RoadsideThoughts
A Gazetteer for the United States and Canada
Home >> State of Virginia >> Loudoun County >> Britain >> Tidbits & TriviaIndex...

Outdoor Activities ...

As we travel, we like to pursue some of our interests (such as astronomy and bird watching).

When in Britain, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Britain and the surrounding area.

  • Astronomy & Satellites ...
    • Whether using binoculars, a small telescope or the naked-eye, the Heavens-Above website can help you to find your way around the night-time sky. In addition to detailed sky charts, their website will help you find planets, asteriods, comets, satellites and their tracks across the sky.
    • To give accurate results, Heavens-Above requires the latitude and longitude of your location. As a starting point, when we link to Heavens-Above, we pass this GPS location for Britain:
    • 39.252879, -77.696936
    • Once you're on the Heavens-Above website, you can improve its accuracy by giving a more precise longitude and latitude as your actual position.
    • Open the Heavens-Above website centered on Britain
  • Bird Watching ...
    • We enjoy finding new spots for bird watching and we use the eBird website for local sighting reports and to help identify hotspots.
    • The eBird website is organized on a county-by-county basis. We have selected Loudoun County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Loudoun County
    • Since Britain is near Jefferson County and also Frederick County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Jefferson County
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Frederick County
  • Waymarking ...
    • Looking for somewhere out of the ordinary? Find a unique place and want to share it with others? Then it's time to visit Waymarking.com:
    • Open the Waymark.com report for Britain

Communities Also Named Britain ...

We found one communities that are also named Britain.

Within Virginia, the name Britain is unique.

Beyond Virginia, there is another community also named Britain in the United States.

  • Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
    • Kansas
      • Mitchell County
      • We found mention of this community, but have little information.<1> For the information that we do have, please visit our profile page for the Kansas community of Britain [Mitchell County].

Curious and Interesting Names Near Britain ...

As we travel, we always see a community with a name that gives pause. While there are names which are interesting or familiar, some catch our attention or strike our fancy. We always wonder about such a name. If time permits and the community is not too far, we'll usually try to make a side-trip.

  • Blair
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the northwest)
    • Blair is located in Jefferson County (WV)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Blair
  • Georges Mill
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the northeast)
    • Georges Mill is located in Loudoun County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Georges Mill
  • Halltown
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the northwest)
    • Halltown is located in Jefferson County (WV)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Halltown
  • Harpers Ferry
    (5 miles [8 km] to the northwest)
  • Keys Gap
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the west)
    • Keys Gap is located in Loudoun County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Keys Gap
  • Lower Town
    (5 miles [8 km] to the north)
    • Lower Town is located in Jefferson County (WV)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Lower Town
  • Loyalty
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the east)
    • Loyalty is located in Loudoun County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Loyalty
  • Mechanicsville
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the southwest)
    • Mechanicsville is located in Loudoun County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Mechanicsville
  • Milltown
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the east)
    • Milltown is located in Loudoun County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Milltown
  • Mountain Mission
    (5 miles [8 km] to the west)
    • Mountain Mission is located in Jefferson County (WV)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Mountain Mission
  • Pleasantville
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the north)
    • Pleasantville is located in Washington County (MD)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Pleasantville
  • Rice
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the northeast)
    • Rice is located in Frederick County (MD)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Rice
  • Continue List   (4 more) ...
    • Sandy Hook
      (5 miles [8 km] to the north)
      • Sandy Hook is located in Washington County (MD)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Sandy Hook
    • Shoemaker
      (2 miles [3.2 km] to the east)
      • Shoemaker is located in Loudoun County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Shoemaker
    • Silver Grove
      (4 miles [6.4 km] to the northwest)
      • Silver Grove is located in Jefferson County (WV)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Silver Grove
    • Wheatland
      (4 miles [6.4 km] to the south)
      • Wheatland is located in Loudoun County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Wheatland

How Far From Britain to ...

We spend a lot of time looking through Gazetteers & Almanacs that were published in the late 1800's and early 1900's. Many of the Gazetteers include the distance from a community such as Britain to various places of note, such as the White House.

With a nod to our favorite Gazetteers, the straight-line distance<3> beginning in Britain and extending to:

  • Leesburg, which is the Seat of Loudoun County, lies 11 miles [17.7 km]<3> to the southeast. If you could walk a straight line from Britain to Leesburg, with an average speed<4> of 2.2 miles [3.5 km] per hour, it would take five to six hours to make the trip. A horse and buggy averaging 3.2 miles [5.1 km] per hour would take nearly four hours.
  • Richmond, which is the State Capital of Virginia, lies 118 miles [189.9 km] to the south (S). Driving, with an average speed of 63 miles [101.4 km] per hour, would take about two hours, a buggy would take 5 days and walking would take 7 days.
  • The White House (Washington, DC) is 43 miles [69.2 km] to the southeast (SE). Driving would take less than an hour, a buggy would take just about two full days and walking would take about three full days.
  • The shortest distance<5> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 5,910 miles [9,511.2 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<6>
  • The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 6,618 miles [10,650.6 km] and it lies to the east northeast (ENE).<7>
  • The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 4,495 miles [7,234 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<8>'

Footnotes ...

<1>If we encounter the name of what might be a community, our methodology is to add that name to our Gazetteer as a placeholder. As we find more information about that community, it will be added to our Gazetteer.

Just as a reminder: Our definition of a community is rather broad and includes those places (or areas) where several families lived and had a name which identified that place. For example, you might hear somebody say that they are going over to Rock Creek to see Pete ... Rock Creek is just a gas station and a couple of homes at the crossroads. While it might not be on the map, everybody in the area knows it by that name.

Places of interest include buildings at a crossroad, several families clustered in a hollow or maybe the location of a way station. It also includes places like mines, lumber camps, ferry crossings, etc. The community might still exist, is now gone or only existed for just a short period of time.

Also keep in mind that Britain could have been on the original document by mistake, misspelled, the original/alternate name of a community that we've listed elsewhere or was placed in the wrong county. Sometimes a post office or train station would have a different name than the community where it's located, so two names might be referring to the same community - we're working to straighten it all out.
<2>While we're fans and frequent users of TripAdvisor, you should know that we're also members of the TripAdvisor affiliate program.
<3>Our distances are not driving distances, but are calculated as a 'point-to-point' distance. A straight line distance ignores things like rivers, canyons, lakes, et cetera - it's truly a line from Point A (ie- Britain) to Point B. In other words: 'As the crow flies'.
<4>While we have tried to pick reasonable speeds, the rate of travel is very theoretical - obstacles like fences, hills, lakes, river crossings and rest stops have been ignored. When we say 'Days' of travel, we're assuming 8 hours of travel per day.
<5>The shortest line can be visualized by stretching a string on a Globe from Point A to Point B - this is known as a Great Circle Route. Where you might expect the shortest route from Britain to the Middle East to be East and South, the Great Circle Route actually lies to the North and East.Our distance measurements begin at a specific point in Britain. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 39.2529, Longitude: -77.6969       In this case, the coordinates for Britain have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS).
<6>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 308.259 degrees.
<7>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 303.913 degrees.
<8>The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 304.858 degrees.