20 TEESDALE PLACE-NAMES. 



Bcold ever lived there, does not appear. Mr. Bell says the name 

 is " Brant carrs, steep bottom lands." 



In old documents the name is Brancas, an instrument of pun- 

 ishment. 



Brig. 



A.-S., hrig, bn'c, bricff, hrycg, perhaps from hrice, Iryce, use, 

 profit, advantage, and as adj. useful. What so useful or advan- 

 tageous as a bridge for crossing a river ? 



Suio-Goth. Iro; Ant. Iru ; Ger. Bruche; Swed. hrygga, bro ; 

 Dan. 5ro; Dut., Belg., and Flem., brug; "Wei. brij,pont; Gael. 

 drochoM ; Ir. drochad, a bridge ; Ijai-pons; It. ponte; Sp. puente; 

 Port, ponte ; Fr. pont. 



" Bro, pons. Ant. bru, proprie arbitror eo notari stratum 

 aliquod; via, stratum vise, &c." Ihre. 



Brig, or bridge, is clearly a Scandinavian and High and Low 

 German word, as well as A.-S. The Celtic and Latin terms 

 differ widely from the above. 



Examples : 



Winch Brig. A.-S. Wmcel, a comer or angle. 



There is a distinct angle or turn of the Tees just above this 

 bridge, and some small falls and rapids there. This angle, I 

 think, has given rise to the name — the brig or bridge at the 

 wincel or bend of the river. 



The E.ev. W. E. Bell, of Laithkirk Vicarage, near Mickleton, 

 in a letter,' states, "I am not satisfied with the etymology of 

 Winch Brig. As the brig was put up so lately as 1704, some- 

 thing must have been called 'winch' long before that, 1 imagine. 

 Taking the radical idea of ' winch' to be a corner or ^angulus,'' to 

 what was it applied ? a sharp bend in the river ? the edge of the 

 rocks ? or to the characteristic angularity of the rock — the whin 

 itself? or had the chain — the accompaniment of a 'winch,' 

 or crane, anything to do with the name ? or was it that it 

 made a person winch to pass along the first shaky structure ? 

 The name is a puzzle. Pincers =: pinchers, therefore wince = 

 winch." 



