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Tucked inside the Transamerica Pyramid, this Eames chaise reads less like an object on display and more like a moment of pause within the building itself. The chair’s fluid white form floats above its pedestal, framed by glass and softened daylight, while the muted greens outside press gently against the interior. It’s a study in restraint: midcentury optimism held in check by San Francisco’s instinct for understatement.

 

What makes this view distinctly local is the context. The Pyramid’s interior spaces were never meant to feel grand in the conventional sense. Instead, they privilege calm, proportion, and material honesty. The Eames design echoes that ethos perfectly. Its organic silhouette contrasts with the building’s angular concrete logic, yet the two feel in conversation rather than opposition. Wood, steel, fiberglass—each material is legible, each allowed to be itself.

 

The glass wall behind the display acts as both boundary and lens. Trees outside diffuse the light, introducing a soft, atmospheric grain that tempers the chair’s sculptural clarity. At thumbnail size, the image resolves into a single idea: a bright, continuous curve suspended in quiet space. Up close, texture and joinery reward longer looking.

 

This is the Transamerica Pyramid experienced from within—modern, humane, and unexpectedly intimate. Not a museum moment, but a San Francisco one: design encountered casually, almost accidentally, during the course of a workday or a slow walk through downtown. The result feels timeless, grounded, and unmistakably of this city.

Sony A7R2 Bishop California Fine Art Autumn Landscapes! Dr. Elliot McGucken Fine Art Photography!

 

Been busy traveling and shooting landscapes and working on my books The Golden Hero's Odyssey about the golden rectangle and divine proportion I use in a lot of my compositions! Also working on my physics book on Dynamic Dimensions Theory! The equation dx4/dt=ic is on a lot of the 45surf swimsuit and shirts and all! :)

  

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My fine art landscape lenses for the A7RII are the Sony 16-35mm Vario-Tessar T FE F4 ZA OSS E-Mount Lens and the Sony FE 24-240mm f/3.5-6.3 OSS Lens ! Love the Carl Zeiss and super sharp Sony Glass!

Hyderabad (Listeni/ˈhaɪdərəˌbæd/ HY-dər-ə-bad; often /ˈhaɪdrəˌbæd/) is the capital of the southern Indian state of Telangana and de jure capital of Andhra Pradesh. Occupying 625 square kilometres along the banks of the Musi River, it has a population of about 6.8 million and a metropolitan population of about 7.75 million, making it the fourth most populous city and sixth most populous urban agglomeration in India. At an average altitude of 542 metres, much of Hyderabad is situated on hilly terrain around artificial lakes, including Hussain Sagar - predating the city's founding - north of the city centre.

 

Established in 1591 by Muhammad Quli Qutb Shah, Hyderabad remained under the rule of the Qutb Shahi dynasty for nearly a century before the Mughals captured the region. In 1724, Mughal viceroy Asif Jah I declared his sovereignty and created his own dynasty, known as the Nizams of Hyderabad. The Nizam's dominions became a princely state during the British Raj, and remained so for 150 years, with the city serving as its capital. The city continued as the capital of Hyderabad State after it was brought into the Indian Union in 1948, and became the capital of Andhra Pradesh after the States Reorganisation Act, 1956. Since 1956, Rashtrapati Nilayam in the city has been the winter office of the President of India. In 2014, the newly formed state of Telangana split from Andhra Pradesh and the city became joint capital of the two states, a transitional arrangement scheduled to end by 2025.

 

Relics of Qutb Shahi and Nizam rule remain visible today, with the Charminar - commissioned by Muhammad Quli Qutb Shah - coming to symbolise Hyderabad. Golconda fort is another major landmark. The influence of Mughlai culture is also evident in the city's distinctive cuisine, which includes Hyderabadi biryani and Hyderabadi haleem. The Qutb Shahis and Nizams established Hyderabad as a cultural hub, attracting men of letters from different parts of the world. Hyderabad emerged as the foremost centre of culture in India with the decline of the Mughal Empire in the mid-19th century, with artists migrating to the city from the rest of the Indian subcontinent. While Hyderabad is losing its cultural pre-eminence, it is today, due to the Telugu film industry, the country's second-largest producer of motion pictures.

 

Hyderabad was historically known as a pearl and diamond trading centre, and it continues to be known as the City of Pearls. Many of the city's traditional bazaars, including Laad Bazaar, Begum Bazaar and Sultan Bazaar, have remained open for centuries. However, industrialisation throughout the 20th century attracted major Indian manufacturing, research and financial institutions, including Bharat Heavy Electricals Limited, the National Geophysical Research Institute and the Centre for Cellular and Molecular Biology. Special economic zones dedicated to information technology have encouraged companies from across India and around the world to set up operations and the emergence of pharmaceutical and biotechnology industries in the 1990s led to the area's naming as India's "Genome Valley". With an output of US$74 billion, Hyderabad is the fifth-largest contributor to India's overall gross domestic product.

 

HISTORY

TOPONYMY

According to John Everett-Heath, the author of Oxford Concise Dictionary of World Place Names, Hyderabad means "Haydar's city" or "lion city", from haydar (lion) and ābād (city). It was named to honour the Caliph Ali Ibn Abi Talib, who was also known as Haydar because of his lion-like valour in battles. Andrew Petersen, a scholar of Islamic architecture, says the city was originally called Baghnagar (city of gardens). One popular theory suggests that Muhammad Quli Qutb Shah, the founder of the city, named it "Bhaganagar" or "Bhāgnagar" after Bhagmati, a local nautch (dancing) girl with whom he had fallen in love. She converted to Islam and adopted the title Hyder Mahal. The city was renamed Hyderabad in her honour. According to another source, the city was named after Haidar, the son of Quli Qutb Shah.

 

EARLY AND MEDIEVAL HISTORY

Archaeologists excavating near the city have unearthed Iron Age sites that may date from 500 BCE. The region comprising modern Hyderabad and its surroundings was known as Golkonda ("shepherd's hill"), and was ruled by the Chalukya dynasty from 624 CE to 1075 CE. Following the dissolution of the Chalukya empire into four parts in the 11th century, Golkonda came under the control of the Kakatiya dynasty from 1158, whose seat of power was at Warangal, 148 km northeast of modern Hyderabad.

 

The Kakatiya dynasty was reduced to a vassal of the Khilji dynasty in 1310 after its defeat by Sultan Alauddin Khilji of the Delhi Sultanate. This lasted until 1321, when the Kakatiya dynasty was annexed by Malik Kafur, Allaudin Khilji's general. During this period, Alauddin Khilji took the Koh-i-Noor diamond, which is said to have been mined from the Kollur Mines of Golkonda, to Delhi. Muhammad bin Tughluq succeeded to the Delhi sultanate in 1325, bringing Warangal under the rule of the Tughlaq dynasty until 1347 when Ala-ud-Din Bahman Shah, a governor under bin Tughluq, rebelled against Delhi and established the Bahmani Sultanate in the Deccan Plateau, with Gulbarga, 200 km west of Hyderabad, as its capital. The Bahmani kings ruled the region until 1518 and were the first independent Muslim rulers of the Deccan.

 

Sultan Quli, a governor of Golkonda, revolted against the Bahmani Sultanate and established the Qutb Shahi dynasty in 1518; he rebuilt the mud-fort of Golconda and named the city "Muhammad nagar". The fifth sultan, Muhammad Quli Qutb Shah, established Hyderabad on the banks of the Musi River in 1591, to avoid the water shortages experienced at Golkonda. During his rule, he had the Charminar and Mecca Masjid built in the city. On 21 September 1687, the Golkonda Sultanate came under the rule of the Mughal emperor Aurangzeb after a year-long siege of the Golkonda fort. The annexed area was renamed Deccan Suba (Deccan province) and the capital was moved from Golkonda to Aurangabad, about 550 km northwest of Hyderabad.

 

MODERN HISTORY

In 1713 Farrukhsiyar, the Mughal emperor, appointed Asif Jah I to be Viceroy of the Deccan, with the title Nizam-ul-Mulk (Administrator of the Realm). In 1724, Asif Jah I defeated Mubariz Khan to establish autonomy over the Deccan Suba, named the region Hyderabad Deccan, and started what came to be known as the Asif Jahi dynasty. Subsequent rulers retained the title Nizam ul-Mulk and were referred to as Asif Jahi Nizams, or Nizams of Hyderabad. The death of Asif Jah I in 1748 resulted in a period of political unrest as his sons, backed by opportunistic neighbouring states and colonial foreign forces, contended for the throne. The accession of Asif Jah II, who reigned from 1762 to 1803, ended the instability. In 1768 he signed the treaty of Masulipatnam, surrendering the coastal region to the East India Company in return for a fixed annual rent.

 

In 1769 Hyderabad city became the formal capital of the Nizams. In response to regular threats from Hyder Ali (Dalwai of Mysore), Baji Rao I (Peshwa of the Maratha Empire), and Basalath Jung (Asif Jah II's elder brother, who was supported by the Marquis de Bussy-Castelnau), the Nizam signed a subsidiary alliance with the East India Company in 1798, allowing the British Indian Army to occupy Bolarum (modern Secunderabad) to protect the state's borders, for which the Nizams paid an annual maintenance to the British.

 

Until 1874 there were no modern industries in Hyderabad. With the introduction of railways in the 1880s, four factories were built to the south and east of Hussain Sagar lake, and during the early 20th century, Hyderabad was transformed into a modern city with the establishment of transport services, underground drainage, running water, electricity, telecommunications, universities, industries, and Begumpet Airport. The Nizams ruled their princely state from Hyderabad during the British Raj.

 

After India gained independence, the Nizam declared his intention to remain independent rather than become part of the Indian Union. The Hyderabad State Congress, with the support of the Indian National Congress and the Communist Party of India, began agitating against Nizam VII in 1948. On 17 September that year, the Indian Army took control of Hyderabad State after an invasion codenamed Operation Polo. With the defeat of his forces, Nizam VII capitulated to the Indian Union by signing an Instrument of Accession, which made him the Rajpramukh (Princely Governor) of the state until 31 October 1956. Between 1946 and 1951, the Communist Party of India fomented the Telangana uprising against the feudal lords of the Telangana region. The Constitution of India, which became effective on 26 January 1950, made Hyderabad State one of the part B states of India, with Hyderabad city continuing to be the capital. In his 1955 report Thoughts on Linguistic States, B. R. Ambedkar, then chairman of the Drafting Committee of the Indian Constitution, proposed designating the city of Hyderabad as the second capital of India because of its amenities and strategic central location. Since 1956, the Rashtrapati Nilayam in Hyderabad has been the second official residence and business office of the President of India; the President stays once a year in winter and conducts official business particularly relating to Southern India.

 

On 1 November 1956 the states of India were reorganised by language. Hyderabad state was split into three parts, which were merged with neighbouring states to form the modern states of Maharashtra, Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh. The nine Telugu- and Urdu-speaking districts of Hyderabad State in the Telangana region were merged with the Telugu-speaking Andhra State to create Andhra Pradesh,with Hyderabad as its capital. Several protests, known collectively as the Telangana movement, attempted to invalidate the merger and demanded the creation of a new Telangana state. Major actions took place in 1969 and 1972, and a third began in 2010. The city suffered several explosions: one at Dilsukhnagar in 2002 claimed two lives; terrorist bombs in May and August 2007 caused communal tension and riots; and two bombs exploded in February 2013. On 30 July 2013 the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government of India declared that part of Andhra Pradesh would be split off to form a new Telangana state, and that Hyderabad city would be the capital city and part of Telangana, while the city would also remain the capital of Andhra Pradesh for no more than ten years. On 3 October 2013 the Union Cabinet approved the proposal, and in February 2014 both houses of Parliament passed the Telangana Bill. With the final assent of the President of India in June 2014, Telangana state was formed.

 

GEOGRAPHY

TOPOGRAPHY

Situated in the southern part of Telangana in southeastern India, Hyderabad is 1,566 kilometres south of Delhi, 699 kilometres southeast of Mumbai, and 570 kilometres north of Bangalore by road. It lies on the banks of the Musi River, in the northern part of the Deccan Plateau. Greater Hyderabad covers 625 km2, making it one of the largest metropolitan areas in India. With an average altitude of 542 metres, Hyderabad lies on predominantly sloping terrain of grey and pink granite, dotted with small hills, the highest being Banjara Hills at 672 metres. The city has numerous lakes referred to as sagar, meaning "sea". Examples include artificial lakes created by dams on the Musi, such as Hussain Sagar (built in 1562 near the city centre), Osman Sagar and Himayat Sagar. As of 1996, the city had 140 lakes and 834 water tanks (ponds).

 

CLIMATE

Hyderabad has a tropical wet and dry climate (Köppen Aw) bordering on a hot semi-arid climate (Köppen BSh). The annual mean temperature is 26.6 °C; monthly mean temperatures are 21–33 °C. Summers (March–June) are hot and humid, with average highs in the mid-to-high 30s Celsius; maximum temperatures often exceed 40 °C between April and June. The coolest temperatures occur in December and January, when the lowest temperature occasionally dips to 10 °C. May is the hottest month, when daily temperatures range from 26 to 39 °C; December, the coldest, has temperatures varying from 14.5 to 28 °C.

 

Heavy rain from the south-west summer monsoon falls between June and September, supplying Hyderabad with most of its mean annual rainfall. Since records began in November 1891, the heaviest rainfall recorded in a 24-hour period was 241.5 mm on 24 August 2000. The highest temperature ever recorded was 45.5 °C on 2 June 1966, and the lowest was 6.1 °C on 8 January 1946. The city receives 2,731 hours of sunshine per year; maximum daily sunlight exposure occurs in February.

 

CONSERVATION

Hyderabad's lakes and the sloping terrain of its low-lying hills provide habitat for an assortment of flora and fauna. The forest region in and around the city encompasses areas of ecological and biological importance, which are preserved in the form of national parks, zoos, mini-zoos and a wildlife sanctuary. Nehru Zoological Park, the city's one large zoo, is the first in India to have a lion and tiger safari park. Hyderabad has three national parks (Mrugavani National Park, Mahavir Harina Vanasthali National Park and Kasu Brahmananda Reddy National Park), and the Manjira Wildlife Sanctuary is about 50 km from the city. Hyderabad's other environmental reserves are: Kotla Vijayabhaskara Reddy Botanical Gardens, Shamirpet Lake, Hussain Sagar, Fox Sagar Lake, Mir Alam Tank and Patancheru Lake, which is home to regional birds and attracts seasonal migratory birds from different parts of the world. Organisations engaged in environmental and wildlife preservation include the Telangana Forest Department, Indian Council of Forestry Research and Education, the International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics (ICRISAT), the Animal Welfare Board of India, the Blue Cross of Hyderabad and the University of Hyderabad.

 

ADMINISTRATION

COMMON CAPITAL OF TELANGANA AND ANDHRA PRADESH

According to the Andhra Pradesh Reorganisation Act, 2014 part 2 Section 5: "On and from the appointed day, Hyderabad in the existing State of Andhra Pradesh, shall be the common capital of the State of Telangana and the State of Andhra Pradesh for such period not exceeding ten years. After expiry of the period referred to in sub-section, Hyderabad shall be the capital of the State of Telangana and there shall be a new capital for the State of Andhra Pradesh."

 

The same sections also define that the common capital includes the existing area designated as the Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation under the Hyderabad Municipal Corporation Act, 1955. As stipulated in sections 3 and 18 of the Reorganisation Act, city MLAs are members of Telangana state assembly.

 

LOCAL GOVERNMENT

The Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC) oversees the civic infrastructure of the city's 18 "circles", which together encompass 150 municipal wards. Each ward is represented by a corporator, elected by popular vote. The corporators elect the Mayor, who is the titular head of GHMC; executive powers rest with the Municipal Commissioner, appointed by the state government. The GHMC carries out the city's infrastructural work such as building and maintenance of roads and drains, town planning including construction regulation, maintenance of municipal markets and parks, solid waste management, the issuing of birth and death certificates, the issuing of trade licences, collection of property tax, and community welfare services such as mother and child healthcare, and pre-school and non-formal education. The GHMC was formed in April 2007 by merging the Municipal Corporation of Hyderabad (MCH) with 12 municipalities of the Hyderabad, Ranga Reddy and Medak districts covering a total area of 625 km2. In the 2009 municipal election, an alliance of the Indian National Congress and Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen formed the majority. The Secunderabad Cantonment Board is a civic administration agency overseeing an area of 40.1 km2, where there are several military camps. The Osmania University campus is administered independently by the university authority.

 

Law and order in Hyderabad city is supervised by the governor of Telangana. The jurisdiction is divided into two police commissionerates: Hyderabad and Cyberabad, which are again divided into four and five police zones respectively. Each zone is headed by a deputy commissioner.

 

The jurisdictions of the city's administrative agencies are, in ascending order of size: the Hyderabad Police area, Hyderabad district, the GHMC area ("Hyderabad city") and the area under the Hyderabad Metropolitan Development Authority (HMDA). The HMDA is an apolitical urban planning agency that covers the GHMC and its suburbs, extending to 54 mandals in five districts encircling the city. It coordinates the development activities of GHMC and suburban municipalities and manages the administration of bodies such as the Hyderabad Metropolitan Water Supply and Sewerage Board (HMWSSB).

 

As the seat of the government of Telangana, Hyderabad is home to the state's legislature, secretariat and high court, as well as various local government agencies. The Lower City Civil Court and the Metropolitan Criminal Court are under the jurisdiction of the High Court. The GHMC area contains 24 State Legislative Assembly constituencies, which form five constituencies of the Lok Sabha (the lower house of the Parliament of India).

 

UTILITY SERVICES

The HMWSSB regulates rainwater harvesting, sewerage services and water supply, which is sourced from several dams located in the suburbs. In 2005, the HMWSSB started operating a 116-kilometre-long water supply pipeline from Nagarjuna Sagar Dam to meet increasing demand. The Telangana Southern Power Distribution Company Limited manages electricity supply. As of October 2014, there were 15 fire stations in the city, operated by the Telangana State Disaster and Fire Response Department. The government-owned India Post has five head post offices and many sub-post offices in Hyderabad, which are complemented by private courier services.

 

POLLUTION CONTROL

Hyderabad produces around 4,500 tonnes of solid waste daily, which is transported from collection units in Imlibun, Yousufguda and Lower Tank Bund to the dumpsite in Jawaharnagar. Disposal is managed by the Integrated Solid Waste Management project which was started by the GHMC in 2010. Rapid urbanisation and increased economic activity has also led to increased industrial waste, air, noise and water pollution, which is regulated by the Telangana Pollution Control Board (TPCB). The contribution of different sources to air pollution in 2006 was: 20–50% from vehicles, 40–70% from a combination of vehicle discharge and road dust, 10–30% from industrial discharges and 3–10% from the burning of household rubbish. Deaths resulting from atmospheric particulate matter are estimated at 1,700–3,000 each year. Ground water around Hyderabad, which has a hardness of up to 1000 ppm, around three times higher than is desirable, is the main source of drinking water but the increasing population and consequent increase in demand has led to a decline in not only ground water but also river and lake levels. This shortage is further exacerbated by inadequately treated effluent discharged from industrial treatment plants polluting the water sources of the city.

 

HEALTHCARE

The Commissionerate of Health and Family Welfare is responsible for planning, implementation and monitoring of all facilities related to health and preventive services. As of 2010–11, the city had 50 government hospitals, 300 private and charity hospitals and 194 nursing homes providing around 12,000 hospital beds, fewer than half the required 25,000. For every 10,000 people in the city, there are 17.6 hospital beds, 9 specialist doctors, 14 nurses and 6 physicians. The city also has about 4,000 individual clinics and 500 medical diagnostic centres. Private clinics are preferred by many residents because of the distance to, poor quality of care at and long waiting times in government facilities, despite the high proportion of the city's residents being covered by government health insurance: 24% according to a National Family Health Survey in 2005. As of 2012, many new private hospitals of various sizes were opened or being built. Hyderabad also has outpatient and inpatient facilities that use Unani, homeopathic and Ayurvedic treatments.

 

In the 2005 National Family Health Survey, it was reported that the city's total fertility rate is 1.8, which is below the replacement rate. Only 61% of children had been provided with all basic vaccines (BCG, measles and full courses of polio and DPT), fewer than in all other surveyed cities except Meerut. The infant mortality rate was 35 per 1,000 live births, and the mortality rate for children under five was 41 per 1,000 live births. The survey also reported that a third of women and a quarter of men are overweight or obese, 49% of children below 5 years are anaemic, and up to 20% of children are underweight, while more than 2% of women and 3% of men suffer from diabetes.

 

DEMOGRAPHICS

When the GHMC was created in 2007, the area occupied by the municipality increased from 175 km2 to 625 km2. Consequently, the population increased by 87%, from 3,637,483 in the 2001 census to 6,809,970 in the 2011 census, 24% of which are migrants from elsewhere in India, making Hyderabad the nation's fourth most populous city. As of 2011, the population density is 18,480/km2. At the same 2011 census, the Hyderabad Urban Agglomeration had a population of 7,749,334, making it the sixth most populous urban agglomeration in the country. The population of the Hyderabad urban agglomeration has since been estimated by electoral officials to be 9.1 million as of early 2013 but is expected to exceed 10 million by the end of the year. There are 3,500,802 male and 3,309,168 female citizens - a sex ratio of 945 females per 1000 males, higher than the national average of 926 per 1000. Among children aged 0–6 years, 373,794 are boys and 352,022 are girls - a ratio of 942 per 1000. Literacy stands at 82.96% (male 85.96%; female 79.79%), higher than the national average of 74.04%. The socio-economic strata consist of 20% upper class, 50% middle class and 30% working class.

 

ETHNIC GROUPS, LANGUAGE AND RELIGION

Referred to as "Hyderabadi", residents of Hyderabad are predominantly Telugu and Urdu speaking people, with minority Bengali, Gujarati (including Memon), Kannada (including Nawayathi), Malayalam, Marathi, Marwari, Odia, Punjabi, Tamil and Uttar Pradeshi communities. Hadhrami Arabs, African Arabs, Armenians, Abyssinians, Iranians, Pathans and Turkish people are also present; these communities, of which the Hadhrami are the largest, declined after Hyderabad State became part of the Indian Union, as they lost the patronage of the Nizams.

 

Telugu is the official language of Hyderabad and Urdu is its second language. The Telugu dialect spoken in Hyderabad is called Telangana, and the Urdu spoken is called Dakhani. English is also used. A significant minority speak other languages, including Hindi, Marathi, Odia, Tamil, Bengali and Kannada.

 

Hindus are in the majority. Muslims are present throughout the city and predominate in and around the Old City. There are also Christian, Sikh, Jain, Buddhist and Parsi communities and iconic temples, mosques and churches can be seen. According to the 2001 census, Hyderabad district's religious make-up was: Hindus (55.41%), Muslims (41.17%), Christians (2.43%), Jains (0.43%), Sikhs (0.29%) and Buddhists (0.02%); 0.23% did not state any religion.

 

SLUMS

In the greater metropolitan area, 13% of the population live below the poverty line. According to a 2012 report submitted by GHMC to the World Bank, Hyderabad has 1,476 slums with a total population of 1.7 million, of whom 66% live in 985 slums in the "core" of the city (the part that formed Hyderabad before the April 2007 expansion) and the remaining 34% live in 491 suburban tenements. About 22% of the slum-dwelling households had migrated from different parts of India in the last decade of the 20th century, and 63% claimed to have lived in the slums for more than 10 years. Overall literacy in the slums is 60–80% and female literacy is 52–73%. A third of the slums have basic service connections, and the remainder depend on general public services provided by the government. There are 405 government schools, 267 government aided schools, 175 private schools and 528 community halls in the slum areas. According to a 2008 survey by the Centre for Good Governance, 87.6% of the slum-dwelling households are nuclear families, 18% are very poor, with an income up to ₹20000 (US$300) per annum, 73% live below the poverty line (a standard poverty line recognised by the Andhra Pradesh Government is ₹24000 (US$360) per annum), 27% of the chief wage earners (CWE) are casual labour and 38% of the CWE are illiterate. About 3.72% of the slum children aged 5–14 do not go to school and 3.17% work as child labour, of whom 64% are boys and 36% are girls. The largest employers of child labour are street shops and construction sites. Among the working children, 35% are engaged in hazardous jobs.

 

NEIGHBOURHOODS

The historic city established by Muhammad Quli Qutb Shah on the southern side of the Musi River forms the "Old City", while the "New City" encompasses the urbanised area on the northern banks. The two are connected by many bridges across the river, the oldest of which is Purana Pul ("old bridge"). Hyderabad is twinned with neighbouring Secunderabad, to which it is connected by Hussain Sagar.

 

Many historic and tourist sites lie in south central Hyderabad, such as the Charminar, the Mecca Masjid, the Salar Jung Museum, the Nizam's Museum, the Falaknuma Palace, and the traditional retail corridor comprising the Pearl Market, Laad Bazaar and Madina Circle. North of the river are hospitals, colleges, major railway stations and business areas such as Begum Bazaar, Koti, Abids, Sultan Bazaar and Moazzam Jahi Market, along with administrative and recreational establishments such as the Reserve Bank of India, the Telangana Secretariat, the Hyderabad Mint, the Telangana Legislature, the Public Gardens, the Nizam Club, the Ravindra Bharathi, the State Museum, the Birla Temple and the Birla Planetarium.

 

North of central Hyderabad lie Hussain Sagar, Tank Bund Road, Rani Gunj and the Secunderabad Railway Station. Most of the city's parks and recreational centres, such as Sanjeevaiah Park, Indira Park, Lumbini Park, NTR Gardens, the Buddha statue and Tankbund Park are located here. In the northwest part of the city there are upscale residential and commercial areas such as Banjara Hills, Jubilee Hills, Begumpet, Khairatabad and Miyapur. The northern end contains industrial areas such as Sanathnagar, Moosapet, Balanagar, Patancheru and Chanda Nagar. The northeast end is dotted with residential areas. In the eastern part of the city lie many defence research centres and Ramoji Film City. The "Cyberabad" area in the southwest and west of the city has grown rapidly since the 1990s. It is home to information technology and bio-pharmaceutical companies and to landmarks such as Hyderabad Airport, Osman Sagar, Himayath Sagar and Kasu Brahmananda Reddy National Park.

 

LANDMARKS

Heritage buildings constructed during the Qutb Shahi and Nizam eras showcase Indo-Islamic architecture influenced by Medieval, Mughal and European styles. After the 1908 flooding of the Musi River, the city was expanded and civic monuments constructed, particularly during the rule of Mir Osman Ali Khan (the VIIth Nizam), whose patronage of architecture led to him being referred to as the maker of modern Hyderabad. In 2012, the government of India declared Hyderabad the first "Best heritage city of India".

 

Qutb Shahi architecture of the 16th and early 17th centuries followed classical Persian architecture featuring domes and colossal arches. The oldest surviving Qutb Shahi structure in Hyderabad is the ruins of Golconda fort built in the 16th century. The Charminar, Mecca Masjid, Charkaman and Qutb Shahi tombs are other existing structures of this period. Among these the Charminar has become an icon of the city; located in the centre of old Hyderabad, it is a square structure with sides 20 m long and four grand arches each facing a road. At each corner stands a 56 m-high minaret. Most of the historical bazaars that still exist were constructed on the street north of Charminar towards Golconda fort. The Charminar, Qutb Shahi tombs and Golconda fort are considered to be monuments of national importance in India; in 2010 the Indian government proposed that the sites be listed for UNESCO World Heritage status.

 

Among the oldest surviving examples of Nizam architecture in Hyderabad is the Chowmahalla Palace, which was the seat of royal power. It showcases a diverse array of architectural styles, from the Baroque Harem to its Neoclassical royal court. The other palaces include Falaknuma Palace (inspired by the style of Andrea Palladio), Purani Haveli, King Kothi and Bella Vista Palace all of which were built at the peak of Nizam rule in the 19th century. During Mir Osman Ali Khan's rule, European styles, along with Indo-Islamic, became prominent. These styles are reflected in the Falaknuma Palace and many civic monuments such as the Hyderabad High Court, Osmania Hospital, Osmania University, the State Central Library, City College, the Telangana Legislature, the State Archaeology Museum, Jubilee Hall, and Hyderabad and Kachiguda railway stations. Other landmarks of note are Paigah Palace, Asman Garh Palace, Basheer Bagh Palace, Errum Manzil and the Spanish Mosque, all constructed by the Paigah family.

 

ECONOMY

Hyderabad is the largest contributor to the gross domestic product (GDP), tax and other revenues, of Telangana, and the sixth largest deposit centre and fourth largest credit centre nationwide, as ranked by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) in June 2012. Its US$74 billion GDP made it the fifth-largest contributor city to India's overall GDP in 2011–12. Its per capita annual income in 2011 was ₹44300 (US$670). As of 2006, the largest employers in the city were the governments of Andhra Pradesh (113,098 employees) and India (85,155). According to a 2005 survey, 77% of males and 19% of females in the city were employed. The service industry remains dominant in the city, and 90% of the employed workforce is engaged in this sector.

 

Hyderabad's role in the pearl trade has given it the name "City of Pearls" and up until the 18th century, the city was also the only global trading centre for large diamonds. Industrialisation began under the Nizams in the late 19th century, helped by railway expansion that connected the city with major ports. From the 1950s to the 1970s, Indian enterprises, such as Bharat Heavy Electricals Limited (BHEL), Nuclear Fuel Complex (NFC), National Mineral Development Corporation (NMDC), Bharat Electronics (BEL), Electronics Corporation of India Limited (ECIL), Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO), Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL), Centre for Cellular and Molecular Biology (CCMB), Centre for DNA Fingerprinting and Diagnostics (CDFD), State Bank of Hyderabad (SBH) and Andhra Bank (AB) were established in the city. The city is home to Hyderabad Securities formerly known as Hyderabad Stock Exchange (HSE), and houses the regional office of the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI). In 2013, the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) facility in Hyderabad was forecasted to provide operations and transactions services to BSE-Mumbai by the end of 2014. The growth of the financial services sector has helped Hyderabad evolve from a traditional manufacturing city to a cosmopolitan industrial service centre. Since the 1990s, the growth of information technology (IT), IT-enabled services (ITES), insurance and financial institutions has expanded the service sector, and these primary economic activities have boosted the ancillary sectors of trade and commerce, transport, storage, communication, real estate and retail.

 

Hyderabad's commercial markets are divided into four sectors: central business districts, sub-central business centres, neighbourhood business centres and local business centres. Many traditional and historic bazaars are located throughout the city, Laad Bazaar being the prominent among all is popular for selling a variety of traditional and cultural antique wares, along with gems and pearls.

 

The establishment of Indian Drugs and Pharmaceuticals Limited (IDPL), a public sector undertaking, in 1961 was followed over the decades by many national and global companies opening manufacturing and research facilities in the city. As of 2010, the city manufactured one third of India's bulk drugs and 16% of biotechnology products, contributing to its reputation as "India's pharmaceutical capital" and the "Genome Valley of India". Hyderabad is a global centre of information technology, for which it is known as Cyberabad (Cyber City). As of 2013, it contributed 15% of India's and 98% of Andhra Pradesh's exports in IT and ITES sectors and 22% of NASSCOM's total membership is from the city. The development of HITEC City, a township with extensive technological infrastructure, prompted multinational companies to establish facilities in Hyderabad. The city is home to more than 1300 IT and ITES firms, including global conglomerates such as Microsoft (operating its largest R&D campus outside the US), Google, IBM, Yahoo!, Dell, Facebook, and major Indian firms including Tech Mahindra, Infosys, Tata Consultancy Services (TCS), Polaris and Wipro. In 2009 the World Bank Group ranked the city as the second best Indian city for doing business. The city and its suburbs contain the highest number of special economic zones of any Indian city.

 

Like the rest of India, Hyderabad has a large informal economy that employs 30% of the labour force. According to a survey published in 2007, it had 40–50,000 street vendors, and their numbers were increasing. Among the street vendors, 84% are male and 16% female, and four fifths are "stationary vendors" operating from a fixed pitch, often with their own stall. Most are financed through personal savings; only 8% borrow from moneylenders. Vendor earnings vary from ₹50 (75¢ US) to ₹800 (US$12) per day. Other unorganised economic sectors include dairy, poultry farming, brick manufacturing, casual labour and domestic help. Those involved in the informal economy constitute a major portion of urban poor.

 

CULTURE

Hyderabad emerged as the foremost centre of culture in India with the decline of the Mughal Empire. After the fall of Delhi in 1857, the migration of performing artists to the city particularly from the north and west of the Indian sub continent, under the patronage of the Nizam, enriched the cultural milieu. This migration resulted in a mingling of North and South Indian languages, cultures and religions, which has since led to a co-existence of Hindu and Muslim traditions, for which the city has become noted. A further consequence of this north–south mix is that both Telugu and Urdu are official languages of Telangana.[164] The mixing of religions has also resulted in many festivals being celebrated in Hyderabad such as Ganesh Chaturthi, Diwali and Bonalu of Hindu tradition and Eid ul-Fitr and Eid al-Adha by Muslims.

 

Traditional Hyderabadi garb also reveals a mix of Muslim and South Asian influences with men wearing sherwani and kurta - paijama and women wearing khara dupatta and salwar kameez. Muslim women also commonly wear burqas and hijabs in public. In addition to the traditional Indian and Muslim garments, increasing exposure to western cultures has led to a rise in the wearing of western style clothing among youths.

 

LITERATURE

In the past, Qutb Shahi rulers and Nizams attracted artists, architects and men of letters from different parts of the world through patronage. The resulting ethnic mix popularised cultural events such as mushairas (poetic symposia). The Qutb Shahi dynasty particularly encouraged the growth of Deccani Urdu literature leading to works such as the Deccani Masnavi and Diwan poetry, which are among the earliest available manuscripts in Urdu. Lazzat Un Nisa, a book compiled in the 15th century at Qutb Shahi courts, contains erotic paintings with diagrams for secret medicines and stimulants in the eastern form of ancient sexual arts. The reign of the Nizams saw many literary reforms and the introduction of Urdu as a language of court, administration and education. In 1824, a collection of Urdu Ghazal poetry, named Gulzar-e-Mahlaqa, authored by Mah Laqa Bai - the first female Urdu poet to produce a Diwan - was published in Hyderabad.

 

Hyderabad has continued with these traditions in its annual Hyderabad Literary Festival, held since 2010, showcasing the city's literary and cultural creativity. Organisations engaged in the advancement of literature include the Sahitya Akademi, the Urdu Academy, the Telugu Academy, the National Council for Promotion of Urdu Language, the Comparative Literature Association of India, and the Andhra Saraswata Parishad. Literary development is further aided by state institutions such as the State Central Library, the largest public library in the state which was established in 1891, and other major libraries including the Sri Krishna Devaraya Andhra Bhasha Nilayam, the British Library and the Sundarayya Vignana Kendram.

 

MUSIC AND FILMS

South Indian music and dances such as the Kuchipudi and Kathakali styles are popular in the Deccan region. As a result of their culture policies, North Indian music and dance gained popularity during the rule of the Mughals and Nizams, and it was also during their reign that it became a tradition among the nobility to associate themselves with tawaif (courtesans). These courtesans were revered as the epitome of etiquette and culture, and were appointed to teach singing, poetry and classical dance to many children of the aristocracy. This gave rise to certain styles of court music, dance and poetry. Besides western and Indian popular music genres such as filmi music, the residents of Hyderabad play city-based marfa music, dholak ke geet (household songs based on local Folklore), and qawwali, especially at weddings, festivals and other celebratory events. The state government organises the Golconda Music and Dance Festival, the Taramati Music Festival and the Premavathi Dance Festival to further encourage the development of music.

 

Although the city is not particularly noted for theatre and drama, the state government promotes theatre with multiple programmes and festivals in such venues as the Ravindra Bharati, Shilpakala Vedika and Lalithakala Thoranam. Although not a purely music oriented event, Numaish, a popular annual exhibition of local and national consumer products, does feature some musical performances. The city is home to the Telugu film industry, popularly known as Tollywood and as of 2012, produces the second largest number of films in India with the largest number being produced by Bollywood. Films in the local Hyderabadi dialect are also produced and have been gaining popularity since 2005. The city has also hosted international film festivals such as the International Children's Film Festival and the Hyderabad International Film Festival. In 2005, Guinness World Records declared Ramoji Film City to be the world's largest film studio.

 

ART AND HANDICRAFTS

The region is well known for its Golconda and Hyderabad painting styles which are branches of Deccani painting. Developed during the 16th century, the Golconda style is a native style blending foreign techniques and bears some similarity to the Vijayanagara paintings of neighbouring Mysore. A significant use of luminous gold and white colours is generally found in the Golconda style. The Hyderabad style originated in the 17th century under the Nizams. Highly influenced by Mughal painting, this style makes use of bright colours and mostly depicts regional landscape, culture, costumes and jewellery.

 

Although not a centre for handicrafts itself, the patronage of the arts by the Mughals and Nizams attracted artisans from the region to Hyderabad. Such crafts include: Bidriware, a metalwork handicraft from neighbouring Karnataka, which was popularised during the 18th century and has since been granted a Geographical Indication (GI) tag under the auspices of the WTO act; and Zari and Zardozi, embroidery works on textile that involve making elaborate designs using gold, silver and other metal threads. Another example of a handicraft drawn to Hyderabad is Kalamkari, a hand-painted or block-printed cotton textile that comes from cities in Andhra Pradesh. This craft is distinguished in having both a Hindu style, known as Srikalahasti and entirely done by hand, and an Islamic style, known as Machilipatnam that uses both hand and block techniques. Examples of Hyderabad's arts and crafts are housed in various museums including the Salar Jung Museum (housing "one of the largest one-man-collections in the world"), the AP State Archaeology Museum, the Nizam Museum, the City Museum and the Birla Science Museum.

 

CUISINE

Hyderabadi cuisine comprises a broad repertoire of rice, wheat and meat dishes and the skilled use of various spices. Hyderabadi biryani and Hyderabadi haleem, with their blend of Mughlai and Arab cuisines, have become iconic dishes of India. Hyderabadi cuisine is highly influenced by Mughlai and to some extent by French, Arabic, Turkish, Iranian and native Telugu and Marathwada cuisines. Other popular native dishes include nihari, chakna, baghara baingan and the desserts qubani ka meetha, double ka meetha and kaddu ki kheer (a sweet porridge made with sweet gourd).

 

MEDIA

One of Hyderabad's earliest newspapers, The Deccan Times, was established in the 1780s. In modern times, the major Telugu dailies published in Hyderabad are Eenadu, Andhra Jyothy, Sakshi and Namaste Telangana, while the major English papers are The Times of India, The Hindu and The Deccan Chronicle, and the major Urdu papers include The Siasat Daily, The Munsif Daily and Etemaad. Many coffee table magazines, professional magazines and research journals are also regularly published. The Secunderabad Cantonment Board established the first radio station in Hyderabad State around 1919. Deccan Radio was the first radio public broadcast station in the city starting on 3 February 1935, with FM broadcasting beginning in 2000. The available channels in Hyderabad include All India Radio, Radio Mirchi, Radio City, Red FM and Big FM.

 

Television broadcasting in Hyderabad began in 1974 with the launch of Doordarshan, the Government of India's public service broadcaster, which transmits two free-to-air terrestrial television channels and one satellite channel. Private satellite channels started in July 1992 with the launch of Star TV. Satellite TV channels are accessible via cable subscription, direct-broadcast satellite services or internet-based television. Hyderabad's first dial-up internet access became available in the early 1990s and was limited to software development companies. The first public internet access service began in 1995, with the first private sector internet service provider (ISP) starting operations in 1998. In 2015, high-speed public WiFi was introduced in parts of the city.

 

EDUCATION

Public and private schools in Hyderabad are governed by the Central Board of Secondary Education and follow a "10+2+3" plan. About two-thirds of pupils attend privately run institutions. Languages of instruction include English, Hindi, Telugu and Urdu. Depending on the institution, students are required to sit the Secondary School Certificate or the Indian Certificate of Secondary Education. After completing secondary education, students enroll in schools or junior colleges with a higher secondary facility. Admission to professional graduation colleges in Hyderabad, many of which are affiliated with either Jawaharlal Nehru Technological University Hyderabad (JNTUH) or Osmania University (OU), is through the Engineering Agricultural and Medical Common Entrance Test (EAM-CET).There are 13 universities in Hyderabad: two private universities, two deemed universities, six state universities and three central universities. The central universities are the University of Hyderabad, Maulana Azad National Urdu University and the English and Foreign Languages University. Osmania University, established in 1918, was the first university in Hyderabad and as of 2012 is India's second most popular institution for international students. The Dr. B. R. Ambedkar Open University, established in 1982, is the first distance learning open university in India.

 

Hyderabad is also home to a number of centres specialising in particular fields such as biomedical sciences, biotechnology and pharmaceuticals, such as the National Institute of Pharmaceutical Education and Research (NIPER) and National Institute of Nutrition (NIN). Hyderabad has five major medical schools - Osmania Medical College, Gandhi Medical College, Nizam's Institute of Medical Sciences, Deccan College of Medical Sciences and Shadan Institute of Medical Sciences - and many affiliated teaching hospitals. The Government Nizamia Tibbi College is a college of Unani medicine. Hyderabad is also the headquarters of the Indian Heart Association, a non-profit foundation for cardiovascular education.

 

Institutes in Hyderabad include the National Institute of Rural Development, the Indian School of Business, the Institute of Public Enterprise, the Administrative Staff College of India and the Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel National Police Academy. Technical and engineering schools include the International Institute of Information Technology, Hyderabad (IIITH), Birla Institute of Technology and Science, Pilani – Hyderabad (BITS Hyderabad) and Indian Institute of Technology, Hyderabad (IIT-H) as well as agricultural engineering institutes such as the International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics (ICRISAT) and the Acharya N. G. Ranga Agricultural University. Hyderabad also has schools of fashion design including Raffles Millennium International, NIFT Hyderabad and Wigan and Leigh College. The National Institute of Design, Hyderabad (NID-H), will offer undergraduate and postgraduate courses from 2015.

 

SPORTS

The most popular sports played in Hyderabad are cricket and association football. At the professional level, the city has hosted national and international sports events such as the 2002 National Games of India, the 2003 Afro-Asian Games, the 2004 AP Tourism Hyderabad Open women's tennis tournament, the 2007 Military World Games, the 2009 World Badminton Championships and the 2009 IBSF World Snooker Championship. The city hosts a number of venues suitable for professional competition such as the Swarnandhra Pradesh Sports Complex for field hockey, the G. M. C. Balayogi Stadium in Gachibowli for athletics and football, and for cricket, the Lal Bahadur Shastri Stadium and Rajiv Gandhi International Cricket Stadium, home ground of the Hyderabad Cricket Association. Hyderabad has hosted many international cricket matches, including matches in the 1987 and the 1996 ICC Cricket World Cups. The Hyderabad cricket team represents the city in the Ranji Trophy - a first-class cricket tournament among India's states and cities. Hyderabad is also home to the Indian Premier League franchise Sunrisers Hyderabad. A previous franchise was the Deccan Chargers, which won the 2009 Indian Premier League held in South Africa.

 

During British rule, Secunderabad became a well-known sporting centre and many race courses, parade grounds and polo fields were built. Many elite clubs formed by the Nizams and the British such as the Secunderabad Club, the Nizam Club and the Hyderabad Race Club, which is known for its horse racing especially the annual Deccan derby, still exist. In more recent times, motorsports has become popular with the Andhra Pradesh Motor Sports Club organising popular events such as the Deccan 1/4 Mile Drag, TSD Rallies and 4x4 off-road rallying.

 

International-level sportspeople from Hyderabad include: cricketers Ghulam Ahmed, M. L. Jaisimha, Mohammed Azharuddin, V. V. S. Laxman, Venkatapathy Raju, Shivlal Yadav, Arshad Ayub and Noel David; football players Syed Abdul Rahim, Syed Nayeemuddin and Shabbir Ali; tennis player Sania Mirza; badminton players S. M. Arif, Pullela Gopichand, Saina Nehwal, P. V. Sindhu, Jwala Gutta and Chetan Anand; hockey players Syed Mohammad Hadi and Mukesh Kumar; rifle shooters Gagan Narang and Asher Noria and bodybuilder Mir Mohtesham Ali Khan.

 

TRANSPORT

The most commonly used forms of medium distance transport in Hyderabad include government owned services such as light railways and buses, as well as privately operated taxis and auto rickshaws. Bus services operate from the Mahatma Gandhi Bus Station in the city centre and carry over 130 million passengers daily across the entire network. Hyderabad's light rail transportation system, the Multi-Modal Transport System (MMTS), is a three line suburban rail service used by over 160,000 passengers daily. Complementing these government services are minibus routes operated by Setwin (Society for Employment Promotion & Training in Twin Cities). Intercity rail services also operate from Hyderabad; the main, and largest, station is Secunderabad Railway Station, which serves as Indian Railways' South Central Railway zone headquarters and a hub for both buses and MMTS light rail services connecting Secunderabad and Hyderabad. Other major railway stations in Hyderabad are Hyderabad Deccan Station, Kachiguda Railway Station, Begumpet Railway Station, Malkajgiri Railway Station and Lingampally Railway Station. The Hyderabad Metro, a new rapid transit system, is to be added to the existing public transport infrastructure and is scheduled to operate three lines by 2015. As of 2012, there are over 3.5 million vehicles operating in the city, of which 74% are two-wheelers, 15% cars and 3% three-wheelers. The remaining 8% include buses, goods vehicles and taxis. The large number of vehicles coupled with relatively low road coverage - roads occupy only 9.5% of the total city area - has led to widespread traffic congestion especially since 80% of passengers and 60% of freight are transported by road. The Inner Ring Road, the Outer Ring Road, the Hyderabad Elevated Expressway, the longest flyover in India, and various interchanges, overpasses and underpasses were built to ease the congestion. Maximum speed limits within the city are 50 km/h for two-wheelers and cars, 35 km/h for auto rickshaws and 40 km/h for light commercial vehicles and buses.

 

Hyderabad sits at the junction of three National Highways linking it to six other states: NH-7 runs 2,369 km from Varanasi, Uttar Pradesh, in the north to Kanyakumari, Tamil Nadu, in the south; NH-9, runs 841 km east-west between Machilipatnam, Andhra Pradesh, and Pune, Maharashtra; and the 280 km NH-163 links Hyderabad to Bhopalpatnam, Chhattisgarh. Five state highways, SH-1, SH-2, SH-4, SH-5 and SH-6, either start from, or pass through, Hyderabad.

 

Air traffic was previously handled via Begumpet Airport, but this was replaced by Rajiv Gandhi International Airport (RGIA) (IATA: HYD, ICAO: VOHS) in 2008, with the capacity of handling 12 million passengers and 100,000 tonnes of cargo per annum. In 2011, Airports Council International, an autonomous body representing the world's airports, judged RGIA the world's best airport in the 5–15 million passenger category and the world's fifth best airport for service quality.

 

WIKIPEDIA

Faith Temple, 296 Broadview Ave

 

Built in 1894 and designed by E.J. Lennox (Casa Loma, Old City Hall), this was originally the Broadview Avenue Congressional Church. Here's what it used to look like: www.blogto.com/upload/2012/11/20121101-broadview2.jpg

 

Toronto, Canada

 

Streetview: maps.google.com/maps?q=http:%2F%2Fwww.flickr.com%2Fphotos...

The church stands within the grounds of Waldershare Park and is not easy to find. Through a lychgate, in a tree-shaded churchyard, the three eastern gables may be seen. The centre one is of natural flint, whereas the outer two are of brickwork, and these sum up the charm of this church - one of contrasts. The nave was almost rebuilt in the nineteenth century and you could almost imagine it belonging to a suburban church of the 1870s. The roof is high, the walls are bare and the character rather austere. The chancel, too, has a Victorian feel with a heavy marble reredos and stencilled walls. Leading off to north and south of the chancel are the brick chapels which we noted on the outside. The south chapel is the earlier, dating from 1697, and contains the tomb chest of Susan Bertie. The same tomb also commemorates Montague, Earl of Lindsey, who was loyal to Charles I, and is noted as 'having attended his sacred Majestic to his grave and giving him a Christian burial at Windsor after his barbarous and horrid murder'. The north chapel was built in 1712 to accommodate the monument to Sir Henry Furness who built the present mansion house in the park. This monument only just fits into its chapel and rises in stages like a wedding cake, with four life-sized broken-hearted ladies at the base for starters. As a conversation piece it is unrivalled in a country church. The church is no longer used and is in the care of The Churches Conservation Trust.

 

www.kentchurches.info/church.asp?p=Waldershare

 

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WALDERSHARE

Is the next parish southward from Betshanger lastdescribed, being written in the book of Domesday, Walwaresere, and in some other antient records, both Walworthshire, and Walwareshare, taking its name most probably from the worlds, or open downs, among which it is situated. A borsholder is appointed for this parish, including the district of Apulton, at the court leet of Waldershare manor.

 

THIS PARISH is situated in a healthy country, among the high hills near the eastern boundary of the county, next the sea, from which it is distant about five miles, and near as many from Dover. It lies about a mile and an half northward of the great London road, and extends about two miles from north to south, but it is very narrow across the other way. It contains in the whole about 1000 acres of land, the rents of which are about 600l. per annum. The whole parish belongs to the earl of Guildford, except ing Southwood and Heasleden down; London close, part of Linacre court, and Appleton. There are eight houses in it, besides one in the district of Appleton, which is entirely separated from the rest of it by the parishes of Norborne and West Langdon intervening, as has been already noticed. In the southern part of it is Waldershare park, well cloathed with trees, having the house in the vale nearly in the centre, and the belvidere at the south-west corner, on high ground, with a beautiful prospect from it, the whole of it stands much in need of modern taste and improvements. The church is situated near the middle of the eastern side of the parish. At the northern boundary is Malmains farm, (the antient mansion of that family in this parish, though now only a mean farm-house, belonging to the earl of Guildford) and an open uninclosed down, called Maimage down, corruptly for Malmains down. The country here has much the same face and soil as those of the neighbouring parishes, a wild and mountainous aspect, and a poor chalky soil. There is a fair held here on WhitTuesday yearly, for toys and pedlary.

 

WALDERSHARE, at the time of taking the survey of Domesday, in the 15th year of the Conqueror's reign, was part of the possessions of Odo, bishop of Baieux, the king's half-brother, of whom it was held by Ralph de Curbespine; accordingly it is thus entered in that record, under the general title of the bishop's lands:

 

In Estrei bundred. Ralph de Curbespine bolds of the bishop two sulings in Walwaresere. The arable land is . . . . In demesne there is one carucate and an half, and fourteen villeins, with two carucates and an half. Of this land, Robert has half a suling, and one carucate there. In the time of king Edward the Confessor, it was worth seven pounds and ten shillings, and afterwards fifty shillings, now seven pounds. Wluuard held it of king Edward.

 

Four years afterwards the bishop was disgraced, and all his possessions were consiscated to the crown; soon after which, upon the king's new arrangement of Dover castle, this manor, among other lands, was assigned to Gilbert Magminot, for his assistance in the defence of it, and together made up the barony of Magminot, being held by barony of Dover castle, by the service of performing ward there from time to time.

 

Of the Magminots, and their descendants the Sayes, the chief lords of the seignory, this manor was again held by the family of Malmaines, of eminent account in these parts, who were possessed of manors called after them, in Alkham, Pluckley, and Stoke; their residence in this parish likewise being called by their name. John de Malmalnes is recorded in the Battle abbey roll, as having accompanied the Conqueror to England, and to have been present at the battle of Hastings, being standard-bearer to the Norman footmen. From him descended the several branches of this family seated in different parts of this county, who were many of them men eminent for the offices of trust and honour, which they at different times held. They bore for their arms, Ermine, on a chief, gules, three right hands couped, argent; which shield is carved in stone in several places on the roof of the cloysters of Canterbury cathedral. Several of this family lie buried in the Grey Friars church, in London. From the permanency of them here, not only their mansion in this parish acquired the name of Malmaines, (fn. 1) but the manor itself became stiled in records, WALDER SHARE, alias MALMAINES.

 

From John de Malmaines above-mentioned, who first held this manor in the reign of the Conqueror, it descended down to Henry Malmaines, esq. of Waldershare, who died possessed of it in the 46th year of king Edward III. leaving an only daughter and heir Alice, but it seems she inherited only a part of this manor and estate, which she carried in marriage to Henry Holland, of Solton, near Dover, and he died possessed of her interest in it, in the 19th year of king Richard II. leaving Jane his daughter and heir, married to Thomas Goldwell, of Godington, in Great Chart, who entitled her husband to it, and from him it descended down to his grandson of the same name, who, about the beginning of king Henry VI.'s reign, alienated his part of it to John Monins, esq. who had before become possessed of the other part of this manor, by his marriage with the daughter and heir of Colby, who inherited this estate in right of his wife, daughter and heir of Thomas, son of John Malmaines, of Stoke, who was related to Henry Malmaines before-mentioned, on whose death in 46 Edward III. it descended to him, so that he became then possessed of the whole of this manor.

 

John Monins, or Monyn, as the name was sometimes spelt in antient deeds, was descended from Sir Simon de Monyn, of the castle of Mayon, in Normandy, who attended William the Conqueror in his expedition into England, and bore for his arms, Gules, three crescents, or, the coat-armour of his descendant at this time. John Monins, esq. afterwards resided at Waldershare, where he built a new mansion, about a mile south-eastward from the antient house of Malmaines, in which he afterwards resided, as did his descendants down to Sir William Monins, of Waldershare, who was created a baronet in 1611. He died in 1643, and was succeeded in title and estate by his eldest son Sir Edward Monins, bart. of Waldershare, who served the office of sheriff in the 21st year of king Charles I. and died possessed of this manor and estate in 1663, leaving five daughters his coheirs. On his death, this manor and seat devolved on his two eldest daughters and coheirs, Susan, married to Peregrine Bertie, second son of Montague, earl of Lindsey; and Jane to John, son and heir of Sir Norton Knatchbull, bart. the former of whom left two daughters and coheirs, Mary, married first to Anthony Henley, esq. of the Grange, in Hampshire, father of the lord chancellor, earl of Northington; and secondly, to Henry Bertie, third son of James, earl of Abingdon; and Bridget to John, lord Powlet, afterwards created earl Powlet. On the death of Susan, the eldest daughter and coheir above-mentioned, late wife of Peregrine Bertie, deceased, who seems at her death to have been possessed of the whole of this manor and estate, it became vested in her heirs and trustees, for the use of her two daughters and coheirs, and they, in the reign of king William and queen Mary, joined in the sale of it to Sir Henry Furnese, bart. of Waldershare, who rebuilt this seat, after a design, as it is said, of Inigo Jones, and inclosed a park round it, which he planted in an elegant manner with avenues, according to the taste of that time.

 

Sir Henry Furnese was the eldest son of Henry Furnele, of Sandwich. His next brother, George Furnese, was in the East-India Company's service, whose son Henry Furnese was of Gunnersbury house. He died in 1712, leaving by his first wife Anne, daughter of Robert Brough, esq. one son Sir Robert Furnese, bart. His second wife was Matilda, widow of Anthony Balam, esq. by whom he had a daughter Matilda, married to Richard Edgcumbe, afterwards created lord Edgcumbe.

 

Sir Henry Furnese, the eldest son, became a capital merchant, and by his industry and abilities rose to eminence, wealth, and honours. Being always active, and zealous in support of the Revolution, he was favourably distinguished by king William, and the Whigs in general, and the ministry patronizing him, it gave him weight and consequence, and served to enable him in the various branches of trade which he carried on, the more speedily to acquire those riches which he afterwards accumulated. He served the office of sheriff of London in 1701, and was in 1707 created a baronet. At his death he bequeathed a handsome legacy for charitable uses to the several parishes in Sandwich, as may be further seen in the description of that town. He bore for his arms, Argent, a talbot bound, seiant, within a bordure, sable

 

Sir Robert Furnese, bart. his son, resided here, and died possessed of this manor and seat in 1733, being at that time knight of the shire for this county. He had been three times married, first to Anne, daughter of Anthony Ealam, esq. by whom he had a daughter Anne, who married the hon. John St. John, second but at length only surviving son of Henry, viscount St. John, and after his death lord viscount St. John; Sir Robert married secondly, the hon. Arabella Watson, one of the daughters of Lewis, lord, afterwards earl of Rockingham, by whom he had Henry, his successor in title and estates; and Catherine, afterwards married to Lewis, earl of Rockingham; lastly, he married lady Anne Shirley, daughter of Robert Shirley, earl Ferrers, by whom he left an only surviving daughter Selina, married to Edward Dering, afterwards Sir Edward Dering, bart. Sir Henry Furnese, bart. survived his father but a short time, dying abroad in 1735, under age, and unmarried, and this, among the rest of his estates, by virtue of the limitations in his grandfather's will, became vested in his three sisters, as the daughters and coheirs of his father Sir Robert Furnese, in equal shares and proportions, in coparcenary in tail general. After which, by a decree of the court of chancery, at the instance of the parties, anno 9 king George II. a writ of partition was agreed to, which was confirmed by an act passed specially for this purpose next year, by which this manor and seat, with Malmaines and other premises in this parish, were allotted to Catherine, wife of Lewis, earl of Rockingham, who died s.p. in 1745, leaving her surviving, who then became possessed of this estate again in her own right. She afterwards married Francis, earl of Guildford, by whom she had no issue, and dying in 1766, devised it, among the rest of hereestates, to her surviving husband, who died in 1790, and was buried at Wroxton, in Oxfordshire, beside the countess his late wife. He was the only surviving son of Francis, lord Guildford, and by the death of William, lord North and Grey, succeeded as his heir to the former of those titles, the latter becoming extinct, bearing the title of. Lord North and Guildford; and on April 8, 1752, he was further advanced to the title of Earl of Guildford, in Surry. He married first Lucy, daughter of George, earl of Halifax, by whom he had Frederick, who became his heir; his second wife was Elizabeth, relict of George, viscount Lewisham, by whom he had two daughters, whom he survived, one of whom, Louisa, married to John Peyto, lord Willoughby de Broke; and a son Brownlow, now lord bishop of Winchester, who married Miss Banister. He married thirdly, Katherine, Countess of Rockingham, as above mentioned, who died s.p. Upon the earl of Guildford's death in 1790, in his 87th year, he was succeeded in titles and estate by his eldest son Frederick, lord North, and knight of the garter, who became (the second) earl of Guildford, a nobleman well known as having continued the prime minister of this country during the late unhappy American war. He died in 1792, in London, being at that time lordwarden of the cinque ports and constable of Dover castle, lord lieutenant and custos rotulorum of Somersetshire, chancellor of the university of Oxford, recorder of Gloucester and Taunton, &c. He was buried in the family vault at Wroxton; the whole university attending the funeral procession with great solemnity as it passed through Oxford. His Lordship married Anne, daughter of George Speke, esq. of Dillington, in Somersetshire, by whom he left three sons and three daughters; the former were, George-Augustus, Frederick, and Francis; the latter were Caroline, the eldest, married to Sylvester Douglas, esq. and Anne and Charlotte who are unmarried. The eldest son, GeorgeAugustus, succeeded him in title, and in this estate and seat of Waldershare, being the present right hon. the earl of Guildford, who first married Miss Hobart, daughter of the earl of Buckinghamshire. She died in 1794, leaving only an infant daughter Maria.—He married secondly, in 1796, the daughter of Mr. Thomas Coutts, banker, of London, by whom he has two daughters.

 

In the house of Waldershare was a portrait of Sir Robert Furnese, by Carlo Maretti, painted at Rome, and there is now a portrait of him there, marked F. T. his hand resting on a book, intitled Monumenta Romana. There are there likewise two family pictures by Sir Godfrey Kneller; the one of Sir Robert Furnese with his first wife and their daughter; the other of Sir Robert and his second wife, with their son Henry and daughter Catherine. (fn. 2)

 

A court leet and court baron is held for this manor of Waldershare.

 

The earl of Guildford bears for his arms, Azure, a lion passant, or, between three fleurs de lis, argent. For his supporters, Two dragons, sable, scaled, ducally gorged and chained, or; and for his crest, on a wreath of its colours— A dragon's head erased, sable, scaled, ducally gorged and chained, or. Motto, La vertue est la senle noblesse.

 

APULTON is a district esteemed to be within this parish, though separated from the rest of it by a part of the parishes of Norborne and West Langdon in tervening. It is situated northward from the other part of Waldershare, and appears by the survey of Domesday to have been at that time part of the possessions of Odo, bishop of Baieux, under the general title of whose lands it is thus entered in it:

 

The same Ralph (de Curbespine) holds of the bishop, Apletone. It was taxed at one suling. The arable land is . . . . . In demesne there are two carucates, with six borderers. In the time of king Edward the Consessor, it was worth one hundred shillings, and afterwards ten shillings, now forty shillings. Ascored held, it of king Edward.

 

Four years after the taking of the above survey, the bishop of Baieux was disgraced, and all his possessions were confiscated to the crown; soon after which, both these manors were granted by the king to Gil bert Magminot, for his assistance in the defence of Dover castle, being held by the service of ward to it, and with other lands made up the barony of Magminot. Of the family of Magminot and their heirs, these manors were again held by the eminent family of Malmains, who continued in the possession of them, down to Henry Malmains who joining with Simon, earl of Leicester, in rebellion against king Henry III. would have forfeited all his lands, had not the abbot of the adjoining monastery of Langdon interceded for him and gained his pardon; for which service his descendant, Sir John Malmains, through gratitude, gave the two manors of Apleton and Southwold, by his will, after the death of Lora his wife, who held them in dower, to the above-mentioned monastery, (fn. 3) and they both continued in the abbot's possession till the Ist year of king Richard III. when the abbot exchanged Southwood with Robert Monins, esq. for other lands elsewhere; but Appleton was, on the suppression of the abbey, in the 27th year of king Henry VIII surrendered into the hands of the crown, together with the rest of the possessions of the monastery; and the king seized on Southwood, then in the possession of Edward Monins, esq. as part of them, and unjustly alienated from it, and afterwards granted both Apleton and Southwold, among other premises, in his 29th year, to the archbishop of Canterbury, who in the Ist year of queen Elizabeth exchanged Appleton again with the crown, but he retained Southwood, which has ever since continued part of the possessions of that see, and remains so at this time.

 

BUT THE MANOR OF APPLETON, or Appulton, as it is sometimes written, was afterwards granted to Sir Edwin Sandys, of Northborne, in whose descendants it continued, till it was at length passed away to Wickenden; and Robert Wickenden, gent. of Dover, died possessed of it in 1686, and by his will gave it to his son of the same name, whose descendant Mr. Nicholas Wickenden, of the same place, dying without issue about sixty years ago, devised it to his servants, who sold it to Mr. Samuel Billingsley, of London, whose widow marrying Richard Crickett, esq. entitled him to the possession of it, and he continues the present owner. There is not any court held for this manor.

 

There are no parochial charities. The poor constantly maintained are about six, casually four.

 

THIS PARISH is within the ECCLESIASTICAL JURISDICTION of the diocese of Canterbury, and deanry of Sandwich.

 

The church, which is dedicated to All Saints, is a small mean building, consisting of a body and chancel, having a wooden turret at the west end, in which hangs one bell. It is almost overgrown with ivy. There are two additional buildings on each side the chancel, each of which communicates with the church by a door broken through the walls of it. That on the north side has in it a most magnisicent pyramidical monument, erected by Sir Robert Furnese, bart. in memory of his father Sir Henry Furnese. Four female figures, in white marble, as large as life, support the bale; on the four sides of which are inscriptions to the memories of Sir Robert his father, his sister Matilda, his three wives, his son Henry, and his daughters Anne and Catherine, all buried here; the whole finely executed by Mr. Greene, of Camberwell. In the building, on the south side, is a large altartomb, on which are the figures of a man and woman, made out of all proportion, and conspicuously absurd, and an inscription to the memory of the honorable Susan Bertie, fourth daughter and coheir of Sir Edw. Monins, bart. of Waldershare, and wife to the hon. Peregrine Bertie. Over it are banners, pendants, &c. In the chancel, against the south wall, is a monument for Sir Edward Monins, and Elizabeth his wife, obt. 1602; also for Sir William Monins, bart. of Waldershare, his son and heir, obt. 1642; and for his wife Jane, daughter of Roger Twysden, esq. of Roydonhall, in Peckham, in Kent, obt. 1640, and two of their children. Near it are two grave-stones, pointing out the burying-places of Sir William Monins and his wife, lady Jane; and for Edward, eldest son of Sir Edward Monins, bart. obt. 1640. In the east window are painted several female figures, which seem singularly indecent, at any rate very improper, for the place. In the body is a memorial for Laurence Wright, A. M. vicar of this parish and Elmsted, obt. 1707; arms, A chevron, between three batchets. A memorial for Robert Greenall, A. M. late vicar of this parish and rector of Blackmanstone, and curate of Nonington and Wimlingswold, obt. 1770.

 

¶The church of Waldershare was antiently appendant to the manor, and continued so, till one of the family of Malmaines gave it to the neighbouring abbey of West Langdon, to which it was appropriated by archbishop Walter Reynolds, in the 16th year of Edward II (fn. 4) In which state it continued till the suppression of that monastery, in the 27th year of king Henry VIII. when it came with the rest of the possessions of it, into the king's hands, whence this appropriation, together with the advowson of the vicarage, was afterwards granted to the archbishop of Canterbury, part of whose possessions it continues at this time. The appropriation is demised on a beneficial lease. The Monins's were formerly lesses of it, afterwards the Furneses, and now the earl of Guildford.

 

In the time of king Edward III. there were of the endowment of this church, one messuage, one garden, and nine acres of arable. It is valued in the king's books at 5l. 8s. but is now a discharged living, of the clear yearly value of twenty-five pounds.

 

In 1588 here were thirty-three communicants. In 1640 here were the like number, and it was valued at thirty-eight pounds. Archbishop Juxon augmented this vicarage twenty pounds per annum, anno 14 king Charles II. There is no vicarage house, and only one acre of glebe land, adjoining to the church-yard; but by the king's books it appears there were formerly two acres.

 

www.british-history.ac.uk/survey-kent/vol10/pp50-61

Well I was shooting fall colors in Zion National PArk when I saw that they had forecast snow for Bryce Canyon, so instead of heading back to LA, I headed out to Bryce Canyon! And I was treated to snow, sun, clouds, snowstorm, and then a glorious sunrise over the s-capped hoo-doos in Bryce! :)

 

Sony A7RII Bryce Canyon & Zion National Park Autumn Dr. Elliot McGucken Fine Art Landscapes

  

Been busy traveling and shooting landscapes and working on my books The Golden Hero's Odyssey about the golden rectangle and divine proportion I use in a lot of my compositions! Also working on my physics book on Dynamic Dimensions Theory! The equation d4/dt=ic is on a lot of the 45surf swimsuit and shirts and all! :)

  

Follow me & 45surf!!

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Willington Dene Viaduct carries the Tyne and Wear Metro railway over the Wallsend Burn between Wallsend and Howdon, Tyne and Wear. Designed by architects John and Benjamin Green, it was originally built in the late 1830s for the Newcastle & North Shields Railway. It is a Grade II listed building.

 

The viaduct is 1,048 ft (319 m) long and 76 ft (23 m) high with seven segmental arches each of 120 ft (37 m) span. When originally built the viaducts were made of laminated timber construction on the Wiebeking system supported on tall stone pillars and cost £25,000. Each arch was made from 14 layers of 22 by 3.5 inches (559 mm × 89 mm) timbers held together by trenails and built by Messrs. Robson. A paper on the viaducts's design won Benjamin Green a silver Telford Medal from the Institution of Civil Engineers in 1841.

 

The viaduct was rebuilt in wrought iron between 1867 and 1869 by the Weardale Iron & Coal Company to the designs of engineer Thomas Elliot Harrison, preserving the bridge's original shape and form. It now carries the Tyne and Wear Metro rapid transport system between Newcastle and North Shields.

 

Tyne and Wear is a ceremonial county in North East England. It borders Northumberland to the north and County Durham to the south, and the largest settlement is the city of Newcastle upon Tyne.

 

The county is largely urbanised. It had a population of 1.14 million in 2021. After Newcastle (300,125) the largest settlements are the city of Sunderland (170,134), Gateshead (120,046), and South Shields (75,337). Nearly all of the county's settlements belong to either the Tyneside or Wearside conurbations, the latter of which also extends into County Durham. Tyne and Wear contains five metropolitan boroughs: Gateshead, Newcastle upon Tyne, Sunderland, North Tyneside and South Tyneside, and is covered by two combined authorities, North of Tyne and North East. The county was established in 1974 and was historically part of Northumberland and County Durham, with the River Tyne forming the border between the two.

 

The most notable geographic features of the county are the River Tyne and River Wear, after which it is named and along which its major settlements developed. The county is also notable for its coastline to the North Sea in the east, which is characterised by tall limestone cliffs and wide beaches.

 

In the late 600s and into the 700s Saint Bede lived as a monk at the monastery of St. Peter and of St. Paul writing histories of the Early Middle Ages including the Ecclesiastical History of the English People.

 

Roughly 150 years ago, in the village of Marsden in South Shields, Souter Lighthouse was built, the first electric structure of this type.

 

The Local Government Act 1888 constituted Newcastle upon Tyne, Gateshead and Sunderland as county boroughs (Newcastle had "county corporate" status as the "County and Town of Newcastle upon Tyne" since 1400). Tynemouth joined them in 1904. Between the county boroughs, various other settlements also formed part of the administrative counties of Durham and of Northumberland.

 

The need to reform local government on Tyneside was recognised by the government as early as 1935, when a Royal Commission to Investigate the Conditions of Local Government on Tyneside was appointed. The three commissioners were to examine the system of local government in the areas of local government north and south of the river Tyne from the sea to the boundary of the Rural District of Castle Ward and Hexham in the County of Northumberland and to the Western boundary of the County of Durham, to consider what changes, if any, should be made in the existing arrangements with a view to securing greater economy and efficiency, and to make recommendations.

 

The report of the Royal Commission, published in 1937, recommended the establishment of a Regional Council for Northumberland and Tyneside (to be called the "Northumberland Regional Council") to administer services that needed to be exercised over a wide area, with a second tier of smaller units for other local-government purposes. The second-tier units would form by amalgamating the various existing boroughs and districts. The county boroughs in the area would lose their status. Within this area, a single municipality would be formed covering the four county boroughs of Newcastle, Gateshead, Tynemouth, South Shields and other urban districts and boroughs.

 

A minority report proposed amalgamation of Newcastle, Gateshead, Wallsend, Jarrow, Felling, Gosforth, Hebburn and Newburn into a single "county borough of Newcastle-on-Tyneside". The 1937 proposals never came into operation: local authorities could not agree on a scheme and the legislation of the time did not allow central government to compel one.

 

Tyneside (excluding Sunderland) was a Special Review Area under the Local Government Act 1958. The Local Government Commission for England came back with a recommendation to create a new county of Tyneside based on the review area, divided into four separate boroughs. This was not implemented. The Redcliffe-Maud Report proposed a Tyneside unitary authority, again excluding Sunderland, which would have set up a separate East Durham unitary authority.

 

The White Paper that led to the Local Government Act 1972 proposed as "area 2" a metropolitan county including Newcastle and Sunderland, extending as far south down the coast as Seaham and Easington, and bordering "area 4" (which would become Tees Valley). The Bill as presented in November 1971 pruned back the southern edge of the area, and gave it the name "Tyneside". The name "Tyneside" proved controversial on Wearside, and a government amendment changed the name to "Tyne and Wear" at the request of Sunderland County Borough Council.

 

Tyne and Wear either has or closely borders two official Met Office stations, neither located in one of the major urban centres. The locations for those are in marine Tynemouth where Tyne meets the North Sea east of Newcastle and inland Durham in County Durham around 20 kilometres (12 mi) south-west of Sunderland. There are some clear differences between the stations temperature and precipitation patterns even though both have a cool-summer and mild-winter oceanic climate.

 

Tyne and Wear contains green belt interspersed throughout the county, mainly on the fringes of the Tyneside/Wearside conurbation. There is also an inter-urban line of belt helping to keep the districts of South Tyneside, Gateshead, and Sunderland separated. It was first drawn up from the 1950s. All the county's districts contain some portion of belt.

 

Although Tyne and Wear County Council was abolished in 1986, several joint bodies exist to run certain services on a county-wide basis. Most notable is the Tyne and Wear Passenger Transport Authority, which co-ordinates transport policy. Through its passenger transport executive, known as Nexus, it owns and operates the Tyne and Wear Metro light rail system, and the Shields ferry service and the Tyne Tunnel, linking communities on either side of the River Tyne. Also through Nexus, the authority subsidises socially necessary transport services (including taxis) and operates a concessionary fares scheme for the elderly and disabled. Nexus has been an executive body of the North East Joint Transport Committee since November 2018.

 

Other joint bodies include the Tyne and Wear Fire and Rescue Service and Tyne & Wear Archives & Museums, which was created from the merger of the Tyne and Wear Archives Service and Tyne and Wear Museums. These joint bodies are administered by representatives of all five of the constituent councils. In addition the Northumbria Police force covers Northumberland and Tyne and Wear.

 

There have been occasional calls for Tyne and Wear to be abolished and the traditional border between Northumberland and County Durham to be restored.

 

Tyne and Wear is divided into 12 Parliamentary constituencies. Historically, the area has been a Labour stronghold; South Shields is the only Parliamentary constituency that has never returned a Conservative Member of Parliament (MP) to the House of Commons since the Reform Act of 1832.

 

Newcastle and Sunderland are known for declaring their election results early on election night. Therefore, they frequently give the first indication of nationwide trends. An example of this was at the 2016 European Union referendum. Newcastle was the first large city to declare, and 50.6% of voters voted to Remain; this proportion was far lower than predicted by experts. Sunderland declared soon after and gave a 62% vote to Leave, much higher than expected. These two results were seen as an early sign that the United Kingdom had voted to Leave.

 

Offshore Group Newcastle make oil platforms. Sage Group, who produce accounting software, are based at Hazlerigg at the northern end of the Newcastle bypass. Northern Rock, which became a bank in 1997 and was taken over by Virgin Money in November 2011, and the Newcastle Building Society are based in Gosforth. The Gosforth-based bakery Greggs now has over 1,500 shops. The Balliol Business Park in Longbenton contains Procter & Gamble research and global business centres and a tax credits call centre for HMRC, and is the former home of Findus UK. The Government National Insurance Contributions Office in Longbenton, demolished and replaced in 2000, had a 1 mile (1.6 km) long corridor.

 

Be-Ro and the Go-Ahead Group bus company are in central Newcastle. Nestlé use the former Rowntrees chocolate factory on the east of the A1. BAE Systems Land & Armaments in Scotswood, formerly Vickers-Armstrongs, is the main producer of British Army tanks such as the Challenger 2. A Rolls-Royce apprentice training site is next door.[18] Siemens Energy Service Fossil make steam turbines at the CA Parsons Works in South Heaton. Sir Charles Parsons invented the steam turbine in 1884, and developed an important local company. Domestos, a product whose main ingredient is sodium hypochlorite, was originated in Newcastle in 1929 by William Handley, and was distributed from the area for many years.

 

Clarke Chapman is next to the A167 in Gateshead. The MetroCentre, the largest shopping centre in Europe, is in Dunston. Scottish & Newcastle was the largest UK-owned brewery until it was bought by Heineken and Carlsberg in April 2008, and produced Newcastle Brown Ale at the Newcastle Federation Brewery in Dunston until production moved to Tadcaster in September 2010. At Team Valley are De La Rue, with their largest banknote printing facility, and Myson Radiators, the second largest in the UK market. Petards make surveillance equipment including ANPR cameras, and its Joyce-Loebl division makes electronic warfare systems and countermeasure dispensing systems such as the AN/ALE-47. Sevcon, an international company formed from a part of Smith Electric, is a world leader in electric vehicle controls. AEI Cables and Komatsu UK construction equipment at Birtley.

 

J. Barbour & Sons make outdoor clothing in Simonside, Jarrow. SAFT Batteries make primary lithium batteries on the Tyne in South Shields. Bellway plc houses is in Seaton Burn in North Tyneside. Cobalt Business Park, the largest office park in the UK, is at Wallsend, on the former site of Atmel, and is the home of North Tyneside Council. Swan Hunter until 2006 made ships in Wallsend, and still designs ships. Soil Machine Dynamics in Wallsend on the Tyne makes Remotely operated underwater vehicles, and its Ultra Trencher 1 is the world's largest submersible robot.

 

The car dealership Evans Halshaw is in Sunderland. The car factory owned by Nissan Motor Manufacturing UK between North Hylton and Washington is the largest in the UK. Grundfos, the world's leading pump manufacturer, builds pumps in Sunderland. Calsonic Kansei UK, formerly Magna, make automotive instrument panels and car trim at the Pennywell Industrial Estate. Gestamp UK make automotive components. Smith Electric Vehicles originated in Washington. The LG Electronics microwave oven factory opened in 1989, closed in May 2004, and later became the site of the Tanfield Group. Goodyear Dunlop had their only UK car tyre factory next to the Tanfield site until its 2006 closure. BAE Systems Global Combat Systems moved to a new £75 million factory at the former Goodyear site in 2011, where they make large calibre ammunition for tanks and artillery.

 

The government's child benefit office is in Washington. Liebherr build cranes next to the Wear at Deptford. The outdoor clothing company Berghaus is in Castletown. Vaux Breweries, who owned Swallow Hotels, closed in 1999. ScS Sofas are on Borough Road. There are many call centres in Sunderland, notably EDF Energy at the Doxford International Business Park, which is also the home of the headquarters of the large international transport company Arriva and Nike UK. Rolls-Royce planned to move their production of fan and turbine discs to BAE Systems' new site in 2016.

SMM ref tba

 

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About Us

Scotland's influence on the maritime history of the world from the eighteenth century to the modern day has been enormous and out of all proportion to the size of the country. Sites operated by the Scottish Maritime Museum contain exhibitions and collections that tell the story of that great maritime tradition. At both Irvine and Dumbarton the buildings themselves are important parts of that story. The sites are complemented by a collection of vessels that represent 150 years of the working boats of Scotland.

 

If your interests are in the detailed aspects of the building of ships or the way in which ordinary people interacted with the sea, then the Scottish Maritime Museum should be your first port of call. If you want to undertake detailed research or just an enjoyable and stimulating day out, the Scottish Maritime Museum can provide it.

Please see our website for further details : www.scottishmaritimemuseum.org/

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Yosemite Winter Fine Art Landscapes! Sony A7RII yosemite National Park Winter Snow! Dr. Elliot McGucken Fine Art Landscape Photography

  

Follow me on instagram for more!

 

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Had a great time waking up at 5 AM every day to shoot tunnel view and then driving around down in the valley to Half Dome, Bridalviel Falls, Cook's Meadow and the glorious Cook's Meadow elm tree, Sentinel Bridge, Valley View, Swinging Bridge, and more! Yosemite winters are made for black and whites, and Ansel Adam's ghost haunts the brilliant landscape scenery!

 

The most epic "Ansel Adams" view is tunnel view where one can see El Capitan, Bridalviel Falls, and Half Dome over magnificent trees, snow, rising fogs, and breaking mists. Enjoy!

 

Been busy traveling and shooting landscapes and working on my books The Golden Hero's Odyssey about the golden rectangle and divine proportion I use in a lot of my compositions! Also working on my physics book on Dynamic Dimensions Theory! The equation dx4/dt=ic is on a lot of the 45surf swimsuit and shirts and all! :)

  

Follow me & 45surf!!

www.facebook.com/45surfAchillesOdysseyMythology/

 

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My fine art landscape lenses for the A7RII are the Sony 16-35mm Vario-Tessar T FE F4 ZA OSS E-Mount Lens and the Sony FE 24-240mm f/3.5-6.3 OSS Lens ! Love the Carl Zeiss and super sharp Sony Glass!

 

Winter fine art landscapes!

 

Epic Yosemite valley village winter snowstorm!

 

Yosemite Winter Fine Art Landscapes! Sony A7RII yosemite National Park Winter Snow! Dr. Elliot McGucken Fine Art Landscape Photography

One of the keys to shooting Epic Landscape Photography is exalting the photograph's soul via golden ratio compositions, thusly wedding the photographic art to the divine proportion by which life itself was designed and exalted.

 

Dr. Elliot McGucken's Golden Number Ratio Fine Art Landscape & Nature Photography Composition Studies!

 

instagram.com/goldennumberratio

 

www.facebook.com/goldennumberratio/

 

facebook.com/mcgucken

 

Greetings flickr friends! I am working on several books on "epic photography," and I recently finished a related one titled: The Golden Number Ratio Principle: Why the Fibonacci Numbers Exalt Beauty and How to Create PHI Compositions in Art, Design, & Photography: An Artistic and Scientific Introduction to the Golden Mean . Message me on facebook for a free review copy!

 

www.facebook.com/goldennumberratio/

 

The Golden Ratio also informs the design of the golden revolver on all the swimsuits and lingerie, as well as the 45surf logo!

 

The Golden Number Ratio Principle: Dr. E’s Golden Ratio Principle: The golden ratio exalts beauty because the number is a characteristic of the mathematically and physically most efficient manners of growth and distribution, on both evolutionary and purely physical levels. The golden ratio ensures that the proportions and structure of that which came before provide the proportions and structure of that which comes after. Robust, ordered growth is naturally associated with health and beauty, and thus we evolved to perceive the golden ratio harmonies as inherently beautiful, as we saw and felt their presence in all vital growth and life—in the salient features and proportions of humans and nature alike, from the distribution of our facial features and bones to the arrangements of petals, leaves, and sunflowers seeds. As ratios between Fibonacci Numbers offer the closest whole-number approximations to the golden ratio, and as seeds, cells, leaves, bones, and other physical entities appear in whole numbers, the Fibonacci Numbers oft appear in nature’s elements as “growth’s numbers.” From the dawn of time, humanity sought to salute their gods in art and temples exalting the same proportion by which all their vital sustenance and they themselves had been created—the golden ratio.

 

Ansel Adams is not only my favorite photographer, but he is one of the greatest photographers and artists of all time. And just like great artists including Michelangelo, Monet, Degas, Renoir, Leonardo da Vinci, Vermeer, Rembrandt, Botticelli, and Picasso, Ansel used the golden ratio and divine proportions in his epic art.

Not so long ago I discovered golden regions in many of his famous public domain his 8x10 aspect ratio photographs. I call these golden harmony regions "regions of golden action" or "ROGA"S, as seen here:

 

www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.1812448512351066.107374...

 

And too, I created some videos highlighting Ansel's use of the golden harmonies. Enjoy!

www.youtube.com/watch?v=AGnxOAhK3os

www.youtube.com/watch?v=WFlzAaBgsDI

www.youtube.com/watch?v=D3eJ86Ej1TY

 

More golden ratio and epic photography composition books soon! Best wishes for the Holiday Season! Dr. Elliot McGucken :)

Because motion is defined as the proportion of space to time, these concepts are prior to motion, just as the concept of motion itself is prior to force. In other words, the properties of space and time determine the nature of motion and the properties of motion, in turn, determine the nature of force.

Been busy traveling and shooting landscapes and working on my books The Golden Hero's Odyssey about the golden rectangle and divine proportion I use in a lot of my compositions! Also working on my physics book on Dynamic Dimensions Theory! The equation dx4/dt=ic is on a lot of the 45surf swimsuit and shirts and all! :)

  

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My fine art landscape lenses for the A7RII are the Sony 16-35mm Vario-Tessar T FE F4 ZA OSS E-Mount Lens and the Sony FE 24-240mm f/3.5-6.3 OSS Lens ! Love the Carl Zeiss and super sharp Sony Glass!

 

Sony A7RII Photos of Dr. Elliot McGucken Fine Art Landscape Photography on Walls & in Galleries: Sony 16-35mm Vario- Tessar T FE F4 ZA OSS E-Mount

This photo is a great example of proportion is it shows the woman in the front as very large while the woman at the very back of the line is tiny to our eye, though in reality we know she is probably close to the same size as the woman who appears larger.

 

viiphoto.com/articles/shirvan-belief/

Photo by: Ali Arkady

St. John and the Messenger by Gaia

Moovar Koil or "The Three temples" is a Hindu temple complex situated in the village of Kodumbalur, 36 kilometres from Pudukkottai in Tamil Nadu, India. These temples are believed to have been constructed by a 10th-century Chola general Boothi Vikrama Kesari. Only two of the three temples have managed to survive. The place was ruled by Irukku Velir chieftains. Kodumbalur was also the site of a fierce battle between the Pandyas and the Pallavas. The Muvarkovil is the clearest of the Konadu idom preserved.Its date has 3 different discussion..One group of inscriptions and scholars says as early as the 7th century A.D. and the other group suggests as mid-tenth century.Finally the palaeography suggest that the temple is at least three generations older than time of sundara chola(A.D. 956-973)

That the Muvarkovul was built by Bhuti Vikramakesari is clear from the preserved part of his sanskrit inscription on the central vimana,where the king specifically states that he built "three vimanas(vimana-tryam)" and named them after himself and his two queens.

According to the original layout ,the Muvarkovil complex consisted of three shrines,almost identical in plan and size,standing in row and all facing the west. There was a large, rectangular snapana, asthana or mahamandapa in front of the trio, a vrsamandapa,a gopura and a surround by 16 parivara shrines. The main three shrines had Padmapuskala adhisthanas.

Both shrines are dvitala and the third,which is now no more.The sculptures is of high quality and qute distinctive when compared to chola work of th esame period.The two surviving buildings are well proportioned,dignified and clearly conceived in terms of the articulation of masses and the organisation of elements. puratattva.in/2011/03/06/kodumbalur-glory-of-the-irukkuve...

 

St Mary and St Walstan, Bawburgh, Norfolk

 

There are islands off the coast of Norwich. Here we are in typical rural Norfolk, a quiet village set in a rolling landscape of farms and sprawling fields punctuated by woods and copses, the sound of traffic on the busy A11 and A47 not so very far off. And yet, we are very close to Norwich, but floating free from it thanks, perhaps to local authority planning.

 

Norfolk and Suffolk have their similarities of course. Norfolk is a lot bigger, and emptier, especially towards the west. But the biggest difference between the two counties is their relationship with their county towns. Ipswich, above all else, is Suffolk distilled and amplified, the working and historic county translated into an urban setting. Industrial Ipswich was the fountainhead of the county's agricultural production, the docks an interface between Suffolk and the world. To know brash and breezy Ipswich is to know what Suffolk was and is.

 

But Norwich is different to Ipswich, and it is different to the rest of Norfolk. As you enter the city you pass hoardings which proudly proclaim, in George Borrow's words, that you are entering Norwich, a Fine City! It is like crossing a forcefield. Norwich is a fine city, and it is also a small city, but as Norwich is so far from any other place of near-equivalent size - Ipswich is 40 miles away, Cambridge nearly 60 - it is completely out of scale to its population. If Norwich were dropped into South or West Yorkshire, or Greater Manchester, it would disappear. Here, it assumes the importance of a Leeds or a Sheffield, cities four times as big.

At times, Norwich can feel like a great European city, living a technicolour life in the soft, pastel setting of its rural hinterland. Its industrial past, in shoes, textiles and chocolate, was not grounded in the local countryside in the same way as the industry of Ipswich. In the 1960s the University of East Anglia came, and Norwich's nightlife is lived by people who have, in fair proportion, not grown up in Norfolk.

 

To set off from Norwich is to enter a countryside that feels different. It is like leaving a shore for the open sea, a sea with islands. The soft fields of Norfolk wash right up against the edge of the city, insulating villages that would have been absorbed if she had grown any larger. Just a mile or so from the edge is Bawburgh. Every island has a story, and Bawburgh's is the story of St Walstan.

 

St Walstan was a Prince, the son of Benedict and Blid of the royal house of East Anglia. Blid would herself become a Saint. Walstan was born in Bawburgh, or perhaps at the royal vill of Blythburgh in Suffolk. As a teenager, he followed Christ's instruction to renounce all he possessed and become a disciple. Giving up his claims to succession, he did not delay to reach northern parts, as the Nova Legenda Anglie tells us, and humbled himself to become a farmworker in central Norfolk.

 

After a series of adventures which revealed his saintly character, one of which involved him being rewarded with a pair of young oxen, he received news in about 1015 from an Angel. He would die and be received into heaven in three days time. With typical East Anglian stoicism, he nodded his head and left his scythe to go and find a Priest to receive the Last Rites. Unfortunately, the Priest had no water, but, magically, a spring welled up where they stood.

 

This was in Taverham, and when Walstan died the two oxen carried his body on a cart to be buried at Bawburgh. On the way, they stopped to rest in Costessey, where another spring sprang up. At last, they came to Bawburgh. They stopped outside the church, and a third spring appeared, the biggest. And then, the Nova Legenda Anglie tells us, Angells opened the walls in hast, and the two oxen with their burden walked into the church. Walstan's body was placed in the church, becoming a site of pilgrimage for people who sought miracles and healing. Eleven miracles have been handed down to us.

 

The St Walstan legend is interesting for all sorts of reasons. Compared with the West Country, survivals of local Saints' cults are very rare in East Anglia. This part of Norfolk was strongly recusant during the penal years, and it is likely that local people kept stories of Walstan in their tradition even after the practice of devotion to him became impossible. When the penal years ended, the new Catholic church at Costessey in 1841 was dedicated to Our Lady and St Walstan.

 

Although there is no evidence that the Saint was part of the original dedication of Bawburgh church, the foundations of which certainly predate the St Walstan legend, it bears the name today, and that is because the relics of St Walstan continued to be important right up to the Reformation. Bequests made to the shrine are recorded in late Medieval wills, and these in turn were noted by 18th century antiquarians who restored dedications to parish churches, not always very accurately, after the long puritan night.

 

During the late 14th century, when acts of pilgrimage were at their most significant, thousands of people must have made their way every year. On the north side of the church was the chapel that contained his bones. From this, a sunken pathway led down the steep hill to the well on the site of the third spring. Incredibly, this pathway was destroyed as recently as 1999, to be replaced by a sterile driveway that circumnavigates the farm to the north of the church.

 

The date of the Walstan legend is interesting, right on the eve of the Norman settlement of England. It is almost exactly contemporary with that much more famous legend, the founding of the shrine at Walsingham by Lady Richeldis. Could it be that these cults endured partly as a form of resistance by the Saxons, popular local legends in the face of Norman cultural hegemony? Or was it that the Normans themselves who ensured that these popular pieties continued, nurturing them in the place of surviving neo-pagan practices?

 

We can never know, but what is certain is that St Walstan's legend recommended him as a Saint of the ordinary people, a worker Saint if you will, which may explain his almost complete disappearance from popular English story after the Reformation.

 

Two excellent books by local author Carol Twinch have helped popularise this very East Anglian figure. And, interestingly, in the latter half of the 20th century his cult has been explored increasingly by the Anglicans, at a time when devotion to Saints seems to be going out of fashion in that Communion. There are popular pilgrimages here every year still under the auspices of the Anglican Diocese of Norwich. Perhaps it is the simplicity of Walstan's life, and the healing nature of his miracles, that lend themselves particularly to the quiet nature of modern Anglican spirituality.

 

You approach the church from the village street and your first sight of it is from the south-east, looking down into the churchyard. What a beautiful church it is! It must be among the loveliest of all East Anglia's 160-odd round-towered churches. The idiosyncratic stepped gables, the red roof of the nave and a little flame-like pinnacle on the cap of the tower are memorable, particularly in this dramatic setting on the steeply-pitched side of the ridge. The graveyard falls away dramatically on the northern side, and from there St Mary and St Walstan appears fortress-like.

 

You step into a wide, simple interior, white walls and bare wood setting into relief sudden flashes of colour. How much of this church was here when Walstan's body was brought here? Probably, none of it. The archway to the tower is 13th century, and the windows suggest that the rest of the building is early 14th century. Quite probably, the whole church was rebuilt as a result of the prosperity brought about by the shrine of St Walstan. On the north side of the nave there is a large archway, a filled-in opening. It is tempting to think this is the wall that the Angells had opened in hast, but it was probably the entrance to the later chapel of St Walstan, since this wall post-dates the St Walstan legend by 300 years.

 

The remains of the 15th century roodscreen are made up rather dramatically into an early 20th century screen with bubbly cusping and a canopy of honour above, all of it unpainted. It is difficult to know how they resisted painting it, but it suits the simplicity of the building just as it is. And there are plenty of survivals here of Bawburgh's colourful Catholic past. Most interesting of all, the collection of brasses. Bawburgh has two shroud brasses and a chalice brass. The biggest of these is above a memorial inscription to Thomas Tyard who died in 1505. It is 60cm long, and he lies with the shroud partly open, his hands crossed in an act of piety. Beneath it is the inscription plate, but it seems likely to me that the inscription and the shrouded figure do not belong together, given the differences in the quality of the two. As if to confirm this, a surviving brass rivet in the stone above the figure's head suggests the loss of another brass, presumably Tyard's.

 

The other shroud brass is unidentified, and quite different. It depicts a smaller figure sewn tightly into a shroud, with just the face peeking out. It is so like the figures mounted on the wall at Yoxford in Suffolk that I assume it is a figure adrift from a larger collection, perhaps representing one of the dead children of a larger figure.

 

Set in between them is a late 17th century brass inscription and shield to a minister of this church, Philip Tenison. It is quite fitting that it should be here, because Tenison was an antiquarian at a time when such things were looked on with grave suspicion, and Carol Twinch notes that he recorded information about the Walstan shrine here that might otherwise have been lost to us. Deprived of his living by the Puritans, he later became an Archdeacon after the Restoration, in which case the date of 1660 here is obviously wrong.

 

I think that all five of these brasses were reset here from elsewhere in the church by the Victorians. The chalice brass may well be in its original position. It is to the Priest William Rechers, and is right on the eve of the Reformation, 1531, so he would have been one of the last Priests to be commemorated in this fashion. As at Little Walsingham, two hands are shown holding the base of the chalice, elevating it.

 

In the nave, there are three further pre-Reformation brass inscriptions, at least two of which are on their original matrices, and one of which retains one of the two figures commemorated, Robert Grote, who died in 1500. His wife is missing, as is the Priest Edward Kightling, whose empty matrix shows that he was wearing priestly vestments.

 

This is a wonderful collection of late medieval brasses, and is extraordinary that so much has survived. Only a couple have been stolen, but it is clear an attempt has been made on the life of the smaller shroud brass. It has been broken in half, and the lower part protrudes upwards. These chancel brasses have also suffered very badly from being covered by carpets, the underlay breaking up and soaking with moisture to scour the brass. On my most recent visit, the churchwarden agreed that to would be better to remove the carpet altogether, and I do hope that this will happen.

 

But the most vivid memory of the past at Bawburgh is the superb collection of late medieval glass in the nave. Best of all is the wonderful St Barbara, as good as anything else in Norfolk. She stands proudly, holding her church. Across the nave is a lovely fragment of an Annunciation scene. Mary stands in front of a pot of lilies, and a scroll declares Ecce Ancilla Domini Fiat ('Behold the Handmaid of the Lord, Let it be so'). A crowned female head nearby is probably from a Coronation of the Blessed Virgin.

 

There are floating angels, perhaps censing or collecting the precious blood at the crucifixion, and a king who may be Christ from the same Coronation scene. There is larger, crowned, bearded king, perhaps God the Father, some fragments of St Catherine and perhaps St Gregory, and a lay figure in late medieval dress who might just be a pilgrim to the Shrine of St Walstan. Perhaps most pleasing, because it is so complete, is a set of roundels featuring the words of the Nunc Dimmitis, Simeon's prayer on seeing the infant Christ for the first time. It is rather moving to find them in the same window as the Annunciation, which features words which would be familiar to pilgrims from both the Ave Maria and the Magnificat. It is easy to imagine them sitting telling their beads at a journey's end, contemplating this glass.

 

At the west end of the church is a small patch of wall painting which defies easy interpretation. It is obviously at least three separate subjects, the most recent being part of an Elizabethan text, below that apparently two figures embracing, the lowest a roundel topped by indecipherable text. It is likely that there is part of a Seven Works of Mercy sequence, which was often placed on the western wall of a smaller church like this.

 

There is much else besides. The people here were obviously very pleased at the 1660 Restoration, and immediately erected a new set of royal arms to Charles II. You can't help thinking of Philip Tenison, and how it might just be his influence that the people were pleased to see the back of puritanism. One old bench end with an inscription is marooned on the wall, curiously in the shape and location of a holy water stoup (is it covering it?) and there's a nice European roundel in the chancel, which I take to be from a series of Stations of the Cross. Otherwise all is Victorian, or the influence of Victorians. And then you spot the 17th century poorbox fashioned like a newel post, still secured in the east end of the nave. It is from the protestant days of this church, but it is still a reminder of charity, and the offerings of generations of pilgrims that made this one of Norfolk's most significant shrines, and still a beautiful and interesting church today.

One More quick one, messing with proportions

My physics equation dx4/dt=ic graces the swimsuits and bikinis, while the golden gun is designed in proportion with the golden ratio, and the photos are oft cropped in divine proportions!

 

Beautiful Golden Ratio Composition Photography Surf Goddesses! dx4/dt=ic Athletic Action Portraits of Swimsuit Bikini Models! Athena, Artemis, Helen, and Aphrodite! Athletic Fitness Models!

 

My Epic Gear Guide for Landscapes & Portraits!

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Everyone is always asking me for this! Here ya go! :)

 

My Epic Book: Photographing Women Models!

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Portrait, Swimsuit, Lingerie, Boudoir, Fine Art, & Fashion Photography Exalting the Venus Goddess Archetype: How to Shoot Epic ...

 

Epic! Beautiful Surf Fine Art Portrait Swimsuit Bikini Models!

 

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Exalt your photography with Golden Ratio Compositions!

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Golden Ratio Compositions & Secret Sacred Geometry for Photography, Fine Art, & Landscape Photographers: How to Exalt Art with Leonardo da Vinci's, Michelangelo's!

 

Epic Landscape Photography:

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A Simple Guide to the Principles of Fine Art Nature Photography: Master Composition, Lenses, Camera Settings, Aperture, ISO, ... Hero's Odyssey Mythology Photography)

 

Epic Art & Gear for your Epic Hero's Odyssey:

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Enjoy my physics books graces with my fine art photography! Light Time Dimension Theory: The Foundational Physics Unifying Einstein's Relativity and Quantum Mechanics: A Simple, Illustrated Introduction to the Physical

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Beautiful Surf Goddesses! Athletic Action Portraits of Swimsuit Bikini Models! Athena, Artemis, Helen, and Aphrodite!

   

I love seeking and exalting the golden harmonies in my fine art!

Join me! Exalt your photography with golden ratio compositions and join the golden ratio renaissance!

 

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Enjoy my books on Golden Ratio Compositions & Epic Landscape Photography!

 

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Golden Ratio Compositions & Secret Sacred Geometry for Photography, Fine Art, & Landscape Photographers: How to Exalt Art with Leonardo da Vinci's, Michelangelo's, ... Hero's Odyssey Mythology Photography)

www.amazon.com/Compositions-Geometry-Photography-Landscap...

 

Epic Golden Ratio T-shirts!

45surf.spreadshirt.com/

 

Epic Landscape Photography: A Simple Guide to the Principles of Fine Art Nature Photography: Master Composition, Lenses, Camera Settings, Aperture, ISO, ... Hero's Odyssey Mythology Photography)

 

www.amazon.com/Epic-Landscape-Photography-Principles-Comp...

 

Photographing Women Models: Portrait, Swimsuit, Lingerie, Boudoir, Fine Art, & Fashion Photography Exalting the Venus Goddess Archetype: How to Shoot Epic ... Odyssey Mythology Photography Book 3)

 

www.amazon.com/Photographing-Women-Models-Photography-Arc...

 

Exalt your work with the Divine Proportion!!!

One of the keys to shooting Epic Landscape Photography is exalting the photograph's soul via golden ratio compositions, thusly wedding the photographic art to the divine proportion by which life itself was designed and exalted.

 

Dr. Elliot McGucken's Golden Number Ratio Fine Art Landscape & Nature Photography Composition Studies!

 

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Greetings flickr friends! I am working on several books on "epic photography," and I recently finished a related one titled: The Golden Number Ratio Principle: Why the Fibonacci Numbers Exalt Beauty and How to Create PHI Compositions in Art, Design, & Photography: An Artistic and Scientific Introduction to the Golden Mean . Message me on facebook for a free review copy!

 

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The Golden Ratio also informs the design of the golden revolver on all the swimsuits and lingerie, as well as the 45surf logo!

 

The Golden Number Ratio Principle: Dr. E’s Golden Ratio Principle: The golden ratio exalts beauty because the number is a characteristic of the mathematically and physically most efficient manners of growth and distribution, on both evolutionary and purely physical levels. The golden ratio ensures that the proportions and structure of that which came before provide the proportions and structure of that which comes after. Robust, ordered growth is naturally associated with health and beauty, and thus we evolved to perceive the golden ratio harmonies as inherently beautiful, as we saw and felt their presence in all vital growth and life—in the salient features and proportions of humans and nature alike, from the distribution of our facial features and bones to the arrangements of petals, leaves, and sunflowers seeds. As ratios between Fibonacci Numbers offer the closest whole-number approximations to the golden ratio, and as seeds, cells, leaves, bones, and other physical entities appear in whole numbers, the Fibonacci Numbers oft appear in nature’s elements as “growth’s numbers.” From the dawn of time, humanity sought to salute their gods in art and temples exalting the same proportion by which all their vital sustenance and they themselves had been created—the golden ratio.

 

Ansel Adams is not only my favorite photographer, but he is one of the greatest photographers and artists of all time. And just like great artists including Michelangelo, Monet, Degas, Renoir, Leonardo da Vinci, Vermeer, Rembrandt, Botticelli, and Picasso, Ansel used the golden ratio and divine proportions in his epic art.

Not so long ago I discovered golden regions in many of his famous public domain his 8x10 aspect ratio photographs. I call these golden harmony regions "regions of golden action" or "ROGA"S, as seen here:

 

www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.1812448512351066.107374...

 

And too, I created some videos highlighting Ansel's use of the golden harmonies. Enjoy!

www.youtube.com/watch?v=AGnxOAhK3os

www.youtube.com/watch?v=WFlzAaBgsDI

www.youtube.com/watch?v=D3eJ86Ej1TY

 

More golden ratio and epic photography composition books soon! Best wishes for the Holiday Season! Dr. Elliot McGucken :)

Beautiful Ballerina Beach Goddess Model Dancing Ballet Leotard & Pointe Shoes! Great American West Landscape Photography by California Fine Art Landscape Photographer Elliot McGucken! Fine Art Landscape & Nature Photography

 

I sign every print with dx4/dt=ic, and my physics equation dx4/dt=ic graces the swimsuits and bikinis, while the golden gun is designed in proportion with the golden ratio, and the photos are oft cropped in divine proportions!

 

Beautiful Golden Ratio Composition Photography Surf Goddesses! dx4/dt=ic Athletic Action Portraits of Swimsuit Bikini Models! Athena, Artemis, Helen, and Aphrodite! Athletic Fitness Models!

 

My Epic Gear Guide for Landscapes & Portraits!

geni.us/hcTs

Everyone is always asking me for this! Here ya go! :)

 

My Epic Book: Photographing Women Models!

geni.us/m90Ms

Portrait, Swimsuit, Lingerie, Boudoir, Fine Art, & Fashion Photography Exalting the Venus Goddess Archetype: How to Shoot Epic ...

 

Bitcoin: 1FMBZJeeHVMu35uegrYUfEkHfPj5pe9WNz

 

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Exalt your photography with Golden Ratio Compositions!

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Golden Ratio Compositions & Secret Sacred Geometry for Photography, Fine Art, & Landscape Photographers: How to Exalt Art with Leonardo da Vinci's, Michelangelo's!

 

Epic Landscape Photography:

geni.us/TV4oEAz

A Simple Guide to the Principles of Fine Art Nature Photography: Master Composition, Lenses, Camera Settings, Aperture, ISO, ... Hero's Odyssey Mythology Photography)

 

Epic Art & Gear for your Epic Hero's Odyssey:

geni.us/9fnvAMw

 

Enjoy my physics books graces with my fine art photography! Light Time Dimension Theory: The Foundational Physics Unifying Einstein's Relativity and Quantum Mechanics: A Simple, Illustrated Introduction to the Physical

amzn.to/2A4IMfM

   

My physics equation dx4/dt=ic graces the swimsuits and bikinis, while the golden gun is designed in proportion with the golden ratio, and the photos are oft cropped in divine proportions!

 

Beautiful Golden Ratio Composition Photography Surf Goddesses! dx4/dt=ic Athletic Action Portraits of Swimsuit Bikini Models! Athena, Artemis, Helen, and Aphrodite! Athletic Fitness Models!

 

My Epic Gear Guide for Landscapes & Portraits!

geni.us/hcTs

Everyone is always asking me for this! Here ya go! :)

 

My Epic Book: Photographing Women Models!

geni.us/m90Ms

Portrait, Swimsuit, Lingerie, Boudoir, Fine Art, & Fashion Photography Exalting the Venus Goddess Archetype: How to Shoot Epic ...

 

Epic! Beautiful Surf Fine Art Portrait Swimsuit Bikini Models!

 

Bitcoin: 1FMBZJeeHVMu35uegrYUfEkHfPj5pe9WNz

 

Follow me friends!

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Epic books, prints, & more!

geni.us/aEG4

 

Exalt your photography with Golden Ratio Compositions!

geni.us/eeA1

Golden Ratio Compositions & Secret Sacred Geometry for Photography, Fine Art, & Landscape Photographers: How to Exalt Art with Leonardo da Vinci's, Michelangelo's!

 

Epic Landscape Photography:

geni.us/TV4oEAz

A Simple Guide to the Principles of Fine Art Nature Photography: Master Composition, Lenses, Camera Settings, Aperture, ISO, ... Hero's Odyssey Mythology Photography)

 

Epic Art & Gear for your Epic Hero's Odyssey:

geni.us/9fnvAMw

 

Enjoy my physics books graces with my fine art photography! Light Time Dimension Theory: The Foundational Physics Unifying Einstein's Relativity and Quantum Mechanics: A Simple, Illustrated Introduction to the Physical

amzn.to/2A4IMfM

 

Beautiful Surf Goddesses! Athletic Action Portraits of Swimsuit Bikini Models! Athena, Artemis, Helen, and Aphrodite!

  

Epic Arizona Desert Highway Storm Clouds Landscapes! High Resolution Page AZ Sunset! Arizona Breaking Storm Desert Road Photography! Dr. Elliot McGucken High Res Fine Art Landscape & Nature Photography! Scenic Arizona Road Trip!

 

My Epic Gear Guide for Landscapes & Portraits!

geni.us/hcTs

Everyone is always asking me for this! Here ya go! :)

 

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Most all of my high resolution work is composed and cropped in accordance with the golden ratio! The golden number and divine proportion informs all my logos and clothing designs!

 

Exalt your photography with Golden Ratio Compositions!

geni.us/eeA1

Golden Ratio Compositions & Secret Sacred Geometry for Photography, Fine Art, & Landscape Photographers: How to Exalt Art with Leonardo da Vinci's, Michelangelo's!

 

Love exalting the Venus Archetype in portrait and model photography! Shoot from thw heart and aim for the soul! Enjoy my Epic Book Exalting the Venus Archetype: Photographing Women Models!

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Portrait, Swimsuit, Lingerie, Boudoir, Fine Art, & Fashion Photography Exalting the Venus Goddess Archetype: How to Shoot Epic ...

 

Epic! Beautiful Surf Fine Art Portrait Swimsuit Bikini Models!

 

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Pretty Portraits & Headshots! Beautiful Surf Goddesses! Athletic Action Portraits of Swimsuit Bikini Models! Athena, Artemis, Helen, and Aphrodite! Fitness Model! Pretty Woman! Sexy hot women!

 

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A Simple Guide to the Principles of Fine Art Nature Photography: Master Composition, Lenses, Camera Settings, Aperture, ISO, ... Hero's Odyssey Mythology Photography)

 

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Over size life kourus, typical island artwork exhibiting the slenderness, delicacy and grace of Cycladic art.

The Greek kouroi emulate the stance of Egyptian statues. In both Egypt and Greece, the figure is rigidly frontal with the left foot advanced slightly. The quest to establish that early Greek statues used the Egyptian system for proportioning human figures stems from a combination of two factors: (1) the approximate synchronism of the earliest Greek statues in stone and the resumption of direct contacts between Greece and Egypt around the middle of the seventh century B.C.E.; and (2) the visual resemblance between Greek kouroi and Egyptian statues. Standing male figures in both Greece and Egypt face forward, hold their arms alongside their thighs, and advance the left leg. These factors have suggested that Greeks learned sculptural techniques from the Egyptian.

This sculpture belongs to a set of archaic kouroi considered particularly close to the Egyptian canons. Among these sculptures must be included the Tenea Kouros (550 BC) housed in Munich Glyptothek and the Thera Kouros exhibited in Athens National Archaeological Museum.

 

Carter J.B. and Steinberg L.J. “Kouroi and Statistics”

 

Archaic statue

Naxian marble

Height 214 cm

c. 550 BC

From Melos, Cyclades Islands, Greece

Athens, National Archaeological Museum

 

Greetings mate! As many of you know, I love marrying art, science, and math in my portrait and landscape photography!

 

The gold 45 revolver is designed in accordance with the golden ratio! More about the design and my philosophy of "no retouching" on the beautiful goddesses in my new book:

 

www.facebook.com/Photographing-Women-Models-Portrait-Swim...

 

"Photographing Women Models: Portrait, Swimsuit, Lingerie, Boudoir, Fine Art, & Fashion Photography Exalting the Venus Goddess Archetype"

 

If you would like a free review copy, message me!

 

And here's more on the golden ratio which appears in many of my landscape and portrait photographs (while shaping the proportions of the golden gun)!

 

www.facebook.com/goldennumberratio/

'

The dx4/dt=ic above the gun on the lingerie derives from my new physics books devoted to Light, Time, Dimension Theory!

 

www.facebook.com/lightimedimensiontheory/

 

Thanks for being a fan! Would love to hears your thoughts on my philosophies and books! :)

 

facebook.com/mcgucken

http:/instagram.com/elliotmcgucken

instagram.com/goldennumberratio

 

Beautiful swimsuit bikini model goddess!

 

Golden Ratio Lingerie Model Goddess LTD Theory Lingerie dx4/dt=ic! The Birth of Venus, Athena, and Artemis! Girls and Guns!

 

Would you like to see the whole set? Comment below and let me know!

 

Follow me!

instagram.com/45surf

facebook.com/mcgucken

instagram.com/elliotmcgucken

 

I am working on several books on "epic photography," and I recently finished a related one titled: The Golden Number Ratio Principle: Why the Fibonacci Numbers Exalt Beauty and How to Create PHI Compositions in Art, Design, & Photography: An Artistic and Scientific Introduction to the Golden Mean . Message me on facebook for a free review copy!

 

www.facebook.com/goldennumberratio/

 

The Golden Ratio informs a lot of my art and photographic composition. The Golden Ratio also informs the design of the golden revolver on all the swimsuits and lingerie, as well as the 45surf logo! Not so long ago, I came up with the Golden Ratio Principle which describes why The Golden Ratio is so beautiful.

 

The Golden Number Ratio Principle: Dr. E’s Golden Ratio Principle: The golden ratio exalts beauty because the number is a characteristic of the mathematically and physically most efficient manners of growth and distribution, on both evolutionary and purely physical levels. The golden ratio ensures that the proportions and structure of that which came before provide the proportions and structure of that which comes after. Robust, ordered growth is naturally associated with health and beauty, and thus we evolved to perceive the golden ratio harmonies as inherently beautiful, as we saw and felt their presence in all vital growth and life—in the salient features and proportions of humans and nature alike, from the distribution of our facial features and bones to the arrangements of petals, leaves, and sunflowers seeds. As ratios between Fibonacci Numbers offer the closest whole-number approximations to the golden ratio, and as seeds, cells, leaves, bones, and other physical entities appear in whole numbers, the Fibonacci Numbers oft appear in nature’s elements as “growth’s numbers.” From the dawn of time, humanity sought to salute their gods in art and temples exalting the same proportion by which all their vital sustenance and they themselves had been created—the golden ratio.

 

The Birth of Venus! Beautiful Golden Ratio Swimsuit Bikini Model Goddess! Helen of Troy! She was tall, thin, fit, and quite pretty!

  

Read all about how classical art such as The Birth of Venus inspires all my photography!

www.facebook.com/Photographing-Women-Models-Portrait-Swim...

 

"Photographing Women Models: Portrait, Swimsuit, Lingerie, Boudoir, Fine Art, & Fashion Photography Exalting the Venus Goddess Archetype"

Whilst a large proportion of UK freight is hauled by Class 66s, the variations in the large fleet are welcome to photographers. This particular example, 66420, was built for DRS, but subsequently transferred to Freightliner, initially wearing the blue livery of it's previous operator, but then becoming one of a relatively small number of locos to wear the revised Freightliner Powerhaul green livery. This has been superseded by the Genesee and Wyoming orange livery. The attractive General Motors Type 5 is pictured traversing Trowse Junction at the start of it's long journey working 6Z45 1509 Trowse to Tunstead Sidings, having arrived with a loaded service early in the morning.

I never study a church before I go, maybe that's a fault on my part because I might miss something important and so have to go back. But for me, it's the wonder as you walk through the porch or door into the church, not knowing what to expect.

 

St Mary's looks like a typical Suffolk church from the outside, nice proportioned tower, good quality flint knapping. And yet once you enter, your breath is taken away by the glorious restored ceiling.

 

----------------------------------------------

 

It is not easy to find Huntingfield; even the signposts do not bear its name until you are within the parish boundary. Yet this shallow valley, divided by the infant river Blyth, with church and parsonage on one bank and manor house on the other, has been owned by some notable families in England's history.

The church is a Grade 1 Listed Building, largely due to its amazing Victorian painted ceiling.

 

The existing church certainly dates from the 11th century but there are signs that there had been a chapel here long before.

Some fragments of carved stones are set into the wall of the tower. At the beginning of this century they were turned up by a ploughman in a field called 'Chapel Field', a little to the south of the present church. They are fragments from a Saxon stone coffin and standing cross of the 10th century, long since disappeared.

 

The oldest part of the church is the wall between the nave and the north aisle which was the solid outer wall of the original twelfth century church. That church would have been small and dark, the whole building probably standing within the area of the present nave. The light would have come from small high windows of which one still remains above the two round-headed arches.

This wall has been altered at least twice. It was first broken through when the north aisle was built, and again in the nineteenth century when the arches were given their present 'Norman' curves. That first church was built by the family who took their name from the village and lived in the manor for 250 years, the Lords de Huntingfield.

 

The chancel was added in the thirteenth century.

 

By the end of the fourteenth, the south side of the nave had been altered and both aisles had been built in the fashionable Gothic style with its pointed arches. The five small high, or clerestory, windows on the south side of the nave would have provided light into the nave, the advent of affordable glass having made such things possible.

 

The east window of the south aisle has all that remains of the medieval glass that would once have filled many of the windows. There is a record of what was still to be seen here in the sixteenth century which lists the memorial windows with the coats of arms borne by the families who once owned the Manor.

 

The windows of the south aisle are particularly pretty and date from the fifteenth century. Their Perpendicular style is indicated by their familiar flat-topped shape. The porch is also from the fifteenth century.

 

The font dates from the fourteenth century.

 

The ceiling painting is very special and is explained on a separate page. The work was carried out in the 19th century while William Holland was rector. At the same time the organ and vestry were added with the Vanneck family vault beneath.

 

The ceiling is a masterpiece of Victorian church decoration, painted from end to end in brilliant colours, with carved and coloured angels, with banners, crowns and shields, all in the medieval style and of a most intricate and detailed finish.

The scheme of decoration is important as it reflects the ecclestiastical devotion of the late Victorian period clergy and their patrons, combined with the heightened liturgical practices of the Oxford Movement.

 

It was painted by Mildred Holland, the wife of William Holland who was rector for 44 years from 1848 until his death in 1892. The church was closed for eight months from September 1859 to April 1860 while she painted the chancel roof. Tradesmen provided scaffolding and prepared the ceiling for painting but there is no record to show that she had any help with the work, and legend has it that she did much of it lying on her back. We may imagine Victorian ladies wearing tight laced corsets and many petticoats, and wonder how she managed the ladders, scaffolding and hard labour of painting. She had an adviser on her schemes, a Mr. E. L. Blackburne F.S.A., an authority on medieval decoration.

 

The twelve large panels of the chancel ceiling each show an angel holding either a scroll with the words of the canticle 'Blessed be the Lord God of Israel', or the emblems of the Passion: the cross, the hammer and nails, the scourge, the lance, the crown of thorns and the reed.

Two pelicans in their piety (pecking their breasts to feed their young) are in the last small panels.

 

Between the beam ends of the chancel roof there are Bible verses in Gothic lettering,

 

then two tiers of panels; the lower have pictures of the Lamb of God alternating with`the Keys of Heaven. Above, are crowned monograms.

 

Above the Chancel Arch, the Lamb of God is depicted with the words 'Glory, Honour, Praise and Power unto the Lamb for Ever and Ever', lines taken from the Book of Revelation.

 

Three years later Mildred Holland began to paint again in the nave. In 1866 her husband William makes a note 'scaffolding finally taken down, September Ist'. The whole cost of repairing the nave roof, preparing it for painting and for materials amounted to £247.10s.7d of which £16.7s.6d was for 225 books of gold leaf and £72 for colours. William Holland's notes show that between 1859 and 1882 a total of £2,034. 10s.0d was spent on the church restoration, of which, apparently, he gave all but £400.

 

Recent research has found the complete record of William Holland's work in restoring and furnishing the church. These are available for interested students.

The figures on the nave roof are of the twelve apostles and two female saints. Each is painted in the lower tier with their traditional symbols and again in the upper tier clothed in heavenly raiment holding scrolls bearing their names.

 

Note that Saints Margaret and Andrew are both included as there is a tradition that these two saints were specially venerated here. There are niches for statues in the south aisle which may have held statues of them. The cult of St Margaret of Antioch grew in the 10th century and her veneration was brought back to England by crusaders. Her inclusion here may hint at an early date for the church's foundation.

 

Mildred Holland died in 1878; William served on until 1892, a total of forty years. He gave the font cover in memory of his wife and also the brass lectern with its graceful angels and winged dragons. Their graves are in the churchyard to the west of the entrance gates. Side by side they lie, beneath a table tomb alongside a standing cross.

 

It is natural to speculate about the roof. It is of a single hammer-beam construction, arch-braced principals alternating with hammer-beams ending in carved angels. The angels in the nave carry a crown or a banner, those in the chancel have heraldic shields bearing arms. The question all ask is: are these angels genuinely medieval work which escaped the axes of the post-Reformation Puritans, (and remember that William Dowsing, the arch-destroyer, came from nearby Laxfield) or are they all the handiwork of Victorian craftsmen?

Traditional East Anglian hammer-beam roofs generally terminate in a carving of some sort, and the de la Poles made angel roofs in the churches of their manors, even taking Suffolk carpenters to Ewelme in Oxfordshire to make one there. But our angels are too perfect to be so old. Entries in a tradesman's account of 1865 would seem to settle the matter; or do they?

 

The fourteenth and fifteenth centuries were times of great development and two families, both wealthy and influential, used their means to beautify and rebuild the churches on their manors including St Mary's. Keeping up with the neighbours is not a new fashion. Both left their marks on the font which, standing on restored steps and with a splendid cover, shows two heraldic shields.

The shield facing south depicts the arms of de Ufford while that on the north side is of de la Pole.

 

The de Ufford shield is that of Sir William de Ufford, Earl of Suffolk during the reign of Edward III. He held Framlingham Castle for the King and owned several manors in Suffolk. Among these were Parham, where he built the church, and Huntingfield.

The other shield is that of Michael de la Pole, Lord Chancellor and Earl of Suffolk, who married Catherine, daughter and heiress of Sir John Wingfield of Wingfield Castle. He succeeded to the manor of Huntingfield through his wife, and died in 1389. The shield shows both of their arms.

 

Michael de la Pole's has three polecat faces while Catherine Wingfield's has three open wings. Both are puns on their names. (For another heraldic pun look for the arms of Huntingfield being held by one of the angels in the roof: three hunting horns on a 'field'.)

In Ufford church you can see a medieval font cover which was a model for ours when it was made in the nineteenth century. In Wingfield church there is a font so like ours that it was probably made by the same craftsman.

 

www.stmaryshuntingfield.org.uk/history.htm

 

-----------------------------------------------

 

There is nowhere else in Suffolk quite like St Mary. Huntingfield is one of the county's most obscure villages; there are hardly any signposts to it. It is the nearest village to the great pile of Heveningham Hall, and perhaps these two facts are not unconnected. But it is worth getting out the old Ordnance Survey map, because here at St Mary was a remarkable 19th century restoration.

In the second half of that century, many parish churches were drawn by the excitement of the age into major reconstructions and revisions. They often looked to London stars like Scott and Butterfield, or local plodders like Phipson, or else mavericks like Salvin. The demands of the new liturgical arrangements, coupled with a renewed sense of the need to glorify God, led them into what was often a rebuilding rather than a restoration. Internal decorations were, perhaps, the bespoke work of the architect; witness Phipson's meticulous attention to detail at St Mary le Tower, Ipswich.

 

Other restorers relied on the big picture, a vision that encompassed walls and floors, but left the fittings to others; as, for example, Salvin's Flixton St Mary. What was the driving force behind Victorian revisionism? Essentially, what happened in England between about 1830 and 1870 was a cultural revolution, a ferment of new ideas and the reaction to them. The changes proposed by the Oxford Movement were, at first, objectionable, and then merely controversial; but gradually, they seeped into the mainstream, until by about 1890 they had become as natural as the air we breathe.

 

By the centenary of the movement in the 1930s, one Anglican clergyman could observe "It is as if the Reformation had never happened". Well, not quite. And now, the pendulum has swung the other way, leaving the ritualists high and dry. But the evidence of the energy of those days survives, especially at Huntingfield, where it was the local vicar who drove the Oxford Movement through the heart of the parish, like a motorway through a Site of Special Scientific Interest.

 

What the vicar of Huntingfield had, and many other ministers didn't, was a visionary wife. Between 1859 and 1866, Mrs Mildred Holland planned, designed and executed the most elaborate redecoration of a church this county had seen since the Reformation. For seven years, she lay on her back at the top of scaffolding, first in the chancel (angels) and then in the nave (saints on the ceilure, fine angels on the beam ends), gilding, lettering and painting this most glorious of small church roofs. Her husband, the Reverend William Holland, kept a journal throughout this period, and there is no suggestion that she had any assistance, beyond that of workmen to raise the scaffolding, and a Mr E.L. Blackburne FSA, who was, apparently, an 'authority on medieval decoration'.

 

J.P. St Aubyn was responsible for the structural restoration of this largely 15th century building, and it is very restrained and merciful. He did, however, refit the little windows in the south clerestory. But you come here to see the painted roofs, which are perfectly splendid. Beware if you come with children, or it will cost you a fortune in pound coins to activate the illuminations.

 

The font cover is not part of Mildred Holland's work; rather, it is her memorial, as is the art nouveau lectern. It is as if her art was a catalyst, inspiring others to acts of beauty. She died in the 1870s, predeceasing her husband by twenty years. They are both now buried by the churchyard gate. How fitting, that they should lie in the graveyard of the church they loved so much, and to which they gave so much of their time, energy and money.

 

Curiously, Ann Owen, the wife of the vicar of nearby Heveningham, produced the stained glass there; a novel is waiting to be written about these two women.

 

For such an obscure village, St Mary has had its share of influential patrons. Four major families in particular have left their mark here. Before the Reformation, the de la Poles and Uffords, whose shields you'll find on the font, and in later years the Cokes and the Pastons, both more usually associated with Norfolk.

 

But, as I have said, you don't come to Huntingfield because of important dead people. Look up, look all around, and see the true memorial to Mrs Holland. It does not have the gravitas of Lound, or the piety of Kettlebaston. And I really love it for that. I think this is a place that should be better known, and not just because of the way it contrasts with the less successful 19th century restorations at neighbouring Cookley and Walpole.

What we have here is as fine a display of 19th century folk art as you'll find anywhere in the county.

 

Simon Knott, 2001 (updated 2007)

 

www.suffolkchurches.co.uk/huntingfield.htm

Does the Freedom Tower make you feel safer?

Greetings mate! As many of you know, I love marrying art, science, and math in my fine art portrait and landscape photography!

 

The 45surf and gold 45 revolver swimsuits, shirts, logos, designs, and lingerie are designed in accordance with the golden ratio! More about the design and my philosophy of "no retouching" on the beautiful goddesses in my new book:

 

www.facebook.com/Photographing-Women-Models-Portrait-Swim...

 

"Photographing Women Models: Portrait, Swimsuit, Lingerie, Boudoir, Fine Art, & Fashion Photography Exalting the Venus Goddess Archetype"

 

If you would like a free review copy, message me!

 

And here's more on the golden ratio which appears in many of my landscape and portrait photographs (while shaping the proportions of the golden gun)!

 

www.facebook.com/goldennumberratio/

'

The dx4/dt=ic above the gun on the lingerie derives from my new physics books devoted to Light, Time, Dimension Theory!

 

www.facebook.com/lightimedimensiontheory/

 

Thanks for being a fan! Would love to hears your thoughts on my philosophies and books! :)

 

facebook.com/mcgucken

http:/instagram.com/elliotmcgucken

instagram.com/goldennumberratio

 

Beautiful swimsuit bikini model goddess!

 

Golden Ratio Lingerie Model Goddess LTD Theory Lingerie dx4/dt=ic! The Birth of Venus, Athena, and Artemis! Girls and Guns!

 

Would you like to see the whole set? Comment below and let me know!

 

Follow me!

instagram.com/45surf

facebook.com/mcgucken

instagram.com/elliotmcgucken

 

I am working on several books on "epic photography," and I recently finished a related one titled: The Golden Number Ratio Principle: Why the Fibonacci Numbers Exalt Beauty and How to Create PHI Compositions in Art, Design, & Photography: An Artistic and Scientific Introduction to the Golden Mean . Message me on facebook for a free review copy!

 

www.facebook.com/goldennumberratio/

 

The Golden Ratio informs a lot of my art and photographic composition. The Golden Ratio also informs the design of the golden revolver on all the swimsuits and lingerie, as well as the 45surf logo! Not so long ago, I came up with the Golden Ratio Principle which describes why The Golden Ratio is so beautiful.

 

The Golden Number Ratio Principle: Dr. E’s Golden Ratio Principle: The golden ratio exalts beauty because the number is a characteristic of the mathematically and physically most efficient manners of growth and distribution, on both evolutionary and purely physical levels. The golden ratio ensures that the proportions and structure of that which came before provide the proportions and structure of that which comes after. Robust, ordered growth is naturally associated with health and beauty, and thus we evolved to perceive the golden ratio harmonies as inherently beautiful, as we saw and felt their presence in all vital growth and life—in the salient features and proportions of humans and nature alike, from the distribution of our facial features and bones to the arrangements of petals, leaves, and sunflowers seeds. As ratios between Fibonacci Numbers offer the closest whole-number approximations to the golden ratio, and as seeds, cells, leaves, bones, and other physical entities appear in whole numbers, the Fibonacci Numbers oft appear in nature’s elements as “growth’s numbers.” From the dawn of time, humanity sought to salute their gods in art and temples exalting the same proportion by which all their vital sustenance and they themselves had been created—the golden ratio.

 

The Birth of Venus! Beautiful Golden Ratio Swimsuit Bikini Model Goddess! Helen of Troy! She was tall, thin, fit, and quite pretty!

  

Read all about how classical art such as The Birth of Venus inspires all my photography!

www.facebook.com/Photographing-Women-Models-Portrait-Swim...

 

"Photographing Women Models: Portrait, Swimsuit, Lingerie, Boudoir, Fine Art, & Fashion Photography Exalting the Venus Goddess Archetype"

Basílica de S. Pedro, Vaticano - Roma

 

St. Peter's Basilica, Vatican - Rome

 

Basilique Saint-Pierre, Vatican - Rome

Sigma 17-35mm F2.8-4 EX ASPHERICAL.

Yoyogi National Gymnasium, Tokyo.

Classical Ballet Malibu Beach Flowers! California Wildflowers Superbloom Ballerina Dancer dancing Ballet! God Spilled the Paint Desert Wildflowers Super Bloom! Elliot McGucken Fine Art Landscape & Nature Photography!

  

I sign every print with dx4/dt=ic, and my physics equation dx4/dt=ic graces the swimsuits and bikinis, while the golden gun is designed in proportion with the golden ratio, and the photos are oft cropped in divine proportions!

 

Beautiful Golden Ratio Composition Photography Surf Goddesses! dx4/dt=ic Athletic Action Portraits of Swimsuit Bikini Models! Athena, Artemis, Helen, and Aphrodite! Athletic Fitness Models!

 

My Epic Gear Guide for Landscapes & Portraits!

geni.us/hcTs

Everyone is always asking me for this! Here ya go! :)

 

My Epic Book: Photographing Women Models!

geni.us/m90Ms

Portrait, Swimsuit, Lingerie, Boudoir, Fine Art, & Fashion Photography Exalting the Venus Goddess Archetype: How to Shoot Epic ...

 

Bitcoin: 1FMBZJeeHVMu35uegrYUfEkHfPj5pe9WNz

 

Follow me friends!

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Epic books, prints, & more!

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Exalt your photography with Golden Ratio Compositions!

geni.us/eeA1

Golden Ratio Compositions & Secret Sacred Geometry for Photography, Fine Art, & Landscape Photographers: How to Exalt Art with Leonardo da Vinci's, Michelangelo's!

 

Epic Landscape Photography:

geni.us/TV4oEAz

A Simple Guide to the Principles of Fine Art Nature Photography: Master Composition, Lenses, Camera Settings, Aperture, ISO, ... Hero's Odyssey Mythology Photography)

 

Epic Art & Gear for your Epic Hero's Odyssey:

geni.us/9fnvAMw

 

Enjoy my physics books graces with my fine art photography! Light Time Dimension Theory: The Foundational Physics Unifying Einstein's Relativity and Quantum Mechanics: A Simple, Illustrated Introduction to the Physical

amzn.to/2A4IMfM

 

Beautiful Surf Goddesses! Athletic Action Portraits of Swimsuit Bikini Models! Athena, Artemis, Helen, and Aphrodite

 

My physics equation dx4/dt=ic graces the swimsuits and bikinis, while the golden gun is designed in proportion with the golden ratio, and the photos are oft cropped in divine proportions!

 

Beautiful Golden Ratio Composition Photography Surf Goddesses! dx4/dt=ic Athletic Action Portraits of Swimsuit Bikini Models! Athena, Artemis, Helen, and Aphrodite! Athletic Fitness Models!

 

My Epic Gear Guide for Landscapes & Portraits!

geni.us/hcTs

Everyone is always asking me for this! Here ya go! :)

 

My Epic Book: Photographing Women Models!

geni.us/m90Ms

Portrait, Swimsuit, Lingerie, Boudoir, Fine Art, & Fashion Photography Exalting the Venus Goddess Archetype: How to Shoot Epic ...

 

Epic! Beautiful Surf Fine Art Portrait Swimsuit Bikini Models!

 

Bitcoin: 1FMBZJeeHVMu35uegrYUfEkHfPj5pe9WNz

 

Follow me friends!

facebook.com/mcgucken

instagram.com/elliotmcgucken

facebook.com/goldennumberratio

instagram.com/45surf

 

Epic books, prints, & more!

geni.us/aEG4

 

Exalt your photography with Golden Ratio Compositions!

geni.us/eeA1

Golden Ratio Compositions & Secret Sacred Geometry for Photography, Fine Art, & Landscape Photographers: How to Exalt Art with Leonardo da Vinci's, Michelangelo's!

 

Epic Landscape Photography:

geni.us/TV4oEAz

A Simple Guide to the Principles of Fine Art Nature Photography: Master Composition, Lenses, Camera Settings, Aperture, ISO, ... Hero's Odyssey Mythology Photography)

 

Epic Art & Gear for your Epic Hero's Odyssey:

geni.us/9fnvAMw

 

Enjoy my physics books graces with my fine art photography! Light Time Dimension Theory: The Foundational Physics Unifying Einstein's Relativity and Quantum Mechanics: A Simple, Illustrated Introduction to the Physical

amzn.to/2A4IMfM

 

Beautiful Surf Goddesses! Athletic Action Portraits of Swimsuit Bikini Models! Athena, Artemis, Helen, and Aphrodite!

   

Starry Night Astrophotography! Nikon D810 Fine Art Night Milkyway Photography: Milky Way Rising! Long exposure astro photography! I used to teach astronomy, so this was fun!

 

The milkyway as seen though a Malibu sea cave!

 

From the golden spiral in the whirlpool galaxy and our very own milkway galaxy, to the golden mean of an athletic models' proportions, to the divine proportions found in a beautiful models' face, to the optimum curves and compositions of my fine art photography, I have found the Fibonacci sequence and golden number Phi to be omni-present. And so it makes sense that I found the golden spiral to naturally emerge in my physics theory--Dynamic Dimensions Theory--which postulates that the fourth dimension is expanding at the rate of c relative to the three spatial dimensions, giving rise to relativity, the quantum, and time and all its arrows and asymmetries. Yes! I have a pPh.D. in physics! Photons of ligth are but matter which surfs the fourth expanding dimension en route to creating a beautiful photograph.

 

And yes I am working on a book combining my philosophies on Phi, fine art photography, physics, the golden mean and number, the divine proportion, and the natgural emergence of the Fibonacci numbers in life and beauty. The book, filled with my photography aongside classic poetry, epic physics, and philosophy, will be called The Golden Hero's Odyssey. :)

 

Malibu Moon! Malibu seacave moonset!

Working on a book titled THE GOLDEN HERO'S ODYSSEY!

 

Check out my epic album: Golden Rectangle, Golden Ratio, Golden Spiral, Phi Grid, and Fibonacci Spiral in Fine Art Photography Compositions!

www.flickr.com/photos/herosjourneymythology45surf/albums/...

 

Divine Proportion on a Divine Goddess! Golden Rectangle Goddess! Fibonacci Spiral Composition for Classical Goddess and Exalted Fine Art!

 

Pretty Greek Goddesses! Artemis, Athena, Hera, and Aphrodite! Venus, Minerva, and Ares, Demeter, and Nike!

 

Pretty Swimsuit Bikini Model Goddess Nikon D800 Super Sharp AF-S NIKKOR 70-200mm f/2.8G ED VR II

 

All of the new Gold 45 Revolver and 45SURF logos and designs are inspired by the golden number phi and divine proportion! Just as my landscapes oft employ the golden rectangle and fibonacci spiral in composition, all the bikinis, shirts, and lingerie designs are made with the golden section and gold number Phi (1.618) in mind! The golden grids, rectangles, pentagons, and spirals make a far better system for compositions than does the rule of thirds! And too, the golden mean and divine proportion are found in every model--in her pretty face and in the divine proportions of the 45surf goddess's heavenly body! I'm working on a book on all this beautitful craziness in fine art landscapes and models called The Golden Hero's Odyssey, which also ties it to my physics theory Dynamic Dimenions theory (dx4/dt=ic). :)

 

More of the epic Greek goddess bikini swimsuit models on instagram!

 

instagram.com/45surf

 

I have been traveling around in Zion, Yosemite, the Grand Canyon, and Bryce Canyon! Will share soon! :)

 

ALL THE BEST on your Epic Hero's Odyssey from Johnny Ranger McCoy!

 

Follow me & 45surf!!

www.facebook.com/45surfAchillesOdysseyMythology/

 

instagram.com/45surf

 

Beautiful Swimsuit Bikini Surfer Girl Athletic Model Goddess ! Sexy, hot, tall, thin, tan,toned, tan, and fit!

 

Working on a photography book too--Hero's Odyssey Photography! It focuses on my greatest hits while telling the tsory behind each one, thusly teaching how to shoot epic landscapes, ballerinas, and models!

 

All the best on your Epic Hero's Odyssey!

 

45SURF! Celebrating epic, heroic poetry, classic goddess beauty and the classical soul! Shakespeare, Homer's Iliad & Odyssey, and Moby Dick!

 

All the best on your epic hero's odyssey!

A very strangely proportioned Pantheon in 17thC "tourist souvenir" painting, Bernini's "ears" were still on the pediment at this time.

 

Italian paintings in the Szépművészeti Múzeum, Budapest.

Pretty Hero's Odyssey Mythology Greek Goddesses! 45SURF goddesses are the perfect blend of Artemis, Athena, Hera, and Aphrodite! Of Venus, Minerva, and Ares, Demeter, and Nike!

 

Pretty Hero's Odyssey Mythology Swimsuit Bikini Model! Greek Goddess Nikon D800 Super Sharp AF-S NIKKOR 70-200mm f/2.8G ED VR II ! Golden Hero's Odyssey Goddess!

 

All of the new Gold 45 Revolver(TM) and 45SURF(R) logos and designs are inspired by the golden number phi and divine proportion! Just as my landscapes oft employ the golden rectangle and fibonacci spiral in composition, all the bikinis, shirts, and lingerie designs are made with the golden section and gold number Phi (1.618) in mind! The golden grids, rectangles, pentagons, and spirals make a far better system for compositions than does the rule of thirds! And too, the golden mean and divine proportion are found in every model--in her pretty face and in the divine proportions of the 45surf goddess's heavenly body! I'm working on a book on all this beautitful craziness in fine art landscapes and models called The Golden Hero's Odyssey, which also ties it to my physics theory Dynamic Dimenions theory (dx4/dt=ic). :)

 

More of the epic Greek goddess bikini swimsuit models on instagram!

 

instagram.com/45surf

 

I have been traveling around in Zion, Yosemite, the Grand Canyon, and Bryce Canyon! Will share soon! :)

 

ALL THE BEST on your Epic Hero's Odyssey from Johnny Ranger McCoy!

 

Follow me & 45surf!!

www.facebook.com/45surfAchillesOdysseyMythology/

 

www.facebook.com/elliot.mcgucken

 

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The Llŷn Peninsula extends 30 miles (50 km) into the Irish Sea from North West Wales, south west of the Isle of Anglesey. It is part of the historic county of Caernarfonshire, and historic region and local authority area of Gwynedd. Much of the eastern part of the peninsula, around Criccieth, may be regarded as part of Eifionydd rather than Llŷn, although the boundary is somewhat vague. The area of Llŷn is about 400 km2 (150 sq mi), and its population is at least 20,000.

 

Historically, the peninsula was travelled by pilgrims en route to Bardsey Island (Welsh: Ynys Enlli), and its relative isolation has helped to conserve the Welsh language and culture, for which the locality is now famous. This perceived remoteness from urban life has lent the area an unspoilt image which has made Llŷn a popular destination for both tourists and holiday home owners. Holiday homes remain contentious among locals, many of whom are priced out of the housing market by incomers. From the 1970s to the 1990s, a group known as Meibion Glyndŵr claimed responsibility for several hundred arson attacks on holiday homes using incendiary devices, some of which took place in Llŷn.

 

The Llyn Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty covers approximately 62 sq mi (160 km2).

 

Following the death of Owain Whitetooth (Ddantgwyn), king of Gwynedd, Owain's son Saint Einion seems to have ruled Llŷn as a kingdom separate from his brother Cuneglas' kingdom in Rhos. He is credited with having sponsored Saint Cadfan's monastery on Bardsey Island, which became a major centre of pilgrimage during medieval times. There are numerous wells throughout the peninsula, many dating back to the pre-Christian era. Many have holy connotations and they were important stops for pilgrims heading to the island.

 

The Welsh Triads record regional resistance to Edwin's incursions into Gwynedd by a regional ruler Belyn ap Cynfelyn and his Gosgordd who were allied with Cadwallon ap Cadfan. In subsequent years Llŷn was raided by vikings, most notably by Olaf in the late 10th century.

 

The most rural parts are characterised by small houses, cottages and individual farms, resembling parts of south west Ireland. There are small compact villages, built of traditional materials. The only large-scale industrial activities were quarrying and mining, which have now largely ceased. The granite quarries of northern Llŷn have left a legacy of inclines and export docks, and were the reason for the growth of villages such as Llithfaen and Trefor. Copper, zinc and lead were mined around Llanengan, while 196,770 long tons (199,930 t) of manganese were produced at Y Rhiw between 1894 and 1945. The Penrhyn Dû mines have also been extensively mined since the seventeenth century around Abersoch. Shipbuilding was important at Nefyn, Aberdaron, Abersoch and Llanaelhaearn, although the industry collapsed after the introduction of steel ships from 1880. Nefyn was also an important herring port, and most coastal communities fished for crab and lobster.

 

Farming was originally simple and organic, but underwent major changes after the Second World War as machines came into widespread use. Land was drained and fields expanded and reseeded. From the 1950s onwards, extensive use was made of artificial fertilizers, herbicides and pesticides, leading to drastic changes in the appearance of the landscape.

 

Tourism developed after the railway to Pwllheli was built in 1867. The town expanded rapidly, with several large houses and hotels constructed, and a tramway was built linking the town to Llanbedrog. After the Second World War, Butlins established a holiday camp at Penychain, which attracted visitors from the industrial cities of North West England and the West Midlands. As car ownership increased, the tourist industry spread to the countryside and to coastal villages such as Aberdaron, Abersoch, Llanbedrog and Nefyn, where many families supplemented their income by letting out rooms and houses.

 

Gwynedd is a county in the north-west of Wales. It borders Anglesey across the Menai Strait to the north, Conwy, Denbighshire, and Powys to the east, Ceredigion over the Dyfi estuary to the south, and the Irish Sea to the west. The city of Bangor is the largest settlement, and the administrative centre is Caernarfon. The preserved county of Gwynedd, which is used for ceremonial purposes, includes the Isle of Anglesey.

 

Gwynedd is the second largest county in Wales but sparsely populated, with an area of 979 square miles (2,540 km2) and a population of 117,400. After Bangor (18,322), the largest settlements are Caernarfon (9,852), Bethesda (4,735), and Pwllheli (4,076). The county has the highest percentage of Welsh speakers in Wales, at 64.4%, and is considered a heartland of the language.

 

The geography of Gwynedd is mountainous, with a long coastline to the west. Much of the county is covered by Snowdonia National Park (Eryri), which contains Wales's highest mountain, Snowdon (Yr Wyddfa; 3,560 feet, 1,090 m). To the west, the Llŷn Peninsula is flatter and renowned for its scenic coastline, part of which is protected by the Llŷn AONB. Gwynedd also contains several of Wales's largest lakes and reservoirs, including the largest, Bala Lake (Llyn Tegid).

 

The area which is now the county has played a prominent part in the history of Wales. It formed part of the core of the Kingdom of Gwynedd and the native Principality of Wales, which under the House of Aberffraw remained independent from the Kingdom of England until Edward I's conquest between 1277 and 1283. Edward built the castles at Caernarfon and Harlech, which form part of the Castles and Town Walls of King Edward in Gwynedd World Heritage Site. During the Industrial Revolution the slate industry rapidly developed; in the late nineteenth century the neighbouring Penrhyn and Dinorwic quarries were the largest in the world, and the Slate Landscape of Northwest Wales is now a World Heritage Site. Gwynedd covers the majority of the historic counties of Caernarfonshire and Merionethshire.

 

In the past, historians such as J. E. Lloyd assumed that the Celtic source of the word Gwynedd meant 'collection of tribes' – the same root as the Irish fine, meaning 'tribe'. Further, a connection is recognised between the name and the Irish Féni, an early ethnonym for the Irish themselves, related to fían, 'company of hunting and fighting men, company of warriors under a leader'. Perhaps *u̯en-, u̯enə ('strive, hope, wish') is the Indo-European stem. The Irish settled in NW Wales, and in Dyfed, at the end of the Roman era. Venedotia was the Latin form, and in Penmachno there is a memorial stone from c. AD 500 which reads: Cantiori Hic Iacit Venedotis ('Here lies Cantiorix, citizen of Gwynedd'). The name was retained by the Brythons when the kingdom of Gwynedd was formed in the 5th century, and it remained until the invasion of Edward I. This historical name was revived when the new county was formed in 1974.

 

Gwynedd was an independent kingdom from the end of the Roman period until the 13th century, when it was conquered by England. The modern Gwynedd was one of eight Welsh counties created on 1 April 1974 under the Local Government Act 1972. It covered the entirety of the historic counties of Anglesey and Caernarfonshire, and all of Merionethshire apart from Edeirnion Rural District (which went to Clwyd); and also a few parishes of Denbighshire: Llanrwst, Llansanffraid Glan Conwy, Eglwysbach, Llanddoged, Llanrwst and Tir Ifan.

 

The county was divided into five districts: Aberconwy, Arfon, Dwyfor, Meirionnydd and Anglesey.

 

The Local Government (Wales) Act 1994 abolished the 1974 county (and the five districts) on 1 April 1996, and its area was divided: the Isle of Anglesey became an independent unitary authority, and Aberconwy (which included the former Denbighshire parishes) passed to the new Conwy County Borough. The remainder of the county was constituted as a principal area, with the name Caernarfonshire and Merionethshire, as it covers most of the areas of those two historic counties. As one of its first actions, the Council renamed itself Gwynedd on 2 April 1996. The present Gwynedd local government area is governed by Gwynedd Council. As a unitary authority, the modern entity no longer has any districts, but Arfon, Dwyfor and Meirionnydd remain as area committees.

 

The pre-1996 boundaries were retained as a preserved county for a few purposes such as the Lieutenancy. In 2003, the boundary with Clwyd was adjusted to match the modern local government boundary, so that the preserved county now covers the two local government areas of Gwynedd and Anglesey. Conwy county borough is now entirely within Clwyd.

 

A Gwynedd Constabulary was formed in 1950 by the merger of the Anglesey, Caernarfonshire and Merionethshire forces. A further amalgamation took place in the 1960s when Gwynedd Constabulary was merged with the Flintshire and Denbighshire county forces, retaining the name Gwynedd. In one proposal for local government reform in Wales, Gwynedd had been proposed as a name for a local authority covering all of north Wales, but the scheme as enacted divided this area between Gwynedd and Clwyd. To prevent confusion, the Gwynedd Constabulary was therefore renamed the North Wales Police.

 

The Snowdonia National Park was formed in 1951. After the 1974 local authority reorganisation, the park fell entirely within the boundaries of Gwynedd, and was run as a department of Gwynedd County Council. After the 1996 local government reorganisation, part of the park fell under Conwy County Borough, and the park's administration separated from the Gwynedd council. Gwynedd Council still appoints nine of the eighteen members of the Snowdonia National Park Authority; Conwy County Borough Council appoints three; and the Welsh Government appoints the remaining six.

 

There has been considerable inwards migration to Gwynedd, particularly from England. According to the 2021 census, 66.6% of residents had been born in Wales whilst 27.1% were born in England.

 

The county has a mixed economy. An important part of the economy is based on tourism: many visitors are attracted by the many beaches and the mountains. A significant part of the county lies within the Snowdonia National Park, which extends from the north coast down to the district of Meirionnydd in the south. But tourism provides seasonal employment and thus there is a shortage of jobs in the winter.

 

Agriculture is less important than in the past, especially in terms of the number of people who earn their living on the land, but it remains an important element of the economy.

 

The most important of the traditional industries is the slate industry, but these days only a small percentage of workers earn their living in the slate quarries.

 

Industries which have developed more recently include TV and sound studios: the record company Sain has its HQ in the county.

 

The education sector is also very important for the local economy, including Bangor University and Further Education colleges, Coleg Meirion-Dwyfor and Coleg Menai, both now part of Grŵp Llandrillo Menai.

 

The proportion of respondents in the 2011 census who said they could speak Welsh.

Gwynedd has the highest proportion of people in Wales who can speak Welsh. According to the 2021 census, 64.4% of the population aged three and over stated that they could speak Welsh,[7] while 64.4% noted that they could speak Welsh in the 2011 census.

 

It is estimated that 83% of the county's Welsh-speakers are fluent, the highest percentage of all counties in Wales.[9] The age group with the highest proportion of Welsh speakers in Gwynedd were those between ages 5–15, of whom 92.3% stated that they could speak Welsh in 2011.

 

The proportion of Welsh speakers in Gwynedd declined between 1991 and 2001,[10] from 72.1% to 68.7%, even though the proportion of Welsh speakers in Wales as a whole increased during that decade to 20.5%.

 

The Annual Population Survey estimated that as of March 2023, 77.0% of those in Gwynedd aged three years and above could speak Welsh.

 

Notable people

Leslie Bonnet (1902–1985), RAF officer, writer; originated the Welsh Harlequin duck in Criccieth

Sir Dave Brailsford (born 1964), cycling coach; grew up in Deiniolen, near Caernarfon

Duffy (born 1984), singer, songwriter and actress; born in Bangor, Gwynedd

Edward II of England (1284–1327), born in Caernarfon Castle

Elin Fflur (born 1984), singer-songwriter, TV and radio presenter; went to Bangor University

Bryn Fôn (born 1954), actor and singer-songwriter; born in Llanllyfni, Caernarfonshire.

Wayne Hennessey (born 1987), football goalkeeper with 108 caps for Wales; born in Bangor, Gwynedd

John Jones (c. 1530 – 1598), a Franciscan friar, Roman Catholic priest and martyr; born at Clynnog

Sir Love Jones-Parry, 1st Baronet (1832–1891), landowner and politician, co-founder of the Y Wladfa settlement in Patagonia

T. E. Lawrence (1888–1935), archaeologist, army officer and inspiration for Lawrence of Arabia, born in Tremadog

David Lloyd George (1863–1945), statesman and Prime Minister; lived in Llanystumdwy from infancy

Sasha (born 1969), disc jockey, born in Bangor, Gwynedd

Sir Bryn Terfel (born 1965), bass-baritone opera and concert singer from Pant Glas

Sir Clough Williams-Ellis (1883–1978), architect of Portmeirion

Owain Fôn Williams, (born 1987), footballer with 443 club caps; born and raised in Penygroes, Gwynedd.

Hedd Wyn (1887–1917), poet from the village of Trawsfynydd; killed in WWI

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