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Society for Name Studies in Britain and Ireland
The SNSBI exists to promote the study of place-names, personal names, and other names. It has members within and beyond Britain and Ireland, some of them academics (students or staff) in relevant fields, but most from other walks of life.
Silver coins and jewellery and other treasures appear in English place-names – but all that glisters is not gold! Read about 'Golden Hopes', written by Jeremy Harte.![]()
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Forty-eight Dunstable jurors could not solve the mystery of Goldenlowe. It was a burial mound, like many a hlāw, and in 1290 a jury reported that Matthew Tyler found treasure there. Instead of reporting this as the law required, he kept the money, which passed to Adam Rouse. While Adam kicked his heels in jail, a second double jury overturned the verdict of the first, and finally a third unprejudiced set from outside the town found he was the victim of attempted blackmail and let him free.![]()
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Whether the claims were real or invented, people evidently associated Goldenlowe with treasure. It’s not unusual for places to be named after valuables that have been found there. At Wallasey, over the Mersey from Liverpool, some boys had run through a gap – a path down to the beach – to go swimming when one of them felt something hard under his toes. It turned out to be a golden guinea, and soon many more were uncovered. This was in 1847, and by 1859 the spot was well known as Guinea Gap. ![]()
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Ancient treasures were often buried in groups, one pot or bag at a time. This would explain the early name of Silverdale in Lancashire, Selredal in 1199. Part of a hoard could well have been unearthed here in the tenth or eleventh century, for another came to light in 2011: this was concealed in about 905.![]()
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Hord was the Old English term for treasure. The boundary clauses of Anglo-Saxon charters take us to hord hlince ufeweardum ‘to the top part of the hoard linchet’ at Welford (Berkshire, in 949); on hord dene ‘to the hoard valley’ at Hawkesbury (Gloucestershire, in 972); and on hord burh ‘to the hoard hillfort’ at Manaton (Devon, eleventh century). ![]()
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The charters never refer to discoveries of gold, and this word is very rare even in later names inspired by the discovery of precious things. Certainly there are many names beginning Gold– but some of these seem to contain golde ‘marigold’, while others may refer to bright sandy features or are otherwise metaphorical. ![]()
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It seems as if poor Adam of Dunstable was the victim of a mistaken etymology.![]()
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To find out more, see: www.snsbi.org.uk/exploring-names/place-names/golden-hopes/![]()
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Photo © portableantiquities, cc-by-sa 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons
Call for papers! Our autumn meeting will be held on Saturday 14 November from 1000 to 1630 at the University of Sheffield and online. ![]()
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The theme is 'Names and Power'. Abstracts are invited from across the broad field of name studies and related disciplines by 4 September 2026.![]()
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For more information, see www.snsbi.org.uk/meeting/2026-autumn-meeting-university-of-sheffield/
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The SNSBI spring conferences have long had a resident bard. Often he prefers to remain anonymous, but sometimes signs his work “PRK”. His latest composition, on the 2026 Bury St Edmunds meeting, can now be read at the bottom of the conference webpage www.snsbi.org.uk/meeting/2026-spring-conference-bury-st-edmunds/ .
2026: Spring Conference - Bury St Edmunds - SNSBI
www.snsbi.org.uk
The spring conference conference of the Society for Name Studies in Britain and Ireland was held 27-29 March 2026 in the historic Guildhall in Bury St Edmunds.
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