Portal:Yorkshire
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Culture · Geography · Health · History · Mathematics · Natural sciences · Philosophy · Religion · Society · Technology
Yorkshire is a historic county of northern England and the largest in Great Britain. Although Yorkshire is not a current unit of civil administration, it is included in the name of a number of contemporary subdivisions such as Yorkshire and the Humber. The name is familiar and well-understood across the United Kingdom and is in common use. Throughout much of history, Yorkshire has played a prominent role in Great Britain. The Brigantes, who were the largest Celtic Briton tribe held it as their heartland. The Romans made York (from which the county derives its name) one of the two capitals of all Roman Britain. The area was an independent Viking kingdom known as Jórvík for around a century, before being taken by England. Most of the modern day large cities were founded during the Norman period.
The county covered just under 6,000 square miles (15,000 km²) in 1831 and the modern day Yorkshire and the Humber region has a population of around five million. Yorkshire is widely considered to be the greenest area in England, due to both the vast rural countryside of the Yorkshire Dales, North York Moors and some of the major cities, this has led to Yorkshire being nicknamed God's Own County. (read more) . . .
The Battle of Marston Moor was fought on July 2, 1644, during the First English Civil War. The combined forces of the Scottish Covenanters under the Earl of Leven and the Parliamentarians under Lord Fairfax and the Earl of Manchester defeated the Royalists commanded by Prince Rupert of the Rhine and the Marquess of Newcastle.
During the summer of 1644, the Covenanters and Parliamentarians had been besieging York which was defended by the Marquess of Newcastle. Prince Rupert had gathered an army to relieve the city, gathering fresh recruits on the way. The convergence of these forces made the ensuing battle the largest of the Civil Wars.
On July 1, Rupert had outmanoeuvred the Scots and Parliamentarians to relieve the city. The next day, he sought battle with them, even though he was outnumbered. He was dissuaded from attacking immediately, and during the day both sides gathered their full strength on Marston Moor, an expanse of moorland west of York. Towards evening, the Scots and Parliamentarians themselves launched a surprise attack. After a confused fight lasting two hours, Parliamentarian cavalry under Oliver Cromwell routed the Royalist cavalry from the field and annihilated the remaining Royalist infantry. (read more . . . )
Skidby Windmill is a Grade II listed working windmill at Skidby near Beverley, in the East Riding of Yorkshire. Originally built in 1821, the mill was further extended to its current 5 stories in 1870. (read more . . . )
Dench's more recent film career has been extremely successful. She successfully garnered six Oscar nominations in nine years for Mrs Brown in 1997; her Oscar-winning turn in Shakespeare in Love in 1998; for Chocolat in 2000; for the lead role of writer Iris Murdoch in Iris in 2001 (with Kate Winslet playing her as a younger woman); for Mrs Henderson Presents (a romanticised history of the Windmill Theatre) in 2005; and for 2006's Notes on a Scandal, a film for which she received critical acclaim, including Golden Globe and Screen Actors Guild nominations. In February 2008, she was named as the first official patron of the York Youth Mysteries 2008, a project to allow young people to explore the York Mystery Plays through dance, film-making and circus. (read more . . . )
- ...that the Maritime Museum (pictured), in Kingston upon Hull, England, houses the largest collection of scrimshaw artwork in Europe?
- ...that the rivalry between Leeds United and Manchester United football clubs has its roots in the 15th century English civil war, the Wars of the Roses?
- ...that Denton Hall once the home of General Fairfax, the English Civil War commander-in-chief, was later sold for less than the value of the timber on the estate?
