Keldhampton Cross

Keldhampton Cross is a market town located in the Thurgenbury council zone of South Belka, Canadia. It is the closest town to Kelding Hill. With a population of 2,561, it is the third largest town in the Thurgenbury area. The town was the location of the Battle of Keldhampton Cross during the Great War between Canadia and Jonathia. Keldhampton Cross is a largely rural town, though about half of the town's residents live in or around the town centre, which is also the location of the Keldhampton Cross town hall. Keldhampton Cross is a largely Conservative-voting town, unlike the rest of Thurgenbury, which usually votes for the SDP and other leftist political parties.
Keldhampton Cross lies on the Keldham Expressway, a small motorway splitting off from State Highway 3. The gates of the town, left behind from when Keldhampton Cross was a gated community, are marked with large pillars spanning 30 metres in height. Keldhampton Cross is often a crossroad between different parts of rural South Belka, noting it's strategic placement and it's role as a market town.
== History ==
The village takes its name from the 12th-century village of Gilderhaime (the modern Anglicized name of the town would be Keldham), which stood about 1.3km (0.807 mi) to the west of the town. Only the streets are still marked as the town was destroyed in a large blaze that killed thirty people.
The 14th-century market cross, erected when the privilege to hold a weekly market in Keldhampton Cross was granted, stands where the three principal streets of the lower village converge. The Market Cross, a Scheduled Monument, reflects "the significance of the cloth industry in this area". It is also where the "cross" part of the town's name comes from. Next to the cross is one of Keldhampton Cross' two village pumps, both of which are now no longer used with the advent of proper waterworks. Small stone steps near the cross were for horse riders to mount and dismount, and close by are the remains of the buttercross, built in the late 19th century from old masonry.
The village was owned by the Kilderman family for over five centuries and served as a gated community, until 1889 when it was sold to the Habsburg family and Henry Jacob Habsburg, who would later go on to become deputy prime minister of Canadia as a Conservative candidate between 1911 and 1916. The latter spent a great deal of money on improving the town's infrastructure, and commissioned the town hall due to the lack of a place for the townsfolk to voice their opinions on going-ons in the town, and a lack of entertainment facilities in the town. Previously, town meetings had to take place in the nearby Keldham Catholic Church.
A military base, the Thurgenbury Barracks, were commissioned in April of 1930 and were completed in June three years later.
On March 13th, 1941, a Jonathian military regiment led by Colonel Conan Damon, consisting of twenty men and ten women, arrived in the town after splitting off from their supply line in a supposed effort to capture "well-unknown towns". Assuming the weather would be fine, the troops continued on. However, a sudden rainstorm occurred some three days later, taking the troops by surprise. The next day, they grinded to a halt as they became stuck in the mud some two-hundred metres near the town gates. A farmer, believing that a massacre similar to that of the First Battle of Barkhamstead would be taking place, notified the army barracks, then led by Rudolph Vogan. After some confusion following the arrival of the Canadish troops at the location, the Canadish troops decided to help the Jonathian troops out. With the situation outside Keldhampton Cross unknown - telecommunication services to the Thurgenbury area as a whole had been cut due to Jonathian sabotage efforts - the mayor of the town, Lachie Habsburg, requested the troops stay. Despite this, some troops, including Jonathian commander Conan Damon, decided to leave, and led themselves off to their eventual deaths in a mine blast near the South Canadia town of Bricksby.
The town prospered with the new Jonathian residents, and the population began intermingling. One Jonathian officer, Simon Russell, who would later go on to become an award-winning author, wrote that the residents had been quite friendly and welcoming, and that he compared his treatment in Jonathia as "more or less worse than in the east (Canadia)". A memorial dedicated to the attack, the Statue to the Mud, was commissioned by the Thurgenbury Council in 1970. The statue was completed a year later, and revealed on December 8th, 1971, outside the town hall, where it stands to this day.
== Notable sites ==
=== Keldham Catholic Church ===
The Keldham Catholic Church is an Anglican church built around the outskirts of the eastern half of town. Built using cobblestone and wood, the church stands at 80 metres (262.467 ft) in height. It is the tallest building the town, and can be seen all the way from the nearby Kelding Hill.
=== Keldhampton Cross Town Hall ===
The Keldhampton Cross Town Hall is the head of the Keldhampton Cross Local Board, which is a part of the larger Thurgenbury Council. It's front wall is painted in a creamy colour, though the other sides of the town hall remain unpainted. The design is based off a gingerbread house, which explains the odd-looking tile placement on the roof.
=== Thurgenbury Barracks (also known as the Browntroop Motel and Restaurant) ===
The Thurgenbury Barracks are a now-decommissioned army base located some 200 metres north of the town. Built in 1931, the barracks housed several troops commanded by Rudolph Vogan. After falling into disuse following the Great War, the barracks were decommissioned in 1976. The building has changed ownership several times. Between December of 1978 and April of 1980, they were used by the local football club as a temporary base of operations while their actual club, located inside the town next to Kilderman Park, went under reconstruction following a fire at the club. In 1982, the barracks were sold to the family of Adam Orbaugh, the son of former Jonathian soldier Kevin James Orbaugh, and his girlfriend and future wife Brittany Fishkin. The two decided to transform the barracks into a roadside motel, concerning the number of travellers coming to the town. The cafeteria was converted into a restaurant. Kevin ran the restaurant until his death in 2013 in a car crash in Jumanji, when he was succeeded by his son, Kevin Jr. Brittany continues to run the motel.
The motel's official name, the Browntroop Motel and Restaurant, is derived from the Battle of Keldhampton Cross. Renovations are occurring at the motel to expand the building to accomodate the influx of tourists.
== Tourist services ==
Keldhampton Cross has a car park at the top of the hill, and toilet facilities over the bridge at the bottom of the village. Accomodation is available at the Browntroop Motel, which at the time of writing has sixty-seven rooms, most of which house up to four people.
== See also ==
* Rudolph Vogan
* Battle of Keldhampton Cross
* Thurgenbury Barracks
** Browntroop Motel
* Thurgenbury
* South Belka
Category:Keldhampton Cross, South Belka
Category:Towns
Category:Locations
Category:South Belka
Category:Canadia
Category:Towns in Canadia