XPost: alt.usage.english, alt.english.usage   
   From: peter@pmoylan.org   
      
   On 30/08/25 09:42, J. P. Gilliver wrote:   
      
   > It was Ra*liff* colliery, one of the pits around a village near   
   > Hauxley; the village (on what is now the A1068) was called Radcliffe   
   > Terrace, but despite the "Terrace" part, was actually a quite large   
   > village (bigger than Hauxley at times), until it disappeared almost   
   > entirely in the 1970s. The first part of its name was variously   
   > Ratliff, Radcliffe, and variations. Hmm, we've had another hot   
   > summer, so maybe its outlines will have become visible again, let me   
   > look ... Hmm, not very, certainly not as clear as it was in 2018.   
   > (Google Maps aerial views are often great for seeing vanished   
   > outlines!)   
      
   When I was about 18 years old, so in the 1960s, my father showed me the   
   ghost town of Whroo in Victoria. It had had a population of 10,000 in   
   the gold rush era, but afterwards it just disappeared. My father had   
   grown up halfway between Whroo and Moora (another town that's close to   
   disappearing), so he was one of the few people who knew where Whroo was.   
      
   When we got there, all I could see was bush. Then, gradually, I noticed   
   faint straight lines in the grass, that showed where the foundations of   
   buildings had been. That was all there was to see.   
      
   Years later I went back there, and by following an overgrown bush track   
   I discovered the cemetery. It was mostly unmarked graves, but I did find   
   the grave of a French distant relative.   
      
   Later on the town was rediscovered by the local historical society, so   
   now there's an information board.   
      
   --   
   Peter Moylan       peter@pmoylan.org    http://www.pmoylan.org   
   Newcastle, NSW   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)