Almondsey
The Town of Yiggle in South-West Estalia
Yiggle is the 'County Town' of the region of southwestern Estalia as well as being nominally the county seat for Pagota (Tiptow is its de facto center). It is strategically located on a branch of the River Ramat between Harrum Forest and the Plain of Pagota and has always been an major crossroads in Estalia. An important market town, and a port near the navigable limits of the river, although not noted for any cultural amenities or any other distinction apart from the castle and the adjacent temple. In later years, the town sprawled beyond its walls and became the most populous site in the area, larger even than Tiptow and Sagasity.
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Description of the Town: Situated on a branch of the River Ramat where it forks into two tributaries, the old town is surrounded by relatively week defensive walls. The main highway southeast to the capital (via the monumental 'grand gatehouse' built in 1845) passes through here, crossing the river by a stone bridge then forking north to Palor and west to Fangist. A smaller highway goes south through the original medieval gate toward Plahsh, Sagasity, and Tiptow. The New Town suburb is far bigger than the old town; two major breaches were made in the walls to access it. River barge traffic on the Ramat is also handled in this area.
South of the Castle and Market Square lie the Grand Temple and the 'county hall', which houses the administration for the district. Indoor markets and a long row of shops along the main street occupy the rest of the square. The southwestern quadrant of the town is bureau-class and professional-class (doctors, lawyers) residential -- through another breach in the wall is access to the 'Garden Suburb', which is full of exclusive villas. Two large buildings by the Grand Gatehouse house the College of Arts, Science, and Religion, and the region's only medical school/specialist hospital. South of Yiggle the country is still agricultural and not at all built up.
All but the castle, the walls, the bridge, the temple, and the south gate was built in Victorian times, after the medieval town was drastically cleared out by Mayor Fallis of Yiggle, the first of the Grand Ducal Governors of the region.
As Yiggle is at an important juncture in the road system of Estalia, there is a hotel ("The Alicia"), one of the many 'upscale' hostels in the Castello Chain. It was constructed in 1898 in the form of a tower-house; its connected public house, The Grape and Granary, is a popular place for the market businessmen.
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Yiggle Castle was built in the 17th Century as a ducal castle for Pagota but is now the core of County Hall. What you see labelled as Lord's Chamber, etc. are now administrative offices. The Great Hall is now the regional court, the minstrel gallery is for public viewing, the dining room is an anteroom (an external entrance staircase was built between the two windows), the sitting room is an office, the kitchen/servants' hall complex is the refectory, with its upper floors assigned as bureaucratic work rooms, southeast tower is a police station (with a prison on the ground floor), and the main tower house is used by judges and lawyers. In effect, this fortification is now a Pogin-mim.
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Description. A T-shaped tower (hall and kitchen wing), four stories tall. Whatever decorative refinements there were originally, they have mostly been destroyed or covered up by later developments. The river frontage is still impressive, though.
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Estalia
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