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The Swale
The Swale is a tidal channel of the Thames estuary that separates the Isle of Sheppey from the rest of Kent. On its banks is a biological Site of Special Scientific Interest which stretches from Sittingbourne to Whitstable in Kent. It is also a Ramsar internationally important wetland site and a Special Protection Area under the European Union Directive on the Conservation of Wild Birds. Parts of it are a Nature Conservation Review site, Grade I, National Nature Reserves, a Kent Wildlife Trust nature reserve and a Local Nature Reserve. History The name "Swale" is Old English in origin, and is believed to mean "swirling, rushing river", or "rushing water". Peri-glacial period At these times the Swale was a gully from what had been a sea channel in very warm periods. Namely before the Strait of Dover had swept away so much swampy land, accentuated by sea levels being lower, even to beyond the end of the ice age, i.e. in the mid seventh millennium BC, the coasts of Essex ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ramsar Convention
The Ramsar Convention on Wetlands of International Importance Especially as Waterfowl Habitat is an international treaty for the conservation and sustainable use of Ramsar sites (wetlands). It is also known as the Convention on Wetlands. It is named after the city of Ramsar in Iran, where the convention was signed in 1971. Every three years, representatives of the contracting parties meet as the Conference of the Contracting Parties (COP), the policy-making organ of the convention which adopts decisions (resolutions and recommendations) to administer the work of the convention and improve the way in which the parties are able to implement its objectives. COP12 was held in Punta del Este, Uruguay, in 2015. COP13 was held in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, in October 2018. List of wetlands of international importance The list of wetlands of international importance included 2,331 Ramsar sites in May 2018 covering over . The countries with most sites are the United Kingdo ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Oxford University Press
Oxford University Press (OUP) is the university press of the University of Oxford. It is the largest university press in the world, and its printing history dates back to the 1480s. Having been officially granted the legal right to print books by decree in 1586, it is the second oldest university press after Cambridge University Press. It is a department of the University of Oxford and is governed by a group of 15 academics known as the Delegates of the Press, who are appointed by the vice-chancellor of the University of Oxford. The Delegates of the Press are led by the Secretary to the Delegates, who serves as OUP's chief executive and as its major representative on other university bodies. Oxford University Press has had a similar governance structure since the 17th century. The press is located on Walton Street, Oxford, opposite Somerville College, in the inner suburb of Jericho. For the last 500 years, OUP has primarily focused on the publication of pedagogical texts and ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Sheppey Crossing
The Sheppey Crossing is a bridge which carries the A249 road across The Swale (a tidal strait of the Thames Estuary), linking the Isle of Sheppey with the mainland of Kent. The four-lane crossing measures 21.5 m (71 feet) in width, at a height of 35 m (115 feet) over the water. The A249 links the M20 and M2 motorways to Sheppey. The bridge opened in 2006, and it provides an alternative highway to the neighbouring Kingsferry Bridge that was completed in 1959. The Sheppey Crossing is not open to pedestrians, bicycles, or horses, and these continue to use the older bridge, as does the railway line to Sheerness. Both bridges are monitored by an automatic number plate recognition (ANPR) system to detect lawbreaking vehicles. Construction The bridge was constructed as part of a £100 million plan to improve the A249 between the M2 and the port of Sheerness. The Kingsferry Bridge, which previously carried the A249, suffers from two major drawbacks: It has only one lane in each dire ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Kingsferry Bridge
The Kingsferry Bridge is a combined road and railway vertical-lift bridge which connects the Isle of Sheppey to mainland Kent in South East England. The seven-span bridge has a central lifting span which allows ships to pass. In 1860, the first bridge on this site was constructed for the London, Chatham & Dover Railway Company on their line between Kent and the port of Sheerness. Originally a bascule bridge, it opened to allow large vessels to navigate past and not obstruct maritime traffic on the Swale. On 17 December 1922, the Norwegian cargo ship collided with the bridge; it was repaired and returned to service after 10 months. The bascule bridge was closed in the 1950s and was replaced by the present Kingsferry Bridge. The new bridge was designed by Mott, Hay and Anderson, and constructed by John Howard, in conjunction with Dorman Long and Sir William Arrol & Co. Swale railway station is at the southern end of the bridge. When opened, the structure carried the A249; up to ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Elmley
Elmley is the local name for the Isle of Elmley, part of the Isle of Sheppey in Kent, England. It was also the name of a very late 19th century industrial village on the isle. Edward Hasted describes, in 1798, the isle as two-eighths of the Isle of Sheppey (in turn) estimated as 11 miles by 8 miles. Its present national nature reserve covers more than the easily traceable area of the former isle by extending to the east, over Windmill Creek, one of two Sheppey inlets, former internal tidal channels. History The village was a settlement and area that fluctuated between 1640 and up to 2341 acres by definition. The former civil parish at its height as recorded by decennial censuses had 219 residents at the 1891 census, falling to 50 in twenty years and to 8 in 1961, shortly before its abolition. It consisted of the Turkey Cement Works, which was the major employer for the area, as well as a school, a church, a public house and 30 dwellings. The ailing cement works closed in 1902 and ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Murston
Murston is a suburb of Sittingbourne in Kent, England. It is about 1 mile north-east of central Sittingbourne, on the east bank of the Milton Creek. History According to Edward Hasted in 1798, it was once called 'Muston'. The parish contains about 1000 acres of land, of which about 30 are used as woodland. North of the village are salt marshes that suffer from winter fogs and are foul-smelling. In 1870-72, John Marius Wilson's Imperial Gazetteer of England and Wales, referred to Murston having a post office (under Sittingbourne control) and a quay and several docks on the creek. It also comprised 1,317 acres of land, and 145 acres of water. The population in 1851 was 191 and then in 1861, it rose to 572. There was a ferry over the Swale to Elmley. The older records, mention the Manor of 'Herst Hall'. King Richard I, while at the Siege of Acon in Palestine, was assisted by 'Bartholomew de Murston' of the manor. Later, John de Murston became owner of the manor, during the reign of ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Oare, Kent
Oare is a village and civil parish north of Davington, Faversham in southeast England. It is separated from Faversham by the Oare Creek. To the north of the village are the Oare Marshes, and the Harty Ferry which once linked to Harty on the Isle of Sheppey. Kent Wildlife Trust manages a nature reserve that is an important stopping place for migratory birds. According to Edward Hasted, in 1798, it was part of the hundred of Faversham. It was once anciently recorded as 'Ore'. Meaning fenny or marshy place in the Saxon language. The manor of Oare belonged to Odo, Earl of Kent (as the Bishop of Bayeux) and was noted so in the Domesday book. After Odo's trial for fraud, the manor passed to the Arnulf Kade who gave it to the Knights Hospitallers. During Edward VI's reign, it passed to Lord Clinton (a relative of Edward Clinton, Lord Clinton). Historically, Oare was the southern terminus of the Harty Ferry, which ran across the Swale channel between the then Isle of Harty and the ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Harty
Harty is a small hamlet on the Isle of Sheppey in Kent consisting of a few cottages, a church and a public house, the Ferry Inn (a ). It is part of the civil parish of Leysdown. History The earliest recorded evidence of human occupation comes from a late Bronze Age hoard of axes, gouged bronze founder's appliances and metal. The find has wider importance from the information it gives into methods used for casting in the late Bronze Age. Evidence of Roman occupation also exists; finds of tesserae, roof and flue tiles may indicate the site of a Roman villa. During the Middle Ages there were extensive salt workings. Remains today consist of groups of ''salt mounds'' which are the waste left over from the process. Park Farmhouse is a dating from the 16 century. In 1798 Edward Hasted recorded that an earlier form of the name was 'Harteigh' which he presumes came from the Saxon Heord-tu, an island "filled with herds of cattle". Other forms of the name have been Hertei (10 ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ancient Rome
In modern historiography, ancient Rome refers to Roman civilisation from the founding of the city of Rome in the 8th century BC to the collapse of the Western Roman Empire in the 5th century AD. It encompasses the Roman Kingdom (753–509 BC), Roman Republic (509–27 BC) and Roman Empire (27 BC–476 AD) until the fall of the western empire. Ancient Rome began as an Italic settlement, traditionally dated to 753 BC, beside the River Tiber in the Italian Peninsula. The settlement grew into the city and polity of Rome, and came to control its neighbours through a combination of treaties and military strength. It eventually dominated the Italian Peninsula, assimilated the Greek culture of southern Italy ( Magna Grecia) and the Etruscan culture and acquired an Empire that took in much of Europe and the lands and peoples surrounding the Mediterranean Sea. It was among the largest empires in the ancient world, with an estimated 50 to 90 million inhabitants, roughly 20% of t ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
River Medway
The River Medway is a river in South East England. It rises in the High Weald AONB, High Weald, East Sussex and flows through Tonbridge, Maidstone and the Medway conurbation in Kent, before emptying into the Thames Estuary near Sheerness, a total distance of . About of the river lies in East Sussex, with the remainder being in Kent. It has a Drainage basin, catchment area of , the second largest in southern England after the River Thames, Thames. The map opposite shows only the major tributaries: a more detailed map shows the extensive network of smaller streams feeding into the main river. Those tributaries rise from points along the North Downs, the Weald and Ashdown Forest. Tributaries The major tributaries are: * River Eden, Kent, River Eden * River Bourne, Kent, River Bourne, known in the past as the Shode or Busty * River Teise, major sub-tributary River Bewl * River Beult * Loose Stream * River Len Minor tributaries include: * Wateringbury Stream * East Malling St ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
North Sea
The North Sea lies between Great Britain, Norway, Denmark, Germany, the Netherlands and Belgium. An epeiric sea on the European continental shelf, it connects to the Atlantic Ocean through the English Channel in the south and the Norwegian Sea in the north. It is more than long and wide, covering . It hosts key north European shipping lanes and is a major fishery. The coast is a popular destination for recreation and tourism in bordering countries, and a rich source of energy resources, including wind and wave power. The North Sea has featured prominently in geopolitical and military affairs, particularly in Northern Europe, from the Middle Ages to the modern era. It was also important globally through the power northern Europeans projected worldwide during much of the Middle Ages and into the modern era. The North Sea was the centre of the Vikings' rise. The Hanseatic League, the Dutch Republic, and the British each sought to gain command of the North Sea and access t ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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