Talk:Vale of White Horse

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What is the Vale of White Horse?

I rather think that the 'Vale of White Horse' is primarily a geographical district and only secondarily a current local government administrative unit. We should alter the lede to reflect that. And the lede also says that it is commonly referred to as the Vale of the White Horse (my italics) - is that evidenced? How commonly - or is just 'on occasion'? cheers Geopersona (talk) 16:38, 28 June 2021 (UTC)

Any evidence to back up your thoughts? Incidently I grew up in the area and always knew it as the Vale of the White Horse - maybe we were just too clever and liked to form proper sentences, considering it was named after the White Horse on the Berkshire Downs. So I wouldn't dispute the claim myself, even though it might be difficult to prove :) Sionk (talk) 20:19, 2 July 2021 (UTC)

Ah that's interesting to see, the Imperial Gazetteer of England and Wales (1870-72) describes the "Vale of the White Horse" as "the valley of the river Ock" so it clearly pre-dates the post-1974 local government district. Sionk (talk) 20:32, 2 July 2021 (UTC)

Hi Sionk - 'Vale of White Horse' appears on multiple Ordnance Survey maps e.g. sheet 253 'Hungerford' of the Revised New Series 1" maps published in 1895 (see https://maps.nls.uk/view/101168591) and half a century later sheet 158 'Oxford & Newbury' of the 1" New Popular Edition published in 1940 (see it at https://maps.nls.uk/view/74466957) as well as the modern 50K and 25K mapping. It also features as 'Vale of White Horse' on the 'Physical Map of Great Britain' (sheet 2) which OS published in 1957. thanks Geopersona (talk) 07:22, 11 July 2021 (UTC)

@Geopersona and Sionk: What could be done is (1) move the district to Vale of White Horse District (2) create an article at "Vale of White Horse" about the geographical district and (3) merge Vale of White Horse District Council to the district. This is similar to what was done with Breckland/Breckland District[1] and is similar to Epping Forest/Epping Forest District and Forest of Dean/Forest of Dean District but I'd only do it if there is enough coverage on the geographical district. Crouch, Swale (talk) 18:13, 17 August 2022 (UTC)

While I appreciate the valley has a geographical/historica identity of its own, I have a problem with creating an article called "Vale of White Horse District", because the WP:COMMONNAME (nay, the actual name) is "Vale of White Horse". It should be something like "Vale of White Horse (district)" ...though, again, I notice there were mass page name moves from "FOONAME (district)" to "FOONAME District" ten years ago, without much basis. Sionk (talk) 18:45, 17 August 2022 (UTC)