Re: Orthography supporting sound changes?

Joachim Pense (or somebody else of the same name) wrote thusly in message
<dpl987$gin$01$1@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>:

> Are there any reported examples of such sound change reversals having
> happened, where it can be demonstrated (or at least is strongly believed
> by many) that the orthography was the only preserver of the old situation
> (so it was not also preserved by maybe regional or social variants of
> spoken language)?

The name of the town of Daventry, in Northamptonshire in England, must have
been originally pronounced more or less as spelt, but in later years
the /v/ became elided and the name was pronounced "Daintree". In more
recent times the /v/ has been restored so the name is once again
trisyllabic, with stress on the first syllable.

Does anybody now (still) pronounce Cirencester as "Sissiter"? The only
variation I hear now is for both the C's to be pronounced /z/ as per local
dialect.
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