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Widham
Widham is a hamlet now encompassed within the village and parish of Purton, Wiltshire, England. History Originally, Widham consisted of a few houses north of Purton along the Cricklade road, parts of Witts Lane, and the toll house at Collins Lane, with Widham Common in the centre. In time, Purton engulfed the hamlet, and only one small area remained as Widham. This, in turn, was divided in the mid-19th century by the Cheltenham and Great Western Union Railway which today provides a route from Swindon to Gloucester. A related place name, Widhill, in the parish of Cricklade, can be found approximately 4 miles to the north near the A419 at Blunsdon. During the period of the inclosure acts, the common at Widham was awarded to the Earls of Shaftesbury along with 'foot rights' to the cottages around the common to the highway (which had been a private road with tolls collected at the toll house). The highway then became a public road. Tolls, however, continued to be collected into ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Purton
Purton is a large village and Civil parishes in England, civil parish in north Wiltshire, England, about northwest of the centre of Swindon. The parish includes the village of Purton Stoke and the hamlets of Bentham, Hayes Knoll, Purton Common, Restrop, The Fox and Widham. The 13th-century Church of England parish church, parish church, St Mary's Church, Purton, St Mary's, is unusual in having two towers, one with a spire. History The Toponymy, toponym Purton is derived from the Old English ''pirige'' for "pear" and ''tun'' for "enclosure" or "homestead". Early history Ringsbury Camp has evidence of settlement during the Neolithic period but is considered to be an Iron Age Hill fort#Britain, hill fort dating from about 50 BC. There is a suggestion that the remains of a Roman villa lie under the soil at Pavenhill, on the Braydon side of Purton. At The Fox on the east side of the village, grave goods and bodies from a Anglo-Saxon paganism, pagan Saxon cemetery have been excav ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The Ghost Train - Geograph
''The'' is a grammatical article in English, denoting nouns that are already or about to be mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is the definite article in English. ''The'' is the most frequently used word in the English language; studies and analyses of texts have found it to account for seven percent of all printed English-language words. It is derived from gendered articles in Old English which combined in Middle English and now has a single form used with nouns of any gender. The word can be used with both singular and plural nouns, and with a noun that starts with any letter. This is different from many other languages, which have different forms of the definite article for different genders or numbers. Pronunciation In most dialects, "the" is pronounced as (with the voiced dental fricative followed by a schwa) when followed by a consonant sound, and as (homophone of the archaic pronoun ''thee'' ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Wiltshire
Wiltshire (; abbreviated to Wilts) is a ceremonial county in South West England. It borders Gloucestershire to the north, Oxfordshire to the north-east, Berkshire to the east, Hampshire to the south-east, Dorset to the south, and Somerset to the west. The largest settlement is Swindon, and Trowbridge is the county town. The county has an area of and a population of 720,060. The county is mostly rural, and the centre and south-west are sparsely populated. After Swindon (183,638), the largest settlements are the city of Salisbury (41,820) and the towns of Chippenham (37,548) and Trowbridge (37,169). For local government purposes, the county comprises two unitary authority areas: Swindon and Wiltshire. Undulating chalk downlands characterize much of the county. In the east are Marlborough Downs, which contain Savernake Forest. To the south is the Vale of Pewsey, which separates the downs from Salisbury Plain in the centre of the county. The south-west is also downland, ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Cricklade
Cricklade is a town and civil parish on the River Thames in north Wiltshire, England, midway between Swindon and Cirencester. It is the first downstream town on the Thames. The parish population at the 2011 census was 4,227. History Cricklade was founded in the 9th century by the Anglo-Saxons, at the point where the Ermin Way Roman road crossed the River Thames. It was the home of a royal mint from 979 to 1100; there are some Cricklade coins in the town museum.Christopher Winn: ''I Never Knew That about the River Thames'' (London: Ebury Press, 2010), p. 6. The Domesday Book of 1086 records a settlement at ''Crichelade'', with a church, and at the centre of a hundred of the same name. Anglo-Saxon fortification Cricklade is one of 30 burhs (boroughs, i.e. fortresses or fortified towns) recorded in the Burghal Hidage document, which describes a system of fortresses and fortified towns built around Wessex by King Alfred. Recent research suggests these burhs were built in the ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Common Land
Common land is collective land (sometimes only open to those whose nation governs the land) in which all persons have certain common rights, such as to allow their livestock to graze upon it, to collect wood, or to cut turf for fuel. A person who has a right in, or over, common land jointly with another or others is usually called a commoner. In Great Britain, common land or former common land is usually referred to as a common; for instance, Clapham Common and Mungrisdale Common. Due to enclosure, the extent of common land is now much reduced from the hundreds of square kilometres that existed until the 17th century, but a considerable amount of common land still exists, particularly in upland areas. There are over 8,000 registered commons in England alone. Origins Originally in medieval England the common was an integral part of the manor, and was thus part of the estate held by the lord of the manor under a grant from the Crown or a superior peer (who in turn held hi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Cheltenham And Great Western Union Railway
The Cheltenham and Great Western Union Railway was a railway company intended to link Cheltenham, Gloucester and Swindon, in England. It was authorised in 1836 but it found it very hard to raise money for the construction, and it opened only a part of its line, between Swindon and Cirencester, in 1841. It sold its business to the Great Western Railway, which quickly built the line through to Gloucester in 1845 and Cheltenham in 1847; part of that route was shared with other companies. From 1903 the route introduced railmotors, small self-powered coaches, that enabled the opening of numerous low-cost passenger stopping places. The Cirencester branch (as it had become) closed in 1964 but most of the 1845 network is still in use as a main passenger line between Swindon and Gloucester. Gloucester and Cheltenham Railway The first railway in the Cheltenham area was the Gloucester and Cheltenham Railway, authorised by the Gloucester and Cheltenham Railway Act 1809 ( 49 Geo. 3. c. ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
A419
The A419 road is a primary route between Chiseldon near Swindon at junction 15 of the M4 with the A346 road, and Whitminster in Gloucestershire, England near the M5 motorway. The A419 is managed and maintained by a private company, Road Management Group, on behalf of the UK Department for Transport. Route From the M4 to Cirencester it is a dual carriageway road, which generally follows the course of the Roman road Ermin Way, but dualling work completed in the late 1990s, and the bypass of Cirencester, has taken it off-course in some places. East of Cirencester the A417 continues straight ahead as the major road and the A419 separates through Cirencester and Stroud, becoming mainly single carriageway. West of Cirencester the road loses its primary status; it crosses the M5 at junction 13 close to a former Little Chef restaurant, then finishes further west at a roundabout with the A38. A419 Road Bridge The A419 Road Bridge is a modern bridge carrying the Cricklade by-pass ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Blunsdon
Blunsdon is a civil parish in the Borough of Swindon, in Wiltshire, England, about north of the centre of Swindon, with the A419 forming its southern boundary. Its main settlement is the village of Broad Blunsdon, with Lower Blunsdon nearby; the hamlet of Broadbush is now contiguous with Broad Blunsdon. Blunsdon is the eastern half of the former Blunsdon St Andrew civil parish. In April 2017, that parish was divided and the western half became a new St Andrews parish. History Blunsdon has been inhabited at least since the Iron Age. Castle Hill is the site of a hillfort and is a scheduled monument. In Roman times, a travellers' resting place existed on the site of the present-day Cold Harbour public house. The main A419 road follow the course of a Roman road known as Ermin Way that linked the historic Roman towns of Gloucester ( Glevum) and Silchester ( Calleva Atrebatum), via Cirencester (Corinium). The Domesday Book of 1086 records a manor of ''Bluntesdone'', comprising ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Inclosure Act
The inclosure acts created legal property rights to land previously held in common in England and Wales, particularly open fields and common land. Between 1604 and 1914 over 5,200 individual acts enclosing public land were passed, affecting 28,000 km2. History Before the enclosures in England, a portion of the land was categorized as "common" or "waste". "Common" land was under the control of the lord of the manor, but certain rights on the land such as pasture, pannage, or estovers were held variously by certain nearby properties, or (occasionally) ''in gross'' by all manorial tenants. "Waste" was land without value as a farm strip – often very narrow areas (typically less than a yard wide) in awkward locations (such as cliff edges, or inconveniently shaped manorial borders), but also bare rock, and similar. "Waste" was not officially used by anyone, and so was often farmed by landless peasants. The remaining land was organised into a large number of narrow strips, ea ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Earls Of Shaftesbury
Earl of Shaftesbury is a title in the Peerage of England. It was created in 1672 for Anthony Ashley-Cooper, 1st Baron Ashley, a prominent politician in the Cabal then dominating the policies of King Charles II. He had already succeeded his father as second Baronet of Rockbourne in 1631 and been created Baron Ashley, of Wimborne St Giles in the County of Dorset, in 1661, and he was made Baron Cooper, of Paulett in the County of Somerset, at the same time he was given the earldom. These titles are also in the Peerage of England. Baron Ashley is used as a courtesy title by the Earl's eldest son and heir apparent. The Cooper baronetcy, of Rockbourne in the County of Southampton, was created in the Baronetage of England in 1622 for the Earl's father, John Cooper. He sat as Member of Parliament for Poole.Doyle, James William Edmund. ''The Official Baronage of England: Pembroke-Zetland,'' London: Longman, Green, & Company, 1886, Vol. II, p. 300. The current holder is Nicholas Ashl ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Greengage
The greengages are a group of cultivars of the common Middle Eastern plum. The first true greengage came from a green-fruited wild plum which originated in Iran. Greengages are grown in temperate areas and are known for the rich, confectionery flavour. They are considered to be among the finest dessert plums. Description Greengage fruit are identified by their round-oval shape and smooth-textured, pale green flesh; they are on average smaller than round plums but larger than mirabelle plums—usually between diameter. The skin ranges in colour from green to yellowish, with a pale blue "blush" in some cultivars; a few Reine Claudes, such as 'Graf Althanns', are reddish-purple due to crossbreeding with other plums. Taxonomy Greengage fruit originated in the Middle East.Andrew F. Smith Though "Green Gages" were previously thought to have been first imported into England from France in 1724 by Sir William Gage, 7th Baronet, a greengage seed was found embedded in a 15th-century bui ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ordnance Survey
The Ordnance Survey (OS) is the national mapping agency for Great Britain. The agency's name indicates its original military purpose (see Artillery, ordnance and surveying), which was to map Scotland in the wake of the Jacobite rising of 1745. There was also a more general and nationwide need in light of the potential threat of invasion during the Napoleonic Wars. Since 1 April 2015, the Ordnance Survey has operated as Ordnance Survey Ltd, a state-owned enterprise, government-owned company, 100% in public ownership. The Ordnance Survey Board remains accountable to the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology. It was also a member of the Public Data Group. Paper maps represent only 5% of the company's annual revenue. It produces digital map data, online route planning and sharing services and mobile apps, plus many other location-based products for business, government and consumers. Ordnance Survey mapping is usually classified as either "Scale (map), lar ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
