Settlement Association

[D6130]

Kilbarchan in East Renfrewshire was also a noted centre of the weaving trade.

 

[Calthrop]

Kilbarchan appears to be "big on" a local worthy from long ago: one Habbie Simpson (1550 -- 1620) who was for long the town piper. There is what seemingly approaches a local obsession with this chap: there is a statue of him in a niche on a prominent building in the town; town has an annual fun-and-frolics day commemorating him; and the townsfolk are locally nicknamed "Habbies". Resisting all temptations to refer to yellow TV cartoon characters -- the name Simpson is borne by a civil parish -- and former village in its own right -- in Milton Keynes, Bedfordshire.

 

[John Griffiths]

Milton Keynes has public art in the form of its famous concrete cows; Swindon boasts a welded steel cow in the grounds of the Great Western Hospital.

 

[Xenophon PCDGS]

Cricklade in Wiltshire was also once served by the North Wilts Canal.

 

[Tetragon213]

Andover's college used to be named Cricklade College.

 

[EbbwJunction1]

The River Anton is a chalk stream in Hampshire which rises in Andover and flows southwards for approximately 8 miles to meet the River Test near Chilbolton.

 

[High Dyke]

Norwich also has a church dedicated to St. Mary the Less.

 

[EbbwJunction1]

In May 2012, Norwich was designated England's first UNESCO City of Literature. There are currently five of these in the UK, with Nottingham being another since 2015.

 

[Xenophon PCDGS]

Sheffield also has a modern tramway system.

 

[Tetragon213]

Portsmouth is the current home of HMS Warrior, and her Iron Plate armour was made in Sheffield

 

[Xenophon PCDGS]

Norwich also has both an Anglican cathedral and a Roman Catholic cathedral.

 

[Calthrop]

Re the, in my opinion excellent, Matthew Shardlake series of historical novels / whodunnits, set in the turbulent mid-16th-century, by C.J. Sansom: the stories are mostly set in the London area, where the lawyer hero Shardlake is based; but some, at times, take him further afield. Tombland, the latest of the series (and, sadly, the last: the author died earlier this year) is set mostly in Norwich. An earlier one in the series, Heartstone, features assorted settlements in the south of England: one being Liphook, Hampshire.

 

[Xenophon PCDGS]

Dunfermline in Fife also has an Amateur Dramatic Society.

 

[John Griffiths]

Like Liphook, Hounslow in west London also prospered in the 18th and early 19th centuries servicing the coaching trade, and went into decline after the coming of the railways.

 

[91130nut]

Dunfermline in Fife also has an Amateur Dramatic Society.

Skipton in West Yorkshire also gives its name to a Building Society.

 

[D6130]

Clayton-le-Moors in Lancashire also lies on the Leeds and Liverpool Canal.

 

[High Dyke]

Somercotes, Derbyshire is also associated with an outdoor clothing maker.

 

[Xenophon PCDGS]

Idridgehay in Derbyshire was also once under the jurisdiction of the Belper Poor Law Union.

 

[Calthrop]

Idridgehay is in the Amber Valley administrative district of Derbyshire. Pentrich, Derbyshire -- six mile east-north-east of Idridgehay -- is located on the eponymous River Amber, although Idridgehay is not.

 

[Xenophon PCDGS]

Llanelwedd in Powys also has a church that is dedicated to St Matthew

 

[Calthrop]

Situated at Llanelwedd, is the Royal Welsh Showground. Way over toward the other side of our island: the East of England Showground is at Alwalton, Cambridgeshire -- a little way west of Peterborough.

 

[Xenophon PCDGS]

Aldwincle in Northamptonshire also lies on the line of the River Nene.

 

[John Griffiths]

In the parish of Aldwincle are the 'Lyveden Old Bield', the local manor house and home of the Tresham family, and the 'Lyveden New Bield', a summer house built c.1604-05 for Sir Thomas Tresham, but never completed. The Treshams were Catholic, and the design and decoration of the New Bield' incorporates Catholic symbolism - but not as much as in the Treshams' best-known building, the Triangular Lodge at Rushton, Northants, built for Sir Thomas between 1594 and 1597.

 

[91130nut]

Thetford also has a lodge under the care of English Heritage.

 

[John Griffiths]

The radical political philosopher Thomas Paine (1737-1809) was born in Thetford. He worked as a maker of stays, and then became an excise officer, before emigrating to America. He served in various locations for the Excise, including Lewes in East Sussex.

 

[D6130]

Chailey in East Sussex also has a bonfire society.

 

[High Dyke]

Woolpit, Suffolk is also associated with brick making.

 

[Calthrop]

Like that of Woolpit: the name of Wolvey, Warwickshire (a little way south-east of Nuneaton) derives from a reference to anti-wolf measures, from the long-ago days when this creature was a member of Britain's fauna. Respectively: Old English wulf-pytt = pit for trapping wolves; and Anglo-Saxon wulf-hege = enclosure with a hedge to keep them out.

 

[John Griffiths]

Grantham in Lincolnshire also has a pub called The Blue Pig.

 

[High Dyke]

Grantham in Lincolnshire also has a pub called The Blue Pig.

And fine beer it serves too.

Thomas Paine served in the town as an excise officer, prior to moving to America. He was born in Thetford, Norfolk.

Thomas Paine was influential in the cause of American independence.