Avennel is a passageway between the gables of two buildings which can in effect be a minor street inScotland and thenorth east of England, particularly in the old centre ofDurham.
In Scotland, the term originated inroyal burghs created in thetwelfth century, the word deriving from theOld French wordvenelle meaning "alley" or "lane". Unlike a tenement entry to private property, known as a "close", a vennel was a public way leading from a typicalhigh street to the open ground beyond theburgage plots.[1] TheLatin form isvenella, related to the English word "funnel".
TheScottish burghs established byDavid I (see Burghs section ofEconomy of Scotland in the High Middle Ages) drew upon the burgh model ofNewcastle upon Tyne and used a number of French or Germanic words for townscape features.Aberdeen City Council refers to vennels having been part of the old town and historical records suggestArbroath had a vennel. In the City of Durham, like Newcastle, part of the old kingdom ofNorthumbria, lanes are also known colloquially as vennels.
There are vennels inArdersier,Cromarty,Culross,Dumfries,Dalry,Dumfries,Dunfermline,Edinburgh,[3]Elie,Eyemouth,Forfar,Irvine,Lanark,Linlithgow,Maybole,North Berwick,Peebles,Perth (seeVennels of Perth),South Queensferry,Stirling andWigtown. There are also vennels in the towns ofGlenarm andBangor (abandoned in 2021[4]) in Northern Ireland, likely reflecting the Scottish influence in the eastern parts of the province ofUlster. For example, the old name for High Street inComber wasCow Lane, ananglicisation of its Ulster Scots nameCoo Vennel.[5]
The city of Perth has lost many vennels with the gradual transformation of its medieval centre, but some have survived and are still used: Guard Vennel, Cow Vennel, Baxters Vennel, Fleshers Vennel, Oliphants Vennel, Water Vennel and Cutlog Vennel. It was announced on 2 June 2018 that The Vennel steps have been renamed Miss Jean Brodie Steps to commemorate the 100th anniversary of the birth of authorMuriel Spark.
The Vennel off theGrassmarket inEdinburgh appears in the filmThe Prime of Miss Jean Brodie (1969) when Brodie takes her girls on a walk through theOld Town, ending up inGreyfriars Kirkyard.
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