|
Mousa Broch
Broch of Mousa (or Mousa Broch) is a preserved British Iron Age, Iron Age broch or round tower. It is on the island of Mousa in Shetland, Scotland. It is the tallest broch still standing and amongst the best-preserved prehistory, prehistoric buildings in Europe. It is thought to have been constructed , and is one of more than 500 brochs built in Scotland. The site is managed by Historic Environment Scotland as a scheduled monument. Location The broch is located on the western shore of the island of Mousa (, [59.99523,-1.18191]). It is accessible by boat from Sandwick, Dunrossness, Sandwick, Shetland, south of Lerwick. It stands on the flat rock surface of a low promontory near the shore overlooking Mousa Sound. It is the tallest broch still standing and amongst the best-preserved prehistory, prehistoric buildings in Europe. Description Mousa Broch has one of the smallest overall diameters of any broch, as well as one of the thickest wall bases and smallest interiors; this ma ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Mousa
Mousa ( "moss island") is a small island in Shetland, Scotland, uninhabited since the nineteenth century. The island is known for the Broch of Mousa, an Iron Age Broch, round tower, and is designated as a Special Protection Area for storm-petrel breeding colonies. Geography Mousa lies directly on the 60th parallel north, 60th parallel, 60 degrees north of the equator and 30 degrees south of the North Pole. It lies off the east coast of Mainland Shetland in the parish of Dunrossness about south of Lerwick. Almost divided in two by inlets, East and West Hams, the island is long and almost in maximum width. Geologically beds of hard sandstone alternate with muddy limestones that weather to produce fertile soil. A quarry provided flagstones for Lerwick. The Norsemen, Norse tended to consider an island to be something that they could circumnavigate, and this included being able to drag a boat over land. Thus Mousa was considered two islands, namely North Isle and South Isle. ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Atlantic Roundhouse
In archaeology, an Atlantic roundhouse is an Iron Age stone building found in the northern and western parts of mainland Scotland, the Northern Isles and the Hebrides. Circular houses were the predominant architectural style of the British landscape since the second millennium BC (Early Bronze Age). Although not many of these roundhouses have survived, it has been ascertained that they were based on wattle and daub walls with thatched conical roofs. In 1970, archaeologist Chris Musson estimated that there were 200 certified roundhouses in Scotland and Britain. A United Kingdom-based archaeology group today estimates that there are over 4000 roundhouses. The oldest documented roundhouse was founded in the 3rd millennium BC in South-West Scotland. The Bronze Age people were known to adapt to the leveled upland landscapes situated in hillsides. Types of structure A form of dry-stone Iron Age dwelling, they are unique to the region and are subdivided by the archaeologists into two br ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Laser
A laser is a device that emits light through a process of optical amplification based on the stimulated emission of electromagnetic radiation. The word ''laser'' originated as an acronym for light amplification by stimulated emission of radiation. The first laser was built in 1960 by Theodore Maiman at Hughes Research Laboratories, based on theoretical work by Charles H. Townes and Arthur Leonard Schawlow and the optical amplifier patented by Gordon Gould. A laser differs from other sources of light in that it emits light that is coherence (physics), ''coherent''. Spatial coherence allows a laser to be focused to a tight spot, enabling uses such as optical communication, laser cutting, and Photolithography#Light sources, lithography. It also allows a laser beam to stay narrow over great distances (collimated light, collimation), used in laser pointers, lidar, and free-space optical communication. Lasers can also have high temporal coherence, which permits them to emit light ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Black-burnished Ware
Black-burnished ware is a type of Romano-British ceramic. Burnishing is a pottery treatment in which the surface of the pot is polished, using a hard smooth surface, such as a pebble. The classification includes two entirely different pottery types which share many stylistic characteristics. Black burnished ware 1 (BB1), is a black, coarse and gritty fabric. Vessels are hand made. Black burnished ware 2 (BB2) is a finer, black or grey-coloured, wheel thrown fabric. Decoration on both types includes burnished lattice or, additionally, in the case of bowls and dishes, a wavy ("sine wave") line design. Standard forms across both types include jars with everted rims and bowls with upright or flat flanged rims. Black Burnished Ware 1 Black Burnished Ware Category 1 (BB1) is made from a clay body that has a coarse texture. The clay body can contain black iron ores, flint, quartz, red iron ores, shale fragments, and white mica.Tyers, P A. "South-east Dorset black-burnished 1." Pot ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
National Museum Of Scotland
The National Museum of Scotland in Edinburgh, Scotland, is a museum of Scottish history and culture. It was formed in 2006 with the merger of the new Museum of Scotland, with collections relating to Scottish antiquities, culture and history, and the adjacent Royal Scottish Museum (opened in 1866 as the Edinburgh Museum of Science and Art, renamed in 1904, and for the period between 1985 and the merger named the Royal Museum of Scotland or simply the Royal Museum), with international collections covering science and technology, natural history, and world cultures. The two connected buildings stand beside each other on Chambers Street, by the junction with the George IV Bridge, in central Edinburgh. The museum is part of National Museums Scotland and admission is free. The two buildings retain distinctive characters: the Museum of Scotland is housed in a modern building opened in 1998, while the former Royal Museum building was begun in 1861 and partially opened in 1866, wit ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Office Of Works
The Office of Works was an organisation responsible for structures and exterior spaces, first established as part of the English royal household in 1378 to oversee the building and maintenance of the royal castles and residences. In 1832 it became the Works Department within the Office of Woods, Forests, Land Revenues, Works and Buildings. It was reconstituted as a government department in 1851, which in 1940 became part of the Ministry of Works. Organisation and key positions Surveyor, Comptroller and Architect The organisation of the office varied; senior posts included Surveyor of the King's Works (1578–1782) and Comptroller of the King's Works (1423–1782). In 1782 these offices were merged into Surveyor-General and Comptroller. After the death of the Surveyor-General and Comptroller James Wyatt in 1813, a non-professional Surveyor-General was appointed: Major-General Sir Benjamin Stephenson. He was assisted by three "Attached Architects": Sir John Soane, John ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Dryden Baronets
There have been three baronetcies created for persons with the surname Dryden, one in the Baronetage of England and two in the Baronetage of Great Britain. Two of the creations are extant and are joined under a single holder since 1874. The Dryden Baronetcy, of Canons Ashby in the County of Northampton, was created in the Baronetage of England on 16 November 1619 for Sir Erasmus Dryden, 1st Baronet, Erasmus Dryden, subsequently Member of Parliament for Banbury (UK Parliament constituency), Banbury. The second Baronet represented Northamptonshire (UK Parliament constituency), Northamptonshire in the British House of Commons, House of Commons. The title became extinct on the death of the seventh Baronet in 1770. However, the title was revived in 1795 (see below). The poet John Dryden was the grandson of the first Baronet and father of the fifth. The Turner, later Page-Turner, later Dryden Baronetcy, of Ambrosden in the County of Oxford, was created in the Baronetage of Great Brita ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Samuel Hibbert-Ware
Samuel Hibbert-Ware (21 April 1782 – 30 December 1848), born Samuel Hibbert in St Ann's Square Manchester, was an English geologist and antiquarian. Life He was the eldest son of Samuel Hibbert (d.1815), a linen yarn merchant, and his wife Sarah Ware, from Dublin. Hibbert was granted an MD and became a Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh. He served as the secretary of the Society of Scottish Antiquarians, a member of the Royal Medical and Wernerian Societies of Edinburgh, as well as a member of the Manchester Literary and Philosophical Society being elected on 5 March 1895. . His book ''Sketches of the Philosophy of Apparitions'' (1825) is an early skeptical work that gave possible physical and physiological explanations for sightings of ghosts. He died at Hale Barns, Altrincham in Cheshire on 30 December 1848. He is buried in Ardwick cemetery in Manchester. Publications *'' A Description of the Shetland Islands: Comprising an Account of their Scenery, Antiquiti ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Sir Walter Scott
Sir Walter Scott, 1st Baronet (15 August 1771 – 21 September 1832), was a Scottish novelist, poet and historian. Many of his works remain classics of European literature, European and Scottish literature, notably the novels ''Ivanhoe'' (1819), ''Rob Roy (novel), Rob Roy'' (1817), ''Waverley (novel), Waverley'' (1814), ''Old Mortality'' (1816), ''The Heart of Mid-Lothian'' (1818), and ''The Bride of Lammermoor'' (1819), along with the narrative poems ''Marmion (poem), Marmion'' (1808) and ''The Lady of the Lake (poem), The Lady of the Lake'' (1810). He had a major impact on European and American literature, American literature. As an advocate and legal administrator by profession, he combined writing and editing with his daily work as Clerk of Session and Sheriff court, Sheriff-Depute of Selkirkshire. He was prominent in Edinburgh's Tory (political faction), Tory establishment, active in the Royal Highland and Agricultural Society of Scotland, Highland Society, long time a p ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Harald Maddadsson
Harald Maddadsson (Old Norse: ''Haraldr Maddaðarson'', Gaelic: ''Aralt mac Mataid'') (c. 1134 – 1206) was Earl of Orkney and Mormaer of Caithness from 1139 until 1206. He was the son of Matad, Mormaer of Atholl, and Margaret, daughter of Earl Haakon Paulsson of Orkney. Of mixed Norse and Gaelic blood, and a descendant of Scots kings, he was a significant figure in northern Scotland, and played a prominent part in Scottish politics of the twelfth century. The ''Orkneyinga Saga'' names him one of the three most powerful Earls of Orkney along with Sigurd Eysteinsson and Thorfinn Sigurdsson.''Orkneyinga Saga'', c. 112. Background In the early twelfth century, the Earldom of Orkney, although weakened since the time of Earl Thorfinn, remained in control of Caithness and was dominant in Sutherland and parts of the Outer Hebrides. Thus the succession of the earldom was of great interest to the Scots king David I. The marriage of Matad and Margaret is believed to have ta ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Orkneyinga Saga
The ''Orkneyinga saga'' (Old Norse: ; ; also called the ''History of the Earls of Orkney'' and ''Jarls' Saga'') is a narrative of the history of the Orkney and Shetland islands and their relationship with other local polities, particularly Norway and Scotland. The saga has "no parallel in the social and literary record of Scotland" and is "the only medieval chronicle to have Orkney as the central place of action". The main focus of the work is the Earl of Orkney, line of ''jarls'' who ruled the Earldom of Orkney, which constituted the ''Norðreyjar'' or Northern Isles of Orkney and Shetland and there are frequent references to both archipelagoes throughout. The narrative commences with a brief mythical ancestry tale and then proceeds to outline the Norse take-over of the ''Norðreyjar'' by Harald Fairhair – the take-over is not in doubt although the role of the king is no longer accepted by historians as a likelihood. The saga then outlines, with varying degrees of detail, t ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Egil's Saga
''Egill's Saga'' or ''Egil's saga'' ( ; ) is an Icelandic saga (family saga) on the lives of the clan of Egill Skallagrímsson (Anglicised as Egill Skallagrimsson), an Icelandic farmer, viking and skald. The saga spans the years c. 850–1000 and traces the family's history from Egill's grandfather to his offspring. Its oldest manuscript (a fragment) dates back to c. 1250 AD. The saga comprises the sole source of information on the exploits of Egill, whose life is not historically recorded. Stylistic and other similarities between ''Egill's Saga'' and ''Heimskringla'' have led many scholars to believe that they were the work of the same author, Snorri Sturluson. The work is generally referred to as ''Egla'' by Icelandic scholars. Synopsis The saga begins in Norway around 850, with the life of Egill's grandfather Ulf (Kveldulf Bjalfason, Úlfr) aka Kveldulf or "Evening Wolf", and his two sons Thorolf (Þórólfr) and Skallagrim (Skalla-Grímr). Strife with the royal house dri ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
