Tag Archives: England

Buildings, History, Stories, Travel, Videos

History: Quarry Bank Cotton Mill In Styal, UK

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At the beginning of the Industrial Revolution Quarry Bank Mill became one of the most important Cotton Mills in England. Samual Greg embraced the Industrial Revolution to create a powerhouse of the Cotton Milling industry.

180 years after the end of the Industrial Revolution this Cotton Mill is still intact and in full working order. Maintained by the National Trust you can take a day tour of this fascinating Cotton Mill and find out about the Greg family, his workers, including children as young as 8 and the community he created in the village of Styal. You can see the machinery in operation and learn how the fluffy cotton plant is turned into a workable yarn as the volunteers run the machines and show you.

Greg built his family home on the grounds of Quarry Bank Mill, you can view the property or visit the darker side with the apprentice house, home to up to 90 children, working in the mill in return for food and board.

Timeline: 0:00 Intro 1:08 What to see at Quarry Bank 2:01 Cotton Industrial Revolution 2:25 Samual Greg builds Quarry Bank 3:32 The Great Wheel 4:09 Process to make cotton yarn 7:31 Quarry Bank House 10:26 Styal Village 11:53 Apprentice House (Child Labour) 16:44 Steam Power comes to Quarry Bank 19:02 The Gardens

Cities, Travel, Videos, Views

Walking Tours: Liverpool In Northwest England

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Liverpool is a maritime city in northwest England, where the River Mersey meets the Irish Sea. A key trade and migration port from the 18th to the early 20th centuries, it’s also, famously, the hometown of The Beatles. Ferries cruise the waterfront, where the iconic mercantile buildings known as the “Three Graces” – Royal Liver Building, Cunard Building and Port of Liverpool Building – stand on the Pier Head.

Timeline: 00:00 Albert Dock 08:08 Salthouse Dock 09:35 The Dock Traffic Office and Pump House 11:14 Salthouse Quay 13:00 The Liverpool Waterfront UK and Strand street 19:24 River Mersey Embankment and Canada Boulevard 20:47 The Beatles Pier Head 23:38 Ice Rink and Christmas Market 26:22 Liverpool Canal Link 27:37 Water street 32:30 Liverpool Town Hall 33:20 Castle street 35:00 Brunswick street 37:25 The Strand 41:20 Albert Dock 44:28 Liverpool One Water Fountain on Thomas Steers Way 46:20 Liverpool ONE 48:41 Christmas Tree on Paradise street 49:25 Paradise street 57:36 Church street 58:51 Church Alley 01:03:09 Bold street 01:08:00 Church street 01:09:22 Basnett street 01:10:34 Williamson Square and Christmas Tree 01:12:25 Liverpool Playhouse Theatre and Radio City Tower 01:14:26 Houghton street 01:17:13 Liverpool Register Office 01:18:23 St John’s Gardens and William Brown street 01:19:10 Liverpool Christmas Market 01:23:43 Wellington Column and Walker Art Gallery 01:27:00 Liverpool Cenotaph and Wheel Of Liverpool

Ecosystems, Green Design, Travel, Videos, Views

Views: The Eden Project – World’s Largest Indoor Rainforest, Cornwall, UK

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There’s a rainforest in Europe? Apparently, yes – and it’s called the Eden Project! It houses the world’s largest covered rainforest, beneath a giant dome.

But it’s not an amusement park, but rather an educational centre and environmental organisation. The concept: Only those who experience and engage with the beauty of nature can also protect it. That’s why 100,000 plants from all over the world have been brought here, where they cover an area of some 50 hectares.

Not only the sheer number of plants is impressive, the building itself is, too: Two geodesic domes span the site as greenhouses – like massive soap bubbles sticking together. Our Euromaxx reporter Hendrik Welling visits the record-breaking Eden Project and to explore its biotopes and rainforest.

Cities, Travel, Videos, Views

Aerial Views: Manchester – Northwest England (4K)

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Manchester is a major city in the northwest of England with a rich industrial heritage. The Castlefield conservation area’s 18th-century canal system recalls the city’s days as a textile powerhouse, and visitors can trace this history at the interactive Museum of Science & Industry. The revitalised Salford Quays dockyards now house the Daniel Libeskind-designed Imperial War Museum North and the Lowry cultural centre. 

Stories, Travel, Videos, Views

Train Travel: Guildford To Aldershot In England

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Michael Portillo resumes his tour of the Home Counties in the picturesque and historic county town of Guildford. His 1936 Bradshaw’s guide commends its ‘fine old castle keep’ and guildhall but makes no mention of its hilltop cathedral.

Michael meets head guide Janet Matthews to discover the origins of the first Anglican cathedral to be built on a new site in the south of England since the Reformation – begun in 1936. He finds splendid architecture and modern materials have combined to produce a gloriously open building full of space and light. Michael climbs its 160 foot tower for a panoramic view of Surrey.

Michael’s next stop is Chilworth, from which he follows his guide to Newlands Corner on the slopes of the North Downs. At this popular beauty spot, the famous crime writer Agatha Christie disappeared, sparking a massive search and a tabloid frenzy. A Christie biographer pieces the puzzle together for Michael.

Heading west across the county, Michael reaches the Georgian market town of Farnham with its 12th-century castle, once home to the bishops of Winchester. Intrigued by his Bradshaw’s reference to a famous Farnham painter, WH Allen, Michael joins the artist’s great-great-niece in the castle’s splendid gardens to learn more about him. A kind Farnham artist encourages Michael to commit the castle to canvas in his own way. After a luxurious night at the castle, Michael crosses into Hampshire to reach Aldershot. At the home of the British Army, he hears how in the years leading up to the World War II, the town began to receive conscripts for military training.

Automobiles, Classics, Travel, Videos, Views

Views: 125th London to Brighton Veteran Car Run

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As the official sponsor of the London to Brighton Veteran Car Run we thought it was only fitting to send two of our Car Specialists out to experience the 54 mile (87km) journey in a 1904 Cadillac Model F Four-Passenger Tourer. As hundreds of cars set out to celebrate the 125th year of the longest-running motoring event in history, Nick Wiles and Felix Archer take you on an intimate and definitive experience along the way.

Historical, Museums, Poetry, Travel, Videos, Views

Poetic Views: Museum at Wordsworth Grasmere

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The Museum at Wordsworth Grasmere, the second phase of work at the former Lake District home of the great English Romantic poet William Wordsworth and his sister Dorothy, has opened to the public, with all gallery, exhibition design and interpretative overviews by Nissen Richards Studio.

The first phase of work by Nissen Richards Studio encompassed the conservation and reinterpretation of Dove Cottage itself, where William and Dorothy once lived, plus the new identity for Wordsworth Grasmere and the scheme’s signage and wayfinding.

The new visitor journey, designed by Nissen Richards Studio in close collaboration with the Wordsworth Grasmere team, includes a series of threshold moments, such as a totem sign and the setting of words into the walkways, featuring fragments of poems going off in two directions, so that visitors see them clearly on arrival and departure.

The Museum includes a shop and ticketing area, before visitors enter a new, double-height orientation space, where quotations by Wordsworth are set within a dramatic, full-height light wall. Visitors then make their way to a former stable space that houses an immersive introductory film, before stepping over the threshold into Dove Cottage. Visitors return to The Museum via Dove Cottage’s Garden-Orchard, entering an expanded first floor space, loosely arranged into four new galleries. Galleries One and Four are set to one side and Galleries Two and Three to the other, whilst a pause space in between offers views onto the gardens and surrounding landscape.

Travel, Videos, Views

Views: Isle Of Wight Off South Coast Of England

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The Isle of Wight is an island off the south coast of England. It’s known for its beaches and seafront promenades such as sandy Shanklin Beach and south-facing Ventnor Beach, which is dotted with vintage beach huts. Dinosaur remains and fossils can be seen in areas like Compton Bay and Yaverland Beach. On the island’s western point, The Needles are 3 huge, white chalk rocks, guarded by a 19th-century lighthouse.