Comments on: From the Heart… of England: What’s in a name?

By: Anna

Anna — Wed, 15 Dec 2010 21:58:14 +0000

Oh no, London is beautiful and only the centre is flat. Try standing and admiring the view from Primrose Hill, or even in Greenwich, outside the Royal Observatory.

Okay, London has no mountains, but if you want drama you need to head for Scotland. England is better known for its gentle rolling hills and London can offer some of those.

Regards,

Anna.

By: oops

oops — Thu, 09 Dec 2010 00:01:39 +0000

‘Alnwick’ is pronounced Annick by people who live in Northumberland (the county that Alnwick is in) and others in the know. But Alnmouth – also in Northumberland – is not pronouned Annmouth. I’d be hard pressed to type how it is pronounced properly, but the l is in there.

By: ajkkja

ajkkja — Sat, 04 Dec 2010 11:04:48 +0000

‘…anywhere called â€œsomething-donâ€ will be on a hill…’.

What about ‘London’, – flat as a pancake down there!

By: Anna

Anna — Tue, 05 Oct 2010 09:08:43 +0000

Tony,

I’ve always pronounced them “Ornwick” (Alnwick), “Beecham” (Beauchamp), “Beaver” (Belvoir) and “Chumlee” (Cholmondeley).

Doesn’t mean I’m right, though!!!!! How did I do?

By: Tony Merrygold

Tony Merrygold — Mon, 04 Oct 2010 15:12:18 +0000

Getting very specific on placenames.

Try keeping a straight face when saying Penistone

Stratford – means a street fording a river (Strat is a bit like Italian Strada – street) then the upon Avon is obvious.

Avon is itself based on Old English / Welsh Afon meaning River.
So River Avon means River river.

In Wales Aber means Mouth so Aberafon means the Mouth of the Avon,

Towns that end in the letters …by were Viking villages. If you take out a map of the country and plot the southernmost towns ending in ..by you can see how far south the Vikings reached before they were stopped.

How do you pronounce the following place names: Alnwick, Beauchamp, Belvoir, Cholmondeley?

If you want to get really anoraky on place names, did you know there is only one Lake in the Lake District?

By: phil

phil — Wed, 02 Dec 2009 23:14:51 +0000

that’s because it’s usually pronouced Cocker-muth.

By: jonathan

jonathan — Fri, 27 Nov 2009 21:18:14 +0000

One thing I was quite amazed about was how many people in the UK could say Cockermouth with a straight face. I know the floods were tragic – but I couldn’t help but snigger every time I hear Cockermouth on the news while we were there. Guess it’s the 12 year old in me…