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Dunstable
Dunstable ( ) is a market town and civil parish in Bedfordshire, England, east of the Chiltern Hills, north of London. There are several steep chalk escarpments, most noticeable when approaching Dunstable from the north. Dunstable is the fourth largest town in Bedfordshire and along with Houghton Regis forms the westernmost part of the Luton/Dunstable urban area. Etymology In Roman times there was a minor settlement called Durocobrivis in the area now occupied by modern-day Dunstable. There was a general assumption that the nominative form of the name had been Durocobrivae, so that is what appears on the map of 1944 illustrated below. But current thinking is that the form ''Durocobrivis'', which occurs in the Antonine Itinerary, is a fossilised locative that was used all the time and Ordnance Survey now uses this form. There are several theories concerning its modern name: *Legend tells that the lawlessness of the time was personified in a thief called Dun. Wishing to c ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Dunstable And Leighton Buzzard (UK Parliament Constituency)
Dunstable and Leighton Buzzard is a constituency of the House of Commons in the UK Parliament. It was first contested at the 2024 general election. The current MP is Alex Mayer of the Labour Party. History The seat is a successor to South West Bedfordshire which was a Conservative seat during its existence, often with large majorities, though Labour came very close to winning the seat on two occasions in 1997 and 2001, reducing the Conservative Party's majorities to 132 and 776 respectively, with Labour winning the seat narrowly on a three-figure majority for the first time since a previous incarnation of the constituency ( South Bedfordshire), in 1966. Constituency profile Wealth and deprivation in this seat are around average for the UK. Boundaries Further to the 2023 Periodic Review of Westminster constituencies, the composition of the constituency was defined as follows (as they existed on 1 December 2020): * Dunstable–Central; Dunstable–Icknield; Dunstable–Manshe ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Houghton Regis
Houghton Regis is a market town and civil parish in the Central Bedfordshire district of Bedfordshire, England. The parish includes the hamlets of Bidwell, Thorn and Sewell. Houghton Regis, together with its contiguous neighbours of Dunstable and Luton, form the Luton/Dunstable Urban Area; this is a conurbation with a population over 286,000. Name The name Houghton comes from the Saxon word 'hoe' meaning the spur of a hill, and 'tun' meaning a village. By the 11th century, much of South Bedfordshire had become royal land and Houghton became known as Houghton Regis or King's Houghton to distinguish it from the other Houghton in Bedfordshire, which became known as Houghton Conquest. History Before the town Relics of Paleolithic man, such as flint implements and the bones of contemporary wild animals, suggest prehistoric settlement. At Maiden Bower within Houghton Regis CP, near Sewell, there is an Iron Age hill fort. This is clearly marked on the Ordnance Survey maps ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Bedfordshire
Bedfordshire (; abbreviated ''Beds'') is a Ceremonial County, ceremonial county in the East of England. It is bordered by Northamptonshire to the north, Cambridgeshire to the north-east, Hertfordshire to the south and the south-east, and Buckinghamshire to the west. The largest settlement is Luton (225,262), and Bedford is the county town. The county has an area of and had a population of 704,736 at the 2021 census. ''plus'' ''plus'' Its other towns include Leighton Buzzard, Dunstable, Biggleswade, Houghton Regis, and Flitwick. Much of the county is rural. For Local government in England, local government purposes, Bedfordshire comprises three Unitary authorities of England, unitary authority areas: Borough of Bedford, Bedford, Central Bedfordshire, and Luton. The county's highest point is on Dunstable Downs in the Chilterns. History The first recorded use of the name in 1011 was "Bedanfordscir", meaning the shire or county of Bedford, which itself means "Beda's ford ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Luton/Dunstable Urban Area
The Luton/Dunstable urban area, according to the Office for National Statistics, is the conurbation (continuous built up area) including the settlements of Luton, Dunstable and Houghton Regis, in Bedfordshire, East of England. Despite straddling district boundaries the conurbation shares many facilities including an integrated bus service and the large Luton and Dunstable University Hospital. The conurbation is located in the southern part of the ceremonial county of Bedfordshire, England, and includes the unitary authority of Luton, and part of Central Bedfordshire. The current population (2021 census) is 286,803. This is an increase of 9% from the 2011 population of 258,018. Future growth The area is expected to grow due to development within and physical expansion of the three towns and large re-development of Luton, including redevelopment of the former Vauxhall Motors factory complex. The Luton & Dunstable urban area is considered part of the Milton Keynes and South Midl ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Sewell, Bedfordshire
Sewell is a hamlet located in the Central Bedfordshire district of Bedfordshire, England. Sewell is a small rural settlement, though it is located near to the town of Dunstable (and therefore the wider Luton/Dunstable/Houghton Regis Urban Area). The settlement forms part of the Houghton Regis civil parish. It is north of Dunstable Downs at the northern edge of the Chiltern Hills. The hamlet is beside London and North Western Railway's disused branch line that linked Dunstable with the main line at Leighton Buzzard. This is now a cycle route and consists of Sewell Cutting which heads towards Dunstable and a long embankment in the direction of Stanbridge. One hundred and fifty metres south of the former railway track are Maiden Bower, an Iron Age hill fort and Totternhoe Chalk Quarry. Sewell hosts a collection of listed homes and barns but one of the most prominent properties in the hamlet is Sewell Manor. This grade II list manor house dates back to around the 13th century ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Central Bedfordshire
Central Bedfordshire is a Districts of England, local government district in the ceremonial county of Bedfordshire, England. It is administered by Central Bedfordshire Council, a Unitary authorities of England, unitary authority. It was created in 2009. Formation Central Bedfordshire was created on 1 April 2009 as part of a structural reform of local government in Bedfordshire. The Bedfordshire County Council and all the district councils in the county were abolished, with new unitary authorities created providing the services which had been previously delivered by both the district and county councils. Central Bedfordshire was created covering the area of the former Mid Bedfordshire (district), Mid Bedfordshire and South Bedfordshire Districts. The local authority is called Central Bedfordshire Council. Parliamentary representation Following the 2023 Periodic Review of Westminster constituencies, Central Bedfordshire would be split between five Constituencies of the Parliamen ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Watling Street
Watling Street is a historic route in England, running from Dover and London in the southeast, via St Albans to Wroxeter. The road crosses the River Thames at London and was used in Classical Antiquity, Late Antiquity, and throughout the Middle Ages. It was used by the ancient Britons and paved as one of the main Roman roads in Britannia (Roman-governed Great Britain during the Roman Empire). The line of the road was later the southwestern border of the Danelaw with Wessex and Mercia, and Watling Street was numbered as one of the major highways of medieval England. First used by the ancient Britons, mainly between the areas of modern Canterbury and using a natural ford near Westminster, the road was later paved by the Romans. It connected the ports of Dubris (Dover), Rutupiae ( Richborough Castle), Lemanis ( Lympne), and Regulbium (Reculver) in Kent to the Roman bridge over the Thames at Londinium (London). The route continued northwest through Verulamium (St&n ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Icknield Way
The Icknield Way is an ancient trackway in southern and eastern England that runs from Norfolk to Wiltshire. It follows the chalk escarpment that includes the Berkshire Downs and Chiltern Hills. Background It is generally said to be, within Great Britain, one of the oldest roads the route of which can still be traced, being one of the few long-distance trackways to have existed before the Romans occupied the country. However, this has been disputed, and the evidence for its being a prehistoric route has been questioned. The name is Celto-British in derivation, and may be named after the Iceni tribe. They may have established this route to permit trade with other parts of the country from their base in East Anglia. It has also been suggested that the road has older prehistoric origins. The name is also said to have been initially used for the part to the west and south (i.e. south of the River Thames) but now refers usually to the track or traces north of the Thames. From ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Chiltern Hills
The Chiltern Hills or the Chilterns are a chalk escarpment in southern England, located to the north-west of London, covering across Oxfordshire, Buckinghamshire, Hertfordshire and Bedfordshire; they stretch from Goring-on-Thames in the south-west to Hitchin in the north-east. The hills are at their widest. In 1964, 833 square kilometers - almost half of the Chiltern Hills - were designated by the Countryside Commission as an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONB) under the powers established by the National Parks and Access to the Countryside Act 1949. The north-west boundary of the Chilterns is clearly defined by the escarpment. The dip slope is by definition more gradual and merges with the landscape to the south-east. The south-west endpoint is the River Thames. The hills decline slowly in prominence in north-east Bedfordshire. [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Maiden Bower Hillfort
Maiden Bower is an British Iron Age, Iron Age hillfort near Dunstable in Bedfordshire, England. The site, which also has traces of a Neolithic British Isles, Neolithic causewayed enclosure, is a scheduled monument. Description The fort is situated on a plateau, and there is a disused chalk quarry on the north-western side. The fort has a single rampart, height up to , about of which has been lost to the quarry. It is roughly circular, about in diameter, enclosing an area of about . The interior has been under cultivation in recent times. There is an external ditch, but this is infilled and no longer visible. It has been revealed in section on the side of the chalk quarry; it was V-shaped, about deep and wide.Richard Wainwright. ''A Guide to the Prehistoric Remains in Britain. Volume 1: South and East''. Constable, 1979. Page 283. There is an original entrance gap on the south-east, and other later gaps. There was excavation by Worthington George Smith, Worthington G. Smith, ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Bronze Age
The Bronze Age () was a historical period characterised principally by the use of bronze tools and the development of complex urban societies, as well as the adoption of writing in some areas. The Bronze Age is the middle principal period of the three-age system, following the Stone Age and preceding the Iron Age. Conceived as a global era, the Bronze Age follows the Neolithic, with a transition period between the two known as the Chalcolithic. The final decades of the Bronze Age in the Mediterranean basin are often characterised as a period of widespread societal collapse known as the Late Bronze Age collapse (), although its severity and scope are debated among scholars. An ancient civilisation is deemed to be part of the Bronze Age if it either produced bronze by smelting its own copper and alloying it with tin, arsenic, or other metals, or traded other items for bronze from producing areas elsewhere. Bronze Age cultures were the first to History of writing, develop writin ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ancient Romans
The Roman people was the ethnicity and the body of Roman citizenship, Roman citizens (; ) during the Roman Kingdom, the Roman Republic, and the Roman Empire. This concept underwent considerable changes throughout the long history of the Roman civilisation, as its borders expanded and contracted. Originally only including the Latins (Italic tribe), Latins of Rome itself, Roman citizenship was extended to the rest of the Italic peoples by the 1st century BC and to nearly every subject of the Roman empire in late antiquity. At their peak, the Romans ruled large parts of Europe, the Near East, and North Africa through conquests made during the Roman Republic and the subsequent Roman Empire. Although defined primarily as a citizenship, "Roman-ness" has also and variously been described as a cultural identity, a nationality, or a multi-ethnicity that eventually encompassed a vast regional diversity. Citizenship grants, demographic growth, and settler and military colonies rapidly in ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
