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Flag of England	Royal Standard of England

England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and more than 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. At the 2021 census, the population was 56,490,048. London is both the largest city and the capital.

The area now called England was first inhabited by modern humans during the Upper Paleolithic. It 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 extensive 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 to be a separate sovereign state on 1 May 1707, when the Acts of Union brought into effect a political union with the Kingdom of Scotland that created the Kingdom of Great Britain.

England is the origin of 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 Anglican branch of Christianity; 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 metropolitan area 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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Mitford in 1932

Nancy Freeman-Mitford CBE (28 November 1904 – 30 June 1973) was an English novelist, biographer, and journalist. The eldest of the Mitford sisters, she was regarded as one of the "bright young things" on the London social scene in the inter-war period. She wrote several novels about upper-class life in England and France, and is considered a sharp and often provocative wit. She also has a reputation as a writer of popular historical biographies.

Mitford enjoyed a privileged childhood as the eldest daughter of David Freeman-Mitford, later 2nd Baron Redesdale. Educated privately, she had no training as a writer before publishing her first novel in 1931. This early effort and the three that followed it created little stir. Her two semi-autobiographical post-war novels, The Pursuit of Love (1945) and Love in a Cold Climate (1949), established her reputation. (Full article...)

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The England national football team playing at Wembley.

Football is the most popular sport in England. England is home to the world's first football league, the oldest national governing body, and the oldest national knockout competition. The first modern rules for the game were established in England in 1863. England is one of the oldest national football teams, having played in the first international match in 1872. England won the FIFA World Cup in 1966, and has qualified for the World Cup 16 times. England has more football clubs than any other country, including the world's first club, Sheffield F.C., and the world's oldest professional club, Notts County. England's top domestic league, the Premier League, is one of the most popular and richest leagues in the world. The British Empire's cultural power spread the rules of football to areas of British influence. England the home of football, where the first modern set of rules for the code were established in 1863, which were a major influence on the development of the modern Laws of the Game. With over 40,000 association football clubs, England has more clubs involved in the code than any other country. England hosts the world's first club, Sheffield F.C.; the world's oldest professional association football club, Notts County; the oldest national governing body, the Football Association; the joint-oldest national team; the oldest national knockout competition, the FA Cup; and the oldest national league, the English Football League. It also has 31% of the population interested in Football. Today England's top domestic league, the Premier League, is one of the most popular and richest sports leagues in the world, with five of the ten richest football clubs in the world as of 2022.

The England national football team is one of only eight teams to win the FIFA World Cup, having done so once, in 1966. A total of six English club teams have won the UEFA Champions League, formerly known as the European Cup. (Full article...)

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General images

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

Image 11625 engraving of James VI and I's family (from History of England)
Image 2Kingdoms and tribes in Britain, c. AD 600 (from History of England)
Image 3A traditional Punch and Judy booth, at Swanage, Dorset, England (from Culture of England)
Image 4An allegory of the Tudor Succession: the family of Henry VIII (from History of England)
Image 5King 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 6Portrait of the Royal Tudors. At left, Henry VII, with Prince Arthur behind him, then Prince Henry (later Henry VIII), and Prince Edmund, who did not survive early childhood. To the right is Elizabeth of York, with Princess Margaret, then Princess Elizabeth who didn't survive childhood, Princess Mary, and Princess Katherine, who died shortly after her birth. (from History of England)
Image 7Shoulder clasp from Sutton Hoo, 625 AD (from History of England)
Image 8Merton College, University of Oxford, founded in the 13th century (from History of England)
Image 9Anglo-Saxon helmet from the Sutton Hoo ship burial, 625 AD (replica) (from History of England)
Image 10Sir 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)
Image 11Depiction of the Battle of Hastings (1066) on the Bayeux Tapestry (from History of England)
Image 12Countries where English is natively spoken or has official status (from Culture of England)
Image 13Interior of Christ Church Cathedral in Oxford (from Culture of England)
Image 14Canterbury Cathedral nave, 1377 (from History of England)
Image 15The Billingsgate Fish Market in London in the early 19th century (from History of England)
Image 16The English landscape garden at Stourhead, described as a 'living work of art' when first opened in the 1750s (from Culture of England)
Image 17Morris dancing (from Culture of England)
Image 18Folio 27r from the Lindisfarne Gospels, c. 720 AD (from History of England)
Image 19Flatford Mill ('Scene on a Navigable River') by John Constable, c. 1816 (from Culture of England)
Image 20Alfred 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 21Stinking Bishop cheese (from Culture of England)
Image 22Gold torc from Snettisham, 70 BC (from History of England)
Image 23England in 878 (from History of England)
Image 24The Roman Baths in Bath; a temple was constructed on the site between 60–70CE in the first few decades of Roman Britain. (from History of England)
Image 25Edward VI (from History of England)
Image 26King Charles II (from History of England)
Image 27First played in 1877, the Wimbledon Championships is the oldest tennis tournament in the world. (from Culture of England)
Image 28Bust of Charlies I, Wallace Collection (from History of England)
Image 29William 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 30Charles Dickens' 1843 novella A Christmas Carol played a major role in reviving the "spirit" of Christmas and seasonal goodwill. (from Culture of England)
Image 31The Battersea Shield (detail), 350 BC. (from History of England)
Image 32Tomb of Richard I of England and Isabella of Angoulême (from History of England)
Image 33Jack 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 34Henry VII Lady Chapel Ceiling, Westminster Abbey (from History of England)
Image 35The Lady Chapel of Wells Cathedral (from Culture of England)
Image 36The White Tower of the Tower of London, built in 1078 (from History of England)
Image 37Geoffrey Chaucer, c. 1340s–1400, author of The Canterbury Tales (from History of England)
Image 38Durham Cathedral. The Norman cathedral was built 1093–1133 (from History of England)
Image 39Elizabeth I (from History of England)
Image 40National performing arts are held annually at the Royal Albert Hall, as well as The Proms during the summer. (from Culture of England)
Image 41One of only four surviving exemplifications of the 1215 text, Cotton MS. Augustus II. 106, property of the British Library (from History of England)
Image 42James II, as Duke of York (from History of England)
Image 43Durham Cathedral, dating from 1093 (from Culture of England)
Image 44Stonehenge in Wiltshire is a ring of stones, each about 4 m (13 ft) high, 2 m (7 ft) wide and 25 tonnes, erected 2400–2200 BC. (from History of England)
Image 45The wizard Merlin features as a character in many works of fiction, including the BBC series Merlin. (from Culture of England)
Image 46Victory in Europe Day celebrations in London, 8 May 1945 (from History of England)
Image 47Christopher Lee (seen here as Dracula in 1958) starred in many of Hammer's British horror films. (from Culture of England)
Image 48The Elizabethan era built upon the naval strength and shipbuilding traditions established in previous periods of English history. (from History of England)
Image 49The Lindisfarne Gospels (from Culture of England)
Image 50Henry VIII embarking at Dover. Dover Castle is depicted at top left. (from History of England)
Image 51The 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 52King'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 53Dover Castle, 12th–13th century (from History of England)
Image 54Edward Elgar is one of England's most celebrated classical composers. (from Culture of England)
Image 55King Alfred the Great statue in Winchester, Hampshire. The 9th-century English king encouraged education in his kingdom. (from Culture 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 57Whitehall by Francis Dodd (1920) displaying the Palace of Westminster (from Culture of England)
Image 58Chester, c. 1880 (from History of England)
Image 59England 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 60Silbury Hill built in 2400 BC is a prehistoric artificial chalk mound near Avebury. It is the tallest prehistoric human-made mound in Europe and one of the largest in the world. (from History of England)
Image 61The Great Fire of London, 1666. (from History of England)
Image 62A nineteenth-century painting depicting Charles (centre in blue sash) before the Battle of Edgehill, 1642 (from History of England)
Image 63Ancient Briton with a Waterloo helmet. (from History of England)
Image 64The Royal College of Music is the oldest conservatoire in the UK, established by royal charter in 1882. (from Culture of England)
Image 65The Alfred Jewel, late 9th century (from History of England)
Image 66The Spanish Armada and English ships in August 1588, (from History of England)
Image 67London Mint coin of Mary I (from History of England)
Image 68Londinium (Roman London), c. 120 AD (from History of England)
Image 69Francis 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 70A pint of real ale (from Culture of England)
Image 71Elizabeth I and the Spanish Armada; the Apothecaries painting, previously attributed to Nicholas Hilliard. A stylised depiction of key elements of the Armada story: the alarm beacons, Queen Elizabeth at Tilbury, and the sea battle at Gravelines. (from History of England)
Image 72Frontispiece 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 73Anglo-Saxon king with his Witan. Biblical scene in the Old English Hexateuch (11th century) (from History of England)
Image 74Procession of characters from Shakespeare's plays (from Culture of England)
Image 75Canterbury 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)

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Runcorn's Silver Jubilee Bridge

Runcorn is an industrial town and cargo port in the Borough of Halton, Cheshire, England. Its population in 2021 was 62,100. Runcorn is on the southern bank of the River Mersey, where the estuary narrows to form the Runcorn Gap. It lies on the southern shore of the River Mersey 15 miles (24 km) upstream from the port of Liverpool.

Runcorn was founded by Æthelflæd of Mercia in 915 AD as a fortification to guard against Viking invasion at a narrowing of the River Mersey. Under Norman rule, Runcorn fell under the Barony of Halton and an Augustinian abbey was established here in 1115. It remained a small, isolated settlement until the Industrial Revolution when the extension of the Bridgewater Canal to Runcorn in 1776 established it as a port which would link Liverpool with inland Manchester and Staffordshire. The docks enabled the growth of industry, initially shipwrights and sandstone quarries. In the late 18th and early 19th centuries, it was a spa and health resort but this ended with the growth of polluting industries, especially soap and chemical works. In 1964, Runcorn was designated a new town and expanded eastward, swallowing neighbouring settlements and more than doubling its population. (Full article...)

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Did you know?

...that Lambeth, in the London Borough of Lambeth appeared in the Domesday Book of 1086?
...that Kate Marsden journeyed overland to Siberia to find a leprosy cure.
...that the Old Bailey was destroyed in the 1666 Great Fire of London, only to be rebuilt in 1674?
...that a Jury is only sent to cases of an indictable offence that has been sent to a Crown Court by a magistrates?

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In the news

17 December 2024 – Murder of Sara Sharif: English High Court judge John Cavanagh sentences Urfan Sharif and Beinash Batool to life imprisonment for the murder of Sharif's 10-year-old daughter Sara. (ABS-CBN News)
7 December 2024 – 2024–25 European windstorm season: Two people are killed by falling trees in England and more than 1.5 million people experience power outages in Ireland and the United Kingdom as Storm Darragh hits the British Isles. (BBC News) (Sky News)
27 November 2024 –: The City of London Corporation proposes a bill to close the 19th-century Billingsgate Fish Market in Billingsgate and Smithfield Meat Market in Smithfield, City of London, United Kingdom, by 2028. (BBC News) (AP)

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“

I have seen much to hate here, much to forgive. But in a world where England is finished and dead, I do not wish to live.

”

— Alice Duer Miller

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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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