Bridgwater, Somerset
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Bridgwater, Somerset
Bridgwater is a large historic market town and civil parish in Somerset, England. Its population currently stands at around 41,276 as of 2022. Bridgwater is at the edge of the Somerset Levels, in level and well-wooded country. The town lies along both sides of the River Parrett; it has been a major inland port and trading centre since the industrial revolution. Most of its industrial bases still stand today. Its larger neighbour, Taunton, is linked to Bridgwater via a canal, the M5 motorway and the GWR railway line. Historically, the town had a politically radical tendency. The Battle of Sedgemoor, where the Monmouth Rebellion was finally crushed in 1685, was fought nearby. Notable buildings include the Church of St Mary and Blake Museum, which is a largely restored house in Blake Street and was the birthplace of Admiral Blake in 1598. The town has an arts centre and plays host to the annual Bridgwater Guy Fawkes Carnival. Etymology It is thought that the town was originally ...
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Corn Exchange, Bridgwater
The Corn Exchange and market house in Bridgwater, Somerset, England was built in 1834 by John Bowen and extended in 1875, by Charles Knowles. It has been designated as a Grade I listed building. The original market hall, which dates from 1791, is fronted by a circular portico with a domed roof with Tuscan pillars. The distinctive portico was added after the north and south sides of the corn market were demolished for road widening in 1825. It was originally surrounded by railings to separate the livestock from the food produce. The railings were removed in 1895. In front of the building is a statue of Robert Blake who was born in the town. The statue was made in 1898 by F. W. Pomeroy and has since been repositioned to face down Cornhill. See also * Corn exchange * Corn exchanges in England * Grade I listed buildings in Sedgemoor Sedgemoor is a local government district in the English county of Somerset. In the United Kingdom, the term listed building refers to a building ...
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Quay
A wharf, quay (, also ), staith, or staithe is a structure on the shore of a harbour or on the bank of a river or canal where ships may dock to load and unload cargo or passengers. Such a structure includes one or more berths (mooring locations), and may also include piers, warehouses, or other facilities necessary for handling the ships. Wharves are often considered to be a series of docks at which boats are stationed. Overview A wharf commonly comprises a fixed platform, often on pilings. Commercial ports may have warehouses that serve as interim storage: where it is sufficient a single wharf with a single berth constructed along the land adjacent to the water is normally used; where there is a need for more capacity multiple wharves, or perhaps a single large wharf with multiple berths, will instead be constructed, sometimes projecting over the water. A pier, raised over the water rather than within it, is commonly used for cases where the weight or volume of cargos will be ...
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William Brewer (justice)
William Brewer (''alias'' Briwere, Brigwer, etc.) (died 1226) of Tor Brewer in Devon, was a prominent administrator and judge in England during the reigns of kings Richard I, his brother King John, and John's son Henry III. He was a major landholder and the founder of several religious institutions. In 1204, he acquired the feudal barony of Horsley in Derbyshire. Biography Brewer's ancestry is unclear, but he was probably the son of Henry Brewer and the grandson of William Brewer, Royal Forester of Bere, Hampshire, who founded the nunnery of Polsloe in Exeter. William Brewer, Bishop of Exeter, was one of his nephews. He began his career as Forester of Bere, a hereditary title, and by 1179 had been appointed Sheriff of Devon. Under King Richard I (1189–1199) he was one of the justiciars appointed to administer the kingdom while the king was on the Third Crusade. He was present at Worms, Germany, in 1193 to aid in the negotiations for the ransom of King Richard. In about 11 ...
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Cannington, Somerset
Cannington is a village and civil parish northwest of Bridgwater in the Sedgemoor district of Somerset, England. It lies on the west bank of the River Parret, and contains the hamlet of Edstock. History The parish formerly included part of the village of Combwich, with its port and ferry terminal. In 1881 the parish contained . The Saxon name of this village was ''Caninganmaersees'' or ''Cantuctone''. ''Cantuc'' was an Old English word for a ridge, ''ton'' a settlement. The Battle of Cynwit took place in 878, and Cannington Camp, a Bronze Age and Iron Age hill fort, (also called Cynwir or Cynwit Castle) has been suggested as the most likely location for it. The Cannington Camp site, of recognized archaeological importance, has been partly destroyed by Castle Hill Quarry in its limestone quarrying activities. It was the site of a Benedictine nunnery, founded by Robert de Courcy about 1140, which survived until the dissolution of the monasteries. The nunnery owned significant l ...
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Battle Of Cynwit
The Battle of Cynwit, was a battle between West Saxons and Vikings in 878 at a fort which Asser calls ''Cynwit''. The location of the battle is not known for sure but probably was at Countisbury Hill, near Countisbury, Devon. Prelude The Viking army, by tradition, led by Ubba brother of Ivar the Boneless and Halfdan Ragnarsson. Sailed from Dyfed (where they had overwintered) and landed on the coast at Countisbury with 23 ships and twelve hundred men. On landing the Viking army discovered that the West Saxons had taken refuge in a stronghold at ''Cynuit'' (Countisbury?), they perceived that the stronghold was unprepared for battle and decided to besiege it instead, particularly as the stronghold did not seem to have any food or water supply. The battle According to Asser (Alfred's biographer) the West Saxons burst out of the fortress, one day, at dawn and were able to overwhelm the Viking forces killing their leader and over eight hundred of his men. They also captured the fa ...
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Denmark
) , song = ( en, "King Christian stood by the lofty mast") , song_type = National and royal anthem , image_map = EU-Denmark.svg , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Danish Realm, Kingdom of Denmark , established_title = History of Denmark#Middle ages, Consolidation , established_date = 8th century , established_title2 = Christianization , established_date2 = 965 , established_title3 = , established_date3 = 5 June 1849 , established_title4 = Faroese home rule , established_date4 = 24 March 1948 , established_title5 = European Economic Community, EEC 1973 enlargement of the European Communities, accession , established_date5 = 1 January 1973 , established_title6 = Greenlandic home rule , established_date6 = 1 May 1979 , official_languages = Danish language, Danish , languages_type = Regional languages , languages_sub = yes , languages = German language, GermanGerman is recognised as a protected minority language in t ...
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Athelney
Athelney is a village located between the villages of Burrowbridge and East Lyng in the Sedgemoor district of Somerset, England. The name is believed to be derived from the Old English '' æþeling'' meaning "prince" + -''ey'' meaning "isle". The village is best known for once being the fortress hiding place of King Alfred the Great, from where he went on to defeat the Great Heathen Army at the Battle of Edington in May 878. Isle of Athelney The area is known as the Isle of Athelney, because it was once a very low isolated island in the 'very great swampy and impassable marshes' of the Somerset Levels. Much of the Levels are below the level of high tide. They are now drained for agricultural use during the summer, but are regularly flooded in the winter. Archaeological excavations and written evidence indicate that at the time of Alfred the island was linked by a causeway, known as Balt Moor Wall, to East Lyng, with either end protected by a semi-circular stockade and ditc ...
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Alfred The Great
Alfred the Great (alt. Ælfred 848/849 – 26 October 899) was King of the West Saxons from 871 to 886, and King of the Anglo-Saxons from 886 until his death in 899. He was the youngest son of King Æthelwulf and his first wife Osburh, who both died when Alfred was young. Three of Alfred's brothers, Æthelbald, Æthelberht and Æthelred, reigned in turn before him. Under Alfred's rule, considerable administrative and military reforms were introduced, prompting lasting change in England. After ascending the throne, Alfred spent several years fighting Viking invasions. He won a decisive victory in the Battle of Edington in 878 and made an agreement with the Vikings, dividing England between Anglo-Saxon territory and the Viking-ruled Danelaw, composed of northern England, the north-east Midlands and East Anglia. Alfred also oversaw the conversion of Viking leader Guthrum to Christianity. He defended his kingdom against the Viking attempt at conquest, becoming the dominant ruler ...
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North Petherton (hundred)
The Hundred of North Petherton is one of the 40 historical Hundreds in the ceremonial county of Somerset, England, dating from before the Norman conquest. Although the Hundreds have never been formally abolished, their functions ended with the establishment of county courts in 1867 and the introduction of districts by the Local Government Act 1894. The name of the hundred derives from the name of the large royal estate (later expanded by Henry II to become the Royal Forest of North Petherton) that covered much of the area in 1086, recorded variously as ''Nortpetret'' in the Domesday Book, ''Nortpedret'' in Liber Exoniensis and ''Nort Peretu'' in the associated tax returns.Somerset Introduc ...
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Anglo-Saxon Chronicle
The ''Anglo-Saxon Chronicle'' is a collection of annals in Old English, chronicling the history of the Anglo-Saxons. The original manuscript of the ''Chronicle'' was created late in the 9th century, probably in Wessex, during the reign of Alfred the Great (r. 871–899). Multiple copies were made of that one original and then distributed to monasteries across England, where they were independently updated. In one case, the ''Chronicle'' was still being actively updated in 1154. Nine manuscripts survive in whole or in part, though not all are of equal historical value and none of them is the original version. The oldest seems to have been started towards the end of Alfred's reign, while the most recent was written at Peterborough Abbey after a fire at that monastery in 1116. Almost all of the material in the ''Chronicle'' is in the form of annals, by year; the earliest are dated at 60 BC (the annals' date for Caesar's invasions of Britain), and historical material follows up t ...
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Walter Of Douai
Walter of Douai (Old Norman: ''Wautier de Douai'') (born c.1046, died: c.1107) was a Norman knight, probably at the Battle of Hastings, and a major landowner in South West England after the Norman Conquest, being feudal baron of Bampton in Devon and of Castle Cary in Somerset. He is given various names and titles in different sources including: Walter (or Walschin or Walscin) de Douai. Douai is sometimes written as Dowai. He has also been called Gautier de Douai and later Walter the Fleming. Family Walter was the son of Urso of Douai, that was then a fiefdom of the counts of Flanders and now is a commune in the Nord département in northern France. Located on the river Scarpe some 40 km from Lille and 25 km from Arras. He married Emma (or Eddeva) of Devon, and may have had two children: Richilde de Douai and Ralph (of Tintinhull) Lovel. He also had a second wife. His son Robert built Bampton Castle in Devon.Dunning, 1995 page 32-33 Norman Conquest Walter likely fou ...
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Normans
The Normans (Norman language, Norman: ''Normaunds''; french: Normands; la, Nortmanni/Normanni) were a population arising in the medieval Duchy of Normandy from the intermingling between Norsemen, Norse Viking settlers and indigenous West Francia, West Franks and Gallo-Roman culture, Gallo-Romans. The term is also used to denote emigrants from the duchy who conquered other territories such as England and Sicily. The Norse settlements in West Francia followed a series of raids on the French northern coast mainly from Denmark, although some also sailed from Norway and Sweden. These settlements were finally legitimized when Rollo, a Scandinavian Viking leader, agreed to swear fealty to Charles the Simple, King Charles III of West Francia following the Siege of Chartres (911), siege of Chartres in 911. The intermingling in Normandy produced an Ethnic group, ethnic and cultural "Norman" identity in the first half of the 10th century, an identity which continued to evolve over the ce ...
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