Duver

A duver (pronounced to rhyme with Cover; occasionally spelt as dover) is an Isle of Wight dialect term for a low-lying piece of land along the coast, subject to occasional inundation by the sea.[1]

Etymology

The word comes from the Old French term douvre.[2]

The name has become part of place names on the Isle of Wight, for example Dover Street in Ryde is the street which used to run down to the duver.[3]

The word survives in the names of coastal areas at St Helens Duver, Seaview Duver and Hamstead Dover.[3]

Dunes

There are relatively few dunes on the Isle of Wight,[4] and some have been reclaimed or otherwise lost, meaning that some places which bear the name duver are no longer sand dunes. The largest surviving example is St Helens Duver.[5]

References

  1. ^ Pope, Colin (1989). "The historic flora of Ryde Dover". Proc. Isle of Wight Nat. Hist. Archaeol. Soc. 9: 33–40.
  2. ^ Mills, A.D (1996). The Place-Names of The Isle of Wight. Shaun Tyas. ISBN 1900289008.
  3. ^ a b Chatfield, Matthew. "Loverly Duverly – exploring the duvers of the Isle of Wight". Naturenet. Retrieved 9 August 2020.
  4. ^ "Solent Forum: Sand dunes of the Solent" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 11 January 2016. Retrieved 30 July 2013.
  5. ^ "The History of Bembridge Isle". Archived from the original on 23 November 2007.
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