Did You Know?

The word 'shire' means something which has been shorn off, or separated. The district of Gloucester was shorn off from the great territory of the Mercians, and became Gloucestershire.

Did You Know?

The nickname 'Unready' is derived from the word 'un-raed' which meant 'lack of council' or 'ill-advised'. It seems that 'King Ethelred the Unready' was either easily persuaded or made bad decisions, or both!

Did You Know?

Mercia was originally an Anglo-Saxon kingdom centred on the valley of the River Trent in what is now the Midlands. By 1007 it was a province of Saxon England.