The Little Book of Great Britain E-Book

Neil R Storey

• Herausgeber: The History Press
• Kategorie: Geisteswissenschaft
• Sprache: Englisch

Seitenzahl: 232

Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2012

Beschreibung

This little gem of a book is a repository of intriguing, fascinating, obscure, strange and entertaining facts and trivia about Britain and all the things that have made it great. Within this volume are such themes as myths and legends, traditions and customs, great Britons and great British places, while not forgotten is a celebration of the best of British music, food, entertainment and sport and a host of topics that explore the more eccentric and eclectic people and things that contribute to and define Great Britain. Despite being a relatively small collection of islands, there is always something new, fascinating, frivolous or even bizarre to discover about Great Britain – you will find much of it here. Did You Know? There is no location in Britain which is more than 74½ miles from the sea. The first person in Britain to be convicted of speeding was Walter Arnold of Kent, who in 1896 was fined 1s plus costs for driving at a breakneck 8mph. Britain has some thoroughly unusual pub names, including: The Bucket of Blood in Phillack, Cornwall, The Honest Lawyer in Folkestone and The Old Thirteenth Cheshire Astley Volunteer Rifleman Corps Inn in Stalybridge – which also enjoys the honour of having Britain's longest pub name. Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II is a well-known corgi fan. She has owned no fewer than 30 during her reign, the first being Susan, who was given to her in 1944.

Leseprobe

In memory of Theo,a Great Briton.

CONTENTS

Title Page

Dedication

Introduction

1.  Topography & Around Britain

2.  Battles & Wars

3.  Royalty

4.  Great Britons – Famous & Not So Famous

5.  Britain at Work

6.  That’s entertainment

7.  Food & Drink

8.  Legends, Ghosts & Curiosities

9.  Transport

10.  Natural History

11.  Sports Roundup

12.  Sense of Place – Quintessentially British

13.  On this Day 159

Acknowledgements

Copyright

INTRODUCTION

The British are a unique race because much of their lives, work and leisure are inextricably entwined with Britain’s history, scenery, celebrations, traditions and love of nostalgia that endows them with their own very distinctive identity and sense of place.

Visitors to these shores can only obtain some impression of the country and its character but how many people really know Britain, even if it is the country they call home? Despite being a small island there is always something new to discover, be it fascinating, frivolous, quirky or even bizarre. This book does not pretend to be a history, concise almanac or guide to Great Britain, instead it is a celebration of Britishness through a host of topics that explore the more eccentric and eclectic people and things that contribute to and define Great Britain; indeed, this book is a collection of the ephemeral and miscellaneous facts about this land you didn’t know you wanted to know … until now. The contents of this volume will enliven conversation or quiz and leave even those who know and love Britain with the ‘well fancy that!’ factor. Things like …

Queen Elizabeth I (1533–1603) was the first British monarch to have a fully fitted flushing toilet.

A saggar maker’s bottom knocker was a real job in the British pottery industry.

Biggles creator Captain W.E. Johns began his professional life as an assistant sanitary inspector.

There are over 470 recipes and flavours for British sausages and 1,200 varieties of native British apples.

The first person to be convicted of speeding is believed to be Walter Arnold of East Peckham, Kent, who on 28 January 1896, was fined 1s plus costs for driving at 8mph.

The Green Cross Code man and the helmeted figure of Darth Vader in Star Wars were both played by British muscle man David Prowse.

There are 19,500 bus stops in London.

The first World Conker Championships were staged at Ashton, Northamptonshire, in 1965.

The oldest continually held race has been held at Carnwath in Lanarkshire, Scotland since 1508 and still maintains the same prize for the winner – a pair of hand-knitted knee-length socks.

And my personal favourite …

Ian Fleming, the creator of 007 James Bond, was also the author of children’s favourite Chitty Chitty Bang Bang.

You will soon see the ease with which one can enliven conversation, impress and intrigue family with the facts and frivolities obtained from this book.

1

TOPOGRAPHY &AROUND BRITAIN

ABOUT BRITAIN

Great Britain was created by the Acts of Union between the Kingdom of England and Wales and the Kingdom of Scotland on 1 May 1707, and the twin Acts that united the Kingdom of Great Britain and the Kingdom of Ireland were passed respectively on 2 July 1800 and 1 August 1800 to create the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland that came into effect on 1 January 1801.

The total area of the United Kingdom is approximately 94,060sq miles.

The coastline of Great Britain stretches for 11,073 miles and there is no location in Britain that is more than 74½ miles from the sea.

The highest point in Great Britain is the summit of Ben Nevis in Scotland which soars skywards to 4,406ft.

The lowest point in Great Britain is to be found at Holme Fen in Cambridgeshire at around 9ft below sea level.

The oldest rocks in the British Isles are the Lewisian gneisses, metamorphic rocks found in the far north-west of Scotland and in the Hebrides (with a few small outcrops elsewhere), which date from at least 2,700 million years ago.

During the Anglian Glaciation, about 478,000 to 424,000 years ago, ice up to 3,300ft thick reached as far south as London and Bristol and diverted the River Thames to its present course.

The prevailing wind across Great Britain is from the south-west.

The Wash is the largest estuarine system in the United Kingdom and contains England’s largest official nature reserve. Providing an internationally important habitat for fifteen species of birds, it is home for 6,000 common seals and harbours a tenth of Britain’s saltmarsh.

CANONICAL LATIN NAMES FOR THEANCIENT REGIONS OF BRITAIN

Albion or Britannia (Britain)

Anglia (England)

Caledonia (Scotland)

Cambria (Wales)

Cornubia (Cornwall)

Hibernia (Ireland)

Scotia (originally the Roman name for Ireland). The name shifted in the Middle Ages to designate the part of Britain lying north of the Firth of Forth (the Kingdom of Alba). By the later Middle Ages it had become the fixed Latin term for what in English is called Scotland.

Ancient England and Wales had its capital at Winchester and in Westminster after the Norman Conquest of 1066, and consisted of the kingdoms of Wessex, Mercia, East Anglia, Northumbria, Cornwall and the Principality of Wales.

Telly Savalas, famous for his appearances in the American TV cop show Kojak in the 1970s, made three fifteen-minute British travelogue and tourism films entitled: Telly Savalas Looks at Aberdeen (1981), Telly Savalas Looks at Portsmouth (1981), and Telly Savalas Looks at Birmingham (1981). Telly speaks with confidence about the history, notable features and events he saw in each location (although he did not visit any of the locations during the filming) and concluded with a special variation of one of his popular catchphrases: ‘So long Portsmouth, Here’s looking at you’; ‘So long Aberdeen, Here’s looking at you’ and my personal favourite where Telly remarks candidly: ‘Yes, it’s my kind o’ town, so, so long Birmingham, here’s looking at you.’

The remarkable Telly Savalas trilogy was followed by the series Pete Murray takes you to … where the popular DJ and regular Juke Box Jury panellist (1959–67), guided audiences around Nottingham (1982), Hastings (1982) and Coventry (1983).

EXTREMITIES

Although the extremities of Great Britain are often claimed as John O’Groats in Scotland and Land’s End in the south, the northernmost point in Britain is in fact Dunnet Head (also known as Easter Head) in Caithness, Scotland, while the most southernmost point is The Lizard in Cornwall. The most westerly point of the mainland of Great Britain is at West Ardnamurchan in the highlands of Scotland and the furthest point east is to be found at Lowestoft Ness in Suffolk.

THE CENTRE OF BRITAIN

A number of locations have claimed to be the centre of Great Britain. The stone cross at Meriden in the West Midlands was claimed to be the centre for centuries. The claim for the centre of Britain was also made for the Midland Oak on the boundaries of Lillington and Leamington Spa in Warwickshire and Haltwhistle in Northumberland. Using modern methods of mapping using global positioning system (GPS), according to Ordnance Survey, the centre of mainland Great Britain is at grid reference SD 723 367 (3.4 miles south-west of Clitheroe, between Whalley, Billington and Calderstones Hospital in Lancashire). To be precise SD 72321 36671 to the nearest metre.

THE FIVE SMALLESTCITIES IN GREAT BRITAIN

St David’s, Pembrokeshire, Wales

pop. 1,797

St Asaph, Denbighshire, Wales

pop. 3,491

City of London, London, England

pop. 7,185

Wells, Somerset, England

pop. 10,406

Bangor, Gwynedd, Wales

pop. 13,725

THE HISTORIC COUNTIES OF ENGLAND

Bedfordshire

Middlesex

Berkshire

Monmouthshire

Buckinghamshire

Norfolk

Cambridgeshire

Northamptonshire

Cheshire

Northumberland

Cornwall

Nottinghamshire

Cumberland

Oxfordshire

Derbyshire

Rutland

Devon

Shropshire

Dorset

Somerset

Durham

Staffordshire

Essex

Suffolk

Gloucestershire

Surrey

Hampshire

Sussex

Herefordshire

Warwickshire

Hertfordshire

Westmorland

Huntingdonshire

Wiltshire

Kent

Worcestershire

Lancashire

East Riding of Yorkshire

Leicestershire

North Riding of Yorkshire

Lincolnshire

West Riding of Yorkshire

THE HISTORIC COUNTIES OF WALES

Anglesey

Glamorganshire

Brecknockshire

Merionethshire

Carmarthenshire

Monmouthshire

Caernarvonshire

Montgomeryshire

Cardiganshire

Pembrokeshire

Denbighshire

Radnorshire

Flintshire

THE HISTORIC COUNTIES OF SCOTLAND

Aberdeenshire

Kinross-shire

Angus (Forfarshire)

Kirkcudbrightshire

County of Argyll

Lanarkshire

Ayrshire

Elgin (County of Moray)

Banffshire

Nairnshire

Berwickshire

Orkney

County of Bute

Peeblesshire

Caithness

Perthshire

Clackmannanshire

Renfrewshire

Cromartyshire

Ross-shire

Dumfriesshire

Roxburghshire

Dunbartonshire

Selkirkshire

County of Edinburgh (Midlothian)

Stirlingshire

County of Fife

Sutherland

Haddingtonshire (East Lothian)

Linlithgowshire (West Lothian)

Inverness-shire

Wigtownshire

Kincardineshire

Zetland (Shetland)

NATIONAL PARKS

Great Britain has fifteen National Parks, namely (and the year of their designation):

The Brecon Beacons (1957)

The Broads (1989)

The Cairngorms (2003)

Dartmoor (1951)

Exmoor (1954)

The Lake District (1951)

Loch Lomond and the Trossachs (2002)

The New Forest (2005)

Northumberland (1956)

North York Moors (1952)

Peak District (1951)

Pembrokeshire Coast (1952)

Snowdonia (1951)

South Downs (2010)

Yorkshire Dales (1954)

LAND AREA COVEREDBY NATIONAL PARKS

England: 10 National Parks cover 9.3 per cent of the land area

Wales: 3 National Parks cover 19.9 per cent of the land area

Scotland: 2 National Parks cover 7.2 per cent of the land area

The Lake District is England’s largest National Park. It covers 885 square miles with a width (west to east) of 33 miles and 40 miles (north to south). The deepest lake is Wastwater at 243ft, the longest lake is Windermere which is 10½ miles long. To be precise there is only one official lake in the Lake District – Bassenthwaite Lake – all the others are ‘meres’ or ‘waters’.

Britain’s largest National Park is the Cairngorms, which covers an area of 1,748 sq miles, over twice the size of the Lake District and Loch Lomond and the Trossachs. Five of Scotland’s six highest mountains are within the park, and there are 55 summits over 2,900ft. 36 per cent of the land area is over 2,600ft and 2 per cent is over 3,000ft. The land above 1,900ft is known as the ‘montane zone’ and is the largest area of arctic mountain landscape in the British Isles.

TWENTY THREE-LETTERPLACE NAMES IN BRITAIN

Ayr (Ayrshire)

Lee (Lancashire)

Ely (Cambridgeshire)

Lew (Oxfordshire)

Esh (Durham)

Nox (Shropshire)

Eye (Suffolk)

Ore (West Sussex)

Ham (Kent)

Par (Cornwall)

Hoe (Norfolk)

Raw (North Yorkshire)

How (Cumbria)

Rhu (Dunbartonshire)

Ide (Devon)

Rye (East Sussex)

Kea (Cornwall)

Usk (Gwent)

Lag (Dumfriesshire)

Wem (Shropshire)

REALLY ANCIENT BRITONS

In July 2010 archaeologists digging near the village of Happisburgh in Norfolk discovered seventy-eight pieces of razor-sharp flint shaped into primitive cutting and piercing tools believed to have been laid down by hunter-gatherers of the human species Homo antecessor otherwise known as ‘Pioneer Man’ some 840,000–950,000 years ago. This makes them the oldest human artefacts ever found in Britain and the earliest known Homo genus in Northern Europe.

Other early human remains found in Britain include Homo heidelbergensis, ‘Boxgrove Man’, who existed 478,000–524,000 years ago and Homo neanderthalensis, ‘Neanderthal Man’ of 230,000 years ago.

POPULATION

The population of mainland Great Britain since 1801:

1801

10,942,646

1811

11,964,303

1821

14,091,757

1831

16,261,183

1841

18,534,332

1851

20,816,351

1861

23,128,518

1871

26,072,284

1881

29,710,012

1891

33,028,172

1911

40,831,396

(United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland)

1921

42,769,196

1931

46,038,000

1951

50,225,000

1961

52,589,000

1971

55,780,000

1981

56,343,000

1991

57,338,000

2001

58,789,000

2011

62,262,000

The UK population continues to age gradually. The number of people aged 85 and over was more than 1.4 million in mid-2011, comprising 460,000 men and 951,000 women, and accounting for 2.3 per cent of the total population. Between 1981 and 2011, this age group increased by just over 0.8 million.

In mid-2011, there were more people of state pensionable age than there were under-16s.

SOME OF BRITAIN’S LARGEST CITYDISTRICTS WITH THEIR POPULATIONS

(Reported as the 2010 mid-year estimates from the Office for National Statistics)

Greater London

7,172,091

Birmingham

1,036,900

Leeds

798,800

Sheffield

555,500

City of Glasgow

592,800

City of Edinburgh

486,100

Bradford

512,600

Manchester

498,800

Liverpool

445,200

Coventry

315,700

WHAT’S IN A NAME?

In 1841 the returns of the census revealed the most popular girls’ names were Mary (1.43m) and Elizabeth (809,000); for boys it was John (1.28m) and William (1m) – a top four that remained unchanged for 50 years.

According to the Office for National Statistics the ten most popular names for baby girls 2011/12 are:

Olivia

Ruby

Lily

Chloe

Sophie

Amelia

Jessica

Grace

Emily

Mia

And for baby boys:

Oliver

Alfie

Jack

William

Harry

James

Charlie

Joshua

Thomas

George

TEN OF THE OLDEST SIGNIFICANTREMAINS OF BUILDINGS IN GREAT BRITAIN

Knap of Howar, Orkney – A Neolithic farmstead dating from 3500 BC

Jarlshof, Shetland – A complex of wheelhouses dating from 200 BC

Temple of Claudius – Colchester, Essex, about AD 60

Caerleon Roman Amphitheatre – Monmouthshire, about AD 90

Painted House – Dover, Kent, about AD 200

Beehive cells – Eileach an Naoimh, Argyll, c. 6th century AD

St Martin’s Church – Canterbury, Kent, AD 597

Church of St Peter-on-the-Wall – Bradwell, Essex, AD 654

Escomb Church – County Durham, about AD 670

The Crypt of Ripon Cathedral, Ripon, Yorkshire, AD 672

THE HOUSE OF GOD

Liverpool Cathedral is the largest Anglican cathedral and church in Europe.

Salisbury Cathedral has the tallest extant church spire in the United Kingdom that stands a lofty 404ft tall. The second tallest spire is that of Norwich Cathedral at 315ft.

The tallest spire ever constructed on a British church was built on Lincoln Cathedral and completed in 1311. It stood 524ft making it the tallest spire in the world until its collapse during a storm in 1549.

SOME ECCENTRIC BRITISH PLACE NAMES

Assloss, Kilmarnock, East Ayrshire

Bell End, near Bromsgrove, Worcestershire

Blue Vein, near Box, Wiltshire

Boghead, near Tarland, Aberdeenshire

Bottom Flash, (a lake) near Winsford, Cheshire

Bottom, Mossley, Greater Manchester

Botusfleming, near Saltash, Cornwall

Brown Willy, Bodmin Moor, Cornwall

Bully Hole Bottom, near Gaerllwyd, Monmouthshire

Buttock, near Barley, Lancashire

Cess, Martham, Norfolk

Crackpot, Swaledale, North Yorkshire

Curry Mallet, near Taunton, Somerset

Dirt Pot, Allendale, Northumberland

Dog Village, near Exeter

Donkey Town, near Camberley, Surrey

Diggle, east of Oldham, Greater Manchester

Durdle Door, near West Lulworth, Dorset

Fingringhoe, near Colchester, Essex

Fustyweed, Lyng, Norfolk

Golden Balls, near Clifton Hampden, Oxfordshire

Great Snoring, near Walsingham, Norfolk

Haseley Knob, near Kenilworth, Warwickshire

Helions Bumpstead, near Saffron Walden, Essex

Hole in the Wall, near Ross-on-Wye, Herefordshire

Knockdown, near Malmsbury, Wiltshire

Land of Nod, near Grayshott, Hampshire

Loggerheads, between Stoke and Shrewsbury (also another near Mold)

Lumps of Garryhorn, near Carsphairn, Dumfries and Galloway

Messing, near Colchester, Essex

Mucking, near Tilbury, Essex

Nempnett Thrubwell, south of Bristol

Nether Wallop, near Andover

North Piddle, Worcestershire

Oh Me Edge, near Byreness, Northumberland

Old Sodbury, Gloucestershire

Pant, near Oswestry, Shropshire

Plucks Gutter, near Ramsgate, Kent

Pratt’s Bottom, near Farnborough

Prickwillow, Cambridgeshire

Raw, near Whitby

Scratby, Norfolk

Scratchy Bottom, near Durdle Door, Dorset

Shingay cum Wendy, Cambridgeshire

Slack Bottom, near Hebden Bridge, West Yorkshire

Splott, Cardiff

Steeple Bumpstead, near Haverhill, Essex

Throcking, near Stevenage, Hertfordshire

Thrupp, near Stroud

Thwing, near Bridlington

Tincleton, near Dorchester, Dorset

Tiltups End, near Nailsworth, Gloucestershire

Tomtit’s Bottom, near Cowley, south of Cheltenham, Gloucestershire

Turner’s Puddle, near Dorchester, Dorset

Ugley, near Bishop’s Stortford, Essex

Undy, near Caldicot, Monmouthshire

Zeal Monachorum, north-west of Exeter

BRITISH PLACE NAMES THATMAKE YOU THINK TWICE

Booby Dingle, Peterchurch, Herefordshire

Bumwell Hill, Carleton Rode, Norfolk

Bushy Bottom, Edburton, West Sussex

Bushygap, Northumberland

Cock Play, Bewcastle, Cumbria

Cockintake, Staffordshire

Cocklick End, near Slaidburn, Lancashire

Crapstone, near Plymouth, Devon

Droop, near Dorchester

Great Cockup, near Bassenthwaite, Cumbria

Lickey End, near Bromsgrove, Worcestershire

Lickham Bottom, near Hemyock, Devon

Mankinholes, near Todmorden, West Yorkshire

Minges, near Ware, Hertfordshire

Nasty, near Stevenage, Hertfordshire

Netherthong, near Huddersfield

Penistone, South Yorkshire

Piddlehinton, near Dorchester

Pisser Clough, near Widdop, West Yorkshire

Rimswell, East Riding of Yorkshire

Ring Burn, Glenwhilly, Dumfries, Scotland

Rotten Bottom, Tweeddale, Borders

Sandy Balls, near Fordingbridge, Hampshire

Shagg, near East Lulworth, Dorset

Shitlington Crags, near Wark, Northumberland

Shitterton, near Bere Regis, Dorset

Shitlington, (now Shillington) Bedfordshire

Slaggyford, near Haltwhistle, Northumberland

Spunkie, near Lugton, Ayrshire

Stublick Bog, near Haydon Bridge, Northumberland

The Bastard, near Campbelltown, Kintyre

Titty Ho, Raunds, Northamptonshire

Tongue of Gangsta, Orkney Islands

Turdees, near Chapelhall, North Lanarkshire

Twatt, Orkney

Wetwang, near Bridlington, Yorkshire

RIGHT UP YOUR STREET?HOW DO YOU FANCY LIVING ON …

Ass House Lane, Harrow, Middlesex

Back Passage, City of London

Bogey Lane, Orpington, Bromley, Greater London

Butt Hole Road, Conisbrough, South Yorkshire

Carsick Hill Crescent, Sheffield

Catbrain Lane, Bristol

Clitterhouse Crescent, Barnet, North London

Crotch Crescent, Oxford

Dick Place, Edinburgh

Fanny Hands Lane, Market Rasen, Lincolnshire

Gravelly Bottom Road, nr Langley Heath, Kent

Grope Lane, Shrewsbury, Shropshire

Gropekunte Lane (now Opie Street), Norwich, Norfolk

Hardon Road, Wolverhampton

Hog’s Turd Lane, Pirton, Hertfordshire

Letch Lane, Bourton-on-the-Water, Gloucestershire

Lickers Lane, Whiston, Prescot, Merseyside

Long Lover Lane, Halifax

Menlove Avenue, Liverpool

Minge Lane, Upton-upon-Severn, Worcestershire

Moisty Lane, Uttoxeter, Staffordshire

Nork Rise, Banstead, Surrey

Ogle Close, Merseyside

Old Sodom Lane, Dauntsey, Chippenham, Wiltshire

Pant-y-Felin Road, Swansea

Pennycomequick Hill, Plymouth, Devon

Pork Lane, Great Holland, near Frinton-on-Sea, Essex

Slag Lane, Haydock, St Helens Merseyside

Slutshole Lane, Besthorpe, Norfolk

Smellies Lane, Dundee

Spanker Lane, Nether Heage, Derbyshire

The Knob, Kings Sutton, Banbury

Tinkerbush Lane, Wantage, Oxfordshire

Tud Lane, Honingham, Norwich

Wham Bottom Lane, Healey, Lancashire

Whip-Ma-Whop-Ma-Gate, York

Winkle Street, Southampton

VISITING BRITAIN

In 2010, 29.627 million people visited Britain, spending an average of £563 per person and staying for seven days.

London remains the most popular destination for overseas visitors with more than 14.6 million spending time in the capital in 2010, where they spent over £8.6 billion.

The British Museum was Britain’s most popular tourist attraction in 2010 during which it welcomed 5.8 million visitors, closely followed by Tate Modern (5.1 million), the National Gallery (5.0 million), the Natural History Museum (4.6 million) and the Science Museum (2.8 million).

Outside of London, Edinburgh Castle is the most popular tourist attraction drawing more than 1.2 million overseas visitors every year. Other top historic properties whose visitor numbers are counted in hundreds of thousands include: Stonehenge; the Old Royal Naval College, Greenwich; Hampton Court Palace; Chatsworth House; Leeds Castle and Blenheim Palace.

The seven most popular provincial visitor destinations are: Bath, Cambridge, the Cotswolds, the Lake District, Oxford, Stratford-upon-Avon and York.

According to the United Kingdom Tourism survey, UK residents took 119.4 million holiday trips and days out within the UK in 2010.

The ‘stay-cation’ – 57 million UK residents took short holidays in Great Britain of 1–3 nights in length accounting for a 63 per cent share while long holidays of 4 or more nights accounted for the remaining 37 per cent.

The most common age bracket of those UK residents who decided to holiday in Britain were those aged 55 and over.

A total of £20.8 billion was spent on domestic overnight tourism trips within the UK during 2010.

The Caravan Club was founded in 1907. Today it represents nearly 1 million members, operates around 200 main Caravan Club sites and 2,500 smaller certificated ‘five-van’ sites, known as CLs (Certificated Locations).

MOUNTAIN HIGH

Large quantities of ancient volcanic lava and ash known as the Borrowdale Volcanics covered the Lake District and this can still be seen in the form of mountains such as Helvellyn and Scafell Pike.

England’s highest mountain is Scafell Pike in the Lake District measuring 3,209ft.

The highest mountain in Wales is Snowdon, which stands at 3,560ft.

The highest point in Great Britain is the summit of Ben Nevis in Scotland which soars skyward to 4,406ft.

WEATHER THE WEATHER

The highest temperature recorded in the UK was 38.5 °C (101.3 °F) at Brogdale, near Faversham, in the county of Kent, on 10 August 2003.

The lowest temperatures were recorded at −27.2 °C (−17.0 °F) at Braemar in the Grampian Mountains, Scotland, on 11 February 1895 and 10 January 1982 and Altnaharra, also in Scotland, on 30 December 1995.

BRITAIN’S LONGEST RIVERS

The longest river in the United Kingdom is the River Severn which flows through Wales and England, extending some 220 miles.

England: River Thames (215 miles)

Scotland: River Tay (117 miles)

N. Ireland: River Bann (76 miles)

Wales: River Tywi (64 miles)

BRITAIN’S DEEPEST CAVES

Ogof Ffynnon Ddu in Wales is 1,010ft deep and contains around 31 miles of passageways.

Peak Cavern in Speedwell Cavern, Derbyshire, in England is 814ft deep.

The deepest cave in Scotland is Cnoc nan Uamh (‘hill of the caves’) in Assynt at 272ft deep.

The deepest cave in Northern Ireland is Reyfad Pot in County Fermanagh, 633ft deep.

The longest cave system in the UK is the Easegill System in the Yorkshire Dales, with at least 45 miles of passageways.

HIGHEST SINGLE-DROP WATERFALLS

Eas a’ Chual Aluinn (Scotland) 656ft

Steall Waterfall (Scotland) 393ft

Falls of Glomach (Scotland) 370ft

Devil’s Appendix (Wales) 305ft

Pistyll y Llyn (Wales) 298ft

Cautley Spout (England) 249ft

BRITAIN’S LARGEST LAKES

N. Ireland: Lough Neagh (147.39 sq miles)

Scotland: Loch Lomond (27.46 sq miles)

England: Windermere (5.69 sq miles)

Wales: Llyn Tegid (Bala Lake) (1.87 sq miles)

DEEPEST LAKES

The United Kingdom’s deepest lake is Loch Morar with a depth of 1,013ft at its deepest point. The second deepest is Loch Ness with a depth of at 748ft. The deepest lake in England is Wastwater with a depth of 258ft.

THE BROADS

The Norfolk Broads are not a natural phenomenon but are flooded medieval peat workings.

The Norfolk and Suffolk Broads are Britain’s largest protected wetland and the third largest waterway with the status of a National Park.

The Norfolk Broads totals 188 miles, mostly in the county of Norfolk. Just over 125 miles of the Broads are navigable, covering a total of seven rivers and sixty-three Broads.

2

BATTLES & WARS

BATTLES IN BRITAIN

A small selection of engagements famous and not so famous fought on British soil.

10 August 991 The Battle of Maldon. Anglo-Saxon troops, led by Byrhtnoth, Ealdorman of Essex, were defeated by a band of Viking raiders near Maldon in Essex.

18 October 1016 The Battle of Assandune. Fought between the armies of Canute the Dane and Edmund Ironside in Essex, arguably near the village now known as Ashingdon. Folklore tells that a halt was called to the bloody battle and Ironside issued a challenge of single combat with Canute to settle the matter. Canute declared that they should divide the kingdom instead, Canute taking all that lay north of Watling Street, Ironside could have all to the south of it. This was agreed but Canute was to become the overall King of England after Ironside died less than two months later. Many suggest Ironside was killed at the behest of Canute.

14 October 1066 The Battle of Hastings was actually fought on Senlac Hill, at what is now known as Battle near Hastings, East Sussex. It was the decisive victory for the invading Norman army of William the Bastard over King Harold Godwinson of England. Battle Abbey was founded by the new King William ‘The Conqueror’ where the battle was fought as a memorial to the dead, as an act of atonement for the bloodshed and as a very public symbol of the Norman triumph.

22 August 1138 The Battle of the Standard, also known as The Battle of Northallerton, was fought on Cowton Moor near Northallerton, Yorkshire. Scottish forces led by King David I of Scotland were defeated by an English army commanded by William of Aumale.

4 August 1265 The Battle of Evesham, Worcestershire. Royalist forces led by Prince Edward (later Edward I) defeated the forces of the rebel barons led by Simon de Montfort and Peter de Montfort, who both lost their lives in this battle.

27 April 1296 The Battle of Dunbar. A decisive victory for the English led by John de Warenne, 6th Earl of Surrey over the Scots led by John Balliol.

11 September 1297 The Battle of Stirling Bridge. An English force led by John de Warenne was defeated by a far smaller Scottish force led by William Wallace and Andrew de Moray.

22 July 1298 The Battle of Falkirk. On his return from a campaign in France, Edward I organised an army, including a huge number of Welsh longbowmen, that he would lead personally against the Scots. He met the forces led by William Wallace at Falkirk and achieved a decisive victory over them.

24 June 1314 The Battle of Bannockburn a victory for the Scots led by Robert the Bruce over an English force led by Edward II.

23 September 1459 The Battle of Blore Heath, fought neat Market Drayton, Shropshire. A surprise attack by Lord Audley failed, he lost his life and the Yorkists gained a victory.

12 October 1459 The Battle of Ludford Bridge, Shropshire. A victory for the Lancastrian forces led by Richard, Duke of York.

10 July 1460 The Battle of Northampton, a significant victory for the Yorkists led by the Earl of Warwick.

2 February 1461 The Battle of Mortimer’s Cross, fought near Wigmore, Herefordshire, was a decisive victory for the Yorkists during the Wars of the Roses.

29 March 1461 The Battle of Towton, Yorkshire, described by some historians as ‘the largest and bloodiest battle ever fought on English soil’, saw Edward of York defeat the belligerents of the House of Lancaster to become King Edward IV of England.

25 April 1464 The Battle of Hedgeley Moor fought to the north of the village of Glanton in Northumberland. A Lancastrian army led by the Duke of Somerset was defeated by a Yorkist army led by John Neville, 1st Marquess of Montagu.

15 May 1464 The Battle of Hexham in Northumberland. John Neville, leading a modest force of 3,000–4,000 men, routed the Lancastrian force capturing a number of rebel leaders who would later be executed.

26 July 1469 The Battle of Edgecote Moor, Banbury, Oxfordshire. The Earl of Warwick leading a rebel Lancastrian army achieved victory over the Yorkist force led by the Earl of Pembroke.

20 March 1469 The Battle of Nibley Green, Gloucestershire. The last battle fought in England entirely between the private armies of feudal magnates, namely Thomas Talbot, 2nd Viscount Lisle and those of William Berkeley, 2nd Baron Berkeley. The forces of Baron Berkeley were victorious.

4 May 1471 The Battle of Tewkesbury in Gloucestershire was a decisive victory for the Yorkist forces led by Edward IV and Richard of Gloucester.

22 August 1485 The Battle of Bosworth Field saw a decisive Lancastrian victory, the death of Richard III, the end of the House of Plantagenet, the end of the Wars of the Roses and the ascent of the House of Tudor to the throne.

17 June 1497 The Battle of Deptford Bridge. Cornish rebels led by Michael An Gof were defeated by troops led by King Henry VII.

9 September 1513 The Battle of Flodden, near Branxton, Northumberland. An invading Scots army under James IV was defeated by an English army in a cruel and bloody battle during which King James himself was killed in combat.

24 November 1542 The Battle of Solway Moss. A Scottish army under Lord Robert Maxwell was beaten by an English army led by Sir Thomas Wharton.

28 August 1640 The Battle of Newburn, Northumberland. A Scottish Covenanter army led by General Alexander Leslie defeated an English army under Edward, Lord Conway.

23 September 1642 The Battle of Powick Bridge, Worcester. The first major cavalry engagement of the English Civil War and a victory for the Royalists.

23 October 1642 The Battle of Edgehill, Warwickshire, the first pitched battle of the English Civil War.

19 January 1643