Settlement Association

[DerekC]

Leamington Spa appears in one of Sir John Betjeman's poems:

"She died in the upstairs bedroom
By the light of the ev'ning star
That shone through the plate glass window
From over Leamington Spa ...."

And so does Harrow on the Hill

"When melancholy Autumn comes to Wembley
And electric trains are lighted after tea
The poplars near the stadium are trembly
With their tap and tap and whispering to me,
Like the sound of little breakers
Spreading out along the surf-line
When the estuary's filling
With the sea.

Then Harrow-on-the-Hill's a rocky island
And Harrow churchyard full of sailor's graves
And the constant click and kissing of the trolley buses hissing
Is the level of the Wealdstone turned to waves
And the rumble of the railway
Is the thunder of the rollers
As they gather for the plunging
Into caves ..... "

 

[Calthrop]

Within the bounds of Harrow on the Hill is an ancient eminence called Hergae Mound; reckoned to have significance with the "Old Religion" (ley lines etc.). It is also a good spot to see pipistrelle bats -- on a flight-line of the species. Another site of bat importance -- this time, the greater horseshoe bat -- is Bosherston, Pembrokeshire (a little way south of Pembroke town) -- where the creatures are found in some strength.

 

[Xenophon PCDGS]

Great Torrington in Devon also has a church that is dedicated to St Michael and All Angels.

 

[EbbwJunction1]

Great Torrington is often abbreviated to Torrington, although the villages of Little Torrington and Black Torrington are situated in the same region. It is in the centre of Tarka Country, a landscape captured by Henry Williamson in his novel Tarka the Otter in 1927. The book was written while he was living in Skirr Cottage, Gorgeham, Devon.

 

[Calthrop]

Great Torrington is often abbreviated to Torrington, although the villages of Little Torrington and Black Torrington are situated in the same region. It is in the centre of Tarka Country, a landscape captured by Henry Williamson in his novel Tarka the Otter in 1927. The book was written while he was living in Skirr Cottage, Gorgeham, Devon.

The above-bolded village has a pub called The Rock; Stourport-on-Severn, Worcestershire, has the similarly-named Rock Tavern.

(I have a fondness for Henry Williamson, a rather grouchy and cross-grained character. In later parts of his life, he got a bit weary of his Tarka -- sometimes calling it mockingly, "Charcoal the Water Hotter". Perhaps he'd had enough of his nature-based writing, and wanted to concentrate on other stuff; and / or he was maybe sick of being lionised over Tarka. I loved the book; but find the local modern Tarka-everything publicity-bandwagon thing, beyond excessive.)

 

[Xenophon PCDGS]

Kidderminster in Worcestershire also lies on the line of the Staffordshire and Worcestershire Canal.

 

[EbbwJunction1]

Kidderminster Cricket Club currently play in the Birmingham and District Premier League Premier Division. They have won this competition eight times, although the last was in 1975. The current champions are Berkswell Cricket Club, who play at The Lant, Meeting House Lane, Balsall Common, Coventry.

 

[Xenophon PCDGS]

Upper Quinton in Warwickshire also lies on the route of the long-distance footpath known as the Heart of England Way.

 

[Calthrop]

Glandyfi, Ceredigion, is also situated close to the meeting-point of three counties. For Upper Quinton, it's Warwickshire / Worcestershire / Gloucestershire; for Glandyfi, Ceredigion / Powys / Gwynedd.

 

[Xenophon PCDGS]

Uwchygarreg in Montgomeryshire was also once under the jurisdiction of the Machynlleth Poor Law Union.

 

[Calthrop]

Undy, Monmouthshire -- between Newport and Chepstow -- is another settlement in Wales whose name begins with U.

 

[Xenophon PCDGS]

York is another settlement where a Roman stone coffin was discovered.

 

[EbbwJunction1]

Wystan Hugh Auden was born at 54 Bootham, York on 21th February 1907. Part of his education was received at St Edmund's School, Hindhead, Surrey.

 

[Calthrop]

Well over a century ago, Hindhead would seem to have been a favoured residence for writers -- including Conan Doyle; and George Bernard Shaw. A good deal later -- toward the end of his long life -- Shaw dwelt in contrast, north of London: at Ayot St. Lawrence, Hertfordshire (near Welwyn Garden City).

 

[EbbwJunction1]

St Lawrence Church, Ayot St. Lawrence, is an eighteenth Century, neoclassical church, which is also known as New St Lawrence Church to distinguish it from the ruined St Lawrence Church, which it replaced. The architect was Nicholas Revett (1720 – 1804), and this was the only Church that he designed. His only other building connected to a Church is The Rectory in Mereworth, Kent, which was designed in 1780 for the patron of the living at Mereworth, Sir Francis Dashwood; it is his only known complete domestic building, although it was sold by the church in 1958 and is since known as Mere House.

 

[Xenophon PCDGS]

Ludlow in Shropshire also has a church that is dedicated to St Lawrence.

 

[Calthrop]

The poet A.E. Housman (1859 -- 1936) is probably best-known for his cycle of poems A Shropshire Lad: per Wiki, "posing as an unsophisticated and melancholy youth" -- locationally, "homing-in" particularly on Ludlow. This work's uniform and highly solemn glumness and melancholy, have made it difficult for some to take it altogether seriously; a number of Housman's fellow-poets couldn't resist writing mickey-taking parodies thereof. The old fraud wasn't even from Shropshire: he was born in Bromsgrove, Worcestershire.

 

[Xenophon PCDGS]

Belper in Derbyshire also has historical connections to the nail-making industry.

 

[Calthrop]

The mountaineer Alison Hargreaves (1962 -- 1995) -- who died aged 33, in an attempt on K2; and has been severely criticised for going on with such risky exploits, despite being the mother of young children -- grew up in Belper. Shortly before her death, as it turned out: she plus family, moved to live in Spean Bridge, in the "mountain-friendly" region of Highland.

 

[Xenophon PCDGS]

Inverlair in Highland also lies on the line of the River Spean.

 

[Calthrop]

Inverlair lies close to the A86 road. Some considerable way eastward on that road, is Newtonmore (Highland).

 

[Xenophon PCDGS]

Grassington in North Yorkshire also has a folk museum.

 

[D6130]

Settle in North Yorkshire also has a miniature hydro-electric power station driven by rapids and waterfalls on the local river (the Wharfe in the case of Grassington and the Ribble in the case of Settle).

 

[EbbwJunction1]

The Yorkshire and England cricketer Don Wilson was born in Settle on 7th August 1937. After a long career with Yorkshire, which lasted from 1957 to 1974, he took up the role as the MCC's Chief Coach at Lord's, a position he held until 1991. He then continued his lifelong involvement in the game by returning to Yorkshire, as coach at Ampleforth College.

 

[D6130]

Ampleforth College is connected to the abbey of the same name, which in 2012 was the first English abbey to revive the pre-reformation tradition - much practised in Belgium and Germany - of brewing beer on the premises for public sale and consumption. Mount St Bernard Abbey at Coalville in Leicestershire also now brews beer.

 

[Xenophon PCDGS]

Whitwick in Leicestershire was also once administered by the Hundred of West Goscote.

 

[EbbwJunction1]

John Brentnall BA was the Vicar of Whitwick between 1675 and 1691; he then moved to be the Vicar of Elvaston and the two hamlets of Thurlston and Ambaston between 1691 and 1695.

 

[Xenophon PCDGS]

John Brentnall BA was the Vicar of Whitwick between 1675 and 1691; he then moved to be the Vicar of Elvaston and the two hamlets of Thurlston and Ambaston between 1691 and 1695.

Can you clarify if you mean the hamlet of THULSTON in Derbyshire above.

 

[EbbwJunction1]

Can you clarify if you mean the hamlet of THULSTON in Derbyshire above.

Yes, I do ... my apologies.

It's spelt with an "r" in one version, and without an "r" in another, and I didn't spot the difference.

 

[Calthrop]

Googling Thulston: I was rather tickled to find on the Net, "Thulston 2022 -- Top things to do -- Thulston Travel Guides". Said "top things" proved in fact, all to be well-known tourist attractions way northward of Thulston... I'm reduced to: Risley, Derbyshire, also lies on the B5010 road, some seven miles north-east of Thulston.