Pity Me
| Pity Me | |
| County Durham | |
|---|---|
 La Spada Ristorante in Pity Me | |
| Location | |
| Grid reference: | NZ265452 |
| Location: | 54°48’4"N, 1°35’13"W |
| Data | |
| Post town: | Durham |
| Postcode: | DH1 |
| Dialling code: | 0191 |
| Local Government | |
| Council: | Durham |
| Parliamentary constituency: |
City of Durham |
Pity Me is a suburban village of County Durham, found to the north of Framwellgate Moor and west of Newton Hall.
Name
There are various theories on the origin of Pity Me's unusual name. Most likely, as speculated in the Oxford Dictionary of British Place Names, it is simply "a whimsical name bestowed in the 19th century on a place considered desolate, exposed or difficult to cultivate".[1]
Alternative suggestions include one that it is a shortened form of an earlier place name referring to a shallow lake or mere, such as Petit Mere (which is to say from Norman French), Petty Mere, or from Peaty Mere.[2] Related theories suggest that it comes from Pithead Mere, referring to an extended area of boggy waste ground onto which the outwash from minehead pumping engines was discharged, or that petite mer ('small sea') is an ironic name for the settlement given the arid nature of the land.
However, the existence of several examples of other, lesser settlements, that share this name in Northumberland - particularly one north of Barrasford, near Hexham, and another outside Hartburn, west of Morpeth - suggests that it may be derived from some actual feature of the landscape, or former land-use, that has since been forgotten. (One exotic suggestion for the North Tynedale example being the Ancient British term "Beddan Maes", meaning "burial ground" - although this suggestion has never been offered to explain the name of the Durham settlement.)
More obvious folk etymologies include the story that the coffin of St Cuthbert was dropped near Pity Me on the way to Durham, at which point the deceased saint implored the monks carrying him to take pity on him and be more careful;[2] or that coming to the location during a flight from a Viking raid, a group of monks sang the 51st Psalm, the Latin version of which includes the words "Miserere mei, Deus", which may be rendered in English as "Pity me, O God".
About the village
Pity Me is bypassed by the A167 which connects to Darlington and Newcastle by way of Chester-le-Street along the former route of the Great North Road through the region.
The Arnison Centre, an out of town retail park, is located on the edge of the village.
Outside links
 |
("Wikimedia Commons" has material about Pity Me) |
References
- ↑ Mills, A. D.. The Oxford Dictionary of British Place Names. ISBN 0-19-852758-6.
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 Simpson, David. "North East Place Names P to S". http://www.englandsnortheast.co.uk/PlaceNameMeaningsPtoS.html. Retrieved 20 September 2010.
