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Settlement Association

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Calthrop

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The novelist Edith Pargeter (1913 --95), who also wrote under the pseudonym of Ellis Peters -- very prolific in production of such novels, largely "historical and / or detective" (in my opinion, "not Tolstoy or Proust", but ably written and very readable stuff): was, under her own name, author of a quartet of novels set in medieval Wales, The Brothers of Gwynedd -- setting of some of which, is Abergwyngregyn. She is probably best known for -- written wearing Ellis Peters "hat" -- the numerous Brother Cadfael novels: said figure being a 12th-century monk -- and in his "spare time", detective-before-detectives-were-invented -- at Shrewsbury Abbey.
 

Calthrop

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Market Rasen, Lincolnshire, is also twinned with a settlement in the French departement of Sarthe. Chippenham's "twin" is La Fleche; Market Rasen's is Mamers.
 

Calthrop

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Being perhaps a bit cheeky -- in the current thread here on "General Discussion", Most Overrated Tourist Spots / Attractions in the UK -- Where? -- a couple of locations are nominated, re which I disagree. One is Chester -- quite fiercely "rubbished" by several posters; but I have had ("family" stuff playing a considerable part) a lifelong love affair with Chester: likely independent of reality or rationality -- "cold, dead hands", etc. Another venue mentioned, by only one poster -- and mildly, just indicating that for him it didn't live up to all the hype -- is the Giants' Causeway: nearest significant settlement Bushmills, Co. Antrim. When I visited the Causeway, I was for sure, impressed.
 

DerekC

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Bushmills is very well known as the home of a famous whiskey distillery. A more recent addition to the list of settlements hosting such distilleries is Crolly (Croithlí in Irish Gaelic) , Co Donegal.
 

Calthrop

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Loughanure in County Donegal also lies on the line of the Crolly River.
Also in the west of Ireland but a very long way to the south: is a settlement whose name makes a good, though not perfect, rhyme for Loughanure -- Knockanure, Co. Kerry (near Listowel). Noted for probably two things: was the scene of dramatic / traumatic doings in Ireland's troubled times a little over a century ago, leading up to the establishing of the Free State; and the scathing and reckoned likely over-stated and unkind verse by the local bard Paddy Drury: Knockanure, you are mean and poor / A church without a steeple; / And ignorant hoors lean on half-doors, / Demeaning decent people.
 

Calthrop

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The scholar and controversial politician Enoch Powell (1912 -- 98) was born in Stechford. His active political career began with his becoming, at the 1950 General Election, MP for the constituency of Wolverhampton South-West.
 

Calthrop

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At the risk of getting stuck in a rut re celebrated figures of a basically conservative bent -- Mary Whitehouse (1920 -- 2001), most famous or notorious for her war against "mucky stuff on telly": worked for some time in her youth, as a teacher in Wednesfield. She died in Colchester, Essex -- far from her native Midlands.
 

Calthrop

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I just can't resist "twinnings" -- especially unlikely-seeming ones. Hexham, Northumberland, is also twinned with a settlement in the French departement of Oise. Sible Hedingham's "twin" is Choisy-au-Bac; Hexham's is Noyon.
 
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Aydon has a castle that isn't a castle - technically it is a fortified manor house (though it looked like a castle to me). Another such place is Stokesay in Shropshire, whose beautiful castle is also a FMH.
 

Calthrop

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Aydon has a castle that isn't a castle - technically it is a fortified manor house (though it looked like a castle to me). Another such place is Stokesay in Shropshire, whose beautiful castle is also a FMH.
Ignorant prole respectfully wishes to know: please, what's a FMH?

ETA -- have just realised -- of course: a fortified manor house -- as per your very post. And I have -- see below -- the gall to mock giants for being dim :oops: ...


Wiki tells us that "according to legend, Stokesay was once the home of two giants... they kept their treasure in Stokesay Castle, but upon losing the key to the castle, they both died of grief". This brings to mind a Cornish legend involving two giants: overall impression from these tales -- and, I gather, from folklore in general -- is of the tendency of giants to be "really not all that bright". The giant Cormoran -- associated in various ways with St. Michaels's Mount, nearest settlement Marazion -- was friends, sort-of, with the giant of neighbouring Trencorm: the two threw boulders back and forth at each other, for recreation. The Trencorm chap once decided to vary things by throwing an enormous hammer in Cormoran's direction -- the hammer happened, most unfortunately, to strike and kill Cormoran's giantess wife.
 
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Calthrop

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Derek Tangye (1912 -- 96), author and farmer -- essentially, "potatoes and flowers" -- long lived at St. Buryan: wrote a total of nineteen books, referred to as the Minack Chronicles, about his and his wife's life, in their "fastness" there -- the books chiefly revolving around the animal life, tame and wild, in their daily company. A figure similar in some ways -- and a contemporary, though with a much shorter life-span, and "doing his thing" at the very opposite end of Great Britain: was Gavin Maxwell, who wrote -- from a perhaps more robust point of view (and it would seem that the world gave him a rougher time) -- about his life in the intimate company of animals; with him, above all else, (semi)-tame otters. Maxwell's chosen location was at a very remote spot on the Scottish mainland's west coast, opposite Skye: nearest settlement of any magnitude, Glenelg (Highland) -- which lies some seven miles south-east of Kyle of Lochalsh, per flight of the local fowl of one's choice.
 
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Calthrop

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Nybster in Caithness also has the preserved remains of a prehistoric broch.
Easy and undemanding follow-on -- but essentially, I can't find anything about this place, other than the broch. This name-form would seem a bit of a favourite for settlements in the Caithness area; there's also Lybster (which we of course know about from rail associations); and Mybster (west of Wick and south of Thurso).
 

Calthrop

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Neil M. Gunn (1891 -- 1973) -- novelist, critic, dramatist, and proponent of Scottish Nationalism -- was born in Dunbeath. Aside from his quite numerous novels; writings by him were published in a wide range of journals including -- believe it or not -- Point magazine based in Leicester.
 

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