Settlement Association

[Calthrop]

Cruden Bay in Aberdeenshire was also a regular haunt of Bram Stoker.

At or very near Cruden Bay, there occurred in 1012 one of the many battles of that era, between Scots and Scandinavian interlopers; at this one the Scots under King Malcolm II, beat the Danes. The poet, writer and general polymath James McPherson (1736 -- 1796) wrote one of his poems -- The Highlander -- with that battle, as its model. McPherson was born in Ruthven, Highland (near Kingussie).


(I'm so ignorant that I think "Bram Stoker" refers to Block Random Access Memory, in relation to the guys who kept fed the fires of coal-burning steam locos and ships...)

 

[John Griffiths]

Fort Augustus is also the location of a military base set up in the aftermath of the '15 Jacobite rising.

 

[Xenophon PCDGS]

Malmesbury in Wiltshire was also the site of a Benedictine Abbey.

 

[DerekC]

Malmesbury Abbey has a parvise - an open space in front of a church, especially when surrounded by colonnades. The church of St Mary, Martham in Norfolk also has one, but in the alternative meaning of a room over the porch, said by purists to be an incorrect use of the term.

Another piece of not-necessarily-all-that-useful information acquired as a result of patronising this thread!

 

[Xenophon PCDGS]

West Somerton in Norfolk also lies on the line of the River Thurne.

 

[Calthrop]

Malmesbury in Wiltshire was also the site of a Benedictine Abbey.

@DerekC -- no offence meant, but -- drat ! I have a terrific one for Malmesbury; but I went to bed too early, evening of the 22nd.

West Somerton in Norfolk also lies on the line of the River Thurne.

In the churchyard here, is buried Robert Hales, the Norfolk Giant (1820 -- 1863), born in West Somerton -- 7ft. 8in. tall, weighing over 32 stone. A similar -- in one way greater -- "figure" in more senses than one, is buried in a (just) adjacent county. This is Daniel Lambert of Leicester, 1770 -- 1809: renowned as the heaviest man in England, if not in history -- 52 stone-plus. (Lambert was not a glutton, and had a quite athletic lifestyle -- must just have had a strange metabolism.) He died in Stamford, Lincolnshire; and is buried in the church there.

 

[Springs Branch]

The Stamford bull run was a bull-running and bull-baiting event held in the town on 13 November for around 600 years, until 1839.

The practice of bull running also occurred in other settlements, including Axbridge, Somerset.

 

[Xenophon PCDGS]

Yatton in Somerset was also once administered by the Hundred of Winterstoke.

 

[Calthrop]

Tenby, Pembrokeshire, also has a church dedicated to St. Mary.

 

[Xenophon PCDGS]

Amroth in Pembrokeshire also lies on the route of the Pembrokeshire Coast Path.

 

[John Griffiths]

The artist Augustus John (1878-1961) was born in Tenby and after a fairly rackety life, some of it spent in France, he died in Fordingbridge, Hants.

 

[Calthrop]

Amroth in Pembrokeshire also lies on the route of the Pembrokeshire Coast Path.

Near Amroth is the picturesque Colby Woodland Garden, a National Trust property. There is of course another Colby: in the Isle of Man, between Castletown and Port Erin.

 

[EbbwJunction1]

The village of Colby is home to Colby FC, who are based at Station Road and play in Division Two of the Isle of Man Football League. Another club in the same division are Michael United AFC, who play their home games at Lough Ny Magher, Balleira Road in Kirk Michael.

 

[John Griffiths]

Colby Glen, in Colby, is one of 18 mountain and coastal blend maintained by the Isle of Man government. Another such is Glen Wyllin, on the southern edge of the village of Kirk Michael.

Two minds with but a single thought!

 

[John Griffiths]

Like the church of St Michael in Kirk Michael, Govan Old Kirk in Govan, Glasgow has an outstanding collection of early medieval stone crosses and carvings.

 

[Calthrop]

The famously highly-eccentric and way-out comedian and singer Ivor Cutler (1923 -- 2006) was born in Govan. For a considerable while, his "day job" was as a teacher at the noted progressive Summerhill School at Leiston, Suffolk.

 

[John Griffiths]

Thurso is also a town whose prosperity for much of the later twentieth century depended on employment at a nearby nuclear power station (Sizewell and Dounreay respectively).

 

[Calthrop]

The River Thurso, which reaches the sea at Thurso, is reckoned excellent for salmon fishing. A river much further south, generally acclaimed as good for this pursuit: is the River Wye of England and Wales. Whereabouts on this river is best for salmon, depends on seasonal / water depth conditions -- in "middling water", it's said to be good around Ross-on-Wye, Herefordshire.

 

[Xenophon PCDGS]

Manchester also had a Corn Exchange.

 

[Springs Branch]

Manchester is home to the Science and Industry Museum, one of the five top-rated science museums in Britain (according to visitors posting reviews on Tripadvisor).
The best rated science museum in the country (again, according to Tripadvisor reviewers) is the National Space Centre in Leicester.

 

[Xenophon PCDGS]

Winchester in Hampshire also has a planetarium.

 

[EbbwJunction1]

Winchester is the location of Wolvesey Castle; it is also known as the "Old Bishop's Palace" as it was built as such by Henry of Blois, the Bishop of Winchester, and was briefly fortified during his later years. There is also a "Bishop's Palace" at St David's in Pembrokeshire.

 

[Xenophon PCDGS]

St Asaph in Denbighshire also has a Grade I listed cathedral.

 

[Calthrop]

Romsey, Hampshire, is also twinned with a settlement in the French departement of Cotes d'Armor. St. Asaph's "twin" is Begard; Romsey's is Paimpol.

 

[341o2]

Romsey has an agricultural show, Shepton Mallet is the nearest settlement to the Royal Bath and West show

 

[D6130]

Hereford is - or possibly was - also a noted cider manufacturing centre.

 

[John Griffiths]

The actor and playwright David Garrick (1717-79) was born in Hereford. His success in the dramatic arts enabled him to buy a riverside property in Hampton, Middlesex, which he named 'Garrick's Villa' and built a temple to Shakespeare in the grounds.

 

[Xenophon PCDGS]

Liverpool also has a church that is dedicated to St Francis de Sales.

 

[John Griffiths]

As a major port city, Liverpool did not traditionally have a strong manufacturing base, its economy concentrating on commerce, transportation and warehousing. One industry that flourished, though, was jam making (Liverpool being a major importer and refiner of sugar), particularly the company Hartleys, founded 1871 in Colne, which moved to Bootle in 1874 and to Aintree, Liverpool in 1886. Jam was made there until the 1960s.

Another noted centre of jam manufacture is Tiptree in Essex. Wilkin & Sons were established as a jam manufacturing company there in 1885, and continue there to this day, using the brand name 'Tiptree'.

 

[Calthrop]

Tiptree is one of a surprisingly large number of claimants -- by varied and sometimes incompatible criteria -- for the title of the largest village in England. Another such "hopeful" is Broughton Astley, Leicestershire -- between Leicester and Lutterworth.