Talk: Local and National Place Names

Join Prof Richard Coates for first lecture of 2023 on the history and meaning behind local and national place names.

Place-names are of consuming interest to many people. They arise out of local language, history and culture, and some well-known ones can be understood with greater precision through attention to linguistic and historical detail. In this talk I present some of the findings of national place-name scholarship, and look in detail at some local names in the south of Gloucestershire and nearby.

About your speaker: Prof Coates is currently Professor emeritus of Onomastics at The University of the West of England. He is a linguist with special interests in the area where linguistics, history and geography meet with a particular focus on finding out the origin of English place-names created before about 1500 A.D., but thinks any place-name of any period can be interesting if you look at it in the right way! We are delighted to welcome him to The Barn!

The ​speaker fee from this talk will be kindly donated to the RNLI so by buying a ticket you are supporting both The Barn and the RNLI. ​Thank you.

Refreshments available on arrival. Cash and card payments accepted.

Free parking on site. Parking for this event will be at the Barn, BS36 1SE.