"The Society Italiana Di Mutuo Soccorso Guglielmo Marconi was founded on December 15, 1912. It was incorporated pursuant to the Ontario Insurance Act on August 22, 1917 as “a friendly Society transacting sick and funeral benefits,” and having its head office at the City of Sault Ste Marie, in the Province of Ontario. Since those dates the Society has evolved and expanded its objects while preserving the original objects." - from society website.

 

"Sault Ste. Marie (/ˈsuː seɪnt məˈriː/ SOO-seint-ma-REE) is a city on the St. Marys River in Ontario, Canada, close to the Canada–US border. It is the seat of the Algoma District and the third largest city in Northern Ontario, after Sudbury and Thunder Bay.

 

The Ojibwe, the indigenous Anishinaabe inhabitants of the area, call this area Baawitigong, meaning "place of the rapids." They used this as a regional meeting place during whitefish season in the St. Mary's Rapids. (The anglicized form of this name, Bawating, is used in institutional and geographic names in the area.)

 

To the south, across the river, is the United States and the Michigan city of the same name. These two communities were one city until a new treaty after the War of 1812 established the border between Canada and the United States in this area at the St. Mary's River. In the 21st century, the two cities are joined by the International Bridge, which connects Interstate 75 on the Michigan side, and Huron Street (and former Ontario Secondary Highway 550B) on the Ontario side. Shipping traffic in the Great Lakes system bypasses the Saint Mary's Rapids via the American Soo Locks, the world's busiest canal in terms of tonnage that passes through it, while smaller recreational and tour boats use the Canadian Sault Ste. Marie Canal.

 

French colonists referred to the rapids on the river as Les Saults de Ste. Marie and the village name was derived from that. The rapids and cascades of the St. Mary's River descend more than 6 m (20 ft) from the level of Lake Superior to the level of the lower lakes. Hundreds of years ago, this slowed shipping traffic, requiring an overland portage of boats and cargo from one lake to the other. The entire name translates to "Saint Mary's Rapids" or "Saint Mary's Falls". The word sault is pronounced [so] in French, and /suː/ in the English pronunciation of the city name. Residents of the city are called Saultites.

 

Sault Ste. Marie is bordered to the east by the Rankin and Garden River First Nation reserves, and to the west by Prince Township. To the north, the city is bordered by an unincorporated portion of Algoma District, which includes the local services boards of Aweres, Batchawana Bay, Goulais and District, Peace Tree and Searchmont. The city's census agglomeration, including the townships of Laird, Prince and Macdonald, Meredith and Aberdeen Additional and the First Nations reserves of Garden River and Rankin, had a total population of 79,800 in 2011.

 

Native American settlements, mostly of Ojibwe-speaking peoples, existed here for more than 500 years. In the late 17th century, French Jesuit missionaries established a mission at the First Nations village. This was followed by development of a fur trading post and larger settlement, as traders, trappers and Native Americans were attracted to the community. It was considered one community and part of Canada until after the War of 1812 and settlement of the border between Canada and the US at the Ste. Mary's River. At that time, the US prohibited British traders from any longer operating in its territory, and the areas separated by the river began to develop as two communities, both named Sault Ste. Marie." - info from Wikipedia.

 

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"You are our honoured guest, Lady Rebecca. I would invite you not to regard this in any way as a kidnapping. We have no hostile intentions towards you. But, we would prefer that you did not attempt to leave this castle until you have countersigned the appropriate documents, passing full control of your late husband's business empire over to me. And, of course, you may continue to post on social media - so long as you do not attempt to reveal the location at which these negotiations are being held..."

 

So spoke Pierre Collager, revealed once and for all to be the same individual as the mysterious "Saippuakauppias", who has been messaging me about my business affairs for several months. In the room with Collager were his henchmen "Tip" Toffee and Joe the Juice, and their presence and body language made it very clear that I would be ill-advised to attempt to leave without Collager's express permission.

 

"I hope you will be very comfortable during your stay with us, Lady Rebecca. My bodyguards have moved your things into our bridal suite, which has a beautiful view over the town and lake below. Once our business with you has been transacted, you can be swiftly on your way back to Monte Carlo."

 

"Oh dear" I thought to myself. "This is a bit of a jam I have landed in! How am I going to talk my way out of it? Talk? Maybe talk is not the way. But maybe action of a particular kind might be...."

 

Toodle Pip!

(until next time, I hope!)

xxxxxxx

Lady Rebecca Georgina Arabella Lyndon

(and still) Duchesse de la Baleine D'or

Paris 3eme

Kashgar is an oasis city with an approximate population of 350,000. It is the westernmost city in China, located near the border with Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan. Kashgar has a rich history of over 2,000 years and served as a trading post and strategically important city on the Silk Road between China, the Middle East, and Europe. Kashgar is part of the China–Pakistan Economic Corridor.

 

Located historically at the convergence point of widely varying cultures and empires, Kashgar has been under the rule of the Chinese, Turkic, Mongol, and Tibetan empires. The city has also been the site of an extraordinary number of battles between various groups of people on the steppes.

 

Now administered as a county-level unit of the People's Republic of China, Kashgar is the administrative centre of its eponymous prefecture in the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region which has an area of 162,000 square kilometres and a population of approximately 3.5 million. The city's urban area covers 15 km2, though its administrative area extends over 555 km2.

 

NAME

The modern Chinese name is 喀什 (Kāshí), a shortened form of the longer and less-frequently used (simplified Chinese: 喀什噶尔; traditional Chinese: 喀什噶爾; pinyin: Kāshígé’ěr; Uyghur: قەشقەر‎). Ptolemy (AD 90-168), in his Geography, Chapter 15.3A, refers to Kashgar as “Kasi”. Its western and probably indigenous name is the Kāš ("rock"), to which the East Iranian -γar ("mountain"); cf. Pashto and Middle Persian gar/ġar, from Old Persian/Pahlavi girīwa ("hill; ridge (of a mountain)") was attached. Alternative historical Romanizations for "Kashgar" include Cascar and Cashgar.

 

Non-native names for the city, such as the old Chinese name Shule 疏勒 and Tibetan Śu-lig may have originated as an attempts to transcribe the Sanskrit name for Kashgar, Śrīkrīrāti ("fortunate hospitality")

 

Variant transcriptions of the official Uyghur: يېڭىشەھەر‎ include: K̂äxk̂är or Kaxgar, as well as Jangi-schahr, Kashgar Yangi Shahr, K’o-shih-ka-erh, K’o-shih-ka-erh-hsin-ch’eng, Ko-shih-ka-erh-hui-ch’eng, K’o-shih-ko-erh-hsin-ch’eng, New Kashgar, Sheleh, Shuleh, Shulen, Shu-lo, Su-lo, Su-lo-chen, Su-lo-hsien, Yangi-shaar, Yangi-shahr, Yangishar, Yéngisheher, Yengixəh̨ər and Еңишәһәр.

 

HISTORY

HAN DYNASTY

The earliest mention of Kashgar occurs when a Chinese Han dynasty envoy traveled the Northern Silk Road to explore lands to the west.

 

Another early mention of Kashgar is during the Former Han (also known as the Western Han dynasty), when in 76 BC the Chinese conquered the Xiongnu, Yutian (Khotan), Sulei (Kashgar), and a group of states in the Tarim basin almost up to the foot of the Tian Shan range.

 

Ptolemy speaks of Scythia beyond the Imaus, which is in a “Kasia Regio”, probably exhibiting the name from which Kashgar and Kashgaria (often applied to the district) are formed. The country’s people practised Zoroastrianism and Buddhism before the coming of Islam.

 

In the Book of Han, which covers the period between 125 BC and 23 AD, it is recorded that there were 1,510 households, 18,647 people and 2,000 persons able to bear arms. By the time covered by the Book of the Later Han (roughly 25 to 170 AD), it had grown to 21,000 households and had 3,000 men able to bear arms.

 

The Book of the Later Han provides a wealth of detail on developments in the region:

 

"In the period of Emperor Wu [140-87 BC], the Western Regions1 were under the control of the Interior [China]. They numbered thirty-six kingdoms. The Imperial Government established a Colonel [in charge of] Envoys there to direct and protect these countries. Emperor Xuan [73-49 BC] changed this title [in 59 BC] to Protector-General.

 

Emperor Yuan [40-33 BC] installed two Wuji Colonels to take charge of the agricultural garrisons on the frontiers of the king of Nearer Jushi [Turpan].

 

During the time of Emperor Ai [6 BC-AD 1] and Emperor Ping [AD 1-5], the principalities of the Western Regions split up and formed fifty-five kingdoms. Wang Mang, after he usurped the Throne [in AD 9], demoted and changed their kings and marquises. Following this, the Western Regions became resentful, and rebelled. They, therefore, broke off all relations with the Interior [China] and, all together, submitted to the Xiongnu again.

 

The Xiongnu collected oppressively heavy taxes and the kingdoms were not able to support their demands. In the middle of the Jianwu period [AD 25-56], they each [Shanshan and Yarkand in 38, and 18 kingdoms in 45], sent envoys to ask if they could submit to the Interior [China], and to express their desire for a Protector-General. Emperor Guangwu, decided that because the Empire was not yet settled [after a long period of civil war], he had no time for outside affairs, and [therefore] finally refused his consent [in AD 45].

 

In the meantime, the Xiongnu became weaker. The king of Suoju [Yarkand], named Xian, wiped out several kingdoms. After Xian’s death [c. AD 62], they began to attack and fight each other. Xiao Yuan [Tura], Jingjue [Cadota], Ronglu [Niya], and Qiemo [Cherchen] were annexed by Shanshan [the Lop Nur region]. Qule [south of Keriya] and Pishan [modern Pishan or Guma] were conquered and fully occupied by Yutian [Khotan]. Yuli [Fukang], Danhuan, Guhu [Dawan Cheng], and Wutanzili were destroyed by Jushi [Turpan and Jimasa]. Later these kingdoms were re-established.

 

During the Yongping period [AD 58-75], the Northern Xiongnu forced several countries to help them plunder the commanderies and districts of Hexi. The gates of the towns stayed shut in broad daylight."

 

And, more particularly in reference to Kashgar itself, is the following record:

 

"In the sixteenth Yongping year of Emperor Ming 73, Jian, the king of Qiuci (Kucha), attacked and killed Cheng, the king of Shule (Kashgar). Then he appointed the Qiuci (Kucha) Marquis of the Left, Douti, King of Shule (Kashgar). ‹See TfD›

In winter 73, the Han sent the Major Ban Chao who captured and bound Douti. He appointed Zhong, the son of the elder brother of Cheng, to be king of Shule (Kashgar). Zhong later rebelled. (Ban) Chao attacked and beheaded him."

 

THE KUSHANS

The Book of the Later Han also gives the only extant historical record of Yuezhi or Kushan involvement in the Kashgar oasis:

 

"During the Yuanchu period (114-120) in the reign of Emperor, the king of Shule (Kashgar), exiled his maternal uncle Chenpan to the Yuezhi (Kushans) for some offence. The king of the Yuezhi became very fond of him. Later, Anguo died without leaving a son. His mother directed the government of the kingdom. She agreed with the people of the country to put Yifu (lit. “posthumous child”), who was the son of a full younger brother of Chenpan on the throne as king of Shule (Kashgar). Chenpan heard of this and appealed to the Yuezhi (Kushan) king, saying:

 

"Anguo had no son. His relative (Yifu) is weak. If one wants to put on the throne a member of (Anguo’s) mother’s family, I am Yifu’s paternal uncle, it is I who should be king."

 

The Yuezhi (Kushans) then sent soldiers to escort him back to Shule (Kashgar). The people had previously respected and been fond of Chenpan. Besides, they dreaded the Yuezhi (Kushans). They immediately took the seal and ribbon from Yifu and went to Chenpan, and made him king. Yifu was given the title of Marquis of the town of Pangao [90 li, or 37 km, from Shule].

 

‹See TfD›

Then Suoju (Yarkand) continued to resist Yutian (Khotan), and put themselves under Shule (Kashgar). Thus Shule (Kashgar), became powerful and a rival to Qiuci (Kucha) and Yutian (Khotan)."

 

However, it was not very long before the Chinese began to reassert their authority in the region:

 

“In the second Yongjian year (127), during Emperor Shun’s reign, Chenpan sent an envoy to respectfully present offerings. The Emperor bestowed on Chenpan the title of Great Commandant-in-Chief for the Han. Chenxun, who was the son of his elder brother, was appointed Temporary Major of the Kingdom. ‹See TfD›

In the fifth year (130), Chenpan sent his son to serve the Emperor and, along with envoys from Dayuan (Ferghana) and Suoju (Yarkand), brought tribute and offerings.”

 

From an earlier part of the same text comes the following addition:

 

“In the first Yangjia year (132), Xu You sent the king of Shule (Kashgar), Chenpan, who with 20,000 men, attacked and defeated Yutian (Khotan). He beheaded several hundred people, and released his soldiers to plunder freely. He replaced the king [of Jumi] by installing Chengguo from the family of [the previous king] Xing, and then he returned.”[38]

 

Then the first passage continues:

 

“In the second Yangjia year (133), Chenpan again made offerings (including) a lion and zebu cattle. ‹See TfD›

 

Then, during Emperor Ling’s reign, in the first Jianning year, the king of Shule (Kashgar) and Commandant-in-Chief for the Han (i.e. presumably Chenpan), was shot while hunting by the youngest of his paternal uncles, Hede. Hede named himself king.

‹See TfD›

In the third year (170), Meng Tuo, the Inspector of Liangzhou, sent the Provincial Officer Ren She, commanding five hundred soldiers from Dunhuang, with the Wuji Major Cao Kuan, and Chief Clerk of the Western Regions, Zhang Yan, brought troops from Yanqi (Karashahr), Qiuci (Kucha), and the Nearer and Further States of Jushi (Turpan and Jimasa), altogether numbering more than 30,000, to punish Shule (Kashgar). They attacked the town of Zhenzhong [Arach − near Maralbashi] but, having stayed for more than forty days without being able to subdue it, they withdrew. Following this, the kings of Shule (Kashgar) killed one another repeatedly while the Imperial Government was unable to prevent it.”

 

THREE KINGDOMS TO THE SUI

These centuries are marked by a general silence in sources on Kashgar and the Tarim Basin.

 

The Weilüe, composed in the second third of the 3rd century, mentions a number of states as dependencies of Kashgar: the kingdom of Zhenzhong (Arach?), the kingdom of Suoju (Yarkand), the kingdom of Jieshi, the kingdom of Qusha, the kingdom of Xiye (Khargalik), the kingdom of Yinai (Tashkurghan), the kingdom of Manli (modern Karasul), the kingdom of Yire (Mazar − also known as Tágh Nák and Tokanak), the kingdom of Yuling, the kingdom of Juandu (‘Tax Control’ − near modern Irkeshtam), the kingdom of Xiuxiu (‘Excellent Rest Stop’ − near Karakavak), and the kingdom of Qin.

 

However, much of the information on the Western Regions contained in the Weilüe seems to have ended roughly about (170), near the end of Han power. So, we can’t be sure that this is a reference to the state of affairs during the Cao Wei (220-265), or whether it refers to the situation before the civil war during the Later Han when China lost touch with most foreign countries and came to be divided into three separate kingdoms.

 

Chapter 30 of the Records of the Three Kingdoms says that after the beginning of the Wei Dynasty (220) the states of the Western Regions did not arrive as before, except for the larger ones such as Kucha, Khotan, Kangju, Wusun, Kashgar, Yuezhi, Shanshan and Turpan, who are said to have come to present tribute every year, as in Han times.

 

In 270, four states from the Western Regions were said to have presented tribute: Karashahr, Turpan, Shanshan, and Kucha. Some wooden documents from Niya seem to indicate that contacts were also maintained with Kashgar and Khotan around this time.

 

In 422, according to the Songshu, ch. 98, the king of Shanshan, Bilong, came to the court and "the thirty-six states in the Western Regions" all swore their allegiance and presented tribute. It must be assumed that these 36 states included Kashgar.

 

The "Songji" of the Zizhi Tongjian records that in the 5th month of 435, nine states: Kucha, Kashgar, Wusun, Yueban, Tashkurghan, Shanshan, Karashahr, Turpan and Sute all came to the Wei court.

 

In 439, according to the Weishu, ch. 4A, Shanshan, Kashgar and Karashahr sent envoys to present tribute.

 

According to the Weishu, ch. 102, Chapter on the Western Regions, the kingdoms of Kucha, Kashgar, Wusun, Yueban, Tashkurghan, Shanshan, Karashahr, Turpan and Sute all began sending envoys to present tribute in the Taiyuan reign period (435-440).

 

In 453 Kashgar sent envoys to present tribute (Weishu, ch. 5), and again in 455.

 

An embassy sent during the reign of Wencheng Di (452-466) from the king of Kashgar presented a supposed sacred relic of the Buddha; a dress which was incombustible.

 

In 507 Kashgar, is said to have sent envoys in both the 9th and 10th months (Weishu, ch. 8).

 

In 512, Kashgar sent envoys in the 1st and 5th months. (Weishu, ch. 8).

 

Early in the 6th century Kashgar is included among the many territories controlled by the Yeda or Hephthalite Huns, but their empire collapsed at the onslaught of the Western Turks between 563 and 567 who then probably gained control over Kashgar and most of the states in the Tarim Basin.

 

TANG DYNASTY

The founding of the Tang dynasty in 618 saw the beginning of a prolonged struggle between China and the Western Turks for control of the Tarim Basin. In 635, the Tang Annals reported an emissary from the king of Kashgar to the Tang capital. In 639 there was a second emissary bringing products of Kashgar as a token of submission to the Tang state.

 

Buddhist scholar Xuanzang passed through Kashgar (which he referred to as Ka-sha) in 644 on his return journey from India to China. The Buddhist religion, then beginning to decay in India, was active in Kashgar. Xuanzang recorded that they flattened their babies heads, tattooed their bodies and had green eyes. He reported that Kashgar had abundant crops, fruits and flowers, wove fine woolen stuffs and rugs. Their writing system had been adapted from Indian script but their language was different from that of other countries. The inhabitants were sincere Buddhist adherents and there were some hundreds of monasteries with more than 10,000 followers, all members of the Sarvastivadin School.

 

At around the same era, Nestorian Christians were establishing bishoprics at Herat, Merv and Samarkand, whence they subsequently proceeded to Kashgar, and finally to China proper itself.

 

In 646, the Turkic Kagan asked for the hand of a Tang Chinese princess, and in return the Emperor promised Kucha, Khotan, Kashgar, Karashahr and Sarikol as a marriage gift, but this did not happen as planned.

 

In a series of campaigns between 652 and 658, with the help of the Uyghurs, the Chinese finally defeated the Western Turk tribes and took control of all their domains, including the Tarim Basin kingdoms. Karakhoja was annexed in 640, Karashahr during campaigns in 644 and 648, and Kucha fell in 648.

 

In 662 a rebellion broke out in the Western Regions and a Chinese army sent to control it was defeated by the Tibetans south of Kashgar.

 

After another defeat of the Tang Chinese forces in 670, the Tibetans gained control of the whole region and completely subjugated Kashgar in 676-8 and retained possession of it until 692, when the Tang dynasty regained control of all their former territories, and retained it for the next fifty years.

 

In 722 Kashgar sent 4,000 troops to assist the Chinese to force the "Tibetans out of "Little Bolu" or Gilgit.

 

In 728, the king of Kashgar was awarded a brevet by the Chinese emperor.

 

In 739, the Tangshu relates that the governor of the Chinese garrison in Kashgar, with the help of Ferghana, was interfering in the affairs of the Turgesh tribes as far as Talas.

 

In 751 the Chinese were defeated by an Arab army in the Battle of Talas. The An Lushan Rebellion led to the decline of Tang influence in Central Asia due to the fact that the Tang dynasty was forced to withdraw its troops from the region to fight An Lushan. The Tibetans cut all communication between China and the West in 766.

 

Soon after the Chinese pilgrim monk Wukong passed through Kashgar in 753. He again reached Kashgar on his return trip from India in 786 and mentions a Chinese deputy governor as well as the local king.

 

BATTLES WITH ARAB CALIPHATE

In 711, the Arabs invaded Kashgar, but did not hold the city for any length of time. Kashgar and Turkestan lent assistance to the reigning queen of Bukhara, to enable her to repel the Arabs. Although the Muslim religion from the very commencement sustained checks, it nevertheless made its weight felt upon the independent states of Turkestan to the north and east, and thus acquired a steadily growing influence. It was not, however, till the 10th century that Islam was established at Kashgar, under the Kara-Khanid Khanate.

 

THE TURKIC RULE

According to the 10th-century text, Hudud al-'alam, "the chiefs of Kashghar in the days of old were from the Qarluq, or from the Yaghma." The Karluks, Yaghmas and other tribes such as the Chigils formed the Karakhanids. The Karakhanid Sultan Satuq Bughra Khan converted to Islam in the 10th century and captured Kashgar. Kashgar was the capital of the Karakhanid state for a time but later the capital was moved to Balasaghun. During the latter part of the 10th century, the Muslim Karakhanids began a struggle against the Buddhist Kingdom of Khotan, and the Khotanese defeated the Karakhanids and captured Kashgar in 970. Chinese sources recorded the king of Khotan offering to send them a dancing elephant captured from Kashgar. Later in 1006, the Karakhanids of Kashgar under Yusuf Kadr Khan conquered Khotan.

 

The Karakhanid Khanate however was beset with internal strife, and the khanate split into two, the Eastern and Western Karakhanid Khanates, with Kashgar falling within the domain of the Eastern Karakhanid state. In 1089, the Western Karakhanids fell under the control of the Seljuks, but the Eastern Karakhanids was for the most part independent.

 

Both the Karakhanid states were defeated in the 12th century by the Kara-Khitans who captured Balasaghun, however Karakhanid rule continued in Kashgar under the suzerainty of the Kara-Khitans. The Kara-Khitan rulers followed a policy of religious tolerance, Islamic religious life continued uninterrupted and Kashgar was also a Nestorian metropolitan see. The last Karakhanid of Kashgar was killed in a revolt in 1211 by the city's notables. Kuchlug, a usurper of the throne of the Kara-Khitans, then attacked Kashgar which finally surrendered in 1214.

 

THE MONGOLS

The Kara-Khitai in their turn were swept away in 1219 by Genghis Khan. After his death, Kashgar came under the rule of the Chagatai Khans. Marco Polo visited the city, which he calls Cascar, about 1273-4 and recorded the presence of numerous Nestorian Christians, who had their own churches. Later In the 14th century, a Chagataid khan Tughluq Timur converted to Islam, and Islamic tradition began to reassert its ascendancy.

 

In 1389−1390 Tamerlane ravaged Kashgar, Andijan and the intervening country. Kashgar endured a troubled time, and in 1514, on the invasion of the Khan Sultan Said, was destroyed by Mirza Ababakar, who with the aid of ten thousand men built a new fort with massive defences higher up on the banks of the Tuman river. The dynasty of the Chagatai Khans collapsed in 1572 with the division of the country among rival factions; soon after, two powerful Khoja factions, the White and Black Mountaineers (Ak Taghliq or Afaqi, and Kara Taghliq or Ishaqi), arose whose differences and war-making gestures, with the intermittent episode of the Oirats of Dzungaria, make up much of recorded history in Kashgar until 1759. The Dzungar Khanate conquered Kashgar and set up the Khoja as their puppet rulers.

 

QING CONQUEST

The Qing dynasty defeated the Dzungar Khanate during the Ten Great Campaigns and took control of Kashgar in 1759. The conquerors consolidated their authority by settling other ethnics emigrants in the vicinity of a Manchu garrison.

 

Rumours flew around Central Asia that the Qing planned to launch expeditions towards Transoxiana and Samarkand, the chiefs of which sought assistance from the Afghan king Ahmed Shah Abdali. The alleged expedition never happened so Ahmad Shah withdrew his forces from Kokand. He also dispatched an ambassador to Beijing to discuss the situation of the Afaqi Khojas, but the representative was not well received, and Ahmed Shah was too busy fighting off the Sikhs to attempt to enforce his demands through arms.

The Qing continued to hold Kashgar with occasional interruptions during the Afaqi Khoja revolts. One of the most serious of these occurred in 1827, when the city was taken by Jahanghir Khoja; Chang-lung, however, the Qing general of Ili, regained possession of Kashgar and the other rebellious cities in 1828.

 

The Kokand Khanate raided Kashgar several times. A revolt in 1829 under Mahommed Ali Khan and Yusuf, brother of Jahanghir resulted in the concession of several important trade privileges to the Muslims of the district of Altishahr (the "six cities"), as it was then called.

 

The area enjoyed relative calm until 1846 under the rule of Zahir-ud-din, the local Uyghur governor, but in that year a new Khoja revolt under Kath Tora led to his accession as the authoritarian ruler of the city. However, his reign was brief—at the end of seventy-five days, on the approach of the Chinese, he fled back to Khokand amid the jeers of the inhabitants. The last of the Khoja revolts (1857) was of about equal duration, and took place under Wali-Khan, who murdered the well-known traveler Adolf Schlagintweit.

 

1862 CHINESE HUI REVOLT

The great Dungan revolt (1862–1877) involved insurrection among various Muslim ethnic groups. It broke out in 1862 in Gansu then spread rapidly to Dzungaria and through the line of towns in the Tarim Basin.

 

Dungan troops based in Yarkand rose and in August 1864 massacred some seven thousand Chinese and their Manchu commander. The inhabitants of Kashgar, rising in their turn against their masters, invoked the aid of Sadik Beg, a Kyrgyz chief, who was reinforced by Buzurg Khan, the heir of Jahanghir Khoja, and his general Yakub Beg. The latter men were dispatched at Sadik’s request by the ruler of Khokand to raise what troops they could to aid his Muslim friends in Kashgar.

 

Sadik Beg soon repented of having asked for a Khoja, and eventually marched against Kashgar, which by this time had succumbed to Buzurg Khan and Yakub Beg, but was defeated and driven back to Khokand. Buzurg Khan delivered himself up to indolence and debauchery, but Yakub Beg, with singular energy and perseverance, made himself master of Yangi Shahr, Yangi-Hissar, Yarkand and other towns, and eventually became sole master of the country, Buzurg Khan proving himself totally unfit for the post of ruler.

 

With the overthrow of Chinese rule in 1865 by Yakub Beg (1820–1877), the manufacturing industries of Kashgar are supposed to have declined.

 

Yaqub Beg entered into relations and signed treaties with the Russian Empire and the British Empire, but when he tried to get their support against China, he failed.

 

Kashgar and the other cities of the Tarim Basin remained under Yakub Beg’s rule until May 1877, when he died at Korla. Thereafter Kashgaria was reconquered by the forces of the Qing general Zuo Zongtang during the Qing reconquest of Xinjiang.

 

QING RULE

There were eras in Xinjiang's history where intermarriage was common, "laxity" which set upon Uyghur women led them to marry Chinese men and not wear the veil in the period after Yaqub Beg's rule ended, it is also believed by Uyghurs that some Uyghurs have Han Chinese ancestry from historical intermarriage, such as those living in Turpan.

 

Even though Muslim women are forbidden to marry non-Muslims in Islamic law, from 1880-1949 it was frequently violated in Xinjiang since Chinese men married Muslim Turki (Uyghur) women, a reason suggested by foriengers that it was due to the women being poor, while the Turki women who married Chinese were labelled as whores by the Turki community, these marriages were illegitimate according to Islamic law but the women obtained benefits from marrying Chinese men since the Chinese defended them from Islamic authorities so the women were not subjected to the tax on prostitution and were able to save their income for themselves. Chinese men gave their Turki wives privileges which Turki men's wives did not have, since the wives of Chinese did not have to wear a veil and a Chinese man in Kashgar once beat a mullah who tried to force his Turki Kashgari wife to veil. The Turki women also benefited in that they were not subjected to any legal binding to their Chinese husbands so they could make their Chinese husbands provide them with as much their money as she wanted for her relatives and herself since otherwise the women could just leave, and the property of Chinese men was left to their Turki wives after they died. Turki women considered Turki men to be inferior husbands to Chinese and Hindus. Because they were viewed as "impure", Islamic cemeteries banned the Turki wives of Chinese men from being buried within them, the Turki women got around this problem by giving shrines donations and buying a grave in other towns. Besides Chinese men, other men such as Hindus, Armenians, Jews, Russians, and Badakhshanis intermarried with local Turki women. The local society accepted the Turki women and Chinese men's mixed offspring as their own people despite the marriages being in violation of Islamic law. Turki women also conducted temporary marriages with Chinese men such as Chinese soldiers temporarily stationed around them as soldiers for tours of duty, after which the Chinese men returned to their own cities, with the Chinese men selling their mixed daughters with the Turki women to his comrades, taking their sons with them if they could afford it but leaving them if they couldn't, and selling their temporary Turki wife to a comrade or leaving her behind.

 

An anti-Russian uproar broke out when Russian customs officials, 3 Cossacks and a Russian courier invited local Turki (Uyghur) prostitutes to a party in January 1902 in Kashgar, this caused a massive brawl by the inflamed local Turki Muslim populace against the Russians on the pretense of protecting Muslim women because there was anti-Russian sentiment being built up, even though morality was not strict in Kashgar, the local Turki Muslims violently clashed with the Russians before they were dispersed by guards, the Chinese sought to end to tensions to prevent the Russians from building up a pretext to invade.

 

After the riot, the Russians sent troops to Sarikol in Tashkurghan and demanded that the Sarikol postal services be placed under Russian supervision, the locals of Sarikol believed that the Russians would seize the entire district from the Chinese and send more soldiers even after the Russians tried to negotiate with the Begs of Sarikol and sway them to their side, they failed since the Sarikoli officials and authorities demanded in a petition to the Amban of Yarkand that they be evacuated to Yarkand to avoid being harassed by the Russians and objected to the Russian presence in Sarikol, the Sarikolis did not believe the Russian claim that they would leave them alone and only involved themselves in the mail service.

 

Many of the young Kashgari women were most attractive in appearance, and some of the little girls quite lovely, their plaits of long hair falling from under a jaunty little embroidered cap, their big dark eyes, flashing teeth and piquant olive faces reminding me of Italian or Spanish children. One most beautiful boy stands out in my memory. He was clad in a new shirt and trousers of flowered pink, his crimson velvet cap embroidered with gold, and as he smiled and salaamed to us I thought he looked like a fairy prince. The women wear their hair in two or five plaits much thickened and lengthened by the addition of yak's hair, but the children in several tiny plaits.

 

The peasants are fairly well off, as the soil is rich, the abundant water-supply free, and the taxation comparatively light. It was always interesting to meet them taking their live stock into market. Flocks of sheep with tiny lambs, black and white, pattered along the dusty road; here a goat followed its master like a dog, trotting behind the diminutive ass which the farmer bestrode; or boys, clad in the whity-brown native cloth, shouted incessantly at donkeys almost invisible under enormous loads of forage, or carried fowls and ducks in bunches head downwards, a sight that always made me long to come to the rescue of the luckless birds.

 

It was pleasant to see the women riding alone on horseback, managing their mounts to perfection. They formed a sharp contrast to their Persian sisters, who either sit behind their husbands or have their steeds led by the bridle; and instead of keeping silence in public, as is the rule for the shrouded women of Iran, these farmers' wives chaffered and haggled with the men in the bazar outside the city, transacting business with their veils thrown back.

 

Certainly the mullas do their best to keep the fair sex in their place, and are in the habit of beating those who show their faces in the Great Bazar. But I was told that poetic justice had lately been meted out to one of these upholders of the law of Islam, for by mistake he chastised a Kashgari woman married to a Chinaman, whereupon the irate husband set upon him with a big stick and castigated him soundly.

 

That a Muslim should take in marriage one of alien faith is not objected to; it is rather deemed a meritorious act thus to bring an unbeliever to the true religion. The Muslim woman, on the other hand, must not be given in marriage to a non-Muslim; such a union is regarded as the most heinous of sins. In this matter, however, compromises are sometimes made with heaven: the marriage of a Turki princess with the emperor Ch'ien-lung has already been referred to; and, when the present writer passed through Minjol (a day's journey west of Kashgar) in 1902, a Chinese with a Turki wife (? concubine) was presented to him.

 

FIRST EAST TURKESTAN REPUBLIC

Kashgar was the scene of continual battles from 1933 to 1934. Ma Shaowu, a Chinese Muslim, was the Tao-yin of Kashgar, and he fought against Uyghur rebels. He was joined by another Chinese Muslim general, Ma Zhancang.

 

BATTLE OF KASHGAR (1933)

Uighur and Kirghiz forces, led by the Bughra brothers and Tawfiq Bay, attempted to take the New City of Kashgar from Chinese Muslim troops under General Ma Zhancang. They were defeated.

 

Tawfiq Bey, a Syrian Arab traveler, who held the title Sayyid (descendent of prophet Muhammed) and arrived at Kashgar on August 26, 1933, was shot in the stomach by the Chinese Muslim troops in September. Previously Ma Zhancang arranged to have the Uighur leader Timur Beg killed and beheaded on August 9, 1933, displaying his head outside of Id Kah Mosque.

 

Han chinese troops commanded by Brigadier Yang were absorbed into Ma Zhancang's army. A number of Han chinese officers were spotted wearing the green uniforms of Ma Zhancang's unit of the 36th division, presumably they had converted to Islam.

 

BATTLE OF KASHGAR (1934)

The 36th division General Ma Fuyuan led a Chinese Muslim army to storm Kashgar on February 6, 1934, attacking the Uighur and Kirghiz rebels of the First East Turkestan Republic. He freed another 36th division general, Ma Zhancang, who was trapped with his Chinese Muslim and Han Chinese troops in Kashgar New City by the Uighurs and Kirghiz since May 22, 1933. In January, 1934, Ma Zhancang's Chinese Muslim troops repulsed six Uighur attacks, launched by Khoja Niyaz, who arrived at the city on January 13, 1934, inflicting massive casualties on the Uighur forces. From 2,000 to 8,000 Uighur civilians in Kashgar Old City were massacred by Tungans in February, 1934, in revenge for the Kizil massacre, after retreating of Uighur forces from the city to Yengi Hisar. The Chinese Muslim and 36th division Chief General Ma Zhongying, who arrived at Kashgar on April 7, 1934, gave a speech at Id Kah Mosque in April, reminding the Uighurs to be loyal to the Republic of China government at Nanjing. Several British citizens at the British consulate were killed or wounded by the 36th division on March 16, 1934.

 

PEOPLE´S REPUBLIC OF CHINA

Kashgar was incorporated into the People's Republic of China in 1949. During the Cultural Revolution, one of the largest statues of Mao in China was built in Kashgar, near People's Square. In 1986, the Chinese government designated Kashgar a "city of historical and cultural significance". Kashgar and surrounding regions have been the site of Uyghur unrest since the 1990s. In 2008, two Uyghur men carried out a vehicular, IED and knife attack against police officers. In 2009, development of Kashgar's old town accelerated after the revelations of the deadly role of faulty architecture during the 2008 Sichuan earthquake. Many of the old houses in the old town were built without regulation, and as a result, officials found them to be overcrowded and non-compliant with fire and earthquake codes. When the plan started, 42% of the city's residents lived in the old town. With compensation, residents of faulty buildings are being counseled to move to newer, safer buildings that will replace the historic structures in the $448 million plan, including high-rise apartments, plazas, and reproductions of ancient Islamic architecture. The European Parliament issued a resolution in 2011 calling for "culture-sensitive methods of renovation." The International Scientific Committee on Earthen Architectural Heritage (ISCEAH) has expressed concern over the demolition and reconstruction of historic buildings. ISCEAH has, additionally, urged the implementation of techniques utilized elsewhere in the world to address earthquake vulnerability.

 

Following the July 2009 Urumqi riots, the government focused on local economic development in an attempt to ameliorate ethnic tensions in the greater Xinjiang region. Kashgar was made into a Special Economic Zone in 2010, the first such zone in China's far west. In 2011, a spate of violence over two days killed dozens of people. By May 2012 two-thirds of the old city had been demolished, fulfilling "political as well as economic goals." In July 2014 the Imam of the Id Kah Mosque, Juma Tayir, was assassinated in Kashgar.

 

CLIMATE

Kashgar features a desert climate (Köppen BWk) with hot summers and cold winters, with large temperature differences between those two seasons: The monthly 24-hour average temperature ranges from −5.3 °C in January to 25.6 °C in July, while the annual mean is 11.84 °C. Spring is long and arrives quickly, while fall is somewhat brief in comparison. Kashgar is one of the driest cities on the planet, averaging only 64 millimetres of precipitation per year. The city’s wettest month, July, only sees on average 9.1 millimetres of rain. Because of the extremely arid conditions, snowfall is rare, despite the cold winters. Records have been as low as −24.4 °C in January and up to 40.1 °C in July. The frost-free period averages 215 days. With monthly percent possible sunshine ranging from 50% in March to 70% in September, the city receives 2,726 hours of bright sunshine annually.

 

DEMOGRAPHICS

Kashgar is predominately peopled by Muslim Uyghurs. Compared to Ürümqi, Xinjiang's capital and largest city, Kashgar is less industrial and has significantly fewer Han Chinese residents.

 

ECONOMICS AND SOCIETY

The city has a very important Sunday market. Thousands of farmers from the surrounding fertile lands come into the city to sell a wide variety of fruit and vegetables. Kashgar’s livestock market is also very lively. Silk and carpets made in Hotan are sold at bazaars, as well as local crafts, such as copper teapots and wooden jewellery boxes.

 

In order to boost the economy in Kashgar region, the government classified the area as the sixth Special Economic Zone of China in May 2010.

 

Mahmud al-Kashgari (Turkish: Kâşgarlı Mahmud) (Mahmut from Kashgar) wrote the first Turkic–Arabic Exemplary Dictionary called Divan-ı Lugat-it Türk[citation needed]

 

The movie The Kite Runner was filmed in Kashgar. Kashgar and the surrounding countryside stood in for Kabul and Afghanistan, since filming in Afghanistan was not possible due to safety and security reasons.

 

SIGHTS

Kashgar's Old City has been called "the best-preserved example of a traditional Islamic city to be found anywhere in Central Asia". It is estimated to attract more than one million tourists annually.

 

- Id Kah Mosque, the largest mosque in China, is located in the heart of the city.

- People's Park, the main public park in central Kashgar.

- An 18 m high statue of Mao Zedong in Kashgar is one of the few large-scale statues of Mao remaining in China.

- The tomb of Afaq Khoja in Kashgar is considered the holiest Muslim site in Xinjiang. Built in the 17th century, the tiled mausoleum 5 km northeast of the city centre also contains the tombs of five generations of his family. Abakh was a powerful ruler, controlling Khotan, Yarkand, Korla, Kucha and Aksu as well as Kashgar. Among some Uyghur Muslims, he was considered a great Saint (Aulia).

- Sunday Market in Kashgar is renowned as the biggest market in central Asia; a pivotal trading point along the Silk Road where goods have been traded for more than 2,000 years. The market is open every day but Sunday is the largest.

 

TRANSPORTATION

AIR

Kashgar Airport serves mainly domestic flights, the majority of them from Urumqi. The only scheduled international flights are passenger and cargo services with Pakistan's capital Islamabad.

 

RAIL

Kashgar has the westernmost railway station in China. It is connected to the rest of China's rail network via the Southern Xinjiang Railway, which was built in December 1999. Kashgar–Hotan Railway opened for passenger traffic in June 2011, and connected Kashgar with cities in the southern Tarim Basin including Shache (Yarkand), Yecheng (Kargilik) and Hotan. Travel time to Urumqi from Kashgar is approximately 25 hours, while travel time to Hotan is approximately ten hours.

 

The investigation work of a further extension of the railway line to Pakistan has begun. In November 2009, Pakistan and China agreed to set up a joint venture to do a feasibility study of the proposed rail link via the Khunjerab Pass.

 

Proposals for a rail connection to Osh in Kyrgyzstan have also been discussed at various levels since at least 1996.

 

In 2012, a standard gauge railway from Kashgar via Tajikistan and Afghanistan to Iran and beyond has been proposed.

 

ROAD

The Karakorum highway (KKH) links Islamabad, Pakistan with Kashgar over the Khunjerab Pass. The China–Pakistan Economic Corridor is a multibillion-dollar project was that will upgrade transport links between China and Pakistan, including the upgrades to the Karakorum highway. Bus routes exist for passenger travel south into Pakistan. Kyrgyzstan is also accessible from Kashgar, via the Torugart Pass and Irkeshtam Pass; as of summer 2007, daily bus service connects Kashgar with Bishkek’s Western Bus Terminal. Kashgar is also located on China National Highways G314 (which runs to Khunjerab Pass on the Sino−Pakistani border, and, in the opposite direction, towards Ürümqi), and G315, which runs to Xining, Qinghai from Kashgar.

 

WIKIPEDIA

TRANSACT 14 / TUES / SESSIONS

It seems a lifetime ago, but in fact was just four weeks gone, that Jools came up to meet with me in Godmanchester before going to see Mum in Papworth.

 

I chose Godmanchester because a contact/friend on GWUK had published shots from there, and it looked interesting, and was a ten minute drive from the hospital.

 

The spire of St Mary can be seen from almost everywhere in the town, drawing me in like a flame to a moth. And thankfully it was open.

 

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My children both had their birthdays the same weekend, and announced plans to invite all their friends from around the country to spend the weekend and to go out together, fifty or so of them, some of them staying over. They'd have a party in the back garden first, my son DJing. They are good children, generally trustworthy, and their mother promised to keep an eye on them. Smiling, nodding, I reached for the Holiday Inn Express website and booked myself a Saturday night at Huntingdon Holiday Inn. Two days of exploring the churches of south-west Cambridgeshire were in prospect.

 

The plan for Day One was to circumnavigate Grafham Water, the great reservoir created to serve Cambridge and Peterborough in the 1960s, taking in all the churches along the way. The slight crimp in the plan is that, to retain the rural nature of the area and to stop traffic cutting between A1 and A14, there is no road running to the north of Grafham Water other than the A14, although using the OS Landranger map I was able to piece together what I thought would be enough bridleways, byways and permissive cycle tracks to achieve this object. During the day I would visit thirteen new churches, all of which were open except for two, and they had keyholder notices.

 

It was a really hot day, and I didn't want to overstretch myself, so I made a leisurely start from Ipswich arriving in Huntingdon at about half past ten. Huntingdon is a small town really, barely 30,000 people, and it is separated by the Ouse from the older town of Godmanchester, pronounced god-m'n-chester, my first port of call. Indeed, Godmanchester is Cambridgeshire's oldest town, a major Roman settlement where Ermine Street crossed the road from Colchester to Chester. In Roman times it was the third biggest place in the east of England after Colchester and Lincoln, and was there long before Peterborough, Huntingdon and Cambridge were a twinkle in the celestial milkman's eye.

 

The Ouse and its water meadows are wide enough to make Huntingdon and Godmanchester seem separate places. For a town of less than 10,000 people it is really grand, with lots of 18th Century buildings and a delightful setting along the Ouse with islands and a park.

 

It was already shaping up into a bright, warm summer day as I reached the huge church, one of the biggest in the county, and typical in style of the Ouse valley. The spire is a familiar sight from the A14 rising above the mill on the river below. The nave south aisle you step into is alone bigger than many churches. A wide, gloomy interior, with acres of Kempe glass leavened somewhat by a good, big Burne-Jones window in the south aisle. Very urban, but with plenty of evidence of the borough's importance up until the 18th Century, at which time it was of equal size with neighbouring Huntingdon. But the Industrial Revolution changed all that. All very impressive, but not a place to gladden the heart.

 

And so, I headed south.

 

www.flickr.com/photos/norfolkodyssey/sets/72157653449416853/

 

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Godmundcestre (xi cent.), Gutmuncetre, Gudmencestre, Gumencestre, Guncestre (xii cent.), Gumecestre, Gurmundcestre (xiii cent.), Godmanchester (xiv cent.).

 

The parish and borough of Godmanchester, (fn. 1) which are co-terminous, contain 4,832 acres of land and 75 acres of land covered by water. The River Ouse forms the northern boundary and divides Godmanchester from the borough of Huntingdon. The land near to the river is liable to floods, but the ground rises gradually to the south, where it is mostly arable. The population is chiefly occupied in agriculture, and in 1921 numbered 2,035 persons. In the 17th century Godmanchester was described as 'a very great county Toune, and of as great name for tillage; situate in an open ground, of a light mould, and bending to ye sun.' (fn. 2) In 1604 the borough charter tells of like conditions, and especially exempted the store horses and others employed in agriculture from the king's service. (fn. 3) The inhabitants boasted that they had formerly received kings on their progress with a pageant of nine score ploughs, (fn. 4) but in the royal progresses to and from Scotland in 1633 the borough apparently only presented Charles I and his queen with pieces of plate. (fn. 5) Later records mention feasts at the election of town officials, (fn. 6) but in the 16th century the bailiffs contributed from the town funds to many entertainments, such as bear-baiting, visits of players and of the Lord of Misrule from Offord Cluny. (fn. 7)

 

Of other industries besides agriculture, coal porterage on the Ouse was formerly an important business, and in the last century a tan-yard, jute factory, iron foundry and brick works existed, and basket-making was also carried on. (fn. 8) At the present day a stocking factory at the bridge provides a considerable amount of work, and there is also a flour mill.

 

There is a railway station near Huntingdon Bridge which is a junction for the London Midland and Scottish Railway and the London and North Eastern Railway.

 

The parish was inclosed by private Act of Parliament in 1803, (fn. 9) and the award is in the possession of the Corporation. Preserved at the Court Hall, (fn. 10) is a remarkable series of records, dating from the charter of King John in 1212 to the present day. These materials were used by Robert Fox, one of the bailiffs of the borough in 1831–2, in his History of Godmanchester. (fn. 11) Other natives of Godmanchester who may be mentioned are William of Godmanchester, who was elected Abbot of Ramsey in 1267, (fn. 12) and Stephen Marshall, the Parliamentarian divine and one of the authors of Smectymnuus, (fn. 13) published in 1641.

 

The town seems to have arisen on the site of a Roman settlement here, which has already been described. (fn. 14) Its lay-out, however, has apparently been changed to suit the later requirements of a market town. Ermine Street, the Roman road from London to the north, and the Roman roads from Sandy and the south and from Cambridge, which joined it, stop abruptly at the points where they touch what is supposed to be the site of the Roman town, and their place is taken by a road which almost circuits the medieval town and so links them up. It was customary in most medieval market towns to arrange the lay-out of the streets so as to compel the traffic to pass through the market place and pay toll. It would appear that Godmanchester was laid out in this way as a market town, although there is little evidence of an early market here. The road from St. Neots to Huntingdon enters the town by West Street towards the south end of what was intended for the market place and passes that from Cambridge towards the north end, by East Street. In the same way the traffic to and from London and the north is carried by the road on the west side of the town, through the same place.

 

Entering the town from Huntingdon on the north, after crossing Huntingdon Bridge, which has already been described, (fn. 15) the road passes over a causeway which was apparently of ancient construction, as we find that in 1279 its repair was charged on a meadow in the tenure of the prior of St. Mary's, Huntingdon. (fn. 16) In 1331 it was rebuilt (fn. 17) and in 1433 it appears that the road was carried over a series of small bridges. (fn. 18) The causeway was again rebuilt in 1637 by Robert Cooke as a thank-offering for his escape from drowning in a flood here. A stone in the parapet of the southern of the two bridges, each of eight arches, of which the causeway is composed, bears an inscription copied from an earlier one, 'Robertus Cooke ex aquis emersus hoc viatoribus sacrum D.D. 1637.' The bridges underwent repairs in 1767 and were rebuilt in 1784. The causeway (fn. 19) now forms a fine wide approach to the town, with many half-timbered houses of the 17th century and later, on either side. At the north-west corner of East Street stood the vicarage, a 17th-century house, lately demolished; adjoining it on the east side is Church Lane, leading to St. Mary's Church. A little to the east on the south side of East Street is a range of three picturesque half-timber houses with overhanging upper story and an overhanging gable at the west end. The western of the two original chimney stacks bears the date 1611 and the eastern 1613. Over a fireplace in the east room on the first floor are painted the Stuart royal arms with the initials I.R. for James I. There are other 17th-century houses in East Street. Opposite to East Street in the Causeway is the New Court or Town Hall, built in 1844, at which time this part of the Causeway was raised 2 ft. The Town Hall was largely rebuilt in 1899. (fn. 20) Queen Elizabeth's Grammar School, a brick building with tiled roof, built about 1560, faces the new Court Hall. It originally consisted of a hall and two-storied porch, bearing above the window of the upper story the inscription 'Eliz. Reg. hujus scholae fundatrix,' over which is a sundial bearing the words 'Sibi Aliisque.' It was restored in 1851 and some buildings were added on the north side. Near the school was the 'cage' for the temporary safeguarding of prisoners, which was built in 1687. The governors of the school, however, complained that the position was 'very inconvenient and unapt,' and so the overseers were ordered to build it near the Court Hall Yard. (fn. 21) In the main street, probably opposite St. Ann's Lane, was a cross called St. Ann's Cross, mentioned in 1526 (fn. 22) and 1545, (fn. 23) and may have existed as early as 1279; tenants of Godmanchester are described as 'ad crucem.' (fn. 24) The road south to old Court Hall was then apparently called Post Street and later Silver Street. Pinfold Lane, which goes off eastward, is referred to in 1539. (fn. 25) In it are the almshouses erected in 1738 by Mrs. Barbary Manser for four dwellings and rebuilt in 1859 for two dwellings. In West Street are some 17th-century half-timber houses, and on the outskirts of the town is a timber and plaster house, formerly the 'Shepherd and Dog' Inn, which bears the date 1593 in the south-west gable. The upper story formerly projected, but has been underbuilt in brick. Further west on the opposite side is Belle Isle House, a 17th-century half-timber house. Returning to the main street, the house at the northeast corner of the island site has an overhanging upper story. Near this spot stood the Horse Shoe Inn in Post Street, (fn. 26) where much of the business of the town was transacted. Southward is Old Courthall, called from the place where the Court Hall, which was pulled down in 1844, formerly stood at the junction of Silver Street and the old bridle road running to Toseland. (fn. 27) At first apparently the hall was only a covered inclosure (fn. 28) in which the view of frankpledge was held, the courts and council meetings or 'parvis' being frequently held in private houses, a custom which persisted even after the Court House was built in 1508. (fn. 29) The Court House was apparently a half-timber building with overhanging gables, and around the walls in the hall were oak benches for the bailiffs. (fn. 30) Near the hall was the 'Pondefolde,' before the gates of the prior of Merton, which may be identified with the town pound, from which Pinfold Lane possibly took its name. Here the king had the right to impound the cattle distrained at the hundred court. (fn. 31) In Old Courthall are two 17th-century inns, the Queen Victoria Inn, a timber and plaster house with overhanging upper story, and the Red Lion Inn, a brick house. Corpus Christi Lane no doubt takes its name from the gild of that name which existed in the town in the 15th century. Here and in Duck End are some 17th-century cottages.

 

Ermine Street, which is not on the site of the original street of that name, comprises some interesting 17th-century houses, particularly Tudor House, of timber and plaster, at the north end of the street. It bears the date 1600 in the south gable and 1603 on the doorway. There are also two other good timber and plaster houses of a later date in the street. On the Cambridge Road is a 16th-century half-timber house, and also a brick house with a stone panel bearing the date 1714. On the west side of the London Road, on the outskirts of the town, is Porch Farm, a 16th-century house which takes its name from a picturesque wooden porch with brick base added at the end of the century; on the opposite side of the road is Lookers Farm, a 17th-century house with a good chimney stack.

 

MANOR

 

¶The manor of GODMANCHESTER was held by Edward the Confessor as 14 hides. (fn. 32) It was valued at £40 a year, which was a sum which it paid in 1086 to William the Conqueror, who succeeded to it as crown land. (fn. 33) Thus, as ancient demesne of the crown, it acquired certain privileges and obligations. (fn. 34) Before Michaelmas, 1190, (fn. 35) Richard I granted Godmanchester to David Earl of Huntingdon, at the increased farm of £50 to hold at the king's pleasure. (fn. 36) In 1194 a new grant in fee was made to the earl and his heirs. (fn. 37) The manor appears to have been in King John's hands in 1199, (fn. 38) but in the same year a new charter was obtained by the earl, (fn. 39) who held it in 1210–12 by the service of one knight's fee. (fn. 40) It again came into the king's hands in 1212, perhaps the most important date in the history of Godmanchester, for in that year King John granted the manor to 'the men of Godmanchester' to hold at the fee-farm rent of £120 a year. (fn. 41) Subsequent grants of the manor by Henry III in 1217 to Faulkes de Breauté, (fn. 42) in 1224 to the Master of the Templars for a debt, (fn. 43) and in 1236 to Eleanor of Provence as part of her dower, (fn. 44) were presumably grants of the rent only. In 1267 the fee-farm rent was granted to Edmund Earl of Lancaster, the king's second son, to hold by military service. (fn. 45) Queen Eleanor, as a widow, unsuccessfully sued her son in 1278 for the manor. (fn. 46) The possession of the rent was also complicated by the claims of Margaret Countess of Derby, one of the eventual co-heiresses of David of Huntingdon. (fn. 47) She seems to have obtained a grant of the manor from Edward I, and a similar grant was made by Edmund for her life at the annual rent of 12d. (fn. 48) Many of her receipts to the town for the fee-farm rent are still in existence. (fn. 49) On her death it reverted to the earls of Lancaster and the manor formed part of the Duchy of Lancaster, finally merging in the crown on the accession of Henry IV. (fn. 50) In 1662, Charles II granted the annual fee-farm rent to Edward Earl of Sandwich, (fn. 51) and it is still paid by the borough to the present Earl of Sandwich.

 

The charter of 1212 had transferred all the manorial rights at Godmanchester to the men of the manor to hold from the king and his heirs. (fn. 52) The privileges attached to the manor are not specified, but David Earl of Huntingdon had sac and soc, toll and theam and infangenthief, (fn. 53) and these, with possibly further rights, were exercised by the men of Godmanchester. The grant made the town, what is somewhat rare, a self-governing manor or liberty. It did not become a borough, and except the right of self-government, and the custom of borough-English, had none of the usually accepted marks of a borough. The charter was confirmed by Edward I, Edward III, Richard II, Henry IV, Henry V, Henry VI, Edward IV, Henry VII, Henry VIII, Edward VI, Mary and Elizabeth. (fn. 54) Richard II, however, added a definite list of the privileges enjoyed by the men of Godmanchester. In 1381 he recognised that they and their predecessors in virtue of the charter of 1212 had the chattels of felons and fugitives and waifs and strays, (fn. 55) but in his charter of 1392 they were to have chattels of felons, fugitives, suicides, outlaws and those who renounce the realm of England, infangenthief, outfangenthief, and all forfeitures within the manor, both from residents and foreigners. (fn. 56) He also expressly confirmed their privilege as tenants of ancient demesne, of freedom from toll and similar dues throughout the kingdom. (fn. 57)

 

The earlier development of the manor from pre-Conquest days, which enabled the men of Godmanchester to obtain a grant of self-government, is unfortunately obscure. We learn little from the Domesday Survey (1086) as to the status of the inhabitants, but it seems probable that the 80 villiens and 16 bordars of Godmanchester, there recorded, (fn. 58) had been a community of free sokemen, holding their lands for a rent payable to the king; indeed in 1279 the tenants of Godmanchester all claimed to be and were accepted as free sokemen, with no bondmen among them. (fn. 59) The pre-Conquest organisation seems to have persisted to some extent during the 12th century, when payments to the sheriff are entered on the Pipe Rolls as due from the commonalty (communis) of Godmanchester. (fn. 60) As already pointed out, the payment of £40 from the manor in 1066 represented the amount received by the king, and it is possible that each holding was already assessed to pay its share of this sum annually. Such a practice was certainly established after 1212, and in 1279 over 500 tenements were assessed for payment of the fee-farm rent, generally at the rate of 8d. an acre. (fn. 61) The system i still in existence, each acre now paying 1d. towards the rent.

 

The most important result of the grant of the manor was that the king's officers ceased to hold the courts, though the phrases 'the King's manor' or in Elizabeth's reign 'the Queen's court' remained in use. (fn. 62) In 1286 the two town bailiffs claimed on behalf of themselves and the commonalty of the town to have gallows and to hold the view of frankpledge freely, but it was proved that they paid an annual fine of 20s. to the sheriff for the privilege. (fn. 63) In the 15th century the Duchy court decreed that this payment should no longer be made to the sheriff. (fn. 64) The bailiffs also held the usual three-weeks court of the manor, which was peculiarly important on the ancient demesne of the crown. The court rolls are preserved at Godmanchester from 1271; at first no distinction is made in the headings of the rolls between the two courts, the view only being distinguished by the presence of the 12 jurors. (fn. 65) By 1324, however, the roll of the view was kept separately, (fn. 66) though the regular series of rolls does not begin until the reign of Edward III.

 

The privileges of the liberty of Godmanchester oelonged to the tenants of holdings assessed to the payment of the fee-farm rent, their sons, daughters and widows. (fn. 67) Sons were admitted on reaching the age of twenty, daughters at sixteen. (fn. 68) Foreigners, or those living outside the manor, were also admitted to the freedom of the town at the three-weeks court, by the consent of the commonalty, on payment of a fine and the taking of an oath. (fn. 69) Sureties were required during the 15th century, but the custom disappeared in the reign of Henry VII. (fn. 70) All tenants were bound to be present at the view of frankpledge, and they elected the twelve jurors for the year, but it is not clear whether the tenants or all admitted to the freedom made this election. (fn. 71) Besides the ordinary business of the view, the bailiffs and jurors declared the customs or by-laws of the manor and acted as a town council. The earliest enrolled declaration is in 1278–9, (fn. 72) but in 1324 the commonalty empowered the two bailiffs and the jurors to draw up a custumal which should be accepted by all. The result represents the codification of ancient usage rather than the introduction of new rules. (fn. 73)

 

A second edition of the custumal was made in 1465, and later additions of the following century have been added on the same roll. (fn. 74) In 1324, for administrative purposes, the town was divided into four quarters or wards named after the chief streets of Godmanchester. The government consisted of two bailiffs, elected for one year by the twelve jurors. The bailiffs were chosen one year from Post Street and Erning (Arning) Street and in the alternate year from West Street and East Street. The elections of all officers took place in the court held next before the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin. All rolls were given into the custody of four keepers of the common chest. The complete list of other officials is not given, but mention is made of the collectors of the fee-farm rents and the chief warden of the mills. All officials were to render account of their year of office to the two bailiffs and the jurors. (fn. 75) The rolls of the coroners of Godmanchester exist for the reign of Edward II, so that they must have been functioning in 1324, although their election is not recorded till 1482. (fn. 76) In the 15th century, the election of the officers is regularly recorded in the court books of the threeweeks court. The officials then consisted of the two bailiffs, two constables, eight collectors of the farm, two from each street, two churchwardens, four collectors of amerciaments of the view, the collectors of the aletoll, the warden of the water and the subbailiff. (fn. 77) In 1484, the record shows that three jurors of the leet were elected from each street; (fn. 78) in 1485, the warden of the swans appears, (fn. 79) and in 1486 the bellman. (fn. 80) The clerk of the court is mentioned in 1376, (fn. 81) but no election is shown till 1497, (fn. 82) and it was probably a permanent and not an annual office. The business at the three weeks court consisted of the admission of freemen, landsuits and the surrenders of land, peculiar to manors of the ancient demesne, and civil cases where the damages claimed were under 40s. (fn. 83) In 1592 it was ordained by the bailiffs and jurors that in future cases in this court should be heard by the two bailiffs, three of the twelve suitors at the court on the day of trial and three or four ex-bailiffs. (fn. 84) Appeals from the manorial court were made to the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster and were heard in the court of the Duchy. (fn. 85) All land in Godmanchester, except the original endowment of the church, (fn. 86) was, and still is, held in socage of the ancient demesne of the crown. (fn. 87) The tenure was never merged, as elsewhere, in copyhold, although in the 16th century land is occasionally described as held by copy of court roll. (fn. 88) Every tenement when it changed hands was surrendered in court into the hands of the bailiffs, who gave seisin to the incoming tenant on payment of a fine or gersom. (fn. 89) This procedure is still followed, but the surrenders are not made in court, but only to the mayor of the borough and, under the Law of Property (Amendment) Act of 1924, this very rare survival of socage of the ancient demesne is disappearing. Each tenement when it is surrendered to the mayor passes to the incoming tenant as ordinary freehold property. All land suits were heard in the three-weeks court; (fn. 90) the cases were begun by the king's little writ of right close. The first writ appears on a 13th-century court roll (fn. 91) and the actual writs are generally attached to the roll on which the case was recorded. (fn. 92) A writ was brought into the Court of Pleas as late as 1805. (fn. 93) The procedure closely followed that of the royal courts in freehold suits. In the early cases in the 13th and 14th centuries, an assize was held with twenty-four jurors, (fn. 94) but later fines and recoveries 'according to the custom of the manor' were more common. (fn. 95) The town was very jealous of its rights, and there were many complaints in the Duchy Courts that tenants had been impleaded in the common law or other royal courts instead of the manorial court. (fn. 96) Except in the use of the little writ of right close, the Godmanchester tenure approximated to free socage and all the terms of a freehold tenure were used: a daughter was given her land in free marriage; (fn. 97) a widow obtained her dower; (fn. 98) no servile services were paid and the land was held for suit of court and a money rent, without even the boonwork often due from freehold land. (fn. 99) From the customal of 1324, it appears that a tenant could assign, sell or bequeath his land by will, saving only the right of the widow to her dower. (fn. 100) This right of the widow persists at the present day, so that a man still cannot sell his land without his wife's consent. The only other restriction in 1324 was the rule forbidding the sale of land to a foreigner or an ecclesiastic. (fn. 101) Land still descends by the rule of Borough English to the youngest son of the first wife, unless testamentary dispositions have been made bequeathing it differently. (fn. 102)

 

BOROUGH

 

Godmanchester remained a selfgoverning manor for nearly 400 years, but in the 16th century the town was increasingly prosperous and the townspeople wished for the privileges of incorporation. In their documents the use of such terms as corporation and burgess crept in, (fn. 103) and during a lawsuit in 1569 it was claimed that Godmanchester was 'an ancient borough time out of mind.' (fn. 104) The town used a common seal, (fn. 105) but legally they were not incorporated and when, in 1585, a newly admitted tenant, named Richard Fairpoint, defied the authority of the bailiffs and commonalty, he threatened to sue the bailiffs, officials, and chief inhabitants one by one. (fn. 106)

 

A charter of incorporation was obtained from James I in 1604, and Godmanchester became a free borough, under the name of 'the Bailiffs, Assistants and Commonalty of the borough of Gumecestre, alias Godmanchester.' (fn. 107) The government of the town, however, was but slightly altered, the Common Council being formed of two Bailiffs and twelve Assistants, who replaced the jurors of the view of frankpledge in matters of town legislation. The first officials were appointed by King James, but the bailiffs after a year of office were in the future to be elected in the Court next before the Nativity of the Virgin Mary by the existing bailiffs and assistants. The assistants were appointed for life and were replaced from the burgesses of the borough by election by the bailiffs and remaining assistants. (fn. 108) It may be noticed that the new constitution was less democratic and placed the power of election in the hands of the Common Council instead of the tenants and freemen. Even the jurors of the leet were in 1615 to be impanelled by the bailiffs. (fn. 109) Other officials under the new charter were the steward, (fn. 110) recorder and town clerk. The borough and manor were granted to the corporation to hold as previously at a fee-farm rent of £120 of lawful English money. (fn. 111)

 

During the Commonwealth, preliminaries were begun for obtaining a new charter, but nothing was actually done. (fn. 112)

 

In 1684, the charter of James I was surrendered to Charles II, but it was not restored before his death (fn. 113) and the following year James II granted a new charter. (fn. 114) The differences in it were small and, after the Revolution of 1688, all corporations were ordered to resume their former charters (fn. 115) and the corporation acted under the charter of 1604 until the Municipal Corporations Act of 1835. (fn. 116)

 

The lesser officials, though not named in the charter, were unchanged after the incorporation of the borough and the jurisdiction of the courts remained the same, though they became the courts of the bailiffs, assistants and commonalty instead of the courts of the King. (fn. 117) The manorial court became known as the Court of Pleas. (fn. 118)

 

A new edition of the by-laws was promulgated in 1615, repeating the main provisions of the older custumals of 1324 and 1465 and later enactments. Considerable additions had been made in the regulations of common rights; the most important, enacted in 1607, provided that only tenements constituted or divided before 28 September 1601 should have the right of common attached to them. (fn. 119) In consequence of these common rights, the freedom of the borough became of considerable value, and large sums were paid by foreigners for admission. (fn. 120) The curious custom by which a freeman gave a bucket and two scoops on admission is mentioned in 1635. (fn. 121) Afterwards the gift was commuted for money, but the system of purchasing the freedom of the borough came to an end in 1875, and the last payment instead of the bucket and scoops was made in 1876. (fn. 122) Now the freedom is an hereditary right and freemen only sign the roll on admission.

 

In 1835 the old constitution was swept away under the Municipal Corporations Act; a mayor and 4 aldermen and 12 councillors replaced the two bailiffs and assistants and the franchise was vested in the ratepayers. (fn. 123) The Court of Pleas had been growing of less and less importance, a few cases of debts and surrenders of land being its only business, but it continued as the mayor's court till 1847. (fn. 124) Special courts, however, were held for surrenders and giving seisin of land, (fn. 125) but latterly these have taken place in the mayor's presence only. The business of the court leet is now confined entirely to the stocking of the commons. It is held once a year by the mayor, when the 'grass-hirers' are appointed for the year, but the twelve jurors are no longer impanelled. (fn. 126) The limitation of the enjoyment of common rights to freemen tenants of commonable houses has led to a good deal of litigation, while the gradual exclusion of the freemen from the government of the borough has brought about outbreaks of discontent on their part. (fn. 127)

 

The seal of the borough is circular, 15/8 in. in diameter, with the device of a fleur de lis, possibly in reference to the dedication of the Parish Church, with the legend 'Commune Sigillum Gumecestre.' It seems to be of 13th century date. The mace is of silver of excellent design and bears the date 1745. The mayoral chain is of gold with enamel medallions, given by different donors since 1896.

 

For parliamentary purposes the borough was united to Huntingdon, which sent two members to Parliament. In 1867 the representation was reduced to one member and in 1885 it was merged into the county constituency.

 

No right to hold a market appears to have been granted to Godmanchester, but it seems probable that a market was held at the Horseshoe corner. In the bailiffs' accounts for 1533, there is an item paid for crying a cow and two stray horses in the market, (fn. 128) and in 1615 it certainly was the custom to bring fish to the 'Common Market' on Fridays. (fn. 129)

 

A fair on Easter Tuesday and the following Wednesday was granted by James I in the charter of 1604, together with a court of pie-powder. (fn. 130) It developed into an important horse and cattle fair held in the streets of the town near the old Court Hall. The cattle and sheep disappeared by 1870 after the rinderpest outbreak of the previous years, (fn. 131) but the horse fair continued till Easter 1914. It had been lessening in importance for some years and has never revived since the war. The charter of James II granted a second fair on the Tuesday after the Feast of SS. Simon and Jude, but the right to hold it ceased after the resumption of the old charter in 1688. (fn. 132) The court of pie-powder was held during the 17th century, (fn. 133) but it certainly was no longer held in 1834. (fn. 134)

 

¶The control of the waters of the Ouse has always been a matter of great importance to the town of Godmanchester. In the 13th century, the obstructions in the river put up by the Abbot of Ramsey, the Prior of Huntingdon and Reginald de Grey as lords of the mills respectively at Houghton, Hartford and Hemingford Grey led to complaints on the part of Huntingdon and not of Godmanchester, (fn. 135) but in the 15th century the latter town suffered severely by the continual flooding of its meadows. A series of complaints were made to the Court of the Duchy of Lancaster by the bailiffs and commonalty (fn. 136) and finally in 1524 the right to control the floodgates at Houghton and Hemingford was transferred from the Duchy authorities to the men of Godmanchester. (fn. 137) This right still exists and has been safeguarded in the various schemes for the improvement of the Ouse navigation, begun by Arnold Spencer in 1638. (fn. 138) It was finally confirmed to the borough in a judgment of the House of Lords in 1897 against Mr. Simpson, who had in 1893 acquired by purchase the entire rights of navigation granted to Spencer, and in the following year began an action against the corporation to prevent them from opening the sluice gates at Godmanchester, Hemingford and Houghton in times of flood. (fn. 139)

 

In 1279, the bailiffs of Godmanchester claimed that the town held a free fishery by the grant of King John and that they formerly had the right, as appurtenant to the manor, of fishing from Hayle to Swiftiswere, but were prevented by the Bishop of Lincoln and others from doing so. (fn. 140) The right to the free fishery continued, and from the borough custumal drawn up in 1615, it appears that the 'common fishers' of the town were bound to bring their fish to the common market at the Horseshoe corner every Friday and whenever they had fish to sell, on pain of a fine of 6s. 8d. (fn. 141).

 

In 1086 three water-mills were attached to the manor of Godmanchester, rendering 100s. yearly to the king. (fn. 142) The mills passed with the manor (q.v.) to the men of Godmanchester and in 1279 they paid 15s. a year to the fee-farm rent and a holm containing 8 acres was attached to them. (fn. 143) At the close of the 15th century they were let on lease, and this system seems to have been continued by the corporation until 1884. (fn. 144) At that time no tenant could be found. The corporation applied for leave to sell the property, but opposition was made on the ground that the freemen had the right to have their corn ground freely on the grist stone. No sale took place and the old mill stood derelict (fn. 145) and has been finally pulled down since 1926. A windmill is mentioned in 1599, when it was sold by Robert Green to Oliver Cromwell, alias Williams. (fn. 146)

 

CHURCH

 

The Church of ST. MARY consists of a chancel (44 ft. by 20 ft.) with organ chamber and two vestries on the north side, nave (72 ft. by 27 ft.), north aisle (15 ft. wide), south aisle (19 ft. wide), west tower and spire (19 ft. by 17½ ft.) and north and south porches. The walls are of stone and pebble rubble with stone dressings, except the tower, which is of ashlar. The roof coverings are of lead.

 

¶The church is mentioned in the Domesday Survey (1086) but, except for a few stones in the walling, nothing of this early building remains. The church seems to have been rebuilt about the middle of the 13th century, and of this period are the chancel, the west wall of the nave, and small parts of the west walls of the aisles. About 1340 a north vestry was added to the chancel, and at the end of this century and extending into the next a further reconstruction took place, beginning at the west end of the aisles and embracing the arcades, clearstory and porches, and the raising and altering of the chancel. The tower and spire, being ruinous, were taken down and rebuilt in 1623. The upper part of the south porch was rebuilt probably in 1669. The roofs and parapets were repaired early in the 19th century; the church was generally restored in 1853, the vestry rebuilt and the organ chamber and choir vestry added in 1860. A general restoration took place in 1885, and the chancel was restored in 1912.

 

The 13th-century chancel, reconstructed and raised c. 1510, (fn. 147) has an east window of three modern lancets. The north wall has a 15th-century two-light window, a 14th-century doorway to the clergy vestry, a 13th-century doorway (visible in the choir vestry), and a modern arch to the organ chamber. The south wall has three 15th-century windows of two-lights, the western set within an earlier opening, and a 15th-century doorway.

 

The chancel arch is two centred and of two chamfered orders resting on similar responds; most of the stones are of the 13th century, but the arch has been reconstructed and raised, c. 1490, (fn. 148) cutting into the sills of two 13th-century lancets in the gable above, the splays of which still retain some original painted decoration. Under it is a modern; screen. The low-pitched roof is practically all modern; the jack-legs rest on modern shafts and corbels.

 

The organ chamber and the two vestries on the north are modern, but in the east wall of the former is a reset 15th-century two-light window doubtless from the north wall of the chancel; and the vestry has a 14th-century single-light window reset.

 

The nave arcades, c. 1500, are of five bays, with two-centred arches of two moulded orders supported by narrow piers formed by the continuation downward of the outer orders of the arch between two attached shafts with moulded capitals and bases. The contemporary clearstory has five two-light windows on each side. The contemporary roof is of low pitch, has moulded beams, jack-legs and braces, but has been much restored.

 

The north aisle, c. 1500, has a five-light transomed east window with remains of niches in the splays, which now opens into the organ chamber; (fn. 149) at the extreme south end is a broken piscina. The north wall has four three-light transomed windows, and a reset 13th-century doorway, above which is a blocked doorway opening into a chamber over the porch. The west wall has a four-light transomed window, to the south of which is the splay of an earlier window. The pent roof has plain beams and curved braces, and the jack-legs are supported on carved corbels.

 

The south aisle, c. 1500, has in the east wall a fivelight transomed window, and a blocked doorway to the rood staircase. The south wall has three threelight windows and a two-light window, all transomed, a doorway with a moulded arch and jamb-shafts flanked on the outside by two niches, and a squareheaded doorway to the stairs leading to the chamber over the porch. The west wall has a four-light transomed window, to the north of which is the jamb and splay of an earlier window. The stairs to the rood loft were in a circular turret outside the wall at the north-east corner, now used as a smoke flue. The roof is similar to that of the north aisle.

 

The west tower, built in 1623, (fn. 150) has a 13th-century tower arch of three chamfered orders supported on semi-octagonal responds with carved stiff-leaf capitals and moulded bases. The west doorway has a moulded two-centred arch on sunk chamfered jambs and moulded imposts; (fn. 151) above it is a sunk panel with a shield bearing a fleur de lis and a scroll inscribed 'BVRGVS GVMECESTRE,' and above this another panel with date '1623.' Still higher are a pair of twolight windows with semicircular heads. In the next stage the north and south walls have each a two-light; and the belfry has coupled two-light windows with transoms. The tower has buttresses square at the angles, and is finished with an embattled parapet with pinnacles at the angles and a large fleur-de-lis on the central merlons. Behind the parapet rises an octagonal spire with three tiers of lights all on the cardinal faces; the top is 151 ft. 3 in. above the ground. The whole of the details are strongly tinged with Renaissance feeling, but a successful attempt has been made to harmonize with the architecture of the church.

 

The 15th-century north porch has a moulded two-centred arch on jambs with engaged shafts; the side walls have each a two-light window. Single-light windows in the east and west walls light the chamber above, and there is now a modern single-light window in the north wall. There is a small chamber over this porch, but the present roof and parapets are modern.

 

The 15th-century south porch has a four-centred outer archway with lily-pot at the apex of the label; on each side of it are large niches. Each side wall has two two-light windows. The chamber above, which is of later date, has a small single-light window in each of the outer walls, and a beam in the roof is dated 1669.

 

The 13th-century font (fn. 152) is an irregular octagon with crude carved heads projecting from the diagonal faces; the stem and base are modern.

 

There are eight bells, inscribed (1) Intactum sileo percute dulce cano: T. Osborn, Downham, fecit, 1794; (2) and (3) T. Osborn, founder, 1794; (4) Thomas Osborn, fecit. Our voices shall with joyful sound. Make hills and valleys eccho round. 1794; (5) T. Osborn, fecit, 1794; (6) J. Taylor & Co., Founders, Loughborough, 1870. F. T. Mc.Dougall, D.C.L., Vicar. P. E. Tillard, Henry Quince, Churchwardens; (7) T. Osborn, founder, 1794; (8) Revd. Castle Sherard, Rector, (fn. 153) Jno. Martin, Robt. Waller, Bailiffs, Jno. Scott, Richd. Miles, Ch. Wardens, T. Osborn, fecit: 1794. A sanctus bell seems to have remained as late as 1763. (fn. 154) Osborn had cast the whole peal of eight in 1794, using the metal of an earlier set of five; (fn. 155) the old fourth bell had been cast in 1710, by a shepherd at the Angel Inn in Godmanchester. (fn. 156) The bells were rehung and the 6th bell recast in 1870; it apparently had no inscription on it.

 

The 15th-century chancel stalls have shaped divisions with carved elbows, poppy heads and misericords, and panelled and traceried fronts. The carvings on the misericords include a falcon displayed, a dog with collar and resting on a cushion, a fleur-de-lis on a shield, a hare in the midst of a sun-in-splendour, (fn. 157) an ape, a wyvern, a fox and goose, the letters W.S. on a shield, (fn. 158) a cat and mouse; on the elbows a jester, angels, crowned heads, &c.; on the poppy heads two owls back to back, four birds, wyverns, etc.

 

Some of the fronts and backs of the modern seating and some of the bench ends have 15th-century tracery inserted in them.

 

In the nave is a chained oak poor-box, circular, bound with metal, and with a painted inscription. (fn. 159)

 

On one of the south buttresses of the chancel is a late 13th-century carved wheel-dial; and on the gable of the south porch is a small dial inscribed 'G. 1623. W.S.'

 

Lying loose in the porch is a portion of a 12th-century circular stone shaft with scale ornament.

 

On the floor of the nave is an early 16th-century brass figure of a civilian, with indents for two wives, two groups of children, and inscription panel; and in the chancel is the indent of an inscription plate.

 

There are the following monuments: In the chancel, to the Rev. Geoffrey Hawkins, Rector of Higham Gobion, Beds, d. 1727 (son of Geoffrey Hawkins, Rector of Chesterton, Hunts), Mary, his wife, d. 1750, and Hannah Worley, widow, d. 1771; Martha (Maylam) wife of George Rowley, d. 1765; John Hawkins, d. 1806; the Rev. Charles Gray, Vicar, d. 1854; and windows to the Rev. Charles Gray, Vicar, 1854; the Rev. W. P. E. Lathbury, Vicar, d. 1855; the Rev. John Hartley Richardson, curate, d. 1863; and the Rev. Henry Hart Chamberlain [d. 1899]. In the nave to Elizabeth (Meadows) wife of Edward Martin, d. 1805, and Edward Martin, d. 1853; Robert Hicks, d. 1825, Mary, widow of Rev. S. Hicks, Rector of Wrestlingworth, Beds, d. 1805, John Hicks, d. 1827, and Mary widow of Robert, d. 1862; floor slabs to Alured Clarke, d. 1744, Ann, his widow, d. 1755, and John Clarke, d. 1745; William Mehew, d. 1772, and Ann his wife, d. 1793; William Mehew, d. 1792; and Richard Miles, d. 1834. In the north aisle, to Alured Clarke, d. 1744, and family; Jos. Bull, d. 1764, Ann his wife, d. 1780, and Elizabeth their daughter, d. 1791; Thomas Townsend, d. 1792, Martha his wife, d. 1789, John, their son, d. 1799, and Ann, widow of John, d. 1817, James Stratton, d. 1800, son-in-law of Tho. Townsend, Ann his wife, d. 1835, Ann their daughter, d. 1826, George Turney her husband, d. 1825, and George Turney their son, d. 1835; John Chapman, d. 1858, and Edward Theodore, his son, d. 1859, Mary Chapman, widow of John, d. 1899; War Memorial 1914–18; and windows to Bishop Francis Thomas McDougall, Vicar, erected 1903; Frederick Robert Beart, d. 1905; Emma Frances Amelia Baumgartner, d. 1911. In the south aisle, to Thomas Betts, d. 1696, and Elizabeth his wife, d. 1700; Edward Martin, d. 1799, Alice his relict, d. 1801, and Harriet their infant daughter, d. 1788; John Martin, d. 1822, and Mary his wife, d. 1854; Henry Percy Tillard, d. 1858; John Thomas Baumgartner, d. 1874; Algernon Tillard, d. 1887; Francis Bonham Tillard, d. 1903, Helen wife of General Robert Julian Baumgartner, d. 1911; Mary Emily (Tillard) wife of Col. I. F. R. Thompson, d. 1915, and Lt.-Col. Ivan Frank Ross Thompson, d. 1917; Allen Victor Herbert, d. 1918; floor slabs to Thomas Bentley, d. 1709; John Martin, d. 1752; Elizabeth daughter of Samuel and Elizabeth Fox, d. 1755; Jane, relict of John Martin, d. 1789; and windows to two children of J. T. and P. Baumgartner, d. 1827 and 1844; Phoebe, wife of John Lancaster, d. 1833; John Thomas Baumgartner, d. 1874; Philipa Julia (Baumgartner) wife of Philip Tillard, d. 1885; Philip Tillard, d. 1887; the Rev. Preston John Williams, Vicar, erected 1894; General Robert Julian Baumgartner, d. 1895. In the tower, windows to Edward Martin, d. 1835, and Elizabeth his wife, d. . . . .; and William Beart, d. 1852. In the south porch to the wife and children of the Rev. H. H. Chamberlain.

 

The registers are as follows: (i) Baptisms, 23 Dec. 1604 to 3 Jan. 1642–3; marriages, 3 Jan. 1603–4 to 30 Aug. 1653, and 6 March 1742–3 to 8 Sept. 1754; burials, 1 Feb. 1604–5 to Dec. 1647, and 1653; (ii) baptisms, 30 Sept. 1653 to 5 Aug. 1660, and three entries in 1669, 1671 and 1674; marriages, 9 Jan. 1653–4 to 16 April 1718; burials, 3 Oct. 1653 to 14 May 1717; (iii) marriages, 13 April 1718 to 11 Jan. 1753; burials, 31 March 1718 to 24 Dec. 1751; (iv) baptisms and burials, 20 Oct. 1754 to 22 April 1798; (v) the official marriage book, 1 Aug. 1754 to 5 Nov. 1783; (vi) the same, 10 Nov. 1783 to 28 Feb. 1811; (vii) baptisms and burials, 13 Jan. 1798 to 30 Dec. 1812; (viii) the official marriage book, 6 March 1811 to 25 Oct. 1812. The first two books are in considerable disorder and apparently several years are missing, and the second book is much damaged by damp. The first book has been rebound and the second requires similar treatment.

 

The church plate consists of: A silver cup of Elizabethan date, no date letter; a silver gilt cup and cover paten, hall-marked for 1559–60; a silver plate engraved 'Benedicamus Patrem et filium cum spiritu,' and inscribed 'To the Glory of God and the use of St. Mary's Church, Godmanchester, 1848. E. I. W. dedit,' hall-marked for 1846–7; a silver alms-dish, engraved 'hilarem datorem diligit Deus,' and inscribed as last, hall-marked for 1847–8; a plated dish and flagon, the latter inscribed 'The gift of Charles Gray, M.A., Vicar, to the Parish Church of Godmanchester, A.D. 1834.'

 

ADVOWSON

 

The Church of St. Mary (fn. 160) is stated to have been given with 3 hides of land by King Edgar (c. 969) to the monks of Ramsey, (fn. 161) but it was no longer in their possession at the time of the Domesday Survey (fn. 162) and they never seem to have laid claim to it. In 1086 a church and priest were attached to the manor (fn. 163) and remained in royal possession until Stephen gave the church to Merton Priory in Surrey. (fn. 164) In 1284, the endowment of the church consisted of 48 acres of land and also 15 acres of meadow held by the Prior of Merton in commutation for all tithes of hay. (fn. 165) He held other lands, but these were assessed to the fee-farm rent and were not spiritualities. (fn. 166) After the Dissolution of the Monasteries, the rectory was granted in 1542 to the dean and chapter of Westminster (fn. 167) and except during the reign of Mary and the Commonwealth they have owned it ever since. (fn. 168) It has been held by a succession of lessees and in a lease of 1640 the dean and chapter stipulated for entertainment for two days and two nights for themselves or their officers at the lessee's expense. (fn. 169)

 

Between 1209 and 1219 the vicarage was instituted and two houses, land and meadow, as well as the vicarial tithes were assigned to it. (fn. 170) The advowson of the vicarage has always been held with the rectory, (fn. 171) although the first recorded presentation by the dean and chapter of Westminster was not till 1599. (fn. 172) A custumal of the vicar's tithing was drawn up in 1599 in great detail and is specially interesting in showing the payments made from parishioners who were not landholders. (fn. 173) In the 17th century the vicarage was too poor to support a suitable vicar for the town and consequently in 1655 the Town Council decided to purchase a house called the Star, next to the vicarage, which was ruinous. (fn. 174) The Star was finally annexed to the vicarage when the dean and chapter had recovered the patronage after the Restoration. (fn. 175) The purchase of the Star is an illustration of control of church affairs by the governing body both before and after Godmanchester became a borough. In 1532 the town officials appointed an organist and the expenses incurred over his engagement were charged to the bailiffs' account. (fn. 176) In the reign of Henry VI the two churchwardens appear amongst the elected officials of the town (fn. 177) and they accounted to the bailiffs and jurors. (fn. 178) Throughout the 16th, 17th, and 18th centuries the churchwardens' accounts were presented to the Town Council, although in the 18th century protest was apparently made against the practice. In 1712 a churchwarden, apparently not a freeman of the borough, brought the matter into the spiritual courts to the great indignation of the Council, who decreed that he was never to be admitted to the freedom and also indemnified his successors against any damages they might incur during the trial. (fn. 179) In 1824, the Common Council enacted a careful table of precedence for its members in the corporation pews in the chancel. (fn. 180)

 

CHANTRIES

 

The Chantry of the Blessed Mary (fn. 181) or Roode's Chantry, (fn. 182) in the parish church, was in existence in 1297 (fn. 183) and possibly earlier, since in 1279 Martin the chaplain was a town tenant of 4½ acres of land and some meadow, though his benefice is not named. (fn. 184) In 1307, Roger de Strateshill, probably the chaplain of the chantry, wished to endow it with 31 acres of land and 4 acres of meadow to provide a daily celebration of mass, but difficulties appear to have arisen with John Dalderby, Bishop of Lincoln (1300–1329). (fn. 185) The matter was taken up by the town, and at the request of Henry Roode, apparently one of the bailiffs, licence was obtained from the king in 1316 for Roger de Strateshill's gift. (fn. 186) Further gifts of land are recorded (fn. 187) and each incumbent was seemingly given seisin for his life by the bailiffs, 'who reserved the right to annul the grant, thus avoiding any grant of the lands in mortmain. (fn. 188) The chantry was thus especially associated with the town and the chaplain was bound to pray, in English, at the daily mass 'for the good state, welfare and prosperity of the Bayliffs of this town, and all the Comynalty of the same, fundars of this Chauntre.' (fn. 189) At the time of the dissolution of the chantries, the chaplain both provided assistance to the vicar and was also master of a grammar school. (fn. 190) The possessions of the chantry, together with those of the Gilds of Corpus Christi (q.v.) and the Holy Trinity (q.v.) were seized by the crown and in 1553 were leased to John Shepherd and others of the royal household for twenty-one years at an annual rent of £35 16s. 10d. (fn. 191) The fee-farm rents of £5 15s. 5d. due to the bailiffs of Godmanchester were paid by the crown until 1592, (fn. 192) when Elizabeth, in a new lease to Peter Proby, remitted the fee-farm rent and a charge of 4s. payable to the poor and received a lower rent from the lessee. (fn. 193) Soon after the grant of the charter of 1604, the borough unsuccessfully attempted to recover the chantry lands and were involved in lawsuits in the Duchy courts and considerable expenses, (fn. 194) the issue being complicated by the grant in fee, in 1606–7 by James I, of the disputed lands to Edward Newport. (fn. 195) In 1657, they were held by Robert Barnard, (fn. 196) but it seems possible that they were seized by the Commissioners for the sale of fee-farm rents during the Protectorate, (fn. 197) since at some subsequent date they were attached to the Rectory on whose 'lessee the old crown rent of £30 per annum is charged as an annuity in augmentation of the vicarage as also with the sum of £5 19s. 5d. to the annual fee-farm rent of the town.' (fn. 198)

 

The Gild of Corpus Christi is first mentioned in 1366, (fn. 199) and the fraternity was an established body in 1396. (fn. 200) It consisted of brothers and sisters governed by two wardens. (fn. 201) A later benefactor was John Copegray, chaplain of the gild and vicar of Alconbury (1463–69). (fn. 202) After the dissolution of the chantries, the endowments, which amounted in 1536 to £11 7s. 4d. a year, (fn. 203) passed with those of Roode's Chantry (q.v.). The name is still preserved in Corpus Christi Lane.

 

The Gild of the Holy Trinity was founded before 1279, when William, chaplain of the Trinity, held 1½ acre of land. (fn. 204) It was governed by two wardens (fn. 205) and is mentioned in wills of Godmanchester inhabitants, (fn. 206) but its endowments were small and at its dissolution amounted to only £3 4s. 9d. a year. (fn. 207) Edmund Archpole was then chaplain of both Corpus Christi (q.v.) and Holy Trinity Gilds, (fn. 208) but there does not seem to have been any formal amalgamation of the gilds. The lands of the gild followed the descent of those of Roode's chantry (q.v.).

 

Little is known of the origin of the Gild of St. John the Baptist, (fn. 209) but it was founded before 1359, when William Balle seems to have been the chaplain. (fn. 210) Possibly the gild had a separate chapel, since 'land next to the chapel' are mentioned at the same date. (fn. 211) The fraternity appears in the town rentals until 1549, (fn. 212) but all trace of it is afterwards lost and its lands do not appear in the certificate of chantry lands at the dissolution of the chantries. Nine acres of land formed the endowment of certain lights and lamps in the church, and they were valued at 22s. 2d. a year after deducting the fee-farm rent. (fn. 213) In 1553, obit lands appear in the lease of chantry lands to John Shepherd and to later tenants (fn. 214) and a payment of 1s. 10½d. a year to the bellman was chargeable on the chantry lands. (fn. 215)

 

At the present time there is a Particular Baptist Chapel, founded in 1815, and the Union Chapel, built in 1844, to replace an older chapel. (fn. 216)

 

CHARITIES

 

The following charities are regulated by a scheme of the Charity Commissioners dated 12 February 1926:—

 

Christopher Fisher in 1674 gave a piece of land containing 2 a. and 3 r. in Reed Meadow, and John Dryden by a declaration of trust dated 17 Dec. 1708 gave the sum of £200 which was laid out in the purchase of 24 a. 1 r. 20 p. of land, the rents to be applied in apprenticing poor children of the parish. The endowment of the charities now consists of £1,578 8s. 9d., 2½ per cent. Consols and various other sums of stock with the Official Trustees, the whole producing about £60 annually in dividends which are applied in apprenticing.

 

John Banks by will dated 19 November 1707 charged his lands and hereditaments in Dunton with a yearly payment of £12 to be applied for apprenticing and for the poor. The endowment now consists of a rentcharge of £12 per annum issuing out of Millow Hall Farm, Dunton, £21 1s. 5 per cent. War Stock and £25 4 per cent. Victory Bonds with the Official Trustees. £5, part of the rentcharge, is applied for the benefit of the poor and the residue £7 is applied for apprenticing.

 

Note.—Under clause 19 of the above-mentioned scheme the trustees are empowered to apply that part of the income applicable for apprenticing and not required for that purpose in assisting poor persons in the case of Banks's charity and in assisting poor boys for their advancement in life in the case of Fisher's and Dryden's charities.

 

Fishbourne's Charity. This charity consists of a rentcharge of 10s. per annum issuing out of hereditaments at Hartford. The rent is distributed by the mayor to four poor widows not in receipt of parish relief.

 

Anonymous Charity for Poor founded in 1727. The endowment of this charity consists of a rentcharge of 3s. 4d. per annum charged upon or issuing out of hereditaments in Post Street. This sum is distributed in bread amongst the poor of the parish.

 

Grainger's Gift. Robert Grainger by will dated 10 October 1578 charged his mansion-house in Godmanchester with one comb of wheat to be made into bread and distributed among the poor. The value of one comb of wheat is now charged upon property in Godmanchester now in the occupation of Mr. W. F. Beart and distributed to the poor of the parish in bread.

 

¶The charity known as the Rectory Charge was founded by deed dated 27 January 1443 for the benefit of the poor of the parish. The endowment consists of four quarters of wheat and three quarters of barley charged on the Rectory Farm, Godmanchester. Under the provisions of the above-mentioned scheme the vicar and the mayor (ex-officio trustees) and six representative trustees appointed by the Borough Council, were appointed the trustees of the charities.

 

Almshouses. These consist of four almshouses in East Chadleigh Lane, Godmanchester, built with money given in 1723 by Mr. Dryden, together with two small almshouses in Penfold Lane (known as Manser's Charity) formerly four houses but converted into two. There are no endowments in connection with these almshouses, which are kept in repair at the parish expense.

 

www.british-history.ac.uk/vch/hunts/vol2/pp286-296

Kashgar is an oasis city with an approximate population of 350,000. It is the westernmost city in China, located near the border with Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan. Kashgar has a rich history of over 2,000 years and served as a trading post and strategically important city on the Silk Road between China, the Middle East, and Europe. Kashgar is part of the China–Pakistan Economic Corridor.

 

Located historically at the convergence point of widely varying cultures and empires, Kashgar has been under the rule of the Chinese, Turkic, Mongol, and Tibetan empires. The city has also been the site of an extraordinary number of battles between various groups of people on the steppes.

 

Now administered as a county-level unit of the People's Republic of China, Kashgar is the administrative centre of its eponymous prefecture in the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region which has an area of 162,000 square kilometres and a population of approximately 3.5 million. The city's urban area covers 15 km2, though its administrative area extends over 555 km2.

 

NAME

The modern Chinese name is 喀什 (Kāshí), a shortened form of the longer and less-frequently used (simplified Chinese: 喀什噶尔; traditional Chinese: 喀什噶爾; pinyin: Kāshígé’ěr; Uyghur: قەشقەر‎). Ptolemy (AD 90-168), in his Geography, Chapter 15.3A, refers to Kashgar as “Kasi”. Its western and probably indigenous name is the Kāš ("rock"), to which the East Iranian -γar ("mountain"); cf. Pashto and Middle Persian gar/ġar, from Old Persian/Pahlavi girīwa ("hill; ridge (of a mountain)") was attached. Alternative historical Romanizations for "Kashgar" include Cascar and Cashgar.

 

Non-native names for the city, such as the old Chinese name Shule 疏勒 and Tibetan Śu-lig may have originated as an attempts to transcribe the Sanskrit name for Kashgar, Śrīkrīrāti ("fortunate hospitality")

 

Variant transcriptions of the official Uyghur: يېڭىشەھەر‎ include: K̂äxk̂är or Kaxgar, as well as Jangi-schahr, Kashgar Yangi Shahr, K’o-shih-ka-erh, K’o-shih-ka-erh-hsin-ch’eng, Ko-shih-ka-erh-hui-ch’eng, K’o-shih-ko-erh-hsin-ch’eng, New Kashgar, Sheleh, Shuleh, Shulen, Shu-lo, Su-lo, Su-lo-chen, Su-lo-hsien, Yangi-shaar, Yangi-shahr, Yangishar, Yéngisheher, Yengixəh̨ər and Еңишәһәр.

 

HISTORY

HAN DYNASTY

The earliest mention of Kashgar occurs when a Chinese Han dynasty envoy traveled the Northern Silk Road to explore lands to the west.

 

Another early mention of Kashgar is during the Former Han (also known as the Western Han dynasty), when in 76 BC the Chinese conquered the Xiongnu, Yutian (Khotan), Sulei (Kashgar), and a group of states in the Tarim basin almost up to the foot of the Tian Shan range.

 

Ptolemy speaks of Scythia beyond the Imaus, which is in a “Kasia Regio”, probably exhibiting the name from which Kashgar and Kashgaria (often applied to the district) are formed. The country’s people practised Zoroastrianism and Buddhism before the coming of Islam.

 

In the Book of Han, which covers the period between 125 BC and 23 AD, it is recorded that there were 1,510 households, 18,647 people and 2,000 persons able to bear arms. By the time covered by the Book of the Later Han (roughly 25 to 170 AD), it had grown to 21,000 households and had 3,000 men able to bear arms.

 

The Book of the Later Han provides a wealth of detail on developments in the region:

 

"In the period of Emperor Wu [140-87 BC], the Western Regions1 were under the control of the Interior [China]. They numbered thirty-six kingdoms. The Imperial Government established a Colonel [in charge of] Envoys there to direct and protect these countries. Emperor Xuan [73-49 BC] changed this title [in 59 BC] to Protector-General.

 

Emperor Yuan [40-33 BC] installed two Wuji Colonels to take charge of the agricultural garrisons on the frontiers of the king of Nearer Jushi [Turpan].

 

During the time of Emperor Ai [6 BC-AD 1] and Emperor Ping [AD 1-5], the principalities of the Western Regions split up and formed fifty-five kingdoms. Wang Mang, after he usurped the Throne [in AD 9], demoted and changed their kings and marquises. Following this, the Western Regions became resentful, and rebelled. They, therefore, broke off all relations with the Interior [China] and, all together, submitted to the Xiongnu again.

 

The Xiongnu collected oppressively heavy taxes and the kingdoms were not able to support their demands. In the middle of the Jianwu period [AD 25-56], they each [Shanshan and Yarkand in 38, and 18 kingdoms in 45], sent envoys to ask if they could submit to the Interior [China], and to express their desire for a Protector-General. Emperor Guangwu, decided that because the Empire was not yet settled [after a long period of civil war], he had no time for outside affairs, and [therefore] finally refused his consent [in AD 45].

 

In the meantime, the Xiongnu became weaker. The king of Suoju [Yarkand], named Xian, wiped out several kingdoms. After Xian’s death [c. AD 62], they began to attack and fight each other. Xiao Yuan [Tura], Jingjue [Cadota], Ronglu [Niya], and Qiemo [Cherchen] were annexed by Shanshan [the Lop Nur region]. Qule [south of Keriya] and Pishan [modern Pishan or Guma] were conquered and fully occupied by Yutian [Khotan]. Yuli [Fukang], Danhuan, Guhu [Dawan Cheng], and Wutanzili were destroyed by Jushi [Turpan and Jimasa]. Later these kingdoms were re-established.

 

During the Yongping period [AD 58-75], the Northern Xiongnu forced several countries to help them plunder the commanderies and districts of Hexi. The gates of the towns stayed shut in broad daylight."

 

And, more particularly in reference to Kashgar itself, is the following record:

 

"In the sixteenth Yongping year of Emperor Ming 73, Jian, the king of Qiuci (Kucha), attacked and killed Cheng, the king of Shule (Kashgar). Then he appointed the Qiuci (Kucha) Marquis of the Left, Douti, King of Shule (Kashgar). ‹See TfD›

In winter 73, the Han sent the Major Ban Chao who captured and bound Douti. He appointed Zhong, the son of the elder brother of Cheng, to be king of Shule (Kashgar). Zhong later rebelled. (Ban) Chao attacked and beheaded him."

 

THE KUSHANS

The Book of the Later Han also gives the only extant historical record of Yuezhi or Kushan involvement in the Kashgar oasis:

 

"During the Yuanchu period (114-120) in the reign of Emperor, the king of Shule (Kashgar), exiled his maternal uncle Chenpan to the Yuezhi (Kushans) for some offence. The king of the Yuezhi became very fond of him. Later, Anguo died without leaving a son. His mother directed the government of the kingdom. She agreed with the people of the country to put Yifu (lit. “posthumous child”), who was the son of a full younger brother of Chenpan on the throne as king of Shule (Kashgar). Chenpan heard of this and appealed to the Yuezhi (Kushan) king, saying:

 

"Anguo had no son. His relative (Yifu) is weak. If one wants to put on the throne a member of (Anguo’s) mother’s family, I am Yifu’s paternal uncle, it is I who should be king."

 

The Yuezhi (Kushans) then sent soldiers to escort him back to Shule (Kashgar). The people had previously respected and been fond of Chenpan. Besides, they dreaded the Yuezhi (Kushans). They immediately took the seal and ribbon from Yifu and went to Chenpan, and made him king. Yifu was given the title of Marquis of the town of Pangao [90 li, or 37 km, from Shule].

 

‹See TfD›

Then Suoju (Yarkand) continued to resist Yutian (Khotan), and put themselves under Shule (Kashgar). Thus Shule (Kashgar), became powerful and a rival to Qiuci (Kucha) and Yutian (Khotan)."

 

However, it was not very long before the Chinese began to reassert their authority in the region:

 

“In the second Yongjian year (127), during Emperor Shun’s reign, Chenpan sent an envoy to respectfully present offerings. The Emperor bestowed on Chenpan the title of Great Commandant-in-Chief for the Han. Chenxun, who was the son of his elder brother, was appointed Temporary Major of the Kingdom. ‹See TfD›

In the fifth year (130), Chenpan sent his son to serve the Emperor and, along with envoys from Dayuan (Ferghana) and Suoju (Yarkand), brought tribute and offerings.”

 

From an earlier part of the same text comes the following addition:

 

“In the first Yangjia year (132), Xu You sent the king of Shule (Kashgar), Chenpan, who with 20,000 men, attacked and defeated Yutian (Khotan). He beheaded several hundred people, and released his soldiers to plunder freely. He replaced the king [of Jumi] by installing Chengguo from the family of [the previous king] Xing, and then he returned.”[38]

 

Then the first passage continues:

 

“In the second Yangjia year (133), Chenpan again made offerings (including) a lion and zebu cattle. ‹See TfD›

 

Then, during Emperor Ling’s reign, in the first Jianning year, the king of Shule (Kashgar) and Commandant-in-Chief for the Han (i.e. presumably Chenpan), was shot while hunting by the youngest of his paternal uncles, Hede. Hede named himself king.

‹See TfD›

In the third year (170), Meng Tuo, the Inspector of Liangzhou, sent the Provincial Officer Ren She, commanding five hundred soldiers from Dunhuang, with the Wuji Major Cao Kuan, and Chief Clerk of the Western Regions, Zhang Yan, brought troops from Yanqi (Karashahr), Qiuci (Kucha), and the Nearer and Further States of Jushi (Turpan and Jimasa), altogether numbering more than 30,000, to punish Shule (Kashgar). They attacked the town of Zhenzhong [Arach − near Maralbashi] but, having stayed for more than forty days without being able to subdue it, they withdrew. Following this, the kings of Shule (Kashgar) killed one another repeatedly while the Imperial Government was unable to prevent it.”

 

THREE KINGDOMS TO THE SUI

These centuries are marked by a general silence in sources on Kashgar and the Tarim Basin.

 

The Weilüe, composed in the second third of the 3rd century, mentions a number of states as dependencies of Kashgar: the kingdom of Zhenzhong (Arach?), the kingdom of Suoju (Yarkand), the kingdom of Jieshi, the kingdom of Qusha, the kingdom of Xiye (Khargalik), the kingdom of Yinai (Tashkurghan), the kingdom of Manli (modern Karasul), the kingdom of Yire (Mazar − also known as Tágh Nák and Tokanak), the kingdom of Yuling, the kingdom of Juandu (‘Tax Control’ − near modern Irkeshtam), the kingdom of Xiuxiu (‘Excellent Rest Stop’ − near Karakavak), and the kingdom of Qin.

 

However, much of the information on the Western Regions contained in the Weilüe seems to have ended roughly about (170), near the end of Han power. So, we can’t be sure that this is a reference to the state of affairs during the Cao Wei (220-265), or whether it refers to the situation before the civil war during the Later Han when China lost touch with most foreign countries and came to be divided into three separate kingdoms.

 

Chapter 30 of the Records of the Three Kingdoms says that after the beginning of the Wei Dynasty (220) the states of the Western Regions did not arrive as before, except for the larger ones such as Kucha, Khotan, Kangju, Wusun, Kashgar, Yuezhi, Shanshan and Turpan, who are said to have come to present tribute every year, as in Han times.

 

In 270, four states from the Western Regions were said to have presented tribute: Karashahr, Turpan, Shanshan, and Kucha. Some wooden documents from Niya seem to indicate that contacts were also maintained with Kashgar and Khotan around this time.

 

In 422, according to the Songshu, ch. 98, the king of Shanshan, Bilong, came to the court and "the thirty-six states in the Western Regions" all swore their allegiance and presented tribute. It must be assumed that these 36 states included Kashgar.

 

The "Songji" of the Zizhi Tongjian records that in the 5th month of 435, nine states: Kucha, Kashgar, Wusun, Yueban, Tashkurghan, Shanshan, Karashahr, Turpan and Sute all came to the Wei court.

 

In 439, according to the Weishu, ch. 4A, Shanshan, Kashgar and Karashahr sent envoys to present tribute.

 

According to the Weishu, ch. 102, Chapter on the Western Regions, the kingdoms of Kucha, Kashgar, Wusun, Yueban, Tashkurghan, Shanshan, Karashahr, Turpan and Sute all began sending envoys to present tribute in the Taiyuan reign period (435-440).

 

In 453 Kashgar sent envoys to present tribute (Weishu, ch. 5), and again in 455.

 

An embassy sent during the reign of Wencheng Di (452-466) from the king of Kashgar presented a supposed sacred relic of the Buddha; a dress which was incombustible.

 

In 507 Kashgar, is said to have sent envoys in both the 9th and 10th months (Weishu, ch. 8).

 

In 512, Kashgar sent envoys in the 1st and 5th months. (Weishu, ch. 8).

 

Early in the 6th century Kashgar is included among the many territories controlled by the Yeda or Hephthalite Huns, but their empire collapsed at the onslaught of the Western Turks between 563 and 567 who then probably gained control over Kashgar and most of the states in the Tarim Basin.

 

TANG DYNASTY

The founding of the Tang dynasty in 618 saw the beginning of a prolonged struggle between China and the Western Turks for control of the Tarim Basin. In 635, the Tang Annals reported an emissary from the king of Kashgar to the Tang capital. In 639 there was a second emissary bringing products of Kashgar as a token of submission to the Tang state.

 

Buddhist scholar Xuanzang passed through Kashgar (which he referred to as Ka-sha) in 644 on his return journey from India to China. The Buddhist religion, then beginning to decay in India, was active in Kashgar. Xuanzang recorded that they flattened their babies heads, tattooed their bodies and had green eyes. He reported that Kashgar had abundant crops, fruits and flowers, wove fine woolen stuffs and rugs. Their writing system had been adapted from Indian script but their language was different from that of other countries. The inhabitants were sincere Buddhist adherents and there were some hundreds of monasteries with more than 10,000 followers, all members of the Sarvastivadin School.

 

At around the same era, Nestorian Christians were establishing bishoprics at Herat, Merv and Samarkand, whence they subsequently proceeded to Kashgar, and finally to China proper itself.

 

In 646, the Turkic Kagan asked for the hand of a Tang Chinese princess, and in return the Emperor promised Kucha, Khotan, Kashgar, Karashahr and Sarikol as a marriage gift, but this did not happen as planned.

 

In a series of campaigns between 652 and 658, with the help of the Uyghurs, the Chinese finally defeated the Western Turk tribes and took control of all their domains, including the Tarim Basin kingdoms. Karakhoja was annexed in 640, Karashahr during campaigns in 644 and 648, and Kucha fell in 648.

 

In 662 a rebellion broke out in the Western Regions and a Chinese army sent to control it was defeated by the Tibetans south of Kashgar.

 

After another defeat of the Tang Chinese forces in 670, the Tibetans gained control of the whole region and completely subjugated Kashgar in 676-8 and retained possession of it until 692, when the Tang dynasty regained control of all their former territories, and retained it for the next fifty years.

 

In 722 Kashgar sent 4,000 troops to assist the Chinese to force the "Tibetans out of "Little Bolu" or Gilgit.

 

In 728, the king of Kashgar was awarded a brevet by the Chinese emperor.

 

In 739, the Tangshu relates that the governor of the Chinese garrison in Kashgar, with the help of Ferghana, was interfering in the affairs of the Turgesh tribes as far as Talas.

 

In 751 the Chinese were defeated by an Arab army in the Battle of Talas. The An Lushan Rebellion led to the decline of Tang influence in Central Asia due to the fact that the Tang dynasty was forced to withdraw its troops from the region to fight An Lushan. The Tibetans cut all communication between China and the West in 766.

 

Soon after the Chinese pilgrim monk Wukong passed through Kashgar in 753. He again reached Kashgar on his return trip from India in 786 and mentions a Chinese deputy governor as well as the local king.

 

BATTLES WITH ARAB CALIPHATE

In 711, the Arabs invaded Kashgar, but did not hold the city for any length of time. Kashgar and Turkestan lent assistance to the reigning queen of Bukhara, to enable her to repel the Arabs. Although the Muslim religion from the very commencement sustained checks, it nevertheless made its weight felt upon the independent states of Turkestan to the north and east, and thus acquired a steadily growing influence. It was not, however, till the 10th century that Islam was established at Kashgar, under the Kara-Khanid Khanate.

 

THE TURKIC RULE

According to the 10th-century text, Hudud al-'alam, "the chiefs of Kashghar in the days of old were from the Qarluq, or from the Yaghma." The Karluks, Yaghmas and other tribes such as the Chigils formed the Karakhanids. The Karakhanid Sultan Satuq Bughra Khan converted to Islam in the 10th century and captured Kashgar. Kashgar was the capital of the Karakhanid state for a time but later the capital was moved to Balasaghun. During the latter part of the 10th century, the Muslim Karakhanids began a struggle against the Buddhist Kingdom of Khotan, and the Khotanese defeated the Karakhanids and captured Kashgar in 970. Chinese sources recorded the king of Khotan offering to send them a dancing elephant captured from Kashgar. Later in 1006, the Karakhanids of Kashgar under Yusuf Kadr Khan conquered Khotan.

 

The Karakhanid Khanate however was beset with internal strife, and the khanate split into two, the Eastern and Western Karakhanid Khanates, with Kashgar falling within the domain of the Eastern Karakhanid state. In 1089, the Western Karakhanids fell under the control of the Seljuks, but the Eastern Karakhanids was for the most part independent.

 

Both the Karakhanid states were defeated in the 12th century by the Kara-Khitans who captured Balasaghun, however Karakhanid rule continued in Kashgar under the suzerainty of the Kara-Khitans. The Kara-Khitan rulers followed a policy of religious tolerance, Islamic religious life continued uninterrupted and Kashgar was also a Nestorian metropolitan see. The last Karakhanid of Kashgar was killed in a revolt in 1211 by the city's notables. Kuchlug, a usurper of the throne of the Kara-Khitans, then attacked Kashgar which finally surrendered in 1214.

 

THE MONGOLS

The Kara-Khitai in their turn were swept away in 1219 by Genghis Khan. After his death, Kashgar came under the rule of the Chagatai Khans. Marco Polo visited the city, which he calls Cascar, about 1273-4 and recorded the presence of numerous Nestorian Christians, who had their own churches. Later In the 14th century, a Chagataid khan Tughluq Timur converted to Islam, and Islamic tradition began to reassert its ascendancy.

 

In 1389−1390 Tamerlane ravaged Kashgar, Andijan and the intervening country. Kashgar endured a troubled time, and in 1514, on the invasion of the Khan Sultan Said, was destroyed by Mirza Ababakar, who with the aid of ten thousand men built a new fort with massive defences higher up on the banks of the Tuman river. The dynasty of the Chagatai Khans collapsed in 1572 with the division of the country among rival factions; soon after, two powerful Khoja factions, the White and Black Mountaineers (Ak Taghliq or Afaqi, and Kara Taghliq or Ishaqi), arose whose differences and war-making gestures, with the intermittent episode of the Oirats of Dzungaria, make up much of recorded history in Kashgar until 1759. The Dzungar Khanate conquered Kashgar and set up the Khoja as their puppet rulers.

 

QING CONQUEST

The Qing dynasty defeated the Dzungar Khanate during the Ten Great Campaigns and took control of Kashgar in 1759. The conquerors consolidated their authority by settling other ethnics emigrants in the vicinity of a Manchu garrison.

 

Rumours flew around Central Asia that the Qing planned to launch expeditions towards Transoxiana and Samarkand, the chiefs of which sought assistance from the Afghan king Ahmed Shah Abdali. The alleged expedition never happened so Ahmad Shah withdrew his forces from Kokand. He also dispatched an ambassador to Beijing to discuss the situation of the Afaqi Khojas, but the representative was not well received, and Ahmed Shah was too busy fighting off the Sikhs to attempt to enforce his demands through arms.

The Qing continued to hold Kashgar with occasional interruptions during the Afaqi Khoja revolts. One of the most serious of these occurred in 1827, when the city was taken by Jahanghir Khoja; Chang-lung, however, the Qing general of Ili, regained possession of Kashgar and the other rebellious cities in 1828.

 

The Kokand Khanate raided Kashgar several times. A revolt in 1829 under Mahommed Ali Khan and Yusuf, brother of Jahanghir resulted in the concession of several important trade privileges to the Muslims of the district of Altishahr (the "six cities"), as it was then called.

 

The area enjoyed relative calm until 1846 under the rule of Zahir-ud-din, the local Uyghur governor, but in that year a new Khoja revolt under Kath Tora led to his accession as the authoritarian ruler of the city. However, his reign was brief—at the end of seventy-five days, on the approach of the Chinese, he fled back to Khokand amid the jeers of the inhabitants. The last of the Khoja revolts (1857) was of about equal duration, and took place under Wali-Khan, who murdered the well-known traveler Adolf Schlagintweit.

 

1862 CHINESE HUI REVOLT

The great Dungan revolt (1862–1877) involved insurrection among various Muslim ethnic groups. It broke out in 1862 in Gansu then spread rapidly to Dzungaria and through the line of towns in the Tarim Basin.

 

Dungan troops based in Yarkand rose and in August 1864 massacred some seven thousand Chinese and their Manchu commander. The inhabitants of Kashgar, rising in their turn against their masters, invoked the aid of Sadik Beg, a Kyrgyz chief, who was reinforced by Buzurg Khan, the heir of Jahanghir Khoja, and his general Yakub Beg. The latter men were dispatched at Sadik’s request by the ruler of Khokand to raise what troops they could to aid his Muslim friends in Kashgar.

 

Sadik Beg soon repented of having asked for a Khoja, and eventually marched against Kashgar, which by this time had succumbed to Buzurg Khan and Yakub Beg, but was defeated and driven back to Khokand. Buzurg Khan delivered himself up to indolence and debauchery, but Yakub Beg, with singular energy and perseverance, made himself master of Yangi Shahr, Yangi-Hissar, Yarkand and other towns, and eventually became sole master of the country, Buzurg Khan proving himself totally unfit for the post of ruler.

 

With the overthrow of Chinese rule in 1865 by Yakub Beg (1820–1877), the manufacturing industries of Kashgar are supposed to have declined.

 

Yaqub Beg entered into relations and signed treaties with the Russian Empire and the British Empire, but when he tried to get their support against China, he failed.

 

Kashgar and the other cities of the Tarim Basin remained under Yakub Beg’s rule until May 1877, when he died at Korla. Thereafter Kashgaria was reconquered by the forces of the Qing general Zuo Zongtang during the Qing reconquest of Xinjiang.

 

QING RULE

There were eras in Xinjiang's history where intermarriage was common, "laxity" which set upon Uyghur women led them to marry Chinese men and not wear the veil in the period after Yaqub Beg's rule ended, it is also believed by Uyghurs that some Uyghurs have Han Chinese ancestry from historical intermarriage, such as those living in Turpan.

 

Even though Muslim women are forbidden to marry non-Muslims in Islamic law, from 1880-1949 it was frequently violated in Xinjiang since Chinese men married Muslim Turki (Uyghur) women, a reason suggested by foriengers that it was due to the women being poor, while the Turki women who married Chinese were labelled as whores by the Turki community, these marriages were illegitimate according to Islamic law but the women obtained benefits from marrying Chinese men since the Chinese defended them from Islamic authorities so the women were not subjected to the tax on prostitution and were able to save their income for themselves. Chinese men gave their Turki wives privileges which Turki men's wives did not have, since the wives of Chinese did not have to wear a veil and a Chinese man in Kashgar once beat a mullah who tried to force his Turki Kashgari wife to veil. The Turki women also benefited in that they were not subjected to any legal binding to their Chinese husbands so they could make their Chinese husbands provide them with as much their money as she wanted for her relatives and herself since otherwise the women could just leave, and the property of Chinese men was left to their Turki wives after they died. Turki women considered Turki men to be inferior husbands to Chinese and Hindus. Because they were viewed as "impure", Islamic cemeteries banned the Turki wives of Chinese men from being buried within them, the Turki women got around this problem by giving shrines donations and buying a grave in other towns. Besides Chinese men, other men such as Hindus, Armenians, Jews, Russians, and Badakhshanis intermarried with local Turki women. The local society accepted the Turki women and Chinese men's mixed offspring as their own people despite the marriages being in violation of Islamic law. Turki women also conducted temporary marriages with Chinese men such as Chinese soldiers temporarily stationed around them as soldiers for tours of duty, after which the Chinese men returned to their own cities, with the Chinese men selling their mixed daughters with the Turki women to his comrades, taking their sons with them if they could afford it but leaving them if they couldn't, and selling their temporary Turki wife to a comrade or leaving her behind.

 

An anti-Russian uproar broke out when Russian customs officials, 3 Cossacks and a Russian courier invited local Turki (Uyghur) prostitutes to a party in January 1902 in Kashgar, this caused a massive brawl by the inflamed local Turki Muslim populace against the Russians on the pretense of protecting Muslim women because there was anti-Russian sentiment being built up, even though morality was not strict in Kashgar, the local Turki Muslims violently clashed with the Russians before they were dispersed by guards, the Chinese sought to end to tensions to prevent the Russians from building up a pretext to invade.

 

After the riot, the Russians sent troops to Sarikol in Tashkurghan and demanded that the Sarikol postal services be placed under Russian supervision, the locals of Sarikol believed that the Russians would seize the entire district from the Chinese and send more soldiers even after the Russians tried to negotiate with the Begs of Sarikol and sway them to their side, they failed since the Sarikoli officials and authorities demanded in a petition to the Amban of Yarkand that they be evacuated to Yarkand to avoid being harassed by the Russians and objected to the Russian presence in Sarikol, the Sarikolis did not believe the Russian claim that they would leave them alone and only involved themselves in the mail service.

 

Many of the young Kashgari women were most attractive in appearance, and some of the little girls quite lovely, their plaits of long hair falling from under a jaunty little embroidered cap, their big dark eyes, flashing teeth and piquant olive faces reminding me of Italian or Spanish children. One most beautiful boy stands out in my memory. He was clad in a new shirt and trousers of flowered pink, his crimson velvet cap embroidered with gold, and as he smiled and salaamed to us I thought he looked like a fairy prince. The women wear their hair in two or five plaits much thickened and lengthened by the addition of yak's hair, but the children in several tiny plaits.

 

The peasants are fairly well off, as the soil is rich, the abundant water-supply free, and the taxation comparatively light. It was always interesting to meet them taking their live stock into market. Flocks of sheep with tiny lambs, black and white, pattered along the dusty road; here a goat followed its master like a dog, trotting behind the diminutive ass which the farmer bestrode; or boys, clad in the whity-brown native cloth, shouted incessantly at donkeys almost invisible under enormous loads of forage, or carried fowls and ducks in bunches head downwards, a sight that always made me long to come to the rescue of the luckless birds.

 

It was pleasant to see the women riding alone on horseback, managing their mounts to perfection. They formed a sharp contrast to their Persian sisters, who either sit behind their husbands or have their steeds led by the bridle; and instead of keeping silence in public, as is the rule for the shrouded women of Iran, these farmers' wives chaffered and haggled with the men in the bazar outside the city, transacting business with their veils thrown back.

 

Certainly the mullas do their best to keep the fair sex in their place, and are in the habit of beating those who show their faces in the Great Bazar. But I was told that poetic justice had lately been meted out to one of these upholders of the law of Islam, for by mistake he chastised a Kashgari woman married to a Chinaman, whereupon the irate husband set upon him with a big stick and castigated him soundly.

 

That a Muslim should take in marriage one of alien faith is not objected to; it is rather deemed a meritorious act thus to bring an unbeliever to the true religion. The Muslim woman, on the other hand, must not be given in marriage to a non-Muslim; such a union is regarded as the most heinous of sins. In this matter, however, compromises are sometimes made with heaven: the marriage of a Turki princess with the emperor Ch'ien-lung has already been referred to; and, when the present writer passed through Minjol (a day's journey west of Kashgar) in 1902, a Chinese with a Turki wife (? concubine) was presented to him.

 

FIRST EAST TURKESTAN REPUBLIC

Kashgar was the scene of continual battles from 1933 to 1934. Ma Shaowu, a Chinese Muslim, was the Tao-yin of Kashgar, and he fought against Uyghur rebels. He was joined by another Chinese Muslim general, Ma Zhancang.

 

BATTLE OF KASHGAR (1933)

Uighur and Kirghiz forces, led by the Bughra brothers and Tawfiq Bay, attempted to take the New City of Kashgar from Chinese Muslim troops under General Ma Zhancang. They were defeated.

 

Tawfiq Bey, a Syrian Arab traveler, who held the title Sayyid (descendent of prophet Muhammed) and arrived at Kashgar on August 26, 1933, was shot in the stomach by the Chinese Muslim troops in September. Previously Ma Zhancang arranged to have the Uighur leader Timur Beg killed and beheaded on August 9, 1933, displaying his head outside of Id Kah Mosque.

 

Han chinese troops commanded by Brigadier Yang were absorbed into Ma Zhancang's army. A number of Han chinese officers were spotted wearing the green uniforms of Ma Zhancang's unit of the 36th division, presumably they had converted to Islam.

 

BATTLE OF KASHGAR (1934)

The 36th division General Ma Fuyuan led a Chinese Muslim army to storm Kashgar on February 6, 1934, attacking the Uighur and Kirghiz rebels of the First East Turkestan Republic. He freed another 36th division general, Ma Zhancang, who was trapped with his Chinese Muslim and Han Chinese troops in Kashgar New City by the Uighurs and Kirghiz since May 22, 1933. In January, 1934, Ma Zhancang's Chinese Muslim troops repulsed six Uighur attacks, launched by Khoja Niyaz, who arrived at the city on January 13, 1934, inflicting massive casualties on the Uighur forces. From 2,000 to 8,000 Uighur civilians in Kashgar Old City were massacred by Tungans in February, 1934, in revenge for the Kizil massacre, after retreating of Uighur forces from the city to Yengi Hisar. The Chinese Muslim and 36th division Chief General Ma Zhongying, who arrived at Kashgar on April 7, 1934, gave a speech at Id Kah Mosque in April, reminding the Uighurs to be loyal to the Republic of China government at Nanjing. Several British citizens at the British consulate were killed or wounded by the 36th division on March 16, 1934.

 

PEOPLE´S REPUBLIC OF CHINA

Kashgar was incorporated into the People's Republic of China in 1949. During the Cultural Revolution, one of the largest statues of Mao in China was built in Kashgar, near People's Square. In 1986, the Chinese government designated Kashgar a "city of historical and cultural significance". Kashgar and surrounding regions have been the site of Uyghur unrest since the 1990s. In 2008, two Uyghur men carried out a vehicular, IED and knife attack against police officers. In 2009, development of Kashgar's old town accelerated after the revelations of the deadly role of faulty architecture during the 2008 Sichuan earthquake. Many of the old houses in the old town were built without regulation, and as a result, officials found them to be overcrowded and non-compliant with fire and earthquake codes. When the plan started, 42% of the city's residents lived in the old town. With compensation, residents of faulty buildings are being counseled to move to newer, safer buildings that will replace the historic structures in the $448 million plan, including high-rise apartments, plazas, and reproductions of ancient Islamic architecture. The European Parliament issued a resolution in 2011 calling for "culture-sensitive methods of renovation." The International Scientific Committee on Earthen Architectural Heritage (ISCEAH) has expressed concern over the demolition and reconstruction of historic buildings. ISCEAH has, additionally, urged the implementation of techniques utilized elsewhere in the world to address earthquake vulnerability.

 

Following the July 2009 Urumqi riots, the government focused on local economic development in an attempt to ameliorate ethnic tensions in the greater Xinjiang region. Kashgar was made into a Special Economic Zone in 2010, the first such zone in China's far west. In 2011, a spate of violence over two days killed dozens of people. By May 2012 two-thirds of the old city had been demolished, fulfilling "political as well as economic goals." In July 2014 the Imam of the Id Kah Mosque, Juma Tayir, was assassinated in Kashgar.

 

CLIMATE

Kashgar features a desert climate (Köppen BWk) with hot summers and cold winters, with large temperature differences between those two seasons: The monthly 24-hour average temperature ranges from −5.3 °C in January to 25.6 °C in July, while the annual mean is 11.84 °C. Spring is long and arrives quickly, while fall is somewhat brief in comparison. Kashgar is one of the driest cities on the planet, averaging only 64 millimetres of precipitation per year. The city’s wettest month, July, only sees on average 9.1 millimetres of rain. Because of the extremely arid conditions, snowfall is rare, despite the cold winters. Records have been as low as −24.4 °C in January and up to 40.1 °C in July. The frost-free period averages 215 days. With monthly percent possible sunshine ranging from 50% in March to 70% in September, the city receives 2,726 hours of bright sunshine annually.

 

DEMOGRAPHICS

Kashgar is predominately peopled by Muslim Uyghurs. Compared to Ürümqi, Xinjiang's capital and largest city, Kashgar is less industrial and has significantly fewer Han Chinese residents.

 

ECONOMICS AND SOCIETY

The city has a very important Sunday market. Thousands of farmers from the surrounding fertile lands come into the city to sell a wide variety of fruit and vegetables. Kashgar’s livestock market is also very lively. Silk and carpets made in Hotan are sold at bazaars, as well as local crafts, such as copper teapots and wooden jewellery boxes.

 

In order to boost the economy in Kashgar region, the government classified the area as the sixth Special Economic Zone of China in May 2010.

 

Mahmud al-Kashgari (Turkish: Kâşgarlı Mahmud) (Mahmut from Kashgar) wrote the first Turkic–Arabic Exemplary Dictionary called Divan-ı Lugat-it Türk[citation needed]

 

The movie The Kite Runner was filmed in Kashgar. Kashgar and the surrounding countryside stood in for Kabul and Afghanistan, since filming in Afghanistan was not possible due to safety and security reasons.

 

SIGHTS

Kashgar's Old City has been called "the best-preserved example of a traditional Islamic city to be found anywhere in Central Asia". It is estimated to attract more than one million tourists annually.

 

- Id Kah Mosque, the largest mosque in China, is located in the heart of the city.

- People's Park, the main public park in central Kashgar.

- An 18 m high statue of Mao Zedong in Kashgar is one of the few large-scale statues of Mao remaining in China.

- The tomb of Afaq Khoja in Kashgar is considered the holiest Muslim site in Xinjiang. Built in the 17th century, the tiled mausoleum 5 km northeast of the city centre also contains the tombs of five generations of his family. Abakh was a powerful ruler, controlling Khotan, Yarkand, Korla, Kucha and Aksu as well as Kashgar. Among some Uyghur Muslims, he was considered a great Saint (Aulia).

- Sunday Market in Kashgar is renowned as the biggest market in central Asia; a pivotal trading point along the Silk Road where goods have been traded for more than 2,000 years. The market is open every day but Sunday is the largest.

 

TRANSPORTATION

AIR

Kashgar Airport serves mainly domestic flights, the majority of them from Urumqi. The only scheduled international flights are passenger and cargo services with Pakistan's capital Islamabad.

 

RAIL

Kashgar has the westernmost railway station in China. It is connected to the rest of China's rail network via the Southern Xinjiang Railway, which was built in December 1999. Kashgar–Hotan Railway opened for passenger traffic in June 2011, and connected Kashgar with cities in the southern Tarim Basin including Shache (Yarkand), Yecheng (Kargilik) and Hotan. Travel time to Urumqi from Kashgar is approximately 25 hours, while travel time to Hotan is approximately ten hours.

 

The investigation work of a further extension of the railway line to Pakistan has begun. In November 2009, Pakistan and China agreed to set up a joint venture to do a feasibility study of the proposed rail link via the Khunjerab Pass.

 

Proposals for a rail connection to Osh in Kyrgyzstan have also been discussed at various levels since at least 1996.

 

In 2012, a standard gauge railway from Kashgar via Tajikistan and Afghanistan to Iran and beyond has been proposed.

 

ROAD

The Karakorum highway (KKH) links Islamabad, Pakistan with Kashgar over the Khunjerab Pass. The China–Pakistan Economic Corridor is a multibillion-dollar project was that will upgrade transport links between China and Pakistan, including the upgrades to the Karakorum highway. Bus routes exist for passenger travel south into Pakistan. Kyrgyzstan is also accessible from Kashgar, via the Torugart Pass and Irkeshtam Pass; as of summer 2007, daily bus service connects Kashgar with Bishkek’s Western Bus Terminal. Kashgar is also located on China National Highways G314 (which runs to Khunjerab Pass on the Sino−Pakistani border, and, in the opposite direction, towards Ürümqi), and G315, which runs to Xining, Qinghai from Kashgar.

 

WIKIPEDIA

TRANSACT 14 / WED / SESSIONS

Damien Saez

"J'accuse"

   

Faut du gazoil dans la bagnole,

La carte bleue dans la chatte,

Faut de la dinde pour noel,

Faut bronzer pendant les vacances

Faut du forfait faut du forfait,

Pour oublier la solitude,

Faut des gonzesses à la télé,

Ouais faut des pilules pour bander,

Faut du gazon dans les tabacs,

Il faudrait arrêter dfumer,

La salle de sport sur des machines,

Faut s’essouffler faut s’entraîner,

Faut marcher dans les clous,

Faut pas boire au volant,

Faut dépenser les ptits sous,

Faut du réseau pour les enfants,

Faut ressembler à des guignols,

Faut que tu passes à la télé,

Pour rentrer dans les farandoles,

De ceux qui ont le blé…

Jme ballade dans les grandes surfaces,

J’ai pas assez mais faut payer,

Je cours au gré des accessoires

Et des conneries illimitées,

Les gens parlent mal les gens sont cons,

Au moins tout aussi cons que moi,

A se faire mettrer à sfaire baiser,

Sûr à sfaire enfanter,

Des bébés par des hologrammes,

Des mots d’amour par satellite,

Mais ces connards ils savent pas lire,

Ils savent même pas se nourrir,

Des OGM dans les bibrons,

Ouais c’est tant mieux ça fra moins con,

Quand ils crèvront en mutation,

Des grippes porcines sur des cochons,

 

Oh non l’homme descend pas du singe,

Il descend plutôt du mouton,

Oh non l’homme descend pas du singe,

Il descend plutôt du mouton…

 

Faut marcher dans les clous,

Faut pas boire au volant,

Faut dépenser ses ptits sous,

Faut du réseau pour tes enfants,

Faut ressembler à des guignols,

Faut passer à la télé,

Faut rentrer dans les farandoles

De ceux qui font le blé…

 

Il parait qu’il faut virer les profs,

Et puis les travailleurs sociaux,

Les fonctionnaires qui servent à rien,

Les infirmières à 1000 euros,

Faut qu’ça rapporte aux actionnaires,

La santé et les hopitaux,

Va tfaire soigner en Angleterre,

Va voir la gueule de leurs métros,

Faut qu’on se fasse une raison,

On a loupé nos transactions,

On s’est laissés prendre le cul,

Par nos besoins nos religions,

Il faut foutre le portables aux chiottes,

Et des coup d’pioche dans la télé,

Faut mettre les menottes

A chaque présentateur du JT…

 

J’accuse !

Au mégaphone dans l’assemblée !

J’accuse ! J’accuse ! J’accuse !

Au mégaphone dans l’assemblée !

 

Faut du gazoil dans la bagnole,

La carte bleue dans la chatte,

Faut de la dinde pour noel,

Faut bronzer pendant les vacances

Faut du forfait faut du forfait,

Faudrait de l’herbe dans les tabacs,

La salle de sport sur des machines,

Faut s’essouffler faut s’entraîner,

Jme ballade dans les grandes surfaces,

J’ai pas assez mais faut payer,

Je cours au gré des accessoires,

Et des conneries illimitées,

Jme ballade dans les grandes surfaces,

J’ai pas assez mais faut payer,

Je cours au gré des accessoires,

Et des conneries illimitées…

TRANSACT 14 / TUES / SESSIONS

Kashgar is an oasis city with an approximate population of 350,000. It is the westernmost city in China, located near the border with Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan. Kashgar has a rich history of over 2,000 years and served as a trading post and strategically important city on the Silk Road between China, the Middle East, and Europe. Kashgar is part of the China–Pakistan Economic Corridor.

 

Located historically at the convergence point of widely varying cultures and empires, Kashgar has been under the rule of the Chinese, Turkic, Mongol, and Tibetan empires. The city has also been the site of an extraordinary number of battles between various groups of people on the steppes.

 

Now administered as a county-level unit of the People's Republic of China, Kashgar is the administrative centre of its eponymous prefecture in the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region which has an area of 162,000 square kilometres and a population of approximately 3.5 million. The city's urban area covers 15 km2, though its administrative area extends over 555 km2.

 

NAME

The modern Chinese name is 喀什 (Kāshí), a shortened form of the longer and less-frequently used (simplified Chinese: 喀什噶尔; traditional Chinese: 喀什噶爾; pinyin: Kāshígé’ěr; Uyghur: قەشقەر‎). Ptolemy (AD 90-168), in his Geography, Chapter 15.3A, refers to Kashgar as “Kasi”. Its western and probably indigenous name is the Kāš ("rock"), to which the East Iranian -γar ("mountain"); cf. Pashto and Middle Persian gar/ġar, from Old Persian/Pahlavi girīwa ("hill; ridge (of a mountain)") was attached. Alternative historical Romanizations for "Kashgar" include Cascar and Cashgar.

 

Non-native names for the city, such as the old Chinese name Shule 疏勒 and Tibetan Śu-lig may have originated as an attempts to transcribe the Sanskrit name for Kashgar, Śrīkrīrāti ("fortunate hospitality")

 

Variant transcriptions of the official Uyghur: يېڭىشەھەر‎ include: K̂äxk̂är or Kaxgar, as well as Jangi-schahr, Kashgar Yangi Shahr, K’o-shih-ka-erh, K’o-shih-ka-erh-hsin-ch’eng, Ko-shih-ka-erh-hui-ch’eng, K’o-shih-ko-erh-hsin-ch’eng, New Kashgar, Sheleh, Shuleh, Shulen, Shu-lo, Su-lo, Su-lo-chen, Su-lo-hsien, Yangi-shaar, Yangi-shahr, Yangishar, Yéngisheher, Yengixəh̨ər and Еңишәһәр.

 

HISTORY

HAN DYNASTY

The earliest mention of Kashgar occurs when a Chinese Han dynasty envoy traveled the Northern Silk Road to explore lands to the west.

 

Another early mention of Kashgar is during the Former Han (also known as the Western Han dynasty), when in 76 BC the Chinese conquered the Xiongnu, Yutian (Khotan), Sulei (Kashgar), and a group of states in the Tarim basin almost up to the foot of the Tian Shan range.

 

Ptolemy speaks of Scythia beyond the Imaus, which is in a “Kasia Regio”, probably exhibiting the name from which Kashgar and Kashgaria (often applied to the district) are formed. The country’s people practised Zoroastrianism and Buddhism before the coming of Islam.

 

In the Book of Han, which covers the period between 125 BC and 23 AD, it is recorded that there were 1,510 households, 18,647 people and 2,000 persons able to bear arms. By the time covered by the Book of the Later Han (roughly 25 to 170 AD), it had grown to 21,000 households and had 3,000 men able to bear arms.

 

The Book of the Later Han provides a wealth of detail on developments in the region:

 

"In the period of Emperor Wu [140-87 BC], the Western Regions1 were under the control of the Interior [China]. They numbered thirty-six kingdoms. The Imperial Government established a Colonel [in charge of] Envoys there to direct and protect these countries. Emperor Xuan [73-49 BC] changed this title [in 59 BC] to Protector-General.

 

Emperor Yuan [40-33 BC] installed two Wuji Colonels to take charge of the agricultural garrisons on the frontiers of the king of Nearer Jushi [Turpan].

 

During the time of Emperor Ai [6 BC-AD 1] and Emperor Ping [AD 1-5], the principalities of the Western Regions split up and formed fifty-five kingdoms. Wang Mang, after he usurped the Throne [in AD 9], demoted and changed their kings and marquises. Following this, the Western Regions became resentful, and rebelled. They, therefore, broke off all relations with the Interior [China] and, all together, submitted to the Xiongnu again.

 

The Xiongnu collected oppressively heavy taxes and the kingdoms were not able to support their demands. In the middle of the Jianwu period [AD 25-56], they each [Shanshan and Yarkand in 38, and 18 kingdoms in 45], sent envoys to ask if they could submit to the Interior [China], and to express their desire for a Protector-General. Emperor Guangwu, decided that because the Empire was not yet settled [after a long period of civil war], he had no time for outside affairs, and [therefore] finally refused his consent [in AD 45].

 

In the meantime, the Xiongnu became weaker. The king of Suoju [Yarkand], named Xian, wiped out several kingdoms. After Xian’s death [c. AD 62], they began to attack and fight each other. Xiao Yuan [Tura], Jingjue [Cadota], Ronglu [Niya], and Qiemo [Cherchen] were annexed by Shanshan [the Lop Nur region]. Qule [south of Keriya] and Pishan [modern Pishan or Guma] were conquered and fully occupied by Yutian [Khotan]. Yuli [Fukang], Danhuan, Guhu [Dawan Cheng], and Wutanzili were destroyed by Jushi [Turpan and Jimasa]. Later these kingdoms were re-established.

 

During the Yongping period [AD 58-75], the Northern Xiongnu forced several countries to help them plunder the commanderies and districts of Hexi. The gates of the towns stayed shut in broad daylight."

 

And, more particularly in reference to Kashgar itself, is the following record:

 

"In the sixteenth Yongping year of Emperor Ming 73, Jian, the king of Qiuci (Kucha), attacked and killed Cheng, the king of Shule (Kashgar). Then he appointed the Qiuci (Kucha) Marquis of the Left, Douti, King of Shule (Kashgar). ‹See TfD›

In winter 73, the Han sent the Major Ban Chao who captured and bound Douti. He appointed Zhong, the son of the elder brother of Cheng, to be king of Shule (Kashgar). Zhong later rebelled. (Ban) Chao attacked and beheaded him."

 

THE KUSHANS

The Book of the Later Han also gives the only extant historical record of Yuezhi or Kushan involvement in the Kashgar oasis:

 

"During the Yuanchu period (114-120) in the reign of Emperor, the king of Shule (Kashgar), exiled his maternal uncle Chenpan to the Yuezhi (Kushans) for some offence. The king of the Yuezhi became very fond of him. Later, Anguo died without leaving a son. His mother directed the government of the kingdom. She agreed with the people of the country to put Yifu (lit. “posthumous child”), who was the son of a full younger brother of Chenpan on the throne as king of Shule (Kashgar). Chenpan heard of this and appealed to the Yuezhi (Kushan) king, saying:

 

"Anguo had no son. His relative (Yifu) is weak. If one wants to put on the throne a member of (Anguo’s) mother’s family, I am Yifu’s paternal uncle, it is I who should be king."

 

The Yuezhi (Kushans) then sent soldiers to escort him back to Shule (Kashgar). The people had previously respected and been fond of Chenpan. Besides, they dreaded the Yuezhi (Kushans). They immediately took the seal and ribbon from Yifu and went to Chenpan, and made him king. Yifu was given the title of Marquis of the town of Pangao [90 li, or 37 km, from Shule].

 

‹See TfD›

Then Suoju (Yarkand) continued to resist Yutian (Khotan), and put themselves under Shule (Kashgar). Thus Shule (Kashgar), became powerful and a rival to Qiuci (Kucha) and Yutian (Khotan)."

 

However, it was not very long before the Chinese began to reassert their authority in the region:

 

“In the second Yongjian year (127), during Emperor Shun’s reign, Chenpan sent an envoy to respectfully present offerings. The Emperor bestowed on Chenpan the title of Great Commandant-in-Chief for the Han. Chenxun, who was the son of his elder brother, was appointed Temporary Major of the Kingdom. ‹See TfD›

In the fifth year (130), Chenpan sent his son to serve the Emperor and, along with envoys from Dayuan (Ferghana) and Suoju (Yarkand), brought tribute and offerings.”

 

From an earlier part of the same text comes the following addition:

 

“In the first Yangjia year (132), Xu You sent the king of Shule (Kashgar), Chenpan, who with 20,000 men, attacked and defeated Yutian (Khotan). He beheaded several hundred people, and released his soldiers to plunder freely. He replaced the king [of Jumi] by installing Chengguo from the family of [the previous king] Xing, and then he returned.”[38]

 

Then the first passage continues:

 

“In the second Yangjia year (133), Chenpan again made offerings (including) a lion and zebu cattle. ‹See TfD›

 

Then, during Emperor Ling’s reign, in the first Jianning year, the king of Shule (Kashgar) and Commandant-in-Chief for the Han (i.e. presumably Chenpan), was shot while hunting by the youngest of his paternal uncles, Hede. Hede named himself king.

‹See TfD›

In the third year (170), Meng Tuo, the Inspector of Liangzhou, sent the Provincial Officer Ren She, commanding five hundred soldiers from Dunhuang, with the Wuji Major Cao Kuan, and Chief Clerk of the Western Regions, Zhang Yan, brought troops from Yanqi (Karashahr), Qiuci (Kucha), and the Nearer and Further States of Jushi (Turpan and Jimasa), altogether numbering more than 30,000, to punish Shule (Kashgar). They attacked the town of Zhenzhong [Arach − near Maralbashi] but, having stayed for more than forty days without being able to subdue it, they withdrew. Following this, the kings of Shule (Kashgar) killed one another repeatedly while the Imperial Government was unable to prevent it.”

 

THREE KINGDOMS TO THE SUI

These centuries are marked by a general silence in sources on Kashgar and the Tarim Basin.

 

The Weilüe, composed in the second third of the 3rd century, mentions a number of states as dependencies of Kashgar: the kingdom of Zhenzhong (Arach?), the kingdom of Suoju (Yarkand), the kingdom of Jieshi, the kingdom of Qusha, the kingdom of Xiye (Khargalik), the kingdom of Yinai (Tashkurghan), the kingdom of Manli (modern Karasul), the kingdom of Yire (Mazar − also known as Tágh Nák and Tokanak), the kingdom of Yuling, the kingdom of Juandu (‘Tax Control’ − near modern Irkeshtam), the kingdom of Xiuxiu (‘Excellent Rest Stop’ − near Karakavak), and the kingdom of Qin.

 

However, much of the information on the Western Regions contained in the Weilüe seems to have ended roughly about (170), near the end of Han power. So, we can’t be sure that this is a reference to the state of affairs during the Cao Wei (220-265), or whether it refers to the situation before the civil war during the Later Han when China lost touch with most foreign countries and came to be divided into three separate kingdoms.

 

Chapter 30 of the Records of the Three Kingdoms says that after the beginning of the Wei Dynasty (220) the states of the Western Regions did not arrive as before, except for the larger ones such as Kucha, Khotan, Kangju, Wusun, Kashgar, Yuezhi, Shanshan and Turpan, who are said to have come to present tribute every year, as in Han times.

 

In 270, four states from the Western Regions were said to have presented tribute: Karashahr, Turpan, Shanshan, and Kucha. Some wooden documents from Niya seem to indicate that contacts were also maintained with Kashgar and Khotan around this time.

 

In 422, according to the Songshu, ch. 98, the king of Shanshan, Bilong, came to the court and "the thirty-six states in the Western Regions" all swore their allegiance and presented tribute. It must be assumed that these 36 states included Kashgar.

 

The "Songji" of the Zizhi Tongjian records that in the 5th month of 435, nine states: Kucha, Kashgar, Wusun, Yueban, Tashkurghan, Shanshan, Karashahr, Turpan and Sute all came to the Wei court.

 

In 439, according to the Weishu, ch. 4A, Shanshan, Kashgar and Karashahr sent envoys to present tribute.

 

According to the Weishu, ch. 102, Chapter on the Western Regions, the kingdoms of Kucha, Kashgar, Wusun, Yueban, Tashkurghan, Shanshan, Karashahr, Turpan and Sute all began sending envoys to present tribute in the Taiyuan reign period (435-440).

 

In 453 Kashgar sent envoys to present tribute (Weishu, ch. 5), and again in 455.

 

An embassy sent during the reign of Wencheng Di (452-466) from the king of Kashgar presented a supposed sacred relic of the Buddha; a dress which was incombustible.

 

In 507 Kashgar, is said to have sent envoys in both the 9th and 10th months (Weishu, ch. 8).

 

In 512, Kashgar sent envoys in the 1st and 5th months. (Weishu, ch. 8).

 

Early in the 6th century Kashgar is included among the many territories controlled by the Yeda or Hephthalite Huns, but their empire collapsed at the onslaught of the Western Turks between 563 and 567 who then probably gained control over Kashgar and most of the states in the Tarim Basin.

 

TANG DYNASTY

The founding of the Tang dynasty in 618 saw the beginning of a prolonged struggle between China and the Western Turks for control of the Tarim Basin. In 635, the Tang Annals reported an emissary from the king of Kashgar to the Tang capital. In 639 there was a second emissary bringing products of Kashgar as a token of submission to the Tang state.

 

Buddhist scholar Xuanzang passed through Kashgar (which he referred to as Ka-sha) in 644 on his return journey from India to China. The Buddhist religion, then beginning to decay in India, was active in Kashgar. Xuanzang recorded that they flattened their babies heads, tattooed their bodies and had green eyes. He reported that Kashgar had abundant crops, fruits and flowers, wove fine woolen stuffs and rugs. Their writing system had been adapted from Indian script but their language was different from that of other countries. The inhabitants were sincere Buddhist adherents and there were some hundreds of monasteries with more than 10,000 followers, all members of the Sarvastivadin School.

 

At around the same era, Nestorian Christians were establishing bishoprics at Herat, Merv and Samarkand, whence they subsequently proceeded to Kashgar, and finally to China proper itself.

 

In 646, the Turkic Kagan asked for the hand of a Tang Chinese princess, and in return the Emperor promised Kucha, Khotan, Kashgar, Karashahr and Sarikol as a marriage gift, but this did not happen as planned.

 

In a series of campaigns between 652 and 658, with the help of the Uyghurs, the Chinese finally defeated the Western Turk tribes and took control of all their domains, including the Tarim Basin kingdoms. Karakhoja was annexed in 640, Karashahr during campaigns in 644 and 648, and Kucha fell in 648.

 

In 662 a rebellion broke out in the Western Regions and a Chinese army sent to control it was defeated by the Tibetans south of Kashgar.

 

After another defeat of the Tang Chinese forces in 670, the Tibetans gained control of the whole region and completely subjugated Kashgar in 676-8 and retained possession of it until 692, when the Tang dynasty regained control of all their former territories, and retained it for the next fifty years.

 

In 722 Kashgar sent 4,000 troops to assist the Chinese to force the "Tibetans out of "Little Bolu" or Gilgit.

 

In 728, the king of Kashgar was awarded a brevet by the Chinese emperor.

 

In 739, the Tangshu relates that the governor of the Chinese garrison in Kashgar, with the help of Ferghana, was interfering in the affairs of the Turgesh tribes as far as Talas.

 

In 751 the Chinese were defeated by an Arab army in the Battle of Talas. The An Lushan Rebellion led to the decline of Tang influence in Central Asia due to the fact that the Tang dynasty was forced to withdraw its troops from the region to fight An Lushan. The Tibetans cut all communication between China and the West in 766.

 

Soon after the Chinese pilgrim monk Wukong passed through Kashgar in 753. He again reached Kashgar on his return trip from India in 786 and mentions a Chinese deputy governor as well as the local king.

 

BATTLES WITH ARAB CALIPHATE

In 711, the Arabs invaded Kashgar, but did not hold the city for any length of time. Kashgar and Turkestan lent assistance to the reigning queen of Bukhara, to enable her to repel the Arabs. Although the Muslim religion from the very commencement sustained checks, it nevertheless made its weight felt upon the independent states of Turkestan to the north and east, and thus acquired a steadily growing influence. It was not, however, till the 10th century that Islam was established at Kashgar, under the Kara-Khanid Khanate.

 

THE TURKIC RULE

According to the 10th-century text, Hudud al-'alam, "the chiefs of Kashghar in the days of old were from the Qarluq, or from the Yaghma." The Karluks, Yaghmas and other tribes such as the Chigils formed the Karakhanids. The Karakhanid Sultan Satuq Bughra Khan converted to Islam in the 10th century and captured Kashgar. Kashgar was the capital of the Karakhanid state for a time but later the capital was moved to Balasaghun. During the latter part of the 10th century, the Muslim Karakhanids began a struggle against the Buddhist Kingdom of Khotan, and the Khotanese defeated the Karakhanids and captured Kashgar in 970. Chinese sources recorded the king of Khotan offering to send them a dancing elephant captured from Kashgar. Later in 1006, the Karakhanids of Kashgar under Yusuf Kadr Khan conquered Khotan.

 

The Karakhanid Khanate however was beset with internal strife, and the khanate split into two, the Eastern and Western Karakhanid Khanates, with Kashgar falling within the domain of the Eastern Karakhanid state. In 1089, the Western Karakhanids fell under the control of the Seljuks, but the Eastern Karakhanids was for the most part independent.

 

Both the Karakhanid states were defeated in the 12th century by the Kara-Khitans who captured Balasaghun, however Karakhanid rule continued in Kashgar under the suzerainty of the Kara-Khitans. The Kara-Khitan rulers followed a policy of religious tolerance, Islamic religious life continued uninterrupted and Kashgar was also a Nestorian metropolitan see. The last Karakhanid of Kashgar was killed in a revolt in 1211 by the city's notables. Kuchlug, a usurper of the throne of the Kara-Khitans, then attacked Kashgar which finally surrendered in 1214.

 

THE MONGOLS

The Kara-Khitai in their turn were swept away in 1219 by Genghis Khan. After his death, Kashgar came under the rule of the Chagatai Khans. Marco Polo visited the city, which he calls Cascar, about 1273-4 and recorded the presence of numerous Nestorian Christians, who had their own churches. Later In the 14th century, a Chagataid khan Tughluq Timur converted to Islam, and Islamic tradition began to reassert its ascendancy.

 

In 1389−1390 Tamerlane ravaged Kashgar, Andijan and the intervening country. Kashgar endured a troubled time, and in 1514, on the invasion of the Khan Sultan Said, was destroyed by Mirza Ababakar, who with the aid of ten thousand men built a new fort with massive defences higher up on the banks of the Tuman river. The dynasty of the Chagatai Khans collapsed in 1572 with the division of the country among rival factions; soon after, two powerful Khoja factions, the White and Black Mountaineers (Ak Taghliq or Afaqi, and Kara Taghliq or Ishaqi), arose whose differences and war-making gestures, with the intermittent episode of the Oirats of Dzungaria, make up much of recorded history in Kashgar until 1759. The Dzungar Khanate conquered Kashgar and set up the Khoja as their puppet rulers.

 

QING CONQUEST

The Qing dynasty defeated the Dzungar Khanate during the Ten Great Campaigns and took control of Kashgar in 1759. The conquerors consolidated their authority by settling other ethnics emigrants in the vicinity of a Manchu garrison.

 

Rumours flew around Central Asia that the Qing planned to launch expeditions towards Transoxiana and Samarkand, the chiefs of which sought assistance from the Afghan king Ahmed Shah Abdali. The alleged expedition never happened so Ahmad Shah withdrew his forces from Kokand. He also dispatched an ambassador to Beijing to discuss the situation of the Afaqi Khojas, but the representative was not well received, and Ahmed Shah was too busy fighting off the Sikhs to attempt to enforce his demands through arms.

The Qing continued to hold Kashgar with occasional interruptions during the Afaqi Khoja revolts. One of the most serious of these occurred in 1827, when the city was taken by Jahanghir Khoja; Chang-lung, however, the Qing general of Ili, regained possession of Kashgar and the other rebellious cities in 1828.

 

The Kokand Khanate raided Kashgar several times. A revolt in 1829 under Mahommed Ali Khan and Yusuf, brother of Jahanghir resulted in the concession of several important trade privileges to the Muslims of the district of Altishahr (the "six cities"), as it was then called.

 

The area enjoyed relative calm until 1846 under the rule of Zahir-ud-din, the local Uyghur governor, but in that year a new Khoja revolt under Kath Tora led to his accession as the authoritarian ruler of the city. However, his reign was brief—at the end of seventy-five days, on the approach of the Chinese, he fled back to Khokand amid the jeers of the inhabitants. The last of the Khoja revolts (1857) was of about equal duration, and took place under Wali-Khan, who murdered the well-known traveler Adolf Schlagintweit.

 

1862 CHINESE HUI REVOLT

The great Dungan revolt (1862–1877) involved insurrection among various Muslim ethnic groups. It broke out in 1862 in Gansu then spread rapidly to Dzungaria and through the line of towns in the Tarim Basin.

 

Dungan troops based in Yarkand rose and in August 1864 massacred some seven thousand Chinese and their Manchu commander. The inhabitants of Kashgar, rising in their turn against their masters, invoked the aid of Sadik Beg, a Kyrgyz chief, who was reinforced by Buzurg Khan, the heir of Jahanghir Khoja, and his general Yakub Beg. The latter men were dispatched at Sadik’s request by the ruler of Khokand to raise what troops they could to aid his Muslim friends in Kashgar.

 

Sadik Beg soon repented of having asked for a Khoja, and eventually marched against Kashgar, which by this time had succumbed to Buzurg Khan and Yakub Beg, but was defeated and driven back to Khokand. Buzurg Khan delivered himself up to indolence and debauchery, but Yakub Beg, with singular energy and perseverance, made himself master of Yangi Shahr, Yangi-Hissar, Yarkand and other towns, and eventually became sole master of the country, Buzurg Khan proving himself totally unfit for the post of ruler.

 

With the overthrow of Chinese rule in 1865 by Yakub Beg (1820–1877), the manufacturing industries of Kashgar are supposed to have declined.

 

Yaqub Beg entered into relations and signed treaties with the Russian Empire and the British Empire, but when he tried to get their support against China, he failed.

 

Kashgar and the other cities of the Tarim Basin remained under Yakub Beg’s rule until May 1877, when he died at Korla. Thereafter Kashgaria was reconquered by the forces of the Qing general Zuo Zongtang during the Qing reconquest of Xinjiang.

 

QING RULE

There were eras in Xinjiang's history where intermarriage was common, "laxity" which set upon Uyghur women led them to marry Chinese men and not wear the veil in the period after Yaqub Beg's rule ended, it is also believed by Uyghurs that some Uyghurs have Han Chinese ancestry from historical intermarriage, such as those living in Turpan.

 

Even though Muslim women are forbidden to marry non-Muslims in Islamic law, from 1880-1949 it was frequently violated in Xinjiang since Chinese men married Muslim Turki (Uyghur) women, a reason suggested by foriengers that it was due to the women being poor, while the Turki women who married Chinese were labelled as whores by the Turki community, these marriages were illegitimate according to Islamic law but the women obtained benefits from marrying Chinese men since the Chinese defended them from Islamic authorities so the women were not subjected to the tax on prostitution and were able to save their income for themselves. Chinese men gave their Turki wives privileges which Turki men's wives did not have, since the wives of Chinese did not have to wear a veil and a Chinese man in Kashgar once beat a mullah who tried to force his Turki Kashgari wife to veil. The Turki women also benefited in that they were not subjected to any legal binding to their Chinese husbands so they could make their Chinese husbands provide them with as much their money as she wanted for her relatives and herself since otherwise the women could just leave, and the property of Chinese men was left to their Turki wives after they died. Turki women considered Turki men to be inferior husbands to Chinese and Hindus. Because they were viewed as "impure", Islamic cemeteries banned the Turki wives of Chinese men from being buried within them, the Turki women got around this problem by giving shrines donations and buying a grave in other towns. Besides Chinese men, other men such as Hindus, Armenians, Jews, Russians, and Badakhshanis intermarried with local Turki women. The local society accepted the Turki women and Chinese men's mixed offspring as their own people despite the marriages being in violation of Islamic law. Turki women also conducted temporary marriages with Chinese men such as Chinese soldiers temporarily stationed around them as soldiers for tours of duty, after which the Chinese men returned to their own cities, with the Chinese men selling their mixed daughters with the Turki women to his comrades, taking their sons with them if they could afford it but leaving them if they couldn't, and selling their temporary Turki wife to a comrade or leaving her behind.

 

An anti-Russian uproar broke out when Russian customs officials, 3 Cossacks and a Russian courier invited local Turki (Uyghur) prostitutes to a party in January 1902 in Kashgar, this caused a massive brawl by the inflamed local Turki Muslim populace against the Russians on the pretense of protecting Muslim women because there was anti-Russian sentiment being built up, even though morality was not strict in Kashgar, the local Turki Muslims violently clashed with the Russians before they were dispersed by guards, the Chinese sought to end to tensions to prevent the Russians from building up a pretext to invade.

 

After the riot, the Russians sent troops to Sarikol in Tashkurghan and demanded that the Sarikol postal services be placed under Russian supervision, the locals of Sarikol believed that the Russians would seize the entire district from the Chinese and send more soldiers even after the Russians tried to negotiate with the Begs of Sarikol and sway them to their side, they failed since the Sarikoli officials and authorities demanded in a petition to the Amban of Yarkand that they be evacuated to Yarkand to avoid being harassed by the Russians and objected to the Russian presence in Sarikol, the Sarikolis did not believe the Russian claim that they would leave them alone and only involved themselves in the mail service.

 

Many of the young Kashgari women were most attractive in appearance, and some of the little girls quite lovely, their plaits of long hair falling from under a jaunty little embroidered cap, their big dark eyes, flashing teeth and piquant olive faces reminding me of Italian or Spanish children. One most beautiful boy stands out in my memory. He was clad in a new shirt and trousers of flowered pink, his crimson velvet cap embroidered with gold, and as he smiled and salaamed to us I thought he looked like a fairy prince. The women wear their hair in two or five plaits much thickened and lengthened by the addition of yak's hair, but the children in several tiny plaits.

 

The peasants are fairly well off, as the soil is rich, the abundant water-supply free, and the taxation comparatively light. It was always interesting to meet them taking their live stock into market. Flocks of sheep with tiny lambs, black and white, pattered along the dusty road; here a goat followed its master like a dog, trotting behind the diminutive ass which the farmer bestrode; or boys, clad in the whity-brown native cloth, shouted incessantly at donkeys almost invisible under enormous loads of forage, or carried fowls and ducks in bunches head downwards, a sight that always made me long to come to the rescue of the luckless birds.

 

It was pleasant to see the women riding alone on horseback, managing their mounts to perfection. They formed a sharp contrast to their Persian sisters, who either sit behind their husbands or have their steeds led by the bridle; and instead of keeping silence in public, as is the rule for the shrouded women of Iran, these farmers' wives chaffered and haggled with the men in the bazar outside the city, transacting business with their veils thrown back.

 

Certainly the mullas do their best to keep the fair sex in their place, and are in the habit of beating those who show their faces in the Great Bazar. But I was told that poetic justice had lately been meted out to one of these upholders of the law of Islam, for by mistake he chastised a Kashgari woman married to a Chinaman, whereupon the irate husband set upon him with a big stick and castigated him soundly.

 

That a Muslim should take in marriage one of alien faith is not objected to; it is rather deemed a meritorious act thus to bring an unbeliever to the true religion. The Muslim woman, on the other hand, must not be given in marriage to a non-Muslim; such a union is regarded as the most heinous of sins. In this matter, however, compromises are sometimes made with heaven: the marriage of a Turki princess with the emperor Ch'ien-lung has already been referred to; and, when the present writer passed through Minjol (a day's journey west of Kashgar) in 1902, a Chinese with a Turki wife (? concubine) was presented to him.

 

FIRST EAST TURKESTAN REPUBLIC

Kashgar was the scene of continual battles from 1933 to 1934. Ma Shaowu, a Chinese Muslim, was the Tao-yin of Kashgar, and he fought against Uyghur rebels. He was joined by another Chinese Muslim general, Ma Zhancang.

 

BATTLE OF KASHGAR (1933)

Uighur and Kirghiz forces, led by the Bughra brothers and Tawfiq Bay, attempted to take the New City of Kashgar from Chinese Muslim troops under General Ma Zhancang. They were defeated.

 

Tawfiq Bey, a Syrian Arab traveler, who held the title Sayyid (descendent of prophet Muhammed) and arrived at Kashgar on August 26, 1933, was shot in the stomach by the Chinese Muslim troops in September. Previously Ma Zhancang arranged to have the Uighur leader Timur Beg killed and beheaded on August 9, 1933, displaying his head outside of Id Kah Mosque.

 

Han chinese troops commanded by Brigadier Yang were absorbed into Ma Zhancang's army. A number of Han chinese officers were spotted wearing the green uniforms of Ma Zhancang's unit of the 36th division, presumably they had converted to Islam.

 

BATTLE OF KASHGAR (1934)

The 36th division General Ma Fuyuan led a Chinese Muslim army to storm Kashgar on February 6, 1934, attacking the Uighur and Kirghiz rebels of the First East Turkestan Republic. He freed another 36th division general, Ma Zhancang, who was trapped with his Chinese Muslim and Han Chinese troops in Kashgar New City by the Uighurs and Kirghiz since May 22, 1933. In January, 1934, Ma Zhancang's Chinese Muslim troops repulsed six Uighur attacks, launched by Khoja Niyaz, who arrived at the city on January 13, 1934, inflicting massive casualties on the Uighur forces. From 2,000 to 8,000 Uighur civilians in Kashgar Old City were massacred by Tungans in February, 1934, in revenge for the Kizil massacre, after retreating of Uighur forces from the city to Yengi Hisar. The Chinese Muslim and 36th division Chief General Ma Zhongying, who arrived at Kashgar on April 7, 1934, gave a speech at Id Kah Mosque in April, reminding the Uighurs to be loyal to the Republic of China government at Nanjing. Several British citizens at the British consulate were killed or wounded by the 36th division on March 16, 1934.

 

PEOPLE´S REPUBLIC OF CHINA

Kashgar was incorporated into the People's Republic of China in 1949. During the Cultural Revolution, one of the largest statues of Mao in China was built in Kashgar, near People's Square. In 1986, the Chinese government designated Kashgar a "city of historical and cultural significance". Kashgar and surrounding regions have been the site of Uyghur unrest since the 1990s. In 2008, two Uyghur men carried out a vehicular, IED and knife attack against police officers. In 2009, development of Kashgar's old town accelerated after the revelations of the deadly role of faulty architecture during the 2008 Sichuan earthquake. Many of the old houses in the old town were built without regulation, and as a result, officials found them to be overcrowded and non-compliant with fire and earthquake codes. When the plan started, 42% of the city's residents lived in the old town. With compensation, residents of faulty buildings are being counseled to move to newer, safer buildings that will replace the historic structures in the $448 million plan, including high-rise apartments, plazas, and reproductions of ancient Islamic architecture. The European Parliament issued a resolution in 2011 calling for "culture-sensitive methods of renovation." The International Scientific Committee on Earthen Architectural Heritage (ISCEAH) has expressed concern over the demolition and reconstruction of historic buildings. ISCEAH has, additionally, urged the implementation of techniques utilized elsewhere in the world to address earthquake vulnerability.

 

Following the July 2009 Urumqi riots, the government focused on local economic development in an attempt to ameliorate ethnic tensions in the greater Xinjiang region. Kashgar was made into a Special Economic Zone in 2010, the first such zone in China's far west. In 2011, a spate of violence over two days killed dozens of people. By May 2012 two-thirds of the old city had been demolished, fulfilling "political as well as economic goals." In July 2014 the Imam of the Id Kah Mosque, Juma Tayir, was assassinated in Kashgar.

 

CLIMATE

Kashgar features a desert climate (Köppen BWk) with hot summers and cold winters, with large temperature differences between those two seasons: The monthly 24-hour average temperature ranges from −5.3 °C in January to 25.6 °C in July, while the annual mean is 11.84 °C. Spring is long and arrives quickly, while fall is somewhat brief in comparison. Kashgar is one of the driest cities on the planet, averaging only 64 millimetres of precipitation per year. The city’s wettest month, July, only sees on average 9.1 millimetres of rain. Because of the extremely arid conditions, snowfall is rare, despite the cold winters. Records have been as low as −24.4 °C in January and up to 40.1 °C in July. The frost-free period averages 215 days. With monthly percent possible sunshine ranging from 50% in March to 70% in September, the city receives 2,726 hours of bright sunshine annually.

 

DEMOGRAPHICS

Kashgar is predominately peopled by Muslim Uyghurs. Compared to Ürümqi, Xinjiang's capital and largest city, Kashgar is less industrial and has significantly fewer Han Chinese residents.

 

ECONOMICS AND SOCIETY

The city has a very important Sunday market. Thousands of farmers from the surrounding fertile lands come into the city to sell a wide variety of fruit and vegetables. Kashgar’s livestock market is also very lively. Silk and carpets made in Hotan are sold at bazaars, as well as local crafts, such as copper teapots and wooden jewellery boxes.

 

In order to boost the economy in Kashgar region, the government classified the area as the sixth Special Economic Zone of China in May 2010.

 

Mahmud al-Kashgari (Turkish: Kâşgarlı Mahmud) (Mahmut from Kashgar) wrote the first Turkic–Arabic Exemplary Dictionary called Divan-ı Lugat-it Türk[citation needed]

 

The movie The Kite Runner was filmed in Kashgar. Kashgar and the surrounding countryside stood in for Kabul and Afghanistan, since filming in Afghanistan was not possible due to safety and security reasons.

 

SIGHTS

Kashgar's Old City has been called "the best-preserved example of a traditional Islamic city to be found anywhere in Central Asia". It is estimated to attract more than one million tourists annually.

 

- Id Kah Mosque, the largest mosque in China, is located in the heart of the city.

- People's Park, the main public park in central Kashgar.

- An 18 m high statue of Mao Zedong in Kashgar is one of the few large-scale statues of Mao remaining in China.

- The tomb of Afaq Khoja in Kashgar is considered the holiest Muslim site in Xinjiang. Built in the 17th century, the tiled mausoleum 5 km northeast of the city centre also contains the tombs of five generations of his family. Abakh was a powerful ruler, controlling Khotan, Yarkand, Korla, Kucha and Aksu as well as Kashgar. Among some Uyghur Muslims, he was considered a great Saint (Aulia).

- Sunday Market in Kashgar is renowned as the biggest market in central Asia; a pivotal trading point along the Silk Road where goods have been traded for more than 2,000 years. The market is open every day but Sunday is the largest.

 

TRANSPORTATION

AIR

Kashgar Airport serves mainly domestic flights, the majority of them from Urumqi. The only scheduled international flights are passenger and cargo services with Pakistan's capital Islamabad.

 

RAIL

Kashgar has the westernmost railway station in China. It is connected to the rest of China's rail network via the Southern Xinjiang Railway, which was built in December 1999. Kashgar–Hotan Railway opened for passenger traffic in June 2011, and connected Kashgar with cities in the southern Tarim Basin including Shache (Yarkand), Yecheng (Kargilik) and Hotan. Travel time to Urumqi from Kashgar is approximately 25 hours, while travel time to Hotan is approximately ten hours.

 

The investigation work of a further extension of the railway line to Pakistan has begun. In November 2009, Pakistan and China agreed to set up a joint venture to do a feasibility study of the proposed rail link via the Khunjerab Pass.

 

Proposals for a rail connection to Osh in Kyrgyzstan have also been discussed at various levels since at least 1996.

 

In 2012, a standard gauge railway from Kashgar via Tajikistan and Afghanistan to Iran and beyond has been proposed.

 

ROAD

The Karakorum highway (KKH) links Islamabad, Pakistan with Kashgar over the Khunjerab Pass. The China–Pakistan Economic Corridor is a multibillion-dollar project was that will upgrade transport links between China and Pakistan, including the upgrades to the Karakorum highway. Bus routes exist for passenger travel south into Pakistan. Kyrgyzstan is also accessible from Kashgar, via the Torugart Pass and Irkeshtam Pass; as of summer 2007, daily bus service connects Kashgar with Bishkek’s Western Bus Terminal. Kashgar is also located on China National Highways G314 (which runs to Khunjerab Pass on the Sino−Pakistani border, and, in the opposite direction, towards Ürümqi), and G315, which runs to Xining, Qinghai from Kashgar.

 

WIKIPEDIA

The Grade II Listed Transact House in the city of Manchester in Greater Manchester.

 

Originally a packing and shipping warehouse built in 1880, has now been converted into offices.

 

Before the Industrial Revolution took hold in Britain Manchester was nothing more than a market town, but has since has since become one the UK’s leading and most innovative cities. It all began with the importation of cotton which was brought to Manchester from Liverpool via the Mersey and Irwell Navigation. This transformed the textile industry as well as Manchester.

 

Manchester is a pioneering city when it comes to transport. The Duke’s Canal, also known as the Bridgewater Canal, built in 1761 was the first ever canal. In 1824 the Northwest city had one of the first bus services that ran between Market Street, Manchester and Pendleton, Salford. Finally, in 1830 the first ever steam passenger railway began operating between Liverpool and Manchester.

 

The population began to grow as Manchester offered more and more opportunities for people. People began to move into the city from the surrounding countryside and also from Ireland, particularly during the Irish potato famine in the 1840s. Manchester also welcomed Jewish immigrants from Central and Eastern Europe and later, Levantines, Germans and Italians.

 

Information Sources:

www.simplymanchester.co.uk/blog/history-of-manchester

britishlistedbuildings.co.uk/101247386-transact-house-cit...

 

Kashgar is an oasis city with an approximate population of 350,000. It is the westernmost city in China, located near the border with Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan. Kashgar has a rich history of over 2,000 years and served as a trading post and strategically important city on the Silk Road between China, the Middle East, and Europe. Kashgar is part of the China–Pakistan Economic Corridor.

 

Located historically at the convergence point of widely varying cultures and empires, Kashgar has been under the rule of the Chinese, Turkic, Mongol, and Tibetan empires. The city has also been the site of an extraordinary number of battles between various groups of people on the steppes.

 

Now administered as a county-level unit of the People's Republic of China, Kashgar is the administrative centre of its eponymous prefecture in the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region which has an area of 162,000 square kilometres and a population of approximately 3.5 million. The city's urban area covers 15 km2, though its administrative area extends over 555 km2.

 

NAME

The modern Chinese name is 喀什 (Kāshí), a shortened form of the longer and less-frequently used (simplified Chinese: 喀什噶尔; traditional Chinese: 喀什噶爾; pinyin: Kāshígé’ěr; Uyghur: قەشقەر‎). Ptolemy (AD 90-168), in his Geography, Chapter 15.3A, refers to Kashgar as “Kasi”. Its western and probably indigenous name is the Kāš ("rock"), to which the East Iranian -γar ("mountain"); cf. Pashto and Middle Persian gar/ġar, from Old Persian/Pahlavi girīwa ("hill; ridge (of a mountain)") was attached. Alternative historical Romanizations for "Kashgar" include Cascar and Cashgar.

 

Non-native names for the city, such as the old Chinese name Shule 疏勒 and Tibetan Śu-lig may have originated as an attempts to transcribe the Sanskrit name for Kashgar, Śrīkrīrāti ("fortunate hospitality")

 

Variant transcriptions of the official Uyghur: يېڭىشەھەر‎ include: K̂äxk̂är or Kaxgar, as well as Jangi-schahr, Kashgar Yangi Shahr, K’o-shih-ka-erh, K’o-shih-ka-erh-hsin-ch’eng, Ko-shih-ka-erh-hui-ch’eng, K’o-shih-ko-erh-hsin-ch’eng, New Kashgar, Sheleh, Shuleh, Shulen, Shu-lo, Su-lo, Su-lo-chen, Su-lo-hsien, Yangi-shaar, Yangi-shahr, Yangishar, Yéngisheher, Yengixəh̨ər and Еңишәһәр.

 

HISTORY

HAN DYNASTY

The earliest mention of Kashgar occurs when a Chinese Han dynasty envoy traveled the Northern Silk Road to explore lands to the west.

 

Another early mention of Kashgar is during the Former Han (also known as the Western Han dynasty), when in 76 BC the Chinese conquered the Xiongnu, Yutian (Khotan), Sulei (Kashgar), and a group of states in the Tarim basin almost up to the foot of the Tian Shan range.

 

Ptolemy speaks of Scythia beyond the Imaus, which is in a “Kasia Regio”, probably exhibiting the name from which Kashgar and Kashgaria (often applied to the district) are formed. The country’s people practised Zoroastrianism and Buddhism before the coming of Islam.

 

In the Book of Han, which covers the period between 125 BC and 23 AD, it is recorded that there were 1,510 households, 18,647 people and 2,000 persons able to bear arms. By the time covered by the Book of the Later Han (roughly 25 to 170 AD), it had grown to 21,000 households and had 3,000 men able to bear arms.

 

The Book of the Later Han provides a wealth of detail on developments in the region:

 

"In the period of Emperor Wu [140-87 BC], the Western Regions1 were under the control of the Interior [China]. They numbered thirty-six kingdoms. The Imperial Government established a Colonel [in charge of] Envoys there to direct and protect these countries. Emperor Xuan [73-49 BC] changed this title [in 59 BC] to Protector-General.

 

Emperor Yuan [40-33 BC] installed two Wuji Colonels to take charge of the agricultural garrisons on the frontiers of the king of Nearer Jushi [Turpan].

 

During the time of Emperor Ai [6 BC-AD 1] and Emperor Ping [AD 1-5], the principalities of the Western Regions split up and formed fifty-five kingdoms. Wang Mang, after he usurped the Throne [in AD 9], demoted and changed their kings and marquises. Following this, the Western Regions became resentful, and rebelled. They, therefore, broke off all relations with the Interior [China] and, all together, submitted to the Xiongnu again.

 

The Xiongnu collected oppressively heavy taxes and the kingdoms were not able to support their demands. In the middle of the Jianwu period [AD 25-56], they each [Shanshan and Yarkand in 38, and 18 kingdoms in 45], sent envoys to ask if they could submit to the Interior [China], and to express their desire for a Protector-General. Emperor Guangwu, decided that because the Empire was not yet settled [after a long period of civil war], he had no time for outside affairs, and [therefore] finally refused his consent [in AD 45].

 

In the meantime, the Xiongnu became weaker. The king of Suoju [Yarkand], named Xian, wiped out several kingdoms. After Xian’s death [c. AD 62], they began to attack and fight each other. Xiao Yuan [Tura], Jingjue [Cadota], Ronglu [Niya], and Qiemo [Cherchen] were annexed by Shanshan [the Lop Nur region]. Qule [south of Keriya] and Pishan [modern Pishan or Guma] were conquered and fully occupied by Yutian [Khotan]. Yuli [Fukang], Danhuan, Guhu [Dawan Cheng], and Wutanzili were destroyed by Jushi [Turpan and Jimasa]. Later these kingdoms were re-established.

 

During the Yongping period [AD 58-75], the Northern Xiongnu forced several countries to help them plunder the commanderies and districts of Hexi. The gates of the towns stayed shut in broad daylight."

 

And, more particularly in reference to Kashgar itself, is the following record:

 

"In the sixteenth Yongping year of Emperor Ming 73, Jian, the king of Qiuci (Kucha), attacked and killed Cheng, the king of Shule (Kashgar). Then he appointed the Qiuci (Kucha) Marquis of the Left, Douti, King of Shule (Kashgar). ‹See TfD›

In winter 73, the Han sent the Major Ban Chao who captured and bound Douti. He appointed Zhong, the son of the elder brother of Cheng, to be king of Shule (Kashgar). Zhong later rebelled. (Ban) Chao attacked and beheaded him."

 

THE KUSHANS

The Book of the Later Han also gives the only extant historical record of Yuezhi or Kushan involvement in the Kashgar oasis:

 

"During the Yuanchu period (114-120) in the reign of Emperor, the king of Shule (Kashgar), exiled his maternal uncle Chenpan to the Yuezhi (Kushans) for some offence. The king of the Yuezhi became very fond of him. Later, Anguo died without leaving a son. His mother directed the government of the kingdom. She agreed with the people of the country to put Yifu (lit. “posthumous child”), who was the son of a full younger brother of Chenpan on the throne as king of Shule (Kashgar). Chenpan heard of this and appealed to the Yuezhi (Kushan) king, saying:

 

"Anguo had no son. His relative (Yifu) is weak. If one wants to put on the throne a member of (Anguo’s) mother’s family, I am Yifu’s paternal uncle, it is I who should be king."

 

The Yuezhi (Kushans) then sent soldiers to escort him back to Shule (Kashgar). The people had previously respected and been fond of Chenpan. Besides, they dreaded the Yuezhi (Kushans). They immediately took the seal and ribbon from Yifu and went to Chenpan, and made him king. Yifu was given the title of Marquis of the town of Pangao [90 li, or 37 km, from Shule].

 

‹See TfD›

Then Suoju (Yarkand) continued to resist Yutian (Khotan), and put themselves under Shule (Kashgar). Thus Shule (Kashgar), became powerful and a rival to Qiuci (Kucha) and Yutian (Khotan)."

 

However, it was not very long before the Chinese began to reassert their authority in the region:

 

“In the second Yongjian year (127), during Emperor Shun’s reign, Chenpan sent an envoy to respectfully present offerings. The Emperor bestowed on Chenpan the title of Great Commandant-in-Chief for the Han. Chenxun, who was the son of his elder brother, was appointed Temporary Major of the Kingdom. ‹See TfD›

In the fifth year (130), Chenpan sent his son to serve the Emperor and, along with envoys from Dayuan (Ferghana) and Suoju (Yarkand), brought tribute and offerings.”

 

From an earlier part of the same text comes the following addition:

 

“In the first Yangjia year (132), Xu You sent the king of Shule (Kashgar), Chenpan, who with 20,000 men, attacked and defeated Yutian (Khotan). He beheaded several hundred people, and released his soldiers to plunder freely. He replaced the king [of Jumi] by installing Chengguo from the family of [the previous king] Xing, and then he returned.”[38]

 

Then the first passage continues:

 

“In the second Yangjia year (133), Chenpan again made offerings (including) a lion and zebu cattle. ‹See TfD›

 

Then, during Emperor Ling’s reign, in the first Jianning year, the king of Shule (Kashgar) and Commandant-in-Chief for the Han (i.e. presumably Chenpan), was shot while hunting by the youngest of his paternal uncles, Hede. Hede named himself king.

‹See TfD›

In the third year (170), Meng Tuo, the Inspector of Liangzhou, sent the Provincial Officer Ren She, commanding five hundred soldiers from Dunhuang, with the Wuji Major Cao Kuan, and Chief Clerk of the Western Regions, Zhang Yan, brought troops from Yanqi (Karashahr), Qiuci (Kucha), and the Nearer and Further States of Jushi (Turpan and Jimasa), altogether numbering more than 30,000, to punish Shule (Kashgar). They attacked the town of Zhenzhong [Arach − near Maralbashi] but, having stayed for more than forty days without being able to subdue it, they withdrew. Following this, the kings of Shule (Kashgar) killed one another repeatedly while the Imperial Government was unable to prevent it.”

 

THREE KINGDOMS TO THE SUI

These centuries are marked by a general silence in sources on Kashgar and the Tarim Basin.

 

The Weilüe, composed in the second third of the 3rd century, mentions a number of states as dependencies of Kashgar: the kingdom of Zhenzhong (Arach?), the kingdom of Suoju (Yarkand), the kingdom of Jieshi, the kingdom of Qusha, the kingdom of Xiye (Khargalik), the kingdom of Yinai (Tashkurghan), the kingdom of Manli (modern Karasul), the kingdom of Yire (Mazar − also known as Tágh Nák and Tokanak), the kingdom of Yuling, the kingdom of Juandu (‘Tax Control’ − near modern Irkeshtam), the kingdom of Xiuxiu (‘Excellent Rest Stop’ − near Karakavak), and the kingdom of Qin.

 

However, much of the information on the Western Regions contained in the Weilüe seems to have ended roughly about (170), near the end of Han power. So, we can’t be sure that this is a reference to the state of affairs during the Cao Wei (220-265), or whether it refers to the situation before the civil war during the Later Han when China lost touch with most foreign countries and came to be divided into three separate kingdoms.

 

Chapter 30 of the Records of the Three Kingdoms says that after the beginning of the Wei Dynasty (220) the states of the Western Regions did not arrive as before, except for the larger ones such as Kucha, Khotan, Kangju, Wusun, Kashgar, Yuezhi, Shanshan and Turpan, who are said to have come to present tribute every year, as in Han times.

 

In 270, four states from the Western Regions were said to have presented tribute: Karashahr, Turpan, Shanshan, and Kucha. Some wooden documents from Niya seem to indicate that contacts were also maintained with Kashgar and Khotan around this time.

 

In 422, according to the Songshu, ch. 98, the king of Shanshan, Bilong, came to the court and "the thirty-six states in the Western Regions" all swore their allegiance and presented tribute. It must be assumed that these 36 states included Kashgar.

 

The "Songji" of the Zizhi Tongjian records that in the 5th month of 435, nine states: Kucha, Kashgar, Wusun, Yueban, Tashkurghan, Shanshan, Karashahr, Turpan and Sute all came to the Wei court.

 

In 439, according to the Weishu, ch. 4A, Shanshan, Kashgar and Karashahr sent envoys to present tribute.

 

According to the Weishu, ch. 102, Chapter on the Western Regions, the kingdoms of Kucha, Kashgar, Wusun, Yueban, Tashkurghan, Shanshan, Karashahr, Turpan and Sute all began sending envoys to present tribute in the Taiyuan reign period (435-440).

 

In 453 Kashgar sent envoys to present tribute (Weishu, ch. 5), and again in 455.

 

An embassy sent during the reign of Wencheng Di (452-466) from the king of Kashgar presented a supposed sacred relic of the Buddha; a dress which was incombustible.

 

In 507 Kashgar, is said to have sent envoys in both the 9th and 10th months (Weishu, ch. 8).

 

In 512, Kashgar sent envoys in the 1st and 5th months. (Weishu, ch. 8).

 

Early in the 6th century Kashgar is included among the many territories controlled by the Yeda or Hephthalite Huns, but their empire collapsed at the onslaught of the Western Turks between 563 and 567 who then probably gained control over Kashgar and most of the states in the Tarim Basin.

 

TANG DYNASTY

The founding of the Tang dynasty in 618 saw the beginning of a prolonged struggle between China and the Western Turks for control of the Tarim Basin. In 635, the Tang Annals reported an emissary from the king of Kashgar to the Tang capital. In 639 there was a second emissary bringing products of Kashgar as a token of submission to the Tang state.

 

Buddhist scholar Xuanzang passed through Kashgar (which he referred to as Ka-sha) in 644 on his return journey from India to China. The Buddhist religion, then beginning to decay in India, was active in Kashgar. Xuanzang recorded that they flattened their babies heads, tattooed their bodies and had green eyes. He reported that Kashgar had abundant crops, fruits and flowers, wove fine woolen stuffs and rugs. Their writing system had been adapted from Indian script but their language was different from that of other countries. The inhabitants were sincere Buddhist adherents and there were some hundreds of monasteries with more than 10,000 followers, all members of the Sarvastivadin School.

 

At around the same era, Nestorian Christians were establishing bishoprics at Herat, Merv and Samarkand, whence they subsequently proceeded to Kashgar, and finally to China proper itself.

 

In 646, the Turkic Kagan asked for the hand of a Tang Chinese princess, and in return the Emperor promised Kucha, Khotan, Kashgar, Karashahr and Sarikol as a marriage gift, but this did not happen as planned.

 

In a series of campaigns between 652 and 658, with the help of the Uyghurs, the Chinese finally defeated the Western Turk tribes and took control of all their domains, including the Tarim Basin kingdoms. Karakhoja was annexed in 640, Karashahr during campaigns in 644 and 648, and Kucha fell in 648.

 

In 662 a rebellion broke out in the Western Regions and a Chinese army sent to control it was defeated by the Tibetans south of Kashgar.

 

After another defeat of the Tang Chinese forces in 670, the Tibetans gained control of the whole region and completely subjugated Kashgar in 676-8 and retained possession of it until 692, when the Tang dynasty regained control of all their former territories, and retained it for the next fifty years.

 

In 722 Kashgar sent 4,000 troops to assist the Chinese to force the "Tibetans out of "Little Bolu" or Gilgit.

 

In 728, the king of Kashgar was awarded a brevet by the Chinese emperor.

 

In 739, the Tangshu relates that the governor of the Chinese garrison in Kashgar, with the help of Ferghana, was interfering in the affairs of the Turgesh tribes as far as Talas.

 

In 751 the Chinese were defeated by an Arab army in the Battle of Talas. The An Lushan Rebellion led to the decline of Tang influence in Central Asia due to the fact that the Tang dynasty was forced to withdraw its troops from the region to fight An Lushan. The Tibetans cut all communication between China and the West in 766.

 

Soon after the Chinese pilgrim monk Wukong passed through Kashgar in 753. He again reached Kashgar on his return trip from India in 786 and mentions a Chinese deputy governor as well as the local king.

 

BATTLES WITH ARAB CALIPHATE

In 711, the Arabs invaded Kashgar, but did not hold the city for any length of time. Kashgar and Turkestan lent assistance to the reigning queen of Bukhara, to enable her to repel the Arabs. Although the Muslim religion from the very commencement sustained checks, it nevertheless made its weight felt upon the independent states of Turkestan to the north and east, and thus acquired a steadily growing influence. It was not, however, till the 10th century that Islam was established at Kashgar, under the Kara-Khanid Khanate.

 

THE TURKIC RULE

According to the 10th-century text, Hudud al-'alam, "the chiefs of Kashghar in the days of old were from the Qarluq, or from the Yaghma." The Karluks, Yaghmas and other tribes such as the Chigils formed the Karakhanids. The Karakhanid Sultan Satuq Bughra Khan converted to Islam in the 10th century and captured Kashgar. Kashgar was the capital of the Karakhanid state for a time but later the capital was moved to Balasaghun. During the latter part of the 10th century, the Muslim Karakhanids began a struggle against the Buddhist Kingdom of Khotan, and the Khotanese defeated the Karakhanids and captured Kashgar in 970. Chinese sources recorded the king of Khotan offering to send them a dancing elephant captured from Kashgar. Later in 1006, the Karakhanids of Kashgar under Yusuf Kadr Khan conquered Khotan.

 

The Karakhanid Khanate however was beset with internal strife, and the khanate split into two, the Eastern and Western Karakhanid Khanates, with Kashgar falling within the domain of the Eastern Karakhanid state. In 1089, the Western Karakhanids fell under the control of the Seljuks, but the Eastern Karakhanids was for the most part independent.

 

Both the Karakhanid states were defeated in the 12th century by the Kara-Khitans who captured Balasaghun, however Karakhanid rule continued in Kashgar under the suzerainty of the Kara-Khitans. The Kara-Khitan rulers followed a policy of religious tolerance, Islamic religious life continued uninterrupted and Kashgar was also a Nestorian metropolitan see. The last Karakhanid of Kashgar was killed in a revolt in 1211 by the city's notables. Kuchlug, a usurper of the throne of the Kara-Khitans, then attacked Kashgar which finally surrendered in 1214.

 

THE MONGOLS

The Kara-Khitai in their turn were swept away in 1219 by Genghis Khan. After his death, Kashgar came under the rule of the Chagatai Khans. Marco Polo visited the city, which he calls Cascar, about 1273-4 and recorded the presence of numerous Nestorian Christians, who had their own churches. Later In the 14th century, a Chagataid khan Tughluq Timur converted to Islam, and Islamic tradition began to reassert its ascendancy.

 

In 1389−1390 Tamerlane ravaged Kashgar, Andijan and the intervening country. Kashgar endured a troubled time, and in 1514, on the invasion of the Khan Sultan Said, was destroyed by Mirza Ababakar, who with the aid of ten thousand men built a new fort with massive defences higher up on the banks of the Tuman river. The dynasty of the Chagatai Khans collapsed in 1572 with the division of the country among rival factions; soon after, two powerful Khoja factions, the White and Black Mountaineers (Ak Taghliq or Afaqi, and Kara Taghliq or Ishaqi), arose whose differences and war-making gestures, with the intermittent episode of the Oirats of Dzungaria, make up much of recorded history in Kashgar until 1759. The Dzungar Khanate conquered Kashgar and set up the Khoja as their puppet rulers.

 

QING CONQUEST

The Qing dynasty defeated the Dzungar Khanate during the Ten Great Campaigns and took control of Kashgar in 1759. The conquerors consolidated their authority by settling other ethnics emigrants in the vicinity of a Manchu garrison.

 

Rumours flew around Central Asia that the Qing planned to launch expeditions towards Transoxiana and Samarkand, the chiefs of which sought assistance from the Afghan king Ahmed Shah Abdali. The alleged expedition never happened so Ahmad Shah withdrew his forces from Kokand. He also dispatched an ambassador to Beijing to discuss the situation of the Afaqi Khojas, but the representative was not well received, and Ahmed Shah was too busy fighting off the Sikhs to attempt to enforce his demands through arms.

The Qing continued to hold Kashgar with occasional interruptions during the Afaqi Khoja revolts. One of the most serious of these occurred in 1827, when the city was taken by Jahanghir Khoja; Chang-lung, however, the Qing general of Ili, regained possession of Kashgar and the other rebellious cities in 1828.

 

The Kokand Khanate raided Kashgar several times. A revolt in 1829 under Mahommed Ali Khan and Yusuf, brother of Jahanghir resulted in the concession of several important trade privileges to the Muslims of the district of Altishahr (the "six cities"), as it was then called.

 

The area enjoyed relative calm until 1846 under the rule of Zahir-ud-din, the local Uyghur governor, but in that year a new Khoja revolt under Kath Tora led to his accession as the authoritarian ruler of the city. However, his reign was brief—at the end of seventy-five days, on the approach of the Chinese, he fled back to Khokand amid the jeers of the inhabitants. The last of the Khoja revolts (1857) was of about equal duration, and took place under Wali-Khan, who murdered the well-known traveler Adolf Schlagintweit.

 

1862 CHINESE HUI REVOLT

The great Dungan revolt (1862–1877) involved insurrection among various Muslim ethnic groups. It broke out in 1862 in Gansu then spread rapidly to Dzungaria and through the line of towns in the Tarim Basin.

 

Dungan troops based in Yarkand rose and in August 1864 massacred some seven thousand Chinese and their Manchu commander. The inhabitants of Kashgar, rising in their turn against their masters, invoked the aid of Sadik Beg, a Kyrgyz chief, who was reinforced by Buzurg Khan, the heir of Jahanghir Khoja, and his general Yakub Beg. The latter men were dispatched at Sadik’s request by the ruler of Khokand to raise what troops they could to aid his Muslim friends in Kashgar.

 

Sadik Beg soon repented of having asked for a Khoja, and eventually marched against Kashgar, which by this time had succumbed to Buzurg Khan and Yakub Beg, but was defeated and driven back to Khokand. Buzurg Khan delivered himself up to indolence and debauchery, but Yakub Beg, with singular energy and perseverance, made himself master of Yangi Shahr, Yangi-Hissar, Yarkand and other towns, and eventually became sole master of the country, Buzurg Khan proving himself totally unfit for the post of ruler.

 

With the overthrow of Chinese rule in 1865 by Yakub Beg (1820–1877), the manufacturing industries of Kashgar are supposed to have declined.

 

Yaqub Beg entered into relations and signed treaties with the Russian Empire and the British Empire, but when he tried to get their support against China, he failed.

 

Kashgar and the other cities of the Tarim Basin remained under Yakub Beg’s rule until May 1877, when he died at Korla. Thereafter Kashgaria was reconquered by the forces of the Qing general Zuo Zongtang during the Qing reconquest of Xinjiang.

 

QING RULE

There were eras in Xinjiang's history where intermarriage was common, "laxity" which set upon Uyghur women led them to marry Chinese men and not wear the veil in the period after Yaqub Beg's rule ended, it is also believed by Uyghurs that some Uyghurs have Han Chinese ancestry from historical intermarriage, such as those living in Turpan.

 

Even though Muslim women are forbidden to marry non-Muslims in Islamic law, from 1880-1949 it was frequently violated in Xinjiang since Chinese men married Muslim Turki (Uyghur) women, a reason suggested by foriengers that it was due to the women being poor, while the Turki women who married Chinese were labelled as whores by the Turki community, these marriages were illegitimate according to Islamic law but the women obtained benefits from marrying Chinese men since the Chinese defended them from Islamic authorities so the women were not subjected to the tax on prostitution and were able to save their income for themselves. Chinese men gave their Turki wives privileges which Turki men's wives did not have, since the wives of Chinese did not have to wear a veil and a Chinese man in Kashgar once beat a mullah who tried to force his Turki Kashgari wife to veil. The Turki women also benefited in that they were not subjected to any legal binding to their Chinese husbands so they could make their Chinese husbands provide them with as much their money as she wanted for her relatives and herself since otherwise the women could just leave, and the property of Chinese men was left to their Turki wives after they died. Turki women considered Turki men to be inferior husbands to Chinese and Hindus. Because they were viewed as "impure", Islamic cemeteries banned the Turki wives of Chinese men from being buried within them, the Turki women got around this problem by giving shrines donations and buying a grave in other towns. Besides Chinese men, other men such as Hindus, Armenians, Jews, Russians, and Badakhshanis intermarried with local Turki women. The local society accepted the Turki women and Chinese men's mixed offspring as their own people despite the marriages being in violation of Islamic law. Turki women also conducted temporary marriages with Chinese men such as Chinese soldiers temporarily stationed around them as soldiers for tours of duty, after which the Chinese men returned to their own cities, with the Chinese men selling their mixed daughters with the Turki women to his comrades, taking their sons with them if they could afford it but leaving them if they couldn't, and selling their temporary Turki wife to a comrade or leaving her behind.

 

An anti-Russian uproar broke out when Russian customs officials, 3 Cossacks and a Russian courier invited local Turki (Uyghur) prostitutes to a party in January 1902 in Kashgar, this caused a massive brawl by the inflamed local Turki Muslim populace against the Russians on the pretense of protecting Muslim women because there was anti-Russian sentiment being built up, even though morality was not strict in Kashgar, the local Turki Muslims violently clashed with the Russians before they were dispersed by guards, the Chinese sought to end to tensions to prevent the Russians from building up a pretext to invade.

 

After the riot, the Russians sent troops to Sarikol in Tashkurghan and demanded that the Sarikol postal services be placed under Russian supervision, the locals of Sarikol believed that the Russians would seize the entire district from the Chinese and send more soldiers even after the Russians tried to negotiate with the Begs of Sarikol and sway them to their side, they failed since the Sarikoli officials and authorities demanded in a petition to the Amban of Yarkand that they be evacuated to Yarkand to avoid being harassed by the Russians and objected to the Russian presence in Sarikol, the Sarikolis did not believe the Russian claim that they would leave them alone and only involved themselves in the mail service.

 

Many of the young Kashgari women were most attractive in appearance, and some of the little girls quite lovely, their plaits of long hair falling from under a jaunty little embroidered cap, their big dark eyes, flashing teeth and piquant olive faces reminding me of Italian or Spanish children. One most beautiful boy stands out in my memory. He was clad in a new shirt and trousers of flowered pink, his crimson velvet cap embroidered with gold, and as he smiled and salaamed to us I thought he looked like a fairy prince. The women wear their hair in two or five plaits much thickened and lengthened by the addition of yak's hair, but the children in several tiny plaits.

 

The peasants are fairly well off, as the soil is rich, the abundant water-supply free, and the taxation comparatively light. It was always interesting to meet them taking their live stock into market. Flocks of sheep with tiny lambs, black and white, pattered along the dusty road; here a goat followed its master like a dog, trotting behind the diminutive ass which the farmer bestrode; or boys, clad in the whity-brown native cloth, shouted incessantly at donkeys almost invisible under enormous loads of forage, or carried fowls and ducks in bunches head downwards, a sight that always made me long to come to the rescue of the luckless birds.

 

It was pleasant to see the women riding alone on horseback, managing their mounts to perfection. They formed a sharp contrast to their Persian sisters, who either sit behind their husbands or have their steeds led by the bridle; and instead of keeping silence in public, as is the rule for the shrouded women of Iran, these farmers' wives chaffered and haggled with the men in the bazar outside the city, transacting business with their veils thrown back.

 

Certainly the mullas do their best to keep the fair sex in their place, and are in the habit of beating those who show their faces in the Great Bazar. But I was told that poetic justice had lately been meted out to one of these upholders of the law of Islam, for by mistake he chastised a Kashgari woman married to a Chinaman, whereupon the irate husband set upon him with a big stick and castigated him soundly.

 

That a Muslim should take in marriage one of alien faith is not objected to; it is rather deemed a meritorious act thus to bring an unbeliever to the true religion. The Muslim woman, on the other hand, must not be given in marriage to a non-Muslim; such a union is regarded as the most heinous of sins. In this matter, however, compromises are sometimes made with heaven: the marriage of a Turki princess with the emperor Ch'ien-lung has already been referred to; and, when the present writer passed through Minjol (a day's journey west of Kashgar) in 1902, a Chinese with a Turki wife (? concubine) was presented to him.

 

FIRST EAST TURKESTAN REPUBLIC

Kashgar was the scene of continual battles from 1933 to 1934. Ma Shaowu, a Chinese Muslim, was the Tao-yin of Kashgar, and he fought against Uyghur rebels. He was joined by another Chinese Muslim general, Ma Zhancang.

 

BATTLE OF KASHGAR (1933)

Uighur and Kirghiz forces, led by the Bughra brothers and Tawfiq Bay, attempted to take the New City of Kashgar from Chinese Muslim troops under General Ma Zhancang. They were defeated.

 

Tawfiq Bey, a Syrian Arab traveler, who held the title Sayyid (descendent of prophet Muhammed) and arrived at Kashgar on August 26, 1933, was shot in the stomach by the Chinese Muslim troops in September. Previously Ma Zhancang arranged to have the Uighur leader Timur Beg killed and beheaded on August 9, 1933, displaying his head outside of Id Kah Mosque.

 

Han chinese troops commanded by Brigadier Yang were absorbed into Ma Zhancang's army. A number of Han chinese officers were spotted wearing the green uniforms of Ma Zhancang's unit of the 36th division, presumably they had converted to Islam.

 

BATTLE OF KASHGAR (1934)

The 36th division General Ma Fuyuan led a Chinese Muslim army to storm Kashgar on February 6, 1934, attacking the Uighur and Kirghiz rebels of the First East Turkestan Republic. He freed another 36th division general, Ma Zhancang, who was trapped with his Chinese Muslim and Han Chinese troops in Kashgar New City by the Uighurs and Kirghiz since May 22, 1933. In January, 1934, Ma Zhancang's Chinese Muslim troops repulsed six Uighur attacks, launched by Khoja Niyaz, who arrived at the city on January 13, 1934, inflicting massive casualties on the Uighur forces. From 2,000 to 8,000 Uighur civilians in Kashgar Old City were massacred by Tungans in February, 1934, in revenge for the Kizil massacre, after retreating of Uighur forces from the city to Yengi Hisar. The Chinese Muslim and 36th division Chief General Ma Zhongying, who arrived at Kashgar on April 7, 1934, gave a speech at Id Kah Mosque in April, reminding the Uighurs to be loyal to the Republic of China government at Nanjing. Several British citizens at the British consulate were killed or wounded by the 36th division on March 16, 1934.

 

PEOPLE´S REPUBLIC OF CHINA

Kashgar was incorporated into the People's Republic of China in 1949. During the Cultural Revolution, one of the largest statues of Mao in China was built in Kashgar, near People's Square. In 1986, the Chinese government designated Kashgar a "city of historical and cultural significance". Kashgar and surrounding regions have been the site of Uyghur unrest since the 1990s. In 2008, two Uyghur men carried out a vehicular, IED and knife attack against police officers. In 2009, development of Kashgar's old town accelerated after the revelations of the deadly role of faulty architecture during the 2008 Sichuan earthquake. Many of the old houses in the old town were built without regulation, and as a result, officials found them to be overcrowded and non-compliant with fire and earthquake codes. When the plan started, 42% of the city's residents lived in the old town. With compensation, residents of faulty buildings are being counseled to move to newer, safer buildings that will replace the historic structures in the $448 million plan, including high-rise apartments, plazas, and reproductions of ancient Islamic architecture. The European Parliament issued a resolution in 2011 calling for "culture-sensitive methods of renovation." The International Scientific Committee on Earthen Architectural Heritage (ISCEAH) has expressed concern over the demolition and reconstruction of historic buildings. ISCEAH has, additionally, urged the implementation of techniques utilized elsewhere in the world to address earthquake vulnerability.

 

Following the July 2009 Urumqi riots, the government focused on local economic development in an attempt to ameliorate ethnic tensions in the greater Xinjiang region. Kashgar was made into a Special Economic Zone in 2010, the first such zone in China's far west. In 2011, a spate of violence over two days killed dozens of people. By May 2012 two-thirds of the old city had been demolished, fulfilling "political as well as economic goals." In July 2014 the Imam of the Id Kah Mosque, Juma Tayir, was assassinated in Kashgar.

 

CLIMATE

Kashgar features a desert climate (Köppen BWk) with hot summers and cold winters, with large temperature differences between those two seasons: The monthly 24-hour average temperature ranges from −5.3 °C in January to 25.6 °C in July, while the annual mean is 11.84 °C. Spring is long and arrives quickly, while fall is somewhat brief in comparison. Kashgar is one of the driest cities on the planet, averaging only 64 millimetres of precipitation per year. The city’s wettest month, July, only sees on average 9.1 millimetres of rain. Because of the extremely arid conditions, snowfall is rare, despite the cold winters. Records have been as low as −24.4 °C in January and up to 40.1 °C in July. The frost-free period averages 215 days. With monthly percent possible sunshine ranging from 50% in March to 70% in September, the city receives 2,726 hours of bright sunshine annually.

 

DEMOGRAPHICS

Kashgar is predominately peopled by Muslim Uyghurs. Compared to Ürümqi, Xinjiang's capital and largest city, Kashgar is less industrial and has significantly fewer Han Chinese residents.

 

ECONOMICS AND SOCIETY

The city has a very important Sunday market. Thousands of farmers from the surrounding fertile lands come into the city to sell a wide variety of fruit and vegetables. Kashgar’s livestock market is also very lively. Silk and carpets made in Hotan are sold at bazaars, as well as local crafts, such as copper teapots and wooden jewellery boxes.

 

In order to boost the economy in Kashgar region, the government classified the area as the sixth Special Economic Zone of China in May 2010.

 

Mahmud al-Kashgari (Turkish: Kâşgarlı Mahmud) (Mahmut from Kashgar) wrote the first Turkic–Arabic Exemplary Dictionary called Divan-ı Lugat-it Türk[citation needed]

 

The movie The Kite Runner was filmed in Kashgar. Kashgar and the surrounding countryside stood in for Kabul and Afghanistan, since filming in Afghanistan was not possible due to safety and security reasons.

 

SIGHTS

Kashgar's Old City has been called "the best-preserved example of a traditional Islamic city to be found anywhere in Central Asia". It is estimated to attract more than one million tourists annually.

 

- Id Kah Mosque, the largest mosque in China, is located in the heart of the city.

- People's Park, the main public park in central Kashgar.

- An 18 m high statue of Mao Zedong in Kashgar is one of the few large-scale statues of Mao remaining in China.

- The tomb of Afaq Khoja in Kashgar is considered the holiest Muslim site in Xinjiang. Built in the 17th century, the tiled mausoleum 5 km northeast of the city centre also contains the tombs of five generations of his family. Abakh was a powerful ruler, controlling Khotan, Yarkand, Korla, Kucha and Aksu as well as Kashgar. Among some Uyghur Muslims, he was considered a great Saint (Aulia).

- Sunday Market in Kashgar is renowned as the biggest market in central Asia; a pivotal trading point along the Silk Road where goods have been traded for more than 2,000 years. The market is open every day but Sunday is the largest.

 

TRANSPORTATION

AIR

Kashgar Airport serves mainly domestic flights, the majority of them from Urumqi. The only scheduled international flights are passenger and cargo services with Pakistan's capital Islamabad.

 

RAIL

Kashgar has the westernmost railway station in China. It is connected to the rest of China's rail network via the Southern Xinjiang Railway, which was built in December 1999. Kashgar–Hotan Railway opened for passenger traffic in June 2011, and connected Kashgar with cities in the southern Tarim Basin including Shache (Yarkand), Yecheng (Kargilik) and Hotan. Travel time to Urumqi from Kashgar is approximately 25 hours, while travel time to Hotan is approximately ten hours.

 

The investigation work of a further extension of the railway line to Pakistan has begun. In November 2009, Pakistan and China agreed to set up a joint venture to do a feasibility study of the proposed rail link via the Khunjerab Pass.

 

Proposals for a rail connection to Osh in Kyrgyzstan have also been discussed at various levels since at least 1996.

 

In 2012, a standard gauge railway from Kashgar via Tajikistan and Afghanistan to Iran and beyond has been proposed.

 

ROAD

The Karakorum highway (KKH) links Islamabad, Pakistan with Kashgar over the Khunjerab Pass. The China–Pakistan Economic Corridor is a multibillion-dollar project was that will upgrade transport links between China and Pakistan, including the upgrades to the Karakorum highway. Bus routes exist for passenger travel south into Pakistan. Kyrgyzstan is also accessible from Kashgar, via the Torugart Pass and Irkeshtam Pass; as of summer 2007, daily bus service connects Kashgar with Bishkek’s Western Bus Terminal. Kashgar is also located on China National Highways G314 (which runs to Khunjerab Pass on the Sino−Pakistani border, and, in the opposite direction, towards Ürümqi), and G315, which runs to Xining, Qinghai from Kashgar.

 

WIKIPEDIA

130518 Susies Sevens v Transact Pro, Amsterdam Sevens 2013

130518 Susies Sevens v Transact Pro, Amsterdam Sevens 2013

TRANSACT 14 / TUES / SESSIONS

Kashgar is an oasis city with an approximate population of 350,000. It is the westernmost city in China, located near the border with Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan. Kashgar has a rich history of over 2,000 years and served as a trading post and strategically important city on the Silk Road between China, the Middle East, and Europe. Kashgar is part of the China–Pakistan Economic Corridor.

 

Located historically at the convergence point of widely varying cultures and empires, Kashgar has been under the rule of the Chinese, Turkic, Mongol, and Tibetan empires. The city has also been the site of an extraordinary number of battles between various groups of people on the steppes.

 

Now administered as a county-level unit of the People's Republic of China, Kashgar is the administrative centre of its eponymous prefecture in the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region which has an area of 162,000 square kilometres and a population of approximately 3.5 million. The city's urban area covers 15 km2, though its administrative area extends over 555 km2.

 

NAME

The modern Chinese name is 喀什 (Kāshí), a shortened form of the longer and less-frequently used (simplified Chinese: 喀什噶尔; traditional Chinese: 喀什噶爾; pinyin: Kāshígé’ěr; Uyghur: قەشقەر‎). Ptolemy (AD 90-168), in his Geography, Chapter 15.3A, refers to Kashgar as “Kasi”. Its western and probably indigenous name is the Kāš ("rock"), to which the East Iranian -γar ("mountain"); cf. Pashto and Middle Persian gar/ġar, from Old Persian/Pahlavi girīwa ("hill; ridge (of a mountain)") was attached. Alternative historical Romanizations for "Kashgar" include Cascar and Cashgar.

 

Non-native names for the city, such as the old Chinese name Shule 疏勒 and Tibetan Śu-lig may have originated as an attempts to transcribe the Sanskrit name for Kashgar, Śrīkrīrāti ("fortunate hospitality")

 

Variant transcriptions of the official Uyghur: يېڭىشەھەر‎ include: K̂äxk̂är or Kaxgar, as well as Jangi-schahr, Kashgar Yangi Shahr, K’o-shih-ka-erh, K’o-shih-ka-erh-hsin-ch’eng, Ko-shih-ka-erh-hui-ch’eng, K’o-shih-ko-erh-hsin-ch’eng, New Kashgar, Sheleh, Shuleh, Shulen, Shu-lo, Su-lo, Su-lo-chen, Su-lo-hsien, Yangi-shaar, Yangi-shahr, Yangishar, Yéngisheher, Yengixəh̨ər and Еңишәһәр.

 

HISTORY

HAN DYNASTY

The earliest mention of Kashgar occurs when a Chinese Han dynasty envoy traveled the Northern Silk Road to explore lands to the west.

 

Another early mention of Kashgar is during the Former Han (also known as the Western Han dynasty), when in 76 BC the Chinese conquered the Xiongnu, Yutian (Khotan), Sulei (Kashgar), and a group of states in the Tarim basin almost up to the foot of the Tian Shan range.

 

Ptolemy speaks of Scythia beyond the Imaus, which is in a “Kasia Regio”, probably exhibiting the name from which Kashgar and Kashgaria (often applied to the district) are formed. The country’s people practised Zoroastrianism and Buddhism before the coming of Islam.

 

In the Book of Han, which covers the period between 125 BC and 23 AD, it is recorded that there were 1,510 households, 18,647 people and 2,000 persons able to bear arms. By the time covered by the Book of the Later Han (roughly 25 to 170 AD), it had grown to 21,000 households and had 3,000 men able to bear arms.

 

The Book of the Later Han provides a wealth of detail on developments in the region:

 

"In the period of Emperor Wu [140-87 BC], the Western Regions1 were under the control of the Interior [China]. They numbered thirty-six kingdoms. The Imperial Government established a Colonel [in charge of] Envoys there to direct and protect these countries. Emperor Xuan [73-49 BC] changed this title [in 59 BC] to Protector-General.

 

Emperor Yuan [40-33 BC] installed two Wuji Colonels to take charge of the agricultural garrisons on the frontiers of the king of Nearer Jushi [Turpan].

 

During the time of Emperor Ai [6 BC-AD 1] and Emperor Ping [AD 1-5], the principalities of the Western Regions split up and formed fifty-five kingdoms. Wang Mang, after he usurped the Throne [in AD 9], demoted and changed their kings and marquises. Following this, the Western Regions became resentful, and rebelled. They, therefore, broke off all relations with the Interior [China] and, all together, submitted to the Xiongnu again.

 

The Xiongnu collected oppressively heavy taxes and the kingdoms were not able to support their demands. In the middle of the Jianwu period [AD 25-56], they each [Shanshan and Yarkand in 38, and 18 kingdoms in 45], sent envoys to ask if they could submit to the Interior [China], and to express their desire for a Protector-General. Emperor Guangwu, decided that because the Empire was not yet settled [after a long period of civil war], he had no time for outside affairs, and [therefore] finally refused his consent [in AD 45].

 

In the meantime, the Xiongnu became weaker. The king of Suoju [Yarkand], named Xian, wiped out several kingdoms. After Xian’s death [c. AD 62], they began to attack and fight each other. Xiao Yuan [Tura], Jingjue [Cadota], Ronglu [Niya], and Qiemo [Cherchen] were annexed by Shanshan [the Lop Nur region]. Qule [south of Keriya] and Pishan [modern Pishan or Guma] were conquered and fully occupied by Yutian [Khotan]. Yuli [Fukang], Danhuan, Guhu [Dawan Cheng], and Wutanzili were destroyed by Jushi [Turpan and Jimasa]. Later these kingdoms were re-established.

 

During the Yongping period [AD 58-75], the Northern Xiongnu forced several countries to help them plunder the commanderies and districts of Hexi. The gates of the towns stayed shut in broad daylight."

 

And, more particularly in reference to Kashgar itself, is the following record:

 

"In the sixteenth Yongping year of Emperor Ming 73, Jian, the king of Qiuci (Kucha), attacked and killed Cheng, the king of Shule (Kashgar). Then he appointed the Qiuci (Kucha) Marquis of the Left, Douti, King of Shule (Kashgar). ‹See TfD›

In winter 73, the Han sent the Major Ban Chao who captured and bound Douti. He appointed Zhong, the son of the elder brother of Cheng, to be king of Shule (Kashgar). Zhong later rebelled. (Ban) Chao attacked and beheaded him."

 

THE KUSHANS

The Book of the Later Han also gives the only extant historical record of Yuezhi or Kushan involvement in the Kashgar oasis:

 

"During the Yuanchu period (114-120) in the reign of Emperor, the king of Shule (Kashgar), exiled his maternal uncle Chenpan to the Yuezhi (Kushans) for some offence. The king of the Yuezhi became very fond of him. Later, Anguo died without leaving a son. His mother directed the government of the kingdom. She agreed with the people of the country to put Yifu (lit. “posthumous child”), who was the son of a full younger brother of Chenpan on the throne as king of Shule (Kashgar). Chenpan heard of this and appealed to the Yuezhi (Kushan) king, saying:

 

"Anguo had no son. His relative (Yifu) is weak. If one wants to put on the throne a member of (Anguo’s) mother’s family, I am Yifu’s paternal uncle, it is I who should be king."

 

The Yuezhi (Kushans) then sent soldiers to escort him back to Shule (Kashgar). The people had previously respected and been fond of Chenpan. Besides, they dreaded the Yuezhi (Kushans). They immediately took the seal and ribbon from Yifu and went to Chenpan, and made him king. Yifu was given the title of Marquis of the town of Pangao [90 li, or 37 km, from Shule].

 

‹See TfD›

Then Suoju (Yarkand) continued to resist Yutian (Khotan), and put themselves under Shule (Kashgar). Thus Shule (Kashgar), became powerful and a rival to Qiuci (Kucha) and Yutian (Khotan)."

 

However, it was not very long before the Chinese began to reassert their authority in the region:

 

“In the second Yongjian year (127), during Emperor Shun’s reign, Chenpan sent an envoy to respectfully present offerings. The Emperor bestowed on Chenpan the title of Great Commandant-in-Chief for the Han. Chenxun, who was the son of his elder brother, was appointed Temporary Major of the Kingdom. ‹See TfD›

In the fifth year (130), Chenpan sent his son to serve the Emperor and, along with envoys from Dayuan (Ferghana) and Suoju (Yarkand), brought tribute and offerings.”

 

From an earlier part of the same text comes the following addition:

 

“In the first Yangjia year (132), Xu You sent the king of Shule (Kashgar), Chenpan, who with 20,000 men, attacked and defeated Yutian (Khotan). He beheaded several hundred people, and released his soldiers to plunder freely. He replaced the king [of Jumi] by installing Chengguo from the family of [the previous king] Xing, and then he returned.”[38]

 

Then the first passage continues:

 

“In the second Yangjia year (133), Chenpan again made offerings (including) a lion and zebu cattle. ‹See TfD›

 

Then, during Emperor Ling’s reign, in the first Jianning year, the king of Shule (Kashgar) and Commandant-in-Chief for the Han (i.e. presumably Chenpan), was shot while hunting by the youngest of his paternal uncles, Hede. Hede named himself king.

‹See TfD›

In the third year (170), Meng Tuo, the Inspector of Liangzhou, sent the Provincial Officer Ren She, commanding five hundred soldiers from Dunhuang, with the Wuji Major Cao Kuan, and Chief Clerk of the Western Regions, Zhang Yan, brought troops from Yanqi (Karashahr), Qiuci (Kucha), and the Nearer and Further States of Jushi (Turpan and Jimasa), altogether numbering more than 30,000, to punish Shule (Kashgar). They attacked the town of Zhenzhong [Arach − near Maralbashi] but, having stayed for more than forty days without being able to subdue it, they withdrew. Following this, the kings of Shule (Kashgar) killed one another repeatedly while the Imperial Government was unable to prevent it.”

 

THREE KINGDOMS TO THE SUI

These centuries are marked by a general silence in sources on Kashgar and the Tarim Basin.

 

The Weilüe, composed in the second third of the 3rd century, mentions a number of states as dependencies of Kashgar: the kingdom of Zhenzhong (Arach?), the kingdom of Suoju (Yarkand), the kingdom of Jieshi, the kingdom of Qusha, the kingdom of Xiye (Khargalik), the kingdom of Yinai (Tashkurghan), the kingdom of Manli (modern Karasul), the kingdom of Yire (Mazar − also known as Tágh Nák and Tokanak), the kingdom of Yuling, the kingdom of Juandu (‘Tax Control’ − near modern Irkeshtam), the kingdom of Xiuxiu (‘Excellent Rest Stop’ − near Karakavak), and the kingdom of Qin.

 

However, much of the information on the Western Regions contained in the Weilüe seems to have ended roughly about (170), near the end of Han power. So, we can’t be sure that this is a reference to the state of affairs during the Cao Wei (220-265), or whether it refers to the situation before the civil war during the Later Han when China lost touch with most foreign countries and came to be divided into three separate kingdoms.

 

Chapter 30 of the Records of the Three Kingdoms says that after the beginning of the Wei Dynasty (220) the states of the Western Regions did not arrive as before, except for the larger ones such as Kucha, Khotan, Kangju, Wusun, Kashgar, Yuezhi, Shanshan and Turpan, who are said to have come to present tribute every year, as in Han times.

 

In 270, four states from the Western Regions were said to have presented tribute: Karashahr, Turpan, Shanshan, and Kucha. Some wooden documents from Niya seem to indicate that contacts were also maintained with Kashgar and Khotan around this time.

 

In 422, according to the Songshu, ch. 98, the king of Shanshan, Bilong, came to the court and "the thirty-six states in the Western Regions" all swore their allegiance and presented tribute. It must be assumed that these 36 states included Kashgar.

 

The "Songji" of the Zizhi Tongjian records that in the 5th month of 435, nine states: Kucha, Kashgar, Wusun, Yueban, Tashkurghan, Shanshan, Karashahr, Turpan and Sute all came to the Wei court.

 

In 439, according to the Weishu, ch. 4A, Shanshan, Kashgar and Karashahr sent envoys to present tribute.

 

According to the Weishu, ch. 102, Chapter on the Western Regions, the kingdoms of Kucha, Kashgar, Wusun, Yueban, Tashkurghan, Shanshan, Karashahr, Turpan and Sute all began sending envoys to present tribute in the Taiyuan reign period (435-440).

 

In 453 Kashgar sent envoys to present tribute (Weishu, ch. 5), and again in 455.

 

An embassy sent during the reign of Wencheng Di (452-466) from the king of Kashgar presented a supposed sacred relic of the Buddha; a dress which was incombustible.

 

In 507 Kashgar, is said to have sent envoys in both the 9th and 10th months (Weishu, ch. 8).

 

In 512, Kashgar sent envoys in the 1st and 5th months. (Weishu, ch. 8).

 

Early in the 6th century Kashgar is included among the many territories controlled by the Yeda or Hephthalite Huns, but their empire collapsed at the onslaught of the Western Turks between 563 and 567 who then probably gained control over Kashgar and most of the states in the Tarim Basin.

 

TANG DYNASTY

The founding of the Tang dynasty in 618 saw the beginning of a prolonged struggle between China and the Western Turks for control of the Tarim Basin. In 635, the Tang Annals reported an emissary from the king of Kashgar to the Tang capital. In 639 there was a second emissary bringing products of Kashgar as a token of submission to the Tang state.

 

Buddhist scholar Xuanzang passed through Kashgar (which he referred to as Ka-sha) in 644 on his return journey from India to China. The Buddhist religion, then beginning to decay in India, was active in Kashgar. Xuanzang recorded that they flattened their babies heads, tattooed their bodies and had green eyes. He reported that Kashgar had abundant crops, fruits and flowers, wove fine woolen stuffs and rugs. Their writing system had been adapted from Indian script but their language was different from that of other countries. The inhabitants were sincere Buddhist adherents and there were some hundreds of monasteries with more than 10,000 followers, all members of the Sarvastivadin School.

 

At around the same era, Nestorian Christians were establishing bishoprics at Herat, Merv and Samarkand, whence they subsequently proceeded to Kashgar, and finally to China proper itself.

 

In 646, the Turkic Kagan asked for the hand of a Tang Chinese princess, and in return the Emperor promised Kucha, Khotan, Kashgar, Karashahr and Sarikol as a marriage gift, but this did not happen as planned.

 

In a series of campaigns between 652 and 658, with the help of the Uyghurs, the Chinese finally defeated the Western Turk tribes and took control of all their domains, including the Tarim Basin kingdoms. Karakhoja was annexed in 640, Karashahr during campaigns in 644 and 648, and Kucha fell in 648.

 

In 662 a rebellion broke out in the Western Regions and a Chinese army sent to control it was defeated by the Tibetans south of Kashgar.

 

After another defeat of the Tang Chinese forces in 670, the Tibetans gained control of the whole region and completely subjugated Kashgar in 676-8 and retained possession of it until 692, when the Tang dynasty regained control of all their former territories, and retained it for the next fifty years.

 

In 722 Kashgar sent 4,000 troops to assist the Chinese to force the "Tibetans out of "Little Bolu" or Gilgit.

 

In 728, the king of Kashgar was awarded a brevet by the Chinese emperor.

 

In 739, the Tangshu relates that the governor of the Chinese garrison in Kashgar, with the help of Ferghana, was interfering in the affairs of the Turgesh tribes as far as Talas.

 

In 751 the Chinese were defeated by an Arab army in the Battle of Talas. The An Lushan Rebellion led to the decline of Tang influence in Central Asia due to the fact that the Tang dynasty was forced to withdraw its troops from the region to fight An Lushan. The Tibetans cut all communication between China and the West in 766.

 

Soon after the Chinese pilgrim monk Wukong passed through Kashgar in 753. He again reached Kashgar on his return trip from India in 786 and mentions a Chinese deputy governor as well as the local king.

 

BATTLES WITH ARAB CALIPHATE

In 711, the Arabs invaded Kashgar, but did not hold the city for any length of time. Kashgar and Turkestan lent assistance to the reigning queen of Bukhara, to enable her to repel the Arabs. Although the Muslim religion from the very commencement sustained checks, it nevertheless made its weight felt upon the independent states of Turkestan to the north and east, and thus acquired a steadily growing influence. It was not, however, till the 10th century that Islam was established at Kashgar, under the Kara-Khanid Khanate.

 

THE TURKIC RULE

According to the 10th-century text, Hudud al-'alam, "the chiefs of Kashghar in the days of old were from the Qarluq, or from the Yaghma." The Karluks, Yaghmas and other tribes such as the Chigils formed the Karakhanids. The Karakhanid Sultan Satuq Bughra Khan converted to Islam in the 10th century and captured Kashgar. Kashgar was the capital of the Karakhanid state for a time but later the capital was moved to Balasaghun. During the latter part of the 10th century, the Muslim Karakhanids began a struggle against the Buddhist Kingdom of Khotan, and the Khotanese defeated the Karakhanids and captured Kashgar in 970. Chinese sources recorded the king of Khotan offering to send them a dancing elephant captured from Kashgar. Later in 1006, the Karakhanids of Kashgar under Yusuf Kadr Khan conquered Khotan.

 

The Karakhanid Khanate however was beset with internal strife, and the khanate split into two, the Eastern and Western Karakhanid Khanates, with Kashgar falling within the domain of the Eastern Karakhanid state. In 1089, the Western Karakhanids fell under the control of the Seljuks, but the Eastern Karakhanids was for the most part independent.

 

Both the Karakhanid states were defeated in the 12th century by the Kara-Khitans who captured Balasaghun, however Karakhanid rule continued in Kashgar under the suzerainty of the Kara-Khitans. The Kara-Khitan rulers followed a policy of religious tolerance, Islamic religious life continued uninterrupted and Kashgar was also a Nestorian metropolitan see. The last Karakhanid of Kashgar was killed in a revolt in 1211 by the city's notables. Kuchlug, a usurper of the throne of the Kara-Khitans, then attacked Kashgar which finally surrendered in 1214.

 

THE MONGOLS

The Kara-Khitai in their turn were swept away in 1219 by Genghis Khan. After his death, Kashgar came under the rule of the Chagatai Khans. Marco Polo visited the city, which he calls Cascar, about 1273-4 and recorded the presence of numerous Nestorian Christians, who had their own churches. Later In the 14th century, a Chagataid khan Tughluq Timur converted to Islam, and Islamic tradition began to reassert its ascendancy.

 

In 1389−1390 Tamerlane ravaged Kashgar, Andijan and the intervening country. Kashgar endured a troubled time, and in 1514, on the invasion of the Khan Sultan Said, was destroyed by Mirza Ababakar, who with the aid of ten thousand men built a new fort with massive defences higher up on the banks of the Tuman river. The dynasty of the Chagatai Khans collapsed in 1572 with the division of the country among rival factions; soon after, two powerful Khoja factions, the White and Black Mountaineers (Ak Taghliq or Afaqi, and Kara Taghliq or Ishaqi), arose whose differences and war-making gestures, with the intermittent episode of the Oirats of Dzungaria, make up much of recorded history in Kashgar until 1759. The Dzungar Khanate conquered Kashgar and set up the Khoja as their puppet rulers.

 

QING CONQUEST

The Qing dynasty defeated the Dzungar Khanate during the Ten Great Campaigns and took control of Kashgar in 1759. The conquerors consolidated their authority by settling other ethnics emigrants in the vicinity of a Manchu garrison.

 

Rumours flew around Central Asia that the Qing planned to launch expeditions towards Transoxiana and Samarkand, the chiefs of which sought assistance from the Afghan king Ahmed Shah Abdali. The alleged expedition never happened so Ahmad Shah withdrew his forces from Kokand. He also dispatched an ambassador to Beijing to discuss the situation of the Afaqi Khojas, but the representative was not well received, and Ahmed Shah was too busy fighting off the Sikhs to attempt to enforce his demands through arms.

The Qing continued to hold Kashgar with occasional interruptions during the Afaqi Khoja revolts. One of the most serious of these occurred in 1827, when the city was taken by Jahanghir Khoja; Chang-lung, however, the Qing general of Ili, regained possession of Kashgar and the other rebellious cities in 1828.

 

The Kokand Khanate raided Kashgar several times. A revolt in 1829 under Mahommed Ali Khan and Yusuf, brother of Jahanghir resulted in the concession of several important trade privileges to the Muslims of the district of Altishahr (the "six cities"), as it was then called.

 

The area enjoyed relative calm until 1846 under the rule of Zahir-ud-din, the local Uyghur governor, but in that year a new Khoja revolt under Kath Tora led to his accession as the authoritarian ruler of the city. However, his reign was brief—at the end of seventy-five days, on the approach of the Chinese, he fled back to Khokand amid the jeers of the inhabitants. The last of the Khoja revolts (1857) was of about equal duration, and took place under Wali-Khan, who murdered the well-known traveler Adolf Schlagintweit.

 

1862 CHINESE HUI REVOLT

The great Dungan revolt (1862–1877) involved insurrection among various Muslim ethnic groups. It broke out in 1862 in Gansu then spread rapidly to Dzungaria and through the line of towns in the Tarim Basin.

 

Dungan troops based in Yarkand rose and in August 1864 massacred some seven thousand Chinese and their Manchu commander. The inhabitants of Kashgar, rising in their turn against their masters, invoked the aid of Sadik Beg, a Kyrgyz chief, who was reinforced by Buzurg Khan, the heir of Jahanghir Khoja, and his general Yakub Beg. The latter men were dispatched at Sadik’s request by the ruler of Khokand to raise what troops they could to aid his Muslim friends in Kashgar.

 

Sadik Beg soon repented of having asked for a Khoja, and eventually marched against Kashgar, which by this time had succumbed to Buzurg Khan and Yakub Beg, but was defeated and driven back to Khokand. Buzurg Khan delivered himself up to indolence and debauchery, but Yakub Beg, with singular energy and perseverance, made himself master of Yangi Shahr, Yangi-Hissar, Yarkand and other towns, and eventually became sole master of the country, Buzurg Khan proving himself totally unfit for the post of ruler.

 

With the overthrow of Chinese rule in 1865 by Yakub Beg (1820–1877), the manufacturing industries of Kashgar are supposed to have declined.

 

Yaqub Beg entered into relations and signed treaties with the Russian Empire and the British Empire, but when he tried to get their support against China, he failed.

 

Kashgar and the other cities of the Tarim Basin remained under Yakub Beg’s rule until May 1877, when he died at Korla. Thereafter Kashgaria was reconquered by the forces of the Qing general Zuo Zongtang during the Qing reconquest of Xinjiang.

 

QING RULE

There were eras in Xinjiang's history where intermarriage was common, "laxity" which set upon Uyghur women led them to marry Chinese men and not wear the veil in the period after Yaqub Beg's rule ended, it is also believed by Uyghurs that some Uyghurs have Han Chinese ancestry from historical intermarriage, such as those living in Turpan.

 

Even though Muslim women are forbidden to marry non-Muslims in Islamic law, from 1880-1949 it was frequently violated in Xinjiang since Chinese men married Muslim Turki (Uyghur) women, a reason suggested by foriengers that it was due to the women being poor, while the Turki women who married Chinese were labelled as whores by the Turki community, these marriages were illegitimate according to Islamic law but the women obtained benefits from marrying Chinese men since the Chinese defended them from Islamic authorities so the women were not subjected to the tax on prostitution and were able to save their income for themselves. Chinese men gave their Turki wives privileges which Turki men's wives did not have, since the wives of Chinese did not have to wear a veil and a Chinese man in Kashgar once beat a mullah who tried to force his Turki Kashgari wife to veil. The Turki women also benefited in that they were not subjected to any legal binding to their Chinese husbands so they could make their Chinese husbands provide them with as much their money as she wanted for her relatives and herself since otherwise the women could just leave, and the property of Chinese men was left to their Turki wives after they died. Turki women considered Turki men to be inferior husbands to Chinese and Hindus. Because they were viewed as "impure", Islamic cemeteries banned the Turki wives of Chinese men from being buried within them, the Turki women got around this problem by giving shrines donations and buying a grave in other towns. Besides Chinese men, other men such as Hindus, Armenians, Jews, Russians, and Badakhshanis intermarried with local Turki women. The local society accepted the Turki women and Chinese men's mixed offspring as their own people despite the marriages being in violation of Islamic law. Turki women also conducted temporary marriages with Chinese men such as Chinese soldiers temporarily stationed around them as soldiers for tours of duty, after which the Chinese men returned to their own cities, with the Chinese men selling their mixed daughters with the Turki women to his comrades, taking their sons with them if they could afford it but leaving them if they couldn't, and selling their temporary Turki wife to a comrade or leaving her behind.

 

An anti-Russian uproar broke out when Russian customs officials, 3 Cossacks and a Russian courier invited local Turki (Uyghur) prostitutes to a party in January 1902 in Kashgar, this caused a massive brawl by the inflamed local Turki Muslim populace against the Russians on the pretense of protecting Muslim women because there was anti-Russian sentiment being built up, even though morality was not strict in Kashgar, the local Turki Muslims violently clashed with the Russians before they were dispersed by guards, the Chinese sought to end to tensions to prevent the Russians from building up a pretext to invade.

 

After the riot, the Russians sent troops to Sarikol in Tashkurghan and demanded that the Sarikol postal services be placed under Russian supervision, the locals of Sarikol believed that the Russians would seize the entire district from the Chinese and send more soldiers even after the Russians tried to negotiate with the Begs of Sarikol and sway them to their side, they failed since the Sarikoli officials and authorities demanded in a petition to the Amban of Yarkand that they be evacuated to Yarkand to avoid being harassed by the Russians and objected to the Russian presence in Sarikol, the Sarikolis did not believe the Russian claim that they would leave them alone and only involved themselves in the mail service.

 

Many of the young Kashgari women were most attractive in appearance, and some of the little girls quite lovely, their plaits of long hair falling from under a jaunty little embroidered cap, their big dark eyes, flashing teeth and piquant olive faces reminding me of Italian or Spanish children. One most beautiful boy stands out in my memory. He was clad in a new shirt and trousers of flowered pink, his crimson velvet cap embroidered with gold, and as he smiled and salaamed to us I thought he looked like a fairy prince. The women wear their hair in two or five plaits much thickened and lengthened by the addition of yak's hair, but the children in several tiny plaits.

 

The peasants are fairly well off, as the soil is rich, the abundant water-supply free, and the taxation comparatively light. It was always interesting to meet them taking their live stock into market. Flocks of sheep with tiny lambs, black and white, pattered along the dusty road; here a goat followed its master like a dog, trotting behind the diminutive ass which the farmer bestrode; or boys, clad in the whity-brown native cloth, shouted incessantly at donkeys almost invisible under enormous loads of forage, or carried fowls and ducks in bunches head downwards, a sight that always made me long to come to the rescue of the luckless birds.

 

It was pleasant to see the women riding alone on horseback, managing their mounts to perfection. They formed a sharp contrast to their Persian sisters, who either sit behind their husbands or have their steeds led by the bridle; and instead of keeping silence in public, as is the rule for the shrouded women of Iran, these farmers' wives chaffered and haggled with the men in the bazar outside the city, transacting business with their veils thrown back.

 

Certainly the mullas do their best to keep the fair sex in their place, and are in the habit of beating those who show their faces in the Great Bazar. But I was told that poetic justice had lately been meted out to one of these upholders of the law of Islam, for by mistake he chastised a Kashgari woman married to a Chinaman, whereupon the irate husband set upon him with a big stick and castigated him soundly.

 

That a Muslim should take in marriage one of alien faith is not objected to; it is rather deemed a meritorious act thus to bring an unbeliever to the true religion. The Muslim woman, on the other hand, must not be given in marriage to a non-Muslim; such a union is regarded as the most heinous of sins. In this matter, however, compromises are sometimes made with heaven: the marriage of a Turki princess with the emperor Ch'ien-lung has already been referred to; and, when the present writer passed through Minjol (a day's journey west of Kashgar) in 1902, a Chinese with a Turki wife (? concubine) was presented to him.

 

FIRST EAST TURKESTAN REPUBLIC

Kashgar was the scene of continual battles from 1933 to 1934. Ma Shaowu, a Chinese Muslim, was the Tao-yin of Kashgar, and he fought against Uyghur rebels. He was joined by another Chinese Muslim general, Ma Zhancang.

 

BATTLE OF KASHGAR (1933)

Uighur and Kirghiz forces, led by the Bughra brothers and Tawfiq Bay, attempted to take the New City of Kashgar from Chinese Muslim troops under General Ma Zhancang. They were defeated.

 

Tawfiq Bey, a Syrian Arab traveler, who held the title Sayyid (descendent of prophet Muhammed) and arrived at Kashgar on August 26, 1933, was shot in the stomach by the Chinese Muslim troops in September. Previously Ma Zhancang arranged to have the Uighur leader Timur Beg killed and beheaded on August 9, 1933, displaying his head outside of Id Kah Mosque.

 

Han chinese troops commanded by Brigadier Yang were absorbed into Ma Zhancang's army. A number of Han chinese officers were spotted wearing the green uniforms of Ma Zhancang's unit of the 36th division, presumably they had converted to Islam.

 

BATTLE OF KASHGAR (1934)

The 36th division General Ma Fuyuan led a Chinese Muslim army to storm Kashgar on February 6, 1934, attacking the Uighur and Kirghiz rebels of the First East Turkestan Republic. He freed another 36th division general, Ma Zhancang, who was trapped with his Chinese Muslim and Han Chinese troops in Kashgar New City by the Uighurs and Kirghiz since May 22, 1933. In January, 1934, Ma Zhancang's Chinese Muslim troops repulsed six Uighur attacks, launched by Khoja Niyaz, who arrived at the city on January 13, 1934, inflicting massive casualties on the Uighur forces. From 2,000 to 8,000 Uighur civilians in Kashgar Old City were massacred by Tungans in February, 1934, in revenge for the Kizil massacre, after retreating of Uighur forces from the city to Yengi Hisar. The Chinese Muslim and 36th division Chief General Ma Zhongying, who arrived at Kashgar on April 7, 1934, gave a speech at Id Kah Mosque in April, reminding the Uighurs to be loyal to the Republic of China government at Nanjing. Several British citizens at the British consulate were killed or wounded by the 36th division on March 16, 1934.

 

PEOPLE´S REPUBLIC OF CHINA

Kashgar was incorporated into the People's Republic of China in 1949. During the Cultural Revolution, one of the largest statues of Mao in China was built in Kashgar, near People's Square. In 1986, the Chinese government designated Kashgar a "city of historical and cultural significance". Kashgar and surrounding regions have been the site of Uyghur unrest since the 1990s. In 2008, two Uyghur men carried out a vehicular, IED and knife attack against police officers. In 2009, development of Kashgar's old town accelerated after the revelations of the deadly role of faulty architecture during the 2008 Sichuan earthquake. Many of the old houses in the old town were built without regulation, and as a result, officials found them to be overcrowded and non-compliant with fire and earthquake codes. When the plan started, 42% of the city's residents lived in the old town. With compensation, residents of faulty buildings are being counseled to move to newer, safer buildings that will replace the historic structures in the $448 million plan, including high-rise apartments, plazas, and reproductions of ancient Islamic architecture. The European Parliament issued a resolution in 2011 calling for "culture-sensitive methods of renovation." The International Scientific Committee on Earthen Architectural Heritage (ISCEAH) has expressed concern over the demolition and reconstruction of historic buildings. ISCEAH has, additionally, urged the implementation of techniques utilized elsewhere in the world to address earthquake vulnerability.

 

Following the July 2009 Urumqi riots, the government focused on local economic development in an attempt to ameliorate ethnic tensions in the greater Xinjiang region. Kashgar was made into a Special Economic Zone in 2010, the first such zone in China's far west. In 2011, a spate of violence over two days killed dozens of people. By May 2012 two-thirds of the old city had been demolished, fulfilling "political as well as economic goals." In July 2014 the Imam of the Id Kah Mosque, Juma Tayir, was assassinated in Kashgar.

 

CLIMATE

Kashgar features a desert climate (Köppen BWk) with hot summers and cold winters, with large temperature differences between those two seasons: The monthly 24-hour average temperature ranges from −5.3 °C in January to 25.6 °C in July, while the annual mean is 11.84 °C. Spring is long and arrives quickly, while fall is somewhat brief in comparison. Kashgar is one of the driest cities on the planet, averaging only 64 millimetres of precipitation per year. The city’s wettest month, July, only sees on average 9.1 millimetres of rain. Because of the extremely arid conditions, snowfall is rare, despite the cold winters. Records have been as low as −24.4 °C in January and up to 40.1 °C in July. The frost-free period averages 215 days. With monthly percent possible sunshine ranging from 50% in March to 70% in September, the city receives 2,726 hours of bright sunshine annually.

 

DEMOGRAPHICS

Kashgar is predominately peopled by Muslim Uyghurs. Compared to Ürümqi, Xinjiang's capital and largest city, Kashgar is less industrial and has significantly fewer Han Chinese residents.

 

ECONOMICS AND SOCIETY

The city has a very important Sunday market. Thousands of farmers from the surrounding fertile lands come into the city to sell a wide variety of fruit and vegetables. Kashgar’s livestock market is also very lively. Silk and carpets made in Hotan are sold at bazaars, as well as local crafts, such as copper teapots and wooden jewellery boxes.

 

In order to boost the economy in Kashgar region, the government classified the area as the sixth Special Economic Zone of China in May 2010.

 

Mahmud al-Kashgari (Turkish: Kâşgarlı Mahmud) (Mahmut from Kashgar) wrote the first Turkic–Arabic Exemplary Dictionary called Divan-ı Lugat-it Türk[citation needed]

 

The movie The Kite Runner was filmed in Kashgar. Kashgar and the surrounding countryside stood in for Kabul and Afghanistan, since filming in Afghanistan was not possible due to safety and security reasons.

 

SIGHTS

Kashgar's Old City has been called "the best-preserved example of a traditional Islamic city to be found anywhere in Central Asia". It is estimated to attract more than one million tourists annually.

 

- Id Kah Mosque, the largest mosque in China, is located in the heart of the city.

- People's Park, the main public park in central Kashgar.

- An 18 m high statue of Mao Zedong in Kashgar is one of the few large-scale statues of Mao remaining in China.

- The tomb of Afaq Khoja in Kashgar is considered the holiest Muslim site in Xinjiang. Built in the 17th century, the tiled mausoleum 5 km northeast of the city centre also contains the tombs of five generations of his family. Abakh was a powerful ruler, controlling Khotan, Yarkand, Korla, Kucha and Aksu as well as Kashgar. Among some Uyghur Muslims, he was considered a great Saint (Aulia).

- Sunday Market in Kashgar is renowned as the biggest market in central Asia; a pivotal trading point along the Silk Road where goods have been traded for more than 2,000 years. The market is open every day but Sunday is the largest.

 

TRANSPORTATION

AIR

Kashgar Airport serves mainly domestic flights, the majority of them from Urumqi. The only scheduled international flights are passenger and cargo services with Pakistan's capital Islamabad.

 

RAIL

Kashgar has the westernmost railway station in China. It is connected to the rest of China's rail network via the Southern Xinjiang Railway, which was built in December 1999. Kashgar–Hotan Railway opened for passenger traffic in June 2011, and connected Kashgar with cities in the southern Tarim Basin including Shache (Yarkand), Yecheng (Kargilik) and Hotan. Travel time to Urumqi from Kashgar is approximately 25 hours, while travel time to Hotan is approximately ten hours.

 

The investigation work of a further extension of the railway line to Pakistan has begun. In November 2009, Pakistan and China agreed to set up a joint venture to do a feasibility study of the proposed rail link via the Khunjerab Pass.

 

Proposals for a rail connection to Osh in Kyrgyzstan have also been discussed at various levels since at least 1996.

 

In 2012, a standard gauge railway from Kashgar via Tajikistan and Afghanistan to Iran and beyond has been proposed.

 

ROAD

The Karakorum highway (KKH) links Islamabad, Pakistan with Kashgar over the Khunjerab Pass. The China–Pakistan Economic Corridor is a multibillion-dollar project was that will upgrade transport links between China and Pakistan, including the upgrades to the Karakorum highway. Bus routes exist for passenger travel south into Pakistan. Kyrgyzstan is also accessible from Kashgar, via the Torugart Pass and Irkeshtam Pass; as of summer 2007, daily bus service connects Kashgar with Bishkek’s Western Bus Terminal. Kashgar is also located on China National Highways G314 (which runs to Khunjerab Pass on the Sino−Pakistani border, and, in the opposite direction, towards Ürümqi), and G315, which runs to Xining, Qinghai from Kashgar.

 

WIKIPEDIA

130518 Susies Sevens v Transact Pro, Amsterdam Sevens 2013

I have a lot of shots to post. I have been very busy, and then there are the photos I helped escape the house-clearance people from Mum's.

 

So, back to the matter in hand: Ospringe.

 

Ospringe is one of the most easily identifiable churches in Kent, with its unusual saddleback tower, but it is well seen, as you can see the tower before the turn off to Faversham. It looks fabulous.

 

Ospringe was a small village, but now is part of the urban sprawl of Faversham as it spreads to the south of the old A2.

 

You turn down a tight junction, then along a narrow road with cars parked on either side, until you break into open country, and the church is on a bend in the road.

 

I was last here on winter about a decade ago, it was a bitterly cold day and the planned Christmas Tree festival had been delayed a week due to bad weather the weekend before.

 

I cam here on the off-chance, and I was met by a volunteer come to clean the church, but no one with a key.

 

The vicar arrived, and after explaining again about the project, he reluctantly let me in, but warned he would not be here long.

 

Last time here, i took 7 shots, and none of details, so I made busy with the nifty fifty.....

 

John Vigar says this is a church hard to gain access too, maybe I have been lucky, but worth seeking out if you're passing.

 

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A pretty church whose thirteenth century origins seem lost beneath a Victorian veneer – yet inside all become clear. The north wall is thickened to take the rood loft staircase (see also Challock) but there is a medieval stair in the south side too, just to confuse. The font is a lovely twelfth century piece supported by the familiar five columns. Much of the glass is by Thomas Willement and displays his signature TW, which can also be seen in the Alpha emblem in the top of the striking east window. The chancel is a riot of Victoriana of grand design – constructed in several campaigns, the reredos and flooring definitely by different hands. Old photos show that the whole church was once stencilled, but now that the nave is relatively plain, the chancel is once more the focus of attention. The south chapel has a rather nice 19th century roof structure and must once have been a grand family chapel. All in all a lovely church full of interest and one which should be more accessible and better known.

 

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

 

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OSPRINGE

LIES the next parish north westward from Sheldwich. It is usually written in antient records Ospringes, and takes its name from the spring or fresh stream which rises in it.

 

The town of Ospringe, as it is called, is a franchise separate from the hundred of Faversham, having a constable of its own, but the rest of the parish is within the jurisdiction of that hundred.

 

The borough of Chetham, in this parish, was given to the abbey of Faversham by Richard de Lucy, and confirmed to it by king Henry II. king John, and king Henry III. (fn. 1) It still continues an appendage to the manor of Faversham, at which a borsholder is chosen yearly for this borough, and extends over Beacon farm on the south side of the London road, at the 45th mile stone in Ospringe and Stone, and very little besides. There is another small borough in this parish, called the borough of Brimstone, for which a borsholder is elected annually at the same manor. It extends over the Red Lion inn, in Ospringe-street, and some land, an house and oast behind the bowling-green, northward of it.

 

The parish of Ospringe is of large extent, being near five miles from north to south, though it is not much more than two miles in breadth. The village, or town of Ospringe, as it was formerly called, and now usually Ospringe-street, stands on the high London road, between the 46th and 47th mile-stone, but the north side of the street, as well as of that road, from the summit of Judde hill, as far eastward as the 47th mile stone, is within Faversham parish, the liberties of which town begin from the rivulet in Ospringe, and extend eastward, including the late Mr. Lypeatt's new-built house. Thus that parish intervenes, and entirely separates from the rest of it that part of Ospringe parish, at the northern boundaries of it, in which are the storekeeper's house, part of the offices, &c. and some of the royal powder mills, and in the town of Faversham, that parish again intervening, there is a small part of Weststreet within this parish. The grand valley, called Newnham bottom, through which the high road leads to Maidstone, lies at the western boundary of the parish, on the summit of the hill eastward of it is Juddehouse, built after a design of Inigo Jones, a fine situation, having a most beautiful prospect eastward, over a most fertile extent of country, to the Boughton hills, and the channel north eastward of it, but the large tract of woodland, of many hundred acres, which reach up close to the gardens at the back of it, render it rather an unhealthy situation. About a quarter of a mile eastward of Ospringe-street is a good house, called from the antient oratory or chapel formerly adjoining to it, but pulled down within these few years, chapelhouse. This oratory was dedicated to St. Nicholas, and erected for a priest to say mass in it, for the safety and good success of passengers, who left their acknowledgments for his pains in it. It belonged lately to Mr. John Simmons, whose son sold it to Isaac Rutton, esq. and he alienated the house to Mr. Neame, the present owner; but on a part of the land adjoining he built an elegant villa, naming it Ospringe Place, in which he now resides.

 

In Ospringe-street there is a tolerable inn, and the remains of the Maison Dieu on each side of the high road close to the small rivulet which crosses the street. This stream rises at Westbrook, at a small distance southward of the hamlet of Whitehill, at the back of which it runs, and at about a mile and an half distance, passing by Ospringe church, and the mansion of Queen-court, now a respectable farm-house, it turns a mill, erected some years ago for the manufacturing of madder, though now used for the grinding corn, and having crossed Ospringe-street, it turns a gunpowder mill not far from it, occupied by government, but belonging to St. John's college, in Cambridge, and having supplied the storekeeper's gardens, it afterwards turns a corn-mill, close to the west side of Faversham town, after which it supplies the rest of the government mills and works, and runs from thence into Faversham creek, to which it is a very necessary and beneficial back water. There is a nailbourne, or temporary land spring, such as are not unusual in the parts of this county eastward of Sittingborne, which run but once perhaps in several years, their failing and continuance having no certain periods, the breaking forth of them being held by the common people to be a forerunner of scarcity and dearness of corn and victuals. This at Ospringe, when it breaks out, rises about half a mile southward of Whitehill, near Kennaways, in the road to Stalisfield, and joining the above-mentioned rivulet, which it considerably increases, flows with it into Faversham creek. In February, 1674, it began to run, but stopped before Michaelmas. It broke forth in February, 1712, and run with such violence along the high road, that trenches were cut through the lands adjoining to carry the water off, but it stopped again before Michaelmas. It had continued dry till it broke out afresh in 1753, and continued to run till summer 1778, when it stopped, and has continued dry ever since.

 

About a mile southward of Ospringe-street is the hamlet of Whitehill, mentioned before, situated in the vale through which the rivulet takes its course. There are two houses of some account in it, formerly owned by the family of Drayton, who had resided in this parish for many years. Robert Drayton resided here anno 7 Edward IV. in which year he died, and was buried in the church-yard of Ospringe, being then possessed, as appears by his will, of a house called Smythes, with its lands and appurtenances, at Whitehill. After this family had become extinct here, one of these houses came into the possession of Ruck, and escheated, for want of lawful heirs, to the lord of the manor, and now as such belongs to the earl of Guildford, but Mr. James Foord resides in it. The other, after the Draytons were become extinct here, came into the name of Wreight, one of whom, Henry Wreight, gent. died possessed of it in 1695, and was buried in Faversham church. His son of the same name resided here, and died in 1773, and his grandson Henry Wreight, gent. of Faversham, sold it to John Montresor of Belmont, esq. who now owns it, but John Smith esq. resides in it. About a mile westward on the hill, near Hanslets Fostall and the parsonage, is a new-erected house, called the Oaks, built not many years since, on the scite of an antient one, called Nicholas, formerly belonging to the Draytons, by Mr. John Toker, who resides in it; the woodgrounds in the upland parts of this parish are very extensive, and contain many hundred acres. The soil of this parish, from its large extent, is various, to the north and north-east of the church the lands are level and very fertile, being a fine rich loam, but as they extend southward to the uplands, the soil becomes more and more barren, much of it chalky, and the rest a cludgy red earth, stiff tillage land, and very stony. A fair is held in Ospringe-street on the 29th of May.

 

¶Much has already been said in the former parts of these volumes, of the different opinions of learned men where the Roman station, called in the second iter of Antonine Durolevum, ought to be placed. Most of the copies of Antonine make the distance from the last station Durobrovis, which is allowed by all to be Rochester, to the station of Durolevum, to be xiii or xvi miles, though the Peutongerian tables make it only vii. If the number xvi is right, no place bids so fair for it as Judde-hill, in this parish, which then would have every probable circumstance in favor of it. The Romans undoubtedly had some strong military post on this hill, on the summit of which there are the remains of a very deep and broad ditch, the south and east sides are still entire, as is a small part of the north side at the eastern corners of it, the remaining part of the north side was filled up not many years since. The west side has nothing left of it; close within the southern part of it is a high mount of earth thrown up to a considerable height above the ground round it, the scite of Judde house, and the gardens are contained within it. The form of it seems to have been a square, with the corners rounded, and to have contained between three and four acres of ground within its area, the common people call it king Stephen's castle, but it is certainly of a much older date. At a small distance from it, on the opposite, or north side of the high road, there are several breast works cast up across the field facing the west. At the bottom of the hill, in the next field to this, are the ruins of Stone chapel, in which numbers of Roman bricks are interspersed among the flints, and in the midst of the south wall of it, there is a separate piece of a Roman building, about a rod in length, and near three feet high, composed of two rows of Roman tiles, of about fourteen inches square each, and on them are laid small stones hewed, but of no regular size or shape, for about a foot high, and then tiles again, and so on alternately.

  

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

 

The church stands within the jurisdiction of the town of Ospringe, about half a mile southward from Ospringe-street. It is dedicated to St. Peter and St. Paul. It is an antient building, consisting of three isles and a chancel. The steeple was formerly at the west end, and was built circular of flints, supposed to be Danish, with a shingled spire on it, of upwards of fifty feet high, in which were four bells; but in ringing them on Oct. 11, 1695, on king William's return from Flanders, it suddenly fell to the ground, providentially no one was hurt by it. There are no remains left of any painted glass in the windows of this church, though there was formerly much in most of them; particularly, in the window of the north isle was once the figure of a mitred bishop, on the rack, with a knife on the table by him, and of another person tied to a tree, and wounded with arrows. In another was a label to the memory of Robert Seton, and of a woman kneeling; and there was not many years ago remaining in the east window, at the end of the south isle, forming a kind of chancel, the effigies of a knight in his tabard of arms, with spurs on his heels, in a kneeling posture, looking up to a crucisix, painted just above him, of which there remained only the lower part. The knight's arms, Azure, three harts heads, caboshed, or, were thrown under him, and at a little distance some part of his crest, An hart's head, attired full, or, with a crown about his neck, azure, and underneath, Pray for the soul of Thomas Hart. This Sir Thomas Hart was possessed of an estate in this parish, which he purchased of Norwood. The Greenstreets, of Selling, lately claimed this chancel, and several of them lie buried in it. There was a chapel, dedicated to St. Thomas, in this church.

 

In the east part of the church-yard there was once a chapel, said to have been built by Sir John Denton, of Denton, in this parish and Easling, the foundations of which are still visible.

 

It appears by the Testa de Nevil, taken in the reign of king Henry III. that the church of Ospringe was in the king's gift, and was afterwards given by king John to John de Burgo, who then held it, and that it was worth forty marcs. After which, in the 8th year of Richard II. anno 1384, it was become appropriated to the abbot of Pontiniac, and was valued at 13l. 6s. 8d. at which time there was a vicarage here of his patronage likewise. It afterwards became part of the possessions of the hospital or Maison Dieu, in Ospringestreet, but by what means, or when, I have not found, and it continued so till the escheat of the hospital anno 20 Edward IV. after which, the parsonage appropriate of this church of Ospringe, together with the advowson of the vicarage, was by means of Fisher, bishop of Rochester, obtained of Henry VIII. in manner as has been already mentioned, for St. John's college, in Cambridge, the master and fellows of which are at this time entitled to them, the parsonage being let by them on a beneficial lease; but the advowson of the vicarage they retain in their own hands.

 

The lessee of this parsonage, in the reign of queen Elizabeth, was Robert Streynsham, esq. who rebuilt the house and offices belonging to it, and afterwards resided in it. He had been fellow of All Souls college, LL. B. and secretary to the earl of Pembroke. He lies buried in this church, and bore for his arms, Or, a pale dancette, gules. He left two daughters and coheirs, of whom, Audrey, the eldest, carried her interest in it in marriage to Edward Master, esq. eldest son of James Master, esq. of East Langdon, who was first of Sandwich, and afterwards built a seat for himself and his posterity at East Langdon. He was twice married, and had fourteen children; at length worn out with age, he betook himself hither to his eldest son Edward, and dying in 1631, æt. 84, was buried in this church. Edward Master, the son, resided here, and was afterwards knighted, and on his father's death in 1631 removed to that seat, in whose descendants it continued till it was at length alienated to Buller, of Cornwall, whose son sold his interest in to Markham, as he did to Mr. Robert Lyddel, merchant, of London, brother of Sir Henry Lyddel, who in 1751 assigned his interest in it to Ralph Terrey, yeoman, of Knolton, whose son Mr. Michael Terrey, of Ospringe, devised it to his only daughter and heir Olive, who married Nathaniel Marsh, esq. of Boughton Blean, and the heirs of his son Terrey Marsh, esq. late of that parish, are the present lessees of it.

 

The vicarage of Ospringe is valued in the king's books at ten pounds, and the yearly tenths at one pound.

 

In 1640 it was valued at sixty pounds, when there were communicants here 226.

 

The vicarage is endowed with all vicarial tithes, woad only excepted, and also with those of hay, saintfoin, clover, and coppice woods. There are about twenty-seven acres of glebe-land belonging to it. The vicarage-house is situated in the valley, at a small distance eastward from the church, and the parsonagehouse near a mile southward of that.

 

Ospringe was formerly the head of a rural deanry, of which institution it will be necessary to give some account here.

 

The office of rural dean was not unknown to our Saxon ancestors, as appears by the laws of king Edward the Confessor; they were called both Archipresbiteri and Decani Temporarii, to distinguish them from the deans of cathedrals, who were Decani Perpetui. Besides these, there were in the greater monasteries, especially those of the Benedictine order, such officers called deans, and there are deans still remaining in several of the colleges of the universities, who take care of the studies and exercises of the youth, and are a check on the morals and behaviour of such as are members under them.

 

¶The antient exercise of jurisdiction in the church seems to have been instituted in conformity to like subordinations in the state. Thus the dioceses within this realm seem to have been divided into archdeaconries and rural deanries, to make them correspond to the like division of the kingdom into counties and hundreds; hence the former, whose courts were to answer those of the county, had the county usually for their district, and took their title from thence, and the names of the latter from the hundred, or chief place of it, wherein they acted; and as in the state every hundred was at first divided into ten tithings or fribourghs, and every tithing was made up of ten families, both which kept their original names, notwithstanding the increase of villages and people; so in the church the name of deanry continued, notwithstanding the increase of persons and churches, and the districts of them were contracted and enlarged from time to time, at the discretion of the bishop, the rural dean of Ospringe having jurisdiction over the whole deanry of it, consisting of twenty-six parishes. He had a seal of office, which being temporary, it had only the name of the office, and not, as other seals of jurisdiction, the name of the person also, engraved on it. The seal belonging to this deanry had on it, the Virgin Mary crowned, with the sceptre in her left hand, and her child, with a glory round his head, in her right, and round the margin, Sigillu Decani Decanatus de Ospreng. He was in antient times called the dean of the bishop, because appointed by him, and had alone the inspection of the lives and manners of the clergy and people within the district under him, and was to report the same to the bishop; to which end, that he might have a thorough knowledge of the state and condition of his respective deanry, he had a power to convene rural chapters, which were made up of the instituted clergy, or their curates as proxies of them, and the dean as president of them, where the clergy brought information of all irregularities committed within their respective parishes. Those upon ordinary occasions were held at first every three weeks, in imitation of the courts of manors, held from three weeks to three weeks, and afterwards each month, and from thence were called Kalendæ, but their more solemn and principal chapters were assembled once a quarter, where maters of greater import were transacted, and a fuller attendance given. They were at first held in any one church within the district, where the minister of the place was to procure and provide entertainment and procurations for the dean and his immediate officers, and they were afterwards held only in the larger or more eminent parishes. The part of their office of inspecting and reporting the manners of the clergy and people, rendered them necessary attendants on the episcopal synod or general visitation, in which they were the standing representatives of the rest of the clergy within their division, and they were there to deliver information of abuses committed within their knowledge, and consult for the reformation of them; for which they were to have their expences, called from hence synodals, allowed them by those whom they represented, according to the time of their attendance. That part of their office, of being convened to provincial and episcopal synods, was transferred to two proctors, or representatives of the parochial clergy in each diocese; and that of information of scandals and offences, has devolved on the churchwardens of the respective parishes. Besides this another principal part of the duty of a rural dean was to execute all processes of the bishop, or of the officers and ministers under his authority; but by the constitution of the pope's legate, Otho, the archdeacon, in the reign of Henry III. was required to be frequently present at them, who being superior to the rural dean, did in effect take the presidency out of his hands; and these chapters were afterwards often held by the archdeacon's officials, from which may be dated the decay of rural deanries, for the rural dean was not only discouraged by this, but the archdeacon and his official, as might naturally be supposed he would, drew the business usually transacted there to his own visitation, or chapter, as it might be termed. By which intersering of the archdeacon and his officials, it happened that in the age next before the reformation, the jurisdiction of rural deans declined almost to nothing, and at the reformation nothing was done for their restoration by the legislative power, so that they became extinct in most deanries, nor did this of Ospringe survive the earliest decline of them. (fn. 16) Where they still continue, they have only the name and shadow left, and what little remains of this dignity and jurisdiction, de pends greatly on the custom of places, and the pleasure of diocesans.

 

In the 31st year of Edward I. Richard Christian, dean of Ospringe, being sent to execute some citations of the archbishop at Selling, was set upon by the people there, who placed him with his face to his horse's tail, which they made him hold in his hand for a bridle, in which posture they led him through the village, with songs, shouts, and dances, and afterwards having cut off the tail, ears, and lips of the beast, they threw the dean into the dirt, to his great disgrace; for which, the king directed his writ to the sheriff, to make enquiry by inquisition of a jury concerning it.

 

www.british-history.ac.uk/survey-kent/vol6/pp499-531

I have a lot of shots to post. I have been very busy, and then there are the photos I helped escape the house-clearance people from Mum's.

 

So, back to the matter in hand: Ospringe.

 

Ospringe is one of the most easily identifiable churches in Kent, with its unusual saddleback tower, but it is well seen, as you can see the tower before the turn off to Faversham. It looks fabulous.

 

Ospringe was a small village, but now is part of the urban sprawl of Faversham as it spreads to the south of the old A2.

 

You turn down a tight junction, then along a narrow road with cars parked on either side, until you break into open country, and the church is on a bend in the road.

 

I was last here on winter about a decade ago, it was a bitterly cold day and the planned Christmas Tree festival had been delayed a week due to bad weather the weekend before.

 

I cam here on the off-chance, and I was met by a volunteer come to clean the church, but no one with a key.

 

The vicar arrived, and after explaining again about the project, he reluctantly let me in, but warned he would not be here long.

 

Last time here, i took 7 shots, and none of details, so I made busy with the nifty fifty.....

 

John Vigar says this is a church hard to gain access too, maybe I have been lucky, but worth seeking out if you're passing.

 

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A pretty church whose thirteenth century origins seem lost beneath a Victorian veneer – yet inside all become clear. The north wall is thickened to take the rood loft staircase (see also Challock) but there is a medieval stair in the south side too, just to confuse. The font is a lovely twelfth century piece supported by the familiar five columns. Much of the glass is by Thomas Willement and displays his signature TW, which can also be seen in the Alpha emblem in the top of the striking east window. The chancel is a riot of Victoriana of grand design – constructed in several campaigns, the reredos and flooring definitely by different hands. Old photos show that the whole church was once stencilled, but now that the nave is relatively plain, the chancel is once more the focus of attention. The south chapel has a rather nice 19th century roof structure and must once have been a grand family chapel. All in all a lovely church full of interest and one which should be more accessible and better known.

 

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

 

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OSPRINGE

LIES the next parish north westward from Sheldwich. It is usually written in antient records Ospringes, and takes its name from the spring or fresh stream which rises in it.

 

The town of Ospringe, as it is called, is a franchise separate from the hundred of Faversham, having a constable of its own, but the rest of the parish is within the jurisdiction of that hundred.

 

The borough of Chetham, in this parish, was given to the abbey of Faversham by Richard de Lucy, and confirmed to it by king Henry II. king John, and king Henry III. (fn. 1) It still continues an appendage to the manor of Faversham, at which a borsholder is chosen yearly for this borough, and extends over Beacon farm on the south side of the London road, at the 45th mile stone in Ospringe and Stone, and very little besides. There is another small borough in this parish, called the borough of Brimstone, for which a borsholder is elected annually at the same manor. It extends over the Red Lion inn, in Ospringe-street, and some land, an house and oast behind the bowling-green, northward of it.

 

The parish of Ospringe is of large extent, being near five miles from north to south, though it is not much more than two miles in breadth. The village, or town of Ospringe, as it was formerly called, and now usually Ospringe-street, stands on the high London road, between the 46th and 47th mile-stone, but the north side of the street, as well as of that road, from the summit of Judde hill, as far eastward as the 47th mile stone, is within Faversham parish, the liberties of which town begin from the rivulet in Ospringe, and extend eastward, including the late Mr. Lypeatt's new-built house. Thus that parish intervenes, and entirely separates from the rest of it that part of Ospringe parish, at the northern boundaries of it, in which are the storekeeper's house, part of the offices, &c. and some of the royal powder mills, and in the town of Faversham, that parish again intervening, there is a small part of Weststreet within this parish. The grand valley, called Newnham bottom, through which the high road leads to Maidstone, lies at the western boundary of the parish, on the summit of the hill eastward of it is Juddehouse, built after a design of Inigo Jones, a fine situation, having a most beautiful prospect eastward, over a most fertile extent of country, to the Boughton hills, and the channel north eastward of it, but the large tract of woodland, of many hundred acres, which reach up close to the gardens at the back of it, render it rather an unhealthy situation. About a quarter of a mile eastward of Ospringe-street is a good house, called from the antient oratory or chapel formerly adjoining to it, but pulled down within these few years, chapelhouse. This oratory was dedicated to St. Nicholas, and erected for a priest to say mass in it, for the safety and good success of passengers, who left their acknowledgments for his pains in it. It belonged lately to Mr. John Simmons, whose son sold it to Isaac Rutton, esq. and he alienated the house to Mr. Neame, the present owner; but on a part of the land adjoining he built an elegant villa, naming it Ospringe Place, in which he now resides.

 

In Ospringe-street there is a tolerable inn, and the remains of the Maison Dieu on each side of the high road close to the small rivulet which crosses the street. This stream rises at Westbrook, at a small distance southward of the hamlet of Whitehill, at the back of which it runs, and at about a mile and an half distance, passing by Ospringe church, and the mansion of Queen-court, now a respectable farm-house, it turns a mill, erected some years ago for the manufacturing of madder, though now used for the grinding corn, and having crossed Ospringe-street, it turns a gunpowder mill not far from it, occupied by government, but belonging to St. John's college, in Cambridge, and having supplied the storekeeper's gardens, it afterwards turns a corn-mill, close to the west side of Faversham town, after which it supplies the rest of the government mills and works, and runs from thence into Faversham creek, to which it is a very necessary and beneficial back water. There is a nailbourne, or temporary land spring, such as are not unusual in the parts of this county eastward of Sittingborne, which run but once perhaps in several years, their failing and continuance having no certain periods, the breaking forth of them being held by the common people to be a forerunner of scarcity and dearness of corn and victuals. This at Ospringe, when it breaks out, rises about half a mile southward of Whitehill, near Kennaways, in the road to Stalisfield, and joining the above-mentioned rivulet, which it considerably increases, flows with it into Faversham creek. In February, 1674, it began to run, but stopped before Michaelmas. It broke forth in February, 1712, and run with such violence along the high road, that trenches were cut through the lands adjoining to carry the water off, but it stopped again before Michaelmas. It had continued dry till it broke out afresh in 1753, and continued to run till summer 1778, when it stopped, and has continued dry ever since.

 

About a mile southward of Ospringe-street is the hamlet of Whitehill, mentioned before, situated in the vale through which the rivulet takes its course. There are two houses of some account in it, formerly owned by the family of Drayton, who had resided in this parish for many years. Robert Drayton resided here anno 7 Edward IV. in which year he died, and was buried in the church-yard of Ospringe, being then possessed, as appears by his will, of a house called Smythes, with its lands and appurtenances, at Whitehill. After this family had become extinct here, one of these houses came into the possession of Ruck, and escheated, for want of lawful heirs, to the lord of the manor, and now as such belongs to the earl of Guildford, but Mr. James Foord resides in it. The other, after the Draytons were become extinct here, came into the name of Wreight, one of whom, Henry Wreight, gent. died possessed of it in 1695, and was buried in Faversham church. His son of the same name resided here, and died in 1773, and his grandson Henry Wreight, gent. of Faversham, sold it to John Montresor of Belmont, esq. who now owns it, but John Smith esq. resides in it. About a mile westward on the hill, near Hanslets Fostall and the parsonage, is a new-erected house, called the Oaks, built not many years since, on the scite of an antient one, called Nicholas, formerly belonging to the Draytons, by Mr. John Toker, who resides in it; the woodgrounds in the upland parts of this parish are very extensive, and contain many hundred acres. The soil of this parish, from its large extent, is various, to the north and north-east of the church the lands are level and very fertile, being a fine rich loam, but as they extend southward to the uplands, the soil becomes more and more barren, much of it chalky, and the rest a cludgy red earth, stiff tillage land, and very stony. A fair is held in Ospringe-street on the 29th of May.

 

¶Much has already been said in the former parts of these volumes, of the different opinions of learned men where the Roman station, called in the second iter of Antonine Durolevum, ought to be placed. Most of the copies of Antonine make the distance from the last station Durobrovis, which is allowed by all to be Rochester, to the station of Durolevum, to be xiii or xvi miles, though the Peutongerian tables make it only vii. If the number xvi is right, no place bids so fair for it as Judde-hill, in this parish, which then would have every probable circumstance in favor of it. The Romans undoubtedly had some strong military post on this hill, on the summit of which there are the remains of a very deep and broad ditch, the south and east sides are still entire, as is a small part of the north side at the eastern corners of it, the remaining part of the north side was filled up not many years since. The west side has nothing left of it; close within the southern part of it is a high mount of earth thrown up to a considerable height above the ground round it, the scite of Judde house, and the gardens are contained within it. The form of it seems to have been a square, with the corners rounded, and to have contained between three and four acres of ground within its area, the common people call it king Stephen's castle, but it is certainly of a much older date. At a small distance from it, on the opposite, or north side of the high road, there are several breast works cast up across the field facing the west. At the bottom of the hill, in the next field to this, are the ruins of Stone chapel, in which numbers of Roman bricks are interspersed among the flints, and in the midst of the south wall of it, there is a separate piece of a Roman building, about a rod in length, and near three feet high, composed of two rows of Roman tiles, of about fourteen inches square each, and on them are laid small stones hewed, but of no regular size or shape, for about a foot high, and then tiles again, and so on alternately.

  

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

 

The church stands within the jurisdiction of the town of Ospringe, about half a mile southward from Ospringe-street. It is dedicated to St. Peter and St. Paul. It is an antient building, consisting of three isles and a chancel. The steeple was formerly at the west end, and was built circular of flints, supposed to be Danish, with a shingled spire on it, of upwards of fifty feet high, in which were four bells; but in ringing them on Oct. 11, 1695, on king William's return from Flanders, it suddenly fell to the ground, providentially no one was hurt by it. There are no remains left of any painted glass in the windows of this church, though there was formerly much in most of them; particularly, in the window of the north isle was once the figure of a mitred bishop, on the rack, with a knife on the table by him, and of another person tied to a tree, and wounded with arrows. In another was a label to the memory of Robert Seton, and of a woman kneeling; and there was not many years ago remaining in the east window, at the end of the south isle, forming a kind of chancel, the effigies of a knight in his tabard of arms, with spurs on his heels, in a kneeling posture, looking up to a crucisix, painted just above him, of which there remained only the lower part. The knight's arms, Azure, three harts heads, caboshed, or, were thrown under him, and at a little distance some part of his crest, An hart's head, attired full, or, with a crown about his neck, azure, and underneath, Pray for the soul of Thomas Hart. This Sir Thomas Hart was possessed of an estate in this parish, which he purchased of Norwood. The Greenstreets, of Selling, lately claimed this chancel, and several of them lie buried in it. There was a chapel, dedicated to St. Thomas, in this church.

 

In the east part of the church-yard there was once a chapel, said to have been built by Sir John Denton, of Denton, in this parish and Easling, the foundations of which are still visible.

 

It appears by the Testa de Nevil, taken in the reign of king Henry III. that the church of Ospringe was in the king's gift, and was afterwards given by king John to John de Burgo, who then held it, and that it was worth forty marcs. After which, in the 8th year of Richard II. anno 1384, it was become appropriated to the abbot of Pontiniac, and was valued at 13l. 6s. 8d. at which time there was a vicarage here of his patronage likewise. It afterwards became part of the possessions of the hospital or Maison Dieu, in Ospringestreet, but by what means, or when, I have not found, and it continued so till the escheat of the hospital anno 20 Edward IV. after which, the parsonage appropriate of this church of Ospringe, together with the advowson of the vicarage, was by means of Fisher, bishop of Rochester, obtained of Henry VIII. in manner as has been already mentioned, for St. John's college, in Cambridge, the master and fellows of which are at this time entitled to them, the parsonage being let by them on a beneficial lease; but the advowson of the vicarage they retain in their own hands.

 

The lessee of this parsonage, in the reign of queen Elizabeth, was Robert Streynsham, esq. who rebuilt the house and offices belonging to it, and afterwards resided in it. He had been fellow of All Souls college, LL. B. and secretary to the earl of Pembroke. He lies buried in this church, and bore for his arms, Or, a pale dancette, gules. He left two daughters and coheirs, of whom, Audrey, the eldest, carried her interest in it in marriage to Edward Master, esq. eldest son of James Master, esq. of East Langdon, who was first of Sandwich, and afterwards built a seat for himself and his posterity at East Langdon. He was twice married, and had fourteen children; at length worn out with age, he betook himself hither to his eldest son Edward, and dying in 1631, æt. 84, was buried in this church. Edward Master, the son, resided here, and was afterwards knighted, and on his father's death in 1631 removed to that seat, in whose descendants it continued till it was at length alienated to Buller, of Cornwall, whose son sold his interest in to Markham, as he did to Mr. Robert Lyddel, merchant, of London, brother of Sir Henry Lyddel, who in 1751 assigned his interest in it to Ralph Terrey, yeoman, of Knolton, whose son Mr. Michael Terrey, of Ospringe, devised it to his only daughter and heir Olive, who married Nathaniel Marsh, esq. of Boughton Blean, and the heirs of his son Terrey Marsh, esq. late of that parish, are the present lessees of it.

 

The vicarage of Ospringe is valued in the king's books at ten pounds, and the yearly tenths at one pound.

 

In 1640 it was valued at sixty pounds, when there were communicants here 226.

 

The vicarage is endowed with all vicarial tithes, woad only excepted, and also with those of hay, saintfoin, clover, and coppice woods. There are about twenty-seven acres of glebe-land belonging to it. The vicarage-house is situated in the valley, at a small distance eastward from the church, and the parsonagehouse near a mile southward of that.

 

Ospringe was formerly the head of a rural deanry, of which institution it will be necessary to give some account here.

 

The office of rural dean was not unknown to our Saxon ancestors, as appears by the laws of king Edward the Confessor; they were called both Archipresbiteri and Decani Temporarii, to distinguish them from the deans of cathedrals, who were Decani Perpetui. Besides these, there were in the greater monasteries, especially those of the Benedictine order, such officers called deans, and there are deans still remaining in several of the colleges of the universities, who take care of the studies and exercises of the youth, and are a check on the morals and behaviour of such as are members under them.

 

¶The antient exercise of jurisdiction in the church seems to have been instituted in conformity to like subordinations in the state. Thus the dioceses within this realm seem to have been divided into archdeaconries and rural deanries, to make them correspond to the like division of the kingdom into counties and hundreds; hence the former, whose courts were to answer those of the county, had the county usually for their district, and took their title from thence, and the names of the latter from the hundred, or chief place of it, wherein they acted; and as in the state every hundred was at first divided into ten tithings or fribourghs, and every tithing was made up of ten families, both which kept their original names, notwithstanding the increase of villages and people; so in the church the name of deanry continued, notwithstanding the increase of persons and churches, and the districts of them were contracted and enlarged from time to time, at the discretion of the bishop, the rural dean of Ospringe having jurisdiction over the whole deanry of it, consisting of twenty-six parishes. He had a seal of office, which being temporary, it had only the name of the office, and not, as other seals of jurisdiction, the name of the person also, engraved on it. The seal belonging to this deanry had on it, the Virgin Mary crowned, with the sceptre in her left hand, and her child, with a glory round his head, in her right, and round the margin, Sigillu Decani Decanatus de Ospreng. He was in antient times called the dean of the bishop, because appointed by him, and had alone the inspection of the lives and manners of the clergy and people within the district under him, and was to report the same to the bishop; to which end, that he might have a thorough knowledge of the state and condition of his respective deanry, he had a power to convene rural chapters, which were made up of the instituted clergy, or their curates as proxies of them, and the dean as president of them, where the clergy brought information of all irregularities committed within their respective parishes. Those upon ordinary occasions were held at first every three weeks, in imitation of the courts of manors, held from three weeks to three weeks, and afterwards each month, and from thence were called Kalendæ, but their more solemn and principal chapters were assembled once a quarter, where maters of greater import were transacted, and a fuller attendance given. They were at first held in any one church within the district, where the minister of the place was to procure and provide entertainment and procurations for the dean and his immediate officers, and they were afterwards held only in the larger or more eminent parishes. The part of their office of inspecting and reporting the manners of the clergy and people, rendered them necessary attendants on the episcopal synod or general visitation, in which they were the standing representatives of the rest of the clergy within their division, and they were there to deliver information of abuses committed within their knowledge, and consult for the reformation of them; for which they were to have their expences, called from hence synodals, allowed them by those whom they represented, according to the time of their attendance. That part of their office, of being convened to provincial and episcopal synods, was transferred to two proctors, or representatives of the parochial clergy in each diocese; and that of information of scandals and offences, has devolved on the churchwardens of the respective parishes. Besides this another principal part of the duty of a rural dean was to execute all processes of the bishop, or of the officers and ministers under his authority; but by the constitution of the pope's legate, Otho, the archdeacon, in the reign of Henry III. was required to be frequently present at them, who being superior to the rural dean, did in effect take the presidency out of his hands; and these chapters were afterwards often held by the archdeacon's officials, from which may be dated the decay of rural deanries, for the rural dean was not only discouraged by this, but the archdeacon and his official, as might naturally be supposed he would, drew the business usually transacted there to his own visitation, or chapter, as it might be termed. By which intersering of the archdeacon and his officials, it happened that in the age next before the reformation, the jurisdiction of rural deans declined almost to nothing, and at the reformation nothing was done for their restoration by the legislative power, so that they became extinct in most deanries, nor did this of Ospringe survive the earliest decline of them. (fn. 16) Where they still continue, they have only the name and shadow left, and what little remains of this dignity and jurisdiction, de pends greatly on the custom of places, and the pleasure of diocesans.

 

In the 31st year of Edward I. Richard Christian, dean of Ospringe, being sent to execute some citations of the archbishop at Selling, was set upon by the people there, who placed him with his face to his horse's tail, which they made him hold in his hand for a bridle, in which posture they led him through the village, with songs, shouts, and dances, and afterwards having cut off the tail, ears, and lips of the beast, they threw the dean into the dirt, to his great disgrace; for which, the king directed his writ to the sheriff, to make enquiry by inquisition of a jury concerning it.

 

www.british-history.ac.uk/survey-kent/vol6/pp499-531

110521 Transact Pro v Ramblin Jesters, Amsterdam 7s 2011

130518 Susies Sevens v Transact Pro, Amsterdam Sevens 2013

Kashgar is an oasis city with an approximate population of 350,000. It is the westernmost city in China, located near the border with Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan. Kashgar has a rich history of over 2,000 years and served as a trading post and strategically important city on the Silk Road between China, the Middle East, and Europe. Kashgar is part of the China–Pakistan Economic Corridor.

 

Located historically at the convergence point of widely varying cultures and empires, Kashgar has been under the rule of the Chinese, Turkic, Mongol, and Tibetan empires. The city has also been the site of an extraordinary number of battles between various groups of people on the steppes.

 

Now administered as a county-level unit of the People's Republic of China, Kashgar is the administrative centre of its eponymous prefecture in the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region which has an area of 162,000 square kilometres and a population of approximately 3.5 million. The city's urban area covers 15 km2, though its administrative area extends over 555 km2.

 

NAME

The modern Chinese name is 喀什 (Kāshí), a shortened form of the longer and less-frequently used (simplified Chinese: 喀什噶尔; traditional Chinese: 喀什噶爾; pinyin: Kāshígé’ěr; Uyghur: قەشقەر‎). Ptolemy (AD 90-168), in his Geography, Chapter 15.3A, refers to Kashgar as “Kasi”. Its western and probably indigenous name is the Kāš ("rock"), to which the East Iranian -γar ("mountain"); cf. Pashto and Middle Persian gar/ġar, from Old Persian/Pahlavi girīwa ("hill; ridge (of a mountain)") was attached. Alternative historical Romanizations for "Kashgar" include Cascar and Cashgar.

 

Non-native names for the city, such as the old Chinese name Shule 疏勒 and Tibetan Śu-lig may have originated as an attempts to transcribe the Sanskrit name for Kashgar, Śrīkrīrāti ("fortunate hospitality")

 

Variant transcriptions of the official Uyghur: يېڭىشەھەر‎ include: K̂äxk̂är or Kaxgar, as well as Jangi-schahr, Kashgar Yangi Shahr, K’o-shih-ka-erh, K’o-shih-ka-erh-hsin-ch’eng, Ko-shih-ka-erh-hui-ch’eng, K’o-shih-ko-erh-hsin-ch’eng, New Kashgar, Sheleh, Shuleh, Shulen, Shu-lo, Su-lo, Su-lo-chen, Su-lo-hsien, Yangi-shaar, Yangi-shahr, Yangishar, Yéngisheher, Yengixəh̨ər and Еңишәһәр.

 

HISTORY

HAN DYNASTY

The earliest mention of Kashgar occurs when a Chinese Han dynasty envoy traveled the Northern Silk Road to explore lands to the west.

 

Another early mention of Kashgar is during the Former Han (also known as the Western Han dynasty), when in 76 BC the Chinese conquered the Xiongnu, Yutian (Khotan), Sulei (Kashgar), and a group of states in the Tarim basin almost up to the foot of the Tian Shan range.

 

Ptolemy speaks of Scythia beyond the Imaus, which is in a “Kasia Regio”, probably exhibiting the name from which Kashgar and Kashgaria (often applied to the district) are formed. The country’s people practised Zoroastrianism and Buddhism before the coming of Islam.

 

In the Book of Han, which covers the period between 125 BC and 23 AD, it is recorded that there were 1,510 households, 18,647 people and 2,000 persons able to bear arms. By the time covered by the Book of the Later Han (roughly 25 to 170 AD), it had grown to 21,000 households and had 3,000 men able to bear arms.

 

The Book of the Later Han provides a wealth of detail on developments in the region:

 

"In the period of Emperor Wu [140-87 BC], the Western Regions1 were under the control of the Interior [China]. They numbered thirty-six kingdoms. The Imperial Government established a Colonel [in charge of] Envoys there to direct and protect these countries. Emperor Xuan [73-49 BC] changed this title [in 59 BC] to Protector-General.

 

Emperor Yuan [40-33 BC] installed two Wuji Colonels to take charge of the agricultural garrisons on the frontiers of the king of Nearer Jushi [Turpan].

 

During the time of Emperor Ai [6 BC-AD 1] and Emperor Ping [AD 1-5], the principalities of the Western Regions split up and formed fifty-five kingdoms. Wang Mang, after he usurped the Throne [in AD 9], demoted and changed their kings and marquises. Following this, the Western Regions became resentful, and rebelled. They, therefore, broke off all relations with the Interior [China] and, all together, submitted to the Xiongnu again.

 

The Xiongnu collected oppressively heavy taxes and the kingdoms were not able to support their demands. In the middle of the Jianwu period [AD 25-56], they each [Shanshan and Yarkand in 38, and 18 kingdoms in 45], sent envoys to ask if they could submit to the Interior [China], and to express their desire for a Protector-General. Emperor Guangwu, decided that because the Empire was not yet settled [after a long period of civil war], he had no time for outside affairs, and [therefore] finally refused his consent [in AD 45].

 

In the meantime, the Xiongnu became weaker. The king of Suoju [Yarkand], named Xian, wiped out several kingdoms. After Xian’s death [c. AD 62], they began to attack and fight each other. Xiao Yuan [Tura], Jingjue [Cadota], Ronglu [Niya], and Qiemo [Cherchen] were annexed by Shanshan [the Lop Nur region]. Qule [south of Keriya] and Pishan [modern Pishan or Guma] were conquered and fully occupied by Yutian [Khotan]. Yuli [Fukang], Danhuan, Guhu [Dawan Cheng], and Wutanzili were destroyed by Jushi [Turpan and Jimasa]. Later these kingdoms were re-established.

 

During the Yongping period [AD 58-75], the Northern Xiongnu forced several countries to help them plunder the commanderies and districts of Hexi. The gates of the towns stayed shut in broad daylight."

 

And, more particularly in reference to Kashgar itself, is the following record:

 

"In the sixteenth Yongping year of Emperor Ming 73, Jian, the king of Qiuci (Kucha), attacked and killed Cheng, the king of Shule (Kashgar). Then he appointed the Qiuci (Kucha) Marquis of the Left, Douti, King of Shule (Kashgar). ‹See TfD›

In winter 73, the Han sent the Major Ban Chao who captured and bound Douti. He appointed Zhong, the son of the elder brother of Cheng, to be king of Shule (Kashgar). Zhong later rebelled. (Ban) Chao attacked and beheaded him."

 

THE KUSHANS

The Book of the Later Han also gives the only extant historical record of Yuezhi or Kushan involvement in the Kashgar oasis:

 

"During the Yuanchu period (114-120) in the reign of Emperor, the king of Shule (Kashgar), exiled his maternal uncle Chenpan to the Yuezhi (Kushans) for some offence. The king of the Yuezhi became very fond of him. Later, Anguo died without leaving a son. His mother directed the government of the kingdom. She agreed with the people of the country to put Yifu (lit. “posthumous child”), who was the son of a full younger brother of Chenpan on the throne as king of Shule (Kashgar). Chenpan heard of this and appealed to the Yuezhi (Kushan) king, saying:

 

"Anguo had no son. His relative (Yifu) is weak. If one wants to put on the throne a member of (Anguo’s) mother’s family, I am Yifu’s paternal uncle, it is I who should be king."

 

The Yuezhi (Kushans) then sent soldiers to escort him back to Shule (Kashgar). The people had previously respected and been fond of Chenpan. Besides, they dreaded the Yuezhi (Kushans). They immediately took the seal and ribbon from Yifu and went to Chenpan, and made him king. Yifu was given the title of Marquis of the town of Pangao [90 li, or 37 km, from Shule].

 

‹See TfD›

Then Suoju (Yarkand) continued to resist Yutian (Khotan), and put themselves under Shule (Kashgar). Thus Shule (Kashgar), became powerful and a rival to Qiuci (Kucha) and Yutian (Khotan)."

 

However, it was not very long before the Chinese began to reassert their authority in the region:

 

“In the second Yongjian year (127), during Emperor Shun’s reign, Chenpan sent an envoy to respectfully present offerings. The Emperor bestowed on Chenpan the title of Great Commandant-in-Chief for the Han. Chenxun, who was the son of his elder brother, was appointed Temporary Major of the Kingdom. ‹See TfD›

In the fifth year (130), Chenpan sent his son to serve the Emperor and, along with envoys from Dayuan (Ferghana) and Suoju (Yarkand), brought tribute and offerings.”

 

From an earlier part of the same text comes the following addition:

 

“In the first Yangjia year (132), Xu You sent the king of Shule (Kashgar), Chenpan, who with 20,000 men, attacked and defeated Yutian (Khotan). He beheaded several hundred people, and released his soldiers to plunder freely. He replaced the king [of Jumi] by installing Chengguo from the family of [the previous king] Xing, and then he returned.”[38]

 

Then the first passage continues:

 

“In the second Yangjia year (133), Chenpan again made offerings (including) a lion and zebu cattle. ‹See TfD›

 

Then, during Emperor Ling’s reign, in the first Jianning year, the king of Shule (Kashgar) and Commandant-in-Chief for the Han (i.e. presumably Chenpan), was shot while hunting by the youngest of his paternal uncles, Hede. Hede named himself king.

‹See TfD›

In the third year (170), Meng Tuo, the Inspector of Liangzhou, sent the Provincial Officer Ren She, commanding five hundred soldiers from Dunhuang, with the Wuji Major Cao Kuan, and Chief Clerk of the Western Regions, Zhang Yan, brought troops from Yanqi (Karashahr), Qiuci (Kucha), and the Nearer and Further States of Jushi (Turpan and Jimasa), altogether numbering more than 30,000, to punish Shule (Kashgar). They attacked the town of Zhenzhong [Arach − near Maralbashi] but, having stayed for more than forty days without being able to subdue it, they withdrew. Following this, the kings of Shule (Kashgar) killed one another repeatedly while the Imperial Government was unable to prevent it.”

 

THREE KINGDOMS TO THE SUI

These centuries are marked by a general silence in sources on Kashgar and the Tarim Basin.

 

The Weilüe, composed in the second third of the 3rd century, mentions a number of states as dependencies of Kashgar: the kingdom of Zhenzhong (Arach?), the kingdom of Suoju (Yarkand), the kingdom of Jieshi, the kingdom of Qusha, the kingdom of Xiye (Khargalik), the kingdom of Yinai (Tashkurghan), the kingdom of Manli (modern Karasul), the kingdom of Yire (Mazar − also known as Tágh Nák and Tokanak), the kingdom of Yuling, the kingdom of Juandu (‘Tax Control’ − near modern Irkeshtam), the kingdom of Xiuxiu (‘Excellent Rest Stop’ − near Karakavak), and the kingdom of Qin.

 

However, much of the information on the Western Regions contained in the Weilüe seems to have ended roughly about (170), near the end of Han power. So, we can’t be sure that this is a reference to the state of affairs during the Cao Wei (220-265), or whether it refers to the situation before the civil war during the Later Han when China lost touch with most foreign countries and came to be divided into three separate kingdoms.

 

Chapter 30 of the Records of the Three Kingdoms says that after the beginning of the Wei Dynasty (220) the states of the Western Regions did not arrive as before, except for the larger ones such as Kucha, Khotan, Kangju, Wusun, Kashgar, Yuezhi, Shanshan and Turpan, who are said to have come to present tribute every year, as in Han times.

 

In 270, four states from the Western Regions were said to have presented tribute: Karashahr, Turpan, Shanshan, and Kucha. Some wooden documents from Niya seem to indicate that contacts were also maintained with Kashgar and Khotan around this time.

 

In 422, according to the Songshu, ch. 98, the king of Shanshan, Bilong, came to the court and "the thirty-six states in the Western Regions" all swore their allegiance and presented tribute. It must be assumed that these 36 states included Kashgar.

 

The "Songji" of the Zizhi Tongjian records that in the 5th month of 435, nine states: Kucha, Kashgar, Wusun, Yueban, Tashkurghan, Shanshan, Karashahr, Turpan and Sute all came to the Wei court.

 

In 439, according to the Weishu, ch. 4A, Shanshan, Kashgar and Karashahr sent envoys to present tribute.

 

According to the Weishu, ch. 102, Chapter on the Western Regions, the kingdoms of Kucha, Kashgar, Wusun, Yueban, Tashkurghan, Shanshan, Karashahr, Turpan and Sute all began sending envoys to present tribute in the Taiyuan reign period (435-440).

 

In 453 Kashgar sent envoys to present tribute (Weishu, ch. 5), and again in 455.

 

An embassy sent during the reign of Wencheng Di (452-466) from the king of Kashgar presented a supposed sacred relic of the Buddha; a dress which was incombustible.

 

In 507 Kashgar, is said to have sent envoys in both the 9th and 10th months (Weishu, ch. 8).

 

In 512, Kashgar sent envoys in the 1st and 5th months. (Weishu, ch. 8).

 

Early in the 6th century Kashgar is included among the many territories controlled by the Yeda or Hephthalite Huns, but their empire collapsed at the onslaught of the Western Turks between 563 and 567 who then probably gained control over Kashgar and most of the states in the Tarim Basin.

 

TANG DYNASTY

The founding of the Tang dynasty in 618 saw the beginning of a prolonged struggle between China and the Western Turks for control of the Tarim Basin. In 635, the Tang Annals reported an emissary from the king of Kashgar to the Tang capital. In 639 there was a second emissary bringing products of Kashgar as a token of submission to the Tang state.

 

Buddhist scholar Xuanzang passed through Kashgar (which he referred to as Ka-sha) in 644 on his return journey from India to China. The Buddhist religion, then beginning to decay in India, was active in Kashgar. Xuanzang recorded that they flattened their babies heads, tattooed their bodies and had green eyes. He reported that Kashgar had abundant crops, fruits and flowers, wove fine woolen stuffs and rugs. Their writing system had been adapted from Indian script but their language was different from that of other countries. The inhabitants were sincere Buddhist adherents and there were some hundreds of monasteries with more than 10,000 followers, all members of the Sarvastivadin School.

 

At around the same era, Nestorian Christians were establishing bishoprics at Herat, Merv and Samarkand, whence they subsequently proceeded to Kashgar, and finally to China proper itself.

 

In 646, the Turkic Kagan asked for the hand of a Tang Chinese princess, and in return the Emperor promised Kucha, Khotan, Kashgar, Karashahr and Sarikol as a marriage gift, but this did not happen as planned.

 

In a series of campaigns between 652 and 658, with the help of the Uyghurs, the Chinese finally defeated the Western Turk tribes and took control of all their domains, including the Tarim Basin kingdoms. Karakhoja was annexed in 640, Karashahr during campaigns in 644 and 648, and Kucha fell in 648.

 

In 662 a rebellion broke out in the Western Regions and a Chinese army sent to control it was defeated by the Tibetans south of Kashgar.

 

After another defeat of the Tang Chinese forces in 670, the Tibetans gained control of the whole region and completely subjugated Kashgar in 676-8 and retained possession of it until 692, when the Tang dynasty regained control of all their former territories, and retained it for the next fifty years.

 

In 722 Kashgar sent 4,000 troops to assist the Chinese to force the "Tibetans out of "Little Bolu" or Gilgit.

 

In 728, the king of Kashgar was awarded a brevet by the Chinese emperor.

 

In 739, the Tangshu relates that the governor of the Chinese garrison in Kashgar, with the help of Ferghana, was interfering in the affairs of the Turgesh tribes as far as Talas.

 

In 751 the Chinese were defeated by an Arab army in the Battle of Talas. The An Lushan Rebellion led to the decline of Tang influence in Central Asia due to the fact that the Tang dynasty was forced to withdraw its troops from the region to fight An Lushan. The Tibetans cut all communication between China and the West in 766.

 

Soon after the Chinese pilgrim monk Wukong passed through Kashgar in 753. He again reached Kashgar on his return trip from India in 786 and mentions a Chinese deputy governor as well as the local king.

 

BATTLES WITH ARAB CALIPHATE

In 711, the Arabs invaded Kashgar, but did not hold the city for any length of time. Kashgar and Turkestan lent assistance to the reigning queen of Bukhara, to enable her to repel the Arabs. Although the Muslim religion from the very commencement sustained checks, it nevertheless made its weight felt upon the independent states of Turkestan to the north and east, and thus acquired a steadily growing influence. It was not, however, till the 10th century that Islam was established at Kashgar, under the Kara-Khanid Khanate.

 

THE TURKIC RULE

According to the 10th-century text, Hudud al-'alam, "the chiefs of Kashghar in the days of old were from the Qarluq, or from the Yaghma." The Karluks, Yaghmas and other tribes such as the Chigils formed the Karakhanids. The Karakhanid Sultan Satuq Bughra Khan converted to Islam in the 10th century and captured Kashgar. Kashgar was the capital of the Karakhanid state for a time but later the capital was moved to Balasaghun. During the latter part of the 10th century, the Muslim Karakhanids began a struggle against the Buddhist Kingdom of Khotan, and the Khotanese defeated the Karakhanids and captured Kashgar in 970. Chinese sources recorded the king of Khotan offering to send them a dancing elephant captured from Kashgar. Later in 1006, the Karakhanids of Kashgar under Yusuf Kadr Khan conquered Khotan.

 

The Karakhanid Khanate however was beset with internal strife, and the khanate split into two, the Eastern and Western Karakhanid Khanates, with Kashgar falling within the domain of the Eastern Karakhanid state. In 1089, the Western Karakhanids fell under the control of the Seljuks, but the Eastern Karakhanids was for the most part independent.

 

Both the Karakhanid states were defeated in the 12th century by the Kara-Khitans who captured Balasaghun, however Karakhanid rule continued in Kashgar under the suzerainty of the Kara-Khitans. The Kara-Khitan rulers followed a policy of religious tolerance, Islamic religious life continued uninterrupted and Kashgar was also a Nestorian metropolitan see. The last Karakhanid of Kashgar was killed in a revolt in 1211 by the city's notables. Kuchlug, a usurper of the throne of the Kara-Khitans, then attacked Kashgar which finally surrendered in 1214.

 

THE MONGOLS

The Kara-Khitai in their turn were swept away in 1219 by Genghis Khan. After his death, Kashgar came under the rule of the Chagatai Khans. Marco Polo visited the city, which he calls Cascar, about 1273-4 and recorded the presence of numerous Nestorian Christians, who had their own churches. Later In the 14th century, a Chagataid khan Tughluq Timur converted to Islam, and Islamic tradition began to reassert its ascendancy.

 

In 1389−1390 Tamerlane ravaged Kashgar, Andijan and the intervening country. Kashgar endured a troubled time, and in 1514, on the invasion of the Khan Sultan Said, was destroyed by Mirza Ababakar, who with the aid of ten thousand men built a new fort with massive defences higher up on the banks of the Tuman river. The dynasty of the Chagatai Khans collapsed in 1572 with the division of the country among rival factions; soon after, two powerful Khoja factions, the White and Black Mountaineers (Ak Taghliq or Afaqi, and Kara Taghliq or Ishaqi), arose whose differences and war-making gestures, with the intermittent episode of the Oirats of Dzungaria, make up much of recorded history in Kashgar until 1759. The Dzungar Khanate conquered Kashgar and set up the Khoja as their puppet rulers.

 

QING CONQUEST

The Qing dynasty defeated the Dzungar Khanate during the Ten Great Campaigns and took control of Kashgar in 1759. The conquerors consolidated their authority by settling other ethnics emigrants in the vicinity of a Manchu garrison.

 

Rumours flew around Central Asia that the Qing planned to launch expeditions towards Transoxiana and Samarkand, the chiefs of which sought assistance from the Afghan king Ahmed Shah Abdali. The alleged expedition never happened so Ahmad Shah withdrew his forces from Kokand. He also dispatched an ambassador to Beijing to discuss the situation of the Afaqi Khojas, but the representative was not well received, and Ahmed Shah was too busy fighting off the Sikhs to attempt to enforce his demands through arms.

The Qing continued to hold Kashgar with occasional interruptions during the Afaqi Khoja revolts. One of the most serious of these occurred in 1827, when the city was taken by Jahanghir Khoja; Chang-lung, however, the Qing general of Ili, regained possession of Kashgar and the other rebellious cities in 1828.

 

The Kokand Khanate raided Kashgar several times. A revolt in 1829 under Mahommed Ali Khan and Yusuf, brother of Jahanghir resulted in the concession of several important trade privileges to the Muslims of the district of Altishahr (the "six cities"), as it was then called.

 

The area enjoyed relative calm until 1846 under the rule of Zahir-ud-din, the local Uyghur governor, but in that year a new Khoja revolt under Kath Tora led to his accession as the authoritarian ruler of the city. However, his reign was brief—at the end of seventy-five days, on the approach of the Chinese, he fled back to Khokand amid the jeers of the inhabitants. The last of the Khoja revolts (1857) was of about equal duration, and took place under Wali-Khan, who murdered the well-known traveler Adolf Schlagintweit.

 

1862 CHINESE HUI REVOLT

The great Dungan revolt (1862–1877) involved insurrection among various Muslim ethnic groups. It broke out in 1862 in Gansu then spread rapidly to Dzungaria and through the line of towns in the Tarim Basin.

 

Dungan troops based in Yarkand rose and in August 1864 massacred some seven thousand Chinese and their Manchu commander. The inhabitants of Kashgar, rising in their turn against their masters, invoked the aid of Sadik Beg, a Kyrgyz chief, who was reinforced by Buzurg Khan, the heir of Jahanghir Khoja, and his general Yakub Beg. The latter men were dispatched at Sadik’s request by the ruler of Khokand to raise what troops they could to aid his Muslim friends in Kashgar.

 

Sadik Beg soon repented of having asked for a Khoja, and eventually marched against Kashgar, which by this time had succumbed to Buzurg Khan and Yakub Beg, but was defeated and driven back to Khokand. Buzurg Khan delivered himself up to indolence and debauchery, but Yakub Beg, with singular energy and perseverance, made himself master of Yangi Shahr, Yangi-Hissar, Yarkand and other towns, and eventually became sole master of the country, Buzurg Khan proving himself totally unfit for the post of ruler.

 

With the overthrow of Chinese rule in 1865 by Yakub Beg (1820–1877), the manufacturing industries of Kashgar are supposed to have declined.

 

Yaqub Beg entered into relations and signed treaties with the Russian Empire and the British Empire, but when he tried to get their support against China, he failed.

 

Kashgar and the other cities of the Tarim Basin remained under Yakub Beg’s rule until May 1877, when he died at Korla. Thereafter Kashgaria was reconquered by the forces of the Qing general Zuo Zongtang during the Qing reconquest of Xinjiang.

 

QING RULE

There were eras in Xinjiang's history where intermarriage was common, "laxity" which set upon Uyghur women led them to marry Chinese men and not wear the veil in the period after Yaqub Beg's rule ended, it is also believed by Uyghurs that some Uyghurs have Han Chinese ancestry from historical intermarriage, such as those living in Turpan.

 

Even though Muslim women are forbidden to marry non-Muslims in Islamic law, from 1880-1949 it was frequently violated in Xinjiang since Chinese men married Muslim Turki (Uyghur) women, a reason suggested by foriengers that it was due to the women being poor, while the Turki women who married Chinese were labelled as whores by the Turki community, these marriages were illegitimate according to Islamic law but the women obtained benefits from marrying Chinese men since the Chinese defended them from Islamic authorities so the women were not subjected to the tax on prostitution and were able to save their income for themselves. Chinese men gave their Turki wives privileges which Turki men's wives did not have, since the wives of Chinese did not have to wear a veil and a Chinese man in Kashgar once beat a mullah who tried to force his Turki Kashgari wife to veil. The Turki women also benefited in that they were not subjected to any legal binding to their Chinese husbands so they could make their Chinese husbands provide them with as much their money as she wanted for her relatives and herself since otherwise the women could just leave, and the property of Chinese men was left to their Turki wives after they died. Turki women considered Turki men to be inferior husbands to Chinese and Hindus. Because they were viewed as "impure", Islamic cemeteries banned the Turki wives of Chinese men from being buried within them, the Turki women got around this problem by giving shrines donations and buying a grave in other towns. Besides Chinese men, other men such as Hindus, Armenians, Jews, Russians, and Badakhshanis intermarried with local Turki women. The local society accepted the Turki women and Chinese men's mixed offspring as their own people despite the marriages being in violation of Islamic law. Turki women also conducted temporary marriages with Chinese men such as Chinese soldiers temporarily stationed around them as soldiers for tours of duty, after which the Chinese men returned to their own cities, with the Chinese men selling their mixed daughters with the Turki women to his comrades, taking their sons with them if they could afford it but leaving them if they couldn't, and selling their temporary Turki wife to a comrade or leaving her behind.

 

An anti-Russian uproar broke out when Russian customs officials, 3 Cossacks and a Russian courier invited local Turki (Uyghur) prostitutes to a party in January 1902 in Kashgar, this caused a massive brawl by the inflamed local Turki Muslim populace against the Russians on the pretense of protecting Muslim women because there was anti-Russian sentiment being built up, even though morality was not strict in Kashgar, the local Turki Muslims violently clashed with the Russians before they were dispersed by guards, the Chinese sought to end to tensions to prevent the Russians from building up a pretext to invade.

 

After the riot, the Russians sent troops to Sarikol in Tashkurghan and demanded that the Sarikol postal services be placed under Russian supervision, the locals of Sarikol believed that the Russians would seize the entire district from the Chinese and send more soldiers even after the Russians tried to negotiate with the Begs of Sarikol and sway them to their side, they failed since the Sarikoli officials and authorities demanded in a petition to the Amban of Yarkand that they be evacuated to Yarkand to avoid being harassed by the Russians and objected to the Russian presence in Sarikol, the Sarikolis did not believe the Russian claim that they would leave them alone and only involved themselves in the mail service.

 

Many of the young Kashgari women were most attractive in appearance, and some of the little girls quite lovely, their plaits of long hair falling from under a jaunty little embroidered cap, their big dark eyes, flashing teeth and piquant olive faces reminding me of Italian or Spanish children. One most beautiful boy stands out in my memory. He was clad in a new shirt and trousers of flowered pink, his crimson velvet cap embroidered with gold, and as he smiled and salaamed to us I thought he looked like a fairy prince. The women wear their hair in two or five plaits much thickened and lengthened by the addition of yak's hair, but the children in several tiny plaits.

 

The peasants are fairly well off, as the soil is rich, the abundant water-supply free, and the taxation comparatively light. It was always interesting to meet them taking their live stock into market. Flocks of sheep with tiny lambs, black and white, pattered along the dusty road; here a goat followed its master like a dog, trotting behind the diminutive ass which the farmer bestrode; or boys, clad in the whity-brown native cloth, shouted incessantly at donkeys almost invisible under enormous loads of forage, or carried fowls and ducks in bunches head downwards, a sight that always made me long to come to the rescue of the luckless birds.

 

It was pleasant to see the women riding alone on horseback, managing their mounts to perfection. They formed a sharp contrast to their Persian sisters, who either sit behind their husbands or have their steeds led by the bridle; and instead of keeping silence in public, as is the rule for the shrouded women of Iran, these farmers' wives chaffered and haggled with the men in the bazar outside the city, transacting business with their veils thrown back.

 

Certainly the mullas do their best to keep the fair sex in their place, and are in the habit of beating those who show their faces in the Great Bazar. But I was told that poetic justice had lately been meted out to one of these upholders of the law of Islam, for by mistake he chastised a Kashgari woman married to a Chinaman, whereupon the irate husband set upon him with a big stick and castigated him soundly.

 

That a Muslim should take in marriage one of alien faith is not objected to; it is rather deemed a meritorious act thus to bring an unbeliever to the true religion. The Muslim woman, on the other hand, must not be given in marriage to a non-Muslim; such a union is regarded as the most heinous of sins. In this matter, however, compromises are sometimes made with heaven: the marriage of a Turki princess with the emperor Ch'ien-lung has already been referred to; and, when the present writer passed through Minjol (a day's journey west of Kashgar) in 1902, a Chinese with a Turki wife (? concubine) was presented to him.

 

FIRST EAST TURKESTAN REPUBLIC

Kashgar was the scene of continual battles from 1933 to 1934. Ma Shaowu, a Chinese Muslim, was the Tao-yin of Kashgar, and he fought against Uyghur rebels. He was joined by another Chinese Muslim general, Ma Zhancang.

 

BATTLE OF KASHGAR (1933)

Uighur and Kirghiz forces, led by the Bughra brothers and Tawfiq Bay, attempted to take the New City of Kashgar from Chinese Muslim troops under General Ma Zhancang. They were defeated.

 

Tawfiq Bey, a Syrian Arab traveler, who held the title Sayyid (descendent of prophet Muhammed) and arrived at Kashgar on August 26, 1933, was shot in the stomach by the Chinese Muslim troops in September. Previously Ma Zhancang arranged to have the Uighur leader Timur Beg killed and beheaded on August 9, 1933, displaying his head outside of Id Kah Mosque.

 

Han chinese troops commanded by Brigadier Yang were absorbed into Ma Zhancang's army. A number of Han chinese officers were spotted wearing the green uniforms of Ma Zhancang's unit of the 36th division, presumably they had converted to Islam.

 

BATTLE OF KASHGAR (1934)

The 36th division General Ma Fuyuan led a Chinese Muslim army to storm Kashgar on February 6, 1934, attacking the Uighur and Kirghiz rebels of the First East Turkestan Republic. He freed another 36th division general, Ma Zhancang, who was trapped with his Chinese Muslim and Han Chinese troops in Kashgar New City by the Uighurs and Kirghiz since May 22, 1933. In January, 1934, Ma Zhancang's Chinese Muslim troops repulsed six Uighur attacks, launched by Khoja Niyaz, who arrived at the city on January 13, 1934, inflicting massive casualties on the Uighur forces. From 2,000 to 8,000 Uighur civilians in Kashgar Old City were massacred by Tungans in February, 1934, in revenge for the Kizil massacre, after retreating of Uighur forces from the city to Yengi Hisar. The Chinese Muslim and 36th division Chief General Ma Zhongying, who arrived at Kashgar on April 7, 1934, gave a speech at Id Kah Mosque in April, reminding the Uighurs to be loyal to the Republic of China government at Nanjing. Several British citizens at the British consulate were killed or wounded by the 36th division on March 16, 1934.

 

PEOPLE´S REPUBLIC OF CHINA

Kashgar was incorporated into the People's Republic of China in 1949. During the Cultural Revolution, one of the largest statues of Mao in China was built in Kashgar, near People's Square. In 1986, the Chinese government designated Kashgar a "city of historical and cultural significance". Kashgar and surrounding regions have been the site of Uyghur unrest since the 1990s. In 2008, two Uyghur men carried out a vehicular, IED and knife attack against police officers. In 2009, development of Kashgar's old town accelerated after the revelations of the deadly role of faulty architecture during the 2008 Sichuan earthquake. Many of the old houses in the old town were built without regulation, and as a result, officials found them to be overcrowded and non-compliant with fire and earthquake codes. When the plan started, 42% of the city's residents lived in the old town. With compensation, residents of faulty buildings are being counseled to move to newer, safer buildings that will replace the historic structures in the $448 million plan, including high-rise apartments, plazas, and reproductions of ancient Islamic architecture. The European Parliament issued a resolution in 2011 calling for "culture-sensitive methods of renovation." The International Scientific Committee on Earthen Architectural Heritage (ISCEAH) has expressed concern over the demolition and reconstruction of historic buildings. ISCEAH has, additionally, urged the implementation of techniques utilized elsewhere in the world to address earthquake vulnerability.

 

Following the July 2009 Urumqi riots, the government focused on local economic development in an attempt to ameliorate ethnic tensions in the greater Xinjiang region. Kashgar was made into a Special Economic Zone in 2010, the first such zone in China's far west. In 2011, a spate of violence over two days killed dozens of people. By May 2012 two-thirds of the old city had been demolished, fulfilling "political as well as economic goals." In July 2014 the Imam of the Id Kah Mosque, Juma Tayir, was assassinated in Kashgar.

 

CLIMATE

Kashgar features a desert climate (Köppen BWk) with hot summers and cold winters, with large temperature differences between those two seasons: The monthly 24-hour average temperature ranges from −5.3 °C in January to 25.6 °C in July, while the annual mean is 11.84 °C. Spring is long and arrives quickly, while fall is somewhat brief in comparison. Kashgar is one of the driest cities on the planet, averaging only 64 millimetres of precipitation per year. The city’s wettest month, July, only sees on average 9.1 millimetres of rain. Because of the extremely arid conditions, snowfall is rare, despite the cold winters. Records have been as low as −24.4 °C in January and up to 40.1 °C in July. The frost-free period averages 215 days. With monthly percent possible sunshine ranging from 50% in March to 70% in September, the city receives 2,726 hours of bright sunshine annually.

 

DEMOGRAPHICS

Kashgar is predominately peopled by Muslim Uyghurs. Compared to Ürümqi, Xinjiang's capital and largest city, Kashgar is less industrial and has significantly fewer Han Chinese residents.

 

ECONOMICS AND SOCIETY

The city has a very important Sunday market. Thousands of farmers from the surrounding fertile lands come into the city to sell a wide variety of fruit and vegetables. Kashgar’s livestock market is also very lively. Silk and carpets made in Hotan are sold at bazaars, as well as local crafts, such as copper teapots and wooden jewellery boxes.

 

In order to boost the economy in Kashgar region, the government classified the area as the sixth Special Economic Zone of China in May 2010.

 

Mahmud al-Kashgari (Turkish: Kâşgarlı Mahmud) (Mahmut from Kashgar) wrote the first Turkic–Arabic Exemplary Dictionary called Divan-ı Lugat-it Türk[citation needed]

 

The movie The Kite Runner was filmed in Kashgar. Kashgar and the surrounding countryside stood in for Kabul and Afghanistan, since filming in Afghanistan was not possible due to safety and security reasons.

 

SIGHTS

Kashgar's Old City has been called "the best-preserved example of a traditional Islamic city to be found anywhere in Central Asia". It is estimated to attract more than one million tourists annually.

 

- Id Kah Mosque, the largest mosque in China, is located in the heart of the city.

- People's Park, the main public park in central Kashgar.

- An 18 m high statue of Mao Zedong in Kashgar is one of the few large-scale statues of Mao remaining in China.

- The tomb of Afaq Khoja in Kashgar is considered the holiest Muslim site in Xinjiang. Built in the 17th century, the tiled mausoleum 5 km northeast of the city centre also contains the tombs of five generations of his family. Abakh was a powerful ruler, controlling Khotan, Yarkand, Korla, Kucha and Aksu as well as Kashgar. Among some Uyghur Muslims, he was considered a great Saint (Aulia).

- Sunday Market in Kashgar is renowned as the biggest market in central Asia; a pivotal trading point along the Silk Road where goods have been traded for more than 2,000 years. The market is open every day but Sunday is the largest.

 

TRANSPORTATION

AIR

Kashgar Airport serves mainly domestic flights, the majority of them from Urumqi. The only scheduled international flights are passenger and cargo services with Pakistan's capital Islamabad.

 

RAIL

Kashgar has the westernmost railway station in China. It is connected to the rest of China's rail network via the Southern Xinjiang Railway, which was built in December 1999. Kashgar–Hotan Railway opened for passenger traffic in June 2011, and connected Kashgar with cities in the southern Tarim Basin including Shache (Yarkand), Yecheng (Kargilik) and Hotan. Travel time to Urumqi from Kashgar is approximately 25 hours, while travel time to Hotan is approximately ten hours.

 

The investigation work of a further extension of the railway line to Pakistan has begun. In November 2009, Pakistan and China agreed to set up a joint venture to do a feasibility study of the proposed rail link via the Khunjerab Pass.

 

Proposals for a rail connection to Osh in Kyrgyzstan have also been discussed at various levels since at least 1996.

 

In 2012, a standard gauge railway from Kashgar via Tajikistan and Afghanistan to Iran and beyond has been proposed.

 

ROAD

The Karakorum highway (KKH) links Islamabad, Pakistan with Kashgar over the Khunjerab Pass. The China–Pakistan Economic Corridor is a multibillion-dollar project was that will upgrade transport links between China and Pakistan, including the upgrades to the Karakorum highway. Bus routes exist for passenger travel south into Pakistan. Kyrgyzstan is also accessible from Kashgar, via the Torugart Pass and Irkeshtam Pass; as of summer 2007, daily bus service connects Kashgar with Bishkek’s Western Bus Terminal. Kashgar is also located on China National Highways G314 (which runs to Khunjerab Pass on the Sino−Pakistani border, and, in the opposite direction, towards Ürümqi), and G315, which runs to Xining, Qinghai from Kashgar.

 

WIKIPEDIA

Grade II listed historic packing and shipping warehouse constructed c. 1880's.

 

"Manchester (/ˈmæntʃɪstər, -tʃɛs-/) is a city and metropolitan borough in Greater Manchester, England, with a population of 547,627 as of 2018 (making it the fifth most populous English district). It lies within the United Kingdom's second-most populous urban area, with a population of 2.5 million and third most populous metropolitan area, with a population of 3.3 million. It is fringed by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and an arc of towns with which it forms a continuous conurbation. The local authority for the city is Manchester City Council.

 

The recorded history of Manchester began with the civilian settlement associated with the Roman fort of Mamucium or Mancunium, which was established in about AD 79 on a sandstone bluff near the confluence of the rivers Medlock and Irwell. It is historically a part of Lancashire, although areas of Cheshire south of the River Mersey were incorporated in the 20th century. The first to be included, Wythenshawe, was added to the city in 1931. Throughout the Middle Ages Manchester remained a manorial township, but began to expand "at an astonishing rate" around the turn of the 19th century. Manchester's unplanned urbanisation was brought on by a boom in textile manufacture during the Industrial Revolution, and resulted in it becoming the world's first industrialised city. Manchester achieved city status in 1853. The Manchester Ship Canal opened in 1894, creating the Port of Manchester and directly linking the city to the Irish Sea, 36 miles (58 km) to the west. Its fortune declined after the Second World War, owing to deindustrialisation, but the IRA bombing in 1996 led to extensive investment and regeneration. Following successful redevelopment after the IRA bombing, Manchester was the host city for the 2002 Commonwealth Games.

 

Manchester is the third most visited city in the UK, after London and Edinburgh. It is notable for its architecture, culture, musical exports, media links, scientific and engineering output, social impact, sports clubs and transport connections.

 

Manchester is a city of notable firsts. Manchester Liverpool Road railway station was the world's first inter-city passenger railway station and the oldest remaining railway station. The city has also excelled in scientific advancement, as it was at The University of Manchester, in 1917, that scientist Ernest Rutherford first split the atom. The university's further achievements include Frederic C. Williams, Tom Kilburn and Geoff Tootill who developed and built the world's first stored-program computer in 1948; and, in 2004, Andre Geim and Konstantin Novoselov successfully isolated and characterised the first graphene." - info from Wikipedia.

 

Summer 2019 I did a solo cycling tour across Europe through 12 countries over the course of 3 months. I began my adventure in Edinburgh, Scotland and finished in Florence, Italy cycling 8,816 km. During my trip I took 47,000 photos.

 

Now on Instagram.

 

Become a patron to my photography on Patreon.

170527 Scavengers 7S v Transact Pro, Amsterdam Sevens 2017

130518 Susies Sevens v Transact Pro, Amsterdam Sevens 2013

Kashgar is an oasis city with an approximate population of 350,000. It is the westernmost city in China, located near the border with Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan. Kashgar has a rich history of over 2,000 years and served as a trading post and strategically important city on the Silk Road between China, the Middle East, and Europe. Kashgar is part of the China–Pakistan Economic Corridor.

 

Located historically at the convergence point of widely varying cultures and empires, Kashgar has been under the rule of the Chinese, Turkic, Mongol, and Tibetan empires. The city has also been the site of an extraordinary number of battles between various groups of people on the steppes.

 

Now administered as a county-level unit of the People's Republic of China, Kashgar is the administrative centre of its eponymous prefecture in the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region which has an area of 162,000 square kilometres and a population of approximately 3.5 million. The city's urban area covers 15 km2, though its administrative area extends over 555 km2.

 

NAME

The modern Chinese name is 喀什 (Kāshí), a shortened form of the longer and less-frequently used (simplified Chinese: 喀什噶尔; traditional Chinese: 喀什噶爾; pinyin: Kāshígé’ěr; Uyghur: قەشقەر‎). Ptolemy (AD 90-168), in his Geography, Chapter 15.3A, refers to Kashgar as “Kasi”. Its western and probably indigenous name is the Kāš ("rock"), to which the East Iranian -γar ("mountain"); cf. Pashto and Middle Persian gar/ġar, from Old Persian/Pahlavi girīwa ("hill; ridge (of a mountain)") was attached. Alternative historical Romanizations for "Kashgar" include Cascar and Cashgar.

 

Non-native names for the city, such as the old Chinese name Shule 疏勒 and Tibetan Śu-lig may have originated as an attempts to transcribe the Sanskrit name for Kashgar, Śrīkrīrāti ("fortunate hospitality")

 

Variant transcriptions of the official Uyghur: يېڭىشەھەر‎ include: K̂äxk̂är or Kaxgar, as well as Jangi-schahr, Kashgar Yangi Shahr, K’o-shih-ka-erh, K’o-shih-ka-erh-hsin-ch’eng, Ko-shih-ka-erh-hui-ch’eng, K’o-shih-ko-erh-hsin-ch’eng, New Kashgar, Sheleh, Shuleh, Shulen, Shu-lo, Su-lo, Su-lo-chen, Su-lo-hsien, Yangi-shaar, Yangi-shahr, Yangishar, Yéngisheher, Yengixəh̨ər and Еңишәһәр.

 

HISTORY

HAN DYNASTY

The earliest mention of Kashgar occurs when a Chinese Han dynasty envoy traveled the Northern Silk Road to explore lands to the west.

 

Another early mention of Kashgar is during the Former Han (also known as the Western Han dynasty), when in 76 BC the Chinese conquered the Xiongnu, Yutian (Khotan), Sulei (Kashgar), and a group of states in the Tarim basin almost up to the foot of the Tian Shan range.

 

Ptolemy speaks of Scythia beyond the Imaus, which is in a “Kasia Regio”, probably exhibiting the name from which Kashgar and Kashgaria (often applied to the district) are formed. The country’s people practised Zoroastrianism and Buddhism before the coming of Islam.

 

In the Book of Han, which covers the period between 125 BC and 23 AD, it is recorded that there were 1,510 households, 18,647 people and 2,000 persons able to bear arms. By the time covered by the Book of the Later Han (roughly 25 to 170 AD), it had grown to 21,000 households and had 3,000 men able to bear arms.

 

The Book of the Later Han provides a wealth of detail on developments in the region:

 

"In the period of Emperor Wu [140-87 BC], the Western Regions1 were under the control of the Interior [China]. They numbered thirty-six kingdoms. The Imperial Government established a Colonel [in charge of] Envoys there to direct and protect these countries. Emperor Xuan [73-49 BC] changed this title [in 59 BC] to Protector-General.

 

Emperor Yuan [40-33 BC] installed two Wuji Colonels to take charge of the agricultural garrisons on the frontiers of the king of Nearer Jushi [Turpan].

 

During the time of Emperor Ai [6 BC-AD 1] and Emperor Ping [AD 1-5], the principalities of the Western Regions split up and formed fifty-five kingdoms. Wang Mang, after he usurped the Throne [in AD 9], demoted and changed their kings and marquises. Following this, the Western Regions became resentful, and rebelled. They, therefore, broke off all relations with the Interior [China] and, all together, submitted to the Xiongnu again.

 

The Xiongnu collected oppressively heavy taxes and the kingdoms were not able to support their demands. In the middle of the Jianwu period [AD 25-56], they each [Shanshan and Yarkand in 38, and 18 kingdoms in 45], sent envoys to ask if they could submit to the Interior [China], and to express their desire for a Protector-General. Emperor Guangwu, decided that because the Empire was not yet settled [after a long period of civil war], he had no time for outside affairs, and [therefore] finally refused his consent [in AD 45].

 

In the meantime, the Xiongnu became weaker. The king of Suoju [Yarkand], named Xian, wiped out several kingdoms. After Xian’s death [c. AD 62], they began to attack and fight each other. Xiao Yuan [Tura], Jingjue [Cadota], Ronglu [Niya], and Qiemo [Cherchen] were annexed by Shanshan [the Lop Nur region]. Qule [south of Keriya] and Pishan [modern Pishan or Guma] were conquered and fully occupied by Yutian [Khotan]. Yuli [Fukang], Danhuan, Guhu [Dawan Cheng], and Wutanzili were destroyed by Jushi [Turpan and Jimasa]. Later these kingdoms were re-established.

 

During the Yongping period [AD 58-75], the Northern Xiongnu forced several countries to help them plunder the commanderies and districts of Hexi. The gates of the towns stayed shut in broad daylight."

 

And, more particularly in reference to Kashgar itself, is the following record:

 

"In the sixteenth Yongping year of Emperor Ming 73, Jian, the king of Qiuci (Kucha), attacked and killed Cheng, the king of Shule (Kashgar). Then he appointed the Qiuci (Kucha) Marquis of the Left, Douti, King of Shule (Kashgar). ‹See TfD›

In winter 73, the Han sent the Major Ban Chao who captured and bound Douti. He appointed Zhong, the son of the elder brother of Cheng, to be king of Shule (Kashgar). Zhong later rebelled. (Ban) Chao attacked and beheaded him."

 

THE KUSHANS

The Book of the Later Han also gives the only extant historical record of Yuezhi or Kushan involvement in the Kashgar oasis:

 

"During the Yuanchu period (114-120) in the reign of Emperor, the king of Shule (Kashgar), exiled his maternal uncle Chenpan to the Yuezhi (Kushans) for some offence. The king of the Yuezhi became very fond of him. Later, Anguo died without leaving a son. His mother directed the government of the kingdom. She agreed with the people of the country to put Yifu (lit. “posthumous child”), who was the son of a full younger brother of Chenpan on the throne as king of Shule (Kashgar). Chenpan heard of this and appealed to the Yuezhi (Kushan) king, saying:

 

"Anguo had no son. His relative (Yifu) is weak. If one wants to put on the throne a member of (Anguo’s) mother’s family, I am Yifu’s paternal uncle, it is I who should be king."

 

The Yuezhi (Kushans) then sent soldiers to escort him back to Shule (Kashgar). The people had previously respected and been fond of Chenpan. Besides, they dreaded the Yuezhi (Kushans). They immediately took the seal and ribbon from Yifu and went to Chenpan, and made him king. Yifu was given the title of Marquis of the town of Pangao [90 li, or 37 km, from Shule].

 

‹See TfD›

Then Suoju (Yarkand) continued to resist Yutian (Khotan), and put themselves under Shule (Kashgar). Thus Shule (Kashgar), became powerful and a rival to Qiuci (Kucha) and Yutian (Khotan)."

 

However, it was not very long before the Chinese began to reassert their authority in the region:

 

“In the second Yongjian year (127), during Emperor Shun’s reign, Chenpan sent an envoy to respectfully present offerings. The Emperor bestowed on Chenpan the title of Great Commandant-in-Chief for the Han. Chenxun, who was the son of his elder brother, was appointed Temporary Major of the Kingdom. ‹See TfD›

In the fifth year (130), Chenpan sent his son to serve the Emperor and, along with envoys from Dayuan (Ferghana) and Suoju (Yarkand), brought tribute and offerings.”

 

From an earlier part of the same text comes the following addition:

 

“In the first Yangjia year (132), Xu You sent the king of Shule (Kashgar), Chenpan, who with 20,000 men, attacked and defeated Yutian (Khotan). He beheaded several hundred people, and released his soldiers to plunder freely. He replaced the king [of Jumi] by installing Chengguo from the family of [the previous king] Xing, and then he returned.”[38]

 

Then the first passage continues:

 

“In the second Yangjia year (133), Chenpan again made offerings (including) a lion and zebu cattle. ‹See TfD›

 

Then, during Emperor Ling’s reign, in the first Jianning year, the king of Shule (Kashgar) and Commandant-in-Chief for the Han (i.e. presumably Chenpan), was shot while hunting by the youngest of his paternal uncles, Hede. Hede named himself king.

‹See TfD›

In the third year (170), Meng Tuo, the Inspector of Liangzhou, sent the Provincial Officer Ren She, commanding five hundred soldiers from Dunhuang, with the Wuji Major Cao Kuan, and Chief Clerk of the Western Regions, Zhang Yan, brought troops from Yanqi (Karashahr), Qiuci (Kucha), and the Nearer and Further States of Jushi (Turpan and Jimasa), altogether numbering more than 30,000, to punish Shule (Kashgar). They attacked the town of Zhenzhong [Arach − near Maralbashi] but, having stayed for more than forty days without being able to subdue it, they withdrew. Following this, the kings of Shule (Kashgar) killed one another repeatedly while the Imperial Government was unable to prevent it.”

 

THREE KINGDOMS TO THE SUI

These centuries are marked by a general silence in sources on Kashgar and the Tarim Basin.

 

The Weilüe, composed in the second third of the 3rd century, mentions a number of states as dependencies of Kashgar: the kingdom of Zhenzhong (Arach?), the kingdom of Suoju (Yarkand), the kingdom of Jieshi, the kingdom of Qusha, the kingdom of Xiye (Khargalik), the kingdom of Yinai (Tashkurghan), the kingdom of Manli (modern Karasul), the kingdom of Yire (Mazar − also known as Tágh Nák and Tokanak), the kingdom of Yuling, the kingdom of Juandu (‘Tax Control’ − near modern Irkeshtam), the kingdom of Xiuxiu (‘Excellent Rest Stop’ − near Karakavak), and the kingdom of Qin.

 

However, much of the information on the Western Regions contained in the Weilüe seems to have ended roughly about (170), near the end of Han power. So, we can’t be sure that this is a reference to the state of affairs during the Cao Wei (220-265), or whether it refers to the situation before the civil war during the Later Han when China lost touch with most foreign countries and came to be divided into three separate kingdoms.

 

Chapter 30 of the Records of the Three Kingdoms says that after the beginning of the Wei Dynasty (220) the states of the Western Regions did not arrive as before, except for the larger ones such as Kucha, Khotan, Kangju, Wusun, Kashgar, Yuezhi, Shanshan and Turpan, who are said to have come to present tribute every year, as in Han times.

 

In 270, four states from the Western Regions were said to have presented tribute: Karashahr, Turpan, Shanshan, and Kucha. Some wooden documents from Niya seem to indicate that contacts were also maintained with Kashgar and Khotan around this time.

 

In 422, according to the Songshu, ch. 98, the king of Shanshan, Bilong, came to the court and "the thirty-six states in the Western Regions" all swore their allegiance and presented tribute. It must be assumed that these 36 states included Kashgar.

 

The "Songji" of the Zizhi Tongjian records that in the 5th month of 435, nine states: Kucha, Kashgar, Wusun, Yueban, Tashkurghan, Shanshan, Karashahr, Turpan and Sute all came to the Wei court.

 

In 439, according to the Weishu, ch. 4A, Shanshan, Kashgar and Karashahr sent envoys to present tribute.

 

According to the Weishu, ch. 102, Chapter on the Western Regions, the kingdoms of Kucha, Kashgar, Wusun, Yueban, Tashkurghan, Shanshan, Karashahr, Turpan and Sute all began sending envoys to present tribute in the Taiyuan reign period (435-440).

 

In 453 Kashgar sent envoys to present tribute (Weishu, ch. 5), and again in 455.

 

An embassy sent during the reign of Wencheng Di (452-466) from the king of Kashgar presented a supposed sacred relic of the Buddha; a dress which was incombustible.

 

In 507 Kashgar, is said to have sent envoys in both the 9th and 10th months (Weishu, ch. 8).

 

In 512, Kashgar sent envoys in the 1st and 5th months. (Weishu, ch. 8).

 

Early in the 6th century Kashgar is included among the many territories controlled by the Yeda or Hephthalite Huns, but their empire collapsed at the onslaught of the Western Turks between 563 and 567 who then probably gained control over Kashgar and most of the states in the Tarim Basin.

 

TANG DYNASTY

The founding of the Tang dynasty in 618 saw the beginning of a prolonged struggle between China and the Western Turks for control of the Tarim Basin. In 635, the Tang Annals reported an emissary from the king of Kashgar to the Tang capital. In 639 there was a second emissary bringing products of Kashgar as a token of submission to the Tang state.

 

Buddhist scholar Xuanzang passed through Kashgar (which he referred to as Ka-sha) in 644 on his return journey from India to China. The Buddhist religion, then beginning to decay in India, was active in Kashgar. Xuanzang recorded that they flattened their babies heads, tattooed their bodies and had green eyes. He reported that Kashgar had abundant crops, fruits and flowers, wove fine woolen stuffs and rugs. Their writing system had been adapted from Indian script but their language was different from that of other countries. The inhabitants were sincere Buddhist adherents and there were some hundreds of monasteries with more than 10,000 followers, all members of the Sarvastivadin School.

 

At around the same era, Nestorian Christians were establishing bishoprics at Herat, Merv and Samarkand, whence they subsequently proceeded to Kashgar, and finally to China proper itself.

 

In 646, the Turkic Kagan asked for the hand of a Tang Chinese princess, and in return the Emperor promised Kucha, Khotan, Kashgar, Karashahr and Sarikol as a marriage gift, but this did not happen as planned.

 

In a series of campaigns between 652 and 658, with the help of the Uyghurs, the Chinese finally defeated the Western Turk tribes and took control of all their domains, including the Tarim Basin kingdoms. Karakhoja was annexed in 640, Karashahr during campaigns in 644 and 648, and Kucha fell in 648.

 

In 662 a rebellion broke out in the Western Regions and a Chinese army sent to control it was defeated by the Tibetans south of Kashgar.

 

After another defeat of the Tang Chinese forces in 670, the Tibetans gained control of the whole region and completely subjugated Kashgar in 676-8 and retained possession of it until 692, when the Tang dynasty regained control of all their former territories, and retained it for the next fifty years.

 

In 722 Kashgar sent 4,000 troops to assist the Chinese to force the "Tibetans out of "Little Bolu" or Gilgit.

 

In 728, the king of Kashgar was awarded a brevet by the Chinese emperor.

 

In 739, the Tangshu relates that the governor of the Chinese garrison in Kashgar, with the help of Ferghana, was interfering in the affairs of the Turgesh tribes as far as Talas.

 

In 751 the Chinese were defeated by an Arab army in the Battle of Talas. The An Lushan Rebellion led to the decline of Tang influence in Central Asia due to the fact that the Tang dynasty was forced to withdraw its troops from the region to fight An Lushan. The Tibetans cut all communication between China and the West in 766.

 

Soon after the Chinese pilgrim monk Wukong passed through Kashgar in 753. He again reached Kashgar on his return trip from India in 786 and mentions a Chinese deputy governor as well as the local king.

 

BATTLES WITH ARAB CALIPHATE

In 711, the Arabs invaded Kashgar, but did not hold the city for any length of time. Kashgar and Turkestan lent assistance to the reigning queen of Bukhara, to enable her to repel the Arabs. Although the Muslim religion from the very commencement sustained checks, it nevertheless made its weight felt upon the independent states of Turkestan to the north and east, and thus acquired a steadily growing influence. It was not, however, till the 10th century that Islam was established at Kashgar, under the Kara-Khanid Khanate.

 

THE TURKIC RULE

According to the 10th-century text, Hudud al-'alam, "the chiefs of Kashghar in the days of old were from the Qarluq, or from the Yaghma." The Karluks, Yaghmas and other tribes such as the Chigils formed the Karakhanids. The Karakhanid Sultan Satuq Bughra Khan converted to Islam in the 10th century and captured Kashgar. Kashgar was the capital of the Karakhanid state for a time but later the capital was moved to Balasaghun. During the latter part of the 10th century, the Muslim Karakhanids began a struggle against the Buddhist Kingdom of Khotan, and the Khotanese defeated the Karakhanids and captured Kashgar in 970. Chinese sources recorded the king of Khotan offering to send them a dancing elephant captured from Kashgar. Later in 1006, the Karakhanids of Kashgar under Yusuf Kadr Khan conquered Khotan.

 

The Karakhanid Khanate however was beset with internal strife, and the khanate split into two, the Eastern and Western Karakhanid Khanates, with Kashgar falling within the domain of the Eastern Karakhanid state. In 1089, the Western Karakhanids fell under the control of the Seljuks, but the Eastern Karakhanids was for the most part independent.

 

Both the Karakhanid states were defeated in the 12th century by the Kara-Khitans who captured Balasaghun, however Karakhanid rule continued in Kashgar under the suzerainty of the Kara-Khitans. The Kara-Khitan rulers followed a policy of religious tolerance, Islamic religious life continued uninterrupted and Kashgar was also a Nestorian metropolitan see. The last Karakhanid of Kashgar was killed in a revolt in 1211 by the city's notables. Kuchlug, a usurper of the throne of the Kara-Khitans, then attacked Kashgar which finally surrendered in 1214.

 

THE MONGOLS

The Kara-Khitai in their turn were swept away in 1219 by Genghis Khan. After his death, Kashgar came under the rule of the Chagatai Khans. Marco Polo visited the city, which he calls Cascar, about 1273-4 and recorded the presence of numerous Nestorian Christians, who had their own churches. Later In the 14th century, a Chagataid khan Tughluq Timur converted to Islam, and Islamic tradition began to reassert its ascendancy.

 

In 1389−1390 Tamerlane ravaged Kashgar, Andijan and the intervening country. Kashgar endured a troubled time, and in 1514, on the invasion of the Khan Sultan Said, was destroyed by Mirza Ababakar, who with the aid of ten thousand men built a new fort with massive defences higher up on the banks of the Tuman river. The dynasty of the Chagatai Khans collapsed in 1572 with the division of the country among rival factions; soon after, two powerful Khoja factions, the White and Black Mountaineers (Ak Taghliq or Afaqi, and Kara Taghliq or Ishaqi), arose whose differences and war-making gestures, with the intermittent episode of the Oirats of Dzungaria, make up much of recorded history in Kashgar until 1759. The Dzungar Khanate conquered Kashgar and set up the Khoja as their puppet rulers.

 

QING CONQUEST

The Qing dynasty defeated the Dzungar Khanate during the Ten Great Campaigns and took control of Kashgar in 1759. The conquerors consolidated their authority by settling other ethnics emigrants in the vicinity of a Manchu garrison.

 

Rumours flew around Central Asia that the Qing planned to launch expeditions towards Transoxiana and Samarkand, the chiefs of which sought assistance from the Afghan king Ahmed Shah Abdali. The alleged expedition never happened so Ahmad Shah withdrew his forces from Kokand. He also dispatched an ambassador to Beijing to discuss the situation of the Afaqi Khojas, but the representative was not well received, and Ahmed Shah was too busy fighting off the Sikhs to attempt to enforce his demands through arms.

The Qing continued to hold Kashgar with occasional interruptions during the Afaqi Khoja revolts. One of the most serious of these occurred in 1827, when the city was taken by Jahanghir Khoja; Chang-lung, however, the Qing general of Ili, regained possession of Kashgar and the other rebellious cities in 1828.

 

The Kokand Khanate raided Kashgar several times. A revolt in 1829 under Mahommed Ali Khan and Yusuf, brother of Jahanghir resulted in the concession of several important trade privileges to the Muslims of the district of Altishahr (the "six cities"), as it was then called.

 

The area enjoyed relative calm until 1846 under the rule of Zahir-ud-din, the local Uyghur governor, but in that year a new Khoja revolt under Kath Tora led to his accession as the authoritarian ruler of the city. However, his reign was brief—at the end of seventy-five days, on the approach of the Chinese, he fled back to Khokand amid the jeers of the inhabitants. The last of the Khoja revolts (1857) was of about equal duration, and took place under Wali-Khan, who murdered the well-known traveler Adolf Schlagintweit.

 

1862 CHINESE HUI REVOLT

The great Dungan revolt (1862–1877) involved insurrection among various Muslim ethnic groups. It broke out in 1862 in Gansu then spread rapidly to Dzungaria and through the line of towns in the Tarim Basin.

 

Dungan troops based in Yarkand rose and in August 1864 massacred some seven thousand Chinese and their Manchu commander. The inhabitants of Kashgar, rising in their turn against their masters, invoked the aid of Sadik Beg, a Kyrgyz chief, who was reinforced by Buzurg Khan, the heir of Jahanghir Khoja, and his general Yakub Beg. The latter men were dispatched at Sadik’s request by the ruler of Khokand to raise what troops they could to aid his Muslim friends in Kashgar.

 

Sadik Beg soon repented of having asked for a Khoja, and eventually marched against Kashgar, which by this time had succumbed to Buzurg Khan and Yakub Beg, but was defeated and driven back to Khokand. Buzurg Khan delivered himself up to indolence and debauchery, but Yakub Beg, with singular energy and perseverance, made himself master of Yangi Shahr, Yangi-Hissar, Yarkand and other towns, and eventually became sole master of the country, Buzurg Khan proving himself totally unfit for the post of ruler.

 

With the overthrow of Chinese rule in 1865 by Yakub Beg (1820–1877), the manufacturing industries of Kashgar are supposed to have declined.

 

Yaqub Beg entered into relations and signed treaties with the Russian Empire and the British Empire, but when he tried to get their support against China, he failed.

 

Kashgar and the other cities of the Tarim Basin remained under Yakub Beg’s rule until May 1877, when he died at Korla. Thereafter Kashgaria was reconquered by the forces of the Qing general Zuo Zongtang during the Qing reconquest of Xinjiang.

 

QING RULE

There were eras in Xinjiang's history where intermarriage was common, "laxity" which set upon Uyghur women led them to marry Chinese men and not wear the veil in the period after Yaqub Beg's rule ended, it is also believed by Uyghurs that some Uyghurs have Han Chinese ancestry from historical intermarriage, such as those living in Turpan.

 

Even though Muslim women are forbidden to marry non-Muslims in Islamic law, from 1880-1949 it was frequently violated in Xinjiang since Chinese men married Muslim Turki (Uyghur) women, a reason suggested by foriengers that it was due to the women being poor, while the Turki women who married Chinese were labelled as whores by the Turki community, these marriages were illegitimate according to Islamic law but the women obtained benefits from marrying Chinese men since the Chinese defended them from Islamic authorities so the women were not subjected to the tax on prostitution and were able to save their income for themselves. Chinese men gave their Turki wives privileges which Turki men's wives did not have, since the wives of Chinese did not have to wear a veil and a Chinese man in Kashgar once beat a mullah who tried to force his Turki Kashgari wife to veil. The Turki women also benefited in that they were not subjected to any legal binding to their Chinese husbands so they could make their Chinese husbands provide them with as much their money as she wanted for her relatives and herself since otherwise the women could just leave, and the property of Chinese men was left to their Turki wives after they died. Turki women considered Turki men to be inferior husbands to Chinese and Hindus. Because they were viewed as "impure", Islamic cemeteries banned the Turki wives of Chinese men from being buried within them, the Turki women got around this problem by giving shrines donations and buying a grave in other towns. Besides Chinese men, other men such as Hindus, Armenians, Jews, Russians, and Badakhshanis intermarried with local Turki women. The local society accepted the Turki women and Chinese men's mixed offspring as their own people despite the marriages being in violation of Islamic law. Turki women also conducted temporary marriages with Chinese men such as Chinese soldiers temporarily stationed around them as soldiers for tours of duty, after which the Chinese men returned to their own cities, with the Chinese men selling their mixed daughters with the Turki women to his comrades, taking their sons with them if they could afford it but leaving them if they couldn't, and selling their temporary Turki wife to a comrade or leaving her behind.

 

An anti-Russian uproar broke out when Russian customs officials, 3 Cossacks and a Russian courier invited local Turki (Uyghur) prostitutes to a party in January 1902 in Kashgar, this caused a massive brawl by the inflamed local Turki Muslim populace against the Russians on the pretense of protecting Muslim women because there was anti-Russian sentiment being built up, even though morality was not strict in Kashgar, the local Turki Muslims violently clashed with the Russians before they were dispersed by guards, the Chinese sought to end to tensions to prevent the Russians from building up a pretext to invade.

 

After the riot, the Russians sent troops to Sarikol in Tashkurghan and demanded that the Sarikol postal services be placed under Russian supervision, the locals of Sarikol believed that the Russians would seize the entire district from the Chinese and send more soldiers even after the Russians tried to negotiate with the Begs of Sarikol and sway them to their side, they failed since the Sarikoli officials and authorities demanded in a petition to the Amban of Yarkand that they be evacuated to Yarkand to avoid being harassed by the Russians and objected to the Russian presence in Sarikol, the Sarikolis did not believe the Russian claim that they would leave them alone and only involved themselves in the mail service.

 

Many of the young Kashgari women were most attractive in appearance, and some of the little girls quite lovely, their plaits of long hair falling from under a jaunty little embroidered cap, their big dark eyes, flashing teeth and piquant olive faces reminding me of Italian or Spanish children. One most beautiful boy stands out in my memory. He was clad in a new shirt and trousers of flowered pink, his crimson velvet cap embroidered with gold, and as he smiled and salaamed to us I thought he looked like a fairy prince. The women wear their hair in two or five plaits much thickened and lengthened by the addition of yak's hair, but the children in several tiny plaits.

 

The peasants are fairly well off, as the soil is rich, the abundant water-supply free, and the taxation comparatively light. It was always interesting to meet them taking their live stock into market. Flocks of sheep with tiny lambs, black and white, pattered along the dusty road; here a goat followed its master like a dog, trotting behind the diminutive ass which the farmer bestrode; or boys, clad in the whity-brown native cloth, shouted incessantly at donkeys almost invisible under enormous loads of forage, or carried fowls and ducks in bunches head downwards, a sight that always made me long to come to the rescue of the luckless birds.

 

It was pleasant to see the women riding alone on horseback, managing their mounts to perfection. They formed a sharp contrast to their Persian sisters, who either sit behind their husbands or have their steeds led by the bridle; and instead of keeping silence in public, as is the rule for the shrouded women of Iran, these farmers' wives chaffered and haggled with the men in the bazar outside the city, transacting business with their veils thrown back.

 

Certainly the mullas do their best to keep the fair sex in their place, and are in the habit of beating those who show their faces in the Great Bazar. But I was told that poetic justice had lately been meted out to one of these upholders of the law of Islam, for by mistake he chastised a Kashgari woman married to a Chinaman, whereupon the irate husband set upon him with a big stick and castigated him soundly.

 

That a Muslim should take in marriage one of alien faith is not objected to; it is rather deemed a meritorious act thus to bring an unbeliever to the true religion. The Muslim woman, on the other hand, must not be given in marriage to a non-Muslim; such a union is regarded as the most heinous of sins. In this matter, however, compromises are sometimes made with heaven: the marriage of a Turki princess with the emperor Ch'ien-lung has already been referred to; and, when the present writer passed through Minjol (a day's journey west of Kashgar) in 1902, a Chinese with a Turki wife (? concubine) was presented to him.

 

FIRST EAST TURKESTAN REPUBLIC

Kashgar was the scene of continual battles from 1933 to 1934. Ma Shaowu, a Chinese Muslim, was the Tao-yin of Kashgar, and he fought against Uyghur rebels. He was joined by another Chinese Muslim general, Ma Zhancang.

 

BATTLE OF KASHGAR (1933)

Uighur and Kirghiz forces, led by the Bughra brothers and Tawfiq Bay, attempted to take the New City of Kashgar from Chinese Muslim troops under General Ma Zhancang. They were defeated.

 

Tawfiq Bey, a Syrian Arab traveler, who held the title Sayyid (descendent of prophet Muhammed) and arrived at Kashgar on August 26, 1933, was shot in the stomach by the Chinese Muslim troops in September. Previously Ma Zhancang arranged to have the Uighur leader Timur Beg killed and beheaded on August 9, 1933, displaying his head outside of Id Kah Mosque.

 

Han chinese troops commanded by Brigadier Yang were absorbed into Ma Zhancang's army. A number of Han chinese officers were spotted wearing the green uniforms of Ma Zhancang's unit of the 36th division, presumably they had converted to Islam.

 

BATTLE OF KASHGAR (1934)

The 36th division General Ma Fuyuan led a Chinese Muslim army to storm Kashgar on February 6, 1934, attacking the Uighur and Kirghiz rebels of the First East Turkestan Republic. He freed another 36th division general, Ma Zhancang, who was trapped with his Chinese Muslim and Han Chinese troops in Kashgar New City by the Uighurs and Kirghiz since May 22, 1933. In January, 1934, Ma Zhancang's Chinese Muslim troops repulsed six Uighur attacks, launched by Khoja Niyaz, who arrived at the city on January 13, 1934, inflicting massive casualties on the Uighur forces. From 2,000 to 8,000 Uighur civilians in Kashgar Old City were massacred by Tungans in February, 1934, in revenge for the Kizil massacre, after retreating of Uighur forces from the city to Yengi Hisar. The Chinese Muslim and 36th division Chief General Ma Zhongying, who arrived at Kashgar on April 7, 1934, gave a speech at Id Kah Mosque in April, reminding the Uighurs to be loyal to the Republic of China government at Nanjing. Several British citizens at the British consulate were killed or wounded by the 36th division on March 16, 1934.

 

PEOPLE´S REPUBLIC OF CHINA

Kashgar was incorporated into the People's Republic of China in 1949. During the Cultural Revolution, one of the largest statues of Mao in China was built in Kashgar, near People's Square. In 1986, the Chinese government designated Kashgar a "city of historical and cultural significance". Kashgar and surrounding regions have been the site of Uyghur unrest since the 1990s. In 2008, two Uyghur men carried out a vehicular, IED and knife attack against police officers. In 2009, development of Kashgar's old town accelerated after the revelations of the deadly role of faulty architecture during the 2008 Sichuan earthquake. Many of the old houses in the old town were built without regulation, and as a result, officials found them to be overcrowded and non-compliant with fire and earthquake codes. When the plan started, 42% of the city's residents lived in the old town. With compensation, residents of faulty buildings are being counseled to move to newer, safer buildings that will replace the historic structures in the $448 million plan, including high-rise apartments, plazas, and reproductions of ancient Islamic architecture. The European Parliament issued a resolution in 2011 calling for "culture-sensitive methods of renovation." The International Scientific Committee on Earthen Architectural Heritage (ISCEAH) has expressed concern over the demolition and reconstruction of historic buildings. ISCEAH has, additionally, urged the implementation of techniques utilized elsewhere in the world to address earthquake vulnerability.

 

Following the July 2009 Urumqi riots, the government focused on local economic development in an attempt to ameliorate ethnic tensions in the greater Xinjiang region. Kashgar was made into a Special Economic Zone in 2010, the first such zone in China's far west. In 2011, a spate of violence over two days killed dozens of people. By May 2012 two-thirds of the old city had been demolished, fulfilling "political as well as economic goals." In July 2014 the Imam of the Id Kah Mosque, Juma Tayir, was assassinated in Kashgar.

 

CLIMATE

Kashgar features a desert climate (Köppen BWk) with hot summers and cold winters, with large temperature differences between those two seasons: The monthly 24-hour average temperature ranges from −5.3 °C in January to 25.6 °C in July, while the annual mean is 11.84 °C. Spring is long and arrives quickly, while fall is somewhat brief in comparison. Kashgar is one of the driest cities on the planet, averaging only 64 millimetres of precipitation per year. The city’s wettest month, July, only sees on average 9.1 millimetres of rain. Because of the extremely arid conditions, snowfall is rare, despite the cold winters. Records have been as low as −24.4 °C in January and up to 40.1 °C in July. The frost-free period averages 215 days. With monthly percent possible sunshine ranging from 50% in March to 70% in September, the city receives 2,726 hours of bright sunshine annually.

 

DEMOGRAPHICS

Kashgar is predominately peopled by Muslim Uyghurs. Compared to Ürümqi, Xinjiang's capital and largest city, Kashgar is less industrial and has significantly fewer Han Chinese residents.

 

ECONOMICS AND SOCIETY

The city has a very important Sunday market. Thousands of farmers from the surrounding fertile lands come into the city to sell a wide variety of fruit and vegetables. Kashgar’s livestock market is also very lively. Silk and carpets made in Hotan are sold at bazaars, as well as local crafts, such as copper teapots and wooden jewellery boxes.

 

In order to boost the economy in Kashgar region, the government classified the area as the sixth Special Economic Zone of China in May 2010.

 

Mahmud al-Kashgari (Turkish: Kâşgarlı Mahmud) (Mahmut from Kashgar) wrote the first Turkic–Arabic Exemplary Dictionary called Divan-ı Lugat-it Türk[citation needed]

 

The movie The Kite Runner was filmed in Kashgar. Kashgar and the surrounding countryside stood in for Kabul and Afghanistan, since filming in Afghanistan was not possible due to safety and security reasons.

 

SIGHTS

Kashgar's Old City has been called "the best-preserved example of a traditional Islamic city to be found anywhere in Central Asia". It is estimated to attract more than one million tourists annually.

 

- Id Kah Mosque, the largest mosque in China, is located in the heart of the city.

- People's Park, the main public park in central Kashgar.

- An 18 m high statue of Mao Zedong in Kashgar is one of the few large-scale statues of Mao remaining in China.

- The tomb of Afaq Khoja in Kashgar is considered the holiest Muslim site in Xinjiang. Built in the 17th century, the tiled mausoleum 5 km northeast of the city centre also contains the tombs of five generations of his family. Abakh was a powerful ruler, controlling Khotan, Yarkand, Korla, Kucha and Aksu as well as Kashgar. Among some Uyghur Muslims, he was considered a great Saint (Aulia).

- Sunday Market in Kashgar is renowned as the biggest market in central Asia; a pivotal trading point along the Silk Road where goods have been traded for more than 2,000 years. The market is open every day but Sunday is the largest.

 

TRANSPORTATION

AIR

Kashgar Airport serves mainly domestic flights, the majority of them from Urumqi. The only scheduled international flights are passenger and cargo services with Pakistan's capital Islamabad.

 

RAIL

Kashgar has the westernmost railway station in China. It is connected to the rest of China's rail network via the Southern Xinjiang Railway, which was built in December 1999. Kashgar–Hotan Railway opened for passenger traffic in June 2011, and connected Kashgar with cities in the southern Tarim Basin including Shache (Yarkand), Yecheng (Kargilik) and Hotan. Travel time to Urumqi from Kashgar is approximately 25 hours, while travel time to Hotan is approximately ten hours.

 

The investigation work of a further extension of the railway line to Pakistan has begun. In November 2009, Pakistan and China agreed to set up a joint venture to do a feasibility study of the proposed rail link via the Khunjerab Pass.

 

Proposals for a rail connection to Osh in Kyrgyzstan have also been discussed at various levels since at least 1996.

 

In 2012, a standard gauge railway from Kashgar via Tajikistan and Afghanistan to Iran and beyond has been proposed.

 

ROAD

The Karakorum highway (KKH) links Islamabad, Pakistan with Kashgar over the Khunjerab Pass. The China–Pakistan Economic Corridor is a multibillion-dollar project was that will upgrade transport links between China and Pakistan, including the upgrades to the Karakorum highway. Bus routes exist for passenger travel south into Pakistan. Kyrgyzstan is also accessible from Kashgar, via the Torugart Pass and Irkeshtam Pass; as of summer 2007, daily bus service connects Kashgar with Bishkek’s Western Bus Terminal. Kashgar is also located on China National Highways G314 (which runs to Khunjerab Pass on the Sino−Pakistani border, and, in the opposite direction, towards Ürümqi), and G315, which runs to Xining, Qinghai from Kashgar.

 

WIKIPEDIA

170527 Scavengers 7S v Transact Pro, Amsterdam Sevens 2017

Kashgar is an oasis city with an approximate population of 350,000. It is the westernmost city in China, located near the border with Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan. Kashgar has a rich history of over 2,000 years and served as a trading post and strategically important city on the Silk Road between China, the Middle East, and Europe. Kashgar is part of the China–Pakistan Economic Corridor.

 

Located historically at the convergence point of widely varying cultures and empires, Kashgar has been under the rule of the Chinese, Turkic, Mongol, and Tibetan empires. The city has also been the site of an extraordinary number of battles between various groups of people on the steppes.

 

Now administered as a county-level unit of the People's Republic of China, Kashgar is the administrative centre of its eponymous prefecture in the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region which has an area of 162,000 square kilometres and a population of approximately 3.5 million. The city's urban area covers 15 km2, though its administrative area extends over 555 km2.

 

NAME

The modern Chinese name is 喀什 (Kāshí), a shortened form of the longer and less-frequently used (simplified Chinese: 喀什噶尔; traditional Chinese: 喀什噶爾; pinyin: Kāshígé’ěr; Uyghur: قەشقەر‎). Ptolemy (AD 90-168), in his Geography, Chapter 15.3A, refers to Kashgar as “Kasi”. Its western and probably indigenous name is the Kāš ("rock"), to which the East Iranian -γar ("mountain"); cf. Pashto and Middle Persian gar/ġar, from Old Persian/Pahlavi girīwa ("hill; ridge (of a mountain)") was attached. Alternative historical Romanizations for "Kashgar" include Cascar and Cashgar.

 

Non-native names for the city, such as the old Chinese name Shule 疏勒 and Tibetan Śu-lig may have originated as an attempts to transcribe the Sanskrit name for Kashgar, Śrīkrīrāti ("fortunate hospitality")

 

Variant transcriptions of the official Uyghur: يېڭىشەھەر‎ include: K̂äxk̂är or Kaxgar, as well as Jangi-schahr, Kashgar Yangi Shahr, K’o-shih-ka-erh, K’o-shih-ka-erh-hsin-ch’eng, Ko-shih-ka-erh-hui-ch’eng, K’o-shih-ko-erh-hsin-ch’eng, New Kashgar, Sheleh, Shuleh, Shulen, Shu-lo, Su-lo, Su-lo-chen, Su-lo-hsien, Yangi-shaar, Yangi-shahr, Yangishar, Yéngisheher, Yengixəh̨ər and Еңишәһәр.

 

HISTORY

HAN DYNASTY

The earliest mention of Kashgar occurs when a Chinese Han dynasty envoy traveled the Northern Silk Road to explore lands to the west.

 

Another early mention of Kashgar is during the Former Han (also known as the Western Han dynasty), when in 76 BC the Chinese conquered the Xiongnu, Yutian (Khotan), Sulei (Kashgar), and a group of states in the Tarim basin almost up to the foot of the Tian Shan range.

 

Ptolemy speaks of Scythia beyond the Imaus, which is in a “Kasia Regio”, probably exhibiting the name from which Kashgar and Kashgaria (often applied to the district) are formed. The country’s people practised Zoroastrianism and Buddhism before the coming of Islam.

 

In the Book of Han, which covers the period between 125 BC and 23 AD, it is recorded that there were 1,510 households, 18,647 people and 2,000 persons able to bear arms. By the time covered by the Book of the Later Han (roughly 25 to 170 AD), it had grown to 21,000 households and had 3,000 men able to bear arms.

 

The Book of the Later Han provides a wealth of detail on developments in the region:

 

"In the period of Emperor Wu [140-87 BC], the Western Regions1 were under the control of the Interior [China]. They numbered thirty-six kingdoms. The Imperial Government established a Colonel [in charge of] Envoys there to direct and protect these countries. Emperor Xuan [73-49 BC] changed this title [in 59 BC] to Protector-General.

 

Emperor Yuan [40-33 BC] installed two Wuji Colonels to take charge of the agricultural garrisons on the frontiers of the king of Nearer Jushi [Turpan].

 

During the time of Emperor Ai [6 BC-AD 1] and Emperor Ping [AD 1-5], the principalities of the Western Regions split up and formed fifty-five kingdoms. Wang Mang, after he usurped the Throne [in AD 9], demoted and changed their kings and marquises. Following this, the Western Regions became resentful, and rebelled. They, therefore, broke off all relations with the Interior [China] and, all together, submitted to the Xiongnu again.

 

The Xiongnu collected oppressively heavy taxes and the kingdoms were not able to support their demands. In the middle of the Jianwu period [AD 25-56], they each [Shanshan and Yarkand in 38, and 18 kingdoms in 45], sent envoys to ask if they could submit to the Interior [China], and to express their desire for a Protector-General. Emperor Guangwu, decided that because the Empire was not yet settled [after a long period of civil war], he had no time for outside affairs, and [therefore] finally refused his consent [in AD 45].

 

In the meantime, the Xiongnu became weaker. The king of Suoju [Yarkand], named Xian, wiped out several kingdoms. After Xian’s death [c. AD 62], they began to attack and fight each other. Xiao Yuan [Tura], Jingjue [Cadota], Ronglu [Niya], and Qiemo [Cherchen] were annexed by Shanshan [the Lop Nur region]. Qule [south of Keriya] and Pishan [modern Pishan or Guma] were conquered and fully occupied by Yutian [Khotan]. Yuli [Fukang], Danhuan, Guhu [Dawan Cheng], and Wutanzili were destroyed by Jushi [Turpan and Jimasa]. Later these kingdoms were re-established.

 

During the Yongping period [AD 58-75], the Northern Xiongnu forced several countries to help them plunder the commanderies and districts of Hexi. The gates of the towns stayed shut in broad daylight."

 

And, more particularly in reference to Kashgar itself, is the following record:

 

"In the sixteenth Yongping year of Emperor Ming 73, Jian, the king of Qiuci (Kucha), attacked and killed Cheng, the king of Shule (Kashgar). Then he appointed the Qiuci (Kucha) Marquis of the Left, Douti, King of Shule (Kashgar). ‹See TfD›

In winter 73, the Han sent the Major Ban Chao who captured and bound Douti. He appointed Zhong, the son of the elder brother of Cheng, to be king of Shule (Kashgar). Zhong later rebelled. (Ban) Chao attacked and beheaded him."

 

THE KUSHANS

The Book of the Later Han also gives the only extant historical record of Yuezhi or Kushan involvement in the Kashgar oasis:

 

"During the Yuanchu period (114-120) in the reign of Emperor, the king of Shule (Kashgar), exiled his maternal uncle Chenpan to the Yuezhi (Kushans) for some offence. The king of the Yuezhi became very fond of him. Later, Anguo died without leaving a son. His mother directed the government of the kingdom. She agreed with the people of the country to put Yifu (lit. “posthumous child”), who was the son of a full younger brother of Chenpan on the throne as king of Shule (Kashgar). Chenpan heard of this and appealed to the Yuezhi (Kushan) king, saying:

 

"Anguo had no son. His relative (Yifu) is weak. If one wants to put on the throne a member of (Anguo’s) mother’s family, I am Yifu’s paternal uncle, it is I who should be king."

 

The Yuezhi (Kushans) then sent soldiers to escort him back to Shule (Kashgar). The people had previously respected and been fond of Chenpan. Besides, they dreaded the Yuezhi (Kushans). They immediately took the seal and ribbon from Yifu and went to Chenpan, and made him king. Yifu was given the title of Marquis of the town of Pangao [90 li, or 37 km, from Shule].

 

‹See TfD›

Then Suoju (Yarkand) continued to resist Yutian (Khotan), and put themselves under Shule (Kashgar). Thus Shule (Kashgar), became powerful and a rival to Qiuci (Kucha) and Yutian (Khotan)."

 

However, it was not very long before the Chinese began to reassert their authority in the region:

 

“In the second Yongjian year (127), during Emperor Shun’s reign, Chenpan sent an envoy to respectfully present offerings. The Emperor bestowed on Chenpan the title of Great Commandant-in-Chief for the Han. Chenxun, who was the son of his elder brother, was appointed Temporary Major of the Kingdom. ‹See TfD›

In the fifth year (130), Chenpan sent his son to serve the Emperor and, along with envoys from Dayuan (Ferghana) and Suoju (Yarkand), brought tribute and offerings.”

 

From an earlier part of the same text comes the following addition:

 

“In the first Yangjia year (132), Xu You sent the king of Shule (Kashgar), Chenpan, who with 20,000 men, attacked and defeated Yutian (Khotan). He beheaded several hundred people, and released his soldiers to plunder freely. He replaced the king [of Jumi] by installing Chengguo from the family of [the previous king] Xing, and then he returned.”[38]

 

Then the first passage continues:

 

“In the second Yangjia year (133), Chenpan again made offerings (including) a lion and zebu cattle. ‹See TfD›

 

Then, during Emperor Ling’s reign, in the first Jianning year, the king of Shule (Kashgar) and Commandant-in-Chief for the Han (i.e. presumably Chenpan), was shot while hunting by the youngest of his paternal uncles, Hede. Hede named himself king.

‹See TfD›

In the third year (170), Meng Tuo, the Inspector of Liangzhou, sent the Provincial Officer Ren She, commanding five hundred soldiers from Dunhuang, with the Wuji Major Cao Kuan, and Chief Clerk of the Western Regions, Zhang Yan, brought troops from Yanqi (Karashahr), Qiuci (Kucha), and the Nearer and Further States of Jushi (Turpan and Jimasa), altogether numbering more than 30,000, to punish Shule (Kashgar). They attacked the town of Zhenzhong [Arach − near Maralbashi] but, having stayed for more than forty days without being able to subdue it, they withdrew. Following this, the kings of Shule (Kashgar) killed one another repeatedly while the Imperial Government was unable to prevent it.”

 

THREE KINGDOMS TO THE SUI

These centuries are marked by a general silence in sources on Kashgar and the Tarim Basin.

 

The Weilüe, composed in the second third of the 3rd century, mentions a number of states as dependencies of Kashgar: the kingdom of Zhenzhong (Arach?), the kingdom of Suoju (Yarkand), the kingdom of Jieshi, the kingdom of Qusha, the kingdom of Xiye (Khargalik), the kingdom of Yinai (Tashkurghan), the kingdom of Manli (modern Karasul), the kingdom of Yire (Mazar − also known as Tágh Nák and Tokanak), the kingdom of Yuling, the kingdom of Juandu (‘Tax Control’ − near modern Irkeshtam), the kingdom of Xiuxiu (‘Excellent Rest Stop’ − near Karakavak), and the kingdom of Qin.

 

However, much of the information on the Western Regions contained in the Weilüe seems to have ended roughly about (170), near the end of Han power. So, we can’t be sure that this is a reference to the state of affairs during the Cao Wei (220-265), or whether it refers to the situation before the civil war during the Later Han when China lost touch with most foreign countries and came to be divided into three separate kingdoms.

 

Chapter 30 of the Records of the Three Kingdoms says that after the beginning of the Wei Dynasty (220) the states of the Western Regions did not arrive as before, except for the larger ones such as Kucha, Khotan, Kangju, Wusun, Kashgar, Yuezhi, Shanshan and Turpan, who are said to have come to present tribute every year, as in Han times.

 

In 270, four states from the Western Regions were said to have presented tribute: Karashahr, Turpan, Shanshan, and Kucha. Some wooden documents from Niya seem to indicate that contacts were also maintained with Kashgar and Khotan around this time.

 

In 422, according to the Songshu, ch. 98, the king of Shanshan, Bilong, came to the court and "the thirty-six states in the Western Regions" all swore their allegiance and presented tribute. It must be assumed that these 36 states included Kashgar.

 

The "Songji" of the Zizhi Tongjian records that in the 5th month of 435, nine states: Kucha, Kashgar, Wusun, Yueban, Tashkurghan, Shanshan, Karashahr, Turpan and Sute all came to the Wei court.

 

In 439, according to the Weishu, ch. 4A, Shanshan, Kashgar and Karashahr sent envoys to present tribute.

 

According to the Weishu, ch. 102, Chapter on the Western Regions, the kingdoms of Kucha, Kashgar, Wusun, Yueban, Tashkurghan, Shanshan, Karashahr, Turpan and Sute all began sending envoys to present tribute in the Taiyuan reign period (435-440).

 

In 453 Kashgar sent envoys to present tribute (Weishu, ch. 5), and again in 455.

 

An embassy sent during the reign of Wencheng Di (452-466) from the king of Kashgar presented a supposed sacred relic of the Buddha; a dress which was incombustible.

 

In 507 Kashgar, is said to have sent envoys in both the 9th and 10th months (Weishu, ch. 8).

 

In 512, Kashgar sent envoys in the 1st and 5th months. (Weishu, ch. 8).

 

Early in the 6th century Kashgar is included among the many territories controlled by the Yeda or Hephthalite Huns, but their empire collapsed at the onslaught of the Western Turks between 563 and 567 who then probably gained control over Kashgar and most of the states in the Tarim Basin.

 

TANG DYNASTY

The founding of the Tang dynasty in 618 saw the beginning of a prolonged struggle between China and the Western Turks for control of the Tarim Basin. In 635, the Tang Annals reported an emissary from the king of Kashgar to the Tang capital. In 639 there was a second emissary bringing products of Kashgar as a token of submission to the Tang state.

 

Buddhist scholar Xuanzang passed through Kashgar (which he referred to as Ka-sha) in 644 on his return journey from India to China. The Buddhist religion, then beginning to decay in India, was active in Kashgar. Xuanzang recorded that they flattened their babies heads, tattooed their bodies and had green eyes. He reported that Kashgar had abundant crops, fruits and flowers, wove fine woolen stuffs and rugs. Their writing system had been adapted from Indian script but their language was different from that of other countries. The inhabitants were sincere Buddhist adherents and there were some hundreds of monasteries with more than 10,000 followers, all members of the Sarvastivadin School.

 

At around the same era, Nestorian Christians were establishing bishoprics at Herat, Merv and Samarkand, whence they subsequently proceeded to Kashgar, and finally to China proper itself.

 

In 646, the Turkic Kagan asked for the hand of a Tang Chinese princess, and in return the Emperor promised Kucha, Khotan, Kashgar, Karashahr and Sarikol as a marriage gift, but this did not happen as planned.

 

In a series of campaigns between 652 and 658, with the help of the Uyghurs, the Chinese finally defeated the Western Turk tribes and took control of all their domains, including the Tarim Basin kingdoms. Karakhoja was annexed in 640, Karashahr during campaigns in 644 and 648, and Kucha fell in 648.

 

In 662 a rebellion broke out in the Western Regions and a Chinese army sent to control it was defeated by the Tibetans south of Kashgar.

 

After another defeat of the Tang Chinese forces in 670, the Tibetans gained control of the whole region and completely subjugated Kashgar in 676-8 and retained possession of it until 692, when the Tang dynasty regained control of all their former territories, and retained it for the next fifty years.

 

In 722 Kashgar sent 4,000 troops to assist the Chinese to force the "Tibetans out of "Little Bolu" or Gilgit.

 

In 728, the king of Kashgar was awarded a brevet by the Chinese emperor.

 

In 739, the Tangshu relates that the governor of the Chinese garrison in Kashgar, with the help of Ferghana, was interfering in the affairs of the Turgesh tribes as far as Talas.

 

In 751 the Chinese were defeated by an Arab army in the Battle of Talas. The An Lushan Rebellion led to the decline of Tang influence in Central Asia due to the fact that the Tang dynasty was forced to withdraw its troops from the region to fight An Lushan. The Tibetans cut all communication between China and the West in 766.

 

Soon after the Chinese pilgrim monk Wukong passed through Kashgar in 753. He again reached Kashgar on his return trip from India in 786 and mentions a Chinese deputy governor as well as the local king.

 

BATTLES WITH ARAB CALIPHATE

In 711, the Arabs invaded Kashgar, but did not hold the city for any length of time. Kashgar and Turkestan lent assistance to the reigning queen of Bukhara, to enable her to repel the Arabs. Although the Muslim religion from the very commencement sustained checks, it nevertheless made its weight felt upon the independent states of Turkestan to the north and east, and thus acquired a steadily growing influence. It was not, however, till the 10th century that Islam was established at Kashgar, under the Kara-Khanid Khanate.

 

THE TURKIC RULE

According to the 10th-century text, Hudud al-'alam, "the chiefs of Kashghar in the days of old were from the Qarluq, or from the Yaghma." The Karluks, Yaghmas and other tribes such as the Chigils formed the Karakhanids. The Karakhanid Sultan Satuq Bughra Khan converted to Islam in the 10th century and captured Kashgar. Kashgar was the capital of the Karakhanid state for a time but later the capital was moved to Balasaghun. During the latter part of the 10th century, the Muslim Karakhanids began a struggle against the Buddhist Kingdom of Khotan, and the Khotanese defeated the Karakhanids and captured Kashgar in 970. Chinese sources recorded the king of Khotan offering to send them a dancing elephant captured from Kashgar. Later in 1006, the Karakhanids of Kashgar under Yusuf Kadr Khan conquered Khotan.

 

The Karakhanid Khanate however was beset with internal strife, and the khanate split into two, the Eastern and Western Karakhanid Khanates, with Kashgar falling within the domain of the Eastern Karakhanid state. In 1089, the Western Karakhanids fell under the control of the Seljuks, but the Eastern Karakhanids was for the most part independent.

 

Both the Karakhanid states were defeated in the 12th century by the Kara-Khitans who captured Balasaghun, however Karakhanid rule continued in Kashgar under the suzerainty of the Kara-Khitans. The Kara-Khitan rulers followed a policy of religious tolerance, Islamic religious life continued uninterrupted and Kashgar was also a Nestorian metropolitan see. The last Karakhanid of Kashgar was killed in a revolt in 1211 by the city's notables. Kuchlug, a usurper of the throne of the Kara-Khitans, then attacked Kashgar which finally surrendered in 1214.

 

THE MONGOLS

The Kara-Khitai in their turn were swept away in 1219 by Genghis Khan. After his death, Kashgar came under the rule of the Chagatai Khans. Marco Polo visited the city, which he calls Cascar, about 1273-4 and recorded the presence of numerous Nestorian Christians, who had their own churches. Later In the 14th century, a Chagataid khan Tughluq Timur converted to Islam, and Islamic tradition began to reassert its ascendancy.

 

In 1389−1390 Tamerlane ravaged Kashgar, Andijan and the intervening country. Kashgar endured a troubled time, and in 1514, on the invasion of the Khan Sultan Said, was destroyed by Mirza Ababakar, who with the aid of ten thousand men built a new fort with massive defences higher up on the banks of the Tuman river. The dynasty of the Chagatai Khans collapsed in 1572 with the division of the country among rival factions; soon after, two powerful Khoja factions, the White and Black Mountaineers (Ak Taghliq or Afaqi, and Kara Taghliq or Ishaqi), arose whose differences and war-making gestures, with the intermittent episode of the Oirats of Dzungaria, make up much of recorded history in Kashgar until 1759. The Dzungar Khanate conquered Kashgar and set up the Khoja as their puppet rulers.

 

QING CONQUEST

The Qing dynasty defeated the Dzungar Khanate during the Ten Great Campaigns and took control of Kashgar in 1759. The conquerors consolidated their authority by settling other ethnics emigrants in the vicinity of a Manchu garrison.

 

Rumours flew around Central Asia that the Qing planned to launch expeditions towards Transoxiana and Samarkand, the chiefs of which sought assistance from the Afghan king Ahmed Shah Abdali. The alleged expedition never happened so Ahmad Shah withdrew his forces from Kokand. He also dispatched an ambassador to Beijing to discuss the situation of the Afaqi Khojas, but the representative was not well received, and Ahmed Shah was too busy fighting off the Sikhs to attempt to enforce his demands through arms.

The Qing continued to hold Kashgar with occasional interruptions during the Afaqi Khoja revolts. One of the most serious of these occurred in 1827, when the city was taken by Jahanghir Khoja; Chang-lung, however, the Qing general of Ili, regained possession of Kashgar and the other rebellious cities in 1828.

 

The Kokand Khanate raided Kashgar several times. A revolt in 1829 under Mahommed Ali Khan and Yusuf, brother of Jahanghir resulted in the concession of several important trade privileges to the Muslims of the district of Altishahr (the "six cities"), as it was then called.

 

The area enjoyed relative calm until 1846 under the rule of Zahir-ud-din, the local Uyghur governor, but in that year a new Khoja revolt under Kath Tora led to his accession as the authoritarian ruler of the city. However, his reign was brief—at the end of seventy-five days, on the approach of the Chinese, he fled back to Khokand amid the jeers of the inhabitants. The last of the Khoja revolts (1857) was of about equal duration, and took place under Wali-Khan, who murdered the well-known traveler Adolf Schlagintweit.

 

1862 CHINESE HUI REVOLT

The great Dungan revolt (1862–1877) involved insurrection among various Muslim ethnic groups. It broke out in 1862 in Gansu then spread rapidly to Dzungaria and through the line of towns in the Tarim Basin.

 

Dungan troops based in Yarkand rose and in August 1864 massacred some seven thousand Chinese and their Manchu commander. The inhabitants of Kashgar, rising in their turn against their masters, invoked the aid of Sadik Beg, a Kyrgyz chief, who was reinforced by Buzurg Khan, the heir of Jahanghir Khoja, and his general Yakub Beg. The latter men were dispatched at Sadik’s request by the ruler of Khokand to raise what troops they could to aid his Muslim friends in Kashgar.

 

Sadik Beg soon repented of having asked for a Khoja, and eventually marched against Kashgar, which by this time had succumbed to Buzurg Khan and Yakub Beg, but was defeated and driven back to Khokand. Buzurg Khan delivered himself up to indolence and debauchery, but Yakub Beg, with singular energy and perseverance, made himself master of Yangi Shahr, Yangi-Hissar, Yarkand and other towns, and eventually became sole master of the country, Buzurg Khan proving himself totally unfit for the post of ruler.

 

With the overthrow of Chinese rule in 1865 by Yakub Beg (1820–1877), the manufacturing industries of Kashgar are supposed to have declined.

 

Yaqub Beg entered into relations and signed treaties with the Russian Empire and the British Empire, but when he tried to get their support against China, he failed.

 

Kashgar and the other cities of the Tarim Basin remained under Yakub Beg’s rule until May 1877, when he died at Korla. Thereafter Kashgaria was reconquered by the forces of the Qing general Zuo Zongtang during the Qing reconquest of Xinjiang.

 

QING RULE

There were eras in Xinjiang's history where intermarriage was common, "laxity" which set upon Uyghur women led them to marry Chinese men and not wear the veil in the period after Yaqub Beg's rule ended, it is also believed by Uyghurs that some Uyghurs have Han Chinese ancestry from historical intermarriage, such as those living in Turpan.

 

Even though Muslim women are forbidden to marry non-Muslims in Islamic law, from 1880-1949 it was frequently violated in Xinjiang since Chinese men married Muslim Turki (Uyghur) women, a reason suggested by foriengers that it was due to the women being poor, while the Turki women who married Chinese were labelled as whores by the Turki community, these marriages were illegitimate according to Islamic law but the women obtained benefits from marrying Chinese men since the Chinese defended them from Islamic authorities so the women were not subjected to the tax on prostitution and were able to save their income for themselves. Chinese men gave their Turki wives privileges which Turki men's wives did not have, since the wives of Chinese did not have to wear a veil and a Chinese man in Kashgar once beat a mullah who tried to force his Turki Kashgari wife to veil. The Turki women also benefited in that they were not subjected to any legal binding to their Chinese husbands so they could make their Chinese husbands provide them with as much their money as she wanted for her relatives and herself since otherwise the women could just leave, and the property of Chinese men was left to their Turki wives after they died. Turki women considered Turki men to be inferior husbands to Chinese and Hindus. Because they were viewed as "impure", Islamic cemeteries banned the Turki wives of Chinese men from being buried within them, the Turki women got around this problem by giving shrines donations and buying a grave in other towns. Besides Chinese men, other men such as Hindus, Armenians, Jews, Russians, and Badakhshanis intermarried with local Turki women. The local society accepted the Turki women and Chinese men's mixed offspring as their own people despite the marriages being in violation of Islamic law. Turki women also conducted temporary marriages with Chinese men such as Chinese soldiers temporarily stationed around them as soldiers for tours of duty, after which the Chinese men returned to their own cities, with the Chinese men selling their mixed daughters with the Turki women to his comrades, taking their sons with them if they could afford it but leaving them if they couldn't, and selling their temporary Turki wife to a comrade or leaving her behind.

 

An anti-Russian uproar broke out when Russian customs officials, 3 Cossacks and a Russian courier invited local Turki (Uyghur) prostitutes to a party in January 1902 in Kashgar, this caused a massive brawl by the inflamed local Turki Muslim populace against the Russians on the pretense of protecting Muslim women because there was anti-Russian sentiment being built up, even though morality was not strict in Kashgar, the local Turki Muslims violently clashed with the Russians before they were dispersed by guards, the Chinese sought to end to tensions to prevent the Russians from building up a pretext to invade.

 

After the riot, the Russians sent troops to Sarikol in Tashkurghan and demanded that the Sarikol postal services be placed under Russian supervision, the locals of Sarikol believed that the Russians would seize the entire district from the Chinese and send more soldiers even after the Russians tried to negotiate with the Begs of Sarikol and sway them to their side, they failed since the Sarikoli officials and authorities demanded in a petition to the Amban of Yarkand that they be evacuated to Yarkand to avoid being harassed by the Russians and objected to the Russian presence in Sarikol, the Sarikolis did not believe the Russian claim that they would leave them alone and only involved themselves in the mail service.

 

Many of the young Kashgari women were most attractive in appearance, and some of the little girls quite lovely, their plaits of long hair falling from under a jaunty little embroidered cap, their big dark eyes, flashing teeth and piquant olive faces reminding me of Italian or Spanish children. One most beautiful boy stands out in my memory. He was clad in a new shirt and trousers of flowered pink, his crimson velvet cap embroidered with gold, and as he smiled and salaamed to us I thought he looked like a fairy prince. The women wear their hair in two or five plaits much thickened and lengthened by the addition of yak's hair, but the children in several tiny plaits.

 

The peasants are fairly well off, as the soil is rich, the abundant water-supply free, and the taxation comparatively light. It was always interesting to meet them taking their live stock into market. Flocks of sheep with tiny lambs, black and white, pattered along the dusty road; here a goat followed its master like a dog, trotting behind the diminutive ass which the farmer bestrode; or boys, clad in the whity-brown native cloth, shouted incessantly at donkeys almost invisible under enormous loads of forage, or carried fowls and ducks in bunches head downwards, a sight that always made me long to come to the rescue of the luckless birds.

 

It was pleasant to see the women riding alone on horseback, managing their mounts to perfection. They formed a sharp contrast to their Persian sisters, who either sit behind their husbands or have their steeds led by the bridle; and instead of keeping silence in public, as is the rule for the shrouded women of Iran, these farmers' wives chaffered and haggled with the men in the bazar outside the city, transacting business with their veils thrown back.

 

Certainly the mullas do their best to keep the fair sex in their place, and are in the habit of beating those who show their faces in the Great Bazar. But I was told that poetic justice had lately been meted out to one of these upholders of the law of Islam, for by mistake he chastised a Kashgari woman married to a Chinaman, whereupon the irate husband set upon him with a big stick and castigated him soundly.

 

That a Muslim should take in marriage one of alien faith is not objected to; it is rather deemed a meritorious act thus to bring an unbeliever to the true religion. The Muslim woman, on the other hand, must not be given in marriage to a non-Muslim; such a union is regarded as the most heinous of sins. In this matter, however, compromises are sometimes made with heaven: the marriage of a Turki princess with the emperor Ch'ien-lung has already been referred to; and, when the present writer passed through Minjol (a day's journey west of Kashgar) in 1902, a Chinese with a Turki wife (? concubine) was presented to him.

 

FIRST EAST TURKESTAN REPUBLIC

Kashgar was the scene of continual battles from 1933 to 1934. Ma Shaowu, a Chinese Muslim, was the Tao-yin of Kashgar, and he fought against Uyghur rebels. He was joined by another Chinese Muslim general, Ma Zhancang.

 

BATTLE OF KASHGAR (1933)

Uighur and Kirghiz forces, led by the Bughra brothers and Tawfiq Bay, attempted to take the New City of Kashgar from Chinese Muslim troops under General Ma Zhancang. They were defeated.

 

Tawfiq Bey, a Syrian Arab traveler, who held the title Sayyid (descendent of prophet Muhammed) and arrived at Kashgar on August 26, 1933, was shot in the stomach by the Chinese Muslim troops in September. Previously Ma Zhancang arranged to have the Uighur leader Timur Beg killed and beheaded on August 9, 1933, displaying his head outside of Id Kah Mosque.

 

Han chinese troops commanded by Brigadier Yang were absorbed into Ma Zhancang's army. A number of Han chinese officers were spotted wearing the green uniforms of Ma Zhancang's unit of the 36th division, presumably they had converted to Islam.

 

BATTLE OF KASHGAR (1934)

The 36th division General Ma Fuyuan led a Chinese Muslim army to storm Kashgar on February 6, 1934, attacking the Uighur and Kirghiz rebels of the First East Turkestan Republic. He freed another 36th division general, Ma Zhancang, who was trapped with his Chinese Muslim and Han Chinese troops in Kashgar New City by the Uighurs and Kirghiz since May 22, 1933. In January, 1934, Ma Zhancang's Chinese Muslim troops repulsed six Uighur attacks, launched by Khoja Niyaz, who arrived at the city on January 13, 1934, inflicting massive casualties on the Uighur forces. From 2,000 to 8,000 Uighur civilians in Kashgar Old City were massacred by Tungans in February, 1934, in revenge for the Kizil massacre, after retreating of Uighur forces from the city to Yengi Hisar. The Chinese Muslim and 36th division Chief General Ma Zhongying, who arrived at Kashgar on April 7, 1934, gave a speech at Id Kah Mosque in April, reminding the Uighurs to be loyal to the Republic of China government at Nanjing. Several British citizens at the British consulate were killed or wounded by the 36th division on March 16, 1934.

 

PEOPLE´S REPUBLIC OF CHINA

Kashgar was incorporated into the People's Republic of China in 1949. During the Cultural Revolution, one of the largest statues of Mao in China was built in Kashgar, near People's Square. In 1986, the Chinese government designated Kashgar a "city of historical and cultural significance". Kashgar and surrounding regions have been the site of Uyghur unrest since the 1990s. In 2008, two Uyghur men carried out a vehicular, IED and knife attack against police officers. In 2009, development of Kashgar's old town accelerated after the revelations of the deadly role of faulty architecture during the 2008 Sichuan earthquake. Many of the old houses in the old town were built without regulation, and as a result, officials found them to be overcrowded and non-compliant with fire and earthquake codes. When the plan started, 42% of the city's residents lived in the old town. With compensation, residents of faulty buildings are being counseled to move to newer, safer buildings that will replace the historic structures in the $448 million plan, including high-rise apartments, plazas, and reproductions of ancient Islamic architecture. The European Parliament issued a resolution in 2011 calling for "culture-sensitive methods of renovation." The International Scientific Committee on Earthen Architectural Heritage (ISCEAH) has expressed concern over the demolition and reconstruction of historic buildings. ISCEAH has, additionally, urged the implementation of techniques utilized elsewhere in the world to address earthquake vulnerability.

 

Following the July 2009 Urumqi riots, the government focused on local economic development in an attempt to ameliorate ethnic tensions in the greater Xinjiang region. Kashgar was made into a Special Economic Zone in 2010, the first such zone in China's far west. In 2011, a spate of violence over two days killed dozens of people. By May 2012 two-thirds of the old city had been demolished, fulfilling "political as well as economic goals." In July 2014 the Imam of the Id Kah Mosque, Juma Tayir, was assassinated in Kashgar.

 

CLIMATE

Kashgar features a desert climate (Köppen BWk) with hot summers and cold winters, with large temperature differences between those two seasons: The monthly 24-hour average temperature ranges from −5.3 °C in January to 25.6 °C in July, while the annual mean is 11.84 °C. Spring is long and arrives quickly, while fall is somewhat brief in comparison. Kashgar is one of the driest cities on the planet, averaging only 64 millimetres of precipitation per year. The city’s wettest month, July, only sees on average 9.1 millimetres of rain. Because of the extremely arid conditions, snowfall is rare, despite the cold winters. Records have been as low as −24.4 °C in January and up to 40.1 °C in July. The frost-free period averages 215 days. With monthly percent possible sunshine ranging from 50% in March to 70% in September, the city receives 2,726 hours of bright sunshine annually.

 

DEMOGRAPHICS

Kashgar is predominately peopled by Muslim Uyghurs. Compared to Ürümqi, Xinjiang's capital and largest city, Kashgar is less industrial and has significantly fewer Han Chinese residents.

 

ECONOMICS AND SOCIETY

The city has a very important Sunday market. Thousands of farmers from the surrounding fertile lands come into the city to sell a wide variety of fruit and vegetables. Kashgar’s livestock market is also very lively. Silk and carpets made in Hotan are sold at bazaars, as well as local crafts, such as copper teapots and wooden jewellery boxes.

 

In order to boost the economy in Kashgar region, the government classified the area as the sixth Special Economic Zone of China in May 2010.

 

Mahmud al-Kashgari (Turkish: Kâşgarlı Mahmud) (Mahmut from Kashgar) wrote the first Turkic–Arabic Exemplary Dictionary called Divan-ı Lugat-it Türk[citation needed]

 

The movie The Kite Runner was filmed in Kashgar. Kashgar and the surrounding countryside stood in for Kabul and Afghanistan, since filming in Afghanistan was not possible due to safety and security reasons.

 

SIGHTS

Kashgar's Old City has been called "the best-preserved example of a traditional Islamic city to be found anywhere in Central Asia". It is estimated to attract more than one million tourists annually.

 

- Id Kah Mosque, the largest mosque in China, is located in the heart of the city.

- People's Park, the main public park in central Kashgar.

- An 18 m high statue of Mao Zedong in Kashgar is one of the few large-scale statues of Mao remaining in China.

- The tomb of Afaq Khoja in Kashgar is considered the holiest Muslim site in Xinjiang. Built in the 17th century, the tiled mausoleum 5 km northeast of the city centre also contains the tombs of five generations of his family. Abakh was a powerful ruler, controlling Khotan, Yarkand, Korla, Kucha and Aksu as well as Kashgar. Among some Uyghur Muslims, he was considered a great Saint (Aulia).

- Sunday Market in Kashgar is renowned as the biggest market in central Asia; a pivotal trading point along the Silk Road where goods have been traded for more than 2,000 years. The market is open every day but Sunday is the largest.

 

TRANSPORTATION

AIR

Kashgar Airport serves mainly domestic flights, the majority of them from Urumqi. The only scheduled international flights are passenger and cargo services with Pakistan's capital Islamabad.

 

RAIL

Kashgar has the westernmost railway station in China. It is connected to the rest of China's rail network via the Southern Xinjiang Railway, which was built in December 1999. Kashgar–Hotan Railway opened for passenger traffic in June 2011, and connected Kashgar with cities in the southern Tarim Basin including Shache (Yarkand), Yecheng (Kargilik) and Hotan. Travel time to Urumqi from Kashgar is approximately 25 hours, while travel time to Hotan is approximately ten hours.

 

The investigation work of a further extension of the railway line to Pakistan has begun. In November 2009, Pakistan and China agreed to set up a joint venture to do a feasibility study of the proposed rail link via the Khunjerab Pass.

 

Proposals for a rail connection to Osh in Kyrgyzstan have also been discussed at various levels since at least 1996.

 

In 2012, a standard gauge railway from Kashgar via Tajikistan and Afghanistan to Iran and beyond has been proposed.

 

ROAD

The Karakorum highway (KKH) links Islamabad, Pakistan with Kashgar over the Khunjerab Pass. The China–Pakistan Economic Corridor is a multibillion-dollar project was that will upgrade transport links between China and Pakistan, including the upgrades to the Karakorum highway. Bus routes exist for passenger travel south into Pakistan. Kyrgyzstan is also accessible from Kashgar, via the Torugart Pass and Irkeshtam Pass; as of summer 2007, daily bus service connects Kashgar with Bishkek’s Western Bus Terminal. Kashgar is also located on China National Highways G314 (which runs to Khunjerab Pass on the Sino−Pakistani border, and, in the opposite direction, towards Ürümqi), and G315, which runs to Xining, Qinghai from Kashgar.

 

WIKIPEDIA

130518 Susies Sevens v Transact Pro, Amsterdam Sevens 2013

Speech given by Mr. Alain Simard

President and CEO of Équipe Spectra

(as delivered)

   

December 10, 2002

   

LA CULTURE ET LES COMMUNICATIONS COMME AXE DE DÉVELOPPEMENT POUR MONTRÉAL

    

Oui, le monde a changé depuis 25 ans, et il va continuer de changer, pour le meilleur ou pour le pire…

 

Chez Spectra, même si ça peut sembler naïf, nous avons toujours eu comme motivation première, le désir de partager notre passion pour la culture, d'élargir les horizons du monde, de leur faire découvrir de nouveaux artistes venus de partout, en offrant au grand public des contenus culturels novateurs et de grande qualité. Et on croit encore que ça vaut la peine de faire notre petite part pour faire évoluer le monde.

 

Vous savez, il y a 25 ans, quand j'organisais des spectacles «underground» depuis ma «commune hippie», j'étais loin de me douter que je développais de nouvelles approches marketing pour rejoindre une clientèle qui deviendrait bientôt très convoitée : «les babyboomers». Puis quand nous nous sommes diversifiés, un peu instinctivement, dans le disque, la télévision, les produits dérivés et les salles de spectacles, c'était d'abord et avant tout pour contrôler la qualité artistique de nos projets et leur distribution... on n'avait jamais entendu le mot «convergence» ! Mais ce dont je suis le plus fier, c'est d'avoir contribué à bâtir une nouvelle industrie du divertissement et de l'événementiel en développant de nouveaux créneaux inexploités, en inventant souvent de nouvelles formules, plutôt que de concurrencer ce qui existait déjà, et en partageant le fruit de nos succès avec nos partenaires et employés.

 

Il faut savoir que L'Équipe Spectra amène de l'eau au moulin à toute l'industrie culturelle avec qui elle fonctionne en complémentarité avec une éthique irréprochable : nous louons nos salles aux autres producteurs qui seraient normalement nos compétiteurs; nous engageons leurs artistes dans nos festivals ou nos émissions télé, et jamais, en 25 ans nous n'avons été accusés de maraudage, de favoritisme ou de conflit d'intérêt. Nous avons d'ailleurs depuis nos débuts un code d'éthique rigoureux, dont l'application est vérifiée par la SODEC, et qui régit toutes les transactions de l'Équipe Spectra avec les festivals qui sont des organismes à but non lucratif. Et j'aimerais en profiter pour remercier aujourd'hui tous les partenaires qui nous ont appuyés depuis 25 ans car on n'aurait pas pu bâtir ça tout seul : on avait peut être la foi qui transporte les montagnes, mais pas le porte-monnaie…C'est sans doute grâce à cette passion authentique que nous avons pu développer une vision et une crédibilité qui nous ont mérité l'appui des médias, des pouvoirs publics et des commanditaires sans qui nous n'aurions jamais pu réaliser nos rêves les plus fous.

 

Je dois dire qu'on n'était quand même pas les seuls à rêver il y a 25 ans ! Combien d'autres lançaient à cette époque soit une troupe de danse ou une troupe de théâtre, (ou même un cirque !), soit une compagnie de production télévisuelle ou de cinéma, soit un magazine, une nouvelle station FM, une maison de disques ou d'édition, un projet multimédia, un atelier de décors, une galerie d'art, un studio de son, une petite agence de publicité, un cinéma parallèle, un café d'artistes ou un restaurant nouvelle cuisine.

 

Il y a 25 ans, alors que tous ces jeunes profitaient des loyers modiques d'un centre-ville au marché immobilier à tout le moins morose, qui aurait pu imaginer que l'effervescence culturelle qui en découlerait deviendrait un jour un avantage stratégique dans le positionnement international de Montréal et que sa personnalité festive deviendrait le symbole de sa qualité de vie, à tel point que d'autres grandes villes, comme Toronto, deviendraient jalouses de son «indice bohémien» !

 

Depuis trois ans, presque tous les grands magazines internationaux, de National Geographic Traveler à Wallpaper Magazine en passant par Condé Nast et Travel & Leisure, ont classé Montréal dans leur palmarès des villes les plus «trendy» de la planète, à cause de sa qualité de vie, de ses festivals et de son activité culturelle. On compare son dynamisme à celui de Barcelone ou de San Francisco…

 

C'est un fait que le centre-ville de Montréal bouillonne aujourd'hui d'activités diverses, démultipliées grâce à son bilinguisme et son multiculturalisme : nous avons ainsi accès à un choix inouï de productions aussi bien locales qu'américaines ou européennes de même qu'à une foule de lieux et d'activités pour agrémenter nos sorties.

 

Lors d'un récent sondage auprès de ses clients, Destination Centre-Ville, l'association des marchands de l'artère commerciale la plus achalandée au Canada, la rue Sainte-Catherine, découvrait que le divertissement est la motivation première de cet achalandage, et ce, dans 51 % des cas. Ce sont donc les spectacles, les cinémas, les festivals, les restaurants et les bars qui attirent la majorité des gens qui en profitent pour magasiner…

 

Si l'on veut préserver et maintenir cette effervescence propre à l'expérience montréalaise, il faut aujourd'hui prendre des mesures pour protéger et stimuler le milieu de la création culturelle qui est à l'origine de cette personnalité distinctive. Pour ce faire, il faut bien sûr augmenter significativement le budget du Conseil des arts de Montréal, tel que promis par l'administration municipale, ce qui lui permettrait de s'impliquer davantage dans la création d'œuvres originales dans les institutions du centre-ville, notamment dans le cadre des grands festivals qui doivent constamment offrir des contenus culturels crédibles pour conserver leur couverture de presse internationale et ce n'est pas le rôle des subventions de développement économique ou des commandites privées de leur donner la marge de manœuvre pour le faire.

 

Il faudra aussi trouver la façon de compenser pour la «gentrification» croissante de l'arrondissement Ville Marie et la hausse de sa valeur locative, histoire de ne pas évincer les artistes et créateurs qui auront contribué à son succès… Il importe donc de prévoir des mesures incitatives pour favoriser l'accueil ou la relocalisation des petits organismes culturels et des créateurs pour retenir et favoriser leur concentration dans le secteur.

 

C'est pour cette raison que je proposais, lors du récent Sommet de Montréal, de prioriser le domaine de la culture et des communications comme axe de développement pour l'est du centre-ville, en y incluant la «Cité des Ondes» (SRC, TVA, TQ), le quartier Latin et ses institutions du savoir, le futur «quartier des spectacles» et le Vieux Montréal avec sa vocation patrimoniale, muséale et touristique.

 

Voilà une avenue naturelle pour le développement du centre-ville de Montréal où sont déjà concentrés 80 % des emplois du domaine de la culture et des communications au Québec, soit plus de 100 000 personnes qui en façonnent la personnalité, d'autant plus que la plupart des autres grands secteurs économiques comme l'industrie pharmaceutique, les biotechnologies ou le secteur de l'aérospatiale sont généralement localisés en périphérie. En outre, cette stratégie est des plus structurantes pour l'industrie touristique qui crée, ne l'oublions pas, plus de 64 000 emplois principalement concentrés dans le centre-ville. Il faut savoir qu'à Montréal, les hôteliers paient annuellement près de 200 millions de dollars en taxes foncières et 100 millions de dollars en TPS et TVQ. N'oublions pas qu'il s'agit d'argent neuf dans notre économie, parce qu'il provient des touristes venus d'ailleurs….Tout ça pour dire que ces secteurs économiques constituent certainement la base sur laquelle peut se construire l'avenir de l'arrondissement Ville Marie et de Montréal.

 

Pourtant, il y a 25 ans, la culture, le divertissement et le tourisme étaient souvent considérés comme les parents pauvres de la «grande industrie» et du monde de la finance, avec des emplois jugés précaires et sans avenir…Qui aurait cru que ces secteurs deviendraient des locomotives de l'économie de l'an 2000, selon l'Organisation mondiale du commerce.

 

Lors du colloque «Tourisme et divertissement» organisé le mois dernier par la Chaire de tourisme, on apprenait que la tendance touristique en plus forte croissance dans le monde sont les séjours urbains de courte durée et qu'ils sont intimement liés à l'expérience culturelle et à l'ambiance que peut offrir une grande ville. On y démontrait que les festivals et événements de même que les complexes thématiques de divertissement, les casinos et les musées contribuent à positionner une ville sur l'échiquier international, «favorisant la venue d'investisseurs, la tenue de congrès, l'arrivée de nouveaux citoyens et enfin la revitalisation et la prospérité de la cité». Selon Robert Sprazzichino, expert européen en matière d'aménagement urbain, «la culture, le tourisme et les loisirs sont aujourd'hui considérés comme des facteurs essentiels et même comme des moteurs de régénération et de redynamisation urbaine».

 

Montréal n'a peut-être pas de Statue de la Liberté, de tour Eiffel ou de Disneyworld, mais elle jouit maintenant d'une réputation enviable, celle d'être la «Ville des festivals». Et cette «marque de commerce», cette personnalité distinctive exploitée avec succès par Tourisme Montréal depuis quelques années, a permis cet été à Montréal de «surclasser» pour la première fois Toronto et Vancouver, à la fois pour le nombre de touristes étrangers et pour le tarif moyen des chambres d'hôtel. Après les événements du 11 septembre, nous étions la seule ville canadienne à connaître une augmentation du taux d'occupation des hôtels !

 

Il y a 25 ans, quand j'écrivais, dans une demande de subvention pour la création du Festival International de Jazz de Montréal «qu'un jour, cet événement attirera des milliers de touristes américains», je peux vous dire que j'ai sérieusement fait rire de moi… et ça a pris 5 ans avant de finalement toucher une première subvention de 10 000 $ !

 

Même moi, je n'aurais jamais cru que ce projet quelque peu utopique puisse devenir un jour l'un des plus importants festivals au monde avec 1,7 million de participants, et même être choisi par Attractions Canada comme l'une des 8 principales attractions touristiques au pays, avec les chutes Niagara et les Rocheuses !

 

Depuis plusieurs années, un participant sur cinq au Festival de Jazz vient de l'extérieur de Montréal, la moitié en provenance des États Unis, soit une personne sur dix. Le plus remarquable, c'est que 86 % des visiteurs du Québec et 80 % des touristes étrangers sont venus à Montréal spécifiquement à cause du Festival de Jazz! Et, selon l'étude effectuée par KPMG en 2001, ces seuls touristes venus au Festival de Jazz ont dépensé à Montréal 44,5 millions de dollars, générant 10 millions de dollars de recettes fiscales pour le gouvernement du Québec et 7,2 millions de dollars au fédéral - toujours de l'argent NEUF dans notre économie et près de 10 fois ce que le Festival a reçu en fonds publics !

 

Même les FrancoFolies, un événement en croissance qui touche principalement les jeunes et les communautés culturelles, à qui nous voulons donner le goût de la musique francophone, rejoignent maintenant 18 % de touristes dont les 2/3 proviennent de l'extérieur du Québec, avec un total de 700 000 visiteurs en dix jours. Quand on y ajoute le Grand Prix de Formule Un qui démarre la saison d'été en lion, La Feria du Vélo, Juste Pour Rire, Le Mondial SAQ, les Internationaux de Tennis du Canada et le Festival des Films du Monde qui vient clôturer «l'été des festivals», on obtient une masse critique d'événements qui assurent un rayonnement international ininterrompu pour Montréal pendant trois mois, avec des télédiffusions multiples dans des dizaines de pays à longueur d'année.

 

Et souvent, les événements montréalais ont ceci d'unique au monde qu'ils ont la capacité d'accueillir des centaines de milliers de spectateurs avec des activités d'animation urbaine gratuites, dans les rues du centre-ville fermées à la circulation automobile, alors qu'ailleurs ils se limitent à des sites fermés et souvent payants.

 

Il faut savoir qu'en conséquence les organisateurs sont souvent seuls à couvrir tous les coûts d'aménagement, de programmation, de sécurité, de nettoyage et de publicité pour des activités qui rapportent à tous sauf à eux. De là le besoin d'un apport indispensable des commandites privées et des aides gouvernementales pour assurer la survie de cette jeune industrie typiquement québécoise, souvent subventionnée à moins de 20 % de son budget alors que ses concurrents internationaux le sont souvent de 40 % à 60 %, grâce à des taxes dédiées à l'hébergement, comme à la Nouvelle Orléans, Chicago ou Edimbourg.

 

Une récente étude de KPMG pour le compte du REMI (Regroupement des Événements Majeurs Internationaux) démontre que ces dix-neuf événements représentent globalement une activité économique de 300 millions de dollars, créant plus de 7000 emplois annualisés au Québec qui génèrent directement plus de 58 millions de dollars de recettes fiscales pour le gouvernement du Québec, et ce, sur les seules dépenses des touristes, en plus des 10 millions de dollars encaissés à même les dépenses des événements eux-mêmes!

 

C'est pourquoi il faut saluer la vision du gouvernement du Québec pour avoir créé, il y a trois ans, un fonds de 10 millions de dollars par année pour soutenir cette industrie et l'aider à développer son produit, un investissement qui a donc profité à toute la société, ayant provoqué une croissance des retombées touristiques de 23 % en seulement deux ans! De plus, chaque dollar investi dans les événements a été multiplié par cinq grâce à l'effet de levier qu'il a donné aux organisateurs pour aller chercher plus de commandites et de revenus du grand public!

 

C'est pourquoi il est indispensable pour les événements que soit renouvelé ce fonds triennal qui échoit cette année, histoire d'en conserver leurs acquis et maintenir leur potentiel de croissance. Il est de plus impératif que le gouvernement fédéral (qui touche lui aussi près de 40 000 000 $ d'argent neuf chaque année) reconnaisse enfin cette activité économique et touristique florissante, même si elle est surtout concentrée au Québec. Les événements souhaitent évidemment qu'Ottawa crée un programme normé pour aider à financer leurs infrastructures temporaires, en remplacement du programme quelque peu controversé des commandites…

 

Il faut se rappeler que si d'aucuns ont questionné les modalités d'attribution de ces programmes gouvernementaux, personne n'a jamais remis en question la pertinence d'investir des fonds publics dans les grands événements populaires et touristiques. Il faudrait donc faire attention de ne pas jeter le bébé avec l'eau du bain…

 

Fort de ce succès, nous avons devant nous un défi pour maximiser l'impact des événements à longueur d'année pour Montréal : la désaisonnalisation. C'est donc pour consolider l'image de la «Ville des festivals» comme destination culturelle et gastronomique, même dans la saison creuse d'hiver, que nous avons créé en collaboration avec Tourisme Montréal et les trois paliers de gouvernement, le Festival MONTRÉAL EN LUMIÈRE.

 

Ce projet, retenu comme une des priorités du Sommet économique de 1996, regroupe au sein de son conseil d'administration les représentants des milieux économique, touristique et culturel, dont la Chambre de commerce, l'Association des Hôteliers et la Place des Arts.

 

Après seulement trois ans, déjà près d'un demi-million de visiteurs, dont 15 % venus de l'extérieur de Montréal, étaient comptés l'hiver dernier aux différentes activités des trois volets de l'événement : la Fête de la lumière Hydro Québec, les Plaisirs de la table SAQ et les Arts La Financière Sun Life.

 

En association avec les Productions l'Entracte (à qui l'on doit le récent défilé du Père Noël), nous nous attaquons maintenant à la saison automnale en collaboration avec les marchands du Vieux Montréal et le Vieux Port : dès octobre prochain, «La Grande Mascarade, la fête de l'Halloween» transformera ces sites historiques en des lieux magiques et mystérieux qui pourront accueillir de grandes foules avec de multiples activités gratuites aussi amusantes qu'épeurantes…

 

Cette nouvelle fête populaire possède un énorme potentiel de croissance et vise à moyen terme à devenir l'un des événements majeurs entourant l'Halloween et la fête des Morts en Amérique du Nord, une autre façon de confirmer la réputation festive et ludique de Montréal à longueur d'année.

 

Dans la foulée de cet objectif qui fait largement consensus, il faut retenir deux grandes tendances qui se sont imposées au colloque Divertissement et tourisme (où je prenais d'ailleurs la parole, en compagnie de Normand Legault, du Grand Prix de Formule Un, et Daniel Lamarre, du Cirque du Soleil) : la création de mégacomplexes culturels et de divertissement, de même que la «thématisation» comme stratégie de «branding» pour consolider le positionnement d'une ville comme destination internationale. Comme ils répondent à ces critères déterminants, j'ai choisi pour terminer mon exposé de vous parler brièvement de projets qui me tiennent particulièrement à cœur : le Complexe Spectrum, la future Place des festivals et le Quartier des spectacles.

 

Il y a 20 ans exactement, quand nous avons lancé le Spectrum dans l'ancien cinéma Alouette (là-même où mon père m'avait amené voir Bambi pour ma première sortie au cinéma), jamais nous n'aurions imaginé que cette salle pourrait devenir ce lieu mythique du spectacle montréalais, encore moins qu'elle serait un jour au cœur de la revitalisation de la rue Sainte Catherine.

 

Après avoir déménagé le Festival International de Jazz de Montréal dans ce secteur pour profiter de ses nombreux terrains vacants et de la proximité d'une dizaine de salles de spectacles, je peux vous dire que je connais ce quadrilatère situé entre Bleury et Jeanne Mance comme le fond de ma poche. Depuis 20 ans, je rêve de voir revitalisé ce no man's land, avec ses quatre stationnements à ciel ouvert et ses deux terrains vagues qui coupent encore la Place des Arts et le Complexe Desjardins du reste du centre-ville. C'est d'ailleurs là que se situe la véritable démarcation entre l'Est et l'Ouest de Montréal : aussi bien les anglophones que les francophones s'y sentent chez eux, que ce soit au Spectrum ou au Festival de Jazz.

 

Construit sur un terrain d'un acre situé angle Bleury et Sainte Catherine, le Complexe Spectrum comprendra l'actuelle salle de spectacles ainsi qu'un club de jazz, quatre nouvelles salles de cinéma Ex Centris et neuf salles de cinéma Alliance Atlantis, des restaurants, une librairie / disquaire ainsi qu'une billetterie centrale, ouverts tous les soirs. Jouxtant la future Place des festivals et en face du nouveau Complexe de 280 millions de dollars annoncé par le gouvernement du Québec (comprenant les Conservatoires de Musique et de Théâtre ainsi que la future salle de l'OSM), nous voulons faire du Complexe Spectrum le vaisseau-amiral du Quartier des spectacles, un haut lieu de la culture populaire montréalaise, toujours dans la mire des caméras de Musique Plus et de Musimax, situés de l'autre côté de la rue Bleury.

 

Incidemment, cet investissement de 40 millions de dollars, réalisé par l'Équipe Spectra en partenariat avec Daniel Langlois d'Ex Centris et la SGF, générera suffisamment de nouvelles taxes foncières pour permettre à la Ville de Montréal de recouvrer son investissement de six millions dans la Place des festivals en seulement quatre ou cinq ans. Ce projet d'agora publique, annoncé par le maire de Montréal et le premier ministre Bernard Landry le printemps dernier viendra compléter cette revitalisation du centre-ville tout en assurant la pérennité du plus beau site d'animation urbaine au monde. Ce nouveau lieu public, qui pourra être utilisé comme patinoire l'hiver, servira à tous les Montréalais à longueur d'année et deviendra une attraction touristique à la façon du Rockfeller Plaza, à New York, ou encore de la Place d'Youville, à Québec.

 

Il faut se réjouir de voir tous ces projets qui vont transfigurer le centre-ville de Montréal d'ici cinq ans, avec des investissements évalués à 350 millions de dollars. Mais on est loin du milliard déjà engagé par Toronto pour en faire la «capitale culturelle du Canada».

 

Pour garder un de nos rares avantages stratégiques de Montréal, je crois qu'il faut se retrousser les manches et se donner en priorité comme objectif commun de concrétiser l'aménagement du Quartier des spectacles, une des pistes d'action principales issues du Sommet de Montréal. La beauté de ce projet de l'ADISQ, c'est qu'il vise d'abord à consolider des acquis et des équipements culturels qui n'ont jamais été mis en valeur comme un tout : il existe dans l'axe de la rue Sainte Catherine, entre Bleury et Saint Denis (et sur Saint Laurent), une masse critique de 25 salles de spectacles et théâtres qui totalisent (avec la nouvelle salle de l'OSM) 28 000 sièges, alors que Broadway en compte 46 000 à New York. Il s'agit donc de structurer, de revitaliser et d'embellir ce quartier aussi connu comme le site des grands festivals, en le «thématisant» officiellement comme «quartier des spectacles» pour maximiser son pouvoir d'attraction au moyen d'une intervention urbanistique prévoyant une signalisation propre, un mobilier urbain et un plan d'éclairage spécifique, ainsi que des services d'entretien et de sécurité accrus.

 

Pour en exploiter tout son potentiel de développement touristique, il faudra relier le Quartier des spectacles par des axes piétonniers invitants avec le Palais des Congrès, le Vieux Montréal, la Cité internationale et le Quartier des affaires. Tourisme Montréal et les organismes culturels travaillent déjà à créer une billetterie centrale accessible aux touristes et congressistes séjournant dans les grands hôtels pour prolonger leur séjour et avoir un impact à long terme dans la forfaitisation de la destination.

 

Le momentum est mûr pour une action collective et concertée, à l'heure où d'autres projets structurants sont à l'horizon, dont l'agrandissement du Musée Pointe à Callières, la revitalisation de La Ronde par Six Flags et surtout l'investissement de 470 000 000 $ dans le Casino pour en faire un équipement de classe internationale afin d'en augmenter la vocation touristique.

 

De la même façon que nous avons réussi la revitalisation du Vieux Montréal et du Vieux Port depuis 10 ans, puis du Quartier international qui s'apprête à voir le jour avec un Palais des congrès agrandi (qui nous permettra de garder notre titre de 4e ville de congrès dans le monde - encore de l'argent neuf !), nous devons concrétiser aujourd'hui nos énergies dans l'aménagement et la mise en valeur de ce Quartier des spectacles, investir encore plus dans la création culturelle pour renforcer la personnalité festive et ludique du centre-ville, locomotive du développement économique, social et culturel de la région métropolitaine.

 

C'est un investissement à la fois pour la qualité de vie de tous les citoyens, et un acte de foi dans l'avenir de Montréal comme métropole culturelle internationale et l'une des grandes destinations de la planète.

      

I have lived in Kent since 2007, and hadn't visited Sevenoaks before yesterday. It being one of Kent's major towns, this is something of a surprise, I even had to check my photostream on here to make sure: nothing for Sevenoaks.

 

For me, Sevenoaks is famous for two things: 1. the seven oaks destroyed in the 1987 "hurricane" and I suppose home to the chain of hi-fi shops, Sevenoaks Audio, though I didn't see a branch during my visit.

 

I don't know why I decided to visit here today, the idea had been to go to Nunhead to a large rambling and overgrown Victorian cemetery (more of that later), and the Southeastern website suggested the way there was via St Pancras and then on Thameslink. I thought there must have been a route across Kent, which is how I came to be in Sevenoaks, change here for Nunhead.

 

So, why not explore the town before travelling on?

 

So, I guess that's why I was here.

 

The spread of the new COVID variant meant I did consider cancelling the trip, but with no new lockdowns announced on Monday, and armed with a mask I set off, Jools dropping me off at Dover Priory at half six, withenough time for a gingerbread latte (with an extra shot) before my train pulled in.

 

Less than a dozen got in the 12 carriages, and there service trundled through Kent, Ashford, Pluckley, Marden, Staplehurst, Tonbdrige to deposit me here at Sevenoaks.

 

I and half a dozen people got off, I lingered to take a couple of shots before the long walk up the hill to the town centre.

 

Thanks to GSV, I had travelled up London Road to the centre of town, so knew it was a hike, but worth it. I mean, no point going somewhere if there was nothing of worth to snap, was there?

 

At first I walked past large houses, then at the major road junction, a sparkling Ferrari Dealership, not something we have in Dover, and not sure if Canterbury even has one. But Sevenoaks does, as well as on one, not two, but three dry cleaners, all looking busy.

 

The main shopping area had old pubs and coaching inns, clapboard houses and other with peg tiles decorating the outside, all got photographed, of course.

 

Att he top of the shopping streets, where the two A roads meet, there is a fine pre-warboys signpost that I snapped good and proper.

 

Finally, as the hill flattened out, the buildings got older still, before coming to the parish church, which I knew from research was almost impossible to get inside judging by the reviews left.

 

It wasn't yet nine, my back was complaining, so I took a seat in the chuchyard to wait.

 

Wait for what, I do not know.

 

The clocked chimed mournfully for nine, to the south, a couple of workmen repair the top of the substantial wall, and I guess the ownes comes into the churchyard to find bricks that have fallen from it. The wall is at least twenty feet high, separating the church from the grand house, I wonder what the owners thought were being kept out?

 

I looked at the west windows closer. Are those lights on inside, I asked myself. I'd better go and check.

 

So, I went round the north side of the chancel and nave, and came to the parish office. The door was open, there was a light on, and there was a lady at a desk, working away. Beyond I could see the west end of the nave, all lit up.

 

I'd ask if I could go in.

 

I put a mask on, knocked at he door and asked.

 

I'm not sure, but I'll go and check.

 

She checked, and I was told it was OK.

 

Inside, two ladies were putting even more chairs out into each nave, adding a booklet on each seat.

 

I'll try not to disturb you, i said. But they were fine about me being there, so I got to work. Now, as I wasn't expecting to do any crawling, I failed to bring the second camera body with wide angle lens fitted, so the compact would have to do. Thankfully the church was well lit.

 

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

 

The church looks well from the main street, with its east end almost on the road. Built of local stone, the nave, aisles, chapels and tower are typical of fifteenth-century design. The church has been so often restored - in 1812, 1878, 1954 and most recently in 1994 when a crypt was built - that its historical interest is limited. However, the stained glass windows by Kempe and Heaton, Butler and Bayne are of excellent quality, especially those in the south aisle. There are also some interesting monuments, including one to William Lambarde (d. 1601), the first Kentish historian.

 

www.kentchurches.info/church.asp?p=Sevenoaks+1

 

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

 

SEVENOKE.

NEXT southward from Seale lies the parish and town of SEVENOKE, called, in the Textus Roffensis, SEOUENACCA, which name was given to it from seven large oaks, standing on the hill where the town is, at the time of its being first built. It is now commonly called SENNOCK.

 

THE PARISH of Sevenoke is situated partly above and partly below the great ridge of sand hills which runs across this county, and divides the upland from the Weald or southern district of it. It is divided into three districts, the Town Borough, Rotherhith or Rethered, now called Riverhead, and the Weald. The parish is of considerable extent, being five miles in length, from north to south, and about four miles in width. The soil of it varies much; at and about the town, it is a sand, as it is towards the hill southward, below which it is a stiff clay, and towards the low grounds, to Riverhead, a rich sertile soil. It reaches more than a mile below the hill, where there is a hamlet, called Sevenoke Weald, lying within that district, for it should be known, that all that part of this parish, which lies below the great range of sand hills southward, is in the Weald of Kent, the bound of which is the narrow road which runs along the bottom of them, and is called, to distinguish it, Sevenoke Weald; thus when a parish extends below, and the church of it is above the hill, that part below, has the addition of Weald to it, as Sevenoke Weald, Sundridge Weald, and the like.

 

THE TOWN of Sevenoke lies about thirty-three miles from London, on high ground above the sand hill, the church, which is situated at the south end of it, is a conspicuous object each way to a considerable distance. The high roads from Westram; and from London through Farnborough, meeting at about a mile above it; and that from Dartford through Farningham and Otford, at the entrance of the town; and leading from thence again both to Penshurst and Tunbridge. Between the town and the hill there is much coppice wood, and a common, called Sevenoke common, on which is a seat, called Ash-grove, belonging to Mrs. Smith. The town of Sevenoke is a healthy, pleasant situation, remarkable for the many good houses throughout it, inhabited by persons of genteel fashion and fortune, which make it a most desirable neighbourhood. In the middle of the High-Street is the house of the late Dr. Thomas Fuller, afterwards of Francis Austen, esq. clerk of the peace for this county; near which is the large antient market-place, in which the market, which is plentifully supplied with every kind of provisions, is held weekly on a Saturday; and the two fairs yearly, on July 10, and Oct. 12, and where the business of the assizes, when held at Sevenoke, as they were several times in queen Elizabeth's reign, and in the year before the death of king Charles I. and once since, has been usually transacted. At the south end of it is a seat, the residence of Multon Lambard, esq. at a small distance westward is the magnificent mansion and park of Knole; and eastward, a small valley intervening, the seat of Kippington; at a little distance northward of the town is an open space, called Sevenoke Vine, noted for being the place where the great games of Cricket, the provincial amusement of this county, are in general played; this joins to Gallows common, so called from the execution of criminals on it formerly. In the valley below it is Bradborne, and the famous silk mills, belonging to Peter Nonaille, esq. called Greatness, near which are the ruins of the hospital or chapel, dedicated to St. John, where this parish bounds to Otford.

 

About a mile north-west from the town, where the two roads from London and Westerham meet, is the large hamlet of Riverhead, bounded by the river Darent and the parish of Chevening; in which, among others, is the seat of Montreal; that of Mrs. Petley; and of the late admiral Amherst and others; most of which the reader will find described hereafter.

 

In the Account of the Roman Stations in Britain, written by Richard, a monk of Cirencester, published by Dr. Stukely, the station, called Vagniacæ, is supposed to have been at Sevenoke, which is there set down as eighteen miles distant both from Medum, Maidstone; and Noviomagus, Croydon; but in this opinion he has hardly been followed by any one.

 

THE MANOR OF SEVENOKE was always esteemed as an appendage to that of Otford, and as such was part of the possessions of the see of Canterbury, till it was exchanged with the crown for other premises, by archbishop Cranmer, in the 9th year of Henry VIII. as will be further mentioned below.

 

THE MANOR OF KNOLE, with that of Bradborne, in this parish, had, according to the earliest accounts, for some time the same owners as the manors of Kemsing, Seale, and Bradborne. Accordingly, in king John's reign, they were in the possession of Baldwin de Betun, earl of Albemarle, from whom they went in marriage into the family of the Mareschalls, earls of Pembroke. Whilst one of these, William Mareschal, earl of Pembroke, sided with the rebellious barons at the latter end of king John's, and beginning of king Henry III's reign, the king seized on his lands, as escheats to the crown; during which time these manors seem to have been granted to Fulk de Brent, a desperate fellow, as Camden calls him. He was a bastard by birth, of mean extraction, who had come out of the low countries, with some foreign auxiliaries and freebooters, to king John's assistance, and became a great favorite, both with that king and his son, Henry III. from both of whom he was invested with much power, and had the lands of many of the barons conferred on him; till giving loose to his natural inclination, he became guilty of many cruelties and oppressions, and at length sided with prince Lewis of France in his design of invading England. But failing in this, he fled into Wales, and the king seized on all his possessions throughout England; after which, returning and pleading for mercy, in consideration of his former services, he was only banished the realm, and died in Italy soon afterwards, as is said, of poison. After which, the earl returning to his obedience, obtained the possession of these manor's again. (fn. 1) Hence they passed again in like manner to Hugh Bigod, earl of Norfolk, whose heir in the 11th year of king Edward I. conveyed them to Otho de Grandison; on whose death without issue, William de Grandison, his brother, became his heir; his grandson, Sir Thomas Grandison, passed away Knole to Geoffry de Say, and Braborne, Kemsing, and Seale, to others, as may be seen under their respective descriptions.

 

Geoffry de Say was only son and heir of Geoffry de Say, by Idonea his wife, daughter of William, and sister and heir of Thomas lord Leyborne, and was a man of no small consequence, having been summoned to parliament in the 1st year of king Edward III. and afterwards constituted admiral of all the king's fleets, from the river Thames westward, being then a banneret. He died in the 33d year of king Edward III. leaving William, his son and heir, and three daughters. William de Say left issue a son, John, who died without issue in his minority, anno 6 king Richard II. and a daughter Elizabeth, who was first married to Sir John de Fallesley, and afterwards to Sir William Heron, but died s. p. in the 6th year of king Edward IV. (fn. 2) so that the three sisters of William de Say became coheirs to the inheritance of this family. (fn. 3)

 

¶How the manor of Knole passed from the family of Say I do not find; but in the reign of king Henry VI. it was in the possession of Ralf Leghe, who then conveyed it by sale to James Fienes, or Fenys, as the name came now to be called, who was the second son of Sir William Fynes, son of Sir William Fienes, or Fynes, who had married Joane, third sister and coheir of William de Say above-mentioned. He was much employed by king Henry V. and no less in favor with king Henry VI. who, in the 24th year of his reign, on account of Joane, his grandmother, being third sister and coheir to William de Say, by an especial writ that year summoned him to parliament as lord Say and Seale; and, in consideration of his eminent services, in open parliament, advanced him to the dignity of a baron, as lord Say, to him and his heirs male. After which he was made constable of Dover-castle, and warden of the five ports, lord chamberlain, and one of the king's council; and, in the 28th year of that reign, lord treasurer; which great rise so increased the hatred of the commons against him, that having arraigned him before the lord mayor and others, they hurried him to the standard in Cheapside, where they cut off his head, and carried it on a pole before his naked body, which was drawn at a horse's tail into Southwark, and there hanged and quartered.

  

Of the THREE DISTRICTS, into which this parish is divided, of which those of Town Borough and the Weald have already been described, the remaining one of Riverhead is by no means inconsiderable. It lies about a mile from Sevenoke town, and seems formerly to have been written both Rotherhith and Rothered, comprehending the western part of this parish; it contains the large hamlet of Riverhead, in which are situated lord Amherst's seat of Montreal; that of Cool Harbour, late admiral Amherst's; and Mrs. Petley's; through this hamlet the road branches on the one hand to Westerham, and on the other across the river Darent towards Farnborough and London; hence it extends beyond Bradborne to the bounds of this parish, north-eastward, at Greatness, which is within it.

 

In this hamlet was the antient mansion, called Brook's Place, Supposed to have been built by one of the family of Colpeper, out of the materials taken from the neighbouring suppressed hospital of St. John. It afterwards came into the possession of a younger branch of the family of Amherst. Jeffrey Amherst, esq. bencher of Gray's-inn, was owner of it, and resided here at the latter end of the last century. He was descended of ancestors, who had been seated at Pembury in the reign of king Richard II. from whom, in a direct line, descended Richard Amherst, esq. who left three sons; the eldest of whom, Richard, was sergeant at law, and of Bayhall, in Pembury, in the description of which a full account will be given of him and his descendants. Jeffry, the second, was ancestor of the Riverhead branch, as will be mentioned hereafter; and William, the third son, left an only daughter, Margaret, married to John Champs of Tunbridge.

 

Jeffry Amherst was rector of Horsemonden, and resided at Southes, in Sussex, where he died, and was buried in 1662; whose grandson, Jeffry Amherst, esq. was of Riverhead, as has been before mentioned. and a bencher of Gray's-inn, and dying in 1713, was buried at Pembury. By his first wife, Elizabeth, daughter of Henry Yates, esq. of Sussex, he had several children, of whom, Jeffry, the second son, only arrived at maturity, and was of Riverhead; he was a bencher of Gray's-inn, and dying in 1750, was buried in Sevenoke church, having married Elizabeth, daughter of Thomas Kerrill, esq. of Hadlow, by whom he had seven sons and two daughters, viz. Elizabeth, married to John Thomas, clerk, of Welford, in Gloucestershire; and Margaret, who died unmarried.

 

Of the sons, Sackville, the eldest, died unmarried in 1763, Jeffry the second, will be mentioned hereafter; John, the third, was of Riverhead, and viceadmiral of the blue squadron; he married Anne, daughter of Thomas Lindzee, of Portsmouth, by whom he had no issue; he died in 1778, and his widow re-married Thomas Munday, esq. The seventh son, William, was a lieutenant-general in the army, and married Elizabeth, daughter of Thomas Patterson, esq. of London. He died in 1781, leaving one son, William-Pitt, and a daughter, Elizabeth-Frances.

 

Jeffry Amherst, esq. the second son, became, at length, possessed of the mansion of Brooks, and attaching himself early in life to the prossession of a soldier, he acquired the highest military honours and preferments, after a six years glorious war in North America, of which he was appointed governor and commander in chief in 1760; which, when he resigned, the king, among other marks of his royal approbation of his conduct, appointed him governor of the province of Virginia.

 

¶The victorious atchievements of the British forces in North America, during Sir Jeffry Amherst's continuance there, cannot be better summed up than by giving two of the inscriptions on an obelisk, in the grounds of his seat at Montreal; viz.

 

www.british-history.ac.uk/survey-kent/vol3/pp60-105

130518 Susies Sevens v Transact Pro, Amsterdam Sevens 2013

Julie Nardone sees the light on Thanksgiving.

 

Listen to the Morning Stories podcast called Thanksgiving and Getting.

 

The WGBH Morning Stories website is wgbh.org/morningstories.

 

TRANSCRIPT : THE "THANKSGIVING AND GETTING" PODCAST

 

Tony Kahn:

Hi everybody! This is Tony Kahn, the producer and director of

Morning Stories from WGBH in Boston. A phrase has been

dropping out of the English language. That phrase is: "Your

Welcome." In stores, businesses, information kiosks,

supermarkets, all over America, wherever people meet to do

each other a favor or transact business, the general standard

response to "thank you" is ... Gary?

 

Gary Mott:

No. Thank YOU.

 

Tony Kahn:

Some people say that this is one thank you too many. What

does the giver of a kindness have to thank the getter for? Julie

Nardone has been mulling over that question and she tells us

what she's been learning about gratitude from her own life. We

call her story: "Thanksgiving and Getting."

 

Julie Nardone:

I grew up in a wealthy town. The kind that gets an almost

embarrassing response when you mention it. My father's

business did well and I reaped the benefits. Showed my horse

on weekends, played junior golf at a private country club,

attended overnight camping summer, graduated from college

without student loans, and always thought I needed more.

 

[background voices saying: "Good afternoon, how are you?"]

 

Julie Nardone:

One day while inching along in line at the sandwich shop,...

 

[background voice: "cash or credit?" ..."whatever".]

 

Julie Nardone:

Bonnie, a colleague, leaned over to me and said, "Do you know

you never say thank you'?"

 

[background voice: "Have a great day"]

 

Julie Nardone:

"I do too," I said. Then reconsidered, "Really?"

 

"It's kinda rude," she said.

 

[music... and voices saying...thank you, thank You, thank you!]

 

Julie Nardone:

In the years that followed, I struggled with my "thank yous."

Most of the time, if I listened, I could feel them falling a little flat.

 

[background voice; "Thanks". "Oh, thank you so much"!]

 

Julie Nardone:

And genuine opportunities weren't all that easy to find.

 

[Horn blowing and driver yelling: "What are you waiting for?

Your favorite color?"]

[sounds of rush hour traffic]

 

Julie Nardone:

"Thanks a lot, buddy!" [traffic sounds]

 

Until one day at a talk on gratitude, I learned I might be looking

in the wrong place. "Being grateful for what you have," the

speaker said, "makes you have more to be grateful for! Start a

daily gratitude journal and you'll see what I mean."

 

Intrigued, I started to write.

 

January 5th: I'm thankful the dentist could save my tooth!

March 19th: I'm...thankful...my grandfather had the courage to

immigrate from Italy in 1911!

April 30th: I'm thankful I do not know why I exist. It would

spoil the adventure.

June 16th: I'm thankful the town I live in saved its historic town

hall from the wrecking ball. The lingering scent of yesterday

cannot be replaced.

September 21st: I'm thankful I went on that blind date fourteen

years ago. My husband is the best friend I've ever had.

October 18th: I'm thankful I made time to see Uncle Vic before

he died. People facing death do not have time for pretense.

November 12th: I'm thankful for Bonnie and the time she told

me, I was not thankful.

 

And one last thank you, not in my journal, but in a letter, to the

one person in my life who already had everything you could buy.

 

Thanksgiving 2007: "Dear Dad, just wanted to thank you for

everything you've ever done for me. For your love and support,

for being a great Dad.

To my surprise, here's what I got back:

"Dear Julie, For one of the best gifts I've ever received. [music]

Thank you."

 

[music]

 

Tony Kahn:

Today's morning story: "Thanksgiving and Getting." A great

thing happened to me the other day as I was coming into GBH,

one of our colleagues was getting out of her car at the same time

I was getting out of my car. She said, "How are you"? And I

said, "Well, I'm one cup of coffee short of being conscious." She

said, "Uoo, my coffee! I forgot"!

 

So, she ran back to her car and got her coffee cup. And we keep

on walking to the door and we get to the door and I take out my

magnetized pass card to let us in and it's not working. I'd been

away and I guess I had handed into the hotel my GBH pass card

and had kept the hotel room pass card instead. [laughter] And

she lets me in with her pass card. If we hadn't stopped and said

hi to each other, we both would've been in trouble.

 

Gary Mott:

Yeah, well 'tis the season, Tony, I mean...

 

Tony Kahn:

I remember more of my Thanksgiving's than I do maybe more of

my Christmases or Hanukkahs or New Years because you're

celebrating being together. Sometimes [laughing] not

necessarily in a nice way.

 

Gary Mott:

Turkey is a powerful [laughter] you know, narcotic and that can

really bring it out of all of us and, you know, getting family that's

far removed from one another together, is always an emotionally

charged situation. I guess the best advice is chill out.

 

Tony Kahn:

Do not knock each other over the head with the turkey.

[snickers]

 

Gary Mott:

But what an opportunity to make it better...

 

Tony Kahn:

There's always football.

 

Gary Mott:

There's always...

 

Tony Kahn:

That's another part of Thanksgiving for those who may not

celebrate it...yes, watching football on television.

 

Gary Mott:

American football, for all our friends in Brazil. [laughter] Lori

and I are hosting this year.

 

Tony Kahn:

Yes, how many people are you gonna have?

 

Gary Mott:

Twelve people.

 

Tony Kahn:

Family and friends?

 

Gary Mott:

Just kind of a healthy stew of whatever: family, friends...

 

Tony Kahn:

Uh huh.

 

Gary Mott:

...dogs, a couple from Kentucky, my brother and his girlfriend,

artists from New York...

 

Tony Kahn:

Mm, hmm...

 

Gary Mott:

...you know possibly a friend of ours from Boston who is dating

someone named Echinae ...

 

Tony Kahn:

Echinae?

 

Gary Mott:

...Uh, who's Nigerian,...

 

Tony Kahn:

Uh,huh.

 

Gary Mott:

... and he actually, Tony, he works in the building right across

the street, [chuckling]

 

Tony Kahn:

And that's three miles away!

 

[laughter]

 

Tony Kahn:

That's another thing about Thanksgiving. If people who

otherwise might not meet, are gonna end up at the same table,

it's likely to be a Thanksgiving table. Anyway, listen: we'd love

to hear from you on any subject. In fact, we've been hearing

from you lately about some of the videos that we've been putting

up on our website. You've written to tell us that you appreciate

the fact that there's another layer that we can add to a story and

you've both enjoyed listening to the stories and if we have a

video version, seeing that as well so, we'll take that as

permission to keep on doing them, and if I've read you wrong, let

us know.

 

Gary Mott:

Morning Stories on the web, Morning Stories on Flickr, on

Youtube, you can all get there by our website at

WGBH.org/morningstories.

 

Tony Kahn:

Well, Gary, have a wonderful Thanksgiving and thanks for

everything you've done for the last three years to make my life

so easy and this show so good. I appreciate it.

 

Gary Mott:

Your welcome. [Ah, ha-ha!]

 

[music]

 

Tony Kahn:

You know my, my Thanksgiving this year is gonna be a little bit

unusual. The person giving it is getting divorced.

 

Gary Mott:

Hmm.

 

Tony Kahn:

Her husband's decision. Just two weeks or so ago. And yet,

both of them felt that in spite of their own problems with each

other, that they shouldn't deny each other Thanksgiving. And he

said to her, "Please have Thanksgiving for your friends and family

and I'll have Thanksgiving with my children from another

marriage." So we're gonna go and have Thanksgiving and it will

be the last Thanksgiving that she will be giving in this place

that's been her home. It's going to be a very,...very meaningful

one.

 

Gary Mott:

Hmm, well ya know...

 

Tony Kahn:

I'll let ya know about it when I, when I get back.

 

Gary Mott:

Ya know, there might be a lot of laughter and a lot of levity, I

mean...

 

Tony Kahn:

Hey, I'm all for that.

 

Gary Mott:

Yeah, always leave 'em laughing, right? Isn't that the Kahn

mantra?

 

Tony Kahn:

Yeah, yeah.

 

[music]

 

Transcribed by: Lynn Relyea

lmrelyea@yahoo.com

 

End of recording

    

I have a lot of shots to post. I have been very busy, and then there are the photos I helped escape the house-clearance people from Mum's.

 

So, back to the matter in hand: Ospringe.

 

Ospringe is one of the most easily identifiable churches in Kent, with its unusual saddleback tower, but it is well seen, as you can see the tower before the turn off to Faversham. It looks fabulous.

 

Ospringe was a small village, but now is part of the urban sprawl of Faversham as it spreads to the south of the old A2.

 

You turn down a tight junction, then along a narrow road with cars parked on either side, until you break into open country, and the church is on a bend in the road.

 

I was last here on winter about a decade ago, it was a bitterly cold day and the planned Christmas Tree festival had been delayed a week due to bad weather the weekend before.

 

I cam here on the off-chance, and I was met by a volunteer come to clean the church, but no one with a key.

 

The vicar arrived, and after explaining again about the project, he reluctantly let me in, but warned he would not be here long.

 

Last time here, i took 7 shots, and none of details, so I made busy with the nifty fifty.....

 

John Vigar says this is a church hard to gain access too, maybe I have been lucky, but worth seeking out if you're passing.

 

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A pretty church whose thirteenth century origins seem lost beneath a Victorian veneer – yet inside all become clear. The north wall is thickened to take the rood loft staircase (see also Challock) but there is a medieval stair in the south side too, just to confuse. The font is a lovely twelfth century piece supported by the familiar five columns. Much of the glass is by Thomas Willement and displays his signature TW, which can also be seen in the Alpha emblem in the top of the striking east window. The chancel is a riot of Victoriana of grand design – constructed in several campaigns, the reredos and flooring definitely by different hands. Old photos show that the whole church was once stencilled, but now that the nave is relatively plain, the chancel is once more the focus of attention. The south chapel has a rather nice 19th century roof structure and must once have been a grand family chapel. All in all a lovely church full of interest and one which should be more accessible and better known.

 

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

 

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OSPRINGE

LIES the next parish north westward from Sheldwich. It is usually written in antient records Ospringes, and takes its name from the spring or fresh stream which rises in it.

 

The town of Ospringe, as it is called, is a franchise separate from the hundred of Faversham, having a constable of its own, but the rest of the parish is within the jurisdiction of that hundred.

 

The borough of Chetham, in this parish, was given to the abbey of Faversham by Richard de Lucy, and confirmed to it by king Henry II. king John, and king Henry III. (fn. 1) It still continues an appendage to the manor of Faversham, at which a borsholder is chosen yearly for this borough, and extends over Beacon farm on the south side of the London road, at the 45th mile stone in Ospringe and Stone, and very little besides. There is another small borough in this parish, called the borough of Brimstone, for which a borsholder is elected annually at the same manor. It extends over the Red Lion inn, in Ospringe-street, and some land, an house and oast behind the bowling-green, northward of it.

 

The parish of Ospringe is of large extent, being near five miles from north to south, though it is not much more than two miles in breadth. The village, or town of Ospringe, as it was formerly called, and now usually Ospringe-street, stands on the high London road, between the 46th and 47th mile-stone, but the north side of the street, as well as of that road, from the summit of Judde hill, as far eastward as the 47th mile stone, is within Faversham parish, the liberties of which town begin from the rivulet in Ospringe, and extend eastward, including the late Mr. Lypeatt's new-built house. Thus that parish intervenes, and entirely separates from the rest of it that part of Ospringe parish, at the northern boundaries of it, in which are the storekeeper's house, part of the offices, &c. and some of the royal powder mills, and in the town of Faversham, that parish again intervening, there is a small part of Weststreet within this parish. The grand valley, called Newnham bottom, through which the high road leads to Maidstone, lies at the western boundary of the parish, on the summit of the hill eastward of it is Juddehouse, built after a design of Inigo Jones, a fine situation, having a most beautiful prospect eastward, over a most fertile extent of country, to the Boughton hills, and the channel north eastward of it, but the large tract of woodland, of many hundred acres, which reach up close to the gardens at the back of it, render it rather an unhealthy situation. About a quarter of a mile eastward of Ospringe-street is a good house, called from the antient oratory or chapel formerly adjoining to it, but pulled down within these few years, chapelhouse. This oratory was dedicated to St. Nicholas, and erected for a priest to say mass in it, for the safety and good success of passengers, who left their acknowledgments for his pains in it. It belonged lately to Mr. John Simmons, whose son sold it to Isaac Rutton, esq. and he alienated the house to Mr. Neame, the present owner; but on a part of the land adjoining he built an elegant villa, naming it Ospringe Place, in which he now resides.

 

In Ospringe-street there is a tolerable inn, and the remains of the Maison Dieu on each side of the high road close to the small rivulet which crosses the street. This stream rises at Westbrook, at a small distance southward of the hamlet of Whitehill, at the back of which it runs, and at about a mile and an half distance, passing by Ospringe church, and the mansion of Queen-court, now a respectable farm-house, it turns a mill, erected some years ago for the manufacturing of madder, though now used for the grinding corn, and having crossed Ospringe-street, it turns a gunpowder mill not far from it, occupied by government, but belonging to St. John's college, in Cambridge, and having supplied the storekeeper's gardens, it afterwards turns a corn-mill, close to the west side of Faversham town, after which it supplies the rest of the government mills and works, and runs from thence into Faversham creek, to which it is a very necessary and beneficial back water. There is a nailbourne, or temporary land spring, such as are not unusual in the parts of this county eastward of Sittingborne, which run but once perhaps in several years, their failing and continuance having no certain periods, the breaking forth of them being held by the common people to be a forerunner of scarcity and dearness of corn and victuals. This at Ospringe, when it breaks out, rises about half a mile southward of Whitehill, near Kennaways, in the road to Stalisfield, and joining the above-mentioned rivulet, which it considerably increases, flows with it into Faversham creek. In February, 1674, it began to run, but stopped before Michaelmas. It broke forth in February, 1712, and run with such violence along the high road, that trenches were cut through the lands adjoining to carry the water off, but it stopped again before Michaelmas. It had continued dry till it broke out afresh in 1753, and continued to run till summer 1778, when it stopped, and has continued dry ever since.

 

About a mile southward of Ospringe-street is the hamlet of Whitehill, mentioned before, situated in the vale through which the rivulet takes its course. There are two houses of some account in it, formerly owned by the family of Drayton, who had resided in this parish for many years. Robert Drayton resided here anno 7 Edward IV. in which year he died, and was buried in the church-yard of Ospringe, being then possessed, as appears by his will, of a house called Smythes, with its lands and appurtenances, at Whitehill. After this family had become extinct here, one of these houses came into the possession of Ruck, and escheated, for want of lawful heirs, to the lord of the manor, and now as such belongs to the earl of Guildford, but Mr. James Foord resides in it. The other, after the Draytons were become extinct here, came into the name of Wreight, one of whom, Henry Wreight, gent. died possessed of it in 1695, and was buried in Faversham church. His son of the same name resided here, and died in 1773, and his grandson Henry Wreight, gent. of Faversham, sold it to John Montresor of Belmont, esq. who now owns it, but John Smith esq. resides in it. About a mile westward on the hill, near Hanslets Fostall and the parsonage, is a new-erected house, called the Oaks, built not many years since, on the scite of an antient one, called Nicholas, formerly belonging to the Draytons, by Mr. John Toker, who resides in it; the woodgrounds in the upland parts of this parish are very extensive, and contain many hundred acres. The soil of this parish, from its large extent, is various, to the north and north-east of the church the lands are level and very fertile, being a fine rich loam, but as they extend southward to the uplands, the soil becomes more and more barren, much of it chalky, and the rest a cludgy red earth, stiff tillage land, and very stony. A fair is held in Ospringe-street on the 29th of May.

 

¶Much has already been said in the former parts of these volumes, of the different opinions of learned men where the Roman station, called in the second iter of Antonine Durolevum, ought to be placed. Most of the copies of Antonine make the distance from the last station Durobrovis, which is allowed by all to be Rochester, to the station of Durolevum, to be xiii or xvi miles, though the Peutongerian tables make it only vii. If the number xvi is right, no place bids so fair for it as Judde-hill, in this parish, which then would have every probable circumstance in favor of it. The Romans undoubtedly had some strong military post on this hill, on the summit of which there are the remains of a very deep and broad ditch, the south and east sides are still entire, as is a small part of the north side at the eastern corners of it, the remaining part of the north side was filled up not many years since. The west side has nothing left of it; close within the southern part of it is a high mount of earth thrown up to a considerable height above the ground round it, the scite of Judde house, and the gardens are contained within it. The form of it seems to have been a square, with the corners rounded, and to have contained between three and four acres of ground within its area, the common people call it king Stephen's castle, but it is certainly of a much older date. At a small distance from it, on the opposite, or north side of the high road, there are several breast works cast up across the field facing the west. At the bottom of the hill, in the next field to this, are the ruins of Stone chapel, in which numbers of Roman bricks are interspersed among the flints, and in the midst of the south wall of it, there is a separate piece of a Roman building, about a rod in length, and near three feet high, composed of two rows of Roman tiles, of about fourteen inches square each, and on them are laid small stones hewed, but of no regular size or shape, for about a foot high, and then tiles again, and so on alternately.

  

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

 

The church stands within the jurisdiction of the town of Ospringe, about half a mile southward from Ospringe-street. It is dedicated to St. Peter and St. Paul. It is an antient building, consisting of three isles and a chancel. The steeple was formerly at the west end, and was built circular of flints, supposed to be Danish, with a shingled spire on it, of upwards of fifty feet high, in which were four bells; but in ringing them on Oct. 11, 1695, on king William's return from Flanders, it suddenly fell to the ground, providentially no one was hurt by it. There are no remains left of any painted glass in the windows of this church, though there was formerly much in most of them; particularly, in the window of the north isle was once the figure of a mitred bishop, on the rack, with a knife on the table by him, and of another person tied to a tree, and wounded with arrows. In another was a label to the memory of Robert Seton, and of a woman kneeling; and there was not many years ago remaining in the east window, at the end of the south isle, forming a kind of chancel, the effigies of a knight in his tabard of arms, with spurs on his heels, in a kneeling posture, looking up to a crucisix, painted just above him, of which there remained only the lower part. The knight's arms, Azure, three harts heads, caboshed, or, were thrown under him, and at a little distance some part of his crest, An hart's head, attired full, or, with a crown about his neck, azure, and underneath, Pray for the soul of Thomas Hart. This Sir Thomas Hart was possessed of an estate in this parish, which he purchased of Norwood. The Greenstreets, of Selling, lately claimed this chancel, and several of them lie buried in it. There was a chapel, dedicated to St. Thomas, in this church.

 

In the east part of the church-yard there was once a chapel, said to have been built by Sir John Denton, of Denton, in this parish and Easling, the foundations of which are still visible.

 

It appears by the Testa de Nevil, taken in the reign of king Henry III. that the church of Ospringe was in the king's gift, and was afterwards given by king John to John de Burgo, who then held it, and that it was worth forty marcs. After which, in the 8th year of Richard II. anno 1384, it was become appropriated to the abbot of Pontiniac, and was valued at 13l. 6s. 8d. at which time there was a vicarage here of his patronage likewise. It afterwards became part of the possessions of the hospital or Maison Dieu, in Ospringestreet, but by what means, or when, I have not found, and it continued so till the escheat of the hospital anno 20 Edward IV. after which, the parsonage appropriate of this church of Ospringe, together with the advowson of the vicarage, was by means of Fisher, bishop of Rochester, obtained of Henry VIII. in manner as has been already mentioned, for St. John's college, in Cambridge, the master and fellows of which are at this time entitled to them, the parsonage being let by them on a beneficial lease; but the advowson of the vicarage they retain in their own hands.

 

The lessee of this parsonage, in the reign of queen Elizabeth, was Robert Streynsham, esq. who rebuilt the house and offices belonging to it, and afterwards resided in it. He had been fellow of All Souls college, LL. B. and secretary to the earl of Pembroke. He lies buried in this church, and bore for his arms, Or, a pale dancette, gules. He left two daughters and coheirs, of whom, Audrey, the eldest, carried her interest in it in marriage to Edward Master, esq. eldest son of James Master, esq. of East Langdon, who was first of Sandwich, and afterwards built a seat for himself and his posterity at East Langdon. He was twice married, and had fourteen children; at length worn out with age, he betook himself hither to his eldest son Edward, and dying in 1631, æt. 84, was buried in this church. Edward Master, the son, resided here, and was afterwards knighted, and on his father's death in 1631 removed to that seat, in whose descendants it continued till it was at length alienated to Buller, of Cornwall, whose son sold his interest in to Markham, as he did to Mr. Robert Lyddel, merchant, of London, brother of Sir Henry Lyddel, who in 1751 assigned his interest in it to Ralph Terrey, yeoman, of Knolton, whose son Mr. Michael Terrey, of Ospringe, devised it to his only daughter and heir Olive, who married Nathaniel Marsh, esq. of Boughton Blean, and the heirs of his son Terrey Marsh, esq. late of that parish, are the present lessees of it.

 

The vicarage of Ospringe is valued in the king's books at ten pounds, and the yearly tenths at one pound.

 

In 1640 it was valued at sixty pounds, when there were communicants here 226.

 

The vicarage is endowed with all vicarial tithes, woad only excepted, and also with those of hay, saintfoin, clover, and coppice woods. There are about twenty-seven acres of glebe-land belonging to it. The vicarage-house is situated in the valley, at a small distance eastward from the church, and the parsonagehouse near a mile southward of that.

 

Ospringe was formerly the head of a rural deanry, of which institution it will be necessary to give some account here.

 

The office of rural dean was not unknown to our Saxon ancestors, as appears by the laws of king Edward the Confessor; they were called both Archipresbiteri and Decani Temporarii, to distinguish them from the deans of cathedrals, who were Decani Perpetui. Besides these, there were in the greater monasteries, especially those of the Benedictine order, such officers called deans, and there are deans still remaining in several of the colleges of the universities, who take care of the studies and exercises of the youth, and are a check on the morals and behaviour of such as are members under them.

 

¶The antient exercise of jurisdiction in the church seems to have been instituted in conformity to like subordinations in the state. Thus the dioceses within this realm seem to have been divided into archdeaconries and rural deanries, to make them correspond to the like division of the kingdom into counties and hundreds; hence the former, whose courts were to answer those of the county, had the county usually for their district, and took their title from thence, and the names of the latter from the hundred, or chief place of it, wherein they acted; and as in the state every hundred was at first divided into ten tithings or fribourghs, and every tithing was made up of ten families, both which kept their original names, notwithstanding the increase of villages and people; so in the church the name of deanry continued, notwithstanding the increase of persons and churches, and the districts of them were contracted and enlarged from time to time, at the discretion of the bishop, the rural dean of Ospringe having jurisdiction over the whole deanry of it, consisting of twenty-six parishes. He had a seal of office, which being temporary, it had only the name of the office, and not, as other seals of jurisdiction, the name of the person also, engraved on it. The seal belonging to this deanry had on it, the Virgin Mary crowned, with the sceptre in her left hand, and her child, with a glory round his head, in her right, and round the margin, Sigillu Decani Decanatus de Ospreng. He was in antient times called the dean of the bishop, because appointed by him, and had alone the inspection of the lives and manners of the clergy and people within the district under him, and was to report the same to the bishop; to which end, that he might have a thorough knowledge of the state and condition of his respective deanry, he had a power to convene rural chapters, which were made up of the instituted clergy, or their curates as proxies of them, and the dean as president of them, where the clergy brought information of all irregularities committed within their respective parishes. Those upon ordinary occasions were held at first every three weeks, in imitation of the courts of manors, held from three weeks to three weeks, and afterwards each month, and from thence were called Kalendæ, but their more solemn and principal chapters were assembled once a quarter, where maters of greater import were transacted, and a fuller attendance given. They were at first held in any one church within the district, where the minister of the place was to procure and provide entertainment and procurations for the dean and his immediate officers, and they were afterwards held only in the larger or more eminent parishes. The part of their office of inspecting and reporting the manners of the clergy and people, rendered them necessary attendants on the episcopal synod or general visitation, in which they were the standing representatives of the rest of the clergy within their division, and they were there to deliver information of abuses committed within their knowledge, and consult for the reformation of them; for which they were to have their expences, called from hence synodals, allowed them by those whom they represented, according to the time of their attendance. That part of their office, of being convened to provincial and episcopal synods, was transferred to two proctors, or representatives of the parochial clergy in each diocese; and that of information of scandals and offences, has devolved on the churchwardens of the respective parishes. Besides this another principal part of the duty of a rural dean was to execute all processes of the bishop, or of the officers and ministers under his authority; but by the constitution of the pope's legate, Otho, the archdeacon, in the reign of Henry III. was required to be frequently present at them, who being superior to the rural dean, did in effect take the presidency out of his hands; and these chapters were afterwards often held by the archdeacon's officials, from which may be dated the decay of rural deanries, for the rural dean was not only discouraged by this, but the archdeacon and his official, as might naturally be supposed he would, drew the business usually transacted there to his own visitation, or chapter, as it might be termed. By which intersering of the archdeacon and his officials, it happened that in the age next before the reformation, the jurisdiction of rural deans declined almost to nothing, and at the reformation nothing was done for their restoration by the legislative power, so that they became extinct in most deanries, nor did this of Ospringe survive the earliest decline of them. (fn. 16) Where they still continue, they have only the name and shadow left, and what little remains of this dignity and jurisdiction, de pends greatly on the custom of places, and the pleasure of diocesans.

 

In the 31st year of Edward I. Richard Christian, dean of Ospringe, being sent to execute some citations of the archbishop at Selling, was set upon by the people there, who placed him with his face to his horse's tail, which they made him hold in his hand for a bridle, in which posture they led him through the village, with songs, shouts, and dances, and afterwards having cut off the tail, ears, and lips of the beast, they threw the dean into the dirt, to his great disgrace; for which, the king directed his writ to the sheriff, to make enquiry by inquisition of a jury concerning it.

 

www.british-history.ac.uk/survey-kent/vol6/pp499-531

TRANSACT 14 / WED / SESSIONS

I have lived in Kent since 2007, and hadn't visited Sevenoaks before yesterday. It being one of Kent's major towns, this is something of a surprise, I even had to check my photostream on here to make sure: nothing for Sevenoaks.

 

For me, Sevenoaks is famous for two things: 1. the seven oaks destroyed in the 1987 "hurricane" and I suppose home to the chain of hi-fi shops, Sevenoaks Audio, though I didn't see a branch during my visit.

 

I don't know why I decided to visit here today, the idea had been to go to Nunhead to a large rambling and overgrown Victorian cemetery (more of that later), and the Southeastern website suggested the way there was via St Pancras and then on Thameslink. I thought there must have been a route across Kent, which is how I came to be in Sevenoaks, change here for Nunhead.

 

So, why not explore the town before travelling on?

 

So, I guess that's why I was here.

 

The spread of the new COVID variant meant I did consider cancelling the trip, but with no new lockdowns announced on Monday, and armed with a mask I set off, Jools dropping me off at Dover Priory at half six, withenough time for a gingerbread latte (with an extra shot) before my train pulled in.

 

Less than a dozen got in the 12 carriages, and there service trundled through Kent, Ashford, Pluckley, Marden, Staplehurst, Tonbdrige to deposit me here at Sevenoaks.

 

I and half a dozen people got off, I lingered to take a couple of shots before the long walk up the hill to the town centre.

 

Thanks to GSV, I had travelled up London Road to the centre of town, so knew it was a hike, but worth it. I mean, no point going somewhere if there was nothing of worth to snap, was there?

 

At first I walked past large houses, then at the major road junction, a sparkling Ferrari Dealership, not something we have in Dover, and not sure if Canterbury even has one. But Sevenoaks does, as well as on one, not two, but three dry cleaners, all looking busy.

 

The main shopping area had old pubs and coaching inns, clapboard houses and other with peg tiles decorating the outside, all got photographed, of course.

 

Att he top of the shopping streets, where the two A roads meet, there is a fine pre-warboys signpost that I snapped good and proper.

 

Finally, as the hill flattened out, the buildings got older still, before coming to the parish church, which I knew from research was almost impossible to get inside judging by the reviews left.

 

It wasn't yet nine, my back was complaining, so I took a seat in the chuchyard to wait.

 

Wait for what, I do not know.

 

The clocked chimed mournfully for nine, to the south, a couple of workmen repair the top of the substantial wall, and I guess the ownes comes into the churchyard to find bricks that have fallen from it. The wall is at least twenty feet high, separating the church from the grand house, I wonder what the owners thought were being kept out?

 

I looked at the west windows closer. Are those lights on inside, I asked myself. I'd better go and check.

 

So, I went round the north side of the chancel and nave, and came to the parish office. The door was open, there was a light on, and there was a lady at a desk, working away. Beyond I could see the west end of the nave, all lit up.

 

I'd ask if I could go in.

 

I put a mask on, knocked at he door and asked.

 

I'm not sure, but I'll go and check.

 

She checked, and I was told it was OK.

 

Inside, two ladies were putting even more chairs out into each nave, adding a booklet on each seat.

 

I'll try not to disturb you, i said. But they were fine about me being there, so I got to work. Now, as I wasn't expecting to do any crawling, I failed to bring the second camera body with wide angle lens fitted, so the compact would have to do. Thankfully the church was well lit.

 

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The church looks well from the main street, with its east end almost on the road. Built of local stone, the nave, aisles, chapels and tower are typical of fifteenth-century design. The church has been so often restored - in 1812, 1878, 1954 and most recently in 1994 when a crypt was built - that its historical interest is limited. However, the stained glass windows by Kempe and Heaton, Butler and Bayne are of excellent quality, especially those in the south aisle. There are also some interesting monuments, including one to William Lambarde (d. 1601), the first Kentish historian.

 

www.kentchurches.info/church.asp?p=Sevenoaks+1

 

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SEVENOKE.

NEXT southward from Seale lies the parish and town of SEVENOKE, called, in the Textus Roffensis, SEOUENACCA, which name was given to it from seven large oaks, standing on the hill where the town is, at the time of its being first built. It is now commonly called SENNOCK.

 

THE PARISH of Sevenoke is situated partly above and partly below the great ridge of sand hills which runs across this county, and divides the upland from the Weald or southern district of it. It is divided into three districts, the Town Borough, Rotherhith or Rethered, now called Riverhead, and the Weald. The parish is of considerable extent, being five miles in length, from north to south, and about four miles in width. The soil of it varies much; at and about the town, it is a sand, as it is towards the hill southward, below which it is a stiff clay, and towards the low grounds, to Riverhead, a rich sertile soil. It reaches more than a mile below the hill, where there is a hamlet, called Sevenoke Weald, lying within that district, for it should be known, that all that part of this parish, which lies below the great range of sand hills southward, is in the Weald of Kent, the bound of which is the narrow road which runs along the bottom of them, and is called, to distinguish it, Sevenoke Weald; thus when a parish extends below, and the church of it is above the hill, that part below, has the addition of Weald to it, as Sevenoke Weald, Sundridge Weald, and the like.

 

THE TOWN of Sevenoke lies about thirty-three miles from London, on high ground above the sand hill, the church, which is situated at the south end of it, is a conspicuous object each way to a considerable distance. The high roads from Westram; and from London through Farnborough, meeting at about a mile above it; and that from Dartford through Farningham and Otford, at the entrance of the town; and leading from thence again both to Penshurst and Tunbridge. Between the town and the hill there is much coppice wood, and a common, called Sevenoke common, on which is a seat, called Ash-grove, belonging to Mrs. Smith. The town of Sevenoke is a healthy, pleasant situation, remarkable for the many good houses throughout it, inhabited by persons of genteel fashion and fortune, which make it a most desirable neighbourhood. In the middle of the High-Street is the house of the late Dr. Thomas Fuller, afterwards of Francis Austen, esq. clerk of the peace for this county; near which is the large antient market-place, in which the market, which is plentifully supplied with every kind of provisions, is held weekly on a Saturday; and the two fairs yearly, on July 10, and Oct. 12, and where the business of the assizes, when held at Sevenoke, as they were several times in queen Elizabeth's reign, and in the year before the death of king Charles I. and once since, has been usually transacted. At the south end of it is a seat, the residence of Multon Lambard, esq. at a small distance westward is the magnificent mansion and park of Knole; and eastward, a small valley intervening, the seat of Kippington; at a little distance northward of the town is an open space, called Sevenoke Vine, noted for being the place where the great games of Cricket, the provincial amusement of this county, are in general played; this joins to Gallows common, so called from the execution of criminals on it formerly. In the valley below it is Bradborne, and the famous silk mills, belonging to Peter Nonaille, esq. called Greatness, near which are the ruins of the hospital or chapel, dedicated to St. John, where this parish bounds to Otford.

 

About a mile north-west from the town, where the two roads from London and Westerham meet, is the large hamlet of Riverhead, bounded by the river Darent and the parish of Chevening; in which, among others, is the seat of Montreal; that of Mrs. Petley; and of the late admiral Amherst and others; most of which the reader will find described hereafter.

 

In the Account of the Roman Stations in Britain, written by Richard, a monk of Cirencester, published by Dr. Stukely, the station, called Vagniacæ, is supposed to have been at Sevenoke, which is there set down as eighteen miles distant both from Medum, Maidstone; and Noviomagus, Croydon; but in this opinion he has hardly been followed by any one.

 

THE MANOR OF SEVENOKE was always esteemed as an appendage to that of Otford, and as such was part of the possessions of the see of Canterbury, till it was exchanged with the crown for other premises, by archbishop Cranmer, in the 9th year of Henry VIII. as will be further mentioned below.

 

THE MANOR OF KNOLE, with that of Bradborne, in this parish, had, according to the earliest accounts, for some time the same owners as the manors of Kemsing, Seale, and Bradborne. Accordingly, in king John's reign, they were in the possession of Baldwin de Betun, earl of Albemarle, from whom they went in marriage into the family of the Mareschalls, earls of Pembroke. Whilst one of these, William Mareschal, earl of Pembroke, sided with the rebellious barons at the latter end of king John's, and beginning of king Henry III's reign, the king seized on his lands, as escheats to the crown; during which time these manors seem to have been granted to Fulk de Brent, a desperate fellow, as Camden calls him. He was a bastard by birth, of mean extraction, who had come out of the low countries, with some foreign auxiliaries and freebooters, to king John's assistance, and became a great favorite, both with that king and his son, Henry III. from both of whom he was invested with much power, and had the lands of many of the barons conferred on him; till giving loose to his natural inclination, he became guilty of many cruelties and oppressions, and at length sided with prince Lewis of France in his design of invading England. But failing in this, he fled into Wales, and the king seized on all his possessions throughout England; after which, returning and pleading for mercy, in consideration of his former services, he was only banished the realm, and died in Italy soon afterwards, as is said, of poison. After which, the earl returning to his obedience, obtained the possession of these manor's again. (fn. 1) Hence they passed again in like manner to Hugh Bigod, earl of Norfolk, whose heir in the 11th year of king Edward I. conveyed them to Otho de Grandison; on whose death without issue, William de Grandison, his brother, became his heir; his grandson, Sir Thomas Grandison, passed away Knole to Geoffry de Say, and Braborne, Kemsing, and Seale, to others, as may be seen under their respective descriptions.

 

Geoffry de Say was only son and heir of Geoffry de Say, by Idonea his wife, daughter of William, and sister and heir of Thomas lord Leyborne, and was a man of no small consequence, having been summoned to parliament in the 1st year of king Edward III. and afterwards constituted admiral of all the king's fleets, from the river Thames westward, being then a banneret. He died in the 33d year of king Edward III. leaving William, his son and heir, and three daughters. William de Say left issue a son, John, who died without issue in his minority, anno 6 king Richard II. and a daughter Elizabeth, who was first married to Sir John de Fallesley, and afterwards to Sir William Heron, but died s. p. in the 6th year of king Edward IV. (fn. 2) so that the three sisters of William de Say became coheirs to the inheritance of this family. (fn. 3)

 

¶How the manor of Knole passed from the family of Say I do not find; but in the reign of king Henry VI. it was in the possession of Ralf Leghe, who then conveyed it by sale to James Fienes, or Fenys, as the name came now to be called, who was the second son of Sir William Fynes, son of Sir William Fienes, or Fynes, who had married Joane, third sister and coheir of William de Say above-mentioned. He was much employed by king Henry V. and no less in favor with king Henry VI. who, in the 24th year of his reign, on account of Joane, his grandmother, being third sister and coheir to William de Say, by an especial writ that year summoned him to parliament as lord Say and Seale; and, in consideration of his eminent services, in open parliament, advanced him to the dignity of a baron, as lord Say, to him and his heirs male. After which he was made constable of Dover-castle, and warden of the five ports, lord chamberlain, and one of the king's council; and, in the 28th year of that reign, lord treasurer; which great rise so increased the hatred of the commons against him, that having arraigned him before the lord mayor and others, they hurried him to the standard in Cheapside, where they cut off his head, and carried it on a pole before his naked body, which was drawn at a horse's tail into Southwark, and there hanged and quartered.

  

Of the THREE DISTRICTS, into which this parish is divided, of which those of Town Borough and the Weald have already been described, the remaining one of Riverhead is by no means inconsiderable. It lies about a mile from Sevenoke town, and seems formerly to have been written both Rotherhith and Rothered, comprehending the western part of this parish; it contains the large hamlet of Riverhead, in which are situated lord Amherst's seat of Montreal; that of Cool Harbour, late admiral Amherst's; and Mrs. Petley's; through this hamlet the road branches on the one hand to Westerham, and on the other across the river Darent towards Farnborough and London; hence it extends beyond Bradborne to the bounds of this parish, north-eastward, at Greatness, which is within it.

 

In this hamlet was the antient mansion, called Brook's Place, Supposed to have been built by one of the family of Colpeper, out of the materials taken from the neighbouring suppressed hospital of St. John. It afterwards came into the possession of a younger branch of the family of Amherst. Jeffrey Amherst, esq. bencher of Gray's-inn, was owner of it, and resided here at the latter end of the last century. He was descended of ancestors, who had been seated at Pembury in the reign of king Richard II. from whom, in a direct line, descended Richard Amherst, esq. who left three sons; the eldest of whom, Richard, was sergeant at law, and of Bayhall, in Pembury, in the description of which a full account will be given of him and his descendants. Jeffry, the second, was ancestor of the Riverhead branch, as will be mentioned hereafter; and William, the third son, left an only daughter, Margaret, married to John Champs of Tunbridge.

 

Jeffry Amherst was rector of Horsemonden, and resided at Southes, in Sussex, where he died, and was buried in 1662; whose grandson, Jeffry Amherst, esq. was of Riverhead, as has been before mentioned. and a bencher of Gray's-inn, and dying in 1713, was buried at Pembury. By his first wife, Elizabeth, daughter of Henry Yates, esq. of Sussex, he had several children, of whom, Jeffry, the second son, only arrived at maturity, and was of Riverhead; he was a bencher of Gray's-inn, and dying in 1750, was buried in Sevenoke church, having married Elizabeth, daughter of Thomas Kerrill, esq. of Hadlow, by whom he had seven sons and two daughters, viz. Elizabeth, married to John Thomas, clerk, of Welford, in Gloucestershire; and Margaret, who died unmarried.

 

Of the sons, Sackville, the eldest, died unmarried in 1763, Jeffry the second, will be mentioned hereafter; John, the third, was of Riverhead, and viceadmiral of the blue squadron; he married Anne, daughter of Thomas Lindzee, of Portsmouth, by whom he had no issue; he died in 1778, and his widow re-married Thomas Munday, esq. The seventh son, William, was a lieutenant-general in the army, and married Elizabeth, daughter of Thomas Patterson, esq. of London. He died in 1781, leaving one son, William-Pitt, and a daughter, Elizabeth-Frances.

 

Jeffry Amherst, esq. the second son, became, at length, possessed of the mansion of Brooks, and attaching himself early in life to the prossession of a soldier, he acquired the highest military honours and preferments, after a six years glorious war in North America, of which he was appointed governor and commander in chief in 1760; which, when he resigned, the king, among other marks of his royal approbation of his conduct, appointed him governor of the province of Virginia.

 

¶The victorious atchievements of the British forces in North America, during Sir Jeffry Amherst's continuance there, cannot be better summed up than by giving two of the inscriptions on an obelisk, in the grounds of his seat at Montreal; viz.

 

www.british-history.ac.uk/survey-kent/vol3/pp60-105

I have lived in Kent since 2007, and hadn't visited Sevenoaks before yesterday. It being one of Kent's major towns, this is something of a surprise, I even had to check my photostream on here to make sure: nothing for Sevenoaks.

 

For me, Sevenoaks is famous for two things: 1. the seven oaks destroyed in the 1987 "hurricane" and I suppose home to the chain of hi-fi shops, Sevenoaks Audio, though I didn't see a branch during my visit.

 

I don't know why I decided to visit here today, the idea had been to go to Nunhead to a large rambling and overgrown Victorian cemetery (more of that later), and the Southeastern website suggested the way there was via St Pancras and then on Thameslink. I thought there must have been a route across Kent, which is how I came to be in Sevenoaks, change here for Nunhead.

 

So, why not explore the town before travelling on?

 

So, I guess that's why I was here.

 

The spread of the new COVID variant meant I did consider cancelling the trip, but with no new lockdowns announced on Monday, and armed with a mask I set off, Jools dropping me off at Dover Priory at half six, withenough time for a gingerbread latte (with an extra shot) before my train pulled in.

 

Less than a dozen got in the 12 carriages, and there service trundled through Kent, Ashford, Pluckley, Marden, Staplehurst, Tonbdrige to deposit me here at Sevenoaks.

 

I and half a dozen people got off, I lingered to take a couple of shots before the long walk up the hill to the town centre.

 

Thanks to GSV, I had travelled up London Road to the centre of town, so knew it was a hike, but worth it. I mean, no point going somewhere if there was nothing of worth to snap, was there?

 

At first I walked past large houses, then at the major road junction, a sparkling Ferrari Dealership, not something we have in Dover, and not sure if Canterbury even has one. But Sevenoaks does, as well as on one, not two, but three dry cleaners, all looking busy.

 

The main shopping area had old pubs and coaching inns, clapboard houses and other with peg tiles decorating the outside, all got photographed, of course.

 

Att he top of the shopping streets, where the two A roads meet, there is a fine pre-warboys signpost that I snapped good and proper.

 

Finally, as the hill flattened out, the buildings got older still, before coming to the parish church, which I knew from research was almost impossible to get inside judging by the reviews left.

 

It wasn't yet nine, my back was complaining, so I took a seat in the chuchyard to wait.

 

Wait for what, I do not know.

 

The clocked chimed mournfully for nine, to the south, a couple of workmen repair the top of the substantial wall, and I guess the ownes comes into the churchyard to find bricks that have fallen from it. The wall is at least twenty feet high, separating the church from the grand house, I wonder what the owners thought were being kept out?

 

I looked at the west windows closer. Are those lights on inside, I asked myself. I'd better go and check.

 

So, I went round the north side of the chancel and nave, and came to the parish office. The door was open, there was a light on, and there was a lady at a desk, working away. Beyond I could see the west end of the nave, all lit up.

 

I'd ask if I could go in.

 

I put a mask on, knocked at he door and asked.

 

I'm not sure, but I'll go and check.

 

She checked, and I was told it was OK.

 

Inside, two ladies were putting even more chairs out into each nave, adding a booklet on each seat.

 

I'll try not to disturb you, i said. But they were fine about me being there, so I got to work. Now, as I wasn't expecting to do any crawling, I failed to bring the second camera body with wide angle lens fitted, so the compact would have to do. Thankfully the church was well lit.

 

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The church looks well from the main street, with its east end almost on the road. Built of local stone, the nave, aisles, chapels and tower are typical of fifteenth-century design. The church has been so often restored - in 1812, 1878, 1954 and most recently in 1994 when a crypt was built - that its historical interest is limited. However, the stained glass windows by Kempe and Heaton, Butler and Bayne are of excellent quality, especially those in the south aisle. There are also some interesting monuments, including one to William Lambarde (d. 1601), the first Kentish historian.

 

www.kentchurches.info/church.asp?p=Sevenoaks+1

 

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SEVENOKE.

NEXT southward from Seale lies the parish and town of SEVENOKE, called, in the Textus Roffensis, SEOUENACCA, which name was given to it from seven large oaks, standing on the hill where the town is, at the time of its being first built. It is now commonly called SENNOCK.

 

THE PARISH of Sevenoke is situated partly above and partly below the great ridge of sand hills which runs across this county, and divides the upland from the Weald or southern district of it. It is divided into three districts, the Town Borough, Rotherhith or Rethered, now called Riverhead, and the Weald. The parish is of considerable extent, being five miles in length, from north to south, and about four miles in width. The soil of it varies much; at and about the town, it is a sand, as it is towards the hill southward, below which it is a stiff clay, and towards the low grounds, to Riverhead, a rich sertile soil. It reaches more than a mile below the hill, where there is a hamlet, called Sevenoke Weald, lying within that district, for it should be known, that all that part of this parish, which lies below the great range of sand hills southward, is in the Weald of Kent, the bound of which is the narrow road which runs along the bottom of them, and is called, to distinguish it, Sevenoke Weald; thus when a parish extends below, and the church of it is above the hill, that part below, has the addition of Weald to it, as Sevenoke Weald, Sundridge Weald, and the like.

 

THE TOWN of Sevenoke lies about thirty-three miles from London, on high ground above the sand hill, the church, which is situated at the south end of it, is a conspicuous object each way to a considerable distance. The high roads from Westram; and from London through Farnborough, meeting at about a mile above it; and that from Dartford through Farningham and Otford, at the entrance of the town; and leading from thence again both to Penshurst and Tunbridge. Between the town and the hill there is much coppice wood, and a common, called Sevenoke common, on which is a seat, called Ash-grove, belonging to Mrs. Smith. The town of Sevenoke is a healthy, pleasant situation, remarkable for the many good houses throughout it, inhabited by persons of genteel fashion and fortune, which make it a most desirable neighbourhood. In the middle of the High-Street is the house of the late Dr. Thomas Fuller, afterwards of Francis Austen, esq. clerk of the peace for this county; near which is the large antient market-place, in which the market, which is plentifully supplied with every kind of provisions, is held weekly on a Saturday; and the two fairs yearly, on July 10, and Oct. 12, and where the business of the assizes, when held at Sevenoke, as they were several times in queen Elizabeth's reign, and in the year before the death of king Charles I. and once since, has been usually transacted. At the south end of it is a seat, the residence of Multon Lambard, esq. at a small distance westward is the magnificent mansion and park of Knole; and eastward, a small valley intervening, the seat of Kippington; at a little distance northward of the town is an open space, called Sevenoke Vine, noted for being the place where the great games of Cricket, the provincial amusement of this county, are in general played; this joins to Gallows common, so called from the execution of criminals on it formerly. In the valley below it is Bradborne, and the famous silk mills, belonging to Peter Nonaille, esq. called Greatness, near which are the ruins of the hospital or chapel, dedicated to St. John, where this parish bounds to Otford.

 

About a mile north-west from the town, where the two roads from London and Westerham meet, is the large hamlet of Riverhead, bounded by the river Darent and the parish of Chevening; in which, among others, is the seat of Montreal; that of Mrs. Petley; and of the late admiral Amherst and others; most of which the reader will find described hereafter.

 

In the Account of the Roman Stations in Britain, written by Richard, a monk of Cirencester, published by Dr. Stukely, the station, called Vagniacæ, is supposed to have been at Sevenoke, which is there set down as eighteen miles distant both from Medum, Maidstone; and Noviomagus, Croydon; but in this opinion he has hardly been followed by any one.

 

THE MANOR OF SEVENOKE was always esteemed as an appendage to that of Otford, and as such was part of the possessions of the see of Canterbury, till it was exchanged with the crown for other premises, by archbishop Cranmer, in the 9th year of Henry VIII. as will be further mentioned below.

 

THE MANOR OF KNOLE, with that of Bradborne, in this parish, had, according to the earliest accounts, for some time the same owners as the manors of Kemsing, Seale, and Bradborne. Accordingly, in king John's reign, they were in the possession of Baldwin de Betun, earl of Albemarle, from whom they went in marriage into the family of the Mareschalls, earls of Pembroke. Whilst one of these, William Mareschal, earl of Pembroke, sided with the rebellious barons at the latter end of king John's, and beginning of king Henry III's reign, the king seized on his lands, as escheats to the crown; during which time these manors seem to have been granted to Fulk de Brent, a desperate fellow, as Camden calls him. He was a bastard by birth, of mean extraction, who had come out of the low countries, with some foreign auxiliaries and freebooters, to king John's assistance, and became a great favorite, both with that king and his son, Henry III. from both of whom he was invested with much power, and had the lands of many of the barons conferred on him; till giving loose to his natural inclination, he became guilty of many cruelties and oppressions, and at length sided with prince Lewis of France in his design of invading England. But failing in this, he fled into Wales, and the king seized on all his possessions throughout England; after which, returning and pleading for mercy, in consideration of his former services, he was only banished the realm, and died in Italy soon afterwards, as is said, of poison. After which, the earl returning to his obedience, obtained the possession of these manor's again. (fn. 1) Hence they passed again in like manner to Hugh Bigod, earl of Norfolk, whose heir in the 11th year of king Edward I. conveyed them to Otho de Grandison; on whose death without issue, William de Grandison, his brother, became his heir; his grandson, Sir Thomas Grandison, passed away Knole to Geoffry de Say, and Braborne, Kemsing, and Seale, to others, as may be seen under their respective descriptions.

 

Geoffry de Say was only son and heir of Geoffry de Say, by Idonea his wife, daughter of William, and sister and heir of Thomas lord Leyborne, and was a man of no small consequence, having been summoned to parliament in the 1st year of king Edward III. and afterwards constituted admiral of all the king's fleets, from the river Thames westward, being then a banneret. He died in the 33d year of king Edward III. leaving William, his son and heir, and three daughters. William de Say left issue a son, John, who died without issue in his minority, anno 6 king Richard II. and a daughter Elizabeth, who was first married to Sir John de Fallesley, and afterwards to Sir William Heron, but died s. p. in the 6th year of king Edward IV. (fn. 2) so that the three sisters of William de Say became coheirs to the inheritance of this family. (fn. 3)

 

¶How the manor of Knole passed from the family of Say I do not find; but in the reign of king Henry VI. it was in the possession of Ralf Leghe, who then conveyed it by sale to James Fienes, or Fenys, as the name came now to be called, who was the second son of Sir William Fynes, son of Sir William Fienes, or Fynes, who had married Joane, third sister and coheir of William de Say above-mentioned. He was much employed by king Henry V. and no less in favor with king Henry VI. who, in the 24th year of his reign, on account of Joane, his grandmother, being third sister and coheir to William de Say, by an especial writ that year summoned him to parliament as lord Say and Seale; and, in consideration of his eminent services, in open parliament, advanced him to the dignity of a baron, as lord Say, to him and his heirs male. After which he was made constable of Dover-castle, and warden of the five ports, lord chamberlain, and one of the king's council; and, in the 28th year of that reign, lord treasurer; which great rise so increased the hatred of the commons against him, that having arraigned him before the lord mayor and others, they hurried him to the standard in Cheapside, where they cut off his head, and carried it on a pole before his naked body, which was drawn at a horse's tail into Southwark, and there hanged and quartered.

  

Of the THREE DISTRICTS, into which this parish is divided, of which those of Town Borough and the Weald have already been described, the remaining one of Riverhead is by no means inconsiderable. It lies about a mile from Sevenoke town, and seems formerly to have been written both Rotherhith and Rothered, comprehending the western part of this parish; it contains the large hamlet of Riverhead, in which are situated lord Amherst's seat of Montreal; that of Cool Harbour, late admiral Amherst's; and Mrs. Petley's; through this hamlet the road branches on the one hand to Westerham, and on the other across the river Darent towards Farnborough and London; hence it extends beyond Bradborne to the bounds of this parish, north-eastward, at Greatness, which is within it.

 

In this hamlet was the antient mansion, called Brook's Place, Supposed to have been built by one of the family of Colpeper, out of the materials taken from the neighbouring suppressed hospital of St. John. It afterwards came into the possession of a younger branch of the family of Amherst. Jeffrey Amherst, esq. bencher of Gray's-inn, was owner of it, and resided here at the latter end of the last century. He was descended of ancestors, who had been seated at Pembury in the reign of king Richard II. from whom, in a direct line, descended Richard Amherst, esq. who left three sons; the eldest of whom, Richard, was sergeant at law, and of Bayhall, in Pembury, in the description of which a full account will be given of him and his descendants. Jeffry, the second, was ancestor of the Riverhead branch, as will be mentioned hereafter; and William, the third son, left an only daughter, Margaret, married to John Champs of Tunbridge.

 

Jeffry Amherst was rector of Horsemonden, and resided at Southes, in Sussex, where he died, and was buried in 1662; whose grandson, Jeffry Amherst, esq. was of Riverhead, as has been before mentioned. and a bencher of Gray's-inn, and dying in 1713, was buried at Pembury. By his first wife, Elizabeth, daughter of Henry Yates, esq. of Sussex, he had several children, of whom, Jeffry, the second son, only arrived at maturity, and was of Riverhead; he was a bencher of Gray's-inn, and dying in 1750, was buried in Sevenoke church, having married Elizabeth, daughter of Thomas Kerrill, esq. of Hadlow, by whom he had seven sons and two daughters, viz. Elizabeth, married to John Thomas, clerk, of Welford, in Gloucestershire; and Margaret, who died unmarried.

 

Of the sons, Sackville, the eldest, died unmarried in 1763, Jeffry the second, will be mentioned hereafter; John, the third, was of Riverhead, and viceadmiral of the blue squadron; he married Anne, daughter of Thomas Lindzee, of Portsmouth, by whom he had no issue; he died in 1778, and his widow re-married Thomas Munday, esq. The seventh son, William, was a lieutenant-general in the army, and married Elizabeth, daughter of Thomas Patterson, esq. of London. He died in 1781, leaving one son, William-Pitt, and a daughter, Elizabeth-Frances.

 

Jeffry Amherst, esq. the second son, became, at length, possessed of the mansion of Brooks, and attaching himself early in life to the prossession of a soldier, he acquired the highest military honours and preferments, after a six years glorious war in North America, of which he was appointed governor and commander in chief in 1760; which, when he resigned, the king, among other marks of his royal approbation of his conduct, appointed him governor of the province of Virginia.

 

¶The victorious atchievements of the British forces in North America, during Sir Jeffry Amherst's continuance there, cannot be better summed up than by giving two of the inscriptions on an obelisk, in the grounds of his seat at Montreal; viz.

 

www.british-history.ac.uk/survey-kent/vol3/pp60-105

TRANSACT 14 / WED / EXPO HALL

www.twitter.com/Memoire2cite LA SNCF GÈRE LE DEUXIÈME PATRIMOINE DE FRANCE. À Maisons-Alfort, des logements pour les cheminots construits après-guerre par « La Sablière », filiale de la SNCF cité PLM. Il y a 28 ans : La SNCF gère le deuxième patrimoine de France. Le tour du propriétaire 117 000 hectares, 5 400 bâtiments, des gares, des emprises, mais aussi des hôtels, des magasins, et des logements… c’était l’énorme patrimoine de la SNCF en 1990. Il était même si divers qu’il était difficile d’en faire l’inventaire et d’en estimer exactement la valeur. Mais il ne dormait pas : la Société nationale louait pour le faire fructifier, vendait pour dégager des moyens financiers, achetait pour construire lignes et gares nouvelles. Vaste domaine. La SNCF est endettée, mais elle est riche. On la présente comme le deuxième propriétaire domanial en France après l’armée, et avant l’Église. Près de 117 000 hectares de terrains (deux fois la superficie du territoire de Belfort) pour une valeur brute comptable de 34,48 milliards de francs à la fin de l’année 1988, selon le rapport d’activité. Encore faut-il ajouter les constructions : 54,5 milliards de francs… avant amortissements, pour les bâtiments et ouvrages d’infrastructures. Pour 70 %, les terrains servent de plateformes aux voies ferrées. Mais il faut aussi compter avec les gares, les dépôts et triages, les logements, magasins, hôtels et autres installations louées à des tiers. Un énorme portefeuille à gérer… bien plus imposant d’ailleurs que ne laissent à penser ces valeurs comptables, de toute évidence sous-estimées par défaut d’actualisation, comme dans tout bilan de société. On pourrait allègrement penser qu’un coefficient multiplicateur de trois ou quatre serait tout à fait justifié. Mais aucun cabinet d’audit ne veut se risquer à une évaluation, compte tenu du travail de titan que représenterait l’actualisation chiffrée de ce portefeuille. Et la direction du Domaine au sein de la SNCF tient à rester discrète sur ce point. Devenue Établissement public industriel et commercial (Epic) le 1er janvier 1983, la SNCF n’a rien perdu des richesses dont l’État l’avait dotée lorsqu’elle était société nationale. Elle roule sur un pactole. Mais pour faire fructifier un patrimoine, il faut le faire vivre. Il faut qu’il « respire ». Si l’on se réfère aux derniers bilans annuels connus, la SNCF a vendu un peu plus qu’elle n’a acheté : la valeur de ses terrains a baissé de 150 millions de francs en deux ans. Quant à la valeur des constructions, elle a progressé de 7,8 milliards de francs sur cette même période, dont 5,45 milliards pour les seuls ouvrages d’infrastructure. Encore un des effets du TGV A. Toutefois, ces montants n’évoquent qu’imparfaitement la réalité des opérations foncières menées par la SNCF. Par exemple, sur la seule année 1988, les ventes de terrains ont porté sur 1,1 milliard de francs. Lors d’un récent colloque organisé par l’École nationale des Ponts et Chaussées, Jean Castet, directeur général, évaluait à environ 1,5 milliard de francs le produit des cessions de la SNCF en 1989. Et sur la durée du Plan d’entreprise (1990-1994) « les cessions d’actifs devraient rapporter » environ 1 milliard de francs chaque année. Un apport déterminant dans la gestion. Mais l’entreprise ne se borne pas à céder des actifs : elle en achète également… surtout pour la construction de ses voies nouvelles à grande vitesse. Et finalement, à en croire les chiffres indiqués plus haut, ventes et achats de terrains sont relativement équilibrés : le patrimoine, ainsi, se reconstitue.

La gestion d’un patrimoine n’est certes pas la première mission d’une société de service public chargée de faire rouler des trains. Mais ce n’est pas une fonction subalterne non plus. « Ce qui fut donné en dotation par l’État doit être utilisé pour l’exécution et l’amélioration du service public », explique Jean-François Bénard, directeur général adjoint chargé des finances et du contrôle de gestion. De quoi faire grincer des dents ceux qui estiment que, malgré ses richesses, la Société coûte toujours bien cher à l’État. De quoi irriter également ceux qui ne comprennent pas que, assise sur ce patrimoine, la Société nationale ait négocié malgré tout avec l’État un apurement de 38 milliards de francs d’une dette, héritée elle aussi de l’ancienne SNCF, et évaluée aujourd’hui à près de 100 milliards.

 

De telles attaques n’ont pas lieu d’exister. La SNCF ne gère pas ce patrimoine selon l’humeur du moment, loin de là. Et tout ne fonctionne pas selon le principe des vases communicants lorsqu’on parle d’argent. C’est l’État lui-même qui a fixé les règles de gestion du patrimoine lorsqu’il l’a remis en dotation à la Société. Il ne s’agit pas de faire n’importe quoi, et notamment pas de combler un déficit d’exploitation en vendant des morceaux de ce patrimoine. « Lorsqu’on vend, c’est pour réinvestir et il ne peut y avoir d’autre affectation au produit d’une cession », précise Guy Verrier, ingénieur général des Ponts et Chaussées, un homme d’une grande discrétion comme il est de mise en France lorsqu’on s’occupe d’affaires patrimoniales. Guy Verrier dirige le service du Domaine à la SNCF et il est aussi président de Sceta-lmmobilier. Il est tenu de respecter des contraintes de procédures inscrites dans la Loti (Loi d’orientation des transports intérieurs de 1982). Aussi bien sur la nature des opérations que sur le niveau des cessions : « Quel que soit l’acquéreur, nous sommes obligés par la loi de vendre au prix du marché », vouloir en démordre.

D’aucuns trouveront cette affirmation très théorique : si la zone Tolbiac à Paris a bien été cédée pour un demi-milliard de francs comme la rumeur en circule, la Ville de Paris n’aura pas vraiment fait une mauvaise affaire, même si elle l’a ensuite mise à disposition de l’État pour la construction de la future Bibliothèque de France. Mais, le plus souvent, il n’existe pas de distorsion entre les prix de vente pratiqués par la SNCF et le prix de marché.

 

La Société n’a pas vocation à se transformer en établissement philanthropique. Ainsi, dans les opérations immobilières menées par le groupe, la proportion de logements sociaux reste dans les limites prévues par la loi. Pas moins, mais pas davantage non plus, le reste des programmes étant destiné à des réalisations plus rentables. Ce qui vaut parfois, dans les milieux gouvernementaux, des critiques aigres-douces à l’égard de la direction de la SNCF à qui on reproche une gestion trop capitaliste du patrimoine. Mais il appartient au gouverne ment de prendre ses responsabilités dans les objectifs et les contraintes qu’il assigne à la SNCF, réplique- t-on au siège. Brader les biens de l’entreprise irait à l’encontre de ses intérêts, et la tutelle aurait tôt fait de rappeler à l’ordre la direction si elle s’engageait dans cette voie.

La stratégie de ces dernières années apparaît dictée comme dans bien d’autres secteurs à la SNCF par le développement de la grande vitesse. En quatre ans, plus de 2 000 hectares ont été acquis, en grande partie pour les besoins de la ligne nouvelle du TGV Atlantique. Le montant des acquisitions pour cette ligne a atteint 170 millions de francs (l’ensemble des opérations domaniales ayant coûté 380 millions). Mais il y eut aussi l’achat et l’équipement du site de Valenton entrant dans le cadre de la réorganisation du Sernam, une opération pour laquelle une enveloppe de 500 millions de francs a été dégagée. Et au titre des grandes transformations, le nouvel atelier du Landy pour le TGV Nord… Au chapitre des cessions, près de 1 800 hectares ont été vendus, pour un montant supérieur à 2,2 milliards de francs. Pour la seule région parisienne, les cessions ont représenté plus de la moitié de ce total. Pour contribuer à la réalisation du contrat État-Ville de Paris signé en 1984 et portant sur la réalisation de 10 000 logements sociaux, la SNCF s’était engagée à libérer les 50 hectares qu’elle avait promis 10 ans plus tôt. Promesse tenue. En additionnant les emprises de Reuilly, Bel-Air, Montempoivre, Chevaleret, la Chapelle-Évangile, Bercy-Lachambaudie, Grenellemar chandises, l’Îlot Chalon, l’Îlot Corbineau, et la gare marchandises de Belleville-Vil lette, la SNCF a dégagé une trentaine d’hectares. Ces dix opérations – qui ont été les plus importantes mais pas les seules – ont rapporté au total 1,35 milliard de francs. Il y eut aussi la gare de Tolbiac (13 hectares libérés), la plateforme de la ligne de la Bastille, et près de 9 hectares vendus au début de la décennie sur Charonne, Vaugirard et Grenelle. Toutes les cessions n’ont pas cette importance. Ainsi, pour l’autre partie des transactions réalisées sur les quatre dernières années pour une valeur de l’ordre de 850 millions de francs, on ne dénombre pas moins de 1 500 à 2 000 opérations par an, menées entre autres à Grenoble, Biarritz, Nice, Saint-Pierre- des- Corps, Tours, Bordeaux-Saint- Louis. Et on peut encore citer la cession de la gare de Lyon-Brotteaux (transformée en hôtel des ventes) et des rotondes de Metz et de Béthune réorganisées en centres commerciaux après avoir été vendues. Dans cette multitude d’opérations, figurent aussi les ventes de gares désaffectées, de maisons de gardes-barrières, de magasins généraux et autres bâtiments voyageurs. Des bâtiments proposés aux enchères dans… les petites annonces de La Vie du Rail par exemple, à des mises à prix parfois limitées à 50 000 francs. Car la fermeture au trafic voyageurs de milliers de kilomètres de lignes d’intérêt local et l’abandon de nombreux points d’arrêt omnibus ont entraîné la vente de centaines de bâtiments. Les maisons de gardes-barrières ont été vendues par milliers. Annuellement, les antennes régionales du service des Domaines vendent de 2 000 à 2 500 bâtiments, principalement des maisonnettes de gardes-barrières. Et alors que le réseau comprenait 8 000 gares en 1938, il n’en existe plus aujourd’hui que 4 800. Elles forment en nombre la plus grosse partie des 5 400 bâtiments de la SNCF. Mais en surface, elles ne constituent que 16 % des « mètres carrés bâtis », selon l’expression consacrée. Au total, la société possède 2,9 millions de mètres carrés de planchers. Le patrimoine de gares est par ailleurs fort ancien puisque les trois quarts des établissements datent d’avant 1914. Cet héritage immobilier s’en trouve d’autant plus lourd à gérer et à entretenir. Mais depuis une dizaine d’années, plus de 200 gares importantes ont été rénovées : chaque année, la SNCF dépense environ 500 millions de francs pour la rénovation de ses gares et autant pour leur entretien courant.

Bien qu’elles soient les plus visibles pour le public, ces gares ne composent que la partie apparente de l’iceberg : 9 %, en valeur, du patrimoine immobilier de l’entreprise nationale. Il faut compter aussi avec les ateliers, les entrepôts et dépôts, et les voies. Dans certains cas, les emprises de la SNCF constituent des ensembles impressionnants, comme dans le XVIIe arrondissement à Paris où la mairie évalue à 30 % la proportion de l’arrondissement appartenant à la Société nationale. Compte tenu des prix allant de 20 000 francs à 70 000 francs le mètre carré dans le XVIIe suivant les quartiers, ces emprises de la SNCF représentent déjà une petite fortune sur un espace très limité. Toutefois, la direction des Domaines refuse le principe de la simple multiplication pour une approche de la valeur du patrimoine. Elle explique qu’une voie, même double, s’étire en longueur mais offre une largeur utile trop étroite pour que la valeur du terrain soit calculée comme s’il s’agissait d’un autre espace constructible, rétorque-t-elle. C’est vrai. Mais il existe bien d’autres manières d’employer les mètres carrés de voies : en les recouvrant d’une dalle comme dans le XVIIe arrondissement, ce qui a permis de créer 20 000 m2 d’espaces verts, d’aires de jeux, de crèches, ou de courts de tennis. Les dalles sont à la mode. On connaît celle de Montparnasse, et il y aura celle d’Austerlitz. Mais hormis certaines installations qui seront exploitées par la SNCF pour ses besoins ou pour la mise en valeur de ce nouveau patrimoine (comme la gestion de 700 places de parking dans la dalle Montparnasse), les surfaces disponibles seront mises à la disposition de la Ville de Paris.

M. CHLATACZ et G. BRIDIER La stratégie de Sceta-lmmobilier

Traditionnellement, la politique patrimoniale de la SNCF s’articule sur les besoins de l’activité liée au transport de voyageurs comme au trafic de marchandises. Mais au regard de ses statuts, il n’est pas de son ressort de mener elle-même des opérations immobilières. Elle n’a pas non plus vocation à se transformer en promoteur. Rien ne l’empêche toutefois de créer des filiales spécialisées et de les soutenir tant que celles -ci ne lui font pas courir des risques. Son holding de diversification, Sceta était tout prêt à lui offrir ses structures pour prospecter dans cette direction ; elles furent utilisées. Le processus fut progressif. Il démarra par la gestion des logements de cheminots. Aujourd’hui, un des outils les plus efficaces de la SNCF pour faire vivre son patrimoine est Sceta-lmmobilier. Dans son capital, aux côtés du holding Sceta (56 %), on trouve de grandes banques : Suez (12 %), le Crédit Lyonnais, la BNP, la Société Générale et Paribas (pour 8 % chacune). Cette société, qui a même travaillé pour l’armée, suit le marché et joue un rôle de pilote pour toutes les opérations immobilières. Elle ne se charge pas encore de la construction d’immeubles, mais elle pourrait bien y venir. Cette nouvelle fonction de promoteur pourrait même être inaugurée prochainement, pour de petites opérations à Chantilly ou Orry-la-Ville dans la banlieue parisienne. Des opérations sans risques. En revanche, Sceta-lmmobilier a déjà un rôle d’aménageur, pour transformer une zone ferroviaire en zone constructible avant de la proposer à des promoteurs. Une intervention rémunérée, qu’elle mène entre autres à Vincennes-Fontenay où la municipalité va créer une zone d’aménagement concertée (ZAC). Mais ce n’est pas, en l’occurrence, une « première » : Sceta-lmmobilier a déjà assumé ce genre de fonction, comme sur la ZAC d’Issy-les-Moulineaux. Pour les galeries marchandes, la société A2C (Amenagements de centres commerciaux) a été mise en place par Sceta et sa filiale FRP (France Rail Publicité), présentes à 50 % chacune. Autre outil de promotion : la société Sicorail qui a pour vocation d’assurer le financement des opérations immobilières et, plus généralement, des investissements immobiliers du groupe. Décidément, la gestion du patrimoine pourrait bien, grâce à ses nouveaux outils, prendre à l’avenir davantage d’ampleur. Et c’est aussi bien pour assurer une meilleure cohérence à l’intérieur du groupe que pour apporter une garantie supplémentaire aux futures opérations que Jacques Fournier, déjà à la tête de la SNCF, a tenu à coiffer également la casquette de président de Sceta. Quand la SNCF loge les cheminots La SNCF dispose de 96 300 logements. Même si, en propre, elle n’en possède que 21 000 (contre 45 000 encore en 1981), composés pour plus de 60 % de maisons individuelles, et localisés pour 85 % en province. La SICF, Société immobilière des chemins de fer français, en contrôle un peu plus de 71 300 dont 52 000 environ sont mis à la disposition de la SNCF. Créée en 1942, la SICF contrôle aujourd’hui cinq sociétés de HLM, au nombre desquelles La Sablière, bien connue des cheminots parisiens. La SICF lance chaque année de nouveaux pro grammes : par exemple, en 1989, 160 logements dans la ZAC du Chevaleret, à Paris. La SNCF peut compter en outre sur 14 500 logements réservés auprès d’organismes divers, et de 8 800 autres appartenant à la Société française de construction immobilière, dont la SICF possède 49 % du capital. Tout cheminot peut naturellement prétendre à un logement, même s’il n’est pas sûr de l’obtenir. Le parc immobilier du groupe SNCF-SICF n’est d’ailleurs pas exclusive ment occupé par des agents de l’entreprise. En ce qui concerne les logements SNCF, ils sont occupés à 70 % par des cheminots (60 % d’actifs, 10 % de retraités), à 17 % par des tiers, le reste n’étant pas occupé. Ceux de la SICF le sont dans une proportion semblable (71 % de cheminots, avec 54 % d’actifs et 17 % de retraités). Aujourd’hui 48 % des cheminots sont propriétaires de leur logement. Ils n’étaient que 32 % en 1978.

Quand la SNCF veut un hôtel Le bon bail à la construction, c’est l’option choisie par Guy Verrier, président de Sceta-lmmobilier, notamment pour les opérations dans l’hôtellerie. Cette activité réclame énormément de capitaux. Confrontée au nombre des projets, la SNCF doit procéder par sélection. Les investissements à consentir sur les grandes étapes des TGV ont la priorité. Frantour, du groupe SNCF, s’implique alors directement. Citons dernièrement l’Hôtel de la gare de Lyon, à Paris. Pour les autres investissements, Frantour est toujours consultée… mais pas toujours intéressée. En ce cas, des appels d’offres sont lancés auprès d’autres chaînes. C’est ainsi qu’un hôtel Arcade a été érigé à Mar seille sur des emprises SNCF. Même cas de figure à Nice et à Nantes. La SNCF ne perd pas ses terrains puisqu’elle… ne les vend pas. En recourant au bail à la construction, elle récupère le terrain et l’ensemble des installations au bout de 45 à 50 ans.

Lorsqu’on doit mener des programmes comme à Nice sur 6 400 m2 à côté de la gare, on doit faire preuve d’une sérieuse dose de professionnalisme. Ce programme particulier ne comprend pas moins, outre l’hôtel Arcade de 210 chambres, un parking de 600 places, une résidence para-hôtelière de 130 chambres, des bureaux sur 3 800 m2 et des commerces sur 1 800 m2. Rien n’empêche bien sûr de sous-traiter tout l’aménagement à des sociétés spécialisées. Mais Jacques Fournier considère que la SNCF a tout intérêt à ne pas passer par des spécialistes qui, au passage, prennent une commission. Autant en faire l’économie en mettant en place des centres d’études compétents et des hommes motivés, comme au sein de Sceta-lmmobilier. Les grands en-sembles ré-si-den-tiels et le boom de la cons-truc-tion des an-nées 1960 et 1970

Loin des clichés et pour peu que l’on veuille bien en analyser les qualités formelles et fonctionnelles, les grands ensembles pourraient révéler toute la pertinence et l’actualité de leur modèle et fournir ainsi des réponses intéressantes aux attentes des habitants et aux besoins en logements des métropoles ’environnement bâti dont nous héritons aujourd’hui a été façonné pendant le boom de la construction de l’après-guerre. 40% de l’ensemble des logements existants actuellement en Suisse ont en effet été construits entre 1946 et 19801. Cet héritage est particulièrement visible à la périphérie des villes et dans les banlieues où, parallèlement à la construction massive de maisons unifamiliales, de grands ensembles résidentiels et des immeubles de grande hauteur nous rappellent les changements qui ont eu lieu à cette époque. Le boom socio-économique en Suisse après la Seconde Guerre mondiale Dans les années 1950, le manque de logements constitue un problème important en Suisse, comme dans beaucoup d’autres pays européens, bien que le pays n’ait pas été touché par les destructions de la Seconde Guerre mondiale. Les villes et les installations industrielles demeurent en effet intactes, les relations de propriété et de pouvoir dans la société n’ont pas été modifiées et le système bancaire et le centre financier sont en pleine expansion3. Des années 1950 à la crise pétrolière de 1973, l’économie en plein essor et l’ouverture du marché du travail, accompagnées par la montée en puissance de l’Etat providence, vont de pair avec une augmentation rapide de la population (de l’ordre de 26%4), ainsi que du niveau de richesse et de revenu des ménages. Dans un contexte de confiance dans le progrès et l’innovation technologique, les biens de consommation comme le confort moderne deviennent accessibles à de nombreux foyers. Bâtir pour la famille nucléaire moderne

Ces évolutions s’accompagnent d’importants changements sociaux et culturels. De plus en plus de gens quittent la campagne pour les villes qui offrent plus d’opportunités d’emploi. Alors que les centres urbains concentrent les services et les commerces, le logement se développe en banlieue, provoquant les premiers phénomènes d’étalement urbain. La structure des ménages se modifie : les foyers comptant jusqu’à trois générations – assez courants dans les zones rurales – cèdent la place au modèle de la famille nucléaire, fondée sur la notion de couple. Une réglementation stricte et des politiques plus conservatrices en matière familiale, qui touchent aussi le secteur du logement, voient le jour. L’architecture et les structures spatiales des grands complexes d’habitation de l’époque reflètent ainsi la politique, les valeurs et les idéaux de ce nouveau modèle. En règle générale, le plan des appartements de l’époque propose une typologie standardisée, destinée principalement à un couple avec de jeunes enfants. Cependant, ces standards s’accommodent mal d’autres modes et phases de la vie.

Rationalisation, préfabrication: les entreprises générales deviennent des acteurs majeurs de la construction

Dans la période d’après-guerre, les processus de construction sont rationalisés et la préfabrication industrialisée est largement appliquée pour répondre en peu de temps à un besoin urgent de construction d’immeubles. Les logements répondent généralement à de nouvelles exigences techniques. Toutefois, le recours à de nouveaux matériaux et méthodes de construction n’a guère été accompagné de considérations sur le processus de vieillissement des bâtiments. La dynamique de la construction de logements et la planification de grands ensembles résidentiels sont alors portées par des entreprises générales qui deviennent des acteurs importants de l’industrie du bâtiment à l’époque5. Le libéralisme économique et la structure politique fédéraliste de la Suisse pourraient expliquer la faible participation de l’Etat et l’importance du secteur privé dans la construction des logements et l’industrialisation du bâtiment. Dans les grandes villes, des complexes de logements subventionnés par l’Etat sont également construits par des coopératives ou des organismes communaux, mais leur proportion reste faible par rapport aux ensembles réalisés par des entreprises privées.6

Avant la première Loi nationale sur l’aménagement du territoire introduite en 1980, la planification urbaine et territoriale, notamment en dehors des centres-villes, est déficiente, voire inexistante, et rarement coordonnée. En outre, le droit foncier, qui favorise la propriété privée et la parcellisation de terrains, est un moteur important de développement de la construction.7 Ce manque d’une culture de planification et la disponibilité des terrains constituent les raisons principales de la localisation périphérique des grands ensembles résidentiels. Crise et critique

Après la crise pétrolière de 1973, le produit intérieur brut de la Suisse a chuté d’environ 7,4%, entraînant une érosion de l’emploi de 8 % et des effets dramatiques sur le marché de la construction.8 Avec l’émergence des mouvements écologistes, l’opinion publique évolue progressivement, notamment sur la question des grands ensembles, qui incarnent alors l’échec d’une croyance radicale dans la croissance illimitée. Pendant cette période, les idéaux familiaux traditionnels commencent également à se fragmenter et la structure des ménages évolue. Les villes et la population ne connaissent pas la croissance prévue et les grands ensembles restent souvent de grandes îles de béton à la périphérie des villes, entourées d’infrastructures locales déficientes. Les mêmes phénomènes, de plus grande ampleur, se retrouvent en France, en Allemagne et en Italie.

Dans tous ces pays, une même critique s’élève contre ces ensembles résidentiels. Généralement formulée sans connaissance réelle des lieux et des personnes qui y vivent, elle s’en prend à leur anonymat (supposé), à l’atmosphère froide, inhospitalière et monotone censée y régner et à la spéculation foncière qui aurait présidé à leur construction.

Marginalisation Cette critique a des répercussions dans les domaines de l’architecture et du secteur de la construction. Elle signe la fin des complexes de logements à grande échelle (les derniers projets encore en cours à la fin des années 1970 ont été planifiés antérieurement). Dans les années 1980 et 1990, avec l’apparition des premiers défauts de construction, certaines propriétés commencent à perdre de la valeur. Une tendance au retour en centre-ville, y compris pour les classes moyennes, ainsi que les processus de gentrification, ont encore accentué le phénomène de marginalisation des grands ensembles. En outre, les statistiques montrent une disparité sociale grandissante en Suisse depuis les années 1980, qui se reflète dans l’augmentation de la ségrégation socio-spatiale. Les personnes défavorisées, poussées vers la périphérie au cours des dernières décennies, vivent souvent dans les grands complexes préfabriqués qui leur offrent désormais des loyers abordables. Vu de l’intérieur: le complexe Telli à Aarau

Le complexe résidentiel Telli a été construit dans les années 197010 dans une ancienne zone industrielle d’Aarau, pour répondre à un besoin urgent de logements lié à la croissance des secteurs de l’industrie et des services dans la région. L’ensemble a été planifié par Hans Marti + Kast architectes. En 1975, quelques années après le début de la construction, l’entreprise générale en charge du projet, Horta AG, fait faillite du fait d’investissements spéculatifs ainsi que de la crise économique. Les autorités locales et plusieurs nouveaux propriétaires assurent la continuité du chantier, moyennant quelques adaptations par rapport au plan initial. Les quatre barres d’habitation, dont certaines atteignent 19 étages, comptent 1260 appartements et marquent la petite ville de leur présence. La proportion des habitants de Telli par rapport à la population de la ville était à la fin des années 1970 d’environ 25%. Avec 2400 habitants, elle est aujourd’hui de 12 %, après la fusion d’Aarau avec une autre municipalité.11

Conscients des critiques de l’époque à l’encontre des grands ensembles (« villes-dortoirs » aux infrastructures insuffisantes et aux espaces extérieurs monotones), les architectes et les planificateurs des bâtiments Telli ont intégré de nombreuses installations communautaires. L’ensemble fonctionne comme un quartier urbain autonome, relié au centre-ville par les transports publics. En outre, une attention particulière a été apportée à la conception des espaces extérieurs : le trafic automobile souterrain préserve un parc et ses arbres anciens qui s’étend entre les grands bâtiments.

En raison de la faillite de Horta AG, les blocs sont désormais la propriété de diverses entités privées, communales et coopératives. Un cinquième des appartements est également en propriété. Dans les années 1970, ces divers propriétaires ont signé un contrat pour la construction et l’entretien d’équipements collectifs, mais son cadre juridique complexe et l’absence d’organisme de contrôle de son application ont entraîné le désengagement progressif de certains propriétaires et le surinvestissement des autres dans l’entretien d’équipements coûteux. La gestion des rénovations dans cette structure de propriété mixte apparaît aujourd’hui comme un défi pour l’avenir de cet ensemble. Jusqu’à présent, les travaux de rénovation ont été effectués par chaque propriétaire individuellement et les propriétaires privés ont tendance à bloquer les rénovations coûteuses des équipements collectifs et des espaces extérieurs.

Cette structure de propriété complexe a également conduit à un mélange social particulier. Les résidents sont d’origines sociales et géographiques diverses (49 nationalités différentes). Il y a une quinzaine d’années, les rapports sur le Telli ont insisté sur les problèmes de ce quartier, qualifié de hotspot. Au delà des stéréotypes relayés par ces études, le Telli fait face à des disparités sociales croissantes. En 2002, la ville d’Aarau a donc lancé un projet de développement communautaire sur une durée de six ans. Le centre communautaire joue toujours un rôle crucial dans la poursuite de ce programme et sert de plate-forme d’intégration pour les activités sociales dans le quartier.

Probablement en raison de sa taille massive et de son apparence, le Telli a toujours eu une mauvaise réputation. Contrairement à cette image négative, les résidents soulignent ses qualités, s’identifient au lieu et en sont fiers. Pour eux, les appartements attrayants et abordables, les équipements communautaires et les espaces verts généreux, les relations de voisinage, et l’emplacement à la fois proche du centre-ville ainsi que du secteur récréatif de l’Aar, constituent des atouts remarquables. L’actualité d’un modèle

Un regard plus attentif sur le Telli et d’autres grands ensembles montre que les réalités quotidiennes sont beaucoup plus complexes que les clichés répandus sur ces typologies bâties. Lorsqu’on réfléchit à l’avenir de cet héritage construit, il est donc important de s’éloigner des images réductrices et de considérer les acquis du passé, ainsi que l’expérience et les perspectives diverses des acteurs locaux. La densification urbaine est un sujet d’actualité pour les villes suisses et les architectes et planificateurs discutent de la construction de nouvelles typologies à grande échelle en remplacement d’anciens bâtiments. La croissance urbaine et la gentrification en cours augmentent le besoin de logements de bonne qualité et abordables dans les villes. L’histoire et l’héritage des grands ensembles résidentiels des années 1960 et 1970 donnent l’occasion de repenser la conception de structures denses et leur articulation avec des espaces urbains ouverts, des équipements communautaires et des infrastructures. Mais cela permet aussi de mieux comprendre l’image que produit l’architecture et les effets d’une mauvaise perception d’un ensemble résidentiel par le public. Enfin, nous pouvons appréhender les stratégies de gestion et de vie dans des grands ensembles résidentiels au cours du temps, en tenant compte des contextes locaux spécifiques et des besoins du 21e siècle. @ Les grands ensembles en images Les ministères en charge du logement et leur production audiovisuelle (1944-1966) MASSY - Les films du MRU - La Cité des hommes, 1966, Réalisation : Fréderic Rossif, Albert Knobler www.dailymotion.com/video/xgiqzr?playlist=x34i - Les films du MRU @ les AUTOROUTES - Les liaisons moins dangereuses 1972 la construction des autoroutes en France - Le réseau autoroutier 1960 Histoire de France Transports et Communications - www.dailymotion.com/video/xxi0ae?playlist=x34ije … - A quoi servaient les films produits par le MRU ministère de la Reconstruction et de l'Urbanisme ? la réponse de Danielle Voldman historienne spécialiste de la reconstruction www.dailymotion.com/video/x148qu4?playlist=x34ije … -les films du MRU - Bâtir mieux plus vite et moins cher 1975 l'industrialisation du bâtiment et ses innovations : la préfabrication en usine, le coffrage glissant... www.dailymotion.com/video/xyjudq?playlist=x34ije … - TOUT SUR LA CONSTRUCTION DE NOTRE DAME LA CATHEDRALE DE PARIS Içi www.notredamedeparis.fr/la-cathedrale/histoire/historique... -MRU Les films - Le Bonheur est dans le béton - 2015 Documentaire réalisé par Lorenz Findeisen produit par Les Films du Tambour de Soie içi www.dailymotion.com/video/x413amo?playlist=x34ije Noisy-le-Sec le laboratoire de la reconstruction, 1948 L'album cinématographique de la reconstruction maison préfabriquée production ministère de la Reconstruction et de l'Urbanisme, 1948 L'album cinématographique içi www.dailymotion.com/video/xwytke

archipostcard.blogspot.com/search?updated-max=2009-02-13T... -Créteil.un couple à la niaiserie béate exalte les multiples bonheurs de la vie dans les new G.E. www.youtube.com/watch?v=FT1_abIteFE … La Ville bidon était un téléfilm d'1 heure intitulé La Décharge.Mais la censure de ces temps de présidence Pompidou en a interdit la diffusion télévisuelle - museedelacartepostale.fr/periode-semi-moderne/ - archipostalecarte.blogspot.com/ - Hansjörg Schneider BAUNETZWOCHE 87 über Papiermoderne www.baunetz.de/meldungen/Meldungen_BAUNETZWOCHE_87_ueber_... … - ARCHITECTURE le blog de Claude LOTHIER içi leblogdeclaudelothier.blogspot.com/2006/ - - Le balnéaire en cartes postales autour de la collection de David Liaudet, et ses excellents commentaires.. www.dailymotion.com/video/x57d3b8 -Restaurants Jacques BOREL, Autoroute A 6, 1972 Canton d'AUXERRE youtu.be/LRNhNzgkUcY munchies.vice.com/fr/article/43a4kp/jacques-borel-lhomme-... … Celui qu'on appellera le « Napoléon du prêt-à-manger » se détourne d'ailleurs peu à peu des Wimpy, s'engueule avec la maison mère et fait péricliter la franchise ...

museedelacartepostale.fr/blog/ -'être agent de gestion locative pour une office H.L.M. en 1958' , les Cités du soleil 1958 de Jean-Claude Sée- les films du MRU içi www.dailymotion.com/video/xgj74q présente les réalisations des HLM en France et la lutte contre l'habitat indigne insalubre museedelacartepostale.fr/exposition-permanente/ - www.queenslandplaces.com.au/category/headwords/brisbane-c... - collection-jfm.fr/t/cartes-postales-anciennes/france#.XGe... - www.cparama.com/forum/la-collection-de-cpa-f1.html - www.dauphinomaniac.org/Cartespostales/Francaises/Cartes_F... - furtho.tumblr.com/archive

e Logement Collectif* 50,60,70's, dans tous ses états..Histoire & Mémoire d'H.L.M. de Copropriété Renouvellement Urbain-Réha-NPNRU., twitter.com/Memoire2cite tout içi sig.ville.gouv.fr/atlas/ZUS/ - media/InaEdu01827/la-creatio" rel="noreferrer nofollow">fresques.ina.fr/jalons/fiche-media/InaEdu01827/la-creatio Bâtir mieux plus vite et moins cher 1975 l'industrialisation du bâtiment et ses innovations : www.dailymotion.com/video/xyjudq?playlist=x34ije la préfabrication en usine www.dailymotion.com/video/xx6ob5?playlist=x34ije , le coffrage glissant www.dailymotion.com/video/x19lwab?playlist=x34ije ... De nouvelles perspectives sont nées dans l'industrie du bâtiment avec les principes de bases de l'industrialisation du bâtiment www.dailymotion.com/video/x1a98iz?playlist=x34ije ,

www.dailymotion.com/video/xk6xui?playlist=x34ije , www.dailymotion.com/video/xk1dh2?playlist=x34ije : mécanisation, rationalisation et élaboration industrielle de la production. Des exemples concrets sont présentés afin d'illustrer l'utilisation des différentes innovations : les coffrages outils, coffrage glissant, le tunnel, des procédés pour accélérer le durcissement du béton. Le procédé dit de coffrage glissant est illustré sur le chantier des tours Pablo Picasso à Nanterre. Le principe est de s'affranchir des échafaudages : le coffrage épouse le contour du bâtiment, il s'élève avec la construction et permet de réaliser simultanément l'ensemble des murs verticaux. Au centre du plancher de travail, une grue distribue en continu le ferraillage et le béton. Sur un tel chantier les ouvriers se relaient 24h / 24 , www.dailymotion.com/video/xwytke?playlist=x34ije , www.dailymotion.com/video/x1bci6m?playlist=x34ije

Le reportage se penche ensuite sur la préfabrication en usine. Ces procédés de préfabrication en usine selon le commentaire sont bien adaptés aux pays en voie de développement, cela est illustré dans le reportage par une réalisation en Libye à Benghazi. Dans la course à l'allégement des matériaux un procédé l'isola béton est présenté. Un chapitre sur la construction métallique explique les avantage de ce procédé. La fabrication de composants ouvre de nouvelles perspectives à l'industrie du bâtiment.

Lieux géographiques : la Grande Borne 91, le Vaudreuil 27, Avoriaz, Avenue de Flandres à Paris, tours Picasso à Nanterre, vues de la défense, Benghazi Libye www.dailymotion.com/video/xk6xui?playlist=x34ije , www.dailymotion.com/video/xk1dh2?playlist=x34ije : mécanisation, rationalisation et élaboration industrielle de la production. Des exemples concrets sont présentés afin d'illustrer l'utilisation des différentes innovations : les coffrages outils, coffrage glissant, le tunnel, des procédés pour accélérer le durcissement du béton. Le procédé dit de coffrage glissant est illustré sur le chantier des tours Pablo Picasso à Nanterre. Le principe est de s'affranchir des échafaudages : le coffrage épouse le contour du bâtiment, il s'élève avec la construction et permet de réaliser simultanément l'ensemble des murs verticaux. Au centre du plancher de travail, une grue distribue en continu le ferraillage et le béton. Sur un tel chantier les ouvriers se relaient 24h / 24 , www.dailymotion.com/video/xwytke?playlist=x34ije , www.dailymotion.com/video/x1bci6m?playlist=x34ije

   

Le reportage se penche ensuite sur la préfabrication en usine. Ces procédés de préfabrication en usine selon le commentaire sont bien adaptés aux pays en voie de développement, cela est illustré dans le reportage par une réalisation en Libye à Benghazi. Dans la course à l'allégement des matériaux un procédé l'isola béton est présenté. Un chapitre sur la construction métallique explique les avantage de ce procédé. La fabrication de composants ouvre de nouvelles perspectives à l'industrie du bâtiment.www.dailymotion.com/playlist/x34ije_territoiresgouv_cinem... - mémoire2cité - le monde de l'Architecture locative collective et bien plus encore - mémoire2cité - Bâtir mieux plus vite et moins cher 1975 l'industrialisation du bâtiment et ses innovations : www.dailymotion.com/video/xyjudq?playlist=x34ije la préfabrication en usine www.dailymotion.com/video/xx6ob5?playlist=x34ije , le coffrage glissant www.dailymotion.com/video/x19lwab?playlist=x34ije ... De nouvelles perspectives sont nées dans l'industrie du bâtiment avec les principes de bases de l'industrialisation du bâtiment www.dailymotion.com/video/x1a98iz?playlist=x34ije ,www.dailymotion.com/playlist/x34ije_territoiresgouv_cinem... - mémoire2cité - le monde de l'Architecture locative collective et bien plus encore - mémoire2cité - Bâtir mieux plus vite et moins cher 1975 l'industrialisation du bâtiment et ses innovations : www.dailymotion.com/video/xyjudq?playlist=x34ije la préfabrication en usine www.dailymotion.com/video/xx6ob5?playlist=x34ije , le coffrage glissant www.dailymotion.com/video/x19lwab?playlist=x34ije ... De nouvelles perspectives sont nées dans l'industrie du bâtiment avec les principes de bases de l'industrialisation du bâtiment www.dailymotion.com/video/x1a98iz?playlist=x34ije ,

Le Joli Mai (Restauré) - Les grands ensembles BOBIGNY l Abreuvoir www.youtube.com/watch?v=eUY9XzjvWHE … et la www.youtube.com/watch?v=hK26k72xIkU … www.youtube.com/watch?v=xCKF0HEsWWo …

Genève Le Grand Saconnex & la Bulle Pirate - architecte Marçel Lachat -

Un film de Julien Donada içi www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=1&v=4E723uQcpnU … … .Genève en 1970. pic.twitter.com/1dbtkAooLM è St-Etienne - La muraille de Chine, en 1973 ce grand immeuble du quartier de Montchovet, existait encore photos la Tribune/Progres.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=AJAylpe8G48 …, - la tour 80 HLM située au 1 rue Proudhon à Valentigney dans le quartier des Buis Cette tour emblématique du quartier avec ces 15 étages a été abattu par FERRARI DEMOLITION (68). VALENTIGNEY (25700) 1961 - Ville nouvelle-les Buis 3,11 mn www.youtube.com/watch?v=C_GvwSpQUMY … - Au nord-Est de St-Etienne, aux confins de la ville, se dresse une colline Montreynaud la ZUP de Raymond Martin l'architecte & Alexandre Chemetoff pour les paysages de St-Saens.. la vidéo içi * Réalisation : Dominique Bauguil www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sqfb27hXMDo … … - www.dailymotion.com/video/xk6xui?playlist=x34ije , www.dailymotion.com/video/xk1dh2?playlist=x34ije , www.dailymotion.com/video/xwytke?playlist=x34ije , www.dailymotion.com/video/x1bci6m?playlist=x34ije l'industrie du bâtiment.

la Grande Borne 91, le Vaudreuil 27, Avoriaz, Avenue de Flandres à Paris, tours Picasso à Nanterre, vues de la défense, Benghazi Libye 1975 Réalisateur : Sydney Jézéquel, Karenty

la construction des Autoroutes en France - Les liaisons moins dangereuses 1972 www.dailymotion.com/video/xxi0ae?playlist=x34ije Cardem les 60 ans de l'entreprise de démolition française tres prisée des bailleurs pour les 80, 90's (1956 - 2019) toute l'Histoire de l'entreprise içi www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yyf1XGvTZYs - 69 LYON & la Cardem pour la démolition de la barre 230 Quartier la Duchère le 2 juillet 2015, youtu.be/BSwidwLw0NA pic.twitter.com/5XgR8LY7At -34 Béziers - C'était Capendeguy le 27 janv 2008 En quelques secondes, 450 kg d'explosifs ont soufflé la barre HLM de 492 lgts, de 480 m, qui laissera derrière elle 65.000 tonnes de gravas. www.youtube.com/watch?v=rydT54QYX50 … … Les usines Peugeot - Sochaux Montbéliard. 100 ans d'histoire en video www.youtube.com/watch?v=X4w3CxXVAyY … - 42 LOIRE SAINT-ETIENNE MONTREYNAUD LA ZUP Souvenirs avec Mascovich & son clip "la tour de Montreynaud" www.youtube.com/watch?v=p7Zmwn224XE …

Villeneuve-la-Garenne, La Caravelle est à mettre au crédit de Jean Dubuisson, l’un des architectes les plus en vue des années 1960, www.dailymotion.com/video/x1re3h5 via @Dailymotion - AMIENS les HLM C'était le 29 juillet 2010, à 11h02. En quelques secondes, cette tour d'habitation s'est effondrée, détruite par implosion. Construite en 1961, la tour avait été vidée de ses habitants quelques années auparavant. www.youtube.com/watch?v=ajz2xk5KBNo … … - Les habitants de Montreynaud parlent de leur quartier et de cette destruction entre nostalgie et soulagement içi en video www.dailymotion.com/video/xmiwfk - Les bâtiments de la région parisienne - Vidéo Ina.fr www.ina.fr/video/CAF96034508/les-batiments-de-la-region-p... … via @Inafr_officiel - Daprinski - George Michael (Plaisir de France remix) www.youtube.com/watch?v=sJeH-nzlj3I

Ministère de l'Équipement et de l'Aménagement du Territoire - Dotation par la France d'autoroutes modernes "nécessité vitale" pour palier à l'inadaptation du réseau routier de l'époque voué à la paralysie : le reportage nous montre des images d'embouteillages. Le ministre de l'Équipement et de l'Aménagement du Territoire dans les deux gouvernements de Pierre Messmer, de 1972 à 1974, Olivier Guichard explique les ambitions du programme de construction qui doit atteindre 800 km par ans en 1978. L'ouverture de section nouvelles va bon train : Nancy / Metz par exemple. Le reportage nous montre l'intérieur des bureaux d'études qui conçoivent ces autoroute dont la conception est assistée par ordinateurs dont le projet d'ensemble en 3D est visualisé sur un écran. La voix off nous informe sur le financement de ces équipements. Puis on peut voir des images de la construction du pont sur la Seine à Saint Cloud reliant l'autoroute de Normandie au périphérique, de l'échangeur de Palaiseau sur 4 niveau : record d'Europe précise le commentaire. Le reportage nous informe que des sociétés d'économies mixtes ont étés crées pour les tronçons : Paris / Lille, Paris / Marseille, Paris / Normandie. Pour accélérer la construction l’État a eu recours à des concessions privées par exemple pour le tronçon Paris / Chartres. "Les autoroutes changent le visage de la France : artères économiques favorisant le développement industriel elles permettent de revitaliser des régions en perte de vitesse et de l'intégrer dans le mouvement général de l'expansion" Sur le plan européen elles vont combler le retard de la France et réaliser son insertion. Images de l'inauguration de l'autoroute entre Paris et Bruxelles par le président Georges Pompidou. Le reportage rappel que l'autre fonction capitale des autoroute est de favoriser la sécurité. La question de la limitation de vitesse est posée au ministre de l’Équipement, qui n'y est favorable que sur certains tronçons. Un des facteur de sécurité selon le commentaire est l'humanisation des autoroutes : aires de repos, restaurants, signalisation touristiques... "Rien n'est impossible aux techniques modernes" nous apprend la voix off qui prend comme exemple le déplacement sur rail de 65 mètres d'un château classé afin de faire passer l'autoroute Lille / Dunkerque.Durée : 4 minutes 30 secondes

Sur les routes de France les ponts renaissent 1945 reconstruction de la France après la Seconde Guerre mondiale www.dailymotion.com/video/xuxrii?playlist=x34ije Lyon, Tournon, Caen - Le Bosquel, un village renait 1947 l'album cinématographique de la reconstruction, réalisation Paul de Roubaix production ministère de la Reconstruction et de l'Urbanisme, village prototype, architecte Paul Dufournet, www.dailymotion.com/video/xx5tx8?playlist=x34ije - Demain Paris 1959 dessin animé présentant l'aménagement de la capitale dans les années 60, Animation, dessin animé à vocation pédagogique visant à promouvoir la politique d’aménagement suivie dans les années 60 à Paris. Un raccourci historique sur l’extension de Paris du Moyen Âge au XIXe siècle (Lutèce, œuvres de Turgot, Napoléon, Haussmann), ce dessin animé retrace la naissance de la banlieue et de ses avatars au XXe siècle. Il annonce les grands principes d’aménagement des villes nouvelles et la restructuration du centre de Paris (référence implicite à la charte d’Athènes). Le texte est travaillé en rimes et vers. Une chanson du vieux Paris conclut poétiquement cette vision du futur. Thèmes principaux : Aménagement urbain / planification-aménagement régional Mots-clés : Banlieue, extension spatiale, histoire, quartier, ville, ville nouvelle Lieu géographique : Paris 75 Architectes ou personnalités : Eugène Haussmann, Napoléon, Turgot Réalisateurs : André Martin, Michel Boschet Production : les films Roger Leenhardt

www.dailymotion.com/video/xw6lak?playlist=x34ije - Rue neuve 1956 la reconstruction de la France dix ans après la fin de la seconde guerre mondiale, villes, villages, grands ensembles réalisation : Jack Pinoteau , Panorama de la reconstruction de la France dix ans après la fin de la seconde guerre mondiale, ce film de commande évoque les villes et villages français détruits puis reconstruits dans un style respectant la tradition : Saint-Malo, Gien, Thionville, Ammerschwihr, etc. ainsi que la reconstruction en rupture avec l'architecture traditionnelle à Châtenay-Malabry, Arles, Saint Étienne, Évreux, Chambéry, Villeneuve-Saint-Georges, Abbeville, Le Havre, Marseille, Boulogne-sur-Mer, Dunkerque. Le documentaire explique par exemple la manière dont a été réalisée la reconstruction de Saint-Malo à l'intérieur des rempart de la vieille ville : "c'est la fidélité à l'histoire et la force du souvenir qui a guidé l'architecte". Dans le même esprit à Gien, au trois quart détruite en 1940, seul le château construit en 1494 pour Anne de Beaujeu, fille aînée de Louis XI, fut épargné par les bombardements. La ville fut reconstruite dans le style des rares immeubles restant. Gien est relevé de ses ruines et le nouvel ensemble harmonieux est appelé « Joyau de la Reconstruction française ». Dans un deuxième temps est abordé le chapitre de la construction des cités et des grands ensembles, de l’architecture du renouveau qualifiée de "grandiose incontestablement". S’il est précisé "on peut aimer ou de ne pas aimer ce style", l’emporte au final l’argument suivant : les grands ensembles, c'est la campagne à la ville, un urbanisme plus aéré, plus vert." les films caravelles 1956, Réalisateur : Jack Pinoteau (connu pour être le metteur en scène du film Le Triporteur 1957 qui fit découvrir Darry Cowl) www.dailymotion.com/video/xuz3o8?playlist=x34ije - www.dailymotion.com/video/xk1g5j?playlist=x34ije Brigitte Gros - Urbanisme - Filmer les grands ensembles 2016 - par Camille Canteux chercheuse au CHS -Centre d'Histoire Sociale - Jeanne Menjoulet - Ce film du CHS daté de 2014 www.youtube.com/watch?v=VDUBwVPNh0s … L'UNION SOCIALE POUR L'HABITAT le Musée des H.L.M. musee-hlm.fr/ union-habitat.org/ - EXPOSITION :LES 50 ANS DE LA RESIDENCe SALMSON POINT-Du JOUR www.salmsonlepointdujour.fr/pdf/Exposition_50_ans.pdf - Sotteville Construction de l’Anjou, le premier immeuble de la Zone Verte sottevilleaufildutemps.fr/2017/05/04/construction-de-limm... - www.20minutes.fr/paris/diaporama-7346-photo-854066-100-an... - www.ladepeche.fr/article/2010/11/02/940025-140-ans-en-arc... dreux-par-pierlouim.over-blog.com/article-chamards-1962-9... missionphoto.datar.gouv.fr/fr/photographe/7639/serie/7695...

Official Trailer - the Pruitt-Igoe Myth: an Urban History

www.youtube.com/watch?v=g7RwwkNzF68 - la dérive des continents youtu.be/kEeo8muZYJU Et la disparition des Mammouths - RILLIEUX LA PAPE & Dynacité - Le 23 février 2017, à 11h30, les tours Lyautey étaient foudroyées. www.youtube.com/watch?v=W---rnYoiQc 1956 en FRANCE - "Un jour on te demanda de servir de guide, à un architecte en voyage d etudes, ensemble vous parcourez la Françe visitant cité jardins, gratte ciel & pavillons d'HLM..." @ les archives filmées du MRU www.youtube.com/watch?v=zR_jxCANYac&fbclid=IwAR2IzWlM... … Villages de la Françe cité du Soleil

Ginger CEBTP Démolition, filiale déconstruction du Groupe Ginger, a réalisé la maîtrise d'oeuvre de l'opération et produit les études d'exécution. L'emblématique ZUP Pruitt Igoe. vaste quartier HLM (33 barres de 11 étages) de Saint-Louis (Missouri) USA. démoli en 1972 www.youtube.com/watch?v=nq_SpRBXRmE … "Life is complicated, i killed people, smuggled people, sold people, but perhaps in here.. things will be different." ~ Niko Bellic - cité Balzac, à Vitry-sur-Seine (23 juin 2010).13H & Boom, quelques secondes plus tard, la barre «GHJ», 14 étages et 168 lgts, s’effondrait comme un château de cartes sous les applaudissements et les sifflets, bientôt enveloppés dans un nuage de poussière. www.youtube.com/watch?v=d9nBMHS7mzY … - "La Chapelle" Réhabilitation thermique de 667 logements à Andrézieux-Bou... youtu.be/0tswIPdoVCE - 11 octobre 1984 www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xk-Je1eQ5po DESTRUCTION par explosifs de 10 tours du QUARTIER DES MINGUETTES, à LYON. les tours des Minguettes ; VG des tours explosant et s'affaissant sur le côté dans un nuage de fumée blanche ; à 13H15, nous assistons à l'explosion de 4 autres tours - St-Etienne Métropole & Montchovet - la célèbre Muraille de Chine ( 540 lgts 270m de long 15 allees) qui était à l'époque en 1964 la plus grande barre HLM jamais construit en Europe. Après des phases de rénovation, cet immeuble a été dynamité en mai 2000 www.youtube.com/watch?v=YB3z_Z6DTdc … - PRESQU'ILE DE GENNEVILLIERS...AUJOURD'HUI...DEMAIN... (LA video içi parcours.cinearchives.org/Les-films-PRESQU-ILE-DE-GENNEVI... … ) Ce film de la municipalité de Gennevilliers explique la démarche et les objectifs de l’exposition communale consacrée à la presqu’île, exposition qui se tint en déc 1972 et janvier 1973 - le mythe de Pruitt-Igoe en video içi nextcity.org/daily/entry/watch-the-trailer-for-the-pruitt... … - 1964, quand les loisirs n’avaient (deja) pas le droit de cité poke @Memoire2cite youtu.be/Oj64jFKIcAE - Devenir de la ZUP de La Paillade youtu.be/1qxAhsqsV8M v - Regard sur les barres Zum' youtu.be/Eow6sODGct8 v - MONTCHOVET EN CONSTRUCTION Saint Etienne, ses travaux - Vidéo Ina.fr www.ina.fr/video/LXF99004401 … via - La construction de la Grande Borne à Grigny en 1969 Archive INA www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=12&v=t843Ny2p7Ww (discours excellent en seconde partie) -David Liaudet : l'image absolue, c'est la carte postale" phothistory.wordpress.com/2016/04/27/david-liaudet-limage... … l'architecture sanatoriale Histoire des sanatoriums en France (1915-1945). Une architecture en quête de rendement thérapeutique..

passy-culture.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/10/Les-15-Glori... … … & hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/tel-01935993/document Gwenaëlle Le Goullon (LAHRA), auteur du livre "la genèse des grands ensembles",& Danièle Voldman (CHS, Centre d'Histoire Sociale), expliquent le processus qui a conduit l'Etat, et le ministère de l'urbanisme &de la reconstruction à mener des chantiers exp www.youtube.com/watch?v=zR_jxCANYac&fbclid=IwAR2IzWlM... mémoire2cité & l'A.U.A. - Jacques Simon (1929 - 26 septembre 2015) est un architecte paysagiste formé à l'École des beaux-arts de Montréal et à l'École nationale supérieure du paysage de Versailles. Fasciné par la campagne qui témoigne d'une histoire de labeur, celle des agriculteurs "ses amis", "les génies de la terre", Jacques SIMON, paysagiste dplg, Premier Grand Prix du Paysage en 1990*, réalise avec eux des installations paysagères éphémères principalement dans des champs et visibles du ciel. Avec sa palette d'artiste, Jacques SIMON réinvente des paysages comme les agriculteurs eux-aussi à leur façon les créent et les entretiennent. Le CAUE du Rhône vous invite à venir découvrir ses travaux au travers d'un kaléidoscope de photographies empreintes de spontanéité, de fraîcheur et d'humour. Cette exposition nous interpelle sur le caractère essentiel d'une nature changeante, fragile, sur l'importance d'une activité agricole diversifiée et sur la nécessaire évolution du métier de paysan. Elle nous amène aussi à voir et à interpréter ce que l'on voit, elle éveille en nous le sens de la beauté du paysage en conjuguant les différen

www.twitter.com/Memoire2cite LA SNCF GÈRE LE DEUXIÈME PATRIMOINE DE FRANCE. À Maisons-Alfort, des logements pour les cheminots construits après-guerre par « La Sablière », filiale de la SNCF cité PLM. Il y a 28 ans : La SNCF gère le deuxième patrimoine de France. Le tour du propriétaire 117 000 hectares, 5 400 bâtiments, des gares, des emprises, mais aussi des hôtels, des magasins, et des logements… c’était l’énorme patrimoine de la SNCF en 1990. Il était même si divers qu’il était difficile d’en faire l’inventaire et d’en estimer exactement la valeur. Mais il ne dormait pas : la Société nationale louait pour le faire fructifier, vendait pour dégager des moyens financiers, achetait pour construire lignes et gares nouvelles. Vaste domaine. La SNCF est endettée, mais elle est riche. On la présente comme le deuxième propriétaire domanial en France après l’armée, et avant l’Église. Près de 117 000 hectares de terrains (deux fois la superficie du territoire de Belfort) pour une valeur brute comptable de 34,48 milliards de francs à la fin de l’année 1988, selon le rapport d’activité. Encore faut-il ajouter les constructions : 54,5 milliards de francs… avant amortissements, pour les bâtiments et ouvrages d’infrastructures. Pour 70 %, les terrains servent de plateformes aux voies ferrées. Mais il faut aussi compter avec les gares, les dépôts et triages, les logements, magasins, hôtels et autres installations louées à des tiers. Un énorme portefeuille à gérer… bien plus imposant d’ailleurs que ne laissent à penser ces valeurs comptables, de toute évidence sous-estimées par défaut d’actualisation, comme dans tout bilan de société. On pourrait allègrement penser qu’un coefficient multiplicateur de trois ou quatre serait tout à fait justifié. Mais aucun cabinet d’audit ne veut se risquer à une évaluation, compte tenu du travail de titan que représenterait l’actualisation chiffrée de ce portefeuille. Et la direction du Domaine au sein de la SNCF tient à rester discrète sur ce point. Devenue Établissement public industriel et commercial (Epic) le 1er janvier 1983, la SNCF n’a rien perdu des richesses dont l’État l’avait dotée lorsqu’elle était société nationale. Elle roule sur un pactole. Mais pour faire fructifier un patrimoine, il faut le faire vivre. Il faut qu’il « respire ». Si l’on se réfère aux derniers bilans annuels connus, la SNCF a vendu un peu plus qu’elle n’a acheté : la valeur de ses terrains a baissé de 150 millions de francs en deux ans. Quant à la valeur des constructions, elle a progressé de 7,8 milliards de francs sur cette même période, dont 5,45 milliards pour les seuls ouvrages d’infrastructure. Encore un des effets du TGV A. Toutefois, ces montants n’évoquent qu’imparfaitement la réalité des opérations foncières menées par la SNCF. Par exemple, sur la seule année 1988, les ventes de terrains ont porté sur 1,1 milliard de francs. Lors d’un récent colloque organisé par l’École nationale des Ponts et Chaussées, Jean Castet, directeur général, évaluait à environ 1,5 milliard de francs le produit des cessions de la SNCF en 1989. Et sur la durée du Plan d’entreprise (1990-1994) « les cessions d’actifs devraient rapporter » environ 1 milliard de francs chaque année. Un apport déterminant dans la gestion. Mais l’entreprise ne se borne pas à céder des actifs : elle en achète également… surtout pour la construction de ses voies nouvelles à grande vitesse. Et finalement, à en croire les chiffres indiqués plus haut, ventes et achats de terrains sont relativement équilibrés : le patrimoine, ainsi, se reconstitue.

La gestion d’un patrimoine n’est certes pas la première mission d’une société de service public chargée de faire rouler des trains. Mais ce n’est pas une fonction subalterne non plus. « Ce qui fut donné en dotation par l’État doit être utilisé pour l’exécution et l’amélioration du service public », explique Jean-François Bénard, directeur général adjoint chargé des finances et du contrôle de gestion. De quoi faire grincer des dents ceux qui estiment que, malgré ses richesses, la Société coûte toujours bien cher à l’État. De quoi irriter également ceux qui ne comprennent pas que, assise sur ce patrimoine, la Société nationale ait négocié malgré tout avec l’État un apurement de 38 milliards de francs d’une dette, héritée elle aussi de l’ancienne SNCF, et évaluée aujourd’hui à près de 100 milliards.

 

De telles attaques n’ont pas lieu d’exister. La SNCF ne gère pas ce patrimoine selon l’humeur du moment, loin de là. Et tout ne fonctionne pas selon le principe des vases communicants lorsqu’on parle d’argent. C’est l’État lui-même qui a fixé les règles de gestion du patrimoine lorsqu’il l’a remis en dotation à la Société. Il ne s’agit pas de faire n’importe quoi, et notamment pas de combler un déficit d’exploitation en vendant des morceaux de ce patrimoine. « Lorsqu’on vend, c’est pour réinvestir et il ne peut y avoir d’autre affectation au produit d’une cession », précise Guy Verrier, ingénieur général des Ponts et Chaussées, un homme d’une grande discrétion comme il est de mise en France lorsqu’on s’occupe d’affaires patrimoniales. Guy Verrier dirige le service du Domaine à la SNCF et il est aussi président de Sceta-lmmobilier. Il est tenu de respecter des contraintes de procédures inscrites dans la Loti (Loi d’orientation des transports intérieurs de 1982). Aussi bien sur la nature des opérations que sur le niveau des cessions : « Quel que soit l’acquéreur, nous sommes obligés par la loi de vendre au prix du marché », vouloir en démordre.

D’aucuns trouveront cette affirmation très théorique : si la zone Tolbiac à Paris a bien été cédée pour un demi-milliard de francs comme la rumeur en circule, la Ville de Paris n’aura pas vraiment fait une mauvaise affaire, même si elle l’a ensuite mise à disposition de l’État pour la construction de la future Bibliothèque de France. Mais, le plus souvent, il n’existe pas de distorsion entre les prix de vente pratiqués par la SNCF et le prix de marché.

 

La Société n’a pas vocation à se transformer en établissement philanthropique. Ainsi, dans les opérations immobilières menées par le groupe, la proportion de logements sociaux reste dans les limites prévues par la loi. Pas moins, mais pas davantage non plus, le reste des programmes étant destiné à des réalisations plus rentables. Ce qui vaut parfois, dans les milieux gouvernementaux, des critiques aigres-douces à l’égard de la direction de la SNCF à qui on reproche une gestion trop capitaliste du patrimoine. Mais il appartient au gouverne ment de prendre ses responsabilités dans les objectifs et les contraintes qu’il assigne à la SNCF, réplique- t-on au siège. Brader les biens de l’entreprise irait à l’encontre de ses intérêts, et la tutelle aurait tôt fait de rappeler à l’ordre la direction si elle s’engageait dans cette voie.

La stratégie de ces dernières années apparaît dictée comme dans bien d’autres secteurs à la SNCF par le développement de la grande vitesse. En quatre ans, plus de 2 000 hectares ont été acquis, en grande partie pour les besoins de la ligne nouvelle du TGV Atlantique. Le montant des acquisitions pour cette ligne a atteint 170 millions de francs (l’ensemble des opérations domaniales ayant coûté 380 millions). Mais il y eut aussi l’achat et l’équipement du site de Valenton entrant dans le cadre de la réorganisation du Sernam, une opération pour laquelle une enveloppe de 500 millions de francs a été dégagée. Et au titre des grandes transformations, le nouvel atelier du Landy pour le TGV Nord… Au chapitre des cessions, près de 1 800 hectares ont été vendus, pour un montant supérieur à 2,2 milliards de francs. Pour la seule région parisienne, les cessions ont représenté plus de la moitié de ce total. Pour contribuer à la réalisation du contrat État-Ville de Paris signé en 1984 et portant sur la réalisation de 10 000 logements sociaux, la SNCF s’était engagée à libérer les 50 hectares qu’elle avait promis 10 ans plus tôt. Promesse tenue. En additionnant les emprises de Reuilly, Bel-Air, Montempoivre, Chevaleret, la Chapelle-Évangile, Bercy-Lachambaudie, Grenellemar chandises, l’Îlot Chalon, l’Îlot Corbineau, et la gare marchandises de Belleville-Vil lette, la SNCF a dégagé une trentaine d’hectares. Ces dix opérations – qui ont été les plus importantes mais pas les seules – ont rapporté au total 1,35 milliard de francs. Il y eut aussi la gare de Tolbiac (13 hectares libérés), la plateforme de la ligne de la Bastille, et près de 9 hectares vendus au début de la décennie sur Charonne, Vaugirard et Grenelle. Toutes les cessions n’ont pas cette importance. Ainsi, pour l’autre partie des transactions réalisées sur les quatre dernières années pour une valeur de l’ordre de 850 millions de francs, on ne dénombre pas moins de 1 500 à 2 000 opérations par an, menées entre autres à Grenoble, Biarritz, Nice, Saint-Pierre- des- Corps, Tours, Bordeaux-Saint- Louis. Et on peut encore citer la cession de la gare de Lyon-Brotteaux (transformée en hôtel des ventes) et des rotondes de Metz et de Béthune réorganisées en centres commerciaux après avoir été vendues. Dans cette multitude d’opérations, figurent aussi les ventes de gares désaffectées, de maisons de gardes-barrières, de magasins généraux et autres bâtiments voyageurs. Des bâtiments proposés aux enchères dans… les petites annonces de La Vie du Rail par exemple, à des mises à prix parfois limitées à 50 000 francs. Car la fermeture au trafic voyageurs de milliers de kilomètres de lignes d’intérêt local et l’abandon de nombreux points d’arrêt omnibus ont entraîné la vente de centaines de bâtiments. Les maisons de gardes-barrières ont été vendues par milliers. Annuellement, les antennes régionales du service des Domaines vendent de 2 000 à 2 500 bâtiments, principalement des maisonnettes de gardes-barrières. Et alors que le réseau comprenait 8 000 gares en 1938, il n’en existe plus aujourd’hui que 4 800. Elles forment en nombre la plus grosse partie des 5 400 bâtiments de la SNCF. Mais en surface, elles ne constituent que 16 % des « mètres carrés bâtis », selon l’expression consacrée. Au total, la société possède 2,9 millions de mètres carrés de planchers. Le patrimoine de gares est par ailleurs fort ancien puisque les trois quarts des établissements datent d’avant 1914. Cet héritage immobilier s’en trouve d’autant plus lourd à gérer et à entretenir. Mais depuis une dizaine d’années, plus de 200 gares importantes ont été rénovées : chaque année, la SNCF dépense environ 500 millions de francs pour la rénovation de ses gares et autant pour leur entretien courant.

Bien qu’elles soient les plus visibles pour le public, ces gares ne composent que la partie apparente de l’iceberg : 9 %, en valeur, du patrimoine immobilier de l’entreprise nationale. Il faut compter aussi avec les ateliers, les entrepôts et dépôts, et les voies. Dans certains cas, les emprises de la SNCF constituent des ensembles impressionnants, comme dans le XVIIe arrondissement à Paris où la mairie évalue à 30 % la proportion de l’arrondissement appartenant à la Société nationale. Compte tenu des prix allant de 20 000 francs à 70 000 francs le mètre carré dans le XVIIe suivant les quartiers, ces emprises de la SNCF représentent déjà une petite fortune sur un espace très limité. Toutefois, la direction des Domaines refuse le principe de la simple multiplication pour une approche de la valeur du patrimoine. Elle explique qu’une voie, même double, s’étire en longueur mais offre une largeur utile trop étroite pour que la valeur du terrain soit calculée comme s’il s’agissait d’un autre espace constructible, rétorque-t-elle. C’est vrai. Mais il existe bien d’autres manières d’employer les mètres carrés de voies : en les recouvrant d’une dalle comme dans le XVIIe arrondissement, ce qui a permis de créer 20 000 m2 d’espaces verts, d’aires de jeux, de crèches, ou de courts de tennis. Les dalles sont à la mode. On connaît celle de Montparnasse, et il y aura celle d’Austerlitz. Mais hormis certaines installations qui seront exploitées par la SNCF pour ses besoins ou pour la mise en valeur de ce nouveau patrimoine (comme la gestion de 700 places de parking dans la dalle Montparnasse), les surfaces disponibles seront mises à la disposition de la Ville de Paris.

M. CHLATACZ et G. BRIDIER La stratégie de Sceta-lmmobilier

Traditionnellement, la politique patrimoniale de la SNCF s’articule sur les besoins de l’activité liée au transport de voyageurs comme au trafic de marchandises. Mais au regard de ses statuts, il n’est pas de son ressort de mener elle-même des opérations immobilières. Elle n’a pas non plus vocation à se transformer en promoteur. Rien ne l’empêche toutefois de créer des filiales spécialisées et de les soutenir tant que celles -ci ne lui font pas courir des risques. Son holding de diversification, Sceta était tout prêt à lui offrir ses structures pour prospecter dans cette direction ; elles furent utilisées. Le processus fut progressif. Il démarra par la gestion des logements de cheminots. Aujourd’hui, un des outils les plus efficaces de la SNCF pour faire vivre son patrimoine est Sceta-lmmobilier. Dans son capital, aux côtés du holding Sceta (56 %), on trouve de grandes banques : Suez (12 %), le Crédit Lyonnais, la BNP, la Société Générale et Paribas (pour 8 % chacune). Cette société, qui a même travaillé pour l’armée, suit le marché et joue un rôle de pilote pour toutes les opérations immobilières. Elle ne se charge pas encore de la construction d’immeubles, mais elle pourrait bien y venir. Cette nouvelle fonction de promoteur pourrait même être inaugurée prochainement, pour de petites opérations à Chantilly ou Orry-la-Ville dans la banlieue parisienne. Des opérations sans risques. En revanche, Sceta-lmmobilier a déjà un rôle d’aménageur, pour transformer une zone ferroviaire en zone constructible avant de la proposer à des promoteurs. Une intervention rémunérée, qu’elle mène entre autres à Vincennes-Fontenay où la municipalité va créer une zone d’aménagement concertée (ZAC). Mais ce n’est pas, en l’occurrence, une « première » : Sceta-lmmobilier a déjà assumé ce genre de fonction, comme sur la ZAC d’Issy-les-Moulineaux. Pour les galeries marchandes, la société A2C (Amenagements de centres commerciaux) a été mise en place par Sceta et sa filiale FRP (France Rail Publicité), présentes à 50 % chacune. Autre outil de promotion : la société Sicorail qui a pour vocation d’assurer le financement des opérations immobilières et, plus généralement, des investissements immobiliers du groupe. Décidément, la gestion du patrimoine pourrait bien, grâce à ses nouveaux outils, prendre à l’avenir davantage d’ampleur. Et c’est aussi bien pour assurer une meilleure cohérence à l’intérieur du groupe que pour apporter une garantie supplémentaire aux futures opérations que Jacques Fournier, déjà à la tête de la SNCF, a tenu à coiffer également la casquette de président de Sceta. Quand la SNCF loge les cheminots La SNCF dispose de 96 300 logements. Même si, en propre, elle n’en possède que 21 000 (contre 45 000 encore en 1981), composés pour plus de 60 % de maisons individuelles, et localisés pour 85 % en province. La SICF, Société immobilière des chemins de fer français, en contrôle un peu plus de 71 300 dont 52 000 environ sont mis à la disposition de la SNCF. Créée en 1942, la SICF contrôle aujourd’hui cinq sociétés de HLM, au nombre desquelles La Sablière, bien connue des cheminots parisiens. La SICF lance chaque année de nouveaux pro grammes : par exemple, en 1989, 160 logements dans la ZAC du Chevaleret, à Paris. La SNCF peut compter en outre sur 14 500 logements réservés auprès d’organismes divers, et de 8 800 autres appartenant à la Société française de construction immobilière, dont la SICF possède 49 % du capital. Tout cheminot peut naturellement prétendre à un logement, même s’il n’est pas sûr de l’obtenir. Le parc immobilier du groupe SNCF-SICF n’est d’ailleurs pas exclusive ment occupé par des agents de l’entreprise. En ce qui concerne les logements SNCF, ils sont occupés à 70 % par des cheminots (60 % d’actifs, 10 % de retraités), à 17 % par des tiers, le reste n’étant pas occupé. Ceux de la SICF le sont dans une proportion semblable (71 % de cheminots, avec 54 % d’actifs et 17 % de retraités). Aujourd’hui 48 % des cheminots sont propriétaires de leur logement. Ils n’étaient que 32 % en 1978.

Quand la SNCF veut un hôtel Le bon bail à la construction, c’est l’option choisie par Guy Verrier, président de Sceta-lmmobilier, notamment pour les opérations dans l’hôtellerie. Cette activité réclame énormément de capitaux. Confrontée au nombre des projets, la SNCF doit procéder par sélection. Les investissements à consentir sur les grandes étapes des TGV ont la priorité. Frantour, du groupe SNCF, s’implique alors directement. Citons dernièrement l’Hôtel de la gare de Lyon, à Paris. Pour les autres investissements, Frantour est toujours consultée… mais pas toujours intéressée. En ce cas, des appels d’offres sont lancés auprès d’autres chaînes. C’est ainsi qu’un hôtel Arcade a été érigé à Mar seille sur des emprises SNCF. Même cas de figure à Nice et à Nantes. La SNCF ne perd pas ses terrains puisqu’elle… ne les vend pas. En recourant au bail à la construction, elle récupère le terrain et l’ensemble des installations au bout de 45 à 50 ans.

Lorsqu’on doit mener des programmes comme à Nice sur 6 400 m2 à côté de la gare, on doit faire preuve d’une sérieuse dose de professionnalisme. Ce programme particulier ne comprend pas moins, outre l’hôtel Arcade de 210 chambres, un parking de 600 places, une résidence para-hôtelière de 130 chambres, des bureaux sur 3 800 m2 et des commerces sur 1 800 m2. Rien n’empêche bien sûr de sous-traiter tout l’aménagement à des sociétés spécialisées. Mais Jacques Fournier considère que la SNCF a tout intérêt à ne pas passer par des spécialistes qui, au passage, prennent une commission. Autant en faire l’économie en mettant en place des centres d’études compétents et des hommes motivés, comme au sein de Sceta-lmmobilier. Les grands en-sembles ré-si-den-tiels et le boom de la cons-truc-tion des an-nées 1960 et 1970

Loin des clichés et pour peu que l’on veuille bien en analyser les qualités formelles et fonctionnelles, les grands ensembles pourraient révéler toute la pertinence et l’actualité de leur modèle et fournir ainsi des réponses intéressantes aux attentes des habitants et aux besoins en logements des métropoles ’environnement bâti dont nous héritons aujourd’hui a été façonné pendant le boom de la construction de l’après-guerre. 40% de l’ensemble des logements existants actuellement en Suisse ont en effet été construits entre 1946 et 19801. Cet héritage est particulièrement visible à la périphérie des villes et dans les banlieues où, parallèlement à la construction massive de maisons unifamiliales, de grands ensembles résidentiels et des immeubles de grande hauteur nous rappellent les changements qui ont eu lieu à cette époque. Le boom socio-économique en Suisse après la Seconde Guerre mondiale Dans les années 1950, le manque de logements constitue un problème important en Suisse, comme dans beaucoup d’autres pays européens, bien que le pays n’ait pas été touché par les destructions de la Seconde Guerre mondiale. Les villes et les installations industrielles demeurent en effet intactes, les relations de propriété et de pouvoir dans la société n’ont pas été modifiées et le système bancaire et le centre financier sont en pleine expansion3. Des années 1950 à la crise pétrolière de 1973, l’économie en plein essor et l’ouverture du marché du travail, accompagnées par la montée en puissance de l’Etat providence, vont de pair avec une augmentation rapide de la population (de l’ordre de 26%4), ainsi que du niveau de richesse et de revenu des ménages. Dans un contexte de confiance dans le progrès et l’innovation technologique, les biens de consommation comme le confort moderne deviennent accessibles à de nombreux foyers. Bâtir pour la famille nucléaire moderne

Ces évolutions s’accompagnent d’importants changements sociaux et culturels. De plus en plus de gens quittent la campagne pour les villes qui offrent plus d’opportunités d’emploi. Alors que les centres urbains concentrent les services et les commerces, le logement se développe en banlieue, provoquant les premiers phénomènes d’étalement urbain. La structure des ménages se modifie : les foyers comptant jusqu’à trois générations – assez courants dans les zones rurales – cèdent la place au modèle de la famille nucléaire, fondée sur la notion de couple. Une réglementation stricte et des politiques plus conservatrices en matière familiale, qui touchent aussi le secteur du logement, voient le jour. L’architecture et les structures spatiales des grands complexes d’habitation de l’époque reflètent ainsi la politique, les valeurs et les idéaux de ce nouveau modèle. En règle générale, le plan des appartements de l’époque propose une typologie standardisée, destinée principalement à un couple avec de jeunes enfants. Cependant, ces standards s’accommodent mal d’autres modes et phases de la vie.

Rationalisation, préfabrication: les entreprises générales deviennent des acteurs majeurs de la construction

Dans la période d’après-guerre, les processus de construction sont rationalisés et la préfabrication industrialisée est largement appliquée pour répondre en peu de temps à un besoin urgent de construction d’immeubles. Les logements répondent généralement à de nouvelles exigences techniques. Toutefois, le recours à de nouveaux matériaux et méthodes de construction n’a guère été accompagné de considérations sur le processus de vieillissement des bâtiments. La dynamique de la construction de logements et la planification de grands ensembles résidentiels sont alors portées par des entreprises générales qui deviennent des acteurs importants de l’industrie du bâtiment à l’époque5. Le libéralisme économique et la structure politique fédéraliste de la Suisse pourraient expliquer la faible participation de l’Etat et l’importance du secteur privé dans la construction des logements et l’industrialisation du bâtiment. Dans les grandes villes, des complexes de logements subventionnés par l’Etat sont également construits par des coopératives ou des organismes communaux, mais leur proportion reste faible par rapport aux ensembles réalisés par des entreprises privées.6

Avant la première Loi nationale sur l’aménagement du territoire introduite en 1980, la planification urbaine et territoriale, notamment en dehors des centres-villes, est déficiente, voire inexistante, et rarement coordonnée. En outre, le droit foncier, qui favorise la propriété privée et la parcellisation de terrains, est un moteur important de développement de la construction.7 Ce manque d’une culture de planification et la disponibilité des terrains constituent les raisons principales de la localisation périphérique des grands ensembles résidentiels. Crise et critique

Après la crise pétrolière de 1973, le produit intérieur brut de la Suisse a chuté d’environ 7,4%, entraînant une érosion de l’emploi de 8 % et des effets dramatiques sur le marché de la construction.8 Avec l’émergence des mouvements écologistes, l’opinion publique évolue progressivement, notamment sur la question des grands ensembles, qui incarnent alors l’échec d’une croyance radicale dans la croissance illimitée. Pendant cette période, les idéaux familiaux traditionnels commencent également à se fragmenter et la structure des ménages évolue. Les villes et la population ne connaissent pas la croissance prévue et les grands ensembles restent souvent de grandes îles de béton à la périphérie des villes, entourées d’infrastructures locales déficientes. Les mêmes phénomènes, de plus grande ampleur, se retrouvent en France, en Allemagne et en Italie.

Dans tous ces pays, une même critique s’élève contre ces ensembles résidentiels. Généralement formulée sans connaissance réelle des lieux et des personnes qui y vivent, elle s’en prend à leur anonymat (supposé), à l’atmosphère froide, inhospitalière et monotone censée y régner et à la spéculation foncière qui aurait présidé à leur construction.

Marginalisation Cette critique a des répercussions dans les domaines de l’architecture et du secteur de la construction. Elle signe la fin des complexes de logements à grande échelle (les derniers projets encore en cours à la fin des années 1970 ont été planifiés antérieurement). Dans les années 1980 et 1990, avec l’apparition des premiers défauts de construction, certaines propriétés commencent à perdre de la valeur. Une tendance au retour en centre-ville, y compris pour les classes moyennes, ainsi que les processus de gentrification, ont encore accentué le phénomène de marginalisation des grands ensembles. En outre, les statistiques montrent une disparité sociale grandissante en Suisse depuis les années 1980, qui se reflète dans l’augmentation de la ségrégation socio-spatiale. Les personnes défavorisées, poussées vers la périphérie au cours des dernières décennies, vivent souvent dans les grands complexes préfabriqués qui leur offrent désormais des loyers abordables. Vu de l’intérieur: le complexe Telli à Aarau

Le complexe résidentiel Telli a été construit dans les années 197010 dans une ancienne zone industrielle d’Aarau, pour répondre à un besoin urgent de logements lié à la croissance des secteurs de l’industrie et des services dans la région. L’ensemble a été planifié par Hans Marti + Kast architectes. En 1975, quelques années après le début de la construction, l’entreprise générale en charge du projet, Horta AG, fait faillite du fait d’investissements spéculatifs ainsi que de la crise économique. Les autorités locales et plusieurs nouveaux propriétaires assurent la continuité du chantier, moyennant quelques adaptations par rapport au plan initial. Les quatre barres d’habitation, dont certaines atteignent 19 étages, comptent 1260 appartements et marquent la petite ville de leur présence. La proportion des habitants de Telli par rapport à la population de la ville était à la fin des années 1970 d’environ 25%. Avec 2400 habitants, elle est aujourd’hui de 12 %, après la fusion d’Aarau avec une autre municipalité.11

Conscients des critiques de l’époque à l’encontre des grands ensembles (« villes-dortoirs » aux infrastructures insuffisantes et aux espaces extérieurs monotones), les architectes et les planificateurs des bâtiments Telli ont intégré de nombreuses installations communautaires. L’ensemble fonctionne comme un quartier urbain autonome, relié au centre-ville par les transports publics. En outre, une attention particulière a été apportée à la conception des espaces extérieurs : le trafic automobile souterrain préserve un parc et ses arbres anciens qui s’étend entre les grands bâtiments.

En raison de la faillite de Horta AG, les blocs sont désormais la propriété de diverses entités privées, communales et coopératives. Un cinquième des appartements est également en propriété. Dans les années 1970, ces divers propriétaires ont signé un contrat pour la construction et l’entretien d’équipements collectifs, mais son cadre juridique complexe et l’absence d’organisme de contrôle de son application ont entraîné le désengagement progressif de certains propriétaires et le surinvestissement des autres dans l’entretien d’équipements coûteux. La gestion des rénovations dans cette structure de propriété mixte apparaît aujourd’hui comme un défi pour l’avenir de cet ensemble. Jusqu’à présent, les travaux de rénovation ont été effectués par chaque propriétaire individuellement et les propriétaires privés ont tendance à bloquer les rénovations coûteuses des équipements collectifs et des espaces extérieurs.

Cette structure de propriété complexe a également conduit à un mélange social particulier. Les résidents sont d’origines sociales et géographiques diverses (49 nationalités différentes). Il y a une quinzaine d’années, les rapports sur le Telli ont insisté sur les problèmes de ce quartier, qualifié de hotspot. Au delà des stéréotypes relayés par ces études, le Telli fait face à des disparités sociales croissantes. En 2002, la ville d’Aarau a donc lancé un projet de développement communautaire sur une durée de six ans. Le centre communautaire joue toujours un rôle crucial dans la poursuite de ce programme et sert de plate-forme d’intégration pour les activités sociales dans le quartier.

Probablement en raison de sa taille massive et de son apparence, le Telli a toujours eu une mauvaise réputation. Contrairement à cette image négative, les résidents soulignent ses qualités, s’identifient au lieu et en sont fiers. Pour eux, les appartements attrayants et abordables, les équipements communautaires et les espaces verts généreux, les relations de voisinage, et l’emplacement à la fois proche du centre-ville ainsi que du secteur récréatif de l’Aar, constituent des atouts remarquables. L’actualité d’un modèle

Un regard plus attentif sur le Telli et d’autres grands ensembles montre que les réalités quotidiennes sont beaucoup plus complexes que les clichés répandus sur ces typologies bâties. Lorsqu’on réfléchit à l’avenir de cet héritage construit, il est donc important de s’éloigner des images réductrices et de considérer les acquis du passé, ainsi que l’expérience et les perspectives diverses des acteurs locaux. La densification urbaine est un sujet d’actualité pour les villes suisses et les architectes et planificateurs discutent de la construction de nouvelles typologies à grande échelle en remplacement d’anciens bâtiments. La croissance urbaine et la gentrification en cours augmentent le besoin de logements de bonne qualité et abordables dans les villes. L’histoire et l’héritage des grands ensembles résidentiels des années 1960 et 1970 donnent l’occasion de repenser la conception de structures denses et leur articulation avec des espaces urbains ouverts, des équipements communautaires et des infrastructures. Mais cela permet aussi de mieux comprendre l’image que produit l’architecture et les effets d’une mauvaise perception d’un ensemble résidentiel par le public. Enfin, nous pouvons appréhender les stratégies de gestion et de vie dans des grands ensembles résidentiels au cours du temps, en tenant compte des contextes locaux spécifiques et des besoins du 21e siècle. @ Les grands ensembles en images Les ministères en charge du logement et leur production audiovisuelle (1944-1966) MASSY - Les films du MRU - La Cité des hommes, 1966, Réalisation : Fréderic Rossif, Albert Knobler www.dailymotion.com/video/xgiqzr?playlist=x34i - Les films du MRU @ les AUTOROUTES - Les liaisons moins dangereuses 1972 la construction des autoroutes en France - Le réseau autoroutier 1960 Histoire de France Transports et Communications - www.dailymotion.com/video/xxi0ae?playlist=x34ije … - A quoi servaient les films produits par le MRU ministère de la Reconstruction et de l'Urbanisme ? la réponse de Danielle Voldman historienne spécialiste de la reconstruction www.dailymotion.com/video/x148qu4?playlist=x34ije … -les films du MRU - Bâtir mieux plus vite et moins cher 1975 l'industrialisation du bâtiment et ses innovations : la préfabrication en usine, le coffrage glissant... www.dailymotion.com/video/xyjudq?playlist=x34ije … - TOUT SUR LA CONSTRUCTION DE NOTRE DAME LA CATHEDRALE DE PARIS Içi www.notredamedeparis.fr/la-cathedrale/histoire/historique... -MRU Les films - Le Bonheur est dans le béton - 2015 Documentaire réalisé par Lorenz Findeisen produit par Les Films du Tambour de Soie içi www.dailymotion.com/video/x413amo?playlist=x34ije Noisy-le-Sec le laboratoire de la reconstruction, 1948 L'album cinématographique de la reconstruction maison préfabriquée production ministère de la Reconstruction et de l'Urbanisme, 1948 L'album cinématographique içi www.dailymotion.com/video/xwytke

archipostcard.blogspot.com/search?updated-max=2009-02-13T... -Créteil.un couple à la niaiserie béate exalte les multiples bonheurs de la vie dans les new G.E. www.youtube.com/watch?v=FT1_abIteFE … La Ville bidon était un téléfilm d'1 heure intitulé La Décharge.Mais la censure de ces temps de présidence Pompidou en a interdit la diffusion télévisuelle - museedelacartepostale.fr/periode-semi-moderne/ - archipostalecarte.blogspot.com/ - Hansjörg Schneider BAUNETZWOCHE 87 über Papiermoderne www.baunetz.de/meldungen/Meldungen_BAUNETZWOCHE_87_ueber_... … - ARCHITECTURE le blog de Claude LOTHIER içi leblogdeclaudelothier.blogspot.com/2006/ - - Le balnéaire en cartes postales autour de la collection de David Liaudet, et ses excellents commentaires.. www.dailymotion.com/video/x57d3b8 -Restaurants Jacques BOREL, Autoroute A 6, 1972 Canton d'AUXERRE youtu.be/LRNhNzgkUcY munchies.vice.com/fr/article/43a4kp/jacques-borel-lhomme-... … Celui qu'on appellera le « Napoléon du prêt-à-manger » se détourne d'ailleurs peu à peu des Wimpy, s'engueule avec la maison mère et fait péricliter la franchise ...

museedelacartepostale.fr/blog/ -'être agent de gestion locative pour une office H.L.M. en 1958' , les Cités du soleil 1958 de Jean-Claude Sée- les films du MRU içi www.dailymotion.com/video/xgj74q présente les réalisations des HLM en France et la lutte contre l'habitat indigne insalubre museedelacartepostale.fr/exposition-permanente/ - www.queenslandplaces.com.au/category/headwords/brisbane-c... - collection-jfm.fr/t/cartes-postales-anciennes/france#.XGe... - www.cparama.com/forum/la-collection-de-cpa-f1.html - www.dauphinomaniac.org/Cartespostales/Francaises/Cartes_F... - furtho.tumblr.com/archive

e Logement Collectif* 50,60,70's, dans tous ses états..Histoire & Mémoire d'H.L.M. de Copropriété Renouvellement Urbain-Réha-NPNRU., twitter.com/Memoire2cite tout içi sig.ville.gouv.fr/atlas/ZUS/ - media/InaEdu01827/la-creatio" rel="noreferrer nofollow">fresques.ina.fr/jalons/fiche-media/InaEdu01827/la-creatio Bâtir mieux plus vite et moins cher 1975 l'industrialisation du bâtiment et ses innovations : www.dailymotion.com/video/xyjudq?playlist=x34ije la préfabrication en usine www.dailymotion.com/video/xx6ob5?playlist=x34ije , le coffrage glissant www.dailymotion.com/video/x19lwab?playlist=x34ije ... De nouvelles perspectives sont nées dans l'industrie du bâtiment avec les principes de bases de l'industrialisation du bâtiment www.dailymotion.com/video/x1a98iz?playlist=x34ije ,

www.dailymotion.com/video/xk6xui?playlist=x34ije , www.dailymotion.com/video/xk1dh2?playlist=x34ije : mécanisation, rationalisation et élaboration industrielle de la production. Des exemples concrets sont présentés afin d'illustrer l'utilisation des différentes innovations : les coffrages outils, coffrage glissant, le tunnel, des procédés pour accélérer le durcissement du béton. Le procédé dit de coffrage glissant est illustré sur le chantier des tours Pablo Picasso à Nanterre. Le principe est de s'affranchir des échafaudages : le coffrage épouse le contour du bâtiment, il s'élève avec la construction et permet de réaliser simultanément l'ensemble des murs verticaux. Au centre du plancher de travail, une grue distribue en continu le ferraillage et le béton. Sur un tel chantier les ouvriers se relaient 24h / 24 , www.dailymotion.com/video/xwytke?playlist=x34ije , www.dailymotion.com/video/x1bci6m?playlist=x34ije

Le reportage se penche ensuite sur la préfabrication en usine. Ces procédés de préfabrication en usine selon le commentaire sont bien adaptés aux pays en voie de développement, cela est illustré dans le reportage par une réalisation en Libye à Benghazi. Dans la course à l'allégement des matériaux un procédé l'isola béton est présenté. Un chapitre sur la construction métallique explique les avantage de ce procédé. La fabrication de composants ouvre de nouvelles perspectives à l'industrie du bâtiment.

Lieux géographiques : la Grande Borne 91, le Vaudreuil 27, Avoriaz, Avenue de Flandres à Paris, tours Picasso à Nanterre, vues de la défense, Benghazi Libye www.dailymotion.com/video/xk6xui?playlist=x34ije , www.dailymotion.com/video/xk1dh2?playlist=x34ije : mécanisation, rationalisation et élaboration industrielle de la production. Des exemples concrets sont présentés afin d'illustrer l'utilisation des différentes innovations : les coffrages outils, coffrage glissant, le tunnel, des procédés pour accélérer le durcissement du béton. Le procédé dit de coffrage glissant est illustré sur le chantier des tours Pablo Picasso à Nanterre. Le principe est de s'affranchir des échafaudages : le coffrage épouse le contour du bâtiment, il s'élève avec la construction et permet de réaliser simultanément l'ensemble des murs verticaux. Au centre du plancher de travail, une grue distribue en continu le ferraillage et le béton. Sur un tel chantier les ouvriers se relaient 24h / 24 , www.dailymotion.com/video/xwytke?playlist=x34ije , www.dailymotion.com/video/x1bci6m?playlist=x34ije

   

Le reportage se penche ensuite sur la préfabrication en usine. Ces procédés de préfabrication en usine selon le commentaire sont bien adaptés aux pays en voie de développement, cela est illustré dans le reportage par une réalisation en Libye à Benghazi. Dans la course à l'allégement des matériaux un procédé l'isola béton est présenté. Un chapitre sur la construction métallique explique les avantage de ce procédé. La fabrication de composants ouvre de nouvelles perspectives à l'industrie du bâtiment.www.dailymotion.com/playlist/x34ije_territoiresgouv_cinem... - mémoire2cité - le monde de l'Architecture locative collective et bien plus encore - mémoire2cité - Bâtir mieux plus vite et moins cher 1975 l'industrialisation du bâtiment et ses innovations : www.dailymotion.com/video/xyjudq?playlist=x34ije la préfabrication en usine www.dailymotion.com/video/xx6ob5?playlist=x34ije , le coffrage glissant www.dailymotion.com/video/x19lwab?playlist=x34ije ... De nouvelles perspectives sont nées dans l'industrie du bâtiment avec les principes de bases de l'industrialisation du bâtiment www.dailymotion.com/video/x1a98iz?playlist=x34ije ,www.dailymotion.com/playlist/x34ije_territoiresgouv_cinem... - mémoire2cité - le monde de l'Architecture locative collective et bien plus encore - mémoire2cité - Bâtir mieux plus vite et moins cher 1975 l'industrialisation du bâtiment et ses innovations : www.dailymotion.com/video/xyjudq?playlist=x34ije la préfabrication en usine www.dailymotion.com/video/xx6ob5?playlist=x34ije , le coffrage glissant www.dailymotion.com/video/x19lwab?playlist=x34ije ... De nouvelles perspectives sont nées dans l'industrie du bâtiment avec les principes de bases de l'industrialisation du bâtiment www.dailymotion.com/video/x1a98iz?playlist=x34ije ,

Le Joli Mai (Restauré) - Les grands ensembles BOBIGNY l Abreuvoir www.youtube.com/watch?v=eUY9XzjvWHE … et la www.youtube.com/watch?v=hK26k72xIkU … www.youtube.com/watch?v=xCKF0HEsWWo …

Genève Le Grand Saconnex & la Bulle Pirate - architecte Marçel Lachat -

Un film de Julien Donada içi www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=1&v=4E723uQcpnU … … .Genève en 1970. pic.twitter.com/1dbtkAooLM è St-Etienne - La muraille de Chine, en 1973 ce grand immeuble du quartier de Montchovet, existait encore photos la Tribune/Progres.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=AJAylpe8G48 …, - la tour 80 HLM située au 1 rue Proudhon à Valentigney dans le quartier des Buis Cette tour emblématique du quartier avec ces 15 étages a été abattu par FERRARI DEMOLITION (68). VALENTIGNEY (25700) 1961 - Ville nouvelle-les Buis 3,11 mn www.youtube.com/watch?v=C_GvwSpQUMY … - Au nord-Est de St-Etienne, aux confins de la ville, se dresse une colline Montreynaud la ZUP de Raymond Martin l'architecte & Alexandre Chemetoff pour les paysages de St-Saens.. la vidéo içi * Réalisation : Dominique Bauguil www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sqfb27hXMDo … … - www.dailymotion.com/video/xk6xui?playlist=x34ije , www.dailymotion.com/video/xk1dh2?playlist=x34ije , www.dailymotion.com/video/xwytke?playlist=x34ije , www.dailymotion.com/video/x1bci6m?playlist=x34ije l'industrie du bâtiment.

la Grande Borne 91, le Vaudreuil 27, Avoriaz, Avenue de Flandres à Paris, tours Picasso à Nanterre, vues de la défense, Benghazi Libye 1975 Réalisateur : Sydney Jézéquel, Karenty

la construction des Autoroutes en France - Les liaisons moins dangereuses 1972 www.dailymotion.com/video/xxi0ae?playlist=x34ije Cardem les 60 ans de l'entreprise de démolition française tres prisée des bailleurs pour les 80, 90's (1956 - 2019) toute l'Histoire de l'entreprise içi www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yyf1XGvTZYs - 69 LYON & la Cardem pour la démolition de la barre 230 Quartier la Duchère le 2 juillet 2015, youtu.be/BSwidwLw0NA pic.twitter.com/5XgR8LY7At -34 Béziers - C'était Capendeguy le 27 janv 2008 En quelques secondes, 450 kg d'explosifs ont soufflé la barre HLM de 492 lgts, de 480 m, qui laissera derrière elle 65.000 tonnes de gravas. www.youtube.com/watch?v=rydT54QYX50 … … Les usines Peugeot - Sochaux Montbéliard. 100 ans d'histoire en video www.youtube.com/watch?v=X4w3CxXVAyY … - 42 LOIRE SAINT-ETIENNE MONTREYNAUD LA ZUP Souvenirs avec Mascovich & son clip "la tour de Montreynaud" www.youtube.com/watch?v=p7Zmwn224XE …

Villeneuve-la-Garenne, La Caravelle est à mettre au crédit de Jean Dubuisson, l’un des architectes les plus en vue des années 1960, www.dailymotion.com/video/x1re3h5 via @Dailymotion - AMIENS les HLM C'était le 29 juillet 2010, à 11h02. En quelques secondes, cette tour d'habitation s'est effondrée, détruite par implosion. Construite en 1961, la tour avait été vidée de ses habitants quelques années auparavant. www.youtube.com/watch?v=ajz2xk5KBNo … … - Les habitants de Montreynaud parlent de leur quartier et de cette destruction entre nostalgie et soulagement içi en video www.dailymotion.com/video/xmiwfk - Les bâtiments de la région parisienne - Vidéo Ina.fr www.ina.fr/video/CAF96034508/les-batiments-de-la-region-p... … via @Inafr_officiel - Daprinski - George Michael (Plaisir de France remix) www.youtube.com/watch?v=sJeH-nzlj3I

Ministère de l'Équipement et de l'Aménagement du Territoire - Dotation par la France d'autoroutes modernes "nécessité vitale" pour palier à l'inadaptation du réseau routier de l'époque voué à la paralysie : le reportage nous montre des images d'embouteillages. Le ministre de l'Équipement et de l'Aménagement du Territoire dans les deux gouvernements de Pierre Messmer, de 1972 à 1974, Olivier Guichard explique les ambitions du programme de construction qui doit atteindre 800 km par ans en 1978. L'ouverture de section nouvelles va bon train : Nancy / Metz par exemple. Le reportage nous montre l'intérieur des bureaux d'études qui conçoivent ces autoroute dont la conception est assistée par ordinateurs dont le projet d'ensemble en 3D est visualisé sur un écran. La voix off nous informe sur le financement de ces équipements. Puis on peut voir des images de la construction du pont sur la Seine à Saint Cloud reliant l'autoroute de Normandie au périphérique, de l'échangeur de Palaiseau sur 4 niveau : record d'Europe précise le commentaire. Le reportage nous informe que des sociétés d'économies mixtes ont étés crées pour les tronçons : Paris / Lille, Paris / Marseille, Paris / Normandie. Pour accélérer la construction l’État a eu recours à des concessions privées par exemple pour le tronçon Paris / Chartres. "Les autoroutes changent le visage de la France : artères économiques favorisant le développement industriel elles permettent de revitaliser des régions en perte de vitesse et de l'intégrer dans le mouvement général de l'expansion" Sur le plan européen elles vont combler le retard de la France et réaliser son insertion. Images de l'inauguration de l'autoroute entre Paris et Bruxelles par le président Georges Pompidou. Le reportage rappel que l'autre fonction capitale des autoroute est de favoriser la sécurité. La question de la limitation de vitesse est posée au ministre de l’Équipement, qui n'y est favorable que sur certains tronçons. Un des facteur de sécurité selon le commentaire est l'humanisation des autoroutes : aires de repos, restaurants, signalisation touristiques... "Rien n'est impossible aux techniques modernes" nous apprend la voix off qui prend comme exemple le déplacement sur rail de 65 mètres d'un château classé afin de faire passer l'autoroute Lille / Dunkerque.Durée : 4 minutes 30 secondes

Sur les routes de France les ponts renaissent 1945 reconstruction de la France après la Seconde Guerre mondiale www.dailymotion.com/video/xuxrii?playlist=x34ije Lyon, Tournon, Caen - Le Bosquel, un village renait 1947 l'album cinématographique de la reconstruction, réalisation Paul de Roubaix production ministère de la Reconstruction et de l'Urbanisme, village prototype, architecte Paul Dufournet, www.dailymotion.com/video/xx5tx8?playlist=x34ije - Demain Paris 1959 dessin animé présentant l'aménagement de la capitale dans les années 60, Animation, dessin animé à vocation pédagogique visant à promouvoir la politique d’aménagement suivie dans les années 60 à Paris. Un raccourci historique sur l’extension de Paris du Moyen Âge au XIXe siècle (Lutèce, œuvres de Turgot, Napoléon, Haussmann), ce dessin animé retrace la naissance de la banlieue et de ses avatars au XXe siècle. Il annonce les grands principes d’aménagement des villes nouvelles et la restructuration du centre de Paris (référence implicite à la charte d’Athènes). Le texte est travaillé en rimes et vers. Une chanson du vieux Paris conclut poétiquement cette vision du futur. Thèmes principaux : Aménagement urbain / planification-aménagement régional Mots-clés : Banlieue, extension spatiale, histoire, quartier, ville, ville nouvelle Lieu géographique : Paris 75 Architectes ou personnalités : Eugène Haussmann, Napoléon, Turgot Réalisateurs : André Martin, Michel Boschet Production : les films Roger Leenhardt

www.dailymotion.com/video/xw6lak?playlist=x34ije - Rue neuve 1956 la reconstruction de la France dix ans après la fin de la seconde guerre mondiale, villes, villages, grands ensembles réalisation : Jack Pinoteau , Panorama de la reconstruction de la France dix ans après la fin de la seconde guerre mondiale, ce film de commande évoque les villes et villages français détruits puis reconstruits dans un style respectant la tradition : Saint-Malo, Gien, Thionville, Ammerschwihr, etc. ainsi que la reconstruction en rupture avec l'architecture traditionnelle à Châtenay-Malabry, Arles, Saint Étienne, Évreux, Chambéry, Villeneuve-Saint-Georges, Abbeville, Le Havre, Marseille, Boulogne-sur-Mer, Dunkerque. Le documentaire explique par exemple la manière dont a été réalisée la reconstruction de Saint-Malo à l'intérieur des rempart de la vieille ville : "c'est la fidélité à l'histoire et la force du souvenir qui a guidé l'architecte". Dans le même esprit à Gien, au trois quart détruite en 1940, seul le château construit en 1494 pour Anne de Beaujeu, fille aînée de Louis XI, fut épargné par les bombardements. La ville fut reconstruite dans le style des rares immeubles restant. Gien est relevé de ses ruines et le nouvel ensemble harmonieux est appelé « Joyau de la Reconstruction française ». Dans un deuxième temps est abordé le chapitre de la construction des cités et des grands ensembles, de l’architecture du renouveau qualifiée de "grandiose incontestablement". S’il est précisé "on peut aimer ou de ne pas aimer ce style", l’emporte au final l’argument suivant : les grands ensembles, c'est la campagne à la ville, un urbanisme plus aéré, plus vert." les films caravelles 1956, Réalisateur : Jack Pinoteau (connu pour être le metteur en scène du film Le Triporteur 1957 qui fit découvrir Darry Cowl) www.dailymotion.com/video/xuz3o8?playlist=x34ije - www.dailymotion.com/video/xk1g5j?playlist=x34ije Brigitte Gros - Urbanisme - Filmer les grands ensembles 2016 - par Camille Canteux chercheuse au CHS -Centre d'Histoire Sociale - Jeanne Menjoulet - Ce film du CHS daté de 2014 www.youtube.com/watch?v=VDUBwVPNh0s … L'UNION SOCIALE POUR L'HABITAT le Musée des H.L.M. musee-hlm.fr/ union-habitat.org/ - EXPOSITION :LES 50 ANS DE LA RESIDENCe SALMSON POINT-Du JOUR www.salmsonlepointdujour.fr/pdf/Exposition_50_ans.pdf - Sotteville Construction de l’Anjou, le premier immeuble de la Zone Verte sottevilleaufildutemps.fr/2017/05/04/construction-de-limm... - www.20minutes.fr/paris/diaporama-7346-photo-854066-100-an... - www.ladepeche.fr/article/2010/11/02/940025-140-ans-en-arc... dreux-par-pierlouim.over-blog.com/article-chamards-1962-9... missionphoto.datar.gouv.fr/fr/photographe/7639/serie/7695...

Official Trailer - the Pruitt-Igoe Myth: an Urban History

www.youtube.com/watch?v=g7RwwkNzF68 - la dérive des continents youtu.be/kEeo8muZYJU Et la disparition des Mammouths - RILLIEUX LA PAPE & Dynacité - Le 23 février 2017, à 11h30, les tours Lyautey étaient foudroyées. www.youtube.com/watch?v=W---rnYoiQc 1956 en FRANCE - "Un jour on te demanda de servir de guide, à un architecte en voyage d etudes, ensemble vous parcourez la Françe visitant cité jardins, gratte ciel & pavillons d'HLM..." @ les archives filmées du MRU www.youtube.com/watch?v=zR_jxCANYac&fbclid=IwAR2IzWlM... … Villages de la Françe cité du Soleil

Ginger CEBTP Démolition, filiale déconstruction du Groupe Ginger, a réalisé la maîtrise d'oeuvre de l'opération et produit les études d'exécution. L'emblématique ZUP Pruitt Igoe. vaste quartier HLM (33 barres de 11 étages) de Saint-Louis (Missouri) USA. démoli en 1972 www.youtube.com/watch?v=nq_SpRBXRmE … "Life is complicated, i killed people, smuggled people, sold people, but perhaps in here.. things will be different." ~ Niko Bellic - cité Balzac, à Vitry-sur-Seine (23 juin 2010).13H & Boom, quelques secondes plus tard, la barre «GHJ», 14 étages et 168 lgts, s’effondrait comme un château de cartes sous les applaudissements et les sifflets, bientôt enveloppés dans un nuage de poussière. www.youtube.com/watch?v=d9nBMHS7mzY … - "La Chapelle" Réhabilitation thermique de 667 logements à Andrézieux-Bou... youtu.be/0tswIPdoVCE - 11 octobre 1984 www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xk-Je1eQ5po DESTRUCTION par explosifs de 10 tours du QUARTIER DES MINGUETTES, à LYON. les tours des Minguettes ; VG des tours explosant et s'affaissant sur le côté dans un nuage de fumée blanche ; à 13H15, nous assistons à l'explosion de 4 autres tours - St-Etienne Métropole & Montchovet - la célèbre Muraille de Chine ( 540 lgts 270m de long 15 allees) qui était à l'époque en 1964 la plus grande barre HLM jamais construit en Europe. Après des phases de rénovation, cet immeuble a été dynamité en mai 2000 www.youtube.com/watch?v=YB3z_Z6DTdc … - PRESQU'ILE DE GENNEVILLIERS...AUJOURD'HUI...DEMAIN... (LA video içi parcours.cinearchives.org/Les-films-PRESQU-ILE-DE-GENNEVI... … ) Ce film de la municipalité de Gennevilliers explique la démarche et les objectifs de l’exposition communale consacrée à la presqu’île, exposition qui se tint en déc 1972 et janvier 1973 - le mythe de Pruitt-Igoe en video içi nextcity.org/daily/entry/watch-the-trailer-for-the-pruitt... … - 1964, quand les loisirs n’avaient (deja) pas le droit de cité poke @Memoire2cite youtu.be/Oj64jFKIcAE - Devenir de la ZUP de La Paillade youtu.be/1qxAhsqsV8M v - Regard sur les barres Zum' youtu.be/Eow6sODGct8 v - MONTCHOVET EN CONSTRUCTION Saint Etienne, ses travaux - Vidéo Ina.fr www.ina.fr/video/LXF99004401 … via - La construction de la Grande Borne à Grigny en 1969 Archive INA www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=12&v=t843Ny2p7Ww (discours excellent en seconde partie) -David Liaudet : l'image absolue, c'est la carte postale" phothistory.wordpress.com/2016/04/27/david-liaudet-limage... … l'architecture sanatoriale Histoire des sanatoriums en France (1915-1945). Une architecture en quête de rendement thérapeutique..

passy-culture.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/10/Les-15-Glori... … … & hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/tel-01935993/document Gwenaëlle Le Goullon (LAHRA), auteur du livre "la genèse des grands ensembles",& Danièle Voldman (CHS, Centre d'Histoire Sociale), expliquent le processus qui a conduit l'Etat, et le ministère de l'urbanisme &de la reconstruction à mener des chantiers exp www.youtube.com/watch?v=zR_jxCANYac&fbclid=IwAR2IzWlM... mémoire2cité & l'A.U.A. - Jacques Simon (1929 - 26 septembre 2015) est un architecte paysagiste formé à l'École des beaux-arts de Montréal et à l'École nationale supérieure du paysage de Versailles. Fasciné par la campagne qui témoigne d'une histoire de labeur, celle des agriculteurs "ses amis", "les génies de la terre", Jacques SIMON, paysagiste dplg, Premier Grand Prix du Paysage en 1990*, réalise avec eux des installations paysagères éphémères principalement dans des champs et visibles du ciel. Avec sa palette d'artiste, Jacques SIMON réinvente des paysages comme les agriculteurs eux-aussi à leur façon les créent et les entretiennent. Le CAUE du Rhône vous invite à venir découvrir ses travaux au travers d'un kaléidoscope de photographies empreintes de spontanéité, de fraîcheur et d'humour. Cette exposition nous interpelle sur le caractère essentiel d'une nature changeante, fragile, sur l'importance d'une activité agricole diversifiée et sur la nécessaire évolution du métier de paysan. Elle nous amène aussi à voir et à interpréter ce que l'on voit, elle éveille en nous le sens de la beauté du paysage en conjuguant les différen