Place-names in the Landscape: Pleasures, Pitfalls, Puzzles

Julie Smalley


Region:
North West
Notice Period:
Regular (more than one month's notice)
Type:
Professional
Fee:
Paid: Usually from £80 excluding travel
Category:
History
Updated:
7th December 2021
Tagged:

Towns, villages, hills, valleys, road signs, addresses, maps... we use these familiar labels every single day. But what do the many, often unfamiliar, place-name elements mean? Linguistic imprints on the landscape are everywhere, Here we take a fresh and fun look to understand more of their intriguing backstories. Each talk is geared to the group’s specific locality - which will reveal plenty about the past but also helps explain the present.

Views: 588 | Enquiries: 7

About Julie Smalley

Landscapes, history, travel, art and language – now that’s a set of themes to think about. If you’re curious, join me as we share insights and intrigues with some fascinating ‘explores’ of the stories behind everyday life. Always I aim to weave landscape, local and social histories with visible heritage in the present day. My talks aim to be fun, light-hearted and as interactive as possible. Often they come with added Antipodean perspectives as I’m Cheshire-born but Australian-bred.

I love speaking to all kinds of audiences. So far these have included history and heritage societies, cultural tours, garden clubs, community groups, WI, PROBUS, and U3A. A post-graduate degree and twenty years in the heritage sector have been stuffed with stimulus - excavating and interpreting archaeological sites, leading guided walks, putting on museum exhibitions. I’ve performed poetry at a convention in a Normandy village, and guested on regional radio. Further enjoyable encounters, this time with language and culture, came from teaching English to students from Spain to Siberia. Along with all that I’m a published writer with well over a hundred articles in periodicals from local to international. I live near mid-Cheshire’s scenic waterways.


Send a message to the speaker

If you are interested in this talk and wish to contact the speaker, please complete the following form:

 
Please provide your contact name
 
Please provide the name of your group
 
Your phone number so that the speaker can contact you
 
Your email address so that the speaker can contact you
 
Give details about the event, time of day and location
Prove you are human please.
Use the slider to drag the puzzle so that the top and bottom are aligned , or use an alternate text based challenge by clicking here.
Twenty two, sixteen, 26, 34 and 23: the 1st number is?
 

Site Search

Search across all speakers, topics and tags. Put your search term in the box and press enter or hit search

Use quotes around exact multiple word searches, eg "winston churchill".