Walking the Malvern Hills

A recent drive to one of my favourite parts of England coincided with a delightfully warm day, if a little muggy. Not that the hills are by any means the highest in the country, simply the countryside both east and west is predominantly flat and offers a perfect view of the quintessential patchwork farmland. .I was reminded of a passage from one of my earliest books, Worcestershire Place Names, and this story of one of the most respected individuals to live in the area. As we shall see this lady’s early life was hardly an easy time for her.

Lady Lyttleton was born Apphia Witts in 1743, the second daughter of one Broome Witts. At the age of 24 she became engaged to her cousin Richard Witts, he spending much of his time away working for the East India Company. In 1769 she embarked for India, where the couple would marry on her arrival and yet she arrived only to discover her husband-to-be had died during her voyage.

Grief-stricken and penniless he met Colonel James Peach, an army veteran and governor of Calcutta. A whirlwind romance saw the couple marry the following January. Whilst she had managed to marry this one they had hardly had time to get to know watch other for six months later he was also dead. He had contracted a fever and within ten days of falling ill had made her a widow.

Mrs Peach, as she now was, returned to England and went to live at Shenstone where she met the Honourable Thomas Lyttleton – a man who was ‘honourable’ only in title - a notorious rake of his day and clearly only interested in the considerable wealth she had inherited from Colonel Peach. Somehow he managed to convince her his reputation was an exaggeration, the impetuosity of youth and he was a reformed character. Hence he became her second husband in 1772. However with the ink barely dry on the marriage certificate he was already showing his true colours. With his mind clearly on the money he made his way back to the wedding carriage without his bride and, when he apologised for his oversight, managed to refer to the new Lady Lyttleton as ‘Mrs Peach’! A few short months later and she was alone again and now living with her father-in-law, George Lyttleton, at Hagley Hall. She came to Malvern around the end of the eighteenth century, eventually settling in the home she had had built which she named Peachfield Lodge in memory of her beloved first husband.

Lady Lyttleton was soon a leading personality around Malvern as it grew from a village to a town. She rarely left her home, where her role as a hostess was legendary, although she did venture out to Madresfield Court when in her eighties where she charmed the Duchess of Kent and a young Princess Victoria to such a degree they wrote and thanked her personally for their ‘unforgettable summer’.

Despite a number of heart-breaking setbacks in her early life, Lady Lyttleton overcame them to see her ninety-sixth year. Reports seem to indicate most of the town turned out to her funeral, shops were closed, the crowds spilled out into the churchyard and many others watched the funeral procession from windows, doorways and even rooftops to witness the end of an era in Malvern’s history.

Unlike Lady Lyttleton we parked at the British Camp car park where, on returning to the car, had time to cross to the small café on the Worcestershire/Herefordshire border for a well-deserved ice cream from a local dairy. Highly recommended.

As always 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.

Tools of the Historical Trade

Recent blog posts have covered the street names and occupational surnames which may or may not prove of interest to authors of historical stories. It occurred to me how it might prove useful to look at some of the tools and terminology used by those in those occupations. That many were used in agriculture comes as no surprise as the vast majority worked the land.

ARTIFICIAL LEECH – as it suggests this blood-letting tool of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries mimicked the natural blood sucker after which it was named. It resembled a bicycle pump with one end where rotating blades with cut into the patient’s flesh and enable the blood to be drawn into the tube.

ASTROLABE – a navigational aid and a remarkably intricate piece of equipment for its day – those from the seventeenth century particularly. Useless during the day, they showed position by lining the instrument up with the stars.

BREAST PLOUGH – an early implement and one with a most misleading name, it is really a broad spade with a broad handle which pressed against the body of the user which cut a narrow swathe across the field, removing the top layer of stubble, weeds, brushwood, etc. This was then burned slowly to produce an ash which was then spread back on the field as a fertiliser. The implement was certainly available by the end of the sixteenth century, and still used in the Cotswolds in the 1930s, although it would seem to be in use much earlier and could well have been seen before the Romans arrived. Note there many different names for this item depending upon location.

BURN-BAITING – the process of using a breast plough and burning that removed.

CHAFF CUTTER – a curved blade was employed to chop the stubble from the crops into smaller pieces. The stalks were enclosed in a rectangular box on legs, both ends of the box were missing so the chaff could be slid along to protrude from chaff box and sliced through. An experienced cutter could make fifteen cuts per minute, less able workers would doubtless have at least scars to show their ineptitude. Chaff was cut into smaller pieces to mix in with the animal feed to ensure nothing went to waste, left whole the creatures could leave this in favour of the tastier morsels. Various models existed from the most basic idea in the sixteenth century to spring-loaded versions by the middle of the nineteenth century.

CROSS STAFF – a navigational aid resembling a television aerial but with cross pieces of differing lengths. Held up to horizon in the direction of the sun or pole star would be a guide to the vessel’s latitude. Looking directly at the sun caused blindness in a number of users.

DENTCHERING – the process of using a breast plough.

EMMET-IRON – another name for a breast plough and common to the south east of England, so-named because it knocked down ant hills and emmet is an early name for the ant (and in current use as a Cornish word for a tourist).

GROZIER – glaziers used lead to hold the smaller panels of glass in a larger pane, the length of lead being trimmed with a grozier.

HUMMELLER – used to remove the beard from the barley after threshing, it resembled a rake but with longer tines and a second piece along the ends to form a grill. Combed through the barley it would remove the unwanted beard.

LATHERKIN – when glaziers used lead to hold together the various glass panes in a larger window, the malleable lead was smoothed out with a latherkin.

LEY – nothing to do with track ways or lines of energies, this ‘ley’ is an alternative northern term for a scythe.

MOUTH GAG – not what it seems, this late nineteenth century implement resembled a large wooden tapering thumb screw which would be placed in the patient’s mouth when they were under to keep the mouth and the airway open.

POSSER – an alternative name for the ‘dolly’ used on wash days. When clothes were washed in a copper boiler the only means of agitating the clothes was with a wooden post with a handle which was twisted by hand to rotate the clothes.

SALVING – salve is a mixture of butter and tar which, when rubbed on to the skin of the sheep in autumn protected them from pests and parasites through the winter when the long fleece provided a welcome home for them. The process ended when the sheep dip proved to be at least as effective at under a quarter of the cost.

SEED FIDDLER – a bag containing the seed to be sowed was suspended by a shoulder strap. A rotating disc allowed the seed to be distributed from beneath the bag and was sent spinning by a bow-like action back and forth by the operator, hence the name ‘fiddler’. Used by the nineteenth century.

SHAUL – a shallow scoop of wood, used for winnowing, While the chaff would be blown away in the breeze the heavier seeds would drop back into the shaul.

SPECULUM – any of various instruments used over many years and used to open any number of body cavities to give a better view. By the look of it they got the idea from the old shoe stretcher, or perhaps the reverse was the case.

TOBACCO SMOKE ENEMA – pretty obvious from the name what it is, but just why mini-bellows blowing smoke up the patient’s backside in the late eighteenth century was thought to help breathing problems is mystifying. Unless everyone in the eighteenth century talked through their ……. no, that can’t possibly have been the case.

TREPANNING – possibly still known as a medical treatment whereby holes are drilled in the skull to cure what were seen as problems caused by demons but were actually insanity, epilepsy, or simply a fractured skull.

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.

Family Business

Following on from last week’s examination of some of the most common street names found in England, for the historical novelist it is as important to have names which fit the character as it is to have an address which is suitable for the era. As such here is a selection of surnames which may or may not inspire an idea or two – incidentally if any of these do give the writer an idea I’d be fascinated to hear about it.

Surnames come from four basic areas: place names, forenames, trades, and a smattering of nicknames. This blog covers the subject of place names quite regularly and, if you require a place name for a specific county for a character, there are some twenty books of mine out there which will give many suggestions. Christian names speak for themselves with examples such as Richardson or Robinson. Trades may be less obvious, although there is always the exception to the rule and Smith, the most common of English surnames, referring to a metalworker. Note this does not only mean a blacksmith, although this is the most common source, but also tinsmith, coppersmith, silversmith and goldsmith. The following is a list of trades which have developed into surnames – I have omitted the most obvious such as Miller, Taylor, Carter, Shepherd, etc., and list these in alphabetical order (only so I don’t duplicate any).

Arkwright – a maker of arks, which at the time would refer to large wooden chests

Bailey – a bailiff and an important official

Barker – not a market seller but one who sold bark used in the tanning of leather

Baxter – is a female baker, also Whitbread as one who produced only white bread and thus for the rich

Bond – yes James’ ancestors were serfs or bondsmen

Brewer – is obvious but included as the female version was Brewster

Chambers – one who managed the private chambers of a man of rank

Chapman – sold goods at a market

Cooper – a maker of barrels

Coward – he may or may not not be brave but he was named for being a cow herd

Dempster – a judge

Dyer – worked in cloth

Farmer – not the obvious, which is comparatively modern, but from fermier or tax collector

Fletcher – fairly well known as the man who made arrow shafts and flights for same

Fowler – trapped birds for the table

Frobisher – a polisher of metal, such as the swords and armour of knights

Fuller – like Walker a method of washing cloth

Granger – was the original farmer

Hawker – a market seller

Hooper – produced the hoops which held the wooden panels of the barrels

Lister – simply another name for a dyer

Lorimer – one who made horse-riding equipment, sometimes said to be just stirrups

Mercer – traded in the finest cloth

Napier – had a selection of cloths used to dry those who had just used a fingerbowl

Parsons – servant of a parson or clergyman

Roper – made ropes

Sawyer – produced logs

Spencer – literally dispensed goods from the stores

Stoddard – a corruption of stot herd, a stot being a young ox

Turner – operated a lathe working wood

Vickers – the servant of a clergyman

Walker – trod the cloth to wash out impurities before it was stretched on a frame to dry

Waterman – rowed a boat

Yates – was a gatekeeper

We should also include a selection of nicknames. Although these are not exactly what we would see as nicknames today. These include Strong, Armstrong, Small, Long, etc which speak for themselves.

Abbot – more likely to be a reference to one seen as arrogant rather than a holder of the office

Bishop – again one seen as arrogant more often than a holder of the office

Blunt – one with blonde hair

Bragg – nothing to do with boasting but an old synonym for bold

Crippen – would have been known for his curly hair

Darwin – literally ‘dear one’ a friend

Golightly – the way they walked

King – once more more likely to be a reference to one seen as arrogant than a holder of the office

Lord – and yet another example of an arrogant individual rather than a lord or one who worked for same

Moody – as with Bragg not what is seems but from modig and another word meaning bold

Pollard – a naturally bald man

Prince – and yet another for the arrogant rather than a holder of the office

Russell – one with red hair

Tait – someone who was cheerful

Todd – is an alternative name for a fox and could have described a cunning individual

Unwin – an unfriendly individual

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.

Origins of the Most Common of Street Names

Some months ago, perhaps even years, I wrote on the subject of the origin of street names. A reader commented on how useful this would prove to writers of historical fiction. Since then research has revealed more examples of names which have changed little over the years and I thought it time to share. Should anyone find these useful in their work I would be delighted to hear from you.

Hardly any town or city does not have a High Street. This has nothing to do with elevation but refers to its importance. Villages tend to use Main Street instead, which is much more obvious.

We also find settlements with Fore Street and Back Street, again simple enough names easily seen as the front and rear routes into, or out of, the settlement. It would be difficult to identify a ‘front’ or ‘back’ to a town or village, hence should be seen as the main route and less popular ways in or out. Another point worth noting is how there are many more examples of Back Street than Fore Street.

Broad Street often seems to be a misnomer today, rarely is it even as wide as more modern roads. However when it was named the reverse was the case.

In Pinfold Street is a reminder of the ‘pinfold’, a pen where the pinner held stray livestock until collected by their rightful owner. Monies collected in fines paid on collection paid the pinner a wage.

Conduit Street pointed to a water channel, likely one which existed before the street. Sometimes this brought fresh water into the community but more often was used as a sewer.

Holloway, sometimes seen as Holloway Street or Holloway Road, literally speaks of itself as ‘the hollow way’. Examine the route and it can be seen to cut into the surrounding topography and this is exactly what it means. Here is a route which has been used by so many for so long it has literally been worn away by countless feet, hooves and cartwheels.

While markets and trades are often obvious in examples such as Baker Street, Market Row, etc., some are less obvious. Cheapside or Cheap Street comes from ceap a term meaning ‘a market’, while Friday Street was named for this was where fish was sold on, at the very least, that particular day of the week; and Salters Lane shows where this important commodity was sold, stored, produced or transported.

Rotten Row is clearly derogatory but the sense differs in each case. Some describe this as a slum, a lair for criminals, the haunt of prostitutes and other qualities seen as less than desirable. We should also consider it may have been named ironically, for many examples of such have survived in minor place names and a nickname which has stuck through usage.

A rather different idea is conveyed in Honey Road or Honeypot Road but the message is not what it seems. This is not the land of milk and honey, or even the road leading there, but a way which will churn up into a sticky morass in all but the driest conditions. The same muddy surface was referred to in names such as Silent Lane or Featherbed Lane, for this would deaden the noise of the hoof or wheel as it travelled along.

The Victorians were fond of changing names they considered ‘unsuitable’ and hence a once-common name of identical meaning is no longer found. Not that the Victorians objected to anything known for its muddiness, just objected to the early word ‘shitten’. Note this originally referred to the texture of mud before it was used in the context with which we are familiar today.

Whilst on the subject of the Victorians, they found one street name particularly objectionable. Two versions of a name existed, each describing ‘a narrow and dark passage’ which meant those might have to feel their way along and thus we find Grope Alley. I did say two versions and the second added a four letter word to ‘grope’, a word still considered the least acceptable, and thought to refer to the haunt of prostitutes. However all those four letters describes was what was seen – a narrow and unlit passage. Dens of iniquity were given names such as Love Lane, Maiden Street, and Finkle Street, the Middle English finkel used to mean ‘pet, cuddle’.

While streets named after the cardinal compass points are obvious, these are sometimes still used is names such as Northgate Street and Eastgate Street, etc. It is clear these were the streets to (or from) the town gates, however the Old English gaet merits examination for usage has changed here, too. To the Saxons a gaet was the ‘way to’, most often used where a route narrowed and thus naturally transferred to the panel placed across the way to make it less easy to pass. Eventually hinges and a locking mechanism produced the ‘gate’ we would know today.

One of the most common is a pet hate of mine, not because of the origins but because it invariably clashes with the accepted local definition whenever I happen to speaking on the subject. Almost without exception local historians will enthusiastically claim it marks where archery was practiced by the local men. This enabled the men, as ordered by the king, to have an excuse not to attend church – at the time a crime requiring payment of a fine greater than most could ever afford. Now while there must be some instances where the archery butts gave the name, they can probably be counted on little more than the fingers of both hands. Indeed there are likely more from the game of butts, what seems to me a rather pointless sport where a little stick is tapped at one end so as to pop up and be whacked a second time with the larger stick. The winner is the one whose smaller stick travels the greatest distance. I’m informed this is similar to something called tip-cat but I am familiar with neither. Yet the vast majority of Butts Lane, The Butts, and other variations come from the term used in Saxon times to refer to the strip of land which remained untouched by the plough at the sides of the field, for this was where the plough team turned.

If anyone has any specific road names to define or, for the novelist, a street name created to fit a particular era or situation don’t hesitate to contact me.

As usual 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.

Hardware

I did not have a job when I left school - it was the early seventies and the last days of Edward Heath's government and unemployment was the height of fashion. What I did have was a Saturday job in a hardware shop which, for a couple of months full time, gave me a meagre income and very tired feet.

At the time I had no idea ‘hardware’ was also used as a slang term for ammunition during the days when Birmingham’s Gun Quarter and munitions factories were employed as many in cottage industries as the city’s more famous Jewellery Quarter did at its height. The most famous of the ‘hardware’ manufacturers was BSA, a name now synonymous with motorcycles but one which began as Birmingham Small Arms and abbreviated to BSA. The military relied so heavily on supplies from Birmingham that those from the Second City became known as Hardware-Blokes. This was then transferred to those who sold metal items door-to-door, with their wares known as Hardware-Swag.

The ‘hardware’ term was only in use for about 50 years from 1870. Before, during and afterwards the residents of Birmingham were more commonly known as Brummies. This came from Brummagen, a local name which developed from the idea of the city’s name being ‘Bromwich-ham’ and influenced by neighbouring settlements such as Castle Bromwich and West Bromwich and the development of the terms Brummie and Brum are obvious.

Around the same time the term Brummagem came into use with a very different meaning. Look in the Oxford English Dictionary under ‘Brummagem’ and see the definition ‘counterfeit, cheap and showy’. This comes from a time when the Jewellery Quarter was found to have a number of unscrupulous characters who were watering down the gold with cheaper metals. The reason gold is so valuable is threefold: it is comparatively rare, does not tarnish, and is extremely malleable making it easy to make into the intricate jewellery designs. As the percentage of gold in the product drops so the finished product increases in size and gaudiness.

While neither slang term is in use for metal-working, I know of no other example where a slang place name has entered the dictionary with a completely different meaning at the same time as a word in the dictionary has come to be a slang term for a person from the same place.

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.

Fanny Adams

An expression known to all meaning ‘nothing’ – and often said to be ‘Sweet Fanny Adams’. Yet it is also a term having a most interesting etymology, albeit a sad and macabre one.

In 1867 three girls from Alton in Hampshire took a walk. Fanny Adams, aged 8, her 7-year-old sister Lizzie, and their 8-year-old friend Minnie Warner were given permission to head towards Flood Meadow by Harriet Adams, mother of the sisters. Around two in the afternoon on Tanhouse Lane they met Frederick Baker, a 29-year-old solicitor’s clerk. The man offered four halfpennies to the girls, one for each and an extra one for Fanny to accompany him to Shalden some two miles away. They all took the coins but Fanny refused to go with him. It made no difference. Baker carried Fanny Adams into a field of hops. She was never seen alive again.

It was three hours before the other girls returned home. In their naivety they saw no reason to raise an alarm and it was only when a neighbour, a Mrs Gardiner, asked about Fanny that their story came out and Mrs Adams was informed. Both women retraced the girls’ steps and soon met Baker. They spoke to him and while he admitted he had given them money he denied anything else had happened. In Victorian Britain a man in his position was considered completely trustworthy and his version was accepted.

Another two hours and still no sign of Fanny and every available hand went searching. They soon found what they were looking for in the hop field. What they found was horrific for the body had been horribly mutilated. Arms and legs were severed, the eye sockets were empty, and the torso was empty. Her eyes later found in the river, with the internal organs strewn across the countryside. Over a matter of days the remains were recovered and taken to the local doctor’s surgery where they were reunited.

Later that evening Baker was arrested at the office of his employer, William Clement. Police had to protect him from the mob who, on seeing the blood on his clothes, were increasingly aggressive. There was so much evidence against him – two blood-stained knives on his person, a witness to Baker leaving Alton and a new career “as a butcher”, the statements of the Lizzie and Minnie, and a diary entry in Baker’s own hand “24th August, Saturday – killed a young girl. It was fine and hot.”

Sent for trial at Winchester it was revealed Baker had murdered her by a blow to the head with a sizable stone. His counsel tried to show he was insane, there being several cases of such in the family, they also tried to show diminished responsibility with medical evidence of epilepsy. There was no question as to his eventual guilt, the only question whether the police could protect him long enough for him to die at the hands of the executioner. On Christmas Eve 1867 Baker was hanged outside Winchester Gaol, the last person executed in the city.

Today we see the origin of the phrase as insensitive, to say the least. However it took just two years for this notorious case to enter the language, for it was then the Royal Navy introduced tinned mutton to their rations. Sailors did not care for the new protein source and suggested it must be produced from the remains of the murder victim. It has been speculated the two stories were linked by the local of the Royal Navy yard at Deptford, where there was an abattoir and a bakery and within touching distance of Alton. In reality the two were several miles apart and this explanation was almost certainly created several years afterwards. The same is also true of the abbreviation “Sweet FA” used for “sweet f**k all” when certainly from much later. The tin containing the meat was later reused as a mess tin. Recycling nineteenth century style led to the mess tin being known as a Fanny as it still is today

Shortly after the use of Fanny Adams to refer to something as ‘worthless’ or ‘nothing at all’ the Australians began referring to canned chopped meat as Harriet Lane. Despite this also being the name of Fanny’s mother, the two are unrelated except by the circumstances of their respective murders. As with Fanny, Harriet Lane (for that was her name) was murdered and butchered, the latter by a man named Henry Wainwright. However this was not in Australia, as we would presume, but in London.

As usual 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.

A Writer's Distractions

Writing takes up a great deal of my time. Indeed when I’m not writing it seems I’m invariably researching, taking photographs, or driving between one place and another. Now we have longer days, note I refrain from referring to the British weather as ‘summer’ (despite the current warm spell), I aim to take one day out every week to walk. Many of the walks are along canal tow paths, or circular routes around open country, and the occasional circuit which takes in an old railway line, including those featured in my book Beeching 50 Years On.

In recent months the tow paths of Britain have provided me with an all-weather surface. One of the plus points in walking canals is how often their routes closely follow the railway lines. The reason is obvious, both forms of transport follow a predominantly level route between two places, which will inevitably be similar. One journey I recently completed was along the Birmingham and Worcester Canal, a route which can be found here with additional information on the Droitwich Canal. I walked both, albeit in two stages, first from Birmingham to Alvechurch and second from Alvechurch to Worcester along with a loop around to Droitwich. Anyone thinking of following this route should certainly start in Birmingham as there is a drop of some 220 feet over the 30 locks of the Tardebigge Flight, the longest flight of locks anywhere in the land.

The two stages of the Worcester Canal are very different. Firstly the leg to Alvechurch, which is as level as it can possibly be for there is not a lock on this stretch. However one warning, there is a tunnel beneath Wast Hills. At almost two miles in length and without a tow path, the walker has no choice but to detour over the top. This route should be worked out beforehand as there is no marked way to follow.

Below Alvechurch, where the canal and railway station are separated by less than a hundred yards, there is a second tunnel to negotiate. This is much shorter and the detour well signposted, unlike the third tunnel on the outskirts of Droitwich which again should be planned beforehand. However the most obvious feature is the Tardebigge Flight. The amount of water needed to feed this drop is colossal. If you have any doubt as to the size of this feature simply pause to take a look at the size of Tardebigge Reservoir, built solely to feed the flight. It is impossible to envisage this engineering feat when walking it, the only really good view is from the air which ironically could not have been seen until around a hundred years after it was first in use.

For me walking is a way to rid the mind of clutter. It is when I’m thinking of nothing that I have the best ideas when it comes to my writing, very little of which has anything to do with walking, canals, or even railways. This is particularly true when walking along canals as it requires very little concentration, not even having to follow or work out a route on a map. Not that I particularly enjoy walking canals from a physical viewpoint as, for the most part, they are flat and thus using the same muscles for mile after mile. Something we notice when it comes time to turn off!

One day soon I intend to hire a canal boat and navigate the canals during the day, leaving the writing for the evening. Perhaps it will inspire different words to appear on the paper. Always assuming I can keep myself away from the many pubs, serving not only a hearty meal but a most tempting array of real ales.

As usual 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.