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| Baslow And Bubnell, Derbyshire |
Baslow and Bubnell, DerbyshireBaslow and Bubnell is a civil parish in the Derbyshire Dales district of Derbyshire in England. According to the 2001 census it had a population of 1,185. The parish is in the Peak District National Park and covers Baslow and Bubnell.
Category:Villages in Derbyshire
Civil parish:Parishes in Louisiana USA are sometimes called 'civil parishes' see List of parishes of Louisiana
In England a civil parish (usually just parish) is the lowest unit of local government, lower than districts or counties. Civil parishes in the modern sense were established in 1894, and although their origins are in the system of ecclesiastic parishes, they no longer have anything to do with the Church of England.
Parishes previously also existed in Scotland and Wales. They still formally exist in Ireland, but are now largely obselete.
Ireland]
Geography
Parishes do not cover the whole of England, and mostly exist in rural areas and smaller urban areas. Civil parishes were abolished in London in 1965 and in other large urban areas in 1974.
Civil parishes vary greatly in size, many cover tiny hamlets with populations of less than 100, whereas some large ones cover towns with populations of tens of thousands. The largest civil parish is Weston-super-Mare, which has a population of 71,758. In many cases, several small villages are part of a joint parish.
Large urban areas are mostly unparished, but there is generally nothing to stop their establishment. For example, Birmingham has a parish, New Frankley, whilst Oxford has four, and Northampton has seven. In Greater London, however, the current legislative framework for local government forbids the establishment of civil parishes.
The policy of the present government is to encourage creation of town and parish councils in unparished areas. The Local Government and Rating Act 1997 created a proceedure which gave local residents the right to demand that a new parish and council be created in unparished areas [http://www.createacouncil.org.uk/] (except in Greater London).
If at least 10% of electors in an area of a proposed new parish sign a petition demanding its creation, then the local district council or unitary authority must consider the proposal. The final decision rests with the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister.
Recently established councils include those for Daventry (2003), and Folkestone (2004). 2003 saw the setting up of seven new parish councils for Burton-upon-Trent, and in 2001 the Milton Keynes urban area became entirely parished with ten new parishes. Parishes can also be abolished, on request, such as Birtley, which will be abolished in 2006.
Parish councils
Civil parishes are usually administered by parish councils, which have various local responsibilities. A parish council can also be called a Town Council or occasionally a 'City Council' (but not all city councils are parish councils). It can become a Town Council unilaterally, simply by making a resolution to do so. Around 400 parish councils are called town councils.
A parish can only gain city status however if it is granted by the crown. In England, there are currently six parishes with city status : Chichester, Ely, Hereford, Lichfield, Ripon, and Wells. The Chair of a Town council or City council will usually have the title Mayor.
If a parish has fewer than 200 electors it is usually deemed too small to have a parish council, and instead it has a parish meeting; an example of direct democracy. Alternatively several small parishes can be grouped together and share a common parish council.
There are about 8,700 parish and town councils in England, and about 1,500 parish meetings. Since 1997 around 100 new civil parishes have been created, in some cases splitting existing civil parishes, while in others creating new ones from unparished areas.
Powers and functions
Typical activities undertaken by parish or town councils include:
- The provision and upkeep of certain local facilities such as allotments, bus shelters, parks, playgrounds, public seats, public toilets, public clocks, village or town halls, and various leisure facillities.
- Maintenence of footpaths and street lighting
- Since 1997 parish councils have had new powers to provide community transport, crime prevention measures (such as CCTV) and to contribute money towards traffic calming schemes.
- Parish councils are supposed to act as a channel of local opinion to larger local government bodies, and as such have the right to be consulted on any planning decisions affecting the parish.
- Giving of grants to local voluntary organisations, and sponsoring public events.
- Other responsibilities include litter collection, and entering Britain in Bloom.
The role played by parish councils varies. Smaller parish councils have only limited resources and generally play only a minor role, while some larger parish councils have a role similar to that of a small district council.
Parish councils receive funding by levying a 'precept' on the council tax paid by the residents of the parish.
Councillors and elections
Parish councils are run by volunteer councillors who are elected to serve for four years. Different councils have different numbers of councillors.
Most parish councillors are elected to represent the entire parish. Only if there are more candidates standing for election than there are seats on the council will an election be held.
Sometimes a city or town is abolished as a district, and it is considered desirable to maintain continuity of the charter until a parish council to replace it can be set up. In this case Charter Trustees perform some of the functions of a parish council, and maintain traditions such as mayoralty. An example of such a city was Hereford, whose city council was merged in 1998 to form a unitary Herefordshire. The area of the city of Hereford remained unparished until 2000 when a parish council was created for the city.
Deserted parishes
The 2001 census recorded several parishes with no inhabitants. These were Chester Castle (in the middle of Chester city centre), Newland with Woodhouse Moor, Beaumont Chase, Martinsthorpe, Meering, Stanground North (subsequently abolished), Sturston, Tottington, and Tyneham. The latter three had been taken over by the British Armed Forces during the Second World War and remain deserted.
Scotland, Wales and Ireland
In Wales the equivalent body to a Parish council is termed a Community council.
The administrative counties of Scotland were sub-divided into parishes, but these lacked their own councils. Scotland has now bodies called Community councils, but these are not equivalent to and have fewer powers than the English parishes and Welsh communities.
In Ireland, counties are divided into civil parishes. Irish civil parishes are divided into townlands. Counties are also divided into larger subdivisions called baronies, which are made up of a number of parishes or parts of parishes. Both civil parishes and baronies are now largely obsolete (except for some purposes such as legal transactions involving land) and are no longer used for local government purposes.
History
Parishes arose from common law and Church of England divisions. The Poor Law saw parishes being given responsibility for pauper relief, and allowed to charge a rate. The parishes were run by vestries, which could be either 'open' (where all parisioners could attend) or 'select' (oligarchial).
The 19th century saw an increase in the responsibility of parishes, although the poor law powers were transferred to Poor Law Unions. The latter part of the century saw most of the ancient irregularities in the system cleaned up, with the majority of exclaves abolished, and extra parochial areas converted into parishes themselves. Also, borders were altered to avoid parishes being split between counties.
In 1894, elected parish councils were set up in all parishes with enough electors - in all the newly-formed rural districts of England and Wales. Urban parishes only nominally existed, and were generally coterminous with the urban district or municipal borough in which they were situated. Large towns originally split between multiple parishes were consolidated into one parish.
1974 saw the Local Government Act 1972. Many former urban districts and municipal boroughs that were being abolished rather than succeeded were continued as new parishes. Urban areas that were considered too large to be single parishes were refused this permission and became unparished areas.
The Act also led to the possibility sub-division of all districts (apart from London boroughs, reformed in 1965), into multiple civil parishes. For example, Oxford, whilst entirely unparished in 1974, now has 4 civil parishes.
See also
- Community councils in Wales and Scotland
- List of civil parishes in England
- Freguesia—civil parish in Portugal
- UK topics
External links
- [http://www.nalc.gov.uk/ The National Association of Local Councils] - represents English parish councils and Welsh community councils
- [http://www.nalc.gov.uk/information/legal/powers/index.html Full list of the powers of parish councils]
- [http://www.thanet.gov.uk/assets/pdfs/consultation/396TDCParishbook.pdf Consultation document explaining costs and benefits of a parish council for Ramsgate]
Category:Parishes
Category:Local government of the United Kingdom
Derbyshire
Derbyshire is a county in the East Midlands of England, which boasts some of England's most attractive scenery. A substantial portion of the Peak District National Park lies within Derbyshire. The northern part of Derbyshire overlaps with the Pennines, a famous chain of hills and mountains. The county contains part of the National Forest, and borders on Greater Manchester, West Yorkshire, South Yorkshire, Nottinghamshire, Leicestershire, Staffordshire and Cheshire.
It has a two-tier local government, with a county council based in Matlock and eight district councils. Apart from 13 towns with between 10,000 and 100,000 inhabitants, there is a large amount of sparsely populated agricultural upland: 75% of the population live in 25% of the area. Although Derbyshire is generally considered to be in the East Midlands, some parts, such as High Peak, are closer to the northern cities of Manchester and Sheffield and the people there overwhelmingly think of themselves as northerners.
Before 1998 the administrative county included the city of Derby. Derby is now a unitary authority, but remains part of Derbyshire for ceremonial purposes.
History
:Main article: History of Derbyshire.
Derbyshire was traditionally divided into six hundreds, namely Appletree, High Peak, Morleyston and Litchurch, Repton and Gresley, Scarsdale, Wirksworth. These were based on the seven earlier wapentakes recorded in the Domesday Book, with the merging of Repton and Gresley wapentakes.
Derbyshire had a detached part in north-western Leicestershire, surrounding Measham and Donisthorpe. This escaped regularisation in 1844, and was incorporated into Leicestershire in 1888 when the county councils were set up. The thin strip of Leicestershire between the exclave and Derbyshire, containing Overseal and Netherseal, is now considered part of Derbyshire.
Apart from this, some parishes in historic Derbyshire, including Dore, Norton and Totley, are now in the City of Sheffield in South Yorkshire.
Settlements
This is a list of the towns in Derbyshire; for a complete list of settlements see list of places in Derbyshire.
- Alfreton, Alton, Ashbourne, Ashford-in-the-Water
- Bakewell, Bamford, Baslow, Beeley, Belper, Birch Vale, Bolehill, Bolsover, Borrowash, Brassington, Bretby, Brimington, Burbage, Buxton
- Calver, Castleton, Chapel-en-le-Frith, Charlesworth, Chelmorton, Chesterfield, Chinley, Clay Cross, Clowne, Cressbrook, Creswell, Cromford, Crowden, Curbar
- Derby, Dronfield, Duffield
- Earl Sterndale, Eckington, Edale, Edensor, Eyam
- Fernilee
- Gamesley, Glossop, Great Hucklow
- Hadfield, Hartington, Hathersage,Hatton, Derbyshire, Hayfield, Heage, Heanor, Hope
- Ilkeston
- Little Hucklow, Long Eaton
- Marston Montgomery, Marston on Dove, Matlock, Melbourne, Miller's Dale, Morley
- New Mills, Newhaven
- Over Haddon,Osmaston
- Parwich, Peak Forest
- Riber, Ripley
- Sandiacre, Shipley, Shirebrook, Staveley, Stoney Middleton, Stretton, Sudbury, Swadlincote
- Tansley, Taxal, Thornhill, Tibshelf, Tideswell, Tunstead Milton
- Walton, Wardlow, Whaley Bridge, Whitwell, Wirksworth
- Youlgreave
Places of interest
- Alfreton Hall
- Alsop Hall
- Arbor Low Stone Circle — English Heritage
- Barlborough Hall
- Bradbourne Hall
- Bradley Hall
- Bretby Hall, see also Earls of Chesterfield
- Buxton Hall
- Buxton Museum & Art Gallery
- Calke Abbey — National Trust
- Carsington Reservoir
- Chatsworth — a stately home, part of Treasure Houses of England; see also Dukes of Devonshire
- Coxbench Hall
- Derwent Reservoir
- Derwent Valley Mills — a World Heritage Site
- Ednaston Manor
- Eyam Hall
- Fenney Bentley Old Hall
- Flagg Hall
- Glossop Hall
- Great Longstone Hall
- Haddon Hall
- Hartington Hall
- Heage Windmill
- Heights of Abraham
- Hob Hurst's House — English Heritage
- Howden Reservoir
- Ilam Hall
- Kedleston Hall
- Kinder Scout
- Ladybower Reservoir
- Longdendale chain of reservoirs
- Longdendale Trail, a long distance footpath
- Longford Hall
- Mam Tor
- National Tramway Museum, Crich
- National Stone Centre, Wirksworth
- Nine Ladies Stone Circle — English Heritage
- Norbury Hall
- Ogston Reservoir
- Parwich Hall
- Peveril Castle
- Renishaw Hall
- Riber Castle
- Speedwell Cavern
- Sudbury Hall — National Trust
- Sutton Scarsdale Hall — English Heritage
- Thornbridge Hall
- Tissington Hall
- Well dressing — an ancient custom
- Wingfield Manor — English Heritage
See also
- Derbyshire lead mining history
0
England
:For an explanation of often-confusing terms like England, (Great) Britain and United Kingdom see British Isles (terminology).
England is a nation and the largest and most populous constituent country of the United Kingdom accounting for more than 83% of the total UK population. It occupies most of the southern two-thirds of the island of Great Britain and shares land borders with fellow home nations Scotland, to the north, and Wales, to the west. Elsewhere, it is bordered by the sea.
England is named after the Angles, one of a number of Germanic tribes believed to have originated in Angeln in Northern Germany, who settled in England in the 5th and 6th centuries. It has not had a distinct political identity since 1707, when Great Britain was established as a unified political entity; however, it has a legal identity separate from those of Scotland and Northern Ireland, as part of the entity "England and Wales;". England's largest city, London, is also the capital of the United Kingdom.
History
Main article: History of England
England has been inhabited for at least 500,000 years, although the repeated Ice Ages made much of Britain uninhabitable for extended periods until as recently as 20,000 years ago. Stone Age hunter-gatherers eventually gave way to farmers and permanent settlements, with a spectacular and sophisticated megalithic civilisation arising in western England some 4,000 years ago. It was replaced around 1,500 years later by Celtic tribes migrating from Western and continental Europe, mainly from France. These tribes were known collectively as "Britons", a name bestowed by Phoenician traders — an indication of how, even at this early date, the island was part of a Europe-wide trading network.
The Britons were significant players in continental politics and supported their allies in Gaul militarily during the Gallic Wars with the Roman Republic. This prompted the Romans to invade and subdue the island, first with Julius Caesar's raid in 55 BC, and then the Emperor Claudius' conquest in the following century. The whole southern part of the island — roughly corresponding to modern day England and Wales — became a prosperous part of the Roman Empire. It was finally abandoned early in the 5th century when a weakening Empire pulled back its legions to defend borders on the Continent.
Unaided by the Roman army, Roman Britannia could not long resist the Germanic tribes who arrived in the 5th and 6th centuries, enveloping the majority of modern day England in a new culture and language and pushing Romano-British rule back into modern-day Wales and western extremities of England, notably Cornwall and Cumbria. Others emigrated across the channel to modern-day Brittany, thus giving it its name and language (Breton). But many of the Romano-British remained in and were assimilated into the newly "English" areas.
The invaders fell into three main groups: the Jutes, the Saxons, and the Angles. As they became more civilised, recognisable states formed and began to merge with one another. (The most well-known state of affairs being the Anglo-Saxon heptarchy.) From time to time throughout this period, one Anglo-Saxon king, recognised as the "Bretwalda" by other rulers, had effective control of all or most of the English; so it is impossible to identify the precise moment when the Kingdom of England was unified. In some sense, real unity came as a response to the Danish Viking incursions which occupied the eastern half of "England" in the 8th century. Egbert, King of Wessex (d. 839) is often regarded as the first king of all the English, although the title "King of England" was first adopted, two generations later, by Alfred the Great (ruled 871–899).
The principal legacy left behind in those territories from which the language of the Britons were displaced is that of toponyms. Many of the place-names in England and to a lesser extent Scotland are derived from celtic British names, including London, Dumbarton, York, Dorchester, Dover and Colchester. Several place-name elements are thought to be wholly or partly Brythonic in origin, particularly bre-, bal-, and -dun for hills, carr for a high rocky place, coomb for a small deep valley.
Until recently it has been believed that those areas settled by the Anglo-Saxons were uninhabited at the time or the Britons had fled before them. However, genetic studies show that the British were not pushed out to the Celtic fringes – many tribes remained in what was to become England (see C. Capelli et al. A Y chromosome census of the British Isles. Current Biology 13, 979–984, (2003)). Capelli's findings strengthen the research of Steven Bassett of the University of Birmingham; his work during the 1990s suggests that much of the West Midlands was only very lightly colonised with Anglian and Saxon settlements.
This royal throne of kings, this sceptred isle,
This earth of majesty, this seat of Mars,
This other Eden, demi-paradise,
This fortress built by Nature for herself
Against infection and the hand of war,
This happy breed of men, this little world,
This precious stone set in the silver sea,
Which serves it in the office of a wall
Or as a moat defensive to a house,
Against the envy of less happier lands,—
This blessed plot, this earth, this realm, this England.
The English are great lovers of themselves, and of everything belonging to them; they think that there are no other men than themselves, and no other world but England; and whenever they see a handsome foreigner, they say that 'he looks like an Englishman', and that 'it is a great pity that he should not be an Englishmen'.
Venetian ambassador to England Early 16th century Charlotte Augusta Sneyd Italian Relations of England (p. 20)
Richard II]
Richard II]
In 1066, William the Conqueror and the Normans conquered the existing Kingdom of England and instituted an Anglo-Norman administration and nobility who, retaining proto-French as their language for the next three hundred years, ruled as custodians over English commoners. Although the language and racial distinctions faded rapidly during the middle ages, the class system born in the Norman/Saxon divide persisted longer — arguably with traces lasting to the modern day.
While Old English continued to be spoken by common folk, Norman feudal lords significantly influenced the language with French words and customs being adopted over the succeeding centuries evolving to a Romance-Germanic hybrid of Middle English widely spoken in Chaucer's time.
England came repeatedly into conflict with Wales and Scotland, at the time an independent principality and an independent kingdom respectively, as its rulers sought to expand Norman power across the entire island of Britain. The conquest of Wales was achieved in the 13th century, when it was annexed to England and gradually came to be a part of that kingdom for most legal purposes, although in the modern era it is more usually thought of as a separate nation (fielding, for example, its own athletic teams). Norman power in Scotland waxed and waned over the years, with the Scots managing to maintain a varying degree of independence despite repeated wars with the English. Although it was on the whole only a moderately successful power in military terms, England became one of the wealthiest states in medieval Europe, due chiefly to its dominance in the lucrative wool market.
The failure of English territorial ambitions in continental Europe prompted the kingdom's rulers to look further afield, creating the foundations of the mercantile and colonial network that was to become the British Empire. The turmoil of the Reformation embroiled England in religious wars with Europe's Catholic powers, notably Spain, but the kingdom preserved its independence as much through luck as through the skill of charismatic rulers such as Elizabeth I. Elizabeth's successor, James I was already king of Scotland (as James VI); and this personal union of the two crowns into the crown of Great Brittaine was followed a century later by the Act of Union 1707, which formally unified England, Scotland and Wales into the Kingdom of Great Britain. This later became the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland (1801 to 1927) and then the modern state of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland (1927 to present)
For post-unification history, see history of the United Kingdom.
Politics
Main article: Politics of the United Kingdom, Government of England
Since the promulgation of the 1284 Statute of Rhuddlan and the Laws in Wales Acts 1535-1542, Wales has shared a legal identity with England as the joint entity of England and Wales. The Act of Union with the Kingdom of Scotland in 1707 created the Kingdom of Great Britain, subsuming England, Wales and Scotland into a single political entity. Scotland, along with Northern Ireland, retain separate legal systems. The duchy of Cornwall also retains some unique rights.
All of Great Britain has been ruled by the government of the United Kingdom since that date, although in 1999 the first elections to the newly created Scottish Parliament and National Assembly for Wales left England as the only part of the Union with no devolved assembly or parliament. As all legislation for England is passed by Parliament at Westminster there are some complaints about the ability of non-English Members of Parliament to influence purely English affairs. This apparent anomaly has been highlighted by both English and non-English politicians, often those opposed to devolution, and has become popularly known as the West Lothian question.
Administratively, England is something of an anomaly within the UK. Unlike the other three nations, it has no local parliament or government and its administrative affairs are dealt with by a combination of the UK government, the UK parliament and a number of England-specific quangos, such as English Heritage. There are calls from some for a devolved English Parliament and from others for the dissolution of the UK and an independent England.
The current Labour government favoured the establishment of regional administration, claiming that England was too large to be governed as a sub-state entity. A referendum on this issue in North East England on 4 November 2004 decisively rejected the proposal.
Some criticised the English regional proposals for not decentralising enough, saying that they amounted not to devolution, but to little more than local government reorganisation, with no real power being removed from central government. The English regions would not even have had the limited powers of the Welsh Assembly, much less the tax-varying and legislative powers of the Scottish Parliament. Rather, power was simply re-allocated within the region, with little new resource allocation and no real prospects of Assemblies being able to change the pattern of regional aid. Responsibility for regional transport was added to the proposals late in the process. This was perhaps crucial in the North East, where resentment at the Barnett Formula, which delivers greater regional aid to adjacent Scotland, was a significant impetus for the North East devolution campaign. There has also been a campaign for a Cornish assembly along Welsh lines by groups such as Mebyon Kernow, which recently collected 50,000 signatures in support.
Some eurosceptics believe that the establishment of English regions as administrative entities is designed to undermine the concept of English nationhood and more easily fit England into a European federal model.
Conventionally the national capital of England is London, although technically it would be more exact to call London the capital of "England and Wales" given England's lack of a distinctive political identity separate from the Principality. Winchester served as the country's first national capital until some time in the late 11th century after the Norman Conquest. The City of London became England's commercial capital, while the City of Westminster (where the Royal court was located) became the political capital. These roles have, broadly speaking, been maintained to the present day.
Subdivisions
Main article: Subdivisions of England
Historically, the highest level of local government in England was the county. These divisions had emerged from a range of units of old, pre-unification England, whether they were Kingdoms, such as Essex and Sussex; Duchies, such as Yorkshire, Cornwall and Lancashire or simply tracts of land given to some noble, as is the case with Berkshire. Until 1867, they were subdivided into smaller divisions called hundreds.
These counties all still exist in, or near to, their original form as the traditional counties. In many places, however, they have been heavily modified or abolished outright as administrative counties. This came about due to a number of factors.
The fact that the counties were so small meant, and still means, that there was no regional government able to coordinate an overarching plan for the area. This was especially true in the metropolitan areas surrounding the cities, as the county lines were usually drawn up before the industrial revolution and the mass urbanisation of England.
The solution was the creation of large metropolitan counties centred on cities. These were later broken up, with several other counties, into unitary authorities, unifying the county and district/borough levels of government.
London is a special case, and is the one region which currently has a representative authority as well as a directly elected mayor. The 32 London boroughs and the Corporation of London remain the local form of government in the city.
Other than Greater London, the official regions are:
- North East England
- North West England
- Yorkshire and the Humber
- West Midlands
- East Midlands
- East of England
- South West England
- South East England
Outside London the regions have very little power and are not accountable to elected representatives; regional authority is placed in the hands of unelected assemblies. If, as now seems unlikely, regions opt to replace these bodies with elected assemblies, local government in England will remain as variable and, some might say, as confusing as ever
Geography
Main articles: Geography of the United Kingdom, Geography of England
Geography of England
England comprises the central and southern two-thirds of the island of Great Britain, plus offshore islands of which the largest is the Isle of Wight. It is bordered to the north by Scotland and to the west by Wales. It is closer to continental Europe than any other part of Britain, divided from France only by a 38 km (24 statute mile or 21 nautical mile) sea gap.
Most of England consists of rolling hills, but it is more mountainous in the north with a chain of low mountains, the Pennines, dividing east and west. The dividing line between terrain types is usually indicated by the Tees-Exe line. There is also an area of flat, low-lying marshland in the east, much of which has been drained for agricultural use.
The list of England's largest cities is much debated because in British English the normal meaning of city is "a continuously built-up urban area"; these are hard to define and various other definitions are preferred by some people to boost the ranking of their own city. London is by far the largest English city. Manchester and Birmingham vie for second place. A number of other cities, mainly in the north of England, are of substantial size and influence. These include: Liverpool, Leeds, Newcastle, Nottingham, Bristol and Sheffield Using the standard U.S. city limits definition of a city the top six are: Birmingham, Leeds, Sheffield, Bradford, Liverpool and Manchester. Note that London is not on this list (Greater London is a region and the City of London is tiny), and that one of the two candidates for the status of England's "second city", Manchester, is down in sixth. In the UK, this method of ranking cities is generally used only by people whose own city is promoted by it.
The Channel Tunnel, near Folkestone, links England to the European mainland. The English/French border is halfway along the tunnel.
The largest harbour in England is at Poole, on the south-central coast. Internationally, it is the second largest harbour in the world, although this fact is disputed (See harbors for a list of other potential second largest harbours)
The highest temperature ever recorded in England is 38.5 °C (101.3 °F) on August 10, 2003 in Kent. [http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/kent/3153532.stm]. The lowest temperature ever recorded in England is -26.1 °C (-15.0 °F) on January 10, 1982 at Newport in Shropshire. [http://www.metoffice.com/climate/uk/location/england/#temperature]
Major rivers
Shropshire.]]
- Thames
- Severn
- Trent
- Humber
- Yorkshire Ouse
- Tyne
- Mersey
- Dee
- Avon
Main article: Waterways in the United Kingdom
Major Conurbations
:See main article: List of towns in England
The largest cities in England are much debated but according to the urban area populations (continuous built up areas) these would be the 15 largest conurbations. (Population figures taken from 2001 census)
#Greater London (8,278,251)
#West Midlands (2,284,093)
#Greater Manchester (2,244,931)
#Leeds/Bradford (1,499,465)
#Tyneside (879,996)
#Liverpool (816,216)
#Nottingham (666,358)
#Sheffield (640,720)
#Bristol (551,066)
#Brighton/Worthing/Littlehampton (461,181)
#Portsmouth (442,252)
#Leicester (441,213)
#Bournemouth/Poole (383,713)
#Reading (369,804)
#Teesside (365,323)
Economy
Main article: Economy of England
Demographics
Main articles: Demographics of England, Population of England
England is both the most populous and the most ethnically diverse nation in the United Kingdom with around 49 million inhabitants, of which roughly a tenth are from non-White ethnic groups. It is one of the most densely populated countries in Europe, second only to the Netherlands.
This population is made up of, and descended from, immigrants who have arrived over millennia. The principal waves of migration have been in c. 600 BC (Celts), the Roman period (garrison soldiers from throughout the Empire), 350–550 (Angles, Saxons, Jutes), 800–900 (Vikings, Danes), 1066 (Normans), 1650–1750 (European refugees and Huguenots), 1840–1850 (Irish), 1880–1940 (Irish, Jews), 1950— (Irish, Caribbeans, Africans, South Asians), 1985— (citizens of European Community member states especially Ireland, East Europeans, Iranians, Kurds, refugees).
The general prosperity of England as the largest partner of the UK, has also made it a destination for economic migrants particularly from Ireland and Scotland. This segment of English homogeneous society continues to create a diverse and dynamic language that is widely used internationally. The other image of foreign ethnic components in England is still mostly seen as a legacy of the British Empire; especially the Commonwealth of Nations.
English identity
The simplest view is that an English person is someone who is from England and holds British nationality, regardless of his or her racial origin. However, inhabitants of England quite commonly refer to themselves as "British" rather than "English"; centuries of English dominance within the United Kingdom has created a situation where to be English is, as a linguist would put it, an "unmarked" state (i.e. a British person, institution, custom, city, etc. is assumed English unless specified otherwise). The English frequently include their neighbours in the general term "British" while the Scots and Welsh, proud of their separate identities, tend to be more forward about referring to themselves by one of those more specific terms. Although currently a part of England, a notable percentage of those living in Cornwall feel similarly, considering themselves Cornish first. One significant exception is in Northern Ireland, where the Unionist community tend to identify very strongly as "British" (Republicans living in the province are more likely to consider themselves "Irish"), and there is not a "Northern Ireland" or "Northern Irish" identity to the same extent as there is (e.g.) a Scottish one.
A person, therefore, using the term "English" to describe him or herself (regardless of personal history) may be going out of his or her way to do so; hence he or she may also be seen (rightly or wrongly, and not necessarily pejoratively) as nationalistic. While Scottish, Welsh, Irish and Cornish patriotism are widely exhibited, specifically English patriotism has often been viewed with suspicion, and most English people feel more comfortable identifying themselves with Britain as a whole. However, this may be to avoid being seen as bullies by their neighbours. The extent to which specifically English patriotism is linked to a right-wing xenophobic agenda has also generated discomfort. The appropriation of English symbols by racist far-right organisations such as the National Front made many people uncomfortable with expressions of Englishness. In recent years, English identity has recently been a topic of debate in the national press, with many English people trying to "reclaim" the term and the flag from the far-right. See English nationalism.
One notable exception to the above is in relation to sports, in particular Association football, Rugby football and to a lesser extent Cricket. Transient successes are often accompanied by a revival of the use of the "St George's Cross". While it has not yet replaced the "Union Flag" its use is on the increase.
Many English people who have spent a lot of time overseas fall into the habit of referring to themselves as "English". It is the most recognisable designation by speakers of many languages, especially where their own language uses a similar word. Even in other English-speaking countries, people are often perplexed by concepts of "British" or the "United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland".
All these distinctions are only possible because there is no "English citizenship" or legal definition of Englishness. Moreover, the hazy understanding many people have of the distinction between "England" and "Britain" compounds the confusion. If in doubt, refer to an "English" person as "British": this will always be correct. It may not be as precise as "English", but it will avoid offence in the event the person is actually from a different part of Britain.
Culture
Union Flag
Main article: Culture of England
- English literature
- Sir Thomas Browne
- Geoffrey Chaucer
- John Milton
- William Shakespeare
- Jane Austen
- Mary Shelley
- Charles Dickens
- Thomas Hardy
- George Orwell
- J. R. R. Tolkien
- C. S. Lewis
- Douglas Adams
- List of national parks of England and Wales
- Food and Drink
- English folklore
- English art
- English school of painting
- Music of England
Languages
Music of England.]]
As its name suggests, the English language, today spoken by hundreds of millions of people around the world, originated as the language of England, where it remains the principal tongue today (although not officially designated as such). An Indo-European language in Anglo-Frisian branch of the Germanic family, it is closely related to Scots and Frisian. As the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms merged into England, "Old English" emerged; some of its literature and poetry has survived.
Used by aristocracy and commoners alike before the Norman Conquest (1066), English was displaced in cultured contexts under the new regime by the Norman French language of the new Anglo-French aristocracy. Its use was confined primarily to the lower social classes while official business was conducted in a mixture of Latin and French. Over the following centuries, however, English gradually came back into fashion among all classes and for all official business except certain traditional ceremonies. (Some survive to this day.) But Middle English, as it had by now become, showed many signs of French influence, both in vocabulary and spelling. During the Renaissance, many words were coined from Latin and Greek origins; and more recent years, Modern English has extended this custom, being always remarkable for its far-flung willingness to incorporate foreign-influenced words.
The law does not recognise any language as being official, but English is the only language used in England for general official business. The other national languages of the UK (Welsh, Irish Gaelic and Scottish Gaelic) are confined to their respective nations, and only Welsh is treated by law as an equal to English (and then only for organisations which do business in Wales).
The only non-Anglic native spoken language in England is the Cornish language, a Celtic language spoken in Cornwall, which became extinct in the 19th century but has been revived and is spoken in various degrees of fluency by around 3,500 people. This has no official status (unlike Welsh) and is not required for official use, but is nonetheless supported by national and local government under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. Cornwall County Council has produced [http://www.cornwall.gov.uk/cornish/strategy/english/engl01.htm a draft strategy] to develop these plans. There is, however, no programme as yet for public bodies to actively promote the language. Scots is spoken by some adjacent to the Anglo-Scottish Border.
Most deaf people within England speak British sign language (BSL), a sign language native to Britain. The British Deaf Association estimates that 70,000 people throughout the UK speak BSL as their first or preferred language, but does not give statistics specific to England. Like Cornish, BSL has no official status, but has been granted a degree of recognition by the government. The BBC broadcasts several of its programmes with BSL interpreters.
Different languages from around the world, especially from the former British Empire and the Commonwealth of Nations, have been brought to England by immigrants. Many of these are widely spoken within ethnic minority communities, including Punjabi, Hindi, Urdu, Bengali, Gujarati, Chinese and Vietnamese. These are often used by official bodies to communicate with the relevant sections of the community, particularly in big cities, but this occurs on an "as needed" basis rather than as the result of specific legislative ordinances.
Other languages have also traditionally been spoken by minority populations in England, including Romany.
Despite the relatively small size of the nation, there are a large number of distinct English regional accents. Those with particularly strong accents may not be easily understood elsewhere in the country.
Nomenclature
The country is named after the Angles, one of several Germanic tribes who settled the country in the 5th and 6th centuries.
There are two distinct linguistic patterns for the name of the country.
The majority of European languages use names akin to "England":
- "England" (Danish, German, Swedish, Norwegian)
- "Engeland" (Dutch)
- "Inglismaa" (Estonian)
- "Angleterre" (French)
- "Inghilterra" (Italian)
- "Inglaterra" (Spanish, Portuguese, Galician)
- "Anglia" (Hungarian, Polish, Romanian, Albanian)
- "Anglija" (Russian, Slovene, Lithuanian, Ukrainian)
- "Engleska" (Croatian, Serbian)
- "Αγγλία" ("Anglía") (Greek)
- "Englanti" (Finnish)
The Celtic names are quite different:
- "Bro-Saoz" (Breton)
- "Pow Sows" (Cornish)
- "Sasana" (Irish)
- "Sasainn" (Scottish Gaelic)
- "Lloegr" (Welsh) — but "Saeson" for the inhabitants.
- "Sostyn" (Manx Gaelic)
Except for Lloegr, which is an ancient geographic term, these names are all derived from the Saxons, another family of Germanic tribes which arrived at about the same time as the Angles.
See: Wiktionary:England for a further list of non-English names for England.
"England" is sometimes mistakenly used to refer to the entire United Kingdom, the island of Great Britain, or the British Isles. This may offend people from other parts of the UK. Frequently the English use the less-specific "Britain" or "the UK", even when "England" is technically correct and commonly also use "England" when "Britain" would be correct.
Alternative names include:
- the slang "Blighty", from the Hindustani "bila yati" meaning "foreign"
- "Albion", an ancient name popularised by Pliny the Elder and Ptolemy in the 1st century. Supposedly referring to the white (Latin alba) cliffs of Dover, this term has also been interpreted as a relative of Alba, today the Scots Gaelic name for Scotland. Whatever its origins, "Albion" originally referred to the whole island of Great Britain and is still sometimes seen that way today — but is more often used for England.
- More poetically, England has been called "this sceptred isle...this other Eden" and "this green and pleasant land", quotations respectively from the poetry of William Shakespeare (in Richard II) and William Blake (And did those feet in ancient time).
The inhabitants of England are the English. The slang terms sometimes used for them include "Sassenachs" (from the Scots Gaelic), "Limeys" (in reference to the citrus fruits carried aboard English sailing vessels to prevent scurvy) and "Pom/Pommy" (used in Australian English and New Zealand English), but these may be perceived as offensive. Also see alternative words for British.
Symbols and insignia
alternative words for British.]]
The two traditional symbols of England are the St. George's cross (the English flag) and the Three Lions coat of arms (see above), both derived from the great Norman powers that formed the monarchy – the Cross of Aquitaine and the Lions of Anjou. The three lions were first definitely used by Richard I (Richard the Lionheart) in the late 12th century (although it is also possible that Henry I may have bestowed it on his son Henry before then). Historian Simon Schama has argued that the Three Lions are the true symbol of England because the English throne descended down the Angevin line.
A red cross acted as a symbol for many Crusaders in the 12th and 13th centuries. It became associated with St George and England, along with other countries and cities (such as Georgia, Milan and the Republic of Genoa), which claimed him as their patron saint and used his cross as a banner. It remained in national use until 1707, when the Union Flag (which English and Scottish ships had used at sea since 1606) was adopted for all purposes to unite the whole of Great Britain under a common flag. The flag of England no longer has much of an official role, but it is widely flown by Church of England properties and at sporting events. (Paradoxically, the latter is a fairly recent development; until the late 20th century, it was commonplace for fans of English teams to wave the Union Flag, rather than the St George's Cross).
The rose is widely recognised as the national flower of England and is used in a variety of contexts. Predominantly, this is a red rose (which also symbolises Lancashire), such as the badge of the English Rugby Union team. However, a white rose (which also symbolises Yorkshire) or a "tudor rose" (symbolising the end of the War of the Roses) may also be used on different occasions.
The Three Lions badge performs a similar role for the English national football team and English national cricket team.
National anthems
Although England does not have an official anthem of its own, the following are widely regarded as English national hymns:
- "Jerusalem:" Words by William Blake, Music by Hubert Parry
- "I Vow to Thee, My Country": Words by Cecil Spring-Rice, Music by Gustav Holst
- "Land of Hope and Glory": Words by A C Benson, Music by Edward Elgar (although this refers to all of Great Britain, not only England)
- "Nimrod": Music by Edward Elgar
"God Save The Queen" (the national anthem for the UK as a whole) is usually played for English sporting events (e.g. football matches), although "Land of Hope and Glory" has also been used as the English anthem for the Commonwealth Games. "Rule Britannia" despite being a song about Britain as a whole was often used for the English national football team when they play against another of the home nations but more recently
"God Save The Queen" has been used by both the rugby and football teams. Many believe that English teams should use their own anthems, most popular of which is the use of "Jerusalem".
References
- [http://www.statistics.gov.uk Office of National Statistics]
See also
-
- English language
- English law
- English (people)
- List of monarchs of England – Kings of England family tree
- List of English people
- Angeln (region in northern Germany, presumably the origin of the Angles for whom England is named)
- UK topics
- List of not fully sovereign nations
- Education in England
References
External links
- [http://www.enjoyengland.com/ The official website of the English Tourist Board — Enjoy England]
- [http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/state/nations/ BBC Nations]: articles on England and her neighbours
Category:Monarchies
Category:European countries
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Peak District.]]
The Peak District is an upland area in central and northern England, in the United Kingdom. Most of the area became the first national park in the nation. It is conventionally split into the northern Dark Peak, where most of the moorland is found, and the southern White Peak, where most of the population lives. It has some of the most spectacular scenery that can be found in the UK. The park's controlling authority claims it to be the world's second most popular national park.
Geology
White Peak
The White Peak is underlain with early Carboniferous limestone, which produces numerous caves. Under the Dark Peak lie shales and sandstones of the late Carboniferous millstone grit. Much of the Peak, and its adjacent areas, approximates to the structure of an eroded dome. The coal measures of the carbonifous lie just outside the district, especially on the eastern edge. Then, moving inwards, come the gritstone edges, the shales, and in the central region the limestone of the White Peak.
For a detailed description of the geology of the area see Cope's monograph .
History
The Mass Trespass of Kinder Scout, the highest point in the Peak
District, was a landmark in the campaign for national parks and open access to moorland in Britain. The Peak District National Park became the United Kingdom's first national park on April 17, 1951.
The first long-distance footpath in the United Kingdom was the Pennine Way, which starts from the village of Edale in the heart of the Peak District.
Geography
- Derwent Valley
The Park boundaries were drawn to exclude large towns from the park. However, Buxton is nearly entirely surrounded by the park.
Activities
Buxton
- Rock climbing in the Peak District
- horse riding
- walking
- cycling
- caving
- windsports (like hang gliding and parascending)
- water sports
Climbing areas
Western Grit (Staffordshire, Kinder, Bleaklow, and the Chew Valley)
- The Roaches
- Hen Cloud
- Ramshaw
- Windgather
- Castle Naze
- Kinder
- Shining Clough
- Dovestones Edge
- Ravenstones
Eastern Grit (Derwent Valley, Sheffield, Derbyshire)
- Rivelin
- Stanage
- Burbage
- Millstone
- Frogatt
- Curbar
- Birchen
- Gardoms
- Black Rocks
Peak Limestone
- Deep Dale
- Chee Date
- Raven Tor
- Pic Tor
- Wild Cat
- High Tor
See also
- List of peaks of the Peak District
Reference
# F. Wolverson Cope, Geology Explained in the Peak District, (1976), David & Charles. ISBN 0_7153_6945_8
External links
- [http://www.lakedistrictdesktops.com/galleries/peakdistrict.html A gallery of free wallpaper-sized photographs of the Peak District in winter]
- [http://www.peakdistrict.org/ The official website of the Peak District National Park Authority]
- [http://www.thepeakdistrict.info/ Attractions, activities, geology and historical information on the Peak District]
- [http://www.visitpeakdistrict.com Official tourism website]
Category:Derbyshire
Category:Geology of the United Kingdom
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Category:National parks of England and Wales
KonstruadoKonstruado estas agado, kiu produktas daŭrajn artefaritajn ejojn, firme ligitajn kun la grundo, kiuj ebligas restadi tie ŝirmita kontraŭ maloportunaj influoj el la ĉirkaŭaĵo (domojn) kaj ĉiajn substrukturaĵojn, sumatajn per la nocio konstruaĵo.
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