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Question
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I have found the name Coldharbour in Wiltshire. Does this mean an area where there was a frost pocket?
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Question asked on
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04 July 2011
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Answer
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Not in this case although when cold is associated with other words, such as Cold Crate in North Wraxall or Cold Castle Tyning at Upton Scudamore, it does mean 'bleak, cheerless land'. In the case of Coldharbour the present words come from the Old English 'cald here-beorg', meaning 'a sheltered place in the open'.
The name Coldharbour is found in Wiltshire at Blunsdon, Kington Langley, North Wraxall, Great Hinton, Warminster, Amesbury, Farley and Pitton, Collingbourne Ducis and Malmesbury.
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Bibliography
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The Place-names of Wiltshire, by J.E.B. Gover, Allen Mawer and F.M. Stenton. Cambridge University Press, 1939.
English Field Names: a dictionary, by John Field. Alan Sutton, 1989, 0 86299 591 4.
