Red Placenames

It will come as no surprise that the term; ‘everything is not black and white‘ aptly applies to Dartmoor – sometimesit’s red. Having now compiled web pages on Dartmoor place-names that contain the descriptive element ‘black’ and ‘white’ surely ‘red’ cannot be left out? When compared with ‘black’ and ‘white’ the ‘red’ place-names are a lot fewer and much more straightforward to interpret or so it would seem. The problem with place-names, especially when documented is that firstly how literate was the person recording them? If their spelling was not up to scratch then it’s likely some names resemble nothing like what they should. Secondly, local dialect can be mis-interpreted, especially when the person recording them is not from the locality, again leading to mistaken identities.

The descriptive place-name element is a perfect example of the above as noted by R. H. Worth when he commented that:

“This presents a possible ambiguity, the syllable is always pronounced (on Dartmoor) ‘rid’. The reference may in some instanced be to the colour of the bed of a stream, in summer, when, the water being low, the limonite, formed by the oxidation of ferrous carbonate, derived from the bogs, colours the stones. But this feature is by no means markedly developed in many of the streams called by this name. It is to be noted that many of the ‘Redlake’ valleys are places to which the moormen still resort to cut reeds for thatching, and ‘reed lake’ is probably the correct interpretation.”, p.427.

Basically what Worth is saying is that to some ears, especially those unaccustomed to the Dartmoor dialect the words rid (red) and reed (reed) can easily become confused. When applying the theory regarding the limonite it is therefore quite possible to suggest that all ‘red’ lakes, brooks, and waters on Dartmoor are so called because of its presence. To illustrate the possible confusion take the example of the Riddipit Stream which is a tributary of the River Meavy. Worth suggests that the first element ‘riddi’ is derived from the Anglo Saxon word riÖe or  riÖ meaning a well or spring, Clark Hall, p.283, Worth, p.426., thus giving the ‘spring in the pit’ or words to that effect. Hemery on the other hand refutes Worth’s claim and considers that the idea of reeds growing in the pits is much more likely, p.127. I am going to throw a spanner in the works here, there was once a great deal of tinning activity in the area of this stream and deposits of limonite are known to occur in run-off from such mining operations. Could we be back to the limonite idea?

Slightly off track, I have often wondered why waters that show the effects of limonite are described as red, to me they have more of an orange hue than red and can look as if someone has spilled a can of tomato soup. The colour orange derives from the fruit of the same name and in English was first documented in 1512. Could it be that the Dartmoor water place-names which contain the element ‘red’ were so named before the word ‘orange’ was introduced to our language and red was the only known word to describe the limonite colour?

Back on track, the presence of limonite and reeds cannot explain every place-name with the descriptive element of ‘red’, what about Red Barrow, Red Down, or Redstone. In the case of natural landscape features the ‘red’ element may refer to the colour of the local vegetation, in boggy tracts of the moor the land can take on a distinct red tinge due to the moor grass, or even bracken and depending on their stage of growth, heathers. Another possibility for tracts of land where the famous Red Devon Cattle grazed could be that their very presence created a seasonal  ‘red’ appearance to the landscape.

Below is a list of some of the Dartmoor place-names that have a ‘red’ descriptive element but there are numerous others when one takes into consideration the associated locations of the original place-name, ie. White Moor, White Moor Stone and White Moor Circle. Some of the information listed below have been taken from Mike Brown’s ‘Gazetteer of Dartmoor Place names’.

Riddon Ridge and its associated landscape features is another confusing place-name in respect of the various ‘red’ theories. One could assume that as previously, the name as the mutated ‘rid/red’ element could imply that reeds grew in the vicinity. However, according to the Place-Name Society there are two elements in the word Riddon; Rid and Dun, the latter is an old English word for ‘hill’ and Rid means literally that thus giving a ‘hill that had been cleared of vegetation’, Glover et. al. p. 199. Personally I find this a bit fanciful as Riddon is the only hill on Dartmoor where this occurs and numerous other ones have been cleared of undergrowth?

Being really obtuse now, Redlake Tip is a waste heap from the China Clay workings and although now sporting a covering of vegetation is actually ‘white’.

Brown, M. 1995. The Gazetteer of Dartmoor Place Names. Liverton: Forest Publishing.

Clark Hall, J.R. 2004. A Concise Anglo-Saxon Dictionary. Canada: Cambridge University Press.

Gover, J.E.B., Mawer, A., & Stenton, F. M. 1992 The Place-Names of Devon, The English Place Name Society, Nottingham.

Hemery, E. 1983. High Dartmoor. London: Hale Publishing.

Worth, R. H. 1988. Worth’s Dartmoor. Newton Abbot: David & Charles.