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Avebury & the Marlborough Downs

Weedon Hill

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Littlestone L
Littlestone Feb 14, 2007 09:28:21
Replying to Rhiannon

I need to check more carefully but I think the 'Waden' of Waden Hill means Woden Hill, while the 'Wee' of Weedon is the Old English weoh - the same word which I think gives rise to the word 'Welsh' (the Anglo-Saxon term for a foreigner or, in this case, a savage). In other words, and based on the etymology, Weedon Hill seems to suggest a hill with a 'Welsh' temple.

The relevant bit from Stukeley, and the drawing which Pete has noted elsewhere, can be seen here at http://www.avebury-web.co.uk/silbaby.html (halfway down).

R Rhiannon
Rhiannon Feb 14, 2007 09:57:49
Replying to Littlestone

oh perhaps I just got the wrong end of the stick, is this a geographical or a etymological thing - are you saying Waden Hill was also called Weedon Hill? or that just the Great Bank is called Weedon Hill? In Stukeley's drawing (last one on that page) it's certainly at the tail end of Waden Hill. Sorry. It's early. I feel vague and horrid.

M moss
moss Feb 14, 2007 10:15:49
Replying to Littlestone

It would be good to change Silbaby to Weedon.. but the welsh connection could be a possibility... given my somewhat obscure theory that Wansdyke is the boundary of the last British/welsh land, not the modern Bristol Channel, names could still be intact. Walcot in Bath is Cottage/s of the Britons, Maes Knoll is Welsh, the resurgence of the natives through the "dark ages" could mean that old boundaries were re-established...

F FourWinds
FourWinds Feb 14, 2007 17:47:38
Replying to Littlestone

Littlestone wrote:
I need to check more carefully but I think the 'Waden' of Waden Hill means Woden Hill, while the 'Wee' of Weedon is the Old English weoh - the same word which I think gives rise to the word 'Welsh' (the Anglo-Saxon term for a foreigner or, in this case, a savage). In other words, and based on the etymology, Weedon Hill seems to suggest a hill with a 'Welsh' temple.

The relevant bit from Stukeley, and the drawing which Pete has noted elsewhere, can be seen here at http://www.avebury-web.co.uk/silbaby.html (halfway down).

Etymology isn't a very good source for this kinda thing. I don't know why people rely on it so much. If the person that wrote down Weedon Hill didn't know a local accent and that was how the locals pronounced Waden (or vice versa) then your fecked.

If you went to the outskirts of Brum and asked where you were and they said Quarry Bonk what would you write down if you didn't know the Black Country accent?