The Solent
The Solent ( ) is a strait between the Isle of Wight and mainland Great Britain; the major historic ports of Southampton and Portsmouth lie inland of its shores. It is about long and varies in width between , although the Hurst Spit which projects into the Solent narrows the sea crossing between Hurst Castle and Colwell Bay to just over . The Solent is a major shipping lane for passenger, freight and military vessels. It is also an important recreational area for water sports, particularly yachting, hosting the Cowes Week sailing event annually. It is sheltered by the Isle of Wight and has a complex tidal pattern, which has benefited Southampton's success as a port, providing a "double high tide" that extends the tidal window during which deep-draught ships can be handled. Spithead, an area off Gilkicker Point near Gosport, is known as the place where the Royal Navy is traditionally reviewed by the monarch of the day. The area is of great ecological and landscape impo ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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River Solent
The River Solent is a now-extinct river which during the Pleistocene would have flowed around the area which is now the coastlines of Hampshire and the Isle of Wight in England. History The River Solent was one of three major rivers in central and southern England, together with the Proto-Thames and Bytham, but unlike the other two it was not destroyed by the extreme Anglian Glaciation around 450,000 years ago. It became extinct after flooding following the end of the last ice age, becoming submerged and incorporated into the Solent, a strait of the English Channel that sits between the Isle of Wight and Hampshire. The River Solent's source was the River Frome, and the River Solent's tributaries, the River Test, River Itchen, the Hampshire River Avon and the River Medina, still survive today. Several towns on both the South Coast and the Isle of Wight are built near features of the River Solent; Cowes and East Cowes are built around the mouth of the River Medina, which fo ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Cowes Week
Cowes Week ( ) is one of the longest-running regular regattas in the world. With 40 daily sailing races, around 500 boats, and 2500 competitors ranging from Olympic and world-class professionals to weekend sailors, it is the largest sailing regatta of its kind in the world. Having started in 1826, the event is held in August each year on the Solent (the area of water between southern England and the Isle of Wight made tricky by strong double tides), and is run by Cowes Week Limited in the small town of Cowes on the Isle of Wight. Description Cowes Week is held at the beginning of August, set after Glorious Goodwood in the social calendar, which in most years means from the first Saturday after the last Tuesday in July, until the following Friday. It is occasionally moved to another week if the state of the tides in the normal week is unfavourable or, as in 2012, to avoid a clash with the Olympic Games. The regatta was famous for its fireworks on the final Friday, however ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Venta Belgarum
Venta Belgarum, or Venta Bulgarum, was a town in the Roman province of Britannia Superior, the civitas capital of the local tribe, the Belgae, and which later became the city of Winchester. Etymology The name is Proto-Celtic in origin: ''Venta'' comes from ''*Uentā'', a Common Brittonic word meaning "market". Roman writers recorded the town as ''Venta Belgarum'' (The Venta of the Belgae) to distinguish it from the other tribal markets in Britain such as Venta Silurum and Venta Icenorum. Development The settlement was apparently established around AD 70, partially on the site of Oram's Arbour, which had been abandoned for some years. It became the tribal capital of the Belgae, who had probably held several Iron Age hill forts in the near vicinity of the site ( St Catherine's Hill, Oram's Arbour and Worthy Down) once the Romans had pacified the area, as was their policy for relocating many other British tribes. The River Itchen was diverted and a street grid laid out. Althou ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Common Brittonic
Common Brittonic (; ; ), also known as British, Common Brythonic, or Proto-Brittonic, is a Celtic language historically spoken in Britain and Brittany from which evolved the later and modern Brittonic languages. It is a form of Insular Celtic, descended from Proto-Celtic, a theorized parent language that, by the first half of the first millennium BC, was diverging into separate dialects or languages. Pictish is linked, most probably as a sister language or a descendant branch. Evidence from early and modern Welsh shows that Common Brittonic was significantly influenced by Latin during the Roman period, especially in terms related to the church and Christianity. By the sixth century AD, the languages of the Celtic Britons were rapidly diverging into Neo-Brittonic: Welsh, Cumbric, Cornish, Breton, and possibly the Pictish language. Over the next three centuries, Brittonic was replaced by Scottish Gaelic in most of Scotland, and by Old English (from which descend M ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Old English
Old English ( or , or ), or Anglo-Saxon, is the earliest recorded form of the English language, spoken in England and southern and eastern Scotland in the Early Middle Ages. It developed from the languages brought to Great Britain by Anglo-Saxon settlers in the mid-5th century, and the first Old English literature dates from the mid-7th century. After the Norman Conquest of 1066, English was replaced for several centuries by Anglo-Norman language, Anglo-Norman (a langues d'oïl, type of French) as the language of the upper classes. This is regarded as marking the end of the Old English era, since during the subsequent period the English language was heavily influenced by Anglo-Norman, developing into what is now known as Middle English in England and Early Scots in Scotland. Old English developed from a set of Anglo-Frisian or Ingvaeonic dialects originally spoken by Germanic tribes traditionally known as the Angles (tribe), Angles, Saxons and Jutes. As the Germanic settlers ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Pleistocene
The Pleistocene ( ; referred to colloquially as the ''ice age, Ice Age'') is the geological epoch (geology), epoch that lasted from to 11,700 years ago, spanning the Earth's most recent period of repeated glaciations. Before a change was finally confirmed in 2009 by the International Union of Geological Sciences, the cutoff of the Pleistocene and the preceding Pliocene was regarded as being 1.806 million years Before Present (BP). Publications from earlier years may use either definition of the period. The end of the Pleistocene corresponds with the end of the last glacial period and also with the end of the Paleolithic age used in archaeology. The name is a combination of Ancient Greek () 'most' and (; Latinized as ) 'new'. The aridification and cooling trends of the preceding Neogene were continued in the Pleistocene. The climate was strongly variable depending on the glacial cycle, oscillating between cold Glacial period, glacial periods and warmer Interglacial, int ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Isle Of Wight AONB
The Isle of Wight National Landscape is an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONB) on the Isle of Wight The Isle of Wight (Help:IPA/English, /waɪt/ Help:Pronunciation respelling key, ''WYTE'') is an island off the south coast of England which, together with its surrounding uninhabited islets and Skerry, skerries, is also a ceremonial county. T ..., England's largest offshore island. The AONB was designated in 1963 and covers 189 square kilometres, about half of the island, mostly near the south-west and north-west coasts but also including downland in the east. It also covers about half the coastline, including both the Hamstead and Tennyson Heritage Coast areas. The AONB is applying for UNESCO biosphere status. See also * Western Yar References External links Isle of Wight Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty Website Geography of the Isle of Wight Areas of Outstanding Natural Beauty in England 1963 establishments in England Protected areas of the Isle of Wigh ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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New Forest
The New Forest is one of the largest remaining tracts of unenclosed pasture land, heathland and forest in Southern England, covering southwest Hampshire and southeast Wiltshire. It was proclaimed a royal forest by William the Conqueror, featuring in the Domesday Book. It is the home of the New Forest Commoners, whose ancient rights of common pasture are still recognised and exercised, enforced by official Verderer (New Forest), verderers and Agister (New Forest), agisters. In the 18th century, the New Forest became a source of timber for the Royal Navy. It remains a habitat for many rare birds and mammals. The boundaries of the forest have varied over time and depend on the purpose of delimiting them. It is a biological and geological Site of Special Scientific Interest. Several areas are Geological Conservation Review sites, including Mark Ash Wood, Shepherd’s Gutter, Cranes Moor, Studley Wood, and Wood Green. There are also a number of Nature Conservation Review sites. I ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Special Area Of Conservation
A special area of conservation (SAC) is defined in the European Union's Habitats Directive (92/43/EEC), also known as the ''Directive on the Conservation of Natural Habitats and of Wild Fauna and Flora''. They are to protect the 220 habitats and approximately 1,000 species listed in annex I and II of the directive which are considered to be of European interest following criteria given in the directive. They must be chosen from the Site of Community Importance, sites of Community importance by the member states and designated SAC by an act assuring the conservation measures of the natural habitat. SACs complement special protection areas and together form a network of protected sites across the European Union called Natura 2000. This, in turn, is part of the Emerald network of Area of Special Conservation Interest, Areas of Special Conservation Interest (ASCIs) under the Convention on the conservation of European wildlife and natural habitats, Berne Convention. Assessment methodol ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Estuarine
An estuary is a partially enclosed coastal body of brackish water with one or more rivers or streams flowing into it, and with a free connection to the open sea. Estuaries form a transition zone between river environments and maritime environments and are an example of an ecotone. Estuaries are subject both to marine influences such as tides, waves, and the influx of saline water, and to fluvial influences such as flows of freshwater and sediment. The mixing of seawater and freshwater provides high levels of nutrients both in the water column and in sediment, making estuaries among the most productive natural habitats in the world. Most existing estuaries formed during the Holocene epoch with the flooding of river-eroded or glacially scoured valleys when the sea level began to rise about 10,000–12,000 years ago. Estuaries are typically classified according to their geomorphological features or to water-circulation patterns. They can have many different names, such as bays, ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |