 |
 |
Answering Bob's message, there is the example of Leek where the Mermaid's Pool or Mermaid Pool was a by-name for the Black Mere. There was a pub there and though it is universally believed in the locality that the pool name (and legend) came first, there must always be the fear that the pub gave birth to the name and the legend. I'm working with a local historian to determine how old the pub is. The pub names are recorded long before the landscape names. Jacqueline Simpson (reliable) in Green Men and White Swans claims that the Mermaid in Rye dates back to 1300. That would be 250 years older than the oldest record of a landscape name. I don't have a copy of Cox in Italy unfortunately, but I'll get shots of those pages. It would be useful to know how many of the older Mermaid pubs are inland and how many are coastal: I can imagine sailors retiring far from the sea and opening a pub; perhaps heraldry in some areas. On field names John Litton makes this interesting point, pers. comm, about confusion with landscape elements. ‘I noticed in Somerset, on the parish bound of Creech St. Michael and W. Monkton, at about ST 264 256, a number of fields named ‘Mermead’, and, adjacent to these, one plot named ‘Moor Mead Acre’’. Mere Mede? Thanks for all your expertise. ######################################################################## To unsubscribe from the EPNL list, click the following link: https://www.jiscmail.ac.uk/cgi-bin/WA-JISC.exe?SUBED1=EPNL&A=1 This message was issued to members of www.jiscmail.ac.uk/EPNL, a mailing list hosted by www.jiscmail.ac.uk, terms & conditions are available at https://www.jiscmail.ac.uk/policyandsecurity/