Tuesday, 5 May 2015

Wuttuc the Squatter.

I was reading up on Uttoxeter earlier. (I write about Uttoxeter a lot, in case you hadn’t noticed. The chips are cheaper in Uttoxeter than they are in Ashbourne.)

Apparently, the Anglian origin of the name is ‘Wuttuc’s homestead on the heath.’ Now, there’s a fine Dark Age name: Wuttuc.

There was a young fellow named Wuttuc
Who had a tattoo on his buttock

I could go on…

Anyway, it seems Wuttuc and his merry band (for such there always is) was merely a squatter. There must have been something already in place because there’s some evidence of Roman activity, and they even found Bronze Age axes in the subsoil. (The Bronze Age was distant history even in Roman times.)

I’ve been having trouble making a post all day – nothing much has happened and I feel ill. I’m only making this one because:

a. Wuttuc deserves a mention, and

b. I’m hoping it will awaken the dormant Madeline of Upstate New York. She isn’t the sort to be impressed by princes and frogs and things, but Bronze Age axes are a different matter.

No comments: