New Found Land

 I have always pronounced Newfoundland as Newfundlund thereby giving no thought whatsoever to the compound of words from which it's formed. A snippet on a programme made me realise that the name of this famous Canadian province is literally based on it being new land found.  Talk about a forehead slapping moment when the penny finally dropped! 

We have a similar example here although granted it's on a teeny weeny scale by comparison. Just outside the town is a hamlet called Newfoundout. It does have an official sign, but I was feeling too lazy to walk further up the road so this sign will have to do instead.

The story behind the origins of its name lie in the mid 19th century when the Irish navvies were around the area building the railways. There had already been one temporary pub set up for them to quench their thirst, but these fellows were notorious for setting up their own illegal shebeens. There would have probably been many that went undetected, but the local excise men found a still in one of the local cottages and shut it down and supposedly thence the hamlet's name was born. The first time the name is recorded in use is 1871. Well that's the local tale behind it anyway.......

Arilx