78 PROCEEDINGS OF THE COTTESWOLD CLUB 



has been written about the origin of the word "Cotteswold." 

 The explanation generally received is that given by 

 Camden, that, to quote his words, " Cotteswold, which of 

 " wolds and cotes, that is, hils and sheepfolds tooke that 

 " name." But, as Mr John Bellows once pithily said, to 

 imagine, as Camden does, that "cotes" is from sheepcotes, 

 would require us to suppose that the hills were first 

 covered with sheep pasturage and then named. The fact 

 is that the word " Cotteswold " contains two synonymous 

 elements. "Cotes" is from the Celtic "coed," "wold" is 

 from the Anglo-Saxon "weald;" and both words Signify a 

 wood. Other local illustrations of Celtic names may be 

 found in Brcdon, from " Bre," a Celtic word for promon- 

 tory, and the suffix " down," a common ending of the 

 names of the Severn Valley outliers, is probably a corrup- 

 tion of the Celtic word " dun," a hill. As to river-names, 

 they, says Taylor, "are everywhere the memorials of the 

 " earliest races .... they seem to possess an 

 " almost indestructible vitality .... throughout 

 " the whole of England there is hardly a single river-name 

 "which is not Celtic."* The Isbourne, the Chelt, the 

 Coin, the Avon, are examples from the Middle Cottcs- 

 wolds. 



The completeness of the Saxon conquest of Gloucester- 

 shire doubtless abolished many Celtic })lace-names, and 

 drove olY much Celtic speech. But, as Professor Rhys 

 says, " skulls are harder than consonants, and races lurk 

 " behind when languages slink away. The lineal descen- 

 " dants of the Neohthic aborigines are ever among us, 

 "possibly even those of a still earlier race."t Much 

 ingenuity has been expended in endeavours to fix approxi- 

 mate dates for the order of the pre-historic invasions. In 

 the absence of trustworthy data, it is wise to act upon the 



" Words and Places," p. 130. 

 ■f " Celtic Britain," j). 275. 



