Monday, June 13, 2011
How the River Jordan got its name
This is the Baptist Church in Braybrooke. It is still open - indeed services are held there and at the Church of England's infinitely grander All Saints on alternate Sundays. And it may just explain the name of a local river.
The River Jordan rises near Desborough, flows through Braybrooke and Little Bowden (where I live) to join the Welland near Market Harborough railway station. "Jordan" is an unlikely and rather modern name for such a short stream - river names tend to be among the most ancient words in the language.
In Braybrooke I came across the story because they had no pool at their church, the Baptists of Braybrooke used the river that ran through the village and it therefore came to be known as the Jordan.
There are problems with this theory. The strongest might appear to be that the Baptist church is not by the Jordan, but it looks as though it might well have been once. The lane outside is supposed to have been the site of Bowden Bridge and downstream in Little Bowden the course of the Jordan has been radically altered over the years.
What I would like to know is how a Braybrooke nickname came to be used for the river in Little Bowden and Market Harborough too. But it is an appealing theory and I would very much like it to be true.