The London Borough of Ealing is a large city located in West London. It is identified as one of the major metropolitan areas in the London Plan and serves the city of London as a key suburb for providing transport, commuters and other financially beneficial services to the British capital. This article provides you with an overview of the London Borough of Ealing.
History of Ealing
Archaeological findings suggest that people have been settling in the Ealing area for over 7,000 years. Iron age pots have been discovered in the area which takes the area back to these times. The earliest recording of the area in the Saxon period occurred when it was known as 'Gillingas.'
Overview of Ealing
Interestingly, the earliest surviving English census comes from Ealing in 1599, and lists Ealing as a village with only 85 households. It gives the names and occupations of each of the residents. In the 1800s, more affluent residents began moving in to the Ealing district as the Uxbridge road was developed giving the district a direct access to London City centre. As this road became busier, overnight inns and pubs were set up and the area grew both economically and in population. Because of this great access to London, Ealing was dubbed the 'Queen of The Suburbs'.
Present-day Ealing
In the present-day, Ealing is still known as 'Queen of The Suburbs' because of its fantastic transport links into central London. Earling is served by the overground station of Ealing Broadway which connects Ealing on main train lines stretching along the M4 corridor and to the north.
Underground stations and film studios
The area has three underground stations: North Ealing, South Ealing and Ealing Common. These three stations are all a part of the Picadilly line. As well as being a commuter district, the present-day Ealing is well-known for its film studios which are the oldest in the world. Most recently, these studios have produced the films 'Notting Hill' and 'The Importance of Being Earnest.'
Local interests
Ealing has fifteen churches and one giant abbey, known as the 'Ealing Abbey' for the Christian community. There are also two well-established synagogue's for the prominent Jewish community that exist within the area.
Sports team
Despite its large area size, Ealing does not have its own registered professional football team, but the teams of Brentford and Queens Park Rangers exist within the area. Ealing also has a successful local running club which is the home of the double Olympic gold winning runner Dame Kelly Holmes.
Volusia County is a county located to the east of the state of Florida. It's biggest city is the Deltona, though the county's most famous city is probably Daytona beach, home of the Daytona 500 in NASCAR racing.
History of the state
Origin
Volusia county was founded in 1855 and was named after the port of Volusia on the east bank of the St. Johns river which runs through the county.
Early inhabitants
The land was previously inhabited by the indigenous Timuca Indian tribe before they were wiped out by disease and war following the arrival of the European settlers. Another local tribe, the Seminoles also camped in the Volusia area as they resisted relocation attempts.
Sugar plantation
A very large sugar plantation had previously existed in the state before it was burned to the ground by the Seminolan tribe during the second Seminole war between 1836 and 1842.
Fort Florida was established in 1836 by General Winfield Scott on the east shore of the St. Johns river.
Present day
Population census
Volusia County is situated fifty miles to the north east of modern day Orlando and sixty miles north of the Kennedy Space centre. As of the 2010 census, the population of Volusia county stands as just under 500,000 people.
As of the 2000 census, there was 86.6% white people and 9.29% black people and African American with Asians making up the biggest proportion of the remaining percentage.
Daytona International Speedway
The county's main attraction is probably the Daytona International Speedway, home of the famous Daytona 500 NASCAR race which is one of the most prestigious races in the sport.
The track was built in 1958 by William France Senior and opened in 1959. It does not just house NASCAR racing but also has a motorcycle course as well as a 180 acre infield lake which hosts power-boating.
Features
At present, it has a capacity of almost 170,000 and along with the Daytona 500, it also hosts prestigious races such as the Coke Zero 400, the Budweiser shootout and the Gatorade dual.
The main track is made of standard asphalt and runs at 3.5 miles in distance with twelve turns. The 'Tri- Oval' track runs at a mile less with only four turns.
White City is a district in the London borough of Hammersmith and Fulham, north to Sheperd's Bush. It has hosted some major events in the past including Olympic events and World Cup Soccer matches and today, it is the home of the BBC Television Centre.
History
Having been arable farmland up until 1908, White City was used for the Franco- British exhibition and the 1908 Olympic games. It hosted numerous exhibitions until 1912.
White City stadium
The famous White City stadium also existed in White City from 1908 until it was demolished in 1985 to make way for BBc's television centre. The stadium was initially built for the 1908 Olympics.
Olympic Marathon
Interestingly, the stadium was the finishing place of the 1908 Olympic Marathon which had started 26 miles and 265 yards away in Windsor. This distance became mandatory for marathons from this point onwards.
World cup
The stadium hosted a world cup match in 1966 and was briefly the home to local football club Queens Park Rangers.
Most recently, the White City area became a hallmark of shopping as Westfield Shopping mall opened up in 2008.
Westfield
The Westfield group opened up a 270 store shopping centre in the White City area at a cost of £1.6 billion in October 2008. As a result, two new tube stations were opened up to accommodate the number of visitors to the shopping centres with Wood Lane opening on the Gammersmith and City line and Sheperd's Bush on the West London Line.
Criticism against the shopping centre
The shopping centre has suffered from criticism with critics saying that it is taking away trade from nearby Kensington High-Street, although the full impact of the shopping centre has yet to be realised.
White City made famous
White city pops up in popular culture from time to time. North of the shopping centre is a a bus depot which had previously been featured in the 1988 film, 'Who framed Roger Rabbit' as the Acme factory.
The Pogues had a song on their 1989 album, 'Peace and Love' entitled White City'. The song was about the demolition of the White City Stadium. Pete Townshend of 'The Who,' who is a former resident of Sheperd's Bush, had a solo album in 1985 entitled White City: A Novel in which he sung about a story that took place in the White City area.
