belas knap | Forum — The Modern Antiquarian

carol27 Feb 23, 2015 23:38:10

Just reading about Dorian' s freak hailstorm experience at Hetty Peglers Tump in the antiquarian. We were up, in, on top of Belas Knap today & got majorly hailstormed on & blown about. Tis Winter of course. It was wild & beautiful. Sat inside one of the chambers were twas perfect calm & stillness. Also puzzled as to how we left seemingly by the path we arrived at belas only to find we were in a completely different adjoining field! Snowblind?!! What does "tump" mean? The mounds do look like tumps though- sort of tummys & bumps. In Devizes Travelodge, off to Waylon Smithy and Uffington horse tomorrow, followed by daily pilgrimage to Avebury- got to touch those stones.

thesweetcheat Feb 24, 2015 07:44:03

Replying to carol27

Hello and welcome!

Tump is a mound, usually artificial, the word appears quite a lot in Herefordshire (Wormelow Tump, Aston Tump, etc) and sometimes gets applied to mottes.

I think it must also be related to Twmpa, the Welsh name of one of the peaks in the Black Mountains - the English version is the more Viz-friendly Lord Hereford's Knob. Twmpa is pronounced "Tumpa" or "Toompa".

Howburn Digger Feb 24, 2015 16:57:39

Replying to carol27

"Tump". I have always thought Hetty Pegler's Tump was a reference to Hetty's frontbottom... in a feminine kinda way. Referring to her entrance and ladymound if you like. The site does look rather feminine. Sometimes "tump" is used to to describe a clump of long grass or bushes. It is also a term used to describe a small mound or hillock - which I have also heard called a "mott". I have also heard "mott" used to refer to a lady with loose morals or generally a girlfriend (but not in my house onviously).