Red Shore
Early-attested site in the Parish of Alton Priors
Historical Forms
- Reddscherd 1570 PembSurv
Etymology
Red Shore (6″) is Reddscherd 1570 PembSurv and is the read geat of the Alton Charter (BCS 390). geat and sceard (v. infra 432, 445) alike denote a gap, here the gap in Wansdyke made by the Ridge-way. red from the brownish-gold colour of the soil of the dyke as revealed in the gap. For this meaning of red in OE cf. PN Nth 26, n. 1. geat is similarly used of a gap in Wansdyke in woddesgeat in the same charter, where it is used of the gap made by the Alton-Lockeridge road (H. C. B.).