Caldicot’s town name pronunciation prompts council row

• Councilor objected to the pronunciation of Caldicot.
• Which is derived from Old English ‘calde’ meaning ‘cold’ and ‘cot’ meaning cottage.
• He was urged to “move on” by council chair Laura Wright since it wasn’t relevant.

During a council meeting, a disagreement about a town’s name’s pronunciation erupted. Armand Watts, a councilor for Monmouthshire, objected to the way Caldicot was mentioned during a discussion of the county council’s yearly budget.

He claimed to have observed that while others had pronounced it Cul-dee-cot, he, a native of the town, emphasized the ‘a’ to make it seem like Cal-dee-cot.

He was urged to “move on” by council chair Laura Wright since it wasn’t relevant.

Between the towns of Chepstow and Newport on the Severn Estuary sits Caldicot, which has a population of roughly 12,000 people.

The Local Democracy Reporting Service states that Labor councilor Mr. Watts corrected others’ pronunciation after finishing his statement during the budget debate.

“The other thing I say, I’m sorry, it’s the pronunciation of our own towns. It’s one I’ve noticed before,” he said.

The council member mentioned how to pronounce the name of the county, Monmouthshire, as well as the pronunciation of the nearby village, Rogiet, which is pronounced Rog-it.

He said: “I’m sure if it’s a question for the chief executive, Mun-mouthshire is Mon-mouthshire. Sorry if you think that’s being a bit…”

But, at that point, Ms. Wright told him to “move it on”.

Conservative councilor Jane Lucas said she found the comments “offensive”.

“Because I don’t have an accent, and someone else does, does that make it any better or any worse what they are saying?” she said.

The name Caldicot was “derived from the Old English ‘calde’ meaning ‘cold’ and ‘cot’ meaning cottage’ or’shelter,'” according to the Visit Monmouthshire website.

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