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Whilst reading the fascinating "The Tribe of Witches" by Stephen J. Yeates I found a new (to me) theory regarding the origin of the Celtic place name for the village. The place was called "Cynibre" in an Anglo-Saxon charter of King Aethelbald (not Ethelberht!) of Mercia in 736 AD. Yeates quotes an etymology from an original Brythonic "Cunobriga" meaning "Dog Hill" (Cuno meanining "dog" or "hound" and Breiga, meaning "hill". He derives this from the work of someone called Watts (2004) who I have been unable as yet to trace. This, of course fits in neatly with Yeates' own theory that there was a survival of a pagan cult in the territory of the "Hwicce" of Worcestershire and Gloucestershire, after whom Wychbury hill-fort is probably named. He postulates that a deity called "Cunomaglos" or "Lord of the Hounds", a prehistoric hunter god was especially worshipped in the region, and that local hill-forts (so-called) were more often than not actually shrines or "Nemetons" to the local deities. Previously I had been convinced by the possibility that the local Cornovii tribe may have had strong connections with another tribe of a similar name in the far north, who may not have spoken a Brythonic dialect, but a Goidelic (that is more ancient form of Celtic speech). This would account for the prefix "Kin" rather than "Pen" or "Pin" for "hill" (or head). This is still the common word in Scotland and Ireland (such as Kinvara in County Galway, which means "the headland near the sea"). But "Ver", meaning "great" is what is called an augmentative prefix, and so there should really be another word following this. Previously I have postulated that this may have been the tribal name of the Cornovii tribe, the local prehistoric population. When they sent representatives to submit to Caesar in 54 BC they called themselves the "Cornomagni" or "great Cornovii". This was not simply a matter of inflating their own importance, but rather it indicated that they were a confederation of many disparate clans, all based on hill forts throughout Shropshire, Staffordshire and Cheshire. The word "Cornovii" seems to mean "the worshippers of the horned god" or Cernunnos. Very few place names in England can trace their origins as far back as this in either case, and it would be interesting to establish the true etymology once and for all. Yeates is an academic of some importance, no mere maverick, an archaeologist, historian, or geologist ... I forget which, but some sort of clever chap, whatever!

Do you know Ed Simons? He'd probably be able to add something to this!

Yes I've chatted to him a few times and attended his excellent lecture to the Historical Society. You are right of course, and he would be just the chap to take the debate forward. I don't know if he is registered on this forum though? Kinver is absolutely brim-full of ancient history and folklore and it does seem a shame that it doesn't make more of this to me.