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Swallowhead Springs

The Swallowhead

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Swallow is quite common in the west country - Swallowcliffe overlooking the Dorset Cursus, and the swallets on Priddy. Holes in the limestone that used to "gurgle" and make strange noises, there have been bronze age deposits found in some swallet holes. So swallowhead is a bit like winterbourne, it reflects the water coming and going - its descriptive. Thats my explanation anyway...

Confess the word swallet was a new one on me; got me thinking though - which 'swallow' word does the Swallowhead take its name from? Dames assumes it's the verb, and weaves that into the sexual symbolism of the Silbury landscape. But I'm not so sure, 'swallow-tailed' means, '...having a pair of projections suggestive of a swallow's tail, as in swallow-tailed coat...' (Chambers). A glance at a map of the area shows just that configuration, with the Winterbourne as one part of the tail and the Kennet as the other (with the Swallowhead Spring as the head).

Then again it might be a happy combination of both words and both meanings :-)