Living In Notorious Places

[bednobs]

On the anniversary of the Hungerford shootings I was wondering how long it is before notorious place names fade out if people's minds? I used to live in Hungerford years after the massacre but it was the main thing people said to me about if I ever had to give my address. I'm not sure that's still the case for people who live there.
I was wondering about people who live in Soham or Lockerbie or any other places attached to notorious events. Do the memories of the notorious place name fade quickly? Or does it depend what the event was?

[Peter Pedant]

enteresting q.
has anyone written about that? - how and when do memes fade?

examples and on Crispin crispianus day, men will say...
(Henry V you ignorant proles) - forgotten
Guy Fawkes - remembered
Battle of Boyne - remembered somewhere

[fourteen85]

Soham sticks more in my mind as I see the 'Turners of Soham' wagons on the motorway quite often and my memory is always jogged

[jno]

same with Aberfan, I think, and that was more than 50 years ago. I suppose they last as long as people's memories; they're not necessarily the sort of memory you pass on to your children, so they'll probably die out eventually.

But Guernica is still known (even by people like me who have no idea where it is): a wartime atrocity commemorated by a famous painting.

[bobbinwales]

Drove through Dunblane once and felt it would be wrong to stop for lunch and wander round

[Redhelen72]

I think its always remembered

I have lived near Broadwater Farm and Muswell Hill (Cranley Gardens) and my brother lives in Soham and I find that when I used to give my address - it was always commented on

[davebro]

One of the antiques progs mentioned Hungerford as a hubhub of dealers but didn't refer to the shootings.

[davebro]

my niece was born on the day of the Aberfan disaster so it's a continual reminder.

[jno]

I suppose 10 Rillington Place is still remembered by some as a 1950s murder site - there was a TV series a few years ago - even though they first renamed the street then rebuilt the whole area.

[mushroom25]

recently i was in an office overhearing a conversation where one of the participants said he'd previously worked at Sheffield Forgemasters.

his correspondent then said "aren't they the company that......" and got shouted down for his trouble.......

[Peter Pedant]

OK - it has to stand out,(1) and the place ( arrrr tez a toponym, it be) has to be small(2) - London bombing ( jul 5 for those with a short memory). Paris, er something, wont stick. Berlin - errrr.

and it has to go arn and arn. Hungerford - the first report began outrageously " went the day quite well..."

Lockerbie and the libyan non-connection - would not go away

[jno]

PP the Great Fire of London is still remembered, though I suppose London was only a small megalopolis at the time and only half a dozen people died (allegedly, I don't believe that last bit). But at least in these parts even if you only say "Great Fire" people know which one you mean.

[maggiebee]

London? From Guy Fox to man on mobility scooter stabbed to death in west London. Tragedies are all around us, but for me the most memorable are Aberfan and Dunblane

[jno]

maggiebee, I still think of Edinburgh as the place where David Rizzio was killed ... it was in all ye newssheets at the time

[Zacs-Master]

Saddleworth.

[Ken4155]

Surely the London bombing was 7/7, PP?

[Peter Pedant]

lorra lorra bombing of London 1940 - blitz (*)
perhaps someone above IS right - they all die and the memory dies ( nope not true for Guy Fawkes or Somme)

(*) yeah but no but - foo you are gonna say - I forgot about that

[Peter Pedant]

// Edinburgh as the place where David Rizzio was murrdurred//
yeah OK what poem was he reading to Milady?
In italian I think

[jno]

Guy Fawkes was exceptional - promoted by the government for centuries (I think it was mandatory for a while?). Only promoted because he failed; the US doesn't have a John Wilkes Booth Day.

The Somme, not sure that that will last forever. Hastings, Agincourt and Waterloo are the only battle place names that have lived for centuries. Nobody remembers Ladysmith or Oudenarde.

[bednobs]

ohhh what DID happen at sheffield forgemasters?

[jno]

they tried to blow up the Houses of Parliament?