Talk:Wednesbury

Origin of the name
The following information on the origin of the name Wednesbury is confusing:
 * Wednesbury is one of the oldest parts of the Black Country. The "bury" part of the name indicates there may have been an Iron Age fort or "beorg" on Church Hill as long ago as 200BC, and the town was certainly a key defensive feature of the kingdom of Mercia. However, the ending "beorg" meaning a fort, usually leads to modern place-names ending in "-borough." The ending "-bury" comes from the old English word "burgh" meaning a hill. So "Wednesbury" means "Woden's Hill."

Confusion arises because there are two Old English words, with "beorg" meaning mountain or hill and "burg" (or "burh") meaning a fort or a walled town. Of the two, it is the term "burg" ("burh"), meaning walled town, that gives rise to borough (and to the second element in the name Edinburgh). This element may be seen in the element -bury at the end of names of towns that had the ending "-burg" or "-burh" in Anglo-Saxon times. The term "beorg" would give rise to -berry, rather than -bury; however, confusion is natural because -bury and -berry tend to be pronouced the same. Thus, the -bury element in the name of the town may originally have been -berry, arising from "beorg" and carrying the meaning "hill" as in the present day Church Hill (perhaps the former site of a pre-Christian temple rather than a fort, given the connotation of the town's name?). This is consistent with the detail given in the article, that a 1086 entry in the Domesday book gives that spelling of the town's name as "Wadnesberie" which suggests the element -berry rather than -bury. Of course, since hills are good places to build forts, a "beorg" may also have been the location of a "burg" ("burh"). Bob99 21:41, 5 April 2007 (UTC)

Pronunciation
Is it worth mentioning how to pronounce Wednesbury, perhaps with some IPA? I don't think it is obvious to people from beyond the area. Certes (talk) 13:50, 24 February 2008 (UTC)

There appears to be some doubt as to which of the two local pronunciations, ˈwenzbəri and ˈwedʒbəri, is commoner, though HectorDavie (talk) 12:50, 3 April 2016 (UTC)

Anglicans and Methodists
It should be noted that the Methodist movement during the Wesleys' lifetimes (in particularly during 1743 when the troubles described are alluded to) was part of the Anglican church (albeit not easily accepted by most of the establishment) and did not become a separate denomination until after their deaths. Comments on Anglican-Methodist relations may need to be rewritten to reflect the situation.Cloptonson (talk) 21:32, 7 March 2015 (UTC)

Æthelflæd did not fortify Wednesbury
This article wrongly states that Alfred the Great's daughter Æthelflæd fortified Wednesbury. The best source on Æthelflæd, Wainwright's Scandinavian England, states p. 306 that she fortified places including Bridgnorth, Tamworth, Stafford and Warwick, but not Wednesbury. One place she fortified, Weardburh, has not been identified, but so far as I know it is not thought to be Wednesbury. I have not changed article as I do not have access to the source cited. Dudley Miles (talk) 22:27, 27 July 2015 (UTC)

External links modified
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