Residents of Wem have every right to be proud of their historic medieval town which is known for its beautiful sweet peas.
And so many would have been dismayed to learn that the name has several rather unappealing meanings.
The revelation came last week when the name featured in The Times newspaper’s Wordwatcher section.
An eagle-eyed reader from Oswestry wrote in saying he was interested to see that Wem was defined as ‘to disfigure, mutilate, to impair, or to injure’.
And things didn’t improve for the reputation of the town when Wem resident Roger Michell replied to the letter pointing out that the Saxon meaning of the word was ‘to stain’ or ‘marsh’.
The origin of the name actually comes from the Saxon word ‘Wamm’, meaning marsh land, which refers to the area either side of the River Roden that passes through the town.
By James Pugh
