How many places in the UK can you think of that have either an exact namesake or a place with a similar sounding name in mainland Europe?
Here are a few to start you off:
Brigg, Lincolnshire and Brig, Switzerland
Cluny, Edinburgh and Cluny, Burgundy, France
Ifield, West Sussex (between Crawley and Horsham), Ilford, east London and Ilfeld, Germany (near Nordhausen on the Harz narrow gauge network)
Mansfield, Nottinghamshire and Mansfeld, Saxony-Anhalt, Germany
I wonder how many of these are just coincidental and how many of them actually have historic links with their continental namesake or near namesake? In the case of Cluny, I would guess that it reflects the close historic links between Scotland and France.
Here are a few to start you off:
Brigg, Lincolnshire and Brig, Switzerland
Cluny, Edinburgh and Cluny, Burgundy, France
Ifield, West Sussex (between Crawley and Horsham), Ilford, east London and Ilfeld, Germany (near Nordhausen on the Harz narrow gauge network)
Mansfield, Nottinghamshire and Mansfeld, Saxony-Anhalt, Germany
I wonder how many of these are just coincidental and how many of them actually have historic links with their continental namesake or near namesake? In the case of Cluny, I would guess that it reflects the close historic links between Scotland and France.