Concle

It's strange to come across a new word that sounds like a proper word. Concle is such a word. You feel you must know what it means. You long to slip it into a sentence. But look it up in the dictionary and there it isn't. I am offered camisole, cancel, canon or chancel. No concles.

Unless you have been to Rampside, near Barrow-in-Furness, you probably don't know what it means (and, even if you have, you may not).

Concle is a shortened version of "conc hole" which means a deep hole where ships lay at anchor, and indeed there used to be one nearby. But a short way offshore is little Roa Island, and they linked it to the mainland with a causeway. The conc hole then silted up and all that remains of it is the pub with this name, and Concle Bank on the map.

Although Roa Island is only a few miles from the centre of Barrow, it feels very remote and if you go along the causeway to Roa Island you can see Piel Island, with its fourteenth-century castle, out in the distance. Usually when I've been to Roa Island it's been raining "Oh well, we can't walk on the beach in this rain, let's go and have a look at Roa Island." But when I was there a couple of weeks ago it was a glorious sunny day and Piel Island glinted across the sea, looking all mysterious and magical: an effect which was added to by the self-launching boat walking down the slipway.

Tomorrow, try to slide the word "concle" into a conversation and see if anyone notices.