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Interesting Place Names and History of England available on Amazon and Scribd! Aston Juxta Mondrum, Cheshire? Nine Maidens Downs, Cornwall? Fridaythorp, East Riding of Yorkshire? Toot Hill, Essex? Burton Lazars, Leicestershire? Dorking, Surrey? If you are wondering where these names came from, this is the book for you! Other interesting place names included, plus interesting history of England!
Citation preview
Interesting Place Names and History of England
Compiled by
Emily Stehr
To England
With Love
*INTRODUCTION*
My name is Emily Stehr. I am by profession a physical therapist. I am by hobby a collator of historic geography. This is my attempt to pay homage to England. Any errors are fully mine. Please take time to do further investigation. I have done extensive endnotes regarding the supply of information I have obtained, including specific names, addresses, e-mail information, etc. If you have any corrections, additions, or feedback, please contact me at [email protected]. I have learned a lot about England through this process (I am from Pennsylvania, USA). Knowledge is power! Enjoy!
*TABLE OF CONTENTS*
*TOPONYMY*
**ARTHURIAN MYTH**
**BLACK DEATH, 1348-1350**
**INTERACTION WITH IRELAND**
1603-1714 ERA
1714-1837 ERA
1837-1910 ERA
1910-1945 ERA
1945-1990 ERA: NORTHERN IRELAND
**INTERACTION WITH SCOTLAND**
1272-1485 ERA
1485-1603 ERA
1603-1714 ERA
**INTERACTION WITH WALES**
1272-1485 ERA
1485-1603 ERA
**ROBIN HOOD**
**SPANISH ARMADA**
**STONE CIRCLES**
**BEDFORDSHIRE**
***CHICKSANDS, BEDFORDSHIRE***
***HOLYWELL, BEDFORDSHIRE***
***MOGGERHANGER, BEDFORDSHIRE***
**BERKSHIRE**
***CALIFORNIA, BERKSHIRE***
***MAIDEN’S GREEN, BERKSHIRE***
***WILDRIDINGS, BERKSHIRE***
***WORLD’S END, BERKSHIRE***
**BRISTOL**
***CATBRAIN, BRISTOL***
**BUCKINGHAMSHIRE**
***FOUR ASHES, BUCKINGHAMSHIRE***
***GIBRALTAR, BUCKINGHAMSHIRE***
***MAIDS MORETON, BUCKINGHAMSHIRE***
***VERNEY JUNCTION, BUCKINGHAMSHIRE***
**CAMBRIDGESHIRE**
***BURY, CAMBRIDGESHIRE***
***CASTLE CAMPS, CAMBRIDGESHIRE***
***FOUR GOTES, CAMBRIDGESHIRE***
***HOLYWELL, CAMBRIDGESHIRE***
***HORNINGSEA, CAMBRIDGESHIRE***
***JESUS LANE, CAMBRIDGESHIRE***
**CHESHIRE**
***ASTON JUXTA MONDRUM, CHESHIRE***
***GREAT WARFORD, CHESHIRE***
***VICARS CROSS, CHESHIRE***
**CORNWALL**
***ALTARNUN, CORNWALL 1 ***
***COME-TO-GOOD, CORNWALL***
***FOUR LANES, CORNWALL***
***HOLY VALE, CORNWALL***
***MOUSEHOLE, CORNWALL***
***NINE MAIDENS DOWNS, CORNWALL***
**COUNTY DURHAM**
***ARCHDEACON NEWTON, COUNTY DURHAM***
***CASTLE EDEN, COUNTY DURHAM***
***MAIDEN LAW, COUNTY DURHAM***
***MONKWEARMOUTH, COUNTY DURHAM***
***MUGGLESWICK, COUNTY DURHAM***
***NEVILLE’S CROSS, COUNTY DURHAM***
***NO PLACE, COUNTY DURHAM***
***PITY ME, COUNTY DURHAM***
***QUAKING HOUSES, COUNTY DURHAM***
**CUMBRIA**
***ARTHURET, CUMBRIA 2 ***
***CONISTON OLD MAN, CUMBRIA***
***DUNGEON GHYLL, CUMBRIA***
***MAULDS MEABURN, CUMBRIA***
**DERBYSHIRE**
***BLUE JOHN CAVERN, DERBYSHIRE***
***CROSS O’ TH’ HANDS, DERBYSHIRE***
***ROBIN HOOD, DERBYSHIRE***
***UNTHANK, DERBYSHIRE***
**DEVONSHIRE**
***BROADWOODWIDGER, DEVONSHIRE***
***GEORGE NYMPTON, DEVONSHIRE***
***GERMANSWEEK, DEVONSHIRE***
***HEANTON PUNCHARDON, DEVONSHIRE***
***HOPE COVE, DEVONSHIRE***
***KENT CAVERN, DEVONSHIRE***
***MARY TAVY, DEVONSHIRE***
***ROMANSLEIGH, DEVONSHIRE***
***UPTON HELLIONS, DEVONSHIRE***
***VIRGINSTOW, DEVONSHIRE***
***ZEAL MONACHORUM, DEVONSHIRE***
**DORSETSHIRE**
***DEWLISH, DORSETSHIRE***
***KING’S STAG, DORSETSHIRE***
***MAIDEN CASTLE, DORSETSHIRE***
***MAIDEN NEWTON, DORSETSHIRE***
***OKEFORD FITZPAINE, DORSETSHIRE***
***RYME INTRINSECA, DORSETSHIRE***
***SIXPENNY HANDLEY, DORSETSHIRE***
***WHITCHURCH CANONICORUM, DORSETSHIRE***
**EAST RIDING OF YORKSHIRE**
***BISHOPTHORPE, EAST RIDING OF YORKSHIRE***
***BURTON CONSTABLE, EAST RIDING OF YORKSHIRE***
***FRIDAYTHORP, EAST RIDING OF YORKSHIRE 3 ***
***RISE, EAST RIDING OF YORKSHIRE***
***ROOS, EAST RIDING OF YORKSHIRE***
**EAST SUSSEX**
***BEACHY HEAD, EAST SUSSEX***
***BISHOPSTONE, EAST SUSSEX***
***STONE-CUM-EBONY, EAST SUSSEX***
**ESSEX**
***AYTHORPE RODING, ESSEX***
***HATFIELD PEVEREL, ESSEX***
***MANNINGTREE, ESSEX***
***TOOT HILL, ESSEX***
**GLOUCESTERSHIRE**
***AMPNEY CRUCIS, GLOUCESTERSHIRE***
***ENGLISH BICKNOR, GLOUCESTERSHIRE***
***GUITING POWER, GLOUCESTERSHIRE***
***KING’S STANLEY, GLOUCESTERSHIRE***
***LOWER SLAUGHTER, GLOUCESTERSHIRE***
***NEWINGTON BAGPATH, GLOUCESTERSHIRE***
***PIFF’S ELM, GLOUCESTERSHIRE***
**GREATER LONDON**
***CLERKENWELL, GREATER LONDON 4 ***
***SOHO, GREATER LONDON 5 ***
**GREATER MANCHESTER**
***BLACKROD, GREATER MANCHESTER***
***MOTTRAM-IN-LONGDENDALE, GREATER MANCHESTER***
**HAMPSHIRE**
***FARLEIGH WALLOP, HAMPSHIRE***
***FOUR MARKS, HAMPSHIRE***
***FREEFOLK, HAMPSHIRE***
***HARTLEY WINTNEY, HAMPSHIRE***
**HEREFORDSHIRE**
***BAGWYLLYDIART, HEREFORDSHIRE***
***HOLE IN THE WALL, HEREFORDSHIRE***
***MORTIMER’S CROSS, HEREFORDSHIRE***
***SOLLERS HOPE, HEREFORDSHIRE***
**HERTFORDSHIRE**
***AYOT ST LAWRENCE, HERTFORDSHIRE***
***BALDOCK, HERTFORDSHIRE 6 ***
***BRAUGHING FRIARS, HERTFORDSHIRE***
***BYGRAVE, HERTFORDSHIRE***
***COLD CHRISTMAS, HERTFORDSHIRE***
**ISLE OF WIGHT**
***BLACKGANG, ISLE OF WIGHT***
***GODSHILL, ISLE OF WIGHT***
**KENT**
***CHIDDINGSTONE, KENT 7 ***
***COLD FRIDAY STREET, KENT***
***DELAWARE, KENT***
***DOVER, KENT***
***EVEGATE, KENT***
***FRIDAY HILL, KENT***
***GREEN STREET GREEN, KENT***
***HOO ST WERBURGH, KENT***
***JULLIEBERRIE DOWN, KENT***
***KIT’S COTY HOUSE, KENT***
***MAIDSTONE, KENT***
***POISON DOWN AND WOOD, KENT***
***SCOTLAND HILLS, KENT***
***SEVEN OAKS, KENT***
***SHAKESPEARE CLIFF, KENT***
***SHOOTER’S HILL, KENT***
***SLAYHILLS MARSH, KENT***
***ST MARY IN THE MARSH, KENT***
***STONE IN OXNEY, KENT***
***TEMPLE EWELL, KENT***
***TEMPLE HILL, KENT***
***TOVIL, KENT***
***WOODNESBOROUGH, KENT***
***WORMSHILL, KENT***
**LANCASHIRE**
***ANGLEZARKE, LANCASHIRE***
***BLACKO, LANCASHIRE***
***DOLPHINHOLME, LANCASHIRE***
***GOOSNARGH, LANCASHIRE***
***OSWALDTWISTLE, LANCASHIRE***
***PRIEST HUTTON, LANCASHIRE***
**LEICESTERSHIRE**
***APPLEBY MAGNA, LEICESTERSHIRE***
***ASHBY-DE-LA-ZOUCH, LEICESTERSHIRE***
***ASTON FLAMVILLE, LEICESTERSHIRE***
***BARTON IN THE BEANS, LEICESTERSHIRE***
***BURTON LAZARS, LEICESTERSHIRE***
***HUSBANDS BOSWORTH, LEICESTERSHIRE***
***NORTON JUXTA TWYCROSS, LEICESTERSHIRE***
***RATCLIFFE ON THE WREAKE, LEICESTERSHIRE***
***SHEEPY MAGNA AND SHEEPY PARVA, LEICESTERSHIRE***
***SIX HILLS, LEICESTERSHIRE***
***SUTTON IN THE ELMS, LEICESTERSHIRE***
***WALTHAM ON THE WOLDS, LEICESTERSHIRE***
**LINCOLNSHIRE**
***ASHBY PUERORUM, LINCOLNSHIRE***
***BOSTON, LINCOLNSHIRE 8 ***
***CLAXBY PLUCKACRE, LINCOLNSHIRE***
***GOSBERTON WESTHORPE, LINCOLNSHIRE***
***HOUGH ON THE HILL, LINCOLNSHIRE***
***IRBY IN THE MARSH, LINCOLNSHIRE***
***LITTLE RUSSIA, GRIMSBY, LINCOLNSHIRE***
***OWMBY BY SPITAL, LINCOLNSHIRE***
***POTTERHANWORTH, LINCOLNSHIRE***
***SCOTT WILLOUGHBY, LINCOLNSHIRE***
***SOT’S HOLE, LINCOLNSHIRE***
***TWENTY, LINCOLNSHIRE***
**LUTON**
***CAPABILITY GREEN, LUTON***
**MERSEYSIDE**
***BOLD, MERSEYSIDE***
***INCE BLUNDELL, MERSEYSIDE***
***OLD SWAN, MERSEYSIDE***
***PORT SUNLIGHT, MERSEYSIDE***
**NORFOLK**
***HOE, NORFOLK***
***LITTLE SNORING, NORFOLK***
***MOUSEHOLD, NORFOLK***
***WEASENHAM ALL SAINTS, NORFOLK***
***WIVETON, NORFOLK***
**NORTH YORKSHIRE**
***CLIFTON (WITHOUT), NORTH YORKSHIRE***
***KILLINGHALL, NORTH YORKSHIRE***
***NEWBIGGIN, NORTH YORKSHIRE***
***ROBIN HOOD’S BAY, NORTH YORKSHIRE***
***ROMANBY, NORTH YORKSHIRE***
***SEXHOW, NORTH YORKSHIRE***
**NORTHAMPTONSHIRE**
***BARTON SEAGRAVE, NORTHAMPTONSHIRE***
***CATTYSBRAYN, WHITTLEWOOD, NORTHAMPTONSHIRE***
***DEDEQUENEMORE, WHITTLEWOOD, NORTHAMPTONSHIRE***
***FOTHERINGHAY CASTLE, NORTHAMPTONSHIRE***
***GALLOWWAY, WHITTLEWOOD, NORTHAMPTONSHIRE***
***GOSPEL ELM, WHITTLEWOOD, NORTHAMPTONSHIRE***
***HINTON-IN-THE-HEDGES, NORTHAMPTONSHIRE***
***MAIDWELL, NORTHAMPTONSHIRE***
***MONEKESMEDE, WHITTLEWOOD, NORTHAMPTONSHIRE***
***MORYZEVEHOUS, WHITTLEWOOD, NORTHAMPTONSHIRE***
***SILVERSTONE, NORTHAMPTONSHIRE***
***TEMPLELANE, WHITTLEWOOD, NORTHAMPTONSHIRE***
**NORTHUMBERLAND**
***COTTONHOPE, NORTHUMBERLAND***
***DUDDO, NORTHUMBERLAND***
***GUYZANCE, NORTHUMBERLAND***
***HOLYSTONE, NORTHUMBERLAND***
***KIRKWHELPINGTON, NORTHUMBERLAND***
***PICTS’ WALL, NORTHUMBERLAND***
***VINDOLANDA, NORTHUMBERLAND***
***WALL TOWN, NORTHUMBERLAND***
**NOTTINGHAMSHIRE**
***BARNBY IN THE WILLOWS, NOTTINGHAMSHIRE***
***BUNNY, NOTTINGHAMSHIRE***
***SCROOBY, NOTTINGHAMSHIRE***
***SHERWOOD FOREST, NOTTINGHAMSHIRE***
***WILLOUGHBY ON THE WOLDS, NOTTINGHAMSHIRE***
**OXFORDSHIRE**
***ASCOTT-UNDER-WYCHWOOD, OXFORDSHIRE***
***COLD HARBOUR, OXFORDSHIRE***
***VALE OF WHITE HORSE, OXFORDSHIRE***
**PLYMOUTH**
***MANNAMEAD, PLYMOUTH***
***MAYFLOWER STEPS, PLYMOUTH***
***PENNYCOMEQUICK, PLYMOUTH***
***SMEATON’S TOWER, PLYMOUTH***
***THE BARBICAN, PLYMOUTH***
**RUTLAND**
***EDITH WESTON, RUTLAND***
***GUNTHORPE, RUTLAND***
***WHISSENDINE, RUTLAND***
**SHROPSHIRE**
***HOPESAY, SHROPSHIRE***
***LLANYMYNECH, SHROPSHIRE***
***RUYTON-XI-TOWNS, SHROPSHIRE***
***WROCKWARDINE, SHROPSHIRE***
**SOMERSET**
***ABBAS AND TEMPLECOMBE, SOMERSET***
***CHEDDAR, SOMERSET***
***MAIDEN HEAD, SOMERSET***
***QUEEN CAMEL, SOMERSET***
***TEMPLE CLOUD, SOMERSET***
***WOOKEY, SOMERSET***
***YEOVIL, SOMERSET***
**SOUTH YORKSHIRE**
***ADWICK LE STREET, SOUTH YORKSHIRE***
***WOMBWELL, SOUTH YORKSHIRE***
**STAFFORDSHIRE**
***ETRURIA, STAFFORDSHIRE***
***FLASH, STAFFORDSHIRE***
***GENTLESHAW, STAFFORDSHIRE***
***MUCKLESTONE, STAFFORDSHIRE***
***THORPE CONSTANTINE, STAFFORDSHIRE***
***UTTOXETER, STAFFORDSHIRE***
**SUFFOLK**
***BURY ST EDMUNDS, SUFFOLK***
***ELVEDEN, SUFFOLK***
***MONKS ELEIGH, SUFFOLK***
***SHIPMEADOW, SUFFOLK***
***SUTTON HOO, SUFFOLK***
***WOOLVERSTONE, SUFFOLK***
**SURREY**
***DORKING, SURREY***
***FRIDAY STREET, SURREY***
***LEATHERHEAD, SURREY***
***LIGHTWATER, SURREY***
**SWINDON**
***NINE ELMS, SWINDON***
***NORTH STAR, SWINDON***
***ST ANDREWS RIDGE, SWINDON***
**TYNE AND WEAR**
***BATTLEFIELD, TYNE AND WEAR***
***CLARA VALE, TYNE AND WEAR***
***SPITAL TONGUES, TYNE AND WEAR***
**WARWICKSHIRE**
***BERMUDA, WARWICKSHIRE***
***MONKS KIRBY, WARWICKSHIRE***
***NO MAN’S HEATH, WARWICKSHIRE***
**WEST MIDLANDS**
***BIRMINGHAM, WEST MIDLANDS***
***HALESOWEN, WEST MIDLANDS***
***ROWLEY REGIS, WEST MIDLANDS***
***STOURBRIDGE, WEST MIDLANDS***
***WEDNESBURY, WEST MIDLANDS***
**WEST SUSSEX**
***BOGNOR REGIS, WEST SUSSEX***
***HASSOCKS, WEST SUSSEX***
***WARNINGCAMP, WEST SUSSEX***
**WEST YORKSHIRE**
***BRIGHOUSE, WEST YORKSHIRE***
***BURLEY-IN-WHARFEDALE, WEST YORKSHIRE***
***CRIGGLESTONE, WEST YORKSHIRE***
***HALIFAX, WEST YORKSHIRE 9 ***
***MYTHOLMROYD, WEST YORKSHIRE***
***QUEENSBURY AND SHELF, WEST YORKSHIRE***
***TADCASTER, WEST YORKSHIRE***
**WILTSHIRE**
***BISHOPS CANNINGS, WILTSHIRE***
***COLLINGBOURNE DUCIS, WILTSHIRE***
***DEVIL’S DITCH, WILTSHIRE***
***LYDIARD MILLICENT, WILTSHIRE***
***ROYAL WOOTTON BASSETT, WILTSHIRE***
***SHREWTON, WILTSHIRE***
***SLAUGHTERFORD, WILTSHIRE***
***STONEHENGE, WILTSHIRE 10 ***
**WORCESTERSHIRE**
***LICKEY, WORCESTERSHIRE***
*TOPONYMY*
Toponymy is the study of place names (toponyms), their origins, meanings, use, and typology. The word “toponymy” is derived from the Greek words topos “place” and onoma “name.” Toponymy is a branch of onomastics, which is the study of names of all kinds.11
**ARTHURIAN MYTH**
Before we investigate specific place names and histories, let’s start with some global information about England. We will start with the myth of King Arthur. Christopher Daniell clarifies: “It is from this era [450-1066] that the legend of King Arthur arises. Arthur was supposed to have been the native leader, much in the role of Ambrosius Aurelianus. Many areas claim him as their town; the most renowned sites are situated in the West Country – Tintagel Castle in Cornwall, the legendary site of the Round Table; and Glastonbury Tor, associated with Avalon. Elsewhere are Arthur’s Seat, just outside Edinburgh and many more: Badon Hill, where Arthur is supposed to have fought, may lie in Lincolnshire, the Midlands or Dorset.
“All that has ever been written about him – and the amount is enormous, with thousands of books produced over the centuries – rests upon a few stories written hundreds of years after the events. Gildas and Bede, the earliest authorities, make no mention of him. The first written account was by a monk writing circa 900 (ie, 450 years later) who says that Arthur fought at Badon and he carried a cross for three days and nights on his shoulders. From this time the myth began to grow, with the addition of the Knights of the Round Table and Camelot, along with Merlin, Guinevere and Mordred. Any connection these people have with Arthur – if he existed at all – is purely coincidental.
“However, the Arthurian stories are far from worthless. Many of them contain important themes from different cultures and religions: the sword in the lake has been seen as an echo of Iron Age religions which offered gifts of armor to water deities. As the legends became more popular they were expanded; in the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries the chivalrous deeds and courtly love themes of Arthur and his knights were embellished to fit in with the activities of the court. The Arthurian legends therefore act as a guide to the times in which they were written, rather than revealing the Dark Ages.”12
**BLACK DEATH, 1348-1350**
Next we move onto the Plague and its effect on England. Christopher Daniell documents: “The Black Death was the most catastrophic outbreak of plague that Europe had ever seen. The disease occurred in two forms: the first was bubonic, which was carried in the bloodstream of the black rat and was transmitted to humans via fleas; and the second was pneumonia, which was transmitted by an infected person’s breath. Death normally came within two or five days after high temperatures and large swellings in the groin or armpit.
“It first reached England in June 1348 when a ship unwittingly carried black rats to the port of Melcombe Regis in Dorset. From the port it quickly spread inland and the towns began to take defensive measures – Gloucester, for instance, barred anyone from Bristol entering – but still the plague advanced; by the
end of 1349 it covered all of Britain. Many saw the plague as a visitation by God upon the wickedness of humanity, but prayers and almost any evasive action were useless against the onslaught. It has been estimated that in some areas up to 50% of the population died. A monk at Rochester wrote: ‘The plague carried off so vast a multitude of people of both sexes that nobody could be found who would bear the corpses to the grave. Men and women carried their children and threw them into common burial pits, the stench from which was so appalling that scarcely anyone dared to walk beside them.’ By 1350 the plague began to abate, leaving behind a greatly depleted population. Suddenly labor was very scarce and landlords, anxious to harvest the crops, offered laborers wages two or three times above the pre-plague levels; this was strictly enforced for several years, but the laws of supply and demand eventually won. It was only by the middle of the sixteenth century that the population reached pre-plague levels once again.”13
**INTERACTION WITH IRELAND**
In the next three sections, we will explore England’s interaction with Ireland, Scotland, and Wales.
1603-1714 ERA
Christopher Daniell observes: “From 1610 onwards an official policy of introducing Protestant ‘plantations’ into Ireland had been adopted. Land in the north of Ireland was divided up among wealthy City of London companies, and the new settlers, about 13,000 by 1622, were English or Scottish Protestants. Private plantations were also started in the Ulster region, and the proximity of the region to Scotland meant that many Scottish Presbyterians settled there. The area of English political domination, called the Pale, centered on Dublin. Elsewhere Catholics still predominated.
“In 1633 Thomas Wentworth (1593-1641), who became the Earl of Strafford, arrived in Ireland as Lord Deputy. He was highly successful and, like Laud, was intimately involved with Charles’ ‘personal rule’: he forced several prominent nobles to return lands to the Church and to the crown, obtained three grants from the Irish Parliament in 1634, and transformed Ireland’s finances to the extent that permanent financial support for the monarchy seemed possible. His ecclesiastical reforms, which imposed the Arminian ideas of Archbishop Land, were particularly disliked.”
Daniell continues: “In 1649 Cromwell led an army across to Ireland to campaign against the Catholic Irish and to stop Charles’ son, the future Charles II, gaining a foothold there. He ‘like a lightning passed through the land,’ in the process of which he inflicted two terrible massacres on the towns of Drogheda and Wexford. Cromwell was not usually cruel, but even by the standards of those times his brutality shocked people. The massacres are still remembered.”
Daniell continues: “In 1689 James II left France for Ireland, in an attempt to use the country as a first step to regaining power in England. Ireland was already under the control of the Catholic Earl of Tyrconnel and James’ arrival heightened Catholic fervor and support still further. The Parliament in Dublin passed a stream of anti-English legislation. The Protestant areas in the north became concerned and took refuge behind the city walls of such towns as Londonderry and Enniskillen. Even before James’
arrival thirteen apprentice boys in 1688 had slammed the gates of Londonderry in the faces of Catholic troops – an event which is still celebrated to this day by the Protestants of Northern Ireland.
“On 19 April 1689 the siege of Londonderry began. At its height the inhabitants were forced to eat dogs, rats and even candles and leather. English ships made several half-hearted attempts to relieve the city and finally succeeded on 30 July. An English army was sent to Ireland and won a major victory at the Battle of the Boyne in 1690 when William himself took charge and inflicted a crushing defeat on the Catholic forces. Afterwards the war degenerated into skirmishes and lasted until 1691. More men lost their lives through illness than in battle.
“By October 1692 the Irish Parliament was dominated by Protestants and William used the narrow band of Anglo-Irish landed nobility and gentry to keep the country subservient to English rule.”
1714-1837 ERA
Christopher Daniell recounts: “Since the Middle Ages Ireland had had its own Parliament, which enjoyed limited power. In an attempt to win greater independence, and inspired by the American revolutionary example, a separate Irish ‘Volunteer’ force was created. This display of strength enabled the Irish leader, Henry Grattan, to extract a Declaration of Independence from the British government in 1782. Further pressure was exerted in 1791 when the Society of United Irishmen was founded, based on republican ideas from France. When the war between Britain and France broke out the French sent a fleet of thirty-five ships to Bantry Bay in southern Ireland to help the Irish win freedom: the planned invasion only failed because of a gale.
“A sequence of rebellions and merciless reprisals convinced Pitt that the two nations should be united and that the Parliament in Dublin should be incorporated into that in London. An Act of Union became law on 1 January 1801 and the nation became known as the ‘United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland’. Pitt had also promised concessions for Catholics, but when George III refused – because he believed it would be breaking his coronation oath to defend the Protestant religion – Pitt resigned.”
Daniell continues: “The Irish Union with England in 1801 had not solved Ireland’s problems: Catholics could still not legally hold office or be elected to Parliament. In 1823 an Irish Catholic lawyer, Daniel O’Connell (1775-1847), founded the Catholic Association to further the aims of the Catholic majority. In 1826 the Association had its first political success with the election of a Member of Parliament; in 1828 O’Connell himself was elected for [County] Clare but could not enter Parliament because he was a Catholic.
“The situation in Ireland convinced the Duke of Wellington, who became leader of the Tory party in 1828 that the law had to be changed. The Emancipation Bill, favored by the Duke and Peel, caused bitter controversy: George IV threatened to abdicate and the bill was deeply unpopular in England amongst Protestants, who resented any increase in Catholic power. However, the possibility of civil unrest increased in Ireland to such an extent that the King reluctantly agreed to the bill and it was passed in 1829. The outcome was that up to sixty Irish Members of Parliament could enter the House of Commons.”
1837-1910 ERA
Christopher Daniell says: “Irish famine: The 1841 Irish census had recorded a population of nearly nine million in Ireland, about half of whom lived in ‘windowless mud cabins of a single room.’ Many rented small areas of land from absentee English landlords, surviving on a staple diet of potatoes – an acre of which could feed far more people than an acre of wheat. In 1845 and 1846 a fungus attacked the Irish potato crop and left the population starving and destitute. Those who could not pay their rent were evicted, and the hated landlords used the army or police to quell any protests. With the famine came typhoid and cholera, and by the 1851 census over one million Irish people had died and two million had emigrated, mainly to the United States of America.
“The famine had been one reason for the repeal of the Corn Laws, but ironically there was no shortage of corn in Ireland. Instead, the corn was harvested and then shipped to England for the English markets: no effort was made to distribute it amongst the Irish. The English landowners profited whilst the Irish starved. It was hardly surprising that the Irish who emigrated took with them a deep resentment of England and of English rule in Ireland.”
Daniell continues: “Throughout the century the Irish question had repeatedly come to the fore, with the potato famine of 1845-9 dramatically highlighting the poverty and desperation of the people. In 1858 an organization known as the Fenian Brotherhood was founded in the United States and soon become prominent in Ireland. Its aims were to ‘renounce all allegiance to the Queen of England, and to take arms and fight at a moment’s warning to make Ireland an Independent Democratic Republic.’ By 1865 the Fenian leader, James Stephens, claimed that he had 85,000 men ready to take up the armed struggle, but the British authorities learnt of the planned raids through an informer. Before one raid in 1867 Fenians gathered to attack Chester Castle but learnt of their betrayal just in time; the police had to be satisfied with a haul of hastily discarded revolvers. The most dramatic incident came in September 1867 when two Fenians were rescued from police custody; one policeman was shot and died. Three men who were present were charged with the murder though they did not fire the gun; they were hanged and became known as the ‘Manchester Martyrs’.
“Gladstone was well aware of the problem, and when he came to office in 1868 he declared that it was his mission to ‘pacify’ Ireland. He was not particularly successful, for each time action was taken it seemed to be both too little and too late. At first a policy of moderation and tolerance was followed. In 1869 the Irish Church Act allowed greater freedom to the Catholic Church, to which the majority of Irish people belonged, and stated that the Protestant Church of Ireland was no longer the established church. A further bid to implement change came in the first Irish Land Act of 1870 which attempted to give peasants some measure of protection against landlords and prohibited ‘exorbitant’ rents. The act was a failure – not least because the amount deemed to be ‘exorbitant’ was never defined. The resulting violence caused Gladstone to pass a Coercion Act in 1871 to repress the unrest in the countryside; it gave the police extra powers of arrest and led to the sending over of more troops. There were now more troops stationed in Ireland than in India.
“The problem of Ireland continued to exercise a profound influence on British politics. The complexity of the issues was shown by the fact that four of the six governments between 1880 and 1895 were brought down directly by Irish affairs. A crucial factor was the power of the block vote of the eighty or so Irish Nationalist Members of Parliament in Parliament, led by Charles Parnell. They became convinced that a measure of home rule for Ireland was the only solution; they would switch sides according to which English party they believed could offer them more. In 1885 they forced out Gladstone’s Liberal government, then both Salisbury’s Conservative government and Gladstone’s Liberal government fell in 1886.
“The Irish Home Rule crisis of 1886 split the Liberals and led to a group of Liberal Unionist Members of Parliament keeping the Conservative government under the Marquess of Salisbury (and subsequently Balfour) in power between 1886-92 and 1895-1905. These ‘Unionist’ governments implemented strict measures to improve law and order in Ireland, although a Land Purchase Act of 1891 helped farmers to buy land. An additional bonus for the English government was the disgrace of Charles Parnell in 1891 when it became public knowledge that he had been living with a divorced woman for nine years.
“Gladstone’s final attempt to introduce a Home Rule Bill for Ireland came in 1893, but although it was passed by the House of Commons, the Lords decisively rejected it. Gladstone finally resigned in 1894 and in the ensuing general election in 1895 the Conservatives with their Liberal Unionist allies came back to power. Gladstone’s attempts to solve the Irish problem had failed, and the Liberals seemed to have split beyond repair.”
1910-1945 ERA
Christopher Daniell spotlights: “Until World War I the chances of settling the political future of Ireland hinged upon the prospect of Home Rule, which would have given a measure of independence to southern Ireland at least. The Liberal government of Asquith vacillated, mainly because it feared a violent reaction from the Protestants in the six northern counties of Ireland. By 1914 the situation was so bad that a civil war in Ireland seemed far more likely than war in Europe. With the advent of war the Home Rule Bill was shelved – and with it the hopes and fears of the people of Ireland.
“Many Irishmen, however, saw Home Rule as a poor substitute for real independence. During the war, though many fought for Britain, others were determined to further the cause of Irish independence rather than wait for the possibility of Home Rule at the end of the war. At Easter 1916 a group of Republicans launched an uprising in an attempt to gain independence from a war-torn Britain. They seized several strong points in Dublin, the most famous being the General Post Office, and fought off the British troops for several days.
“The Republicans had no chance of winning in the Easter Rebellion. Up to this point the moderates in Ireland had not supported the uprising, but the British treatment of the prisoners, which included shooting fifteen Republican leaders, sent a shock wave of horror through the country. People flocked to join the Republican party Sinn Fein (‘Ourselves alone’) which worked with the Irish Republican Army (IRA) to force the British to leave Ireland.
“Two years later, in 1918, Sinn Fein had grown so powerful that it won seventy-three of the 105 Irish seats at Westminster, and so decided to set up a separate assembly in Ireland rather than go to the British Parliament. The Irish Parliament, known as the Dail Eireann (‘Assembly of Ireland’), simply ignored the British. Led by Eamon De Valera, the Dail organized its own government and administered the country in its own way. In England a Home Rule Bill was passed in 1920 by the Lloyd George government, a move by which it was hoped to win back moderate support to the British. The six predominantly Protestant northern counties were partitioned from the south and given their own Parliament at Stormont in Belfast. Sinn Fein, unsurprisingly, rejected the Home Rule Bill.
“In the following years terrible atrocities were committed on both sides. The IRA, who had about 2,000 ‘soldiers’, attacked British properties and personnel, while the British-backed Royal Irish Constabulary (RIC), reinforced by English recruits known as ‘the Black and Tans’, were equally vicious: in one episode they burnt a large part of the Irish city of Cork. By 1921 the situation had become so serious that Lloyd George pushed through a new Home Rule Bill. But the measure was seen by most Irishmen as being too little too late, and in 1921 Sinn Fein won 124 out of the 128 seats in the elections. Lloyd George met De Valera, and in 1922 the Irish Free State was founded. Ireland was now granted ‘dominion’ status in the empire, equivalent to that held by Canada and the other self-government colonies.
“The emergence of the Irish Free State led to a bloody civil war in southern Ireland between those who supported the government and the IRA, who wished to include the six northern counties as well. Eventually the moderates triumphed and the country was pacified under the leadership of William Cosgrave, who led the Irish Free State from 1922 to 1932.”
1945-1990 ERA: NORTHERN IRELAND
Christopher Daniell underscores: “Southern Ireland, which had broken away from British rule in 1922, had remained neutral in World War II and had declared itself an independent republic in 1949. In the six northern counties a different system had evolved, for there the Protestant majority wanted to remain part of the United Kingdom. For over half a century Northern Ireland had its own Parliament at Stormont, and sent twelve Members of Parliament to the United Kingdom Parliament in London. Northern Ireland politics up to the late 1960s were dominated by the ‘Unionists’ who wanted these close links to remain. Their most trenchant opponents were hardline Catholics who wanted to join the two parts of Ireland into one nation. The most extreme Catholic group was the Irish Republican Army (IRA) which had sporadically committed outrages in the 1950s and 1960s.
“By the late 1960s the situation had become dramatically worse. The Catholic minority in the north (about 30% of the population) protested with increasing vigor about discrimination in housing, jobs and voting rights. From 1968 they began to campaign for full equality but the Protestants, fearful of their own privileged position, broke up the civil rights marches. By 1969 the violence had become so bad that Prime Minister Harold Wilson sent troops into Belfast and Londonderry to protect the Catholics from Protestant attacks.
“The 1970s saw the spread of violence within Northern Ireland and on to ‘mainland’ Britain. In Northern Ireland both Catholics and Protestants were guilty of atrocities against the other side. The Catholics,
who had originally welcomed British troops, now saw them as an army of occupation; the first British soldier was killed in 1971 and by the end of the decade over 300 soldiers had died. The killings were not one-sided, and on one day in January 1972 British troops killed thirteen civilians, on what is remembered as ‘Bloody Sunday’. There were various peace initiatives from London, but none worked. In 1972 the system of Home Rule for Northern Ireland ended and ‘Direct Rule’ from London was imposed. The IRA began to attack English targets, causing substantial loss of life at Aldershot barracks and in the Birmingham pub bombing.
“In 1985 an initiative, called The Anglo-Irish Agreement, was signed by Britain and the Irish Republic. The two countries agreed to confer over the problems of Northern Ireland and began to work together to combat terrorism. The Unionist parties denounced the move for giving too much power to the Irish Republic, but despite opposition and protest the agreement has survived. The single worst act of violence in Britain at that time came in 1984 when the IRA bombed the Grand Hotel in Brighton where the Conservatives were holding their annual conference. Mrs Thatcher narrowly missed being killed, several Conservative ministers were injured, and several people died. Thus the terrorists came perilously close to dramatically changing the course of English history.”14
**INTERACTION WITH SCOTLAND**
1272-1485 ERA
Christopher Daniell comments on: “In 1286 King Alexander III of Scotland died leaving his three-year-old granddaughter Margaret as heir to the throne. She was the child of Alexander’s daughter and the King of Norway but Edward’s carefully arranged plans to marry her to his son, Edward, collapsed when Margaret died on her way from Norway to Scotland. Thirteen nobles came forward to claim the Scottish throne as their own. In an attempt to avoid a civil war and English attack, the Scots acknowledged Edward as overlord and he decided the succession in favor of John Balliol. However, the new King John became increasingly caught between Edward’s demands and the growth of Scottish nationalism. In the end John’s advisors persuaded him to defy Edward, and Scotland allied itself in 1295 to England’s old enemy, France.
“The first phase of the resulting war was quickly over when Edward invaded Scotland in 1296, captured Berwick-upon-Tweed and defeated the Scots at the Battle of Dunbar. Yet Edward had stirred up a hornet’s nest and the Scottish rebellion continued long past the end of his reign. The tide of war ebbed back and forth. During the campaigns two great Scottish heroes emerged. The first was William Wallace (1272?-1305?), who led the Scottish forces to a great victory over the English at Stirling Bridge in 1297. The following year Edward defeated him at the Battle of Falkirk; this victory was the first where the long bow was used to great effect – a new, and very successful, English tactic. Archers using long bows could shoot up to twelve arrows a minute over a range of 220 yards which enabled them to decimate the approaching cavalry. After the onslaught foot soldiers and archers then killed or captured the struggling knights in armor. In the next century the results of these tactics would reverberate throughout Europe.
“Edward proceeded to mount further invasions of Scotland in 1300, 1301, 1303 and 1304, but only in 1305 was William Wallace finally captured. Yet a year later the second Scottish hero, Robert Bruce
(1274-1329), had himself crowned King at Scone by the Bishop of St Andrew’s. Edward reacted swiftly and heavily defeated Robert, who was forced into hiding. Robert Bruce’s recovery is enshrined in a famous legend. The story is told that he hid in a cave to escape the English; desperate and hungry he watched a spider build a web. The spider, through instinct and determination, succeeded and gave Robert Bruce the inspiration to carry on.”
1485-1603 ERA
Christopher Daniell emphasizes: “As England reverted to a mild Protestantism, the danger existed of joint attack by Scotland and France, both of which were Catholic. This religious threat at England’s back door was broken in 1559 when John Knox (1505-72), a fiery Calvinist preacher, set Scotland alight with his Protestant teachings. The Protestant nobles attacked the French-backed government forces and drove the French out of Scotland, much to Elizabeth’s delight.
“The Queen of Scotland, Mary (1542-87), was married to the French King Francis II until his death in 1560. She then returned to Scotland and proceeded to make every blunder possible. Unlike Elizabeth, she married but with little regard to political expediency. Her three marriages were extraordinary episodes, incorporating jealousy, murder, bombings, scandal and Mary’s ability for falling desperately in love with unworthy men, and they did not endear her to the population of Scotland or enhance the Catholic cause. She was disposed in 1567 in favor of her infant son James and she fled to England.
“Even though Mary was kept as a prisoner by the Queen, she posed a serious problem for Elizabeth. Not only was she a direct and legitimate descendent of Henry VII, but her Catholicism could inspire a reaction amongst the old-guard Catholics. Moreover, Mary endlessly schemed to recover the Scottish throne and to depose Elizabeth. She survived until 1587 when her plotting finally caused her downfall and Elizabeth signed her death warrant. A major challenge to the State’s stability disappeared, but another followed promptly when Philip II of Spain sent an armada to dethrone Elizabeth.”
1603-1714 ERA
Christopher Daniell gives: “In 1637 Charles and Laud introduced the English Prayer Book into Scotland. All protests from the Scots were ignored and riots ensued when the Prayer Book was actually introduced into Scottish churches: in St Giles’ in Edinburgh a woman threw a stool at the dean’s head and the church had to be cleared by the town guard. As a countermeasure the Scottish Presbyterians signed a National Covenant to ‘recover the purity of the Gospel.’ When the Glasgow Assembly met in 1638 it abolished bishops: a direct and powerful attack on the King’s powers.
“The Scots quickly collected an efficient army; Charles responded by sending a poorly organized army to Berwick-upon-Tweed. The two sides were so unevenly matched that Charles signed a peace treaty without a battle being fought. In 1639 he recalled Parliament to vote him more money, but it refused until its grievances had been discussed; after a couple of weeks the ‘Short Parliament’ was dissolved. The cycle was repeated: the King tried to defeat the Scots and failed. The Scots army invaded England and occupied Northumberland and Durham. A treaty was signed which paid the Scots 850 pounds per day for the trouble of invading England.”
Daniell continues: “Scotland was the next flash-point. Charles II landed there in 1650 to claim his inheritance. To gain allies he allowed himself to be crowned by the more powerful Presbyterian faction. His apparent religious ‘conversion’ was seemingly a political move to gain support and in later life he favored Catholicism. Two campaigns were mounted by Charles; the first was defeated by Cromwell in Scotland at Dunbar in 1650. The second attempt in 1651 was more successful for Charles and a Scottish army marched rapidly south into England. Cromwell and the army followed; they caught up with Charles at Worchester and crushed the Royalist forces. Charles was forced to flee and escaped to France, from where he bided his time and waited to return.”
Daniell continues: “The most important measure to be passed by Parliament during Anne’s reign was the political union of England and Scotland. James I had unified the crowns of the two centuries but no more. The Scots and the English each had their own Parliaments and state religions, and as a result of the conflicts of the seventeenth century tensions had increased rather than diminished. The difficulty of having one king ruling two countries became apparent when a Spanish attempt to start a trading settlement on the coast of Panama ended in failure in 1698. King William had been displeased with the venture and refused to help the hundreds of Scottish investors who had lost money. Union was made all the more urgent because many Scots supported James II, and France’s traditional influence within Scotland might provoke rebellion.
“William had proposed a union of the two countries, but he died before it could be implemented. Although Anne inherited the plans, it took another crisis before it was agreed. In 1704 the Scots declared that they would choose their own king on the death of Anne and support the choice by force; England threatened trade sanctions. War seemed likely for a time, but a compromise was reached whereby Scotland kept its own church and law courts but would be represented in the London Parliament and have equal trading rights with England. In 1707 the last Scottish Parliament assembled and on 1 May 1707 the ‘United Kingdom of Great Britain’ came into existence.”15
**INTERACTION WITH WALES**
1272-1485 ERA
Christopher Daniell pens: “During England’s early years the Welsh began to assert their independence. The antagonism between the Welsh, with their Celtic language and independent lords, and the English reached back to the Anglo-Saxon conquest of England. The Lord of Snowdonia, Llywelyn ap Gruffydd, (1225?-82), had steadily built up his powerbase in the Snowdonian mountains, and was formally acknowledged as the Prince of Wales by Henry III in 1267. To counter Llywelyn’s power as an independent lord and put pressure upon him, Edward captured de Montfort’s daughter, Eleanor, on her way to marry the Welsh leader. Llywelyn, however, still refused to pay homage to Edward, so the King decided to use force to subdue him.
“In 1277 an English army marched on Wales and cut off Llywelyn from his supply-base in Anglesey and captured him in the mountains of Snowdonia. The resulting peace treaty was mild in character, and he was allowed to marry Eleanor. The magnificent marriage ceremony took place at Worcester Cathedral in 1279 with the cost of the proceedings being met by Edward. In 1282 the Welsh again rose in revolt,
led by Llywelyn’s brother of David. This time the fighting was harder and Edward had to call on the considerable power of England, along with great nobles from Gascony, to destroy the Walsh. Llywelyn was killed in a skirmish, and David was betrayed and executed. There were two further Welsh uprisings in 1287 and 1294, but the English conquest had been effectively achieved by 1284. Edward seized Llywelyn’s lands for himself: his son Edward was later given Llywelyn’s title of Prince of Wales to demonstrate England’s political dominance.
“The greatest tangible residue of these events was the string of immense castles built around the Welsh coast. Even now they remind us of the permanence of English rule. The castles, as at Caernarfon, Beaumaris and Harlech represent the climax of castle-building. They were built around the design of a large open space surrounded by a very thick ‘curtain’ wall. … Built into the curtain wall were a series of towers from which the enemy could be fired upon. The prohibitive expense of building and maintaining the castles meant that never again were so many built on such a large scale.
“The year 1290 proved to be a turning-point in Edward’s reign. Until then he had been successful in love and war, and he planned to fulfill his ambition of going on a second crusade. Wales was peaceful and firmly under English control, his English subjects were contented, and he was contentedly married to Eleanor of Castile whom he had married at the age of fifteen; although the match had been politically contrived, it proved to be very happy. Eleanor died in 1290 and a grief-stricken Edward wrote, ‘My harp is tuned to mourning, in life I loved her dearly, nor can I cease to love her in death.’ His affection is shown by the series of twelve ‘Eleanor crosses’ which marked the route of her funeral cortege from Lincoln, where she died, to Westminster, where she was buried.
“In the same year Edward expelled the Jews from England. They had always been disliked by the Christian community for their religion and money-lending; they were also accused of various crimes, like the supposed killing of Christian children. Persecution of the Jews took several forms, including: having to wear a distinctive ‘badge of shame’ (two strips of yellow cloth six inches long and three wide); not being allowed to eat with, or employ, Christians; and being forbidden to go out of doors at Easter. They had previously been allowed to live in England because kings and nobles had found them to be an excellent source of money. They were taxed excessively, and in the early 1200s they provided nearly a seventh of the monarchy’s total income. As the century progressed they continued to pay exorbitant taxes and endured diminished rights – from 1275 they were even forbidden to lend money at interest. By 1290 they were impoverished, and Edward decreed they should be expelled. This was the first banishment of the Jews from a European country in the medieval period; in 1306 France followed England’s example, and Spain persecuted and expelled them in 1490s.”
1485-1603 ERA
Christopher Daniell scribes: “The medieval era also came to an end in Wales. Even though Edward I had conquered Wales by 1284, the Welsh language, laws and customs had survived in many areas. In 1536 and 1543 the legal Union of England and Wales was accomplished by Parliament. Instead of giving Wales its own effective government, the country was simply incorporated into England. English laws, county administration, land tenure, customs of tenure and inheritance replaced the Welsh methods.
The English saw the process as a step towards civilizing the country: the Welsh saw it as crude annexation.”16
**ROBIN HOOD**
Next we will explore the myth of Robin Hood. For more information, please refer to the Nottinghamshire section on the Sherwood Forest. Christopher Daniell states: “It was while Richard was in captivity in Germany that Robin Hood was supposed to have been active. The legend of an outlaw hiding in the forest and robbing the rich to give to the poor is a powerful one. The first mention of Robin Hood occurs in Piers Plowman, written about 1380, when a character states that he knows the ‘rhymes of Robin Hood’. The earliest texts of the Robin Hood stories were written down around the 1450s. There are two problems which have been studied in detail: where does the action take place, and did Robin Hood exist? From the earliest texts there is little evidence for Robin Hood ever hiding out in Sherwood Forest. Indeed, it is likely that he never did battle with the sheriff of Nottingham, for the place most frequently mentioned in the texts is Barnsdale in Yorkshire. Gangs of outlaws did exist in the forests, but it is a matter of debate whether Robin Hood was one of them. Various people bearing the same name have been discovered around the country, though this proves little concerning the legend. It is safest to say that the stories and legends developed to satisfy the needs of the population, many of whom resented the almost unassailable power of the sheriffs and bishops.”17
**SPANISH ARMADA**
Now we will move on to the Spanish Armada’s attempt to invade England. Christopher Daniell alludes to: “Over the previous fifty years Spain and England, once brought close by the marriage of Henry VIII and Catherine of Aragon, and Mary and Philip, had now become bitter enemies. One reason for this was that England was turning aggressively to the world overseas. England’s last gateway into Europe, Calais, had been lost in Mary’s reign and this encouraged English merchants and seamen to exploit the New World. On the high seas Francis Drake (1540?-96) and John Hawkins (1532-95) had been plundering Spanish vessels in the New World. In December 1577 Drake, in his ship Golden Hind, attacked the Spanish-held coasts of Chile and Peru, and in 1580 returned to England with an estimated 500,000 pounds worth of captured money and jewelry.
“A further reason for Philip’s hatred of England was the country remained Protestant. Moreover England actively supported the Protestants in the Netherlands, who were fighting their Spanish [and Catholic] overlords. Philip, an ardent Catholic, was determined to act. Under pressure from Spain the pope excommunicated Elizabeth and called on Catholics to dethrone her. Various plots were devised, but Francis Walsingham, who was in charge of an elaborate intelligence network, passed on the information to Elizabeth’s most important minister William Cecil (1520-98) who stopped them before they became dangerous. It was obvious to Philip that more drastic measures were needed, and in 1587 he made plans for the invasion of England. Drake responded to the threat by attacking Cadiz and causing damage to the Spanish fleet moored there – he later boasted that he had ‘singed the King of Spain’s beard.’ Despite these and other setbacks, Philip collected an impressive fleet of ships (in Spanish, armada), which sailed in 1588 to conquer England. In all the Armada consisted of 130 ships, of
which thirty-seven were of serious fighting value and the rest were transport ships for the soldiers from the Netherlands. The English navy was small and had only twenty-one vessels of 200 tons or over, but its number was increased by merchant ships. As the Armada approached England the Spanish hoped that English Catholics would rebel, overthrow the Queen and install Philip as monarch.
“No Catholic uprising took place, and the Spanish Armada was defeated by a combination of skill and luck. The plan was that the Armada was to sail up the Channel, meet up with the Spanish forces in the Netherlands, and protect the troops as they crossed to England. In the crisis Elizabeth was magnificent. The English navy was able to do little damage as the Armada swept up the Channel, but she made a rallying speech to the soldiers ready to repel the invasion: ‘I know I have but the body of a weak and feeble woman, but I have the heart and stomach of a king, and of a King of England, too.’
“The Armada reached Calais and dropped anchor in tight formation to await the troops from the Netherlands. The English deliberately set fire to eight of their own merchant ships and the wind carried them into the formation. In panic the Spanish ships cut their anchors and were dispersed. A ‘Protestant wind’ drove them past their rendezvous with the troops and out into the North Sea. The ships of the Armada made their way home round the treacherous coasts of Scotland and Ireland and many ships foundered; the men who successfully returned were weak from lack of food. Philip organized other armadas, in 1596, 1597 and 1599, but they were either diverted or scattered by bad weather.”18
**STONE CIRCLES**
Finally, we learn about the mysterious stone circles popping up in various places in England. Christopher Daniell communicates: “There are over 900 stone circles in the British Isles, and while those in Scotland and Ireland were primarily for burials, the original purpose of the English and Welsh circles is less clear. They were possibly used for ceremonial occasions, or as trading places, but probably only rarely for astronomical observation. There are several major groups of stone circles scattered around Britain. In England there are concentrations in the Lake District and the Land’s End peninsula. But the most celebrated of all are on the Wiltshire Downs which provide an incredibly rich archeological landscape. A few hours walk from Avebury, where the stone circle is so large that it incorporates a village and fields, there are eight long barrows, Silbury Hill, over 400 round barrows, and the most famous stone circle in England, Stonehenge.”19
**BEDFORDSHIRE**
Now we will begin our investigation into interesting place names and histories of England by going alphabetically through each Shire. We will start with Bedfordshire.
JB Johnston enumerates: “The Bedford is in the Welsh Rhydwely, which probably means ‘ford on this torrent’, Welsh gweilgi. Old English Chronicle: 577 [AD] Bedecanford, 1011 [AD] Bedanfordscir, 1016 [AD] Beadaford scire; circa 1150 [AD] Bedefordia, ‘Ford of Bedeca’. Compare to Birch’s Cartularium Saxonicum 1307 [AD] Bedecan lea. The Manchester Bedfort is 1296 [AD] Bedeford, ‘Baeda’s Ford’.”20
J Gronow depicts: “Bedford: County town of Bedfordshire, takes its name from the Saxon Bedicanford, ie, ‘fortress of the ford’; is memorable as the burial place of Offa King of Mercia, whose tomb, and the chapel in which it was placed, were carried away by an inundation of the Ouse. John Bunyan, author of the ‘Pilgrim’s Progress’, was minister of the Old Meeting-house here.”21
JM Wilson gives an account: “Bedfordshire, or Beds, an inland county; bounded on the northwest by Northampton, on the northeast by Huntingdon, on the east by Cambridge, on the southeast and south by Herts, and on the southwest and west by Bucks. Its length southward is 35 miles; its greatest breadth, 22 ½ miles; its circuit, about 145 miles; and its area 295,582 acres. The general aspect is diversified and pleasing. The surface in the center, called the Vale of Bedford, is prevailingly flat and luxuriant; in the southwest, hilly, a portion of the Chilterns, commanding extensive views; on the flanks of the Vale of Bedford and in the north, hillocky and rolling; and in other parts, a mixture of swells and flats. The chief rivers are the Ouse, the Ivel, the Hiz, the Ousel, and the Lea. The prevailing rocks in the south, up to Houghton-Regis and Barton-in the-Clay, are chalk; those of a belt about 7 miles broad, east-northeastward from Eaton-Bray and Leighton-Buzzard, are upper greensand and gault; those of a belt of similar but more irregular breadth immediately north of this, are lower greensand; those of the tracts further north and northeast, including most of the Vale of Bedford, are middle oolite, variously coral rag, calcareous grit, and Oxford clay; and those of a small tract along the Ouse north of Bedford, and of another small tract continuous with this in the extreme northwest, are lower oolite, variously forest marble, Bradford clay, and fuller's earth. Chalk, under the name of clunch, is burnt for lime; freestone is quarried at Tattenhoe; a little iron stone is found; fuller's earth, of economic value, was formerly raised in Aspley-Guise; and a few grains of gold were once obtained at Pulloxhill. Mineral springs occur at Bedford, Bletsoe, Bromham, Clapham, Cranfield, Milton-Ernest, Odell, and Turvey. The climate is mild and genial, the prevailing winds southwesterly.
“The territory now forming Bedfordshire was inhabited, in the primitive times, by the tribe called Cassii. It became part of the Roman Britannia Superior; afterwards part of the Britannia Prima; afterwards, in 310, part of the Flavia Caesariensis. It belonged, in the time of the heptarchy, to the kingdom of Mercia; and became subject, in 827, to the Saxons. And it first took the name of Bedford in the reign of Alfred the Great. Icknieldstreet crosses its southern extremity eastward over the chalk hills. Watling-street crosses its southwestern extremity northwestward through Dunstable and near Battlesdon. A Roman road, coming in from Baldock, traverses the eastern extremity to Potton. British, Roman, Saxon, and Danish remains occur near Dunstable, near Sandy, near Hexton, at the Maiden Bower, at Tottenhoe, Arlesby, Biggleswade, Bradford, and other places Earthworks, ruins, or other vestiges of ancient castles may be seen at Bedford, Risinghoe, Cainhoe, Bletsoe, Ridgmont, Meppershall, Puddington, and Thurleigh. An old cross stands at Leighton-Buzzard; a famous priory stood at Dunstable; 14 other monastic houses stood in other places; and some of the old existing churches, particularly those of Luton, Elstow, Eaton-Bray, Felmersham, and Puddington exhibit interesting features of ancient architecture.”22
***CHICKSANDS, BEDFORDSHIRE***
University of Nottingham’s Institute for Name Studies points out: “Chicksands Priory: ‘Cic(c)a’s sands’, referring to the sandy character of the soil here. Priory is a later addition. Cic(c)a is an Old English personal name; sand is Old English for ‘sand’.”23
www.camptonandchicksands.org.uk relates: “Although it is unclear when they were originally built the Doomsday Survey of 1086 records two Manors and St Mary’s Church at Chicksands. The spelling of Chicksands has changed many over the years some examples are: 1086 [AD] Chichesane, 1161 [AD] Chikessant, 1242 [AD] Chikesend, 1370 [AD] Chikesoundene, 1388 [AD] Chixham, and 1457 [AD] Chyxsond.
“In 1150 a Manor was granted the Gilbertine order, and in 1317 the second manor at Chicksands was conveyed to the Gilbertines. There was a pair of adjacent cloisters one for men and one for women.
“The Priory was substantially enlarged over the next decades. The massive oak beams still supporting the south range of the current roof is of the 15th century, as is the stained glass Oriel window in the upper east wall, although it is possible that not all the glass is original.
“Two legends relating to Chicksands have been passed down during the centuries, one concerns secret tunnels that possibly run from the Priory to local Churches of nearby villages of Clophill and Haynes and to the old baker building in Shefford (which is now Barclays Bank). None have these have been confirmed.
“The other is that of a disgraced nun Rosata who was walled up in the Priory (the Priory’s east wall does have a false window). It is said that her ghost roams the Priory at night. Accounts of numerous sightings and experiences were documented in 1958 in Legends & Lore.
“After the dissolution in 1538 the Priory was leased and later conveyed to the Osbourn family who owned it for 400 years.
“St Mary’s Church on the Chicksands Estate remained a place of worship but from 1592 disappeared from the record books. The building fell into ruin and the stones were used for other buildings. The old Priory building fell into disrepair and by the end of the 16th century only the nuns’ cloister could be used for human shelter.”24
Samuel Lysons stipulates: “Chicksand, an extra parochial place in the hundred of Clifton, about a mile from Shefford, was the site of a priory, founded about the year 1150, by Pain de Beauchamp and Roese his wife, relict of Geffrey de Mandeville, founder of Walden Abbey, for nuns and canons of the order of St Gilbert of Sempringham. So anxious was this good lay to promote the interests of her favorite convent, that when her son Geffrey de Mandeville, East of Essex, whose patronage and benefactions she had in vain endeavored to induce him to transfer from his father’s monastery of Walden to Chicksand, died at Chester, she being then residing at this convent with her nuns, sent an armed troop to intercept his corpse on its way to Walden for interment, and forcibly convey it to be buried at Chicksand, to which monastery she hoped his kindred would by that means be induced to become benefactors; but her intention being made known to the knights, who were to attend the body, they provided themselves
with a sufficient guard, and with their swords drawn, conveyed it safe to Walden. Simon de Beauchamp, son of Pain, gave the church of Chicksand to the nuns there, and John Blondel, in 1317, the manor. The priory was dissolved in 1538, when its clear yearly value was estimated at 212 pounds, 3 shillings, 5.5 pence. The site was granted in 1539 to R Snow, of whose family it was purchased, about the year 1600, by Sir John Osborn, knight. Lord Treasurer’s Remembrancer, whose grandson of the same name was created a baronet in 1660.
“Chicksand priory is now the property and seat of General Sir George Osborn bart. It retains much of the monastic appearance, and exhibits considerable remains of the conventual buildings. The south and east fronts were either rebuilt or altered about the middle of the last century by Ware the architect. Two sides of the cloisters are nearly entire. Sir George Osborn has fitted up the windows with ancient stained glass, and has deposited, in the cloisters, various antiquities, which have no immediate connection with the place, excepting two ancient tombs, dug up near the priory. In one of the walls is placed the tomb of an abbot of Pipwell, brought from the site of that monastery in Northamptonshire. A part of the building, now used as a chapel, and some adjoining offices, have stone roofs, vaulted and groined. The quadrangle within the cloisters is 64 feet by 51 feet 6 inches.
“Chicksand-house contains some valuable portraits, particularly of the Osborn family: the most remarkable of which are those of Peter Osborn, Privy Purse to Edward VI and one of the commissioners for ecclesiastical affairs in the reign of Queen Elizabeth; Sir Peter Osborn, governor of Jersey; Francis Osborn, a younger son of Sir John Osborn, knight, and ingenious and entertaining writer, author of Advice to a Son, and Essays on King James and King Charles; Col Henry Osborn, killed at the battle of Naseby; and Henry Osborn, a distinguished naval officer, who died in 1771, vice-admiral of Great Britain. Among the portraits, not connected with the family are, Sir Philip Warwick and his lady; a fine whole length of Edward VI by Holbein; and a very valuable portrait of Oliver Cromwell, by Peter Lely. It is a fine picture, and exhibits the strong features of his countenance, with all the roughnesses and warts, which, we are told, he charged the artist by no means to omit. It was taken after he was Protector, and is said to have been a present to Sir John Danvers, one of the Judges of King Charles I, whose daughter married Sir John Osborn the first baronet.
“Sir George Osborn has built a bed-chamber in imitation of the chapter-house at Peterborough. In this room is a state-bed which belonged to King James I as appears from the initials IA with the crown. The traditionary account of it is, that it was the bed on which the Pretender was born, and that, upon that occasion, it became a perquisite of the chamberlain, by whom it was given to the Osborn family.”25
***HOLYWELL, BEDFORDSHIRE***
James Pigot writes: “Holwell is a parish in the hundred of Clifton, and on the borders of Hertfordshire, being only three miles northwest of Hitchin, in that County. The living of the parish is a rectory, in the archdeaconry of Bedford, and is in the patronage of the Radcliff family. The late Mr John Foster discovered, many years since, upon his estate, the spring or well from which this parish derived its name – being a corruption of Holywell; and traditionary tales ascribe great efficacy to the waters of this sacred foundation: it has been long concealed, and is now an object of frequent visitation. Mr Foster, though
agriculture formed his chief pursuit, was a zealous antiquary, and he possessed a fine collection of rare coins, many of which had been found in his own neighborhood. In Dunnage’s MS History of Hitchin it is stated that coins of Gordianus Pius Severus (silver), and Constantine the Elder, have been found at Holwell. Mr Foster had in his possession a curious MS document, signed ‘Kent’, and dated July 17th, 1598, ordering the constables of Holwell ‘to apprehend all fiddlers and minstrels playing on the Sabbath daies, and drawing together divers young persons committing many disorders, to the great offence of Almightie God and the disannulling of her Majestie’s wholesome laws.’”26
William Monkhouse articulates: “An etymology which does not explain or harmonize with some marked feature or physical peculiarity in the place which it pretends to describe is very far from being satisfactory. Let us examine Holwell by this rule, which long usage has interpreted as meaning the Holy well. I am very sorry that I am obliged to demur to this acceptation of the word, although I by no means ignore the importance of the well, or deny that it contributes its full share to the name of the parish. But the difficulty is to ascertain what its colleague Hol means. As welle is Anglo-Saxon for ‘well’, we must also look for the meaning of Hol in the same language. Now Hol unfortunately has nothing to do with ‘holy’, and bears no relation to it whatever. In ancient Anglo-Saxon charters we find the words Holebroc, Holeweg, and Holewell constantly occurring. We find the name of Leofric of Holewell in Bedfordshire as an attesting witness to the will of AElfhelm, consequently there is no mistake in the identity.
“Now Hol in Anglo-Saxon is a ‘low deep place’; in fact our word Hole is derived from it, and sufficiently explains its meaning. But as a German philologist observes that we are not to limit the meaning of Hol to a ‘pit’ or ‘hollow road-way’, for that it has a much wider signification, and is used to denote a low tract of land ‘eine ganze orte weil in den hole liegt’. Thus instead of the place being Holy well, it simply means a ‘well in a hole’ – and the next question is whether this construction of it can be supported by facts. At Holwell there is a well of great pretensions in a low situation and surrounded on all sides by high ground. But we cannot learn either from history or tradition that it was ever invested with the prestige of sanctity, or that it was ever dedicated to any saint, like St Faith’s well at Hexton, or St Chad’s at Pertanhall; and still this was the supposed Holy well, the ‘fons AEgeriae’ which gave its name to the parish. In Hampshire there is a real holy well, but then in Anglo-Saxon charters is was written very properly – not Holwell, or Holewell, but Halgan welle, in order to denote its sacred character. Some five and twenty years ago Offa street in Bedford was called Offal street, but it was not ignorance that dropped the l final, and gave to that suburban place a classical etymon. It was rather excessive refinement that prompted the change; nor it is to be wondered at that superstition in a much darker ago should misinterpret the meaning of the word Holwell – or that the increased intelligence of a more refined period out of a delicate regard to old associations should be content to perpetuate the delusion.”27
***MOGGERHANGER, BEDFORDSHIRE***
University of Nottingham’s Institute for Name Studies describes: “Moggerhanger: etiology uncertain, perhaps, ‘miser’s sloping wood’ or ‘slippery sloping wood’. Mocor (Old English); muker (Old English); hangra (Old English), ‘a sloping wood’, used in settlement names of a gentle rather than steep slope.”28
William Monkhouse establishes: “Before leaving Blunham I must make a few remarks upon this hamlet and I must pronounce it to be one of the most extraordinary and unmeaning corruptions of names in the county, and the wonder is the greater that the change has been made so recently.
“Hangra is a very common Anglo-Saxon termination and means a ‘Down’, and in German Anger is simply a ‘pasture or field’; as ‘auf den blumingen anger’ in the flowery field. We have the word in Panshanger, Poleshanger, etc, but Moggerhanger bears no affinity to any language that ever prevailed in this Island. It is a barbarism both in sense and sound, but it is a great satisfaction to us that we can trace the corruption of its source.
“In the Blunham Parish Register for the year 1574 we read ‘on the 15th of July was William ffysher of Morhanger buried.’ Here we have the word in its etymological purity and correctness. But we trace onwards and find that Thomas Regnolds of Kempston was married to Jane Oxley of Moderhanger AD 1608. Here they have got the wedge in and in four short years afterwards the adulteration is carried on at a most alarming rate for on the 13th of May, 1612 we find this entry – ‘William Garat of Maugerhanger, Shepherd, sepultus est.’ Making fresh butter out of flints is nothing in comparison to this. They have not got the word into that plastic form that they can mold it into anything they please, for the very next entry records the interment of Thomas Rorhtford of Mogerhanger which took place in the same month, and it was reserved to some more modern orthographer to make the euphony complete by interpolating another g and thus presenting to the world the word Moggerhanger in its full blown corruption. But I find that it was not received in its new form by general consent for some years afterwards. John Ogilby who published his itinerarium in 1676 had still the courage to call it by its original and proper name Morhanger – a compound of two Anglo-Saxon words simply meaning ‘moor’ or ‘down pasture’.
“But why not restore it to its archaic form, if not for the sake of euphony, at least in compliment to the genius of the Anglo-Saxon language whose rights have been so wantonly outraged?”29
**BERKSHIRE**
“The county is first mentioned by name in 860. According to Asser, it takes its name from a large forest of box trees that was called Bearroc (believed, in turn, to be a Celtic word meaning ‘hilly’).”30
JM Wilson highlights: “Berks, or Berkshire, an inland county, within the basin of the Thames. It is bounded, on the north, by Gloucester, Oxford and Bucks; on the east, by Surrey; on the south, by Herts; and on the west, by Wilts. Its outline is irregular; and has been compared by some to that of a lute, by others to that of a slipper or a sandal. Its boundary, in a tortuous line, along the north, from its most westerly extremity to its most easterly one, is the Thames. Its greatest length is 48 miles; its greatest breadth, 29 miles; its mean breadth, about 14 miles; its circuit, about 165 miles; its area, 451,210 acres. Its surface presents few abrupt or bold elevations. A series of downs, a continuation of those in the north of Wilts, goes eastward across its broadest part, and attains, at White Horse hill, an altitude of 893 feet above the level of the sea. Most of the other tracts are distinguished by soft, gentle, luxuriant beauty. The chief streams are the Thames, the Kennet, the Lodden, the Lambourn, and the Ock. A small tract on the southeast border, round Finchampstead and Sunninghill, consists of Bracklesham and
Bagshot beds. A large tract across all the south, from the western border in the southern vicinity of Hungerford, past Newbury and Wokingham, to the eastern boundary at Old Windsor, consists of London clay and plastic clay. A broad tract all across, from the western border at Hungerford and the neighborhood of Ashbury, to the Thames from the vicinity of Reading to Moulsford, consists of chalk. A considerable belt north of this, and all across, consists of upper greensand and gault. A narrow belt, further north, consists of lower greensand. Two belts still further north, the second lying all along the Isis or Thames to a point below the vicinity of Kennington, consist of oolite, the former of the upper series, the latter of the middle. The minerals and the fossils do not possess much interest; and mineral waters are scarce. Peat exists in considerable quantity on low grounds of the Kennet, and in small quantity on some high lands of the Thames; and has been extensively burned for its ashes.
“The territory now forming Berks was inhabited, in the ancient British times, by two tribes whom the Roman invaders called Bibroci and Attrebatii. It became part of the Roman Britannia Prima. It next formed part of the Saxon kingdom of Wessex; and was then called Berrocscire. It was the scene of frequent conflicts with the Danes; and it afterwards figured in the struggle between the Empress Matilda and Stephen, in the quarrels between King John and his nobles, and in the war between Charles I and his parliament. The chief events in its history will be found noted in the articles Abingdon, Maidenhead, Wallingford, Wantage, and Windsor. British, Roman, and Saxon remains, chiefly barrows and camps, occur at Little Coxwell, Sinodun, Letcombe, Uffingham, the White Horse hill, Ashbury, Ashdown, Speen, Binfield, Castleacre, Hardwell, and Wantage. Icknield-street traverses the county southwestward from Streatley to the southwestern vicinity of Newbury; and sends off branches along the hills. An ancient road went from Speen to Silchester; another, called the Devil's Causeway, went by Old Windsor to Staines; and some others have left traces. Ruined castles occur at Faringdon, Donnington, and Wallingford; and ancient mansions at Aldermaston, Appleton, Ockholt, Cumnor, and Wytham. Abbeys stood at Abingdon, Bisham, Bradfield, Faringdon, and Reading; priories at Bisham, Cholsey, Harley, Faringdon, Reading, Sandleford, and Wallingford; preceptories at Bisham and Brimpton; and colleges at Shottesbrook, Wallingford, and Windsor. Interesting ancient churches. Norman or otherwise, occur at Avington, Bucklebury, Cumnor, Englefield, Shottesbrook, Uffington, and Welford. Berkshire gives the title of Earl to the Earl of Suffolk.”31
***CALIFORNIA, BERKSHIRE***
David Cliffe portrays: “I take it that by California you mean what was known as California in England. It was built in 1931 near Wokingham, a kind of holiday camp. There were chalets where you could stay, an outdoor swimming pool, a restaurant, a ballroom, a miniature railway, etc. During the Second World War it was taken over by the military, but was revived afterwards, and operated until around 1965. Now the buildings have been cleared, and it is the California Country Park, run by Wokingham Borough Council. Though I didn’t find anything written down to say so, the name California must have been chosen because it suggested glamour and sunshine during a time of economic depression. Cinema-going was very popular, and people would have known about Hollywood and film stars. The buildings were built in a modernistic Art Deco style – there are pictures on various websites.”32
***MAIDEN’S GREEN, BERKSHIRE***
David Cliffe remarks: “Maiden’s Green, a hamlet in the Civil Parish of Winkfield, appears as Maiden Green in John Rocque’s Atlas of Berkshire which was published in 1761. The English Place-Name Society’s Berkshire volume makes various suggestions regarding places with ‘maiden’ in the name – including nearby Maidenhead. One is that the place was new, another is that it was once owned by a maiden, and another is that it was a place where girls were in the habit of assembling.”33
***WILDRIDINGS, BERKSHIRE***
David Cliffe shares: “Wildridings is a suburb of Bracknell, built in the late 1960s, one of the last bits of Bracknell to be built. The name was probably chosen by the Bracknell Development Corporation, because Bracknell was one of the ‘new towns’ developed after the Second World War. The name Wyderydyng appears in a charter of 1463, and referred to somewhere in Easthampstead, which was partly in Windsor Forest, and included what is now Bracknell. This charter was reprinted in The Goring Charters edited by TR Gambier-Parry for the Oxfordshire Record Society. Note that this was ‘wide riding’ rather than ‘wild riding’. It presumably referred to a wide open strip in Windsor Forest where horses could be ridden. Interestingly, when they came to name the streets in the Wildridings part of Bracknell, they chose names from Yorkshire, a county divided into three parts called Ridings.”34
***WORLD’S END, BERKSHIRE***
David Cliffe stresses: “The name World’s End seems to appear first on the 1848 Tithe Award for the Parish of Winkfield. The English Place-Name Society implies that the name was given because the place was near the parish boundary.”35
W Fletcher and EJ Niemann compose: “Returning again to the road, we pass the ‘Swan’, cross the Kennet, and come to that favorite ‘meet’, the ‘World’s End, a superior inn, famous for Kennet ale and good accommodation.”36
**BRISTOL**
JB Johnston designates: “1052 [AD] Old English Chronicle Brycgstow; Domesday Book Bristou. Before 1142 [AD] Bristow; circa 1160 [AD] Bristoa; circa 1188 [AD] Giraldus Cambrensis Bristollum. Brycg-stow is Old English for ‘bridge-place’. It is interesting to see the –ow change into the liquid –ol.”37
J Gronow expands: “Bristol: Gloucestershire and Somersetshire, 115 miles from London, a city and county in itself, like ancient Rome, is seated on seven hills, or elevations. It was called Cader Oder by the Britons, ie, ‘a frontier city’. The Saxons called it Brightstowe, ie, ‘a pleasant place’; hence its present name. Edward III constituted it a city and a county of itself. Henry VIII made it the see of a bishop. A castle was built by Robert Earl of Gloucester, in the reign of Stephen, who besieged it before it was finished, but in vain, and some years after was a prisoner in it. The city was stormed and taken by Prince Rupert, but being retaken by General Fairfax, its stately castle was razed to the ground. The hot-well waters, once famed over Europe, are now in little or no repute. On the 1st of November, 1755, the day of the earthquake in Lisbon, the water of the well became red and so turbid that it could not be drunk, and was some time before it recovered its purity.”38
JM Wilson illustrates: “Bristol, a city, with special jurisdiction, on the mutual border of Gloucester and Somerset. It includes eighteen town parishes, and an extra-parochial tract, forming the district of Bristol; the parishes of Clifton and St Philip and St Jacob-Out, part of the parish of St James and St Paul-Out, and part of the tything of Stoke-Bishop, in the district of Clifton; and part of the parish of Bedminster, in the district of Bedminster. It stands on the river Avon, at the influx of the Frome, 6 miles in direct distance from the Avon's mouth, 11 ¾ west-northwest of Bath, and 118 ½ by railway west of London. The Avon has a tidal rise at it of nearly 30 feet; was partly diverted past it in a deep new cut in 1804-9, with formation of a great floating harbor; and gives it, for large sea-home vessels, all the characters of a seaport. A navigation likewise lies up the river to the Kennet and Avon canal at Bath; and railways go toward respectively Exeter, London, Wales, and Gloucester.
“Bristol is supposed to have been founded by Brennus, the alleged first King of the Britons; and was called by these people Caer-Odor, the ‘city of Odor’, or perhaps the ‘city of the Chasm’, in allusion to a gorge through which the Avon flows at Clifton. It may also have been adopted and improved by the Romans; and is thought, by some antiquaries, to be the Roman Abona, on the Julian way. It is mentioned by a writer of the sixth century, and again by one of the seventh, as a fortified town; and is thought to have been a meeting-place, in 603, of St Augustine with the bishops of the primitive church; and it was known to the Saxons as Britostow or Brightstowe, signifying ‘the pleasant city’. Harold set sail from it, in 1063, to invade Wales; and coins were struck at it both in his reign and that of the Conqueror. A strong castle then stood in it; and this was seized in 1086, and made their headquarters, by the rebels under Odo. The Empress Matilda resided some time at Bristol during her contest for the crown. Stephen was brought hither a prisoner, and kept here, after his defeat; and Prince Henry, afterwards Henry II, was placed here, during four years, for safety and education. Robert Fitzhardinge, the Empress's brother, ruled the city, rebuilt the castle, founded the Abbey of St Augustine, and received a visit from Mac-Murrough, King of Leinster, in Ireland. King John visited Bristol in 1209. A synod was held in it by the Pope's legate, in 1216, which excommunicated the Barons who had supported the French Prince Louis; and a political council was held in it, in the same year, which appointed the Earl of Pembroke to be protector of the kingdom. Prince Edward, in 1263, was brought hither a prisoner from Windsor; and, two years afterwards, captured the castle, and fired the city. Edward I, in 1283, made a visit to Bristol, and gave the citizens a charter. The Earl of Kent, acting for Queen Isabella, in 1326, captured the city, and put its governor to death. Edward III constituted it a county within itself, made it a center of traffic for wool, and sent twenty-two ships from it to the siege of Calais. Henry, Duke of Lancaster, while acquiring the mastery against Richard II, assailed Bristol, captured the castle, and put its governor, the Earl of Wilts, and two of his knightly assistants to death. The citizens, in the reign of Henry V, acted warmly in his cause. Henry VI visited the city in 1446; his Queen Margaret, in 1459; Edward IV, in 1461; and Henry VII in 1487. Fulford, the subject of Chatterton's Bristowe Tragedy, was executed on occasion of Edward IV's visit; and the citizens made a costly display of dress on occasion of Henry VII's visit, and were fined for it by the king. Sebastian Cabot sailed from Bristol in 1497, in the remarkable voyage which took him to Labrador about a year before Columbus saw the American mainland. Henry VIII made Bristol the seat of a bishopric; and gave his own sword to the mayor as a symbol of authority; and the sword is still preserved. Elizabeth visited the city in 1574; and she was received with great pomp, and lodged on St Augustine's back. Four ships went from Bristol, in 1588, against the Armada. The
parliamentarians, in 1642, garrisoned the city, strengthened the castle, and erected batteries on Prior's and St Michael's hills, - the last of which is still called ‘the Fort’. Prince Rupert, next year, carried the place by storm; entering it through a breach near Berkeley-square. Charles I then visited it, and lodged in Small-street. Fairfax, in 1645, stormed Prior's Hill fort; compelled Rupert to surrender; and afterwards destroyed the castle. Charles II visited the city in 1663; and Queen Anne, in 1702 and 1710. Edmund Burke sat for Bristol; and made here some of his grandest speeches. A riot, of three days' continuance, occurred in 1831, in resentment of the recorder, Sir Wetherell, having voted against the Reform bill; involved a destruction of property to the value of about 70,000 pounds; and occasioned - wounds or death to several hundred individuals.”39
***CATBRAIN, BRISTOL***
“The name Catbrain derives from the Middle English cattes brazen, which is a reference to the rough clay mixed with stones that is characteristic soil type of the location. It has nothing to do with the brains of cats. The name is often found humorous by Bristol residents and has been the subject of many jokes.”40
**BUCKINGHAMSHIRE**
JB Johnston maintains: “915 [AD] Old English Chronicle Buccingaham; 1154-51 [AD] Buchingham; 1297 [AD] Buckingham. ‘Home of the Buccings’. Patronymic, from Bucca or Bucco, both in Searle’s Onomasticon Anglo-Saxonicum. Compare to 1179-80 [AD] Pipe Parva et Magna Bukesbi (Yorkshire).”41
J Gronow presents: “Buckingham: the county town, is seated on the Ouse, and takes its name from bai, ie, ‘beech tree’, with which the county abounded. It is supposed to be the place where Plautus defeated Caractacus.
“Buckinghamshire: an inland county, contains the rich Vale of Aylesbury, being one of the most fertile tracts in the kingdom. The chief hills are the Chiltern hills, from the Saxon cult, or cilt, ie, ‘chalk’. Those hills, like Dean forest in Gloucestershire, when covered with wood, were a noted resort for banditti.”42
JM Wilson renders: “Buckinghamshire, or Bucks, an inland county; bounded on the northwest and north by Northamptonshire; on the northeast by Beds; on the east by Beds and Herts; on the southeast by Middlesex; on the south and southwest by Berks; and on the west by Oxfordshire. It has an irregular outline; but forms, on the whole, a slender oblong, lying north and south. It’s only natural boundaries are the river Thames, dividing it from Berks, and a few miles of other streams, dividing it from parts of other counties. Its greatest length is 53 miles; its greatest breadth, 27 miles; its mean breadth, about 18 miles; its circumference, 138 miles; its area, 466,932 acres. Its surface, in the north, is gently undulated; in the center, comprises the rich Vale of Aylesbury, watered by the Thames; and in the south, includes part of the Chiltern hills, about 16 miles broad, with summits from 683 feet to 904 feet high. The chief rivers are the Thames, the Ouse, the Colne, the Ousel, and the Wick. Lias rocks occupy a small tract on the northwest border, adjacent to Brackley; oolites, successively lower, middle, and upper, occupy most of the county from the northern boundary to lines a little south of Stoke-Hammond and Aylesbury; cretaceous rocks, successively lower greensand, upper greensand, and chalk, the last much the
broadest, occupy most of the country thence to the southern boundary; and rocks of the lower eocene occupy a tract on the southern border around Farnham. Fuller's earth on the eastern border, and some tolerable marble near Newport-Pagnell, are the chief useful minerals.
“The territory now forming Buckinghamshire, was inhabited, in the ancient British times, by the tribes Cassii, Ancalites, and Dobuni; it was included, by the Romans, first in their province of Britannia Superior, afterwards in that of Flavia Caesariensis; and it formed part of the Saxon Kingdom of Mercia. The county made a great figure in the civil war of the time of Charles I; took the lead in raising arms against the King, and in swaying the action of parliament; and was, for some time, the headquarters of the King's forces. Remains or traces of ancient camps and entrenchments, variously British, Roman, and Saxon, occur at Wycombe, Danesfield, All-Hollands, Cholsbury, Hawridge, Hedgerleydean, Mendenham, and Ellesborough. Icknield-street came in from Dunstable, and went past Andover and Princes-Risborough into Oxfordshire; Watling-street went past Fenny-Stratford and Stony-Stratford; and Akeman-street went across the north. Ancient castles stood at Buckingham, Castlethorpe, Lavendon, Whitchurch, and several other places; but have all disappeared. Remains exist of Abbeys at Medmenham and Notley, of a priory at Missenden, of nunneries at Burnham and Ivinghoe, of monastic colleges at Ashbridge and Eton, and of a monastic hospital at Newport-Pagnell; but all remains of 14 other monasteries and 9 other hospitals, which once existed, are extinct. Eight churches show ancient Norman features; and two others are good specimens of ancient English. The county gives the title of Earl to the family of Hampden-Hobart.”43
***FOUR ASHES, BUCKINGHAMSHIRE***
Bucks Free Press sheds light on: “A quartet of local legends [four ash trees] returned to their original standing points in Four Ashes last Saturday during a special planting ceremony.
“The four ash trees that give the hamlet its name had slowly disappeared after being blown down in storms and suffering from disease.
“But after Hughenden Parish Council was approached by Hughenden Valley Residents' Association, the two groups clubbed together to buy four new saplings and replace the trees.
“Chris Morley, chairman of the parish council, donned his welly boots to plant the last of the trees along Four Ashes Road at the weekend.
“In a speech to those that gathered to watch the planting, he explained the area’s history and said Four Ashes had often been linked with spooky goings on.
“He said: ‘It is the start of one of the principal ley lines an imaginary line between important places such as hills or churches to be where there were very old paths in the area, and there are many reported sightings of ghosts and visions along Four Ashes road.
“‘Those of innocent women drowned in Hags Pit just down the road as a result of their trial by water for alleged witchcraft, and the Green Man appearing outside the Garden of Rest.
“‘But we are here today for a much more prosaic reason – to re-establish this little copse of four ash trees, and to celebrate the day when the hamlet of Four Ashes can once again live up to its name.’”44
***GIBRALTAR, BUCKINGHAMSHIRE***
“The hamlet is named after the British dependency of Gibraltar.”45
JJ Sheahan suggests: “Lipscomb tells us that near a small hamlet called Littleworth, but more commonly Gibraltar, a very atrocious murder was committed on the public highway, on an inhabitant of Thame, in returning from Aylesbury market in his cart. The murderer, also of Thame, was tried at the Aylesbury Assizes in 1823, condemned, and hanged.”46
***MAIDS MORETON, BUCKINGHAMSHIRE***
JJ Sheahan calls attention to: “This parish contains 1,240 acres, and 543 souls. Its ratable value is 1,880 pounds. The soil is clayey, alternated with gravel. The river Ouse bounds the parish on the east, and a branch of the Grand Junction Canal passes through it. The name of the place is derived from its locality being originally a moor; and the prefix from two maiden sisters of the Peyvre family, who built the church.
“The Village is distant 1.5 miles northeast from Buckingham.
“Moreton was partly the property of Walter Giffard, and partly that of Lewen de Newenham, after the Conquest. Giffard’s lands passed to the noble families of Clare, Audley, and Stafford. The paramount manor, to which no lands are annexed, descended to the Dukes of Buckingham and Chandos.”47
Lyn Robinson connotes: “Moreton originated as a small Anglo-Saxon settlement one mile north of Buckingham. It is first listed in the Domesday Book of 1087. As its name suggests the village is situated on a ‘moor’ from which streams flow down to the River Great Ouse which winds around Buckingham. Many of the old village fieldnames reflect the watery nature of the land.
“The prefix of Maids (Maydes, Maidens, etc) is first found in the Episcopal Registers of the diocese of Lincoln during the period 1480 - 1496. Traditionally these two sisters were from the Pever family, as a 17th century inscription in St Edmund's Church suggests. The sisters were reputed to have rebuilt the church around 1450 and to have supported the poor. The affection felt by the village for the maiden ladies accounts for the name Maids' Moreton which was in local use by the 1500s. A brass commemorating them lying side by side was destroyed either during the Reformation or the Civil War, and was replaced in the 1880s. During the restoration of the church at this time a stone coffin was found under the brass containing the bones of the sisters.
“Having worked on Maids Moreton's history for nearly 20 years I have found no evidence that the sisters were from the Pever family (apart from the painted inscription of the 1600s) but have a theory which still needs conclusive proof. That, of course, may never be found!
“I have a poem entitled The Maids of Maid's Moreton written in the Victorian era. It's 7 verses long.
This 2nd verse is typical:
So when we see portrayed the guileless pair
Whose memory, Moreton, still thy name recalls
We seem to breathe a purer, better air
As from twin stars a kindly influence falls.
Arm within arm they run their gentle race
And from each other gain a double mead of grace.
“The poem covers the apocryphal story which is that the Maids were Siamese twins. The popularity of Siamese twins to the Victorians I think stemmed from conjoined twins who made the newspaper headlines in the mid-1800s. I am pretty certain that the Maids of Moreton were not conjoined twins, partly because the likelihood of such babies surviving in the late 1300s was extremely low. (Despite this you can look at the story of the conjoined Maids of Biddenden, Kent, who were born about 1100.) There is no record of the Maids of Moreton being conjoined before the Victorian poem I've given you.”48
***VERNEY JUNCTION, BUCKINGHAMSHIRE***
Diamond Geezer details: “The farthest outpost of the Metropolitan Railway is at a most unlikely spot. The line ended not in a town, nor in a village, nor even in a hamlet, but in the middle of a field. There was no local population to support a station, nor any intention of building commuter homes across the landscape to create passenger traffic. But there was an existing railway passing through – the mainline connecting Oxford to Cambridge – so it sort of made commercial sense to link up to that. But only sort of. A couple of platforms were built where the two lines met, linked to the outside world down a dirt track, with the intention that everyone would both arrive and depart by train. The station was named Verney Junction after local landowner Lord Verney (Florence Nightingale’s brother-in-law) who was chairman of the local railway company. And trains passed through, and passengers passed through, and life passed by.
“In 1936 the Met’s rural branch lines were finally amputated. It was no longer possible to catch a train from Verney Junction to Baker Street, but you could still travel from here to either Oxford or Cambridge. This was until Oxbridge travelers discovered that traveling into London and back out again was faster than chugging painfully slowly cross-country, and so the through route duly closed to passengers at the end of 1967. Verney Junction is now your actual genuine abandoned railway station, sitting invitingly on the map awaiting a bloke with a camera. I took up the challenge and attempted a visit (which isn’t easy when there are no trains).
“Verney Junction is now just the name of a tiny hamlet which grew up around the station (at a rate of about one building every decade, by the looks of it). Turn off the road at the Verney Arms pub and, a short distance down an unmade track, there’s a sign for a railway crossing. An anachronistic red sign
asks you to Stop Look Listen, and to notify the local British Rail Manager if your load is unusually long. But the crossing gates have disappeared, the rails across the lane are barely visible, and any danger is long past. To your right, the other side of some thickening undergrowth, you can walk along the ballast in the general direction of Cambridge. And immediately to your left the main attraction – two abandoned platforms blanketed beneath a low covering of green foliage. I guess midsummer isn’t the best time to come here for a decent view.
“Only a single track runs through Verney Junction today, supported by slowly rusting brackets and gently rotting sleepers. The rails at the far end of the station heading away towards Oxford look relatively navigable, so long as you’re on foot. But between the platforms themselves somebody has planted a loco’s-length forest of yellowish sapplings, either to block the up line or to beautify the view from the old station house next door. Elsewhere nature is successfully reclaiming the deserted station unaided. You can barely walk on any of the original platforms now that bracken, bushes and brambles have colonized both surfaces. But try to find a space and climb up here, to stand where passengers once waited to board the next streaming train to the capital. Glance across to the opposite platform while you still can. And then take a look out across the empty fields, past the cattle, towards the grand future that never materialized. London could never claim this tranquil spot for its own, but this will be forever Metro-land.”49
**CAMBRIDGESHIRE**
JB Johnston explains: “Possibly circa 380 [AD] The Antonine Itinerary Camborico; Probably Old Celtic camb or, ‘crooked river’ (compared cambo and orr, Scottish), with ic- adjectival. No doubt this Roman name influenced scholars long after to fix the name as it now is – Cambridge. But originally they had no connection. Circa 700 [AD] Felix Crowland Gronta flumen, Bede Grantacastir (the modern Grantchester is 2.5 miles from Cambridge); probably about 810 [AD] Nennius Caer Grauth (for Grant), Old English Chronicle 875 [AD] Grantebrycge, 1101 [AD] Grantabrycgscir; before 1145 [AD] Orderic Gruntebruga; 1142 [AD] Cantebruggescir; before 1153 [AD] Cantebrigia; 150-61 [AD] Cantabrigia; 1436 [AD] Canbrigge; 1449 [AD] Kawmbrege; 1462 [AD] Cambryge; 1586 [AD] Camden Camus. Granta is the old name for the stream now called Cam. The two names have gradually become assimilated, Gr having originally become C through Norman mispronunciation. Granta may be cognate with Gaelic granda, ‘ugly’. Compare to Allt Grand (Scottish), also Grantown (Scottish); or it may perhaps be connected with Welsh grwnan, ‘to hum, to drone’. Compare to Grantley. There is also a little River Cam, tributary of Severn, Dursley, Gloucestershire, 1177 [AD] Camme, 1221 [AD] Kaumne, which is Celtic cam, ‘crooked’; and on it there is a Cambridge, too.”50
J Gronow imparts: “Cambridge: the county town, 52 miles from London, is famed for its University, consisting of 13 colleges, and four halls. Of the colleges, Peterhouse is the most ancient, being erected in 1257. King’s college is the noblest foundation in Europe, and the chapel one of the finest pieces of gothic architecture in the world. Except King’s, all the libraries here are lending libraries, while those at Oxford are studying libraries. It suffered by the Danes, who kept a garrison here, till Edward the Elder took it. William the Conqueror built a strong castle here, of which the gatehouse alone remains, and is the county goal. Wat Tyler and Jack Straw, in their rebellion against Richard II, burnt the university
records in the market-place. This is the way in which a mob pretends to amend the errors or oppression of government, by a system of anarchy and plunder founded on the ruin of order.
“Cambridgeshire: is an inland county. From the fens and rivers, the air is thought to be unhealthy. A great part of it is called the Isle of Ely, part of a spacious level, containing 300,000 acres of land, which being a marsh, must make it unwholesome.”51
JM Wilson mentions: “Cambridgeshire, an inland county; bounded, on the northwest, by Northampton; on the north by Lincoln; on the east, by Norfolk and Suffolk: on the south, by Essex and Herts; and on the west, by Beds and Huntingdon. Its greatest length, from north to south is about 50 miles; its greatest breadth, about 30 miles; its circumference, about 138 miles; and its area, 523,861 acres. The surface throughout the north, is mostly low, level, fen land, intersected by canals and ditches, and even elsewhere consists mainly of low flat tracts, diversified only by hillocks, Orwell-hill about 300 feet high, and the bleak bare range of the Gogmagog hills. The chief rivers are the Ouse, the Cam, the Lark, and the Nen. Alluvial and diluvial deposits form the fen-tracts throughout the north; chalk rocks form the tracts throughout the south; and middle oolite, lower greensand, and upper greensand rocks form small tracts along the Cam. Clunch appears about Burwell, and is the material of Ely cathedral; blue clay or gault abounds about Ely, and is used there for white bricks and earthenware; and Portland oolite appears in parts farther north.
“The territory now forming Cambridgeshire belonged first to the Iberians, and afterwards to the Iceni. It became part of the Roman province of Flavia Caesariensis: and subsequently was included mainly in East Anglia, and partly in Mercia. The Danes overran it in 870; held it in subjection during 50 years; were driven from it in 921, by Edward the Elder; and again overran it in 1010. The Isle of Ely was a separate jurisdiction, under the name of South Girwa; and the rest of the county took the name of Grentebrigescire or Grantbridgeshire. The Isle of Ely made resistance to William the Conqueror; and held out against him till 1074. The county in the general, and Isle of Ely in particular, suffered severely during the civil wars in the times of Stephen, John, and Henry III; and they stood strongly for the parliament in the wars of Charles I. Icknield-street went along the southern border, past Royston and Hixton, toward Newmarket. Ermine-street went across the southwest, north-northwestward, from Royston, toward Godmanchester. The Via Devana went across the south center, northwestward from the vicinity of Linton, past Cambridge toward Godmanchester. The Devil's Ditch goes across the southeast, a little west of Burwell. Traces of British earthworks occur at the Devil's Ditch and at Fleam Dyke. Roman coins, urns, and other remains, have been found at Cambridge, Ely, March, Soham, Chatteris, Wilney, the Gogmagog hills, and other places. Remains of Abbeys and priories occur at Thorney, Denny, Cambridge, Isleham, and Barham. Saxon or Norman bits of architecture occur in Ely cathedral and in Duxford, Stuntney, Ickleton, and other churches. Nine castles of note stood at different places; but all, except the gateway of one at Cambridge, have disappeared.”52
***BURY, CAMBRIDGESHIRE***
JB Johnston puts into words: “Also, Bury St Edmunds. 1066 [AD] Old English Chronicle Byrtune ( = Burton). Domesday Book ‘In Beccles villa abbatis sancti Edmundi’, also, ‘burgo ht abb sci edmundi’; 1450
[AD] Bury Seynt Edmond; 1480 [AD] Bury Wills Bury. Bury is Old English burh, ‘castle, burgh’. St Edmund is Edmund the Martyr, King of the East Angles, slain at Hoxne by the Danes in 870 [AD].”53
***CASTLE CAMPS, CAMBRIDGESHIRE***
University of Nottingham’s Institute for Name Studies reports: “Castle Camps: ‘Fields’. Castle, a much later addition, refers to the Norman motte and bailey castle built by Aubrey de Vere, of which only the bank and moat remain. Camp (Old English): a ‘field’, an ‘enclosed piece of land’.”54
JM Wilson talks about: “Castle-Camps, a parish in Linton district, Cambridge; on the verge of the county, 3 ½ miles southwest by west of Haverhill railway station. It has a post office under Cambridge. Acres, 2,703. Real property, 3,885 pounds. Population, 901. Houses, 199. The property is divided among a few. The manor was given, at the Conquest, to Aubrey de Vere; conveyed, in 1580, by his successor, one of the Earls of Oxford, to Sutton; and given, by the latter, to the Charter-House, London. A castle of the De Veres stood on it; and appears to have been magnificent; but is now represented by only a deep moat round a farmhouse on its site. Large entrenchments of the East Angles and the Danes were in the parish; and these, with the castle, gave rise to the name of Castle-Camps. The living is a rectory in the diocese of Ely. Value, 570 pounds. Patron, the Charter-House of London. The church is good; and there are an Independent chapel and a charity school.”55
APM Wright et al shows: “Castle Camps lies 15 miles southeast of Cambridge, at the southeastern extremity of the county. It is basically triangular, and its southwestern and eastern sides form the county boundary. That to the southwest probably follows a line traced from point to point through the ancient woodlands which formerly separated Cambridgeshire from Essex. The straighter eastern side along the watershed may follow the pale of the former Camps park. The northern boundary with Shudy Camps, based on divisions between fields and enclosures, was and is much overlapped in terms of land-holding and cultivation, and at its western end follows a tributary of the river Bourne. The ancient hamlet of Olmstead at the southeastern corner of the parish was sometimes reckoned by the 18th century to belong to Helions Bumpstead parish (Essex) upon which it depended ecclesiastically, and to which its tithes were still paid in 1840, although it was earlier treated for feudal and jurisdictional purposes as part of Castle Camps and Cambridgeshire. In the 19th century, having been included in Risbridge poor-law union in Essex, it was sometimes described as part of Helions Bumpstead in Cambridgeshire. In 1885 it was officially transferred for all civil purposes to Castle Camps. Before that change the ancient parish of Castle Camps covered over 2,700 acres, while Olmstead contained 429 acres, and from 1891 the enlarged parish measured 3,184 acres. In 1965 an area at the southern tip of Olmstead was transferred to Essex, and the county and parish boundary elsewhere was straightened, so that in 1971 Castle Camps, enlarged by circa 73 acres taken from the Essex parishes of Ashdon, Hempstead, and Helions Bumpstead, covered 3,198 acres (1,294 hectares). The history here printed deals with the ancient parish, including Olmstead.
“As in other once heavily wooded areas settlement in Castle Camps consisted of scattered hamlets and farmsteads rather than one nucleated village. In the Middle Ages a group of houses stood in a field northwest of the castle, where one or two buildings survived in 1618 and earthworks still mark the site.
The hamlet of Olmstead lay by the three-acre green recorded in 1279, and several tenants of the Earl of Oxford still dwelt around it circa 1450 and perhaps circa 1536. After 1600 only Olmstead Green and Olmstead Hall farms and one or two dependent cottages survived. In 1885 the place contained only four dwellings with 20 inhabitants. Westoe, where the demesne lay in one block, had probably never contained more than the manor-house, to which a separate farmstead was added by 1800. The main settlements in the parish were probably already in the 15th century, as in the 20th, at Camps Green and Camps End, lying off roads from Cambridge which forked to run north and south of the Earl of Oxford's park. East and west of each hamlet lay the small, mostly enclosed, fields of the villagers, and between them a belt of several demesne 2/3 mile wide. At Camps Green the houses lay along a wide green running north from the northern road called Broad street. Those east of the green were squeezed against the park pale, and the street was called Park Street by 1450. There were then 21 messuages and 23 cottages held of the manor, while the sites of 6 messuages and 5 cottages lay empty. In 1586 Camps Green probably contained circa 14 houses and 8 cottages, and in 1618, 35 buildings. The lord occasionally granted plots of waste there for building cottages, and in the early 17th century other cottages were put up there without the land required by law.”56
***FOUR GOTES, CAMBRIDGESHIRE***
William Elstobb catalogs: “It was likewise presented, that the waters of Wisbeach and Elm, had anciently fallen to the four Gotes, as they then did, and from thence in the memory of man, more than a mile off Terrington banks; and as it is very probable that in ancient time they have fallen to the sea much farther off.
“And in their opinions, upon their view taken, they thought they might at the time be carried a nearer way to the sea, viz from the four Gotes aforesaid, over Tyd marsh and Sutton.
“Upon which the inhabitants of Marshland exhibited a petition to the honorable board, imploring their care for the safety of that country: and intimating that the building of the intended sluice would be apparent overthrow thereof.
“In consequence of which representation, Mr Henry Kirvell, Mr Robert Balam, with some others, were commissioned, to take a view of the danger of this country on Terrington side, by the fretting of the channel as it then ran: who accordingly did view the same, and certified, that the channel of fresh waters did very much hurt to Terrington, and the whole country of Marshland; and that by conveying more waters that way, the whole country would be endangered; and therefore for the greater safety thereof, they were of opinion, that a new cut, made from the four Gotes over Tid and Sutton marshes into King’s Creek, would be the best issue for whose waters.
“The river Nene being brought from Peterborough to Guyhirn between sufficient banks, for the better grinding of the outfall; and that the river should be cut straight from the Horseshoe to the four Gotes.”57
William Watson conveys: “1436: In 16th Henry VI a court was held at Wisbech by Sir John Colvile, Gilbert Haltoft, and others, at which various presentments were made, and an order issued for repairing the banks and cleansing the sewers, and it was directed, that the tenants of forty acres of land in
Beechcroft, in Wisbech, should maintain a certain bank in Wisbech, called Wisbech Fen Dyke, and that the whole hundred of Wisbech should cleanse the sewer of South Eau Dyke, which lies in the parish of Wisbech, to Trokenholt, in Leverington; and the Abbott of Thorney from thence to Clow’s Cross, and the hundred from Clow’s Cross to Guyhirn; and the town of Elm should cleanse the river leading from Elm to Wisbech, so that the fresh water might run in the channel unto Wisbech, and thence to sea. The tenants of lands called Pavy’s, in March, were ordered to cleanse the same, so that the water might have its passage to the great river of Wisbeche. They also presented, that the prior of Ely and Sir Thomas Tuddenham should repair one crest, beginning at the Fen Dyke, in Wisbeche, and leading to Bellymill Bridge; and that the parson of the church of Wisbeche ought and had used to repair a sewer, beginning at the house of Reginald Rogers, in Wisbeche, and leading into the town. Also, John Everard, Esq was presented for having straitened the common river of Wisbeche with nets and other engines. The landholders in the Old Market of Wisbeche were ordered to make a new sea bank from Beuvise Cross to the great bridge of Wisbeche, on the west part of the river. The landholders of the town end of Wisbeche, on the north side of the river Use, were ordered to repair a bank from the great bridge in Wisbeche unto Sozeldyke; and the landholders in the fen end of Wisbeche, from Sozeldyke to Guyhirn, and from thence to Piggs Drove Cross; and they said that the landholders of Guyhirn Cross, in Wisbeche, should repair a crest of bank, in height four, and in breadth eight feet, from the Cross to Sozeldyke; and for the better safeguard of the town of Wisbeche, they ordained that the bank called Wisbeche Fen Dyke should be barred, to prevent cattle passing thereon, and all dams and engines in the river, whereby the water was stopped, should be removed, from Guyhirn to the sea; and a guardian was appointed to oversee and to open and shut the four gotes of Wisbeche, Leverington, Newton and Tyd Saint Giles, and all the sewers in every hamlet were directed to be well scoured. The great river of Wisbeche was also ordered to be scoured and enlarged in all places where defective, from Guyhirn to the sea, by the landholders within the hundred of Wisbeche. It was also ordained, that the water of Old Field, in Elm, ought to have its course and issue by a pipe lying under the river of Elm, and thence to run into Wisbeche river at Bevyse; but as the river had for many years past been so filled up with silth and sand brought in by the sea tides, that it could have no passage there, the water was directed to be sent by another pipe until the flood-gate in Leverington, called Dieugard. About thirty years after, a commission was appointed, consisting of the bishop of Ely, George, Duke of Clarence, with several of the nobility, and Henry Spilman, and others, to view the banks and sewers, and the water passing from the bridge at Erith, by Benwick, Great Cross, and Wysbeche, to the sea, and to make ordinances for the repair of the banks.”58
***HOLYWELL, CAMBRIDGESHIRE***
JM Wilson discusses: “Holywell-cum-Needingworth, a parish, containing the village of Holywell and the large hamlet of Needingworth, in St Ives district, Huntingdon. Holywell village stands near the river Ouse and the boundary with Cambridge, 1 ½ mile east by south of St Ives railway station; and Needingworth hamlet lies nearly 2 miles northeast by east of that station, and has a post office, under St Ives, Hunts. The name Holywell was taken from a spring which rises in the churchyard, and which, in the Romish times, was much frequented by devotees. The parish comprises 3,209 acres. Real property, 7,189 pounds. Population in 1851, 915; in 1861, 826. Houses, 193. The manor belongs to the Duke of
Manchester. The manor house is now used as a farm house. Numerous fragments of Roman pottery have been found. The living is a rectory in the diocese of Ely. Value, 528 pounds. Patron, the Duke of Manchester. The church consists of nave, aisles, and chancel, with porch and tower; and was recently restored. A large Baptist chapel was built at Needingworth in 1861. A building, formerly a dissenting chapel, is now a parochial school. Charities, 25 pounds.”59
Jane Bowd expounds: “The parish of Holywell-cum-Needingworth lies on the north bank of the River Ouse which, at this point, was the old boundary between Huntingdonshire and Cambridgeshire. To the east, the Greenwich Meridian passes through a corner of the parish.
“The village of Holywell itself developed by the river as a traditional ring village. Many fragments of Roman and prehistoric pottery have been found here. The village takes its name from the ancient spring which can still be seen in the churchyard. This was surmounted by a stone canopy in 1845 and was originally credited with healing properties. Each year in June there is a well dressing to celebrate the Church Patronal Festival.
“The Church of St John the Baptist is built of stone in the early English style. The registers date from 1667 and there is a list of Rectors from 990, including Thomas Tenison (1667-81), who later became Archbishop of Canterbury (1696-1716).
“At the other end of the 'ring' is the Ferry Boat Inn, which claims to be the oldest inn in England. The ghost of Juliet Tewsley is reputed to walk each year on March 17th, the anniversary of her suicide for love in 1050. For hundreds of years a ferry crossed the river at this point to Over and, according to Charles Kingsley, Herewrad the Wake was one famous passenger after he escaped from the Normans at Madingley.
“Holywell is a conservation area and many of the buildings are thatched and worthy of note. Probably the oldest house in the village is Moynes Hall, now a farmhouse, which was formerly one of the residences of the family of Le Moygne. The Ouse Valley Way runs for 26 miles along the River Great Ouse through Huntingdonshire, starting at Eaton Socon and along the Common Land besides Holywell Front before finishing at Earith.
“As river traffic declined, the prosperity of Holywell as a trading center diminished and the hamlet of Needingworth began to develop along the road which linked St Ives with Ely. There was formerly a chapel of ease here dedicated to St James.
“Needingworth steadily developed until it became the larger of the two settlements. On September 16th 1847 there was a terrible fire, caused by accident, which completely destroyed 86 houses and damaged others. Copies of the insurance map of the Great Fire have been preserved and are housed both at the County Record Office and within the village. The fire hooks in the High Street are a reminder of the days when many houses were thatched and such implements were needed to remove the smoldering straw. One of the notable buildings to survive intact was the Chestnuts. There is a Baptist Chapel erected in 1861 and a Methodist Chapel, now a private residence.
“Sir Ambrose Nicholas, Lord Mayor of London in 1576, was born in Needingworth. In the center of the High Street there is a war memorial in portland stone which commemorates the men connected with the Parish who gave their lives in two World Wars and subsequent conflicts. Nearby is the old Village Lock-up or Cage which was used by the Parish Constables to restrain drunkards and wrongdoers until they could be conveyed to the local Police Station or prison.
“The soil of the parish consists of varying proportions of mixed clay and loam, with a large area of meadow lands, which were originally submerged for the greater portion of the year. Arable farming has always been the principal occupation in the area, together with orchards of apples and plums trees, but gravel extraction and bricklaying has also regularly taken place and ARC continues this tradition at the new Barleycroft Quarry. In Holywell, eels were caught and rushes cut.
“Between Holywell and Needingworth, there was an old post windmill, and part of this road is still called Mill Way. The stones may be seen both outside Mill Bungalow and in Holywell are still owned by the Parish. Between the settlements is the Falklands Walk, an area of woodlands and footpaths funded by a unit of the Royal Engineers after their posting to the Falklands in 1989. This is also the site of the Parish Cemetery, the Garden Plots and Millfields, the new sports area for the Parish which has largely been funded by the Lottery through the Sports Council.
“Overcote Lane leads from the War Memorial, past the sports field and Village Hall to the Pike and Eel Inn, which is another popular hostelry on the river. Here, a ferry also crossed over to Over. The Inn may be reached by the Ouse Valley Way from Holywell.
“In both Needingworth and Holywell there were originally many public houses including the White Horse and the Three Horseshoes. The Queens Head now remains alone in the Needingworth High Street and is a popular meeting place.
“A modern school stands in Mill Way on the site of the former Victorian building and the Village Shop and Post Office are situated in the High Street.
“In 1996, to mark their own centenary, the Women’s' Institute presented the Parish with its own Village Sign which now stands by the road on Pound Hill.”60
www.holywell-cum-needingworth.info impresses: “Holywell in the Domesday Book: In Holywell the Abbot of Ramsey had 9 hides to the geld. That is land for 9 ploughs, and he had land for 2 ploughs in demesne, apart from the aforesaid hides. There are now 2 ploughs in demesne, and 20 villiens and 3 bordars with 6 ploughs. There is a Church and a Priest, and 30 acres of meadow, woodland pasture 1 league long and 4 furlongs and 1 league broad, marsh 1 league long and 1 broad, as now worth 8 pounds. Alweald has 1 hide of this land of the abbot, and has 1 plough there, and 3 bordars. It is worth 10 shillings.”
www.holywell-cum-needingworth.info continues: “People have been living on the site of the village of Holywell from prehistoric times, through the Roman period, to the present day. This fact is evidenced by numerous artifacts that have been recovered as a result of building works or archaeological surveys in
the area. To understand why we have to consider a time when there were no paved roads and what tracks and paths that did exist were more often than not impassable quagmires. This was a time when the river was used by the populace like we use motorways today. However access to a transport system was not enough and Holywell owes its foundation to the existence not only of the river but also to the fresh water spring that gave the village its name.
“The earliest houses in the village face the river along a lane called Holywell Front that runs roughly to the west-northwest from the location of the former ferry crossing over the River Great Ouse towards the Holy Well and the Church of St John the Baptist. The crossing point over the River Great Ouse to Fen Drayton and Swavesey has been in use since ancient times with some references to there being a Roman ferry here too but whatever evidence of that remains is now lies beneath the Ferryboat Inn. There is documentary evidence that an Inn has stood on the site since at least 560 AD and the experts think the foundations date back a further 100 years which would make the Ferryboat Inn the oldest pub in the country. The Ouse Valley Way public footpath runs along the common ground beside Holywell Front on its 26 mile journey between Eaton Socon (St Neots) to Earith.
“Many of the houses along Holywell Front are medieval thatched cottages each positioned at the southern end of strip of land of about 600 feet by 100 feet running south-southwest to north-northeast. Another road called Back Lane runs along the northern property boundary where more dwellings have been built at the northern end of each plot. The random north-south division of the plots would indicate that these were not a planned development but ones that occurred independently over time. The formation of Holywell Front and Back Lane, the main roads of the village, with a strip settlement in the middle gives Holywell the classic structure associated with a Saxon Ring Village. Back Lane runs approximately parallel to Holywell Front to which it joins at each end but halfway along its length is the lane, Mill Way, which runs to the north-northeast towards Needingworth. There is another example of a Saxon Ring Village at Woodhurst a few miles from Holywell. Many of the dwellings in Holywell are of historical note and architectural merit especially those along Holywell Front, this fact has been acknowledged as most of Holywell is now a Conservation Zone.
“The name of the lane, Mill Way, gives us a clue that the Manorial Windmill once stood close by. Nothing of the mill building remains other than some ground level disturbance in the field to the northwest of the junction of Back Lane and Mill Way which marks its former location however some of the old mill's grinding stones were purchased by the late Cyril Asplin and presented to the village. These mill stones now stand in Mill Way near the Millfields Sports Facility. As Mill Way enters Needingworth by the Primary School the lane becomes known as Church Street.
“The Manor of Holywell was gifted to the Monks of Ramsey Abbey by Alfwara who died in 1007 and was subsequently buried at Ramsey. The Manor was to remain property of Ramsey Abbey until the Dissolution. Further lands were transferred to the Abbey by Berengar le Moyne formerly of Moyne's Hall, Holywell, in 1286.
“Moyne's Hall was later acquired by William Chaderton, Bishop of Chester and later Bishop of Lincoln, who was also rector of Holywell from 1570 to 1579 and upon his death Moyne's Hall passed to his
granddaughter Elizabeth Joceline (nee Sandes) when it became part of the Joceline estates of Southoe.”61
***HORNINGSEA, CAMBRIDGESHIRE***
University of Nottingham’s Institute for Name Studies notates: “Horningsea: etiology uncertain. ‘Horning's island’ or perhaps, ‘Horning's (=horn-shaped hill) island’. Horning (Old English): a ‘bend’, a ‘corner’, a ‘spit of land’; a ‘headland’. Alternatively, Horning (Old English): personal name. Eg (Anglian): an ‘island’. In ancient settlement-names, most frequently refers to dry ground surrounded by marsh. Also used of islands in modern sense. In late Old English names: well-watered land.”62
JB Johnston puts pen to paper: “Circa 1080 [AD] Horningeseie. ‘Isle’ and ‘home of the Hornings’ or ‘descendants of Horn’. Compare to Hormer (Berkshire); Birch’s Cartularium Saxonicum 520 [AD] Horninga maere (lake, mare); Hornigmere, also Horninglow (Burton-on-T). … Compare, too, Domesday Book, Essex Horminduna, and Norfolk Hornincgetoft; also Hornington (Ainsty).”63
AF Wareham and APM Wright represent: “The parish of Horningsea, which takes its name from the Old English word for hill and island, lies 6 km (3 ½ miles). North-northeast of Cambridge. It comprises a long strip of territory covering 1,167 acres (655 hectares) on the eastern bank of the river Cam, the southern half of which is roughly triangular in shape, the northern half rectangular. The parish's western boundary mostly follows the western bank of the river Cam on its course north-eastwards as far as Bottisham lock. From there it runs southeastwards along Bottisham lode, then turns southwest to follow a straight line to Fencett farm. Thereafter the irregular eastern boundary interlocks with Fen Ditton's boundary, which was fixed in 1412. The triangular southern half of the parish, some 6 m (20 ft) above sea level, lies upon a continuation of the tongue of Lower Chalk which stretches northwards from the north end of Fleam Dyke. In the northern half of the parish gault and clay overlay Cambridge Greensand, and the elevation is less than 6 m (20 ft) above sea level. Along the banks of the river Cam there are alluvial river gravels, and in the northwestern triangular tip of the parish, between North Hills, Bottisham lode, and the Cam, peat overlies Cambridge Greensand.
“During the 2nd millennium BC what became Horningsea stood on a chalk promontory between tidal water and marsh, and in the early Middle Ages the parish comprised an elongated peninsula jutting northwards into undrained fenland. The earliest drainage was through Bottisham lode, which formed part of a series of watercourses that were cut in the Middle Ages or earlier across the fens to the river Cam. In 1637 the Earl of Bedford and the Adventurers were allotted 400 acres (circa 165 hectares) of fen in the parishes of Fen Ditton, Horningsea, and Stow cum Quy. In the 1640s and the mid-1650s Horningsea and Fen Ditton fens were drained by digging a main watercourse that connected to Bottisham lode. In 1758 landowners in Horningsea and Bottisham were required to pay half of the costs of repairing Bottisham lode sluice, and of sealing a breach in the east bank of the Cam between Clayhithe and Upware, but in 1766 the drainage in the region was regarded as inadequate. In the early 1790s Horningsea's fields were drained by cutting small hollows 1.5 m below the bottoms of the furrows. During the 19th century the remaining fenland in the parish was drained, except for the area around Snout's corner, which was still fenland in 2000.”64
***JESUS LANE, CAMBRIDGESHIRE***
“Jesus Lane is an ancient route that gave access to the nunnery of St Mary and St Radegund, on which Jesus College, Cambridge is founded. It crossed the King's Ditch. Little Trinity on the lane is one of the best domestic buildings in Cambridge. Jesus College is located on the north side of the street, and gives the street its name. Sidney Sussex College is to the south of Jesus Lane on the western end, fronting onto Sidney Street.”65
Edmund Carter specifies: “That modern Cambridge was ever walled in, I can nowhere find: King Henry III in 1266, erected two gates, one on the south near Pembroke Hall, the other on the east near St Andrew’s church, of which there are now no remains: he caused also a ditch to be made, without those gates, extending from the river near King’s Mills on the west, to that part of the river opposite the castle on the northeast; and the remains of it is that small ditch which passes through Pembroke Lane, Holiday’s Garden, by Hog Hill, the back gate of the Falcon Inn, near the west end of St Andrew’s church, through Wall’s Lane, Sidney Close, Jesus Lane, and then through Jesus Green into the river: so that we find neither the old nor the new town had much defense but the castles aforesaid. There are scarce any remains to be seen of the castle of Grandchester, nor of the houses that extended from one to the other; but we can easily trace out the ancient and modern fortifications of the castle of Chesteron; and one gate is still standing, which is made the county goal.”
Edmund Carter continues: “Bridge Street, extending from the Great Bridge towards the south to the west end of Jesus Lane, which, together with the street on the north side of the aforesaid bridge called Castle End, make Bridge Ward.”
And again: “St Andrew’s (anciently called Preacher’s) Street, extending from the most southern part of St Andrew’s parish to the west end of Jesus Lane, makes Preacher’s Ward.”66
**CHESHIRE**
“Cheshire's name was originally derived from an early name for Chester, and was first recorded as Legeceasterscir in the Anglo-Saxon Chronicles, meaning ‘the shire of the city of legions’. Although the name first appears in 980, it is thought that the county was created by Edward the Elder around 920. In the Domesday Book, Chester was recorded as having the name Cestrescir (Chestershire), derived from the name for Chester at the time. A series of changes that occurred as English itself changed, together with some simplifications and elision, resulted in the name Cheshire, as it occurs today.”67
J Gronow tells: “Cheshire: a county palatine, famous for its salt works, and cheese of a peculiar richness and flavor. The air is temperately cold and very healthy, as the inhabitants generally live to a good old age.”68
JM Wilson chronicles: “Cheshire, a maritime county; bounded, on the northwest, by the Irish sea; on the north, by Lancashire; on the northeast, by Yorkshire; on the east, by Derbyshire; on the southeast, by Staffordshire; on the south, by Salop; on the southwest, by North Wales. Its outline has two projections, northwestward between the estuaries of the Mersey and the Dee, and northeastward to Yorkshire; but
is otherwise nearly oval. Its greatest length, northeastward, is 58 miles; its greatest breadth, 36 miles; its mean breadth, about 18 miles; its circuit, about 200 miles; its area, 707,078 acres. A ridge of hills, subordinate to the Derby and Yorkshire mountains, extends along all the eastern border; another ridge, much broken, crosses the west center northward from Malpas to Frodsham; a remarkable isolated rocky eminence, about 366 feet high, is in the line of the latter ridge, at Beeston; a chain of high ground goes through the peninsular projection between the Mersey and the Dee; and a few other eminences occur near Macclesfield and toward Salop; but the rest of the surface, comprising about four-fifths of the entire area, is remarkable for flatness, and has a mean elevation of probably not more than 150 feet above the level of the sea. The chief rivers are the Mersey, the Dee, the Weaver, the Dane, the Bollin, the Tame, the Peover, and the Weelock. Lakes, bearing the name of meres, are numerous and pretty enough to give feature to some landscapes; but are all small. Medicinal springs occur in Delamere forest, at Shore-heath near Stockport, and at Buglawton. Rocks of millstone grit occur along the eastern border, and fill the extremity of the northeastern projection; rocks of the coal measures, rich in coal, form a broad band, immediately west of the mill-stone grit; rocks of bunter sandstone occupy a great tract westward of the coal measures, and a still greater one from the vicinity of Malpas, Tattenhall, and Frodsham all westward to the sea; and rocks of the keuper marl and sandstone occupy most of the country between these two tracts, and occur to some extent near the extremity of the northwestern peninsula. Lead and copper ores are found at Alderley-edge and Peckforton-hills; cobalt ore, yielding smalt of fine color, is found at Alderley-edge; and iron ore occurs at Alderley-edge, Dukinfield, and Stockport. Red sandstone, for building, is extensively quarried at Runcorn, Manley, Great Bebington, and other places; and limestone and millstone are found at Mole-Cop Mountain. Coal is worked in thirty-five collieries, with an output of 700,500 tons a year. Salt abounds in strata and in springs, near North-wick, Nantwich, Winsford, and Middlewich; and is produced from the strata to the amount of about 60,000 tons a year, and from the springs to the amount of about 45,000 tons.
“The territory now forming Cheshire belonged anciently to the British Cornavii; and was included by the Romans, first in their Britannia Superior, next in their Flavia Caesarieusis. It was overrun, in 607, by Ethelfrith; annexed to Mercia, in 828, by Egbert; made an earldom, under Leofric, by Canute; constituted a palatinate, under Hugh Lupus, by the Conqueror; annexed to the Crown, in 1265, by Henry III; made a principality by Richard II; constituted again a palatinate by Henry IV; and governed thence, under the King's eldest sons, as Earls of Chester, by a separate and independent jurisdiction. The privileges of the palatinate were greatly curtailed by Henry VIII, and ceased altogether in 1830. The county is crossed by the Via Devana and Watling-street; and has British and Saxon remains at Prestbury, ancient castles at Haulton and Beeston, old timber houses at Bromborough, Bramhall, Moreton, and Mottram, monastic remains at Birkenhead and Rock-Savage, and curious ancient churches at Prestbury and Mottram.”69
***ASTON JUXTA MONDRUM, CHESHIRE***
Tony Bostock declares: “Aston means ‘the farm where the Ash trees grow’ and the juxta Mondrem part means ‘alongside the forest of Mondrem’.”70
Benjamin Clarke displays: “Chester, a township in the parish of Acton: 188 miles from London (coach road 168), 4 from Nantwich, 8 from Tarporley. North West Railway through Crewe to Acton, thence 3
miles: from Derby, through Tamworth, etc, 89 miles. Money orders issued at Nantwich: London letters delivered 8 ½ am: post closes 6 ½ pm. According to Doomsday-book, the town of Aston was held in 1086 by Odcard under William Fitzingel, Baron of Alton. There was at that time one place of the name, but in the reign of Henry II it was divided into this and the neighboring hamlet of Aston Grange. Contains 950 acres: 26 houses: population in 1841, 174: probable population in 1849, 197. … Aston Hall is the seat of Sir Arthur Aston, envoy extraordinary and minister plenipotentiary of the court of Spain in 1839. The family of Aston is of very ancient origin. Odard de Eston, lord of the manor of Eston (now called Aston), lived before and in the time of William the Conqueror. In Doomsday-book, it is stated that ‘Willielmus filius Nigelli (or Fitznigel, who was Baron of Helton), tennit de Hugoni Comite Aston et Delardus de Eo’, both of which latter are Saxon manors, and held under the baron of Halton as he held under the Earl of Abestee. From Lord Odard descended Gilbert de Aston, who was a person of great consideration, and connected with the principal families in the palatinate of Chester, as early as the reign of Henry II. The head of the family, at that time Sir Thomas Aston, was created a baronet in 1628, and took an active part on the side of the King in the civil war. The title dropped with the fourth baronet, who sat in parliament for Liverpool, and died in 1774, leaving his estates to his eldest sister, who married to Dr Hervey, fourth son of John, first Earl of Bristol. This gentleman, on acquiring the family estates, assumed the name of Aston, and from him the present proprietor is descended.”71
***GREAT WARFORD, CHESHIRE***
University of Nottingham’s Institute for Name Studies expresses: “Great Warford: 'Weir ford'. Wer (Old English): a ‘weir’, a ‘river-dam’; a ‘fishing-enclosure in a river’. Ford (Old English): a ‘ford’.”72
Tony Bostock notes: “Warford means the 'ford (crossing place on a river/stream) beside the weir' and the use of great denotes the more important place as compared with Little Warford.”73
Daniel Lysons records: “The manor of Great-Warford which has been held at a very early period under the Mainwarings by the family of Poutrell, was given by Roger Mainwaring Esq to his brother Ralph; the date of the grant is uncertain, but it appears that Lawrence Mainwaring, son of Ralph, successfully maintained his right to this manor against Richard Poutrell about the year 1286. In or about the year 1337, this manor was conveyed by Geffrey de Stockport and Eleanor his wife, to John de Motlow and his wife Joyce; it is not known or when it passed to the Masseys of Podington, who were in possession at least as early as the year 1449; having passed with the Podington estate, it is now the property of Sir Thomas Stanley Massey Stanley Bart.”74
***VICARS CROSS, CHESHIRE***
Tony Bostock reveals: “It’s either a place where there was a preaching cross or cross roads on land owned by the local vicar.”75
**CORNWALL**
JB Johnston spells out: “1047 [AD] Old English Chronicle Cornwalon (inflected); Domesday Book Cornvalge; circa 1110 [AD] Orderic Cornu Britanniae, Corwallia; 1189 [AD] Cornubia; circa 1205 [AD]
Cornwaile. Compare to Cornouaille (Cornewaile), Brittany. Earle says, ‘Place of the Walas or strangers of Kernyw.’ Compare to Wales. Others derive from Old French corn, Latin cornu, ‘a horn’, from the shape of Cornwall.”76
J Gronow touches on: “Cornwall: the most westerly county of England, is separated from Devonshire by the river Tamar. From its situation the southwest wind blows four-fifths of the year, which fills the air with fogs, but does not make it unwholesome. It takes its name from Carn, ‘a rock’, and Waules, the name the Saxons gave the Britons; who, on the invasion by the Saxons, retired here as well as into Wales, and founded a kingdom that existed many years under different kings, the chief of whom were Ambrosius, Aurelius, and the celebrated King Arthur. It was included in the county of Devon, which accounts for its not being in Domesday. The Scilly Isles, 144 in number, belong to the county, though 30 miles distant. Tin is the chief produce, and the inhabitants are distinguished for their activity and strength.”77
JM Wilson clarifies: “Cornwall, a maritime county in the extreme southwest of England: bounded on the north-northeast by Devon, on all other sides, by the sea. It is divided from Devon chiefly by the river Tamar; and washed, along the northwest coast, by the Bristol channel, along the southeast coast, by the English channel. Its form is cornute or horn-shaped; extending southwestward from a base at the boundary with Devon to a point at Lands-End. Its breadth, at the boundary with Devon, is 43 miles; its average breadth, over the 17 miles next Lands-End, is about 5 ½ miles; its average breadth elsewhere, is about 20 miles; its length, from the middle of the boundary with Devon, along the center, to Lands-End, is 78 miles; its circuit, including sinuosities, is about 265 miles; and its area, which includes some near islets and the Scilly Islands, is 873,600 acres. A ridge of bare rugged hills, with one summit 1,368 feet high, and several others nearly as high, extends along all the center; bleak moors lie among the hills and spread down from their sides; mounds of drifted sand, in some instances several hundred feet high, occupy considerable space along the northwest coast; and only very fertile valleys and bottoms, together with pieces of exceedingly romantic scenery, redeem the entire county from one general aspect of dreariness and desert. The chief rivers are the Tamar, the Lynher, the Looe, the Fowey, the Camel, and the Fal. Rocks of millstone grit form a tract in the extreme north, toward the boundary with Devon; rocks of carboniferous limestone and shale form a belt immediately south of that tract; rocks of old red sandstone form the greater part of the county, all southward and southwestward of that belt; rocks of granite and intrusive felspathic trap form four large tracts and many small ones amid the old red sandstone region or contiguous to it; and rocks of greenstone, basalt, and other traps, with serpentine, form a considerable tract around the Lizard. Tin and copper ores are worked in about 200 mines, with a capital of about 2,500,000 pounds, by upwards of 50,000 hands; the tin ores producing about 5,000 tons a year, and the copper ores about 10,000 tons. Lead ore, China stone, soap rock, slate, and building-stone also are largely worked; and zinc, arsenic, cobalt, bismuth, and many other minerals are found.
“Cornwall was the Cassiterides or ‘tin islands’ of the Phoenicians and the Greeks. It was inhabited, previous to the Roman conquest, by the Carnubii, the Cimbri, and the Damnonii; was included by the Romans in their province of Britannia Prima; became, with Dartmoor, in 446, a separate kingdom, under Vortigern; was overrun by the Saxons under Egbert in 813, under Alfred in 892, under Athelstane in 927: was annexed by Athel-stane, in 938, to the Kingdom of Wessex; was ravaged by the Danes in 977-81;
assumed more fixity and quietness under the English crown than most other counties, prior to its erection into a duchy in 1333; has ever since maintained the same quiet character; and was the last scene of triumphant display by Charles and his cavaliers. The language of its ancient people was a variety of the Celtic, akin to the Welsh, the Gaelic, and the Breton; was used in the pulpit so late as 1678; continued, till a few generations ago, to be generally spoken; and has left traces in the speech of the present inhabitants. The title of Earl of Cornwall was held by Robert de Mortain who came from Normandy with the Conqueror, by Reginald de Dunstanville, by John Plantagenet, by Richard Fitz-Count, by Richard, King of the Romans, and by John of Eltham; and that of Duke of Cornwall was created for the Black Prince, and has ever since belonged to the eldest son of the British sovereign. Ancient British antiquities, of great variety, some of them Druidical, and many highly interesting, are very numerous. Castles which belonged to the old Earls are at Launcester, Lostwithiel, Trematon, and Restormel; and other castles of the middle ages are at Pengerswick, St Michael's Mount, and many other places. Twenty monasteries, a preceptory of the Knights-Hospitallers, eleven colleges, and seven hospitals were in Cornwall before the Reformation; but the only monastic remains of any note are at St Germains, Rialton, and St Roche. Interesting ancient churches are at Probus, Truro, Bodmin, St Neots, St Germains, and Duloe.”78
***ALTARNUN, CORNWALL 79 ***
JB Johnston documents: “Pronounced altar-nun, as in English 1294 [AD] Ecclesia de Altar Nun; 1536 [AD] Alternone; Cornish altar Non, ‘altar of St Non’, sister of Gwen of the three breasts, and mother of St David; before 550 [AD].”80
***COME-TO-GOOD, CORNWALL***
“Patricia Griffith says: ‘There has been much discussion about the origins of such a delightful name and for some time it was thought it derived from the supposed Cornish Cwm-ty-coit meaning ‘the coombe by the dwelling in the wood’. However this derivation has never been felt to be totally satisfactory and recent research by Dr Oliver Padel has discovered that the name Come to Good is not found as a name for the area until fairly late in the seventeenth century, after the arrival of the meeting. He now argues that it is much more likely to be an ironical reference to Friends and the Meeting.’”81
***FOUR LANES, CORNWALL***
Richard Edmonds observes: “Two miles due east from this temple is the Roundago of Kerris, which Borlase considered to have been another distinguished druidical temple of a very different kind, having, at its entrance, four rude pillars, 8 feet high, on which he thought some large, long stones lying near them, once rested horizontally, like those of Stonehenge, and of which entrance, as well as of the oval temple into which it led, he has given a plate in his Antiquities, page 187. In a straight line, extending 1 ¾ miles northeast by east from Boscawen-un circle, and at long intervals from each other, are three pillars which merit particular notice. The nearest, about 300 yards distant, resembles a wedge with a very blunt or broken edge; it is 7 2/3 feet above ground, and its broadest side, which is nearly 4 feet wide, faces the west by compass. The next of the three pillars is, without exception, the finest and most majestic of all menhirs in this district. It is 11 feet high, nearly 6 ½ wide in its lower part, and 1 ½ thick;
while its sides are almost as flat and smooth as if they had been hewn; the direction of its edge is true north and south, and its sides face east and west. It stands very conspicuously 7 furlongs from the temple, and close on the north side of the Land’s End road. The farthest of the three pillars, although only 4 feet above ground, 2 ¼ wide, and 1 ¼ thick, is equally remarkable; for its edge is in the line of the three pillars, northeast by east, pointing, like a fingerpost, to the temple, and the upper half of each of its two sides bears a Roman cross. The eastern cross is, as usual, upright, with its shaft parallel to the vertical edges of the stone; but the western cross, unlike every other in this neighborhood, is inclined very considerably, with its head towards the south. This appears to be the only anciently erected pillar, in this district, on which a cross has been subsequently carved. As it is in a very unfrequented spot, the tourist, after reaching the Four Lane’s End, at Lower Drift, should walk three hundred paces from the Land’s End road along the road to Sancreed Church, then get over the northeastern hedge, and descend nearly to the bottom of the steep croft in which it stands. These three pillars are all invisible from the temple, and from one another.”
Richard Edmonds continues: “In this and the second chapters all the ancient stones marked on the map have been noticed, except the two stone sepulchral monument at Truen, in Madron, and the much larger two-stone monument, probably also sepulchral, at Drift, in Sancreed. That at Truen is in a field adjoining the south side of the road from Penzance to New Bridge, and within half of a mile of the latter place; the stones are 10 feet apart, in a line east-northeast and west-southwest, and between them was found, about a century ago, a grave, containing a black greasy earth. ‘The grave (says Borlase) came close to the westernmost and largest stone, next to which I imagine the head of the interred lay.’ The other two-stone monument consists of two huge unshapen pillars, standing northwest and southeast, the one 9, the other 7 feet above ground, and 18 feet apart, one of the pillars being in a field adjoining the southeast side of the road from Penzance to the Land’s End, and about a furlong southwest of the four lane’s end at Drift. These uninscribed monuments are probably more ancient than the inscribed stones above noticed.”
And: “Let us first take a drive on the Land’s-end road. After passing the pretty valley of Buryas and the avenue leading to Nancothan mills we have, from the turn of the road near the top of the hill, a very beautiful view of the Mount. On arriving at the four lanes end in Lower Drift, we walk three hundred and twenty paces on the northern road, enter a gateway there on our right, pass across the field and down to nearly the bottom of a very steep croft, to examine a remarkable granite-pillar, bearing crossing made perhaps ages after its erection. A furlong further, on the Land’s-end road, on the top of the hill and opposite the land to Higher Drift, we see, close on our left, two large myin heerion, and a few fields off, towards the south, another men heer. A mile more, on the Land’s-end road, brings us to the broadest and finest men heer in the district, in the estate of Trenuggo. After another mile we reach a solitary cottage on our right, from whence we walk a quarter of a mile towards the south, across crofts, to Boscawen-un circle, the most famous of all our ‘Druidical Temples’, and probably one of the three gorsedds, or places of judgment of Britain mentioned in an ancient Welsh triad – ‘The three Gorsedds of Poetry of the island of Britain; the Gorsedd of Boscawen in Damnonium; the Gorsedd of Salisbury in England, and the Gorsedd of Bryn Gwyddon in Wales.’ This translation is by an eminent Welsh scholar and antiquary, the late Rev Thomas Price. ‘I do not hesitate’ he says ‘to translate Beiscawen (as it is in
the original) Boscawen in Cornwall, between Penzance and the Land’s-end, near which are some Druidical remains, especially a stone circle.’ The pillar in the center of this temple and the supposed cromlech in its circumstance were probably sepulchral monuments subsequently erected, - for even Christian churches are to this day occasionally used as habitations for the dead. There is a barrow near it. About midway, and close on our left, in returning to our carriage is Creeg Tol, a remarkable carn with several rock basins, one of which will be easily recognized as ‘the giant’s footprint’. The menheer nearest the temple is that first mentioned on page 17. A mile further on, at Crouz-an-wra, and at the ancient cross still standing on the south side of the road (from which cross the village no doubt derived its name), we leave the Land’s-end road, take that leading to St Just, alight at the highest part of it, and send our carriage round three miles to wait for us half a mile west of Sancreed church. We then ascend Chapel Carn Bre on our left, the summit of which high hill in Borlase’s time was crowned with ‘an artificial hill’ of a conical form 20 feet high, walled round with large stones: on this stood the chapel of which scarce any traces now remain. It ‘was a free privileged manumized chapel (says Hals) where the Bishop could not visit.’ Chapel Euny is a mile northeast of these ruins by the way of Tredinney: the longitudinal cave leading into the beehive cave at Chapel Euny will probably (judging from the very little of it now visible) prove to be as regularly built with overlapping stones as are the remains of that at Old Chyoyster.”82
***HOLY VALE, CORNWALL***
IW North says: “Leaving these farms on your right I would advise you to make your way over a gently sloping field which lies nearly northeast from Carn Friars. At the farther corner of this field is a rough road which will guide you to a farm called Normandy towards the eastern extremity of St Mary’s. Thence your way must be northward, across a common and along a road, presenting a succession of pretty views, to Maypole, as the Hill is called which surrounds Holy Vale. This Hill affords one of the prettiest prospects on St Mary’s. At its foot is Holy Vale a pleasant sheltered nook, with four good substantial farm houses. About a century ago this farm belonged to a family of the name of Crudge, the last member of which died in November, 1848, at the advanced age of ninety-seven. ‘Mr William Crudge was deputy Commissary of Ministers in 1751, and his grandfather Mr John Crudge, married Ursula, second daughter of Sir Francis Godolphin.’ This central farm ‘lies warm, well exposed towards a little southern cove, called Porth Hellick and so well sheltered from the north winds, that trees grow very well here, of which a few tall ones are sufficient proof; and I am persuaded that every kind of fruit tree common in England might be propagated here with success.’ One of the finest trees, a sycamore, was cut down, I am told, to make room for the house which now stands at right angles to the principal building. The original farm, or, more correctly, the farm which was built after the first was destroyed by fire, consisted of the two central houses. The neat gardens in Holy Vale, in which there are some choice myrtles and a fine aloe, just now coming into bloom, will draw the attention of the visitor.”83
Walter White recounts: “The weather had brightened again by the conclusion of the service; something more might yet be seen before nightfall, and I started for Holy Vale – a pleasant hollow in the middle of the Isle, embowered by elms and sycamores, among which are scattered a few cottages. A pretty scene; one that takes you by surprise where trees are so rare, and a happy proof of the effect of shelter. Then up Maypole Hill, which commands views of the Isle under another aspect; soft and luxuriant compared
with these seen from the headlands. You can see to various points of the shore: the Druid’s Chair, and round to Inisidgen Point. Then to the Telegraph Hill, the highest summit, crowned by its tall circular tower, from the top of which you can survey the whole extent of St Mary’s. The sun had gone down, and the Isles around and the countless rocks looked beautiful against the crimson and gold of the distant west, and amid the slowly fading splendors of the gleaming waves.”84
***MOUSEHOLE, CORNWALL***
JB Johnston spotlights: “Circa 1600 Carew Mowgehole. If the name has ever been different from what it now is, it is hard to say what it can be corruption of. There is nothing like mowge in Oxford Dictionary, nor any spelling of mouse with g.”85
JS Manley underscores: “From St Michael’s Mount we proceed along the seacoast to Penzance, where there is nothing particular to be seen except the manufacture of the Serpentine marble into chimney pieces, vases, etc. The land in the neighborhood is very valuable; about 1,000 acres of it are let at 10 pounds an acre, principally for garden ground; and large quantities of early vegetables are sent to London and other parts of England from near Penzance; but there is a very beautiful walk to a place called Mousehole, quite a model little fishing town, with a small harbor, a little pier, and a little island to protect it. It is well worth going round the coast from hence to the Land’s End to see the rocks, which rise perpendicularly to the height of three or four hundred feet. Proceeding along for a little distance, you come to a grass field, where you see twelve stones standing up in a circle; and at a little distance are two large stones. They are called ‘The Merry Maiden’s’, and the tradition runs, that they were dancing there one Sunday morning, when a holy man came by and caught them thus wickedly engaged. He at once turned them into stone, and there they have been ever since. I won’t answer for the truth of this story, and I give no opinion as to their being maidens; but I certainly doubt their being merry; for I remember that when two young women were listening to the playing of a band, they were asked why they did not dance to the music, their reply was, that there was no fun in dancing by themselves; so I am rather doubtful about the story which describes these as being ‘merry maidens’.”86
JS Courtney comments: “Dr Wolcot (Peter Pindar) who rarely missed an opportunity for a joke, took up the subject. See his Ode To Myself in which he has:
Hail Mousehole! Birth place of Old Doll Pentraeth,
The last who jabber’d Cornish – so say Daines,
Who bat-like haunted ruins, lane and heath,
With Will o’ Wisp, to brighten up his brains.”
“’A very old woman of Mousehole, supposed (falsely however) to have been the last who spoke the Cornish language. The honorable Antiquarian, Daines Barrington, Esq journeyed some years since, from London to the Land’s-end, to converse with this wrinkled, yet delicious morceau. He entered Mousehole in a kind of triumph, and peeping into her hut, exclaimed with all the fire of an enraptured lover, in the language of the famous Greek philosopher – Eureka! The couple kissed – Doll soon after
gabbled – Daines listened with admiration – committed her speeches to paper, not venturing to trust his memory with so much treasure. The transaction was announced to the society – the Journals were enriched with their dialogues – the old Lady’s picture was ordered to be taken by the most eminent Artist, and the honorable Member to be publicly thanked for the discovery!’ So saith Peter.”87
***NINE MAIDENS DOWNS, CORNWALL***
TC Paris emphasizes: “Here, left of the road, may be seen 6 upright stones, the remnant of 9, which once stood in a row, and were known as the Nine Maidens (in Cornish Naw Wawrs, the ‘nine sisters’). They are generally considered sepulchral monuments.”
TC Paris continues: “The road ascends Tregonebris Hill, remarkable for its musical name. On right a large upright stone; on left, at top of the hill, the Nine Maidens, a celebrated Druidic circle on the farm of Boscawen-Un. The original number of stones is uncertain. There is one upright in the middle of the circle. A Welsh triad ranks ‘Beiscawen in Danmonium’ among the three ‘Gorsedds’ (places of judgment) of poetry in Britain; and this Boscawen has been pointed out as the place meant. The circle is however probably sepulchral.”88
**COUNTY DURHAM**
JB Johnston gives: “Founded Old English Chronicle 995 [AD], but no name is given there. Circa 1070 [AD] Castrum quod propria lingua Dunelmum nuncuparunt; 1075-1128 [AD] Dunholme; circa 1175 [AD] Fantosme Durealme; 1295 [AD] Dwreysm; circa 1470 [AD] Henry Duram; 1535 [AD] Stewart Durhame. A name which has changed more than once. Dunelm or –ealme is originally Celtic dun ealm, ‘hill of the elms’, an early loan-word. But Dunholme is Old English, meaning, ‘fort by the holm or river-meadow’; whilst Durham should mean ‘wild-beasts’ home or lair’, Old English deor ham, same root as deer; Icelandic dyr; Swedish diur, ‘a wild beast’. That the n should have become r is but one other proof of the liquidity of the liquids.”89
J Gronow pens: “Durham: palatinate of Durham, 256 miles from London, an ancient city, the county town, is irregularly built on a rocky eminence nearly surrounded by the Wear. This is reputed the best see in England, and the livings in the gift of the bishop the richest.”90
JM Wilson scribes: “Durham, or Durhamshire, a maritime county in the northeast of England; bounded, on the north, by Northumberland; on the east, by the German ocean; on the south, by Yorkshire; on the west, by Westmoreland and Cumberland. Its boundary line, along the north, is chiefly the rivers Derwent and Tyne; along the south, chiefly the river Tees. Its outline is somewhat triangular; one side extending east-northeastward, another southward, another west-northwestward. Its greatest length, from east to west, is about 40 miles; its greatest breadth, from north to south, about 35 miles; its circuit, about 140 miles; its area, 622,476 acres. The surface, for the most part, is either mountainous, hilly, or undulated. The western angle is crossed by the chain of uplands known as the backbone of England; and presents a bleak, moorish, and barren appearance. The tract next to that angle is traversed by ribs from the backbone, lateral and lower ranges of hill, spreading in various directions; and it shares much in the sterility of the extreme west, yet has strips of good land and fine scenery along the courses of the
principal streams. The central tracts are pleasantly varied with hill and dale, and include some beautiful and fertile valleys. The eastern tract is more champaign, yet abounds in swells, vales, and dells, and embosoms many a picturesque spot. The coast or sea-board is generally bare and tame, much of it destitute of any interesting feature, other parts redeemed from dreary monotony mainly by the outbreak of ravines and glens; and it presents no considerable headland except the bold and nearly insulated one at the town of Hartlepool. The main streams are the Tyne, the Wear, and the Tees; the chief tributary streams are the Derwent, to the Tyne, and the Skerne, to the Tees; and the secondary or minor affluents are the Urpeth, the Brown, the Sleekburn, the Gaunless, the Bedburn, and many brooks or becks. Magnesian limestone forms the coast from South Shields to Hartlepool; new red sandstone extends thence southward to the Tees, and westward up the lower part of the Tees valley; a coal formation, connected with the coalfields of Northumberland and Yorkshire, occupies a space of about 25 miles by 10 in the central and northern parts of the county; and millstone grit, shale, sandstone, and carboniferous limestone, severally or variously occur in the west. Dykes of basalt or green-stone cross the coal measures, and extend to the sea; and these, in many parts, have charred the contiguous coal into cinder, and effected much change on sulphur and other minerals. The limestone is 70 feet thick near Sunderland, and fully 300 feet deep at Hartlepool; and it serves to be quarried, serves to be calcined, serves for polishing as marble, and yields galena and a few fossils. The coal presents no fewer than about 40 beds, from 3 to 10 feet thick; and is worked, in one place near Painswick to the depth of 1,800 feet. The number of coal pits, in 1859, in South Durham was 141, - in North Durham and Northumberland, 142; and the amount of output from them was 16,001,125 tons. Ironstone is worked at Chester-le-Street and other places; and in 1589, the produce of iron ore was 370,339 tons, -the number of iron-works, 18, - the number of furnaces, 62. Lead also has been obtained, in the western tracts, to the amount of about 8,000 tons a year.
“The territory now constituting Durhamshire was inhabited by the Brigantes or ‘hill people’; afterwards formed part of the Roman Maxima Caesariensis; and afterwards was included in the Saxon Kingdom of Northumbria. It mainly lay for a time between the Northumbrian provinces of Deira and Bernicia, being then for the most part a forest; yet belonged more properly to Deira than to Bernicia. These two provinces were first separate, then united, then again separate; and they precipitated upon the Durham territory much of the evils which arose both from their own vicissitudes and from Danish invasion. Two bishoprics were founded in Bernicia, toward the close of the 7th century, at Hexham and at Lindisfarne; while the bishopric of York included Deira; yet both of the Bernician bishoprics became extinct, or rather transferred their seat, through Chester-le-Street, to Durham, with the effect of making that city the permanent center of prelatic rule over all Durhamshire and Northumberland. The new bishopric, as noted in our article on the city, acquired extraordinary powers during the Norman period, became a county-palatine, and maintained itself very much in the manner of a kingdom. The bishops suffered calamity most by frequent incursions of the Scots; but they convoked parliaments, raised armies, maintained fortalices, and levied taxes very much as if they had been sovereigns, and were able generally to repel the enemy or to subdue him. But, in 1640, during the parliamentary war, a Scottish army took possession of Northumberland and Durham, obliged the then bishop to flee to Stockton, thence to York and London, never to return; and drove all the affairs of the diocese into a state of abeyance till 1660. The Roman Watling-street went northward, through the county, by way of
Wolsingham; and sent off a branch from Lanchester, through Chester-le-Street, to South Shields. Roman stations were at Brandon-camp, Pierce-bridge, Binchester, Lanchester, Ebchester, Castle's-camp, and Maiden-castle. The chief architectural antiquities are Barnard-castle, Auckland-castle, Brancepeth-castle, Evenwood-castle, Hilton-castle, Lumley-castle, Raby-castle, Ravensworth-castle, Whilton-castle, Durham-castle, Durham-cathedral, Auckland church, and remains of Jarrow priory, Finchale priory, and Nesham nunnery.”91
***ARCHDEACON NEWTON, COUNTY DURHAM***
University of Nottingham’s Institute for Name Studies states: “Archdeacon Newton: The archdeacon's 'new farm/settlement'. Niwe (Old English): ‘new’. Tun (Old English): an ‘enclosure’; a ‘farmstead’; a ‘village’; an ‘estate’. Archedeken (Middle English): an ‘archdeacon’.”92
County Durham Archaeology alludes: “The small village of Archdeacon Newton lies on flat ground to the northwest of Darlington. Although it was once part of the large parish of Darlington, it is now a parish in its own right. As its name suggest the village was once owned by the Archdeacon of Durham. Newton literally means 'New Town'; this suggests that the Archdeacon actually founded and built the village in the medieval period. The remains of some of the medieval structure are still visible. Although now used as a farm building, this structure contains traces of its use as a medieval house. Another farm building nearby was probably once a house, built in the first half of the 16th century. Other remains includes the earthworks of a medieval moated site, an old fishpond and a series of banks and ditches marking the sites of enclosures. There must also once have been a chapel here, although no remains can be seen today. We know it existed because in 1414 three local men, Robert Fisher, John Nicholson and John Deves were given a license to hold religious services in a chapel in the village.
“Unfortunately, these medieval remains are the only recorded historical or archaeological sites to be found in the village. Although prehistoric and Roman remains are found in other nearby parishes, no trace has been found in Archdeacon Newton itself. This is probably because it is a very small parish, and little archaeological or historical research has been carried out here.”93
***CASTLE EDEN, COUNTY DURHAM***
University of Nottingham’s Institute for Name Studies communicates: “Castle Eden: Named after the Eden Burn. Robert de Brus held a castle here around 1150. Castel (Old English): a ‘defensive building’; a ‘village’.”94
“During the Danish occupation, the village was known as South Yoden, or Yew Dene, but following the end of Danish occupation in 960 AD, the village took its present name of Castle Eden, thus no connection with its biblical namesake. Both the Domesday Book and the King's Book record Castle Eden as a small village, but make no mention of any castle. In 1764, the estate of Castle Eden was purchased by Rowland Burdon from William Turner, in which the deeds describe a pathway passing a ruined medieval chapel across a bridge and through the village leading up to the ruined manor and castle. It is commonly considered that this is the area named ‘The Village’ and that the present Parish Church of St James (Parish of Monk Hesleden) is built on the site of the chapel mentioned.
“In the 1760s, a farm laborer digging out a hedge discovered a fine glass beaker, known as ‘The Castle Eden Beaker’. It now resides in the British Museum.
“Rowland Burdon returned to the estate in 1766 to work on ‘The Castle’ as it became named, adding the present Regency Gothic wing. Sir John Soane, renowned Regency architect, visited the completed castle on his way from another project. He drafted plans, proposing a potential Neoclassical remodeling of the structure. Burdon in the end chose not to commission him.”95
***MAIDEN LAW, COUNTY DURHAM***
David Simpson depicts: “A mile northeast of Lanchester, Maiden Law stands on top of a hill where a crossroads leads to Leadgate, Durham and Annfield Plain.
“Maiden Law was a hamlet in the 19th century and though it grew in the early 1900s it is still very small.
“Until 1914, a windmill stood north of the village, but most early buildings were farms.
“Stone quarrying was important and collieries were located nearby at Annfield Plain, South Moor and Burnhope.
“Maiden Law Hospital care home is the most familiar landmark in the village today but is down the bank near Lanchester's Ornsby Hill.
“Maiden Law's name is a mystery, but one expert suggested it was frequented by maidens in ancient times seeking love and fertility from a yet to be discovered fertility stone.
“Such a stone may have been located on the ‘hill’, or Law. Interestingly, Lanchester Manor, at the foot of Burnhope Hill was once called Maiden-stan-hall (Maidenstone Hall) and may be connected with the site. It only came to be called a manor after it was acquired by the manor of East Greenwich, in the late 1500s.”96
***MONKWEARMOUTH, COUNTY DURHAM***
University of Nottingham’s Institute for Name Studies enumerates: “Monkwearmouth: ‘Mouth of the River Wear’. ‘Monk’ to distinguish from Bishop Wearmouth. Muda (Old English): the ‘mouth of a large river’, an ‘estuary’.”97
***MUGGLESWICK, COUNTY DURHAM***
University of Nottingham’s Institute for Name Studies gives an account: “Muggleswick: ‘Specialized farm connected with Mucel’ or ‘specialized farm at Mucel’s place’. Wic (Old English): A ‘dwelling’; a ‘building or collection of buildings for special purposes’; a ‘farm’, a ‘dairy farm’; a ‘trading or industrial settlement’; or (in the plural) a ‘hamlet, village’.”98
***NEVILLE’S CROSS, COUNTY DURHAM***
JM Wilson points out: “Nevilles-Cross, an ancient cross, in the east of the center of Durhamshire; on a hill by the river. Brune or Browney, overlooking a wide expanse of smoky country, 1 ¼ mile southwest of Durham city. It commemorates the battle of Red Hills or Nevilles-Cross, fought on 17 Oct 1346, when David, King of Scotland, suffered a great defeat. It probably was preceded by a more ancient cross; it formerly was adorned with statues of the four evangelists, and surmounted by a crucifix; it was denuded of these by wanton demolition, in 1589; and it is now reduced to a stone-stepped base and the lower part of the shaft.”99
The Battlefields Trust relates: “The battle of Neville’s Cross, between Scottish and English forces, took place on 17th October 1346, on moorland just to the west of Durham. The two armies clashed on the narrow ridge close to Neville's Cross. The English had already chosen the best ground before the Scots could assemble their army and so the invaders found themselves severely disadvantaged by the terrain. Despite the battle being evenly balanced for a time, the Scots were out maneuvered and gradually fled the field, all but abandoning their King.
“The battle of Neville’s Cross was disastrous for the Scots. Not only was their King captured and imprisoned and many men lost, but the following year the English pursued their advantage and were able to occupy almost the whole of Scotland south of the Forth and the Clyde.
“The battlefield is extensively developed on the eastern side, though the area around Crossgate Moor (as shown on the modern Ordnance Survey Explorer map), on which some of the action may have taken place, is still undeveloped. The land on the west remains largely agricultural. A railway line dissects the southern half of the battlefield running east to west in a cutting 30 m deep and 80 m wide. Access is possible by car and on foot and there are sufficient public footpaths to enable much of the battlefield to be walked, a way marked battlefield trail having been laid out with interpretation panels and a published leaflet. The remains of the Cross are situated within the urban area.”100
***NO PLACE, COUNTY DURHAM***
“The origins of the village's unusual name are uncertain; however, theories include a shortening of ‘North Place’, ‘Near Place’, or ‘Nigh Place’, or that the original houses of the village stood on a boundary between two parishes, neither of which would accept the village. The village originally consisted of four terraced houses, known as No Place. In 1937, residents of the terrace of houses to the north, known as Co-operative Villas, demolished these houses, but took on the name for their own village. Derwentside Council tried to change the name of the village to Co-operative Villas in 1983; however, they met with strong protests from local residents at the removal of all signs pointing to No Place. Today the signs say both No Place and (at the request of some residents) Co-operative Villas.”101
***PITY ME, COUNTY DURHAM***
“There are various theories on the origin of Pity Me's unusual name. Most likely, as speculated in the Oxford Dictionary of British Place Names, it is simply ‘a whimsical name bestowed in the 19th century on a place considered desolate, exposed or difficult to cultivate.’ Alternatively it may be a shortened form of an earlier place name referring to a ‘shallow lake’ or mere, such as Petit Mere (ie,
from Norman French), Petty Mere or Peaty Mere. Related theories suggest that it comes from Pithead Mere, referring to an extended area of boggy waste ground onto which the outwash from mine head pumping engines was discharged, or that petite mer (French: ‘small sea’) is an ironic name for the settlement given the arid nature of the land.
“However, the existence of several examples of other, lesser settlements, that share this name in Northumberland - particularly one north of Barrasford in North Tynedale, and another outside Hartburn, east of Morpeth - suggests that it may be derived from some actual feature of the landscape, or former land-use, that has since been forgotten (one exotic suggestion for the North Tynedale example being the Ancient British term Beddan Maes, meaning ‘burial ground’ - although this suggestion has never been offered to explain the name of the Durham settlement).”102
Neil Griffin stipulates: “Pity Me, is a small community with a population of 4,000 or so on the northern edge of the Ancient city of Durham, in the North East of England. It's not the only strange place name around here, we also; have Noplace, Quaking Houses, Shiney Row and Tow Law but Pity Me is where I live. It's a nice place to be. The people are friendly and everything I need is here. We have a mix of housing, schools, a retail park, an industrial estate, a nature reserve, a science center, 2 leisure centers, a travel inn and 3 pubs.
“Walking from my back gate I can be in open countryside in 5 minutes and in the bustling center of town in 25. The road that passes my front door is The Great North Road. It’s now been bypassed by motorway. But 2,000 years ago this road went all the way from my front door to the Forum in Ancient Rome. A channel direct to the heart of one of the world’s earliest civilizations.
“There are conflicting explanations of the origin of this unusual and romantic village name. The most common is that there was once a large expanse of water here and it is translated from the French, Petite Mer or ‘small sea’; it has also been suggested that it may have been a humorous jibe at a large, barren piece of land. Another is that it mimics the cry of the Pewits or Lapwings who inhabit the area or that it was once a burial ground for executed prisoners from the famous Durham goal. My favorites however, concern the city’s association with St Cuthbert.
“Durham Cathedral, voted Britain’s favorite building, is the last resting-place of St Cuthbert, our most famous Christian saint. A visionary, miracle worker and religious leader who had power over the wind and sea and who was, allegedly, appointed Bishop of Lindisfarne by God himself. He is sometimes known as St Cuthbert Uncorrupted. This is because his body, when his coffin was reopened some 400 years after his death in 687, was found to be unchanged and undecayed.
“Cuthbert had been a shepherd in the Scottish borders who one evening witnesses a stream of light ascending heavenwards. The next morning he found that St Aiden the founder of the Christian community of Lindisfarne, or ‘Holy Island’, had died. Cuthbert realized that must have been Aiden being taken by angels up to heaven and so he gave up life as a shepherd to follow a religious path. His life, including his many miracles, was chronicled by another famous saint the Venerable Bede, who also rests in the magnificent church.
“Cuthbert was at first buried in Lindisfarne Priory but when the monks abandoned this vulnerable island on the North East Coast to escape Viking marauders they took his relics with them. For over 200 years his devoted followers and their descendants avoided Viking attack and carried his coffin with them around the region.
“Eventually, they were told in a vision to take his remains to Dunholm, an easily fortified hill island in the oxbow of the River Wear. Here Bishop Ealdhum, Durham's first bishop, built a stone cathedral in 995 AD. At last after 200 years Cuthbert's weary remains could be put safely to rest. Durham has ever since been a place of immense religious importance and a place of pilgrimage. This is where the more interesting place-name explanations come from. At this point at the edge of the city pilgrims travelling from the north would get their first view of the Cathedral and would sing the 51st Psalm. ‘Miserere Mei, Deus,’ or ‘Pity Me O God!’
“The best of all though is the suggestion that this spot is where the clumsy monks dropped his coffin and Cuthbert beseeched them from beyond to ‘Pity Me for God’s sake!’
“So there you go! I live in a place where a bunch of clumsy monks once dropped the coffin of a dead hero they’d been carrying for over 200 years. That appeals to me.”103
***QUAKING HOUSES, COUNTY DURHAM***
“Quaking Houses is a small village near to the town of Stanley in County Durham, in England. It may have been originally settled by Quakers, but during the Industrial Revolution it developed into a mining village with traditional terraced houses. The Quaker origin is supported by the 1873 name for a mine with two shafts at the village called Quaker House Pit. However, an alternative origin is suggested by the following; the 1865 OS Map shows a farm called Quaking House to the north at Anfield Plain and a colliery railway line ran past this farm branching to the village mine. This colliery railway line was called the Quaking House Branch Line. An amusing colloquial name for the village was ‘nanny goat island’ perhaps reflecting the livestock kept in the extensive allotments and grazing area around the village.”104
**CUMBRIA**
www.english-lakes.com writes: “After the fall of the Roman Empire in the late fourth century AD, the Celtic peoples of the area gave themselves the name Combrogi or Cymri, meaning ‘Fellow Countrymen’, from which the county name Cumbria, derives. In the sixth century Urien, son of Cynfarch Oer became the ruler of the Kingdom of Rheged, the boundaries of which were roughly equivalent to the boundaries of modern Cumbria and Dumfrieshire, but included parts of Yorkshire. Nennius records his victories over the Anglian sub kings of Bernicia in the second half of the sixth century. The Historia Brittonum records that he was assassinated on the orders of his ally Morcant Bulc who resented his success.”105
***ARTHURET, CUMBRIA 106 ***
JB Johnston articulates: “Stokes thought this the same as Verteris in circa 400 [AD], which is probably of same root as Welsh, ‘fortification’. But King Arthur was a real Celtic King none the less, and his name
probably influenced the form of this. The name is first found in Juvenal, Artorius. This, says Rhys, is early Brythonic Artor, generic Artoros.”107
***CONISTON OLD MAN, CUMBRIA***
George Tattersall describes: “Leaving Lancaster, and crossing the Lune by an elegant bridge of five arches, from the center of which is a fine view of the Castle on the left, and the aqueduct of the Lancaster Canal on the right, a ride of four miles leads to the small village of Bolton-on-the-Sands: from this point, and indeed for a considerable distance beyond, there is a beautiful view of the Bay of Morecambe: in the vale, and on the seacoast, are scattered the neat white houses which mark the road from Lancaster to Ulverston; whilst beyond the bay are seen the towering heights of Coniston Fells, amongst which the Coniston Old Man is the most conspicuous, and may be easily recognized by the pile of stones on its summit: to the right of Coniston Fells are the other Lake mountains; and still farther to the right of these, the view is shut in by the bare and bleak Shap Fells. Two miles beyond Bolton is Carnforth: here is a respectable inn, where the party may leave their carriage, and proceed on foot to visit Dunald Mill-hole.”108
WF Topham establishes: “Coniston, or as it is also called Thurston Water, is six miles in length and about three quarters of a mile of width. The character of the scenery of this lake is unequal. The lower reach is very tame, nor is the want of beauty at all ameliorated by straight unbending shores; but the bold and sublime grandeur of the head of the lake will fully compensate for any disappointment which may arise from want of picturesque interest or beauty in its environs. The best view of this lake is from Waterhead, whence the accompanying illustration is taken. The shores of the lake are varied with bold promontories and islands, and traveling northward the middle ground materials improve and become highly interesting, when about two miles from the head of the lake: Coniston Hall is here a good object, though probably half a mile distant, and will serve as a principal to the sprinkling of farm houses and cottages, which compose the village of Coniston. These buildings are agreeably dispersed over gentle eminences, intersecting each other in easy and elegantly undulating lines. Coniston Hall is a picturesque old building, it is partly in ruins, and a considerable portion, not only of the ruined, but the habitable parts, covered with ivy; trees have been suffered to remain near the hall, and they are in unison with it, being chiefly aged sycamores; nor are the farms and cottages without their accompaniments of wood, which though of humble growth, are scattered about the buildings and enclosures in groups, hedge rows, and in single trees. Coniston Old Man and his neighbors finish the scene in grand style, which though generally fine, is rendered infinitely more interesting when seen after much rain, by that variety of sparkling waterfalls which issue from the fissures of the mountains.”109
JB Pyne highlights: “The spectator is here supposed to be looking across the head of the Lake towards Coniston Old Man, a mountain so entitled from its resemblance to a human figure. The road from Ulverstone to Coniston Water-Head leads along a narrow vale, picturesquely divided by hanging enclosures, and scattered farms, rising halfway up the sides of the mountains, whose crests are covered with heath and brown vegetation. The direction of the Lake is towards the sea, and among the attractions of its neighborhoods are Mr Marshall’s summer-seat and Coniston Hall.
“Coniston Old Man rises to an elevation of 2,577 feet, and is the loftiest peak seen in the background. The scenery of this Lake is tame when compared with the attractions of its neighbors. The view selected by the artist is one calculated to afford full scope to his genius, and has enabled him to present us with one of the most poetical skies of the whole series.
“At the head of the Lake stands the New Inn, from which the ascent of the Old Man may be made. The geological character of the mountain is slate; for the excavation of which there are several large quarries, now for the most part abandoned. The produce of these quarries is usually conveyed down the Lake by means of boats, on their way to the port of Ulverston. Granite is to be found upon one part of the mountain, whilst around its side and base, syenitic boulders are scattered in great numbers. A narrow bed of transition limestone strikes across the country at the foot of the mountain. The Old Man is rich in metal; several veins of copper intersecting its eastern side. The ore is drawn in pyrites from the mine, which is situated in a large cove half a mile up the hill, and extends for upwards of half a mile in a horizontal direction, the vertical shafts penetrating two hundred yards in depth. These works have afforded employment to a large number of persons; as much as 2,000 pounds having been paid in wages in a single month. They are now worked by a company, to whom they are leased by Lady Fleming, the lady of the manor and the proprietor of both the slate-quarries and the mines. The most desirable mode of ascending the Old Man is to start from the village of Coniston, on the Walna Scar Road, and proceed a short distance along the platform from which the mountain rises. The most magnificent views are to be obtained on a clear day from the Old Man. Skiddaw, Blencathara, Helvellyn, and Langdale Pikes, are all commanded by it; as well as a series of lakes, including of course the whole of that of Coniston. A splendid open view spreads from the base of the Old Man towards the south and southeast, which embraces Morecombe Bay, the estuaries of the Kent, Leven, and Duddon; the promontories of Furness and Cartmell; the Isle of Walney and a long line of coast extending to the mouths of the Wyre and the Ribble. Lancaster Castle is also distinctly visible; sometimes, indeed, it is even possible to discern, from this point, Snowdon and the mountains of the Principality.”110
***DUNGEON GHYLL, CUMBRIA***
Stephen White portrays: “Dungeon Ghyll – A dark subterranean ravine, from Middle English donjon ‘dungeon’ and Old Norman gil. This is a descriptive name for the waterfall which falls spectacularly down the slopes of the Langdale Pikes. ‘Ravine with stream’.”111
John Murray remarks: “The fall is more striking from its position than from the volume of water or from its height. The chasm in the hill is reached by a path on one side of the ravine, and is entered by the aid of a ladder. The dark gorge into which the stream leaps gives it a peculiarly somber character, which if it were larger would not be without sublimity. Wordsworth made Dungeon Ghyll the scene of one of his Lyrical Ballads, the Idle Shepherd-boys’, not, however, one of the happiest of his effusions. The stream flows from the gorge which separates the Langdale Pike. Stickle Tarn, several hundred feet above the Ghyll, is a lonely sheet of water, and famous for its trout. Pavey Ark rises abruptly from its brink. The top of Harrison Stickle (2,401 feet), the loftiest of the two pikes, may be reached in about 1.5 hour from Millbeck. The ascent is excessively steep. Bowfell and Scawfell may both also be ascended from Langdale. Guides can be procured at the Dungeon Ghyll hotel. The ascent of Bowfell is made by a
shoulder of the mountain, called the Band, and can be accomplished in 2 hours. It would be impracticable to ride more than a portion of the way. Scawfell Pike can be reached from the Dungeon Ghyll Hotel in 3.5 hours by Rosset Ghyll and Eskhause. The ascent is much longer than from Westdale Head, but less steep, and a pony can be ridden to the summit. Westdale Head, at the foot of Wastwater, can also be reached from Langdale by the route of Sprinkling Tarn, and the Sty Head Pass. The charge for a guide to the top of Bowfell is 5 shillings, to Scawfell Pike 7 shillings, a pony 7 shillings extra.”112
***MAULDS MEABURN, CUMBRIA***
“The name Maulds Meaburn goes back to the 12th century. The King at the time, Henry II, gave part of the lands of Meaburn to Sir High de Morville, and the other part to his sister, Maud de Veteripont. Sir Hugh eventually fell out of favor with the King, after which the King reclaimed Sir Hugh’s section of the land, and this area from here on became known as Kings Meaburn. The land that belonged to Maud was and to this day (September 2008) is called Maulds Meaburn.
“The village changed hands over the years and after it was owned by the Veteriponts it passed to the families of Frauncey and then Vernon.”113
**DERBYSHIRE**
JB Johnston shares: “917 [AD] Old English Chronicle Deoraby; 1049 [AD] Deorby; 1598 [AD] Darbishiere. In Welsh Dwrgwent, ‘Beasts’ dwelling’. Old English deor, dior; Icelandic dyr, ‘a beast’. … Derby was a Danish name; Northweoroig was the Old English one.”114
J Gronow stresses: “Derby: the county town, a borough and market town, seated on the Derwent, takes its name from the Saxon deorby or dwrby, ie, ‘by the river’. The rebels advanced as far as this town in 1745, from whence they retreated by way of Chester. It has one church of peculiar beauty, All Saints, having the highest tower of any in the kingdom, Boston excepted. When held by the Danes it was stormed and taken, and the inhabitants put to the sword, by Ethelfleda, at the head of the Mercians.
“Derby: county of, is an inland and almost central county, abounds in minerals. The northern part is called the Peak, from a Saxon word signifying ‘eminen’ and equals its wonders with those of the world. The inhabitants are called Peakrills, and from being employed in the mines, are always preferred for that part of the army called the miners and sappers corps.”115
JM Wilson composes: “Derbyshire, or Derby, a midland and almost central county; nearly alike distant from the eastern and the western seas, and from Scotland and the English channel. It is bounded on the northwest, by Cheshire; on the north and northeast, by Yorkshire; on the east, by Notts; on the southeast, by Leicestershire; on the south, by Warwickshire and Staffordshire; on the west, by Staffordshire and Cheshire. Its length south-southeastward, is 52 miles; its greatest breadth, 30 miles; its circuit, about 175 miles; its area, 658,803 acres. The southern portion, as far as to Belper, is low country, diversified only by undulations and inconsiderable heights; the middle and northeastern portions are hilly, and have rich diversities of dale and rock; and the northwestern portion rises into the mountains of
the High Peak, a conspicuous part of the backbone of England, has several summits nearly 1,800 feet high, and presents a striking mixture of arable bottoms, upland pastures, barren moors, precipitous cliffs, and romantic scenery. The chief rivers are the Trent, the Derwent, the Dove, the Wye, the Erewash, the Etherow, the Goyt, and the Rother. Warm springs are at Matlock, Buxton, and Bakewell; sulphur springs, at Keddleston, Ilkeston, and Heage; and a chalybeate spring, at Quarndon. Rocks of new red sandstone occupy nearly all the south, to a line north of Derby and Ashborne; and rocks of the carboniferous series, ranging from the lower limestone and shale, through the upper limestone and the mill-stone-grit, to the coal-measures, occupy the entire center and the north. Building-stones and roofing-slates are quarried; marbles, spars, white chert, and fine clays are worked; mineral caoutchouc, quartz diamonds, toadstone, manganese, calamine, galena, barytes, and many other rare or valuable minerals are found; lead has long been obtained to the amount of about 4,500 tons a year; iron was produced to the amount of 139,250 tons in 1859; and coal is mined in 151 collieries, yielding, with the contiguous coalfields of Notts and Leicestershire, about 5,050,000 tons a year.
“The territory now forming Derbyshire belonged anciently to the British Coretani; was included by the Romans, first in their Britannia Prima, next in their Flavia Caesariensis; and afterwards formed part of the Kingdom of Mercia, and was, with Notts, distinguished from other parts, by the name of Merciae Aquilonares. Much of it was given by the Conqueror to William Peveril; and many places in it, both in earlier and later times, were scenes of conflicts; but its history generally is so interwoven with that of great surrounding tracts, or with that of the kingdom at large, that it cannot well be separately narrated. British remains exist in stone circles at Arbor-Low and Stanton-moor; cromlechs and standing-stones at Harthill-moor, Abney-moor, Eyam-moor, Froggatt-Edge, and Hathersage-moor; rocking-stones at Stanton-moor, Rootor-rocks, and Ashover-common; fortifications and earthworks at Hathersage, Staden-Low, Pilsbury, Great Finn, and Combe-moss; remains of habitations at Harthill-moor, Middleton-by-Youlgrave, and other places; and numberless tumuli and other relics in the northern uplands. Roman remains exist in the workings of several lead mines; camps near Pentridge and at Parwich; vestiges of stations at Little Chester, Buxton, and Gamesley; traces of Ryknield-street, past Little Chester to Chesterfield, of Long Lane, from Little Chester to Chesterton, and of other Roman roads from Buxton to Brough, to Gamesley, and toward Manchester; and in great numbers of coins, utensils, personal ornaments, articles of armor and pottery, and sepulchral relics. Old castles occur at Mackworth, Castleton, and Cadnor; ruined old mansions, at Haddon and South Wingfield; and remains of monastic edifices, at Dale, Beauchief, Gresley, Repton, and Yeaveley.”116
***BLUE JOHN CAVERN, DERBYSHIRE***
John Hicklin and Alfred Wallis designate: “The Tre-Cliff or Blue John Cavern is distant by the carriage-road about a mile and a half from Castleton, though pedestrians will find a shorter route on a narrow track across the edge of the cliff, at the foot of which it is situated, opposite the shivering front of Mam Tor. This cavern is the grand depository of the amethystine or topazine fluor of mineralogists, locally called Blue John to distinguish it from Black Jack, a species of zinc ore found in the neighborhood. This Blue John spar is found in different parts of Derbyshire and in Saxony; but only in this insulated cliff is it obtained in abundance. It is much less plentiful than formerly, the price being about 40 pounds per ton, ‘in the rough’. The richness and variety of color in this beautiful material have recommended it to
lapidaries, for the construction of articles for personal adornment and domestic ornaments; the largest Blue John vase ever made being in the Duke of Devonshire’s sculpture gallery at Chatsworth. The Romans, who had a camp upon the summit of Mam Tor, were acquainted with this material, and it would seem that their famous vasae murrhinae, described by Pliny, were made of this brilliant material.”117
WH Robertson expands: “In the Blue-John cavern, at Castleton, the crystalline surface resembles a great cascade, and presents, when well lighted up, a remarkably intricate and beautiful variety of surfaces and reflections. It is remarkable, and adds much to the effect of these caverns, that a stream of water passes through the larger number of them. Some geologists have expressed an opinion, that such streams may, during the lapse of ages, have produced these great excavations; but this is not possible. It would be difficult to infer such an amount of effect from a flow of water that is in general small and unimportant; while the alternation of vast chambers and narrow passages would render the hypothesis untenable. And, moreover, there are chasms, and arches, and caverns, in this formation, which show no evidence of having been water-channeled at any time; and, therefore, there can be no doubt, that the whole of these have been equally the effect of disruptions, probably the immediate consequences of volcanic action.”118
***CROSS O’ TH’ HANDS, DERBYSHIRE***
“The settlement is named for its original public house. The public house was near a gravel pit that was used for staging bare-knuckle fist fights, and was likely itself named for the sport.”119
***ROBIN HOOD, DERBYSHIRE***
Samuel Bagshaw illustrates: “Robin Hood, a public house and small village, 1.5 miles east from Bakewell. The commons about Bakewell and Over Haddon were formerly one continued dreary waste, but now present a scene of rich enclosures, interspersed with wide-spreading plantations belonging to the Duke of Rutland. Haddon Over and Nether, Hartle, Hassop, and Great Rowsley township, attend Bakewell church.”120
***UNTHANK, DERBYSHIRE***
JB Johnston maintains: “Common, too, in Scottish, where found 1228 [AD] Vnthanc. Old English un- anc means ‘ingratitude’, and the reference may be to the barrenness of the soil. But Canon Taylor says it denotes a piece of ground on which some squatter had settled ‘without leave’ of the lord.”121
**DEVONSHIRE**
JB Johnston presents: “878 [AD] Old English Chronicle Defenascir; Domesday Book Duuenant; 1189 [AD] Devonia; 1402 [AD] Devenshir; circa 1630 Risdon, ‘Devonshire, now by a vulgar speech Denshire’. In Old Welsh Dyvnaint, which seems to be Old Welsh dub, Welsh du nant, ‘dark ravine or valley or stream’. To Scottish Devon, circa 1210 [AD] Dovan, has a similar origin, Gaelic dubh an, ‘dark river’. But Rhys identifies both with the Damnonii, who originally inhabited Devonshire, the m here being aspirated into mh or v. There is a River Devon, Nottinghamshire.”122
J Gronow renders: “Devonshire: has no mountains, but the largest forest in England, Dartmoor. The air on the south is peculiarly mild, but sharp upon the north.”123
JM Wilson shed lights on: “Devonshire, or Devon, a maritime county; bounded, on the north, by the Bristol channel; on the northeast, by Somerset; on the east, by Dorset; on the southeast and south, by the English channel; on the west, by Cornwall. Its length, southward, is 72 miles; its greatest breadth, 68 miles; its aggregate of coast line, about 144 miles; its total circuit, about 280 miles; its area, 1,657,180 acres. The only English counties which exceed it in size are Yorkshire and Lincoln.
“The surface is exceedingly diversified, and exhibits a vast amount of picturesque scenery. The coasts, for the most part, are rocky, and abound in striking scenes. North Devon, comprising one-fourth or more of all the area, has moorish mountainous grounds on the east, and some moors and heights on the west, but presents, over the most part, a rich display of varied contour, fertility, and beauty. West Devon, a much smaller tract in the southwest, is characterized by narrow vales, deep valleys, and steep flanking banks. Dartmoor, immediately east of this, is a wondrous region of mixed grandeur, ruggedness, desolation, and romance. The South Hams, extending from Devonport to Torbay, blends with the finest skirts of Dartmoor, and spreads away to the sea in bold swells, winding coombes, and rich vales. East Devon, lying between Dartmoor and Dorset, is prevailingly champaign in the center and south, billowy or hilly in the east, sweetly beautiful in many parts, and moorish and mountainous in the northeast. The chief rivers, all more or less esturial and navigable, are the Taw, the Torridge, the Tamar, the Tavy, the Plym, the Yealme, the Erme, the Avon, the Dart, the Teign, the Exe, the Otter, and the Axe. The chief bays, in the north, are Morte and Bideford; in the south, Plymouth, Start, and Tor. Springs, brooks, and rivulets abound more than in any other English county; and chalybeate spas are at Bellamarsh, Bampton, Brixham, Cleaves, and Ilsington.
“Devonshire was called Dyfnant by the ancient Welsh, and Dennan by the Cornish Britons; and is supposed to have got its name from a word signifying ‘deeps’ or ‘glens’. It was originally inhabited by the Cimbri, who got here the designation of Damnonii or Danmonii; and it had ancient commercial transactions with the Phoenicians, the Greeks, and other nations. It was included, by the Romans, first in their Britannia Prima, then in their Flavia Caesariensis; and it afterwards formed part of the Kingdom of Wessex. Cynegilsus, King of the West Saxons, vanquished it in 614. The Danes made inroads into it, with various fortune, in 806, 876, 894, 1101, and 1003. William the Conqueror met stiff resistance from it in 1067 and 1069. William Rufus and Stephen also were resisted at Exeter. The French, till the middle of the 15th century, made attacks on the maritime towns, but elicited few events of any note. The wars between the Yorkists and the Lancastrians agitated the county, and caused several riots, but did not produce any battle. The Reformation caused an insurrection in 1549, leading to a number of armed engagements. The civil war, in the time of Charles I, involved general broils, many incursions, several skirmishes, and one sharp action; and came to an end in the taking of most of the towns by Fairfax. The Prince of Orange landed at Torbay in 1688; the French fleet cannonaded and plundered Teignmouth in 1690; the combined fleet of France and Spain appeared off Plymouth in 1779; and Napoleon Bonaparte was a prisoner in the Bellerophon and the Northumberland men-of-war in Plymouth sound in 1815. The county gives the title of Earl of Devon to the Courtenays, and that of Duke of Devonshire to the Cavendishes. Icknield-street crosses the county from Dorset, through Exeter, into Cornwall; the
Fosseway joined or crossed Icknield-street, near the eastern border of the county; and the Portway went from Exeter toward the center of Somerset. Ancient British remains, variously cromlechs, Druidical circles, logan-stones, cairns, and vestiges of rude houses, are at Drews-Teignton, Withecombe, Haldon-Hill, and Grimpspound; ancient camps are at Woodbury and Hembury; ancient castles are at Compton, Okehampton, Plympton, Tiverton, Berry-Pomeroy, and Lydford; ancient abbeys or priories are or were at Tavistock, Ford, Newnham, Tor, Wear, Weycroft, Frithelstoke, Hartland, Buckfastleigh, and Ottery; and ancient churches are at Ashburton, Axminster, Chegford, Crediton, Exeter, and other places.”124
***BROADWOODWIDGER, DEVONSHIRE***
University of Nottingham’s Institute for Name Studies suggests: “Broadwoodwidger: 'Broad wood' with the later incorporation of the Wyger family name, who held the manor in the 13th century. Brad (Old English): ‘broad, spacious, wide, large’. Wudu (Old English): a ‘wood’; or ‘wood, timber’.”125
***GEORGE NYMPTON, DEVONSHIRE***
University of Nottingham’s Institute for Name Studies calls attention to: “George Nympton: 'River Nymet farm/settlement', probably an old name for the River Mole. The church is dedicated to St George. Tun (Old English): an ‘enclosure’; a ‘farmstead’; a ‘village’; an ‘estate’.”126
Samuel Lysons connotes: “George Nympton, or Nimet St George, in the hundred and deanery of South Molton, lies about two miles from South Molton, by which parish it is almost entirely surrounded.
“The manor was, at an early period, in the family of Nymet, or Nimet, afterwards in that of Hache, from whom it descended, through the Malets, to the Aclands. It is now the property of Sir Thomas Dyke Acland, Bart, who is patron of the rectory.
“Broom House, in this parish, which belonged formerly to the family of Hale, is now the property of Mrs Elizabeth Gay. The late possessor, Thomas Gay, Gent, was descended from Matthew Gay, who was deprived of the rectory of Bratton Fleming in 1645.”127
***GERMANSWEEK, DEVONSHIRE***
University of Nottingham’s Institute for Name Studies details: “Germansweek: 'Specialized-farm' with the later dedication of the church, St 'Germanus' was incorporated into the name. Wic (Old English): a ‘dwelling’; a ‘building or collection of buildings for special purposes’; a ‘farm’, a ‘dairy farm’; a ‘trading or industrial settlement’; or (in the plural) a ‘hamlet, village’.”128
William White explains: “Germansweek, or Week St Germans, on a bold acclivity, 11 miles west by south of Okehampton, has in its parish 414 souls, and 2,595 acres of land, including Heyworthy hamlet, and nearly 800 acres of commons, about to be enclosed. The soil belongs to the Rev CTC Luxmoore, Lord Clinton, J Squire, H Hawkes, C Brown, and a few smaller owners. The Church is mostly in the early English style, and has a tower and three bells. The Dean and Chapter of Bristol are appropriators of the tithes, and patrons of the perpetual curacy, now held by the Rev Chas Carpenter, BA, of Lifton, who has
yearly 82 pounds, 7 shillings, from Queen Anne’s Bounty, and 9 pounds from the tithes, now leased to the Rev CTC Luxmoore, and commuted for 117 pounds per annum. Here is a small Baptist chapel.”129
***HEANTON PUNCHARDON, DEVONSHIRE***
University of Nottingham’s Institute for Name Studies imparts: “Heanton Punchardon: 'At the high farm/settlement'. It was held by Robert de Ponte Cardonis in 1086. Heah (Old English): a ‘high place’, a ‘height’. Tun (Old English): an ‘enclosure’; a ‘farmstead’; a ‘village’; an ‘estate’.”130
Sir William Pole mentions: “Willam de Punchardun held in King Henry 2 tyme; unto him succeeded Roger his sonne; & Sir William his sonne, anno 27 of King Henry 3; & Sir John Puncherdon his sonne, who had issue Emegard, wife of Sir Phillip Beaumont, Mabil, wife of Henry, younger sonne of Sir William Ralegh, of Ralegh, & Margery, wife of Richard Beaupell, &, 2, of Joell de Buckenton, but had issue by neither of them. Alas, the widow of Sir John Beamont, & John Ralegh, held this land, anno 19 of King Edward 1; Sir John Beamont, the sonne of Richard, of Sebrescot, had this land of ye grant of Jone, daughter of John Beaumont, of Shirwell; from Beaumont it came until Basset, & it is nowe the dwelling place of Sir Robert Basset.
“In the parish of Heaton dwelled Nicolas Dillon, younger sonne of Rovert Dillon, of Chymwell, at his house called Wroughton; hee had issue Sir William, who had issue.
“Patron of the church of Heanton, or Highehamton, is Sir Robert Basset; valuwed 22 pounds, 8 shillings.”131
***HOPE COVE, DEVONSHIRE***
www.devon-online.com puts into words: “Hope Cove is a beautiful coastal sanctuary, a place to relax and unwind. Once a favorite haunt for smugglers, now a charming holiday destination.
“The picturesque fishing village of Hope Cove is two villages in one - Outer and Inner Hope. At Inner Hope there is a collection of cob or stone cottages, thatch galore, around a tiny square. The windows are bright with geraniums and you need to bow your head to enter the cottages.
“The village of Hope Cove nestles in the shelter of Bolt Tail in the curve of Bigbury Bay. With its charming thatched cottages, clean sandy beaches, and peaceful, relaxed atmosphere, Hope Cove offers the ideal holiday retreat. There are miles of delightful and varied scenery along this rugged Heritage Coastline.
“Fishing at Hope Cove is not what it was, larger boats operate from Brixham and Plymouth, however the village is still famous for its crabs and lobsters. The area is renowned for its unique flora and fauna, including the nature reserve at Slapton Ley, and for its interesting walks to secluded coves and spectacular viewpoints. The lovely old sailing town of Salcombe is only a few minutes away.
“Hope Cove has a long and fascinating history. First mentioned in the Azzise Rolls for 1281, Hope Cove comprises of two tiny villages, Inner and Outer Hope which are linked by a road and footpath. For much
of its life a fairly remote fishing village, the principle means by which its inhabitants supplemented their incomes was by smuggling and plundering wrecked ships.
“The main source of income here was once fishing. The locals still talk about the days when Pilchard Cove lived up to its name with a thriving industry based on the fish which mysteriously disappeared, taking many livelihoods with is. In the 1750s, Jeremiah Milles, a future Dean of Exeter wrote, that upwards of 20,000 mackerel were taken at one draught by a boat fishing not far from the shore. Fish still provides a boost in income for a few, mainly with crab and lobster pots, which the village is famous for. Many wrecks have occurred in and around the village over the years.
“Hope Cove was the only place in England where Spaniards came ashore during the reign of Queen Elisabeth I. St Peter the Great, one of the ships of the Spanish Armada was wrecked on the Shippen Rock in 1588. A number of buildings in the South Devon area incorporate old beams salvaged from the wreckage of the Armada.
“In 1760 more than 700 people lost their lives when the HMS Ramilles was wrecked upon the rocks at the base of Bolt Tail. Another famous wreck was that of the Finnish Barque, Herzogin Cecilie. The 334 foot four masted training ship ran aground on the Ham Stone on the 25th April, 1936.
“During the war Hope Cove was home to numerous Royal Air Force men and women who operated the Radar and Radio Stations in the area. Many aircrews were boarded at The Cottage Hotel prior to flying dangerous missions throughout Europe.
“Fleeting fame has visited on a couple of occasions; Emperor Haile Selassie spent part of his exile here and the village square was featured during the opening sequence of A Queen is Crowned, the film made in 1953 to celebrate the coronation.”132
Walter White reports: “From the top of Bolt Tail you overlook the whole of Bigbury Bay: there is the Thurlestone, a remarkable isolated arched rock of red sandstone, rising from the sea, where the prevailing strata are slate; and beyond it Burr Island, off the mouth of the Avon; the estuary of the Erme, Stoke Point in the distance, and the broken and irregular line of the shore – the morrow’s route. Then down to Hope Cove, where, at the Yacht public-house, you may get a decent bed and entertainment. The cove is formed by a break in the dark, rugged cliffs, and behind it stands the little village on the road leading from Salcombe to Kingsbridge. This road is seen on the right on descending from Bolbury Down, and you may get into it, if so inclined, without going round by Bolt Tail.
“Visitors are, perhaps, rare at Hope, for while I sat over my tea a number of the children and some of their parents came jumping and peeping in at the window to see the stranger, upon whom they passed sundry criticisms. A troop of damsels went past on horseback; and presently came laden pack-horses, and hucksters selling fish and vegetables from the panniers. It was Saturday evening, and the villagers made their purchases for the next day. Glasses of ale were frequently called for; not the sparkling beverage brewed from malt and hops; but a milky-looking compound, of which, judging from the flavor, milk, spice, and gin seemed to me to be among the ingredients. It is locally known as ‘white ale’; and as it does not improve by keeping, is brewed only in small quantities at a time for immediate consumption.
It is kept in large stone bottles, and you will scarcely pass a public-house from Dartmouth to Plymouth without seeing a number of empty bottles piled away in some part of the premises. I saw a dozen or two outside the miserable little ‘Inn’ at Halsands.
“Later in the evening I strolled round the beach, and up to the flagstaff overlooking the bay. The cove itself is narrow, sprinkled with rocks, among which a large conical mass stands conspicuous; and is noted for the great quantities of crabs and lobsters caught around its shores. The houses of the village form an irregular street, with piles of dried fern for fuel, standing here and there in gaps and corners, and a stream that skirts the road for a short distance, and tumbles into the sea at the head of the cove.
“I was watching the deepening of the shadows on the calm water, when a cheerful salutation roused me, and after the interchange of a few words, the friendly strangers who gave it invited me to pass the rest of the evening with them at the coast-guard station. The interior of the house little surprised me by the resemblance of its fittings to those of a ship, its queer little nooks and corners, and medley of paintings, fishing-tackle, and pistols and cutlasses. I had two pleasant hours of social chat, and went back to my sleeping quarters at the Yacht, gladdened by such an experience of impromptu hospitality.”133
***KENT CAVERN, DEVONSHIRE***
Neil Oliver shows: “The earliest evidence of the presence of modern humans in the British Isles is from Kent Cavern, in Devon. The jawbone of a woman was recovered from the limestone cave and radiocarbon-dated to around 30,000 years ago. She is the sole survivor of her time – of the world of the British Isles before the last glacial – and despite the millennia between her and us, we are one and the same. Bones from other sites in England – at Swanscombe in Kent and Boxgrove in West Sussex – reveal the presence of ancestors that are hundreds of thousands of years older. These were early humans of the type that pre-dated even Homo sapiens neanderthalensis – Neanderthal Man – and recall a time when the people who came before us hunted giant deer and rhino in a climate much kinder than our own.”134
***MARY TAVY, DEVONSHIRE***
Tristram Risdon talks about: “The river Tavy deriveth its foundation from Dartmore, our daily supplier, and communicateth its name to Peter-Tavy, where the ancient family of Foliot, in former times, lately Fountain, inherited. By the same brook is Mary Tavy, baptized and consecrated to the memory of the Virgin Mary, a thing frequent with our forefathers in erecting a sacred structures, to dedicate them to some peculiar saint, that by their protection they might be patronized. Tavyton, or Tavytown, I take to be a hamlet watered with the same stream, in which Giltza, the daughter of Wolfe, sister to Swain, King of Denmark, and mother to that unfortunate Harold, King of England, who was seized of lands.”135
Samuel Lysons catalogs: “Mary Tavy, or Tavy St Mary, in the hundred of Lifton and in the deanery of Tamerton, lies about three miles from Tavistock. The village of Horndon is in this parish.
“At the time of the Domesday survey the manor of Tavy was held in demesne by Alured Brito. The manor and advowson of West Tavy have been a considerable time in the family of Buller, and now belong to John Buller, Esq, of Morval. The manor of Waven, or Warne, belongs to Arthur Edgecumbe and others. Weal Friendship copper-mine is in this parish.”136
***ROMANSLEIGH, DEVONSHIRE***
University of Nottingham’s Institute for Name Studies conveys: “Romansleigh: 'Wood/clearing' with the later addition of the Celtic saint name 'Rumon' from the dedication of the church. Leah (Old English): a ‘forest, wood, glade, clearing’; (later) a ‘pasture, meadow’.”137
Samuel Lysons discusses: “Romansleigh, or more properly Rumonsleigh, commonly called Rumsleigh, in the hundred of Witheridge and deanery of South Molton, lies about four miles from South Molton.
“The abbey of Tavistock, in which St Rumon, the patron saint of this church, was buried, had an estate in this parish, held under the abbey successively by the families of Copiner, Champeaux, and Oskerville. The manor and barton now belong to Sir TD Acland, Bart. The manor of Kitcott has been for a considerable time in the family of Willment, and is now the property of Samuel Willment, Esq. There was anciently a lay manor, possessed by the family of Herward in the reigns of Henry III and Edward I. This probably was the estate which belongs to Lord Rolle, now one of the principal landowners in the parish. Sir TD Acland is patron of the rectory.”138
***UPTON HELLIONS, DEVONSHIRE***
University of Nottingham’s Institute for Name Studies expounds: “Upton Hellions: 'Higher farm/settlement'. It was held by the de Helihun family in the 13th century. Upp (Old English): ‘up, higher up, upon’. Tun (Old English): an ‘enclosure’; a ‘farmstead’; a ‘village’; an ‘estate’.”139
***VIRGINSTOW, DEVONSHIRE***
University of Nottingham’s Institute for Name Studies impresses: “Virginstow: 'St Bridget the Virgin's place'. Stow (Old English): a ‘place’; a ‘place of assembly’; a ‘holy place’.”140
Samuel Lysons notates: “Virginstow, in the hundred of Lifton and in the deanery of Tavistock, lies about fifteen miles from Oakhampton, and about six from Launceston, in Cornwall.
“The manor belonged formerly to the Nevils, earls of Wesmorland. I cannot learn that there is now any manor in the parish. Tutsho gave name to a family who possessed it for several generations: it was divided among co-heiresses.
“In the parish-church is an altar-tomb, with his effigies on slate, in memory of William Crocker, 1624. The King is patron of the rectory.”141
***ZEAL MONACHORUM, DEVONSHIRE***
Nick Burgess puts pen to paper: “The Parish of Zeal Monachorum covers an area of almost 3,400 acres (1,370 hectares) at a height of 280-640 feet above sea level (85-195 meters). It lies at the center of Devon, situated between the A3072 Okehampton to Crediton road on the south and the B3220 Torrington to Morchard Road on the north, about halfway between Crediton and Okehampton. The village itself is on the south-facing hillside of the Yeo valley looking towards Dartmoor. The current population of the Parish is about 350.
“In the Domesday Book (1086) the present parish of Zeal Monachorum consisted of four manors, Zeal Monachorum and Burston (both known as Limet, because of their proximity to the River Limet or Yeo), Newton and Loosebeare.
“There is some debate as to the origin of the name of the village. There is a local Saxon reference dated AD967 to land at Lesmanoac, and early maps refer to the settlement as Monkenfield, Munkton and Monks Nymet. The present name, written earlier as Sele and Zele, is said to derive from the fact that the manor of Zeal Monachorum had been given to the Abbey of Buckfast in 1018 by King Cnut (along with the manor of Down St Mary), hence a ‘cell of the monks’ (celle in Old French and cella in Latin).
“The manor remained the property of Buckfast Abbey until the Dissolution of the Monasteries in 1539. The link with the Cistercian abbey is seen on the village sign at the top of Town Hill outside the church. The sale of the manor of Monckenzeale or Zealemonachorum is reported in documents of 1616.
“In 1841 the Parish covered over 3,000 acres and had a population of about 600. The Lord of the Manor owned nearly 500 acres, and other large estates included Beer, Sutton, the three Newtons, Burrow, Loosebeare, the Higher, Middle and Lower Burston, Barons Wood, Gillhouse, Foldhay, Higher Week, Serston, Nymphays, Waie and Tuckingmill. By 1901 the population had dropped to 316 and by the end of the 1st World War in which 19 members of the parish lost their lives, the population was only 271. It has fluctuated only slightly since then.
“The parish church dates from 1235 with a late-Saxon font and a yew tree reputed to be at least 1,000 years old in the churchyard. The exterior of the tower dates from the early 16th century with a 13th century interior still extant. It was originally one story higher. Five of the present peal of six bells were cast in 1749 and the sixth was added in 1925. The Devon Association of Bellringers was founded at Zeal Monachorum in 1924 and the parish team has been active (and very successful in competition) since then, apart from a break from 1967 when the tower became unsafe. After strengthening and renovation, ringing began again in 1990. In 2005 a major restoration was undertaken, funded by a local appeal which raised over 30,000 pounds. The bells were rededicated on 18 August 2007. The church clock was also refurbished in 2007 with joint Devon County, Parish Council and Parochial Church Council funding.
“There has also been an active Independent Congregational Chapel in the village since the late 1800s, with members of church and chapel attending each other's festive services.
“Regular community events are held in the village hall which is maintained and managed by a locally elected committee. The hall was originally a primary (public elementary) school which had 108 pupils in 1923 and many more during the 2nd World War when evacuees arrived, but it closed in 1954. The Church Hall stood in what is now the car park until it was demolished in 1958.
“In the village in the 1930s there were two shops, a Post Office, 2 pubs (the Red Lion and the Burston Inn; a third, the North Star Inn, burnt down in 1928), and a blacksmith in Rattle Street (so named because of the noise of the hammers on the anvil!); by the 1960s there was only a combined shop and post office which closed in 2002. In 1980 the Red Lion had been closed for some years, but Waie farmhouse was converted to the Waie Inn which has since extended considerably to offer a wide range of leisure facilities.
“Today, Zeal Monachorum fortunately remains to some extent as Hoskins described it fifty years ago, ‘a small cob and thatch village in unfrequented country.’”142
Mike Bostock represents: “Zeal Monachorum, as stated, has been written as Sele or Zele Monachorum, and, depending whether you believe the origin to have been Latin, Old English, Old French or a mixture then you can have fun working out what the origins may have been.
“Monachus is the Latin for ‘monk’. The genitive (possessive) plural my research leads me to deduce is ~orum thus giving rise to monachorum equating to ‘of the monks’. So that bit seems to fit.
“If one assumes that the Sele or Zele has Latin roots too then it could have derived from cella meaning ‘cell’. This was the explanation favored by Rev Godeck, although there are a range of alternative meanings that may also be appropriate, some, perhaps, more so, ie, ‘storeroom, (wine) cellar, larder; temple chamber, sanctuary; room, garret; pen; and monastery’.
“I am no Latin scholar (as may be apparent) but I was taught that the Latin C was a hard C so it would be difficult to imagine how this could corrupt to Sele or Zele (although one of the references shows that both French and English Latin use the soft C - it is difficult to guess what was in ecclesiastical use in the 11th century!). So what if it was sella meaning ‘seat, chair, stool’ (I think it means an article of furniture, not as in ‘country seat, country mansion’)? It's unlikely that a ‘piece of furniture of the monks’ forms the origin.
“If we try Old English then sele, sael or sel all seem to be variations of the same word that mean ‘hall, house, castle, dwelling or prison’. Well they could fit but then we would have to reconcile a mixture of languages in the name. Is there a precedent for this? I don't know.
“If we try Old French (as that's where the Cistercian monks had their roots) then again selle means ‘seat of wood’ and zele means ‘zeal, fervor, devotion’, neither or which quite fit. However, celle or cella (which I assume would be a soft C) does have the rather convenient meaning of ‘a small room’ or, even better (with the religious context), a ‘sacred site’.
“So you see, there is plenty of ammunition for the debate!
“Oh and one other thing, although Buckfast Abbey was founded in 1018 it wasn't until 1147 that it became a Cistercian abbey, so that may blow the Old French theory out of the water ... but there again, it may not.”143
**DORSETSHIRE**
JB Johnston specifies: “About 900 [AD] Asser Thornsaeta, Dornsaeta; Domesday Book Dorsete; circa 1097 [AD] Florence of Worchester Dorsetania. Dorsaeta should mean ‘seat, settlement among the thorns’; but compare to Dorchester; while some connect with Ptolemy’s Durotriges, who dwelt about here. Compare to Somerset. Domesday Book Essex has a Dorseda.”144
J Gronow tells: “Dorsetshire: the county of, enjoys a mild, pleasant, and wholesome air. It produces no ores of any kind, nor coal, being chiefly noted for the fineness of its wool, and flavor of its mutton. This county was so well situated for pleasure and profit that it was distinguished above all others by the Romans in the number of their summer stations. It produces the best tobacco-pipe clay in England.”145
JM Wilson chronicles: “Dorsetshire, or Dorset, a maritime county; bounded, on the northwest, by Somerset; on the northeast, by Wilts; on the east, by Hants; on the south, by the English channel; on the west, by Devon. Its outline is very irregular. Its greatest length, from east to west, is 52 miles; its greatest breadth, 37 miles; its circuit, about 180 miles; its area 632,258 acres. The surface, in a main degree, is hilly and bleak, consisting of chalk downs and sandy heaths; yet possesses the charms of wild scenery, extensive prospects, and beautiful shores. The loftiest points are Swyre-hill, Black-down, and Pillesdon-Pen, respectively 669, 813, and 934 feet high. The coast is about 75 miles long; presents much diversity; and includes the singular promontory, called the Isle of Portland. The chief rivers are the Stour, the Frome, the Piddle, the Ivel, the Cerne, and the Brit Mineral springs are at Sherborne, Chilcombe, Nottington, and some other places. Lias rocks, chiefly dark blue clays, studded with ammonites and the bones of vast reptiles, are in the west; lower and middle oolite rocks, including inferior oolite, fuller's earth, great oolite, forest marble, corn brash, Oxford clay, calcareous grit, and coral rag, adjoin the has, from Somerset to the sea; upper oolite rocks, Kimmeridge clay, Portland stone, and Purbeck limestone, prevail in the isles of Portland and Purbeck; upper greensand skirts the escarpments of two great ranges of downs, and rises into the mass of Pillesdon-Pen; chalk forms the main bulk of the downs, in the one case with a breadth of from 10 to 18 miles, in the other with an average breadth of barely 2 miles, and is the most prominent geological feature in the county; and tertiary deposits, chiefly the sands of the plastic clay, stretch in barren heaths, between the two ranges of downs, from Poole to Dorchester. Bad stony coal, coarse marble, pipeclay, the Portland stone, the Purbeck limestone, and good potter's clay are worked, the last three to a great extent, for exportation.
“The territory now forming Dorsetshire belonged to the ancient British Durotriges and Morini; was included by the Romans in their Britannia Prima; and formed part of the Saxon Kingdom of Wessex. The Danes invaded it, particularly in 833, 876, and 1002; and had battles with the Saxons, in these years, at
respectively Charmouth and Dorchester. The Spanish armada was routed, off Portland, in 1588; and Van Tromp beaten, in 1653. The side of the King was taken by most of the higher classes, in the wars of Charles I; and that of the parliament, by the working classes. The Duke of Monmouth landed at Lyme-Regis; and was taken near Horton, after the Battle of Sedgmoor. The county gave the title of Duke of Dorset to the family of Sackville. Ancient British remains, variously Druidical circles, hill-camps, and large barrows, occur at Pokeswell, Portisham, Winterbourne, Badbury-Rings, Hamildon-Hill, Hod-Hill, and Nine-barrow-down. The Ridgeway traversed the county from south to north; and the Via Iceniana, from east to west. A Roman amphitheater, perhaps originally British, is in the vicinity of Dorchester; and Roman stations were at Dorchester, Charmouth, Lyme-Regis, Wimborne-Minster, Weymouth, Wareham, and Poole. Ancient castle ruins are at Corfe-Castle, Portland, and Brownsea. About forty abbeys, priories, and other monastic houses, besides some large fine churches, stood dispersed throughout the county; and interesting specimens of ancient ecclesiastical architecture, variously entire and ruined, occur at Wimborne-Minster, Sherborne, Stanwich, Bindon, Cerne-Abbas, Cranborne, and Shaftesbury.”146
***DEWLISH, DORSETSHIRE***
Michael Le Bas declares: “Dewlish is a very old name of Celtic origin. It means 'dark stream'. It is named from the stream there now called Devil's Brook which runs south through the village to join the River Piddle or Trent (The Piddle has two names because when Queen Victoria was down here on a visit and asked for the name of the little river, her guide could not utter the word 'piddle' so quickly said Trent - so I am told!)
“Dewlish is listed in the Domesday Book of 1087 as Devenis. In 1194 it was called Deuliz, and for the next few centuries all sorts of names: Develysse, Deuiliz, Doulis, Doneliches, Divelich, Dewelisshe (and more) until finally in 1641 Dewlish.”147
***KING’S STAG, DORSETSHIRE***
Gerry Vize displays: “I live at King's Stag in Dorset UK and regularly visit my local pub, The Green Man.Karen, the landlady has passed your letter to me, and I hope I can help with a little bit of history of the name of our small village.
“Holwell House is believed to have started life as one of King John’s hunting lodges. Replaced by an Elizabethan house, it has since been much altered. If Holwell House was indeed a hunting lodge there could be something in the local tale of King Henry III and the White Hart.
“Legend has it that Henry III while out hunting near here came across ‘a beautiful and goodly white hart’. So moved was he by the comeliness of the startled creature that he spared its life and further decreed that henceforward the hunt should do the same. Sometime later, Sir Thomas de la Lynde, Bailiff of Blackmore Forest, came upon the same beast, and after a chase slew it at the foot of the graceful old stone bridge to the east of the village which crosses the river to Kings Stag, (thus giving the place its name).
“When Henry heard of this he was so enraged that he seized Sir Thomas and his companions, cast them into prison and fined them very heavily. As if this were not enough he laid a tax upon the land its feet had trod. Thus for many years ‘white hart silver’ was paid by squire and yeoman into the exchequer and the Vale of Blackmore became known as the Vale of the White Hart.
“Many doubts have been cast on the story but there can be no doubt that a tax called ‘white hart silver’ was still being levied some three hundred years later when Thomas Fuller wrote, ‘Myself hath paid a share for the same who never tasted meat’. Wootton Glanville church commemorates the tale in floor tiles depicting a stag-hunt and the stone figure in the church is said to be that of the bailiff.
“On the village green in Kings Stag is a sign [with the following quote]:
When Julius Caesar landed here, I was then a little deer;
When Julius Caesar reined king,
Around my neck he put this ring;
Whoever shall me overtake,
Spare my life for Caesar's sake.
“I don't think this should be confused with the hunting story of Henry III. So now we need to do some more research!”148
Theodora Guest corroborates: “’Henry III hunting in this forest, amongst several deer he had run down, spared the life of a beautiful white hart, which afterwards Thomas de la Lind, a neighboring gentleman, of ancient descent and special note, with his companions, hunted and killed at a bridge, since and from thence, called King-stag Bridge, in the parish of Pulham. The King, highly offended at it, not only punished them all with imprisonment and grievous fine, but severely taxed all the lands which they then held, the owners of which yearly, ever since, to this day, pay a sum of money by way of fine or amercement into the exchequer, called White Hart Silver, in memory of which this county needeth no better remembrance than this annual payment.’ This bridge over the Lydden, about a mile from the village of Pulham, is still called King-stag Bridge, and the Inn close by bears the sign of the ‘Green Man’, thus named for the verdurers or keepers of the forest, who were dressed in green.”149
***MAIDEN CASTLE, DORSETSHIRE***
J Gronow expresses: “Maiden Castle, Dorsetshire, a Roman encampment, in the parish of Winterborn St Martin, the largest and most complete of any in the west of England. The country people call it maiden, because it was never taken, but it was the summer station of the Durotriges garrison. It consists of a triple ditch and rampart, the inner ones very deep and high. The whole area, including the ramparts and ditches, is 120 acres. From it the view is one of the most beautiful and extensive that can be imagined.”150
***MAIDEN NEWTON, DORSETSHIRE***
www.maidennewton.info notes: “Like most place names, the name of the village has been spelt in a variety of ways through the centuries. In Domesday Book (1086) it is Neweton, in the Hundred Roll (1275) it is Niweton, in the Feudal Aids Records (1303) it is Mayden Nyweton and then in Calendars, Charters and Rolls of various sorts it has many different spellings: Maydene Nyweton, Maydene Neweton, Mayndenenyweton (1311 to 1346). In 1405 we get Nyton Lyles, and in 1412 Neweton Lisles. This is an instance of a family name being attached, referring to the manor or part of the manor owned by this family. Newton obviously means ‘new town’, and probably refers to the new town which came into existence south of the old town at Quarr. Someone has suggested they maden neweton. The old town could have been one of the hamlets in the Parish – Cruxton, Notton or Throop, but this is not likely. It is possible that the old town with its Saxon church was destroyed by the Danes but we have no historical proof of this. The Danes invaded Dorset in 1002 and the next year they pulled down the walls of Dorchester, and Cerne Abbas was destroyed. Canute first landed in England on the Dorset coast at Frome Mouth in the Port of Wareham in 1015.
“The etymology of mai-dun is obscure. Dune and dun is Anglo Saxon for ‘hill’ and tun is ‘town’. Maiden possibly means belonging to a nunnery. There is a Nunnery mead at Throop. We may compare Maiden (without a) Castle, maiden assizes (without a criminal case) maiden voyage, maiden speech. The Anglo-Saxon is maeden, and a may or maid means, of course, ‘new, fresh, pure, un-used, first’. So it looks as if Maiden Newton means just what it says (repeated in fact) the ‘new town’. But all this is largely guess work.”151
***OKEFORD FITZPAINE, DORSETSHIRE***
Jane Tapping records: “Okeford Fitzpaine, owned by one Alured, was an Anglo-Saxon settlement prior to the Norman Conquest in 1066. The village and surrounding land, the parish, was eventually acquired by Robert Fitzpaine, a wealthy Norman who had other lands all over southwest England. In Saxon times the name seems to have been Adford, Aukford, Akeford. This was no doubt because very few villagers in those days could read or write so the clerks on the Domesday Book survey, in 1086, just wrote the words as they thought the villagers had said them in their local accents. The Normans often deliberately changed the spelling of Saxon words on documents as part of their policy of subjugating the local populace. The locals called the village Ockford Fitzpaine until quite recently.”152
***RYME INTRINSECA, DORSETSHIRE***
University of Nottingham’s Institute for Name Studies reveals: “Ryme Intrinseca: ‘Border/edge’. The affix is ‘inner’. Rima (Old English): a ‘rim’, an ‘edge’, a ‘border’; used of the edge of a river, hill, etc, or a boundary. Intrinseca (Latin): ‘lying within the bounds’.”153
John Fortescue and BTF Clermont share: “’Ryme Intrinseca: This little Vill is situated on the borders of the county of Somerset. It was the seat of Sir Humphrey Beauchamp, second son of Robert de Bello Camp, Baron of Hatch, in Somersetshire, whose son, Sir John, by the daughter and heir of Sir Roger Novant, had issue Sir John Beauchamp of Ryme, father of Thomas, who died issueless, leaving for his heirs his sisters, wedded to Sir Robert Challons and John (William) Fortescue. The Fortescues do not seem to have possessed this manor long. William Fortescue was Lord of Wimpstone, in Devon.’”154
***SIXPENNY HANDLEY, DORSETSHIRE***
www.sixpennyhandley.org spells out: “The village name is derived from two medieval ‘hundreds’ Sexpena and Hanlega which, over the years, local folk and the highways authority reduced to the memorable 6d Handley. Through the centuries the village suffered a series of fires, and in 1892, the whole village was virtually destroyed due to its remoteness from the nearest fire appliances. The church, dating back to the 13th century, remains and there several small shops which line the main street giving it a traditional village atmosphere.”155
Great Britain’s Board of Agriculture adds: “The parish of Sixpenny Handley is said to have received its name from the estates being held under the tenure of paying 6 pence each to the Lord of the Manor.”156
***WHITCHURCH CANONICORUM, DORSETSHIRE***
University of Nottingham’s Institute for Name Studies touches on: “Whitchurch Canonicorum: ‘White church’. ‘Of the canons’ because it belonged to the canons of Salisbury cathedral. Hwit (Old English): ‘white’; in early Modern English sometimes ‘infertile’ in contrast with black, ‘fertile’. Cirice (Old English): a ‘church’. Canonicus (Latin): a ‘canon’, a member of a community of clerks or of a cathedral chapter.”157
**EAST RIDING OF YORKSHIRE**
JB Johnston clarifies: “Circa 380 [AD] The Antonine Itinerary Ebur-, Eboracum; Bede Ecclesia Eboracensis; Circa 780 [AD] Alcuin, a resident there, Euborica civitas; Old English Chronicle 738 [AD] Eoforwic; before 998 [AD] Richer Eurvich; circa 1000 [AD] Aelfric Eferwic; Domesday Book Euruic; 1198 [AD] Hoveden Everwic; circa 1205 [AD] ‘icleped Eborac, seoooen Eoverwic’; 1275 [AD] Euerwich; … says the name used to be Caer Ebraue, from the good King Ebrauc; 1298 [AD] Everwyke; 1479 [AD] Surtees Misc York. Also Yorkshire, 1065 [AD] Old English Chronicle Eoforwicscire; circa 1386 [AD] Chaucer Yorkshire. The name originally was the Celtic Ebur-, Eborach, which Gluck says is Irish ebrach, ‘muddy’, from abar, Irish and Gaelic, ‘a marsh’, with the common ending –ach, ‘place of’. But the Angles may have taken it to be ‘town, dwelling’; Old English wic, ‘on the River Ure’ or Eure, which looks like Gaelic iubhar, Irish ibar, ‘a yew’. Compare to the Eburones, a tribe in Belgium; Eborius, Bishop of York, at the Council of Arles, AD 314, and the Eburovices, the tribe who have given name to Evreux. The modern Welsh name is Caerefrog, the descendent of Caer Ebrauc, ‘castle of Ebrauc’. The present pronunciation of York comes through the influence of the Danes, who called it Jorvik (j = y).”158
J Gronow documents: “York: Yorkshire, 196 miles from London, the Eboracum of the Romans, is surrounded by a strong wall, kept in good repair, in which are four gates and five posterns. It is governed by a mayor, styled lord; the only one besides London who is so titled. This city gives the title to the second son of the blood royal; and the two members returned to parliament have the privilege of taking their seats in the House of Commons next to the members for London. It is seated on the river Ouse, esteemed the second city in the kingdom; and in the time of Henry V there were forty-four parish churches, though there are now only seventeen besides the cathedral. The cathedral, called the minster, is reckoned the largest and most magnificent in the kingdom. The east window is said rarely to
have its equal for tracery, painting, and condition; it is 75 feet high, and 30 wide, and was glazed in 1405 by one John Thornton, of Coventry, who had for his work four shillings a week; and contracted to finish the work in three years. The castle, standing at the conflux of the Ouse and the Fosse, built by the Conqueror, was a place of great strength, but is now used as the county prison. An altar was dug up some years ago, having this inscription: ‘Dis Deabusque Hospitalibus’; which, from the abundance of all kinds of provisions, is applicable to the present circumstances of the city. In 212, Severus paid the debt of nature; and in 307 the emperor Constantius Chlorus. Charles I, held his court here till his march on Nottingham, where the royal standard was first raised in opposition to parliament; but in reality to the rights and liberties of his subjects.
“Yorkshire: the largest county in England, divided into three parts called Ridings, from the Saxon, signifying, a trithing, or third part, each of which is as large as a county in general. It is bounded on the north by Durham and Westmoreland; on the south by the counties of Derby, Nottingham, and Lincoln; on the west by Lancashire and Cheshire; and on the east by the German Ocean. Of the three Ridings, the east is the most unhealthy, but it improves as the county recedes from the sea. The West Riding, by far the largest, enjoys a sharp but healthy air. The North Riding surpasses the other two in the salubrity of the air. In this county likewise are the districts of Holderness, on the borders of the Humber; Cleveland, on the confines of Durham; and Craven, on the borders of Westmoreland and Lancashire. In the last, are three of the highest hills in the kingdom; the Whernside, the Ingleborough, and the Pennygant, forming a triangle from their summits, at the distance of five, six, and eight miles, at the same time their bases nearly unite.”159
***BISHOPTHORPE, EAST RIDING OF YORKSHIRE***
J Gronow observes: “Bishopthorpe, East Riding of Yorkshire, is memorable as the residence of the archbishops ever since the destruction of Cawood in the civil wars.”160
***BURTON CONSTABLE, EAST RIDING OF YORKSHIRE***
Pete Dixie says: “Burton comes from the Old English word burhtun meaning ‘fortified farmstead’. Constable and Fleming are the names of the families which held the estates circa 12th century.”161
Lizzy Baker recounts: “Santriburtone 1086 [AD]; Erneburgh Burtona 1190 [AD]; Cu-, Con(e)stable Burton 1246 [AD]; Burton Con(e)stable 1265 [AD]; Burhtun: The above documents from 1294 onwards include many references to the Constable family. Erneburgh was the widow of Gilbert de Alost (early 12th); she afterwards married Ulbert le Conestable and so brought the manor into the possession of the Constables.”162
***FRIDAYTHORP, EAST RIDING OF YORKSHIRE 163 ***
JB Johnston spotlights: “Domesday Book Fridarstorp, Fridagstorp, Fridaizstorp. ‘Village of Friday’; Old English Frigedaeg; Old Norse Friadag-r, ‘day of Frigg or Frig’, the Norse Venus. But Friday seems to have been used as a personal name. Compare to Birch’s Cartularium Saxonicum 1047 [AD] Frigedaegestreow. There is a Friday Street (Gloucestershire).”164
***RISE, EAST RIDING OF YORKSHIRE***
University of Nottingham’s Institute for Name Studies underscores: “Rise: 'Brushwood'. Hris (Old Norse): ‘shrubs, brushwood’.”165
***ROOS, EAST RIDING OF YORKSHIRE***
JB Johnston comments: “Roos(e). Both in Domesday Book Rosse. As Rhos name is today pronounced Roose, these are clearly the same name, Welsh rhos, ‘a moor, heath, marsh’.”166
GHR Kent emphasizes: “The village of Roos, lying some 19 km east of Hull and 3 km from the sea, has since the Second World War become increasingly a commuter settlement. The parish includes the hamlet of Owstwick. The name Roos, meaning ‘marsh’ or ‘moorland’, is possibly British, while Owstwick may be an Anglian and Scandinavian hybrid, and perhaps means 'eastern dairy farm', relative to Elstronwick, in Humbleton. The settlement of 'Andrebi', recorded in 1086, may have lain in Roos, but has not been identified later. In 1852 the ancient parish contained 3,623 acres (1,466 hectares), of which 2,528 acres (1,023 hectares) comprised the township, later civil parish, of Roos, 886 acres (359 hectares) were in Owstwick township, and 209 acres (85 hectares) lay detached in Garton with Grimston township. The rest of Owstwick township, amounting to 450 acres (182 hectares), and 1,614 acres (653 hectares) of Garton with Grimston township made up the ancient parish of Garton; … In 1935 Roos civil parish and all 1,338 acres (542 hectares) of Owstwick civil parish were united with Hilston and Tunstall civil parishes to form a new civil parish of Roos, with a total area of 5,721 acres (2,315 hectares). By 1991 the area had been reduced, presumably by coastal erosion, to 2,283 hectares (5,641 acres).”167
**EAST SUSSEX**
JB Johnston gives: “[Sussex:] Circa 800 [AD] Nennius Sutsaxum (inflected); Old English Chronicle 449 [AD] Suo Sexa, 891 [AD] Suoseaxas; circa 1330 [AD] Brunne Southsex (land of) ‘the South Saxons’. Compare to Essex, and Wessex, or ‘the West Saxons’.”168
J Gronow pens: “Sussex: a maritime county, comprising the southern extremity of the kingdom. It also was part of the Kingdom of the Regni, who were conquered by Vespasian, before the middle of the first century. The county has always been famed for forest timber, especially oak. Hops are grown extensively in the northeast part of the county; and a fine variety of wheat, called Chidham white, or hedge wheat, is peculiar to the county, said to have been propagated accidently in a hedge near the village of Chidham.”169
JM Wilson scribes: “Sussex, a maritime county; bounded, on the north, by Surrey and Kent; on the northeast and the east, by Kent; on the south, by the English channel; on the west, by Hants. Its form is a slender oblong, extending from east to west. Its greatest length is 73 miles; its greatest breadth is 25 miles; its circuit is about 185 miles; and its area is 936,911 acres. A belt of low land lies along most of the coast. A range of chalk-hills, called the South Downs, begins at Beachy Head; flanks the belt of low land all westward to the vicinity of Hants; and has a mean breadth of about 7 miles, and a mean altitude of about 500 feet. A congeries of elevations, called the Forest Ridge, commences near the east end of the
South Downs; spreads east-northeastward and northward to the boundary with Kent; and rises, at the center, to an altitude of 804 feet. A low-wooded tract, the Weald of Sussex, with diversified surface, and fringed or engirt with uplands, forms all the area north of the South Downs and west of the Forest Ridge. The scenery of most parts, particularly among the higher grounds, is richly picturesque. The chief streams are the Rother, the Cuckmere, the Ouse, the Adur, the Arun, and the West Rother. Lower greensand rocks occupy about three-fourths of the entire area, inward from the north and the east boundaries; upper greensand rocks, with gault, form a narrow belt along the south side of the lower greensand; chalk rocks form a much broader belt thence to the sea and to the vicinity of Chichester and Emsworth; and lower eocene rocks form a tract in the southwest, around Chichester and Emsworth, and thence to the sea. Iron-ore abounds in the Forest Ridge, and once was extensively worked. Building chalk, manurial chalk, cement chalk, marl, brick-clay fullers, earth, and red ochre are now the chief useful minerals.
“The territory now forming Sussex was inhabited by the ancient British Regni; was included by the Romans in their Britannia Prima; was overrun, in 477-50, by Ella the Saxon; became then the Kingdom of Sudsexe or the ‘South Saxons’; was united, about 728 to Wessex; suffered much devastation at different times by the Danes, and in 1051 by Earl Godwin; was the scene of the landing, and of the decisive victory, of William the Conqueror; was divided by William among several of his chief followers, including the Earl of Mortaigne and W-de Warenne; became the scene at Lewes, of the great battle between Henry III and his barons; shared in the turmoils and conflicts of the civil wars of Charles I; and gave the title of Duke to the sixth son of George III. Ancient British entrenchments, and many barrows, are on the South Downs. A chain of camps, some of them Roman, occurs on such of these hills as command both the sea-board and the Weald. Roman stations were at Bignor, Chichester, Midhurst, Lewes, Pevensey, Aldington, and Amberley. Roman roads connected the stations, and went toward the north. Many minor Roman antiquities, including a temple, villas, baths, pavements, urns, and coins, have been found. Saxon architecture has left vestiges at Worth, Jevington, Sompting, and Bosham. Early military architecture, from Norman to Edwardian, has left specimens in 7 places. Monastic architectural remains are in 7 places; Norman churches, or portions of them, in 7; transition Norman, in 9; early English, in 10; geometric decorated, in 6; curvilinear decorated, in 3; and later English, in 4.”170
***BEACHY HEAD, EAST SUSSEX***
MA Lower states: “This bold, romantic, and picturesque, though dangerous, promontory is one of the highest points of the South Downs, and forms the eastern termination of that beautiful range. It’s pure chalky front, with its regular alternation of thin strata of flints, forms a truly grand spectacle. The Head lies about three miles to the west of Eastbourne, and rises to an elevation of 575 feet. The view extends east to Hastings, and west, in clear weather, to the Isle of Wight. The coast of France is also occasionally visible. There are few headlands on our shores that have witnessed more frequent or more calamitous shipwrecks, though these have been greatly diminished since the erection, in 1831, of the lighthouse of Bell-Tout, which stands at some distance to the westward, on lower ground, though projecting farther into the sea. The etymology of this promontory is uncertain. Why Beachy Head? There is no more beach or shingle at its foot than is ordinary along the Sussex coast, nor indeed nearly so much as in many places, as, for instance, at Langney Point, to the eastward. I think, therefore, we must look to the
French, beau chef, the ‘fair head’ or ‘promontory’, and the adjacent spot, Beltout, evidently a French name, seems to support this supposition. These two spots, then, must have received their designations from our neighbors over the water; when or how we shall perhaps never learn. Close under the Head is a cavern called ‘Parson Darby’s Hole’, which is said to have been excavated for the preservation of shipwrecked sailors, by the Rev Jonathan Darby, Vicar of East Dean, who died in 1726. Hither, on stormy nights, he used to betake himself and hang out a light, and thus he is said, on one occasion, to have saved twelve lives from a Dutch vessel. ‘Wrecking’ and smuggling were formerly rife here, but this state of things is now changed for the better. For the ornithologist Beachy Head has singular attractions. Peregrine falcons, jackdaws, guillemots, and razorbills, with many other sea-haunting fowls, make the fissures of this great cliff their favorite resort, and breed abundantly. The samphire grows very luxuriantly, and has more than once told the welcome story to the shipwrecked mariner that he was beyond high-water mark. Off this promontory, on June 30, 1690, took place a great naval combat between the combined English and Dutch fleets, of 56 sail, under Lord Torrington, and the French, of 82, under the Count de Tourville, which virtually resulted in the triumph of the British flag. Somewhat in advance of the almost perpendicular cliff formerly stood seven towering masses of chalk, known as the ‘Seven Charleses’, but only one of these has resisted the undermining force of the ocean. There was in bygone days a local proverb: ‘When the Charleses wear a cap, the clouds weep.’ The turf on the summit of Beachy Head is singularly verdant and velvet-like. Of this great promontory it may well be said:
A strange eventful history
Could this old Headland tell!”171
“There are an estimated 20 deaths a year at Beachy Head. The Beachy Head Chaplaincy Team conducts regular day and evening patrols of the area in attempts to locate and stop potential jumpers. Workers at the pub and taxi drivers are also on the look-out for potential victims, and there are posted signs with the telephone number of Samaritans urging potential jumpers to call them. Deaths at the site are well-covered by the media; Ross Hardy, the founder of the chaplaincy team, said this encouraged people to come and jump off. Worldwide, the landmark’s suicide rate is surpassed only by the Golden Gate in San Francisco and the Aokigahara Woods in Japan, according to Thomas Meaney of The Wall Street Journal.
“After a steady increase in deaths between 2002 and 2005, in 2006 there were only seven fatalities, a marked decrease. The Maritime and Coastguard Agency (whose Coastguard Rescue Teams are responsible for the rescue of injured jumpers and the recovery of the deceased) attributed the reduction to the work of the Chaplaincy Team and good coverage of services by local media. In 2008 at least 26 people died at the site. Between 1965 and 1979, there were 124 deaths at the location. Of these, SJ Surtees wrote that 115 were ‘almost certainly’ suicides (although a coroner's verdict of suicide was recorded in only 58), and that 61 percent of the victims were from outside East Sussex. The earliest reports of deaths come from the 7th century.”172
***BISHOPSTONE, EAST SUSSEX***
JB Johnston alludes to: “1016 [AD] Biscopesdun, ie. ‘bishop’s hills’ – but circa 1327 [AD] Bisshopeston.”173
University of Nottingham’s Institute for Name Studies communicates: “Bishopstone: 'Bishop's farm/settlement'. It was held in 1086 by the Bishop of Chichester. Biscop (Old English): a ‘bishop’. Tun (Old English): an ‘enclosure’; a ‘farmstead’; a ‘village’; an ‘estate’.”174
***STONE-CUM-EBONY, EAST SUSSEX***
Esme Evans depicts: “This is actually over the border in Kent. Stone is a boundary marker; Ebony, ‘Ebba's river’ (more likely a swamp); cum is a common word in place names for linking two villages together (not common in Sussex).”175
“Bob Chantler enumerates: “Stone-in-Oxney and Ebony, together called Stone-cum-Ebony, are rather scattered but nonetheless beautiful villages in a largely idyllic setting on the eastern side of the eastern side of the Isle of Oxney.
“That Oxney was indeed an island, surrounded by water on all sides, is witnessed by old maps and writings, but is, in any case, still borne out today by names like the Ferry Inn and, next door, Ferry Cottage. A wall in the church of St Mary displays copy of a benefaction, dated 1556, ‘To the Poor of this Parish, the sum of thirteen shillings and four pence per Annum, forever, to be paid out of an Estate lying near Oxney Ferry, now in the occupation of Lord Le Despenser.
“The church at Stone, dedicated to St Mary was built in the 15th century and has a 62 ft high tower which can be seen from the Romney Marsh and other surrounding countryside. Views from the castellated tower itself must be splendid.
“Inside St Mary’s, the oldest part of the church, the south chapel is home to the organ which was acquired for St Mary’s from Brede Church in 1908. The south chapel also has a sealed up doorway which used to lead to stairs to the loft. The north chapel used to be used as a local school.
“The most fascinating item at the church is a Mithraic Roman Altar.
“[The] Roman stone stands in the section of the church under the tower. It is 3 ft 4 in tall, has a hollowed out top like a basin and the carved figure of a bull, halfway down on all 4 sides. It is made from Kentish ragstone, probably quarried near Hythe where the Romans built Stutfall Castle and the harbor at Portus Lemanus, on the old course of the Rother, then known as the Limen. A straightforward journey along the Limen would have brought the stone to Oxney. It was used as a horse block at the Ferry Inn for many years, before being moved to the vicarage garden, and from there to St Mary’s.
“This Mithraic Altar stone dates from between the 1st and 4th centuries AD, when the mystery religion, Mithraism, was popular with the Roman military. Very little is known for certain about the origins of this mysterious religion. It is variously attributed to have its foundation in Persia, where the god Mithras was born from a rock, or from the religious culture developed in Rome but having a god with the same name, or from a Greco-Roman theory proposed to explain the movement of heavenly bodies discovered by the Greek astronomer Hipparchus. The latter theory assumed that there must be a previously unknown god powerful enough to move cosmic bodies and therefore capable of controlling the universe. We will never know!”176
**ESSEX**
JB Johnston gives an account: “Nennius Est saxum (inflected); Old English Chronicle 499 [AD] East Sexa; before 1087 Essex; Domesday Book Exsessa; before 1236 [AD] Roger Wendover Estsexia. ‘Land of the East Saxons’.”177
J Gronow points out: “Essex: county of, takes its name from East Saxony, one of the kingdoms founded by the Saxons. The air in the inland part is healthy, but in the marshes near the sea it produces agues; particularly in the part called the hundred.”178
JM Wilson relates: “Essex, a maritime county of England; bounded, on the north, by Cambridge and Suffolk; on the east, by the German ocean; on the south, by Kent; on the west, by Middlesex and Herts. Its boundary line, along a great part of the north, is the river Stour; along all the south, is the river Thames; along much of the west, is the rivers Lea and Stort. Its outline is irregularly four-sided; the longest line along the north, the shortest along the south. Its length, from east to west, is 60 miles; its breadth, from north to south, is 50 miles; its circuit is about 225 miles; and its area is 1,060,549 acres. Its coast is so irregular and broken that the exact length of it cannot easily be ascertained; but, including all on the Thames, and not reckoning estuaries, may be estimated at about 105 miles. Its chief headlands are the Naze, 5 ½ miles south of Harwich; Foulness, at the mouth of the Crouch river; and Shoeburyness, at the mouth of the Thames. Shoals and sands lie off some parts; and numerous islands, situated within the general coastline, and divided by only narrow belts of water from the interior tracts, diversify others. The chief islands are Horsey, near the Naze; Mersea, at the mouth of Blackwater river; Wallasea and Foulness, at the mouth of the Crouch river; and Canvey, on the Thames. The sea-board is low, flat, and partly marshy; has suffered much devastation and fracture by encroachments of the sea; and, except to a trifling extent at Harwich, South-end, and Purfleet, is protected from further injury by strong embankments. The tracts inland, to the center and further west, are champaign, not totally flat, but possessing many gentle hills and dales; and the tracts thence to the western boundary so roll and rise as to present continuous diversity of contour. The highest grounds are Langdon hill and Danebury camp; and these have an altitude of about 620 feet. Much of the surface, from combination of natural feature and artificial embellishment, exhibits a pleasing and ever-varying succession of rural landscapes. The chief rivers, besides those which run on the boundaries, are the Colne, the Blackwater, the Chelmer, the Crouch, the Roding, the Ingerburn, the Wid, and the Brain. The geognostic formation of much of the sea-board is freshwater deposit; of most of the rest of the county is London clay; and of the tract around Castle Hedingham and Thaxted, and thence to the northern and western boundaries, is chalk.
“The territory now forming Essex was inhabited, in the ancient British times, by the Trinobantes. It yielded early and easily to the sway of the Romans; and was included in their province of Flavia Caesariensis. It and Middlesex, and parts of Herts and Beds, formed a kingdom during a period of the Saxon heptarchy; and this, from its relative situation to the other Saxon kingdoms, bore the name of East-Seaxa or East Sexe, which passed, by corruption, first into Exsessa, and next into Essex. East-Seaxa was the least and weakest of the Saxon kingdoms; lay generally subordinate, first to Kent, afterwards to Mercia; and became, in 823, a province of Wessex. Sebert or Saebyrht, who occupied its throne in 593, was its first Christian King, and was nephew of St Augustine's convert, Ethelbert of Kent, and founded
the cathedral churches of London and Westminster. The Danes frequently attacked or overran East Seaxa between 878 and 1016; and Canute, in the last of these years, fought his great battle with Edmund Ironside, at Assandune in Essex, a place identified variously with Ashdon and Ashingdon. Colonies of subjugated Northmen were planted in Essex and East Anglia; and the inhabitants of these territories were treated more favorably than those of any other part of England by the Danish dynasty. The people of Essex submitted readily to the Norman conquest; and they thenceforth made only three notable separate appearances in the great mutations of the country; they began the insurrection which culminated in Wat Tyler's rebellion; they rose, under Colonel Far and Sir Charles Lucas, to support Charles I; and they took part with Fanshaw, in 1659, to promote the restoration of Charles II. The ancient British Ermine-street traversed part of the west border of Essex; and a Roman road crossed the county from Colchester, by way of Coggeshall and Dunmow, to Bishop Stortford. Ancient British camps or barrows occur at Ruckolt, Bluntswalls, Ambreys, Walbury, Grime's-Dyke, and Bartlow-hills; and Roman stations stood at Canonium, Camalodunum, Caesaromagus, and Durolitum. Old castles are at Colchester, Clavering, Hadleigh, Heddingham, Walden, Ongar, and Stansted-Monfichet; old mansions, or parts of them, are at Havering, Nether-Hall, Mark's-Hall, Heron-Hall, Creping, and Upminster; old churches are at Thaxted, Walden, Inworth, East Ham, Green-sted, and other places; and remains of monastic houses are at Waltham, Barking, Stratford, Colchester, Bileigh, Titley, Latton, Little Leighs, and Bychnacre. Essex gave the title of Earl, till 1184, to the De Mandevilles; from 1199 till 1216, to the Fitzpiers; from the 13th century, till 1372, to the De Bohuns; in the latter part of the 14th century, till 1397, to Thomas Duke of Gloucester; from 1443 to 1454, to William Parr; from 1461 till 1539, to the Bourchiers; in 1540, to Thomas Cromwell; from 1572 till 1646, to the Devereux; and from 1661 till the present time, to the Capels.”179
***AYTHORPE RODING, ESSEX***
University of Nottingham’s Institute for Name Studies stipulates: “Aythorpe Roding: One of several Essex parishes called Roding, ‘Hrotha’s people’. This one is distinguished as ‘Aitrop’s’ Roding. -Ingas (Old English): ‘the people of ...’; ‘the people called after ...’”180
Pam and John Rollason writes: “There are eight Rodings villages, the largest group in the country to bear a common name. They originate from the Saxon invasion of the sixth century when one Hrotha and his tribe, the Hrodingas, sailed up the Thames and along its tributary river seeking a new home. They settled on the highly fertile soil of the area, creating settlements to the east and west of the river. Both river and villages derive their names from Hroda.
“By the time of the Norman Conquest, in 1066, a large part of the area passed into the hands of William the Conqueror, the de Veres and the de Mandevilles who became the Earls of Oxford and Essex. Friars Grange, in Aythorpe Roding, was gifted to the monks of Tilty and acquired by one of Henry VIII’s goldsmiths, after the Dissolution. Mary Boleyn, the sister of Anne, held a manor in High Roding, later given to Thomas Cranmer whose parish church was one of the first to possess the English Bible.
“The boundaries and names of the villages were more or less established by the fourteenth century: Abbess, Aythorpe, Beauchamp, Berners, High, Leaden, Margaret, and White Roding.
“The writer, Daniel Defoe, described the Rodings villages as ‘famous for Good Land, Good Malt, and Dirty Roads’.
“For centuries they remained virtually inaccessible. Consequently there are no buildings of great importance in the area. It is, however, rich in timber-framed manor houses, farm houses, and thatched cottages dating from Medieval times, and retains some comfortable old public houses which offer excellent food and ale – ‘The Axe and Compasses’, Aythorpe Roding (where stage coaches used to stop en route to London) ‘The Black Horse’, White Roding, and 'The Black Lion’, High Roding.
“Once an area abounding in windmills, there is only one left intact with its sails turning – the mid-eighteenth century postmill at Aythorpe Roding, the largest in Essex, open to the public on the first Sunday of the month from April until September. Many of the churches date from Norman times. The oldest of them, the church of St Margaret of Antioch, in Margaret Roding, has an impressive Norman doorway. The grave of a Crusader in the churchyard is perhaps one of the many who brought back news of St Margaret from the East.
“Close by lie the villages of Good Easter and High Easter. Estre or Estra may indicate that they were outlying settlements of the Rodings where sheep were grazed. Good Easter was originally called Godichestre, and thought to have connexions with Lady Godiva. Along with the Canfields, they have much in common with the Rodings in terms of church foundations, and their many Listed houses.
“The Rodings retain some comfortable old public houses which offer excellent food and ale. The Axe and Compasses at Aythorpe Roding was built in 1707 on a piece of roadside waste which belonged to Aythorpe Roding Hall, and acquired by Henry Bacon, carpenter. Hence its name and the reason for its isolated situation. The present restaurant was once the brew house and a bake house, added later. The hook for hauling up the boiling water is still in place near the fireplace. In the 19th century, stagecoaches used to stop at 'The Axe' en route from Dunmow to London. There was once a large cottage attached to the right-hand side of the pub but was demolished after it became derelict. In the last century the pub was held for many years by the Rolph family. After passing through the hands of several publicans, it fell into disrepair and was bought and refurbished by its present owner, David Hunt, in 2007. The ‘Punch Bowl’, High Easter, an inn until the last century, is now a top class restaurant, far removed from its lowly origins in the eighteenth century when it hosted poorhouse wedding celebrations.
“The last of our group of ten parishes is Great Canfield (the Saxon Cana’s Feld) where the de Veres built a wooden castle on an artificial mound surrounded by a deep moat. The Church is essentially Norman and behind the remarkable chancel arch is a wall painting of the Virgin and Child, regarded as one of the best thirteenth century representations in the entire country. Following the Reformation, it was covered over to protect it from puritan destruction and rediscovered only at the end of the nineteenth century when the church was renovated.”181
***HATFIELD PEVEREL, ESSEX***
University of Nottingham’s Institute for Name Studies articulates: “Hatfield Peverel: ‘Heathy open land’. It was held by Ralph Peverel in 1086. Head (Old English): ‘heather’; a ‘tract of uncultivated land’.
Feld (Old English): ‘open country’, ‘unencumbered ground’ (eg, land without trees as opposed to forest, level ground as opposed to hills, land without buildings); ‘arable land’ (from late tenth century).”182
DW Coller describes: “Hatfield Peverel and Priory: Two miles from Witham, on the road to Chelmsford, having passed by the way Witham Lodge, the neat mansion of Captain Luard, the traveler enters Hatfield Peverel, and looks down from the hill-top on Hatfield Place, the residence of the Tyrell family before they purchased Boreham House; while further on, beyond the water mill and the river Ter, lies Crix (the seat of the late Samuel Shaen, Esq, now the residence of RD Heatley, Esq) with its park skirting the road, and the house, commanding a pleasant prospect to the south, over the Vale of the Chelmer. Away to the right is Toppingo-Hall, taking its name from Thomas de Toppingho, who owned it in the reign of Henry III, now the property of Lord Rayleigh; the house is well known for the fine cedars round it, and the farm was long famed for its fox-covers. Amongst the ancient owners of property here was Thomas, the son of Geoffrey Chaucer, the poet, who held a part of the manor of Hatfield in the reign of Henry VI, and left it, in 1436, to Alice Chaucer, his daughter. Besides the noble owner of Toppingo, John Wright and GBM Lovibond, Esqrs, and the Rev CGG Townsend, and now the lords of the parish, which contains little of historical note beyond the memory and the slight remains of the priory. Turning to the left from the high road, about the center of the straggling village, we reach the site on which, eight hundred years ago, the walls of this monastic house were raised, and we behold the only remnant left of it – the parish church. Hatfield Priory owed its foundation to one of those qualms of conscience which in those times often led to similar architectural offerings as bribes to the recording angel to blot out the entries of old sins. Soon after the Norman conqueror had seized the English throne he was in turn taken captive by a fair Saxon, the daughter of Ingelric, a noble, a lady of extraordinary beauty. Kings and conquerors do not woo in vain. The beautiful Saxon maiden became the concubine of the royal Norman, and the mother of a boy who was afterwards one of the barons of the kingdom and the owner of Nottingham Castle. The monarch, however, grew weary of his fair mistress, and accordingly married her to Ralph Peverel, one of his followers, whom he loaded with lordships as a reward for taking the beautiful but tainted on to his home. Amongst the possessions thus acquired was this manor of Hatfield. As years rolled on, and ‘Wrinkling age with ruffian hand / Had marred her youthful graces,’ the lady – her royal lover being dead – bethought herself of her early frailties, and as a religious atonement of them founded a college here for secular canons, dedicating it to the repentant Mary Magdalen. The lady herself resided here, keeping an eye over the holy brotherhood till her death, which took place about the year 1100, and she was buried in the church, where, says Weever, in his Funeral Monuments, ‘her image, cut in stone, is to be seen in one of the windows.’ The house did not long retain its secular character. William Peverel, the son of the foundress, in the time of Henry I, about 20 years after, converted it into a priory of Benedictines, subordinate of St Alban’s Abbey, giving his own mansion as a dwelling for the monks; he also added to its previous endowments three fields near the church, and amongst other property in various districts the advowson of Little Waltham, the tithes in Bradwell, Little Baddow, Utling, Witham, Terling, and Boreham. The greater portion of the priory was destroyed by fire in 1331, but it appears to have been rebuilt; and here the community, which consisted of a prior and four monks, dwelt in ease till the Reformation, when the chant was silenced, and the sound of the priory bell was heard no more in Hatfield. Its revenues then amounted to 83 pounds, 19 shillings, 7 pence, which passed from Richard Snowdall, the last prior, to the crown. In 1537, Henry VIII granted the priory and its
property to Giles Leigh, of Walton Lodge, in Surrey, from whom it passed to the Alleyn family, one of whom, Sir John, was sheriff of London in 1518, and ‘gave a rich collar of gold to be worn by the successive Lord Mayors.’ John Wright, Esq, is now the owner of this property, and as the successor and representative of the old prior, he receives the tithes, which afford a striking proof of the increase in the value of the property, as a part only of the revenue of 83 pounds, 19 shillings, 7 pence in 1540 now produces 1,599 pounds, 11 shillings, 8 pence. In 1768 the estate was sold under a decree of the Court of Chancery, when it was purchased by J Wright, Esq. The new owner forthwith demolished the ancient manor or priory house, the old home of the Benedictines, which stood near the church, and reared in its stead yonder elegant mansion, now occupied by his descendants, with its beautiful sheet of water and its broad park, extending along the roadside a quarter of a mile below, and, under the name of Priory Place, is the modern representative of the former monastic institution.”183
***MANNINGTREE, ESSEX***
University of Nottingham’s Institute for Name Studies establishes: “Manningtree: Either, 'many trees' or 'Manna's tree'. Manig (Old English): ‘many’. Treow (Old English): a ‘tree’; a ‘large piece of wood’, a ‘post’, a ‘beam’.”184
www.visit-manningtree.co.uk highlights: “What are the origins of the name Manningtree and Mistley? Going back 1,000 years, Manningtree and Mistley came under the same name of Sciddinchou (various spellings of this old name) in the Domesday Book. The suggestion is made by PH Reaney in The Place Names of Essex this could mean ‘hill of the shed dwellers’. As for Manningtree itself, there have been many ideas that range from the simple ‘many trees’ to a place belonging to someone called Mann or Manni. Mistley has been suggested by J Yelloly Watson in his Tendring Hundred in the Olden Time as coming from the Saxon word for the herb ‘basil’ – mircel – combined with ley meaning ‘pasture’, whereas Professor Eilert Ekwall postulates Mistltoe Wood, the Old English for ‘mistletoe’ being mistel.”185
Angie Christie portrays: “I would like you to imagine you are in the very picturesque town of Manningtree, in the county of Essex, near the North Sea Coast. The origin of the name Manningtree is little known. This town became, in Tudor times, a thriving port known as Manytre. Beautiful walks and flat fronted facades can be seen, many of which conceal Tudor or Elizabethan houses.
“There is, in the town, an ancient site where a market has been for centuries. The center is still known as Market Cross. Also in this part of East Anglia are many beautiful walks and the River Stour is very beautiful as its meanders its way through towns and villages in Essex and Suffolk. Much of the wealth of the town in those days came from the cloth trade. You can see some examples of the cottages that weavers used, standing in Brook Street and South Street. Two ancient coaching inns with stable yards can be seen in the high street. Next to Manningtree is another town of Mistley, both important brewing centers and ports.
“Some facts for you all…
Manningtree was the home of the Manni Tribe which greeted Caesar in 55 BC.
Manningtree smugglers, in 1872, were caught with 168 gallons of gin at Manningtree. Hic!!!
The Shir Burn, a Lawford stream, drove the only overshot watermill in Essex at the time of the Domesday book.
And, last but not least, Manningtree was the home of the infamous Matthew Hopkins, Witchfinder General, who began his infamous career of terror in 1644.
“Hopkins earned 15 to 23 pounds per town clearing it of ‘witches’. This was a huge sum of money as the normal person’s daily wage was a little as 2.05 pennies per day.
“Hopkins was a Puritan, dressing very well in Puritan tunic and cloak and employed two assistants and he went about his shocking work in East Anglia.
“Hopkins made use of a retractable bladed knife that would not pierce the skin of the accused. As his reputation grew, his ego grew even bigger. He was a trickster, whilst seeming honest in his beliefs that he, as Witchfinder General, could rid the countryside of ‘witches’. His name and reputation was feared as he continued his evil calling.
“One such victim of hate and superstition was John Lowe, aged 70, clergyman of the village of Brandeston. Accused of witchcraft, he ‘swum in the moat’, was kept awake for three days and nights, and then forced to walk without rest until his feet blistered. Denied the benefit of clergy, Lowe recited his own burial service on the way to the gallows.
“One way to extract a ‘confession’ was to find warts or spots on the body. Moles were also a favorite with Hopkins, as well as women who owned any kind of pet. He would make the accusation that the pets were a ‘witch’s familiar’. One lady he extracted a false confession out of was a Faith Mills of Fressingham, who admitted under duress and torture that her pet birds, Tom, Robert and John, were HER familiars who had magically made a cow jump over a sty and break a cart. The woman was hanged.
“Hopkins started his reign of terror in Manningtree when a one legged lady named Elizabeth Clarke was accused of being a witch and an enemy of God. She must have been absolutely terrified as, before the end of her torment and torture, she had named thirty one more accomplices.
“It was believed, also, that a witch would not have the baptism water, so they were thrown into a river or lake whilst having a rope tied to them. If they floated, they were witches, if they sank, they were innocent. Of course, most sank, but were pulled out, and although they were, of course, innocent of such awful charges, still were hanged.
“Eventually, Hopkins realized opposition to his evil persecutions was growing. In 1646, John Gaule, a Reverend Puritan Minister of Great Stoughton, wrote a pamphlet called Select Cases of Conscience toward Witches and Witchcraft exposing Hopkins methods. John Gaule also preached against Hopkins’ brutality from his pulpit, hinting that Hopkins himself was a witch.
“In retaliation, Hopkins published his own pamphlet which he called The Discovery of Witchcraft. At last, the end was near for Matthew Hopkins’ reign of terror.
“Two accounts exist of his demise. One said he was accused of witchcraft and hanged. The other stated that he died in his bed of tuberculosis. These theories are debatable.
“There ends our visit to Manningtree, Essex. Before I finish, I will say that Colchester Castle imprisoned people wrongly accused. I have visited their prison there and it is not a nice atmosphere at all.
“I do hope you have enjoyed hearing about this historic English town in the heart of East Anglia.”186
***TOOT HILL, ESSEX***
JB Johnston remarks: “It may be a tautology, as toot or tote is found in English for ‘an isolated, conspicuous hill, a lookout hill’, from 1387 [AD]. The Old English totian is found only once, meaning ‘to protrude, peep out’; but the verb tote, ‘to peep out, peer, gaze’, is common from before 1225 [AD]. There is also Old English tota, ‘a spy, a lookout, a tout’, often a proper name. Tooter, too, is … from Wyclif, 1382 [AD], ‘one who gazes, a watchman’, as in Tooter Hill (South Lancastershire). Compare to Tothill, and Cleeve Toot (Bristol). The name toot today seems chiefly southwestern; but we have a Tote-hill, Hartington (Northumberland), and a Tuthill stairs (Newcastle).”187
**GLOUCESTERSHIRE**
JB Johnston shares: “Pronounced Gloster. Circa 120 [AD] Latin inscription Glev = Glevensis civitas, later Glevi; circa 380 [AD] The Antonine Itinerary Gle-, Clevo; before 700 [AD] Glebon; 681 [AD] Gleawceasdre; 804 [AD] grant Gleaw(e)ceastre; Lanfranc 1071 [AD] Claecistra; 1080 [AD] Claudia Civitas; 1085 [AD] Cleucestra; before 1130 [AD] Glocestre; 1140 [AD] Old English Chronicle Gloucestre; circa 1160 [AD] Glocestrensis; 1375 [AD] Barbour Gloster. In Welsh Caerloew, as in before 810 [AD] Nennius Cair Gloui; Saxonice autem Gloecester. Said to be called ‘camp of Gloni’ from its builder, a mere guess, whilst to connect with Emperor Claudius is to make a worse guess. Many think the name is Celtic, ‘bright castle’, from Welsh glaw, ‘brightness’. The forms all have the c, in later times the soft c, and not ch (except Gleochaestre), owing to Norman influence.”188
J Gronow stresses: “Gloucester: the county town, 104 miles from London, stands on a pleasant hill with houses on every descent, on the eastern side of the Severn, where the river is divided into two channels by the Isle of Alney. It was called Caer Gleon, ie, the ‘bright city’, by the Britons, and on its being surrendered to the Romans under Claudius, AD 44, it was fixed upon for a military station, the name of which was Gleon, or Glevum. It is memorable for the death of Athelstan, in 940, but who was interred at Malmsbury. For Elgiva, the wife of Edwy, being cruelly put to death here. Robert, Duke of Normandy, after being imprisoned for twenty-seven years in Cardiff Castle, was interred by the king’s order in the middle of the choir. He had been a considerable benefactor to the abbey, and his brother, King Henry, gave large possessions to it on his account. Richard, the second son of the Conqueror, killed by a stag in the New Forest, was also interred here, but the place is not known. Strongbow, who conquered Ireland, lies in the chapter house. Mary-de-Lode Square is memorable for the martyrdom of bishop Hooper, on
the 9th of February, 1554-5, who was brought from London to a house in the Westgate-street, opposite to St Nicholas Church. As he refused all offers of pardon, he was chained to a stake, and burnt with three successive fires of greenwood, which, as it was intended, prolonged his misery for three-quarters of an hour. On the north side of the choir lays the unhappy King Edward II, murdered in Berkeley Castle, September 22, 1327. His son, Edward III, erected a fine monument of alabaster, with his portraiture on it, under a most beautiful canopy of stone fret-work, supposed to be the masterpiece of the art in the fourteenth century. On the spire of St Nicholas Church is a mural coronet, whence it is supposed that the church was built by King John, who had been Duke of Gloucester. The city was besieged by Charles I, at the head of 30,000 men, but every attempt to carry it by storm was repulsed by the bravery of the garrison under Colonel Massie, for nearly a month, when it was relieved by the Earl of Essex. After the restoration, the walls were ordered to be razed by Charles II.
“Gloucestershire: an inland county, divided into three parts; the hills called the Cotswold, the Vale, and the Forest of Dean. The hills have only two seasons, eight months’ winter, and four too cold for summer. The climate of the Vale is just the reverse, and is famed for producing the cheese called ‘double gloucester’. Before the Roman invasion, it was inhabited by a tribe called Dobuni, termed Boduni by Dio, a name signifying a race possessing lands on river sides, whose capital was Corinium, ie, Cirencester, who were among the first that yielded to the invaders, whose establishments are numerous, Gloucester and Cirencester being two of their principal stations. Many places are memorable for the hostile strife; a battle was fought at Kemsford between the Mercians and the West Saxons; and about the end of the ninth century, Edward the Elder defeated at Cambridge, near Berkeley.”189
JM Wilson composes: “Gloucestershire, or Gloucester, an inland, but partly maritime, county of England; bounded, on the northwest, by Herefordshire and Worcestershire; on the north, by Worcestershire and Warwickshire; on the east, by Oxfordshire; on the southeast, by Berks and Wilts; on the south, by Wilts and Somerset; on the west, by the Severn's estuary and by Monmouthshire. Its outline is somewhat elliptical, extending from northeast to southwest; but is narrower toward the northeast than toward the southwest. Its boundary consists partly of the river Avon, the Severn's estuary, and the river Wye; but is mainly artificial. Its greatest length is nearly 70 miles; its greatest breadth is 43 miles; its circumference is, roughly, about 156 miles, or, following sinuosities, about 245 miles; and its area is 805,102 acres. About 10 miles of its boundary, along the Severn, is coast. The surface comprises three parts or sections, eastern, central, and western, or hill, vale, and forest. The hill section extends from end to end of the county; is, in some parts, 8 miles broad; bears the name of Cotswolds, from the words cotes and wolds, the old designations for sheep-shelters and hills; has a mean height of between 500 and 600 feet, with culminating summits of 1,086 and 1,134 feet; and is partly open down, more largely enclosed sheep-walk; but includes many winding dales, and possesses much good land and pleasant scenery. The Vale section also extends from end to end of the county; lies mainly along the river Severn; spreads from the foot of the Cotswolds, partly to the western boundary, partly to the Severn's estuary; includes the Vales of Evesham, Gloucester, and Berkeley, together with all the low lands from Tewkesbury to Bristol; and consists chiefly of fine land, variously arable, meadow, and pasture. The forest section is much the smallest of the three; lies on the west side of the Severn; consists chiefly of the Forest of Dean; and is
varied throughout with hill and dale. The chief rivers, besides the Severn, the Avon, and the Wye, are the interior Avons, the Fromes, the Isis, the Calne, the Wind-rush, and the Ledden.
“The territory now forming Gloucestershire was inhabited, in the ancient British times, by the Dobuni. The part of it east of the Severn was included, by the Romans, in their Britannia Prima; the part west of the Severn, in their Britannia Secunda; and the whole of it eventually, in their Flavia Caesariensis. It was the seat of much warfare in the time of the Anglo-Saxon invasion; it became subject, at the end of that invasion, to the West Saxons; and it afterwards formed part of the Kingdom of Mercia. It was, for a time, much harassed by the Danes, under their General Gurmon or Gurmundus; it submitted quietly to the Norman conqueror; it performed distinguished acts in the subjugation of Wales; it took part with Queen Maude against King Stephen; it was much troubled, in the time of Henry II, by incursions of the Welsh; it behaved conspicuously in the Barons' wars, under guidance of Gilbert de Clare, then Earl of Gloucester; and it was the scene of many skirmishes and fights, particularly at Bristol, Cirencester, Gloucester, and Tewkesbury, in the civil wars of Charles I. A noted event was the murder of Edward II, in 1327, at Berkeley Castle; and another was a sanguinary victory over the Lancastrians by the Yorkists, in 1471, at Tewkesbury. Ancient British camps occur at Sponebed and Towberry-hill; Roman ones, at Broad Barrow, Bourton-on-the-water, Aust-ferry, Grovesend, Iccombe, Lydney, North Cerney, Oldbury, Sapperton, Little Sodbury, Woodchester, and other places; Saxon ones at Almondsbury, Dyrham, Meon-hill, and Willersley; and a Danish relic, called the ‘the tingle stone’, in Gatcombe Park. Roman stations were at Cirencester and Gloucester; and the Roman roads, Icknield-street, Ermine-street, the Fosse way, and the Julian way, traversed the country. Roman pavements, of interesting character, have been found at Woodchester, Great Witcombe, Cirencester, and other places. Chief mediaeval castles were at Berkeley, Beverstone, Brimpsfield, Bristol, Cirencester, Dursley, Gloucester, Kempsford, Miserden, Newnham, St Briavels, Sudeley, and Thornbury. Great abbeys were at Gloucester, Tewkesbury, Cirencester, Winchcomb, and Hayles; priories, at Hasledon, Horsley, Kynley, and Stanley-St Leonard; a Templars' preceptory, at Quenington; and interesting old churches, at Bristol, Cirencester, Deerhurst, Elkstone, Fairford, Northleach, and Tewkesbury.”190
***AMPNEY CRUCIS, GLOUCESTERSHIRE***
University of Nottingham’s Institute for Name Studies designates: “Ampney Crucis: ‘Amma's river’. ‘Crucis’ from the dedication of the church to Sante Crucis or Holyrode, ‘the holy cross’. Ea (Old English): a ‘river’.”191
www.ampneycrucis.f9.co.uk expands on: “Ampney Crucis gets its name from the river (Ampney Brook), a tributary of the Thames, and the church (Church of the Holy Cross). The Old English Amma’s Stream is probably derived from the Latin Amnis – a ‘stream’. By 1086 the village was known by its Latin name of Omenie; by 1100 – Amenel; by 1215 – Ameney; and in 1287 Ameney Sancte Crucis. The modern name of Ampney Crucis seems to have been in use since 1535. However, one of our residents has a map of the area which has been authenticated as being produced circa 1632 which still shows the village as Holiroodeamney.”192
***ENGLISH BICKNOR, GLOUCESTERSHIRE***
University of Nottingham’s Institute for Name Studies illustrates: “English Bicknor: ‘Pointed ridge’. It is on the English bank of the River Wye. Bica (Old English): A ‘woodpecker’; a ‘bill’, a ‘beak’; a ‘beak-like projection’. Ofer (Old English): a ‘margin’; a ‘river-bank, sea-shore’.”193
SC Hall maintains: “Welsh Bicknor is so called to distinguish it from English Bicknor, in Gloucestershire, two miles below it, on the opposite side of the river; the river being the ancient boundary between England and Wales – ‘Inde vagos vaga Cambrenses, hine respicit Anglos,’ according to the monk, Neckham, a writer of Latin poetry, who died in the year 1217. It is said his name was Nequam, and that he changed it to Neckham, ‘because, when he desired to be re-admitted to St Alban’s Priory, the abbot replied to him, ‘Si bonus sis, venias – si nequam, nequaquam.’”194
***GUITING POWER, GLOUCESTERSHIRE***
University of Nottingham’s Institute for Name Studies presents: “Guiting Power: A lost stream name. The le Poer family held land here in the 13th century.”195
Robert Atkyns renders: “Guiting Power, Poher, anciently Getting; Generally called Nether or Lower Guiting, is six miles west from Stow, and eighteen east from Gloucester. It contains 2,600 acres of stone brash land, of which 1,289 are in pasture and meadow, 200 in woodland, and the rest in tillage. The parish was enclosed in 1798.
“The manor, containing ten hides, was given by the Conqueror to Goizenboded, from whom it descended to the Quinceys, Earls of Winton: under them it was held by lease by the Master of the Knights Templar, who had previously received a grant of two yard-lands, with certain immunities, from Roger de Watteville. Roger de Corbet died in 1314, possessed of this manor, with those of Ebrington, Catteslade, and Fermecott, from which it is probable, that at that period this, with the two last mentioned, were included in Ebrington, which still exercises a manerial jurisdiction as paramount. Adam de Hermington died seized of it in 1343, and Sir John Boteler, Baron of Sudeley, 1478. On the attainder of the Botelers, it lapsed to the crown; and Henry VIII granted it to William Whorwood, Esq Attorney General, who left two daughters co-heiresses; Anne, married to Dudley, Earl of Warwick, and Margaret, to Thomas Throgmorton, of Coughton, County Warwick, ancestor of the present Sir Thomas Throgmorton, Bart. The former dying without issue, was succeeded by her nephew, T Whorwood, in 1573. The family of Stratford purchased the manor about 1600, and afterwards Sir James Howe, Bart succeeded to it by marriage with the daughter and coheir of Henry Stratford. It continued but a short time in this family, for in 1726, David Hughes, Esq and in 1753 his son held it, who dying without issue, it passed in equal shares to his three sisters, the eldest of whom was the wife of John Vernon, Esq barrister, of Gloucester. From their grandson, Thomas Vernon, it has been transferred by purchase with the advowson to John Walker, Gent, who resides on the estate.”196
***KING’S STANLEY, GLOUCESTERSHIRE***
University of Nottingham’s Institute for Name Studies sheds light on: “King's Stanley: ‘Stone wood/clearing’. It was an ancient demesne of the Crown before and after the Conquest. Stan (Old
English): a ‘stone, stone, rock’. Leah (Old English): a ‘forest, wood, glade, clearing’; (later) a ‘pasture, meadow’. Cyning (Old English): a ‘king’.”197
***LOWER SLAUGHTER, GLOUCESTERSHIRE***
Lower Slaughter Manor suggests: “The name Lower Slaughter does not recall some fearful bygone carnage as might be supposed. It is said to originate from the name of a Norman Knight, Philip de Sloitre, who was granted land in the area by William the Conqueror. The name proved too much of a ‘tongue twister’ for the peasants who corrupted it to slaughter. Some say it derives from an Anglo-Saxon word, meaning ‘muddy or watery place’. The first written record is recorded in The Doomsday Book where the name is spelt Sclostre.
“The history of the Manor dates back nearly 1,000 years. It is known that a Manor house stood on the site before the Conquest, even as early as 1004 AD.
“In 1443, the Manor became a convent housing nuns from the order Syon, and the order was granted the land during this period. The two story Dovecote that still stands in the grounds is said to have supplied the nuns with nourishment.
“Some 100 years or so later, after King Henry VIII’s break with Rome in 1543 and the subsequent dissolution of the monasteries, the Manor was returned to the crown in 1603, during the reign of King James I. The Manor was granted in 1611 to Sir George Whitmore, High Sheriff of Gloucestershire and remained in the family until 1964. In 1655, Sir George’s son contracted Valentine Strong to build a house at Lower Slaughter ‘for the sum of 200.00 pounds in lawful English money’. Valentine Strong was a very important Stone Mason and was stated to be of national importance. His son, Thomas, was the principal contractor employed by Sir Christopher Wren in the building of St Paul’s Cathedral.
“Although much altered by later generations, the house retains some interior fittings. One being the stone fireplace in the lounge dated 1658. The Drawing Room has a splendid ceiling, contemporary with the building, enriched with medallions of fruit, flowers and figures of angelic females and birds.
“To the side of the Manor, stands the very unusual stable block, dated 1770, which hosts a fine central clock tower. A small addition was made to the east of the building in 1864 and in 1891. A larger wing was added on the east side and also a gazebo window on the staircase landing, overlooking the gardens to the north.
“The house was built on a high basement and in one of the basement rooms is a mural inscription, which reads: ‘A good character is valuable to everyone, but especially to servants. For it is their bread and butter and without it they cannot be admitted a creditable family, and happy it is that the best of characters is in everyone’s power to deserve.’ Richard White, 1771.”198
***NEWINGTON BAGPATH, GLOUCESTERSHIRE***
University of Nottingham’s Institute for Name Studies calls attention to: “Newington Bagpath: Originally, two separate places. ‘New farm/settlement’ and ‘Bacga's path’. Niwe (Old English): ‘new’. Tun (Old
English): an ‘enclosure’; a ‘farmstead’; a ‘village’; an ‘estate’. Paed (Anglian): a ‘path’. (More frequent in minor names and field-names than in major settlement-names.)”199
***PIFF’S ELM, GLOUCESTERSHIRE***
John Murray connotes: “The small and very early church of Elmston Hardwick has some very grotesque gargoyles: and at 4 m is a pollard tree of remarkable girth, called The Piff’s Elm. Boddington Manor, on the opposite side of the road, is an old mansion surrounded by a moat erected soon after castles had become unnecessary for the security of residence. It had not been long built before Leland’s visit, who found ‘at Bodingtune a fayre manor place with a park.’”200
“Tombs commemorating the Piff family, first recorded in the 16th century, lie in the churchyard of Elmstone-Hardwicke's St Mary Magdalene church. The elm itself was felled in 1844.”201
**GREATER LONDON**
JB Johnston details: “Circa 100 [AD] Tacitus Londinium; circa 360 [AD] Londinium vetus oppidum quod Augustam posteritas appellavit; circa 610 [AD] East Saxon coin Lundonia; before 810 [AD] Nennius Cair Londein. Old English Chronicle 457 [AD] Lundenbyrig ( = Londonburgh); circa 1175 [AD] Fantosme Lundres; circa 1250 [AD] Layamon Lundene, but ‘Frensca Lundres heo hehten’; 1258-1450 [AD] Lunden; 1298 [AD] London; before 1300 [AD] Mabinogion Lwndrys; circa 1460 Londyn; also 1140 [AD] Old English Chronicle Lundenisce folc. Commonly derived from a Celtic lon din, ‘marsh or pool with the fort’, Welsh llyn, ‘pool, lake’, Gaelic lon, ‘a marsh’, and Welsh din, Gaelic dun, generic duin, ‘a hill, a fort’. This is quite possible. WJ Watson identifies it with Scottish Lundin and the commoner Lundy, Gaelic lunndan, ‘a green spot’, strictly ‘green, wet place’, from a nasalized form of lod, ‘a puddle’, which he thinks is probably the same root as Lutetia Parisiorum. If so, it is very remarkable that both London and Paris should originally have names practically the same. The Saxons, at any rate, early made Lon- into Lun-, which, in pronunciation, it has remained ever since. For this there is abundant analogy. The o sound is retained in French Londres. Compare to Ludgate and Lune.”202
J Gronow explains: “London: Middlesex, the metropolis of Great Britain, on the banks of the Thames, is very ancient, and mentioned by Tacitus as a place of considerable trade in the reign of Nero, and hence we may conclude it was founded in the year 42, about the time of Claudius. Richard of Cirencester, says it was surrounded with a wall by the Empress Helena, mother of Constantine the Great. It had seven gates by land, all of which were taken down in 1769 or 1761. In digging the foundations of Aldgate, when rebuilt in 1609, and under the city walls, Roman medals were found, some of which were of Helena, which corroborates the opinion that she built them. The most conspicuous object, St Paul’s Cathedral, first claims attention. It is 2,292 feet in circuit, and 365 in height to the top of the cross, second to none in Europe, St Peter’s at Rome excepted. It was completed in thirty-five years, under one architect, Sir C Wren; one chief mason, Mr Strong; and under one bishop of London, Dr Henry Compton. Westminster Abbey, said to have been founded in 610, by Sebut, King of the East Saxons, stands on the site of the temple of Apollo, was consecrated by Miletus, bishop of London, and dedicated to St Peter. The present abbey, a grand specimen of the Gothic, which became a model for the erection of abbeys. The church, by a bull of Pope Nicholas I, was constituted the place for the inauguration of Kings of
England. Edward gave it a charter of sanctuary to all persons whose crimes were ever so great, in which he declared that, if any of his ministers or successors, should molest, in person or property, those in the sanctuary, he should lose his name, power, worship, and dignity, and with the traitor Judas be in the eternal fire of hell. Consequently, it became an asylum for the greatest villains of the age, who lived in open defiance of the laws. Among the costly memorials to those who once were, are those of Dr Busby, Ben Jonson, Butler, Dr Johnson, Chaucer, Prior, Gay, Dr Isaac Barrow, Handel, Causabon, and the unfortunate Sir C Shovel. In Henry the Seventh’s Chapel, styled by Leland, the wonder of the world, is a memorial in the form of a beautiful altar to the memory of Edward V and his brother Richard, murdered in the Tower by Richard III, which Walpole has endeavored to invalidate. Among the churches to be notices is the Temple Church, said to have been founded by the Knights Templars, in the reign of Henry II on the model of the Holy Sepulchre at Jerusalem. It is one of the most beautiful Gothic structures in the kingdom, and is supported by neat slender pillars of Sussex marble. In it, among others are nine Knights Templars, cut in marble, in full proportion; six are cross legged, and consequently are supposed to have been actually engaged in the Crusades. The church has lately been repaired and beautified at an expense of 50,000 pounds. St Clement Danes Church takes its name from Pope Clement I, who suffered martyrdom in the reign of Trajan. On the northeast side of the Abbey church is Westminster Hall, built by Rufus originally, and afterwards rebuilt by Richard II, and though it is the largest room in Europe not supported by pillars, Rufus said it was only a king’s bedchamber in respect to what he intended to make it. In length it is 270 feet, 74 feet wide, and 90 high, the ceiling is red chestnut, or Irish oak, which has the peculiarity of being spider proof. St Margaret’s Church, in Millband-street, Westminster, has among its memorials to the great, one to the memory of the unfortunate Sir Walter Raleigh, imprisoned for twelve years, and then beheaded for a crime not proved. Bunhill-fields burial-ground, was the City burial-ground in Charles I. It was originally called Bone Hill, from its being devoted as a place of interment during the Great Plague. It contains the remains of Richard Cromwell, son of the protector, who died at Cheshunt, having assumed the name of Clarke. John Bunyan and Dr Watts were also here interred. Whitehall is noticed as the place where Charles I was beheaded: the precise spot is said to be that on which the brazen statue of James II stands, erected as a memorial where his father fell. Temple-bar, erected after the great fire in 1666, by Sir Christopher Wren, was formerly the place of exposure for the heads of traitors. In the City arms, upon it there is a dagger, a memento of the weapon with which Wat Tyler was killed. Londonstone is placed by the side of St Swithen’s Church, in Cannon-street. Its origins is supposed to have been a mieary of the Romans, and probably the point from whence all the Roman roads from London diverged. That it may be open to the inspection of the curious without being injured it is cased in a hollow stone. Its preservation from the parish destructives was owing to Mr Marden, in 1798. Near Highgate-archway is said to be the veritable stone on which Whittington sat, and heard the encouraging sound of Bow bells.”203
JM Wilson imparts: “London, the metropolis of England. The center of it is London city or London proper; the center of that is St Paul's cathedral; and this is situated … ½ of a mile north of the Thames, and 47 miles in direct line, or about 60 by route, west of the Nore. Articles on all parts of the metropolis, great and small, chief and subordinate, excepting the City, are dispersed throughout our work. The present article does not require to repeat any of the matter contained in these articles; but it will take only a comprehensive view of the entire metropolis, will give particular attention to the City, will notice
matters which are common to the City and to the rest of the metropolis, will supply some omissions in some of the other articles, and will finish with an account of the diocese.
“The name London is commonly thought to have been derived from the Celtic words Llyn and Din or Dinas; the former signifying ‘a lake’, the latter signifying originally ‘a fort’ or a ‘fortified place’, and supposed to be the etymon of the Roman dunum, the Saxon don or ton, and the English ‘town’. The ‘lake’ to which the name refers may have been a great expansion of the Thames, which existed till comparatively recent times, covering the site of Southwark and Lambeth, and spreading on both sides of the river, as far as the marshes of Plaistow, Greenwich, and Woolwich. Tacitus states that the name was taken from the site; and Owen, the learned editor of the Welsh Archaeology, says that it means ‘the town on the lake’. Camden, however, derives it from the words Llwyn and Dinas, the former of which signifies ‘a wood’, ‘a grove’, or ‘a copse’; and the editors of the Mag Brit of 1738, remark that this ‘exactly agrees to the manner of the Britons making of cities or towns, by fencing in woods or groves with trees cut down, plashed within and trenched about, as Caesar and Strabo assure us;’ and they add, ‘that if this derivation please not, the same learned writer gives us another, from the words Lhong and Dias, the former signifying ‘a ship’, and then the name will import a city or harbor of ships.’ The Romans originally called it Londinium, evidently a corruption of its pristine British name; they afterwards, but probably not till after it became the capital of their British province, called it Colonia Augusta, seemingly from its magnificence; and they likewise called it Augusta Trinobantum, with allusion to its having been the capital of the British tribe Trinobantes. The Britons of the 5th century called it Lundaine; Bede calls it Londinia; King Alfred calls it Lundenceaster; and other or later authorities, call it variously Lundenbyrig, Lundenburgh, Lundewic, Lundene, Lundune, Lnndone, and Londone. The present name, under one modification or other, has thus existed from the earliest period of its authentic history. And ‘it is evident,’ says old Lambarde, writing in 1567, ‘that verie few places of this real me have enjoyed their name so longe: which thing also is in myne opinion no light argument that it hathe bene of great price these many years; for what greater cause is theare of the channge of names than the channge of their estate?.-neither meane I by this that it hathe sence the begynninge possessed either that largenesse, beautie, or nomber of people, that it now enjoy the, but that in regard of the state of the real me then beinge, it was inferior to none within the same.’
“The town, in the ancient British times, consisted of huts, formed of stakes, wattles, and mud; occupied the slopes and summits of the rising-ground along the river, from between Billingsgate and the Tower to Dowgate, and backward to the line of the present Lombard-street and Fenchurch-street; and was engirt, on all sides except the river one, by either marsh or forest. The inhabitants probably lived chiefly by hunting and by fishing; they were accustomed to stall as many cattle as sufficed for a few months' consumption; and they may have carried on some small inland commerce. Their chiefs or kings, in the century before the Christian era, reigned over a considerable territory, and seem to have been equal to the greatest in Britain. Cassibelan or Cassivellaunus, King of the Catteucham, resident at Verulam, invaded their territory, slew the King Immanuence or Lud, and sought to slay also his son and heir Mandubrace. The latter was not able to make resistance; fled to Caesar, who then lay in Gaul with the Roman army; besought and obtained his protection; and conducted him and his army into Britain, in order to be restored to his kingdom. Caesar encamped near Staines, and is thought to have there done
something for restoring Mandubrace: and he must have passed either through London or near it; but he does not make any mention of it in his Commentaries. The Romans took possession of it in the time of Clandius; and they soon made it a comparatively great seat of trade and commerce; yet they did not at first constitute it a colonia, but allowed it to remain an oppidum. It was, therefore, unwalled; and when Boadicea, at the head of her Icenine and Trinobantine troops, rose in wrath against the Romans, it could not resist her, but was sacked and destroyed, even to the slaughter of all its inhabitants. The Romans speedily re-acquired power; rebuilt the town, in an altered form, and with enlarged limits; and erected it into a prefecture; yet even then did not raise it to the rank of a colony, much less of a municipium. York was the Roman capital; and Colchester was the seat of the court which held jurisdiction over London. But, in the time of Constantine, about the year 306, the Romans built a wall round London; and at other dates, before and after, they erected substantial houses throughout the town, a temple to Diana on the ground now occupied by St Paul's, and a citadel or fortified post either on the site of the Tower or in St Paul's churchyard. They also formed great military roads through it and from it; raised its commerce to such a pitch that, in 359, it had no fewer than 800 vessels in the export trade of corn alone; and eventually made it a capital city, a place of comparative luxury, and the seat of the Vicarius Britanniarum and the Commissioners of the imperial treasury. Their wall was 3 miles in circuit, 22 feet high, and 8 feet thick; had 15 towers on it; and went from the Tower, by the Minories, Aldgate, Houndsditch, Bishopsgate churchyard, St Alphage, London Wall, Cripplegate churchyard, Falcon-square, St Botolph, Aldersgate, and Ludgate to the Fleet river at New Bridge-street. Some remains of the wall still exist on Tower-hill, Cripplegate churchyard, and St Martin's-court off Ludgate; and traces of it exist also in Bishopsgate church yard, and at London Wall opposite Sion college. Watling-street came in by Dowgate, from Southwark, Shooter's Hill, and Dover; went through the town, along the present Watling-street, and past St Paul's; and went off, by Oxford-street and Edgware-road, toward St Albans and the North. Ermine-street went out, by Cripplegate, to Stamford Hill, Edmonton, and Royston toward Lincolnshire; the Portway went westward toward Staines and Silchester; another road went eastward, by Old-street and Shoreditch churchyard, toward Colchester; Stanestreet went from a ford or ferry opposite York-Gate stairs, by St George's Fields, toward Streatham and Chichester; and another road went from the same place toward Holwood Hill and Pevensey. A famous Roman relic, known as the London Stone, supposed to have been part of the milliarium or ‘central stone’ from which the miles were reckoned along the road, stood long on the north side of Cannon-street, and is now preserved in a recess of the wall of St Swithin's church. Roman coins, urns, vases, pottery, bronze weapons, fibulae, beads, amulets, lamps, lachrymatories, inscriptions, and tesselated pavements, have been found in many places; and some are preserved in the Guildhall, others in the British museum.”204
***CLERKENWELL, GREATER LONDON 205 ***
JB Johnston mentions: “EE Wills 1442 [AD]. Very likely named ‘well of the clerks’ in the time of Henry I. There is a ‘Clerchewelle’ (Kent), in 1158-9 Pipe. Stow, Survey 1598 [AD], says the London place ‘took the name of the Parish Clerks in London who, of old time, were accustomed there yearly to assemble and to play some large history of Holy Scripture.’”206
***SOHO, GREATER LONDON 207 ***
JB Johnston puts into words: “1632 [AD]. Said to be from the cry of the huntsmen calling off the harriers – ‘So-hoe!’ Stow speaks to hunting in this very district in 1562 [AD].”208
**GREATER MANCHESTER**
JB Johnston puts into words: “Circa 380 [AD] The Antonine Itinerary Mancunio, Mamucio; 923 [AD] Old English Chronicle Mameceaster; Domesday Book and on to 1421 [AD] Mamecestre. Perhaps a hybrid, ‘round hill camp’, but it may be from Celtic man, maen, ‘stone’. Compare to above and Mansfield, and Maumbury Rings, Dorchester.”209
J Gronow reports: “Manchester: Lancashire, 182 miles from London, a great commercial and manufacturing town at the conflux of the Irk and Irwell, three miles from the Mersey. The enterprising spirit of its inhabitants has raised it to great prosperity, and rendered it inferior in wealth and importance to no place in the kingdom, London and Liverpool excepted. It has three most eminent foundations, its college, hospital, and public school. It is the ancient Mancunium, or Manutium, under both of which names it is mentioned in the Itinerary of Antoninus. Some suppose the present name to be derived from main, ie, in the ancient British language, ‘a stone or rock’, and might have applied to the town, from its situation on a stony hill, near a famous quarry called Colyhurst. In the civil war between Charles I and the parliament, possession was taken of the town by the latter, who repulsed, with great loss, the royalists, who under the Earl of Derby attempted to take it. When the rebellion of 1745 took place, the town was for a short time the quarters of the rebels. The Pretender taking up his residence at a house in Market-street-lane, called from the event the palace, which cognomen it still retains, though occupied as an inn. This town furnished him with a body of men, who were formed into a regiment under the command of Colonel Townly, who atone for his treason on Kennington Common.”210
JM Wilson shows: “Manchester, a city, a township, a district, a parish, and a diocese in Lancashire. The city stands at an intersection of Roman roads, on the rivers Irwell, Irk, and Medlock, at the termini of various canals, and at a convergence of railways, 31 miles west by north of Liverpool, 85 north-northwest of Birmingham, and 188 ¼ northwest of London. Railways go from it, in all directions, to all parts of the kingdom; canals give it water communication with the eastern and the western seas, and with most parts of England; and conveyances, of all suitable kinds, connect it with places not touched by railway or canal.
“The site of the city was originally a dense forest. A Celtic tribe, called Setantii or Sistuntii, are supposed to have taken possession of it about 500 years before the Christian era, to have remained unmolested on it for about five centuries, and to have been suddenly invaded and subdued by the tribe of Brigantes from Yorkshire. The Romans, under Agricola, subjugated the Brigantes in the year 79; and they are supposed to have immediately constructed four fortalices on the site of Manchester. The place is said to have been called Mancenion by the Britons; it was called Mancuninm or Mamucium by the Romans; and it afterwards took the names of Manigceastre and Mamecestre, respectively among the Saxons and at the Norman conquest. A regular Roman town is supposed to have been formed near the principal Roman fortalice, in the years 80, 81, and 82; and was the meeting-point of four principal Roman roads. The town is believed to have extended from Castlefield northward and eastward, and to have been
bounded by the line of the present Aldport-lane and Tickle-street. Many Roman remains, including some urns and other pottery, numerous coins, and an altar, have been found within these limits. A manufacture of woolen is supposed to have been introduced, by the Britons, to Mancenion from Gaul, and to have been improved by the Romans. The Britons regained possession, after a period of about four centuries, at the retiring of the Romans; but they were soon obliged to give way to the Saxons. Manchester figures in 540 as a town of Northumbria; and seems to have then been a frontier place between the Northumbrians on the north and east and the Mercians on the south. A thane was placed over it early in the 7th century, and is said to have resided on the site of Chetham's hospital. Christianity had then made progress among the Saxons; and a parish church appears to have been built at Manchester, soon after Oswald, King of Northumbria, founded York cathedral. The Danes made severe attacks on the town, pillaged it, slew many of its inhabitants, and reduced much of it to ruin; yet met with determined and long resistance. Salford had then come in to existence as a separate town; sustained less injury than Manchester from the Danes; and, at the division of England into counties and hundreds in 890, was made the head of the hundred in which Manchester is situated. Manchester was thus politically depressed below Salford; but, about thirty years afterwards, it was rebuilt and partly fortified, re-assumed its original importance, and extended its bounds. A principal town-mill then stood near the quondam Roman station at Castlefield; took afterwards the name of Knute-mill from King Canute, who is supposed to have passed through Manchester in his march toward Cumberland against the Scots; and has bequeathed its name, in the altered form of Knott-mill, to the spot on which it stood. Another town-mill, known as the Schoolmill, stood on the Irk, and gave rise to the name there of Old Millgate. Manchester figures in Domesday book, and had then two churches. The manor had been included, at the Norman conquest, in the extensive territory given to Roger of Poictou; it had been settled as a separate manor, shortly after the Domesday survey, in favor of Albert de Gresley; it continued with the De Gresleys till the time of Edward II; it passed then to the Delawarrs, and continued with them till the 29th year of Henry VII; it then passed to the Wests, and continued with them till the time of Sir William West, who was created Baron Delawarr by Queen Elizabeth; it was sold by that nobleman's son in 1579, for 3,000 pounds, to John Lacye, Esq, of London; it was re-sold by Lacye in 1596, for 3,500 pounds, to Sir Nicholas Mosley, also of London; it remained with the Mosleys till 1845, though an abortive attempt was made to sell it to the corporation in 1808. And it was finally sold in 1845, by Sir Oswald Mosley, to the corporation, for 200,000 pounds.”211
***BLACKROD, GREATER MANCHESTER***
JB Johnston talks about: “1199 [AD] Blackeroade; 1202 [AD] Blakerode. Either ‘Blaca’s road’ or ‘dark, black road’; Old English rad; North English and Scottish rodd. Compare to Blackburn.”212
***MOTTRAM-IN-LONGDENDALE, GREATER MANCHESTER***
Samuel Bagshaw catalogs: “Mottram-in-Longdendale is an extensive parish, forming the northeast extremity of the county. A bleak and dreary promontory which protrudes betwixt the Counties of Yorkshire and Derbyshire, having the river Etherow as its southern boundary dividing it from Derbyshire, and the river Tame on the north. The Featherbed Moss, an extensive tract of moor land, stretches to the extreme eastern point of the county, which is separated from Yorkshire by the Salters’ Brook: here
Yorkshire and Derbyshire converge with Cheshire, where, at the southeast point on the Stockport and Barnsley road, is the Salters’ Brook House. The Sheffield and Manchester Railway, after immerging from a tunnel 3 ¼ miles in length, near this point, enters Derbyshire, and takes its course, on the south side of the Etherow, down Longdendale to Dinting, where it crosses the Etherow at Dinting Vale by a lofty viaduct and proceeds on to Broadbottom, where is the Mottram Station, which is about a mile south from the Church. This parish comprises the townships of Mottram, Godley, Hattersley, Hollingworth, Matley, Newton, Stayley, and Tintwistle. The parish contains 26,200 acres of land, and at the last census had 21,215 inhabitants; population in 1801, 6,234; in 1831, 15,536.
“Mottram-in-Longdendale township and considerable village is situated on a lofty elevation, 7 miles east by north from Stockport. The Church, on its lofty position, is a conspicuous object for many miles round. The scenery in the neighborhood of Mottram is bold and romantic; the swelling eminences and the fertile valleys constitute some picturesque prospects. Car Tor, usually called Cat Tor, is a precipitous elevation, rising 80 feet in perpendicular height; its face exhibits various strata of rock, coal, slate, and freestone, disposed with great regularity, and the sides being partially clothed in foliage has a very romantic effect. Mottram hill rises above this to the height of 450 feet, and even this, with the village, lies far beneath the neighboring heights of Werneth Lowe and Charlesworth Neck. The township contains 992 acres … of land, and in 1841 had 578 houses and 3,247 inhabitants; population in 1801, 984; in 1831, 2,144. Formerly the great lordship of Longdendale, Tingetwissel, which gives name to the district in which Mottram is situated, was esteemed the paramount lordship of the whole parish. The manor of Longdendale at an early period belonged to the family of de Burgs. Thomas Earl of Lancaster had a grant of the estates from Thomas de Burgh; Sir Robert de Holland, a dependent of the Earl’s, then got possession of the property, from whom it passed to his representatives, the Lovells, who retained it till the attainder of Frances Lord Lovell in 1468. Subsequently the Wilbrahams of Woodhey had a grant, and the manor is now vested in their representative, John Tollemache, Esq; besides whom the Earl of Stamford and Warrington, John Chapman, Esq, Joe Sidebottom, Esq, Mr John Bostock, Mr Reddish, and Mr Marsland, are the principal landowners. A court leet and baron is held for the manor on the first Monday in November, in the Market House.”213
**HAMPSHIRE**
JB Johnston conveys: “Old English Chronicle 755 [AD] Hamtunscire; circa 1097 [AD] Hantunscire. Hamtun is Old English for ‘home town’, which as a place-name is spelt Hampton. There is a River Hamps (northeast Staffordshire), but it seems impossible to guess its origin, though Duignan connects with the verb hamper. It is a river so ‘hampered’ that it totally disappears underground for a time. Hampen (Gloucestershire) is Domesday Book Hagenpene, ‘fold of Hagan’.”214
J Gronow discusses: “Hampshire: or Hants, a maritime county in the south, and one of the most fertile and populous counties in the kingdom. Before the invasion of the Romans, it formed part of the territory of the Segontiaci. The pork of this county is esteemed the best in England; its excellence is attributed to the swine being supplied with plenty of acorns from the forests, in which they are suffered to run at large. The New Forest, made by William the Conqueror, is in this county, and notwithstanding the consumption of wood, some of the oaks are of great age. The forest was fatal to the maker, who
lost two sons and a grandson in it, Rufus, Richard, and Henry; a son of Robert, Duke of Normandy, was caught in the branches of a tree and hanged.”215
JM Wilson expounds: “Southamptonshire, Hampshire, or Hants, a maritime county; bounded, on the north, by Berks; on the east, by Surrey and Sussex; on the south, by the English channel; on the west, by Dorset and Wilts. It includes Hayling and Portsea Islands, scarcely separated from the mainland, and the Isle of Wight, separated by the Solent. Its outline is not far from being rectangular. Its greatest length, south-southwestward, is 66 miles; its greatest breadth is 42 miles; its circuit is about 225 miles; and its area is 1,070,216 acres. The surface of the Isle of Wight is proverbially picturesque, and will be found sufficiently noticed in the articles on the Isle's parishes, and on all its principal localities. The surface of the mainland sections exhibits a pleasing variety of hills, valleys, undulating grounds, plains, and forest. A range of downs extends west-northwestward, from boundary to boundary, by Odiham, Basingstoke, and Kingsclere; is from 2 to 3 miles broad; and attains, near its west end, an altitude of about 900 feet. Another range of downs extends nearly in the same direction, about 10 miles further south; is, for the most part, about 4 miles broad; and has several summits about or above 900 feet high. A third range extends in a southward direction, from the vicinity of the first range between Odiham and Basingstoke, to the vicinity of the second range near Petersfield. Portsdown hill, an isolated eminence, 7 miles long, 1 mile broad, and about 450 feet high, extends from east to west, along the north sides of Langstone and Portsmouth harbors. A high moorish tract forms most of the section northward of the north downs; a great tract of broken low tableau, variously heath, common, swell, and vale, forms most of the area westward of the southerly range of hills; a low tract, gently sloping to the shores, forms most of the area southward of the hills and of the low tableau; and the tract of New Forest, noticed in a separate article, forms a large section in the southwest. The chief streams are the Enborne, the Blackwater, the Wey, the Titchfield, the Hamble, the Itchin, the Anton or Test, the Beaulieu, and the Avon. Chalk rocks occupy much the larger portion of the county, through the center, from east to west; and rocks of newer formation than the chalks occupy nearly all the sections in the north and in the south. Fossils are very plentiful, and made large contributions to the early advances of geognostic inquiry. Chalk is extensively calcined for manure; and much clay is obtained for the uses of the potter.
“The territory now forming Hants belonged to the ancient British Belgae; was included by the Romans in their Britannia Prima; and formed part of the Saxon Wessex. The chief events in its subsequent history are noticed in our articles on Silchester, Basing, Winchester, Portsmouth, and Southampton. Ancient British remains are at Silchester, Beacon hill, Winclesbury, and Arreton down. Roman stations were at Silchester, Andover, Winchester, Bittern, Porchester, and Broughton; and Roman roads went from some of these stations to others, and to Old Sarum. Roman camps, or traces of them, are in about 20 places; Saxon camps, at 3; and Danish camps, at Danebury hill and in the Isle of Wight. Old castles, or remains or traces of them, are in about 12 places; old abbeys, at 5; old priories and other monasteries, at 21; and interesting old churches, at 14.”216
***FARLEIGH WALLOP, HAMPSHIRE***
University of Nottingham’s Institute for Name Studies impresses: “Farleigh Wallop: ‘Fern wood/clearing’. It was held by John Wallop after 1487. Fearn (Old English): a ‘fern’; ‘ferns’; a ‘ferny place’. Leah (Old
English): a ‘forest, wood, glade, clearing’; (later) a ‘pasture, meadow’.”217
Henry Moody notates: “Harry Wallop, of Farleigh Wallop and Hurstbourn, was a member of several Parliaments in the reigns of Charles II, James II, and William and Mary. He died unmarried, in 1691, aged 34 years, and was succeeded in the family estates by his brother, John Wallop, whose son was created Baron Wallop, of Farleigh Wallop, and Viscount Lymington in 1720, and Earl of Portsmouth in 1743. The Wallops, it is said, were established in Hampshire previous to the Norman Conquest. In the reign of King John, Matthew de Wallop had the custody of the Castle of Winchester, and in the following reign Sir Robert de Wallop was appointed, with the Earls of Gloucester and Hereford, to decide upon and settle the differences between Henry III and the Barons. In 1329 Sir Richard de Wallop was one of the representatives of the County, and in the reign of Henry VIII, Sir Oliver Wallop was Admiral and Commander of the English Fleet, and was highly distinguished by his martial exploits.”218
***FOUR MARKS, HAMPSHIRE***
Four Marks Parish Council represents: “The reference to Four Marks translates roughly as ‘a certain vacant piece of land called Fowrem’kes near Bookmere and so called Fowrem’kes because 4 adjoining tithings abut there namely the tithings of Medsted, Ropley, Faryngdon & Chawton.’”219
www.medstead.org puts pen to paper: “The Civil Parish of Four Marks lays 5 miles southwest of Alton in Hampshire. It was created in 1932 from land transferred from the six parishes of Medstead, Chawton, Farringdon, East Tisted, Newton Valence and Ropley.
“The name Four Marks, according to Coates, derives from Fowrem'kes and appears on a document dated 1548 discovered by Gover in the Hampshire Record Office. Early records show the parish to have been farmland with 16th and 17th century farmhouses at Hawthorn in the southeast. A 1759 map suggests a new windmill replacing an older one, and shows another farm in the south of the Parish.
“Although the Turnpike from Alton to Winchester followed the route of today's A31, this, and the stagecoach run to Southampton from 1784, had little influence on the growth of the settlement. From five dwellings in 1697 the total in 1839 was only fifteen.
“The London and Southampton railway served Four Marks with the opening of Medstead Station in 1868. The railway is today the popular recreational Watercress Line between Alton and Alresford.
“There was a downturn in profitable farming in the 1870s and workers migrated to the towns. To stem the flow, propaganda promoted the idea of smallholdings and land was divided. The effect on Four Marks can be seen today with many of the original one and two-acre plots surviving, particularly in Blackberry Lane, which was the center of development between 1897 and 1908. This trend continued with a further influx following World War l when the promotion of the ideology of the countryside became part of military propaganda too.
“There was considerable co-operation between smallholders, eg, in getting produce to market. This cooperation included social needs with the formation around 1910 of 'the Institute'. Meeting in borrowed premises, the Institute raised funds for a permanent building. Dating from 1913, the Institute
has since been incorporated into today's first class Village Hall in Lymington Bottom. Another feature of the era is Four Marks School, which owes its existence to two benefactors. Marianna Sophia Hagen of Ropley was the driving force. She bought the plot of land in 1902 from Mr JJ Tomlinson, a retired haberdasher, who in turn gave the purchase price towards the cost of construction. In line with the huge population increase the school has been greatly enlarged.
“By 1885 the pub, also a farmhouse, was called 'The Windmill Inn'. Previously it was 'The Four Marks' for 10 years, prior to which it was 'The Old Windmill'. Opposite, in 1903, the Post Office opened at Four Marks House.
“Church services had been held in the school but a proper place of worship was much needed. The redoubtable Miss Hagen provided it. She had previously sited the 'Iron Room' at North Street Ropley in 1891, and she had it removed to opposite Belford House in 1908 where it became the Church of the Good Shepherd. Its replacement opposite the Village Hall was built in 1953 and since enlarged.
“When visiting the countryside became a popular pastime, cycle repair shops sprung up. There were several of these in the village from 1911, which graduated into garages with the arrival of the motor car. Cafes also appeared to sustain riders and drivers. Naturally this development straddled the main road. Today there is a car showroom on the site of an original garage, as well as a filling station near the shops.
“Although the first branch bank appeared in 1923, after two moves it closed.
“On the top of Swelling Hill there is a pond which, when Four Marks had no mains water supply, was a great standby in times of drought. Local residents can remember seeing cows driven to the pond and some remember how they swam in it when they were children. But it fell into disuse and became so overgrown, that it was little more than a swamp. In 1974 a team of enthusiastic helpers was formed and they dredged the pond, cleared the surrounding jungle, planted shrubs and plants, put up seats and even a wishing well. So hard did they work, that they won the Daily Telegraph National Award for the best rehabilitated pond!
“Four Marks gathered around it a fair share of folklore. This is dealt with, together with a great deal more, in Four Marks its Life and Origins by Betty Mills. Now out of print, it is widely available on loan from the Hampshire Library Service.”220
***FREEFOLK, HAMPSHIRE***
University of Nottingham’s Institute for Name Studies specifies: “Freefolk Manor: ‘Free folk’. Alternatively, perhaps, ‘Frig's folk’. Freo (Old English): ‘free, free from service or charge’. Frig (Old English): ‘the name of a heathen Germanic goddess (Woden's consort)’. Folc (Old English): ‘the people of a tribe or family, the common people’.”221
***HARTLEY WINTNEY, HAMPSHIRE***
JB Johnston tells: “Probably Domesday Book Hardelie (? from a man Heard), and probably grant of before 675 [AD] Hertlys, Hertlye – a spelling which must be much later than the original grant. ‘Hart’s meadow’. Wintney is ‘Winton’s isle’. Hartlip (Sittingbourne) is circa 1250 [AD] charter Hertlepe, ‘hart’s leap’.”222
University of Nottingham’s Institute for Name Studies chronicles: “Hartley Wintney: ‘Hart wood/clearing’. It was held by the Priory of Wintney. Heorot (Old English): a ‘hart’, a ‘stag’, a ‘grown male deer’. Leah (Old English): a ‘forest, wood, glade, clearing’; (later) a ‘pasture, meadow’.”223
**HEREFORDSHIRE**
JB Johnston declares: “1048 [AD] Old English Chronicle Herefordseir; 1260 [AD] Herford. ‘Fort of the army’, Old English here. Curiously, we get much older forms, Harvington (Evesham), which is 709 [AD] Herefordtune, etc. In 1161-2 [AD] Pipe we still read of ‘Herefort in Waliis’.”224
J Gronow displays: “Hereford: the county town, 135 miles from London, stands nearly in the center of the county, on the Wye, and is supposed to take its name from the Saxon ‘ford of the army’, but more probably from the British name of the county, Ereunie, by which the Saxons signified the ‘Ford of Erei’, by taking the first part, and adding ‘ford’. Offa, King of Mercia, held his court here, and in 749, he invited Ethelbert, King of the East Angles, having promised to give him his daughter in marriage, instead of which he killed him, and united East Anglia to his own dominions. To stone, he procured the canonization of Ethelbert, and dedicated to him a church which he had erected, now the cathedral of Hereford, or one occupied by its site. He also made a journey to Rome, as a further penance, where he was absolved, though he kept his plunder. It was twice besieged during the civil war under Charles I, for whom it was garrisoned. The castle, which was one of the strongest in the kingdom, is now in ruins. It was the natal place of Mrs Neil Gwynne, an actress in the time of Charles II.
“Herefordshire: the county of; an inland county, forming part of the ancient territory of the Silures, a tribe whom Tacitus and some others, from their ruddy complexion, curled hair, and situation over against Spain, have supposed to come from that country. Under the brave Caractacus they long opposed the power of Rome, being rendered desperate by a declaration of the emperor Claudius that they should be totally exterminated. It remained in the possession of the Britons several ages after the Saxons came, but was subdued by Offa, King of Mercia. To secure it from the Welsh, on whose country it borders, he made a broad ditch, one hundred miles long, called ‘Offa’s Dyke’, some remains of which are still visible. It was also fortified with no less than twenty-eight castles, most of which are now in ruins. The air is so pure and healthy, especially between the Wye and Severn, that the proverb has arisen – ‘Blessed is the eye, between the Severn and the Wye’. This county is famed for its cider, called ‘red-streak’, and the windfalls give a reddish color and sweet taste to the flesh of the hogs that feed upon them.”225
JM Wilson expresses: “Herefordshire, or Hereford, an inland county of England, contiguous to Wales. It is bounded, on the northwest, by Radnor; on the north, by Salop; on the northeast, by Worcester; on the east, by Worcester and Gloucester; on the southeast, by Gloucester; on the south, by Gloucester and Monmouth; on the west, by Brecon and Radnor. Its outline has considerable curves and saliencies, yet
may be described as proximately circular. Its greatest length, from north to south, is 38 miles; its greatest breadth, from east to west, is 35 miles; its circumference is about 180 miles; and its area is 534,823 acres. Its northern boundary is traced, at intervals and with not much aggregate, by the river Teme; and its southern boundary is traced, to a large aggregate, by the rivers Wye and Monnow. Its eastern border is grandly marked, to a considerable extent, by the Malvern hills; its western border is still more grandly marked, and to a greater extent, by the Black mountains; and its interior is a rich diversity of hill and valley, closely resembling some parts of Kent, well wooded, beautiful, and picturesque. The chief streams, besides the Teme, the Wye, and the Monnow, are the Lugg, the Arrow, the Frome, the Ledden, and the Dore. The streams, with their flanks, are generally charming; and the Wye, which not only traces part of the boundary, but also traverses very much of the interior, is pre-eminently lovely. A tract in the northwest, contiguous to Wales and to Salop, and a tract in the east, between the rivers Frome and Wye, consist of upper silurian rocks; and nearly all the rest of the county is old red sandstone. Iron was worked by the Romans; limestone is found at Ledbury, Aymestry, and Woolhope; and small quantities of fullers' earth, pipe clay, and ochre occur in some places. The county formed a considerable part of Siluria; and it shares largely in the honors justly ascribed to that region by the poet Dyer: ‘Pleasant Siluria, land of various views / Hills, rivers, woods, and lawns, and purple groves / Pomaceons, mingled with the curling growth / Of tendril hops, that flaunt upon the poles.’ The rest of the area, excepting what is occupied by towns, buildings, ways, and water, is in cultivation.
“The territory now forming Herefordshire, as already noted, was, in the time of the ancient Britons, part of the country of the Silures; and it then bore the name of Ercinac. The Silures made most strenuous opposition to the Romans; they had a great general, the famous Caractacus, who put the Roman tactics to severe test; yet they were defeated, even under Caractacus, by O Scapula, at Coxwell Knoll; and they suffered final reduction, in the time of Vespasian, by Julius Trintinus. Herefordshire then became part of Britannia Secunda; and on the recall of the Roman legions from Britain, it sustained repeated invasion by the Picts and Scots; but, after the calling in of Hengist and Horsa by Vortigern, it was one of the last of the English territories which submitted to the Saxon authority. It at length became part of Mercia; and it was then so vexed and harassed by the Welsh, that Offa, the great King of Mercia, constructed the very long defensive work still known as Offa's Dyke, for protection of its inhabitants. It nevertheless was disastrously overrun, in 1055, by Llewelyn ap Gryffydd, Prince of Wales; and, eleven years later, it made a ready and complete submission to the Norman yoke. The Welsh continued to trouble it; but were kept in check, or repelled, by special local measures, first of the Conqueror, next of Edward I. Strong movements were made in it, on the rebel side, in the Barons' wars, but were put down ignominiously by the Crown. Owen Glendower, in 1402, overran and ravaged it, defeated the Earl of March who defended it, and threw him into a dungeon. An army of 23,000 was raised in it, in 1461, on the side of the Yorkists; went into battle with the forces of Edward VI, or rather of Queen Margaret, at Mortimer's Cross, near Leominster; and totally defeated them. The only subsequent events of any note are those mentioned, in our article on Hereford, as having occurred in that city, in connexion with the civil wars of Charles I. A cromlech is on King Arthur's hill. Ancient British camps, or camps which may have been originally British, are at Hereford beacon, Dynedor, Eaton hill, Great Doward, Little Doward, Geer, Caradoc, Berrington, Credenhill, Aconbury, Croft, Wapley, Burghill, Wall hill , Ivington, Pisbury, and St Ethelbert's. Roman camps or stations are at Kenchester, Trewyn, Grandison, Stretton, Brandon, and Bury Hill near Ross.
Watling street enters near Leintwardine, passes by Kenchester, and quits the county near Longtown; a Roman road from Gloucester also enters near Ross; and a branch of one from Worcester goes to Kenchester. Offa's Dyke touches the west side of the county. No fewer than twenty-eight castles or forts are known to have been erected for defense against the Welsh; but most of them have been demolished; and the chief ones now standing, or having any remains, are at Goodrich, Clifford, Bredwardine, Brampton-Bryan, Wilton, Penyard, Huntington, Lyon Hall, Sugwas, and Wigmore. The principal old ecclesiastical fabrics, whether monasteries or churches, are at Aconbury, Flanesford, Abbeydore, Leominster, Hereford, Garway, Wigmore, Holm-Lacy, Craswall, Monkland, and Wormsley.”226
***BAGWYLLYDIART, HEREFORDSHIRE***
Anthony Poulton-Smith notes: “Bagwyllydiart - Baec is the old English for 'the valley stream', and lydiates 'the gate into the enclosure' - suggesting a gated stream providing a fish trap in Saxon times. First recorded on an 1831 Ordnance Survey map.”227
***HOLE IN THE WALL, HEREFORDSHIRE***
Lorna Standen records: “Hole in the Wall is in the parish of Foy. The name appears to be a modern rendering of Turlestone which was in the Domesday book as Hole Stone. It refers to a megalithic tomb with a port hole entrance.”228
THA Fielding reveals: “Opposite to Ingestone are the foundations of some buildings, and a large excavation called Hole in the Wall: there were formerly a flight of steps, leading down to the cavity, but the whole is now ruinous and overgrown with brushwood.”229
***MORTIMER’S CROSS, HEREFORDSHIRE***
Samuel Leigh spells out: “Mortimer’s Cross. On this spot is a pedestal, erected in commemoration of the battle which took place here, and fixed Edward IV on the throne.”230
www.mortimerscross.co.uk touches on: “February 2nd, 1461: After spending Christmas in Gloucester, Edward, Earl of March heard of his father’s death and started preparations to fall back on London. But then, news of the Earl of Pembroke’s hostile army caused him to change his plans. In order to block Pembroke’s advance and stop him from joining up with Queen Margaret’s main army, Edward marched north with his five thousand men to Mortimer’s Cross where he crossed the River Lugg and drew up in battle order. It was still early morning when Edward arrived and as dawn broke on 2 February, 1461 a strange meteorological phenomenon called a parhelion occurred: three suns were seen to be rising. Edward declared it to be a sign from God of victory and later took it as his emblem, ‘the Sunne in Splendour’.
“The Lancastrian army was only about four thousand strong and did not originally want to engage the Yorkists. At about midday, perceiving they had no choice but to fight if they wished to cross the Lugg, the Lancastrians went on the offensive and attacked. The Earl of Wiltshire’s ‘battle’ (division) led the first assault, and pushed the men of Edward’s right wing straight back across the road, where they broke
and scattered. Pembroke then engaged Edward’s center but was repelled and when Owen Tudor tried to encircle the Yorkist left wing, his ‘battle’ was routed. Edward then repelled Pembroke a second time and the battle was won. By this time Owen Tudor’s men were already in full flight. The remnants of his men were pursued a full seventeen miles to Hereford where Tudor himself was captured and executed.”231
***SOLLERS HOPE, HEREFORDSHIRE***
University of Nottingham’s Institute for Name Studies clarifies: “Sollers Hope: 'Valley'. The de Solariis family held land here in the 13th century. Hop (Old English): a ‘valley’; a ‘remote enclosed space’; a ‘piece of enclosed land in a fen’; ‘an enclosure in marsh or moor’.”232
**HERTFORDSHIRE**
JB Johnston documents: “Bede Herutford, 1087 [AD] Ordinance Hertfordscire; 1258 [AD] Hurtford. ‘Ford of the hart’. Old English heorut, hert, ‘a hart’. The modern pronunciation of the place-name always has the a sound. Compare to Harford (Gloucestershire); 743 [AD] charter Heort ford; 802 [AD] Hereforda; Domesday Book Hurford; 1221 [AD] Harford.”233
JM Wilson observes: “Hertfordshire, or Herts, an inland county; bounded, on the northwest, by Beds; on the north, by Cambridgeshire; on the east, by Essex; on the south, by Middlesex; on the southwest, by Bucks. Its outline is very irregular; but may be described as ovoidal, extending from northeast to southwest, pretty regular in the northeast half, but very much indented in the southwest half. Its east boundary, from about the middle southward, is traced by the rivers Stort and Lea. Its greatest length is about 35 miles; its greatest breadth is about 27 miles; its circuit is about 135 miles; and its area is 391,141 acres. Its general appearance, though not strictly picturesque, is diversified and very pleasant. A portion of the Chiltern hills is in the northwest and the west, and has elevations of 904 feet at Kensworth, and 664 at Little Offley. A range of high ground strikes from the neighborhood of Kings-Langley toward Berkhampstead and Tring; and in many parts, commands extensive views. Another high ridge goes from St Albans, in a northwesterly direction, toward Market street; and several other ridges run nearly parallel with this, from the vicinity of Sandridge, Wheathampstead, and Whitwell. Vantage grounds in the south command charming views over Middlesex, to the hills of Surrey; and scenes around Ware, North Mimms, Watford, Berkhampstead, Hemel-Hempstead, and other places, are very beautiful. Much amenity also is given to even the more common landscapes by parks, groves, and the prevalence of high live hedges, intermixed with fine trees. The chief rivers are the Lea, the Rib, the Beane, the Quin, the Colne, the Ver, the Maran, and the New River. Mineral springs are at Barnet, Clothall, Northaw, and Watton. Small pendicles on the northwest and north border consist of upper greensand and gault; the great bulk of the county, from end to end, consists of chalk; and a considerable tract, along the southeast and the south, contiguous to Essex and Middlesex, consists of lower eocene formations, chiefly London clay and plastic clay. A very small proportion of the area is waste or common; a fair proportion is under wood; and the rest, excepting what is occupied by towns, buildings, ways, and water, is all arable.
“The territory now forming Hertfordshire was chiefly possessed, prior to the Roman invasion, by the Cassii or Cattieuchlani; became part of the Roman Flavia Caesariensis; and was divided, in the Saxon times, between the East Saxon and the Mercian kingdoms. The Danes, in the time of Alfred, menaced it by going up the Lea, but were checked by the diverting of the Lea's waters into another channel. William the Conqueror's march through it was checked and modified by the Abbot of St Albans. The barons, in the time of Edward II, encamped at Wheathampstead. Many of the ringleaders of the insurrection under Wat Tyler were executed at St Albans, where the King, with a guard of 1,000 men, attended. Two sanguinary battles, in the war of the Yorkists and the Lancastrians, were fought, in 1455 and 1461, at St Albans. An early exploit of Cromwell, when he was yet only captain of his own troop of horse, consisted in seizing the high sheriff of the county on his way to St Albans to denounce the parliamentary men as traitors. The Roman roads, Watling street, Icknield street, and Ermine street, traverse the county. Roman stations were at Vernlam and Brockley hill; and Roman camps at other places. Roman coins have been plentifully found at Newcells and Ashwell. A Danish camp is at Ravensburgh; and barrows are at Stevenage and Widford. Old castles are at Hertford, Berkhampstead, Kings-Langley, Bishop-Stortford, Rye-House, and Standon. Ancient monastic edifices are at St Albans, Ware, Royston, Sopwell, Rownea, and Cheshunt; a Templars' preceptory was at Temple-Chelsing; and old churches are at Baldock, Royston, Kensworth, Tewin, and Ayot St Lawrence.”234
***AYOT ST LAWRENCE, HERTFORDSHIRE***
Bonnie West recounts: “Ayot St Lawrence - The word Ayot is often taken to derive from the Old English word meaning an ‘island’, but in geographical terms there is no possibility of the village and parish being an island. Some forms of the name show the element geat, meaning a ‘gap or gate’, and this could be interpreted as a gap between the hills near Ayot St Lawrence. The St Lawrence is from the dedication of the church - the nearby village of Ayot St Peter has a church dedicated to St Peter.”235
***BALDOCK, HERTFORDSHIRE 236 ***
JB Johnston says: “Before 1200 [AD] Baudac, -oc; 1287 [AD] Baldak, Baudak. An amazing name, given as a fancy name by the Knights Templars, its founders – Italian Baldacco, the English Baghdad! Compare to English baldachin, older baudekin, a fine embroidered stuff also named from Baghdad.”237
***BRAUGHING FRIARS, HERTFORDSHIRE***
Bonnie West spotlights: “Braughing Friars - the village of Braughing is of great antiquity and there are Roman remains here. The name is noted back to the Domesday Book (1086) and is locally pronounced Braffing or Bruffing. It seems to be a name for the place coined after the tribe or community who lived here (‘the people [ings] of Breahha’). Braughing Friars was probably the land held by the Priory of Haliwell in the time of Richard I. The grant of land seems to have been given to nuns, but the generic word Friars was used interchangeably.”238
A History of Hertfordshire underscores: “The origin of the manor of Friars in Braughing is obscure, as no continuity can be traced between it and any monastic estate. It seems possible, however, that it represents the land held by the Priory of Haliwell in Braughing. Lands at Gatesbury were given to the
nuns there in the reign of Richard I by John de Gatesbury, and by a deed witnessed by John de Gatesbury de Langeford gave them all his land in the field called Sibbedellersfield. In 1200 Henry Furneaux was in mercy for having unjustly disseized the prioress of her free tenement in Gatesbury. The prioress contributed 10 shillings and 4.5 pence, assessed on her goods at Braughing, towards a lay subsidy in 1307. At the time of the Dissolution, the convent had property at Braughing assessed at 4 pounds. There seems to be no grant of this estate by Henry VIII, but if it may be identified with the manor of Friars it had come by the end of the 16th century into the possession of the Newport family. Robert Newport suffered a recovery of Friars in 1580 and Edward Newport in 1586. In 1603 Thomas Hanchett of Uphall was holding it and mortgaged it in that year to William Whettell of Thetford, County Norfolk. It is then described as the manor of Friars in Braughing and Albury, and as including a water corn-mill with the stream belonging to it in Braughing and inter alia 1.5 acres in a field named Sibdale. The latter is evidently the Sibbedellersfield of the grant mentioned above, which forms one link in the identification of Friars with the land held by Haliwell. The manor seems to have been conveyed by Thomas Hanchett to John Stone together with Gatesbury, for John Stone died seized of it in 1640, and it then descended with Gatesbury. The house called Braughing Frairs is situated on the southeast of the parish.”239
***BYGRAVE, HERTFORDSHIRE***
University of Nottingham’s Institute for Name Studies comments on: “Bygrave: Uncertain. ‘By the trench’, referring to a nearby earthwork, or perhaps, ‘by the grove’. Byge (Old English): a ‘corner’, an ‘angle’; ‘the bend of a river’. Graf (Old English): a ‘grove’, a ‘copse’. Graef (Old English): a ‘digging’, a ‘grave’, a ‘pit’, a ‘trench’. Grafa (Old English): a ‘trench’, a ‘ditch’.”240
William Page emphasizes: “This parish is still unenclosed, and forms perhaps one of the most interesting examples in this country of a concentric mediaeval village of the Teutonic type of settlement. Although the lands are now all held by two or three farmers and the village community has been lost, the mediaeval arrangements are still clearly marked. The village is in the middle of the parish on high land. Like other early Teutonic settlements in this country it lies off the main road, about a mile and a half from the Roman road to the west and half a mile from the Icknield Way on the south. It is approached by roads or drifts unenclosed by hedges across the open fields from both these main roads and by an enclosed road from Ashwell. The church stands in the highest part of the village, 314 ft above the ordnance datum. Adjoining the churchyard on the south side is the site of the old fortified manor-house, surrounded by a series of moats which, from indications on the ground, may have at one time enclosed the church. The modern rectory-house stands on the east of the church. The village lies to the northwest of the church along a broad street, which was evidently the marketplace for the market which was established here by the Somerys in the 13th century. The attempt to make Bygrave a market town in competition with Baldock, then a new town on the more important site at the cross roads, was renewed by the Thornburys two centuries later. Along the village street are a few cottages and a house now called the Manor House, occupied as a farm by Mr CEE Cook.”241
***COLD CHRISTMAS, HERTFORDSHIRE***
Bonnie West gives: “Cold Christmas - despite the romantic sound of this it does not have a picturesque tale behind it. The name is first seen in a deed of 1557, where Chrystmas is given as an alias or alternative name to the building and land known as Lyndseys. Where the element cold came from must be speculation, although the place is a tiny scatter of houses down a rather isolated lane. Perhaps it was generally considered to be very cold and inaccessible?”242
www.essexghosthunters.co.uk pens: “Cold Christmas Church is situated in Thundridge, Hertfordshire, along Cold Christmas Lane. The church is actually called Little St Mary’s Church, but due to its inactivity and being situated near Cold Christmas Lane, it got given the nickname Cold Christmas Church.
“The church was demolished in 1853 when a new Parish church was built nearby, the church stone tower still remains. The church dates back to 1086 and was part of Hugh De Desmaisnil’s estate. It was intended for private family use only. There are many rumors of the church being built on a North/South alignment instead of east/west, many medieval churches were built this way and is said to be the sign of the devil, which is why it was later demolished.
“Even though the church was demolished the graveyard still remains along with the church tower. The grave stones have fallen into disrepair, headstones fallen down and some are even broken. There are reports of a Mausoleum in the graveyard and that mass burial graves lie under where the old church once stood. Many graves belong to young children and is said to be due to extreme cold weather during Christmas time which lead to their deaths.
“Most paranormal activity reports come from in or around the church tower, sounds of growling and evil presence are just a few. A figure in black has also been spotted on several occasions around the graveyard. In 1978 a woman walking up to the church tower found herself walking towards a marching army coming from the church door and through her.”243
Xavier Ortega scribes: “It’s been reported that an abandoned church in Thundridge, Hertfordshire, UK has been home to an evil or demonic presence that has been scaring locals and trespassers alike.
“The old decaying church off Cold Christmas Lane is said to harbor a menacing phantom that can be heard growling or moaning. Many stories have surfaced about the old church. From phantom armies, to a wild cat that is said to live in the building, guarding it against any trespassers.
“The East Herts Herald went to the church to see if they could capture anything on film, aside from finding litter and makeshift campfires, they did not see anything out of the ordinary. Below is a report from the paper:
“TREPIDATION and excitement gripped me as I saw a narrow bridleway leading to my destination, an eerie church tower looming above a distant copse.
“The ruined church in Thundridge has been attracting attention of late, with two reports in as many weeks of bizarre and menacing growling noises emanating from the decaying tower, off Cold Christmas Lane.
“After being sent a video and hearing the growl myself I was unable to fend off my curiosity any longer, and yesterday (Thursday) decided that the Herald should investigate.
“When I arrived at the clearing where the tower stands my mind raced as I recounted the research I had done into this place. It has for a number of years attracted devil-worshippers at Halloween, and is rumored to be haunted.
“Before venturing to the site I read in the book Haunted Hertfordshire how, in 1978 a woman was confronted by a terrifying supernatural army which let out blood-curdling screams and walked straight through her.
“Thankfully (or perhaps unfortunately) for myself and our photographer no such apparition transpired on our visit.
“What we did see was lots of litter and signs that people had been lighting fires in the area.
“I peered into the tower through a small hole hoping to discover what the ‘menacing groan’ which Hoddesdon pensioner Ann Crump, and husband Leonard had heard a little over a week before, but the tower remained silent.
“Thundridge Bernard and Marion Hill were walking their dog nearby and I asked them if they knew what the fuss was about.
“Marion said: ‘It does seem to attract people, there’s a bit of a fascination about it.’
“But Bernard added: ‘We come here twice a day, and have lived here for 33 years and have never heard anything.’”244
**ISLE OF WIGHT**
JB Johnston states: “77 [AD] Pliny Vectis; circa 110 [AD] Suetonius Vectis Insula; Bede Vecta; before 810 [AD] Nennius Inis gueith; Old English Chronicle 449 [AD] Wiht; before 1400 [AD] Isle de Wight. Probably Old Welsh gueid, gueith, ‘division’; there is also a Welsh gwth, ‘rage, violence’, also ‘a channel, a conduit’. Compare to Carisbrooke, Winwidfield, and Wythburn. Of course, Insula in Latin, inis in Old Welsh (modern Welsh ynys), and isle in French all mean ‘island’.”245
J Gronow alludes to: “Wight, Isle of: Hampshire, an island in the English Channel, separated from the opposite coast of Hampshire by a narrow strait. Though it was conquered by Vespasian in the reign of Claudius, there are few remains of the conqueror. In the time of Alfred, it was ravaged by the Danes; and in the tenth century they obtained possession of the island. King John resided here to make preparations for renewing the war with the Barons, after they had compelled him to sign ‘Magna Charta’. It is nearly divided into two parts by the river Medina. At the west end of the island are those rocks called ‘Needles’, among which were two very tall, but they, long since, have been undermined and sunk in the sea.”246
JM Wilson communicates: “Wight (Isle of), an island in Hants; bounded, on the north, by the Solent, on the other sides, by the English channel. Its outline is irregularly rhomboidal, and has been compared to that of a turbot, and to that of a bird with expanded wings. Its length from east to west, from Bembridge Point to the Needles, is nearly 23 miles; its greatest breadth from north to south, from West Cowes to St Catherine's Point, is 13 ¾ miles; its circuit is about 56 miles; and its area, inclusive of foreshore, is 99,746 acres. The general surface has a considerable elevation above sealevel. The coast, along the north, is low; around the west angle, is rocky, broken, precipitous, and romantic; and along the southwest, the south, and the southeast, breaks down in a richly varied series of cliffs, often abrupt or mural, extensively terraced and lofty, including all the magnificent range known as the Undercliff, and everywhere replete with scenic interest. The watershed uniformly follows the trending of the south coast; and is distant from it never more than 2 ½ miles, generally less than 1 mile. A range of downs extends about 6 miles from St Catherine's Hill to Dunnose; rises from the shore, with excessive steepness, to a height of nearly 800 feet; and is marked, along its steep sea-front, with the picturesque terraces of the Undercliff. A diversified range of downs extends about 22 miles, from the Needles on the west to Culver cliff on the east; commences in grand cliffs about 600 feet high; runs 9 miles nearly due east, in a single, sharp, steep ridge, to Mottiston; attains there its highest altitude, at 662 feet above sealevel; makes several debouches in its subsequent progress; suffers repeated cleaving and disseverment, in the form of gaps or depressions; assumes, for some distance, in the neighborhood of Carisbrooke, the character of a double or a triple range; is, in some parts of its course, saddle-shaped and slender, in other parts, broad-based and moundish; and divides the island into two pretty nearly equal sections. A transverse ridge, about 400 feet high, extends about 3 miles in the contiguous to the river Yar; and another transverse ridge, tame in feature, but sometimes of considerable height, extends between the Medina and the Brading. The rest of the surface is either undulating or gently sloping, and has little or no claim to be called picturesque. The chief streams are the Yar, the Newton, the Medina, the Wooton, and the Main or Brading. The geognostic structure comprises chiefly lower greensand in most of the south, chalk in part of the center, and upper eocene in most of the north; but includes many details, possesses deep interest, and may advantageously be studied with the aid of Mantell's and Martin's manuals.
“The Isle of Wight was known to the ancient Britons as Guith or Guiet; to the Romans as Vecta or Vectis; to the Saxons as Wiht, Whit, or Wight. The ancient British name signifies divided or separated; and is supposed to indicate that the island was dissevered from the mainland, by the gradual formation of the Solent. Much discussion has been carried on as to whether Ictis, mentioned by Diodorus Siculus as a depot of the ancient tin trade to Gaul, was the Isle of Wight or some part of Devon or Cornwall. The Romans took possession of the island in the year 43, and held possession of it for about 400 years. It then was united to the Kingdom of Wessex; was devastated, in 661, by the Mercians, and then annexed to Mercia; was reunited, in 686, to Wessex; was overrun, in 787 and in 1001, by the Danes; appears to have, for some time between these two dates, been independent; and, in the time of Edward the Elder, became voluntarily a portion of the realm of England. William the Conqueror made it an independent lordship, in favor of W Fitz-Osborne; Henry I transferred the lordship to Richard de Redvers, Earl of Devon; and Edward I purchased it from that nobleman's descendant, Isabella de-Fortibus, Countess of Albemarle. The lords exercised sovereign rights within it, and resided at Carisbrooke Castle. The title of
King of Wight was conferred, by Henry VI, on Henry Beauchamp, Earl of Warwick; but was only a sham, and of short duration. Governors of the island were appointed under the Crown, from the time of Edward I; but their power gradually diminished till the latter end of the 18th century, and became practically extinct in 1841. Nominal governors were subsequently appointed; but they have worn their title merely as an honorary dignity. Ancient British and Saxon remains occur in the forms of tumuli. Roman relics have been found in the form of numerous coins in various places, of a villa at Carisbrooke, of massive foundations at Clatterford, and of fragments of pottery at Barnes and Morton. The only noticeable ancient military strength is Carisbrooke castle. Several monastic houses once flourished; but only two, at Carisbrooke and Quarr, have left any vestiges. Churches with Norman portions are in four places; with transition Norman, at two; with early English, at three; with decorated English, at two or more.”247
***BLACKGANG, ISLE OF WIGHT***
James Clarke depicts: “One of the terrific beauties of the Island. It is formed by two gullies or openings; which meet and unite in one, down which a constant stream of water supplied through these channels flows, accumulating and deepening its progress, interrupted by many a rocky obstruction and deep declivity, till it reaches the top of an overhanging black rock, over which it precipitates itself in a fall of about forty feet. When this stream is swollen by heavy and continual rains, the effect is indeed grand: dashing rapidly over the bed of broken ground and disjointed rocks above, it forms at its last fall a beautiful cascade. The water oozing from the foot of the impending rock is strongly impregnated with copperas.”248
Old Humphrey enumerates: “’Now for Blackgang Chine,’ said Owen Gladdon to his nephews and niece, who were much pleased to find him quite disposed to continue his narrative, ‘for many people consider this place as the ‘Lion’, or the principal sight in the Isle of Wight.’
“’Why is it called Blackgang Chine?’ was the question put to him, ‘for the name is almost enough to frighten us. It makes one think of a dark cave, and a gang of gipsies or robbers.’
“’You know the meaning of black, and therefore I have only to explain gang and chine. Gang is, I believe, taken from the Saxon word gange, meaning a ‘walk or way’, as well as a company acting together; chine is supposed to come from cinan, a Saxon word, meaning ‘to gape or yawn’, though some say it refers to the chine or indented part of an animal. Perhaps were we to call the Blackgang Chine, the ‘dark-rift way’, it would set forth its meaning.’
“’The dark-rift way everybody would understand.’
“’Beautiful and romantic as the scenery of the Undercliff is, the stranger is surprised to find that, as he approaches Blackgang Chine, it suddenly assumes a different character. No luxuriant trees, no fragrant flowers, and no verdant grass decorates the sterile ground. All is – Barren, rude, and bare.’
“’Ay! That just suits the name of Blackgang Chine. A black, ugly-looking place, no doubt, it is, with the sea roaring at the foot of it.’
“’You are not far from the truth in your description; but hear what a poet says of Blackgang Chine:
Extended wide from that vast bay,
The coast winds rugged far away,
Till murky, frowning-featured Chale
Bears his black front against the gale,
And shows it’s Chine’s jagged rocks on high
In anger swollen sublimity.
Hast thou, amid volcanoes worn
With livid flame, convulsed and torn,
Marked the huge fragments of a world
By Lava’s fire-flood onward hurled;
Marked the wide waste, with ruin fraught.
The heaving earthquake’s hand hath wrought?
Such wild and fearful horrors fill
The gloomy base of Catherine hill –
Where winds and waves their rage combine
Such are thine horrors, Blackgang Chine!’
“’If that account be true, it must be quite a dreadful place!’”249
***GODSHILL, ISLE OF WIGHT***
University of Nottingham’s Institute for Name Studies gives an account: “Godshill: ‘God's hill’. There is evidence for it being a place of Christian worship as early as the 11th century; it has been suggested that it may also have been a place of pagan worship long before. God (Old English): a ‘heathen god’; ‘the Deity’. Hyll (Anglian): a ‘hill’, a ‘natural eminence or elevated piece of ground’.”250
Isle of Wight points out: “On the left is seen the ancient church of Godshill; this venerable pile, situated on a rising ground, has a very commanding and interesting appearance. It is a fine old edifice with an elegant tower, having a peal of five bells and a clock. The interior has some old tombs, belonging to the families of De Aula, Heyno, and Fry; but they appear to have been much injured by violent hands. There are also some very fine monuments of the Worsley family. The village is exceedingly neat; and is superior to most of the villages in the Island in point of literary advantages. In the year 1614, Sir R
Worsley, Bart founded and endowed a grammar school, and built a house for the residence of the master; in addition to which there is a large free school for the benefit of the parish.”251
**KENT**
JB Johnston relates: “55 BC Julius Caesar Cantium; ? before 600 [AD] Gregory Tours Cantia; Bede Cant-uarii; before 810 [AD] Nennius Chent; Old English Chronicle 676 [AD] Centlond; Domesday Book Chent; also circa 930 [AD] Letters to Athelstan Cantescyre. E Nicholson conjectured an Old Celtic root meaning ‘white’, from the chalk cliffs. Compare to Gaelic ceann, ‘head’, and Gabrosenti, Old Celtic form of Gateshead.”252
Judith Glover stipulates: “The county name is derived from the British word cantus: ‘rim or border’, a word which was later applied to the whole of this southeastern area to mean ‘border land, coastal district’. Caesar described it as Cantium in 51 BC, and it is later found as Cantia circa 730 [AD], Cent in 835 [AD]. The early inhabitants of the county were known as the Cantwara, or Kent people, whose capital was Canterbury.”253
J Gronow writes: “Kent: a maritime county, forming the southeast angle of the kingdom. The Romans called it Cantium. One writer is of opinion that its name was derived from Caine, which in the British language signifies a green leaf, applied to the county from its being shaded with woods; Camden supposes, from its situation and figure being a point or angle: a similar corner in Scotland being called Cantir: great part of the county lying near the sea, the air is thick, foggy, and warm. In the higher parts the air is accounted very healthy. All the cattle here are reckoned larger than in the adjoining counties; and the Weald of Kent is remarkable for large bullocks.”254
JM Wilson articulates: “Kent, a maritime county; bounded on the north, by the Thames and the German ocean; on the east, by the straits of Dover; on the southeast, by the English channel; on the south, by the English channel and by Sussex; on the west by Surrey. It is separated, by the Thames, from the metropolitan part of Middlesex, and from all the south border of Essex; and, by the river Rother and headstreams of the Medway, from parts of Sussex. It projects eastward, from the main body of the southeast of England, in the form of a horn, corner, or cant; and it thence took its ancient Iberian or British name, Romanized into Cantium, and modernized into Kent. It is supposed to have anciently extended some miles further up the Thames than at present, and to have included there the site of the original London, which Ptolemy and Ravennas indicate as on the south side of the river; and it may, not improbably, in remote times, have been united on the east to France, from which it is now about 24 miles distant. Its form is irregularly parallelogramic, extending from east to west. Its length is 64 miles; its greatest breadth, 38 miles; its circuit, about 190 miles; its area, 1,039,419 acres; its comparative largeness, the 9th county of England.
“Shoals adjoin the north and east coasts; and are specially prominent in the Margate sands, off Margate, and in the Goodwin Sands, off Ramsgate. Marshes form a belt, averaging about 1 ½ mile in breadth, along great part of the Thames to the Swale; occur again in greater breadth, between the Isle of Thanet and the mainland; and form the large tract of Romney Marsh, Dunge Marsh, and Walling Marsh in the extreme south, from the neighborhood of Hythe to the boundary with Sussex. A tract of lower eocene
formation, averagely three or four times broader than the Thames belt or marsh, extends parallel to it, from Surrey to the Thanet Marsh; includes also the northern part of Sheppey Island; is geognostically a continuation of what is called the London clay basin; and consists of London clay and plastic clay, or Woolwich beds and Thanet sand. A tract of upper cretaceous formation, continuous with the North Downs, extends parallel with the preceding, and of similar aggregate breadth, from Surrey to the neighborhood of Waltham and Canterbury; goes thence, with rapidly increasing breadth, to the east coast; includes the parts of Thanet around Margate and Ramsgate; and forms the fine promontory of North Foreland, and the grand cliffs, ‘the white walls of Albion’, around Dover. Two belts of the gault and lower greensand group, the one very narrow, the other somewhat wider, extend immediately south of the upper cretaceous tract. A region of the lower cretaceous formation, chiefly weald clay, but including some portions of Hastings sand, forms all the rest of the county, and is continuous with the Sussex weald. The geognostic characters of most of the surface will be noticed in our article Weald. No part of the county, except the marshes, is level; and most parts are hilly, and abundantly wooded. The greatest height in the lower eocene tract is Shooter's Hill, 446 feet high. A range of chalk hills, sometimes called the back bone of Kent, traverses the entire county, from northwest to southeast; and culminates in Hollingbourne Hill, between the Medway and the Stour, 616 feet high, and in Paddlesworth Hill, near Folkestone, 642 feet high. Another range, called the Quarry Hills, runs parallel with the former; and has elevations rising to 800 feet, and commanding most beautiful views. An economical estimate of the county divides it into three regions, that of ‘health without wealth’, embracing the higher parts of ‘the back bone’; that of ‘wealth without health’, embracing the marshes and the wooded parts of the Weald; and that of ‘health with wealth’, embracing eminently the parts about Canterbury, and the parts of the Medway's valley from Tunbridge to Maidstone, and more generally the greater part of the county. Fineness of scenery, mildness of climate, and richness as well as diversity of production, combine to render Kent eminently attractive. Hence does Drayton, in the ‘Polyolbion’, say:
‘O famous Kent!
What county hath this isle that can compare with thee?
That hath within thyself as much as thou can'st wish:
Thy rabbits, venison, fruits, thy sorts of fowl and fish:
As what with strength comports, thy hay, thy corn, thy wood,
Nor anything doth want that anywhere is good.’
“The territory now forming Kent was inhabited by the ancient British Cantii. The Romans landed in it, under Caesar, in the years 55 and 54 BC, and again, under Claudius, in the year 42 AD; and they included it in their Britannia Prima. The ‘remote Britain’ was then united with the great Roman world, and put under preparation for great subsequent changes. No events of historical note occurred in Kent during the Roman rule; yet the coasts and strongholds here, especially under Carausius in the years 287-93, were more frequented and valued by the Romans than any others in Britain. The Saxons, under Hengist
and Horsa, landed at Ebbsfleet in 449; and they swept away from Kent a tendency to return to the ancient British state of things after the retiring of the Romans, and established a regime of their own. They called the territory Cantguar-Lantd, signifying ‘the country of the people inhabiting Cantium’; and they made it the first of the kingdoms of the Saxon heptarchy. This kingdom, usually called the Kingdom of Kent, originally included London and part of Surrey; and it was the scene, in 597, of the landing of Augustine, and thence of those labors and measures of his which, together with their results, gave rise to the entire English constitution of church and state. Hengist ruled it till 488; Eske or Aesc, till 512; Octa, till 534; Ymbrick or Ermeric, till 568; Ethelbert, the first Christian King, till 616; Edbald, till 640; Ercombert, till 664; Egbert or Ecgbryht, till 673; Lothaire or Hlothere, till 684; Edrick or Eadric, till 690; Withdred or Wihtred, and another, till about 725; Eadbert, Edelbert and Alric, irregularly till 794; Ethelbert-Pren, of Wessex, till 799; Cudred or Cuthred, of Mercia, till 805; and Baldred, till 823. But these Kings had varying fortunes and a varying inland boundary; and, though the earlier ones were among the most powerful sovereigns of the heptarchy, the later ones became comparatively feeble, and had a struggle to retain either power or place. Egbert, King of Wessex, eventually drove Baldred from the throne, absorbed his kingdom into a monarchy of all Britain, and made Kent a mere earldom. Ealhere became Earl in 852; Coelmere, in 897; others, at subsequent periods; and the great Godwin, in the early part of the 11th century. The earldom, like the previous kingdom, was of varying character, and underwent great changes with changing events. The Danes invaded it in 832; they variously invaded, overran, and mastered it at subsequent periods in the same century and the following one; the Saxons re-acquired power over it on the death of Hardicanute; and the house of Godwin flourished greatly in it till the Norman conquest. A series of great Norman lords thence became Earls of Kent. The first was Odo de Bayeux. Then followed William de Ypres and Hubert de Burgh; the latter Shakespeare’s ‘gentle Hubert’, who made such a defense of Dovercastle against Louis of France as probably saved England from a French conquest. Afterwards came Edmund of Woodstock, second son of Edward I; then his three children, the last of whom was the wife of the Black Prince and mother of Richard II, and commonly known as ‘the fair maid of Kent’. Then came her descendants, by marriage with Sir Thomas Holland; and these were Earls of Kent till the extinction of the male line in the time of Henry IV. William Neville, second son of the first Neville Earl of Westmoreland, was created Earl of Kent by Edward IV; but died without a representative. Edmund Grey, Lord Hastings, was then made Earl of Kent; and his descendants enjoyed the earldom till the time of Queen Anne; and then the 13th Earl was created Duke of Kent, but was the last of his line to enjoy the titles. Edward, fourth son of George III, and father of Queen Victoria, was created Duke of Kent. Wat Tyler's rebellion began at Dartford, in 1381; Jack Cade's insurrection began at Blackheath, in 1450; the Wars of the Roses made some figure in Kent; the rebellion, headed by Sir Thomas Wyatt, in the time of Mary, took place here; and a victory by Fairfax, in 1648, was obtained at Maidstone.
“Kent is very rich in antiquities. The chief ancient British ones are camps or earthworks, in various parts; deep excavations, popularly but erroneously called Danes' Pits, in the chalk region, principally near the Medway and the Thames; and the remarkable monument called Kits Coity House, on a hill near Aylesford. The Roman Watling street crosses the county from London to Dover; had branches to Reculver and Richborough; and had another branch, called Stone street, to Lympne. Roman stations were at Vagniacae or Southfleet, Durobrivis or Rochester, Durolevum or Sittingbourne, DuroVernnm or
Canterbury, Dubris or Dover, Regulbium or Reculver, Ritupae or Richborough, and Portus Lemanis or Lympne; and remains of the last three are still important and striking. Remains of a curious pharos also are at Dover. Vestiges or relics of walls and furnishings are so very numerous as to indicate that Roman villas abounded along the sides of Watling street, and throughout great part of the Medway s valley. Rich Roman pavements, such as those found in Sussex and Gloucestershire, have not yet been discovered here; but great quantities of Roman pottery have been found at Upchurch and Dymchurch, and a large aggregate of Roman coins, swords, spears, and other relics, have been found in numerous places. Roman camps also are at Ospringe, Barham, Trenworth, Bonning, Folkestone, Stutfall, and Keston. Saxon remains have been identified with a camp at Coldred, with ancient cemeteries in Ash parish and near Ramsgate, and with numerous barrows; but they consist chiefly of pottery, glass, weapons, and personal ornaments, preserved in museums. Danish camps or earthworks are at Blackheath, Canterbury, Kemsley Downs, Swanscombe, Walmer, and near Milton. Specimens or remains of medieval military architecture exist in Canterbury castle, Rochester castle, Dover castle, Allington castle, Leeds castle, Hever, Tunbridge, Westonhanger, and Saltwood. Specimens or remains of medieval domestic architecture are very numerous, yet aggregately not so fine as those of some other counties; and they are best exemplified in Eltham Palace, Cobham, the Moat, Penshurst, Chilham, Knole, Sore-Place, Battle Hall, Boughton-Place, and East Sutton Place. Remains exist of 7 abbeys, 20 priories, 6 nunneries, 2 commanderies, 5 ancient colleges, and 15 ancient hospitals; and the most notable of them are Malling Abbey, Horton priory, St Martin's priory in Dover, the remains of an abbey, a priory, and a convent in Canterbury, and the remains of a commandery at Swingfield. Part of a Saxon church is in Dover Castle; parts or specimens of Norman churches are at Barfreston, Darent, Patrixbourne, St Margaret-at-Cliffe, Rochester, Davington, Bapchild, Harbledown, Paddlesworth, Dover, Minster, Walmer, Betshanger, and Sutton; a very fine specimen of transition Norman is the choir of Canterbury cathedral; interesting specimens of early English are in Rochester cathedral, and in the churches of Bridge, Northbourne, Ash, Great Mongeham, Sandwich-St Clement, Wade-St Nicholas, Canterbury-St Martin, Minster, Herne, Westwell, Folkestone, Hythe, Lenham, Graveney, Faversham, Chalk, and Horton-Kirkby; good specimens of decorated English churches are at Chartham, Barham, Chilham, Stone, Hever, and Sandhurst; and good specimens of later English ones are the nave of Canterbury cathedral, and the churches of Maidstone-All Saints, Chislehurst, Sevenoaks, Nettlested, Cranbrook, Tenterden, Ashford, Aldington, Wingham, and Bishopsbourne.”255
***CHIDDINGSTONE, KENT 256 ***
JB Johnston describes: “The ‘chiding stone’, a sandstone boulder from which fractious wives used to be ‘chided’, still stands at the rear of the village; Old English cidan, ‘to chide’, past tense, chid. But for all that, this is probably an example of popular etymology, and the real name will be Old English Cyddan stan, ‘stone of Cydda’; there are two of this name in Kent mentioned in Searle’s Onomasticon Anglo-Saxonicum. Compare to Kiddington (Oxfordshire); Domesday Book Chidintone; but the Kent name is not in Domesday Book.”257
***COLD FRIDAY STREET, KENT***
Judith Glover establishes: “It appears in 1799 [AD] as Cold Friday street and was an alternative name for the village of Woodnesborough Street. Friday Street is a common place name in southern England, denoting a small group of houses set apart from the main village: Friday was a day of ill-omen during the Middle Ages, and many Friday Streets once marked a road to a gallows.”258
***DELAWARE, KENT***
Judith Glover highlights: “The place is associated with a local family variously recorded between 1199 [AD] and 1346 [AD] as de la Ware, La Ware, ate Ware and de la Warre – ‘dweller by the wier’ (Old English wer).”259
***DOVER, KENT***
Judith Glover portrays: “’The waters’ (British dubra; Dubris circa 425 [AD]; Dofras 696 [AD]; on Dofernum circa 1000 [AD]; Douer 1610 [AD]). The name refers to the River Dour here, which shares the same origin as Dover, and is first recorded in its present form in 1577 [AD]. The area surrounding the river is described circa 1040 [AD] as Doferware broc: ‘marshy land’ (Old English broc) belonging to the Doferware, or ‘people of Dover’. The Dour did not begin to silt up until Norman times and was once navigable well inland: Caesar sailed up it in 55 BC. The original settlement of Dover was known to the Romans as Dubris and lay at the side of the river between two hills.”260
***EVEGATE, KENT***
Judith Glover remarks: “(Pronounced Eeve-gate). ‘Thieves’ gate’ (Old English peofa geat; to peofagadan 993 [AD]; Tevegate 1086 [AD]; Theuegate 1246 [AD]; Thevegate 1346 [AD]; Theffegate 1452 [AD]). The 993 [AD] charter also records a nearby place as aet peofacotan: ‘at the thief’s cottage’: probably the gate and cottage were held by the same band of thieves.”261
***FRIDAY HILL, KENT***
Judith Glover shares: “It appears in 1544 [AD] as Fridayes-hole, and may have been a hollow (Middle English hole) which for some reason was regarded as evil or cursed, since Friday was looked upon a day of ill-omen during the Middle Ages.”262
***GREEN STREET GREEN, KENT***
Judith Glover stresses: “’Green road’: Roman road overgrown with grass (Old English grene straet; Grenestrete 1240 [AD]). Green Street Green near Farnborough, shares the same origin (Grenstrete in 1292 [AD]), as does Greenstreet near Teynham (Grenestrete in 1278 [AD]). Old English straet is derived from the Latin via strata: ‘mettaled or paved way’.”263
***HOO ST WERBURGH, KENT***
University of Nottingham’s Institute for Name Studies composes: “Hoo St Werburgh: ‘Spur of land’. The affix is from the dedication of the church to St Werburgh. Hoh (Old English): a ‘heel’; a ‘sharply projecting piece of ground’.”264
“St Werburgh was the daughter of King Wulfhere of Mercia, and niece of King AEthelred, his brother and successor. She was born between 640 and 650.”265
www.mysteriousbritain.co.uk designates: “On 14 March 2009 a funeral service and burial was held at Hoo St Werburgh parish church for the remains of a suspected witch, buried seven centuries ago and discovered in an archaeological dig in 2007. On 3rd March 2009, The Daily Mail printed the following article entitled Teenage 'witch' decapitated 700 years ago to be given Christian funeral service.
“The medieval remains of a teenage girl who may have had her head cut off for being a witch are to be given a Christian burial and funeral service at the request of a vicar.
“The decapitated remains, believed to be around 700 years old, were uncovered two years ago on unconsecrated ground.
“The girl's head was tucked next to her body, leading experts to surmise that she had killed herself or been executed for a crime such as witchcraft.
“It is thought her head may have been removed as a punishment, as it was believed decapitation would prevent eternal life.
“The find, next to Hoo St Werburgh parish church, near Rochester, Kent, was made by archaeologist Dr Paul Wilkinson, director of the Kent Archaeological Field School, following a request by a property developer to investigate the site prior to building work.
“When the vicar of Hoo, the Rev Andy Harding, heard about the discovery recently he requested that she be reburied in the main churchyard instead of being left in archives.
“Rev Harding said: 'We don't know exactly what happened to her but what we do know is that her life came to an horrific end and even in death she was treated appallingly.
“'When I found out about it, I thought it was a tragic story and I felt a need to give her what had clearly been denied to her all those years ago, and that is a proper burial.
“'We want to put her back where she should have been when she first died, and we will be placing her with her head on her shoulders as it should be.
“'There was a belief in those days that you were buried facing east so that you were facing the resurrected Christ but in this case her head was removed to prevent her from eternal life.
“'Execution in those days would have been for such things as witchcraft, so if they had gone so far as to take her head off, she would have had to have committed a mortal sin.'
“Dr Wilkinson said medieval ditches, pottery and other artifacts were uncovered during excavation of the site, and the body was found during the first phase of the dig.”266
***JULLIEBERRIE DOWN, KENT***
Judith Glover expands on: “There are no forms to indicate the origin of this name, but it seems possible that the meaning was ‘Cilla’s mound or tumulus’ (Old English Cillan beorg), since Cilla’s settlement was close by at Chilham. Traditionally, the Down and Jullieberrie’s Grave, a Neolithic long barrow half a mile southeast of Chilham, were named after one of Julius Ceasar’s tribunes, Laberius, who is supposed to have been buried in the barrow after a battle here between the Britons and Romans. The words Jul Laber, a Latin abbreviation of Julii Laberius: ‘Julius’ Laberius’, are thus believed to have been the origin of Jullieberrie.”267
***KIT’S COTY HOUSE, KENT***
Judith Glover illustrates: “Recorded as Kyts cothouse in 1610 [AD], the name is derived from British ked coed: ‘tomb wood’ or ‘tomb in a wood’. This famous Megalithic burial chamber was once covered by a long barrow, described in the 18th century is being 200 feet in length. Since then the soil has been eroded, exposing the three upright stones and huge capstone.”268
***MAIDSTONE, KENT***
JB Johnston maintains: “Domesday Book Medwegestun; 1245 [AD] Maidenestan; later Meddestane, Maydestan, which will mean ‘rock’ rather than ‘town of River Medway’, that its Welsh name is said to be Caer Meguaid or Medwig, ‘fort on the Medway’.”269
University of Nottingham’s Institute for Name Studies presents: “Maidstone: Perhaps ‘stone of the maidens’, or possibly ‘stone of the people’ (compare Folkestone). Maegden (Old English): a ‘maiden’. Maegd (Old English): a ‘maiden’. Stan (Old English): a ‘stone, rock’.”270
JM Wilson renders: “Maidstone, a town, a parish, two sub-districts, a district, and a hundred, in Kent. The town stands on the river Medway, at the influx of the Len, adjacent to the Rochester and Paddock-Wood branch of the Southeastern railway, at the junction with it of the line from Strood, 7 ½ miles south by east of Rochester. It dates from very early times. It is said to have been the third largest city of the ancient Britons, and to have been called by them Medwag or Megwad, from the name of the river. It was known to the Romans as Ad Madam, also from the name of the river, which the Romans called Madus. Some antiquaries suppose it to have been the station Vagniacae of Antoninus: and they fortify their opinion by the fact that numerous Roman remains have been found here; but others hold the opinion as open to doubt. The town was called Medwegestan or Medwagston, by the Saxons, and appears in Domesday book as Meddestane; and it then had several mills, eel fisheries, and salt pans. The manor belonged, from an early period, to the archbishops of Canterbury; was transferred to Henry VIII by Cranmer; remained with the Crown till the time of Edward VI; was given then to Sir Thomas Wyatt of Allington; reverted, at Wyatt's rebellion, to the Crown; was given, by Charles I, to the Hattons; and passed, in 1720, to the Romneys. The archbishops of Canterbury, for a time, had no residence in it; but Archbishop Langton acquired the house of W de Cornhill in it in the time of King John; Archbishop Ufford commenced the reconstruction of that house into a palace in 1348; and subsequent archbishops completed, enlarged, and adorned it, and used it as a favorite residence. The palace was given by Queen Elizabeth to Sir John Astley; passed to Sir Jacob Astley, Charles I's Baron of Reading; and was alienated from the Astleys to the first Lord Romney. The town acquired importance from the presence of the
archbishops; received some enrichments at their hands; was long the halting-place of pilgrims to Canterbury: and had, for their use, an edifice called the Travellers' hospital or college, founded by Archbishop Boniface. Some Protestant martyrs were burnt in the town in the time of Mary; the plague devastated it in 1593-5, 1604, 1607, and 1666-8; and Fairfax, at the head of 10,000 men, stormed it in 1648. About 2,000 royalist troops, under Sir John Mayney, held it against Fairfax; they made such stout resistance as to yield the ground only inch by inch; and, after a struggle of five hours, they retreated into the church, and there made terms for surrender. Clarendon says, ‘It was a very sharp encounter, very bravely fought, with Fairfax's whole strength; and the veteran soldiers confessed that they had never met with the like desperate service during the war.’ Archbishop Lee, Bishop Ralph de Maidstone, Bishop Walter de Maidstone, Jenkyns the composer, Woollett the engraver, Jeffrys the painter, Broughton the secretary at Charles II's trial, and Newton the local historian were natives; and Earl Winchelsea takes from the town the title of Viscount.”271
***POISON DOWN AND WOOD, KENT***
Judith Glover sheds light on: “Though there are no records of this name, it is almost certainly a corruption of the name of the now lost place of Pising here in East Langdon. This derived from Old English pysingas: ‘the short, fat people’, and is recorded as Pesinges 1086 [AD]; Pisingis 1179 [AD]; Pesinge 1232 [AD]; Pysing 1313 [AD].”272
***SCOTLAND HILLS, KENT***
Judith Glover suggests: “Recorded as Scotland during the 13th century, the name denotes land on which a tax or payment of some kind was made: the phrase ‘going scot free’ preserves the old meaning of scot. Scotland Lane (Cobham) shares this meaning and appears as Skottlandes in 1572 [AD].”273
***SEVEN OAKS, KENT***
J Gronow calls attention to: “Seven Oaks, Kent, 23 miles from London, a market town and parish, seated on a ridge of hills near the Darent, deriving its name from seven large oaks standing on the eminence where the town was built. At the end of one of the streets is an open space, called Seven-Oak Vine, where many of the grand cricket-matches are played. A similar space ought to be provided in every town in the kingdom; for if the people are not furnished with rational amusements by their superiors, they will provide irrational for themselves. Near this town, in 1450, the royal army, under Sir Humphrey Stafford, was defeated by the rebels under Jack Cade.”274
***SHAKESPEARE CLIFF, KENT***
Judith Glover connotes: “So named because of its association with William Shakespeare: it is believed to be the cliff described in King Lear, Act IV, the setting for the scene between Edgar and the blinded Earl of Gloucester.”275
***SHOOTER’S HILL, KENT***
J Gronow details: “Shooter’s Hill, Kent, eight miles from London, a hamlet on the road to Dover, supposed to have derived its name from the exercise of archery at this place. It was formerly notorious for robberies, and it is said Henry V, when Prince of Wales, and his companions, used to rob the sailors coming from Dover. On the summit of the hill is a fort, built by Lady James, in honor of her husband, who took Sevendroog Castle, ie, ‘the Rock of Death’, in the East Indies, and from that it takes its name. It is 160 yards above the level of the sea, embellished with trophies of war, and commands a most extensive prospect.”276
Judith Glover explains: “’Shooter’s slope’: slope used by archers (Middle English scheteres helde; Schetereshull 1240 [AD]; Shetereshelde 1292 [AD]; Shetersselde 1374 [AD]; Shetershill 1406 [AD]; Shoters hill 1533 [AD]). This may originally have been a slope where archers practiced; but the name may have a more sinister meaning, referring to robbers who frequented this area close to Watling Street. Hasted refers to Shooter’s Hill at the end of the 18th century as being ‘of much danger and dread to travelers, from the narrowness of the road over it, and the continual lurking nests of thieves among the woods and coppices with which this hill was much overspread.’”277
***SLAYHILLS MARSH, KENT***
Judith Glover imparts: “’Slaying, or slaughter hill’ (Old English slege hyll; Sleyhulle 1205 [AD]; Slayhelle 1313 [AD]). The marsh, on the Medway estuary, has given its name to Slaughterhouse Point close by. It has been suggested that the description refers to animal sacrifices made to the sea gods by early mariners before beginning a voyage. But the name may equally well describe some long-forgotten battle which took place here before the estuary silted up to form the marsh.”278
***ST MARY IN THE MARSH, KENT***
University of Nottingham’s Institute for Name Studies mentions: “St Mary in the Marsh: Earlier forms are regularly of the type Seyntemariecherche, hence ‘church dedicated to St Mary’, with much later replacement of ‘church’ by the affix ‘in the Marsh’. Cirice (Old English): a ‘church’.”279
Andrew Sinden puts into words: “The earliest recorded settlement at St Mary in the Marsh is a Saxon settlement with a church on a mound which was known as Siwold's Circe. The name means a burial ground on a wooded island, also a circular Celtic burial ground raised above sea level to keep the dead dry, the name was changed to remove reference to the Pagan history of the site. It is probable that the name changed to St Mary's in Norman times. The church that can be found today was initially built in 1133 and the tower and west wall of the Nave are from this period.
“Historically, the village and surrounding parish was called St Mary's. In the first half of the 20th century a larger settlement began to develop on the coast and was originally known locally as Jesson. Over time it became known as St Mary's Bay. In the mid-20th century it became a village in its own right, though still in the civil parish of St Mary in the Marsh. To differentiate between the two villages, St Mary's which is inland from the coast, became St Mary in the Marsh, a fitting name as it lies roughly in the middle of Romney Marsh, the larger of the four marshes which make up the Romney Marshes.”280
kent.villagenet.co.uk reports: “St Mary in the Marsh lies on a small single track road running through the heart of the Romney Marsh. It lies between New Romney, St Marys Bay, Newchurch and Ivychurch in one of the least populated areas in the marsh.
“The name was originally Siwold’s Circa meaning the burial ground on the ‘wooded (Wold) island(le)’ but the later Christians changed the name to remove its pagan history. A Ciric or Circa is a circular Celtic burial ground raised above ground level, to keep the dead dry.
“The circular form is believed to be the Celtic symbol of immortality. The current church was started about 1133 AD and was built by the Normans on top of an old wooden Saxon church.
“The local smugglers used the church for storing smuggled goods as were most of the others on Romney Marsh.
“The churchyard holds the grave of E(dith) Nesbit the author of the Railway Children who lived in Friston further along the coast in the south downs.
“St Mary in the Marsh is one of those churches supported by the Romney Marsh Historic Churches Trust.”281
***STONE IN OXNEY, KENT***
kent.villagenet.co.uk shows: “11 miles southeast of Tenterden, off the B2082, Stone in Oxney stands in an imposing position on the eastern side of the Isle of Oxney. The stone that gives the village its name is preserved in the village church, and is Roman is origin.
“The church of St Mary is 15th century, an elegant building which stands on rising ground. It features a 14 ft square tower, which stands 62 ft high. Magnificent views over the surrounding countryside may be seen from the top of the tower.
“The oldest part of the church is the south chapel, here may be found the sealed up entrance to the staircase which used to lead to the roof loft.
“The font stands at the western end of the nave, octagonal in shape, with no ornamentation, it is a picture of elegant simplicity.
“For many years the north chapel was used as the parish school. The south chapel houses the organ, a two manual instrument in an oak case.
“This organ was formerly used by the parish church of Brede, and was acquired for Stone in 1908.
“The most interesting possession of the church is the aforementioned Roman Stone. Standing under the tower, near the west door, it serves as an altar. It is 2 ft long by 1 ft 10 in, and stands 3 ft 4 in high.
“The top is hollowed out as a basin, and the figure of a bull stands in relief on all four sides. Geological experts say it is made of Kentish ragstone, quarried at Hythe. The altar may have originally come from Stutfall Castle, the Roman fort at Lympne, near Hythe.
“To the southwest of the church stands a picturesque 15th century building called Tilmanden. For many generations this served as the vicarage, and was probably built for this purpose. However a new vicarage of red brick was erected on the other side of the road, this date is not recorded. This building burned down several years before the Reverend HP Eldridge became the incumbent in 1862, and the present vicarage was built soon after.”282
***TEMPLE EWELL, KENT***
University of Nottingham’s Institute for Name Studies talks about: “Temple Ewell: ‘River-source’. There are springs here which feed the River Dour. The affix alludes to possession by the Knights Templar from the 12th cent. Aewell (Anglian): a ‘river-source’. Temple (Middle English): a ‘temple’; usually in allusion to properties of the Knights Templar.”283
John Lyon catalogs: “John, considering the distracted state of his affairs, found it would be expedient to be reconciled to his clergy. He had expelled the prior of Christ’s Church, and his monks, sixty-four in number, on account of the opposition they had made to his nomination of an archbishop, and he filled up their places with monks from St Augustine’s priory. After a banishment of seven years, they were restored to their house, and they received a thousand pounds, to recompense them for the loss they had sustained. He signed his reconciliation at Temple Ewell, on the 13th day of May; and on the 24th day of the same month, he did the same with the archbishop of Centerbury.
“Some historians mention, that John did homage to Pandulphus, at the Maison Dieu, in this town; and it was either here, or at Temple Ewell, near this place. The ceremony was performed, with all the humiliating rites, which the feudal Barons required of their tenants. The legate was seated on a throne; and the King being introduced into his presence, he kneeled before him; and lifting up his joined hands, and putting them between the legate’s, he swore fealty to the Pope.”284
***TEMPLE HILL, KENT***
Judith Glover conveys: “Recorded in 1313 [AD] as Temple, the hill appears to have been part of the property of the Knights Templars in this area. Temple Farm (Dartford) which appears as Templars in 1311 [AD], le Temple in 1360 [AD], was certainly owned by the Order: it held large areas of land in Dartford at the beginning of the 13th century. Temple Farm and Marsh (Strood) also belonged to the Knights Templars, the Manor of Strood being granted to them by Henry II. Temple Farm is recorded as Templeborgh 1292 [AD]; Templestrode maner 1337 [AD]; Le Temple manor 1414 [AD]; Tempill 1524 [AD]).”285
***TOVIL, KENT***
Samuel Ireland discusses: “From Maidstone the course of the river, though it narrows considerably above the Lock, is yet beautiful, and retains a depth of water of from near twelve to fourteen feet. About a mile above the town, at the pleasant village of Tovil, on an eminence, commanding an extensive and beautiful view, the Anabaptists have chosen a spot in a rocky and romantic situation, as a burial-place for their fraternity. Its elevation and distance from the river, seem to indicate, that, however fond
they may have been of emerging in water, when living, they are determined to keep at a distance from that element in the stage beyond this life. In this vicinity the banks of the Medway continue highly ornamented with young oaks, and ‘Verdant shrubs dissimilarly gay’ while the country around wears an appearance equal to that of a garden in its highest state of cultivation.”286
E, AT and RC Roffe expounds: “Tovil spire remained for a considerable time, a prominent object in the landscape, continuing on a gentle slope for about two miles, my rambles brought me all at once to a ‘turn’, by which I beheld, upon the opposite hill, East Farleigh Church, standing out pure against the bright blue sky, like a guardian angel in an innocent and happy land. Tis soothing to gaze upon these rural spires, tapering erect in celestial silence, towards the great abode of happiness and love. Yes, those moss-grown spires which receive Aurora’s dewy drops at early dawn, and which reflect the last beams of declining day, are the sure and only landmarks by which man may safely reach the Haven of Consolation and eternal Hope.”287
***WOODNESBOROUGH, KENT***
Judith Glover impresses: “(Pronounced Winzbra). ‘Woden’s mound or barrow’: (Old English Wodenes beorg; Wanesberge 1086 [AD]; Wodnesbeorge circa 1100 [AD]; Wodnesberge 1198 [AD]; Wodnesberwe 1247 [AD]; Woodnesborough 1610 [AD]). This was a place of pagan worship, dedicated to the Teutonic god, Woden.”288
***WORMSHILL, KENT***
Judith Glover notates: “’Woden’s hill’ (Old English Wodenes hyll; Godeselle 1086 [AD]; Godeshelle circa 1100 [AD]; Wodnesell 1232 [AD]; Wodneshill, Worneshelle, Wormeshille 1270 [AD]; Wormshill 1610 [AD]). Dedicated to Woden, chief of the Teutonic gods, this hill appears to have been known simply as the ‘god’s hill’ by the Christian Normans. The old name returned eventually, however, but changed its form to comply with the established religion during the 13th century.”289
**LANCASHIRE**
JB Johnston puts pen to paper: “Domesday Book 1198 [AD] Loncastre; 1161-2 [AD] Lancastria; ‘Camp of the River Lune’. Lancashire is first mentioned in 1169 [AD]; in 1523 [AD] we have it in its modern form, Lancasshyre. Till after Domesday Book Lancashire section of the Ribble was in Cheshire, and Lancaster itself in Yorkshire.”290
J Gronow represents: “Lancaster: Lancashire, 233 miles from London, a market, borough, seaport, and county town, seated on the Lone. It is the ancient Longoricum mentioned in the Itinerary of Antonius, where the Roman lieutenant of Britain kept a company in garrison, called the Longorici. In the year 1322, Longoricum being burnt by the Scots, Lancaster was built nearer the sea.
“Lancaster: palatinate of, a maritime county, consisting of two portions of very unequal extent, separated by Morecambe Bay, and the estuary of the river Ken. Before the Roman invasion it formed part of the territory of the Brigantes. Under the Saxons it was part of the Kingdom of Northumbria.
Such are the personal charms of the females of this county, that they acquired the cognomen of the ‘Lancashire Witches’. It has the honor of dukedom annexed to the royal family.”291
JM Wilson specifies: “Lancashire, a maritime and northern county; bounded on the north, by Cumberland and Westmoreland; on the east, by Yorkshire; on the south, by Cheshire; on the west, by the Irish sea. A portion of it in the northwest, forming Furness, is detached from the main body by Morecambe Bay and a tongue of Westmoreland. The Duddon estuary, for 8 miles, forms the boundary with Cumberland; the watershed of the back-bone of England, throughout a large aggregate, forms the boundary with Yorkshire; and the river Mersey, throughout its whole extent, forms the boundary with Cheshire. The shape of the county is exceedingly irregular. The south part is not far from being a four-sided figure of about 44 miles by 40; but the north part consists chiefly of two irregular oblongs, the one continuous with the south part, over a connecting distance of 10 miles, and measuring about 20 miles by 12, the other the detached section of Furness, measuring, with islands belonging to it, about 28 miles by 13 ½. The total greatest length, from northwest by north to southeast by south, is about 87 miles; the greatest breadth is about 45 miles; the circuit, not including minor sinuosities, is about 295 miles; and the area is 1,219,221 acres. About 100 miles of the circuit-line are low coast, marshy or sandy; and 69,190 acres of the area are foreshore. The only islands are those at the southwest of Furness, the largest of which is Walney. The surface of Furness is partly low seaboard, partly a series of fertile vales; but, for the most part, rises into the bold hills, the rugged mountains, and the romantic breaks and upland gorges of the Lake country; and culminates in the Old Man of Coniston, 2,577 feet high. The surface of the other north oblong also rises from low sea-board to high interior; but has heights much less lofty, and much less rugged; and is crossed, nearly through the center, by the valley of the Lune, one of the most charmingly beautiful valleys in England. The west part, or nearly one-half of the rest of the county, is low and flat, chiefly fertile plain, showing indications of comparatively recent submersion by the sea, and interspersed with marsh land and mosses. The east part exhibits diversity of contour, includes much undulated landscape, rises into moor and mountain toward the boundary with Yorkshire, and contains, at or near that boundary, a number of summits, ranging from 1,545 to 1,803 feet in altitude. All the east border is more or less upland; and it rises to greater heights about the middle than in the north and in the south.
“The territory now forming Lancashire was inhabited by the Brigantes and the Volantii; was included, by the Romans, in their province of Maxima Caesariensis; and, in the 6th century, was the scene of various conflicts between the Britons and the Saxons. The northern part of it long lay included in the Kingdom of Cumbria; the southern part became included in the Kingdom of Northumbria; and the whole was not regularly occupied by the English till about 921, in the time of Edward the Elder. It was made an honor, of the superior class of seigniories; and, as such, was given at the Conquest to Roger de Poictou. It soon passed, by forfeiture, into the hands of Stephen, afterwards King of England; was given by him to his son William; passed, till the time of Henry III, through several eminent hands; was given, with the title of Earl, by Henry III, to his second son, Edmund Crouchback; passed to a descendant of Crouchback, with the title of Duke; went, with the title, by marriage with the first Duke's heiress, to John of Gaunt; was raised to a palatine in favor of that possessor; passed, through Henry of Bolingbroke, to the Crown; was held by him as Henry IV, by Henry V, and by Henry VI; went into abeyance in connexion with the last of
these Kings; and, by act of parliament in the time of Edward IV, was annexed permanently to the Crown. The Duchy of Lancashire was enriched, at the Reformation, with many estates of dissolved monasteries; and, besides much property in connexion with the county palatine, has property also in twenty-one other counties; but the revenue is curtailed by leases granted by successive monarchs. A court of chancery for the county palatine sits twice a year at Lancaster, and twice at Preston; and courts of chancery for the duchy are held at Westminster, in which appeals from the other court may be heard. The local court of chancery is now, as far as concerns the county, its chief actual distinction as a palatinate.
“Some local names in Lancashire, though not nearly so many proportionally as in the southern counties, indicate the fact of occupation by the Romans. Ancient British names also occur, yet with comparative scarceness, as memorials of the ancient British people both before and after the Roman occupation. Saxon names likewise occur; but they too are comparatively scarce. Scandinavian names occur in only a very few instances. The local names, in the aggregate, afford much less distinctness of historical indication than in most other parts of England. The races of the present natives are evidently very mixed. A proportion is Celtic, but exists nearly apart, or intermarries very little with the other inhabitants; and a proportion is Irish, by modern immigration, which went on rapidly increasing for some years, but has recently received a check. The number of the inhabitants returned, at the census of 1861, as born in the county, was 475,694 males under 20 years of age, 390,844 males above 20 years of age, 483,003 females under 20 years of age, and 439,055 females above 20 years of age; and the number returned as born in Ireland was 20,183 males under 20 years of age, 79,876 males above 20 years of age, 20,439 females under 20 years of age, and 96,822 females above 20 years of age.
“In 1323 the Scots, under Robert Bruce, ravaged Lancashire from the north as far as to Preston, and burnt that town. In the time of Henry VIII, Lancashire was, in some measure, agitated by the insurrection known as the Pilgrimage of Grace. In the civil wars of Charles I, many of the inhabitants took part with the King; many military operations, and some conflicts, took place within the county; Manchester was repeatedly contested by the belligerents, and eventually became the headquarters of Sir Thomas Fairfax; and Lancaster was alternately in the hands of the royalists and the parliamentarians. On 17 July 1648, the Scots, under the Duke of Hamilton, and the parliamentarians, under Cromwell, fought a sanguinary battle at Preston, when the former were routed with great slaughter; and three days afterwards, the same armies met again at Winwick, with the same result. In 1651, the forces of the Earl of Derby were routed, at Wigan, by Colonel Lilburne; and soon afterwards, the Earl himself was taken prisoner, and beheaded at Bolton. In 1715, the troops of the Pretender took up their quarters at Preston; but, being too few to stand their ground, they soon laid down their arms. In 1745, the army of the young Pretender traversed the county, both on their advance to Derby and on their retreat. Roman stations were at Mancunium or Manchester, Coccium or Ribchester, Ad Alaunum or Lancaster, Bremetonacae or Burrow, and Ad Alpes Peninos or Broughton. Roman camps occur at Westwick, Worston, and Twist. A Roman road went from Manchester to Ribchester, with a branch to Broughton, and to Lancaster and Burrow; and other Roman roads went toward Ilkley, Slack, Little Chester and Chester. Roman coins and other Roman relics have been found at the Roman stations, at Burnley, and at other places. Old castles are at Lancaster, Dalton, Gleaston, Fouldry, Thurland, Hornby, Greenhaugh,
Hoghton, Turton, and Belfield. Old abbeys are at Furness, Cockersand, and Whalley; old priories, at Burscough and Up-Holland; and old churches, at Manchester, Winwick, Cartmel, Middleton, and Whalley.”292
***ANGLEZARKE, LANCASHIRE***
David Mills tells: “Anglezarke – ‘hill pasture belonging to Anlaf’ (Old English 5th-11th century) + es + Old Norse erg > Andelevesarewe 1202 [AD] > Anlauesargh 1224 [AD] > Anleshargh 1240 [AD]. Anlaf is from an early form of the Old Norse name Olafr.”293
SR Clarke chronicles: “Anglezark, a township in the parish of Bolton le Moors, hundred of Salford, 5 miles southeast from Chorley. Inhabitants 215. Some productive lead mines are situated in this township, and here is obtained the carbonate of barytes, found in but few other places in England, useful in some of the arts, particularly in pyrotechnics for the composition of crimson fire; it has also been introduced into medicine.”294
***BLACKO, LANCASHIRE***
David Mills declares: “Blacko – ‘the black hill’ (Old English blaec + hoh/Old Norse haugr > blacho 12th century > Blackhow 1329 [AD]). The reference is to a 1,018 foot hill to the east of the present village of Blacko.”295
***DOLPHINHOLME, LANCASHIRE***
David Mills displays: “Dolphinholme – ‘Dogfinn's holmr’ (Old Norse). Dolphineholme 1591 [AD]. The name Dolfin is frequent in the north in the 11th century.”296
Gillian Fellows-Jensen explains holmr: “The generic holmr, together with a side-form holmi, is of frequent occurrence in Scandinavia. Etymologically the element is related to Latin culmen ‘peak’ but it occurs in Scandinavia both independently and in place-names with two main senses: 1) ‘a (small) island’, 2) ‘raised land, often surrounded by watercourses, ditches, marshland or the like’. The related English word holm is only recorded in the senses ‘sea, ocean, wave’ and it seems certain that the element holmr in place-names in England and Scotland is of Scandinavian origin.”297
***GOOSNARGH, LANCASHIRE***
David Mills expires: “Goosnargh – ‘Gosan's/Gusan's hill pasture’. Gusanarghe 1086 [AD] > Gosenarghe circa 1212 [AD]. It is probable that the personal name indicates the Irish origin of its bearer – an Irishman, or a Norwegian, settling here after a period in Ireland.”298
SR Clarke notes: “Goosnargh with Newsham, a chapelry in the parish of Kirkham, hundred of Amounderness, 6 miles north-northeast from Preston. Inhabitants 1,852. Four miles to the north is the elevation called Beacon Fell. In this village is the hospital endowed by the munificent William Bushel, MD, in the year 1735, for decayed persons of the better rank in either sex. The appearance of the building is that of a gentleman’s house, with a luxuriant flower garden in front. On each side of the
entrance is a common parlor for the accommodation of the male and female inmates, beyond which is an excellent dining room with a plentifully covered table every day; above are two suites of separate and commodious lodging rooms. The members of this community live uncontrolled by the mandate of a president or common superior.”299
***OSWALDTWISTLE, LANCASHIRE***
JB Johnston records: “1241 [AD] Oswaldtuisil. ‘Oswald’s confluence’. See Twizel; and compare to Birtwistle, Entwistle, Tintwistle. In East Yorkshire we also have Oswaldkirk, Domesday Book Oswaldes cherca.”300
University of Nottingham’s Institute for Name Studies reveals: “Oswaldtwistle: ‘Oswald's river-fork’. Twisla (Old English): ‘the fork of a river’, ‘the junction of two streams’.”301
David Mills spells out: “Oswaldtwistle – ‘tongue of land belonging to Oswald’. Old English Oswald + twisla > Oswaldthuisel 13th century > Osowoldestuisil circa 1230. Two brooks meet at this point. Attempts to identify the Oswald with King Oswald of Northumbria have no basis.”302
***PRIEST HUTTON, LANCASHIRE***
University of Nottingham’s Institute for Name Studies touches on: “Priest Hutton: ‘Hill-spur farm/settlement’. It was held by the rector of Warton. Hoh (Old English): a ‘heel’; a ‘sharply projecting piece of ground’. Tun (Old English): an ‘enclosure’; a ‘farmstead’; a ‘village’; an ‘estate’. Preost (Old English): a ‘priest’.”303
David Mills clarifies: “Priest Hutton – ‘tun on a spur of land’. Old English hoh + tun > Hotune 1086 [AD]. ‘Priest’ (Presthotone 1307 [AD]) was added to distinguish the place from Hutton Roof, Westmorland, and indicates that the manor was owned by the rector of Wharton.”304
**LEICESTERSHIRE**
JB Johnston documents: “Pronounced Lester. Before 800 [AD] Legoracensis civitas; around 800 [AD] Nennius Caer Lerion; 918 [AD] Old English Chronicle Legraceaster, Ligranceaster; 980 [AD] Legeceasterscir; 1120 [AD] Legrecestrie; circa 1145 [AD] and around 1175 [AD] Fantosme Leircestre; 1173 [AD] Leicestria; circa 1205 [AD] Layamon Leirchestre, but around 1275 [AD] Leycestre; 1258 [AD] Henry III Leirchestr. ‘Camp, fort on River Leir’, old name of River Soar. Leir may be the same as Layer, but this is quite doubtful. Connection with King Lear is even more so. In Mabinogion he is Llyr. … Possible is a connection with Welsh llithro, ‘to slip, to glide’.”305
J Gronow observes: “Leicester: Leicestershire, 99 miles from London, a borough and market town, is seated on the Soar, anciently called the Leire. It was a considerable town in the time of the Romans, and is supposed to be the Ratae of Antoninus, because it stands on the military road, called the Fosse-way. In the Saxon heptarchy, when it was the chief city of the Mercian Kingdom, it was the see of a bishop, which being removed after a succession of eight prelates, it fell to decay, till 914, when it was repaired and fortified with new walls by the noble lady Ethelfleda; and then, says M Prior, it became a most
prosperous city and had thirty-two parish churches. It was wealthy and populous at the Norman conquest, but by joining with Robert Earl of Leicester, in his rebellion against Henry II, it was besieged and taken, the castle dismantled, and the walls razed to the ground. A parliament was held here in the reign of Henry V, in which the first law was made for the burning of heretics, as the followers of the doctrine of Wickliff were defined. In the civil wars it was besieged by Charles I, and taken by storm in May, 1645, when his army gave no quarter to the garrison – hanged some of the committee, and plundered the inhabitants. Richard III, who was killed at Bosworth Field, is said to have been interred in St Margaret’s church, and that his stone coffin was converted into a horse trough at the White Horse Inn here. There is an old wall, called the Jewry wall, where, according to tradition, the pagans used to offer up their children to Moloch.
“Leicestershire: an inland county, without standing waters, has an air sweet and healthy. The soil is in general very good, yielding plenty of grass, corn, and beans; the beans are excellent even to a proverb. The county has long been noted for a beautiful and useful breed of black horses, chiefly of the draught kind.”306
JM Wilson recounts: “Leicestershire, or Leicester, an inland county, nearly in the center of England, but a little to the east. It is bounded, on the north, by Derbyshire and Notts; on the east, by Lincolnshire and Rutlandshire; on the south, by Northamptonshire and Warwickshire; on the west, by Warwickshire, Staffordshire, and Derbyshire. Its outline is irregularly pentagonal; and has been said to resemble the outline of a heart, recessed in the middle of the north, and contracting to an angle at the middle of the south. Its boundary, in various parts, is traced by short reaches of the rivers Trent, Soar, Anker, Welland, and Avon; and along 18 ¾ miles of the contact with Warwickshire, is formed by Watling-street. Its greatest length, from northeast by north to southwest by south, is 45 miles; its greatest breadth is about 40 miles; its circuit is about 165 miles; and its area is 514,164 acres. Its surface is hilly; consists chiefly of spurs or offshoots of the backbone of England, with intervening basins or vales; and may, in a general sense, be denominated table-land. Bardon hill, in Charnwood forest, is the highest elevation, and has an altitude of 853 feet above sealevel. Beacon and other hills in Charnwood forest, Belvoir Castle, Blackberry hill, and Stathern hill, to the northeast, Breedon hill, Cloud hill, and Castle Donington toward the northwest, Burrow hill, Whadborough hill, Billesdon-Coplow, and Quenby hill, to the east, Saddington and Gumbly, to the south, and Croft hill, Hinckley, Higham, and Orton-on-the-Hill, toward the west, are other chief eminences; and some of the hills, very particularly Bardon hill, command very extensive and very beautiful views. The valley of the Wreak, the valley of the Soar, and the Vale of Belvoir abound in charming scenery. The chief rivers are the Trent, the Soar, the Swift, the Welland, the Avon, the Wreak, and the Anker; and minor streams are the Devon, the Eye, the South Eye, the Mease, the Sence, and the Smite. Igneous rocks form dispersed intrusions throughout a considerable part of the northwest; greywacke or Cambrian rocks, much beset by the eruptive intrusions, form a tract in the east of Charnwood forest; rocks of the coal measures form an important tract around Ashby-de-la-Zouch; rocks of new red or Bunter sandstone form one small tract near the middle of the coalfield, and another to the northwest of it; rocks of a higher part of the same class, chiefly kemper marl and sandstone, form nearly all the west half of the county; rocks of the lias formation, comprising sand, upper lias clay, marlstone, and lower Lias-clay and lime, form most of the east half of the county, separated from the
new red sandstone nearly by a line drawn up the course of the Soar to a point 4 miles above Leicester, and thence south-southwestward to the south boundary; and rocks of lower oolite, including cornbrash, forest marble, Bradford clay, Bath oolite, fullers, earth, and inferior oolite, form a tract in the extreme northeast, from Stathern and Saxby, to the boundary. Hard stone, greywacke-slate, and buildingstone are quarried; limestone and lias are worked, the latter partly forcement; coal is mined; and gypsum, potter's clay, ironstone, and lead ore are found. The number of collieries at work in 1861, was 14; and the output of coal, in 1859, jointly with Notts and Derbyshire, was 5,050,000 tons. Mineral springs occur in various parts; and those of the Moira and Ivanhoe baths at Ashby-de-la-Zouch are the most esteemed.
“The territory now forming Leicestershire was inhabited by the ancient British tribe Coritani; was included, by the Romans, in their province of Flavia Caesariensis; formed part of the Saxon Kingdom of Mercia; was held by the Danes, within the Danelagh or Dane-laga, from 874 till 942; was distributed, by William the Conqueror among his Norman followers; bore the name of Ledecestrescire at Domesday; suffered much disaster, by rebellion of its Barons, in the times of Henry II, John, and Henry III; was the scene of the first promulgation of the doctrines of Wickliffe; was the scene also of the meeting of the parliament which enacted death against the Wickliffites; and was the scene of the Battle of Bosworthfield, and of various conflicts between the royalists and the parliamentarians in the time of Charles I. The Romans had towns at Leicester, Vernometum, and Mancetter; they had settlements or strengths also at Narborough, Loughborough, Market-Harborough, Broughton-Astley, Queeniborough, Overcester, Whatborough, Wellesborough, Bramborough, Burrough, Nether-Broughton, Sharnford, Blackfordby, Acresford, Thornborough, Desford, Scalford, Swinford, Linford, Burbage, Burton Overy, Burton-Lazars, Burton-on-the-Wolds, and Staunton-Harold; and they connected the most important of these places with one another, or with their stations in other counties, by the Fosse-way, the Via Devana, the Salt Way, and Watling-street. Tumuli or barrows are at Shipley, Gilmarton, Syston, Medbourn, and some place's on the hills. Roman camps are at Barrow, Ratby, Kibworth, Knaptoft, Hallaton, Lubbenham, and Dowbridge. Many castles were built by the Normans; but most of the earlier ones were destroyed in the times of Henry II, John, and Henry III; and few have left any considerable vestiges. Abbeys were at Leicester, Croxton, Garendon, and Owston, and there were many priories. Ancient churches, of interesting character, are at Leicester, Lutterworth, Horning hold, Bottesford, and Melton Mowbray.”307
***APPLEBY MAGNA, LEICESTERSHIRE***
JB Johnston says: “1131 [AD] Aplebi; 1174 [AD] Pipe Appelbi, ‘Apple town’; Old English aeppel, aepl; Old Norse epli; Old Swedish aepli, ‘an apple’. Also Appleby Magna, ‘great Appleby’. Compare to Ashby Magna, etc. The Aplebi of Domesday Book (Yorkshire) is now Epplyby in the North Riding. The local pronunciation of this Westmoreland name is Yaepplby, which favors a derivation from Hialp, a name known in the Sagas; and certainly in a Danish region ‘Hialp’s dwelling’ would be more in accord with analogy.”308
University of Nottingham’s Institute for Name Studies spotlights: “Appleby Magna: ‘Apple farm/settlement’. ‘Great’ to distinguish from Appleby Parva, Leicestershire. Aeppel (Anglian): an ‘apple’;
‘fruit, tree-fruit’; an ‘apple-tree’. By (Old Norse): a ‘farmstead’, a ‘village’. Magna (Latin): ‘big, great’.”309
***ASHBY-DE-LA-ZOUCH, LEICESTERSHIRE***
JB Johnston underscores: “1179-80 [AD] Essebi, Do la Zouch; circa 1300 [AD] Eccleston Esseby (the East Anglian pronunciation; compare to Ashwell). ‘Dwelling of AEsc’ or ‘Asa’, see above; and afterwards of the Norman family La Zouch.”310
J Gronow emphasizes: “Ashby-de-la-Zouch, Leicestershire, 115 miles from London, takes its name from the ancient family of the Zouches, who came into possession of the manor in the time of Henry III; reverting to the crown, it was granted to the noble family of Hastings. Ashby Castle, of great note in times past, and which received Mary Queen of Scots as a prisoner; her son James and his Queen as guests, when dinner was served up by thirty poor knights, with gold chains and velvet gowns; is ennobled by its ruins. It was built by the Lord Hastings so expeditiously beheaded by Richard III, and dismantled in the reign of Charles I.”311
JM Wilson comments on: “Ashby-de-la-Zouch, a town, a parish, a sub district, and a district, in Leicester. The town stands in a pleasant situation, on the northwest border of the county, on the rivulet Gilwiskaw, near the Midland railway and the Ashby-de-la-Zouch canal, 18 miles by road and 20 ¾ by railway northwest by west of Leicester. It was anciently called Esseby; and it took the after part of its present name from the ancient Norman-French family of La Zouch. It belonged to that family from the time of Henry III till 1461; it passed then to the Crown; and it was given to the family of Hastings, the ancestors of the present Marquis. The castle of the La Zouches stood on a rising ground at the south end of the town; and a stronger one was built on its site, out of its materials, in 1480, by Sir William Hastings. This gentleman was master of the mint, and introduced a new gold coinage; and he was created Baron Hastings by Edward IV, and beheaded in the Tower by Richard III. Mary, Queen of Scots, was for some time confined in the castle; James I's Queen and son Henry were entertained in it, on their journey to London in 1603; James I himself visited it in 1617; and Charles I dined at it a few days before the storming of Leicester. Colonel Henry Hastings, son of the Earl of Huntingdon, and afterwards created Baron Loughborough, garrisoned it for Charles, was besieged in it by Fairfax, and surrendered it to Colonel Needham. The parliament thought it more likely, if left entire, to be serviceable to the Royalists than to themselves; and they ordered it to be dismantled in 1648. Only portions of the hall, the chapel, and the kitchen are now standing; but they form an extensive and picturesque mass of ruin, perhaps the finest in the country; and they show Tudor features of architecture which indicate that some parts were of later erection than the original pile. The scene of the grand tournament described in Ivanhoe is about a mile to the west, near the village of Smisby; and some Roman coins have been found in the vicinity.”312
***ASTON FLAMVILLE, LEICESTERSHIRE***
University of Nottingham’s Institute for Name Studies gives: “Aston Flamville: ‘East farm/settlement’. It was held by Robert de Flamvile in 1247. East (Old English): ‘eastern, east’. Tun (Old English): an ‘enclosure’; a ‘farmstead’; a ‘village’; an ‘estate’.”313
***BARTON IN THE BEANS, LEICESTERSHIRE***
University of Nottingham’s Institute for Name Studies pens: “Barton in the Beans: ‘Barley farm/settlement’. ‘In the Beans’ is a late addition refers to the fertility of the land. Bere-tun (Old English): a ‘barley enclosure’, a ‘barley farm’; later a ‘demesne farm’, an ‘outlying grange’.”314
***BURTON LAZARS, LEICESTERSHIRE***
University of Nottingham’s Institute for Name Studies scribes: “Burton Lazars: ‘Fortification farm/settlement’. Roger de Mowbray founded a Hospital for St Lazarus of the lepers here circa 1138. Burh (Old English): a ‘fortified place’. Tun (Old English): an ‘enclosure’; a ‘farmstead’; a ‘village’; an ‘estate’.”315
Rev John Curtis states: “The Hospital of Burton Lazars, was founded in 1135 by Roger de Mowbray, aided by a general collection throughout England, for a master and eight sound as well as several poor leprous persons; and all the inferior Lazar Houses in England were in some measure subject to its Master, as he was to the Master of the Lazars at Jerusalem Hospital, belonging to the Knights of St John of Jerusalem, in England. Its Temporalities in this county in 1291 were 31 pounds, 16 shillings, 9 pence.”316
***HUSBANDS BOSWORTH, LEICESTERSHIRE***
University of Nottingham’s Institute for Name Studies alludes to: “Husbands Bosworth: ‘Bar's enclosure’ or perhaps, ‘boar's enclosure’. Husband, ‘husbandman, farmer’, was prefixed in the 16th century to distinguish from Market Bosworth, which has a different origin. Bar (Old English): a ‘boar’ (wild or domestic). Word (Old English): an ‘enclosure’.”317
www.husbandsbosworth.info communicates: “The area around Husbands Bosworth was probably first settled soon after the departure of the Romans in 409 AD when the whole of the country was in a state of flux. The Saxons invaded Britain from northern Germany and pushed far inland.
“This area would have been viewed as prime agricultural land with its rich, loamy, free-draining soil, gently rolling countryside and plentiful water supplies.
“The word worth derives from the Saxon word for ‘farm or clearing’, and Baresworde, the earliest recorded name for the settlement possibly denotes ‘Bar's farm or settlement’. Likewise Theoda settled land to the east which became Theddingworth, and Cyfel went west to settle Kilworth.
“When the Danes invaded in the 800s they too came to the local area, and settled close to the established Anglo-Saxon villages. From the place-name endings we know that the Danes were at Shearsby, Arnesby, Lubenham, Bruntingthorpe and Walton.
“All these settlements were well established at the time the Normans invaded and overran the country in 1066. William the Conqueror divided his new territory up into easily controlled estates by giving lands to his faithful knights. We know from Bosworth's entry in the Domesday survey commissioned by William in 1086 that manors or fees in Bosworth, along with lands in other areas were allocated to four of William's trusted knights.
“By 1130 much of the Bosworth lands had passed to one Robert Fitz Ansketil, a Norman lord, who had established a holding big enough to justify living on-site! With the permanency afforded to the settlement at this time came the building of the first church. By 1220 the village had expanded to such a degree that it could afford to build and support a stone church, and parts of the present church date back to this time. The body of the church was altered and rebuilt in the 1300s and the existing church tower dates from this time.
“There is evidence in field marks and earthworks to suggest that the original settlement, or possibly a parallel settlement, existed to the west of the present village to the north of the Kilworth Road. That there are no solid remains apart from the undulations in the pasture would suggest that this settlement was abandoned at a time before substantial buildings were being constructed. The site may have been superseded by a better plot, amalgamated by marriage or ownership, or abandoned as unclean after the Plague in the mid-1300s.
“By 1531 parts of Bosworth had passed into the hands of the Dixie family who also owned land in another place called Bosworth some 30 miles to the west. It was possibly at this time that the need arose to differentiate between the two places. The larger market town became known as Market Bosworth while the smaller farming village became Husbandmen's Bosworth; the farmer's Bosworth.”318
***NORTON JUXTA TWYCROSS, LEICESTERSHIRE***
University of Nottingham’s Institute for Name Studies depicts: “Norton juxta Twycross: ‘North farm/settlement’ next to Twycross. Tun (Old English): an ‘enclosure’; a ‘farmstead’; a ‘village’; an ‘estate’.”319
***RATCLIFFE ON THE WREAKE, LEICESTERSHIRE***
University of Nottingham’s Institute for Name Studies enumerates: “Ratcliffe on the Wreake: ‘Red cliff’ on the River Wreake. Read (Old English): ‘red’. Clif (Old English): an ‘escarpment’, a ‘hill-slope’; a ‘river-bank’.”320
***SHEEPY MAGNA AND SHEEPY PARVA, LEICESTERSHIRE***
Lynne Percival gives an account: “There are two Sheepys: Sheepy Magna & Sheepy Parva also known as Great Sheepy and Little Sheepy until the early 19th century with just the small river Sence dividing them. They continue to be closely linked today.
“They both appear in the Domesday Book of 1086 as Scepa and Scepehe respectively. These are Anglo-Saxon words meaning ‘island or dry ground in marsh where sheep graze’.”321
***SIX HILLS, LEICESTERSHIRE***
Bob Trubshaw points out: “If the examples of meeting places given by Jeremy Harte in his article in this issue are generally remote from Mercia then this article explores the same concept of open-air moots at
one specific site on the Leicestershire-Nottinghamshire border. Six Hills, on the Fosse Way (now A46), offers tantalizing and confusing hints of some singular Anglo-Saxon activities.
“The confusion commences with the name Six Hills. There are no hills here, rather a plateau-like area just over 350 feet above sea level. On early maps the name is shown as ‘Seggs (or Segs) Hill' (note singular). Various antiquarian commentators have proposed that seggs is a corruption of a supposed dialect word for 'sheep'.
“HSA Fox drew attention to the unusual spoke-like pattern of parish boundaries which have their hub at Six Hills, with the area in the immediate vicinity of Six Hills being extra-parochial (until parish boundaries were 'tidied up' at the end of the nineteenth century). Willoughby on the Wolds is in Nottinghamshire, the other seven parishes are in Leicestershire. Kingston Brook, which forms the boundary between Willoughby and Wymeswold, is also the county boundary; although of indirect interest the boundary between the presentday Sees of Canterbury and York. Before the boundary changes of 1974 the situation was slightly different to the present arrangement, as a finger of Nottinghamshire (the land between the Fosse Way and Kingston Brook) stretched down to Six Hills.
“Today at Six Hills there is a small wood extending into an area of scrub regenerating into woodland; a modern hotel, The Six Hills Hotel, which replaces earlier inns on the site; a road interchange linking the dual-carriageway A46 (Fosse Way) with the B676, and a lane running southwest to Barrow on Soar. There is no village at Six Hills, only isolated farms, and the villages associated with the eight parishes are all situated towards the 'rim' of the wheel-like arrangement.
“The lane to Barrow, together with the continuation of the B676 running northeast and on, as an unclassified road, to the Belvoir escarpment, follows the route of an ancient track way, known as the Saltway, which was almost certainly used as a Roman road. The presentday Fosse Way was definitely a major Roman road from Leicester to Newark on Trent and occupies the high ground of the ridge to the south of Six Hills and is also a probable prehistoric track, later engineered into a Roman highway. The B676 running west to Burton on the Wolds may be comparatively recent.
“Six Hills, therefore, is at the crossroads of two tracks, both almost certainly pre-Roman in origin and in use during the Roman occupation. Although not systematically maintained as they would have been during the Roman period, these routes remained in use during the Anglo-Saxon and Viking periods through to the medieval period and beyond, although we know that by the eighteenth century the Fosse Way had become severely neglected along much of its length. It is reasonable to suppose that the east-west route, and perhaps also the Fosse Way, remained in use as drovers' routes in the post-medieval period. The presence of a substantial area of extra-parochial land would allow animals to be grazed overnight, with the Kingston Brook meeting the needs for water. The nineteenth century inn at Six Hills was known until recent years as the Durham Ox, a name which might reflect its earlier use by drovers.
“The radial arrangement of parishes around Six Hills strongly suggests that the center had particular significance and was perhaps the moot site for administration. Unfortunately there is no other evidence for regarding the parishes as a 'unit' and we must assume that the present arrangement came into existence no earlier than the seventh or eighth century. This could be interpreted as a continuation of a
Roman or even pre-Roman land unit but there is no other evidence in north Leicestershire or south Nottinghamshire for such continuity (although between Newark and Lincoln the Fosse Way cuts through a series of parish land units, suggesting that the road post-dates the unit(s) that later became parishes.
“The presence of a mound at the meeting place is not surprising. As observed by Margaret Gelling, ‘It now appears that the Anglo-Saxons were accustomed to construct artificial mounds which would serve as markers for meeting-places.’ The best evidence for this comes from Buckinghamshire, where a known medieval moot mound was excavated, in advance of the construction of central Milton Keynes. According to the excavation report there was no direct or indirect evidence of burials and the only purpose could have been as a meeting place for the court of the hundred. Eleven other Anglo-Saxon mounds without burials have been excavated, seven of these have names ending in -low.
“Many hundred names end in -low (from the Old English hlaw meaning 'mound'), suggesting that their original meeting places (now lost) were at a special hlaw or ‘mound’ - just as even more hundred names end in -tre or -tree, also suggesting a significant landmark as the customary meeting place.
“The moot site for the local Anglo-Saxon administration, Goscote Hundred, has never been satisfactorily located. Goscote Hundred included, with other parishes, all the Leicestershire parishes focused on Six Hills. It later split into separate East and West Goscote Hundreds.
“Interestingly, the Milton Keynes mound was known as Secklow, but also spelt 'Seg(g)low'. From Segg Low to Seggs Hill is but a small step for place-names and would seem to offer indirect support for the presence of a moot mound at Seggs Hill, ie, ‘Six Hills’. The word seg (or segg or seggs) is best considered a corruption of an Anglo-Saxon personal names Segga or Secca. Sir Frank Markham states without any supporting argument that Secklow derives from the Old English for 'warrior's low'.
“The time-honored place-name authority, Ekwall, offers only three place-names of relevance. Seckington (just over the Leicestershire border in modern Warwickshire but historically Staffordshire) and Seckford (Suffolk) are derived from Secca's (personal name) dun and Secca's ford.
“In Northumberland there is the close parallel of Seghill, which Ekwall derives from sige, a possible stream name meaning ‘slow moving’. Given the close proximity of Kingston Brook this appears to fit, although there is no conspicuous natural hill.
“More interesting still, the Old English secg is a frequently-used word for ‘sword’ and used in various compounds, such as secg-rof, meaning a ‘host of (sword-bearing) men’. The Viking term for Hundred was Wapentake, which translates as 'show of weapons'. It is still current practice in the Swiss farming town of Appenzel, at an annual meeting of all townspeople, that only the men may vote - and only then if they are wearing a sword. Is this a shadow of a practice which one appertained at wapentakes?
“Given the nature of Anglo-Saxon and Viking moots implied in the word wapentake then Seggs Hill may be a corruption of 'secg hill', implying a moot mound used for meetings of sword-bearing men. Sir Frank Markham may have, unwittingly, been closer to the truth than be supposed at first sight.
“Place-name evidence brings out some other intriguing aspects to Six Hills. Just along the B676 to the west of Six Hills can be found Harrow Farm. Although this could be a recent appellation derived from the common agricultural implement, there seem to be very few examples of farms named after such a common item. An older origin is suggested when it is noted that one of the medieval great fields of Wymeswold is recorded as 'Arrow Field'. The small watercourse known now grandly as the River Mantle has its source close by and the upper reaches were once known as the River Arrow. Harrow Farm is on the edge of the Arrow Field and close to the source of the river.
“'Harrow' place-names raise considerable controversy but in a number of instances can be confirmed to derive from the Old English hearg, 'pagan shrine' or 'temple'. David Wilson has argued that a typical hearg site 'occupied a prominent position on high land and was a communal place of worship for a specific group of people, a tribe or a folk group, perhaps at particular times of year.' Although Harrow Farm and the Arrow Field are not 'prominent' from the Six Hills direction they are on a wide spur of land which has good views towards Charnwood and the west. Wilson's suggestion that hearg were communal places of worship fits in well with the notion of Six Hills being a moot site. Harrow Farm is over a mile-and-a-half from Six Hills, but the original hearg which gave its name to the Arrow Field may have been closer to the crossroads - perhaps at the source of the River Arrow/Mantle or on a locally-prominent rise.
“The parish adjoining both Wymeswold and Willoughby is Wysall. This has been consistently regarded by place-name scholars as embodying the Old English weoh, also meaning 'pagan shrine' or 'temple'. (A further example of weoh can also be found in north Leicestershire, at Wyfordby.) Wilson finds differences between heorg and weoh sites. 'Although some [weoh sites] are on high land, it was clearly not obligatory for them to be so. ... They also differ from hearg sites in that the majority of them are situated very close to ancient route ways, never as much as a mile away, and usually virtually alongside.' Wilson himself notes that Wysall is about three miles from the Fosse Way, although 12 out of 16 examples he discusses fall within a mile of a Roman road.
“Wilson considers that some of these weoh sites were in personal ownership, or were an individual's responsibility. 'It seems likely that, in contrast to the hill-top, tribal association of the hearg, the weoh was a small, wayside shrine, accessible to the traveler.'
“The church at Wysall sits on a distinct mound in the center of the small settlement and is the most likely candidate for the site of the weoh. In accordance with Wilson's expectations, it is not on high or prominent ground.
“There is also having evidence for an important prehistoric sacred site and an Anglo-Saxon successor just at the edge of the 'wheel' of parishes encircling Six Hills. Northwards along the Fosse Way, at the post-1974 county boundary, is another crossroads. This is almost certainly the location of the Roman town of Vernemetum, although no extensive archaeological fieldwork has been so far undertaken. A rescue dig in 1964-68, in advance of the construction of an overbridge, revealed a late-fifth to early-seventh century Anglo-Saxon inhumation cemetery which, in part, both abuts and overlies the original Roman
road surface. The Anglo-Saxon burials some high status individuals, with the most prestigious being buried with a horse, a funerary ritual restricted to Anglian areas of middle and eastern England.
“Evidence of Roman occupation was present but it is very doubtful if the area excavated represents the main settlement. There was a small burial mound, the Crosshill tumulus (now under the overbridge). Dating was difficult but probably the mound is also Anglo-Saxon. Although clear evidence of secondary burials were present at this mound, they could be the remains of medieval felons executed on the gallows which is known to have stood on the mound. If this is indeed the case, then the original mound would seem to have been non-sepulchral, as with Secklow.
“Some significance should be given to the liminal nature of the this cemetery. This seems to be two-fold. Firstly, the Roman Fosse Way seems to be acting as a boundary for the cemetery on the west; secondly, the site is on the northern 'rim' of the 'wheel' of parishes encircling Six Hills. In the pagan Anglo-Saxon period, indeed also in the Iron Age, burials and religious sites are normally found in the border areas between tribes or communities. Those individuals buried at Vernemetum may, therefore, have lived in settlements within the Six Hills 'wheel'. However, apart from three burials to the west of the present village of Wymeswold, there is little or no evidence of other Anglo-Saxon burial or settlement in this area.
“What is more interesting is the derivation of the name Vernemetum. This translates as 'great (or especially) sacred grove' and must refer to an Iron Age sacred site in the vicinity. Again, no other evidence of Iron Age activity is known in the vicinity. However, studies of Iron Age shrines elsewhere have revealed that these tend to be located on boundaries between tribal areas.
“Nichols informs us that the ruins of an Anglo-Saxon church had been visible near here, at a place known as 'The Wells'. Recent discoveries of a substantial number of decorated Anglo-Saxon strap ends, from a frequently-damp part of the field, appear to point to the probable location of the burials associated with this church. The fairly-regular spacing of known early Anglo-Saxon minster churches in Leicestershire leaves a gap in the north of the county - it has already been suggested that the church at Vernemetum fulfilled the function of the 'missing' minster.
“It is unclear whether the Anglo-Saxon church site continues the sanctity of the Iron Age grove. There seems no compelling reason to suppose any break and, given the association with a natural spring, the recent finds of Anglo-Saxon strap ends may be sufficient evidence for supposing this to be also the Iron Age Great Sacred Grove.
“Despite all these tantalizing clues of interesting activities in the 'wheel' of parishes around Six Hills, there is no direct evidence that it was used as a moot site.”322
***SUTTON IN THE ELMS, LEICESTERSHIRE***
Broughton Astley Parish Council relates: “Broughton Astley today is the result of ribbon development from 1900 onwards. This linked together three previously separate centers of population: (1) the original Saxon settlements of Broctone (Broughton) & Sutone (Sutton-in-the-Elms), which date from
around 550 AD; (2) the Danish Thorp (Primethorpe), which was established around 875 AD; and (3) the late 19th century industrial and residential community in the Dunton Road area, which included the now defunct Turner Jarvis Factory (1897-2004), the railway (1840-1962) and the Brickyard.
“In 1086 Broughton, Sutton and Primethorpe housed 28 families. By 1960 the population had risen to 1,660. In 2005 it topped 10,000 for the first time, largely as a result of new estates first proposed in the 1969 Village Development Plan.
“The Eastly family, from whom Broughton acquired its second name and the Community College its first, were Lords of the Manor from 1220 to 1402 when it passed by marriage to the Greys of Groby, Earls of Stafford, one of whom assembled the Leicestershire Militia at Broughton in June 1642 prior to the Civil War. The Greys sold their estate in 1679 to Sir Nathan Wright, Lord Chancellor to William III, and his great-grandson sold the land in parcels in 1769. The Rev John Liptrott, rector of St Mary's (1727-1778) purchased the Broughton Manor bringing an end to 367 years of absent landlords.
“Agriculture has been the main occupation from the earliest times, firstly in open fields, Old Bradstone, Nether & Hungery, under the feudal manorial system and then after the enclosure in 1637 and its foundation of our present farming systems with hedged fields and outlying farms. Some of the old field names are now perpetuated as road names such as Sitch Close, Richardson Close and Kiln Close.
“Industry came to the village in 1750 with the first stocking frame and by 1845 there were 1,100 frames, making us the third largest center in the country. With a total population of only 746, additional operators commuted from surrounding villages - hence 13 miles of footpaths within our boundaries. At this time Broughton was a Liberal stronghold and Gladstone still watches us from above the Liberal Hall doorway.
“Early education, for the few, relied upon the Church and Chapel Sunday Schools. And the Charity School (1806), funded by a legacy of 100 in Zaccheus Duckett's Will left to the Rector and Church Wardens ‘to educate eight poor children of the Parish’. The National School under the auspices of the Church opened in 1847 with 55 pupils, School Close occupies its site and Orchard Primary preserves the bell.
“George Fox, founder of the Quakers, addressed his first open air meeting outside the ‘steeple house’ in 1647 and the Quaker Cottage at Sutton stands today to remind us of the persecution and suffering of the early faithful at the hands of William Cotton, rector of St Mary's (1654-1691), and his brother a Justice of the Peace.
“In 1650 those of the Baptist persuasion from nearby villages met secretly, in fear of persecution because of their non-conformity, in the shadow of the elms at Sutton forming the Baptist Chapel - the oldest in Leicestershire and the mother of subsequent Chapels in Leicester and elsewhere. Samuel Burdett (1836-1914), son of a Baptist minister went to America at the age of 12. At 23 he was admitted to the Bar, fought on the side of Lincoln in the Civil War, became a member of Congress and was then appointed Commander of the Republican Army.
“The Church of St Mary, Roman Catholic until 1535, Church of England thereafter, and her Rector, have fulfilled the spiritual needs of the Parish since the early 12th century. The tower houses a peal of eight bells: the four oldest date from 1637 and another from 1680. A victory bell was added in 1945 and two treble bells in 1972, a gift of a former parishioner. Six of the windows contain fragments of early 14th century stained glass, all that remains of fully decorated windows, one of which was of Thomas Eastly who died in 1385 and was intact in 1622.
“The government of the village was for centuries in the hands of the Lords of the Manor, the Manorial Court and the reeve.
“These powers were gradually eroded and replaced by the Church Council until 1894 when civil business was transferred to the newly formed Parish Council.”323
***WALTHAM ON THE WOLDS, LEICESTERSHIRE***
University of Nottingham’s Institute for Name Studies stipulates: “Waltham on the Wolds: ‘High-forest homestead/village’. Wald (Anglian): a ‘forest’; ‘high forest-land’. Ham (Old English): a ‘village’, a ‘village community’, a ‘manor’, an ‘estate’, a ‘homestead’.”324
Waltham on the Wolds & Thorpe Arnold Parish Council writes: “The village is situated in the northeast corner of Leicestershire, five miles from Melton Mowbray, eleven miles from Grantham and approximately twenty miles from Leicester, Nottingham, Newark and Stamford. It is positioned on the eastern edge of the Leicestershire Wolds, overlooking the Vale of Belvoir from a height of 168 m (560 ft), making it the second highest village in the county. Geologically, Waltham stands on a mixture of clay and red marl with underlying strata of Jurassic limestone, which has been quarried locally and used in the building of many of the older houses in the village.
“There is little evidence of any settlement in the area earlier than AD 800. However in Arthur Mee's, book, Leicestershire and Rutland, published in 1937, he states under Waltham-on-the-Wolds, ‘Roman pavements and Saxon stone coffins found in its soil testify to its great antiquity.’ The Romans left in the 5th century.
“The Domesday Book reference to Waltham reveals that the village belonged to Hugh of Grandmesnil who, after the Norman Conquest, was the largest landowner in the county. Hugh allowed a man named Walter to hold a major part of the village and surrounding area. Some say that this arrangement gave Waltham its name – Walt’s Ham (‘Walter’s Town’). However, earlier records refer to the village as Wautham – so another theory is that the name may have been derived from Weald (‘woody’), Ham (‘town’) and, the Saxon word, Wold (a ‘hill or high place’).”325
**LINCOLNSHIRE**
JB Johnston articulates: “Circa 150 [AD] Ptolemy Lindon; circa 380 [AD] The Antonine Itinerary Lindum; Bede Lindocolina civitas; before 900 [AD] Old English translation Lindcylene; 942 [AD] Old English Chronicle Lindcylene, Lindcolne; 1093 [AD] Lincolne; Domesday Book Lincolia, Lincolescire; circa 1100 Florence of Worchester Lindicolinensis; 1461 [AD] Lindecolnea. In Welsh Caer lwydgoed, (‘castle of grey
wood’). Lindum colonia, says Freeman, is a unique name for England. As Lindon is found in Ptolemy, it cannot be, as it often said, from Old English lind, ‘lime tree’, but is probably from a Celtic lind, ‘water’. Welsh llynn, Gaelic linne, ‘a pool, a lake’; and the name will mean ‘Roman settlement by the pool’.”326
J Gronow describes: “Lincoln: the county seat of Lincolnshire, 132 miles from London, formerly called Nicol, stands on the side of a hill, with the river Witham running at the bottom. It is noticed in the history for Vortimer, who so often defeated the Saxons, dying, and being interred here. The Danes took it twice by storm, and the Saxons as often retook it. William the Conqueror built a castle here; and about the same time the bishop’s see was translated hither from Dorchester, in Oxfordshire, pursuant to a public order that no bishops should have their seats in obscure villages. It is the largest diocese in the kingdom, though Ely, Peterborough, and Oxford, have been taken out of it. It was once burnt, once besieged, but in vain, by King Stephen, who was defeated and here taken prisoner. The bell, called ‘the great Tom of Lincoln’, is the largest in England except three. Among the memorials to the dead, is one of brass in which are the viscera of Queen Eleanor, wife of Edward I, and another of Catherine Swinford, the third wife of John of Gaunt, Duke of Lancaster, and the mother of the Somerset family, who lived here in the style of royalty. The Roman north gate still remains entire, by the name of Newport gate. The city has an air of ancient greatness, arising from the number of monastic remains, most of which are not converted into stables, outhouses, etc. It was formerly inhabited chiefly by Jews, who were expelled in consequence to crucifying the child of one Grantham, and throwing it into a well, to this day called Grantham’s well.
“Lincolnshire: a maritime county, and the largest in the kingdom, except Yorkshire. It is divided into three parts: Holland, comprehending the southeast part of the county; Kisteven, comprehending the southern part of the county; Lindsey, comprehending the whole northern part of the county. Three Roman roads, the Fosse-way, the Ermin-street, and the upper Salt-way, crossed the county. The oxen of this county are remarkable for their immense size.”327
JM Wilson establishes: “Lincolnshire, or Lincoln, a maritime county on the east of England. It is bounded on the north and northeast, by the Humber, which separates it from Yorkshire; on the east, by the German ocean; on the southeast, for about 3 miles, by Norfolk; on the south, by Cambridgeshire and Northamptonshire; on the southwest, by Rutlandshire; on the west, by Leicestershire and Notts; and on the northwest, by Yorkshire. Its outline, in a general view, is oblong, with a great curve along the northeast, an indentation by the Wash on the southeast, and a considerable curve on the southwest. Its length, from north to south, is 73 miles; its greatest breadth is 48 miles; its average breadth is about 37 miles; its circuit is about 260 miles; its area is 1,775,457 acres; and its magnitude, as compared with the other counties of England, is the second, or less only than that of Yorkshire. About two-fifths of the surface are fens; and the rest is a diversity of swell and knoll and hill, with intersecting dale and vale. The fens occupy the Isle of Axholme in the northwest, the Vale of Ancholme in the north, a broad belt outward to the coast in the northeast, and most of the country south and southeast of Lincoln city; they are supposed to have, at a comparatively recent geological period, been covered by the sea; they are all level; and they were, within the human epoch, and till reclaimed by art, all in a state of marsh. The Isle of Axholme began to be reclaimed in the time of Edward I; the fen of Deeping, in the south, appears to have been partly improved even before the Roman conquest; vast tracts were reclaimed, with great
enterprise and great rapidity, immediately after the era of modern general georgical improvement; only a few pendicles now remain in a wild condition; and, from the combined results of embanking, draining, and skillful management, the quondam marshy wastes now exhibit expanses of fertility inferior to no other tracts in England. The drainage ducts consist of ditches, ramifying into what are called dykes; and the latter are large fosses like canals, are very numerous, many of them very long, and some of them navigable by barges. The other parts of the county are chiefly wolds, but include what formerly were called heaths; and they, at one time, were very generally bleak and waste, but, like the fens, though in a different way, have been so reclaimed as to exhibit now an aspect of luxuriance. The aggregate appearance of the county, notwithstanding the prevalence of level grounds, is very pleasing. The level tracts themselves, indeed, are pleasing chiefly from the ornature of culture; but the other tracts have such inequality of surface, or such diversity of hill and dale, interspersed with wood and lawn, as constitutes the beautiful or even the picturesque in natural scenery; and very numerous spots throughout these tracts, or sometimes long reaches of hill-shoulder or of tableau, command very extensive and charming views. The coastline, including that of the Humber, is about 110 miles in length; and, excepting at Cleeness, near Grimsby, where there are high bold cliffs, it is all low and flat. The foreshore, or space between high and low water, is sometimes not less than two miles; and it includes many banks, called chain-huts, which consist of roots, trunks, and branches of trees, intermixed with frondage of aquatic plants, and are alternately covered and left bare by the tide. The sea, in some parts of the coast, has made encroachments on the land; and, in other parts, has retired. Vast tracts, even from the time of the Roman occupation, have been redeemed from the sea by embankments.
“The territory now forming Lincolnshire was probably first settled by the Iberians, afterwards by the Welsh; passed into the possession of a Belgian tribe; and, at the landing of the Romans, was inhabited chiefly by the Coritani, who are said to have been a branch of the Iceni. The Romans conquered it in the year 70; and they raised embankments, cut dykes or canals, made roads, and built towns. The tribes afterwards called English, including Saxons, Jutes, Frisians, Warings, Danes, Bructuars, Burgundians, and Vandals, made inroads and acquired mastery in the 6th century; they formed a number of commonwealths, three of the chief of which were those of Lindsey, Gainsborough, and the Gyrvians; and they gave rise to the families of Gaining, Horning, Horsing, Epping, Uffing, Folking, Harring, Hacking, Hedding, Billing, Alling, Willing, Newing, Craning, Ludding, and others which struck root in the region. The Kings of Northumbria and of Mercia contended for the territory; were fitfully masters of much of it; and seem to have sometimes called it Southumbria. It at last went into annexation with Mercia; but it was conquered, in the latter part of the 9th century, by the Scandinavian Danes; it formed part of their Danelagh, till they were expelled by Edward the Elder; and it took so deep and wide an impression from them, that their word by, signifying a town, terminates the present names of no fewer than 195 of its townships, or about one-third of all such names in England. The county figures frequently in subsequent history, especially in that of the times of John and Charles I; was the scene of the decisive battle which seated Henry III, while yet a boy, on the throne; and witnessed, particularly about Lincoln city, some important events in the wars between Charles I and his parliament.
“Ancient British remains, including camps, tumuli, canoes, and minor objects, in considerable number, either exist or have been found. Roman towns were at Lincoln, Alkborough, Ancaster, Brant-Broughton,
Tattershall, Horncastle, Kirton-in-Lindsey, Winteringham, Bronghton, and Willoughby; other Roman settlements were at Gainsborough, Yarborough, Ludborough, Billingborough, Flixborough, Stallingborough, Blyborough, Brackenborough, Braceborough, Waslingborough, Habrough, Bumburgh, Caistor, Honingston, and South Ormsby; and vestiges of the Roman works, in a variety of forms, still exist in a number of these places. The Roman roads Ermine-street, Fosse-way, and Salt-way, traverse the county; and Roman cuttings for drainage are represented by the extant Fossdyke and Cardykee. Remains of mediaeval castles are at Lincoln, Torksey, Moor-Tower, Tattershall, and Somerton. Abbey ruins are at Bardney, Barlings, Croyland, Kirkstead, Louth, and Tupholm. Old priories, or remains of them, are at Bullington, Burwell, Croxhill, Sempringham, Stamford, and Thornton. Preceptories of the Knights Templars were at Aslackby and Temple-Bruer. A remarkable hospital was at Spittal; and a college at Tattershall. Numerous old churches, of interesting character, are in most parts of the county, particularly in the fens; and the best of them are the cathedral at Lincoln, the churches at Boston, Clee, Grantham, Gedney, Louth, Great Ponton, Stamford, Heckington, and Stow.”328
***ASHBY PUERORUM, LINCOLNSHIRE***
University of Nottingham’s Institute for Name Studies highlights: “Ashby Puerorum: Uncertain. ‘Ash-tree farm/settlement’ or ‘Aski's farm/settlement’. Puerorum, ‘of the boys’, ie, the choir boys of Lincoln Cathedral. Askr (Old Norse): an ‘ash-tree’. Aesc (Anglian): an ‘ash-tree’. By (Old Norse): a ‘farmstead’, a ‘village’. Puer (Latin): a ‘boy’, a ‘youth’.”329
Thomas Allen portrays: “The village of Ashby Puerorum, so called from an estate in the parish which was bequeathed to the singing boys in Lincoln cathedral, is situated at the distance of about four miles northeastward from Horncastle, on the road between that place and Alford. The manor for a long series of years formed part of the possessions of the Wentworths, Earls of Stafford, from whom it ultimately descended to a person of the name of Totton.”330
***BOSTON, LINCOLNSHIRE 331 ***
JB Johnston remarks: “Not in Domesday Book 1090 [AD] charter Ecclesia sancti Botulphi; before 1200 [AD] Hoveden Sti Botulphi; circa 1250 [AD] Dame Siriz Botolfston in Lincolnshire; Leland Botolphstowne, and Boston. Linking forms seem curiously lacking. The copious History of Boston, 1856 [AD], by Thompson, mentions none; but the name was St Botolph’s English or in Latin, rather than Boston, till after 1400 [AD]. We have found Boston first in 1391 [AD]. Of the origin there can be no doubt, as Old English Chronicle 654 [AD] says, the hermit Botwulf (Latin Botulphus) built the minster in Icanho, the earlier name of Boston. A similar contraction is perhaps seen in Bossall (Yorkshire), whose church is also dedicated to St Botolph. But here Domesday Book’s form are puzzling – Boscele and Bosciale. The ending is certainly –hall; but Bosc- does not suggest Botulph. The only name near it in Searle’s Onomasticon Anglo-Saxonicum is one Bascic. Compare to Domesday Book Botulvesbrige.”332
***CLAXBY PLUCKACRE, LINCOLNSHIRE***
Mark Acton stresses: “Claxby Pluckacre: From Klak’s farmstead, village. Klak being a Danish personal name. The affix Pluckacre is described as ‘obscure’.”333
Sara Basquill composes: “Claxby Pluckacre - the first part of the name likely derives from the Old Scandinavian klakkr + by, meaning ‘farmstead on a hill’. The second part may derive from the Old Scandinavian Plucca + aecer, meaning ‘Plucca's plot of cultivated land’.”334
Richard Coates shares: “This is to suggest tentatively that the mysterious second word may be a manorial specifier involving a by-name or surname. If the word-division in the first mention is to be taken seriously Pluk Acre, it may allude to the events at the Levantine town of Acre, besieged and taken bloodily (plucked as if a flower?) by Richard I in 1191, and one might expect any such by-name to have been formulated in Anglo-Norman rather than English at this period, therefore Peluke-Acre, minimally accommodated to the already-existing English word pluck which is ultimately from the same Latin source.”335
Thomas Allen designates: “Claxby Pluckacre occupies an obscure situation at the distance of about five miles southeastward from Horncastle. The church is demolished, and the inhabitants use that of the adjoining parish of Moorby. The living is a discharged rectory, valued in the King’s books at 6 pounds, 10 shillings, 10 pence. The church was dedicated to St Andrew. In 1821, the village contained only 4 houses, and 36 inhabitants.”336
***GOSBERTON WESTHORPE, LINCOLNSHIRE***
Sara Basquill expands: “Gosberton Westhorpe - The name Gosberton is from the Old German and Old English Gosbert + tun, or ‘Village of Gosbert’. In older times it had been Gosbert + cirice, or ‘Gosbert's church’, which is why, in the 1086 Domesday book, the village is given as Gosebertechirche.”337
Mark Acton illustrates: “Gosberton Westhorpe: Gosbert is a Germanic personal name. Ton is an Anglo-Saxon settlement. A Thorpe is a Danish secondary settlement so I’m guessing that Gosberton Westhorpe lies to the west of Gosberton. Before the late 15th century, Gosberton was known as Gosberkirk (ie, church).”338
***HOUGH ON THE HILL, LINCOLNSHIRE***
University of Nottingham’s Institute for Name Studies maintains: “Hough on the Hill: ‘Enclosure’ on the hill. Spellings show an early confusion with Old English hoh, ‘hill-spur’. Haga (Old English): a ‘hedge’; an ‘enclosure’; later a ‘messuage, property’.”339
Thomas Allen presents: “Hough on the Hill is distant about eight miles northward from Grantham. The church, dedicated to All Saints, is a vicarage, rated in the King’s books at 15 pounds, 6 shillings, 8 pence. In the reign of Henry II, about the year 1164, here was founded a priory of Austin canons, subordinate to the abbey of St Mary, de voto, at Cherburgh, in Normandy, which was seized by Richard II, and granted, first to the priory of Spittle on the street, in this county, and afterwards to the Carthusians of St Anne’s, near Coventry. It was restored to Cherburgh in 1399, but with the other alien priories was suppressed in the reign of Henry V, and granted to the priory of Mountgrace, in Yorkshire. In 1541, the estate was granted to John Lord Russell.
“According to the population returns of 1821, this parish, including the hamlets of Brandon and Gelston, contained 105 houses, and 533 inhabitants.”340
***IRBY IN THE MARSH, LINCOLNSHIRE***
University of Nottingham’s Institute for Name Studies renders: “Irby in the Marsh: ‘Farm/settlement of the Irish’. Iri (Old Norse): an ‘Irishman’; probably also a Norseman who had lived in Ireland. By (Old Norse): a ‘farmstead’, a ‘village’.”341
***LITTLE RUSSIA, GRIMSBY, LINCOLNSHIRE***
Richard Coates sheds light on: “Another purely local name was Little Russia, well-known in the mid-20th century for the once vigorously socialist west end of the West March area of the town. Dowling suggests the further possibility that the name may have been influenced by the presence of yards at the nearby Alexandra Dock importing Baltic timber, but that hardly seems sufficient or necessary; surely most such names are transferred (copied) from localities in the news.”342
***OWMBY BY SPITAL, LINCOLNSHIRE***
Sara Basquill suggests: “Owmby by Spittal – Scandinavian, ‘Aun’s farmstead’, the Spittal refers to a hospital which was once situated nearby.”343
Mark Acton calls attention to: “Owmby by Spital: Owmby is uncertain but possibly ‘Outhen’s farmstead, village’, Outhen being an Anglo-Scandinavian personal name or Aun, an Old Norse personal name. Spital relates to Owmby’s closeness to Spital in the Street – Spital coming from Middle English Spitel, ‘hospital’, more accurately a resting place, on the Roman Ermine Street.”344
***POTTERHANWORTH, LINCOLNSHIRE***
Mark Acton connotes: “Potterhanworth: Hanworth is from Old English personal name Hana. Worth is Old English for ‘enclosure’. Potter refers to the medieval pottery kilns sited in the village.”345
Sara Basquill details: “Potterhanworth - The village was named Haneworde in William the Conqueror’s Domesday Book, but by 1254 it had become Hanesworth, from the Old English. … The prefix Potter appeared in 1334 and related to the mediaeval pottery which existed at the time. For several centuries the village name was Potter Hanworth and remained so until the 1950s, when the two words were joined together in its current form.”346
***SCOTT WILLOUGHBY, LINCOLNSHIRE***
University of Nottingham’s Institute for Name Studies explains: “Scott Willoughby: ‘Willow-tree farm/settlement’. William Scot made a grant of land here to the Stixwould Priory. Wilig (Anglian): a ‘willow-tree’. Tun (Old English): an ‘enclosure’; a ‘farmstead’; a ‘village’; an ‘estate’.”347
William Marrat imparts: “Scott Willoughby is a small village, consisting of two houses, in the wapentake of Aveland, in the parts of Kesteven, about 5 miles northwest of Folkingham.
“Domesday Account: Land of Wido de Reinbuedcurt. In Wilgebi (Willoughby) Leuric had three carucates of land and two oxgangs to be taxed. Land to four ploughs. Wido de Reinbuedcurt has there two ploughs in the demesne, and ten sokemen with ten oxgangs of this land, and three bordars having two ploughs and a half. There are priests having thirty seven acres and a half of land; they pay a customary rent of sixteen pence. Wido has soke over a fourth part of the church of the same village, and thirty acres of meadow, and twenty eight acres of coppice wood. Value in King Edward’s time seven pounds, now four. Tallaged at twenty shillings.
“Land of Waldin Brito. In Wilgebi (Willoughby), Uluiet had fifteen oxgangs of land to be taxed. Land to three ploughs and six oxen. Waldin has there two ploughs, and eight villanes with two ploughs, and fifty-six acres of meadow. Value in King Edward’s time forty shillings, now twenty shillings.
“Land of Odo Arbalistarius. In Wilgebi (Willoughby) Regenald had two oxgangs of land to be taxed. Land to four oxen. Colegrim a vassal of Odo’s, has there one border and one ox in a plough, and eight acres of meadow. Value in King Edward’s time ten shillings, now five.
“Land of Wido de Credon. In Wilgebi (Willoughby) Wido has soke over half the church and over the priest who belongs to Osbernby.
“The Church, here was, a short time since, an old chapel with a flat roof covered with lead, containing oak stalls and a pulpit; it was taken down and soon afterwards rebuilt; the new chapel, however contains neither seats nor pulpit, nor is divine service often performed in it. The chapel was dedicated to St Andrew, it is a discharged rectory, valued in the King’s books at 7 pounds, 1 shilling, 3 pence.
“Modern state: Lord Brownlow is Lord of the manor. The parish contains 600 acres of land, which is let on an average at 35 shillings per acre. The soil is clay, and stony, and the fences quick thorn hedges. The whole parish belongs to Lord Brownlow, or nearly so, he is patron of the Living. There are now only two small dwelling houses in the parish.”348
***SOT’S HOLE, LINCOLNSHIRE***
Sara Basquill mentions: “Sots Hole - The reserve is known locally by a number of names, but we do know that an alcoholic publican by the name of Richard Reeves ran a public house in Church Vale, next to the site in the 18th century, and he was the old sot, or the Sots Hole name could originate from the very heavy drinkers from the ‘Bear and Ragged Staff’, a public house which was in Church Vale from around 1719 to 1769, who might have ended up in the woods.”349
William Pulleyn puts into words: “Sot’s Hole: The great Lord Chesterfield formerly resided at the house, now occupied by the Princess Sophia of Gloucester, at Blackheath. His servants were accustomed to use an ale-house, in the vicinity, too frequently. On one occasion he said to his butler, ‘fetch the fellows from that Sot’s hole!’ which circumstance gave a name to the house known by that sign.”350
***TWENTY, LINCOLNSHIRE***
Sara Basquill reports: “Twenty – Modern origin - in October 1853, local solicitor Francis Thomas Selby had proposed the formation of the grandiose sounding Spalding, Bourne and Stamford Railway and Waterworks Company. The tracks and a waterpipe would run side by side through the fens between Spalding and Bourne and then the railway would continue across the Great Northern Railway's (GNR) main line into Stamford. As it happened, this last section was completed by the GNR and opened in 1856 while the Bourne to Essendine portion was built by another group and opened in 1860.
“This left the 9 ½ mile section from Bourne to Spalding to be constructed by the Bourne-Spalding Railway Company and it opened for traffic on 1st August 1866 but was later absorbed into the Midland and Great Northern Joint Railway under their amalgamating act of 1893. During the construction work, it was decided to have three intermediate stations, mainly for the transit of farm produce. Since these would be well outside the village centers, names had to be invented for them and as the first station out of Bourne was sited near to a milestone on the main road, now the A151, announcing that it was 20 miles to Colsterworth, then the name of Twenty was adopted.
“A similar explanation suggests that when the building of the track reached the new North Fen station, the engineer in charge of the project said that a more specific name was needed and after asking how many sections had already been laid, he noticed that the station would be sited in a field in Section 20 of his Ordnance Survey map and the village was so named.”351
**LUTON**
JB Johnston shows: “Before 1199 [AD], but Domesday Book and 1157 [AD] Loitone; 1155 [AD] Pipe Luitune. Probably ‘village, town of Luha’, a name in Searle’s Onomasticon Anglo-Saxonicum. But Lutley (Staffordshire), circa 1300 [AD] Lutteleye, and Lutley (Halesowen); Domesbook Book Ludeleia, ‘is mead of Luda’ or ‘Luta’. Lutley may be from Old English lyt, lute, ‘little’, as in Luthebury, old form of Littlebury (Saffron Walden).”352
J Gronow talks about: “Luton: Bedfordshire, 31 miles from London, a market town and parish, pleasantly seated between two hills near the source of the river Lea, noticed for its church and tower steeple, beautifully checquered with flint and freestone, within which is a remarkable Gothic font in the form of a hexagon. In this parish is Luton Hoe, the elegant seat of the Earl of Bute, having in its old chapel a beautiful piece of Gothic wainscot, carved in 1548. The library, inferior only to Blenheim, is the most magnificent receptacle for books of a private kind in Europe, being 146 feet long, divided into three rooms. It is the natal place of the Rev John Pomfret, the poet, who wrote the poem called The Choice.”353
JM Wilson catalogs: “Luton, a town, a township, a parish, a sub-district, and a district, in Beds. The town stands on the river Lea, and on the Hatfield and Leighton-Buzzard branch of the Great Northern railway, 2 ¼ miles southeast of Icknieldstreet, and 19 south by east of Bedford. Its site is a valley, surrounded by hills. Its name is a corruption either of Leatown or of Lowtown. The ground on which it stands was given by Offa, King of Mercia, in the 8th century, to the abbey of St Albans; belonged, at Domesday, to the Crown; went, in 1216, to Fulke de Brent, who built a castle on it; and passed to the Wenlocks. The town acquired importance in the time of James I, by being made the seat of a straw-hat manufacture, which
Mary, Queen of Scots, had introduced from France; it suffered a check to its prosperity, by the transference of that manufacture, in a considerable degree and for some time, to Dunstable; it eventually recovered its status as the largest seat of that manufacture in Great Britain; and it so throve upon it in the decade from 1851 till 1861 as then to increase its population, on account of it, nearly 50 percent. It consists chiefly of streets diverging from a central marketplace; but has, of late years, been greatly extended. The plait-hall stands in Cheapside and Waller-street; and was built in 1869, at a cost of about 8,000 pounds. The corn-exchange is on the site of the old hall; was built in 1869, at a cost of about 8,000 pounds; and is in the Venetian-Gothic style. The town hall stands at the junction of the Bedford and the Dunstable roads; and is a handsome edifice. The courthouse was built by the county; stands in Stuart-street; and includes some prison cells. St Mary's church is partly decorated English, partly later English; comprises nave, aisles, transepts, and choir; has a Wembattled tower in chequerwork 90 feet high, surmounted at the corners by hexagonal turrets; includes, in the south transept, a lofty stone baptistry, with groined roof and pinnacles, standing over a famous baptismal font supported by five pillars, and said to have been presented by Queen Anne Boleyn; includes also, on the north side of the chancel, an elegant chapel, built prior to 1461 by Sir John Wenlock; and contains four richly ornamented sedilia, several royal armorial bearings, several arched altar-tombs, some very ancient brasses, and a number of handsome modern monuments and cenotaphs. Christ Church was built in 1856; and was improved at a cost of 3,500 pounds in 1865. The Independent chapel in King-street was built in 1866, at a cost of about 6,000 pounds; is in the pointed style, with a spire; contains about 1,200 sittings; and includes a basement-school, capable of accommodating 1,200 children. The Union Congregational chapel is in London-road. The Baptist chapel in Park-street was rebuilt in 1867; and that in Wellington-street is recent. The Ebenezer Baptist chapel is in Dumfries-street; the Ebenezer Calvinist chapel is in Hastings-street; and the Quakers' chapel is in Castle-street. Two Wesleyan chapels are in Waller-street and Chapel-street; the one built in 1863, the other also recent; and one of them is a handsome edifice, cost upwards of 3,000 pounds, and contains about 1,700 sittings. A Primitive Methodist chapel is in Hightown. There are a literary institution and newsrooms, a young women's literary institute, a national school, a British school, a school endowment of 30 pounds a year, almshouses with 43 pounds, other charities 74 pounds, and a workhouse. The town has a head post office, a railway station with telegraph, two banking offices, a county police station, a fire-brigade establishment, and four chief inns; is a seat of petty-sessions and county courts, and a polling-place; and publishes two weekly newspapers. A weekly market for corn and straw-plait is held on Monday; a weekly market for provisions, on Saturday; fairs for cattle, on the third Monday of April and the third Monday of October; and a hiring-fair, on the Friday after the third Monday of September. The straw-hat and bonnet manufacture is carried on in large and handsome buildings, and exports its produce to all parts of the world. There is an iron-foundry. Pomfret, the poet, was a native. Real property, of the town, in 1860, 44,433 pounds; of which 554 pounds were in the railway, and 526 pounds in gas-works. Population in 1851, 10,648; in 1861, 15,329. Houses, 2,724. The township is conterminate with the town. The parish contains also the hamlets of East Hyde, West Hyde, Stopsley, Leegrave, and Limbury-cum-Biscott. Acres, 15,750. Real property, 62,350 pounds. Population in 1851, 12,787; in 1861, 17,821. Houses, 3,196. Summeries Tower, 1 ¾ mile east-southeast of the town, formed part of an ancient mansion of the Wenlocks, now all destroyed except the portico. Luton Hoo, 1 ¾ mile south-southeast of the town, was built by the Earl of Bute, prime minister of George III; was the seat of the late Marquis of Bute; had a splendid chapel of richly carved wood; suffered vast
damage by fire, with total destruction of the chapel, in 1843; passed to John Shaw Leigh, Esq; has been completely restored; and stands in a very fine park of 1,670 acres. Stockwood, 1 mile south-southwest of the town, is the seat of JS Crawley, Esq. The parish is ecclesiastically cut into the sections of St Mary, Christchurch, East Hyde, Stopsley, and Biscott. East Hyde was made a separate charge in 1859; Christchurch and Stopsley, in 1861; and Biscott, in 1866. Population of the Christchurch section, in 1861, 6,658. Houses, 1,150. The livings of St Mary and Christchurch are vicarages in the diocese of Ely. Value of St Mary, 1,350 pounds. Patron, the Rev A King. Value and patron of Christchurch, not reported. East Hyde and Stopsley are separately noticed. The sub-district contains also the parishes of Sundon Streatley, Barton-in-the-Clay, and Caddington, part of the last electorally in Herts. Acres, 26,967. Population, 21,419. Houses, 3,967. The district comprehends also the sub-district of Dunstable, containing the parishes of Dunstable, Honghton-Regis, Totternhoe, Whip, Snade, Studham, and Kensworth, all the last and part of the preceding electorally in Herts. Acres of the district, 40,836. Poor rates in 1863, 13,206 pounds. Population in 1851, 25,087; in 1861, 30,712. Houses, 5,865. Marriages in 1863, 297; births, 1,144, of which 92 were illegitimate; deaths, 631, of which 282 were at ages under 5 years, and 6 at ages above 85. Marriages in the ten years 1851-60, 2,213; births, 9,876; deaths, 5,662. The places of worship, in 1851, were 12 of the Church of England, with 4,841 sittings; 13 of Baptists, with 3,956 sittings; 1 of Quakers, with 220 sittings; 18 of Wesleyan Methodists, with 4,705 sittings; 2 of Primitive Methodists, with 530 sittings; 3 undefined, with 1,142 sittings; and 2 of Latter Day Saints, with 130 sittings. The schools were 13 public day schools, with 1,386 scholars; 50 private day schools, with 1,018 sittings; 41 Sunday schools, with 5,688 sittings; and 1 evening school for adults, with 31 sittings. The workhouse, at the census of 1861, had 150 inmates.”354
***CAPABILITY GREEN, LUTON***
Sharon Dean conveys: “From the research I’ve done the name seems to come from Lancelot ‘Capability’ Brown, an English landscape architect (1716-1783). He designed many of the gardens at the Luton Hoo Estate in Luton, Bedfordshire, which was owned by the Wernher family. The land used for Capability Green, a business park developed in the late 1980s, belonged to the Luton Hoo Estate. Nicholas Phillips (a son of Georgina Wernher) inherited the estate in the 1970s and was responsible for starting the development. Sadly, Phillips committed suicide in 1991 aged 43. The Luton Hoo Estate still exists but was sold to a hotel chain following Phillips death.”355
**MERSEYSIDE**
JB Johnston discusses: “River. Before 1100 [AD] Maerse. Doubtful. Probably ‘river of the boundary’, from Old English (ge)maere, ‘boundary, march’, and ea, e, ae, ‘river’. The Mers- may be from ‘marsh’; Old English mersc, merisc. Compare to Domesday Book Cheshire Mersham, also name of a village near Ashford, and 1179-80 [AD] Pipe Mershon (Yorkshire). Compare to the Mearse (Bromsgrove), ? ‘the boundary’, of which name there are no old forms.”356
JM Wilson expounds: “Mersey (The), a river of Cheshire and Lancashire. It is formed by the confluence of the Goyt and the Etherow, at the boundary between Cheshire and Derbyshire, in the neighborhood of Compstall; it runs in a winding course westward to Stockport, and is there joined by the Tame; it thence
runs windingly, along the boundary between Cheshire and Lancashire, past Northenden, Ashton-upon-Mersey, Carrington, Warburton, and Warrington, to Runcorn; it is joined by the Irwell on the right bank below Carrington, and by the Bollin on the left bank below Warburton; it begins to expand slowly and slightly into estuary below Warrington; it becomes decidedly esturial, with a breadth of fully 2 miles, about 2 miles below Runcorn, and there is joined on the left bank by the Weaver; it thence makes a demi semicircular bend to the sea a little below Liverpool; and it forms, in its lowest reach, the most largely frequented harbor in the world. Its characters as an estuary, and its capacities and adjuncts as a harbor, are noticed in the article Liverpool. Its entire fluviatile course from the confluence of the Goyt and the Etherow to the decided expansion into estuary below Runcorn, measured in straight lines, without including sinuosities, is about 32 miles.”357
***BOLD, MERSEYSIDE***
JM Wilson impresses: “Bold, two hamlets and a township in Prescot parish, Lancashire. The hamlets are Bold and Bold-Heath; and the former stands adjacent to the Runcorn railway, 4 miles east-southeast of Prescot. The township includes also the hamlet of Maypole. Acres, 4,338. Real property, 8,151 pounds. Population, 798. Houses, 137. The family of Bold, now represented by that of Bold Hoghton, were seated here from the Conquest till 1761; and they give name to Bold-street in Liverpool. The ancient mansion is now a farmhouse; and the modern one is Bold Hall. Bishop Barnes, who died in 1588, was a native.”358
***INCE BLUNDELL, MERSEYSIDE***
www.inceblundellvillage.co.uk notates: “The story of Ince Blundell begins like the rest of the British Isles with the ending of the Devensian ice age and the start of the early Holocene about 10,500 years before the common era (BCE).
“At this point in our prehistory the coastline of southwest Lancashire extended much further west beyond the Isle of Man and the British Isles were not isles at all but were still attached to continental Europe. The sealevel at this time was 164 feet or 50 meters lower than at present but this began to change as the massive ice sheet covering northern Europe and Britain melted. The sealevel began to rise quickly at a rate of about 30 mm (1 inch) per year between 8000 BCE and 3700 BCE submerging the coastal plain. It is recognized that there have been at least four occasions when the sea submerged the land around Ince Blundell and the evidence for these marine transgressions can be seen in the deposits of Downholland silt that show that there were esturine and salt marsh environments 2.2 km inland. It had been thought in the past that the meltwater formed a new coastline twenty five feet or 8 meters above the present one and it was argued that an ancient coastline could be traced throughout much of southwest Lancashire. This coastline can most clearly be seen locally at Hillhouse Farm in Altcar and is known as the 'Hillhouse coastline' or the Hillhouse contour. This theory however, has been rejected and it is known that the sea was 50 m below this contour when the sands at Hillhouse were deposited by glacial meltwater rather than by the sea.
“The sea however, eventually began to retreat to somewhere near its present level as another important factor came into play. The land now relieved of its massive ice sheet began to rise up. This movement continues to the presentday at a rate between 2 and 4 mm per year. The north is rising up as
the south is lowered into the sea in a gigantic see-saw movement. It was not until approximately 3500 BCE that the sealevel arrived at somewhere near its present level.
“Gradually in the warmer post ice age climate a new landscape and a new coastline 4-5 miles west of the present one emerged. The newly exposed land began to form forests of oak, alder and birch. The climate at this time approximately 5000 BCE was predominantly warm and dry and the forests flourished from Fleetwood to Hilbre Island. Gradually the climate changed yet again and the warm and dry conditions gave way to much wetter conditions with substantial water logging of the river Alt floodplain. This led to the end of the oak forests as the roots and vegetation began to rot forming a layer of peat. The evidence of this forest can still be seen as local farmers regularly plough up moss stocks or bog oaks from the fields on the moss lands. The buried forest can also be seen occasionally at Hightown due to erosion at the mouth of the Alt. In 1663 the Reverend Richard James wrote in his book Iter Lancastrense ‘and in some places, when ye sea doth bate down from ye shore, tis wonder to relate how many thousands of trees now stand black broken from their roots, which once dry land did cover, whence turfs Neptune yields to show he did not always to these borders flow.’
“Another tantalizing glimpse of prehistoric life came to light in the late 1980s when Gordon Roberts came across hoof prints in some ancient sun hardened mud along the Formby foreshore. Footprints have now been identified as those belonging to deer, wolves, aurochs (an ancient breed of huge wild cattle now extinct), and of people. Although these people did not live settled lives in our village we do have evidence that they spent time around the sandy ridge that was to become Ince Blundell and on other areas of higher ground in the marsh.
“The first settlers of this part of the country were probably part of an extended family group of no more than twenty five people. They lived by hunting and gathering along the coastline and in the fen-carr environment of Ince Blundell. They almost certainly lived a nomadic life moving with the seasons in a territory of up to fifty square miles. They would have visited what was to become Ince Blundell to perhaps hunt for ducks and other wild fowl or to fish in the river Alt. The evidence we have of this is very thin indeed but small flint blades and arrowheads have been found in and around the fields of Ince Blundell. The landscape around the Ince Blundell ‘ridge/island’ was low lying, poorly drained, marshy and subject to flooding by both the sea and the river Alt. As mentioned above a fen-carr environment predominated and although it was rich in wildlife for a hunter gathering lifestyle it was not attractive to settlement and agriculture. It is thought that hunting and gathering persisted much longer in southwest Lancashire than in the rest of the country. This is not to say that the people were backward, but simply that the area was so rich in food sources that they had no need to turn to agricultural methods of food production. Having said this incredibly interesting archaeological find just down the Road in the neighboring village of Lunt during the summer of 2011 may rewrite this account of history. Evidence of a Mesolithic settlement that appears to suggest a resident group of people living in the area has come to light during earthworks to create a managed wetland adjoining the river Alt. Timber from the dig has been carbon dated to 5800 BCE dating the site to almost 8,000 years ago. Ron Cowell curator of prehistoric archaeology at Liverpool Museum and a good friend of Ince Blundell Local History group said ‘this find is fascinating, it's far way above in importance than any find I have worked with in more than 30 years of archaeology.’
“Eventually though the Neolithic huntergatherers did become farmers and it is perhaps not too much of a mental leap, to imagine them clearing the trees on the higher ground for cultivation and to see them tending their cattle in the meadows. Evidence for this can be seen in charcoal particles and a fall in the levels of tree pollen in nearby Little Crosby. This would appear to point to forest clearance by fire. There is also some evidence of cereal cultivation a little further away at Martin Mere.
“ … Ince derives from the Celtic word Hinne, making the transitions Ines 1212 to 1350; Hynis 1242 and finally Ince by 1360. It is this word that gives us a hint as to who the first settlers where. The name Alt is also a Celtic word so it would appear that there is some evidence in the place names to suggest Celtic settlement. A Celtic carved head was found near Lydiate and another similar statue possibly of Celtic origin was found in Blundells and in 1978.
“Once again there is no real direct evidence for this early settlement in Ince Blundell and there is a gap in our sources between the Bronze age and the Roman period. In nearby Little Crosby an aerial survey conducted by Liverpool Museum in the 1980s and 90s spotted a possible Iron age/Romano circular enclosure. Could a similar structure lie buried under the fields of Ince? What is known is the fact that the Romans largely ignored southwest Lancashire due to its marshes and the fact that it was off the main route to the north which ran near Wigan. Life in Ince Blundell probably continued much the same as before the Roman invasion, the Iron Age overlapping the Roman period. After the departure of the Romans in 406 CE the Anglo Saxons pushed northwards, but although the Celts resisted around 613 King Ethel-Frith defeated them near Chester and opened up Lancashire south of the Ribble. The Anglo Saxons had settled much of the Lancashire coast by 650. Again with a scarcity of concrete evidence place names help us to see the pattern of this settlement. Sefton, Thornton, Aughton, Walton, Bootle , Melling and Netherton all being local examples of Anglian names.
“West Derby Hundred: This Anglo Saxon settlement probably continued until the ninth century when Norse invaders of Norwegian descent began to arrive on our coast. At the same time Danish invaders established their own Kingdom in Northumbria in 876 CE with York as its capital. The north of the country was therefore heavily influenced by people of Norse origin, an influence that once again is now only really traceable through place names. Locally we find Norse names in Hesketh, Crossens, Birkdale, Ainsdale, Argarmeols, Formby, Ravenmeols, Altcar, Crosby, Lunt, Litherland, Kirkdale, Toxteth, and Aigburth. Inland we find Aintree, Croxteth, Scarisbrick, Ormskirk, Tarlscough, Burscough, West Derby, Kirkby, Roby and Thingwall.
“It is generally agreed that the Norse did not arrive as ‘Viking’ invaders but as farmers and fishermen looking for land to settle. However, the hoard of Viking silver dated to 915 found at the Harkirk in Little Crosby in 1611 does seem to point to a time of unrest. Somebody obviously buried their treasure next to a significant landmark yet failed to retrieve it, this could hint to wider strife and turmoil in the area.
“In Ince Blundell itself a number of field names appear to have Norse origins. Wranglands which is behind the Village Hall, Gatefield (land by a road) adjacent to Hall lane in front of the Keepers Cottage. Rowenholne (rough riverside land) Thoupool opposite Lady Green Garden center and Carcald (an area of brushwood near a well). Some of these field names are still in use by local farmers and it is very
satisfying to think that we have a thousand years of living history in the village of Ince Blundell with people still using Viking words.”359
JM Wilson puts pen into paper: “Ince-Blundell, a village and a township in Sefton parish, Lancashire. The village stands near the river Alt and the Liverpool and Southport railway, 9 miles north-northwest of Liverpool; and has a very ancient cross, and a Roman Catholic chapel. The township comprises 2,258 acres. Real property, 5,022 pounds. Population, 572. Houses, 91. Most of the land belongs to Thomas W Blundell, Esq, and part to the Earl of Sefton. Ince Blundell Hall, the seat of Mr Blundell, is a splendid mansion, in a beautiful park; and has attached to it a building modeled exactly after the Pantheon at Rome, but one-third less in size, and containing a rich collection of statuary, paintings, sarcophagi, vases, bronzes, and other objects of interest.”360
***OLD SWAN, MERSEYSIDE***
“Old Swan is centered on the road junction between Prescot Road, running east to west, Derby Lane (from the north), St Oswald Street (from the south) and Broadgreen Road (from the southeast). It is named after a public house called the Three Swans, which served the packhorse route along Prescot Lane (now Prescot Road) during the 18th century. The name was derived from the coat of arms of local landowners, the Walton family. The inn stood at the corner of Prescot Lane and Pettycoat Lane (now Broadgreen Road). The junction later acquired two more pubs, the Swan Vaults (now called the Old Swan) and the Cygnet (now closed), while the original pub has been replaced by another, the Red House.”361
***PORT SUNLIGHT, MERSEYSIDE***
The Guardian represents: “Port Sunlight is a village purpose-built by William Hesketh Lever of Lever Brothers fame, for his soap factory workers. The walk starts at the railway station and meanders around the village, taking in the varied architectural styles.
“Port Sunlight was an unprecedented combination of model industrial housing, providing materially decent conditions for working people, with the architectural and landscape values of the garden suburb, influenced by the ideas of William Morris and the Arts and Crafts movement. Lever's stated aims were ‘to socialize and Christianize business relations and get back to that close family brotherhood that existed in the good old days of hand labor.’ He took great pleasure in helping to plan the picturesque village and he employed nearly 30 architects to create its unique style. Each block of houses was designed by a different architect and each house is unique. Lever named his creation after his company's flagship product, Sunlight Soap.”362
**NORFOLK**
JB Johnston specifies: “Domesday Book Nordfolc, Norf; 1160 [AD] Pipe Norfolch; 1258-1658 [AD] Northfolk; 1397 [AD] Norfolk. ‘Land of the north folk’. Compare to Suffolk, ie, The North and South Angles.”363
J Gronow tells: “Norfolk: a maritime county, bounded on the north and east by the German Ocean, except a small part of the eastern border towards the south. At the time of the invasion of Britain by the Romans, this county was part of the Kingdom of the Iceni, whose bravery under their Queen, Boadicea, is well known. The parts on the seacoast are marshy, and the air cold and damp, causing the ague to be so prevalent as to have given rise to the proverbial expression of being ‘arrested by the bailiff of Marshland’. This county produces the finest turkeys and turnips in the kingdom, the latter being introduced from Hanover by Lord Townshend, in the reign of George I. At one time it was so overrun with lawyers, that an act of parliament was passed in the reign of Henry VI to restrain them. The number of churches and chapels in this county was greater than that of any other in the kingdom; no less than seventy-nine religious houses having been suppressed at the dissolution. Norfolk sided with the rights of the people against the tyranny of Charles I in the civil war.”364
JM Wilson chronicles: “Norfolk, a maritime county in the east of England; bounded, on the northwest, by the Wash, which divides it from Lincolnshire; on the north and the northeast, by the North sea; on the southeast, by Breydon-water and the river Waveney, which divide it from Suffolk; on the south, by the river Waveney, a short artificial line and the river Little Ouse, which divide it from Suffolk; on the southwest and the west, by the rivers Old Welney and Nen, and a short artificialline, which divide it from Cambridgeshire and Lincolnshire. It is so nearly surrounded by its marine and river boundaries as to be almost an island. Its outline is somewhat ellipsoidal, but suffers indentation by the Wash. Its greatest length, from east to west, is 60 miles; its greatest breadth, from north to south, is 40 miles; its mean breadth is about 29 miles; its circuit is about 200 miles; and its area is 1,354,301 acres. Only three English counties, York, Lincoln, and Devon, exceed it in size. The coast has an aggregate length of about 90 miles; presents, over the most part, a strictly continuous line, either straight or very slightly curved; has no deep bays, no sinuous creeks, no salient headlands; is everywhere monotonous and tame; lies, for the most part, so low as to be visible at but a remarkably brief distance at sea; has no greater diversities than some lumpish banks only a few feet high, some diluvial cliffs with a maximum of about 55 feet in height, and the cliff of Hunstanton nearly 80 feet in height; consists largely of continuous belts of sand, slenderly tumulated with pebbles and gravel, thrown up by the violence of the waves; and is suffering abrasion by the sea on the north, but making advances on it in the east. The entire seaboard, at a very recent geological period, appears to have been merely a group of low islets; the tracts in the east, around Yarmouth, so late as the time of Edward the Confessor, were probably the basin of an estuary; the valleys of the Bure and the Yare, traversing the northeast from above Aylsham, and the east from above Norwich, at even a later date, were extensively arms of the sea or shallow estuaries, and still retain ‘meres’ or ‘broads’ and marshy flats; and the greater portion of all the southern border, from the sea on the east, up the valley of the Waveney, and down the valleys of the Little Ouse and the Nen, to the head of the Wash in the west, was also occupied, at recent periods, either by actual sea or by deep spongy marsh. The aggregate surface of the county is lower, flatter, and less diversified in feature than any other tract of country, of equal extent, in the kingdom. It has no mountains, no hills, no bold breaks except the few cliffs on the coast, not even considerable undulations except in parts of the north and northeast; it boasts nothing better, in the way of picturesqueness, in even the undulated portions, than series of green hills and fertile valleys, adorned with hedgerows, coppices, and woods, and worked by culture into forms of garden-beauty; and it may be summarily described as a great plain, not long ago a
compound of estuary, marsh, sandy waste, and green common, now brought, by geognostic changes and georgic operations, into a condition of ornate fertility.
“The territory now forming Norfolk was anciently inhabited by the Cenomanni or Cenimagni tribe of the Iceni; was included, by the Romans, in their Flavia Caesariensis; and afterwards formed part of the Saxon Kingdom of East Anglia. The Danes made a descent upon it in 870; ravaged it during several succeeding years; made settlements in it; suffered repression by King Alfred; and, on their receiving Christian baptism and limiting their residence to the eastern parts, were allowed to retain their own chiefs, in subordination to the Anglo-Saxon government. But they thirsted for complete mastery, and made a series of revolts to attain it. Ethelred II, in 1002, subjected them to a general massacre. Sweyn, King of Denmark, landed next year on the coast; burned Norwich, Thetford, and other towns; extended his ravages past Norfolk into other parts of England; and, after eleven years of various fortune, acquired complete ascendency, but died before being able to confirm it. His son Canute arrived with fresh forces in 1016; won several battles; wrested from Edmund Ironside, first a division of all England, next the entire kingdom; and then committed East Anglia to the care of a Danish earl. Ralph de Guader was made Earl of Norfolk after the Norman conquest; but he soon took up arms against the Conqueror, and was banished for treason; and in 1074, his Countess obstinately defended Norwich castle, but eventually surrendered it. The earldom was then given to Hugh Bigod, who had distinguished himself in the Battle of Hastings; it continued in the possession of his descendants till 1307; it was transferred to Thomas Brotherton in 1312; and it became extinct in 1399. A Dukedom of Norfolk was created in 1397, in favor of Thomas Mowbray; it was afterwards associated with the title of Earl-Marshal; and it passed through a variety of striking vicissitudes, chiefly in connexion with the distinguished family of Howard. The dukedom went speedily from the first Duke, who was banished within a few months of his receiving it, and died of grief at Venice; it was held again by John Mowbray, who was beheaded in 1405; it continued with John's son and grandson till 1475; it was transferred, in 1477, to Richard, Duke of York, who was murdered in the Tower; and it was heldby John Howard, slain on Bosworth field, by Thomas Howard, in 1514, by his son Thomas, attainted in 1546, and by his grandson Thomas, beheaded in 1572. The Earldom was recreated in 1644, and the Dukedom restored in 1660, in favor of the Howards; and they have ever since ranked as premier Earls and Dukes, and as hereditary Earls-Marshal, of England.
“In the time of William Rufus, Robert Bigod sided with Robert Curthace against the King, and drew considerable devastation upon Norfolk. During the struggle between Prince Henry and his father, Earl Bigode spoused the Prince's cause, provoked a march of the King's troops upon Norfolk, and occasioned serious conflicts. In the time of King John, Earl Bigod took part with the Barons; and, while he and they were engaged in military operations at a distance, John marched across Norfolk with fire and sword, but was well received at Lynn, and thence, with the loss of his baggage, crossed the Wash. In John's time, also, Louis the Dauphin captured Norwich castle and Lynn, plundered the surrounding country, and forcibly levied from it heavy contributions. In 1348-9, a plague, locally called the black death, carried off so many as 58,000 persons in Norfolk. In 1381, a Norwich partisan of Wat Tyler's rebellion, with a body of insurgents called the Norfolk levelers, besieged Norwich, but was defeated by Bishop Spencer. In 1395, great havoc was done by some Danish pirates cruising off the coast. In 1549, two Wymondham tanners, of the name of Kett, raised a powerful insurrection against the county-landowners; committed
outrages and made exactions, during several months, throughout the country; formed a camp in the neighborhood of Lynn; attempted to besiege Yarmouth; were defeated, at the head of about 20,000 insurgents, on Mousehold-heath, near Norwich, by the Earl of Warwick; and were executed, the one on the top of Norwich castle, the other on the steeple of Wymondham church. In 1587, after the affair of the Spanish Armada, a progress was made through Norfolk by Queen Elizabeth. During the civil wars of Charles I, Norwich, Yarmouth, and other towns were garrisoned with parliamentarian troops; the entire county declared strongly against the King; and, except for a short period at Lynn, it never anywhere, throughout the struggle, received any marked impression from the royal arms. Subsequent events of any note have been confined to Norwich, Yarmouth, Lynn, Thetford, and some other localities.
“Ancient British relics have been found chiefly on what were the shores of the quondam estuaries of the Yare, the Waveney, the Wensum, and the Bure; and they have amounted to merely one or two flint arrowheads, and a few flint and brass celts. Roman stations were at Tasburgh, Brancaster, Ickburgh, Thetford, and Caistor; and have left, at two or three of these places, distinct vestiges. Another Roman station, with extensive underground remains, was discovered in 1865; and several more Roman stations, or at least considerable Roman settlements of some kind, are believed to have existed. Roman antiquities, of the minor class, including coins, utensils, and other objects, have been found in very great numbers, and in not a few localities. Several Roman roads, or roads so ancient as either to have been adopted by the Romans or to have been ascribed to them, have left traces. One, called the Pye-road, nearly coinciding with the main modern road from Norwich toward Ipswich, commenced at Caistor and left Norfolk in the vicinity of Diss; another called Peddar way, went from Holme-next-the-Sea, past Castle-Acre, toward Ixworth in Suffolk; another, called by some antiquaries Stone-street, went from Caistor to Bungay, and passed there into Suffolk; another, called Icknield-street, went from Caistor to Thetford, and passed there into Suffolk; another went from Caistor westward to the lower part of the Ouse and the Nen, and passed into Cambridgeshire; and three others went from Caistor respectively toward the coast near Cromer, toward Brancaster, and toward Whetacre-Burgh. Saxon encampments are traceable at Burnham, Deepdale, Earsham, Narborough, South Creake and Weeting; and two great Saxon earthworks are an eminence at Holkham, and a dyke from Beechamwell to Narborough. A very large Danish camp is at Thetford, and a smaller one at Warham; and earthworks, called the Danes' graves and Grime's graves, are at Oxborough and Weeting. The very name Norfolk, a corruption of ‘North folk’, is a memorial of Scandinavian occupation; and stands distinguished from Suffolk, a corruption of ‘South folk’, indicating that the transmarine settlers there came from parts of the Continent southward of those whence came the settlers to Norfolk. Certain features in the local topography also, such as the suffixes thorpe signifying ‘a village’, by signifying ‘a farm’ or ‘a hamlet’, sted signifying ‘a place’, toft signifying ‘a field’, oe signifying ‘an island’, and holm signifying ‘an insulated marsh’, are memorials of Danish occupation. Remarkably old castles are at Castle-Acre, Castle-Rising, Elmham, Horsford, Mileham, New Buckenham, Norwich, Weeting, and Wormegay. Interesting old mansions, some of them in ruins, are in Blickling, Boyland, Bixley, Caistor, East Basham, Fincham, Gresham, Heigham, Hunstanton, Oxborough, Stiffkey, Thorpe, Watlington, Winwall, Wereham, Arminghall, and Merton. Ancient ecclesiastical buildings are very numerous; and possess, aggregately, a vast interest for both the antiquary and the artist. The old churches are principally of flint; and very many of them, either as entire structures or in some of their details, present features strongly attractive
to the architect and the sculptor; while no fewer than 120 have round towers, surmounted, in some instances, by late octangular lanterns. Abbeys, which have left remains, though in some instances very sight ones, are at Holme, Langley, North Creake, Thetford, Wendling, West Dereham, and Wymondham. Priories, which have left remains, are at Beeston-Regis, Binham, Broomholme, Castle-Acre, Flitcham, Mendham, Norwich, St Leonard, Old Buckenham, Thetford, Walsingham, and Yarmouth; and about twice as many other priories, 9 or 10 nunneries, 22 or 23 friaries, 3 preceptories, 13 colleges, and 40 hospitals and lazar-houses, existed in the Romish times.”365
***HOE, NORFOLK***
JB Johnston declares: “1590 [AD] Spenser The Western Hogh; 1602 [AD] Carew The Hawe. Old English hoh, ho, ‘a heel, a projection, a spur, a hill, high ground’; Scottish heugh. Compare to Hoo, Hockley; Domesday Book (Devonshire) Ho (Totnes); 1160-1 [AD] Pipe Kent Ho; Hoe Ford (Fareham); Mortehoe, Staplow, etc. Hoe, hoo, is a common ending in Staffordshire and Warwickshire, ie. Tysoe is Domesday Book Tiheshoche, before 1300 [AD] Thysho.”366
William White displays: “Hoe, commonly called Hoo, is a small village and parish, 2 miles northeast of East Dereham, containing 220 souls, and 1,345 acres of land. Edward Lombe, Esq, is lord of the manor; but the Dean and Chapter of Norwich, Mr William Grounds, and a few smaller owners have estates here. The Church, is a perpetual curacy, valued in KB at 8 pounds, 13 shillings, 4 pence, and consolidated with East Dereham. The nave was rebuilt in 1794, and the chancel, in 1820. The Church Land, is let for 20 pounds. The Poor’s Allotment, awarded in 1814 … on which poor cut turf and whins. They have 4 pounds, 4 shillings yearly, from Gooch’s Charity, but are entitled to a much larger share. … Directory, John Blomfield, gent; William Grounds; gent, Hoe Hall; Executors of Henry Hastings, corn millers; William Kitteringham, brick maker; Rev William Millett, MA, Gorgale Hall; Sarah Mitchell, vict, Angel; and Hamon Marchant, Samuel Norton, John Tuck, and William Wildee, farmers.”367
***LITTLE SNORING, NORFOLK***
Ann and John Gurney expresses: “Ekwall’s English Place Names states that the names of Great and Little Snoring derive from the first wave of Saxon invaders in circa 450 AD as the Romans withdrew, and shows that these settlements of ‘Snear’s people’ (Snear being a Saxon invader nicknamed ‘Swift’, ‘Bright’, or ‘Alert’) hence the curious name for these parishes. Little Snoring lies in the ancient ‘Hundred’ of Gallow.”368
www.the-snorings.co.uk notes: “The Angles, Saxons, and Jutes came from Denmark and the coast of Germany and Holland. The Anglo-Saxons named their new country Engaland (‘the land of the Angles’) and their language was called Englisc (what modern scholars refer to as 'Anglo-Saxon' or 'Old English'.)
“Most place names in Norfolk and Suffolk were originally given by the Anglo-Saxons. The Old English words that they used in the place names are far too numerous to list here. A few of the common Old English place-name elements are given: burna (-borne) a ‘brook, stream’; dun - a ‘hill’; eg (-ey) an ‘island’; halh - a ‘nook, corner of land’; ham - a ‘homestead’; hamm - an ‘enclosure, water-meadow’;
ingas (-ing) ‘the people of ...’; leah (-ley) a ‘clearing’; stede - a ‘place, site of a building’; tun - an ‘enclosure, farmstead’; well - a ‘well, spring’; worth - an ‘enclosure, homestead’.
“Therefore, as far as can be established, the Snorings were the ingas (‘place of the people of’) Snare or Snear.
“In the 14th century, we find various members of the landowning gentry who have the name De Snoryng and who are carrying on the tradition begun by Snare's people:
“Merchant and jurat William de Snoryng survived the Black Death only to be ruined by 100 pounds damages awarded against him in a suit brought by Sir John de Gannok. In the archives we hear of Gilbert Snoring who disputed with John of Briston and others over lands in Great Snoring; and ‘Alice, relict of Geoffrey Snoryng versus Geoffrey Spyrlyng, feoffee to uses: Messuages and land in Great Snoring (Mekyl-snoryng) and Thorpland Norfolk.’
“In King's Lynn, Norfolk, amongst the Officers of the Borough Government (Chamberlains) were Simon de Snoring (1336-37) and William de Snoring (1339-40).
“So we can safely say that the curious name of Snoring came from the tribe of Anglo Saxons who gave the area their family name.
“However, other theories have been put forward in the past.
“It was thought there was some link to the Danish goddess Snora, since there was reputedly a battle fought at Thursford (‘Thor's Ford’).
“Others say that the name comes from the DeSnarynge family who once owned the Manor House in Great Snoring. But this does not take into account the early history of Great and Little Snoring.”369
***MOUSEHOLD, NORFOLK***
JM Wilson records: “Mousehold, or Mousewold, a suburban place in Norfolk; 1 mile east of Norwich. It comprises elevated ground, formerly a heath; takes its name from numerous caves, formed by digging out chalk clunch for builders; commands a fine view of the city; was the headquarters of the rebel Ket, till he was taken in Aug 1549; retains vestiges of a chapel to St Leonard's priory, popularly called Ket's Castle; and has a post office under Norwich. Part of what was formerly the heath is now within Thorpe Park.”370
AD Bayne reveals: “There is no evidence of the existence of Norwich as a city for 400 years after the Christian era. The whole island was a howling wilderness, and Norfolk was a vast common, like Roudham Heath. The natives lived by hunting or fishing, and sheltered themselves in the woods, or in caves, or huts. Water covered nearly all the area in which the city is now built, and filled all the valley of the Yare. The aborigines, called the Iceni, probably lived in huts near the banks of the river, as it afforded a good supply of fish; but there is no proof that they lived in any place that could be called a town or even a village. There is in fact, no reliable account whatever of the natives, how they lived, or
where they lived in this district; for they have not even left any names of places, and very few traces of any progress in the useful arts, and certainly none of any buildings. On Mousehold Heath, near the city, and at various places in the county, there are hollows supposed to have been made by the Iceni as the foundation of huts, or of houses of wicker work, or some other perishable material, with a conical thatching at the top. Externally they must have looked like very low bastions, having doorways, but apparently neither chimneys nor windows.”371
“In 1144 the body of a boy, William of Norwich, was found on the heath. The story was circulated that his death was the result of ritual murder carried out by Jews and he attained the status of saint and martyr. This was the first medieval example of blood libel against Jews. A chapel was erected on the site where the body was found, and its remains can still be seen on the northern edge of the present heath.”372
***WEASENHAM ALL SAINTS, NORFOLK***
weasenhamallsaints.norfolkparishes.gov.uk spells out: “Historic records show settlers in this area going back more than 3,000 years. The most convincing evidence of population during the mid/late Bronze Age is the existence at least 15 barrows (burial mounds) in the areas known as the Weasenham Plantation and the Lyngs. These are said to be some of the finest preserved barrows in Norfolk and following an excavation of one, it was dated to around 1389 BC. There are four different types of barrow, namely bowl, bell, saucer and disc types.
“Later the Romans settled in this area. A Roman villa was excavated near the Weasenham/Massingham boundary. Numerous Roman artifacts and medieval finds have been discovered in the fields around Weasenham and Rougham by Mr Albert Hooks, a farm worker born in Rougham and educated at Weasenham School; and latterly by Weasenham-born local historian, Mr Glynn Burrows.
“There are two schools of thought as to the derivation Weasenham. One is from the Old English meaning ‘Wissa’s homestead’ and the other is from Anglo-Saxon, waes meaning ‘water or wet soil’ and ham meaning ‘dwelling or dwellings’. In the time of Edward I the name was spelt Weseham, but within some fifty years it had evolved to Wesenham.
“The Domesday book of 1086 records both villages with details of the population, land ownership and productive resources, most of which were owned by William de Warenne. The parishes of All Saints and St Peter have been united for ecclesiastical purposes since the earliest records in the 12th century; they are, however, separate civil parishes.
“Weasenham All Saints, formerly called Upper Weasenham, is the older of the villages and was one of the larger villages in the Launditch area during the 7th and 8th centuries. The two Weasenhams grew during the Middle Ages in different ways. At All Saints, the village was still arranged very much as the same lines as a Late Saxon village plan; only in the latter part of the 15th century was there any significant growth near Whin (otherwise Weasenham) Common. This hamlet remained until the 16th century while a similar one at St Peter’s had already disappeared. By 1590, settlement was well dispersed around the parish and the church, formerly the center of the village, had become isolated; as
the village expanded so the old village nucleus decayed. Probably owing to the fact that the land surface is more level in All Saints, the roads and fields were either aligned north to south or east to west, indicating deliberate planning (unlike Weasenham St Peter) with later roads cutting across this pattern.”373
***WIVETON, NORFOLK***
JB Johnston touches on: “Domesday Book Wiuetona; 1482 [AD] Wyveton, Weveton. ‘Village of Wifa’. Wiverton (Nottinghamshire), Domesday Book Wivretune, is from Wigferth or Wifare.”374
**NORTH YORKSHIRE**
***CLIFTON (WITHOUT), NORTH YORKSHIRE***
GA Cheetham clarifies: “On the northern road out of York is an area of the city known as the Clifton Ward which has always been part of the city. The continuation of this road leads to Clifton (Without), which is adjoining Clifton but outside of the old City boundary. Hence the wording (Without), meaning outside of the City.
“The Clifton (Without) Parish Council was formed by Act of Parliament in 1894 and included in a newly formed Rural District known as the Flaxton Rural District Council, who had offices at 56 Bootham, York. These offices were only about 100 yards from York Minster.
“On 1st April 1974 the parish area became part of the Ryedale District Council, which had been formed by the Local Government Act 1972, with main offices in Malton, but also retained as an area office the property in Bootham.
“On 1st April 1996, The Clifton (Without) Parish Council was one of thirty one parishes around the City of York boundary, which were integrated into the City of York Council by government decree. These parishes had previously been within the District Council areas of Ryedale, Selby and Harrogate.
“You may also like to know of an extract from the Minutes of a meeting of the Parish Council on 6th July, 1949, which read as follows: ‘The Chairman informed the Council that Mr CB Knight, a former Chairman of the Parish Council, and a well-known historian, had, in the course of his researches, discovered a book, containing continuous records of the Parish from 1681 to 1854. This book was of great historical value and interest to many people outside the Parish. The books were handed into the safe keeping of the City of York Librarian.’”375
***KILLINGHALL, NORTH YORKSHIRE***
University of Nottingham’s Institute for Name Studies documents: “Killinghall: Possibly, ‘nook of land of Cylla's people’ but perhaps more likely is ‘nook of land connected with Cylla’ or ‘nook of land at Cylla's place’. –Ing (Old English): place-name forming suffix. –Ingas (Old English): ‘the people of . . .’ ; ‘the people called after …’. –Ing- (Old English): connective particle, linking a first element to a final element.
Halh (Anglian): a ‘nook of land’; a ‘small valley’; ‘dry ground in marsh’; a ‘piece of land projecting from, or detached from, the main area of its administrative unit’.”376
***NEWBIGGIN, NORTH YORKSHIRE***
University of Nottingham’s Institute for Name Studies observes: “Newbiggin: ‘New building’. Niwe (Old English): ‘new’. Bigging (Middle English): a ‘building’; later an ‘outbuilding’, an ‘outhouse’.”377
***ROBIN HOOD’S BAY, NORTH YORKSHIRE***
JB Johnston recounts: “Circa 1550 [AD] Leland Robyn Huddes Bay. The legendary Robin Hood is first found in 1377 [AD] Piers Plowman, and his name is commemorated in cairns, crosses, caves, oaks, etc, as far south as Somerset, and as far north as this.”378
JM Wilson says: “Robin-Hood’s-Bay, a small town in Fylingdales parish, North Riding Yorkshire; on a bay of its own name, 5 miles south-southeast of Whitby. It takes its name from a tradition that Robin Hood occasionally resided at it, and that he kept boats here for escaping pursuit; it is sometimes called Baytown, to distinguish it from the bay; it was a fishing-place of some importance in the time of Henry VIII; it has recently undergone much increase; it occupies a picturesque site, overlooking the bay, yet not visible, on the approach from Whitby, till its close vicinity; it includes, among its inhabitants, a considerable number of shipowners; it is a subport to Whitby; and it has a post office under Whitby, a good inn, and a coast guard station. The bay is an incurvature, about a mile in width; and has a sandy beach, and a cliffy coast. Two ancient British tumuli are on the adjoining moor, and are popularly called Robin-Hood's-Butts. Large alum-works are on the coast, 2 ½ miles to the south-southeast.”379
www.robin-hoods-bay.co.uk spotlights: “Millions of years ago, the land upon which Robin Hood’s Bay is situated was once a deep sea. The sea animals of the time, buried in the mud, became fossilized, providing one of the best sources in Britain for the fossil hunter. Some of these fossils can be seen on display in the museum and can still be picked up on the beach if you look carefully.
“The scaurs (derived from a Norse word meaning ‘rock’) exposed at low tide, were formed 170 million years ago and consist of limestone and blue shale. A wealth of sealife can be found in the rock pools at low tide.
“Robin Hood’s Bay lies in the ancient parish of Fylingdales. The name itself is believed to be derived from the Old English word Fygela which meant ‘marshy ground’. The first evidence of man in the area was 3,000 years ago when Bronze Age burial grounds were dug on the high moorland a mile or so south of the village. These are known as Robin Hood’s Butts. Some 1,500 years later, Roman soldiers had a stone signal tower built at Ravenscar about the 4th century AD. The first regular settlers, however, were probably Saxon peasants, followed by the Norsemen. The main colonists of this coast were Norwegians who were probably attracted by the rich glacial soil and ample fish, and this is how they survived by a mixture of farming and fishing. The likely original settlement of the Norsemen was at Raw, a hamlet slightly inland, which helped to avoid detection by other pirates.
“After the Norman Conquest, the Manor of Fyling was given as the spoils of war to one of William the Conqueror’s relatives, Hugh of Chester. Eventually, it passed to the Percy family who gave the land to Whitby Abbey.
“The first recorded reference to Robin Hood’s Bay was in 1536 by King Henry VIII’s topographer, Leland, who described ‘a fischer townelet of 20 bootes with Dok or Bosom of a mile in length’. By now the cliff settlement had grown larger than the inland settlement, probably because they felt more secure from piracy and because it would be more convenient to walk from the boats. By 1540, the village was said to have fifty cottages by the shore (a large settlement at that time) so we can speculate that the present village originated somewhere in the 15th century. In 1540, the chief tenant was Matthew Storm and his descendants still live in the area. At the dissolution of the monasteries in 1539, the land passed to the King who sold it to the Earl of Warwick. The Cholmleys and then the Stricklands became the final ‘Lords of the Manor’
“It appears that in the 16th century, Robin Hood’s Bay was far more important than Whitby. In a series of Dutch sea charts published in 1586, Robin Hood’s Bay is indicated while Whitby is not even mentioned.
“The actual origin of the name remains a mystery. There is not a scrap of evidence to suggest that Robin Hood of Sherwood Forest folklore visited the Bay. The name is more likely to have grown from legends with local origin and probably from more than one legend. Robin Hood was the name of an ancient forest spirit similar to Robin Goodfellow and the use of the name for such an elf or spirit was widespread in the country. Many natural features were named after these local folk of legend and, in time, stories crossed over from one legend to another. The traditional anecdotes probably go way back in time but as to their origin - who knows?
“What we are more certain of is that in the 18th century, Robin Hood’s Bay was reportedly the busiest smuggling community on the Yorkshire coast. Its natural isolation, protected by marshy moorland on three sides, offered a natural aid to this well-organized business which, despite its dangers, must have paid better than fishing.
“Smuggling at sea was backed up by many on land who were willing to finance and transport contraband. Fisherfolk, farmers, clergy and gentry alike were all involved. Fierce battles ensued between smugglers and excise men, both at sea and on land, and Bay wives were known to pour boiling water over excise men from bedroom windows in the narrow alleyways. Hiding places, bolt holes and secret passages abounded. It is said that a bale of silk could pass from the bottom of the village to the top without leaving the houses.
“The threat of the excise men was not the only danger to Bayfolk. In the late 18th century and early 19th century, the Press Gangs were feared and hated. Sailors and fishermen were supposed to be exempt but, in reality, rarely were. Once ‘pressed’, their chances of returning to their homes were not high. Village women would beat a drum to warn the men folk that the Press Gangs had arrived and it was not unusual for the Press Gang to be attacked and beaten off.
“The fishing industry reached its zenith in the mid-19th century and a thriving community existed in Bay. The townsfolk liked to amuse themselves in the winter and there were dances almost every evening.
“Church and chapel were well attended and funerals and weddings were occasions for a festival. Like other fishing villages, Bay had its own gansey pattern. From the early 19th century, Robin Hood’s Bay began to attract visitors from the outside and this has continued to the present day.”380
***ROMANBY, NORTH YORKSHIRE***
T Whellan comments on: “From the proximity of the Roman road, the entrenchments, and relics of Roman antiquity found here, such as coins, etc, it seems pretty certain that the site of Northallerton was either a Roman Military Station, or a Roman Villa or town. Gale, the learned antiquary, says of it, ‘It is highly probable that it arose out of the ashes of an old Roman Station, whose name we have lost, there being still in the parish, and not half a mile distant, a hamlet, at this day called Romanby, through which runs an old Roman way from Thirsk to Catarick, where it joins the great Ermin Street; and the great banks and entrenchments yet remaining between the two towns are thought by the judicious to have been Roman works.’ But it is doubted whether the name of Romanby is owing either to the Roman works in its neighborhood, to the Roman road which runs through it, or to any other connexion with the Romans. Had it been the case, as Langdale very justly observes, ‘similar circumstances would have given the same name to other places; so that every town situated near a Roman encampment, or upon a Roman road, would, in consequence, have been called Romanby. But this is so far from being the fact, that there does not appear to be any other village of the same name, throughout the Kingdom.’ Others are of opinion that Romanby was originally a settlement of the Danes. In Domesday, it is called Romundebis, a name it probably derived from it Saxon found or proprietor.”381
University of Nottingham’s Institute for Name Studies underscores: “Romanby: ‘Rothmund's farm/settlement’. By (Old Norse): a ‘farmstead’, a ‘village’.”382
***SEXHOW, NORTH YORKSHIRE***
University of Nottingham’s Institute for Name Studies emphasizes: “Sexhow: ‘Sek's burial mound’ or perhaps, ‘six burial mounds’. Sex (Old English): ‘six’. Haugr (Old Norse): a ‘natural height’, a ‘hill’, a ‘heap’, an ‘artificial mound’, a ‘burial mound’.”383
**NORTHAMPTONSHIRE**
JB Johnston gives: “1088 [AD] Old English Chronicle Noroamtune; circa 1097 [AD] Florence of Worchester Northamtunensis; before 1145 [AD] Orderic Northantonia; 1373 [AD] Northamptonia. ‘North home-town’. Compare to Southampton and Northam (North Devonshire and Southampton).”384
J Gronow pens: “Northampton: Northamptonshire, 66 miles from London, a county town and borough. It was formerly called Hamton, as appears from the Saxon annals; the prefix of North being given soon after the Conquest, to distinguish it from Southampton, which before that time was known by the name of Hamton only. At Geddington, half-a-mile distant, in a trivium, is one of the beautiful crosses erected by Edward I to the memory of his Queen, Eleanor of Castile.
“Northamptonshire: an inland county, being nearly in the center of the kingdom, and as it runs in a long narrow tract to the northeast, in the form of a boot, it borders on more counties than any other in England. The air of this county is so pleasant and wholesome, by reason of its absence of all marshes, except a small part about Peterborough, and its distance from the sea, that the nobility and gentry have more seats and parks here than in any other county in England of equal size. There being scarcely a village but what has one or more seats in it, which, if the occupiers are not tainted with the vices of royalty, must have a powerful tendency to improve the morals of the people. It is a plain, level county, and so populous, that from some places no less than thirty steeples may be seen at one view.”385
JM Wilson scribes: “Northamptonshire, or Northampton, an inland county; bonded, on the northeast, by Leicestershire and Rutlandshire; on the north, by Lincolnshire; on the east, by Cambridgeshire, Huntingdonshire, and Bedfordshire; on the southeast, by Buckinghamshire; on the south and the southwest, by Oxfordshire; on the west, by Oxfordshire and Warwickshire. Its outline is oblong and irregular, and extends from northeast to southwest. Its boundaries, in some parts, are traced by streams; but, in general, are artificial. Its greatest length is 70 miles; its greatest breadth is 25 miles; its circuit is about 215 miles; and its area is 630,358 acres. Its surface is pleasantly diversified with moderate elevations; includes, near its west border, a part of the watershed between the eastern and the western seas; rises nowhere higher than about 800 feet above sealevel; is all adapted either to tillage or to pasture; and presents, in general, a verdant aspect, with rich interspersions of wood and mansions. The loftiest heights are in the west, in the vicinity of Daventry; a range of tolerable elevation extends along the northeast border, from Braybrooke to Wakerley; another range, of less marked character, nearly connects the hills around Daventry with the Braybrooke and Wakerley range; and several minor ranges occur in the southwest. The chief streams are the Nen, the Welland, the Bedfordshire Ouse, the Warwickshire Avon, the Cherwell, and the Leam. About one-half of the entire area, including all the higher grounds, most of the tract along the Nen to the vicinity of Oundle, and some intervening tracts, consists of lias formations, variously sand, upper lias clay, marlstone, and lower liasclay and lime; most of the rest of the area consists of lower oolitic formations, variously cornbrash, forest marble, Bradford clay, Bath oolite, fuller's earth, and inferior oolite; and a tract of about 7,000 acres in the extreme northeast, consists of alluvial matters, and is part of the Bedford level or Great fen. Good building stone is quarried at Barnack, Brackley, and Kingsthorpe; a sort of roofing-slate is quarried at Colleyweston; and clay and lime a bound at Dunston, Kingsthorpe, and other places. Mineral or petrifying springs occur in Astrop, Higham-Ferrers, Northampton, Raunds, Rothwell, Stanwick, and Wellingborough.
“The territory now forming Northamptonshire was inhabited by the ancient British Coritani; was included, by the Romans, in their province of Flavia Caesariensis; formed part of the Saxon Kingdom of Mercia; was known at Domesday as Northamtunescire; and then included what is now Rutlandshire. Many remarkable events have occurred in it, and are noticed in our articles on Northampton, Naseby, Edgcott, Fotheringay, Borough Hill, and other places where they happened. Ancient camps, variously British, Roman, Saxon, and Danish, are at Burnt Walls, Borough Hill, Arbury Banks, Castle Dykes, Irthling borough, Raynesbury, Huntsborough, Hardingstone, Passenham, Berrymount, Guilsborough, Ringstead, Round Hill near Lilbourne, and Castle Hillnear Sulgrave. Roman stations were at Burnt Walls or Borough
Hill, Chipping-Warden, Towcester, Lilbourne, and Castor. The Roman Watling-street comes in on the south at Stony Stratford; goes north-northwestward, past Towcester, Borough Hill, and Lilbourne; and proceeds thence beyond the county to an intersection of the Fosseway at High Cross. The Port way deflected from Watling-street within the county, and went to Blackground sand Aynho. Ermine-street crosses the northeast wing of the county, from the neighborhood of Castor to Stamford. Roman pavements have been found at Great Welden, Cotterstock, Thorpe, and Stanwick; and Roman coins and other Roman relics have been found in very many places. Old castles are or were at Fotheringay, Barnwell, Brackley, Northampton, Barton-Seagrave, Rockingham, and other places. Queen Eleanor's crosses are at Delapre Abbey and Geddington; and others were at Braunston and Brackley. Abbeys, priories, friaries, nunneries, and monastic hospitals were numerous; and some of them have left considerable remains. An old cathedral is at Peterborough; and old churches, with interesting features, are at Barnack, Barnwell, Brackley, Braunston, Brington, Brixworth, Castor, Earls-Barton, Fotheringay, Glinton, Higham-Ferrers, Northampton, Oundle, Spratton, Twywell, Wellingborough, and Whiston.”386
***BARTON SEAGRAVE, NORTHAMPTONSHIRE***
University of Nottingham’s Institute for Name Studies states: “Barton Seagrave: ‘Barley farm’. The manor passed to Stephen de Segrave in 1220. Bere-tun (Old English): a ‘barley enclosure’, a ‘barley farm’; later a ‘demesne farm’, an ‘outlying grange’.”387
***CATTYSBRAYN, WHITTLEWOOD, NORTHAMPTONSHIRE***
EJ Forward alludes: “Cattysbrayn: land with soil in which clay is mixed with pebbles, perhaps resembling the brain or the markings of a while cat.”388
***DEDEQUENEMORE, WHITTLEWOOD, NORTHAMPTONSHIRE***
EJ Forward communicates: “Dedequenemore: probably moor or marshland where a woman died, or where her dead body was found. ‘Dead Woman’s Field’.”389
***FOTHERINGHAY CASTLE, NORTHAMPTONSHIRE***
Neil Oliver depicts: “Mary, Queen of Scots was beheaded in the Great Hall of Fotheringhay Castle in Northamptonshire, on 8 February 1587. She departed this life in the guise of a Catholic martyr, wearing a long black dress with a blood-red petticoat beneath. Years before she had embroidered a motto into a chair: En ma fin est mon commencement – ‘In my end is my beginning’. The chair and the settlement stayed close by her until the end, like a premonition. It took two blows of the axe to separate her head from her body and afterwards every trace of the act was cleaned away, all her clothes and other mementoes burned. Her body was embalmed, placed in a lead coffin and eventually interred in Petersborough Cathedral, at night and by Protestant rite.
“Edward I had tried to eliminate all thoughts and memories of William Wallace by tearing the patriot’s body apart and scattering it across England and Scotland. But in so doing he created the very myth and martyr he had hoped to avoid. The same was true of Mary. Fascinating, beguiling and frustrating in life, she became infinitely more potent in death. English attempts to make her disappear only succeeded in
making her unforgettable and unforgotten. (A quarter of a century later James would have his mother’s coffin exhumed and moved to Westminster Abbey. The tomb he prepared for her there was more elaborate and impressive by far than that which holds the remains of Elizabeth I.)”390
***GALLOWWAY, WHITTLEWOOD, NORTHAMPTONSHIRE***
EJ Forward enumerates: “Gallowway: probably path or way leading to the gallows; a manor often had its own gallows for the execution of criminals.”391
***GOSPEL ELM, WHITTLEWOOD, NORTHAMPTONSHIRE***
EJ Forward gives an account: “Gospel Elm: elm-tree where passage(s) from the gospel were read. … It may have been a tradition in this parish to meet in the center (by the elm-tree) and read a passage from the Gospel before walking to the perimeter of the parish and ‘beating the bounds’. Alternatively, the position of this landmark may preserve the earliest known form for blessing a cemetery. In this case, the cemetery to which it refers is presumably one adjoining St John’s Church. The blessing would start at the center and then move to each of the four corners of the cemetery to form a cross. It is said that crosses were later planted in the ground at each of these sites. The elm-tree could have stood in place of a cross, as the cross of crucifixion is often referred to as the ‘tree of Christ’, and stone crosses were places where people gathered to hear preaching, which may explain the qualifier ‘gospel’. St Boniface was said to have been preaching to a discontented crowd (unwilling to give up their Viking ‘gods’) under a sacred oak-tree (dedicated to Thor, god of thunder) when, in an attempt to display the power of Christianity, he attacked the sacred tree with an axe. It is said to have split into four parts which fell onto the ground in the shape of a cross.”392
***HINTON-IN-THE-HEDGES, NORTHAMPTONSHIRE***
Clive Hockley points out: “The landlord of the Crewe Arms passed on your letter to me asking about the origins of the place name of our village, Hinton-in-the-Hedges.
“There is no definitive answer – just interesting hints.
“The village is mentioned in the Domesday Book of 1086 as Hynton in the hedges and the church has Saxon stonework – probably from about 850 AD.
“The only clues come in the etymology of the name.
“Hi or Hy was a shortened version of the current ‘high’ and the village is at an altitude of about 550 feet above sealevel – quite high compared to some surrounding countryside particularly to the west and south.
“Tun was an old Norse word meaning ‘an enclosed piece of ground’;
“And it is felt that in-the-hedges is obvious enough as we have lots of hedges and stone walls.
“Our first recorded vicar was a Richard de Hynton in 1275 – taking his name from the village.”393
***MAIDWELL, NORTHAMPTONSHIRE***
Whellan Francis and Co relate: “Called in Doomsday book Medewell, and in later records Maydenwell, is bounded by Draughton on the east, Kelmarsh on the north, Cottesbroke on the west, and Lamport on the south. It contains 1,650 acres: its population in 1801, was 208; in 1831, 278: and in 1841, 258 souls. The ratable value of the parish is 1,560 pounds; and the amount of assessed property, 2,595 pounds. The soil is generally a deep clay, and HHH Hungerford, Esq, is lord of the manor and principal owner.
“Manor: Berner held Maino 4 hides here, at the Norman survey: in the reign of Henry II, Alen de Maydwell held here 4 hides of Hamon or Fitz-Hamon, son of Maino, at the same time, 2 hides of the fee of Ranulph de Baieux, by Rabas: and henceforth this lordship contained two distinct manors. In the 9th of Edward II, (1315), Sir Nicholas Seyton, Kt, was lord of Maidwell, and from him it descended to his heirs. This part of the lordship, which in Henry II’s time was in the possession of the family of Rabas, continued with them till the 9th of Richard II (1385), when Agnes, relict of Robert Rabas, levied a fine of it to the use of Robert Fordinge. Henceforth no mention is to be found of the lordship till the 16th of Edward IV (1486), when Everard Seyton, Esq, died seized of two manors here. From this family they passed in the reign of Henry VIII to John Hazelwood, Esq. About the year 1683, the lordship of Maidwell was carried in marriage to the Hatton family, and it was afterwards sold by Lord Hatton, to Lord James Russell, 6th son of the 1st Duke of Bedford. HHH Hungerford, Esq, is the present proprietor.
“The Village of Maidwell stands low, and is situated about 10.5 miles north of Northampton, and 7 south of Market Harborough. Near the church is a quick flowing spring, called Maidwell, from which the parish is supposed to have taken its name.
“Here were anciently two Churches, one dedicated to the Blessed Virgin (now standing), to which the chapel of Kelmarsh was annexed; the other dedicated to St Peter (long since destroyed), stood northeast of the present church, in St Peter’s Close, but when it fell to decay, does not appear. The present edifice consists of a nave, chancel, porches, and tower, containing a peal of five bells. The living is a rectory, in the deanery of Rothwell, rated in the KB of 16 pounds, 5 shillings, 2.5 pence, but now worth 220 pounds per annum. The patronage is vested in the lord of the manor, and the Rev Thomas Holdich is the rector. In the chancel are two old battered figures of men in armor, one of which is supposed to be the effigy of Sir John Seaton, Kt, who died in Jerusalem, in 1396, and whose remains were interred here.
“The School, in the village, is supported by subscription.
“Maidwell Hall, the property of the lord of the manor, and residence of JB Beale, Esq, was formerly the seat of Lord James Russell. It is a plain, commodious, stone mansion, erected in 1637.”394
***MONEKESMEDE, WHITTLEWOOD, NORTHAMPTONSHIRE***
EJ Forward stipulates: “Monekesmede: ‘Monks’ meadow’, alluding to land held by the monks of Luffield Priory.”395
***MORYZEVEHOUS, WHITTLEWOOD, NORTHAMPTONSHIRE***
EJ Forward writes: “Moryzevehous: house given to the bride by her husband the morning after their marriage.”396
***SILVERSTONE, NORTHAMPTONSHIRE***
University of Nottingham’s Institute for Name Studies articulates: “Silverstone: Probably ‘Saewulf's/Sigewulf's farm/settlement’. Tun (Old English): an ‘enclosure’; a ‘farmstead’; a ‘village’; an ‘estate’.”397
***TEMPLELANE, WHITTLEWOOD, NORTHAMPTONSHIRE***
EJ Forward describes: “Templelane: lane alongside or leading to property owned by the Knights Templar.”398
**NORTHUMBERLAND**
JB Johnston establishes: “Circa 1175 [AD] Fantosme, but Bede Nordanhymbri; circa 890 [AD] AElfred On Noranhymbra eode; 898 [AD] Old English Chronicle Norhymbre; circa 1000 [AD] Aelfric Norhymbralande. This name for a district for ‘North of Humber’ came early into use. Deira, to the south, became largely Danish; but Bernicia, to the north, was never so. Compare to 1065 [AD] Old English Chronicle Worchestershire, ‘In Yorkshire and in Northumberland’. 883 [AD] already distinguishes Eboracum and Northimbri; and even noteworthy is ‘Solius Northumbriae Comitatum’. Circa 1097 [AD] Florence of Worchester has Suthymbria = Deira.”399
J Gronow highlights: “Northumberland: the most northern county of England, and formerly, from the import of the word included in its name, all the counties north of the Humber. This, and some of the adjoining counties of Scotland, was in the time of the Romans inhabited by the Ottadini, or Ottatini; a nation supposed to have been so called from their situation on or beyond the Tyne.”400
JM Wilson portrays: “Northumberland, a maritime county in the north of England; bounded, on the northwest and the north, by Scotland; on the northeast and the east, by the North sea; on the south, by Durham; on the southwest and the west, by Cumberland. Its outline is irregularly pentagonal, with a long side toward the northwest, a short side toward the southeast, and long sides toward the east, the south, and the west. Its boundary, on the northwest side, is formed mainly by a watershed of the Cheviots and by the river Tweed; on the northeast and the east sides, by the North sea; on the south side, mainly by the rivers Tyne and Derwent; on part of the west side, by the river Irthing. Its greatest length, from north to south, is nearly 70 miles; its greatest breadth, from north by west to east by south, is about 50 miles; its circuit is about 225 miles, 90 of which are along the Cheviots and 50 along the coast; and its area is 1,249,299 acres. It exceeds in size all the counties of England except York, Lincoln, Devon, and Norfolk. The Cheviots project far within the border; occupy great part of the parishes of Wooler, Kirknewton, Ilderton, Ingram, Alnham, Alwinton, and Elsdon; form masses grouped skirt to skirt, or shoulder to shoulder, like clustering cones, with dome-shaped summits; and rise to altitudes of from 1,280 to 2,658 feet. The surface from their base, eastward to the sea and southeastward to the Tyne, may be described generally as a hanging plain, but consists largely of either low tableau or low plain. The
tracts in the southwest to the extent of about 25 miles from Highfield and Hareshaw moors to the south border, and from 10 to 28 miles eastward from the west order, are chiefly moor and mountain, beautifully intersected by the valleys of the North Tyne, the South Tyne, and the Allen, much diversified also by verdant hills and hanging plains, and rising at or near the boundaries to altitudes of from 1,000 to nearly 2,000 feet. Much of the scenery is wild, bare, or monotonous; but much also is richly and variedly picturesque. The chief rivers are the Tweed, the Till, the Alne, the Coquet, the Wansbeck, the Blyth, the Tyne, the Derwent, the North Tyne, the Reed, the South Tyne, the Allen, and the Irthing. Mineral springs are at Thurston, Eglingham, and near Holystone. The coast is prevailing low and little diversified; Coquet Island, the Fern Islands, and Holy Island lie off it; and the most remarkable of its features are noticed, in order from south to north, in the following lines:
And now the vessel skirts the strand
Of mountainous Northumberland;
Towns, towers, and halls successive rise,
and catch the nuns' delighted eyes.
Monk wearmouth soon behind them lay,
and Tynemouth's priory and bay.
They mark'd amid her trees the hall
Of lofty Seaton-Delaval;
They saw the Blyth and Wansbeck floods
Rush to the sea through sounding woods:
They pass'd the tower of Widdrington,
Mother of many a valiant son;
At Coquet Isle their beads they tell
To the good saint who own'd the cell;
Then did the Alne attention claim;
and Warkworth, proud of Percy's name;
and next they cross'd themselves to hear
The whitening breakers sound so near,
Where boiling through the rocks, they roar
On Dunstan borough's cavern'd shore;
Thy tower, proud Bamborough, mark'd they there
King Ida's castle, huge and square,
From its tall rock look grimly down,
and on the swelling ocean frown;
Then from the coast they bore away,
and reach'd the Holy Island's bay.
“The ancient British Ottadeni inhabited the east parts of what is now Northumberland; the ancient British Gadeni inhabited the west parts; and both are supposed to have been in strict alliance with the Brigantes. The Romans, under Agricola, subdued all the country, together with the part of Scotland south of the Forth and Clyde; they constructed two lines of defenses, the one from the Forth to the Clyde in Scotland, the other from the Tyne at Walls end across the south of Northumberland toward the Solway firth; they restored or remade the old British road called Watling-street, running northwestward through Northumberland, past Corbridge to the Cheviots; and they included all Northumberland in their province of Valentia. Their line of defense from Wallsend to the Solway proved insufficient to resist insurrections and attacks from the north; was strengthened, so as to consist of a stone wall with north ditch, an earthen wall or vallum south of the stone wall, a chain of stations, castles, and watchtowers, and lines of road chiefly between the stone wall and the vallum, in the time of Hadrian; and will be described in our article Roman Wall. The Picts frequently overran the northern and central parts of Northumberland, and broke through the wall; but they were finally repelled, or reduced to quietude, in the time of Valentinian. The Romans departed in 446, and left the country a prey to civil discord. The Saxons were invited by the distracted inhabitants to pacify the country; Ebusa and Octa, brothers of Hengist, landed on the coast of Northumberland in 454, but do not seem to have made much impression; Ida, called the flame-bearer, landed in 547, built a castle at Bambrough, and founded the Kingdom of Bernicia; and that kingdom extended from the Tyne to the Forth, took its name from the river Brennich or the part of the Till above Wooler, and was eventually united to the Kingdom of Deira to form the Kingdom of Northumbria. Edwin, who mounted the throne in 617, introduced Christianity; Egbert, King of Wessex, wrung submission from Eanred of Northumbria in 823, and got entire possession of the country in 828-30; the Danes over ran it in 844 and 867; Edward the Elder defeated them in a great battle at Corbridge; Athelstan over threw the combined forces of the Scots and the Cumbrians, in another great battle at Brunan-burgh; and Edred completely conquered all Northumbria in 942, divided it into baronies and counties, and transmuted its kings into jarls or earls. One of the earldoms took the name of Northumberland, and extended southward to the Tees and northward to the Forth; and the history of it became interwoven with the history of Scotland, but practically terminated in the death of Siward, who dethroned Macbeth of Scotland, restored Malcolm, and died in 1055. Tosti Godvinson, brother of King Harold, nominally succeeded Siward; but the inhabitants viewed him as a despot, and speedily expelled him, saying, ‘We have learned from our fathers to live as freemen or to die.’ Copsi,
who was assassinated by R Comyn, also became nominally Earl; Cospatrick afterwards purchased the title; Bishop Walthe of Durham, Mowbray the Norman, Prince Henry of Scotland, and Bishop Pusar successively wore it; the Percys got it in 1377, and retained it till 1461; Neville, Lord Montagu, then received it; and the Percys got it again in 147[0’s], and retained it till 1537. The title was afterwards changed to Duke; went to John, Earl of Warwick; passed in 1557, to the Percys; remained with them till 1670; became extinct; was revived in 1683, in favor of George Fitzroy; and again became extinct. The title of Earl was revived in 1749, in favor of A Seymour, Duke of Somerset; and the title of Duke was revived in 1786, in favor of the Smithson-Percys.
“William the Conqueror encountered great resistance in Northumberland, scourged most of it nearly to desolation, and drove multitudes of the inhabitants into the mountains and the forests, but never got possession of Tyne-dale and Redesdale. Northumberland then was practically part of Scotland, linking its fortunes with those of the Scottish Kings; and it continued, throughout William's reign, and throughout the reigns of William Rufus, Henry I, Stephen, Henry II, and Richard I, to be a scene of incessant reprisals and retaliation between the forces of Scotland and those of England. Malcolm III, in 1019, invaded, wasted, and burnt the county as far as to Alnwick; David I, in 1135, seized Norham, Alnwick, and Newcastle; and William the Lion, in 1166 and subsequent years, over ran the county, seized its fortresses, and terribly devastated its towns and mansions. William was at last taken prisoner, and carried captive into the presence of Henry II; Malcolm IV had previously made accession of Northumberland to Henry II; and William subsequently paid homage to King John; yet was not the county saved from repetition of conflicts and disasters. Alexander II, in 1244, advanced as far as to Ponteland; but retreated in consequence of Henry III, with an army, being at Newcastle. Great events, arising out of the unsettled state of the Scottish succession, occurred in various parts, particularly at Berwick and Norham. The Scots, in resistance to Edward I, or in retaliation of his measures, in one year, ravished Redesdale and Tynedale, and burnt Corbridge and Hexham; in another year, recaptured Berwick, laid waste the country around Rothbury, and menaced Newcastle; in another year, after the Battle of Bannockburn, made terrible raids into much of the county, and again burnt Corbridge and Hexham; and in another year, 1318, captured Wark, Harbottle, and Mitford, and again recaptured Berwick, which had been retaken by the English. The Scots also, in 1327, captured Norham; in 1333, blockaded Bambrough; in 1372, won the Battle of Carham; in 1385, took the castles of Wark, Ford, and Cornhill; in 1387, on the day of Chevy Chase, were routed at Otterburn; in 1400, after the fall of Wark, were defeated at Fulhope-Law and Homeldon; in 1436, won the Battle of Pepper-dean; and, in 1448, took and burnt Alnwick. A great battle between the Yorkists and the Lancastrians was fought at Hexham in 1464. Perkin Warbeck devastated the county in 1496. The Scots suffered a disastrous overthrow at Flodden in 1513; they were defeated again at Branxton, in 1524; and they invaded England and took Newcastle in 1639. Other events are noticed in the articles on the principal towns.
“A great multitude of antiquities, in great variety, exist in connexion with the Roman wall; and many of these are seen in the wall's own course, and on the sites of its stations and castles, while others have been collected into local museums and repositories. The Roman Watling-street is partly in tolerable preservation, and has partly been converted into a good modern road; and a station on it at Bremenium, the modern High Rochester, about 22 miles north of the wall, has left distinct traces of ramparts,
ditches, and gates; and yielded important discoveries during excavations made in 1852 by the Duke of Northumberland, and more recently by the Newcastle Society of Antiquaries. Another Roman station was on Watling-street at Risingham; and another, at Corbridge. A branch Roman way went from Watling-street to Alnwick. Two Roman camps were at Tynemouth and North Shields; two also were on the Durham side at the east end of South Shields and at Jarrow; and these four, with perhaps the aid of other works, commanded the Tyne from the east end of the wall to the sea. Ancient camps, which have left some remains, were likewise at Whatton, Whitley, Whitchester, Rosedon-Edge, Kirk-newton, Black Dykes, Bolam, Outchester, Spindeston, Belford, Rothbury, Castlehill near Callany, Glanton-Pike, Berwick-Hill, Greencastle near Wooler, Harelaw near Paston, and Castlestone-Nick near Cornhill. The lords of the East Marches, which comprised all the northern part of what is now Northumberland, wielded vast powers for repelling or punishing raids during the Middle Ages; and they were aided, in the discharge of their onerous duties, by royal fortresses at Bambrough and Newcastle, by noble fortresses at Wark, Alnwick, and Prudhoe, by baronial strongholds and peel-towers in many places, by bastel-houses in towns and villages, and even by some fortified ecclesiastical towers, as at Corbridge and Elsdon. Very many of the mediaeval strengths, or considerable remains of them, still exist, particularly at Bambrough, Newcastle, Wark, Prudhoe, Tynemouth, Ogle, Bellister, Thirlwall, Staward-le-Peel, Langley, Willimoteswick, Simonsburn, Kielder, Cockley, Ayden, Hatton, Welton, Morpeth, Bothall, Dunstanborough, Witton, Harbottle, Hepple, Edlingham, Lilbourn, Horton, Fowberry, Rothbury, and Berwick. Remains of abbeys are Hulne, Newminster, Blanchland, and Hexham; remains of priories are at Lindisfarne, Brinckburn, and Tynemouth; and interesting old churches are at Seaton-Delaval, Ponteland, Heddon-on-the-Wall, Bolam, Elsdon, Newcastle, and Hexham.”401
***COTTONHOPE, NORTHUMBERLAND***
Godfrey Watson remarks: “Cottonhope: Hop or hope has been described as a ‘small enclosed valley’, a ‘smaller opening branching out from the main dale’, a ‘blind alley’. For all practical purposes a Northumbrian Hope is a strip of better land in a valley that is probably narrower than a dene, less precipitous than a Cleugh (or ‘Ravine’) and more sheltered and less liable to flooding than a Haugh (‘flat ground by a stream’). A Hope therefore was quite a desirable possession consisting, as it did, of more fertile soil than was available further up the hills, and so in 1315 we find John Comyn, who was killed at Bannockburn, leaving in his will ‘a number of Hopes in Northumberland’.
“For every Hope thus described, however, there are probably two or three whose names incorporate those of the original settler such as Cott (or coten) at Cottonshope.”402
***DUDDO, NORTHUMBERLAND***
University of Nottingham’s Institute for Name Studies shares: “Duddo: ‘Dud(d)a's hill-spur’. Hoh (Old English): a ‘heel’; a ‘sharply projecting piece of ground’.”403
www.stone-circles.org.uk stresses: “Although shown as Duddo Four Stones on the Ordnance Survey 1:25000 map, there are in fact five uprights in this stone circle. The OS seem to have kept the descriptive 19th century name of the site but the re-erection of a fallen stone at the beginning of the 20th century means the circle is now more usually referred to as Duddo Five Stones. There were in fact once seven
stones in total, a large gap to the west that can be seen in the foreground of the photograph below was occupied by a pair of stones whose sockets were discovered during excavation in the 1890s, the missing stones having been removed at least 50 years before.
“Due to the soft sandstone chosen for the uprights the stones have become highly figured from the effects of 4,000 years of Northumbrian weather with deep water-cut channels running down their faces and despite the physical bulk of the stones with the tallest standing 2.3 meters high, the circle is quite compact with a diameter of just 10 meters. Surprisingly given the amount of erosion on their surfaces, or perhaps because of it, several depressions in the stones have been interpreted as cup marks - the middle stone in the top picture has a vertical line of possible cups towards its right hand side while the inset image shows the inner face of another stone that has several large bowl shaped hollows that could either be man made or natural.
“Duddo stands on slight saddle between the slopes of Mattilees Hill to the east and a slight rise to the west with the landscape falling away gently to the north and south but the most impressive views sweep round from the north to the west in the direction of the border with Scotland only 6 kilometers (4 miles) away.”404
Robert White composes: “Next morning early, being Friday, the memorable 9th of September, in accordance with the said resolution, the English army was in motion, and instead of keeping the way direct to Berwick, they swerved to the northwest by Duddo, advancing between King James and his own land. At this time, Giles Musgrave, an Englishman, who was with the Scots and in favor with the King, endeavored, though ineffectually, for the benefit of his own country, to persuade him to descend from Flodden, under pretense that Surrey was on his way, to waste and plunder Scotland. But the vanguard under command of Lord Howard, with the artillery, and stores consisting of baggage and ammunition, crossed the Till about eleven o’clock, at Twysel bridge, which is still remaining. The rearward, with its commander, the Earl of Surrey, also passed that stream about a mile higher up, at a place then called Millford, probably a ford near the mill of Heton, sufficiently shallow for the main body to pass over. Nearly all our historians blame King James for not attacking the English when they crossed the river, which, they relate, he might have done with great advantage, but Twysel is at a distance of about five miles from Flodden, and the King would not then abandon his favorable position.”405
***GUYZANCE, NORTHUMBERLAND***
University of Nottingham’s Institute for Name Studies designates: “Guyzance: ‘the Guines family’.”406
Godfrey Watson expands: “Guyzance is a corruption of Gysnes. Here lived a Norman of that name who dedicated to St Wilfred de Gysnes a chapel at nearly Brainshaaugh, which takes its name from the Low Ground by the river where there was a Borran or ‘Burial Mound’.”407
***HOLYSTONE, NORTHUMBERLAND***
JM Wilson illustrates: “Holystone, or Hallystone, a township and a parochial chapelry in Rothbury district, Northumberland. The township lies on the river Coquet, 6 miles west by north of Rothbury, and
12 ½ north by west of Scot's Gap railway station. Acres, 2,906. Population, 135. Houses, 31. The chapelry contains also the townships of Dueshill, Barrow, Linsheeles, and Harbottle; the last of which has a postoffice under Morpeth. Acres, 19,900. Population, 426. Houses, 83. Much of the land is moor. Campville cottage is situated on the site of a Roman camp. A Benedictine convent, for eight nuns, was founded at Holystone, about 1254, by one of the Umfravilles of Harbottle Castle; and several curious fragments of sculpture, which seem to have belonged to it, are built into the walls of the present church. The Lady's well, supposed to have belonged to the nunnery, and situated in a little grove of firs at a short distance, is a square basin, with a copious spring of pure water; has, on the brink, an old moss covered statue of an ecclesiastic; and has also, rising from the water, a tall cross, with the inscription, ‘In this place Paulinus the Bishop baptized 3,000 Northumbrians.’ A prayer station for pilgrims coming to Holystone was on the moors between it and Elsdon, and is still marked by remains of an ancient stone cross. The living is a parochial curacy, annexed to the vicarage of Alwinton, in the diocese of Durham. The church was partly restored, partly rebuilt, in 1849; and has two memorial windows, of 1857, to the Dawson family.”408
Allen Mawer maintains: “Old English Halig-stan = ‘holy-stone’. Leland tells us some hold opinion that at Halistene or in the River Coquet thereabout over 3,000 were christened in one day.
“The legend may or may not be true, but the meaning of the name is clear. Hallo and Holli show shortening of the vowel of North and South Middle English haly and holy respectively.”409
***KIRKWHELPINGTON, NORTHUMBERLAND***
University of Nottingham’s Institute for Name Studies presents: “Kirkwhelpington: ‘Farm/settlement connected with Hwelp’ with the later addition of ‘church’. Ingtun (Old English): a ‘settlement called after, or connected with...’. Kirkja (Old Norse): a ‘church’.”410
***PICTS’ WALL, NORTHUMBERLAND***
J Gronow renders: “Picts’ Wall, of which there are some remains both in Northumberland and Cumberland, was built by the Romans from Carlisle to Newcastle-upon-Tyne, ie, 80 miles from east to west, to prevent the ravages of the Scots and Picts. The emperor Adrian first built it of earth, and in 123 caused it to be palisaded. Severus built it of stone, with towers at every mile, in which he kept garrisons. AElius, the Roman general, rebuilt it of brick in 430, but it was not long before it was ruined by the Picts. It was eight feet thick, and twelve high.”411
***VINDOLANDA, NORTHUMBERLAND***
Anthony Birley sheds light on: “The fort's name is Celtic: vindos meant 'white' or 'shining'; it survives as Welsh gwyn and Irish finn — and in the word winter, the 'white season'. Several other place-names in Britain began Vindo-: Vindobala (Rudchester) and Vindomora (Ebchester), also Roman forts, are examples close to Vindolanda; and Vindogara was a native settlement in Ayrshire. Vindobona on the Danube (modern Vienna) and Vindonissa (near Brugg in Switzerland) are well-known sites on the continent, both housing legionary fortresses. Landa meant 'enclosure' or 'lawn', from the same root
as Welsh llan. One can guess why the place got the name: soon after sunrise in winter, the plateau stays in the shadow cast by Barcombe after the frost all round has melted: for half an hour or so it really does look like a 'shining enclosure' or 'white lawn'. The name must already have existed when the Romans first saw Vindolanda, in the early 70s. No trace of a British settlement has yet been detected. It is likely that there was at least a holy place there: the Celts attached sacred significance to springs, streams and rivers. The waters that meet at Vindolanda would have been an ideal location for a shrine or sacred grove.”412
***WALL TOWN, NORTHUMBERLAND***
J Gronow suggest: “Wall Town, Northumberland, 285 miles from London, a township, in the parish of Haltwhistle, intersected by the Roman wall, and containing the stations Little Chesters and Great Chesters; the ramparts of the latter are in a better state of preservation than those of any other on the wall; two of the ditches are still existing, and considerable remains of a town. Numerous evidences of the mighty conquerors have been found.”413
**NOTTINGHAMSHIRE**
JB Johnston calls attention to: “Asser 868 [AD] ‘Scnotingaham quod Britannice Tigguocobauc interpretatur, Latin Speluncarum domus,’ or ‘house of caves’. Tigguocobauc is probably Celtic for ‘house in the little cave’; compare to Welsh ty, Gaelic tigh, ‘a house’; Cornish ogo, ‘a cavern’, and Welsh bach, Old Welsh becc, ‘little’. Domesday Book Snotingeham; before 1190 [AD] Walter Map Notingam; 1461 [AD] Snotingham. ‘Home of the Snotinga’, a patronymic. Searle’s Onomasticon Anglo-Saxonicum gives Snoding and Snot. Snoddy is still used as a personal name. Compare to Sneinton. There are also two Nottinghams in Gloucestershire.”414
J Gronow connotes: “Nottingham: the county town, 124 miles from London, an ancient borough, seated on the Lind, near its conflux into the Trent, takes its name from the Saxon snottenga, ie, ‘caves’; which the ancients dug under the steep rocks towards the Lind for places of retreat. One of them is noted for ‘Christ’s Passion’, cut out by David II, King of Scotland, when prisoner here. In the castle there is a winding staircase leading to a place called ‘Mortimer’s Hole’, where Roger Mortimer, Earl of March, is said to have absconded, when he was taken by order of Edward III, and executed. Marshal Tallard, taken prisoner at Blenheim, was confined in this town seven years on his parole. King Richard III marshaled his troops here previously to the Battle of Bosworth field, where he was slain. The castle, built by William de Peverel, was rebuilt by Edward IV, and enlarged by Richard III. In the Barons’ wars it was surprised and taken by Robert, Count de Ferrers, who stripped the townsmen of all they had, and give it to his soldiers. It was once besieged, but in vain, by Henry of Anjou, at which time the garrison burnt down all the buildings about it. This splendid mansion was burnt down in the Reform riots. On the east side of the park, King Charles planted his standard, since called ‘Standard Hill’, from whence he dated his commission of battle and array. The town was made a garrison for the parliament, under the brave Colonel Hutchinson.
“Nottinghamshire: an inland county, is bounded on the north by Yorkshire, on the south by Leicestershire, on the east by Lincolnshire, and on the west by Derbyshire. The air is esteemed as good
as any county in England, but it is divided by the different qualities of the soil into two denominations. The east side, fruitful in corn and pasture, is called ‘the Clay’, and this division into the North and South Clay; and the west part of the county, which is woody or barren, is called the ‘Sand’. This county was part of the territory of the Coritani, before the arrival of the Romans. The peculiar commodity is a kind of stone, like alabaster, but not so hard, which, when burnt, makes a plaster harder than that of Paris, with which the inhabitants generally plaster the floors of their upper rooms. Almost the whole of the middle and western parts of the county were formerly occupied by the forest of Sherwood, famed throughout the kingdom as the theatre of the exploits of the outlaw Robin Hood, and his fides achates Little John, who lived in the reign of John. At St Ann’s Well, near Nottingham, a helmet is shown, which tradition reports to have been worn by the outlaw, called by Camden praedonem.”415
JM Wilson details: “Nottinghamshire or Notts, a midland county; bounded, on the northwest, by Yorkshire; on the northeast and the east, by Lincolnshire; on the southeast and the south, by Leicestershire; on the west, by Derbyshire. Its outline is irregularly ovoidal, with the long axis extending from north to south. Its boundary with part of Lincolnshire is formed by the river Trent, with part of Leicestershire, by the river Soar; with part of Derbyshire, by the river Erewash; but, in general, is artificial. Its greatest length, from north to south, is 50 miles; its greatest breadth, from east to west, is 27 miles; its circuit is about 150 miles; and its area is 526,076 acres. The greater part of the surface belongs to the valley of the Trent; and much of this, particularly in the east and in the northeast, is very low, and is drained as fenland. The rest of the surface is uneven and partly hilly, but nowhere rises to higher elevations than from 400 to 600 feet. A tract of wold is in the south, extending from Hickling westward to Gotham; and a tract of hill, comprising about one-fifth of the entire area and mainly identical with Sherwood forest, is in the west, extending from Warsop southward to Nottingham. Much of the scenery, especially around Nottingham and throughout Sherwood forest, is very pleasing. The river Trent makes a great figure; comes in, on the southwest, at the influx of the Soar; runs 2 ¾ miles on the boundary with an indenting portion of Derbyshire; goes northeastward across the county to the neighborhood of Newark; proceeds thence northward along the border to North Clifton; continues northward, mainly along the boundary with Lincolnshire, past Dunham, Littleborough, and Gainsborough, to the end of Tindale bank; and, throughout all its connexion with the county, amounting to about 60 miles, is a broad navigable stream. All the other streams of the county go directly or indirectly to the Trent; and the chief of them are the Soar, the Erewash, the Leen, the Dover, the Devon, and the Idle.
“The territory now forming Notts was inhabited by the ancient British Coritani; was included by the Romans in their Flavia Caesariensis; formed part of the Saxon Kingdom of Mercia; passed into the possession of the Danes; was rescued from them by Alfred; passed again into their possession, and continued in it till 942; was then rescued from them by Edmund; suffered subsequent injuries at their hand till the 11th century; and retains, in its topographical nomenclature, many traces of their speech. The greater part of it was given, by William the Conqueror, to his natural son, William Peverel. Important events occurred in it in the time of Stephen, in the civil wars of Charles I, and in the political excitements towards the end of last century; but these, together with events of more local character, have already been sufficiently indicated in our articles on Nottingham and Newark. Ancient British
camps or earthworks are at Barton, Oxton, and Worksop. Supposed Druidical remains are at Blidworth, near Wollaston, and near Work-sop. Roman camps are at Holly-Hill, Hexgrave, and near Mansfield. Traces of a Roman villa also are near Mansfield. Roman stations were at Southwell, Brough, Newark, East Bridgeford, and Littleborough. Roman settlements were also at Broughton, Attenborough, Clarborough, Flawborough, Bilborough, Woodborough, Mulaleborough, Carburton, West Burton, Batford, Retford, Tuxford, Wilford, Gateford, Rad ford, Rufford, Salterford, Langford, Spalford, Shelford, Stapleford, and Stanford. The Fosse way comes in from Leicestershire at a tumulus near Willoughby, and goes northeast by northward, past Owthorpe, Bingham, East Bridgeford, Syerston, East Stoke, Farndon, Newark, Winthorpe, and Brough. Ermine-street comes in from Lincolnshire on the southeast, and goes northwestward, across the Fosse way near East Stoke, and past Southwell, on to Yorkshire. Mediaeval castles were at Nottingham, Newark, Blyth, and Cuckeney. Abbeys were at Beauvale, Rad ford, Newstead, and Welbeck; priories were at Mattersey, Thurgarton, Nottingham, Newark, and Worksop; and interesting old churches, or portions of them, are at Southwell, Blyth, Hawton, Worksop, and other places.”416
Christopher Daniell explains: “The Danes occupied the town in 868 and it became the capital of the Danelaw. By popular tradition Robin Hood was supposed to have been in conflict with the sheriff of Nottingham in the middle ages. In 1642 Charles I raised his standard there, which marked the start of the Civil War. Nottingham became one of the earliest industrial towns and was the scene of Luddite riots between 1811 and 1816.”417
HH Swinnerton imparts: “Before it was modified by Norman influence the name had several forms, eg, Snothryngham, Snottingaham, Snottingham — but Snotengaham was the earliest. This ending ham is akin to the word ‘home’, and is of Anglo-Saxon origin. It tells us of a people who came to this country —not, as the Romans did, to exploit — but to colonies and to make for themselves a home. It is not at all unlikely that Snottingham was the home of an Anglian family—Snot (the wise) by name. Thus with the possessive ing the whole word means ‘the home of Snot’.
“With the City of Nottingham is associated a large extent of country known by the interchangeable names of Nottinghamshire and the County of Nottingham. These also reflect the influence of the Anglo-Saxons and Normans respectively. The suffix shire is akin to the word ‘share’, and like it signifies a division, something cut off. County only dates from Norman times and denotes the domain of a Comte or ‘Count’. There is no historical account of the coming into existence of Nottinghamshire. At one time the area it covers seems to have been divided between the Kingdoms of Mercia and Lindsey. It certainly existed as a shire before 1016, for the word Snotingahamscire occurs in writings of that date. Probably it was created a century before by Edward the Elder. This King in order to consolidate the newly acquired portion of his kingdom, situated in the region now called the Midlands, placed ‘shares’ of it under the control of chief men or Ealdormen. Usually each share or shire, as it was called, consisted of those portions of the country that were within easy reach of a military center. Nottingham was such a center, situated not far from the old Roman Fosseway, and at a point where an important road to the north crossed the Trent. It thus dominated the country through which these three ways passed. That country was naturally made into a shire administered from Nottingham and therefore called
Nottinghamshire. On the other hand the shire may have been formed from the district which was settled by that Danish army which had its headquarters in Nottingham.”418
***BARNBY IN THE WILLOWS, NOTTINGHAMSHIRE***
University of Nottingham’s Institute for Name Studies mentions: “Barnby in the Willows: probably, ‘children's farm’, ie, one held jointly by the heirs. Alternatively, the first element may be the Old Danish masculine personal name Biarni. Barn (Old Norse): ‘child, offspring’. By (Old Norse): a ‘farmstead’, a ‘village’.”419
Kathryn of the Willow Tree puts into words: “I seem to remember reading that it was called Barnebi in the Domesday book completed in 1086 and was later called Barnby in the Willows to avoid confusion with another village also called Barnby which is now called Barnby Moor. Strange enough and despite sat nav we still get visitors here who have been confused with Barnby Moor. We have on a couple of occasions in the last 5 years had people turning up here in our pub thinking they have a table reservation with us and in fact have friends waiting for them in another pub in Barnby Moor. It is a 25 mile drive up the motorway so a long way from where they should be. A bad mistake to make in the days of the horse and cart and not a great mistake to make even now. The village sits right on the banks of the River Witham and at the time of the name change the Willow Trees grown along the banks were a big source of income for the village. I believe that is why it was called Barnby in the Willows.”420
www.barnby-in-the-willows.org.uk reports: “An inquisition, held in Newark in 1503 recorded the following mention of Barnby: ‘An inquisition at Newark, the 10th December, 1503, found that John Boteler, chaplain, was seized of 1 messuage, 10 acres of land, 1 acre of meadow, and 1 acre of pasture in Barnby, and so seized, did by his charter of May 1st, 1476, grant the same to John Wyllyngham, chaplain, and other, to have and to hold to them and their heirs forever to the use of the chaplains of the chantries of Newark. The messuage and land were worth yearly without reprises 13 shillings 4 pence.
“The name Barnesbe in Willowes first appears in 1575 during the reign of Elizabeth I with the further development of Barnebie in le Willowes in 1589. It has been stated that the village was known as Barneby in the Willowes for distinction from Barneby in the More. The willows (osiers) growing along the riverbank and in wet areas of the churchyard were used to make baskets, beehives, and other domestic and agricultural equipment. The last time osiers were grown as a crop in Barnby was in 1900.”421
***BUNNY, NOTTINGHAMSHIRE***
University of Nottingham’s Institute for Name Studies shows: “Bunny: ‘Reedy island’. Bune (Old English): a ‘reed’. Eg (Anglian): an ‘island’. In ancient settlement-names, most frequently refers to dry ground surrounded by marsh. Also used of islands in modern sense. In late Old England names: ‘well-watered land’.”422
JB Johnston talks about: “Domesday Book Bonei; 1228 [AD] Close Boneya; 1284 [AD] Boneye. Might be Old Norse bon-ey, ‘prayer isle’. But perhaps from Old English bune, ‘reed, the stem of the cow-parsnip’;
it is only once given with an o, in 1388 [AD]. However, we have 1166-7 [AD] Pipe Boueneia (Oxfordshire), which much be ‘isle of Bofa’, generic –an, a fairly common name.”423
James Orange catalogs: “No 2 is the oak hedge stake, 5 feet long, with which Charles Rotherham, aged 33, tried before Mr Justice Bayley, 24th July, 1817, murdered Elizabeth Sheppard, of Papplewick, aged 16, in a valley near the third mile stone on the Nottingham road from Mansfield, where she had been to seek a situation of service. There is no doubt he first intended to injure the girl, and being resisted, went to the hedge and drew a stake with which he took the poor creature’s life; all that he took from her, for she had no money, was a pair of new shoes from her feet, and an umbrella; the shoes he offered to sell for 2 shillings of the landlady of the ‘Three Crowns’ public house, Red hill, saying that they were his wife’s who had left him; the landlady declined having anything to do with them. Rotherham lodged there that night, and took the shoes with him into his bedroom, and when he went away the next morning left them behind him. He passed through Nottingham, and when at Bunny sold the umbrella for 2 shillings; Mr Benjamin Barnes, high constable of Nottingham, apprehended him that day a little on this side of Loughborough, and discovered spots of blood upon him. The wretch confessed his crime, and when taken the next day from the county goal to Sutton-in-Ashfield, to the Coroner’s inquest, passed by the place where he had perpetuated the murder, and was very particular in describing every part of the horrid deed; ‘that was the place from whence I plucked the hedge stake with which I killed her, and that was the ditch in which I threw the body. I rifled her pockets, and then unlaced her stays in front to see if she had any money secreted in her bosom, but found nothing.’ He was born at Sheffield, and apprenticed to a scissor grinder, to a Mr Parker, - served all but his last year, which he bought out, and soon after enlisted as a driver in the artillery, in which he continued twelve years; during this time he was in many engagements and sieges, without ever being wounded, he was executed on Gallows-hill.”424
***SCROOBY, NOTTINGHAMSHIRE***
University of Nottingham’s Institute for Name Studies expounds: “Scrooby: ‘Skropi's farm/settlement’ or ‘Skroppa's farm/settlement’, a feminine personal name. By (Old Norse): a ‘farmstead’, a ‘village’.”425
JEB Gover, A Mawer, FM Stenton notates: “Scrooby as a place-name can be found in historical documents from the Domesday Book of 1086 onward. The spelling of the place name was not constant or fixed; the documents have slightly differing forms of the name: 1086 Domesday Book: Scrobi; 1185 Pipe Rolls: Scrobi; 1225 Registers of the Archbishops of York: Scroby; 1267 Calendar of Patent Rolls: Skroby; 1280 Assize Rolls: Scrobby; 1527 Letters and Papers Foreign and Domestic of Henry VIII: Scorby; 1557 Wills and Inventories: Scruby; 1582 Feet of Fines: Scrowbye; 1593 Wills and Inventories: Skrowbe; 1601 Wills and Inventories: Scrooby and Scroobye.
“However it was written down, the place name is formed from a personal name and the -by ending. This is a Scandinavian village name originating in the ninth century AD, when Nottinghamshire, and the wider East coast of the Midlands, had close links with Danish and Scandinavian people. Scrooby is one of 21 -by place names in Nottinghamshire. The ending is also common in Leicestershire and Lincolnshire.
“Gover, Mawer and Stenton, who wrote The English Place-Name Society's book The Place-Names of Nottinghamshire suggest that there may be an even earlier form of the place-name. A Saxon document of 1044 refers to Scroppen Thorpe. This place was at least very close to the later Scrooby, and the two may well be identical. Like the -by names, Scroppen Thorpe is formed from a personal name and a Danish word, thorpe, meaning ‘settlement’. Skroppa was a women's name in Icelandic, and Skropi was a man's name in Old Norse. It is not clear which particular name is fossilized in Scrooby.
“The Place-Names of Nottinghamshire states that ‘we must be content to take Scrooby as a by-name with a personal name as the first element, and attempt no further definition.’ In either case (-by or -thorpe) the place-name is composed of a Danish name and a Danish word meaning ‘settlement’; ie, it is all Danish.
“In the introduction to The Place-Names of Nottinghamshire the authors point to ‘the remarkable group of names in by in the angle formed by the Maun and the Idle - Thoresby, Budby, Bilby, Ranby, Serlby, Barnby Moor, Scrooby.’ They contrast the sandy forested areas of northwest Nottinghamshire, where these pure Danish names occur with the eastern Trent Valley areas where English and hybrid English-Scandinavian names (like -ton names) occur more often. The frequency of 'new' Danish names, with little residual older names, may imply that the sandy forested areas were very sparsely settled before the ninth century.”426
www.bbc.co.uk impresses: “Scrooby, a quintessentially English village in north Nottinghamshire. Who would have thought it was once a hot bed of religious controversy? Men from Scrooby initiated the emigration of the 'Pilgrim Fathers' to America in 1620 on board the Mayflower.
“In 1606, dissatisfied with the corruption and lapse nature of the Church of England, religious separatists in the village broke away from the established church and its head, James VI & I. These Separatists wanted to commit themselves to a simpler kind of life based on Bible teachings. Unlike the Puritans, who hoped to reform the church from within, the Separatists believed they could only achieve their objectives by divorcing themselves from the Church of England. In a period when the Church and State were intrinsically linked, this was always going to be a controversial move.
“One of the leading lights behind the Separatist movement was William Brewster. Scrooby born and bred, Brewster's father was the bailiff of the Archbishop of York's estates in the village and Master of the Queens Posts between the years 1590-5. Brewster attended Cambridge University, a hot bed of radical, religious ideas at the time, before entering into the service of William Davidson, Secretary of State to Queen Elizabeth I, and her representative in the Netherlands, in 1585. On the death of his father in 1590, he returned to Scrooby and was himself appointed as Master of the Posts. Experiences gained at Cambridge University and trips to the religiously tolerant Netherlands evidently had a profound influence on Brewster.
“By 1606, Brewster was a member of the nearby Gainsborough Separatist church, led by John Smyth. Since preaching by someone other than an ordained priest was considered treacherous by Parliament, the Separatists were forbidden to hold their own services. The 1559 Act of Uniformity made non-
attendance at an Anglican church illegal too. There is no written evidence to say that the congregation held their services in any of the existing churches in Gainsborough, it is most likely that the group used to meet at Smyth's home.
“Unhappy with the situation, Smyth and an undisclosed number of his congregation left for the Netherlands, leaving the Separatist church without a meeting place. Brewster reacted by opening up Scrooby Manor House for the purpose. As a Church of England property, Scrooby Manor's use as a meeting place for a non-conformist congregation is particularly ironic, not to mention brave. At a time, when such behavior was seen as treasonous, the Separatists were taking a considerable risk to hold their meetings in such a building.
“The principle members of the Scrooby Separatists were Clifton, as pastor, Robinson, as teacher and Brewster, as the ruling elder. Although meetings were held 'underground' to avoid detection, persecution by the authorities continued relentlessly. Persecution from above was matched by hatred from the average Englishman. For the majority of people, the pulpit was the only source of information about the Separatists, from which an unpleasant picture of arrogance, ignorance and presumed superiority was painted.
“Such was the degree of intolerance that the decision was made in 1607 to leave England for the Netherlands and join John Smyth's Gainsborough Separatists. Around 30 individuals from Scrooby were willing to follow Brewster. According to Malcolm Dolby, Retford Museum Archivist and Scrooby resident, the population of the village at the time was approximately 150-200 people. As no one was allowed to travel from England without royal permission, the plan was conceived and executed in secret.
“The decision to leave friends, family and their place of birth could not have been easy. An alien language, livelihood and landscape awaited them in Holland.
“The Scrooby Separatists travelled to Boston, Lincolnshire, where they had organized a ship to make the journey. They handed over their money for the voyage in good faith, but were betrayed by the vessel's captain and briefly imprisoned in the town. Undeterred, their second attempt in 1608 from a remote spot on the North Lincolnshire coast between Grimsby and Hull was successful.
“Initially settling in Amsterdam with Smyth's Gainsborough congregation, the Scrooby Separatists became dissatisfied. According to Crispin Gill, ‘when men claim the right to interpret the Bible for themselves each finds a different answer.’ Increasingly, over time, the Separatist congregation in Amsterdam was no longer united in their interpretations of the Bible.
“This deeply alarmed Brewster and Robinson. In an effort to retain the original beliefs of the Scrooby Separatists, they decided the group should move to Leyden. Despite the tolerant religious environment offered by the Netherlands, the Separatists were unhappy with their life in Holland. After nearly twelve years their economic situation remained bleak. On arrival they had only been able to take poorly paid, semi-skilled jobs in the artisan trades and their financial state had not improved. The decision was made to move on.
“Returning to an anti-Separatist England was still not an option, so the group decided upon the English colonies in North America. The Brewster family's friendship with Sir Edwin Sandys, treasurer of the London Company of Virginia, meant authorization was given to settle in the northern territory of the land under the company's jurisdiction. Financial backing was secured from merchant-adventurers, such as Thomas Weston, a prominent London iron merchant.
“Under the leadership of William Brewster, 35 Scrooby Separatists set sail aboard the Speedwell to Southampton on 5th August 1620, where they were to meet the Mayflower carrying other English Separatists.
“The voyage experienced several setbacks. Before leaving English waters, the Separatists were twice forced back into port, first at Dartmouth and then at Plymouth, because the Speedwell began to take in water. At Plymouth, the decision was taken to abandon ship and proceed with just the Mayflower. Some passengers disembarked, having given up on the idea, but 120 remained determined to travel to the New World and they finally set sail on September 6th, 1620. William Brewster and the Scrooby villagers were among this group.
“Cramped living areas, food shortages, no fresh meat, precious little water, severe sea sickness and violent storms meant that the crossing was arduous for those on board. Yet despite these conditions, Crispin Gill states that there was a birth on board, a boy named Oceanus Hopkins, and that only one person died in the voyage, William Batten from Austerfield, who was a servant of Samuel Fuller.
“This figure compares well to the number of fatalities on other Atlantic crossings of the time. According to Simon Niziol, National Maritime Museum, fatalities were common place on the Atlantic crossings, particularly on immigrant boats, where large numbers of people were kept in close quarters.
“The Mayflower sighted land at Cape Cod on November 9th, 1620. After failing to reach their secured land in Virginia, they finally anchored at Provincetown on November 21, on land outside their agreed area of settlement.
“Worried by the rumors that the non-Separatists on board would defy them and cause trouble, the Separatists drew up an agreement, entitled the Mayflower Compact, to establish a degree of law and order. On completion of the signatures, John Carver was elected first governor by the Separatists. The compact became the basis of government in the Plymouth Colony.
“The first winter incurred by the Separatists was unforgiving. Nearly half of passengers who had survived the voyage died as a result of the harsh weather, illness and the poor diet available to them. Those who did live proved to be a sturdy lot. Their determination to survive, and prosper, in their new homeland ultimately meant the settlement thrived and their beliefs spread elsewhere.
“’I think Scrooby is better known on the Atlantic side’ says Scrooby resident Malcolm Dolby.
“Scrooby's link to the Separatists was overlooked for 250 years after the initial Mayflower voyage. It was not until the Victorian period, around 1860, that relatives retracing their roots back to the area visited Scrooby. The largest number of people to visit the village came in 1970 on the 350th anniversary of the crossing. There is a monument at Immingham, between Grimsby and Hull and a number of plaques dedicated to the Separatists in Scrooby itself.
“According to Malcolm Dolby all three were actually cast in Boston, Massachusetts. The first plaque was presented during a visit by Congregational Church members in 1891, the second on the 300th anniversary of the departure of the Mayflower and the third dates from 1977 when a party came over from America as part of the international congregational fellowship. They held a short service in front of the Manor house and the plaque was unveiled.
“For such a small, seemingly insignificant place, Scrooby produced, and nurtured, the thoughts and beliefs of a few men and women who set out to form a small idealistic colony and whose influence is still evident in the religious beliefs of America.”427
***SHERWOOD FOREST, NOTTINGHAMSHIRE***
JB Johnston conveys: “Forest. 1189 [AD] Pipe Schirewude; 1237 [AD] Shirewud, ie, ‘wood at the shire or boundary’. Compare to Sherborne.”428
Nottinghamshire County Council discusses: “The name Sherwood was first recorded in 958 AD when it was called Sciryuda, meaning ‘the woodland belonging to the shire’. It became a Royal hunting forest after the Norman invasion of 1066, and was popular with many Norman kings, particularly King John and Edward I. The ruins of King John’s hunting lodge can still be seen near the Nottinghamshire village of Kings Clipstone.
“Forest was a legal term, and meant an area subject to special Royal laws designed to protect the valuable resources of timber and game (Vert and Venison) within its boundaries. These laws were strictly and severely imposed by agisters, foresters, verderers (wardens) and rangers, who were all employed by the Crown.
“In the 1200s, popularly thought to be the time of Robin Hood, Sherwood covered about 100,000 acres, which was a fifth of the entire county of Nottinghamshire. The main London to York road, the Great North Way, ran straight through Sherwood, and travelers were often at the mercy of robbers living outside of the law. Hence the name ‘outlaw’.”429
Nottinghamshire County Council continues: “Who was Robin Hood? No one knows for sure whether the legend of Robin Hood was based on a real historical character. It is a subject which is still hotly debated amongst scholars.
“There have been several candidates. A certain Robert Hod, later called Hobbehod, was a tenant of the Archbishop of York in Henry III’s time. Legal records show him to be an outlaw. He was summoned to
appear before York Assizes in 1225 and 1226 but fled, and is described in the records as an outlaw or fugitive.
“In 1852, Victorian scholar Joseph Hunter claimed to have located the ‘real’ Robin Hood in the shape of one Robert Hood, recorded in the royal household records as a servant of King Edward II. Later, Hunter discovered the same name (but was he the same man?) in the court rolls for Wakefield, which included Barnsdale in South Yorkshire, one of the outlaw’s legendary homes.
“The search is complicated by the fact that Hood, Hod and Hode were all common surnames in medieval England. Robert or Robin were equally popular Christian names. The phrase ‘Robinhood’ became a nickname used in court records for an outlaw, and there is evidence of at least eight people before 1300 who adopted it or were given it as a pseudonym. The word hood still means a gangster or outlaw in America.
“Probably, the real identity of Robin Hood will remain as elusive as the legendary outlaw. But one thing is sure: His popularity is as great now as it ever was, and forever linked in our imagination to ancient Sherwood Forest.
“A hero for all time: tales of Robin Hood have been told for more than 700 years. Our fascination with this world famous outlaw continues into the 21st century.
“The romantic image of Robin Hood is of a medieval hooded figure in Lincoln Green, a master bowman with a quick mind and mischievous sense of humor. Dispossessed by greedy Norman overlords, he is forced to live beyond the law in the leafy depths of Sherwood, a royal hunting forest. From his forest lair he ambushes rich travelers, fights corrupt officials, and shares the spoils of his outlawry with poor, oppressed peasants.
“Down the centuries this image has been elaborated and enlarged upon by literature, theatre and – more recently – film and TV shows. Many famous actors have played the people’s hero. Some movies have taken a less serious look at the time-honored tale, including a Walt Disney cartoon and a gangster style musical.
“But does the Robin Hood of the silver screen and written page bear any resemblance to the real outlaw? Did a real outlaw ever actually exist? Was he a madeup figure, answering the people’s need for a hero? Or do his real origins lie further back in the mysteries of our pagan past?
“To find out, we need to go back in time to look at the first documents that bear Robin’s name.
“Robin in rhyme: how the legend began
Robyn hod in sherewod stod
hodud and hathud and gosu and schod
four and thuynti arrows
he bar in his hondus
“Translates to:
Robin Hood in Sherwood stood
hooded and hated and hosed and shod.
Four and twenty arrows he bore in his hands.
“This is one of the earliest surviving written references to Robin Hood. It is a poem dating from around 1400 and the original document is preserved in the library of Lincoln Cathedral. It clearly associates the outlaw with Sherwood Forest.
“Another early reference to Robin Hood is in a poem by William Langland called The Vision of Piers Plowman. In it, a character called Sloth admits that whilst he can’t always remember his prayers, he can recite all the ballads of popular heroes:
I kan nought parfitly my Paternoster as the preest it singeth
but I kan rhymes of Robyn hood and Randolf Earl of Chestre
“Translates to:
I do not know my Paternoster perfectly, but I know rhymes of Robin Hood and Randolf Earl of Chester.
“At this time, popular stories were usually recited or sung as ballads, often by travelling minstrels. In an age when there was no TV, no electric lights to brighten long winter evenings indoors, and only the most educated people in society could read, listening to stories must have been one of the few forms of entertainment accessible to all.
“As the quotation above shows, Robin Hood was not the only hero popular in those tales. Figures such as Randolf of Chester, Guy of Gisbourne and Havelock the Dane were equally well known legends in their day. No doubt elements from one story tended to get carried across to the others, and storytellers varied the location and details of their tales according to where they were entertaining at the time.
“From spoken word to written page: the early ballads of Robin Hood were carried around in people’s heads, recited, embroidered and elaborated as they passed from storyteller to storyteller.
“Later, some of these ballads were written down. One of the earliest was A Lytell Gest (poem) of Robyn Hode, which is thought to have been hand written during the 14th century. In it, the characters of Robin Hood, Little John and Will Scarlock (Scarlet) are all introduced, along with Robin’s arch enemy, the Sheriff of Nottingham.
“The now well known story of the silver arrow archery contest and the death of Robin are also included. The ballad runs to 456 four-line verses.
“Later on, printed versions were circulated:
Robin Hood and the Monk
Robin Hood and Guy of Gisbourne
Robin Hood and the Curtal (short) Friar
Little John and The Sheriff of Nottingham
The King and Robin Hood.
“So most of what we know about the medieval legend of Robin Hood is derived from a handful of surviving manuscripts.
“Robin Hood games and dances: May Day was one of the most popular folk festivals in medieval and Tudor England. In these days of central heating, well-stocked supermarkets and indoor working, it is hard for us to imagine how much the return of spring meant to our ancestors.
“May Day was celebrated with dances, plays and ‘may games’. A tree was sometimes felled and dragged from the forest to be decorated as the focus of the festivities. Victorian maypole dancing was a genteel version of what had earlier been ribald celebrations of fertility and fun, often frowned on by the local clergy.
“The two key characters in the May games were Robin Hood and Maid Marian. These folk figures still appear in centuries-old folk dance traditions today. For example, the Abbots Bromley Horn Dancers include a dancer carrying a bow and arrow, and another called Maid Marian.
“Other names given to the central male figure in old May Day celebrations are Jack-in-the-Green and Robin Goodfellow. Some folklorists have seen in this a suggestion that the legend of Robin Hood contains echoes of pre-Christian belief in a forest god or nature spirit.”430
***WILLOUGHBY ON THE WOLDS, NOTTINGHAMSHIRE***
University of Nottingham’s Institute for Name Studies puts pen to paper: “Willoughby on the Wolds: village where willow-trees grow. ‘The Wolds’ are Old English wald in the sense ‘high tract of open land’. Wilig (Anglian): a ‘willow-tree’. By (Old Norse): a ‘farmstead’, a ‘village’. Wald (Anglian): a ‘forest’; ‘high forest-land’.”431
Cornelius Brown represents: “Willoughby-on-the-Wolds, nestling cosily amid the woodland scenery on the Leicestershire border, carries us back in its history to Roman times. Upon the magnificent highways which the armies of the Caesars constructed in Britain were halting-places for the troops after a day’s journey, carefully marked in the Itineraries of Antoninus; but besides these important stations, there were others denoting the mid-day stages of the soldiery when upon the march. Most of them were fortified and constructed with the solidity for which the Romans were renowned. One of these intervening stages was Willoughby, or Vernometum, on the great Foss-road which runs from Bath to
Lincoln. Gough, in his additions to Camden, says, on what authority we do not know, ‘Here were the ruins of an old town called Long Billington. On the Willoughby side of the road is a tumulus called Cross Hill. The old site is in a field named Henings, or the Black Field, and was very extensive. Many coins, pavements, and other antiquities have been found here.’
“Centuries ago Willoughby was robbed of its original character, and now the village stands a little distance from the Foss-road in a sheltered and picturesque locality. The antiquity of the spot is further proved by the entry in Domesday Book, and by the fact that its manors were assessed to the Danegeld. Among the owners of property here in the eleventh, twelfth, and thirteenth centuries were the Peverels, the Lovetots, Reginald de Colewyke, Sir William de Nowers, and a family taking its name from the village. Ralph Bugge, a merchant of Nottingham, and his successors also became possessed of lands at Willoughby by purchase and otherwise.
“In the Church of All Saints, on the north side, is the chapel of St Nicholas, which is filled with monuments of departed members of the great house of Willoughby. Under the window lies Sir Richard de Willoughby (son of Richard Bugge), who was an eminent lawyer in Edward I’s line, and acquired considerable wealth, including the manors of Wollaton and Willoughby. From the Parliamentary writs he appears to have been summoned to Parliament, and in the reign of Edward II he was elevated to the dignity of Chief Justice of the Common Pleas in Ireland. He succeeded Geoffrey le Scrope as Chief Justice on the resignation of the latter, but was displaced in 1340, though he was again reinstated in royal favor in Edward III’s reign.
“A curious adventure befell the judge in 1331. He was attacked by a Richard Fulville when on his way to Grantham, and forcibly taken into a wood, where a gang of highwaymen compelled him to pay a heavy ransom. This audacious conduct induced the adoption of stern measures for the repression of lawlessness, which was then rampant throughout the country. Sir Richard died in 1363, leaving extensive estates, and a great house situate in ‘Le Baly’, in London.
“Of the six monuments in the chapel at Willoughby, there is a fine one with figures of angels in niches. On it lies a knight in armor, with a roll or wreath round his helmet, and by his side his lady with a curious mitred headdress.
“The figure close to the north wall is that of Sir Richard de Willoughby, lying (as a card in the church says) in his robes, with a sword of justice by his side. There are other older figures in the church, one of which is that of a Crusader.
“Coming to the period of the Civil War, there is a brass on the floor, on which is the following inscription: ‘Here lyes the body of Collonel Michael Stanhope, who was slain in Willoughby Field in the month of July, 1648, in the 24th year of his age, being a souldier for King Charles the First.’ This simple memoir serves to remind us of the stern conflict raging between King Charles and his Parliament which sacrificed so many young men of promise, among whom Michael Stanhope was one of the most chivalrous and daring. Mrs Hutchinson, wife of the famous Roundhead Colonel, gives an account of the engagement at Willoughby, and local tradition affirms that the excitement was so great in the neighborhood that the inhabitants mounted into the steeple of the church to witness the contest in the fields beneath. The
battle was so important that a pamphlet was published in 1648 giving ‘an impartial and true relation of the great victory obtained through the blessing of God, after a sharp dispute, by the conjoined forces of Lincoln, Nottingham, Leicester, Derby, and Rutland, in Willoughby Fields, county Nottingham 4th, 1648.’ We have not a copy of the pamphlet, but from a summary of it in the catalogue of Mr JC Hotten we learn that Colonel Rossiter commanded the Roundheads, and Sir Philip Monckton was at the head of the Royalists. The marches were full of incident. Finally the Royalists drew up ‘in a large beane field belonging to Willoughby,’ and the fight commenced. Rossiter lost his headpiece and received a shot through the thigh, but never said anything about it. Young Stanhope was killed, and a considerable number of Royalist prisoners taken.
“In the church, near to Stanhope’s resting place, is a cannonball dug up in the fatal field, and bones of the warriors who fell and who were hastily buried have occasionally been disinterred. A cross of lofty construction stood at this time in the center of the village. It consisted of one stone five yards long, and the Cromwellian troops marked it out for destruction. The story is that they had tied ropes around it to pull it down, but their enthusiasm was so much damped by some strong beer given to them by the vicar, after he had made a long speech in defense of its innocence, that it was permitted to remain unmolested. It was left to the vandalism of a recent generation to put an end to the relic.”432
FC Laird specifies: “Near Willoughby on the Wolds, the ancient Fosseway enters from Leicestershire, passes on to Newark, crosses the Erminge street from London to York, and then enters Lincolnshire. This road may be easily traced for many miles along the wolds, and is literally a fosse, dug so deep that an army might march along it, even now, without being seen except by those on the very edge of the bank. Several of the roads through the wolds cross it in different places, particularly about Owthorpe, and in many parts the remains of the old pitching with stones set on edge may be found by clearing away the grass and weeds.”433
**OXFORDSHIRE**
JB Johnston tells: “Before 900 [AD] coins of King Alfred Oksnaforda, but some read Orsnaforda, which conceivably represents a ‘Horse-ford’; 912 [AD] Old English Chronicle Oxnaforda; circa 1000 charter King AEthelred Oxonaforda; 1011 [AD] Old English Chronicle Oxenafordscire; circa 1160 [AD] Oxenefordia; 1479 [AD] Oxenford. Old English oxena ford, ‘ford for the oxen’. Compare grant of before 675 [AD] Oxelake (on the Thames). The regular Welsh name is Rhyd ychen, which also means ‘ford of the oxen’. It is agreed that this Welsh name is very old, and that there is no recorded spelling for ‘ox’ other than ych, unless it be a dialect wch. However, circa 1145 [AD] speaks of ‘Boso of Ridoc, that is Oxford.’ It seems unlikely that this 12th century name Ridoc is meant for rhyd ychen, though rid is clearly Old Welsh for ‘ford’. It seems more probable that in –oc we have Old Celtic for ‘water’. So that, while the Anglo-Saxons thought the name was their own ox, it originally was Celtic, and cognate with Ax, Ex, Usk, and Ux –bridge. Compare too Isis. But for two or three centuries the Celtic name must have been quite lost, and the Welsh would coin a new name when they began to frequent the University. Before the 14th century Oxford would probably be of too little importance to the Welsh to have a Welsh name of its own. As to forms before 900 [AD], curiously enough for Oxenhall (Dymock); Domesday Book writes
Horsenehal, probably an error; 1230 [AD] Oxenhale. Compare also the curious form Tweoxn eam, Twyning.”434
J Gronow chronicles: “Oxford: the county town, 55 miles from London, is seated at the conflux of the Charwell and Isis, a little above the influx of the Isis into the Tame. The earliest accounts of the city are equally doubtful with those of the University. The foundations of both are by some referred to the British King Memprick; by some to another British King named Arviragus, who reigned in the time of the Emperor Domitian; and by others, to King Nortigern. However, it is probable that the University was founded soon after the Christian religion was established in England, for in the papal confirmation of it, under the pontificate of Martin the Second, in the sixth century, it is styled an ancient academy or university. Some historians affirm that, before the reign of Eorpwald, King of the East Angles, there were two general seminaries of learning in England, one for the instruction of youth in the Latin tongue at a place in Gloucestershire, and therefore called Latin Lade, and afterwards by corruption, Lechlade; the other for teaching the Greek language, at a place then called Greglade, but now Crecklade, in Wiltshire. Both of which are said to have been removed by the Saxons to Oxford. It appears that there are no credible accounts before the reign of Alfred, about the end of the ninth century, who is generally considered as the founder, though in fact, he was only the restorer of learning at this place. At his accession, learning had suffered so much by the wars of the Romans, Saxons, and Danes that few persons could read English, and scarcely one priest in the kingdom understood Latin. There are twenty colleges and five halls, all amply endowed for the encouragement of learning, ostensibly to promote the glory of God in the minds of men being purified from the sensuality of ignorance; but in reality to defend the despotism of government, and to palliate the vices of royalty. Few, indeed, are the clergy, who have been promoted to the bench of bishops, as the reward of learning, combined with that piety which fearlessly prefers principle to interest. A castle was erected here by William the Conqueror, of which there remains a square high tower and a mount; from which, when besieged by King Stephen, the Empress Maud made her escape in the night, during a storm of snow, walking on foot to Abingdon. A splendid monument has been erected to commemorate the martyrdom of Latimer and Ridley, in the reign of Queen Mary: the place where they were burnt was near the front of Baliol College. In the reign of Edward III, 62 students were killed by the citizens; to atone for which, the mayor and sixty-two of the chief citizens did formerly, on the 10th of February, pay each one penny at St Mary’s Church. Christchurch College contains the largest bell in the kingdom, being seven feet in diameter and nearly six feet high. It is tolled every night a hundred and one strokes, the number of students on the foundation, to give notice for all the students to repair to their respective colleges and halls. Oxford, in the civil wars, was the headquarters of Charles I, after the Battle of Edgehill, and was held for him till it surrendered to parliament in 1646. King Alfred, after a glorious reign of twenty-eight years, here closed his earthly career.
“Oxford: county of, an inland county, bounded on the east by Buckinghamshire, on the west by Gloucestershire, on the north by Warwickshire, and on the south by Berkshire. It was part of the territory of the Dobuni, one of those who submitted to the imperial power during the expedition of Claudius, about the year 44. The air of this county is equal to that of any county in the kingdom, for the soil is naturally dry, free from bogs, fens, and stagnant water, abounding with limpid streams, which
render the air healthy. Coins of Cunobeline, who reigned about the time of our Savior’s birth, have been found at Wood Eaton, near Oxford, which were struck at Camerladunam, or Maiden, in Essex.”435
JM Wilson declares: “Oxfordshire, Oxford, or Oxon, an inland county, chiefly within the basin of the Thames. It is bounded, on the northwest and the north, by Warwickshire: on the northeast, by Northamptonshire; on the east, by Bucks; on the southeast, the south, and the southwest, by Berks; on the west, by Gloucestershire. Its outline is exceedingly irregular; commences, on the north, in an apex, at the Three-shire-stone; expands irregularly southward till it attains a breadth of 34 miles; contracts suddenly at the middle, and for about 8 miles in the vicinity of Oxford, to a mean breadth of 7 miles: and stretches thence south-southeastward with a maximum breadth of about 12 miles. Its boundary, over most of the contact with Northamptonshire, is the river Cherwell, over all the long contact with Berks, is the Isis or Thames; but almost everywhere else, is artificial. Its greatest length, from north-northwest to south-southeast, is 50 miles; its greatest breadth, as already noted, is 34 miles; its circuit is about 180 miles, of which about 55 is along the Isis or Thames; and its area is 472,717 acres. The northern section is prevailingly flat, wants sufficient sylvan embellishment, is disfigured by stone fences, and fatigues the eye by rude monotony. The central section, excepting an elevated platform east of Oxford, is also flat, yet has a profusion of wood, a luxuriousness of hedgerows, and a wealth of general cultivation which give it a pleasing aspect. The elevated platform east of Oxford rises in the immediate vicinity of the city; stretches away between the valleys of the Cherwell and the Thames; and attains its highest elevation in Beckley hill. The southeastern section is crossed by the Chiltern hills; exhibits a charming contour, with fine diversity of hill and vale: and attains its greatest altitudes on Nuffield common and Nettlebed hill, respectively 757 and 820 feet high. The rivers are popularly said to be threescore and ten; two trivial ones in the extreme north belong to the systems of the Ouse and the Warwickshire Avon; the chief one, more than equal to all the rest, is the Isis or Thames; and the principal of the others, all flowing to the Isis or the Thames, are the Windrush, the Evenlode, the Cherwell, and the Thame.
“The territory now forming Oxfordshire was inhabited by the ancient British Dobuni; was included, by the Romans, in their Flavia Caesariensis; became part of the Saxon Kingdom of Mercia; and, in the 9th, 10th and 11th centuries, was settled by many Danes. The Dobuni long resisted the Saxons; fought several great battles with them; are supposed not to have been finally subjugated by them till the time of Penda; and became lost in the mixed race known as Wiccii. The Danes, in the course of effecting their settlement, ravaged every part of Oxfordshire; and, during their long contests with the Saxons, repeatedly made its territory the seat of war. Oxfordshire seems to have been apportioned to Cannte, at the division of England between him and Edmund Ironside; and Oxford, in 1015 and 1018, was the scene of great councils of the Danes and the Anglo-Saxons. Subsequent events, till the Wars of the Roses, were connected chiefly with the city or castle of Oxford, and have been noticed in our article on Oxford. In 1387, the insurgent nobles defeated the Earl of Oxford at Radcot-bridge, in the vicinity of Bampton. In 1469, the Earl of Pembroke, at the head of the army of Edward IV, marched against an army of 15,000 insurgents; fought them at Danesmoor, in the vicinity of Banbury; and was defeated, captured, and put to death. In the civil wars of Charles I, the contending armies traversed Oxfordshire from one extremity to the other; and, whether under the banner of the King or under that of the parliament, made heavy exactions and devastations. In 1642, on the eve of the battle of Edge-hill, the King encamped on the
banks of the Cherwell, between Edgecot and Cropredy. In April 1643, the parliamentarians fought a smart skirmish, with a royalist force under Prince Rupert, at Cavershambridge; and about two months later, they were twice beaten by Prince Rupert, near Thame and near Watlington. In 1644, a battle was fought at Cropredy-bridge, in which Sir William Waller was defeated, and after which the King drew off his troops to Deddington. In 1645, Cromwell defeated a body of royalist cavalry at Islip-bridge, and compelled Col Windebank, who occupied Bletchingdon House with a garrison of 200 men, to surrender. Other events are noticed in the articles Banbury, Chalgrove, Oxford, and Woodstock.
“Ancient British remains are the Rollrich stones near Chipping-Norton, the Devil's Quoits at Stanton-Harcourt, the Hoarstone cromlech at Enstone, some barrows, and several very curious coins. The Roman Icknield-street crossed the county from northeast to southwest, entering it at Chinnor, and leaving it at Goring on the Thames; Akeman-street entered at Ambrosden, passed through Chesterton, Kirtlington, Blenheim Park, and Stones-field to Astall, and there crossed the Evenlode into Gloucestershire; a vicinal way went from Dorchester northward into Northamptonshire; other vicinal ways went from Dorchester; and another, coming from London, traversed the southeast wing, from the north vicinity of Henley to Wallingford. A curious Roman vallum, with an embankment 2 ½ miles long, known as Grime's Dyke or the Devil's Ditch, extends between Mongewell and Nuffield. The Roman station Durocina was at Dorchester. Fine tesselated Roman pavements have been found at Great Tew, Stonesfield, and Steeple-Aston. Roman camps are at Chadlington and Kiddington; and Saxon or Danish camps are at Astall, Britwell, and Bensington. Medieval castles or baronial mansions have left remains at Bampton, Broughton, Woodstock, Astall, Castleton, Holton Park, Caswell, Swinbrook, Minster-Lovell, Stanton-Harcourt, Fritwell, and Maple-Durham. Great monastic remains are at Oxford, Ensham, Godstow, Goring, Cogges, and Minster-Lovell; and interesting ancient churches, or portions of them, are at Oxford, Iffley, Kidlington, Ewelme, Adderbury, Bloxham, Broughton, Burford, Chipping-Norton, Dorchester, Great Tew, Shiplake, Twinbrook, Stanton-Harcourt, and Witney.”436
***ASCOTT-UNDER-WYCHWOOD, OXFORDSHIRE***
www.oxfordshirevillages.co.uk displays: “About a mile and a half from the neighboring village of Shipton under Wychwood, and about halfway between the towns of Burford and Chipping Norton, the peaceful little village of Ascott-under-Wychwood lies on the south side of the river in the picturesque Evenlode valley.
“In the center of the village is an attractive green and nearby is the early 13th century Holy Trinity Church. The main access to the church is through an avenue of lime trees which in the spring are carpeted with wild crocus. The church was remodeled in the 14th century and the upper stages of the bell tower date from the 15th century. At the back of the church are five wooden pews which were for the old and sick and possibly are the oldest in Oxfordshire.
“Ascott is lucky to have a railway station, a smart village shop and a small village garage cum forge, precious facilities in a modern village.
“Ascott began as a settlement of nearby Shipton under Wychwood, and the name Ascott comes from the Old English for 'East Homestead' or 'Eastern Cottages'. Wychwood was the ancient royal forest of
Wychwood, and its name originated from the 'wood of a tribe called Hwicce'. Little remains today of the forest. Apart from Shipton, one other village bears the name Wychwood, namely nearby Milton under Wychwood.
“Historically the village has had two castles - one at Ascott d'Oyley, as the east end of the village is known, and one at Ascott Earl which is at the west end of the village. Ascot d'Oilly Castle was built in about 1129-1150, and a stone tower was added to it in the 13th century. Only a fragment now remains and the castle bailey is now occupied by the 16th/17th century manor house.
“Ascott Earl was a neighboring estate and the castle there was a motte and bailey castle built by an Earl of Worcester.
“The village of Ascott has a place in trades’ union history after 16 local women were arrested in 1873 and eventually jailed. Local men had been sacked for joining the new Agricultural Workers Union and the women had tried to stop replacements brought in from nearby Ramsden from working. Because of this the women were arrested. Eventually, however, the women were pardoned by Queen Victoria and an enquiry into wages and working conditions of Oxfordshire workers was launched. On the green in Ascott is a tree planted in memory of the Ascott Martyrs. The tree has seats round it with plaques commemorating the martyrs.”437
***COLD HARBOUR, OXFORDSHIRE***
JB Johnston expresses: “’Cold shelter’, an ironic name, says Leo of Halle, in German Kaltenherburg. On harbor, which is literally ‘a place of shelter’. Compare to 1485 [AD] Skelton, ‘some say the devil’s dead and buried in Cold Harbour’.”438
Thomas Gill notes: “The great Roman Road ran within a mile, on the east side of Raskelfe, and passed a farmhouse now known by the name of Cold Harbour. It is probable that this was once a Roman villa or small station on this road, such as were planted there by the Emperors after the conquest of Britain. After the departure of the Romans, the ruins of villas or small stations which stood by the sides of such roads were often roughly repaired or modified, so as to furnish a temporary shelter for travelers who carried provisions, etc, with them, and could therefore entertain themselves without depending upon the assistance of others. A shelter of this kind, from its consisting of bare walls, a mere defense against the inclemency of the of the storm, might be termed a ceald hepebepza (‘Cold Harbour’) and this would account for the great number of places in different parts of England, which bear the name, and which are almost always on Roman sites and near old roads. This explanation is supported by the circumstance that the name is found among the Teutonic nations on the continent; the German kelton herberg, designating some Inns at the present day.”439
George Roberts records: “The road from the Iceni on the Norfolk coast, to the Land’s end, was called from that people, the Via Iceniana, or Ickling dyke. It passed through Cambridgeshire, Bedfordshire, and Oxfordshire, to Streatly-upon-Thames; where one branch of a division that took place there continued to Old Sarum, Woodyates, Dorchester, Eggardun, Bridport, Chideock, Charmouth to Axminster, Honiton church, Exeter, Totnes, etc, to the Land’s end. The principal line of this ancient British, and afterwards
Roman way, of the several branches into which it is divided at Dorchester, passed through Charmouth. It crossed the downs from the western side of Dorchester to Eggardun hill; thence through Loders, by Boar’s-barrow, to the eastern entrance of Bridport and Chideock (once called Chid-wick), to Morcombe lake, by a spot called Cold Harbour, over Stone-barrow hill through Charmouth, over Greenway head, by Penn inn, to Axminster. Its descent from Stone-barrow hill is clearly visible from Lyme. The road has been twice diverted of late years; that nearest the sea is the old British and Roman way. A local paper contained an advertisement in 1833, of ‘Icen Cottage’, near Dorchester, to be let. At Charmouth, were lands in the reign of Richard II and Henry VI, held by the Earl of March, called the Strete lands; and near the extremity of Lyme parish is a coppice called ‘Street’. These, together with Stone-barrow hill, and Cold Harbour, all prove that language will sometimes outlive the monuments of a bygone age. Some of the way was broken up near Askerswell, that the materials might be used for a parish road. The road was as compact as any wall, and was constructed precisely on the present plan, upon which such unbounded praise has been lavished.”440
***VALE OF WHITE HORSE, OXFORDSHIRE***
www.oxfordshirevillages.co.uk reveals: “The Vale of White Horse lies between the River Thames in the north and the ancient Ridgeway road on top of the Berkshire Downs in the south, and stretches from Oxford south west to the Wiltshire border. Its name comes from the well known figure of a horse carved into the hillside above the village of Uffington. This is the oldest chalk figure in Britain and dates back to around 1000 BC.
“The most obvious feature of the Vale of White Horse district is that much of it is very flat! Not so in the south however where the ancient Ridgeway closely follows the top of the Berkshire Downs which are part of the North Wessex Downs Area of Natural Beauty. The spring line at the foot of the hills is where the towns and villages nearest to the Downs have grown up. North of the spring line the flat plain of the Vale stretches to the Midvale Ridge, a low limestone escarpment, which separates the low-lying clay areas of the Oxfordshire Vale to the north and the Vale of the White Horse to the south.
“North of the Midvale Ridge is the River Thames which is the boundary between the Vale of White Horse district and West Oxfordshire to the north. After the Thames, the Vale's second river is the diminutive river Ock, which rises near Little Coxwell and flows into the river Thames at Abingdon collecting tributaries from springs along the base of the Downs.
“The main town of the Vale of White Horse is the attractive Thames-side town of Abingdon. Other Vale towns are the historic and equally attractive market towns of Faringdon in the west and Wantage in the south. Just to the north of Wantage is the dormitory village of Grove which has been developed from just a hamlet only in the last 60 years.”441
Lorraine of the Abingdon-on-Thames Visitor and Community Information Centre spells out: “Our district uses the icon of a white horse cut into the hillside on the Ridgeway national trail to represent it. The land on the Berkshire and Wiltshire downs is chalk and ancient peoples cut out the image of this horse to protect the land and probably (you can’t say definitely as it is pre-Iron Age) to act as a good luck and
fertility symbol. Even now, people think of it as such. It is in a very beautiful walking area and there is another site, Waylands Smithy, which you can find books, articles and academic papers on very easily.
“We in Abingdon-on-Thames are actually in the Vale of Abingdon geographically which links with the Vale of the White Horse above Uffington village. There are other horses such as one at Pusey in Wiltshire and other figures cut into the down land areas and also the south downs to the east of us. The Long Man of Wilmington is one.”442
**PLYMOUTH**
JB Johnston touches on: “1231 [AD] Plimmue; 1234 [AD] Plimemuth; circa 1450 [AD] Fortescue The Plymouthe. Plympton, Domesday Book Plintone; circa 1160 [AD] Plintona; 1218 [AD] Plinton. Plymstock, Domesday Book Plemestoch. All on River Plymouth. Welsh plym, Latin plumbum, is ‘lead’; but some think the root simply means here ‘river’.”443
J Gronow clarifies: “Plymouth: Devonshire, 215 miles from London, stands between the Plym and Tamar, just before their influx into the British Channel, and from a fishing-town is become one of the largest in the county, and is one of the chief magazines in the kingdom, owing to its port, or rather two harbors, the safest in England, and capable of containing 1,000 sail. The stupendous Breakwater, which has added so much to the safety of the Sound, is composed of granite blocks of several tons weight. The length at the base is one mile, its width 120 yards. The top of it forms a fashionable promenade. It is well supplied with water, brought here from a place seven miles off, at the expense of Sir F Drake, a native of this town. It is the natal place of Sir John Hawkins, who commanded the rear of the fleet which destroyed the Spanish Armada, and who was one of the chief promoters of the slave trade in the reign of Queen Elizabeth.”444
JM Wilson documents: “Plymouth, a great seaport in the southwest extremity of Devon. It comprehends the three towns of Plymouth-proper on the east, Stonehouse in the middle, and Devon-port on the west, and the suburb of Morice-Town on the northwest; it extends from the Catwater or estuary of the Plym on the east, to the Hamoaze or estuary of the Tamaron the west; it occupies all the peninsula between these estuaries, cut in the south into three subordinate peninsulas by two creeks called Mill-bay and Sutton-pool, each about ½ a mile long; it is washed, along the south, by the upper part of Plymouth sound, which extends southward from it to the English channel; and it lies around the meeting-point of the South Devon railway and the Cornwall railway, 3 ½ miles west by south of the junction of the South Devon and Tavistock railway, and 43 ¼ miles by road, but 52 ¾ by railway, southwest of Exeter. Stonehouse, Devonport, and Morice-Town are separately noticed in their own alphabetical places; and only Plymouth-proper and Plymouth sound form the subject of the present article.
“Plymouth, or its site, was called, in the Saxon times, Tameorwerthe; after the Norman conquest, Sutton, or South-town; in the time of Edward I, Sutton-Prior, in one part, belonging to the priory of Plympton, Sutton-Valletort, or Sutton-Vauton, in another part, belonging to the family of Valletort; and, in the time of Henry VII, Plymouth. It is not mentioned in Domesday-book; and it is described in a manuscript of the time of Henry II as ‘a mene thing, an inhabitation for fishars.’ It soon afterwards began
to rise into importance; and, in the time of Edward I, it had many vessels, and sent two members to parliament. A large fleet sailed from it, in 1295, to Guienne. The French attacked it in 1338, but were repulsed by the Earl of Devon. A contribution of 26 ships with 603 men was made by it, and by neighboring places, in 1346, to the siege of Calais. The French attacked it again in 1350. The Black Prince embarked at it in 1355, on his expedition to France, and landed at it in 1357, with his royal prisoner. The French attacked it a third time in 1377, and then burnt part of it; they plundered it also in 1400; and they made another attempt to destroy it by fire in 1403. Fortifications for its defense were constructed in 1439. Margaret of Anjou landed at it in 1471; and Catherine of Arragon, in 1500. The plague ravaged it in 1579, 1581, and 1626. Sir Francis Drake, in 1584, constructed waterworks for it, which still exist, and draw their supplies from a distance of 24 miles in Dartmoor. The fleet of 120 men of war, collected against the Spanish Armada in 1588, took anchorage in Plymouth sound, and sailed out thence, on sight of the Armada, to chase and disperse it. Twenty-two chests of Papal bulls and indulgences, which had been taken from a discomfited party of Spanish invaders in Cornwall, were publicly burnt in 1595 in Plymouth marketplace. The fleet for the expedition against Cadiz rendezvoused in the sound in 1596. Sir Walter Raleigh sailed hence, on his expedition to Guiana, in 1617. The ‘Pilgrim Fathers’ also sailed hence, to make a settlement in America; and they therefore called their first settlement there New Plymouth. Charles I, with his whole court, a fleet of 120 ships, and 6,000 troops, visited Plymouth in 1635, remained ten days, and was sumptuously entertained by the corporation. The town, nevertheless, declared against him at the civil war; and, in 1643, it with stood a siege of three months by Prince Maurice. Charles II visited Plymouth in 1670. The fleet of the Prince of Orange, after having landed the Prince at Torbay, came into Plymouth sound in 1688. Plymouth Dock, the nucleus of Devonport, was founded in the latter part of the reign of William III. Captain Cook sailed from Plymouth in 1768; George III visited it in 1789; Bonaparte, on board of the Bellerophon, arrived in the sound in 1815; Don Miguel landed here in 1829. Queen Victoria also visited the town; and the Prince Consort in person opened the adjacent Albert bridge in 1859. Lethbridge the miniature painter and Foulston the architect died here; and Sir John Hawkins the admiral, Jacob Bryant, Glanville who wrote on witchcraft, Bidlake the author of ‘Virginia’, Carrington the poet, Northcott the painter, Haydon the painter, Eastlake and Prout the artists, Bacon the theologian, Crane and Quick the theologians, Mrs Parsons the novelist, and Mudge the scientific writer, were natives.
“The town occupies an area of only about a mile each way; and, though so comparatively limited, is not quite compact. Its site ascends boldly and brokenly from Mill-bay, Sutton-pool, and the intermediate headland; and is such as to render some of the street lines steep, and the entrance from the northeast inconvenient. Most of the streets are narrow, short, and irregular; but a main good thoroughfare of several names describes the fourth of a circle through the central parts: another good street, called Union-street, forms the chief connexion with Stonehouse; and two other good streets, called Cambridge-street and Oxford-street, form a straight and continuous line on the northwest; while multitudes of renovations have been made in the old parts, and a profusion of handsome private houses have been erected in the suburbs. Many a pleasant spot, once open for promenading, has been covered with public buildings and government works; but one magnificent promenade, called the Hoe, one of the most beautiful promenades in the kingdom, remains untouched. This is a high ridge, extending from Mill-bay to the entrance of Sutton-pool; constitutes the seafront of the town; commands a view, both
near and far, unrivalled for variety and sparkling with all sorts of beauty; has, on the center, a camera-obscura, taking in the view, and, on the east part, an obelisk, serving as a landmark to ships entering the sound; and is fabled to have been the scene of a stout combat between a powerful giant and Brutus' kinsman, Corinaeus. Drayton, in his Polyolbion, describes the alleged combat as having been fought ‘upon that lofty place at Plimmith. Called the Hoe;’ and Spencer speaks of:
The Western Hogh, besprinkled with the gore
Of mighty Goemot, whom in stout fray
Corinaeus conquer'd.”445
***MANNAMEAD, PLYMOUTH***
WB Harris observes: “Manadon and Mannamead: One opinion I quote states that the first part of these names ‘may refer to some natural feature … or possibly to some particular object marking the boundary between two or more estates.’ I personally consider that the first part of these two names derived from a Celtic word meaning ‘stone’. This would give us Manadon as ‘the stone on the hill’ (maybe a Menhir, ‘longstone’) and Mannamead as ‘the meadow with the standing stone’.”446
***MAYFLOWER STEPS, PLYMOUTH***
Belinda Dixon recounts: “Visit the Mayflower Steps, the spot from which a band of believers set sail in the 17th century and helped found a nation.
“Tucked in between the fishing boats and yachts on Plymouth’s harborside is a small memorial with a big place in history. The Mayflower Steps, flanked by flapping British and American flags, mark the final English departure point of 102 passengers who set sail in the Mayflower in 1620.
“A third of the vessel’s passengers (called ‘Saints’) were Puritans seeking greater religious freedoms; the rest (called ‘Strangers’) were hired to support the expedition. After a 66-day voyage they founded New England’s first permanent colony at what is now Plymouth, Massachusetts. However, only 53 passengers survived to celebrate America’s first Thanksgiving a year later.
“The actual steps the pilgrims left from no longer exist. A granite block bearing the ship’s name marks the approximate site, while a tablet commemorating the voyage was erected alongside in 1891. A heavily weathered, honey-colored Doric portico was added in 1934. Taking a couple of steps through leads to a mini-balcony, built in 2000, which has views out towards the sea. Parts of the cobbled Grade II pier the memorials sit on date from the 17th century, but it was extensively rebuilt in the 1790s.
“Nearby plaques chronicle other key events to occur near the site: the return in 1838 of four Tolpuddle Martyrs after exile in Australia; the departure in 1839 of the Tory, the pioneer ship that colonized New Zealand; and the arrival in 1919 of the American seaplane that made the first transatlantic flight, almost 300 years after the Pilgrims’ voyage.
“Don’t miss: the Mayflower passenger list, painted on a wooden board outside Island House in the adjacent street.”447
***PENNYCOMEQUICK, PLYMOUTH***
WB Harris says: “The day I first arrived in Plymouth, way back in 1935, I got out of a train at what was then called North Road Station – a reminder of the fact that in those days there were other stations at Millbay and Friary, and numerous platform ‘halts’ in many parts of the city. I asked a porter for direction to a particular part of the city, and his explanation started with the words, ‘Go out of the station, turn right and go down Pennycomequick.’ I asked him what on earth ‘Pennycomequick’ was and he replied that it was the name given to the hill outside the station, and the area to which it descended. Later in the day I was interviewed and secured the post I had applied for as an assistant librarian. I returned to the boarding house where I was to stay the night – again via Pennycomequick. The name intrigued me and I asked my elderly landlady how such a strange name came into being, and the story she gave me, with full conviction, was that in the 19th century there used to be a penny toll charge there for anyone wishing to go to Stoke and Devonport. It was a very busy road ‘the pennies came very quick’ hence the name! This strange name I heard everyday as the bus conductor called it out as I travelled to and from my place of work. What a world I lived in then. Helpful porters on the railway station and bus conductors who let their passengers know where they were! Anyhow, this was the event which led to my beginning the study of local place-names, a study which I continue to this day. So, this little book starts with an explanation of the name Pennycomequick.
“Up to about 100 years ago Stonehouse Creek ran inland through what is now Victoria Park and ended just beyond where the postal sorting office now is (below the railway station). There a fine stream flowed into it after running down the valley between the high farmland we now call Central Park and the other high ridge we know as Mutley Plain. In Wales, from whence I came, I know of several Pennycwms, meaning ‘end of the valley’, and there is a word Cuig (Gweek perhaps in Cornwall) meaning ‘creek’. This suggests to me that the name goes back 2,000 years and more when the Celts occupied the land. They saw the place where the great creek met the end of the valley, and so they named it Pen y cwm cuig, ‘where the creek meets the end of the valley’.”448
JB Johnston adds: “Cornish pen comb ick, ‘height of the narrow valley or combe’, though others say y cum cuig, ‘of the valley of the cuckoo’.”449
***SMEATON’S TOWER, PLYMOUTH***
BBC Devon spotlights: “What use is a lighthouse on dry land? Smeaton's Tower once stood about 14 miles out to sea - on a clear day you can still see the stump on the horizon where it once stood proud against the elements.
“Look out to sea from The Hoe and you'll see the impressive expanse of Plymouth Sound.
“On the far horizon, about 14 miles away you can just make out the Eddystone Lighthouse - the fourth lighthouse to stand on the treacherous Eddystone rocks.
“Just to the left of it, you can still see the stump of its predecessor – most of which stands beside you here on Plymouth Hoe.
“Smeaton's Tower was built nearly 250 years ago - a revolution in lighthouse design and the brainchild of one John Smeaton.
“One thousand tons of granite and Portland stone - it stood 72 feet tall on one of the most notorious reefs in the English Channel.
“The first lighthouse, an octagonal wooden tower, was washed away, along with its creator Henry Winstanley, during a violent storm in 1703.
“The architect had travelled from Essex to ride out the bad weather - confident his construction could withstand the worst storms. It was a tragic error which cost Winstanley his life.
“The second lighthouse was burnt down after a fire broke out in the lantern. During the blaze the lead cupola began to melt and as the duty keeper Henry Hall was looking up he swallowed seven ounces of molten metal.
“It's said no one believed him until he died a few days later - when doctors found a lump of lead in his stomach. It can now be seen in the Edinburgh museum.
“In 1756 John Smeaton was asked by the Royal Society to come up with a design for the third Eddystone light. His inspiration was an oak tree - a tall natural object that could withstand gales without breaking.
“And that’s how he built it - using 1,493 blocks of stone, like the rings of a tree all dove-tail jointed together with marble dowels and oak pins.
“Just like a tree, the tower bends in the wind. It's hard to imagine what it was like out there in the middle of a raging storm, as it bent to and fro and the waves crashed right over the top. It sounds terrifying, but the tower never snapped and now it’s the model for all lighthouses built on rocks.
“The lighthouse protected shipping for 120 years and there's a good chance it would still be standing there today had the relentless pounding of the waves not eroded the foundation rock on which it stood.
“When it was finally replaced in 1882, Smeaton's Tower was dismantled stone by stone and rebuilt on Plymouth Hoe - where it stands as a permanent reminder of the Yorkshire born engineer who created it.
“John Smeaton has another claim to fame - he also invented quick-drying cement!
“From Smeaton's Tower make your way down to the seafront road and our next point of interest, a viewpoint overlooking the Tinside Lido.
“For those with buggies and wheelchairs, return the ramp at the end of The Hoe and turn right down HOE ROAD to the seafront.”450
***THE BARBICAN, PLYMOUTH***
W Best Harris underscores: “Barbican: It is appropriate that the first in my list of the principal Place-Names of Plymouth should be the Barbican for it is around the area so called that the town of Plymouth first grew. As will be said elsewhere most of the earliest West Country ports were not on the immediate seaboard but where possible as far up river estuaries as tides and the sizes of ships permitted. This was to give these ports the maximum security from sea-raiders be they Danes, Bretons, Algerians or plain pirates of any nationality. As ships grew larger with the growth of trade, and as estuaries were silted by detritus from tin streaming on the highlands where our West country rivers rise, so it was found necessary to develop new harbors closer to the coast. So it came about that the port of Plympton was in medieval times superseded by the new port of Plymouth. What we still know as Sutton Harbor was ideally suited to meet the new needs of the area having a much deeper tidal flow and a narrow entrance overlooked by a hill from which it could be protected. It was on this hill (Lambhay – concerning which I have a curious story to write of later) that a castle with four towers was erected in the 14th century. Near the actual entrance to the harbor a much smaller fortification – no doubt linked with the castle itself – was constructed. Such an outer defense of a castle was called a Barbican and so it was from this word that the name of the whole of the ancient waterside area was derived. It is interesting to note that the same name is found below Plympton Castle – a reminder of the days when it overlooked an inland port.”451
**RUTLAND**
JB Johnston comments on: “As a shire later than Domesday Book, where it is Roteland; 1156 [AD] Pipe Rotelanda; 1298 [AD] Rotel; circa 1500 [AD] Rutland. Probably ‘land full of roots’, Old Norse and late Old English rot, rote, rotte, rott, rut, ‘a root’, though often derived from Icelandic rauor, ‘red’.”452
J Gronow emphasizes: “Rutlandshire: the least of all the counties in England, being only fifteen miles long, and twelve broad. It is supposed to take its name from the red color of the soil. In the time of the Romans, it was part of the territory of the Coritani. The air is sweet and salubrious, being entirely free from fogs. The soil is very fruitful, and produces the best wheat in the kingdom. The Vale of Catmos in this county, which takes its name from the British word, Caet Maes, ie, ‘a woody territory’, is not inferior in point of fertility to the Vale of the White Horse. Oakham and Uppingham are the only market-towns in this county.”453
JM Wilson gives: “Rutland, or Rutlandshire, an inland county, the smallest in England; bounded, on the north and the northeast, by Lincolnshire; on the southeast and the south, by Northamptonshire; on the southwest, the west, and the northwest, by Leicestershire. Its outline is irregular; and its boundary with Northamptonshire is traced by the river Welland, and with part of Leicestershire by the river Eye. Its greatest length, south-southwestward, is 17 ½ miles; its greatest breadth is 14 ½ miles; its circuit is about 63 miles; and its area is 95,805 acres. Its surface is finely diversified; exhibits gentle swells and depressions; and has elevations extending east and west, and divided by pleasant vales. One range runs to the northeast of Oakham; other ranges flank the Welland and the Eye; and the rich Vale of Catmos is in the northwest. The chief streams, besides the Welland and the Eye, are the Gwash and the Chater. Lias and lower oolite rocks occupy the whole area; the former chiefly in the west, the latter chiefly in the east. Limestone is plentiful; and both it and freestone are quarried for building. Mineral springs are at
Normanton, Martinsthorpe, Hambledon, Lyndon, and Luffendon. Little of the land is waste; nearly 300 acres are underwood; and a larger aggregate, proportionally to the entire area, is disposed in parks and lawns, than in almost any other county in England. The soils are various, but generally fertile. Those in the east and the southeast are mostly shallow clay, on limestone rock; and those elsewhere are chiefly strong red loam, on blue clay. Estates are of various sizes; farms run from 15 acres upwards; and agriculture is principally of the same kind as in Norfolk. Wheat and barley are heavy crops, and yield fine seed; turnips are extensively grown; sheep are fed; and Stilton cheese is made. Manufactures make very little figure. The Rugby and Peterborough railway runs along all the southeast border; the Syston and Peterborough railway deflects from this at Luffenham, and runs through the interior, past Pilton, Manton, Oakham, and Ashwell; the Great Northern railway traverses a small wing of 2 miles in the northeast; and the railway from Stamford to Bourn intersects the Great Northern at Essendine. The river Welland is navigable along the boundary; and the Oakham canal gives communication to the northwest parts with the general system of canals. The aggregate of turnpike and highways is about 300 miles.
“The territory now forming Rutland was inhabited by the ancient British Coritani; was included by the Romans in their Flavia Caesariensis; formed part of Mercia, with the name of Roteland, till 827; was given by the Confessor to Westminster abbey; reverted to the Crown at the Norman conquest; was then known as Rihale or Rihala; formed part of Northamptonshire or of Notts till the time of Henry III; has never, as a separate county, made any figure in history; and gives the title of Duke to the family of Manners. Some barrows of the ancient Britons still exist; Roman settlements were at Rank-borough, Burley, Stretton, Casterton, Market-Overton, and Tixover; Ermine-street, here called Horne-lane, traverses to the northeast, past Casterton and Stretton; an old castle was at Oakham; and old churches are at Essendine, Edith-Weston, Ketton, and Tickencote.”454
***EDITH WESTON, RUTLAND***
University of Nottingham’s Institute for Name Studies pens: “Edith Weston: ‘west farm/settlement’. Edith because it was part of the dowry of Queen Eadgyth, wife of Edward the Confessor. West (Old English): ‘western, west’. Tun (Old English): an ‘enclosure’; a ‘farmstead’; a ‘village’; an ‘estate’.”455
***GUNTHORPE, RUTLAND***
University of Nottingham’s Institute for Name Studies scribes: “Gunthorpe: ‘Gunni's outlying farm/settlement’. Porp (Old Norse): a ‘secondary settlement’, a ‘dependent outlying farmstead or hamlet’.”456
JB Johnston states: “Grant of 604 [AD], but Domesday Book Gulne-, Gunnetorp; 1278 [AD] Guntorp. Domesday Book Gunestorp. ‘Village of Gunna’. Possibly the named embedded is Gunhildr; compare to Gunthwaite (Yorkshire); 1389 [AD] Gunnyldthwayt.”457
***WHISSENDINE, RUTLAND***
University of Nottingham’s Institute for Name Studies alludes: “Whissendine: either, 'Hwicce's valley' or 'valley of Hwicci's people'. Alternatively, perhaps 'pirates' valley'. Wicing (Old English): a ‘pirate’.
Hwicce (Old English): a tribe which settled mostly in Gloucestershire and Worcestershire. –Ingas (Old English): ;the people of ...’; ‘the people called after ...’. Denu (Old English): a ‘valley’.”458
JB Johnston communicates: “Circa 1230 [AD] Grossesteste Wissenden. ‘The dean of’ probably ‘Hwithyse’, the nearest name in Searle’s Onomasticon Anglo-Saxonicum, and common there. The –dine or –den will be Old English denu, Middle English dene, dane, ‘a valley deep and wooded’.”459
**SHROPSHIRE**
JB Johnston depicts: “Shrewsbury. 901 [AD] charter ‘In civitate Scrobbensis’; 1007 [AD] Old English Chronicle Sciropesberie; circa 1097 [AD] Florence of Worchester Scrobbesbyria; before 1145 [AD] Orderic Scrobesburia; circa 1190 [AD] Giraldus Cambrensis Solopusburia; 1271 [AD] Salopseburi; 1283 [AD] Slopesbiry; 1387 [AD] Schroysburg; 1461 [AD] Schrevisbery; 1485 [AD] Shrewsbury; also 1088 [AD] Old English Chronicle Scrobscyre. Shrewsburg is Old English scrobbes byrg, ‘burgh, castle among the shrubs’, Shropshire is simply Scrobscire, whilst Salopesbury is supposed to be the nearest that the Norman could come in pronunciation to Scrobbesbury. Then the –bury was dropped, and we get Salop. No Norman could pronounce Scottish. Compare to Shrawardine.”460
J Gronow enumerates: “Shropshire: or Salop, is bounded on the north by Cheshire, and part of Flintshire; on the south by Worcestershire, Herefordshire, and part of Radnorshire; on the east by Staffordshire; and on the west by the Counties of Denbigh and Montgomery. This being a frontier county, between England and Wales, was better fortified than any other county in England, having no less than thirty-two castles, besides fortified towns. The extremity of the county towards Wales, being the limits of both countries, was called the Marches of Wales, and governed by some of the nobility of this county, who were styled lords of the Marches. These lords, within the bounds of their respective jurisdictions, acted with a power that approached nearer to sovereign power than any other delegated authority. Thomas Parr, who lived to the amazing age of one hundred and fifty-two years, was a native of this county. The air of this county is pure and healthy; but the country being mountainous, it is in many places cold and piercing. The chief rivers are the Severn, the Temd, and the Clun. At Caer-Caradoc, a hill near the conflux of the last two, Caractacus, in 53, fought his last battle against the power of Rome. His greatness of mind in adversity procured him his liberty; but in all probability he enjoyed it only to be a living slave. Along the banks of the Severn are large meadows which feed innumerable flocks of sheep, the wool of which is among the finest in the kingdom. Clun Forest, consisting of 12,000 acres, is an immense sheep walk, and the flannel of this county goes by the name of Welsh flannel.”461
JM Wilson gives an account: “Shropshire, or Salop, an inland county, of the west of England; bounded, on the northwest, by Denbighshire; on the north, by Flintshire and Cheshire; on the east, by Staffordshire; on the west, by Worcestershire, Herefordshire, and Radnorshire; on the west, by Montgomeryshire and Denbighshire. Its outline has numerous irregularities, but is not far from being oblong. Its boundaries are chiefly artificial. Its greatest length, from north to south, is 48 miles; its greatest breadth is 41 miles; its circuit is about 220 miles; and its area is 826,055 acres. Its surface has been described as ‘possessing every variety of natural charm, the bold and lofty mountain, the woody and secluded valley, the fertile and widely-cultured plain, the majestic river, and the sequestered lake.’
The north and northeast half, for the most part, is a plain, agreeably diversified by wooded vales and a few isolated hills; while the other half, especially toward the west, assumes a resemblance to the mountainous character of Denbighshire and Montgomeryshire. The chief heights are the Wrekin, near Wellington, 1,320 feet high; the Clee hills, in the southeast, 1,805 feet high; and the Long Mynd, in the southwest, 1,674 feet high. The chief rivers are the Severn, bisecting the county nearly through the middle; the Vyrnwy, running on part of the western boundary, to the Severn; the Tern and the Worf, running to the Severn respectively near Atcham and near Bridgnorth; the Teme, running along much of the south boundary, and receiving the Clun, the Onny, and the Corve from the interior; and the Dee, running along a small part of the northwest boundary. The chief lakes are Ellesmere, Whitemere, Colemere, Avesmere, and Meretonmere. Trias rocks, of various kinds, prevail in the north; Permian and lias rocks occupy small tracts in the north; carboniferous rocks occur in the east; Silurian and Devonian rocks prevail throughout the south; and eruptive rocks occur in some of the hills. Coal exists in seams sometimes 6 feet thick; and, in 1859, was worked in 59 collieries, with an annual output of 765,750 tons. Ironstone is found in the same tracts as the coal; and, in 1859, yielded 149,480 tons of ore, and was worked in 37 furnaces and 14 ironworks. Lead ore, calamine, and traces of copper ore occur in the west. Limestone of quality resembling marble, is quarried near Oswestry, Ludlow, and Orton; slate, at Selattyn, Purslow, and Clun; and good buildingstone at Grimshilland other places.
“The territory now forming Shropshire was inhabited by the ancient British Cornavii and Ordovices; was partitioned by the Romans into part of their Flavia Caesariensis and part of their Britannia Secunda; became part of Powisland, and afterwards part of Mercia; was nearly all given, by William the Conqueror, to Roger de Montgomery; was the scene of many struggles between the Normans and the Welsh till the time of Edward I; and thenceforth witnessed only such important public events as are noticed in our articles on Shrewsbury, Ludlow, and other principal places. The Roman Watling-street enters from Staffordshire at Weston Park, goes westward to Wroxeter, southwest-by-southward thence to Church-Stretton, and south-by-westward thence into Herefordshire near Leintwardine. Roman stations were at Uxacona or Oakengates, Uriconinm or Wroxeter, and Rutoninm or Rowton; and ancient camps were at the Walls, Bury-Ditches, Bury-Walls, Borough-Hill, Brocards-Castle, and Bucknell. Offa's dyke and Wat's dyke run along much of the west border. Old castles are at Shrewsbury, Bridgnorth, Ludlow, Hopton, Stoke, Clun, Oswestry, Cawse, Whittington, Knockyn, Red Castle, and Acton-Burnell. Old abbeys, or their remains, are at Shrewsbury, Haughmond, Buildwas, Wenlock, and Lilleshall; old priories, at Bromfield and White-ladies; and old churches, at Chirbury and Tonge.”462
***HOPESAY, SHROPSHIRE***
University of Nottingham’s Institute for Name Studies points out: “Hopesay: ‘Valley’, with the later incorporation of the name of a feudal owner, Picot de Say. Hop (Old English): a ‘valley’; a ‘remote enclosed space’; a ‘piece of enclosed land in a fen’; an ‘enclosure in marsh or moor’.”463
***LLANYMYNECH, SHROPSHIRE***
Alison Healey relates: “Llanymynech is a Welsh name from llan and mynach meaning ‘the church of the monks’.”464
CH Hartshorne stipulates: “The Ogo, or Cave at Llanymynech, was a mine worked by the Romans. About 1744, a few miners, in search of copper ore, found several skeletons within it. There were culinary utensils, and a number of Roman coins, Antoninus, Faustina, and others, discovered near them. One skeleton had a bracelet of glass beads like those Druidical rings called glain neider, the ova anguinum of Pliny, around his left wrist, and a battle axe by his side. Fifteen years after this first discovery some other miners found several human bones, and a golden bracelet.”465
***RUYTON-XI-TOWNS, SHROPSHIRE***
JB Johnston writes: “Domesday Book Retune. Perhaps ‘town of Ruta’, three in Searle’s Onomasticon Anglo-Saxonicum. But it is quite possibly Rutunium, circa 380 [AD] in The Antonine Itinerary. There are Roman remains here. As for ‘the eleven towns’, there are still five townships in the parish.”466
www.northshropshire.co.uk articulates: “Ruyton-XI-Towns is a large village in northern Shropshire located near the town of Oswestry. It is located on the River Perry between the villages of Baschurch Wykey.
“The village owes its name to the twelfth century when a castle was built and so the village became the focus of eleven local townships, some of which still survive today. The eleven townships in question were Coton, Eardiston, Felton, Haughton, Rednal, Ruyton, Shelvock, Shotatton, Sutton, Tedsmore and Wykey. The name of the village has changed its name a few times from Ruyton of the Eleven Towns or simply Ruyton.
“The aforementioned castle was destroyed in 1202 but was subsequently rebuilt in 1313, only to be destroyed again by Owain Glyndwr.
“The parish church dates in part from the 1130s.”467
***WROCKWARDINE, SHROPSHIRE***
JB Johnston describes: “’Farm of Wrocc’. Compare to Wroxall.”468
JC Anderson establishes: “Wrockwardine, situated to the north of the Wrekin, may derive its name from Wrekin Worthen, ‘the Village of the Wrekin’. After the Conquest of Mercia, when the palatine Norman Earl divided Shropshire among his vassals, he retained, pleasantly situated Wrockwardine in demesne. The fact is thus recorded in Domesday Book: ‘Earl roger holds Recordine. King Edward held it. To this manor pertain vii berewicks and a half. Here v hides geldable. In demesne are iiii ox-teams; and xiii villains, iiii boors, a priest, and a radman have among them all xii teams. Here are viii neatherds, a mill of 12 shillings [annual value], and a wood one league long and half a league wide.’”469
**SOMERSET**
JB Johnston highlights: “878 [AD] Old English Chronicle Sumor saet; 1204 [AD] charter Sumerset; 1433 [AD] Somerset. ‘Seat, dwelling of the family Sumor’, seen also in Somerton in this shire.”470
J Gronow portrays: “Somersetshire: or the County of Somerset, is bounded on the northwest by the Bristol Channel; on the northeast by the County of Gloucester; on the east by Wiltshire; on the south by Dorsetshire; and on the west of the Devonshire. The air of this county is considered the mildest in the kingdom. In most places it is very healthy; and in the parts of the hills, very fine. Wood grows better here than in any other part of England, while the oxen bred and fattened here, are as large as those of Lincolnshire, and the grain of the flesh is said to be finer.”471
JM Wilson remarks: “Somerset, or Somersetshire, a maritime county; bounded on the northwest, by the Bristol channel; on the north, by Gloucestershire; on the east, by Wilts; on the southeast, by Dorset; on the south, by Dorset and Devon; on the west, by Devon. Its outline is irregular; but may be said to comprise a large oblong, extending south-southwestward from the boundary with Gloucester, and a smaller oblong, extending westward from the south half of the former to the west boundary with Devon. Its greatest length is 71 miles; its greatest breadth is 40 miles; its circuit is about 230 miles; its extent of coast is about 65 miles; and its area is 1,047,220 acres. The coast is low and sandy in most of the north, cliffy and picturesque in much of the south or west; and has no considerable indentation except Bridgewater bay. The surface exhibits almost every variety of features, from flat fen and luxuriant valley to barren moor and lofty hill. Much of the fen has been highly improved. Many of the valleys have finely contoured flanks and bottoms. Some of the hills are isolated, while others extend in ranges: and some are smooth and verdant, while others are rugged and desolate. Lansdown and Dundry hills adorn the north; the Mendips range across one half or more of the central part of the great oblong; the Poldens range across one-third of the south part of that oblong; the Blackdowns are on the boundary with Dorset; the Quantocks and the Brendons finely diversify the east and the central parts of the smaller oblong; and a moor extends in wild ruggedness over the west border to Devon. The greatest heights range in altitude from 790 to 1,668 feet. The Lower Avon river runs in the north, partly in the interior, but chiefly along the boundary; and the chief other rivers are the Frome, the Yeo, the Axe, the Brue, the Parret, the Isle, the Ivel or Yeo, the Tone, the Carey, and the Exe. Devonian rocks occupy most of the west half of the smaller oblong; trias rocks occupy much of the east half of that oblong, and occur plentifully also throughout the west part of the great oblong; lias and oolite rocks occupy most of the other parts of that oblong; carboniferous rocks, variously lower and upper, the latter inclusive of the coal measures, form considerable tracts of the great oblong, all north of Shepton-Mallet and Wells; lower greensand forms a tract around Wedmore; and alluvial deposits form considerable tracts along the Axe and the Brue, to the coast and northward. The chief useful minerals are iron-ore, lead-ore, calamine, manganese, coal, lime, ochre, fullers' earth, and building stone. Mineral springs are at Bath, Castle-Cary, Queen-Camel, Weston-super-Mare, East Chinnock, Nether Stoney, Alford, Ashill, Wells, Glastonbury, and Wellington.
“The territory now forming Somerset belonged to the Belgae; was included, by the Romans, in their Britannia Prima; became part of the Saxon Wessex; suffered severely from the Danes, and gave refuge to Alfred from their incursions; and was the scene, at later periods, of the Battles of Sedgemoor and Lansdown, and the sieges of Bristol, Bridgewater, and Taunton. The title of Earl of Somerset, along with 61 lordships in the county, was given by William the Conqueror, to Sir W Mohun; descended to his posterity; was transmuted into the title of Duke in 1442; and was revived by James I, in favor of his
minion Robert Carr. The title of Duke of Somerset became attainted in 1472; was afterwards given successively to the third son of Henry V, to an illegitimate son of Henry VIII, and to Protector Seymour; became attainted at the Protector’s condemnation; and was restored, in 1660, to the Protector's great grandson, the Marquis of Hertford. Druidical circles are at Stanton-Drew, Monkton-hill, Withycombe, and Chew-Magna; British camps, at Leigh-down, Ashton, Doleberry, Bleadonhill, Maesknoll, Portbury, Banwell, and Worlehill; Roman camps, at Doleberry, North Cadbury, Hawkridge, Douxborough, Bunwell, Bowditch, Modbury, Neroche, and about 13 other places; Saxon or Danish camps, at Wiveliscombe, Porlock, and about 8 other places; and an enormous tumulus, at Uphill. The Roman Fosse way and other Roman roads have left vestiges; and many Roman monuments, of great interest, have been found at Bath, Cadbury, Portbury, Ilchester, and other places. Old abbeys or interesting remains of them are at Glastonbury, Bath, Wells, Keynsham, Hinton, Banwell, Bruton, Muchelney, and Athelney; and old churches, or parts of them, with artistic features, at Uphill, Cannington, Dunster, Stogursey, Taunton, Compton-Martin, Christon, and Portbury.”472
***ABBAS AND TEMPLECOMBE, SOMERSET***
Philippa Taylor shares: “Abbas and Templecombe - the parish council is called Abbas and Templecombe but it is comprised of 2 separate but adjoining villages: Combe Abbas and Templecombe.”473
AD Mills stresses: “Abbas Combe is derived from the Latin abbatisse – ‘of the abbess’, alluding to early possession by Shaftesbury Abbey. Combe is from the Old English cumb and means ‘valley’. Templecombe: Temple is derived from its possession by the Knights Templars and combe means ‘valley’.”474
Tim Law composes: “Prior to the Norman conquest of 1066, the settlement was known as Combe (meaning ‘valley’) and was listed in the Domesday Book as Cumbe. At this time one part (manor) of the village was owned by the church and came under the rule of the Abbey in Shaftesbury. This manor became to be known as Abbas Combe. The other manor was owned at that time by Earl Leofwine. This manor was given to Bishop Odo of Bayeux after the Norman conquest and later his descendent Serlo FitzOdo. He later granted the manor to the Knights Templar, who set up a preceptory in the village. Modern Templecombe derives its current name from the old name Combe Templariorum a mixture of the two old manor names. The full parish title for the village remains as Abbas and Templecombe to this day, so the old heritage is still reflected in its modern name.”475
***CHEDDAR, SOMERSET***
J Gronow designates: “Chedder, Somersetshire, near Axbridge, a village under the Mendip hills, famous for cheese; and its cliffs constitute one of the finest pieces of rock scenery in England.”476
Neil Oliver expands: “Scientists led by Professor Clive Gamble of Royal Holloway, University of London and Professor Martin Richards of Leeds University studied the DNA of ancient human remains from sites across western Europe. Oxford University’s Professor Bryan Sykes, a member of the team, examined DNA collected from a tooth belonging to the skull of so-called ‘Cheddar Man’, a modern human skeleton found in Gough’s Cave in Cheddar Gorge in Somerset in 1903 and later radiocarbon-dated to 7,000 years
BC. The DNA sequence he recovered was compared to the DNA of pupils and teachers at the nearby Kings of Wessex Community School – and found to match that of two children and one man. History teacher Adrian Targett and Cheddar Man were connected, across 9,000 years, by an unbroken strand of DNA. What this meant in simple terms was that the people living around Cheddar Gorge now are of the same stock as those hunter-gatherers who came to Britain after the ice melted.”477
***MAIDEN HEAD, SOMERSET***
JB Johnston illustrates: “1297-8 [AD] Mayden heth; circa 1350 [AD] Magdenhithe; 1538 [AD] Maidenhedde. ‘Maiden’s hythe’ or ‘landing place’, ie, one very easy to land at, from Old English hydde, later hyo, ‘a haven, a landing-place’. Compare to Hythe. Maiden Castle (Dorchester), not in Domesday Book, is claimed as a Celtic name, which is quite unlikely. The Maiden Castle is Edenburgh, found circa 1150 [AD] as ‘Castellum puellarum’. Dorset also has Maiden Newton.”478
***QUEEN CAMEL, SOMERSET***
University of Nottingham’s Institute for Name Studies maintains: “Queen Camel: an old hill name from the British for ‘circular/rim’ and ‘bare’. Edward I gave it to his Queen, Eleanor, in the 13th century. Canto- (British): meaning unknown. Mel (Primitive Welsh): ‘bald’.”479
www.queen-camel.co.uk presents: “Records of what was originally called East Camel go back to the 11th century but there are links with a far older, legendary past. Cadbury Castle or Cadbury Camp in the neighboring parish of South Cadbury is a large, Iron Age fort known also as Camelot and associated by many with King Arthur.
“The Tudor antiquarian John Leland located Camlann (the site of King Arthur’s last stand) in Queen Camel, and many modern scholars agree that the place-name Camel is Celtic in origin. It may be derived from cantmael or ‘bare ridge’, possibly referring to Camel Hill which dominates both Queen Camel and West Camel.
“In the 11th century around 200 people lived in East Camel. It belonged to the most powerful man in England, Earl Godwin, who gave it as dower to his wife Countess Gytha. She was supposedly in Camel when she received the news that her son Harold Godwinson (King Harold II) had been killed at the Battle of Hastings.
“William the Conqueror confiscated East Camel along with the rest of the Godwin estates and by 1275 it was known as Camel Regis or King’s Camel. The manor was granted out from time to time, for example to the bastard son of Henry I, but on each occasion it reverted to the Crown. One member of the de Burgh family was only persuaded to surrender it (and other manors) to the crown in exchange for the tenancies of Colchester Castle and the Tower of London. Camel was especially favored by successive Queens Consort: King John’s first wife (Isabella of Gloucester) settled here after her marriage was annulled and the widow of Henry III (Eleanor of Provence) established a deer park around Hazlegrove.
“Her son Edward I went on to give Camel as dower to his (second) wife Margaret, another Provencale,
and this practice was followed by subsequent monarchs. Unsurprisingly the village came to be known as Queen’s Camel.”480
Jo of www.queen-camel.co.uk provides: “Our first great lady Gytha Thorkelsdottir (‘The Divinely Beautiful Daughter of Thorkel’), granddaughter of the King of Norway and Denmark, was given Camel as her dower after she married the most powerful man in England. Her daughter Edith of Wessex subsequently became Queen to Edward the Confessor and then her son Harold became King, but after he was killed at Hastings, Camel was confiscated by William the Conqueror and became crown property.
“A hundred years later William’s 10 year-old great-great-grandson Prince John became engaged to Isabel of Gloucester, a very wealthy 3 year-old. They did not get married for many years and even then they were not allowed to have sex because they were cousins.
“Things never really worked out for them and John eventually fell passionately in love with a young French girl, Isabella of Angouleme, whose physical charms were reputedly as considerable as her inheritance. Although King John was by then a 33 year-old married man while she was only 12 – and engaged to someone else – he was not afraid of scandal: Isabel found herself replaced by Isabella on the royal throne as well as in the royal bed and was pensioned off to Camel. However she was not one for a quiet retirement: she went on to marry a brace of Earls, the second of whom became the most powerful lord in England under John’s son Henry III.
“Like his father Henry took a child bride but this time there was no scandal: she was all of 13 while he was only 29 and since they did not meet before their wedding there was no hint of impropriety. Young Eleanor of Provence had much in common with her mother-in-law: both were great beauties from southern France who became redoubtable Queens of England and both did their duty by bearing their respective husbands five children each. Eleanor was not only highly educated and a well-respected poet but also something of a fashion icon, famous for red damask and jaunty pillbox hats. Like many a younger wife she devoted a long and active widowhood to her family, including the King of England and the Queens of France and Scotland, and to helping with the grandchildren. However Londoners did not care for her extravagant French ways – they once pelted her with rotten eggs and vegetables while she was boating on the Thames – and made a haven in Camel, creating the deer park at Hazlegrove.
“Her son Edward I followed the family tradition by taking as his (second) wife a much younger French girl. He was 60 when he married the 16 year-old Princess Margaret, daughter of the King of France, but against the odds the marriage was a tremendous success. Margaret had a good sense to cultivate her step children and respect the memory of Edward’s first wife (whom he had adored) and Edward became so indulgent towards her that she was much in demand to intercede for those who had fallen foul of his ferocious temper. Like her predecessors she was granted a life interest in what had become known as Queen’s Camel, and after Edward died she moved to the West Country where she spent the rest of her life caring for the poor.
“It was left to Queen Elizabeth I to sever Queen Camel’s royal link: when she found herself short of cash at the beginning of her reign she sold the manor to her Treasurer, Sir Walter Mildmay. However by then
the name Queen Camel was firmly established and it has stuck, remaining a source of pride for many in the parish and a fair reflection of their regard for the second Queen Elizabeth.”481
***TEMPLE CLOUD, SOMERSET***
HD Skrine renders: “Accordingly we find that the Romans when they set themselves seriously to conquer Britain, very soon occupied this country and entrenched themselves at Camerton, about five miles from Bath; this was AD 43. This entrenched camp at Camerton was traversed by the Fosse-road, and was so situated as to form an excellent center for the defense of the district against the Cangi who occupied the Quantock hills to the south, and the Brigantes and Silures to the north. The Romans were commanded by an able General, Aulus Plautius, who having defeated and driven back the Silurians, commanded by the brave King Caractacus, into the mountains of Wales, and received the submission of the Brigantes who inhabited the Severn valley, sent to request the Roman Emperor, Claudius, to come and complete the conquest of Britain, which he is said to have accomplished in the short space of sixteen days, without a battle. This is hardly likely, and indeed could only have referred to the south of England, including Somerset. In honor of his great success, however, it is certain that a temple was erected in this district called Templum Claudii, the ‘Temple of Claudius’, now Temple Cloud, near Clutton. Later than this, AD 51, Ostorius Scapula, another Roman general, extended the conquest and settled a colonia, or ‘colony’ of veteran soldiers at Camerton, a place which the Rev John Skinner in an able essay, identifies with Camalodunum, which the ancient name Camerlartone, as well as the situation, confirm in a remarkable degree. Mr Skinner maintains, ‘That this district was actually attached to the royal residence of Cynobelin, King of the Belgae, and father of Caractacus, spoken of by Dion, and Camerton the identified spot occupied by the Roman colonists established by Ostorius at Camalodunum.’ The whole of the hill above Camerton is covered with the remains of the Roman possession. The several hills which formed the old line of Wansdyke were now occupied by Roman forts, and it is said that every ford on the Avon was also a station of defense against the incursion of the Silures from South Wales, who used to come up the river in their coracles to ravage the country.”482
www.templecloudandcameley.wordpress.com sheds light on: “How often has that been said to you when you give your address? A pretty name maybe but from where did it come? Most places having the word Temple in their name have connections with the Knights Templar, an order of religious knights dating back to the 1200s. The evidence of the Templar connection in some places is very clear, in others less so. Temple Cloud is in the latter category but that is not to say the evidence is not here, it is just a case of looking for it. We have field names containing the word Temple and Templars seem to have been paying taxes here in the early 14th century.
“The name Temple Cloud in the place name in historical terms may relate to the Knights Templar. The Poor Fellow-Soldiers of Christ and of the Temple of Solomon (Latin: Pauperes commilitones Christi Templique Solomonici), commonly known as the Knights Templar or the Order of the Temple were among the most famous of the Western Christian military orders. The organization existed for approximately two centuries in the Middle Ages. Officially endorsed by the Roman Catholic Church around 1129, the Order became a favored charity throughout Christendom, and grew rapidly in
membership and power. Templar knights, in their distinctive white mantles with a red cross, were among the most skilled fighting units of the Crusades.
“However they became too powerful for the likes of many and at the start of the 14th century were disbanded and their land holdings passed to the Knights Hospitaller. Much of their wealth ‘disappeared’ and their subsequent history is shrouded in mystery. Research by Juliet Faith and others and published in her book The Knights Templar in Somerset is well worth a read if you want to look into this connection more deeply. You will be pleasantly surprised by the findings. The book is published by The History Press and available at Waterstones or Amazon and other outlets or the mobile library. But what about the Cloud part of the name. Some may say it is because it is often raining or just dull. Perhaps not! This part of the name certainly pre-dates the Templars as there are documents referring to Cloude or La Clude in the archives. Some say the name comes from a personal name of Cloda whoever he or she may have been. More probable is that it comes from the Old English word clud, meaning ‘a mass of rock’ or ‘a rocky hillside’. Possibly this definition is helping to form the name of Clutton just up the road.
“We cannot leave this subject without referring to the Revd Skinner from Camerton who proposed that the name derives from the fact that somewhere here was a temple dedicated to the Roman Emperor Claudius. No one, not even the good Revd, has found any such temple so not much is going for his idea, but if you want to start digging it will be in a ‘mass of rock’! However, Temple Cloud is a modern village and is predated by Cameley in whose parish it sits. Cameley lies on the Cam Brook about a mile to the west and is listed as Camelie in the 1086 Domesday Book. The name probably originates from Celtic and Old English meaning ‘the curved river meadow’.
“At Cameley there is the church dedicated to St James, dating from at least the 13th century. It was called Rip Van Winkle’s church by Sir John Betjeman because there has been little change there since the early part of the 19th century. Now in the hands of the Churches Conservation Trust, the church is a must for an early visit if you have not already been. Temple Cloud’s existence is probably due to the building of what became the turnpike road from Bristol towards Shepton Mallet which passed by Cameley. There was a manor near the junction of the road to Cameley and a number of cottages were built over the years along the road. At the Green was a pub called The Bell and the village cross was on the site of what is now the traffic island at The Green. There is a wealth of history to be discovered within the parish of Cameley and future articles will explore some of it.”483
***WOOKEY, SOMERSET***
JB Johnston suggests: “1231 [AD] Patent Woky. Probably Old Welsh guocov, modern Welsh gwcof, ‘a cave’.”484
University of Nottingham’s Institute for Name Studies calls attention to: “Wookey: ‘snare’. Wocig (Old English): a ‘noose’, a ‘snare’.”485
Joan Hasler and Brian Luker connotes: “For most people Wookey conjures up the cave of Wookey Hole and possibly a Witch. In fact Wookey Hole west of the river Axe is historically a minor part of the ancient parish centred on the manor and village of Wookey. A settlement northwest of the cave,
Aebbeworth, was also part of the parish, but by the 16th century it had ceased to exist while, largely through the influence of the paper mill and the Hodgkinson family, Wookey Hole grew into a village in the 19th century.
“In the Middle Ages then, Wookey village was the hub of the parish with subsidiary settlements at Worth, Yarley, Henton (where there was a chapel of ease) and Bleadney, site of the manorial mill. The manor of Wookey was held by the bishops of Bath and Wells who built one of their palaces, now Court Farm, in the centre of Wookey village, part of extensive estates in Somerset including the demesne and leasehold lands in the parish. Other landholders in the parish included the subdeans of Wells who were rectors of St Matthew’s church; Wells Old Almshouses who held cottages in the High Street including those amalgamated into the main village pub, the Ring of Bells, by 1769; and the Wayfer lands in Wookey Hole.
“In 1549 the cash-strapped Bishop Barlow sold the manor to the Duke of Somerset and after his disgrace it was sold to first the Dunch family of Wiltshire and then the Rolles of Devon. The former bishops’ palace or manor house was leased out and gradually decayed, becoming little more than a farmhouse, but still set in its old central demesne land and remaining the manorial court house.
“Wookey finally shook off the medieval manorial traditions in 1769 when the Rolles auctioned off the manor at a sale in Wells. Over 1,400 acres throughout the parish, some 120 holdings, were sold. Over 50 people bought one or more lots, most being existing tenants. The result was the emergence of a sizeable group of yeomen farmers who celebrated their new status with modernisation or rebuilding of their houses. Increased prosperity was reinforced by the enclosure of the remaining moors and commons in the mid-1780s, with automatic allotment of land to those old tenements of the manor with grazing rights. At this time the most influential families in the parish were the Montague Berties in the rectory (known soon as Mellifont Abbey) and the Tudways of Wells who leased out much of the old demesne and the manor house. Local families like the Salmons who had built East Court on former rectory land, and the Bands, papermakers of Wookey Hole, joined yeoman farmers in a notable dispute with the vicar about tithes, involving over 70 parishioners and leading to 12 of them being summoned to the Quarter sessions in 1780!
“Industries developed along the Axe and its leats – milling, iron making, edge tool making and, most importantly for the future, paper making, the earliest mill conversion known in Somerset being before 1610 at Wookey Hole mill, then and for another 250 years, still owned by Wells Old Almshouses. By the end of the 18th century paper making was well established not only at Wookey Hole but down the Axe where there were six paper mills in operation at various times. Even the old mill at Bleadney was bought by John Band of Wookey Hole and used for papermaking for a while, while predecessors of what was to become St Cuthbert’s mill were established at Lower Wookey. Papermakers like the Coles and the Snelgroves and their successors like WS Hodgkinson, whose son built and lived at Glencot, encouraged the development of Wookey Hole into a village which by the 1870s had a school and a church linked with St Cuthbert’s Out parish of Wells.
“By the beginning of the 19th century the population of the parish had risen to over 700, with half the population farmers or employed in farming. Numbers continued to rise to a mid-19th century peak of 1200. By this time Wookey and Henton villages had become the centers of parish activity. Wookey school at Worth was founded to serve the parish in 1844, and there was an infants’ school at Henton from 1878 until 1960. Christ Church was built at Henton on the former chapel site in 1847 and Wookey St Matthew was given a typical but not over aggressive Victorian restoration. Friendly Societies flourished in the two villages based at the Ring of Bells in Wookey and the Punch Bowl at Henton. These Clubs became the social centers of the villages with annual Club days, and their records from 1797 until after the Second World War survive. They also gave relief to members who fell on hard times. In Wookey village the Perkins family at Eastcourt were not only landowners but virtual ‘squires’ until well into the 20th century. Colonel Perkins owned much property, rebuilt cottages in the High Street and built St Matthew’s Terrace, and the family took a leading part in Church and social activities including the Clubs, May Day Festivals and the Scouts. The Burnett-Stuarts bought Mellifont Abbey and Court Farm, but the latter was sold to the County Council as a starter farm in the early 20th century and was rented out until the council sold it in 1995 into private ownership.
“The rise of industrial Britain and depression and changes in agriculture led to emigration, either to industrial towns or abroad, and by 1900 the population was in decline, heading for a minimum of 800 in the 1930s, by which time farming accounted for about 15% - the share now is well below 5%. In the parish many long established organisations vanished under the impact of Victorian reform. The Parish Council was established in 1894, and the parish came under Wells Rural District Council.
“Almost half the male population of the parish, 210 men, served in the First World War, of whom 30 died and more were scarred for life. The end of the war was marked by celebrations but also by the erection of memorials in St Matthew’s and Christ Church. Changes brought about by the war show through, for example in the increased numbers of women working outside the home. The parish was reduced in area in 1933 when the line of the railway, completed in 1870, became the north boundary. The same year saw the hut, built on Preywater Road for Wookey village men, transported to Henton where it became the well-known Henton Hut. The first council houses, in Knowle Lane, Wookey were built in 1938 and improvement of the B3139, since 1970 the source of concern over speeding, was carried out in 1939 just before the Second World War. In that conflict some 110 men and women from the parish served in the Forces and six were killed.
“Even as the war ended the Royal Defence Corps were planning action in response to surveys showing many unfit dwellings. The council housing that followed, with private building as soon as permitted, transformed Wookey village, and provided new houses and converted farm buildings throughout the parish. The third Wookey vicarage was completed in 1969 and Henton and Wookey combined benefice created in 1974. Modern services – sewage, piped water, telephones, street lighting – arrived and the population began to rise to over 1,300. However the railway closed in 1969 and several pubs and shops in the parish were closed. The closure of the post office at Henton and its removal from Wookey High Street further reduced facilities. Mechanisation of agriculture reduced numbers in farming yet further and there are few working farm houses left. At the same time mills have continued to close and the largest source of employment within the parish is now care of the elderly. Well-supported public
appeals have saved Christ Church (threatened with closure) and restored St Matthew’s. Parishioners have also helped to buy a playing field and to build a splendid successor to Henton Hut as a village hall. It remains to be seen what the future will bring.”486
***YEOVIL, SOMERSET***
JB Johnston details: “Before 800 [AD] Gifla; Domesday Book Givele, Ivle; charter Gavylton. Though Yeovil is on the River Yeo, it originally had nothing to do with Yeo. Gilfa or Gavyl seems to be Old English gafol, geafl, ‘a fork, a forked opening’; cognate with Gaelic gabhal or gobhal (bh = v), ‘a fork’, as in Gavell (Kilsyth). The modern name is made up of Yeo and French ville, a truly modern compound! There is also said to be a St Ivel, from whom the town took its name. Compare to Galford, Ilchester, and Yielden.”487
University of Nottingham’s Institute for Name Studies explains: “Yeovil: ‘River Yeo (alias Gifl)’.”488
**SOUTH YORKSHIRE**
JM Wilson imparts: “Yorkshire, a maritime county in the north of England; much the largest of the English counties; exceeding by 397,930 acres the conjoint areas of the two next largest counties, Lincoln and Devon. It is bounded, on the northwest, by Westmoreland; on the north, by Durham; on the northeast and the east, by the North sea; on the south, by Lincolnshire, Notts, and Derbyshire; on the southwest, by Cheshire; on the west, by Lancashire. Its boundary with Durham is the river Tees; with most of Lincolnshire, the river Humber; with most of Lancashire and Westmoreland, a lofty mountain watershed. Its outline is that of an irregular quadrangle. Its greatest length, from east to west, is 105 miles; its greatest breadth, from north to south, is 90 miles; its circuit is about 400 miles, of which 120 are coast; and its area is 3,830,567 acres. The northeast coast, from the Tees to Flamborough head, is rocky and bold, rising into cliffs of various altitudes up to 800 feet. The interior thence westward to a great central vale extending southward from the Tees to the head of the Humber, is partly tableau, partly a series of vales, partly successive ranges of hills, and partly a great aggregate of elevated moorland. The east coast, all southward from the vicinity of Flamborough head, is low and flat; and very much of it has suffered considerable denudation by the sea. The interior thence westward, to the width of from 10 to 20 miles, continues to be low and flat; and it then rises into a broad long range of wolds, extending southward to the vicinity of the Humber, and separating the low eastern tract from the great central valley. The west half of the county is exceedingly diversified; forms, onward to Leyburn, Otley, Bradford, and Sheffield, a rich diversity of vales, rising-grounds, and hills; exhibits, thence to the west boundary, increasing boldness of feature, with massive mountains and soaring summits; and possesses a vast aggregate, or even a general prevalence, of highly picturesque scenery. A considerable section in the northwest ranks with the Lake region of Westmoreland and Cumberland, in attractions of mingled beauty, romance, and sublimity; and the highest mountains there rise to altitudes of from 2,361 to 2,600 feet above sealevel.
“The territory now forming Yorkshire was inhabited by the ancient British Brigantes; was included by the Romans in their Maxima Caesariensis; was included in the Saxon Deira and Northumbria; passed, about 827, to the West Saxons; was overrun by the Danes in 867, and at various subsequent periods till 1066;
suffered much devastation in resistance to William the Conqueror; was known at Domesday as Eurewicscire, but then included parts of Lancashire, Westmoreland , and Cumberland; was the scene of various important struggles, and of the Battles of Wakefield and Towton, in the Wars of the Roses; figured greatly, in 1536, in the ‘Pilgrimage of Grace’; was the theatre of many struggles, and of the decisive Battle of Marston-Moor in the civil wars of Charles I; and witnessed many other important events, which have been noticed in our accounts of York and of the other ancient towns. Druidical stones, logan-stones, tumuli, and other ancient British antiquities, are in various places. Roman stations were at York, Tadcaster, Castleford, Doncaster, Aldborough, Catterick-Bridge, Malton, and Flamborough. Watling-street, Ermine-street, Ryknield-street, and other Roman roads have left either vestiges or memorials. Roman camps are numerous; Saxon and Danish monuments, chiefly mounds, are in various places; and Norman remains are plentiful. Ruins of old castles are in 20 places. Old monastic ruins are at 18 places; old cathedrals are at York and Ripon; and interesting old churches, many of them wholly or partly Norman, are in 32 places.”489
***ADWICK LE STREET, SOUTH YORKSHIRE***
University of Nottingham’s Institute for Name Studies mentions: “Adwick le Street: ‘Adda's specialized-farm’. Wic (Old English): a ‘dwelling’; a ‘building’ or ‘collection of buildings for special purposes’; a ‘farm, a dairy farm’; a ‘trading or industrial settlement’; or (in the plural) a ‘hamlet, village’.”490
***WOMBWELL, SOUTH YORKSHIRE***
University of Nottingham’s Institute for Name Studies puts into words: “Wombwell: Uncertain. Possibly, ‘Wamba's spring/stream’. Alternatively, perhaps, ‘womb spring/stream’ used in a topographic sense of ‘hollow’. Wamb (Old English): a ‘womb’, a ‘belly’; topographically a ‘hollow’. Wella (Anglian): a ‘spring’, a ‘stream’.”491
Joan Robinson reports: “Although Wombwell was in existence before the time of the Norman Conquest, it is only in recent years that it has developed into anything more than a small village community. The Domesday Book of 1086, where it appears as Wambella, records that the land hereabouts was owned by three Saxons. For centuries, farming was the only local interest and not until about the middle of the last century, when the first coal mines were started, did the town begin to grow.
“Lewis, in his Topographical Dictionary of England, published a hundred years ago, gives Wombwell but scant mention and states that its population was only 1,169. Today, the agricultural land of Wambella’s three Saxons is a highly urbanized area with a population of more than eighteen thousand. Its efficient public services and its ample shopping and entertainment facilities make it a completely self-contained unit.
“How the town came to bear the name Wombwell is uncertain but the most popular version is that it was christened by its Saxon forebears after the old English God of War – Woden. The place was apparently known as Woden’s Well, which in time became Wombwell.”492
**STAFFORDSHIRE**
JB Johnston shows: “1016 [AD] Old English Chronicle Staefford; 1071 [AD] Staffordescir; Domesday Book Stat-, Stadford. ‘Ford which needs a staff’; Old English staef. McClure thinks it here means ‘a guiding rail’. This town is mentioned earlier on coins, as early as Edgar (859-75 [AD]) – Staeth, which is Old English for ‘bank, shore, waterside’, (compare to Statham); so Staeth or Stathe may have been the original name, and –ford a later addition.”493
J Gronow talks about: “Stafford: Staffordshire, 141 miles from London, a borough, market town, and parish, the capital of the county of the same name, and a place of great antiquity, first called Stadeford; the Saxon word Stade, signifying ‘a place on the banks of a river’. In 913, Ethelfleda, Countess of Mercia, encompassed it with a wall and foss, and erected a castle on the north side of the river. It is called a city in Domesday, and was the only manor in the county reserved for himself by the Conqueror, after his conquest of England. He built a castle here, which was repaired and enlarged in the reign of Edward III, and during the civil war was held for the King under the Earl of Northampton; but it was taken and dismantled by the forces of parliament under the command of Sir William Brereton. The town is pleasantly seated on the river Sow, six miles from its conflux with the Trent. In the 1818 a lunatic asylum was founded for the reception of patients from all parts of the county, which, with the exercise and garden grounds, occupy an area of thirty acres.
“Staffordshire: is bounded on the northwest by Cheshire, on the northeast by Derbyshire; on the south by Worcestershire; on the west by Shropshire; and on the east by the county of Warwick. It is part of the country which, in the time of the Romans, was inhabited by the Cornavii. Under the Saxons it became part of the Kingdom of Mercia, and Bede this historian calls the inhabitants Angli-Mediterranei, or the Midland English, from the situation of the county, which is nearly the center of the kingdom. This county is famous for its potteries, and for the iron-trade in all varieties.”494
JM Wilson catalogs: “Staffordshire, or Stafford, an inland county; bounded, on the northwest, by Cheshire; on the northeast, by Derbyshire; on the east, by Derbyshire and Leicestershire; on the southeast, by Warwickshire; on the south, by Worcestershire; on the west, by Salop. Its outline is somewhat ellipsoidal, with the longer axis extending north and south. Its boundary line, along part of the northwest, is the river Dane; along the northeast, is the river Dove; along most of the east, is the rivers Dove, Trent, and Tame; along small part of the west, is the river Tern; and along most other parts, is entirely artificial. Its greatest length is 54 miles; its greatest breadth is 35 miles; its circuit is about 210 miles; and its area is 728,468 acres. The northeast section, to the extent of about one-sixth of the entire area, is upland, variously moorish, pastoral, and picturesque; rises to an average altitude of from 300 to 600 feet above the general level of the rest of the county; and has summits 1,200 and 1,500 feet high. The northwest section, nearly identical with Pirehill hundred, is prevailingly champaign. The central sections include the large and elevated tract of Cannock chase; and all, excepting that tract, are either undulated or level ground. The south section includes the hills and cliffs of Dudley and Sedgeley, and the isolated mountain of Rowley-Regis; but elsewhere is all prevailingly champaign. The chief streams are the Trent, the Sow, the Tame, the Blythe, the Dove, the Manyfold, the Hamps, the Churnet, the Penk, the Stonr, and the Tern. Silurian rocks form two small tracts in the south; lower carboniferous rocks form considerable tracts in the northeast; upper carboniferous rocks, mainly of the coal measures, form large tracts in the south and in the north; permian rocks form a tract around most of the south coal
measures, and another tract to the south of the north coal measures; and triassic rocks form nearly all the rest of the county, chiefly across its central parts, and amounting to about one-half of the entire area. Ochre, fullers' earth, black chalk, fire-clay, brick clay, porcelain clay, Rowley ragstone, fine-grained sandstone, alabaster, marbles, limestone, lead ore, copper ore, ironstone, and coal are worked. North Staffordshire, in 1859, produced 143,500 tons of iron ore, and had 7 iron-works, 29 furnaces, and 127 collieries; South Staffordshire and Worcestershire, in the same year, produced 475,300 tons of iron ore, and had 71 iron-works, 184 furnaces, and 422 collieries; and all Staffordshire, in that year, produced 6,125,000 tons of coal. A new industry, in the manufacture of oil from cannel coal, was initiated shortly before 1867; and, in the neighborhood of Burslem and Tunstall, produces nearly 100 tons of crude oil per week.
“The territory now forming Staffordshire belonged to the ancient British Cornavii; was included, by the Romans, in their Flavia Caesariensis; and formed part of the Saxon Kingdom of Mercia. Battles were fought, in 705, between the Mercians and the Northumbrians, near Mere; in 713, between the Mercians and the West Saxons, at Wednesbury; in 907, between the Saxons and the Danes, at Tettenhall; in 911, between the same parties, at Wednesfield; in 1459, between the Yorkists and the Lancastrians, at Blore-Heath; and in 1643, between the royalists and the parliamentarians, at Hopton. Other public events are noticed in our articles on Burton-upon-Trent, Lichfield, Tamworth, and Tutbury. Druidical stones are at Biddulph. Ancient British remains are at Beandesert, Apeswood, Stonall, Billington, Elford, and Okeover. The Roman Watling-street, the Roman Icknield-street, and the Via Devana traverse the county. Roman stations were at Wall, Knightley, Uttoxeter, and near Penkridge. Roman camps are at seven places; Saxon camps, at five; and Danish remains, at three. Old castles, of note, were at Cannock, Darlaston, Chartley, Alveton, Healy, Stafford, Stourton, Bonebury, Burton, Eccleshall, and Tutbury. Old abbey remains are at Burton, Croxden, and Dieulacres; a priory, at Wroxton; and interesting old churches, at Lichfield, Stafford, Clifton -Campville, Over Arley, Tamworth, Tutbury, Pipe-Ridware, and Wolverhampton.”495
***ETRURIA, STAFFORDSHIRE***
JB Johnston conveys: “The pottery works here were founded in 1769 by Josiah Wedgewood, who gave them this fanciful name ‘as that of the country of old most celebrated for the beauty of its ceramic products.’”496
William West et al discuss: “There is another place that was formerly of trifling import, but now forms a considerable village or rather regularly built street, we mean Etruria; it is chiefly inhabited by potters, and is situated on the side of the canal about a mile northeast of Newcastle. This place has for many years been celebrated as the source from which the productions of the talented Josiah Wedgewood have been issued from one vast manufactory, contiguous to which, upon an eminence, amidst handsome plantations stands the family residence. The late Mr Wedgewood had these extensive concerns erected and named after Etruria in Italy, anciently celebrated for the exquisite quality and classical models in earthenware and which so eminently served to improve the taste of the English manufacturer. The late Josiah Wedgewood has been much noticed for the accuracy and beauty with which he executed many of the medals, busts, and statues of antiquity; he was actively concerned in
opposing the twenty commercial propositions with Ireland in 1785, and in supporting the commercial treaty with France of the following year; he also published a pamphlet, entitled Address to the Workmen in the Pottery, and was many years concerned in two or three prolix newspaper controversies.”497
***FLASH, STAFFORDSHIRE***
University of Nottingham’s Institute for Name Studies expounds: “Flashbrook: ‘Fleet brook’, where ‘fleet’ may be an earlier name of the stream. Fleot (Old English): an ‘estuary’, an ‘inlet of the sea’, a ‘small stream’. Broc (Old English) a ‘brook’, a ‘stream’. (Used of a stream with a muddy bed and a visible sediment load.)”498
William Pitt impresses: “Flash is a village situated towards the northern point of the county, near the road leading to Buxton, and seven miles northeast of Leek. It contains about twenty houses, three of which are ale-houses, and three with shops.
“The Church is small: it is a curacy, and the present curate is the Rev Robert Richard Balderstone.
“There is also a small meeting-house for Methodists in this village.
“Longevity – Though the situation of this village is one of the most elevated in Staffordshire, and computed to be nearly half a mile above the level of the sea, the air is salubrious, as may be proved from the records of the dead in the churchyard, particularly the following: ‘Here lieth the body of Joseph Brunt, late of Calshaw, who departed this life Aug 3d, 1795, aged 91 years. Also Mary, the mother of Joseph Brunt, who departed this life Feb 24th, 1782, aged 104 years.
Remember man that thou must die,
And so must all that do pass by;
Our glass is run, our time is past,
For age will bring you down at last.’”499
***GENTLESHAW, STAFFORDSHIRE***
JB Johnston puts pen to paper: “1505 [AD] Gentylshawe. ‘Wood of Gentle’, a surname still in use. A John Gentyl is known in this district in 1341 [AD]. Domesday Book Buckinghamshire Intlesberie, may represent the same name.”500
Elaine Parry notates: “The name Gentleshaw (written as recently in the 1900s as Gentle Shaw or Gentleshawe) means the shaw or ‘grove’ of John Gentyl, who was in the service of the Bishop of Lichfield, Coventry and Chester in the reign of Edward 111. In 1547 Gentleshaw was a ‘Moiety of 10 acres of land and 10 acres of wood’, but for more than 100 years the name has applied both to the hamlet within the civil Parish of Longdon and the ecclesiastical Parish, which also includes the adjoining village of Cannock Wood, which is within the Cannock Urban District.
“The two villages now form a distinct social unit, the Parish Church and village Primary School being in Gentleshaw and other amenities such as a Post Office and Garage (now both closed) being in Cannock Wood.
“In layout, the hamlet of Gentleshaw is virtually unchanged since the beginning of the 20th century, though most of its original redbrick cottages have been extended and refaced. Historically there was a monastery known as The Abbey at Redmore, however not a stone remains, though part of the outline of the moat may still be seen. The monastery is thought to have been established between 1135 and 1139, but the monks found the land ‘too wild for them to tame’ and moved to Stoneleigh, in Warwickshire in 1154. It is believed that the building then became a Royal hunting lodge. Certainly, such a lodge existed in the area known as ‘the King's house’. King John visited it. Close by is Nun's well, named after the nuns of the priory at Farewell, a chalybeate well once surrounded by a brick arch said to date from the time of Henry VIII.
“The largest house in the area is now Chestall House, parts of which date back three to four hundred years. Once the residence of the Marquis of Anglesea's agent, it is now a private dwelling.”501
***MUCKLESTONE, STAFFORDSHIRE***
JB Johnston represents: “Domesday Book Moclestone; 1253 [AD] Muklestone. Probably ‘big stone’; Old English micel, mycel, ‘great, large’; possibly from a man Mucel. Compare to Micheldever, etc. Muckley Corner (Lichfield); compare to Mucklow Hill (Halesowen); 1424 [AD] Mokelowe, Moghlowe.”502
University of Nottingham’s Institute for Name Studies specifies: “Mucklestone: ‘Mucel's farm/settlement’. Tun (Old English): an ‘enclosure’; a ‘farmstead’; a ‘village’; an ‘estate’.”503
***THORPE CONSTANTINE, STAFFORDSHIRE***
JB Johnston tells: “Domesday Book Torp; before 1300 [AD] Thorp Constantin. A family so called from Constantine, Normandy.”504
University of Nottingham’s Institute for Name Studies chronicles: “Thorpe Constantine: ‘Outlying farm/settlement’. Galfrid de Costentin held a fee in Thorpe in the 13th century. Porp (Old Norse): a ‘secondary settlement’, a ‘dependent outlying farmstead or hamlet’.”505
***UTTOXETER, STAFFORDSHIRE***
JB Johnston declares: “Pronounced Uxeter. Domesday Book Wotochesshede (d for th as usual, medially, in Domesday Book); before 1200 [AD] Uttockeshedere, Uttoxeshather, Huttokeshagh, Ottokeshather; before 1400 [AD] Uttoxhather, Uttoxeshather, Uttoxatre, Uttockcestre; before 1600 [AD] Utcester, Utseter, Uttecester. The analogy of Exeter tempts one, and Chamber’s Encyclopedia actually invents an Old English Uttocceaster; but the name has nothing to do with –cester or ‘camp’. The first half must represent an unrecorded man Wotoc (ch in Domesday Book is the usual Norman softening), or Uuottok. Compare to the modern names Whittock and Whytock. The second half, -hedere or –hather, must surely be Norse, the Old Norse heith-r, ‘a heath, a moor’. English heath would yield no r, and ‘Wotoc’s
heather’ is a very unlikely name, though heather is a much earlier and wider spread English word than Oxford Dictionary knows.”506
University of Nottingham’s Institute for Name Studies displays: “Uttoxeter: uncertain. Probably, ‘Wuttuc's heath’ but perhaps, ‘Wuttuc's house on the heath’. Haeddre (Old English): ‘heather’. Aern (Old English): a ‘building’, a ‘house’. In place-names often a building used for a specific purpose.”507
Samuel Bentley writes:
“Uttoxeter, sweet are thy views!
Each scene of my fond boyish days,
Past pleasure in fancy renews,
While gratitude sings in thy praise;
Here plenty with copious horn,
Dispenses her bounties around,
And rosy thy sons, like the morn,
In health and in spirits abound.
Thy buildings, what though they are plain,
And boast no magnificent domes,
Enough for the wise may contain,
Enjoying true pleasure at home;
How happy thy poor, who enjoy
Possessions o’er want to prevail,
Whose hills daily bread can supply,
And sweet milky tribute the vale.”508
**SUFFOLK**
JB Johnston expresses: “Originally the southern part of East Anglia. 1076 [AD] Old English Chronicle Sufolc; circa 1175 [AD] Fantosme Sufolke; 1478 [AD] Suffolk. ‘The South folk’. Compare to Norfolk. Earlier – 1010 [AD] Old English Chronicle – it was Eastengle or Engla, now East Anglia.”509
JM Wilson notes: “Suffolk, a maritime county; bounded, on the north, by Norfolk; on the east, by the German ocean; on the south, by Essex; on the west, by Cambridgeshire. Its boundary-line, along most of
the north, is the rivers Little Ouse and Waveney; along most of the south, the river Stour; along part of the west, the river Lark. Its greatest length, from east to west, is about 50 miles; its greatest breadth, from north to south, is 30 miles; its length of coast is 50 miles; its circuit is about 212 miles; and its area is 947,681 acres. The coast consists largely of crag and clay cliffs, with fine views. The interior is mainly level; has few considerable elevations; and rises, in the extreme northwest, into a chalk ridge. The chief streams, besides those on the boundaries, are the Blythe, the Alde, the Deben, the Gipping, the Orwell, and the Bret. Lower eocene rocks, chiefly London clay, form a small tract in the south, to the east and southeast of Sudbury, another small tract around Saxmundham, and a narrow belt along the coast to the south of Aldborough; upper tertiary rocks, chiefly crag, form a considerable belt on the seaboard, all to the south of Lowestoft; and upper chalk rocks form all the rest of the area. Brick clay and chalk are the only minerals of any note. The soils are very various; and pass from the heaviest clay, through strong fertile loams, to the lightest sand. About 820,000 acres are arable, meadow, and pasture. Agriculture is advanced and skillful. The long fallow for barley is practiced on the clay lands, and the four-course shift is followed for turnip-lands. The chief crops are wheat, barley, oats, rye, pulse, buckwheat, turnips, carrots, tares, cole-seed, clover, and sainfoin; and minor crops are chicory, hemp, and hops. Farms are large; but many estates are small; and leases from 7 to 14 years are common. The cows are a light red polled breed, and rich milkers. The sheep are chiefly of the Norfolk and Southdown breeds, number about 500,000, and yield about 9,000 packs of wool. The horses are chiefly ‘the Suffolk punches’, well adapted to farmwork. The manufactures include silk, velvet, linen, woolen, horse-hair, paper, chemical manners, and agricultural implements; but, except in agricultural implements, are of small amount and little note. The navigations are aggregately large and facile; but have not induced a corresponding amount of commerce. Railways traverse all sections of the county, and are tolerably well ramified. Roads, so long ago as 1814, comprised 322 miles of paved Streets and turnpikes, and 2,962 miles of all other highways for wheeled carriages.
“The territory now constituting Suffolk was inhabited by the ancient British Iceni; was included, by the Romans, in their Flavia Caesariensis; became part of East Anglia and the Danelagh; and took its name of Suffolk by corruption of ‘South-folk’, designating its inhabitants in contradistinction to the ‘North-folk’ in Norfolk. It was ravaged by Sweyne the Dane in 1010; and it became the scene of frequent tumult and warfare after the Norman conquest. An earldom of Suffolk existed before the conquest; and passed to the Malets, the Bigods, the Clares, the Magnavilles, and others. Ancient British, Saxon, and Danish remains are chiefly earthworks, few and inconspicuous. Roman stations were at Stratford, Ixworth, Burgh, Dunwich, and Wool-pit. Roman roads connected the Roman stations, and went to Colchester. Ancient camps occur in five places; and ancient baronial castles were at eleven. Abbeys were at three places; priories, at seventeen; nunneries, at five; and collegiate churches, at four.”510
***BURY ST EDMUNDS, SUFFOLK***
J Gronow records: “Bury St Edmunds, Suffolk, 72 miles from London, takes its name from Edmund King of the East Angles, who was born, crowned, murdered, and interred here. It shares with Runnymede the honor of Magna Charta, a meeting of barons having been convened here by Stephen Langton, archbishop of Canterbury, to deliberate on the charter of Henry I, on which it was grounded. The town gave birth to Gardiner, the persecuting bishop of Winchester.”511
***ELVEDEN, SUFFOLK***
University of Nottingham’s Institute for Name Studies reveals: “Elveden: ‘Swan valley’ or ‘elf valley’. Elfitu (Anglian): a ‘swan’. Elf (Anglian): an ‘elf’, a ‘fairy’. Denu (Old English): a ‘valley’.”512
www.hiddenea.com spells out: “Marmansgrave: On the line of the Icknield Way is Marmansgrave, where the road between Elveden and Barnham meets the New Barnham Slip, and is also on the boundaries of the two parishes. Mar or Marman is thought by some to have been a suicide, but the usual tale has him as a gamekeeper who was shot or beaten to death by poachers who had threatened him in the past. Here he was buried, in an area referred to in the 16th century papers of the Court of Augmentation as Deadman's Grave and Deadman's Lands. Modern tracks have obscured the site, and the exact spot is now unknown.
“The fairies' den: Although the old place-name authority Ekwall was certain that Elveden derives from Old English elfetdenu, meaning 'swan valley', locals always assumed it to mean the elves' or fairies' den. And they were probably right. The 12th century work Miracula sancte Wihtburge refers to a location, almost certainly to be identified with Elveden, as uallem nunpharum or 'valley of the nymphs'. And at that time, 'nymph' was just another word for 'elf'.
“One old lady in the 1800s recalled having heard, as a child, fairy music coming from a ‘magic dell by the roadside at Elveden’. It supposedly still exists today, in a wood called the Milestone Slip, next to the lane leading to Redneck Farm. She added that passing horses were liable to be snared by the enchanted music, and dragged down into the fairies' parlor.”513
***MONKS ELEIGH, SUFFOLK***
JB Johnston touches on: “958 [AD] charter Illeyge; 972 [AD] Illan lege; 990 [AD] Illege. ‘Mead of Ylla’; one in Searle’s Onomasticon Anglo-Saxonicum. Compare to Illey.”514
University of Nottingham’s Institute for Name Studies clarifies: “Monks Eleigh: ‘Illa's woodland clearing’. Held by St Paul's, London, from at least 1254. Leah (Old English): a ‘forest, wood, glade, clearing’; (later) a ‘pasture, meadow’. Munuc (Old English): a ‘monk’.”515
William White documents: “Monks Eleigh is a pleasant and well built village, in the vale of the river Brett, nearly six miles northwest of Hadleigh, and 2 miles southwest of Bilderton. Its parish is a peculiar of the Archbishop of Centerbury, and corn mills, and in the village is a good inn and several well-stocked shops. The manor was given, with Hadleigh, to the Monks of Canterbury by Brithnoth, Earl of Essex, who was killed by the Danes in 991. After the dissolution, it was given to the Dean and Chapter of Canterbury, to whom it still belongs; but the soil belongs to the Baker, Brown, Strutt, Making, Wright, Hicks, and a few other families. The Church (St Peter) is a large and handsome structure, with a tower and six bells. The interior was thoroughly repaired in 1838, and most of the sittings are free. The rectory, valued in KB at 13 pounds, 18 shillings, 11.5 pence, and in 1835 at 422 pounds, has 16 acres of glebe, a good residence, and a yearly rent-charge of 570 pounds, awarded in 1837. The Archbishop of Canterbury is patron, and the Rev ACJ Wallace is the incumbent. The Church Land … anciently
appropriated to the repairs of the parish clock, is let for about 6 pounds a year, which is carried to the churchwarden’s account. The sums of 10 pounds, given by Francis Causton, and 20 pounds, given by the Rev Wm Baker, were laid out in the purchase of two cottages and 2.5 acres of land, called the Butt field. The land is let for 4 pounds, 10 shillings, a year, which is distributed in bread. The two cottages now form three tenements, and their rents are applied towards the support of the National School, built in 1834.”516
***SHIPMEADOW, SUFFOLK***
University of Nottingham’s Institute for Name Studies observes: “Shipmeadow: ‘Sheep meadow’. Scep (Anglian): a ‘sheep’. Med (Anglian): a ‘meadow’.”517
***SUTTON HOO, SUFFOLK***
Robert Anderson recounts: “My understanding of the name Sutton Hoo is as follows: Sutton is the ‘south or southern’ (Sud) ‘settlement or homestead’ (tun); Sudtune perhaps in Old English. Sutton is fairly common in England as is Norton, Easton and Weston, these being settlements that were geographically North, East, South or West of a larger or more prominent settlement. In the case of our Sutton, which is just under a mile from Sutton Hoo, the larger or more prominent settlement would be Rendlesham to the north of Sutton and mentioned in Bede as the home of Raedwald, King of the East Angles in the early 7th century and one of the likely candidates for burial in the ship at Sutton Hoo.
“Hoo means ‘high place or the spur of a hill’. The site of Sutton Hoo is on the highest point of land between Rendlesham and the North Sea.
“So, Sutton Hoo is the high place near the village of Sutton. This is a relatively modern name for the site. It was marked on an 18th century map as Sutton Walks, though on that map there is a farm named Sutton How.”518
***WOOLVERSTONE, SUFFOLK***
University of Nottingham’s Institute for Name Studies says: “Woolverstone: ‘Wulfhere's farm/settlement’. Tun (Old English): an ‘enclosure’; a ‘farmstead’; a ‘village’; an ‘estate’.”519
Barry Davies spotlights: “Woolverstone, originally Woluestun, is described as a pleasant village and a fertile parish on the southwestern bank of the Orwell, four miles distant from the busy market-town and seaport of ‘Ancient Ipswich’. It belongs to Samford hundred and deanery, in the archdeaconry of Suffolk and diocese of Norwich, and comprises 951 acres of land and 305 acres of water. The Doomsday Book tells us of its two manors, held by Tostin and Aluret; with three plough teams, of which two and a half were in demesne; three acres of meadows; five villain; five bordas; a church; and ten acres of land; five horses, eight beasts, twenty hogs, sixty sheep, and woodland for pasturing fifteen hogs. We do not know the number of its inhabitants in Dalton's time; but there were 241 in 1764, and 246 in 1841, and 309 in 1891. There were 90 adult communicants in June, 1603; calling for a population of about 1609 at that date. The living is a rectory which, in 1817, was attached to that of Erwarton, a neighboring parish,
sometime known as Arwerton. The present rector is Rev Frederick Wood, a courteous gentleman, who resides at Erwarton, a curate having the charge of Woolverstone.
“The manor of Woolverstone and the patronage of the living go together. They were first held by a family which seems to have derived its name from the town. Sir Richard Gipps says: ‘This very ancient Family was settled at Freeston [Freston], in Plomesgate [Samford] Hundred, and there was continued for several Generations. But, at length, Thomas Wolveston left Elizabeth, his sole Daughter and Heir, married to William Latimer. They held a Knts Fee in Culphor [Culpho], I Edward I [1272]; were Lords of Freeston [Freston], and had Lands in Chelmington [Chelmondiston], and other Places. They bare sab a Fess undee bet 3 Wolves Head Coupe or.’ In another place he says that ‘about 20 Ed 3 [1346], Marg The sole Daughter and Heir of ... Freston [was] marry's to John Woolverston.’ Elsewhere it is stated that ‘the Wolfferstons -- and not the Frestons -- resided at Freston in the fifteenth century’; but there are other authorities which locate the woolverstones in old Woolverstone Hall. For example, the Heralds recite the marriage of one Lewis Nicolls to ‘Elizabeth, da Od ... Woolverstone, of Woolverstone Hall, in Suff, Esq.’ No date is given, yet it must have been previous to the ‘Visitation of Norfolk’ in 1563. Again, ‘Philipp Wolverston, Gentilman’, was the Squire of Woolverstone in 1546. The double title of lord and patron passed to Richard Catelyn (Cateline), Esq, of the Hall, who died on ‘March 11th, ao 43 Elizabeth’; and in June, 1603, his ‘widow, Dionis’, was called the patron. In 1615 Timothy Dalton was presented by Arthur Woolrich, Esq, as trustee in behalf of the infant heir, Philip Cateline, Esq. The latter was buried by Mr Dalton on July 25, 1635. Because of the nonage of the new squire, Philip Bacon, the presentation of the incoming rector, Mr Jonathan Skynner, was made by the King in October, 1636.
“Long afterward we find the title vested in one Mr Tyson, who in 1720 was declared bankrupt. Next in order it passed, by public sale, in 1773, to ancestor of the present owner, Charles Hugh Berners, Esq. This sale was the last step in a foreclosure suit which had been pending for more than half a century, and of which Mr Kirby said, in its forty-fourth year: ‘The affair doth not appear to be nearer a conclusion than it was at first; for some may still find their account in preventing a determination of it.’
“The purchaser was William Berners, Esq, ‘the proprietor of the London street which is called by his name.’ He died in 1783, after having torn down the old manor-house, and built the present stately but not elegant mansion. It bears the honored name of Woolverstone Hall, and is of brick, with stone dressings. It is situated in a beautiful park of more than 430 acres, which is well clothed with wood and stocked with fallow deer, and descends to the margin of the river, opposite another fine seat known as ‘Orwell Park’. Mr. Taylor writes of Woolverstone: ‘The Hall and parish church stand in the center of the grand old park; and the scene is as lovely as an artist would wish to sketch. From the Hall avenues have been cut through the woods in every direction; so that from the windows there is a series of most wonderful views up and down the Orwell.’ At the end of a short walk rises a square tower, 96 feet high, built of freestone, with an interior staircase, and surmounted by ‘a globe and rays’, the same having been erected in 1793, in memory of the said William Berners, then lately deceased.
“’The spreading Orwell, with its wood-clad sides’, is really an estuary extending ten or twelve miles from the sea to the town of Ipswich. With the waters of the river Stour, on the border line of Essex, it helps to form the excellent coast-harbor of Harwich. At Ipswich it meets the river Gipping, from the heart of the
county. The estuary has long been celebrated for the beauty of its scenery. To one Englishman it suggested our own Hudson. Another wrote enthusiastically in 1764: The Orwell, at least for the extent of it, is one of the most beautiful salt rivers in the world. The hills on each side are enriched and adorned with almost every object that can make a landscape agreeable; such as churches, mills, gentlemen's seats, villages and other buildings, woods, noble avenues; parks, whose pales reach down to the water's edge, well stored with deer and other cattle, feeding in fine lawns; etc, etc; all these, and more, are so happily disposed and diversified, as if nature and art had jointly contrived how they might most agreeably entertain and delight the eye.’ Mr Wodderspoon says tersely: ‘The banks are clothed with beauty’; and Mr William White points out that ‘much of the far-famed beauty of the Orwell is due to the charming seat and park of Mr Berners.’ A mile above Woolverstone Hall, and on the same side of the stream, is Freston Tower, of uncertain date and original use, which has been made the subject of a three-volume novel. On the other shore, and immediately opposite Woolverstone, is the parish of Nacton, containing a large tract of heath land, and the two fine seats of ‘Orwell Park’ and ‘Broke Hall’.
“The former of these houses was once the residence of Admiral Vernon, of Porto-Bello renown; and the other of Sir Philip Broke, the gallant captain of the royal frigate Shannon, which destroyed the United States ship Chesapeake, off Boston Light, in June, 1813. Much poetry has been written about the Orwell; but we have room for only one specimen, from the pen of Bernard Barton, the Quaker Banker:
There, expanding wide,
And by unclouded sunshine brightly glassed,
Flow'd ORWELL! Its serenely-rippling tide,
Hemm'd in by hilly slopes on every side,
Whose tufted woods upon its margins break:
It more resembled, as by us descried,
Some quietly-reposing inland lake,
Than Ocean's briny branch, which ebb and flow o'ertake.”520
Richard Cobbold and Margaret Catchpole underscore: “’Your signal, Laud, is late indeed, but better late than never.’
“That voice was too well known by Margaret: ‘t was the hated countryman’s – ‘t was John Luff’s.
“This fellow seized her in his arms, and, as a tiger would swing a fawn over his back, so poor Margaret was swung over his shoulders in an instant. The last effort a defenseless female can make is the shriek of despair; and such a one was heard, as not only sounded through the woods of Downham Reach, but reached the opposite shores of Woolverstone Park.
“That shriek was heard by one whose heart was too true to nature to resist the good motives which it awakened. Young Barry, as the reader knows, was journeying toward the gamekeeper’s cottage on the cliff, and had just entered the wood in front of that dwelling, as the piercing shriek struck upon his ear. He sprang over the paling in an instant, and by the broad moonlight beheld a man carrying a female towards a boat, and the other assisting to stop her cries. He leaped down the cliff, and seizing a strong breakwater stake, which he tore up from the sand, rushed forward to the man who carried the female. It was a good, trusty, heart-of-oak stake which he held, and which in one moment he swung round his head, and sent its full weight upon the hamstrings of Luff. The fellow rolled upon the sand, and over and over rolled the poor girl into the very waves of the Orwell.”521
**SURREY**
JB Johnston comments: “Bede ‘In regione sudergeona’; Old English Suthrigra lande; 838 [AD] Suthreie; 1011 [AD] Old English Chronicle Suthrige; circa 1175 [AD] Fantosme Surrei; circa Chaucer Surrye. ‘Southern kingdom’; Old English ric, rige – ie, south of the Thames.”522
J Gronow emphasizes: “Surrey: an inland county, which before the time of the Romans was part of the country inhabited by the Regni or Rhemi. The ancient road, called Ermin-street, crossed this county, and on it was seated the Roman station Noviomagus, probably at Holwoodhill, said to have been the capital of the Regni. Holmdale, in the southeast part of the county, was formerly the resort of the red deer, amidst forests of the Holm oak, from whence its name.”523
JM Wilson gives: “Surrey, an inland county; bonded, on the northwest, by Berks; on the north, by Bucks and Middlesex; on the east, by Kent; on the south, by Sussex; on the west, by Hants. Its boundary, along all the north, is the river Thames. Its greatest length, from northeast to southwest, is 37 miles; its greatest breadth is 27 miles; its circuit is about 145 miles; and its area is 478,792 acres. A line of downs bisects it, from east to west, nearly through the center; culminates at an altitude of 993 feet; and abounds in romantic and picturesque scenery. Another line of downs, parallel to the preceding, runs along part of the south border; and a group of downs lies in the northeast, between Croydon and Epsom. The rest of the surface is much diversified with undulations, knolls, and hills; and exhibits much pleasing natural scenery, adorned with culture. The chief streams, besides the Thames, are the Wey, the Mole, and the Wandle. Mineral springs are at Epsom, Cobham, Seatham, Kingston, Dulwich, Godstone, Stoke, and Dorking. Lower chalk rocks, chiefly Weald clay, occupy all the south; upper chalk rocks form a belt along the course of the central line of downs; and lower and middle eocene rocks, with large preponderance of London clay, occupy all the rest of the area. Ragstone, manurial chalk, fire clay, and fullers' earth are the chief useful minerals.
“The territory now forming Surrey was inhabited by the ancient British Bibroci, or Rhemi, or Regni; was included by the Romans in their Britannia Prima; took the name of Suthrige or Suthrea, in the Saxon times, seemingly with allusion to its position south of the Thames; was then a small separate state, whose reguli were subject first to the South Saxons, afterwards to successively Wessex, Mercia, and Kent; became one of the many earldoms of Godwin and his sons; was given, after the Norman conquest, to William de Warenne; and gave to him and his descendants the title of Earl. The chief subsequent
event connected with it was the signing of the great charter at Runnymede; and other public events were mostly intertwined with the history of the metropolis. Few remains of the ancient British, the Roman, or the Saxon periods exist. Stone-street and Ermine-street have left some vestiges; and Roman relics, of no great interest, have been found at various places. Guildford Castle is the county's best specimen of Norman military architecture; and Farnham Castle, of early Edwardian. Specimens of monastic buildings, of early English date, occur in Waverley abbey and Newark priory. Specimens or portions of Norman architecture occur in 7 churches; of early English, in 11; of decorated English, in 4; of later English, in 10.”524
***DORKING, SURREY***
University of Nottingham’s Institute for Name Studies pens: “Dorking: ‘Deorc's people’. Alternatively, the first element may be an old name for the River Mole, so ‘the people of the River Dorce’. –Ingas (Old English): ‘the people of ...’; ‘the people called after ...’”525
Dorking Local History Group scribes: “Dorking is a small town in northeastern Surrey. It sits on the greensand between the chalk of the North Downs and the clay of the Weald in a key position where east-west routes intersect with the passage of the river Mole through the chalk hills.
“Earliest settlement was probably Roman: Stane Street passed through the town. The name Dorking, however, comes from the Saxon Dorchingas. By Domesday the Manor of Dorking covered the modern parishes of Dorking, Capel and the Holmwoods. Later the settlement became a market center for the surrounding villages and the town’s symbol is the five-clawed Dorking fowl for which the market was famous.
“Problems of transport over the chalk to the north and clay to the south hampered growth until the coming of the Horsham to Epsom turnpike in 1755. Though the road did not significantly transform the fortunes of the town’s market, it did make the pure air and beauty of the surrounding countryside accessible. Genteel Londoners came to visit nearby Box Hill and to live. By the mid-nineteenth century the town was surrounded by mansions set in hundreds of acres: Thomas Hope’s treasure house at Deepdene (which swallowed up the adjoining Chart Park and Betchworth Castle estates), Thomas Cubitt’s Denbies, the Barclays’ Bury Hill and Pippbrook.
“The town became known for sporting pursuits: Cotmandene was famous for cricket during the eighteenth century and a riotous all-day, street-wide football game was played on Shrove Tuesday until the early twentieth century.
“The arrival of railway lines in 1849 and 1867 brought day trippers. Charabancs, bicycles and cars followed as the town became a favored recreational destination. The early twentieth century saw growth east over the Deepdene estate and south towards the Holmwood. With its slow rail connections to London, however, Dorking has managed to retain its quiet market character.”526
***FRIDAY STREET, SURREY***
www.infobritain.co.uk states: “Friday Street is a tiny hamlet on the northwest slopes of Leith Hill in Surrey. The word Friday derives from Frig, wife of Odin, goddess of the earth and love in Scandinavian mythology. This is rather strange since Leith Hill was in 851 AD the site of a great Scandinavian defeat in the struggle between Saxon England and Viking invaders. Surrey was never part of the Danelaw, the part of eastern England which came under the long term Scandinavian influence. So claims by the Surrey Society that Friday Street was the site of some kind of Scandinavian shrine seem far-fetched. There seems no clear reason why Friday Street should have a Norse name.
“The most obvious feature at Friday Street today is a huge man made pond. This was probably a hammer pond, used to drive bellows in the smelting of iron with charcoal, and to power hammers to beat hot metal into shape. The pond's size and the sharp drop beyond the dam's north side suggest this use. Friday Street's hammer pond is dramatic evidence of industrial activity which once took place in this now quiet area. Iron ore was dug from the ground, and surrounding woodland was used to provide charcoal, which gave the necessary heat to extract iron from ore. Ironworks such as the one at Friday Street were found all over Kent, Surrey and Sussex in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. This industry was only to die out when in the eighteenth century Abraham Darby of Ironbridge devised a way of using coke in place of charcoal to generate heat. The southeast of England did not have easily accessible coal deposits with which to make coke, so industry moved to where coal was plentiful, in the midlands and the west. Friday Street's hammer pond remains now as a quiet and impressive memorial to what must have been a large scale industry.
“Friday Street is also sometimes claimed to be the birthplace of the thirteenth century Archbishop of Canterbury, Stephen Langton. Stephen Langton was a prominent member of the Baron's council which forced King John to sign the Magna Carta in 1215 at Runnymede. The claim of Friday Street as Langton's birthplace comes from the fanciful writings of Martin Tupper from nearby Albury. In 1858 he wrote a book which he hoped would link his area to famous events. There was already a tourist trade visiting the Silent Pool not far from Friday Street, and Tupper perhaps excited by this, or perhaps wishing to boost trade further, wrote his book claiming that as young men, King John and Stephen Langton came to blows near the Silent Pool. Significantly these stories fitted public perception about violent King John, and suited the local need for visitors. The pub at Friday Street is still called the Stephen Langton. I have read versions of Tupper's tales in Surrey Society publications sold at local National Trust properties, where they are described as ‘folk lore’. History, like everything else, has to compete for people's attention, and the history that is most read, and longest remembered, is that which tells a striking story. Tupper's fairytale shows that even in recorded history there can be as much myth making as that linked with figures such as King Arthur.
“Large areas around Friday Street and Leith Hill are owned by the National Trust. There are trails through the woods, and walks up onto Leith Hill.
“Address: Friday Street, Abinger Common, Dorking, Surrey RH5 6JR”527
***LEATHERHEAD, SURREY***
JB Johnston alludes to: “Circa 1670 [AD] Domesday Book Lered, a puzzling form. Leather is the Old Frisian leer, Breton ler; but it is doubtful if this is the real origin of the name. More old forms are needed. There is an Old English laefer, ‘a plant’, see Levers; and Liverpool is 1222 [AD] Litherpool, whilst Larford (Stourport), was 706 [AD] Leverford; so the name is probably ‘head, height with the rushes or sword-bladed plants’; Old English laefer, leber. It may be from Leod-, Leothere, a well-known name, cognate with Luther, compare to Leatherbarrow. Also compare to Letheringsett.”528
University of Nottingham’s Institute for Name Studies communicates: “Leatherhead: ‘public ford’. Alternative suggestions of Primitive Welsh ledrid, ‘grey ford’ are considered less likely. The place is located on the River Mole where it is crossed by an important road.”529
***LIGHTWATER, SURREY***
Marion Rayner depicts: “There is very little recent history about Lightwater, unlike its close neighbor Bagshot which is listed in the Doomsday book. Lightwater seems to have been named literally, the area being dotted with ponds and areas of boggy land, with wetland plants still surviving in areas. Early in the 70s the boggy areas were drained, in preparation for building the M3, forming 'Hammond Ponds', wherein many fish and wild life can be found.
“Over the centuries, Lightwater seems to have been the route from Bagshot to Guildford, passing through a smattering of small houses dotted around the area and passing 'High Curley', the 2nd highest hill in Surrey, from the top of which many landmarks can be seen, including Windsor, Heathrow, and some areas of London - when visibility is good! Common land, donated by a resident around 150 years ago, surrounds High Curley and remains common land available for local residents to use, popular with dog walkers and runners.
“There is also a very large area of land adjacent to Lightwater Common, owned and used by the Army. This land extends to Aldershot, home of the Army in England, and the sound of practice gunfire can often be heard coming from Pirbright, approximately 6 miles away. Very gradually, over the course of time until around the early 20th century, more properties were built, with many of the local roads remaining unmade, but when the M3 was opened, providing a quick link to London, the village rapidly began to mushroom with many more developments undertaken for people wishing to live in the 'country' whilst able to access London within about 40 minutes - depending upon the traffic! The village boasts several stores to provide for local people, with the giant supermarket Tesco now planning to build one of their 'Tesco Extra' stores on land currently occupied by the local hardware store. This has caused some uproar in the village, as there is nowhere to park, except behind the existing Budgen's supermarket.
“The single most interesting historical fact about Lightwater is that Roman remains were found on the border of Lightwater and another close neighbor, Windlesham, where Lightwater By-Pass is now located. (Not much is known about these Roman remains; I tried to find more information when I started the village website in 2000, but the only details I could find at Bagshot Library were meager.) The by-pass, built around the late 70s, provided a quick route from Bagshot to Guildford for travelers
wishing to bypass the village. (Many of the store owners in the village were upset about the loss of passing trade.)
“This small village is now a thriving area for commuters but has no more available land for building homes or businesses, except when a property with a large amount of land comes up for sale, at which time property developers have been taking advantage of the proximity to the M3 and 'infilling' beside existing properties or even knocking down one property to utilize the land for more houses, and even small blocks of flats in the village center. This has been regarded as 'not in keeping' with the surrounding buildings and has been discouraged by the local borough council, Surrey Heath.
“Land within the boundary of Lightwater which is still unoccupied has been designated for wildlife preserve and will only be available for development if and when the European Consortium for the preservation of wild life in this area is overturned. I myself live with a piece of 'virgin' land, at the back our property, which is large enough to accommodate a moderately large estate. A few doors away from where we live a neighbor attempted to get planning permission to build another property on his land but was refused permission because a rare bird was found to be nesting there. It is likely that these areas will be built on at some future time as the need for more homes in the southeast continues, but for the present time there are no plans for this.”530
**SWINDON**
J Gronow enumerates: “Swindon: Wiltshire, 83 miles from London, a market town and parish, pleasantly seated on the summit of a considerable eminence, and enjoying a delightful prospect over parts of Berkshire and Gloucestershire. It is one of the great railway stations; several hundred men being constantly employed in the making of engines.”531
Tim Lambert gives an account: “Swindon began as a Saxon village. The name Swindon is derived from the Saxon words swine dun meaning ‘pig hill’ or ‘the hill where pigs were bred’. Swindon is mentioned in the Domesday Book (1086). At that time Swindon was a tiny village but by the late 13th century Swindon had grown into a small town with a weekly market. Swindon was still a very small settlement with perhaps 600 inhabitants. It would seem tiny to us but settlements were very small in those days. A typical village had only 100 or 150 inhabitants.
“For centuries Swindon was just a small and quiet market town. By the late 17th century a stone quarry was being worked there. In 1697 Swindon had a population of 791, which meant it was very small town even by the standards of the time. By 1801 Swindon had grown to 1,198 people.
“A writer of the time said ‘The pleasantness of its situation combined with other circumstances may have induced many persons of independent fortune to fix their residence at Swindon.’ It was a very small and genteel market town.
“As well as the market there were 4 annual fairs. A fair was like a market but held only once a year. People would come from all over Wiltshire to buy and sell at a Swindon fair. Horses, sheep and cattle were sold.
“The Wiltshire and Berkshire canal was built in 1810 and was followed by the North Wiltshire canal in 1819 both of which brought more trade to the area. By 1831 the population of Swindon had risen to 1,742. Of course it was the coming of the railway, which transformed Swindon from a small and sleepy market town into the largest town in Wiltshire.”532
***NINE ELMS, SWINDON***
Katherine Cole points out: “The Nine Elms is part of the hamlet of Shaw and the name dates from the mid-18th century. It is likely this part of Shaw was names after the trees at this end of the hamlet. These trees were finally felled after one came down during a storm in November 1928 killing the 2 occupants of a car on which it fell.”533
***NORTH STAR, SWINDON***
Katherine Cole relates: “North Star was a very early locomotive which was built by Robert Stephenson in 1837 and was one of the first to be used on the Great Western Railway (GWR). A replica of this engine is now on show in the STEAM Museum of the GWR in Swindon.”534
***ST ANDREWS RIDGE, SWINDON***
Katherine Cole stipulates: “St Andrews Ridge is the name of a new development on the southeast edge of Blunsdon St Andrew. It takes its name from the ridge on which it is built and the church in Blunsdon St Andrew.”535
**TYNE AND WEAR**
JB Johnston writes: “River, etc. Bede Tinus, Tyne; before 1130 [AD] Tina and Tynemuthe; circa 1145 [AD] William Malmes Tinemuthe; 1157 [AD] Pipe Tindala; 1178 [AD] Tyndale. Ptolemy’s Tiva is probably the Haddington Tyne (Scottish). Perhaps from Welsh tynu, ‘to draw, pull’, Gaelic teanu, ‘to move, stir, proceed’, or from Welsh tyno, ‘a green plot, a dale’.
“River. Bede Were; circa 800 [AD] Wirra. Also Bede Viurae muda or Wiremuth; before 1130 [AD] Weremuthe; Giuramuthe. McClure connects with Celtic gyrwe, ‘fen, marsh’ and with Jarrow. This is uncertain. In 1160-1 [AD] Pipe Northumberland is a Werewurda, ? ‘farm of a man called Weir’.”536
JM Wilson articulates: “Tyne (The), a river of Northumberland and Durham; formed by the confluence of the North Tyne and the South Tyne, 1 mile west-northwest of Hexham; and running about 30 miles eastward, past Hexham, Corbridge, Bywell, Wylam, Blaydon, Newcastle, and Jarrow, to the sea at Tynemouth and South Shields. It divides Northumberland from Durham all downward from Wylam; it receives the Derwent, on its right bank, 3 miles west of Newcastle; and it forms practically one continuous harbor from Newcastle to the sea.”537
JM Wilson describes: “Wear (The), a river of Durham; rising near Killhope-Cross, adjacent to the boundary with Cumberland; running east-by-southward, past Weardale-St John, Stanhope, Wolsingham, and Witton-le-Wear, to Bishop-Auckland; and going thence northeastward, past Durham and Chester-le-
Street, to the sea at Sunderland. It has a total course of about 60 miles; and is navigable for barges up to Durham.”538
***BATTLEFIELD, TYNE AND WEAR***
English Heritage establishes: “28 August 1640: Newburn Ford was the only battle of the second Bishops' War. The first Bishops' War, which had petered out the previous year, had originally been prompted by King Charles I's attempt to impose a new prayer book on the Scots. But the King's continuing difficulties with his Scottish subjects led to the outbreak of a fresh struggle in 1640. By August the Scots were threatening Newcastle-on-Tyne. To avoid assaulting the strong city defenses on the north of the river, the Scots' commander, Alexander Leslie, decided to cross the Tyne upstream and attack Newcastle on its weaker, southern side. The first point at which the River Tyne could be forded upstream from Newcastle is at Newburn, four miles distant: it was to this crossing that Leslie marched his army of some 20,000 men.
“To counter this move the English commander, Lord Conway, took approximately 2,000 infantry and 1,500 cavalry out of Newcastle and arrived on the south bank of the Tyne opposite Newburn early in the evening of 27 August. Sir Jacob Astley reinforced him with more troops the next day.
“The site of the Battle of Newburn Ford lies approximately four miles west of Newcastle in the flood plain of the River Tyne. The Tyne, by this stage in its journey to the sea, traces a leisurely course. At one time, before the river was straightened in the last century, its meanderings were more pronounced. It is easy to appreciate how the slow-moving Tyne, although wide, could once have proved fordable at Newburn.
“Although the straightening of the Tyne has altered the shape of the floodplain, this does not materially affect the ground upon which the English army took position. John Rushworth, who arrived in time to take part in the later stages of the battle, described the English army as 'drawn forth into a plain Meadow ground which was near a mile in length, close on the South side of [the] Tyne, called Newborne-Haugh or Stella-Haugh. Not too much attention need be paid to the names - these tended to be employed rather indiscriminately - but the mile long meadow is still there, with the towns of Ryton and Stella on the heights above at either end. The enemy, meanwhile, were on the north bank of the Tyne. Rushworth again: 'The Scots, having the advantage of the rising ground above Newbourne, easily discerned the posture and motion of the English Army below in the Valley on the Southside [of] the River, but the posture of the Scots Army the English could not discern, by reason of the Houses, Hedges, and Inclosures in and about Newbourne.'
“Above the flood plain steep bluffs rise on either side of the river. Upon them, to the north, stands Newburn, a small town in 1640 and a small town now. Newburn is an integral part of the battlefield: Rushworth makes clear the extent to which it was occupied by the Scots. The parish church of St Michael and All Angels, in the tower of which the Scots mounted cannon, remains in a prominent position (the church was partly rebuilt in the 1820s).
“Beyond the bluffs to the south Ryton has grown mightily while Stella remains compact. The only area of open ground between the two towns lies to the north of Bewes Hills. The bluffs themselves are precipitous and extensively wooded: it is of interest to speculate which routes up them the retreating English forces might have taken to escape.”539
***CLARA VALE, TYNE AND WEAR***
Richard Nixon highlights: “The village of Clara Vale was built alongside a coal mine (now closed) by the Stella Coal Company. Clara was simply the name of the daughter of the mine manager. Vale is just because the village sits in a valley by the river Tyne.”540
***SPITAL TONGUES, TYNE AND WEAR***
“It’s unusual name is believed to be derived from spital – a corruption of the word 'hospital' that is quite commonly found in UK place names - and tongues, meaning outlying pieces of land. Edward I gave two such 'tongues' of land to the St Mary Magdalene Hospital – hence hospital tongues and eventually Spital Tongues.”541
GB Richardson portrays: “In August ‘the seke folks both afielde and in town’ were increasing in numbers and caused a corresponding increase of charge. St Ann’s-chapel, without Sandgate, was adopted as a place of refuge, as also the hospital of St Mary Magdalene at the Barras-bridge, and the land belonging thereto at the Spital-tongues: and several persons were in constant employment to carry them bread, drink, and water. The poor continue to fall down dead in the streets, the cost of burial of as many as nine, and in one case, of sixteen persons, is placed to the Corporation account.”542
**WARWICKSHIRE**
JB Johnston remarks: “915 [AD] Old English Chronicle ‘This year was Waerinwic built,’ yet 701 [AD] charter ‘in Waerincwicum’, also charter Waeringwic; Domesday Book Warwic; before 1145 [AD] Orderic Guarewicum; 1258 [AD] Warewik. ‘Dwelling of the Waerings’. Waring is still a common name. Compare to Warrington. There was said to be a tribe of that name on the southwest coast of the Baltic (Shore’s Origin of Anglo-Saxon Race). However, Warwick (Carlisle) is 1120 [AD] Warthewic, ‘dwelling of Wearda’, nearest name is Searle’s Onomasticon Anglo-Saxonicum.”543
J Gronow shares: “Warwick: Warwickshire, 90 miles from London, a borough, market town, and county town, seated on a rocky eminence on the Avon, deriving its name, according to Somner, from the Saxon Wearing wic, signifying ‘a wear and a port’. In Welsh, it is called Car Lein, ie, ‘the Legion’s Camp’, where the major of the Dalmatian Horse, acted under the Duke of Britain. It was destroyed by the Danes, but restored by Ethelfleda, daughter of Alfred the Great. In the reign of Edward I the fortifications were repaired by the Earl of Warwick, who, in conjunction with Thomas Earl of Lancaster, having taken Pierce Gaveston prisoner, had him decapitated on Blakelow Hill, in 1312. In the civil war under Charles II, the castle was garrisoned for parliament by Lord Brook, when it was attacked by the royalists, who, after, besieging it for a fortnight, were obliged to raise the siege.
“Warwickshire: an inland county, bounded by the Counties of Stafford and Derby on the north, by the Counties of Gloucester and Oxford on the south, by that of Worcester on the west, and by the Counties of Leicester and Northampton on the east. This is one of the five counties which, in the time of the Romans, were inhabited by the Cornavii, and in the Saxon Heptarchy, it was part of the Kingdom of Mercia. It is divided into two parts by the Avon; the northern part is called the Woodlands; and the southern, the Feldon; a champaign country of great fertility.”544
JM Wilson stresses: “Warwickshire, or Warwick, an inland county, bounded, on the northwest, by Staffordshire; on the northeast, by Leicestershire; on the east, by Northamptonshire; on the southeast, by Oxfordshire; on the southwest, by Gloucestershire; on the west, by Worcestershire. Its outline is irregular; but, except for saliencies in the south, is not far from forming four nearly equal sides. Its boundary line, along the entire northeast, is Watling-street; but, scarcely anywhere, is either river or watershed. Its length, from north to south, is 50 miles; its greatest breadth is 34 miles; its circuit is about 195 miles; and its area is 563,946 acres. The surface includes few hills, except offshoots of the Cotswolds; and, in a general view, is gently undulated, well wooded, and softly picturesque. The chief streams are the Avon, the Tame, the Alne, the Arrow, the Stour, the Dene, the Leam, the Ichene, the Sow, the Rea, the Bourne, the Blythe, the Colne, and the Anker. Mineral springs are at Leamington, Newnham-Regis, Southam, Stratford, and Birmingham. A coal-field, with seams of coal 3 and 4 feet thick, extends along the northeast border, to the southeast of Tamworth; is 16 miles long, and has a mean breadth of about 3 miles. A broad tract of permian rocks, chiefly conglomerate sandstone and red marl, extends southward from the coalfield, past Coventry, to within a short distance of Leamington. Trias rocks, chiefly new red sandstone and keuper marl, occupy nearly all the rest of the area. Coal is worked in 17 mines; and, in 1859, yielded an output of 355,750 tons. Marl, blue clay, and limestone are plentiful; gritstone is obtained at Compton; and blue flagstone for mantle-pieces, steps, and other purposes, is quarried at Bidford, Wilncote, and Temple-Grafton.
“The territory now forming Warwickshire was inhabited by the ancient British Cornavii and Dobuni; was included, by the Romans, in their Flavia Caesariensis: and formed part of the Saxon Kingdom of Mercia. Struggles occurred in it between the Mercians and the West Saxons, between the Saxons and the Danes, between the adherents of Stephen and those of Maud, between Henry III and his rebel Barons, and between the royalists and the parliamentarians in the civil wars of Charles I. The Roman Watling-street runs along the northeast boundary, and across a wing from Atherstone to Fazeley; the Fosse way comes in, on the south, at Halford, and runs north-northeastward, to Watling-street at High Cross; and Ickneild-street goes through Birmingham, and traverses a small part of the northwest border. Roman stations were at Alcester, Chesterton, High Cross, and Mancetter; and Roman camps are at Brinklow, Edgehill, Ratley, and Oldbury. Ancient castles, or ruins of them, are at Warwick, Kenilworth, Astley, Beauchamp, Brandon, Maxstoke, and Tamworth. About 57 monastic houses were in the county; and remains of some of them are at Combe, Merevale, Stoneleigh, Coventry, Kenilworth, Maxstoke, Nuneaton, and Polesworth. Interesting old churches, or portions of them, are in 16 or 17 different places.”545
***BERMUDA, WARWICKSHIRE***
Ruth Barbour composes: “Bermuda, Nuneaton: the site had originally belonged to Chelverscote Manor, the second most profitable Knights Templar holding in Warwick, and following the suppression of this order the land reverted to farm use. By the 17th century the coal outcrop that lay on the site of the Templar Farm began to be exploited along with the clay on the site for the manufacture of bricks and pottery. The site eventually came into the possession of the Newdigate family and became the Griff Colliery. In 1891 Bermuda Village was built in Temple Park to house the colliers. The managing director of Griff Collieries named it as a mark of respect to the local landowner, Lieut Gen Sir Edward Newdigate-Newdegate, Governor of Bermuda from October 1888 - June 1892.”546
***MONKS KIRBY, WARWICKSHIRE***
University of Nottingham’s Institute for Name Studies designates: “Monks Kirby: ‘Church farm/settlement’. Geoffrey de Wirce gave land here to the monks of St Nicholas of Angers in 1077. Kirkja (Old Norse): a ‘church’. By (Old Norse): a ‘farmstead’, a ‘village’. Monke (Middle English): a ‘monk’.”547
William Reader expands: “Goisfridus de Wirce, had lands in 6 Counties. Geoffrey de Wirce, of Little Brittanny, in France, was a follower of the Conqueror. This Geoffrey, by his deed, dated at Kirby, in 1077, gave to the Monastery of St Nicholas, at Angiers, in Anjou (France), land and tythes out of various lordships in England, of which he was possessed by the Conqueror’s favor; and in particular to the Church, at Kirby, which he rebuilt, dedicating it to the Virgin Mary and Saint Dennis. The monks of Angiers immediately sent over a part of their Convent to Kirby, making it a subordinate Cell. The place thus obtained the name of Monks Kirby. The Survey mentions that two priests were here at that time; their names were probably Franus and Osgot, being mentioned in Geoffrey’s deed. Geoffrey appears to have died, without issue, and his possessions in England went to the Crown; but they afterwards were given to Nigellus de Albany.”548
***NO MAN’S HEATH, WARWICKSHIRE***
White, Francis and Company illustrate: “No Man’s Heath, an extra parochial liberty, 6.25 miles northeast by east from Tamworth, comprises about 15 acres of enclosed land, and has 10 houses, with 30 inhabitants. At this place the counties of Warwick, Leicester, and Derby meet in a point so small that a man may be in them all at the same time. Directory: James Brisk, shoemaker; Edward Langley, chair maker; Thos Riley, shopkeeper; and Thos Wheeldon, beerhouse.”549
Anthony Poulton-Smith maintains: “No Man's Heath is always on a border and land which ostensibly nobody wanted; it was too much trouble to clear and probably poor quality land. The name is actually quite common, although the majority only appear on large scale maps. I was once interviewed by BBC Radio at No Man's Heath as that example is just 5 miles from me and a perfect example of the name. It stands on what was always the main road between Tamworth and Nottingham (until the motorway was built). When much traffic came along here the local pub, the petrol station, and the local shop will have seen reasonable trade. However since the motorway arrived petrol is no longer sold, the shop is now a house, and the pub a Curry House.
“When it was a pub its name gave a clue as to the reason for the name of No Man's Heath as it was called the Four Counties. Tradition had it the pub stood on the exact point where four counties met - those four being Leicestershire, Derbyshire, Warwickshire and Staffordshire. In truth this has never been the case. It currently stands in Warwickshire, Leicestershire is a little to the north, Staffordshire only a stone's throw to the southwest and Derbyshire to the northwest. The Four Counties was a fairly large building for a village pub, and in the days when the traditional English pub had several rooms (and different prices for the same beers in each) a little bit of local folklore developed which has no basis in truth but is a nice story. It was said if you were in the bar, and thus in one county, and saw the local law enforcement officers approaching, the nefarious characters only had to slip through to one of the other rooms and thus be in a different county and out of reach of that county's law enforcement officers. It is not true for two reasons - the pub has only ever been in one county and the long arm of the law in England was not affected by county boundaries.”550
**WEST MIDLANDS**
***BIRMINGHAM, WEST MIDLANDS***
JB Johnston presents: “Domesday Book Bermingeha; 1158 [AD] Brimigham; 1166 [AD] Bremingeham; 1255 [AD] Burmingeham; 1333 [AD] Burmyncham; circa 1413 [AD] Brymecham; circa 1463 [AD] Bermyngham; 1538 [AD] Bermigham, also Bromieham. ‘Home of the Beormingas’, or ‘sons of Beorn’. Duignan makes the original family Breme, ‘illustrious’ and connects with Bromsgrove. For the modern pronunciation Brummajem, compare to Whittingham, pronounced Whittinjem, and Nottingjam is also heard.”551
University of Nottingham’s Institute for Name Studies renders: “Birmingham: either, ‘homestead/village of Beorma's people’ or ‘homestead/village connected with Beorma’. –Ing- (Old English): connective particle, linking a first element to a final element. –Ingas (Old English): ‘the people of ...’; ‘the people called after ...’. Ham (Old English): a ‘village’, a ‘village community’, a ‘manor’, an ‘estate’, a ‘homestead’.”552
JM Wilson sheds light on: “Birmingham, a great town, the fourth in point of population in England, at the northwest angle of Warwickshire, adjacent to Worcestershire and Staffordshire, 82 miles south-southeast of Manchester, 97 southeast by south of Liverpool, and 112 northwest of London. It is all, as a borough, in Warwickshire; but, as to its suburbs, it extends into Worcestershire and Staffordshire. It stands on Icknieldstreet, which gives name to a street, a road, and a square; on the streams Rea, Tame, and Cole; and on an ample system of railways and canals, which give it communication with all parts of the kingdom. The main lines of the Northwestern and the Midland railways, together with the South Stafford, the Stour Valley, and other subordinate lines, have a central station in it; and the Great Western, with branches radiating through the west of England and into Wales, has another station. The chief canals are the Staffordshire, the Warwick, and the Worcester; the last of which was, in 1865, about to be converted into a railway.
“An early name of the place was Bromwycham, signifying ‘house of broom village’, and alluding probably to the existence around it of an extensive heath; and the present name arose from that of the lords of
the manor after the Conquest; but upwards of one hundred and fifty varieties of the names, or of the spellings of them, have been traced. A Roman station, called Bremeninm, was supposed to have been here; but this is now set aside as fabulous. The original village is believed to have existed as part of the Saxon Kingdom of Mercia; but was too obscure to he noted on a map. It is conjectured to have begun the working of iron at a very early period; but the earliest authentic mention of it is in the pages of Leland, who describes it as a town of smiths. Birmingham makes very little figure in early history. Some of the inhabitants followed the lords of the manor, in the time of Henry III, to the Battle of Evesham; and most, in the time of Charles I, were warm partisans in the cause of the parliament. They furnished 15,000 sword-blades to the parliamentarian army; they seized the King's personal effects on occasion of his making a halt at Aston Hall; they confronted and fought a royalist force of 2,000 men sent to punish them; and they suffered then a discomfiture which cost them a good number of lives, and a destruction of property to the value of 30,000 pounds. The town was nearly depopulated by the plague in 1665; but it rose to a population of 15,032 at the end of the next 35 years; and it thenceforth became so devoted to industry as to grow rapidly in prosperity and consequence. No public question, for a long time, disturbed it. In 1791, a politico-religions riot occurred, with the effect of destroying several lives and about 50,000 pounds worth of property; in 1831, the famous political union, with Thomas Attwood at its head, assisted greatly to compel the passing of the reform bill; and in 1839, chartist riots broke out, and were quelled only by a large detachment of London police, and the arrival of a considerable body of soldiers. Since that time, the town has been one of the quietest in the kingdom. The Duke of York publicly visited it in 1765; the Duchess of Kent and the Princess Victoria, in 1830; Prince Albert in 1844, 1849, and 1855; Queen Victoria, in 1849, 1852, and 1858; the Duke of Cambridge, in 1857; and Louis Kossuth, in 1852 and 1857. The British Association held their meetings in it in 1839, 1849, and 1865; and the Social Science Association held their first meeting in it in 1857.”553
Carl Chinn writes: “The following is an entry from the book called Proper Brummie that co-authored with Steve Thorne.
“Brummagem: popular variant of Birmingham; local form of the name of the city of Birmingham, as in the Brummagem street ballads I Can’t Find Brummagem (James Dobbs, 1828); Mary, Mary, Brummagem Mary (sung by Mr EW Simmons of Stirchley, collected by Roy Palmer, 12th December 1971, unpublished), and They’re Changing Dear Old Brummagem (GS Miles, 1972):
Poor old Spiceal Street’s half gone,
And the poor Old Church stands all alone,
And poor old I stand here to groan,
For I can’t find Brummagem.
Mary, Mary, Brummagem Mary, how does your allotment grow?
Yo’ve ‘ad some shy knocks through werkin’ at Kynoch’s [arms factory],
Although you don’t mind, we all know.
Yo’ve never seen Arizona, and Texas is not your abode,
Yo’re just Mary, Mary, Brummagem
Mary, what lives up the Pairsher Road [Pershore Road].
They’re changing dear old Brummagem before our very eyes,
Places that we know so well are hard to recognize;
In Balsall Heath and Ladywood, in Aston and Newtown,
The blocks of flats are going up, the homes are coming down.
“’Generally allowed to mean the home of the [Anglo-Saxon] Beormingas, a tribe, the chief of which was named Beorm’ (Kemble, 1876). An alternative spelling is suggested in Lingo’s Opinions on Men and Manners, an entertainment written for John Edwin to speak in the character of the Irish schoolmaster Lingo in The Agreeable Surprise, by Anthony Pasquin (printed in The Eccentricities of John Edwin, Comedian, by Anthony Pasquin, Dublin, 1791): ‘I popt my ear the other day to the door of a puerile Seminary of the Female Gender - I looked, and had a full view of the Magestra, and the whole Scholia - a little Miss was spelling the word Birmingham - B, I, R, M, -Birm: I, N, G, -ing: H, A, M, -ham: Birmingham. The lady Abecarian screw’d up her face, admonished her pupil, and set her right. ‘My dear, the word is not Birmingham: ‘tis Brumidgum -mind how I spell it: B, I, R, M, -Brum: I, N, G, -idge: H, A, M, -um. Brumidgum.’
“Also applied to anything made in Birmingham; often used contemptuously by outsiders with primary allusion to counterfeit groats coined in the city during the seventeenth century. In an attempt to counter prejudice against Brummagem goods, it seems likely that in the later eighteenth century leading manufacturers such as Matthew Boulton encouraged the use of the name Birmingham. This led to the belief that Brummagem was an inferior name. It is not. Its use reflects working class loyalty to our city. As Gelling (1991) affirms, the use of Brummagem is as correct as that of Birmingham and ‘long may it flourish,’ also adjective relating to the city of Birmingham; made in Brummagem EG ‘A work table . . . inlaid with brass . . . in that peculiar taste which is vulgarly called Brummagem’ (Lytton, 1853), ‘The vulgar dandy, strutting along, with his Brummagem jewellery’ (Boyd, 1885). Older fans of Birmingham City Football Club also call the team ‘Brummagem’.”554
***HALESOWEN, WEST MIDLANDS***
JB Johnston suggests: “Domesday Book Halas; 1276 [AD] Halesowayn; 1286 [AD] Halesowen. The Owen comes from David ap Owen, Prince of North Wales, who married Emma, sister of Henry II in 1174 [AD].”555
John Hemmingway calls attention to: “The manor and town of Hales had belonged to an Anglo-Saxon then called Olwine but after the Norman Conquest it was given to Roger Earl of Shrewsbury. It was Roger who annexed it to the County of Shropshire. It passed from Robert to his two sons; Hugh who died in 1098 and Robert de Belesme who lost it to the Crown in 1102. Henry IInd gave it to his sister who had married David son of Owen Prince of Wales in 1174. She restored it to Richard Ist although her son Owen still had claims on it. It was not until the 1270s that Owen’s Christian name became tied in with the estate name – Hales wen. King John granted Hales Owen to Peter des Roches, Bishop of Winchester in 1214 for endowing a religious house and in the following year confirmed it to the Premonstratensian canons that took possession in 1217.”556
***ROWLEY REGIS, WEST MIDLANDS***
University of Nottingham’s Institute for Name Studies connotes: “Rowley Regis: ‘Rough wood/clearing’. It was a royal possession. Ruh (Old English): ‘rough’. Leah (Old English): a ‘forest, wood, glade, clearing’; (later) a ‘pasture, meadow’. Rex (Latin): a ‘king’.”557
Bob Adams details: “This famous English name is of Anglo-Saxon origin, and is a locational surname deriving from any one of the various places called Rowley in Devonshire, County Durham, Staffordshire and Yorkshire. The place in Devonshire is recorded as Rodeleia in the Domesday Book of 1086; that in Durham was recorded as Ruley in 1229; Rowley in Staffordshire was found as Roelea in the 1173 Pipe Rolls of the county; while the Rowleys in East and West Yorkshire are both recorded as Ruley in 1227 and 1246 respectively. All the places share the same meaning and derivation, which is ‘the rough wood or clearing’, from the Olde English pre 7th century ruh, ‘rough, overgrown’, with leah, ‘thin wood, glade, clearing in a wood’.
“Regis means ‘of the King’ and denotes that Rowley was a Royal Manor owned by the King, Rowley is not mentioned in the Doomsday book for various reasons.
“From time unknown Rowley was divided into two Manors; Rowley Regis an ancient Royal Manor and Rowley Somery named after the de Somery family, Rowley Somery consisted of scattered lands within Rowley Regis, the two Manors operated separately with separate Courts, but their history is intertwined and at some points they came under the same ownership.
“1066; Norman conquest; 1086; The Domesday Survey. Rowley Regis is not thought to be listed in the Domesday survey at least in its own right. There are various reasons why this should be so: Sir Edward Coke in the early 17th century wrote that ‘Certain it is that before as after the Conquest, the King upon his ancient demesnes of the Crown of England, had houses of husbandry, and stocks for the furnishing of necessary provisions for his household: and the tenants of those manors did by their tenures, manure, till, etc, and reap the corn upon the Kings demesnes, mowed his meadows etc, repaired the fences, and performed all necessary things belonging to husbandry upon the Kings demesnes: in respect of which services and to the end they might apply the same the better, they had many liberties and privileges, as that they should not be sued out of the court of that manor, nor impanelled of any jury or inquest, nor appear at any other court, but only at the court of the said manor, nor be contributory to
the expenses of the Knight of the Shire which serve at Parliament, nor pay any toll, etc, which liberties and immunities appear to this day, albeit the original cause thereof is erased. Now all the manors which were in the hands of Edward the Confessor before the Conquest, or in the hands of William the Conqueror, and so appear in the book called Domesday are accounted the ancient demesne of the Crown of England, and had been the demesnes of the Crown long before.’
“This historical view that ancient demesnes tenures survived from pre conquest times and were to be found in Domesday was a widely held view in Cokes time and a legal treatise written during the reign of Henry III explained that privileged villains on Royal demesne lands were descendants of the free Anglo Saxons who had been removed from their holdings by the Normans.
“This has been found to be not necessarily true, for example Rowley does not seem to appear in Domesday but was since declared ancient demesne of the Crown and several Monarchs issued charters to this effect beginning with King John and men of Rowley certainly had the privileges accorded to tenants of ancient Royal manors.
“There are several reasons why Rowley may not have been mentioned in Domesday apart from the fact that the survey has been found not to be without omissions and errors, it could have erroneously have been considered to be part of Clent as it was linked ecclesiastically, it was in an obscure part of Staffordshire surrounded by Worcestershire manors, and could have been simply overlooked by the Staffordshire surveyors, and ignored by those assessing Worcestershire or it could have been considered part of the Royal hunting grounds and not mentioned in its own right.
“The omission was corrected by the pipe rolls of Henry II in 1172 which came next to the Domesday survey and contained a full account of Crown revenues. Rowley was listed amongst five other Staffordshire estates as being an ancient demesne of the Crown (The Annals of Willenhall by Frederick William Hackwood 1908). At this time the administrators of the King (Henry II) were aware of the importance of Royal recourses and set to regain Royal lands alienated in the previous reign thus, to raise more revenue in taxes for the King.”558
***STOURBRIDGE, WEST MIDLANDS***
HJ Haden explains: “Stourbridge: Sturbrug or Sturesbridge as it is spelt in the 1255 Worcestershire assize roll – evidently owes its name to an ancient bridge erected across the River Stour which, until recently, formed the boundary of the counties of Worchester and Stafford. The medieval township lay within the more extensive manor of Swynford (or Swinford) which, as the name indicates, was called after a ford – possibly situated near the present riverside estate called Stepping Stones. The settlement lay within what was the inferior manor of Bedcote, a name that survived into this century as that of one of the mills so important to the growth of the local community and is still retained as a street name. Swinford is mentioned in a Saxon charter of about 950 AD and, spelt Suineforde, is mentioned in William the Conqueror’s Domesday Survey, when the manor was possessed by William Fitz Ansculf, one of the most powerful of the Norman lords, who was able to supervise his great estates in the West Midlands from his hilltop castle at Dudley. This William also held Pevemore (the present day Pedmore) lying to the south of Stourbridge , and Elmcote (now Amblecote), which is a parish on the northern bank of the
Stour in Staffordshire until recent years yet within the diocese of Worchester. Until it was created a separate ecclesiastical parish in 1845, it formed part of the parish of Old Swinford – the word ‘Old’ having been added centuries earlier to distinguish it from the adjacent parish of Kingswinford or Swinford Regis.
“The manors of Old Swinford, Bedcote and Pedmore changed hands from time to time during the Middle Ages as a result of political upheavals and the changes of fortune of their overlords. It is questionable whether these great feudal lords ever visited these manors, the supervision of the peasant’s customary service and the collection of dues and fines being left to their stewards. The Lytteltons, seated a few miles away at Frankley until their house there was destroyed during the Civil War causing them to move to Hagley, acquired the superior manor of Old Swinford in 1564 and they were the dominant local family until the 17th century when, having fallen from favor and lost much of their wealth through involvement in the Gunpowder Plot and the Royalist and Roman Catholic causes in Stuart times, they were superseded by the Foleys whose wealth was based on the rapidly expanding iron industry.
“From their forges and mills powered by water wheels on the River Stour and other rivers and streams members of the Foley family built up substantial fortunes which were supplemented as a result of judicious marriages into wealthy and influential families.
“Large estates were acquired notably in North Worcestershire, South Staffordshire and Herefordshire and, in due course, became a barony. Said to have been impressed by a sermon given by a Puritan divine, Richard Baxter, on the proper use of wealth, Thomas Foley (1616-1677) founded (at Old Swinford) a school for boys who on completion of their education were put out as apprentices. Virtually the whole of the parish of Pedmore was set aside by Foley to form part of the endowment of his Old Swinford Hospital whose original buildings still stand – one of the most impressive architectural features of Stourbridge. Transformed from a charity school for poor boys, the Hospital is now a highly esteemed boarding school, also admitting selected day boys from the neighborhood, but much of its land at Pedmore has been sold by the feoffees in order to extend the premises and bring the education facilities up to the standard required to afford the boys the opportunity to obtain places at a university.
“However, Oldswinford Hospital was not the first school to be established in the ancient parish. It is recorded that the stipendiary priest at the Chantry of Holy Trinity, founded in 1430 in Lower High Street, Stourbridge kept a school in 1548 and was ‘charged to teach the poor children of the same parish’ and when, with other religious houses, the Chantry was suppressed at the command of Henry VIII, the school was continued, granted a charter by Edward VI and endowed with property from the income of which the school was maintained and the master paid. The school’s most famous pupil was Samuel Johnson, the lexicographer, author and formidable conversationalist who, during his brief stay in 1725-6 is said to have learned ‘a great deal from the master’, the Rev John Wentworth.
“Over the centuries Stourbridge developed slowly as a prosperous market town. The right to hold a weekly market with two fairs each year was granted by Edward IV in 1482 to the Dean and Canons of St George’s Chapel, Windsor (who then held the manor) and was renewed by Henry VII in 1486 to the Earl
of Ormond, now the lord of the manor, as reward for his services in the Wars of the Roses. Surrounded by heath and hills suitable for rearing sheep and with a plentiful supply of clean water for washing wool, like many another English town, Stourbridge became a center for producing woolen cloth. The local coal, limestone and fireclay had been exploited on a small scale from early times but it was the 16th and 17th centuries that saw the birth of the great industrial complex later to be called the Black Country. The dawn of the 17th century saw also the introduction of the glass industry to the district by ‘gentlemen glassmakers’ from France who had been forced to move their glassworks from woodlands to areas where there was coal with which to fire their furnaces.
“The impact of the Industrial Revolution of the 18th century was felt strongly in Stourbridge where the woolen trade declined – to fade away early in the following century – and the production of ironwork, edge tolls, nails, chain, bricks and heavy engineering took over. The opening of the Stourbridge Canal in 1779 vastly enhanced industry’s prospects and the beginning of the railway age led to a rapid expansion of the iron industry, the large works of John Bradley and Company being developed alongside the arm of the canal that linked the town with the outside world. Bradley’s works had the distinction of producing the Stourbridge Lion, the first locomotive to run on rails in America – on 8 August 1829. Industrial expansion encouraged population growth, improved living standards and social amenities.
“Spectacular development marked the 19th century. The bridge over the Stour was widened, the roads were improved and the railway arrived in Stourbridge, a piped water supply and gas were provided, a drainage system made life easier and more healthy, rows of terraced houses and impressive villas were erected, the Oldswinford parish was divided to form new parishes for which churches were built, the ancient parish churches of Oldswinford and Pedmore were rebuilt, the Nonconformists built chapels, the introduction of compulsory education meant the building of schools and civic pride led to the building, on the site of the old Corn Exchange, of a handsome – by Victorian standards of taste – Town Hall to mark the Golden Jubilee of Queen Victoria.
“Local Government had been rudimentary until the Stourbridge Improvement Act of 1868 reconstituted an elected Board of Town Commissioners with greater powers to control and improve local services. A further step in local government was taken in 1894 when Stourbridge, Lye and Wollescote and the parish of Amblecote obtained Urban District status with Pedmore becoming part of Bromsgrove Rural District.
“By this time Stourbridge had become an important local railway center; steam trams had been replaced by electric trams, there was extensive house building, the Public Baths were erected in 1901, through the generosity of Andrew Carnegie, Stourbridge was provided in 1905 with a Public Library with an Art and Technical School and a Girl’s Secondary School on its upper floors. Stourbridge was acknowledged to be one of the most progressive and pleasant towns in the Midlands. Lye, Wollescote and Stambermill, a major center of the hollowware industry whose streets echoed with the thump, thump of hammers and olivers on forgings, possessed fewer amenities but a profusion of public houses and places of worship. Amblecote, the smallest Urban District in the country, was even more closely linked with Stourbridge for within the parish was the Corbett Hospital which served the whole area, the Stourbridge Gas Works, Stourbridge water undertaking, Stourbridge cricket and football ground and considerable
industrial premises including glassworks and clay mines whose products were invariably labeled ‘Stourbridge’. Pedmore parish was still predominantly a rural village, most of its acreage being farmed, but the population was growing with the building of substantial houses by Black Country businessmen.
“The ambition of some of Stourbridge’s leading public figures was realized in 1914 when the Urban District was granted a Charter of Incorporation and became a borough. World War I brought prosperity to its industries and with the return to peace the town council embarked on impressive improvement schemes, especially the building of municipal houses. Despite industrial unrest and growing unemployment in the late 1920s and early 1930s very significant progress was made in improving living conditions. In 1929 the district’s greatest public benefactor Ernest Stevens, a millionaire hollowware manufacturer, presented the Studley Court estate to Stourbridge; it was to be known as Mary Stevens Park in memory of his wife and the house was converted into the Council House. The following year Lye and Wollescote Urban District Council received Wollescote Hall estate, in all some 89 acres, which became Stevens Park.
“Although in some ways distinctive communities, Stourbridge and its neighboring parishes were becoming more closely involved and in 1932 Lye and Wollescote Urban District and Pedmore parish were incorporated in the borough. It was not until the implementation of the Boundary Commission’s recommendations in 1966 that the major part of Amblecoate Urban District was brought into Stourbridge Borough – that part to the north of the Stourbridge to Brierley Hill railway line being transferred to Dudley County Borough. The resultant well balanced unit of local government was to be short-lived for under a further reorganization in 1974 the whole borough was absorbed into the new Metropolitan District (later to become the Metropolitan Borough) of Dudley within a new county called West Midlands torn from the ancient counties of Worcestershire, Staffordshire and Warwickshire.”559
***WEDNESBURY, WEST MIDLANDS***
JB Johnston imparts: “? Old English Chronicle 592 [AD] and 715 [AD] Wodnesbeorge, -beorh, -byri; compare to Wanborough; Domesday Book Wadnesberie; before 1200 [AD] Wodnesbyrg, -beri, Wodenesbeorh. 994 [AD] and Domesday Book Wodnesfeld. ‘Burgh, fort’ and ‘field of the god Woden’ (German) or ‘Odin’ (Norse). There is said to have been a temple of Woden at Wednesbury.”560
JM Wilson mentions: “Wednesbury, a town and a parish in West Bromwich district, Stafford. The town stands on the South Staffordshire and Great Western railways, near the Birmingham canal, 8 miles northwest of Birmingham; was called by the Saxons Wodensbury, after the god Woden; is now popularly called Wedgebury; had a castle, built in 916, by the Princess Ethelfleda; was made a parliamentary borough, with one representative, by the reform act of 1867; includes, as a borough, West Bromwich and Tipton; was proposed, in the Boundary Commissioners' report of 1868, to include also Darlaston; is a polling place for South Staffordshire; publishes a weekly newspaper; carries on manufactures of railway ironwork, railway-carriages, patent axle-trees, gas tubes, steam and water pipes, and gun-locks, coach springs, hinges, screws, nails, and every kind of wrought iron-work; is managed by a local board of health, who have offices in the Italian style, built in 1867; and has a head post office, two railway stations with telegraph, two banking offices, several good inns, a police station, a later English church,
restored in 1827 and 1866, two modern churches in the early English style, ten dissenting chapels, a Roman Catholic chapel, a mechanics' institute, a working man's club, with library and reading room, eight public schools, charities 250 pounds, a weekly market on Saturday, and fairs on 6 May and 3 Aug. Population in 1861, within the town limits proper, 15,298. Houses, 2,793. Population within the borough limits, as constituted in 1867, about 92,623. The parish comprises 2,175 acres. Real property, 59,557 pounds; of which 8,312 pounds are in mines, 80 pounds in quarries, and 11,987 pounds in ironworks. Population in 1851, 14,281; in 1861, 21,968. Houses, 4,057. The manor belonged anciently to the Crown; passed to the Heronviles and the Beaumonts; and belongs now to Sir F Scott, Bart, and Lady Emily Foley. Coal, iron ore, limestone, potters' clay, and brick clay abound. The head living or St Bartholomew’s is a vicarage, and the livings of St John and St James are rectories, in the diocese of Lichfield. Value of St Bartholomew, 310 pounds; of St John, 267 pounds; of St James, 300 pounds. Patron of St Bartholomew, the Lord Chancellor; of St John, Lady E Foley; of St James, JN Bagnall, Esq. The parochial curacy of Moxley is a separate benefice. Lord W Paget, who died in 1564, was a native.”561
**WEST SUSSEX**
***BOGNOR REGIS, WEST SUSSEX***
University of Nottingham’s Institute for Name Studies puts into words: “Bognor Regis: ‘Bucge's bank/shore’, a feminine personal name. ‘Regis’ was a honorium bestowed after George V convalesced here in 1929. Ora (Old English): a ‘shore, hill-slope’; possibly also the foot of a slope. (Used in place-names only in the parts of southern England where Jutish and West Saxon dialects were operative.)”562
Sylvia Endacott reports: “As early as 680 AD the town was recorded as Bucgan ora meaning ‘Bucge’s shore’, after one of the few Saxon women to have a place named in her honor.
“In 1275 records show the name had changed to Buggenore and in 1405 it was Bogenor.
“While little of the ancient history remains, in 1965 a Roman farmstead was uncovered in Felpham and later an Iron Age settlement was found.
“The 18th century saw Sir Richard Hotham work to transform Bognor into a seaside resort.
“Sir Hotham began in 1785 by purchasing 1,600 acres of land for development.
“In 1792 Hotham House was built as Sir Hotham’s private residence and today many regard it as the best Georgian house in Sussex.
“A key attraction for Bognor was the fact it was the first English resort to be specially developed for bathing.
“This meant when it became fashionable for the upper and middle classes to bathe in rejuvenating saltwater they headed to the south coast.
“As a result, Bognor’s population grew rapidly. In just 30 years, between 1801 and 1831, it more than quadrupled from 700 people to 3,000.
“June 1864 saw the railway finally reach Bognor as the line to Barnham opened.
“The current train station was completed in 1902, as a result of previous ones having burned down.
“Trains played a big part in the 5,000 day trippers which would head to Bognor in the summer.
“In 1928 King George V came to Bognor to recover after a serious illness.
“Despite staying in nearby Aldwick, King George V gave Bognor the title Regis (meaning ‘of the King’) in 1929.
“While the King famously remarked Bugger Bognor, another member of the Royal Family, Queen Victoria, was a fan and referred to the town as dear little Bognor.
“The year 1960 saw the opening of one of Billy Butlin’s holiday camps. It wasn’t plain sailing however, with flooding disrupting the building work and guests pitching in to help finish fitting doors on chalets.
“In 2005, Butlins’ first ever hotel, The Shoreline Hotel opened at Bognor Regis, with the Ocean Hotel following shortly afterwards in 2009. 2012 saw the ultramodern Wave Hotel and Apartments welcome its first guests.”563
www.bognor-regis.org shows: “Bognor is one of the oldest Saxon sites on record in West Sussex. The town is recorded in AD 680 as Bucgan ora meaning ‘Bucge's shore’. Bucge was one of the few Saxon women to have a place named after her. Over the years this Saxon-landing place became a small fishing village, and as with many places the name changed with time. In 1275 it was recorded as Buggenore and in 1405 as Bogenor.
“Very little remains of Bognor's ancient history. A Roman farmstead was discovered in Felpham in 1965 and in the mid-seventies an Iron Age settlement was uncovered during construction work.
“At the end of the 18th century in 1785 Sir Richard Hotham began his grand scheme to create a select up market resort of Hothampton on the site of a small fishing village called Bognor when he purchased 1,600 acres of land for development. Building began in 1787.
“Hotham hoped George III would visit his new town, Hothampton Crescent, known locally as ‘the Dome’, was built specifically for his use. Alas he never came; the only member of the Royal family to frequent the town was Princess Charlotte (daughter of King George IV). The Dome now part of Bognor Regis College.
“Hotham House built in 1792 by Sir Richard as his private residence is still regarded by many as the best Georgian house in Sussex. Sir Richard died on 13th March 1799 and was buried at nearby South Bersted. Although his dreams were only partially realized Sir Richard had created a thriving seaside resort, Bognor was the very first English resort specially developed for bathing.
“In 1753 a Dr Richard Russell published a book titled A Dissertation on the Use of sea-water in the Diseases of the Glands. The fashionable upper and middle classes flocked to the south coast to bathe in
the rejuvenating saltwater. The bathhouse, number 9 Steyne Gardens was built in 1824 and was used by the more up market visitors to Bognor. The sea baths were situated in the basement of the house. ‘Hot baths cost 2 shillings, Warm baths 1 shilling and sixpence, Cold baths 1 shilling.’ Those not so well positioned in society could have hot seawater delivered to their rooms at 4 pence a bucket. Once established Bognor's growth was quite rapid, the population of Bognor in 1801 was 700; by 1831 this had grown to 3,000.
“On 1st June 1864 the Barnham to Bognor branch line opened, the railway had finally reached Bognor, many thought this would change the town forever but it simply didn't happen. Bognor remained a rural town run by and for the landed gentry and upper middle classes that came here for their health and relaxation, just as Sir Richard Hotham had intended. The station we see today was completed in1902; the previous stations had burnt down.
“There was great controversy in 1907 when the Railway Company broke its agreement with the town authorities and started encouraging day-trippers to Bognor. Many believe that was when the town started its slow decline. In 1910-1 the population of Bognor was 2,000, in summer this was boosted by 5,000 day trippers.
“In 1928 King George V came to Bognor to convalesce after a serious illness. Although he actually stayed at Craigweil in nearby Aldwick, Bognor was given the title Regis (‘of the King’) in 1929. Despite the Kings now famous remark Bugger Bognor the Royal Family in fact liked the town, Queen Victoria referred to the town as dear little Bognor.
“Here are a few of the many Blue Plaques that can be found in Bognor, a map of where to find these plaques is on display at the Bognor Regis Museum.
“For those that like to know these things, Bognor is the setting for Jane Austen's Sandition.
“Sussex by the Sea by Conor Shipsey: This marching song was composed in South Bersted in 1907 by William Ward Higgs, a solicitor from Birkenhead who had spent much of his working life in London, but then moved to live for a number of years in Hollywood House in South Bersted. The jaunty rhythm drew inspiration from Kipling, and was adopted by the Royal Sussex regiment as its unofficial anthem and popularized as a marching song during the First World War.
“Since then, the lyrics have been adapted and adopted for a number of different purposes: as sporting anthems, being turned into a protest song in 1939.
“In the past fifty years, its popularity has remained undimmed. The name Sussex by the Sea is now used as the official tourism site for Bognor Regnis, and many local music bands continue to use the song to this day it as their unofficial anthem.
“William Ward Higgs, died in tragic circumstances, by taking his own life, at the age of 70 in 1936. A grave commemorates his life in South Bersted. But his ashes are kept in South Norwood crematorium.
“The song in its entirety is too long to reproduce here. A flavor of the lyrics (the fifth verse) can be found below:
Far o’er the seas we wander
Wide thro’ the world we roam;
Far from the kind hearts yonder,
Far from our dear old home;
But ne’er shall we forget, my boys,
And true we’ll ever be
To the girls so kind that we left behind
In Sussex by the Sea.”564
***HASSOCKS, WEST SUSSEX***
JB Johnston catalogs: “Old English hassuc, ‘a clump of matted vegetation’, then ‘a clump of bushes or low trees’. Compare to 986 [AD] charter ‘On one hassuc upp an hrofan hricge.’”565
***WARNINGCAMP, WEST SUSSEX***
University of Nottingham’s Institute for Name Studies conveys: “Warningcamp: ‘Waerna's field’. Camp (Old English): a ‘field’, an ‘enclosed piece of land’.”566
MA Lower discusses: “Warningcamp is a district or tything comprising about a third part of the parish, and is bounded by the Arun. Turgod held Warnecha of the Confessor, and after the Conquest Nigellus held it. This also was rated at four hides. Confessor is it was worth 60 shillings, afterwards 20 shillings, then 50 shillings, so that some calamity probably befell it at the Norman invasion. The manor of Blakehurst, which contains the whole of Warningcamp, has been possessed by Morley, Greere, Cheale, Whitebread, and Margesson. It is now annexed to the demesne of Arundel Castle. The area in 919 acres, and the population in 1861 was 107. Warningcamp was anciently a distinct parish, but it seems to have been ecclesiastically united with Lyminster before 1292. It is mentioned as a chapelry in 1492. The church or chapel was on the hill to the northwest of the hamlet, but the last vestiges were removed in 1847, when a cottage was erected on the site. Batworth Park is an ancient appendage to Arundel Castle. It is loftily situated, and commands a fine view of the Castle. Cavalry barracks were built here in 1800, but have been removed.”567
**WEST YORKSHIRE**
JM Wilson expounds: “Yorkshire, West-Riding, in west and southwest of county; area, 1,768,380 acres, population 2,175,314. The surface rises towards the west and northwest, reaching in Whernside Mountain an altitude of 2,414 feet. The principal rivers are the Ribble, Nidd, Calder, Don, Aire, and
Wharfe. The West-Riding is the seat of Yorkshire industrial enterprise. The great Yorkshire coalfield, on which all the staple manufacturers of the Riding are situated, is a space 45 miles by 20 miles, between the Aire and the Don. Some of the leading branches of national industry have long had their seat in the West-Riding - woolens at Leeds, Bradford, Halifax, Dewsbury, and Huddersfield; linens at Leeds and Barnsley; and hardware, cutlery, and plated goods at Sheffield. There are mineral waters at Harrogate, Knaresborough, and Ilkley Wells. On the north and east sides corn and other crops are largely grown; and in the northwest, round Settle and Skipton, it is all grass and dairy land. The West-Riding comprises 9 wapentakes; 724 parts, and parts of 6 others; the parliamentary and municipal boroughs of Bradford (3 members), Dewsbury (1 member), Halifax (2 members), Huddersfield (1 member), Leeds (5 members), Pontefract (1 member), Sheffield (5 members), and Wakefield (1 member); and the municipal boroughs of Barnsley, Batley, Doncaster, Mprley, Ripon, and Rotherham. It is mostly in the dioceses of York, Ripon, and Manchester. For parliamentary purposes it is divided into 3 parts - viz, North, East, and South. The northern part is divided into 5 divisions - viz, Skipton, Keighley, Shipley, Sowerby, and Elland, 1 member for each division. The eastern part is divided into 6 divisions - viz, Ripon, Otley, Barkston Ash, Osgoldcross, Pudsey, and Spen Valley, 1 member for each division. The southern part is divided into 8 divisions - viz, Batley, Normanton, Colne Valley, Holmfirth, Barnsley, Hallamshire, Rotherham, and Doncaster, 1 member for each division. The representation of the West-Riding was increased from 6 to 19 members in 1885.”568
***BRIGHOUSE, WEST YORKSHIRE***
AH Smith impresses: “’Houses by the bridge’. This was an ancient crossing of the River Calder.”569
Kai Roberts shares some paranormal stories from the Brighouse area: “The Black Swan, Brighouse: Known colloquially as the Mucky Duck, the Black Swan is one of the oldest surviving public houses in Brighouse, along with its near-neighbors the Black Bull and the Anchor. It is located on Briggate, just across Anchor Bridge from the town center, beneath the towering edifice of the former Sugden’s grain silos. Prior to the flour mill’s construction in the late-nineteenth century, the land behind the Black Swan was once known as Swan Fields and often played host to Rushbearing in August and the famed Brighouse Pig Fair in October, not to mention a variety of touring attractions such as the infamous Wombwell’s Travelling Menagerie, which passed through the town in December 1870.
“The establishment which gave these fields their name (or was it vice-versa?) was originally known as the Black Swan Hotel and possessed three stories, until the ceiling of the second floor was raised sometime in the twentieth century. Like most hostelries in Brighouse, its reputation has gone through many periodic cycles of respectability, but in the early 1900s it was clearly known as a bawdy house. At the 1903 Brewster Sessions, police objected to an application to renew the pub’s license on account of ‘the publican habitually employing female musicians’. The license was eventually granted, but only on the condition that no female vocalists were engaged to perform in the building.
“In recent years, the pub has gained quite a different reputation. Staff and regulars alike have come to regard the building as haunted following a spate of ghostly sightings since the start of the twenty-first century. Bev Jackson, landlady of the pub in the early ’00s often had inexplicable auditory and visual
experiences; most dramatically, on mornings, before the pub opened for business, she often witnessed the visage of an elderly gentleman smoking a pipe sat at a table near the door. Her daughter, meanwhile, saw the apparition of a young man walk straight through the pool table and adjacent wall. Regulars suggested it could be the spirit of a former landlady’s son, who’d died of a drug overdose several years earlier.
“An informant who worked behind the bar at the Black Swan during the last decade, claims that many members of staff refused to work in the pub alone and especially avoided the cellar, due to its uncanny atmosphere. On one occasion after hours, a barman was working in the basement in the process of closing up, when the door suddenly slammed shut and bolted itself. His fellow employee returned from swilling out a bucket in the yard to discover him beating frantically at the cellar door to be release. He angrily accused the barmaid of shutting him down there as a joke, but she denied it and to their knowledge, they were the only people left in the building.
“A specter known as the ‘White Lady’ has also been seen on a couple of occasions and bar-staff would frequently experience the sensation of a woman brushing past them as they served. Local folklore attributed the phantom to a girl who had worked as a barmaid at the pub in the nineteenth century and been engaged in an affair with one of the stable hands. When she fell pregnant and her lover refused to acknowledge her or the child, she hanged herself from a beam on the third-floor of the building. Following the raising of the second-floor ceiling, only a low attic now remains of that upper story. It is said the renovations were carried out for structural reasons, but perhaps the truth is rather less prosaic.
“The Brighouse Magus: The man who would one day sign himself Dr BEJ Edwards, was born Bodgan Edward Jastrzebski in 1860, the son of a Polish immigrant to Halifax. Always a promising scholar, he qualified in medicine from the University of Edinburgh in 1884. It is possible that during his time there he rubbed shoulders with Arthur Conan Doyle who was three years his senior, whilst he almost certainly studied under Dr Joseph Bell, the inspiration for Doyle’s most famous creation, Sherlock Holmes.
“Shortly after qualifying, he changed his surname to Edwards, finding his Polish moniker a hindrance to his medical career. After several years serving as a house surgeon at Halifax Infirmary, he established a general practice, initially operating from 138 Elland Road at Brookfoot, where he resided with his new family. The house stood at the bottom of Freeman’s Woods opposite North Cut and whilst the row was demolished in the 1960s, its ivy-swathed ruins are still visible from the roadside.
“Brookfoot at the time was a thriving community, with its own Methodist chapel, Co-op store, school and an abundance of pubs. One such establishment, The Woodman, stood on the corner of North Cut, opposite Edwards’ practice. An outbuilding there often functioned as an impromptu morgue for the bodies of suicides dredged from the Calder, an act for which the riverbank at Brookfoot was notorious. It seems inevitable that as the village doctor, Edwards will have been called to attend such incidents.
“Edwards’ career went from strength to strength and in 1895, he was appointed Medical Officer of Health for Southowram (which at that time included Brookfoot). By 1901, he had moved to larger premises at 46 Bradford Road and later took the role of Medical Officer for Brighouse, Clifton and Hartshead. During the First World War, he established military hospitals at Longroyde in Brighouse and
Boothroyd in Rastrick, for which he was awarded an MBE in 1920. He died in 1923, following a short illness.
“Edwards’ was tirelessly active in a number of organizations during his lifetime, including the St John’s Ambulance Brigade, the Boys Brigade and the Scouts. He also had many more esoteric interests. For instance, he was a Master of Brighouse Masonic Lodge (No 1301) and with his brother, Louis Stanley Jastrzebski, founded the Bradford branch of the Theosophical Society. Perhaps his most interesting association, however, was with that legendary and influential occult fellowship, the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn.
“The Golden Dawn (as it is commonly abbreviated) was founded in 1887 by three Freemasons and Rosicrucians, Dr William Robert Woodman, Dr William Wynn Westcott and Samuel Liddell Mathers. It was an initiatory society, which claimed to be the continuation of an ancient tradition descended from the original medieval Rosicrucians in Germany. This heritage was supposedly guaranteed by its foundation charter, the Cipher Manuscripts, although these documents later proved to have been forged.
“Nonetheless, even if the manuscripts were forged, they were clearly the work of an accomplished occult scholar and laid the groundwork for an intoxicating, unified system of ritual magic. The Golden Dawn’s synthesis of the various strands of the Western Mystery Tradition was so comprehensive and compelling that it remains the basis of much occultism today, incorporating Hermeticism, Qabalah, Freemasonry, Tarot, Enochian magic, astrology, alchemy, astral projection and much more.
“The Isis-Urania Temple was founded in London in 1888 and it quickly became a dominant influence in both the Victorian occult revival and the entire intellectual culture of the following decade, part of an outpouring of fin-de-siecle decadence memorably dubbed the Yellow Nineties. The society spread rapidly, establishing temples in Edinburgh, Weston-super-Mare and Bradford within the year. The latter was founded by Baildon watchmaker, Thomas Henry Pattinson, in rooms at the Alexandra Hotel, formerly on Great Horton Road.
“The Order’s most famous members were undoubtedly the poet WB Yeats and the libertine Aleister Crowley (later dubbed ‘the wickedest man in the world’ by the British press for his exploits), whilst a host of lesser-known writers passed through its ranks, including Arthur Machen, Algernon Blackwood and Edith Nesbit. The Golden Dawn was also significant in the proto-feminist movement, with women such as actress Florence Farr and theatre manager Annie Horniman taking prominent roles in the organization.
“Dr BEJ Edwards joined the Golden Dawn in October 1888, making him one of the earliest members of the Horus Temple in Bradford, and adopted the motto ‘Deus Lux Solis’ (meaning ‘God is the only light’). He quickly rose through the hierarchy of the society and was initiated into the grade of Adeptus Minor on 25th February 1893. As such, Edwards was now a member of the Second Order, responsible for directing the teachings of the junior First Order members.
“Achieving this grade required a considerable degree of occult study, which presumably took place at his home in Brookfoot. Edwards was clearly a very learned individual; in addition to his medical degree, he was a noted authority on ancient Egyptian civilization and an accomplished linguist, who translated many documents from hieroglyphics, Assyrian and Sanskrit. It is evident that a polymath of Edwards’ capabilities would’ve been an asset to the Horus Temple, and he was eventually appointed Praemonstrator, responsible for doctrinal teaching.
“During the period 1892-3, the Horus Temple was riven by internal dissent, which forced first Annie Horniman, then Dr Wynn Westcott and finally Samuel Mathers to travel from London to intervene. The affair resulted in the temporary resignation of TH Pattinson as Imperator, to be replaced by Dr Wynn Westcott, and the expulsion of FD Harrison, who had served as Praemonstrator. When matters had settled down again, Pattinson resumed his former role, whilst Dr Edwards was appointed to replace Harrison.
“The original incarnation of the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn came to an end at the turn of the century for a number of reasons, including the forced resignation of Dr Wynn Westcott under pressure from the establishment; a number of public scandals which had exposed the society to ridicule; and dissatisfaction with the appointment of Florence Farr to preside over the Order in Britain whilst Samuel Mathers was living in France. Correspondence from 1900 shows that apathy had set in amongst the Horus Temple members.
“The Horus Temple finally disbanded in 1902, when TH Pattinson, along with Dr Edwards, began to focus on a Higher Degree of Freemasonry known as the August Order of Light, Otherwise Called the Mysteries of Perfection of Sikha (Apex) and the Ekata (Unity), influenced by Hindu mysticism and the Royal Oriental Order of Sat B’hai. The Garuda Temple was established in the cellars of a pub at 81 Kings Parade in Bradford, with a membership largely cannibalized from the now defunct Horus Temple.
“Although, the Order had originally been founded in 1881 by Dr Maurice Vidal Portman, a former governor of the Anderman Islands, Pattinson and Edwards extensively revised and augmented its doctrines. In this capacity Edwards became one of the most highly regarded Masonic scholars of the early twentieth century. Following his death in 1923, the Order published a memorial book titled Masonic Secrets and the Ancient Mysteries celebrating his contribution, which numbered the writer Rudyard Kipling amongst its subscribers.
“Slead Hall, Brighouse: Situated in extensive private grounds at Slead Syke between Brighouse and Hove Edge, Slead Hall is almost entirely obscured from prying eyes. Its profile once dominated the hillside but as the trees and housing around it have grown increasingly dense, the ivy-swathed gates facing onto Halifax Road are the only public evidence of its existence. A house was first recorded on the site in 1316, although the present Slead Hall is thought to have been constructed in 1636. It was divided into two private dwellings in 1910 and later used to hold Italian prisoners of war during World War Two.
“Sometime during the 1960s or 1970s, this building was the scene of a grisly discovery, when during renovations, workmen exposed the desiccated but perfectly preserved corpse of a cat which had been bricked up in the walls, presumably since the house was originally built in the 17th century. The find was
recalled by a member of Brighouse Historical Society and related to the author John Billingsley, who mentions it in his publication, West Yorkshire Folktales.
“The profusion of such articles unearthed in the walls or roof-spaces of buildings constructed between the 16th and 17th century indicates that they were placed there deliberately, not just animals that became trapped and died. Some examples even had their legs bound together to prevent escape, as the desiccation process was effected by placing the cat in an airtight cavity and allowing it to suffocate or starve to death. Such discoveries are often erroneously referred to as mummified cats, but the term ‘dried cats’ is more accurate.
“Dried cats are only one of a variety of apparently protective talismans interred in buildings during this period, with witch bottles, horse skulls and even human skulls also popular. A couple of hundred dried cats have been documented across the country, their frequency only outstripped by old shoes. However, oral accounts suggest that countless more have been discovered over the years but not properly recorded, as superstitious owners may leave them in place, whilst others simply do not recognize the significance of such a find.
“Indeed, the exact significance of dried cats is still hotly contested amongst academic folklorists and social historians. A number of examples have been found deliberately positioned to look as if they were on the hunt, which has led some deflationary scholars, such as Richard Sabin of the Natural History Museum and curator of an exhibition of curiosities in this vein, to suggest that cats were placed in the walls in the belief that they would deter mice, like some macabre domestic scarecrow.
“Yet this theory fails to account adequately for all the facts. It ignores associated finds such as shoes or horses skulls and that such items are typically found concealed near liminal points, especially doorways, windows, gables and chimneys. This seems to favor the more common interpretation that the function of all these items was indeed talismanic, designed to prevent malignant forces gaining access to the house, especially witches, fear of whom was at its height during the 17th century.
“The significance of a cat specifically in this context also remains debated. One theory holds that their use stemmed from the magical principle ‘like cures like’, aimed at the popular belief that witches kept cats as familiar spirits. Another school of thought suggests that it is a corrupted remembrance of the much older tradition of foundation sacrifice, well attested in Britain during the Iron Age, whereby animals and even humans were killed as an offering to the gods in order to secure protection for the building and their remains laid beneath the foundations.
“Rydings Hall, Brighouse: Not to be confused with The Rydings, the grand building nearby in which Brighouse Library and the Smith Art Galley are currently located, Rydings Hall is located on Church Lane below the old church school and now forms part of a doctors’ surgery. However, it was originally built in 1926 as the former St Martin’s Parish Hall, with money donated by local landowner Richard Woodhouse.
“The building was not given the name Rydings Hall until the 1970s upon its acquisition by the Brighouse and Rastrick Brass Band, when alternative premises were sought following the demolition of Odd
Fellows Hall to make way for the construction of the Ludenscheid Link ring-road. The establishment was formerly rededicated and opened by the Mayor of Brighouse in September 1971.
“Rydings Hall served not only as a rehearsal space for the band, but they also renovated it to include an auditorium with the capacity to hold five hundred people, in which to stage their own concerts. The facilities were also rented out to other local groups including Brighouse Children’s Theatre and Brighouse Light Opera Society. By the 1980s, however, dwindling membership and attendance led to the sale of the hall.
“Following its conversion into a doctors’ surgery, district nurse Barbara Green recalls that medical staff working in the building out of hours were plagued by disturbances such as doors and windows slamming shut of their own accord when there was no draught, whilst both the balcony of the former auditorium and the cellar kitchen were noted for their unnerving atmosphere. None of the nursing staff would enter the latter room alone.
“A number of stories circulated to explain the occurrences, including the unfortunate death of woman on a toilet in the building, and even the ghost of Lancastrian variety performer Jimmy Clitheroe, who was supposed to have once performed at the hall. More sinister, especially considering the building’s use, are tales of the apparition of a black dog, which in British folklore has long been regarded as a harbinger of impending death.
“5 Church Lane, Brighouse: Church Lane used to connect the center of Brighouse with its parish church but since 1972 it has been severed by the Ludenscheid Link bypass and the Parsonage Lane car park. Whilst on the north side of the A643, the street continues as a sleepy lane climbing towards St Martin’s, a small portion of it remains on the south side in the town center as a barely noticeable conduit between Commercial Street and Gooder Street. Surrounded primarily by the loading areas of commercial properties, it now seems an incongruous location for a residential dwelling but Number 5, Church Lane is exactly that and in November 1985 it was the scene of a significant poltergeist disturbance.
“At the time, the house was occupied by Jack and Brenda Mansley, along with their twenty-five year old daughter, Karen, on whom much of the activity was said to be focused. Poltergeist activity has often been correlated with emotionally fragile females but they are more often adolescent or pubescent girls. Glenn MacArthur, a Rastrick based medium, did suggest when he visited the property that the spirits may have latched on to Karen due to the stress of attempting to establish a hairdressing business over the preceding eighteen months. Nonetheless, Karen appears to have been a stable individual with a good familial relationship and was thus not a wholly characteristic candidate for such supernatural attention.
“The events themselves included much of the low level activity frequently reported in supposed poltergeist cases, much of which could so easily be attributed to mere absentmindedness. The family would often awake or return to the house to discover lights mysteriously turned on, doors open or taps running. Less trivially, Karen’s married sister Jacqueline visited the house one day whilst the family were away to discover coats strewn across the floor and jewelry boxes emptied as if there had been a
burglary. However, nothing had been taken and there was no sign of forced entry. Nobody was found in the house, despite Jacqueline claiming that she had seen the shadow of a person from outside.
“The more significant disturbances centered around Karen included the constant creaking of a floorboard in her bedroom at night, as if somebody was walking back and forth across it, and a hammering coming from the walls. On one occasion a three-foot high mirror which was usually propped up against a wall in the room was discovered laid out on her bed beneath the covers, whilst on another, she discovered her birth certificate screwed up in the corner of the room. The events often occurred when the rest of the family was out and it was getting to the point where she was afraid to be in the house alone, especially upstairs where much of the activity occurred.
“Medium Glenn MacArthur visited the residence on two occasions. On the first, he claimed to have made contact with the spirit of a young girl who died in the house, speculating that it might be the ghost of Mary Manley, who passed away in 1843 at the age of seven and was buried nearby in the graveyard at St Martin’s. She was the daughter of James Manley, who had constructed the row known as Commercial Buildings – of which Number 5, Church Lane is a part – in 1836 and whose family became its first occupants. However, it is instructive that Mr MacArthur had reportedly lost a child himself some years previously and you have to wonder if there was not a degree of projection at work.
“However, on his second visit MacArthur alleged to have detected the presence of another spirit, that of an anonymous man who had died in the house sometime in the past. He thought this man was an alcoholic who used to pawn his property to get money to spend on drinking and who was searching the house for something he’d lost or that had been hidden from him. MacArthur believed this individual was responsible for the more substantial occurrences such as the incident with the mirror, whilst the girl had only engaged in more mischievous, low-level activity. However, the medium cautioned that events would yet reach a crescendo before finally dispersing. Whether his prediction was accurate is not recorded.
“Daisy Croft, Brighouse: The cottages at Daisy Croft, named after a corn mill which had stood on that site beside the River Calder since the Norman period, were probably already a couple of hundred years old when they were demolished in 1905 to make way for the Brighouse Assembly Rooms and they would once have adjoined to the Anchor Inn and faced the Black Swan in Queen Anne’s Square. Sadly this formerly thriving area between Brighouse and Bridge End is today little more than a traffic thoroughfare and carpark in the shadow of the derelict silos of Sugden’s Mill. But in July 1887, Daisy Croft was the location of a curious and macabre episode in Brighouse social history.
“At the time, the cottage Number 23, was occupied by Mrs Sykes and her teenage son, who’d moved into the dwelling a couple of years previously. One day whilst the boy was cleaning in an upstairs room, his attention was drawn to a small vent hole in the ceiling. Squeezing himself through the narrow aperture into the void beyond, amidst the darkness and centuries’ accumulated detritus he was soon startled to run his hand over something which felt very much like bone. Unnerved, he hurriedly returned to the light of the room below, carrying his discovery with him and sure enough, on closer inspection he realized he’d found a human arm and leg bone.
“A local physician, Dr Bond, was summoned and concluded they belonged to the right side of a young human female. He also speculated from the state of preservation that when they were concealed, they probably still had human flesh upon them. The discovery and Bond’s subsequent conjectures caused a great stir in the town. Rumors circulated that it was the skeleton of a young woman who’d disappeared some years previously and that when she was found, she was still wearing a jeweled ring on her bony finger. The frenzy was stoked by the fact that Mrs Sykes began to display the bones in the cottage and charged admittance to see them, attracting hundreds of visitors per day until the police removed the remains for reburial.
“Subsequent investigation revealed, however, that the truth was less grisly than many had supposed at the time, although no less bizarre. It transpired that in the early 19th century the cottage had been used as the surgery of one Doctor Hopkinson. He was regarded in his day as a specialist in a number of diseases but he was also known for having a drink problem and a morbid sense of humor. Some of the older people in the town recalled that he kept a human skeleton in his consulting room and when he was under the influence of alcohol, would delight in using it to terrify his young and elderly patients. Unsurprisingly, the police concluded the bones were most likely to have been left there by Hopkinson, maybe by accident or maybe as some further practical joke from beyond the grave.
“The exhibition of human remains was evidently a common practice in Brighouse during the late 19th century. An article in the Brighouse Echo dated 18th July 1952 records that more than half a century previously a coffin had been unearthed during quarrying at Southowram. It contained the skeleton of a local landowner named Dan Maude, who’d died at least fifty years before that, leaving instructions that he was to be buried on his own land. The bones were exhumed and placed on public display, with local people charged two-pence each to view the macabre spectacle. However, it is recorded that it was ‘eventually kicked to pieces by drunkards’. One doubts the outcome would have been any different had the skeleton been displayed in the district in more recent times.”570
***BURLEY-IN-WHARFEDALE, WEST YORKSHIRE***
University of Nottingham’s Institute for Name Studies notates: “Burley in Wharfedale: ‘Fortification wood/clearing’ in the ‘River Wharfe valley’. Burh (Old English): a ‘fortified place’. Leah (Old English): a ‘forest, wood, glade, clearing’; (later) a ‘pasture, meadow’. Dalr (Old Norse): a ‘valley’.”571
Dennis Warwick puts pen to paper: “In our 1999 Burley Local History Group publication, Burley: A Millennium Book (authors Margaret and Dennis Warwick), we wrote about the place name. A shortened version follows: The old Township of Burley-in-Wharfedale covers 4.9 square miles (12.7 square kms) and was inhabited at least as early as the Bronze Age some 3,000 years ago. We know little of that except in the survival of burial mounds and carved stones, still found on the moorland south of the settlement. There were probably people living here during the Roman occupation of Britain, and there may have been some kind of fortification locally. Only four miles away was a Roman Fort at Ilkley, (Olicana).The Old Saxon name Burh or Burgh refers to a fortification and is found in many British place names. Ley probably refers to a meadow or clearing in a forest. Burhlege is mentioned in Old Saxon documents of the 10th century. After the Norman conquest of 1066 a survey of Britain, known as
the Domesday Book, was undertaken and it refers to the hamlet of Burghelai a small settlement near the River Wharfe and part of the ancient parish of Otley, which is a little market town in the Wharfe valley (Wharfedale). So eventually our village came to be known as Burley-in-Wharfedale.
“Margaret, my wife, was a real historian and I was a sociologist, teaching at Leeds University. We wrote several local history books about our village, to which we came to live in 1962. I am still here in Burley, but Margaret died in May 2010. We created a local archive which can be visited still in our local public library and which I help to administer along with two or three colleagues. We call ourselves the Burley Local History Group.”572
***CRIGGLESTONE, WEST YORKSHIRE***
University of Nottingham’s Institute for Name Studies represents: “Crigglestone: ‘Farm/settlement at Cryc-hill’. Celtic crug was adopted as a place-name to which an explanatory Old English hyll was added. Crug (Primitive Welsh): a ‘hill’, a ‘mound’, a ‘tumulus’. Hyll (Anglian): a ‘hill’, a ‘natural eminence or elevated piece of ground’. Tun (Old English): an ‘enclosure’; a ‘farmstead’; a ‘village’; an ‘estate’.”573
***HALIFAX, WEST YORKSHIRE 574 ***
JB Johnston specifies: “Curious name. It seems always to have been so spelt, since the founding of the Church of St John the Baptist here soon after 1100 [AD]. If so, it must be Old English halig feax, ‘holy (hali) locks’ or ‘head of hair’, perhaps referring to some picture of the head of St John. On the strength of a comparison with Carfax, it is often said to mean ‘holy fork’ or ‘holy roads’, converging as in a fork, Latin furca. Carfax is first found in 1357 [AD] Carfuks, and not till 1527 [AD] as Carfaxe, so this origin seems quite untenable. Perhaps the earliest original document which names the place is a latter, circa 1190 [AD] which speaks of ‘ignotae ecclesiae de Haliflex’, where the l seems to be a scribe’s error, and –flex must be feax. ‘Holy flax’ would make no sense. In Domesday Book it seems to be called Feslei. Can the Fes- be feax too?”575
***MYTHOLMROYD, WEST YORKSHIRE***
AH Smith tells: “’The clearing near Mithum’. Mithum is … from Old English myoum ‘(at) the river-mouths’, referring to the confluence of Cragg Brook and the River Calder.”576
***QUEENSBURY AND SHELF, WEST YORKSHIRE***
AH Smith declares: “Queensbury: this village was known by the name of its tavern, Queen’s Head, but by common consent the village was called Queensbury at a public meeting held 8 May 1863.
“Shelf: ‘shelving terrain’. The shelf is a noticeable topographical feature.”577
***TADCASTER, WEST YORKSHIRE***
JB Johnston displays: “Domesday Book Tatecastre. Probably ‘Camp of Tada’. Compare to Birch’s Cartularium Saxonicum 1152 [AD] Tadan leah – ie, Tadley (Basingstoke), and Todwick; also Tadlow (Cambridgeshire); Domesday Book Tadelai, and Domesday Book Surrey Tadforde.”578
University of Nottingham’s Institute for Name Studies expresses: “Tadcaster West: ‘Tata's/Tada's Roman site’. If the mention of King Harald's troops at a place referred to in the Anglo-Saxon Chronicles as 'to Tada' is this place, than it is most likely the second name. This was the Roman settlement of Calcaria, 'lime-works'. Ceaster (Old English): a ‘city’; an ‘old fortification’; a ‘Roman site’.”579
**WILTSHIRE**
JB Johnston notes: “1011 [AD] Old English Chronicle Wiltunscir; 1298 [AD] Wiltesh. Wilts is a contraction of Wilsaetas, ‘sitters, dwellers on the River Wil’.”580
J Gronow records: “Wiltshire: an inland county, is bounded on the west by that of Somerset, on the east by those of Berks and Hants, on the north by the County of Gloucester, and on the south by Derbyshire. The air of this county is healthy, sharp upon the hills, but mild in the valleys, even during winter. The northern part, called North Wiltshire, is full of pleasant eminences. It was once covered with wood, which is in a great measure cut down. The banks of the rivers afford beautiful plains of fruitful meadows, where great numbers of black cattle are constantly fed, while the downs afford pasture for innumerable flocks of sheep.”581
JM Wilson reveals: “Wilts, or Wiltshire, an inland county, bounded, on the northwest and the north, by Gloucestershire; on the east, by Berks and Hants; on the south, by Hants and Dorset; on the west, by Somerset. Its outline is irregularly oblong; and its boundary, with trivial exceptions, is all artificial. Its greatest length, from north to south, is 53 miles; its greatest breadth is 38 miles; its circuit is about 180 miles; and its area is 865,092 acres. The surface, to the north of a line not far from coincident with the course of the Great Western railway, is rich plain; and the surface to the south of that line is mainly an assemblage of bleak downs, intersected by deep valleys. Marlborough downs occupy much of the northeastern part of the south section; Salisbury plain occupies still more of the southern part of that section; and these are separated from each other by the Vale of Pewsey. The aggregate elevation of all the south section is high; the downy heights, for the most part, rise from such lofty bases and have such softly swelling outlines as to look almost like billows of a troughy ocean; and the principal summits rise to altitudes of from 775 to 1,011 feet. The chief rivers are the Lower Avon, the East Avon, the Wiley, the Nadder, the Bourne, the Kennet, and some head-streams of the Thames. Upper oolite rocks prevail in the northwest; and upper cretaceous rocks in all other quarters. Portland stone is quarried at Swindon, Tisbury, and Fonthill; Kimmeridge clay ranges from Swindon to the west of Devizes; coral rag extends from Highworth to Bromham: Oxford clay forms a level tract, with many mineral springs; Kelloways rock takes name from predominating at Kelloways near Chippenham; cornbrash is worked, in the neighborhood of Malmsbury, for building; and forest marble is converted, in several places, into coarse tiles and flag stones.
“The territory of Wilts was inhabited by the Belgae and Attrebatii; was included by the Romans in their Britannia Prima; formed part of the Saxon Kingdom of Wessex; was overrun by the Danes in 871, 1003, 1006, and 1011; was given, at the Norman conquest, to William d'Ewe, Edward de Saresbury, Robert d'Oili, Ralph de Mortimer, Milo Crispin, and others; was the scene of sharp contests in the war between Maud and Stephen; shared considerably, but not so much as many other counties, in the civil wars of
Charles I; and participated, at Salisbury, in prominent events of the revolution of 1688. Great ancient monuments, of the kind called Druidical, are at Stonehenge and Avebury. Cromlechs are at Bulford, Clatford, Littleton-Drew, and Monkton-Fields. Ancient British boundaries are presented in Wans-dyke and Bokerley ditch. An ancient British road is the Ridgeway. Ancient British villages are traceable on Salisbury plain. Barrows, of four kinds, stud all the chalk hills and valleys. Ancient camps, variously British, Roman, Saxon, and Danish, are in numerous places. Roman roads are the Fosse-way, Ermine-street, the Julian way, and roads from Old Sarum to Bath, Dorchester, Uphill, Winchester, and Silchester. Norman castles have left remains or mounds at Ludgershall, Wardour, Marlborough, Malmsbury, Devizes, Castlecombe, and Sherrington. Monastic remains are at Laycock, Bradenstock, Monk-Farleigh, Kingswood, Kingston-St Michael, and Malmsbury. And ancient churches are at Salisbury, Bishops-Cannings, Great Bedwin, Anstey, Chippenham, Castlecombe, Durnford, Draycote, Tisbury, and Steeple-Ashton.”582
***BISHOPS CANNINGS, WILTSHIRE***
JB Johnston spells out: “1010 [AD] ‘Canninga merse’ (compare to Mersey). Canning is a patronymic, from Cana or Cano, in Searle’s Onomasticon Anglo-Saxonicum.”583
University of Nottingham’s Institute for Name Studies touches on: “Bishops Cannings: ‘Cana's people’. It belonged to the bishops of Salisbury. –Ingas (Old English): ‘the people of ...’; ‘the people called after ...’. Episcopus (Latin): a ‘bishop’.”584
www.bishopscannings.net clarifies: “The Anglo Saxon Chronicles: The earliest reference to Bishop’s Cannings can be found in the Anglo Saxon Chronicles, where it is stated that in AD 1010 the Danes, after taking over East Anglia and moving out across the country, eventually returned over the Thames into Wessex, and so by Cannings-marsh, burning all the way. When they had gone as far as they would, then came they by midwinter to their ships. Cannings marsh is thought to be in the area of the now Kennet and Avon Canal between Bishops to the west of the village.
“The Doomsday Book: In the Doomsday book Bishop’s Cannings was surveyed in 1086 when it was called Cainingham, which, according to Archdeacon McDonald in his article written in 1859 for the Wiltshire Archaeological and Natural History magazine means ‘Canning’s estate or farm’. He goes on to say that in other documents of about the same time it was called Canyngas this being the nominative plural, in the Saxon declination of the family, or clan, of Canning. The prefix Bishop’s came later possibly in the 13th century.
“The doomsday book records Cainingham as being a large and rich manor with enough land for 45 plough teams and with a population of about 600. The tithing of Cannings consisted of the manor of Cannings Canonicorum which consisted of 140 acres of arable, 32 acres of meadow and enough pasture for 730 sheep.
“The Parish: The original parish was much larger than the present one encompassing the villages of Bourton, Easton, Coate and Horton, but the chapelry of St James also known as Southbroom and the detached tithing of Chittoe.
“In its present smaller form Bishop’s Cannings is the third largest parish in Wiltshire. Chittoe with the villages of Bromham and Poulshot were separated away in 1883, and the Chapelry of St James, which also included the tithings of Roundway, Wick, Nursteed and Bedborough, became the present day parish of Roundway in 1894.
“The main road from Devizes to Swindon (A361) runs just north of the village and crosses a minor road that runs from Calne to the village. Part of this road is known as Harepath Way, a name said to be derived from the Old English herepaeeth indicating the track followed by a Saxon army.
“The Waynsdyke runs east west through the parish just to the north of the village. Originally a defensive earthwork comprising a large bank with a deep ditch to the north side, the Wanysdyke runs from the Avon valley south of Bristol to Savernake Forest near Marlborough. The Wanysdyke dates from 400 to 700 AD and is one of the largest linear earthworks in the UK. The name Wanysdyke probably comes from the Saxon god Woden, but that does not mean that the Saxons actually built it. The remains north of Bishops Cannings are still impressive.
“The modern road breaches the Wansdyke, at Shepherd’s Shore. Further north the old Bath and London coach road breaches the Waynsdyke at Old Shepherds' Shore. The word Shore deriving from a characteristic Wiltshire word sceard meaning ‘a notch or a gap’.
“At the extreme north of the parish is the course of a former Roman road.
“Bishops Cannings and the village of Horton used to be joined by a track which ran across the canal via a swing bridge to Horton Mill. This track, which is still a public right of way today, but which probably is not as grand as it used to be was said to be haunted by a large black pig and in the 1800s was used safely be day but little by night.
“A Royal meeting: In 1613 Queen Ann, wife of James I was returning to London having taken the waters at the spa in Bath. The then vicar George Ferrebe, together with a bunch of parishioners went out to meet her coach by Shepherd’s Shore. The Queen’s carriage stopped and they sang a specially composed song for the Queen. The words are recorded in Ida Gandy’s book about the village. After the song, the Queen was invited to listen to the bells of the church in the valley below. The Queen must have been pleased with the show as George Ferrebe was made a Court Chaplain. The story is recorded in the parish register.
“The Civil War: In July 1643, Sir Ralph Hopton’s Royalist army defeated Sir William Waller’s Parliamentary forces at the Battle of Roundway Down.
“A Hanging: In 1720 John Morgan, having robbed and murdered his uncle, was hung on Morgan’s hill just to the west of Shepherds Shore, (the hill then being named after him). The post hole from the gallows was still visible in 1894.
“Simple or cunning people? Around 1790, the Moonraker legend started. This concerned a group of men smuggling brandy. To avoid being caught by a passing exciseman while getting their contraband out
of a pond, they pretended that they were trying to get what they thought was a cheese. The exciseman, identified the cheese as the reflection of the moon on the water, left chuckling at their stupidity leaving the smugglers to recover their goods. On the face of it Bishops Canning’s, which has no village pond, seems an unlikely venue for the story. However, this can be easily explained as 'the Crammer' in Devizes, a seemly excellent pond for moonraking used to lie within the parish of Bishop’s Cannings, until 1835. Secondly, as John Chandler noted ‘the village has long had a reputation for idiocy, or feigned idiocy, which made it the butt of many folk tales recorded in the 19th and 20th centuries.’
“A second hanging: Around 1811, on the parish boundary alongside the Devizes to Beckhampton road there is a grave marked by stones at its head and foot. This is reputed to be the grave of Walter Leader who was returning home, drunk on the night that the royal mail coach was attacked by a gang of highwaymen. During the attack, the driver of the coach Henry Castles was murdered. Leader was allegedly met by the highwaymen who knocked him out and left him beside the dead driver with a pistol in his hand. At the trial the evidence seemed conclusive and Walter Leader was condemned to death. He was hanged on a misty morning and, a short time later a horseman arrived bearing a reprieve, one of the Highwaymen having turned King’s evidence at Bath. The body was taken down from the gallows and buried by the side of the road.
“Ida Gandy in her book states that the Highwayman’s grave was where he was said to have fallen, struck dead whilst trying to escape justice.”585
***COLLINGBOURNE DUCIS, WILTSHIRE***
JB Johnston documents: “Domesday Book Colingeburne; 1298 [AD] Colyngborn. ‘Bourne, burn, or brook of Colling’, a name in Searle’s Onomasticon Anglo-Saxonicum, where also are Collanus and Collinc. It is a patronymic from Coll(a), a fairly common name. Compare to Domesday Book Yorkshire Colingaworde, now Cullingworth, and Coneyswick (Worchestershire); Domesday Book Colingwic. Ducis is Latin for ‘of the duke’.”586
University of Nottingham’s Institute for Name Studies observes: “Collingbourne Ducis and Kingston: ‘Stream of Col(a)'s people’. The King and the Earls (Dukes) of Lancaster held manors here. –Ingas (Old English): ‘the people of ...’; ‘the people called after ...’. Burna (Old English): a ‘stream’. Tun (Old English): an ‘enclosure’; a ‘farmstead’; a ‘village’; an ‘estate’. Comes (Latin): a ‘fellow-traveler’, a ‘companion or attendant’. Used of an earl. Cyning (Old English): a ‘king’.”587
JM Wilson recounts: “Collingbourne-Ducis, a village and a parish in Pewsey district, Wilts. The village stands on an affluent of the river Avon, 2 ½ miles northwest by north of Ludgers-hall, and 7 ½ south by east of Savernake railway station; and has a post office under Marlborough, and a fair on 11 December. The parish comprises 3,381 acres. Real property, with Everleigh, 6,141 pounds. Population, 564. Houses, 113. The property is divided among a few. The manor belonged to the Duchy of Lancaster, whence the name Ducis; and passed to the Seymours. Collingbourne Heath and Collingbourne Wood lie east of the village. The living is a rectory in the diocese of Salisbury. Value, 716 pounds. Patron, the Marquis of Ailesbury. The church is ancient but tolerable; and has a tower said to have been built for a dovecot.”588
***DEVIL’S DITCH, WILTSHIRE***
WA Chaney says: “As might be expected, [Woden, pagan god] was, in the first place, equated with the Christian Devil. Wansdyke, the great pre-Saxon earthwork, for example, was also known after the introduction of Christianity as the Devil’s Ditch, and local tradition maintained in time that it was built by the Devil on a Wednesday – which is, of course, Woden’s day. The burial-mound on the Wiltshire downs known as in the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle as Woden’s Barrow became in time called Adam’s Grave, although whether this Christianization took place in our period or later is now impossible to say. Certainly many pre-Christian barrows became associated with the Devil, showing a conversion of these sites from the gods of paganism.”589
***LYDIARD MILLICENT, WILTSHIRE***
University of Nottingham’s Institute for Name Studies spotlights: “Lydiard Millicent: ‘Grey hill’. It was held by Millicent, mother of Richard, in 1199. Garth (Primitive Welsh): a ‘hill’. Led (Primitive Welsh): ‘grey’.”590
Frances Bevan and Douglas Payne underscore: “The problem is that ‘correct’ spellings have only been established in the last 150 years or so. There are two Lydiards in this part of Wiltshire – the Parish of Lydiard Millicent and to its South, the Parish of Lydiard Tregoze. In ancient times, Bradon Forest extended into both Parishes and the name could refer to a fenced part of a forest. It possibly derives from the Old English word Lydan-geard (Anglo Saxon gird – ‘a rod or garden’) meaning ‘Lyda’s girded or enclosed place’. Another suggestion is that the word may have Welsh roots as from the word Llidiart meaning ‘opening, gate or gap’. Lydiard has been spelt in a variety of different ways down the centuries: in 900 AD it was Lidgeard, Lidegaerd and Lidgerd but by 1086 when the Domesday Book was written, it had become Lidiarde or Lediar. On a map dated 1773 both Parishes are spelled Liddiard. The Parish of Lydiard Millicent includes a village of the same name which includes a church dating from the 14th century and a Public House (bar and restaurant) which contains rooms from the 17th century. The current population of the Parish is around 1,500 people.”591
***ROYAL WOOTTON BASSETT, WILTSHIRE***
University of Nottingham’s Institute for Name Studies comments: “Wootton Bassett: ‘Wood farm/settlement’. Alan Basset acquired the manor sometime before 1212. Wudu (Old English): a ‘wood’; or ‘wood, timber’. Tun (Old English): an ‘enclosure’; a ‘farmstead’; a ‘village’; an ‘estate’.”592
Linda Thompson emphasizes: “Until October 2011 Royal Wootton Bassett did not have the Royal title, Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth the Second bestowed this on the Town.
“This was to show the nation’s gratitude for the way our Town turned out to pay their respect to the Funeral cortege of service personnel who lost their lives abroad fighting for our freedom.
“The name of Wootton refers to Wodeton which shows that it was made from a clearing, probably in Braden Forest. This was later changed to Wootton.
“About 1200 the manor that was built descended to Alan Bassett, the Bassetts were an influential family so from then on the Town was known as Wootton Bassett.”593
***SHREWTON, WILTSHIRE***
University of Nottingham’s Institute for Name Studies gives: “Shrewton: ‘Sheriff's farm/settlement’. It was held by Edward of Salisbury, sheriff of Wiltshire in 1086. Scir-refa (Old English): a ‘sheriff, the king's executive’. Tun (Old English): an ‘enclosure’; a ‘farmstead’; a ‘village’; an ‘estate’.”594
***SLAUGHTERFORD, WILTSHIRE***
JB Johnston pens: “779 [AD] charter Sloh tranford; 1154-61 [AD] Slaforda. Interesting corruption. ‘Ford of the sloe-tree’; Old English sloh-treo, generic plural tran. An older form of sloe is found in the Glossaries – slach-thorn – ie, ‘sloe’ (or ‘black’) ‘thorn’. We also have an Upper and Lower Slaughter; Stow-on-Wold; Domesday Book Sclostre; 1183 [AD] Sloctre, ‘sloe-tree’ – a curious corruption!”595
University of Nottingham’s Institute for Name Studies scribes: “Slaughterford: ‘Sloe-thorn ford’. Slah-porn (Old English): a ‘sloe thorn, the blackthorn’. Ford (Old English): a ‘ford’.”596
Sarah Jones states: “When you tackle the Weavern Lane stretch of the Macmillan Way, in Slaughterford, it's in wellies.
“The dark and leafy lane, rutted and muddy, is no place for a stiletto heel.
“But over the last 20 plus years that's exactly what's been making its way down the country track to exactly the same spot under a tree.
“Strange things, it seems, are afoot on the Macmillan Way.
“So what exactly is going on and who is Slaughterford's footwear phantom?
“According to Liz Newman, who's lived in the area all her life, it all started back in the 1980s when the first pair of mysterious shoes made an appearance:
“’The first pair I saw were a pair of high heeled stiletto shoes,’ says Liz. ‘They looked to me like they'd come from the 1950s.
“’I didn't think somebody had lost them as I couldn't imagine walking down there in a pair of stiletto shoes and then I realized that they'd been tacked to the tree.’
“In fact 'tacked' is a bit of an understatement. The incongruous looking high heels had actually been bolted to a metal bar and then screwed into one of the tree roots lining the lane. Somebody had gone to a lot of trouble to make sure these shoes didn't walk:
“’I pulled but I couldn't move them,’ says Liz ‘and when I took a closer look, I found that somebody had used washers to stop the screws being pulled through the bottom of the shoes.
“’Yes, they were secured there alright.’
“These boots weren't made for walking in: And for the next few years that's exactly where they remained, slowly disintegrating, until another pair mysteriously showed up:
“’The next pair we had were a pair of knee-high boots,’ says Liz, ‘filled with expanding foam to keep them upright and sprayed pink.
“’And as they disintegrated, with the weather, another pair appeared.’
“This time it was a pair of white stilettos, looking just as incongruous on the muddy track that had been carefully positioned in exactly the same spot.
“The Imelda Marcos of Slaughterford had struck again.
“And recently? Well, in a bit of a departure from the kinky, it's a sensible pair of men's brogues that have stepped in:
“’The shoes are of all different styles,’ says Liz. ‘We just got used to seeing them but we couldn't find out who was putting them there. I asked but nobody spilt the beans and I began wondering if it was somebody I know very well.
“’But whoever it is, it's obviously a special place to them.’
“Macabre shrine? Karen Crawford, who took over the disused paper mill in the village a few years ago, is also mystified:
“’The first pair I saw were a tall pair of pink stiletto boots,’ says Karen, ‘and initially I thought somebody had lost them but no… someone must be putting them there.
“’It's quite a muddy footpath so it looked quite surreal seeing stiletto shoes on this very muddy track.’
“Meanwhile on the Colerne Community Forum, local walkers are equally baffled and there's speculation that the first shoes made an appearance, ‘one year after a murder in the area’. So is this a macabre shrine to a Slaughterford murder?
“’I don't think so,’ says Liz, ‘I'm sure the local village would have made a lot more of it or been really scared if somebody had.
“’I thought I would have found out by now though. I thought somebody would have said something but nobody has and I'd be really interested to know.’
“And so would we, so if you know anything about Slaughterford's footwear phantom let us know by clicking on the link below: [email protected].”597
***STONEHENGE, WILTSHIRE 598 ***
JB Johnston alludes: “1529 [AD], but circa 1120 [AD] Stanenges; circa 1145 [AD] Stanheng; circa 1205 [AD] Stanhenge; 1297 [AD] Ston heng, and –hyngel. McClure thinks of Old English Stan hange, ‘sloping stones’; hange = hangar or angra. Compare to Clayhanger, etc. There is an early tradition that the circle was erected at the instigation of Merlin the enchanter, in memory of 460 nobles slain by Hengist the Saxon in 472 [AD]. But the Welsh bard Aneurin says it existed even before the time of Ambrosius, the opponent of Hengist.”599
Christopher Daniell communicates: “Probably the most famous and impressive stone circle in England. Despite knowledge of its complex construction, there is no consensus concerning its original purpose.”
He continues: “Despite many theories, no satisfactory explanation has been given as to why Stonehenge was built. In the Middle Ages it was thought that Merlin built it, in the seventeenth century it was considered a druidic meeting place, and later a place of sacrifice. In the 1970s and 1980s the prominent theory was that it was used for astronomy, but apart from the Heel Stone, which is directly in line with the rising of the solstice sun, there is no evidence for this.
“Even if the intended purpose of Stonehenge remains a mystery, the stages of its construction are less problematic. The first phase was during Neolithic times and resulted in a henge (circular ring and ditch) with a stone portal and the Heel Stone. It is likely that it had wooden buildings inside. The second phase occurred in the Bronze Age and involved the transportation of eighty-two bluestones, each weighing four tons, from Preseli in Wales to the site of Stonehenge. By the shortest route, the journey was over 200 miles. No satisfactory reason has been given as to why the stones had been put into position, the plan changed and the bluestones were dismantled. It has been interred, from reworking marks that the bluestones were then set up as a monument elsewhere. The final phase involved bringing the seventy-five main stones now standing, each weighing 50 tons, from the Marlborough Downs twenty miles away. The bluestones were dismantled from their second site and once again became part of the present structure of Stonehenge.
“That a structure of such great antiquity and complexity is mysterious is not surprising. The number of man-hours needed to bring the stones and construct the monument have been estimated at three million. Through the centuries it has slowly disclosed its secrets to scientific and archeological observation, but also as a result of chance and random observation. In the 1950s a huge scientific survey was undertaken, but it was a ten-year-old boy who spotted two carvings or prehistoric daggers etched into the stones.”600
**WORCESTERSHIRE**
JB Johnston depicts: “601 [AD] charter Weogorna civitas; Bede Provincia Huicciorum; Old English version Hwicna Gemaere (territory); before 810 [AD] Nennius Huich; circa 800 [AD] charter Hicca; circa 802 [AD] Wegoranensis civitas, Wigornensis ecclesia; 804 [AD] Wigornacestre; 836 [AD] Weogurnacestre; circa 897 [AD] AElfred Wiogora ceastre; circa 1075 [AD] Wigraceastre; circa 1100 [AD] Florence of Worchester Episcopatus Wigornensis; 1274 [AD] Wirecestre; circa 1290 [AD] Wyricestre; 1297 [AD] Wurcetre; 1666 [AD] Merrett Wostershire. Modern pronunciation Wu-ster. Some think it is the Caer Guiragon or Guveirangon of Nennius. Compare to Wroxeter. ‘Fort of the Huiccii’ or ‘Wigorna’ – ie, probably ‘the
forest men’; Old Welsh guig, gwig, ‘a grove’. Compare to Whichford, and the Wyre forest once in this shire. Hu- and Gu- both equal W.”601
J Gronow enumerates: “Worcester: Worcestershire, 111 miles from London, a city, stands on the Severn, and is supposed to have been one of the cities built by the Romans, who called it Branovium, for curbing the Britons on the other side of the Severn. It was erected into a bishopric by the Saxon King Ethelred, 679, when the church was filled with married presbyters, till Dunstan ejected them, and put monks in their places. In 1041, it was plundered and burnt down, and the inhabitants put to the sword by Hardicanute, in revenge for the death of two of his tax-gatherers. In the reign of Rufus it was burnt down by the Welsh, as generally supposed. King Stephen besieged, took it, and burnt it to the ground. The last time it was remarkable for any military event, was 1651, when that famous battle was fought in which King Charles II was defeated by Cromwell; and in a garden just without the south gate of the city, where the heat of the battle was, the bones of the slain are often dug up. The cathedral, which is exactly the model of that at Brussels, is a large edifice, but not very elegant, except the choir of the chapel on the south side of it, which is of curious workmanship, and one hundred and twenty feet long. In it are interred King John, who lies in the middle of the choir between two pious bishops. Prince Arthur, the eldest son of Henry VII. There is a splendid memorial to that Countess of Salisbury who dropped her garter as she danced before Edward III at Windsor.
“Worcestershire: a county, bounded by that of Staffordshire on the north, by that of Gloucestershire on the south, by those of Shropshire and Herefordshire on the west, and the County of Warwick on the east. There are several parcels of the county detached from these boundaries; some were once parts of the adjoining counties, within the general limits of which counties they lie: and, in the opinion of Camden, were annexed to this county by some of the ancient lords of these estates, who presided over the county before the Conquest, that their power as governors of Worcestershire, might extend over the respective manors in other counties. This county was, in the time of the Romans, part of the district inhabited by the Cornavii. Under the Saxons it constituted part of the Kingdom of Mercia, and was a subdivision of that kingdom, known by the name of Wiccia. The soil in the vales and meadows is extremely rich, especially the Vale of Evesham, styled the granary of these parts. The chief productions are salt, hops, and cheese.”602
JM Wilson gives an account: “Worchestershire, or Worcester, an inland county; bounded, on the northwest, by Salop; on the north, by Staffordshire; on the east, by Warwickshire; on the south, by Gloucestershire; on the west, by Herefordshire. Its outline is very irregularly quadrangular. Its boundaries, with small aggregate exception, are artificial. Its greatest length, from north to south, is about 34 miles; its greatest breadth is about 30 miles; its circuit is about 220 miles; and its area is 472,165 acres. The surface exhibits fine diversity of valley and hill, well watered and richly wooded; is all so fertile as to contain scarcely a spot destitute of verdure; abounds, everywhere, with soft pleasing scenery; and includes many vantage-grounds, particularly the Malvern hills on the southwest boundary, commanding extensive delightful views. The chief rivers are the Severn, the Avon, the Stour, and the Teme. Igneous and upper silurian rocks occupy small tracts in the west and southwest; carboniferous rocks, including coal and ironstone, form a considerable tract in the northwest, around Bewdley; and trias rocks, variously new red sandstone, Bunters and stone, and keeper marl, form nearly all the rest of
the county. Quartz occurs in the Malvern and Lickey hills; granite, syenite, and green-stone, in the Malverns; limestone, among the silurian rocks; basalt, in the Cawney and the Tansley hills; rock salt, at Stoke-Prior; brine springs, at Stoke-Prior and Droitwich; and medicinal springs, at Malvern, Evesham, Flyford-Flavel, and Kidderminster.
“The territory now forming Worcestershire was inhabited by the ancient British Cornavii, Dobuni, and Silures; was divided, by the Romans, between their Flavia Caesariensis and their Britannia Secunda; formed most of the commonwealth of Wiccas; was afterwards all incorporated with Mercia; went as an earldom, after the Norman conquest, to the D'Abitots, the Beauchamps, and others; and was the scene of the great Battles of Evesham and Worcester. It is traversed by Ryknield-street and the Upper Salt way; had Roman settlements at Upton and Worcester; and retains ancient British barrows on Clent Heath, Roman camps at three places, a Danish camp at Conderton, and ruined mediaeval castles at four places. About 28 monastic establishments were in it; and remains of 5 of them still exist. Worcester cathedral and about 18 parish churches show interesting features of ancient architecture.”603
***LICKEY, WORCESTERSHIRE***
JM Wilson points out: “Lickey, a chapelry in the parishes of Bromsgrove and Kings-Norton, Worcester; on the Birmingham and Gloucester railway, at the junction of the branch to Redditch, 4 miles northeast of Bromsgrove. It was constituted in 1858; and it contains the railway station of Burnt Green, and has a post office under Bromsgrove. Population in 1861, 1,361. Houses, 285. Population of the Bromsgrove portion, 876. Houses, 182. The Lickey hills include Rubury, Bilberry, Rednall, and Beacon; they exhibit scenes of remarkable beauty; they command very extensive and very fine prospects; and one of them is crowned with an obelisk, in memory of the late Earl of Plymouth. A spring here sends off two runnels, one of which goes through the Stour to the Severn, while the other goes through the Rea and the Trent to the German ocean. Pleasure parties from a far extent of surrounding country, and from Birmingham, visit Lickey in the summer months; and visitors find good accommodation at a local hotel. The living is a parochial curacy in the diocese of Worcester. Value, 200 pounds. Patron, the Vicar of Bromsgrove. The church was built in 1856, at a cost of about 2,000 pounds; is in the early English style; and consists of nave, aisles, and chancel, with a belfry. There are chapels for Independents, Wesleyans, and Primitive Methodists, and a national school.”604
Coming soon…
Interesting Place Names and History of Ireland
Already published:
Revised Interesting Place Names and History of Australia
Interesting Place Names and History of Canada
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126 Institute for Name Studies, School of English, University of Nottingham, Nottingham NG7 2RD, England; http://kepn.nottingham.ac.uk/map/place/Devon/George%20Nympton
127 Samuel Lysons; Magna Britannia: Being a Concise Topographical Account of the Several Counties of Great Britain. Containing Bedfordshire, Berkshire, and Buckinghamshire; Vol 1; Cadell; 1806
128 Institute for Name Studies, School of English, University of Nottingham, Nottingham NG7 2RD, England; http://kepn.nottingham.ac.uk/map/place/Devon/Germansweek
129 William White; History, Gazetteer, and Directory of Devonshire; 1850
130 Institute for Name Studies, School of English, University of Nottingham, Nottingham NG7 2RD, England; http://kepn.nottingham.ac.uk/map/place/Devon/Heanton%20Punchardon
131 Sir William Pole; Collections Toward a Description of the County of Devon: Now First Printed from the Autograph in the Possession of His Lineal Descendant; J Nichols; 1791
132 http://www.devon-online.com/towns/salcombe/hopecove.html
133 Walter White; A Londoner’s Walk to the Land’s End; And, a Trip to the Scilly Isles; Chapman and Hall; 1861
134 Neil Oliver; A History of Scotland; Phoenix; 2009
135 Tristram Risdon; The Chorographical Description or Survey of the County of Devon: Printed from a Genuine Copy of the Original Manuscript, with Considerable Additions; Rees and Curtis; 1811
136 Samuel Lysons; Magna Britannia: Being a Concise Topographical Account of the Several Counties of Great Britain. Containing Bedfordshire, Berkshire, and Buckinghamshire; Vol 1; Cadell; 1806
137 Institute for Name Studies, School of English, University of Nottingham, Nottingham NG7 2RD, England; http://kepn.nottingham.ac.uk/map/place/Devon/Romansleigh
138 Samuel Lysons; Magna Britannia: Being a Concise Topographical Account of the Several Counties of Great Britain. Containing Bedfordshire, Berkshire, and Buckinghamshire; Vol 1; Cadell; 1806
139 Institute for Name Studies, School of English, University of Nottingham, Nottingham NG7 2RD, England; http://kepn.nottingham.ac.uk/map/place/Devon/Upton%20Hellions
140 Institute for Name Studies, School of English, University of Nottingham, Nottingham NG7 2RD, England; http://kepn.nottingham.ac.uk/map/place/Devon/Virginstow
141 Samuel Lysons; Magna Britannia: Being a Concise Topographical Account of the Several Counties of Great Britain. Containing Bedfordshire, Berkshire, and Buckinghamshire; Vol 1; Cadell; 1806
142 Nick Burgess; A Brief Description and History of the Parish of Zeal Monachorum; http://www.zeal-monachorum.co.uk/History
143 Mike Bostock; What's in a Name?; http://www.zeal-monachorum.co.uk/History
144 James Brown Johnston; The Place Names of England and Wales; EP Dutton and Co; 1916
145 J Gronow; Review of England and Wales: in which Historical Events of Every Town, Village, and Place Are Briefly Expressed …; 1849
146 John Marius Wilson; Imperial Gazetteer of England and Wales; 1870-2; http://www.visionofbritain.org.uk/descriptions/entry_page.jsp?text_id=808690&word=NULL
147 Michael Le Bas, Deputy Curator and Archivist, Blandford Town Museum, Bere's Yard, Blandford Forum, Dorset DT11 7HQ, England; [email protected]; http://www.blandfordtownmuseum.org/curatorialstaff.html
148 Gerry Vize, 4 White Hart Close, King's Stag; [email protected]
149 Theodora Guest; Motcombe, Past and Present; Bastable; 1867
150 J Gronow; Review of England and Wales: In which the Historical Events of Every Town, Village, and Place Are Briefly Expressed …; 1849
151 http://www.maidennewton.info/page/maiden+newton+in+the+frome+valley
152 Jane Tapping; [email protected]
153 Institute for Name Studies, School of English, University of Nottingham, Nottingham NG7 2RD, England; http://kepn.nottingham.ac.uk/map/place/Dorset/Ryme%20Intrinseca
154 John Fortescue and Baron Thomas Fortescue Clermont; The Works of Sir John Fortescue, Knight; Vol 2; 1869
155 http://www.sixpennyhandley.org/
156 Great Britain, Board of Agriculture; Agricultural Surveys: Dorset; Vol 10; 1812
157 Institute for Name Studies, School of English, University of Nottingham, Nottingham NG7 2RD, England; http://kepn.nottingham.ac.uk/map/place/Dorset/Whitchurch%20Canonicorum
158 James Brown Johnston; The Place Names of England and Wales; EP Dutton and Co; 1916
159 J Gronow; Review of England and Wales: in which Historical Events of Every Town, Village, and Place Are Briefly Expressed …; 1849
160 J Gronow; Review of England and Wales: In which the Historical Events of Every Town, Village, and Place Are Briefly Expressed …; 1849
161 Pete Dixie, Reader Assistant, Hull History Centre, Worship Street, Hull HU2 8BG, England; [email protected]; http://www.hullcc.gov.uk/portal/page?_pageid=221,686247&_dad=portal&_schema=PORTAL
162 Lizzy Baker, Senior Public Services Officer, East Riding Archive and Local Studies Service, County Hall, Beverley HU17 9BA, England; [email protected]; http://www2.eastriding.gov.uk/leisure/archives-family-and-local-history/
163 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fridaythorpe
164 James Brown Johnston; The Place Names of England and Wales; EP Dutton and Co; 1916
165 Institute for Name Studies, School of English, University of Nottingham, Nottingham NG7 2RD, England; http://kepn.nottingham.ac.uk/map/place/Yorkshire%20ER/Rise
166 James Brown Johnston; The Place Names of England and Wales; EP Dutton and Co; 1916
167 GHR Kent (Editor), KJ Allison, AP Baggs, TN Cooper, C Davidson-Cragoe, J Walker; A History of the County of York East Riding: Volume 7: Holderness Wapentake, Middle and North Divisions; Victoria County History; 2002
168 James Brown Johnston; The Place Names of England and Wales; EP Dutton and Co; 1916
169 J Gronow; Review of England and Wales: in which Historical Events of Every Town, Village, and Place Are Briefly Expressed …; 1849
170 John Marius Wilson; Imperial Gazetteer of England and Wales; 1870-2; http://www.visionofbritain.org.uk/descriptions/entry_page.jsp?text_id=917730&word=NULL
171 Mark Antony Lower; A Compendious History of Sussex: Topographical, Archaeological & Anecdotical. Containing an Index to the First Twenty Volumes of the Sussex Archaeological Collections; Vol 1; Geo P Bacon; 1870
172 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beachy_Head
173 James Brown Johnston; The Place Names of England and Wales; EP Dutton and Co; 1916
174 Institute for Name Studies, School of English, University of Nottingham, Nottingham NG7 2RD, England; http://kepn.nottingham.ac.uk/map/place/Sussex/Bishopstone
175 Esme Evans, Hon Librarian, Sussex Archaeological Society Library, Barbican House, 169 High Street, Lewes, BN7 1YE, England; [email protected]; http://www.sussexpast.co.uk
176 Bob Chantler; Rother Country: A Short History and Guide to the River Rother in East Sussex, and the Towns and Villages Near to the River
177 James Brown Johnston; The Place Names of England and Wales; EP Dutton and Co; 1916
178 J Gronow; Review of England and Wales: in which Historical Events of Every Town, Village, and Place Are Briefly Expressed …; 1849
179 John Marius Wilson; Imperial Gazetteer of England and Wales; 1870-2; http://www.visionofbritain.org.uk/descriptions/entry_page.jsp?text_id=797850&word=NULL
180 Institute for Name Studies, School of English, University of Nottingham, Nottingham NG7 2RD, England; http://kepn.nottingham.ac.uk/map/place/Essex/Aythorpe%20Roding
181 Pam and John Rollason; http://www.recordinguttlesfordhistory.org.uk/rodings/rodings.html ; [email protected]
182 Institute for Name Studies, School of English, University of Nottingham, Nottingham NG7 2RD, England; http://kepn.nottingham.ac.uk/map/place/Essex/Hatfield%20Peverel
183 Duffield William Coller; The People’s History of Essex: Comprising a Narrative of Public and Political Events in the County, from the Earliest Ages to the Present Time: the Hundreds and Boroughs, with Descriptive Sketches of their Antiquities and Ruins, the Seats of the Nobility and Gentry, and an Epitome of the Parochial Charities; Meggy and Chalk; 1861
184 Institute for Name Studies, School of English, University of Nottingham, Nottingham NG7 2RD, England; http://kepn.nottingham.ac.uk/map/place/Essex/Manningtree
185 http://www.visit-manningtree.co.uk/history/beginning.html
186 Angie Christie; Historical England Featuring Manningtree Essex; http://www.nightwatchmanchronicles.com/HauntedLocationStory12.htm
187 James Brown Johnston; The Place Names of England and Wales; EP Dutton and Co; 1916
188 James Brown Johnston; The Place Names of England and Wales; EP Dutton and Co; 1916
189 J Gronow; Review of England and Wales: in which Historical Events of Every Town, Village, and Place Are Briefly Expressed …; 1849
190 John Marius Wilson; Imperial Gazetteer of England and Wales; 1870-2; http://www.visionofbritain.org.uk/descriptions/entry_page.jsp?text_id=783060&word=NULL
191 Institute for Name Studies, School of English, University of Nottingham, Nottingham NG7 2RD, England; http://kepn.nottingham.ac.uk/map/place/Gloucestershire/Ampney%20Crucis
192 http://www.ampneycrucis.f9.co.uk/
193 Institute for Name Studies, School of English, University of Nottingham, Nottingham NG7 2RD, England; http://kepn.nottingham.ac.uk/map/place/Gloucestershire/English%20Bicknor
194 SC Hall; The Book of South Wales, the Wye, and the Coast; 1861
195 Institute for Name Studies, School of English, University of Nottingham, Nottingham NG7 2RD, England; http://kepn.nottingham.ac.uk/map/place/Gloucestershire/Guiting%20Power
196 Robert Atkyns; The History of the County of Gloucester: Compressed, and Brought Down to the Year 1803; Vol 1; GF Harris; 1803
197 Institute for Name Studies, School of English, University of Nottingham, Nottingham NG7 2RD, England; http://kepn.nottingham.ac.uk/map/place/Gloucestershire/King's%20Stanley
198 Lower Slaughter Manor, Lower Slaughter, Gloucestershire, GL54 2HP, England; http://www.lowerslaughter.co.uk/hotel/history; [email protected]
199 Institute for Name Studies, School of English, University of Nottingham, Nottingham NG7 2RD, England; http://kepn.nottingham.ac.uk/map/place/Gloucestershire/Newington%20Bagpath
200 John Murray; A Handbook for Travelers in Gloucestershire, Worchestershire and Herefordshire; 1867
201 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Piff's_Elm
202 James Brown Johnston; The Place Names of England and Wales; EP Dutton and Co; 1916
203 J Gronow; Review of England and Wales: in which Historical Events of Every Town, Village, and Place Are Briefly Expressed …; 1849
204 John Marius Wilson; Imperial Gazetteer of England and Wales; 1870-2; http://www.visionofbritain.org.uk/descriptions/entry_page.jsp?text_id=730390&word=NULL
205 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clerkenwell
206 James Brown Johnston; The Place Names of England and Wales; EP Dutton and Co; 1916
207 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Soho
208 James Brown Johnston; The Place Names of England and Wales; EP Dutton and Co; 1916
209 James Brown Johnston; The Place Names of England and Wales; EP Dutton and Co; 1916
210 J Gronow; Review of England and Wales: in which Historical Events of Every Town, Village, and Place Are Briefly Expressed …; 1849
211 John Marius Wilson; Imperial Gazetteer of England and Wales; 1870-2; http://www.visionofbritain.org.uk/descriptions/entry_page.jsp?text_id=724390&word=NULL
212 James Brown Johnston; The Place Names of England and Wales; EP Dutton and Co; 1916
213 Samuel Bagshaw; History, Gazetteer, and Directory of Shropshire: Comprising a General Survey of the County, with a Variety of Historical, Statistical Topographical, Commercial, and Agricultural Information …; 1850
214 James Brown Johnston; The Place Names of England and Wales; EP Dutton and Co; 1916
215 J Gronow; Review of England and Wales: in which Historical Events of Every Town, Village, and Place Are Briefly Expressed …; 1849
216 John Marius Wilson; Imperial Gazetteer of England and Wales; 1870-2; http://www.visionofbritain.org.uk/descriptions/entry_page.jsp?text_id=929180&word=NULL
217 Institute for Name Studies, School of English, University of Nottingham, Nottingham NG7 2RD, England; http://kepn.nottingham.ac.uk/map/place/Hampshire/Farleigh%20Wallop
218 Henry Moody; Our County: or, Hampshire in the Reign of Charles II; 1863
219 Four Marks Parish Council; https://www.facebook.com/fourmarksparishcouncil/info
220 http://www.medstead.org/fourmarks.htm
221 Institute for Name Studies, School of English, University of Nottingham, Nottingham NG7 2RD, England; http://kepn.nottingham.ac.uk/map/place/Hampshire/Freefolk%20Manor
222 James Brown Johnston; The Place Names of England and Wales; EP Dutton and Co; 1916
223 Institute for Name Studies, School of English, University of Nottingham, Nottingham NG7 2RD, England; http://kepn.nottingham.ac.uk/map/place/Hampshire/Hartley%20Wintney
224 James Brown Johnston; The Place Names of England and Wales; EP Dutton and Co; 1916
225 J Gronow; Review of England and Wales: in which Historical Events of Every Town, Village, and Place Are Briefly Expressed …; 1849
226 John Marius Wilson; Imperial Gazetteer of England and Wales; 1870-2; http://www.visionofbritain.org.uk/descriptions/entry_page.jsp?text_id=766010&word=NULL
227 Anthony Poulton-Smith; Herefordshire Place Names; Fineleaf; 2012; provided by Steve Jones, Assistant Reader Services Librarian, Herefordshire Council, Brockington, 35 Hafod Road, Hereford HR1 1SH, England; [email protected]; https://www.herefordshire.gov.uk/libraries/
228 Lorna Standen, Archive Assistant, Herefordshire Record Office, Harold Street, Hereford HR1 2QX, England; [email protected]; www.herefordshire.gov.uk/archives
229 Theodore Henry A Fielding; A Picturesque Description of the River Wye; Ackerman; 1841
230 Samuel Leigh; Leigh’s New Pocket Road-book of England and Wales: Containing a Description of Every Principal Town and Remarkable Place; to which are Added Pleasure Tours to the Most Picturesque Parts of the County; 1840
231 http://www.mortimerscross.co.uk/history.htm
232 Institute for Name Studies, School of English, University of Nottingham, Nottingham NG7 2RD, England; http://kepn.nottingham.ac.uk/map/place/Herefordshire/Sollers%20Hope
233 James Brown Johnston; The Place Names of England and Wales; EP Dutton and Co; 1916
234 John Marius Wilson; Imperial Gazetteer of England and Wales; 1870-2; http://www.visionofbritain.org.uk/descriptions/entry_page.jsp?text_id=765700&word=NULL
235 Bonnie West, Senior Archive/Library Assistant, Hertfordshire Archives and Local Studies, Libraries, Culture and Learning, Health and Community Services, Hertfordshire County Council, County Hall, CHR002, Pegs Lane, Hertford SG13 8EJ, England; [email protected]; http://www.hertsdirect.org/services/leisculture/heritage1/hals/
236 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Baldock
237 James Brown Johnston; The Place Names of England and Wales; EP Dutton and Co; 1916
238 Bonnie West, Senior Archive/Library Assistant, Hertfordshire Archives and Local Studies, Libraries, Culture and Learning, Health and Community Services, Hertfordshire County Council, County Hall, CHR002, Pegs Lane, Hertford SG13 8EJ, England; [email protected]; http://www.hertsdirect.org/services/leisculture/heritage1/hals/
239 A History of Hertfordshire; provided by Peter Boylan, Chairman, Braughing Local History Society, Church Hall, Church End, Braughing, Hertfordshire SG11 2QA, England; [email protected]; http://www.braughing.org.uk/History/LocalHistorySociety.html
240 Institute for Name Studies, School of English, University of Nottingham, Nottingham NG7 2RD, England; http://kepn.nottingham.ac.uk/map/place/Hertfordshire/Bygrave
241 William Page (editor); A History of the County of Hertford; Vol 3; Victoria County History; 1912; http://www.british-history.ac.uk/report.aspx?compid=43606
242 Bonnie West, Senior Archive/Library Assistant, Hertfordshire Archives and Local Studies, Libraries, Culture and Learning, Health and Community Services, Hertfordshire County Council, County Hall, CHR002, Pegs Lane, Hertford SG13 8EJ, England; [email protected]; http://www.hertsdirect.org/services/leisculture/heritage1/hals/
243 http://www.essexghosthunters.co.uk/places/cold-christmas-church/
244 Xavier Ortega; Ghostly Growl Said to Emanate from Abandoned Church; January 31, 2009; http://www.ghosttheory.com/2009/01/31/ghostly-growl-said-to-emanate-from-abandoned-church
245 James Brown Johnston; The Place Names of England and Wales; EP Dutton and Co; 1916
246 J Gronow; Review of England and Wales: in which Historical Events of Every Town, Village, and Place Are Briefly Expressed …; 1849
247 John Marius Wilson; Imperial Gazetteer of England and Wales; 1870-2; http://www.visionofbritain.org.uk/descriptions/entry_page.jsp?text_id=886120&word=NULL
248 James Clarke; The Delineator; or, A Description of the Isle of Wight; 1822
249 Old Humphrey; Owen Gladdon’s Wanderings in the Isle of Wight; E Stevenson & FA Owen; 1855
250 Institute for Name Studies, School of English, University of Nottingham, Nottingham NG7 2RD, England; http://kepn.nottingham.ac.uk/map/place/Isle%20of%20Wight/Godshill
251 Isle of Wight; The Isle of Wight Visitor’s Book; 1839
252 James Brown Johnston; The Place Names of England and Wales; EP Dutton and Co; 1916
253 Judith Glover; The Place Names of Kent; BT Batsford; 1976
254 J Gronow; Review of England and Wales: in which Historical Events of Every Town, Village, and Place Are Briefly Expressed …; 1849
255 John Marius Wilson; Imperial Gazetteer of England and Wales; 1870-2; http://www.visionofbritain.org.uk/descriptions/entry_page.jsp?text_id=749260&word=NULL
256 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chiddingstone
257 James Brown Johnston; The Place Names of England and Wales; EP Dutton and Co; 1916
258 Judith Glover; The Place Names of Kent; BT Batsford; 1976
259 Judith Glover; The Place Names of Kent; BT Batsford; 1976
260 Judith Glover; The Place Names of Kent; BT Batsford; 1976
261 Judith Glover; The Place Names of Kent; BT Batsford; 1976
262 Judith Glover; The Place Names of Kent; BT Batsford; 1976
263 Judith Glover; The Place Names of Kent; BT Batsford; 1976
264 Institute for Name Studies, School of English, University of Nottingham, Nottingham NG7 2RD, England; http://kepn.nottingham.ac.uk/map/place/Kent/Hoo%20St%20Werburgh
265 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hoo_St_Werburgh
266 Hoo St Werburgh Witch Buried; http://www.mysteriousbritain.co.uk/england/kent/occult/hoo-st-werburgh-witch-buried.html
267 Judith Glover; The Place Names of Kent; BT Batsford; 1976
268 Judith Glover; The Place Names of Kent; BT Batsford; 1976
269 James Brown Johnston; The Place Names of England and Wales; EP Dutton and Co; 1916
270 Institute for Name Studies, School of English, University of Nottingham, Nottingham NG7 2RD, England; http://kepn.nottingham.ac.uk/map/place/Kent/Maidstone
271 John Marius Wilson; Imperial Gazetteer of England and Wales; 1870-2; http://www.visionofbritain.org.uk/descriptions/entry_page.jsp?text_id=725170&word=NULL
272 Judith Glover; The Place Names of Kent; BT Batsford; 1976
273 Judith Glover; The Place Names of Kent; BT Batsford; 1976
274 J Gronow; Review of England and Wales: In which the Historical Events of Every Town, Village, and Place Are Briefly Expressed …; 1849
275 Judith Glover; The Place Names of Kent; BT Batsford; 1976
276 J Gronow; Review of England and Wales: In which the Historical Events of Every Town, Village, and Place Are Briefly Expressed …; 1849
277 Judith Glover; The Place Names of Kent; BT Batsford; 1976
278 Judith Glover; The Place Names of Kent; BT Batsford; 1976
279 Institute for Name Studies, School of English, University of Nottingham, Nottingham NG7 2RD, England; http://kepn.nottingham.ac.uk/map/place/Kent/St%20Mary%20in%20the%20Marsh
280 Andrew Sinden; [email protected]
281 http://kent.villagenet.co.uk/stmaryinthemarsh.php
282 http://kent.villagenet.co.uk/stoneinoxney.php
283 Institute for Name Studies, School of English, University of Nottingham, Nottingham NG7 2RD, England; http://kepn.nottingham.ac.uk/map/place/Kent/Temple%20Ewell
284 John Lyon; The History of the Town and Port of Dover and of Dover Castle: With a Short Account of the Cinque Ports; Vol 1; Ledger and Shaw; 1813
285 Judith Glover; The Place Names of Kent; BT Batsford; 1976
286 Samuel Ireland; Picturesque Views, on the River Medway: From the Nore to the Vicinity of Its Source in Sussex: With Observations on the Public Buildings and Other Works of Art in Its Neighborhood. TJ Egerton; 1793
287 E, AT and RC Roffe; The Maidstone Miscellany; or, Leeds and Farleigh Archaeologia; 1860
288 Judith Glover; The Place Names of Kent; BT Batsford; 1976
289 Judith Glover; The Place Names of Kent; BT Batsford; 1976
290 James Brown Johnston; The Place Names of England and Wales; EP Dutton and Co; 1916
291 J Gronow; Review of England and Wales: in which Historical Events of Every Town, Village, and Place Are Briefly Expressed …; 1849
292 John Marius Wilson; Imperial Gazetteer of England and Wales; 1870-2; http://www.visionofbritain.org.uk/descriptions/entry_page.jsp?text_id=2121490&word=NULL
293 David Mills; The Place Names of Lancashire; provided by David Webster, Lancaster District Community Heritage, Cultural Services, Libraries, Lancashire County Council, Customer Service Centre, Town Hall, Dalton Square, Lancaster, LA1 1PJ, England; [email protected]; www.lancashire.gov.uk/libraries
294 Stephen Reynolds Clarke; The New Lancashire Gazetteer: or, Topographical Dictionary, Containing an Accurate Description of the Several Hundreds, Boroughs, Market Towns, Parishs, Townships, and Hamlets, in the County Palatine of Lancaster …; H Teesdale; 1830
295 David Mills; The Place Names of Lancashire; provided by David Webster, Lancaster District Community Heritage, Cultural Services, Libraries, Lancashire County Council, Customer Service Centre, Town Hall, Dalton Square, Lancaster, LA1 1PJ, England; [email protected]; www.lancashire.gov.uk/libraries
296 David Mills; The Place Names of Lancashire; provided by David Webster, Lancaster District Community Heritage, Cultural Services, Libraries, Lancashire County Council, Customer Service Centre, Town Hall, Dalton Square, Lancaster, LA1 1PJ, England; [email protected]; www.lancashire.gov.uk/libraries
297 Gillian Fellows-Jensen; http://www.ramsdale.org/dalr.htm#T2
298 David Mills; The Place Names of Lancashire; provided by David Webster, Lancaster District Community Heritage, Cultural Services, Libraries, Lancashire County Council, Customer Service Centre, Town Hall, Dalton Square, Lancaster, LA1 1PJ, England; [email protected]; www.lancashire.gov.uk/libraries
299 Stephen Reynolds Clarke; The New Lancashire Gazetteer: or, Topographical Dictionary, Containing an Accurate Description of the Several Hundreds, Boroughs, Market Towns, Parishs, Townships, and Hamlets, in the County Palatine of Lancaster …; H Teesdale; 1830
300 James Brown Johnston; The Place Names of England and Wales; EP Dutton and Co; 1916
301 Institute for Name Studies, School of English, University of Nottingham, Nottingham NG7 2RD, England; http://kepn.nottingham.ac.uk/map/place/Lancashire/Oswaldtwistle
302 David Mills; The Place Names of Lancashire; provided by David Webster, Lancaster District Community Heritage, Cultural Services, Libraries, Lancashire County Council, Customer Service Centre, Town Hall, Dalton Square, Lancaster, LA1 1PJ, England; [email protected]; www.lancashire.gov.uk/libraries
303 Institute for Name Studies, School of English, University of Nottingham, Nottingham NG7 2RD, England; http://kepn.nottingham.ac.uk/map/place/Lancashire/Priest%20Hutton
304 David Mills; The Place Names of Lancashire; provided by David Webster, Lancaster District Community Heritage, Cultural Services, Libraries, Lancashire County Council, Customer Service Centre, Town Hall, Dalton Square, Lancaster, LA1 1PJ, England; [email protected]; www.lancashire.gov.uk/libraries
305 James Brown Johnston; The Place Names of England and Wales; EP Dutton and Co; 1916
306 J Gronow; Review of England and Wales: in which Historical Events of Every Town, Village, and Place Are Briefly Expressed …; 1849
307 John Marius Wilson; Imperial Gazetteer of England and Wales; 1870-2; http://www.visionofbritain.org.uk/descriptions/entry_page.jsp?text_id=740860&word=NULL
308 James Brown Johnston; The Place Names of England and Wales; EP Dutton and Co; 1916
309 Institute for Name Studies, School of English, University of Nottingham, Nottingham NG7 2RD, England; http://kepn.nottingham.ac.uk/map/place/Leicestershire/Appleby%20Magna
310 James Brown Johnston; The Place Names of England and Wales; EP Dutton and Co; 1916
311 J Gronow; Review of England and Wales: in which Historical Events of Every Town, Village, and Place Are Briefly Expressed …; 1849
312 John Marius Wilson; Imperial Gazetteer of England and Wales; 1870-2; http://www.visionofbritain.org.uk/descriptions/entry_page.jsp?text_id=882110&word=NULL
313 Institute for Name Studies, School of English, University of Nottingham, Nottingham NG7 2RD, England; http://kepn.nottingham.ac.uk/map/place/Leicestershire/Aston%20Flamville
314 Institute for Name Studies, School of English, University of Nottingham, Nottingham NG7 2RD, England; http://kepn.nottingham.ac.uk/map/place/Leicestershire/Barton%20in%20the%20Beans
315 Institute for Name Studies, School of English, University of Nottingham, Nottingham NG7 2RD, England; http://kepn.nottingham.ac.uk/map/place/Leicestershire/Burton%20Lazars
316 Rev John Curtis; A Topographical History of the County of Leicester: The Ancient Part Compiled from Parliamentary and Other Documents, and the Modern from Actual Survey: Being the First of a Series of the Counties of England and Wales, on the Same Plan; W Hextall; 1831
317 Institute for Name Studies, School of English, University of Nottingham, Nottingham NG7 2RD, England; http://kepn.nottingham.ac.uk/map/place/Leicestershire/Husbands%20Bosworth
318 http://www.husbandsbosworth.info/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=14:a-brief-history-of-husbands-bosworth&catid=68:Introduction&Itemid=101
319 Institute for Name Studies, School of English, University of Nottingham, Nottingham NG7 2RD, England; http://kepn.nottingham.ac.uk/map/place/Leicestershire/Norton%20juxta%20Twycross
320 Institute for Name Studies, School of English, University of Nottingham, Nottingham NG7 2RD, England; http://kepn.nottingham.ac.uk/map/place/Leicestershire/Ratcliffe%20on%20the%20Wreake
321 Lynne Percival, Sheepy Local History Society; [email protected]; http://www.sheepyparish.com/sheepy-local-history-society/
322 Bob Trubshaw; Six Hills, Leicestershire - an Anglo-Saxon Moot Site; http://www.indigogroup.co.uk/edge/sixhills.htm
323 A Brief History of Broughton Astley; http://broughtonastley.leicestershireparishcouncils.org/a-brief-history.html
324 Institute for Name Studies, School of English, University of Nottingham, Nottingham NG7 2RD, England; http://kepn.nottingham.ac.uk/map/place/Leicestershire/Waltham%20on%20the%20Wolds
325 Waltham on the Wolds & Thorpe Arnold Parish Council; http://walthamthorpearnold.leicestershireparishcouncils.org/parishhistory.html
326 James Brown Johnston; The Place Names of England and Wales; EP Dutton and Co; 1916
327 J Gronow; Review of England and Wales: in which Historical Events of Every Town, Village, and Place Are Briefly Expressed …; 1849
328 John Marius Wilson; Imperial Gazetteer of England and Wales; 1870-2; http://www.visionofbritain.org.uk/descriptions/entry_page.jsp?text_id=738630&word=NULL
329 Institute for Name Studies, School of English, University of Nottingham, Nottingham NG7 2RD, England; http://kepn.nottingham.ac.uk/map/place/Lincolnshire/Ashby%20Puerorum
330 Thomas Allen; The History of the County of Lincoln: From the Earliest Period to the Present Time; Vol 1; J Saunders, Jr; 1834
331 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boston,_Lincolnshire
332 James Brown Johnston; The Place Names of England and Wales; EP Dutton and Co; 1916
333 Mark Acton, Membership & Marketing Officer, Society for Lincolnshire History and Archaeology, Jews’ Court, 2-3 Steep Hill, Lincoln, LN2 1LS, Lincolnshire, England; [email protected]; http://www.slha.org.uk/info/contact/index.php
334 Sara Basquill, Lincoln Central Library, Free School Lane, Lincoln, LN2 1EZ, England; [email protected]; www.lincolnshire.gov.uk/libraries
335 Richard Coates; Reflections on Some Lincolnshire Major Placenames, Part 1: Algakirk to Melton Ross; Journal of the English Placename Society; 2008
336 Thomas Allen; The History of the County of Lincoln: From the Earliest Period to the Present Time; Vol 1; J Saunders, Jr; 1834
337 Sara Basquill, Lincoln Central Library, Free School Lane, Lincoln, LN2 1EZ, England; [email protected]; www.lincolnshire.gov.uk/libraries
338 Mark Acton, Membership & Marketing Officer, Society for Lincolnshire History and Archaeology, Jews’ Court, 2-3 Steep Hill, Lincoln, LN2 1LS, Lincolnshire, England; [email protected]; http://www.slha.org.uk/info/contact/index.php
339 Institute for Name Studies, School of English, University of Nottingham, Nottingham NG7 2RD, England; http://kepn.nottingham.ac.uk/map/place/Lincolnshire/Hough%20on%20the%20Hill
340 Thomas Allen; The History of the County of Lincoln: From the Earliest Period to the Present Time; Vol 1; J Saunders, Jr; 1834
341 Institute for Name Studies, School of English, University of Nottingham, Nottingham NG7 2RD, England; http://kepn.nottingham.ac.uk/map/place/Lincolnshire/Irby%20in%20the%20Marsh
342 Richard Coates; Reflections on Some Lincolnshire Major Placenames, Part 1: Algakirk to Melton Ross; Journal of the English Placename Society; 2008
343 Sara Basquill, Lincoln Central Library, Free School Lane, Lincoln, LN2 1EZ, England; [email protected]; www.lincolnshire.gov.uk/libraries
344 Mark Acton, Membership & Marketing Officer, Society for Lincolnshire History and Archaeology, Jews’ Court, 2-3 Steep Hill, Lincoln, LN2 1LS, Lincolnshire, England; [email protected]; http://www.slha.org.uk/info/contact/index.php
345 Mark Acton, Membership & Marketing Officer, Society for Lincolnshire History and Archaeology, Jews’ Court, 2-3 Steep Hill, Lincoln, LN2 1LS, Lincolnshire, England; [email protected]; http://www.slha.org.uk/info/contact/index.php
346 Sara Basquill, Lincoln Central Library, Free School Lane, Lincoln, LN2 1EZ, England; [email protected]; www.lincolnshire.gov.uk/libraries
347 Institute for Name Studies, School of English, University of Nottingham, Nottingham NG7 2RD, England; http://kepn.nottingham.ac.uk/map/place/Lincolnshire/Scott%20Willoughby
348 William Marrat; The History of Lincolnshire, Topographical, Historical, and Descriptive; 1816
349 Sara Basquill, Lincoln Central Library, Free School Lane, Lincoln, LN2 1EZ, England; [email protected]; www.lincolnshire.gov.uk/libraries
350 William Pulleyn; The Etymological Compendium, or, Portfolio of Origins and Inventions … Containing a Particular Account of London and Its Public Buildings …; T Tegg; 1830
351 Sara Basquill, Lincoln Central Library, Free School Lane, Lincoln, LN2 1EZ, England; [email protected]; www.lincolnshire.gov.uk/libraries
352 James Brown Johnston; The Place Names of England and Wales; EP Dutton and Co; 1916
353 J Gronow; Review of England and Wales: in which Historical Events of Every Town, Village, and Place Are Briefly Expressed …; 1849
354 John Marius Wilson; Imperial Gazetteer of England and Wales; 1870-2; http://www.visionofbritain.org.uk/descriptions/entry_page.jsp?text_id=727080&word=NULL
355 Sharon Dean, Community Librarian, Luton Culture, Luton Central Library, St Georges Square, Luton LU1 2NG, England; [email protected]; www.lutonculture.com
356 James Brown Johnston; The Place Names of England and Wales; EP Dutton and Co; 1916
357 John Marius Wilson; Imperial Gazetteer of England and Wales; 1870-2; http://www.visionofbritain.org.uk/place/place_page.jsp?p_id=20102&st=Merseyside
358 John Marius Wilson; Imperial Gazetteer of England and Wales; 1870-2; http://www.visionofbritain.org.uk/place/place_page.jsp?p_id=9987&st=Bold
359 http://www.inceblundellvillage.co.uk/History.html
360 John Marius Wilson; Imperial Gazetteer of England and Wales; 1870-2; http://www.visionofbritain.org.uk/place/place_page.jsp?p_id=10556&st=Ince%20Blundell
361 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Old_Swan
362 The Guardian; The Wirral's Model Village, Port Sunlight, Merseyside; June 9, 2009; http://www.guardian.co.uk/travel/2009/jun/09/walk-guides-port-sunlight-merseyside
363 James Brown Johnston; The Place Names of England and Wales; EP Dutton and Co; 1916
364 J Gronow; Review of England and Wales: in which Historical Events of Every Town, Village, and Place Are Briefly Expressed …; 1849
365 John Marius Wilson; Imperial Gazetteer of England and Wales; 1870-2; http://www.visionofbritain.org.uk/descriptions/entry_page.jsp?text_id=978240&word=NULL
366 James Brown Johnston; The Place Names of England and Wales; EP Dutton and Co; 1916
367 William White; History, Gazetteer, and Directory of Norfolk, and the City and County of the City of Norwich: Comprising, Under a Lucid Arrangement of Subjects, a General Survey of the County of Norfolk, and the Diocese of Norwich; with Separate Historical, Statistical, & Topographical Descriptions of all the Hundreds, Liberties, Unions, Boroughs, Towns, Ports …; 1845
368 Ann and John Gurney; The Church of St Andrew, Little Snoring; Medici Society; 1973; provided by Joanna Otte, Little Manor, Thursford Road, Little Snoring, Fakenham, NR21 0JN, England
369 http://www.the-snorings.co.uk/info/name.html; [email protected]
370 John Marius Wilson; Imperial Gazetteer of England and Wales; 1870-2; http://www.visionofbritain.org.uk/place/place_page.jsp?p_id=25221&st=Mousehold
371 AD Bayne; A Comprehensive History of Norwich; Jarrold and Sons; 1869
372 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mousehold_Heath
373 http://weasenhamallsaints.norfolkparishes.gov.uk/files/2011/11/history.pdf
374 James Brown Johnston; The Place Names of England and Wales; EP Dutton and Co; 1916
375 GA Cheetham, Clerk of the Clifton (Without) Parish Council, 11 Briergate, Haxby, York, YO32 3YP, England; [email protected]; http://www.cliftonwithout-pc.org.uk/Contents/Text/Index.asp?SiteId=761&SiteExtra=17234363&TopNavId=716&NavSideId=10309
376 Institute for Name Studies, School of English, University of Nottingham, Nottingham NG7 2RD, England; http://kepn.nottingham.ac.uk/map/place/Yorkshire%20WR/Killinghall
377 Institute for Name Studies, School of English, University of Nottingham, Nottingham NG7 2RD, England; http://kepn.nottingham.ac.uk/map/place/Yorkshire%20NR/Newbiggin
378 James Brown Johnston; The Place Names of England and Wales; EP Dutton and Co; 1916
379 John Marius Wilson; Imperial Gazetteer of England and Wales; 1870-2; http://www.visionofbritain.org.uk/place/place_page.jsp?p_id=21607&st=Robin%20Hood's%20Bay
380 http://www.robin-hoods-bay.co.uk/html/local_history.htm
381 T Whellan; History and Topography of the City of York: And the North Riding of Yorkshire: Embracing a General Review of the Early History of Great Britain, and a General History and Description of the County of York; Vol 2; 1859
382 Institute for Name Studies, School of English, University of Nottingham, Nottingham NG7 2RD, England; http://kepn.nottingham.ac.uk/map/place/Yorkshire%20NR/Romanby
383 Institute for Name Studies, School of English, University of Nottingham, Nottingham NG7 2RD, England; http://kepn.nottingham.ac.uk/map/place/Yorkshire%20NR/Sexhow
384 James Brown Johnston; The Place Names of England and Wales; EP Dutton and Co; 1916
385 J Gronow; Review of England and Wales: in which Historical Events of Every Town, Village, and Place Are Briefly Expressed …; 1849
386 John Marius Wilson; Imperial Gazetteer of England and Wales; 1870-2; http://www.visionofbritain.org.uk/descriptions/entry_page.jsp?text_id=977360&word=NULL
387 Institute for Name Studies, School of English, University of Nottingham, Nottingham NG7 2RD, England; http://kepn.nottingham.ac.uk/map/place/Northamptonshire/Barton%20Seagrave
388 Eleanor J Forward; Placenames of the Whittlewood Area; Dissertation University of Notthingham; 2008
389 Eleanor J Forward; Placenames of the Whittlewood Area; Dissertation University of Notthingham; 2008
390 Neil Oliver; A History of Scotland; Phoenix; 2009
391 Eleanor J Forward; Placenames of the Whittlewood Area; Dissertation University of Notthingham; 2008
392 Eleanor J Forward; Placenames of the Whittlewood Area; Dissertation University of Notthingham; 2008
393 Clive Hockley, Chairman, Hinton-in-the-Hedges Parish Meeting; [email protected]
394 Whellan Francis and Co; History, Gazetteer, and Directory of Northamptonshire: Comprising a General Survey of the County, and a History of the Diocese of Peterborough; 1849
395 Eleanor J Forward; Placenames of the Whittlewood Area; Dissertation University of Notthingham; 2008
396 Eleanor J Forward; Placenames of the Whittlewood Area; Dissertation University of Notthingham; 2008
397 Institute for Name Studies, School of English, University of Nottingham, Nottingham NG7 2RD, England; http://kepn.nottingham.ac.uk/map/place/Northamptonshire/Silverstone
398 Eleanor J Forward; Placenames of the Whittlewood Area; Dissertation University of Notthingham; 2008
399 James Brown Johnston; The Place Names of England and Wales; EP Dutton and Co; 1916
400 J Gronow; Review of England and Wales: in which Historical Events of Every Town, Village, and Place Are Briefly Expressed …; 1849
401 John Marius Wilson; Imperial Gazetteer of England and Wales; 1870-2; http://www.visionofbritain.org.uk/descriptions/entry_page.jsp?text_id=976860&word=NULL
402 Godfrey Watson; Goodwife Hot and Other Places: Northumberland’s Past in Its Place Names; Sandhill Press; 1970; provided by Shirley Cross, Team Librarian – Information & Lifelong Learning, Customer & Cultural Services, Transformation Group, Northumberland County Council, Morpeth Library, Gas House Lane, Morpeth, Northumberland, NE61 1TA, England; [email protected]; www.northumberland.gov.uk
403 Institute for Name Studies, School of English, University of Nottingham, Nottingham NG7 2RD, England; http://kepn.nottingham.ac.uk/map/place/Northumberland/Duddo
404 http://www.stone-circles.org.uk/stone/duddo.htm
405 Robert White; The Battle of Flodden, Fought 9 Sept 1513. From the ‘Arch AEliana’; 1859
406 Institute for Name Studies, School of English, University of Nottingham, Nottingham NG7 2RD, England; http://kepn.nottingham.ac.uk/map/place/Northumberland/Guyzance
407 Godfrey Watson; Goodwife Hot and Other Places: Northumberland’s Past in Its Place Names; Sandhill Press; 1970; provided by Shirley Cross, Team Librarian – Information & Lifelong Learning, Customer & Cultural Services, Transformation Group, Northumberland County Council, Morpeth Library, Gas House Lane, Morpeth, Northumberland, NE61 1TA, England; [email protected]; www.northumberland.gov.uk
408 John Marius Wilson; Imperial Gazetteer of England and Wales; 1870-2; http://www.visionofbritain.org.uk/place/place_page.jsp?p_id=9306&st=Holystone
409 Allen Mawer; The Place-Names of Northumberland and Durham; University Press; 1920; provided by Shirley Cross, Team Librarian – Information & Lifelong Learning, Customer & Cultural Services, Transformation Group, Northumberland County Council, Morpeth Library, Gas House Lane, Morpeth, Northumberland, NE61 1TA, England; [email protected]; www.northumberland.gov.uk
410 Institute for Name Studies, School of English, University of Nottingham, Nottingham NG7 2RD, England; http://kepn.nottingham.ac.uk/map/place/Northumberland/Kirkwhelpington
411 J Gronow; Review of England and Wales: In which the Historical Events of Every Town, Village, and Place Are Briefly Expressed …; 1849
412 Anthony Birley; Garrison Life at Vindolanda. A Band of Brothers; Stroud; 2002; provided by Barbara Birley, Assistant Curator, Vindolanda Trust, Chesterholm Museum, Bardon Mill, Hexham, Northumberland, NE47 7JN, England; [email protected]; www.vindolanda.com
413 J Gronow; Review of England and Wales: In which the Historical Events of Every Town, Village, and Place Are Briefly Expressed …; 1849
414 James Brown Johnston; The Place Names of England and Wales; EP Dutton and Co; 1916
415 J Gronow; Review of England and Wales: in which Historical Events of Every Town, Village, and Place Are Briefly Expressed …; 1849
416 John Marius Wilson; Imperial Gazetteer of England and Wales; 1870-2; http://www.visionofbritain.org.uk/descriptions/entry_page.jsp?text_id=975350&word=NULL
417 Christopher Daniell; A Traveller’s History of England; Interlink Books; 1998
418 HH Swinnerton; Cambridge County Geographies: Nottinghamshire; 1910; http://www.nottshistory.org.uk/swinnerton1910/chapter1.htm
419 Institute for Name Studies, School of English, University of Nottingham, Nottingham NG7 2RD, England; http://kepn.nottingham.ac.uk/map/place/Nottinghamshire/Barnby%20in%20the%20Willows
420 Kathryn, The Willow Tree, Front Street, Barnby in the Willows, Newark, Nottinghamshire, NG24 2SA, England; [email protected]; www.willowtreebarnby.co.uk
421 http://www.barnby-in-the-willows.org.uk/Barnby-in-the-Willows.htm
422 Institute for Name Studies, School of English, University of Nottingham, Nottingham NG7 2RD, England; http://kepn.nottingham.ac.uk/map/place/Nottinghamshire/Bunny
423 James Brown Johnston; The Place Names of England and Wales; EP Dutton and Co; 1916
424 James Orange; History and Antiquities of Nottingham; 1840
425 Institute for Name Studies, School of English, University of Nottingham, Nottingham NG7 2RD, England; http://kepn.nottingham.ac.uk/map/place/Nottinghamshire/Scrooby
426 JEB Gover, A Mawer, FM Stenton; The Place-names of Nottinghamshire; Cambridge University Press English Place-Name Society; Vol XVII; 1940; provided by Sheila Firth - Parish Clerk, The Old Vicarage, Church Lane, Scrooby, Doncaster, DN10 6AR, England; [email protected]; http://www.scrooby.net/page/parishCouncil
427 http://www.bbc.co.uk/legacies/immig_emig/england/nottingham/
428 James Brown Johnston; The Place Names of England and Wales; EP Dutton and Co; 1916
429 Nottinghamshire County Council, County Hall, West Bridgford, Nottingham, NG2 7QP, England; http://www.nottinghamshire.gov.uk/enjoying/countryside/countryparks/sherwood/sherwoodforesthistory/
430 Nottinghamshire County Council, County Hall, West Bridgford, Nottingham, NG2 7QP, England; http://www.nottinghamshire.gov.uk/enjoying/countryside/countryparks/sherwood/sherwoodforesthistory/robinhoodhistory/
431 Institute for Name Studies, School of English, University of Nottingham, Nottingham NG7 2RD, England; http://kepn.nottingham.ac.uk/map/place/Nottinghamshire/Willoughby%20on%20the%20Wolds
432 Cornelius Brown; A History of Nottinghamshire; 1896; http://www.nottshistory.org.uk/Brown1896/willoughby.htm
433 Francis Charles Laird; A Topographical and Historical Description of the County of Nottingham; 1813
434 James Brown Johnston; The Place Names of England and Wales; EP Dutton and Co; 1916
435 J Gronow; Review of England and Wales: in which Historical Events of Every Town, Village, and Place Are Briefly Expressed …; 1849
436 John Marius Wilson; Imperial Gazetteer of England and Wales; 1870-2; http://www.visionofbritain.org.uk/descriptions/entry_page.jsp?text_id=969200&word=NULL
437 http://www.oxfordshirevillages.co.uk/westoxonvillages/ascott_under_wychwood.html
438 James Brown Johnston; The Place Names of England and Wales; EP Dutton and Co; 1916
439 Thomas Gill; Vallis Eboracensis: Comprising the History and Antiquities of Eastingwold and Its Neighborhood; Simpkin, Marshall & Company; 1852
440 George Roberts; The History and Antiquities of the Borough of Lyme Regis and Charmouth; S Bagster and W Pickering; 1834
441 http://www.oxfordshirevillages.co.uk/vale_of_white_horse.html
442 Lorraine, Abingdon-on-Thames Visitor and Community Information Centre, The Old Abbey House, Abbey Close, Abingdon, Oxon, OX14 3JD, England; [email protected]; http://www.abingdon.gov.uk/information-advice/abingdon-visitor-and-community-information-centre
443 James Brown Johnston; The Place Names of England and Wales; EP Dutton and Co; 1916
444 J Gronow; Review of England and Wales: in which Historical Events of Every Town, Village, and Place Are Briefly Expressed …; 1849
445 John Marius Wilson; Imperial Gazetteer of England and Wales; 1870-2; http://www.visionofbritain.org.uk/descriptions/entry_page.jsp?text_id=960090&word=NULL
446 W Best Harris; Place Names of Plymouth, Dartmoor and the Tamar Valley; 1983; provided by Lorna Basham, Assistant Librarian History & Information, Plymouth Library Services, Plymouth Central Library, Drake Circus, Plymouth, PL4 8AL, England; [email protected]; WWW.plymouth.gov.uk; WWW.plymouthlibraries.info
447 Belinda Dixon; http://www.historyextra.com/visit/mayflower-steps-plymouth
448 W Best Harris; Place Names of Plymouth, Dartmoor and the Tamar Valley; 1983; provided by Lorna Basham, Assistant Librarian History & Information, Plymouth Library Services, Plymouth Central Library, Drake Circus, Plymouth, PL4 8AL, England; [email protected]; WWW.plymouth.gov.uk; WWW.plymouthlibraries.info
449 James Brown Johnston; The Place Names of England and Wales; EP Dutton and Co; 1916
450 BBC Devon website, Broadcasting House, Seymour Road, Plymouth, PL3 5BD, England; http://www.bbc.co.uk/devon/content/articles/2005/06/07/coast05walks_stage5_feature.shtml
451 W Best Harris; Place Names of Plymouth, Dartmoor and the Tamar Valley; 1983; provided by Lorna Basham, Assistant Librarian History & Information, Plymouth Library Services, Plymouth Central Library, Drake Circus, Plymouth, PL4 8AL, England; [email protected]; WWW.plymouth.gov.uk; WWW.plymouthlibraries.info
452 James Brown Johnston; The Place Names of England and Wales; EP Dutton and Co; 1916
453 J Gronow; Review of England and Wales: in which Historical Events of Every Town, Village, and Place Are Briefly Expressed …; 1849
454 John Marius Wilson; Imperial Gazetteer of England and Wales; 1870-2; http://www.visionofbritain.org.uk/descriptions/entry_page.jsp?text_id=944140&word=NULL
455 Institute for Name Studies, School of English, University of Nottingham, Nottingham NG7 2RD, England; http://kepn.nottingham.ac.uk/map/place/Rutland/Edith%20Weston
456 Institute for Name Studies, School of English, University of Nottingham, Nottingham NG7 2RD, England; http://kepn.nottingham.ac.uk/map/place/Rutland/Gunthorpe
457 James Brown Johnston; The Place Names of England and Wales; EP Dutton and Co; 1916
458 Institute for Name Studies, School of English, University of Nottingham, Nottingham NG7 2RD, England; http://kepn.nottingham.ac.uk/map/place/Rutland/Whissendine
459 James Brown Johnston; The Place Names of England and Wales; EP Dutton and Co; 1916
460 James Brown Johnston; The Place Names of England and Wales; EP Dutton and Co; 1916
461 J Gronow; Review of England and Wales: in which Historical Events of Every Town, Village, and Place Are Briefly Expressed …; 1849
462 John Marius Wilson; Imperial Gazetteer of England and Wales; 1870-2; http://www.visionofbritain.org.uk/descriptions/entry_page.jsp?text_id=934040&word=NULL
463 Institute for Name Studies, School of English, University of Nottingham, Nottingham NG7 2RD, England; http://kepn.nottingham.ac.uk/map/place/Shropshire/Hopesay
464 Alison Healey, Researcher, Shropshire Archives Team, Visitor Economy – Shropshire Council, Castle Gates, Shrewsbury, SY1 2AQ, England; [email protected]; www.shropshirearchives.org.uk
465 Charles Henry Hartshorne; Salopia Antiqua: Or, An Enquiry from Personal Survey into the Druidical, Military, and other Early Remains in Shropshire and the North Welsh Borders; With Observations Upon the Names of Places, and a Glossary of Words Used in the County of Salop; JW Parker; 1841
466 James Brown Johnston; The Place Names of England and Wales; EP Dutton and Co; 1916
467 http://www.northshropshire.co.uk/ruyton-xi-towns/
468 James Brown Johnston; The Place Names of England and Wales; EP Dutton and Co; 1916
469 John Corbet Anderson; Its Early History and Antiquities Comprising a Description of the Important British and Roman Remains in that Country: Its Saxon and Danish Reminiscences: the Domesday Survey of Shropshire: and the History of Its Forests, Towns, Manors, Abbeys, Churches, Castles, and Great Baronial Houses; Willis and Sotheran; 1864
470 James Brown Johnston; The Place Names of England and Wales; EP Dutton and Co; 1916
471 J Gronow; Review of England and Wales: in which Historical Events of Every Town, Village, and Place Are Briefly Expressed …; 1849
472 John Marius Wilson; Imperial Gazetteer of England and Wales; 1870-2; http://www.visionofbritain.org.uk/descriptions/entry_page.jsp?text_id=929750&word=NULL
473 Philippa Taylor, Team Librarian: Information, Enquiry Centre, Taunton Library, Paul Street, Taunton,Somerset, TA1 3XZ, England; [email protected]; http://www.somerset.gov.uk/irj/public/services/directory/location?rid=/guid/c052a40d-cc51-2c10-5ca7-d1f85e8cb16f
474 AD Mills; A Dictionary of English Place Names; Oxford University Press; 1991; provided by Philippa Taylor, Team Librarian: Information, Enquiry Centre, Taunton Library, Paul Street, Taunton,Somerset, TA1 3XZ, England; [email protected]; http://www.somerset.gov.uk/irj/public/services/directory/location?rid=/guid/c052a40d-cc51-2c10-5ca7-d1f85e8cb16f
475 Tim Law; [email protected]; www.templecombe.org.uk
476 J Gronow; Review of England and Wales: In which the Historical Events of Every Town, Village, and Place Are Briefly Expressed …; 1849
477 Neil Oliver; A History of Scotland; Phoenix; 2009
478 James Brown Johnston; The Place Names of England and Wales; EP Dutton and Co; 1916
479 Institute for Name Studies, School of English, University of Nottingham, Nottingham NG7 2RD, England; http://kepn.nottingham.ac.uk/map/place/Somerset/Queen%20Camel
480 http://www.queen-camel.co.uk/history.html
481 Jo; [email protected]; http://www.queen-camel.co.uk/
482 Henry Duncan Skrine; A Sketch of the Early History of Bathford and Its Neighborhood: A Paper; 1871
483 http://templecloudandcameley.wordpress.com/local-history/; Parish Clerk, Laburnum Cottage, Main Road, Temple Cloud, Bristol, BS39 5BH, England; [email protected]
484 James Brown Johnston; The Place Names of England and Wales; EP Dutton and Co; 1916
485 Institute for Name Studies, School of English, University of Nottingham, Nottingham NG7 2RD, England; http://kepn.nottingham.ac.uk/map/place/Somerset/Wookey
486 Joan Hasler and Brian Luker; The Parish of Wookey – In a Nutshell; 2006; http://www.wookeyparish.co.uk/history.htm
487 James Brown Johnston; The Place Names of England and Wales; EP Dutton and Co; 1916
488 Institute for Name Studies, School of English, University of Nottingham, Nottingham NG7 2RD, England; http://kepn.nottingham.ac.uk/map/place/Somerset/Yeovil
489 John Marius Wilson; Imperial Gazetteer of England and Wales; 1870-2; http://www.visionofbritain.org.uk/descriptions/entry_page.jsp?text_id=999190&word=NULL
490 Institute for Name Studies, School of English, University of Nottingham, Nottingham NG7 2RD, England; http://kepn.nottingham.ac.uk/map/place/Yorkshire%20WR/Adwick%20le%20Street
491 Institute for Name Studies, School of English, University of Nottingham, Nottingham NG7 2RD, England; http://kepn.nottingham.ac.uk/map/place/Yorkshire%20WR/Wombwell
492 Joan Robinson, Chairman of Wombwell Heritage Group, 4 Kelvin Grove, Wombwell, Barnsley S73 0DL, England; [email protected]
493 James Brown Johnston; The Place Names of England and Wales; EP Dutton and Co; 1916
494 J Gronow; Review of England and Wales: in which Historical Events of Every Town, Village, and Place Are Briefly Expressed …; 1849
495 John Marius Wilson; Imperial Gazetteer of England and Wales; 1870-2; http://www.visionofbritain.org.uk/descriptions/entry_page.jsp?text_id=926480&word=NULL
496 James Brown Johnston; The Place Names of England and Wales; EP Dutton and Co; 1916
497 William West, Frederick Calvert, and T Radclyffe; Picturesque Views and Description of Cities, Towns, Castles, Mansions, and Other Objects of Interesting Feature, in Staffordshire, from Original Designs, Taken Expressly for this Work by Frederick Calvert, Engraved on Steel Dysic, Mr T Radclyffe, with Historical and Topographical Illustrations; William Emans; 1834
498 Institute for Name Studies, School of English, University of Nottingham, Nottingham NG7 2RD, England; http://kepn.nottingham.ac.uk/map/place/Staffordshire/Flashbrook
499 William Pitt, ed; A Topographical History of Staffordshire: Including Its Agriculture, Mines and Manufactures. Memoirs of Eminent Natives; Statistical Tables; and Every Species of Information Connected with the Local History of the County. With a Succinct Account of the Rise and Progress of the Staffordshire Potteries; J Smith; 1817
500 James Brown Johnston; The Place Names of England and Wales; EP Dutton and Co; 1916
501 Elaine Parry, Owner of Ye olde Windmill, Inn Gentleshaw, Windmill Lane, Gentleshaw, Staffordshire WS15 4NF, England; [email protected]; http://www.yeoldewindmill.co.uk/
502 James Brown Johnston; The Place Names of England and Wales; EP Dutton and Co; 1916
503 Institute for Name Studies, School of English, University of Nottingham, Nottingham NG7 2RD, England; http://kepn.nottingham.ac.uk/map/place/Staffordshire/Mucklestone
504 James Brown Johnston; The Place Names of England and Wales; EP Dutton and Co; 1916
505 Institute for Name Studies, School of English, University of Nottingham, Nottingham NG7 2RD, England; http://kepn.nottingham.ac.uk/map/place/Staffordshire/Thorpe%20Constantine
506 James Brown Johnston; The Place Names of England and Wales; EP Dutton and Co; 1916
507 Institute for Name Studies, School of English, University of Nottingham, Nottingham NG7 2RD, England; http://kepn.nottingham.ac.uk/map/place/Staffordshire/Uttoxeter
508 Provided by Phil Heathcote, Uttoxeter Library, Red Gables, High Street, Uttoxeter, Staffordshire, ST14 7JQ, England; [email protected]; http://www.staffordshire.gov.uk/leisure/librariesnew/branchlibraries/UttoxeterLibrary/UttoxeterLibrary.aspx
509 James Brown Johnston; The Place Names of England and Wales; EP Dutton and Co; 1916
510 John Marius Wilson; Imperial Gazetteer of England and Wales; 1870-2; http://www.visionofbritain.org.uk/descriptions/entry_page.jsp?text_id=918200&word=NULL
511 J Gronow; Review of England and Wales: In which the Historical Events of Every Town, Village, and Place Are Briefly Expressed …; 1849
512 Institute for Name Studies, School of English, University of Nottingham, Nottingham NG7 2RD, England; http://kepn.nottingham.ac.uk/map/place/Suffolk/Elveden
513 http://www.hiddenea.com/suffolke.htm; [email protected]
514 James Brown Johnston; The Place Names of England and Wales; EP Dutton and Co; 1916
515 Institute for Name Studies, School of English, University of Nottingham, Nottingham NG7 2RD, England; http://kepn.nottingham.ac.uk/map/place/Suffolk/Monks%20Eleigh
516 William White; History, Gazetteer, and Directory of Suffolk; 1855
517 Institute for Name Studies, School of English, University of Nottingham, Nottingham NG7 2RD, England; http://kepn.nottingham.ac.uk/map/place/Suffolk/Shipmeadow
518 Robert Anderson, The Sutton Hoo Society, 69 Barton Road, Woodbridge, Suffolk, IP12 1JH, England; [email protected]; http://www.suttonhoo.org/
519 Institute for Name Studies, School of English, University of Nottingham, Nottingham NG7 2RD, England; http://kepn.nottingham.ac.uk/map/place/Suffolk/Woolverstone
520 Barry Davies; [email protected]
521 Richard Cobbold and Margaret Catchpole; The History of Margaret Catchpole; 1856
522 James Brown Johnston; The Place Names of England and Wales; EP Dutton and Co; 1916
523 J Gronow; Review of England and Wales: in which Historical Events of Every Town, Village, and Place Are Briefly Expressed …; 1849
524 John Marius Wilson; Imperial Gazetteer of England and Wales; 1870-2; http://www.visionofbritain.org.uk/descriptions/entry_page.jsp?text_id=917740&word=NULL
525 Institute for Name Studies, School of English, University of Nottingham, Nottingham NG7 2RD, England; http://kepn.nottingham.ac.uk/map/place/Surrey/Dorking
526 http://www.surreycommunity.info/dorkinglocalhistorygroup/a-brief-history-of-dorking-and/; Dorking Local History Group, c/o Dorking Museum, The Old Foundry, 62 West Street, Dorking, Surrey, RH4 1BS, England; [email protected]
527 http://www.infobritain.co.uk/Friday_Street.htm
528 James Brown Johnston; The Place Names of England and Wales; EP Dutton and Co; 1916
529 Institute for Name Studies, School of English, University of Nottingham, Nottingham NG7 2RD, England; http://kepn.nottingham.ac.uk/map/place/Surrey/Leatherhead
530 Marion Rayner; [email protected]; http://www.lightwatervillage.co.uk/my%20cv/Marion%20Rayner%20Web%20Site%20Design%20-%20cv.htm
531 J Gronow; Review of England and Wales: in which Historical Events of Every Town, Village, and Place Are Briefly Expressed …; 1849
532 Tim Lambert; http://www.localhistories.org/swindon.html
533 Katherine Cole, Local Studies Officer, Swindon Central Library, Regent Circus, Swindon, SN1 1QG, England; [email protected]; www.swindon.gov.uk/swindoncollection
534 Katherine Cole, Local Studies Officer, Swindon Central Library, Regent Circus, Swindon, SN1 1QG, England; [email protected]; www.swindon.gov.uk/swindoncollection
535 Katherine Cole, Local Studies Officer, Swindon Central Library, Regent Circus, Swindon, SN1 1QG, England; [email protected]; www.swindon.gov.uk/swindoncollection
536 James Brown Johnston; The Place Names of England and Wales; EP Dutton and Co; 1916
537 John Marius Wilson; Imperial Gazetteer of England and Wales; 1870-2; http://www.visionofbritain.org.uk/place/place_page.jsp?p_id=20122&st=Tyne
538 John Marius Wilson; Imperial Gazetteer of England and Wales; 1870-2; http://www.visionofbritain.org.uk/place/26910
539 English Heritage Battlefield Report: Newburn Ford 1640; http://www.english-heritage.org.uk/content/imported-docs/k-o/newburn.pdf
540 Richard Nixon; [email protected]
541 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spital_Tongues
542 George Bouchier Richardson; Plague and Pestilence in the North of England: A Chronological Account of the Epidemic Diseases which Have Vested the North of England from the Earliest Period …; 1852
543 James Brown Johnston; The Place Names of England and Wales; EP Dutton and Co; 1916
544 J Gronow; Review of England and Wales: in which Historical Events of Every Town, Village, and Place Are Briefly Expressed …; 1849
545 John Marius Wilson; Imperial Gazetteer of England and Wales; 1870-2; http://www.visionofbritain.org.uk/descriptions/entry_page.jsp?text_id=896020&word=NULL
546 Ruth Barbour; [email protected]
547 Institute for Name Studies, School of English, University of Nottingham, Nottingham NG7 2RD, England; http://kepn.nottingham.ac.uk/map/place/Warwickshire/Monks%20Kirby
548 William Reader; Domesday Book for the County of Warwick; 1835
549 White, Francis and Company; History, Gazetteer, and Directory, of Warwickshire; J Blurton; 1850
550 Anthony Poulton-Smith, Tamworth, Staffordshire; [email protected]; https://www.facebook.com/pages/Anthony-Poulton-Smith/216895271695630
551 James Brown Johnston; The Place Names of England and Wales; EP Dutton and Co; 1916
552 Institute for Name Studies, School of English, University of Nottingham, Nottingham NG7 2RD, England; http://kepn.nottingham.ac.uk/map/place/Warwickshire/Birmingham
553 John Marius Wilson; Imperial Gazetteer of England and Wales; 1870-2; http://www.visionofbritain.org.uk/descriptions/entry_page.jsp?text_id=866190&word=NULL
554 Carl Chinn; [email protected]; http://www.birmingham.ac.uk/staff/profiles/history/chinn-carl.aspx
555 James Brown Johnston; The Place Names of England and Wales; EP Dutton and Co; 1916
556 John Hemmingway; 2001; http://www.dudley.gov.uk/business/regeneration/town-centre-managment/halesowen-town-centre/a-brief-history-of-halesowen/; Dudley Metropolitan Borough Council, Council House, Priory Road, Dudley, West Midlands, DY1 1HF, England; [email protected]
557 Institute for Name Studies, School of English, University of Nottingham, Nottingham NG7 2RD, England; http://kepn.nottingham.ac.uk/map/place/Staffordshire/Rowley%20Regis
558 Bob Adams; [email protected]; http://rowleyvillage.webs.com/contactus.htm
559 H Jack Haden; Stourbridge in Times Past; 1980; http://www.stourbridge.com/about_stourbridge.htm
560 James Brown Johnston; The Place Names of England and Wales; EP Dutton and Co; 1916
561 John Marius Wilson; Imperial Gazetteer of England and Wales; 1870-2; http://www.visionofbritain.org.uk/place/place_page.jsp?p_id=220&st=Wednesbury
562 Institute for Name Studies, School of English, University of Nottingham, Nottingham NG7 2RD, England; http://kepn.nottingham.ac.uk/map/place/Sussex/Bognor%20Regis
563 Sylvia Endacott; [email protected]
564 http://www.bognor-regis.org/History/history_home.htm
565 James Brown Johnston; The Place Names of England and Wales; EP Dutton and Co; 1916
566 Institute for Name Studies, School of English, University of Nottingham, Nottingham NG7 2RD, England; http://kepn.nottingham.ac.uk/map/place/Sussex/Warningcamp
567 Mark Antony Lower; A Compendious History of Sussex; 1870
568 John Marius Wilson; Imperial Gazetteer of England and Wales; 1870-2; http://www.visionofbritain.org.uk/place/place_page.jsp?p_id=20118&st=yorkshire
569 Albert Hugh Smith; The Place-names of the West Riding of Yorkshire: Lower and Upper Strafforth and Staincross Wapentakes; Vol 30; University Press; 1961; provided by Calderdale Council, Reference Library, Central Library, Halifax, HX1 1UN, England; [email protected]; http://www.calderdale.gov.uk/leisure/libraries/services/services/reference.html
570 Kai Roberts; Ghosts and Legends of the Lower Calder Valley; 2010; http://lowercalderlegends.wordpress.com/tag/brighouse/
571 Institute for Name Studies, School of English, University of Nottingham, Nottingham NG7 2RD, England; http://kepn.nottingham.ac.uk/map/place/Yorkshire%20WR/Burley%20in%20Wharfedale
572 Dennis Warwick, Burley Local History Group, 15, The Copse, Burley-in-Wharfedale, West Yorkshire, LS29 7QY, England; [email protected]; http://www.burley-in-wharfedale.org/history/00Intro/historygroup.html
573 Institute for Name Studies, School of English, University of Nottingham, Nottingham NG7 2RD, England; http://kepn.nottingham.ac.uk/map/place/Yorkshire%20WR/Crigglestone
574 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Halifax,_West_Yorkshire
575 James Brown Johnston; The Place Names of England and Wales; EP Dutton and Co; 1916
576 Albert Hugh Smith; The Place-names of the West Riding of Yorkshire: Lower and Upper Strafforth and Staincross Wapentakes; Vol 30; University Press; 1961; provided by Calderdale Council, Reference Library, Central Library, Halifax, HX1 1UN, England; [email protected]; http://www.calderdale.gov.uk/leisure/libraries/services/services/reference.html
577 Albert Hugh Smith; The Place-names of the West Riding of Yorkshire: Lower and Upper Strafforth and Staincross Wapentakes; Vol 30; University Press; 1961; provided by Calderdale Council, Reference Library, Central Library, Halifax, HX1 1UN, England; [email protected]; http://www.calderdale.gov.uk/leisure/libraries/services/services/reference.html
578 James Brown Johnston; The Place Names of England and Wales; EP Dutton and Co; 1916
579 Institute for Name Studies, School of English, University of Nottingham, Nottingham NG7 2RD, England; http://kepn.nottingham.ac.uk/map/place/Yorkshire%20WR/Tadcaster%20West
580 James Brown Johnston; The Place Names of England and Wales; EP Dutton and Co; 1916
581 J Gronow; Review of England and Wales: in which Historical Events of Every Town, Village, and Place Are Briefly Expressed …; 1849
582 John Marius Wilson; Imperial Gazetteer of England and Wales; 1870-2; http://www.visionofbritain.org.uk/descriptions/entry_page.jsp?text_id=1008130&word=NULL
583 James Brown Johnston; The Place Names of England and Wales; EP Dutton and Co; 1916
584 Institute for Name Studies, School of English, University of Nottingham, Nottingham NG7 2RD, England; http://kepn.nottingham.ac.uk/map/place/Wiltshire/Bishops%20Cannings
585 http://bishopscannings.net/History.htm; Ric Ward, 28 Broadleas Park, Devizes, Wiltshire, SN10 5JA, England; [email protected]
586 James Brown Johnston; The Place Names of England and Wales; EP Dutton and Co; 1916
587 Institute for Name Studies, School of English, University of Nottingham, Nottingham NG7 2RD, England; http://kepn.nottingham.ac.uk/map/place/Wiltshire/Collingbourne%20Ducis%20and%20Kingston
588 John Marius Wilson; Imperial Gazetteer of England and Wales; 1870-2; http://www.visionofbritain.org.uk/place/place_page.jsp?p_id=11698&st=Collingbourne%20Ducis
589 William A Chaney; Paganism to Christianity in Anglo-Saxon England; Harvard University Printing; 1960
590 Institute for Name Studies, School of English, University of Nottingham, Nottingham NG7 2RD, England; http://kepn.nottingham.ac.uk/map/place/Wiltshire/Lydiard%20Millicent
591 Frances Bevan and Douglas Payne, Lydiard Millicent – The Origin of its Name; provided by Tim Blackmore; [email protected]
592 Institute for Name Studies, School of English, University of Nottingham, Nottingham NG7 2RD, England; http://kepn.nottingham.ac.uk/map/place/Wiltshire/Wootton%20Bassett
593 Linda Thompson, Information Officer, 117 High Street, Royal Wootton Bassett, Wiltshire SN4 7AU, England; [email protected]; http://www.woottonbassett.gov.uk/
594 Institute for Name Studies, School of English, University of Nottingham, Nottingham NG7 2RD, England; http://kepn.nottingham.ac.uk/map/place/Wiltshire/Shrewton
595 James Brown Johnston; The Place Names of England and Wales; EP Dutton and Co; 1916
596 Institute for Name Studies, School of English, University of Nottingham, Nottingham NG7 2RD, England; http://kepn.nottingham.ac.uk/map/place/Wiltshire/Slaughterford
597 Sarah Jones; Slaughterford's Phantom Footwear; BBC Wiltshire; October 20, 2009; http://news.bbc.co.uk/local/wiltshire/hi/people_and_places/newsid_8314000/8314704.stm
598 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stonehenge
599 James Brown Johnston; The Place Names of England and Wales; EP Dutton and Co; 1916
600 Christopher Daniell; A Traveller’s History of England; Interlink Books; 1998
601 James Brown Johnston; The Place Names of England and Wales; EP Dutton and Co; 1916
602 J Gronow; Review of England and Wales: in which Historical Events of Every Town, Village, and Place Are Briefly Expressed …; 1849
603 John Marius Wilson; Imperial Gazetteer of England and Wales; 1870-2; http://www.visionofbritain.org.uk/descriptions/entry_page.jsp?text_id=1002260&word=NULL
604 John Marius Wilson; Imperial Gazetteer of England and Wales; 1870-2; http://www.visionofbritain.org.uk/place/place_page.jsp?p_id=20978&st=Lickey
