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England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. The country is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers roughly 62%, and over 100 smaller adjacent islands. It has land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west, and is otherwise surrounded by the North Sea to the east, the English Channel to the south, the Celtic Sea to the south-west, and the Irish sea to the west. Continental Europe lies to the south-east, and Ireland to the west. The population was 56,490,048 at the 2021 census. London is both the largest city and the capital.

The area now called England was first inhabited by modern humans during the Upper Paleolithic, but takes its name from the Angles, a Germanic tribe who settled during the 5th and 6th centuries. England became a unified state in the 10th century and has had a significant cultural and legal impact on the wider world since the Age of Discovery, which began during the 15th century. The Kingdom of England, which included Wales after 1535, ceased being a separate sovereign state on 1 May 1707 when the Acts of Union put the terms agreed in the Treaty of Union the previous year into effect; this resulted in a political union with the Kingdom of Scotland that created the Kingdom of Great Britain.

England is the origin of many well-known worldwide exports, including the English language, the English legal system (which served as the basis for the common law systems of many other countries), association football, and the Church of England; its 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 is home to the two oldest universities in the English-speaking world: the University of Oxford, founded in 1096, and the University of Cambridge, founded in 1209. Both universities are ranked among the most prestigious in the world.

England's terrain chiefly consists of low hills and plains, especially in the centre and south. Upland and mountainous terrain is mostly found in the north and west, including Dartmoor, the Lake District, the Pennines, and the Shropshire Hills. The country's capital is London, the greater metropolitan of which has a population of 14.2 million as of 2021, representing the United Kingdom's largest metropolitan area. England's population of 56.3 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. (Full article...)

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Men's race winner's trophy

The 2016 Boat Races (also known as The Cancer Research UK Boat Races for the purposes of sponsorship) took place on 27 March 2016. Held annually, The Boat Race is a side-by-side rowing race between crews from the universities of Oxford and Cambridge along a 4.2-mile (6.8 km) tidal stretch of the River Thames in south-west London. For the first time in the history of the event, the men's, women's and both reserves' races were all held on the Tideway on the same day.

Trials for the race took place on the Championship Course in December 2015, and the selected crews took part in several practice races in the build-up to the main event. The weigh-in for the men's and women's races took place on 1 March 2016 with both Cambridge's men and women the heavier crews. Pre-race betting on the men's and women's event had Cambridge's men and Oxford's women as favourites to win. (Full article...)

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View over Lincoln Castle from Lincoln Cathedral to the east. The Westgate Water Tower at top right is not part of the castle.

Lincoln Castle is a major medieval castle constructed in Lincoln, England, during the late 11th century by William the Conqueror on the site of a pre-existing Roman fortress. The castle is unusual in that it has two mottes. It is one of only two such castles in the country, the other being at Lewes in East Sussex. Lincoln Castle remained in use as a prison and court into modern times and is one of the better preserved castles in England; the Crown Courts continue to this day. It is open to the public most days of the week and possible to walk around the walls from which there are views of the castle complex, cathedral, the city, and surrounding countryside. Displayed within the castle is one of only four surviving exemplars of the Magna Carta of 1215. The castle is now owned by Lincolnshire County Council and is a scheduled monument. (Full article...)

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General images

The following are images from various England-related articles on Wikipedia.

Image 1National performing arts are held annually at the Royal Albert Hall, as well as The Proms during the summer. (from Culture of England)
Image 2The Battersea Shield (detail), 350 BC. (from History of England)
Image 3England 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. (from Culture of England)
Image 4The Royal College of Music is the oldest conservatoire in the UK, established by royal charter in 1882. (from Culture of England)
Image 5Shoulder clasp from Sutton Hoo, 625 AD (from History of England)
Image 6Dover Castle, 12th–13th century (from History of England)
Image 7A traditional Punch and Judy booth, at Swanage, Dorset, England (from Culture of England)
Image 8Charles Dickens' 1843 novella A Christmas Carol played a major role in reviving the "spirit" of Christmas and seasonal goodwill. (from Culture of England)
Image 9Edward Elgar is one of England's most celebrated classical composers. (from Culture of England)
Image 10Christopher Lee (seen here as Dracula in 1958) starred in many of Hammer's British horror films. (from Culture of England)
Image 11The Spanish Armada and English ships in August 1588, (unknown, 16th-century, English School) (from History of England)
Image 12Geoffrey Chaucer, c. 1340s–1400, author of The Canterbury Tales (from History of England)
Image 13Durham Cathedral. The Norman cathedral was built 1093–1133 (from History of England)
Image 14Alfred Hitchcock is often regarded as the greatest British filmmaker, and was described as "a straightforward middle-class Englishman who just happened to be an artistic genius." (from Culture of England)
Image 15Portrait of Edward VI, c. 1550 (from History of England)
Image 16King Charles II (from History of England)
Image 17Anglo-Saxon king with his Witan. Biblical scene in the Old English Hexateuch (11th century) (from History of England)
Image 18A pint of real ale (from Culture of England)
Image 19England in 878 (from History of England)
Image 20Remains of Hadrian's Wall (from History of England)
Image 21First played in 1877, the Wimbledon Championships is the oldest tennis tournament in the world. (from Culture of England)
Image 22The Roman Baths in Bath; a temple was constructed on the site between 60–70CE in the first few decades of Roman Britain. (from Culture of England)
Image 23Artefacts from Bush Barrow at Stonehenge. Wessex culture, Early Bronze Age, c. 1900 BC (from History of England)
Image 24Durham Cathedral, dating from 1093 (from Culture of England)
Image 25Elizabeth I (from History of England)
Image 26Remains of the Roman baths at Bath, England. (from History of England)
Image 27View of the ramparts of the hillfort of Maiden Castle (450 BC), as they look today (from History of England)
Image 28Stinking Bishop cheese (from Culture of England)
Image 29Frontispiece of Bede's Life of St Cuthbert, showing King Æthelstan presenting a copy of the book to the saint himself. c. 930 (from History of England)
Image 30One of only four surviving exemplifications of the 1215 text, Cotton MS. Augustus II. 106, property of the British Library (from History of England)
Image 31Canterbury 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.) (from Culture of England)
Image 32The Lady Chapel of Wells Cathedral (from Culture of England)
Image 33King's College in Cambridge is regarded as one of the greatest examples of late English Gothic architecture. It has the world's largest fan vault, while the chapel's stained-glass windows and wooden chancel screen are considered some of the finest from their era. (from Culture of England)
Image 34The White Tower of the Tower of London, built in 1078 (from History of England)
Image 35The wizard Merlin features as a character in many works of fiction, including the BBC series Merlin. (from Culture of England)
Image 36The Ruthwell Cross, 8th century AD (from History of England)
Image 37The Procession Picture, c. 1600, showing Elizabeth I borne along by her courtiers (from History of England)
Image 38The Mob Quad of Merton College, University of Oxford, 13th–14th century (from History of England)
Image 39William 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. (from Culture of England)
Image 40Bronze coins of Cunobelin, called "King of the Britons" by Suetonius. 1–42 AD. (from History of England)
Image 41Morris dancing (from Culture of England)
Image 42King Henry VIII (from History of England)
Image 43Tomb of Richard I of England and Isabella of Angoulême (from History of England)
Image 44Chester, c. 1880 (from History of England)
Image 45First English Civil War at the Battle of Marston Moor, 1644 (from History of England)
Image 46Jack In the Green, a traditional English folk custom being celebrated in Hastings Old Town, known for its many pre-Victorian buildings. (from Culture of England)
Image 47Londinium (Roman London), c. 120 AD (from History of England)
Image 48The Lindisfarne Gospels (from Culture of England)
Image 49The Alfred Jewel, late 9th century (from History of England)
Image 50Whitehall by Francis Dodd (1920) displaying the Palace of Westminster (from Culture of England)
Image 51The first general laws against child labour, the Factory Acts, were passed in Britain in the first half of the 19th century. Children younger than nine were not allowed to work and the work day of youth under the age of 18 was limited to twelve hours. (from History of England)
Image 52King Charles II, a patron of the arts and sciences, supported the Royal Society, a scientific group whose early members included Robert Hooke, Robert Boyle and Sir Isaac Newton. (from Culture of England)
Image 53Countries where English is natively spoken or has official status (from Culture of England)
Image 54King Alfred the Great statue in Winchester, Hampshire. The 9th-century English king encouraged education in his kingdom. (from Culture of England)
Image 55King Charles I, who was beheaded in 1649 (from History of England)
Image 56The Staffordshire Hoard is the largest hoard of Anglo-Saxon gold and silver metalwork yet found^[update]. It consists of almost 4,600 items and metal fragments. (from Culture of England)
Image 57Canterbury Cathedral nave, 1377 (from History of England)
Image 58The Billingsgate Fish Market in London in the early 19th century (from History of England)
Image 59Interior of Christ Church Cathedral in Oxford (from Culture of England)
Image 60Sir Francis Drake's voyage 1585–86 (from History of England)
Image 61Kingdoms and tribes in Britain, c. AD 600 (from History of England)
Image 62Silbury Hill, c. 2400 BC (from History of England)
Image 63Victory in Europe Day celebrations in London, 8 May 1945 (from History of England)
Image 64The Great Fire London, 1666. (from History of England)
Image 65The English landscape garden at Stourhead, described as a 'living work of art' when first opened in the 1750s (from Culture of England)
Image 66Flatford Mill ('Scene on a Navigable River') by John Constable, c. 1816 (from Culture of England)
Image 67Francis Bacon led the advancement of both natural philosophy and the scientific method and his works remained deeply influential in the Scientific Revolution. (from Culture of England)
Image 68Depiction of the Battle of Hastings (1066) on the Bayeux Tapestry (from History of England)
Image 69Folio 27r from the Lindisfarne Gospels, c. 720 AD (from History of England)
Image 70Procession of characters from Shakespeare's plays (from Culture of England)
Image 71Maps of territory held by Royalists (red) and Parliamentarians (green) during the English Civil War (1642–1645) (from History of England)
Image 72Gold torc from Snettisham, 70 BC (from History of England)
Image 73The epic poem Beowulf, set in 6th century Scandinavia, composed c. 700–1000 AD. (from History of England)
Image 74Anglo-Saxon helmet from the Sutton Hoo ship burial, 625 AD (replica) (from History of England)
Image 75Stonehenge, erected in several stages from c.3000–2500 BC (from History of England)
Image 76King James I of England (from History of England)
Image 77Sir Isaac Newton is regarded as one of the most influential scientists of all time and as a key figure in the Scientific Revolution. (from Culture of England)

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Extract from the 1194 Pipe roll

The Pipe rolls, sometimes called the Great rolls or the Great Rolls of the Pipe, are a collection of financial records maintained by the English Exchequer, or Treasury, and its successors, as well as the Exchequer of Ireland. The earliest date from the 12th century, and the series extends, mostly complete, from then until 1833. They form the oldest continuous series of records concerning English governance kept by the English, British, Irish and United Kingdom governments, covering a span of about 700 years. The early medieval ones are especially useful for historical study, as they are some of the earliest financial records available from the Middle Ages. A similar set of records was developed for Normandy, which was ruled by the English kings from 1066 to 1205, but the Norman Pipe rolls have not survived in a continuous series like the English.

They were the records of the yearly audits performed by the Exchequer of the accounts and payments presented to the Treasury by the sheriffs and other royal officials; and owed their name to the shape they took, as the various sheets were affixed to each other and then rolled into a tight roll, resembling a pipe, for storage. They record not only payments made to the government, but debts owed to the crown and disbursements made by royal officials. Although they recorded much of the royal income, they did not record all types of income, nor did they record all expenditures, so they are not strictly speaking a budget. The Pipe Roll Society, formed in 1883, has published the Pipe rolls for the period up to 1224. (Full article...)

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Did you know?

The tower of St. Paul's Church, in Brighton

...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?

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29 March 2024 –: Pouria Zeraati, an Iranian dissident journalist working for IITV, is injured in a stabbing in London. He is hospitalized in stable condition. (BBC News)

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Do not be misled by memories of your youth when, on the Continent, wanting to describe someone as exceptionally dull, you remarked: 'He is the type who would discuss the weather with you.' In England this is an ever-interesting, even thrilling topic, and you must be good at discussing the weather.

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— George Mikes

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Related WikiProjects

England • Bedfordshire • Brighton • Cheshire • Cornwall • Derbyshire • Dorset • Greater Manchester • Hampshire • Lincolnshire • London • Merseyside • Northamptonshire • North East England • Sheffield • Surrey. Warwickshire • West Midlands • Worcestershire • Yorkshire

Topics

Cities and major towns: Blackpool • Birmingham • Bristol • Chelmsford • Leeds • Liverpool • London • Manchester • Newcastle • Nottingham • Oxford • Portsmouth • Sheffield • Southampton • Stoke-on-Trent

Culture: The Football Association • Rugby Football Union • England and Wales Cricket Board • English inventions and discoveries

Geography: Geology • Climate • Mountains and hills • Islands • Rivers

Economy: Bank of England • London Stock Exchange • Chancellor of the Exchequer • Monetary Policy Committee • HM Treasury

History: Timeline of English history • Prehistoric Britain • Roman Britain • Anglo-Saxon England • Norman England • Plantagenet England • House of Lancaster • House of York • House of Tudor • House of Stuart

Governance: Kingdom of England • Prime Minister of the United Kingdom • Parliament of the United Kingdom • Home Secretary • Local Government Boundary Commission for England • Administrative divisions of England • English law

Symbols: Flags • Flag of England • St George's Cross • Tudor rose • Coat of arms of England

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