Settlement Association

[Xenophon PCDGS]

Earlsfield also lies on the line of the River Wandle.

 

[EbbwJunction1]

The English novelist Louis de Bernieres was born on 8th December 1954 near Woolwich in London in 1954 and grew up in Surrey. He lived in Earlsfield while writing Captain Corelli's Mandolin. His book and play Sunday Morning at the Centre of the World (No, me neither!) is a homage to the diverse community of Earlsfield.

 

[Calthrop]

The UK's first branch of McDonalds opened in Woolwich in 1974. First branch in UK of Kentucky Fried Chicken, opened in Preston in 1965: beating inauguration in this country of any other American fast-food chain, by a fairish margin.

 

[Xenophon PCDGS]

Ribchester in Lancashire also lies on the line of the River Ribble.

 

[Calthrop]

Ribchester has a pub called the Black Bull, and another called the White Bull. Malmesbury has one called the Red Bull -- nothing to do with the energy drink, as far as I know.

 

[Xenophon PCDGS]

Bridport in Dorset was also fortified by Alfred the Great against incursions by the Danes.

 

[Calthrop]

Bridport is one of a fair number of settlements in Thomas Hardy's well-known "patch" -- the south-west of England, his various "Wessexes" -- of which he writes in various of his novels, thinly disguised and under pseudonyms. With Hardy, Bridport is thus Port Bredy; he similarly pseudonymises Weymouth, as Budmouth.

 

[Xenophon PCDGS]

Holyhead is also a ferry port.

 

[John Griffiths]

Holy Island village in Northumberland is, like Holyhead, located on an island named Holy Island.

 

[Calthrop]

North Ayrshire also has a Holy Island / Isle: a tiny island just east of Arran, home to a Buddhist community -- resident population 31 as at 2011.

 

[Xenophon PCDGS]

Tobemory is also a settlement on an offshore island.

 

[Calthrop]

Tobemory is also a settlement on an offshore island.

Stretching things somewhat -- South Molton, Devon, is also used by Saki (H.H. Munro) as the name (or sort-of) of a character in a short story by him. Different stories involved, in each case: Tobermory is a somewhat evil talking cat; and brief mention is made of the (fictional) Bishop of South Molton.

 

[Xenophon PCDGS]

North Molton also lies on the line of the River Mole.

 

[John Griffiths]

Molesey in Surrey stands where another River Mole flows into the Thames

 

[Xenophon PCDGS]

Cobham in Surrey was also once administered by the Hundred of Elmbridge.

 

[Calthrop]

The aviation pioneer and businessman Sir Thomas Sopwith lived at Cobham in the 1920s. He lived for the latter part of his life -- up to his death aged 101 -- at King's Somborne (Hampshire) -- north of Romsey.

 

[Xenophon PCDGS]

Dunham Massey also has a deer park.

 

[Calthrop]

Macclesfield is also situated on the River Bollin.

 

[Xenophon PCDGS]

Bollngton in Cheshire East also has historical connections to silk weaving.

 

[Calthrop]

Terry Waite -- humanitarian, churchman and author -- was born and lived briefly in childhood, in Bollington. In a ceremony in 2009 in Ely Cathedral, the Open University made him an honorary D. Univ.

 

[Xenophon PCDGS]

Ripon also has an Anglican cathedral.

 

[Calthrop]

Uttoxeter, Staffordshire, also has a racecourse.

 

[Xenophon PCDGS]

Swanage in Dorset is another settlement where Bronze Age axe heads have been excavated.

 

[Calthrop]

Swanage in Dorset is another settlement where Bronze Age axe heads have been excavated.

Swanage has in times long past, been alternatively known as "Sandwich". There is still a Sandwich, of course, in Kent. Both coastal settlements have been the venues of close-inshore naval engagements, where "we" prevailed over "them" -- Alfred the Great's Wessex versus the Danes in 877 (Swanage); England versus France in 1217 (Kent's Sandwich).

 

[Xenophon PCDGS]

Hythe in Kent was also one of the original Cinque Ports.

 

[John Griffiths]

Hythe means landing place, as in Queen****he, the Saxon era dock in the City of London, and, a bit downriver, Rotherhithe.

 

[John Griffiths]

The combination of letters seems to have upset the Mrs Grundy spellcheck.

 

[Xenophon PCDGS]

Rotherhithe.

Cricklade in Wiltshire also lies on the line of the River Thames.

 

[Springs Branch]

Prodding the sensibilities of Mrs Grundy again......

Scunthorpe also has a twin town in France.

 

[Xenophon PCDGS]

Corby also overlies deposits of iron ore.