HARDY FORUM ARCHIVE H03051 6/15/03 "SPELLING LANHERNE"
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From: "Patrick Roper" <patrick@prassociates.co.uk>
Subject: Lanherne
Date: Sun, 15 Jun 2003 17:40:26 +0100


A minor speculation for a summer Sunday afternoon.

In 1881 TH and Emma moved to a house called 'Lanherne' in Wimborne Minster.
Michael Millgate tells us that it was called 'Llanherne' in "Early Life"
but, as far as I can make out, the Hardys changed it to 'Lanherne', by which
name it is still known.

The first spelling would appear to be Welsh, the second Cornish, and the
Vale of Lanherne near St Mawgan on the north coast of Cornwall is a famous
beauty spot, the name derviving from Middle Cornish 'Lan Hernan' (Hernan's
church site). See:

http://www.plymouth-diocese.org.uk/parishes/cornwall/lanherne.htm

I wonder if the Hardys knew of this Vale from their days in Cornwall.

There does not appear to be any 'Llanherne' in Wales and TH, or Emma, might
have thought they, or their predecessors, had spelt the name of the Dorset
house wrong and simply 'corrected' it.

There is a curious twist however. I found this sentence in a recent will on
the Web: "to Mrs Agnes Wright of Llanherne House St. Columb's in the County
of Cornwall three hundred pounds" and there is also somewhere called
'Llanherne' in Tasmania.

Relatively modern Welsh and Cornish house and place-names do, of course, pop
up all over Britain and elsewhere. Thus it is conceivable that the original
'Welsh' spelling (using the non-Cornish 'll') of the Wimborne house was
correct and had been applied by someone who had memories of such a place in
Wales. Even more complicatedly, someone might have taken the name from
Wales to Cornwall whence 'Llanherne House' and this then have been exported
to Dorset. If this was so the Hardy 'correction' would have been incorrect.

Well it is hot!

Patrick Roper

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From: "JULIAN WHIPPLE1" <JWWHIPPLE1@attbi.com>
Subject: Re: Lanherne
Date: Sun, 15 Jun 2003 13:09:07 -0400
:

Dear Patrick,

From what I have read of them, TH and Emma seem like people who would
dislike pronouncing the guttural sound of the Welsh "ll", though I doubt the
simplicity of this suggestion. I like the sound of Llanherne as it would be
pronounced in Welsh.

Only suggesting lightly,
Julian

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From: "Patrick Roper" <patrick@prassociates.co.uk>
Subject: RE: Lanherne
Date: Mon, 16 Jun 2003 10:40:24 +0100


The Hardy's familiarity with the Cornish 'Lan' is, of course borne out in
that wonderful poem 'Near Lanivet, 1872' and perhaps confirms the fact that
TH and Emma might have thought their Wimborne house should have a Cornish
rather than a Welsh resonance.

Patrick Roper

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