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Ankerwycke Yew
The Ankerwycke Yew is an ancient yew tree close to the ruins of St Mary's Priory, the site of a Benedictine nunnery built in the 12th century, near Wraysbury in Berkshire, England. It is a male tree with a girth of at 0.3 metres. The tree is at least 1,400 years old, and could be as old as 2,500 years. On the opposite bank of the River Thames are the meadows of Runnymede and this tree is said to have been witness to the signing of ''Magna Carta''. The tree is also said to be the location where Henry VIII courted Anne Boleyn in the 1530s. There is some justification for the theory that the Ankerwycke Yew could be "the last surviving witness to the sealing of the ''Magna Carta'' 800 years ago". "In the 13th century, the landscape would have been different as the area was probably rather marshy as it was within the flood plain of the Thames. The Ankerwycke Yew is on a slightly raised area of land (therefore dry) and with the proximity of the Priory perhaps both lend some cred ...
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Henry VIII Of England
Henry VIII (28 June 149128 January 1547) was King of England from 22 April 1509 until his death in 1547. Henry is best known for his six marriages, and for his efforts to have his first marriage (to Catherine of Aragon) annulled. His disagreement with Pope Clement VII about such an annulment led Henry to initiate the English Reformation, separating the Church of England from papal authority. He appointed himself Supreme Head of the Church of England and dissolved convents and monasteries, for which he was excommunicated by the pope. Henry is also known as "the father of the Royal Navy" as he invested heavily in the navy and increased its size from a few to more than 50 ships, and established the Navy Board. Domestically, Henry is known for his radical changes to the English Constitution, ushering in the theory of the divine right of kings in opposition to papal supremacy. He also greatly expanded royal power during his reign. He frequently used charges of treason an ...
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History Of The River Thames
History (derived ) is the systematic study and the documentation of the human activity. The time period of event before the invention of writing systems is considered prehistory. "History" is an umbrella term comprising past events as well as the memory, discovery, collection, organization, presentation, and interpretation of these events. Historians seek knowledge of the past using historical sources such as written documents, oral accounts, art and material artifacts, and ecological markers. History is not complete and still has debatable mysteries. History is also an academic discipline which uses narrative to describe, examine, question, and analyze past events, and investigate their patterns of cause and effect. Historians often debate which narrative best explains an event, as well as the significance of different causes and effects. Historians also debate the nature of history as an end in itself, as well as its usefulness to give perspective on the problems of the p ...
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History Of Berkshire
Historically, the English county of Berkshire has been bordered to the north by the ancient boundary of the River Thames. However, much of the border with Oxfordshire in the western part of the county was moved in 1974. Alfred the Great was born in Wantage, historically in Berkshire, but now in Oxfordshire for administrative purposes. The Great Western Railway reached Didcot in 1839. MG (part of Morris Motors) was founded in Abingdon in 1929. The Vale of White Horse and parts of Oxfordshire south of the Thames were previously part of Berkshire, but were lost to the county in 1974. Conversely, the Slough area north of the Thames is historically part of Buckinghamshire, but became ceremonially part of Berkshire in 1974. Important historical abbeys include Abingdon Abbey and Reading Abbey. Oscar Wilde was imprisoned in Reading Gaol after his court case. The county is known as the Royal County of Berkshire since the Royal residence of Windsor Castle is within it. Politically ...
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Individual Trees In England
An individual is that which exists as a distinct entity. Individuality (or self-hood) is the state or quality of being an individual; particularly (in the case of humans) of being a person unique from other people and possessing one's own needs or goals, rights and responsibilities. The concept of an individual features in diverse fields, including biology, law, and philosophy. Etymology From the 15th century and earlier (and also today within the fields of statistics and metaphysics) ''individual'' meant " indivisible", typically describing any numerically singular thing, but sometimes meaning "a person". From the 17th century on, ''individual'' has indicated separateness, as in individualism. Law Although individuality and individualism are commonly considered to mature with age/time and experience/wealth, a sane adult human being is usually considered by the state as an "individual person" in law, even if the person denies individual culpability ("I followed ins ...
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List Of Oldest Trees
This is a list of the oldest-known trees, as reported in reliable sources. Definitions of what constitutes an individual tree vary. In addition, tree ages are derived from a variety of sources, including documented "tree-ring" (dendrochronological) count core samples, and from estimates. For these reasons, this article presents three lists of "oldest trees," each using varying criteria. There are three tables of trees, which are listed by age and species. The first table includes trees for which a minimum age has been directly determined, either through counting or cross-referencing tree rings or through radiocarbon dating. Many of these trees may be even older than their listed ages, but the oldest wood in the tree has rotted away. For some old trees, so much of the center is missing that their age cannot be directly determined. Instead, estimates are made based on the tree's size and presumed growth rate. The second table includes trees with these estimated ages. The last table ...
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Fortingall Yew
The Fortingall Yew is an ancient European yew (''Taxus baccata'') in the churchyard of the village of Fortingall in Perthshire, Scotland. Considered one of the oldest trees in Britain, modern estimates place its age at an average of 5,000 years. Age Some estimates put the tree's age at between 2,000 and 3,000 years; it may also be a remnant of a post-Roman Christian site and around 1,500 years old.Bevan-Jones (2004) pp. 38–39 Others have suggested an age as great as 5,000 to 9,000 years, with Forestry and Land Scotland considering it to be 5,000 years old. This makes it one of the oldest known trees in Europe. (The root system of the Norway spruce Old Tjikko in Sweden is at least 9,500 years old.) The Fortingall Yew is possibly the oldest tree in Britain. The tree The tree's once massive trunk ( in girth when it was first recorded in writing, in 1769) with a former head of unknown original height, is split into several separate stems, giving the impression of several smaller t ...
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The Tree Council
The Tree Council was founded in 1974 in the United Kingdom, and became a registered charity in 1978. Its primary objective is to act as an umbrella organisation for local groups involved in the planting, care and conservation of trees throughout the United Kingdom, and followed the successful government-sponsored Plant A Tree In '73 campaign. The charity is based at Canada Water, Surrey Quays, London. Its initiatives include: * In 2002, selecting 50 Great British Trees to honour the Queen's Golden Jubilee of accession to the throne * Supporting the UK government's Big Tree Plant campaign, which planted one million trees between 2011 and 2015 * Supporting the 2017 Charter for Trees, Woods and People * Supporting the Queen's Green Canopy to mark her Platinum Jubilee in 2022 * Organising National Tree Week in November each year __NOTOC__ Notable people Landscape architect and garden designer Sylvia Crow was the organisation's chairman between 1974 and 1976. See also * The ...
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List Of Great British Trees
The Great British Trees were 50 trees selected by The Tree Council in 2002 to spotlight trees in the United Kingdom in honour of the Queen's Golden Jubilee. England Western England * Tortworth Chestnut in Tortworth, Gloucestershire * Westonbirt Lime Tree in Westonbirt Arboretum, Gloucestershire * Sweet Chestnut in Croft Castle, Herefordshire * Royal Oak in Boscobel, Shropshire * The Bewdley Sweet Chestnut in Bewdley, Worcestershire South West * Domesday Oak in Ashton Court, Bristol * Darley Oak, Upton Cross, Linkinhorne, Cornwall * Bicton College Monkey Puzzle in Bicton Park, East Budleigh, Devon * Heavitree Yew in Heavitree, near Exeter, Devon * Ashbrittle Yew in Ashbrittle, Wellington, Somerset Southern England * Brighton Pavilion Elm in Brighton, East Sussex * Queen Elizabeth Oak in Cowdray Park, Midhurst, West Sussex * Selborne Yew in Selborne, Hampshire * Wellington's Wellingtonia, a Giant Sequoia, in Stratfield Saye, Hampshire * Tolpuddle Martyrs ...
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National Trust
The National Trust, formally the National Trust for Places of Historic Interest or Natural Beauty, is a charity and membership organisation for heritage conservation in England, Wales and Northern Ireland. In Scotland, there is a separate and independent National Trust for Scotland. The Trust was founded in 1895 by Octavia Hill, Sir Robert Hunter and Hardwicke Rawnsley to "promote the permanent preservation for the benefit of the Nation of lands and tenements (including buildings) of beauty or historic interest". It was given statutory powers, starting with the National Trust Act 1907. Historically, the Trust acquired land by gift and sometimes by public subscription and appeal, but after World War II the loss of country houses resulted in many such properties being acquired either by gift from the former owners or through the National Land Fund. Country houses and estates still make up a significant part of its holdings, but it is also known for its protection of wild land ...
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Anne Boleyn
Anne Boleyn (; 1501 or 1507 – 19 May 1536) was Queen of England from 1533 to 1536, as the second wife of King Henry VIII. The circumstances of her marriage and of her execution by beheading for treason and other charges made her a key figure in the political and religious upheaval that marked the start of the English Reformation. Anne was the daughter of Thomas Boleyn, 1st Earl of Wiltshire, and his wife, Lady Elizabeth Howard, and was educated in the Netherlands and France, largely as a maid of honour to Queen Claude of France. Anne returned to England in early 1522, to marry her Irish cousin James Butler, 9th Earl of Ormond; the marriage plans were broken off, and instead, she secured a post at court as maid of honour to Henry VIII's wife, Catherine of Aragon. Early in 1523, Anne was secretly betrothed to Henry Percy, son of Henry Percy, 5th Earl of Northumberland, but the betrothal was broken off when the Earl refused to support their engagement. Cardinal Tho ...
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