snow

[Sippo]

I've literally just dug about 20 foot of snow and I still can't get the car out!! Grrrr.

[Ardiles]

not saying you are wrong reg as i dont know for a fact,but as i grew up in toothill,ardiles explanation was the one i was told many years ago.it's deffo the reason the toot and whistle was given its name.kids from the local school came up with it for that reason.

I think Reg and I were both correct.  Toot Hill was named as such because of the whistle/toot/train thing.  Then, when the Western Expansion was planned in the 1970s, Toot Hill became Toothill - the first suburb of West Swindon.

[Reg Smeeton]

not saying you are wrong reg as i dont know for a fact,but as i grew up in toothill,ardiles explanation was the one i was told many years ago.it's deffo the reason the toot and whistle was given its name.kids from the local school came up with it for that reason.

Nice story to tell kids, but Toothill is so called because it is built on Toot Hill.

[Batch]

If Toothill was named after Toot Hill, why was Toot Hill called Toot Hill.

[Reg Smeeton]

If Toothill was named after Toot Hill, why was Toot Hill called Toot Hill.

 Nah Ardiles, you're well wide of the mark here...it's a fair question that Batch raises, but Toot Hills are ancient in terms of place names, deriving as they do from the Celtic twt....pronounced like cwm....so toot in English.

 The Welsh had plenty of names for hills etc...and toot usually meant it had some sort of mound on top...which is why Watkins thought they were significant in ley theory.

 The Welsh word for the Norman motte is indeed twt.

[Arriba]

trains did toot when passing toothill.dunno if they still do, but they did when i lived there.

[Reg Smeeton]

trains did toot when passing toothill.dunno if they still do, but they did when i lived there.

Locos toot, because there's a sign telling them to do so (SW) this will be to sound a warning because of a footpath crossing, tunnel entrance etc, so it's a happy coincidence.

[Miss Angry]

I agree with arriba! Toot Hill was clearly called that cos thats where the trains tooted. It all got so big so quickly, i remember them building the link center thinking it was amazing, then the cinema years later and when father christmas used to land his helicopter at carfore (sp?)

Reg i can place the train station now thank you... that little green patch has been the buzz of activity the past couple of days cos its kinda of sunken so every slides down it! Good for the Elm Tree too as everyone wants to keep warm in there... my dad had a proper fire going in there last night... even the smell of it is warming

[Miss Angry]

trains did toot when passing toothill.dunno if they still do, but they did when i lived there.

Used to hear the horn about 8am every morning when i was little... i dont think it does anymore as my son stays there most weekends n he would have told me something like that

[Simon Pieman]

I can sometimes hear the train horn in the ealry morning, but it's a seldom occassion is happens.

It's amazing how far the sound can travel.

[Arriba]

in my even younger days late 70s to mid 80s i remember hearing a horn-siren when i lived in pinehurst.was this the railway works signalling the end of the day? this thread has jogged my memory but it's sketchy.

[nevillew]

Locos toot, because there's a sign telling them to do so (SW) this will be to sound a warning because of a footpath crossing, tunnel entrance etc, so it's a happy coincidence.

Or perhaps they toot because they know it's called Toot Hill ?

[Reg Smeeton]

Or perhaps they toot because they know it's called Toot Hill ?

Fuck off Neville 

[Reg Smeeton]

in my even younger days late 70s to mid 80s i remember hearing a horn-siren when i lived in pinehurst.was this the railway works signalling the end of the day? this thread has jogged my memory but it's sketchy.

You're presumably referring to the legendary hooter...which was sounded to get men to work and to signify knock off time.

It's an amazing thought that to large numbers of present day Swindon inhabitants, the hooter has no meaning.

[Arriba]

i though that must be it reg.was in infant-primary school at the time but remember it.