Settlement Association

[Calthrop]

Naas -- not Kildare -- is the county town of Co. Kildare. In a somewhat similar, but not identical, phenomenon, Tipperary is not the county town of its namesake county: which is divided into two sub-counties, North (c.t. Nenagh) and South (c.t. Clonmel).

 

[Xenophon PCDGS]

Bansha in County Tipperary also lies on the line of the River Ara.

 

[Calthrop]

"Far-fetching fearfully far" (I've left it for five hours, hoping that someone would come up with a simpler bit of associating ) -- Bansha is a prominent point of access to the area of natural beauty called the Glens of Aherlow, in the Galtee Mountains. Association here, with the highly-glum folk ballad Paddy Sheehan: in which the eponymous first-person narrator -- born and brought up in the Glens Of... -- volunteers for the British Army in the Crimean War, and ends up greatly regretting having done so. At one point in the sad saga come the words, "I woke before Sebastopol, and not in Aherlow". Sebastopol (Wales; County Borough of Torfaen) is the southernmost suburb of Pontypool: named at its foundation, after the then recent engagement in the Crimean War at the city in those parts, of Sevastopol / Sebastopol.

 

[Xenophon PCDGS]

Pontnewynydd in Monmouthshire also lies on the line of the Monmouthshire Canal.

 

[Calthrop]

The poet Myfanwy Haycock -- strikes me as a marvellous name -- 1913 - 1963: was born in Pontnewynydd. After she married, she lived for the rest of her life in Buckland, Surrey -- near Reigate. (Another Buckland -- England's full of them !)

 

[DerekC]

Buckland is the mythological home of the Buckland Shag, a monstrous horse which devoured people on the Shag Stone. There are many other horse myths dotted around the British Isles. An interesting one is the Glashtin, a shape shifting beast which can be goblin, man or horse, pursuing women in the area of Castletown, Isle of Man.

 

[Xenophon PCDGS]

Ringmer in East Sussex also has a church that is dedicated to St Mary the Virgin.

 

[Springs Branch]

Uffculme in Devon has also been the location of a spectacular fire / explosion in a local fireworks factory.
(Unfortunately with fatalities in the Ringmer incident)

 

[Xenophon PCDGS]

Clayhanger in Devon was also once under the jurisdiction of the Hundred of Bampton.

 

[Springs Branch]

There's not a lot to see in the hamlet of Clayhanger. However there is a minor road intriguingly named Featherbed Lane.

Google Maps suggests there is a handful of other roads with the same name dotted around England, including a Featherbed Lane linking the Oxfordshire villages of Milton Hill and East Hendred.

 

[Xenophon PCDGS]

Painters Forstal in Kent also has a church that is dedicated to St Augustine of Canterbury.

 

[Calthrop]

Painters Forstal in Kent also has a church that is dedicated to St Augustine of Canterbury.

Seems we can't get away from that dratted Crimea: the above-bolded settlement has; and Blackburn has had; pubs named after engagements in that war -- Painters Forstal, The Alma; Blackburn, The Balaclava (now closed).

 

[Springs Branch]

Blackburn's C of E cathedral is a relative newcomer to the diocesan scene, having been promoted from parish church status in 1926.

Another new cathedral of similar vintage (1927) is at Derby.

 

[341o2]

Derby FC is nicknamed the rams, while Liverpool's two premier teams are known as the Blues and the Reds

 

[Xenophon PCDGS]

Southwark also has both Anglican and Roman Catholic cathedrals.

 

[Calthrop]

A parallel of sorts -- maybe not a super-close one -- can be seen between London-and-Southwark; and another pair of settlements on either side of a river, much further north. What is now the London Borough of Southwark, was for a good many centuries in every way a different and distinct town, from the City of London just across the bridge over the Thames. If I understand rightly: for a few centuries after that, it was sort-of a part of the City of London, but not completely: playing host to various fun-and-vice establishments not tolerated in the City proper. A geographical parallel with Newcastle and Gateshead, on different sides of the Tyne -- but those two have always been totally different communities in their own right,

 

[Xenophon PCDGS]

Lancaster also has a Millenium Bridge.

 

[Calthrop]

The name Stirling is also associated with aircraft for military purposes.

 

[Xenophon PCDGS]

Peebles was also created as a Royal Burgh in the 12th century.

 

[Calthrop]

Peebles was also created as a Royal Burgh in the 12th century.

The above-bolded settlement has as a namesake (surname involved) of a disc-jockey and media presenter: Andy Peebles (with whom, incidentally, I was at school). The same applies to the late John Peel -- though the "Peel" was with him, a pseudonym; and Peel, Isle of Man.

 

[DerekC]

Rothesay on the Isle of Bute, like Peel, was the site of an internment camp in World War II.

 

[Xenophon PCDGS]

Stornoway in the Outer Hebrides has also hosted the Royal National Mod on more than one occasion.

 

[Calthrop]

Stornoway in the Outer Hebrides has also hosted the Royal National Mod on more than one occasion.

As we often remark, this game is endlessly educational. I really thought that a Royal National Mod couldn't be anything to do with scooter-riding 1960s teenage tearaways; and indeed I find that it's a Scottish Gaelic cultural festival.

The above-bolded settlement's name comes from the Old Norse, Stjornavagr; similarly with Wick, Caithness: reckoned to be from the O.N. vik = bay.

 

[Xenophon PCDGS]

Batley in West Yorkshire was also the recipient of a Carnegie Library.

 

[EbbwJunction1]

The Heavy Woollen District is a region of textile-focused industrial development in West Yorkshire, and acquired the name because of the heavyweight cloth manufactured there from the early 19th century. As well as Batley, another town included in the District is Ossett.

 

[Xenophon PCDGS]

Sunderland also has a church that is dedicated to St Ignatius.

 

[Calthrop]

Stourbridge, West Midlands, is also prominent in the annals of British glassmaking.

 

[341o2]

Another road crossing of the Stour is at Shipston on Stour, Warwickshire

 

[Xenophon PCDGS]

Barcheston in Warwickshire was also once administered by the ancient Hundred of Oswaldslow.

 

[Calthrop]

England's first tapestry factory was founded in Barcheston in the 16th century. A couple of centuries on: Soho, London, was a significant centre of tapestry-weaving.