Settlement Association

[Xenophon PCDGS]

Wrexham also has a church that is dedicated to St Giles.

 

[DerekC]

Wrexham, like Reading, is intending to apply for city status in the Queen's platinum jubilee award.

 

[D6130]

Reading is at the Eastern end of the Kennet & Avon Canal, the Western end of which is at Bath.

 

[Springs Branch]

The Bishop of Bath and Wells is one of the two bishops who escort the sovereign at the coronation - the other being the bishop of Durham.

 

[Xenophon PCDGS]

Mirfield in West Yorkshire also has an Anglican theological college.

 

[EbbwJunction1]

The Mirfield Petanque Club, who are based at the Memorial Park, Mirfield, currently play in the West Yorkshire Petanque League. One of their opponents are Heckmondwike Petanque Club, who are based at Firth Park, Heckmondwike.

 

[Calthrop]

The Right Rev. John Monsignor O'Connor (1870 -- 1952) -- who was G.K. Chesterton's model for his detective-priest Father Brown -- was parish priest of Heckmondwike from 1909 to 1919. He was born in Clonmel, Co. Tipperary.

 

[Springs Branch]

Medical devices manufacturer Boston Scientific has a manufacturing facility in Clonmel.

The company's UK base is located in Hemel Hempstead.

 

[D6130]

Aylesbury is another town which was considerably expanded in the 1950s and 1960s to take a large London overspill population.

 

[Calthrop]

Poultry department -- Aylesbury has named after it, a breed of duck; Dorking (Surrey), a breed of chicken.

 

[EbbwJunction1]

A notable resident of Dorking was Peter Labilliere (also known as Peter Labelliere), who was born in Dublin on 30th May 1725 to a family of French Hughenot descent. He was a former Army Major and political agitator, who lived in a cottage on Butter Hill from 1789, having previously lived in Chiswick. He died on 6th June 1800 and, in accordance with his wishes he was buried head downwards on 11th June 1800 on the western side of Box Hill.

 

[Calthrop]

In 1864 John Isaac Thornycroft -- who was to found the shipbuilding company of that name -- began operations at a yard on the Thames at Chiswick, chiefly building warships for the Royal Navy. The increasing size of such craft caused the firm to, in 1909, switch its shipbuilding operations to Southampton.

 

[Xenophon PCDGS]

Thorney in Cambridgeshire is another settlement that was settled by Walloon refugees.

 

[Springs Branch]

Milton Abbas in Dorset was another planned village built by the local landowner to accommodate his agricultural workers.

 

[Quakers Yard]

Building houses for the workers is not new but a famous one is Bournville.

 

[EbbwJunction1]

William Alexander Harvey FRIBA (1874 – 1951) was the architect who designed many of the buildings in Bournville. He also designed several buildings in Selly Oak, including Kingsmead College (1905), Westhill College (1907), and Carey Hall (1912).

 

[Calthrop]

Christina Mayne Dony (1910 -- 1995), botanist and athlete, was born in Selly Oak. In her botanical work, she had much to do with the Society of General Microbiology, based in Reading.

 

[D6130]

Reading is situated on the South bank of the River Thames, opposite Caversham on the North bank.

 

[EbbwJunction1]

The B481 is a rural B-road in south Oxfordshire, which starts at traffic lights on the A4155 in Caversham and heads north out of the town and through Sonning Common before climbing the steep and winding Peppard Hill to Rotherfield Peppard and then onto Nettlebed.

 

[Xenophon PCDGS]

Bix in South Oxfordshire was also once administered by the Hundred of Binfield.

 

[EbbwJunction1]

In 1874, a new St James' Church, built to replace the previous one and closer to the centre of the village of Bix was completed to the designs of the English architect John Gibson (1817 – 1892). He is also responsible for several churches in North Wales, but perhaps his most notable church is St Margaret's in Bodelwyddan, Denbighshire (more popularly known as the Marble Church) which was consecrated in 1860.

 

[Calthrop]

If Wiki is to be believed, Bodelwyddan shares with Ickenham (London Borough of Hillingdon) the good fortune of having always been a tranquil place. Said oracle tells of the former that although it "may not have a long and notable history", it has other features of interest; of the latter, it is a settlement where "no major historical events have ever taken place".

 

[EbbwJunction1]

Ickenham Cricket Club plays at Oak Avenue, Ickenham, and has five Saturday and two Sunday senior men's sides. Their Saturday XI's all play in the Thames Valley Cricket League, and the Sunday XI's play in the Chess Valley Sunday League (CVSL) and the Middlesex Development League. Sadly, the CVSL team was relegated at the end of the 2021 season, and were replaced by Baharat / Olympians CC, who play at Long Lane, Rickmansworth, Middlesex.

 

[Xenophon PCDGS]

Chesham in Buckinghamshire also lies on the line of the River Chess.

 

[Calthrop]

According to a local saying, Chesham is -- or was -- famous for four things: boots, beer, brushes, and Baptists. Another alliterative list -- shorter and probably better-known -- is applied to Dundee: jute, jam, and journalism.

 

[D6130]

North Queensferry in Fife is also at the lowest bridging point of a major Scottish firth, or river estuary.

 

[Xenophon PCDGS]

New Holland in Lincolnshire is another settlement that once had a ferry service.

 

[Quakers Yard]

As did Aust before the first Severn Bridge opened.

 

[Calthrop]

According to some (actual evidence considered meagre); John Wycliffe (1328 -- 1384) -- scholar, priest, and reckoned precursor of the Protestant Reformation -- spent time, and preached, at Aust. He died at Lutterworth, Leicestershire, where in the latter part of his life he was parish priest.

 

[D6130]

Beverley in East Yorkshire also has a parish church dedicated to St Mary.