Local Trivia...

Tesla

Tesla

Tesla

Soldato
Joined
19 Jan 2003
Posts
17,599
Location
Bristol, UK
I just found out a bit of pointless info but it is a little weird.

In the graveyard of my local church (St. Lukes, Brislington) there is a headstone that reads Thomas Newman who died in 1542, aged 153.

Firstly, 153!

Secondly, there is a headstone at a church in Bridlington (Yorkshire) that reads "Thomas Newman, aged 153 years. This stone was refaced in 1771 to preserve the recollection of this remarkable prolongation of human life", and goes on to say: "The above is a copy of an inscription on an ancient stone in Bridlington churchyard which has now disappeared."

Perhaps the stone in my local churchyard is the original from Yorkshire? Who knows!

Any weird local info from your area? I found the above out on Wiki.
 
Well known for its density of pubs, reputedly at one point, the highest per head of population in the country.

TV Star Les Dennis maintains a holiday caravanette in the scenic Ashworth Valley area, and is a frequent visitor to the town.

...
 
My old home town, Winchester:

Capital of England during the 10th and early 11th centuries.

Officially branded as the best place to live in the UK on Channel4's programme "The Best And Worst Places To Live In The UK"

Since at least the 14th century, a "wayfarer's dole" of ale and bread has been handed out at the Hospital of St. Cross, near the cathedral, set up to aid pilgrims to Canterbury. The dole is still available today for the asking; I have asked before and you get a big hunk of bread and wooden cup of the Monk's homebrew ale.

Home to the largest state sixth form college in the country, Peter Symonds College. It is rated amongst the top sixth form colleges in the UK.

My new home town, Worthing:

Worthing's crematorium was once the third busiest in Europe

Comedian Bob Monkhouse moved to Worthing in 1939, attending school at Goring Hall.
Home to Dave Benson-Phillips, children's television presenter.

Oscar Wilde wrote The Importance of Being Earnest in Worthing in 1884, and used the name as his character Jack's surname.

The Ordinary Boys were formed in the town in 2003 and attended the town's Sixth Form college.
 
my home town:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kirton_Lindsey

Oly thing of note is "The local comprehensive school is the Huntcliff School on Redbourne Mere. This school outperforms all schools in nearby Scunthorpe"

But then i guess that isnt hard!

New Home Town:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ruabon

Mark Hughes (sparky) went to Ruabon school

We are also very close to the Hafod landfill that we keep seeing on the news!
 
My home town of Hornchurch had a key airfield in the Battle of Britain and had a load of Spitfire squadrons based there.

Now its a chav Housing estate...... Tee Hee!

(sorry if you live their im only joking)
 
The sister of Robert Burns is buried in my hometown of Whitburn, West Lothian.

Local town of Bathgate, West Lothian is where the first man to use Chloroform was born - James Simson. It's also the town where Alexander Fleming did his work on penicillin.
 
Last edited:
In a cemetry in the town centre of Bournemouth lies Mary Shelley as in author of Frankenstein....
.....that'll be the cemetry right next to the shopping area an nightclubs!
 
Last refuge of the English after the First War Of Independence.

The last burning of a 'witch' in Scotland.

Main ammuniation dump for the convoys sailing to Russia in WWII (now it's a nice marina :) ).

Not forgetting the Power Station that was built in 1979 but was only used once during the miners strike due to the fact that it's oil fired, and it's now mothballed with developers fighting it out for a prime location on the banks of the Clyde.
 
Staplehurst in Kent

There was a train crash on 9th of June in 1865. One of the Passengers was Charles Dickens. The first 6 carriages fell off the track. The seventh, which Dickens was in hung over the edge. Dickens apparently helped people to escape from the carriage.

Also, the Church has what is possibly the oldest church door in England, dating back to about 1050 (I think) and has iron work which is pagan in nature.

Valve
 
There's a grave close to where I live that contains only a leg.

The amputated leg of a Mr Samuel Chivers who was mowed down by a horse and cart in the late 1800's. Apparantly he was meant to be buried with it when he eventually died but was laid to rest in another town.
 
Born in Barking:

After [William the Conqueror's] coronation in Westminster Abbey on Christmas Day 1066, he established his very first council as King of England in Barking Abbey [The manor of Barking was the site of Barking Abbey, a nunnery founded in 666 by Eorcenwald, bishop of London] before quickly moving on to Epping Forest.
Also Bobby Moore was born here.

Raised in Dagenham:

Dagenham is the home of an assembly plant owned by the Ford Motor Company.
Terry Venables, Titanic longest survivor Eva Hart and Sir Alf Ramsey born here.

Moved to Bolton [Bolton-le-Moors]:

Bolton is referenced in the famous Monty Python's Flying Circus Dead Parrot sketch, in which it is the location of the shopkeeper's brother's pet shop. The shopkeeper's brother (played by Michael Palin), incorrectly describes the town as Ipswich. On being challenged by Mr Praline (played by John Cleese), Palin's character defends himself, claiming (wrongly) that Ipswich is a palindrome of Bolton. Cleese's character retorts, "It's not a palindrome. The palindrome of Bolton would be Notlob. It don't work." As a consequence, Bolton is sometimes humorously nicknamed, "Notlob".
People born here: Peter Kay, Vernon Kay,Sir Arthur Rostron (Captain of the RMS Carpathia, first ship to aid the RMS Titanic), Dave Spikey, etc etc...
Sir Harold Kroto went to school here as did Sir Ian McKellen.

Uni'd at Lancaster:

Lancaster Castle is well-known as the site of the infamous Pendle Witches' trial in 1612. It was said that the court based in the castle (the Lancaster Assizes) sentenced more people to be hanged than any other in the country outside of London, earning Lancaster the nickname 'Hanging Town'. :D
People born here: Jim Bowen, Eric Morecambe et... that's it.
 
LS Lowry painted these steps in my home town

pulteneytownlowry75c450dx2.jpg



A excerpt from a letter written by Robert Louis Stevenson;

WICK, FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 11, 1868.

MY DEAR MOTHER, - . . . Wick lies at the end or elbow of an open triangular bay, hemmed on either side by shores, either cliff or steep earth-bank, of no great height. The grey houses of Pulteney extend along the southerly shore almost to the cape; and it is about half-way down this shore - no, six-sevenths way down - that the new breakwater extends athwart the bay.

Certainly Wick in itself possesses no beauty: bare, grey shores, grim grey houses, grim grey sea; not even the gleam of red tiles; not even the greenness of a tree. The southerly heights, when I came here, were black with people, fishers waiting on wind and night. Now all the S.Y.S. (Stornoway boats) have beaten out of the bay, and the Wick men stay indoors or wrangle on the quays with dissatisfied fish-curers, knee-high in brine, mud, and herring refuse. The day when the boats put out to go home to the Hebrides, the girl here told me there was 'a black wind'; and on going out, I found the epithet as justifiable as it was picturesque. A cold, BLACK southerly wind, with occasional rising showers of rain; it was a fine sight to see the boats beat out a-teeth of it.

In Wick I have never heard any one greet his neighbour with the usual 'Fine day' or 'Good morning.' Both come shaking their heads, and both say, 'Breezy, breezy!' And such is the atrocious quality of the climate, that the remark is almost invariably justified by the fact.

The streets are full of the Highland fishers, lubberly, stupid, inconceivably lazy and heavy to move. You bruise against them, tumble over them, elbow them against the wall - all to no purpose; they will not budge; and you are forced to leave the pavement every step.
Click to expand...

Proof, if any was needed, that the further north you go, the more grim it gets.
 
Stockport has more garages [as in mechanics] per square mile than anywhere else in the country.

Road system is also one of the worst in the country. Go figure. :p

SiriusB
 
Dr Beeching (of railway decimation fame) L Ron Hubbard (of scientologist fame) Louise Redknapp, RIGHT SAID FRED!!!!!, Jane Leves (Daphne from Frasier).

We've got the sinos, Jehovas Whitnesses, Opus Dei, Mormans, Rosicrucians and all christian denominations you can shake a stick at. East Grinstead is a bit odd! http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/East_Grinstead
 
I live in Holmfirth, "Last of the Summer Wine" country :|

My house has been shown on TV, and one my locals is where they used to show Compo, Cleggy et al drinking. Woot.

What else? Erm, Holmfirth used to be part of Huddersfield, until it got made into a town or something.

There's a load of special things regarding Huddersfield, but I can't remember them now :p

Beat that for local trivia! :o
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom