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Rooks Nest House
Rooks Nest House is a house on Weston Road, Stevenage, Hertfordshire. It was the childhood home of the author E. M. Forster (1879–1970) who described it in the novel ''Howards End''. It is Grade I listed for its historical interest and literary associations. Forster's mother Lily, who was widowed, rented the property between 1883 and 1893. Mother and child had to leave, unwillingly, when the owners wished it vacated. History and residents The house was originally known as Upper Rooks Nest, but was known as Howards to distinguish it from its neighbour, Lower Rooks Nest Farm, taking the name from the family who farmed there. The Howard family farmed from Rooks Nest House for over 300 years until one Mr Howard's small farm failed due to bad harvests and the importation of cheap straw hats from China and Japan. The family also owned (Lower) Rooks Nest Farm until the early 1700s when it was acquired by the neighbouring Chesfield estate. The Howards prospered in the 18th century but ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Stevenage
Stevenage ( ) is a large town and borough in Hertfordshire, England, about north of London. Stevenage is east of junctions 7 and 8 of the A1(M), between Letchworth Garden City to the north and Welwyn Garden City to the south. In 1946, Stevenage was designated the United Kingdom's first New Town under the New Towns Act. Etymology "Stevenage" may derive from Old English ''stiþen āc'' / ''stiðen āc'' / ''stithen ac'' (various Old English dialects cited here) meaning "(place at) the stiff oak". The name was recorded as ''Stithenæce'' in c.1060 and as ''Stigenace'' in the Domesday Book in 1086. History Pre-Conquest Stevenage lies near the line of the Roman road from Verulamium to Baldock. Some Romano-British remains were discovered during the building of the New Town, and a hoard of 2,000 silver Roman coins was discovered during house-building in the Chells Manor area in 1986. Other artefacts included a dodecahedron toy, fragments of amphorae for imported wine, bone ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The Longest Journey (novel)
''The Longest Journey'' is a bildungsroman by E. M. Forster, first published in 1907. It is the second of Forster's six published novels, following ''Where Angels Fear to Tread'' (1905) and preceding ''A Room with a View'' (1908) and ''Howards End'' (1910). It was Forster’s favourite among his own novels. Plot summary Rickie Elliot is a student at early 20th century Cambridge, a university that seems like paradise to him, amongst bright if cynical companions, when he receives a visit from two friends, an engaged young woman, Agnes Pembroke, and her elder brother, Herbert. The Pembrokes are Rickie's only friends from home. An orphan who grew up living with cousins, he was sent to a private boarding school where he was shunned and bullied because of his lame foot, an inherited weakness, and frail body. Agnes, as it happens, is engaged to Gerald, now in the army, who was one of the sturdy youths who bullied Rickie at school. Rickie is not brilliant at argument, but he is intense ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
John Betjeman
Sir John Betjeman (; 28 August 190619 May 1984) was an English poet, writer, and broadcaster. He was Poet Laureate from 1972 until his death. He was a founding member of The Victorian Society and a passionate defender of Victorian architecture, helping to save St Pancras railway station from demolition. He began his career as a journalist and ended it as one of the most popular British Poets Laureate and a much-loved figure on British television. Life Early life and education Betjeman was born John Betjemann. He was the son of a prosperous silverware maker of Dutch descent. His parents, Mabel (''née'' Dawson) and Ernest Betjemann, had a family firm at 34–42 Pentonville Road which manufactured the kind of ornamental household furniture and gadgets distinctive to Victorians. During the First World War the family name was changed to the less German-looking Betjeman. His father's forebears had actually come from the present day Netherlands more than a century earlier, setting ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The Times
''The Times'' is a British daily national newspaper based in London. It began in 1785 under the title ''The Daily Universal Register'', adopting its current name on 1 January 1788. ''The Times'' and its sister paper '' The Sunday Times'' (founded in 1821) are published by Times Newspapers, since 1981 a subsidiary of News UK, in turn wholly owned by News Corp. ''The Times'' and ''The Sunday Times'', which do not share editorial staff, were founded independently and have only had common ownership since 1966. In general, the political position of ''The Times'' is considered to be centre-right. ''The Times'' is the first newspaper to have borne that name, lending it to numerous other papers around the world, such as '' The Times of India'', ''The New York Times'', and more recently, digital-first publications such as TheTimesBlog.com (Since 2017). In countries where these other titles are popular, the newspaper is often referred to as , or as , although the newspaper is of nati ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Green Belt
A green belt is a policy and land-use zone designation used in land-use planning to retain areas of largely undeveloped, wild, or agricultural land surrounding or neighboring urban areas. Similar concepts are greenways or green wedges, which have a linear character and may run through an urban area instead of around it. In essence, a green belt is an invisible line designating a border around a certain area, preventing development of the area and allowing wildlife to return and be established. Purposes In those countries which have them, the stated objectives of green belt policy are to: * Protect natural or semi-natural environments; * Improve air quality within urban areas; * Ensure that urban dwellers have access to countryside, with consequent educational and recreational opportunities; * Protect the unique character of rural communities that might otherwise be absorbed by expanding suburbs. The green belt has many benefits for people: * Walking, camping, and biking ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Graveley, Hertfordshire
Graveley is a village and civil parish about four miles east of Hitchin and two miles north of Stevenage in Hertfordshire, England. The population of the parish in the 2011 census was 487. A milestone in the village states that it is 33 miles from London. History Graveley is mentioned in the Domesday Book Domesday Book () – the Middle English spelling of "Doomsday Book" – is a manuscript record of the "Great Survey" of much of England and parts of Wales completed in 1086 by order of King William I, known as William the Conqueror. The manus .... It was granted by William the Conqueror to Goisbert of Beauvais. The village is built on a Roman road, which developed into a section of the Great North Road. The village was by-passed by the A1 (M) motorway in the 1960s. Parish boundaries The parish absorbed the site of a lost settlement, Chesfield (or Chivesfield), about a mile to the east of Graveley; little remains there apart from the ruined walls of its 14th-centu ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
New Towns In The United Kingdom
The new towns in the United Kingdom were planned under the powers of the New Towns Act 1946 and later acts to relocate populations in poor or bombed-out housing following the Second World War. They were developed in three waves. Later developments included the expanded towns: existing towns which were substantially expanded to accommodate what was called the "overspill" population from densely populated areas of deprivation. Designated new towns were removed from local authority control and placed under the supervision of a development corporation. These corporations were later disbanded and their assets split between local authorities and, in England, the Commission for New Towns (later English Partnerships). Historical precedents Garden cities The concept of the "garden city" was first envisaged by Ebenezer Howard in his 1898 book '' To-morrow: A Peaceful Path to Real Reform,'' as an alternative to the pollution and overcrowding in Britain's growing urban areas. Taking i ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Monument To E
A monument is a type of structure that was explicitly created to commemorate a person or event, or which has become relevant to a social group as a part of their remembrance of historic times or cultural heritage, due to its artistic, historical, political, technical or architectural importance. Some of the first monuments were dolmens or menhirs, megalithic constructions built for religious or funerary purposes. Examples of monuments include statues, (war) memorials, historical buildings, archaeological sites, and cultural assets. If there is a public interest in its preservation, a monument can for example be listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Etymology It is believed that the origin of the word "monument" comes from the Greek ''mnemosynon'' and the Latin ''moneo'', ''monere'', which means 'to remind', 'to advise' or 'to warn', however, it is also believed that the word monument originates from an Albanian word 'mani men' which in Albanian language means 'rememb ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Bressummer
A bressummer, breastsummer, summer beam (somier, sommier, sommer, somer, cross-somer, summer, summier, summer-tree, or dorman, dormant tree) is a load-bearing beam in a timber-framed building. The word ''summer'' derived from sumpter or French sommier, "a pack horse", meaning "bearing great burden or weight". "To support a superincumbent wall", "any beast of burden", and in this way is similar to a wall plate. The use and definition of these terms vary but generally a bressummer is a jetty sill and a summer is an interior beam supporting ceiling joists, see below: * (UK) In the outward part of the building, and the middle floors (not in the garrets or ground floors) into which the girders are framed. In the inner parts of a building, such beams are called "summers". It is part of the timber-frame construction in the overhanging upper story in jettying. * (UK) "Horizontal beam over a fireplace opening (alternatively ''lintel'', mantel beam), or set forward from the lower part of ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Bay Window
A bay window is a window space projecting outward from the main walls of a building and forming a bay in a room. Types Bay window is a generic term for all protruding window constructions, regardless of whether they are curved or angular, or run over one or multiple storeys. In plan, the most frequently used shapes are isosceles trapezoid (which may be referred to as a '' canted bay window'') and rectangle. But other polygonal shapes with more than two corners are also common as are curved shapes. If a bay window is curved it may alternatively be called ''bow window.'' Bay windows in a triangular shape with just one corner exist but are relatively rare. A bay window supported by a corbel, bracket or similar is called an oriel window. "Rawashin" is a traditional and distinctive style of corbelled bay window in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia (e.g., as on the frontage of Nasseef House). Uses Most medieval bay windows and up to the Baroque era are oriel windows. They frequently ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Camber Beam
In building, a camber beam is a piece of timber Lumber is wood that has been processed into dimensional lumber, including beams and planks or boards, a stage in the process of wood production. Lumber is mainly used for construction framing, as well as finishing (floors, wall panels, w ... cut archwise, and steel bent or rolled, with an obtuse angle in the middle, commonly used in platforms as church leads, and other occasions where long and strong Beam (structure), beams are required. The camber curve is ideally a parabola, but practically a circle segment as even with modern materials and calculations, cambers are imprecise. A camber beam is much stronger than another of the same size, since being laid with the hollow side downwards, as they usually are, they form a kind of supporting arch. References External links Architectural elements Building {{Architecturalelement-stub ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Casement Window
A casement window is a window that is attached to its frame by one or more hinges at the side. They are used singly or in pairs within a common frame, in which case they are hinged on the outside. Casement windows are often held open using a casement stay. Windows hinged at the top are referred to as awning windows, and ones hinged at the bottom are called hoppers. Overview Throughout Britain and Ireland, casement windows were common before the sash window was introduced. They were usually metal with leaded glass, which refers to glass panes held in place with strips of lead called cames (leaded glass should not be confused with lead glass, which refers to the manufacture of the glass itself). These casement windows usually were hinged on the side, and opened inward. By the start of the Victorian era, opening casements and frames were constructed from timber in their entirety. The windows were covered by functional exterior shutters, which opened outward. Variants of casem ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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