Family connections

Didn’t think I had any in the lakes. Unfortunately the picture of Laverock How has disappeared from the web site, and no amount of googling will bring it up again. It did get me thinking on the origin of the place name however. The ‘How’ bit is apparently derived from the Old Norse word ‘Haugr’ which means mound or little hill. Laverock is an old Scottish word for a ‘Skylark’ as in “Now laverocks wake the merry morn, Aloft on dewy wing” (Burns). So could it be we have evidence for early bird-spotters.

Gets a bit tricky though when you start to think how Swirl How got its name. Maybe the locals set off on a naming expedition and got to the top and found it a bit windy and a cairn, someone had got there before them. ‘Cos it’d have to be a bit claggy for them not to realise they were on top of a big hill.