Wynd
Type of street in Britain
In Scotland and Northern England, a wynd (/waɪnd/) is a narrow lane between houses. The word derives from Old Norse venda ("to turn"), implying a turning off a main street, without implying that it is curved. In fact, most wynds are straight. In many places wynds link streets at different heights and thus are mostly thought of as being ways up or down hills.
01Locations
There are many wynds in North Yorkshire and County Durham, such as "Bull Wynd" in Darlington and Castle Wynd in Richmond, North Yorkshire.
The Old Town of Edinburgh had many wynds, such as St. Mary's Wynd, Blackfriars Wynd and Niddry Wynd, until Victorian street improvements in the 19th century led them to be widened and thus, renamed "streets".
Wynds feature prominently in the city centre of Aberdeen, a testament to the medieval street pattern in the city's past. Before the levelling of St. Catherine's Hill and the construction of Union Street, Back Wynd served as the main thoroughfare to and from The Green, the main point of entry into the city of Aberdeen in the early 1500s. Another medieval wynd still existing in the city centre, Correction Wynd, was built to link the top half of the city to its lower half.
In the East Neuk fishing village of Pittenweem in Fife, all walking connections between the shore and the raised beach, apart from the road down to the harbour, are wynds, namely: West Wynd, Calman's Wynd, Bruce's Wynd, School Wynd, Water Wynd and Cove Wynd. Another School Wynd, in Abernethy, Perth and Kinross, is home to Abernethy Round Tower.
On North Carolina's Bald Head Island the main roads are referred to as wynds, such as North, South and West, Bald Head Wynd and Stede Bonnet Wynd and Edward Teach Wynd.
Sources and credits
This article is adapted from the Wikipedia article “Wynd”, written by its contributors and licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. Fathomly has changed the layout, removed citation markers, navigation and maintenance notices, and adjusted punctuation. This adapted version is shared under the same license. For references, see the original article.
Images, from Wikimedia Commons:
- Old Tolbooth Wynd, Canongate, Edinburgh.jpg by kim traynor, CC BY-SA 2.0
- Street sign for Water Wynd, Pittenweem, Fife.JPG by Kim Traynor, CC BY-SA 3.0
- Street sign for Mercat Wynd, Kinrossie, Perth and Kinross.JPG by Kim Traynor, CC BY-SA 3.0
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