Settlement Association

[EbbwJunction1]

St Oswald's Church, Oswestry was first mentioned in the 1085 Domesday Book and a tithe document in Shrewsbury the same year. It is Grade II* listed, having a tower dating from late 12th or early 13th century and later additions particularly in the 17th and 19th centuries. There is a new window in the east nave, designed by British stained glass artist Jane Grey in 2004. Another of her many works is to be found in St Peter’s Church is situated in the valley, village and civil parish of Martindale in Cumbria.

 

[John Griffiths]

Martindale is home to the oldest native red deer herd in England. On that theme of long-established beasts, Chillingham in Northumberland has a famous herd of wild cattle.

 

[Xenophon PCDGS]

High Callerton in Northumberland also has a good example of a bastle house.

 

[DerekC]

The next bus from Callerton Hall bus stop (which seems to be about the only other thing in High Callerton) is the 08:58 tomorrow morning. It's running on Tynedale Link route 74 and will take you to Hexham.

 

[Xenophon PCDGS]

Colchester in Essex also has medieval links to the leather trade.

 

[Springs Branch]

Colchester has a long history as a military base, and the Colchester Garrison is currently the Regimental HQ of the Parachute Regiment.

The 2nd and 3rd Battalions of The Paras are also based in Colchester, whilst the 4th Battalion is based in Pudsey, West Yorkshire.

 

[EbbwJunction1]

Colchester suffered comparatively poorly in the First World War, losing some 1,248 in the conflict. As early as 1918 prominent voices in the town were calling for a war memorial, and a committee was set up to decide the form of the monument, with several practical schemes favoured by the working class of the town. The committee decided on a sculptural monument and, following a visit to the Royal Academy's War Memorial Exhibition, the sculptor Henry Charles Fehr was chosen to undertake the work, for which he was paid £3,000. The memorial, which was dedicated in 1923, consists of three human figures on a sculptural pedestal. The figures are of Saint George, an allegorical representation of peace and the Goddess Nike. Henry Fehr was responsible for many memorials in the UK; two years previously, he had designed one in Grange Gardens, Grangetown, Cardiff. This is similar to the statue in Colchester, except that it does not have the statues on the base.

 

[Xenophon PCDGS]

Pontypridd in Rhondda Cynon Taf also lies on the line of the River Taff.

 

[Calthrop]

Quoting verbatim from Wiki: the name of the fictional Welsh town of Pontypandy, where children's television programme Fireman Sam is set, is a portmanteau of Pontypridd and Tonypandy (Rhondda Cynon Taf).

 

[Xenophon PCDGS]

Shildon in County Durham is another settlement that saw industrial unrest incidents in the early years of the 20th century.

 

[Calthrop]

In 1942 the then Minister for Economic Warfare, Hugh Dalton, visited Shildon; including addressing the population on the need to work harder and consume less (I'll bet that went down well). Dalton (1887 -- 1962) was born in Neath (County Borough of Port Talbot Neath).

 

[Xenophon PCDGS]

Aberystwyth also has the site of a Celtic hill fort within its environs.

 

[Calthrop]

Twinning with settlements in what might be called "the southern Americas": Aberystwyth is twinned with Esquel, Argentina (a place -- whisper it here ! -- of 2ft 6in. gauge rail renown). Coventry (West Midlands) is twinned with Kingston, Jamaica.

 

[Xenophon PCDGS]

Macclesfield in Cheshire East also has a church that is dedicated to St Alban.

 

[Calthrop]

Macclesfield is the secondary setting of the fantasy novels "for kids of all ages" The Weirdstone of Brisingamen and The Moon of Gomrath by Alan Garner (born 1934, still going strong). These novels haven't come my way, but they're "well spoken of". Garner was born in nearby Congleton, Cheshire.

 

[Xenophon PCDGS]

Northwich in Cheshire West and Chester also lies on the line of the River Dane.

 

[Calthrop]

In the era of Roman Britain: the settlement at the present location of Northwich, was called Condate. That at present location of Bowness-on-Solway, Cumbria -- was Uxelodunum or Axelodunum.

 

[John Griffiths]

On my sole (so far) visit to Bowness, I was surprised to find a friendly pig belonging to the owners ambling about the King's Arms pub. Another pub with (in 2015 at any rate) a pet pig is The Conquering Hero in West Norwood, London.

 

[Calthrop]

On my sole (so far) visit to Bowness, I was surprised to find a friendly pig belonging to the owners ambling about the King's Arms pub. Another pub with (in 2015 at any rate) a pet pig is The Conquering Hero in West Norwood, London.

All stuff in which P.G. Wodehouse would have revelled !

There is situated in West Norwood, the Mrs. Woodford Fawcett Fountain -- commemorating this lady, a local temperance campaigner in time gone by (and of course, supplying uncontaminated drink of a non-alcoholic kind). Another ardent campaigner against alcohol and its abuse, was Father Theobald Mathew (1790 -- 1856), who founded and guided an Ireland-wide total-abstinence movement. He was born near Golden, Co. Tipperary -- nearest town, Cashel.

 

[John Griffiths]

Four-legged friends seem to have featured in a few of my my recent entries and this is no exception. Golden, though small, boasts a 'dog cafe', though I have not been able to ascertain whether it caters for dogs or has friendly dogs on the premises (see cat cafes). There is a dog cafe with a menu for dogs (as well as one for humans) called Wags & Whiskers in Stockton on Tees.

 

[Xenophon PCDGS]

Tewkesbury in Gloucestershire also hosts an annual mop fair.

 

[John Griffiths]

The Lancastrian Edward, Prince of Wales, was captured and killed by Yorkist troops in the 1471 Battle of Tewkesbury (the only post-Edward I Prince of Wales to meet such a violent end). He was born in 1453 at the Palace of Westminster.

And I now know what a mop fair is!

 

[Xenophon PCDGS]

Bath also has a noted abbey.

 

[John Griffiths]

Richard 'Beau' Nash (1674-1762) was arguably the founder of modern British upper-class manners. A Cambridge University student, army officer and lawyer, he became master of ceremonies (arbiter of fashionable behaviour) at Bath and then later and simultaneously (the seasons were different) at Tunbridge Wells. He was born in Swansea.

 

[Calthrop]

Swansea has the tallest building in Wales: the Tower, Meridian Quay. The tallest building in the island of Ireland would seem to be the Obel Tower in Belfast.

 

[Xenophon PCDGS]

Ness on the Wirral also has a botanic garden.

 

[DerekC]

Ness has a pub called The Wheatsheaf, one of many in England. The nearest to my home is at Midhurst in West Sussex.

 

[Springs Branch]

The actor and horror film icon Boris Karloff (real name William Henry Pratt) died in 1969 at the King Edward VII Hospital at Midhurst.

Karloff / Pratt was born in 1887 in Dulwich, South London.

 

[Xenophon PCDGS]

Upper Norwood in south London is another area that was part of the natural ancient oak woodland that was known as Great North Wood.

 

[John Griffiths]

One of Upper Norwood's many celebrated residents was Joseph Paxton (1803-65), among other achievements designer of the Crystal Palace (which was moved to Upper Norwood after its stint in Hyde Park). He was born in the Bedfordshire village of Milton Bryan.