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Aldworth
Aldworth is a village and mainly farmland civil parish in the English county of Berkshire, near the boundary with Oxfordshire. Orthography and slight change of name Aldworth was recorded in the Domesday Book of 1086 by scribes whose orthography was heavily geared towards French, lacking k and w, regulated forms for sounds ð and θ and ending many hard consonant words with e, as ''Elleorde'', hinting at El(d)ward, the Old English for ''Old Ward'' i.e. ''Old farmed out (let) land'' Scribes in the 12th century rendered it at least once as ''Aldewurda''. Geography Aldworth is in a rural area between Reading, Newbury and Streatley. It includes the hamlets of Westridge Green and Hungerford Green. It lies on the high ground of the Berkshire Downs, just off the B4009 road between Newbury and Streatley. The Ridgeway, an pre-Roman footpath crosses the north of the parish. History King Alfred's defeat of the Danes at the Battle of Ashdown in January 871, is said by some to hav ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Streatley, Berkshire
Streatley is a village and civil parishes in England, civil parish on the River Thames in Berkshire, England. The village faces Goring-on-Thames. The two places share in their shops, services, leisure, sports and much of their transport. Across the river is railway station and the village cluster adjoins Goring Lock, a lock and weir. The west of the village is a mixture of agriculture and woodland plus a golf course. The village has a riverside hotel. Much of Streatley is at steeply varying elevations, ranging from Ordnance datum, above ordnance datum (AOD) at Streatley Warren, a hilltop point on its western border forming the eastern end of the Berkshire Downs. This Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty is topped by the The Ridgeway path, which crosses the Thames at Goring and Streatley Bridge. Location Streatley is centred north-west of Reading, Berkshire, Reading and south of Oxford. Its developed area occupies half of the narrow Goring Gap on the River Thames and is directl ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Newbury, Berkshire
Newbury is a market town in West Berkshire, England, in the valley of the River Kennet. It is south of Oxford, north of Winchester, southeast of Swindon and west of Reading, Berkshire, Reading. It is also where West Berkshire Council is headquartered. Newbury lies on the edge of the Berkshire Downs, part of the North Wessex Downs Area of outstanding natural beauty, north of the Hampshire–Berkshire county boundary. In the suburban village of Donnington, Berkshire, Donnington lies the part-ruined Donnington Castle and the surrounding hills are home to some of the country's most famous racehorse training grounds (centred on nearby Lambourn). To the south is a narrower range of hills including Walbury Hill and a few private landscape gardens and mansions, such as Highclere Castle. The local economy is inter-related to that of the eastern M4 corridor, which has most of its industrial, logistical and research businesses close to Newbury, mostly around Reading, Berkshire, Readin ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
King Alfred
Alfred the Great ( ; – 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 Scandinavian York, 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 in Eng ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Battle Of Ashdown
The Battle of Ashdown was a West Saxon victory over a Danish Viking army on about 8 January 871. The location of Ashdown is not known, but may be Kingstanding Hill in Berkshire. Other writers place the battle near Starveall, a short distance north of the village of Aldworth and south east of Lowbury Hill. The West Saxons were led by King Æthelred and his younger brother, the future King Alfred the Great, while the Viking commanders were Bagsecg and Halfdan. The battle is described in the ''Anglo-Saxon Chronicle'' and Asser's ''Life of King Alfred''. Prelude By 870, the Vikings had conquered two of the four Anglo-Saxon kingdoms, Northumbria and East Anglia. At the end of 870 they launched an attempt to conquer Wessex and marched from East Anglia to Reading, arriving on about 28 December. Three days after their arrival they sent out a large foraging party, which was defeated by an army of local levies under the command of Æthelwulf, Ealdorman of Berkshire, at the Battle o ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Berkshire
Berkshire ( ; abbreviated ), officially the Royal County of Berkshire, is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South East England. It is bordered by Oxfordshire to the north, Buckinghamshire to the north-east, Greater London to the east, Surrey to the south-east, Hampshire to the south, and Wiltshire to the west. Reading, Berkshire, Reading is the largest settlement and the county town. The county has an area of and a population of 911,403. The population is concentrated in the east, the area closest to Greater London, which includes the county's largest towns: Reading (174,224), Slough (164,793), Bracknell (113,205), and Maidenhead (70,374). The west is rural, and its largest town is Newbury, Berkshire, Newbury (33,841). For local government purposes Berkshire comprises six Unitary authorities of England, unitary authority areas: Bracknell Forest, Borough of Reading, Reading, Borough of Slough, Slough, West Berkshire, Royal Borough of Windsor and Maidenhead ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Castle
A castle is a type of fortification, fortified structure built during the Middle Ages predominantly by the nobility or royalty and by Military order (monastic society), military orders. Scholars usually consider a ''castle'' to be the private fortified house, fortified residence of a lord or noble. This is distinct from a mansion, palace, and villa, whose main purpose was exclusively for ''pleasance'' and are not primarily fortresses but may be fortified. Use of the term has varied over time and, sometimes, has also been applied to structures such as hill forts and 19th- and 20th-century homes built to resemble castles. Over the Middle Ages, when genuine castles were built, they took on a great many forms with many different features, although some, such as curtain wall (fortification), curtain walls, arrowslits, and portcullises, were commonplace. European-style castles originated in the 9th and 10th centuries after the fall of the Carolingian Empire, which resulted ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Medieval
In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the 5th to the late 15th centuries, similarly to the post-classical period of World history (field), global history. It began with the fall of the Western Roman Empire and transitioned into the Renaissance and the Age of Discovery. The Middle Ages is the middle period of the three traditional divisions of Western history: classical antiquity, the medieval period, and the modern period. The medieval period is itself subdivided into the Early Middle Ages, Early, High Middle Ages, High, and Late Middle Ages. Population decline, counterurbanisation, the collapse of centralised authority, invasions, and mass migrations of tribes, which had begun in late antiquity, continued into the Early Middle Ages. The large-scale movements of the Migration Period, including various Germanic peoples, formed new kingdoms in what remained of the Western Roman Empire. In the 7th century, North Africa and the ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Manor House
A manor house was historically the main residence of the lord of the manor. The house formed the administrative centre of a manor in the European feudal system; within its great hall were usually held the lord's manorial courts, communal meals with manorial tenants and great banquets. The term is today loosely (though erroneously) applied to various English country houses, mostly at the smaller end of the spectrum, sometimes dating from the Late Middle Ages, which currently or formerly house the landed gentry. Manor houses were sometimes fortified, albeit not as fortified as castles, but this was often more for show than for defence. They existed in most European countries where feudalism was present. Function The lord of the manor may have held several properties within a county or, for example in the case of a feudal baron, spread across a kingdom, which he occupied only on occasional visits. Even so, the business of the manor was directed and controlled by regular mano ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Village
A village is a human settlement or community, larger than a hamlet but smaller than a town with a population typically ranging from a few hundred to a few thousand. Although villages are often located in rural areas, the term urban village is also applied to certain urban neighborhoods. Villages are normally permanent, with fixed dwellings; however, transient villages can occur. Further, the dwellings of a village are fairly close to one another, not scattered broadly over the landscape, as a dispersed settlement. In the past, villages were a usual form of community for societies that practice subsistence agriculture and also for some non-agricultural societies. In Great Britain, a hamlet earned the right to be called a village when it built a church.-4; we might wonder whether there's a point at which it's appropriate to talk of the beginnings of French, that is, when it wa ... ''village'', from Latin ''villāticus'', ultimately from Latin ''villa'' (English ''vi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Parish
A parish is a territorial entity in many Christianity, Christian denominations, constituting a division within a diocese. A parish is under the pastoral care and clerical jurisdiction of a priest#Christianity, priest, often termed a parish priest, who might be assisted by one or more curates, and who operates from a parish church. Historically, a parish often covered the same geographical area as a Manorialism, manor. Its association with the parish church remains paramount. By extension the term ''parish'' refers not only to the territorial entity but to the people of its community or congregation as well as to church property within it. In England this church property was technically in ownership of the parish priest ''Ex officio member, ex officio'', vested in him on his institution to that parish. Etymology and use First attested in English in the late 13th century, the word ''parish'' comes from the Old French , in turn from , the Romanization of Greek, Romanisation of ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Roman Britain
Roman Britain was the territory that became the Roman province of ''Britannia'' after the Roman conquest of Britain, consisting of a large part of the island of Great Britain. The occupation lasted from AD 43 to AD 410. Julius Caesar invaded Britain in 55 and 54 BC as part of his Gallic Wars. According to Caesar, the Britons had been overrun or culturally assimilated by the Belgae during the British Iron Age and had been aiding Caesar's enemies. The Belgae were the only Celtic tribe to cross the sea into Britain, for to all other Celtic tribes this land was unknown. He received tribute, installed the friendly king Mandubracius over the Trinovantes, and returned to Gaul. Planned invasions under Augustus were called off in 34, 27, and 25 BC. In 40 AD, Caligula assembled 200,000 men at the Channel on the continent, only to have them gather seashells () according to Suetonius, perhaps as a symbolic gesture to proclaim Caligula's victory over th ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Sheriff
A sheriff is a government official, with varying duties, existing in some countries with historical ties to England where the office originated. There is an analogous, although independently developed, office in Iceland, the , which is commonly translated to English as ''sheriff''. Description In British English, the political or legal office of a sheriff, term of office of a sheriff, or jurisdiction of a sheriff, is called a shrievalty in England and Wales, and a sheriffdom in Scotland. In modern times, the specific combination of legal, political and ceremonial duties of a sheriff varies greatly from country to country. * In England, Northern Ireland, or Wales, a sheriff (or high sheriff) is a ceremonial county or city official. * In Scotland, sheriffs are judges. * In the Republic of Ireland, in some counties and in the cities of Dublin and Cork, sheriffs are legal officials similar to bailiffs. * In the United States The United States of America (USA), ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
