The Names of Moorlands Rivers

There was a documentary on BBC4 the other week on the River Trent. Writer Tom Fort took his punt down the river as far as he could before the Trent flowed into the Humber estuary. The river is 180 miles in length, is the third longest river in Britain and cuts through several Midland counties beginning, of course, as a “pathetic trickle” on Biddulph Moor. Fort also spent a little time at Knypersley before a section on how brutalised the Trent had become forced through debris strewn concrete culverts in Stoke  before emerging at Trentham as a proper waterway again.  

It is believed that the name Trent is formed from two Celtic words – ʻtrosʼ (over) and ʻhyntʼ (way) producing ʻtroshyntʼ (over-way). This is because of the river’s propensity to flood and alter its course, this has been interpreted as meaning ʻstrong floodingʼ or more directly the trespasser or wanderer.

Another possible meaning is ʻa river that is easily fordedʼ. The name ʻTrisantona Fu (Trisantona River) for the Trent first appears in ʻThe Annals’ of the Roman writer Tacitus. It has also been suggested the name is derived from the Celtic— ʻTrisantanoʼ which has been given the interpretation of ʻgreat feminine thoroughfareʼ. It might be named for a Celtic River Goddess. It was a big enough barrier to delay the Roman Legions .

 River names are among the oldest names in Britain. The first settlements in Britain were on the banks of rivers, which were easy of access by land and by water and provided drinking water and, in times of emergency, fish to eat There is a predominance of names of Celtic origins in the Moorlands although they might follow even earlier names given to rivers by Palaeolithic hunters. Locally the rivers have strong associations with these early names. The Churnet that flows through Leek origins are unknown although it is first called that in the 13th century. The Hamps is close to a Welsh word Hamphest which translates as “summer dry” and is an accurate description of a river that disappears into the limestone during those months.

The Dane has nothing to do with Vikings, but is related, it is thought, to the Welsh “dafnu” to trickle or flow. It first appears as Daan in documents from the 15^th century. Incidentally the Danube comes from the same root.

 The Dove is derived from the Celtic word “Dubo” meaning black or dark which incidentally where the origins of the place name “Dublin” or black pool stems. It has also been suggested that it might be linked to an early word for “deer” The Dove has been traced back under this name to the Saxon period. A tributary of the Dove the Tean which rises near Dilhorne is called after the Brythonic word “taen” a sprinkling

Turning to the Manifold this is unusual as it simply means a river with many folds or bends and is derived from the Middle English. Perhaps the most charming is the Blithe which is so named after the Saxon word for “gentle” or “merry” a word still used in everyday language.

St Bertram of Ilam

It took 100 years for Christianity to establish itself in England after Augustine landed in Kent in 597. It seems that missionaries mixed pragmatically piety with an ability to “schmooze” the local rulers as they fanned out around the country. Bishop Wilfrid of York, in one example ,held a three day drunken revelry with many of the nobility of Northumbria and Mercia to celebrate the dedication of Ripon Cathedral in the 660s. Proselytising in those days came with a hangover it would seem. It was a crucial time for the establishment of the Church and it was around this time that Christianity arrived in Staffordshire. It is difficult however to disentangle the myth and reality in the lives of the local Saints. I was pondering on this whilst visiting the shrine to St Bertram or Bertellinus at Ilam Church.

Bertram, so the story goes, was of royal blood and having fallen out with his father fled to Ireland where he fell in love with a princess. She became pregnant and they escaped to England sheltering in the dense forests that surrounded Ilam in the 7^th century. Alexander a monk writing in the 13^th century takes up the story.

“They were in hiding in a dense forest when lo ! the time

of her childbirth came upon them suddenly ; born of pain and

river of sorrow ! A pitiful child bed indeed ! While Bertellinus

went out to get the necessary help of a midwife the woman and

her child breathed their last amid the fangs of wolves. Bertellinus

on his return imagined that this calamity had befallen because

of his own sin, and spent three days in mourning rites”.

That was the turning point in his life, he retired from the world and became a hermit. Bertram is linked with Stafford where he preached converting the heathen. Then he returned living in one of the caves beside the river Dove. After his death his remains were buried at Ilam,

The shrine itself is in the Lady Chapel. It is in the form of an altar tomb made about 1386 when a blind Ilam man, named Wilmot prayed to Bertram and recovered his sight. People still leave requests for prayers on the shrine. When I was there prayers of intercession among them people who had lost their faith, a sick relative and for a woman who had committed suicide from Birmingham were placed on the shrine.