Southwest England Trivia

1. The Forest of Dean is an area in which country of the UK?

From Quiz Forest of Dean Magic!

Answer: England

The Forest of Dean sits at the western edge of the county of Gloucestershire. It is on the border of England and Wales and has nearby boundaries of the river Wye and the river Severn.

From Quiz Well, it's Home to Me

Answer: Vespasian

Somerset's history dates back to the Paleolithic Era. There are bones from Gough's Cave dating back to 12,000 BC, with flint tools suggesting an ancestor of modern man inhabited the lands as far back as 500,000 BC. The Iron Age tribes Dobrunni, Durotriges and Dumnonii were some examples of pre-Roman peoples. In 43 AD, the Roman legate and future emperor Vespasian invaded Somerset and claimed the region until around 409 AD where their occupation ended and they had to leave. It was then the Anglo-Saxons who eventually laid claim to Somerset, with King Ine of Wessex claiming Somerset in his Wessex territory in the 7th Century AD. Somerset's boundaries have remained largely the same since medieval times. Edward III proclaimed in 1373 that Bristol should exist as its own county separate from Gloucester (later Gloucestershire) and Somerset. In 2017, the county was the seventh largest in area but the 22nd largest (of 48) in population.

From Quiz Bath Time!

Answer: Aquae Sulis

The name Aquae Sulis can be translated into English as "the waters of Sulis" - Sulis being the Roman goddess associated with the area's natural thermal springs. The Romans capitalised on this natural phenomena to build an increasingly complex suite of public baths on the site over the 300 years that they controlled England. In addition to the caldarium, or hot bath, whose water was supplied by the thermal springs, the Romans were also able to wallow in a tepidarium (or warm bath) or take a very quick dip in a frigidarium (a cold bath). The site was also a temple to Sulis and Roman bath-goers would throw small tablets into the water carved with their message or plea to the goddess. After the Romans left England in the 5th century, Bath's Roman baths were gradually built over and redeveloped. However, the hot springs meant that the city has remained a fashionable spa resort. It was particularly popular with the upper classes in the Georgian era and much of the city's famous architecture dates from the period. In the 21st century, people can still visit the city to take a swim in the natural hot water - although not in the Roman baths, the remains of which are now housed in a museum and whose somewhat murky water is best suited to being photographed by tourists. The incorrect options were all Roman names for other English cities - Deva Victrix was Chester, Verulanium was St. Albans and Durolipons became Cambridge.

From Quiz It's Delightful... It's Dangerous... It's Dartmoor

Answer: One year

The Dartmoor National Park covers an area of 368 square miles or 954 square kilometres. The highest point on Dartmoor is High Willhayes at just over 2,000 feet above sea level and its lowest point, Doghole Bridge, is at a mere 98 feet above sea level. Over 50% of Dartmoor's total area lies at just under 1000 feet above sea level.

From Quiz The Journey Of A Thousand Words

Answer: Minehead

We start our 630 mile walk just west of the Somerset town of Minehead, a popular seaside destination for the wealthy since Victorian times. As we travel west on the seaward side of Exmoor we are traversing sections of some of the highest coastline in England, rising in places to just over one thousand feet. If you are fortunate, you may encounter some of the local wildlife here which includes the nightjar and the Dartford warbler as well as both Exmoor ponies and red deer.

From Quiz The Plymouth Connection

Answer: Derry's Clock

Derry's Clock was given to the city in 1862 by the Mayor, William Derry. It got its nickname because on each of its four sides there is a water fountain - but no water. The fact that all of its four clocks have been known to tell a different time might also have something to do with it.

From Quiz More about Plymouth - slightly more obscure

Answer: Isambard Kingdom Brunel

Brunel's bridge, known as the Royal Albert Bridge, was built in 1859 and still carries the mainline across from Plymouth to Cornwall. He was also the engineer of the Great Western Railway and constructed all the tunnels, bridges and viaducts on the line as well as designing revolutionary ships and bridges elsewhere.

From Quiz Plymouth: People and Places

Answer: Devonport

Devonport, before WW2, had one of the best shopping areas in Plymouth, but much of it was absorbed into the Naval Dockyard when the South Yard was expanded. Recently the Admiralty has released this area for public use again, and there is a lot of redevelopment happening all around Devonport. The three towns, once amalgamated, were known as Plymouth, and City status was awarded in 1928.

From Quiz Welcome to Lundy Island

Answer: MV Oldenburg

The Motor Vessel Oldenburg was constructed in 1958 and originally operated in Germany, before being sold to the Lundy Company in 1985. In bad weather, the Oldenburg is sometimes unable to land on Lundy, and overnight visitors have been known to become stranded for several days until the weather improves. A helicopter service has also been introduced which can function when the boat can't, thus removing some of the fun.

From Quiz A Wander around Wansdyke

Answer: Keynsham

Keynsham (pronounced Cane-sham), was named after a fifth century holy woman, St Keyne (Keyna). It has a population of around 15,000 and is located roughly halfway between the cities of Bath and Bristol. A certain notoriety was achieved in the 1960s with Radio Luxembourg spelling the name out as the pronunciation does not make the spelling obvious.

From Quiz Famous Cities: Bath

Answer: The Celts

The city is famous for its Roman Baths, but before the Roman invasion of Britain in 43AD, Bath was a Celtic city dedicated to the Goddess Sulis, who was said to keep the waters of the hot springs sacred.

From Quiz Cornwall - One and All

Answer: Truro

Truro is the only city in Cornwall. It has a bowling alley, loads of good restaurants and shops.

From Quiz Plymouth - Smeaton's Tower

Answer: 1882

Eddystone lighthouse was built in 1759, but was then moved to the Hoe and was re-built there in 1882.

From Quiz Devon

Answer: The Exeter Book

Discovered in Exeter Cathedral, this is a treasury of Anglo-Saxon riddles and poetry which greatly extended our knowledge of early mediaeval literature.

From Quiz Cornish Questions

Answer: Tin

Cornwall mined tin between the 1700's and the recent past, but it was at its peak during the Industrial Revolution. South Crofty was the last tin mine to close, in 1998.

From Quiz North Devon

Answer: Jeremy Thorpe

Jeremy was the leader of the Liberal Party for many years, and was tipped by some to be the next Prime Minister when a scandal broke around him. At the next election the Conservatives won the seat, to hold it until 1992 when the Liberal Democrats won it back again.

From Quiz An Attractive English County

Answer: Widdicombe

Tom Pearce, Tom Pearce, lend me your grey mare, All along, down along, out along lee, For I want for to go to Widdicombe Fair, With Bill Brewer, Jan Stewer, Peter Gurney, Peter Day, Daniel Whiddon, Harry Hawk Old Uncle Tom Cobleigh and all Old Uncle Tom Cobleigh and all!

From Quiz The City of Bristol, UK

Answer: John Cabot

There is a tower in Bristol named after this famous Italian explorer.

From Quiz Forest of Dean Magic!

Answer: Foresters

The forest area is not as extensive as it once was, and few people now work exclusively as a forester, however the term is still used to describe a resident.

From Quiz Bath Time!

Answer: Somerset

Although Bath is the largest city in Somerset (nearby Bristol was declared a county in its own right by King Edward III in 1373), it is not the area's county town - an honour that falls to Taunton instead. The only other city in Somerset is Wells, which is home to a very large cathedral but has a relatively small population. Ceremonial counties play little role in England's modern system of local government. Instead, a range of metropolitan and non-metropolitan counties have county councils with responsibility for providing services to local residents. Although these latter types of county may share a name with the more traditional ceremonial areas, they often do not cover the same geographic area. Although the city of Bath is included in the ceremonial version of Somerset, it is not part of the non-metropolitan county of Somerset. In 1996, Bath instead became part of the Unitary Authority of Bath and North-East Somerset. Devon, Gloucestershire and Wiltshire are three of the four ceremonial English counties that border Somerset (excluding the city of Bristol). The fourth is Dorset.

From Quiz The Plymouth Connection

Answer: Sir Arthur Conan Doyle.

Born in Scotland in 1859, Doyle studied medicine at the University of Edinburgh. In 1882 he set up a medical practice in Plymouth with a classmate called George Budd, but it didn't work out, and Doyle left for Portsmouth. The rest is history.

From Quiz More about Plymouth - slightly more obscure

Answer: Tin Mining

The Stannary towns were established in the early 14th century, at a time when there was an enormous tin mining industry in the South West. They were active until the 19th century, when the tin mining industry began to decline. All tin had to be brought to the Stannary to be taxed and assessed. There were Stannary towns in Cornwall as well as Devon. The Devon Stannaries were Tavistock, Plympton St Maurice, Ashburton and Chagford.

From Quiz Salisbury

Answer: Stonehenge

One of the world's most famous manmade prehistoric sites, it is estimated that the construction of Stonehenge would have taken more than 30,000,000 hours of labour! Construction probably started around 3100BC, initially with just a ditch and bank before a wooden structure was added about 100 years later. Stones which appear to have come from South Wales were added in around 2600BC, although they may have been deposited closer to Stonehenge by glaciers. Over the next couple of hundred years the iconic Sarsen stones were added.

From Quiz A Wander around Wansdyke

Answer: Mendips

Whilst the northern part of the Mendips is in Wansdyke, now Bath and North East Somerset, the southern side is in Somerset and includes Cheddar Gorge and caves. The southern Cotswolds do cover part of the north-eastern area near Bath and the border with Wiltshire.

From Quiz Famous Cornish Places

Answer: The Minack Theatre

Rowena Cade planned and built this outdoor theatre which lies on the cliffs of Porthcurno Bay.

From Quiz Famous Cities: Bath

Answer: Aquae Sulis

'Aquae Sulis' means waters of the goddess Sulis.

From Quiz Devon

Answer: Torquay, Paignton, Brixham

The three towns of Torbay are also collectively known as the English Riviera because of the supposed exceptionally warm climate in the summers, the sandy beaches, the blue seas and the number of yucca trees that can be see growing.

From Quiz Devon

Answer: The South Hams

Kingsbridge, at the head of the drowned valley known as the Salcombe estuary, is the capital of the South Hams, but it is the vast parish church at Ugborough under the shelter of the Moor, that is called its cathedral.

From Quiz Cornwall: Land of Giants

Answer: Tin

Tin mining in Cornwall only recently ceased in Cornwall with the closure of South Crofty. China clay is still mined in St Austell.

From Quiz North Devon

Answer: May 2007

During WWII the Americans offered to build a downstream bridge because of the traffic probems they were causing in the town, but it was not until the twenty-first century that it was actually built and relieved the congestion in this busy market town.

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Last Updated Apr 13 2024 5:46 AM

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