Arbury Hall

Ancestral home of the Newdigate family, built on the site of the former Arbury Priory. One of Nuneaton’s most famous ‘sons’, author George Eliot – actually a famous daughter, Mary Anne Evans – was born on one of the estate farms, her father was the estate’s land agent. She used Arbury Hall as the model for Cheverel Manor in Scenes of Clerical Life, it is the setting for Mr Gilfil’s Love Story.

. In more modern times the film Angels and Insects was filmed here; and became the fictional Hoxley Manor in BBC’s The Land Girls.

The Newdigate baronetcy was created on 24 July 1677 and became extinct with the death of the 5th baronet in 1806. The family name is later noted as Newdigate-Newdegate.

The 300 acre estate has a system of private canals. Connected to the Coventry Canal, there are six distinct sections, and a seventh (The Griff Hollows Canal) not connected to the others. The entire system covers 6 miles and has 13 locks – one a Y-shaped feature is the Triple Lock, with two separate entrances leading to different branches. A few visible signs remain on the estate today.

Arbury Park in South Australia is named after Arbury Hall. A 17-room Georgian-style house constructed in 1935 for politician Sir Alexander Downer, close friend of Sir Francis Alexander Newdigate-Newdegate (1862-1936) MP for Tamworth, Nuneaton, and Governor of Tasmania and Western Australia, which is why he chose the name.

Berkshire Place Names

This week the publication of Berkshire Place Names by Fineleaf Editions means there are now 43 books of mine on the shelves, more than half on the subject of place names.

To promote the book I was interviewed on BBC Berkshire by the delightful Anne Diamond. Among the names discussed was that of Wargrave, a name from Old English waer graf speaks of 'the grove by the weir'. This name is seen in the Domesday survey of 1086 as Weregrave.

From baer meaning 'swine pasture' comes Bear Grove, Bear Place, Bear Ash, and Bear Hill. Similarly Culham Court, Upper Culham Farm, Middle Culham Farm, and Lower Culham Farm share an origin in either cylen ham 'the homestead near a kiln or kilns' or cylen hamm 'the hemmed-in land with a kiln or kilns'. Worley's Farm is from horu leah 'the dirty woodland clearing'. Bottom Boles Wood has had a complicated and tortuous evolution but originated in 'the bottom place of the rounded hills'. Highcockett literally means 'cocked hat', a description of the shape of the field. Knowl Hill takes cnol or ‘rounded hill’ and adds the modern equivalent.

Pubs named the Greyhound have three possible origins. The most obvious is the breed of dog, one bred for hunting but it was the chase which was more important than the statistically unlikely kill. It was also the name of a famous stagecoach, one running from London to Birmingham and a second from the capital to Exeter. However the most common is heraldic, this being found on the coat of arms of the dukes of Newcastle, an important landowner. The White Hart also began as an heraldic device, one representing Richard II but has lasted when it became the generic name for every public house.

The Seven Stars has stood for more than four centuries, it being the traditional meeting place for workers at the now-defunct Star Brick Works. The addition of ‘seven’ is either for alliteration or luck, most likely both. Many pubs known simply as the ‘George’ refer to the saint and not any of the six kings. Indeed, there seems to be a general tendency for pubs known as the George and Dragon to lose the mythical beast. Yet in Wargrave the reverse is true, for this leaves no doubt in the possibly unique name of the St George and Dragon.

I would welcome any suggestions for themes or subjects, or even specific words to examine the origins, meanings and etymologies. I’d be delighted to hear from you.

Desert Island Discs

First introduced to this long-running radio broadcast by my grandmother. In those days nearly every piece of music chosen was classical or from some musical or other – at least it seemed that way. In recent years the delights of the podcast, the ideal companion on a long walk, has reunited me with Desert Island Discs and started me thinking about my own particular choices and just how difficult it must be to select just eight tracks to represent one’s life thus far. When first listening, with my grandmother, as I was around seven years old and, with the Merseybeat dominating the UK charts, the decision would have been much easier than today, almost five decades later!

Never one to be able to resist a challenge, I began to jot down some favourite tracks but soon abandoned this method as I would have ended up with hundreds before long. Hence I tried to think of music which reminded me of significant moments in my life. Oddly this failed for the opposite reason, for I have no notion of what (if anything) was playing when I heard about 9/11 or Kennedy’s assassination, for example. So I tried eras and genres and eventually whittled the list down to the following. Unlike the programme I’ve not explained the reason for my choices, indeed I’d probably struggle to find explanations for most. Incidentally this list would probably change dramatically every single day.

She Loves You – The Beatles

Meditation de Thais – Jules Massenet

Brown Sugar – The Rolling Stones

The Impossible Dream – Matt Monroe

Running Scared – Roy Orbison

Walk Hand In Hand – Gerry and the Pacemakers

I Shall Be Released – The Hollies

Imagine – John Lennon

When it came to a choice of books the decision was much easier. My favourite sci-fi author is, was and ever shall be Isaac Asimov. Mr Asimov was also famous for being the first (and maybe still the only) person to have a published work in every category of the Dewey Decimal System. As Kirsty is very flexible when it comes to book choices, I shall opt for the yet to be released The Complete Works of Isaac Asimov, it might even be able to tell me how to survive on this island. Incidentally the mandatory Shakespeare I can take or leave, and the Bible will only be ballast. I have no faith and if I accept it will teach me to be better inclined toward my fellow man it is doubly redundant as I am now alone on a desert island!

Luxury item was very difficult. It changes every time I make a decision. So before it changes again, I’ll opt for R Daneel Olivaw – I doubt if this will be allowed but I’m not giving her the chance to veto it. Oh, and if you don’t know who or what R Daneel Olivaw is, you haven’t read my book choice.