Pity Me
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Pity Me is a village in County Durham in England, although other instances of the name can be found in Hexhamshire and near Morpeth.
Locals, claim the term arose because monks sang the 51st psalm during their flight from a Viking invasion. The Latin words of the psalm are Miserere mei, Deus, meaning "Pity me, O God" in English. For its part, the Oxford Dictionary of British Place Names speculates that it may simply be "a whimisical name bestowed in the 19th century on a place considered desolate, exposed or difficult to cultivate". In fact, it probably refers to a Pithead Mere, an extended area of boggy waste ground, onto which the outwash from Minehead pumping engines was discharged.
It also occurs elsewhere in the United Kingdom, for example Pityme, Cornwall.
Pity Me is located north of Framwellgate Moor and west of Newton Hall, and is the home of the Arnison Centre, one of Durham's retail parks.
Other amusing place names in the North East include the village of No Place (believed to be a contraction of North Place, as marked on the original Ordnance Survey maps), Bearpark (from Beaurepaire, French for Beautiful Retreat - the name of a nearby Norman manor house), Idle (home of the famous Idle Working Men's club), Once Brewed, Twice Brewed and Wetwang (a Viking word for an open-air lawcourt).
[edit] Transport
Pity Me is bypassed by the A167 which connects to Darlington and Newcastle via Chester-le-Street. This, like many roads in the area is the former route of the A1 through the region.
[edit] References
Oxford Dictionary of British Place Names, A. D. Mills, ISBN 0-19-852758-6
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