North East England

The Largest part of the UK

Of the four parts which make up Great Britain England is the largest, the most industrial and most densely populated part of the United Kingdom. Over 46 million people out of the population of the UK live in England. The greatest concentrations of population are in London, Birmingham and northwest industrial cities. The coasts of England are washed by the North Sea, the Irish Sea, the English Channel and the Strait of Dover. No part of England is more than 120 km from the sea. It is interesting to note that the sea has always been important in the history of England. It was a good protection against the attacks of outside peoples. Fishing has always been an important industry, especially in the east. The sea also has a great effect on England’s climate.

There are many rivers in England. The longest is the Severn (354 km), flowing along the border between England and Wales, tributaries of which include the Avon, famed by Shakespeare, and the River Thames (346 km), which flows eastward to the port of London. The swiftest flowing river in the British Isles is the Spey. The rivers are of great importance for communication and especially for carrying goods.

England is mostly a lowland country. There are upland regions in the north and the southwest, but the rest of England is almost flat. It is divided into nine regions: North East England, North West England, Yorkshire and the Humber, East Midlands, West Midlands, East England, South East England, South West England and London. These regions were created in 1994 as Government offices used by the British Government to deliver a wide range of policies and programmes regionally.

North East England

It covers Northumberland, County Durham, Tyne and Wear, and Teesside, which is partly in North Yorkshire. The only cities in this region include Durham, Newcastle upon Tyne and Sunderland. It occupies the area of 8, 592 sq km (3, 317 sq mi). Its population is about 2, 597,000 (2011), and the population density is 302/sq km. The region is generally hilly and sparsely populated in the north and west, and urban and arable in the east and south. The highest point in the region is the Cheviot (2, 674 ft). The region often called as the Dales to the Border contains the urban centres of Tyneside, Wearside and Teesside, and is noted for the rich natural beauty of its coastline, Northumberland National Park, and the section of the Pennines that includes Teesdale and Weardale. The Ice Age formed many deep valleys in the counties of Northumberland and North Yorkshire, made rivers into waterfalls and left behind hills and mountains.

Since the middle of the 13^th century there has been a fishing industry in Northumbria. Wooden ships were built for fishing and for trading and this industry grew particularly during the 18^th century. By 1850 the building of iron steamships became a major industry on the rivers Tyne, Wear and Tees. One hundred years ago a quarter of the world’s ships were built in Northumbria. Today this industry is disappearing. During the 19^th century the Northeast of England led the world in many types of heavy industry. There were steamships, railway engineering, bridge building, industrial machinery, and for the making of all this – iron and steel production. There was also an important textile industry. The coal industry that once dominated the North East suffered a marked decline during the second half of the 20^th century. Tyneside is now reinventing itself as an international centre of art, culture, scientific research, especially in stem cell technology. The economy of Teesside is largely based on the petrochemical and steel industries. Northumberland and County Durham are both largely rural, and base much of their economies on farming and tourism.

The North East features woodland such as Kielder Forest, the largest man-made forest in Europe. This is located within Northumberland National Park and contains an important habitat for the endangered red squirrel. Rainton Meadows is a recently created bird-watching site. Rare seabirds such as the Roseate Tern (Розовая крачка) are found in the Farne Islands, and the Magnesian Limestone grasslands of East Durham are a habitat found nowhere else in the world.

Among the most famous places of attraction in this region are Lindisfarne Priory, Berwick Barracks, Etal Castle, Alnwick Castle, Belsay Hall and Gardens, Warkworth Castle, Dunstanburgh Castle, Brinkburn Priory and the former Roman frontier – Hadrian’s Wall.

Lindisfarne Priory, one of the most important centres of early Christianity in England, stands on the windswept Holy Island, linked to the mainland by a narrow causeway passable only at low tide. The original monastery was founded in the 7^th century by St. Aidan and became a place of pilgrimage after miracles were reported at the shrine of St. Cuthbert, Lindisfarne’s most famous bishop. The Lindisfarne Gospels, one of the finest examples of the early monks’ artistic skills and technical abilities in bookmaking which now resides in the British Library, was copied and illuminated here in about 698. The earliest monks were driven out by the Vikings but Lidisfarne was re-established in the 12^th century and it is the extensive ruins of this foundation – including the dramatic rainbow arch over the nave of the priory church – that can be seen today. The magnificent border fortress, Alnwick Castle, dates back to the 11^th century. Its early history is associated with the line of de Visci, lords of the Barony of Alnwick. The Percys, a Norman family established in England before the Conquest, came into the ownership of castle and barony in 1309. They have continued their lordship ever since. It features one of England’s earliest private museums containing Roman and early British Antiquities. The other castle that was also the home of the turbulent Percy family is the magnificent 15^th century Warkworth Castle with its maze of chambers, crooked passageways and staircases. Harry Hotspur, the most famous son of Earl of Northumberland, together with his father was largely responsible for placing Henry IV on the throne but later, at Warkworth, he hatched the plot to overthrow the king. The rebellion which led to Harry’s defeat and death in 1403 was immortalized in Shakespeare’s Henry IV, in which several scenes are set at Warkworth. The wild and beautiful landscape of Northumberland features the most spectacular memorial to the Roman Empire in Britain – Hadrian’s Wall. This immense barrier, stretching 73 miles from the Solway Firth in the west to the mouth of the Tyne in the east, was an outstanding feat of military engineering, using to full advantage the contours of the landscape. For over 250 years, it stood as Rome’s northern frontier.

One of the oldest and most beautiful cities located in North East region is Durham. Its population is about 87,656 people. Durham is well known for its Norman Cathedral and 11^th-century castle built as a projection of the Norman power in the north of England. Archeological evidence suggests a history of settlement in the area since roughly 2000 BC. The present city can clearly be traced back to AD 995, when a group of monks from Lindisfarne chose a strategic high peninsula as a place to settle with the body of Saint Cuthbert. The original Nordic Dun Holm was changed to Duresme by the Normans and was known in Latin as Dunelm. The modern form Durham came into use later in the city’s history.

Durham’s geographical location has always given it an important position in the defense of England against the Scots. The industrial Revolution mostly passed the city by. However, the city was well known for carpet making and weaving. The Industrial Revolution also placed the city at the heart of the coal fields, the country’s main industry until the 1970s.

Durham’s Cathedral was founded in its present form in AD 1093 and remains a centre for Christian worship today. It is generally regarded as one of the finest Romanesque cathedrals in Europe and the rib vaulting in the nave marks the beginning of Gothic ecclesiastical architecture. The Cathedral houses the shrine and related treasures of Cuthbert of Lindisfarne, and these are on public view. It is also home to the head of St.Oswald of Northumbria and the remains of the Venerable Bede. As for the castle, it is 14 meters high and over 30 meters long. It is still the home of University College. And it is the only castle in the UK never to have suffered a beach.

Durham is home to Durham University which was founded by Act of Parliament in 1832. It is claimed to be England’s third oldest university after Oxford and Cambridge.

Дата добавления: 2015-11-16