A highly convoluted one, I fear -- the coat of arms of Newport, South Wales, has as supporters: a mer-dragon -- its top (dragon) half appropriately red; and a mer-lion. This latter mythical beast's most renowned heraldic role, is as the emblem of Singapore. That settlement's first British governor, Sir Stamford Raffles, 1781 -- 1826 (he after whom is named the island-states's venerable and famous Raffles Hotel) attended school in Hammersmith; in what is now the London Borough of Hammersmith and Fulham.
-
Our new ticketing site is now live! Using either this or the original site (both powered by TrainSplit) helps support the running of the forum with every ticket purchase! Find out more and ask any questions/give us feedback in this thread!
Settlement Association
- Thread starter Ivo
- Start date
Sponsor Post - registered members do not see these adverts; click here to register, or click here to log in
R
RailUK Forums
John Griffiths
Member
St Mary's College, a Roman Catholic teacher training college, was established at Brook Green, Hammersmith, in 1850. In the 1920s the site was sold to J Lyons & Co, whose HQ was adjacent; the college was able to buy Strawberry Hill House in Twickenham and reopened there in 1925. My father was a student there before his call-up in 1940 and after his demob in 1946. The college is now St Mary's University Twickenham.
Xenophon PCDGS
Veteran Member
Cardiff also has a noted Rugby Union stadium.
johnnychips
Established Member
Powerful Welsh singer Shirley Bassey was born in Tiger Bay, Cardiff; while the equally impressive Bonnie Tyler was born in Skewen.
D6130
Established Member
Actor, comedian and political activist Eddie Izzard lived in Skewen for a few years in his early childhood after he and his family moved there from Bangor, Co Down.
Springs Branch
Established Member
The Coat of Arms of Bangor features two sharks supporting a shield, on account of the city's seaside location.
Another city whose Coat of Arms has piscine connotations (two seahorses supporting the shield this time) is Newcastle upon Tyne.
Another city whose Coat of Arms has piscine connotations (two seahorses supporting the shield this time) is Newcastle upon Tyne.
Xenophon PCDGS
Veteran Member
Benwell in Tyne & Wear was also once under the jurisdiction of the Newcastle Poor Law Union.
Benwell is close by the line of Hadrian's Wall -- its name is from the Old English for "inside the wall" -- just on the "civilised" side. It is by the site of a fort on the Wall: Condercum. Burgh by Sands, Cumbria, is near the Wall's opposite end; by site of the fort of Aballava.
Xenophon PCDGS
Veteran Member
Maesteg in Bridgend County Borough also has a church that is dedicated to St Michael.
The Welsh national anthem Hen Wlad Fy Nadhau (Land Of My Fathers) was first performed in Maesteg. It was composed in 1856 by the father-and-son team of Evan James (words) and James James (music): residents of Pontypridd, Rhondda Cynon Taf.
Last edited:
Xenophon PCDGS
Veteran Member
Gwaelod-y-Garth in Rhondda Cynon Taf also lies on the line of the River Taff.
The naturalist Mary E. Gillham (1921 -- 2013) spent much time as a resident of Gwaelod-y-Garth. In the course of her profession, however, she travelled extensively world-wide; including Antarctica. Nearer home: she was a great lover of (sorry if I tend to obsess on this place -- I like it too) Lundy island and its natural wonders -- including writing a book on same.
Xenophon PCDGS
Veteran Member
Skomer is also an offshore island that at one time has issued its own postage stamps.
Skomer is a great place for puffins -- has southern Britain's biggest breeding colony thereof. Lundy has been an excellent spot for the species: its postage stamps as mentioned, having been in the island's one-time semi-official currency, the "puffin" -- Lundy's puffin population having been in recent decades, "in low water"; but nowadays increasing, especially since the island's having been rid of rats. Another good puffin venue: the Farne Islands -- accessed from Seahouses, Northumberland.
EbbwJunction1
Established Member
There are claims that kippers were first created in Seahouses in the 1800s, and they are still produced locally to this day. Kippers produced in the Isle of Man are exported around the world, where thousands are produced annually in the town of Peel, where two kipper houses, Moore's Kipper Yard (founded 1882) and Devereau and Son (founded 1884), smoke and export herring.
Xenophon PCDGS
Veteran Member
Strathpeffer in Ross and Cromerty also achieved spa status with associated hotels in the Victorian period.
EbbwJunction1
Established Member
There is another Museum of Childhood (called the Young V&A as it is a branch of the Victoria & Albert Museum) in Bethnal Green, East London.
(My italics -- I've been to the Bethnal Green Museum of Childhood -- much fascinating material there.)
Bethnal Green has long been famous for its mulberry trees: the mulberry is something of a local emblem. Of mulberry-related interest in Wakefield, West Yorkshire: the nursery rhyme Here We Go Round The Mulberry Bush is thought to have originally been made up by 19th-century female inmates of H.M. Prison there, as they took their exercise around the mulberry tree in the prison yard. (Sadly, said venerable tree died in 2017.)
EbbwJunction1
Established Member
The first Bishop of Wakefield (between 1889 and 1897) was William Walsham How (1823 – 1897). He was ordained in 1846, and after a curacy at Kidderminster, began more than thirty years actively engaged in parish work in Shropshire, as curate at the Abbey Church in Shrewsbury in 1848.In 1851 he became Rector of Whittington and was at one point Rural Dean of Oswestry (1860), then Suffragan Bishop of Bedford (for East London) and in turn Bishop of Wakefield. He died while on holiday in Ireland in 1897 in Leenane, County Mayo and is buried in Whittington, Shropshire.
EbbwJunction1
Established Member
The founding benefactor of Pembroke College, Oxford, Thomas Tesdale was born in Stanford Dingley in 1547; he died at Glympton, Oxfordshire in 1610.
The estate of Glympton Park, near Glympton, is owned at the present time by the King of Bahrain. For approximately the first half of the 20th century, Bahrain was a quasi-British-possession: where real power was long wielded by the Adviser to the Ruler -- Charles Belgrave (1894 -- 1969); who was educated at the public school of Bedford School (Bedford as in county town of Bedfordshire !).
Last edited:
Xenophon PCDGS
Veteran Member
Luton also lent its name to a type of commercial road vehicle.
John Griffiths
Member
Luton's town hall of 1936 was designed by the Bolton-based architects Bradshaw, Bass & Hope. They also designed Stretford Town Hall (now Trafford Town Hall) in what is now Greater Manchester three years previously.
Times have been mostly fairly tranquil in Stretford, with little of note in the nation's history occurring thereabouts. There was a minor such "stir" during the Jacobite rebellion of 1745, when Crossford Bridge in Stretford was by official order destroyed, to prevent Bonnie Prince Charlie's army crossing it in course of their advance on London. The bridge was quickly rebuilt afterwards. Another bridge further east in England, featured in that historical episode: the one across the River Trent at Swarkestone, Derbyshire (a few miles south of Derby) -- this being the furthest-south point reached by B.P.C.'s forces: an advance party investigating crossing the Trent -- with little or no perceived support further south; as we know, the army headed back northward.
Xenophon PCDGS
Veteran Member
Newton Solney in Derbyshire was also once administered by the ancient Hundred of Repton and Gresley,
Xenophon PCDGS
Veteran Member
Bury St Edmunds in Suffolk also has connections to the processing of sugar-beet.
Mary Tudor, sister of Henry VIII and Queen of France, is buried in St. Mary's Church, Bury St. Edmunds. Another royal Mary of that era, Mary Queen of Scots: was after her execution in 1587, buried in Peterborough Cathedral; then re-interred 25 years later in Westminster Abbey.