Round the Wrekin

[BlueAsh]

How common is the phrase around Brum and outside of it? My mom says it all the time to refer to going somewhere far away. "I ain't going to Brum to pick up your cousins, it's round the Wrekin!" and I'd used it before, but outside of Aberystwyth where there's loads of people from the West Midlands people will look at me strange if I say it.

Also, I don't know if there's the same pronouncing Fs as Vs in Brummie dialect, like ing becoming ink "Sumfink and nufink" for example. I know it used to be a thing in old Mercian English, and it's probably due to Welsh influence as the letter F is V in Welsh.

 

[Pedrocut]

I thought the phrase meant travelling from one place to another in a very roundabout route.

 

[Janet Hunt]

I always understood it to be "the long way round" as in "around the houses". The Wrekin is quite a large hill (not a mountain) and it would take longer to walk all around it than it would over it. The saying also refers to someone taking too long to explain something, rather than get to the point.

 

[Pedrocut]

Round the houses, cockney slang for trousers !

 

[mw0njm.]

"All around the Wrekin", "Right 'round the Wrekin" or "Running round the Wrekin" is a phrase common in Shropshire, Worcestershire, Staffordshire, Herefordshire, the Black Country, Birmingham to mean "the long way round", in the same way that "round the houses" is used more widely.

There are 29 letters in the Welsh alphabet. This is the order that they will appear in a Welsh dictionary: a, b, c, ch, d, dd, e, f, ff, g, ng, h, i, j, l, ll, m, n, o, p, ph, r, rh, s, t, th, u, w, y.

 

[Pedrocut]

Another expression used for taking the long way round was…He went via Ross-on-Wye.

 

[Pedrocut]

“like ing becoming ink”…while for Jasper Carrot garden is garding.

 

[Astoness]

I always understood it to be "the long way round" as in "around the houses". The Wrekin is quite a large hill (not a mountain) and it would take longer to walk all around it than it would over it. The saying also refers to someone taking too long to explain something, rather than get to the point.

thats exactly what i understand it to mean...i use it a lot

 

[Brummie a long time ago]

thats exactly what i understand it to mean...i use it a lot

Julie uses the expression quite a lot too. She has spent a good bit of time in Shropshire. Sometimes uses it on me when my word store overflows.
Andrew.

 

[A Sparks]

I only know the phrase as meaning to take a long way round to get somewhere. I hadn't heard it can also mean to take too long to explain something.

I still say it even though I live in London and most people don't know what I mean!
A former colleague who originally came from Shropshire said she didn't know the saying which really surprised me!

 

[mikejee]

Do not originate in the area, but often heard it , meaning going round and round to get somewhere or to say something,, usually unnecessarily as there is a quicker way/route

 

[Pedrocut]

My late mucker on top of the Wrekin back in December 2001, while waking The Shropshire Way.

 

[Pedrocut]

 

[Dinger]

I understood that the phrase came about because the old A5 to Shrewsbury was heavily turnpiked, meaning it was quite a fast road for its day (being based on a straight Roman road and kept in good condition by the toll raised by the turnpikes). - However, anyone wanting to avoid paying the turnpike tolls would have to stick to the country lanes that went the other side of the Wrekin hill. - hence "around the wrekin" meant taking the slow way to get somewhere.

 

[Richard Dye]

View attachment 185690

Super photo Pedro!

 

[Richard Dye]

I only know the phrase as meaning to take a long way round to get somewhere. I hadn't heard it can also mean to take too long to explain something.

I still say it even though I live in London and most people don't know what I mean!
A former colleague who originally came from Shropshire said she didn't know the saying which really surprised me!

Very suprising!

 

[A Sparks]

Regarding the saying - I have also been reminded of hearing singer Robert Plant use it on a Radio One interview back in the 90s
Made me smile then as many listeners would have wondered what he meant

 

[Richard Dye]

I only know the phrase as meaning to take a long way round to get somewhere. I hadn't heard it can also mean to take too long to explain something.

I still say it even though I live in London and most people don't know what I mean!
A former colleague who originally came from Shropshire said she didn't know the saying which really surprised me!

I believe that the saying has morphed into two meanings: the original one because of the turnpikes and a way to avoid paying road or access taxes and latter day; going the long way around to get somewhere. Those of us that might be a tad older and lived closer to it would be more familiar with the term!

 

[BlueAsh]

I believe that the saying has morphed into two meanings: the original one because of the turnpikes and a way to avoid paying road or access taxes and latter day; going the long way around to get somewhere. Those of us that might be a tad older and lived closer to it would be more familiar with the term!

I know it more as taking the long way around to get somewhere as my Grandad would drive through Staffordshire and the hills up there rather than going a quicker route back to Wales. Lovely views at least but my Nan did always say he loved going round the Wrekin!

 

[Pedrocut]

According to British folk tales and legends, Briggs (1977) the origin of the Wrekin was due to a giant who had a great spite against the people of Shrewsbury. He loaded a spadeful of earth and set off to find Shrewsbury. There happened to be a cobbler who travelled to Shrewsbury, picked up shoes for repair, and then returned them the following week. The giant happened to meet the cobbler who was on his way back from Shrewsbury and asked directions to town. He was intending to dam the River Severn and flood the town.

The cobbler, in fear that he would loose his trade, told the giant that he would not be able to reach Shrewsbury. He showed the giant all the shoes he had worn out getting back from the town. The devil gave up and dumped his load, he then used the spade to scrape his boots thus creating The Wrekin and Little Hill.

 

[Richard Dye]

According to British folk tales and legends, Briggs (1977) the origin of the Wrekin was due to a giant who had a great spite against the people of Shrewsbury. He loaded a spadeful of earth and set off to find Shrewsbury. There happened to be a cobbler who travelled to Shrewsbury, picked up shoes for repair, and then returned them the following week. The giant happened to meet the cobbler who was on his way back from Shrewsbury and asked directions to town. He was intending to dam the River Severn and flood the town.

The cobbler, in fear that he would loose his trade, told the giant that he would not be able to reach Shrewsbury. He showed the giant all the shoes he had worn out getting back from the town. The devil gave up and dumped his load, he then used the spade to scrape his boots thus creating The Wrekin and Little Hill.