Piddletrenthide
Encyclopedia
Piddletrenthide is a village in west Dorset
, England
, situated in the Piddle valley
on the dip slope of the Dorset Downs
, eight miles north of Dorchester. The village has a population
of 691 . Many people consider the place name to be inherently funny
, and it has become something of a running joke in parts of the British
media
(for example: TV Times
25 April-1 May 1970, a lengthy correspondence in The Times
in 1974, The Times
again, 27 March 1999, The Sunday Times
, 22 December 2002 and 25 September 2005, and The Guardian
, 8 May 2004).
Over the west door of the church-tower is the Latin
inscription
This is an early use of Arabic numerals
in England
. It is remarkable that Arabic numerals were used in such a remote village when the use of Roman numerals
continued for another century elsewhere in England.
Piddletrenthide gets its extraordinary name from the fact that
Piddletrenthide is a very long village and divided into three tithings. The church and manor house is the upper tithing, another group of cottages form the middle, and the third, White Lackington.
Piddletrenthide has one of the finest village churches in Dorset with a splendid 15th century tower and gruesome gargoyle
s. The south doorway and piers of the chancel arch are Norman
.
The now deceased BBC Radio broadcaster Ralph Wightman (who was the model for Kenneth Williams
' country character Arthur Fallowfield), came from here and was noted in his radio broadcasts for his fine Dorset accent.
Piddletrenthide was also featured as the hometown of Jem Kellaway, one the main protagonists in Tracy Chevalier
's 18th-century-set novel Burning Bright.
There is a spring which feeds into the River Piddle at the particularly picturesque spot of Mourning Well, reached by a footpath from the Poachers Inn at the Alton Pancras
end of the village.
Scrumpy and Western
artist Trevor Crozier wrote a song entitled "The Piddletrenthide Jug Band" for Dorset folk group The Yetties
.
Dorset
Dorset , is a county in South West England on the English Channel coast. The county town is Dorchester which is situated in the south. The Hampshire towns of Bournemouth and Christchurch joined the county with the reorganisation of local government in 1974...
, England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
, situated in the Piddle valley
River Piddle
The River Piddle or Trent or North River is a small rural Dorset river which rises next to Alton Pancras church and flows south and then south-easterly more or less parallel with its bigger neighbour, the River Frome, to Wareham, where they both enter Poole Harbour via...
on the dip slope of the Dorset Downs
Dorset Downs
The Dorset Downs are an area of Chalk downland in the centre of the county Dorset in south west England. The downs are the most western part of a larger Chalk Formation which also includes Cranborne Chase, Salisbury Plain, Hampshire Downs, Chiltern Hills, North Downs and South Downs.The Dorset...
, eight miles north of Dorchester. The village has a population
Population
A population is all the organisms that both belong to the same group or species and live in the same geographical area. The area that is used to define a sexual population is such that inter-breeding is possible between any pair within the area and more probable than cross-breeding with individuals...
of 691 . Many people consider the place name to be inherently funny
Inherently funny word
Words may be considered inherently funny, for reasons ranging from onomatopoeia to phonosemantics. Such words have been used by a range of influential comedians, including W. C...
, and it has become something of a running joke in parts of the British
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
media
Mass media
Mass media refers collectively to all media technologies which are intended to reach a large audience via mass communication. Broadcast media transmit their information electronically and comprise of television, film and radio, movies, CDs, DVDs and some other gadgets like cameras or video consoles...
(for example: TV Times
TV Times
TVTimes is a television listings magazine published in the United Kingdom by IPC Media, a subsidiary of Time Warner. It is known for its access to television actors and their programmes. In 2006 it was refreshed for a more modern look, increasing its emphasis on big star interviews and soaps...
25 April-1 May 1970, a lengthy correspondence in The Times
The Times
The Times is a British daily national newspaper, first published in London in 1785 under the title The Daily Universal Register . The Times and its sister paper The Sunday Times are published by Times Newspapers Limited, a subsidiary since 1981 of News International...
in 1974, The Times
The Times
The Times is a British daily national newspaper, first published in London in 1785 under the title The Daily Universal Register . The Times and its sister paper The Sunday Times are published by Times Newspapers Limited, a subsidiary since 1981 of News International...
again, 27 March 1999, The Sunday Times
The Sunday Times (UK)
The Sunday Times is a Sunday broadsheet newspaper, distributed in the United Kingdom. The Sunday Times is published by Times Newspapers Ltd, a subsidiary of News International, which is in turn owned by News Corporation. Times Newspapers also owns The Times, but the two papers were founded...
, 22 December 2002 and 25 September 2005, and The Guardian
The Guardian
The Guardian, formerly known as The Manchester Guardian , is a British national daily newspaper in the Berliner format...
, 8 May 2004).
Over the west door of the church-tower is the Latin
Latin
Latin is an Italic language originally spoken in Latium and Ancient Rome. It, along with most European languages, is a descendant of the ancient Proto-Indo-European language. Although it is considered a dead language, a number of scholars and members of the Christian clergy speak it fluently, and...
inscription
- "Est pydeltrenth villa in dorsedie comitatu Nascitur in illa quam rexit Vicariatu 1487"
This is an early use of Arabic numerals
Arabic numerals
Arabic numerals or Hindu numerals or Hindu-Arabic numerals or Indo-Arabic numerals are the ten digits . They are descended from the Hindu-Arabic numeral system developed by Indian mathematicians, in which a sequence of digits such as "975" is read as a numeral...
in England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
. It is remarkable that Arabic numerals were used in such a remote village when the use of Roman numerals
Roman numerals
The numeral system of ancient Rome, or Roman numerals, uses combinations of letters from the Latin alphabet to signify values. The numbers 1 to 10 can be expressed in Roman numerals as:...
continued for another century elsewhere in England.
Piddletrenthide gets its extraordinary name from the fact that
- (a) it is on the River PiddleRiver PiddleThe River Piddle or Trent or North River is a small rural Dorset river which rises next to Alton Pancras church and flows south and then south-easterly more or less parallel with its bigger neighbour, the River Frome, to Wareham, where they both enter Poole Harbour via...
, and - (b) it was assessed for thirty hides in the Domesday BookDomesday BookDomesday Book , now held at The National Archives, Kew, Richmond upon Thames in South West London, is the record of the great survey of much of England and parts of Wales completed in 1086...
.
Piddletrenthide is a very long village and divided into three tithings. The church and manor house is the upper tithing, another group of cottages form the middle, and the third, White Lackington.
Piddletrenthide has one of the finest village churches in Dorset with a splendid 15th century tower and gruesome gargoyle
Gargoyle
In architecture, a gargoyle is a carved stone grotesque, usually made of granite, with a spout designed to convey water from a roof and away from the side of a building thereby preventing rainwater from running down masonry walls and eroding the mortar between...
s. The south doorway and piers of the chancel arch are Norman
Norman architecture
About|Romanesque architecture, primarily English|other buildings in Normandy|Architecture of Normandy.File:Durham Cathedral. Nave by James Valentine c.1890.jpg|thumb|200px|The nave of Durham Cathedral demonstrates the characteristic round arched style, though use of shallow pointed arches above the...
.
The now deceased BBC Radio broadcaster Ralph Wightman (who was the model for Kenneth Williams
Kenneth Williams
Kenneth Charles Williams was an English comic actor and comedian. He was one of the main ensemble in 26 of the Carry On films, and appeared in numerous British television shows, and radio comedies with Tony Hancock and Kenneth Horne.-Life and career:Kenneth Charles Williams was born on 22 February...
' country character Arthur Fallowfield), came from here and was noted in his radio broadcasts for his fine Dorset accent.
Piddletrenthide was also featured as the hometown of Jem Kellaway, one the main protagonists in Tracy Chevalier
Tracy Chevalier
Tracy Chevalier is a bestselling historical novelist. She lives in London with her husband and son.Chevalier was raised in Washington, D.C and graduated from Bethesda-Chevy Chase High School in Bethesda, Maryland. After receiving her B.A...
's 18th-century-set novel Burning Bright.
There is a spring which feeds into the River Piddle at the particularly picturesque spot of Mourning Well, reached by a footpath from the Poachers Inn at the Alton Pancras
Alton Pancras
Alton Pancras is a small village in the West Dorset district of Dorset, England. It is sited at an altitude of 125 metres in the valley of the River Piddle, which has its source just north of the village. The surrounding chalk hills rise to between 230 and 260 metres...
end of the village.
Scrumpy and Western
Scrumpy and Western
Scrumpy and Western refers humorously to music from England's West Country that fuses comical folk-style songs, often full of double entendre, with affectionate parodies of more mainstream musical genres, all delivered in the local accent/dialect...
artist Trevor Crozier wrote a song entitled "The Piddletrenthide Jug Band" for Dorset folk group The Yetties
The Yetties
The Yetties are an English folk music group and take their name from the Dorset village of Yetminster which was their childhood home. In 2007 The Yetties celebrated 40 years as a professional folk band....
.