> when the true, magnetic and grid norths met in the village of Langton Matravers in Dorset
Love that, sounds like something Douglas Adams or Terry Pratchett would write :)
Love that, sounds like something Douglas Adams or Terry Pratchett would write :)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dancing_Ledge
The quarry caves at Winspit are worth an explore if you're in the area - they've been used in the set for Dr Who, Blake's 7 and Andor.
Not that it gives anyone else the right to come in and declare themselves Raj. But Vicky wasn't the first to come to India and declare themselves in charge.
Even names that seem very English now, like “York”, only seem that way because of their long historical presence. The town of that name started out around 70 CE as the Roman fortress Eboracum, which was a Latinized version of a Celtic name.
Later, around 600 CE, the Anglo-Saxons reinterpreted the name as Eoforwic, because “eofor” meant “boar” in Old English, although the earlier name had nothing to do with boars, other than sounding similar.
Then the Vikings came along in the 860s and called it Jórvík, an Old Norse adaptation of Eoforwic.
Around 1000 CE, after the Norman conquest, the name was shortened to York. That has no meaning in English, other than the place name and its derivatives. Fundamentally, it’s no more or less English than Matravers.
Then I read the history on wikipedia:
The name was recorded as Werchesworde in the Domesday Book of 1086 A.D. Outlying farms (berewicks) were Cromford, Middleton, Hopton, Wellesdene [sic], Carsington, Kirk Ireton and Callow. It gave its name to the earlier Wirksworth wapentake or hundred. The Survey of English Place-Names records Wyrcesuuyrthe in 835, Werchesworde in 1086, and Wirksworth(e) in 1536.
The toponym might be "Weorc's enclosure", or "fortified enclosure".
I just love how place names in the UK have evolved.
> I've just bought a house in Alderwasley in Derbyshire
Congratulations! A quick check of the map shows you're right near Whatstandwell, Nether Heague, Shottle, Hognaston, and of course Knockerdown. It all makes Tolkien and Pratchett seem a bit unimaginative!
Some dude name Weorc built a small fortified homestead somewhere ages back, and here we are still using his name to refer to that same place
It really blows my mind
Are we speaking another language? C'mon, this isn't obvious at all.
> but Matravers is a very strange non-English sounding name, and indeed according to Wikipedia it's from French
Duh? Was "vers" not a major clue?
...what kind of language education did you receive? I was taught english, french, and latin. Were you taught german or dutch by any chance?