Earthcott (or Earthcott Green) is a

hamlet ''The Tragedy of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark'', often shortened to ''Hamlet'' (), is a Shakespearean tragedy, tragedy written by William Shakespeare sometime between 1599 and 1601. It is Shakespeare's longest play. Set in Denmark, the play (the ...

in the

civil parish In England, a civil parish is a type of administrative parish used for local government. It is a territorial designation which is the lowest tier of local government. Civil parishes can trace their origin to the ancient system of parishes, w ...

of Alveston in

South Gloucestershire South Gloucestershire is a unitary authority area in the ceremonial county of Gloucestershire, South West England. Towns in the area include Yate, Chipping Sodbury, Kingswood, Thornbury, Filton, Patchway and Bradley Stoke. The southern p ...

, England, between Latteridge and Rudgeway on the B4059 road between the

A38 road The A38, parts of which are known as Devon Expressway, Bristol Road and Gloucester Road, Bristol, Gloucester Road, is a major A-class trunk road in England. The road runs from Bodmin in Cornwall to Mansfield in Nottinghamshire. It is long, mak ...

and

Yate Yate is a town and civil parish in South Gloucestershire, England. It lies just to the southwest of the Cotswolds, Cotswold Hills and is northeast of Bristol and from Bath, Somerset, Bath. Developing from a small village into a town from t ...

. It has a

letter box A letter box, letterbox, letter plate, letter hole, mail slot or mailbox is a receptacle for receiving incoming mail at a private residence or business. For outgoing mail, post boxes are often used for depositing the mail for collection, altho ...

and a small

village green A village green is a commons, common open area within a village or other settlement. Historically, a village green was common pasture, grassland with a pond for watering cattle and other stock, often at the edge of a rural settlement, used for ...

, but no other services. Its main industry is

farming Agriculture encompasses crop and livestock production, aquaculture, and forestry for food and non-food products. Agriculture was a key factor in the rise of sedentary human civilization, whereby farming of domesticated species created ...

. The place-name 'Earthcott' is first attested in the

Domesday Book Domesday Book ( ; the Middle English spelling of "Doomsday Book") is a manuscript record of the Great Survey of much of England and parts of Wales completed in 1086 at the behest of William the Conqueror. The manuscript was originally known by ...

of 1086, where it appears as 'Herdicote'. It derives from the

Old English Old English ( or , or ), 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 developed from the languages brought to Great Britain by Anglo-S ...

'eorthe-cot' meaning 'earth hut' ('cot' as in the modern English words 'dovecote' and 'cottage').Eilert Ekwall, ''Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Place-names'', p. 156. Traditions of Earthcott include a village bonfire night, and

Christmas Eve Christmas Eve is the evening or entire day before Christmas, the festival commemorating nativity of Jesus, the birth of Jesus in Christianity, Jesus. Christmas Day is observance of Christmas by country, observed around the world, and Christma ...

carol singing, normally done on the back of a

tractor-trailer A semi-trailer truck (also known by a wide variety of other terms – see #Other terms, below) is the combination of a tractor unit and one or more semi-trailers to carry freight. A semi-trailer attaches to the tractor with a type of Tow ...

, with regular stops for mince pies and hot toddy. Earthcott should not be confused with the nearby hamlet of Gaunt's Earthcott. There is a small 1870 Wesleyan Chapel now converted into a house. Last service 1969.

References

Hamlets in Gloucestershire Villages in South Gloucestershire District {{gloucestershire-geo-stub