18th April 2012. We visited the National Arboretum at Alrewas. Unfortunately the photos we took were no good; another visit is necessary.) But I kept the above shot, because I thought it showed the confluence of the River Tame, coming in from the lower right, joining the Trent, flowing from upper left to right. We admit, it was not a very effective image; but we’ve said more than once that expanses of water are rather challenging as photo subjects. It would have been far better had we just lifted an image from Google Earth…

So we did; only to find that we had deceived ourself! The Arboretum is on the left, and I had walked up the riverside path, until I came to what looked like the confluence of two rivers. I was standing where the large red blob is, and the small red blob is straight ahead, and is merely an island in the Tame. The railway can be seen in the first photo as an elevated iron causeway over the Tame, and the Trent does not appear until the other side of the railway. 3/10 – must try harder.

At least we know the origin of Alrewas. There are very few place names in the Domesday Book that have remained the same since 1087, but Alrewas is one. (Though, naturally, it might have evolved away from Alrewas to something similar, then turned back into Alrewas – but I digress.) wæsse is alluvial land, and alor are alder trees – Q.E.D.