Category Archives: Structures, History and Countries

Newgrange

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Newgrange

Newgrange takes prehistoric architecture to a new level.

  • Newgrange, also known as ‘New Grange’, is a monumental structure that was built in ancient times, and is found in Ireland’s County Meath, in Europe.
  • Newgrange is a roundish building in shape, featuring internal chambers and hallways, with an opening on the side that is facing south-east.
  • In 1993, the UNESCO World Heritage Convention listed Newgrange as a World Heritage Site as part of the Brú na Bóinne group.
  • Stone is the primary material used to construct Newgrange, while grass grows on the roof of the structure, and it also includes soil and sand.
  • The height of Newgrange reaches 12 metres (39 feet) and has a diameter of around 80 metres (262 feet).
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Newgrange
Image courtesy of Young Shanahan/Flickr
  • Newgrange was built by a Neolithic community around 3200 to 3100 BC, and it is believed to be older than the Pyramids of Giza and Stonehenge, that are also renowned for their age and monumental significance.
  • Newgrange is said to be a passage tomb, that has housed the remains of multiple people, while the structure may have also been used for religious purposes.
  • Although abandoned some 1000 years after it was built, Newgrange managed to leave a significant footprint in the myths of Ireland, especially in the time of the Middle Ages.
  • It is considered that Newgrange was first uncovered and entered by people from the modern age in 1699, by workers employed by the owner of the land, Charles Campbell; and this led to the beginning of historical interest, and the site was first investigated by Edward Lhwyd, a Welsh antiquarian.
  • Newgrange is considered an art of architecture, featuring many creative corridors, sculptures and carved stones, as well as a window, known as a ‘roof box’, that lights the inner structure during the Winter Solstice.
Bibliography:
Newgrange, 2010, World Heritage Ireland, http://www.worldheritageireland.ie/bru-na-boinne/built-heritage/newgrange/

Newgrange, 2015, Wikipedia, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Newgrange
Newgrange – Ireland’s Most Famous Monument, 2015, Mythical Ireland, http://www.mythicalireland.com/ancientsites/newgrange/

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Cape of Good Hope

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Cape of Good Hope

You better have a lot of hope when travelling the seas of the Cape of Good Hope.

  • The Cape of Good Hope is a narrow, rocky piece of land that juts out into the South Atlantic Ocean, found in South Africa’s Cape Peninsula.
  • The Cape of Good Hope is part of the Table Mountain National Park, and contrary to popular belief, is not actually the southernmost point of Africa, as that title goes to Cape Agulhas.
  • ‘The Cape of Good Hope’ is also known simply as ‘The Cape’ and is known in Afrikaans as ‘Kaap die Goeie Hoop’.
  • The Cape of Good Hope is regarded as particularly important by many sailors, as it is used as a reference point when sailing to Australia or East Asia.
  • Bartolomeu Dias, an explorer from Portugal, was the first known person from Europe to discover the Cape of Good Hope, doing so in 1488, and named it ‘Cape of Storms’.
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Cape of Good Hope
Image courtesy of Iryna Kuchma/Flickr
  • The Da Gama and the Dias Crosses are situated on the Cape of Good Hope as beacons, and when the two are aligned they point towards a major water vehicle hazard known as ‘Whittle Rock’.
  • Despite the bad weather that Bartolomeu Dias experienced at the Cape of Good Hope, John II of Portugal, the king who commissioned the initial expedition, renamed it as such to portray a more positive perspective on sailing to India.
  • There are around 250 bird species, including penguins, that are found in the Cape of Good Hope vicinity, while other animals from zebras, deer, reptiles, antelopes, otters and rodents are also found in the area.
  • Approximately 1100 native plant species populate the Cape of Good Hope, and includes large quantities of shrubby vegetation known as ‘fynbos’, like proteas, cone bushes and tree pincushions.
  • By legend, the Cape of Good Hope is the haunted location of the ghostly ship The Flying Dutchman, which is said to be cursed so that it can never reach land.
Bibliography:
Cape of Good Hope, 2015, Pano, http://www.airpano.com/360Degree-VirtualTour.php?3D=cape-good-hope-rsa
Cape of Good Hope, 2015, Wikipedia, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cape_of_Good_Hope

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Bank of England

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Bank of England

The Bank of England is the financial pride of England.

  • The Bank of England is the United Kingdom’s central bank, located on Threadneedle Street, in England’s London, in Europe.
  • The ‘Bank of England’ is officially known as the ‘Governor and Company of the Bank of England’, and it is also informally known as ‘The Old Lady of Threadneedle Street’.
  • The Bank of England, as a central bank, is the second oldest on earth, and its framework has been used as guide for nearly all central banks in existence today.
  • In 1694, the Bank of England was founded, using a proposed scheme designed by Scotsman William Paterson, with the support of the first Earl of Halifax, Charles Montagu, and merchant Michael Godfrey.
  • Initially, subscribers provided financial assistance to fund the Bank of England, while the bank provided a loan of 1.2 million pounds (1.8 million US dollars) to the English government, after an economical collapse due to being defeated at the hands of France.
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Bank of England, Lombard Street
Image courtesy of Diliff / Wikimedia Commons
  • The Bank of England originated in Walbrook in London, on a site where the Mithras temple of the Roman ‘God of Contracts’ once stood, and the bank was later relocated to its site on Threadneedle Street in 1734.
  • Money notes began to be distributed by the Bank of England from 1694, originally made by hand, until 1725 when notes started to become printed mechanically.
  • A vault can be found underneath the Bank of England, that houses a store of gold that was worth 156 billion pounds (nearly 240 billion US dollars) in 2012.
  • The currency used by the Bank of England is pound sterling, and the bank had a total reserve of 403 billion pounds (620 billion US dollars) in 2013.
  • The Bank of England premises on Threadneedle Street has been built and rebuilt a number of times over the centuries, while the current bank building was designed by Englishmen Herbert Baker, and was constructed from 1925 to 1939.
Bibliography:
Bank of England, 2015, Wikipedia, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bank_of_England
Buildings and Architects, n.d, Bank of England, http://www.bankofengland.co.uk/about/Pages/history/buildings.aspx
History, n.d, Bank of England, http://www.bankofengland.co.uk/about/Pages/history/default.aspx#3

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Bran Castle

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Bran Castle

Bran Castle is a secret residence of the vampires.

  • Bran Castle is a large castle found in central Romania in Europe, along the border of the historic regions of Transylvania and Wallachia.
  • ‘Bran Castle’ is popularly known as ‘Dracula’s Castle’, especially by tourists, and is also known as ‘Bran Fortress’.
  • It is thought that a wooden castle was built on or near the site of the present-day Bran Castle, built by the Teutonic Knights around 1212 and named Dietrichstein, however it is believed to have been destroyed in 1242.
  • Bran Castle is situated on a cliff at an elevation of 762 metres (2500 feet), and is surrounded by valleys and hills and is major tourist destination in Romania.
  • King Louis I of Anjou ordered the original construction of Bran Castle in 1377, which was built by choice by residents from the nearby town of Brașov, at their own expense.
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Bran Castle
Image courtesy of Rob/Flickr
  • Bran Castle was completed by 1382, in record time, and was built for the purpose of defending Transylvania’s border and included a customs station.
  • Bran Castle was popularised by the renowned novel Dracula, which describes a similar residence to Bran Castle for Count Dracula, although further analysis has revealed there a major differences in the descriptions.
  • Queen Marie, the last queen consort of Romania, was quite fond of Bran Castle as a residence, and was given the castle in 1920 by the town of Brașov, and later her daughter Princess Ileana inherited it, however in 1948, it was taken by the communists and eventually made into a museum.
  • In 2015, the owner of Bran Castle was Archduke Dominic of Austria-Tuscany, also known as Dominic von Habsburg and son of Princess Ileana, who acquired the castle in 2006, after the Romanian government gave over the rights of the castle to the traditional owners.
  • Bran Castle has had various owners and caretakers over the centuries, and has been used by royalty and the forestry, among others, and it has also undergone various renovation and restoration projects.
Bibliography:
Bran Castle, 2015, Wikipedia, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bran_Castle
Medieval Fortress, 2013, Bran Castle, http://www.bran-castle.com/medieval-fortress.html
Morris E, Bran Castle, Romania: In Search of Dracula – and the Buried Heart of a Long-Dead Queen, 2015, Exploring Castles, http://www.exploring-castles.com/bran_castle.html

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Loch Ness

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Loch Ness

Loch Ness is a placed of busted myths and mythical monsters.

  • Loch Ness is a freshwater lake, or loch as it is known in Scotland, found in the Highlands of Scotland, in the United Kingdom in Europe.
  • Loch Ness is the largest lake in Scotland by volume, at 7.5 cubic kilometres (1.8 cubic miles), and it reaches a depth of 230 metres (755 feet) and covers an area of 57 square kilometres (22 square miles).
  • The popularity of Loch Ness is caused primarily by the potential monster, named after the lake, that is believed by some to dwell there, and information about the creature was publicised in 1933.
  • Species of eels, salmon, trout, minnows and sea sturgeons, among other aquatic animals, are native to the waters of Loch Ness.
  • An artificial island in the southern area of Loch Ness was created before the 1400s AD, and while it has been called various names, it is known as Cherry Island today.
Loch Ness, water, lake, Scotland, Trivia, Blue, Ten Random Facts, Place, Europe
Part of Loch Ness
Image courtesy of Dave Conner/Flickr
  • The ruins of Urquhart Castle can be found on the banks of the western side of Loch Ness, and was built from the 1200s.
  • Loch Ness is used in two hydroelectricity plants, the Glendoe Hydro Scheme and the Foyers pumped-storage scheme.
  • Tourists visiting Loch Ness can choose from a variety of cruises that travel across the lake, while hiking along tracks in the nearby woodlands, sailing, and fishing are also popular activities.
  • In July 1966, Brenda Sherratt crossed the full length of Loch Ness by swimming, and was the first to do so, accomplishing the feat at age 18.
  • River Moriston, River Oich, River Enrick, River Foyers, and River Coilte each feed into Loch Ness, while the Ness River flows out of the lake.
Bibliography:
Loch Ness, 2015, Visit Scotland, http://www.visitscotland.com/en-au/info/towns-villages/loch-ness-p868181
Loch Ness, 2015, Wikipedia, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Loch_Ness

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Table Mountain

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Table Mountain

Table Mountain is a masterpiece of the giants.

  • Table Mountain is a mountainous landform with a particularly flat top, found near South Africa’s Cape Town.
  • From sea level, Table Mountain is 1084.6 metres (3,558 feet) in height, and at the top it is 3 kilometres (2 miles) across at its widest point.
  • The first record of a person climbing Table Mountain was in 1503, and the climber was António de Saldanha, a navigator from Portugal and modern day Spain.
  • Table Mountain is notably topped with orographic clouds regularly, that create a surreal table cloth like covering over the mountain; a local legend attributes this to a smoking duel between the Devil and a pirate.
  • At least 1500 species of plant populate Table Mountain, most of which are endemic to the area and referred to as ‘fynbos’, or shrubby vegetation, some of which is endangered.
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Table Mountain
Image courtesy of warrenski/Flickr
  • Animals found on Table Mountain include rock hyraxes, snakes, amphibians, mongooses, lizards and porcupines, as well as the mountain’s rare ‘ghost frogs’ that are critically endangered.
  • There are two main ways Table Mountain can be accessed, by hiking and by a cableway; the latter built from 1926 to 1929 after years of ideas and planning.
  • Sandstone makes up most of the rock structure of Table Mountain, and it also features unusual sandstone cave complexes.
  • Table Mountain is very popular among tourists, and as of 2015, at least 24 million people had used the cableway since it was built.
  • Table Mountain was voted as one of the New 7 Wonders of Nature in 2011, and it is part of the Table Mountain National Park.
Bibliography:
Table Mountain, 2014, SA Venues, http://www.sa-venues.com/attractionswc/table-mountain.htm
Table Mountain, 2015, Wikipedia, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Table_Mountain

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