Settlement Association

[Xenophon PCDGS]

Cwmbran was also designated a New Town in 1949.

 

[EbbwJunction1]

The principle road that passes through Cwmbran is the A4051, which at the southern end enters Newport through the area known as Malpas.

 

[Xenophon PCDGS]

Talygarn in Rhondda Cynon Taf also has a church that is dedicated to St Anne.

 

[Calthrop]

Somerby, Leicestershire (south of Melton Mowbray) also has an Equestrian Centre.

 

[Xenophon PCDGS]

Boxford in Suffolk also has an illustrated village sign.

 

[Calthrop]

We learn that Boxford, Suffolk, is one of three villages of that name in England; and that in 1975, preparing for the 200th anniversary celebrations of the USA: the townspeople of Boxford, Massachusetts (presumably only some of them) visited England to determine which Boxford their ancestors came from. The verdict was, the Suffolk Boxford; various jollification and transatlantic visiting in both directions, ensued. Available information would seem to yield only one other Boxford in England or indeed Great Britain -- the alleged third, would appear to be a puzzle; but "No.2" is Boxford, Berkshire -- near Newbury.

 

[Xenophon PCDGS]

Cirencester in Gloucestershire also lies on the route of the Roman road known as Ermin Way.

 

[Calthrop]

Cirencester -- with the assorted "rival" pronunciations of its name -- offers rich limerick-fodder. Salisbury also features on that scene -- but with just one, much-loved, limerick; which hinges on alternatives / abbreviations to names, rather than pronunciational oddities.

 

[Xenophon PCDGS]

Edinburgh also hosts an annual literary festival.

 

[Calthrop]

Those who set store by the prophecies of Nostradamus, claim that at one point he tells of a subsequently-fulfilled event occurring at Edinburgh, which he calls "Dinebro" (though that could, historically, equally refer to Dunbar; or maybe somewhere on the river Ebro in Spain? -- if one is not a devotee, this guy often seems akin to Humpty Dumpty: you can interpret his stuff to mean whatever you want it to). "Nostradamites" also claim that he clearly foretells the abdication of -- and the attendant crisis -- King Edward VIII, who subsequently became the Duke of Windsor.

 

[Xenophon PCDGS]

Chesterfield has also lent its name to an item of furniture.

 

[Calthrop]

The thing for which the statesman the 4th Earl of Chesterfield (1694 -- 1773) is probably best-known: his published Letters written to his natural son on manners and morals. The general verdict on said letters would seem to be that they are witty, and full of worldly wisdom and sound advice for how to get on and advance oneself in the world; but they largely disregard and "write off" the standard canons of morality. Another man of letters -- in the next century -- who also has a name for taking a wise and observant, but cynical, view of the world and mankind: is the poet Arthur Hugh Clough. He shares his surname with the village of Clough in County Down; though so far as I'm aware, he had no actual connection with the place.

 

[Xenophon PCDGS]

Kilkeel in County Down also lies on the route of the A2 road in Ulster.

 

[DerekC]

One of the Duke of Sussex's titles is Baron Kilkeel. Another is Earl of Dumbarton.

 

[Xenophon PCDGS]

Dingwall was also created a Royal Burgh in the 13th century by King Alexander II.

 

[Calthrop]

Dingwall; and Middlewich, Cheshire East: are rivals for the distinction of being the location of the UK's shortest canal -- respectively, the Dingwall Canal (also known locally as the River Peffery); and the Wardle Canal.

 

[Xenophon PCDGS]

Shobnall in Staffordshire also lies on the line of the Trent and Mersey Canal.

 

[Calthrop]

Draycott in the Clay, Staffordshire, also lies on the route of the B5017 road.

 

[DerekC]

The North Staffs and Cheshire Traction Engine Club meets at Draycott in the Clay. The Chiltern Traction Engine Club, on the other hand, holds its rallies at Prestwood in Buckinghamshire.

 

[Xenophon PCDGS]

Cookstown in County Tyrone also has a church that is dedicated to the Holy Trinity.

 

[Springs Branch]

Cookstown's 18th Century main street has been claimed to be one of the widest in Ireland.
Also high in the Irish "widest main street" league table (second, behind O'Connell Street in Dublin) is Strokestown, Co. Roscommon.

 

[Xenophon PCDGS]

Monacnapa in County Cork also has a church that is named The Church of the Immaculate Conception.

 

[Calthrop]

Monacnapa is, I learn, the area encompassing the better-known Blarney -- of gift-of-the-gab fame.

 

[Xenophon PCDGS]

Trefriw in Conwy County Borough also has noted woollen mills.

 

[Calthrop]

Trefriw in Conwy County Borough also has noted woollen mills.

Chastleton, Gloucestershire (near Stow-on-the-Wold) also has associations with the Gunpowder Plot of 1605. Trefriw's involve Thomas Willems, a considerable polymath: born in Trefriw, curate of the village from 1573 on -- also, it appears, a secret Catholic. It is thought possible than that an action by Willems led to -- unintended by him -- "blowing of the whistle" re the Plot. Chastleton's involvement: Robert Catesby, the Plot's leading figure; owned and lived on, earlier in his life, an estate close by that settlement.

 

[Xenophon PCDGS]

Chirk also has a National Trust property with a great building as its centrepiece.

 

[Calthrop]

If I may be allowed another Welsh ("by adoption" in this case) cleric, from a later period in history; R.S. Thomas (1913 -- 2000) -- Anglican clergyman, poet, and lover of Wales and all things Welsh -- served in his first post after ordination, as curate in Chirk. He is better known for his spell a good deal later in life, as vicar of Aberdaron (Gwynedd: at the far extremity of the Lleyn Peninsula).

 

[Xenophon PCDGS]

Sennen Cove in Cornwall is another settlement favoured by those who enjoy surfing.

 

[Calthrop]

Sennen Cove is located on Whitesand Bay, very close to Land's End. At the other extremity of Cornwall on its Channel coast, is the nearly-identically-named Whitsand Bay; on which lies the settlement of Portwrinkle.

 

[DerekC]

Gunwalloe, like Portwrinkle, has historic pilchard cellars once used for pressing and salting pilchards ready for preservation in barrels. The oil pressed out was used for lamps. (Must have been a bit smelly!)