Sussex Tollgates, England

The Turnpike Trusts started erecting tollgates and collecting fees for road maintainence in 1663. Sussex has over 500 turnpiked roads and an asortment of curious buildings which over the recent years has all but a few disappeared. In this video Richard Vobes goes in search of some of them.

British History Timeline

Thousands of years ago, Great Britain was joined to Europe and was covered with ice. Around 15,000 years ago, the climate changed and became warmer. The ice age melted away and the sea levels had risen. Britain became an island of the west coast of Europe around 8000 years ago.

St George Day

The best known story about Saint George is his fight with a dragon. But it is unlikely that he fought a dragon, and unlikely that he visited England.

Kings and Queens of the United Kingdom

Hundreds of years ago, Britain didn’t have just one king, it had several. Celtic kings and princes ruled Scotland, Ireland and Wales, and everything else was divided up between tribes of Anglo-Saxons.

History of Saint Patrick’s Day

Born in Cumbria, England. Captured as a slave in Wales and embraced in Ireland. St Patrick’s Day has now evolved to a global celebration from Ireland to USA, Australia, New Zealand Uruguay and even Glasgow, Scotland. Even with history between irish and english people, the english still use this day as a good excuse to drink Guinness and get drunk on what english people call ‘Paddy’s Day’.

Colchester Castle, Essex, England

The castle has had various uses since it ceased to be a Royal castle. It has been a county prison, where in 1645 the self-styled Witchfinder General, Matthew Hopkins interrogated and imprisoned suspected witches. In 1648, during the final stages of the English Civil War, the Royalist leaders Sir Charles Lucas and Sir George Lisle were executed just to the rear of the castle. Local legend has it that grass will not grow on the spot on which they fell. A small obelisk now marks the point. In 1656 the Quaker James Parnell was martyred there.

Windsor Castle, Berkshire, England

Windsor Castle is an official residence of The Queen and the largest occupied castle in the world. A Royal home and fortress for over 900 years, the Castle remains a working palace today.

The Queen uses the Castle both as a private home, where she usually spends the weekend, and as a Royal residence at which she undertakes certain formal duties.

Donnington Castle, Berkshire, England

Donnington Castle was built by its original owner, Richard Abberbury the Elder, under a licence granted by Richard II in 1386 AD. The surviving castlegatehouse dates from this time. The castle was subsequently bought by Thomas Chaucer, the son of the poet Geoffrey Chaucer, as a residence for his daughter Alice, who later became Duchess of Suffolk. This family later fell out with the Tudor monarchs, and the castle became a Royal property.

Hedingham Castle, Essex, England

This castle, is a Norman motte and bailey castle with a stone keep. It may occupy a site of an earlier castle believed to have been built in the later eleventh or early twelfth century by Aubrey de Vere I, a Norman baron. Hedingham was one of the largest manors among those acquired by Aubrey I by circa 1080 and it became the head of the Vere barony by the later twelfth century.

Chanctonbury Ring, West Sussex

Chanctonbury Ring is a famous landmark in West Sussex. It lies on the top of a ridge of the South Downs just north of Worthing and the ‘ring’ refers to the old ancient earthworks on the top and not as many believe the beach trees that were planted by Charles Goring in 1760 which unfortunately blew down in the hurricane of 1987.

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