Settlement Association

[John Griffiths]

Ha! I've never heard it sung, but the chorus runs, I think..

Byker Hill and Walker shore
Collier lads for evermore

 

[Xenophon PCDGS]

Alloway, unsurprisingly, has a monument to Robert Burns; as does Walker in Newcastle upon Tyne.

Bowness-on-Solway also lies on the line taken by the Roman defensive edifice known as Hadrians Wall.

 

[Calthrop]

Splendid tale told in Wiki: the two original bells of St. Michael's Church, Bowness-on-Solway, were stolen by border reivers in 1626; they accidentally, in their flight, dropped the bells in the Solway Firth. In retaliation, the villagers of Bowness raided Dornock (immediately opposite on the Solway), making off with a new pair of bells. Traditionally, on his inception, the vicar of Annan petitions the folk of Bowness for the return of the Scottish bells.

 

[Xenophon PCDGS]

Inverary is another settlement that was created a Royal Burgh during the reign of King Charles I.

 

[DerekC]

Inveraray bell tower contains a famous peal of ten bells. Probably even better known, at least to those with an interest in the story of Jack the Ripper, is the Ten Bells public house in Commercial Street, Spitalfields, East London.

 

[Xenophon PCDGS]

Alconbury in Cambridgeshire is also on the route of the Roman road known as Ermine Street.

 

[Springs Branch]

The A1 trunk road has a number of disconnected portions which are upgraded to motorway standard and are designated as A1(M).
When heading north, one of the upgraded A1(M) sections starts at Alconbury.
The most northerly and longest continuous section of A1(M) begins at the West Yorkshire village of Darrington.

 

[Calthrop]

Thame, Oxfordshire, also has a hostelry called the Spread Eagle.

 

[Springs Branch]

Thame has been used frequently as a filming location for the TV series Midsomer Murders.
The fictional Black Swan pub, which appears regularly in the series, is filmed at a local pub in the Oxfordshire village of Warborough.

 

[Xenophon PCDGS]

East Harptree in Somerset also has a church that is dedicated to St Laurence.

 

[Calthrop]

Newcastleton, Scottish Borders, is also near a site of botanical interest in respect of rare mosses.

 

[Xenophon PCDGS]

Lerwick in Shetland also hosts an annual folk festival.

 

[Calthrop]

Scalloway, a few miles from Lerwick, used to be the Shetland capital. A similar situation has obtained in another island polity, the Isle of Man; whose capital is now Douglas, but was formerly Castletown.

 

[Xenophon PCDGS]

Goldsborough in North Yorkshire also has had a Viking treasure hoard discovered.

 

[Calthrop]

Reprise of a subject from three days ago: Goldsborough has a pub called the Bay Horse; so has Totnes, South Devon. (It's fortunate that this is such a well-liked pub name in England !)

 

[Xenophon PCDGS]

Buckfastleigh also lies on the line of the River Dart.

 

[Calthrop]

Chislehurst, London Borough of Bromley, is also the location of celebrated caves. (If I'm right, Buckfastleigh's are basically natural; Chislehurst's, man-made by quarrying and mining.)

 

[John Griffiths]

PC (later Sergeant) George Dixon of 'Dixon of Dock Green' was based on a Chislehurst policeman called Gordon Snashall, who shared stories of his life on the beat with series writer Ted Willis (a Chislehurst resident). The Dock Green of the series' title was based on Paddington Green police station, in Paddington, west London.

 

[DerekC]

We really can't go to Paddington without thinking about the eponymous bear created by Michael Bond. Darkest Peru is beyond our orbit so we will have to settle for a link to Newbury, Michael Bond's birthplace.

 

[Xenophon PCDGS]

Heptonstall in West Yorkshire also had a medieval period Cloth Hall.

 

[Calthrop]

The poet Sylvia Plath is buried, after her short and tragic life, in Heptonstall churchyard. During her unhappy marriage to fellow-poet Ted Hughes, they lived for a while in North Tawton, Devon.

 

[Xenophon PCDGS]

Calstock in Cornwall also was the site of a Roman fort.

 

[Calthrop]

(Sinisterly): Bethesda, Gwynedd, is also a place of some note for the mining of arsenic.

 

[Xenophon PCDGS]

Nazareth is also a Gwynedd settlement with a Biblical name.

 

[Calthrop]

Bethlehem, Carmarthenshire, has "done the same number".

 

[Xenophon PCDGS]

Caerphilly also hosts an annual Christmas market.

 

[Calthrop]

Trefaldwyn (English, Montgomery) is another Welsh settlement which gives its name to an -- admittedly less famous -- type of cheese.

 

[Xenophon PCDGS]

Trefonen also lies on the route of the long-distance footpath known as Offa's Dyke Path.

 

[Calthrop]

Trefonen also lies on the route of the long-distance footpath known as Offa's Dyke Path.

Trefonen holds an annual hill-walking weekend which includes a scarecrow competition. Heather, Leicestershire, has an annual scarecrow festival. Revisiting here, a theme of not many days back -- I have to wonder, what is it supposed to be with scarecrows? I don't find them particularly interesting or entertaining (don't say that to Barbara Euphan Todd).

 

[Xenophon PCDGS]

Penhow in Monmouthshire also has a church that is dedicated to St John the Baptist.