"The City on Mallington Moor" by Lord Dunsany

1 year ago
18

All the places in this story, Lingwold, Mallington Moor, Uthering, all appear to be made up. There is a village of Lingwood a bit east of Norwich in Norfolk county, but 'wold' means an upland area, typically a moor, which is quite different from a wood, so clearly the one is not a substitute for the other. Uther, of course, is famously the father of King Arthur, but there's no place named Uthering that I can find.

Although Tetherington... There are several places in England by the name of Tytherington, and it is entirely plausible a shift in spelling occurred in the past 100 years. There's one in Gloucestershire close to the border with Wales in the south, and another in Wiltshire, also on the west side of England, and a third one in Cheshire, close to the border with Wales in the north. Interesting that all three are located so close to Wales!

"Where the waiter spoke English": As opposed to? What else would it be in 1916? I suppose if his starting location is in or close to Wales, perhaps Welsh? Hmmm. Strange comment to make without elaboration. Or were there workers brought in from overseas to help with wartime production? But if so, we would expect them in the cities to work factories, not out in the country running the inns. Very strange comment indeed. Any Brits out there have a thought on this?

Mal Lieu: Bad place

Heather covered heathland, it appears, is common to England. Or at least was historically, it appears the extent of it has been enormously reduced over the past century. Pity.

unresisted invasions of German bands: Recall this was published in 1916, so the Great War was raging on, and apparently there were sometimes rumors of Germans having landed in the UK. We encounter such rumors often enough in the writings of Arthur Machen as well.

One pint is very nearly half a liter. Indeed, in the present day you would get exactly 500 mL instead of a pint in places that use metric, while in places that don't, you get the pint instead of 500 mL (not just the USA, Liberia and Burma, in the UK you still order your drinks by the pint at the pub!), they are close enough to be interchangeable for most non-scientific purposes. Indeed, I have a bottle of water in front of me right now that claims it is 16.9 fluid ounces (1.06 pints), 500 mL. So there you go, that's a real life commercial conversion rate for you right off the product label.

A few hundred yards: for you metric folk, for this purpose here, 1 yard = 1 meter is close enough, so a few hundred meters.

wicket gate: a pedestrian door or gate, particularly one built into a larger door or into a wall or fence.

The picture used is of a heathland of purple heather in a sunset mist. Not sure where the heath is located, but it should capture the essence of the place well enough regardless.

To follow along: https://www.gutenberg.org/files/13821/13821-h/13821-h.htm#moor

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