Survey of English Place-Names

Etymology

Roaring Megg Plantation (6″). Cf. Roaring Meg c. 1840TA .This must be the stream which runs down the valley here and gives its name to Broadwater. This name is found elsewhere in the county as the name of a stream on the eastern boundary of Hexton parish surviving in Meg Cottages supra 112–3. That stream was once called Roaring Meg. Alfred Russell Wallace, writing in 1837, speaks of it as rushing over a pebbly bed, pro- ducing a roaring sound which could be heard at a considerable distance—a description which no longer holds true, probably because of later boring and pumping operations. This name for a noisy stream is an adaptation of the name 'Roaring Meg' used in earlier days of a noisy piece of ordnance (cf. NED s. vv . roaring, Meg).