268 The Names of Places in Wiltshire. 



ttinks the word contained, thougli wanting' in the Celtic, 

 must be related to the old High German swal, old Norse svelgr 

 (= whirlpool) , and English sivell. Notwithstanding the ex- 

 planation by the old scribe of Swallow-cliff as equivalent 

 to Rupes Irundinis,^ I should not be surprised if alter all it 

 was so called from a stream, thoug'h the name of the stream 

 has been lost. 



Syrencote. ") One of these places is close by Stonehenge, the 



Shaencote. J other in North Wilts near the Gloucestershire border. 

 The second is also spelt Cernecote and Serencote. The for- 

 mer portion of each name is possibly the Welsh sarn, which 

 signifies a " stepping-stone or cause-way/'' It is similar in 

 meaning to the Latin stratum, and the English street. The 

 great road through Wales from what is now called Severn- 

 Side was called " ^ar»- Helen/' from a notion, it is said, that 

 a Roman Empress of that name caused it to be made. 

 Shaeney-ford in Lancashire means the "ford by the stepping- 

 stones/' If our conjecture be true, the names iu question 

 would mean the " cot, or dwelling, by the sarn," or ancient 

 trackway. The Cambrian Register (1795) gives at p. 309 

 as local names in Merionethshire Sam y Bwch (= buck's 

 causeway) and Sarn y Llwyn (= causeway of the grove) . 



82. Tan-Coat. A name given to a lane by Cadley not far from 

 Savernake. The former portion is possibly from the root 

 which is found in the Armorican as Tann, and which signifies 

 an oah, and the latter the Cornish Coit {= wood) — the whole 

 word thus signifying " oak-wood." 



Thunder Beook, Close by Wootton Bassett. This is possibly 

 from the Welsh dwnn (=dark), and dwr (=water), and 

 may mean " dark " or " turbid stream." Close by is JDores- 

 Bridge which also looks as though it was a corruption from 

 the same word dwr, and means simply the " bridge over the 

 stream." 



Toot-Hill. Close by Lidiard Tregoz. Fosbrooke says that tumuli 

 of a lofty character sacred to Mercury by the high-roads 



' 1 Cod. Dipl., ^87^ 



