As the name suggests these first Brittons lived off the wealth
of the land including the native elk, wild cattle and pigs, whilst presumably attempting to avoid the bears and wolves which also
roamed the heavily wooded interior.
It was not until about 4000 BC that a party of "young farmers" arrived from southern Europe bringing with them perhaps the first phase in man-made environmental disasters. The ancient practise of deforestation was instigated as trees, woods and forests were cleared to create land to accommodate domesticated plants and animals. These "young farmers" proved to be so effective at genetically modified breeding (crops and livestock) that the population of England rocketed to approximately one million by 1400 BC.
Following the "young farmers" other visitors from Europe came - Belgae, Celts and Gauls arrived starting the trend for the multi-cultural Britain of today. In particular it is the arrival of the Celts in Britain that provokes thoughts of a period of time shrouded in mystery and myth. The artistic style of these Iron Age people, twisting and bending animal, plant and human forms, are common across Europe. The Shaman or priests of the Celts known as Druids proved an irritant to the Romans when they arrived in 43 AD. This, because of their ability to control the rebellious Celts so were eventually effectively wiped out by the Romans.
Source: © Historic UK
British Celts continued to rebel but when Germanic Saxons, Angles (who gave England her name) and later Danes and Normans arrived, their world changed forever. Remembered today, as a beautiful statue, is Queen Boadicea of the Iceni tribe, who almost succeeded in driving the Romans out of Britain. Those who chose to retain their Celtic culture became the Welsh and the Cornish, who are addressed in their own tapestries, but England herself became an Anglo-Saxon region. The Romans left Britain in 410 AD, just as this immigration was building. The Normans invaded in 1066, as any schoolboy or girl knows, and the reason was that William, Duke of Normandy had been promised the throne of England and came to collect! England's King Harold died at that battle, best known as the Battle of Hastings. Battle Abbey is actually the name of the town nearest the site, and according to one source, a local paper publishes an obituary for King Harold every year on the anniversary of his death. After that point, the French-speaking Normans took the throne and all positions of authority, including religious, and for three hundred years after, French was the language of the English court. Because of the lands owned by the Normans, England overnight became an empire, an empire whose borders were defended in many wars on the continent but eventually lost.
Henry VIII was the last English king to attempt to regain lands in mainland Europe, but his second daughter, Elizabeth I, began an empire expansion in another direction. The Americas, Gibaltrar, India and beyond were acquired and exploited, making the new British Empire extremely wealthy. Wars were now more often fought over commerce and continued into the independence of the United States and many other countries.
Geography of England
Moving clockwise around England, starting with London on the Thames, we have all the beautiful buildings of state and church. Dropping down to the extreme southeast, we find Kent (the garden of England), Sussex, Surrey directly north of her, then west to Hampshire, with the Isle of Wight off her coast. This is the area of chalk cliffs (Dover), downs and quiet villages.
Moving further west, we find Wiltshire next to Surrey and Dorset just below Wiltshire. Just west of those two, we approach Somerset and a bit further west, Devon and Cornwall (these two, as part of ancient Cornwall are covered in more detail in the Cornwall tapestry). Huge carvings, such as the White Horse of Uffington, made in the soft chalk of the hills were made millennia ago but still kept clean by proud locals. It is soft sandy beaches, rocky promontories, green plains and hills where long ago marshes made them islands. This is King Arthur country! It is home to Salisbury Cathedral, Glastonbury Tor, Bath, Stonehenge, and oh yes, wonderful cheeses!
Continuing now north and northwest, we encounter the Midlands: Hertfordshire, Bedfordshire, Northamptonshire, Warwickshire - with Leicestershire wedged in between them to the north, and little Rutland clinging to the east side of Leicestershire. West of Warwickshire is Worcestershire (of the sauce), and then a bit northwest, Shropshire, with Staffordshire wedged between Shropshire and Worcestershire. Completing a smaller clock, we have Cheshire at about 11 o¹clock, Derbyshire at 12, and Nottinghamshire at 1:00. Geographically, we are truly in the middle of England, with farms, mines, potteries, ancient Sherwood Forest, and rolling estates. |
