Settlement Association

[Calthrop]

Bentley Beetham (1886 -- 1963) -- mountaineer, ornithologist and photographer, and participant in the 1924 British Everest Expedition -- spent his retirement in Cotherstone. He was born in Darlington.

 

[Xenophon PCDGS]

Manchester also has a noted clock tower.

 

[Calthrop]

Going to be a bit naughty -- the song The Manchester Rambler has long been an "anthem" for those who enjoy walking in the wild places, and consider free access thereto, to be something right and reasonable. I had a contemporary at university who enjoyed this leisure pursuit. He came, though, from the West Riding of Yorkshire; and cultivated very diligently (to the point of its coming to be to me, somewhat tedious -- not because of the particular part of the country involved; just because, ultimately, "enough already !") a "professional Yorkshireman" image. He thus adapted the words, for his own use, to "I'm a rambler... from Doncaster way".

 

[Xenophon PCDGS]

Newmarket in Suffolk also has a Group 1 rated racecourse.

 

[Calthrop]

Newmarket in Suffolk also has a Group 1 rated racecourse.

The above-bolded has a namesake town in the Republic of Ireland -- Newmarket ! -- in Co. Cork, near the joining-point of that county; and Cos. Kerry, and Limerick.

 

[Xenophon PCDGS]

Rockchapel in County Cork also lies on the route of the R576 road.

 

[Calthrop]

The River Feale rises near Rockchapel; some way downstream on that river lies Listowel, Co. Kerry.

 

[Xenophon PCDGS]

Dungarvan in County Waterford also hosts an annual food fair.

 

[Calthrop]

Dungarvan is mentioned -- repeatedly -- in John Betjeman's poem The Irish Unionist's Farewell to Greta Hellstrom. Another of his -- dare I suggest -- less well-known poetic geographical references, is in his poem Felixstowe [Suffolk] -- The Last of her Order.

 

[Xenophon PCDGS]

Mablethorpe in Lincolnshire was also affected by flooding as a result of the North Sea Flood of 1953.

 

[Calthrop]

Up to a few centuries ago: Mablethorpe and other towns on that coast were -- if the poem is to be believed -- at some risk from Barbary Pirate / Corsair types who sailed up from the Mediterranean and almost with impunity, raided those places: plundering, and capturing people to sell as slaves. For several years from 1627 on, the cheeky so-and-so's -- in the person of Moroccan corsairs under the command of a Dutch renegade -- even captured and occupied Lundy Island, and used it as a base for raids on various nearby parts of the British Isles.

 

[Xenophon PCDGS]

If we're accepting Lundy as the name of the settlement as well as the island (and I'm happy to), then we can contiune as follows:

Beacon Hill Cemetery, Lundy was excavated by Charles Thomas in 1969. The cemetery was originally enclosed by a curvilinear bank and ditch, which is still visible in the southwest corner. Celtic Christian enclosures of this type were common in Western Britain; another surviving example is in Luxulyan in Cornwall.

I think this posting should be used as a precedent.

 

[Calthrop]

I think this posting should be used as a precedent.

Not quarrelling -- just trying to comprehend: I'd previously had the impression that Lundy (Island), with its tiny resident population, was acceptable in the game, as a settlement -- seem to perceive its having been found so in the past -- don't think have been hitherto aware of @EbbwJunction1's quoted posting. If I'm right with the foregoing: my "Lundy Island" is OK -- up to someone else to follow; with Luxulyan, or wherever else inspiration may light on ...

 

[Xenophon PCDGS]

Not quarrelling -- just trying to comprehend: I'd previously had the impression that Lundy (Island), with its tiny resident population, was acceptable in the game, as a settlement -- seem to perceive its having been found so in the past -- don't think have been hitherto aware of @EbbwJunction1's quoted posting. If I'm right with the foregoing: my "Lundy Island" is OK -- up to someone else to follow; with Luxulyan, or wherever else inspiration may light on ...

Laneast in Cornwall also has a stone Cornish cross.

 

[Calthrop]

Born at Laneast, were the scientist brothers John Couch Adams (1819 -- 1892) -- mathematician and astronomer who discovered the planet Neptune; and William Grylls Adams (1836 -- 1915) -- physicist. Both had at any rate a connection with the University of Cambridge: John's academic career centred thereon; and whereas William's career was essentially at Kings College London, his first degree was gained at Cambridge.

 

[341o2]

Oxford is the other team in the Varsity Boat Race

 

[D6130]

Oxford has the smallest medieval cathedral in England. The second smallest is at Carlisle.

 

[Calthrop]

In the rousing Border ballad of Kinmont Willie: the gentleman of that name -- a renowned raider and disturber of the peace -- is seized in an underhanded and illicit way, by elements of the English garrison of Carlisle; who incarcerate him in that town's castle, pending planned extra-judicial putting him to death. The Duke of Buccleuch -- Scottish "Keeper" of the West March, exercising this role from his seat at Branxholme, near Hawick (Scottish Borders) is incensed at this dishonourable deed perpetrated on his fellow-Scot and kinsman, by his English opposite numbers; and organises a task-force to go quietly and discreetly to Carlisle, and by stealth rather than force (there is at the time, theoretically a truce in place between the two nations), to break K.W. out of his imprisonment, and take him back home -- which ploy is successful, and with a minimal body-count.

 

[D6130]

Branxholme Tower (aka Branxholme Castle) - nowadays a country house hotel and wedding venue - was extensively remodelled in 1837 by Edinburgh architect William Burn. Among his over 600 commissions over a sixty year career, Burn worked on the restoration of Dornoch cathedral in Sutherland.

 

[Xenophon PCDGS]

Newburgh in Fife was also created a Royal Burgh during the reign of Charles I.

 

[Calthrop]

Newburgh was in the past, a considerable centre for the manufacture of linoleum. Kirkcaldy, Fife, was significantly more so, re that commodity: some linoleum manufacturing still takes place there today.

 

[EbbwJunction1]

Raith Rovers are the main professional team in Kirkaldy. The other senior football team, Kirkaldy & Dysart FC, play at Denfield Park, Kirkaldy. They are members of the East of Scotland League First Division, having moved from the Junior leagues in 2020. Another club in the same division is Kennoway Star Hearts FC, who play their home games at Treaton Park in the village of Star near Kennoway, Fife.

 

[Calthrop]

There are bodies of water / marsh areas near Star, which are excellent venues for overwintering greylag geese. The same is true of the Wetland Centre at Slimbridge, Gloucestershire.

 

[Xenophon PCDGS]

Sharpness in Gloucestershire also lies on the line of the Gloucester and Sharpness Canal.

 

[Calthrop]

Sharpness; and Crossness (London Borough of Bexley) are both place-names, which can also be straightforward adjectives -- no initial capital letter.

 

[Xenophon PCDGS]

Plumstead in the Royal Borough of Greenwich also lies on the line of the Ridgeway Footpath.

 

[EbbwJunction1]

Plumstead was the home of the Peculiar People, a Christian movement that was originally an offshoot of the Wesleyan denomination. It was founded in 1838 in Rochford, Essex, by James Banyard, a farm-worker's son born in 1800. They derive their name from a term of praise found in both the Old Testament (Deuteronomy Chapter 14 Verse 2) and the New Testament (1 Peter Chapter 2 Verse 9). The Peculiar People is also a phrase used to describe the Quakers, which they adopted with some pride.

 

[Calthrop]

The River Roach (tributary of the River Crouch), on which Rochford lies: is one of those rivers whose name is a back-formation from a settlement through which they pass. This river was, very long ago, differently named; Rochford's name comes originally from the Old English for "ford of the hunting dogs" -- but local "wisdom" envisaged it, as it were, as meaning "ford on the River Roach"; and renamed the river accordingly. A similar situation applies re Eamont Bridge, Cumbria (just outside Penrith): settlement's name means "in the old tongue", "junction of streams"; the river running through it -- tributary of the River Eden -- having received back-formation-wise, the name "River Eamont".

 

[Xenophon PCDGS]

Cockermouth in Cumbria was also affected by the flooding caused by excessive rainfall from Storm Desmond in December 2015.

 

[Springs Branch]

The Jennings Brewery at Cockermouth is now owned by Marston's plc.
This company also operates the Wychwood Brewery in Witney Oxfordshire.