Obscure placenames part III: Rosemary Topping, Gloucestershire
Rosemary Topping overlooks the beautiful Wye valley, near the also-interestingly-named Symond’s Yat Rock, the former sounding like a Delia Smith recipe and the latter like a long-forgotten music genre from the mid 1970s. People also go paintballing there, apparently…
Symond’s Yat is my neck of the Herefordshire woods. Great name eh?! But what about Jelemy Tump at the top of the map? Sounds like a long lost name from a Jeeves and Wooster story.
Alex Milway
July 15, 2008 at 8:01 pm
Jelemy Tump rocks! Good call on the Jeeves and Wooster connection – I’d imagine him being a well-meaning but somewhat foppish, stripey-trousered, bemonacled old school chum of BW. Possibly with a father in the tea industry…
H and I were actually staying in “Symond’s Yat Rock Lodge” a couple of weeks ago, which was great – though sadly despite the name we didn’t catch sight of any Led Zeppelin roadies… Beautiful area though… I’m surprised anyone would ever want to leave! How does it compare with the Paliss?
rcameronw
July 16, 2008 at 7:10 pm
I couldn’t compare it to the Paliss. I’d love to have the writerly brilliance to put it in words, but I can’t. They’re both equal in my heart.
alex milway
July 16, 2008 at 10:40 pm
My maiden name was Rosemary Topping! I just typed the name in to see what would come up—wondering how many more there were. I was amazed to discover I was a place!!! I knew about Roseberry Topping but not my namesake!
Rosemary Topping
September 3, 2009 at 4:58 pm