![]() Marazion Marsh |
Hal is a Cornish place-name element which causes considerable confusion. It is often ‘translated’ as “moor”, giving the impression of an upland area, but actually the Cornish for “moor” in this sense is gûn or rôs. What hal actually means is “marsh” — a low-lying, wet tract of ground. Unfortunately, these places are often called “moors” in Cornish English.
The other problem with this element is that it turns up with the spelling <hale> in some place-names, as does the element hayl/heyl, which means “estuary”. For example, the name Penhale (there are two places with this name in this area) could mean either “the end of the marsh” or “the end of the estuary”.
Just to make things even more confusing, some names which appear to contain hal in fact contain hel, which means “hall”. An example is Halwyn not far from here. This means “white hall” and not “white marsh”.
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Photo credit: Ennor, Creative Commons Share Alike Licence


