59 



^TtDtslMcU antr ©ttrcaloto. 



By T. N. Brushfield, M.D., F.S.A. 



NYTHING which tends to throw light on the origin of 

 place — and of personal — names, must always be 

 acceptable to the philologist as well as to the anti- 

 quary. Very recently the pages of Notes and Queries 

 have contained a series of articles respecting the etymology of 

 the names Tideswell and Tidslow or Tideslow. The principal 

 contributors were Mr. S. O. Addy, Professor Skeat, and myself, 

 vide 9th S. xij. 341, and continued to 10th S. j. 371, to which 

 the references in the text relate. As the subject is one of 

 much local interest, no excuse need be made for the present 

 article; it will, however, be necessary to reiterate some portions 

 of my remarks in that periodical, especially as some important 

 points relating to the archaeological side of the question were 

 only briefly noticed. „ 



That Tideswell owed its name to an intermittent spring, 

 termed an ebbing and flowing well, situated within the village, 

 has been the traditional belief in the locality for centuries. 

 That this tradition has continued to the present day, and still 

 remains the current belief, is evident from the following state- 

 ment of Mr. F. Davis, in The Etymology of Derbyshire 

 Place-Names, printed in the Journal of this Society (vol. II. 

 (1880), p. 65): "Tideswell . . . the tidal or ebbing and 

 flowing well. The well from which Tideswell received its name 

 has ceased to ebb and flow [for] about two centuries." Also 

 from the ' Ebbing and Flowing Well,' situated in the ' Town 

 Head ' of the village, being recorded in the Ordnance Map 

 of the district. 



