Settlement Association

[Calthrop]

There is another Oddington, in Oxfordshire; a little over twenty miles east-south-east of the Gloucestershire one. The Oxfordshire Oddington is in the middle of the Otmoor region, north-east of Oxford: formerly a large marshland area, whose inhabitants had depended for their livelihood on the marshes and their fauna -- there was circa 1830, bitter resentment among locals about landowners' projects to drain and enclose these lands; involving civil disturbances and a fair amount of violence.

 

[EbbwJunction1]

The present Church of England parish church of Saint Andrew was built at the end of the 13th century and beginning of the 14th century. Between 1884 and 1886, the church was heavily restored under the direction of the architect Edward George Bruton. The bell tower and the north wall of the chancel were rebuilt, the vestry and north aisle were added and several windows inserted. Edward George Bruton (1826 – 1899) was a British Gothic Revival architect who practised in Oxford, and mainly concentrated on religious buildings. He was, however, involved in work on secular buildings, such as The Grange, Little Tew, Oxfordshire, where he designed a new wing in 1880.

 

[Calthrop]

The village of Little Tew has long had close links of various kinds with Exeter College, Oxford University; said college were holders of the local manor as from 1566. Making thus, a possibly a bit tenuous association with Exeter, Devon.

 

[EbbwJunction1]

Three people involved with Exeter Chiefs RFC have been awarded the Freedom of the City of Exeter. The latest is Gareth Steenson, the former outside half, who was nominated on 15th December 2020 and formally presented with the award on 7th October 2021. Gareth Steenson was born on 5th April 1984 in Armagh, Northern Ireland, and has played over 300 matches for the club, scoring over 2,500 points.

 

[Calthrop]

Leicester also has a planetarium.

 

[DerekC]

Sue Townsend, author of The Secret Diary of Adrian Mole aged 13¾ and many other books, lived in Leicester all her life. She received honorary doctorates from both the University of Leicester and Loughborough University.

 

[D6130]

Appleton in Oxfordshire also has a bell foundry.

 

[Springs Branch]

Appleton was historically in the County of Berkshire until it was transferred to Oxfordshire in the 1974 local government re-organisation.

Another settlement which changed counties in the same re-organisation (from the West Riding of Yorkshire to Lancashire) was Barnoldswick.

 

[Xenophon PCDGS]

Saltaire in West Yorkshire also lies on the line of the Leeds and Liverpool Canal.

 

[Calthrop]

Some filming has been done, around the Saltaire "benevolent ideal industrial village" heritage site, for the TV series Peaky Blinders; which was of course set in bygone Birmingham.

 

[EbbwJunction1]

The British statesman Joseph Chamberlain (1836 – 1914) was the father of Austen and Neville, who were also important figures in the political life of Britain up to the 1940s. Chamberlain made his career in Birmingham, first as a manufacturer of screws and then as a notable mayor of the city. He was, however, born in Camberwell, but died in Birmingham; The family refused an offer of an official burial at Westminster Abbey and a Unitarian ceremony was held in the city. He was laid to rest at Key Hill Cemetery, Hockley, in the same grave as his first two wives, and close to that of his parents.

 

[DerekC]

There are ten Hockleys listed in Wikipedia (including two in the West Midlands). I guess the burlal place of Joseph Chamberlain is Hockley the inner suburb of Birmingham. Hockley in Hampshire isn't really a settlement at all, It has a farm, a golf club and a viaduct now used as a cycle path. It used to have a set of traffic lights on the A33 until the road was rebuilt as a motorway, accompanied by much protest because of the failure to tunnel under Twyford Down. The nearest village is Shawford.

 

[EbbwJunction1]

I hadn't realised that there are as many Hockleys as that ... but yes, it's the one in the inner suburb of Birmingham that I was referring to.

Shawford is one half of the civil parish of Compton and Shawford in the City of Winchester district. The parish is crossed from east to west by the Monarch's Way long distance footpath, which approximates the escape route taken by King Charles II in 1651 after being defeated in the Battle of Worcester. It runs from Worcester via Bristol and Yeovil to Shoreham, West Sussex.

 

[Xenophon PCDGS]

Farnborough in Hampshire was also the scene of a crash with fatalities at an airshow.

 

[DerekC]

Farnborough is traversed by the Basingstoke Canal, from 1991 navigable again from the River Wey almost as far as the east end of the tunnel at Greywell, Hampshire. The last boat to pass the tunnel was the barge Basingstoke in 1914. The western end of the tunnel collapsed in 1932 and given a large resident population of bats it seems unlikely that it will ever be reopened, although the Basingstoke Canal Society has plans to bypass the tunnel with a contour following canal, perhaps linking to the Kennet Navigation (and hence the Kennet and Avon Canal).

 

[Xenophon PCDGS]

Heckfield in Hampshire also lies on the line of the River Whitewater.

 

[EbbwJunction1]

Heckfield lies on the B3349, which runs in a broadly southerly direction from the A33 to the M3. The first village after the junction with the A33 is Three Mile Cross, which is in the civil parish of Shinfield.

 

[Calthrop]

The most famous (relatively) person associated with Three Mile Cross, would seem to be the poet and author Mary Russell Mitford (1787 -- 1855), who lived most of her life in the village -- her most noted work being numerous prose sketches about life there, published under the title of Our Village. As with not a few other authors: the part of the author's output held in highest regard by the readership, is stuff which the author considered rubbish, churned out to pay the bills (as with Our Village, here) -- the author's passion is for other parts of their work (Mary R.M. saw herself above all, as a poet), which those on the receiving end find -- well, not so good. Somewhat more renowned female authors a little more than a century later, with the same surname (no relation, as far as I know) are Nancy and Jessica Mitford -- Nancy, who penned many novels, in particular: their output would seem to have been more gutsy and hard-nosed stuff, than M.R.M.'s village-life vignettes. The twentieth-century Mitfords (Nancy, Jessica and their several other siblings) resided in their youth at various places in the more southerly parts of England; including High Wycombe, Buckinghamshire, where the family had a summer cottage.

 

[Xenophon PCDGS]

Lancaster also has historical connections to the manufacturing of high quality furniture.

 

[Calthrop]

Swindon is also twinned with a city in Poland. Lancaster's "twin" is Lublin; Swindon's, Torun.

 

[Xenophon PCDGS]

Stanton Fitzwarren in Wiltshire was also once administered by the Hundred of Highworth.

 

[Calthrop]

Wixoe, Suffolk (just barely -- on the River Stour forming the boundary with Essex, near Haverhill) also has a parish church dedicated to St. Leonard.

 

[Xenophon PCDGS]

Newport in Shropshire also lies on the route of the Roman road called Via Devana.

 

[EbbwJunction1]

Newport (Salop) RUFC play at the Old Showground, just outside the town, and currently play in the Midlands Premier Division, a fifth tier league in England. Earlier this season, I saw them play Broadstreet RUFC at their home ground, which is the Ivor Preece Field, Binley Woods, Coventry.

 

[Calthrop]

Millington, East Yorkshire -- between York and Driffield -- is also adjacent to a Designated Area of Ancient Woodland: for Millington, Millington Wood; for Binley Woods, Brandon Wood.

 

[Xenophon PCDGS]

Thrixendale in North Yorkshire also lies on the route of The Yorkshire Wolds Way long-distance footpath.

 

[EbbwJunction1]

The church of St Mary, Thixendale is a Grade II* Listed Building and is on the Sykes Churches Trail, which was devised by the East Yorkshire Historic Churches Group. It is a tour of East Yorkshire churches which were built, rebuilt or restored by the Sykes family (Sir Tatton Sykes, 4th Baronet (1772–1863) and his son Sir Tatton Sykes, 5th Baronet (1826–1913) of Sledmere House, Sledmere in the East Riding of Yorkshire. Another such Church is St Nicholas in the Yorkshire Wolds village of Wetwang; this is of Norman origin which was restored by both Baronets between 1845 and 1902.

 

[DerekC]

Wetwang is the site of an Iron Age chariot burial, thought to be associated with the Arras Culture of the Parisii tribe. The culture is named after Arras Farm near Market Weighton where a major cemetery of the tribe was found.

 

[EbbwJunction1]

William Bradley, known more commonly as Giant Bradley or the Yorkshire Giant, was born in Market Weighton in 1787, and is one of the tallest recorded British men, measuring 7 feet 9 inches. This is the same height as Angus MacAskill, who was a Scottish-born Canadian giant. Angus MacAskill was born in 1825 on the island and community of Berneray in the Sound of Harris, Scotland.

 

[Calthrop]

For bird-lovers; Berneray is a place where one has a good chance of encountering the corncrake: a summer-visiting species, once common throughout Britain, now found in only a few remote locations. Another good corncrake venue is Tory Island, Co. Donegal.