dumble

plural dumbles

1. MidlandsA shady valley, a dingle; especially one with steep wooded sides and a stream running through it.First known use 16th c.

   Lambley is famous for its ‘dumbles.’ A dumble being a local name for a shallow dale with a stream.

   1999, Paul A. Biggs, Sandra Biggs, Best Tea Shop Walks in Nottinghamshire, Sigma Leisure, page 106

   2 more examples

   When a stream runs in a deep dell, particularly in clay districts, the steep banks and stream form what are called a “dumble” in Nottinghamshire.

   1859, John Blenkarn, British timber trees: a practical treatise on the raising, management, and value of British timber, G. Routledge, page 110

   Fine electric activity in sound came from the dumbles below the road, the birds piping one against the other, and water mysteriously plashing, issuing from the lake.

   1921, DH Lawrence, Women in Love, Vintage, published 2008, page 40

2. EastYorkshireThe club rush.

   Recently Dr. K. J. Allison has come across a Leconfield lease of 1631 which included 'all the earl 's dumbles growing in Arram Carr' ?

   1974, The Local Historian - Volume 11, page 64

   2 more examples

   In such circumstances it may well be that a natural pool would be enlarged or deepened or an artificial pond created to maintain a suitable habitat for the rush. Later archival references to the rush “dumbles" are for the River Hull valley.

   1982, Lore and Language - Volume 3, Parts 6-10, page 54

   The item from Elizabeth Hotham's account book does not state where the dumbles grew, but in a later account book of Sir Charles Hotham Arram Carr is specified.

   1988, Charles Oodrington Pressick Hobkirk, George Taylor Porritt, William Denison Roebuck, The Naturalist - Issues 984-999, page 58