A dene, derived from the

Old English Old English (, ), or Anglo-Saxon, is the earliest recorded form of the English language, spoken in England and southern and eastern Scotland in the early Middle Ages. It was brought to Great Britain by Anglo-Saxon settlement of Britain, Anglo ...

''denu'' and frequently spelled dean in place names, used to be a common name for a valley, in which sense it is frequently found as a component of English place-names, such as

Rottingdean Rottingdean is a village in the city of Brighton and Hove, on the south coast of England. It borders the villages of Saltdean, Ovingdean and Woodingdean, and has a historic centre, often the subject of picture postcards. Name The name Rottingde ...

and

Ovingdean Ovingdean is a small, formerly agricultural, village in the east of Brighton and Hove, East Sussex, England. Overview It was absorbed into the administrative borough of Brighton, East Sussex, England in 1928, and now forms part of the city of ...

. The word still survives in the Northumbrian dialect. In the English counties of

Durham Durham most commonly refers to: *Durham, England, a cathedral city and the county town of County Durham *County Durham, an English county * Durham County, North Carolina, a county in North Carolina, United States *Durham, North Carolina, a city in N ...

and

Northumberland Northumberland () is a county in Northern England, one of two counties in England which border with Scotland. Notable landmarks in the county include Alnwick Castle, Bamburgh Castle, Hadrian's Wall and Hexham Abbey. It is bordered by land on ...

a dene is a steep-sided wooded valley through which a

burn A burn is an injury to skin, or other tissues, caused by heat, cold, electricity, chemicals, friction, or ultraviolet radiation (like sunburn). Most burns are due to heat from hot liquids (called scalding), solids, or fire. Burns occur mainl ...

runs. Many of the incised valleys cut by small streams that flow off the Durham and Northumberland plateau into the

North Sea The North Sea lies between Great Britain, Norway, Denmark, Germany, the Netherlands and Belgium. An epeiric sea on the European continental shelf, it connects to the Atlantic Ocean through the English Channel in the south and the Norwegian S ...

are given the name Dene, as in

Castle Eden Dene Castle Eden Dene is a Site of Special Scientific Interest and National Nature Reserve in the Easington district of County Durham, England. It is located mostly in Peterlee, between the A19 and A1086 roads. The dene is the largest, and biolo ...

and

Crimdon Dene Crimdon is a village in County Durham, England. It is situated on the North Sea coast, between Blackhall Rocks and Hartlepool on the A1086 road. Crimdon was formerly a popular holiday resort for miners and their families from nearby towns a ...

in County Durham and

Jesmond Dene Jesmond Dene, a public park in the east end of Newcastle upon Tyne, England, occupies the narrow steep-sided valley of a small river known as the Ouseburn, flowing south to join the River Tyne: in north-east England, such valleys are commonly ...

Tyne and Wear Tyne and Wear () is a metropolitan county in North East England, situated around the mouths of the rivers Tyne and Wear. It was created in 1974, by the Local Government Act 1972, along with five metropolitan boroughs of Gateshead, Newcastl ...

References

Valleys {{Topography-stub