Page 53 - link magazine

The Workers Educational Association (see overleaf) are going to
run a course starting Lath October about Toothill. and its history
over the last 2000 years. So we are reprinting an article that
appeared in the first Link last December to wet your appetite.

WHY TOOTHILL?

Many people have wondered where the name came from - something
to do with trains perhaps?

But .... a Toothill is a natural or artificial piece of high
ground from which the surrounding countryside can be seen.
The pronounciation was often 'tuthil.l" and in this form looks
like the VJelsh, "twthill. In London Tothill. Street took its
name from the toothill in Tootehill Fields. It was called the
Tootehill or Totehill as far back as the thirteenth century.
An old name for a watchman was a 'tootere" and toothill was a
name for a watchtower. Other words which have a similar meaning
are the Welsh "twt" or "twyt" (a spring or rising), "totian"
P
(Old English for projection), " toten" (to peep) and "tout" (to
look about). This latter form: is better known to us as a ticket
tout or one touting for custom !It

Even in the Wycliffe translation of the Bible "toothill" appears
several times. For instance Isiah 21, verse 5 "Prepare the
table, watch in a watchtower" is translated as "Sett the bord,
behold in a toothil.l".

There are a number of hamlets in Enland named Toothill. London
has its Tooting, Somerset has a long barrow called the Fairy
Toot, to the north of Peterborough Cathedral there is an earthen
mound called Toothill and in Herefordshire there is a Norman
castle called .... Toothill :;

Our Toothill is an ancient site. It was occupied in. the time of
the early Britons and diggings in this area have produced a
remarkable number of Roman-British pottery Kilns shaped rather
like boats.

Something to do with trains indeed ;ems
OLIVE KINIG
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FUTURE TO OTHILL LINK DATES FOR YOUR DIARY.

The Toothill Link will be published in the weeks beginning
17th Septembe r 2 th Oct ober , rd December.
-
Please notes if you or your community group want to get some
thing into these future issues the last possible dates for each
one are 3rd September s 15th Oc tober, and 19th November.
respectively.

Please send all material for publication (typed if possible) to
Geoff Richmond, 23 Luddesdown Road, Toothill.
If you want to help the Toothill Link by typing, distributing,
assembling it, etc. please get in contact. The Link is run
entirely by volunteers, a community paper, so it needs you if
you are interested.