Fa – the Green Dragon

A Place for the Odd Musings of an Expat Bristolian

Unusual U.K. place names 7. – Ashby de la Zouch(e)

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ASHBY DE LA ZOUCH(E)*

Town known as Ashby

Normans added de la Zouche

HenryIII’s castle

  • Spelling varies, with or without an “e”.

 

Author: Cethru Cellophane

I have reached the regrettable realization that I may have squandered my life. I did a quick count recently and figured that I have visited about 66 countries, and lived for more than 3 years in 3 of them. During this time I completed 14 corporate moves (relocations) and have changed my address more than 23 times. I should have settled on a profession that would have kept me in one place with no packing and unpacking. When I think of the time I have spent bundling my life into and out of boxes. Ah well, it's all water under the bridge. But I am grateful for the experience. At the end of the day I will be able to say with a certain authority, "been there, done that". A note about this site’s Header Image The Header image for this site is of the Smith Avenue High Bridge. The bridge was built in 1889 and carries Minnesota State Highway 149 across its span of 2770 feet, 160 feet above the mighty Mississippi River. The picture was taken from the river looking to the north-east and downtown Saint Paul. The bridge is about 1040 miles from New Orleans. One of the reasons I like this view is that I come from a city which has a spectacular bridge. It’s the Clifton Suspension Bridge http://www.ikbrunel.org.uk/clifton-suspension-bridge which spans the Avon Gorge and the River Avon in Bristol, U.K. It’s about 1350 feet long and stands 245 feet above the river below. Sadly it has claimed the lives of more than 400 people who have committed suicide by jumping from the bridge. As a side note, not all attempts were successful. two small girls thrown off the bridge by their deranged father survived the fall when they were fished from the river by the crew of a passing pilot boat. The bridge was opened in 1864 and was designed by the 24 year old architect, Isambard Kingdom brunel. It took 35 years to complete.

7 thoughts on “Unusual U.K. place names 7. – Ashby de la Zouch(e)

  1. Interesting. I like all the history in your posts. Intriguing place-names if only I could remember them.

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    • Ina, most of these are in Somersetshire the county where I was born an grew up. Can I suggest you go back to Withiel Florey as I updated it recently. More interesting places names will follow.

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  2. A place I have actually been to (only once).

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    • My dad was a bit of a wag. Sometimes he would answer the phone “Alan de la Zouche residence. Why he did that, I have no idea. But I did learn at an early age the Ashby de la zouche was a real place. The first time I actually passed through it was in 1964. In later years I used to do the same thing with my telephone. Having spent a little time in India I used to answer “Movindarajan Patel residence – how may I help you”? Click. Callers invariably hung up. I wonder why.

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      • Fabulous, Another thing my stepfather would say to people knocking on the door (irrespective of whether he knew them or not) was ‘We already gave’. It still makes me laugh now.

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      • My dad was living in Cotham when he died. I was already living in Chicago. Years went by that I did not see him. We wrote but in truth I had unfinished business. My regret is that I did not spend more time getting to know and understand him. Mark twain had a great quote about that. I’ll try to post it one of these days.

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      • That’s a profound and moving recollection. I am glad that I had time with my step father before his death, but my relationship with my father was remote at best and there is a bit of baggage to deal with there.

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