Ισκαλις

Attested:  Ptolemy 2,3,28  Ισκαλις (or Ισχαλις), a πολις of the Βελγαι tribe.

Where:  At or near Crandon Bridge, ST327396, beside an old course of the river Parrett, where in Roman times there was a significant port for the Somerset Levels, written up by Rippon (2008).  This gives a better fit to Ptolemy's latitude/longitude coordinates than other candidates discussed below, but the mathematical analysis involved is still only provisional.

Name origin:  See the detailed discussion of Isca and many river names across Europe that begin with Is-, which appear in general to denote travel routes, while the ending -ca may denote an estuary.  The -alis ending may be just a banal Latin adjective-forming suffix or it might be diminutive or it might contain the lis ‘ringfort’ element that is common in Ireland.  Parallels to Ισκαλις include the rivers Ischler Achen in Bavaria (Iscala in 984), Ischl (Iscalam in 1000) and Isel in Austria, Ijssel and Oude Ijssel in the Netherlands, Isla and Isla in Scotland, and Isle in Somerset (Ekwall, 1928:215-6).

Notes:  Other candidate locations for this name that seem less likely include:
- Charterhouse lead-mine and fort, tentatively suggested by Rivet and Smith;
- Ilchester Roman town, higher up the river Parrett;
- Cadbury Castle, picked by Sherratt (1996) as a good site to control a trade route;
- Gatcombe, Wells, Combwich, Langport, Ham Hill hill fort, etc.
  Other name origins that seem unlikely include Celtic words for fish or whiskey, and mistaken duplication of Isca at Caerleon or Exeter.  Ekwall (1928:320-1) noted the Parrett's Old English forms *Petride etc, but suggested only possible Celtic parallels, without pointing out that English path-ride (compare the start of Πετουαρια plus rithe ‘stream’) might be a calque translation of *Isca.
  Ptolemy defined the local people as Belgae, apparently occupying a band of territory from the Bristol Channel to the Solent (not a coastal zone in the east facing modern Belgium, as one might naively assume), because they had πολεις here on the Parrett (with Roman Ilchester nearby), at Bath, and at Twyford on the river Itchen, with Roman Winchester nearby.   A general discussion of ancient names in Somerset is here.

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Last edited 13 November 2025     To main Menu