Talk:Brent Reservoir
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There is a reference to "The Welsh Harp" inn in a directory of 1825, several years before the reservoir was even built. The name of the reservoir was various in the first decades of its existance, including: Brent Reservoir, Kingsbury Lake, Hendon Lake, Hendon Water, and (as in the Inn) Welsh Harp Water. The Victorians nicknamed the lake after the famous inn not the other way round, and in descriptions of the inn they even say as much. Can anyone out their provide evidence that the lake is name after the shape of the lake itself (actuall evidence drawn from a reputable source, it looks like a harp to me). If I don't hear from anyone I'm going to change it back again. —Preceding unsigned comment added by Hugh Petrie (talk • contribs) 15:40, 30 October 2007 (UTC)
Hello everyone - Just a note the Welsh (or Welche) Harp Inn is first recorded on a Licence Recognition of 1751, it was not originally a Victorian public house! Please do not correct back to Victorian it ain't true folks!!!
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Well, the records appear to indicate it was first called the Harp and Horn. This leads into a discussion of the reservoir naming mythology;
The reservoir takes its informal name from the Welsh Harp, a pub first recorded in 1751 that stood near the site beside the Edgware Road that runs north-west out of London.
The main contention is the name derives, not from the inn, but from the shape of the reservoir which can clearly been seen from the air and indeed on contemporary maps and plans of the reservoir. It is obviously shaped like a welsh harp (although the larger reservoir would have made this more apparent). The fact that the inn was called the Harp and Horn prior to the reservoir is entirely coincidental although it is remotely possible that maps of the area described the 'harp' topography. AtomBoy 00:14, 2 April 2007 (UTC)
