Bainbridge, in the Yorkshire Dales, not surprisingly sits on the River Bain. Time was when the village was within the forest of Wensley and the neighbouring Hawes, the home of the factory, or creamery, which makes the celebrated Wensleydale Cheese, is just a little to the west of it. Curiously enough there is also a Bainbridge in Ohio and the nearest city to this American community, with a population of around 1,000, is Cleveland, there is also a Russell and a Lockington in the state.
There is no ready agreement on the meaning of ‘Bain’ itself – ‘short’, ‘straight’, ‘handy’, ‘direct’ and ‘helpful’ –have all been put forward as possible roots and certainly in recent years the straight and handy Bainbridge Avenue has proved very helpful to learner drivers. The origins of this particular Plymouth place-name however are more likely to rest with the Rendle family of Ermington, who at the end of the nineteenth and beginning of the twentieth century were the owners of this part of the Vinstone Estate of Compton Gifford. Charles Bainbridge Rendle being the grandfather of those who sold the land for development in the early years of the twentieth century.
