Amesbury, Massachusetts

Amesbury is a city in Essex County, Massachusetts, located on the left bank of the Merrimack River near its mouth, upstream from Salisbury and across the river from Newburyport and West Newbury. The population was 16,283 at the 2010 census. A former farming and mill town, Amesbury is today largely residential. It is one of the two northernmost towns in Massachusetts (the other being neighboring Salisbury).

History

Settlement period

In 1637 the first English settler in the Salisbury-Amesbury region, John Bayly, crossed the Merrimack River from the new settlement at Newbury, built a log cabin, and began to clear the land for cultivation. He intended to send to England for his wife and children, but they never did rejoin him. He and his hired man, William Schooler, were arrested shortly for a murder Schooler had committed. The latter was hanged for it. Bayly was acquitted. Given the fishing rights on the river by the subsequent settlement, provided he would sell only to it, he abandoned agriculture for fishing.

Sports Park

Sports Park was a football ground in Broxburn, West Lothian in Scotland. It was the home ground of Broxburn United.

History

Broxburn United moved to Sports Park in 1914. The club were admitted to Division Two of the Scottish Football League in 1921, and the first SFL match was played at the ground on 20 August 1921, a 3–2 win over Dunfermline Athletic watched by 3,500 spectators.

In 1922 a 400-seat grandstand was erected at the ground. The probable record attendance of 7,000 was set for a Scottish Cup third round match against Falkirk on 21 February 1925. The highest league attendance Broxburn recorded was 4,000 for a 0–0 draw against Stenhousemuir on 3 September 1921 and again for another 0–0 draw with Queen's Park on 6 October 1922.

The club's lowest recorded SFL attendance was 500 for a 4–3 defeat against Armadale on 24 April 1926, a game which also turned out to be the club's final match in the SFL, as the Third Division was disbanded at the end of the 1925–26 season.

In 1932 the club folded and most of the site was later used for the car park for the adjacent sports centre.

Amesbury

Coordinates: 51°10′N 1°46′W / 51.17°N 1.77°W / 51.17; -1.77

Amesbury /ˈeɪmzbəri/ is a town and civil parish in Wiltshire, England. It is most famous for the prehistoric monument of Stonehenge which is in its parish, and for the discovery of the Amesbury Archer—dubbed the King of Stonehenge in the press—in 2002. It has been confirmed by archaeologists that it is the oldest continuously occupied settlement in the United Kingdom, having been first settled around 8820 BC.

Eleanor of Provence, queen of England, died in Amesbury on 24 or 25 June 1291, and was buried in Amesbury Abbey.

The parish includes the hamlets of Ratfyn and West Amesbury, and most of Boscombe Down military airfield.

Geography

Amesbury is located in southern Wiltshire, 7 miles (11 km) north of Salisbury on the A345. It sits in the River Avon valley on the southern fringes of Salisbury Plain and has historically been considered an important river crossing area on the road from London to Warminster and Exeter. This has continued into the present with the building of the A303 across the Avon next to the town. Originally the town developed around the water meadows next to several bends in the river, but in time has spread onto the valley hillsides and absorbed part of the military airfield at Boscombe Down.

Sport

Sport (UK) or sports (US) are all forms of usually competitive physical activity or games which, through casual or organised participation, aim to use, maintain or improve physical ability and skills while providing entertainment to participants, and in some cases, spectators. Usually the contest or game is between two sides, each attempting to exceed the other. Some sports allow a tie game; others provide tie-breaking methods, to ensure one winner and one loser. A number of such two-sided contests may be arranged in a tournament producing a champion. Many sports leagues make an annual champion by arranging games in a regular sports season, followed in some cases by playoffs. Hundreds of sports exist, from those between single contestants, through to those with hundreds of simultaneous participants, either in teams or competing as individuals. In certain sports such as racing, many contestants may compete, each against all with one winner.

Sport is generally recognised as activities which are based in physical athleticism or physical dexterity, with the largest major competitions such as the Olympic Games admitting only sports meeting this definition, and other organisations such as the Council of Europe using definitions precluding activities without a physical element from classification as sports. However, a number of competitive, but non-physical, activities claim recognition as mind sports. The International Olympic Committee (through ARISF) recognises both chess and bridge as bona fide sports, and SportAccord, the international sports federation association, recognises five non-physical sports, although limits the number of mind games which can be admitted as sports.

Park

A park is an area of natural, semi-natural, or planted space set aside for human enjoyment and recreation or for the protection of wildlife or natural habitats. It may consist of grassy areas, rocks, soil, and trees, but may also contain buildings and other artifacts such as monuments, fountains or playground structures. In North America, many parks have fields for playing sports such as soccer, baseball and football, and paved areas for games such as basketball. Many parks have trails for walking, biking and other activities. Some parks are built adjacent to bodies of water or watercourses, and these parks may comprise a beach or boat dock area. Often, the smallest parks are in urban areas, where a park may take up only a city block or less. Urban parks often have benches for sitting and they may contain picnic tables and barbecue grills. Parks have differing rules regarding whether dogs can be brought into the park: some parks prohibit dogs; some parks allow them with restrictions (e.g., use of a leash); and some parks, which may be called "dog parks," permit dogs to run off-leash.