Talk:River Soar

Picture not River Soar

The picture shows one of the canal short cut sections, rather than the river itself which runs roughly parallel a few dozen yards to the West, marked on my map (Nicholson Guide to the Waterways 3) as the Old River Soar. Its straightness is a bit of a give away that it isn't a river proper. I wonder how appropriate this picture is.--Mongreilf 16:15, 14 August 2006 (UTC)

I've changed the caption of the picture to reflect this--Mongreilf 11:08, 16 August 2006 (UTC)

Stuff about Grand Union Canal

There seems lots about the canal south of Aylestone (where the navigation leaves the soar). Mentioning this waterway in relation to the river Soar is ok, but shouldn't sections solely about the Grand Union Canal South of the Soar not be in a different article?--Mongreilf 21:15, 14 August 2006 (UTC)

Richard III

Has the legend of Richard III being thrown into the river been disproved by his recent discovery? Should something be noted about this? — Preceding unsigned comment added by 86.3.151.131 (talk) 10:55, 25 February 2013 (UTC)

Yes. — LlywelynII 17:38, 12 December 2014 (UTC)

Pronunciation

I'm going to assume it's like the verb soar but, British toponyms being British, kindly do add an IPA or link to Wiktionary if there's some bizarre twist to it: su-AR or sth. — LlywelynII 17:38, 12 December 2014 (UTC)

Seems to be this. Emend the Normanton on Soar entry as well, if this is incorrect. — LlywelynII 22:35, 12 December 2014 (UTC)

I have to add that we don't assume anything here.  — SMcCandlish ☺ ☏ ¢ ≽^ʌⱷ҅_ᴥⱷ^ʌ≼  16:27, 22 December 2014 (UTC)

Etymology

This source claims it's a variant of sewer and replaced CB *Legra/OE *Ligor/=Loire/&c., this one claims it's ancient and precludes Legra/&c., this one mentions an actual remain thought connected to Janus (not just Geoffrey's imagination) & essentially claims that Soar is a development of earlier "Loir", this one is obv. not WP:RS material but claims it's cognate with the Breton word for "flow", this one and this one and this one seem very much on point but essentially block the relevant pages. Anyone got JSTOR and able to clear this up? — LlywelynII 17:40, 12 December 2014 (UTC)

Yet another helpful, public domain source inexplicably not provided in its entirety by Google. — LlywelynII 22:10, 12 December 2014 (UTC)

• This doesn't appear to be a WP:RFC, really. It's a request for research assistance.  — SMcCandlish ☺ ☏ ¢ ≽^ʌⱷ҅_ᴥⱷ^ʌ≼  16:28, 22 December 2014 (UTC)
• Comment. Suggest add a new section "Toponymy" with the text: There are several theories as to how this river got its name. So and So says XYZ etc. Using the results you have collated above. Op47 (talk) 17:54, 4 January 2015 (UTC)

But excluding any of the theories for which the source does not meet RS standards and preferably kept as brief as reasonable while still using proper attribution. As to Llywelyn's request for help regarding confirming a source through JSTOR, I seem to recall there's actually a space where these manner of requests can be made (attached to the program for giving select editors free access to the database). Let me see if I can't find the page. Snow talk 00:53, 6 January 2015 (UTC)

Here we go, LlywelynII: this is the list of those with confirmed access to JSTOR through the Wikipedia Library program. Scroll to the bottom for the most recent selection of approvals and I would imagine you can find someone active roughly in this area who would be happy to assist you. Or you can try the Resource Exahnge's request page. Snow talk 01:14, 6 January 2015 (UTC)

This also has me confused. The claim that Ligora is an old name of the Soar seems to be entirely based on Leicester being called Ligora-ceastre in the ASC. Now Ligora is a good Brittonic river-name, but it doesn't become "Soar". The suggestion that Ligora somehow became Soar dates to 1701(!), i.e. a time long before anyone bothered with sound laws. 20th-century sources identify Soar as clearly one of the very old family of *Sara river names, found in abundance throughout Europe. If this is true, Soar can not be a more recent name than Ligora; I suppose it is possible that it was at some point re-assigned from a tributary or something of the kind, but this needs a secondary source or it is on-wiki ad hoc speculation. Still, it is important to not mix up scholarly literature of the late 19th to 20th century with (also scholarly, but pre-historical-linguistics) publications of the 18th to early 19th century, which can be cited, but should be marked as of historical interest only. --dab (𒁳) 12:54, 10 September 2015 (UTC)

Source of the Soar

There seems to be a difference of opinion about the source of the Soar, one view is that it rises near Copston Magna via the Soar Brook, the other that it rises south of Wibtoft. My view is that the Soar Brook is a separate watercourse, as per Soar Brook from Source to Soar and that the Soar collects the brook rising further south as per Soar from Source to Soar Brook. This is supported by this map which shows the dark blue line following the same course, and again on the mapping associated with the river flow archive here the Wibtoft arm is also shown as the River Soar (zoom in to make the titles appear). Hence I reverted the recent changes...Jokulhlaup (talk) 09:34, 6 June 2016 (UTC)

On the other hand, [[1]] and [[2]] gives it as Copston Magna. I would expect to see a label on at least the 1:25000 OS map, to support your view. Maybe we should take the middle ground that the source is near Sharnford and sources disagree as to which of the headwaters (if any) are the river Soar. Op47 (talk) 22:18, 6 June 2016 (UTC)

I might’ve agreed with you if your sources had been stronger, but when set against the three that I included I find it hard to change my view. I agree that the lack of naming on OS maps is not ideal, but they do name the Soar Brook quite clearly (ie that it is not the Soar)...Jokulhlaup (talk) 10:07, 8 June 2016 (UTC)

This is my first attempt at commenting on errors in Wikipedia so please forgive my amateurish effort, but I can state categorically that the source of the River Soar is not Copston Magna. From where it is joined by the Soar Brook it flows alongside the Fosse Way, then under it and across farmland to Claybrooke Mill. I believe that John Eyles, the current owner has documented proof that the mill is on the River Soar. The river has obviously been diverted at this point to flow through the mill race from the mill pond. From there the mill leat rejoins the the diverted river at a sluicegate some 500 yards further upstream. It then continues as a canal, no longer the leat, but straightened with all the meanders taken out until it meets the Ullesthorpe to Claybrooke road. It then meanders it's way to the A5 then to Green Lane then on, rising just short of Coalpit Lane on the Lutterworth side of Cloudsley Bush. I am local to the area and work alongside the river between the Frolesworth road and the Ullesthorpe/Claybrooke road on a daily basis, I am also familiar with the land from the Soar brook to the the source. I hope this is helpful. Please don't hesitate to contact me for further information/ confirmation. James R Hall (talk) 00:00, 22 May 2020 (UTC)

Thanks for your comments, your description does seem to match the reference used in the article (Soar Brook from Source to Soar) which means there are no changes needed. It is worth mentioning that we can only use reliable sources to support a particular view, rather than personal knowledge (which can be a pain, although you may know something - it needs to backed by a reference)...Jokulhlaup (talk) 10:31, 16 June 2020 (UTC)