ProbableNamed for a product of the place
Bovey coal
noun · first attested 18th century
A Devon town named a coal too young and too smoky to be much good.
A soft brown lignite dug from the clay basin around Bovey Tracey in Devon.
50.5930°N -3.6720°W · Q895361
Record
- Relationship
- Named for a product of the place
- Confidence
- ProbableThe conventional story is likely, with caveats.
- Attested
- 18th century
- Part of speech
- noun
Explanations here are written for this atlas. Dictionary text is not copied; the sources are linked so the claim can be checked.
- Step 1
Bovey Tracey
- In English
Bovey coal
The Bovey Basin holds beds of lignite laid down alongside its famous ball clays, and the fuel was burned locally despite its sulfurous smell. Geologists adopted the town's name for the material, though the workings were never a serious rival to true coal.
United Kingdom
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