Sometimes placenames are the only trace that old rivers existed. Who, in London, knows that Kilburn, Westbourne and Bayswater are both named after the same river, "bourne/burn", to use the scottish/celtic name?
Here in Bristol, lots of places have "Vale", "Down" and "Wood" in their names, to remind us of the valleys, the grassy downs and the woods that once existed, where now we have roads.
But water, it remembers. And here, November 2009, it reminds us.
This is Springfield Road, Kingsdown. Not a field, not any more
But today, the spring is back.
The water, it remembers.
The water, it remembers.
I wonder if this water comes from what was formerly Mother Pugsley's Well, just up the hill? I suspect that it might have lost its healing properties by the time it got here...
ReplyDeleteooooh! the elusive proof that water has a memory. the homeopaths were right after all!
ReplyDeleteWell, this water is tehnically downhill from the homeopathy hospital, so maybe it is special remembering water
ReplyDelete@Dru -"Mother Pugsley's Well, just up the hill"?
ReplyDeleteyes, I think that is the spring of the field. There is also a Spring Hill, the little road that cuts from Kingsdown Parade to Somerset Street, and then would carry on were it not closed off to through traffic. I have nice piccy from Spring Hill last, week, will have to post it now.
Apparently, according to my Big Book Of Wells, the spring was tapped to a conduit for St James Priory, which would presumably have been round about St James Barton (see what I did there?)
ReplyDeleteDru, you are pushing the envelope of placenaming. I look forward to your explanation of the St Pauls Roundabout and M32 flyover. Perhaps the Angry Corries history of the A9 Munros will give you a starting point.
ReplyDeleteAccording to some online history the well was near the top of Nugent Hill, so this water is downhill from there, probably the same field.
that web page shows a stream where the A38 goes now. It's still there in the back gardens of Cranbrook Road, which does have the name brook in it. I don't know how Gloucester or Cheltenham Road, or Stokes Croft get their names from this stream.