Lime Kiln Way is close to the Ridings Mead estate in Harnham. I think it’s part of a later development than Ridings Mead itself.

A lime kiln is an oven for converting . . . → Read More: Lime Kiln Way, Salisbury]]> Lime Kiln Way is at the Britford end of Harnham – close to the Ridings Mead estate, but I think perhaps part of a later development.

Lime Kiln Way is close to the Ridings Mead estate in Harnham. I think it’s part of a later development than Ridings Mead itself.

A lime kiln is an oven for converting chalk or limestone into lime. Lime is used in construction (historically it’s been a key component of cement), and many other industries¹.

The 1915 Kelly’s Directory has a reference to ‘The Harnham Lime Works’ ².

Lime Kiln Way is therefore probably named in reference to the Harnham Lime Works.

Footnotes

1. British Lime Association – The Trade Association for the UK Lime Industry
2. Kelly’s Directory, 1915, page 203 – the Directory is browsable on-line at the Historical Directories website

‘Linden’ is a word for ‘lime tree’, or ‘made from the wood of a lime-tree’ 1.

The names of the roads on the estate are a bit of a mystery to me – there’s no obvious relation between them. To use a favourite word of . . . → Read More: Linden Close, Laverstock]]> Linden Close is in Laverstock, at the eastern edge of the ‘pebbledash-ed’ estate.

‘Linden’ is a word for ‘lime tree’, or ‘made from the wood of a lime-tree’ ¹.

The names of the roads on the estate are a bit of a mystery to me – there’s no obvious relation between them. To use a favourite word of my daughter, the other road names on the estate (Napier Crescent, Vanessa Avenue etc) are fairly ‘random’. There are two possible reasons for the name of Linden Close that I could think of.

The first is that is a reference to the trees behind Linden Close i.e. between Linden Close and Duck Lane. I’m afraid I don’t know enough about trees to know one or another, but you could see this as fitting in with the adjacent road ‘Greenwood Avenue’.

The second is that Linden is somebody’s name. This would fit in with other roads on the estate which have named which are also either Christian names or surnames – Vanessa Avenue, Melvin Road and Napier Crescent.

Linden and Lime in music and art

Culture and religion

According to Wikipedia, the linden or lime tree has special cultural or even spiritual significance in much of Middle Europe. In Poland many villages have the name ‘Holy Lime’; Slovakia, Slovenia and the Czech Republic have the tree as a national emblem; the name Leipzig is derived from the tree ; icons are typically painted on lime wood; in Germany the tree was supposed to help determine truth; one of the most significant streets in Berlin is Unter den Linden.

William Barnes’ Linden Lea

A Dorset cleric, William Barnes, wrote a poem called ‘Linden Lea’ in 1856:

Within the woodlands, flowery gladed,
By the oak tree’s mossy moot,
The shining grass-blades, timber-shaded,
Now do quiver under foot;
And birds do whistle overhead,
And water’s bubbling in its bed,
And there for me the apple tree
Do lean down low in Linden Lea.

When leaves that lately were a-springing
Now do fade within the copse,
And painted birds do hush their singing
Up upon the timber tops;
And brown-leaved fruit’s a-turning red,
In cloudless sunshine, overhead,
With fruit for me, the apple tree
Do lean down low in Linden Lea.

Let other folk make money faster
In the air of dark-roomed towns,
I don’t dread a peevish master;
Though no man do heed my frowns,
I be free to go abroad,
Or take again my homeward road
To where, for me, the apple tree
Do lean down low in Linden Lea.

The poem was made famous when it was set to music by Vaughaun Williams in 1902. Williams wrote in 1925 that it was ‘horribly popular’.

The Linden here, presumably represents the tranquility of nature. ‘Lea’ means open space, or grove².

At the time of writing there is a recording of ‘Linden Lea’ on Youtube here:

• Linden Lea sung by Hendon St Mary’s Choir

Coleridge – ‘This Lime-tree Bower my Prison’

Samuel Taylor Coleridge’s poem ‘This Lime-tree Bower my Prison’ uses the Lime Tree, I think, as symbolizing the beauty of nature at all levels.

I’ve got a ‘tin ear’ for poetry, but my reading of the poem is that Coleridge begins by feeling very, very, sorry for himself. His friends are out enjoying water-falls, hill-top ledges, heaths and the sea – ‘Nature’ writ large, if you will.

Well, they are gone, and here must I remain,
This lime-tree bower my prison! I have lost
Beauties and feelings, such as would have been
Most sweet to my remembrance even when age
Had dimm’d mine eyes to blindness!

Coleridge however is in failing health – stuck in the Lime-Tree Bower, which he characterizes as ‘his Prison’:

Well, they are gone, and here must I remain,
This lime-tree bower my prison! I have lost
Beauties and feelings, such as would have been
Most sweet to my remembrance even when age
Had dimm’d mine eyes to blindness!

Then he comes to realize the beauty of Nature ‘writ small’, in the:

Comes sudden on my heart, and I am glad
As I myself were there! Nor in this bower,
This little lime-tree bower, have I not mark’d
Much that has sooth’d me. Pale beneath the blaze
Hung the transparent foliage; and I watch’d
Some broad and sunny leaf, and lov’d to see
The shadow of the leaf and stem above
Dappling its sunshine! And that walnut-tree
Was richly ting’d, and a deep radiance lay
Full on the ancient ivy, which usurps
Those fronting elms, and now, with blackest mass
Makes their dark branches gleam a lighter hue
Through the late twilight: and though now the bat
Wheels silent by, and not a swallow twitters,
Yet still the solitary humble-bee
Sings in the bean-flower! Henceforth I shall know
That Nature ne’er deserts the wise and pure;
No plot so narrow, be but Nature there,
No waste so vacant, but may well employ
Each faculty of sense, and keep the heart
Awake to Love and Beauty!

Nick Cave

Nick Cave is presumably referencing Coleridge in his song ‘The Lime Tree Arbour’ which is on his LP ‘The Boatmans Call’³

The boatman calls from the lake
a lone loon dives upon the water
I put my hand over her
down in the lime tree arbour

The wind in the trees is whispering
whispering low that I love her
She puts her hand over mine
down in the lime tree arbour⁴

Cave uses the word ‘Linden’ in the song ‘There She Goes, My Beautiful World’:

The elm, the ash and the linden tree,
The dark and deep, enchanted sea,
The trembling moon and the stars unfurled,
There she goes, my beautiful world ⁵

A critic on Pitchfork.com wrote that:

Cave [sings] extensively of linden trees and cornflowers, red-breasted robins, and gamboling lambs⁶

…but these are the only two references I could find. I don’t believe that the ‘linden’ has any particular spiritual or religious significance in either case. In the latter, the Linden is just one tree in a list. In the Lime Tree Arbour, Cave must be referencing Coleridge – ‘Lime Tree Bower’ and ‘Lime Tree Arbour’ are too close for it to be otherwise. Perhaps the intention is to reflect the small miracle of ‘her hand over mine’ with Coleridge’s view of the beauty of the smallest elements of nature.

O-zone

More popular recently than either Nick Cave, Coleridge or Vaughaun Williams is the song ‘Dragostea din tei‘ by the Moldovan band O-Zone.

It’s possible, even probable, that you might know the song without recognizing the title. It’s also known as the ‘Miya Hee‘ song or the ‘Numa Numa song. It was a big hit across Europe in 2004. At the time of writing there is a video on Youtube here:

• YouTube – O-Zone – Dragostea Din Tei

The most obvious translation for this is ‘Love out of the linden trees’.

There is a full translation of the song here Romania – Dragostea Din Tei – Miya Hee – Numa Numa – Lyrics in Romanian and English , and the Wikipedia page is very good.

According to Wikipedia, ‘linden’ in the song is one of the following:

• a reference to Romanian poet Mihai Eminescu .
• a reference to a Romanian children’s book “The Hoopoe in the linden tree” by Ion Creang?
• a use of the Russian sense of Linden, meaning ‘not strong’ or ‘poor quality’
• a reference to ‘Tei’ in Bucharest, which is a popular area for student accommodation
• a corruption of the Romanian ‘dintai’, meaning ‘first one’

I think it’s fair to say that the rest of the words of the song don’t give much away, so the listener is free to choose their own interpretation.

Linden and Lyndon as names

Finally on the word ‘Linden’, it’s also been used as a name – either spelt as Linden or Lyndon. The most famous ‘Lyndon’ is probably Lyndon B Johnson the 36th President of the United States, who succeeded John F. Kennedy in 1963⁷

According to the ‘Behind the Name’ website, the surname ‘Lyndon’ is

From an English surname which was derived from a place name meaning “lime tree hill” in Old English ⁸

The given name ‘Linden’ is:

Derived from German Linde meaning “lime tree”.⁹

Footnotes

1. Online Etymology Dictionary
2. Online Etymology Dictionary
3. The Boatman’s Call
4. – the link is to an Amazon mp3 of the song
5. Nick Cave – There She Goes, My Beautiful World – the link is to an Amazon mp3 of the song
6. Pitchfork: Album Reviews: Nick Cave & the Bad Seeds: Abattoir Blues / The Lyre of Orpheus
7. The Presidents | The White House
8. Behind the Name: Meaning, Origin and History of the Name Lyndon
9. Behind the Name: View Surname: Linden

It’s an odd name for the road, because it’s basically a cul-de-sac. It doesn’t really link anything. It could be that at some stage in the past it did link two roads.

Whenever I see the road or hear it’s name I can’t help but . . . → Read More: Link Way, Salisbury]]> Link Way is on Bishopdown, to the north of Salisbury city centre.

It’s an odd name for the road, because it’s basically a cul-de-sac. It doesn’t really link anything. It could be that at some stage in the past it did link two roads.

Link Wray

Whenever I see the road or hear it’s name I can’t help but be reminded of Link Wray, who was a great rockabilly guitarist. He sadly died a couple of years ago.

Most of Link Wray’s work was instrumental. His best known track was ‘Rumble’ which was on the soundtrack of the film Pulp Fiction, although not on the CD. I would guess that if you like the other guitar instrumental from Pulp Fiction, Dick Dale’s ‘Miserlou’, you would probably like ‘Rumble’.

Famously ‘Rumble’ was banned by some radio stations¹, because it was thought that it would incite gang violence. I’ve always thought that this may have been a story put about to generate publicity for the record – perhaps I’m overly cynical. Anyway a ‘Rumble’ in the context of 1950s gangs meant a fight², but also the atmosphere of the song is, to quote I think Dave Marsh, “the musical equivalent of football’s forearm shiver’³

At the time of writing there are performances of Rumble on Youtube here:

• Link Wray – Rumble
• Link Wray – Rumble

And other Link Wray tunes here:

• Link Wray – Hillbilly Wolf
• Link Wray – Fatback

Link also added the atmospheric guitar parts to Terry Jack’s version of a Jacques Brel song, ‘Seasons in the Sun’ which reached Number One in the UK in the early 1970s:

• Terry Jacks – Seasons in the Sun

Link Wray obviously has nothing at all to do with Link Way. However, I can’t help faintly hearing the chords of ‘Rumble’ whenever I’m there.

Footnotes

1. The Pop History Dig » “Rumble” Riles Censors 1958 -1959
2. WordNet Search – 3.0
3. The Heart of Rock and Soul, Dave Marsh, page 306 in the Penguin Original edition

The clock tower was built in 1892 by a Dr John Roberts. He had the tower built as a memorial for his wife, who had died the previous year. I’ve not been able to find out anything further about John Roberts, I’m afraid.

The tower was . . . → Read More: Little Ben – the Fisherton Street Clock Tower]]> Little Ben is a nickname for the clock tower in Fisherton Street.

The clock tower was built in 1892 by a Dr John Roberts. He had the tower built as a memorial for his wife, who had died the previous year. I’ve not been able to find out anything further about John Roberts, I’m afraid.

The tower was built on the corner of the site of Fisherton gaol – the picture below shows a stone in the base of the tower with a carving of some manacles.

It’s outside of the typical geographical limits of the website – Little London might be closer to Shaftesbury than it is to Salisbury, but I’m including it because I like the name and because there is a family connection.

There . . . → Read More: Little London]]> Little London is a group of half a dozen houses to the west of Broadchalke.

It’s outside of the typical geographical limits of the website – Little London might be closer to Shaftesbury than it is to Salisbury, but I’m including it because I like the name and because there is a family connection.

Why ‘Little London’?

There are many ‘Little Londons’ both in the UK and beyond. For example there is a Little London in Hampshire¹ and another in Jamaica².

In the Wikipedia entry for the Hampshire Little London, there are two or three suggestions as to how it got its name:

‘Little London’ is a common village name in England, assumed by some to have its origins in the quantity of seasonal Londoners who would camp for the harvest season. However in common with many ‘Little Londons’ approximately 50 miles or so from London, it has also been claimed that the name was given by settlers escaping the Great Plague of London of 1665. Alternatively, it could have been corrupted from ‘Little Loddon’, the name of a stream that marks the Southern extent of the village. Nobody really knows!³

All of these derivations seem unlikely for the Broadchalke ‘Little London’ – it’s too far from the capital, and there’s no River Lodden nearby.

Another suggestion is that the name is ironic. The settlement is so small and so remote that giving it the name of London is a kind of a joke.

In any case, it’s a charming name.

The family connection is that my grandparents lived there until moving into Broadchalke.

Little London and the Suez Crisis

I don’t think that my grandparents would mind me saying that they lived in fairly modest conditions at Little London.

A couple of the neighbours were, however, rather grand.

Clarissa Churchill at ‘Rose Bower’

Clarissa Spencer-Churchill moved into ‘Rose Bower’ in Little London in 1942. Reading a bit about her life I would agree with the Daily Telegraph that she seems ‘more like a character from a novel than a real person.’ ⁴.

She was the niece of Winston Churchill, the wartime Prime Minister. She recalls in the 1930s at Chartwell sitting ‘around the luncheon table endlessly listening to Winston telling us there was going to be a war and we would all get gassed’⁵

During the 1930s she went to Oxford to be privately tutored. While there she befriended Isiah Berlin. Antonia Fraser says that she was “the dons’ delight, because she was beautiful and extremely intellectual”⁶

She spent part of the war working at the Foreign Office, trying to decode enemy communications⁷.

In 1942, at Cecil Beaton’s suggestion, she bought the cottage in Little London, reportedly for £3000⁸. She wrote at the time that ‘‘I am so excited I cannot sleep. I have never owned a bit of earth before’.

She worked in both publishing and the film industry. She became Orson Welles ‘dinner companion’ while working on ‘The Third Man’⁹

She also knew Anne and Ian Fleming, Lucien Freud (who painted her portrait), the Mitfords, Evelyn Waugh¹⁰ and Noel Coward.

Anthony Eden at Little London

Clarissa Churchill first met Anthony Eden before the war.

They seem to have begun a relationship in the post-war period. Eden divorced his first wife in 1950, and married Clarissa in 1952.

At the time of the marriage Eden was Foreign Secretary, under Sir Winston as Prime Minister. The wedding breakfast was held at 10 Downing Street.

Eden succeeded Winston Churchill as Prime Minister in 1955.

Anthony Eden’s premiership was dominated by the ‘Suez Crisis’. The ‘crisis’ arose when Eden decided to bomb Egyptian forces when Egypt nationalized the Suez Canal. This has been widely seen as a mistake. Although it is usually referred to as ‘the Suez Crisis’, I notice that at the time of writing the passage on the official Number 10 website is headed ‘the Suez disaster‘¹¹.

The Edens kept the cottage at Little London throughout this time – there is a reference in one of the accounts of the crisis to the couple being away ‘in Wiltshire’ at some critical point.

Clarissa Eden famously commented that

For the past three months I have felt as if the Suez Canal was flowing through my drawing room.¹²

Footnotes

1. Little London, Tadley, Hampshire – Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
2. Little London, Jamaica – Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
3. Little London, Tadley, Hampshire – Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
4. Clarissa Eden’s road to Suez – Telegraph
5. Random House : Book extract from The Goldfish Bowl: Married to the Prime Minister
6. Clarissa Eden: A witness to history – Telegraph
7. Clarissa Eden: A witness to history – Telegraph
8. Full text of “Portrait Of A Statesman”
9. Random House : Book extract from The Goldfish Bowl: Married to the Prime Minister
10. Waugh had declared himself to have fallen in love with her, but ‘fell out’ when Clarissa married – see Random House : Book extract from The Goldfish Bowl: Married to the Prime Minister
11. Sir Anthony Eden | Number10.gov.uk – on 23rd June 2010
12. The guardian of Eden – Times Online

The roads on the estate are mainly named after birds. Typically with the name of the bird being joined to a word which is typically part of a road name. So other roads on the estate are Ravenscroft and . . . → Read More: Linnetsdene, Salisbury]]> Linnetsdene is to the south of Salisbury, on what I think is called the Ridings Mead estate.

The roads on the estate are mainly named after birds. Typically with the name of the bird being joined to a word which is typically part of a road name. So other roads on the estate are Ravenscroft and Swallowmead.

Etymology of the Linnet

Both the English and the Latin names for the Linnet are derived from its favourite foods.

The word ‘linnet’ has the same root as linen ¹ because linen flax seed is often part of the birds diet.

The second part of the Latin name ‘Carduelis cannabina is derived from the linnet’s fondness for hemp seeds².

The Linnet on the Curragh of Kildare

The linnet is mentioned in one of my favourite folk songs, the Curragh of Kildare. It’s known as an Irish folk song, but may have been written by Robbie Burns³. The Curragh of Kildare is the location both of an Irish Army camp and of the Irish Derby. The song is sung before the running of the Derby.

It’s been recorded by many artists, including Finbar and Eddie Furey, the Johnstons and Christy Moore. The Pogues used a speeded up version of the melody for their single ‘White City’.

Chorus:
And it’s straight I will repair
To the Curragh of Kildare
For it’s there I’ll find tidings of my dear

Ah the winter it is past and the summer’s come at last
And the birds they are singing in the trees
Their little hearts are glad, ah but mine is very sad
Since my true love is far away from me

The rose upon the briar and the waters running deep
Bring joy to the linnet and the bee
Their little hearts are blest, ah but mine can know no rest
Since my true love is far away from me

For those who are in love and cannot be denied
I pity the pains that you do endure
For experience lets me know that your hearts are full of woe
A woe that no mortal can cure

A livery I’ll wear, ah and I’ll tie back my hair
And in velvet so green I will appear
And it’s straight I will repair to the Curragh of Kildare
For it’s there I’ll find tidings of my dear

At the time of writing the Johnstons version of the song is on Youtube here:

The Johnstons – Curragh of Kildare

Green Linnet Records

Green Linnet is a folk music label, specializing in Celtic music. It was founded 30 years ago, and has published music by dozens of musicians. ⁴.

The ‘Green Linnet’ in the Irish folk tradition was a euphimism for Napoleon Bonaparte, who was seen as an ally against the English ⁵

A flighty bird

According to the RSPB, the linnet is a member of the finch family. They used to be kept as caged birds, because they both sing and look quite pretty.

In researching the linnet, I found that the RSPB website says that the linnet ‘can be flighty‘⁶. I’m sure this has some technical meaning which I’m unaware of but to a layman like me being ‘flighty’ seems part of the avian condition.

Wordsworth’s Green Linnet

William Wordsworth published his poem ‘The Green Linnet’ in 1803.

The Green Linnet

BENEATH these fruit-tree boughs that shed
Their snow-white blossoms on my head,
With brightest sunshine round me spread
Of Spring’s unclouded weather,

In this sequester’d nook how sweet
To sit upon my orchard-seat,
And flowers and birds once more to greet,
My last year’s friends together!

One have I mark’d, the happiest guest
In all this covert of the blest:—
Hail to thee, far above the rest
In joy of voice and pinion!

Thou, Linnet! in thy green array
Presiding spirit here to-day
Dost lead the revels of the May;
And this is thy dominion.

While birds, and butterflies, and flowers,
Make all one band of paramours,
Thou, ranging up and down the bowers,
Art sole in thy employment;

A life, a presence like the air,
Scattering thy gladness without care,
Too blest with any one to pair,
Thyself thy own enjoyment.

Amid yon tuft of hazel trees
That twinkle to the gusty breeze,
Behold him perch’d in ecstasies
Yet seeming still to hover;—

There! where the flutter of his wings
Upon his back and body flings
Shadows and sunny glimmerings,
That cover him all over.

My dazzled sight he oft deceives—
A brother of the dancing leaves;
Then flits, and from the cottage-eaves
Pours forth his song in gushes;

As if by that exulting strain
He mock’d and treated with disdain
The voiceless form he chose to feign,
While fluttering in the bushes.
⁷

Footnotes

1. Online Etymology Dictionary
2. BBC – Wildlife Finder – Linnet (video, facts and news)
3. The Curragh Of Kildare
4. Green Linnet
5. Green Linnet Records – Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia, and also The Green Linnet
6. The RSPB: Linnet
7. 242. Green Linnet. W. Wordsworth. The Golden Treasury

According to a document published in the year 2000 called ‘The Quidhampton Story’, Locks Lane is named after a cabinet maker called Bertram Lock and his wife Violet.

During the First World War many cabinet makers and metal workers found employment with the War Department. … When hostilities ceased lorries and cars began . . . → Read More: Locks Lane, Quidhampton]]> Locks Lane is in Quidhampton.

According to a document published in the year 2000 called ‘The Quidhampton Story’, Locks Lane is named after a cabinet maker called Bertram Lock and his wife Violet.

During the First World War many cabinet makers and metal workers found employment with the War Department. … When hostilities ceased lorries and cars began to appear as people became relatively more affluent. During 1920 one such cabinet maker, Bertram (Bert) Lock, who married Violet Blake, moved into the village… They were still there in 1994. It is after Bert that the lane gained its name. Bert ran a business from a large corrugated barn to the rear of the property until his death. ¹

Footnotes

1. the quidhampton story.pdf (application/pdf Object)

It is the ‘London Road’, obviously enough, because it is the road from Salisbury to London.

I enjoy comedian Frank Skinner’s description of London – “a large conurbation in the South-East of England.”

The meaning of the word ‘London’ seems to be unclear. Wikipedia says that:

The etymology of . . . → Read More: London Road, Salisbury]]> London Road is to the north east of Salisbury.

It is the ‘London Road’, obviously enough, because it is the road from Salisbury to London.

I enjoy comedian Frank Skinner’s description of London – “a large conurbation in the South-East of England.”

Etymology of London

The meaning of the word ‘London’ seems to be unclear. Wikipedia says that:

The etymology of London is unknown. There have been many theories advanced over the centuries for the origin of the name: most can be dismissed as fanciful on linguistic or historical grounds, while a few have some measure of academic plausibility. None has any direct evidence.¹

Possibilities for the derivation of ‘London’ include:

• the city of King Lud²
• from the WelshLlyn Din meaning ‘city on the lake’, the assumption being that the Surrey side to be flooded³
• from the British Glynn Dyn, meaning city in the valley ⁴
• that it is a reference to the English being descended from the Israelite Tribe of Dan – the Land of Dan⁵

London’s other names

I thought it would be interesting to list other names for London.

The Smoke

‘The Smoke’ is probably the most used nickname for London.

It dates back to before the Clean Air Act of 1956 when, because of the domestic and industrial burning of coal, London was full of smoke. The combination of the smoke with the natural fog of a low-lying area gave us the rather wonderful word ‘smog’.

Wikipedia, and some other online sources, have the nickname as the ‘the big Smoke’ London – Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia, which I don’t think I’ve heard anybody ever say.

The Great Wen

I thought this was from Dickens, but it’s not. It was coined by William Cobbett (who also came up with a new name for Old Sarum – the “Accursed Hill“). He writes in ‘Rural Rides’:

Have I not, for twenty long years, been regretting the existence of these unnatural embossments; these white-swellings, these odious wens, produced by corruption and engendering crime and misery and slavery? We shall see the whole of these wens abandoned by the inhabit-ants, and, at last, the cannons on the fortifications may be of some use in battering down the buildings. But what is to be the fate of the great wen of all? The monster, called, by the silly coxcombs of the press, ” the metropolis of the empire?⁶

On a slight tangent, the opening sentence of one of Dickens’ novels is just:

London.

LDN

I worked at the mobile telephone company one2one in the mid 1990s, and I was probably one of the first couple of dozen people to send a SMS text message, but I never really got the hang of it.

In particular, the abbreviations are a bit of a mystery to me. One of the ones I do know is ‘LDN’, which is short for London. I know this only because Lily Allen wrote a song called LDN.

A minor update: Dizzee Rascal was wearing a red baseball cap with ‘LDN’ on it during Britain’s Got Talent last night (June 2010)

L-city

The Urban Dictionary has ‘L-city’ as a nickname for London, although I’ve never heard or seen it anywhere else.

L-City is the main nickname for London. Simple as that.⁷

The Land of Sugar Cake

A possible derivation for the word ‘cockney’ is that it comes from the Norman ‘pais de cocaigne’. ‘Pais de cocaigne’ means ‘land of sugar cake’ – a place where the living was comfortable and easy ⁸. This was believed to be the Normans’ nickname for London.

The Capital

I found an interesting comment on a website somewhere to the effect that London is not technically the capital of England. The argument is that a capital city is defined as the centre of government for the area. Because England does not have it’s own government, or separate administration, then it can not have a capital.

This is an interesting point, but I would be surprised if there aren’t any administrative functions anywhere in the city that don’t apply to England alone.

Londonistan

I really don’t like this word. I’m not sure whether or not the word is innately racist, but it conjures up an image of London being dominated by Asian people, which is possibly inflammatory and certainly untrue.

Troynovant

The name Troynovant means ‘New Troy’. This refers to the idea that London was founded by a Trojan called Brutus. It was either invented or brought to prominence by Edmund Spenser in ‘The Faerie Queen’, in which he writes:

For noble Britons sprong from Trojans bold,
And Troy-novant was built of old Troyes ashes cold.⁹

The Argos London bus

The pictures both above and below are of a toy London bus that belonged to one of my kids. I could probably find some pictures I’ve taken of London itself (I lived in ‘the Smoke’ for close to 20 years), but given that I’m a rubbish photographer, I thought that pictures of the toy bus would be more interesting.

I think the bus came from Argos, and cost about £12.99. I don’t know who manufactured it.

Footnotes

1. Etymology of London – Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
2. http://chr.org.uk/legends.htm
3. A Selection of curious articles from the Gentleman’s magazine, Volume 1 By John Walker
4. A Selection of curious articles from the Gentleman’s magazine, Volume 1 By John Walker
5. English Words of Supposed Hebrew Origin in George Crabb’s English Synonymes, David L. Gold, American Speech, Vol. 54, No. 1 (Spring, 1979), pp. 61-64 Published by: Duke University Press Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/454531
6. Full text of “Rural rides”
7. Urban Dictionary: city nickname
8. Edgar Allan Poe Wordlist – Vocabulary words and phrases used by Edgar Allan Poe
9. Brewer, E. Cobham. Dictionary of Phrase & Fable. Troy-Novant (London).

It is mentioned in the Victoria County History:

In 1790, the year of inclosure, we read of four fields: Church, North, Middle, and St. Ann’s Stile (or Little) Fields. (fn. 205) Long Lands or Brick Field may perhaps be reckoned a fifth.1

The next footnote . . . → Read More: Longland, Salisbury]]> Longland is to the west of Salisbury, just off from the Wilton Road.

It is mentioned in the Victoria County History:

In 1790, the year of inclosure, we read of four fields: Church, North, Middle, and St. Ann’s Stile (or Little) Fields. (fn. 205) Long Lands or Brick Field may perhaps be reckoned a fifth.¹

The next footnote says:

Longlands in the extreme west of the par. is marked on the tithe map (1843). It was not then a brickfield.(²)

A brickfield is a place where bricks are made and sold ³

Presumably Longlands is a reference to the shape of the field. It could relate to the surname, which in turn is either about the shape of a field or from Langland in Scotland.

The surname was given originally either as a topographical name to a person resident by a long piece of agricultural land, or as a locational name for someone from the barony of Langland in Peeblesshire⁴

Footnotes

1. ‘Fisherton Anger’, A History of the County of Wiltshire: Volume 6 (1962), pp. 180-194. URL: http://www.british-history.ac.uk/report.aspx?compid=41809 Date accessed: 11 June 2010.
3. brickfield – definition of brickfield by the Free Online Dictionary, Thesaurus and Encyclopedia.
4. SurnameDB: Longland surname meaning

It’s been called ‘Love Lane’ for at least 500 years. According to the Victoria County History:

The names of Gigant Street and Love Lane both occur in the 15th century. In Gigant Street are various commercial premises, including the Anchor Brewery dating partly from the 18th or early . . . → Read More: Love Lane, Salisbury]]> Love Lane is in the centre of Salisbury, close to Brown Street.

It’s been called ‘Love Lane’ for at least 500 years. According to the Victoria County History:

The names of Gigant Street and Love Lane
both occur in the 15th century. In Gigant Street are various commercial
premises, including the Anchor Brewery dating partly from the 18th or early 19th century. In 1751 the bishop’s pound stood in Love Lane, but 100 years later a block of eight cottages stood on the site. ¹

There are three or four obvious possible derivations of the name ‘Love Lane’, although it’s possible that they are all wrong.

Prostitution

The first is that ‘Love’ here is a reference to prostitution.

This explanation would be supported by the fact that prostitutes did work in this area of Salisbury. Agnes Bottenham, the founder of the Trinity Hospital is believed to have owned a brothel both on the site of the restaurant the ‘Raie d’Or’ in Brown Street (which I would recommend both as a pub and as a Thai restaurant), and on the site of the Trinity Hospital (which is adjacent to Love Lane) itself:

This charity [the hospital] was founded in 1379 by brothel-keeper Agnes Bottenham. As an act of penitance she opened the hospital on the site of the brothel to provide for 12 poor residents, give temporary shelter for 12 poor visitors and care for the sick. It was among the charities brought under corporation control by the city charter of 1612. The current building dates from 1702 and is built around a courtyard, with its own chapel. ²

There are references, too, to prostitutes in the 14th Century working in Culver Street, one chequer across from Love Lane ³.

Further, other ‘Love Lanes’ have derived their names from prostitution. John Stow wrote in 1603 :

for so I find it of Record, in the parrish of S. Michaell Woodstreete, and beneath that is Loue lane, so called of wantons ⁴

The surname ‘Love’

So John Stow attributes the name of London’s ‘Love Lane’ to prostitution, but the author of the 1918 ‘Dictionary of London’ protests that it could just as easily have been named after a landowner called ‘Love’.

In ‘A Dictionary of London’ it says that Love Lane is:

So called of wantons, Stow says (ed. 1603, p. 298). But why not after an owner named “Love”? ⁵

How likely is it that Salisbury’s Love Lane is simply named after a Mr or Ms Love?

It’s certainly possible, but there are a couple of reasons why I would tend to think it’s unlikely:

• First, it’s a fairly unusual name. Currently there are 220 people in a million called ‘Love’. Geographically they don’t particularly tend to be based in Wiltshire either⁶
• Second, there don’t seem to be any references to a Mr or Ms Love in the literature of Salisbury’s history. I’ve checked a few books, including the Victoria County History, and not found anything. In comparison it’s easy to find Richard Payne (Payne’s Hill), the de Bernewell family (Barnard Street) or Christopher Eyre (Eyres Way)

Faith, hope and love

A third explanation for the name ‘Love Lane’ is that it is a reference to the ‘Trinity’ of ‘Faith, Hope and Love’. This would ‘fit in’ with the adjacent Trinity Street and Trinity Hospital.

The word for ‘Love’ is often translated as ‘Charity’:

And now abideth faith, hope, charity, these three; but the
greatest of these is charity. ⁷

However, this seems to be a recently adopted translation. Wikipedia says:

The English word love for the third and greatest of the virtues, agape, was used by all of the English translators of the Bible in the 16th Century, including Tyndale (1534), the Bishops’ Bible (1568) and the Geneva Bible (1560). It is also used by almost all current translations of the Bible, including the New King James Version, the New American Standard Bible, and the New International Version.

The King James Version (1611) and the Challoner Douay Rheims Bible (1752) prefer the more theological term Charity for the same idea of specifically Christian love.⁸

How likely is it that the name of Love Lane is derived from the trinity of faith, hope and love?

I think I would have to say that it’s fairly unlikely. If there was ever a Faith Street and a Hope Street, then that would be different, but I don’t believe there ever were.

Romantic love

It is possible that an owner or developer named the road ‘Love Lane’ simply because they were in love.

It is probably more likely that the developer would have named the road after the person they loved. For example, in Laverstock there is a Vanessa Avenue and near where I used to live in South East London there were a series of road names created by concatenating two girl’s names together making for example Elsiemaud Road and Amyruth Road ⁹

It is also possible that the owner or developer just thought it was a sweet name for a road – or possibly even an ironic name for a road.

My opinion, for what it’s worth, is that the road is probably not called Love Lane because an owner or developer thought it was a romantic name. Firstly because Love is too abstract for a 15th Century road name, and secondly because I don’t believe the names of roads in the 15th Century were necessarily ‘decided upon’ by owners or developers.

So, road names in the area, which dates back to the founding of the city, are usually functional. Some relate to ownership, for example Paynes Hill. Others relate to trades that were plied on that road, for example Catherine (from Carter’s) Street. Some were named ‘directionally’ (Winchester Street) and others were named for local landmarks (St Ann Street, after St Ann’s Gate).

Moreover I think road names tended to ‘evolve’ rather than be decided by one person or group of persons. So Exeter Street was known as variously, High Street, Drakehall Street, Dragon Street and Dragall Street. My feeling is that an abstract name like ‘Love’ would tend to be the product of a single person or a committee making a positive decision. I don’t think roads were named in that way until the 19th or 20th century.

Love Lane – A conclusion

My ‘favourite’ of the possible derivations of the name ‘Love Lane’ is that it was named in reference to the trinity of ‘faith, hope and love’. However without a corresponding Faith Street and Hope Street, this isn’t very likely.

The other three definitions are all possible, but because I can’t find a Salisbury landowner called Love and because road names of that era tended to be functional rather than abstract I would say, somewhat sadly, that it seems likely to me that ‘Love Lane’ is a reference to prostitution.

Footnotes

1. ‘Salisbury: St Martin’s parish’, A History of the County of Wiltshire: Volume 6 (1962), pp. 79-81. URL: http://www.british-history.ac.uk/report.aspx?compid=41784 Date accessed: 21 May 2010
2. Trinity Hospital in Salisbury – UK Attraction
3. The Pleasures and Treasures of Britain: a discerning traveller’s companion, David Kemp, page 52 and also English parish drama By Alexandra F. Johnston, Wim N. M. Hüsken page 62
4. ‘Cripplegate warde’, A Survey of London, by John Stow: Reprinted from the text of 1603 (1908), pp. 290-303. URL: http://www.british-history.ac.uk/report.aspx?compid=60047 (Cripplegate warde | British History Online) Date accessed: 19 May 2010.
5. ‘Love Lane – Lucas Lane’, A Dictionary of London (1918). URL: http://www.british-history.ac.uk/report.aspx?compid=63213 Date accessed: 18 April 2010.
6. LOVE: Surname Data Summary | British Surnames, Surname Distribution and Surname Profiles
7. Corinthians:13:13
8. Theological virtues – Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
9. http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&source=s_q&hl=en&geocode=&q=elsiemaud+road+london&sll=37.0625,-95.677068&sspn=22.014656,56.425781&ie=UTF8&hq=&hnear=Elsiemaud+Rd,+London+SE4,+United+Kingdom&z=15