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    British place names

    I'll start

    Tarbert.

    Somewhere on land between two bits of water.


    #2
    There's a village in Cumbria named Halfpenny (pronounced Ha'penny?)

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      #3
      Anything with wick in it was a Viking village. Keswick, Hawick, Wick, York (Jorvik), Norwich, Ipswich,

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        #4
        <sniggering at the back of the class>

        Well? What is it?

        Peniston, sir

        <class erupts>

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          #5
          Notter Bridge.

          Well what is it then?

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            #6
            Originally posted by Rogin the Armchair fan View Post
            <sniggering at the back of the class>

            Well? What is it?

            Peniston, sir

            <class erupts>
            That's "Penistone" Rogin.10 percent deducted for spelling and another 10 percent for cheek . See me after class.



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              #7
              Originally posted by Patrick Thistle View Post
              Anything with wick in it was a Viking village. Keswick, Hawick, Wick, York (Jorvik), Norwich, Ipswich,
              'Wic' was a Saxon port, I thought. According to the Jorvik museum, the Vikings struggled with the Saxon name for York (Eoforwic) and changed it to Jorvik.

              Norwich means 'northern port' and Ipswich (Gippeswic) means 'corner port'.

              Edit - see also Harwich which is 'here' (pronounced herrer I think, and refers to the military) + 'wic' (port).
              Last edited by Kevin S; 16-09-2020, 08:33.

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                #8
                On one day walking the Viking Way last month I walked through the following villages:

                Barnetby, Bigby, Somerby, Owmby, Grasby, Claxby, Wellsby, Tealby, Glouceby, Scamblesby and Fulletby.

                The ~by suffix means village or settlement in the old Norse language.

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                  #9
                  Nomansland and Upper Wallop, Middle Wallop and Nether Wallop, all in Wiltshire.

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                    #10
                    On the old board Wyatt Earp would pop in now and complain about the geographical inaccuracy of Holby City.

                    I miss that.

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                      #11
                      Wootton Bassett, Berwick Bassett and a number of other places with "Bassett" in them means they were owned by the Bassett family who also owned liquorice plantations. The same owner of Bertie Bassett sweets.

                      Now does anyone know what Southend is at the south end of?

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                        #12
                        Originally posted by Amor de Cosmos View Post
                        There's a village in Cumbria named Halfpenny (pronounced Ha'penny?)
                        There's also Readymoney, near Fowey in Cornwall - always rather liked that.

                        And also Pity Me, near Durham. (I stayed there a few years ago and could see how it may have come by its name.)

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                          #13
                          Villages near where I grew up included Steeple Bumpstead and Helions Bumpstead (where Bumpstead came from bumsted, Anglo Saxon for "place of reeds") as well as Six Mile Bottom and the village of Ugley (which happily has an Ugley Women's Institute).

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                            #14
                            Excellent - they should organise a get-together with the Loose Women's Institute, near Maidstone.

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                              #15
                              Balloch means "village by the loch" in Gaelic. The most famous one is of course beside Loch Lomond, but there are also places named Balloch in Ayrshire, Lanarkshire, Inverness-shire and Fife.

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                                #16
                                Or the Cowes women's institute, as for the village of Ugley in Essex.....!

                                I believe that Pity Me in County Durham is a corruption of the French words Petitt Mer - little pool - which is what the place is next to.

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                                  #17
                                  Yes, those place names (especially six mile bottom) amused me as a child

                                  In Moldova (the bit of Romania called Moldova, not the Republic of Moldova), there are two villages founded by fleeing Szekely from here (after they were massacred by the Austrians) called (in Hungarian) "God help us!" and "God welcome us!"

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                                    #18
                                    Originally posted by Paul S View Post
                                    Wootton Bassett, Berwick Bassett and a number of other places with "Bassett" in them means they were owned by the Bassett family who also owned liquorice plantations. The same owner of Bertie Bassett sweets.

                                    Now does anyone know what Southend is at the south end of?
                                    Mull of Kintyre

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                                      #19
                                      Originally posted by Paul S View Post
                                      I believe that Pity Me in County Durham is a corruption of the French words Petitt Mer - little pool - which is what the place is next to.
                                      'Petite', but yes, that's the derivation. There's also a 'Pityme' (one word) - which is located next to Splatt in Cornwall...

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                                        #20
                                        Beauly is also French, probably apochryphal tale from Mary Queen of Scots exclamation ?c'est un beau lieu? having liked the place

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                                          #21
                                          Originally posted by Paul S View Post
                                          On one day walking the Viking Way last month I walked through the following villages:

                                          Barnetby, Bigby, Somerby, Owmby, Grasby, Claxby, Wellsby, Tealby, Glouceby, Scamblesby and Fulletby.

                                          The ~by suffix means village or settlement in the old Norse language.
                                          The Vikings are also behind the large number of ~thwaite endings in the North, particularly around Cumbria. It is Norse for clearing or meadow and might be behind the naming of Twatt in the Orkneys.

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                                            #22
                                            Originally posted by Paul S View Post
                                            I believe that Pity Me in County Durham is a corruption of the French words Petitt Mer - little pool - which is what the place is next to.
                                            Northumberland has Once Brewed / Twice Brewed although the source isn't clear. Twice Brewed came first, being originally an inn and :

                                            There are several stories which explain the name of the inn. The most romantic story has it that on the eve of the Battle of Hexham in 1464, Yorkist foot soldiers demanded their beer be brewed again because it lacked its usual fighting strength. The ploy worked as the Lancastrian army later fled after an early morning raid against the rejuvenated troops. A more prosaic explanation is that 18th-century farmers tended to brew (and serve) weak ale, and hence "twice brewed" meant the inn offered stronger ale. A third theory is that Hadrian's Wall snakes its way across the brows, or "brews", of two hills where there is also a meeting of a pair of drovers’ roads



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                                              #23
                                              Originally posted by Kevin S View Post

                                              'Wic' was a Saxon port, I thought. According to the Jorvik museum, the Vikings struggled with the Saxon name for York (Eoforwic) and changed it to Jorvik.

                                              Norwich means 'northern port' and Ipswich (Gippeswic) means 'corner port'.

                                              Edit - see also Harwich which is 'here' (pronounced herrer I think, and refers to the military) + 'wic' (port).
                                              Maybe there are parallel etymologies. East Anglia was the Danelaw too so I'm not sure where the Saxons got the word from.

                                              From Wikipedia
                                              Some elements, such as wich and wick, can have many meanings. Generally wich/wick/wyke indicates a farm or settlement (e.g. Keswick "cheese farm"). However, some of the sites are of Roman or early Post-Roman origin, in which the wich represents Latin vicus ("place").
                                              If you go to Faroes or Iceland there are a lot of "viks" and I thought I remembered reading Keswick was a Viking name. But maybe I misremembered.

                                              More info: http://www.viking.no/e/england/danelaw/epl-danelaw.htm - the article suggests caution when it comes to "wick"
                                              Last edited by Patrick Thistle; 16-09-2020, 11:13.

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                                                #24
                                                We visited Audley End last Saturday and drove through the aforementioned Ugley to get there. Needless to say my kids found it hilarious.

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                                                  #25
                                                  Lickey End always sounds like a rather unpleasant disease dogs get.

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