Wear is a Celtic or pre-Celtic river name, probably meaning simply 'water', 'river'. Bishop Wearmouth ( the bishop of Durham's Wearmouth estate soth of the river) was originally known as 'South Wearmouth', Wiremuthe australem, circa 1040, Suth Wermutha in the 15th century, and finally Wermouth Episcopi, and Bishop Wermouthe 1582. It was called 'South' and 'Bishop' for distinction from Monkwearmouth on the north side of the river. Stan Mapstone -----Original Message----- From: Watson Family <watsonb@iinet.com.au> To: eng-durham@rootsweb.com Sent: Wed, 1 Jul 2009 7:06 Subject: [ENG-DURHAM] re Henry Clough non 1851 census Hi Geoff, re Bishopwearmouth Many thanks for all that detailed information. I really appreciate knowing all that as it helps understand how ancestors ended up where they did. So what did "wear" stand for .Was it old Danish for something? Many thanks for your help and advice cheers Marilyn from Western Australia ------------------------------- To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to ENG-DURHAM-request@rootsweb.com with the word 'unsubscribe' without the quotes in the subject and the body of the message ________________________________________________________________________ AOL Email goes Mobile! You can now read your AOL Emails whilst on the move. Sign up for a free AOL Email account with unlimited storage today.