Settlement Association

[John Griffiths]

Gloucester was also besieged during the civil wars of the 1640s.

 

[Calthrop]

In Gloucester is the Tailor of Gloucester House -- dedicated to Beatrix Potter, author of The Tailor of Gloucester (for whom the mice save the day) -- said House, not far from the cathedral. Ms. Potter was -- as well as her better-known accomplishments -- a knowledgeable amateur biologist and skilled biological draughtsperson, with particular expertise re things in the "mushroom" realm: biological drawings by her, in that area, are -- and consulted there, by scholars of the subject -- in the Arnitt Museum and Library in Ambleside, Cumbria.

 

[John Griffiths]

Like Ambleside, Lancaster has a campus of the University of Cumbria.

 

[Calthrop]

Bringing back in, Sandy (Bedfordshire), which featured a couple of days ago: Emily Williamson (1855 -- 1936), a co-founder of the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds, was born in Lancaster. The RSPB's headquarters are at The Lodge, a short way east of Sandy.

 

[John Griffiths]

Bournemouth also has a pub bearing the rather worrying name The Four Horsemen.

 

[Calthrop]

The author Robert Louis Stevenson (1850 -- 94) lived for a spell in Bournemouth -- during which time he wrote Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. A fair number of years previously, he dwelt for a while in Wick, Highland.

 

[Xenophon PCDGS]

Sanquhar in Dumfries & Galloway was also created a Royal Burgh in the 16th century.

 

[Calthrop]

The Southern Upland Way long-distance path also passes through Galashiels, Scottish Borders.

 

[John Griffiths]

Gala's motto is 'Soor Plums', supposedly recalling an alleged occurrence where English soldiers were ambushed and killed while picking plums. Another town associated with plums, thankfully more peaceably, is Pershore, Worcestershire.

 

[DerekC]

Sir George Dowty, inventor and industrialist, was born in Pershore in 1901. He established Dowty Aviation, manufacturers of aircraft components and subsystems, in Cheltenham, Gloucestershire. (He also invented the Dowty Retarder, used for controlling the speed of wagons rolling down from the hump in hump yards.)

 

[Xenophon PCDGS]

Cambridge also hosts a noted folk festival.

 

[Calthrop]

A quick "namesake": Hastings, East Sussex, also has a namesake settlement in the North Island of New Zealand.

 

[Xenophon PCDGS]

Lancaster also has a Meeting House of the Society of Friends

 

[Tetragon213]

During the War of the Roses, the House of Lancaster fought the House of York, after which the House of Tudor was founded.

 

[Xenophon PCDGS]

Aldwark in North Yorkshire also lies on the line of the River Ouse.

 

[John Griffiths]

West Hartlepool also has a church (in Hartlepool's case now repurposed as an art gallery) designed by architect E B Lamb.

 

[Calthrop]

West Hartlepool is situated, close by "Hartlepool plain and simple", on a -- well, headland -- reaching into the North Sea, and called The Headland. Torquay, Devon, has a prestigious Headland Hotel and Spa, in the Rockend area of the town.

 

[Xenophon PCDGS]

Englefield Green in Surrey also has a church that is dedicated to The Assumption of Our Lady.

 

[Calthrop]

Marilyn Monroe and the playwright and screenwriter Arthur Miller -- then newlyweds -- spent four months in 1956, including their honeymoon, at Parkside House, Englefield Green: for the duration of Monroe's work on the film The Prince and the Showgirl, with Lawrence Olivier; which latter gentleman was born, in 1907, in another Surrey settlement -- viz. Dorking. (Phew -- that one was laboured.)

 

[John Griffiths]

Dorking chickens are believed to be one of England's oldest chicken breeds. Another place to have given its name to a breed of chicken is Orpington in SE London.

 

[Xenophon PCDGS]

Cudham in Kent was also once administered by the Hundred of Ruxley.

 

[John Griffiths]

Cudham was the birthplace in 1867 of farmer's son Harry Relph, who after an impoverished youth became a popular music hall entertainer under the name 'Little Tich' (a reference to the Tichborne claimant who he supposedly resembled), his diminutive stature leading to his gifting the words 'ti(t)ch' and 'ti(t)chy' to the English language. He died in 1928 in Hendon, NW London.

 

[Xenophon PCDGS]

Duxford in Cambridgeshire also has a museum of military aviation.

 

[Calthrop]

@Xenophon PCDGS -- I had an absolutely splendid one on the stocks, but you've gazumped me with Duxford...

Duxford has, sort-of, two parish churches: St. John's (dormant), and St. Peter's (active). Cockett, Swansea area, also has a church dedicated to St. Peter.

 

[Xenophon PCDGS]

Horsham in West Sussex also has a Rehoboth Baptist Church.

 

[Calthrop]

Woodmancote, West Sussex (near Henfield -- not to be confused with the county's other other Woodmancote, west of Chichester) also lies on the A281 road.

 

[Xenophon PCDGS]

Albourne in West Sussex was also once administered by the Hundred of Tipnoak.

 

[Calthrop]

Albourne is adjacent to a patch of ancient woodland called Shaves Wood: we learn, "once home to many butterfly species which are now gone" -- especially, fritillaries of several kinds. Near Letcombe Bassett, Oxfordshire (a little way south-west of Wantage), there is a downland Site of Special Scientific Interest, where several scarce species of butterfly are nowadays still to be found.

 

[Xenophon PCDGS]

Haselbury Plucknett in Somerset also has a church that is dedicated to St Michael and All Angels.

 

[Calthrop]

Haselbury Plucknett lies near to the River Parrett. Quite a way further north, that river passes closely by Burrowbridge, Somerset -- five miles south-east of Bridgwater.