The North Downs are a ridge of chalk hills in south east England that stretch for 120 miles (190 km) from Farnham in Surrey to the White Cliffs of Dover in Kent.
'Downs' is from Old English dun meaning, amongst other things, 'hill'. The word acquired the sense of 'elevated rolling grassland' around the fourteenth century. These hills are prefixed 'north' to distinguish them from the morphologically similar range of hills - the South Downs - which run roughly parallel to them but some 50km to the south.
Wednesday, 7 April 2010
North Downs
