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Victoria Park, Bideford
Victoria Park is an urban park in Bideford, Devon, England. The park opened in 1912 to celebrate the reign of Queen Victoria, the gates erected for the opening are listed with Historic England. There is a bandstand surrounded by nine cannons and facilities including rugby and cricket. History The park opened in 1912 to celebrate Queen Victoria's reign. In 1944 an oak tree was planted to celebrate the good relations between the people of Bideford and US Army personnel who were stationed in the town between 1940 and 1944. Rose beds were dedicated to Princess Diana after her burial and in 2000 a Millennium Time Capsule was put in the ground near the entrance. Landmarks The gates and gate piers at the entrance to the park are Grade II listed with Historic England. They were erected in 1912 for the opening of the park and have scrollwork and foliage. In the centre of each gate there is a cartouche showing the borough insignia. On the East pier there is a plaque noting the opening of ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Urban Park
An urban park or metropolitan park, also known as a municipal park (North America) or a public park, public open space, or municipal gardens ( UK), is a park in cities and other incorporated places that offer recreation and green space to residents of, and visitors to, the municipality. The design, operation, and maintenance is usually done by government agencies, typically on the local level, but may occasionally be contracted out to a park conservancy, "friends of" group, or private sector company. Common features of municipal parks include playgrounds, gardens, hiking, running and fitness trails or paths, bridle paths, sports fields and courts, public restrooms, boat ramps, and/or picnic facilities, depending on the budget and natural features available. Park advocates claim that having parks near urban residents, including within a 10-minute walk, provide multiple benefits. History A park is an area of open space provided for recreational use, usually owned and maintain ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Bideford
Bideford ( ) is a historic port town on the estuary of the River Torridge in north Devon, south-west England. It is the main town of the Torridge local government district. Toponymy In ancient records Bideford is recorded as ''Bedeford'', ''Byddyfrod'', ''Bedyford'', ''Bydeford'', ''Bytheford'' and ''Biddeford''. The etymology of the name means "by the ford", and records show that before there was a bridge there was a ford at Bideford where River Torridge is estuarine, and at low tide, it is possible, but not advisable, to cross the river by wading on foot. The Welsh means "this is the way" or "this is the road" owing to the Celtic legacy of the Dumnonians and their common ancestry with the Welsh. History Early history Hubba the Dane was said to have attacked Devon in the area around Bideford near Northam or near Kenwith Castle, and was repelled by either Alfred the Great (849–899) or by the Saxon Earl of Devon. The manor of Bideford was recorded in the Domesday Book ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Queen Victoria
Victoria (Alexandrina Victoria; 24 May 1819 – 22 January 1901) was Queen of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland from 20 June 1837 until Death and state funeral of Queen Victoria, her death in 1901. Her reign of 63 years and 216 days was longer than that of List of monarchs in Britain by length of reign, any previous British monarch and is known as the Victorian era. It was a period of industrial, political, scientific, and military change within the United Kingdom, and was marked by a great expansion of the British Empire. In 1876, the British Parliament voted to grant her the additional title of Empress of India. Victoria was the daughter of Prince Edward, Duke of Kent and Strathearn (the fourth son of King George III), and Princess Victoria of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld. After the deaths of her father and grandfather in 1820, she was Kensington System, raised under close supervision by her mother and her comptroller, John Conroy. She inherited the throne aged 18 af ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Historic England
Historic England (officially the Historic Buildings and Monuments Commission for England) is an executive non-departmental public body of the British Government sponsored by the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport. It is tasked with protecting the historic environment of England by preserving and listing historic buildings, scheduling ancient monuments, registering historic Parks and Gardens and by advising central and local government. The body was officially created by the National Heritage Act 1983, and operated from April 1984 to April 2015 under the name of English Heritage. In 2015, following the changes to English Heritage's structure that moved the protection of the National Heritage Collection into the voluntary sector in the English Heritage Trust, the body that remained was rebranded as Historic England. The body also inherited the Historic England Archive from the old English Heritage, and projects linked to the archive such as Britain from Above, w ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Princess Diana
Diana, Princess of Wales (born Diana Frances Spencer; 1 July 1961 – 31 August 1997) was a member of the British royal family. She was the first wife of King Charles III (then Prince of Wales) and mother of Princes William and Harry. Her activism and glamour made her an international icon, and earned her enduring popularity, as well as almost unprecedented public scrutiny. Diana was born into the British nobility, and grew up close to the royal family on their Sandringham estate. In 1981, while working as a nursery teacher's assistant, she became engaged to the Prince of Wales, the eldest son of Queen Elizabeth II. Their wedding took place at St Paul's Cathedral in 1981 and made her Princess of Wales, a role in which she was enthusiastically received by the public. The couple had two sons, William and Harry, who were then second and third in the line of succession to the British throne. Diana's marriage to Charles suffered due to their incompatibility and extramarital af ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Pier (architecture)
A pier, in architecture, is an upright support for a structure or superstructure such as an arch or bridge. Sections of structural walls between openings (bays) can function as piers. External or free-standing walls may have piers at the ends or on corners. Description The simplest cross section of the pier is square, or rectangular, but other shapes are also common. In medieval architecture, massive circular supports called drum piers, cruciform (cross-shaped) piers, and compound piers are common architectural elements. Columns are a similar upright support, but stand on a round base. In buildings with a sequence of bays between piers, each opening (window or door) between two piers is considered a single bay. Bridge piers Single-span bridges have abutments at each end that support the weight of the bridge and serve as retaining walls to resist lateral movement of the earthen fill of the bridge approach. Multi-span bridges require piers to support the ends of spans betwe ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Cartouche
In Egyptian hieroglyphs, a cartouche is an oval with a line at one end tangent to it, indicating that the text enclosed is a royal name. The first examples of the cartouche are associated with pharaohs at the end of the Third Dynasty, but the feature did not come into common use until the beginning of the Fourth Dynasty under Pharaoh Sneferu. While the cartouche is usually vertical with a horizontal line, if it makes the name fit better it can be horizontal, with a vertical line at the end (in the direction of reading). The ancient Egyptian word for cartouche was , and the cartouche was essentially an expanded shen ring. Demotic script reduced the cartouche to a pair of brackets and a vertical line. Of the five royal titularies it was the ''prenomen'' (the throne name), and the "Son of Ra" titulary (the so-called '' nomen'' name given at birth), which were enclosed by a cartouche. At times amulets took the form of a cartouche displaying the name of a king and placed in tombs. ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Bandstand
A bandstand (sometimes music kiosk) is a circular, semicircular or polygonal structure set in a park, garden, pier, or indoor space, designed to accommodate musical bands performing concerts. A simple construction, it both creates an ornamental focal point and also serves acoustic requirements while providing shelter for the changeable weather, if outdoors. In form bandstands resemble ornamental European garden gazebos modeled on outdoor open-sided pavilions found in Asian countries from early times. Origins During the 18th and 19th centuries this type of performance building was found in the fashionable pleasure gardens of London and Paris where musicians played for guests dining and dancing. They were later built in public spaces in many countries as practical amenities for outdoor entertainment. Many bandstands in the United Kingdom originated in the Victorian era as the British brass band movement gained popularity. Smaller bandstands are often not much more than gaze ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Cannons
A cannon is a large-caliber gun classified as a type of artillery, which usually launches a projectile using explosive chemical propellant. Gunpowder ("black powder") was the primary propellant before the invention of smokeless powder during the late 19th century. Cannons vary in gauge, effective range, mobility, rate of fire, angle of fire and firepower; different forms of cannon combine and balance these attributes in varying degrees, depending on their intended use on the battlefield. A cannon is a type of heavy artillery weapon. The word ''cannon'' is derived from several languages, in which the original definition can usually be translated as ''tube'', ''cane'', or ''reed''. In the modern era, the term ''cannon'' has fallen into decline, replaced by ''guns'' or ''artillery'', if not a more specific term such as howitzer or mortar, except for high-caliber automatic weapons firing bigger rounds than machine guns, called autocannons. The earliest known depiction of cann ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Richard Grenville
Sir Richard Grenville (15 June 1542 – 10 September 1591), also spelt Greynvile, Greeneville, and Greenfield, was an English privateer and explorer. Grenville was lord of the manors of Stowe, Cornwall and Bideford, Devon. He subsequently participated in the plantations of Ireland, the English colonisation of the Americas and the repulse of the Spanish Armada. Grenville also served as Member of Parliament for Cornwall, High Sheriff for County Cork and Sheriff of Cornwall. In 1591, Grenville died at the battle of Flores fighting against an overwhelmingly larger Spanish fleet near the Azores. He and his crew on board the galleon fought against the 53-strong Spanish fleet to allow the other English ships to escape. Grenville was the grandfather of Sir Bevil Grenville, a prominent military officer during the English Civil War. Origins Richard Grenville was the eldest son and heir of Sir Roger Grenville (d. 1545), who was captain of when it sank in Portsmouth Harbour in 15 ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Action Off Bermuda (1585)
The action off Bermuda, also known as Grenville's action off the Bermuda's, was a minor naval engagement that took place off the island of Bermuda over three days in late August 1585 during the Anglo–Spanish War between an English galleass, ''Tiger'', and a larger Spanish galleon, ''Santa Maria de San Vicente''. ''Tiger'' was victorious when the Spanish ship surrendered after a severe bombardment.Marley (2008) p 116 Background In April 1585, English Admiral Richard Grenville was in charge of a seven-strong fleet that brought English settlers to establish a military colony on Roanoke Island. This had been founded by Sir Walter Raleigh, off the Western coast of North America (modern-day North Carolina).Quinn pp 85-86 War had already been declared by Philip II of Spain after the Treaty of Nonsuch in which Elizabeth I had offered her support to the Protestant Dutch rebels. In August the 160-ton English ship ''Tiger'' or ''Tyger'' of twenty two guns (which had been converted into a ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Spanish Armada
The Spanish Armada (a.k.a. the Enterprise of England, es, Grande y Felicísima Armada, links=no, lit=Great and Most Fortunate Navy) was a Spanish fleet that sailed from Lisbon in late May 1588, commanded by the Duke of Medina Sidonia, an aristocrat without previous naval experience appointed by Philip II of Spain. His orders were to sail up the English Channel, link up with the Duke of Parma in Flanders, and escort an invasion force that would land in England and overthrow Elizabeth I. Its purpose was to reinstate Catholicism in England, end support for the Dutch Republic, and prevent attacks by English and Dutch privateers against Spanish interests in the Americas. The Spanish were opposed by an English fleet based in Plymouth. Faster and more manoeuvrable than the larger Spanish galleons, they were able to attack the Armada as it sailed up the Channel. Several subordinates advised Medina Sidonia to anchor in The Solent and occupy the Isle of Wight, but he refused to devia ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
