Catbrain
| Catbrain | |
| Gloucestershire | |
|---|---|
 Fields by Elmsleigh Farm near Catbrain | |
| Location | |
| Grid reference: | ST575805 |
| Location: | 51°31’21"N, 2°36’46"W |
| Data | |
| Postcode: | BS10 |
| Local Government | |
Catbrain, or Catbrain Hill, is a small village in south-western Gloucestershire, to the north of Bristol. It stands by Cribbs Causeway. A new housing estate has been recently constructed at Catbrain.
At the bottom of the hill the lies Filton airfield.
Name history
The name of the village is from the hill, and that from the Middle English cattes braȝen, which refers to the rough clay mixed with stones that is widespread in the area. Baddesley and Bellows write that 'I think, from what I can gather, that the suffix may possibly refer to certain forms of oolite fossils which the quarrymen grimly liken to brains.'[1] It has been suggested that the particular clay of the distruct gained a name from a supposed resemblance to a cat's brain.[2] There are other Catbrains in Wiltshire, Oxfordshire, Warwickshire, Northamptonshire, Buckinghamshire, Bedfordshire, and Surrey.[2]
Hazel Brook
The Hazel Brook rises in nearby Cribbs Causeway and its flow into the River Trym is controlled by an attenuation reservoir at Catbrain, which reduces the silt flowing into the system from the many shopping malls in the area.[3] Measurements of pollution by the city council show the water to be relatively clean.[4]
Outside links
 |
("Wikimedia Commons" has material about Catbrain) |
- Parker, Quentin: Welcome to Horneytown, North Carolina, Population: 15: An insider's guide to 201 of the world's weirdest and wildest places (Adams Media, 2010)
- Top 20 strange British place names – and what they mean: ’'The Daily Telegraph, 19 September 2016
References
- ↑ "Place-names of Gloucestershire; a handbook'
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 The Oxford English Dictionary. Oxford University Press. 2011. http://oed.com/view/Entry/22536.
- ↑ "Waterways Monitoring: River Trym and Hazel Brook". Bristol City Council. http://www.bristol.gov.uk/ccm/content/Environment-Planning/Pollution/bristol-living-rivers--watercourses.en?page=3. Retrieved 24 November 2009.
- ↑ "Bristol surface water quality monitoring results" (PDF). Bristol City Council. September 2010. http://www.bristol.gov.uk/ccm/cms-service/stream/asset/?asset_id=35130136. Retrieved 16 October 2010.
