As a little bloke I lived in Woolston. Where did it get its name? I think I went to St Marks elementary school. Not exactly"good old golden rule days" for me. I duffed up the school bully. One teacher was a Mr Peterkin,who was a kindly figure. Another is forgettable,so I forget his name. A little rotund weasel of a man. We did "scripture". (I'm 82,and I've been anti-religion since I was ten!) This "teacher" quoted..."if a man shall smite thee on one cheek..." and told me to finish the quote. I did..."smite him on the other..." Whereupon he called me out for a caning. However,I picked up the heavy iron cube that was used to keep the door open,and hurled it at his midriff. No one,but no one was going to inflict corporal punishment on me,nor ever did. Naturally there was hell to pay,and I paid it. "Those were the days,my friend,we thought they'd never end..." Rather ironically,after much continent-hopping,a war,and bringing out 25 children from London to good old Oz in 1950,I became a school principal,and you can believe it or not,but I never once used corporal punishment on any child. Woolston...and Shirley...and Bitterne...is there a book which tells how all those suburbs of Swampton got their names? There's one for Canberra. One street in Page is named for one of my Hannaford relatives. Cheers, Gerald Bennett in Canberra

ORIGINS OF SOUTHAMPTON PLACE NAMES Coates 1989 WOOLSTON Old English 'Wulf's farm'. In 1284 a form 'Wolverichestone' appears apparently referring to this place, and this clearly means 'Wulfric's farm'. The two names could conceivably have referred to the same man, but the true significance of the alternating forms is not known. A Wulfric was the grantee of 7 hides of land at Millbrook, four miles away, by king Eadwig in 956 (document BCS 926, S 636). But the name was a common one and not too much should be read into this fact. SHIRLEY in Millbrook, suburb of Southampton There are two possibilities: either Old English 'bright wood/clearing', in a compound form with an uninflected adjective; or 'shire wood/clearing', but there is no evidence that a shiremoot ever met here. If such evidence ever turns up, it will probably show that the name dates from the period when Southampton was the capital of the county and gave it its name. Cf SHERFIELD-ON-LODDON, where Shirley hundred is also discussed. If the second interpretation is right, there may be an implied contrast between PORTSWOOD 'wood of the town' and Shirley 'wood of the shire'. Coates 1989 BITTERNE Ekwall derives this from hypothetical Old English 'byhtaern'='building by a bend' with reference to a 'horseshoe shaped ridge' close by. Gover accepts this formal origin but sees a reference, in 'byht' to the prominent bend in the river Itchen here; this is more likely. But old Bitterne is a good mile from the bend. An alternative possibility might be hypothetical 'bit(e)aern'='building for bits' ie: in one of the senses associated with tools or horse tackle. The word 'aern' in Old English often formed compounds with words denoting what it contained. It is generally thought that Bitterne riverside was the site of the Romano British town of 'Clausentum' and it is regularly marked on local maps. This name is interpreted by Rivet and Smith (1979) as if from British words meaning 'nail' and 'path', and they speculate that there was a causeway or pontoon or suchlike here to give rise to the name. However, this does not precisely suit the Antonine Itinerary distances to Winchester and Chichester, for which Wickham gives a better match (Rivet and Smith 1979: 166 7). The origin just proposed for the Romano British name is less obviously suitable for Wickham. For more names go to OLD HAMPSHIRE GAZETEER http://www.envf.port.ac.uk/hantsgaz/hantsgaz/hgdndx_f.htm Chris and Caroline -----Original Message----- From: Gerald Bennett [mailto:gerben@pcug.org.au] Sent: 07 September 2004 05:19 To: ENG-SOUTHAMPTON-L@rootsweb.com Subject: [ENG-SOU] Woolston As a little bloke I lived in Woolston. Where did it get its name? I think I went to St Marks elementary school. Not exactly"good old golden rule days" for me. I duffed up the school bully. One teacher was a Mr Peterkin,who was a kindly figure. Another is forgettable,so I forget his name. A little rotund weasel of a man. We did "scripture". (I'm 82,and I've been anti-religion since I was ten!) This "teacher" quoted..."if a man shall smite thee on one cheek..." and told me to finish the quote. I did..."smite him on the other..." Whereupon he called me out for a caning. However,I picked up the heavy iron cube that was used to keep the door open,and hurled it at his midriff. No one,but no one was going to inflict corporal punishment on me,nor ever did. Naturally there was hell to pay,and I paid it. "Those were the days,my friend,we thought they'd never end..." Rather ironically,after much continent-hopping,a war,and bringing out 25 children from London to good old Oz in 1950,I became a school principal,and you can believe it or not,but I never once used corporal punishment on any child. Woolston...and Shirley...and Bitterne...is there a book which tells how all those suburbs of Swampton got their names? There's one for Canberra. One street in Page is named for one of my Hannaford relatives. Cheers, Gerald Bennett in Canberra ============================== Gain access to over two billion names including the new Immigration Collection with an Ancestry.com free trial. Click to learn more. http://www.ancestry.com/rd/redir.asp?targetid=4930&sourceid=1237 --- Incoming mail is certified Virus Free. Checked by AVG anti-virus system (http://www.grisoft.com). Version: 6.0.752 / Virus Database: 503 - Release Date: 03/09/2004 --- All of our outgoing mail is checked and certified Virus Free by regularl updates Checked by AVG anti-virus system (http://www.grisoft.com). Version: 6.0.752 / Virus Database: 503 - Release Date: 03/09/2004