Place name origins only have little relation to the Roman names (e.g. Chester - 'Deva', Winchester - 'Venta Belgarum' etc.). Many English places derive part of their name from the river upon which they were built, but in the 16th century many English rivers were renamed with back-formations from towns on their banks. Cambridge, perhaps uniquely, illustrates both effects: originally "Grontabricc", a bridge on the Granta, the name became "Cantebruge" and then "Cambrugge", from which the river was renamed Cam. The vast majority of place names in Wales are Welsh by origin, containing elements such as Llan-, Aber-, Pen- etc. Along the south
Venta (river) the Venta River at Akmenė district municipality, Šiauliai County, northern Lithuania. Venta (river) The Venta (Latvian pronunciation , Lithuanian , , , Livonian "Vǟnta joug") is a river in north-western Lithuania and western Latvia. Its source is near Kuršėnai in the Lithuanian Šiauliai County. It flows into the Baltic Sea at Ventspils in Latvia. Towns along the Venta include Mažeikiai (Lithuania), Kuldīga and Ventspils (Latvia). It has only one tributary longer than 100 km, the Abava. Other major tributaries include the Virvyčia (99.7 km) and the Varduva (96 km), which flows into the Venta at the Lithuanian-Latvian border. Smaller tributaries