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Runnymede (house)
Runnymede is a water-meadow alongside the River Thames in the English county of Surrey, and just over west of central London. It is notable for its association with the sealing of Magna Carta, and as a consequence is, with its adjoining hillside, the site of memorials. Runnymede Borough is named after the area, Runnymede being at its northernmost point. Topography The name Runnymede refers to land in public and National Trust ownership in the Thames flood plain south-west of the river between Old Windsor and Egham. The area includes (to the west of A308 road) the Long Mede and Runnymede, which together with Coopers Hill Slopes is managed by the National Trust. There is also a narrower strip of land, east of the road and west of the river, known as the Yard Mede. On the west bank of the river, at the southern end of the area shown on the above map, are (inter alia): a recreational area with a large car park; a number of private homes; a large distribution centre; a ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Water-meadow
A water-meadow (also water meadow or watermeadow) is an area of grassland subject to controlled irrigation to increase agricultural productivity. Water-meadows were mainly used in Europe from the 16th to the early 20th centuries. Working water-meadows have now largely disappeared, but the field patterns and water channels of derelict water-meadows remain common in areas where they were used, such as parts of Northern Italy, Switzerland and England. Derelict water-meadows are often of importance as wetland wildlife habitats. Water-meadows should not be confused with flood-meadows, which are naturally covered in shallow water by seasonal flooding from a river. "Water-meadow" is sometimes used more loosely to mean any level grassland beside a river. Types Two main types of water-meadow were used. Catchwork water-meadow These were used for fields on slopes, and relatively little engineering skill was required to construct them. Water from a stream or spring was fed to the top o ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ankerwycke Yew
The Ankerwycke Yew is an ancient yew tree close to the ruins of St Mary's Priory, the site of a Benedictine nunnery built in the 12th century, near Wraysbury in Berkshire, England. It is a male tree with a girth of at 0.3 metres. The tree is at least 1,400 years old, and could be as old as 2,500 years. On the opposite bank of the River Thames are the meadows of Runnymede and this tree is said to have been witness to the signing of ''Magna Carta''. The tree is also said to be the location where Henry VIII courted Anne Boleyn in the 1530s. There is some justification for the theory that the Ankerwycke Yew could be "the last surviving witness to the sealing of the ''Magna Carta'' 800 years ago". "In the 13th century, the landscape would have been different as the area was probably rather marshy as it was within the flood plain of the Thames. The Ankerwycke Yew is on a slightly raised area of land (therefore dry) and with the proximity of the Priory perhaps both lend some credi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Lady Fairhaven
Urban Hanlon Broughton (12 April 1857 – 30 January 1929) was an English civil engineer who went to work in the United States, married an American heiress, returned to England and was for three-and-a-half years a Conservative Member of Parliament. In 1928 he donated Ashridge House to the Conservative Party and in 1929 he was in line for elevation to the peerage, but he died before the honour was bestowed. His wife, Cara Leland (née Rogers), Broughton was granted the style of a baron's wife and their eldest son was created the first Baron Fairhaven. Early life Broughton was born in Worcester, England on 12 April 1857, the son of railway manager John Broughton and Abigail Elizabeth (née O'Hanlon) Broughton. The family moved around as John Broughton worked for different railway companies, living in Lapworth, Warwickshire and, later, Ireland. In the 1860s, John and Elizabeth Broughton spent six years in India, leaving their children with relatives of Elizabeth in Ireland. ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Windsor Great Park
Windsor Great Park is a Royal Park of , including a deer park, to the south of the town of Windsor on the border of Berkshire and Surrey in England. It is adjacent to the private Home Park, which is nearer the castle. The park was, for many centuries, the private hunting ground of Windsor Castle and dates primarily from the mid-13th century. Historically the park covered an area many times the current size known as Windsor Forest, Windsor Royal Park or its current name. The only royal park not managed by The Royal Parks, the park is managed and funded by the Crown Estate. Most parts of the park are open to the public, free of charge, from dawn to dusk, although there is a charge to enter Savill Garden. Except for a brief period of privatisation by Oliver Cromwell to pay for the English Civil War, the area remained the personal property of the monarch until the reign of George III when control over all Crown lands was handed over to Parliament. The Park is owned and administer ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
John Of England
John (24 December 1166 – 19 October 1216) was King of England from 1199 until his death in 1216. He lost the Duchy of Normandy and most of his other French lands to King Philip II of France, resulting in the collapse of the Angevin Empire and contributing to the subsequent growth in power of the French Capetian dynasty during the 13th century. The baronial revolt at the end of John's reign led to the sealing of , a document considered an early step in the evolution of the constitution of the United Kingdom. John was the youngest of the four surviving sons of King Henry II of England and Duchess Eleanor of Aquitaine. He was nicknamed John Lackland because he was not expected to inherit significant lands. He became Henry's favourite child following the failed revolt of 1173–1174 by his brothers Henry the Young King, Richard, and Geoffrey against the King. John was appointed Lord of Ireland in 1177 and given lands in England and on the continent. He unsuccessfully att ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Parliament Of England
The Parliament of England was the legislature of the Kingdom of England from the 13th century until 1707 when it was replaced by the Parliament of Great Britain. Parliament evolved from the great council of bishops and peers that advised the English monarch. Great councils were first called Parliaments during the reign of Henry III (). By this time, the king required Parliament's consent to levy taxation. Originally a unicameral body, a bicameral Parliament emerged when its membership was divided into the House of Lords and House of Commons, which included knights of the shire and burgesses. During Henry IV's time on the throne, the role of Parliament expanded beyond the determination of taxation policy to include the "redress of grievances," which essentially enabled English citizens to petition the body to address complaints in their local towns and counties. By this time, citizens were given the power to vote to elect their representatives—the burgesses—to the H ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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 ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Witenagemot
The Witan () was the king's council in Anglo-Saxon England from before the seventh century until the 11th century. It was composed of the leading magnates, both ecclesiastic and secular, and meetings of the council were sometimes called the Witenagemot. Its primary function was to advise the king on subjects such as promulgation of laws, judicial judgments, approval of charters transferring land, settlement of disputes, election of archbishops and bishops and other matters of major national importance. The witan also had to elect and approve the appointment of a new king. Its membership was composed of the most important noblemen, including ealdormen, thegns, and senior clergy. Terminology The terms and are increasingly avoided by modern historians, although few would go as far as Geoffrey Hindley, who described as an "essentially Victorian" coinage. ''The Blackwell Encyclopaedia of Anglo-Saxon England'' prefers 'King's Council', but adds that it was known in Old English as t ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
English Place-Name Society
The English Place-Name Society (EPNS) is a learned society concerned with toponomastics and the toponymy of England, in other words, the study of place-names (toponyms). Its scholars aim to explain the origin and history of the names they study, taking into account factors such as the meaning of the elements out of which they were created (whether from the principal endemic tongues Old English, early Welsh, Danish, Norwegian, Cornish, Latin, Norman French – or others); the topography, geology and ecology of the places bearing the names; and the general and local history and culture of England. History In 1922 Professor Allen Mawer read a paper to the British Academy about setting up an English place-name survey. He obtained the formal and financial support of the Academy. Within a year he had brought into being a society composed of interested persons, provided it with a constitution and laid down the lines of its future conduct. The headquarters of the Society were fi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Middle English
Middle English (abbreviated to ME) is a form of the English language that was spoken after the Norman conquest of 1066, until the late 15th century. The English language underwent distinct variations and developments following the Old English period. Scholarly opinion varies, but the ''Oxford English Dictionary'' specifies the period when Middle English was spoken as being from 1150 to 1500. This stage of the development of the English language roughly followed the High to the Late Middle Ages. Middle English saw significant changes to its vocabulary, grammar, pronunciation, and orthography. Writing conventions during the Middle English period varied widely. Examples of writing from this period that have survived show extensive regional variation. The more standardized Old English language became fragmented, localized, and was, for the most part, being improvised. By the end of the period (about 1470) and aided by the invention of the printing press by Johannes Gutenberg in 14 ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Staines-upon-Thames
Staines-upon-Thames is a market town in northwest Surrey, England, around west of central London. It is in the Borough of Spelthorne, at the confluence of the River Thames and Colne. Historically part of Middlesex, the town was transferred to Surrey in 1965. Staines is close to Heathrow Airport and is linked to the national motorway network by the M25 and M3. The earliest evidence of human activity in the area is from the Paleolithic and, during the Neolithic, there was a causewayed enclosure on Staines Moor. The first bridge across the Thames at Staines is thought to have been built by the Romans and there was a settlement in the area around the modern High Street by the end of the 1st century CE. Throughout the middle ages, Staines was primarily an agricultural settlement and was held by Westminster Abbey. The first surviving record of a market is from 1218, but one may have taken place near St Mary's Church in the Anglo-Saxon period. The industrialisation of Staines ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Crossings Of The River Thames
The River Thames is the second-longest river in the United Kingdom, passes through the capital city, and has many crossings. Counting every channel – such as by its islands linked to only one bank – it is crossed by over 300 bridges. If taking cuts – excavated channels – to be measurements of river, its course west of Tilbury, traversing has 27 tunnels, six public ferries, one cable car link, and one ford. From end to end a channel of the Thames can be seen, mostly its main flow, which is passed over by 138 bridges. These are listed here with 2 former bridges and a seasonal festival bridge. Over 162 other bridges link to such places as typical or man-made islands or across an array of corollary and lesser side channels (backwaters), particularly in and around Oxford and the non-village channel of Ashton Keynes — these are not listed. The river's lower estuary is shallow – but wide – and has no crossing east of Tilbury, the ea ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
