COOMBES
This is a copy of an article published in
The Peak Advertiser, the Peak District's local free newspaper,
on 5th April 2004,
reproduced by kind permission of the author, the late Desmond Holden.
The “What's in a Name” series was a regular
feature in the Advertiser over the period 1993‑2004,
taking a refreshing look at the derivation of some typically
Derbyshire surnames.
Articles are confined to the origins and meanings of surnames,
and do not indicate any particular interest on Desmond's part in
the genealogy, descent, or family history of individuals bearing
the surnames featured.
Editor's Note: Articles are provided for general interest and
background only. They are not intended to provide an exhaustive treatise
for any individual family history - investigations of which may yield
quite different results. Or, in Desmond's own words:
“In the end it must remain with individual bearers of the names to
draw upon family traditions and to seek out such documentary
evidence as is available to decide the matter for themselves.”
WHAT'S IN A NAME …
Are you called COOMBES?
This surname (variously spelled) is so familiar a unit in
countless place names (eg Ilfracombe) that it is surprising
that it has generated comparatively few surnames. In the
National Biographical Dictionary only two bearers of the name
appear and in the local directory there are listed only nine!
And yet, taking the name "Coombe" alone and setting aside all
the multifarious compound place names in which it appears, a
good gazetteer catalogues nearly 100 sites.
The evolution of the word "Coombe" or "Combe" is certainly
interesting but does not entirely account for the difference
in numbers. The following statement must be rather brief
because attempts at detail would convert this little feature
into something akin to the index of a road atlas! Were such
an index to be consulted it would reveal that places
incorporating "coombe" are most heavily represented in the
southern half of our island and over half that number is
concentrated in the south-west. But the word is not exclusive
to the south. It is familiar in the northern regions and
describes a crescent-shaped depression in the side of a hill;
whereas in the south it refers to a short valley running into
a larger eminence - the Downs for instance.
The imagination of our Old English ancestors detected some
resemblance to a cup in the appearance of these depressions,
and since their word for "cup" was "cumb" applied it
accordingly. It is supposed to be a Celtic word because when
the Anglo-Saxons invaded England (c. 500AD) they came from a
region where this geographical feature was absent, and having
no word for it in their Nordic language, simply adopted an
existing Celtic expression which can be traced as far back as
770AD. Since it was some while before they advanced further
north, it has been suggested that this is one reason why
there is a preponderance of "coombes" in the southern
counties. It may be noted that as the invaders advanced
further north and into the level areas of the Midlands and
East Anglia, they encountered few examples of such "coombes"
and the use of the word became less frequent.
But there is a mystery which has yet to be solved. In the
north of England where the topography lends itself so much to
the presence of "coombes", why then are there so few major
place names incorporating the word? Even in the Peak District
there are only two (Bakewell; Charlesworth): one in
Merseyside (Holcombe) and merely a handful in all Yorkshire.
It is suggested, with considerable diffidence, that the
rugged terrain of our northern counties lent itself so much
to the formation and prevalence of "coombes" that
endeavouring to create distinctive names for each one would
have been a discouraging project! Were any name to have been
given, it could have been little more than a highly localised
and rarely listed field-name, which was interpreted only by
immediate dwellers.
In the north, rural communities were more isolated than those
in the south and intercommunication was less observed.
Families which occupied such "coombes" had no trouble in
identifying themselves as "the folk who live in the Coombe".
But as time went by, members of such families or groups were
obliged to move away from what had been their native setting,
and to seek a living further afield. Their name would be
meaningless to their new neighbours and so they simply
adopted (or were given!) a new identity. This suggestion may
go some way in accounting for the unit appearing either as a
surname or a place name in the north. In the south it was
different. Roughly below a line projected from Hereford
to Essex, places first described simply as "coombes" were
gradually differentiated, forming compound names, which were
later to provide surnames: eg Lipscombe, Melcombe, Widdicombe
etc.
There are few extensions of the surname: to the basic
"Coombe" there is "Coombes" (child of Coombe) and the rare
formation "Coomber". For some inexplicable reason it has no
definite Scots equivalent. The name MacComb (exported to
Ireland) translates as "Son of Thom" and is unrelated to the
English name.
In recent times the best-known bearer of the surname is Miss
Pat Coombes who acted as a splendid foil to the comic genius
of several TV comedians.
Site Index
|
© Desmond Holden
From "The Peak Advertiser", 5th April 2004.
|