Brooke Park
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Brooke Park
Brooke Park is a 3.88 acre (1.57 ha) Victorian park in the centre of Derry, Northern Ireland. The park contains many amenities, including a café, children's playground and football pitch, as well as a statue of Sir Robert Ferguson. After a period of decline and disrepair, the park was part of a £5.6 million restoration project and reopened in 2017. History The history of the park dates back to the opening of the Gwyn's Institute, an orphanage, in 1840. The institute was made possible by John Gwyn, a local linen merchant, who bequeathed £40,000 (over £4.5 million in 2021) in his will to the establishment of an orphanage. The grounds of the orphanage included formal grass terraces, a pond, rose garden, shrubberies and boundary planting, a kitchen garden and orchards. By the end of the 19th century most of the children cared for at the orphanage were in boarding schools and so the institute closed. At that point the grounds were acquired to fulfil another philanthropist's will ...
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Victorian Era
In the history of the United Kingdom and the British Empire, the Victorian era was the period of Queen Victoria's reign, from 20 June 1837 until her death on 22 January 1901. The era followed the Georgian period and preceded the Edwardian period, and its later half overlaps with the first part of the '' Belle Époque'' era of Continental Europe. There was a strong religious drive for higher moral standards led by the nonconformist churches, such as the Methodists and the evangelical wing of the established Church of England. Ideologically, the Victorian era witnessed resistance to the rationalism that defined the Georgian period, and an increasing turn towards romanticism and even mysticism in religion, social values, and arts. This era saw a staggering amount of technological innovations that proved key to Britain's power and prosperity. Doctors started moving away from tradition and mysticism towards a science-based approach; medicine advanced thanks to the adoption ...
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Derry
Derry, officially Londonderry (), is the second-largest city in Northern Ireland and the fifth-largest city on the island of Ireland. The name ''Derry'' is an anglicisation of the Old Irish name (modern Irish: ) meaning 'oak grove'. The old walled city lies on the west bank of the River Foyle, which is spanned by two road bridges and one footbridge. The city now covers both banks (Cityside on the west and Waterside on the east). The population of the city was 83,652 at the 2001 Census, while the Derry Urban Area had a population of 90,736. The district administered by Derry City and Strabane District Council contains both Londonderry Port and City of Derry Airport. Derry is close to the border with County Donegal, with which it has had a close link for many centuries. The person traditionally seen as the founder of the original Derry is Saint , a holy man from , the old name for almost all of modern County Donegal, of which the west bank of the Foyle was a part before 1 ...
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Northern Ireland
Northern Ireland ( ga, Tuaisceart Éireann ; sco, label= Ulster-Scots, Norlin Airlann) is a part of the United Kingdom, situated in the north-east of the island of Ireland, that is variously described as a country, province or region. Northern Ireland shares an open border to the south and west with the Republic of Ireland. In 2021, its population was 1,903,100, making up about 27% of Ireland's population and about 3% of the UK's population. The Northern Ireland Assembly (colloquially referred to as Stormont after its location), established by the Northern Ireland Act 1998, holds responsibility for a range of devolved policy matters, while other areas are reserved for the UK Government. Northern Ireland cooperates with the Republic of Ireland in several areas. Northern Ireland was created in May 1921, when Ireland was partitioned by the Government of Ireland Act 1920, creating a devolved government for the six northeastern counties. As was intended, Northern Ireland ...
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Coffeehouse
A coffeehouse, coffee shop, or café is an establishment that primarily serves coffee of various types, notably espresso, latte, and cappuccino. Some coffeehouses may serve cold drinks, such as iced coffee and iced tea, as well as other non-caffeinated beverages. In continental Europe, cafés serve alcoholic drinks. A coffeehouse may also serve food, such as light snacks, sandwiches, muffins, fruit, or pastries. Coffeehouses range from owner-operated small businesses to large multinational corporations. Some coffeehouse chains operate on a franchise business model, with numerous branches across various countries around the world. While ''café'' may refer to a coffeehouse, the term "café" generally refers to a diner, British café (colloquially called a "caff"), "greasy spoon" (a small and inexpensive restaurant), transport café, teahouse or tea room, or other casual eating and drinking place. A coffeehouse may share some of the same characteristics of a bar or restaurant, ...
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Sir Robert Ferguson, 2nd Baronet
Sir Robert Alexander Ferguson, 2nd Baronet (26 December 1795 –13 March 1860) was a Whig and then Liberal Party politician from Ireland. Ferguson was born in Derry in 1796 as son of Sir Andrew Ferguson (1761–1808), a banker and mayor of Derry from 1796 to 1798, and Elizabeth, daughter of the Derry merchant Robert Alexander of Broom Hall, who was the brother of James Alexander, 1st Earl of Caledon. Ferguson succeeded to the baronetcy in July 1808, after his father was killed in accident on a bridge in Moville, County Donegal. Ferguson was educated at Trinity College, Cambridge, where he graduated MA in 1817. He was colonel of the County Militia and Lord Lieutenant of County Londonderry from 1840 to 1860. He lived at The Farm, County Londonderry. He was appointed High Sheriff of Donegal in 1818 and High Sheriff of Tyrone in 1825 and then elected as the Member of Parliament A member of parliament (MP) is the representative in parliament of the people who live in their ...
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John Gwyn (philanthropist)
John Gwyn (Muff, Co. Donegal 1755 – 1829 Derry) was a linen merchant and philanthropist. On his death he left a substantial bequest to establish a charity for the benefit of boys from poor families in and around Derry, which was duly set up in 1840 under the name of Gwyn's Institution. Biography John Gwyn was born in the village of Drumskellan, near Muff in County Donegal, a few miles from Derry. The date of his birth is unknown; his tombstone records that he died on 1 August 1829 "in his seventy-fourth year", implying that he was born in 1755 or 1756. His father William Gwyn was a tenant farmer. His mother's Christian name was Margaret; no record of her maiden surname is extant. William Gwyn died on 26 September 1766 "in the thirty-sixth year of his age"; at the time of John's birth William's age would therefore have been about twenty-five, and when William died John was a mere eleven years old. He was apparently the only surviving child; five siblings of his were buried in inf ...
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The Honourable The Irish Society
The Honourable The Irish SocietyIn full, the "Society of the Governor and Assistants, London, of the New Plantation in Ulster, within the Realm of Ireland". is a consortium of livery companies of the City of London established during the Plantation of Ulster to colonise County Londonderry. It was created in 1609 within the City of London Corporation, and incorporated in 1613 by royal charter of James I. In its first decades the society rebuilt the city of Derry and town of Coleraine, and for centuries it owned property and fishing rights near both towns. Some of the society's profits were used to develop the economy and infrastructure of the area, while some was returned to the London investors, and some used for charitable work. The society remains in existence as a "relatively small grant-giving charitable body", registered with the Charity Commission for England and Wales for "the promotion of any exclusively charitable purposes for the benefit of the community of the County ...
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King Edward VII
Edward VII (Albert Edward; 9 November 1841 – 6 May 1910) was King of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland and Emperor of India, from 22 January 1901 until his death in 1910. The second child and eldest son of Queen Victoria and Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha, and nicknamed "Bertie", Edward was related to royalty throughout Europe. He was Prince of Wales and heir apparent to the British throne for almost 60 years. During the long reign of his mother, he was largely excluded from political influence and came to personify the fashionable, leisured elite. He travelled throughout Britain performing ceremonial public duties and represented Britain on visits abroad. His tours of North America in 1860 and of the Indian subcontinent in 1875 proved popular successes, but despite public approval, his reputation as a playboy prince soured his relationship with his mother. As king, Edward played a role in the modernisation of the British Home Fleet and the reorgan ...
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Alexandra Of Denmark
Alexandra of Denmark (Alexandra Caroline Marie Charlotte Louise Julia; 1 December 1844 – 20 November 1925) was Queen of the United Kingdom and the British Dominions, and Empress of India, from 22 January 1901 to 6 May 1910 as the wife of King-Emperor Edward VII. Alexandra's family had been relatively obscure until 1852, when her father, Prince Christian of Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg-Glücksburg, was chosen with the consent of the major European powers to succeed his second cousin Frederick VII as king of Denmark. At the age of sixteen Alexandra was chosen as the future wife of Albert Edward, Prince of Wales, the son and heir apparent of Queen Victoria. The couple married eighteen months later in 1863, the year in which her father became king of Denmark as Christian IX and her brother was appointed king of Greece as George I. Alexandra was Princess of Wales from 1863 to 1901, the longest anyone has ever held that title, and became generally popular; her style of dress ...
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King George VI
George VI (Albert Frederick Arthur George; 14 December 1895 – 6 February 1952) was King of the United Kingdom and the Dominions of the British Commonwealth from 11 December 1936 until his death in 1952. He was also the last Emperor of India from 1936 until the British Raj was dissolved in August 1947, and the first Head of the Commonwealth following the London Declaration of 1949. The future George VI was born in the reign of his great-grandmother Queen Victoria; he was named Albert at birth after his great-grandfather Albert, Prince Consort, and was known as "Bertie" to his family and close friends. His father ascended the throne as George V in 1910. As the second son of the king, Albert was not expected to inherit the throne. He spent his early life in the shadow of his elder brother, Prince Edward, the heir apparent. Albert attended naval college as a teenager and served in the Royal Navy and Royal Air Force during the First World War. In 1920, he was made Duke of Yo ...
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Queen Elizabeth II
Elizabeth II (Elizabeth Alexandra Mary; 21 April 1926 – 8 September 2022) was Queen of the United Kingdom and other Commonwealth realms from 6 February 1952 until Death and state funeral of Elizabeth II, her death in 2022. She was queen regnant of List of sovereign states headed by Elizabeth II, 32 sovereign states during her lifetime, and was head of state of 15 realms at the time of her death. Her reign of 70 years and 214 days was the List of monarchs in Britain by length of reign, longest of any British monarch and the List of longest-reigning monarchs, longest verified reign of any female monarch in history. Elizabeth was born in Mayfair, London, as the first child of the Duke and Duchess of York (later King George VI and Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother). Her father acceded to the throne in 1936 upon Abdication of Edward VIII, the abdication of his brother Edward VIII, making the ten-year-old Princess Elizabeth the heir presumptive. She was educated privat ...
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Derry City Council
Derry City Council ( ga, Comhairle Cathrach Dhoire; Ulster-Scots: ''Derry Cittie Cooncil'') was the local government authority for the city of Derry in Northern Ireland. It merged with Strabane District Council in April 2015 under local government reorganisation to become Derry and Strabane District Council. The council provided services to nearly 108,000 people, making it the third-largest of the then 26 district councils in Northern Ireland by population. The council was made up of 30 councillors, elected every four years from five electoral areas and held its meetings in The Guildhall. The mayor for the final 2014–2015 term was Brenda Stevenson of the Social Democratic and Labour Party, with Gary Middleton of the Democratic Unionist Party serving as deputy mayor. History Londonderry City Council became Derry City Council in 1984 when it changed the name of the district it governed. The city itself retained the name "Londonderry". (See Derry/Londonderry name dispute.) Th ...
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