Definition of the word 'Wharf'

[Derek R.]

I see my sense of humour doesn't work well on the internet.

 

Richard

 

Possibly not. Surprised you missed Pratts Bottom then.

http://maps.google.co.uk/maps?f=q&sour...=15&iwloc=A

Edited July 18, 2009 by Derek R.

[journeyperson]

I see my sense of humour doesn't work well on the internet.

 

Richard

 

Want to try any of these? click

 

Hmm. I see Nobber is in County Donegal.

 

Only just seen this. That list MUST have been compiled by schoolboys. Great to see there is a C**t in Turkey and one in Spain too .

[MartinClark]

Only just seen this. That list MUST have been compiled by schoolboys.

 

Yeah - it's just a list of crudities!

 

What you really want is the list that I have compiled of Odd Place Names in Britain:

http://www.ashton-under-lyne.com/placenames.htm

[magpie patrick]

Yeah - it's just a list of crudities!

 

What you really want is the list that I have compiled of Odd Place Names in Britain:

http://www.ashton-under-lyne.com/placenames.htm

 

A reassuring number of those are near Bath we have a reputation to maintain!

 

Didn't see Nempnet Thrubwell though, did I miss it?

[MartinClark]

A reassuring number of those are near Bath we have a reputation to maintain!

 

Didn't see Nempnet Thrubwell though, did I miss it?

 

It's there just before Netherthong!

 

Did you notice that several of the place names are on or near canals?

 

Incidentally, I passed within 2 miles of Nempnett Thrubwell on Wednesday on my way to Brassknocker Hill.

[magpie patrick]

It's there just before Netherthong!

 

Did you notice that several of the place names are on or near canals?

 

Incidentally, I passed within 2 miles of Nempnett Thrubwell on Wednesday on my way to Brassknocker Hill.

 

So it is! Noticed Peasedown St John as well, although no one locally adds the St John when talking of it. It's also always just "Bradford" as well, not Bradford on Avon.

 

Not necessarily for your list, but Combe Down, Odd Down and Peasedown all have one thing on common... they are on top of hills, and definitely up.

 

And on the A46 to Stroud we have Dunkirk and Petty France, which seems to support my theory that Caen Hill was also named after the place in France and not, as BW maintain, after the Celtic for Pleasant Place or summat like that

[Derek R.]

(snip)

And on the A46 to Stroud we have Dunkirk and Petty France, which seems to support my theory that Caen Hill was also named after the place in France and not, as BW maintain, after the Celtic for Pleasant Place or summat like that

 

But the Celts came through France on their way to Cornwall, Wales, etc. having originated in Eastern Europe.

 

Derek

[DHutch]

There is also, i believe, another thread on this topic on the forum from around 6month ago?

[RLWP]

There is also, i believe, another thread on this topic on the forum from around 6month ago?

 

I think it is this thread. It started back in July then went dormant for a while.

 

Richard

[Hairy-Neil]

I've worked in many 'factory' like places where lorries are loaded and unloaded at the loading dock. Nowhere near river canal or sea!

 

And even the space station has a dock....

[Hairy-Neil]

Yeah - it's just a list of crudities!

 

What you really want is the list that I have compiled of Odd Place Names in Britain:

http://www.ashton-under-lyne.com/placenames.htm

 

Boothby Graffoe near Lincoln is missing, and you though he was a comedian....

 

 

Oh, and I've been to New York today. The village north of Boston, Lincolnshire.

[Derek R.]

And even the space station has a dock....

 

As does every Court, due to the defendant being held under Statute Law - Maritime Law.

 

A lot of 'strange' place names are corruptions from another language.

Sometimes from an incident, why Moose Jaw in Canada, or Medicine Hat? Maybe in pioneering days someone found a big Moose jaw at that place and the find went around, then picked up when describing an area to go through. Maybe there was a fella renown for curing ailments, and always wore a big hat.

Why are some fields called Long acre - because they are. Without maps, and literacy, what is seen and described means all.

 

Derek

[Max Sinclair]

Listening to Simon Mayo (sitting in for Chris Evans) on Radio 2 yesterday a listener contributed to the 'things you learnt for the first time today'. He claimed that the word 'wharf' is derived from 'warehouse, river front'. I'd never heard that before but on the face of it, it seems reasonable.

 

AskOxford.com gives:

wharf

/wawrf/

• noun (pl. wharves or wharfs) a level quayside area to which a ship may be moored to load and unload.

— ORIGIN Old English.

(see http://www.askoxford.com/concise_oed/wharf?view=uk)

 

And the 'FreeDictionary(by Farlex)' gives:

A structure built of open rather than solid construction along a shore or a bank that provides cargo-handling facilities. A similar facility of solid construction is called a quay. See also quay.

Dictionary of Military and Associated Terms. US Department of Defense 2005.

 

I had not been aware of the distinction between open and closed construction, but then I would have been hard pressed to differentiate between a wharf and a quay. An open construction might be termed a jetty too. Perhaps a wharf might be found on inland waters, viz a canal or river, whereas a quay would be on a tidal river or a sea harbour? Having said that, I can think of several inland 'quays', albeit ones so-named in the last twenty or so years, and perhaps then incorrectly designated.

 

Definitive answer anyone?

 

 

Steve

The Great Western Railway Co established Wharfs in rural districts where the locals could deliver or receive goods at a suitable building which were then transhipped to or from the nearest railway station by horse carter or later in motor lorries.

A surviving example is the Wharf Inn in Leintwardine, Herefordshire with a barn like store on the side.

The Wharf Inn happens to be at the head of Navigation on the River Teme from the Severn.

The Severn at Worcester has North and South Quays of great age.

[Québec]

I have spent considerable time (while the adverts were on during the cycling) researching this and I think the most convincing explanation is that the word wharf is a mis-spelling of Worf, the name of the Klingon officer of the USS Enterprise.

 

In Life on the Mississippi Ch. 4 Mark Twain writes:

 

By careful research on the internet, in particular www.StarTrek.com., I have established that Mark Twain met one of Worf's colleagues, Commander Data, in C19th San Fransicsco, so it is likely he first heard the word on this occasion and remembered it, later to apply it to this previously un-named waterside feature of the Mississippi river.

 

It's a wonderful research tool this internet thing isn't it?

 

 

Perhaps it was Wharf Factor 5...and they mispronounced it?

 

edited to add: Like the fact (true) that the old name - c. 16th century - for a manager of a wharf, was a 'wharfinger'. That would have made a good Bond film.

Edited March 16, 2010 by Québec

[journeyperson]

Perhaps it was Wharf Factor 5...and they mispronounced it?

 

edited to add: Like the fact (true) that the old name - c. 16th century - for a manager of a wharf, was a 'wharfinger'. That would have made a good Bond film.

 

The wharfinger is the one between the ring finger and the index finger, sometimes affectionately referred to as the oo-errfinger.

[mayalld]

So it is! Noticed Peasedown St John as well, although no one locally adds the St John when talking of it. It's also always just "Bradford" as well, not Bradford on Avon.

 

Same here.

 

If somebody around these parts talks about Bradford, they are not talking about a desolate place in Yorkshire or a location along the K&A

[antarmike]

http://i262.photobucket.com/albums/ii109/j...160037twatt.jpg

Another interesting polace name?

Edited March 17, 2010 by antarmike