Portal:England
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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. England shares a land border with Scotland to the north and another land border with Wales to the west, and is 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. The population was 56,490,048 according to the 2021 census, with nine million inhabitants in its largest city, London.
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, forming 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.
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 London metropolitan area has a population of over 15 million as of 2025, 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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Eliza Acton (17 April 1799 – 13 February 1859) was an English food writer and poet who produced one of Britain's first cookery books aimed at the domestic reader, Modern Cookery for Private Families. The book introduced the now-universal practice of listing ingredients and giving suggested cooking times for each recipe. It included the first recipes in English for Brussels sprouts and for spaghetti. It also contains the first recipe for what Acton called "Christmas pudding"; the dish was normally called plum pudding, recipes for which had appeared previously, although Acton was the first to put the name and recipe together.
Acton was born in 1799 in Sussex. She was raised in Suffolk where she ran a girls' boarding school before spending time in France. On her return to England in 1826 she published a collection of poetry and released her cookery book in 1845, aimed at middle class families. Written in an engaging prose, the book was well received by reviewers. It was reprinted within the year and several editions followed until 1918, when Longman, the book's publisher, took the decision not to reprint. In 1857 Acton published The English Bread-Book for Domestic Use, a more academic and studious work than Modern Cookery. The work consisted of a history of bread-making in England, a study of European methods of baking and numerous recipes. (Full article...)
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The Elizabethan era is the epoch in the Tudor period of the history of England during the reign of Queen Elizabeth I (1558–1603). Historians often depict it as the golden age in English history, with an effective government, resulting from the reforms of Henry VII and Henry VIII, and a prospering economy boosted by trans-Atlantic trade and privateering. During this time, the Protestant Reformation became more acceptable to the people, and it was the last period in English history before the royal union with Scotland. England began to engage in international exploration and expansion. Culturally, this period represented the apogee of the English Renaissance and saw a flowering of poetry, music, literature, and especially theatre, with playwrights such as William Shakespeare breaking new ground.
The Elizabethan age contrasts sharply with the previous and following reigns. It was a brief period of internal peace between the previous century's Wars of the Roses, the English Reformation, and religious battles between Protestants and Catholics, and the later conflict of the English Civil War and the political battles between parliament and the monarchy that engulfed the remainder of the seventeenth century. Under Elizabeth, the religious conflict was settled for a time by the Elizabethan Religious Settlement, and Parliament was not yet strong enough to challenge royal absolutism. (Full article...)
General images
Artefacts from Bush Barrow at Stonehenge. Wessex culture, Early Bronze Age, c. 1900 BC (from History of England)
Dover Castle, 12th–13th century (from History of England)
The Lindisfarne Gospels (from Culture of England)
First English Civil War at the Battle of Marston Moor, 1644 (from History of England)
National performing arts are held annually at the Royal Albert Hall, as well as The Proms during the summer. (from Culture of England)
King Charles I, who was beheaded in 1649 (from History of England)
Portrait 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)
Remains of the Roman baths at Bath, England. (from History of England)
The Billingsgate Fish Market in London in the early 19th century (from History of England)
King'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)
King Alfred the Great statue in Winchester, Hampshire. The 9th-century English king encouraged education in his kingdom. (from Culture of England)
Canterbury Cathedral nave, 1377 (from History of England)
A pint of real ale (from Culture of England)
William 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)
King Henry VIII (from History of England)
England 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)
Edward Elgar is one of England's most celebrated classical composers. (from Culture of England)
First played in 1877, the Wimbledon Championships is the oldest tennis tournament in the world. (from Culture of England)
Maps of territory held by Royalists (red) and Parliamentarians (green) during the English Civil War (1642–1645) (from History of England)
The Ruthwell Cross, 8th century AD (from History of England)
A traditional Punch and Judy booth, at Swanage, Dorset, England (from Culture of England)
Procession of characters from Shakespeare's plays (from Culture of England)
The English landscape garden at Stourhead, described as a 'living work of art' when first opened in the 1750s (from Culture of England)
Silbury Hill, c. 2400 BC (from History of England)
Anglo-Saxon helmet from the Sutton Hoo ship burial, 625 AD (replica) (from History of England)
The Royal College of Music is the oldest conservatoire in the UK, established by royal charter in 1882. (from Culture of England)
Tomb of Richard I of England and Isabella of Angoulême (from History of England)
Elizabeth I (from History of England)
The Battersea Shield (detail), 350 BC. (from History of England)
Charles Dickens' 1843 novella A Christmas Carol played a major role in reviving the "spirit" of Christmas and seasonal goodwill. (from Culture of England)
The Lady Chapel of Wells Cathedral (from Culture of England)
The Great Fire London, 1666. (from History of England)
Morris dancing (from Culture of England)
Countries where English is natively spoken or has official status (from Culture of England)
Remains of Hadrian's Wall (from History of England)
- Folio 27r from the Lindisfarne Gospels, c. 720 AD (from History of England)
The Fairy Ring by William Holmes Sullivan, c.1908 (from Culture of England)
The first general laws against child labour, the Factory Acts, were passed in Britain in the first half of the 19th century. Children younger than nine were not allowed to work and the work day of youth under the age of 18 was limited to twelve hours. (from History of England)
The epic poem Beowulf, set in 6th century Scandinavia, composed c. 700–1000 AD. (from History of England)
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The English Water Spaniel is a breed of dog that has been extinct since the first part of the 20th century, with the last specimen seen in the 1930s. It was best known for its use in hunting waterfowl and for being able to dive as well as a duck. It is described as similar to a Collie or to a cross between a Poodle and a Springer Spaniel with curly fur and typically in a white and liver/tan pattern.
Pre-dating the Irish Water Spaniel and thought to have been referred to by Shakespeare in Macbeth, it is believed to have genetically influenced several modern breeds of dog, including the American Water Spaniel, Curly Coated Retriever and the modern variety of Field Spaniel. It is unknown if the breed was involved in the creation of the Irish Water Spaniel. (Full article...)
Did you know?
- ...that the HMS Queen (1902) was fitted with Babcock and Wilcox cylindrical boilers due to service problems with the water service boilers?
- ...that the Charter Roll is the administrative record created by the medieval office of the chancery that recorded all the charters issued by the chancery?
- ...that Canterbury in eastern Kent was abandoned at the end of the Roman period, but was resettled by the Saxons?
- ...that English singer-songwriter Robbie Williams has sold more albums in the United Kingdom than any other British solo artist in history?
In the news
- 18 July 2026 – 2026 FIFA World Cup
- In association football, England beats France 6–4 in the highest-scoring third-place playoff in FIFA World Cup history, securing their best result since winning the tournament in 1966. (BBC Sport)
- 18 July 2026 – 2026 Diamond League
- At the London Athletics Meet, British runner Josh Kerr sets a new world record of 3:42.66 for the mile. The previous record of 3:43.13 by Hicham El Guerrouj had been set in 1999. (BBC Sport)
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