Portal:South East England
The South East England Portal
South East England is one of the nine official regions of England that are in the top level category for statistical purposes. It consists of the nine counties of Berkshire, Buckinghamshire, East Sussex, Hampshire, the Isle of Wight, Kent, Oxfordshire, Surrey and West Sussex. 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 9,642,942 in 2024.
South East England contains eight legally chartered cities: Brighton and Hove, Canterbury, Chichester, Milton Keynes, Oxford, Portsmouth, Southampton and Winchester. Officially it does not include London, which is a separate region. The geographical term for "South East England" may differ from the official definition of the region; for example, London, Bedfordshire, Hertfordshire and Essex are sometimes colloquially referred to as being in the south east of England. This article only considers the South East as being the official statistical region.
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.
Today, the region's close proximity to London has led to South East England becoming a 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). The coastline along the English Channel provides numerous ferry crossings to mainland Europe. South East England is also 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. (Full article...)
Selected article
An oast, oast house (or oasthouse) or hop kiln is a building designed for kilning (drying) hops as part of the brewing process. Oast houses can be found in most hop-growing (and former hop-growing) areas, and are often good examples of agricultural vernacular architecture. Many redundant oast houses have been converted into houses. The names "oast" and "oast house" are used interchangeably in Kent and Sussex, but in Surrey, Hampshire, Herefordshire and Worcestershire they are called "hop kilns".
An oast house consists 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 some time 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.
Nowadays hops are 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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Credit: 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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Aerial view of Oxford city centre (from Portal:Oxfordshire/Selected pictures) -
Credit: Michael RoweCanterbury is a cathedral city in east Kent and is the seat of the Archbishop of Canterbury. (from Portal:Kent/Selected pictures) -
Credit: 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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Credit: Adam MillerThe Swale refers to the strip of water separating North Kent from the Isle of Sheppey. (from Portal:Kent/Selected pictures) -
Oxford skyline from the University Church of St Mary the Virgin (from Portal:Oxfordshire/Selected pictures) -
One of the several golf courses in Woking's borough in the mid/north-west of the county (from Portal:Surrey/Selected pictures) -
View looking east along West Street, New Alresford (from Portal:Hampshire/Selected pictures) -
Lawns at RHS Garden, Wisley, north-east of Guildford (from Portal:Surrey/Selected pictures) -
The West window of Romsey Abbey (from Portal:Hampshire/Selected pictures) -
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Georgian hotel/restaurant typical of many larger Surrey villages and its oldest towns. (from Portal:Surrey/Selected pictures) -
Large red damselfly in Swinley Forest, Berkshire (from Portal:Berkshire/Selected pictures) -
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Waterfall at Virginia Water on the north-western (Berkshire) border (from Portal:Surrey/Selected pictures) -
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Credit: 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) -
Hovercraft passing the mixed architecture, public gardens and shingle beach at Southsea, Portsmouth (from Portal:Hampshire/Selected pictures) -
Odiham High Street in the north-east of Hampshire (from Portal:Hampshire/Selected pictures) -
West End Fire Station, near Southampton, designed by Herbert Collins (from Portal:Hampshire/Selected pictures) -
A 1959 view of South Street in Dorking, Surrey. (from Portal:Surrey/Selected pictures) -
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Virginia Water Lake on the southern edge of Windsor Great Park (from Portal:Berkshire/Selected pictures) -
A view of Newbury, Berkshire and its surroundings (from Portal:Berkshire/Selected pictures) -
The grandstand at Ascot Racecourse (from Portal:Berkshire/Selected pictures) -
Credit: 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) -
Painshill 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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The Radcliffe Camera in Oxford, as viewed from the tower of the Church of St Mary the Virgin. (from Portal:Oxfordshire/Selected pictures) -
Credit: 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) -
Credit: 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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Breamore House in the west of the county, north of the New Forest (from Portal:Hampshire/Selected pictures) -
Credit: 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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Credit: 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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Autumn at Denbies Vineyard looking across the Mole Gap to Box Hill, the steepest slopes of the North Downs (from Portal:Surrey/Selected pictures) -
Typical interior of old pub-restaurant, semi-rural example near Reigate in the east of the county (from Portal:Surrey/Selected pictures) -
Winter sunshine at Keyhaven (from Portal:Hampshire/Selected pictures) -
Credit: CharlesdrakewThe bridge over the River Arun at Greatham. (from Portal:West Sussex/Selected pictures) -
View of the Vale of Holmesdale and Winterfold Forest from Newlands Corner, near Clandon and Albury, east of Guildford (from Portal:Surrey/Selected pictures) -
The Rose Bowl, near Southampton, home to Hampshire County Cricket Club (from Portal:Hampshire/Selected pictures) -
Walton Bridge built in the 2010s is a landmark of the northerly Spelthorne and Elmbridge boroughs (from Portal:Surrey/Selected pictures) -
The seafront and beach at Lee-on-the-Solent (from Portal:Hampshire/Selected pictures) -
Paragliders over the Litlington White Horse (from Portal:East Sussex/Selected pictures) -
Slough 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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Selected biography
Emma Charlotte Duerre Watson (born 15 April 1990) is an English actress. In the 2010s, she was ranked among the world's highest-paid actresses by Forbes and Vanity Fair, and was named one of the 100 most influential people in the world by Time magazine in 2015.
Watson attended the Dragon School and trained in acting at the Oxford branch of Stagecoach Theatre Arts. As a child, she rose to stardom after landing her first professional acting role as Hermione Granger in the Harry Potter film series, having previously acted only in school plays. Watson made her first major foray beyond the Potter franchise starring in Ballet Shoes (2007), and she lent her voice to The Tale of Despereaux (2008). After the final Harry Potter film, she took on a supporting role in My Week with Marilyn (2011), before starring as Sam, a flirtatious, free-spirited student in The Perks of Being a Wallflower (2012), to critical success. Further acclaim came from portraying Alexis Neiers in Sofia Coppola's The Bling Ring (2013) and the titular character's adoptive daughter in Darren Aronofsky's biblical epic Noah (2014). That same year, Watson was honoured by the British Academy of Film and Television Arts, winning British Artist of the Year. She also starred as Belle in the live-action musical romantic fantasy Beauty and the Beast (2017), and as Meg March in Greta Gerwig's coming-of-age drama Little Women (2019).
From 2011 to 2014, Watson split her time between working on films and continuing her education, graduating from Brown University with a bachelor's degree in English literature in May 2014. That year, she was appointed a UN Women Goodwill Ambassador and helped launch the UN Women campaign HeForShe, which advocates for gender equality. In 2015 and 2016, Watson was selected twice for the annual prestigious Forbes 30 under 30 list. In 2018, she helped launch Time's Up UK as a founding member. Watson was appointed to a G7 advisory body for women's rights in 2019, consulting with leaders on foreign policy. Her modelling work has included campaigns for Burberry and Lancôme. She also lent her name to a clothing line for the sustainable brand People Tree. From 2020 to 2023, she sat on the board of directors of Kering, a luxury brand group, as an advocate for sustainable fashion. (Full article...)
On This Day in South East England
28 July:
1540: Henry VIII married Catherine Howard at Oatlands in Surrey.
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