Survey of English Place-Names

Historical Forms

• camera Constantini c.1175 Weth

Etymology

They are probably very old there is a Roman inscription on the face of the cliff a few yards above them—but it is not possible to say when they became connected with the patron saint of the priory.

To the north of this, between Wetheral and Warwick, is a piece of land which is referred to by the strange name of camera Constantini c. 1175 Weth. This lay to the west of the river and appears to have extended from St Cuthbert's Spring in the south to the neighbourhood of Warwick Bridge. There is also a reference to some land “in quodam loco qui vocatur Constantinecleve ” c. 1260 Weth, said in a preceding charter to be “in holmo juxta pontem de Warthwic.”If, as seems probable, Constantinecleve is an alternative name for camera Constantini , the second element is presumably OE  clēofa , 'den, cell, chamber'. It is not clear how such a name came to be applied to a piece of land.

The Benedictine Priory of Wetheral, a cell of St Mary's Abbey, York, was founded by Ranulf Meschin c. 1106–12. The identity of its patron is doubtful and a discussion of the various claimants would take up a disproportionate amount of space. The most probable, from his local connections, is Constantine (c. 570–630), son and successor of Rhydderch Hael, King of Cumbria. Jocelin of Furness, in his Vita Kentigerni (ed. W. M. Metcalfe, Lives of the Scottish Saints ii, 70), says “Omnesque reges qui ante se in regno Cambriae principabantur divitiis et gloria, dignitate, et, quod praestantius est, sanctitate, ante- cessit…sanctusque Constantinus usque ad praesens solet a pluribus appellari.”