Barrowby Until Now   home page   what's new?   request updates please mention Barrowby   contact     Barrowby only WWW   This site sponsored by   Heart of Albion

Wyville's wells As you may have picked up from the page about local place-names I have a long-standing interest in what a place's name can tell us about its past. There's about a dozen or so places in England which include the Old English words wig (confusingly prononounced 'wee' or 'why') or weoh. Despite the varieties of spelling they are the same word. Which means a pagan 'shrine' or 'icon'. Shrines and icons were once the same thing as roadside shrines in Catholic countries confirm. Without the statue (usually of the Virgin Mary) it wouldn't be a shrine. And just a roadside statue of the Virgin Mary, without any other structure, would be spoken of as a shrine. Intriguingly several weohs are in or adjoining north Leicestershire. (Note that most place-names starting 'Wy‑' are not from weoh.) Wyfordby near Melton Mowbray. The Scaninavian settlement ('‑by') at the ford with a weoh. Presumably the weoh was to ask for help crossing the ford, or to give thanks for a successful crossing. Such a weoh ford is close kin to a stapol ford (as with Stapleford also near Melton and another near Nottingham) – the difference is that a stapol was much bigger than a weoh (think more like a 'totem pole'). Wysall on the Leicestershire-Nottinghamshire border between Wymeswold and Keyworth. The name was originally weoh hoh, the shrine on the distinctively-shaped hill. The parish church now sits on top of that hoh, suggesting a continuity back to pre-conversion times. Wyville on the Leicestershire-Lincolnshire border. The spelling 'Wyville' is a corruption of the original name weoh wella, which means the springs ('wells') with a shrine. And indeed at least one of those springs now feeds into two adjacent ponds (one big enough to be a small lake – see photograph at the top of the page). The Old English word wella evolved into the modern word 'well'. But it originally meant a spring, not a deep hole with a bucket. The scribal error of 'v' for 'w' is a common one in old documents – the two letters were not as distinct back then. This led to the name transforming into '‑ville'.   The second pond (foreground) looking to the Victorian church on the skyline. There is another spring and pond shown on OS maps about 500 metres to the north. This is however on private land. Next time you are heading south from Harlaxton follow the signs to Hungerton and then Wyville. An OS map will be necessary to locate the springs and ponds. There's only one road in and out of Wyville and most of the properties are tucked down in the valley near the springs, so there's a real sense of being secluded. If you think I've got something wrong – or can add additional information or photographs – then please email me:– bobtrubs@indigogroup.co.uk. Back to top of this page   This website does not gather or store any visitor information. Copyright Bob Trubshaw 2021–2022 No unauthorised copying or reproduction except if all following conditions apply: a: Copy is complete (including this copyright statement). b: No changes are made. c: No charge is made. www.hoap.co.uk/barrowby

what's new? Articles about Barrowby Barrowby's location and geology summary of prehistoric Barrowby summary of Roman Barrowby Anglo-Saxons summary of Anglo-Saxon Barrowby place-names Winnibriggs and Threo Domesday Book eleventh century water mills Kesteven moot site Medieval summary of medieval Barrowby origins of All Saints church moated sites the decline of Casthorpe Newbo Abbey Barrowby's Rectory the Conduit to Grantham Sewstern Lane or The Drift Seventeenth and eighteenth centuries summary of early modern Barrowby Dr Thomas Hurst Sir John Thorold John Manners, the Marquess of Granby Charnwood slates the toll bar Enclosure of Barrowby 1762 village green a.k.a. Stevens Gutter Grantham Canal Nineteenth century summary of nineteenth century Barrowby restoration of the parish church schools Methodist chapels Reading Room windmills pinfold Richard Hornsby nineteenth and twentieth century population Twentieth century summary of twentieth century Barrowby ironstone quarrying two World Wars Memorial Hall Barrowby's Listed buildings Barrowby's modern housing guided walks in and around Barrowby there's more could be said... bibliography index of surnames in Cryer 1979 Articles and web links for nearby places rare seventeenth fonts at Muston, Bottesford and Orston from Project Gargoyle Newsletter 2020 Ironstone quarries of Leicestershire YouTube video Wyville's wells Harston's Anglo-Saxon carvings Bottesford's effigies Grantham Canal Society The Grantham Canal All you need to know – and more – from Wikipedia Croxton Kerrial manor house excavations photos and brief details from Leicester Mercury. By 2021 the remains had been consolidated and there are annual open days. Grantham Archaeology Group Bottesford History Group Grantham Civic Society Grantham Museum Heritage Lincolnshire