Portal maintenance status: (June 2018)
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The South East England Portal
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 Buckinghamshire, East Sussex, Hampshire, the Isle of Wight, Kent, Oxfordshire, Berkshire, Surrey and West Sussex. Major towns. And cities in the region include Brighton and Hove, Canterbury, Milton Keynes, Southampton, Portsmouth, Slough, Reading and Oxford.
South East England 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 over nine million. 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 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: 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, 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 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 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. (Full article...)
Selected article
An oast, oast house/hop kiln is a building designed for kilning (drying) hops as part of the brewing process. They can be found in most hop-growing (and former hop-growing) areas and are often good examples of agricultural vernacular architecture. Many redundant oasts have been converted into houses. The names oast and "oast house are used interchangeably in Kent and Sussex." In Surrey, Hampshire, Herefordshire and Worcestershire they are called hop kilns.
They consist of a rectangular one- or two-storey building (the "stowage") and one. Or more kilns in which the hops were spread out to be dried by hot air rising from a wood or charcoal fire below. The drying floors were thin and perforated to permit the heat to pass through and escape through a cowl in the roof which turned with the wind. The freshly picked hops from the fields were raked in to dry and then raked out to cool before being bagged up and sent to the brewery. The Kentish dialect word kell was sometimes used for kilns ("The oast has three kells") and sometimes to mean the oast itself ("Take this lunchbox to your father, he's working in the kell"). The word oast itself also means "kiln".
The earliest surviving oast house is at Golford, Cranbrook near Tunbridge Wells. It dates from sometime in the 17th century and closely mirrors the first documentary evidence on oasts soon after the introduction of hops into England in the mid-16th century. Early oast houses were simply adapted barns, but, by the 18th century, the distinctive tall buildings with conical roofs had been developed to increase the draught. At first, these were square. But around 1800 roundel kilns were developed in the belief that they were more efficient. Square kilns remained more popular in Herefordshire and Worcestershire and came back into fashion in the southeast in the later 19th century. In the 1930s, the cowls were replaced by louvred openings as electric fans and diesel oil ovens were employed.
Hops are today dried industrially and the many oast houses on farms have now been converted into dwellings. One of the best-preserved oast house complexes is at the Hop Farm Country Park at Beltring. (Full article...)
Selected pictures
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Image 1A 1959 view of South Street in Dorking, Surrey. (from Portal:Surrey/Selected pictures)
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Image 3Highclere Castle in the far north of Hampshire, a large country house in the Jacobethan style by the architect Charles Barry, with a large park designed by Capability Brown, used as the set for Downton Abbey. (from Portal:Hampshire/Selected pictures)
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Image 4 . (from Portal:East Sussex/Selected pictures)
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Image 5Credit: Michael RoweDover Castle is situated at Dover, Kent and has been described as the "Key to England" due to its defensive significance throughout history. (from Portal:Kent/Selected pictures)
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Image 6Georgian hotel/restaurant typical of many larger Surrey villages and its oldest towns. (from Portal:Surrey/Selected pictures)
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Image 8Credit: Sdwelch1031Rochester is a large town in Kent, England, at the lowest bridging point of the River Medway about 30 miles (50 km) from London. Construction of Rochester Cathedral, shown, began in about 1080. (from Portal:Kent/Selected pictures)
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Image 9 Oxford skyline from the University Church of St Mary the Virgin (from Portal:Oxfordshire/Selected pictures)
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Image 11Credit: C.HoyleEastwell Park was a British stately home at Ashford, Kent, that for a time served as a royal residence. (from Portal:Kent/Selected pictures)
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Image 12Credit: C HoyleBrockhill Country Park is dominated by a large grassy valley, bisected by the Brockhill Stream as it makes its way to the Royal Military Canal at Hythe. (from Portal:Kent/Selected pictures)
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Image 13Mermaid Street in Rye showing typically steep slope and cobbled surface (from Portal:East Sussex/Selected pictures)
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Image 14Credit: Michael HaslamHowletts Wild Animal Park was set up as a private zoo in 1958 by John Aspinall in Canterbury, Kent. (from Portal:Kent/Selected pictures)
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Image 16The town of Dorking and its section of the Vale of Holmesdale from Box Hill in the North Downs, with more heavily wooded Greensand Hills beyond. These sets of hills make up the Surrey Hills AONB. (from Portal:Surrey/Selected pictures)
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Image 17Epsom Downs, a racecourse which hosts The Derby annually. One of four in the county. (from Portal:Surrey/Selected pictures)
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Image 18Credit: CharlesdrakewThe bridge over the River Arun at Greatham. (from Portal:West Sussex/Selected pictures)
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Image 19Credit: Baryonic BeingChartwell, located two miles south of Westerham, Kent, England, was the home of Sir Winston Churchill. (from Portal:Kent/Selected pictures)
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Image 21 (from Portal:East Sussex/Selected pictures)
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Image 22Painshill Park in Cobham has follies on natural, but landscaped slopes by part of the Mole disguised as ornamental lakes and the Great Cedar thought to be the largest Cedar of Lebanon in Europe. In the mid-north of the county. (from Portal:Surrey/Selected pictures)
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Image 23Pineferous forest of the sandy Bagshot Formation spanning parts of four boroughs towards the north-west and in the far west of the county, with defensive positions for historic army training near Deepcut and Pirbright (from Portal:Surrey/Selected pictures)
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Image 24 Oxford skyline from the University Church of St Mary the Virgin (from Portal:Oxfordshire/Selected pictures)
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Image 25Credit: James ArmitageHever Castle, in Kent, England (in the village of Hever), was the seat of the Boleyn family, later bestowed to Anne of Cleves following her divorce from King Henry VIII of England. (from Portal:Kent/Selected pictures)
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Image 26The lower end of the Staines-upon-Thames reach of the Thames, showing typical trees of the next reach and Penton Hook Island, a small nature reserve. (from Portal:Surrey/Selected pictures)
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Image 28West End Fire Station, near Southampton, designed by Herbert Collins (from Portal:Hampshire/Selected pictures)
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Image 30Credit: Paddy BriggsSt Lawrence Ground is the home of Kent County Cricket Club and is notable as a first-class cricket ground that has a tree within the boundary. (from Portal:Kent/Selected pictures)
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Image 31Credit: StephenDawsonThe Channel Tunnel terminal at Cheriton near Folkestone in Kent, from the Pilgrims' Way on the escarpment on the southern edge of Cheriton Hill, part of the North Downs. (from Portal:Kent/Selected pictures)
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Image 35Typical interior of old pub-restaurant, semi-rural example near Reigate in the east of the county (from Portal:Surrey/Selected pictures)
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Image 36Credit: PireotisRochester is a large town in Kent, England, at the lowest bridging point of the River Medway about 30 miles (50 km) from London. (from Portal:Kent/Selected pictures)
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Image 37Credit: Michael RoweCanterbury is a cathedral city in east Kent and is the seat of the Archbishop of Canterbury. (from Portal:Kent/Selected pictures)
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Image 38 (from Portal:East Sussex/Selected pictures)
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Image 39Beachy Head and lighthouse, Eastbourne, East Sussex (from Portal:East Sussex/Selected pictures)
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Image 40Fawley Oil Refinery from the remains of Netley Hospital in the Royal Victoria Country Park (from Portal:Hampshire/Selected pictures)
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Image 41 (from Portal:East Sussex/Selected pictures)
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Image 42Credit: LuckyStarrHops are a flower used primarily as a flavouring and stability agent in beer. The principal production centres for the UK are in Kent. (from Portal:Kent/Selected pictures)
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Image 44A Bentley in the National Motor Museum in Beaulieu (from Portal:Hampshire/Selected pictures)
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Image 45Credit: Ian Dunster(from Portal:East Sussex/Selected pictures)
Looking up at the East Hill Cliff Railway in Hastings, the steepest funicular railway in the country. -
Image 47Remains of the undercroft of the lay brothers' refectory at Waverley Abbey, near Farnham, main town of the Borough of Waverley (from Portal:Surrey/Selected pictures)
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Image 49Walton Bridge built in the 2010s is a landmark of the northerly Spelthorne and Elmbridge boroughs (from Portal:Surrey/Selected pictures)
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Image 50Credit: Dave Bushell.A Eurostar on High Speed 1 going through the Medway Towns (from Portal:Kent/Selected pictures)
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Image 51The Rose Bowl, near Southampton, home to Hampshire County Cricket Club (from Portal:Hampshire/Selected pictures)
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Image 52Slough Trading Estate plays a major part in making Slough an important business centre in South East England (from Portal:Berkshire/Selected pictures)
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Image 53View of the Vale of Holmesdale and Winterfold Forest from Newlands Corner, near Clandon and Albury, east of Guildford (from Portal:Surrey/Selected pictures)
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Image 55St John the Baptist Church, Boldre in the New Forest (from Portal:Hampshire/Selected pictures)
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Image 56Credit: O1iveSt Mary in Castro (or St Mary de Castro) is the church at Dover Castle.(from Portal:Kent/Selected pictures)
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Image 57The church at Breamore in the west of the county, north of the New Forest (from Portal:Hampshire/Selected pictures)
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Image 59Nemesis Inferno at Thorpe Park in the north-west of the county (from Portal:Surrey/Selected pictures)
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Image 63Credit: Tony HobbsScotney Castle is a country house with gardens in the valley of the River Bewl in Kent, England. (from Portal:Kent/Selected pictures)
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Image 64Credit: Michael WilmoreThe Kent & East Sussex Railway was opened by Colonel H.F. Stephens, the railway engineer, in 1900. At its fullest extent, it ran nearly 22 miles※ from Robertsbridge on the Tonbridge to Hastings main line to Headcorn on the main line between Tonbridge and Ashford, Kent. (from Portal:Kent/Selected pictures)
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Image 66Virginia Water Lake on the southern edge of Windsor Great Park (from Portal:Berkshire/Selected pictures)
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Image 68Credit: Cas Liber.Leeds Castle dates back to 1119, though a manor house stood on the same site from the 9th century. (from Portal:Kent/Selected pictures)
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Image 69Credit: Oliver DixonThe Pilgrims' Way is the route supposed to have been taken by pilgrims from Winchester in Hampshire, England, to the shrine of Thomas Becket at Canterbury in Kent. (from Portal:Kent/Selected pictures)
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Image 70Credit: O1iveBrockhill Country Park is dominated by a large grassy valley, bisected by the Brockhill Stream as it makes its way to the Royal Military Canal at Hythe. (from Portal:Kent/Selected pictures)
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Image 71 Aerial view of Oxford city centre (from Portal:Oxfordshire/Selected pictures)
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Image 72Hayling Island's mainly shingle beach with Portsmouth's Spinnaker Tower beyond (from Portal:Hampshire/Selected pictures)
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Image 73 (from Portal:East Sussex/Selected pictures)
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Image 74Credit: XtrememachineukThe Channel Tunnel is a 31 mile long rail tunnel beneath the English Channel connecting England to France. (from Portal:Kent/Selected pictures)
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Image 75Breamore House in the west of the county, north of the New Forest (from Portal:Hampshire/Selected pictures)
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Image 78Waterfall at Virginia Water on the north-western (Berkshire) border (from Portal:Surrey/Selected pictures)
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Image 80 The Radcliffe Camera in Oxford, as viewed from the tower of the Church of St Mary the Virgin. (from Portal:Oxfordshire/Selected pictures)
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Image 83Credit: Marco SinibaldiAround AD 50 the Romans built a lighthouse which still stands to its full height in the grounds of Dover Castle. (from Portal:Kent/Selected pictures)
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Image 84Great Fosters restaurant/hotel, Runnymede (from Portal:Surrey/Selected pictures)
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Image 85 (from Portal:East Sussex/Selected pictures)
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Image 86Hovercraft passing the mixed architecture, public gardens and shingle beach at Southsea, Portsmouth (from Portal:Hampshire/Selected pictures)
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Image 88 (from Portal:East Sussex/Selected pictures)
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Image 89Credit: Hans MusilCanterbury Cathedral is one of the oldest and most famous Christian structures in England and forms part of a World Heritage Site. (from Portal:Kent/Selected pictures)
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Image 92Credit: Adam MillerThe Swale refers to the strip of water separating North Kent from the Isle of Sheppey. (from Portal:Kent/Selected pictures)
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Image 95The mill at Greywell in the north-east of Hampshire (from Portal:Hampshire/Selected pictures)
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Image 96Credit: Craig BassRamsgate Harbour constructed between 1749 and 1850, has the unique distinction of being the only Royal Harbour in the United Kingdom. (from Portal:Kent/Selected pictures)
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Image 98View looking east along West Street, New Alresford (from Portal:Hampshire/Selected pictures)
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Image 99One of the several golf courses in Woking's borough in the mid/north-west of the county (from Portal:Surrey/Selected pictures)
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Image 101Twyford Post Office and stores, between Winchester and Southampton (from Portal:Hampshire/Selected pictures)
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Image 102Autumn at Denbies Vineyard looking across the Mole Gap to Box Hill, the steepest slopes of the North Downs (from Portal:Surrey/Selected pictures)
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Image 107Credit: O1iveDover is a major channel port in the English county of Kent (from Portal:Kent/Selected pictures)
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Image 108Seven reservoirs. View of four in Spelthorne with small lakes of lower elevation, from aggregate extraction, in the south of the borough to the right. Beyond three reservoirs in Elmbridge. The flattest areas of the far north of the county. Staines road and rail bridges span the Thames into Runnymede in the right of the photograph. (from Portal:Surrey/Selected pictures)
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Image 110River Lambourn flowing through Eastbury, Berkshire (from Portal:Berkshire/Selected pictures)
Selected biography
Richard Alexander Burns (17 January 1971 – 25 November 2005) was an English rally driver who won the 2001 World Rally Championship, having previously finished runner-up in the series in 1999 and 2000. He also helped Mitsubishi to the world manufacturers' title in 1998, and Peugeot in 2002. His co-driver in his whole career was Robert Reid. He is the only Englishman to have won the World Rally Championship as a driver. (Full article...)
On This Day in South East England
6 July:
- 1962: Olympic athlete Todd Bennett was born in Southampton.
- 1970: Worship leader, songwriter and Delirious? vocalist Martin Smith was born. He lives in Littlehampton.
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