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7 minutes ago, Shadow said:

The Royal Wessex Yeomanry are a Salisbury based Tank Regiment.

There's a Wessex Hotel in Winchester, which was the capital of Wessex but I don't think it's a thing, there's no "Home Rule for Wessex" movement and there's no historic animosity to them baaarstids in Mercia 

Oh go on , get that Royal Wessex Yeomanry steaming into Mercia . There’s no sport on so it’ll be summat to watch on telly

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1 minute ago, DavidM said:

Oh go on , get that Royal Wessex Yeomanry steaming into Mercia . There’s no sport on so it’ll be summat to watch on telly

The trouble is they're Reserve unit so don't actually have any tanks. HMS Wessex was the RNR unit in Southampton until 1994, but I don't think they had a boat either. The Wessex Regiment (Infantry) was disbanded in 1994 (ish) as well so we might take a bit of a kicking.

 

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2 hours ago, DavidM said:

Is Wiltshire part of Wessex . Do people still think of Wessex as a place ?

Exactly what is in Wessex probably depends on whose definition you choose and/or what period in history you are considering.

Shadow is right to point out that Winchester has played a capital role at times.  However, under perhaps the best known King of Wessex, Alfred the Great, the power base was much further west.  I think is court was at Athelney on the Somerset Levels (although I believe he had been born in modern day Berkshire).  He certainly would have used his local knowledge on the Levelsto escape the Vikings after a defeat in Wiltshire at Chippenham.  he also suffered defeat against the same foe at Wilton, the (nowadays) small town just north of Salisbury and also in Wiltshire (indeed, it gives the county its name)  Conversely, one of Alfred's better successes against the Vikings was, I believe, the Battle of Edington - again in Wiltshire.

Thomas Hardy, the novelist, for the purpose of his locally based novels, would have considered Dorset to be pretty central to Wessex and probably all or parts of Somerset, Wiltshire and Hampshire.  Arguably, one could ad bits of Gloucestershire, Oxfordshire and Berkshire to that, so that the kingdom would have abutted that of the pesky Mercians who Shadow also mentions.

It is a moot point whether there is no wish for at least a degree of regional autonomy based on Wessex.  Here is an interesting (!) website link:

https://www.wessexregionalists.info/

Wiltshire also gets its fair share of latter-day druid activity, not least of all by Arthur Uther Pendragon, who insists on fighting in general elections in the Salisbury constituency (and losing his deposit!)  Pendragon changed his name from the less exciting sounding John Timothy Rothwell.  He has no particular link to these parts, other than his attraction to Stonehenge; he was born in Wakefield, I believe!  But all that is another story, perhaps for another thread...

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16 hours ago, Wiltshire Warrior Dragon said:

 

Wiltshire's claims to pop music fame some decades ago was Dave Dee, Dozey, Deaky, Mick and Titch, who were a Salisbury group.  The Troggs came from not far away - Andover - but that is in Hampshire.

And XTC 

 

XTC_English_Settlement.jpg

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11 hours ago, Wiltshire Warrior Dragon said:

Exactly what is in Wessex probably depends on whose definition you choose and/or what period in history you are considering.

Shadow is right to point out that Winchester has played a capital role at times.  However, under perhaps the best known King of Wessex, Alfred the Great, the power base was much further west.  I think is court was at Athelney on the Somerset Levels (although I believe he had been born in modern day Berkshire).  He certainly would have used his local knowledge on the Levelsto escape the Vikings after a defeat in Wiltshire at Chippenham.  he also suffered defeat against the same foe at Wilton, the (nowadays) small town just north of Salisbury and also in Wiltshire (indeed, it gives the county its name)  Conversely, one of Alfred's better successes against the Vikings was, I believe, the Battle of Edington - again in Wiltshire.

Thomas Hardy, the novelist, for the purpose of his locally based novels, would have considered Dorset to be pretty central to Wessex and probably all or parts of Somerset, Wiltshire and Hampshire.  Arguably, one could ad bits of Gloucestershire, Oxfordshire and Berkshire to that, so that the kingdom would have abutted that of the pesky Mercians who Shadow also mentions.

It is a moot point whether there is no wish for at least a degree of regional autonomy based on Wessex.  Here is an interesting (!) website link:

https://www.wessexregionalists.info/

Wiltshire also gets its fair share of latter-day druid activity, not least of all by Arthur Uther Pendragon, who insists on fighting in general elections in the Salisbury constituency (and losing his deposit!)  Pendragon changed his name from the less exciting sounding John Timothy Rothwell.  He has no particular link to these parts, other than his attraction to Stonehenge; he was born in Wakefield, I believe!  But all that is another story, perhaps for another thread...

Just to add to WWD’s notes above here is King Arthur losing his deposit last year

F66BB203-6B7E-4DB5-A268-A5D986D98159.jpeg

27843BBB-6262-4921-94F8-71CC1C8A31D6.jpeg

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22 hours ago, Shadow said:

Ikea is a Swedish acronym 

roughly translated it means “Viking raids are frowned on so let’s #### with them some other way”

don’t tell anyone I told you or I’ll end up as meatballs 

Reminded me of this twitter thread. Probably only amusing if you're into archaeology though.

 

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So, someone on this board is working on a Swedsih Wiltshire master plan...but who could it be?

"You clearly have never met Bob8 then, he's like a veritable Bryan Ferry of RL." - Johnoco 19 Jul 2014

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16 hours ago, Wiltshire Warrior Dragon said:

Exactly what is in Wessex probably depends on whose definition you choose and/or what period in history you are considering.

 

It must exist now, Prince Edward is the Duke of Wessex, surely someone like the Queen wouldn't give a dukedom of an area that doesn't exist to her youngest most useless son?

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Just now, Bleep1673 said:

It must exist now, Prince Edward is the Duke of Wessex, surely someone like the Queen wouldn't give a dukedom of an area that doesn't exist to her youngest most useless son?

I know they are all useless, but he is the worst.

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22 hours ago, Bleep1673 said:

It must exist now, Prince Edward is the Duke of Wessex, surely someone like the Queen wouldn't give a dukedom of an area that doesn't exist to her youngest most useless son?

It exists, bleep.  It's just that different people might have a different idea about exactly which bits of countryside are, or as the case may be, are not, within it!  I suppose that is because, currently, there is no pressing need to define it precisely on a map and hence in real life, on the ground.

By contrast, Scotland, for instance, needs to be precisely defined now, for a mix of obvious reasons.  However, exactly which tracts of land are in Scotland - i.e the Land of the Scots - would have been very different many centuries ago, when there was also a Land of the Picts adjacent to it.

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4 hours ago, Wiltshire Warrior Dragon said:

It exists, bleep.  It's just that different people might have a different idea about exactly which bits of countryside are, or as the case may be, are not, within it!  I suppose that is because, currently, there is no pressing need to define it precisely on a map and hence in real life, on the ground.

And where exactly is the County Hall of Wessex County then, Avalon? It exists along with Middlesex, and Westmoreland & Cumberland. Rutland exists more than "Wessex".

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2 minutes ago, Bleep1673 said:

And where exactly is the County Hall of Wessex County then, Avalon? It exists along with Middlesex and Huntingdonshire, and Westmoreland & Cumberland

It's not a county, bleep - never was and probably never will be.  My point was that nowadays, unlike Scotland for instance, it has no formal or legal status, so does not need to be precisely defined; so it isn't!

I believe there is an area called the Welsh Marches, but I could never tell you exactly which towns and villages are just inside them and which are just outwith them.

So, as you see, my premise is that a geographical area need not be precisely defined to exist, and Wessex is a good case in point.

Incidentally, by way of an aside, do you think Avalon ever existed and if so, where?

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1 hour ago, Bleep1673 said:

And where exactly is the County Hall of Wessex County then, Avalon? It exists along with Middlesex, and Westmoreland & Cumberland. Rutland exists more than "Wessex".

You seem very angry about this. Were you scared by a Wyvern as a child?

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1 hour ago, Wiltshire Warrior Dragon said:

It's not a county, bleep - never was and probably never will be.  My point was that nowadays, unlike Scotland for instance, it has no formal or legal status, so does not need to be precisely defined; so it isn't!

I believe there is an area called the Welsh Marches, but I could never tell you exactly which towns and villages are just inside them and which are just outwith them.

So, as you see, my premise is that a geographical area need not be precisely defined to exist, and Wessex is a good case in point.

Incidentally, by way of an aside, do you think Avalon ever existed and if so, where?

It exists like Wessex does, in the mind of .............

I will stop there. I'm going away for a while.

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15 hours ago, Wiltshire Warrior Dragon said:

I believe there is an area called the Welsh Marches, but I could never tell you exactly which towns and villages are just inside them and which are just outwith them.

So, as you see, my premise is that a geographical area need not be precisely defined to exist, and Wessex is a good case in point.

Incidentally, by way of an aside, do you think Avalon ever existed and if so, where?

My understanding is that Avalon is Glastonbury, an island historically surrounded by bog before land drainage was conducted. Glastonbury has a very special aura; you can actually feel it in your bones if you go into the town on a quiet weekday..

So does Avebury. I hope people can still just walk in amongst the stones on a quiet evening; I last went there years ago. I keep meaning to go back.

Good old Wikipedia! I always assumed that the marches were lowlands  where armies could march without going over the mountains. I have quite often seen references to the lowland between Cardiff, Newport and the valleys as being the Marches. Obviously, they were much bigger an area than that.

 

305px-WelshMarchesMap.png

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2 hours ago, Wiltshire Rhino said:

.....Wikipedia. ?

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wessex

Happy reading Bleep! ? 

I think the obvious point is the word WAS in the opening paragraph. Was, in this context, means it no longer exists as an entity. It like those people who still refer to money as a sixpence, 10 bob, & thruppence. And still think we are subservient to the Lords of the Manor. Wessex hasn't existed for 1000 years according to your article.

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1 hour ago, Bleep1673 said:

I think the obvious point is the word WAS in the opening paragraph. Was, in this context, means it no longer exists as an entity. It like those people who still refer to money as a sixpence, 10 bob, & thruppence. And still think we are subservient to the Lords of the Manor. Wessex hasn't existed for 1000 years according to your article.

Yeah I know. That's why I am from Wiltshire and not Wessex. 

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3 hours ago, Wolford6 said:

My understanding is that Avalon is Glastonbury, an island historically surrounded by bog before land drainage was conducted. Glastonbury has a very special aura; you can actually feel it in your bones if you go into the town on a quiet weekday..

So does Avebury. I hope people can still just walk in amongst the stones on a quiet evening; I last went there years ago. I keep meaning to go back.

Good old Wikipedia! I always assumed that the marches were lowlands  where armies could march without going over the mountains. I have quite often seen references to the lowland between Cardiff, Newport and the valleys as being the Marches. Obviously, they were much bigger an area than that.

 

305px-WelshMarchesMap.png

Thanks for your comments, Wolford6, and the map.  I think I once read or heard that the Cotswold town of Moreton-in-Marsh is nothing to do with a boggy area, but rather means 'in the Marches', which the red bit on your map arguably would confirm.

You are right; Glastonbury is often suggested as the location of Avalon.  The trouble is that so too are many other places both in this country and abroad!.  I have just read Graham Robb's The Debatable Land about the curious, though small, tract of land north of Carlisle which at various times seems to have been concurrently neither in England nor Scotland.  At one point he talks about how he has re-interpreted a map accredited to Ptolemy, and relates this to early British battles and skirmishes, centred on the kingdom of Strathclyde-Cumbria, as he calls it.  He wonders whether Arthur, or the warrior that gave rise to his cult, wasn't working his way south, and through parts of the Border Country.  he notes the comparative proliferation of Arthurian related place names in southern Scotland and that there is a fort at the west end of Hadrian's Wall, roughly at Burgh-by-Sands which was called...Avalana!

I tend to find the atmosphere of Glastonbury a bit overrated; for whatever reason the mix of Christian myth and more recent influences (some with rather interesting smells!) doesn't really do it for me.  Still, it's good that we don't all get moved or inspired by the same things, and I like the idea that one of the Anglican churches there has a decidedly Goth-looking priest, complete with purple hair!

I agree with you about Avebury.  I much prefer it to the more physically restricted Stonehenge.

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2 hours ago, Bleep1673 said:

I think the obvious point is the word WAS in the opening paragraph. Was, in this context, means it no longer exists as an entity. It like those people who still refer to money as a sixpence, 10 bob, & thruppence. And still think we are subservient to the Lords of the Manor. Wessex hasn't existed for 1000 years according to your article.

I sense you are opening up a whole new philosophical debate here, bleep, about the meaning of existence!

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