A Village By Any Other Name ...

I grew up in a part of England that is well blessed with interesting names for the villages and towns around.

Stow-on-the-Wold, Bourton-on-the-Water and my own Moreton-in-Marsh are but a few. Stow is actually on a ‘wold’ (a hill), Bourton’s water is a stream running through the middle of the town but Moreton, thankfully, is not in a marsh. The ‘marsh’ in question is believed to be a derivation of ‘henmarch’, meaning “on the border”, the town being situated where four counties used to meet. However, since local government reorganization that number’s been reduced to only three.

Perhaps the strangest name of a local village, however, is ‘Slaughter’, of which there are two … Upper and Lower, sort of like first degree and second degree murder! Somewhat disappointingly the name has no bloody connections but comes instead, from the old English word ‘slohtre’, meaning a muddy place.

Strangest of all though, can be the way that those born and bred in the area pronounce the names of local places.

Both Ebrington and Broadwell, small villages nearby, are pronounced exactly as you would expect. At least, that’s how the Queen or I would pronounce them. But enter a local hostelry or supermarket perchance, and you might very well overhear people talking about the mythical villages ‘Yubberton’ and ‘Bradle’, places to be found on no map know to man.

As the saying goes around here, “I can’t read and I can’t write but I can drive a tractor.”