In reply to the inquiry as to the origin of “Cold Harbour,” the following replies have been sent to the Sunday Times.
Sir,—The origin of the name Cold Harbour has been discussed several times. It is a Saxon place name, and means exactly what it says, viz., a “cold,” as distinct from an inhabited refuge.
The Cold Harbours are all in the vicinity of one or other of the great Neolithic or Roman roads, and were originally the remains of partially destroyed Roman or Romano-British dwellings, or settlements. Travellers used them as being more or less secure places in which to spend a night. As the places became known, traders gathered there to distribute goods and do business, and eventually the places once more became villages, but retained the old generic name.
Some attempt has been made to derive Cold Harbour from a somewhat imaginary word “Darber,” said to mean flint or stone, and “Coel,” a supposed Iberian root of the Latin Coelum, heaven, the combined meaning being given as “the place of the sacred stone.” This is a particularly bad piece of guessing. No Cold Harbour has any sacred, or indeed any other megalithic remains in its vicinity, neither is any stone circle or similar erection known as a Cold Harbour.
There is, however, no doubt as to the late Saxon origin of Cold Harbour or as to its meaning. “Omega” will note a certain similarity between that name and the various Caldicots, Colecotes, etc. In very many instances the name originally meant the “cold,” or abandoned, cottage, cote, or settlement. The distinction between the two seems to have been that the Cold Harbours were abandoned settlements of some size; protected by earth walls, timber, or ruined stonework, whilst the Cold Cots were small and isolated dwelling-places that had fallen into disuse.
G. BASIL BARHAM
(East Herts Archæological Society).
Author of “Changing Place Names,” etc.
Perryn Road, East Acton.
Source info: Sunday Times named in cutting; but cannot find cutting in library copy.