England

C

Plants and Animals

In the past, England, like most of the island of Great Britain, was heavily forested, chiefly with oak and beech in the lowlands and pine and birch in the mountainous areas. Clearance for agriculture, industry, and settlement over centuries has meant that woodlands now constitute only 7 per cent of the total land area, well below the European average of 25 per cent. Reforestation programmes, undertaken by the Forestry Commission (a government department) and private landowners, have increased the area under forest since World War II. The main species planted, however, have been fast-growing softwoods. In recent years there have been efforts to increase deciduous plantings, and plans have been announced for new forests near London, in the Midlands, and in the North-East. Numerous varieties of fruit trees are cultivated in orchards, including cherry, apple, pear, and plum. A species of furze, known locally as gorse, is common in upland areas. Numerous varieties of wildflowers are found and legislation has been passed to protect them.

The chief surviving indigenous mammals of England include several species of deer, fox, hare, pony, otter, hedgehog, red squirrel, and badger. The most common birds include the starling, the sparrow, and the blackbird. Grouse are found on the moors of the northern uplands. Other familiar species are the crow, pigeon, rook, blue tit, magpie, and several members of the thrush family. England also plays host to many hundreds of species of summer and winter visitors, being on one of the main migration routes. The most familiar summer visitors are the swallow, swift, and cuckoo. In winter, the wetlands, lakes, and reservoirs attract many species of waders, ducks, and geese. Reptiles, of which only four species occur on the entire island of Great Britain, are rare in England; they include the viper, or adder (which is venomous), and the grass snake. The common freshwater fish found in England include roach, chub, perch, trout, and salmon. The last two named have increased significantly in numbers in recent years because of fish farming.

D

Conservation

The government agencies responsible for conservation in England are The Countryside Agency and English Heritage. In the mid-1990s they were responsible for the 22 per cent of the country designated as National Parks or Areas of Outstanding Natural Beauty, and (in the case of English Heritage) for buildings and monuments of special architectural and historical interest. There are also a number of voluntary bodies concerned with conserving the countryside, including the National Trust, which protects long stretches of the English coast as well as many buildings. Wildlife is protected principally by the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981; recovery programmes have been set up for threatened species, including the dormouse and the fen raft spider. There are around 200 state-funded nature reserves in England, including the marine reserves of the islands of Lundy, off the Devon coast. Large numbers of reserves have been set up by voluntary bodies such as the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds, Europe’s largest voluntary wildlife conservation body.

England’s national parks include the North York Moors National Park, the Yorkshire Dales National Park, Exmoor National Park, Dartmoor National Park, the Lake District National Park, the Peak District National Park, the Northumberland National Park, the Norfolk Broads, and the New Forest National Park. The national parks are not, as in many other countries, wilderness areas set aside for the preservation of plant and animal life. Rather they encompass the most scenic areas of the country, with their human settlements, with special controls over development, and provisions to encourage the maintenance of the traditional economies that have helped to create these landscapes, such as sheep-grazing on the moorlands. England is also well represented in the World Heritage list of sites and buildings considered to be of worldwide significance. Of the 27 World Heritage sites in the United Kingdom and its territories, 17 are in England. They are: Canterbury Cathedral, with St Augustine’s Abbey, and St Martin’s Church, Kent; Durham Cathedral and castle; Studley Royal Gardens and Fountains Abbey, North Yorkshire; Ironbridge Gorge, with the world’s first iron bridge and other early industrial sites, Shropshire; Stonehenge and Avebury prehistoric stone circles, Wiltshire; Blenheim Palace, Oxfordshire; the city of Bath; Frontiers of the Roman Empire (including Hadrian’s Wall); the Tower of London; the Palace of Westminster, Westminster Abbey, and St Margaret’s church, Westminster, London; Maritime Greenwich, London; Dorset and East Devon Coast; the industrial age Derwent Valley Mills; the model industrial village at Saltaire, West Yorkshire; the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew; Liverpool—Maritime Mercantile City; and the Cornwall and West Devon Mining Landscape.

III

Population

The great majority of the people of England, like those of the British Isles in general, are descended from early Celtic and Iberian peoples and later invaders of the islands, including the Romans, Anglo-Saxons, Danes, and Normans. Since 1950 the ethnic diversity of England, and especially its main cities, has been increased by the immigration of people from South Asia and the Caribbean. Many other ethnic groups have settled in the country, including Chinese, eastern and southern Europeans, Vietnamese, and people from eastern and western Africa. Today, about half of the ethnic minority population was born in England. Once a rural nation of small villages and market towns, England has become highly urbanized since the early 19th century. For information on language and literature, see English Language; English Literature.

A

Population Characteristics

The population of England (2004) was 50,094,000, equivalent to more than 83 per cent of the total population of the United Kingdom. The overall population density of about 384 people per sq km (995 per sq mi) was the highest in the United Kingdom, and one of the highest in the world. In the early 1990s approximately 80 per cent of the population lived in urban areas and almost 40 per cent lived in the seven great conurbations: Greater London, Tyne and Wear, South Yorkshire, West Yorkshire, West Midlands, Greater Manchester, and Merseyside.

B

Political Divisions

Under the local government reforms of 1974, England was divided into 39 non-metropolitan counties, 6 metropolitan counties, and Greater London (established in 1965 as a separate administrative entity). The counties were subdivided into a total of about 330 districts, which together were further divided into some 10,000 parishes. In 1985 the Greater London Council and the six metropolitan county councils were abolished. The vast majority of their functions were transferred, in the case of Greater London, to the 32 London boroughs and the Corporation of the City of London, and in the case of the metropolitan counties, to the metropolitan district councils. In districts that have the title of city or borough, the leader of the council is the mayor. Before the reorganization of local government in 1974, England was divided into 46 administrative counties, Greater London, and 79 county boroughs. The present counties and former counties of England, are described in separate articles in this encyclopedia.

The local government system in England was reformed again, based on the recommendations of a local government commission established under the provisions of the 1992 Local Government Act. Initially it had been anticipated that the unitary system that had existed since 1986 in Greater London and the former metropolitan areas would be extended to cover all 39 non-metropolitan counties. However, the commission, which completed its report in 1994, proposed less far-reaching changes that resulted in a mixture of existing two-tier county and district councils with new single-tier authorities. The changes were implemented in stages; the first of the new unitary authorities, for the Isle of Wight, came into effect in April 1995. On April 1, 1996, a unitary system was introduced in three more counties: Avon, Cleveland, and Humberside, all of which ceased to exist. Each of the three was replaced by four new unitary authorities. For ceremonial and related purposes these unitary authorities will be encompassed, in the case of Avon and Humberside, within the pre-1974 county boundaries of Somerset or Gloucestershire, or Durham and North Yorkshire, or Lincolnshire or East Riding of Yorkshire, which have been resurrected for these purposes. Also, on April 1, a unitary authority was introduced for the city of York, in North Yorkshire; the remainder of the county has retained its two-tier system. Another ten counties underwent administrative changes in 1997, all along the same lines as North Yorkshire: the main urban areas become unitary authorities, with the remainder of the county retaining the two-tier system. The main exception is Leicestershire, where the ancient county of Rutland, absorbed into Leicestershire in 1974, regained a separate identity as a unitary authority. On April 1, 1998, 19 new unitary authorities were created within 10 counties. The two main changes were the abolition of the county of Berkshire (and the formation of six unitary authorities in its place) and the return to pre-1974 boundaries in Hereford and Worcester with the creation of Herefordshire unitary authority (Worcestershire remains a county).