Caves of Nottingham

Caves of Nottingham

England

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The metropolis of Nottingham inwards Nottinghamshire , England , is spread over a soft sandstone ridge which forms depression hills to the northward of the River Trent. This sandstone stone , formed only about 230 i yard 1000 years agone , has high forcefulness , in addition to yet soft plenty to live on worked amongst chisels in addition to hand-held picks. This odd dual character of forcefulness in addition to softness allows the stone to live on easily excavated in addition to all the same stand upward safely over unsupported spans.

Nottingham’s earliest inhabitants exploited this peculiar property. They constitute that it was easier in addition to cheaper to create identify infinite past times excavating into the pes of the sandstone cliffs along the border of the Trent floodplain , than construct houses higher upward ground. Indeed , Nottingham was in i lawsuit known inwards the Brythonic linguistic communication equally Tigguo Cobauc , pregnant “Place of Caves” , in addition to was referred to equally such past times the Bishop of Sherborne Asser inwards the ninth century.

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None of these early on caves be today. They bring either collapsed are weathered away past times erosion. But in that location are all the same hundreds of caves nether the modern metropolis of Nottingham. The earliest of these caves are idea to appointment from the twelfth century , in addition to a modest expose of them were dug later on 1850. These caves were used equally houses , equally cellars in addition to equally places of function past times diverse inhabitants of the city. Candle makers , bakers in addition to blacksmiths loved them because these tradesmen could construct hot fires without worrying nearly their workshops setting on post away in addition to without having to damp downward or comprehend their fires each nighttime equally was required because of the curfew orders inwards identify at the time.

Butchers in addition to fishmongers also built their workplaces in that location because of the absence of flies in addition to the cool temperature. Maltsters took payoff of the cool temperature of the caves to create malt from barley all throughout the year.

During the Industrial Revolution , large expose of people came to Nottingham looking for function in addition to landlords began housing families inwards caves , sometimes inwards pretty appalling conditions. Entire families slept in addition to ate inwards a unmarried room. Sanitation was pitiful in addition to the caves became breeding grounds for cholera , tuberculosis in addition to smallpox. It was i of the worst periods inwards the history of Nottingham. In 1845 , the renting of caves in addition to cellars for role past times the pitiful equally homes was made illegal , but the exercise could non live on exclusively eradicated. People were all the same living inwards them until the starting fourth dimension quarter of the 20th century. During the Second World War , the caves became air raid shelters.

Only a handful of the caves are inwards role today. The pub called “Ye Olde Trip to Jerusalem” which is rumored to live on i of the oldest pubs inwards the province is partly built into the cave system. Another laid upward of caves share equally indoor rifle attain of the Nottingham Rifle Club.

A department of the cave network nether the Broadmarsh Shopping Centre is similar a shot opened upward equally a tourist attraction.

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Sources: Wikipedia / www.nottsheritagegateway.org.uk / nottinghamcavessurvey.org.uk / BBC

The Sound Mirrors of Great Britain

The Sound Mirrors of Great Britain

England

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World War One was the commencement major conflict that saw the utilization of airplanes. During the early on years of the fighting , aircraft were by too large used for surveillance too observation , only every bit the state of war progressed , airplanes took on an offensive role. By the terminate of the state of war , airplanes had larn too thus deadly that it became necessary for the Allies to develop novel tactics for air defence forcefulness , if the side past times side state of war was to live won.

The most of import part of an effective air defence forcefulness organization is an early on alert organization that could uncovering too rail enemy aircraft earlier they arrive. But inward the days earlier radar , the alone means to uncovering enemy aircraft was to nous to the audio of approaching airplanes.

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The Royal Air Force established a serial of listening posts closed to the coasts of Great Britain. They consisted of huge spherical , concrete reflectors called “sound mirrors” that were able to amplify the dissonance of storey engines every bit they approached over the English linguistic communication Channel , past times reflecting audio waves off their curved surfaces too concentrating them to a focal betoken , similar rays of lite reflecting off a curved mirror. Devices similar this are frequently found inward scientific discipline museums today every bit “whispering galleries”.

Several microphones were placed inward front end of the reflector too depending on which microphone received the strongest signal , the direction of approach of the storey could live determined.

By the terminate of the 1920s , the commencement audio mirror went upward at Hythe , inward Kent , on the S coast of England. The location was chosen because it savage nether the flying path of commercial aircraft heading towards French Republic , thereby providing sufficient exam subjects. At commencement , at that spot were 5 concave mirrors made of steel too concrete , each half dozen to nine meters high. These mirrors could efficiently amplify audio waves having wavelength upward to iii feet. But the audio waves the armed forces was interested inward had wavelengths of xv to eighteen feet.

In 1930 , the 6th too terminal mirror was erected. It was a huge curved wall , sixty meters long too 8 meters high. With a listening make of nigh xx miles , it was this mega-mirror that lastly delivered the required results.

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At 1 time construction of audio mirrors started along the coast from Norfolk downwards to Dorset , to brand it impossible for enemy planes to approach the Britain from the English linguistic communication Channel undetected. In add-on to the mirrors , a huge squad of to a greater extent than than 500 people were trained for rapid too accurate communications required betwixt the listening postal service , telephone operators too officers inward the command room too at headquarters.

But airplanes were becoming faster , which meant that past times the fourth dimension they were detected they would already live likewise closed to bargain with. Soon doubts nigh the audio mirror projection began to arise. Then inward 1935 , the projection came to an acute end. The option to the audio mirrors — Radio Detection too Ranging , or radar for short— had been perfected.

The concave audio mirrors , that never saw activeness , nonetheless stands closed to the English linguistic communication coast. The most famous of these mirrors are at Denge , nigh Dungeness , inward Kent , England. The site has iii mirrors —a 60-meter-long curved wall , a 9-meter circular dish too a 6-meter dish.

Sound mirrors stand upward inward at to the lowest degree xix unlike places , including Republic of Malta which is the alone house exterior Britain to bring these structures.

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Sources: Wikipedia / www.andrewgrantham.co.uk / www.spiegel.de

The Ancient Yew Forest of Kingley Vale

The Ancient Yew Forest of Kingley Vale

England

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Tucked betwixt Stoke Down too Bow Hill , close the hamlet of West Stoke well-nigh 3 miles due north W of Chichester , inward West Sussex inward southern England , is Kingley Vale National Nature Reserve. Established inward 1952 , it was 1 of the commencement National Nature Reserves to endure opened inward Britain. The reserve covers an expanse of 160 hectares , including 1 of the finest yew forests inward western Europe. Some of the trees hither are equally much equally 1 ,000 years one-time , their trunks contorted past times historic menses too countless storms into incredibly bizarre shapes. Giant side branches swirl into the soil similar snakes , where they made secondary roots. From these immature trees accept arisen. The the world nether these trees is too so nighttime that no vegetation of whatever sort , non fifty-fifty grass , grow. 

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It’s hard to tell how one-time the yews are at Kingley Vale. Yews typically accept lifespans betwixt 400 too 600 years , exactly to a greater extent than or less specimens tin terminate alive longer. The historic menses of yews is notoriously hard to create upwardly one's heed because equally the trees historic menses , their trunks becomes hollow which makes band counting too carbon dating impossible equally in that place is hardly whatever one-time wood left. Added to this , yews accept this odd might to arrest their increment for centuries on cease if weather condition are unfavorable , until the environs becomes favorable 1 time again which reawakens the tree , too it starts growing again. During these years , the tree stops adding tree rings too girth to its trunk. Determining the historic menses of yews is , therefore , by too large guesswork. There are claims equally high equally v ,000–9 ,500 years , exactly these values are unrealistic.

According to local legend the yews at Kingley Vale were planted equally a memorial for a battle fought betwixt the Vikings too the Anglo Saxons inward the twelvemonth 859 , exactly to a greater extent than or less sources claim the trees are 2 M years old.

Nevertheless , the survival of the Kingley Vale yews is remarkable because most ancient yew trees across Europe were felled later the 14th century when English linguistic communication bowmen started preferring staves to endure made from straight-grained yew wood , which is reputedly the hardest coniferous timber inward the world. This wood was imported past times majestic decree amongst barrels of vino from Portugal too Spain.

Kingley Vale is 1 of the few major groves of yews remaining today.

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Sources: Wikipedia / The Guardian / www.infobritain.co.uk / www.indigogroup.co.uk

Londoners ‘Celebrate’ Great Fire By Setting Wooden Model on Fire

Londoners ‘Celebrate’ Great Fire By Setting Wooden Model on Fire

England

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A massive wooden replica model of 17th century London was develop ablaze on the River Thames on Lord's Day black to grade the 350th anniversary of the Great Fire of London that razed the metropolis inward 1666. The 120-meter-long wooden model of London’s skyline , titled London 1666 , was designed past times the American creative someone David Best , who is best known for edifice immense structures from woods together with burning them to the Blue Planet , by together with large for Nevada’s annual Burning Man festival.

The exhibitions together with events marker the anniversary included , aside from the model burning , populace fine art installations , tours , nutrient marketplace together with an odd exhibition of recipes together with remedies for burns together with scalds used at the fourth dimension of the fire.

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The Great Fire of London , which started at the bakery on Pudding Lane , on the black of September ii , 1666 , raged for 4 days , destroying 80% of the by together with large wooden buildings inward the medieval metropolis of London. It left an estimated lxx ,000 of the city's fourscore ,000 inhabitants homeless. Officially , solely 6 people were reported to accept died , because the misfortunate together with middle-class people were non documented. Besides , the oestrus of the bathroom was then peachy that many victims mightiness accept been totally consumed past times the bathroom leaving picayune to no skeletal remains.

London , every bit nosotros know today , was eventually rebuilt alongside grey Portland rock , simply the one-time street layout was preserved.

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The Seven Noses of Soho

The Seven Noses of Soho

England

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Attached to the walls of diverse buildings to a greater extent than or less the Soho neighborhood , inward 1 of the inner boroughs of London , are several plaster casts of human noses of diverse sizes. The noses were gear upward past times creative someone Rick Buckley inward 1997 every bit a flat of protestation against the ascension role of surveillance cameras across the streets of London. These safety cameras were drawing criticisms from many dissimilar quarters because a lot of people viewed them every bit a huge footstep closer to the “Big Brother” society.

Inspired past times the guerrilla activities of the Situationist —a mid-century scheme of avant-garde social revolutionaries— Rick Buckley decided to install plaster of Paris in addition to polymer casts of his ain olfactory organ at diverse structures across London , correct nether the noses of “the freedom threatening CCTV Cameras.”

Evening Standard / Wikipedia

London’s Deep Level Air Raid Shelters

London’s Deep Level Air Raid Shelters

England

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When the Second World broke out inward Europe , in addition to London became the prime number bombing target , people began to pour into the platforms of the London Underground —the city’s subway system— every nighttime to escape the nightly bombings of the 1940 London Blitz. As these undercover sanctuaries became increasingly crowded , the British authorities decided to gear upwards proper air raid shelters far below the ground. The regard was to build 10 shelters in addition to house them slightly below in addition to close existing subway stations amongst the intention that these newly built tunnels volition travel eventually absorbed into the Underground 1 time the nation of war was over.

Subterranea Britannica

Subterranea Britannica

The Decorative Chimneys of Hampton Court Palace

The Decorative Chimneys of Hampton Court Palace

England

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Back inwards the middle ages , a heated identify was a luxury that the bulk did non have. Most people huddled some an opened upwardly hearth inwards the middle of the room for warmth , over which they besides cooked their meals , spell smoke filled their houses together with their lungs. Chimneys were a novel matter thus , together with belonged exclusively to the close princely of dwellings. So it was natural for those who had them to live on chimneys every bit a demonstration of wealth together with power.

Early chimneys appeared exclusively on large manor houses , together with during the Tudor menstruation it became stylish to convey ornate brick chimneys together with stacks. There is possibly no ameliorate event of this than Hampton Court Palace situated on the outskirts of London.

The Chimneypots of Paris Rooftops

Telegraph / Wikipedia / www.dreamvacationinengland.com