The Wolds

Coordinates: 53°45′N 0°30′W / 53.75°N 0.50°W

The head of Swindale, on the Yorkshire Wolds Way

The Wolds is a term used, in England, to describe a range of hills which consists of open country overlying a base of limestone or chalk.^[1]

Wold, is derived from the Old English Wald meaning forest.^[1] Over the years the meaning has changed from forest, as in Kent, to open high ground. The suggested reason for this change of meaning is that, originally, Wold would have applied to high forest land and that when the forest had been cleared the name survived, particularly in the Cotswolds and the Lincolnshire and Yorkshire Wolds.^[1]

Westward before her rose fold upon fold of the encircling hills, piled rich and golden.
Description of the Yorkshire Wolds by Winifred Holtby.^[2]

Current places known as 'wolds' may include:

• Cotswolds
• Lincolnshire Wolds
• Yorkshire Wolds
• The Weald

See also

• The Weald
• Lincolnshire Wolds
• Yorkshire Wolds

Citations

1. Gelling. pp. 222- 227
2. Holtby. Anderby Wold. Ch. 1

References

• Gelling, Margaret (2000). Place-Names in the Landscape. London: Phoenix. ISBN 1-8421-2264-9.
• Holtby, Winifred (1923). Anderby Wold. London: The Bodley Head.