a pairs

The following statement by the Ordnance Survey applies to all data presented on this page.

This page contains a number of charts based on pairs of place names, such as Upper and Lower Swanford, East and West Hinney, Great and Little Binton. In all these charts the squares and histogram bins represent areas of 1 km x 1 km, the resolution of the data in the OS 1:50000 gazetteer. The data are plotted in two ways. Firstly, the east-west and north-south separation of pairs of places is plotted as an x-y plot, producing a blob of colour near the centre, and a few outlying points. The density of colour represents the number of data in each square. Secondly, the x-y plots are projected in two directions in the form of histograms. The outlying points may represent places with very common names that happen to be fairly close, or they may represent genuinely related pairs of places.

It will be seen that the spread of the plots histograms is always only a few km, showing that places regarded as related to one another were quite close, reflecting the scale of distances in which people thought in Saxon and medieval times.

The diagram below is based on 429 names beginning with any of the following: Upper, Lower, Nether, Over, High, Low, Higher, Lower, Great, Little, Middle. Any pair with different prefixes and the same suffix was included in the diagram. The diagram includes an X-Y plot and two projections. The RMS separation of 1.7 km applies to all pairs that are separated by less than 5 km.

The next diagram is based on pairs beginning with Great and Little.

The numbers of pairs in some specific cases are as follows.

Great-Little 167, New-Old 24

East-West 177, North-South 104, Easter-Wester 7 (total 288)

Lower-Upper 118, High-Low 34, Higher-Lower 31, Nether-Over 9 (total 192)

Name endings can also occur in pairs, such as Magna and Parva with 13 examples.

The next diagram is based on pairs beginning Lower and Upper.

Considering the name pairs based on altitude, it might appear that high-low is on the same footing as north-south and east-west as one of three axes in a coordinate system. However, slopes are generally so moderate that higher and lower places are separated by much greater horizontal distances than the vertical ones, raising the question of why north, south, east and west were not used. Perhaps there is some significance in differences in height. These might be related to defence or to the susceptibility to flooding, for example.

The next diagram includes names beginning North and South. Ideally, if the places are named with geographical exactness, the points should lie within the area bounded by the red lines, but some stray outside because of the 1 km resolution of the data. Points on the red lines are shown in orange in the right hand histogram, while one outside are shown in red. Those inside are shown in green.

The next diagram includes names beginning East and West. Ideally, if the places are named with geographical exactness, the points should lie within the area bounded by the red lines, but some stray outside because of the 1 km resolution of the data. Points on the red lines are shown in orange in the top histogram, while one outside are shown in red. Those inside are shown in green.

The next diagram includes pairs of the types North-East, North-West, South-East, and South-West. They are plotted in such a way that the points should tend to fall above and to the right of the red line. The numbers of pairs in these three types of diagrams are as follows.

East-West 177, North-South 104, and non-opposing pairs 45.