Portal:England
The England portal
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England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to the west and Scotland to the north. The Irish Sea lies west of England and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. England is separated from continental Europe by the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south. The country covers five-eighths of the island of Great Britain, which lies in the North Atlantic, and includes over 100 smaller islands, such as the Isles of Scilly and the Isle of Wight.
The area now called England was first inhabited by modern humans during the Upper Palaeolithic period, but takes its name from the Angles, a Germanic tribe deriving its name from the Anglia peninsula, who settled during the 5th and 6th centuries. England became a unified state in the 10th century, and since the Age of Discovery, which began during the 15th century, has had a significant cultural and legal impact on the wider world. The English language, the Anglican Church, and English law – the basis for the common law legal systems of many other countries around the world – developed in England, and the country's parliamentary system of government has been widely adopted by other nations. The Industrial Revolution began in 18th-century England, transforming its society into the world's first industrialised nation.
England's terrain is chiefly low hills and plains, especially in central and southern England. However, there is upland and mountainous terrain in the north (for example, the Lake District and Pennines) and in the west (for example, Dartmoor and the Shropshire Hills). The capital is London, which has the largest metropolitan area in both the United Kingdom and the European Union. England's population of over 55 million comprises 84% of the population of the United Kingdom, largely concentrated around London, the South East, and conurbations in the Midlands, the North West, the North East, and Yorkshire, which each developed as major industrial regions during the 19th century.
The Kingdom of England – which after 1535 included Wales – ceased being a separate sovereign state on 1 May 1707, when the Acts of Union put into effect the terms agreed in the Treaty of Union the previous year, resulting in a political union with the Kingdom of Scotland to create the Kingdom of Great Britain. In 1801, Great Britain was united with the Kingdom of Ireland (through another Act of Union) to become the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland. In 1922 the Irish Free State seceded from the United Kingdom, leading to the latter being renamed the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland. Read more...
Selected article
Baden-Powell House, colloquially known as B-P House, is a Scouting hostel and conference centre in South Kensington, London, which was built as a tribute to Lord Baden-Powell, the founder of Scouting. The house, owned by The Scout Association, hosts a collection of Baden-Powell memorabilia, including the original Baden-Powell painting by David Jagger, Baden-Powell's Last Message to Scouts, and a granite statue by Don Potter.
The building committee, chaired by Sir Harold Gillett, Lord Mayor of London, purchased the site in 1956, and assigned Ralph Tubbs to design the house in the modern architectural style. The Foundation Stone was laid in 1959 by World Chief Guide Olave, Lady Baden-Powell, and it was opened in 1961 by Queen Elizabeth II. The largest part of the £400,000 cost was provided by the Scout Movement itself. Over the years, the house has been refurbished several times, so that it now provides modern and affordable lodging for Scouts, Guides, and their families, staying in London.
Selected images
Henry Singleton The Ale-House Door c. 1790
The Metropolitan Railway, now part of the London Underground was the first underground railway in the world.
Stonehenge, a Neolithic monument
Edward Elgar is one of England's most celebrated classical composers.
Family-sized meat pie made by Sweeney & Todd of Reading
The Examination and Trial of Father Christmas (1686), published after Christmas was reinstated as a holy day in England
The metropolitan and non-metropolitan counties, colour-coded to show population
The Royal Courts of Justice on the Strand, London is the seat of the High Court of Justice and the Court of Appeal
The Queen Elizabeth Hospital in Birmingham has the largest single floor critical care unit in the world.
Wembley Stadium, home of the England football team, has a 90,000 capacity. It is the biggest stadium in the UK.
A pint of real ale
Saltaire, West Yorkshire, is a model mill town from the Industrial Revolution, and a World Heritage Site.
Astley's Amphitheatre, London circa 1808. Astley performed stunts in a 42 ft diameter ring; the standard size used by circuses ever since.
English-speaking worldMajority native languageOfficial, but not majority languageNote: English is also an official language of the EU
Elizabethan
Fish and chips
Population of England and Wales by administrative areas. Their size shows their population, with some approximation. Each group of squares in the map key is 20 % of total number of districts.
A Punch and Judy booth at Swanage, Dorset. The anarchic Mr. Punch has been an influential figure in British comedy and political cartoons.
Stinking Bishop cheese
Queen Elizabeth II presenting the World Cup trophy to 1966 World Cup winning England captain Bobby Moore
Christopher Lee (as Dracula in 1958) starred in numerous British horror films produced by Hammer. Michael Powell's Peeping Tom (1960) was the first "slasher" film.
The Bentley Mulsanne. Bentley is a well-known English car company.
A red telephone box in front of St Paul's Cathedral, one of the most important buildings of the English Baroque period
Ridley Scott was among a group of English filmmakers, including Tony Scott, Alan Parker, Hugh Hudson and Adrian Lyne, who emerged from making 1970s UK television commercials.
The England rugby union team during their victory parade after winning the 2003 Rugby World Cup
Heathrow Airport has more international passenger traffic than any other airport in the world.
Changing of the Queen's Guard at the royal residence, Buckingham Palace
Portrait of King George IV, Thomas Lawrence.
2009 estimates of ethnic groups in England
The Anglo-Saxon Ingwaz Rune
Somerville College, University of Oxford
The City of London is the financial capital of the United Kingdom.
Geoffrey Chaucer was an English author, poet and philosopher, best remembered for his unfinished frame narrative The Canterbury Tales.
Former Formula One world champion Nigel Mansell driving at Silverstone in 1990. The circuit hosted the first ever Formula One race in 1950.
Centre Court at Wimbledon. First played in 1877, the Wimbledon Championships is the oldest tennis tournament in the world.
William Hogarth's depiction of a scene from Shakespeare's The Tempest is an example of how English literature influenced English painting in the 18th century
The Cenotaph, Whitehall, is a memorial to members of the British Armed Forces who died during the two World Wars.
Robin Hood illustrated in 1912 wearing Lincoln green
Skiddaw massif, seen from Walla Crag in the Lake District
Canterbury Cathedral is the seat of the Primate of All England, the Archbishop of Canterbury, the most senior bishop of the Church of England (it was the property of the Roman Catholic Church before the English Reformation)
Countries where English has official status or is widely spoken
Robin Hood illustrated in 1912 wearing Lincoln green
Victorian
Mo Farah is the most successful British track athlete in modern Olympic Games history, winning the 5000 m and 10,000 m events at two Olympic Games.
The Natural History Museum in London
The Christmas Pantomime 1890, UK. Pantomime plays a prominent role in British culture during the Christmas and New Year season.
The "three lions", the second Great Seal of King Richard the Lionheart (1198)
A full English breakfast with fried egg, sausage, white and black pudding, bacon, mushrooms, baked beans, hash browns, toast, and half a tomato
Celebrations at Trafalgar Square after England's 2003 Rugby World Cup victory.
Life expectancy at birth in England and Wales 2012 to 2014. Lighter colours indicate longer life expectancy.
The frontage of Warwick School, one of the oldest independent schools in England
The Beatles are the most commercially successful and critically acclaimed band in popular music.
Sir Isaac Newton is one of the most influential figures in the history of science.
The Lady of Shalott by John William Waterhouse in the Pre-Raphaelite style
Westminster Abbey is a notable example of English Gothic architecture. The coronation of the British monarch traditionally takes place at the Abbey.
The English Restoration restored the monarchy under King Charles II and peace after the English Civil War.
Cotton mills in Manchester, the world's "first industrial city", circa 1820
King Henry V at the Battle of Agincourt, fought on Saint Crispin's Day and concluded with an English victory against a larger French army in the Hundred Years' War
Replica of the 7th-century ceremonial Sutton Hoo helmet from the Kingdom of East Anglia
Charles Dickens' 1843 novella A Christmas Carol played a major role in reviving the "spirit" of Christmas and seasonal goodwill
Westminster Abbey, London, is an example of English Gothic architecture
Melton Mowbray Pork Pie
The Palace of Westminster, the seat of the Parliament of the United Kingdom
Boudica led an uprising against the Roman Empire.
Roast beef
Alfred Hitchcock is often regarded as the greatest British filmmaker. He was described as "a straightforward middle-class Englishman who just happened to be an artistic genius."
English stately homes, manor houses, and gardens are associated with England and its heritage.
Georgian
The Hay Wain by John Constable is an archetypal English painting.
Bodiam Castle is a 14th-century moated castle near Robertsbridge in East Sussex.
The Tudor rose, England's national floral emblem
Regency
Canterbury Cathedral, seat of the Archbishop of Canterbury
Terrain of Dartmoor, Devon
English Heritage blue plaque commemorating Sir Alfred Hitchcock at 153 Cromwell Road, London
Clarks was founded in 1825 and has since become a popular shoe brand internationally, seen as specialists in school shoes for children.
Jacobean
Saint George is the patron saint of England.
The Proms are held annually at the Royal Albert Hall during the summer
England playing Australia at Lord's Cricket Ground in the 2009 Ashes series. After winning the 2019 Cricket World Cup, England became the first country to win the World Cups in football, rugby union and cricket.
Pubs are strongly associated with England, traditionally serving English food and beers.
First played in 1877, the Wimbledon Championships is the oldest tennis tournament in the world.
BAPS Shri Swaminarayan Mandir in London, United Kingdom is the largest Hindu temple in England.
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Selected biography
After Mary Godwin's mother died giving birth to her, she and her older half-sister, Fanny Imlay, were raised by her father. When Mary was three, Godwin married his neighbour, Mary Jane Clairmont. Godwin provided his daughter with a rich, if informal, education, encouraging her to adhere to his liberal political theories. In 1814, Mary Godwin fell in love with one of her father’s political followers, the married Percy Bysshe Shelley. Together with Mary's stepsister, Claire Clairmont, they left for France and travelled through Europe; upon their return to England, Mary was pregnant. Over the next two years, she and Percy faced ostracism, constant debt, and the death of their prematurely born daughter. They married in late 1816 after the suicide of Percy Shelley's first wife, Harriet.
Did you know?
- ...that the Rev. Arthur Wagner, the first curate of the Church of St. Paul, Brighton, England, commissioned stained glass windows of his mother, father and aunt for the church?
- ...that Scots' Dike was constructed by the English and the Scots in 1552 to mark the division of the Debatable Lands and thereby settle the exact boundary between the kingdoms of Scotland and England?
- ...that the famed message "England expects that every man will do his duty" is misquoted on Nelson's Column in London?
In the news
- 16 September 2019 – Aftermath of the Grenfell Tower fire
- Officers with the Metropolitan Police interview members of the London Fire Brigade under caution in connection with the disaster. The fire brigade is being treated as a corporation suspected of breaching health and safety legislation. (The Guardian)
- 29 August 2019 – Rotherham child sexual exploitation scandal
- Six Pakistani men are found guilty of abusing and raping teenage girls between 1998 and 2002 in Rotherham, England. The National Crime Agency believes as many as 1,510 teenagers were sexually exploited in the town during the same period. (BBC)
Selected featured content
Subcategories
Selected quotes
| “ | An Englishman, even if he is alone, forms an orderly queue of one. | ” |
Related WikiProjects
England • Bedfordshire • Brighton • Cheshire • Cornwall • Derbyshire • Greater Manchester • Hampshire • Lincolnshire • London • Merseyside • Northamptonshire • North East England • Sheffield • Surrey. Warwickshire • West Midlands • Worcestershire • Yorkshire
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Things you can do
- Please visit the English Wikipedians' notice board and help to write new England-related articles, and expand and improve existing ones.
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- Check for announcements and open tasks for ways to improve English related articles.
- Help nominate and select new content for the England portal.
- Requested articles: Charterhouse Lane • Renewable energy in England • Ealing Village
- Expand: Dorothy Boyd • David Troughton
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