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Abbotsham
Abbotsham (pronounced Abbotsam) is a village and civil parish in the English county of Devon. In 2001 its population was 434 increasing at the 2011 census to 489. Amenities Abbotsham no longer has a Post Office and General Store but remains a vibrant community. There is a primary school, a Pre-School, a church a Chapel and a pub. There is also a village hall where a large range of activities take place. One bus service serves Abbotsham; the Stagecoach 319 from Barnstaple to Hartland. From May to October 2007, Stagecoach Devon ran a commercial service, the 21B, from Barnstaple to Westward Ho! via Abbotsham. However, this service was later withdrawn. The Big Sheep amusement farm park is located in Abbotsham. History The name Abbotsham is derived from 'Ham held by the abbot' f Tavistock(Old English ''abbodes'' + placename ''Ham''). The area was called ''Hame'' in the Domesday Book and was later recorded as ''Ab(b)edisham'' in 1193 and 1269, and ''Abbodesham'' in 1282. The ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Bideford, Westward Ho! And Appledore Railway
The Bideford, Westward Ho! and Appledore Railway (B, WH & A, R) was a railway running in northwest Devon, England. It is unusual in that although it was built as a standard gauge line, it was not joined to the rest of the British railway network, despite the London and South Western Railway having a station at Bideford East-the-Water, just on the other side of the river Torridge from the main town. The line was wholly situated on the peninsula made up of Westward Ho!, Northam and Appledore with extensive sand dunes by the Torridge and Taw estuary. The line opened in stages between 1901 and 1908, but closed in 1917, having been requisitioned by the War Office. Re-opening the line after World War I was considered, but dismissed as a viable option. The B.WH!&A.R. was the only railway company in the British Isles to have an exclamation mark in its company title. Charles Kingsley wrote the novel ''Westward Ho!'', which led to a tourist boom on the peninsula, followed by the cons ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
HMS Abbotsham
HMS ''Abbotsham'' was one of 93 ships of the ''Ham'' class of inshore minesweepers. Their names were all chosen from villages ending in ''-ham''. The minesweeper was named after Abbotsham in Devon. ''Abbotsham'' was one of the third series of ''Ham''-class minesweepers, with an all-wooden hull, and was built by William Blackmore, completing on 10 January 1957.Gardiner and Chumbley, 1995, p. 541.Worth 1986, p. 123. The ''Ham'' class proved to be too small to carry modern minesweeping gear, and like many of the class, ''Abbotsham'' was quickly placed in operational reserve, entering this state in November 1957. She remained in operational reserve at Rosneath until 1966, when she was placed on the disposal list, the ship being sold in 1967.Worth 1986, p. 125. See also *List of ship names of the Royal Navy This is an alphabetical list of the ''names'' of all ships that have been in service with the Royal Navy, or with predecessor fleets formally in the service of the Kingdo ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The Big Sheep
The Big Sheep is an amusement farm park located in Abbotsham, Devon, England. The site was originally Barton Farm, a busy sheep farm owned by six generations of the same family. Due to challenges in the farming community, owner Rick Turner decided to bring in more profits by turning the farm into an attraction in 1988. The site started with an animal park and restaurant. After its initial focus on agriculture yielded disappointing returns, the park began to add entertainment attractions as well."The Big Sheep Celebrates 25 Years" '''', 1 August 2013 . The park gained attention for its daily sheep races. The park suffere ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Tavistock Abbey
Tavistock Abbey, also known as the Abbey of Saint Mary and Saint Rumon, is a ruined Benedictine abbey in Tavistock, Devon. Nothing remains of the abbey except the refectory, two gateways and a porch. The abbey church, dedicated to Our Lady and St Rumon, was destroyed by Danish raiders in 997 and rebuilt under Lyfing, the second abbot. The church was further rebuilt in 1285 and the greater part of the abbey between 1457 and 1458. History Foundation Older historians thought the abbey was founded in 961 by Ordgar, Ealdorman of Devon, but the modern consensus is that it was wholly the foundation of his son Ordwulf in 974; in 981 the charter of confirmation was granted by King Æthelred the Unready, Ordwulf's nephew. It was endowed with lands in Devon, Dorset and Cornwall, and became one of the richest abbeys in the west of England. Account by Dugdale William Dugdale's ''Monasticon Anglicanum'' (1718 edition in English) states as follows concerning the foundation: 1193 Papal B ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Thomas Arthur (VC)
Thomas Arthur VC (1835 – 2 March 1902) was a British Army soldier and recipient of the Victoria Cross, the highest award for gallantry in the face of the enemy that can be awarded to British and Commonwealth forces. Victoria Cross action Arthur was approximately 20 years old, and a gunner and driver in the Royal Regiment of Artillery during the Crimean War when the following deed took place for which he was awarded the VC. On 7 June 1855 at Sebastopol, Crimea, Gunner Arthur was in charge of the magazine in one of the left advanced batteries of the right attack, when the Quarries were taken. On his own initiative he carried barrels of infantry ammunition for the 7th Fusiliers several times during the evening, across the open. He volunteered for and formed one of the spiking party of artillery at the assault on the Redan on 18 June 1855 and on numerous occasions left the trenches to bring in wounded officers and men. His Victoria Cross is displayed at the Royal Artillery Muse ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Villages In Devon
A village is a clustered human settlement or community, larger than a hamlet but smaller than a town (although the word is often used to describe both hamlets and smaller towns), with a population typically ranging from a few hundred to a few thousand. Though villages are often located in rural areas, the term urban village is also applied to certain urban neighborhoods. Villages are normally permanent, with fixed dwellings; however, transient villages can occur. Further, the dwellings of a village are fairly close to one another, not scattered broadly over the landscape, as a dispersed settlement. In the past, villages were a usual form of community for societies that practice subsistence agriculture, and also for some non-agricultural societies. In Great Britain, a hamlet earned the right to be called a village when it built a church. [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Whippet
The Whippet is a dog breed of medium size. It is a sighthound breed that originated in England, descended from the Greyhound. Whippets today still strongly resemble a smaller Greyhound. Part of the hound group, Whippets have relatively few health problems other than arrhythmia. Whippets also participate in dog sports such as lure coursing, agility, dock diving and flyball. The name is derived from an early 17th-century word, now obsolete, meaning "to move briskly". There has been continuity in describing Greyhound-types of different sizes: large, medium and small, recorded in hunting manuals and works on natural history from the Middle Ages. Edward of Norwich, 2nd Duke of York confirmed in his early 15th-century translation and additions to the original late 14th-century French '' Livre de chasse'' the advantage of maintaining the great, the middle, and the small size of greyhound for different sorts of game. The English physician and academic John Caius refers in his 16th ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Greyhound Racing In The United Kingdom
Greyhound racing is a sport in the United Kingdom. The industry uses a parimutuel betting tote system with on-course and off-course betting available. Attendances have declined in recent years, partly due to the decrease in evening fixtures with the majority of fixtures being held in the daytime. Attendances peaked in 1946 at around 70 million and totalisator turnover reaching £196,431,430. As of September 2022, there are 20 licensed stadiums in the United Kingdom (excluding Northern Ireland) and two independent stadiums (unaffiliated to a governing body). History Modern greyhound racing has evolved from a form of hunting called coursing, in which a dog runs after a live game animal – usually a rabbit or hare. The first official coursing meeting was held in 1776 at Swaffham, Norfolk. The rules of the Swaffham Coursing Society, started by Lord Orford, specified that only two greyhounds were to course a single hare. Coursing by proxy with an artificial lure was introduced ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Horse Racing
Horse racing is an equestrian performance sport, typically involving two or more horses ridden by jockeys (or sometimes driven without riders) over a set distance for competition. It is one of the most ancient of all sports, as its basic premise – to identify which of two or more horses is the fastest over a set course or distance – has been mostly unchanged since at least classical antiquity. Horse races vary widely in format, and many countries have developed their own particular traditions around the sport. Variations include restricting races to particular breeds, running over obstacles, running over different distances, running on different track surfaces, and running in different gaits. In some races, horses are assigned different weights to carry to reflect differences in ability, a process known as handicapping. While horses are sometimes raced purely for sport, a major part of horse racing's interest and economic importance is in the gambling associated with ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Appledore, Mid Devon
Appledore is a small village near Uffculme in Devon, England, about 7 miles (11 kilometres) east of Tiverton. Appledore was listed in the Domesday Book Domesday Book () – the Middle English spelling of "Doomsday Book" – is a manuscript record of the "Great Survey" of much of England and parts of Wales completed in 1086 by order of King William I, known as William the Conqueror. The manusc ... of 1086. References External links * * Villages in Mid Devon District {{Devon-geo-stub ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Northam, Devon
Northam () is a market town, civil parish and electoral ward in Devon, England, lying north of Bideford. The civil parish also includes the villages of Westward Ho!, Appledore, West Appledore, Diddywell, Buckleigh and Silford, and the residential areas of Orchard Hill and Raleigh Estate. The population at the 2011 census was 5,427. History Northam is thought to have been the site of an Anglo-Saxon earthwork fortification, and an area between Northam and Appledore is conjectured to have been where the Danish Viking Ubba (or Hubba) was repelled during the reign of Alfred the Great. This is commemorated in local place names like Bloody Corner and Hubba's Rock (or Hubbleston), which is supposed to be the site where Ubba was killed. It was also the site of the Battle of Northam in 1069 where the sons of Harold Godwinson were defeated. St Margaret's church is the Anglican parish church for the town and has been a Grade I listed building since 1951. In 1832 a meeting was held in Nor ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
River Torridge
The River Torridge is a river in Devon in England; it rises near Meddon. The river describes a long loop through Devon farming country where its tributaries the Lew and Okement join before meeting the Taw at Appledore and flowing into the Bristol Channel. The river is spate dependent and often flows between wooded banks which can be steep. The Torridge local government district is named after the river. It was the home of Tarka the Otter in Henry Williamson's book. Route The river rises close to the border with Cornwall (north of the source of the River Tamar). Its two primary sources are Seckington Water, which rises near Baxworthy Cross, and Clifford Water, the longer of the two, which rises alongside the A39 at Higher Clovelly. These run south and join to form the Torridge at Huddisford. It then flows generally east, passing between East Putford and West Putford, and near Bradford it is joined by the River Waldon, then heads east past Black Torrington and Sheepwash ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
