Åland has a rich history. Humans first reached the archipelago in the Neolithic period ca. 4000BC.
Sund is a municipality of Åland. It is an autonomous territory of Finland which is very rich in history and culture, being one of the official 27 National landscapes of Finland.
Stakeford is a large village in south east Northumberland, England, about 17 miles (27 km) north of Newcastle upon Tyne. It lies south of the River Wansbeck from Ashington, the nearest town. The village takes its name from the former river crossing to the north of the village, this was a crossing through the mudflats which was marked with stakes to give an idea of the water depth, hence the name Stakeford. The river crossing has long gone, but remains of the stakes can be seen in the river bed becoming visible whenever the dam downstream is opened. The old river crossing was replaced by a bridge in the early 20th century, which in itself was replaced by the new Stakeford Bridge in 1994. There is now no trace of the original ford due to the mudflats being used as a landfill site in the 1950s and 60s and the creation of a riverside country park in the 1970s.
The Battle of Bomarsund, in August 1854, took place during the Åland War, which was part of the Crimean War, when an Anglo-French expeditionary force attacked a Russian fortress. It was the only major action of the war to take place at Bomarsund in the Baltic Sea.
Rear Admiral Charles Davis Lucas VC was an Irish recipient of the Victoria Cross. An officer of the Royal Navy, he performed the earliest actions to be recognised with the Victoria Cross, the highest award for gallantry in the face of the enemy that can be awarded to British and Commonwealth forces. He rose to the rank of rear admiral during his time in the navy.
Admiral Sir Astley Cooper Key, was a Royal Navy officer. As a junior officer he saw action at the Battle of Vuelta de Obligado in November 1845 during the Anglo-French blockade of the Río de la Plata and took part at the Battle of Bomarsund in August 1854 and the Bombardment of Sveaborg in August 1855 during the Crimean War. He also went ashore with the naval brigade to take part in the Battle of Canton in December 1857 during the Second Opium War. He later commanded a specially-formed Baltic Fleet created in February 1878 to intimidate Russia from entering Constantinople during the closing stages of the Russo-Turkish War. He became First Naval Lord in August 1879 in which role he was primarily interested in administration and technology rather than strategy: he kept the cost of running the Navy within budgets, sanctioned the construction of six Admiral class battleships and ensured the Navy was properly prepared for the Panjdeh Incident in 1885 when Russian forces seized Afghan territory at Panjdeh.
Choppington is a large village and civil parish in Northumberland, England. It is situated 5 miles to the south-east of Morpeth, and north of Bedlington. It was at one time part of the three big mid-Northumberland collieries.
North Blyth Brewery was a small brewery which was located in Blyth, in Northumberland, England. It produced cask ale.
The Northumberland Gazette is a weekly newspaper published in Alnwick, Northumberland, England. It serves Alnwick, Amble, Seahouses, Rothbury, Wooler and outlying districts.
Northumberland County Cricket Club is one of twenty minor county clubs within the domestic cricket structure of England and Wales. It represents the historic county of Northumberland.
The Baltic Medal was a campaign medal approved on 6 June 1856, for issue to officers and men of the Royal Navy, Royal Marines, and Royal Sappers and Miners who served between March 1854 and August 1855 in the Baltic Sea operations against Russia in the Baltic theatre of the Crimean War, or Åland War. The medal primarily covered naval actions but was also awarded to 106 men of the Royal Sappers and Miners who were landed to place demolition charges against Russian fortifications at Bomarsund and Sveaborg.
Events from the year 1854 in the United Kingdom.
HMS Cumberland was a 70-gun third rate ship of the line of the Royal Navy, launched on 21 October 1842 at Chatham Dockyard. She carried a crew of 620 men.
Rear Admiral Frederick Thomas Pelham, was a Royal Navy officer who went on to be Second Naval Lord.
Alexandre Ferdinand Parseval-Deschenes was a French admiral and senator.
Events from the year 1854 in Russia
Prästö is an island in the municipality of Sund in Åland, Finland. It is connected to the Åland Mainland by the Bomarsund Bridge crossing the narrow Bomarsund Strait. Prästö is located next to the ruins of the Bomarsund Fortress, the place of the 1856 Crimean War Battle of Bomarsund. The island is known of its rich military history, especially of the six Russian military cemeteries established in the 19th Century. Because of the graveyards, Prästö was once known as the ″Island of the Dead″.
The Åland War is the Finnish term for the operations of a British-French naval force against military and civilian facilities on the coast of the Grand Duchy of Finland in 1854–1856, during the Crimean War between the Russian Empire and the allied France and Britain. The war is named after the Battle of Bomarsund in Åland. Although the name of the war refers to Åland, skirmishes were also fought in other coastal towns of Finland in the Gulf of Bothnia and the Gulf of Finland.
