England is a rustic steeped in historical past and tradition, with an archaeological document courting again to the early Neolithic interval and past. There is a lot to find within the United Kingdom. You might find out about their love of tea or the invention of the Indian dish, the Chicken Tikka Masala, however are you aware all the pieces about this magnificent nation?
We have compiled an inventory of fascinating info about England that you won’t have already identified. Read on to see in case you are actually an anglophile or simply a pretender to the crown.
Interesting Facts about England
England is the most important nation within the United Kingdom with a inhabitants of greater than 56 million folks. England is a part of the United Kingdom which incorporates three different international locations of Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland.
The capital metropolis of England is London and it’s bordered by the English Channel, The North Sea, and the Atlantic Ocean. It is simply 33 kilometers (20 miles) from mainland Europe and is linked to France by the Channel Tunnel which is the second-longest undersea tunnel on this planet. So, now that we’ve got all of the housekeeping out of the way in which, let’s check out a number of the extra enjoyable info about England.
1. There is A Difference Between the UK and Great Britain
The phrases “UK” and “Great Britain” are sometimes used interchangeably, however they really discuss with various things. The official identify of the United Kingdom is definitely The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland. When referring to Great Britain, which is technically a geographical time period, refers back to the largest island within the British Isles. Great Britain consists of England, Scotland, and Wales, however not Northern Ireland.
On the opposite hand, when you find yourself referring to it because the UK you might be referring to the nation which incorporates England, Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland. The UK is a sovereign state with a single authorities, authorized system, and foreign money.
2. Stonehenge Is Older Than the Pyramids
Stonehenge is as historic as it’s mysterious. The stone circle is of nice non secular significance to these of the Druidic religion. It sits on the Salisbury Plain because it has for the reason that Neolithic age 5,000 years in the past. That was 500 years earlier than the Great Pyramid of Giza in Egypt.
How and why stone age man constructed it nonetheless puzzles archaeologists to at the present time. Most agree it was a spot of nice ritualistic significance. Read 42 Amazing Ancient Ruins of the World
3. The Queen of England Created a New Dog Breed
The Queen of England was well-known for the beloved Corgis that accompanied her all through her royal life. Pembroke Welsh Corgis have been the popular canine of her mother and father, so that they have at all times been part of her life.
However, when her sister Princess Margaret came over together with her pet dachshund Pipkin at some point, the royals modified each breeds without end. One of the Queen’s corgis impregnated Pipkin, and the ensuing offspring have been dubbed Dorgis. A model new breed of canine, initially bred solely by the royal sisters.
4. London Bridge is No Longer in London
Here’s a enjoyable undeniable fact that I guess you didn’t know. The unique London Bridge is not in London it’s now present in Arizona, USA. London Bridge was transported from London within the Seventies and there’s a distinct English really feel within the London Village. Check out 26 Top Places to Visit in Arizona
5. All the Swans Are Royal
The swish, elegant swans which might be a key function of each park and riverbank across the United Kingdom all belonged to the Queen of England (now King Charles). It has been in regulation for the reason that twelfth century, and to injure or kill one could possibly be thought-about an act of treason.
Swans have been a delicacy loved by the rich at banquets and feasts a whole bunch of years in the past. None extra so than the Royal Family, who laid declare to possession of each chicken within the nation. Even in the event you discover a useless swan, you need to flip it over to the Crown, to somebody generally known as the Queen’s official Swan Marker.
6. The Royal Residence
Another cool reality is that Buckingham Palace will be the official residence of the King, however Windsor Castle is definitely the most important and oldest occupied fortress on this planet. The fortress was initially constructed by William the Conqueror within the eleventh century and has been expanded and renovated over the centuries.
It is house to the well-known St. George’s Chapel, the place many royal weddings and funerals have taken place, together with the marriage of Prince Harry and Meghan Markle in 2018. residence of many monarchs over the centuries, together with Henry VIII, Queen Victoria, and the present Queen Elizabeth II.
7. Ravens and the Tower of London
Ravens have a long-standing affiliation with the Tower of London The legend goes that if the six resident ravens ever go away, the dominion and the Tower will fall.
The traditions date again to the reign of King Charles II within the seventeenth century when the king was warned that if the ravens ever left the Tower, it might be an indication of catastrophe for the dominion. He, subsequently, made a regulation that six ravens be stored on the Tower always, and this custom has been maintained ever since.
8. The Romans Invaded England for the Oysters
Despite a reasonably questionable fame in the case of conventional English meals, the UK has some explicit delicacies. One of those lesser-known native specialties is oysters from Colchester.
When the Romans first invaded Britain in AD43, they arrange an encampment that later grew into the primary metropolis of England. This was lengthy earlier than the days of London or Londinium because it was identified in these days. Colchester was the primary metropolis within the British Isles. Historians imagine that one of many important causes the Romans invaded the islands was as a result of they might not get sufficient of the scrumptious oysters and needed to regulate the availability.
Read extra about a number of the different Great British Foods in our information.
9. First Capital
The idea of a capital metropolis as we perceive it right this moment didn’t exist in early medieval instances. However, if we have a look at the historical past of the English monarchy, Winchester was the primary main royal metropolis and heart of presidency in England, serving because the capital of the Anglo-Saxon kingdom of Wessex.
It was the residence of a number of Saxon kings, together with King Alfred the Great, who made Winchester the middle of his kingdom within the late ninth century. Winchester Cathedral was based in 642 AD with the present cathedral courting again to the eleventh century.
Winchester remained an vital metropolis all through the Middle Ages and into the early trendy interval, but it surely was progressively overtaken by London because the nation’s political and financial heart.
10. London’s Ice Wells
Moving south to the present capital, London, we will discover the second of our cool info about England. The hidden ice wells that lie beneath Kings Cross Station.
In the Victorian period, between the years of 1840 – 1900, London was loopy about ice cream. It was a brand new development, and the town couldn’t get sufficient of it. It was an actual feat to get your self a frozen deal with in a time lengthy earlier than refrigeration items.Enter Italian Swiss entrepreneur and immigrant Carlo Gatti. He noticed that everybody was screaming for ice cream and discovered a strategy to make it accessible to them.
He constructed two huge wells below his premises in Kings Cross in central London. Each was 42ft deep by 33ft in diameter. He may retailer many tonnes of ice that he would import from the frozen rivers and lakes of Scandinavia.
He then offered the ice to the ice cream makers of London and different elements of Great Britain. Carlo Gatti died a millionaire in 1878, and you possibly can nonetheless go to his ice wells right this moment through the London Canal Museum.
11. Big Ben
Many folks suppose that Big Ben is a clock, however in precise reality, it’s the Great Bell of the Clock on the north finish of the Palace of Westminster in London. The tower that homes the clock and bell is formally generally known as the Elizabeth Tower. Big Ben weighs round 13.7 tonnes (15.1 tons) and is 2.2 meters (7 ft) tall and 2.7 meters (9 ft) in diameter. Big Ben has been silenced on various events all through its historical past, together with throughout World War I and II, and for repairs and upkeep.
12. The World Of Literature
England is the birthplace of William Shakespeare, who’s extensively considered one of many biggest playwrights of all time. However, the United Kingdom has produced many nice writers together with Jane Austen, Charles Dickens, Virginia Woolf, George Orwell, J.R.R. Tolkien, C.S. Lewis, and Sir Arthur Conan Doyle who was born in Edinburgh, Scotland however spent a lot of his life in England.
13. London Has 40 Abandoned Tube Stations
There are 270 lively stations on the London Underground or Tube as it’s colloquially identified. What you might not have identified, although, is that there are additionally 40 deserted and shut-down stations that also hang-out the strains, sitting silent and alone deep underground.
Stations should be closed for a lot of completely different causes. The railway strains have modified course through the years as extensions have been added. Or merely as they grew to become underused as passenger numbers dropped.
Many performed an element throughout the Second World War as bomb shelters for the folks of London throughout air raids. Londoners used Aldwych Station to retailer the relics from the British Museum to maintain them secure.
14. King Henry VII Levied a Tax on Beards
King Henry the Eighth of England, the Tudor king, was well-known for his many wives and lengthy reign within the 1500s. There have been many unusual taxes in English historical past through the years. These have included taxes on home windows, salt, and candles. But, the beard tax of 1585 will be the strangest of all of them.
There is a few scholarly debate on whether or not the tax was really enforced or, in some instances, even existed in any respect. However, there’s a number of documentary proof about Tudor Laws that gave strict rules on how somebody may gown.
15. The Annual Devonshire Manhunt Festival
You might concentrate on a number of the stranger occasions that happen in England yearly, particularly the notorious cheese rolling pageant, however In Combe Martin in Devon on each Spring Bank Holiday weekend, a person dressed because the Earl of Rone flees a unprecedented manhunt. This annual occasion reenacts the homicide of Irish aristocrat and supposed insurgent, Earl Hugh O’Neill.
The locals imagine that in 1607, Hugh was fleeing the Queen’s Grenadiers after being shipwrecked on the Devonshire coast. The Grenadiers caught Hugh and shot him earlier than marching him to the ocean and throwing him in. Play actors reenact the entire grotesque act whereas the opposite contributors get very drunk and enjoy giant colourful costumes. A really conventional English festivity certainly!
16. It Has Some Amazing Place Names
The English have a really wry humorousness, and it might change into clear as to why while you uncover what a number of the cities and villages throughout the United Kingdom are referred to as. Some are hilarious, whereas others are simply plain impolite. It is vital to maintain an eye fixed out while you move by way of the English countryside to see in the event you can spot just a few in your travels.
There’s Badgers Mount and Sandy Bottom, or Spankers Lane in Derbyshire to WhamBottomLane in Lancashire. There is at all times one thing to maintain you entertained en route throughout your journey!
17. You Are Never Far From the Sea
England in a part of the British Isles and a big archipelago off the coast of Europe. It will not be a really massive nation. In reality, you may match the entire United Kingdom, that’s, England, Wales, Scotland, and Northern Ireland, inside Texas over 2.8 instances.
So it shouldn’t come as an excessive amount of shock to know that you’re by no means removed from the ocean. In reality, even in case you are standing within the useless heart of the nation, you might be nonetheless not more than 70 miles from the coast. Read extra about Wales: 20 of the Best locations to go to in Wales
18. The English Language
Obviously, the official language of England is English, which is spoken by many of the inhabitants within the nation nonetheless do you know that English is among the most generally spoken languages on this planet? Thanks to the overarching affect of the British Empire, which contained 1 / 4 of the world’s inhabitants within the 18th century, the English language was unfold far and large.
Although Mandarin is changing into more and more in style, English continues to be one of the vital sought-after second languages on this planet and is the official language of 67 international locations.
19. England is Home to Many Famous Scientists
England not solely has a number of the greatest Universities on this planet like Oxford and Cambridge but it surely additionally produces a number of the most superior minds on this planet. These embody the sensible minds of Stephen Hawking, Isaac Newton, and Charles Darwin simply to call just a few.
20. Annual Cheese Rolling Competition
In our opinion, one of many extra enjoyable info is that it has its share of loopy competitions and festivals like this one. Each yr in Gloucestershire folks collect to roll a wheel of Double Gloucester cheese down a steep hill, and then chase after it in an try and catch it. This has been occurring for over 200 years!
The competitors takes place on Cooper’s Hill, which is a steep slope situated close to the city of Brockworth. The cheese wheel can attain speeds of as much as 70 miles per hour because it rolls down the hill, and opponents typically stumble and fall as they attempt to sustain. It is hilarious to observe and most likely much more enjoyable to participate in.
21. An Englishman Invented the World Wide Web
Another a type of little-known info about England is that it’s house to Sir Tim Berners-Lee, a British pc scientist who invented the World Wide Web whereas working on the European Organization for Nuclear Research (CERN) in Switzerland in 1989.
Berners-Lee was on the lookout for a strategy to permit scientists to share data extra simply throughout completely different pc programs. He developed a system of hypertext hyperlinks and a standardized language for creating and sharing paperwork, which finally grew to become the World Wide Web. Berners-Lee’s invention revolutionized the way in which we entry and share data, and it’s now an integral a part of trendy life.
22. In 1996 England Won The FIFA World Cup
Even in the event you don’t know a lot about English soccer you most likely know that England has one of many high soccer groups on this planet. Thanks to the extent of expertise within the Premier League they’re nearly at all times within the high rankings and have gained the world cup title as soon as which was again in 1966 towards Germany.
Interesting England Facts
Hopefully, our enjoyable info about England have impressed you to make a journey to the British Isles and uncover a number of the unimaginable cultures for your self. There is a superb deal to discover!