Australian Black Swan And Black Horse Galloping Away

Stoke Bruerne is a tourist attraction because of the flight of 7 locks on the canal. At the edge of the village I was surprised to see a black and white bird stretching its wings and at first I thought it was some sort of crane. But it was a tame bird, an Australian swan, now also living wild in New Zealand and Sweden, but not in the UK. In this clip it is on the bank, just before the fence and it comes closer in the following clips here at YouTube. The black swan is a symbol of the Aboriginal people of Australia. Was it just coincidence that the black horse in the field behind galloped away? A galloping black horse is a symbol used in advertising of Lloyds Bank. Lloyds is a Welsh name and I've noticed a connection between canals in Northamptonshire and a more Welsh population, especially around Braunston, near Daventry. There was a drover's road, called the Welsh Road, running from North Wales through Northamptonshire and a lady from Aston le Walls (Walls is a variant of 'Welsh') has mentioned to me more than once that a sign of hospitality to people from Wales, along the Welsh Road, was three fir trees standing in a garden. They can be seen around the area still. So, a black swan and a galloping black horse near the canal at Stoke Bruerne adds something to that picture of influence from Wales in transport through the area, from the late Middle Ages onward.
The lady from Aston le Walls is a local historian, interested in the Welsh Road, which runs through the village. When I last spoke to her about apparent Welsh influence in the area she was preparing to give a talk on the Welsh Road to people at Braunston, so there must have been some special interest in the connections with Wales there - and Braunston isn't very near the Welsh Road.

Category:

Pets & Animals

Tags:

• swan
• australia
• galloping
• black
• horse
• stoke
• bruerne
• canal
• locks
• boats
• welsh
• wales
• road
• northants
• northamptonshire
• england

[andrewburbidge]

Although Lloyds bank was founded in Birmingham, England, by a Mr Taylor and a Mr Lloyd there does seem to be an association between the bank and more British people rather than the more English people. Lloyds bank in Market Harborough has moved to a new site and the business now on the old site is Cafe Nero, which means 'black coffee'.

[andrewburbidge]

A galloping black horse is one of the most famous icons on UK TV because of advertising. Like the black swan in Australia, it represents a proportion of the population - not in any published statement to that effect but it seems to do so because of associations with the people of Wales, the bank being Lloyds bank.

[andrewburbidge]

When I thought more about this, I couldn't see why Nero would mean 'black.' It means 'water' in Greek and it was the name of a Roman emperor. There could be a connection to a sense meaning 'black' if the 'g' of 'negro' was left out. Anyway, the symbolism in a black horse and a black swan seems to hold true. It's interesting that there are far more public houses called 'The Black Horse' in Leicestershire than in neighbouring Northamptonshire. That may be of demographic significance.

[andrewburbidge]

That's only possibly random then, not definitely random... :)

[pintorock101]

...huh?