We love an odd place name in the South West and you’ll find one of the oddest out by Cribbs Causeway. Anyone driving to The Mall will have done a doubletake on the sign pointing to ‘Catbrain’ and thought – what on Earth is that?
It’s nowhere near as gory and gruesome as it sounds. Catbrain is mostly made of Catbrain Hill and Catbrain Lane) is a small village that’s technically part of South Gloucestershire. But with a BS10 postcode, part of the “North Fringe of Bristol” suburb and lying close to many Bristol activities – like Aerospace Bristol and Bristol Zoo Project – we’re counting it as part of the city.
The name itself has nothing to do with brains or cats (sorry to disappoint anyone). A “cat’s brain” was once a common name for certain types of fields in the South – you’ll also find Cat’s Brain Long Barrow in Wiltshire and a Catbrain Quarry near Stroud. It derives from ‘Cattes Brazen’, which in Middle English, refers to a rough clay mix of soil found in the area.
Outside of the name, Catbrain is rather unremarkable (sorry to anyone who lives there). But with development of Brabazon – named after the airliner designed by the Bristol Aeroplane Company – YTL Arena, and a huge urban park underway on its doorstep, Catbrain could soon be the place to live.
What other Bristol neighbourhoods have interesting names?
Of course, Catbrain is far from the only interesting name in Bristol. The city itself gets its name from Brycgstow, which is Old English for ‘the place at the bridge’. Back then, it was only a small Anglo-Saxon settlement but its name has only become more interesting with age – thanks to the iconic Clifton Suspension Bridge and many other walkable bridges.
Coombe Dingle
If it didn’t sound silly enough, Coombe Dingle is almost tautological. Coombe refers to the ‘short bowl-shaped valley’, while Dingle is the name of a ‘small wooded valley’.
Crew’s Hole
There are two competing theories. It’s either named after the Cruse family who owned most of the land here, or from the crews of sailors looking to avoid Navy recruitment. Using a place on the hill known as the White House, they’d escape through the back door.
Fishponds
Once a mining area, two old quarry pits were filled with water and became fish ponds in the early 17th century. Hence the name, Fishponds. After a child drowned in one, however, they were filled and have long been built on.
Montpelier
If you’ve ever stumbled through this area of Bristol and thought you’ve wandered into the south of France, you’re probably not alone. The name of Montpellier was stolen from the French – dropping one ‘l’ – to conjure images of an idyllic and elevated location in the 18th century. It’s the same reason you’ll find no less than 150 Montpeliers/Montpelliers in the world.
Redcliffe
Redcliffe refers to the sandstone cliffs used to extract sand for glass-making in Bristol. So red makes blue?
Sea Mills
It’s not a mill by the sea but was named after a watermill near the River Trym. Sea Mills was originally called Semmille in 1411 and a seam was a ‘packhorse load’ – meaning it would mill a seam of grain.
Totterdown
You should be able to work this one out yourself. Totterdown simply comes from ‘tottering down’ the hill into the city.