Spring Trip into England, Part 4

On this spring’s trip to England Anne and I visited many interesting places, some of which we catalogued in previous posts.  We also took note of some interesting place names, particularly the village names.  I thought I would use those names to tell about our visit to England.  The villages will be alphabetical, except for the most interesting name which I’ll save for last.

Bourton-on-the-Water, Gloucestershire.  The name comes from bourton (OE, Old English) meaning a fort or enclosure.  So, Bourton-on-the-Water means “a fortification farm/settlement on the River Winrush.”    The village very well fits its name.  A wide main street has businesses on one side and the river flanked by more businesses on the other side.  

Anne, Bourton-on-the-Water, and the River Winrush

Ice Cream this way.

Ducks played in the small river and, although it was cloudy and in the low fifties, strollers relished the local ice cream cones they got from one of the local shops.

Buckfastleigh, Devon.  This small village on the eastern edge of Dartmoor is host to Buckfast Abbey and has a fairly straight forward etymology to its name.  All from Old English, Buckfastleigh comes from the combination of bucc or “a male deer,” faesten meaning “a stronghold,” and leah for “a forest glen or glade.”  Buckfastleigh, named for a thicket where bucks sheltered,  is a grand place for the monks to live and work. 

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All products of monasteries.

Beside the lovely church at Buckfast Abbey there is a nice gift shop filled with produce of local and related monasteries.

Cheddar, Somerset.  The name of the village and one of the world’s great cheeses has an interesting derivation.  Ceod (OE) for “hollow” or ceunant (Welsh) for “wooded hollow” combines with dor (OE) meaning an “entrance to a pass between hills.”  

Parking is at a premium in Cheddar Gorge.

Thus, Cheddar is descriptive of a gorge with many caves.   It also may mean a place with many people and many tourist shops and not enough parking.  

So, we bought our cheese from one of the "original" cheese shops.

There were, though, two cheese shops both claiming to be selling the “original” Cheddar Cheese.

Lower and Upper Slaughter, Gloucestershire.  The Lower and Upper are from Latin and refer to village position on the River Eye.  The rest of the name derives from slohtre (OE) meaning “a slough, mire, muddy place.”  

River Eye flows past the village. 

Village housing near the mill.

Art classes outside while the weather was good.

We thought the villages were quite cute even if named Lower and Upper muddy place.  With its 19th century watermill, now an interesting local crafts shop, the village of 17th and 18th century houses was pleasant to walk through.

The Mill shop in Lower Slaughter.

Lower Slaughter local resident used to sitting for portraits.

Moreton-in-Marsh, Gloucestershire.  The very busy Cotswold market town gets its name from its location in the marshy area (mor (OE) for ‘Marsh”) by the small River Evenlode, and tun (OE) for “an enclosure, village.” 

The Royal Mail box was one of the most exciting things in Moreton.

 But if you put it all together Moreton-in-Marsh really means the marshy town in the marsh.  About the only thing of interest in the village was the cheese shop, 

The only thing better than the post box was the cheese shop.

but it had no “original” cheddar.

Stow-on-the-Wold, Gloucestershire.  One of the more unusual village names turns out to be quite simple.  Stow is Old English for “a place” and wald is Anglican for “a forest, or high forest land.”  Thus, Stow-on-the-Wold is a place in the high forest.  While there is much forest around the village now,

I had to back up to get this photo.

Plenty of cement in the "place in a high forest."

the village itself is almost all stone and cement.  I will say that Stow had some of the most interesting shops of any of the villages we visited.

Tintagel, Cornwall.  With its castle the supposed birthplace of King Arthur, the village is a must for tourists.  Its name comes from din (W) for “fort” and tagell (Cornish) meaning “throat or constriction.” 

A bridge connects parts of Tintagel Castle.

Down actually looks steeper than up.

 A “fortification on a neck of land” is exactly what the village of Tintagel is.  The castle at the edge of the village is reach by a bridge and eventually will become an island.  

The Tintagel Castle Visitors' Centre from the castle.

View from the castle.

The climb up the steep steps to the castle is worth the effort.

Finally, we come to this village name: Mousehole, Cornwall.   

Mousehole shops sell...what else!

Pronounced “mowzel” and rhyming with “cowz’ll,” Mousehole was originally called Porth Enys which is Cornish for “cove near the island”--St Clement islet is 400 meters offshore from the harbour entrance.  The village, which Welsh poet Dylan thomas called “the loveliest village in England,”

Mousehole harbour and village.

Barely enough room for the local public transport.

 is one of the most picturesque and tightest we visited.  But no sources can tell us how Porth Enys came to be called Mousehole.  But after all is said and done, what’s in a name? 

This Story Might Ring a Bell

At the lovely Brechin GC in the Scottish Highlands we ran into a problem.  On the tee box of one hole was as sign, "Do not play until bell is rung."

We had seen nobody on the course in front of us.  We heard no bell.  We waited.  And we waited.  And we waited.  We were running out of daylight and, as much as we try to always follow local rules, we had to tee off without hearing a bell.  When we got over the hill there was the bell.  Nobody was playing behind us, but I had Anne go over and ring the bell 

so that whomever would follow us could be sure the bell was rung.  At times we just marvel at how confusing local rules can be.