<p>The East Frisian Islands  are a chain of islands in the North Sea, off the coast of East Frisia in Lower Saxony, Germany. The islands extend for some 90 km from west to east between the mouths of the Ems and Jade / Weser rivers and lie about 3.5 to 10 km offshore. Between the islands and the mainland are extensive mudflats, known locally as Watten, which form part of the Wadden Sea. In front of the islands are Germany&#39;s territorial waters, which occupy a much larger area than the islands themselves. The islands, the surrounding mudflats and the territorial waters  form a close ecological relationship. The island group makes up about 5% of the Lower Saxony Wadden Sea National Park.</p><br>
<p>The largest island by surface area is Borkum, located at the western end of the chain; the other six inhabited islands are from west to east: Juist, Norderney with the largest town in the islands, Baltrum, Langeoog, Spiekeroog and Wangerooge. There are also four other small, uninhabited islands: Lütje Hörn east of Borkum, Memmert and Kachelotplate southwest of Juist, Minsener Oog, a dredged island southeast of Wangerooge, and Mellum at the eastern end of the island chain which, following the boundary revision by the Federal Office for Nature Conservation, no longer belongs to the East Frisian Islands, but to the mudflats of the Elbe-Weser Triangle (Watten im Elbe-Weser-Dreieck).</p><br>
<h2>Overview of the islands and sand flats</h2><br>
<p>The following table contains basic information about the islands and sand flats (Sandplaten). The uninhabited and unparished sand flats are highlighted in yellow.</p><br>
<p>Norderney is the remaining part of Buise, which was almost entirely engulfed by the sea in the 17th century. Lütje Hörn east of Borkum is in constant danger of being washed away. In 2003 the German Coastal Defence (NLWK) announced that the sandbank Kachelotplate can now be called an island too, because it is no longer regularly flooded by high tide. However, it is not larger than 2 km² and will remain unsettled. Kachelotplate is located north of the mouth of the Ems river.</p><br>
<p>Most of the islands do not allow cars. The exceptions are Borkum and Norderney, which are also the most crowded islands. There are no bridges connecting the mainland with the islands. Each island is accessible by ferry.</p><br>
<p>Borkum and Norderney, the Nazi labour camps on Alderney, were named after the islands.</p><br>
<p>The islands and the surrounding sea are part of the Lower Saxony Wadden Sea National Park.</p><br>
<h2>Effects of storms and currents</h2><br>
<p>Even though today they are established islands, some of them continue to be in motion. On the East Frisian island of Juist for example, since the year 1650 there are five different proven sites for the church, as the spot for rebuilding the church had to keep pace with the ever-moving island. At times, Juist even consisted of two islands, which eventually grew back together. The neighbouring island of Wangerooge in the last 300 years has moved a distance equivalent to its own length to the east, its church tower, destroyed at the outbreak of World War I apparently moving from east to west.</p><br>
<p>In this process, land is slowly eroded on the western coasts, while sediments are deposited on the eastern coasts. As a result, western coasts are increasingly protected by human action. The canals between the islands serve as passages for the tides, so that in these places the scouring action of current prevents the islands gradually joining one to another.</p><br>
<h2>In popular culture</h2><br>
<p>A German invasion fleet masses in the Frisian Islands in the pre-World War I invasion thriller Riddle of the Sands.</p><br>
<p>German students memorize the names of the seven inhabited islands by using a memory hook:</p><br>
<p>Welcher Seemann liegt bei Nanni im Bett?</p><br>
<p>At a first glance, the question for Nanni&#39;s company for the night does not seem to make a lot of sense. In the German original however, the very first letter of every individual word represents the first letter of the name of the island geographically occupying the same position in the chain of islands (in east-to-west-direction) that the respective word occupies within the chain of words, i.e. the sentence.</p><br>
<p>Welcher......... Seemann...... liegt........... bei.......... Nanni.......... im.......... Bett ?</p><br>
<p>Which............ seaman........ lies............ by........... Nanni.......... in... bed ?</p><br>
<p>Wangerooge... Spiekeroog... Langeoog... Baltrum... Norderney... Juist *.... Borkum</p><br>
<p>The old German alphabet at the time of the memory hook&#39;s creation did not yet differ between "i" and "j"</p><br>
<p>The Batman River is a major tributary of the Tigris, joining it near the source of Tigris called Dicle River in southeast Turkey. It originates in the Anti-Taurus Mountains  The region along the Batman River is known for its oil fields. The Batman Dam  was built in 1999 in the upstream , together with the associated reservoir and hydroelectric power plant.</p><br>
<p>The river is widest at about 100 m right after exiting the dam, but then narrows to about 50 m and forms numerous splits along its way to the Tigris. Its riverbed is irregular in many places, promoting flooding. A tributary of Batman, the Iluh River, originates in the Raman Mountain on the south of the Batman city and flows north-west through the city into the Batman River. Despite being a small river, absent on most maps, Iluh plays an important role for the province because its spring floods affect the provincial capital. The floods of Iluh and Batman rivers occur between March and May and sometimes in October or November. Major floods occurred in 1969 (April, 60 buildings damaged), 1972 (April and May, 210 buildings damaged), 1991 (November, 500 buildings flooded), 1995 (March, nearly 1000 buildings submerged and 450 damaged) and 2006 (October, 11 people died and 20 injured).</p><br>
<p>In Antiquity, the Batman River was known as Kalat. This name meant "bride" to the Syriac people who populated the area; it was thus translated into Greek as Nymphios (Νυμφίος, Latinized Nymphius) and Nymphaios (Νυμφαῖος, Latinized Nymphaeus). Among Arabs it was known as Satidama, meaning "the bloody" reflecting the battles fought near it. The river served as a natural border between the Byzantine Empire and Sassanid Persia and saw major battles in 583 and 591 AD. The main citadel on the river was Martyropolis, modern Silvan.</p><br>
<p>In international literature, the name Batman came into use since the 19th century, whereas in the 18th century and before it was mostly referred to as Nymphius, among other names. The origin of the name "Batman" is unclear: it might be a shortening of the name of the 1,228 m tall Bati Raman mountain located nearby or refer to the unit of weight used in the Ottoman Empire.</p><br>
<p>Mount Royal  is a large volcanic-related hill or small mountain in the city of Montreal, immediately west of Downtown Montreal, Quebec, Canada. Mount Royal gave its name to Montreal.</p><br>
<p>The hill is part of the Monteregian Hills situated between the Laurentians and the Appalachian Mountains. It gave its Latin name, Mons Regius, to the Monteregian chain. The hill consists of three peaks: Colline de la Croix (or Mont Royal proper) at 233 m, Colline d&#39;Outremont (or Mount Murray, in the borough of Outremont) at 211 m, and Westmount Summit at 201 m elevation above mean sea level.</p><br>
<p>In June 2017, during the 375th anniversary of Montreal, the city formally renamed the Outremont peak Tiohtià:ke Otsira’kéhne, Mohawk for "the place of the big fire," reflecting how the hill had been used for a fire beacon by First Nations people.</p><br>
<h2>Geology</h2><br>
<p>Mount Royal is the deep extension of a vastly eroded ancient volcanic complex, which was probably active about 125 million years ago. As a result, some tourist guidebooks, such as the Michelin Guide to Montreal, state that it is an extinct volcano.</p><br>
<p>The mountain, along with the other mountains of the Monteregian Hills, was formed when the North American Plate moved westward over the New England hotspot by a process known as intrusion: magma intruded into the sedimentary rocks underneath the area, producing at least eight igneous stocks. The main rock type is a gabbro composed of pyroxene, olivine and variable amounts of plagioclase. During and after the main stage of intrusion, the gabbros and surrounding rocks were intruded by a series of volcanic dikes and sills. Subsequently, the surrounding softer sedimentary rock was eroded, leaving behind the resistant igneous rock that forms the mountain.</p><br>
<p>The mineral montroyalite, discovered in Montreal, is named after the mountain that provided the definition sample.</p><br>
<h2>History</h2><br>
<p>The first European to scale the mountain was Jacques Cartier, guided there in 1535 by the people of the village of Hochelaga. He named it in honour of his patron, Francis I of France. He wrote in his journal: "And among these fields is situated and seated the said town of Hochelaga, near to and adjoining a mountain…</p><br>
<p>We named this mountain Mount Royal."</p><br>
<p>On one theory, the name of the Island of Montréal derives from Mont Réal, as the mountains name was spelled in Middle French (Mont Royal in modern French). However, Cartiers 1535 diary entry refers to "le mont Royal". Another argument, mentioned by the Government of Canada on its website concerning Canadian place names, is that the name Montréal was adopted because a Venetian map from 1556 used the Italian name of the mountain, "Monte Real". The name was first applied to the island and was unofficially applied to the city, formerly Ville-Marie, by the 18th century.</p><br>
<p>In 1643, Paul de Chomedey, Sieur de Maisonneuve made a pilgrimage to the top of the mountain, in order to fulfill a vow made in the winter season on occasion of a great flood which swept up to the town palisades.</p><br>
<p>In 1876, land owner and farmer James Swail began planning residential subdivisions on the western slope of Mount Murray, in what is now the Cote-des-Neiges district. In 1906, a large housing development was started in the area, called Northmount Heights, with homes built along what is now Decelles Street by developer Northmount Land Company. Much of this area has since been expropriated by the Université de Montréal.</p><br>
<p>In 1914–1918, the Mount Royal Tunnel was dug under the mountain by the Canadian Northern Railway, a predecessor of the Canadian National Railway. It is currently used by the AMT&#39;s Deux-Montagnes commuter rail line.</p><br>
<p>The area was briefly considered as a candidate for the site of Expo 67, before the exposition grounds were ultimately built on adjoining islands in the Saint Lawrence River.</p><br>
<p>For the 1976 Summer Olympics, the park itself hosted the individual road race cycling event.</p><br>
<h2>The Cross</h2><br>
<p>The first Mount Royal Cross was placed there in 1643 by Paul Chomedey de Maisonneuve, the founder of the city, in fulfillment of a vow he made to the Virgin Mary when praying to her to stop a disastrous flood. Today, the mountain is crowned by a 31.4 m illuminated cross, installed in 1924 by the Société Saint-Jean-Baptiste and now owned by the city. It was converted to fibre-optic light in 1992, and then to LEDs in 2009. The cross is usually lit in white, but can now be changed to any colour, including the purple traditionally used upon the death of a Pope.</p><br>
<p>Beside the cross, a plaque marks the placement of a time capsule in 1992, during Montréal&#39;s 350th birthday celebration. It contains messages and drawings from 12,000 children, depicting their visions for the city in the year 2142, when the capsule is scheduled to be opened.</p><br>
<h2>Mount Royal Park</h2><br>
<p>The mountain is the site of Mount Royal Park (Parc du Mont-Royal), one of Montreals largest greenspaces. The park was originally designed by Frederick Law Olmsted (who also co-designed New Yorks Central Park) and was inaugurated in 1876, although not completed to his design.</p><br>
<p>Olmsted had planned to emphasize the mountainous topography through the use of vegetation. Shade trees at the bottom of the carriage path would resemble a valley. As the visitor went higher, the vegetation would get more sparse to give the illusion of exaggerated height. City officials wanted a reservoir atop the mountain instead and Olmsted planned a grand promenade around it. However, Montreal suffered a depression in the mid-1870s and many of Olmsted&#39;s plans were abandoned. The carriage way was built, but it was done hastily and without regards to the original plan. None of the vegetation choices were followed, and the reservoir was never built.</p><br>
<p>The park contains two belvederes, the more prominent of which is the Kondiaronk Belvedere, a semicircular plaza with a Mount Royal Chalet overlooking Downtown Montreal. Built in 1906, it is named for the Petun chief Kondiaronk, whose influence led to the Great Peace of Montreal in 1701.</p><br>
<p>Other features of the park are Beaver Lake (a small artificial lake), a snow tube and toboggan run, cross-country skiing trails, a sculpture garden and Smith House, an interpretive centre. At the foot of the hill, overlooking Park Avenue, the park features the George-Étienne Cartier Monument (home to the Tam-Tams) and a gazebo (more properly, a bandstand) which has been named in honour of Mordecai Richler.</p><br>
<p>The lush forest has been badly damaged, both by Mayor Drapeau’s so-called morality cuts of the 1950s (to remove any opportunity for people to have sex in the bushes) and by the Ice Storm of 1998, but has since largely recovered. The forest is a green jewel rising above downtown Montreal and is known for its beautiful autumn foliage as well as its extensive hiking and cross-country ski trails. Biking is restricted to the main gravel roads.</p><br>
<p>From 1885 to 1920, the Mount Royal Funicular Railway brought sightseers to its peak. After it ceased service, Montreals No. 11 streetcar brought visitors to the peak. A roadway named for longtime but controversial former mayor Camillien Houde (who was jailed during the Second World War for his opposition to Canadas war effort) now bisects the mountain. Ironically, Houde had been opposed to the idea of putting a road through the park.</p><br>
<p>The park, cemeteries, and several adjacent parks and institutions have been combined into the Mount Royal Natural and Historical District (Arrondissement historique et naturel du Mont-Royal) by the provincial government in order to legally protect the rich cultural and natural heritage of the region.</p><br>
<h3>Wintertime</h3><br>
<p>Mount Royal Park currently hosts a snow tube and toboggan run on one of the former alpine ski slopes, as well as 7 groomed cross-country ski and snowshoe trails which total 18 km, with equipment rental available onsite.</p><br>
<p>The former alpine ski slope featured a T-bar and a 100 ft drop. Mechanical lift devices were first installed in Mount Royal Park in 1945. In the 1940s, there were two and a half miles of ski slopes available. A ski shop was first installed in the park in 1938. Prior to that, in the 1920s, one of the best ski jumps in Canada was the one on Mount Royal, near Côte-des-Neiges.</p><br>
<p>Founded in 1840, the now-defunct Montreal Snow Shoe Club, with members drawn from some of Montreal&#39;s prominent businessmen, would meet each week during the winter at nightfall on Sherbrooke Street near McGill College Avenue to snowshoe through Mount Royal Park, lit by torchlight. Club members began wearing blue tuques on their outings around 1870. Recently, the tradition has been revived as the Tuques Bleues celebration by the Les amis de la montagne, a charitable organization that works to protect and preserve the park.</p><br>
<h3>Tam-Tams</h3><br>
<p>In the summer, Mount Royal hosts a popular activity known as Tam-Tams, or the "Tam-Tam Jam", whereby a number of Montrealers and visitors play hand drums (such as djembes) on the east slope of the mountain, near the George-Étienne Cartier Monument. The Sunday afternoon gatherings attract people of various backgrounds. Often, dozens of tam-tam players perform their art at the same time, encouraging others to dance. In addition, many children and adults participate nearby in a battle with foam-padded weapons.</p><br>
<p>The Tam-tams began in the late 1970s with a workshop on African drumming at a jazz bar on Ontario Street. It is not organized by the municipal authorities. Despite initial resistance by participants, the city now intervenes in the event, restricting commercial activity to registered members in designated areas and assigning police and first aid technicians to ensure the safety of those present. Although initially controversial in light of the event&#39;s communal and countercultural vibe (as well as a permissive attitude towards marijuana use), the police presence has not led to conflict.</p><br>
<h3>Jeanne-Mance Park</h3><br>
<p>Facing the mountain across Park Avenue is Jeanne-Mance Park. A popular recreational area, Jeanne-Mance Park features a playground, a wading pool, tennis courts, various sports fields, and in winter, a skating rink.</p><br>
<h2>Transmission tower</h2><br>
<p>The park is also home to the CBCs Mount Royal transmitter facility, which comprises two large buildings (one used primarily by the CBC and one used by the private television stations) and a very short (about 100 m) candelabra tower, from which nearly all of Montreals television and FM radio stations broadcast. Because of the proximity of this tower to public areas of the park, in recent years significant concerns have been raised about radio-frequency radiation exposure; at several points formerly accessible to park users near the tower, radiation was found to be significantly higher than that permitted for the general public.</p><br>
<p>The "shortness" indicated above was dictated by the maximum allowable height (1100 above sea level) dictated by the federal Department of Transport because of the proximity to the flight path to Trudeau Airport nearby. The engineering challenge was to combine all the desired antennas in the limited space between the mountain top and 1100 ASL, which led to the "candelabra" design.</p><br>
<h2>Cemeteries</h2><br>
<p>There are two cemeteries in the area: Notre Dame des Neiges Cemetery (Catholic) and Mount Royal Cemetery, which is non-denominational but primarily Protestant, and includes several small Jewish cemeteries, among them Shaar Hashomayim Cemetery. These cemeteries are now running out of space. In 2008, the refusal of the Notre Dame des Neiges Cemetery to cede land that it uses as a depot blocked a planned expansion of the park.</p><br>
<h2>Adjacent landmarks</h2><br>
<p>Outside the park, Mount Royals slopes are also home to such Montreal landmarks as Saint Josephs Oratory, Canadas largest church; McGill University and its teaching hospitals, including the Royal Victoria Hospital and Montreal General Hospital; McGills Molson Stadium, home to the CFL&#39;s Montreal Alouettes; the McTavish reservoir; Université de Montréal; the École Polytechnique de Montréal; the Îlot-Trafalgar-Gleneagles historic block; and some well-off residential neighbourhoods such as Upper Westmount and Upper Outremont.</p><br>
<p>The River Tyne is a river in Scotland. It rises in the Moorfoot Hills in Midlothian near Tynehead to the</p><br>
<p>south of Edinburgh, at the junction of the B6458 and the B6367. It continues for approx. 30 miles in a north-eastern direction and empties into the North Sea near Belhaven.</p><br>
<h2>Origins</h2><br>
<p>The Tyne is mainly a confluence between the Birns Water and the Tyne Water, approx. 2 km east of Easter Pencaitland and 1 km south west of Spilmersford Bridge, in the grounds of Saltoun Hall. The Humbie Water is another main headwater.</p><br>
<p>The Tyne has a number of tributaries:</p><br>
<p>Bellyford Burn, rises east of Dalkeith; passes north of Cousland, Midlothian and south of Carberry Hill; south of Elphinstone Tower; north of Ormiston; joins Puddle Burn; joins Tyne Water at Winton House.</p><br>
<p>Kinchie Burn, rises east of Pathhead; supplies Glenkinchie Distillery; joins Birns Water at Milton Bridge, West Saltoun.</p><br>
<p>Blackford Burn/Belsis Burn/Murray&#39;s Burn, joins the Tyne Water at Pencaitland.</p><br>
<p>Cock Burn, rises at Lower Saltoun, joins the Tyne at Badger Wood.</p><br>
<p>Fala Dam Burn, East Water, Salters&#39; Burn and Blackhouse Burn combine into Keith Water which flows into Humbie Water, south of Humbie Kirk.</p><br>
<p>Johnstounburn Water rises near Woodcote Mill and joins Humbie Water near Saltoun Forest.</p><br>
<p>Letham Burn and St Laurence House Burn combine to join the Tyne at the southern outskirts of Haddington.</p><br>
<p>Bearford Burn rises in Playmuir wood and joins the Tyne at Beanston Mill.</p><br>
<p>Old Hailes Burn joins the Tyne at Hailes Castle.</p><br>
<p>Gallery starts with the Tyne&#39;s main headwaters: Birns Water, Tyne Water, Humbie Water</p><br>
<h2>Journey</h2><br>
<p>On its way to the North Sea, the Tyne passes through, or near to, the following places:</p><br>
<p>Easter Pencaitland; Spilmersford Bridge, B6355 road; Saltoun Hall</p><br>
<p>Nisbet; Badger Wood; Herdmanston Mains</p><br>
<p>Samuelston bridge; Begbie; Grants&#39; Braes Bridge on B6368</p><br>
<p>Clerkington and Clerkington Mill</p><br>
<p>Haddington: Knox Academy; Stevenson Bridge; Cheviot House Mill; Sports Centre; Waterloo Bridge B6368; St. Mary&#39;s Church; Nungate Bridge; Victoria Bridge</p><br>
<p>Abbey Bridge, Abbeymill Farm (south of the A1); Lady&#39;s Wood; Stevenson House</p><br>
<p>Sandy&#39;s Mill; Beanston Mill; Brown Knowe Plantation</p><br>
<p>Hailes Castle, Hailes Mill</p><br>
<p>A1 Bridge, Brae Heads, north of Traprain Law</p><br>
<p>East Linton; A199 bridge; B1377 bridge</p><br>
<p>Phantassie Farm, birthplace of John Rennie (engineer); Phantassie Doocot</p><br>
<p>alongside the B1407, past Prestonkirk Parish Church and Preston Mill</p><br>
<p>Knowes Mill; Acre Plantation; Tyninghame Bridge, A198; Firth Plantation</p><br>
<p>Tyninghame House north of the Tyne</p><br>
<p>Mosshouse Point; Hedderwick Sands; Belhaven Bay, Tyne Sands, St. Baldred&#39;s Cradle, John Muir Country Park</p><br>
<p>The River Tyne&#39;s journey from Spilmersford Bridge to the Tyne Estuary</p><br>
<h2>Environment</h2><br>
<h3>Species</h3><br>
<h3>Water quality</h3><br>
<h3>Fishing</h3><br>
<p>The East Lothian Angling Association controls 25 miles of the tyne and its feeder burns; there are Brown trout and sea trout.</p><br>
<p>The Firth of Tay  is a firth in Scotland between the council areas of Fife, Perth and Kinross, the City of Dundee and Angus, into which Scotland&#39;s largest river in terms of flow, the River Tay empties. The firth has a maximum width of 3 mi at Invergowrie.</p><br>
<p>Two bridges span the firth, the Tay Road Bridge and the Tay Rail Bridge.</p><br>
<p>The firth has one major island, the marshy Mugdrum Island.</p><br>
<p>The Firth of Tay in Antarctica was discovered in 1892-93 by Captain Thomas Robertson of the Dundee whaling expedition and named by him after the one in Scotland. He also named nearby Dundee Island in honour of the main city on the firth.</p><br>
<h2>Natural heritage</h2><br>
<p>The Firth of Tay and Eden Estuary were designated a Ramsar sites on 28 July 2000, as a Special Protection Area on 2 February 2000 and as a Special Area of Conservation on 17 March 2005. Several parts are within a site of special scientific interest - Inner Tay Estuary, Monifieth Bay, Tayport-Tentsmuir Coast. The Invergowrie Bay section is a local nature reserve.</p><br>
<p>The Firth of Tay is outstanding for its extensive sand and mudflats, its population of common seals and for its wintering birds such as oystercatcher, bar-tailed godwit, shelduck and velvet scoter. There is good access to much of the shoreline and many good wildlife watching opportunities.</p><br>
<p>At some 15 km in length, the reedbed on the north shore of the inner estuary is thought to be the most extensive in Britain.</p><br>
<h2>Towns and villages along the coast</h2><br>
<p>Balmerino</p><br>
<p>Broughty Ferry</p><br>
<p>Dundee</p><br>
<p>Invergowrie</p><br>
<p>Kingoodie</p><br>
<p>Monifieth</p><br>
<p>Newburgh</p><br>
<p>Newport-on-Tay</p><br>
<p>Tayport</p><br>
<p>Woodhaven</p><br>
<p>Wormit</p><br>
<h2>Places of interest</h2><br>
<p>Balmerino Abbey</p><br>
<p>Broughty Castle Museum</p><br>
<p>Mugdrum Island</p><br>
<p>Tay Rail Bridge</p><br>
<p>Tay Road Bridge</p><br>
<p>Tentsmuir Forest</p><br>
<p>Tentsmuir National Nature Reserve</p><br>
<p>Fanø is a Danish island in the North Sea off the coast of southwestern Denmark, and is the very northernmost of the Danish Wadden Sea Islands. Fanø municipality is the municipality  that covers the island and its seat is the town of Nordby.</p><br>
<h2>Island</h2><br>
<p>Fanø is separated from the mainland by the Wadden Sea over a span of approximately 5 km. The island is 16 km long and 5 km wide, and it is located off the coast from the city of Esbjerg to which it is connected by ferry. The ferry ride takes 12 minutes.</p><br>
<p>A variety of environments are to be found on Fanø. Not surprisingly, a very common one is sand. The islands whole western shore is one long beach. The islands northwestern corner is a vast sandbank called "Søren Jessens Sand". Søren Jessen was an entrepreneur and captain from Hjerting, today the westernmost suburb of Esbjerg and the bank is named after him because his ship, the "Anne Catriane", stranded here in 1712.</p><br>
<p>The vegetation on Fanø is mainly heath and small pine trees, never growing tall because of the predominant strong westerly winds from the North Sea.</p><br>
<p>Fanø relies heavily on tourism and is visited by some 30,000 people each summer. The main attraction is the fine white sand beach, which is also a popular playground for all kinds of wind and water sports, such as kite flying, surfing and buggies. Fanø also hosts Denmark&#39;s first golf course, Fanø Golf Links, established in 1901.</p><br>
<p>Long before paved roads, the beach - being long, straight and quite firm - hosted a yearly motorcycle and car racing event from 1919 and until 1923, where a tragic accident killed a local boy and put a stop to further events. Today is possible to drive your own car on the beach all the way from Sønderho to Fanø Vesterhavsbad. A public bus service is also operated on the beach. 1 January 2018 the municipality will take over the responsibilities of public mass transit on the island from the Region of Southern Denmark.</p><br>
<p>Also unique is the Wadden Sea with seals and migrating birds, as well as the two sailor towns Nordby and Sønderho with their maritime history, once among the most wealthy and influential in Denmark, and their vernacular architecture consisting of thatched-roof houses all oriented west-east, again because of the westerly winds.</p><br>
<p>During World War II, Fanø was part of the Atlantic Wall and the remains of the 300 bunkers built by the Nazis can still be spotted along the coast line.</p><br>
<p>A number of animals that are otherwise common in Denmark, such as vipers, squirrels, moles and badgers, are nonexistent on the island, whereas foxes, hedgehogs, roebucks, hares and especially rabbits exist in abundance.</p><br>
<p>Fanø has the highest rate of alcohol abuse in Denmark, with a rate of 34.6% among males and 15.8% among females. The island also has the highest murder rates, divorce rates and cancer rates.</p><br>
<h2>Notable people</h2><br>
<p>Birgitte Dorothea Henriette Nielsen (1815 - 1900) was a Danish author and playwright. She used local costumes from Fanø</p><br>
<p>Lilian Brøgger (born 1950 in Nordby) is a Danish illustrator. The first student to graduate as an illustrator from the Danish Design School in 1972</p><br>
<p>Bo Knudsen (born 1958) is a Danish librarian and local politician</p><br>
<p>Eva Louise Buus (born 1979) is a Danish artist. In 2015, she exhibited works in Fanø Museum</p><br>
<p>Jacob Bymar (born 1982 in Nordby) is a Danish footballer currently playing for B68. He is a former Danish youth international.</p><br>
<h2>Municipality</h2><br>
<p>The municipality is in Region of Southern Denmark, and covers an area of 56 km&sup2;. It has a total population of 3,192 (2008). Its mayor is Erik Nørreby, a member of the Venstre political party.</p><br>
<p>The main town and the site of its municipal council is the town of Nordby. Other towns include Sønderho, Fanø Vesterhavsbad and Rindby.</p><br>
<p>Fanø Municipality was not merged with any adjacent municipality under the municipal reform of 2007, as it agreed to enter into a "municipal cooperation agreement" with Esbjerg Municipality.</p><br>
<p>Lake Nemi  is a small circular volcanic lake in the Lazio region of Italy 30 km south of Rome, taking its name from Nemi, the largest town in the area, that overlooks it from a height.</p><br>
<h2>Archaeology and history</h2><br>
<p>The lake is famous for its sunken Roman ships. These ships were very large and technologically advanced for their time.</p><br>
<p>The lake was sacred to the goddess Diana Nemorensis and the site of the festival Nemoralia. Near the sanctuary of Diana were found a number of diminutive bronze statues of draped women and men, each holding libation bowls and incense boxes. Four of these figures are now in the British Museums collection. Emperors Caligula and Tiberius sailed Lake Nemi not merely to cool off in summer, but to assert themselves as Nemorensis, rulers aligning with the Stars, wedded to Earths perpetual life-force.</p><br>
<p>Near the temple of Diana was the sacred grove of Aricia. Here there was a priest called the Rex Nemorensis who would reign until he was killed by a challenger. This practice is described in the opening chapter of The Golden Bough by James George Frazer.</p><br>
<p>At the Hotel Diana, on the Western edge of the crater at Via Nemorense, there is a fine exhibit of the archeological excavation of the late 1920s, which exposed the enormous structure which Caligula built.</p><br>
<h2>The lake in art and literature</h2><br>
<p>Lake Nemi has been the subject for works by such artists as John Robert Cozens, George Inness, and Pierre-Henri de Valenciennes.</p><br>
<p>Muriel Spark&#39;s 1976 novel The Takeover is set in three fictitious villas overlooking Lake Nemi.</p><br>
<p>Lake Nemi inspired the first name of Norwegian comic character Nemi Montoya.</p><br>
<p>The lake and its surroundings are featured in the game Assassins Creed Brotherhood wherein the title character destroys a war machine commissioned by the works antagonist Cesare Borgia and invented by Leonardo da Vinci.</p><br>
<p>Shatt al-Arab  or Arvand Rud  is a river in Basra Governorate of some 200 km  in length, formed by the confluence of the Euphrates and the Tigris in the town of al-Qurnah in the Basra Governorate of southern Iraq. The southern end of the river constitutes the border between Iraq and Iran down to the mouth of the river as it discharges into the Persian Gulf. It varies in width from about 232 m at Basra to 800 m at its mouth. It is thought that the waterway formed relatively recently in geologic time, with the Tigris and Euphrates originally emptying into the Persian Gulf via a channel further to the west.</p><br>
<p>The Karun river, a tributary which joins the waterway from the Iranian side, deposits large amounts of silt into the river; this necessitates continuous dredging to keep it navigable.</p><br>
<p>The area is judged to hold the largest date palm forest in the world. In the mid-1970s, the region included 17 to 18 million date palms, an estimated one-fifth of the world&#39;s 90 million palm trees. But by 2002, war, salt, and pests had wiped out more than 14 million of the palms, including around 9 million in Iraq and 5 million in Iran. Many of the remaining 3 to 4 million trees are in poor condition.</p><br>
<p>In Middle Persian literature and the Shahnameh (written between c. 977 and 1010 AD), the name اروند Arvand is used for the Tigris, the confluent of the Shatt al-Arab.</p><br>
<h2>History</h2><br>
<p>Conflicting territorial claims and disputes over navigation rights between Iran and Iraq were among the main factors for the Iran–Iraq War that lasted from 1980 to 1988, when the pre-1980 status quo was restored. The Iranian cities of Abadan and Khorramshahr and the Iraqi city and major port of Basra are situated along this river.</p><br>
<p>The background of the issue stretches mainly back to the Ottoman-Safavid era, way prior to the establishment of an independent Iraq, which happened in the 20th century. In the early 16th century, the Iranian Safavids gained most of what is present-day Iraq, but lost it later by the Peace of Amasya (1555) to the expanding Ottomans. In the early 17th century, the Safavids under king (shah) Abbas I (r. 1588-1629) regained it, only to lose it permantly (along, temporarily, with control over the waterway), to the Ottomans by the Treaty of Zuhab (1639). This treaty, which roughly re-established the common borders of the Ottoman and Safavid Empires the way they had been in 1555, never demarcated a precise and fixed boundary regarding the frontier in the south. Nader Shah (r. 1736-1747) restored Iranian control over the waterway, but the Treaty of Kerden (1746) restored the Zuhab boundaries, and ceded it back to the Turks. The First Treaty of Erzurum (1823) concluded between Ottoman Turkey and Qajar Iran, resulted in the same.</p><br>
<p>The Second Treaty of Erzurum was signed by Ottoman Turkey and Qajar Iran in 1847 after protracted negotiations, which included British and Russian delegates. Even afterwards, backtracking and disagreements continued, until British Foreign Secretary, Lord Palmerston, was moved to comment in 1851 that "the boundary line between Turkey and Persia can never be finally settled except by an arbitrary decision on the part of Great Britain and Russia". A protocol between the Ottomans and the Persians was signed in Istanbul in 1913, which declared that the Ottoman-Persian frontier run along the thalweg, but World War I canceled all plans.</p><br>
<p>During the Mandate of Iraq (1920–32), the British advisors in Iraq were able to keep the waterway binational under the thalweg principle that worked in Europe: the dividing line was a line drawn between the deepest points along the stream bed. In 1937, Iran and Iraq signed a treaty that settled the dispute over control of the Shatt al-Arab. The 1937 treaty recognized the Iranian-Iraqi border as along the low-water mark on the eastern side of the Shatt al-Arab except at Abadan and Khorramshahr where the frontier ran along the thalweg (the deep water line) which gave Iraq control of almost the entire waterway; provided that all ships using the Shatt al-Arab fly the Iraqi flag and have an Iraqi pilot, and required Iran to pay tolls to Iraq whenever its ships used the Shatt al-Arab.</p><br>
<p>The Shatt al-Arab and the forest were depicted in the middle of the coat of arms of the Kingdom of Iraq from 1932-1959.</p><br>
<p>Under Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi in the late 60s, Iran developed a strong military and took a more assertive stance in the Near East. In April 1969, Iran abrogated the 1937 treaty over the Shatt al-Arab and Iranian ships stopped paying tolls to Iraq when they used the Shatt al-Arab. The Shah argued that the 1937 treaty was unfair to Iran because almost all river borders around the world ran along the thalweg, and because most of the ships that used the Shatt al-Arab were Iranian. Iraq threatened war over the Iranian move, but on 24 April 1969, an Iranian tanker escorted by Iranian warships (Joint Operation Arvand) sailed down the Shatt al-Arab, and Iraq--being the militarily weaker state--did nothing. The Iranian abrogation of the 1937 treaty marked the beginning of a period of acute Iraqi-Iranian tension that was to last until the Algiers Accords of 1975.</p><br>
<p>All United Nations attempts to intervene and mediate the dispute were rebuffed. Under Saddam Hussein, Baathist Iraq claimed the entire waterway up to the Iranian shore as its territory. In response, Iran in the early 1970s became the main patron of Iraqi Kurdish groups fighting for independence from Iraq. In March 1975, Iraq signed the Algiers Accord in which it recognized a series of straight lines closely approximating the thalweg (deepest channel) of the waterway, as the official border, in exchange for which Iran ended its support of the Iraqi Kurds.</p><br>
<p>In 1980, Hussein released a statement claiming to abrogate the 1975 treaty and Iraq invaded Iran. International law, however, holds that in all cases no bilateral or multilateral treaty can be abrogated by one party only. The main thrust of the military movement on the ground was across the waterway which was the stage for most of the military battles between the two armies. The waterway was Iraq&#39;s only outlet to the Persian Gulf, and thus, its shipping lanes were greatly affected by continuous Iranian attacks.</p><br>
<p>When the Al-Faw peninsula was captured by the Iranians in 1986, Iraq&#39;s shipping activities virtually came to a halt and had to be diverted to other Arab ports, such as Kuwait and even Aqaba, Jordan. At the end of the Iran–Iraq War, both sides agreed to once again treat the Algiers Accord as binding.</p><br>
<h2>Recent conflicts</h2><br>
<p>In the 2003 invasion of Iraq, the waterway was a key military target for the Coalition Forces. Since it is the only outlet to the Persian Gulf, its capture was important in delivering humanitarian aid to the rest of the country, and also to stop the flow of operations trying to break the naval blockade against Iraq. The British Royal Marines staged an amphibious assault to capture the key oil installations and shipping docks located at Umm Qasr on the al-Faw peninsula at the onset of the conflict.</p><br>
<p>Following the end of the war, the UK was given responsibility, subsequently mandated by United Nations Security Council Resolution 1723, to patrol the waterway and the area of the Persian Gulf surrounding the river mouth. They were tasked until 2007 to make sure that ships in the area were not being used to transport munitions into Iraq. British forces also trained Iraqi naval units to take over the responsibility of guarding their waterways after the Coalition Forces left Iraq in December 2011.</p><br>
<p>On two separate occasions, Iranian forces operating on the Shatt al-Arab have captured British Royal Navy sailors who they claim have trespassed into their territory.</p><br>
<p>In June 2004, several British servicemen were held for two days after purportedly straying into the Iranian side of the waterway. After being initially threatened with prosecution, they were released after high-level conversations between British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw and Iranian Foreign Minister Kamal Kharrazi. The initial hardline approach was put down to power struggles within the Iranian government. The British marines&#39; weapons and boats were confiscated.</p><br>
<p>In 2007, a seizure of fifteen more British personnel became a major diplomatic crisis between the two nations. It was resolved after thirteen days when the Iranians unexpectedly released the captives under an "amnesty."</p><br>
<p>Hofsjökull  is the third largest glacier in Iceland after Vatnajökull and Langjökull and the largest active volcano in the country. It is situated in the west of the Highlands of Iceland and north of the mountain range Kerlingarfjöll, between the two largest glaciers of Iceland. It covers an area of 925 km, reaching 1,765 m at its summit. The subglacial volcano is a shield type with caldera.</p><br>
<p>Hofsjökull is the source of several rivers including the Þjórsá, Iceland&#39;s longest river.</p><br>
<p>In the southeast of Iceland, between the easternmost glacier tongue of Vatnajökull (Axajökull) and Þrándarjökull, is a smaller glacier (area about 4 km²), which is also called Hofsjökull.</p><br>
<p>In 2015, Hofsjökull increased in mass, the first time in 20 years this had happened.</p><br>
<p>Ireland  is an island in the North Atlantic. It is separated from Great Britain to its east by the North Channel, the Irish Sea, and St George&#39;s Channel. Ireland is the third-largest island in Europe.</p><br>
<p>Politically, Ireland is divided between the Republic of Ireland (officially named Ireland), which covers five-sixths of the island, and Northern Ireland, which is part of the United Kingdom, in the northeast of the island. In 2011, the population of Ireland was about 6.4 million, ranking it the second-most populous island in Europe after Great Britain. Just under 4.6 million live in the Republic of Ireland and just over 1.8 million live in Northern Ireland.The 2011 population of the Republic of Ireland was 4,588,252 and that of Northern Ireland in 2011 was 1,810,863. These are Census data from the official governmental statistics agencies in the respective jurisdictions:</p><br>
<p>Central Statistics Office, Dublin</p><br>
<p>The island&#39;s geography comprises relatively low-lying mountains surrounding a central plain, with several navigable rivers extending inland. The island has lush vegetation, a product of its mild but changeable climate which is free of extremes in temperature. Thick woodlands covered the island until the Middle Ages. As of 2013, the amount of land that is wooded in Ireland is about 11% of the total, compared with a European average of 35%. There are twenty-six extant mammal species native to Ireland. The Irish climate is very moderate and classified as oceanic. As a result, winters are milder than expected for such a northerly area. However, summers are cooler than those in Continental Europe. Rainfall and cloud cover are abundant.</p><br>
<p>The earliest evidence of human presence in Ireland is dated at 10,500 BC. Gaelic Ireland had emerged by the 1st century CE. The island was Christianised from the 5th century onward. Following the Norman invasion in the 12th century, England claimed sovereignty over Ireland. However, English rule did not extend over the whole island until the 16th–17th century Tudor conquest, which led to colonisation by settlers from Britain. In the 1690s, a system of Protestant English rule was designed to materially disadvantage the Catholic majority and Protestant dissenters, and was extended during the 18th century. With the Acts of Union in 1801, Ireland became a part of the United Kingdom. A war of independence in the early 20th century was followed by the partition of the island, creating the Irish Free State, which became increasingly sovereign over the following decades, and Northern Ireland, which remained a part of the United Kingdom. Northern Ireland saw much civil unrest from the late 1960s until the 1990s. This subsided following a political agreement in 1998. In 1973 the Republic of Ireland joined the European Economic Community while the United Kingdom, and Northern Ireland, as part of it, did the same.</p><br>
<p>Irish culture has had a significant influence on other cultures, especially in the fields of literature. Alongside mainstream Western culture, a strong indigenous culture exists, as expressed through Gaelic games, Irish music, and the Irish language. The culture of the island also shares many features with that of Great Britain, including the English language, and sports such as association football, rugby, horse racing, and golf.</p><br>
<h2>Name</h2><br>
<p>The name Ireland derives from Old Irish Eriu. This in turn comes the from Proto-Celtic *Iveriu (compare Welsh Iwerddon), which is also the source of Latin Hibernia. Iveriu derives from a root meaning fat, prosperous.</p><br>
<h2>History</h2><br>
<h3>Prehistoric Ireland</h3><br>
<p>During the last glacial period, and up until about 12,000 years ago, most of Ireland was periodically covered in ice. Sea levels were lower and Ireland, like Great Britain, formed part of continental Europe. By 16,000 BC, rising sea levels due to ice melting caused Ireland to become separated from Great Britain. Later, around 6000 BC, Great Britain itself became separated from continental Europe. The earliest evidence of human presence in Ireland is dated at 10,500 BC, demonstrated by a butchered bear bone found in a cave in County Clare. It is not until about 8000 BC, however, that more sustained occupation of the island has been shown, with evidence for Mesolithic communities around the island. These Mesolithic communities lived as hunter-gatherers across the island until about 4000 BC.</p><br>
<p>Some time before 4000 BC, Neolithic settlers arrived introducing cereal cultivars, domesticated animals such as cattle and sheep, large timber building, and stone monuments. The earliest evidence for farming in Ireland or Great Britain is from Ferriters Cove, Co.Kerry, where a flint knife, cattle bones and a sheeps tooth were carbon-dated to c. 4350 BC. Field systems were developed in different parts of Ireland, including at the Céide Fields, that has been preserved beneath a blanket of peat in present-day Tyrawley. An extensive field system, arguably the oldest in the world, consisted of small divisions separated by dry-stone walls. The fields were farmed for several centuries between 3500 BC and 3000 BC. Wheat and barley were the principal crops.</p><br>
<p>The Bronze Age – defined by the use of metal – began around 2500 BC, with technology changing people&#39;s everyday lives during this period through innovations such as the wheel; harnessing oxen; weaving textiles; brewing alcohol; and skilful metalworking, which produced new weapons and tools, along with fine gold decoration and jewellery, such as brooches and torcs. According to John T. Koch and others, Ireland in the Late Bronze Age was part of a maritime trading-network culture called the Atlantic Bronze Age that also included Britain, western France and Iberia, and that this is where Celtic languages developed. This contrasts with the traditional view that their origin lies in mainland Europe with the Hallstatt culture.</p><br>
<h4>Emergence of Celtic Ireland</h4><br>
<p>During the Iron Age, a Celtic language and culture emerged in Ireland. How and when the island of Ireland became Celtic has been debated for close to a century, with the migrations of the Celts being one of the more enduring themes of archaeological and linguistic studies. Today, there is more than one school of thought on how this occurred in Ireland.</p><br>
<p>The long-standing traditional view, once widely accepted, is that the Celtic language, Ogham script and culture were brought to Ireland by waves of invading or migrating Celts from mainland Europe. This theory draws on the Lebor Gabála Érenn, a medieval Christian pseudo-history of Ireland along with the presence of Celtic culture, language and artefacts found in Ireland such as Celtic bronze spears, shields, torcs and other finely crafted Celtic associated possessions. The theory holds that there were four separate Celtic invasions of Ireland. The Priteni were said to be the first, followed by the Belgae from northern Gaul and Britain. Later, Laighin tribes from Armorica (present-day Brittany) were said to have invaded Ireland and Britain more or less simultaneously. Lastly, the Milesians (Gaels) were said to have reached Ireland from either northern Iberia or southern Gaul. It was claimed that a second wave named the Euerni, belonging to the Belgae people of northern Gaul, began arriving about the sixth century BC. They were said to have given their name to the island.</p><br>
<p>A more recent theory, with broad support among archaeologists, is that Celtic culture and language arrived in Ireland as a result of cultural diffusion. This theory proposes that the Celticisation of Ireland may have been the culmination of a long process of social and economic interaction between Ireland, Britain and adjacent parts of Continental Europe.</p><br>
<p>The theory was advanced in part because of lack of archeological evidence for large-scale Celtic immigration, though it is accepted that such movements are notoriously difficult to identify. Some proponents of this theory hold that it is likely that there was migration of smaller groups of Celts to Ireland, with sufficiently regular traffic to constitute a "migration stream," but that this was not the fundamental cause of Insular Celticisation. Historical linguists are sceptical that this method alone could account for the absorption of the Celtic language, with some saying that an assumed processional view of Celtic linguistic formation is an especially hazardous exercise. Genetic lineage investigation into the area of Celtic migration to Ireland has led to findings that showed no significant differences in mitochondrial DNA between Ireland and large areas of continental Europe, in contrast to parts of the Y-chromosome pattern. When taking both into account a study drew the conclusion that modern Celtic speakers in Ireland could be thought of as European "Atlantic Celts" showing a shared ancestry throughout the Atlantic zone from northern Iberia to western Scandinavia rather than substantially central European.</p><br>
<p>In 2012, research was published showing that occurrence of genetic markers for the earliest farmers was almost wiped out by Beaker-culture immigrants to Ireland: they carried what was then a new Y-chromosome R1b marker, believed to have originated in Iberia about 2500 BC. The prevalence amongst modern Irish men for this mutation is a remarkable 84%, the highest in the World, and closely matched in other populations along the Atlantic fringes down to Spain. A similar genetic replacement happened with lineages in mitochondrial DNA. The implication of this evidence is a series of migrations and the arrival of the early Irish language, giving some credence to the tales in Lebor Gabála Érenn.</p><br>
<h3>Late antiquity and early medieval times</h3><br>
<p>The earliest written records of Ireland come from classical Greco-Roman geographers. Ptolemy in his Almagest refers to Ireland as Mikra Brettania (Little Britain), in contrast to the larger island, which he called Megale Brettania (Great Britain). In his later work, Geography, Ptolemy refers to Ireland as Iouernia and to Great Britain as Albion. These "new" names were likely to have been the local names for the islands at the time. The earlier names, in contrast, were likely to have been coined before direct contact with local peoples was made.</p><br>
<p>The Romans would later refer to Ireland by this name too in its Latinised form, Hibernia, or Scotia. Ptolemy records sixteen nations inhabiting every part of Ireland in 100 CE. The relationship between the Roman Empire and the kingdoms of ancient Ireland is unclear. However, a number of finds of Roman coins have been made, for example at the Iron Age settlement of Freestone Hill near Gowran and Newgrange.</p><br>
<p>Ireland continued as a patchwork of rival kingdoms but, beginning in the 7th century, a concept of national kingship gradually became articulated through the concept of a High King of Ireland. Medieval Irish literature portrays an almost unbroken sequence of High Kings stretching back thousands of years but modern historians believe the scheme was constructed in the 8th century to justify the status of powerful political groupings by projecting the origins of their rule into the remote past.</p><br>
<p>All of the Irish kingdoms had their own kings but were nominally subject to the High King. The High King was drawn from the ranks of the provincial kings and ruled also the royal kingdom of Meath, with a ceremonial capital at the Hill of Tara. The concept didn&#39;t become a political reality until the Viking Age and even then was not a consistent one. Ireland did have a culturally unifying rule of law: the early written judicial system, the Brehon Laws, administered by a professional class of jurists known as the brehons.</p><br>
<p>The Chronicle of Ireland records that in 431, Bishop Palladius arrived in Ireland on a mission from Pope Celestine I to minister to the Irish "already believing in Christ". The same chronicle records that Saint Patrick, Ireland&#39;s best known patron saint, arrived the following year. There is continued debate over the missions of Palladius and Patrick, but the consensus is that they both took place and that the older druid tradition collapsed in the face of the new religion. Irish Christian scholars excelled in the study of Latin and Greek learning and Christian theology. In the monastic culture that followed the Christianisation of Ireland, Latin and Greek learning was preserved in Ireland during the Early Middle Ages in contrast to elsewhere in Europe, where the Dark Ages followed the Fall of the Western Roman Empire.</p><br>
<p>The arts of manuscript illumination, metalworking and sculpture flourished and produced treasures such as the Book of Kells, ornate jewellery and the many carved stone crosses that still dot the island today. A mission founded in 563 on Iona by the Irish monk Saint Columba began a tradition of Irish missionary work that spread Celtic Christianity and learning to Scotland, England and the Frankish Empire on Continental Europe after the fall of Rome. These missions continued until the late Middle Ages, establishing monasteries and centres of learning, producing scholars such as Sedulius Scottus and Johannes Eriugena and exerting much influence in Europe.</p><br>
<p>From the 9th century, waves of Viking raiders plundered Irish monasteries and towns. These raids added to a pattern of raiding and endemic warfare that was already deep-seated in Ireland. The Vikings also were involved in establishing most of the major coastal settlements in Ireland: Dublin, Limerick, Cork, Wexford, Waterford, as well as other smaller settlements.</p><br>
<h3>Norman and English invasions</h3><br>
<p>On 1 May 1169, an expedition of Cambro-Norman knights with an army of about six hundred landed at Bannow Strand in present-day County Wexford. It was led by Richard de Clare, called Strongbow due to his prowess as an archer. The invasion, which coincided with a period of renewed Norman expansion, was at the invitation of Dermot Mac Murrough, the king of Leinster.</p><br>
<p>In 1166, Mac Murrough had fled to Anjou, France, following a war involving Tighearnán Ua Ruairc, of Breifne, and sought the assistance of the Angevin king, Henry II, in recapturing his kingdom. In 1171, Henry arrived in Ireland in order to review the general progress of the expedition. He wanted to re-exert royal authority over the invasion which was expanding beyond his control. Henry successfully re-imposed his authority over Strongbow and the Cambro-Norman warlords and persuaded many of the Irish kings to accept him as their overlord, an arrangement confirmed in the 1175 Treaty of Windsor.</p><br>
<p>The invasion was legitimised by the provisions of the Papal Bull Laudabiliter, issued by Adrian IV in 1155. The bull encouraged Henry to take control in Ireland in order to oversee the financial and administrative reorganisation of the Irish Church and its integration into the Roman Church system. Some restructuring had already begun at the ecclesiastical level following the Synod of Kells in 1152. There has been significant controversy regarding the authenticity of Laudabiliter, and there is no general agreement as to whether the bull was genuine or a forgery.</p><br>
<p>In 1172, the new pope, Alexander III, further encouraged Henry to advance the integration of the Irish Church with Rome. Henry was authorised to impose a tithe of one penny per hearth as an annual contribution. This church levy, called Peters Pence, is extant in Ireland as a voluntary donation. In turn, Henry accepted the title of Lord of Ireland which Henry conferred on his younger son, John Lackland, in 1185. This defined the Irish state as the Lordship of Ireland. When Henrys successor died unexpectedly in 1199, John inherited the crown of England and retained the Lordship of Ireland.</p><br>
<p>Over the century that followed, Norman feudal law gradually replaced the Gaelic Brehon Law so that by the late 13th century the Norman-Irish had established a feudal system throughout much of Ireland. Norman settlements were characterised by the establishment of baronies, manors, towns and the seeds of the modern county system. A version of the Magna Carta (the Great Charter of Ireland), substituting Dublin for London and Irish Church for Church of England, was published in 1216 and the Parliament of Ireland was founded in 1297.</p><br>
<p>From the mid-14th century, after the Black Death, Norman settlements in Ireland went into a period of decline. The Norman rulers and the Gaelic Irish elites intermarried and the areas under Norman rule became Gaelicised. In some parts, a hybrid Hiberno-Norman culture emerged. In response, the Irish parliament passed the Statutes of Kilkenny in 1367. These were a set of laws designed to prevent the assimilation of the Normans into Irish society by requiring English subjects in Ireland to speak English, follow English customs and abide by English law.</p><br>
<p>By the end of the 15th century central English authority in Ireland had all but disappeared and a renewed Irish culture and language, albeit with Norman influences, was dominant again. English Crown control remained relatively unshaken in an amorphous foothold around Dublin known as The Pale, and under the provisions of Poynings&#39; Law of 1494, the Irish Parliamentary legislation was subject to the approval of the English Parliament.</p><br>
<h3>The Kingdom of Ireland</h3><br>
<p>The title of King of Ireland was re-created in 1542 by Henry VIII, then King of England, of the Tudor dynasty. English rule of law was reinforced and expanded in Ireland during the latter part of the 16th century, leading to the Tudor conquest of Ireland. A near complete conquest was achieved by the turn of the 17th century, following the Nine Years&#39; War and the Flight of the Earls.</p><br>
<p>This control was further consolidated during the wars and conflicts of the 17th century, which witnessed English and Scottish colonisation in the Plantations of Ireland, the Wars of the Three Kingdoms and the Williamite War. Irish losses during the Wars of the Three Kingdoms (which, in Ireland, included the Irish Confederacy and the Cromwellian conquest of Ireland) are estimated to include 20,000 battlefield casualties. 200,000 civilians are estimated to have died as a result of a combination of war-related famine, displacement, guerrilla activity and pestilence over the duration of the war. A further 50,000 were sent into indentured servitude in the West Indies. Some historians estimate that as much as half of the pre-war population of Ireland may have died as a result of the conflict.</p><br>
<p>The religious struggles of the 17th century left a deep sectarian division in Ireland. Religious allegiance now determined the perception in law of loyalty to the Irish King and Parliament. After the passing of the Test Act 1672, and with the victory of the forces of the dual monarchy of William and Mary over the Jacobites, Roman Catholics and nonconforming Protestant Dissenters were barred from sitting as members in the Irish Parliament. Under the emerging Penal Laws, Irish Roman Catholics and Dissenters were increasingly deprived of various and sundry civil rights even to the ownership of hereditary property. Additional regressive punitive legislation followed 1703, 1709 and 1728. This completed a comprehensive systemic effort to materially disadvantage Roman Catholics and Protestant Dissenters, while enriching a new ruling class of Anglican conformists. The new Anglo-Irish ruling class became known as the Protestant Ascendancy.</p><br>
<p>An extraordinary climatic shock known as the "Great Frost" struck Ireland and the rest of Europe between December 1739 and September 1741, after a decade of relatively mild winters. The winters destroyed stored crops of potatoes and other staples and the poor summers severely damaged harvests. This resulted in the famine of 1740. An estimated 250,000 people (about one in eight of the population) died from the ensuing pestilence and disease. The Irish government halted export of corn and kept the army in quarters but did little more. Local gentry and charitable organisations provided relief but could do little to prevent the ensuing mortality.</p><br>
<p>In the aftermath of the famine, an increase in industrial production and a surge in trade brought a succession of construction booms. The population soared in the latter part of this century and the architectural legacy of Georgian Ireland was built. In 1782, Poynings&#39; Law was repealed, giving Ireland legislative independence from Great Britain for the first time since 1495. The British government, however, still retained the right to nominate the government of Ireland without the consent of the Irish parliament.</p><br>
<h3>Union with Great Britain</h3><br>
<p>In 1798, members of the Protestant Dissenter tradition (mainly Presbyterian) made common cause with Roman Catholics in a republican rebellion inspired and led by the Society of United Irishmen, with the aim of creating an independent Ireland. Despite assistance from France the rebellion was put down by British and Irish government and yeomanry forces. In 1800, the British and Irish parliaments both passed Acts of Union that, with effect from 1 January 1801, merged the Kingdom of Ireland and the Kingdom of Great Britain to create a United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland.</p><br>
<p>The passage of the Act in the Irish Parliament was ultimately achieved with substantial majorities, having failed on the first attempt in 1799. According to contemporary documents and historical analysis, this was achieved through a considerable degree of bribery, with funding provided by the British Secret Service Office, and the awarding of peerages, places and honours to secure votes. Thus, the parliament in Ireland was abolished and replaced by a united parliament at Westminster in London, though resistance remained, as evidenced by Robert Emmet&#39;s failed Irish Rebellion of 1803.</p><br>
<p>Aside from the development of the linen industry, Ireland was largely passed over by the industrial revolution, partly because it lacked coal and iron resources and partly because of the impact of the sudden union with the structurally superior economy of England, which saw Ireland as a source of agricultural produce and capital.</p><br>
<p>The Great Famine of 1845–1851 devastated Ireland, as in those years Ireland&#39;s population fell by one-third. More than one million people died from starvation and disease, while an additional two million people emigrated, mostly to the United States and Canada. By the end of the decade, half of all immigration to the United States was from Ireland. The period of civil unrest that followed until the end of the 19th century is referred to as the Land War. Mass emigration became deeply entrenched and the population continued to decline until the mid-20th century. Immediately prior to the famine the population was recorded as 8.2 million by the 1841 census. The population has never returned to this level since. The population continued to fall until 1961 and it was not until the 2006 census that the last county of Ireland (County Leitrim) to record a rise in population since 1841 did so.</p><br>
<p>The 19th and early 20th centuries saw the rise of modern Irish nationalism, primarily among the Roman Catholic population. The pre-eminent Irish political figure after the Union was Daniel OConnell. He was elected as Member of Parliament for Ennis in a surprise result and despite being unable to take his seat as a Roman Catholic. OConnell spearheaded a vigorous campaign that was taken up by the Prime Minister, the Irish-born soldier and statesman, the Duke of Wellington. Steering the Catholic Relief Bill through Parliament, aided by future prime minister Robert Peel, Wellington prevailed upon a reluctant George IV to sign the Bill and proclaim it into law. George&#39;s father had opposed the plan of the earlier Prime Minister, Pitt the Younger, to introduce such a bill following the Union of 1801, fearing Catholic Emancipation to be in conflict with the Act of Settlement 1701.</p><br>
<p>Daniel O&#39;Connell led a subsequent campaign, for the repeal of the Act of Union, which failed. Later in the century, Charles Stewart Parnell and others campaigned for autonomy within the Union, or "Home Rule". Unionists, especially those located in Ulster, were strongly opposed to Home Rule, which they thought would be dominated by Catholic interests. After several attempts to pass a Home Rule bill through parliament, it looked certain that one would finally pass in 1914. To prevent this from happening, the Ulster Volunteers were formed in 1913 under the leadership of Edward Carson.</p><br>
<p>Their formation was followed in 1914 by the establishment of the Irish Volunteers, whose aim was to ensure that the Home Rule Bill was passed. The Act was passed but with the "temporary" exclusion of the six counties of Ulster that would become Northern Ireland. Before it could be implemented, however, the Act was suspended for the duration of the First World War. The Irish Volunteers split into two groups. The majority, approximately 175,000 in number, under John Redmond, took the name National Volunteers and supported Irish involvement in the war. A minority, approximately 13,000, retained the Irish Volunteers name, and opposed Irelands involvement in the war.</p><br>
<p>The Easter Rising of 1916 was carried out by the latter group together with a smaller socialist militia, the Irish Citizen Army. The British response, executing fifteen leaders of the Rising over a period of ten days and imprisoning or interning more than a thousand people, turned the mood of the country in favour of the rebels. Support for Irish republicanism increased further due to the ongoing war in Europe, as well as the Conscription Crisis of 1918.</p><br>
<p>The pro-independence republican party, Sinn Féin, received overwhelming endorsement in the general election of 1918, and in 1919 proclaimed an Irish Republic, setting up its own parliament (Dáil Éireann) and government. Simultaneously the Volunteers, which became known as the Irish Republican Army (IRA), launched a three-year guerrilla war, which ended in a truce in July 1921 (although violence continued until June 1922, mostly in Northern Ireland).</p><br>
<h3>Partition</h3><br>
<p>In December 1921, the Anglo-Irish Treaty was concluded between the British Government and representatives of the Second Dáil. It gave Ireland complete independence in its home affairs and practical independence for foreign policy, but an opt-out clause allowed Northern Ireland to remain within the United Kingdom, which it immediately exercised as expected. Additionally, an oath of allegiance to the King was to be taken. Disagreements over these provisions led to a split in the nationalist movement and a subsequent Irish Civil War between the new government of the Irish Free State and those opposed to the treaty, led by Éamon de Valera. The civil war officially ended in May 1923 when de Valera issued a cease-fire order.</p><br>
<h4>Independence</h4><br>
<p>During its first decade, the newly formed Irish Free State was governed by the victors of the civil war. When de Valera achieved power, he took advantage of the Statute of Westminster and political circumstances to build upon inroads to greater sovereignty made by the previous government. The oath was abolished and in 1937 a new constitution was adopted. This completed a process of gradual separation from the British Empire that governments had pursued since independence. However, it was not until 1949 that the state was declared, officially, to be the Republic of Ireland.</p><br>
<p>The state was neutral during World War II, but offered clandestine assistance to the Allies, particularly in the potential defence of Northern Ireland. Despite their country&#39;s neutrality, approximately 50,000 volunteers from independent Ireland joined the British forces during the war, four being awarded Victoria Crosses.</p><br>
<p>The Abwehr was also active in Ireland. German intelligence operations effectively ended in September 1941 when police made arrests on the basis of surveillance carried out on the key diplomatic legations in Dublin, including that of the United States. To the authorities, counterintelligence was a fundamental line of defence. With a regular army of only slightly over seven thousand men at the start of the war, and with limited supplies of modern weapons, the state would have had great difficulty in defending itself from invasion from either side in the conflict.</p><br>
<p>Large-scale emigration marked most of the post-WWII period (particularly during the 1950s and 1980s), but beginning in 1987 the economy improved, and the 1990s saw the beginning of substantial economic growth. This period of growth became known as the Celtic Tiger. The Republic&#39;s real GDP grew by an average of 9.6% per annum between 1995 and 1999, in which year the Republic joined the euro. In 2000, it was the sixth-richest country in the world in terms of GDP per capita.</p><br>
<p>Social changes also occurred in this time, most markedly with the decline in authority of the Catholic Church. The financial crisis that began in 2008 dramatically ended this period of boom. GDP fell by 3% in 2008 and by 7.1% in 2009, the worst year since records began (although earnings by foreign-owned businesses continued to grow). The state has since experienced deep recession, with unemployment, which doubled during 2009, remaining above 14% in 2012.</p><br>
<h4>Northern Ireland</h4><br>
<p>Northern Ireland resulted from the division of the United Kingdom by the Government of Ireland Act 1920, and until 1972 was a self-governing jurisdiction within the United Kingdom with its own parliament and prime minister. Northern Ireland, as part of the United Kingdom, was not neutral during the Second World War and Belfast suffered four bombing raids in 1941. Conscription was not extended to Northern Ireland and roughly an equal number volunteered from Northern Ireland as volunteered from the south.</p><br>
<p>Although Northern Ireland was largely spared the strife of the civil war, in decades that followed partition there were sporadic episodes of inter-communal violence. Nationalists, mainly Roman Catholic, wanted to unite Ireland as an independent republic, whereas unionists, mainly Protestant, wanted Northern Ireland to remain in the United Kingdom. The Protestant and Catholic communities in Northern Ireland voted largely along sectarian lines, meaning that the Government of Northern Ireland (elected by "first-past-the-post" from 1929) was controlled by the Ulster Unionist Party. Over time, the minority Catholic community felt increasingly alienated with further disaffection fuelled by practices such as gerrymandering and discrimination in housing and employment.</p><br>
<p>In the late 1960s, nationalist grievances were aired publicly in mass civil rights protests, which were often confronted by loyalist counter-protests. The government&#39;s reaction to confrontations was seen to be one-sided and heavy-handed in favour of unionists. Law and order broke down as unrest and inter-communal violence increased. The Northern Ireland government requested the British Army to aid the police, who were exhausted after several nights of serious rioting. In 1969, the paramilitary Provisional IRA, which favoured the creation of a united Ireland, emerged from a split in the Irish Republican Army and began a campaign against what it called the "British occupation of the six counties".</p><br>
<p>Other groups, on both the unionist side and the nationalist side, participated in violence and a period known as the Troubles began. Over 3,600 deaths resulted over the subsequent three decades of conflict. Owing to the civil unrest during the Troubles, the British government suspended home rule in 1972 and imposed direct rule. There were several unsuccessful attempts to end the Troubles politically, such as the Sunningdale Agreement of 1973. In 1998, following a ceasefire by the Provisional IRA and multi-party talks, the Good Friday Agreement was concluded as a treaty between the British and Irish governments, annexing the text agreed in the multi-party talks.</p><br>
<p>The substance of the Agreement (formally referred to as the Belfast Agreement) was later endorsed by referendums in both parts of Ireland. The Agreement restored self-government to Northern Ireland on the basis of power-sharing in a regional Executive drawn from the major parties in a new Northern Ireland Assembly, with entrenched protections for the two main communities. The Executive is jointly headed by a First Minister and deputy First Minister drawn from the unionist and nationalist parties. Violence had decreased greatly after the Provisional IRA and loyalist ceasefires in 1994 and in 2005 the Provisional IRA announced the end of its armed campaign and an independent commission supervised its disarmament and that of other nationalist and unionist paramilitary organisations.</p><br>
<p>The Assembly and power-sharing Executive were suspended several times but were restored again in 2007. In that year the British government officially ended its military support of the police in Northern Ireland (Operation Banner) and began withdrawing troops.</p><br>
<p>On 27 June 2012, Northern Ireland&#39;s deputy first minister and former IRA commander, Martin McGuinness, shook hands with Queen Elizabeth II in Belfast, symbolising reconciliation between the two sides.</p><br>
<h2>Politics</h2><br>
<p>Politically, the island is divided between the Republic of Ireland, an independent state, and Northern Ireland (a constituent country of the United Kingdom). They share an open border and both are part of the Common Travel Area.</p><br>
<p>Both the Republic of Ireland and the United Kingdom are members of the European Union, and as a consequence there is free movement of people, goods, services and capital across the border.</p><br>
<h3>Republic of Ireland</h3><br>
<p>The Republic of Ireland is a parliamentary democracy based on the British model, with a written constitution and a popularly elected president who has mostly ceremonial powers. The government is headed by a prime minister, the Taoiseach, who is appointed by the President on the nomination of the lower house of parliament, the Dáil. Members of the government are chosen from both the Dáil and the upper house of parliament, the Seanad. Its capital is Dublin.</p><br>
<p>The Republic today ranks amongst the wealthiest countries in the world in terms of GDP per capita and in 2015 was ranked the sixth most developed nation in the world by the United Nations&#39; Human Development Index. A period of rapid economic expansion from 1995 onwards became known as the Celtic Tiger period, was brought to an end in 2008 with an unprecedented financial crisis and an economic depression in 2009.</p><br>
<h3>Northern Ireland</h3><br>
<p>Northern Ireland is a part of the United Kingdom with a local executive and assembly which exercise devolved powers. The executive is jointly headed by the first and deputy-first minister, with the ministries being allocated in proportion with each party&#39;s representation in the assembly. Its capital is Belfast.</p><br>
<p>Ultimately political power is held by the UK government, from which Northern Ireland has gone through intermittent periods of direct rule during which devolved powers have been suspended. Northern Ireland elects 18 of the UK House of Commons&#39; 650 MPs. The Northern Ireland Secretary is a cabinet-level post in the British government.</p><br>
<p>Along with England and Wales and Scotland, Northern Ireland forms one of the three separate legal jurisdictions of the UK, all of which share the Supreme Court of the United Kingdom as their court of final appeal.</p><br>
<h3>All-island institutions</h3><br>
<p>As part of the Good Friday Agreement, the British and Irish governments agreed on the creation of all-island institutions and areas of cooperation. The North/South Ministerial Council is an institution through which ministers from the Government of Ireland and the Northern Ireland Executive agree all-island policies. At least six of these policy areas must have an associated all-island "implementation bodies" and at least six others must be implemented separately in each jurisdiction. The implementation bodies are: Waterways Ireland, the Food Safety Promotion Board, InterTradeIreland, the Special European Union Programmes Body, the North/South Language Body and the Foyle, Carlingford and Irish Lights Commission.</p><br>
<p>The British–Irish Intergovernmental Conference provides for co-operation between the Government of Ireland and the Government of the United Kingdom on all matter of mutual interest, especially Northern Ireland. In light of the Republic&#39;s particular interest in the governance of Northern Ireland, "regular and frequent" meetings co-chaired by the ROI Minister for Foreign Affairs and the UK Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, dealing with non-devolved matters to do with Northern Ireland and non-devolved all-Ireland issues, are required to take place under the establishing treaty.</p><br>
<p>The North/South Inter-Parliamentary Association is a joint parliamentary forum for the island of Ireland. It has no formal powers but operates as a forum for discussing matters of common concern between the respective legislatures.</p><br>
<h2>Economy</h2><br>
<p>Despite the two jurisdictions using two distinct currencies (the euro and pound sterling), a growing amount of commercial activity is carried out on an all-Ireland basis. This has been facilitated by the two jurisdictions&#39; shared membership of the European Union, and there have been calls from members of the business community and policymakers for the creation of an "all-Ireland economy" to take advantage of economies of scale and boost competitiveness.</p><br>
<p>There are two multi-city regions on the island of Ireland:</p><br>
<p>Dublin-Belfast corridor - 3.3 m</p><br>
<p>Cork-Limerick-Galway corridor - 1 m</p><br>
<p>Below is a comparison of the Regional GDP on the island of Ireland.</p><br>
<p>The BMW region of the Republic of Ireland (consisting of Connacht, Counties Laois, Offaly, Westmeath, Longford, Donegal, Monaghan, Cavan, Louth)</p><br>
<p>The S&E region of the Republic of Ireland (consisting of Munster, Counties Dublin, Wicklow, Meath, Kildare, Kilkenny, Carlow, Wexford).</p><br>
<h3>Tourism</h3><br>
<p>There are three World Heritage Sites on the island: the Brú na Bóinne, Skellig Michael and the Giant&#39;s Causeway. A number of other places are on the tentative list, for example the Burren, the Ceide Fields and Mount Stewart.</p><br>
<p>Some of the most visited sites in Ireland include Bunratty Castle, the Rock of Cashel, the Cliffs of Moher, Holy Cross Abbey and Blarney Castle. Historically important monastic sites include Glendalough and Clonmacnoise, which are maintained as national monuments in the Republic of Ireland.</p><br>
<p>Dublin is the most heavily touristed region and home to several of the most popular attractions such as the Guinness Storehouse and Book of Kells. The west and south west, which includes the Lakes of Killarney and the Dingle peninsula in County Kerry and Connemara and the Aran Islands in County Galway, are also popular tourist destinations.</p><br>
<p>Achill Island lies off the coast of County Mayo and is Ireland&#39;s largest island. It is a popular tourist destination for surfing and contains 5 Blue Flag beaches and Croaghaun one of the worlds highest sea cliffs. Stately homes, built during the 17th, 18th and 19th centuries in Palladian, Neoclassical and neo-Gothic styles, such as, Castle Ward, Castletown House, Bantry House, Glenveagh Castle are also of interest to tourists. Some have been converted into hotels, such as Ashford Castle, Castle Leslie and Dromoland Castle.</p><br>
<h3>Energy</h3><br>
<p>Ireland has an ancient industry based on peat (known locally as "turf") as a source of energy for home fires. A form of biomass energy, this source of heat is still widely used in rural areas. However, due to the ecological importance of peatlands in storing carbon and their rarity, the EU is attempting to protect this habitat by fining Ireland if they are dug up. In cities, heat is generally supplied by heating oil, although some urban suppliers distribute "sods of turf" as "smokeless fuel".</p><br>
<p>An area in which the island operates as a single market is electricity. For much of their existence electricity networks in the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland were entirely separate. Both networks were designed and constructed independently post partition. However, as a result of changes over recent years they are now connected with three interlinks and also connected through Great Britain to mainland Europe. The situation in Northern Ireland is complicated by the issue of private companies not supplying Northern Ireland Electricity (NIE) with enough power. In the Republic of Ireland, the ESB has failed to modernise its power stations and the availability of power plants has recently averaged only 66%, one of the worst such rates in Western Europe. EirGrid is building a HVDC transmission line between Ireland and Great Britain with a capacity of 500 MW, about 10% of Ireland&#39;s peak demand.</p><br>
<p>As with electricity, the natural gas distribution network is also now all-island, with a pipeline linking Gormanston, County Meath, and Ballyclare, County Antrim completed in 2007. Most of Ireland&#39;s gas comes through interconnectors between Twynholm in Scotland and Ballylumford, County Antrim and Loughshinny, County Dublin. A decreasing supply is coming from the Kinsale gas field off the County Cork coast and the Corrib Gas Field off the coast of County Mayo has yet to come on-line. The County Mayo field is facing some localised opposition over a controversial decision to refine the gas onshore.</p><br>
<p>The Republic of Ireland has shown a strong commitment to renewable energy, ranking as one of the top 10 markets for cleantech investment in the 2014 Global Green Economy Index. Research and development in Ireland in renewable energy such as wind power has increased since 2004. Large wind farms are being constructed in coastal counties such as Cork, Donegal, Mayo and Antrim. The construction of wind farms has in some cases been delayed by opposition from local communities, some of whom overall consider the wind turbines to be unsightly. The Republic of Ireland is also hindered by an ageing network that was not designed to handle the varying availability of power that comes from wind farms. The ESB&#39;s Turlough Hill facility is the only power-storage facility in the state.</p><br>
<h2>Geography</h2><br>
<p>Ireland is located in the north-west of Europe, between latitudes 51° and 56° N, and longitudes 11° and 5° W. It is separated from Great Britain by the Irish Sea and the North Channel, which has a width of 23 km at its narrowest point. To the west is the northern Atlantic Ocean and to the south is the Celtic Sea, which lies between Ireland and Brittany, in France. Ireland has a total area of 84,421 km&sup2, of which the Republic of Ireland occupies 83 percent. Ireland and Great Britain, together with many nearby smaller islands, are known collectively as the British Isles. As the term British Isles is controversial in relation to Ireland, the alternate term Britain and Ireland is often used as a neutral term for the islands.</p><br>
<p>A ring of coastal mountains surround low plains at the centre of the island. The highest of these is Carrauntoohil (Corrán Tuathail) in County Kerry, which rises to 1,038 m above sea level.</p><br>
<p>The island consists of varied geological provinces. In the west, around County Galway and County Donegal, is a medium to high grade metamorphic and igneous complex of Caledonide affinity, similar to the Scottish Highlands. Across southeast Ulster and extending southwest to Longford and south to Navan is a province of Ordovician and Silurian rocks, with similarities to the Southern Uplands province of Scotland. Further south, along the County Wexford coastline, is an area of granite intrusives into more Ordovician and Silurian rocks, like that found in Wales.</p><br>
<p>In the southwest, around Bantry Bay and the mountains of Macgillicuddy&#39;s Reeks, is an area of substantially deformed, but only lightly metamorphosed, Devonian-aged rocks. This partial ring of "hard rock" geology is covered by a blanket of Carboniferous limestone over the centre of the country, giving rise to a comparatively fertile and lush landscape. The west-coast district of the Burren around Lisdoonvarna has well-developed karst features. Significant stratiform lead-zinc mineralisation is found in the limestones around Silvermines and Tynagh.</p><br>
<p>Hydrocarbon exploration is ongoing following the first major find at the Kinsale Head gas field off Cork in the mid-1970s. In 1999, economically significant finds of natural gas were made in the Corrib Gas Field off the County Mayo coast. This has increased activity off the west coast in parallel with the "West of Shetland" step-out development from the North Sea hydrocarbon province. The Helvick oil field, estimated to contain over 28 million barrels of oil, is another recent discovery.</p><br>
<h3>Climate</h3><br>
<p>The island&#39;s lush vegetation, a product of its mild climate and frequent rainfall, earns it the sobriquet the Emerald Isle. Overall, Ireland has a mild but changeable oceanic climate with few extremes. The climate is typically insular and is temperate avoiding the extremes in temperature of many other areas in the world at similar latitudes. This is a result of the moderating moist winds which ordinarily prevail from the South-Western Atlantic.</p><br>
<p>Precipitation falls throughout the year but is light overall, particularly in the east. The west tends to be wetter on average and prone to Atlantic storms, especially in the late autumn and winter months. These occasionally bring destructive winds and higher total rainfall to these areas, as well as sometimes snow and hail. The regions of north County Galway and east County Mayo have the highest incidents of recorded lightning annually for the island, with lightning occurring approximately five to ten days per year in these areas. Munster, in the south, records the least snow whereas Ulster, in the north, records the most.</p><br>
<p>Inland areas are warmer in summer and colder in winter. Usually around 40 days of the year are below freezing 0 °C (32 °F) at inland weather stations, compared to 10 days at coastal stations. Ireland is sometimes affected by heat waves, most recently in 1995, 2003, 2006 and 2013. In common with the rest of Europe, Ireland experienced unusually cold weather during the winter of 2009/10. Temperatures fell as low as −17.2 °C (1 °F) in County Mayo on 20 December and up to a metre (3 ft) of snow fell in mountainous areas.</p><br>
<h2>Flora and fauna</h2><br>
<p>Because Ireland became isolated from mainland Europe by rising sea levels before the last ice age had completely finished, it has fewer land animal and plant species than Great Britain, which separated later, or mainland Europe. There are 55 mammal species in Ireland and of them only 26 land mammal species are considered native to Ireland. Some species, such as, the red fox, hedgehog and badger, are very common, whereas others, like the Irish hare, red deer and pine marten are less so. Aquatic wildlife, such as species of sea turtle, shark, seal, whale, and dolphin, are common off the coast. About 400 species of birds have been recorded in Ireland. Many of these are migratory, including the barn swallow.</p><br>
<p>Several different habitat types are found in Ireland, including farmland, open woodland, temperate broadleaf and mixed forests, conifer plantations, peat bogs and a variety of coastal habitats. However, agriculture drives current land use patterns in Ireland, limiting natural habitat preserves, particularly for larger wild mammals with greater territorial needs. With no large apex predators in Ireland other than humans and dogs, such populations of animals as semi-wild deer that cannot be controlled by smaller predators, such as the fox, are controlled by annual culling.</p><br>
<p>There are no snakes in Ireland and only one species of reptile (the common lizard) is native to the island. Extinct species include the Irish elk, the great auk and the wolf. Some previously extinct birds, such as the golden eagle, been reintroduced in about the year 2000 after decades of extirpation. Until medieval times Ireland was heavily forested with oak, pine and birch. Forests today cover about 12.6% of Ireland,</p><br>
<p>As of 2012, the Republic is one of the least forested countries in Europe. Much of the land is now covered with pasture and there are many species of wild-flower. Gorse (Ulex europaeus), a wild furze, is commonly found growing in the uplands and ferns are plentiful in the more moist regions, especially in the western parts. It is home to hundreds of plant species, some of them unique to the island, and has been "invaded" by some grasses, such as Spartina anglica.</p><br>
<p>The algal and seaweed flora is that of the cold-temperate variety. The total number of species is 574 and is distributed as follows:</p><br>
<p>264 Rhodophyta (red algae)</p><br>
<p>152 Phaeophyceae (brown algae including kelps)</p><br>
<p>114 Chloropyta (green algae)</p><br>
<p>31 Cyanophyta (Blue-green algae)</p><br>
<p>Rarer species include:</p><br>
<p>Itonoa marginifera (J.Agardh) Masuda & Guiry</p><br>
<p>Schmitzia hiscockiana Maggs & Guiry</p><br>
<p>Gelidiella calcicola Maggs & Guiry</p><br>
<p>Gelidium maggsiae Rico & Guiry</p><br>
<p>Halymenia latifolia P.L.Crouan & H.M.Crouan ex Kützing.</p><br>
<p>The island has been invaded by some algae, some of which are now well established. For example:</p><br>
<p>Asparagopsis armara Harvey, which originated in Australia and was first recorded by M. De Valera in 1939</p><br>
<p>Colpomenia peregrina Sauvageau, which is now locally abundant and first recorded in the 1930s</p><br>
<p>Sargassum muticum (Yendo) Fensholt, now well established in a number of localities on the south, west, and north-east coasts</p><br>
<p>Codium fragile ssp. fragile (formerly reported as ssp. tomentosum), now well established.</p><br>
<p>Codium fragile ssp. atlanticum has been established to be native, although for many years it was regarded as an alien species.</p><br>
<p>Because of its mild climate, many species, including sub-tropical species such as palm trees, are grown in Ireland. Phytogeographically, Ireland belongs to the Atlantic European province of the Circumboreal Region within the Boreal Kingdom. The island itself can be subdivided into two ecoregions: the Celtic broadleaf forests and North Atlantic moist mixed forests.</p><br>
<h3>Impact of agriculture</h3><br>
<p>The long history of agricultural production, coupled with modern intensive agricultural methods such as pesticide and fertiliser use and runoff from contaminants into streams, rivers and lakes, impact the natural fresh-water ecosystems and have placed pressure on biodiversity in Ireland.</p><br>
<p>A land of green fields for crop cultivation and cattle rearing limits the space available for the establishment of native wild species. Hedgerows, however, traditionally used for maintaining and demarcating land boundaries, act as a refuge for native wild flora. This ecosystem stretches across the countryside and acts as a network of connections to preserve remnants of the ecosystem that once covered the island. Subsidies under the Common Agricultural Policy, which supported agricultural practices that preserved hedgerow environments, are undergoing reforms. The Common Agricultural Policy had in the past subsidised potentially destructive agricultural practices, for example by emphasising production without placing limits on indiscriminate use of fertilisers and pesticides; but reforms have gradually decoupled subsidies from production levels and introduced environmental and other requirements.</p><br>
<p>Forest covers about 12.6% of the country, most of it designated for commercial production. Forested areas typically consist of monoculture plantations of non-native species, which may result in habitats that are not suitable for supporting native species of invertebrates. Remnants of native forest can be found scattered around the island, in particular in the Killarney National Park. Natural areas require fencing to prevent over-grazing by deer and sheep that roam over uncultivated areas. Grazing in this manner is one of the main factors preventing the natural regeneration of forests across many regions of the country.</p><br>
<p>32.2% of all of Ireland&#39;s greenhouse gas emissions are due to agriculture.</p><br>
<h2>Demographics</h2><br>
<p>People have lived in Ireland for over 9,000 years. The different eras are termed mesolithic, neolithic, Bronze Age, and Iron Age.</p><br>
<p>Early historical and genealogical records note the existence of major groups such as the Cruthin, Corcu Loígde, Dál Riata, Dáirine, Deirgtine, Delbhna, Érainn, Laigin, Ulaid. Slightly later major groups included the Connachta, Ciannachta, Eóganachta.</p><br>
<p>Smaller groups included the aithechthúatha (see Attacotti), Cálraighe, Cíarraige, Conmaicne, Dartraighe, Déisi, Éile, Fir Bolg, Fortuatha, Gailenga, Gamanraige, Mairtine, Múscraige, Partraige, Soghain, Uaithni, Uí Maine, Uí Liatháin. Many survived into late medieval times, others vanished as they became politically unimportant.</p><br>
<p>Over the past 1200 years, Vikings, Normans, Welsh, Flemings, Scots, English, Africans, Eastern Europeans and South Americans have all added to the population and have had significant influences on Irish culture.</p><br>
<p>Irelands largest religious group is Christianity. The largest denomination is Roman Catholicism representing over 73% for the island (and about 87% of the Republic of Ireland). Most of the rest of the population adhere to one of the various Protestant denominations (about 48% of Northern Ireland). The largest is the Anglican Church of Ireland. The Muslim community is growing in Ireland, mostly through increased immigration, with a 50% increase in the republic between the 2006 and 2011 census. The island has a small Jewish community. About 4% of the Republics population and about 14% of the Northern Ireland population describe themselves as of no religion. In a 2010 survey conducted on behalf of the Irish Times, 32% of respondents said they went to a religious service more than once a week.</p><br>
<p>The population of Ireland rose rapidly from the 16th century until the mid-19th century, interrupted briefly by the Famine of 1740-41, which killed roughly two fifths of the island&#39;s population. The population rebounded and multiplied over the next century, but another devastating famine in the 1840s caused one million deaths and forced over one million more to emigrate in its immediate wake. Over the following century the population was reduced by over half, at a time when the general trend in European countries was for populations to rise by an average of three-fold.</p><br>
<h3>Divisions and settlements</h3><br>
<p>Traditionally, Ireland is subdivided into four provinces: Connacht (west), Leinster (east), Munster (south), and Ulster (north). In a system that developed between the 13th and 17th centuries, Ireland has 32 traditional counties. Twenty-six of these counties are in the Republic of Ireland and six are in Northern Ireland. The six counties that constitute Northern Ireland are all in the province of Ulster (which has nine counties in total). As such, Ulster is often used as a synonym for Northern Ireland, although the two are not coterminous.</p><br>
<p>In the Republic of Ireland, counties form the basis of the system of local government. Counties Dublin, Cork, Limerick, Galway, Waterford and Tipperary have been broken up into smaller administrative areas. However, they are still treated as counties for cultural and some official purposes, for example postal addresses and by the Ordnance Survey Ireland. Counties in Northern Ireland are no longer used for local governmental purposes, but, as in the Republic, their traditional boundaries are still used for informal purposes such as sports leagues and in cultural or tourism contexts.</p><br>
<p>City status in Ireland is decided by legislative or royal charter. Dublin, with over 1 million residents in the Greater Dublin Area, is the largest city on the island. Belfast, with 579,726 residents, is the largest city in Northern Ireland. City status does not directly equate with population size. For example, Armagh, with 14,590 is the seat of the Church of Ireland and the Roman Catholic Primate of All Ireland and was re-granted city status by Queen Elizabeth II in 1994 (having lost that status in local government reforms of 1840). In the Republic of Ireland, Kilkenny, seat of the Butler dynasty, while no longer a city for administrative purposes (since the 2001 Local Government Act), is entitled by law to continue to use the description.</p><br>
<h3>Migration</h3><br>
<p>The population of Ireland collapsed dramatically during the second half of the 19th century. A population of over 8 million in 1841 was reduced to slightly more than 4 million by 1921. In part, the fall in population was due to death from the Great Famine of 1845 to 1852, which took about 1 million lives. However, by far the greater cause of population decline was the dire economic state of the country which led to an entrenched culture of emigration lasting until the 21st century.</p><br>
<p>Emigration from Ireland in the 19th century contributed to the populations of England, the United States, Canada and Australia, where a large Irish diaspora lives., 4.3 million Canadians, or 14% of the population, are of Irish descent., a total of 34.5 million Americans claim Irish ancestry.</p><br>
<p>With growing prosperity since the last decade of the 20th century, Ireland became a destination for immigrants. Since the European Union expanded to include Poland in 2004, Polish people have made up the largest number of immigrants (over 150,000) from Central Europe. There has also been significant immigration from Lithuania, the Czech Republic and Latvia.</p><br>
<p>The Republic of Ireland in particular has seen large-scale immigration, with 420,000 foreign nationals as of 2006, about 10% of the population. A quarter of births (24 percent) in 2009 were to mothers born outside Ireland. Chinese and Nigerians, along with people from other African countries, have accounted for a large proportion of the non–European Union migrants to Ireland. Up to 50,000 eastern and central European migrant workers left Ireland in response to the Irish financial crisis.</p><br>
<h3>Languages</h3><br>
<p>The two official languages of the Republic of Ireland are Irish and English. Each language has produced a noteworthy literature. Irish, though now only the language of a minority, was the vernacular of the Irish people for over two thousand years and was possibly introduced during the Iron Age. It began to be written down after Christianisation in the 5th century and spread to Scotland and the Isle of Man where it evolved into the Scottish Gaelic and Manx languages respectively.</p><br>
<p>The Irish language has a vast treasury of written texts from many centuries, and is divided by linguists into Old Irish from the 6th to 10th century, Middle Irish from the 10th to 13th century, Early Modern Irish until the 17th century, and the Modern Irish spoken today. It remained the dominant language of Ireland for most of those periods, having influences from Latin, Old Norse, French and English. It declined under British rule but remained the majority tongue until the early 19th century, and since then has been a minority language.</p><br>
<p>The Gaelic Revival of the early twentieth century has had a long-term influence. There is now an extensive network of urban Irish speakers (Gaeilgeoirí) in both the Republic and Northern Ireland, especially in Dublin and Belfast. They represent an expanding demographic, with their own schools (called Gaelscoileanna) and their own social media. It has been argued that they tend to be more highly educated than monolingual English speakers, with better employment prospects and higher social status. Recent research suggests that urban Irish is developing in a direction of its own, both in pronunciation and grammar. Irish is also taught in mainstream English-speaking schools as a compulsory subject, but has been criticised for its ineffectiveness.</p><br>
<p>Traditional rural Irish-speaking areas, known collectively as the Gaeltacht, are in linguistic decline. The main Gaeltacht areas are in the west, south-west and north-west. They are to be found in Donegal, Mayo, Galway and Kerry with smaller Gaeltacht areas near Dungarvan in Waterford, Navan, in Meath.</p><br>
<p>English in Ireland was first during the Norman invasion. It was spoken by a few peasants and merchants brought over from England, and was largely replaced by Irish before the Tudor conquest of Ireland. It was introduced as the official language with the Tudor and Cromwellian conquests. The Ulster plantations gave it a permanent foothold in Ulster, and it remained the official and upper-class language elsewhere, the Irish-speaking chieftains and nobility having been deposed. Language shift during the 19th century replaced Irish with English as the first language for a vast majority of the population.</p><br>
<p>Less than 10% of the population of the Republic of Ireland today speak Irish regularly outside of the education system and 38% of those over 15 years are classified as "Irish speakers". In Northern Ireland, English is the de facto official language, but official recognition is afforded to Irish, including specific protective measures under Part III of the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. A lesser status (including recognition under Part II of the Charter) is given to Ulster Scots dialects, which are spoken by roughly 2% of Northern Ireland residents, and also spoken by some in the Republic of Ireland. Since the 1960s with the increase in immigration, many more languages have been introduced, particularly deriving from Asia and Eastern Europe.</p><br>
<p>Shelta, the language of the nomadic Irish Travellers is native to Ireland.</p><br>
<h2>Culture</h2><br>
<p>Ireland&#39;s culture comprises elements of the culture of ancient peoples, later immigrant and broadcast cultural influences (chiefly Gaelic culture, Anglicisation, Americanisation and aspects of broader European culture). In broad terms, Ireland is regarded as one of the Celtic nations of Europe, alongside Scotland, Wales, Cornwall, Isle of Man and Brittany. This combination of cultural influences is visible in the intricate designs termed Irish interlace or Celtic knotwork. These can be seen in the ornamentation of medieval religious and secular works. The style is still popular today in jewellery and graphic art, as is the distinctive style of traditional Irish music and dance, and has become indicative of modern "Celtic" culture in general.</p><br>
<p>Religion has played a significant role in the cultural life of the island since ancient times (and since the 17th century plantations, has been the focus of political identity and divisions on the island). Ireland&#39;s pre-Christian heritage fused with the Celtic Church following the missions of Saint Patrick in the 5th century. The Hiberno-Scottish missions, begun by the Irish monk Saint Columba, spread the Irish vision of Christianity to pagan England and the Frankish Empire. These missions brought written language to an illiterate population of Europe during the Dark Ages that followed the fall of Rome, earning Ireland the sobriquet, "the island of saints and scholars".</p><br>
<p>Since the 20th century the Irish pubs worldwide have become, especially those with a full range of cultural and gastronomic offerings, outposts of Irish culture.</p><br>
<p>The Republic of Irelands national theatre is the Abbey Theatre, which was founded in 1904, and the national Irish-language theatre is An Taibhdhearc, which was established in 1928 in Galway. Playwrights such as Seán OCasey, Brian Friel, Sebastian Barry, Conor McPherson and Billy Roche are internationally renowned.</p><br>
<h3>Arts</h3><br>
<h4>Literature</h4><br>
<p>Ireland has made a large contribution to world literature in all its branches, both in Irish and English. Poetry in Irish is among the oldest vernacular poetry in Europe, with the earliest examples dating from the 6th century.</p><br>
<p>Irish remained the dominant literary language down to the nineteenth century, despite the spread of English from the seventeenth century on. Prominent names from the medieval period and later include Gofraidh Fionn Ó Dálaigh (fourteenth century), Dáibhí Ó Bruadair (seventeenth century) and Aogán Ó Rathaille (eighteenth century). Eibhlín Dubh Ní Chonaill (c. 1743 – c. 1800) was an outstanding poet in the oral tradition. The latter part of the nineteenth century saw a rapid replacement of Irish by English. By 1900, however, cultural nationalists had begun the Gaelic revival, which saw the beginnings of a modern literature in Irish. This was to produce a number of notable writers, including Máirtín Ó Cadhain, Máire Mhac an tSaoi and others. Irish-language publishers such as Coiscéim and Cló Iar-Chonnacht continue to produce scores of titles every year.</p><br>
<p>In English, Jonathan Swift (30 November 1667 – 19 October 1745), often called the foremost satirist in the English language, gained fame for works such as Gulliver&#39;s Travels and A Modest Proposal. Other notable eighteenth century writers of Irish origin included Oliver Goldsmith and Richard Brinsley Sheridan, though they spent most of their lives in England. The Anglo-Irish novel came to the fore in the nineteenth century, featuring such writers as Charles Kickham, William Carleton, and (in collaboration) Edith Somerville and Violet Florence Martin. The playwright and poet Oscar Wilde, noted for his epigrams, was born in Ireland.</p><br>
<p>In the 20th century, Ireland produced four winners of the Nobel Prize for Literature: George Bernard Shaw, William Butler Yeats, Samuel Beckett and Seamus Heaney. Although not a Nobel Prize winner, James Joyce is widely considered to be one of the most significant writers of the 20th century. Joyce&#39;s 1922 novel Ulysses is considered one of the most important works of Modernist literature and his life is celebrated annually on 16 June in Dublin as "Bloomsday". A comparable writer in Irish is Máirtín Ó Cadhain, whose novel Cré na Cille is regarded as a modernist masterpiece and has been translated into several languages.</p><br>
<p>Modern Irish literature is often connected with its rural heritage through English-language writers such as John McGahern and Seamus Heaney and Irish-language writers such as Máirtín Ó Direáin and others from the Gaeltacht.</p><br>
<h4>Music</h4><br>
<p>Music has been in evidence in Ireland since prehistoric times. Although in the early Middle Ages the church was "quite unlike its counterpart in continental Europe", there was considerable interchange between monastic settlements in Ireland and the rest of Europe that contributed to what is known as Gregorian chant. Outside religious establishments, musical genres in early Gaelic Ireland are referred to as a triad of weeping music (goltraige), laughing music (geantraige) and sleeping music (suantraige). Vocal and instrumental music (e.g. for the harp, pipes, and various string instruments) was transmitted orally, but the Irish harp, in particular, was of such significance that it became Irelands national symbol. Classical music following European models first developed in urban areas, in establishments of Anglo-Irish rule such as Dublin Castle, St Patricks Cathedral and Christ Church as well as the country houses of the Anglo-Irish ascendancy, with the first performance of Handel&#39;s Messiah (1742) being among the highlights of the baroque era. In the 19th century, public concerts provided access to classical music to all classes of society. Yet, for political and financial reasons Ireland has been too small to provide a living to many musicians, so the names of the better-known Irish composers of this time belong to emigrants.</p><br>
<p>Irish traditional music and dance has seen a surge in popularity and global coverage since the 1960s. In the middle years of the 20th century, as Irish society was modernising, traditional music had fallen out of favour, especially in urban areas. However during the 1960s, there was a revival of interest in Irish traditional music led by groups such as The Dubliners, The Chieftains, The Wolfe Tones, the Clancy Brothers, Sweeneys Men and individuals like Seán Ó Riada and Christy Moore. Groups and musicians including Horslips, Van Morrison and Thin Lizzy incorporated elements of Irish traditional music into contemporary rock music and, during the 1970s and 1980s, the distinction between traditional and rock musicians became blurred, with many individuals regularly crossing over between these styles of playing. This trend can be seen more recently in the work of artists like Enya, The Saw Doctors, The Corrs, Sinéad OConnor, Clannad, The Cranberries and The Pogues among others. Since then there have been a number of stylistic fusions including folk metal and others, while some contemporary music groups stick closer to a "traditional" sound.</p><br>
<h4>Art</h4><br>
<p>The earliest known Irish graphic art and sculpture are Neolithic carvings found at sites such as Newgrange and is traced through Bronze age artefacts and the religious carvings and illuminated manuscripts of the medieval period. During the course of the 19th and 20th centuries, a strong tradition of painting emerged, including such figures as John Butler Yeats, William Orpen, Jack Yeats and Louis le Brocquy. Contemporary Irish visual artists of note include Sean Scully, Kevin Abosch, and Alice Maher.</p><br>
<h3>Science</h3><br>
<p>The Irish philosopher and theologian Johannes Scotus Eriugena was considered one of the leading intellectuals of the early Middle Ages. Sir Ernest Henry Shackleton, an Irish explorer, was one of the principal figures of Antarctic exploration. He, along with his expedition, made the first ascent of Mount Erebus and the discovery of the approximate location of the South Magnetic Pole. Robert Boyle was a 17th-century natural philosopher, chemist, physicist, inventor and early gentleman scientist. He is largely regarded one of the founders of modern chemistry and is best known for the formulation of Boyle&#39;s law.</p><br>
<p>19th century physicist, John Tyndall, discovered the Tyndall effect. Father Nicholas Joseph Callan, Professor of Natural Philosophy in Maynooth College, is best known for his invention of the induction coil, transformer and he discovered an early method of galvanisation in the 19th century.</p><br>
<p>Other notable Irish physicists include Ernest Walton, winner of the 1951 Nobel Prize in Physics. With Sir John Douglas Cockcroft, he was the first to split the nucleus of the atom by artificial means and made contributions to the development of a new theory of wave equation. William Thomson, or Lord Kelvin, is the person whom the absolute temperature unit, the kelvin, is named after. Sir Joseph Larmor, a physicist and mathematician, made innovations in the understanding of electricity, dynamics, thermodynamics and the electron theory of matter. His most influential work was Aether and Matter, a book on theoretical physics published in 1900.</p><br>
<p>George Johnstone Stoney introduced the term electron in 1891. John Stewart Bell was the originator of Bells Theorem and a paper concerning the discovery of the Bell-Jackiw-Adler anomaly and was nominated for a Nobel prize. The astronomer Jocelyn Bell Burnell, from Lurgan, County Armagh, discovered pulsars in 1967. Notable mathematicians include Sir William Rowan Hamilton, famous for work in classical mechanics and the invention of quaternions. Francis Ysidro Edgeworths contribution of the Edgeworth Box remains influential in neo-classical microeconomic theory to this day; while Richard Cantillon inspired Adam Smith, among others. John B. Cosgrave was a specialist in number theory and discovered a 2000-digit prime number in 1999 and a record composite Fermat number in 2003. John Lighton Synge made progress in different fields of science, including mechanics and geometrical methods in general relativity. He had mathematician John Nash as one of his students. Kathleen Lonsdale, born in Ireland and most known for her work with crystallography, became the first female president of the British Association for the Advancement of Science.</p><br>
<p>Ireland has nine universities, seven in the Republic of Ireland and two in Northern Ireland, including Trinity College, Dublin and the University College Dublin, as well as numerous third-level colleges and institutes and a branch of the Open University, the Open University in Ireland.</p><br>
<h3>Sports</h3><br>
<p>Gaelic football is the most popular sport in Ireland in terms of match attendance and community involvement, with about 2,600 clubs on the island. In 2003 it represented 34% of total sports attendances at events in Ireland and abroad, followed by hurling at 23%, soccer at 16% and rugby at 8%. The All-Ireland Football Final is the most watched event in the sporting calendar. Soccer is the most widely played team game on the island, and the most popular in Northern Ireland.</p><br>
<p>Other sporting activities with the highest levels of playing participation include swimming, golf, aerobics, cycling, and billiards/snooker. Many other sports are also played and followed, including boxing, cricket, fishing, greyhound racing, handball, hockey, horse racing, motor sport, show jumping and tennis.</p><br>
<p>The island of Ireland fields a single international team in most sports. One notable exception to this is association football, although both associations continued to field international teams under the name "Ireland" until the 1950s. The sport is also the most notable exception where the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland field separate international teams. Northern Ireland has produced two World Snooker Champions.</p><br>
<h4>Field sports</h4><br>
<p>Gaelic football, hurling and handball are the best-known of the Irish traditional sports, collectively known as Gaelic games. Gaelic games are governed by the Gaelic Athletic Association (GAA), with the exception of ladies Gaelic football and camogie (womens variant of hurling), which are governed by separate organisations. The headquarters of the GAA (and the main stadium) is located at the 82,500 capacity Croke Park in north Dublin. Many major GAA games are played there, including the semi-finals and finals of the All-Ireland Senior Football Championship and All-Ireland Senior Hurling Championship. During the redevelopment of the Lansdowne Road stadium in 2007–10, international rugby and soccer were played there. All GAA players, even at the highest level, are amateurs, receiving no wages, although they are permitted to receive a limited amount of sport-related income from commercial sponsorship.</p><br>
<p>The Irish Football Association (IFA) was originally the governing body for soccer across the island. The game has been played in an organised fashion in Ireland since the 1870s, with Cliftonville F.C. in Belfast being Irelands oldest club. It was most popular, especially in its first decades, around Belfast and in Ulster. However, some clubs based outside Belfast thought that the IFA largely favoured Ulster-based clubs in such matters as selection for the national team. In 1921, following an incident in which, despite an earlier promise, the IFA moved an Irish Cup semi-final replay from Dublin to Belfast, Dublin-based clubs broke away to form the Football Association of the Irish Free State. Today the southern association is known as the Football Association of Ireland (FAI). Despite being initially blacklisted by the Home Nations associations, the FAI was recognised by FIFA in 1923 and organised its first international fixture in 1926 (against Italy). However, both the IFA and FAI continued to select their teams from the whole of Ireland, with some players earning international caps for matches with both teams. Both also referred to their respective teams as Ireland.</p><br>
<p>In 1950, FIFA directed the associations only to select players from within their respective territories and, in 1953, directed that the FAIs team be known only as "Republic of Ireland" and that the IFAs team be known as "Northern Ireland" (with certain exceptions). Northern Ireland qualified for the World Cup finals in 1958 (reaching the quarter-finals), 1982 and 1986 and the European Championship in 2016. The Republic qualified for the World Cup finals in 1990 (reaching the quarter-finals), 1994, 2002 and the European Championships in 1988, 2012 and 2016. Across Ireland, there is significant interest in the English and, to a lesser extent, Scottish soccer leagues.</p><br>
<p>Unlike soccer, Ireland continues to field a single national rugby team and a single association, the Irish Rugby Football Union (IRFU), governs the sport across the island. The Irish rugby team have played in every Rugby World Cup, making the quarter-finals in four of them. Ireland also hosted games during the 1991 and the 1999 Rugby World Cups (including a quarter-final). There are four professional Irish teams; all four play in the Pro14 and at least three compete for the Heineken Cup. Irish rugby has become increasingly competitive at both the international and provincial levels since the sport went professional in 1994. During that time, Ulster (1999), Munster (2006 and 2008) and Leinster (2009, 2011 and 2012) have won the Heineken Cup. In addition to this, the Irish International side has had increased success in the Six Nations Championship against the other European elite sides. This success, including Triple Crowns in 2004, 2006 and 2007, culminated with a clean sweep of victories, known as a Grand Slam, in 2009.</p><br>
<h4>Other sports</h4><br>
<p>Horse racing and greyhound racing are both popular in Ireland. There are frequent horse race meetings and greyhound stadiums are well-attended. The island is noted for the breeding and training of race horses and is also a large exporter of racing dogs. The horse racing sector is largely concentrated in the County Kildare.</p><br>
<p>Irish athletics has seen a heightened success rate since the year 2000, with Sonia OSullivan winning two medals at 5,000 metres on the track; gold at the 1995 World Championships and silver at the 2000 Sydney Olympics. Gillian OSullivan won silver in the 20k walk at the 2003 World Championships, while sprint hurdler Derval O&#39;Rourke won gold at the 2006 World Indoor Championship in Moscow. Olive Loughnane won a silver medal in the 20k walk in the World Athletics Championships in Berlin in 2009.</p><br>
<p>Ireland has won more medals in boxing than in any other Olympic sport. Boxing is governed by the Irish Athletic Boxing Association. Michael Carruth won a gold medal and Wayne McCullough won a silver medal in the Barcelona Olympic Games. In 2008 Kenneth Egan won a silver medal in the Beijing Games. Paddy Barnes secured bronze in those games and gold in the 2010 European Amateur Boxing Championships (where Ireland came 2nd in the overall medal table) and 2010 Commonwealth Games. Katie Taylor has won gold in every European and World championship since 2005. In August 2012 at the Olympic Games in London Katie Taylor created history by becoming the first Irish woman to win a gold medal in boxing in the 60 kg lightweight.</p><br>
<p>Golf is very popular, and golf tourism is a major industry attracting more than 240,000 golfing visitors annually. The 2006 Ryder Cup was held at The K Club in County Kildare. Pádraig Harrington became the first Irishman since Fred Daly in 1947 to win the British Open at Carnoustie in July 2007. He successfully defended his title in July 2008 before going on to win the PGA Championship in August. Harrington became the first European to win the PGA Championship in 78 years and was the first winner from Ireland. Three golfers from Northern Ireland have been particularly successful. In 2010, Graeme McDowell became the first Irish golfer to win the USA Open, and the first European to win that tournament since 1970. Rory McIlroy, at the age of 22, won the 2011 USA Open, while Darren Clarkes latest victory was the 2011 Open Championship at Royal St. Georges. In August 2012, McIlroy won his 2nd major championship by winning the USPGA Championship by a record margin of 8 shots.</p><br>
<h4>Recreation</h4><br>
<p>The west coast of Ireland, Lahinch and Donegal Bay in particular, have popular surfing beaches, being fully exposed to the Atlantic Ocean. Donegal Bay is shaped like a funnel and catches west/south-west Atlantic winds, creating good surf, especially in winter. Since just before the year 2010, Bundoran has hosted European championship surfing. Scuba diving is increasingly popular in Ireland with clear waters and large populations of sea life, particularly along the western seaboard. There are also many shipwrecks along the coast of Ireland, with some of the best wreck dives being in Malin Head and off the County Cork coast.</p><br>
<p>With thousands of lakes, over 14,000 km of fish bearing rivers and over 3,700 km of coastline, Ireland is a popular angling destination. The temperate Irish climate is suited to sport angling. While salmon and trout fishing remain popular with anglers, salmon fishing in particular received a boost in 2006 with the closing of the salmon driftnet fishery. Coarse fishing continues to increase its profile. Sea angling is developed with many beaches mapped and signposted, and the range of sea angling species is around 80.</p><br>
<h3>Food and drink</h3><br>
<p>Food and cuisine in Ireland takes its influence from the crops grown and animals farmed in the island&#39;s temperate climate and from the social and political circumstances of Irish history. For example, whilst from the Middle Ages until the arrival of the potato in the 16th century the dominant feature of the Irish economy was the herding of cattle, the number of cattle a person owned was equated to their social standing. Thus herders would avoid slaughtering a milk-producing cow.</p><br>
<p>For this reason, pork and white meat were more common than beef and thick fatty strips of salted bacon (or rashers) and the eating of salted butter (i.e. a dairy product rather than beef itself) have been a central feature of the diet in Ireland since the Middle Ages. The practice of bleeding cattle and mixing the blood with milk and butter (not unlike the practice of the Maasai) was common and black pudding, made from blood, grain (usually barley) and seasoning, remains a breakfast staple in Ireland. All of these influences can be seen today in the phenomenon of the "breakfast roll".</p><br>
<p>The introduction of the potato in the second half of the 16th century heavily influenced cuisine thereafter. Great poverty encouraged a subsistence approach to food and by the mid-19th century the vast majority of the population sufficed with a diet of potatoes and milk. A typical family, consisting of a man, a woman and four children, would eat 18 st of potatoes a week. Consequently, dishes that are considered as national dishes represent a fundamental unsophistication to cooking, such as the Irish stew, bacon and cabbage, boxty, a type of potato pancake, or colcannon, a dish of mashed potatoes and kale or cabbage.</p><br>
<p>Since the last quarter of the 20th century, with a re-emergence of wealth in Ireland, a "New Irish Cuisine" based on traditional ingredients incorporating international influences has emerged. This cuisine is based on fresh vegetables, fish (especially salmon, trout, oysters, mussels and other shellfish), as well as traditional soda breads and the wide range of hand-made cheeses that are now being produced across the country. An example of this new cuisine is "Dublin Lawyer": lobster cooked in whiskey and cream. The potato remains however a fundamental feature of this cuisine and the Irish remain the highest per capita consumers of potatoes in Europe. Traditional regional foods can be found throughout the country, for example coddle in Dublin or drisheen in Cork, both a type of sausage, or blaa, a doughy white bread particular to Waterford.</p><br>
<p>Ireland once dominated the worlds market for whiskey, producing 90% of the worlds whiskey at the start of the 20th century. However, as a consequence of bootleggers during the prohibition in the United States (who sold poor-quality whiskey bearing Irish-sounding names thus eroding the pre-prohibition popularity for Irish brands) and tariffs on Irish whiskey across the British Empire during the Anglo-Irish Trade War of the 1930s, sales of Irish whiskey worldwide fell to a mere 2% by the mid-20th century. In 1953, an Irish government survey, found that 50 per cent of whiskey drinkers in the United States had never heard of Irish whiskey.</p><br>
<p>Irish whiskey, as researched in 2009 by the CNBC American broadcaster, remains popular domestically and has grown in international sales steadily over a few decades. Typically CNBC states Irish whiskey is not as smoky as a Scotch whisky, but not as sweet as American or Canadian whiskies. Whiskey forms the basis of traditional cream liqueurs, such as Baileys, and the "Irish coffee" (a cocktail of coffee and whiskey reputedly invented at Foynes flying-boat station) is probably the best-known Irish cocktail.</p><br>
<p>Stout, a kind of porter beer, particularly Guinness, is typically associated with Ireland, although historically it was more closely associated with London. Porter remains very popular, although it has lost sales since the mid-20th century to lager. Cider, particularly Magners (marketed in the Republic of Ireland as Bulmers), is also a popular drink. Red lemonade, a soft-drink, is consumed on its own and as a mixer, particularly with whiskey.</p><br>
<p>Halicarnassus , an ancient Greek city, stood on the site of modern Bodrum in Turkey. It was located in southwest Caria on a picturesque, advantageous site on the Ceramic Gulf. The city was famous for the Mausoleum of Halicarnassus, also known simply as the Tomb of Mausolus, whose name provided the origin of the word "mausoleum". The mausoleum, built between 353 BC and 350 BC, ranked as one of the seven wonders of the ancient world.</p><br>
<p>Halicarnassus formed part of the Persian Empire until Alexander the Great captured it at the siege of Halicarnassus in 334 BC.</p><br>
<p>Halicarnassus originally occupied only a small island near to the shore called Zephyria, which was the original name of the settlement and the present site of the great Castle of St. Peter built by the Knights of Rhodes in 1404; but in the course of time the island united with the mainland and the city extended to incorporate Salmacis, an older town of the Leleges and Carians and site of the later citadel.</p><br>
<h2>Etymology</h2><br>
<p>The suffix -ᾱσσός (-assos) of Greek Ἁλικαρνᾱσσός is indicative of a substrate toponym, meaning that an original Greek name influenced, or established the places name. It has been recently proposed that the element -καρνᾱσσός is cognate (essentially two words in different languages derived from the same original source) with Luwian (CASTRUM)ha+ra/i-na-sà / (CASTRUM)ha+ra/i-ni-sà fortress&#39;. If so, the toponym is probably borrowed from Carian, a Luwic language spoken alongside Greek in Halicarnassus. The Carian name for Halicarnassus has been tentatively identified with Alos-δ karnos-δ in inscriptions.</p><br>
<h2>History</h2><br>
<h3>Mycenaean presence in the area</h3><br>
<p>Some large Mycenaean tombs have been found at Musgebi (or Muskebi, modern Ortakent), not far from Halicarnassus. According to Turkish archaeologist Yusuf Boysal, the Muskebi material, dating from the end of the fifteenth century BC to ca. 1200 BC, provides evidence of the presence, in this region, of a Mycenaean settlement.</p><br>
<p>More than forty burial places dating back to that time have been discovered. A rich collection of artifacts found in these tombs is now housed in the Bodrum Castle.</p><br>
<p>These finds cast some light on the problem of determining the territories of ancient Arzawa and Ahhiyawa.</p><br>
<h3>Early history</h3><br>
<p>The founding of Halicarnassus is debated among various traditions; but they agree in the main point as to its being a Dorian colony, and the figures on its coins, such as the head of Medusa, Athena or Poseidon, or the trident, support the statement that the mother cities were Troezen and Argos. The inhabitants appear to have accepted Anthes, a son of Poseidon, as their legendary founder, as mentioned by Strabo, and were proud of the title of Antheadae.</p><br>
<p>At an early period Halicarnassus was a member of the Doric Hexapolis, which included Kos, Cnidus, Lindos, Kameiros and Ialysus; but it was expelled from the league when one of its citizens, Agasicles, took home the prize tripod which he had won in the Triopian games, instead of dedicating it according to custom to the Triopian Apollo. In the early 5th century Halicarnassus was under the sway of Artemisia I of Caria (also known as Artemesia of Halicarnassus ), who made herself famous as a naval commander at the battle of Salamis. Of Pisindalis, her son and successor, little is known; but Lygdamis, who next attained power, is notorious for having put to death the poet Panyasis and causing Herodotus, possibly the best known Halicarnassian, to leave his native city (c. 457 BC).</p><br>
<h3>Hekatomnid dynasty</h3><br>
<p>Hecatomnus became king of Caria, at that time part of the Persian Empire, ruling from 404 BC to 358 BC and establishing the Hekatomnid dynasty. He left three sons, Mausolus, Idrieus and Pixodarus—all of whom—in their turn, succeeded him in the sovereignty; and two daughters, Artemisia and Ada, who were married to their brothers Mausolus and Idrieus.</p><br>
<p>Mausolus moved his capital from Mylasa to Halicarnassus. His workmen deepened the city&#39;s harbor and used the dragged sand to make protecting breakwaters in front of the channel. On land they paved streets and squares, and built houses for ordinary citizens. And on one side of the harbor they built a massive fortified palace for Mausolus, positioned to have clear views out to sea and inland to the hills—places from where enemies could attack. On land, the workmen also built walls and watchtowers, a Greek&ndash;style theatre and a temple to Ares—the Greek god of war.</p><br>
<p>Artemisia and Mausolus spent huge amounts of tax money to embellish the city. They commissioned statues, temples and buildings of gleaming marble. When he died in 353 BC, his wife, sister and successor, Artemisia II of Caria, began construction of a magnificent tomb for him and herself on a hill overlooking the city. She died in 351 BC (of grief, according to Cicero, Tusculan Disputations 3.31). According to Pliny the Elder the craftsmen continued to work on the tomb after the death of their patron, "considering that it was at once a memorial of his own fame and of the sculptor&#39;s art," finishing it in 350 BC. This tomb of Mausolus came to be known as the Mausoleum, one of the seven wonders of the ancient world.</p><br>
<p>Artemisia was succeeded by her brother Idrieus, who, in turn, was succeeded by his wife and sister Ada when he died in 344 BC. However, Ada was usurped by her brother Pixodarus in 340 BC. On the death of Pixodarus in 335 BC his son-in-law, a Persian named Orontobates, received the satrapy of Caria from Darius III of Persia.</p><br>
<h3>Alexander the Great and Ada of Caria</h3><br>
<p>When Alexander the Great entered Caria in 334 BC, Ada, who was in possession of the fortress of Alinda, surrendered the fortress to him. After taking Halicarnassus, Alexander handed back the government of Caria to her; she, in turn, formally adopted Alexander as her son, ensuring that the rule of Caria passed unconditionally to him upon her eventual death. During the siege of Halicarnassus the city was fired by the retreating Persians. As he was not able to reduce the citadel, Alexander was forced to leave it blockaded. The ruins of this citadel and moat are now a tourist attraction in Bodrum.</p><br>
<h3>Later history</h3><br>
<p>Not long afterwards the citizens received the present of a gymnasium from Ptolemy and built in his honour a stoa or portico. Under Egyptian hegemony, around 268 BC, a citizen named Hermias became Nesiarch of the Nesiotic League in the Cyclades.</p><br>
<p>Halicarnassus never recovered altogether from the disasters of the siege, and Cicero describes it as almost deserted.</p><br>
<p>Baroque artist Johann Elias Ridinger depicted the several stages of siege and taking of the place in a huge copper engraving as one of only two known today from his Alexander set.</p><br>
<p>The Christian and later history of the site is continued at Bodrum.</p><br>
<h2>Archeological notes and restorations</h2><br>
<p>The site is now occupied in part by the town of Bodrum; but the ancient walls can still be traced round nearly all their circuit, and the position of several of the temples, the theatre, and other public buildings can be fixed with certainty.</p><br>
<p>The ruins of the mausoleum were recovered sufficiently by the 1857 excavations of Charles Newton to enable a fairly complete restoration of its design to be made. The building consisted of five parts—a basement or podium, a pteron or enclosure of columns, a pyramid, a pedestal and a chariot group. The basement, covering an area of 114 feet by 92, was built of blocks of greenstone, cased with marble and covered in carvings of cows. Round the base of it were probably disposed groups of statuary. The pteron consisted (according to Pliny) of thirty-six columns of the Ionic order, enclosing a square cella. Between the columns probably stood single statues. From the portions that have been recovered, it appears that the principal frieze of the pteron represented combats of Greeks and Amazons. In addition, there are also many life-size fragments of animals, horsemen, etc., belonging probably to pedimental sculptures, but formerly supposed to be parts of minor friezes. Above the pteron rose the pyramid, mounting by 24 steps to an apex or pedestal.</p><br>
<p>On this apex stood the chariot with the figure of Mausolus himself and an attendant. The height of the statue of Mausolus in the British Museum is 9&#39;9" without the plinth. The hair falls from the forehead in thick waves on each side of the face and descends nearly to the shoulder; the beard is short and close, the face square and massive, the eyes deep set under overhanging brows, the mouth well formed with settled calm about the lips. The drapery is grandly composed. All sorts of restorations of this famous monument have been proposed. The original one, made by Newton and Pullan, is obviously in error in many respects; and that of Oldfield, though to be preferred for its lightness (the mausoleum was said anciently to be "suspended in mid-air"), does not satisfy the conditions postulated by the remains. The best on the whole is that of the veteran German architect, F. Adler, published in 1900; but fresh studies have since been made (see below).</p><br>
<h2>Notable people</h2><br>
<p>Artemisia I (fl. 480 BC), Queen of Halicarnassus, who participated in the Battle of Salamis</p><br>
<p>Herodotus (c. 484 – c. 425 BC), Greek historian</p><br>
<p>Dionysius (fl. 1st century BC), historian and teacher of rhetoric</p><br>
<p>Aelius Dionysius (fl. 2nd century), Greek rhetorician and musician</p><br>
<p>Møn is an island in south-eastern Denmark. Until 1 January 2007, it was a municipality in its own right but it is now part of the municipality of Vordingborg, after merging with the former municipalities of Langebæk, Præstø, and Vordingborg. This has created a municipality with an area of 615 km² and a total population of 46,307 . It belongs to the Region Sjælland . Møn is one of Denmarks most popular destinations for tourists with its white chalk cliffs, countryside, sandy beaches and the market town of Stege. In June 2017, UNESCO designated Møn as Denmarks first biosphere reserve, consisting of "a series of islands and islets in the southern Baltic Sea, over approximately 45,118 hectares . Its landscapes include woodlands, grasslands, meadows, wetlands, coastal areas, ponds and steep hills."</p><br>
<h2>Location</h2><br>
<p>Møn is located just off the south-eastern tip of Zealand from which it is separated by the waters of the Hølen strait between Kalvehave and the island of Nyord, at the northern end of Møn. Further south is Stege Bay. At the narrowest point between the two islands, the waters are referred to as Wolf Strait (Ulvsund), which is the primary strait separating Møn from Zealand.</p><br>
<p>To the southwest is Stubbekøbing on the island of Falster, which is separated from Møn by the Grønsund (Green Strait).</p><br>
<p>There are a number of islands in the waters off Møn, including Nyord and Bogø, the smaller island of Farø, as well as the islands of Langø, Tærø and Lilleø off the coast of Zealand. The island of Lindholm in Stege Bugt is state-owned, and is the location for the State Veterinary Institute for Virus Research (Statens Veterinære Institut for Virusforskning).</p><br>
<h2>Transport links</h2><br>
<p>Møn is connected to Zealand at the town of Kalvehave by the Queen Alexandrine Bridge. The bridge opened for traffic on May 30, 1943, and is named after Queen Alexandrine, the Queen Consort of King Christian X. The bridge is 746 m long and considered to be one of Denmark&#39;s most attractive bridges.</p><br>
<p>At the south-western corner, Møn disconnects by causeway to the 5 x island of Bogø. From Bogø another causeway connects to the small island of Farø, which acts as the centre point for the Farø Bridges carrying the motorway between Zealand and Falster. The north Farø bridge has a span of 1.5 km, the south bridge a span of 1.7 km with a 290 m central span for shipping. The central span is supported by cables from two 95 m pylons which raise the bridge 26 m above sea level. The bridge was completed in 1984 and forms part of Euroroute E47 from Copenhagen (and Helsingborg) to Lübeck (and thence Hamburg and the south).</p><br>
<p>At the north-western tip of Møn there is a narrow bridge to the small island of Nyord.</p><br>
<h2>The town of Stege</h2><br>
<p>Stege, the largest town on the island of Møn, is situated approximately at the centre point of the island at the mouth of Stege Nor, a lake which connects directly to the sea. The population is around 4,000. The town has a great deal of charm with historic buildings, a marina and several restaurants and cafes. Stege Church built in the Romanesque style dates from the early 13th century. The annual "Stege Festival" takes place every Tuesday in July, and the first Tuesday in August.</p><br>
<h2>Attractions</h2><br>
<p>Møn is known for its natural beauty, sandy beaches, fresco-decorated churches, Stone Age and Bronze Age passage graves and monuments, and Møns Klint ("The White Cliffs of Møn"), the island&#39;s most popular attraction.</p><br>
<p>The cliffs, c. 6 km long and up to 128 metres tall, are Denmarks highest, and support a unique set of natural habitats. Access to the narrow beach is via a flight of 500 steps from the parking area set within the beech forest behind the cliffs. The GeoCenter Møns Klint, a geological museum tracing the origins of Denmark and the formation of the cliffs opened there in May 2007. The combination of chalk in the subsoil with a dry local climate, and its agricultural use consisting primarily of cattle grazing, has created some of Denmarks richest meadowlands. The chalk was transported to Møn during the fourth, and most recent, major ice age.</p><br>
<p>Another attraction close to the cliffs is Liselund, the romantic summer residence erected in the 1790s by French nobleman Antoine de Bosc de la Calmette for his wife, Lise. The miniature thatched palace and grounds were designed by Andreas Kirkerup, one of the foremost landscape architects of the times. A larger house was constructed in the park in 1887 by Baron Fritz Rosenkrantz, which is now a hotel. The park is open to the public and includes the original thatched manor house, Swiss cottage, Chinese tea house and Norwegian log cabin. Calmette was also responsible for the park at Marienborg, to the west of Stege.</p><br>
<p>At the north-western corner of Møn is a narrow bridge to the island of Nyord. The small village on the island has a number of quaint cottages and farmhouses as well as a unique octagonal church and a small harbour. Nyord is an important habitat for geese, ducks and other wading birds. There is a bird-watching tower for the use of visitors.</p><br>
<p>At the south-western corner, Møn connects by causeway to the 5 by 7 km island of Bogø. The island has a preserved windmill, an old bording school and a summer ferry to Stubbekøbing.</p><br>
<p>Møn has a number of interesting churches decorated with frescos. Fanefjord Church dates back to the 13th century, and has a set of recently restored frescos painted in 1450 by the Elmelunde Master. Frescos can also be seen in Elmelunde Church, the oldest church on the island, with parts dating from the start of the 12th century. Keldby Church has a unique altarpiece and is also richly decorated with frescos. Another interesting church is the one at Damsholte. It is one of the finest Rococo buildings in Denmark and the only village church built in the Rococo style.</p><br>
<p>The oldest and perhaps most impressive burial mound on Møn is Grønsalen near Fanefjord Church. The 100 m by 10 m barrow is from around 3500 BC. According to legend, it is the resting place of Chief Grønjæger (Greenranger) and his wife Queen Fane, after whom Grønsund and Fanefjord were named. There are also barrows at Raaby and Busemarke. There is also a 5,000-year-old round burial barrow at Sømarke, and others at Jættestue and Jordehøj. Kong Asgers Høj at Sprove is the largest gallery grave in Denmark, more than 4,000 years old. It has been fully excavated and can be visited inside. There is another round barrow at nearby Rundysse, and a further recently restored 9 metre long double passage gallery grave at Klekkende Høj from the Neolithic age c. 4,500 years old.</p><br>
<p>Thorsvang, Danmarks Samlermuseum is a museum of collectables arranged in a number of old shops typical of the early 20th century. It is located in the Lendemarke district of Stege.</p><br>
<p>There is a jewellery museum in the little village of Damme and near Keldbylille, there is a museum (Museumsgaarden) depicting life on a Møn farm as it was 100 years ago. There are also several art galleries and arts and crafts centres on the island.</p><br>
<p>Møn also has a number of popular beach resorts, particularly in East Møn with Ulvshale to the north and Råbylille Strand, Klintholm Havn and Hårbølle on the south side of the island.</p><br>
<h2>History</h2><br>
<h3>Early settlements</h3><br>
<p>There is evidence that people lived in Denmark more than 100,000 years ago, but the area became covered with ice during the last ice age. People returned to Møn about 10,000 years ago during the Upper Paleolithic era. At that time the island was part of mainland Europe.</p><br>
<p>During the Mesolithic era (6800-3900 BC) there is evidence from findings of small flint and bone tools that inhabitants of the island lived by hunting and fishing. The landscape was largely wooded, with hazel and increasingly oak and alder trees. From around 5400 BC reforestation was complete, forming an inaccessible forest and forcing out the last of the big animals such as aurochs and elk. Human habitations have been found along the eastern coast.</p><br>
<p>The Neolithic era, (3900-1700 BC) saw the start of cattle farming spreading inland from the coastal settlements. Flint axes were used, and trading occurred in flint, gold, copper and bronze. This era saw the start of barrow building for the dead, and settlements have been found at Rødkilde. Barrows became larger, longer and contained multiple burials. More than 100 large graves have been found on Møn. The period from 2400&ndash;1700 is known as Doltktiden, after the flint daggers which became common at that time. Bronze was also in use, imported from the south.</p><br>
<p>Around 2000 BC, a new wave of people arrived on Møn, the Stridsøksekulturen (the battleaxe people). They brought with them goats, sheep and horses, and their trademark stone battleaxes. They used simpler graves with small round mounds.</p><br>
<p>Bronze became more common, hence the period 1700-500 BC became the Bronze Age and flint ceased to be used for tools. Large round mounds were used for burial, and more than 200 of these have been found on Møn. Each mound covered a single grave, containing a coffin made from a single split and hollowed oak tree. From 1000-500 BC, graves became smaller and cremation began to be practiced. Graves were encircled by a ring of stones. Fewer items were buried with the dead, as a result of changes in society which made grave robbing more likely.</p><br>
<p>From 500 BC, iron began to be used in the Pre-Roman Iron Age. The climate became cooler and wetter, causing difficulties for agriculture. Few remains have been found from the period 500-0 BC, but Celtic culture became an influence.</p><br>
<p>The Roman Empire stopped short of Denmark, but from 0-400 AD in the Roman Iron Age there is evidence of imported Roman goods in silver, bronze and gold. Little has been found from the post-Roman Germanic Iron Age until about 800 AD. Two treasure hoards have been found on Møn from the Viking Age 800-1050.</p><br>
<h3>Unification of Denmark</h3><br>
<p>The last recorded independent ruler of the island of Møn was Hemming, son of Sigvard Snogøje (Sigvard Snake-eye) in the early 9th century, who carried out raids on other territories. Møn itself was subject to raids, particularly Wends from Rügen and Fehmarn.</p><br>
<p>From 900-1000 AD forests were steadily cleared and there was a profitable trade in corn with the Baltic countries. The relative wealth and large population of the island is indicated by the large number of churches built at that time. However, this wealth increased the likelihood of Vendian raids. This in turn led to the deliberate retention of some coastal forest areas as protection against raiders.</p><br>
<p>The construction of the castle of Stegeborg was around 1220 in timber, then rebuilt in brick by 1245, despite this being a relatively peaceful period. On the death of King Valdemar II in 1241, a dispute arose over the succession, which led to the island being raided by Lubeckers who took the part of one of the claimants, Knud Duke of Blekinge who was imprisoned by his brother Erik Plovpenning (king 1241-1250) in Stegeborg. The Lubeckers conquered Copenhagen, then Stege to release the Duke. These raids continued intermittently into the 16th century. The succession wars also led to further raids in 1260 when the island was seized by Prince Järmer of Rügen. The Germans gained rights to establish a trading outpost at Brøndhøj. A Norwegian, Alf Ellingsen, was also attracted by the island, defeating a defending fleet of 30 vessels to raid Møn and other islands during the reign of Erik Glipping (1259–1286). Glipping granted Stege a town charter, granting it sole rights to trade and tax certain commodities, which existed until 1857.</p><br>
<p>From the middle of the 12th to the mid-17th century, Møn became a Danish crown property and was managed by a feudal lord. Its relative importance meant that appointments were made from the ranks of highest Danish nobility. The lord had responsibility for maintaining order and collecting taxes, hosting visits from royalty and important guests, and judging legal disputes. As a royal possession, the island was used as surety against loans made to the crown, and passed into various hands while debts remained unpaid. This gave the pledge holders the right to extract whatever revenue they could from the island while it remained pledged as security. Prince Witslav of Rügen held the island for 20 years from 1286, resulting in rebellions against him and further Norwegian raids.</p><br>
<h3>Herring fisheries, prosperity and decline</h3><br>
<p>The island, and Stege in particular, prospered in the 14th century from the results of herring fishing, reaching the height of its wealth around 1500. It adopted a coat of arms including three herrings, and the town defences were strengthened. Around 1430 a rampart, wall and moat were created around the town by Eric VII. Three towers were created at each of the main approach roads, of which only Møllerporten still survives. However, the fortifications were no defence against fire, which at one point destroyed the greater part of the town, or against the plague.</p><br>
<p>In 1447, King Christopher III granted the town rights to trade outside Møn, within the remainder of Denmark. In 1450, Christian I forbade farmers to trade goods outside of Denmark, with the result that they sailed directly to Germany to sell their goods, bypassing the town of Stege, which was starved of goods and revenue. In 1476, the town received confirmation of its historic rights and, in 1481, a further law forbade foreigners trading with farmers on Møn. This was reaffirmed by King Hans in 1507.</p><br>
<p>In 1510, the Lubeckers attacked Møn in retaliation for the trade sanctions, failing to take Stege but destroying the island&#39;s second largest town, Borre. The trade war continued, and in 1524 Frederick I again felt the need to repeat the ban on trade on Møn anywhere except in the town of Stege. In 1533, Frederick died leading again to a dispute over the crown. The townspeople sided with the previously deposed Christian II, but the castle was in the hands of Christian III. As a result, the castle was taken by deceit by townspeople and blown up. The four leaders were hanged, but the castle was not rebuilt. In 1538, Christian III once again repeated the trade ban, as the citizens of Stege still could not obtain sufficient food for the town.</p><br>
<p>At the start of the 16th century, around 2000 people lived in Stege. However, the herring fisheries were in decline and the town was taxed heavily to pay for continuing wars. Farmers began to sell goods to the harbour at Grønsund, and the island was again pledged against a debt. By 1582 Frederick II was obliged to cut taxes on the town and waive unpaid back taxes, as the town was effectively bankrupt. In 1583, trade with Germany was again banned. Christian IV granted land outside Stege to the town so that the inhabitants might grow food for themselves. In 1627, more land was granted.</p><br>
<p>The death of Christian IV in 1648 meant the end of the 30-year war, but his successor Frederick III commenced war against Sweden. Copenhagen was occupied and Swedes sought to invade Møn by walking across the ice from Zealand. This was prevented by the islanders, who maintained a three-mile long opening in the ice to stop the invasion force. However, in May 1659, 3,000 Swedes invaded from the island of Bogø against a force of 500 defenders. Stege was occupied, the town hall and 300 farms destroyed, the island looted and the harvest lost. At the end of the war, in 1660, the island&#39;s population was reduced to 670.</p><br>
<p>Frederick III introduced direct rule, replacing feudal regions with counties and attempted to restore the economy. However, in 1664 Møn was again pledged against loans, this time to a Dutchman Gabriel Marselis. In 1684, the pledge was redeemed, at which time Stege was half in ruins, almost all the forests had been cut down and many farms had been abandoned. In 1685, four battalions of cavalry were sent to the island and stationed at Marienborg. To build barracks at Marienborg, their commander Colonel Von Plessen demolished damaged buildings in Stege to re-use their stone, including the town wall and two of the gate towers. The third was converted into a prison. In 1696, the further depredation of the island was discovered by the authorities, and Plessen was himself imprisoned. All taxes on the island were cancelled for two years.</p><br>
<h3>Restored fortunes</h3><br>
<p>In 1703, an attempt was made to found a navigation school in Stege. This failed, but generally the Danish economy was beginning to recover from the long period of wars. In 1769, Crown property on Møn was sold which allowed farmers to buy their own land and wealthy individuals to create estates and begin to settle on the island. In 1774, a major fire destroyed 112 properties in the northern part of Stege, but by 1782 there were four distilleries in the town, and by 1807, 18.</p><br>
<p>In 1733, Christian VI introduced a law compelling peasants to remain on the estate where they were born until the age of 36. This was to provide a fixed work force, but also aid military conscription. The law was abolished in 1788 by the then regent, later to become Frederick VI.</p><br>
<p>By 1789, the population of Stege had climbed to 791 with 7,000 people on the island. In 1797, Antoine de Calmette was placed in charge of the county, and was, for once, a respected leader.</p><br>
<p>In 1857, the town trade monopoly was finally abolished.</p><br>
<p>At the start of the 20th century about 14,000 people lived on the island. This figure then fell, but stabilised in the 1970s.</p><br>
<h2>Economy</h2><br>
<p>Tourism plays an important role in the local economy. One of the largest employers is Bisca, a manufacturer of cakes and biscuits headquartered in Stege. Møns Bank traces its history back to 1877. About one third of its customers live on the island. The old town hall in Stege was converted into a centre for entrepreneurship in 2008 and is now home to some 10 start-ups.</p><br>
<h2>2010 veteran bicycle rally</h2><br>
<p>In June 2010, Møn hosted the 30th world vintage bicycle rally for the International Veteran Cycle Association. Some 150 enthusiasts from 17 countries visited the island with their historic pedal bicycles from 2 to 6 June. One of the challenges for the participants was to clock up 100 miles between sunrise and sunset on velocipedes built between 1818 and 1960. Apart from countries across Europe, some participants came from as far as Australia, Canada, New Zealand and the United States.</p><br>
<h2>Notable people</h2><br>
<p>Gerhard Treschow (c.1659 – 1719) was a Danish-born, Norwegian merchant and industrial pioneer</p><br>
<p>Joachim Godske Moltke (1746 – 1818) was Prime Minister of Denmark. He was also father of Prime Minister Adam Wilhelm Moltke</p><br>
<p>Antoine de Bosc de la Calmette (1752 – 1803) County Governor and landowner, artist and landscape architect, contributing to Danish Romanticism</p><br>
<p>Johan Sigismund von Møsting (1759 - 1843) banker and finance minister</p><br>
<p>Christopher Friedenreich Hage (1759 in Stage – 1849 in Stage) was a Danish merchant on the island of Møn. He was the father of Alfred Hage.</p><br>
<p>Peter Anton Alfred Hage (1803 in Stege - 1872) was a Danish merchant, politician, landowner and philanthropist</p><br>
<p>Bente Scavenius (born 1944) is a Danish art historian, art critic and author.</p><br>
<p>The Dakota, also known as Dakota Apartments, is a cooperative apartment building located on the northwest corner of 72nd Street and Central Park West in the Upper West Side of Manhattan in New York City, United States. It was built in 1884 and is considered to be one of Manhattan&#39;s most prestigious and exclusive cooperative residential buildings.</p><br>
<p>The Dakota is famous as the home of former Beatle John Lennon from 1973 to his murder outside the building in 1980.</p><br>
<h2>History</h2><br>
<p>The Dakota was constructed between October 25, 1880, and October 27, 1884. The architectural firm of Henry Janeway Hardenbergh was commissioned to create the design for Edward Clark, head of the Singer Sewing Machine Company. The firm also designed the Plaza Hotel.</p><br>
<p>The Dakota was purportedly so named because at the time of construction, the area was sparsely inhabited and considered as remote in relation to the inhabited area of Manhattan as the Dakota Territory was. However, the earliest recorded appearance of this account is in a 1933 newspaper interview with the Dakotas long-time manager, quoted in Christopher Grays book New York Streetscapes: "Probably it was called Dakota because it was so far west and so far north". According to Gray, it is more likely that the building was named the Dakota because of Clark&#39;s fondness for the names of the new western states and territories.</p><br>
<p>The Dakota was designated a New York City Landmark in 1969. The building was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1972,</p><br>
<p>The Dakota&#39;s façade was renovated in 2015.</p><br>
<h2>Features</h2><br>
<p>The building&#39;s high gables and deep roofs with a profusion of dormers, terracotta spandrels and panels, niches, balconies, and balustrades give it a German Renaissance character, an echo of a Hanseatic town hall. Nevertheless, its layout and floor plan betray a strong influence of French architectural trends in housing design that had become known in New York in the 1870s. High above the 72nd Street entrance, the figure of a Dakota Indian keeps watch.</p><br>
<p>The Dakota is square building, built around a central courtyard. The arched main entrance is a porte-cochère large enough for the horse-drawn carriages that once entered and allowed passengers to disembark sheltered from the weather. Many of these carriages were housed in a multi-story stable building built in two sections, 1891–94, at the southwest corner of 77th Street and Amsterdam Avenue, where elevators lifted them to the upper floors. The "Dakota Stables" building was in operation as a garage until February 2007, when it was slated to be transformed by the Related Companies into a condominium residence. Since then, the large condominium building The Harrison occupies its spot.</p><br>
<p>The general layout of the apartments is in the French style of the period, with all major rooms connected to each other, in enfilade, and also accessible from a hall or corridor. The arrangement allows a natural migration for guests from one room to another, especially on festive occasions, yet gives service staff discreet separate circulation patterns that offer service access to the main rooms. The principal rooms, such as parlors or the master bedroom, face the street, while the dining room, kitchen, and other auxiliary rooms are oriented toward the courtyard. Apartments thus are aired from two sides, which was a relative novelty in Manhattan at the time. Some of the drawing rooms are 49 ft long, and many of the ceilings are 14 ft high; the floors are inlaid with mahogany, oak, and cherry.</p><br>
<p>Originally, the Dakota had 65 apartments with 4 to 20 rooms, no two being alike. These apartments are accessed by staircases and elevators placed in the four corners of the courtyard. Separate service stairs and elevators serving the kitchens are located in mid-block. Built to cater to the well-to-do, the Dakota featured many amenities and a modern infrastructure that was exceptional for the time. The building has a large dining hall; meals also could be sent up to the apartments by dumbwaiters. Electricity was generated by an in-house power plant, and the building has central heating. Beside servant quarters, there was a playroom and a gymnasium under the roof. In later years, these spaces on the tenth floor were converted into apartments. The Dakota property also contained a garden, private croquet lawns, and a tennis court behind the building between 72nd and 73rd Streets.</p><br>
<p>All apartments were let before the building opened, but it was a long-term drain on the fortune of Clark, who died before it was completed, and his heirs. For the high society of Manhattan, it became fashionable to live in the building, or at least to rent an apartment there as a secondary city residence, and the Dakota&#39;s success prompted the construction of many other luxury apartment buildings in Manhattan.</p><br>
<p>An entrance to the 72nd Street station of the New York City Subway&#39;s is outside the building.</p><br>
<h2>Notable residents</h2><br>
<p>Notable residents of the Dakota have included:</p><br>
<p>Lauren Bacall, actress; died here in 2014</p><br>
<p>Harley Baldwin, real estate developer and art dealer</p><br>
<p>Ward Bennett, architect and designer</p><br>
<p>Leonard Bernstein, composer and conductor</p><br>
<p>Connie Chung, newscaster</p><br>
<p>Rosemary Clooney, singer, actress</p><br>
<p>Harlan Coben, author</p><br>
<p>Bob Crewe, songwriter, record producer, artist</p><br>
<p>José Ferrer, actor</p><br>
<p>Roberta Flack, singer</p><br>
<p>Buddy Fletcher, businessman</p><br>
<p>Charles Henri Ford, poet, artist and publisher</p><br>
<p>Ruth Ford, actress</p><br>
<p>Judy Garland, actress</p><br>
<p>Lillian Gish, actress</p><br>
<p>Paul Goldberger, architecture critic</p><br>
<p>William Inge, playwright</p><br>
<p>Boris Karloff, actor</p><br>
<p>John Lennon, musician and composer; murdered here in 1980</p><br>
<p>Sean Lennon, musician and composer</p><br>
<p>Warner LeRoy, producer and restaurateur</p><br>
<p>John Madden, football coach and commentator</p><br>
<p>Frederick S. Mates, financier</p><br>
<p>Albert Maysles, documentary filmmaker</p><br>
<p>Joe Namath, football player</p><br>
<p>Rudolf Nureyev, dancer</p><br>
<p>Rosie O&#39;Donnell, actress</p><br>
<p>Patrick O&#39;Neal, actor and restaurateur</p><br>
<p>Yoko Ono, artist, widow of John Lennon</p><br>
<p>Jack Palance, actor</p><br>
<p>Ruth Porat, investment banker</p><br>
<p>Maury Povich, television host</p><br>
<p>Gilda Radner, comedian</p><br>
<p>Rex Reed, critic</p><br>
<p>Jason Robards, actor</p><br>
<p>Jane Rosenthal, film producer</p><br>
<p>Wilbur Ross, financier</p><br>
<p>Robert Ryan, actor</p><br>
<p>Harper Simon, musician and composer</p><br>
<p>Although historically home to many creative or artistic people, the building and its co-op board of directors were criticized in 2005 by former resident Albert Maysles who attempted to sell his ownership to actors Melanie Griffith and Antonio Banderas, who were rejected. Maysles expressed his "disappointment with the way the building seems to be changing" by telling The New York Times: "Whats so shocking is that the building is losing its touch with interesting people. More and more, theyre moving away from creative people and going toward people who just have the money." Even prior to this, Gene Simmons, Billy Joel, and Carly Simon were denied residency by the board. In 2002 the board rejected corrugated-cardboard magnate and Democratic nominee for Lieutenant Governor of New York, Dennis Mehiel.</p><br>
<h2>Cultural significance</h2><br>
<p>The south entrance of the building was the location of the murder of John Lennon. It is prominently featured in Andrew Piddingtons 2006 film The Killing of John Lennon; the Dakota was only used for exterior shots. In Roman Polanskis 1968 film Rosemary&#39;s Baby, the Dakota was used for exterior shots of "The Bramford", the apartment building where several of the characters live.</p><br>
<p>Lihou is a small tidal island located just off the west coast of the island of Guernsey, in the English Channel, between Great Britain and France. Administratively, Lihou forms part of the Parish of St. Peter&#39;s in the Bailiwick of Guernsey, and is now owned by the Parliament of Guernsey , although there have been a number of owners in the past. Since 2006, the island has been jointly managed by the Guernsey Environment Department and the Lihou Charitable Trust. In the past the island was used by locals for the collection of seaweed for use as a fertiliser, but today Lihou is mainly used for tourism, including school trips. Lihou is also an important centre for conservation, forming part of a Ramsar wetland site for the preservation of rare birds and plants as well as historic ruins of a priory and a farmhouse.</p><br>
<h2>Etymology</h2><br>
<p>In common with several nearby islands such as Jethou and Brecqhou, the name contains the Norman suffix "-hou" which means a small hill or a mound. The name could have developed from the Breton words lydd or ligg, which means in or near water. Historically, there have also been a number of alternative forms of the name including Lihoumel, which was attested as early as the twelfth century,</p><br>
<p>Lihou is also a common family name on Guernsey, with records suggesting that the name has been in use in the Channel Islands since at least the eighteenth century, including Royal Navy Captain John Lihou, who discovered and named the Australian Port Lihou Island and Lihou Reef. The name is also attested further afield, in a number of other countries such as Australia, where for example, Sergeant James Lihou, the son of a migrant from Guernsey, enlisted in the Australian forces in 1916 and was killed in action in 1918 in France. There are also numerous instances of people with the surname having migrated from the Channel Islands to the United States.</p><br>
<h2>Geography and climate</h2><br>
<p>Lihou is the furthest west of the Channel Islands and at low tide it is linked to the nearby L&#39;Erée headland, on Guernsey, by a 400 m stone causeway. Apart from shingle beaches, the island has a 20 m high ridge running approximately north-south. Lihou is mainly composed of weathered rock below which are found granite and gneiss bedrock. The island has a mild oceanic climate like other Channel Islands, due to being buffered by the nearby English and French coastlines. Lihou shares the weather features of Guernsey, with winter temperatures falling to 4.4 &deg;C in February and summers with a high of 19.5 &deg;C in August.</p><br>
<p>Two small islets, close to the island, called Lissroy and Lihoumel, are breeding places for a number of endangered species of birds, including Eurasian oystercatchers and common ringed plovers. Numerous other species of birds and plants are found on Lihou such as peregrine falcons and sea storksbill. The Guernsey Environment Department does not allow visitors to go to the two islets and the shingle bank at certain times of the year in order to allow the birds to breed. Approximately 800 m north of the island is a submerged ledge called Grand Etacre, which was considered to be a hazard to navigation in the nineteenth century.</p><br>
<p>Lihou island was identified as a "Site of Nature Conservation Importance" in 1989, and as part of an "Important Bird Area" which includes parts of the shoreline of Guernsey. On 1 March 2006, Lihou and the LErée headland were designated a part of Guernseys first Ramsar wetland site, covering about 427 hectare of land and sea. This has created a marine reserve for the extensive variety of wildlife including more than 200 species of seaweed on the shores of Lihou, and more than 150 species of birds observed in the area.</p><br>
<p>The geology of Lihou Island is rather complex, but closely associated with neighbouring Guernsey.</p><br>
<h2>History</h2><br>
<p>The history of Lihou is closely linked to the history of Guernsey in particular and the Channel Islands in general. The earliest evidence of habitation are Mesolithic era objects recovered from archaeological digs of the 1990s, along with Neolithic era tombs on the nearby mainland. The recorded history of Lihou began in 933 AD when the Channel Islands were seized from Brittany by the ruler of Normandy. Lihou and the nearby Neolithic tombs were traditionally believed to have been meeting places for local witches, and fairies. A number of dates have been suggested for the establishment of the priory, with estimates ranging from as early as 1114, Ownership of the island was granted to the abbey by Robert I, Duke of Normandy, in the early part of the eleventh century. The priory is thought to have been constructed with contributions from the islanders, who appear to have been fairly affluent at the time.</p><br>
<p>In the early fourteenth century, Lihou may have become the origin of a local legend about a wealthy Bailiff of Guernsey who attempted to have an innocent peasant executed on false charges of theft of silver cups. or 1304, a priory servant called Thomas le Roer was alleged to have murdered one of the monks. The Bailiff and several assistants attempted to apprehend Le Roer but he did not surrender and was subsequently killed by Ranulph Gautier, one of the Bailiff&#39;s assistants. Gautier tried to find sanctuary in a nearby church and eventually fled to England, before returning to Guernsey when the king pardoned him. However, some years later Gautier was tortured to death in Castle Cornet, but it is not known why.</p><br>
<p>The priory was seized in 1414 by King Henry V of England along with a number of alien priories. In the first three centuries, there were several Priors appointed, sometimes with short tenures, but in 1500 Ralph Leonard was installed as Prior for life. However, within decades the Priory was abandoned, with evidence of Thomas de Baugy being the final Prior around 1560. There is also evidence that the priory was allocated to John After in 1566, who had also been appointed as the Dean of Guernsey.</p><br>
<p>In 1759 the Governor of Guernsey, John West, had the priory destroyed to prevent French forces from capturing the island during the Seven Years&#39; War. In the early nineteenth century, a farmhouse was built on Lihou, and the island was listed as being owned by Eleazar le Marchant, who held the post of lieutenant bailiff of Guernsey. Eleazar made an ultimately unsuccessful attempt, in 1815, to suppress the seaweed industry based around Lihou. In a book published in the same year, William Berry noted the presence of an "iron hook of a gate hinge" on some rocks, approximately three miles out at sea from Lihou, along with the remains of old roads, and surmised that Lihou may have been significantly larger in the past but that the sea had eroded a considerable portion. Through the remainder of the nineteenth century and the start of the twentieth century, the island changed hands between a succession of owners including James Priaulx in 1863, Arthur Clayfield in 1883, and Colonel Hubert de Lancey Walters in 1906.</p><br>
<p>During World War II, the Channel Islands were occupied by the Germans from 1940–1945, and Lihou was used for target practice by the German artillery, In 1961, Lieutenant-Colonel Patrick Wootton purchased Lihou. Wootton had plans to develop the island, beginning in the following year first by clearing the area of the old farmhouse, in preparation for the building of a new farmhouse, with construction work continuing into 1963. He organized summer camps for young adults on the island and imported sheep from the Orkneys which could consume seaweed. In 1983 Wootton decided to emigrate to Prince Edward Island, in Canada, and the island was sold to Robin and Patricia Borwick. In 1995 the island was bought by the States of Guernsey. The ruins of the priory are possibly the most extensive religious relic in Guernsey. There have been several studies and excavations of the ruins, including archaeological investigations in 1996, and in 1998, when several twelfth-fourteenth century graves were unearthed.</p><br>
<h2>Economy</h2><br>
<p>Historically, Lihou was an important location for a commercially significant industry based around the harvesting of seaweed (or vraic in the local language, Guernésiais). Records suggest considerable activity as early as the beginning of the nineteenth century. The value of the seaweed as a fertiliser was so great that in 1815 Eleazor Le Marchant, lieutenant bailiff of Guernsey and owner of Lihou, initiated a court case to prevent islanders from drying seaweed on the beaches of Lihou. The case eventually led to new regulations issued in 1818 by the Bailiwick legislature, known as the Chief Pleas at the time, based on a review of ancient royal decrees. However, the Royal Court of Guernsey ruled in favour of the islanders in 1821, with the effect that permission to harvest seaweed on Lihou was granted to inhabitants of the parishes of St Peters and St Saviours. More than a century later, in 1927, a factory was established on the island to produce iodine from the seaweed.</p><br>
<p>The economic mainstay of the island is now ecological tourism, based around the farmhouse, which is operated by the Lihou Charitable Trust, although overall responsibility for the island remains with the Environment Department of the States of Guernsey. Lihou and several other small Channel Islands such as Herm and Sark, issued their own stamps until 1969, when the States of Guernsey assumed responsibility for postal services in the Bailiwick, which had previously been provided by the UK Government.</p><br>
<h2>Protection</h2><br>
<p>The whole of the building known as the Priory of St Mary, Lihou and surrounding area was listed as a Protected Monument on 26 March 1938, reference PM236. From 1 March 2006, Lihou and the LErée headland were designated a part of Guernseys first Ramsar wetland site.</p><br>
<p>The is a low mountain range in the German states of Hesse, Bavaria and Baden-Württemberg.</p><br>
<h2>Location</h2><br>
<p>The Odenwald is located between the Upper Rhine Plain with the Bergstraße and the Hessisches Ried (the northeastern section of the Rhine rift) in the west, the Main and the Bauland (a mostly unwooded area with good soils) in the east, the Hanau-Seligenstadt Basin – a subbasin of the Upper Rhine Rift Valley in the Rhine-Main Lowlands – in the north and the Kraichgau in the south. The part south of the Neckar valley is sometimes called the Kleiner Odenwald ("Little Odenwald").</p><br>
<p>The northern and western Odenwald belong to southern Hesse, with the south stretching into Baden. In the northeast, a small part lies in Lower Franconia in Bavaria.</p><br>
<h2>Geology</h2><br>
<p>The Odenwald, along with other parts of the Central German Uplands, belongs to the Variscan, which more than 300,000,000 years ago in the Devonian ran through great parts of Europe. The cause of this orogeny was the collision of Africa’s and Europe’s forerunner continents.</p><br>
<p>In the Triassic, about 200,000,000 years ago, the land sank again, forming the Germanic Basin in which the metre-thick layers of red sandstone could build up. These were later covered over with layers of muschelkalk from a broad inland sea, then followed by sediments from the Late Triassic (or Keuper). The South German Cuesta Land thus formed.</p><br>
<p>When the land in the Odenwald was uplifted again about 180,000,000 years ago, more than 100 m of the sedimentary layering, in parts, was eroded away down to the bedrock, as can still be seen in the western Odenwald. The bedrock here is made out of a remarkably great number of different minerals, among them gneiss, granite, diorite, gabbro in the Frankenstein pluton, and so on. In the eastern Odenwald, the red sandstone is all that is left of the sedimentary mixture. Farther east in the Bauland, the muschelkalk deposits still overlie the Early Triassic layers. Furthermore, in the south near Heidelberg, there is still zechstein under the Early Triassic deposits.</p><br>
<p>Roughly 50 to 60 million years ago, volcanoes formed along the great geological faults. Still bearing witness to this time are the Otzberg, the Daumberg and the Katzenbuckel, all extinct volcanoes in the Odenwald. Furthermore, vulcanism with acidic minerals has left a legacy of rhyolites near Dossenheim.</p><br>
<p>At roughly the same time, the Central European plate began to tear apart so that the Upper Rhine Rift developed. Even as the Upper Rhine Rift valley still sinks today by just under a millimetre each year, the Odenwald, relatively to that, was uplifted to the height it has today. Along the faults, the small rivers Gersprenz and Weschnitz have, in part, carved their courses.</p><br>
<p>The Upper Rhine Rift is part of a fracture zone reaching from the Mediterranean Sea to Norway. Right on the edge of the Odenwald, it is roughly 2 500 m deep, but has been filled in to its current height by river and sea sediment, for until about 20,000,000 years ago, the North Sea reached far inland, across the Wetterau Depression into the Rhine Valley.</p><br>
<h3>Geological maps</h3><br>
<h2>History</h2><br>
<p>About 2500 BC, there is evidence that the Linear Pottery culture settled along the northern (Gersprenz) and southern (Neckar valley) edges of the Odenwald. About 400 BC, Celts (Gauls) settled throughout southern Germany. Almost all of the Odenwald was covered then with virgin forest, and the outer edges were not settled. Germanic peoples drove the Celts westwards across the Rhine to what is now France.</p><br>
<p>About AD 100, the older Odenwald line of the Neckar-Odenwald Limes was built under Roman Emperor Trajan (98-117). This stretch of the Empire’s border ran from Fort Wimpfen in the Valley (Kastell Wimpfen im Tal) northwards by way of the Forts of Neckarburken, the lesser forts of Trienz and Robern near Fahrenbach, Fort Oberscheidental, Fort Schloßau, Fort Hesselbach, Fort Würzberg, Fort Eulbach, Fort Hainhaus and Fort Hesselbach to Fort Wörth on the Main. Parts of the Odenwald now lay in Roman-ruled Germania Superior.</p><br>
<p>About 159, the Limes was shifted about 30 km eastwards to the Miltenberg–Walldürn–Buchen-Osterburken line. In 260, Roman hegemony fell. The Alamanni were also thrusting into the Odenwald and settling the land between the Main and Neckar, after whom came the Franks. In the 5th century, the Franks, under Clovis I, divided the land up into districts.</p><br>
<p>In the 7th and 8th centuries came Christianization by Irish-Scottish and Anglo-Saxon monks (Pirmin, Boniface). On the muschelkalk lands of today’s Bauland, which favoured agriculture, a broad mesh of settlements arose. The parts of the Odenwald farther in from the rivers, though, with their scant new red sandstone soils remained uninhabited. Four Benedictine monasteries were assigned the job of opening the empty woods up by the central Frankish power (Carolingian), Lorsch Abbey from the west, Fulda Monastery from the east and Mosbach Monastery from the south. Amorbach Monastery had the greatest importance for ecclesiastical, cultural and economic development in the eastern Odenwald.</p><br>
<p>In the 9th century in the southeastern Odenwald near the now more thickly settled Bauland, settlements were established. The muschelkalk-new red sandstone mineral boundary was crossed.</p><br>
<h3>Name</h3><br>
<p>Where the name Odenwald came from is an open question and still causes controversy today. Following are some theories about the name’s origin:</p><br>
<p>Some have claimed that the toponym comes from Odins Wald (Odin’s Woods). The main problem here is that the god Wodanaz (known in Norse as Odin) was worshipped in southern Germany under the name Wotan (in Old High German Uuodan; compare Merseburg Incantations).</p><br>
<p>A further theory holds that there is a link between the name Odenwald and the Roman administrative unit Civitas Auderiensium, which among other things included the range’s northern reaches and might have been named after a tribe called the Auderienses.</p><br>
<p>There could be some kinship with the word öde, not in the currently understood meaning in German of desert, but rather in the meaning thinly settled.</p><br>
<p>Einhard, the biographer of Charlemagne used the term Odanwald. Therefore, the renowned historian Karl Christ establishs a connection to the Old High German (ahd.) expression odan (=to enfeoff) and presumes, that the Odenwald was a hunting ground, which the King of the Franks Dagobert I. enfeoffed in 628 the Bishopric of Worms.</p><br>
<p>An eminent geographer of the 16th century, Sebastian Münster, proposed a tribal chief as the name giver (Odtonwald, 821,=Odos Woods). However, it is not proven whether there actually was a count or duke called Odo (Otto). Finally, Münsters researches do not lead to any result.</p><br>
<p>Linguists, who research the phonetic changes and the sound shift of the terms, deny the theories Nr. 1 - 3 and prefer Nr. 4 or 5, some historians favor Nr. 2.</p><br>
<h3>Legends and mythology</h3><br>
<p>The numerous Odenwald folk legends are mostly connected with historic geographic sites (castle, town, rock, road and so on) They relate:</p><br>
<p>mysterious actions and appearances of ghosts in a castle (for example the two Bergstraße-ruins Auerbach - castle and Windeck) or in a nightscape respectively in a cottage: The Höhmann near Bensheim, the White Lady of Mossau, the Schlurcher close by Erbach, the Man without head near Heppenheim, the Goast-nuns of monastery Steinbach.</p><br>
<p>the stories of knights and their ladies: Konrad and Ann-Els von Tannenberg, Edelmut von Ehrenberg and Minna von Horneck at the Minneburg, Georg von Frankenstein and Annemariechen, Hans von Rodenstein and Maria von Hochberg.</p><br>
<p>the apparitions of the devil: Teufelspfad (pathway of the devil) to the Felsberg, Teufelsstein (rock of the devil) close by Löhrbach, Opferstein (altar stone) on the top of the Juhöhe.</p><br>
<p>or the apparitions of a witch: for example in the shape of a pig in Bensheim</p><br>
<p>In some stories the local aspect firstly is connected with monsters (knight Georg fights against the man-eating lindworm near Frankenstein-castle) and creatures of nature with magic potency (a water spirit changed into a fox near Niedernhausen, the merwoman in the Meerwiese of Waldürn).</p><br>
<p>Secondly the local legend is connected with the genre of the historic saga: a historic person or an original is portrayed anecdotally (the count of Erbach and Luther, resp. the Raubacher Joggel, landgrave Ludwig VIII: of Hesse-Darmstadt, robber Hölzerlips).</p><br>
<p>Thirdly a local tale explains an etiological or original myth (aetiological saga). Par example there is explained:</p><br>
<p>why a name is given: many Wildweibchensteine (Wild Woman-Rocks) in the Odenwald, Teufelsstein (stone of the devil), Teufelspfad (path of the devil), Opfersteine (altar stone) and Hundsköpfe (dogheads) on top of the Juhöhe, Hölzerlips-stone, Schimmeldewoog for the village Schönmattenwag (→Folk etymology) or the prase “hinnerum wie die Fraa vun Bensem”,</p><br>
<p>why a natural phenomena, for example a typical landscape, was formed: the saga creates a mythic history for the places of the felsenmeer and the Hohenstein near Reichenbach (because giants stoned each other) or the Herrgottsfelsen (Godrock) near Darmstadt (act of revenge by the devil for finessing),</p><br>
<p>why a castle (Minneburg) was built at a special place (Minneberg at the Neckar) and was so named hereafter,</p><br>
<p>why a mysterious stone carving was inset in a castle-wall: figure of a dog at the portal of the Minneburg near Neckargerach, the Blecker at the town gate of Buchen, the Breilecker above the door of Breuberg-castle.</p><br>
<p>Beside these legends there are two famous and well-known Odenwaldsagas:</p><br>
<p>In the Nibelungenlied (see also Nibelung) the dragon slayer Siegfried, on a hunting trip (instead of a failed campaign) leading from the Burgundian city of Worms into the Odenwald, is murdered by Hagen of Tronje. Since no exact spot for this deed has been handed down, countless communities, especially in the Hessian Odenwald are squabbling over the right to call themselves “Siegfried’s Murder Site”, for example a spring near Gras-Ellenbach (Siegfriedsbrunnen), Mossautal-Hüttenthal Lindelbrunnen) or Heppenheim (Siegfriedbrunnen).</p><br>
<p>The ruins of Rodenstein (below-mentioned) and Schnellerts near Fränkisch-Crumbach are the setting of an Odenwald ghost story: during the night the knight Rodenstein (the Rodensteiner) flies with a berserker-cornet through the air to prophesy the beginning of a war (Wild Hunt motif).</p><br>
<h2>Topography</h2><br>
<h3>Mountains</h3><br>
<h4>Over 600 m</h4><br>
<p>Katzenbuckel (626 m; lookout tower), Neckar-Odenwald-Kreis, Baden-Württemberg</p><br>
<p>Neunkircher Höhe (605 m; Kaiser Tower), Bergstraße district, Hesse</p><br>
<h4>Over 450 m</h4><br>
<p>Hardberg (593 m), Bergstraße district, Hesse</p><br>
<p>Stiefelhöhe (584 m), Hesse/Baden-Württemberg border</p><br>
<p>Tromm (577 m; lookout tower), Bergstraße district, Hesse</p><br>
<p>Krehberg (576 m; with Krehberg transmitter), Bergstraße district, Hesse</p><br>
<p>Königstuhl (567.8 m; observatory, funicular railway), Heidelberg, Baden-Württemberg</p><br>
<p>Krähberg (555 m), Odenwaldkreis, Hesse</p><br>
<p>Kinzert (554 m), Neckar-Odenwald-Kreis, Baden-Württemberg</p><br>
<p>Weißer Stein (550 m; lookout tower), Rhein-Neckar-Kreis, Baden-Württemberg</p><br>
<p>Hohe Warte (548 m), Rhein-Neckar-Kreis, Baden-Württemberg</p><br>
<p>Spessartskopf (547 m), Bergstraße district, Hesse</p><br>
<p>Falkenberg (546 m), Odenwaldkreis, Hesse</p><br>
<p>Waldskopf (538 m), Gorxheimertal-Trösel, Bergstraße district, Hesse</p><br>
<p>Das Buch (535.30 m; near Lindenfels), Bergstraße district, Hesse</p><br>
<p>Wagenberg (535 m), Bergstraße district, Hesse</p><br>
<p>Eichelberg (526 m; lookout tower), Rhein-Neckar-Kreis, Baden-Württemberg</p><br>
<p>Götzenstein (522 m), Bergstraße district, Hesse</p><br>
<p>Melibokus („Malschen“) (517.40 m), Bergstraße district, Hesse</p><br>
<p>Morsberg (517 m), Odenwaldkreis, Hesse</p><br>
<p>Felsberg (514 m; with Felsenmeer), Bergstraße district, Hesse</p><br>
<p>Knodener Kopf (511.20 m), Bergstraße district, Hesse</p><br>
<p>Wannenberg (482 m), Miltenberg district, Bavaria</p><br>
<p>Daumberg (462 m), Gorxheimertal-Trösel, Bergstraße district, Hesse</p><br>
<h4>Over 300 m</h4><br>
<p>Heiligenberg (445 m), Heidelberg, Baden-Württemberg</p><br>
<p>Knorz (404 m; near Lautern), Bergstraße district, Hesse</p><br>
<p>Otzberg (367 m; with Otzberg Castle), Darmstadt-Dieburg, Hesse</p><br>
<p>Auerberg (339.70 m; with Schloss Auerbach), Bergstraße district, Hesse</p><br>
<p>Breuberg (306 m; with Breuberg Castle), Odenwaldkreis, Hesse</p><br>
<h3>Bodies of water</h3><br>
<h4>Flowing water</h4><br>
<p>Countless streams rise in the Odenwald, the longest of which are the following:</p><br>
<p>Weschnitz (60 km), tributary to the Rhine</p><br>
<p>Mümling (50 km), tributary to the Main</p><br>
<p>Gersprenz (47 km), tributary to the Main</p><br>
<p>Lauter (43 km), tributary to the Rhine</p><br>
<p>Erf (40 km), tributary to the Main</p><br>
<p>Elz (Elzbach) (34 km), tributary to the Neckar</p><br>
<p>Finkenbach (20.5 km), joins the Ulfenbach in Hirschhorn, runs to the Laxbach, tributary to the Neckar</p><br>
<p>Ulfenbach (19.1 km), joins the Finkenbach in Hirschhorn, runs to the Laxbach, tributary to the Neckar</p><br>
<p>Grundelbach, (10 km), flows from Trösel to Weinheim</p><br>
<p>Modau (42 km), tributary to the Rhine</p><br>
<p>Mud (24 km), tributary to the Main</p><br>
<p>Steinach (22 km), tributary to the Neckar</p><br>
<h4>Standing water</h4><br>
<p>There are a few bodies of standing water in the Odenwald, among which are the following:</p><br>
<p>the Marbach Reservoir</p><br>
<p>the Eutersee</p><br>
<h2>Political divisions</h2><br>
<h3>Districts (with district seats)</h3><br>
<p>Bergstraße district (Heppenheim)</p><br>
<p>Darmstadt-Dieburg (Dieburg, administration in Darmstadt-Kranichstein)</p><br>
<p>Main-Tauber-Kreis (Tauberbischofsheim)</p><br>
<p>Miltenberg district (Miltenberg)</p><br>
<p>Neckar-Odenwald-Kreis (Mosbach)</p><br>
<p>Odenwaldkreis (Erbach)</p><br>
<p>Rhein-Neckar-Kreis (Heidelberg)</p><br>
<h3>District-free cities</h3><br>
<p>Heidelberg</p><br>
<p>Darmstadt</p><br>
<h2>International relations</h2><br>
<h3>Twin towns – Sister cities</h3><br>
<p>Odenwald is twinned with:</p><br>
<p>Falkirk, Scotland</p><br>
<h2>Transport and tourism</h2><br>
<p>The Odenwald is known as a leisure destination easily accessible from the urban areas of Mannheim and Frankfurt. It is known for its clean thin air and was once known for its health sanitariums. There are many marked hiking paths through the rural areas. Wild blueberries, strawberries and mushrooms are to be found in the forests.</p><br>
<h3>Roads</h3><br>
<p>The planned extension to the Odenwaldautobahn, that is, the A 45 (Dortmund&ndash;Aschaffenburg), was never realized. Nevertheless, all these Bundesstraßen run through the Odenwald:</p><br>
<p>B 27: Mosbach - Buchen - Tauberbischofsheim</p><br>
<p>B 38: Reinheim - Groß-Bieberau - Brensbach - Reichelsheim - Fürth - Mörlenbach - Birkenau - Weinheim</p><br>
<p>B 45: Groß-Umstadt - Höchst - Bad König - Michelstadt - Erbach - Beerfelden - Eberbach</p><br>
<p>B 47: Bensheim - Lindenfels - Reichelsheim - Michelstadt - Amorbach</p><br>
<p>B 426: Darmstadt - Mühltal - Ober-Ramstadt - Reinheim - Otzberg - Groß-Umstadt - Höchst - Breuberg - Obernburg</p><br>
<p>B 460: Heppenheim - Fürth - Mossautal - Hüttenthal</p><br>
<p>Furthermore, the Nibelungenstraße and the Siegfriedstraße run through the Odenwald, partly along the roads listed above.</p><br>
<h3>Railways</h3><br>
<p>Odenwald Railway from Darmstadt or Hanau by way of Groß-Umstadt Wiebelsbach to Eberbach, opened in 1882, since December 2005 run with modern Itino trains</p><br>
<p>Weschnitz Valley Railway from Weinheim to Fürth, opened in 1895</p><br>
<p>Überwald Railway from Mörlenbach by way of Wald-Michelbach to Wahlen, opened in 1901, abandoned in 1996</p><br>
<p>Hetzbach–Beerfelden line from Hetzbach to Beerfelden, opened in 1904, abandoned in 1954</p><br>
<p>Mosbach–Mudau line (locally known as the Entenmörder – “Duck Murderer”) from Mosbach to Mudau, former 1,000 mm narrow-gauge railway, opened in 1905, abandoned in 1973, since 1980 right-of-way has been converted into a cycling path</p><br>
<p>Neckar Valley Railway from Heidelberg by way of Eberbach and Mosbach to Bad Friedrichshall-Jagstfeld, opened in 1879</p><br>
<p>Neckarelz–Osterburken line, opened in 1866 as part of the Baden Odenwaldbahn</p><br>
<p>Madonnenland Railway from Seckach to Miltenberg</p><br>
<p>Gersprenz Valley Railway from Reinheim to Reichelsheim, opened in 1887 and abandoned by 1963</p><br>
<h3>Special day trips</h3><br>
<p>In Hainstadt, Hesse (a constituent community of Breuberg) in the Mümling valley is a quarry which has been turned into a climbing facility by the Odenwälder Kletterfreunde (“Odenwald Climbing Friends”). There is also a climbing path secured by wire cables. The Odenwald Climbing Friends take care of the paths. The quarry also lies in the DAV’s (Deutsche Alpenverein e. V. – a mountain climbing club) Darmstadt Section feeder area.</p><br>
<p>Beneath the 514 m-high Felsberg and north of Lautertal-Reichenbach is found a Felsenmeer – literally “cliff sea” – consisting of many weathered stones strewn about the ground which have fallen down from the cliff after having come loose from erosion. The Romans used it as a stone quarry.</p><br>
<p>In Eberstadt, a constituent community of Buchen, one of southern Germany’s most important dripstone caves was discovered in 1971. It is open to the public.</p><br>
<p>Around the Katzenbuckel runs the Kristall-Lehrpfad (“Crystal Teaching Path”), which graphically shows the volcanic development in the Odenwald.</p><br>
<p>From Höchst im Odenwald snakes the Obrunnschlucht (gorge) as a romantic fairytale path towards Rimhorn with many model buildings (palaces, castles and mills) along the valley.</p><br>
<p>The Odenwald is threaded with a network of more than 10,000 km of hiking trails.</p><br>
<p>Because the roads have so many bends, the Odenwald is a popular outing destination for motorcyclists.</p><br>
<p>Every year one of the greatest Halloween events in Germany is organized on the Frankenstein Castle (see above). The same name suggests a connection with Mary Shelleys famous filmed novel Frankenstein or The Modern Prometheus. The horror scenery and the comedians dressed up as ghosts and witches spook the huge audience.</p><br>
<p>Walking and climbing through the Margarethenschlucht (Neckargerach) or the Wolfsschlucht (Wolf’s Glen) near Zwingenberg castle (Zwingenberg/Neckar)</p><br>
<p>Zwingenberg Castle (see above) is the place of an annual castle festival. Carl Maria von Webers romantic opera Der Freischütz (translated as The Marksman or The Freeshooter.) is performed at the entrance of the gorge Wolfsschlucht. The plot is based on a German folk legend which the composer discovered in the Gespensterbuch (ghostsbook) during his sojourn in Neuburg Abbey near Heidelberg in 1810. It is believed, that he also was inspired by the Wolf’s Glen in a Neckar tributary valley, but there are many places in Germany with the same name. Anyway. In act 2 the protagonist Max meets the diabolic Caspar in the supernatural greepy opera scene Wolfsschlucht to become the best shooter with the assistance of magic power. Now a risky action starts.</p><br>
<p>For half a week early July the Heppenheimer (see above) Street theatre named Gassensensationen occupies several places und corners of the old town with presentations for children and adults. The outdoor performances include very popular loud and simple genres with music, dance, mime, circus arts and slapstick, but also sensitive theatre plays or songs in discrete spaces.</p><br>
<p>The granite rocks of the Juhöhe near Heppenheim inspired people to imagine fairy tales. They told, that the holes were offering cups for the devil. Stones nearby got chapped, when he sharpened his claws. According to a local version of the Rodensteiner legend the Wild Hunter crossing the Juhöhe lost his cry of hounds: They crashed and where rammed in the ground. Even today the petrified dogheads are on view at the top of the hill. So the rocks are called Hundsköpfe. Flat iron is the name of another granite formation near the Juhöhe. A long time ago Giant-ladies made use of it to set their Sunday dresses in order.</p><br>
<h3>Castles</h3><br>
<p>The Odenwald is home to many historic castles and palatial residences. In times past the fortresses on the top of the Odenwald mountains controlled Bergstraße and the Weschnitz-, the Gersprenz-, the Mümling- and the Neckar-Valley.</p><br>
<h2>Music</h2><br>
<p>About the Odenwald quite a few songs have been written:</p><br>
<p>Es steht ein Baum im Odenwald (“There Stands a Tree in the Odenwald”)</p><br>
<p>Tief im Odenwald (“Deep in the Odenwald”)</p><br>
<p>Der Bauer aus dem Odenwald (“The Farmer from the Odenwald”)</p><br>
<p>Es regt sich was im Odenwald (“Things Are Stirring in the Odenwald”)</p><br>
<p>Glastonbury Tor is a hill near Glastonbury in the English county of Somerset, topped by the roofless St Michael&#39;s Tower, a Grade I listed building. The whole site is managed by the National Trust, and has been designated a scheduled monument.</p><br>
<p>The conical hill of clay and Blue Lias rises from the Somerset Levels. It was formed when surrounding softer deposits were eroded, leaving the hard cap of sandstone exposed. The slopes of the hill are terraced, but the method by which they were formed remains unexplained. Artefacts from human visitation have been found, dating from the Iron Age to Roman eras.</p><br>
<p>Several buildings were constructed on the summit during the Saxon and early medieval periods; they have been interpreted as an early church and monks&#39; hermitage. The head of a wheel cross dating from the 10th or 11th century has been recovered. The original wooden church was destroyed by an earthquake in 1275, and the stone Church of St Michael built on the site in the 14th century. Its tower remains, although it has been restored and partially rebuilt several times. Archaeological excavations during the 20th century sought to clarify the background of the monument and church, but some aspects of their history remain unexplained. The Tor is mentioned in Celtic mythology, particularly in myths linked to King Arthur, and has a number of other enduring mythological and spiritual associations.</p><br>
<h2>Etymology</h2><br>
<p>The origin of the name "Glastonbury" is unclear, but when the settlement was first recorded in the late 7th and early 8th centuries it was called Glestingaburg. Of the latter name, Glestinga is obscure, and may derive from an Old English word or Celtic personal name. It may derive from a person or kindred group named Glast. The second half of the name, -burg, is Anglo-Saxon in origin and could refer to either a fortified place such as a burh or, more likely, a monastic enclosure.</p><br>
<p>Tor is an English word referring to a high rock or a hill, deriving from the Old English torr. The Celtic name of the Tor was Ynys Wydryn, or sometimes Ynys Gutrin, meaning "Isle of Glass". At this time the plain was flooded, the isle becoming a peninsula at low tide.</p><br>
<h2>Location and landscape</h2><br>
<p>The Tor is in the middle of the Summerland Meadows, part of the Somerset Levels, rising to an elevation of 518 ft. The plain is reclaimed fen above which the Tor is clearly visible for miles around. It has been described as an island but actually sits at the western end of a peninsula washed on three sides by the River Brue.</p><br>
<p>The Tor is formed from rocks dating from the early Jurassic Period, namely varied layers of Lias Group strata. The uppermost of these, forming the Tor itself, are a succession of rocks assigned to the Bridport Sand Formation. These rocks sit upon strata forming the broader hill on which the Tor stands; the various layers of the Beacon Limestone Formation and the Dyrham Formation. The Bridport Sands have acted as a caprock protecting the lower layers from erosion. The iron-rich waters of Chalice Well, a spring at the base of the Tor, flow out as an artesian well impregnating the sandstone around it with iron oxides that have reinforced it to produce the caprock. Iron-rich but oxygen-poor water in the aquifer carries dissolved iron (II) "ferrous" iron, but as the water surfaces and its oxygen content rises, the oxidised iron (III) "ferric" iron drops out as insoluble "rusty" oxides that bind to the surrounding stone, hardening it.</p><br>
<p>The low-lying damp ground can produce a visual effect known as a Fata Morgana when the Tor appears to rise out of the mist. This optical phenomenon occurs because rays of light are strongly bent when they pass through air layers of different temperatures in a steep thermal inversion where an atmospheric duct has formed. The Italian term Fata Morgana is derived from the name of Morgan le Fay, a powerful sorceress in Arthurian legend.</p><br>
<h3>Terraces</h3><br>
<p>The sides of the Tor have seven deep, roughly symmetrical terraces, or lynchets. Their formation remains a mystery with many possible explanations. They may have been formed as a result of natural differentiation of the layers of Lias stone and clay used by farmers during the Middle Ages as terraced hills to make ploughing for crops easier. Author Nicholas Mann questions this theory. If agriculture had been the reason for the creation of the terraces, it would be expected that the effort would be concentrated on the south side, where the sunny conditions would provide a good yield, but the terraces are equally deep on the northern side, which would provide little benefit. Additionally, none of the other slopes of the island have been terraced, even though the more sheltered locations would provide a greater return on the labour involved. Alternatively, the flattened paths may have been created by the hooves of grazing cattle.</p><br>
<p>Other explanations have been suggested for the terraces, including the construction of defensive ramparts. Iron Age hill forts including the nearby Cadbury Castle in Somerset show evidence of extensive fortification of their slopes. The normal form of ramparts is a bank and ditch, but there is no evidence of this arrangement on the Tor. South Cadbury, one of the most extensively fortified places in early Britain, had three concentric rings of banks and ditches supporting an 18 hectare enclosure. By contrast, the Tor has seven rings and very little space on top for the safekeeping of a community. It has been suggested that a defensive function may have been linked with Ponter&#39;s Ball Dyke, a linear earthwork about 1 km east of the Tor. The purpose and provenance of the dyke are unclear. It is possible that it was part of a longer defensive barrier associated with New Ditch, three miles to the south-west, which is built in a similar manner. It has been suggested by Ralegh Radford that it is part of a great Celtic sanctuary, probably 3rd century BC, while others, including Philip Rahtz, date it to the post-Roman period and link it to the Dark Age occupation on Glastonbury Tor. The 1970 excavation suggests the 12th century or later. The historian Ronald Hutton also mentions the alternative possibility that the terraces are the remains of a medieval "spiral walkway" created for pilgrims to reach the church on the summit, similar to that at Whitby Abbey.</p><br>
<p>Another suggestion is that the terraces are the remains of a three-dimensional labyrinth, first proposed by Geoffrey Russell in 1968. He states that the classical labyrinth (Caerdroia), a design found all over the Neolithic world, can be easily transposed onto the Tor, so that by walking around the terraces a person eventually reaches the top in the same pattern. Evaluating this hypothesis is not easy. A labyrinth would very likely place the terraces in the Neolithic era, but given the amount of occupation since then, there may have been substantial modifications by farmers and/or monks and conclusive excavations have not been carried out. In a more recent book, Hutton writes that "the labyrinth does not seem to be an ancient sacred structure".</p><br>
<h2>History</h2><br>
<h3>Pre-Christian</h3><br>
<p>Some Neolithic flint tools recovered from the top of the Tor show that the site has been visited, perhaps with lasting occupation, since prehistory. The nearby remains of Glastonbury Lake Village were identified at the site in 1892, which confirmed that there was an Iron Age settlement in about 300–200 BC on what was an easily defended island in the fens. There is no evidence of permanent occupation of the Tor, but finds, including Roman pottery, do suggest that it was visited on a regular basis.</p><br>
<p>Excavations on Glastonbury Tor, undertaken by a team led by Philip Rahtz between 1964 and 1966, revealed evidence of Dark Age occupation during the 5th to 7th centuries around the later medieval church of St. Michael. Finds included postholes, two hearths including a metalworker&#39;s forge, two burials oriented north-south (thus unlikely to be Christian), fragments of 6th century Mediterranean amphorae (vases for wine or cooking oil), and a worn hollow bronze head which may have topped a Saxon staff.</p><br>
<h3>Christian settlement</h3><br>
<p>During the late Saxon and early medieval period there were at least four buildings on the summit. The base of a stone cross demonstrates Christian use of the site during this period and it may have been a hermitage. The broken head of a wheel cross dated to the 10th or 11th centuries was found part way down the hill and may have been the head of the cross that stood on the summit. The head of the cross is now in the Museum of Somerset in Taunton.</p><br>
<p>The earliest timber church, which was dedicated to St Michael, is believed to have been constructed in the 11th or 12th century from which post holes have since been identified. Associated monk cells have also been identified.</p><br>
<p>St Michael&#39;s Church was destroyed by an earthquake on 11 September 1275. According to the British Geological Survey, the earthquake was felt in London, Canterbury and Wales, and was reported to have destroyed many houses and churches in England. The force was greater than 7 MSK, with its epicentre in the area around Portsmouth or Chichester, South England.</p><br>
<p>A second church, also dedicated to St Michael, was built of local sandstone in the 14th century by the Abbot Adam of Sodbury, incorporating the foundations of the previous building. It included stained glass and decorated floor tiles. There was also a portable altar of Purbeck Marble; it is likely that the Monastery of St Michael on the Tor was a daughter house of Glastonbury Abbey. In 1243 Henry III granted a charter for a six-day fair at the site.</p><br>
<p>St Michaels Church survived until the Dissolution of the Monasteries in 1539 when, except for the tower, it was demolished. The Tor was the place of execution where Richard Whiting, the last Abbot of Glastonbury Abbey, was hanged, drawn and quartered along with two of his monks, John Thorne and Roger James. The three-storey tower of St Michaels Church survives. It has corner buttresses and perpendicular bell openings. There is a sculptured tablet with an image of an eagle below the parapet.</p><br>
<h3>Post-dissolution</h3><br>
<p>In 1786, Richard Colt Hoare of Stourhead bought the Tor and funded repair of the tower in 1804, including the rebuilding of the north-east corner. It was then passed on through several generations to the Reverend George Neville and included in the Butleigh Manor until the 20th century. It was then bought as a memorial to a former Dean of Wells, Thomas Jex-Blake, who died in 1915.</p><br>
<p>The National Trust took control of the Tor in 1933, but repairs were delayed until after the Second World War. During the 1960s, excavations identified cracks in the rock, suggesting the ground had moved in the past. This, combined with wind erosion, started to expose the footings of the tower, which were repaired with concrete. Erosion caused by the feet of the increasing number of visitors was also a problem and paths were laid to enable them to reach the summit without damaging the terraces. After 2000, enhancements to the access and repairs to the tower, including rebuilding of the parapet, were carried out. These included the replacement of some of the masonry damaged by earlier repairs with new stone from the Hadspen Quarry.</p><br>
<p>A model vaguely based on Glastonbury Tor (albeit with a tree instead of the tower) was incorporated into the opening ceremony of the 2012 Summer Olympics in London. As the athletes entered the stadium, their flags were displayed on the terraces of the model.</p><br>
<h2>Mythology and spirituality</h2><br>
<p>The Tor seems to have been called Ynys yr Afalon (meaning "The Isle of Avalon") by the Britons and is believed by some, including the 12th and 13th century writer Gerald of Wales, to be the Avalon of Arthurian legend. The Tor has been associated with the name Avalon, and identified with King Arthur, since the alleged discovery of his and Queen Guinevere&#39;s neatly labelled coffins in 1191, recounted by Gerald of Wales. Author Christopher L. Hodapp asserts in his book The Templar Code for Dummies that Glastonbury Tor is one of the possible locations of the Holy Grail, because it is close to the monastery that housed the Nanteos Cup.</p><br>
<p>With the 19th century resurgence of interest in Celtic mythology, the Tor became associated with Gwyn ap Nudd, the first Lord of the Otherworld (Annwn) and later King of the Fairies. The Tor came to be represented as an entrance to Annwn or to Avalon, the land of the fairies. The tor is supposedly a gateway into "The Land Of The Dead (Avalon).</p><br>
<p>A persistent myth of more recent origin is that of the Glastonbury Zodiac, a purported astrological zodiac of gargantuan proportions said to have been carved into the land along ancient hedgerows and trackways, in which the Tor forms part of the figure representing Aquarius. The theory was first put forward in 1927 by Katherine Maltwood, an artist with an interest in the occult, who thought the zodiac was constructed approximately 5,000 years ago. But the vast majority of the land said by Maltwood to be covered by the zodiac was under several feet of water at the proposed time of its construction, and many of the features such as field boundaries and roads are recent.</p><br>
<p>The tor and other sites in Glastonbury have also been significant in Goddess worship, with the flow from the Chalice Well representing menstrual flow and the tor being seen as either a breast or the whole figure of the Goddess. This has been celebrated with an effigy of the Goddess leading an annual procession up the Tor.</p><br>
<p>The River Ancholme is a river in Lincolnshire, England, and a tributary of the Humber.</p><br>
<p>It rises at Ancholme Head, a spring just north of the village of Ingham (SK 96675 85014) and immediately west of the Roman Road, Ermine Street. It flows east and then north to Bishopbridge (west of Market Rasen) (TF 03163 91070), where it is joined by the Rase. North of Bishopbridge it flows through the market town of Brigg before draining into the Humber at South Ferriby. It drains a significant part of northern Lincolnshire between the Trent and the North Sea.</p><br>
<p>The river has been used by humans since at least 800 BC, confirmed by the excavation of a planked boat at Brigg, and patents covering improvements to the river are known from 1287 onwards. Major change occurred in 1635, when a new straight channel was constructed from Bishopbridge to Ferriby. The new channel carries most of the water and is known as the New River Ancholme, whereas the Old River Ancholme maintains its natural course, meandering from side to side. The old course is mostly reduced to a drain, except around the town of Brigg where the two rivers create an island in the centre of Brigg known as Island Carr. Further improvements were started by John Rennie (the Elder) in the early 1800s and completed by his son in the 1820s, with the reconstruction of Ferriby Sluice taking place around 1841.</p><br>
<p>From that time onwards the river was reasonably profitable, and although receipts were reduced when railways arrived in the area, trade picked up in the 1890s, and was boosted by cargoes of sugar beet in the 1930s. All commercial carrying had ceased above Brigg by the 1970s, and stopped altogether in the 1980s. The upper section was almost derelict by then, but was restored and dredged in 2004. The river is an important drainage channel for north Lincolnshire, but is also used for leisure, with boating, rowing, canoeing and fishing taking place. Responsibility for the river changed six times between 1930 and 1996, but it is now managed by the Environment Agency.</p><br>
<p>The Ancholme Internal Drainage Board maintains twelve pumping stations on the banks of the river, which pump water from the surrounding low-lying land to prevent flooding. The river also supplies large volumes of water to the Scunthorpe Steelworks, and to Anglian Water, who use it to provide a public water supply to the South Humber bank industrial area. In order to maintain this volume of abstraction during the summer months, and other dry periods, water is transferred from Barlings Eau, near the River Witham, by the Trent Witham Ancholme transfer scheme, commissioned in 1974.</p><br>
<p>Few of the bridges which cross the river form part of a public road, and so they have not been replaced to cope with increased traffic. A number of them are listed structures, while Ferriby Lock is a scheduled ancient monument. The river is also home to two historic boats owned by the Humber Keel & Sloop Preservation Society.</p><br>
<h2>History</h2><br>
<p>In its natural post-glacial state, the river&#39;s valley was flat-bottomed: it had formed the bed of the glacial Lake Ancholme, on an outwash delta, as the ice retreated, and consequently was fenny. There is evidence that boats have used the river from early times, for there have been three significant archaeological finds of ancient boats. Logboats have been found at Brigg and Appleby, and a planked boat was found at Brigg in 1888. Professor McGrail conducted a re-excavation of the site in 1974, to discover the bottom of a flat-bottomed boat, made from oak planks, sewn together and caulked with moss. The boat was thus similar in construction to the Ferriby Boats found on the northern shore of the Humber, but was some 500 years younger, being carbon-dated to around 800 BC.</p><br>
<p>Further evidence of the local importance of the river in prehistory is evidenced by other finds or archaeology close to the river&#39;s course. As an example, in the parish of Bishop Norton, which is situated just over 1 km north of Bishopbridge. In this parish the Lincolnshire Historical Environment Record (HER) records just under 90 sites, from different historic periods. The majority of the prehistorical sites, including settlements, are close to the Ancholme. Most of these range from the Neolithic (4000 BCE to 2351 BCE), through the Bronze Age to the Romano-British period. The oldest find in the parish was a Paleolithic handaxe discovered close to the site of the Harlam Hill Lock on a hummock of river gravels. This find dates anywhere from 500,000 BCE to 150,001 BCE. This axe, along with several Neolithic axes are now in Lincoln Museum.</p><br>
<p>The course of the old river acts as a boundary for Bishop Norton and all the other parishes that abut it. This being the eastern boundary; the western boundary is Ermine Street. The fact that the majority of archaeology in the parish, as recorded in the HER that dates from after the construction of the Roman Road, tends to the western end of the parish close to the Roman road, and that from earlier periods tends to be closer to the river is suggestive that the River was a primary communications route as well as the provider of physical and economic need which was supplanted by the new road.</p><br>
<p>Despite suffering from silting as a result of water from the Humber entering it, and passing through land which was often waterlogged on both sides, the Ancholme offered a route into the communities of northern Lincolnshire. Cargo was carried on it from an early date: in 1287 a patent was granted to allow improvements to be made from Bishopbridge to Ferriby, so that boats could more easily carry grain and other commodities on the river "as they had done formerly". However, the major concern of the local landowners seems to have been that it should act as an effective drainage channel to prevent inundation of their lands, and between 1289 and 1418 the river was mentioned in the Patent Rolls thirteen times. The need to keep the channel scoured was always mentioned, but often, navigation was not.</p><br>
<p>The river was subject to a repeated cycle of concerns being raised, improvements being made, euphoria at the result, and decline through neglect. However, in 1635 Owersby-based local landowner Sir John Monson was granted powers to construct a new river for drainage purposes. He removed most of the meanders, to create a new straight channel from Bishopbridge to Ferriby. The patent under which the work was carried out was again chiefly concerned with drainage, although there was a requirement to make sure that any new works did not make the river less useful for the passage of boats than it had been for the previous seven years. At Ferriby, where there had been a bridge since 1312, a sluice was constructed, to control the deposition of silt from the Humber. It had three arches and 24 doors, but there is no mention of how boats could pass through it.</p><br>
<p>At Brigg, the new channel bypassed the town, but the old channel was also retained, which made the town less vulnerable to flooding. The draining of the Ancholme Level was a lesser project among the fenland "improvements" undertaken under contracts to patentees by the government of Charles I in the 1630s. It was somewhat less brutal than many such projects, for Kennedy states that "... with the possible exception of the Ancholme Level the draining of the fens was executed and defended by a continuous and unscrupulous use of the power and authority of the royal government to manipulate local institutions and to overawe the local populace."</p><br>
<p>The antiquarian William Stukeley visited the river and in 1724 published a report in which he lamented the fact that the sluices below the stately bridge were "broken down and lying in dismal ruins by the negligence of the undertakers." Conditions continued to deteriorate, so that in 1766, landowners in the Ancholme floodplain contracted Thomas Yeoman to survey the river. He pointed to the decay of Ferriby Sluice, which had resulted in silting of the navigation as far as Glanford, some 8.7 mi above Ferriby. In places the width had been reduced from 40 ft to 15 or 16 ft (about 4.8 m), which significantly reduced its capacity to cope with flood waters. Above Glanford, lugworm beds, weeds and sandbanks impeded progress, and the final 5 mi to Bishopbridge was completely silted up. Yeoman produced his report on 17 September 1766, and an Act of Parliament to authorise improvements to both navigation and drainage was granted on 20 May 1767.</p><br>
<h3>Development</h3><br>
<p>The Act created commissioners, and John Bennett from Barton-upon-Humber was appointed clerk. The minutes of the commissioners show that their major concern was with drainage, rather than navigation, although the new sluice at Ferriby included a 70 by lock and a house for the lockkeeper. The sluice was built with three openings, but the sills were set at a level which was 8 ft above the low water level of spring tides in the Humber, which was not low enough to ensure the drainage of the lowlands in times of flood. The work was completed in 1769.</p><br>
<p>The commissioners gradually realised that navigation might be beneficial, and on 7 April 1778 instructed their engineer, Dunderdale, to design a wharf for coal and general goods at Bishopbridge, and to construct a lock at Harlam Hill. No progress was made until 20 July 1785, when the commissioners met the proprietors to arrange the purchase of land for the wharf. By this time the engineer had been replaced by Thomas Bradley. The tolls had been leased to Jonathan and John Goodwin for a period of eleven years from 1781. They paid the commissioners £402 per year, and were expected to make good any damage by tides up to the value of £20, although the commissioners would pay for repairs where the cost exceeded £20. The lease expired on 2 July 1792, when the commissioners took back control, and appointed their own collector of tolls. They noticed a disparity in the tolls for coal, caused by the differing sizes of the wagons at various collieries. The collieries mentioned show that coal was arriving from the River Don Navigation and the Aire and Calder Navigation.</p><br>
<p>During the 1790s, the problems of effective drainage worsened, and the commissioners appointed Isaac Leatham, from Barton near Malton, to produce a comprehensive report with recommendations for the Ancholme Level. He addressed the issues of both drainage and navigation, and presented his plans on 29 August 1800, but commissioners thought the projected cost of £22,975 was excessive. They therefore approached John Rennie (the Elder) for a second opinion, and he produced a report on 9 November 1801. His proposals included constructing catchwater drains on either side of the main channel, enlarging the width and depth of the channel, building two new locks, and rebuilding the road bridge at Brigg. The cost was estimated to be £53,921, of which only 11 per cent was for improvements to navigation. Again, the commissioners were unhappy with the cost, and although Rennie suggested completing the work in stages, he later produced a modified plan which would only cost £25,413.</p><br>
<p>The commissioners decided to proceed with the revised plan, and a new Act of Parliament was obtained on 26 June 1802. The two locks were to be located at Harlam Hill and Kingerby, to improve navigation on the upper section. The Act stipulated that oak mooring posts should be provided at 1 mi intervals, to indicate the distance from Ferriby. Although most of the materials were ordered promptly, the work was hampered by a shortage of finance, and progress was very slow. After the project engineer, Samuel Porter, died in July 1808, the work ground to a halt, and in 1824 Sir John Rennie (the Younger) was asked for advice. He stated that the work specified by his father should be completed. He also recommended that the Ferriby sluice should be reconstructed, with the sills 8 ft lower, and that the capacity of the channel should be doubled, by making it wider and deeper. Finally, a new entrance lock should be built, capable of accommodating boats of 60 tons, and 20 ft wide. Another Act of Parliament followed in 1825, and work began again in 1826. Progress was faster, although there were delays to the drainage works, caused by litigation over the rates that each district should pay towards the project.</p><br>
<p>Several of the existing bridges were constructed of wood, and had multiple openings, which restricted the flow of water through them. They were reconstructed in a variety of styles. Horkstow Bridge was planned as a cast iron bridge with an 80 ft span, but was built as a suspension bridge with a span of 130 ft. It is one of the earliest suspension bridges still standing, and the only suspension bridge known to have been designed by Rennie. The bridge at Yarborough Mills, in Brigg, has a single segmental arch build of stone, and was opened in 1827, although it has been widened subsequently. The bridge at Brandy Wharf, which was completed in the following year, is more typical of the structures built at that time, consisting of an iron span with stone abutments. Harlam Hill lock was reconstructed in 1827, but plans for a second lock at Kingerby were dropped. Discussions had taken place in 1823 about extending the navigation to Market Rasen. The plans were revised and expanded in 1829, by which time a link from Bishopbridge to Barlings Eau and the River Witham was suggested. It would have cost £90,000 to build the 14 mi waterway, including the construction of seven locks. Although the scheme was dropped, Rennie was still championing it in 1841 and 1844.</p><br>
<p>Rennie also oversaw the reconstruction of Ferriby Sluice and lock. An initial meeting with the commissioners was held on 4 October 1841. Work began in March 1842, and the cost was estimated to be £16,533. The Earl of Yarborough and Miss Alice Corbett officially opened the new sluice on 22 May 1844. The Earl of Yarborough arranged for his brass band to attend, and he then sailed through the new lock in a schooner. The lock was spanned by a swing bridge, cast by the Butterley Company, which was in use for 90 years, but was badly damaged in 1934 when a large vessel ran into it. Head Wrightson built the replacement swing bridge in 1935.</p><br>
<h3>Operation</h3><br>
<p>The navigation became an important route for transporting cargo from the rural communities to the towns of Beverley and Hull in the East Riding of Yorkshire. William Colton had run a packet boat between Brigg and Hull since 1793, and in 1823 he began operating a steam packet boat. It left Brigg at 7 am each day, arriving in Hull 10:30. The return journey left Hull at 3 pm, and was timetabled to connect with a coach service from Brigg to Lincoln. From October 1856 the service was run by the Hull, Ferriby Sluice and Brigg Steam Packet Company, formed by a group of farmers who lived between Brigg and Ferriby Sluice.</p><br>
<p>For many years, the tolls on the navigation were leased, and the value of the lease steadily increased, from £402 in the 1780s to £950 in 1828, and had reached £1,857 per year for the period from 1843 to 1845. For the following three years it was £3,020, but it then declined, as railways arrived in the area. Brigg railway station opened on 1 November 1848, and the line from there to Gainsborough Central followed on 2 April 1849. Tolls reduced, falling to £949 in 1850, and to £700 by the late 1850s. After thirty years, trade revived a little, with the tolls reaching £1,000 in the 1890s. It was further boosted by the development of the sugar beet industry in the 1930s, with tolls averaging £1,294 in the late 1930s. Bishopbridge, where there was a basin, two corn mills and warehousing, acted as a distribution and collection centre for the farms and villages of that part of Lincolnshire, but by the 1970s commercial traffic had ceased except between Ferriby and Brigg, where there were factories along the river bank. All commercial traffic had ceased by the 1980s.</p><br>
<p>Some development continued, with Snitterby bridge reconstructed in 1872, Hibaldstow in 1889 and Cadney in 1892. In 1977, Ian Horsley formed the Rase-Ancholme Navigation Trust, and in 1978 proposed upgrading of the upper section to Bishopbridge. His grand plans included the construction of three new locks on the River Rase, to link to Middle Rasen and Market Rasen. By the early 1980s, the scheme had grown to include further links to Horncastle and the Foss Dyke, thus creating a northern Lincolnshire waterways network, but the area was too sparsely populated for such ambitious plans to succeed. The Trust was registered in 1979, and ceased to exist in 2009.</p><br>
<p>By the 1980s, the section above Harlam Hill lock was almost derelict. Rennie&#39;s original lock had been reconstructed with a top guillotine gate at some point, and repairs to the lock were attempted in 1993. Although they were not successful, the Inland Waterways Association continued to campaign for the restoration of Harlam Hill lock, raising funds to assist this, and the Environment Agency completed dredging and restoration of the upper section in 2004. The restoration was funded by a grant of £100,000, the first successful bid for funds by the Lincolnshire Waterways Partnership. The work included the provision of new 48-hour visitor moorings at Bishopbridge, with portage points for canoeists nearby and at Harlam Hill lock.</p><br>
<p>The top gate of Harlam Hill lock was subsequently replaced by conventional mitre gates in 2010. Despite this successful restoration, the lock was again closed in 2012 by the Environment Agency on safety grounds, thus preventing access to the first two miles of the waterway. As of 2017 there are no plans for its reopening.</p><br>
<p>The lock at South Ferriby, which allows boats to leave the river and enter the Humber, is a tide lock, with four sets of gates, two for use when the tidal Humber is at a higher level than the river, and two for when it is lower. From the Humber, a vessel can access many other major waterways leading to the larger towns of Lincolnshire and Yorkshire, as well as to the North Sea. Because the river acts as a drainage channel for the Ancholme Level, water levels and flow rates are subject to rapid change, and all navigation can be suspended after heavy rain, when the sluices are opened to prevent flooding.</p><br>
<h3>Organisation</h3><br>
<p>Responsibility for the river and the flood defences of the surrounding countryside changed several times during the 20th century. Under the Land Drainage Act 1930, 47 Catchment Areas were defined, covering many of the river systems of England and Wales, including the Ancholme and Winterton Beck Catchment Area. A Catchment Board had been set up to manage the area by November 1931. The Catchment Board was replaced by the Lincolnshire River Board following the passing of the River Boards Act 1948, and the new board also had responsibility for the River Welland, the River Witham and the Steeping River. Land drainage functions became the responsibility of the Ancholme Internal Drainage Board from 1951. This was formed under the terms of the Land Drainage Act 1930, and manages an area of 68.77 square miles containing 119 mi of maintained watercourses. Around half of the water falling on this area has to be pumped into the River Ancholme, because the land is too low-lying to allow gravity drainage. The IDB maintains 12 pumping stations on the banks of the river.</p><br>
<p>Responsibility for the river changed again with the passing of the Water Resources Act 1963: the River Board was replaced by the Lincolnshire River Authority, although the geographical area which it managed was similar. This in turn became part of Anglian Water following the passing of the Water Act 1973. When the regional water authorities were privatised under the terms of the Water Act 1989, management of rivers, including the Ancholme, passed to the National Rivers Authority (NRA). Finally, the NRA was subsumed into the Environment Agency in 1996.</p><br>
<h2>Recreation</h2><br>
<p>In addition to its function as a land drainage channel and for water supply, the river is also used for recreation. The waterway is managed by the Environment Agency, which requires all vessels to be registered and in possession of an up-to-date licence. There are over 200 boats registered, and there are moorings at Ferriby, Brigg, Brandy Wharf and Bishopbridge. Access to and from the Humber is restricted by extensive mud banks to the north of Ferriby Sluice, which are exposed at low tide. Passage through South Ferriby lock is therefore limited to three hours either side of high tide. The river is large enough to support small barges and medium-sized cabin cruisers. South Ferriby lock is 68 by with a draught of 4 ft. Harlam Hill lock is smaller, at 60 by but the effective maximum length of boats is 40 ft, as there is nowhere above the lock to turn a longer boat. Small boats can be launched from a slipway at Brandy Wharf Leisure Park, on the western bank of the river.</p><br>
<p>The river is a popular venue for rowing, kayaking and canoeing. The Ancholme Rowing Club is based in Brigg, and caters for rowers of all abilities. It encourages junior membership, offers tuition, and organises two major events each year. The Ancholme Head race covers a 2,750 m course, with open, women&#39;s, juniors, mixed and masters categories, and is affiliated to British Rowing. The Scrumpy Row has a more social orientation, and covers 6 mi from Brigg to Brandy Wharf. The Environment Agency work with the club to support competitive and recreational rowing. The Agency also have an agreement with the British Canoe Union, allowing their members to use the river. There are a number of small sailing yachts on the river, and the slipway at Brandy Wharf has encouraged this kind of use.</p><br>
<p>The river is well stocked with fish, and provides high class coarse fishing. There are organised competitions each year, including winter match angling, which attract anglers from Lincolnshire, South Yorkshire and other local counties. The river is also popular with walkers, having a towpath along its entire length, and there are a number of rights of way associated with the river. The Ancholme has a marina at Brigg and another at South Ferriby, which has a chandlery and boat building facilities. Around three-quarters of the boats that use the river are sea-going vessels, as it provides easy access to the North Sea via the Humber.</p><br>
<h2>Water supply</h2><br>
<p>During the late 1960s, there was increasing demand for water, particularly within the South Humber bank industrial area. Extractions from the underlying chalk aquifer could not be increased, and so the demand was met by building the Trent Witham Ancholme Transfer Scheme (TWA), which was commissioned in 1974. A pumping station at Short Ferry on Barlings Eau, near its junction with the River Witham, pumps water through 17 km of pipeline to a reservoir at Toft Newton, which covers an area of 16.5 hectare. During the summer months and other dry periods, water is released from the reservoir into the Ancholme to augment its flow and maintain its level. In the event of failure of the pumps at Short Ferry, the reservoir has enough capacity to maintain flows in the Ancholme for up to seven days. There is another pumping station at Torksey, on the River Trent, and in the event of low flows on the Witham, water is pumped from the Trent into the Foss Dyke, from where it flows eastwards to Lincoln and the River Witham system.</p><br>
<p>In 1996, removal of some 37,698 Ml per year from the river was covered by abstraction licences. Major holders of licences included British Steel plc, Centrica and Anglian Water. British Steel take water for the Scunthorpe Steelworks from a pumping station immediately to the north of Worlaby railway bridge. Centrica run the Glanford Brigg Power Station, located on the west bank of the river near Brigg. It is a gas-fired generating station, capable of producing 240 MW from six turbines. Water is taken from the river to supplement cooling water lost by evaporation, and some of the cooling water is discharged to the river to prevent a build up of suspended and dissolved solids. Water is also processed by a treatment plant, where it is filtered and ion-exchanged, to provide a clean supply for the boilers, which will not cause scaling or corrosion. Like the cooling water, the boiler feed water is also purged regularly, to prevent dissolved solids building up.</p><br>
<p>The largest abstractor is Anglian Water, who maintain a pumping station on the east bank of the river by Cadney bridge. They were licensed to remove 31,000 Ml per year in 1996, which is about 82 per cent of the total abstraction. After initial grit removal and chlorination, water is pumped for 1.2 mi through twin 5.9 ft diameter concrete pipelines to Cadney reservoir, which can hold 900 Ml, covers 14 hectare, and has a maximum depth of 36 ft. After further chlorination, the water is pumped for another 6.2 mi through a 1.22 m diameter steel pipeline to Elsham Water Treatment Works, which produces up to 30 Ml per day of potable water for public water supply.</p><br>
<p>In addition to supporting these abstractions, the use of water from the TWA scheme has other benefits. Because the flow is maintained even in dry weather, eutrophication, which is caused by a build up of nutrients in the water, is reduced, and the flow through Ferriby sluice also helps to prevent the ingress of salt water from the Humber into the river. The volume of water transferred via the TWA scheme depends on the weather conditions. In 1987 it was 2,425 Ml, while in 1979 it was 17,425 Ml.</p><br>
<h2>Course</h2><br>
<p>The Ancholme rises near Top Farm, West Firsby, close to the 40 m contour, from where it flows eastwards, gradually turning towards the north east. It passes through the site of the West Firsby deserted medieval village, which is a scheduled ancient monument, and then under Owmby Road, a minor road which connects the villages of Saxby and Spridlington. It soon drops below the 10 m contour and turns to the north as is flows past Toft Newton reservoir, which is used to augment the flow of the river, and is supplied with water by the Trent Witham Ancholme transfer scheme. The reservoir is a popular site for stillwater trout fishing, and in 1996 was stocked with rainbow trout and brown trout twice weekly. Contributions from a number of organisations and individuals resulted in the purchase of a "wheelyboat", a flat-bottomed boat which allows wheelchair users to access the water. Passing under Pilford Bridge, near Toft next Newton, the river reaches Bishopbridge, where it is crossed by the A631 road.</p><br>
<p>The River Rase runs under an adjacent bridge, and the two rivers run parallel for the next 2.5 mi. On the Ancholme, there is a sloping weir, which forms the head of navigation, beyond which is a large four-storey building which was formerly a warehouse for the navigation. The towpath starts on the western bank soon after the wharf area, and Harlam Hill lock is reached after 2.5 mi. The bypass channel passes over a weir, and the water flows into the River Rase, which joins the Ancholme at Atterby weir, a little further below the lock. Rather than heavy wooden balance beams, the lock gates have slender metal poles to open them. Snitterby bridge, which is also known as Browns Bridge, is just below Atterby weir, and like most of the bridges over the river, is not part of a public roadway, so it is maintained by the Environment Agency, rather than the Highways Authority. Brandy Wharf bridge, at 4 mi from the head of navigation, is one of the two bridges on a public road. Next to it is a brown-brick warehouse with three storeys and a slate hipped roof, which is a Grade II listed structure.</p><br>
<p>The towpath crosses from the west bank to the east bank at the bridge. A little further to the east is the Old Tollgate Bridge, a red brick single span with ashlar dressing dating from the late 1700s, which crosses the Old River Ancholme. Continuing northwards, the towpath crosses the entrance to the Caistor Canal, disused since 1877. A 20th century steel span is supported by stone abutments, built around 1785, when the canal opened. The bridge is Grade II listed as is the adjacent first lock, one of five that remain on the Caistor Canal. Hibaldstow Bridge was rebuilt in 1889 to a design by Alfred Atkinson, and the wrought-iron span, which rests on brick piers, was supplied by a company of ironfounders called Messrs Porter and Co of Lincoln. It replaced an earlier wooden swing bridge, dating from Rennie&#39;s reconstruction, and the piers from that bridge were probably reused. Atkinson was also responsible for Cadney Bridge, rebuilt in 1882, for which the wrought iron span was supplied by Messrs Goodwin, Jardine and Co of Glasgow. Again, the piers from an earlier bridge were probably reused.</p><br>
<p>The Anglian Water pumping station, immediately to the north of the bridge, has an unusual wooden roof. Beyond, and slightly set back from the river, Newstead Priory Farm stands on slightly higher land. The house is Grade I listed, and incorporates parts of a 12th-century Gilbertine Priory. Kettleby Beck joins the river from the east, through a set of sluice gates, just before the channel splits in two, with the old river passing through the centre of Brigg and the new one bypassing it to the west, before rejoining to the north of Brigg. They form an island, which is known as Island Carr. There is a marina on the old branch, and the former Manchester, Sheffield and Lincolnshire Railway main line from Gainsborough to Grimsby, now part of the Sheffield to Lincoln Line, crosses both branches. The</p><br>
<p>A18 road also crosses both branches. The bridge over the new branch was designed by John Rennie and built in 1827, with brick flanks and ashlar masonry. The bridge was widened in the 20th century, with the south face being reused once the widening had taken place. The road formerly crossed the old branch at County Bridge, a single span rusticated stone arch erected in 1828. The handrails were replaced in 1951, and the A18 was diverted over a new bridge to the north.</p><br>
<p>Below the point where the two branches rejoin, a new bridge carries the M180 motorway over the channel. Next come Castlethorpe bridge and Broughton bridge, both maintained by the Environment Agency. Broughton is an inverted suspension bridge, which replaced an earlier bridge in the mid- to late 19th century, but this reused the earlier abutments. The single span is supported by two wrought iron arched ribs, with vertical and diagonal suspension rods, supporting timber decking. Another railway bridge follows, this time linking to Grimsby, and now carrying trains run by South TransPennine. The intake formerly owned by British Steel plc is on the west bank by the bridge, supplying water to the steel industry in Scunthorpe.</p><br>
<p>Saxby Bridge is a wrought iron single span with timber decking, dating from the mid-19th century, which is virtually unaltered, apart from minor repairs to the decking. Horkstow Bridge is John Rennie&#39;s only known suspension bridge, and is one of the earliest unaltered suspension bridges in Britain. It is Grade II* listed. As the river nears the Humber, a high-level conveyor belt carries material from South Ferriby quarry to the cement works at Ferriby Sluice. The conveyor is 1.25 mi long, and is used to transfer around 3000 tonnes of crushed chalk and 1,000 tonnes of clay per day. This stretch of the river has numerous moorings, and the Humber Keel & Sloop Preservation Society usually moor their keel Comrade and their sloop Amy Houson just above the final lock. The lock at Ferriby Sluice has two sets of gates: a low level set pointing upstream, and a set of much taller gates pointing downstream which prevent the river being inundated by tides, and allow vessels to leave when the Humber is at a higher level than the Ancholme. In order to minimise the ingress of brackish water into the Ancholme when the tide gates are used, the water is culverted into the West Drain when the lock is being emptied. The sluice consists of three sets of pointed doors, and two electrically-operated vertical guillotine gates. Salinity in the river is further controlled by two bubble curtains, and is continuously measured at Saxby, with the information used to decide whether the flow should be supplemented by water from the Trent Witham Ancholme Transfer Scheme.</p><br>
<p>The Little Stour is one of the tributaries of the River Stour in the English county of Kent. The upper reaches of the river are better known as the Nailbourne, whilst the lower reaches were once known as the Seaton Navigation.</p><br>
<p>The intermittent source of the river is at Lyminge, and in its early reaches from Lyminge to Littlebourne it forms a chalk stream and winterbourne that is normally known as the Nailbourne. Below Littlebourne the river is better known as the Little Stour, and it joins with the Great Stour at Plucks Gutter near East Stourmouth.</p><br>
<h2>Course</h2><br>
<h3>Nailbourne</h3><br>
<p>The Nailbourne flows from Lyminge, through the Elham Valley until it becomes known as the Little Stour at Littlebourne.</p><br>
<p>The Nailbourne bubbles up beneath St Ethelburga&#39;s Well in Tayne Field in the centre of Lyminge. Whilst the stream often holds a plentiful supply of water from Lyminge to Elham throughout the year, it rarely holds any water from Elham to Bishopsbourne even in the winter months. However, in wet years the normally dry ditch can turn into a fast flowing torrent, flooding roads, fields and houses. An example of this was in 2001 when there was extensive flooding throughout the Elham Valley.</p><br>
<p>There are a number of minor tributaries that flow into the Nailbourne throughout the Elham Valley. Most are nameless although Ordnance Survey maps do mark a stream known as the East Brooke which runs from Etchinghill and joins the Nailbourne at Lyminge.</p><br>
<h3>Little Stour</h3><br>
<p>Below Littlebourne the river is better known as the Little Stour, and it joins with the Great Stour at Plucks Gutter near West Stourmouth. The merged river is usually known as the River Stour.</p><br>
<h2>Settlements</h2><br>
<p>The river flows through the following settlements -</p><br>
<p>Lyminge</p><br>
<p>Elham</p><br>
<p>Barham</p><br>
<p>Kingston</p><br>
<p>Bishopsbourne</p><br>
<p>Bridge</p><br>
<p>Patrixbourne</p><br>
<p>Bekesbourne</p><br>
<p>Littlebourne</p><br>
<p>Wickhambreaux</p><br>
<p>Ickham</p><br>
<p>West Stourmouth</p><br>
<h2>Economy</h2><br>
<h3>Water mills</h3><br>
<p>The Little Stour powered four watermills, at Littlebourne, Wickhambreaux and Ickham.</p><br>
<h3>Navigation</h3><br>
<p>The stretch of the river downstream from the mills and wharf at Seaton, in the parish of Ickham, was made navigable at some time prior to 1831. As a consequence it was sometimes referred to as the Seaton Navigation.</p><br>
<h2>Environment</h2><br>
<p>On 28 September 2007 Environment Secretary, Phil Woolas, announced that the Little Stour would be one of 24 additional sensitive areas in England that have been identified as at risk from excessive nutrients from sewage treatment works. This means that Southern Water will be obliged under the Urban Waste Water Treatment Regulations to take action by 2014 to reduce phosphorus and nitrates in the discharges from their sewage treatment works which discharge into the Little Stour.</p><br>
<p>In early 2007 it was revealed that an application had been made by a company called Newater to discharge treated sewage into the Nailbourne at Elham. The sewage would be piped from the Broomfield Banks treatment works near Dover into the Nailbourne at North Elham with the intention of addressing the water supply deficit in South East England. Whilst the Environment Agency has given assurance that the scheme is safe the application has raised concerns including those of the Little Stour & Nailbourne River Management Group. The application is one of nine similar applications by Newater PLC in the Southern part of England. The Environment Agency is expected to make a decision on the Nailbourne application later in the year.</p><br>
<h2>Legend</h2><br>
<p>According to legend it was Saint Augustine who performed a miracle and brought water to the Elham Valley. When there is a drought and the stream runs dry it is because of Woden and Thor (whom the local people had previously worshipped) who were displeased with what St Augustine had done. It is also local superstition that the Nailbourne only flows once every seven years and that when it does flow it is a sign of bad luck.</p><br>
<p>The River Wantsum is a tributary of the River Stour, in Kent, England. Formerly, the River Wantsum and the River Stour together formed the Wantsum Channel, which separated the Isle of Thanet from the mainland of Kent. Now the River Wantsum is little more than a drainage ditch starting at Reculver, and ending where it joins the Stour.</p><br>
<p>Bede, in the 8th century, said that the Wantsum – meaning Wantsum Channel – was "about three furlongs broad, and is fordable only in two places, for both ends run into the sea".</p><br>
<p>In 1414 there was still a ferry crossing the Wantsum at Sarre, but by 1550 Thanet was no longer an island. At Reculver, the Romans built a fort that was about 1 mi from the sea, whereas Leland, in the early 16th century, described Reculver as being 0.25 mi from the sea, and the great storm of 1809 carried away half of the fort. It is postulated that the eroded material was carried along the shore and blocked the northern mouth of the Wantsum.</p><br>
<p>The River Wantsum now joins the Great Stour from the north as a small tributary, just before the Little Stour enters it from the south to form what is thereafter known simply as the River Stour.</p><br>
<p>The River Orwell flows through the county of Suffolk in England. Its source river, above the tidal limit at Stoke Bridge, is known as the River Gipping. It broadens into an estuary at Ipswich where the Ipswich dock has operated since the 7th century and then flows into the North Sea at Felixstowe after joining with the River Stour at Shotley. The large Orwell Bridge carries the A14 trunk road over the estuary to the south of Ipswich.</p><br>
<h2>Name</h2><br>
<p>In the name Orwell, Or- comes from an ancient river-name — probably pre-Celtic; but -well probably indicates an Anglo-Saxon naming.</p><br>
<p>A D Mills: A dictionary of British place-names. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2003.</p><br>
<p>In A tour through England and Wales written in 1722, Daniel Defoe calls the river "Orwel" (though does this inconsistently). He also mentions that "a traveller will hardly understand me, especially a seaman, when I speak of the River Stour and the River Orwell at Harwich, for they know them by no other names than those of Maningtre-Water, and Ipswich-Water". The writer Eric Blair chose the pen name under which he would later become famous, "George Orwell", because of his love for the river.</p><br>
<h2>Sailing</h2><br>
<p>The Orwell provides a popular venue for sailing. Interest originally centred on the hamlet of Pin Mill (featured in two childrens novels by Arthur Ransome: We Didnt Mean To Go To Sea and Secret Water), which is home to the Pin Mill Sailing Club and its Hard. Ransome had kept his yacht Selina King at the Pin Mill anchorage in 1937–39.</p><br>
<p>Since the 1970s marinas have opened at Levington (Suffolk Yacht Harbour, pictured), Woolverstone, Foxs (just outside Ipswich), and two marinas in the old Ipswich Wet Dock. Woolverstone is home to the Royal Harwich Yacht Club that was for many years host to the Swordfish 15-foot racing dinghy built by Fairey Marine, in addition to its 12-foot Firefly, a derivative of the National 12-foot dinghy, both designed by the sailor Uffa Fox. It now hosts a broad range of sailing events, such as the annual Junior Race Week&#39;.</p><br>
<h2>The Yangtse Incident (Film)</h2><br>
<p>The 1957 film Yangtse Incident: The Story of HMS Amethyst was filmed on the river. The naval shore establishment at HMS Ganges also featured in the film being used as a site for Chinese gun batteries.</p><br>
<p>The Old Bedford River is an artificial, partial diversion of the waters of the River Great Ouse in the Fens of Cambridgeshire, England. It was named after the fourth Earl of Bedford who contracted with the local Commission of Sewers to drain the Great Level of the Fens beginning in 1630.</p><br>
<p>The idea of an artificial river running, as the Old Bedford River does, from Earith to Denver was not a new idea; it had been proposed as early as 1604 by the engineer John Hunt. The work on the Old Bedford River was financed by the Earl of Bedford and several other investors and was undertaken between 1630 and 1636, but the supervising engineer is not known.</p><br>
<p>Artificial drainage of low-lying wetlands generally involves one or both of two different practices: excluding water flowing from high areas from entering the low-lying area, and pumping out water which does manage to get into the low-lying area. The Old Bedford River was constructed on the first principle, as were most of the drainage works constructed in the seventeenth century in the English fens. Both the Old Bedford River and the New Bedford River (constructed 20 years later in 1650) were intended to reduce or eliminate flooding of the fens of the Great Level by carrying the bulk of the water from the Great Ouse River from the uplands of Huntingdonshire to the sea in a straight channel, rather than allowing it to meander (and flood) the fens of the Great Level.</p><br>
<p>The flow in the Great Ouse is maintained for navigation, fisheries and aesthetic reasons but when there is excessive flow, the excess is diverted along the Bedford Rivers of which there are two, the Old and the New. Between them lies The Ouse Wash. This is not to be confused with the estuarine feature of The Wash towards which all this water is flowing. The Ouse Wash is an area in which excess fresh river water is stored until low tide permits its release or until flood levels elsewhere allow. The two rivers have raised banks (which in some parts of the world, would be called levees), so as to keep the flow within them but the outer bank in each case is higher so that when the flow becomes too great, the rivers fill the wash between them but not the farmland of the Middle and South Bedford Levels outside the banks.</p><br>
<p>The names of the three waterways are rather inconsistent. At Welches Dam (where the 1651 Forty Foot drain enters from the West) the Old Bedford river moves to the East and the Forty Foot actually enters the Counter Drain. It is the latter waterway which exits into the River Great Ouse just below Salters Lode. The actual Old Bedford River swaps identities in the Welches Dam area and becomes the River Delph. This dates back to when Forty Foot drain (also called Vermuyden&#39;s Drain) was cut. The latter sometimes caused water to flow back up the Old Bedford river to Earith. To alleviate this a dam was built by Edmund Welche across the Old Bedford river just upstream of the junction of the two waterways. Unfortunately this caused the wash area between the Old and New Bedford rivers to flood so a new waterway was cut to link the stub of the Old Bedford River (from the point of the ex-dam) straight into the New Bedford river further upstream at Welmore Lake sluice. This new waterway (which kinks to the right at Welches Dam before continuing parallel with the Old Bedford River) was named the River Delph and a flood bank was also built between it and the Old Bedford river to maintain the integrity of the Wash area.</p><br>
<p>Seboomook Lake is an unorganized territory in Somerset County, Maine, United States. The population was 45 at the 2000 census.</p><br>
<h2>Geography</h2><br>
<p>According to the United States Census Bureau, the unorganized territory has a total area of 3,715.8 km² (1,434.7 mi²). 3,628.4 km² (1,400.9 mi²) of it is land and 87.4 km² (33.8 mi²) of it (2.35%) is water.</p><br>
<h3>Seboomook Lake</h3><br>
<p>Seboomook Lake is a reservoir on the West Branch Penobscot River. The reservoir extends upstream from Seboomook Dam in Seboomook Township, through Plymouth Township, to the confluence of the North Branch and South Branch Penobscot River in Pittston Academy Grant.</p><br>
<h2>Townships</h2><br>
<p>The territory consists of 40 townships plus portions of three other townships (shared with Northeast Somerset).</p><br>
<p>Tomhegan</p><br>
<p>Brassua</p><br>
<p>Thorndike</p><br>
<p>Sandy Bay</p><br>
<p>Bald Mountain (T4R3)</p><br>
<p>Alder Brook</p><br>
<p>Soldiertown</p><br>
<p>West Middlesex Canal Grant</p><br>
<p>Big W</p><br>
<p>Little W</p><br>
<p>Seboomook</p><br>
<p>Plymouth</p><br>
<p>Pittston Academy Grant</p><br>
<p>Hammond</p><br>
<p>Prentiss</p><br>
<p>Blake Gore</p><br>
<p>T4R5 NBKP</p><br>
<p>Dole Brook</p><br>
<p>Comstock</p><br>
<p>T4R17 WELS</p><br>
<p>Elm Stream</p><br>
<p>Russell Pond</p><br>
<p>T5R17 WELS</p><br>
<p>T5R18 WELS</p><br>
<p>T5R19 WELS</p><br>
<p>T5R20 WELS</p><br>
<p>Big Six</p><br>
<p>T6R18 WELS</p><br>
<p>T6R17 WELS</p><br>
<p>Saint John</p><br>
<p>T7R16 WELS</p><br>
<p>T7R17 WELS</p><br>
<p>T7R18 WELS</p><br>
<p>T7R19 WELS</p><br>
<p>T8R16 WELS</p><br>
<p>T8R17 WELS</p><br>
<p>T8R18 WELS</p><br>
<p>T8R19 WELS</p><br>
<p>T9R16 WELS</p><br>
<p>T9R17 WELS</p><br>
<p>T9R18 WELS</p><br>
<p>Big Ten</p><br>
<p>T10R16 WELS</p><br>
<h2>Demographics</h2><br>
<p>As of the census of 2000, there were 45 people, 22 households, and 11 families residing in the unorganized territory. The population density was 0.0/km² (0.0/mi²). There were 368 housing units at an average density of 0.1/km² (0.3/mi²). The racial makeup of the unorganized territory was 100.00% White.</p><br>
<p>There were 22 households out of which 18.2% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 50.0% were married couples living together, 4.5% had a female householder with no husband present, and 45.5% were non-families. 40.9% of all households were made up of individuals and 4.5% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.05 and the average family size was 2.75.</p><br>
<p>In the unorganized territory the population was spread out with 15.6% under the age of 18, 2.2% from 18 to 24, 20.0% from 25 to 44, 57.8% from 45 to 64, and 4.4% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 50 years. For every 100 females there were 150.0 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 137.5 males.</p><br>
<p>The median income for a household in the unorganized territory was $49,167, and the median income for a family was $61,250. Males had a median income of $46,250 versus $0 for females. The per capita income for the unorganized territory was $32,578. There were no families and 11.1% of the population living below the poverty line, including no under eighteens and none of those over 64.</p><br>
<p>Fort Snelling, originally known as Fort Saint Anthony, was a military fortification located at the confluence of Minnesota and Mississippi Rivers in Hennepin County, Minnesota. Mississippi National River and Recreation Area, a National Park Service unit, includes historic Fort Snelling.</p><br>
<p>Fort Snelling also refers to an unorganized territory in Hennepin County, Minnesota, containing the former fortification. The Census in 2000 enumerated a total population of 442.</p><br>
<p>The Minnesota Historical Society now runs the fort, located atop a bluff along the river. Minnesota Department of Natural Resources runs Fort Snelling State Park, protecting the land at the bottom of the bluff. Fort Snelling once encompassed both parcels.</p><br>
<p>The fort is a National Historic Landmark and has been named a "national treasure" by the National Trust for Historic Preservation.</p><br>
<h2>History</h2><br>
<h3>Origins</h3><br>
<p>Lieutenant Zebulon Pike in 1805 acquired Pike&#39;s Purchase for the United States, comprising 100,000 acres (400 km²) of land in the area. Significant settlement began in the late 1810s. Following the War of 1812, the United States Department of War built a chain of forts and installed Indian agents between Lake Michigan and the Missouri River. These forts primarily protected the northwestern territories from Canadian and British encroachment. The Army founded Fort Saint Anthony in 1819.</p><br>
<p>Colonel Josiah Snelling commanded the 5th Infantry Regiment (United States). Its soldiers constructed the original Fort Saint Anthony from 1820 to 1824. During construction, most soldiers lived at Camp Coldwater, which provided drinking water to the fort throughout the 19th century. The post surgeon began recording meteorological observations at Fort Saint Anthony in January 1820, beginning one of the longest near-continuous weather records in the country. Upon its completion in 1825, the Army renamed the fort as Fort Snelling in honor of its commander and architect.</p><br>
<h3>Frontier post</h3><br>
<p>The soldiers at the northwestern frontier outposts tried to restrict commercial use of the rivers to United States citizens, keep American Indian lands free of white settlement until treaties permitted it, enforce law and order, and protect legitimate travelers and traders. At Fort Snelling, the garrison also attempted to keep the peace between the Dakota people.</p><br>
<p>Colonel Snelling suffered from chronic dysentery, and bouts of the illness made him susceptible to anger. Recalled to Washington, he left Fort Snelling in September 1827. Colonel Snelling died in summer 1828 from complications due to dysentery and a "brain fever".</p><br>
<p>John Marsh, a native of Danvers, Massachusetts, came to the fort during the early 1820s. At the fort, he set up the first school in the Northwest Territory, to teach the children of the officers.</p><br>
<p>Marsh also developed a good relationship with the local Dakota tribe, and developed a dictionary for the Dakota language. He had been studying medicine at Harvard for two years before deciding to leave school without earning a degree. He used this opportunity to "read medicine" under the tutelage of the post physician, Dr. Purcell. The physician died before Marsh completed the two-year course, so he still had no medical degree.</p><br>
<p>In 1830 Fort Snelling was the birthplace of John Taylor Wood, who later became known as a lieutenant in the Confederate navy, serving on board the Merrimack at the Battle of Hampton Roads.</p><br>
<p>John Emerson purchased the slave Dred Scott in Saint Louis, Missouri, but he later worked and lived at Fort Snelling during much of the 1830s, having brought Dred and his wife Harriet Scott with him. The Missouri Compromise made slavery illegal in Minnesota Territory. Emerson took the Scotts back to Missouri, a slave state, where they sued for their freedom and that of their daughters, because they had been held illegally in a free territory. A longstanding precedent of "once free, always free" was overturned in this case, and the United States Supreme court case of Dred Scott v. Sandford (1857) ruled that the Missouri Compromise was unconstitutional and that African Americans had no standing under the constitution.</p><br>
<p>Career Army officer and artist Seth Eastman had two tours here, the second a lengthy one in the 1840s when he commanded the fort. He did many paintings and drawings of the Dakota and other Native American peoples while here, and helped record their customs and lives. He was commissioned by Congress to illustrate the six-volume study of Indian Tribes of the United States by Henry Rowe Schoolcraft, which was published 1851-1857 with hundreds of his works.</p><br>
<p>As the towns of Minneapolis and Saint Paul, Minnesota were developed in this area and increased in population, there was less need for a forward frontier military post in the region. The Army sold Fort Snelling to Franklin Steele in 1858 for $90,000. (Fortunately for Steele, the deal included 8000 acres (32 km²) later annexed into south Minneapolis.)</p><br>
<h3>Civil War and afterwards</h3><br>
<p>During the American Civil War, Franklin Steele leased Fort Snelling back to the War Department for use as an induction station. More than 24,000 recruits from Minnesota were trained here. During the Dakota War of 1862, the Army used it as an internment camp, holding hundreds of Dakota women, children, and elders as captives on the river flats below the fort through the winter of 1862–63. Hundreds died there. After the war, Steele leased the land around Fort Snelling to settlers, and Minneapolis began to expand into the fort&#39;s surroundings.</p><br>
<p>The United States Army assigned a garrison to Fort Snelling. The fort dispatched forces to protect the interests of the colonizers on the frontier from the Dakota people, westward to the Rocky Mountains. Soldiers from Fort Snelling fought in the Indian Wars and the Spanish–American War of 1898.</p><br>
<p>Through World War II, the War Department chose Fort Snelling as the location for the Military Intelligence Service Language School to teach the Japanese language to Army personnel. The War Department constructed scores of buildings for housing and teaching, and the school processed 300,000 soldiers. The school was relocated to Monterey, California after the war, in June 1946.</p><br>
<h3>Second decommissioning</h3><br>
<p>The War Department decommissioned Fort Snelling on 14 October 1946, and various federal agencies took parcels from the grounds of the old fort. The majority of the structures fell into disrepair. In 1960, it was listed as a National Historic Landmark, citing its importance as the first major military post in the region, and for its later history in the development of the United States Army.</p><br>
<p>Fort Snelling nevertheless continued to serve as headquarters of United States Army Reserve 205th Infantry Brigade, which comprised three light infantry battalions and attached field artillery, cavalry, air defense artillery, combat engineers, and supporting logistics units throughout the Upper Midwest. The Defense Department deactivated this unit in 1994 as a part of force-structure eliminations. Over the decades, the Army interred many deceased Minnesotan soldiers and other members of the United States Armed Forces at Fort Snelling National Cemetery. Some military facilities continue to operate around old Fort Snelling.</p><br>
<p>The Minnesota Historical Society has converted the area of the original walled fort into an educational establishment, rebuilt to resemble its original appearance, and staffed during the spring, summer and early fall with costumed personnel interpreting life at the early post. Although restoring and re-creating the original fort assures its survival as a historical artifact for the foreseeable future, many briefly used buildings of the fort gradually fell into serious disrepair and neglect. In May 2006, the National Trust for Historic Preservation added Upper Post of Fort Snelling to its list of "America&#39;s Most Endangered Places". Some restoration on historic Fort Snelling continues, and crews removed the flagpole from the iconic round tower and placed it in the ground, a change since its opening as a historic fort.</p><br>
<p>The United States Navy named an amphibious warfare ship, the, to honor the fort.</p><br>
<h2>Geography</h2><br>
<p>The fort is located on Fort Snelling Unorganized Territory, an unincorporated area and division of Hennepin County lying just east of the city of Richfield. It is also adjacent to the cities of Minneapolis, Bloomington, Saint Paul (across the Mississippi River), and Mendota Heights (across the Minnesota River). The fort is located at the eastern end of the territory, near the confluence of the Mississippi River with the Minnesota River.</p><br>
<p>Fort Snelling unorganized territory contains numerous military and other federal facilities. These facilities include historic Fort Snelling, its cemetery, and the Minneapolis Veterans Health Administration Medical Center. Minneapolis–St. Paul International Airport, however, includes most of the land area of the unorganized territory. According to the United States Census Bureau, this unorganized territory has a total area of 17.2 km² (6.7 mi²). 16.5 km² (6.4 mi²) of it is land and 0.8 km² (0.3 mi²) of it is water.</p><br>
<h2>Demographics</h2><br>
<p>As of the census of 2000, 442 people reside in the unorganized territory. The population density is 26.8/km² (69.5/mi²). The racial makeup of the unorganized territory is 94.57% White, 3.62% Black or African American, 1.36% Native American, 0.00% Asian, 0.23% Pacific Islander, and 0.23% of other races. 0.45% of the population is Hispanic or Latino of any race.</p><br>
<p>The population is spread out with 4.5% from 25 to 44, 33.0% from 45 to 64, and 62.4% who are 65 years of age or older. The median age is 69 years.</p><br>
<p>Males had a median income of $43,558 versus $0 for females. The per capita income is $24,328. None of the population is below the poverty line.</p><br>
<h2>Airport and economy</h2><br>
<p>Delta Air Lines Building C is located on the property of Minneapolis–St. Paul International Airport and in Fort Snelling. Delta uses it for northern and regional operations.</p><br>
<p>In 2009, as Northwest Airlines and Delta Airlines merged, Delta removed all employees from Building A, the previous headquarters of Northwest in Eagan, and all employees who remained in Minneapolis were moved to Building C, which was renovated. Facilities within the building include the Compass Airlines corporate headquarters, which moved there on December 16, 2009. the Regional Elite Airline Services headquarters, and Delta SkyBonus offices.</p><br>
<p>Prior to its disestablishment, Republic Airlines (1979–1986) had its headquarters in Building C. At various times both Mesaba Airlines and MAIR Holdings had their headquarters in the Fort Snelling UT.</p><br>
<p>The New Bedford River, also known as the Hundred Foot Drain because of the distance between the tops of the two embankments on either side of the river, is a man-made cut-off or by-pass channel of the River Great Ouse in the Fens of Cambridgeshire, England. It provides an almost straight channel between Earith and Denver Sluices. It is tidal, with reverse tidal flow being clearly visible at Welney, some 19 mi from the sea.</p><br>
<h2>History</h2><br>
<p>In the 1620s, there was discontent in the region through which the New Bedford River now flows, as the land was regularly inundated by flood water. Francis Russell, 4th Earl of Bedford, who owned large tracts of land in the vicinity, agreed to carry out drainage works in 1630, in return for 95,000 acre of the land which would be reclaimed. He was joined in the project by thirteen other adventurers, who formed a corporation and obtained a charter to carry out the work in 1634. The Dutch engineer Cornelius Vermuyden was engaged to oversee the work, which included nine major drainage channels, including the Bedford River, which ran from Earith to Salter&#39;s Lode. The tract of land through which it ran became known as the Bedford Level, and the scheme was declared to be complete in 1637. However, in 1638, that decision was reversed, and King Charles I became the undertaker to ensure the work was completed. The adventurers were given 40,000 acre for the work that had already been carried out, and further work was again to be overseen by Vermuyden, but little work was done, as the English Civil War intervened. The existing works were neglected, and some were deliberately damaged during the hostilities.</p><br>
<p>In 1649, interest in the drainage of the Bedford Level resumed, and a second Drainage Act was obtained. It became known as the Pretended Act, and authorised William Russell, the 5th Earl of Bedford, to carry out further work, the chief of which was a second channel parallel to the Bedford River. Vermuyden was again the engineer, and the new channel was completed in 1652. The Bedford River became known as the Old Bedford River, and the new channel became the New Bedford River. Sluices were built at Earith and Denver, and the river carried most of the flow of the River Great Ouse, resulting in its old course via Ely becoming just a drainage channel. The Corporation of the Bedford Level was set up, and took control of the river and the drainage channels, under the terms of the General Drainage Act, passed in 1663. This move was not popular with those engaged in navigation on the Great Ouse, as the sluices were operated for the benefit of the drainage scheme, and boats often had to wait for days or weeks while the sluices remained closed. The destruction of the Denver Sluice in 1713, caused by exceptional flood levels, was celebrated by the boatmen, but the resultant flooding led to the Corporation building a new sluice between 1748 and 1750. The concerns of the boatmen were placated by the provision of a navigation lock in the structure.</p><br>
<p>Some of the workers who built the New Bedford River may have been Scottish prisoners-of-war captured at the Battle of Dunbar, since a number of such prisoners were used on drainage schemes in the Fens, because labourers were scarce. After 1652, they were supplemented by Dutch prisoners, as a result of sea battles between Admiral Blake and Lieutenant-Admiral Tromp during the First Anglo-Dutch War, and probably by a colony of French workers stationed near Thorney Abbey.</p><br>
<p>Towards the northern end of the washes, the New Bedford River is joined by the River Delph at Welmore Lake Sluice. The origins of this channel, which is sometimes called the thirty-foot drain, are obscure, although it was built to assist the removal of water from the washlands, according to C. N. Cole writing in 1784. Prior to 1825, there was a dam where the sluice is located, and water was let out of the washland by cutting a slot in it, which the flood water enlarged as it passed through. The cost of rebuilding the dam at the end of the process was considerable, and this unsatisfactory arrangement was replaced by a sluice. At the same time, the New Bedford River was made wider and deeper, while some of the flood banks were also raised. At its southern end, the River Delph is connected to the Old Bedford River at a double bend near Welches Dam. The northern half of the Old Bedford River is no longer connected to its southern half. It is not known exactly when this configuration was built, although it may have been between 1789 and 1821, since Coles map of 1789 shows the Old Bedford River proceeding in a straight line, and Bakers map of 1821 shows two rivers, each with a double bend. Blair argues for a date soon after the New Bedford River was built, however, since Welches Dam is named after Edmund Welche, who worked with Vermuyden, and the dam in question was originally built across the Old Bedford River.</p><br>
<h2>Course</h2><br>
<p>The New Bedford River follows a fairly straight course, heading approximately north-east for 20.8 mi from Earith to Denver Sluice. While there are no real restrictions on the length or width of boats, draught is limited to 2 ft and headroom to 7.8 ft, although the river is tidal, and so these values can fluctuate depending on the state of the tide.</p><br>
<p>The area between the two Bedford Rivers, 20 mi long and 1,070 yd wide at their greatest separation near Welney, is below the rivers and below sea level, and is frequently flooded during winter. There is a sluice at Earith which is used to control the waters of the River Great Ouse. It was built with nine openings in 1637, but was subsequently rebuilt with seven openings in 1824, and again with three openings in 1954. When flows in the upper river are normal, the sluice gates are closed, and most of the flow is routed along the tidal New Bedford River. As flows increase, the sluices are opened, and water flows along the Old Bedford River, which progressively floods the 8.9 square miles of washlands which comprise the Ouse Washes. At Welney, these washes provide an ideal habitat for wildfowl and other birds, and the Wildfowl and Wetlands Trust has established a nature reserve here, the WWT Welney. The reserve occupies 990 acre, and is accessible from the A1101 bridge by following a minor road to the carpark, and then crossing the New Bedford River by a footbridge. It is important for its wild flowers, dragonflies and butterflies, as well as the birds, which are most numerous when the washland is flooded.</p><br>
<p>There are public footpaths on both sides of the river for most of its length, the only exception being a short section of the western bank near Earith. A long-distance footpath called the Hereward Way crosses the river by the A1101 bridge at Welney, and then follows the eastern bank southwards almost to the March to Ely railway line. It turns to the east a little before the bridge, following the north bank of the Engine Basin, a drainage channel which is pumped into the river by the Hundred Foot Pumping Station.</p><br>
<h2>Bibliography</h2><br>
<p>Ramsey Abbey was a Benedictine abbey in Ramsey, Huntingdonshire , England. It was founded in AD 969 and dissolved in 1537.</p><br>
<p>The site of the abbey in Ramsey is now a Scheduled Ancient Monument. Most of the abbey&#39;s buildings were demolished after the dissolution. Parts of a few buildings survive, and are now Grade I and Grade II* listed buildings.</p><br>
<h2>The Abbey</h2><br>
<p>Ramsey Abbey was founded in 969 by Saint Oswald, Bishop of Worcester through the gift of a local Earl, Ailwyn or Æthelwine. The foundation was part of the mid-10th century English Benedictine reform, in which Ely and Peterborough were also refounded. It paid 4,000 eels yearly in Lent to Peterborough Abbey for access to its quarries of Barnack limestone.</p><br>
<p>The important Ramsey Psalter or Psalter of Oswald (British Library) appears to have been made for Ramsey Abbey around 980. This is not to be confused with another Ramsey Psalter in the Pierpont Morgan Library, New York (MS M. 302), made between 1286 and 1316.</p><br>
<p>Æthelwine at the suggestion of Saint Oswald, Bishop of Worcester founded a small hermitage for three hermits with a wooden chapel at a location indicated by the actions of a bull, on the island of Ramsey with impassible fen on three sides. Impressed by the story Oswald sent a Prior from Westbury (Germanus) and 12 monks to form the Abbey. Starting in 969, a large stone-built church was built over the next five years. Two towers stood up at the topmost points of the roofs, the smaller one at the front of the Church towards the west, offered a beautiful sight from afar to people coming to the island. The larger one, in the middle of a four-armed structure rested on four columns stabilzed by connecting arches. This abbey building remained until a Norman abbot had a grander church built in the 12th century.</p><br>
<p>In 1143 Geoffrey de Mandeville expelled the monks, used the abbey as a fortress and considerably damaged the buildings.</p><br>
<p>An effigy of Ailwyn/Æthelwine dating from 1230 is thought to be within the Abbey.</p><br>
<p>In the order of precedence for abbots in Parliament, Ramsey was third after Glastonbury and St Alban&#39;s.</p><br>
<p>The abbey was an international centre of Hebrew scholarship in the late Middle Ages. It prospered until the Dissolution of the Monasteries in 1537. At the time of the Dissolution there were 34 monks.</p><br>
<p>In 1787 Mark Noble noted:</p><br>
<p>quote</p><br>
<p>The abbey of Ramsey, i.e. the Ram&#39;s isle, was one of the richest foundations in the kingdom: the abbot was mitred, and sat in the house of lords as baron of Broughton; the abbey had 387 hides of land, 200 of which were in Huntingdonshire: the monks were not famed for their liberality, if we believe the following ancient lines:</p><br>
<h2>After the Dissolution</h2><br>
<p>In 1540 the Crown sold the abbey lands to Sir Richard Williams (alias Cromwell). He used most of the abbey buildings as a source of stone for walls and cottages at hand, and to provide good Barnack stone for new buildings. He had part of the abbey gatehouse dismantled and re-erected at Hinchingbrooke House. Much stone was taken to Cambridge to build Gonville and Caius, Kings and Trinity colleges. Stone was taken for the tower for the parish church of St Mary the Virgin in Godmanchester. This included a doorway from the abbey that was dismantled and re-erected as the west doorway of St Marys. As late as 1672 stone for a new tower for Ramsey&#39;s own parish church of St Thomas a Becket was also taken from the Abbey.</p><br>
<p>Around 1600 Sir Henry Williams (alias Cromwell) had a house built on the site of the abbey church. Six bays of the 13th-century Lady Chapel survive as the basement of the house.</p><br>
<p>In 1737 Coulson Fellowes, later MP for Huntingdonshire, bought the house. It passed down through several generations of the family. In 1804–06 William Henry Fellowes had the abbey house enlarged to designs by Sir John Soane. In 1889 his sone Edward Fellowes was created 1st Baron de Ramsey. In 1931 at the coming of age of John Ailwyn Fellowes, 4th Baron de Ramsey the family moved its seat to Abbots Ripton Hall. In 1937 the Fellowes leased the building for 99 years to Ramsey Abbey School. In 1952 Ailwyn Fellowes, 3rd Baron de Ramsey gave the gatehouse to the National Trust in memory of his sister Diana Broughton.</p><br>
<h2>Surviving buildings and artefacts</h2><br>
<p>Ramsey Abbey House, the Gatehouse, and the parish church of St Thomas a Becket all survive, along with part of the abbey&#39;s Medieval precinct wall.</p><br>
<p>Ramsey Abbey House, the former 17th century home of Sir Henry Cromwell and latterly the seat of the Fellowes family, is currently part of Abbey College.</p><br>
<p>The Abbey Gatehouse is a National Trust property. This is believed to be an inner gatehouse, the main outer gatehouse was removed by the son and heir of Sir Richard (Sir Henry Williams (alias Cromwell)) to form the main gateway to Hinchingbrooke House in Huntingdon, his newly built winter residence. Today what remains of the gatehouse also forms a part of the Abbey College.</p><br>
<p>The Church of St Thomas a Becket, Ramsey was built in about 1180 or 1190 as either the hospitium or the infirmary of the abbey. It was originally an aisled hall with a chapel at the east end with a vestry on the north side and the warden&#39;s lodgings on the south, but both these have been demolished. The building was converted into the parish church in about 1222.</p><br>
<p>When Whittlesey Mere was drained, a thurible and other silver items were found in the bed of the mere and from the ram&#39;s head on one of these pieces were believed to have come from the Abbey. The thurible (or censer), and an incense boat are now in the Victoria and Albert Museum. Also found in the bed were blocks of quarried stone, that are conjectured to have fallen from a barge on the way to the Abbey.</p><br>
<h2>Burials</h2><br>
<p>Saint Felix of Burgundy, whose remains were publicly displayed as relics</p><br>
<p>Ivo of Ramsey who gave his name to St Ives, Huntingdonshire</p><br>
<h2>Abbots</h2><br>
<p>The names of abbots from AD 993 onwards are known. Notable among them are:</p><br>
<p>Eadnoth the Younger, who was also Bishop of Dorchester, and was killed at the Battle of Assandun in 1016</p><br>
<p>Herbert de Losinga, the first Bishop of Norwich, who died in 1119</p><br>
<p>Walter, abbot from 1133-1161, during the reign of Stephen and the invasion of Ramsey by Geoffrey de Mandeville, first Earl of Essex.</p><br>
<p>Tel Lachish , is the site of an ancient Near East city, now an archaeological site and an Israeli national park. Lachish is located in the Shephelah region of Israel between Mount Hebron and the Mediterranean coast. It is first mentioned in the Amarna letters as Lakisha-Lakiša . According to the Bible, the Israelites captured and destroyed Lachish for joining the league against the Gibeonites . The territory was later assigned to the tribe of Judah  and became part of the Kingdom of Israel.</p><br>
<p>Of the cities in ancient Judah, Lachish was second in importance only to Jerusalem. One of the Lachish letters warns of the impending Babylonian destruction. It reads: "Let my lord know that we are watching over the beacon of Lachish, according to the signals which my lord gave, for Azekah is not seen." According to the prophet Jeremiah, Lachish and Azekah were the last two Judean cities before the conquest of Jerusalem (Jer. 34:7). This pottery inscription can be seen at the Israel Museum in Jerusalem.</p><br>
<h2>History</h2><br>
<p>Occupation at the site of Lachish began during the Pottery Neolithic period (5500–4500 BCE). Major development began in the Early Bronze Age (3300–3000 BCE). During the Middle Bronze II (2000–1650 BCE), the Canaanite settlement came under strong Egyptian influence. The next peak was the late Late Bronze Age (1650–1200 BCE), when Lachish is mentioned in the Amarna letters. This phase of the city was destroyed in a fire ca. 1150 BCE. The city, under protection of the New Kingdom of Egypt, was rebuilt by the Caananites. One of the two discovered temples was built at the northwest corner of the mound, outside the city limits and within the disused moat, which led the archaeologists to call it the Fosse Temple. However, this settlement was soon destroyed by another fire, perhaps from an invasion by the Sea Peoples or Israelites. The mound was abandoned for two centuries.</p><br>
<p>Rebuilding of the city began in the Early Iron Age during the 10th and 9th centuries BCE when it was settled by the Israelites. The unfortified settlement may have been destroyed c. 925 BCE by Egyptian Pharaoh Sheshonk I. In the first half of the 9th century BCE, under the kings Asa and Jehoshaphat, Lachish became an important city in the kingdom of Judah. It was heavily fortified with massive walls and ramparts and a royal palace was built on a platform in the center of the city. Lachish was the foremost among several fortified cities and strongholds guarding the valleys that lead up to Jerusalem and the interior of the country against enemies which usually approached from the coast.</p><br>
<p>In 701 BCE, during the revolt of king Hezekiah against Assyria, it was besieged and captured by Sennacherib despite the defenders&#39; determined resistance.</p><br>
<p>Some scholars believe that the fall of Lachish actually occurred during a second campaign in the area by Sennacherib ca. 688 BCE. The site now contains the only remains of an Assyrian siege ramp discovered so far. Sennacherib later devoted a whole room in his "Palace without a rival", the South-west palace in Nineveh, for artistic representations of the siege on large alabaster slabs, most of which are now on display in the British Museum. They hold depictions of Assyrian siege ramps, battering rams, sappers, and other siege machines and army units, along with Lachishs architecture and its final surrender. In combination with the archaeological finds, they give a good understanding of siege warfare of the period. So much attention was given to the success at Lachish also because, unlike it, Jerusalem managed to withstand Sennacheribs onslaught.</p><br>
<p>The town was rebuilt in the late 7th century BCE during the decline of the Neo-Assyrian Empire. However, the city fell to Nebuchadnezzar in his campaign against Judah in 586 BCE.</p><br>
<p>Modern excavation of the site has revealed that the Assyrians built a stone and dirt ramp up to the level of the Lachish city wall, thereby allowing the soldiers to charge up the ramp and storm the city. Excavations revealed approximately 1,500 skulls in one of the caves near the site, and hundreds of arrowheads on the ramp and at the top of the city wall, indicating the ferocity of the battle. The city occupied an area of 8 hectare and was finally destroyed in 587 BCE. Residents were exiled as part of the Babylonian captivity.</p><br>
<p>During Babylonian occupation, a large residence was built on the platform that had once supported the Israeli palace. At the end of the captivity, some exiled Jews returned to Lachish and built a new city with fortifications. Under the Babylonian or Achaemenid Empire, a large altar (known as the Solar Shrine) on the east section of the mound was built. The shrine was abandoned after the area fell in the hands of Alexander the Great. The tell has been unoccupied since then.</p><br>
<h2>Biblical references</h2><br>
<p>Lachish is mentioned in several books in the Hebrew Bible. The Book of Joshua refers to Lachish in chapter 10 (verses 3, 5, 23, and 31-35), describing the Israelite conquest of Caanan. Japhia, the King of Lachish, is listed as one of the Five Amorite Kings that allied to repel the invasion. After a surprise attack from the Israelites, the kings took refuge in a cave, where they were captured and put to death. Joshua and the Israelites then took the city of Lachish after a two-day siege, exterminating the populace. In 12:11, the King of Lachish is mentioned as one of the thirty-one kings conquered by Joshua. The city is assigned to the Tribe of Judah in 15:39 as part of the western foothills.</p><br>
<p>Rehoboam son of Solomon&#39;s fortifications of Lachish are recorded in II Chronicles (11:9). In II Kings (14:19) and II Chronicles 25:27, Amaziah of Judah flees to Lachish after he was defeated by Jehoash of Israel, where he is captured and executed.</p><br>
<p>The Book of Micah (1:13) warns the residents of Lachish that the destruction of Samaria by the Assyrians will soon spread to Judah. II Kings 18:14 mentions the Siege of Lachish; Hezekiah sends a message there offering tribute to Sennacherib in exchange for the city. In verse 17, the Assyrians leave Lachish and head to Jerusalem to begin the unsuccessful Assyrian Siege of Jerusalem. This is also mentioned in II Chronicles 32:9 and Isaiah 36:2. The Israelites learn of the departure of the Assyrians from Lachish in II Kings 19:8 and Isaiah 37:8.</p><br>
<p>The Book of Jeremiah (34:7) lists Lachish as one of the last three fortified cities in Judah to fall to the Babylonian king Nebuchadnezzar II. In the Book of Nehemiah (11:30) Lachish is mentioned as an area where the people of Judah settled during the time of the Achaemenid Empire.</p><br>
<h2>Identification</h2><br>
<p>During the 19th and early 20th centuries, Lachish was identified with Tell el-Hesi from a cuneiform tablet found there (EA 333). The tablet is a letter from an Egyptian official named Paapu, reporting cases of treachery involving a local kinglet, Zimredda. However this hypothesis is no longer accepted.</p><br>
<p>More recent excavations have identified Tell ed-Duweir as Lachish.</p><br>
<h2>Archaeology</h2><br>
<p>The site of Tell ed-Duweir was first excavated in 4 seasons between 1932 and 1938 by the Wellcome-Marston Archaeological Research Expedition. The work was led initially by James Leslie Starkey until he was murdered by Arab bandits. The effort was completed by Olga Tufnell; publication, identifying seven occupation levels, was completed in 1958. In 1966 and 1968, in a dig which focused mainly on the "Solar Shrine", Yohanan Aharoni worked the site on behalf of Hebrew University</p><br>
<p>and Tel Aviv University.</p><br>
<p>Excavation and restoration work was conducted between 1973 and 1994 by a Tel Aviv University Institute of Archaeology and Israel Exploration Society team led by David Ussishkin. The excavation focused on the Late Bronze (1550–1200 BCE) and Iron Age (1200–587 BCE) levels.</p><br>
<h3>Paleo-Hebrew letters on ostraca</h3><br>
<p>Excavation campaigns by James Leslie Starkey recovered a number of Hebrew letters, written on pieces of pottery, so-called ostraca. Eighteen letters were found in 1935 and three more in 1938, all written in Paleo-Hebrew script. They were from the latest occupational level immediately before the Chaldean siege of 587 BC. At the time, they formed the only known corpus of documents in classical Hebrew that had come down to us outside of the Hebrew Bible.</p><br>
<h3>LMLK seals</h3><br>
<p>Another major contribution to Biblical archaeology from excavations at Lachish are the LMLK seals, which were stamped on the handles of a particular form of ancient storage jar. More of these artifacts were found at this site (over 400; Ussishkin, 2004, pp. 2151–9) than any other place in Israel (Jerusalem remains in second place with more than 300). Most of them were collected from the surface during Starkeys excavations, but others were found in Level 1 (Persian and Greek era), Level 2 (period preceding Babylonian conquest by Nebuchadnezzar), and Level 3 (period preceding Assyrian conquest by Sennacherib). It is thanks to the work of David Ussishkins team that eight of these stamped jars were restored, thereby demonstrating lack of relevance between the jar volumes (which deviated as much as 5 gallons or 12 litres), and also proving their relation to the reign of Biblical king Hezekiah.</p><br>
<p>The 1898 Reference by Bliss, contains numerous drawings, including examples of Phoenician, etc. pottery, and items from pharaonic Egypt, and other Mediterranean, and inland regions.</p><br>
<h3>The fourth expedition to Lachish</h3><br>
<p>In 2013, a fourth expedition to Lachish was begun under the direction of Yosef Garfinkel, Michael G. Hasel, and Martin G. Klingbeil to investigate the Iron Age history of the site on behalf of the Institute of Archaeology, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, and the Institute of Archaeology, Southern Adventist University. Other consortium institutions include Virginia Commonwealth University, Oakland University and Korea Biblical Geography Research Institute. An expedition found indications of Hezekiah&#39;s position against idolatry.</p><br>
<p>St Kilda  is an isolated archipelago situated 64 km west-northwest of North Uist, in the North Atlantic Ocean. It contains the westernmost islands of the Outer Hebrides of Scotland. The largest island is Hirta, whose sea cliffs are the highest in the United Kingdom; three other islands  were also used for grazing and seabird hunting. The islands are administratively a part of the Comhairle nan Eilean Siar local authority area.</p><br>
<p>The origin of the name St Kilda is a matter of conjecture. The islands&#39; human heritage includes numerous unique architectural features from the historic and prehistoric periods, although the earliest written records of island life date from the Late Middle Ages. The medieval village on Hirta was rebuilt in the 19th century, but illnesses brought by increased external contacts through tourism, and the upheaval of the First World War contributed to the island&#39;s evacuation in 1930. The story of St Kilda has attracted artistic interpretations, including Michael Powell&#39;s film The Edge of the World and an opera.</p><br>
<p>Permanent habitation on the islands possibly extends back at least two millennia, the population probably never exceeding 180 (and certainly no more than 100 after 1851). The entire remaining population was evacuated from Hirta (the only inhabited island) in 1930. The islands house a unique form of stone structure known as cleitean, which are only found here. A cleit is a stone storage hut or bothy; whilst many are still to be found, they are slowly falling into disrepair. There are known to be 1,260 cleitean on Hirta and a further 170 on the other group islands. Currently, the only year-round residents are military personnel; a variety of conservation workers, volunteers and scientists spend time there in the summer months.</p><br>
<p>The entire archipelago is owned by the National Trust for Scotland. It became one of Scotland&#39;s six World Heritage Sites in 1986, and is one of the few in the world to hold joint status for both its natural and cultural qualities. Parties of volunteers work on the islands in the summer to restore the many ruined buildings that the native St Kildans left behind. They share the island with a small military base established in 1957.</p><br>
<p>Two different early sheep types have survived on these remote islands, the Soay, a Neolithic type, and the Boreray, an Iron Age type. The islands are a breeding ground for many important seabird species including northern gannets, Atlantic puffins, and northern fulmars. The St Kilda wren and St Kilda field mouse are endemic subspecies.</p><br>
<h2>Origin of names</h2><br>
<p>Various theories have been proposed for the word Kilda&#39;s origin, which dates from the late 16th century. No saint is known by the name. Haswell-Smith (2004) notes that the full name St Kilda first appears on a Dutch map dated 1666, and that it might have been derived from Norse sunt kelda ("sweet wellwater") or from a mistaken Dutch assumption that the spring Tobar Childa was dedicated to a saint. (Tobar Childa is a tautological placename, consisting of the Gaelic and Norse words for well, i.e., "well well").</p><br>
<p>Maclean (1972) similarly suggests it comes from a corruption of the Old Norse name for the spring on Hirta, Childa, and states that a 1588 map identifies the archipelago as Kilda. He also speculates that it refers to the Culdees, anchorites who might have brought Christianity to the island, or be a corruption of the Gaelic name for the main island of the group, since the islanders tended to pronounce r as l, and thus habitually referred to the island as Hilta. Steel (1988) adds weight to the idea, noting that the islanders pronounced the H with a "somewhat guttural quality", making the sound they used for Hirta "almost" Kilta. Similarly, St Kilda speakers interviewed by the School of Scottish Studies in the 1960s show individual speakers using t-initial forms, leniting to /h/, e.g. ann an Tirte and gu Hirte .</p><br>
<p>Maclean (1972) further suggests that the Dutch simply made a cartographical error, and confused Hirta with Skildar, the old name for Haskeir island much nearer the main Outer Hebrides archipelago. Quine (2000) hypothesises that the name is derived from a series of cartographical errors, starting with the use of the Old Icelandic Skildir ("shields") and appearing as Skildar on a map by Nicholas de Nicolay (1583). This, so the hypothesis goes, was transcribed in error by Lucas J. Waghenaer in his 1592 charts without the trailing r and with a full stop after the S, creating S.Kilda. This was in turn assumed to stand for a saint by others, creating the form that has been used for several centuries, St Kilda.</p><br>
<p>The origin of Hirta, which long pre-dates St Kilda, is similarly open to interpretation. Martin (1703) avers that "Hirta is taken from the Irish Ier, which in that language signifies west". Maclean offers several options, including an (unspecified) Celtic word meaning "gloom" or "death", or the Scots Gaelic h-Iar-Tìr ("westland"). Drawing on an Icelandic saga describing an early 13th-century voyage to Ireland that mentions a visit to the islands of "Hirtir", he speculates that the shape of Hirta resembles a stag, (Hirtir meaning "stags" in Norse). Steel (1998) quotes the view of Reverend Neil Mackenzie, who lived there from 1829 to 1844, that the name is derived from the Gaelic Ì Àrd ("high island"), and a further possibility that it is from the Norse Hirt ("shepherd"). In a similar vein, Murray (1966) speculates that the Norse Hirðö, pronounced &#39;Hirtha&#39; ("herd island"), could be the origin. All the names of and on the islands are fully discussed by Coates (1990).</p><br>
<h2>History</h2><br>
<h3>Prehistory</h3><br>
<p>It has been known for some time that St Kilda was continuously inhabited for two millennia or more, from the Bronze Age to the 20th century. Recently, the first direct evidence of earlier Neolithic settlement emerged—shards of pottery of the Hebridean ware style, found to the east of the village. The subsequent discovery of a quarry for stone tools on Mullach Sgar above Village Bay led to finds of numerous stone hoe-blades, grinders and Skaill knives in the Village Bay cleitean—unique stone storage buildings (see below). These tools are also probably of Neolithic origin.</p><br>
<h3>14th to 17th century</h3><br>
<p>The first written record of St Kilda may date from 1202 when an Icelandic cleric wrote of taking shelter on "the islands that are called Hirtir". Early reports mentioned finds of brooches, an iron sword and Danish coins, and the enduring Norse place names indicate a sustained Viking presence on Hirta, but the visible evidence has been lost. The first English language reference is from the late 14th century, when John of Fordun mentioned &#39;the isle of Irte, which is agreed to be under the Circius and on the margins of the world&#39;. The islands were historically part of the domain of the MacLeods of Harris, whose steward was responsible for the collection of rents in kind and other duties. The first detailed report of a visit to the islands dates from 1549, when Donald Munro suggested that: "The inhabitants thereof ar simple poor people, scarce learnit in aney religion, but M’Cloyd of Herray, his stewart, or he quhom he deputs in sic office, sailes anes in the zear ther at midsummer, with some chaplaine to baptize bairnes ther."</p><br>
<p>Despite the chaplain&#39;s best efforts, the islanders&#39; isolation and dependence on the bounty of the natural world meant their philosophy bore as much relationship to Druidism as it did to Christianity until the arrival of Rev. John MacDonald in 1822. Macauley (1764) reported the existence of five druidic altars, including a large circle of stones fixed perpendicularly in the ground near the Stallir House on Boreray.</p><br>
<p>Coll MacDonald of Colonsay raided Hirta in 1615, removing 30 sheep and a quantity of barley. Thereafter, the islands developed a reputation for abundance. At the time of Martin&#39;s visit in 1697 the population was 180 and the steward travelled with a "company" of up to 60 persons to which he "elected the most &#39;meagre&#39; among his friends in the neighbouring islands, to that number and took them periodically to St. Kilda to enjoy the nourishing and plentiful, if primitive, fare of the island, and so be restored to their wonted health and strength."</p><br>
<h3>Religion</h3><br>
<p>Visiting ships in the 18th century brought cholera and smallpox. In 1727, the loss of life was so high that too few residents remained to man the boats, and new families were brought in from Harris to replace them. By 1758 the population had risen to 88 and reached just under 100 by the end of the century. This figure remained fairly constant from the 18th century until 1851, when 36 islanders emigrated to Australia on board the Priscilla, a loss from which the island never fully recovered. The emigration was in part a response to the laird&#39;s closure of the church and manse for several years during the Disruption that created the Free Church of Scotland.</p><br>
<p>A missionary called Alexander Buchan went to St Kilda in 1705, but despite his long stay, the idea of organised religion did not take hold. This changed when Rev. John MacDonald, the "Apostle of the North", arrived in 1822. He set about his mission with zeal, preaching 13 lengthy sermons during his first 11 days. He returned regularly and raised funds on behalf of the St Kildans, although privately he was appalled by their lack of religious knowledge. The islanders took to him with enthusiasm and wept when he left for the last time eight years later. His successor, who arrived on 3 July 1830, was Rev. Neil Mackenzie, a resident Church of Scotland minister who greatly improved the conditions of the inhabitants. He reorganised island agriculture, was instrumental in the rebuilding of the village (see below) and supervised the building of a new church and manse. With help from the Gaelic School Society, MacKenzie and his wife introduced formal education to Hirta, beginning a daily school to teach reading, writing and arithmetic and a Sunday school for religious education.</p><br>
<p>Mackenzie left in 1844, and although he had achieved a great deal, the weakness of the St Kildans&#39; dependence on external authority was exposed in 1865 with the arrival of Rev. John Mackay. Despite their fondness for Mackenzie, who stayed in the Church of Scotland, the St Kildans "came out" in favour of the new Free Church during the Disruption. Mackay, the new Free Church minister, placed an uncommon emphasis on religious observance. He introduced a routine of three two-to-three-hour services on Sunday at which attendance was effectively compulsory. One visitor noted in 1875 that: "The Sabbath was a day of intolerable gloom. At the clink of the bell the whole flock hurry to Church with sorrowful looks and eyes bent upon the ground. It is considered sinful to look to the right or to the left."</p><br>
<p>Time spent in religious gatherings interfered seriously with the practical routines of the island. Old ladies and children who made noise in church were lectured at length and warned of dire punishments in the afterworld. During a period of food shortages on the island, a relief vessel arrived on a Saturday, but the minister said that the islanders had to spend the day preparing for church on the Sabbath, and it was Monday before supplies were landed. Children were forbidden to play games and required to carry a Bible wherever they went. Mackay remained minister on St Kilda for 24 years.</p><br>
<h3>Way of life</h3><br>
<p>Most modern commentators feel that the predominant theme of life on St Kilda was isolation. When Martin Martin visited the islands in 1697, the only means of making the journey was by open boat, which could take several days and nights of rowing and sailing across the ocean and was next to impossible in autumn and winter. According to a St Kilda diarist writing in 1908, vicious storms could be expected at any time between September and March. More modern records from the National Trust for Scotland record gales for 75 days a year with peak winds around 144 mph whilst peak wave heights on the Scottish west coast have been recorded at 16m.</p><br>
<p>Separated by distance and weather, the natives knew little of mainland and international politics. After the Battle of Culloden in 1746, it was rumoured that Prince Charles Edward Stuart and some of his senior Jacobite aides had escaped to St Kilda. An expedition was launched, and in due course British soldiers were ferried ashore to Hirta. They found a deserted village, as the St Kildans, fearing pirates, had fled to caves to the west. When the St Kildans were persuaded to come down, the soldiers discovered that the isolated natives knew nothing of the prince and had never heard of King George II either.</p><br>
<p>Even in the late 19th century, the islanders could communicate with the rest of the world only by lighting a bonfire on the summit of Conachair which would, weather permitting, be visible to those on the isles of Harris and the Uists, or by using the "St Kilda mailboat". This was the invention of John Sands, who visited in 1877. During his stay, a shipwreck left nine Austrian sailors marooned there, and by February supplies were running low. Sands attached a message to a lifebuoy salvaged from the Peti Dubrovacki and threw it into the sea. Nine days later it was picked up in Birsay, Orkney, and a rescue was arranged. The St Kildans, building on this idea, would fashion a piece of wood into the shape of a boat, attach it to a bladder made of sheepskin, and place in it a small bottle or tin containing a message. Launched when the wind came from the north-west, two-thirds of the messages were later found on the west coast of Scotland or, less conveniently, in Norway.</p><br>
<p>Another significant feature of St Kildan life was the diet. The islanders kept sheep and a few cattle and were able to grow a limited amount of food crops such as barley and potatoes on the better-drained land in Village Bay; in many ways the islands can be seen as a large mixed farm. Samuel Johnson reported that in the 18th century sheep&#39;s milk was made "into small cheeses" by the St Kildans. They generally eschewed fishing because of the heavy seas and unpredictable weather. The mainstay of their food supplies was the profusion of island birds, especially gannet and fulmar. These they harvested as eggs and young birds and ate both fresh and cured. Adult puffins were also caught by the use of fowling rods. A 1764 census described a daily consumption for each of the 90 inhabitants at the same of "36 wild fouls eggs and 18 fouls" (i.e. seabirds).</p><br>
<p>This feature of island life came at a price. When Henry Brougham visited in 1799 he noted that "the air is infected by a stench almost insupportable – a compound of rotten fish, filth of all sorts and stinking seafowl". An excavation of the Taigh an t-Sithiche (the "house of the faeries" – see below) in 1877 by Sands unearthed the remains of gannet, sheep, cattle and limpets amidst various stone tools. The building is between 1,700 and 2,500 years old, which suggests that the St Kildan diet had changed little over the millennia. Indeed, the tools were recognised by the St Kildans, who could put names to them as similar devices were still in use.</p><br>
<p>These fowling activities involved considerable skills in climbing, especially on the precipitous sea stacks. An important island tradition involved the &#39;Mistress Stone&#39;, a door-shaped opening in the rocks north-west of Ruival over-hanging a gully. Young men of the island had to undertake a ritual there to prove themselves on the crags and worthy of taking a wife. Martin Martin wrote:</p><br>
<p>Another important aspect of St Kildan life was the daily "parliament". This was a meeting held in the street every morning after prayers and attended by all the adult males during the course of which they would decide upon the day&#39;s activities. No one led the meeting, and all men had the right to speak. According to Steel (1988), "Discussion frequently spread discord, but never in recorded history were feuds so bitter as to bring about a permanent division in the community". This notion of a free society influenced Enric Miralles&#39; vision for the new Scottish Parliament Building, opened in October 2004.Balfour, Alan, and McCrone, David (2005) http://www.alanbalfour.com/books/parliament/chapter1/index.html Creating a Scottish Parliament" Edinburgh. StudioLR. . Retrieved 4 January 2008. Miralles wrote:</p><br>
<p>Whatever the privations, the St Kildans were fortunate in some respects, for their isolation spared them some of the evils of life elsewhere. Martin noted in 1697 that the citizens seemed "happier than the generality of mankind as being almost the only people in the world who feel the sweetness of true liberty", and in the 19th century their health and well being was contrasted favourably with conditions elsewhere in the Hebrides. Theirs was not a utopian society; the islanders had ingenious wooden locks for their property, and financial penalties were exacted for misdemeanours. Nonetheless, no resident St Kildan is known to have fought in a war, and in four centuries of history, no serious crime committed by an islander was recorded there.</p><br>
<h3>Tourism in the 19th century</h3><br>
<p>In 1898 and again in 1899 Norman Heathcote visited the islands and wrote a book about his experiences. During the 19th century, steamers had begun to visit Hirta, enabling the islanders to earn money from the sale of tweeds and birds&#39; eggs but at the expense of their self-esteem as the tourists regarded them as curiosities. It is also clear that the St Kildans were not so naïve as they sometimes appeared. "For example, when they boarded a yacht they would pretend they thought all the polished brass was gold, and that the owner must be enormously wealthy". The boats brought other previously unknown diseases, especially tetanus infantum, which resulted in infant mortality rates as high as 80 percent during the late 19th century. The cnatan na gall or boat-cough, an illness that struck after the arrival of a ship off Hirta, became a regular feature of life.</p><br>
<p>By the early 20th century, formal schooling had again become a feature of the islands, and in 1906 the church was extended to make a schoolhouse. The children all now learned English and their native Gaelic. Improved midwifery skills, denied to the island by John Mackay, reduced the problems of childhood tetanus. From the 1880s, trawlers fishing the north Atlantic made regular visits, bringing additional trade. Talk of an evacuation occurred in 1875 during MacKay&#39;s time as minister, but despite occasional food shortages and a flu epidemic in 1913, the population was stable at between 75 and 80, and no obvious sign existed that within a few years the millennia-old occupation of the island was to end.</p><br>
<h3>First World War</h3><br>
<p>Early in the First World War, the Royal Navy erected a signal station on Hirta, and daily communications with the mainland were established for the first time in the history of the islands. In a belated response, the German submarine SM U-90 arrived in Village Bay on the morning of 15 May 1918 and, after issuing a warning, started shelling the island. Seventy-two shells were fired, and the wireless station was destroyed. The manse, church, and jetty storehouse were damaged, but there was no loss of life. One eyewitness recalled: "It wasn&#39;t what you would call a bad submarine because it could have blowed every house down because they were all in a row there. He only wanted Admiralty property. One lamb was killed... all the cattle ran from one side of the island to the other when they heard the shots."</p><br>
<p>As a result of this attack, a 4-inch Mark III QF gun was erected on a promontory overlooking Village Bay, but it never saw action against the enemy. Of greater long-term significance to the islanders were the introduction of regular contact with the outside world and the slow development of a money-based economy. This made life easier for the St Kildans but also made them less self-reliant. Both were factors in the evacuation of the island little more than a decade later.</p><br>
<h3>Evacuation</h3><br>
<p>Numerous factors led to the evacuation of St Kilda. The islands&#39; inhabitants had existed for centuries in relative isolation until tourism and the presence of the military during the First World War led the islanders to seek alternatives to privations they routinely suffered. The changes made to the island by visitors in the nineteenth century disconnected the islanders from the way of life that had allowed their forebears to survive in this unique environment. Despite construction of a small jetty in 1902, the islands remained at the weather&#39;s mercy.</p><br>
<p>After the War, most of the young men left the island, and the population fell from 73 in 1920 to 37 in 1928. After the death of four men from influenza in 1926, there was a succession of crop failures in the 1920s. Investigations by the University of Aberdeen into the soil where crops had been grown have shown that there had been contamination by lead and other pollutants, caused by the use of seabird carcasses and peat ash in the manure used on the fields. This occurred over a lengthy period of time, as manuring practices became more intensive, and may have been a factor in the evacuation. The last straw came with the death of a young woman, Mary Gillies, who fell ill with appendicitis in January 1930 and was taken to the mainland for treatment. She later died in hospital. For many years it was assumed that she had died of appendicitis, but her son Norman John Gillies discovered in 1991 that she had in fact died of pneumonia, having given birth to a daughter who also died. All the cattle and sheep were taken off the island two days before the evacuation by the tourist boat, Dunara Castle, for sale on the mainland. However, all the island&#39;s working dogs were drowned in the bay because they could not be taken. On 29 August 1930, a ship called Harebell took the remaining 36 inhabitants to Morvern on the Scottish mainland, a decision they took collectively themselves.</p><br>
<p>The morning of the evacuation promised a perfect day. The sun rose out of a calm and sparkling sea and warmed the impassive cliffs of Oiseval. The sky was hopelessly blue and the sight of Hirta, green and pleasant as the island of so many careless dreams, made parting all the more difficult. Observing tradition the islanders left an open Bible and a small pile of oats in each house, locked all the doors and at 7 am boarded the Harebell. Although exhausted by the strain and hard work of the last few days, they were reported to have stayed cheerful throughout the operation. But as the long antler of Dun fell back onto the horizon and the familiar outline of the island grew faint, the severing of an ancient tie became a reality and the St Kildans gave way to tears.</p><br>
<p>The last of the native St Kildans, Rachel Johnson, died in April 2016 at the age of 93, having been evacuated at the age of 8.</p><br>
<p>In 1931, the islands&#39; laird, Sir Reginald MacLeod of MacLeod, sold them to Lord Dumfries, who later became the 5th Marquess of Bute. For the next 26 years they saw few people, save for the occasional summer visitors or a returning St Kildan family.</p><br>
<h3>Later military events</h3><br>
<p>The islands saw no military activity during the Second World War, remaining uninhabited, but three aircraft crash sites remain from that period. A Beaufighter LX798 based at Port Ellen on Islay crashed into Conachair within 100 m of the summit on the night of 3–4 June 1943. A year later, just before midnight on 7 June 1944, the day after D-Day, a Sunderland flying boat ML858 was wrecked at the head of Gleann Mòr. A small plaque in the church is dedicated to those who died in this accident. A Wellington bomber crashed on the south coast of Soay in 1942 or 1943. Not until 1978 was any formal attempt made to investigate the wreck, and its identity has not been absolutely determined. Amongst the wreckage, a Royal Canadian Air Force cap badge was discovered, which suggests it may have been HX448 of 7 OTU which went missing on a navigation exercise on 28 September 1942. Alternatively, it has been suggested that the Wellington is LA995 of 303 FTU which was lost on 23 February 1943.</p><br>
<p>In 1955 the British government decided to incorporate St Kilda into a missile tracking range based in Benbecula, where test firings and flights are carried out. Thus in 1957 St Kilda became permanently inhabited once again. A variety of military buildings and masts have since been erected, including a canteen (which is not open to the public), the Puff Inn. The Ministry of Defence (MOD) leases St Kilda from the National Trust for Scotland for a nominal fee.</p><br>
<h4>QinetiQ</h4><br>
<p>The main island of Hirta is still occupied year-round by a small number of civilians employed by defence contractor QinetiQ working in the military base on a monthly rotation. In 2009 the MoD announced that it was considering closing down its missile testing ranges in the Western Isles, potentially leaving the Hirta base unmanned.</p><br>
<p>In 2015 the base had to be temporarily evacuated due to adverse weather conditions.</p><br>
<h2>Architecture</h2><br>
<h3>Prehistoric buildings</h3><br>
<p>The oldest structures on St Kilda are the most enigmatic. Large sheepfolds lie inland from the existing village at An Lag Bho&#39;n Tuath (English: the hollow in the north) and contain curious &#39;boat-shaped&#39; stone rings, or &#39;settings&#39;. Soil samples suggest a date of 1850 BC, but they are unique to St Kilda, and their purpose is unknown. In Gleann Mòr, (north-west of Village Bay beyond Hirta&#39;s central ridge), there are 20 &#39;horned structures&#39;, essentially ruined buildings with a main court measuring about 3 by, two or more smaller cells and a forecourt formed by two curved or horn-shaped walls. Again, nothing like them exists anywhere else in Britain or Europe, and their original use is unknown. Also in Gleann Mòr is Taigh na Banaghaisgeich, the &#39;Amazon&#39;s House&#39;. As Martin (1703) reported, many St Kilda tales are told about this female warrior.</p><br>
<p>This Amazon is famous in their traditions: her house or dairy of stone is yet extant; some of the inhabitants dwell in it all summer, though it be some hundred years old; the whole is built of stone, without any wood, lime, earth, or mortar to cement it, and is built in form of a circle pyramid-wise towards the top, having a vent in it, the fire being always in the centre of the floor; the stones are long and thin, which supplies the defect of wood; the body of this house contains not above nine persons sitting; there are three beds or low vaults that go off the side of the wall, a pillar betwixt each bed, which contains five men apiece; at the entry to one of these low vaults is a stone standing upon one end fix’d; upon this they say she ordinarily laid her helmet; there are two stones on the other side, upon which she is reported to have laid her sword: she is said to have been much addicted to hunting, and that in her time all the space betwixt this isle and that of Harries, was one continued tract of dry land.</p><br>
<p>Similar stories of a female warrior who hunted the now submerged land between the Outer Hebrides and St Kilda are reported from Harris. The structure&#39;s forecourt is akin to the other &#39;horned structures&#39; in the immediate area, but like Martin&#39;s "Amazon" its original purpose is the stuff of legend rather than archaeological fact.</p><br>
<p>Much more is known of the hundreds of unique cleitean that decorate the archipelago. These dome-shaped structures are constructed of flat boulders with a cap of turf on the top. This enables the wind to pass through the cavities in the wall but keeps the rain out. They were used for storing peat, nets, grain, preserved flesh and eggs, manure, and hay, and as a shelter for lambs in winter. The date of origin of this St Kildan invention is unknown, but they were in continuous use from prehistoric times until the 1930 evacuation. More than 1,200 ruined or intact cleitean remain on Hirta and a further 170 on the neighbouring islands. House no. 16 in the modern village has an early Christian stone cross built into the front wall, which may date from the 7th century.</p><br>
<h3>Medieval village</h3><br>
<p>A medieval village lay near Tobar Childa, about 350 m from the shore, at the foot of the slopes of Conachair. The oldest building is an underground passage with two small annexes called Taigh an t-Sithiche (house of the faeries) which dates to between 500 BC and 300 AD. The St Kildans believed it was a house or hiding place, although a more recent theory suggests that it was an ice house.</p><br>
<p>Extensive ruins of field walls and cleitean and the remnants of a medieval &#39;house&#39; with a beehive-shaped annexe remain. Nearby is the &#39;Bull&#39;s House&#39;, a roofless rectangular structure in which the island&#39;s bull was kept during winter. Tobar Childa itself is supplied by two springs that lie just outside the Head Wall that was constructed around the Village to prevent sheep and cattle gaining access to the cultivated areas within its boundary. There were 25 to 30 houses altogether. Most were blackhouses of typical Hebridean design, but some older buildings were made of corbelled stone and turfed rather than thatched. The turf was used to prevent ingress of wind and rain, and the older "beehive" buildings resembled green hillocks rather than dwellings.</p><br>
<h3>Post Medieval structures</h3><br>
<p>The Head Wall was built in 1834 when the medieval village was abandoned and a new one planned between Tobar Childa and the sea some 700 feet (200 m) down the slope. This came about as the result of a visit by Sir Thomas Dyke Ackland, one of the members of parliament for Devon. Appalled by the primitive conditions, he gave money for the building of a completely new settlement of thirty new blackhouses. These houses were made of dry stone, had thick walls, and were roofed with turf. Each typically had only one tiny window and a small opening for letting out smoke from the peat fire that burnt in the middle of the room. As a result, the interiors were blackened by soot. The cattle occupied one end of the house in winter, and once a year the straw from the floor was stripped out and spread on the ground. In October 1860, several of the new dwellings were damaged by a severe gale, and repairs were sufficient only to make them suitable for use as byres. According to Alasdair MacGregor&#39;s analysis of the settlement, the sixteen modern, zinc-roofed cottages amidst the black houses and new Factor&#39;s house seen in most photographs of the native islanders were constructed around 1862.</p><br>
<p>One of the more poignant ruins on Hirta is the site of &#39;Lady Grange&#39;s House&#39;. Lady Grange had been married to the Jacobite sympathiser James Erskine, Lord Grange, for 25 years when he decided that she might have overheard too many of his treasonable plottings. He had her kidnapped and secretly confined in Edinburgh for six months. From there she was sent to the Monach Isles, where she lived in isolation for two years. She was then taken to Hirta from 1734 to 1740, which she described as "a vile neasty, stinking poor isle". After a failed rescue attempt, she was removed on her husband&#39;s orders to the Isle of Skye, where she died. The "house" on Hirta which carries her name is a large cleit in the Village meadows.</p><br>
<p>Boswell and Johnson discussed the subject during their 1773 tour of the Hebrides. Boswell wrote: "After dinner to-day, we talked of the extraordinary fact of Lady Grange’s being sent to St Kilda, and confined there for several years, without any means of relief. Dr Johnson said, if M’Leod would let it be known that he had such a place for naughty ladies, he might make it a very profitable island."Boswell, James (1785) Journal of a Tour to the Hebrides with Samuel Johnson, LL.D.</p><br>
<p>In the 1860s unsuccessful attempts were made to improve the landing area by blasting rocks. A small jetty was erected in 1877, but it was washed away in a storm two years later. In 1883 representations to the Napier Commission suggested the building of a replacement, but it was 1901 before the Congested Districts Board provided an engineer to enable one to be completed the following year. Nearby on the shore line are some huge boulders which were known throughout the Highlands and Islands in the 19th century as Doirneagan Hirt, Hirta&#39;s pebbles.</p><br>
<p>At one time, three churches stood on Hirta. Christ Church, in the site of the graveyard at the centre of the village, was in use in 1697 and was the largest, but this thatched-roof structure was too small to hold the entire population, and most of the congregation had to gather in the churchyard during services. St Brendan&#39;s Church lay over a kilometre away on the slopes of Ruival, and St Columba&#39;s at the west end of the village street, but little is left of these buildings. A new kirk and manse were erected at the east end of the village in 1830 and a Factor&#39;s house in 1860.</p><br>
<h3>Buildings on other islands</h3><br>
<p>Dùn means "fort", and there is but a single ruined wall of a structure said to have been built in the far-distant past by the Fir Bolg. The only "habitation" is Sean Taigh (old house), a natural cavern sometimes used as a shelter by the St Kildans when they were tending the sheep or catching birds.</p><br>
<p>Soay has a primitive hut known as Taigh Dugan (Dugan&#39;s house). This is little more than an excavated hole under a huge stone with two rude walls on the sides. The story of its creation relates to two sheep-stealing brothers from Lewis who came to St Kilda only to cause further trouble. Dugan was exiled to Soay, where he died; the other, called Fearchar Mòr, was sent to Stac an Armin, where he found life so intolerable he cast himself into the sea.</p><br>
<p>Boreray boasts the Cleitean MacPhàidein, a "cleit village" of three small bothies used on a regular basis during fowling expeditions. Here too are the ruins of Taigh Stallar (the steward&#39;s house), which was similar to the Amazon&#39;s house in Gleann Mòr although somewhat larger, and which had six bed spaces. The local tradition was that it was built by the "Man of the Rocks", who led a rebellion against the landlord&#39;s steward. It may be an example of an Iron Age wheelhouse and the associated remains of an agricultural field system were discovered in 2011. As a result of a smallpox outbreak on Hirta in 1724, three men and eight boys were marooned on Boreray until the following May. No fewer than 78 storage cleitean exist on Stac an Armin and a small bothy. A small bothy exists on the precipitous Stac Lee too, also used by fowlers.</p><br>
<h2>Geography</h2><br>
<p>The islands are composed of Tertiary igneous formations of granites and gabbro, heavily weathered by the elements. The archipelago represents the remnants of a long-extinct ring volcano rising from a seabed plateau approximately 40 m below sea level.</p><br>
<p>At 670 hectare in extent, Hirta is the largest island in the group and comprises more than 78% of the land area of the archipelago. Next in size are Soay (English: "sheep island") at 99 hectare and Boreray (&#39;the fortified isle&#39;), which measures 86 hectare. Soay is 0.5 km north-west of Hirta, Boreray 6 kilometres (4 mi) to the northeast. Smaller islets and stacks in the group include Stac an Armin (&#39;warrior&#39;s stack&#39;), Stac Lee (&#39;grey stack&#39;) and Stac Levenish (&#39;stream&#39; or &#39;torrent&#39;). The island of Dùn (&#39;fort&#39;), which protects Village Bay from the prevailing southwesterly winds, was at one time joined to Hirta by a natural arch. MacLean (1972) suggests that the arch was broken when struck by a galleon fleeing the defeat of the Spanish Armada, but other sources, such as Mitchell (1992) and Fleming (2005), suggest that the arch was simply swept away by one of the many fierce storms that batter the islands every winter.</p><br>
<p>The highest point in the archipelago, Conachair (&#39;the beacon&#39;) at 430 m, is on Hirta, immediately north of the village. In the southeast is Oiseval (&#39;east fell&#39;), which reaches 290 m, and Mullach Mòr (&#39;big hill summit&#39;) 361 metres (1,185 ft) is due west of Conachair. Ruival (&#39;red fell&#39;) 137 m and Mullach Bi (&#39;pillar summit&#39;) 358 m dominate the western cliffs. Boreray reaches 384 m and Soay 378 m. The extraordinary Stac an Armin reaches 196 m, and Stac Lee, 172 m, making them the highest sea stacks in Britain.</p><br>
<p>In modern times, St Kilda&#39;s only settlement was at Village Bay (Bàgh a&#39; Bhaile or Loch Hiort) on Hirta. Gleann Mòr on the north coast of Hirta and Boreray also contain the remains of earlier habitations. The sea approach to Hirta into Village Bay suggests a small settlement flanked by high rolling hills in a semicircle behind it. This is misleading. The whole north face of Conachair is a vertical cliff up to 427 m high, falling sheer into the sea and constituting the highest sea cliff in the UK.</p><br>
<p>The archipelago is the site of many of the most spectacular sea cliffs in the British Isles. Baxter and Crumley (1988) suggest that St Kilda: "...is a mad, imperfect God&#39;s hoard of all unnecessary lavish landscape luxuries he ever devised in his madness. These he has scattered at random in Atlantic isolation 100 miles from the corrupting influences of the mainland, 40 miles west of the westmost Western Isles. He has kept for himself only the best pieces and woven around them a plot as evidence of his madness."</p><br>
<p>Although 64 km from the nearest land, St Kilda is visible from as far as the summit ridges of the Skye Cuillin, some 129 km distant. The climate is oceanic with high rainfall, 1,400 mm, and high humidity. Temperatures are generally cool, averaging 5.6 &deg;C in January and 11.8 &deg;C in July. The prevailing winds, especially strong in winter, are southerly and southwesterly. Wind speeds average 13 km/h approximately 85 percent of the time and more than 24 km/h more than 30 percent of the time. Gale-force winds occur less than 2 percent of the time in any one year, but gusts of 185 km/h and more occur regularly on the high tops, and speeds of 209 km/h have occasionally been recorded near sea level. The tidal range is 2.9 m, and ocean swells of 5 m frequently occur, which can make landings difficult or impossible at any time of year. The oceanic location protects the islands from snow, which lies for only about a dozen days per year.</p><br>
<p>The archipelago&#39;s remote location and oceanic climate are matched in the UK only by a few smaller outlying islands such as the Flannan Isles, North Rona, Sula Sgeir, and the Bishop&#39;s Isles at the southern edge of the Outer Hebrides. Administratively, St Kilda was part of the parish of Harris in the traditional county of Inverness-shire. Today it is incorporated in the Comhairle nan Eilean Siar (Western Isles) unitary authority.</p><br>
<h2>Sheep</h2><br>
<p>On the inaccessible island of Soay are sheep of a unique type, which lived as feral animals and belonged to the owner of the islands, not to the islanders. These Soay sheep are believed to be remnants of the earliest sheep kept in Europe in the Neolithic Era, and are small, short-tailed, usually brown with white bellies, and have naturally moulting fleeces. About 200 Soay sheep remain on Soay itself, and soon after the evacuation a second feral population of them was established on Hirta, which at that time had no sheep; these now number between 600 and 1,700. A few Soays have been exported to form breeding populations in other parts of the world, where they are valued for their hardiness, small size and unusual appearance. On Hirta and Soay, the sheep prefer the Plantago pastures, which grow well in locations exposed to sea spray and include red fescue (Festuca rubra), sea plantain (Plantago maritima) and sea pink (Armeria maritima).</p><br>
<p>The St Kildans kept up to 2,000 of a different type of sheep on the islands of Hirta and Boreray. These were a Hebridean variety of the Scottish Dunface, a primitive sheep probably similar to those kept throughout Britain during the Iron Age. At the time of the evacuation all the islanders&#39; sheep were removed from Hirta, but those on Boreray were left to become feral, and these are now regarded as a breed in their own right, the Boreray. The Boreray is one of the rarest British sheep, and is one of the few remaining descendants of the Dunface (although some Scottish Blackface blood was introduced in the nineteenth century).</p><br>
<h2>Wildlife</h2><br>
<p>St Kilda is a breeding ground for many important seabird species. One of the world&#39;s largest colonies of northern gannets, totalling 30,000 pairs, amount to 24 percent of the global population. There are 49,000 breeding pairs of Leach&#39;s petrels, up to 90 percent of the European population; 136,000 pairs of Atlantic puffins, about 30 percent of the UK total breeding population, and 67,000 northern fulmar pairs, about 13 percent of the UK total. Dùn is home to the largest colony of fulmars in Britain. Prior to 1828, St Kilda was their only UK breeding ground, but they have since spread and established colonies elsewhere, such as Fowlsheugh. The last great auk (Pinguinus impennis) seen in Britain was killed on Stac an Armin in July 1840. Unusual behaviour by St Kilda&#39;s bonxies was recorded in 2007 during research into recent falls in the Leach&#39;s petrel population. Using night vision gear, ecologists observed the skuas hunting petrels at night, a remarkable strategy for a seabird.</p><br>
<p>Two wild animal taxa are unique to St Kilda: the St Kilda wren (Troglodytes troglodytes hirtensis), which is a subspecies of the Eurasian wren, and a subspecies of wood mouse known as the St Kilda field mouse (Apodemus sylvaticus hirtensis). A third taxon endemic to St Kilda, a subspecies of house mouse known as the St Kilda house mouse (Mus musculus muralis), vanished completely after the departure of human inhabitants, as it was strictly associated with settlements and buildings.</p><br>
<p>The St Kilda Dandelion (Taraxacum pankhurstianum) is an endemic species of dandelion, identified in 2012.</p><br>
<p>The archipelago&#39;s isolation has resulted in a lack of biodiversity. The most successful colonists with nearly two hundred species are the flies followed by beetles with approximately 140 species. There are no bees on the islands so the flies are probably important pollinators of plants. One beetle, the rare and endangered weevil, Ceutorhynchus insularis, is known from only Dùn and the Westmann Islands, an archipelago off the south-west coast of Iceland. Less than one hundred species of butterfly and moth occur, compared to 367 recorded on the Western Isles. Red admiral (Vanessa atalanta) and painted lady (Vanessa cardui) are two of only seven species of butterflies, both well known and common migrants. Common summer moths are the antler (Cerapteryx graminis), dark arches (Apamea monoglypha) and the migrant silver Y (Autographa gamma). One unusual moth recorded is the least carpet (Idaea rusticata), an occasional migrant, and in the UK, usually recorded in the south-east of England. On 4 September 2014 a rare vagrant oleander hawk-moth (Daphnis nerii) was recorded. Oleander is not found in the UK every year, and the larva have never been recorded in the Britain.</p><br>
<p>Plant life is heavily influenced by the salt spray, strong winds and acidic peaty soils. No trees grow on the archipelago, although there are more than 130 different flowering plants, 162 species of fungi and 160 bryophytes. Several rarities exist amongst the 194 lichen species. Kelp thrives in the surrounding seas, which contain a diversity of unusual marine invertebrates.</p><br>
<p>The beach at Village Bay is unusual in that its short stretch of summer sand recedes in winter, exposing the large boulders on which it rests. A survey of the beach in 1953 found only a single resident species, the crustacean isopod Eurydice pulchra.</p><br>
<h2>Nature conservation</h2><br>
<p>On his death on 14 August 1956, the Marquess of Bute&#39;s will bequeathed the archipelago to the National Trust for Scotland provided they accepted the offer within six months. After much soul-searching, the Executive Committee agreed to do so in January 1957. The slow renovation and conservation of the village began, much of it undertaken by summer volunteer work parties. In addition, scientific research began on the feral Soay sheep population and other aspects of the natural environment. In 1957 the area was designated a national nature reserve.</p><br>
<p>In 1986 the islands became the first place in Scotland to be inscribed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site, for its terrestrial natural features. In 2004, the WHS was extended to include a large amount of the surrounding marine features as well as the islands themselves. In 2005 St Kilda became one of only two dozen global locations to be awarded mixed World Heritage Status for both &#39;natural&#39; and &#39;cultural&#39; significance. The islands share this honour with internationally important sites such as Machu Picchu in Peru, Mount Athos in Greece and the Ukhahlamba/Drakensberg Park in South Africa.</p><br>
<p>The St Kilda World Heritage Site covers a total area of 24,201.4 hectare including the land and sea contained within a square with the coordinates 57°54&#39;36"N / 08°42&#39;W, 57°46&#39;N / 08°42&#39;W, 57°46&#39;N / 08°25&#39; 42"W, 57°54&#39;36"N / 08°25&#39;42&#39;W.</p><br>
<p>St Kilda is a Scheduled Ancient Monument, a National Scenic Area, a Site of Special Scientific Interest, and a European Union Special Protection Area. Visiting yachts may find shelter in Village Bay, but those wishing to land are told to contact the National Trust for Scotland in advance. Concern exists about the introduction of non-native animal and plant species into such a fragile environment.</p><br>
<p>St Kilda&#39;s marine environment of underwater caves, arches and chasms offers a challenging but superlative diving experience. Such is the power of the North Atlantic swell that the effects of the waves can be detected 70 m below sea level. In 2008 the National Trust for Scotland received the support of Scotland’s Minister for Environment, Michael Russell for their plan to ensure no rats come ashore from the Spinningdale, a UK-registered/Spanish-owned fishing vessel grounded on Hirta. There was concern that bird life on the island could be seriously affected. Fortunately, potential contaminants from the vessel including fuel, oils, bait and stores were successfully removed by Dutch salvage company Mammoet before the bird breeding season in early April.</p><br>
<h2>Media and the arts</h2><br>
<p>The steamship company running a service between Glasgow and St Kilda commissioned a short (18-minute) silent movie, St Kilda, Britain&#39;s Loneliest Isle. Released in 1928, it shows some scenes in the lives of the island’s inhabitants. In 1937, after reading of the St Kilda evacuation, Michael Powell made the film The Edge of the World about the dangers of island depopulation. It was shot on Foula, one of the Shetland Islands. The writer Dorothy Dunnett wrote a short story, "The Proving Climb", set on St Kilda; it was published in 1973 in the anthology Scottish Short Stories.</p><br>
<p>In 1982, the noted Scottish filmmaker and theatre director Bill Bryden made the Channel 4-funded film Ill Fares The Land about the last years of St Kilda. It is not currently on commercial release.</p><br>
<p>The fictional island of Laerg, which features in the 1962 novel Atlantic Fury by Hammond Innes, is closely based on Hirta.</p><br>
<p>The Scottish folk rock band Runrig recorded a song called "Edge of the World" on the album The Big Wheel, which dwells on the islanders&#39; isolated existence. The folk music singer/songwriter Brian McNeill wrote about one of St. Kilda&#39;s prodigal sons, a restless fellow named Ewan Gillies, who left St. Kilda to seek his fortune by prospecting for gold first in Australia and later California. The song recounts fortunes won and lost, his return to the island, and concludes with his inability to stay. Entitled "Ewan and the Gold", it was published on the album Back O&#39; The North Wind in 1991 and is the subject of McNeill&#39;s audio-visual presentation about the Scottish diaspora.</p><br>
<p>In a 2005 poll of Radio Times readers, St Kilda was named as the ninth greatest natural wonder in the British Isles. In 2007 an opera in Scots Gaelic called St Kilda: A European Opera about the story of the islands received funding from the Scottish Government. It was performed simultaneously at six venues in Austria, Belgium, France, Germany and Scotland over the summer solstice of 2007. As part of its legacy, the production left a year-long time lapse camera on Hirta. Britain&#39;s Lost World, a three-part BBC documentary series about St Kilda began broadcasting on 19 June 2008.</p><br>
<p>Stamps were issued by the Post Office depicting St. Kilda in 1986 and 2004. St Kilda was also commemorated on a new series of banknotes issued by the Clydesdale Bank in 2009; an image based on a historical photograph of residents appeared on the reverse of an issue of £5 notes.</p><br>
<p>In 2006, the documentary film https://web.archive.org/web/20131203094032/http://www.docsonline.tv/doc/390 "On the Edge of the World" by director Sylvestre Sbille was released. The film depicts the history of the life on the isle and follows UNESCO volunteers, working on St Kilda.</p><br>
<p>In 2009 Pròiseact nan Ealan, the Gaelic Arts Agency, announced plans to commemorate the evacuation on 29 August, (the 79th anniversary) including an exhibition in Kelvingrove Art Gallery. Comhairle nan Eilean Siar are planning a feasibility study for a new visitor centre to tell the story of St Kilda, although they have specifically ruled out using Hirta as a location.</p><br>
<p>Hirta Songs, a song cycle about and inspired by the archipelago was released in 2013 on the label Stone Tape Recordings by musician Alasdair Roberts and poet Robin Robertson.</p><br>
<p>In 2016 an album The Lost Songs of St Kilda was released. It included recordings of folk songs from the island played on the piano by Trevor Morrison, an elderly man who had been taught them as a child by a former St Kilda resident. The album also included orchestral arrangements of the songs by Sir James MacMillan and others.</p><br>
<p>In late 2016, during cataloguing by the National Register of Archives for Scotland (NRAS), a census of St Kilda from 1764 was discovered. It lists 90 people living on the remote archipelago on 15 June 1764 - 38 males and 52 females, including 19 families and nine individuals. It was described by the BBC. http://www.bbc.com/news/uk-scotland-highlands-islands-38450471 BBC Scotland</p><br>
<p>The Chelmer and Blackwater Navigation is the canalisation of the Rivers Chelmer and Blackwater in Essex, in the east of England. The navigation runs for 13.75 mi from Springfield Basin in Chelmsford to the sea lock at Heybridge Basin near Maldon. It was opened in 1797, and remained under the control of the original company until 2003. It is now run by Essex Waterways Ltd, a wholly owned subsidiary of the Inland Waterways Association.</p><br>
<h2>Route</h2><br>
<p>The navigation runs from Springfield Basin in Chelmsford to the sea lock at Heybridge Basin near Maldon. It has six bridges and drops 75 ft through 12 locks from the basin to the sea. There is also a set of flood gates at Beeleigh, which prevents water from the River Blackwater flooding the cut to Heybridge Basin. The navigation meanders in a broadly west to east direction between Chelmsford and Maldon, through countryside which is largely arable, and although it passes near to a number of villages, all of them are set back some distance from the waterway.</p><br>
<h2>History</h2><br>
<p>Prior to the actual construction of the navigation, there had been almost 120 years of proposals for such a scheme, and opposition from the port of Maldon, which anticipated that its revenues would fall if vessels could travel to Chelmsford. The first such scheme was proposed in 1677 by Andrew Yarranton, who published his idea in a work entitled England&#39;s Improvements by Sea and Land. Maldon objected and the scheme came to nothing. In July 1733, John Hore, who was involved in the Kennet, Stroudwater, and the Avon Navigation at Bristol, proposed two schemes, one to make the river navigable, and another to create a new cut between Chelmsford and Maldon. Despite the projected extra costs for a canal, Hore favoured the canal scheme, as he believed there would be less objection from the millers along the river route. Maldon again objected on commercial grounds, and the scheme was dropped.</p><br>
<p>The next schemes were proposed in 1762, when the canal engineers John Smeaton and Thomas Yeoman both carried out surveys for a possible route. Yeoman produced a second plan in 1765, and this was presented to Parliament. Yeoman had a high standing as a civil engineer, and the opponents to the scheme tried to engage a suitable engineer to counter the proposal, but many of the obvious choices, including James Brindley, declined because they were too busy. Eventually, Ferdinando and William Stratford took on the task, but both caught ague and fever, from which Ferdinando died, while William was ill for a year but then recovered. An Act of Parliament to authorise the plan was passed on 6 June 1766, with the stipulation that the work must be completed within 12 years, and that no work could start until 25 per cent of the capital had been raised. The scheme foundered because the required capital had not been subscribed.</p><br>
<p>Peter Muilman called a meeting in Chelmsford on 2 October 1772, to propose improvements to the river, but a subsequent meeting decided that a new cut would be a better solution. Muilman announced that this scheme would probably not require any locks, and advocated that he should build it once Robert Whitworth had surveyed it, but nothing came of this. Finally in 1792, with navigations in other parts of the country bringing increased prosperity to the towns they served, the people of Chelmsford decide to avoid the opposition of Maldon by bypassing it, and terminating the navigation at Heybridge, on the River Blackwater below Maldon. Under the direction of John Rennie Charles Wedge surveyed the route in 1792 and Matthew Hall surveyed it in 1793. The new route would increase the length of the navigation by about 2 mi, but this plan formed the basis of a Parliamentary Bill. Despite spirited opposition by Maldon, the bill became an Act of Parliament on 17 June 1793, creating The Company of the Proprietors of the Chelmer and Blackwater Navigation, with powers to raise £40,000 by the issuing of shares, and a further £20,000 if required. Work started soon afterwards, and although John Rennie was officially Chief Engineer, the project was managed by Richard Coates, who had also assisted Rennie on the Ipswich and Stowmarket Navigation. The grave of Richard Coates stands in Springfield churchyard, while Rennie&#39;s original survey book for the canal has been preserved.</p><br>
<p>The port of Maldon now tried to mitigate their loss, and with advice from Benjamin Latrobe, produced a plan to improve the Blackwater through Maldon to its junction with the Chelmer at Beeleigh, which was submitted to Parliament in 1793. Realising that this would make the final cut to Heybridge redundant, the Navigation Company opposed the Bill, and it was defeated. Latrobe submitted a revised scheme in April 1795, which was also defeated. This marked the end of his engineering career in Britain, as he emigrated to America shortly afterwards. Work continued on the navigation, with the first section from Heybridge Basin to Little Baddow opening in April 1796 and the navigation opening throughout on 3 June 1797. The final cost was around £50,000.</p><br>
<h2>Operation</h2><br>
<p>When completed, the length of the navigation was 13.8 mi. 12 locks lowered the level of the navigation by 75 ft from Springfield Basin in Chelmsford to the sea lock at Heybridge Basin. An additional stop lock protected the new cut from flooding at Beeleigh. Here, the navigation left the course of the River Chelmer, and joined that of the River Blackwater, before entering the final 2.5 mi of cut to Heybridge Basin. The waters of the River Blackwater were diverted into the Chelmer, flowing over a weir between Beeleigh Lock and the stop gates. The navigation was constructed with only 2 ft of water, which was the lowest statutory draught for any of the English commercial waterways. The locks were constructed to take barges which were 60 by and each could carry around 25 tons. They were horse-drawn, and remained so until the 1960s, when diesel outboard motors were fitted. The only branch was a cut to Langford Mill, built privately by Mr Westcomb. It was well used until the 1870s, but was unused after 1881.</p><br>
<p>A community developed around Heybridge Basin, with Richard Tovee, a sawyer by trade, and Thomas Malden, a coal merchant, both buying plots of land to further their trade. The Navigation Company built a granary, which was used to store perishable goods, while rope-makers and boat builders also established themselves nearby. Soon a pub and a brewery appeared, and the settlement steadily grew in size.</p><br>
<p>The Navigation experienced some teething problems, with floods in 1797 creating shoals which prevented the passage of barges. These got steadily worse, until Rennie was called back in 1799 to address the problem. Rennie was again recalled in 1805, when the mill owners complained about leakage through the locks and requested damages. Further improvements were made, including the rebuilding of Heybridge sea lock by James Green, and trade developed steadily. The first inland gasworks in Britain was built in Chelmsford in 1819, using coal brought up the navigation. Besides coal, bricks, stone, timber and general cargo was carried from Heybridge to Chelmsford, and the major cargo in the reverse direction was grain and flour. Local wharfs served the communities of Little Baddow, Boreham, Ulting and Heybridge. At its peak in the mid 19th century, the canal was carrying over 60,000 tons of cargo per year.</p><br>
<h2>Decline</h2><br>
<p>The Eastern Counties Railway reached Chelmsford in 1843, and a branch line from Witham reached Maldon in 1848, but there was never a direct line between the two towns. Although trade declined, the impact of the railways was less significant than on many canals. Following the Second World War, the sea lock into Heybridge Basin was extended to 107 by, so that coasters carrying timber from the continent could enter the basin to transfer their cargo to barges. Traffic slowly declined until the last load of timber was delivered to Browns Yard (now Travis Perkins) on Springfield Basin in 1972. Although commercial traffic ceased, the navigation continued to derive income from water abstraction and from the sale of wood from the willows which grow along the banks. The willow is used for making cricket bats, and the trees were first planted in the 1880s when one of the directors saw the need for alternative sources of income.</p><br>
<p>The navigation is unusual in that it was not nationalised in 1948 when most of the other waterways in the UK were, and remained under the control of the original Company of Proprietors of the Chelmer & Blackwater Navigation Ltd.</p><br>
<h2>Leisure era</h2><br>
<p>Prior to the cessation of commercial traffic in 1972, pleasure craft were prohibited from using the locks, but leisure use of the navigation was encouraged after that date. However, the Navigation Company was unable to pay its way, and went into administration in 2003. Although British Waterways were approached, they declined to take over the navigation. After negotiations with the Administrator, the Inland Waterways Association (IWA) signed a maintenance and operating agreement in November 2005 to take over responsibility for the running of the navigation through a wholly owned subsidiary called Essex Waterways Ltd.</p><br>
<p>While Essex Waterways Ltd manage the navigation from day to day, it is still owned by the Company of Proprietors. The towpath from Maldon to Chelmsford has been designated as a public footpath, and is maintained in good order. Narrow boats can be hired from Paper Mill lock, and the infrastructure is being steadily upgraded. Access to the navigation from the River Blackwater is only possible at certain states of the tide, and advance booking to use the sea lock is required.</p><br>
<p>Much of the maintenance is carried out by local volunteers as well as volunteers from Waterway Recovery Group, which is also part of the IWA. Regular working parties help to keep the waterway, including the towpath, locks and other structures well maintained, and many of the recent improvements have been undertaken by the volunteers.</p><br>
<h2>Points of interest</h2><br>
<h2>Bibliography</h2><br>
<p>Soli or Soloi  is an ancient Greek city in the island of Cyprus, located southwest of Morphou and on the coast in the gulf of Morphou and dates back to about the 6th century BC. Since 1974 the city has lain in the de facto Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus.</p><br>
<p>Originally, Soloi was located in a much constricted geographical location. At its current location, the whole urban centre was designed by Solon during his 10-year trip, after whom the name Soloi is commonly attributed. Reyes, however, disputes this etymological origin, as the name Soloi appears on the Esarhaddon prism predating Solon&#39;s visit. Soloi was one of the ten city-kingdoms into which Cyprus was divided at the time.</p><br>
<p>What remains today is mainly from the Roman period, most notably the mosaic floor of the basilica with its wealth of birds, animals and geometric designs and a picture of a swan. There is a theatre but it has been restored so much that it no longer has any atmosphere of its original age.</p><br>
<h2>Famous people from Soli</h2><br>
<p>Nicocles, son of Pasicrates, who accompanied Alexander to India (Arrian, Indica 18.8).</p><br>
<p>Stasanor, 4th century BC general of Alexander the Great and later governor of Drangiana, Bactria and Sogdiana, following the partition of Triparadisus (Arrian, Successors 35).</p><br>
<p>Hiero of Soli, who was sent by Alexander to circumnavigate the Arabian peninsula, and went as far as the mouth of the Persian Gulf.</p><br>
<p>Clearchus of Soli, 4th century BC peripatetician philosopher, thought to have been to Alexandria on the Oxus, in Bactria.</p><br>
<h2>The city of Soli in Cilicia and solecism</h2><br>
<p>There is also another city by the same name, Soli, Cilicia. The Athenians considered their dialect as uncultured and used the word σόλοικος to refer to incorrect speech, hence the English word solecism.</p><br>
<p>Avon Water, also known locally as the River Avon, is a 24 mi river in Scotland, and a tributary of the River Clyde.</p><br>
<p>The Avon Water rises in the hills on the boundary between East Ayrshire and South Lanarkshire, close to the head of the Irvine Water. The river flows in a north easterly direction, following the A71 road past Drumclog, and running to the south of Strathaven, where the river enters a more pronounced valley. The Avon flows between the village of Glassford, and Stonehouse to the south, before merging with the smaller Cander Water just south of Larkhall. The river then skirts the west side of Larkhall in a deepening gorge, crossed by the disused Larkhall railway viaduct.</p><br>
<p>Beyond this the gorge is part of Chatelherault Country Park, to the south of Hamilton. There are several public footpaths along this section of the gorge, although the area was once the preserve of the Duke of Hamilton, forming the hunting and pleasure grounds of the Dukes former home, Hamilton Palace. Many features of this period remain in the park, including the Dukes Bridge which crosses the gorge. Older structures along the gorge include the ruins of Cadzow Castle, started in the 13th century, and the Cadzow Oaks, a group of Oak trees, some of which are over 600 years old.</p><br>
<p>The river bends to the east at the end of the gorge, flowing beneath three bridges: one carrying the Argyle railway line, one carrying the A72 road, and the Old Avon Bridge, now a footbridge. The Avon Water flows north beneath the M74 motorway, merging into the Clyde between Hamilton and Motherwell, beside Junction 6 of the M74.</p><br>
<p>The Avon River that flows through the centre of the city Christchurch, New Zealand was named Avon at the request of the pioneering Deans brothers to commemorate this Scottish Avon, which rises in the Ayrshire hills near what was their grandfathers&#39; farm, Over Auchentiber.</p><br>
<p>Mount Vernon was the plantation house of George Washington, the first President of the United States, and his wife, Martha Dandridge Custis Washington. The estate is situated on the banks of the Potomac River in Fairfax County, Virginia, near Alexandria, across from Prince Georges County, Maryland. The Washington family had owned land in the area since the time of Washingtons great-grandfather in 1674. In 1739 they embarked on an expansion of the estate that continued under George Washington, who came into possession of the estate in 1754, but did not become its sole owner until 1761.</p><br>
<p>The mansion is built of wood in a loose Palladian style, and was constructed by George Washington in stages between 1758 and 1778. It occupies the site of an earlier, smaller house built by George Washingtons father Augustine, some time between 1726 and 1735. It remained Washingtons country home for the rest of his life. Following his death in 1799, under the ownership of several successive generations of the family, the estate progressively declined as revenues were insufficient to maintain it adequately. In 1858, the houses historical importance was recognized and it was saved from ruin by The Mount Vernon Ladies Association; this philanthropic organization acquired it together with part of the Washington property estate. Escaping the damage suffered by many plantation houses during the American Civil War, Mount Vernon was restored.</p><br>
<p>Mount Vernon was designated a National Historic Landmark in 1960 and is today listed on the National Register of Historic Places. It is still owned and maintained in trust by The Mount Vernon Ladies Association, and is open every day of the year, including Thanksgiving Day, Christmas Day and New Years Day. Allowing the public to see the estate is not an innovation, but part of a 200-year-old tradition started by George Washington himself. In 1794 he wrote: "I have no objection to any sober or orderly person&#39;s gratifying their curiosity in viewing the buildings, Gardens, &ca. about Mount Vernon."</p><br>
<h2>Name</h2><br>
<p>When George Washingtons ancestors acquired the estate, it was known as Little Hunting Creek Plantation, after the nearby Little Hunting Creek. However, when Washingtons older half-brother, Lawrence Washington, inherited it, he changed its name to Mount Vernon in honor of Vice Admiral Edward Vernon, famed for the War of Jenkins Ear and capture of the Portobelo, Colón. Vernon had been Lawrences commanding officer in the British Royal Navy. When George Washington inherited the property, he retained the name.</p><br>
<h2>Buildings and grounds</h2><br>
<p>The current property consists of 500 acre; the main buildings, including the house, are near the riverfront.</p><br>
<h3>Architecture</h3><br>
<p>The present house was built in phases from 1758, by an unknown architect, on the site of the Washingtons former farmhouse. This staggered and unplanned evolution is indicated by the off-center main door, which would once have been central to an earlier façade. As completed and seen today, the house is in a loose Palladian style. The principal block, dating from 1758, is a two-storied corps de logis flanked by two single-story secondary wings, built in 1775. These secondary wings, which house the servants hall on the northern side and the kitchen on the southern side, are connected to the corps de logis by symmetrical, quadrant colonnades, built in 1778. The completion of the colonnades cemented the classical Palladian arrangement of the complex and formed a distinct cour dhonneur, known at Mount Vernon as Mansion Circle, giving the house its imposing perspective.</p><br>
<p>The corps de logis and secondary wings have hipped roofs with dormers. In addition to its second story, the importance of the corps de logis is further emphasized by two large chimneys piercing the roof, and by a cupola surmounting the center of the house; this octagonal focal point has a short spire topped by a gilded dove of peace. This placement of the cupola is more in the earlier Carolean style than Palladian, and was probably incorporated to improve ventilation of the enlarged attic and enhance the overall symmetry of the structure and the two wings; a similar cupola crowns the Governor&#39;s House at Williamsburg, of which Washington would have been aware.</p><br>
<h3>Interior</h3><br>
<p>The rooms at Mount Vernon have mostly been restored to their appearance at the time of George and Martha Washingtons occupancy. These rooms include Washingtons study, two dining rooms (the larger known as the New Room), the West Parlour, the Front Parlour, the kitchen and some bedrooms.</p><br>
<p>The interior design follows the classical concept of the exterior, but owing to the mansion&#39;s piecemeal evolution, the internal architectural featuresthe doorcases, mouldings and plasterworkare not consistently faithful to one specific period of the 18th-century revival of classical architecture. Instead they range from severe Palladianism to a finer and later neoclassicism in the style of Robert Adam. This varying of the classical style is best exemplified in the doorcases and surrounds of the principal rooms. In the West Parlour and Small Dining rooms there are doorcases complete with ionic columns and full pediments, whereas in the hall and passageways the doors are given broken pediments supported only by an architrave. Many of the rooms are lined with painted panelling and have ceilings ornamented by plasterwork in a Neoclassical style; much of this plasterwork can be attributed to an English craftsman and emigree, John Rawlins, who arrived from London in 1771 bringing with him the interior design motifs then fashionable in the British capital.</p><br>
<p>Today, visitors to Mount Vernon are shown Washington&#39;s study, a room to which in the eighteenth century only a privileged few were granted entrée. It is a simply furnished room Washington used as a combined bathroom, dressing room and office; the room was so private that few contemporary descriptions exist. Its walls are lined with naturally grained panelling and matching bookcases.</p><br>
<p>In contrast to the privacy of the study, since Washingtons time, the grandest, most public and principal reception room has been the so-called New Room or Large Dining Rooma two-storied salon notable for its large Palladian window, occupying the whole of the mansions northern elevation, and its fine Neoclassical marble chimneypiece. The history of this chimneypiece to some degree explains the overall restrained style of the house. When it was donated to Washington by the English merchant Samuel Vaughan, Washington was initially reluctant to accept the gift, stating that it was: "too elegant & costly I fear for my own room, & republican stile of living."</p><br>
<p>A determined effort has to be made to restore the rooms and maintain the atmosphere of the eighteenth century; this has been achieved by using original color schemes, and by displaying furniture, carpets and decorative objects which are contemporary to the house. Throughout, George Washington and his family are evident through portraits and former possessions, expressing the preservation of the mansion as a personal memorial to the Washingtons as well as a nationally important museum.</p><br>
<h3>Grounds</h3><br>
<p>The gardens and grounds contain English boxwoods, taken from cuttings sent by Major General Henry Lee III ("Light Horse Harry" Lee, a Governor of Virginia and the father of Robert E. Lee), which were planted in 1786 by George Washington and now crowd the entry path. A carriage road skirts a grassy bowling green to approach the mansion entrance. To each side of the green is a garden, contained by a red brick wall. These Colonial Revival gardens grew the households vegetables, fruit and other perishable items for consumption. The upper garden, located to the north, is bordered by the greenhouse. Ha-ha walls are used to separate the working farm from the pleasure grounds that Washington created for his family and guests. The overseers quarter, spinning room, salt house, and gardener&#39;s house are between the upper garden and the mansion.</p><br>
<p>The lower garden, or southern garden, is bordered on the east by the storehouse and clerks quarters, smokehouse, wash house, laundry yard, and coach house. A paddock and stable are on the southern border of the garden; east of them, a little down the hillside, is the icehouse. The original tomb is located along the river. The newer tomb in which the bodies of George and Martha Washington have rested since 1831 is south of the fruit garden; the slave burial ground is nearby, a little farther down the hillside. A "Forest Trail" runs through woods down to a recreated pioneer farm site on low ground near the river; the 4 acre working farm includes a re-creation of Washingtons 16-sided treading barn.</p><br>
<p>A Museum and Education Center are on the grounds and exhibit examples of Washington&#39;s survey equipment, weapons, and clothing, as well as dentures worn by the first President.</p><br>
<p>The Fred W. Smith National Library for the Study of George Washington opened in September 2013. The Library fosters new scholarship about George Washington and safeguards original Washington books and manuscripts. The site is open for scholarship by appointment only.</p><br>
<h2>History</h2><br>
<h3>John Washington (1633–77)</h3><br>
<p>In 1674, John Washington (the great-grandfather of President Washington) and his friend Nicholas Spencer came into possession of the land from which Mount Vernon plantation would be carved, originally known by its Indian name of Epsewasson. The successful patent on the acreage was due largely to Spencer, who acted as agent for his cousin Thomas Colepeper, 2nd Baron Colepeper, the English landowner who controlled the Northern Neck of Virginia, in which the tract lay.</p><br>
<h3>Lawrence Washington (1659–1698)</h3><br>
<p>When John Washington died in 1677, his son Lawrence, George Washingtons grandfather, inherited his fathers stake in the property. In 1690, he agreed to formally divide the estimated 5,000 acre (20 km) estate with the heirs of Nicholas Spencer, who had died the previous year. The Spencers took the larger southern half bordering Dogue Creek in the September 1674 land grant from Lord Culpeper, leaving the Washingtons the portion along Little Hunting Creek. (The Spencer heirs paid Lawrence Washington 2,500 lb of tobacco as compensation for their choice.)</p><br>
<h3>Augustine Washington (1694–1743)</h3><br>
<p>Lawrence Washington died in 1698, bequeathing the property to his daughter Mildred. On 16 April 1726, she agreed to a one-year lease on the estate to her brother Augustine Washington, George Washingtons father, for a peppercorn rent; a month later the lease was superseded by Augustines purchase of the property for £180. He almost certainly built the original house on the site some time between then and 1735, when he and his family moved from Popes Creek to Eppsewasson, which he renamed Little Hunting Creek. The original stone foundations of what appears to have been a two-roomed house with a further two rooms in a half-story above are still partially visible in the present houses cellar.</p><br>
<h3>Lawrence Washington (1718–1752)</h3><br>
<p>Augustine Washington recalled his eldest son Lawrence (Georges half-brother) home from The Appleby School, England, in 1738 and set him up on the familys Little Hunting Creek tobacco plantation, thereby allowing Augustine to move his family back to Fredericksburg at the end of 1739.</p><br>
<p>In 1739, Lawrence, having reached his majority (age 21), began buying up parcels of land from the adjoining Spencer tract, starting with a plot around the Grist Mill on Dogue Creek. In mid-1740 Lawrence received a coveted officers commission in the Regular British Army, and made preparations to go off to war in the Caribbean with the newly formed American Regiment to fight in the War of Jenkins Ear. He served under Admiral Edward Vernon; returning home, he named his estate after his commander.</p><br>
<h3>George Washington (1732–1799)</h3><br>
<p>Lawrence died in July 1752, and his will stipulated that his widow should own a life estate in Mount Vernon, the remainder interest falling to his half-brother George; George Washington was already living at Mount Vernon and probably managing the plantation. Lawrences widow, Anne Fairfax, remarried into the Lee family and moved out. Following the death of Anne and Lawrences only surviving child in 1754, George, as executor of his brothers estate, arranged to lease "Mount Vernon" (or, more properly, his sister-in-laws life estate) that December. Upon the death of Anne Fairfax in 1761, he succeeded to the remainder interest and became sole owner of the property.</p><br>
<p>In 1758, Washington began the first of two major additions and improvements by raising the house to two-and-a half stories. The great majority of the work was performed by African American slaves and artisans.</p><br>
<p>Though no architect is known to have designed Mount Vernon, some attribute the design to John Ariss (1725–1799), a prominent Virginia architect who designed Paynes Church in Fairfax County (now destroyed) and likely Mount Airy in Richmond County. A friend of George Washington, to whom he leased his home, Ariss was the great-grandson of Col. Nicholas Spencer, the original patentee of Mount Vernon with the Washingtons. Other sources credit Col. Richard Blackburn, who also designed Rippon Lodge in Prince William County and the first Falls Church. Blackburns granddaughter Anne married Bushrod Washington, Georges nephew, and is interred at the Washingtons&#39; tomb on the grounds. Most architectural historians believe that the design of Mount Vernon is solely attributable to Washington alone and that the involvement of any other architects is based on conjecture.</p><br>
<h4>Agriculture and enterprise</h4><br>
<p>Washington had been expanding the estate by the purchase of surrounding parcels of land since the late 1750s, and was still adding to the estate well into the 1780s. From 1759 until the Revolutionary War, Washington, who at the time aspired to become a prominent agriculturist, had five separate farms as part of his estate. He took a scientific approach to farming and kept extensive and meticulous records of both labor and results.</p><br>
<p>In a letter dated 20 September 1765, Washington writes about receiving poor returns for his tobacco production:</p><br>
<p>In the same letter he asks about the prices of flax and hemp, with a view to their production:</p><br>
<p>The tobacco market had declined and many planters in northern Virginia converted to mixed crops. Like them, by 1766 Washington had ceased growing tobacco at Mount Vernon and replaced the crop with wheat, corn, and other grains. Besides hemp and flax, he experimented with 60 other crops including cotton and silk. He also derived income from a new gristmill which produced cornmeal and flour for export and also ground neighbors grain for fees. Washington similarly sold the services of the estates looms and blacksmith. He built and operated a small fishing fleet, permitting Mount Vernon to export fish. Washington also practiced the selective breeding of sheep in an effort to produce better quality wool.</p><br>
<p>The new crops were less labor-intensive than tobacco; hence, the estate had a surplus of slaves. But Washington refused to break up families for sale. Washington began to hire skilled indentured servants from Europe to train the redundant slaves for service on and off the estate.</p><br>
<p>Following his service in the war, Washington returned to Mount Vernon and in 1785–1786 spent a great deal of effort improving the landscaping of the estate. It is estimated that during his two terms as President of the United States (1789–1797), Washington spent a total of 434 days in residence at Mount Vernon. After his presidency, Washington tended to repairs to the buildings, socializing, and further gardening.</p><br>
<p>In his will, written several months before his death in December 1799, Washington left directions for the emancipation after Martha Washington&#39;s death, of all the slaves who belonged to him. Of the 318 slaves at Mount Vernon in 1799, a little less than half, 123 individuals, belonged to George Washington and were set free under the terms of his will.</p><br>
<p>When Martha Washington&#39;s first husband, Daniel Parke Custis, died without a will, she received a life interest in one-third of his estate, including the slaves. Neither George nor Martha Washington could free these slaves by law. Upon her death, they reverted to the Custis estate and were divided among her grandchildren. By 1799, 153 slaves at Mount Vernon were part of this dower property.</p><br>
<p>In accordance with state law, George Washington stipulated in his will that elderly slaves or those who were too sick to work were to be supported throughout their lives by his estate. Children without parents, or those whose families were too poor or indifferent to see to their education, were to be bound out (or apprenticed) to masters and mistresses who would teach them reading, writing, and a useful trade, until they were ultimately freed at the age of twenty-five.</p><br>
<p>In December 1800, Martha Washington signed a deed of manumission for her deceased husband&#39;s slaves, a transaction which is recorded in the abstracts of the Fairfax County, Virginia, Court Records. The slaves finally received their freedom on 1 January 1801.</p><br>
<h2>Washington's Tomb</h2><br>
<p>On 12 December 1799, Washington spent several hours riding over the plantation, in snow, hail and freezing rain. He ate his supper later that evening without changing from his wet clothes. The following day, he awoke with a severe sore throat (either quinsy or acute epiglottitis) and became increasingly hoarse as the day progressed. All the available medical treatments failed to improve his condition, and he died at Mount Vernon at around 10pm on Saturday, 14 December 1799, aged 67.</p><br>
<p>On 18 December 1799, a funeral was held at Mount Vernon, where his body was interred. Congress passed a joint resolution to construct a marble monument in the United States Capitol for his body, an initiative supported by Martha. In December 1800, the United States House passed an appropriations bill for $200,000 to build the mausoleum, which was to be a pyramid with a base 100 ft square. Southerners who wanted his body to remain at Mount Vernon defeated the measure.</p><br>
<p>In accordance with his will, Washington was entombed in a family crypt he had built upon first inheriting the estate. It was in disrepair by 1799, so Washingtons will also requested that a new, larger tomb be built. This was not executed until 1831, the centennial of his birth. The need for a new tomb was confirmed when an unsuccessful attempt was made to steal his skull (See: Attempted theft of George Washingtons head). A joint Congressional committee in early 1832 debated the removal of Washingtons body from Mount Vernon to a crypt in the Capitol, built by Charles Bulfinch in the 1820s. Southern opposition was intense, exacerbated by an ever-growing rift between North and South. Congressman Wiley Thompson of Georgia expressed the Southerners fears when he said:</p><br>
<p>Washington&#39;s remains were finally moved on 7 October 1837, along with those of his wife, Martha, to the new tomb presented by John Struthers of Philadelphia. Other members of the Washington family are interred in an inner vault, behind the vestibule containing the sarcophagi of George and Martha Washington.</p><br>
<h2>Preservation, legacy and tourism</h2><br>
<p>Following Martha Washingtons death in 1802, George Washingtons will was carried out in accordance with the terms of his bequests. The largest part of his estate, which included both his papers and Mount Vernon, passed to his nephew, Bushrod Washington (an Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States). The younger Washington and his wife then moved to Mount Vernon.</p><br>
<p>Bushrod Washington did not inherit much cash and was unable to support the upkeep of the estates mansion on the proceeds from the property and his Supreme Court salary. He sold some of his own slaves to gain working capital. However, the farms low revenues left him short, and he was unable to adequately maintain the mansion.</p><br>
<p>Following Bushrod Washingtons death in 1829, ownership of the plantation passed to George Washington’s great-grandnephew, John Augustine Washington III. As his funds dwindled and the wear and tear of hundreds of visitors began to take its toll, Washington could do little to maintain the mansion and its surroundings. Washington suggested to the United States Congress that the federal government purchase the mansion. Little interest was paid to Washington’s offer. Washington traveled to Richmond where he was equally unsuccessful in appealing to the Virginia General Assembly for the state to purchase the mansion. The mansions decline continued.</p><br>
<p>In 1858, Washington sold the mansion and a portion of the estates land to the Mount Vernon Ladies Association, which was under the leadership of Ann Pamela Cunningham. The Association paid the final installment of the purchase price of $200,000 ($5,714,285.71 in 2014 dollars) on 9 December 1859, taking possession on 22 February 1860. The estate served as a neutral ground for both sides during the American Civil War, although fighting raged across the nearby countryside. Troops from both the Union and the Confederacy toured the building. The two women caretakers asked that the soldiers leave their arms behind and either change to civilian clothes or at least cover their uniforms. They usually did as asked.</p><br>
<p>The mansion has been fully restored by the Association, independent of the US government, with no tax dollars expended to support the 500 acre estate, its educational programs or activities.</p><br>
<p>Harrison Howell Dodge became resident superintendent in 1885. During his 52 years overseeing the estate, he doubled the facilitys acreage, improved the grounds, and added many historic artifacts to the collections. Dodge reviewed George Washington&#39;s writings about the estate, visited other Colonial-era gardens, and traveled to England to see gardens dating from the Georgian period. Using that knowledge, Dodge oversaw the restoration of the site and put in place a number of improvements Washington had planned but never implemented.</p><br>
<p>Charles Wall was assistant superintendent from 1929 to 1937, then resident superintendent for 39 years. He oversaw restoration of the house and planted greenery consistent with what was used in the 18th century. In 1974, a campaign he organized was successful in preserving as parkland areas in Maryland across the Potomac River from Mount Vernon, as part of an effort to retain the bucolic vista from the house. His office was the same one used in the 18th century by Washington himself.</p><br>
<p>On 7 November 2007, President George W. Bush hosted French President Nicolas Sarkozy for a general press conference on the front lawn of Mount Vernon following Sarkozy&#39;s address to a joint session of Congress earlier that day.</p><br>
<p>On 30 March 2007, the estate officially opened a reconstruction of George Washingtons distillery. This fully functional replica received special legislation from the Virginia General Assembly to produce up to 5,000 gal of whiskey annually, for sale only at the Mount Vernon gift shop. The construction of this operational distillery cost $2.1 million, and is located on the site of Washingtons original distillery, a short distance from his mansion on the Potomac River. Frank Coleman, spokesman for the Distilled Spirits Council that funded the reconstruction, said the distillery “will become the equivalent of a national distillery museum” and serve as a gateway to the American Whiskey Trail.</p><br>
<p>As of 2012, since first opening to the paying public in 1860, the estate had received more than 80 million visitors. In addition to the mansion, visitors can see original and reconstructed outbuildings and barns (including slaves quarters), an operational blacksmith shop, and the Pioneer Farm. Each year on Christmas Day, Aladdin the Christmas Camel recreates Washingtons 1787 hiring of a camel for 18 shillings to entertain his guests with an example of the animal that brought the Three Wise Men to Bethlehem to visit the newborn Jesus.</p><br>
<p>Mount Vernon remains a privately owned property. Its income is derived from charitable donations and the sales of tickets, produce and goods to visitors. Its non-profit owners, the Mount Vernon Ladies’ Association, continue their mission "to preserve, restore, and manage the estate of George Washington to the highest standards and to educate visitors and people throughout the world about the life and legacies of George Washington, so that his example of character and leadership will continue to inform and inspire future generations."</p><br>
<p>Mount Vernon was featured on USA postage stamps in 1937 and again in 1956; it was memorialized in the latter Liberty Issue of stamps as a national shrine with a 1.5-cent stamp on 22 February 1956. The Liberty Issue was originally planned to honor six presidents, six famous Americans, and six historic national shrines. The first of the shrines is the Mount Vernon issue, a view of Washington&#39;s home facing the Potomac River.</p><br>
<p>On 19 December 1960, Mount Vernon was designated a National Historic Landmark and later listed on the National Register of Historic Places. Development and improvement of the estate is an ongoing concern. Following a $110 million fundraising campaign, two new buildings designed by GWWO, Inc./Architects were opened in 2006 as venues for additional background on George Washington and the American Revolution.</p><br>
<h3>Award</h3><br>
<p>In March 2014, Mount Vernon awarded its first Cyrus A. Ansary Prize for Courage and Character to former president George H. W. Bush. Ansary is a member of the Life Guard Society.</p><br>
<p>The Avon River is a small river in central Nova Scotia, Canada.</p><br>
<p>A northerly flowing river, the Avon River&#39;s flow rises at an elevation of 145 metres (475 ft.) at Card and Bag Lakes on the South Mountain, a distance of approximately 29 kilometres (18 miles) southwest of the town of Windsor. Its meander length is 64 km. At Windsor Forks the main tributary, the West Branch Avon River, adds its flow, along with that of the Southwest Branch Avon, to the Avon. The West Branch Avon River rises at an elevation of 175 metres (574 ft.) at Black River Lake. Both the flows of the Avon and the West Branch have been impeded by hydropower developments in the early twentieth century. Near the rural community of Martock, the river enters a broad glacial river valley forming a ria where it becomes tidal, creating an estuary for its remaining route to the Minas Basin several kilometres downriver from the town of Hantsport. Another tributary, the St. Croix River joins just below Windsor creating a total watershed of 1,306 square kilometres.</p><br>
<p>Rivers flowing into the Avon include the Halfway, Herbert, Cogmagun, Kennetcook and St. Croix.</p><br>
<p>The Avon River is evident on many very early maps of the region and by 1686 is shown, along with its drainage basin, on Jean-Baptiste-Louis Franquelin&#39;s map in great detail.</p><br>
<h2>Causeway and controversy</h2><br>
<p>In 1970 the Avon River was completely obstructed by a rock and earth fill causeway immediately downstream from Windsor at its junction with the St. Croix River as part of the development of a controlled access expressway called Highway 101.</p><br>
<p>The Avon River Causeway replaced an existing road bridge upriver from town and also resulted in the rerouting of the Dominion Atlantic Railways Halifax-Yarmouth main line which used to run through Windsors downtown, crossing the river on a bridge parallel to the road bridge immediately upriver from the town.</p><br>
<p>The causeway controls the Avon Rivers discharge and the incoming tidal waters of the Minas Basin through a series of flood control gates which are intended to regulate the rivers flowage to prevent flooding of agricultural lands upriver near Martock. The section of the Avon River upriver of the causeway along the Windsor waterfront is now a man-made freshwater, Lake Pesaquid.</p><br>
<p>The construction of the causeway has dramatically affected the Avon River downstream from Windsor, with large parts of the once-navigable river now being obstructed by large mud flats and vegetation, owing to the lack of tidal exchange and freshwater discharge. The nature writer Harry Thurston has noted, "Almost before the last stone was put in place, sediment began to accumulate to an alarming rate - 5 to 14 centimetres per month. Within seven years, a four metre high island of silt formed on the seaward side of the causeway; and the effects were felt 20 kilometres downstream, where two metres of mud impaired navigation at Hantsport."</p><br>
<p>Dr. Michael Risk of the University of Guelph, researching the build-up of a new mud flat on the seaward side of the causeway, "estimated that the bottom-dwelling creatures at Windsor were experiencing a two-thirds mortality rate", which led him to state the new formation was a "biological desert". The onset of the mud flat formation left the sediments in an initial state which were too soft to support organisms. The need to monitor and assess the impacts of such changes gave impetus to a greater interest in Bay of Fundy ecosystem and the ultimate establishment of the Acadia Centre for Estuarine Research (ACER) in Wolfville. Contrasting the initial decline of bottom-dwelling creatures, Dr. Graham Daborn of ACER found that zoo-plankton "are more abundant than previously thought. They appear to be able to thrive on non-living organic matter..." and that this "abundance of creatures at the lower end of the food chain suggests a considerable nursery role for the inner Bay." This notion is supported by research work completed by Dr. Sherman Bleakney of Acadia University.</p><br>
<p>Recently announced plans for the expansion of Highway 101 between the Halifax Regional Municipality and the eastern end of the Annapolis Valley have raised concerns about maintaining the Avon River causeway. An environmental lobby group, Friends of the Avon River (FAR), has called upon the Federal Fisheries Ministers to instigate a Comprehensive Environmental Impact Assessment Study (CEIA) of the complete Avon River Watershed in order to protect the Endangered Atlantic Salmon, the COSWIC listed American Eel and their critical habitats. The Avon River Causeway has zero fish passageway. Thus, impeding all fish species needing to migrate to their freshwater habitats, in order to complete their lifecycles. FAR reviewed and supported a report to have a more indepth study regarding the protection of fish species before the expansion of gypsum quarries within the river&#39;s watershed because of threats to river life, citing the use de-watering runoff from the quarries.</p><br>
<p>A decision in August 2007 by the New Brunswick government to remove a similar causeway (constructed in 1968) blocking the Petitcodiac River, another tributary of the Bay of Fundy, to avoid facing charges under the federal Fisheries Act, is expected to have ramnifications for the Avon River causeway.</p><br>
<p>The Western Scheldt  in the province of Zeeland in the southwestern Netherlands, is the estuary of the Scheldt river. This river once had several estuaries, but the others are disconnected from the Scheldt, leaving the Westerschelde as its only direct way to the sea. It is an important shipping route to the Port of Antwerp, Belgium. Therefore, unlike the other sea arms, it is not closed by a dam as part of the Delta Works. Instead, the dykes around it have been heightened and reinforced.</p><br>
<p>Many ships have sunk in the Western Scheldt. Following an agreement between the Dutch and Belgian governments in 1995, many of these wrecks have been removed to improve shipping access to Antwerp. It was expected that the last 38 wrecks in the shipping channel would be removed during 2003. The largest wreck was the 131 m long Alan A. Dale which was removed during June 2003.</p><br>
<p>The Western Scheldt was freed from German occupation in October and November 1944 by the First Canadian Army during The Battle of the Scheldt.</p><br>
<h2>Western Scheldt Tunnel</h2><br>
<p>In mid-March 2003, a 6.6 km tunnel under the Western Scheldt opened, the Western Scheldt Tunnel, running from Ellewoutsdijk (mun. Borsele) in Zuid-Beveland to Terneuzen in Zeelandic Flanders. It is the longest road traffic tunnel in the Netherlands. The toll (2012) is €5,00 for cars and €2,50 for motorcycles. Prior to 2011, the charge for motorcycles was the same as for cars but it was reduced following protests. There is a single toll station for both directions, located on the north bank. Pedestrians, cyclists, and moped riders are not allowed in the tunnel and must travel by bus.</p><br>
<h2>Ferry</h2><br>
<p>The double-decker car ferries that serviced the two Western Scheldt crossings until 2003 were sold to Italian companies, where two of them, the Queen Beatrix (renamed Tremestieri) and Prince Johan Friso (renamed Acciarello) were adapted for the crossing between Messina and Villa San Giovanni on the Italian mainland.</p><br>
<p>With the opening of the road tunnel, the Breskens-Vlissingen ferry was restricted to pedestrians and cyclists only. It is operated by Westerschelde Ferry BV, a subsidiary of the province of Zeeland. The service initially used former car ferries, but as of 2 May 2004 it employs two "small waterplane area twinhulls" (swaths, similar to catamarans), built at the Royal Schelde Group in Vlissingen (Flushing), and named "Prins Willem Alexander" and "Prinses Máxima".</p><br>
<p>Upstream, the Kruiningen-Perkpolder ferry was discontinued without replacement.</p><br>
<p>The Strait of Dover or Dover Strait, historically known as the Dover Narrows , is the strait at the narrowest part of the English Channel, marking the boundary between the Channel and North Sea, separating Great Britain from continental Europe. The shortest distance across the strait, 33.3 km, is from the South Foreland, northeast of Dover in the English county of Kent, to Cap Gris Nez, a cape near to Calais in the French département of Pas-de-Calais. Between these points lies the most popular route for cross-channel swimmers. The entire strait is within the territorial waters of France and the United Kingdom, but a right of transit passage under the UNCLOS exists allowing for unrestricted shipping.</p><br>
<p>On a clear day, it is possible to see the opposite coastline of England from France and vice versa with the naked eye, with the most famous and obvious sight being the white cliffs of Dover from the French coastline and shoreline buildings on both coastlines, as well as lights on either coastline at night, as in Matthew Arnold&#39;s poem "Dover Beach".</p><br>
<h2>Shipping traffic</h2><br>
<p>Most maritime traffic between the Atlantic Ocean and the North Sea and Baltic Sea passes through the Strait of Dover, rather than taking the longer and more dangerous route around the north of Scotland. The strait is the busiest international seaway in the world, used by over 400 commercial vessels daily. This has made traffic safety a critical issue, with HM Coastguard and the Maritime Gendarmerie maintaining a 24-hour watch over the strait and enforcing a strict regime of shipping lanes.</p><br>
<p>In addition to the intensive east–west traffic, the strait is crossed from north to south by ferries linking Dover to Calais and Dunkerque. Until 1994 these provided the only route across it for land transport. The Channel Tunnel now provides an alternative route, crossing beneath the strait at an average depth of below the seabed.</p><br>
<p>The town of Dover gives its name to one of the sea areas of the British Shipping Forecast.</p><br>
<h2>Geological formation</h2><br>
<p>The strait is believed to have been created by the erosion of a land bridge that linked the Weald in Great Britain to the Boulonnais in the Pas de Calais. The predominant geology on both the British and French sides and on the seafloor is chalk. Although somewhat resistant to erosion, erosion of both coasts has created the famous white cliffs of Dover in the UK and the Cap Blanc Nez in France. The Channel Tunnel was bored through solid chalk.</p><br>
<p>The Rhine (as the Urstrom) flowed northwards into the North Sea as the sea level fell during the start of the first of the Pleistocene Ice Ages. The ice created a dam from Scandinavia to Scotland, and the Rhine, combined with the Thames and drainage from much of north Europe, created a vast lake behind the dam, which eventually spilled over the Weald into the English Channel. This overflow channel became the Strait of Dover about 425,000 years ago. A narrow deep channel along the middle of the strait was the bed of the Rhine in the last Ice Age. A geological deposit in East Anglia marks the old preglacial northward course of the Rhine.</p><br>
<p>A 2007 study concluded the English Channel was formed by erosion caused by two major floods. The first was about 425,000 years ago, when an ice-dammed lake in the southern North Sea overflowed and broke the Weald-Artois chalk range in a catastrophic erosion and flood event. Afterwards, the Thames and Scheldt flowed through the gap into the English Channel, but the Meuse and Rhine still flowed northwards. In a second flood about 225,000 years ago the Meuse and Rhine were ice-dammed into a lake that broke catastrophically through a high weak barrier (perhaps chalk, or an end-moraine left by the ice sheet). Both floods cut massive flood channels in the dry bed of the English Channel, somewhat like the Channeled Scablands or the Wabash River in the USA.</p><br>
<p>A further update in 2017, attributed a series of previously described underwater holes in the Channel floor -"100m deep" and in places "several kilometres in diameter" to lake water plunging over a rock ridge causing isolated depressions or plunge pools.</p><br>
<p>The melting ice and rising sea levels submerged Doggerland, the area linking Britain to France 6,500–6,200 BCE.</p><br>
<p>The Lobourg strait, a major feature of the straits seafloor, runs its wide slash on a NNE–SSW axis. Nearer to the French coast than to the English coast, it runs along the Varne sandbank where it plunges to at its deepest, and along the latters south-east neighbour the Ridge bank (French name "Colbart") with a maximum depth of.</p><br>
<h2>Marine wildlife</h2><br>
<p>The submarine depth of the strait varies between at the Lobourg strait and at the highest banks. It presents a succession of rocky areas relatively deserted by ships wanting to spare their nets, and of sandy flats and sub-aqueous dunes. The strong currents of the Channel are slowed down around the rocky areas of the strait, with formation of countercurrents and calmer zones where many species can find shelter. In these calmer zones, the water is clearer than in the rest of the strait; thus algae can grow despite the average depth and help increase diversity in the local species – some of which are endemic to the strait. Moreover, this is a transition zone for the species of the Atlantic Ocean and those of the southern part of the North Sea.</p><br>
<p>This mix of various environments promotes a wide variety of wildlife.</p><br>
<p>The Ridens de Boulogne, a deep</p><br>
<p>A area of the strait is classified as a Natura 2000 protection zone listed under the name Ridens et dunes hydrauliques du Pas de Calais (Ridens and sub-aqueous dunes of the Dover Strait). This area includes the sub-aqueous dunes of Varne, Colbart, Vergoyer and Bassurelle, the Ridens de Boulogne, and the Lobourg channel which provides calmer and clearer waters due to its depth reaching.</p><br>
<h2>Unusual crossings</h2><br>
<p>Many crossings other than in conventional vessels have been attempted, including by pedalo, jetpack, bathtub, amphibious vehicle and more commonly by swimming. French law bans many of these while English law does not, so most such crossings originate in England.</p><br>
<p>Mount Tambora is an active stratovolcano and the highest mountain on the island of Sumbawa in Indonesia. Sumbawa is flanked to the north and south by colliding oceanic crust in an active subduction zone that created the mountain. The elevation of Mount Tambora was around 4,300 m in the 18th century, making it one of the tallest peaks in the Indonesian archipelago at that time.</p><br>
<p>After a large magma chamber inside the mountain filled, volcanic activity reached a climax with the catastrophic eruption of 10 April 1815. This eruption had a volcanic explosivity index (VEI) of 7, the only unambiguously confirmed VEI-7 eruption since the Lake Taupo eruption in about 180 AD. The ejecta volume was an estimated 160 km3, making this the largest volcanic eruption in recorded history. The explosion was heard on Sumatra, more than 2,000 km away. Heavy volcanic ash falls were observed as far away as Borneo, Sulawesi, Java, and the Maluku Islands. The human death toll was at least 71,000, with the eruption itself killing 11,000–12,000. Starvation and disease caused most of the deaths, as the fallout ruined agricultural production in the region. The eruption also caused global climate anomalies, including a "volcanic winter" phenomenon. 1816 has become known as the "Year Without a Summer" because of the eruption&#39;s effect on North American and European weather. Crops failed and livestock died in much of the Northern Hemisphere, triggering the worst famine of the 19th century.</p><br>
<p>During an excavation in 2004, archaeologists discovered cultural remains buried by the 1815 eruption. The artefacts were preserved in their 1815 positions at the site.</p><br>
<h2>Geographical setting</h2><br>
<p>Mount Tambora is on Sumbawa Island, which is part of the Lesser Sunda Islands. They are a segment of the Sunda Arc, a string of volcanic islands in the southern chain of the Indonesian archipelago. Mount Tambora is on Sumbawa Island&#39;s Sanggar peninsula. To the north of the peninsula is the Flores Sea and to the south is Saleh Bay, which is 86 km long and 36 km wide. At the mouth of this bay is a 30,000-hectare islet called Moyo (or Pulau Moyo in Indonesian), which has a luxury resort.</p><br>
<p>Mount Tambora is of interest to seismologists, volcanologists, archaeologists, and biologists. It also attracts tourists for hiking and wildlife-viewing.</p><br>
<p>The nearest cities are Dompu and Bima. Three concentrations of villages are around the mountain slope. To the east is Sanggar village, to the north-west are Doro Peti and Pesanggrahan villages, and to the west is Calabai village.</p><br>
<p>Three ascent routes are used to reach the caldera. The first route starts from Doro Mboha village south of the mountain and follows a paved road through a cashew plantation until it reaches 1,150 m. The end of this route is the southern part of the caldera at 1,950 m, reachable by a hiking track.</p><br>
<h2>Geological history</h2><br>
<h3>Formation</h3><br>
<p>Mount Tambora formed around 57,000 years ago. They are converging at a rate of 7.8 cm per year. Strata deposition has drained a large magma chamber beneath the mountain. The Mojo islet was formed as part of the geological process in which Saleh Bay, collapsing into the caldera of the drained magma chamber, first appeared as a sea basin about 25,000 years ago.</p><br>
<p>According to a geological survey before the 1815 eruption, Tambora had the shape of a typical stratovolcano, with a symmetrical volcanic cone rising to 4,300 m and having a single central vent. The diameter of the base was 60 km.</p><br>
<p>Ever since the 1815 eruption, the lowermost portion has contained deposits of interlayered sequences of lava and pyroclastic materials. The 1 - thick lava flows constitute about 40 percent of the layers&#39; thickness. Thick scoria beds were produced by the fragmentation of lava flows. Within the upper section, the lava is interbedded with scoria, tuffs, and pyroclastic flows and falls. At least 20 subsidiary or parasitic cones are known. Some of them have names: Tahe, 844 m; Molo, 602 m; Kadiendinae; Kubah, 1,648 m; and Doro Api Toi. Most of these cones have produced basaltic lavas.</p><br>
<h3>Eruptive history</h3><br>
<h4>Before 1815</h4><br>
<p>Radiocarbon dating has established the dates of three of Mount Tambora&#39;s eruptions before the 1815 eruption, although their magnitudes are unknown. The estimated dates are between 4110 and 3700 BC, around 3050 BC, and sometime between 590 and 890 AD.</p><br>
<h4>1815 and subsequent eruptions</h4><br>
<p>In 1812, Mount Tambora became highly active, with its climactic eruption being the catastrophic and explosive event (VEI-7) of April 1815.</p><br>
<p>This eruption ejected 160 km3 of tephra from the mountain&#39;s central vent. It also caused pyroclastic flows, collapsed the caldera, and caused tsunamis and extensive land and property damage. Although this activity ceased on 15 July 1815, it had a long-lasting effect on global climate. This was among the largest and most violent eruptions in the last 5000 years, along with the Hatepe eruption of Lake Taupo around 180 AD and the Tianchi eruption of Baekdu around 1000 AD.</p><br>
<p>Additional activity occurred in August 1819, consisting of a small eruption (VEI-2) with flames and rumbling aftershocks. It is considered part of the 1815 eruption sequence.</p><br>
<p>Mount Tambora has remained active since the end of the 1815 eruption sequence. Minor lava domes and flows were extruded on the caldera floor during the 19th and 20th centuries. Sometime between 1850 and 1910, Tambora erupted again but only inside the caldera. A very small (VEI-0) and non-explosive eruption occurred in 1967</p><br>
<h2>Archaeological work</h2><br>
<p>Archaeological evidence indicates that the 1815 eruption of Mount Tambora wiped out a culture on Sumbawa.</p><br>
<h2>Ecosystem</h2><br>
<p>A scientific team led by Swiss botanist Heinrich Zollinger arrived on Sumbawa in 1847 and ascended to the eastern rim of the caldera with the help of a native team. Zollinger&#39;s mission was to study the eruption scene and its effects on the local ecosystem. He was the first person to climb to the summit since the eruption. It was still covered by smoke. As Zollinger climbed, his feet broke through a thin surface crust into a warm layer of powder-like sulphur. Some vegetation had reestablished itself, and he saw a few trees on the lower slope and a Casuarina forest at 2,200 -. Several Imperata cylindrica grasslands also were found.</p><br>
<p>Resettlement of the mountain began in 1907. A coffee plantation was started in the 1930s on the north-western slope of the mountain in the village of Pekat. A dense rain forest, dominated by the pioneering tree Duabanga moluccana, had grown at an altitude of 1,000 -. It covers around 80,000 hectare.</p><br>
<p>The rain forest and vegetation at higher altitudes were explored in 1933 by a Dutch team, led by Koster and de Voogd. From their accounts, they started their journey in a "fairly barren, dry and hot country" before entering "a mighty jungle" with "huge majestic forest giants". At 1,100 m, they entered a montane forest. Above 1,800 m, they found Dodonaea viscosa dominated by Casuarina trees. On the summit, they found sparse Anaphalis viscida and Wahlenbergia.</p><br>
<p>In 1896, 56 species of birds were found, including the crested white-eye.</p><br>
<p>Since 1972, a commercial logging company has been operating in the area. The company holds a timber-cutting concession for approximately 25 percent of the area and covering 20,000 hectare.</p><br>
<p>In 2015, the conservation area protecting the mountain&#39;s ecosystem was upgraded to a national park.</p><br>
<h3>Caldera floor</h3><br>
<p>The ecosystem that developed in the caldera after the 1815 eruption has been largely uninfluenced by human beings because of its isolation.</p><br>
<h2>Monitoring Tambora</h2><br>
<p>Indonesia&#39;s population has been increasing rapidly since the 1815 eruption, reaching 222 million in 2006, of which 130 million were living on Java. A new volcanic eruption as large as 1815 probably would cause catastrophic devastation with many more fatalities.</p><br>
<p>Seismic activity in Indonesia is monitored by the Directorate of Volcanology and Geological Hazard Mitigation, Indonesia. The monitoring post for Mount Tambora is located at Doro Peti village. Monitoring is performed continuously inside the caldera, especially around the Doro Api Toi parasitic cone.</p><br>
<p>The directorate has issued a hazard mitigation map for Mount Tambora. Two zones have been declared. The dangerous zone would be affected directly by pyroclastic flow, lava flow, and other pyroclastic falls. This area, including the caldera and its surroundings, covers up to 58.7 km&sup2;. Living in the dangerous zone is prohibited. The cautious zone includes areas that could be affected inditectly by lahar flows and other pumice stones. The size of this area is 185 km&sup2; and includes the villages of Pasanggrahan, Doro Peti, Rao, Labuan Kenanga, Gubu Ponda, Kawindana To, and Hoddo. The river Guwu also is included in the cautious zone.</p><br>
<p>Heraclea Pontica  was an ancient city on the coast of Bithynia in Asia Minor, at the mouth of the river Lycus. It was founded by the Greek city-state of Megara in approximately 560–558 and was named after Heracles whom the Greeks believed entered the underworld at a cave on the adjoining Archerusian promontory . The site is now the location of the modern city Karadeniz Ereğli, in the Zonguldak Province of Turkey.</p><br>
<p>The colonists soon subjugated the native Mariandynians but agreed to terms that none of the latter, now helot-like serfs, be sold into slavery outside their homeland. Prospering from the rich, fertile adjacent lands and the sea-fisheries of its natural harbor, Heraclea soon extended its control along the coast as far east as Cytorus (Gideros, near Cide), eventually establishing Black Sea colonies of its own (Cytorus, Callatis and Chersonesus).</p><br>
<p>The prosperity of the city, rudely shaken by the Galatians and the Bithynians, was utterly destroyed in the Mithridatic Wars. It was the birthplace of the philosopher Heraclides Ponticus.</p><br>
<p>The Greek historical author Memnon of Heraclea (fl. 1st century AD) wrote a local history of Heraclea Pontica in at least sixteen books. The work has perished, but Photius&#39;s Bibliotheca preserves a compressed account of books 9–16, seemingly the only ones extant in his day. These books run from the rule of the tyrant Clearchus (c. 364–353 BC) to the later years of Julius Caesar (c. 40 BC) and contain many colorful accounts including the Bithynian introduction of the barbarian Gauls into Asia where they first allied themselves with the Heracleans and later turned violently against them.</p><br>
<p>Samson  is the largest uninhabited island of the Isles of Scilly, off the southwestern tip of the Cornish peninsula of Great Britain. It is 38 hectare in size. The island consists of two hills, North Hill and South Hill, which are connected by an isthmus on which the former inhabitants built many of their sturdy stone cottages. Samson was named after Samson of Dol.</p><br>
<h2>History</h2><br>
<p>The twin hills of Samson were formerly associated with breasts, in a similar way to the Paps of Jura in Scotland and the Paps of Anu in Ireland. There are large ancient burial grounds both on the North Hill and South Hill.</p><br>
<p>The island was inhabited until 1855, when the Lord Proprietor Augustus Smith removed the remaining population from the island. By this point, the population was found to be suffering from severe deprivation—particularly due to a diet of limpets and potatoes—and consisted of only two families: the Woodcocks and the Webbers. Smith then built a deer park on the island, but the deer escaped from their stone walled enclosure, and some attempted to wade across to Tresco (at low tide). In August 1933 a major fire occurred which was put out by the staff of Major Dorrien-Smith, by digging ditches to stop the spread.</p><br>
<p>In recent times, the area has become a protected wildlife site. The island houses many different birds such as terns and gannets, and many wild flowers. In 1971 the island, along with the nearby islands of Green Island, Puffin Island, Stony Island, and White Island, was designated a Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI) for their biological characteristics.</p><br>
<h3>Population</h3><br>
<p>1669: one family</p><br>
<p>1715: only three men fit to carry arms</p><br>
<p>1751: two households</p><br>
<p>1794: six households</p><br>
<p>1816: forty people</p><br>
<p>1822: seven households (thirty-four people)</p><br>
<p>1851: three households</p><br>
<p>1855: Augustus Smith removed the remaining inhabitants which consisted of two families.</p><br>
<h2>Visiting the island</h2><br>
<p>Boat trips to Samson are regularly available May through September. There is no quay, so visitors disembark via wooden plank. The remains of the old cottages can be explored, and there are also the remains of Smith&#39;s deer park and prehistoric entrance graves. There are no amenities or services available, but guided walks are led by local experts.</p><br>
<h2>Literary associations</h2><br>
<p>The island is featured in the childrens story Why the Whales Came by Michael Morpurgo. In the book, Samson is under a curse that needs to be lifted. The island also featured in Armorel of Lyonesse by Walter Besant. Many have made reference to Webbers Cottage on Samson as Armorel&#39;s house.</p><br>
<p>Samson features in the fantasy novel Stone In The Blood by Colin Jordan & David England. It is visited by Peter in 1974 and also in the Iron Age, where the hills are home to the community of Salt Crones.</p><br>
<p>The island also features in the Ann Bridge novel, The Dangerous Islands.</p><br>
<p>The River Glen is a river in Lincolnshire, England with a short stretch passing through Rutland near Essendine.</p><br>
<p>The river&#39;s name appears to derive from a Brythonic Celtic language but there is a strong early English connection.</p><br>
<h2>Naming</h2><br>
<p>In the language of the Ancient Britons, which survives today as Welsh, Cornish and Breton, the neighbouring rivers, the Glen and the Welland seem to have been given contrasting names. The Welland flowed from the area underlain by the Northampton Sands which in many places are bound together by iron oxide to form ironstone. In the Roman period, the sands were easily worked as arable land and the ironstone was dug for smelting. In both cases, the ground was exposed to erosion which meant that silt was carried down to The Fens by the river. In modern Welsh, gwaelod (from Late Proto-British *Woelǫd-) means bottom and its plural, gwaelodion means sediment. Among the medieval forms of the name Welland is Weolod; the river could have thus been named from its silty nature. In contrast, the Glen flowed from clays and limestone. Areas with clay-based soils tended to remain as woodland whilst the limestone areas provided grassland for pasture. Consequently, the River Glen did not carry much sediment. The modern Welsh for clean is glân. The relative amounts of silt deposited in the fens around Maxey and around Thurlby respectively, by the two rivers, support this view.</p><br>
<h2>Course</h2><br>
<p>The river has two sources, both in the low ridge of Jurassic rocks in the west of the county. The East Glen rises as a number of small streams near to Ropsley and Humby, close to the 300 ft contour. It flows in a southerly direction, passing to the east of Ingoldsby and to the west of Bulby, to arrive at Edenham. The East Glen is sometimes called the River Eden, derived as a back-formation from its passing through the parish of Edenham. It continues south through Toft, where a Grade II listed bridge built in the early 1800s crosses, and Manthorpe, where there is another listed bridge with a single elliptical arch built in 1813, before turning east to join the West Glen at Wilsthorpe, Lincolnshire. The West Glen also has a number of sources, near to the 330 ft contour at Old Somerby and Boothby Pagnall. It flows more or less parallel to the East Glen, passing through Bitchfield, Burton-le-Coggles, Corby Glen and Creeton to reach Essendine, where it turns east towards Greatford. In the village, a two-arched stone bridge built in the late 1700s carries Church Lane over the river.</p><br>
<p>Most of the water from the West Glen river no longer joins that from the East Glen, as it now flows along the Greatford Cut to join the River Welland upstream of Market Deeping. The re-routing was devised by E. G. Taverner, the chief engineer for the Welland and Deepings Drainage Board, towards the end of the Second World War, and was part of a much larger project which involved the digging of the Coronation Channel, a flood relief channel to divert the Welland around the south-eastern edge of Spalding, and the construction of Fulney lock, to exclude tidal water from the upper Welland. The whole scheme cost £723,000, and the Coronation Channel, which was completed in 1953, was named to commemorate the crowning of Queen Elizabeth II in the same year.</p><br>
<p>By the time the East and West rivers join, they are only just above the 35 ft contour. The Weir Dyke drain runs along the north bank of the Bourne Eau and then the west bank of the Glen, to join the South Forty-Foot Drain near Guthram Gowt. For some distance either side of Tongue End, the Counter Drain runs a considerable distance to the east of the channel, creating washlands between them which can be flooded if water is not able to dischange from the river into the Welland estuary, as a result of the state of the tides. A little before Guthram Gowt, the Counter Drain turns to the east to reach Pode Hole pumping station, which plays an important part in the drainage of Deeping Fen.</p><br>
<p>Beyond Guthram Gowt, the river flows in a north-easterly direction, and is flanked on both sides by drainage ditches because the land is low-lying. It passes through Pinchbeck and Surfleet to reach the tidal entrance sluice where it joins the River Welland. The sluice is only navigable when the tidal level is the same as the river level.</p><br>
<h2>History</h2><br>
<p>Historia Brittonum, an ancient history of Britain traditionally attributed to Nennius, a ninth-century Welsh monk, records that Arthur, the war leader of the Britons fought his first battle against the Anglo-Saxons at the mouth of the River Glein. Thomas Green presents a case for the Glein being the Glen, based on the identification of Linnuis, the district for four subsequent battles, being Lindsey, although he acknowledges that other locations, including the River Glen, Northumberland for example, have been suggested. This aerial photo shows the River Glen at Guthram, halfway between Twenty and West Pinchbeck. To the south, the Roman road across the fen lies hidden, buried in Baston Fen and Pinchbeck Common. In Arthurs time, around the year 500, the north-flowing section of the Glen entered tidal flats lying in Pinchbeck North Fen, to the north-east of Guthram. The line of the river to the east of Guthram appears to have originated as a sea bank but when sedimentation and fen enclosure caused the sea no longer to reach it, the river was led away along the bank so that the sea bank became one of rivers banks instead. The section of the A151 road on the seaward side of the Glen was not built until 1822.</p><br>
<p>Close to the year 500, the spread of Anglian settlement had recently reached Baston, at the other end of this Roman road, on the landward side of this fen but burial at the Urns Farm cemetery alongside King Street then stopped abruptly.</p><br>
<p>Compared to its neighbour, the Welland, there are few records of the history of the Glen. Dugdale, writing his book The History of Imbanking and Drayning of divers Fenns and Marshes in 1662, which was based on personal observations he made during a trip to the Fens in May 1657, and the records of the Fens Office, most of which were destroyed in the Great Fire of London in 1666, thought it was the least of the rivers he had seen, and recorded that it "serveth almost to none other use, but to carry away so much of its own water, with the rill descending from Burne, as can be kept between two defensible banks." The embanking of the lower river had thus already been done by the time of his account.</p><br>
<p>Both the Bourne Eau and the Glen were affected by flooding, causing failure of the banks, which was addressed in the Black Sluice act of 1765. The history of navigation is intimately tied up with that of the Bourne Eau, since Bourne was the main centre of population above Spalding. The Bourne Eau act of 1781 appointed trustees, who were to scour and cleanse the river, and could charge tolls to fund the operation. Corn and wool passed down the river, bound for Boston, while coal and groceries were the principal cargo in the opposite direction. In 1792, Thomas Hawkes wrote about trade in timber, which was carried from Bourne to Spalding, and there was a boat which carried passengers to the market at Spalding on Tuesdays, but he comments that the service was erratic, as there was often too little or too much water for the vessels to operate. The Black Sluice Commissioners installed flood doors between the Glen and the Bourne Eau at Tongue End, to prevent high water levels in the Glen passing up the river to Bourne.</p><br>
<p>Breaching of the banks by floodwater was a continual problem, with six breaches of the north bank recorded between 1821 and 1882, and eight of the south bank in the same period. Measurement showed that the river level rose by 9 or for every 0.25 in of rain falling on the river&#39;s catchment area. The arrival of railways in the area resulted in a rapid decline of river traffic. A railway from Boston to Spalding opened in 1848, while the line from Spalding opened to Bourne in 1866 and on to Sleaford in 1872. Although occasional boats were still reaching Bourne in 1857, the self-acting doors at Tongue End were replaced by a sluice in the 1860s, which prevented passage from the Glen to the Bourne Eau, although the right of navigation was not officially revoked until 1962, as part of flood defence measures which included the replacement of the sluice by a pumping station in 1966.</p><br>
<p>Once the route to Bourne was closed off, there was little trade on the river, although a short section of about 1 mi was used by barges until the 1920s. Although the present head of navigation is at Tongue End, there is evidence that lighters capable of carrying 15 tons used to navigate to Kates Bridge, where the Lincoln to Peterborough turnpike road crossed the river, and there are the remains of moorings at Greatford Hall, although navigation to there must have ceased after Kates Bridge was rebuilt.</p><br>
<p>In 1734, John Grundy, one of the pioneers in applying scientific principles to the solution of civil engineering problems, was asked by the Adventurers of Deeping Fen to consider the drainage of 47 square miles of fenland to the west of Spalding. His plans included the construction of a reservoir which covered 10 acre, impounded by a sluice at Surfleet. At low tide, the water would be released, and the scouring action would deepen the channel, with a consequent improvement in drainage. Humphrey Smith directed the construction, with Grundy acting as engineer, which was completed in 1739, according to a plaque fixed to it at the time. The sluice had three openings, each 8 ft wide, with pointed doors on the downstream site, which closed as the tide rose, and lifting gates on the upstream side, which would be raised to discharge the water. The sluice was replaced by the present structure in 1824.</p><br>
<h2>Development</h2><br>
<p>The Environment Agency are the navigation authority responsible for the river. They issue licences for its use, and operate Surfleet sluice when required. While the river is navigable for 11.5 mi to Tongue End, the upper reaches above Pinchbeck Bars are only suitable for smaller boats, as there are no locations where it is possible to turn a boat which is over 30 ft long. However, the 8.9 mi section of the river from its source to Guthram Gowt forms part of the proposed Fens Waterways Link, which will ultimately link the River Witham to the River Nene, via the South Forty-Foot Drain, the River Glen, the River Welland and some upgraded drains near Peterborough. Phase One, the connection of the South Forty-Foot Drain to The Haven at Boston by a new lock, was completed by December 2008, and was officially opened on 20 March 2009.</p><br>
<p>Construction of the second phase of the project, which will involve making the South Forty-Foot Drain navigable from Donington to Guthram Gowt, where a connection with the River Glen will be made, has been delayed by the change in the economic climate, and the complexity of the task.</p><br>
<h2>Points of interest</h2><br>
<p>Calleva, formally Calleva Atrebatum , was an Iron Age oppidum and subsequently a town in the Roman province of Britannia and the civitas capital of the Atrebates tribe. Its ruins are now known as Silchester Roman Town and are beneath and to the west of the Parish Church of St Mary the Virgin, which is just within the town wall and about 1 mi to the east of the modern village of Silchester, in the English county of Hampshire close to the boundary with Berkshire. Reading is centred 9 mi north-east and Basingstoke 5 mi south. The Ordnance Survey grid reference is.</p><br>
<h2>History</h2><br>
<h3>Prehistory</h3><br>
<p>Evidence for the presence of a Late Iron Age oppidum at Silchester is derived from numismatic evidence and archaeological excavations over the 20th century. Coins of the British Q series link Silchester with the seat of power of the Atrebates, and coins stamped with COMMIOS have been used to associate Calleva Atrebatum with the historical figure Commius, who is thought to have fled to Britain from Gaul. The Late Iron Age oppidum was situated on the edge of a gravel plateau, underlying the subsequent Roman town. The Inner Earthwork, constructed c. 1 AD, enclosed an area of 32ha, and a more extensive series of earthworks were present in the wider area.</p><br>
<p>Small areas of Late Iron Age occupation have been uncovered on the south side of the Inner Earthwork and around the South Gate. More detailed evidence for Late Iron Age occupation was excavated below the Forum-Basilica. Several roundhouses, wells and pits were present on a north-east - south-west alignment, dated to c. 25 BC - 15 BC. Subsequent occupation, dated to c. 15 BC - AD 40/50, consisted of metalled streets, rubbish pits and palisaded enclosures. Imported Gallo-Belgic finewares, amphorae and iron and copper-alloy brooches show that the settlement was high status. Also distinctive evidence for food was identified, including oyster shell, a large briquetage assemblage and sherds from amphorae which would have contained olive oil, fish sauce and wine. Further areas of Late Iron Age occupation have been uncovered by the Insula IX Town Life Project. Excavation of the Late Iron Age phases have provided evidence for a substantial boundary ditch c. 40 - 20 BC, a large rectangular hall c. 25 BC - AD 10 and the laying out of lanes and new property divisions c. AD 10 - 40/50.</p><br>
<h3>Roman</h3><br>
<p>After the Roman conquest of Britain in 43 AD the settlement developed into the Roman town of Calleva Atrebatum. It was slightly larger, about 40 hectare, and was laid out along a distinctive street grid pattern. The town contained a number of public buildings and flourished until the early Anglo-Saxon period. A large mansio was situated in Insula VIII, near the South Gate, consisting of three wings arranged around a courtyard.</p><br>
<p>Calleva was a major crossroads. The Devil&#39;s Highway connected it with the provincial capital Londinium (London). From Calleva, this road divided into routes to various other points west, including the road to Aquae Sulis (Bath); Ermin Way to Glevum (Gloucester); and the Port Way to Sorviodunum (Old Sarum near modern Salisbury).</p><br>
<h3>Medieval</h3><br>
<p>Silchester was finally abandoned in the 5th to 7th century, which is unusually late compared to other deserted Roman settlements. Most Roman towns in Britain continued to exist after the end of the Roman era, and consequently their remains underlay their more recent successors, which are often still major population centres. There is a suggestion that the Saxons deliberately avoided Calleva after it was abandoned, preferring to maintain their existing centres at Winchester and Dorchester. There was a gap of perhaps a century before the twin Saxon towns of Basing and Reading were founded on rivers either side of Calleva. As a consequence, Calleva has been subject to relatively benign neglect for most of the last two millennia.</p><br>
<h2>Modern excavation</h2><br>
<p>The earthworks and, for much of the circumference, the ruined walls are still visible. The remains of the amphitheatre, added about AD 70-80 and situated outside the city walls, can also be clearly seen. The area inside the walls is now largely farmland with no visible distinguishing features, other than the enclosing earthworks and walls, with a tiny mediaeval church in one corner.</p><br>
<p>There is a spring that emanates from inside the walls, in the vicinity of the original baths, and which flows south-eastwards where it joins Silchester Brook.</p><br>
<p>Calleva was partially excavated by the Society of Antiquaries of London between 1890 and 1909, and this excavation provided valuable information about civic life and daily life in the first centuries of the Common Era, as well as a map of the town. Whilst the excavation techniques of the time were adequate to deal with buildings with stone foundations, work in other towns of Roman Britain has revealed that timber construction predominated in the 1st and 2nd centuries AD, and the early excavations were not capable of recovering evidence of these buildings. This excavation was believed to have destroyed evidence that might have been analysed with current technology and practices. As archaeological study of this kind can be a destructive process, the excavation of Calleva is frequently mentioned as an example of why complete excavation should not be performed.</p><br>
<p>Molly Cotton carried out excavations on the defences from 1938-39. Since the 1970s Michael Fulford and the University of Reading have undertaken several excavations on the town walls (1974–80), amphitheatre (1979–85) and the forum basilica (1977, 1980–86), which has revealed remarkably good preservation of items from both the Iron Age and early Roman occupations. From 1997 to 2014 the Town Life project has undertaken excavation of the north-eastern area of Insula IX. Results of the Late Roman and Mid Roman phases have been published. In 2013, excavations began in Insula III, investigating a structure identified by the Victorian excavations as a bathhouse.</p><br>
<p>The Silchester eagle was discovered in excavations at the basilica in 1866 was part of the inspiration for Rosemary Sutcliff&#39;s The Eagle of the Ninth. The Museum of Reading, which houses the Silchester eagle, states that it "is not a legionary eagle but has been immortalized as such by Rosemary Sutcliff." It may originally have formed part of a Jupiter statue in the forum of the Roman town.</p><br>
<h2>Access</h2><br>
<p>Now primarily owned by Hampshire County Council and managed by English Heritage, the site of Calleva is open to the public during daylight hours, seven days a week and without charge. The full circumference of the walls is accessible, as is the amphitheatre. The interior is farmed and, with the exception of the church and a single track that bisects the interior, inaccessible.</p><br>
<p>The Museum of Reading in Reading Town Hall has a gallery devoted to Calleva, displaying many archaeological finds from the various excavations.</p><br>
<p>Mam Tor is a 517 m hill near Castleton in the High Peak of Derbyshire, England. Its name means "mother hill", so called because frequent landslips on its eastern face have resulted in a multitude of "mini-hills" beneath it. These landslips, which are caused by unstable lower layers of shale, also give the hill its alternative name of Shivering Mountain. In 1979, the continual battle to maintain the A625 road  on the crumbling eastern side of the hill was lost when the road officially closed as a through-route.</p><br>
<p>At the base of the Tor and nearby are four show caves: Blue John Cavern, Speedwell Cavern, Peak Cavern and Treak Cliff Cavern where lead, Blue John, fluorspar and other minerals were once mined.</p><br>
<h2>Geography</h2><br>
<p>Mam Tor is on the southern edge of the Dark Peak (sandstones) and overlooks the White Peak (limestones), including the notable dry gorge of Winnats Pass. It is a dominating link between the eastern end of Rushup Edge and the western end of the Great Ridge, which together separate the Hope Valley to the south from Edale to the north, and is a popular ridgewalk.</p><br>
<p>Mam Tor is made of rocks of Carboniferous age, approximately 320 million years old. The base of Mam Tor is composed of black shales of the Bowland Shale Formation of Serpukhovian age overlain by turbiditic sandstone of the Mam Tor Sandstone Formation of Bashkirian age.</p><br>
<p>In perfect weather conditions, Manchester city centre, Stockport and Winter Hill can be seen from here.</p><br>
<h2>Mam Tor landslide</h2><br>
<p>The most notable feature of Mam Tor is the active landslide which invades its southeast side almost to the summit, and interrupts the ramparts of the hillfort, unless its builders used it as part of the defences. This rotational landslide began roughly 4,000 years ago. The toe is a debris flow. The landslide is due to weak shales underlying sandstones, a common phenomenon all around the Dark Peak, notably at Alport Castles, Longdendale, Glossop and Canyards Hills, Sheffield. Indeed, three larger landslides occur on the north side of Mam Tor, one of them cutting the main ridge at Mam Nick which allows a minor road over into Edale; another creates the striking crag of Back Tor well seen from Mam Tor.</p><br>
<p>Evidence for the continued movement of the slide mass is demonstrated graphically by the severe damage to the old Mam Tor road that traversed this flow. The road was built at the beginning of the 1800s and was subsequently relaid until local authorities closed it in 1979. Layers of tarmac and gravel are up to 2 m thick in places, demonstrating the numerous efforts to keep the road open. A short tunnel could readily have been made avoiding the landslip zone, but the opportunity to exclude heavy business and lorry traffic from the middle of the National Park was preferred. A local diversion for light vehicles follows the limestone gorge of Winnats Pass. Sheffield-Manchester traffic must now make a slow and lengthy detour over the A628 Woodhead Pass. This is one of the most extreme cases of geological problems affecting main transport systems in Britain, comparable with the railway at Dawlish.</p><br>
<p>Current mean annual movement is "up to 0.25 m; this increases greatly when winter rainfalls exceed thresholds of both 210 mm/month and 750 mm in the preceding six months".</p><br>
<p>The debris flow poses no threat to any inhabited buildings; however, small farm buildings lying in the flow&#39;s path may soon be overwhelmed assuming a flow rate similar to that of the present. The 2000 study suggests that deep drainage may be the most effective means of stabilising the flow, though this may not completely stop movement.</p><br>
<h2>Prehistory</h2><br>
<p>The summit of Mam Tor is encircled by a late Bronze Age and early Iron Age univallate hill fort. Radiocarbon analysis suggests occupation from around 1200 BC. The earliest remaining features are two Bronze Age burial mounds, one just below the summit and the other on the summit itself, though now buried under the paving. At a later stage over a hundred small platforms were levelled into the hill near the summit, allowing inhabited timber huts to be constructed. The hill fort and burial mounds are a Scheduled Ancient Monument.</p><br>
<p>Adelsö is an island in the middle of Lake Mälaren in Sweden, near southern and northern Björkfjärden. The administrative center of the important settlement Birka  was situated at Hovgården on Adelsö.</p><br>
<h2>Geography</h2><br>
<p>The Adelsö landscape consists of pine-clad rocky hills and moraine ridges dotted with fields and deciduous trees, mainly oak. The highest spot on Adelsö is Kunsta Mountain, which is 53.2 m above sea level. The top of Kunsta has an outlook tower offering a great view of the middle of Lake Mälaren.</p><br>
<p>There are many edible mushrooms and fruit that can be found on Adelsö including chanterelles, black trumpet, blue berries, lingonberries, juniper berries, cherries, apples, and pears.</p><br>
<h2>Demographics</h2><br>
<p>Adelsö has about 700 permanent residents, a number that has been quite stable throughout the centuries. Many residents commute to jobs in Stockholm, but there are also farmers and fishermen. During the summer months, the island is popular with tourists.</p><br>
<h2>Transportation</h2><br>
<p>Buses (lines 311 and 312) run from the bus terminal at Brommaplan in the middle of Bromma, to Sjöängen on Munsö. From here, the, a vehicular cable ferry crosses to Adelsö. Bus 312 travels on the ferry and traverses the whole island. The ferry runs every half hour during the day and hourly during evenings and nights. The night ferry runs less frequently during the summer months.</p><br>
<h2>History</h2><br>
<p>The history of Adelsö began with the Stone Age. Adelsö at that time consisted of small islands which emerged from the sea at the end of the Ice Age. Mälaren, a freshwater lake, did not yet exist, so the skerries that were to become Adelsö lay beneath the Baltic Sea.</p><br>
<p>Fishing, bird- and seal-hunting created the foundation for the life of the people living there. Graves from the early and late Stone Age exist, but most of the gravesites date from the Iron Age, mostly the Viking Age. There are also two ancient hillforts (fornborgar) on Adelsö; one of them, situated on Skansberget near Stenby, is unusually well-preserved.</p><br>
<p>Adelsö, earlier called Alsnö or Alsnu reflects the importance of the area during the Viking Age. The King&#39;s House (Kungsgården) was next to Hovgården and the monarch ruled over the nearby city of Birka. This is also the site of Kungshögarna at Hovgården. Kungs means king or royal and högarna, from the Old Norse word haugr, means mound or barrow.</p><br>
<p>During the latter part of the 12th century, a Christian church was built next to Hovgården. Birger Jarl&#39;s sons built Alsnö hus, a splendid castle where King Magnus I in 1279 assembled the Meeting of Alsnö. At that meeting, the Ordinance of Alsnö was established, introducing the privileges of the Swedish nobility.</p><br>
<p>During the Middle Ages, Alsnö hus was used as a summer palace for kings and governors but later fell into ruin. What remains of the castle and several graves near Hovgården was excavated during archeological digs conducted between 1916 and 1926.</p><br>
<p>Chester Castle is in the city of Chester, Cheshire, England. It is sited at the southwest extremity of the area bounded by the city walls. The castle stands on an eminence overlooking the River Dee. In the castle complex are the remaining parts of the medieval castle together with the neoclassical buildings designed by Thomas Harrison which were built between 1788 and 1813. Parts of the neoclassical buildings are used today as Crown Courts and as a military museum. The museum and the medieval remains are a tourist attraction.</p><br>
<h2>History</h2><br>
<p>The castle was built in 1070 by Hugh d&#39;Avranches, the first Earl of Chester. It is possible that it was built on the site of an earlier Saxon fortification but this has not been confirmed. The original structure would have been a motte-and-bailey castle with a wooden tower. In the 12th century the wooden tower was replaced by a square stone tower, the Flag Tower. During the same century the stone gateway to the inner bailey was built. This is now known as the Agricola Tower and on its first floor is the chapel of St Mary de Castro. The chapel contains items of Norman architecture. In the 13th century, during the reign of Henry III, the walls of an outer bailey were built, the gateway in the Agricola Tower was blocked up and residential accommodation, including a Great Hall, was built along the south wall of the inner bailey. Later in the century, during the reign of Edward I, a new gateway to the outer bailey was built. This was flanked by two half-drum towers and had a drawbridge over a moat 8 m deep. Further additions to the castle at this time included individual chambers for the King and Queen, a new chapel and stables.</p><br>
<p>Prominent people held as prisoners in the crypt of the Agricola Tower were Richard II and Eleanor Cobham, wife of Humphrey, Duke of Gloucester, and Andrew de Moray, hero of the Battle of Stirling Bridge. During the Wars of the Roses, Yorkist John Neville, 1st Marquess of Montagu was captured and imprisoned at the castle by Lancastrians following the Battle of Blore Heath, near the town of Market Drayton, Shropshire, in 1459. He was released from captivity following the Yorkist victory at Northampton in 1460. Outside the outer bailey gate was an area known as the Gloverstone where criminals waiting for execution were handed over to the city authorities. The Great Hall was rebuilt in the late 1570s.</p><br>
<p>During the Civil War Chester was held by the Royalists. The castle was assaulted by Parliamentary forces in July 1643, and in January and April 1645. Together with the rest of the city, it was besieged between September 1645 and February 1646. Following the civil war the castle was used as a prison, a court and a tax office. In 1687 James II attended Mass in the chapel of St Mary de Castro. In 1696 Chester mint was established and was managed by Edmund Halley in a building adjacent to the Half Moon tower. During the 1745 Jacobite Rebellion a gun emplacement was built on the wall overlooking the river.</p><br>
<p>By the later part of the 18th century much of the fabric of the castle had deteriorated and John Howard, the prison reformer, was particularly critical of the conditions in the prison. Thomas Harrison was commissioned to design a new prison. This was completed in 1792 and praised as one of the best constructed prisons in the country. Harrison then went on to rebuild the medieval Shire Hall in neoclassical style. He also built two new wings, one to act as barracks, the other as an armoury, and designed a massive new entrance to the castle site, styled the Propylaeum. The buildings, which were all in neoclassical style, were built between 1788 and 1822. The architectural historian Nikolaus Pevsner comments that Harrison&#39;s work constitutes "one of the most powerful monuments of the Greek Revival in the whole of England".</p><br>
<p>In February 1867, Irish Fenian Michael Davitt led a group of IRB men from Haslingden on an abortive raid for arms on the castle.</p><br>
<p>The Army moved in to take hold of the castle and in 1873 a system of recruiting areas based on counties was instituted under the Cardwell Reforms and the castle became the depot for the two battalions of the 22nd (Cheshire) Regiment of Foot. Under the Childers Reforms, the 22nd regiment evolved to become the Cheshire Regiment with its depot in the castle in 1881.</p><br>
<p>In 1925, after being used for 200 years as a warehouse and ammunition store, the crypt and chapel in the Agricola Tower were reconsecrated by the Bishop of Chester for the use of the Cheshire Regiment. In 1939 the chapel was refurnished. The castle remained the depot of the Cheshire Regiment until 1939, when the regiment moved out to Dale Barracks.</p><br>
<h2>Present day</h2><br>
<p>The complex is entered from Grosvenor Road through the Propylaeum, a Grade I listed building. This consists of a massive entablature supported on widely spaced (areostyle) Doric columns, flanked by temple-like lodges. Directly ahead is the former Shire Hall (also listed Grade I) which now houses the Crown Courts. Its façade has 19 bays, the central seven bays of which project forward and constitute a Doric portico. To the left is the former barracks block which is now the home of the Cheshire Military Museum. To the right is the block which was originally an armoury and later an officers&#39; mess. Both blocks are in neoclassical style and are listed Grade I.</p><br>
<p>Further to the right are the remains of the Norman castle. The Agricola Tower is a Grade I listed building. It is built in sandstone ashlar with a metal roof in three storeys. The ground floor has a blocked gateway and to the right of the gateway is a slightly projecting stair turret. Internally, the ground floor consists of a crypt, and the first floor contains the chapel of St Mary Castro. The Agricola Tower is also a scheduled monument. The chapel is still consecrated as the regimental chapel of the Cheshire Regiment. Its ceiling is covered with frescos dating from the early part of the 13th century which depict the Visitation and miracles performed by the Virgin Mary which were revealed during conservation work in the 1990s.</p><br>
<p>To the south and the west, the curtain walls, which include the Halfmoon Tower, the Flag Tower and the gun emplacement, are listed Grade I. Other walls within the castle complex are listed Grade II. These are the retaining walls and the railing of the forecourt designed by Thomas Harrison, and two other areas of the medieval curtain walls. In the castle courtyard is a statue of Queen Victoria dated 1903 by Pomeroy. The inner bailey is managed by Cheshire West and Chester Council on behalf of English Heritage.</p><br>
<p>Wythenshawe Hall is a 16th-century medieval timber-framed historic house and former manor house in Wythenshawe, Manchester, England, five miles  south of Manchester city centre in Wythenshawe Park. Built for Robert Tatton, it was home to the Tatton family for almost 400 years. Its basic plan is a central hall with two projecting wings.</p><br>
<p>In the winter of 1643–44 the house was beseiged by Parliamentarian forces during the English Civil War. Despite the stout defence put up by Robert Tatton and his fellow Royalists, the defenders were overwhelmed by the Roundheads&#39; superior weaponry.</p><br>
<p>Rebuilding work was carried out at the end of the 18th century, and various additions made in the 19th century, including a walled garden, an ice house, glass houses and a tenant&#39;s hall. Wythenshawe Hall and its surrounding parkland were donated to Manchester Corporation in 1926, and in 1930 it was opened to the public as a museum.</p><br>
<p>The building was badly damaged in an arson attack in March 2016; repairs are expected to be completed by late 2019.</p><br>
<h2>History</h2><br>
<p>A pre-1300 charter mentions an enclosed deer park in Wythenshawe where the Tatton family owned land in 1297. Around 1540, Robert Tatton of Chester built Wythenshawe Hall as the Tatton family residence. The timber-framed Tudor house was the home of the family for almost 400 years. and may originally have had a moat.</p><br>
<p>The hall was besieged during the English Civil War over the winter of 1643–44 by Cromwells Parliamentarian forces. It was defended by Royalists led by Robert Tatton until the Roundheads brought two cannons to the hall from Manchester, leading to the Royalist surrender on 27 February 1644. The Parliamentarians subsequently confiscated Wythenshawe Hall, but it was returned to the Tatton family on payment of a fine of just over £700. After recovering the estate, the family expanded it to about 2,500 acre.</p><br>
<p>In 1924 Robert Henry Grenville Tatton inherited the Wythenshawe estate. There was interest from Manchester Corporation, who wanted land to build a garden suburb, ostensibly to rehouse tenants from slum clearance. By April 1926 Wythenshawe Hall and 250 acre of its surrounding estate had been sold to Ernest Simon and his wife, who donated them to Manchester Corporation "to be used solely for the public good". Later that year the corporation purchased the rest of the estate, and went on to build one of the largest housing estates in Europe on the land.</p><br>
<p>Repairs were made to the hall in the 1950s, and it was listed as a Grade II* structure on 25 February 1952. Its former stable block, to the west of the hall, was Grade II listed in 1974.</p><br>
<p>The roof of the hall and an upper floor were severely damaged by a fire that started at around 3:30 am on 15 March 2016; the clock tower was also damaged. The hall was added to the Heritage at Risk register in October 2016. A planning application to restore the building was submitted in November 2016, with the intention of keeping as much of the original material as possible, the building was scaffolded and undergoing repairs under a protective roof.</p><br>
<h2>Architecture</h2><br>
<p>The hall was partially rebuilt between 1795 and 1800 by Lewis Wyatt. It was altered around 1840 possibly by Edward Blore. Additions included a walled garden, an ice house, and glass houses. In the Victorian era the dining room was refurbished and a tenant&#39;s hall was added.</p><br>
<p>The timber-framed manor house has a hall with two projecting wings, and a porch and dais bays. The entrance hall (also known as the ante-room) is thought to have previously been a chapel, which was subsequently turned into a billiards room, before becoming an entrance hall in the 1870s.</p><br>
<h2>Museum</h2><br>
<p>In 1930, the hall was turned into a museum and art gallery. Most of the hall&#39;s original furniture was removed by the Tatton family in 1926 when they moved out, and most of the furniture and paintings displayed in the hall during its time as a museum were from the Manchester City Galleries collection.</p><br>
<p>Until 2007 a re-enactment of the 1643 siege of Wythenshawe Hall by Cromwell&#39;s troops was staged every July.</p><br>
<p>By 2004 the hall was only open once a week for four months in the year and in 2010 closed completely as a result of council spending cuts. One proposition was that Manchester City Council could sell the building to the National Trust. In summer 2012 the hall re-opened for 10 days for the Wythenshawe Games. A friends group was established in September 2012 to hold monthly open days and regular events at the hall. Furniture installed by the friends group (including a four-poster bed engraved with the Tatton family crest) was not damaged by the fire.</p><br>
<h2>Park</h2><br>
<p>Wythenshawe Park occupies 270 acre of land surrounding the hall. The park contains a mix of woodland, bedding, borders, grassland and meadows, sports and games facilities, and Wythenshawe community farm and a horticulture centre The park received Green Flag Awards in 2011 and 2012.</p><br>
<p>Evidence of landscaping dates to a 1641 estate map. Some landscaping elements were reflected in the layout of the park set out about the hall around 1830, replacing fields. The garden, as it was in 1850, was probably designed by John Shaw and the hall&#39;s owner, Thomas William Tatton.</p><br>
<p>Wythenshawe Halls Home Farm was west of the hall. Some of its structures have survived as park maintenance buildings, but many were demolished when the housing estates were built. North Lodge, the Grade II listed gate lodge on the parks northern boundary was built in the Tudor style in the mid to late 19th century. A Grade II listed bronze statue of Oliver Cromwell on a granite plinth and pedestal is dated 1875. By Matthew Noble, it was sited at the junction of Deansgate and Victoria Street in Manchester city centre from November 1875 until 1968, when it was moved to Wythenshawe Park.</p><br>
<p>The Long Island Motor Parkway , also known as the Vanderbilt Parkway and Motor Parkway, was a parkway on Long Island, New York, in the United States. It was the first roadway designed for automobile use only. The road was privately built by William Kissam Vanderbilt II with overpasses and bridges to remove intersections. It opened in 1908 as a toll road and closed in 1938 when it was taken over by the state of New York in lieu of back taxes. Parts of the parkway survive today in sections of other roadways and as a bicycle trail in Queens.</p><br>
<h2>History</h2><br>
<h3>Origins and construction</h3><br>
<p>William Kissam Vanderbilt II, the great-grandson of Cornelius Vanderbilt, was an auto-racing enthusiast and created the Vanderbilt Cup, the first major road racing competition, in 1904. He ran the races on local roads in Nassau County during the first decade of the 20th century, but the deaths of two spectators and injury to many others showed the need to eliminate racing on residential streets. Vanderbilt responded by establishing a company to build a graded, banked and grade-separated highway suitable for racing that was also free of the horse manure dust often churned up by motor cars. The resulting Long Island Motor Parkway, with its banked turns, guard rails, reinforced concrete roadbed, and controlled access, was the first limited-access roadway in the world.</p><br>
<p>The road was originally planned to stretch for 70 mi in and out of New York City as far as Riverhead, the county seat of Suffolk County, and point of division for the north and south forks of Long Island. Only 45 mi (from Queens in New York City to Lake Ronkonkoma) were constructed, at a cost of $6 million. Construction began in June 1908 (a year after the Bronx River Parkway). On October 10, 1908, a 10 mi section opened as far as modern Bethpage, making it the first highway. It hosted races in 1908 and on the full road in 1909 and 1910, but an accident in the latter year&#39;s Vanderbilt Cup, killing two riding mechanics with additional injuries, caused the New York Legislature to ban racing except on race tracks, ending its career as a racing road.</p><br>
<p>By 1911, the road was extended to Lake Ronkonkoma. It was the first roadway designed exclusively for automobile use, the first concrete highway in the United States, and the first to use overpasses and bridges to eliminate intersections.</p><br>
<h3>Access</h3><br>
<p>The Long Island Motor Parkway was a toll road, with access at a small number of toll booths, joined to local roads by short connector roads. Traffic could turn left between the parkway and connectors, crossing oncoming traffic, so it was not a controlled-access highway (or "freeway" as later defined by the federal government&#39;s Manual on Uniform Traffic Control Devices). Access points were:</p><br>
<p>Nassau Boulevard (NY 25D) west of Francis Lewis Boulevard. The right-of-way of Nassau Boulevard was later used for the Long Island Expressway (I-495).</p><br>
<p>Hillside Avenue (NY 25B) – Springfield Boulevard south of 77th Avenue</p><br>
<p>Great Neck – Lakeville Road south of Lake Road</p><br>
<p>Roslyn – Roslyn Road south of Barnyard Lane</p><br>
<p>Mineola – Jericho Turnpike (NY 25) at Rudolph Drive</p><br>
<p>Garden City – Clinton Road at Vanderbilt Court</p><br>
<p>Meadow Brook – Merrick Avenue north of Stewart Avenue</p><br>
<p>Bethpage – Hicksville Road (NY 107) south of Avoca Avenue; Round Swamp Road south of Old Bethpage Road</p><br>
<p>Huntington – Broad Hollow Road north of Spagnoli Road</p><br>
<p>Deer Park – Deer Park Road (NY 231)</p><br>
<p>East Commack – Commack Spur along Harned Road (CR 14) to Jericho Turnpike (NY 25)</p><br>
<p>Brentwood – Washington Avenue</p><br>
<p>Ronkonkoma – Rosevale Avenue</p><br>
<p>When the parkway opened, the toll was set at $2. It was reduced to $1.50 in 1912, $1 in 1917, and 40 cents in 1938. The first six toll houses were designed by architect John Russell Pope, designer of the Jefferson Memorial and the rotunda in the American Museum of Natural History. The toll houses were designed to include living space for the toll collectors so that toll could be collected at all hours. The most prominent remaining toll house is in Garden City. Once located at the junction of Clinton Road and Vanderbilt Court, it was moved in 1989 to 230 Seventh Street, now the headquarters of the Garden City Chamber of Commerce.</p><br>
<h3>Demise</h3><br>
<p>Roadway design advances of the 1920s rendered the road obsolete less than 20 years after construction. At the same time Robert Moses was planning the Northern State Parkway. Initially the owners and some Long Island officials wanted the road integrated into the state parkway system, despite its narrow roadway and steep bridges not meeting new standards. Moses was against the idea, stating that the parkway would need significant reconstruction. The completion of the Northern State Parkway signaled the end for the road. In 1938 it was sold to New York State for $80,000 in lieu of back taxes and closed.</p><br>
<h3>Remaining portions</h3><br>
<p>Most of the road in Queens (west of Winchester Boulevard, whose widening destroyed an overpass) is a bicycle trail from Cunningham Park to Alley Pond Park, part of the Brooklyn–Queens Greenway.</p><br>
<p>The Nassau County roadway has been developed, or turned into a right of way for Long Island Power Authority transmission lines. Part of the road in Suffolk County is County Route 67 (CR 67) and parts were incorporated into the Meadowbrook State Parkway.</p><br>
<p>In 2005, two historians / preservationists voiced their intention of preserving undeveloped portions of the road as part of a historical hike/bike trail (minus the existing Queens trail segment), submitting a formal proposal to Nassau County, Suffolk County, the Long Island Power Authority (which uses several portions of the old right-of-way to run powerlines) and the State of New York. Work is expected to begin in the near future, and most of that work will be carried out by the New York State Department of Transportation.</p><br>
<p>Most of the road from Queens to western Suffolk County has been obliterated by homes, other roads and structures, or has returned to nature. Some parts can be traced, and some bridges still exist.</p><br>
<p>The western portion in Queens was reopened a few months after closure as a bicycle path from Cunningham Park to Alley Pond Park. Now part of the Brooklyn–Queens Greenway (BQGW), it starts at Francis Lewis Boulevard in Cunningham Park where a bridge over the Long Island Expressway connects it to a park, formerly called Black Stump Park, which in turn connects Cunningham Park with Kissena Park. There is access to Peck Avenue just east of the start of the bike path.</p><br>
<p>The Greenway runs south, parallel with 199th Street, and crosses a bridge over 73rd Avenue. It swings east to Francis Lewis Boulevard, crossing it on a bridge. It continues through the park, crossing the Clearview Expressway by a tunnel, and then Hollis Hills Terrace on a fourth bridge before leaving the park. There is access to 209th and 210th Streets in Hollis Hills. It goes through a wooded corridor, soon crossing over Bell Boulevard on a bridge, and provides access to 220th Street just east of Bell Boulevard. After crossing Springfield Boulevard on another bridge, there is access to Cloverdale Boulevard where the main line of BQGW goes north. The road now enters Alley Pond Park, crosses under the Grand Central Parkway, and provides access to Union Turnpike before ending at Union Turnpike and Winchester Boulevard at the park&#39;s eastern boundary.</p><br>
<p>A small section of the roadway remains in the Village of Lake Success in Great Neck, though unmarked and not open to the public. Most of this section is currently within the property of Great Neck South High School. The toll house was not razed but incorporated into the building of a private house.</p><br>
<p>Another section may be seen on either side of Willis Avenue on the boundary between Albertson and Wiliston Park. On the East side of the avenue, several hundred yards of road provide access to the Williston Park pool property abutting the LIRR.</p><br>
<p>The road survives as a continuous county road, Vanderbilt Motor Parkway (CR 67), from Half Hollow Road in Dix Hills to its original end in Ronkonkoma, just a few blocks short of the lake. Signage along the way also identifies it variously as Vanderbilt Parkway and Motor Parkway. From Half Hollow Road, it goes northeast to NY 231 (Deer Park Avenue). It starts to parallel the Northern State Parkway and intersects with CR 4 (Commack Road) in Commack. It crosses the Sagtikos State Parkway (with northbound access northbound) and heads south to I-495 (the Long Island Expressway). The parkway heads eastward, paralleling the expressway (with access to and from the LIE) before ultimately crossing it and continuing southeast to NY 111 (Joshua&#39;s Path). It then heads north, crossing the LIE again at exit 57, and then curves to the east and crosses NY 454 (Veterans Memorial Highway). It heads east across Old Nichols and Terry roads ahead of one final northeastward turn to end at Rosedale Avenue (CR 93) in Ronkonkoma, close to the lake.</p><br>
<p>Though not a limited access road since 1938, most of the road was recognizable into the 1970s, while new intersections continued to be cut through it. In the approximate middle of the road in and around Islandia, office construction and other commercial building has widened the road and made it appear a typical highway. Other portions, especially at the western and eastern ends of the surviving road, can be enjoyed for greenery, graded and banked turns, and rolling hills, albeit at considerably less than racecar speeds.</p><br>
<p>In 2008 the road celebrated its 100th anniversary. On October 30, 2011, a centennial event marked the 100th anniversary of the completion of the Lake Ronkonkoma section. Led by the winner of the 1909 and 1910 Vanderbilt Cup races, a parade of automobiles made prior to 1948 went from Dix Hills to Lake Ronkonkoma.</p><br>
<p>Lyme Park is a large estate located south of Disley, Cheshire. The estate is managed by the National Trust and consists of a mansion house surrounded by formal gardens, in a deer park in the Peak District National Park. The house is the largest in Cheshire, and is recorded in the National Heritage List for England as a designated Grade I listed building.</p><br>
<p>The estate was granted to Sir Thomas Danyers in 1346 and passed to the Leghs of Lyme by marriage in 1388. It remained in the possession of the Legh family until 1946 when it was given to the National Trust. The house dates from the latter part of the 16th century. Modifications were made to it in the 1720s by Giacomo Leoni, who retained some of the Elizabethan features and added others, particularly the courtyard and the south range. It is difficult to classify Leoni&#39;s work at Lyme, as it contains elements of both Palladian and Baroque styles. Further modifications were made by Lewis Wyatt in the 19th century, especially to the interior. Formal gardens were created and developed in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. The house, gardens and park have been used as locations for filming and they are open to the public. The Lyme Caxton Missal is on display in the Library.</p><br>
<h2>History</h2><br>
<p>The land now occupied by Lyme Park was granted to Piers Legh and his wife Margaret Danyers, by letters patent dated January 4, 1398, by Richard II, son of the Black Prince. Margaret Danyers grandfather, Sir Thomas Danyers, had taken part in retrieving the standard of the Black Prince at the Battle of Crécy in 1346, and was rewarded with annuity of 40 marks a year by the Black Prince, drawn on his Cheshire estate, and which could be exchanged for land of that value belonging to the Black Prince. Sir Thomas died in 1354, and the annuity passed to his nearest surviving kin, his granddaughter Margaret, who in 1388 married the first Piers Legh (Piers Legh I). Richard II favoured Piers and granted his family a coat of arms in 1397, and the estate of Lyme Handley in 1398 redeeming the annuity. However, Piers was executed two years later by Richard&#39;s rival for the throne, Henry Bolingbroke.</p><br>
<p>When in 1415 Sir Piers Legh II was wounded in the Battle of Agincourt, his mastiff stood over and protected him for many hours through the battle. The mastiff was later returned to Legh&#39;s home and was the foundation of the Lyme Hall Mastiffs. They were bred at the hall and kept separate from other strains, figuring prominently in founding the modern breed. The strain died out around the beginning of the 20th century.</p><br>
<p>The first record of a house on the site is in a manuscript folio dated 1465, but that house was demolished when construction of the present building began during the life of Piers Legh VII, in the middle of the 16th century. This house, by an unknown designer, was L-shaped in plan with east and north ranges; piecemeal additions were made to it during the 17th century. In the 1720s Giacomo Leoni, an architect from Venice, added a south range to the house creating a courtyard plan, and made other changes. Leoni had intended to add a cupola to the south range but this never materialised. Instead, Wyatt added a tower-like structure (a hamper) to provide bedrooms for the servants. He also added a one-storey block to the east range, containing a dining-room. Later in the century William Legh, 1st Baron Newton, added stables and other buildings to the estate, and created the Dutch Garden. Further alterations were made to the gardens by Thomas Legh, 2nd Baron Newton and his wife during the early 20th century. In 1946 Richard Legh, 3rd Baron Newton, gave Lyme Park to the National Trust.</p><br>
<h2>House</h2><br>
<h3>Exterior</h3><br>
<p>The house is the largest in Cheshire, measuring overall 190 ft by 130 ft round a courtyard plan. The older part is built in coursed, squared buff sandstone rubble with sandstone dressings; the later work is in ashlar sandstone. The whole house has a roof of Welsh slates. The symmetrical north face is of 15 bays in three storeys; its central bay consists of a slightly protruding gateway. The arched doorway in this bay has Doric columns with a niche on each side. Above the doorway are three more Doric columns with a pediment, and above this are three further columns. Over all this are four further columns with an open pediment bearing an image of Minerva. The architectural historian Nikolaus Pevsner referred to this gateway as "the craziest Elizabethan frontispiece". The endmost three bays on each side project slightly forwards. The ground floors of the three outer bays on each side are rusticated, and their upper storeys are divided by large Corinthian pilasters. The west front is also in three storeys, with nine bays, the outer two bays on each side projecting forward. The ground floor is rusticated and the upper floors are smooth.</p><br>
<p>The symmetrical 15-bay three-storey south front overlooking the pond is the work of Leoni. Although Leoni had been influenced by the works and principles of Palladio, both Pevsner and the authors of the citation in the National Heritage List for England agree that the design of this front is more Baroque than Palladian. The bottom storey is rusticated with arched windows, and the other storeys are smooth with rectangular windows. The middle three bays consist of a portico of which the lowest storey has three arches. Above this arise four giant fluted Ionic columns supporting a triangular pediment. Standing on the pediment are three lead statues, of Neptune, Venus and Pan. The pediment partly hides Wyatts blind balustraded ashlar attic block. The other bays are separated by plain Ionic pilasters and the end three bays on each side protrude slightly. The nine-bay three-storey east front is mostly Elizabethan in style and has Wyatts single-storey extension protruding from its centre. The courtyard was remodelled by Leoni, who gave it a rusticated cloister on all sides. Above the cloister the architecture differs on the four sides although all the windows on the first (piano nobile) floor have pediments. On the west side is a one-bay centrepiece with a window between two Doric pilasters; on the south and north are three windows with four similar pilasters; and on the east front is the grand entrance with a portal in a Tuscan aedicule. This entrance is between the first and second storeys and is approached by symmetrical pairs of stairs with iron balusters, which were made in 1734 by John Gardom of Baslow, Derbyshire. In the centre of the courtyard is an Italian Renaissance well-head, surrounded by chequered pink and white stone, simulating marble.</p><br>
<h3>Interior</h3><br>
<p>The Entrance Hall, which is in the east range, was remodelled by Leoni. It is asymmetrical and contains giant pilasters and a screen of three fluted Ionic columns. The doorway to the courtyard has an open pediment. A hinged picture can be swung out from the wall to reveal a squint looking into the Entrance Hall. Also in the Entrance Hall are tapestries which were woven at Mortlake between 1623 and 1636. They were originally in the Leghs London home in Belgrave Square and were moved to Lyme in 1903. In order to accommodate them, the interior decorator, Amadée Joubert, had to make alterations, including the removal of a tabernacle and cutting out four of the pilasters. To the south of the Entrance Hall is the Library, and to the east is Wyatts Dining Room, which has a stucco ceiling and a carved overmantel both in a late 17th-century style, as well as a frieze. The decoration of this room is considered to be a rare early example of the Wrenaissance style.</p><br>
<p>To the north of the Entrance Hall are the two principal Elizabethan rooms, the Drawing Room and the Stag Parlour. The Drawing Room is panelled with intersecting arches above which is a marquetry frieze. The ceiling has studded bands, strapwork cartouches and a broad frieze. Over the fireplace is a large stone overmantel, which is decorated with pairs of atlantes and caryatids framing the arms of Elizabeth I. The stained glass in this room includes medieval glass that was moved from the original Lyme Hall to Disley Church and returned to Lyme in 1835. The Stag Parlour has a chimneypiece depicting an Elizabethan house and hunting scenes, and it includes the arms of James I. The other Elizabethan rooms in the house are the Stone Parlour on the ground floor, and the Long Gallery, which is on the top floor of the east range. The Long Gallery also has a chimneypiece with the arms of Elizabeth I. The Grand Staircase dates from the remodelling by Leoni and it has a Baroque ceiling. The Saloon is on the first floor of the south range, behind the portico. Its ceiling is decorated in rococo style, and the room contains wooden carvings that have been attributed to Grinling Gibbons. The Chapel, in the northeast corner of the ground floor, also contains detailed carvings.</p><br>
<h3>Lyme Caxton Missal</h3><br>
<p>This missal had been owned by the Legh family since at least 1508. It is the only known nearly complete copy of the earliest edition of a missal according to the Sarum Rite still in existence. When the family moved from the house in 1946, the missal went with them, and was held for safe-keeping in the John Rylands Library in Manchester. In the late 2000s the National Trust acquired it, and it was decided to return it to Lyme Park. To celebrate this the décor of the library was restored to the way it had been during the 19th century. This included re-graining of its ceiling, reproducing velvet for the upholstery and curtains, and re-papering the room with replica wallpaper, based on its original design.</p><br>
<h2>Grounds</h2><br>
<p>The house is surrounded by formal gardens of 6 hectare in a deer park of about 550 hectare which are listed at Grade II* in the National Register of Historic Parks and Gardens. In the gardens and deer park are a number of structures.</p><br>
<h3>Gardens</h3><br>
<p>To the west of the house is the former mill pond. From the south side a lawn slopes down to another pond beyond which is a small ravine with a stone bridge, this area being known as Killtime. To the west of the lawn is the sunken Dutch Garden, which was created by William Legh. It consists of formal flower beds with a central fountain. To the west, south and east of the orangery are further formal flower gardens, including rose gardens.</p><br>
<h3>Deer park</h3><br>
<p>The park was enclosed in the 14th century by Piers Legh I. In the 17th century Richard Legh planted avenues of sycamore and lime trees. Richard&#39;s son, Peter Legh XII carried out more extensive tree-planting in the park, giving it its current appearance. Red deer descended from the original deer present when the park was enclosed graze in the grounds, as do Highland cattle. Formerly an unusual breed of wild white cattle with red ears grazed in the park but they became extinct in 1884. Fallow deer and sheep also graze in the park.</p><br>
<h3>Structures</h3><br>
<p>The most obvious structure in the park, other than the house, is a tower called the Cage which stands on a hill to the east of the approach road to the house (53.34453&deg; latitude, -2.05189&deg; longitude). It was originally a hunting lodge and was later used as a park-keeper&#39;s cottage and as a lock-up for prisoners. The first structure on the site was built about 1580; this was taken down and rebuilt in 1737, possibly to a design by Leoni for Peter Legh X. The tower is built in buff sandstone rubble with ashlar sandstone dressings. It is square in plan, in three storeys, with attached small square towers surmounted by cupolas at the corners. The Cage is a Grade II* listed building. Also in the park is the Paddock Cottage which was erected by Peter Legh IX and restored in the early 21st century. To the east of this are the remains of the Stag House (53.32211&deg; latitude, -2.05374&deg; longitude). To the left of the house in Lantern Wood is a belvedere known as the Lantern (53.33842&deg; latitude, -2.04333&deg; longitude). It is built in sandstone and has three storeys and a spire; the lowest storey is square in plan while the other storeys and the spire are octagonal. The top storey and spire date from about 1580 and originally formed a bellcote on the north gatehouse. This was removed during the restoration of the house by Wyatt and rebuilt on the present site. It is a Grade II* listed building.</p><br>
<p>Immediately to the northeast of the house is the Orangery which was designed in 1862 by Alfred Darbyshire. The Orangery is joined to the house by a covered passage known as the Dark Passage. This was designed by Wyatt for Sir Thomas Legh in 1815 and is a Grade II listed building. Further from the house, to the northeast of the orangery, are the stables (53.33912&deg; latitude, -2.05283&deg; longitude). These are dated 1863 and were also designed by Darbyshire. They are built in sandstone on a courtyard plan and are listed at Grade II. Other structures in the grounds listed at Grade II are the Pheasant House dating from about 1870, an Italian white marble wellhead in the centre of the courtyard of the house dating from the 18th century and probably brought to the house from Venice in about 1900, sandstone kennels in an H-plan dating from around 1870, a pair of gardener&#39;s cottages dated 1871, terrace revetment walls to the west of the house containing some 17th-century masonry with later repairs, the lodge, gate piers and gates on Lyme Park Drive, the forward gatepiers to Lyme Park Drive, dating from the late 17th century and moved to their present position about 1860, the gate piers in Red Lane, and the gate piers, gates and railings to the north of the north front of the house.</p><br>
<h2>Present day</h2><br>
<p>Lyme Park is owned and administered by the National Trust. The house, garden and park are open to the public at advertised hours. An entrance fee to the house and garden is payable by non-members of the National Trust, and additional fee is charged for parking. In the grounds are shops, a refreshment kiosk, a coffee shop and a restaurant. The Lyme Caxton Missal is on display in the library. Associated with it is an interactive audio-visual display with a touch-screen facility to enable pages of the book to be "turned", and chants from the missal to be sung as they would have been 500 years ago. Events are held in the park. The Bowmen of Lyme use the park for archery.</p><br>
<p>Lyme Park and its hall have been used in several films and television programmes. The exterior of the hall was used as Pemberley, the seat of Mr Darcy, in the 1995 BBC adaptation of Jane Austen&#39;s novel Pride and Prejudice, and as a location for the Red Dwarf episode "Timeslides". It was also used as a location in the 2011 film The Awakening and in the second series of The Village in 2014.</p><br>
<p>Gawsworth Old Hall is a Grade I listed country house in the village of Gawsworth, Cheshire, England. It is a timber-framed house in the Cheshire black-and-white style. The present house was built between 1480 and 1600, replacing an earlier Norman house. It was probably built as a courtyard house enclosing a quadrangle, but much of it has been demolished, leaving the house with a U-shaped plan. The present hall was owned originally by the Fitton family, and later by the Gerards, and then the Stanhopes. Since the 1930s it has been in the possession of the Richards family. Raymond Richards collected a number of items from other historic buildings and incorporated them into the hall.</p><br>
<p>Notable residents have included Mary Fitton, perhaps the "Dark Lady" of Shakespeare&#39;s sonnets, and Samuel "Maggoty" Johnson, a playwright described as the last professional jester in England, whose grave is nearby in Maggoty Wood, a small National Trust woodland. In 1712 a dispute about the ownership of the Gawsworth estate culminated in a duel, in which both the combatants were killed.</p><br>
<p>The hall is surrounded by formal gardens and parkland, which once comprised an Elizabethan pleasure garden and, possibly, a tilting ground for jousting. The grounds are listed Grade II*, and contain four Grade II listed buildings, including the Gatehouse, gatepiers, and garden walls. The hall and grounds are open to the public at advertised times, and events are organised. During the summer months a series of concerts and other entertainment is arranged in an open-air theatre near the hall.</p><br>
<h2>History</h2><br>
<p>The original house on the site dated from the Norman era. The earliest documentary reference is the granting of a licence for the administration of a chapel within the house in 1365. The house was then owned by Thomas Fitton, who had inherited it by marriage in 1316, and it remained in the possession of the Fitton family until 1611. The original house was replaced in the 15th and 16th centuries. Building started in 1480, and continued in stages until about 1600. Since then, parts of the house have been demolished, and others have been considerably altered. It is considered by the architectural historians Peter de Figueiredo and Julian Treuherz that the site of the house was originally moated, and that its plan was that of a quadrangle, forming a courtyard house.</p><br>
<p>In 1579 the house was inherited by Sir Edward Fitton III on the death of his father, Sir Edward Fitton II. Sir Edward III was the father of Mary Fitton, a maid of honour to Queen Elizabeth and a candidate for the "Dark Lady" of Shakespeare&#39;s sonnets.</p><br>
<h2>Architecture</h2><br>
<h3>Exterior and plan</h3><br>
<p>Gawsworth Old Hall is a timber-framed house in the Cheshire black-and-white tradition, The house is in mainly in two storeys. In the north range, and on the south front, the timber frame has been encased in brick, with timbering applied to its outer surface. Internally the roof trusses have been retained. Its plan is that of a U-shape with its open side facing the west, towards what was the courtyard. The main entrance is in the north range, leading into the Entrance Hall. To the west of this is the Library, and to the east, the Morning Room. The Entrance Hall leads into the longest range, the eastern range, consisting of the Long Hall, at the north end, and the Dining Room. The Long Hall was originally the Great Hall, and was open to the roof, but is now divided into two floors. To the east of the range extend the kitchen and the chapel. The Dining Room leads into a room now known as the Green Room, which is canted ten degrees to the east. This was also originally open to the roof, but was not a great hall. De Figueiredo and Treuherz are of the opinion that this was originally a larger, separate structure, probably a barn, and incorporated into the main building when the east range was built. Little of the south range remains. It originally contained domestic apartments, which formerly extended to join the now-demolished west range. In the angle between the Dining Room and what remains of the south range is the Drawing Room. The special feature of this room is a canted bay window on the north side, extending upwards for three storeys. The only dated item in the building is the Fitton coat of arms on the north front, which was carved by Richard Rany in 1570.</p><br>
<h3>Interior</h3><br>
<p>Many of the original features have been lost as a consequence of the many changes that have taken place over the centuries. Additional features have been added to the interior by Raymond Richards, such as the doorcase around the entrance. To the west of the Entrance Hall is the Library. This is in the shape of a double cube, measuring 16 ft by 32 ft. Its major item is a richly carved Tudor chimneypiece. The bookcases were designed by A. W. N. Pugin. Both of these items were moved here by Raymond Richards, the bookcases coming from Scarisbrick Hall. These were obtained by Richards from All Saints Church, Birkenhead. They depict the Crucifixion, and Saints Agnes, George, Stephen and Alban. The south door contains fragments of ancient glass from Plas Newydd, that were originally in a medieval church. Adjacent to the chapel is a conservatory containing marble sculptures by John Warrington Wood.</p><br>
<p>To the south of the Long Hall is the Dining Room, which is little changed since the Tudor era. Its contents include a 16th-century refectory table, an oak escritoire from about 1650, and items of Wedgwood majolica ware made in about 1830. The Dining Room leads to the small Guard Room, which contains two 17th-century chairs and an 18th-century blunderbuss. To the west of this is the Drawing Room, the principal living room of the hall which has been little altered since the middle of the 16th century. To the south of the Drawing Room is a small room known as the Gold Room. This room has retained a frieze dating from the early 16th century, including carvings of Tudor roses, flowers and birds. Also in the room is a bust of Charles Gerard. In the southeast corner of the hall is the Green Room. This contains a painting of Gawsworth Rectory by Charles Tattershall Dodd, and a complete set of a dinner service by Minton, comprising 120 pieces.</p><br>
<p>A staircase from the east of the Guard Room leads to the Gallery on the upper floor, to the south side of which is the Solar, containing a 16th-century four-poster bed known as the Boswell bed. It was formerly in Lympne Castle, Kent. The houses principal bedroom is the Hall Room, much of which has survived from the early 16th century. It contains a four-poster bed from the era of William and Mary and a portrait by Zuccaro of members of the Fitton family, which was formerly in Brereton Hall. A room next to the Hall Room has been converted into a modern bathroom, next to which is Mary Fittons Bedroom, which contains an old plaster frieze. The other rooms on floor are the French Room, containing an 18th-century French bed, and a small bedroom known as the Griffin Room. Adjacent to this is the Billiard Room, which has exposed roof timbers. As well as the billiard table, the room contains a marble sculpture of Echo by Alfred Gatley and a bust of John Milton.</p><br>
<h2>Grounds</h2><br>
<h3>Gardens</h3><br>
<p>Associated with the house is an inner garden of about 30 acre surrounded by a parkland of about 600 acre; both are enclosed by walls. To the south of the hall the inner garden comprises a modern formal garden occupying the site of the original 16th-century formal garden. Beyond this, in the parkland, are the earthworks of an earlier garden. The parkland is almost square in shape, with a section curving out from the south border. It consists of "one huge grassed area" with "lumps and bumps". The Cheshire historian George Ormerod, writing in 1819, considered that this area contained a tilting ground for jousting. That claim is repeated in the hall&#39;s official guidebook, which goes on to suggest that it was created in the hope that Queen Elizabeth I would visit the hall on her royal progress, but she never did so. There is some doubt regarding the dating of the creation of the garden, but it is generally accepted that it comprised an Elizabethan pleasure garden. A raised mound of earth in the southwest corner of the garden would have been used to view the garden from an elevated position. A corresponding mound at the southeast corner was removed during the Second World War. To the west of the hall a wooded area known as the Rookery contains mature lime trees. Limited excavation work carried out in 1989–90 discovered, inter alia, a filled-in canal running in a north-south axis down the centre of the garden. The excavations provided "a tremendous insight into the past, although not enough to date it with certainty". To the north of the hall are four fish ponds.</p><br>
<h3>Structures</h3><br>
<p>Four structures in the grounds around the hall are recorded in the National Heritage List for England as a designated Grade II listed buildings; Grade II listing means that a building or structure is considered to be "nationally important and of special interest". The 17th-century Gatehouse is constructed in brick with ashlar dressings and a stone slate roof, in two storeys and three bays. The gate piers date from the late 17th or early 18th century. They are in painted ashlar surmounted by 20th-century ball finials. The garden walls were built in the 16th century, with later additions and alterations. They are constructed in brick with ashlar dressings. At the southern end is a large rectangular enclosure. In nearby woodland are the grave and memorial to Samuel "Maggoty" Johnson, A table tomb over the grave consists of an inscribed stone slab on a brick plinth. Adjacent to it is another inscribed stone slab, dating from the 19th century.</p><br>
<h2>Present day</h2><br>
<p>Gawsworth Old Hall is south of the village of Gawsworth, 3 mi southeast of Macclesfield. Immediately to the west is the Grade I listed Church of St James, to the north beyond a fish pond is the Grade II* listed Gawsworth New Hall, and nearby is the Grade I listed Gawsworth Old Rectory. The Old Hall was listed Grade I on 25 July 1952. Grade I listing is granted to buildings of "exceptional interest, sometimes considered to be internationally important", and encompasses only 2.5 percent of all listed buildings. The grounds have been designated Grade II* in the National Register of Historic Parks and Gardens. Designation as Grade II* means that the site is "particularly important, of more than special interest".</p><br>
<p>The hall is open to the general public at advertised times. A series of events is held in the grounds and in the hall during the year. There is a licensed tea room in the grounds, and the hall is also licensed for civil weddings. Ceremonies are conducted in the Long Hall, and receptions can be held in a marquee in the grounds. During the summer months plays, concerts and other entertainments take place in the open-air theatre close to the hall.</p><br>
<p>Table Bay  is a natural bay on the Atlantic Ocean overlooked by Cape Town  and is at the northern end of the Cape Peninsula, which stretches south to the Cape of Good Hope. It was named because it is dominated by the flat-topped Table Mountain.</p><br>
<h2>History</h2><br>
<p>Bartolomeu Dias was the first European to explore this region in 1486. The bay, although famous for centuries as a haven for ships, is actually a rather poor natural harbour and is badly exposed to gales from both the SE and NW. Many sailing ships seeking refuge in the bay during the 17th and 18th centuries were driven ashore by storms (see the article about Wolraad Woltemade).</p><br>
<p>The Dutch colonists nevertheless persisted with their efforts on the shores of Table Bay, because good natural harbours along this coastline are almost non-existent. The best of them- Saldanha Bay- lacked fresh water and the only realistic alternatives- Simon&#39;s Bay and Houtbaai- were rightly inaccessible at the time and only marginally less exposed to the weather, which is notoriously bad often enough in the Cape Peninisula (see article on S.S. Maori and Sea Point). Eventually a harbour was built in Table Bay by a process of land reclamation and was defended by breakwaters to protect shipping. The older part of this structure is called the Victoria Dock. The newer part is called the Duncan Dock.</p><br>
<p>Robben Island, where Nelson Mandela was imprisoned for decades, is in this bay.</p><br>
<h2>Image gallery</h2><br>
<p>Mount Washington, called Agiocochook by some Native American tribes, is the highest peak in the Northeastern United States at 6,288.2 ft and the most prominent mountain east of the Mississippi River.</p><br>
<p>The mountain is notorious for its erratic weather. On the afternoon of April 12, 1934, the Mount Washington Observatory recorded a windspeed of 231 mph at the summit, the world record for most of the 20th century, and still a record for measured wind speeds not involved with a tropical cyclone.</p><br>
<p>The mountain is located in the Presidential Range of the White Mountains, in the township of Sargent&#39;s Purchase, Coös County, New Hampshire. While nearly the whole mountain is in the White Mountain National Forest, an area of 60.3 acre surrounding and including the summit is occupied by Mount Washington State Park.</p><br>
<p>The Mount Washington Cog Railway ascends the western slope of the mountain, and the Mount Washington Auto Road climbs to the summit from the east. The mountain is popular with hikers (the Appalachian Trail crosses the summit). Other common activities include glider flying, and annual cycle and running races such as the Auto Road Bicycle Hillclimb and Road Race.</p><br>
<h2>Names</h2><br>
<p>Before European settlers arrived in the region, the mountain was known by various indigenous peoples as Kodaak Wadjo ("the top is so hidden" or "summit of the highest mountain") or Agiochook or Agiocochook ("the place of the Great Spirit" or "the place of the Concealed One"). The Algonquians called it Waumbik, "white rocks".</p><br>
<h2>History</h2><br>
<p>The first European to mention the mountain was Giovanni da Verrazzano. Viewing it from the Atlantic Ocean in 1524, he described what he saw as "high interior mountains." The Abenaki people inhabiting the region at the time of European contact believed that the tops of mountains were the dwelling place of the gods, and so among other reasons did not climb them out of religious deference to their sanctity. Field climbed the mountain in June of that year to demonstrate to the Abenaki chief Passaconaway that the Europeans bargaining for tribal land were not subject to the gods believed to inhabit the summit, a primarily political move that facilitated colonists&#39; northern expansion. Field again summited Agiocochook in October 1642 on an early surveying expedition that created maps of land as far as Maine, maps which assisted the delegations from the Massachusetts colony seeking to acquire the more arable coastal regions.</p><br>
<p>A geology party, headed by Manasseh Cutler, named the mountain in 1784. The Crawford Path, the oldest mountain hiking trail in the United States, was laid out in 1819 as a bridle path from Crawford Notch to the summit and has been in use ever since. Ethan Allen Crawford built a house on the summit in 1821, which lasted until a storm in 1826.</p><br>
<p>Little occurred on the summit itself until the mid-19th century, when it was developed into one of the first tourist destinations in the nation, with construction of more bridle paths and two hotels. The Summit House opened in 1852, a 64 ft stone hotel anchored by four heavy chains over its roof. In 1853, the Tip-Top House was erected to compete. Rebuilt of wood with 91 rooms in 1872–1873, the Summit House burned in 1908, then was replaced in granite in 1915. The Tip-Top House alone survived the fire; today it is a state historic site, recently renovated for exhibits. Other Victorian era tourist attractions include a coach road (1861)—now the Mount Washington Auto Road—and the Mount Washington Cog Railway (1869), both of which are still in operation.</p><br>
<p>For forty years, an intermittent daily newspaper, called Among the Clouds, was published by Henry M. Burt at the summit each summer, until 1917.</p><br>
<p>In November 2010, it was revealed that Orlando, Florida-based CNL Financial Group, which owns the Mount Washington Hotel at the foot of the mountain, had formally filed to trademark the "Mount Washington" name. CNL officials said they were directing their efforts against other hotels that use the mountains name and not the numerous businesses in the area that use it. CNLs application at the USA Patent and Trademark Office seeks registration of the trademark "Mount Washington" for any retail service, any restaurant service, and any entertainment service.</p><br>
<h2>Climate</h2><br>
<p>The summit station of Mount Washington has an alpine climate or tundra climate (Köppen ET), although it receives an extremely high amount of precipitation, atypical for most regions with such cold weather. Lower elevations have a subarctic climate (Köppen Dfc).</p><br>
<p>The weather of Mount Washington is notoriously erratic. This is partly due to the convergence of several storm tracks, mainly from the Atlantic to the south, the Gulf region and the Pacific Northwest. The vertical rise of the Presidential Range, combined with its north-south orientation, makes it a significant barrier to westerly winds. Low-pressure areas are more favorable to develop along the coastline in the winter due to the relative temperature differences between the Northeastern United States and the Atlantic Ocean. With these factors combined, hurricane-force wind gusts are observed from the summit of the mountain on average of 110 days per year.</p><br>
<p>Mount Washington once held the world record and still holds the Northern Hemisphere and Western Hemisphere record for directly measured surface wind speed, at 231 mi/h, recorded on the afternoon of April 12, 1934. A new wind speed record was discovered in 2009: on April 10, 1996, Tropical Cyclone Olivia had created a wind gust of 408 km/h at Barrow Island off the coast of Western Australia. (Satellite and radar measurements, e.g. of tornadoes, hurricanes, and air currents in the upper atmosphere, do not compete with records for surface measurements.)</p><br>
<p>The first regular meteorological observations on Mount Washington were conducted by the USA Signal Service, a precursor of the National Weather Service from 1870 to 1892. The Mount Washington station was the first of its kind in the world, setting an example followed in many other countries. For many years, the record low temperature was thought to be -47 &deg;F occurring on January 29, 1934, but upon the first in-depth examination of the data from the 19th century at NOAAs National Climatic Data Center in Asheville, North Carolina, a new record low was discovered. Mount Washingtons official record low of -50 &deg;F was recorded on January 22, 1885. However, there is also hand-written evidence to suggest that an unofficial low of -59 &deg;F occurred on January 5, 1871. The official record cold daily maximum is -28 &deg;F on February 6, 1995. Highs of 0 &deg;F or below occur on 13 days annually, while lows at or below 0 °F can be expected from November 17 through April 1; from December to March, temperatures rise above freezing on only 15 days.</p><br>
<p>On January 16, 2004, the summit weather observation registered a temperature of -43.6 &deg;F and sustained winds of 87.5 mph, resulting in a wind chill value of -102.59 &deg;F at the mountain. During a 71-hour period from approximately 3 p.m. on January 13 to 2 p.m. on January 16, 2004, the wind chill on the summit never went above -50 &deg;F. The official record high temperature at the summit is 72 &deg;F on June 26, 2003, and August 2, 1975, while the official record warm daily minimum is 60 &deg;F on the latter date. Readings of 60 °F or more at the summit are seen on an average 13.5 days annually.</p><br>
<p>The primary summit building was designed to withstand 300 mi/h winds; other structures are chained to the mountain. In addition to a number of broadcast towers, the mountain is the site of a non-profit scientific observatory reporting the weather as well as other aspects of the subarctic climate of the mountain. The extreme environment creates strong winds and ice at the top of Mount Washington making the use of unmanned equipment problematic. The observatory also conducts research, primarily the testing of new weather measurement devices. The Sherman Adams summit building, which houses the observatory, is closed to the public during the winter and hikers are not allowed inside the building except for emergencies and pre-arranged guided tours.</p><br>
<p>The Mount Washington Observatory was built on the summit in 1932 through a group interested in and noting the worth of a research facility at that demanding location. The observatory&#39;s weather data have accumulated a climate record since. Temperature and humidity readings have been collected using a sling psychrometer, a simple device containing two mercury thermometers. Where most unstaffed weather stations have undergone technology upgrades, consistent use of the sling psychrometer has helped provide scientific precision to the Mount Washington climate record.</p><br>
<p>The observatory makes prominent use of the slogan "Home of the Worlds Worst Weather," a claim that originated with a 1940 article in the Appalachia magazine by Charles Brooks (the man generally given the majority of credit for creating the Mount Washington Observatory), titled "The Worst Weather in the World" (even though the article concluded that Mount Washington most likely did not have the worlds worst weather).</p><br>
<h3>Precipitation</h3><br>
<p>Due in part to its high prominence, to its situation at the confluence of two major storm tracks, and to the north-south orientation of the Presidential Range ridgeline which it crowns, Mount Washington receives very high levels of precipitation, averaging an equivalent of 96.9 in of rain per year, with a record high for a calendar year anywhere in the USA east of the Cascade mountains along the west coast of 130.14 in in 1969 and a low of 71.34 in in 1979. Monthly precipitation has ranged from 0.75 in in October 1947 to 28.70 in in October 2005. Large amounts of precipitation often fall in a short period of time: in October 1996, a record 11.07 in of precipitation fell during a single 24-hour period. A substantial amount of this falls as snow, with a seasonal average of around 280 in of snow; seasonal accumulation has ranged from 75.8 in in 1947–48 to 566.4 in in 1968–69. The record amount of snowfall in a 24-hour period, 49.3 in, occurred in February 1969, which is also the snowiest month on record with 172.8 in.</p><br>
<h2>Geographical features</h2><br>
<p>Although the western slope that the Cog Railway ascends is straightforward from base to summit, the mountains other sides are more complex. On the north side, Great Gulf—the mountains largest glacial cirque—forms an amphitheater surrounded by the Northern Presidentials: Mounts Clay, Jefferson, Adams and Madison. These connected peaks reach well into the treeless alpine zone. Massive Chandler Ridge extends northeast from the summit of Washington to form the amphitheater&#39;s southern wall and the incline is ascended by the Mount Washington Auto Road.</p><br>
<p>East of the summit, a plateau known as the Alpine Gardens extends south from Chandler Ridge at about 5,200 ft elevation. It is notable for plant species either endemic to alpine meadows in the White Mountains or outliers of larger populations in arctic regions far to the north. Alpine Gardens drops off precipitously into two prominent glacial cirques. Craggy Huntington Ravine offers rock and ice climbing in an alpine setting. More rounded Tuckerman Ravine is New England&#39;s premier venue for spring back-country skiing as late as June and then a scenic hiking route.</p><br>
<p>South of the summit lies a second and larger alpine plateau, Bigelow Lawn, at 5,000 ft to 5,500 ft elevation. Satellite summit Boott Spur and then the Montalban Ridge including Mount Isolation and Mount Davis extend south from it, while the higher Southern Presidentials—Mounts Monroe, Franklin, Eisenhower, Pierce, Jackson and Webster—extend southwest to Crawford Notch. Oakes Gulf separates the two high ridges.</p><br>
<h2>Uses</h2><br>
<p>The mountain is part of a popular hiking area, with the Appalachian Trail crossing the summit and one of the Appalachian Mountain Clubs eight mountain huts, the Lakes of the Clouds Hut, located on one of the mountains shoulders. Winter recreation includes Tuckerman Ravine, famous for its Memorial Day skiing and its 45-degree slopes. The ravine is notorious for its avalanches, of which about 100 are recorded every year, and which have killed six people since 1849. Scores of hikers have died on the mountain in all seasons, due to harsh and rapidly changing conditions, inadequate equipment, and failure to plan for the wide variety of conditions which can occur above tree line.</p><br>
<p>The weather at Mount Washington has made it a popular site for glider flying. In 2005, it was recognized as the 14th National Landmark of Soaring.</p><br>
<h3>Hiking</h3><br>
<p>The most popular hiking trail approach to the summit is via the 4.1 mi Tuckerman Ravine Trail. It starts at the Pinkham Notch camp area and gains 4,280 ft, leading straight up the bowl of Tuckerman Ravine via a series of steep rock steps which afford spectacular views of the ravine and across the notch to Wildcat Mountain. Fatalities have occurred on the trail, both from ski accidents and hypothermia. Water bottles may be refilled at the base of the bowl 2.1 mi up the trail at a well pump near a small hiker&#39;s store which offers snacks, toilets and shelter. At the summit is a center with a museum, gift shop, observation area, and cafeteria. Other routes up the eastern slopes of the mountain include the Lion Head, Boott Spur, Huntington Ravine and Nelson Crag trails, as well as the Great Gulf Trail ascending from the northeast. Routes from the western slopes include the Ammonoosuc Ravine and Jewell trails and the Crawford Path and Gulfside Trail (coincident with the Appalachian Trail from the southwest and from the north, respectively).</p><br>
<p>There are many differences between climbing Mount Washington in summer and climbing it in winter. There are no public facilities on the summit in winter. In the winter months, the most popular route is the Lion Head Winter Route, which begins on the Tuckerman Ravine Trail but then turns north to ascend up to Lion Head at elevation 5,033 ft. The winter route variation is recommended to help climbers avoid avalanche danger. Exactly where the route turns from the Tuckerman Ravine Trail depends on the snow conditions. If the amount of snowfall has not been significant, the Lion Head Summer Route may be open. After hiking 2.3 mi from the visitor center in Pinkham Notch, the trail will take a right turn onto the Lion Head Summer Route. If there has been enough snow accumulation on the summer Lion Head Trail, the Forest Service will open the Lion Head Winter Route, which turns off after approximately 1.7 mi.</p><br>
<h3>Cog railway</h3><br>
<p>Since 1869, the Mount Washington Cog Railway has provided tourists with a train journey to the summit of Mount Washington. It uses a Marsh rack system and was the first successful rack railway in the US.</p><br>
<h3>Races</h3><br>
<p>Every June, the mountain is the site of the Mount Washington Road Race, an event which attracts hundreds of runners. In August the Mount Washington Auto Road Bicycle Hillclimb, a bicycle race, takes place along the same route as the road race. The hillclimb&#39;s notable contestants include former Tour de France contender Tyler Hamilton.</p><br>
<p>On August 7, 1932, Raymond E. Welch became the first one-legged man to climb Mount Washington. An official race was held and open only to one-legged people. Mr. Welch climbed the "Jacob&#39;s Ladder" route and descended via the carriage road. At the time of his climb, he was the station agent for the Boston & Maine Railroad in Northumberland, New Hampshire.</p><br>
<p>The mountain is also the host to one of the oldest car races in the country, the Mount Washington Hillclimb Auto Race, which has been held on and off since 1904. In September 2010, Travis Pastrana set an unofficial record at 6 minutes, 20.47 seconds, driving a Vermont sports car Subaru WRX STi. In June 2014, David Higgins set a new record for ascent of Mt. Washington in a car, at 6:09.09 with an average speed of 75 mph, using the same model vehicle.</p><br>
<h2>Transmission stations</h2><br>
<p>Edwin H. Armstrong installed an FM-broadcasting station on the top of Mount Washington in 1937. The station included the original broadcast tower, the Yankee Building, which housed the crew and transmitter equipment, and the first power house building. The station stopped operating in 1948, due to excessive maintenance costs. The original Armstrong tower still stands today. The Yankee Building also remains and continues to serve as a communications facility, housing equipment for numerous tenants including cellular telephone providers and public safety agencies. The only building no longer standing from Armstrong&#39;s original station is the original power house which was destroyed by fire in 2003 when a fire spread to it that had started in a neighboring building. In 1954 a TV tower and transmitters were installed for WMTW, Channel 8, licensed to Poland Spring, Maine. The station continuously broadcast until 2002 from the top of the mountain, including local forecasts by (now retired) WMTW transmitter engineer Marty Engstrom.</p><br>
<p>Mount Washington continued FM broadcasting in 1958 with the construction of WMTW-FM 94.9, which became WHOM in 1976. WHOM and WMTW-TV shared a transmitter building, which also housed the generators to supply power to the mountain. A second radio station moved to the summit in 1987. WPKQ-FM (then known as WMOU) installed its transmitters in the Yankee building and constructed a new broadcast tower behind the building which is the tallest structure on the summit. On February 9, 2003, a fire broke out in the generator room of the WMTW/WHOM transmitter building, which had become the property of the state only a year earlier when WMTW left the summit. Though WMTW had left, the building at the time still had WHOMs transmitters inside it. The fire destroyed the building, including WHOMs transmitters, as well as the summit&#39;s main generators, and also spread to the adjacent Old Yankee Power House building which housed the emergency generator, destroying that building also and disrupting all power to the summit. Temporary generators had to be transported up the mountain to restore power to the observatory and to the Yankee building, which houses important public safety communications equipment. A makeshift generator room was constructed underneath the canopy of the Sherman Adams building across from the public entrance to replace the destroyed buildings. The makeshift generator room was later made permanent when power cables were installed in 2009, delivering grid power to the summit for the first time. The old sign from the destroyed Old Yankee Power House building was placed above the doorway to the new generator room. WHOM subsequently built a new transmitter building on the site of the old power building, and also constructed a new standby antenna on the Armstrong tower. (For the first time since 1948, the Armstrong tower was used for broadcasts.)</p><br>
<p>The National Weather Service forecast office in Gray, Maine, operates NOAA Weather Radio station KZZ41 on 162.5 MHz from the summit of Mount Washington. Due to its point as the highest elevation in the Northeast and the frequency range NWR broadcasts on, the station can be heard at very far distances. It has been heard in northwest Vermont (at Vergennes), much of western Maine, and northern Massachusetts (at Dracut and Salisbury, the latter of which had clear reception). Based on the official NWS coverage area map, it can be heard clearly throughout most of New Hampshire, western Maine, northeast Vermont, and portions of southern Canada. During very clear conditions, KZZ41 has the potential to reach the majority of northern Massachusetts (including some northern areas of Greater Boston and much of the North Shore) as well as the majority of Vermont and Maine.</p><br>
<p>In June 2008, the possibility of television returning to Mount Washington came to light, with the filing by New Hampshire Public Television to move WLED-TV from its current location near Littleton to the old WMTW mast on top.</p><br>
<h2>Deaths</h2><br>
<p>Since 1849, nearly 150 people have died on Mount Washington.</p><br>
<h2>Artistic tributes</h2><br>
<p>Mount Washington has been the subject of several famous paintings, part of a New England school of art known as White Mountain art. Inspired by the Hudson River School of landscape painting, a number of artists during the Victorian era ventured into the White Mountains in search of natural subjects. Train service in the area spurred increased tourism and the construction of the Glen House where Albert Bierstadt and his photographer brother (Bierstadt Brothers) stayed. John P. Soule, John B. Heywood and the Kilburn Brothers also produced stereographic images of scenery in the area.</p><br>
<p>Ferdinand Richardt Summit of Mount Washington in the White Mountains.jpgFerdinand Richardt (1857)</p><br>
<p>Benjamin Champney - Mount Washington.jpgBenjamin Champney</p><br>
<p>JKensett Mount Washington (JJH-JFK001).jpgJohn F. Kensett (1869)</p><br>
<p>Autumn in the Conway Meadows Looking Towards Mount Washington.jpgAlbert Bierstadt (1858)</p><br>
<p>Derwentwater  is one of the principal bodies of water in the Lake District National Park in north west England. It lies wholly within the Borough of Allerdale, in the county of Cumbria.</p><br>
<p>The lake occupies part of Borrowdale and lies immediately south of the town of Keswick. It is both fed and drained by the River Derwent. It measures approximately 3 mi long by 1 mi wide and is some 72 ft deep. There are several islands within the lake, one of which is inhabited. Derwent Island House, an 18th-century residence, is a tenanted National Trust property open to the public on five days each year.</p><br>
<p>Derwentwater is a place of considerable scenic value. It is surrounded by hills (known locally as fells), and many of the slopes facing Derwentwater are extensively wooded. A regular passenger launch operates on the lake, taking passengers between various landing stages. There are seven lakeside marinas, the most popular stops being Keswick, Portinscale and the Lodore Falls, from which boats may be hired. Recreational walking is a major tourist activity in the area and there is an extensive network of footpaths in the hills and woods surrounding the lake.</p><br>
<p>The Keswick&mdash;Borrowdale road runs along the eastern shore of the lake and carries a regular bus service. There is a lesser, or unclassified, road along the western shore connecting the villages of Grange and Portinscale.</p><br>
<p>Derwentwater gave its name to the Earldom of Derwentwater.</p><br>
<p>The lake is believed to be the last remaining native habitat of the vendace (Coregonus vandesius) fish from the four originally known sites: Bassenthwaite Lake and Derwentwater in the Lake District, and the Castle Loch & Mill Loch in Lochmaben.</p><br>
<h2>Etymology</h2><br>
<p>Derwent is " (River) with oak trees, traditionally explained from Brit." (i.e.: Brythonic Celtic) " derwā oak plus suffixes, hence of the same origin as other English rivers named Derwent, Darwen, Darent and Dart...The river gave its name to Derwent Water (which was also known as the Lake of Derwent, Keswick Lake, or Keswick Water in the 18th-19th centuries)...".</p><br>
<p>Plus "OE wæter, with the meaning probably influenced by its ON relative vatn."</p><br>
<h2>Derwentwater's islands</h2><br>
<p>There are numerous islands in Derwentwater, the largest being Derwent Island, Lords Island, St Herberts Island, Rampsholme Island, Park Neb, Otter Island, and Otterbield Island. St. Herbert&#39;s Island is named after a C. 7th priest hermit, St. Herbert of Derwentwater.</p><br>
<h2>In popular culture</h2><br>
<p>Star Wars Episode VII: The Force Awakens filmed on location at Derwentwater for the scene "Approach to Maz Kantana&#39;s Castle, Takodana".</p><br>
<p>The EP Three Songs (2011) by Robin Pecknold includes a song named "Derwentwater Stones".</p><br>
<p>A photograph taken at Derwentwater is used as the album art for Black Sands by Bonobo.</p><br>
<h2>Panoramas</h2><br>
<p>Sather Tower is a campanile , with clocks on its four faces, on the University of California, Berkeley campus, more commonly known as The Campanile for its resemblance to the Campanile di San Marco in Venice. It is the university&#39;s most recognizable symbol.</p><br>
<p>Given by Jane K. Sather in memory of her husband, banker Peder Sather, it is the third-tallest bell-and-clock-tower in the world.</p><br>
<p>Its current 61-bell carillon, built around a nucleus of 12 bells also given by Jane Sather, can be heard for many miles and supports an extensive program of education in campanology.</p><br>
<p>Sather Tower also houses many of the Department of Integrative Biology&#39;s fossils (mainly from the La Brea Tar Pits) because its cool, dry interior is suited for their preservation.</p><br>
<h2>Overview</h2><br>
<p>Designed by John Galen Howard, founder of the Department of Architecture at the University, Sather Tower was completed in 1914 and opened to the public in 1917.</p><br>
<p>With seven principal floors and an eighth-floor observation deck, at 307 ft it is the third-tallest bell-and-clock-tower in the world.</p><br>
<p>It marked a secondary axis in Howard&#39;s original Beaux-Arts campus plan and has been a major point of orientation in almost every campus master plan since.</p><br>
<p>Sather Tower houses a full concert carillon, enlarged from the original 12-bell chime installed in October 1917 to 48 bells in 1979 and the current 61 bells in 1983.</p><br>
<p>During the Fall and Spring semesters, the carillon is performed for ten minutes at 7:50 a.m., noon, and 6:00 p.m. during weekdays, from 12:00-12:15 p.m. and 6:00-6:10 p.m. on Saturdays, and from 2:00-2:45 p.m. on Sundays and intermittently at other times of the year. The bells also toll the hour 7 days a week between the hours of 8 a.m. and 10 p.m. At noon on the last day of instruction each semester, "They&#39;re Hanging Danny Deever in the Morning" is played. (The song employs only the original set of bells installed in 1917.) Following that, the carillon is silent until the end of finals.</p><br>
<p>A gift by Evelyn and Jerry Chambers in 1983 endowed the position of University Carillonist as well as practice rooms, practice keyboards, a campanology library, and international Carillon Festivals every five years from the anniversary of the Class of 1928. Private and group lessons are offered in carillon through the Department of Music, subject to auditions and with Music majors receiving priority. Students work on one of Sather Tower&#39;s two practice keyboards until they are ready to perform on the carillon itself.</p><br>
<p>An elevator takes visitors 200 feet up to an observation deck with sweeping views of the campus, the surrounding hills, San Francisco, and the Golden Gate. Admission is free for UC Berkeley students, staff, and faculty, two dollars for seniors, Cal Alumni Association members, and persons age 17 and under, and three dollars for everyone else.</p><br>
<p>The trumpets of the California Marching Band every year play Cal spirit songs during Big Game week from the top of the tower. Known as the Campanile Concert, the music can be heard throughout the campus and Berkeley, and in some cases, all the way to Oakland.</p><br>
<p>The surrounding promenade features a grid of pollarded London Plane trees, frequently enjoyed for the sport of slacklining.</p><br>
<p>In 1958 a 67-year-old retired attorney jumped to his death, prompting a daily patrol to guard the platform. In 1961, after an undergraduate suicide, glass was installed to enclose the viewing platform. These panes were removed in 1979 due to complaints that the panes were muffling the sound of the expanded carillon. In 1981 metal bars were installed.</p><br>
<h2>Carillon and its History</h2><br>
<p>The Berkeley Carillon originated as a twelve bell chime, cast in 1915 by John Taylor & Co of Loughborough, England. The original bells were a gift of Jane K. Sather, who also gave the university the Sather Tower (in which the bells were housed), Sather Gate (named for her husband the Norwegian-born banker Peder Sather), and endowed chairs in History and Classics. The original bells were installed in 1917 and played for the first time on November 3, 1917. The delay between the founding and the installation of the bells was caused by World War I, as well as the US Customs Service in San Francisco.</p><br>
<p>The original bells all bear the inscription "Gift of Jane K. Sather 1914," acknowledging the benefactress for whom the Tower is named. The largest of the original bells bears an inscription by Isaac Flagg, Professor of Greek, Emeritus, "We ring, we chime, we toll, / Lend ye the silent part / Some answer in the heart, / Some echo in the soul." The current bells range from small 19 pound bells to the 10,500 pound "Great Bear Bell," which tolls on the hour and features bas-relief carvings of bears as well as the constellation Ursa Major.</p><br>
<p>It was soon discovered that these twelve bells were insufficient to play many popular tunes, including the national anthem. During the following decades there were a number of discussions about enlarging the instrument, but nothing came of this need.</p><br>
<p>A thirteenth bell was installed along with a clock in 1926 to strike the hours. This clock and bell had originally been installed in 1899 in Bacon Hall and were named for William Ashburner, a university regent.</p><br>
<p>In 1978, the Class of 1928 decided, as a fiftieth anniversary gift to the university, to add some bells. They began a campaign among their members, hoping to raise around $45,000 for a few new bells. In several days they managed to raise over $150,000 and decided at that point to enlarge the chime to a full carillon of forty-eight bells. Bids were sought, and the Fonderie Paccard of Annecy, France, was awarded the contract. The new Class of 1928 Carillon, which incorporated the original twelve bells, was installed and inaugurated in 1979. An article about the new instrument in the Bulletin of The Guild of Carillonneurs in North America ended by suggesting that perhaps another class might at some future date consider adding additional bells and making this concert carillon into a grand carillon.</p><br>
<p>In 1983, Jerry Chambers, a wealthy member of the class of 1928, and his wife Evelyn (class of 1932 and honorary member of the class of 1928), along with the class of 1928, gave a handsome endowment for the carillon. These funds were used to enlarge the instrument to a fully chromatic, five-octave instrument beginning with low G, renovation of two floors of Sather Tower for two practice keyboards, a campanology collection, and a studio for the University Carillonist. In addition, the Chambers Carillon funds, which is the sole source of support for the carillon program at Berkeley, endowed a full-time position for the University Carillonist (one of only five full-time positions in North America), and a carillon festival to be held every five years honoring the Class of 1928, counting from that year.</p><br>
<p>As of 2008, the carillon program is one of the most active in the world. It offers an instructional program which attracts about thirty students each semester, a performance program of seventeen ten-minute recitals and one forty-five-minute recital each week. There is additionally a professional staff of eight artist performers, and a part-time maintenance person. The carillon program remains fully funded by the generous endowment of Jerry and Evelyn Chambers.</p><br>
<h2>Footnotes</h2><br>
