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5 unusual facts about Blakeney


A48 road

From Gloucester, the A48 runs through the villages of Minsterworth, Westbury-on-Severn, connects to a link road to Cinderford in the Forest of Dean then through Newnham, Blakeney and bypassing the town of Lydney (the bypass was built in the 1990s) on the west bank of the River Severn.

Blakeney, Norfolk

This was the gift of Maud de Roos or latterly de Ros, née de Vaux, wife of William de Ros, 1st Baron de Ros who distinguished himself in the Crusades, was knighted and granted land at Cley and Blakeney.

Forest of Dean Central Railway

It was built mainly to serve Howbeach Colliery; a goods station was situated at Blakeney as well as a six arched viaduct to carry the railway over the A48 road.

It served several mines and quarries as well as the corn mills in the nearby village of Blakeney.

Greasy pole

Blakeney in North Norfolk also has a horizontal pole over water that is erected each year for the Blakeney regatta.


Edward LeRoy Bowerman

Bowerman's son, George Reginald Anderson (Ted) Bowerman, was an MLA for Shellbrook from 1967–1982 and member of Premier Allan Blakeney's cabinet from 1971–1982, holding various ministerial positions during the period.

Eric Blakeney

After working in television, Blakeney wrote and directed his first film - Gun Shy, starring Liam Neeson and Sandra Bullock.

Based on the strength of his work on Crime Story and Moonlighting, Blakeney was hired as a story editor on Wiseguy, until becoming a senior writer.

Henry George Boldero

The second son of the Rev. John Boldero (died 1796), rector of Ampton, Suffolk, by his marriage to Mary Ann Sibbs of Blakeney, Norfolk, Boldero was educated at the Royal Military College, Sandhurst.

Laughing Cavalier

In the Scarlet Pimpernel adventure series by Emma Orczy, The Laughing Cavalier is a prequel recounting the story of the supposed subject of the painting, who is an ancestor of her main hero, the Scarlet Pimpernel, Sir Percy Blakeney.

Lennon Bermuda

#Wayne Furbert, Robert "Sai" Emery, Will Black, Francesca Dill, Ed Christopher, Ronnie Lopes, Dennis Moniz, Gita Blakeney, Paul Harney, TraceyLynn Harney, Adam Melvin – "All You Need Is Love" (Lennon–McCartney)

Sir Percy

His sire Mark of Esteem won the 1996 2,000 Guineas; his dam Percy's Lass won the Group 3 September Stakes in 1988 (and subsequently died of colic when Sir Percy was a foal. Sir Percy was the last of her offspring) and his damsire Blakeney won the Epsom Derby himself in 1969.

Sir Percy was named after Sir Percy Blakeney, the hero of the novel The Scarlet Pimpernel.


see also