Settlement Association

[EbbwJunction1]

St Peter's Church, Wormbridge has a broach spire, which was added between 1851 and 1859. This is a type of tall pyramidical structure (spire) which usually sits atop a tower of a Church, starting on a square base and carried up to a tapering octagonal spire by means of triangular faces. Another example is at the Church of St Andrew, Broughton, in Northamptonshire.

 

[Calthrop]

One learns that the above-bolded Broughton used to have two pubs; one, the Sun, has been closed for some years -- an (unsuccessful) protest stunt petitioning for keeping it open, involved driving a tank from the village, to the offices of Kettering Borough Council. Another venue with relevance for that particular type of military hardware, is the Tank Museum at Bovington Camp, near Wool (Dorset).

 

[EbbwJunction1]

The village of Wool lies at a historic bridging point on the River Frome, halfway between Dorchester and Wareham. The river rises in the Dorset Downs at Evershot in Dorset.

 

[Calthrop]

Evershot is the second-highest village in Dorset. Ashmore, a few miles from Shaftesbury, is the highest.

 

[EbbwJunction1]

The Parish Church of St. Nicholas, Ashmore has one bell in it's tower; this is said to be by Robert and James Wells of Aldbourne, Wiltshire and cast in 1818. The fifth bell (of six) at the Parish Church of the Holy Cross in Seend, near Melksham, Wiltshire was cast by the same company in 1793.

 

[Xenophon PCDGS]

Trowbridge in Wiltshire was also once under the jurisdiction of the Melksham Poor Law Union.

 

[DerekC]

Trowbridge was once known as "the Manchester of the west" because of its woollen mills.

 

[Xenophon PCDGS]

Ramsbottom also lies on the line of the River Irwell.

 

[Springs Branch]

The last new Leyland PD2 half-cab bus for the domestic market was ordered by Ramsbottom U.D.C (although subsequently delivered to Selnec's Ramsbottom garage in November 1969).
The Daimler CVG6 was another prolific type of half-cab bus, whose last vehicle for the UK market went to Northampton Corporation.

 

[Xenophon PCDGS]

Gloucester also has a Guildhall.

 

[Calthrop]

A disastrous fire in 1222 destroyed most of Gloucester; the same happened in Nantwich a few centuries later.

 

[EbbwJunction1]

Albert Neilson "Monkey" Hornby was one of the best-known sportsmen in England during the nineteenth century, excelling in both rugby and cricket. He was the first of only two men to captain the country at both rugby and cricket but is also remembered as the England cricket captain whose side lost the Test match which gave rise to the Ashes, at home against Australia in 1882. He was born in Blackburn on 10th February 1847 and died in Nantwich on 17th December 1925.

 

[Springs Branch]

Blackburn Rovers played in the 1960 FA Cup Final, when they were beaten 3-0 by Wolverhampton Wanderers.

 

[John Griffiths]

Trowbridge was once known as "the Manchester of the west" because of its woollen mills.

Even though it's east of Manchester! (Albeit by just 0°2')

 

[Calthrop]

Blackburn Rovers played in the 1960 FA Cup Final, when they were beaten 3-0 by Wolverhampton Wanderers.

Queen Victoria seems to have looked favourably on Wolverhampton: her first public appearance after the funeral of her consort Prince Albert in 1861, was in 1866 to attend the unveiling there, of an equestrian statue of the late Prince; which pleased her greatly. She appears to have been less keen on Brighton: whose inhabitants and their perhaps over-exuberantly loyal attention paid to her when present there, she -- rather ungraciously? -- found "very indiscreet and troublesome"; for most of her reign she visited the town little, if at all.

 

[EbbwJunction1]

Despite Queen Victoria not caring much for Brighton, in the Georgian era the town developed as a highly fashionable seaside resort, encouraged by the patronage of the Prince Regent, later King George IV, who spent much time in the town and constructed the Royal Pavilion. Another area on the South Coast associated with royalty is Bognor Regis, which in 1929 was chosen by advisors to King George V to help with his recovery from lung surgery; this led to its regal suffix, by royal consent. (It's also connected with the epithet "Bugger Bognor", but there's doubt as to whether and when King George V actually said it.)

 

[Xenophon PCDGS]

Mobberley in Cheshire East also has a church that is dedicated to St Wilfrid.

 

[Calthrop]

Sir Trafford Leigh-Mallory, Commander-in-Chief of RAF Fighter Command in World War II, was born in Mobberley. For a spell in the 1930s, he was Station Commander at RAF Digby, Lincolnshire. (Incidentally, I believe that one of the Battle of Britain class Pacifics bore this gentleman's name.)

 

[DerekC]

In fact Leigh-Mallory was only C in C Fighter Command for about 18 months in 1942-43. The C in C prior to and during the Battle of Britain was, of course, Hugh Dowding who was born at Moffat in Dumfriesshire

 

[Calthrop]

John Loudon McAdam (1756 -- 1836), the engineer and road-builder who invented the road-surfacing "macadam", died and is buried in Moffat; he was born in Ayr.

 

[EbbwJunction1]

Ayr has hosted the Scottish Grand National horseracing steeplechase annually since 1965; the Welsh version has been held at Chepstow since 1949.

{To answer Calthrop's question: all three of the main senior RAF Officers had Southern Railway Battle of Britain Light Pacific 4-6-2 locomotives named after them. These were 34052 Lord Dowding, 34053 Sir Keith Park and 34109 Sir Trafford Leigh Mallory. The first and last were scrapped, but 34053 is based at the Spa Valley Railway as a resident locomotive. Other locos were named after bases and squadrons.}

 

[Calthrop]

Ayr has hosted the Scottish Grand National horseracing steeplechase annually since 1965; the Welsh version has been held at Chepstow since 1949.

Chepstow's name comes from the Old English Ceap / Chepe stowe = market place or trading centre. The "Chepe" = market, root: also features in the name of Chipping Norton.

{To answer Calthrop's question: all three of the main senior RAF Officers had Southern Railway Battle of Britain Light Pacific 4-6-2 locomotives named after them. These were 34052 Lord Dowding, 34053 Sir Keith Park and 34109 Sir Trafford Leigh Mallory. The first and last were scrapped, but 34053 is based at the Spa Valley Railway as a resident locomotive. Other locos were named after bases and squadrons.}

Thanks. I love steam, but am often vague about loco name / number details !

 

[johnnychips]

Jeremy Clarkson is one of the ‘Chipping Norton set’ but he was born in Doncaster.

 

[DerekC]

Doncaster (Caer Daun) is one of the thirty three "Cities of Britain" listed in the 9th Century Historia Brittonum. Portchester (Caer Peris) is another.

 

[johnnychips]

Mike Hancock, the dodgy politician, has lived in Portchester for thirty years, but was born in nearby Portsmouth.

 

[Xenophon PCDGS]

Gravesend is another settlement to have been sacked during the period of the Hundred Years War.

 

[Springs Branch]

The last public crossing of the Thames downstream from London is the ferry between Gravesend and Tilbury.

 

[Calthrop]

It was at Tilbury that at the time of the Spanish Armada, Queen Elizabeth I gave her famous "I have the heart and stomach of a king" speech. Another place associated with Elizabeth is Woodstock, Oxfordshire; where during the reign of her sister Mary, she was -- under suspicion of dissidence -- confined for about a year.

 

[Xenophon PCDGS]

Worcester also has historical connections to the trade of glove-making.

 

[Calthrop]

The name of Branston, Staffordshire, is also part of that of a well-known and much-liked English condiment.