The derivation of the word ‘Netheravon’ in itself is fairly clear. ‘Nether’ is derived from the Old English ‘neotherra‘, meaning ‘lower’, as in . . . → Read More: Netheravon Road and Netheravon Close, Salisbury]]> Netheravon Close and Netheravon Road are both in the northern part of Salisbury. They are at the southern end of the ridge that runs from Salisbury itself to Old Sarum.

Netheravon Etymology

The derivation of the word ‘Netheravon’ in itself is fairly clear. ‘Nether’ is derived from the Old English ‘neotherra‘, meaning ‘lower’, as in ‘Netherlands’, or ‘nether regions’. ‘Avon’ is a reference to the River Avon, ‘Avon’ being a Celtic word for ‘river’. ¹

Netheravon Road does not lead to Netheravon

The slight puzzle with the name of Netheravon Road, is that you would expect it to lead in the direction of Netheravon village, but it doesn’t. As you should be able to see if you zoom around on the embedded map, Netheravon Road runs roughly East to West. Netheravon village is roughly north of Salisbury, and of Netheravon Road.

Most roads which are named after relatively local places tend to lead in their general direction. The Wilton Road runs towards Wilton, the Old Shaftesbury Drove runs towards Shaftesbury, and the Odstock Road goes to Odstock.

Whichever end of the Netheravon Road you stand, the quickest way to walk to Netheravon probably wouldn’t be to walk along Netheravon Road.

So why is it called Netheravon Road?

It could be a reference to the fact that the road is in the direction of the lower Avon – ‘lower’ here would be in comparison to anywhere up river, such as, Amesbury, or indeed the village of Netheravon.

This doesn’t quite ring true though. Netheravon Road looks to me as if it was created in the 1950s. A reference to the ‘lower Avon’ would seem a bit obscure. On the other hand, it seems confusing to name a road after a place that it does not lead to.

I don’t know why the Netheravon Road is so named. Perhaps it’s a surname? If you know the answer please leave a comment.

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Netheravon village

Netheravon village itself is, as mentioned, to the North of Salisbury. It is about 5 miles further North than Stonehenge. It stands in distinction to Upavon, which is, obviously enough, further up river.

It is probably best known today for the parachuting at RAF Netheravon ², for the Dovecote, which is now owned by English Heritage ³, and the fact Sydney Smith was the vicar of Netheravon in the 18th century.

Sydney Smith

Sydney Smith was vicar of Netheravon from 1794 to 1797. He was known as an essayist and wit. He is very quotable.

Here are some of his thoughts.

Sydney Smith on getting things done

Heaven never helps the men who will not act.

It is the greatest of all mistakes to do nothing because you can only do little – do what you can.

There is one piece of advice, in a life of study, which I think no one will object to; and that is, every now and then to be completely idle – to do nothing at all.

Whatever you are by nature, keep to it; never desert your line of talent. Be what nature intended you for and you will succeed.

A great deal of talent is lost to the world for want of a little courage. Every day sends to their graves obscure men whose timidity prevented them from making a first effort.

Sydney Smith on reading and writing

Live always in the best company when you read.

In composing, as a general rule, run your pen through every other word you have written; you have no idea what vigor it will give your style.

Sydney Smith on knowledge

Errors to be dangerous must have a great deal of truth mingled with them. It is only from this alliance that they can ever obtain an extensive circulation.

Never try to reason the prejudice out of a man. It was not reasoned into him, and cannot be reasoned out.

What you don’t know would make a great book.

Have the courage to be ignorant of a great number of things, in order to avoid the calamity of being ignorant of everything.

Sydney Smith on behaviour

Manners are like the shadows of virtues, they are the momentary display of those qualities which our fellow creatures love and respect.

Never give way to melancholy; resist it steadily, for the habit will encroach.

Never talk for half a minute without pausing and giving others a chance to join in.

You must not think me necessarily foolish because I am facetious, nor will I consider you necessarily wise because you are grave.

He had occasional flashes of silence, that made his conversation perfectly delightful.

Find fault when you must find fault in private, and if possible sometime after the offense, rather than at the time.

Sydney Smith’s salad poem

Sydney Smith also composed this poem for a recipe for salad, which was widely reproduced:

Two boiled potatoes strained through a kitchen sieve,
Softness and smoothness to the salad give;
Of mordant mustard take a single spoon,
Distrust the condiment that bites too soon!
Yet deem it not, thou man of taste, a fault
To add a double quantity of salt.
Four times the spoon with oil of Lucca crown,
And twice with vinegar procured from town;
True taste requires it and your poet begs
The pounded yellow of two well-boiled eggs.
Let onion’s atoms lurk within the bowl
And, scarce suspected, animate the whole,
And lastly in the flavoured compound toss
A magic spoonful of anchovy sauce.
Oh, great and glorious! Oh, herbaceous meat!
‘Twould tempt the dying Anchorite to eat,
Back to the world he’d turn his weary soul
And plunge his fingers in the salad bowl.

Visiting Salisbury?

For accommodation, see the Hotels in Salisbury page.

Footnotes

1. A. D. MILLS. “Netheravon.” A Dictionary of British Place-Names. Oxford University Press. 2003. Encyclopedia.com. 8 Jun. 2009 .
2. Reference to come
3. Reference to come

There’s . . . → Read More: Netherhampton Road, Salisbury]]> Netherhampton Road is to the south of Salisbury, running between Harnham and Netherhampton itself.


The word ‘Netherhampton’ is derived from two Old English ‘neotherra‘, meaning lower and ‘hamtun‘ meaning settlement ¹. I have also read ² that the ‘ham‘ means a ‘bend in the river’, but I’m not not sure this fits the geography.

There’s an interesting account of the history of Netherhampton House here: Netherhampton House – History

The web page recounts how the house was probably built on the proceeds from the tobacco pipe business of the Gauntlett family. Famous visitors have included Virginia Woolf and Walter de la Mare.

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Visiting Salisbury?

For accommodation, see the Hotels in Salisbury page.

Footnotes

1. Netherhampton – Origin of Netherhampton | Encyclopedia.com: Oxford Dictionary of British Place Names
2. Wikipedia

The name Odstock is derived from ‘Oda’s Stock‘, where Oda is a personal name, and stock is something like a farmstead.

Both roads are so called, obviously enough, because they lead eventually to the town of Blandford Forum, in Dorset.

I don’t know if there is a definitive explanation of the derivation of the name Blandford, but . . . → Read More: Old Blandford Road and Blandford Road, Salisbury]]> Both the Old Blandford Road and the ‘new’ Blandford Road go over Harnham Hill, running south away from Salisbury.

Both roads are so called, obviously enough, because they lead eventually to the town of Blandford Forum, in Dorset.

I don’t know if there is a definitive explanation of the derivation of the name Blandford, but I have a number of alternatives.

Blandford – a ‘bland ford’

The first alternative is just the most obvious derivation – the one I have always assumed to be the case. This is that the name ‘Blandford’ was arrived at because there was a ford across the river, and the ford was ‘bland’ in the sense of ‘calm’ or even ‘uninteresting’.

This would seem to make some sort of sense. Although ‘bland’ is often used in a pejorative sense (e.g. a meal that is bland), blandness would seem to be a virtue for any sort of river crossing.

This derivation seems to be wrong.

Blandford – ‘a ford near land paid for with white money’

The book ‘Local Etymology’, by W.A. Williamson, says that:

The term blench, denotes a land tenure in which the rent was paid in blanc, or white money, from a French coin of that name….Hence many place names: Blanchland, blench-land, a town in Northumberland; Blandford, Dorsetshire, called in Doomsday-Book, Blencford¹

Blandford – grey man’s ford

The ‘thinkbabynames’ website gives yet another derivation:

The boy’s name Blandford \b-la-ndford, bl(an)-dford\ is a variant of Blanford (Old English), and the meaning of Blandford is “gray man’s ford”. ²

Blandford – ford through a river of blay fish

Finally, I think, according to Wikipedia, Blandford is named after the ‘blay’ fish (more commonly known as the ‘gudgeon’ – a small, bottom dwelling fish³), which, presumably, was common in the river. The river is now the River Stour – I guess you would assume that it would have to have been once known as the River of Blay for the town to have been named after the fish.

The Wikipedia page says:

Blandford has been a fording point since Anglo-Saxon times, when it was recorded as Blaen-y-ford and as Blaneford in the Domesday Book, meaning ford of the river of blay or gudgeon. By the 13th century it had become an important market town, with a livestock market serving the nearby Blackmore Vale with its many dairy farms. The Latin word Forum, meaning market, was recorded in 1540.⁴

Update:I have also found that this derivation is supported by Nottingham University’s placenames directory:

POSSIBLY: Ford where gudgeon are found. ⁵

Need a hotel in Salisbury?

For accommodation, see the Hotels in Salisbury page.

Footnotes

1. Local Etymology By W. A. Williamson Published by BiblioBazaar, LLC, 2008 ISBN 0554493586, 9780554493589 p20.
2. Think Baby Names – Blandford – name meaning and origin
3. Gudgeon (fish) – From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
4. Blandford Forum – From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
5. Nottingham University Placenames website

Castle Street, Salisbury

The Latin name for Salisbury (or for what is now Old Sarum) was Sorviodunum.

The dunum element seems relatively clear – . . . → Read More: Salisbury Road SP2, Sarum Close SP2]]>

Castle Street, Salisbury

The Latin name for Salisbury (or for what is now Old Sarum) was Sorviodunum.

The dunum element seems relatively clear – dunum means fort ¹ or stronghold.

However, according to Adrian Room’s ‘Placenames of the World’,

the meaning of Sorvio is obscure. The Anglo-Saxons apparently associated it with their word searu, “art”, “skill”, “armour” and substituted their equivalent burh for the Celtic -dunum‘ ²

According to the ‘Key to English Place-Names’ (which is a database maintained at the Institute for Name-Studies at The University of Nottingham), in 552, the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle

reports a battle in 552 between the Britons and Saxons at Searoburgh, where the first element shows influence of OE searu, ‘cunning device, trick, etc’.³

Salisbury was then Sarisberie in the Domesday book⁴, and the r was ‘Normanized’ to an l.

Alternatively to the view that Sorvioi is drived from ‘skill’ or ‘trick’, www.romanmap.com says that

We are almost certainly dealing with the old name of the East Avon above Salisbury. Under Severn p.360, Ekwall considers the forest name Savernake SU2266 as potentially derived from the old name for the Bedwyn or the eastern arm of the East Avon

There seems to be consensus that Sarum is a possibly inaccurate medieval ‘made-up Latin’ abbreviation for Salisbury ^{5 6}.

‘Sarum’ also refers to the ‘Sarum Rite’, or ‘Sarum Use’ which is, as I understand it, a set of procedures for the running of the rituals of the Church, including Orders of Service, and a calendar. The Sarum Rite was developed by St Osmond , who was Bishop of Salisbury in 1078.

Update: I don’t know where the text comes from, but this website suggests another derivation for the first element of sorviodunum

Old Sarum, situated about a mile and a half north of Salisbury, is generally regarded as the Sorbiodunum of the Romans. Its name, derived from the Celtic words sorbio, ‘dry’ and dun, ‘a city or fortress’ leads to the conclusion that it was a British post

This derivation is supported in the 1825 ‘The natural and artificial wonders of the United Kingdom’ by J. Goldsmith, who says that

They denominated the place Sorbio dunum which nearly resembles the Celtic word Sorfidun signifying dry hill.⁷

Footnotes

1. Old-Sarum / Sorviodunum. Encyclopédie Marikavel des noms de lieux.
2. ‘Placenames of the World’, Adrian Room, Published by McFarland in 2003 ISBN:0786418141 URL:Placenames of the World: Origins and … – Google Book Search
3. Place Details
4. The National Archives | DocumentsOnline | Image Details
5. Salisbury – The word ‘Sarum’ | British History Online
6. Wiltshire County Council – Wiltshire Community History Get Wiltshire History Question Information
7. The natural and artificial wonders of the United Kingdom, by J. Goldsmith By Richard Phillips

Sandringham House has been owned by the royal family since 1862.1

Shaftesbury is famous for ‘Gold Hill’ – the very steep, cobbled but picturesque hill that was used in an advert for ‘Hovis’ a few years ago.

Shaftesbury is a good place to go for a couple . . . → Read More: Shaftesbury Road SP2]]> Shaftesbury Road is presumably named after the town of Shaftesbury, which is 15 miles or so to the West.

Shaftesbury is famous for ‘Gold Hill’ – the very steep, cobbled but picturesque hill that was used in an advert for ‘Hovis’ a few years ago.

Shaftesbury is a good place to go for a couple of hours if you live in Salisbury, or are visiting Salisbury for a week or so.<

Salop, Shrewsbury, and presumably Shropshire all seem to be rooted in an old word meaning “Scrub”1.

One of the things for which Shropshire is famous is A.E. Houseman’s poem, A Shropshire Lad