Vol. 43 No. 3 (1995)
Research Article

The First American Placename in England: Pimlico

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  • Richard Coates
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1179/nam.1995.43.3.213

Published 1995-09-01

Copyright (c) 1995 Maney

Creative Commons License

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

Abstract

Abstract

The London placename Pimlico, hitherto of obscure origin, is plausibly shown to have been copied from America and to be linked with Sir Walter Raleigh's abortive Roanoke settlements of the 1580s. Its place in the cultural contexts of Elizabethan Virginia and Jacobean north London is explored, and a possible alternative theory is shown, in fact, to reinforce the claim of an American origin.

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