot-Lee), was used during the first year of the ground's existence. However, on 21 July 2008, along with launching their new team-wear range, the stadium was named after sports kit manufacturer Prostar, a sponsor that the club had spent a year looking for. The naming rights deal was supposed to last for four years, but only lasted two seasons. In April 2010, a public vote was held amongst supporters by club sponsor Greenhous on the name of the stadium, which was to include "Greenhous". A majority voted for Greenhous Meadow, with reference to their previous stadium Gay Meadow.
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Norfolk
Norfolk ( /ˈnɔrfək/) is a low-lying county in the East of England. It has borders with Lincolnshire to the west, Cambridgeshire to the west and southwest and Suffolk to the south. Its northern and eastern boundaries are the North Sea coast and to the north-west the county is bordered by The Wash. The city of Norwich is the county town at Norfolk which is fifth largest ceremonial county in England, with an area of 5,371 km² (2,074 sq mi).
Of the 34 non-metropolitan English counties, Norfolk is the seventh most populous, with a population of 850,800 (mid 2008). However, as a largely rural county it has a low population density, 155 people per square kilometre (or 401 per square mile). Norfolk has about one-thirtieth the population density of central London, the tenth lowest density county in the country, with 38% of the county’s population living in the four major built up areas of Norwich (195,000), Great Yarmouth (67,000), King's Lynn (41,000) and Thetford (22,000).The Broads, a well known network of rivers and lakes, is located towards the county's east coast, bordering Suffolk. The area has the status of a National Park and is protected by the Broads Authority. Historical sites, such as those in the centre of Norwich, also contribute to tourism.
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North Lincolnshire
North Lincolnshire is a unitary authority area in the region of Yorkshire and the Humber in England. For ceremonial purposes it is part of Lincolnshire. There are three significant towns: Scunthorpe (the administrative centre), Brigg and Barton-upon-Humber.
It is also home to the Haxey Hood, which is a traditional event which takes place in Haxey on 6 January in the afternoon and is a kind of large rugby football scrum where a leather tube (called the "hood") is pushed to 1 of 4 pubs, where it remains until next year's game.
The 846 km2 (327 sq mi) council area lies on the south side of the Humber estuary and consists mainly of agricultural land, including land on either side of the River Trent. It borders onto North East Lincolnshire, Lincolnshire, South Yorkshire, Nottinghamshire and the East Riding of Yorkshire. The council's administrative base is at Pittwood House in Scunthorpe.
Before the creation of Humberside in 1974, it was part of Lincolnshire, becoming North Lincolnshire only in 1996, on the abolition of Humberside. Until 1 April 1996, the area had been part of Humberside. The district was formed by a merger of the boroughs of Glanford and Scunthorpe, and southern Boothferry.
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North Shropshire
Coordinates: 52°51′22″N 2°43′23″W / 52.856°N 2.723°W / 52.856; -2.723
North Shropshire was a local government district in Shropshire, England. The district council was based at Edinburgh House, in Wem. Other settlements included the towns of Ellesmere, Market Drayton, Wem and Whitchurch, as well as the large villages of Shawbury and Baschurch. The district bordered onto Wales, Cheshire and Staffordshire as well as the Shropshire districts of Oswestry, Shrewsbury and Atcham and the unitary Telford and Wrekin.
The district was formed on 1 April 1974, under the Local Government Act 1972, by a merger of Market Drayton Rural District and North Shropshire Rural District. As of 2008 it was entirely surrounded by boroughs (including the county borough of Wrexham).
The district and its council were abolished on 1 April 2009 when the new Shropshire unitary authority was established, as part of the 2009 structural changes to local government in England.
The district council classified Wem, Market Drayton, Whitchurch and Ellesmere as the market towns of North Shropshire, while it gave the classification of "main service villages" to Baschurch, Cheswardine, Clive, Cockshutt, Dudleston Heath, Hadnall, Hinstock, Hodnet, Prees, Shawbury, Tilstock, Welshampton and Woore. There are many other smaller villages and hamlets.
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North Somerset
North Somerset is a unitary authority in England. Its area covers part of the ceremonial county of Somerset but it is administered independently of the non-metropolitan county. Its administrative headquarters is in the town hall in Weston-super-Mare.
North Somerset borders the local government areas of Bristol, Bath and North East Somerset, Mendip and Sedgemoor. North Somerset contains the parliamentary constituencies of Weston-super-Mare and North Somerset.
Between 1 April 1974 and 31 March 1996, it was the Woodspring district of the county of Avon (named after Woodspring Priory, an isolated mediaeval church near the coast just north east of Weston-super-Mare). The district of Woodspring was formed from the municipal boroughs of Weston-super-Mare, Clevedon and Portishead urban districts, Long Ashton Rural District, and part of Axbridge Rural District.
Though the government proposed that the new unitary area be known as "North West Somerset" from 1 April 1996, the council voted instead to adopt the name "North Somerset" and so the name "North West Somerset" was never widely used. There remained some legal doubt as to whether the council had validly changed the name to "North Somerset", but in 2005 the council passed a resolution to put the matter beyond doubt.
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North Warwickshire
North Warwickshire is a local government district and borough in Warwickshire, England. The main town in the district is Atherstone where the council is based. Other significant places include Coleshill, Polesworth and Kingsbury.
The North Warwickshire district was created on 1 April 1974 by a merger of the Atherstone Rural District and parts of the Meriden Rural District (the rest of which was merged into the West Midlands county).
North Warwickshire is a mostly rural area with several small towns. The area historically had a large coal mining industry, but this has almost died out. The district is relatively remote from the rest of Warwickshire, as the county is almost split in two by the West Midlands.
The boundaries of North Warwickshire are almost the same as the North Warwickshire parliamentary constituency. However the constituency also includes the town of Bedworth. The local MP is Dan Byles.
In 2007 the Conservatives took overall control of the Borough Council for the first time since the creation of the council within its current boundaries. The Council was retaken by Labour in 2011.
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North Yorkshire
North Yorkshire is a county in England. It is a non-metropolitan or shire county located in the Yorkshire and the Humber region of England, and a ceremonial county primarily in that region but partly in North East England. Created in 1974 by the Local Government Act 1972 it covers an area of 8,654 square kilometres (3,341 sq mi), making it the largest ceremonial county in England. The majority of the Yorkshire Dales and all of the North York Moors lie within North Yorkshire's boundaries, and around 40% of the county is covered by National Parks. The county town is Northallerton.
The area under the control of the county council, or shire county, is divided into a number of local government districts; they are Craven, Hambleton, Harrogate, Richmondshire, Ryedale, Scarborough and Selby.
The Department for Communities and Local Government did consider reorganising North Yorkshire County Council's administrative structure by abolishing the seven district councils and the county council to create a North Yorkshire unitary authority. The changes were planned to be implemented no later than 1 April 2009. This was rejected on 25 July 2007 so the County Council and District Council structure will remain.
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Northamptonshire
Coordinates: 52°17′N 0°50′W / 52.283°N 0.833°W / 52.283; -0.833
Northamptonshire ( /nɔrˈθæmptənʃər/ or /nɔrθˈhæmptənʃɪər/; archaically, the County of Northampton; abbreviated Northants. or N/hants) is a landlocked ceremonial county in the East Midlands region of England. Its population is 629,676 as at the 2001 census. It has boundaries with eight other ceremonial counties: Warwickshire to the west, Leicestershire and Rutland to the north, Cambridgeshire to the east, Bedfordshire to the south-east, Buckinghamshire to the south, Oxfordshire to the south-west and Lincolnshire to the north-east – England's shortest county boundary at 19 metres (21 yd). The county seat is Northampton. Other large population centres include Kettering, Corby, Wellingborough, Rushden and Daventry.
Northamptonshire's county flower is the cowslip[citation needed].
Much of Northamptonshire’s countryside appears to have remained somewhat intractable with regards to early human occupation, resulting in an apparently sparse population and relatively few finds from the Palaeolithic, Mesolithic and Neolithic periods. In about 500 BC the Iron Age was introduced into the area by a continental people in the form of the Hallstatt culture, and over the next century a series of hill-forts were constructed at Arbury Camp, Rainsborough camp, Borough Hill, Castle Dykes, Guilsborough, Irthlingborough, and most notably of all, Hunsbury Hill. There are two more possible hill-forts at Arbury Hill (Badby) and Thenford.
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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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Nottingham
Nottingham (i/ˈnɒtɪŋəm/ NOT-ing-əm) is a city and unitary authority in the East Midlands of England in the ceremonial county of Nottinghamshire and is one of eight members of the English Core Cities Group.
Nottingham is famed for its links with the legend of Robin Hood and, during the Industrial Revolution, obtained worldwide recognition for its lace-making, bicycle and tobacco industries. With origins tracable back to 600 AD, Nottingham was granted its city charter as part of the Diamond Jubilee celebrations of Queen Victoria in 1897 and has since been officially titled the City of Nottingham. The city has historically been nicknamed The Queen of the Midlands, being the smaller yet less industrialised regional neighbour to the Midlands biggest city, Birmingham. Nottingham is considered the primary centre of England's East Midlands region, being home to numerous regional headquarters and media stations including the BBC East Midlands and the Regional Government Office.
Whilst Nottingham has always had a tightly-drawn authority boundary, accounting for its relatively small population of 306,700, Nottingham's Urban Area has a population of approximately 670,000; in the 2001 census, it was the eighth largest urban area in the United Kingdom. Eurostat's concept of the Larger Urban Zone listed the area's population at 825,600 as of 2004.
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Nottinghamshire
Nottinghamshire ( /ˈnɒtɪŋəmʃər/ or /ˈnɒtɪŋəmʃɪər/; abbreviated Notts) is a county in the East Midlands of England, bordering South Yorkshire to the north-west, Lincolnshire to the east, Leicestershire to the south, and Derbyshire to the west. The traditional county town is Nottingham, though the county council is based in West Bridgford in the borough of Rushcliffe, at a site facing Nottingham over the River Trent.
The districts of Nottinghamshire are Ashfield, Bassetlaw, Broxtowe, Gedling, Mansfield, Newark and Sherwood, and Rushcliffe. The City of Nottingham was administratively part of Nottinghamshire between 1974 and 1998 but is now a unitary authority, remaining part of Nottinghamshire for ceremonial purposes.
As of 2006 the county is estimated to have a population of just over one million. Over half of the population of the county live in the Greater Nottingham conurbation (which continues into Derbyshire). The conurbation has a population of about 650,000, though less than half live within the city boundaries.
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Oakengates
Coordinates: 52°41′42″N 2°27′04″W / 52.695°N 2.451°W / 52.695; -2.451
Oakengates is a town in the borough of Telford and Wrekin and ceremonial county of Shropshire, England, and now forms part of the new town of Telford. The parish's population was recorded as 8,517 in the 2001 census.
The name has nothing to do with Oak or Gates but is derived from the Ancient Brythonic name for the valley which was Usc-con, meaning The Lake(Usc(water) and the confluence(Cond) of two streams (see Cartlidge), and from the Old Norse gata, path; see gh- in Indo-European roots. meaning boundary or Road. So Usc-con gait is at the Road at the vale of Usc-con. A history of Oakengates was written by local historian Reverend Cartlidge whose name is commemorated in the name of the retirement home Cartlidge House.
The Shrewsbury to Wolverhampton railway line runs through the town and there is a station and a tunnel (Oakengates Tunnel).
In the late 18th century the Ketley Canal was constructed to carry coal and ironstone from Oakengates to Ketley works. The canal has long since fallen into disuse and little trace of it can be found today. The first boat lift in Britain was an experimental one built at Oakengates in 1794 by Robert Weldon of Lichfield. A full scale version was to be built on the Somerset Coal Canal at Rowley Bottom near Combe Hay, but the lift jammed and failed while being demonstrated and the construction was abandoned.
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Oldbury Wells School
Coordinates: 52°31′50″N 2°25′36″W / 52.53063°N 2.42659°W / 52.53063; -2.42659
Oldbury Wells School is a comprehensive school in Bridgnorth, England. The 2010 Ofsted inspection lists the school as "the best school in shropshire" having 1,034 pupils, 224 of whom are in the sixth form. The school's motto is "Towards Exellence." The school is popular among primary school students, with competition occurring when a child progressing into secondary schools wishes to enter.
The buildings in which Oldbury Wells School is today based were originally two separate schools. What is now known as the East Side was opened as Bridgnorth Boys’ Modern School in 1958; the West Side opened as Bridgnorth Girls’ Modern School in 1959. The two schools merged to form Oldbury Wells during 1973/4. This gives the school its somewhat strange characteristic of being split over two sites separated by a quiet cul-de-sac.The gymnasium facilities for the separate sexes still remain on their original designated sites; east for the boys and west for the girls.
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Oswestry
Coordinates: 52°51′35″N 3°03′14″W / 52.8598°N 3.0538°W / 52.8598; -3.0538
Oswestry ( /ˈɒzwəstri/; Welsh: Croesoswallt) is a town and civil parish in Shropshire, England, close to the Welsh border. It is at the junction of the A5, A483, and A495 roads.
The town was the administrative headquarters of the Borough of Oswestry until it was abolished on 1 April 2009 and is the third largest town in Shropshire, following Telford and Shrewsbury. The 2001 Census recorded the population of the civil parish as 15,613, the urban area as 16,660, and a 2008 estimate suggested that the latter figure had grown to 17,116. The town, located just five miles from the Anglo-Welsh border, is known for its mixed Welsh and English heritage, and is the home of the Shropshire libraries' Welsh Collection.
The area has long been settled. Old Oswestry is the site of a large Iron Age hill fort with evidence of occupation dating back to the 550s BC[citation needed].
The Battle of Maserfield is thought to have been fought here in 642, between the Anglo-Saxon kings Penda and Oswald. Oswald was killed in this battle and was dismembered; according to a legend, one of his arms was carried to an ash tree by a bird, an eagle, and miracles were subsequently attributed to the tree (as Oswald was considered a saint). Thus it is believed that the name of the site derived from a reference to "Oswald's Tree". The spring Oswald's Well is supposed to have originated where the bird dropped the arm from the tree. Offa's Dyke runs nearby to the west.
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Oswestry School
Coordinates: 52°51′22″N 3°03′48″W / 52.85618°N 3.06338°W / 52.85618; -3.06338
Oswestry School is a co-educational independent school, located in the town of Oswestry, Shropshire, England. Founded in 1407 by David Holbache, Member of Parliament for Shropshire & Shrewsbury, and his wife Gwenhwyfar ferch Ieuan, it is one of the county's oldest schools. It is the second oldest non-denominational school in England as many other public schools of the time were established or affiliated with the Church of England.
The senior school is located on Upper Brook Street while the junior school is based at Bellan House on Church Street. Bellan House Preparatory School was a completely separate institution until its amalgamation in the 1970s. The original school building, dating from 1407, is also on Church Street and is currently used as the town's visitor and information centre.
Established in the ancient half-timbered building close to the great Parish Church of St. Oswald in 1407, the School would later attract the attention of Oliver Cromwell and Queen Elizabeth I; the former dismissed the current headmaster for being a "delinquent" (too "Royalist") whilst the latter gave to the School an endowment of "forty shillings per annum" to help with its running. Early archive records show that a small percentage of the subsidized school-fees was set aside to pay for cock fighting, the pupil entertainment of that time.
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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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Peterborough
Peterborough ( /ˈpiːtərbrə/ or 
i/ˈpiːtərbərə/) is a cathedral city and unitary authority area in the East of England, with an estimated population of 173,400 in June 2007. For ceremonial purposes it is in the county of Cambridgeshire. Situated 75 miles (121 km) north of London, the city stands on the River Nene which flows into the North Sea approximately 30 miles (48 km) to the north-east. The railway station is an important stop on the East Coast Main Line.
The local topography is flat and low-lying, and in some places lies below sea level. The area known as the Fens is to the east of Peterborough. The City of Peterborough includes the outlying military installation of RAF Wittering, and as a unitary authority it borders Northamptonshire and Rutland to the west, Lincolnshire to the north, and Cambridgeshire to the south and east.
Human settlement in the area dates back to before the Bronze Age, as can be seen at the Flag Fen archaeological site to the east of the current city centre. This site also shows evidence of Roman occupation. The Anglo-Saxon period saw the establishment of a monastery, then known as Medeshamstede, which later became Peterborough Cathedral. The population grew rapidly following the arrival of the railways in the 19th century, and Peterborough became an industrial centre, particularly noted for its brick manufacture.
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Phoenix School
Coordinates: 51°31′39″N 0°01′36″W / 51.52749°N 0.02656°W / 51.52749; -0.02656
Phoenix School is a comprehensive secondary school in Dawley, Telford, UK with approximately 850 students on roll. Its predecessor Dawley Modern School was opened at Pool Hill in 1956 to take children over 11 from four contributory primary schools; there were c. 500 pupils on the roll. However, parts of Dawley modern school were burnt down in a fire in the 1960s. By 1965 when comprehensive secondary education was introduced the school was renamed the Phoenix School (its name coming from idea that it 'rose from the ashes' of its predecessor). The number of pupils had risen to 1,159 by 1980.
The school was at one point in special measures, but standards have improved to the point where in 2007 the school gained a 'good' Ofsted report. GCSE A*-C rates are below the national average but the school has been commended for the high amount of progress pupils make between Year 7 and 11. Its current head master is Neil Stonehouse.
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Plymouth
Plymouthi/ˈplɪməθ/ is a city and unitary authority area on the south coast of Devon, England, about 190 miles (310 km) south-west of London. It is situated between the mouths of the rivers Plym to the east and Tamar to the west, where they join Plymouth Sound. Since 1967, the City of Plymouth has included the suburbs of Plympton and Plymstock, which are on the east side of the River Plym.
Plymouth's history goes back to the Bronze Age, when its first settlement grew at Mount Batten. This settlement continued to grow as a trading post for the Roman Empire, until the more prosperous village of Sutton, the current Plymouth, surpassed it. In 1620, the Pilgrim Fathers left Plymouth for the New World and established Plymouth Colony – the second English settlement in what is now the United States of America. During the English Civil War the town was held by the Parliamentarians and was besieged between 1642 and 1646.
Throughout the Industrial Revolution, Plymouth grew as a major commercial shipping port, handling imports and passengers from the Americas, while the neighbouring town of Devonport grew as an important Royal Naval shipbuilding and dockyard town. In 1914 the three neighbouring and independent towns, viz., the county borough of Plymouth, the county borough of Devonport, and the urban district of East Stonehouse were merged to form a single County Borough. The new, merged town took the name of Plymouth which, in 1928, achieved city status. The city's naval importance later led to its targeting and partial destruction during World War II, an act known as the Plymouth Blitz. After the war the city centre was completely rebuilt.
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Pontesbury
Pontesbury is a large village and civil parish in Shropshire and is approximately eight miles southwest of the county town of Shrewsbury. The village of Minsterley is just over a mile further southwest. The A488 road runs through the village, on its way from Shrewsbury to Bishop's Castle. The Rea Brook flows close by to the north with the village itself nestling on the northern edge of the Shropshire Hills AONB.
The village is home of a comprehensive school, named after the local novelist Mary Webb, which serves most of the surrounding villages for pupils age 11-16, in addition to a primary school.
The village has a long mining history, once linked to Snailbeach and Hanwood via the Minsterley branch line and the Snailbeach District Railways, it supplied local industry with coal, lead, iron and stone. Although the railway tracks are no longer there you can still walk the route it took where some stations and sidings remain.
Pontesbury is one of the largest villages in Shropshire and so is host to a wide range of local services including independent local shops selling local produce.
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Poole
Coordinates: 50°43′N 1°59′W / 50.717°N 1.983°W / 50.717; -1.983
Poole ( pronunciation (help·info)) is a large coastal town and seaport in the county of Dorset, on the south coast of England. The town is 33 kilometres (21 mi) east of Dorchester, and Bournemouth adjoins Poole to the east. The Borough of Poole was made a unitary authority in 1997, gaining administrative independence from Dorset County Council. The town had a population of 138,288 according to the 2001 census, making it the second largest settlement in Dorset. Together with Bournemouth and Christchurch, the town forms the South East Dorset conurbation with a total population of over 400,000.
Human settlement in the area dates back to before the Iron Age. The earliest recorded use of the town’s name was in the 12th century when the town began to emerge as an important port, prospering with the introduction of the wool trade. In later centuries the town had important trade links with North America and at its peak in the 18th century it was one of the busiest ports in Britain. During the Second World War the town was one of the main departing points for the D-Day landings of the Normandy Invasion.
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Portsmouth
Portsmouth (i/ˈpɔːtsməθ/) is the second largest city in the ceremonial county of Hampshire on the south coast of England. Portsmouth is notable for being the United Kingdom's only island city; it is located mainly on Portsea Island. It is situated 64 miles (103 km) south west from London and 19 miles (31 km) south east from Southampton.
As a significant naval port for centuries, Portsmouth is home to the world's oldest dry dock still in use and also home to some famous ships, including HMS Warrior, the Tudor carrack Mary Rose and Lord Nelson's flagship, HMS Victory. Although smaller than in its heyday, the naval base remains a major dockyard and base for the Royal Navy and Royal Marine Commandos whose Headquarters resides there. There is also a thriving commercial ferryport serving destinations on the continent for freight and passenger traffic. The City of Portsmouth and Portsmouth Football Club are both nicknamed Pompey.
The Spinnaker Tower is a striking recent addition to the city's skyline. It can be found in the redeveloped former HMS Vernon, formerly a shore establishment or 'stone frigate' of the Royal Navy, now an area of retail outlets, restaurants, clubs and bars now known as Gunwharf Quays.
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Powys
Powys ( /ˈpaʊ.ɪs/;Welsh: [ˈpowɪs]) is a principal area, local-government county and preserved county in Mid Wales.
Powys covers the historic counties of Montgomeryshire and Radnorshire, most of Brecknockshire (Breconshire), and a small part of Denbighshire — an area of 5,179 km², making it the largest county in Wales by land area.
It is bounded to the north by Gwynedd, Denbighshire and Wrexham; to the west by Ceredigion and Carmarthenshire; to the east by Shropshire and Herefordshire; and to the south by Rhondda Cynon Taf, Merthyr Tydfil, Caerphilly, Blaenau Gwent, Monmouthshire and Neath Port Talbot.
Most of Powys is mountainous, with north-south transportation by car being difficult.
The majority of the Powys population is made up of villages and small towns. The largest towns are Newtown, Ystradgynlais, Brecon, and Welshpool with populations of 12,783, 9,004, 7,901 and 6,269 respectively (2001). Powys has the lowest population density of all the principal areas of Wales.
Just under a third of the residents have Welsh linguistic skills and Welsh speakers are concentrated mainly in the rural areas both in and around Machynlleth, Llanfyllin and Llanrhaeadr-ym-Mochnant (where William Morgan first translated the whole Bible into Welsh in 1588) in Montgomeryshire (Welsh: Sir Drefaldwyn), and the industrial area of Ystradgynlais in the extreme south-west of Brecknockshire (Welsh: Sir Frycheiniog). Radnorshire (Welsh: Sir Faesyfed) was almost completely Anglicised by the end of the 18th century.
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Prestfelde School
Prestfelde School is an independent coeducational day and boarding preparatory school, located in Shrewsbury, Shropshire, England for children between the ages of 3 and 13. There are currently 300 pupils on roll, with 24 of them currently boarding.
Since 1949 the school has formed part of the Woodard Schools group, founded by the Christian educationalist the Reverend Nathaniel Woodard and as such is affiliated to the largest group of Church of England schools in the country. Whilst originally a school for boys it diversified during the late 1990s and now also accepts girls.
The school is set in 30 acres (120,000 m2) of grounds on the outskirts of Shrewsbury, close to the Lord Hill column.
The latest school inspection by the Independent Schools Council was undertaken in October 2009
The latest boarding inspection by OFSTED was undertaken in October 2009
Coordinates: 52°42′06.49″N 02°43′41.87″W / 52.7018028°N 2.7282972°W / 52.7018028; -2.7282972
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Puleston Cross
The Puleston Cross is a Butter cross in the market town of Newport, Shropshire
The Cross sits in Middle Row, formerly Rotten Row, and denotes the market place. The cross was built in the early 14th century and was moved to this position in 1633 after the new market hall was built by William Adams[disambiguation needed
].
The inscription on the cross is as follows; Named memory of Sir John Puleston who lost his life 1272, during the reign of King Edward 1st in campaign against Wales. It was moved to the current position and then the Butter Cross (market) was built around it by Richard Barnefield in 1632. Some records indicate that it was rebuilt by Thomas Talbott in 1665. The market was demolished in 1866. It was taken down as there was no further use for it when the new market hall was built."
The Market cross was spared demolition and given railings to protect the cross from damage; these have since been taken down.
"The market cross consists of five steep octagonal steps leading to the remains of a square-sectioned fluted shaft made from Sandstone and is overall 500cm high"
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RAF Shawbury
RAF Shawbury is a Royal Air Force station by the village of Shawbury near Shrewsbury, Shropshire.
The station at Shawbury was first used for military flying training in 1917 by the Royal Flying Corps, but it was returned to agricultural use in 1920.
In February 1938 it was reactivated as a training establishment firstly used by No. 11 Service Flying Training School and a Aircraft Storage Unit (ASU) which was operated by No. 27 Maintenance Unit RAF. The airfield also had Relief Landing Grounds at RAF Bridleway Gate and RAF Bratton with additional satellite landing grounds at RAF Hinstock, RAF Hodnet and RAF Weston Park.It primarily prepared pilots for operational squadrons, with the main aircraft being the Airspeed Oxford. In 1944 it became the home of the Central Navigation School, primarily concerned with improving the standard of air navigation in bombers.
In 1950 the School of Air Traffic Control also moved to Shawbury, combining to form the Central Navigation and Control School. In 1963 the Navigation Wing moved to RAF Manby.
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Redcar and Cleveland
The borough of Redcar & Cleveland is a unitary authority in the ceremonial county of North Yorkshire, England consisting of Redcar, Saltburn-by-the-Sea, Guisborough, and small towns such as Brotton, Eston, Skelton and Loftus. It had a resident population of 139,132 in 2001, and is part of the Tees Valley economic area. It is represented in Parliament by Ian Swales (Liberal Democrat) for the Redcar constituency and by Tom Blenkinsop (Labour) for the Middlesbrough South and East Cleveland constituency.
The district was created in 1974 as the borough of Langbaurgh, one of four districts of the new non-metropolitan county of Cleveland. It was formed from the Coatham, Kirkleatham, Ormesby, Redcar and South Bank wards of the county borough of Teesside, along with Guisborough, Loftus, Saltburn and Marske-by-the-Sea, Eston Grange and Skelton and Brotton urban districts, from the North Riding of Yorkshire. The borough was named after the ancient Langbaurgh wapentake of Yorkshire. On 1 January 1988 the borough was renamed as Langbaurgh-on-Tees.
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Redditch
Redditch is a town and local government district in north-east Worcestershire, England, approximately 15 miles (24 km) south of Birmingham. The district had a population of 79,216 in 2005. In the 19th century it became the international centre for the needle and fishing tackle industry. At one point 90% of the world's needles were manufactured in the town and its neighbourhoods. In the 1960s it became a model for modern new town planning.
Redditch lies just south of the West Midlands urban area but is not part of it (being in Worcestershire), northwest of Studley on the A435, which skirts it to the east. The main route of access is the A441, a trunk road from Birmingham to Cookhill, via junction 2 of the M42 Motorway. The Roman Road known as Icknield Street is prominent, running north to south through the eastern side of the town.
Redditch experiences an oceanic climate (Köppen climate classification Cfb) similar to almost all of the United Kingdom.
The first recorded mention of Redditch ("Red-Dych", thought to be a reference to the red clay of the nearby River Arrow) is in 1348, the year of the outbreak of the Black Death. During the Middle Ages it became a centre of needle-making and later prominent industries were fish-hooks, fishing tackle, motorcycles and springs, the latter notably by Herbert Terry and Sons. It was designated a new town in 1964 and the population increased dramatically from 32,000 to around 77,000. Housing developments such as Church Hill, Matchborough, Winyates, Lodge Park and Woodrow were created to accommodate the large overspill from an industrially expanding Birmingham. Redditch was built as a 'flagship' town using new methods and new town planning; all the main roads (mostly new dual carriageways as well as a ring road for the town centre) in Redditch were banked to reduce noise to the new housing estates and the whole of Redditch was landscaped.
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River Corve
The River Corve is a minor river in Shropshire, England. It is a tributary of the River Teme which it joins in the town of Ludlow, and which joins the River Severn at Powick near Worcester. The valley it flows through is known as the Corvedale.
During heavy flooding in 2007 when the river rose 1.6m in three hours, a house collapsed into the river and the Burway Bridge collapsed severing the connection of the B4361 Coronation Avenue, a major access route, with the town centre of Ludlow. A new, modern bridge designed by the Environment Agency constructed by the Shropshire County Council, was completed in 2008. A temporary Bailey bridge had been erected to reduce disruption in traffic flow during the construction.
In 2006 as a result of pollution by slurry from a nearby livestock farm in Brockton, fish were found dead in the river.
Corvedale is an electoral division for electing members to Shropshire Council. It covers a large rural area, consisting of 13 civil parishes, and encompassing more than that of the familiar Corvedale area.
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River Onny
Coordinates: 52°34′16″N 3°02′20″W / 52.571°N 3.039°W / 52.571; -3.039 The River Onny is a river in Shropshire, England. It is a major tributary of the River Teme.
The river has its sources in the Shropshire Hills at White Grit, located in Mid and South-west Shropshire. It has two branches, the East Onny and West Onny, which converge at Eaton, to the east of Lydham. The River Onny then flows in a South-easterly direction, through Craven Arms and Onibury, before it finally has its confluence with the River Teme just upstream of Ludlow at Bromfield. The River Teme is itself a tributary of the River Severn, confluencing just south of Worcester city centre. The River Severn then flows south-west meeting the sea at Bristol. The Onny has the type section just west of Craven Arms of the Caradocian series of the Ordovician system and there is a trilobite genus Onnia.
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River Tern
The River Tern (also historically known as the Tearne) is a river in Shropshire, England. It rises north-east of Market Drayton in the north of the county. The source of the Tern is considered to be the lake in the grounds of Maer Hall, Staffordshire. From here it flows for about 30 miles (48 km), being fed by the River Meese and the River Roden, until it joins the River Severn near Attingham Park, Atcham.
At Longdon-on-Tern, the Tern is spanned by the world's first large-scale cast iron navigable aqueduct, designed by Thomas Telford to carry the Shrewsbury Canal. The 62 yards (57 m) long structure still stands today, but is marooned in the middle of a field.
Coordinates: 52°41′N 2°39′W / 52.683°N 2.65°W / 52.683; -2.65
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River Vyrnwy
The River Vyrnwy (Welsh: Afon Efyrnwy, pronounced [ɛˈvərnʊɨ]) is a river which flows through northern Powys, Wales, and Shropshire, England.
The river used to be sourced from the many rivers and streams running off the mountains surrounding the Vyrnwy valley. However, since the Lake Vyrnwy dam was built in the 1880s, the river has flowed directly from the base of the dam. The river runs for 39.7 miles (63.9 km), and the last 8 miles (12.9 km) form part of the Welsh/English border between Powys and Shropshire. It eventually joins the River Severn near the village of Melverley.
The early stages of the river are predominantly Grade II white water with a few Grade III sections, most notably the Vyrnwy Gorge near the village of Dolanog. The river is paddled frequently by Kayakers and Canoeists. The other most prominent feature of the upper river is Dolanog Falls, a 20 feet (6 m) high man-made weir that requires a portage by both kayaks and canoes.
Much of the lower river below Pontrobert is Grade I and a good touring river.
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River Worfe
The River Worfe is a river in Shropshire, England.
It rises at Crackleybank on Watling Street, just north of Shifnal. It then forms the boundary of that parish with Tong, Donington, and Albrighton. It then passes through Ryton (where it is joined by Wesley Brook), and Beckbury. There it is joined by Mad Brook, which presumably takes its name from rising near the river Severn, but flowing away from it. Soon after, it forms the boundary between Stockton and Badger, before flowing through Worfield to join the river Severn.
The river has two effluents to the river Severn, of which the southern emerging at Fort Pendlestone was formerly the mill leat serving Pendlestone Mill, the ancient corn mill of ther town of Bridgnorth and long belonging to Bridgnorth Corporation.
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Rutland
Coordinates: 52°39′20.00″N 0°39′30.00″W / 52.65556°N 0.65833°W / 52.65556; -0.65833
Rutland ( /ˈrʌtlənd/) is a landlocked county in central England, bounded on the west and north by Leicestershire, northeast by Lincolnshire and southeast by Peterborough (a unitary authority ceremonially in Cambridgeshire) and Northamptonshire.
Its greatest length north to south is only 18 miles (29.0 km), greatest breadth east to west, 17 miles (27.4 km). It is the smallest (in terms of population) normal unitary authority in mainland England (only the City of London is smaller in terms of area), and is 348th of the 354 districts in terms of population. It is the smallest historic English county, leading to the adoption of the Latin motto Multum In Parvo or "much in little" by the county council in 1950. Among modern ceremonial counties the Isle of Wight, City of London and City of Bristol are all smaller. The former County of London, in existence 1889 to 1965, also had a smaller area.
The only towns in Rutland are Oakham, the county town, and Uppingham. At the centre of the county is the large artificial reservoir, Rutland Water, with a similar surface area to Windermere. It is an important nature reserve serving as an overwintering site for wildfowl and a breeding site for ospreys. The town of Stamford is just over the border in a protruding part of Lincolnshire.
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Sandwell
Sandwell is a metropolitan borough of the West Midlands with a population of around 289,100, and an area of 33 square miles (85 km2). The borough is named after Sandwell Priory, and spans a densely populated part of both the Black Country, and the West Midlands conurbation, encompassing the urban towns of Blackheath, Cradley Heath, Oldbury, Rowley Regis, Smethwick, Tipton, Tividale, Wednesbury, and West Bromwich. West Bromwich is the most populous town in Sandwell, but Sandwell Council House (the headquarters of Sandwell's local government) is located at Oldbury.
The Metropolitan Borough of Sandwell was formed in 1974 as part of the provisions of the Local Government Act 1972 and is an amalgamation of the former County Borough of Warley and County Borough of West Bromwich. For its first 12 years Sandwell had a two-tier system of local government; Sandwell Council shared power with the West Midlands County Council. Since the Local Government Act 1985 Sandwell Council has effectively been a unitary authority, serving as the sole executive, deliberative and legislative body responsible for local policy, setting council tax, and allocating budget in the district.
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Shawbury
Coordinates: 52°47′13″N 2°39′19″W / 52.78696°N 2.65526°W / 52.78696; -2.65526
Shawbury is a village and civil parish in the English county of Shropshire. The village is 8.4 miles (13.5 km) north east of the town of Shrewsbury, 11.5 miles (18.5 km) north west of Telford and 163 miles (262 km) north west of London. The village straddles the A53 between Shrewsbury and Market Drayton. The nearest railway station is at Yorton on the Welsh Marches Line for Shrewsbury/Crewe.
Shawbury has an entry in the Domesday Book of 1085. In the great book Shawbury is recorded by the name Sawesberie. The main landholders was Gerard from Earl Roger. The survey also mentions that there is church and a mill.
There has been a church on this site since at least the 12th century. Although the present church is not from that date.
The village is home to RAF Shawbury, a helicopter base for the Royal Air Force of the United Kingdom. The River Roden flows through the village. The village of Moreton Corbet, with its castle, is just to the north. Shawbury's football club is Shawbury United FC.
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Shifnal
Coordinates: 52°39′55″N 2°22′23″W / 52.6653°N 2.3731°W / 52.6653; -2.3731
Shifnal is a small market town in Shropshire, England. It forms part of The Wrekin constituency, and is about 3 miles (4.8 km) east of Telford. It has a railway station on the Shrewsbury-Wolverhampton Line and is near to the M54 motorway.
The town, also once known as "Idsall", most probably began as an Anglian settlement, established by the end of the 7th century.
Shifnal is thought to be the place named "Scuffanhalch", in a 9th century charter, as a possession of the monastery at Medeshamstede (later Peterborough Abbey). Though this seems a dubious claim, and the ancient charter is in fact a 12th century forgery, the full picture is more complex. Sir Frank Stenton considered that "Scuffanhalch", along with "Costesford" (Cosford) and "Stretford", formed part of a list of places which had once been connected with Medeshamstede; and the charter purports to have been issued by King Æthelred of Mercia, during much of whose reign the bishop of Mercia was Sexwulf (or "Saxwulf"), founder and first abbot of Medeshamstede.
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Shrewsbury
Coordinates: 52°42′28″N 2°45′15″W / 52.7077°N 2.7541°W / 52.7077; -2.7541
Shrewsbury (i/ˈʃruːzbri/ or i/ˈʃroʊzbri/) is the county town of Shropshire, in the West Midlands region of England. Lying on the River Severn, it is a borough home to some 96,000 inhabitants, and is the primary settlement and headquarters of Shropshire Council. It is the second largest town in the ceremonial county of Shropshire, after Telford.
Shrewsbury is a historic market town with the town centre having a largely unaltered medieval street plan. The town features over 660 historic listed buildings, including several examples of timber framing from the 15th and 16th century. Shrewsbury Castle, a red sandstone castle fortification, and Shrewsbury Abbey, a former Benedictine monastery, were founded in 1074 and 1083 respectively, by the Norman Earl of Shrewsbury, Roger de Montgomery. The town hosts one of the oldest and largest horticultural events in the country, Shrewsbury Flower Show, and is known for its floral displays, having won various awards since the turn of the 21st century, including Britain in Bloom in 2006.
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Shrewsbury Abbey
The Abbey of Saint Peter and Saint Paul, commonly known as Shrewsbury Abbey, was a Benedictine monastery founded in 1083 by the Norman Earl of Shrewsbury, Roger de Montgomery, in Shrewsbury, the county town of Shropshire, England.
The Abbey is located to the east of the town centre, near to the English Bridge, surrounded by a triangular area which is today referred to as Abbey Foregate. A large amount of the monastery was destroyed during the Dissolution of the Monasteries, but a number of buildings, including the church were left intact. Thomas Telford built his A5 road through the remaining part of the Abbey and now only part of the original abbey church is still in existence, which is still used today as a place of worship. The old refectory pulpit is still visible across the road from the church and a single wall of an abbey building, now an integral part of another building, remains.
The history of Shrewsbury Abbey played a prominent role in the "Cadfael" mysteries by Ellis Peters.
The road that passes the abbey is referred to as "Abbey Foregate", the area around which forms a suburb of the town of the same name. The suburb's development is largely residential, with some commercial and limited industrial development, much of the industry having left during a period of decline in the 20th century.
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Shrewsbury Castle
Shrewsbury Castle is a red sandstone castle in Shrewsbury, Shropshire, England. It stands on a hill in the neck of the meander of the River Severn on which the town originally developed. The castle is situated directly above Shrewsbury railway station.
It was built as a defensive fortification for the town, which was otherwise protected by the river. Town walls, of which little now remains, then radiated out from the castle and surrounded the town (although the area known now as Town Walls still has a small section of it and a tower known as Town Walls Tower and in the care of the National Trust).
In 1138, King Stephen successfully besieged the castle held by William FitzAlan for the Empress Maud during the period known as The Anarchy. The castle was also briefly held by Llywelyn ap Iorwerth, prince of Wales, in 1215. Little of this original physical structure remains.
The Shropshire Horticultural Society bought the castle and gave it to the town in 1924. Until 1981, borough council meetings, where the full council would be present, used the castle's hall. Meetings later moved to Oakley Manor in Belle Vue, and then to the Guildhall in Frankwell.
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Shrewsbury School
Coordinates: 52°42′14″N 2°45′44″W / 52.7038°N 2.7622°W / 52.7038; -2.7622
Shrewsbury School is a co-educational independent school for pupils aged 13 to 18, founded by Royal Charter in 1552. The present campus to which the school moved in 1882 is located on the banks of the River Severn in Shrewsbury, Shropshire, England. It is one of the original nine Clarendon Schools (including Eton College, Harrow and Charterhouse School) that were defined by the Public Schools Act 1868 Originally a boarding school for boys, girls have been admitted into the Sixth Form since 2008 and its mixed gender roll of around 720 includes approximately 130 day pupils. Pupils are admitted at the age of 13 by selective examination. For approximately ten per cent of the pupils, English is a second or additional language. The school's old boys – or "Old Salopians" – include naturalist Charles Darwin, poet Sir Philip Sidney, his biographer, Fulke Greville, Astronomer Royal Martin Rees, authors Samuel Butler and Nevil Shute, and broadcasters such as John Peel and Michael Palin.
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Shropshire
Shropshire ( /ˈʃrɒpʃər/ or /ˈʃrɒpʃɪər/; alternatively Salop; abbreviated, in print only, Shrops) is a county in the West Midlands region of England. It borders Wales to the west, Cheshire to the north, Staffordshire to the east, Worcestershire to the south-east and Herefordshire to the south. A unitary authority (Shropshire Council) was created on 1 April 2009, taking over from the previous county council and 5 district councils, and covers most of the county. The borough of Telford and Wrekin, included in Shropshire for ceremonial purposes, has been a separate unitary authority since 1998.
The county's population and economy is centred on five towns: the county town of Shrewsbury, which is culturally and historically important and is located in the centre of the county;Telford, a new town in the east which was constructed around a number of older towns, most notably Wellington, Dawley and Madeley, which is today the most populous; and Oswestry in the north-west, Bridgnorth just to the south of Telford, and Ludlow in the south. The county has many further smaller towns, including Whitchurch in the north, Newport just to the north-east of Telford, and Market Drayton in the north-east of the county.
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Shropshire Archives
Shropshire Archives is located in Shrewsbury, England and is the archives and local studies service for the historic county of Shropshire, which includes the borough of Telford and Wrekin.
It preserves and makes accessible documents, books, maps, photographs, plans and drawings relating to Shropshire and its people dating from the early 12th to the 21st century.
Shropshire Archives is funded by Shropshire Council and Telford and Wrekin Borough Council and is supported by an active friends organisation - the Friends of Shropshire Archives.
In 1995 the County Record Office and Local Studies Library were brought together in a purpose built building just off Castle Gates in Shrewsbury town centre. From 1995 to 2003, the building was known as the Shropshire Records and Research Centre. After consultation, in 2003 the name was changed to "Shropshire Archives - gateway to the history of Shropshire and Telford".
Outside the building, in the courtyard, is a mosaic showing the historic extent of Shropshire with a leopard and the county motto "Floreat Salopia" / "May Shropshire Flourish". The area where the building now stands was formerly "Blower's Repository" and is located just below the main Shrewsbury Library building. Steps lead down from the courtyard to the town's bus station further down the hill. [1] In 2008 a plaque was unveiled at the archive to commemorate the 725th anniversary of the execution at Shrewsbury of the last native prince of Wales, Dafydd ap Gruffudd.
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Sibdon Carwood
Coordinates: 52°26′35″N 2°51′58″W / 52.443°N 2.866°W / 52.443; -2.866
Sibdon Carwood is a hamlet and small parish in Shropshire, England. To its east is the small market town of Craven Arms.
The community is quite dispersed, though there is a core hamlet at the heart of the Sibdon Castle estate. Once the location of a medieval fortification or manor house, the present Sibdon Castle is not a castle but an early/mid-17th century stone country house, built by the Corbet family. It was modernised in the 18th century and made castellated with battlements added around 1800. To the rear of the house is a courtyard with a stone stable block. It is a Grade II* Listed building.
Also within the main hamlet is St Michael's Church, which was rebuilt in 1741; there has been a church here since about 1180. A west tower was added around 1800 and the church was restored, extended and made Gothic, with tower battlements, in 1871-2. The church and a lodge near Sibdon Castle are both Grade II listed. Otherwise the hamlet consists of a farm with its own farmhouse, a small number of cottages and numerous outbuildings. Just to the northeast lies Sibdon Pool, a historic 1.3 hectare fishing pool. A private tree-lined carriage drive connects the main hamlet with the Clun Road (the B4368). A number of public right of ways converge on the hamlet, giving the public access to the church, one of which is part of the "Shropshire Way" and "Wart Hill Wanderer".
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Slough
Coordinates: 51°30′36″N 0°35′35″W / 51.51°N 0.593056°W / 51.51; -0.593056
Sloughi/ˈslaʊ/ is a borough and unitary authority within the ceremonial county of Royal Berkshire, England. The town straddles the A4 Bath Road (it becomes the Great West Road closer to London) and the Great Western Main Line, 22 miles (35 km) west of central London. At the 2001 census, the population of Slough was 119,070 (est. 122,000 in 2006) and the borough area was the most ethnically diverse local authority area outside London in the United Kingdom. Slough has the highest proportion of religious adherents in England.
Historically, the larger part of the present-day Slough area was formerly in Buckinghamshire with a small part of the borough originally in Middlesex. Slough is home to the Slough Trading Estate, which, coupled with extensive transport links, makes it an important business centre in South East England. It is the largest industrial estate in single private ownership in Europe.
Slough is at grid reference SU978797, just west of Greater London. Nearby towns are Windsor to the south, Maidenhead to the west, Uxbridge to the northeast and Beaconsfield to the north.
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Snailbeach
Snailbeach is a village in Shropshire, England, located near Shrewsbury at grid reference SJ375025. The village was formerly home to a large lead mine.
A village was built for workers at the local lead mine - Snailbeach Mine, which reputedly dates back to Roman times. The mine has some of the best preserved surface buildings of a lead mine left standing in Britain including a Cornish Engine House. It is managed by the Shropshire Mines Trust[1]. Snailbeach Mine was the biggest lead mine in Shropshire and it is reputed to have yielded the greatest volume of lead per acre of any mine in Europe. Although the miners mainly extracted lead ore (galena) from the mine, smaller quantities of Barytes, Calcite, Fluorspar, Silver and Zinc were also obtained.
Underground mining ceased in Snailbeach in 1955. Since 1955 only some reworking of the spoil heaps for spar, to use as pebble dash on buildings, has occurred. Barytes from here was sent to the Windscale nuclear reactor to smother fuel cells after an accident. Locals carried on working the tips until the 1970s. Although some ore is said to have been left standing in the mine, it does not seem likely that the mine will reopen. The old miners were very thorough in their working and rarely left much ore for later generations. Once a mine has been allowed to flood and the machinery removed the cost of reopening the mine increases dramatically and the prospect usually becomes too expensive. Any large amounts of lead remaining in the area are likely to be below the Ritton Castle area. Unfortunately miners would probably have to dig at least 1,000 feet down before they reach the top of the lead deposits, if they could find them. This is too deep and too expensive so lead mining in Shropshire is unlikely to become a major industry ever again.
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Somerset
The ceremonial and non-metropolitan county of Somerset (i/ˈsʌmərsɛt/ or /ˈsʌmərsɨt/) in South West England borders Bristol and Gloucestershire to the north, Wiltshire to the east, Dorset to the south-east, and Devon to the south-west. It is partly bounded to the north and west by the Bristol Channel and the estuary of the River Severn. Its traditional northern border is the River Avon, but the administrative boundary has crept southwards with the creation and expansion of the City of Bristol, and latterly the county of Avon and its successor unitary authorities to the north. Somerset's county town, Taunton, is in the south.
Somerset is a rural county of rolling hills such as the Blackdown Hills, Mendip Hills, Quantock Hills and Exmoor National Park, and large flat expanses of land including the Somerset Levels. There is evidence of human occupation from Palaeolithic times, and of subsequent settlement in the Roman and Anglo-Saxon periods. The county played a significant part in the consolidation of power and rise of King Alfred the Great, and later in the English Civil War and the Monmouth Rebellion.
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South Shropshire
Coordinates: 52°29′42″N 2°48′58″W / 52.495°N 2.816°W / 52.495; -2.816
South Shropshire was, between 1974 and 2009, a local government district in south west Shropshire, England.
South Shropshire was the most rural district of one of the UK's most rural counties, the population of the district was 40,410 in 2001 spread out over 1,027 km² of forest, mountains, moorlands, hills and mixed quality farmland. It bordered the unitary authority of Powys in Wales, which it closely resembles, economically, socially, culturally and historically. 65% of the district is part of the Shropshire Hills Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty. Only the towns of Ludlow and Church Stretton have populations in excess of 3000. Other towns formerly in the district were Clun, Bishop's Castle, Cleobury Mortimer and Craven Arms.
The district was formed by the merger of the rural districts of Clun and Bishop's Castle and Ludlow in 1974, under the Local Government Act 1972.
The district and its council were abolished on 1 April 2009 when the new Shropshire unitary authority was established, as part of the 2009 structural changes to local government in England.
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South Staffordshire
South Staffordshire is a local government district in Staffordshire, England. The district lies to the north and west of Wolverhampton and the West Midlands, bordering Shropshire to the west and Worcestershire to the south. It contains no towns of major size and many of the settlements within the district are dormitory villages for Stafford, Wolverhampton, Birmingham and Telford.
The district was formed on 1 April 1974, under the Local Government Act 1972, by the merger of Cannock Rural District (in the north) and Seisdon Rural District (in the south).
Its council is based in Codsall, one of the larger settlements in the district, along with Brewood, Cheslyn Hay, Great Wyrley, Kinver, Landywood, Penkridge, Perton and Wombourne. Other villages in the district include Coven, Essington, Featherstone, Gospel End, Huntington, Lower Penn, Pattingham, Seisdon and Trysull.
The district covers a similar geographic area to South Staffordshire parliamentary constituency, although the north of the district is covered by the Stafford (UK Parliament constituency). Sir Patrick Cormack of the Conservative Party held the South Staffordshire seat, and its predecessors, between 1970–2010, when he retired and the seat was won by Gavin Williamson for the Conservative Party.
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South Yorkshire
South Yorkshire is a metropolitan county in the Yorkshire and the Humber region of England. It has a population of 1.29 million. It consists of four metropolitan boroughs: Barnsley, Doncaster, Rotherham, and City of Sheffield. South Yorkshire was created on 1 April 1974 as a result of the Local Government Act 1972.
Lying on the east side of the Pennines, South Yorkshire is landlocked, and borders Derbyshire (to the south-west), West Yorkshire (to the northwest), North Yorkshire (to the north), the East Riding of Yorkshire (to the northeast), Lincolnshire (to the east) and Nottinghamshire (to the southeast). The Sheffield Urban Area is the ninth most populous conurbation in the UK, and dominates the western half of South Yorkshire with over half of the county's population living within it.
South Yorkshire County Council was abolished in 1986, and so its districts (the metropolitan boroughs) are now effectively unitary authority areas; however, the metropolitan county, which is some 1,552 square kilometres (599 sq mi), continues to exist in law and as a geographic frame of reference. As a ceremonial county, South Yorkshire has a Lord Lieutenant and a High Sheriff.
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Southampton
Southamptoni/saʊθˈhæmptən/ is the largest city in the county of Hampshire on the south coast of England, and is situated 120 kilometres (75 mi) south-west of London and 30 kilometres (19 mi) north-west of Portsmouth. Southampton is a major port and the closest city to the New Forest. It lies at the northernmost point of Southampton Water at the confluence of the River Test and River Itchen, with the River Hamble joining to the south of the urban area. The local authority is Southampton City Council, which is a unitary authority.
The city represents the core of the Greater Southampton region, and the city itself has an estimated population of 239,700 Southampton combines with Portsmouth to form a single metropolitan area; with a population of over a million this makes the region one of the United Kingdom's most populous metropolitan areas. The city's name is sometimes abbreviated in writing to "So'ton" or "Soton", and a resident of Southampton is called a Sotonian.
Significant employers in Southampton include the University of Southampton, Southampton Airport, the Ford Transit factory, Ordnance Survey, BBC South, the NHS, ABP and Carnival. Southampton is noted for its association with the RMS Titanic, the Spitfire and more recently a number of the largest cruise ships in the world.
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Stafford
Coordinates: 52°48′24″N 2°07′02″W / 52.8066°N 2.1171°W / 52.8066; -2.1171
Stafford is the county town of Staffordshire, in the West Midlands region of England. It lies approximately 16 miles (26 km) north of Wolverhampton and 18 miles (29 km) south of Stoke-on-Trent, adjacent to the M6 motorway Junction 13 to Junction 14. The population of Stafford was given in the 2001 census as 63,681, with that of the wider borough of Stafford as 122,000, making Stafford the fourth largest settlement in the Ceremonial county, after Stoke on Trent, Tamworth and Newcastle under Lyme.
Stafford means 'ford' by a 'staithe' (landing place). The original settlement was on dry sand and gravel peninsula that provided a strategic crossing point in the marshy valley of the River Sow, a tributary of the River Trent. There is still a large area of marshland northwest of the town, which has always been subject to flooding, such as in 1947, 2000 and 2007.
It's thought Stafford was founded in about 700 AD by Mercian prince called Bertelin who, according to legend, established a hermitage on the peninsular named Betheney or Bethnei. Until recently it was thought that the remains of a wooden preaching cross from this time had been found under the remains of St Bertelin's chapel, next to the later collegiate Church of St Mary in the centre of the town. Recent re-examination of the evidence shows this was a misinterpretation – it was a tree trunk coffin placed centrally in the first, timber, chapel at around the time Æthelflæd founded the burh, in 913 AD. The tree trunk coffin may have been placed there as an object of commemoration or veneration of St Bertelin.
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Staffordshire
Staffordshire (/ˈstæfərdʃɪər/ or /ˈstæfərdʃaɪər/; abbreviated Staffs) is a landlocked county in the West Midlands region of England. Part of the National Forest lies within its borders. It adjoins the ceremonial counties of Cheshire (to the north west), Derbyshire (to the east), Leicestershire (to the east), Warwickshire (to the south east), West Midlands (to the south), Worcestershire (to the south), and Shropshire (to the west).
The largest city in Staffordshire is Stoke-on-Trent, which is administered separately from the rest of the county as an independent unitary authority. Lichfield also has city status, although this is a considerably smaller cathedral city. Major towns include Stafford (the county town), Burton upon Trent, Cannock, Newcastle-under-Lyme, Leek and Tamworth.
Wolverhampton, Walsall, West Bromwich and Smethwick were also in Staffordshire until local government reorganisation in 1974, but are now within the West Midlands County in the West Midlands Conurbation.
With the exception of Stoke-on-Trent, Staffordshire is divided into the districts of Cannock Chase, East Staffordshire, Lichfield, Newcastle-under-Lyme, South Staffordshire, Stafford, Staffordshire Moorlands, and Tamworth.
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Stokesay Castle
Stokesay Castle is a fortified manor house in Stokesay, a mile south of the town of Craven Arms, in southern Shropshire. It was built in the late 13th century. Currently in the guardianship of English Heritage, Stokesay Castle is a Grade I listed building.
From the Norman Conquest until 1241, the area was held by the Lacy family, a powerful dynasty with lands in the Welsh Marches. On the death of the last male heir, Walter de Lacy, it was left to the husbands of his two granddaughters to divide the family estates. The manor of Stokesay went to John de Verdon. He went on crusade, leaving his property in the hands of a tenant. This tenant sold the manor in 1281 to Laurence of Ludlow. The main construction of Stokesay Castle was undertaken by Laurence of Ludlow, based in Shrewsbury, the richest local wool merchant of his generation.
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Suffolk
Suffolk ( /ˈsʌfək/) is a non-metropolitan county of historic origin in East Anglia, England. It has borders with Norfolk to the north, Cambridgeshire to the west and Essex to the south. The North Sea lies to the east. The county town is Ipswich; other important towns include Lowestoft, Bury St Edmunds and Felixstowe, one of the largest container ports in Europe. It is one of the few counties in the United Kingdom that does not contain a city.
The county is low-lying with very few hills, and is largely arable land with the wetlands of The Broads in the North. The Suffolk Coast and Heaths are an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty.
By the 5th century the Angles, after whom East Anglia and England itself are named, had established control of the region and later became the "north folk" and the "south folk", hence, "Norfolk" and "Suffolk". Suffolk, and several adjacent areas, became the kingdom of East Anglia, which was settled by the Angles in the 5th century AD, later merging with Mercia and then Wessex.
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Sunnycroft
Sunnycroft is a Victorian suburban villa, located in Wellington, Shropshire.
Located in the market town of Wellington, Shropshire, England, and owned by the National Trust as one of their more unusual properties.
Suburban villas were almost 'country estates in miniature' that attempted to emulate upper class mansions on a middle class budget. Many have either been modernised, renovated or refurbished out of recognition over the last 60 years or so or have been demolished and replaced with later housing, converted into offices or residential care homes, or have been broken up into flats and smaller residences.
Sunnycroft remains intact, complete with the origial interior fixtures and fittings, many of which are still in place and therefore has a unique character and intimacy that is often lacking from larger properties but very evocative of its time and place.
It is located close to the town centre in Wellington, on the B5061 Holyhead Road, originally the Shrewsbury to London road, and formerly part of Watling Street the Roman road from London to Wroxeter.
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Surrey
Surrey /ˈsʌri/ is a county in the South East of England, and one of the home counties. The county borders Greater London, Kent, East Sussex, West Sussex, Hampshire, and Berkshire. The historic county town is Guildford.Surrey County Council sits at Kingston upon Thames, although this has been part of Greater London since 1965. The London boroughs of Lambeth, Wandsworth and Southwark were considered part of Surrey until 1889; and Croydon, Kingston, Merton, Sutton, Barnes and Richmond - all now reclassified as part of Greater London - were part of Surrey until 1965.
Surrey is divided into 11 boroughs and districts: Elmbridge, Epsom and Ewell, Guildford, Mole Valley, Reigate and Banstead, Runnymede, Spelthorne, Surrey Heath, Tandridge, Waverley, Woking. After the elections of 1 May 2008, the Conservatives are in control of 10 out of 11 councils in Surrey, with Epsom and Ewell in Residents Association control. The Conservatives hold all 11 Parliamentary constituencies within the county borders.
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Telford
Coordinates: 52°40′36″N 2°26′49″W / 52.6766°N 2.4469°W / 52.6766; -2.4469
Telfordi/ˈtɛlfərd/ is a large new town in the borough of Telford and Wrekin and ceremonial county of Shropshire, England, about 13 miles (21 km) east of Shrewsbury, and 30 miles (48 km) west of Birmingham. With an estimated population of 162,300 in 2009, Telford is by far the largest town in Shropshire, and one of the fastest growing towns in the United Kingdom.
It is named after Thomas Telford, the famous civil engineer. The town was built in the 1960s and 1970s as a new town on previously industrial and agricultural land. Like other planned towns of the era, Telford was created from the merger of other, smaller settlements, most notably the towns of Wellington, Oakengates, Madeley and Dawley. Telford Shopping Centre, a modern shopping mall, was constructed at the new town's geographical centre, along with an extensive Town Park. The M54 motorway was completed in 1983, connecting the town with the West Midlands conurbation.
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The Marches School
Coordinates: 52°51′10″N 3°03′41″W / 52.85284°N 3.06142°W / 52.85284; -3.06142
The Marches School is a school located in Oswestry, North-West Shropshire, England. It is the first and at present, the only academy in Shropshire and the only one in the West Midlands region. It has an enrolment of around 1400 pupils, in year groups 7-11, key stages 3 and 4, ages 11/12 to 15/16. It has one of the highest achieving records in the United Kingdom.
Pupils come from primary schools in the town and neighbouring villages.
The academy offers GCSEs in English, Maths, Science, History, Geography, Religious Education (RE), Physical Education (PE), Art, Drama, Music, Textiles, Graphics, Resistant Materials, Food Technology, French, Spanish, German, ICT, Media Studies and offers a diploma in ICT.
The school runs a comenius project, which enables students to go, and visitors to come from all over the world. The latest trip was to South Africa where six students and 10 teachers went to visit schools in South Africa and set up several projects.
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The Wrekin
The Wrekin is a hill in east Shropshire, England. It is located some 7 km (4.3 mi) west of Telford, on the border between the unitary authorities of Shropshire and Telford and Wrekin. Rising to a height of 407 metres (1,335 ft) above the Shropshire Plain, it is a prominent and well-known landmark, marking the entrance to Shropshire for travellers westbound on the M54 motorway. The Wrekin is contained within the northern panhandle of the Shropshire Hills Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty. The hill is popular with walkers and tourists and offers good views of Shropshire. It can be seen well into Staffordshire and the Black Country, and even as far as the Beetham Tower in Manchester, Winter Hill in Lancashire and Cleeve Hill in Gloucestershire.
The earliest mention of the Wrekin occurs in a charter of 855, as entered in a late eleventh century Worcester chartulary, spelled Wreocensetun. Its modern form is believed to have come into modern English by way of Mercian, and that is likely to have been taken from the early Celtic word Wrikon. It is presumed to be etymologically related to the Latin name for the town of Viroconium Cornoviorum (modern Wroxeter; the Cornovii were the British tribe inhabiting the area), related to similar sounding names such as Wrexham (a charter of 1236 refers to this place as Wrectesham) which was also been part of the northwestern edge of the Cornovii Kingdom.
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Thurrock
Thurrock is a unitary authority with borough status in the English ceremonial county of Essex. It is part of the London commuter belt and an area of regeneration within the Thames Gateway redevelopment zone. The local authority is Thurrock Council.
It lies on the River Thames just to the east of London. With over 18 miles (29 km) of riverfront it covers an area of 64 square miles (166 km²), with more than half defined as Green Belt. With Greater London to the west and the river to the south, the county of Essex abuts the Borough to the north and east, and across the river lies Kent.
The local authority is Thurrock Council. Elections are held 3 out of every 4 years. In the last election in 2012, Labour took control after a period in which no party had overall control.
Thurrock is covered by two parliamentary constituencies. Thurrock includes most of the borough while South Basildon and East Thurrock includes some wards in the east of the borough. Both seats were Conservative gains from Labour at the 2010 general election.
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Torbay
Torbay ( /tɔrˈbeɪ/) is an east-facing bay and natural harbour, at the westernmost end of Lyme Bay in the south-west of England, roughly equidistant from the cities of Exeter and Plymouth. Consisting of the towns of Torquay, Paignton and Brixham, and part of the ceremonial county of Devon, Torbay was made a unitary authority on 1 April 1998. Tourist authorities call it the "English Riviera" on account of its beaches and mild climate; it is a popular area with holiday makers.
That Torbay has been inhabited since paleolithic times is shown by human bones and tools found in Kents Cavern in Torquay. A maxilla fragment known as Kents Cavern 4 may be the oldest example of a modern human in Europe, dating back to 37,000–40,000 years ago.Roman soldiers are known to have visited Torquay during the period when Britain was a part of the Roman Empire, leaving offerings at a curious rock formation in Kent's Cavern, known as "The Face".
Both Brixham and Paignton appear in the Domesday Book of 1086 and Paignton was given the status of a borough having a market and fair in 1294. The first major building in Torquay was Torre Abbey, a Premonstratensian monastery founded in 1196.
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Tyne and Wear
Tyne and Wear /ˌtaɪn ənd ˈwɪər/ is a metropolitan county in north east England around the mouths of the Rivers Tyne and Wear. It came into existence as a metropolitan county in 1974 after the passage of the Local Government Act 1972. It consists of the five metropolitan boroughs of South Tyneside, North Tyneside, City of Newcastle upon Tyne, Gateshead and the City of Sunderland.
Prior to reforms in 1974, the territory comprising the county of Tyne and Wear straddled the border between the counties of Northumberland and County Durham. North Tyneside and Newcastle upon Tyne had previously existed within of Northumberland, whereas South Tyneside, Gateshead and Sunderland were all previously within the borders of County Durham, with the River Tyne forming the border of the two counties.
Tyne and Wear is bounded on the east by the North Sea, and as a ceremonial county, shares borders with Northumberland to the north and County Durham to the south.
Tyne and Wear County Council was abolished in 1986, and so its districts (the metropolitan boroughs) are now unitary authorities. However, the metropolitan county continues to exist in law and as a geographic frame of reference.
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Wakeman School
Coordinates: 52°42′27″N 2°44′49″W / 52.70763°N 2.74688°W / 52.70763; -2.74688
The Wakeman School and Arts College is a co-educational comprehensive school located in Shrewsbury, the county town of Shropshire, England. The school is the only secondary school in the town centre, located just to the east of the English Bridge. There are about 450 pupils on roll and the age range is 11–16 years.
The school has recently been awarded the ‘Artsmark Gold’ by Arts Council England, and the development of a state-of-the-art recording and media studio for the school, as well as a new ICT facility, was completed during the summer holidays 2008.
Following its successful bid for specialist college status, the Wakeman School became the Wakeman School and Arts College, with specialisms in Visual and Performing Arts and Music.
The school's motto of 'Achievement through Caring' sums up its genuine inclusive and caring ethos and it is an ethos that is fundamental to its teaching. In its most recent inspection, in March 2011, Ofsted judged the school to be 'Good' with 'Outstanding' features. The report praised "the outstanding leadership of its headteacher" and wrote "This is a good school which has improved rapidly. All groups of students make at least good progress... Students, parents and carers repeatedly told inspectors that the school is one big, warm family." In 2011 the school progressed to 61.5% of students achieving at least 5 GCSEs at grades A* to C, including English and Maths.
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Wales
Walesi/ˈweɪlz/ (Welsh: Cymru;Welsh pronunciation: [ˈkəm.rɨ] (
listen)) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom and the island of Great Britain,bordered by England to its east and the Atlantic Ocean and Irish Sea to its west. It has a population of three million, and a total area of 20,779 km2 (8,023 sq mi). Wales has over 1,200 km (750 mi) of coastline, including its offshore islands; the largest, Anglesey (Ynys Môn), is also the largest island in the Irish Sea. Wales is largely mountainous, with its highest peaks in the north and central areas, especially in Snowdonia (Eryri), which contains Snowdon (Yr Wyddfa), its highest summit.
During the Iron Age and early medieval period, Wales was inhabited by the Celtic Britons. A distinct Welsh national identity emerged in the centuries after the Roman withdrawal from Britain in the 5th century, and Wales is regarded as one of the modern Celtic nations today. Gruffydd ap Llywelyn was recognised as King of Wales in 1057. Llywelyn ap Gruffydd's death in 1282 marked the completion of Edward I of England's conquest of Wales. The castles and town walls erected to ensure its permanence are now UNESCO World Heritage Sites. Owain Glyndŵr briefly restored independence to what was to become modern Wales, in the early 15th century. Wales was subsequently annexed by England under the Laws in Wales Acts 1535–1542 since when, excluding those matters now devolved to Wales, English law has been the legal system of Wales and England. Distinctive Welsh politics developed in the 19th century. Welsh Liberalism, exemplified in the early 20th century by Lloyd George, was displaced by the growth of socialism and the Labour Party. Welsh national feeling grew over the century; Plaid Cymru was formed in 1925 and The Welsh Language Society in 1962. The National Assembly for Wales, created in 1999 following a referendum, holds responsibility for a range of devolved policy matters.
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Warrington
Warrington is a town, borough and unitary authority area of Cheshire, England. It stands on the banks of the River Mersey, which is tidal to the west of the weir at Howley. It lies 16 miles east of Liverpool, 19 miles west of Manchester and 8 miles south of St Helens. The population of the borough is 198,900. Its population has more than doubled since its designation as a New Town in 1968.
Historically a part of Lancashire, Warrington was founded by the Romans at an important crossing place on the River Mersey. A new settlement was established by the Saxons and by the Middle Ages, Warrington had emerged as a market town at a bridging point of the river. A local tradition of textile and tool production dates from this time.
The expansion and urbanisation of Warrington largely coincided with the Industrial Revolution, particularly after the Mersey was made navigable in the 18th century. The West Coast Mainline runs north to south through the town, and the Liverpool to Manchester railway (the Cheshire Lines route) west to east. The Manchester Ship Canal cuts through the south of the borough (west to east). The M6, M56 and M62 motorways form a partial box around the town.
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Warwickshire
Warwickshire (i/ˈwɒrɨkʃər/ or /ˈwɒrɨkʃɪər/) is a landlocked non-metropolitan county in the West Midlands region of England. The county town is Warwick, although the largest town is Nuneaton. The county is famous for being the birthplace of William Shakespeare and George Elliot. Commonly used abbreviations for the county are Warks or Warwicks.
The five districts of North Warwickshire, Nuneaton & Bedworth, Rugby, Warwick and Stratford-on-Avon together form the Warwickshire County Council area, and are within the 1974 boundaries. The shape of the administrative area of Warwickshire differs considerably from that of the historic county, which also includes the now autonomous unitary authorities of Coventry and Solihull, as well as a small area around central and northeast Birmingham.
For Eurostat purposes it is a NUTS 3 region (code UKG13) and is one of three counties that comprise the "Herefordshire, Worcestershire and Warwickshire" NUTS 2 region.
Warwickshire is bounded to the north-west by the West Midlands metropolitan county and Staffordshire, by Leicestershire to the north-east, Northamptonshire to the east, Worcestershire to the west, Oxfordshire to the south and Gloucestershire to the south-west. The northern tip of the county is only 3 miles (5 km) from the Derbyshire border. An average-sized English county covering an area of almost 2,000 km2, it runs some 60 miles (97 km) north to south.
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Watling Street
Coordinates: 52°39′22.5″N 1°55′37.7″W / 52.65625°N 1.927139°W / 52.65625; -1.927139
Watling Street is the name given to an ancient trackway in England and Wales that was first used by the Britons mainly between the modern cities of Canterbury and St Albans. The Romans later paved the route, part of which is identified on the Antonine Itinerary as Iter III: "Item a Londinio ad portum Dubris" - from London to the port of Dover. Its route is now covered by the A2 road from Dover to London, and the A5 road from London to Wroxeter.
The name derives from the Old English Wæcelinga Stræt. Originally the word "street" simply meant a paved road (Latin: "via strata"), and did not have the modern association with populated areas.
The Roman road followed the broad, grassy trackway already used by the Britons for many hundreds of years, although the newer road was made to follow a more direct course. It led from Richborough in the south-east by way of a ford of the Thames at present-day Westminster to near Wroxeter, where one section went on to Holyhead and another, by way of Chester, on towards Scotland.
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Wem
Coordinates: 52°51′20″N 2°43′30″W / 52.8555°N 2.725°W / 52.8555; -2.725
Wem is a small market town in Shropshire, England. It is the administrative centre for the northern area committee of Shropshire Council, which has its headquarters at Edinburgh House in the centre of Wem.Wem railway station is on the Shrewsbury to Crewe railway line. Nine miles south of the town is the county town of Shropshire, Shrewsbury.
The civil parish which constitutes the town is Wem Urban - see also Wem Rural.
The area now known as Wem is believed to have been settled prior to the Roman Conquest of Britain, by the Cornovii, Celtic Iron Age settlers. The town is recorded in the Domesday Book as consisting of four manors. In 1202, Wem became a market town.
The town supported the Parliamentarians in the English Civil War, and was subject to an attack by Lord Capel, in which the town held off the attackers. In 1677, a fire destroyed many of the wooden buildings in the town.
Within the town the sweet pea was first born, under the name the Eckford Sweet Pea, after its inventor, nursery-man Henry Eckford. He first introduced a variety of the sweet pea in 1882, and set up in Wem in 1888, developing and producing many varieties. There is a road to signify the Eckford name, called Eckford Park (within Wem). Each year, the Eckford Sweet Pea Society of Wem hold a sweet pea festival. In Victorian times, the town was known as "Wem, where the sweet peas grow".[citation needed]
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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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West Berkshire
West Berkshire is a local government district in the ceremonial county of Berkshire, England, governed by a unitary authority (West Berkshire Council). Its administrative capital is Newbury, located almost equidistantly between Bristol and London.
Apart from Newbury, the other main centres in the district include Thatcham, Hungerford, Pangbourne and Lambourn. Larger villages include Theale, Purley-on-Thames, Burghfield, Mortimer and Hermitage. The West Berkshire district borders Hampshire to the south, Wiltshire to the west, Oxfordshire to the north and both the Reading and Wokingham unitary districts to the east.
The highest point in southeast/south-central England is located in West Berkshire at Walbury Hill with a summit height of 297 m (974 ft) 2 km to the south of the village of Inkpen. West Berkshire is also home to the UK Atomic Weapons Establishment, based near Aldermaston to the east of the district and the worldwide headquarters of Vodafone on the outskirts of Newbury. The area around Lambourn in the far west of the district is noted for its numerous horse racing stables and training grounds.
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West Midlands county
The West Midlands is a metropolitan county in western central England with a 2009 estimated population of 2,638,700. It came into existence as a metropolitan county in 1974 after the passage of the Local Government Act 1972, formed from parts of Staffordshire, Worcestershire and Warwickshire. The county itself is a NUTS 2 region within the wider NUTS 1 region of the same name. The county consists of seven metropolitan boroughs: the City of Birmingham, the City of Coventry, and the City of Wolverhampton, as well as Dudley, Sandwell, Solihull, and Walsall. The West Midlands County Council was abolished on 31 March 1986, and so its districts (the metropolitan boroughs) are now effectively unitary authorities. However, the metropolitan county continues to exist in law and as a geographic frame of reference.
The county is sometimes described as the "West Midlands metropolitan area" or the "West Midlands conurbation", although these have different, and less clearly defined, boundaries. The main conurbation, or urban area, does not include Coventry for example. The name "West Midlands" is also used for the much larger West Midlands region, which sometimes causes confusion.
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West Midlands region
The West Midlands is an official region of England, covering the western half of the area traditionally known as the Midlands. It contains the second most populous British city, Birmingham, and the larger West Midlands conurbation, which includes the city of Wolverhampton and large towns of Dudley, Solihull, Walsall and West Bromwich. The city of Coventry is also located within the West Midlands county, but is separated from the conurbation to the west by several miles of green belt.
The region is geographically diverse, from the urban central areas of the conurbation to the rural western counties of Shropshire and Herefordshire which border Wales. The longest river in the UK, the River Severn, traverses the region southeastwards, flowing through the county towns of Shrewsbury and Worcester, and the Ironbridge Gorge, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, as birthplace of the Industrial Revolution. Staffordshire is home to the industrialised Potteries conurbation, including the city of Stoke-on-Trent, and the Staffordshire Moorlands area, which borders the southeastern Peak District National Park near Leek. The region also encompasses five Areas of Outstanding Natural Beauty. Warwickshire is home to the town of Stratford upon Avon, the birthplace of the writer William Shakespeare.
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West Sussex
West Sussex is a county in the south of England, bordering East Sussex (with Brighton and Hove), Hampshire and Surrey. The county of Sussex has been divided into East and West since the 12th century, and obtained separate county councils in 1888, but it remained a single ceremonial county until 1974 and the coming into force of the Local Government Act 1972. At the same time the Mid Sussex region (including Haywards Heath, Burgess Hill and East Grinstead) was transferred from East Sussex.
West Sussex has a wide range of scenery, including Wealden, Downland and coastal. It has a number of stately homes including Goodwood, Petworth House and Uppark and also castles such as Arundel Castle and Bramber Castle. Over half the county is protected countryside, offering walking, cycling and other recreational opportunities for visitors and residents alike.
Chichester is the county town of West Sussex, and the highest point of the county is Black Down, at 280 metres (919 ft, grid reference SU919296).
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West Yorkshire
West Yorkshire is a metropolitan county within the Yorkshire and the Humber region of England with a population of 2.2 million. West Yorkshire came into existence as a metropolitan county in 1974 after the passage of the Local Government Act 1972.
West Yorkshire, which is landlocked, consists of five metropolitan boroughs (City of Bradford, Calderdale, Kirklees, City of Leeds and City of Wakefield) and shares borders with the counties of Derbyshire (to the south), Greater Manchester (to the south-west), Lancashire (to the north-west), North Yorkshire (to the north and east) and South Yorkshire (to the south-east).
West Yorkshire County Council was abolished in 1986, and so its districts (the metropolitan boroughs) are now effectively unitary authorities. However, the metropolitan county, which covers an area of 2,029 square kilometres (783 sq mi), continues to exist in law, and as a geographic frame of reference.
West Yorkshire encompasses the West Yorkshire Urban Area, which is the most built-up and biggest urban area within the historic county boundaries of Yorkshire.
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White Ladies Priory
White Ladies Priory (often Whiteladies Priory), once the Priory of St Leonard at Brewood, was an English priory of Augustinian canonesses, now in ruins, in Shropshire, in the parish of Boscobel, some eight miles (13 km) northwest of Wolverhampton, near Junction 3 of the M54 motorway. Dissolved in 1536, it became famous for its role in the escape of Charles II of England after the Battle of Worcester in 1651. The name 'White Ladies' refers to the canonesses who lived there and who wore white religious habits.
The origins and exact date of foundation of the priory are not known. The surviving ruins show work typical of the late 12th century, and the first documentary evidence dates from 1186 or earlier. In it, Emma, daughter of Reynold of Pulverbatch, in the process of giving land to Haughmond Abbey mentions that she has already granted land in Beobridge to the white nuns of Brewood. In fact, it was not, and never has been, in the parish of Brewood, which is in the neighboring part of Staffordshire, not Shropshire: Brewood was simply the nearest village of any size. The priory was outside existing parishes and manors, so its location gives no clues to the identity of the founder.
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Whittington Castle
Coordinates: 52°52′24″N 3°00′09″W / 52.873326°N 3.002623°W / 52.873326; -3.002623
Whittington Castle is a castle in northern Shropshire, England, owned and managed by the Whittington Castle Preservation Fund. The castle was originally a motte-and-bailey castle, but this was replaced in the 13th century by one with buildings around a courtyard whose exterior wall was the curtain wall of the inner bailey. As a castle of the Welsh Marches, it was built on the border of Wales and England very close to the historic fort of Old Oswestry.
Whittington Castle is unique in that it is the only castle in the UK which is owned and managed by a community of local residents. Today, it is a popular castle for tourism for its physical attraction. Whittington castle resides on a 12-acre (49,000 m2) property in the village of Whittington, in the district of North Shropshire, in the county of Shropshire in England. It abuts Castle Road.
In 2003, a historical and archaeological investigation by Peter Brown and Peter King identified that the outer bailey of the castle had been two elaborate gardens and surrounded by water in the 14th century. This discovery was significant in that it proved the advanced state (as compared to those of the French or Flemish) of English gardening habits. The "lavish" garden was installed by one of the FitzWarin family. The viewing mound in the centre may be the oldest of its type yet discovered in England.
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Wiltshire
Wiltshire ( /ˈwɪltʃər/ or /ˈwɪltʃɪər/, formerly /ˈwɪlʃər/; or the County of Wilts) is a ceremonial county in South West England. It is landlocked and borders the counties of Dorset, Somerset, Hampshire, Gloucestershire, Oxfordshire and Berkshire. It contains the unitary authority of Swindon and covers 3,485 km2 (1,346 square miles). The ancient county town was Wilton, but since 1930 Wiltshire County Council and its successor Wiltshire Council (from 2009) have been based at Trowbridge.
Wiltshire is characterised by its high downland and wide valleys. Salisbury Plain is famous as the location of the Stonehenge and Avebury stone circles and other ancient landmarks and as the main training area in the UK of the British Army. The city of Salisbury is notable for its mediaeval cathedral. Important country houses open to the public include Longleat, near Warminster, and the National Trust's Stourhead, near Mere.
The county, in the 9th century written as Wiltunscir, later Wiltonshire, is named after the former county town of Wilton, itself named after the river Wylye, one of eight rivers which drain the county.
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Wiltshire Council
Wiltshire Council is the unitary authority for most of the county of Wiltshire, in the West of England, the successor authority to Wiltshire County Council (1889–2009) and to four districts—Kennet, North Wiltshire, Salisbury, and West Wiltshire—all of which had been created in 1973 and were abolished in 2009.
The ceremonial county of Wiltshire consists of two unitary authority areas, Wiltshire and Swindon, governed respectively by Wiltshire Council and Swindon Borough Council. Before April 2009, Wiltshire was administered as a non-metropolitan county by Wiltshire County Council, with four districts, Kennet, North Wiltshire, Salisbury, and West Wiltshire. Swindon, in the north of the county, had been a separate unitary authority since 1997, and on 5 December 2007 the British Government announced that the rest of Wiltshire would move to unitary status. This was later put into effect by a statutory instrument as part of the 2009 structural changes to local government in England. To date, this has been one of the most successful Unitary initiatives in the UK, achieved on time and under budget, and gaining a glowing report from the DCLG.
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Wolverhampton
Wolverhamptoni/ˌwʊlvərˈhæmptən/ is a city and metropolitan borough in the West Midlands, England. For Eurostat purposes Walsall and Wolverhampton is a NUTS 3 region (code UKG35) and is one of five boroughs or unitary districts that comprise the "West Midlands" NUTS 2 region. In 2004, the local government district had an estimated population of 239,100. Wolverhampton is part of the West Midlands Urban Area which had a population of 2.3 million in the 2001 census which makes it part of the second largest urban area in the United Kingdom.
Historically a part of Staffordshire, and forming part of the metropolitan county of the West Midlands from 1974, the city is commonly recognised as being named after King Wulfhere, who established an abbey in 659. The original name being from Wulfereēantūn = "Wulfhere's high or principal enclosure or farm" after the Mercian King. The name Wulfrun is used to denote a later nun who established a church in the city – for example, for the Wulfrun Centre or for Wulfrun Hall.
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Worcester
The City of Worcester, commonly known as Worcester, (i/ˈwʊstər/ WUUS-tər), is a city and county town of Worcestershire in the West Midlands of England. Worcester is situated some 30 miles (48 km) southwest of Birmingham and 29 miles (47 km) north of Gloucester, and has an approximate population of 94,000 people. The River Severn runs through the middle of the city, overlooked by the twelfth-century Worcester Cathedral. The site of the final battle of the Civil War, Worcester was where Oliver Cromwell's New Model Army defeated King Charles II's Cavaliers, resulting in the English Interregnum, the ten-year period during which England and Wales became a republic. Worcester was the home of Royal Worcester Porcelain and the birthplace of the composer Sir Edward Elgar. It houses the Lea and Perrins factory where the traditional Worcestershire Sauce is made, and is home to one of the UK's fastest growing universities, the University of Worcester.
Occupation of the site of Worcester can be dated back to Neolithic times, a village surrounded by defensive ramparts having been founded on the eastern bank of the River Severn in around 400 BC. The position, which commanded a ford on the river, was used in the first century by the Romans to establish what may at first have been a fort on the military route from Glevum (Gloucester) to Viroconium (Wroxeter) but which soon developed – as the frontier of the empire was pushed westwards – into an industrial town with its own pottery kilns and iron-smelting plants.
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Worcestershire
Worcestershire (i/ˈwʊstərʃər/ WUUS-tər-shər or /ˈwʊstərʃɪər/ WUUS-tər-sheer ; abbreviated Worcs) is a non-metropolitan county in the West Midlands of England. In 1974, it merged with the neighbouring county of Herefordshire to form Hereford and Worcester. This was divided in 1998, re-establishing Worcestershire as a county. The Malvern Hills forms the east–west border between the two counties, with the exception of West Malvern in Worcestershire.
The county borders Herefordshire, Shropshire, Staffordshire, West Midlands, Warwickshire and Gloucestershire. To the west, the county is bordered by the Malvern Hills and the spa town of Malvern. The southern part of the county is bordered by Gloucestershire and the northern edge of the Cotswolds; to the east is Warwickshire. There are two major rivers flowing through the county, the Severn and the Avon.
The cathedral city of Worcester is the largest settlement and administrative seat of the county, which includes the principal settlements of Bromsgrove, Stourport-on-Severn, Droitwich, Evesham, Kidderminster, Malvern, and the largest town, Redditch, and a number of smaller towns such as Pershore, Tenbury Wells and Upton upon Severn. The north of the county includes part of the industrial West Midlands conurbation while the south of the county is largely rural. The average salary is £20,300.
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Wrekin College
Wrekin College is a co-educational independent school located in Wellington, Shropshire, England. It was founded by Sir John Bayley in 1880 and was known as ‘The School in the Garden’ owing to its extensive gardens and playing fields. Part of the Allied Schools, it is also a member of the Headmasters' and Headmistresses' Conference.
The school was founded in 1880 as Wellington College by Sir John Bayley. In 1915 less than 100 acres (0.40 km2) of the Lilleshall Hall estate were purchased from the Duke of Sutherland, who retained the Hall and 50 acres (200,000 m2). In 1920, it was sold to the Revd Percy Warrington, a Church of England clergyman and renamed Wrekin College. The influential Anglican Clergyman E. J. H. Nash was chaplain from 1929–1932. The Rev. Canon Guy Pentreath was a notable headmaster from 1943 to 1952. Girls were introduced to the sixth form by headmaster Geoffrey Hadden in 1975. It became fully co-educational in 1983. There are currently 420 pupils of which 30% are boarders and 40% are girls. The school now admits pupils from the age of eleven.
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Wrexham
Coordinates: 53°02′47″N 2°59′36″W / 53.0463°N 2.9932°W / 53.0463; -2.9932
Wrexham ( /ˈrɛksəm/ REKS-əm; Welsh: Wrecsam; Welsh pronunciation: [ˈwrɛksam]) is the largest town in North Wales. It is the administrative centre of the wider Wrexham County Borough, located in the east of the region. It is situated between the Welsh mountains and the lower Dee Valley close to the border with Cheshire, England. As the largest town in the north of Wales, it is a major centre of the region's commercial, retail and educational infrastructure.
At the time of the United Kingdom Census 2001, Wrexham had a population of 42,576, and the wider Wrexham Urban Area, as defined by the Office for National Statistics, had a population of 63,084. The county borough of Wrexham, which covers 50,500 hectares, has a population of over 130,000.
Wrexham's former police station on Regent Street, originally the barracks for the Royal Denbighshire Militia, is now home to Wrexham County Borough Museum. The museum has two galleries devoted to the history of the town and its surrounding communities.
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Wroxeter
Coordinates: 52°40′12″N 2°38′53″W / 52.670°N 2.648°W / 52.670; -2.648
Wroxeter ( /ˈrɒksɨtər/) is a village in Shropshire, England. It forms part of the civil parish of Wroxeter and Uppington and is located besides the River Severn, about 5 miles (8.0 km) south-east of Shrewsbury. It is at the site of the Roman city of Viroconium Cornoviorum, which was the fourth largest civitas capital in Roman Britain.
Wroxeter is on the site of the Roman city of Viroconium Cornoviorum, which was the fourth largest civitas capital in Roman Britain. In Old Welsh it was called Caer Guricon and may have served as the early post-Roman capital of the Welsh kingdom of Powys. Mercian encroachment forced the Welsh to move to Mathrafal castle sometime before AD 717 after famine and plague. The main section of the Watling Street Roman road runs across England between Dubris (Roman Dover) and Wroxeter.
Pengwern and Powys may have been divisions of the pre-Roman Cornovii tribal federation whose civitas or administrative centre was Viroconium Cornoviorum (now Wroxeter). The minor Magonsæte sub-kingdom also emerged in the area in the interlude between Powys and Mercian rule. Some substantial standing ruins from Viroconium are just outside the village, where there is also a small museum. The Roman city was rediscovered in 1859 when workmen began excavating the baths complex. A replica Roman villa was constructed in 2010 for a Channel 4 television program called Rome Wasn't Built in a Day and was opened to the public on 19 February 2011.
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Wychavon
Coordinates: 52°06′50″N 2°04′52″W / 52.114°N 2.081°W / 52.114; -2.081
Wychavon is a local government district in Worcestershire, England. Its council is based in Pershore. Other towns in the district include Droitwich Spa, Evesham and Broadway. The district extends from the south-east corner of Worcestershire north and west. The districts to the west are Malvern Hills and Worcester and to the north Wyre Forest.
The district was created under the Local Government Act 1972, on 1 April 1974. It was a merger of the boroughs of Droitwich and Evesham along with Evesham Rural District and most of Droitwich Rural District and most of Pershore Rural District.
The district's name, which was invented in 1973, contains two elements. "Wych" recalls the Saxon Kingdom of Hwicca, and "Avon" is for the River Avon.
Wychavon District Council is joint 'Council of the Year 2007', along with High Peak Borough Council. It was also featured as the 'Best Council to work for' by the Sunday Times.
The Wychavon district includes the following Civil parishes
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York
York (locali/ˈjɔːk/) is a walled city, situated at the confluence of the Rivers Ouse and Foss in North Yorkshire, England. The city has a rich heritage and has provided the backdrop to major political events throughout much of its two millennia of existence. The city offers a wealth of historic attractions, of which York Minster is the most prominent, and a variety of cultural and sporting activities.
The city was founded by the Romans in 71 AD, under the name of Eboracum. It became in turn the capital of the Roman province of Britannia Inferior, and of the kingdoms of Northumbria and Jorvik. In the Middle Ages, York grew as a major wool trading centre and became the capital of the northern ecclesiastical province of the Church of England, a role it has retained.
In the 19th century York became a hub of the railway network and a confectionery manufacturing centre. In recent decades, the economy of York has moved from being dominated by its confectionery and railway-related industries to one that provides services. The University of York and health services have become major employers, whilst tourism has become an important element of the local economy.
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Abraham Darby I
Abraham Darby I (14 April 1678 – 8 March 1717) was the first, and most famous, of three generations with that name in an English Quaker family that played an important role in the Industrial Revolution. He developed a method of producing pig iron in a blast furnace fuelled by coke rather than charcoal. This was a major step forward in the production of iron as a raw material for the Industrial Revolution.
Abraham Darby was the son of John Darby, a yeoman farmer and locksmith by trade, and his wife Ann Baylies. He was born at Wren's Nest, Woodsetton, Staffordshire, just across the county boundary from Dudley, Worcestershire. He was descended from nobility; his great-grandmother Jane was an illegitimate child of Edward Sutton, 5th Baron Dudley.
Abraham's great-grandmother was a sister of the whole blood to Dud Dudley, who claimed to have smelted iron using coke as a fuel. Unfortunately, the iron that Dudley produced was not acceptable to the charcoal ironmasters. However, this may have inspired his great-grandnephew Darby to perfect this novel method of smelting.
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Alison Williamson
Alison Jane Williamson (born 3 November 1971 in Melton Mowbray) is an athlete from Great Britain. She competes in archery.
Williamson, who is a member of the Long Mynd Archers (a club based in Church Stretton), has represented Great Britain at five Olympic Games, from 1992-2008.
Her greatest success came in the 2004 Summer Olympics where she earned a bronze medal. She placed 21st in the women's individual ranking round with a 72-arrow score of 637. In the first round of elimination, she faced 44th-ranked Janet Dykman of the United States. Williamson defeated Dykman 147-121 in the 18-arrow match to advance to the round of 32. In that round, she faced 53rd-ranked Japanese archer Sayoko Kawauchi, defeating her 154-150. Williamson then defeated 5th-ranked Zhang Juanjuan of China 165-161, advancing to the quarterfinals.
In the quarterfinals, Williamson faced He Ying, also of China, decisively defeating the 4th-ranked archer 109-89 in the 12-arrow match. Williamson advanced to the semifinals, where she was defeated by Korean Park Sung Hyun 110-100, moving Williamson to the bronze medal match. In the final 12-arrow match, she won by one point over 6th-ranked Yuan Shu Chi of Chinese Taipei to win the bronze medal in women's individual archery. Williamson was also a member of the 12th-place British women's archery team.
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Barbara Pym
Barbara Mary Crampton Pym (2 June 1913 – 11 January 1980) was an English novelist. In the 1950s she wrote a series of social comedies, of which the best known are Excellent Women (1952) and A Glass of Blessings (1958). In 1977 her career was revived when the biographerDavid Cecil and the poet Philip Larkin both nominated her as the most underrated writer of the century. Her novel Quartet in Autumn (1977) was nominated for the Booker Prize that year, and she was elected as a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature.
Barbara Mary Crampton Pym was born on 2 June 1913 in Oswestry, Shropshire. She was privately educated at Queen’s Park School, a girls' school in Oswestry. From the age of twelve, she attended Huyton College, near Liverpool. She went on to study English at the University of Oxford (St Hilda's College).
During World War II she served in the Women's Royal Naval Service.
Pym worked at the International African Institute in London for some years, and contributed to editing its scholarly journal, Africa. This inspired her use of anthropologists as characters in her novels.
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Cadfael
Brother Cadfael is the fictional main character in a series of historical murder mysteries written between 1977 and 1994 by the linguist-scholar Edith Pargeter under the name "Ellis Peters". The character of Cadfael himself is a Welsh Benedictine monk living at Shrewsbury Abbey, in western England, in the first half of the 12th century. The historically accurate stories are set between about 1135 and about 1145, during "The Anarchy", the destructive contest for the crown of England between King Stephen and Empress Maud.
As a character, Cadfael "combines the curious mind of a scientist/pharmacist with a knight-errant", entering the cloister in his forties after being both a soldier and a sailor, this experience gives him an array of talents and skills useful in monastic life. He is a skillful observer of human nature, inquisitive by nature, energetic, a talented herbalist (work he learned in the Holy Lands), and has an innate, although modern, sense of justice and fair-play. Abbots call upon him as a medical examiner, detective, doctor, and diplomat. His worldly knowledge, although useful, gets him in trouble with the more doctrinaire characters of the series, and the seeming contradiction between the secular and the spiritual worlds forms a central and continuing theme of the stories.
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Charles Babbage
Charles Babbage, FRS (26 December 1791 – 18 October 1871) was an English mathematician, philosopher, inventor and mechanical engineer who originated the concept of a programmable computer. Considered a "father of the computer", Babbage is credited with inventing the first mechanical computer that eventually led to more complex designs.
Parts of his uncompleted mechanisms are on display in the London Science Museum. In 1991, a perfectly functioning difference engine was constructed from Babbage's original plans. Built to tolerances achievable in the 19th century, the success of the finished engine indicated that Babbage's machine would have worked. Nine years later, the Science Museum completed the printer Babbage had designed for the difference engine.
Babbage's birthplace is disputed, but he was most likely born at 44 Crosby Row, Walworth Road, London, England. A blue plaque on the junction of Larcom Street and Walworth Road commemorates the event.
His date of birth was given in his obituary in The Times as 26 December 1792. However after the obituary appeared, a nephew wrote to say that Charles Babbage was born one year earlier, in 1791. The parish register of St. Mary's Newington, London, shows that Babbage was baptised on 6 January 1792, supporting a birth year of 1791.
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Charles Darwin
Charles Robert Darwin, FRS (12 February 1809 – 19 April 1882) was an English naturalist. He established that all species of life have descended over time from common ancestors, and proposed the scientific theory that this branching pattern of evolution resulted from a process that he called natural selection.
Darwin published his theory with compelling evidence for evolution in his 1859 book On the Origin of Species, overcoming scientific rejection of earlier concepts of transmutation of species. By the 1870s the scientific community and much of the general public had accepted evolution as a fact. However, many favoured competing explanations and it was not until the emergence of the modern evolutionary synthesis from the 1930s to the 1950s that a broad consensus developed in which natural selection was the basic mechanism of evolution. In modified form, Darwin's scientific discovery is the unifying theory of the life sciences, explaining the diversity of life.
Darwin's early interest in nature led him to neglect his medical education at the University of Edinburgh; instead, he helped to investigate marine invertebrates. Studies at the University of Cambridge encouraged his passion for natural science. His five-year voyage on HMS Beagle established him as an eminent geologist whose observations and theories supported Charles Lyell's uniformitarian ideas, and publication of his journal of the voyage made him famous as a popular author.
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Charles Dickens
Charles John Huffam Dickens ( /ˈtʃɑrlz ˈdɪkɪnz/; 7 February 1812 – 9 June 1870) was an English writer and social critic who is generally regarded as the greatest novelist of the Victorian period and the creator of some of the world's most memorable fictional characters. During his lifetime Dickens' works enjoyed unprecedented popularity and fame, but it was in the twentieth century that his literary genius was fully recognized by critics and scholars. His novels and short stories continue to enjoy an enduring popularity among the general reading public.
Born in Portsmouth, England, Dickens left school to work in a factory after his father was thrown into debtors' prison. Though he had little formal education, his early impoverishment drove him to succeed. He edited a weekly journal for 20 years, wrote 15 novels and hundreds of short stories and non-fiction articles, lectured and performed extensively, was an indefatigable letter writer, and campaigned vigorously for children's rights, education, and other social reforms.
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Chris Hawkins
Chris Hawkins (born 23 September 1975, in Loppington, Shropshire, England) is a presenter, performance DJ, reporter, journalist, producer, and music pundit.
Hawkins is the presenter of the BBC Radio 6 Music early breakfast radio show (also covering drive and afternoons), assuming additional duties on BBC Radio 2. He makes frequent TV appearances as a personality pundit and pop-culture expert.
Hawkins did his university studies at the University of Nottingham and spent some time at Middlebury College in the United States as an exchange student. Also, as a school boy at the independent school Ellesmere College in Ellesmere, Shropshire, he spent some time at the Tabor Academy in the United States, on an English-Speaking Union scholarship.
Chris started his radio career on BBC Radio Shropshire. He went on to BBC Radio Nottingham and BBC GLR.
He has worked for the BBC World Service doing the UK Album Chart Show and the UK Top 20, presented a daily show on GLR 94.9 (BBC London 94.9) for over two years, Talk Radio UK as a reporter and producer, BBC London Live, Real Radio, American College Radio, Jazz FM in London and Classic Gold.
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Craig Phillips
Craig Phillips (born 16 October 1971, Liverpool) is an English builder, DIY expert, television personality and presenter, best known for winning the first series of the British reality television show Big Brother. He is trained as a bricklayer and in DIY, appearing in numerous series related to this since 2001.
The younger of two children, his family moved to Newport, Shropshire in the late 1980s. At 18, Phillips secured a day release bricklayers apprenticeship whilst employed with Wrekin Council’s construction department. Determined to ensure he excelled in his chosen profession, he attended further night school classes in advanced brickwork and civil engineering. Having qualified with a City & Guilds, Phillips went on to set up his own building company. The business quickly went from strength to strength employing more than 30 tradesmen.
After leaving the Big Brother house as its first winner, Phillips announced he was giving his £70,000 prize fund to his friend Joanne Harris, who had Down's syndrome, to pay for her heart and lung transplant. He had begun raising money with friends for Harris sometime before entering Big Brother, raising only small amounts of money towards the £250,000 needed for her operation in the USA, but within 6 days of winning he achieved the target required for her life saving operation thanks to public support and generous donations from celebrities. Harris died in April 2008.
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Daniel Kawczynski
Daniel Robert Kawczynski (born 24 January 1972) is the Conservative Party Member for Parliament (MP) for Shrewsbury and Atcham in Shropshire, England.
Kawczynski's family came to Britain from Poland in 1940, after Poland's invasion by the Nazi Germany.
Kawczynski was educated at St George's College, an independent school (at the time for boys only), in Weybridge in Surrey, followed by the University of Stirling in the city of Stirling in the Central Region of Scotland, where he read Business Studies with Languages, and was President of the University Conservative Association in 1991.
After graduating, Kawczynski became an international account manager in the telecommunications industry, a position he held for ten years.
Kawczynski first stood for Parliament in the 2001 general election for Ealing Southall and came a distant second with 18% of the vote. However, he won the seat for Shrewsbury and Atcham at the 2005 general election, succeeding Labour's Paul Marsden with 37.7% of the vote, compared to 34.1% for Labour and 22.8% for the Liberal Democrats. Kawczynski was re-elected at the 2010 general election with 43.9% of the vote, compared to 29.0% for the Liberal Democrats in second.
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Edith Pargeter
Edith Mary Pargeter, OBE, BEM (28 September 1913 – 14 October 1995), also known by her nom de plume Ellis Peters, was a British author of works in many categories, especially history and historical fiction, and was also honoured for her translations of Czech classics; she is probably best known for her murder mysteries, both historical and modern.
She was born in the village of Horsehay (Shropshire, England). Her father was a clerk at a local ironworks. She was educated at Dawley Church of England School and the old Coalbrookdale High School for Girls. She had Welsh ancestry, and many of her short stories and books (both fictional and non-fictional) are set in Wales and its borderlands, and/or have Welsh protagonists.
During World War II, she worked in an administrative role in the Women's Royal Naval Service (the "Wrens")—and reached the rank of petty officer by 1 January 1944 when she was awarded the British Empire Medal (BEM) in the New Year Honours.
In 1947 she visited Czechoslovakia and became fascinated by the Czech language and culture. She became fluent in Czech and published award-winning translations of Czech poetry and prose into English.
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Edmund Plowden
Sir Edmund Plowden (1518, Plowden Hall, Lydbury, Shropshire – 6 February 1585, London) was a distinguished English lawyer, legal scholar and theorist during the late Tudor period.
Educated at the University of Cambridge, Plowden did not take a degree, and proceeded to the Middle Temple in 1538 to study law. Subsequent to studies at Oxford, he qualified as a surgeon and physician in 1552.
Upon the accession of the Catholic Queen Mary, Plowden was appointed one of the Council of the Marches (of Wales). In 1553, he was elected Member of Parliament for Wallingford (then in Berkshire now in Oxfordshire), followed, in the next two years, by the same office for both Reading, Berkshire and then Wootton Bassett, Wiltshire. He lived mostly at Shiplake Court in Oxfordshire and Wokefield Park in Berkshire. The unusual breadth of his religious views were shown early in his career when he, however, withdrew from the House, on 12 January 1555, because he disapproved of the proceedings there.
His loyalty to the Roman Catholic faith, prevented Edmund Plowden from further promotion under Queen Elizabeth I, and he received increasing suspicion from members of the Privy Council. At one time, Queen Elizabeth wished to elevate Plowden to the Lord Chancellorship, requiring that he abandon Catholicism for and adopt the Anglican faith. However, Plowden declined through an eloquent defense of his faith, and a bold statement denouncing religious persecution. Despite this, Plowden continued in the Queen's employ in his capacity as a lawyer.
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Eglantyne Jebb
Eglantyne Jebb (25 August 1876 – 17 December 1928) was a British social reformer and founder of the Save the Children organisation.
She was born in 1876 in Ellesmere, Shropshire, and grew up on her family's estate. The Jebbs were a well-off family and had a strong social conscience and commitment to public service. Her mother, Eglantyne Louisa Jebb, had founded the Home Arts and Industries Association, to promote Arts and Crafts among young people in rural areas; her sister Louisa would help found the Women's Land Army in World War I. Another sister, Dorothy Frances Jebb, who married the Labour MP Charles Roden Buxton, campaigned against the demonisation of the German people after the war.
Having studied history at Lady Margaret Hall, Oxford, Eglantyne trained to become a school teacher, but a year's experience as a Primary School teacher, at St. Peter's Junior School in Marlborough, convinced her that this was not her vocation, though it increased her awareness of the difficulties and widespread nature of poverty faced by young children. She had a vision in which she saw the face of Jesus.[citation needed]
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Ellesmere College
Coordinates: 52°53′43″N 2°53′31″W / 52.89522°N 2.89189°W / 52.89522; -2.89189
Ellesmere College is an independent co-educational English independent school located in Ellesmere and based in rural northern Shropshire, England.
It was founded in 1884 by Canon Nathaniel Woodard as a boys' school in association with the Church of England, on a 114-acre (460,000 m2) campus, with views across to the Breidden Hills.
Ellesmere College is a member of the Woodard Corporation, the largest group of independent schools in the United Kingdom. Pupils range in ages from 7 to 18, and the school consists of a Lower School, Middle School, Senior School and Sixth Form.Ellesmere offers the International Baccalaureate as well as A Levels in its Sixth Form. In addition to academic classroom work, the school places a strong emphasis on extra-curricular activities, such as artistic, sporting or outdoor activities. The school has in recent years become famous for its elite sporting academies, especially its swimming programme - Ellesmere College Titans - attracting top swimming pupils from all over the UK and Europe. The school also has Rugby, Tennis, Shooting and Cricket Academies and offers scholarships and bursaries for talented young people.
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Greg Davies
Greg Davies is a Welsh stand-up comedian and actor best known for his roles as Greg in We Are Klang and Mr. Gilbert in The Inbetweeners and his guest appearances in Mock the Week and Fast and Loose. He has performed on the BBC's Live at the Apollo series.
Davies is noted for his stature - he stands at 6 ft 8 in (2.03 m) tall, and has size 13 feet - and also his resemblance to Rik Mayall.
Davies was born in St Asaph, Wales but his parents moved across the border to Shropshire soon after his birth. He grew up in Wem, a small market town in Shropshire where his parents still live and he regularly visits. He was educated at Thomas Adams School. Prior to embarking on a career in comedy, he had taught secondary school drama and English for 13 years.
Davies has performed on the BBC's Live at the Apollo, and has regularly appeared on the guest panel for Channel 4's 8 out of 10 Cats and the BBC's Mock the Week. He took part in World's Most Dangerous Roads hosted by Ben Fogle, in which he and Rhod Gilbert drove from Nepal's border with India to the border with China.
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Humphrey Kynaston
Humphrey Kynaston (–1534), aka Wild Humphrey Kynaston, was an English highwayman who operated in the Shropshire area. The son of the High Sheriff of Shropshire, he was convicted for murder in 1491. After being outlawed, he moved into a cave in the area and lived a lifestyle compared to Robin Hood.
Humphrey was the youngest son of Sir Roger Kynaston (c. 1432/3 – 1495), High Sheriff of Shropshire, thought to have killed Lord Audley at the Battle of Blore Heath, and Roger's second wife, Lady Elizabeth Grey), daughter of Henry Grey, 2nd Earl of Tankerville and Antigone Plantagenet, the legitimized daughter of Humphrey of Lancaster, 1st Duke of Gloucester (son of Henry IV and Mary de Bohun) and second wife Eleanor de Cobham.
Humphrey was raised in Myddle Castle, which Roger had inherited from his first wife Elizabeth Cobham. He received his "wild" nickname from his outrageous lifestyle, which frequently got him into trouble with the law.
Humphrey inherited Myddle Castle from his father, but later allowed the estate to fall into disrepair.
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Isobel Cooper
Isobel Cooper (born January 24, 1975), known professionally as Izzy, is an English Operatic pop soprano singer.
Born in Much Wenlock in Shropshire, she trained at Guildhall School of Music and Drama in London.
Her debut audio CD Libera Me was released in 1999. Other CD releases include Ascolta (2000), and New Dawn (2002).
A CD compilation titled Izzy (2003), that included a duet of "The Prayer," with American tenor Daniel Rodriguez, was released in the U.S., the CD also included a multimedia track of "My Love Is Like a Red Red Rose".
Two of her CDs reached the No. 1 position in the UK's Classic FM classical music chart. In 2000 she was nominated for a Classical BRIT Awards as "Female Artist of the Year".
In 2004 she was a featured artist on Now We Are Free, a dance remix on CD and Vinyl of the Gladiator film theme song by Lisa Gerrard. The disc was a UK No 1 dance chart hit and also reached No 19 on the main UK Singles Chart.
Her second dance track, "Eternity", by Matt Darey, was released as a 12" Vinyl in November 2005.
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Ivan Jones
Ivan Jones is a British writer of fiction. His work includes novels, picture books, plays, poetry anthologies, television series and many adaptations for BBC Radio.
Jones' best known novels are The Ghost Hunter series, published by Scholastic. The books were adapted into three six-part series for BBC Television. The first series was broadcast in 2000, second series in 2001 and the third series in 2002. They are still being shown in the U.K and in other parts of the world.
The Ghost Hunter and The Ghost Hunter at Chillwood Castle have also been published as an audiobook and in large print. The Ghost Hunter is also published in Japanese. The Ghost Hunter's House of Horror was the third book published by Scholastic.
His picture books, including The Golden Cage (Andersen Press), and The Lazy Giant (Oxford University Press) and in the USA (Dingles & Co) are written in a classic fairy-tale style and contain a moral. The Golden Cage is illustrated by Ken Brown and is also published in France and Sweden.
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John Mytton
John Mytton (30 September 1796 - 29 March 1834) was a notable British eccentric and Regency rake.
John "Mad Jack" Mytton was born to a family of Shropshire squires with a lineage that stretched back some 500 years before his day. (The surname may have originated as "Mutton" or be associated with the village of Mytton, near Forton Heath, just a few miles west of Shrewsbury). As with many of his ancestors and privileged peers, Jack was privately educated but was subsequently expelled from both Westminster and Harrow. Mytton would later attempt to serve in both parliament and the 7th Hussars, a cavalry regiment. His father, also named John, died young, at the age of 30, when Jack was but two years of age. As heir, "Mad Jack" subsequently inherited the family seat at Halston Hall, Whittington (near Oswestry in Shropshire), which was worth £60,000 (£4.3 million today [2006]), and also received an annual income of £10,000 (over £716,000 today [2006]) from rental and agricultural assets generated by an estate of over 132,000 acres in North Wales and Shropshire.
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Jonathan Corbett
Jonathan Corbett is a TV food channel presenter, food commentator, and Buyer working for Tesco plc.
Born and raised in Telford, Shropshire. Corbett was educated at the Charlton School, before training as a Chef at Radbrook Catering College, Shrewsbury. His then lecturer was the wife of former British Prime Minister, John Major, Norma.
After graduating, Corbett went on to work at The Duke of Westminster's, Chester Grovesnor hotel, before taking up a position with Marco Pierre White at the 3 Michelin Star ‘The Restaurant’ in London's Hyde Park Hotel. After working as a Chef, Corbett was given the opportunity to work in food development & buying at the Sultan of Brunei’s Dorchester Hotel in London – from there Corbett worked for Robert Di Niro NOBU restaurant, and London's Met Bar at the Metropolitan Hotel in similar positions.
Corbett joined Tesco in February 2007 – and is working on the key development of Ethnic & Exotic food into the retailers stores worldwide.
In January 2010 Corbett formed The Little Big Voice, a Marketing and Innovation company based in London.
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Lara Jones
Lara Jones (Born 1975 – died 26 March 2010, aged 34) was a British artist, children's author and illustrator. She is best remembered for her Poppy Cat series of books, written for the very young, which have been published in 20 languages and sold nearly two million copies.
Lara Kate Jones, was born in Ashby-de-la-Zouch, Leicestershire and spent her childhood in Shropshire. Both of her parents were writers. Her father was Ivan Jones the best selling fiction writer and poet, and her mother Mal Lewis Jones was also a children's writer. Lara was the first born of their three children. Lara studied art at Canterbury College of Art and then at Cheltenham College and went on to work at the Royal Academy and the Inkshed artists' agency before becoming a full time writer and illustrator.
She published many books, but is best remembered for her Poppy Cat series which are published by Macmillan/Campbell Books. These books, for the very young, have sold in 20 languages and nearly two million copies. They are published in Brazil, Spain, France, Italy, Mexico, Finland, Denmark, Ireland, Holland and Japan as well as other countries. Television animation rights are currently in production with Nick Junior.
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Len Murray
Lionel Murray, Baron Murray of Epping Forest, OBE PC, known as Len Murray (2 August 1922 – 20 May 2004) was a British Labour politician and union leader.
He was born in Hadley, Telford, Shropshire, the son of a farmworker. Both his parents died in accidents when he was eight, and he lived with relatives. He attended Wellington Grammar School in Wellington. He studied English at the Queen Mary College, University of London, but left after a year because of the emphasis on Anglo-Saxon language. He briefly became a teacher but found he was unsuitable then joined the army.
Murray was commissioned into the King's Shropshire Light Infantry in April 1943 and landed on the Normandy beaches on D-Day. Six days later he was badly wounded and in October 1944 he was invalided out of the Army with the rank of Lieutenant. He had banged his head against a tree, later waking up in London.
He worked in an engineering works in Wolverhampton as a storekeeper, then sold the Daily Worker on street corners and joined the Communist Party for a short time. Whilst selling the Daily Worker, he met his former headmaster, who told him he was wasting his time. Shortly afterwards he found his way into New College, Oxford, where he gained a First in PPE after studying for two years.
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Mal Lewis Jones
Mal Lewis Jones is a British children's author.
She was born in Kidderminster, England and attended a private school before moving to Kidderminster High School for Girls at eleven. She continued her education at Warwick University, where she read English and American Literature. Her tutors were Germaine Greer, Harold Beaver and Bernard Bergonzi.
Lewis Jones' main titles concern Cassie at the Ballet School. The books are published by Hodder Children's Books and by Ravensburger in Germany. There have been many "bind-ups" of the stories where two stories are contained in one edition. The covers of the original books show Sophie Bould and Jessie Jones. Sophie Bould starred alongside Connie Fisher in The Sound of Music.
Lewis Jones has published other dance books including the six titles in the Dance Club series, published by McDonald Young books.
She has also adapted The Wind in the Willows by Kenneth Grahame, for Hodder and WHSmith.
Her strange and mysterious story, The Grey Pony is published by Orion.
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Malcolm Saville
Leonard Malcolm Saville (1901-1982) was an English author born in Hastings, Sussex. He is best known for the Lone Pine series of children's books, many of which are set in Shropshire. His work places emphasis on place, with the books including many vivid descriptions of English countryside, villages and sometimes towns. It is also generally acknowledged to be of high literary value, with, for instance, one of Saville's books, Jane's Country Year being described as "another work which deserves to be valued and read". (Watson 2001)
Saville's writing career, from 1943 to 1982, was an extensive diversion from his working life that began at Oxford University Press then continued as a publicist with Cassell & Co. (now part of Orion Books), Associated Press, and George Newnes. He was later the editor of two magazines, taking over one of these - the well-remembered Sunny Stories - from Enid Blyton when she left to set up her own magazine in direct competition. Several of his 90 books were serialised for broadcast on BBC radio, and his 1953 book The Ambermere Treasure, part of the Jillies series, was serialised by Associated-Rediffusion, the first commercial television company to broadcast in the UK, in late 1955 and early 1956; it was therefore one of the first ITV children's drama series.
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Mary Webb
Mary Webb (25 March 1881 – 8 October 1927), was an English romantic novelist and poet of the early 20th century, whose work is set chiefly in the Shropshire countryside and among Shropshire characters and people which she knew. Her novels have been successfully dramatized, most notably the film Gone to Earth in 1950 by Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger. They inspired the famous parody Cold Comfort Farm.
She was born Gladys Mary Meredith in the Shropshire village of Leighton, 8 miles (13 km) southeast of Shrewsbury. Her father was a schoolteacher, who inspired his daughter with his own love of literature and the local countryside. On her mother's side, she was descended from a family related to Sir Walter Scott. Mary loved to explore the countryside around her home, and developed a gift of detailed observation and description, of both people and places, which infuses her poetry and prose.
At the age of 20, she developed symptoms of Graves' disease, a thyroid disorder (which resulted in bulging protuberant eyes and throat goitre), which caused ill health throughout her life and probably contributed to her early death. This affliction gave her great empathy with the suffering, and finds its fictional counterpart in the disfiguring harelip of Prue Sarn, the heroine of Precious Bane.
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Matthew Webb
Captain Matthew Webb (19 January 1848 – 24 July 1883) was the first recorded person to swim the English Channel without the use of artificial aids. On 25 August 1875 he swam from Dover to Calais in less than 22 hours.
He was born at Dawley in Shropshire, one of twelve children of a Coalbrookdale doctor. He joined the merchant navy and served a three-year apprenticeship with Rathbone Brothers of Liverpool.
Whilst serving as second mate on the Cunard Line ship Russia, travelling from New York to Liverpool, he attempted to rescue a man overboard by diving into the sea in the mid-Atlantic. The man was never found, but Webb's daring won him an award of £100 and the Stanhope Medal, and made him a hero of the British press.
In 1873 Webb was serving as captain of the steamship Emerald when he read an account of the failed attempt by J. B. Johnson to swim the English Channel. He became inspired to try himself, and left his job to begin training, first at Lambeth Baths, then in the cold waters of the Thames and the English Channel.
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Mercia
Mercia ( /ˈmɜrsiə/, /ˈmɜrʃə/) was one of the kingdoms of the Anglo-Saxon Heptarchy. It was centred on the valley of the River Trent and its tributaries in the region now known as the English Midlands. The name is a Latinisation of the Old English Mierce or Myrce, meaning "border people".
Mercia's neighbours included Northumbria, Powys and the kingdoms of southern Wales, Wessex, Sussex, Essex and East Anglia.
The name Mercia is still in use today by a wide range of organisations, including military units, public, commercial and voluntary bodies; and occurs as a female given name.
Mercia's exact evolution from the Anglo-Saxon invasions is more obscure than that of Northumbria, Kent, or even Wessex. Also, Mercia developed an effective political structure and adopted Christianity later than the other kingdoms. Archaeological surveys show that Angles settled the lands north of the River Thames by the 6th century. The name Mercia is Old English for "boundary folk" (see Welsh Marches), and the traditional interpretation is that the kingdom originated along the frontier between the native Welsh and the Anglo-Saxon invaders. However, P. Hunter Blair argued an alternative interpretation: that they emerged along the frontier of Northumbria and the inhabitants of the Trent river valley.
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Mirabel Osler
Mirabel Osler is an English writer and garden designer. Her book A Gentle Plea for Chaos, based on her experiences in her garden in Shropshire, was said to send "a blast of fresh air through the stuffy rooms of the English gardening world when it was first published."
Mirabel was born Mirabel E E Birnstingl in 1925 in London. She was the daughter of Charles Avigdor Birnstingl and Phyllis Taylor Reid. Her stepfather was the author and journalist Aylmer Vallance. She married Michael Julian Osler on 5 April 1951 and they lived in Thailand and Corfu before returning to live in Shropshire. Michael died on 26 April 1989. They had one son and two daughters (the youngest, Sureen, was adopted).
She writes regularly for the garden magazine Hortus.
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Moreton Hall School
Coordinates: 52°54′50″N 3°02′55″W / 52.914008°N 3.048637°W / 52.914008; -3.048637
Moreton Hall School is an independent boarding and day school for girls aged 4 to 18 and boys aged 4 to 11 years, situated in North Shropshire four miles from the historic market town of Oswestry. Founded in 1913, Moreton Hall is looking forward to its centenary celebrations in 2012/13. Much of the early history of the school is unrecorded, but Michael Charlesworth, chairman of the Governors for twelve years, has written the "Story of Moreton Hall" to mark the ninetieth anniversary.
Ellen Augusta Crawley LLoyd-Williams was left with a family of two sons and nine daughters to care for on the death of her husband, John Jordan Lloyd-Williams, who had been headmaster of Oswestry Grammar School, now Oswestry School. She had already addressed the problem of educating her family by setting up a small school in 1913, in Lloran house, which was once a boarding house for Oswestry School. Among the boarders were her three youngest daughters, some of their cousins and friends. There were also two boys on the rolls. Elder sisters Grace and Mary joined the teaching staff. Ellen, known universally as Aunt Lil, bought Moreton Hall in 1919. The building was reputed to have been built in 1527 in the reign of Henry VIII of England and remodelled in the time of William and Mary. However, the historical buildings provided little in the way of creature comforts and the school uniform boasted the djibbahs, a box pleated tunic worn for games and lessons (to avoid time lost for changing), and a full length all enveloping cloak, vital clothing in the chill surroundings.
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Nina Simone
Eunice Kathleen Waymon (February 21, 1933 – April 21, 2003), better known by her stage name Nina Simone /ˈniːnə sɨˈmoʊn/, was an American singer, songwriter, pianist, arranger, and civil rights activist widely associated with jazz music. Simone aspired to become a classical pianist while working in a broad range of styles including classical, jazz, blues, folk, R&B, gospel, and pop.
Born the sixth child of a preacher's family in North Carolina, Simone aspired to be a concert pianist as a child. Her musical path changed direction after she was denied a scholarship to the prestigious Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia, despite a well-received audition. Simone was later told by someone working at Curtis that she was rejected because she was black. She then began playing in a small club in Philadelphia to fund her continuing musical education to become a classical pianist and was required to sing as well. She was approached for a recording by Bethlehem Records, and her rendition of "I Loves You Porgy" became a smash hit in the United States in 1958. Over the length of her career, Simone recorded more than 40 albums, mostly between 1958 — when she made her debut with Little Girl Blue — and 1974.
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Oswestry School
Coordinates: 52°51′22″N 3°03′48″W / 52.85618°N 3.06338°W / 52.85618; -3.06338
Oswestry School is a co-educational independent school, located in the town of Oswestry, Shropshire, England. Founded in 1407 by David Holbache, Member of Parliament for Shropshire & Shrewsbury, and his wife Gwenhwyfar ferch Ieuan, it is one of the county's oldest schools. It is the second oldest non-denominational school in England as many other public schools of the time were established or affiliated with the Church of England.
The senior school is located on Upper Brook Street while the junior school is based at Bellan House on Church Street. Bellan House Preparatory School was a completely separate institution until its amalgamation in the 1970s. The original school building, dating from 1407, is also on Church Street and is currently used as the town's visitor and information centre.
Established in the ancient half-timbered building close to the great Parish Church of St. Oswald in 1407, the School would later attract the attention of Oliver Cromwell and Queen Elizabeth I; the former dismissed the current headmaster for being a "delinquent" (too "Royalist") whilst the latter gave to the School an endowment of "forty shillings per annum" to help with its running. Early archive records show that a small percentage of the subsidized school-fees was set aside to pay for cock fighting, the pupil entertainment of that time.
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Owen Paterson
Owen William Paterson (born 24 June 1956) is a British Conservative Party politician and Secretary of State for Northern Ireland. He is the Member of Parliament (MP) for North Shropshire.
Paterson was born in Whitchurch, Shropshire. He attended Abberley Hall School and Radley College, before going to Cambridge University, where he studied History at Corpus Christi College and graduated in 1978. He then went on to the National Leathersellers College (now the British School of Leather Technology at the University of Northampton).
He joined the British Leather Company in 1979, becoming Sales Director in 1983 and Managing Director from 1993 to 1999. He was President of COTANCE, the European Tanners Confederation from 1996–1998. He was a Director of Parsons and Sons leather company in Halesowen in the 1990s. Paterson is a Liveryman of the Leathersellers' Company.
He contested, but failed to win, the Wrexham seat in the 1992 general election. He is Member of Parliament for North Shropshire, being first elected at the 1997 general election and has won at all general elections there since.
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Pete Postlethwaite
Peter William "Pete" Postlethwaite, OBE, ( /ˈpɒsəlθweɪt/; 7 February 1946 – 2 January 2011) was an English stage, film and television actor.
After minor television appearances including in The Professionals, Postlethwaite's first success came with the film Distant Voices, Still Lives in 1988. He played a mysterious lawyer, Mr. Kobayashi, in The Usual Suspects, and he appeared in Alien 3, In the Name of the Father, Amistad, Brassed Off, The Shipping News, The Constant Gardener, The Age of Stupid, Inception, The Town, Romeo + Juliet and Æon Flux. In television, Postlethwaite's most notable performance was as the villain Sergeant Obadiah Hakeswill in the Sharpe television series and television films opposite actor Sean Bean's character of Richard Sharpe.
Postlethwaite was born in Warrington, Lancashire, England in 1946. He trained as a teacher and taught drama before training as an actor. Steven Spielberg called Postlethwaite "the best actor in the world" after working with him on The Lost World: Jurassic Park. He received an Academy Award nomination for his role in In the Name of the Father in 1993, and was made an Officer of the Order of the British Empire in the 2004 New Year Honours list. He died of pancreatic cancer on 2 January 2011.
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Philip Sidney
Sir Philip Sidney (30 November 1554 – 17 October 1586) was an English poet, courtier and soldier, and is remembered as one of the most prominent figures of the Elizabethan Age. His works include Astrophel and Stella, The Defence of Poetry (also known as The Defence of Poesy or An Apology for Poetry), and The Countess of Pembroke's Arcadia.
Born at Penshurst Place, Kent, he was the eldest son of Sir Henry Sidney and Lady Mary Dudley. His mother was the eldest daughter of John Dudley, 1st Duke of Northumberland, and the sister of Robert Dudley, 1st Earl of Leicester. His younger brother, Robert was a statesman and patron of the arts, and was created Earl of Leicester. His younger sister, Mary, married Henry Herbert, 2nd Earl of Pembroke. Mary Sidney, who upon her marriage became the Countess of Pembroke, was a writer, translator and literary patron. Sidney dedicated his longest work, the Arcadia, to her. After her brother's death, Mary reworked the Arcadia, now known as The Countess of Pembroke's Arcadia.
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Psmith
Rupert Psmith (or Ronald Eustace Psmith, as he is called in the last of the four books in which he appears) is a recurring fictional character in several novels by British comic writer P. G. Wodehouse, being one of Wodehouse's best-loved characters.
The P in his surname is silent ("as in pshrimp" in his own words) and was added by himself, in order to distinguish him from other Smiths. A member of the Drones Club, this monocle-sporting Old Etonian is something of a dandy, a fluent and witty speaker, and has a remarkable ability to pass through the most amazing adventures unruffled.
Wodehouse said that he based Psmith on Rupert D'Oyly Carte (1876–1948), the son of the Gilbert and Sullivan impresario Richard D'Oyly Carte, as he put it "the only thing in my literary career which was handed to me on a silver plate with watercress around it". Carte was a school acquaintance of a cousin of Wodehouse at Winchester College, according to an introduction to Leave it to Psmith. Rupert's daughter, Bridget D'Oyly Carte, however, believed that the Wykehamist schoolboy described to Wodehouse was not her father but his elder brother Lucas. Lucas was also at Winchester.
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Ptolemy
Claudius Ptolemy ( /ˈtɒləmi/; Greek: Κλαύδιος Πτολεμαῖος, Klaudios Ptolemaios; Latin: Claudius Ptolemaeus; c. AD 90 – c. AD 168), was a Greek-Roman citizen of Egypt who wrote in Greek. He was a mathematician, astronomer, geographer, astrologer, and poet of a single epigram in the Greek Anthology. He lived in Egypt under Roman rule, and is believed to have been born in the town of Ptolemais Hermiou in the Thebaid. This theory, proposed by Theodore Meliteniotes, could be correct, but it is late (ca. 1360) and unsupported. There is no reason to suppose that he ever lived anywhere else than Alexandria, where he died around AD 168.
Ptolemy was the author of several scientific treatises, at least three of which were of continuing importance to later Islamic and European science. The first is the astronomical treatise now known as the Almagest (in Greek, Ἡ Μεγάλη Σύνταξις, "The Great Treatise", originally Μαθηματικὴ Σύνταξις, "Mathematical Treatise"). The second is the Geography, which is a thorough discussion of the geographic knowledge of the Greco-Roman world. The third is the astrological treatise known sometimes in Greek as the Apotelesmatika (Ἀποτελεσματικά), more commonly in Greek as the Tetrabiblos (Τετράβιβλος "Four books"), and in Latin as the Quadripartitum (or four books) in which he attempted to adapt horoscopic astrology to the Aristotelian natural philosophy of his day.
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Roy Wood
Roy Adrian Wood (born 8 November 1946) is an English singer-songwriter and musician. He was particularly successful in the 1960s and 1970s as member and co-founder of the bands The Move, Electric Light Orchestra, and Wizzard. As a songwriter, he contributed a number of hits to the repertoire of these bands.
Wood was born in Kitts Green, Birmingham, England. His first group in Birmingham in the early 1960s was The Falcons, which he left in 1963 to join Gerry Levene and the Avengers. He then moved to Mike Sheridan and the Nightriders (the band later became The Idle Race). During this period, Wood attended the Moseley College of Art, from which he was expelled in 1964.
From this basis, and other Birmingham-based groups, was formed The Move, and they quickly entered the UK Singles Chart. Their single "Night of Fear" climbed to #2 in early 1967. Their third hit, "Flowers in the Rain", was the first song played at the launch of BBC Radio 1 in 1967, and the band evolved over a three year period. After the departure of The Move's lead singer Carl Wayne, Wood's influence became more prominent. In 1967 Wood (and fellow Move member Trevor Burton) supplied backing vocals on the track, "You Got Me Floatin'", on The Jimi Hendrix Experience's album, Axis: Bold as Love.
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Shrewsbury School
Coordinates: 52°42′14″N 2°45′44″W / 52.7038°N 2.7622°W / 52.7038; -2.7622
Shrewsbury School is a co-educational independent school for pupils aged 13 to 18, founded by Royal Charter in 1552. The present campus to which the school moved in 1882 is located on the banks of the River Severn in Shrewsbury, Shropshire, England. It is one of the original nine Clarendon Schools (including Eton College, Harrow and Charterhouse School) that were defined by the Public Schools Act 1868 Originally a boarding school for boys, girls have been admitted into the Sixth Form since 2008 and its mixed gender roll of around 720 includes approximately 130 day pupils. Pupils are admitted at the age of 13 by selective examination. For approximately ten per cent of the pupils, English is a second or additional language. The school's old boys – or "Old Salopians" – include naturalist Charles Darwin, poet Sir Philip Sidney, his biographer, Fulke Greville, Astronomer Royal Martin Rees, authors Samuel Butler and Nevil Shute, and broadcasters such as John Peel and Michael Palin.
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Stephen Marchant
Stephen Marchant AM (1912–2003) was born in Shropshire, studied geology at Caius College, Cambridge, and worked in the oil exploration business in many countries, using the opportunities arising from his postings to study birdlife around the world. He wrote classic papers on the birds of the Red Sea, Nigeria, the Gold Coast, Indonesia, Borneo, Ecuador and Iraq. In 1963 he migrated to Australia where he joined the Bureau of Mineral Resources in Canberra.
In Australia Marchant was immediately involved in organised ornithology through the Royal Australasian Ornithologists Union (RAOU) where he was a strong force for what he perceived to be necessary reform. Here he was instrumental in founding the ACT Group of the RAOU, which later became the Canberra Ornithologists Group (COG). He also initiated the RAOU Nest Record Scheme and was a founding member of the RAOU Field Investigations Committee. As part of a reformist makeover of the RAOU, in order to strengthen its scientific rigor and ornithological credibility, in 1968 he became Editor of the RAOU's journal the Emu, which he transformed into an internationally respected scientific journal.
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Stewart Lee
Stewart Lee (born 5 April 1968) is an English stand-up comedian, writer and director. He made his name in the mid 1990s as one half of the radio duo Lee and Herring, a popular success followed through with extensive touring to built up a loyal live following. He gave up comedy in the early 2000s when he became disillusioned by the business and believed he was doomed to be a cult act with limited appeal who had reached the extent of any potential audience. Lee returned to stand up after co-writing and co-directing the surprise mock Broadway hit Jerry Springer - The Opera. Since then he has returned to the live circuit and though BBC and C4 specials and series, has rebuilt a niche audience and a reputation as an anti populist, anti "after the pub" comedian.
He remains a significant voice in UK stand up despite his refusal to appear on the panel shows that have seen many of his contemporaries eclipse him in ticket sales, if not critical acclaim. Although Lee's audience figures are comparatively low, he usually tours to 400-600 capacity venues and standing outside the comedy mainstream, he is well regarded by critics and has been a regular pundit on BBC political programming. In December 2011 he won the award for best male television comic for his series Stewart Lee's Comedy Vehicle which also won best comedy entertainment programme at the 2011 British Comedy Awards. A 2009 article in The Times referred to him as "the comedian's comedian, and for good reason" and named him "face of the decade". His stand-up features frequent use of "repetition, call-backs, nonchalant delivery and deconstruction", a device he jokingly ascribes to his tedious, exacting middle-class persona.
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Susanna Clarke
Susanna Mary Clarke (born 1 November 1959) is a British author best known for her debut novel Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell (2004), a Hugo Award-winning alternate history. Clarke began Jonathan Strange in 1993 and worked on it during her spare time. For the next decade, she published short stories from the Strange universe, but it was not until 2003 that Bloomsbury bought her manuscript and began work on its publication. The novel became a bestseller.
Two years later, she published a collection of her short stories, The Ladies of Grace Adieu and Other Stories (2006). Both Clarke's novel and her short stories are set in a magical England and written in a pastiche of the styles of 19th-century writers such as Jane Austen and Charles Dickens. While Strange focuses on the relationship of two men, Jonathan Strange and Gilbert Norrell, the stories in Ladies focus on the power women gain through magic.
Clarke was born on 1 November 1959 in Nottingham, England, the eldest daughter of a Methodist minister and his wife. Due to her father's posts, she spent her childhood in various towns across Northern England and Scotland, and enjoyed reading the works of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, Charles Dickens, and Jane Austen. She received a Bachelor of Arts degree in philosophy, politics, and economics from St Hilda's College, Oxford in 1981.
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Welsh people
The Welsh people (Welsh: Cymry) are an ethnic group and nation native to Wales and associated with the Welsh language. Welsh people historically spoke the Welsh language; however, in recent years English has predominated in most of Wales.
John Davies argues that the origin of the "Welsh nation" can be traced to the late 4th and early 5th centuries, following the Roman departure from Britain, although Brythonic Celtic languages seem to have been spoken in Wales far longer. The term Welsh people applies to people from Wales and people of Welsh ancestry perceiving themselves or being perceived as sharing a cultural heritage and shared ancestral origins. Today Wales is a country of the United Kingdom, and the majority of people living in Wales are British citizens.
An analysis of the geography of Welsh surnames commissioned by the Welsh Government found that 718,000 people, or nearly 35% of the Welsh population, have a family name of Welsh origin, compared with 5.3% in the rest of the United Kingdom, 4.7% in New Zealand, 4.1% in Australia, and 3.8% in the United States, with an estimated 16.3 million people in the countries studied having Welsh ancestry.
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Wilfred Owen
Wilfred Edward Salter Owen MC (18 March 1893 – 4 November 1918) was an English poet and soldier, one of the leading poets of the First World War. His shocking, realistic war poetry on the horrors of trenches and gas warfare was heavily influenced by his friend Siegfried Sassoon and stood in stark contrast to both the public perception of war at the time, and to the confidently patriotic verse written earlier by war poets such as Rupert Brooke. Among his best-known works — most of which were published posthumously — are "Dulce et Decorum Est", "Insensibility", "Anthem for Doomed Youth", "Futility" and "Strange Meeting".
Wilfred Owen was born the eldest of four children in a house near Oswestry in Shropshire called Plas Wilmot on 18 March 1893, of mixed English and Welsh ancestry. His siblings were Harold, Colin, and Mary Millard Owen. At that time, his parents, Thomas and Harriet Susan (Shaw) Owen, lived in a comfortable house owned by his grandfather but, on his death in 1897, the family was forced to move to lodgings in the back streets of Birkenhead. He was educated at the Birkenhead Institute and at Shrewsbury Technical School (now The Wakeman School), and discovered his vocation in 1903 or 1904 during a holiday spent in Cheshire. Owen was raised as an Anglican of the evangelical school, and in his youth was a devout believer, in part due to his strong relationship with his mother, which was to last throughout his life. His early influences included the "big six" of romantic poetry, particularly John Keats, and the Bible.
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William Farr
William Farr (30 November 1807 - 14 April 1883) was a nineteenth-century British epidemiologist, regarded as one of the founders of medical statistics.
He was born in Kenley, Shropshire, England to poor parents. He was effectively adopted by a local squire, Joseph Pryce, when Farr and his family moved to Dorrington.
In 1826 he took a job as a dresser (surgeon's assistant) in Shrewsbury infirmary. Pryce died in November 1828, and left Farr £500, which allowed him to study medicine in France and Switzerland. He returned to England in 1831 and continued his studies at University College London, qualifying as a doctor with the Apothecaries' Society in March 1832.
He married in 1833 and started a medical practice in Fitzroy Square, London. By this time he had become fascinated by medical statistics, a subject which he called "hygology" (derived from "hygiene").[citation needed] In 1837 he wrote a chapter called "Vital Statistics" for a highly regarded reference book, John McCulloch's "Statistical Account of the British Empire". In January 1837 he established the British Annals of Medicine, Pharmacy, Vital Statistics, and General Science, but it was already discontinued in August.
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William Wycherley
William Wycherley (c. 1640 – 31 December 1715) was an English dramatist of the Restoration period, best known for the plays The Country Wife and The Plain Dealer.
He was born at Clive, Shropshire near Shrewsbury, where his family was settled on a moderate estate of about £600 a year. Like John Vanbrugh, Wycherley spent some years of his adolescence in France, where he was sent, at fifteen, to be educated in the heart of the "precious" circle on the banks of the Charente. Wycherley's friend, Major Richardson Pack, said that he there "improved, with the greatest refinements", the "extraordinary talents" for which he was "obliged to nature".
While in France, Wycherley converted to Roman Catholicism. He returned to England shortly before the restoration of King Charles II, and lived at Queen's College, Oxford where Thomas Barlow was provost. Under Barlow's influence, Wycherley returned to the Church of England. Wycherley only lived in the provost's lodgings; he does not seem to have matriculated or taken a degree.
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Wizzard
Wizzard were a Birmingham-based band formed by Roy Wood, former member of The Move and co-founder of Electric Light Orchestra. The Guinness Book of 500 Number One Hits states, "Wizzard was Roy Wood just as much as Wings were Paul McCartney."
Not long after the release of Electric Light Orchestra's first album, Wood found himself frequently at odds with co-leader Jeff Lynne. Deciding he wanted to head off in a different musical direction, Wood left, taking band members Bill Hunt (keyboards and french horn) and Hugh McDowell (cello) and ELO's sound engineer, Trevor Smith, with him, to found Wizzard. Also in the line-up were former Move bassist Rick Price, drummers Charlie Grima and Keith Smart (all formerly of Birmingham group Mongrel), and saxophone players Mike Burney and Nick Pentelow (the son of actor Arthur Pentelow). Hunt was later replaced by Bob Brady.
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Wrekin College
Wrekin College is a co-educational independent school located in Wellington, Shropshire, England. It was founded by Sir John Bayley in 1880 and was known as ‘The School in the Garden’ owing to its extensive gardens and playing fields. Part of the Allied Schools, it is also a member of the Headmasters' and Headmistresses' Conference.
The school was founded in 1880 as Wellington College by Sir John Bayley. In 1915 less than 100 acres (0.40 km2) of the Lilleshall Hall estate were purchased from the Duke of Sutherland, who retained the Hall and 50 acres (200,000 m2). In 1920, it was sold to the Revd Percy Warrington, a Church of England clergyman and renamed Wrekin College. The influential Anglican Clergyman E. J. H. Nash was chaplain from 1929–1932. The Rev. Canon Guy Pentreath was a notable headmaster from 1943 to 1952. Girls were introduced to the sixth form by headmaster Geoffrey Hadden in 1975. It became fully co-educational in 1983. There are currently 420 pupils of which 30% are boarders and 40% are girls. The school now admits pupils from the age of eleven.
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Shropshire Music Video - The SY6 (we make hay)
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 3:57
- Updated: 20 Feb 2013
www.facebook.com get all tracks for FREE! Music Video for the song "We make hay" by Braincell Harmonics Feat SY6. Shot In our homeland of Church Stretton Shropshire, its a open love letter to the Shropshire hills like the Muller advert but more "gangsta". Hope you like this make sure you share with your friends. Get the lyrics here! braincellharmonics.tumblr.com
http://wn.com/Shropshire_Music_Video_The_SY6_we_make_hay
www.facebook.com get all tracks for FREE! Music Video for the song "We make hay" by Braincell Harmonics Feat SY6. Shot In our homeland of Church Stretton Shropshire, its a open love letter to the Shropshire hills like the Muller advert but more "gangsta". Hope you like this make sure you share with your friends. Get the lyrics here! braincellharmonics.tumblr.com
Shropshire a brief tour
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 5:06
- Updated: 25 Jan 2013
A stroll through my county. Photos to give you a flavour of Salopia.
http://wn.com/Shropshire_a_brief_tour
A stroll through my county. Photos to give you a flavour of Salopia.
- published: 13 Sep 2007
- views: 5091
- author: foveostag
Whistle Stop Tour of Shropshire
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 6:58
- Updated: 17 Feb 2013
A brief selection of the best things to see and do for visitors to Shropshire
http://wn.com/Whistle_Stop_Tour_of_Shropshire
A brief selection of the best things to see and do for visitors to Shropshire
- published: 10 Sep 2007
- views: 5020
- author: ShropshireTourism
Butterworth A Shropshire Lad Hallé Orchestra conductor Sir Adrian Boult
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 4:04
- Updated: 04 Feb 2013
This is an extract from one of only two recordings made by Sir Adrain Boult with this orchestra, the other is Kikimora by Liadov. Both recordings can be downloaded at beulahextra.eavb.co.uk Boult recorded A Shropshire lad four times. This is his second recording made on 5 March 1942 in the Houldsworth Hall, Manchester. Producer Walter Legge, engineer Arthur S. Clarke.
http://wn.com/Butterworth_A_Shropshire_Lad_Hallé_Orchestra_conductor_Sir_Adrian_Boult
This is an extract from one of only two recordings made by Sir Adrain Boult with this orchestra, the other is Kikimora by Liadov. Both recordings can be downloaded at beulahextra.eavb.co.uk Boult recorded A Shropshire lad four times. This is his second recording made on 5 March 1942 in the Houldsworth Hall, Manchester. Producer Walter Legge, engineer Arthur S. Clarke.
- published: 02 Feb 2010
- views: 4523
- author: A60stock
The Shropshire Triangle (UFO sighting's)
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 6:01
- Updated: 16 Feb 2013
In one area of North Shropshire there has been a huge increase in UFO sightings. One man, Professor Friese, has travelled from Germany to investigate. Will he solve the mystery of the Shropshire Triangle?
http://wn.com/The_Shropshire_Triangle_UFO_sighting's
In one area of North Shropshire there has been a huge increase in UFO sightings. One man, Professor Friese, has travelled from Germany to investigate. Will he solve the mystery of the Shropshire Triangle?
- published: 14 May 2010
- views: 3224
- author: geoffthecameraman
Moccona 'Shropshire'
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 0:46
- Updated: 18 Feb 2013
This ad for Moccona Mocha Kenya was originally scripted as a rough Scotsman. Hayward and UK casting director Nina Gold presented a gay black guy with a lisp instead. Shot in a supermarket in Bondi Beach, this ad from Clemenger Sydney became an overnight success and is the first of 3 commercials Hayward made for the brand.
http://wn.com/Moccona_'Shropshire'
This ad for Moccona Mocha Kenya was originally scripted as a rough Scotsman. Hayward and UK casting director Nina Gold presented a gay black guy with a lisp instead. Shot in a supermarket in Bondi Beach, this ad from Clemenger Sydney became an overnight success and is the first of 3 commercials Hayward made for the brand.
- published: 06 Sep 2011
- views: 11612
- author: AdrianHayward
Derek Welton - Butterworth 'Six Songs from "A Shropshire Lad"' - 6 Is my team ploughing?
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 4:17
- Updated: 15 Feb 2013
George Butterworth 'Six songs from "A Shropshire Lad"' 6 'Is my team ploughing?' Derek Welton, baritone Marek Ruszczynski, piano Barbican Hall 5 May 2009
http://wn.com/Derek_Welton_Butterworth_'Six_Songs_from_A_Shropshire_Lad'_6_Is_my_team_ploughing?
George Butterworth 'Six songs from "A Shropshire Lad"' 6 'Is my team ploughing?' Derek Welton, baritone Marek Ruszczynski, piano Barbican Hall 5 May 2009
- published: 04 Jun 2010
- views: 3302
- author: drwelton
Ludlow - Shropshire
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 6:49
- Updated: 08 Feb 2013
A gem of a town with a sixties sound track
http://wn.com/Ludlow_Shropshire
51lb common from Shropshire, UK
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 2:14
- Updated: 16 Jun 2012
Some HD footage of my capture of Bill the common from Acton Burnell's ultra-tough Bottom Lake, Shropshire. Weighing in at 51lb, the fish is the largest of a stock of only 20 carp in 8 acres. Visit www.simoncrowcarpfishing.co.uk or Follow me on Twitter: @Simon_Crow1 or Facebook: www.facebook.com/carpmancrow
http://wn.com/51lb_common_from_Shropshire,_UK
Some HD footage of my capture of Bill the common from Acton Burnell's ultra-tough Bottom Lake, Shropshire. Weighing in at 51lb, the fish is the largest of a stock of only 20 carp in 8 acres. Visit www.simoncrowcarpfishing.co.uk or Follow me on Twitter: @Simon_Crow1 or Facebook: www.facebook.com/carpmancrow
- published: 12 Sep 2011
- views: 2958
- author: Simon Crow
Orange UFO on the Shropshire/Wales border uk, May 1st 2011.
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 9:59
- Updated: 15 Nov 2012
Some footage of UFO activity near my home in Shropshire UK
http://wn.com/Orange_UFO_on_the_Shropshire_Wales_border_uk,_May_1st_2011
Some footage of UFO activity near my home in Shropshire UK
- published: 04 May 2011
- views: 6116
- author: Andy UFOshropshireUK
Wrexham and Shropshire Trip
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 9:54
- Updated: 27 Dec 2012
Journey on the Wrexham and Shropshire Marylebone Railway to London. Also Bakerloo tube line clips.
http://wn.com/Wrexham_and_Shropshire_Trip
Journey on the Wrexham and Shropshire Marylebone Railway to London. Also Bakerloo tube line clips.
- published: 02 Nov 2009
- views: 1713
- author: Gareth Morgan
George Butterworth -- A Shropshire Lad (Song-Theme and Rhapsody)
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 10:07
- Updated: 03 Feb 2013
'Loveliest Of Trees' (excerpt), composed by George Butterworth (1885-1916, first photo) to a poem by AE Housman, sung by baritone John Shirley-Quirk, with Martin Isepp, piano; on a Saga long-play disc, number XID5260, issued in 1966. And 'A Shropshire Lad', Rhapsody For Full Orchestra, Sir Adrian Boult (second photo, at a 1949 studio session) conducting the London Philharmonic Orchestra; a British Decca recording, made in 1954, issued in the United States on London long-play disc LL1169. I have arranged the two works in sequence because Butterworth took the principal theme of his Rhapsody from this song, initially titling the second work 'Cherry Tree Prelude'. On the cover sheet of the printed score (shown here), Butterworth calls the Rhapsody "an orchestral epilogue to [his] two sets of songs, [based on] Mr. AE Housman's poem 'A Shropshire Lad'." 'A Shropshire Lad' was premiered at the Leeds Festival in 1913. 'Is My Team Ploughing?', also a setting of a Housman poem, may be heard in my previous Butterworth YouTube posting, along with the setting by Butterworth's friend Rafe [Ralph] Vaughan Williams.
http://wn.com/George_Butterworth_-_A_Shropshire_Lad_Song-Theme_and_Rhapsody
'Loveliest Of Trees' (excerpt), composed by George Butterworth (1885-1916, first photo) to a poem by AE Housman, sung by baritone John Shirley-Quirk, with Martin Isepp, piano; on a Saga long-play disc, number XID5260, issued in 1966. And 'A Shropshire Lad', Rhapsody For Full Orchestra, Sir Adrian Boult (second photo, at a 1949 studio session) conducting the London Philharmonic Orchestra; a British Decca recording, made in 1954, issued in the United States on London long-play disc LL1169. I have arranged the two works in sequence because Butterworth took the principal theme of his Rhapsody from this song, initially titling the second work 'Cherry Tree Prelude'. On the cover sheet of the printed score (shown here), Butterworth calls the Rhapsody "an orchestral epilogue to [his] two sets of songs, [based on] Mr. AE Housman's poem 'A Shropshire Lad'." 'A Shropshire Lad' was premiered at the Leeds Festival in 1913. 'Is My Team Ploughing?', also a setting of a Housman poem, may be heard in my previous Butterworth YouTube posting, along with the setting by Butterworth's friend Rafe [Ralph] Vaughan Williams.
- published: 15 Jun 2009
- views: 25204
- author: SmilingPessimist
Shropshire Fire and Rescue Service 'On the Run Day' (Jan 2011)
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 3:49
- Updated: 18 Feb 2013
New recruits see the last day of their intensive training responding to lifelike incidents, one after the other just like the real thing can be. An exhausting day but a very rewarding one as you can see. This video was produced to play at their celebration and passing out event.
http://wn.com/Shropshire_Fire_and_Rescue_Service_'On_the_Run_Day'_Jan_2011
New recruits see the last day of their intensive training responding to lifelike incidents, one after the other just like the real thing can be. An exhausting day but a very rewarding one as you can see. This video was produced to play at their celebration and passing out event.
- published: 27 May 2011
- views: 25766
- author: imagesukvideos
Wrexham & Shropshire - Our New Trains **UPDATE**
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 4:37
- Updated: 17 Aug 2012
Wrexham and Shropshire Staff visit to Axiom Rail, previously Marcroft Engineering, Stoke-on-Trent (9th March 2009) to see the continual progress to the refurbished Mark 3 coaching stock with improved facilities. You can see from the first update (video available on YouTube) that things have been moving at a steady pace including installation of the new galley, re-paint as well as structual strengthening. The MD is confident that we should see the first set in passenger traffic by Summer 2009... watch this space!
http://wn.com/Wrexham_Shropshire_Our_New_Trains_**UPDATE**
Wrexham and Shropshire Staff visit to Axiom Rail, previously Marcroft Engineering, Stoke-on-Trent (9th March 2009) to see the continual progress to the refurbished Mark 3 coaching stock with improved facilities. You can see from the first update (video available on YouTube) that things have been moving at a steady pace including installation of the new galley, re-paint as well as structual strengthening. The MD is confident that we should see the first set in passenger traffic by Summer 2009... watch this space!
- published: 01 May 2009
- views: 4716
- author: SoivenCymraeg
Virtual Shropshire's Golden Sixty
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 19:09
- Updated: 16 Feb 2013
Sixty great places to visit in Shropshire
http://wn.com/Virtual_Shropshire's_Golden_Sixty
Sixty great places to visit in Shropshire
- published: 30 Aug 2012
- views: 1943
- author: visitshropshire
Butterworth - The lads in their hundreds (Roderick Williams)
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 2:10
- Updated: 29 Jan 2013
George Butterworth - 6 Songs from A Shropshire Lad: No. 5. The lads in their hundreds Roderick Williams, baritone Iain Burnside, piano AE Housman (1859--1936) A Shropshire Lad. 1896. XXIII. The lads in their hundreds THE LADS in their hundreds to Ludlow come in for the fair, There's men from the barn and the forge and the mill and the fold, The lads for the girls and the lads for the liquor are there, And there with the rest are the lads that will never be old. There's chaps from the town and the field and the till and the cart, And many to count are the stalwart, and many the brave, And many the handsome of face and the handsome of heart, And few that will carry their looks or their truth to the grave. I wish one could know them, I wish there were tokens to tell The fortunate fellows that now you can never discern; And then one could talk with them friendly and wish them farewell And watch them depart on the way that they will not return. But now you may stare as you like and there's nothing to scan; And brushing your elbow unguessed-at and not to be told They carry back bright to the coiner the mintage of man, The lads that will die in their glory and never be old. CD or MP3: www.amazon.com
http://wn.com/Butterworth_The_lads_in_their_hundreds_Roderick_Williams
George Butterworth - 6 Songs from A Shropshire Lad: No. 5. The lads in their hundreds Roderick Williams, baritone Iain Burnside, piano AE Housman (1859--1936) A Shropshire Lad. 1896. XXIII. The lads in their hundreds THE LADS in their hundreds to Ludlow come in for the fair, There's men from the barn and the forge and the mill and the fold, The lads for the girls and the lads for the liquor are there, And there with the rest are the lads that will never be old. There's chaps from the town and the field and the till and the cart, And many to count are the stalwart, and many the brave, And many the handsome of face and the handsome of heart, And few that will carry their looks or their truth to the grave. I wish one could know them, I wish there were tokens to tell The fortunate fellows that now you can never discern; And then one could talk with them friendly and wish them farewell And watch them depart on the way that they will not return. But now you may stare as you like and there's nothing to scan; And brushing your elbow unguessed-at and not to be told They carry back bright to the coiner the mintage of man, The lads that will die in their glory and never be old. CD or MP3: www.amazon.com
- published: 08 Sep 2010
- views: 7142
- author: whiteocean78
shropshire farming silage 2010
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 3:58
- Updated: 25 Jan 2013
silage in pontesbury , may 2010
http://wn.com/shropshire_farming_silage_2010
Mobile Disco Roadshow gig log in Dorrington Shropshire
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 10:10
- Updated: 25 Nov 2012
Mobile Disco Roadshow gig log in Dorrington Shropshire. www.djtutor.com In the New Dorrington hall. Bigh thanks to all that attended and once again sorry for letting out too much smoke! Hi to Shoreline Imaging too! www.shorelineimaging.co.uk
http://wn.com/Mobile_Disco_Roadshow_gig_log_in_Dorrington_Shropshire
Mobile Disco Roadshow gig log in Dorrington Shropshire. www.djtutor.com In the New Dorrington hall. Bigh thanks to all that attended and once again sorry for letting out too much smoke! Hi to Shoreline Imaging too! www.shorelineimaging.co.uk
- published: 22 Jun 2008
- views: 17330
- author: ellaskins
Shropshire Union Canal - MIddlewich Branch (time lapse)
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 8:49
- Updated: 30 Jul 2012
The Shropshire Union Canal (Middlewich Branch) runs for 16 miles connecting the Main Lines of the Shropshire Union and Trent & Mersey Canals between Barbridge Junction and Middlewich Junction. Or it would do if it wasn't for the Wardle Canal which runs from Middlewich Junction to the start of the Shropshire Union Canal (Middlewich Branch). At 100 feet in length and featuring a single lock, the Wardle Canal is possibly the smallest canal in the world.
http://wn.com/Shropshire_Union_Canal_MIddlewich_Branch_time_lapse
The Shropshire Union Canal (Middlewich Branch) runs for 16 miles connecting the Main Lines of the Shropshire Union and Trent & Mersey Canals between Barbridge Junction and Middlewich Junction. Or it would do if it wasn't for the Wardle Canal which runs from Middlewich Junction to the start of the Shropshire Union Canal (Middlewich Branch). At 100 feet in length and featuring a single lock, the Wardle Canal is possibly the smallest canal in the world.
- published: 19 Sep 2007
- views: 4116
- author: PIGandPINEAPPLE
NEWPORT - shropshire
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 3:28
- Updated: 25 Jan 2013
A quick look around the small shropshire town with a little bit of soul music.
http://wn.com/NEWPORT_shropshire
A quick look around the small shropshire town with a little bit of soul music.
- published: 16 Aug 2008
- views: 2454
- author: trefechan
Class 67 Wrexham and Shropshire Railway
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 1:42
- Updated: 12 Nov 2012
A trip from Telford to London marylebone behind class 67 on Wrexham and Shropshire Railway
http://wn.com/Class_67_Wrexham_and_Shropshire_Railway
A trip from Telford to London marylebone behind class 67 on Wrexham and Shropshire Railway
- published: 27 May 2008
- views: 10424
- author: hinstock3
Interview with Leigh Haggerwood, Florin Street Band, "Shropshire Star" 2010
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 3:32
- Updated: 02 Jan 2013
The copyright for this interview is owned by the "Shropshire Star" Could this year's chart-topping Christmas number one come from Shropshire? See the original article from the 'Shropshire Star' Read more: www.shropshirestar.com That was last year, in 2011 please support the campaign to help get a true Christmas number 1 to top spot on Christmas Day. Please join the Facebook campaign now and SPREAD THE WORD..... Thanks, Andy :)
http://wn.com/Interview_with_Leigh_Haggerwood,_Florin_Street_Band,_Shropshire_Star_2010
The copyright for this interview is owned by the "Shropshire Star" Could this year's chart-topping Christmas number one come from Shropshire? See the original article from the 'Shropshire Star' Read more: www.shropshirestar.com That was last year, in 2011 please support the campaign to help get a true Christmas number 1 to top spot on Christmas Day. Please join the Facebook campaign now and SPREAD THE WORD..... Thanks, Andy :)
- published: 07 Aug 2011
- views: 3640
- author: Andrew Gaskell
Shropshire Blacksmith Roy Abbott Demonstrates Forgework
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 4:03
- Updated: 23 Jan 2013
Shropshire Artist Blacksmith, Roy Abbott demonstrates traditional hand forged ironwork skills in the making of a ram's head poker. There are seven basic rules in blacksmithing, drawing out, upsetting, bending, twisting, cutting, punching and welding; all of which are untertaken in the making of the poker.
http://wn.com/Shropshire_Blacksmith_Roy_Abbott_Demonstrates_Forgework
Shropshire Artist Blacksmith, Roy Abbott demonstrates traditional hand forged ironwork skills in the making of a ram's head poker. There are seven basic rules in blacksmithing, drawing out, upsetting, bending, twisting, cutting, punching and welding; all of which are untertaken in the making of the poker.
- published: 13 Nov 2009
- views: 10098
- author: MrRoyAbbott
photo: AP / Themba Hadebe
20 Feb 2013
An unnamed witness heard a gunshot, screams and more gunshots at the home of Paralympian Oscar Pistorius on the night of his girlfriend's killing, a police officer told a court on Wednesday. By News Wires (text). . “Blade Runner” Oscar Pistorius returned to court Wednesday to hear explosive allegations that he fought “non-stop” with his slain girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp on the night of her killing ... S ... ....(size: 9.7Kb)
photo: AP / Themba Hadebe
21 Feb 2013
The lead investigator in the Oscar Pistorius murder case has been charged with attempted murder, according to South African police. On the third day of bail hearings, the defense is seeking to discredit police action. Police confirmed on Thursday that lead investigator Hilton Botha would appear in court in May on seven charges of attempted murder ... His defence has claimed Pistorius had mistaken Steenkamp for an intruder ... ....(size: 2.4Kb)
photo: AP / Felice Calabro
20 Feb 2013
The former Portsmouth pair struck in the second half of a memorable victory for the Rossoneri, who defended with their lives to clinch a priceless first-leg victory. By Keeghann Sinanan. More On . AC Milan, FC Barcelona, AC Milan vs FC Barcelona. Comments. Getty Images ... Kevin Constant laid off a free-kick to Riccardo Montolivo, whose shot appeared to cannon off the hand of Zapata ... Follow Goal.com on Twitter ... AC Milan. 32 ... 3.00. 5 ... 4....(size: 11.4Kb)
photo: AP/Keystone, Laurent Gillieron
19 Feb 2013
Nestle, the world's biggest food company, has removed beef pasta meals from shelves in Italy and Spain after tests revealed traces of horse DNA. The Swiss-based firm has halted deliveries of products containing meat from a German supplier. Nestle is the latest in a string of major food producers to find traces of horsemeat in beef meals ... ....(size: 1.9Kb)
photo: AP / Gregorio Borgia
20 Feb 2013
ROME (Reuters) - Regardless of who wins next weekend's parliamentary election, Italy's long economic decline is likely to continue because the next government won't be strong enough to pursue the tough reforms needed to make its economy competitive again ... Daily Press Eyewitness. Submit photos and videos from your mobile device. You might find your picture featured on Page 2 of the Daily Press ... CAMPER VAN POLITICS ... "The big question is ... ....(size: 4.7Kb)
noodls
21 Feb 2013
Shropshire Council) / PermalinkRelated topics ... Shropshire Council has been shortlisted for a National Internship and Placement Award 2013; the only public sector organisation to be shortlisted ... This was the first year of internships for Shropshire ... This noodl was issued by Shropshire Council and was initially posted at www.shropshire.gov.uk....(size: 2.2Kb)
noodls
21 Feb 2013
(Source. Shropshire Council) / PermalinkRelated topics. Community / My area. A report by conservation experts who carried out an inspection of the statue of Lord Hill on top of The Column in Shrewsbury in November 2012 is now being considered by Shropshire Council ... Keith Barrow, Leader of Shropshire Council, said. ... Share this page. distributed by. This noodl was issued by Shropshire Council and was initially posted at www.shropshire.gov.uk....(size: 2.2Kb)
noodls
21 Feb 2013
Shropshire Council) / PermalinkRelated topics ... Less than 0.2% of Shropshire Council's gross budget has been spent on consultants working on projects to improve efficiency and make savings, the council leader said today. ... This noodl was issued by Shropshire Council and was initially posted at www.shropshire.gov.uk....(size: 2.6Kb)
noodls
21 Feb 2013
Shropshire Council) / PermalinkRelated topics ... A new cemetery and Remembrance Park is set to open in Shrewsbury in early 2014, after it today (21 February 2013) received planning permission from Shropshire Council ... Mike Owen, Shropshire Council's Cabinet member responsible for bereavement services, said. ... This noodl was issued by Shropshire Council and was initially posted at www.shropshire.gov.uk....(size: 3.2Kb)
The Daily Telegraph
21 Feb 2013
All Regions Central England Bedfordshire Buckinghamshire Derbyshire Gloucestershire Herefordshire Hertfordshire Leicestershire Lincolnshire Northamptonshire Nottinghamshire Oxfordshire Rutland Shropshire Staffordshire Warwickshire Worcestershire East Anglia Cambridgeshire Essex Norfolk Suffolk North East England County Durham Northumberland North ......(size: 9.4Kb)
The Daily Telegraph
21 Feb 2013
All Regions Central England Bedfordshire Buckinghamshire Derbyshire Gloucestershire Herefordshire Hertfordshire Leicestershire Lincolnshire Northamptonshire Nottinghamshire Oxfordshire Rutland Shropshire Staffordshire Warwickshire Worcestershire East Anglia Cambridgeshire Essex Norfolk Suffolk North East England County Durham Northumberland North ......(size: 9.4Kb)
The Daily Telegraph
21 Feb 2013
All Regions Central England Bedfordshire Buckinghamshire Derbyshire Gloucestershire Herefordshire Hertfordshire Leicestershire Lincolnshire Northamptonshire Nottinghamshire Oxfordshire Rutland Shropshire Staffordshire Warwickshire Worcestershire East Anglia Cambridgeshire Essex Norfolk Suffolk North East England County Durham Northumberland North ......(size: 9.6Kb)
The Daily Telegraph
21 Feb 2013
All Regions Central England Bedfordshire Buckinghamshire Derbyshire Gloucestershire Herefordshire Hertfordshire Leicestershire Lincolnshire Northamptonshire Nottinghamshire Oxfordshire Rutland Shropshire Staffordshire Warwickshire Worcestershire East Anglia Cambridgeshire Essex Norfolk Suffolk North East England County Durham Northumberland North ......(size: 10.0Kb)
The Independent
21 Feb 2013
Dark Sky have developed a shadowy, earthy sound reminiscent of the London city streets where they now host a NTS radio slot every other week. Their latest release sees them join forces with Ben Westbeech’s house music alter ego, Breach for an EP engulfed in outright two-stepping bounciness ... How is it going with your NTS show?. Tom ... Carlo ... Matt ... Tom ... Birmingham Herefordshire Shropshire Staffordshire Warwickshire West Midlands Worcestershire....(size: 10.0Kb)
The Independent
21 Feb 2013
Rotherham manager Steve Evans. They say a leopard can never change its spots but Steve Evans is doing a passable impression of an honest, mature and diplomatic football manager this season ... Given his track record, it’s extremely good going ... The big question is why. After all, overt masculinity is a fundamental cog in the Evans machinery ... Birmingham Herefordshire Shropshire Staffordshire Warwickshire West Midlands Worcestershire ... ....(size: 9.7Kb)
The Independent
21 Feb 2013
(Channel 4). SPOILERS. Do not read this if you have not seen episode 6 of Utopia. In many well-constructed thrillers, the pay-off to the resolutions and revelations of the plot are often enhanced by the sense that the answers were hiding in plain sight all along ... The first cases of the Russian flu have been reported ... The final revelation of Mr ... Birmingham Herefordshire Shropshire Staffordshire Warwickshire West Midlands Worcestershire ... ....(size: 10.3Kb)
The Independent
21 Feb 2013
Most retail technology gives more power to the seller but some tech start ups try to help the consumer. One company is using IT to create a service culture. But shouldn’t humans be playing their part?. If Britain abandons manufacturing and becomes a service economy, surely we need to raise our game. Can IT make up for our failings? ... England ... Birmingham Herefordshire Shropshire Staffordshire Warwickshire West Midlands Worcestershire ... ....(size: 10.5Kb)
The Daily Telegraph
21 Feb 2013
All Regions Central England Bedfordshire Buckinghamshire Derbyshire Gloucestershire Herefordshire Hertfordshire Leicestershire Lincolnshire Northamptonshire Nottinghamshire Oxfordshire Rutland Shropshire Staffordshire Warwickshire Worcestershire East Anglia Cambridgeshire Essex Norfolk Suffolk North East England County Durham Northumberland North ......(size: 14.6Kb)
This article is about the English county. For other uses, see Shropshire (disambiguation).
| Shropshire | |
|---|---|
 Flag |
|
| Motto: Floreat Salopia (May Shropshire flourish) |
|
 |
|
| Geography | |
| Status | Ceremonial county and (smaller) unitary district |
| Origin | Historic |
| Region | West Midlands |
| Area - Total - Admin. council - Admin. area |
Ranked 13th 3,487 km2 (1,346 sq mi) Ranked 4th 3,197 km2 (1,234 sq mi) |
| Admin HQ | Shrewsbury |
| ISO 3166-2 | GB-SHR |
| ONS code | 00GG |
| NUTS 3 | UKG22 |
| Demography | |
| Population - Total (2010 est.[1]) - Density - Admin. council - Admin. pop. |
Ranked 42nd 456,000 131 /km2 (340 /sq mi) Ranked 28th 293,400 |
| Ethnicity | 97.3% White 1.2% S.Asian |
| Politics | |
| No county council 180px Shropshire Council http://www.shropshire.gov.uk Telford and Wrekin Council http://www.telford.gov.uk |
|
| Executive | Conservative |
| Members of Parliament | |
| Districts | |
|
|
Shropshire ( /ˈʃrɒpʃər/ or /ˈʃrɒpʃɪər/; alternatively Salop;[7] abbreviated, in print only, Shrops[8]) is a county in the West Midlands region of England. It borders Wales to the west, Cheshire to the north, Staffordshire to the east, Worcestershire to the south-east and Herefordshire to the south. A unitary authority (Shropshire Council) was created on 1 April 2009, taking over from the previous county council and 5 district councils, and covers most of the county. The borough of Telford and Wrekin, included in Shropshire for ceremonial purposes, has been a separate unitary authority since 1998.[9]
The county's population and economy is centred on five towns: the county town of Shrewsbury, which is culturally and historically important and is located in the centre of the county;[10] Telford, a new town in the east which was constructed around a number of older towns, most notably Wellington, Dawley and Madeley, which is today the most populous;[11] and Oswestry in the north-west, Bridgnorth just to the south of Telford, and Ludlow in the south. The county has many further smaller towns, including Whitchurch in the north, Newport just to the north-east of Telford, and Market Drayton in the north-east of the county.
The Ironbridge Gorge area is a UNESCO World Heritage Site, covering Ironbridge, Coalbrookdale and a part of Madeley.[12] There are, additionally, other notable historic industrial sites located around the county, such as at Shrewsbury, Broseley, Snailbeach and Highley as well as the Shropshire Union Canal.[13]
The Shropshire Hills Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty covers about a quarter of the county, mainly in the south.[14] Shropshire is one of England's most rural and sparsely populated counties, with the population density of the Shropshire Council area being just 91/km2 (337/sq mi).[15] The Wrekin is one of the most famous natural landmarks in the county,[16] though the highest hills are the Clee Hills,[17] Stiperstones[18] and the Long Mynd.[19] Wenlock Edge is another significant geographical and geological landmark.[20] In the low-lying northwest of the county (and overlapping the border with Wales) is the Fenn's, Whixall and Bettisfield Mosses National Nature Reserve, one of the most important and best preserved bogs in Britain. The River Severn, Great Britain's longest river, runs through the county, exiting into Worcestershire via the Severn Valley. Shropshire is landlocked, and with an area of 3,487 square kilometres (1,346 sq mi),[15] is England's largest inland county.[21]
The county flower is the round-leaved sundew.[22] For Eurostat purposes, the county (less the unitary district of Telford and Wrekin) is a NUTS 3 region (code UKG22). The two Shropshire unitary areas (covering all of the ceremonial county), together with the authorities covering the ceremonial county of Staffordshire, comprise the "Shropshire and Staffordshire" NUTS 2 region.
Contents |
History[link]
Main article: History of Shropshire
The area was once part of the lands of the Cornovii, which consisted of the modern day counties of Cheshire, Shropshire, north Staffordshire, north Herefordshire and eastern parts of Powys. This was a tribal Celtic iron age kingdom. Their capital in pre-Roman times was probably a hill fort on The Wrekin. Ptolemy's 2nd century Geography names one of their towns as being Viroconium Cornoviorum (Wroxeter), which became their capital under Roman rule and one of the largest settlements in Britain. After the Roman occupation of Britain ended in the 5th century, the Shropshire area was in the eastern part of the Welsh Kingdom of Powys; known in Welsh poetry as the Paradise of Powys. It was annexed to the Saxon kingdom of Mercia by King Offa in the eighth century, at which time he built two significant dykes there to defend his territory against the Welsh or at least demarcate it. In subsequent centuries, the area suffered repeated Danish invasion, and fortresses were built at Bridgnorth and Chirbury.[23]
After the Norman Conquest in 1066, major estates in Shropshire were granted to Normans, including Roger de Montgomerie, who ordered significant constructions, particularly in Shrewsbury, the town of which he was Earl.[24] Many defensive castles were built at this time across the county to defend against the Welsh and enable effective control of the region, including Ludlow Castle[25] and Shrewsbury Castle.[26] The western frontier with Wales was not finally determined until the 14th Century. Also in this period, a number of religious foundations were formed, the county largely falling at this time under the diocese of Hereford and that of Coventry and Lichfield. Some areas in later times fell under the diocese of St. Asaph until it ceased to exist in 1920.
The county was a central part of the Welsh Marches during the medieval period and was often embroiled in the power struggles between powerful Marcher Lords, the Earls of March and successive monarchs.[27]
The county also contains a number of historically significant towns, including Shrewsbury, Ludlow and Oswestry. Additionally, the area around Coalbrookdale in the county is seen as highly significant, as it is regarded as one of the birthplaces of the Industrial Revolution. The village of Edgmond, near Newport, is the location of the lowest recorded temperature (in terms of weather) in England and Wales.[28]
Etymology[link]
The origin of the name "Shropshire" is the Old English "Scrobbesbyrigscīr" (literally Shrewsburyshire).
Salop is an old abbreviation for Shropshire, sometimes used on envelopes or telegrams, and comes from the Anglo-French "Salopesberia". It is normally replaced by the more contemporary "Shrops" although Shropshire residents are still referred to as "Salopians".[7]
When a county council for the county was first established in 1888, it was called Salop County Council.[29] Following the Local Government Act 1972, Salop became the official name of the county, but a campaign led by a local councillor, John Kenyon, succeeded in having both the county and council renamed as Shropshire in 1980.[30]
County extent[link]
The border with Wales was defined in the 16th century – the hundreds of Oswestry (including Oswestry) and Pimhill (including Wem), and part of Chirbury had prior to the Laws in Wales Act formed various Lordships in the Welsh Marches.
The present day ceremonial county boundary is almost the same as the historic one. Notably there has been the removal of several exclaves and enclaves. The largest of the exclaves was Halesowen, which became part of Worcestershire in 1844 (now part of the West Midlands county), and the largest of the enclaves was Herefordshire's Farlow in South Shropshire, also transferred in 1844, to Shropshire. Alterations have been made on Shropshire's border with all neighbouring English counties over the centuries. Gains have been made to the south of Ludlow (from Herefordshire), to the north of Shifnal (from Staffordshire) and to the north (from Cheshire) and south (from Staffordshire) of Market Drayton. The county has lost land in two places – to Staffordshire and Worcestershire.[31]
Geography[link]
Geographically, Shropshire is divisible into two distinct halves – North and South. The county has a highly diverse geology. The West Midlands green belt extends into eastern Shropshire, covering an area north from Highley, to the east of Bridgnorth, north to the eastern side of Telford, leaving Shropshire eastwards alongside the A5. This encompasses Shifnal, Cosford and Albrighton, and various other villages paralleling Dudley and Wolverhampton.[32]
North Shropshire[link]
The North Shropshire Plain is an extension of the flat and fertile Cheshire Plain. It is here that most of the county's large towns, and population in general, are to be found. Shrewsbury at the centre, Oswestry to the north west, Whitchurch to the north, Market Drayton to the north east, and Newport and the Telford conurbation (Telford, Wellington, Oakengates, Donnington and Shifnal) to the east. The land is fertile and agriculture remains a major feature of the landscape and the economy. The River Severn runs through the lower half of this area (from Wales in the west, eastwards), through Shrewsbury and down the Ironbridge Gorge, before heading south to Bridgnorth.
The area around Oswestry has more rugged geography than the North Shropshire Plain and the western half is over an extension of the Wrexham Coalfield and there are also copper deposits on the border with Wales. Mining of stone and sand aggregates is still going on in Mid-Shropshire, notably on Haughmond Hill, near Bayston Hill and around the village of Condover. Lead mining also took place at Snailbeach and the Stiperstones, but this has now ceased. Other primary industries, such as forestry and fishing, are to be found too.
The A5 and M54 run from Wolverhampton (to the east of the county) across to Telford, around Shrewsbury parallel to the line of Watling Street an ancient trackway. The A5 then turns north west to Oswestry, before heading north into Wales in the Wrexham area. This is an important artery and the corridor is where most of Shropshire's modern commerce and industry is found, notably in Telford new town. There are also a number of railway lines crossing over the area, which centre at Shrewsbury. To the south west of Telford, near the Ironbridge Gorge, is Ironbridge Power Station.
The new town of Telford is built partly on a former industrial area centred on the East Shropshire Coalfield as well as on former agricultural land. There are still many ex-colliery sites to be found in the area, as well as disused mine shafts. This industrial heritage is an important tourist attraction, as is seen by the growth of museums in the Ironbridge, Coalbrookdale, Broseley and Jackfield area. Blists Hill museum and historical (Victorian era) village is a major tourist attraction as well as the Iron Bridge itself. In addition, Telford Steam Railway runs from Horsehay.
South Shropshire[link]
- For information specifically on the Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty, see Shropshire Hills AONB.
South Shropshire is more rural, with fewer settlements and no large towns, and its landscape differs greatly from that of North Shropshire. The area is dominated by significant hill ranges and river valleys, woods, pine forests and "batches", a colloquial term for small valleys and other natural features. Farming is more pastoral than the arable found in the north of the county. The only substantial towns are Bridgnorth, with a population of around 12,000 people, Ludlow and Church Stretton. The Shropshire Hills AONB is located in the south-west, covering an area of 808 km2 (312 sq mi);[15] it forms the only specifically protected area of the county. Inside this area is the popular Long Mynd, a large plateau of 516 m (1,693 ft) and Stiperstones 536 metres (1,759 ft) high to the East of the Long Mynd, overlooking Church Stretton.
The A49 is the main road through the area, running north to south, from Shrewsbury to Herefordshire. A railway line runs through the area on the same route as the A49 with stations at Church Stretton, Craven Arms and Ludlow. The steam heritage Severn Valley Railway runs from Bridgnorth into Worcestershire along the Severn Valley.
Because of its valley location and character, Church Stretton is sometimes referred to as Little Switzerland. Nearby are the old mining and quarrying communities on the Clee Hills, notable geological features in the Onny Valley and Wenlock Edge and fertile farmland in the Corve Dale. The River Teme drains this part of the county, before flowing into Worcestershire to the South and joining the River Severn.
One of the Clee Hills, the Brown Clee Hill, is the county's highest peak at 540 metres (1,772 ft).[33] This gives Shropshire the 13th tallest hill per county in England.
South West Shropshire is a little known and remote part of the county, with Clun Forest, Offa's Dyke, the River Clun and the River Onny. The small towns of Clun and Bishop's Castle are in this area. The countryside here is very rural and is in parts wild and forested. To the south of Clun is the Welsh border town of Knighton.
Climate[link]
The climate of Shropshire is generally moderate. Rainfall averages 760 to 1,000 mm (30 to 40 in), influenced by being in the rainshadow of the Cambrian Mountains from warm, moist frontal systems of the Atlantic Ocean which bring generally light precipitation in Autumn and Spring.[34] The hilly areas in the south and west are much colder in the winter, due to their high elevation, they share a similar climate to that of the Welsh Marches and Mid-Wales. The flat northern plain in the north and east has a similar climate to that of the rest of the West Midlands.
Being rural and inland, temperatures can fall more dramatically on clear winter nights than in many other parts of England. It was at Harper Adams University College, in Edgmond, where on 10 January 1982 the lowest temperature weather record for England was broken (and is kept to this day): -26.1 °C.
The only Met Office weather station in the county is located at Shawbury, which is in the north, between Shrewsbury and Market Drayton.
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Geology[link]
Main article: Geology of Shropshire
Shropshire has a huge range of different types of rocks, stretching from 700million years ago until the present day. In the northern part of the county there are examples of Jurassic, Carboniferous, Permian and Triassic. Centrally Precambrian, Cambrian, Ordovician, Carboniferous and Permian. And in the south it is predominantly Silurian and Quaternary. Shropshire has a number of areas with Silurian and Ordivician rocks, where a number of shells, corals and trilobites can be found. Mortimer Forest, and Wenlock Edge are examples where a number of fossils can be found.
Towns and villages[link]
Further information: List of places in Shropshire, Category:Towns in Shropshire, and Category:Villages in Shropshire
Shropshire has no cities, but 22 towns, of which two can be considered major. Telford is the largest town in the county with a population of 138,241 (which is approximately 30% of the total Salopian populace); whereas the county town of Shrewsbury has a lower, but still sizeable population of 70,560 (15%). The other sizeable towns are Oswestry, Bridgnorth, Newport and Ludlow. The historic town of Wellington now makes up part of the Telford conurbation. The majority of the other settlements can be classed as villages or small towns such as Much Wenlock. Six villages have larger populations than the smallest town, Clun. The largest of these, Bayston Hill, is the 10th most inhabited settlement in the county.
The larger settlements are primarily concentrated in a central belt that roughly follows the A5/M54 roadway. Other settlements are concentrated on rivers, for example Bridgnorth and Ironbridge on the Severn, or Ludlow on the Teme, as these waterways were historically vital for trade and a supply of water.[35]
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Telford and Wrekin shown within 350px Rivers, Motorways, 'A' Roads, Settlements |
Largest settlements (by population): Telford (138,241) |
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The town of Telford was created by the merger and expansion of older, small towns to the north and east of the Wrekin. These towns now have sizeable populations that now make up the population of Telford: Wellington (20,430),[36] Madeley (17,935),[37] Dawley (11,399)[38] and Oakengates (8,517),[39] but the Telford and Wrekin borough towns incentive aims to make Oakengates into the largest of the towns.[40]
Politics[link]
Election results 2001
Election results 2005 & 2010
The county has five parliamentary constituencies, four of which returned Conservative MPs at the 2005 general election and one, Telford, returned a Labour MP. This is a marked change from the 2001 general election result, where the county returned only one Conservative, three Labour and a Liberal Democrat to the Commons (see maps to the right) (Labour = Red, Conservatives = Blue and Liberal Democrats = Orange).
The current MPs of Shropshire are:
- David Wright, Labour, Telford (covering the town of Telford)
- Owen Paterson, Conservative, North Shropshire (covering the former North Shropshire and Oswestry districts, now coextensive with the North area committee)
- Philip Dunne, Conservative, Ludlow (covering the former South Shropshire and (the majority of) Bridgnorth districts; now coextensive with the South area committee except for the part covered by the Wrekin constituency)
- Daniel Kawczynski, Conservative, Shrewsbury and Atcham (covering the former Shrewsbury and Atcham district; now coextensive with the Central area committee)
- Mark Pritchard, Conservative, The Wrekin (covering Telford and Wrekin borough, minus Telford, and including a small area of the former Bridgnorth district/South area committee)
In 2005 there was also a County Council election in which the Conservatives gained overall control of the shire county. Telford and Wrekin Borough Council remained at the time under Labour control but has since gone to no-overall control, with a Conservative executive. Being a rural county, there are a number of independent councillors on the various councils in the county.[41]
The Conservatives gained complete control of Shrewsbury and Atcham Borough Council in the May 2006 local elections.
| Constituency | 1992 | 1997 | 2001 | 2005 | 2010 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ludlow | CON Christopher Gill | LD Matthew Green | CON Philip Dunne | ||
| North Shropshire | CON John Biffen | CON Owen Paterson | |||
| Shrewsbury & Atcham | CON Derek Conway | LAB Paul Marsden | LD Paul Marsden | CON Daniel Kawczynski | |
| Telford | LAB Bruce Grocott* | LAB Bruce Grocott | LAB David Wright | ||
| The Wrekin | LAB Peter Bradley | CON Mark Pritchard | |||
- Note (*), The Wrekin (historic UK Parliament constituency) was split at the 1997 election.
Divisions and environs[link]
See also: List of civil parishes in Shropshire
Most of the ceremonial county of Shropshire is covered for purposes of local government by Shropshire Council, a unitary authority established in 2009. Telford and Wrekin is a unitary authority, with borough status, which forms part of the county for various functions such as Lord Lieutenant but is a separate local authority from Shropshire Council. However many services are shared across both authorities, such as the fire and rescue service, and the two authorities co-operate on some projects such as mapping flood risk.
The new unitary authority for Shropshire, Shropshire Council, divides the county into three areas, each with its own area committee: North, Central and South. These area committees, as well as relative staff, deal with local matters such as development control and licensing.
With the parishing of the formerly unparished area of Shrewsbury in 2008, the entire ceremonial county is now parished. The sizes of parishes varies enormously in terms of area covered and population resident. Shrewsbury is the most populous parish in the county (and one of the most populous in England) with over 70,000 residents, whilst Boscobel is the smallest parish in Shropshire by geographical area and by population, with just 12 residents according to the 2001 census.[42] The smaller parishes (with populations of less than 200) usually have a joint parish council with one or more neighbouring parishes, or in some instances, have a parish meeting (such as in Sibdon Carwood). The urban area of Telford is divided into many parishes, each covering a particular suburb, some of which are historic villages or towns (such as Madeley). The parish remains an important sub-division and tier of local government in both unitary authority areas of Shropshire.
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Wrexham/Clwyd | Cheshire | Staffordshire | |
| Powys |  |
Staffordshire | ||
 SHROPSHIRE East |
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| Powys | Herefordshire | Worcestershire |
Local government 1974–2009[link]
In 1974 the non-metropolitan county of Shropshire was constituted, covering the entire county. There was a two-tier system of local government, constituting a county council (as the upper tier) and six district councils – Bridgnorth, North Shropshire, Oswestry, Shrewsbury and Atcham, South Shropshire and The Wrekin. In 1998 The Wrekin became a unitary authority, administratively separate from the county council, and became Telford and Wrekin. The two-tier structure remained in the remainder of the county and was the least populated two-tier area in England.
Oswestry and Shrewsbury & Atcham were each granted borough status in 1974. Telford and Wrekin became a borough in 2002.
2009 restructuring[link]
In 2006 a local government white paper supported proposals for new unitary authorities to be set up in England in certain areas. Existing non-metropolitan counties with small populations, such as Cornwall, Northumberland and Shropshire, were favoured by the government to be covered by unitary authorities in one form or another (the county either becoming a single unitary authority, or be broken into a number of unitary authorities). For the counties in the 2009 reorganisation, existing unitary authority areas within the counties' ceremonial boundaries (such as Telford and Wrekin) were not to be affected and no boundary changes were planned.
Shropshire County Council, supported by South Shropshire District Council and Oswestry Borough Council, proposed to the government that the non-metropolitan county of Shropshire become a single unitary authority. This was opposed by the other 3 districts in the county, with Shrewsbury & Atcham Borough Council taking their objection to the High Court in a judicial review.
The proposal to create a Shropshire unitary authority, covering the area of the existing non-metropolitan county, was supported by the DCLG and 1 April 2009 was set as the date for the re-organisation to take place. The first elections to Shropshire Council took place on 4 June 2009, with the former Shropshire County Council being the continuing authority and its councilors became the first members of the new Shropshire Council on 1 April.
Part of the proposals include parishing and establishing a town council for Shrewsbury. The parish was created on 13 May 2008 and is the second most populous civil parish in England (only Weston-super-Mare has a greater population) with a population of over 70,000.
Transport[link]
See also: Railways of Shropshire
Shropshire is connected to the rest of the United Kingdom via a number of road and rail links. Historically, rivers and later canals in the county were used for transport also, although their use in transport is now significantly reduced. The county's main transportation hub is Shrewsbury, through which many significant roads and railways pass and join. Canals in the United Kingdom today serve primarily for leisure purposes and three British Waterways canals run through Shropshire: the Shropshire Union Canal (from north of Adderley to near Knighton), the Llangollen Canal (from Chirk Aqueduct to Grindley Brook) and the Montgomery Canal (from its beginning at Frankton Junction to Llanymynech). In addition, the Shrewsbury and Newport Canal potentially could be restored in the future.[43]
Major roads in the county include the M54 motorway, which connects Shropshire to the rest of the motorway network, and more specifically to the West Midlands county. The A5 also runs through the county, in an east-west direction. The road formerly ran through Shrewsbury, although a large dual-carriageway bypass has since been built. Other major trunk roads in the county include the north-south A49, the A53 and the A41.
There are a number of major railway lines running through the county, including the Welsh Marches Line, the Cambrian Line, the Shrewsbury to Chester Line and the Wolverhampton to Shrewsbury Line, as well as heritage railways including the well established Severn Valley Railway. The two train operating companies working in the county are London Midland and Arriva Trains Wales. A new company, Wrexham & Shropshire, commenced services from Shropshire to London Marylebone station, in spring 2008 but the service was discontinued on 28 January 2011 leaving Shrewsbury without a direct link to the capital.[44]
Two major water supply aqueducts run across Shropshire; the Elan aqueduct running through South Shropshire carrying water from Elan Valley to Birmingham and the Vyrnwy Aqueduct running through North Shropshire delivering water from Lake Vyrnwy to Liverpool.
Economy[link]
The economy of Shropshire was traditionally dominated by agriculture.[45] However, in more recent years it has become more service orientated. The county town of Shrewsbury, the historic castle-dominated Ludlow, the International Olympic Movement's birthplace Much Wenlock and the industrial birthplace of Ironbridge Gorge are the foremost tourist areas in Shropshire,[46] along with the reclaimed canal network which provides canal barge holidays on the Shropshire Union Canal and linked canal networks in the region, although the natural beauty of the county draws people to all areas.
Industry is mostly found in Telford, Oswestry, Whitchurch, Market Drayton and Shrewsbury, though small industrial estates can be found in most of the market towns as well as former airfields in rural areas. Shrewsbury is becoming a centre for distribution and warehousing, as it is located on a nodal point of the regional road network.[47][48]
In Telford, a new rail freight facility has been built at Donnington with the future goal of extending the line to Stafford, this is hoped it would open the freight terminal up to the East Midlands and the north, plus also re-connect Newport to the rail network.[48][49]
Telford and Shrewsbury are the county's two main retail centres, with contrasting styles of shopping – Shrewsbury's largely historic streets and Telford's large modern mall, Telford Shopping Centre.[50] Shrewsbury also has two medium-sized shopping centres, the indoor "Pride Hill" and "Darwin" centres (both located on Pride Hill),[51] and a smaller, partially covered, "Riverside Mall". Shrewsbury's situation of being the nearest substantial town for those in a large area of mid-Wales helps it draw in considerable numbers of shoppers, notably on Saturday.
Well-known companies in Shropshire include Müller Dairy (UK) Ltd in Market Drayton.[52] The RAF have two bases at RAF Cosford and RAF Shawbury,[53] and the charity PDSA has its head office in Priorslee, Telford.[54]
Statistics[link]
Below is the chart of regional gross value added for the non-metropolitan county (that is, excluding Telford & Wrekin) of Shropshire at current basic prices published (pp. 240–253) by Office for National Statistics with figures in millions of British pounds sterling.
| Year | Regional Gross Value Added[55] | Agriculture[56] | Industry[57] | Services[58] |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1995 | 2,388 | 238 | 618 | 1,533 |
| 2000 | 2,977 | 177 | 739 | 2,061 |
| 2003 | 3,577 | 197 | 843 | 2,538 |
With the statistics for the borough of Telford and Wrekin included, the following represents the ceremonial county:
| Year | Regional Gross Value Added[55] | Agriculture[56] | Industry[57] | Services[58] |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1995 | 4,151 | 266 | 1,483 | 2,403 |
| 2000 | 5,049 | 197 | 1,512 | 3,340 |
| 2003 | 5,947 | 218 | 1,693 | 4,038 |
Education[link]
Shropshire has a completely comprehensive education system, in the ceremonial county there are thirteen independent schools, including the prestigious Shrewsbury School, which Charles Darwin attended and Oswestry School, which is the second oldest school in the country, founded in 1407.
In the Borough of Telford and Wrekin borough has two selective schools, all of which are located in Newport, these are the Adams' Grammar School and Newport Girls' High School (both of which are ranked within the top thirty schools in the country), and the independent preparatory school Castle House, in Telford itself is the Thomas Telford School is also a notable school, ranked as one of the best comprehensive schools in England.[59] There is considerable rivalry between many of the county's schools. In Shrewsbury for example, the Priory and Meole Brace schools maintain a long-standing sporting rivalry whilst on a wider scale Wrekin College and Ellesmere College remain rivals, as do Shrewsbury School and Adams' Grammar School.
There are also two institutions of higher education in Shropshire, the Telford campus of the University of Wolverhampton and in Edgmond, near Newport, Harper Adams University College, which formerly offered mostly agriculture-based degrees but is expanding its range of provision.
In Ironbridge, the University of Birmingham operates the Ironbridge Institute in partnership with the Ironbridge Gorge Museum Trust, which offers postgraduate and professional development courses in heritage.
Shropshire has the highest educational attainment in the West Midlands region.[60]
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Places of interest[link]
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Famous people[link]
- Charles Darwin, eminent naturalist
- Robert Clive, "Clive of India"
- Billy Wright, "Born in Ironbridge, Wolverhampton Wanderers football player as well as England captain"
- Edric the Wild
- Rowland Hill, 1st Viscount Hill, Napoleonic era general
- Jonathan Corbett TV presenter
- Lords and Ladies Craven (of Stokesay Castle)
- Abraham Darby, early industrialist
- Charles Babbage, early computing pioneer (lived at Dudmaston Hall)
- William Penny Brookes, founder Wenlock Olympian Games, founding father, International Olympic Movement
- K. K. Downing, guitarist with Judas Priest
- William Farr, epidemiologist and early bio-statistician
- Craig Phillips of Newport, winner of Big Brother 2000
- Chris Hawkins (of Loppington), radio presenter, DJ, and celebrity
- Eglantyne Jebb of Ellesmere, social reformer and founder of the Save the Children Fund
- George Jeffreys of Wem, infamous judge
- Adrian Jones, sculptor of the Quadriga at Hyde Park Corner
- Stephen Marchant, ornithologist
- Len Murray, former head of the T.U.C.
- Mirabel Osler, author
- Greg Davies, comedian and actor grew up in Wem
- Wilfred Owen, leading First World War poet
- Edith Pargeter (1913–1995), author
- Edmund Plowden (1518–1585), legal scholar and theorist
- Sir Edmund Plowden (1590–1659), Proprietor, Earl Palatine and Governor of New Albion
- Barbara Pym, novelist
- Isobel Cooper (Izzy), famous opera singer from Much Wenlock
- T'Pau, 1980s pop group
- Sir Philip Sidney, prominent Elizabethan
- Mary Webb (1881–1927), author
- Stewart Lee, stand-up comedian, writer and director.
- Matthew Webb, first man to swim the English Channel
- Humphrey Kynaston (1474–1534), highwayman
- John Mytton, 'Mad Jack' Mytton, Regency rake, MP, gambler and horseman
- William Wycherley, Restoration dramatist and playwright famous for The Country Wife
- Roy Wood, of Wem, in the band Wizzard
- John Wilkinson, of Broseley, industrialist
- Alison Williamson, of Church Stretton, Archery Olympic bronze medalist
- Lara Jones, writer of the Poppy Cat books
- Ivan Jones, writer of The Ghost Hunter
- Mal Lewis Jones, writer
- Pete Postlethwaite, actor lived near Bishops Castle until his death in 2011
- William Henry Griffith Thomas, (1861-1924) evangelical Anglican theologian
Cultural references[link]
- Shropshire has been depicted and mentioned in a number of works of literature. The poet A. E. Housman used Shropshire as the setting for many of the poems in his first book, A Shropshire Lad, and many of Malcolm Saville's children's books are set in Shropshire. Additionally, D. H. Lawrence's novella, St. Mawr, is partially set in the Longmynd area of South Shropshire.
- In Susanna Clarke's Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell, Jonathan Strange is from the county, and some parts of the book are set there.
- Another fictional character from Shropshire is Mr Grindley, from Charles Dickens' Bleak House.
- P. G. Wodehouse's fictional Blandings Castle, the ancestral home of Clarence, the ninth Earl of Emsworth, is located in Shropshire. Also from Shropshire is Psmith, a fictional character in a series of Wodehouse's novels.
- In The Importance of Being Earnest, Algernon attempts to trick Jack into revealing the location of his Country home by inferring he resides in Shropshire.
- The 1856 plantation literature novel White Acre vs. Black Acre by William M. Burwell features two Shropshire farms acting as an allegory for American slavery – White Acre Farm being the abolitionist Northern United States, and Black Acre Farm being the slaveholding Southern United States.
- The county has also appeared in film: the 1984 film version of Charles Dickens' A Christmas Carol was filmed in Shrewsbury. The 2005 sit-com The Green Green Grass is set in Shropshire and is filmed near Bridgnorth.
- Shrewsbury Abbey of Shropshire features in the Cadfael Mysteries; Brother Cadfael is a member of the community at the Abbey.[61]
- In music, the composer Ralph Vaughan Williams wrote "On Wenlock Edge" in 1907.
- In the film Howards End, Mr. Wilcox's daughter gets married in Shropshire. Part of the novel is set near Clun.
- In 2008, Müller released a new advert featuring their Shropshire-based factory, using 'Ain't Got No, I Got Life' by Nina Simone as musical score, and emphasising the closeness of supply from the surrounding area of its factory in Market Drayton ("24 hours from farm to yoghurt").
- In the novel A Room With a View, Charlotte Bartlett states that the romantic Italian landscape reminds her of the country around Shropshire, where she once spent a holiday at the home of her friend Miss Apesbury.
- The 2011 documentary Rome Wasn't Built In A Day was filmed in the Roman city of Viroconium Cornoviorum near village of Wroxeter.
- A character named the "Shropshire Slasher" features in the 1956 Warner Bros. cartoon "Deduce, You Say".
- part of clockwise (film) was recorded in shropshire, notabily the scene with the three red phone boxes.
- In the final episode of Ever Decreasing Circles, Martin's neighbour Paul announces he is moving to Shropshire.
- In the American sitcom Friends, Ross' wife Emily is stated as being from Shropshire.
- The British sitcom The Green Green Grass is set in Shropshire, with Boycie's wife being surprised and asking "what's Shropshire?" upon learning she was moving there, used in the original BBC advertisement of the series.
Sport[link]
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There are a significant number of sporting clubs and facilities in Shropshire, many of which are found in Shrewsbury and Telford in addition to a number of clubs found locally throughout the county. Shropshire is home to a variety of established amateur, semi-pro and professional sports clubs.
The county is home to one of five National Sports Centres. Situated at Lilleshall Hall just outside Newport in Lilleshall, this is where the 1966 England National football team trained for two weeks prior to their success in the World Cup of 1966.
Football[link]
The three highest football (and only professional) clubs in the county are Shrewsbury Town (English League Two), Telford United (English Conference) and The New Saints (Welsh Premier) in Oswestry.
There are numerous amateur football clubs in lower leagues, the highest of which is Market Drayton Town. The governing body in the county is the Shropshire Football Association. As of the 2011–12 football season[update] the following Shropshire clubs play in these English leagues (the highest team of each club shown only):
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As well as the above, further "Saturday league" teams in the east of the county play in the Telford Combination (effectively at level 15). Some clubs situated near the Welsh border have at times played in the Welsh league system; at present Newcastle and Bucknell, in the southwest of the county, play in the Mid Wales South League, while Trefonen in the northwest play in the Montgomeryshire League.
In May 2012 the Mercian Regional Football League was formed, replacing the Shropshire County Premier Football League.
Other sports[link]
The county has one American football team, Shropshire Revolution, which was founded in 2006, and is a club in the British American Football League. Former teams in the county have included the Wrekin Giants, which ran from 1985 to 1989 and the Shropshire Giants which ran in 1989. Shropshire has a number of rugby clubs, including Newport (Salop) Rugby Union Football Club, the highest-leveled team in the county, playing in the National League 3 Midlands.
File:Nocturanl barlie.jpg
Shropshire Star Newport Nocturne Bike race 2006
The area also has a rich motorsports heritage, with the Loton Park Hillclimb and Hawkstone Park Motocross Circuit situated near Shrewsbury. Shrewsbury Motocross Club has staged motocross events in the area for over 30 years. There is additionally an ice hockey club in the county, the Telford Tigers.
The county has a number of private and public golf courses, including the Church Stretton Golf Club, situated on the slopes of the Long Mynd. It is the oldest 18-hole golf course in Shropshire, opened in 1898, and one of the highest in the United Kingdom. There is one notable horse racing racecourse in Shropshire, near Ludlow, the Ludlow Racecourse.
One of the biggest one day events in Shropshire and the biggest one day cycle race in the UK is the Shropshire Star Newport Nocturne, held every four years it is Britain's only floodlit cycle race.[62]
The historic Wenlock Olympian Society Annual Games are held annually in Much Wenlock during the second weekend in July. A four-day festival, the Games include cricket, volleyball, tennis, bowls, badminton, triathlon, 10k road race, track and field events, archery, five-a-side football, veteran cycle events, clay pigeon shooting and a golf competition.
See also[link]
- 7603 Salopia – an asteroid named after the county
- 53rd Regiment of Foot – former British Army regiment
- Shropshire Archives – collects and makes accessible archives and books relating to the county
- Etymological list of counties – list of name origins
- Shropshire Family History Society
- Diocese of Shrewsbury – Roman Catholic diocese which covers all of Shropshire
- Shropshire Star – local newspaper covering the county
- Shropshire Blue cheese
- Wenlock Olympian Society – organisers of the Wenlock Olympian Games, Live Arts Festival and Rock Band Showdown
References[link]
- ^ "Table 8a Mid-2010 Population Estimates: Selected age groups for local authorities in the United Kingdom; estimated resident population.". Population Estimates for UK, England and Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland, Mid-2010. Office for National Statistics. 3 June 2011. http://www.ons.gov.uk/ons/publications/re-reference-tables.html?edition=tcm%3A77-231847. Retrieved 1 October 2011.
- ^ upmystreet.com: Mark Pritchard[dead link]
- ^ upmystreet.com: Philip Dunne[dead link]
- ^ upmystreet.com: Daniel Kawczynski[dead link]
- ^ upmystreet.com: Owen Paterson[dead link]
- ^ upmystreet.com: David Wright[dead link]
- ^ a b Blandings: English Counties – broken link
- ^ SHROPS – What does SHROPS stand for? Acronyms and abbreviations by the Free Online Dictionary. Acronyms.thefreedictionary.com. Retrieved on 25 August 2011.
- ^ statics.gov website[dead link]
- ^ Shrewsbury – Tourist Information & Accommodation for Shrewsbury, Shropshire.
- ^ Wrexham & Shropshire :: Telford.
- ^ Ironbridge Page on UNESCO World Heritage website. Whc.unesco.org (6 March 2007). Retrieved on 25 August 2011.
- ^ BBC – Shropshire – Features – Industrial Archeology.
- ^ Shropshire Hills AONB. Shropshire Hills AONB. Retrieved on 25 August 2011.
- ^ a b c [1][dead link]
- ^ shropshirerocks.org: The Wrekin & The Ercall[dead link]
- ^ shropshirerocks.org: Brown Clee Hill[dead link]
- ^ shropshirerocks.org: The Stiperstones[dead link]
- ^ shropshirerocks.org: The Long Mynd[dead link]
- ^ shropshirerocks.org: Wenlock Edge[dead link]
- ^ Shropshire Council. Shropshire.gov.uk (15 July 2011). Retrieved on 25 August 2011.
- ^ website. Plantlife.org.uk. Retrieved on 25 August 2011.
- ^ Article on Shropshire. 1911encyclopedia.org (21 January 2009). Retrieved on 25 August 2011.
- ^ http. //www.britannica.com. Retrieved on 25 August 2011.
- ^ [2][dead link]
- ^ Shrewsbury Museums Service – Shrewsbury Castle & The Shropshire Regimental Museum. Shrewsburymuseums.com. Retrieved on 25 August 2011.
- ^ Secret Shropshire. Secret Shropshire. Retrieved on 25 August 2011.
- ^ Climate in Wales
- ^ About Shropshire Calverhall Village
- ^ County's name change colonel dies BBC News
- ^ Vision of Britain – Ancient county boundaries
- ^ http://www.wmra.gov.uk/documents/WMRA%20Green%20belt%5B1%5D.pdf
- ^ page 2[dead link]
- ^ "Shropshire – MSN Encarta". http://uk.encarta.msn.com/encyclopedia_781530177/Shrewsbury.html. Retrieved 24 February 2008.
- ^ Shropshire Routes to Roots | Sources and collections | Trade directories. .shropshire-cc.gov.uk (13 July 2007). Retrieved on 25 August 2011.
- ^ http://www.wellington-shropshire.gov.uk/NR/rdonlyres/68941C30-A7CB-44F3-822B-8B6D09E6932C/19217/Wellington.pdf
- ^ population of Madeley, Shropshire, England 2010. True Knowledge. Retrieved on 25 August 2011.
- ^ Shropshire – Your Place and Mine – Dawley. BBC. Retrieved on 25 August 2011.
- ^ What is the population of oakengates?. True Knowledge. Retrieved on 25 August 2011.
- ^ Oakengates lined up for huge revamp « Shropshire Star. Shropshirestar.com. Retrieved on 25 August 2011.
- ^ BBC Shropshire website Retrieved 10 September 2007. Bbc.co.uk (16 August 2011). Retrieved on 25 August 2011.
- ^ National Statistics Bridgnorth district parishes
- ^ Shrewsbury and Newport Canal Trust. Sncanal.org.uk. Retrieved on 25 August 2011.
- ^ "Last Wrexham-Shropshire-London train departs". BBC News. 28 January 2011. http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-shropshire-12305519.
- ^ http. //www.discovershropshire.org.uk (26 September 2006). Retrieved on 25 August 2011.
- ^ Shropshire Towns – Towns in Shropshire, Shrewsbury, Ironbridge, Ludlow, Bridgnorth, Oswestry. Shropshiretourism.co.uk (21 March 2011). Retrieved on 25 August 2011.
- ^ 'Gateway to Wales'. British-towns.net. Retrieved on 25 August 2011.
- ^ a b Lords Hansard text for 20 Jul 200920 July 2009 (pt 0002). Publications.parliament.uk (20 July 2009). Retrieved on 25 August 2011.
- ^ Call to reopen Wellington to Stafford Railway line « Shropshire Star. Shropshirestar.com. Retrieved on 25 August 2011.
- ^ Telford Shopping Centre. Telfordshopping.co.uk. Retrieved on 25 August 2011.
- ^ Darwin Shopping Centre
- ^ Müller | Faqs[dead link]
- ^ RAF – Stations[dead link]
- ^ Contact Us. PDSA (29 July 2011). Retrieved on 25 August 2011.
- ^ a b Components may not sum to totals due to rounding
- ^ a b includes hunting and forestry
- ^ a b includes energy and construction
- ^ a b includes financial intermediation services indirectly measured
- ^ GCSE: Top comprehensive schools – The Times
- ^ Defra UK; ERDP – West Midlands ERDP Regional Chapter[dead link]
- ^ Cadfael Literature/ITV.com Cadfael Classic TV Profile http://www.itv.com/ClassicTVshows/crime/Cadfael/default.html
- ^ [3][dead link]
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This page contains text from Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shropshire
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.
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.
Sir Adrian Cedric Boult CH (8 April 1889 – 22 February 1983) was an English conductor. Brought up in a prosperous mercantile family, he followed musical studies in England and at Leipzig, Germany, with early conducting work in London for the Royal Opera House and Sergei Diaghilev's ballet company. His first prominent post was conductor of the City of Birmingham Orchestra in 1924. When the British Broadcasting Corporation appointed him director of music in 1930, he established the BBC Symphony Orchestra and became its chief conductor. The orchestra set standards of excellence that were rivalled in Britain only by the London Philharmonic Orchestra (LPO), founded two years later.
Forced to leave the BBC in 1950 on reaching retirement age, Boult took on the chief conductorship of the LPO. The orchestra had declined from its peak of the 1930s, but under his guidance its fortunes were revived. He retired as its chief conductor in 1957, and later accepted the post of president. Although in the latter part of his career he worked with other orchestras, including the London Symphony Orchestra, the Philharmonia Orchestra, the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, and his former orchestra, the BBC Symphony, it was the LPO with which he was primarily associated, conducting it in concerts and recordings until 1978, in what was widely called his "Indian Summer".
Boult was known for his championing of British music. He gave the first performance of his friend Gustav Holst's The Planets, and introduced new works by, among others, Bliss, Britten, Delius, Tippett, Vaughan Williams and Walton. In his BBC years he introduced works by foreign composers, including Bartók, Berg, Stravinsky, Schoenberg and Webern. A modest man who disliked the limelight, Boult felt as comfortable in the recording studio as on the concert platform, making recordings throughout his career. From the mid-1960s until his retirement after his last sessions in 1978 he recorded extensively for EMI. As well as a series of recordings that have remained in the catalogue for three or four decades, Boult's legacy includes his influence on prominent conductors of later generations, including Colin Davis and Vernon Handley.
Contents |
Biography[link]
Early life[link]
Boult was born in Chester in north west England, the second child and only son of Cedric Randal Boult (1853–1950), and his wife Katharine Florence née Barman (d. 1927).[1] Cedric Boult was a Justice of the Peace and a successful businessman connected with Liverpool shipping and the oil trade; Cedric and his family had "a Liberal Unitarian outlook on public affairs" with a history of philanthropy.[2] When Boult was two years old the family moved to Blundellsands, where he was given a musical upbringing. From an early age he attended concerts in Liverpool, conducted mostly by Hans Richter.[3] He was educated at Westminster School in London, where in his free time he attended concerts conducted by, among others, Sir Henry Wood, Claude Debussy, Arthur Nikisch, Fritz Steinbach, and Richard Strauss.[4] His biographer, Michael Kennedy, writes, "Few schoolboys can have attended as many performances by great artists as Boult heard between 1901 and October 1908, when he went up to Christ Church, Oxford."[1] While still a schoolboy, Boult met the composer Edward Elgar through Frank Schuster, a family friend.[3]
At Christ Church college at Oxford, where he was an undergraduate from 1908 to 1912, Boult studied history but later switched to music, in which his mentor was the musical academic and conductor Hugh Allen.[3][5] Among the musical friends he made at Oxford was Ralph Vaughan Williams, who became a lifelong friend.[3] In 1909 Boult presented a paper to an Oxford musical group, the Oriana Society, entitled Some Notes on Performance, in which he laid down three precepts for an ideal performance: observance of the composer's wishes, clarity through emphasis on balance and structure, and the effect of music made without apparent effort. These guiding principles lasted throughout his career.[6] He was president of the University Musical Club for the year 1910, but his interests were not wholly confined to music: he was a keen rower, stroking his college boat at Henley, and all his life he remained a member of the Leander Club.[1][7]
Boult graduated in 1912, with a basic "pass" degree.[8][9] He continued his musical education at the Leipzig Conservatory in 1912–13. The musician Hans Sitt was in charge of the conducting class, but Boult's main influence was Nikisch. He later recalled, "I went to all his [Nikisch's] rehearsals and concerts in the Gewandhaus. ... He had an astonishing baton technique and great command of the orchestra: everything was indicated with absolute precision. But there were others who were greater interpreters."[3] Boult admired Nikisch "not so much for his musicianship but his amazing power of saying what he wanted with a bit of wood. He spoke very little". This style was in accord with Boult's opinion that "all conductors should be clad in an invisible Tarnhelm which makes it possible to enjoy the music without seeing any of the antics that go on".[10] He sang in choral festivals and at the Leeds Festival of 1913, where he watched Nikisch conduct. There he made the acquaintance of George Butterworth, and other British composers.[11] Later that year Boult joined the musical staff of the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, where his most important work was to assist the first British production of Wagner's Parsifal, and do "odd jobs with lighting cues" while Nikisch conducted the Ring cycle.[12]
First conducting work[link]
Boult made his début as a professional conductor on 27 February 1914 at West Kirby Public Hall, with members of the Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra. His programme comprised orchestral works by Bach, Butterworth, Mozart, Schumann, Wagner and Hugo Wolf, interspersed with arias by Mozart and Verdi sung by Agnes Nicholls.[13] Boult was declared medically unfit for active service during World War I, and until 1916 he served as an orderly officer in a reserve unit. He was recruited by the War Office as a translator (he spoke good French, German and Italian).[14] In his spare time he organised and conducted concerts, some of which were subsidised by his father, with the aims of giving work to orchestral players and bringing music to a wider audience.[15]
Just before the Armistice, Gustav Holst burst into my office: "Adrian, the YMCA are sending me to Salonika quite soon and Balfour Gardiner, bless his heart, has given me a parting present consisting of the Queen's Hall, full of the Queen's Hall Orchestra for the whole of a Sunday morning. So we're going to do The Planets, and you've got to conduct."
“
”
Adrian Boult [16]
In 1918 Boult conducted the London Symphony Orchestra in a series of concerts that included important recent British works. Among them was the première of a revised version of Vaughan Williams's A London Symphony, a performance which was "rather spoilt by a Zeppelin raid".[16] His best-known première of this period was Holst's The Planets. Boult conducted the first performance on 29 September 1918 to an invited audience of about 250. Holst later wrote on his copy of the score, "This score is the property of Adrian Boult who first caused The Planets to shine in public and so earned the gratitude of Gustav Holst."[16]
Elgar was another composer who had cause to be grateful to Boult. His Second Symphony had, since its première nine years earlier, received few performances. When Boult conducted it at the Queen's Hall in March 1920 to "great applause" and "frantic enthusiasm",[17] the composer wrote to him: "With the sounds ringing in my ears I send a word of thanks for your splendid conducting of the Sym. ... I feel that my reputation in the future is safe in your hands."[18] Elgar's friend and biographer, the violinist W. H. Reed, wrote that Boult's performance of Elgar's neglected work brought "the grandeur and nobility of the work" to wider public attention.[19]
Boult took a wide variety of conducting jobs in the years following the war. In 1919 he succeeded Ernest Ansermet as musical director of Sergei Diaghilev's ballet company. Although Ansermet gave Boult all the help he could in his preparations, there were fourteen ballets in the company's repertory – none of which Boult knew. In only a short period, Boult was required to master such scores as Petrushka, The Firebird, Scheherazade, La Boutique fantasque and The Good-Humoured Ladies.[20] In June 1921, Boult conducted for Theodore Komisarjevsky and Vladimir Rosing's experimental Opera Intime week at London's Aeolian Hall.[21] He also took on an academic post. When Hugh Allen succeeded Sir Hubert Parry as principal of the Royal College of Music, he invited Boult to start a conducting class along the lines of Leipzig – the first such class in England.[22] Boult ran the classes from 1919 to 1930.[7] In 1921 he received a Doctorate of Music.[8]
Birmingham[link]
In 1923 Boult conducted the first season of the Robert Mayer concerts for children, but his participation in the following season was prevented by his appointment in 1924 as conductor of the Birmingham Festival Choral Society. This led to his becoming musical director of the City of Birmingham Orchestra,[5] where he remained in charge for six years, attracting widespread attention with his adventurous programmes.[1]
The advantage of the Birmingham post was that for the first time in his life Boult had his own orchestra, and sole control of programming; the only time in his life, he later said, when that was so.[23] The disadvantages were that the orchestra was inadequately funded, the available venues (including the Town Hall) were unsatisfactory, the Birmingham Post's music critic, A. J. Symons, was a constant thorn in Boult's side, and the local concert-going public had conservative tastes.[24] Despite this conservatism, Boult programmed as much innovative music as was practical, including works by Mahler, Stravinsky and Bruckner. Such departures from the repertoire expected by the regular concert-goers depressed the box-office takings, requiring subsidies from private benefactors, including Boult's family.[25]
While at Birmingham Boult had the opportunity to conduct a number of operas, chiefly with the British National Opera Company, for which he conducted Die Walküre and Otello. He also conducted a diverse range of operas from such composers as Purcell, Mozart and Vaughan Williams.[26] In 1928 he succeeded Vaughan Williams as conductor of the Bach Choir in London, a position he held until 1931.[1]
BBC Symphony Orchestra[link]
Visits to London by the Hallé Orchestra and particularly the Berlin Philharmonic under Wilhelm Furtwängler in 1929, had highlighted the relatively poor standards of London orchestras. Sir Thomas Beecham and the director general of the BBC Sir John Reith were keen to establish a first-class symphony orchestra,[27] and they agreed in principle to do so jointly. Only a small number of core players were recruited, however, before negotiations foundered. Beecham withdrew, and with Malcolm Sargent soon established the rival London Philharmonic Orchestra.[28]
In 1930 Boult returned to London to succeed Percy Pitt as director of music at the BBC.[29] On taking up the post, Boult and his department recruited enough musicians to bring the complement of the new BBC Symphony Orchestra to 114. A substantial number of these players performed at the 1930 Promenade Concerts under Sir Henry Wood,[30] and the full BBC Symphony Orchestra gave its first concert on 22 October 1930, conducted by Boult at the Queen's Hall. The programme consisted of music by Wagner, Brahms, Saint-Saëns and Ravel.[31] Of the 21 programmes in the orchestra's first season, Boult conducted nine and Wood five.[32]
The reviews of the new orchestra were enthusiastic. The Times wrote of its "virtuosity" and of Boult's "superb" conducting.[33] The Musical Times commented, "The boast of the B.B.C. that it intended to get together a first-class orchestra was not an idle one" and spoke of "exhilaration" at the playing.[34] The Observer called the playing "altogether magnificent" and said that Boult "deserves an instrument of this fine calibre to work on, and the orchestra deserves a conductor of his efficiency and insight."[35] After the initial concerts Reith, was told by his advisers that the orchestra had played better for Boult than anyone else. Reith asked him if he wished to take on the chief conductorship, and if so whether he would resign as director of music or occupy both posts simultaneously. Boult opted for the latter.[36]
During the 1930s, the BBC Symphony Orchestra became renowned for its high standard of playing and for Boult's capable performances of new and unfamiliar music. Like Henry Wood before him, Boult regarded it as his duty to give the best possible performances of a wide range of composers, including those whose works were not personally congenial to him. His biographer, Michael Kennedy, writes that there was a very short list of composers whose works Boult refused to conduct, "but it would be difficult to deduce who they were."[37] Boult's pioneering work with the BBC included an early performance of Schoenberg's Variations, Op. 31, British premières, including Alban Berg's opera Wozzeck and Three Movements from the Lyric Suite,[38] and world premières, including Vaughan Williams's Symphony No. 4 in F minor[39] and Bartók's Concerto for Two Pianos and Orchestra.[38] He introduced Mahler's Ninth Symphony to London in 1934,[1] and Bartók's Concerto for Orchestra in 1946.[38] Boult invited Anton Webern to conduct eight BBC concerts between 1931 and 1936.[40]
File:Boult-guests1.jpg
Guest conducting for Boult in the 1930s: from top left, clockwise, Beecham, Koussevitzky, Mengelberg, Richard Strauss, Toscanini, Walter, Webern, Weingartner.
The excellence of Boult's orchestra attracted leading international conductors. In its second season guest conductors included Richard Strauss, Felix Weingartner and Bruno Walter,[41] followed, in later seasons, by Serge Koussevitzky,[42] Beecham and Willem Mengelberg.[43] Arturo Toscanini, widely regarded at the time as the world's leading conductor, conducted the BBC orchestra in 1935 and said that it was the finest he had ever directed.[44] He returned to conduct the orchestra in 1937, 1938 and 1939.[45]
During this period, Boult accepted some international guest conductorships, appearing with the Vienna Philharmonic, Boston Symphony, and New York Philharmonic orchestras.[1] In 1936 and 1937 he headed European tours with the BBC Symphony Orchestra, giving concerts in Brussels, Paris, Zurich, Budapest and Vienna, where they were especially well received.[5][8] During his BBC years, Boult did not entirely lose contact with the world of opera and his performances of Die Walküre at Covent Garden in 1931 and Fidelio at Sadler's Wells Theatre in 1930 were considered outstanding.[8]
For many years, Boult had been a close friend of the tenor Steuart Wilson and his wife Ann, née Bowles. When, in the late 1920s, Wilson began to mistreat his wife, Boult took her side.[46] She divorced Wilson in 1931.[47] In 1933, Boult astonished those who knew his notorious shyness with women by marrying her and becoming a much-loved stepfather to her four children.[46] The marriage, which took place at Ditchling Unitarian Chapel in East Sussex,[48] lasted for the rest of his life. The enmity it provoked in Wilson, however, had repercussions in Boult's later career.[49] The stigma attached to divorce in Britain in the 1930s affected Wilson's career but not Boult's: Wilson was barred from performing in English cathedrals at the Three Choirs Festival but Boult was invited to conduct the orchestra at Westminster Abbey for the coronation of George VI in 1937.[50]
During World War II the BBC Symphony Orchestra was evacuated first to Bristol, where it suffered from bombing, and later to Bedford. Boult strove to maintain standards and morale as he lost key players. Between 1939 and the end of the war, forty players left for active service or other activities.[1] In 1942 Boult resigned as the BBC's director of music, while remaining chief conductor of the BBC Symphony Orchestra.[51] This move, made as a favour to the composer Arthur Bliss to provide a suitable war-time job for him, later came to be Boult's undoing at the BBC.[51] Meanwhile he made recordings of Elgar's Second Symphony, Holst's The Planets and Vaughan Williams's Job, A Masque for Dancing. At the end of the war Boult "found a changed attitude to the orchestra in the upper echelons of the BBC". Reith was no longer director general, and without his backing Boult had to fight hard to restore the orchestra to its pre-war glory.[1] In 1944 he conducted the premiere of Nikolai Medtner's Piano Concerto No. 3 in E minor "Ballade" at the Royal Albert Hall, with the composer as soloist.
On 29 September 1946, Boult conducted Britten's new Festival Overture, to inaugurate the BBC Third Programme.[38] For this innovative cultural channel, Boult was concerned in pioneering ventures including the British premiere of Mahler's Third Symphony.[52] The Times later said of this period, "The Third Programme could not possibly have had the scope which made it world-famous musically without Boult."[2] Nevertheless, Boult's BBC days were numbered. When he was appointed in 1930, Reith had informally promised him that would be exempt from the BBC's rule that staff must retire at age 60.[53] However, Reith had left the BBC in 1938 and his promise carried no weight with his successors.[54] In 1948 Steuart Wilson was appointed head of music at the BBC, the post previously occupied by Boult and Bliss. He made it clear from the start of his appointment that he intended that Boult should be replaced as chief conductor,[55] and he used his authority to insist on Boult's enforced retirement.[56] The director general of the BBC at the time, Sir William Haley, was unaware of Wilson's animus against Boult and later acknowledged, in a broadcast tribute to Boult, that he "had listened to ill-judged advice in retiring him."[57] By the time of his retirement in 1950, Boult had made 1,536 broadcasts.[5]
London Philharmonic[link]
After it became clear that Boult would have to leave the BBC, Thomas Russell, the managing director of the London Philharmonic Orchestra (LPO), offered him the post of principal conductor of the LPO in succession to Eduard van Beinum.[58] In the 1930s the LPO had flourished, but since Beecham's departure in 1940, it had struggled to survive. Boult was well known to the orchestra, having been among the musicians who came to its aid in 1940.[59] He took over as chief conductor of the LPO in June 1950, immediately after leaving the BBC, and threw himself into the task of rebuilding it. In the early years of his conductorship, the finances of the LPO were perilous, and Boult subsidised the orchestra from his own funds for some time.[58] The need to earn money obliged the orchestra to play many more concerts than its rivals. In the 1949–50 season, the LPO gave 248 concerts, compared with 55 by the BBC Symphony Orchestra, 103 by the London Symphony Orchestra, and 32 apiece by the Philharmonia and Royal Philharmonic orchestras.[60]
Although he had worked extensively in the studio for the BBC, Boult had, up to this point, recorded only a part of his large repertoire for the gramophone. With the LPO he began a series of commercial recordings that continued at a varying rate for the rest of his working life. Their first recordings together were Elgar's Falstaff, Mahler's Lieder eines fahrenden Gesellen with the mezzo Blanche Thebom, and Beethoven's First Symphony.[61] The work of the new team was greeted with approval by the reviewers. Of the Elgar, The Gramophone wrote, "I have heard no other conductor approach [Boult's] performance. ... His newly adopted orchestra responds admirably".[62] In The Manchester Guardian, Neville Cardus wrote, "Nobody is better able than Sir Adrian Boult to expound the subtly mingled contents of this master work."[63]
In January 1951 Boult and the LPO made a tour of Germany, described by Kennedy as "gruelling", with 12 concerts on 12 successive days.[64] The symphonies they played were Beethoven's Seventh, Haydn's London, No 104, Brahms's First, Schumann's Fourth and Schubert's Great C major. The other works were Elgar's Introduction and Allegro, Holst's The Perfect Fool ballet music, Richard Strauss's Don Juan, and Stravinsky's Firebird.
In 1952, the LPO negotiated a five-year contract with Decca Records, which was unusually rewarding for the orchestra, giving it a 10 per cent commission on most sales. On top of this, Boult always contributed his share of the recording fees to the orchestra's funds.[65] In the same year, the LPO survived a crisis when Russell was dismissed as its managing director. He was an avowed member of the Communist party;[66] when the cold war began some influential members of the LPO felt that Russell's private political affiliations compromised the orchestra, and pressed for his dismissal. Boult, as the orchestra's chief conductor, stood up for Russell, but when matters came to a head Boult ceased to protect him. Deprived of that crucial support, Russell was forced out. Kennedy speculates that Boult's change of mind was due to a growing conviction that the orchestra would be "seriously jeopardized financially" if Russell remained in post.[67] A later writer, Richard Witts, suggests that Boult sacrificed Russell because he believed doing so would enhance the LPO's chance of being appointed resident orchestra at the Royal Festival Hall.[68]
In 1953 Boult once again took charge of the orchestral music at a coronation, conducting an ensemble drawn from UK orchestras at the coronation of Elizabeth II. During the proceedings, he conducted the first performances of Bliss's Processional and Walton's march Orb and Sceptre. In the same year he returned to the Proms after a three-year absence, conducting the LPO. The notices were mixed: The Times found a Brahms symphony "rather colourless, imprecise and uninspiring", but praised Boult and the orchestra's performance of The Planets.[69] The following year the orchestra celebrated its 21st birthday, giving a series of concerts at the Festival Hall and the Royal Albert Hall in which Boult was joined by guest conductors including Paul Kletzki, Jean Martinon, Hans Schmidt-Isserstedt, Georg Solti, Walter Susskind and Vaughan Williams.[70]
In 1956 Boult and the LPO visited Russia. Boult had not wished to go on the tour because flying hurt his ears, and long land journeys hurt his back. The Soviet authorities threatened to cancel the tour if he did not lead it, and he felt obliged to go.[71] The LPO gave nine concerts in Moscow and four in Leningrad. Boult's assistant conductors were Anatole Fistoulari and George Hurst. Boult's four Moscow programmes included Vaughan Williams's Fourth and Fifth Symphonies, Holst's The Planets, Walton's Violin Concerto (with Alfredo Campoli as soloist), and Schubert's Great C major Symphony. While in Moscow, Boult and his wife visited the Bolshoi Opera and were guests at the composer Dmitri Shostakovich's 50th birthday party.[72]
After the Russian tour, Boult told the LPO that he wished to step down from the principal conductorship. He continued to be the orchestra's main conductor until his successor William Steinberg took up the post in 1959.[73] After the sudden resignation of Andrzej Panufnik from the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra (CBSO), Boult returned as principal conductor of the CBSO for the 1959–60 season. That was his last chief conductorship, though he remained closely associated with the LPO as its president and a guest conductor until his retirement.[74]
Later years[link]
After stepping down from the chief conductorship of the LPO, Boult was, for a few years, less in demand in the recording studio and the concert hall. Nevertheless, he was invited to conduct in Vienna, Amsterdam and Boston.[75] In 1964 he made no recordings, but in 1965 he began an association with Lyrita records, an independent label specialising in British music. In the same year he resumed recording for EMI after a six year break.[75] Celebrations for his eightieth birthday in 1969 also raised his profile in the musical world. After the death of his colleague Sir John Barbirolli in 1970, Boult was seen as "the sole survivor of a great generation" and a living link with Elgar, Vaughan Williams and Holst.[76] In the words of The Guardian, "it was when he reached his late seventies that the final and most glorious period of his career developed."[77] He ceased to accept overseas invitations, but conducted in the major British cities, as well as at the Festival and Albert Halls and began what is frequently called his "Indian Summer" in the concert hall and recording studio.[77][78] He was featured in a 1971 film The Point of the Stick, in which he illustrated his conducting technique with musical examples.[79]
At a spare recording session in August 1970 Boult recorded the Third Symphony of Brahms. This was well received and led to a series of recordings of Brahms, Wagner, Schubert, Mozart and Beethoven.[80] His repertoire in general was much wider than his discography might suggest.[81] It was a disappointment to him that he was rarely invited to conduct in the opera house, and he relished the opportunity to record extensive excerpts from the Wagner operas in the 1970s.[82] Having conducted several ballets at Covent Garden during the 1970s,[83] Boult gave his last public performance conducting Elgar's ballet The Sanguine Fan for the London Festival Ballet at the London Coliseum on 24 June 1978. His final record, completed in December 1978, was of music by Hubert Parry. Boult formally retired from conducting in 1981 and died in London in 1983, aged 93.[84]
Musicianship[link]
A review in The Observer of Boult's second London concert, in 1918, said, "Having, apparently, a thorough knowledge of the work, he was content to let it speak for itself without having recourse to those aids to success which are a constant temptation to conductors."[85] Sixty-five years later, in an obituary tribute, Peter Hepworth wrote in the same newspaper: "From Nikisch he had early acquired an immaculate stick technique and was quietly scathing about conductors who used their anatomy to indicate their artistic requirements. ... In an occupation ridden with inflated egos and circus tricksters Boult brought a rare probity to everything he undertook."[86]
Boult's biographer, Kennedy, gave this summary: "In the music he admired most, Boult was often a great conductor; in the rest, an extremely conscientious one. ... If from behind he seemed unexciting and unemotional, the players could see the animation in his face – and he was capable of frightening outbursts of temper at rehearsals. Tall and erect, with something of the military in his appearance ... he seemed the personification of the English gentleman. But recipients of his cutting wit and occasional sarcasm knew that this was not the whole picture."[1] Grove's Dictionary similarly said of him:
Of the leading British conductors of his time, Boult was the least sensational but not the least remarkable. He made no attempt to cultivate a public image. He was neither oracle, orator nor professional wit, but he expressed himself with trenchancy, and his gentlemanly self-control was occasionally ruffled by storms of anger. ... [T]here were nights when the physical impact of his conducting was low, and there was little beyond faithfulness to the notes. There were others when precise, sensitive stick technique, loyalty to the composer, selflessness and ability to see the music as a whole, produced results equally satisfying in the classics and the British music he understood so well.[5]
Boult, unlike many of his contemporaries, preferred the traditional orchestral layout, with first violins on the conductor's left and the seconds on the right. Of the practice of grouping all the violins together on the left, he wrote, "The new seating is, I admit, easier for the conductor and the second violins, but I firmly maintain that the second violins themselves sound far better on the right. ... When the new fashion reached us from America somewhere about 1908 it was adopted by some conductors, but Richter, Weingartner, Walter, Toscanini and many others kept what I feel is the right balance."[87]
This care for balance was an important feature of Boult's music-making. Orchestral players across decades commented on his insistence that every important part should be heard without difficulty. His BBC principal violist wrote in 1938, "If a woodwind player has to complain that he has already been blowing 'fit to burst' there is trouble for somebody."[88] The trombonist Ray Premru wrote forty years later, "One of the old school, like Boult, is so refreshing because he will reduce the dynamic level – 'No, no, pianissimo, strings, let the soloist through, less from everyone else.' That is the old idea of balance."[89]
As an educator, Boult influenced several generations of musicians, beginning with his conducting class at the Royal College of Music, London, which he ran from 1919 to 1930. As no such classes had been held before in Britain, Boult "created its curriculum from out of his own experience. ... From that first small class has come all the later formal training for conductors throughout Britain."[90] In the 1930s Boult ran a series of "conferences for conductors" at his country house near Guildford, sometimes helped by Vaughan Williams who lived a few miles away.[91] From 1962 to 1966 he again taught at the Royal College of Music.[92] In later life, he made time for young conductors who sought his counsel. Among those who studied with or were influenced by Boult were Colin Davis,[93] James Loughran,[93] Richard Hickox[94] and Vernon Handley. The last was not only a pupil of Boult, but acted as his musical assistant on many occasions.[95]
Honours and memorials[link]
Boult was knighted in 1937[7] and was created Companion of Honour (CH) in 1969.[7] He received the gold medal of the Royal Philharmonic Society in 1944[5] and the Harvard Glee Club medal (jointly with Vaughan Williams) in 1956.[5] He received honorary degrees and fellowships from 13 universities and conservatoires.[7] In 1951 he was invited to be the first president of the Elgar Society.[96] In 1959 he was made president of the Royal Scottish Academy of Music.[5]
The Birmingham Conservatoire, a department of the Birmingham City University includes in its home building the Adrian Boult Hall, a purpose-built 525-seat recital hall. It is used for classical concerts, other musical performances, and conferences.[97]
Recordings[link]
Main article: Adrian Boult discography
Boult was a prolific recording artist. Unlike many musicians, he felt at home in the recording studio and was happy working without an audience.[98] His recording career stretched from the days of acoustic recording until the beginning of the digital era. His last recording of The Planets made in May 1978 was taped in experimental digital sound, although technical problems led EMI to release an analogue version.[99]
Boult's recordings fall into three main periods. In the first, from 1920 to the end of the 1940s, he recorded almost exclusively for HMV. In the 1950s and early 1960s, he was less in demand by the major labels, and although he made a substantial number of discs for Decca, he recorded mostly for smaller labels, chiefly Pye Nixa. His last period, from the mid-1960s, sometimes referred to as his Indian Summer, was once again with HMV. With his regular collaborators the producer Christopher Bishop and the engineer Christopher Parker he made more than sixty recordings, re-recording much of his key repertoire in stereo. He also added many works to his discography that he had not recorded before.[100]
Of the British composers, Boult extensively recorded and sometimes re-recorded major works by Elgar and Vaughan Williams. He recorded all eight then-existing symphonies by Vaughan Williams for Decca in the 1950s with the LPO, in the presence of the composer. The recording producer, John Culshaw, wrote that the composer "said very little during the sessions because he was totally in favour of Sir Adrian's approach to his music."[101] Vaughan Williams was to have been present for the first recording of his Ninth symphony, for Everest Records in 1958, but he died the night before the session took place; Boult recorded a short introduction as a memorial tribute. All these recordings have been reissued on CD. In the 1960s Boult re-recorded the nine symphonies for EMI.[100]
Other British composers who feature significantly in Boult's discography include Holst, Ireland, Parry, and Walton.[100] Despite his reputation as a pioneer in Britain of the works of the Second Viennese School and other avant-garde composers, the record companies, unlike the BBC, remained cautious about recording him in this repertory, and only a single recording of a Berg piece represents this side of Boult's work.[100] In the core continental orchestral repertoire, Boult's recordings of the four symphonies of Brahms, and the Great C major Symphony of Schubert were celebrated in his lifetime and have remained in the catalogues during the three decades after his death. Late in his recording career he recorded four discs of excerpts from Wagner's operas, which received great critical praise.[102] The exceptional breadth of Boult's repertoire has left some well-regarded recordings of works not immediately associated with him, among which are versions of Franck's Symphony (recorded in 1959), Dvořák's Cello Concerto with Mstislav Rostropovich (1958), and a pioneering recording of Mahler's Third Symphony taped live in 1947.[100]
Bibliography[link]
Boult wrote articles on a wide range of musical matters. They include an obituary of Nikisch (Music and Letters, Vol. 3, No. 2 (April 1922), pp. 117–121); "Casals as Conductor" (Music and Letters, Vol. 4 (1923), pp. 149–52); "Rosé and the Vienna Philharmonic" (Music and Letters, Vol. 32, No. 3 (July 1951), pp. 256–57); and an obituary of Toscanini for The Musical Times (March 1957, pp. 127–28)
Boult wrote books about music throughout his career. None were in print at April 2010. They are as follows:
- Boult on Music: Words from a Lifetime's Communication. London: Toccata Press. 1983. ISBN 0-907689-03-5.
- A handbook on the technique of conducting (7th ed.). Oxford: Hall. 1951 [1920]. OCLC 155756343.
- My Own Trumpet. London: Hamish Hamilton. 1973. ISBN 0-241-02445-5.
- The St. Matthew Passion: its preparation and performance. London: Novello. 1949. OCLC 1547942. (with Walter Emery)
- Thoughts on Conducting. London: Phoenix House. 1963. OCLC 892145.
Notes[link]
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j Kennedy, Michael. "Boult, Sir Adrian Cedric (1889–1983)". Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, 2004, accessed 1 March 2010 (subscription required)
- ^ a b The Times obituary of Adrian Boult, 24 February 1983, p. 12
- ^ a b c d e Sadie, Stanley. "Sir Adrian Boult at 80", The Musical Times, Vol. 110, No. 1514 (April 1969), pp. 367–68
- ^ Kennedy, pp. 12–16 and 32
- ^ a b c d e f g h Crichton, Ronald and José A. Bowen. "Boult, Sir Adrian (Cedric)". Grove Music Online, Oxford University Press, accessed 1 March 2010 (subscription required)
- ^ Northrop Moore, Jerrold. "Sir Adrian Boult at 90". The Gramophone, April 1979, p. 1682. The full text of Boult's paper is reproduced in Moore, pp. 1–14
- ^ a b c d e "Boult, Sir Adrian (Cedric)'". Who Was Who, A & C Black, 1920–2008; online edition, Oxford University Press, December 2007, accessed 1 March 2010 (subscription required)
- ^ a b c d Osborne, Charles. "Boult, Sir Adrian (Cedric)". Oxford Dictionary of National Biography archive material, accessed 1 March 2010 (subscription required) (Article predating the Kennedy ODNB entry, available in the ODNB's online archive)
- ^ Boult later took an honours degree in music in 1914
- ^ Chesterman R. Conversations with Conductors. Robson Books, London, 1976: 1966 interview with Boult
- ^ Kennedy, p. 56
- ^ Boult, p. 46
- ^ Moore, p. 19
- ^ Kennedy, pp. 61–62
- ^ Kennedy, p. 60
- ^ a b c Boult, p. 35
- ^ Lady Elgar's diary, quoted in Moore, p. 42
- ^ Quoted in Moore, pp. 42–43
- ^ Reed, p. 130
- ^ Boult, p. 79
- ^ Boult, p. 48
- ^ Moore, Jerrold Northrop, in Simeone, p. 63
- ^ Kennedy, p. 100
- ^ Kennedy, pp. 100–03 and 129
- ^ Kennedy, p. 113
- ^ Kennedy, pp. 107–11
- ^ Kennedy, p. 138
- ^ Reid, p. 204
- ^ Kennedy, p. 139
- ^ "The Promenade Concerts" The Observer, 20 July 1930, p. 12
- ^ "Wireless Notes and Programmes", The Manchester Guardian, 22 October 1930, p. 12
- ^ The Musical Times, October 1930, p. 935. The other concerts were divided between Ansermet, Hermann Scherchen, Oskar Fried, Landon Ronald and Albert Coates.
- ^ The Times, 23 October 1930, p. 12
- ^ The Musical Times, 1 December 1930, p. 1124
- ^ The Observer, 26 October 1930, p. 14
- ^ Boult, p. 99
- ^ Kennedy, p. 155
- ^ a b c d Cummings, David. "Boult's premières: Problems of Musical Lexicography", The Musical Times, May 1989, pp. 272–75
- ^ Boult, pp. 186–87
- ^ Foreman, Lewis. "Webern, the BBC and the Berg Violin Concerto" Tempo, September, 1991, pp. 2–10
- ^ The Times, 27 August 1931, p. 8
- ^ The Times, 10 September 1932, p. 8
- ^ 11 August 1936, p. 10
- ^ Morrison, p. 74
- ^ Boult, p. 102
- ^ a b Kennedy, pp. 161–63. Aldous, in his biography of Malcolm Sargent (p. 156), alleges that Boult and Ann Wilson were having an affair before her divorce from Wilson, but the source he cites (Kennedy, pp. 81, 111, 161–63) does not corroborate his statement.
- ^ "Item details J 77/2960/1470 – Divorce Court File: 1470. Appellant: Ann Mary Grace Wilson. Respondent: James Stewart Wilson. Type: Wife's petition for divorce [WD].". The Catalogue. The National Archives. http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/catalogue/externalreferencerequest.asp?requestreference=J77/2960/1470. Retrieved 2 April 2010.
- ^ "Ditchling Unitarian Chapel: History". Ditchling Unitarians/The General Assembly of Unitarian and Free Christian Churches. 2011. http://www.ukunitarians.org.uk/ditchling/history.htm. Retrieved 3 October 2011.
- ^ Kennedy, p. 215, et seq.
- ^ Kennedy, pp. 162 and 181
- ^ a b Kennedy, p. 195
- ^ Boult, p. 188
- ^ Kennedy, p. 214
- ^ Kennedy, p. 185
- ^ Kennedy, p. 215
- ^ ODNB; Kennedy p. 215; and Aldous, pp. 156–57. However, in a biography of Wilson (English Singer, London, Duckworth, 1970, ISBN 0-7156-0468-6), Wilson's third wife Margaret disputes this and says that relations between the two were now amicable, and it was others at the BBC who were pressing for Boult's removal.
- ^ Kennedy, p. 222
- ^ a b Kennedy, p. 230
- ^ Russell, p. 77. Boult obtained leave from the BBC to conduct fund-raising concerts for the LPO. Others who came to the aid of the orchestra at that time included Wood, Sargent and Eileen Joyce
- ^ Hill, p. 50
- ^ Kennedy, p. 231.
- ^ The Gramophone. May 1951, p. 17
- ^ Cardus, Neville. The Manchester Guardian, 19 January 1952, p. 3
- ^ Boult, p. 202. Kennedy (p. 232) states that there were 11 concerts, but Boult lists 12 dates and venues.
- ^ Kennedy, p. 234
- ^ Michael Kennedy states that Russell "was a member of the Communist Party of Great Britain and made no secret of it"; see p.231
- ^ Kennedy, pp. 215–22
- ^ Witts, Richard. Boult, Russell & The London Philharmonic Orchestra 1952. Music in Society Seminar, Institute of British History, 2002. Witts concludes that it was not Russell but Boult – regarded by some as past his peak – who cost the LPO the Festival Hall residency.
- ^ The Times, 8 September 1953, p. 2; and 10 September 1953, p. 2
- ^ The Musical Times, October 1953, p. 472
- ^ Boult, p. 159
- ^ Kennedy, p. 243
- ^ Kennedy, p. 244
- ^ Kennedy, p. 248
- ^ a b Kennedy, pp. 244–57
- ^ Kennedy, p. 268
- ^ a b Greenfield, Edward. "Boult – true servant of the composers", The Guardian, 24 February 1983, p. 14
- ^ "Boult, Adrian", Naxos.com, accessed 2 April 2010.
- ^ British Film Institute database: http://ftvdb.bfi.org.uk/sift/title/7641
- ^ Bishop, Christopher in Simeone, p. 73
- ^ Boult conducted seven of the nine Mahler symphonies well before the Mahler revival of the 1960s: the First, Third, Fourth, Fifth, Seventh, Eighth and Ninth (see Kennedy, p. 336), and he programmed Ravel's complete ballet Daphnis et Chloé and Ferruccio Busoni's rarely staged opera Doktor Faust in the late 1940s. He conducted Berg's Wozzeck before and after the war, regarding it as a masterpiece: see Kennedy, p. 169
- ^ Kennedy, p. 270
- ^ Bland, pp. 198 and 232
- ^ Kennedy, pp. 287–88 and 294–96
- ^ "Concerts of the Week", The Observer, 24 February 1918, p. 5
- ^ Hepworth, Peter. "Sir Adrian", The Observer, 27 February 1983, p. 30.
- ^ Boult, Adrian. "Stereo Strings", The Musical Times, April 1973, p. 378
- ^ Shore, p. 52
- ^ Previn, p. 181
- ^ Simeone, p. 63
- ^ Kennedy, p. 182.
- ^ Boult, p. 178
- ^ a b Kennedy, p. 251
- ^ Simeone, p. 77
- ^ Kennedy, p. 261
- ^ The Guardian, 19 January 2002, p. 7
- ^ Conservatoire website, accessed 31 March 2010
- ^ Boult, p. 98
- ^ The Gramophone. September 1981, p. 344
- ^ a b c d e See Ashman, Mike. "Boult Discography", Records and Recording, April 1974, pp. 17–20, and Simeone, pp. 80–96.
- ^ Culshaw, p. 121
- ^ See, for instance, Deryck Cooke, The Gramophone, July 1972, p. 197: "He reveals himself as a 'perfect Wagnerite', and a thrilling one too ... a 'must' for Wagner-lovers".
References[link]
- Aldous, Richard (2001). Tunes of Glory: The Life of Malcolm Sargent. London: Pimlico. ISBN 0-7126-6540-4.
- Bland, Alexander (1981). The Royal Ballet – the first 50 years. London: Threshold Books. ISBN 0-901366-11-0.
- Boult, Adrian (1973). My Own Trumpet. London: Hamish Hamilton. ISBN 0-241-02445-5.
- Culshaw, John (1981). Putting the Record Straight. London: Secker and Warburg. ISBN 0-436-11802-5.
- Hill, Ralph (1951). Music 1951. Harmondsworth: Penguin Books. OCLC 26147349.
- Kennedy, Michael (1987). Adrian Boult. London: Hamish Hamilton. ISBN 0-333-48752-4.
- Moore, Jerrold Northrop (1979). Music and Friends: Letters to Adrian Boult. London: Hamish Hamilton. ISBN 0-241-10178-6.
- Morrison, Richard (2004). Orchestra – The LSO. London: Faber and Faber. ISBN 0-571-21584-X.
- Previn, André (ed) (1979). Orchestra. London: Macdonald and Janes. ISBN 0-354-04420-6.
- Reed, W H (1943). Elgar. London: J M Dent. OCLC 8858707.
- Russell, Thomas (1944). Philharmonic Decade. London: Hutchinson. OCLC 941577.
- Shore, Bernard (1938). The Orchestra Speaks. London: Longmans. OCLC 499119110.
- Simeone, Nigel; Simon Mundy (1980). Sir Adrian Boult: Companion of Honour. London: Midas Books. ISBN 0-85936-212-4.
External links[link]
- Adrian Boult at Allmusic
- Adrian Boult at Bach Cantatas Website
- Westminster School website
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| Persondata | |
|---|---|
| Name | Boult, Adrian Cedric |
| Alternative names | |
| Short description | English conductor |
| Date of birth | 8 April 1889 |
| Place of birth | Chester, Cheshire, England |
| Date of death | 22 February 1983 |
| Place of death | London, England |
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For other people named George Butterworth, see George Butterworth (disambiguation).
| George Butterworth MC |
|
|---|---|
| File:Butterworth 2.jpg George Butterworth, c. 1914 |
|
| Born | George Sainton Kaye Butterworth (1885-07-12)12 July 1885 Bayswater, London, England |
| Died | 5 August 1916(1916-08-05) (aged 31) Pozières, The Somme, France |
| Cause of death | Shot by sniper in the Battle of the Somme |
| Resting place | Unknown |
| Nationality | English |
| Education | |
| Alma mater | Trinity College, Oxford |
| Occupation | Composer, schoolmaster, music critic, professional morris dancer |
| Parents | Sir Alexander Kaye Butterworth, general manager, North-East Railway Company |
George Sainton Kaye Butterworth, MC (12 July 1885 – 5 August 1916) was an English composer best known for the orchestral idyll The Banks of Green Willow and his song settings of A. E. Housman's poems.
Contents |
Early years[link]
Although George Butterworth was born in Bayswater, London, his family moved to Yorkshire soon after his birth so that his father Sir Alexander Kaye Butterworth could take up an appointment as general manager of the North-East Railway Company, based at York. George received his first music lessons from his mother, who was a singer, and he began composing at an early age. As a young boy, he played the organ for services in the chapel of his prep school, Aysgarth School, before gaining a scholarship to Eton College. He showed early musical promise at Eton, a 'Barcarolle" for orchestra being played during his time there (it is long since lost).[1] He then went to Trinity College, Oxford, where he became more focused on music, becoming President of the university musical society. He also made friends with folk song collector Cecil Sharp; the composer and folk song enthusiast Ralph Vaughan Williams; the future Director of the Royal College of Music, Hugh Allen; and a baritone singer and future conductor, Adrian Boult. Butterworth and Vaughan Williams made several trips into the English countryside to collect folk songs (Butterworth collected over 450 himself, many in Sussex in 1907, and sometimes using a phonograph) and the compositions of both were strongly influenced by what they collected. Butterworth was also an expert folk dancer, being particularly keen in the art of morris dancing. In fact, he was employed for a while by the English Folk Dance and Song Society (of which he was a founder member in 1906) as a professional morris dancer, a member of the Demonstration Team.
Upon leaving Oxford, Butterworth began a career in music, writing criticism for The Times, composing, and teaching at Radley College, Oxfordshire. He also briefly studied piano and organ at the Royal College of Music where he worked with Hubert Parry among others, though he stayed less than a year as the academic life was not for him.
Vaughan Williams and Butterworth became close friends. It was Butterworth who suggested to Vaughan Williams that he turn a symphonic poem he was working on into his London Symphony. Vaughan Williams recalled:
We were talking together one day when he said in his gruff, abrupt manner: ‘You know, you ought to write a symphony’. I answered…that I’d never written a symphony and never intended to…I suppose Butterworth’s words stung me and, anyhow, I looked out some sketches I had made for…a symphonic poem about London and decided to throw it into symphonic form...From that moment, the idea of a symphony dominated my mind. I showed the sketches to George bit by bit as they were finished, and it was then that I realised that he possessed in common with very few composers a wonderful power of criticism of other men’s work and insight into their ideas and motives. I can never feel too grateful to him for all he did for me over this work and his help did not stop short at criticism.[2]
When the manuscript for that piece was lost (having been sent to Germany, either to the conductor Fritz Busch or for engraving, just before the outbreak of war), Butterworth, together with Geoffrey Toye and the critic Edward J. Dent, helped Vaughan Williams reconstruct the work.[3] Vaughan Williams dedicated the piece to Butterworth's memory after his death.
First World War[link]
At the outbreak of the First World War, Butterworth (together with several friends including Geoffrey Toye and R. O. Morris) joined the British Army as a Private in the Duke of Cornwall's Light Infantry, but he soon accepted a commission as a Subaltern (2nd Lieutenant) in the 13th Battalion Durham Light Infantry, and he was later temporarily promoted to Lieutenant. He was known as G. S. Kaye-Butterworth in the army. Butterworth's letters are full of admiration for the ordinary miners of County Durham who served in his platoon. As part of 23rd Division, the 13th DLI was sent into action to capture the western approaches of the village of Contalmaison on The Somme. Butterworth and his men succeeded in capturing a series of trenches near Pozières on 16–17 July 1916, the traces of which can still be found within a small wood, although Butterworth was slightly wounded in the action. For it Temporary Lt George Butterworth, aged 31, was awarded the Military Cross, gazetted 25 August 1916,[4] although he did not live to receive it.
The Battle of the Somme was now entering its most intense phase. On 4 August, 23rd Division was ordered to attack a communication trench known as Munster Alley that was now in German hands. The soldiers dug an assault trench and named it 'Butterworth Trench' in their officer's honour. In desperate fighting during the night of 4–5 August, Butterworth and his miners captured and held on to Munster Alley, albeit with heavy losses and despite 'friendly fire' from Australian artillery. At 0445 on 5 August, amid frantic German attempts to recapture the position, Butterworth was shot through the head by a sniper. He was hastily buried by his men in the side of the trench, but his body was lost in the fierce bombardments of the next two years. The following morning the same trench was the site of Private William Henry Short's (Yorkshire Regiment) act of gallantry which was to win him a posthumous Victoria Cross.
When Brigadier Page-Croft wrote to Butterworth's family to inform them of his death, it transpired that they had not known that he had earlier been awarded the Military Cross. And likewise, the Brigadier was astonished to learn that Butterworth had been the most promising young English composer of his generation. The Brigadier wrote that Butterworth was; "A brilliant musician in times of war and an equally brilliant soldier in times of stress." There is confusion sometimes about exactly what Butterworth was awarded. It is often said that he won the MC twice. That is not correct, but the misunderstanding may have arisen because Butterworth was notable for his bravery in July 1916. Firstly, he was mentioned in despatches early in the month, then he was recommended for the MC "for conspicuous gallantry in action" on 9 July at Bailiff Wood, then again "for commanding his company with great ability and coolness" when wounded on 16–17 July (this was the action for which he was awarded the MC), and Brigadier Page-Croft wrote to Sir Alexander after Butterworth's death that he had 'won' the medal again on the night he died, but since the Military Cross was not awarded posthumously at the time, he could never have been awarded it.[5]
Butterworth's body was never recovered (although his unidentified remains may well lie at nearby Pozieres Memorial, a Commonwealth War Graves Commission cemetery), and his name appears on the Thiepval Memorial. George Butterworth's The Banks of Green Willow has become synonymous for some with the sacrifice of his generation and has been seen by some as an anthem for all 'Unknown Soldiers'. Sir Alexander Butterworth erected a plaque at St Mary's Priory Church, Deerhurst, Gloucestershire in memory of his son and of his nephew, Hugh, who died at Loos in 1915. (Rev. George Butterworth, the composer's grandfather, had been vicar of St Mary's in the previous century.) Sir Alexander also arranged the printing in 1918 of a memorial volume in his son's memory. Almost all Butterworth's manuscripts were left to Vaughan Williams, after whose death Ursula Vaughan Williams lodged the original works in the Bodleian, Oxford, and the folk song collection with the EFDSS.
A Shropshire Lad, and other compositions[link]
Butterworth did not write a great deal of music, and before and during the war he destroyed many works he did not care for, lest he should not return and have the chance to revise them. Of those that survive, his works based on A. E. Housman's collection of poems A Shropshire Lad are among the best known. Many English composers of Butterworth's time set Housman's poetry, including Ralph Vaughan Williams.
In 1911 and 1912, Butterworth wrote eleven settings of Housman's poems from "A Shropshire Lad". The poems are:
- Loveliest of trees
- When I was one and twenty
- Look not in my eyes
- Think no more, lad
- The lads in their hundreds
- Is my team ploughing?
- Bredon Hill
- Oh fair enough are sky and plain
- When the lad for longing sighs
- On the idle hill of summer
- With rue my heart is laden
He used no known folk tunes in the songs, although one ("When I was one and twenty") was said to be based on a folk tune that has defied identification. The songs were dedicated to Victor Annesley Barrington-Kennett, a friend from Eton and Oxford, who was also to die in France in 1916. They were eventually published in two sets, "Six Songs from 'A Shropshire Lad'" (1-6 above) and "Bredon Hill and Other Songs" (7-11), although the composer never settled on a preferred order.[1] Nine of the songs were first performed at a meeting of the Oxford University Musical Club, organised by Boult. The singer was J. Campbell McInnes, with the composer at the piano.[6] Shortly thereafter Boult sang several of the songs at a private function. At this stage, Butterworth still had not completed "On the idle hill of summer" and did not do so until he was living at Cheyne Gardens in London. It is unusual for the songs to be given publicly in full, although each of the published sets is often performed separately and recorded regularly - in fact, they can be said to be among the most frequently performed English art songs[6] . "Six Songs from A Shropshire Lad" is the more popular set, with "Is My Team Ploughing?" being the most famous song. Another, "Loveliest of Trees", is the basis for his 1912 orchestral rhapsody, also called A Shropshire Lad, which quotes two songs from the whole - "Loveliest of Trees" and "With Rue My Heart is Laden"'.
The parallel is regularly made[7][8] between the often gloomy and death-obsessed subject matter of A Shropshire Lad, written in the shadow of the Second Boer War, and Butterworth's subsequent death during the Great War. In particular, the song "The lads in their hundreds" tells of young men who leave their homeland to 'die in their glory and never be old'.
The "Rhapsody, A Shropshire Lad" - a sort of postlude to the songs - employs a very large orchestra, and was first performed on 2 October 1913 at the Leeds Festival, conducted by Arthur Nikisch. It was influential upon Vaughan Williams (A Pastoral Symphony), Gerald Finzi (A Severn Rhapsody) and Ernest Moeran (First Rhapsody).[1] Butterworth's other orchestral works are short and based on folksongs he had collected in Sussex in 1907, Two English Idylls (1911) and The Banks of Green Willow (1913). They are often performed and recorded, "Banks" particularly so. The latter work was premiered by the 24-year-old Adrian Boult on 27 February 1914, at West Kirby, Liverpool (this was in fact Boult's very first professional concert).
"Love Blows as the Wind Blows" is a setting of poems by W. E. Henley. It exists in three forms: for voice and string quartet, voice and piano and voice and small orchestra. The orchestral version differs from the others quite markedly, not least in having only three songs: "In the year that's come and gone", Life in her creaking shoes", and "On the way to Kew" (the other versions include "Fill a glass with golden wine"). The orchestral version was in fact the last music Butterworth worked on before leaving for France, and shows the composer's familiarity with Vaughan Williams's style, as well as with the music of Wagner, Elgar and Debussy[1] .
It is thought by many that Butterworth showed real talent that might have flourished but for his early death[9]. The "Two English Idylls" and "Banks" show an ability to handle folksong in a way that eluded many other composers - as the true building blocks of larger forms.[6] His original music (especially the "Rhapsody: A Shropshire Lad" and the orchestral song cycle "Love Blows As The Wind Blows") have a delicacy that brings to mind Claude Debussy or Jacques Ibert.[6] However, there is reasonable evidence that he had put composition behind him by the time he went to France and it is by no means certain that he would have resumed it had he returned.[6] It is certainly likely that he would have faced considerable pressure from friends to compose again, since his orchestral works (particularly the "Rhapsody: A Shropshire Lad") had made a great impression, but he was a single-minded man who was unlikely to bow easily to such pressure.[10] He remains perhaps the most obvious case of "what if...?" that is left to us from the battlefields of northern France, and he joins the Frenchman Albéric Magnard, the Spaniard Enrique Granados, and the German Rudi Stephan as possibly the greatest loss to music[11] from the First World War.
List of compositions[link]
Butterworth's complete extant works[12] are:
- Two English Idylls for orchestra (1910–1911)
- Two English Idylls (arranged for piano duet by John Mitchell)[13]
- A Shropshire Lad, Rhapsody for orchestra (1911)
- A Shropshire Lad, Rhapsody (arranged for piano solo by John Mitchell)[14]
- The Banks of Green Willow for orchestra (1913)
- Love Blows As The Wind Blows, song cycle for voice and piano, voice and string quartet (both 1911-1912) or voice and small orchestra (1914) [words W. E. Henley]
- Suite for String Quartet (1910)[15]
- Eleven Songs from A Shropshire Lad (i.e., Six Songs from A Shropshire Lad, and Bredon Hill and Other Songs) ([words A. E. Housman] 1910-1911)
- Eleven Songs from A Shropshire Lad (with accompaniment for small orchestra arranged by Phillip Brookes)[16]
- Folk Songs From Sussex (1912)
- Haste On, My Joys!, song (date unknown, probably pre-1906) [words Robert Bridges]
- I Will Make You Brooches (date unknown) [words Robert Louis Stevenson]
- I Fear Thy Kisses (1909) [words Percy Bysshe Shelley]
- Requiescat, song (1911) [words Oscar Wilde]
- In The Highlands, for female voices and piano (poss. 1912) [words R. L. Stevenson]
- On Christmas Night, for male chorus (poss. 1912) [folksong]
- We Get Up In The Morn, for male chorus (poss. 1912) [folksong]
- Morris Dance Tunes, books 8 & 9 (with Cecil Sharp)[17]
Other writings[link]
The Country Dance Book, parts 3 (1912) & 4 (1916), with Cecil Sharp[18]
Recordings[link]
- All three orchestral works (Two English Idylls, A Shropshire Lad: Rhapsody. and The Banks of Green Willow)
- Boult/LPO (rec. 1973); Lyrita SRCD 245
- Llewellyn/RLPO (rec. 1991); Decca 436 401-2
- Boughton/English String Orch; Nimrod NI 5068
- Marriner/ASMF (rec. 1975); Decca 468 802-2
- Elder/Hallé Orchestra (rec. 2002); Hallé CD HLL 7503
- Two English Idylls only
- Boult/British Symphony Orch. (No. 1 only) (rec. 1922); HMV Cc1129
- Dilkes/English Sinfonia (rec. 1971); HMV ESD 7101
- Tate/English Chamber Orchestra (rec. 1987); EMI CDC7 47945-2
- Horvay/Prague Radio SO (no. 2 only); Artist’s Rifles CD41
- Kleiber/Chicago SO (no. 1 only) (rec. 1983)
- Wilson/Royal Liverpool PO (rec. 2011) Avie
- A Shropshire Lad: Rhapsody only
- Boult/British Symphony Orch. (rec. 1920); HMV 4618AF
- Boult/Hallé Orchestra (rec. 1942); VAI Audio VAIA 1067-2
- Stokowski/NBC SO (rec. 1944); Cala CACD 0528
- Goossens/Sydney SO (rec 1952); HMV DB 9792-3
- Boult/LPO (rec. 1954); Belart CD 461354-2
- Barbirolli/ Hallé Orchestra (rec. 1956); Barbirolli Society SJB 1022
- Barbirolli/ Hallé Orchestra; EMI 4577672
- Dilkes/English Sinfonia (rec. 1971); HMV CSD 3696
- Elder/Halle Orchestra (rec. 2002); BBC MM 289
- The Banks of Green Willow
- See the separate page
- Songs (complete)
- The Complete Butterworth Songbook: Stone/Barlow; Stone Records 5060192780024 (All Butterworth’s songs, including the voice/piano version of Love Blows. It also includes a short silent film of Butterworth morris dancing. The tracks from this disc are included among the details below.)
- All eleven Shropshire Lad songs
- Cameron/Moore; Dutton
- Luxon/Willison (rec. 1976); Decca 468 802-2
- Luxon/Willison (rec. 1990); Chandos CHAN 8831
- Williams/Burnside; Naxos 8.572426
- Rolfe-Johnson/Johnson; Hyperion CDD22044
- Terfel/Martineau(rec. 1995); DG 445946
- Allen/Parsons (rec. 2001) EMI 67428
- Maltman/Vignoles; Hyperion CDA 67378
- Stone/Barlow; Stone Records 5060192780024
- Keenlyside/Martineau; Sony Classical 88697 94424-2
- Six Songs from A Shropshire Lad only
- Henderson/Moore (rec. 1941); Dutton CDLX 7038
- Shirley-Quirk/Isepp (rec. 1966); Saga STXID5260
- Rayner Cook/Benson; Unicorn
- Gehrman/Farmer; Nimbus NI 5033
- Rolfe-Johnson/Willinson; EMI
- Lemalu/Burnside (rec. 2003); BBC MM298
- Allen/Martineau; Wigmore Hall Live WHLIVE0002
- Polegato/Burnside CBC Records
- Trew/Vignoles; Meridian CDE84185
- Varcoe/Hickox/City of London Sinfonia (orch. Lance Baker) (rec. 1989); Chandos CHAN 8743
- I will Make You Brooches
- Williams/Burnside; Naxos 8.572426
- Stone/Barlow; Stone Records 5060192780024
- I Fear Thy Kisses
- Williams/Burnside; Naxos 8.572426
- Stone/Barlow; Stone Records 5060192780024
- Requiescat
- Varcoe/Benson; Hyperion CDA 6621/2
- Williams/Burnside; Naxos 8.572426
- Stone/Barlow; Stone Records 5060192780024
- Love Blows as the Wind Blows
- (Voice and piano)
- Stone/Barlow; Stone Records 5060192780024
- (Voice and string quartet)
- Oxenham/Bingham String Quartet; Meridian DUOCD 89026
- Lemalu/Belcea Quartet (rec. 2005); EMI 5 58050
- (Voice and orchestra)
- Tear/Handley/CBSO; EMI CDM7 64731-2
- Varcoe/Hickox/City of London Sinfonia (rec. 1989); Chandos CHAN 8743
- Folk Songs from Sussex
- Williams/Burnside; Naxos 8.572426
- Stone/Barlow; Stone Records 5060192780024
- Folk songs collected by Butterworth
- Triple Echo by Coope, Boyes and Simpson contains songs from the Butterworth collection. The Banks of Green Willow, The Cuckoo and The Turtle Dove are given with all verses. There are also songs collected by Vaughan Williams and Grainger. (Rec 2005); No Masters NMCD22
Roads[link]
| Map of all coordinates from Google |
|---|
| Export all coordinates as KML |
| Export all coordinates as GeoRSS |
| Map of all microformatted coordinates |
| Place data as RDF |
Three roads are named after Butterworth:
- Butterworth Road, Trichirappali, Tamil Nadu, India (10°49′50″N 78°41′52″E / 10.830471°N 78.69789°E / 10.830471; 78.69789).
- Butterworth Close in Newport, south Wales (51°35′27″N 2°56′05″W / 51.59082°N 2.934842°W / 51.59082; -2.934842), one of several named after composers.[19]
- Chemin George Butterworth[20] (George Butterworth Lane; 50°02′28″N 2°43′59″E / 50.041172°N 2.733112°E / 50.041172; 2.733112), at Pozières on the Somme battlefield.[21]
Bibliography[link]
- George Butterworth Memorial Volume, privately printed, 1918
- Copley, Ian A.: George Butterworth, Thames Publishing, London, 1985
- Barlow, Michael: Whom The Gods Love, Toccata Press, London, 1997
- Barlow, Michael and Brookes, Phillip: Prefaces to 3 volumes of the works of George Butterworth, Musikproduktion Jürgen Höflich, Munich, 2006 and 2007
See also[link]
- Charles James Mott - "Elgar's Baritone" (died of wounds in 1918)
Notes[link]
- ^ a b c d Barlow, Michael, preface to three volumes of Butterworth's music, Musikproduktion Jürgen Höflich, Munich 2006 & 2007
- ^ Lloyd, Stephen, in Ralph Vaughan Williams in Perspective, ed. Lewis Foreman, Albion Music Ltd, 1998; the quoted text is a portmanteau of two originals, the bulk being from a letter to Sir Alexander Butterworth, father of the composer
- ^ Mann, William, liner notes to EMI CD CDM 7 64017 2, 1987
- ^ http://www.london-gazette.co.uk/issues/29724/supplements/8461 London Gazette supplement 25 August 1916 "For conspicuous gallantry in action. He commanded his Company after his Captain had been wounded with great ability and coolness. By his energy and utter disregard of danger he set a fine example in organising the defences of the front line. His name had previously been brought to notice for good and gallant work."]
- ^ Copley, Ian A.: George Butterworth, Thames Publishing, London, 1985, contains much informations on Butterworth's war record.
- ^ a b c d e Barlow, Michael, Whom The Gods Love, Toccata Press, London, 1997
- ^ Hall, George, booklet notes to Deutsche Grammophon CD 445946-2
- ^ Stone, Mark, booklet notes to Stone Records CD 5060192780024
- ^ Stone, Mark, booklet notes to Stone Records CD 5060192780024
- ^ Banfield, Stephen, Sensibility and English Song, 1985, Cambridge University Press, p. 153
- ^ Stone, Mark, booklet notes to Stone Records CD 5060192780024
- ^ "Musikproduktion Hoeflich Muenchen | Phenomenology of Music". Musikmph.de. 31 December 2009. http://www.musikmph.de. Retrieved 15 October 2011.
- ^ . Modus Music, Enfield 1999.
- ^ . Modus Music, Enfield 2011.
- ^ . Modus Music, Enfield 2001.
- ^ . Musikproduktion Juergen Hoeflich, Munich. 2006.
- ^ . Novello & Co. London. 1914.
- ^ . Novello & Co. London. 1912 & 1916.
- ^ South Wales Argus, 27 May 2009.
- ^ ""Butterworth Farm"". http://www.somme-tourisme.com/cdt80/somme_tourisme/organisez/nouveau_des_chambres_d_hotes_a_pozieres. Retrieved 15 October 2011.
- ^ "Le chemin George Sainton Kaye Butterworth Lane". Images-en-somme.fr. http://www.images-en-somme.fr/chemin-george-sainton-kaye-butterworth-lane.html. Retrieved 15 October 2011.
External links[link]
- An essay on Butterworth's life and music
- Free scores by George Butterworth at the International Music Score Library Project
- Artists Rifles WW1 audio CD featuring Butterworth
| Persondata | |
|---|---|
| Name | Butterworth, George |
| Alternative names | George Sainton Kaye Butterworth |
| Short description | English composer, folk music enthusiast and soldier |
| Date of birth | 12 July 1885 |
| Place of birth | London |
| Date of death | 5 August 1916 |
| Place of death | Pozières, France |
http://wn.com/George_Butterworth
Related pages:
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This page contains text from Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_Butterworth
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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.
Roderick Williams (born 1965 in North London) is an English operatic baritone.
Biography[link]
Williams studied on the Opera Course at the Guildhall School of Music in London. During his time there he made his operatic debut as Tarquinius in Benjamin Britten's The Rape of Lucretia.[1]
He has appeared as a soloist with English National Opera, Opera North, Scottish Opera, New Israeli Opera and at The Royal Opera House, Covent Garden. He has also worked with orchestras throughout Europe, including all the BBC orchestras in the UK, and has given recitals at venues such as the Wigmore Hall.[2]
Operatic repertoire[link]
|
|
References[link]
| Persondata | |
|---|---|
| Name | Williams, Roderick |
| Alternative names | |
| Short description | English operatic baritone |
| Date of birth | 1965 |
| Place of birth | |
| Date of death | |
| Place of death | |
http://wn.com/Roderick_Williams
This page contains text from Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roderick_Williams
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.
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.
| Leigh Haggerwood | |
|---|---|
| Born | England |
| Occupations | Singer, Songwriter, Record Producer, Musician |
| Instruments | Vocals, Keyboards, Piano |
| Associated acts | Scarlet Division, The Florin Street Band |
| Website | www.ukcomposer.com, www.florinstreet.com |
Leigh Haggerwood is a contemporary composer based in London. He specializes in songwriting, keyboards, singing, music production, audio engineering and sound-to-picture scoring. His credits include music for numerous TV shows and commercials which are broadcast around the world [1].
Along with chef Jamie Oliver, Leigh Haggerwood was a founding member of the band Scarlet Division[2], who released the single, "Sundial", in October 2000 through Sony Music[3].
Haggerwood also wrote several songs for Jamie Oliver's live shows which included the YouTube hit "Lamb Curry - Give It to Me Hot"[4], "The Kiss of Summer and "Fish Stew". His TV credits include the ITV Text Santa Theme and incidental musical[5], Oliver's Twist, Trinny and Susannah, Jamie's School Dinners, Petrolheads on BBC Two and TV Land's High School Reunion.
The Florin Street Band[link]
Haggerwood is best known for his Victorian-themed creation The Florin Street Band which he put together to record an original Christmas song he had written called "My Favourite Time of Year". Disappointed by the demise of Christmas song writing in the UK, Leigh set out to create a traditional-sounding song with epic production values and strong melodies. His idea included a music video set in 19th century England with snow-lined streets, lanterns, period costumes and snow-dusted rooftops. UK record companies would not fund such an ambitious idea as they did not consider it financially viable. So Leigh eventually decided to make it happen himself[6].
He produced the record at Trevor Horn's Sarm Studios and requested the services of 36 musicians including The English Chamber Choir. The majority of Leigh's work is sung and performed by other artists, but Leigh decided to sing "My Favourite Time of Year" himself so that he could maintain the Victorian theme and make sure it would end up as he intended[7].
The period music video was the biggest challenge of the project, but after a long search, Leigh found talented British director, Nick Bartleet, who shared his vision and helped make it a reality. As the plans progressed, American cinematographer John Perez offered his services as Director of Photography, and the extraordinary video was shot at Blists Hill Victorian Town at Ironbridge in Shropshire. The song and video [1] received an public response through social networking websites with many people describing it as a future classic.
- Text Santa
Text Santa is a charity initiative first broadcast on UK television network, ITV, in 2011. The project aims to raise money and awareness for nine charities during the festive season and is heavily promoted by ITV in the form of TV shows, appeals on Heart FM, Capital Radio, and sponsorship by Asda supermarkets and Vodafone[8]. The producers were keen to use "My Favourite Time of Year" as the theme music to the appeal, which Leigh agreed to. With his experience as a media composer, he re-versioned the song and created other original music for the shows. As a gesture of good will, he decided to donate all profits from UK downloads of the song in 2011, to the nine Text Santa charities along with Ironbridge Gorge Museum Trust which was the location of his Victorian museum video, and a supporter of The Florin Street Band[9].
References[link]
- ^ "The British Academy of Songwriter's, Composers and Authors". BASCA. 14/12/2010. http://www.basca.org.uk/members-directory/leighhaggerwood. Retrieved 12/12/2011.
- ^ "The Hutt Russell Organisation". hrpl. http://www.hrpl.u-net.com/artists/jamie_oliver/su_folder/profile_page.html. Retrieved 20/09/2000.
- ^ "BBC News". BBC News Online. 17/12/2000. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/1074771.stm. Retrieved 17/12/2000.
- ^ "London Evening Standard". London Evening Standard. 01/12/2007. http://www.thisislondon.co.uk/news/article-23425146-how-jamie-olivers-novelty-song-has-become-a-hit-around-the-world.do. Retrieved 01/12/2007.
- ^ "ITV Text Santa". ITV1. 19/12/2011. http://www.itv.com/textsanta/news/florin-street-band/. Retrieved 19/12/2011.
- ^ "BBC Essex". BBC. 14/12/2010. http://news.bbc.co.uk/local/essex/hi/people_and_places/arts_and_culture/newsid_9285000/9285438.stm. Retrieved 14/12/2010.
- ^ "PR Newswire". PR Newswire. 05/12/2011. http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/the-florin-street-band-to-support-itvs-text-santa-appeal-135011328.html. Retrieved 05/12/2011.
- ^ "ITV Text Santa Homepage". ITV Text Santa. 05/12/2011. http://www.itv.com/textsanta/. Retrieved 05/12/2011.
- ^ "Shropshire Star". Shropshire Star. 20/12/2011. http://www.shropshirestar.com/news/2011/12/20/florin-street-band-back-in-shropshire-to-promote-text-santa-song/. Retrieved 20/12/2011.
External links[link]
| Persondata | |
|---|---|
| Name | Haggerwood, Leigh |
| Alternative names | |
| Short description | Singer, songwriter, music producer, musician |
| Date of birth | |
| Place of birth | England |
| Date of death | |
| Place of death | |
http://wn.com/Leigh_Haggerwood
This page contains text from Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leigh_Haggerwood
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.
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.
