What's in a name? Find out at the barn

WE use place names every day, but do we know where they came from?

Maybe Bath or Clifton or Newport seem obvious, but what about Bristol or Chepstow or Gloucester?

What do Winterbourne, Frampton Cotterell, Stoke Gifford, Chipping Sodbury and Yate tell us about the origins of our towns and villages?

Place names can sound quite odd if you are not familiar with them - Slad, Ozleworth, Framilode, Priddy, Devizes, Wookey, Catbrain, Barrow Gurney, Queen Camel, Nempnett Thrubwell and Great Snoring, to name a few!

On February 21 at 7pm Professor Richard Coates will look at where linguistics, history and geography meet, to show the origin of older English place names in a talk at Winterbourne Medieval Barn.

It will raise funds for both the barn and the RNLI, and will also be live-streamed on zoom.

After that the barn will host light-hearted entertainment from two local "big boy bands", Bristol Male Voice Choir and Frampton Shantymen.

Music from spirituals and folk songs to modern musicals and sea-shanties will be sung in the relaxed setting of the barn on Sunday March 5, from 2.30pm.

Our next event is a tea and tour on February 2, at 2pm, when you can come and see the barn's superb medieval roof timbers, and discover how it was built and why it is nationally important.

Book online or turn up from 1.30pm.

For the other events, booking can be done online via the barn's website at www. winterbournebarn.org.uk, but from February 2 a box office will also open at the Barn from 1.302.30pm on the first Thursday of each month, for in-person ticket sales.

WMBT is always looking for new volunteers to join the large friendly local team.

It's a great way to meet people and help in the local community. No weekly commitment is required to help with community events or to help maintain the site.

For more details visit the website or call Ceara on 0117 403 1536 from Wednesday to Friday.

Louise Harrison