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Settlement Association

Calthrop

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The American poet Henry Wadsworth Longfellow -- who was for a Yank of his era, a surprisingly keen fan of Britain, and spent much time over here: is reckoned to have written his poem The Village Blacksmith -- "Under a spreading chestnut tree", etc. -- in Swynnerton. It is told also, that Longfellow stayed in 1868 at the Crab Inn in Shanklin, Isle of Wight; and left a poem re same (not reckoned one of his best, and not much advertised) on a stone by the pub.
 
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High Dyke

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Barry Gray (born John Livesey Eccles) was a British musician and composer best known for his collaborations with television and film producer Gerry Anderson.

He was born in Blackburn, but died in St. Peter Port (French: Saint-Pierre Port), Guernsey.

Is this the first visit to the Channel Islands in this game?
 

Calthrop

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St. Peter Port is the main town of Guernsey; and the capital of the Bailiwick of Guernsey, which as well as Guernsey, includes other islands in the Channel Islands group: one such being the island of Alderney, whose main settlement is Saint Anne.

The Channel Islands have shown up a fair number of times in the game; although they tend not to do so very frequently.
 

Hamma52

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York is home to the iconic Whipmawhopmagate, regularly featuring on the "UK's silliest street names" list, despite it taking longer to say the name than it does to walk down the street itself.

Our capital has plenty of weird and wonderful names, especially in the City and Docklands. Another "silly name" that I'm a fan of is Shoulder of Mutton Alley, in the Limehouse area of Docklands, Greater London.
 

Calthrop

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There are in the USA, a very considerable number of settlements called Winchester. One such is in the State of Indiana; wherein there is also a "namesake settlement" of Salem, Ceredigion -- some six miles east of Aberystwyth.
 

Hamma52

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Salem, Ceredigion, despite being written the same, would be pronounced ever so slightly differently in its native Welsh, more as "sah-LEM" rather than "SAY-lum" as our cross pond cousins often pronounce their Salem's.

This is in contrast to Middlesboro, Kentucky, which is pronounced the same as Middlesborough, Teesside, despite being a different spelling (yeah okay, a very similar spelling but still, let me have it!)
 

Calthrop

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Further namesake settlements: Oban has one in New Zealand, as does Carterton, Oxfordshire (near Brize Norton of RAF fame). The New Zealand Oban is the only town on the small Stewart Island, just to the south of South Island; the country's Carterton is on North Island (near the one-time rail Rimutaka Incline).
 

Calthrop

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Lower Peover, Cheshire West & Chester, also lies on the B5081 road -- some four miles north-east of Byley.
 

Calthrop

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Kent can be a strange county place-names-wise: it has two villages called Sandling -- the above-bolded, Saltwood area near Hythe; and the Sandling which is just north-east of Maidstone.
 
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Calthrop

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Edgworth in Lancashire was also once administered by the Hundred of Salford.
Have been feeling rather "stumped" by this one -- being perhaps a bit cheeky, thinking "get things going again": the Lancashire settlement has a "sound-a-bit-similar" in Ireland (the similarity coincidental, as far as I can make out -- no connection). The place in Ireland, is in Co. Longford: Edgeworthstown alias Mostrim. Official name has over the years, swapped-and-switched between one and the other -- at present, it is the former; it would seem that in informal situations, either name might be used.
 

Hamma52

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The alias bit is interesting here, done to help protect the Irish language. That said, its not often you see a settlement with two completely distinct names across the two languages and usually, it makes the adoption of the "un-anglicised" one a little harder.
Of course, Wales is also doing similar things too to preserve its language, although with the same difficulties sometimes. Whereas some towns have very little difference (Conway --> Conwy for instance, even Cardiff --> Caerdydd isn't too dissimilar), others find it difficult (Swansea is seldom called Abertawe, and the same applies for Newport and Casnewydd).

However, one place that has very much "shuck off" its Anglicised alter-ego is Y Felinheli, Gwynedd. I don't think I've ever heard anyone refer to it as Port Dinorwic, and I've lived around this part of the world for 4 years now!
 

Calthrop

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With "licence" here for rail-related matters (short of "up-to-the-neck-in-hobby-minutiae") having quite recently been confirmed -- the Wiki feature "Notable people" [of the settlement concerned] -- the only Cowbit notable person which it gives, is Charles Chattell (1932 -- 2020), who appeared as an East German stationmaster in the James Bond film Octopussy. The rail-relevant parts of this film were shot on the preserved Nene Valley Railway: based at Wansford, Cambridgeshire.
 

High Dyke

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Fordwich gained angling and fishing repute from Izaak Walton for its "Fordidge trout", one of the largest types found.

The Izaak Walton Hotel in the Staffordshire village of Ilam overlooks the River Dove, at the entrance to Dovedale.
 

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