Origin on place name "Stone"

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We have:-
Mundon Stone Point
The Stone (at St Lawrence)
Steeple Stone (name used by some for the same as the one above)
Mersea Stone
Stone Point (Walton)
Stone Point (river Stour)

There may be others!

Most are of mud or sand, so where does the name "Stone" come from?

Www.solocoastalsailing.co.uk
 
A page in 'Suffolk Estuary - the story of the River Deben' talks of the origins of the term:

"The approach to the ferries was by way of hards over the mud. They were called hards because they were made of 'stone' which in Suffolk means gravel or flints. In every early days the hards were known as 'gates' from a Norse word meaning a way over the shore to the water, hence Mathergate, Wadgate, Havergate and Shotley Gate.

Later on, landing places were called 'stones' referring to the spurs of shingle built up by tidal eddies and forming the hards leading to the water. Although the word 'stone' for a hard was in common use along the Deben banks until the 16th century, it is never heard to-day. Guston Stone was the place in Kirton Creek were the ferries stared and along the Essex coast we still have survivals in Mersea Stone (QED), S.Osyth's Stone etc."
 
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On the next page in t'book. Shortly I'll add it but SWMBO is summoning

Same book:

"The word 'horse' being applied to most sandbanks on the East Coast from an Old English word 'horsc' meaning a mud-hill, hence the Horse Buoy at the Ferry.

A picturesque but fanciful explanation of this word connects it with the foreshore rights of the Lord of the Manor who owned the wreck of the sea. This right was often the subject of dispute as you have read in a previous chapter. In a case concerning the Lord Warden of the Cinque Ports the question arose as to whether this right extended out into the deep water or only 'as far as low-water mark and so much further into the sea as a man on horseback can reach with his lance'.

On a tombstone at Minster on the Isle of Sheppey is carved a horse's head rising out from the waves as a background to the effigy of the local Lord of the Manor. This is said to perpetuate the legend that on one occasion the Lord, having ridden out into the sea to claim his wreckage, was all but overwhelmed by the waves and was only saved by his horse swimming gallantly back to the shore.

Whatever the meaning of the word 'horse', the beacon was an important one because it marked the place where a ship's voyage from Woodbridge was deemed to begin. As vessels were paid by the voyage, fires were lit when the beacon was reached and food put on the stove to cook. If the ship was becalmed hereabouts, the crew were allowed to go home. Thus arose the custom of 'wetting' the Horse by breaking a bottle to wish good luck to the voyage. At one time there used to be a toy dobbin tied on to the beacon every summer and we never passed it without breaking a bottle for luck.'
 
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And before someone asks about 'Metes' "We call the beacons 'meets' because when brought into line behind each other, i.e. when they meet, they indicate the deep water.'
 
I always thought the origin of 'horse sand' was rather simpler, just the fact that such a sand when it dries often looks like the back of a horse when it's swimming.
 
Perhaps it is so. Only meaning on the Interweb (which of course is always absolutely right [irc]) in Old English is sort of:

horsc, adj: quick, ready, active, valiant, applied generally to mental activity; wise, sagacious, sharp, quick-witted.

But the examples are only adjectives not nouns.

Addition - I suppose Dick is horsc - Vote now everybody
 
Not really sailing related but there’s a good podcast ‘the history of English’ which provides many happy hours of ‘where did that come from’ entertainment.
 
tillergirl said:
was all but overwhelmed by the waves and was only saved by his horse swimming gallantly back to the shore.
Click to expand...

A far more unpleasant and therefore better known to us Swampies goes as follows.........

Lord Cheyne, a bit of a git by all accounts , is told by a local witch ( one of many,very little employment on the island ) that he will one day die because of his favorite horse.
Assuming the horse is going to throw him off or whatever, he immediately has the horse killed and the remains cast into the sea at Minister.
Some time later while walking along the beach his foot hits something under the water, on closer inspection it proves to his horses skull.
He shortly afterwards, dies a horridly agonising prolonged death from whatever the medieval version of septicemia is/was.
The moral of the story is there is absolutely nothing that cannot be made worse by living on the IOS. :)
 
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