Twatt,_Orkney
Twatt, Orkney
Human settlement in Scotland
Twatt is a settlement in the parish of Birsay on the Mainland of Orkney, Scotland. It was previously the location of RNAS Twatt (HMS Tern), 1940–1949.[1][2][3] Twatt is situated at the junction of the A986 and the A967.[4][5]
The settlement name originates from the Old Norse þveit, meaning 'small parcel of land'.[citation needed] The Norse word commonly produces in England the place name element Thwaite.[6][7]
The name Twatt is similar to the common English expletive "Twat," (a vulgar word for vulva and also an insulting term meaning a weak or contemptible individual). For this reason, Twatt remains a source of amusement to people from outside the parish. Its name featured at no. 4 of the most vulgar sounding names in Rude Britain, along with its Shetland namesake.
A post office opened at Twatt on 1 November 1879. It closed on 10 April 2002.[8]
Agricultural contractors K & P Sinclair are based in Twatt.
- "RNAS Twatt airfield, HMS Tern". Control Towers.co.uk. Retrieved 13 October 2007.
- "Twatt Airfield". Canmore. Royal Commission on the Ancient and Historical Monuments of Scotland. Retrieved 10 November 2014.
- Watts, Victor, ed. (2010). "Glossary". The Cambridge Dictionary of English Place-Names. Cambridge University Press. p. xlviii. ISBN 978-0-521-16855-7.
- Smith, A. H. (1962). The Place-names of the West Riding of Yorkshire. Vol. 7. Cambridge University Press. p. 284.
- Forster, Ken: "Goodbyes & hellos", Stamp Magazine, September 2002, page 46.
