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Citadel Park Passeig de Picasso Barcelone Catalonia Spain
Citadel Park is a park on the northeastern edge of Ciutat Vella, Barcelona, Catalonia. For decades following its creation in the mid-19th century, this park was the city's only green space. The 70 acres (280,000 m2) grounds include the city zoo (once home to the albino gorilla Snowflake, who died in 2004), the Parliament of Catalonia, a small lake, museums, and a large fountain designed by Josep Fontserè (with possible contributions by the young Antoni Gaudí).
Locations
Citadel
In 1714, during the War of the Spanish Succession, Barcelona was laid siege for 13 months by the army of Philip V of Spain. The city fell, and in order to maintain control over it, and to prevent the Catalans from rebelling as they had in the previous century, Philip V built the citadel of Barcelona, at that time the largest fortress in Europe.
A substantial part of the district it was constructed in (La Ribera) was destroyed to obtain the necessary space, leaving its inhabitants homeless. The fortress was characterized by having five corners, which gave the citadel defensive power, and by a rather wide surrounding margin, serving as location for the army's cannons. It included enough buildings to house 8,000 people.
Hundreds of Catalonians were forced to work on the construction for three years, while the rest of the city provided financial backing for this and for warfare-related expenses as well, with a new tax named el cadestre. Three decades later a quarter was rebuilt around the fortress named Barceloneta, which is located inside the neighborhood Ciutat Vella.
In 1841 the city's authorities decided to destroy the fortress, which was hated by Barcelona's citizens. Yet two years later, in 1843, under the regime of Maria Cristina, the citadel was restored. In 1848, after Maria Cristina's abdication and as the citadel lost its use, General Espartero razed most of the buildings within the fortress as well as its walls by bombarding it from the nearby mountain fortress Montjuic, which helped him gain political popularity. By 1869, as the political climate liberalised enough to permit it, General Prim decided to turn over what was left of the fortress to the city and some buildings were demolished under Catalan orders, for it was viewed as by the citizens as a much-hated symbol of central Spanish government.
The chapel (now the Military Parish Church of Barcelona), the Governor's palace (now Verdaguer Secondary School), and the arsenal (now home to the Catalan Parliament) remain, with the rest of the site being turned into the contemporary park by the architect Josep Fontsére in 1872. Nineteen years later, in 1888, Barcelona held the Exposición Universal de Barcelona extravaganza, inspired by Mayor Rius i Taulet, and the park was redesigned with the addition of sculptures and other complementary works of art. This marked the conclusion of the old provincial and unprogressive Barcelona and the establishment of a modern cosmopolitan city. From that point until 1892, half of the park's layout was enhanced again in order to obtain sufficient space for the zoo. The park's bandstand, Glorieta de la Transsexual Sònia, is dedicated to a transsexual, Sonia Rescalvo Zafra, who was murdered there on 6 October 1991 by right-wing extremists.
Cascada
The lake in the Parc de la Ciutadella
The Cascada (waterfall or cascade in Spanish) is located at the northern corner of the park opposite to the lake. It was first inaugurated in 1881 without sculptures or any meticulous details, and was thereby criticized by the press, after which this triumphal arch was thoroughly amended by the addition of a fountain and some minor attributes, which required six years of construction from 1882 to 1888, and was thenceforth put on display at the Universal Exhibition, and hitherto not been redesigned. It was erected by Josep Fontsére and to a small extent by Antoni Gaudí, who at that time was still an unknown student of architecture. Fontsére aimed to loosely make it bear resemblance to the Trevi Fountain of Rome. Two enormous pincers of gigantic crabs serve as stairs to access a small podium located in the centre of the monument. In front of it a sculpture (designed by Venanci Vallmitjana) of Venus standing on an open clam was placed. The whole cascade is divided in two levels. From the podium on a path leads to the Feminine Sculpture and to the northeastern corner of the park, and upon following the route down the stairs the fountain's pond is rounded and the southern tip of the artifact is reached.
Zoo
The zoo's main entrance
The zoo of Barcelona is located in the park of the ciutadella due to the availability of a few buildings which were left empty after the Universal Exposition of 1888. It was inaugurated in 1892, during the day of the Mercé, the patron saint of the city. The first animals were donated by Lluís Martí i Codolar to the municipality of Barcelona, which gratefully approved of their accommodation in the zoo.
Nowadays, with one of the most substantial collections of animals in Europe, the zoo affirms that their aim is to conserve, investigate, and educate.
From 1966 to 2003 the zoo was home to the famous albino gorilla Snowflake, who attracted many international tourists and locals.
Apart from the usual visits, different types of guided tours or other activities are offered, like for example 20 types of diversionary workshops, excursions and fieldtrips for schoolchildren, or personnel training and educational courses in zoology for adults. More than 50,000 children visit the zoo on an annual basis, which is the reason for the zoo's emphasis on education.
Museum of Natural Science
The facade of the zoology museum of Barcelona
Ceramics on the facade of the zoology museum of Barcelona
The Museum of Natural Science, sited in the park, comprises a museum of zoology and a museum of geology.
The museum of zoology was constructed for the Exposición Universal de Barcelona (1888) by the architect Lluís Doménech i Montaner to serve as an exhibition. Most of the building is constructed of red brick. The most popular displays are the skeleton of a whale and exhibits dedicated for smaller children. The institute's stated aims are to enhance knowledge and conservation of the natural diversity of Catalonia and its surroundings, to promote public education on the natural world, to transmit ethical values of respect for nature, and to stimulate informed debate on the issues and environmental problems that concern society. The museum has permanent exhibitions on the subject of mineralogy, petrology and paleontology; the volcanic region of Olot; minerals' secret colors; the animal kingdom; urban birds; and an apiary.
The museum of geology is a legacy of the scientist Francisco Martorell i Peña (1822–1878), who donated his whole collection of artifacts of cultural and archeological importance, his scientific library, and an amount of 125,000 pesetas to the city for the purpose of creating a new museum. The building, built during the same year and named the Corporación Municipal, was designed by Antoni Rivas i Trias.
Vessel BIBBY POLARIS (IMO: 9187526, MMSI: 232585000) is an offshore support vessel built in 1998 and currently sailing under the flag of United Kingdom. BIBBY POLARIS has 114m length overall and beam of 22m. Her gross tonnage is 8234 tons
GENERAL
Built May 1998
Flag British
Class Det Norske Veritas
+1A1 , EO,DSVIII / DSVI, SF, Dynpos AUTRO,
ERN (99,99,98), HELDK, (DK+)
Description Diving Support Vessel
Compliance with MODU Code and MOU Regulations
GMDSS Area A3
Official No. 901941
Call Sign M Y K R 6
IMO No. 918 7526
MMSI No. 232 585 000
DnV No. 20600
Selcall No. 47425
Gross Tonnage 8234
Nett Tonnage 2471
Deadweight (Summer) about 5,500 tonnes
DIMENSIONS
Length OA 113.57 m
Length BP 107.35 m
Breadth Mld. 22.00 m
Depth Mld. 9.50 m
Draught (Summer) 6.75 m
PERFORMANCE / CONSUMPTION
Service Speed 11.00kt.
CARGO AREAS
Working Deck Dims. 35 m x 21 m (abt.)
Working Deck Area 700 m² (abt.)
Deck Strength 5 tonnes / m²
Deck Load 1,500 tonnes (abt.)
One Carousel installed below aft deck
TANK CAPACITIES
Fuel Oil 1,300 m3 (abt.)
Potable Water 460 m3 (abt.)
STABILISATION
Intering Active Roll Reduction System (1 x tank)
ACCOMMODATION
Wheelhouse and accommodation fully air conditioned.
Total Berths 104
Hospital 1 Berth
Gymnasium Yes
Charterer’s spaces including Suites, Operations areas and Survey / Work Type areas.
HELIDECK
Load Capability Cleaned for EC225 (11.0t)
D Value 19.5 m
Heli-reception and full emergency equipment.
This historic beachfront hotel is one of the few surviving examples of an American architectural genre: the wooden Victorian beach resort. It is the second largest wooden structure in the United States.
When it opened in 1888, it was the largest resort hotel in the world. It has hosted presidents, royalty, and celebrities through the years. The hotel has been featured in numerous movies and books. In the hotel was filmed famous comedy "Some like it hot", which starred Marilyn Monroe.
Returning from Camden Lock and the sun has moved round a bit affording another view of these unusual dwellings at St Pancras Lock....
We stayed overnight at the Lesedi Cultural Village. It it s real cultural experience showing the village life of the Basotho, Ndebele, Pedi, Xhosa & Zulu people. We were treated to a tribal dance show and "Nyama Choma" the greatest African feast where we sampled traditional dishes from around the African continent.
Comfort and convenience and peace at the Leamington Motel in Cambridge. Affordable and luxurious. m.leamingtonmotel.co.nz/boutique-accommodation-cambridge
Tamworth Castle, a Grade I listed building, is a Norman castle overlooking the mouth of the River Anker into the Tame in the town of Tamworth in Staffordshire, England. Before boundary changes in 1889, however, the castle was within the edge of Warwickshire while most of the town belonged to Staffordshire.
The site served as a residence of the Mercian kings in Anglo Saxon times, but fell into disuse during the Viking invasions. Refortified by the Normans and later enlarged, the building is today one of the best preserved motte-and-bailey castles in England.
When Tamworth became the chief residence of Offa, ruler of the expanding Mercian kingdom, he built a palace there from which various charters were issued sedens in palatio regali in Tamoworthige, the first dating from 781. Little trace of its former glory survived the Viking attack in 874 that left the town "for nearly forty years a mass of blackened ruins". Then in 913 Tamworth was rebuilt by Æthelflæd, Lady of the Mercians, who newly fortified the town with an earthen burh. This, however, did little to defend the place when it was again sacked by the Danes in 943.
Over the following centuries there is no more mention of Tamworth as a royal residence, although a mint there struck coins for later Anglo-Saxon kings and eventually for the new Norman monarch, William the Conqueror. The place was then granted to William's steward, Robert Despenser, who built a wooden castle during the 1080s in the typical Norman motte and bailey fashion. Occupying the south western part of the earlier burh, this was the forerunner of the present building.
When Robert died childless, the castle passed to his nieces, one of whom, Matilida, married Robert Marmion. The Marmion family, hereditary champions of the Dukes of Normandy and then of the new Kings of England, held the castle for six generations from c.1100 to 1294. It was during their occupancy that the castle began to be remodelled in stone, although on one occasion it was also in danger of being demolished altogether. Robert Marmion, 3rd Baron Marmion of Tamworth, deserted King John in 1215 during the turmoil of his reign. As a consequence, the king ordered Robert's son Geoffrey to be imprisoned, all of Robert's lands to be confiscated and Tamworth Castle to be demolished. But the fabric had only been partially destroyed by the time of John's death the following year, when Robert's sons were able to regain their father's lands.
Early Norman herringbone masonry on the castle causeway
The last male of the family to own the castle was Philip Marmion. Since he had no legitimate sons, the castle passed on his death (c.1291) to his daughter and, after she died without an heir in 1294, to her niece Joan. As she was the wife of Sir Alexander Freville, Joan's descendants initiated the next dynasty of owners who held the castle until 1423. The male line then came to an end with Baldwin de Freville, whose son died a minor, and the castle passed to the eldest daughter, Elizabeth, and her husband, Thomas Ferrers of Groby.
Numerous additions were made to the castle over the centuries, especially in the Jacobean period, from which time the arms of the Ferrers family and those with whom they intermarried came to dominate the interior. The shell keep contains a 12th-century gate tower and later residential accommodation in an H plan comprising a 13th-century three-storey north range, and a 17th-century Jacobean three-storey south range linked by an oak timbered Great Hall of the 15th century. A notable exterior feature surviving from early times is the herring-bone pattern of masonry laid diagonally at the base of the causeway up to the gate tower.
Originally entry to the castle grounds was by a gateway (little of which now remains) fronting onto the town's market-place. In his itinerary of Britain (1539/43), John Leland found the outworks “cleane decayed and the Wall fallen downe”, although on the mound there remained “a great round Tower of Stone, wherein Mr [Humphrey] Ferrers dwelleth, and now repaireth it.”
However adapted as a residence, the castle's defences had been built with the conditions of mediaeval warfare in mind. During the English Civil War, it was captured by Parliamentary forces on 25 June 1643 after only a two-day siege and was garrisoned by them. In July 1645 the garrison comprised ten officers and 77 soldiers under the command of the military governor, Waldyve Willington. Owing to this use, the castle therefore escaped the slighting ordered for so many others at that period.
After 1668 the castle passed to the relatives of the Ferrers, initially the Shirleys of Chartley and then in 1715 to the Comptons when Elizabeth Ferrers married the 5th Earl of Northampton. During their period of ownership, the castle again fell into disrepair but after the Ferrers grandniece, Charlotte Compton, had married George Townshend of Raynham, it was again refurbished. Following his death in 1811, the castle was acquired by an auctioneer, John Robbins in 1814, although he did not move in until 1821: ownership reverted to the Townshend family on his death.
The moat on the town side had fallen into disuse and from the 15th century onwards parts of it were leased to the houses on that side of Market Street. In 1810 a new gatehouse was built at the foot of the Holloway, where the road ran south along the Lady Bridge. From it a carriageway wound up through the grounds to the castle's entrance. The castle mill was sited further along the Anker, where it was depicted in J. M. W. Turner’s panoramic watercolour of the castle from the south-east (1832). Also included there is the Lady Bridge to the left and the square tower of St Editha’s Church on the right.
The castle had earlier made a brief appearance in Walter Scott’s narrative poem Marmion: A Tale of Flodden Field (1808). Set in Tudor times, its anachronistic anti-hero is proclaimed at the banquet in the first canto as “Lord of Fontenaye…Of Tamworth tower and town”, although the barony of Marmion had by then been extinct for more than two centuries.
Finally in 1891 the Marquess Townshend put the castle up for sale by auction and it was purchased by its present owners, Tamworth Corporation (now Tamworth Borough Council), for £3,000 in 1897 to mark Queen Victoria's diamond jubilee. It was then opened to the public by the Earl of Dartmouth as a museum in 1899.
Royal visitors after the Norman Conquest:
King Henry I, sometime between 1109 and 1115
King Henry II, 1158, accompanied by Thomas Becket
King Henry III, 1257
King Edward II, 1325
King Edward III, 1330
King James I, 1619, accompanied by his son Prince Charles.
Tamworth is a market town and borough in Staffordshire, England, 14 miles (23 km) north-east of Birmingham. The town borders North Warwickshire to the east and north, Lichfield to the north, south-west and west. The town takes its name from the River Tame, which flows through it. The population of Tamworth borough (2021) was 78,838. The wider urban area had a population of 81,964.
Tamworth was the principal centre of royal power of the Anglo-Saxon Kingdom of Mercia during the 8th and 9th centuries. It hosts a simple but elevated 12th century castle, a well-preserved medieval church (the Church of St Editha) and a Moat House. Tamworth was historically divided between Warwickshire and Staffordshire until 1889, when the town was placed entirely in Staffordshire.
The town's industries include logistics, engineering, clothing, brick, tile and paper manufacture. Until 2001 one of its factories was Reliant, which produced the Reliant Robin three-wheeler car and the Reliant Scimitar sports car.
The Snowdome, a prototype real-snow indoor ski slope is in Tamworth and 1.7 miles (2.7 km) south is Drayton Manor Theme Park and one of the many marinas serving the Coventry Canal and Birmingham and Fazeley Canal which combine south of the town.
Staffordshire is a landlocked ceremonial county in the West Midlands of England. It borders Cheshire to the north-west, Derbyshire and Leicestershire to the east, Warwickshire to the south-east, the West Midlands county and Worcestershire to the south, and Shropshire to the west. The largest settlement is the city of Stoke-on-Trent, and the county town is Stafford.
The county has an area of 1,713 square kilometres (661 sq mi) and a population of 1,131,052. After Stoke-on-Trent (258,366), the largest settlements are Tamworth (78,646), Newcastle-under-Lyme (75,082) and Burton upon Trent (72,299); the city of Lichfield has a population of 33,816. For local government purposes Staffordshire comprises a non-metropolitan county, with nine districts, and the unitary authority area of Stoke-on-Trent. The county historically included the north-west of the West Midlands county, including Walsall, West Bromwich, and Wolverhampton.
Staffordshire is hilly to the north and south. The southern end of the Pennines is in the north, containing part of the Peak District National Park, while the Cannock Chase AONB and part of the National Forest are in the south. The River Trent and its tributaries drain most of the county. From its source, near Biddulph, the river flows through Staffordshire in a southwesterly direction, meeting the Sow just east of Stafford; it then meets the River Tame and turns north-east, exiting into Derbyshire immediately downstream of Burton upon Trent.
Staffordshire contains a number of Iron Age tumuli and Roman camps, and was settled by the Angles in the sixth century; the oldest Stafford knot, the county's symbol, can be seen on an Anglian cross in the churchyard of Stoke Minster. The county was formed in the early tenth century, when Stafford became the capital of Mercia. The county was relatively settled in the following centuries, and rapidly industrialised during the Industrial Revolution, when the North Staffordshire coalfield was exploited and fuelled the iron and automobilie industries in the south of the county. Pottery is the county's most famous export; a limited amount is still produced in Stoke-on-Trent.
Staffordshire is a landlocked county in the West Midlands of England. It adjoins Cheshire to the north west, Derbyshire and Leicestershire to the east, Warwickshire to the south east, West Midlands and Worcestershire to the south, and Shropshire to the west. The historic county of Staffordshire includes Wolverhampton, Walsall, and West Bromwich, these three being removed for administrative purposes in 1974 to the new West Midlands authority. The resulting administrative area of Staffordshire has a narrow southwards protrusion that runs west of West Midlands to the border of Worcestershire. The city of Stoke-on-Trent was removed from the admin area in the 1990s to form a unitary authority, but is still part of Staffordshire for ceremonial and traditional purposes.
The historic county has an area of 781,000 acres (1,250 sq. miles) and at the first census in 1801 had a population of 239,153.
Early British remains exist in various parts of the county; and a large number of barrows have been opened in which human bones, urns, fibulae, stone hammers, armlets, pins, pottery and other articles have been found. In the neighbourhood of Wetton, near Dovedale, on the site called Borough Holes, no fewer than twenty-three barrows were opened, and British ornaments have been found in Needwood Forest, the district between the lower Dove and the angle of the Trent to the south. Several Roman camps also remain, as at Knave's Castle on Watling Street, near Brownhills.
The county symbol, the Staffordshire Knot, is seen on an Anglian stone cross that dates from around the year 805. The cross still stands in Stoke churchyard. Thus the Knot is either i) an ancient Mercian symbol or ii) a symbol adopted from the Irish Christianity, Christianity having been brought to Staffordshire by Irish monks from Lindisfarne about AD 650.
The district which is now Staffordshire was invaded in the 6th century by a tribe of Angles who settled about Tamworth, afterwards famous as a residence of the Mercian kings, and later made their way beyond Cannock Chase, through the passages afforded by the Sow valley in the north and Watling Street in the south. The district was frequently overrun by the Danes, who in 910 were defeated at Tettenhall, and again at Wednesfield, and it was after Edward the Elder had finally expelled the Northmen from Mercia that the land of the south Mercians was formed into a shire around the fortified burgh which he had made in 914 at Stafford.
The county probably first came into being in the decade after the year 913; that being the date at which Stafford – the strategic military fording-point for an army to cross the Trent – became a secure fortified stronghold and the new capital of Mercia under Queen Æthelflæd.
The county is first mentioned by name in the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle in 1016 when it was harried by Canute.
The resistance which Staffordshire opposed William the Conqueror was punished by ruthless harrying and confiscation, and the Domesday Survey supplies evidence of the depopulated and impoverished condition of the county, which at this period contained but 64 mills, whereas Dorset, a smaller county, contained 272. No Englishman was allowed to retain estates of any importance after the Conquest, and the chief lay proprietors at the time of the survey were Earl Roger of Montgomery; Earl Hugh of Chester; Henry de Ferrers, who held Burton and Tutbury Castles; Robert de Stafford; William Fitz-Ansculf, afterwards created first Baron Dudley; Richard Forester; Rainald Bailgiol; Ralph Fitz Hubert and Nigel de Stafford. The Ferrers and Staffords long continued to play a leading part in Staffordshire history, and Turstin, who held Drayton under William Fitz Ansculf, was the ancestor of the Bassets of Drayton. At the time of the survey Burton was the only monastery in Staffordshire, but foundations of canons existed at Stafford, Wolverhampton, Tettenhall, Lichfield, Penkridge and Tamworth, while others at Hanbury, Stone, Strensall and Trentham had been either destroyed or absorbed before the Conquest.
In the 13th century Staffordshire formed the archdeaconry of Stafford, including the deaneries of Stafford, Newcastle, Alton and Leek, Tamworth and Tutbury, Lapley and Creigull. In 1535 the deanery of Newcastle was combined with that of Stone, the deaneries remaining otherwise unaltered until 1866, when they were increased to twenty. The archdeaconry of Stoke-on-Trent was formed in 1878, and in 1896 the deaneries were brought to their present number; the archdeaconry of Stafford comprising Handsworth, Himley, Lichfield, Penkridge, Rugeley, Stafford, Tamworth, Trysull, Tutbury, Walsall, Wednesbury, West Bromwich and Wolverhampton; the archdeaconry of Stoke-on-Trent comprising Alstonfield, Cheadle, Eccleshall, Hanley, Leek, Newcastle-under-Lyme, Stoke-on- Trent, Trentham and Uttoxeter. In the wars of the reign of Henry III. most of the great families of Staffordshire, including the Bassets and the Ferrers, supported Simon de Montfort, and in 1263 Prince Edward ravaged all the lands of Earl Robert Ferrers in this county and destroyed Tutbury Castle. During the Wars of the Roses, Eccleshall was for a time the headquarters of Queen Margaret, and in 1459 the Lancastrians were defeated at Blore Heath.
The five hundreds of Staffordshire existed since the Domesday Survey, and the boundaries have remained practically unchanged until the twentieth century. Edingale, however, was then included under Derbyshire, and Tyrley under Shropshire, while Cheswardine, Chipnall and part of Bobbington, now in Shropshire, were assessed under Staffordshire. The hundreds of Offlow and Totmonslow had their names from sepulchral monuments of Saxon commanders. The shire court for Staffordshire was held at Stafford, and the assizes at Wolverhampton, Stafford and Lichfield, until by act of parliament of 1558 the assizes and sessions were fixed at Stafford, where they are still held.
The origin of the hundred dates from the division of his kingdom by King Alfred the Great into counties, hundreds and tithings. From the beginning, Staffordshire was divided into the hundreds of Totmonslow, Pirehill, Offlow, Cuttleston and Seisdon.
The hundredal division of Staffordshire differs markedly from that of the counties to the south and west in showing far greater stability. All the Domesday hundreds are kept practically unchanged down to modern times. Also in the size of the hundreds. The Staffordshire hundreds, five in number, are on the whole far larger than any in the adjacent counties; more especially as regards northern Staffordshire. The two hundreds in the south-west are of more normal extent. It seems to be due chiefly to the nature of the county. Northern Staffordshire is to a large extent moorland, which must have been unattractive to early settlers. It is noteworthy, as showing where the centres of these hundreds lay, that the meeting-places of the two northern hundreds (Pirehill and Totmonslow) are in the extreme south of the respective hundreds. Southern Staffordshire was largely a forest-district. The southern part of Seisdon hundred was covered by Kinver Forest, and large parts of the two hundreds in the central part of the county, those of Cuttleston and Offlow, must have been occupied by Cannock Forest. The cultivated areas of these hundreds must in early days have been considerably smaller than at present.
In the English Civil War of the 17th century Staffordshire supported the parliamentary cause and was placed under Lord Brooke. Tamworth, Lichfield and Stafford, however, were garrisoned for King Charles, and Lichfield Cathedral withstood a siege in 1643, in which year the Royalists were victorious at Hopton Heath, but lost their leader, the Earl of Northampton. In 1745 the Young Pretender advanced as far as Leek in this county.
A large proportion of Staffordshire in Norman times was waste and uncultivated ground, but the moorlands of the north afforded excellent pasturage for sheep, and in the 14th century Wolverhampton was a staple town for wool. In the 13th century mines of coal and iron are mentioned at Walsall, and ironstone was procured at Sedgley and Eccleshall. In the 15th century both coal and iron were extensively worked. Thus in the 17th century the north of the county yielded coal, lead, copper, marble and millstones, while the rich meadows maintained great dairies; the woodlands of the south supplied timber, salt, black marble and alabaster; the clothing trade flourished about Tamworth, Burton, and Newcastle-under-Lyme; and hemp and flax were grown all over the county. The potteries are of remote origin, but were improved in the 17th century by two brothers, the Elers, from Amsterdam, who introduced the method of salt glazing, and in the 18th century they were rendered famous by the achievements of Josiah Wedgwood.
Staffordshire was represented by two members in the parliament of 1290, and in 1295 the borough of Stafford also returned two members. Lichfield was represented by two members in 1304, and Newcastle-under-Lyme in 1355. Tamworth returned two members in 1562. Under the Reform Act of 1832 the county returned four members in four divisions, and the boroughs of Stoke-upon-Trent and Wolverhampton were represented by two members each, and Walsall by one member. Under the Act of 1867 the county returned six members in three divisions and Wednesbury returned one member.
The most noteworthy churches in the county are found in the large towns, and are described under their respective headings. Such are the beautiful cathedral of Lichfield, and the churches of Eccleshall, Leek, Penkridge St Mary's at Stafford, Tamworth, Tutbury, and St Peter's at Wolverhampton. Checkley, 4 miles south of Cheadle, shows good Norman and Early English details, and there are carved stones of pre-Norman date in the churchyard. Armitage, south-east of Rugeley, has a church showing good Norman work. Brewood church, 4 miles south-west of Penkridge, is Early English. This village gives name to an ancient forest. Audley church, north-west of Newcastle-under-Lyme, is a good example of Early Decorated work. Remains of ecclesiastical foundations are generally slight, but those of the Cistercian abbey of Croxden, north-west of Uttoxeter, are fine Early English, and at Ranton, west of Stafford, the Perpendicular tower and other portions of an Augustinian foundation remain. Among medieval domestic remains may be mentioned the castles of Stafford, Tamworth and Tutbury, with that of Chartley, north-east of Stafford, which dates from the 13th century. Here is also a timbered hall, in the park of which a breed of wild cattle is maintained. Beaudesert, south of Rugeley, is a fine Elizabethan mansion in a beautiful undulating demesne. In the south-west, near Stourbridge, are Enville, a Tudor mansion with grounds laid out by the poet Shenstone, and Stourton Castle, embodying portions of the 15th century, where Reginald, Cardinal Pole, was born in 1500. Among numerous modern seats may be named Ingestre, Ilam Hall, Alton Towers, Shugborough, Patteshull, Keele Hall, and Trentham.