Imperial Gazetteer of England and Wales
Encyclopedia
The Imperial Gazetteer of England and Wales is a substantial topographical
Topography
Topography is the study of Earth's surface shape and features or those ofplanets, moons, and asteroids...

 dictionary
Dictionary
A dictionary is a collection of words in one or more specific languages, often listed alphabetically, with usage information, definitions, etymologies, phonetics, pronunciations, and other information; or a book of words in one language with their equivalents in another, also known as a lexicon...

 first published between 1870 and 1872, edited by the Reverend John Marius Wilson. It contains a detailed description of England and Wales
England and Wales
England and Wales is a jurisdiction within the United Kingdom. It consists of England and Wales, two of the four countries of the United Kingdom...

. Its six volumes have a brief article on each county
County
A county is a jurisdiction of local government in certain modern nations. Historically in mainland Europe, the original French term, comté, and its equivalents in other languages denoted a jurisdiction under the sovereignty of a count A county is a jurisdiction of local government in certain...

, city
City
A city is a relatively large and permanent settlement. Although there is no agreement on how a city is distinguished from a town within general English language meanings, many cities have a particular administrative, legal, or historical status based on local law.For example, in the U.S...

, borough
Borough
A borough is an administrative division in various countries. In principle, the term borough designates a self-governing township although, in practice, official use of the term varies widely....

, civil parish
Civil parish
In England, a civil parish is a territorial designation and, where they are found, the lowest tier of local government below districts and counties...

, and diocese
Diocese
A diocese is the district or see under the supervision of a bishop. It is divided into parishes.An archdiocese is more significant than a diocese. An archdiocese is presided over by an archbishop whose see may have or had importance due to size or historical significance...

, describing their political and physical features and naming the principal people of each place.

The publishers were A. Fullarton and Co., of London & Edinburgh. The work is a companion to Wilson's Imperial Gazetteer of Scotland
Imperial Gazetteer of Scotland
The Imperial Gazetteer of Scotland is a topographical dictionary first published in parts between 1854 and 1857,edited by the Reverend John Marius Wilson...

, published in parts between 1854 and 1857.

The text of the Imperial Gazetteer is available online in two forms, as images you pay for on the Ancestry web site, and as freely accessible searchable text on A Vision of Britain through Time, which also accesses Groome's
Francis Hindes Groome
Francis Hindes Groome , miscellaneous writer, son of a clergyman, wrote for various encyclopaedias, etc. He was a student of the Gypsies and their language, and published In Gypsy Tents , Gypsy Folk Tales , and an editor of Borrow's Lavengro...

Ordnance Gazetteer of Scotland and the Bartholomew Gazetteer of the British Isles. However, it should be treated with some caution. The scale of the project was such that Wilson was unable to check all statements himself, and for many smaller places the information given is out of date or even wrong.
The source of this article is wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.  The text of this article is licensed under the GFDL.
 
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