105-635: The Thames Valley is an area in South East England that extends along the River Thames west of London towards Oxford . The area is a major tourist destination and economic hub on the M4 corridor , with a high concentration of technology companies. The area east of Reading is defined by Natural England as the Thames Valley National Character Area , while Thames Valley Police cover
210-406: A municipal borough as a result of the 1972 Local Government Act , losing unitary control of town affairs to East Sussex County Council . This reform was later followed by a reduction of wards to 16 in 1983. Brighton Borough Council remained under this structure until unification with Hove. A small parish at the end of the 18th century, Hove began to expand in the early 19th century alongside
315-449: A Sussex gentry family that gave their name to the present parish of Poynings . Hangeton was a medieval downland village in the 13th century, and by the early 14th century it had a population of about 200. Later, the village was abandoned for around six hundred years. It started to grow again in the 1950s with other areas of Brighton and is now popular for its views of the sea and green spaces. Between Hangleton and Westdene , south of
420-550: A flowery bank on its western slope ( TQ 286 091 ), a bushy lynchet and an old dewpond site on its brow. The Sussex Border Path takes you north to Pangdean Bottom and the Pyecombe parish. Pangdean Bottom is the west of the A23 and is rented by a tenant farmer from Brighton and Hove City Council , who have owned it since 1924. It includes ancient chalk grassland slopes where there are still chalkland flowers and butterflies. In late summer,
525-569: A grammar school: 12%; the next highest is the South-West with 6%. The most-educated people ( NQF level 4 or above) in the region live in Elmbridge (51%), then Waverley, and Epsom and Ewell; 33% of people are at this level for the South-East, only second to London at 40%. Brighton and Hove Brighton and Hove ( / ˈ b r aɪ t ən ... ˈ h oʊ v / BRY -tən … HOHV )
630-405: A landmark church and a former convent. Mile Oak is a newer development. Until the 1920s it was only a small group of farm buildings with surrounding corn fields, sheep downs and market gardens. Then, suburban housing started to be built, and there was considerable further development in the 1960s with the construction of bungalows and other private housing. In the 1990s, after the construction of
735-535: A layer of superficial acidity, with sorrel , bent-grass , and tormentil growing there. To the south is Hollingbury Golf Course, the Roedale allotments and Hollingbury Park ( TQ 314 075 ). The park was originally part of the golf course. Its Edwardian pavilion was the original (circa 1908) clubhouse. East of the Park is the two-century-old Hollingbury Woods , now full of the rotting carcasses of beech giants toppled in
840-561: A prosperous economic hub with the largest economy of any region in the UK, after London . The region is home to Gatwick Airport , the UK's second-busiest airport, and Heathrow Airport (the UK's busiest airport) is located adjacent to the region's boundary with Greater London . The coastline along the English Channel provides numerous ferry crossings to mainland Europe . The region is known for its countryside, which includes two national parks:
945-514: A stretch of coast and some downland areas. Just to the south of Brighton and Hove in the English Channel is the Rampion Wind Farm , which provides renewable energy to the country. Brighton has been the most populous settlement in Sussex since at least the 17th century, and a town hall and evidence of citizen's control over town affairs predates 1580. The original parish of Brighton covered what
1050-421: Is Ladies Mile Down ( TQ 318 093 ), which has designated as a Local nature reserve . The area is a remarkable survival of plateau chalk grassland on Downland, where almost all such flattish sites have been destroyed by modern farming. The ancient turf has preserved lots of odd linear banks, which are surviving fragments of an Iron Age and Romano-British lynchetted field system. The banks once stretched across
1155-646: Is a city and unitary authority area, ceremonially in East Sussex , England. There are multiple villages alongside the seaside resorts of Brighton and Hove in the district. It is administered by Brighton and Hove City Council , which is currently under Labour majority control. The two resorts, along with Worthing and Littlehampton in West Sussex, make up the second most-populous built-up area of South East England , after South Hampshire . In 2014, Brighton and Hove City Council and other nearby councils formed
SECTION 10
#17328452923861260-517: Is a technology hub centred around Reading , and stretching as far out as Swindon , Oxford and Slough . It is part of the M4 corridor . As a tourist destination, the Thames Valley is close to the River Thames , running from the source to the M25 motorway . It is a popular boating destination. Thames Valley Police cover the counties of Berkshire , Buckinghamshire and Oxfordshire . The force
1365-628: Is a 144-ft beech at Devil's Dyke in Newtimber Woods in West Sussex. Until 1999, there was a south east Standard Statistical Region , which also included the counties of Bedfordshire , Greater London , Essex and Hertfordshire . The former south east Civil Defence Region covered the same area as the current official region. In unofficial usage, the South East can refer to a varying area – sometimes only to London, Kent, East Sussex, West Sussex, and Surrey; but sometimes to an area corresponding to
1470-527: Is a level-1 NUTS region, coded "UKJ", which is subdivided as follows: Buckinghamshire, Medway and Kent, and Slough have an almost completely selective education system – not just a few grammar schools as other English areas may have – with secondary modern schools as the alternative. Kent has 33 grammar schools, Buckinghamshire 13, Medway 6 and Slough 4. The other areas are comprehensive . The top thirty schools at A level are almost exclusively selective schools; one or two are sixth form colleges . However,
1575-718: Is a lot of history on the slopes, including a large 4000 year old Bronze Age settlement, a possible 'henge' (as in Stonehenge ), now lost under the A27 bypass, and evidence of Iron Age and Romano-British field systems. To the north of the city boundary is Fulking parish. The final stretch of the Monarch's Way passes through Mile Oak and Porstlade. It is a 625-mile (1,006 km) long-distance footpath that runs from Worcester to Shoreham . Aldrington sits between Portslade-by-Sea to its west and Hove to its east. For centuries Aldrington
1680-531: Is an official region for statistical and strategic planning purposes, but is not served by any directly elected regional government. From 1998 to 2010 local councils sent to the voluntary South East England Regional Assembly , based in Guildford . Delegates met six times a year and it was responsible for the South East England Development Agency , a project which oversaw investment projects in
1785-594: Is at the junction of the Varsity Line (between Oxford and Cambridge) and the West Coast Main Line . The Harwell computer (Dekatron), now at the National Museum of Computing at Bletchley, was built in 1949 and is believed to be the oldest working digital computer in the world. John Wallis of Kent introduced the symbol for infinity and the standard notation for powers of numbers in 1656. Thomas Bayes
1890-500: Is famous for its glowworm displays on midsummer evenings. On the steep east side of the hill there is large thyme , autumn gentian and many butterflies. Bee orchids can be also found in some years. To the north of this area is the Poynings parish and the impressive geography of Devil's Dyke . To the east is Round Hill where there are many signs of the past from different periods of human history. There are several old barrows in
1995-604: Is governed by the Thames Valley Police and Crime Commissioner . South East England South East England is one of the nine official regions of England in the United Kingdom at the first level of ITL for statistical purposes. It consists of the nine counties of Berkshire , Buckinghamshire , East Sussex , Hampshire , the Isle of Wight , Kent , Oxfordshire , Surrey and West Sussex . Cities and towns in
2100-533: Is now known for its windmill and secondary school. To the east of West Blatchington is Westdene . Hangleton is to the north of Aldrington and sits between Portslade Village and West Blatchington. The manors of Hangleton and Aldrington formed part of the Fishersgate Half Hundred , together with the neighbouring manor of Portslade. The lords of the Hangleton manor from 1291 to 1446 were the de Poynings,
2205-562: Is one of the commonest flowers here, with some of its associated fungi. The west facing slopes of Varncombe Hill ( TQ 279 105 ) were sold by Brighton Council with the rest of Saddlescombe Farm to the National Trust , but the Trust did not dedicate them as Access land , though they qualified and the National Trust had the power to do so. To the east of Waterhall is Sweet Hill . The Hill has
SECTION 20
#17328452923862310-592: Is quite different in character. Portslade-by-Sea is largely an industrial port, with a busy canal area that opens up to the River Adur and the English Channel . It has a long history of human settlement and the name came from the Roman port, Novus Portus. Portslade Village has kept more of its antiquity and retains many elements of the downland village it once was. Many of the buildings have their original flint walls, and there are some early manor house ruins, tree-lined parks,
2415-486: Is still good for butterflies. In spring one may still see the green hairstreak or orange-tip or find the wacky small bloody-nosed beetle and there are still adonis , chalkhill and common blues and brown argus and glowworms in midsummer. There are also orchids, harebells , sheets of rockrose , Sussex rampion , devil's-bit , and carline thistle . In autumn there are fungi too, including penny-bun bolete , collared earthstar , stinkhorn , and shaggy inkcap in
2520-627: Is strong support for other parties, for example, Oxford , Slough and Southampton Test for Labour and Brighton Pavilion which is held by the Green Party . Out of 84 parliamentary seats, the Conservatives hold 72. In the 2017 general election, the Conservatives won 54.8% of votes, Labour 28.6%, Liberal Democrats 10.6%, Greens 3.1%, and UKIP 2.2%. In the Eurostat Nomenclature of Territorial Units for Statistics (NUTS), South East England
2625-442: Is the third-largest region of England, with a land area of 19,072 square kilometres (7,364 sq mi), and is also the most populous with a total population of 9,379,833 in 2022. The region contains eight legally chartered cities : Brighton and Hove , Canterbury , Chichester , Milton Keynes , Oxford , Portsmouth , Southampton and Winchester . The region's close proximity to London has led to South East England becoming
2730-507: Is to the east of the London Road, and is home to the national collection of lilacs with over 250 varieties. Collections of berberis , cotoneaster and viburnum can also be found here. Withdean Woods is next to Withdean stadium and is a wooded hillside nature reserve approximately 2.47 acres (1 ha) in size. It is the home of several woodland birds including the great spotted woodpecker , tawny owl , goldcrest , firecrest, and in winter
2835-535: Is today much of central Brighton. The parish border ran from Little Western Street and Boundary Passage in the west, to Whitehawk Road in the east, and roughly followed the Old Shoreham Road and Bear Road to the north. The Great Reform Act of 1832 created the parliamentary constituency of Brighton . Brighton obtained a royal charter for incorporation in 1854 and was organised into six wards: Park, Pavilion, Pier, St Nicholas, St Peter, and West. The ward of Preston
2940-675: The 1987 gale . It is a popular walk, with Fittleworth Stone walks, glades, and benches. It has received the loving care of a local "Friends" group for many years now. To the west of Moulsecoombe is Wild Park ( TQ 327 080 ). The park is a valley/coombe which runs down from Hollingbury Castle and was opened in 1925. In the 1850s the valley, then known as Hollingbury Coombe, was one of the most famous of Sussex sites for lepidopterists (butterfly and moth experts), but dark green and silver-washed fritillary and silver-spotted skipper , once present in numbers, are rarely seen there now. Despite this, there are parts which are still rich in diversity and it
3045-689: The A32 , is an example of a site where the Romano-British grew Roman grapes . Much of the Battle of Britain was fought in this region, especially in Kent. RAF Bomber Command was based at High Wycombe . RAF Medmenham at Danesfield House , west of Marlow in Buckinghamshire, was important for aerial reconnaissance . Operation Corona , based at RAF Kingsdown (at West Kingsdown next to Brands Hatch in Kent, between
3150-598: The Adur District . Support within Brighton for its own unitary authority was high, however respondents in Hove expressed reservations towards a merger with Worthing and Adur. A report following consultation noted that more than 25% of respondents in both Brighton and Hove had "unprompted, indicated support for a merger of those two areas." Although this option had not been included in the draft proposals, subsequent polling indicated that
3255-478: The Brighton Pavilion "passed through the fire", for this was their "ghat", or place of cremation. Its white Sicilian marble dome is in good condition, but the surrounding memorial garden is often unkept. What is now considered to be Hollingbury is the slope facing west, east of Patcham and north of Fiveways . However, old Hollingbury was the crest of the hill by the hillfort , Hollingbury Park and even
Thames Valley - Misplaced Pages Continue
3360-473: The Greater Brighton City Region local enterprise partnership area. In 1992, a government commission was set up to conduct a structural review of local government arrangements across England. In its draft proposals for East Sussex, the commission suggested two separate unitary authorities be created for the towns of Brighton and Hove, with the latter authority to include Hove, Worthing and
3465-1012: The New Forest and the South Downs , as well as the North Downs , the Chiltern Hills and part of the Cotswolds . The River Thames flows through the region and its basin is known as the Thames Valley . It is also the location of a number of internationally known places of interest, such as HMS Victory in Portsmouth, Cliveden in Buckinghamshire, Thorpe Park and RHS Wisley in Surrey, Blenheim Palace in Oxfordshire, Windsor Castle in Berkshire, Leeds Castle ,
3570-543: The Queen's Silver Jubilee celebrations, Brighton had been shortlisted as a candidate for city status , though eventually lost out to larger Derby . Following unification of the towns, Brighton and Hove applied for city status again as part of the Millennium City Status Competition, and was subsequently granted city status on 31 January 2001. As a result, the borough council became a city council . Although
3675-739: The White Cliffs of Dover and Canterbury Cathedral in Kent, Brighton Palace Pier , and Hammerwood Park in East Sussex, and Wakehurst Place in West Sussex. The region has many universities; the University of Oxford is the oldest in the English-speaking world, and ranked among the best in the world. South East England is host to various sporting events, including the annual Henley Royal Regatta , Royal Ascot and The Derby , and sporting venues include Wentworth Golf Club and Brands Hatch . Some of
3780-462: The circulation of blood . The Lilly Research Centre in Windlesham, Berkshire, part of Eli Lilly , developed Olanzapine in 1996 (for bipolar disorder , selling around $ 5bn worldwide annually). Beecham Research Laboratories at Brockham Park in 1959 discovered meticillin (or methicillin), the first semi-synthetic penicillin ( beta-lactamase stable), deriving from their discovery in 1958 of 6-APA ,
3885-758: The flying tail or all-moving tail also known as a stabilator ; this would solve the problem of stability and aircraft control at supersonic speeds , and its design was taken wholesale into the American Bell X-1 , the first supersonic aircraft . The first Harrier aircraft XV738 flew on 28 December 1967; this was the first aircraft of the RAF to have a head-up display avionics system. The first two-seat Harrier XW174 flew on 24 April 1969, later crashing at Larkhill in June 1969. The British Aerospace Sea Harrier XZ450 first flew on 20 August 1978; on 4 May 1982 this aircraft
3990-572: The plan position indicator method of radar display as most commonly known ever since; the site became Plessey Radar in 1965, and currently is run by BAE Systems. Sperry Gyroscope in Bracknell produced the guidance systems for Britain's 1960s space rockets. The Wealden iron industry in the Weald was the site of the first blast furnace in Britain in 1491, and produced much of Britain's cast iron until
4095-423: The stinking hellebore . To the west of the A23 and north of Westdene and the A27 is Waterhall ( TQ 284 087 ), and its lost 18th century farm is now the site of football and rugby pitches. The Waterhall Golf Course has just been given over to a version of rewilding which involves the restoration of species-rich chalk grassland There is still a significant population of adders. By the bridlepath just downhill of
4200-465: The 'Right to Roam' network, organised a mass trespass in protest against the lack of public access to this valley and its management for game bird shooting, which has badly affected its chalk grassland wildlife. Over 300 people walked from Waterhall, Brighton, to Pangdean Bottom in protest. The public are actively discouraged from walking in the area and scrub has been allowed to grow on the pristine downland, whilst other parts have been ploughed out. To
4305-533: The 1770s. Portsmouth Block Mills were the site of the world's first metal machine tools , built for the manufacture of wooden pulleys , invented by Henry Maudslay , and the site of the world's first industrial assembly line in 1803. South Foreland Lighthouse on 8 December 1858 was the world's first lighthouse with electric light, with the first type of industrial electrical generator made by Frederick Hale Holmes , from work he had carried out with Floris Nollet of Belgium, and 36 permanent magnets. By 1880, of
Thames Valley - Misplaced Pages Continue
4410-402: The 1920s and 1930s, with a mix of detached, semi-detached and mid-rise flats. The Withdean manor was originally the property of the great Cluniac Priory of St. Pancras at Lewes, until 1537. This was then given to Anne of Cleves in 1541 by Henry VIII . The manor was demolished in 1936. Westdene sits to the north of Brighton , east of West Blatchington and north of Withdean . Withdean Park
4515-474: The A20 and M20), was implemented to confuse German night fighters with native German-speakers, and coordinated by the RAF Y service . Bletchley Park in north Buckinghamshire was the principal Allied centre for codebreaking. The Colossus computer , arguably the world's first, began working on Lorentz codes on 5 February 1944, with Colossus 2 working from June 1944. The site was chosen, among other reasons, because it
4620-694: The A27 are two golf courses, the West Hove and Brighton and Hove Golf courses. The two are divided by the Old Dyke Railway Trail which follows part of the route taken by the old Dyke Railway Branch Line. The line opened in September 1887 and took people from Hove to the popular downland beauty spot of Devil's Dyke . When the railway closed in December 1938, the line lay unused until the Dyke Railway Trail
4725-462: The A27 roundabout and the eastern track takes you up Ewebottom Hiil leaving Scare Hill to its west, passing the Chattri to the east and on to Holt Hill and the Pyecombe parish. The western track takes you to Waterhall across the A23. Those walking from Patcham towards Standean farm descend the hill into Ewe Bottom and have the pleasure of the intact, old Tegdown pastures to their right, where
4830-401: The A27, is Toads Hole Valley . Its west slope, below Downland Drive, was once an unspoilt place for wildlife and still home to threatened species such as dormice , hedgehogs , and adders . The valley has been unmanaged for many years and the area has turned to scrub. It has now been designated for development and up to three hundred homes are planned to be built on the site. To the north of
4935-515: The M40); on 13 March 1962, the first in-flight rocket-powered ejection took place by Peter Howard , an RAF doctor based at Farnborough's Institute of Aviation Medicine in Meteor WA364 at 250 ft over Chalgrove, with the rocket giving a maximum force of 16G. The Miles M.52 , designed at Woodley Aerodrome in Berkshire by Miles Aircraft , was an advanced design of aircraft which had the innovation of
5040-642: The South Downs and Stanmer Estate that ten years ago had been proposed to be a Local Nature Reserve . Bevendean is in a valley nestled between Bevendean Down and Heath Hill. Moulsecoomb is on the other side of the Lewes Road and backs on to Falmer Hill, and is home to the University of Brighton's Moulsecoomb campus and Moulsecoomb Place . North of Moulsecoomb is the Falmer train station , University of Brighton's Falmer campus, and Falmer Stadium . In this area to
5145-596: The UK was at Epsom telephone exchange from 18 May 1912. It was introduced as standard across the UK's 6,700 telephone exchanges in 1922, lasting for around 70 years; it could handle up to 500 lines. It used the Strowger design and was made by Automatic Telephone Manufacturing Company of Liverpool. The world's first automatic telephone exchange had opened in La Porte, Indiana in November 1892. UK-Belgium 5 , laid in 1986 from Kent,
5250-427: The UK, at Farnborough; on 14 May 1909 he flew it for more than a mile. On 13 August 1909, his wife was the first woman in the UK to fly in a plane, also at Farnborough. The first human airborne ejection seat firing took place on 24 July 1946 over Chalgrove Airfield , Oxfordshire, in a Meteor , piloted by Bernard Lynch ; the first dummy ejection had been 10 May 1945 over RAF Oakley in west Buckinghamshire (today near
5355-515: The administrative capital of England some time in the 13th century as its influence waned while the City of London dominated commerce. The last monarch to be crowned at Winchester was Richard II in 1377, although the last monarch to be crowned by the Bishop of Winchester was Queen Mary I in 1553. The Meonhill Vineyard, near Old Winchester Hill in east Hampshire on the South Downs south of West Meon on
SECTION 50
#17328452923865460-626: The area. There is an old flint barn ( TQ 269 090 ) called the Skeleton Hovel which is thought to commemorate a prehistoric burial site. Round Hill's eastern slope ( TQ 269 085 ) is the richest chalk grassland site in Hangleton, though it desperately needs grazing management for its many downland flowers such as field fleawort , chalk milkwort , orchids, cowslips, hairy violet , rockrose, crested hair-grass , and devil's bit scabious . There are two rare Forester moth species, fox moth and heath moth, purse-web spider , moss, and pygmy snails. To
5565-539: The astronomer, from Kent, invented the term photography in 1839, meaning light writing . and discovered the first photographic fixer , sodium thiosulphate , known as hypo , also in 1839. GLEEP was Britain's first nuclear reactor, in August 1947 at the Atomic Energy Research Establishment (AERE) at Harwell, it would stay operational until 1990. William Harvey of Folkestone, in Kent, discovered
5670-510: The best of this type in the county". It consists of a circular bank with a ditch and a flattish interior. It lies just south of a big dried up dew pond. From Tegdown you can see the three Iron Age camps of Hollingbury Castle , Ditchling Beacon , and the Devil's Dyke . To the north of the city boundary is the long Ditchling parish. The Mid Sussex track of the Sussex Border Path starts at
5775-499: The circling woods. Coldean , Moulsecoomb , and Bevendean are suburbs developed by Brighton Corporation in the 1950s necessitated by the acute housing shortage in the area after World War II . The districts are all in beautiful downland areas. Coldean occupies a deep valley on the historic boundary of Falmer and Stanmer parishes and is only separated from Hollingbury Hillfort by Wild Park. It has recently been approved to build over two hundred new homes in green land adjoining
5880-447: The city now operates as a single entity, locals generally still consider Brighton and Hove to be separate settlements with different identities. Hove is largely residential and has its own distinct seafront and established town centre located around George Street, while Brighton has a higher profile as the country's most popular seaside resort , a significant digital economy, and hosts several festivals of national prominence. Recognition of
5985-500: The city's twin identities is evident from the continued popularity of the local saying "Hove, actually" , a phrase which long predates unification. Some organisations such as the local football club, Brighton and Hove Albion , and the bus company Brighton & Hove , predate the unification of the towns by several decades. In 2014, Brighton and Hove formed the Greater Brighton City Region with neighbouring local authorities. The City of Brighton and Hove consists of many districts,
6090-414: The conurbation known as the Greater London Urban Area . The South East has the highest percentage of people born outside of Britain other than London . According to the 2021 census, 78.8% of residents were White British , 7.1% Other White (inc. 0.8% Irish ), 7.0% British Asian , 2.8% Mixed Race , 2.4% Black British , and 1.4% of other groups . There was no census in 1941. South East England
6195-430: The core constituent; the team, led by Prof George Rolinson, won the Mullard Award in 1971. Bipyridine compounds (Paraquat-Gramoxone and Diquat) were discovered for herbicide use in 1954 by William Boon at ICI's Plant Protection division at Jealott's Hill, being released onto the market in 1958. AZT/Retrovir ( zidovudine ) was first manufactured by Wellcome in 1987 in Kent; they also introduced Zovirax ( aciclovir ), and
6300-407: The corner of the Saddlescombe Road and the turn-off to the golf clubhouse, there is a sarsen stone ( TQ 278 090 ) marking this point in the medieval boundary between Patcham and West Blatchington parishes. To the north is Varncombe Hill , which borders the Newtimber parish. Its south-west facing slope( TQ 280 099 ) is heavily scrubbed-up, though lovely old pasture glades survive. Rockrose
6405-412: The counties of Berkshire , Buckinghamshire and Oxfordshire . As a National Character Area, the Thames Valley is bounded to the west by Reading , fanning out roughly in a wedge shape towards the fringes of London. It contains 38 Sites of Special Scientific Interest and significant amounts of broadleaf forest , including Burnham Beeches , Windsor Great Park and Richmond Park . The Thames Valley
SECTION 60
#17328452923866510-434: The early 1960s. Donald Watts Davies invented packet switching in the late 1960s at the National Physical Laboratory in Teddington . Packet-switching was taken up by the Americans to form the ARPANET , the precursor to the Internet. Surrey's Alec Reeves invented pulse-code modulation (PCM) in 1937 (at ITT 's research laboratories in Paris), the standard for digital audio recordings. Sir John Herschel , son of
6615-404: The east and low-rise flats in the central part, with late 19th- and early 20th-century terraced houses towards Fiveways . There is an oasis of undeveloped green space at the peak of the Down between Hollingbury , Hollingdean , and Coldean . At its centre is Hollingbury Castle or Hillfort ( TQ 322 078 ).This Iron Age hillfort is a scheduled ancient monument , of Iron Age date, whilst
6720-423: The east-facing slope. Until the 1930s the area was open downland with farms, small-holdings and piggeries. After World War Two, Hollingbury was used for a factory estate with the housing for the workforce. Hollingdean is in the combe east of Ditchling Road and rising up to the north-facing slope to Roedale allotments, the golf course and hillfort . It is now mainly a residential area, with many council houses to
6825-469: The events of the 2012 Summer Olympics were held in the south east, including the rowing at Eton Dorney and part of the cycling road race in the Surrey Hills . In medieval times , South East England included much of the Kingdom of Wessex , which was the precursor to the modern state of England . Winchester was the capital of England after unification of the various states, including the kingdoms of Kent , Sussex and Mercia . Winchester stopped being
6930-439: The first point of sale terminal in Europe - the NCR 280 in 1973. The National Fruit Collection is the largest collection of fruit trees in the world, at Brogdale , and is next to the M2 at the A251 junction in Ospringe . Scalextric was invented by Fred Francis in 1956, who founded Minimodels in Havant; initially the model cars had been clockwork ; it was made from 1967 at Triang in Margate. The world's first Mars Bar
7035-405: The first to assign the correct atomic number to elements in periodic table ; he did not receive any Nobel Prize as it is not awarded posthumously (he was killed in 1915 at Gallipoli with the Royal Engineers). Carbon fibre was invented in 1963 at the RAE in Farnborough by a team led by William Watt. The Apollo LCG space-suit cooling system originated mostly from work done at RAE Farnborough in
7140-414: The former Standard Statistical Region. The South East is also occasionally used as a synonym for the home counties . The population of the region at the 2011 census was 8,634,750 making it the most populous English region. The major conurbations of the region include South Hampshire (855,000), Brighton/Worthing/Littlehampton (474,000) and Reading (318,000). Settlements closer to London are part of
7245-404: The four mounded round barrows within its ramparts are made by Bronze Age people, who held this place sacred. There are thickets of gorse which shine yellow in spring and are home to linnets and goldfinch. European stonechat is a familiar bird, too, and the rarer whinchat and redstart are seen regularly on passage to and from their breeding grounds. The soil within and around the camp has
7350-403: The line of the A27 bypass, beyond which one or two more fragments also survive. At the eastern end of the Down, is a Bronze Age burial mound recognisable as a low, grassy tump. The area is rich with summer flowers. Harebell , Sussex rampion flower, rockrose, and yellow rattle are enjoyed by locals here and at midsummer there are still good numbers of glowworms . Later in the summer months,
7455-413: The merger was the most popular option among residents. Nevertheless, the proposal of a merger proved controversial, particularly in Hove. Hove Borough Council opposed the move on the grounds that Brighton would dominate affairs in the city, and the commission acknowledged that residents of Hove "have significant negative feelings towards Brighton" and greater identification towards Sussex . Ultimately,
7560-521: The naturally occurring digoxin , a cardiac glycoside . After a plane crashed near his house in Oxford in 1940, Sir Peter Medawar helped the injured pilot, and in the process discovered homograft rejection , leading to organ transplantation using azathioprine . Viagra ( Sildenafil ) was synthesized at Pfizer in Sandwich, Kent. Sir Francis Pettit Smith of Kent invented the screw propeller . On 3 May 1830
7665-561: The new A27 road , Mile Oak's access to the Downs was largely blocked, stopping the spread of development. To the north of Mile Oak, on the other side of the A27, are a number of downland areas that are still in the Brighton and Hove area. These include the ancient chalk grassland slopes of Cockroost Hill , Cockroost Bottom and Mount Zion . They are all special areas because of the remarkable wildlife still surviving there, including rare downland flowers, orchids, butterflies and rare insects. There
7770-429: The north east of Coldean are two further valleys. The first is occupied by Stanmer village ( TQ 33 09 ), a village with much historical value. The upper village street has eighteen flint cottages, with colourful gardens. The church was reconstructed in 1838, but the date of the original church can be guessed from the two huge and knotty yews in the churchyard. Next to the church is a pond, which although often unkempt,
7875-471: The north of Round Hill is the Newtimber parish. Patcham , Westdene , and Withdean are divided by the London Road. Of the three, Patcham ( TQ 301 090 ), has much the longest history of human settlement and retains much from its agricultural past. It was one of the bigger settlements in Sussex at the time of Domesday book, with 10 shepherds and six slaves and a medieval Archbishop of Canterbury came from
7980-548: The north of the city boundary in this area is the Pycombe parish. The Downland to the north of Patcham leads up to Ditchling Beacon and the western end of the Clayton to Offham Escarpment . Tegdown Hill is the next hill to the west of the downland Ditchling Road. A remarkable "ring barrow" survives ( TQ 313 101 ) on its brow, together with the slight mounds of two other bowl barrows. Tegdown ring barrow has been described as "probably
8085-460: The old clubhouse there are the damaged remains of a Bronze Age round barrow ( TQ 283 087 ) which has long acted as a marker on the old parish boundaries. Since the cessation of golf play harebell , scabious , cowslip , rockrose , betony , Sussex rampion and horseshoe vetch have flowered ebulliently. There are large old anthills and chalkhill , small and adonis blue and brown argus butterflies, and all three species of Forester moth. At
8190-543: The population of the town substantially. As a result, the number of wards had by now increased to 19. The rest of Falmer, Coldean and the parish of Stanmer were added to Brighton by the Brighton Extension Act 1951, completing the northward extension of the town. A final expansion of the town's boundaries was approved in 1968, incorporating reclaimed land from the sea for the Brighton Marina project. Brighton
8295-618: The region are at state secondary schools (the highest in England) with 101,000 in Kent (the highest in England for a county and completely selective) then 70,000 in Hampshire, 60,000 in Surrey, 45,000 in West Sussex, 36,000 in Oxfordshire, 35,000 in Buckinghamsire. The lowest is 6,000 at Bracknell Forest, then Reading with about 6,000. Of all regions, the South-East has the greatest percentage that attend
8400-418: The region include Aldershot , Ashford , Aylesbury , Basingstoke , Bracknell , Brighton and Hove , Canterbury , Chichester , Crawley , Eastbourne , Farnborough , Gosport , Guildford , Hastings , High Wycombe , Margate , Maidstone , Medway , Milton Keynes , Newport , Oxford , Portsmouth , Ramsgate , Reading , Slough , Southampton , Winchester , Woking and Worthing . South East England
8505-725: The region is the chimney of Grain Power Station at 801 ft; it is the second-tallest chimney in the UK after Drax power station . George Albert Smith developed the first colour film process, known as Kinemacolor , in 1906 at Southwick, West Sussex . George E. Davis from Slough, is the founding father of chemical engineering. Wiggins Teape, later ARJO Wiggins Fine Papers , had the largest paper research centre in Europe at Butlers Court in Beaconsfield; built in 1891 and vacated in 2009. Bentalls in Bracknell (now Fenwick since 2017) had
8610-502: The region. It was abolished on 31 March 2009 and replaced with South East England Councils in Kingston upon Thames . The region is divided into several local council areas, most composed of two-tiered councils (the tiers are county councils and district councils) and unitary authorities : The South East of England is the most Conservative voting region of Britain in terms of both seats and votes. The area also has some seats where there
8715-537: The results for each county as a whole are not always directly related to the number of grammar schools, as Kent and Medway perform below average at A-level. The King's School, Canterbury claims to be oldest in England: 597 AD. Herschel Grammar School in Slough is the most oversubscribed school in England, with 14 people per place, Langley Grammar School in Slough is next with 13 per place, then Burnham Grammar School. 508,000 in
8820-411: The steepest slope and the lynchets have fine chalk downland flowers. Opposite the slope is the mouth of Deep Bottom ( TQ 303 105 ), the southerly slope of which is a colourful old pasture site with abundant rockrose and which rises up to the Chattri . In autumn there are boletes and several old meadow waxcaps and a fairy club fungus. To the south of the A27 and on the western edge of Patcham
8925-519: The ten lighthouses with electric light, five were in the UK. From the lighthouse in 1899, the first international radio broadcast to France was made. Zénobe Gramme of Belgium made a much better design in 1870 with self-excitation of magnets, and the first modern dynamo . North Foreland Lighthouse was the UK's last-staffed lighthouse until 1998. Portland cement was developed in Northfleet, Kent, by William Aspdin, son of Joseph Aspdin . The development
9030-501: The unparished non-metropolitan district of Hove. It also incorporated the nearby town of Portslade-by-Sea into the new district. The new boundaries established by the Act remained largely the same until unification with Brighton a quarter of a century later. To the west of Brighton and Hove is Portslade . The area has three distinct centres with different histories, and includes Portslade-by-Sea , Portslade Village and Mile Oak . Each
9135-496: The valley's north side has one of the largest populations of autumn ladies-tresses orchid has been recorded, together with a large population of the white variety of the self heal violet . The scrub at the head of the valley is old and diverse, with wayfaring tree , old man's beard , honeysuckle , hazel , and gorse . In July 2021 the Sussex-based 'Landscapes of Freedom' group, together with Nick Hayes and Guy Shrubsole of
9240-461: The view was taken that support for a single tier of government in both towns outweighed opposition to unification, and as a result the commission recommended that the borough councils of Brighton and Hove be made a single unitary authority independent of East Sussex County Council . In 1997, Brighton and Hove Borough Council was formed, and assumed responsibility for all matters of local government across both towns. Twenty years earlier, as part of
9345-439: The village. The area still has many old flint cottages, big allotment sites and winding twittens. There is Patcham Place and Park. The best cluster of buildings comprise its Norman church (which has kept part of its medieval wall paintings) and the old buildings of Patcham Court Farm, with a 17th-century flint farmhouse and dovecot. The areas of Withdean and Westdene were historically farmland but have been developed, mainly in
9450-420: The violet-blue of devil's-bit scabious and the powder-blue lesser scabious radiate. The Chattri ( TQ 304 110 ) is a place of memorial and a destination for walks. It can be accessed from the Sussex Border Path to its west or by scrambling through the thickets of Deep Bottom. It is a solemn place where the bodies of First World War Indian Sikh and Hindu soldiers who died from wounds whilst being nursed at
9555-450: The westward development of Brighton, and in 1832 became incorporated into the parliamentary constituency of Brighton . In 1873 commissioners from Hove, West Hove and Brunswick were amalgamated as means to guard against the dominance of Brighton. The first public buildings were completed in the late 19th century, including the original town hall in 1882. The parish of Aldrington was annexed by Hove in 1893. A municipal borough of Hove
9660-597: The world's first bus service was by Eastbourne Buses from Eastbourne railway station to Meads . The world's first submarine telephone cable was laid between England and France in 1891 by HMTS Monarch, enabling London-Paris calls from April 1891. On 3 December 1992, Neil Papworth of Reading, an engineer from Sema Group Telecoms at Vodafone in Newbury, sent the world's first text message from his computer to an Orbitel 901 handset of Richard Jarvis, Vodafone's technical director. The first public automatic telephone exchange in
9765-484: The world's first multi-channel flight data recorders in 1965. Although the Comet is generally accepted as the world's first production-run jet airliner, the first jet airliner ever built (individual) was a Nene -powered Vickers VC.1 Viking on 6 April 1948 from Wisley Airfield ; the world's first turboprop airliner would fly from there on 16 July 1948 by Mutt Summers . In 1939 at Cowes ( Northwood ) John Godeck invented
9870-572: The world's first passenger train service, the Canterbury and Whitstable Railway (6 miles or 10 km) began. It was built by George Stephenson and hauled by the locomotive Invicta . It introduced the world's first railway season ticket in 1834. Maidenhead Railway Bridge , known for its flat arch, was built in 1839 with 39-metre spans. The Military Vehicles and Engineering Establishment , in Chertsey, developed Chobham armour . On 12 April 1903,
9975-520: Was added in 1873, expanding Brighton to the north. In 1889 Brighton attained county borough status. The Brighton Corporation Act of 1927 added the settlements of Ovingdean and Rottingdean , as well as western parts of Falmer , Patcham and West Blatchington . These reforms expanded the Brighton the north and west dramatically. Between 1920 and 1950 housing estates were developed in Woodingdean , Moulsecoomb , Bevendean , and Whitehawk increasing
10080-547: Was an important statistician from Tunbridge Wells; his theorem (of probability theory ) is used for spam filters and Google's search . Sir David N. Payne at the University of Southampton's Optoelectronics Research Centre invented the erbium-doped fibre amplifier , a type of optical amplifier , in the mid-1980s, which became essential for the internet. Henry Moseley at Oxford in 1913 discovered his Moseley's law of X-ray spectra of chemical elements that enabled him to be
10185-687: Was built in 1986. This is the world's highest-capacity submarine HVDC cable; it goes from France and lands near Folkestone, with the large transformer station (built by GEC) squeezed between the CTRL and the M20 in Aldington and Smeeth , made of eight 270 kV cables. On 16 October 1908 the British Army Aeroplane No 1 , flown by the American Samuel Franklin Cody , was the first aircraft flown in
10290-408: Was created in 1988. There are a number of ways through Hangleton to a bridge over the A27 bypass where the trail begins, but the original route took you from Aldrington railway station and above the Hove cemetery. Much of the trail across the Downs is on a hard surface. There are many archaic Down pastures in the area. To the west is Benfield Hill ( TQ 261 078 ), a Local Nature Reserve which
10395-428: Was formed by royal charter in 1889, granting Hove administrative autonomy. Further expansion took place in 1927, with the addition of the parishes of Preston Rural and Hangleton and westerly sections of West Blatchington and Patcham . Hove gained its own parliamentary constituency in 1950. The Local Government Act 1972 abolished the remaining parishes of Hove, Aldrington and Hangleton and West Blatchington to form
10500-635: Was hit by anti-aircraft fire at Goose Green , killing the pilot with 800 Naval Air Squadron from HMS Hermes ; the aircraft had no radar warning receiver (RWR), due to testing the Sea Eagle , so could not detect the Skyguard radar had locked on to it. It was destroyed with the Oerlikon GDF (35mm) of GADA 601 ; it was the first Sea Harrier lost in the Falklands campaign. Royston Instruments of Byfleet developed
10605-475: Was largely countryside, with very few people living there for most of the Middle Ages, but it is now a residential area. Like Aldrington, West Blatchington was once primarily down and sheep grazing area, but is now built up. West Blatchington manor had various lords over the centuries, but unlike Adrington and Hangleton, it was always associated with lords in the east such Lewes , Falmer , and Patcham . It
10710-726: Was made in Slough in 1932; it was modelled on the Milky Way , popular at the time in the USA. Twix was introduced at Slough in 1967, with production moving to eastern France (Mars Chocolat France at Haguenau in Alsace ) in 2005. The Ford GT40 was developed by Ford Advanced Vehicles at Slough in the mid-1960s. The highest point is Walbury Hill in Berkshire at 297 m (974 ft). Britain's tallest native tree, according to The Tree Register in April 2015,
10815-412: Was split into two parliamentary constituencies in 1950. The first, Brighton Pavilion , covers the centre and north of the town. The second, Brighton Kemptown , covers the east of the town. The latter has since expanded further east to include the neighbouring towns of East Saltdean, Telscombe Cliffs , and Peacehaven , all of which are administratively within the adjacent Lewes District . Brighton became
10920-575: Was the world's first optical fibre submarine cable, and is 36 miles long. ThrustSSC , the fastest car in the world in 1997, was built in Aldingbourne , West Sussex, by G-Force Engineering, designed by Ron Ayers , with further work done by the Defence Evaluation and Research Agency at Farnborough. The BritNed 1000MW power-supply submarine cable from Isle of Grain to Rotterdam, was built in 2009. The HVDC Cross-Channel (2000MW) submarine cable
11025-497: Was to heat the ingredients to around 1450 °C, producing clinker . Previously, temperatures were taken to only 800 °C, which was not enough. The first ever cement kiln is still in Northfleet today in a cardboard factory. In the late 1800s, the rotary kiln made the process much more efficient. Concrete, effectively human-made stone, is the most widespread human-made material. 5% of all carbon emissions worldwide are from concrete production. The tallest freestanding structure in
#385614