Settlement Association

[Xenophon PCDGS]

Manchester also has a bus museum.

 

[Calthrop]

Resorting to one of my favourite fall-backs; there are umpteen Manchesters in the USA. One is in the state of Georgia; in which there is also a namesake settlement of Bainbridge, North Yorkshire.

 

[Springs Branch]

The headquarters of the Yorkshire Dales National Park Authority is in Bainbridge.

The Lake District National Park Authority HQ is located in Kendal.

 

[Xenophon PCDGS]

Lochgilphead in Argyll and Bute is also a settlement chosen to house a hydrotherapy pool.

 

[Calthrop]

Lochgilphead lies on the Crinan Canal, which greatly shortens the sea journey between the Clyde / Glasgow area and the Western Isles; and, officially, runs for nine miles between Ardrishaig ("eastern" end), and Crinan ("western" ditto). In fact, both these two settlements are located on small sea-lochs; the truly "canal" part, cut through dry land, runs for a rather shorter distance between, respectively, Lochgilphead and Bellanoch.

 

[Xenophon PCDGS]

Achahoish in Argyll and Bute is also within the area of the Knapdale National Scenic Area.

 

[Calthrop]

Achahoish is located on the B8024 road. Tarbert, Argyll and Bute, is located not quite actually on that road; but a little way south of said road's end where it joins the A23 road running north-to-south down the Kintyre peninsula.

 

[Xenophon PCDGS]

Acharacle in the Highland region was also a settlement in the ancient Gaelic kingdom of Dal Riata.

 

[John Griffiths]

In 1991 Customs officers demanded that holes be knocked in a traditional copper still on display at the museum in Acharcle, lest it be used for illicit distilling of whisky.

Another whisky-related museum is (or possibly was; it is described as 'temporarily closed') the Dufftown Whisky and Heritage Centre in  Dufftown, Moray.

 

[Calthrop]

In 1991 Customs officers demanded that holes be knocked in a traditional copper still on display at the museum in Acharcle, lest it be used for illicit distilling of whisky.

One has to feel that Compton Mackenzie must -- from wherever he might be, subsequent to his spell on Earth -- have been inspiring those involved in this escapade.

Another whisky-related museum is (or possibly was; it is described as 'temporarily closed') the Dufftown Whisky and Heritage Centre in  Dufftown, Moray.

Dufftown is mentioned, it appears, in the third film in the Harry Potter series thereof -- spoken of by Hermione -- supposedly identified thus, as the nearest settlement to the wizarding school of Hogwarts. (I don't think that that is mentioned in any of the books -- might be wrong -- had imagined the place as located out west, though that might be influenced by associated rail-special doings). Fiction-wise, nearest settlement to Hogwarts is of course the non-existent-in-real-world Hogsmeade; which as people have commented, doesn't sound very Scottish -- perhaps that's one of the many things which work differently on the wizarding scene.

Another real-life Scottish settlement which gets a mention "in passing" in one of the H.P. books, is Peebles (Scottish Borders).

 

[Xenophon PCDGS]

Stirling was also created a Royal Burgh in the 12th century.

 

[Calthrop]

Flint also shares its name, with that of a this-era North American alternative history / science-fiction author -- these being S.M. Stirling (Canadian-US), and Eric Flint (US pure and simple, recently deceased).

 

[Xenophon PCDGS]

Conwy also has a ruined castle.

 

[Calthrop]

Conwy people are traditionally nicknamed "Jackdaws"; from those birds' having long been abundant in the town. The folk of Malmesbury, Wiltshire, are also thus nicknamed -- the jackdaws there, particularly frequenting the walls and roof of Malmesbury Abbey.

 

[Xenophon PCDGS]

Fort Augustus in the Highlands region was also chosen as a site in which to erect a Benedictine Abbey.

 

[Calthrop]

Fort Augustus lies at the southern end of Loch Ness. Muckross Lake -- one of the Lakes of Killarney, Co. Kerry -- is also reputedly inhabited by a mysterious, very large aquatic creature -- species and any detailed characteristics, unknown.

 

[Xenophon PCDGS]

Carlow in County Carlow also has a rowing club.

 

[Calthrop]

Bagenalstown alias Muine Bheag, also in Co. Carlow; also lies on the River Barrow (Ireland's second-longest river).

 

[DerekC]

Bagenalstown is named after Walter Bagenal, who started the town and wanted it to be called "New Versailles" as he intended to model it after the French palace. However he abandoned it after only the courthouse had been built. Surprisingly, his name was attached to the settlement. Boughton House near Weekley in Northamptonshire calls itself "the English Versailles" but was built by Ralph, first Duke of Montagu.

 

[Xenophon PCDGS]

Gretton in Northamptonshire was also once administered by the Hundred of Corby.

 

[Calthrop]

St. James's Church, Gretton, has the highest church tower in Northamptonshire. The tower of Cromer's parish church of St. Peter and St. Paul, is the highest church tower in Norfolk.

 

[Xenophon PCDGS]

Tobermory on the Isle of Mull also has a RBLI lifeboat station.

 

[Calthrop]

In World War II, a naval training base was set up at Tobermory, under the command of Vice Admiral Sir Gilbert Stephenson. In this capacity, this gentleman tended to be a hard and capricious taskmaster; causing widespread dislike toward him on the part of the trainees (they called him "The Terror of Tobermory") -- with in parallel, reluctant acknowledgement that his methods increased efficiency and saved lives. Stephenson -- elderly by the time of WWII -- retired post-war to Saffron Walden, Essex (quite a long way from the sea).

 

[Xenophon PCDGS]

Manchester is another settlement where a Corn Exchange was built.

 

[Calthrop]

York is also twinned with a settlement in the People's Republic of China. Manchester's "twin" is Wuhan; York's is Nanjing.

 

[Xenophon PCDGS]

Sheriff Hutton in North Yorkshire also has a church that is dedicated to St Helen and the Holy Cross.

 

[Calthrop]

Participation in this game leads to discovering assorted interesting characters from the past, of whom I'd never heard before ! Sheriff Hutton has yielded a decidedly colourful such chap, who flourished some five centuries ago. This is John Skelton (c.1463 -- 1529): prolific poet and satirist (he had a spell as Poet Laureate), "amateur comedian", churchman, and for a while, tutor to the future Henry VIII. Skelton's Sheriff Hutton connection is that in his poem Garlande of Laurell, he mentions a sojourn by him as a guest of the Duke of Norfolk at the (now ruined) Sheriff Hutton Castle. J.S. has definite associations with Diss, Norfolk: it is reckoned that he may have been born there; and for a time, he was rector of that parish.

 

[341o2]

Diss has one of the deepest meres (or inland lakes) in the country, Soham has the largest

 

[Calthrop]

Wicken, Cambridgeshire -- a couple of miles from Soham -- is the location of Wicken Fen National Nature Reserve: probably, though not very large, the biggest and most impressive reminder of what the Fen country was like before draining and turning over to agriculture.

Have seen in print, the opening lines of a verse by a long-ago local bard:

"Wicken is a village not far from Soham / And that's the place where I have my home..."

One feels that this guy would have a long way to go, before qualifying for a spot in "Poets' Corner" in Westminster Abbey...

 

[Xenophon PCDGS]

Snailwell in Cambridgeshire was also once administered by the Hundred of Staploe.