Br. *brem- 'to roar, etc.' is found in river-names and in the place-names based on them.
At Bremenium, High Rochester, waterfalls on Sills Burn are very close to the fort.
At Bremia, Llanio, on the Afon Brefi noisy water seems a rarity. There are a couple of waterfalls that OS notes, but they are on the tributary Nant Rhysgog, the closest being about 400 m from the Brefi. The source for the name seems more likely water running over a rocky bed.
At Bremetenacum, Ribchester, the *Bremetona is unidentified in PNRB. Not a noisy part of the Ribble (Ptolemy's Belisama) but as often, a joining river is used as the basis for a place-name. In this instance the Duddel Brook joins the Ribble at SD651351, next to the fort. Information on the Duddel is scarce, but a walker noted "...Duddel Brook tumbles over a waterfall into an amphitheatre-like glade...". These falls are at SD659368, near Dutton Mill. There may be other falls, the brook descends from Gannow Fell (elev 250m) of a course of about 5 km.
Cataractonium, Catterick, has me scratching my head. PNRB states "...there seem to be no fully ancient names other than the present one (Cataractonium) based on cataracta, or at least we know of none in our sources."
But Ptol V, 4 23 Καταῤῥάκτου π.ἐ. ; Herodotus Polymnia VII 26 Cataractes, tributary of the Meander; and Pliny NH V 26 Catarractes.
The Swale has more than rapids, waterfalls are found at Richmond and quite numerous in upper Swaledale and the Swale tributaries.
Tom Ikins
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