JAMES s , H I LL,

Rector of S towey, V ica r of B ishop Sutton ,

W rede,

Casi no .

BRISTOL ;

s-r . s

‘

tamzn'

s r amrmc womcs.

iii .

PREFACE .

THE fo l lowing pages appeared origina l ly i n the form of

articles i n the Bristo l Times and M irror . The author tenders

his thanks to the Edi tors of that journa l for thei r unvarying

courtesy . The articles have undergone considerable revision

and re- arrangement . I t is too much to hope that nothing is

left , which , whi le sui tab le for thei r original purpose , is less so

when th rown i nto book form . Obviously , the articles were

not i ntended to be mere col lections of etymological deta i ls ,

but to give such account of the names of places i n the county

of Somerset as might exci te the interest , not merely of the

archeologist , but of that baffl i ng and mysterious person , the

genera l reader . The examination need not on that account

be unscientific .

I am not so optimistic as to suppose that I have escaped

error or said the last word . Nor do I c laim to have made no

omissions,or subjected every name found in the county to

examination . There are doubtless many local names of which

I have never heard,and many more obsolete , the examination

of which wou ld requi re another book of the same size . I may

claim that there is no book on SomersetPlace Names yet pub

l ished that contai ns so many . The two or three books and

art icles that do exist may be found mentioned in the foot - notes .

The work has occup ied my attention,wh i le other work has been

passed through the press,for some years , si nce the fi rst of the

articles appeared i n the journa l mentioned on August 22nd ,

1905 and I can only say The labour we del ight i n physics

pain,for the trouble i nvolved has not been inconsiderable .

The method pursued wi l l be best real ised by read ing the

book . I am reminded of the kind words of one of many cor

respondents— to al l whom I hereby tender my thanks—who

says : I have found your art icles of great i nterest from the

l ight they throw on the origins of personal names . I ndeed ,

personal names have often enough been treated i n the s l ight ,

haphazard way from which p lace - names have suffered .

Another interested and val ued correspondent is mentioned in

the foot - notes , the Rev . L . Wilkinson , of Westbury- on

Severn,whom I thank . I t has been my object to d iscuss the

names,especial ly the more doubtfu l ones, and to give the

various interpretations that have been suggested . I t wi l l be

found that Saxon personal names p lay a great p art , and that

compound Saxon names afford the clue to p lace - names that

are otherwise baffl ing . I refer the severe critic , i f one arises ,

to the motto on the ti t le page . Fortunately the interest i n

such studies is increasing .

JAMES S . HILL .

Stowey juxta C lutton ,

Christmas , 1913 .

CHAPTER .

I .

I I .

I I I .

iv .

v.

V I .

CONT ENT S .

P lace - Names derived from some River Names

P lace - Names from Religious Associations

P lace - Names from Religious Associations

S . White and other Whites notSai nts

P lace-Names from Local Characteri stics

Local Characteri stics—Coombes

Loca l C haracteristi cs Marsh and Moor

Names

Loca l Characteristics—Ford s

Loca l C haracteri stics— Lea,Leys, Leighs and

Leazes

Wi cks

Hays

Ways and Oaks

Mount and H i l l Names—Polden,Mend ip and

Quantock

Hams and Ings

Names i n l ngton

Racial Names

Racial Names (continued)

Racial Names—Saxon and Norse

Racial Names (continued )

Racia l Names (continued) B lacks and

B rowns,Goths and Huns

CHAPTER.

XX .

XXI .

XXII .

XXIII .

XXIV .

XXV .

XXVI .

XxV l l .

XXV I l l .

XXIX .

XXX .

Xxx l .

XXXII .

XXXI I I .

XXXIV .

PAGE .

Racia l Names (continued) —l n C ordones

Land

Racial Names (con ti nued)

Doubled Names

Doubled Names (conti nued)

Doubled Names (continued)

Doubled Names (continued)

Doubled Names (continued)

Doubled Names (continued)

Doubled Names (continued)—Stones and

Stokes and other Names

Some Obsolete Doubled Names

C uriosi ties of Nomenclature

Curiosities of Nomenclature (continued )

Curiosities of Nomenclature (continued )

Si lver Street u .

M i scel laneous Names

Addenda

Index of P lace a .

Index of Personal - Names

Li st of Subscribers

I L L U S T R A T I O N S .

The I llustrations are from pen and ink i l lustrations of

Somerset, by THOMAS SAMPSON, ESQ .,an old Somerset

man, now of London, who most k ind ly placed them at the

Author’s disposal .

Facing pag e

King Alfred from Oil Pain ting i n the possession

of T homas Sampson, E sq—Frontispiece.

Abbey of

F irst C hurch in B ritain

Wi ndow in the Knights T emplars’

Chapel, Tem

plecombe

B rympton d’

Evercy—West F ront

Monument of Sir j ohn de Dummer

The Pyramids, Glas tonbury

Athelney—si te of Abbey

The Place -Names of Somerset.

CHAPT ER I .

Place -Names Derived from some River Names .

WHYTE MELV ILLE i n one of his novels ca l ls the countySweet Somerset . I t deserves the adjective . I t is app ro

p riate ly descrip tive of most of the quiet pastora l scenery ofthe county . I t is a l so a sui tab le ep i the t to app ly to muche lse that be longs to i t, and is not al together inap t whendeal ing with a subject which is to many repulsive , and onlyd ry phi lo logica l , whi le i t is to many others interest ing asopening up unexpected vistas of h istory . Much that is a ttraetive l ies among words and phrases of forgotten origin unti lthe wand of the ph ilogogist, or the touch of the archz o logistwakes up the s lumberer .

When glanci ng over a l is t of the names of the towns,

vi l l ages , hamlets , and tythings of the county, a nove l is t insearch of a romantic name for his s tory, or one suggestive ofan idyl l , o r even a name for a love story of the simp le andnon - prob lematic sort , ending in the most approved fashionin a happy sound of marriage bel ls , could not do better thanexamine this l i st of names, and choose according to fancy

and requi rement . The numerous double names , of whichI have counted somethi ng l ike one hundred and th irty- four,and which are usual ly taken as fami ly names , added to theorigi na l appel lation , or in some cases doub led, seem to havea ha lo of story a lmost natura l ly cl inging to them . A readerof Engl ish h istory wi l l easi ly recal l to his memory scenes i n

E ngl ish histo ry associated with some of those names, andp icture to himse lf the bel ted knights and brocaded dames

whose glory has passed away

T he knight’

s bones a re dust,And his good sword rust

H is soul is with the sa ints I trust. 1

1Coleridg e : The Knight'

s Tomb.

2

The geologi st d iscovers i n a fossi l bone a creature (whichhis deft penci l can draw) typ ica l of a whole fauna of a bygoneperiod of terrestri a l h istory ; and the etymologist, by the

examination of a so l i tary word , cal l s up a whole epoch ofbusy l i fe that has long passed away . The characteris ti ch istory of a county is embedded in i ts names . I n manycounties, as tha t of Worcestershi re , the p l ace- names wou ldappear to have been predominantly Saxon ; i n Somerset , onthe other hand, there are many traceable to Cel tic e lements ,with nevertheless a far larger number than m ight have beenini ti a l ly expected of Saxon and othe r racia l names, as wi l lappear i n subsequent chap ters . The Cel tic names revea lthe historic fact that the origina l Bri tish i nhab i tants ofth is l and of England were driven westward by theruthless horde of i nvading Saxons , whose descendants arefound in the names of persons whose cognomina are ascommon in Saxony to - day as i n England . An interestedobserver may find Cel tic persona l types as wel l as Cel ticnames i n this l and of summer pastures .I t i s curious that the name of the county i tse lf p resents aprob lem on which , as i n many other names , i t i s no t possib leto speak with absolute certainty . The late Professor Freemansays Somerset is just Regia Aestiva , and so i t is t ranslated inLati n documents . Professor Rhys , the wel l - known Cel t icschol ar, of Jesus Co l lege , Oxford , asserts that the presentday Welsh name for the county is Gwylad yr Haj , the l andof summer . Somerset is , according to thi s, just a transla t ion

of the poetical Belgic -Bri tons’

( i t i s said) name , and meansThe land of summer .

”1 O thers p refer other derivations ; Somer- saetas, the seat of the tribal Somers . This i sthe so lution we prefer . Sumer is an ancien t name

,go ing

back to the 8th Century . I t is found in compounds spreadthrough al l the county, as Sumerl ida . Sumarl ith is a nameon an old dial . The name as a personal name survives i nSomers , and i n such p lace - names as Sumer- ton . I t has al sobeen contended that hav

”i s a contraction of havren the

Cel tic form of Severn ; tu”i s the root of Avon

,a r iver ;

and consequent ly the" translation of gwlad - yr- hav ( that is , of

IMusg rave'

s Antiqu ities of the B elg ic-B rz’

tons.

3

gwlad - yr- havren) i s the l and of the Severn .

1 This is on lyan examp le of the difficu l ties which surround the subject ofp l ace - names . And th is obviously gives room for such varietyof fancy on doub tfu l cases i n which i t is possib le for everyoneto have a doctrine and everyone a psalm .

”

The subject , as a whole , has never received the attentioni t meri ts . A thorough examination of the various names oftowns, vi l l ages , and hamlets col lected into one volume maywel l afford much food for reflection , and be a usefu l source ofh istorica l materi al . I n carrying out such a work the variousspel l ings of the names in ancient documents , par i sh registers ,wi l ls , and law sui ts of the past are not wi thout s ignificance ,and sometimes convey usefu l h ints of the di rection in whichsearch is to be made for the origi n of the name . Notwithoutimportance , as, i ndeed , i s genera l ly recognised by thearchaeo logist, i s the pronunciat ion of the name by the natives ,as i t has been handed down from si re to son , through generations of unsophist icated rustics . The persons who have ,unfortunate ly for this purpose , learnt to read and wri te areof no use in this curious quest . M any local p ronunciat ionsesteemed vulgar are in real i ty surviva ls of the more correcte tymological origi n of the word . The name Stowey i s anexamp le . I t is ca l led Sta- ivy, and this goes back to an origina lSta l -wei , as wi l l hereafter be mentioned .

Some of those p lace - names wh ich , as above indicated ,history would teach us to expect have thei r origin i n Cel tic

e lements , have undergone extraordinary transformations ,appearing in extremely- disguised forms . Especia l ly may thestudent expect to find remains of Cel t ic history in regard to

r iver names and the appel l ati ons of towns and vi l lages onthei r banks

,i n the notices of which i t may be a useful caution

to say no infa l l ib i l i ty is here cl aimed .

A common name , for example , contains the e lementcamel .

” The Welsh Dict ionary te l l s us that modernWelsh for trench

,di tch , or cana l i s camlas. I n Gl amorgan

shi re is Aber-Gamlas . Cam i s i n numerous river namesin England , Scotl and , and the Conti nent , an element meaning

l P roceed ing s if Somen etAn-he olog ica l Society , vol . v . , 1854.

4

bent or crooked .

1 And so we have the Cam and theCamel .

”Accord ingly , we have the names Abbot

’

s Camel ,Queen

’

s Camel , Cameley , Camerton , which is found i nancient documents spel t Camelarton, and has thus undergoneshortening, as men in a l l ages have been afra id of words wh ichwere too grea t a mouthfu l . The name serves to i l lus tra te theimportance of going back in the quest to the earl ies t spe l l i ngs ,and tracking the name down through successive centuries . Atleast as fa r as the sixteenth , when there are many vagaries .

I t is tempting to class Gamer - ton wi th those o riginating in

Cam and Camel . In rea l i ty i t is a persona l name , Gamalhere . We read , The Church i tse lf holds Camalar .

”I t

has been suggested that camel is derived from cymle , acommon field fo r catt le ; or from cinmael , a re treat ; butremembering the influence which streams and rivers have onnames of p laces, the one assigned appears the most l ike ly .

2

Chew is wel l known . The va rious names with this p refix1

can easi ly be recal led by the lover of Somerse t i n such wel lknown places as Chewton -Mendip , Chew M agna , and ChewStoke . Chew M agna is a doub le name , but the appe la tive i snot ancient . I n Domesday Book i t is ca l led simp ly Chiu .

In many documents we find that the Bishops of Wel ls s ignedthem at Chiu , and this spel l ing is frequent i n subsequentcenturies, as here was an Ep iscopa l pa l ace . At Chiu , Apri l ,

is a specimen , where the B ishop pub l ished An indulgence of thi rty days . The stream rises at Chewton M end ip ,and fal l s into the Avon at Chewton Keynsham ,

and ChewStoke and Chew Magna are on i ts banks . Chew i s the nameof the river . There is a Chew on a river bank i n Bri t tany .

I n Hampshi re is Chewton Glen ,3 down which goes a foreststream , and up which rushes the sea . C learly i t is a rivername , whatever i ts derivation . A Cel tic derivat ion is given“ Tiau ,

”a river . This we cannot track . We are inc l ined

1T here a re two Camels, one rising at Game ly and jo ining the Avon nea r

Fresh ford , anothe r rising nea r Maperton and joining the Y eo on wh icha re Ea st and West Camel . Camerton is in a d eep va l ley ZQ milesfrom Rad stock .

2For other ex amples of the occurrence of Cam, see Black ie’

s D ictiona ry ofPlace Names , Murray, 1 887, and on the name Gamme l compa re what isfurther sa id—see I ndex .

”The N ew Forest

): I ts H istory a nd its Scenery , by J . R . Wise (G ibbing s and

Co . , 1 895

S

to regard i t as Scandinavian : T iw was the god of war .Rivers were deified . The name M agna as a d ist inction fi rstappears i n documents towards the end of the 16th century .

The fi rst we have noted is i n a wi l l i n 1581 . Before that i twas i nvari ab ly Chew only . A li tt le earl ie r than this we findthe name Chew Stoke , which previously i s Stoke- in-Chew.

Chew M agna was , however known as Bi shop’ s Chew . The

name Chew B ishops occurs in a map dated 1680 . Fol lowingright over Dundry , we come to Chew B i shop is i n a col leet ion of maps of i t i neraries by the cosmographer to CharlesI I .

1 The name was left to the hamle t of Chew Sutton , cal ledBishop

’

s Sutton , to disti nguish i t from another hamlet ofsome acreage Knight- Sutton , now cal led Knighton Sutton orSutton M il itis. Chew Stoke a lso was known as Chew M il itis.

Chew M agna was ep iscopa l p roperty in Saxon t imes , held byG isa , the last Saxon b ishop . Thus i t reminds us , as part of

r

the civi l pari sh , Bi shop Sutton , st i l l does , as wel l as othernames with the add i t ion of Bishop or Episcop i , of the periodwhen the Bi shop of Bath and Wel ls held very many manorsand estates i n the county, and was a great magnate and landlord . Chew Stoke exhib i ts a doub le appel l at ion . The wel lknown Saxon word “ s toke ,

” a stockaded p lace , i s added tothe origi na l name of the stream .

Of river names giving thei r appel lation to p laces, Bruton

i s ano ther c lear examp le . Briweton i s the spel l ing of the

Domesday Book . I n the L i ncoln’

s Inn Bath Chartu lary, i ti s in 1299 Briytonia . The Prior of B ath apportioned the

Church of Westbury to the Monastery of the B lessed Maryof Brytonia . I t is Briyeton i n the early 14th century . Thisseems to be the Town on the Brue The persistentspel l ings

,and the modern form , are in favour of this . The

town has a street, Q uaverlake Street , which is an indication

of the physica l characteris tics of the p lace as i t once was . I tis derived from Brw,

swift . Yr afon Bri 'w means The swiftr iver .

”North and South Briweton are on i ts banks .

Ean i s often sa id to be a Cel tic root connected with water .

I t i s th is root tha t some discover i n Win - ford , Winsford ,

VV inscombe, Wincanton,and Winsham . Win - ford ,

Winsford,and V V

inscombe are , as we shal l see later, forms

1Roads of Eng la nd , by JohnOg ilbie, 1 698.

of common personal names . I t is true that we have theetymological Saxon compound Wi nsome ,

”which means ,

when app l ied to a damsel , pretty much the same as Sidney’

s

0 ,most kiss -worthy face ,

” in one of h is poems . Win - some ,having or exhib iti ng qua l i t ies worthy to be won ; thus Winsham would be the p retty vi l lage . This deriva tion , givenby some

,seems somewhat too fanciful , especia l ly as i t is an

e lement appearing in several names of p laces , a l l of which

may not be divinely fai r . In Domesday Book , Wincanton i sspel t Win - ca le - tone . Now, Ca le is a river name . I n Domes

d ay Book the name is spel t VVincal le- ton . In 1374 i t i s

Wyngcaultone,and in the early 14th century we have

Wynghalton . Under these names , the Rectory is connectedwith the Priory of Stavo rdale . I t is bui l t o n the decl ivi ty ofa hi l l . An inte rpretat ion given is that i t was anciently

Wyndcal - ton , that is , the town on the bend of the streamcal led the Ca le . In Kemble ’

s Codex Diplomaticus1 two

streams are mentioned describ ing boundaries of an estategranted in A .D . 965 to Shaftesbury Abbey , ca l led the Win

cawe l and the Cawe l . In Bishop Drokinford’

s Regis ter2 we

read of the V ica r de Wyncaulton . Cawe l l , Ca le , as a rivername

,i s not easi ly de rivab le . There is a rive r Ca le in Dorse t ,

and this,with the two Lyddons, or Liddons, are t ributaries

of the Stur . Stur is recognised as a triba l name . The earl iestIcelandic author is named Smorti Sturluson .

3 The rive rsreceive thei r names often enough from the tribes a long thei rbanks . Cale may thus be a tribal name . The words Cao l and

Cael are Gadhel ic , meaning a stra i t , and as an adjective ,narrow . If wi n is for ean , water, the meaning of Wincawe lwould be the narrow stream .

”I t is very possib le , however ,

that this p lace - name is Saxon , and is the persona l name

Wincild . The modern modern name would be Winchild ;but we have not met with any owner of such a cognomen .

I t is far from l ikely that“win

”i s connected wi th wate r,

stream , or rive r . And here i t may be observed that“ ton

must not be hasti ly concluded to be invariab ly the Saxon ton,

a town , as sometimes i t is clearly a softening of the word dun ,dune

,which is dwn , a hi l l o r down .

l Vol iii . p. 455.

2Pag e 289 .

8Origi n of the Ang lo- Sax on Race, T . W. Shore,London : E l liotStock .

7

There are o ther names that have thei r e tymologica l rootsi n the numerous words fo r st ream

,brook

,d ike

,rive r . Every

body knows that afon”i s Welsh fo r a rive r

,but i t does

not stand a lone . Descrip t ive words of this sort abound ina l l languages .How deep the influence of the Cel t was i n more than one

country may be seen by observing that the peop le of thisnationa l i ty o r race who l ived upon German soi l left the irimpress upon the names of i ts rivers a nd s treams , as we haveseen they d id to some extent i n the arcadia of the west ofEngland . I t is a m isfortune that our knowledge of Ce ltic isextremely deficient . Our German cousins have a journa l

devoted to th is pursu i t,“Archiv f iir Celtische Lexi

cographie ,

”i n which the subject is ( to translate a favouri te

word) bel aboured , and we may hope in time to fee l moresecure in the derivation of words , especia l ly names of p lacesc learly Cel tic The Cel t was not a husbandman so muchas h is Saxon successor . He i s therefore less strongly repre

sented in the topograph ica l i ndicat ion of mountains and hi l lsby afli x ing names , and less st i l l on farms and l ands . In Ger

many are such wel l - known river names as that of the Danube

(Donau) , Rhine—which has i ts analogue in a Somerse t andWest Country term for a divid ing stream ( rhin , rine) - theM ain , and the Isar . We are search ing for the l ike characterist ic Cel tic stamp in the Somerset rivers and stream names ,some examp les of which have a l ready been given .

The Tone, on which stands Taunton , is clearly a rivername and is widesp read . Tain is Cel t ic, as found in Tynehamin Dorset

, Tynmouth i n the North , and Teignmouth in theSouth . I t appears a lso in the shape Tham - es, in which thefinal syl l ab le is derived from Cel tic u is -ge,

”water . T am

i s i n Tamar (Devon) , Tamer, Teane , and the cognate Taw,

i n T aw, Devon and G l amorganshi re , Tawey, Tavey, Tay,Tees . The Ta is a loch in Wexford , and the Tay in Perthand Waterford . There are the Tavy in Devon , and the Tafi n Wales . I n Domesday Book, and long afte r, Taunton isspel t T antona . We have not found Tam- tona . The rootmeaning is sa id to be “ quiet . With the

“m sound i t

is taken over into Anglo - Saxon . There seems no adequate

8

reason and no evidence for deriving the town name fromT angwn- ton , a Bri ti sh hermi t , who , acco rding to Rees

1 oncel ived there . If so , then the Tone derives i ts name from asaint . I t is just as l ikely tha t Thane - ton is i ts origin , or Tan ,Dana , an owner

’

s name . Remembering the widespreadoccurrence of the river- name , th is origin wi l l appear to mostreaders the most l ikely . Both Tayn - ton i n Gl oucestersh i reand Te ign i n Te ignton have been derived from Cel t ic tan,

“ the sacred fi re .

” Don in the river name , the Don i nEngland and Russia, the Danube , and Doon i n Scotl and areriver names—said to mean “ dark ,

”and the Tone wou ld

mean the dark river .2

The I sle i s a rive r name , and has on i ts banks I l ton , I leBrewers , I le Abbots , and I lm inster . I l ton, as we may see ,i s a name which has another origi n . I t is by no means to betaken for granted , without further search , that the derivati onwhich seems the most l i kely at the fi rst b lush is the actua lderivation . I le Brewers , as a doub le name , wi l l receivefurther notice . I l -minster is clearly the Church on the I le .

I t must be remembered that a minster was not necessari lythat which we understand by the name . Ise l is the nameof a river in the Tyrol , and I selen, Is la, are names ofmeadows, low- lyi ng and damp , on the Rhine . The nameoccurs i n Swi tzerland . The Ise is a tributary of the Aller,near Liineberg. Isental is a va l ley on the Winer

,See .

Iser is a tributory of the E lbe The name is thus verywidespread as a name for streams and water-meadows !

Isaac Taylor“ gives some mixed - up i l l ust rations of the forceof “Is . The Ivel , for instance , i s of d ifierentorigi n , and whenhe states that Ischal is was the ancient name of the Ivel

,he is

re lying upon a conjecture of Archaeo logists tha t th is p laceIvelchester, cal led I lchester, i s the I scal is of Antoninus and aRoman station . This name is ancien t , however, and there i san Ich l by Innsbruck which is p robably the same name . Al lwe can safe ly say i s tha t is , ess , perhaps Esk and asc , or Ax asi n Axbridge and Axminster, i s a most ancient root with cog

1Lives of Canton -B ritish Sa ints .

2Quantocks and its P laces and Names, S .A . S . P . ,

vol . x lv i. ”Ortsnamen and Sprachwissenschaf t, Urspraclze and B egnfientwicklung—Tauber. Words and P laces.

https://www.forgottenbooks.com/join

10

app roximating to the Gothic and Lat in , such as ao , oea ,oeia, aeg, and eah , as e .g . , the Medway is the Meodowaeg .

The names of a who le se ries of rivers have th is one e lement .Ea, too , signifies the bed of a rive r . Lim in - ea i s a sma l lrive r in Kent . Shep- ea , ca l led the Sheppey, is the Somerset

s tream that runs i n the Shep ton M al let d istric t throughDi nder . I f Shep - ton means the Sheep - town , then Sheppeyought to mean the Sheep - river . I t is more l ike ly the triba lo r persona l name Sceat- ea . Scipe- ea i s a d ia lectica l form .

And as Yatton is spel t in Domesday Book Ya - tuna or Ea - tona ,i n sp i te of the usua l derivation , e lsewhere given , and asa Yeo is i n the marsh hard by , Yatton may be Yeo - ton .

We cannot think that i t is the origin of Yatton in Somerse tto derive i t from Eata , a Saxon Bishop of Li ndisfa rne , ofthe seventh century, though this is given for Ya tton inHerefordshi re , Ya tes - burh in Wi l tsh i re , Yatten- den inBerkshire . Yatton is mentioned again la ter on .

I t is hard to say that a un ique rive r name is never found .

A name of a river may be unique , and then we must lookto the local i ty for so lution . Yr afon Ffrwm is said to meanthe river of rank vegeta tion , which the angler soon discovers .Efram is a lso said to mean fa i r , but the meaning given belowseems most l ike ly . The town - name is a form of Efram .

”

There is a Herefordshi re Frome , and the p lace - name ofCanon Frome arises , s i tuate a few mi les from Ledbury . Theresemblance of some p lace - names in this county to those ofSomerset is , perhaps , worth noting . I t has a Burrington . TheHerefordshi re Frome flows through Bishops Frome , andthere is also Halmond Frome . I ts Ea- ton on the Wye is muchl ike Ya- ton in one of the earl ie r spel l ings . Frome i s on therive r which now bears that name . I t , too , has a Cel t ic origin .

A Welsh dictionary of to - day has the word ff raw and ffreuan,

frua , torrent , gush . Ffrau i s ripp l ing . To this root is tracedthe name of the river Frome , on which the town stands .Analogy is sometimes a safe guide , and by this p rinc ip le i t issa id that by the ana logy of Axminste r and I lm inster

, Fromeshould be Frominster . From th is to Fromster, and then toFrome , by the wel l - known process of word - cl ipp ing

,presents

nothing start l ing . The conjecture is need less .

1 1

The Alum, or A lkam, ris ing i n West C ranmore, is usua l lysaid to give i ts name to Alham,

Alhampton,Alford . This

l atter name is spel t in Domesday, Aldedeford . Alhampton

i s i n Domesday Alentona , i . e . , Alwine - ton . The river namemust be ca l led from the loca l i ty rather than the reverse .

There is a word a lm wh ich means mounta in pasture . I t

i s no t easy to find any exp lanation of a lum or alham as aknown river name . The mere shortening is not surp ris i ng .

The designat ion is persona l . I t is para l le led by Ansford ,which is given i n Domesday Book as Almundes- ford , a fordove r the Brue . I t wi l l be seen hereafte r how large a part isp layed by Saxon persona l names in designations of fords , andthat sometimes the whole name is a corrup tion . Alum is thename of a stream which joins the Dee near Chester .Wring is the same as rhin , or hrin, or rhe in , an open cuto r drain . Hence , i t i s thought Wring- ton is the

“ townon the Wring,

”or rh in . The Domesday spel l ing gives

colou r to this exp l anation . I t is spel t Werintona . Thisis exp l icab le . The vowel is the Norman orthographic vowel ,and thei r methods of spel l ing avoid two concurrent consonants

“n”and t . Thus the former is omi tted , and i t

rep resentsWrin- ton . E tymologica l ly, the n is u l timate lyan i ntrusion . The fina l Sanskri t root is ri ,

”to flow, and

th is i s hardened to rhine , hrin, rain . I t is found in many rivern ames Rivers Rye , Rea , Ray (Wiltsh ire) , Ray, Rhea , Wrey

(Devonshi re) , and on the Continent . 1 Clwd and Dur are bothCe l t ic words, and connected with water streams ; the formermay possib ly be found in C lu tton and Temple C loud .

C lutton i s C lude- ton . There is a Welsh vi l lage in Pembrokesh i re ca l led afte r a Sain t C lydai . In a Somerset wi l l of the

15th century there is a fami ly name Ol ude , and the persona lname C loud is not unknown . This la tter is the t rue exp lanation .

I n the extreme south -west of the county a river rises in

Exmoor, which has i ts course through Somerset, and disappears i nto the less importan t ( for our purposes, as wel las our affection) county of Devon . I t bears the name of

Barle . Bar is usual ly short for aber, a confluence , and

1 See Isaac T aylor, Words and Places, p. 1 38 .

1 2

the remaining element migh t possib ly be st i l l Ise l . Oninvestigat ion , however, we find that i n the fi rst and on lyrecorded perambu lation of the Forest of Exmoor , i n the 26th

year of Edward I . , that i s , i n 1298 A .D. , the name of theriver is spel t Barghel . Bar i s here shortened from aber,

”

the confluence of a river, and ghe l is the name Gelau,

said to mean horse - leeches . I t is thus primari ly the same asAbergele i n Wales . The

“ water of Barghel i s shortenedto Barge], and then to Barle , and becomes a mysteriousword to name the river running by the esta te cal led Simon

’

sBath . I t takes i ts rise on a swamp two mi les north - east ofth i s, and runs to the other end of the Forest of Exmoor .

At the confluence i t i s jo ined by the Exe . This , too , i s

Cel tic : Ex , Axe , Esk, Usk , and in Continental forms , Axe ,Ahse , and others . The word is p robab ly connected wi thaqua (Lati n) . Aix is short for aquae sextiae . Sextiae i sSextus , name of the discoverer of the warm springs . Therea re also several Aigues. The word has undergone the usua lcl ipp ing as the varied elements in a word lose thei r significance . A very potent i nfluence in the formation of wordsi s th is human impatience of length . Only the patient Germanto lerates the sesquipedal i an syl labification, which , hexameterl ike and serpent- l ike , drags i ts s low length a long .

I t is p robab ly a departure from Cel tic origin when weconsider the word burn ,

”which sti l l for our Scottish fe l low

coutrymen (or Bri tons) means a b rook of some kind . Thereis the word

“bourn ,

”1 which is a l im it , the p lace“from

which no travel ler returns .”

But is i t a l im i t because astream is a l imi t? Whether Burnham has more connecti onwi th bourn , a l im it , or burn , a stream , may not beposi tive . A name that has undergone a kale idoscop ic change,so that i t i s no longer recognisab le at fi rst , i s Bridgwater,which , some assert , has noth ing—marvel lous to say—to doei ther with bridge or the water that flows under i t , butis a rel ic of a persona l name , and wi l l be mentioned hereafter under that head . I t i s Burgh Wal ter , from Wal ter de

Donai , whose cognomen is found i n a book not designed o r

l Skeat, Etymolog ica l D ictiona ry ,sub- voce.

1 3

compi led for etymologists , but simp ly fo r purposes ofImperia l stocktaking—the Domesday Book . I t is , however,Brag , the b ridge of Wal ter .Land - changes s low, but sure , scarce ly marked by eachgeneration as i t passes on in the cease less march of l i fe

,clea r

away al l t races of many physica l features of p l aces which oncecharacterised them . The process of change that is now goingon , and s lowly leaving Weston as an in land town , so that i twi l l no longer be super-M are ,

”has al ready forsaken

Na i lsea , so that i t is no longer an is land , any more thanSwansea , which is Sweyn

’

s eye or is l and , whi le Nai lsea , aswe shal l see , is, i n fact, N ige l

’

s I s l and , i .e . , Nigelsig. The

ig, ey, i s of course , Saxon , and means watery ground . Andwe a l l know tha t the great swamps have disappeared whichmade Athel ney, Athalungeig, i n the parish of L i ng, the

Prince’ s I s l and . Ling i tsel f is poss ib ly the sole remnant of

Aethal ing, M uche lney, M icilen- ig, i s the muckle ,”the great

is l and close by Langport .Other stream and brook names wi l l occur i n connectionwi th p lace - names of which the main elements is a tribal orpersonal name

,or otherwise derived as the Cary, the Do lting

water .

14

CHAPTER II .

Place - names from Religious Associations .

Chri stian and Hea then .

Ecc les iast ica l associa tions have inevi tab ly left thei r markon the p lace - names of a county more than commonly interesting on th is score . I t i s needfu l to wri te wi th becomingmodesty of the early Church history of Somerset , as even themethods of modern research fai l to penetrate very far i ntothe dark cloud by which the h isto ry of the Cel tic Church issurrounded . Legendary lore

,with nevertheless, a kernel of

truth , i s ever i n danger of assuming the p lace of h istory .

There are , however , at least some Cel t ic sai nts’

nameswhich have left thei r mark in loca l nomencla ture . To sumup the traces of the Cel t ic church in Somerset i s not ourp resent busi ness . 1 Here we are only concerned wi th them asaff ects the p lace - names . To this there fol lows the re l igi onof the heathen Saxon , and we might expect to find somemarks of the successive race immigrat ions in names di rectlyor i ndi rectly connected with Scand inavian mythology .

Some interesting questions emerge as , for instance , how thename of St . David , the Welsh sa int and Archbishop , came tobe given to the l i tt le vi l l age of Barton St . David , and whatl ight, i f any , does th is and similar less doubtful facts castupon the ecclesiastical ci rcumstances of Somerset a t oneperiod , and thereby influence the growth of p lace - names?And , we may further ask , how far have certai n of these namesbecome Saxonised a lmost beyond recogni tion ? I t wi l l beobvious that p rob lems , not easy to be solved conclus ively ,arise i n the course of such enqui ries .The wel l - known legends that cl i ng to the name of G l astonbury , which are so wel l known and need not here be retai led ,2

1Rev . Dav id J . Pring , T ra ces of the B ritish Church in Somerset, T aunton : Phoenix

Press, 1 91 0 .

2See M emoria ls of Old Somerset, Bemrose and Sons , 1 906 .

H ighway s a nd Byway s , Hutton, Ma cmillan and Co ., 1 9 1 2 . Myths ,

Scenes and Worth ies in Somerset, Bog e r , Redway, London, 1 888.

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16

King of Devonsh i re , granted o r restored to Morgre t , Abbatof G l astonbury, five h ides of l and in Ynyswitryn . He saysthat during his Abbacy, 605 A .D. , G lastonbu ry was inst i tuted .

We may as wel l add tha t M orgret is cons idered by Dugdaleto be a Bri tish name . Inysitryn i s the glassy is l and .

”

Gl assy must be taken in the etymologica l sense . Here ,accord ing to t radi t ion , Ki ng Arthur was bu ried . G iraldus,

i n the time of Henry I I . , actua l ly saw the inscrip tion on aleaden cross

,which , i n Lati n , exp ressed that Ki ng Arthu r lay

there buried in the Island of Avalon , and he“saw the

body,”l aid deep in the earth for fear of the Saxons .

”The

inscrip tion , l ike much e lse , was legendary, but i t is interestingfor our present purpose to observe tha t St . David is mentionedin connection wi th another touching legend—“

St. David ,having a design to consecrate this church , our Lord appearedto h im in a dream , and fo rbade h im to do so , having prev iously consecrated both the church and churchyard H imself .And for a sign thereof He thrust H is finger through thebishop

’

s hand .

”Tradi tions and monkish legends have their

root i n some fact . And that fact doub tless is that St . DavidDevi , the patron sai nt of Wales~was ei ther himself, orth rough his successors i n that See , connected with the earlyBri t ish churches in Somerset . And these legends of Arthurand Devi point to the fact of a considerab le amount of intercourse and missi onary activi ty carried on across the BristolChannel , where the missionaries b raved dangers i n thei rcoracles, as they now do in varied ways i n the st i l l wi ld regionsof the earth . I n the l 0th century the See of Bath was part ofthis Archiep iscopate . I t is by such connection that we canexp la i n why the Church of Porlock i s dedicated to St .Dubricius, the predecessor of St . David in the Archb ishopric,whose seat was then Caerleon , and not as afterwards , Menoy ia .At any rate this is the legend , but i t must be confessed thatS t . David , as a designat ion of Barton Church , i s no t traceableunti l qu i te late . I n Domesday Book i t is s imp ly ca l led Berthona or Bertona . The name , however, may have beent radi tional . I n the churchyard are the remains of a cross withthe figure of a b ishop , whether St . David or not . The name ,

1 7

too , i s only Barton i n the 14th century .

1 We are to ld that ap icture of David the Psa lm ist once hung in the church ; butth is cou ld scarcely have originated the name . We certa in ly

shou ld expect to find early traces of th is name had i t beenorigina l and not a superimposed fancy . Barton is , of course ,a common name . Other reminiscences of St . David are foundin St . David

’

s Wel l , near Quantock Farm ,i n Over Stowey

parish . And , of course , there are other sacred wel ls,as St .

Peter’

s Wel l , close to Over Stowey Church , St . Agnes Wel latCothels tone , St . John

’

s Wel l a t Holford ; Lady’ s Fountain

i s on Ki lve Common . This is St . M ary the V i rgin , we imagine ,and some evidence of this is found in the fact that a Combehard by is ca l led Ladies

’

Combe . O ther wel ls associated wi thsuperst i t ion or medica l p roperties are Blundwe l l , i n Stowey

(near Bridgwater) , and the Witch’

s Wel l in Parleston Lane ,below Parleston Common . Pard le or Bardel is a knownSaxon personal name .

2

A further ecclesiast ical interest may be found in the namesof two ham lets, s i tuate i n the parish of Wedmore , one ofwhich is cal led Fonboro . This is the usua l popu lar impatientabbrevia tion . The Domesday spel l ing i s Padenberia , I nsu la

vocata Padenaberia adjacens Glastingberice . In the Cartu

lariam Saxonicum we find Grant by King Edwith to Gl as

tonbury Abbey of a vineyard at Pathenebergh , A .D .

I n 1366 i t is I nsu la de Patheneburga i n Bri ti sh Museums charters . Probab ly another loca l name , Panfield , i s a lso thusshortened . I t is qu i te possib le that th is is the Saxon name

Padwine or Pathwine ,and we cannot be sure that i t is Padarn .

I t is attractive to th ink so , and the name Ll an -badarn i s verycommon i n South Wales . There are no fewer than eight of

them,of which the p rincipa l i s the L l anbadarn- vawr, nea r

Aberystwith . St . Padarn was Lat ini sed into St . Paternus, andSt

. Paternus was a suff ragan to the Archb ishop of St . David’

s .

Llanbardarn was rep resented by i ts B i shop at a synod held in

the County of Worcester i n the year 601 A .D. The Churchof Ho ly Trin i ty , Na i lsea , i s said to have had the name of thi s

sa i n t as i ts origina l dedication .

lB ishop D rohenf ora’s Register, SomersetRecord Society, vol 1. T here is here

one instance in which it is ad d ed (1 325 but this seems to be an

e rror ag a inst the d ominant usag e .

2Qua ntochs and other P lace-Names ,

Som. Arch . Soc . , vol . xlv i.

1 8

Another ham let in the same ancient parish of Wedmorebears the curious name of Thea le . Theale, which may be thesame as Tei lo , and a Cel tic name , as the persona l name Mat

t ick is, from M adoc .

1 I t is an interest ing conjecture to regardi t as a d isguised form of Tei lo , another Welsh sa int . Thealei s not mentioned in Domesday Book , where i t is a p art ofWedmore , and so we have not i ts spe l l ing. In Pembroke andCaarmarthenshire there are four p laces bearing the des ignationL landi lo . Now th is Dei lo was a Bri t ish B i shop of Llandafl

,

and l ived in the early sixth century .

2 T eo l i s , however, also aSaxon name of eighth century, which is jus t as l ike ly to be theorigin of the name .

A search through the hamlet names of the county appearsto give us a name which may not unreasonab ly be connectedwith St . Dubritius, i . e . , i n the Cymric form , Dyfrig . Thecase of th is p lace - name stands thusDoverhay i s i n West Luccombe (a lso by corrup t ion spelt

Luckham) . The Domesday spe l l i ng is, however , Doveri .One part of the M anor of Porlock is so described .

3 H igherDoverhay Farm is an ancient house in the M anor of EastLuccombe . The lover of the romantic wi l l be interested toknow tha t a smugglers

’

hold was discovered here some yearsago . From th is diversi ty of appl icat ion , as wel l as the spel li ng , i t i s evident that the name Doverhay is a corruption .

In 1325, i n a jury to find whether the manor had been held“ i n cap i te

”or of the “ honour of Pynkeny

”i t is spel t

Dovery, as Cloutesham i s spel t C loude’

s Ham (compareTemple C loud) . I n 1559 i t i s Dawevery . I n 1237 i t isDovery . I t is Dovery i n 1280, when John le Deneys andRobert le Denis met N icholas the Forester at Roger deC ockerey

’

s tavern . John and Robert beat N icholas so thathe died . There was another fracas at the house of Gunilda,who had an inn there . The Domesday spe l l ing Doveri is thenright . But what does Dovri mean? Doverhays i s the 16thcentury spel l i ng . We are struck with the s imi lari ty to thep l ace - name Dover . There is a Douvres i n the Saxon shore

1Mattick is , howeve r, taken to be possibly the Sa xon name Ma da cho found inl ists .

2 !Memoria ls of L land afi : Wa lter d e G ray B irch . Neath : JohnF . Richa rd s .

8For H istory of Doverhay see H istory of Pa rt of West

Somerset. Chadwick Hea ley. London : Henry Sotheran, 1 90 1 .

1 9

near Bayeux, Dovercourt i n the intense ly Teutonised d is trictnear Harwich , and Dovrefjeld i n Norway . That is

,accord

i ng to thi s, the root i s Teutonic rather than Cel tic . ButM r .

Isaac Taylor does not say what Teutonic root he derives from.

The origi n of Dover i s said to be the Cel tic dwfyr water .Now, when we have the Domesday Spe l l ing Doveri the finalvowel imp l ies a lost ha lf- vowel

,g,that is Doverig . Con

sidering that a t Porlock we have the interest ing dedication ofSt. Dubritius, of which the Cel t ic form is Dyfrig, we arestrongly incl ined to regard Doveri and Dovery as representingthis word . There is no difficul ty whatever in the interchangeof f

”and v and b . Further, the Domesday spel l ings ,

that i s Saxon and Norman , leave out al l the final g’

s.

” Wegor way is wei , l ig or lea is lei and so on . This is most interesti ng , as we a re gratefu l to find a few memorials of the ancientBri t ish Church before the Saxon or Norman came

,and

tramp led out the ancient names . Of course, i t was a ded ication , and must have marked some appanage of the Church .

Dubritius, or Dyfrig, was Archb ishop of Caerleon and fi rstp rimate of what po l i tical foes are p leased in thei r comichumour to cal l the a l ien church in Wales

,about 444 A .D.

I t is Dyfrig, and became Dyfri , Dovri, and Doveri , and thenwas set down and spel t as Doverhay . Hay is a frequent andrecognisab le termination .

I t cannot be sa id with certai nty how this supposed p lacename came to be connected wi th Dubritius, the d iscip le andfriend of Germanus and Lupus , the celeb rated early controversial ists agai nst Pelagianism . I t is conjectured tha t he mayhave sett led in Somerset for a t ime , as hermit , after heresigned h is duties as Archbishop of Caerleon . According totradi tion he crowned King Arthur . I t may be suflicient to saythat his name was i l l ustrious enough to give a dedication to achurch—Doveri (Dyfrig) was then , we may assume , a part ofthe church property . The date of Dubritius or Dyfrig is the

5th centu ry .

I t is sa id that St . Congar was buried at Congresbury, andthat from this fact the p lace derives i ts name . This is theusual account

,though of St . Congar h imself nothi ng on earth

seems to be known but that he was a hermi t , who came from

20

the East . Bagborough Church is ded icated to St . Congar , buti t is a lmost , i f not qui te , a so l i tary dedication . I t need hardlybe said that the termina tion bury has noth ing whatever to dowith i nterment . In the charters of B i rch and Kemb le and theHyde Liber Vitce the name Congar (Cungar) i s wel l at tes ted .

Conigars are , however , wel l nigh as common and puzz l i ng asSi lver Streets and Cold Harbours . The on ly Coneygree or

Coneygore i n the county of Hereford is at Eastnor . Conegar

in Dunster is separate ly noted hereafter . The trad i t iona lstory of Congar is given briefly by M rs . Boger . 1 Butler doesnot include h im in h is Lives of the Saints, as probab ly bedoubts the story . What is clear is that there existed a persona l name Cynegar (modern Conger) . This has becomeCungar , and then Conigar, and is l iab le to be confused withwords of who l ly d iff erent o rigin , as for instance conacre .

E tymological ly Kin and Gyn are Saxon words al l ied with theword king . A Cynegar may have been a hermi t . The popul ar p ronounciation of th is p lace - name is Coomsbury . InD.E . i t i s spel t Congresberia , whi le the name of the hundredis spel t Congresberiet. 2 I n the 13th century ( 1297) i n theTaxatio Ecclesiastica of Pope N icho las , i t i s spel t as now,

Congresbury . In the 16th and 17th centuries the spe l l ings areas usual , cap ricious Conggesbury i n 1560 ; i n 1566 Cunesberis ;i n 1583 same as 1297 ; 1589 Congerburye ; 1599 Conggesbury ;1612 i t i s Combebrey and in 1758 Coombesbury . Obv iouslv

i f we had only these lat ter spel l ings as a basis for our judgement , we should go widely astray i n conjectura l exp lanations .

There is , i t may be added , a Congerston i n Leicestershi re,but we have no opportuni ty of examining the h istory of thename . Conhul l , i n Wi lmington , i s p robably shortened from

some other word , or disguised , as for i nstance , from the personal name Cynehelm, or Cynehild , a persona l name . A

Ce lt ic exp lanation has been given from y eyn gar, the foremost fortification

,

” and y emining gaer the rabb i t warren ,”

and Saxon eyn-gar, the King’

s garth . We shal l meet withthis name Congresbury aga in in conjunction with the local

name Urchinwood .

3

1M yths , Scenes and Worthies of Somerset. 2Eyton : Domesday Stud ies .

BSee

Ind ex .

2 1

When we trave l furthe r down the stream of h istory anda rrive at the period when monasticism flourished

,and dis

p layed i tse l f in the founding of the great re l igious orders, of

which a brief but i nte rest ing and sympathetic account may be

found i n Archb ishop Trench’

s M ediw‘val Church History,1 we

then find names connected with the Church l ife of thepast which are no t subject to much doubt as to thei r o rigin .

Such are Abbots Leigh , Abbots Buckland , Abbotsbury M anor,Abbots Sutton—a l l these have names from monastic foundat ions . Abbots Leigh was a lso ca l led Legh by Portbu ry, andspel t Abbots Lee, Abbotslie .

And here i t may be noted tha t the term minster i n thisand such names as Pi tminster and Bedminster

,does not

s ignify a l l that we are apt to associate w i th the word . I t doesnot necessari ly imp ly a monastic house or co l legia te church

,

accord ing to the statement of Freeman , in his Norman Cou

quest. Butperhaps there was in most cases a col legiate body,i f only of modest p roport ions ; Ash Priors, also spel t Esse ,E she - pr iors , i s c lear ly also a name of monastic origin . In theB ri tish M useum Charters is one ca l led Compotas of lands in

Esse of Taunton Priory, dat ing 1438-9 . I ts d istinguishingfeature among the names beginning or compounded withAsh is thus derived . Simi larly we have Stanton Prior and

Buckl and Priors , a lso cal led Buck land Sororum and Buckland

M inchin . These form doub le names and wi l l be foundt reated under th is heading i n subsequent pages .

There are two p laces bearing the name of Charterhouse

Charterhouse H inton ,or Henton , and Charterhouse- ou

M endip . The origin of Charterhouse is very wel l known toal l those fami l i ar wi th the great pub l ic school so named , tobe derived from Chartreuse , which was the famous p lace ofthe insti tution of the Order of Carthusi ans . From the whi tehab i t of th is Order some at least of the Whitchurches i n thecountry have thei r name

,and a p riory of thi s Order gave i ts

name to Witham Friary, so far as the latter component is

concerned , but Witham is al ready Witcham in Domesday

Book . This is one of the earl iest in the country, formed as i t

was i n 1 181 by Ki ng Henry I I .

l Ill ed ia 'va l Church H istory , C ap. viii. T rench . M acmillan, 1 879 .

22

The p lace - name Ahdieh looks as if i t migh t mean anything,but the spel l ing Abbedyke seems clearly to revea l i ts o rigin .

1

This is a boundary name , as a dyke in this usage is , of course ,most commonly a raised road across a marsh , and not a mered i tch . This is so l ikely that i t seems p recarious , howeverinterest ing , to seek and find the Cel tic sa in t

’

s name of Badocor M adoc . By i n terchange of letters Badoc or Bad ick, i t i ssaid , becomes Abdick, and the evidence is adduced that closeat hand is M adocs (or Badocks) Tree H i l l . The real i ty maybe that th is is the extant Saxon name Abb ,

”and then i t has

nothing to do wi th an abbey . In Domesday Book the hundred of Abbed iche i s severa l t imes ment ioned , and as i t iscal led Abed ik and Bulstone , th is would appear to be twoboundary l imi ts , a dyke and a stone (Bula

’

s stone) .Whether St . Phaganus, a legate of Pope E lentherus, is tobe traced i n the local name Vage may be doub tful . Nunneyand Nynehead might seem natural ly to derive thei r distin

guish ing appel lations from a former existence of monastics isterhoods , though the former is better known to visi tors byi ts cast le ruins, si tuate on the ey or is land . These namesare elsewhere mentioned . Chantry,

”near Frome , exp lains

i tse lf , but has no p lace in a l ist of ancient names , though nowappearing as a separa te pari sh , with i ts i ncumbent . Chantriesabounded . They proved conven ien t hen - roosts, and werep lundered . The designations from Scrip tural sa i nts , and fromthose whose h istory , so fa r as known , i s easi ly accessib le ,scarcely need here be mentioned . They are , of course , usedoften to dist ingu ish parishes of the same name , as BucklandSt . M ary and Buckl and Dinham , B ishops Lydeard and

Lydeard St . Lawrence . Sometimes the name has been

a l tered,as Stoke St . Gregory was formerly ca l led East Curry

(St . Cyrig) , where a part of the parish is sti l l named Cur- load .

Load occurs e lsewhere , and merely means a course or way ,usua l ly a water -way .

A sai nt’ s name , St . Kew, i s connected wi th Kewstoke . St .

Kew is a most i nterest i ng, though perhaps mythological ,sain t . I t is known that there is a Cornish church having thededication St . Kew . The town is cal led after this saint , and

1Somersetand DorsetNotes and Queries , vol . i. , p. 45 .

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24

mean a bank , and then la ter a wharf , landing stage or p l ace .

The p lace - name in that case is therefo re hybrid , and so al l

these migh t mean no more than the wharf vi l lage , or thevi l l age on the rive r bank .

”Remembering the exact

s im i lari ty of spel l i ng with Chew i t looks as if the derivationshould be the same , but i n the one case the tradi t iona l p ro

nounciation i s soft , and the other hard , and so the derivationis p robably diverse , notwi thstanding this o rthograph ica l

s imi l ari ty .

Of other saints the re was a St . Keyne , who dwel t i n Brecknocksh ire . She was a sai nt , but her fa ther was more of a sinner

,a reversal of re l igious character in parent and chi ld which

not i nfrequently happens even tod ay . Her father was namedBrychan (Lati nised to Braganus) , Prince of Breckonsh ire , andshe l ived in the 5th century (so fru i tful of sai nts) i n the churchand town of St . Keyne , close by L iskeard ; and why not atKeynsham

,i n Somerset? —St. Keyne

’

s Ham or home . Hamsand Hamms have certain ly genera l ly , but not i nvariab ly , apersonal name

,as p refix

,whether of sai n t or otherwise . Near

the Cornish church is a wel l wi th a charming legend connectedwi th i t

A wel l th ere is in the WestCountree ,And clearer one never was seen ,

There is not. a man in the WestCountree

B uthas h eard of the Wel l of S . Keyne,

An oak and an elm tree grow beside,And behind doth an ash tree grow ;

And a wi l low from the banks above

Droops to th e waters below .

”

Both Keynsham and St . Keyne are a lso on river banks , orclose by them . The legend referred to is a p retty one , andcommends i tse lf to persons about to marry . Of coup les whowere married in the Church of St . Keyne , whichever fi rst ,after the nup tia l knot was rightly t ied , and the p riest

’

s b lessi ng duly pronounced , drank of the del ightfu l ly coo l waters ofthe wel l would be the master for l ife I

I'

faith (says the song) she were wiser than I ,For she took a bottl e to church .

”

Some there are who ach ieve this dist i nct ion of lady mastersh ip wi thout e i ther wel l o r surrep itious bott le . Keynsham is ,whatever e lse may be said , compounded of a personal namerep resented by the fi rst p art Keyn and ham , not necessari ly

25

ham, meaning home , but may be hamm ,s ignifyi ng low- lying

meadow land . This persona l name is Cyna , Kyna , formed forexamp le in the compound name Kynward , and Kineverd (anabbot of Bath) . 1 In the Li ncoln

’ s Inn MSS.we find

the witnesses’

names Thomas de Keynes - ham and John deKaynesford . The names Cynegyth, Cynewulf (Kinnulf) andCymewu lf, Cynethryth occur . There is no doubt, then , of theexistence of the persona l name simp le and compounded

.The

spel l ings of the p lace- names are D.E. Cainessam In

the Taxatio Ecclesiastica ( i n the Deanery of Redcl ifle) isKanesham I n the Regis te r of b ishop Drokensford i ti s Keynesham i n the reign of Henry I . (charter) wefind apud Chainesam. There is a lso the spel l ing Cah inesam.

Both these la tter are i n the charter of Bath Pr iory . I t hasbeen said2 that Heahmund , b ishop of Sherborne , was ki l ledin 871 A .D. and buried at Caigneshamme, and that th is ispossib ly Cainsham. That Caeg, Gaeg, may become Gain ,C ain , Cane is certai n . Gegnesburh has become Gainsboroughand might just as eas i ly be Ca i ns- borough . I nasmuch as the

persisten t pronounciation i s (we be l ieve) Kanisham ( longv owel) the name Cyna , Cain , Kain , sufficient ly accounts fori t . But which Cyna we know not . And thus, i f we cannotconnect every p lace - name wi th some interesting person , orevent , with the certa inty we des ire , we must be content .Two names connected wi th rel igion , the one Christian and

Ce l tic, and the othe r heathen , are St . Curig in such names asNorth Curry and Curry Rivel ,3 and a poss ib le Scandinaviand ei ty i n Burri ngton . As the two former are doub le names i tmay be more convenien t to consider them under that head ,and Burri ngton . i n connection wi th the many p lace - names ,with the characteristic ending ington .

There seem to be other p icturesque ly errant attempts at theexp lanation of p lace - names connected wi th re l igion othe r thanthe Chris ti an . The wel l - known Somerse t town of Wel l ington ,f rom which the great Duke took his ti t le, has been traced to

the god Weland, who is cal led the Saxon representat ive of

the cl assic Vulcan . Of course these para l lel isms of gods and

1B a th Cha rtu la ry , Kemble , C. D . No . 566 S . R . S . p. 3 1 . ”Rev . C . T aylor.

In the corres. column, B ristol T imes a nd M irror. 3Traces of the B ri tish

Church in Somerset. Danie l J . Pring . t a ix Press : T aunton, 191 0 .

26

goddesses i n so diverse re l igious systems are doubtfu l . Wellington wi l l be cons idered among p lace - names in ington .

Heathen rel igion has left i ts trace , thus according to onemode of exp lanation , on Seavington . This appears as Sevenham - ton . This is sa id to be the reverence for the numberseven

,which

,as founded on the lunar divi sion of time , and

“wri tten in the heavens , was, as a number , an object ofre l igious veneration in the days of Hammurab i , the en

l ightened legis l ator of Babylon , 3000 BC . The number sevenwas for ages a sacred number , and , according to this inter

pretation, a Somersetshi re vi l lage name is a re l i c of i t .I t is only the numbers four and seven that figure in Germannames1 of p laces , as i n Seofan wyllas, the seven h i l ls , the seventhorns , the seven acres ; i n England i t is in trees, five and

nine, as for examp le in Fiveash , and N i ne elms . Why ? We

have Seven Oaks , however , as a wel l - known name . On theQuantock H i l l s there is a Seven Wel ls Combe , and the SevenSisters

,near M i lborne port , name of the seven springs at the

source of the Yeo .

These are p lace - names which are said to be connected withWuotan or WodenZ i n names such as Wans- dyke

,Wembury

,

and the l ike ; Thunor in names in Thur and Thurs ; a reference to the gods

’

weapon in Hammer , as Amerdown . Othersare connected wi th Hnaef, the Hoei ng . These are noted inthe sequel , but i t must be remembered that persona l names,as with the Hebrews , were taken from the names of the gods .So far i s i t from a certai nty tha t the p laces concerned wered irectly connected wi th heathen ri tes . The name Wintarefers to Winta, an ancestor of the King of L i ndisfarne . ThisWi nt or Wintr i s a name appearing i n Winterstoke andWinterbourne . In kings as i n gods we must also remember that names became diff used as common property . Wefind , too , the names Hengst and Horsa i n the county . Bathwas anciently aquae Su lis . The Romano - Bri tish M inerva ,cal led Sul , sa id to give i ts name to the h i l l ca l led So lsbury,near Bath . Camulos was a heathen god , whose name is foundin the river name Camel , as T iw i n Chew . VVoden was thegod of batt les , the M ars of the Saxons , and after h im ,

as i s

1Ang lo- Sax on N ames of P laces . Leo .

2Sax ons in E ng land . Kemble , i . 343 .

27

usua l ly thought , i s named the wel l -known l ine of embankment o r fortification that runs through so many counties

,and

is p la inly t raceab le i n Somerset . I t i s true that popular tradit ion is after a l l a safe gu ide to fo l low i n the pronounciation ofa p l ace - name or the handing down of a legend

,though

obviously not a guarantee of the truth of the la tter . Legendary lore says that the Wansdyke was so cal led because i t wasbui l t by the devi l on a wednesday . Perhaps i t was . Weknow that Wednesday is Wodens- day . Wanstrow, a vi l l agesix mi les south -west of F rome , i s usual ly derived from th isgod

’

s name , Woden . The Domesday spel l ing is Wandestreu .

I t i s a racia l name , qu i te possib ly , and is taken by some , thusincl ined , as a mark of Wendish immigrat ion .

1 The nameWansford is found in Northumberl and . There are also othernames of p laces regarded as having the same origin . There isa Woudes - l ane near Pensford . Wand means in Saxon“ boundary ,

”and the modern German wand means a wal l ;

the o ld high German want or wand , wa l l o r side ; and Wodnesd ic would thus mean the boundary d ike .

Z The name is ,however

,almost wi thout question , usua l ly taken to be a re l ic

of heathen mytho logy , and as other prehistoric dykes appearto have mythologica l names attached to them , as Grimsd itch ,

from the Norse god Grim ,

” i t is not to be denied tha t thismay be the case with the Wansdyke , though we confess to a

preference for the less i nterest ing derivat ions . In a charterdeemed genuine rel at i ng to Stanton Prior we find the name

Wodnesd ic as a boundary mark . In this l atter case i t is theboundary - dyke between Cel t and Saxon , and tel ls i ts ta le st i l lof the whi lom war of races . The p lace - name B i l l i ngton hasalso been connected with idol worship . This name wi l l occur

i n the l ist of those ending ington .

3

1Shore Origi n of the Sax on Race—A very interesting book EliotStock , 1906 .

2Dr . Stuke ly d e rived from the B ritish wood gu a kan to sepa rate , wh ich

seems a fa r- fetched or ig in and is fa r more easily d irectly from the

cognate wand , or wa l l .8See Index .

28

CHAPTER II I .

Pla ce - names from Relig ious Associa tions .

St. White 1 and other Whites— notSaints .

Whitchurch i s one of those p laces where what appears tohave been the name of a new vi l lage (which sp rang up rounda church) , beat a better- known , and much o lder , local name,Fi lton, out of the field . The ord inary topographica l account

is that the origina l name of the p lace was Filwood , and thata church was erected on the si te of an ancient chapel dedicated to St . White (St . Cand ida) and that the vi l l age gradua l ly removed to th is new si te . Col l inson says the origina l name

was Filetwood . This is good so far as i t he lps us to see thati n Fi l ton (as spe l t) and in Fel ton the ini t ia l syl l ab le is anabbrevia tion , as indeed experience in the interp retation ofmany p lace - names suggests . VVhitchurch, a lias Fi l ton , is notmentioned in Domesday Book save as part of Cainesam

(Keynsham) , and so we have not the advantage and sugges

t ions of i ts spel l ings . We find Va lor of Queen Katherine’

s

(Fylton Grange) jointure i n time of Henry V I II . (Rentalsand Surveys) . In the 21st E l izabeth , Rights of Commonof Filwood ,

”and there was a lso at th is period the M anor

of Whi tchurch ,”as wel l as that of Lyons . This l atter sti l l

15 . Wh ite.—T he Cistercian Abbey of Flax ley, Glouceste rshire , ha d a her

mitag e atthe Chape l of Ard lond , nea r Cind erford , in the time of K ing John(ci rca in wh ich dwe lt Wil l iam, the hermitof thatplace , supported bythe Abbey in a ll thing s necessa ry for h is food and cloth ing . And in reference

to th is chape l the Rev . Leona rd Wilk inson has found the follow ing entry in

the B ishops’

Reg isters at He reford :“Pro sacce l lo d iv e Cand id e Flax ley.

T he entry in Latin is to the effectthaton the i 8th of Februa ry, 21 Henry 8th

( 1 529 T homa s M ed ley, the Procurator and Abbotof Flex ley , had rece ived

specia l permiss ion to col lect fund s annua l ly a d col l ig end ; pro repa ratione

manutentione et sustentatione sa ce l l i d ive cand id e et sancte Ra deg und is,that is to keep in repa ir the ce l l of the two fema le sa ints—S . Wh ite and S .

Radgyth . It is d escribed a s“at the g rang e d e A rlond , nea r the a foresa id

Mona stery.—Reg . Bp . B ooth , f ol . 1 62 6 . T h is is interesting , especia lly a s the

name S . Whites, atRuspidg e , near Cind erford , still rema ins , or showing how

many S . Whites there were , or how wide the cult of the Sa int.

https://www.forgottenbooks.com/join

30

Whitchurch ( that p retty vi l l age on the Wye , which often wehave app roached and entered , as far as a l i ttl e hoste l and thechurchyard , skirted by the many winding Wye) is so ca l led,or why i ts church is dedicated to St . Dubricius, a dedication

known also to Somerset . Nor are we better i nformed as tothe Whi tchurch i n Buckingham , Devon , or Oxford . ButWhitchurch in Southampton is on low ground on the riverunder a range of cha lk h il ls.

”I t is natural

,therefore

,to con

neet i t wi th the l imestone . And the Whitchurch in Salop usedto be cal led A lbum M onasterium,

or Blancminster.

1 The

name seems to indicate the former p resence of the whiterobed C i sterc ians , or a Hosp i ta l ” i n existence in the reignof Hen ry II I . This Hosp i ta l i s mentioned in monastic l ists

.

Whitchurch Canonicorum seems to tel l a different tale . Thehagio logy appears to be somewhat uncertain

,as apparently

there were five saints of th is name “ Saint White,known

also in the Latin form as St . Candidus and St . Candida .

This p articu lar church has a doub le dedication to St . Candidaand the Ho ly C ross . I n 1900, after many doub ts had beentossed about year i n and year out , a Sarcophagus was discovered which had been loca l ly attributed to St . Candida .On the box was an inscrip tion cast i n lead

,and also a rel iquary

wi th the inscrip tion here repose the remains of Sci Wite .”

The bones were those of a smal l woman about forty years ofage . H ic requesctRelique Sci W’ite were the words on theleaden box . I t s ti l l remains doubtful whether the saint isca l led after the church or the church after the saint . Thereare other i ndications that a sai nt of th is name was veneratedin the south of Somerset , and the north of Dorset . This issa id of the Somerse t St . White On the road from Chardto C rewkerne there was formerly a chape l dedicated to St .

Reigne , or St . Rana , of which no traces now remain . Thesain t i s sa id to have been buried wi th in this chapel , togetherwith another St . Whi te , whose name is perpetuated in Whitedown , Whi testaunton , White lackington , and other p laces .

”2

With regard to the latter p lace - name , i t may be safely saidth is is a mistake , and perhaps, though not so certai n ly, the

1T hree churches in Shropshire were so ca l led , one at Whitchurch , one at

O swestry , and another at Atterbury .

2Pul len on Loca l N omenclature,

p . 6 5 . On S . Re ig n and Wh itedown, see SomersetA rcha’ologi ca l P roceed

ing s, x x xv iii . , ii. , 40 ff .

3 1

others a lso . As there were at least five St . Whites we arebound to say i t does seem to us that as Hwit, t aet, White ,and Wight were common names

,certain p laces were more

l ikely to derive thei r names from the sai nt than the reverse.

I n regard to our Whitchurch th is tradi tiona l account is asl ikely to be true as not . At any rate

,we do not know any

other reason why the church shou ld be cal led White,unless

F i l ton Grange , al ready ment ioned , points to a monastic settlementof Whi te canons, White monks , or White ladies , butmore p robab ly this grange belonged to the b lack canons ofCainesam. The name grange , as an o ld French word , wasusua l ly app l ied to a p lace where the ti the was paid in corn

(or grain) to re l igious houses . This is the so l i tary and precarious i ndication that some of the whi te - robed rel igiousmale or female may have had to do wi th the bui ld ing of thechurch .

I n the Bath Cartu lary there is a confi rmation by the Bishopof Bath and Wel l s of the approp ri ation of the parish churcho f Keynsham with the chapels of Cerlethon, Briste lthon,

Fylton, and Pubbelewe ( that is Queen Charl ton , Bris l i ngton ,F i l ton , and Pub low) to the abbot and convent of Keynsham .

”

This is i n the 13th century . There is no mention of the nameWhitchurch , but only Fylton . I n Wi lls i n the 15th centuryF i l ton i s found wi th the addi tion aliasWhitchurch . I t is theWhi tchurch near Bi negar which is mentioned in BishopDrokenford

’

s Register . 1 We suppose that th is and the Hens

tridge Whitchurch are connected wi th the cul t of St . White

o r St . Candida .

Whitelackington has clearly no reference to St . Candida .

T he spel l ings show th is . I n Domesday Book i t isWyslagentonWhightLakenton (T . E . ) both of which forms

show a departure from the true word , which does , however,seem to appear i n 1 174, when we find the spel l ing With lachinton

,and in 1250 A .D. we read of Thomas de Sorre ls , Lord

ofWiklacantone . We do not qu i te know whether H i nton isto be regarded as origi nal , but when we find Bower H i n ton

spel t Bur- hinton ( 1334) i n M artock , we wonder very natura l lywhether Burrington is not origi na l ly Bur- hinton . And H i nton

1 Pag es 233 , 235, Sta l l of Wh itchurch .

32

i s the persona l name Heantan . Haen is a we l l - knownSaxon name , and so is Tonna , Tona , and Tane . However thismay be , as to Bower H i nton , i t is clear that the fi rst component

of Whi te lackington is the extant persona l name Hwittlac,or

rather Hwaetlac . I t i s a known name, and i ndeed was once

the name of a M ercian b ishop . The Hwaet i s the same as i nHwaetman, the extant names Wightman and Wheatman.

We do not personal ly know any modern rep resentat ion of

the name Hwaetlac and Hwaetlag, but i t p robab ly exists inthe known name Whi te lock , a name found in directories now .

Hwaetlacan may be the geni t ive form in the spel l ing of 1 174,and then H in ton , if o riginal , which is not l ike ly, has got cutvery short . H i n ton , i n fact , i s a corrup tion . Simi larly theH inton in M udford i s spel t Estindon, and may original ly beB astan tun where E aston is a personal name . The Domesdayspel l ing suggests to the etymologist (who does not go behindthe actua l s tructure of the word and seek for i ts h istory) thatwys

”i s for

“waes , and that i t means damp -meadow

land ,”which is descrip tive of the spot but the s is a mere

wrong deciphering of letters for“t , of which we ci te else

where other copyist examples . Further evidence of the existence of the word as a personal name is that Wightlacs ford isa name occurring in the Chronicles of Evesham ; i t is alsospel t Witlaegs ford . Wightlaeg was the name of the ancestorof Wiga ,

King of Mercia . O ther ana lagous examp les al readygiven are Hwittuc

’

s mead ( reso lved absurdly into White- oxmead) and Whitewych, a hamlet name in Somerset .White Oxmead i s spel tWhittockxsmede as l ate as the reign

of Henry V I II . i n the Court Rol ls , and Wh itokmead i n wil ls .Some persons wi l l st i l l p refer to th ink of the whi te ox lead tosacrificia l slaugh ter, or grazing i n the lush meadows . Sucha natura l orthographical corruption i l lustrates the p recariousness of some of the exp lanations given in books where a surface and p lausib le derivat ion is taken wi thout further examination . The local name Whitacre i s , for examp le , exp lainedas white acre .

1 I n rea l i ty i t i s the persona l name Wihtgar, i nwhich

“

gar is a spear , and the source of the wel l - known

name Whittaker .

l Edmund s'

Traces of H istory in the N ames of P la ces .

33

Whitestaunton has , no doub t , white as a p refix, howeverderived , to the origina l name Staunton . I t is only Stan - tunai n DB . and Stanton in TE . and then in thelater centuries (Kirby

’

s Quest) i t i s Staunton only . Theepi thet Whi te appears fi rst i n A .D . 1331 , that i s, i n nearly themiddle of the 14th century .

1 These Stauntons and Stantonsare so numerous , so many cannot be exp lai ned as stoneyp laces , that i t is clear persona l names such as Stan , E stan ,Eahlstan , Athelstane are often at the base ; but i n the presentcase another exp l anation is p lausib le . White is thus c learlya l ate addi tion , and i t is not , therefore , l ikely that the prefixis accounted for by the presence of whi te stones as a p rominentgeologic feature . This descrip tive word would in that casehav e almost certain ly appeared earl ier . The time came whenthe numerous Stauntons needed diff erentiat ion , when theywere no longer merely loca l ly known . We find the same wantmore insistently exists i n our posta l days . Whi te arose fromsome loca l ci rcumstance of possession by one of that name ,or if the legend of St . Candida in the neighbourhood of

Chard was in any way connected wi th this h i l l - side Stauntonon the dreary B l ack - down hi l ls, s i tuate on the verge of thecounty where the cul t of St . Candida was much in vogue , th iswou ld sufiiciently account for i t . We do not know exactlywhen St . White flourished . The most tha t can be defini tely

said is that the name White as an addi t ion is clearly persona l ,and may be the Sa i n t Hwit. Rev . H . A . Cartwright , a former

Rector ,2 traced the principa l name Stanton to a local ci rcumstance

,the occurrence of a huge rock . When the West

Saxons came into the up land hol low , the most consp icuous

object on i t would be th is great grey rock , so when theysett led thei r tun near St . Agnes Wel l they named i t after the

rock,the tun of the great stone .

”This is qui te l ikely to be

the origin of the name Stan - ton in this case .

The stranger who reads the name Witham on the signboard at a rai lway stat ion most natura l ly cal ls i t With - am.

After wai t ing a considerab le t ime and watching the mysteriousmovements of trai ns

,he thinks that i t must be Wa i t - ham.

18 th/zap D rokenf ord’

s Reg ister , p. 1 95, vo l . 1 .

2SomersetA rchaeolog ica l

a nd N ationa l H istory Society P roceed ings , vol . 49

34

On i nqu i ring of a po l i te porter whether this is so , he hearsthat i t i s cal led Wit- ham . O therwise the long stretch of whatmust once upon a t ime have been moorl and would tempth im to th ink of the withy beds, growing there abundantly inthe hammes or low meadow lands, as a sat isfactory explana

t ion of the name . Now i n the leisure of wai ting on the platform he th inks ofWide- hamme , for so i t is . Then again herewas the earl ies t settlement in England of the Carthusians .The fi rst house of the order i n this county was founded andendowed here by Ki ng Henry I I . This goes back to A .D. 1 180.

They were dressed in shabby white cloth,meaner and poorer

than other monks . Therefore , i t natural ly occurs to ustha t i t i s the

“White - ham , from the monkish habi l iments .

This is a natura l exp lanation , but deceptive because it isfound as Witcham in the Domesday record a century earl ier

,

and then i t i s Witham cum Ulftone . The latter name is,we

bel ieve , obsolete . I t is, however, i nterest ing as possib ly giving a clue to the origin of the name Witham . For Ulftone isa shortening of the much longer name Wulfweard ton .

Wulfweard was a Saxon thane of large and ub iqui tous estatein Somerset .

”He held Staunton Drew . And hence it is ,

perhaps , that we meet th is name in Woo lard i n Pub low, andwe find i t in Woolverton as a place and a persona l name . He

died in A .D. 1085, and he was ca l led Wulfweard Wyte . I t isp leas ing to note tha t he survived the wreck of Saxondom .

”

To show his county importance we find tha t he is named inthe charter by which the Conqueror restored Banwel l to the

C hurch of St . Andrew of Wel ls . He attended the Queen’

s

Court at Wi l ton so la te as A .D. 1072 . Why he was cal led le

myt, or the“l i tt le man ,

”we know not . That this personal

name Whi te o r Wyt or Wi t i s connected with p lace - namesseems clear from the two Witcombes, one in Martock andthe other in Corton Denham , both spel t in DB . Wite- combe .

The latter belonged to the C rown and was held by KingWi l l i am the Conqueror after the death of this Wulfweard

Wyte . Wulfweard Wyte held in Corfe - ton (Corton) andhence the name Wyt- combe arose . Witham is spe l t in the

Gheld - i nquest ( 1084) Witen - ham , and so later“ Beside thisWhi te there was another Wyt, known as Roger Witen , sup

35

posed to be the same as Roger de Corcel le . That is to say ,men beari ng th is cognomen , who were not known as saints ,were great l andowners i n the p re - conquest times , and left thei rnames in the p l aces where they were best known . And veryl ikely from some of these wel l- known fami l ies sp rang theWhites who were sai nts .

”And hence such names as Whi te

wych (perhaps) andWhitenel l ( i n Emborough) . The derivation of White- stone i s, however, usual ly taken from the exist

ence of a cromlech . We also find Whi tley and Whi tfield .

Whatley is a lso Whi tley, but requi res to be looked a tseparate ly .

36

CHAPTER IV .

Pla ce - names from local chara cteristics .

The physica l characteri stics have most natura l ly been sug

gestive of names to the loca l i t ies in which any markedspecia l i ty is found . When there are riva l cl aimants to thehonour of giving rise to a p lace - name , to ascertain the

presence or absence of these may sometimes be a determiningtest .A wide induction of p lace - names , not merely in Somersetshi re , but i n England , and not simp ly in England , but inEurope , shows that among the root - elements we have suchfactors as attractive scenery, where wi ldness and beauty en

force attention . I t must , however, be carefu l ly noted thatthe feel ing for beauty of landscape scenery is qui te modern

,

and wi l l scarcely account for very ancient names,whose

origi ns go back to a remote antiqui ty . Butmarked physicalpecul iari ties of height in reference to the surrounding district

,

or of dep ression , of dead level , of i n let and island , ofpecul i ari ty of form , colour, readi ly gave the name to a spot .An examp le of this is found in the name Cadbury . Lelandspeaks of i t i n a kind of ecstasy : Good God what deepditches ! what high ramparts ! what precip ices l In short i treal ly appears to me to be a wonder both of art and nature .

”

South Cadbury is s i tuated at the extremity of a s teep ridge ofhi l ls nearly south of Castle Cary . The o ld topographersca l led i t Camalet . From this popular association i t derivesi ts romantic i nterest . Cadbury Cast le

”may once have

been an is l and . The si tuati on is certai n ly strik i ng enough toenforce a name . Bury is no doub t berg , a hi l l or burg , a protected p lace , and Cad the Cymric Cadaer, a fortification . Itmay , however , be a personal name from Gadda or Gedda , and

so mean Gadda’

s camp . Cadbury is sometimes derived from

Cath byrig . Cad i s said to mean a batt le , and we read of itas That Cathbregion where Arthur (says Nennius) routed

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38

early 14th century1 i t i s C ranmoor, and even as early as1241

”2 i n the Reeves Accounts of Crenemere,

”A .D.

The name does not occur in the Taxatio E cclesiastica . Cranmoor is thus to be exp lained as meaning Heron -mere

,or fen

.

This so lution is not , however, a l together without doubt .C rene is p robab ly an abbreviation of a persona l name

,just as

i n a simi lar fash ion Carhampton (Gaerwen - ton) becomesCramdon . The prefix denotes the owner of the mi l l (mella)and the moor . The local name Crandon is found . Leo4

derives i t from the bi rd the crane , and instances such cases asCronuchhamm, Crans- lea , Cranwyl . We may also point outthat

“

The C rane i s a local name of land in the Parish ofBampton (Oxon) and the C ranes - foot i s a manoria l mark inthe l 6th century . Green - town , a local name in Li tton, i sp robab ly a corrup tion of Crean - don . The bird name ob

v iously wel l sui ts as a name of the moor , but i s not so l ikelyfor the name of the mi l l save as a manoria l mark

,or the

name of the owner Crina .M r. Early5 i s i ncl ined to exp lain the p refix Cat, as found insuch names as Cats- ash, Cat- cott ( i n Moorl inch) , and the like,as due to the presence of the wi ld cat, now disappeared . Theorigin of many of these names in Cat and Cad i s, i n fact, inthe personal name Gadda . Cat- cott is, however, shortenedfrom Caldecott, as i t actual ly reads i n the 12th century, andthe form Cad icottof Domesday Book is the Norman omissionof a harsh consonanta l combination . Calda is a personalname , as i n Caldewine or Galdewine (Go ldwin) . Cholwell asa l oca l name may be compared .

The Wi ld boar no longer frequents Evercreech . TheAnglo- Saxon for boar is eofer, which appears in modern Ger

man as Eber . Creech is a crack or crag in the land formation,where bold shou lders of rock are l ifted over the sky- l ine , forwhich the modern Welsh is crug . Evercreech is thus mostnatural ly exp lai ned as “ the boar- crag,

”and a descrip tive

name . In Bedfordsh i re there is a p l ace - name Ever- ton,i nterpreted to mean the boar- farm !? Probab ly, however,

1Reg ister of B ishop D rokensf ord . Cha rters , 2 05 H a rt. Rol l , G. 2 4.”Sam

erset a nd DorsetN otes and Queri es, iv .

, 244.

40 71. Ang lo- Sax on Namesof P laces , p. 1 5 .

5 In Somerset and Dorset Notes, Gr’e.

8Skeat : Cambri dg e Antiquarian Society , vol . x l ii.

39

th is is Bofor’

s”tun , the owner

’s name . The Rev . W .

Barnes , the Dorset poet, says that Ever - creech is i n rea l i ty ofCe l tic origi n , that is , Efa r- crug . Efwr sti l l stands in a Welshdictiona ry wi th the meaning of Cow- parsn ip . Crug occursoften i n Welsh p l ace - names , and is , of course , crag, or a knol l .The bil l on which the cow - parsnip

, according to thi s poet icfancy, grew a thousand years ago , has passed into a p roverb ,as o ld as C reech H i l l ,

”where i t wi l l be observed

,as in other

cases , the mean ing of C reech has been as utterly forgotten aswhen we say the River Avon . In truth

, as the wi ld cat mustbe unwi l l ingly let go so must the wi ld boar of the woods .Ever (Eber, B ofor) , i s a personal name , found simp ly as aman

’

s name , and in compounds as Eoformaer (how easi lyi nterp reted as the boars

’

moor or mere) , Eoferhardt (Everard) ,Eoferwine and Eoforwulf, and the l ike . Eofer i n th is man ’ sname was l ikely enough in i ts u l t imate origin taken from theanimal name . The spel l i ngs of Evercreech are interesting .

Domesday Book is Evercriz, and later spe l l ings are Evercruch,Evercriche , Everchryche , Evercreach , and Everchyrche .

Nei ther i n Goatcombe, nor Goathi ll or Goathursthave wecertai n traces of the herds of goats kep t by our forefathers .Gat- combe is yat or gate combe . The others are noticed later .Somerse t has a lways been a pastoral county . I ts shel teredval leys , where the sweet sights of field and wood have a morethan human lovel i ness

,which cannot be expressed in lord ly

pomp of language , have always been the home of grazing kineand browsing sheep . The names of the numerous combsrecal l the ci rcumstance . These vales , of a l l shapes, sizes , and

characteri st ics , with thei r loaded orchards, cool shades , andwarm ti l th

,have in tertwined the l ife of nature and the l i fe of

man inseparab ly . The landscape is a background to humani ty .

The speech less rocks and trees , and sea te l l us , i n the names ,of the steady

,undeviating stream of l i fe of man with his joys

and sorrows,and of the beasts of the field that served his ends .

I n the West Country combs are particul ar ly abundant .

Where the vi l l age or hamle t has not th is appel lation thereis wi th great frequency a combe sometimes remarkab lyp icturesque and attractive , as Brockley Combe and Harptree

Combe .

40

We shal l p resen tly note the various meanings of Cwm,

Gumb ,”usual ly thought of as purely Cel tic . I t is thought

that Brockley Combe reminds of the badger . A S.

— broc,a badger ; and Cornish is brock , and I rish b roc . Broc

however, also means a b rook . And Brog, Broc, ,as in

Brocces- ham , i s a persona l name . The name Brock i s common . Again the animal and the man touch , for the personalname Brock and Brog may arise from the animal name . Ifwe find Goblin Combe i n Yatton , the wi ld character of therocks, p resenting features of romantic i nterest , mimic battlements , and rocky p innacles terminating in C leeve Toot , aresufficient to suggest the name .Of the pastora l character of the county the names give someevidence . Grass for kine and pasture for sheep have ever beeni ts marks . And so we have , i t i s thought , Shep - ton (D.B.

Scept- tona) as meaning Sheep - town . Perhaps, however, thisis Sceat- ton , as Sceaf and Seep are mere dia lect ica l variations .The name Sceaf , Sceaft, was an extant name , wel l known .

We read of a connection of Alfred the Great bearing thisname . The Anglo - Saxon for sheep is sceap and seep ; th is exp lanat ion of Shepton is thus the most di rect , but may be misleading . Shipham is spel t in Domesday Book Scipe - ham ,

Sipeham.

Chip- stable i s usual ly derived from the Saxon ceap , whichmeans cattle , and the roo t stap le ,

wh ich means first of al l a p i le,a p lace enclosed with p i les or stakes , and so a catt le enclosure .

The Domesday spel l ing is C ipestapula . Both words appear inmodern E ngl ish i n the wel l - known and welcome word cheap ,after the original has undergone various modifications ofmeaning, which are easi ly traceab le ; and stap le , which meansvarious things, from a wal l - fastener or peg, to i ts use in sucha compound as stap le - trade . The wel l - known town of Chipen

ham was long a great catt le mart , and so i ts meaning is takento be the market dwel l ing .

”In the M iddle Ages wool was, as

is wel l known as important an industry in England as i t is today in Austral i a . I n one church at least i n the neighbourhoodof Bristo l— the l i tt le church of St . N icholas and St . Mary,Stowey, there is carved on the north wal l near the chancelend a pai r of shears, the sign of the wool - stap ler of the middle

4 1

ages . But i n sp i te of th is p l aus ib i l i’ty i t is here a lso morel ikely, that as i n the case of Chippenham

,i n Cambridgesh ire ,

the derivation is Cippa, a persona l name . The dative case

C ippenhamme occurs i n a charter of King Alfred,

1 and is spel tC ippenhamm. Hence Ch ipstab le must mean Cippa

’

s enclosure .

When we pass on to p lant l i fe , we find in the extreme southwest end of the county a vi l l age bearing the name of Selworthy(Domesday Book , Selewrda) . The word does not yie ld upi ts secret to the casua l i nqui rer . I t is pure Saxon

,however

,

and te l l s us of forest l ands (as some other names do) which

have disappeared or dwindled into mere l i tt le woods or p icturesque t i ny copses and kno l ls , giving entrancing variety tothe l andscape , especia l ly when wi thin sound of the wavesc rashing on the shingle . The ending Weorthi often occurs

,

and means a farm or enclosed land,as i n C los or C lose

worthy (Domesday Book , C loueswrda) Tatworth ,and Chel

worth . Worth is a descrip tiv e ending sp read through England

( as e .g . , Chatsworth) and Germany . All s tudents of p lacenames are aware of the va lue of comparisons

,s ince the same

name assumes the most varied shapes . Sel means sa l low ,

sal ig i s a wi l l ow, and both words are derived fromthe Gothic root sabada . We seem , according to modern

p l ilo logy, to have the p recise ana logue of the name of thel i tt le vi l l age of Selworthy in the German Sel igenstadt . I t maybe noted , however, that i n a classification of p l ace - names ofGermany, Sel igenstadt is coup led wi th Hei l igenstadt , i . a . , thec ity of the sai nts . This is p robab ly wrong , and Selworthy isthe wi l low farm . Selwood Frome is on the Ffraw, and soi s the wi l low wood on the Frome . I t has been suggestedthat se l is Saxon for large and that Selwood accordingly meansl arge wood . I t had rece ived a name in Bri tish of s imilarsign ificat ion , Coitmater,

2 “the great wood .

”There are

many p laces i n France of th is name Saule, the wi l low, e .g . ,

Sai l ly . I n French and Belgian topography Sei lle as an affixmeans a wood . Hence with this origi n the word Selwoodwould be a doub let , and Selworthy would mean

“the

lKemba ll Cod . D itl . ii. , 1 1 5 , l . 2 .

9Pul lan on Loca l Nomenclatu re. London

Longmans, B rown 8I Green, 1 857.

42

farm in the wood . Af Domesday there were forty acres ofwood out of a hundred at th is p lace .

Names of trees have undoub ted ly given use to p lace- names,

but each case requi res separate examination,as there are

names which have been easi ly corrup ted,and readily

accounted for by appeal to loca l ci rcumstances,and forest

scenery . I t wi l l be found that the elements ac,ash

,haec

,do

not i nvari ab ly mean the trees , oak , ash , and beech . There isa vi l lage under Lansdown , Bath , cal led Beach, where thereare no beeches , and where the so i l is not sui tab le for theirgrowth .

1 This we interpret as the form of the Saxon personalname Beag (with soft g) . Aesc is an undoubted personal name .

B ick ley , Bickenhal l , Ash and Ashcott , and other names mayrefer to the Ash - tree and the Beech - tree , and in some cases do .

M artock is not the M arket - oak . In the I ndex Vi llarum2 i tmay be seen how numerous are p laces with the affix or prefixash , whi le such a p lace - name as Chew stands a lmost alone, asdoes the p lace - name M artock . There are , of course , manyAsh - tons . A l ler, at least i n some names (not al l) , is the aldertree , as E l lershaw, a persona l name , means a lder-wood .

The b i rch and the a lder were characteristic Somerset trees .We have Berk - ley (Biorca- leah) i n a disguised form . In themarshes of Somerse t alder trees were a marked feature, and ifwe do not discover many p lace - names certain ly derivable (asAl ler

, Alre ,Alra) from the tree , i t i s because the Saxon had

not so much gen ius for the p icturesque as for the practical .

Though as Taci tus says , the sett lers fix thei r abode by spring,or p l ain

,or in wood , as sui ted them , and each person makes

a clearing round his home ,” they were l i tt le l ikely to cal l a

spot by such a name as Primrose H i l l , and so i t is , to begin

with,un l ikely that Claverton i s from C lote, a water- l i ly! and

so the name means the vi l lage by the ford of the water l i ly .

In Dorsetsh i re the water l i ly is ca l led the C lo te .

4 This, orthat the burdock is meant is hardly worth discussion . TheDomesday Book spe l l ing is Clafer- ton , and on this basis

1Place- names d eriv ed f rom P la nts in the neighbou rhood of B ath : Bath Nat

H ist. , see Procee d ing s, vol . v i. , No . ii . , p . 1 32 .

2A lphabetica l Table ofa l l the Cities, Pa rishes, Vi l lag es , tire , of places in E ng land and Wa les :Adams, Lond on, 1680 .

3E lla combe, i bid .

4Barnes'

Poems of Rura l Lif e.

43

various conjectura l etymologies have been put forth . Anearl ie r spel l ing found in Kemble

’

s Codex Diplomaticus is

Cl at - ford - ton , of which the Domesday spel l ing is a softening .

In the 14th century the spe l l i ng is C latfertune .

1 Claytis awessex word , mean ing clay , and hence the meaning is C l ay - ford .

There i s a C lay- ford in Wi ltsh ire and one i n Southampton .

Without examination i t is not for us to say whether C laverdon in Warw ickshi re , and C laverly i n Salop , are shortenedforms l ike C l averton . There is a persona l name Glaed ,

which wou ld become G l a t and C l at , as Slaed becomes Sla tt ,i n popu lar pronounciations. The name is clearly descrip tive .

The e lm - tree is not a native tree ; the wych - elm is . Thename ulrnus i s Lati n . I t is a tree introduced into Englandfrom the south - eas t of Europe , and i t is a rel ic of the longRoman occupation of more than three hundred years . I tmust have sp read s lowly .

“In Eve lyn

’

s time,”we are to ld ,

“the elm tree was not found in Shropshi re and severa lcounties .

”I t may thus have happened that the presence of

one , l ate p l anted , would readi ly give i ts name to a spot .Nevertheless, there are instances of what appear to be a confusion of the tree wi th personal Saxon names , as , for examp le ,i n Ald - helm

,and some sim i lar- ending names dea l t wi th in

la ter chap ters on persona l racia l names . Emborough i s an

examp le .

How possib le i t is to be mistaken in supposing that a p lacename is local ly descrip tive may be i l lustrated by a reference tothe customs

,which p revai led , of the symbol ic marking of

land . M r . Wickham2 has an interesting col lection of examplesof field names so derived

,of which we only ci te Owl

’

s Nest i nKi lmersdon

,and Swan ’ s M ead in Wel low . These symbol ic

names were the owner ’ s mark . This accounts for manypecul iar local field designations . What has al ready been said

on C rene -mel la,now Cranmore , may be compared .

1 Cha rtu la ries of B ath P riory , i . 29, 53 , 74.

2Records by Spad e and Terrier, p. 50 .

44

CHAPTER V .

Local Characteristics— Coombes .

One of the commonest names in Somerset for spots lying ina hol low is that of bottom . Bottoms in Corn ish dia lect areval leys, old stream works , stents . 1 Streams are loose stonescontaining tin , which exp lains stents, as stream means tin inCel tic Cornish . Bothem i s a lso found , as a d ia lectical word,for a water course . 2 Usual ly there is a water course in thesebottoms as i n Stowey Bottom , also comica l ly cal led Fiddler

’

sGreen . Butp laces lying down in a hol low are i n the southwest of England usual ly ca l led combes . There is no commoner word in the south -west .I t is usual ly considered that th is term , so fami l iar to us, is theword which in a l l cases i s derivab le from the Cel tic word cwm.

I t is commonly thought to be a rel ic of the language of the oldBri tish inhab i tants . The Welshman sti l l has the word cwm,

a va l ley . But we must not fa i l to poin t out that words l ikethis, and wi th this afii nity, are found in other languages . Itsounds somewhat start l ing to those who p lace impl ici t rel ianceon such a sole origin for the word to read the definition .

Gumb is another name for an extensive sheet of water, thatis, a running sheet .

”3 Of course , l ike a bottom , a combe hasvery frequently a stream running th rough i t . Now th is wordcumb, meaning a stream of water or streamlet , is by the sameauthority derived from a Norse word , kumpr, which is obv iously a l l ied to the Saxon word comb , meaning a l iquidmeasure . The Greek knmbe and Sancrit humbhas both meana vesse l , basin, or cup . Thus the word is more or less foundin al l l anguages of the Aryan type , i n forms variously disguisedand wi th divergencies of meaning, yet preserving the fundamental idea . Parts borderi ng on ponds and streams are i n oldFrench ca l led cumb . We have then the Saxon combe, mean

1Ha lwel l z D ictiona ry of Archa ic and Provincia l Words .

2Ang lo- Sax on Names

cf Places Leo .

8I bid , p. 82 .

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46

the majori ty of the p lace - names are genu ine hol lows,val leys

,

o r bottoms , sometimes with and somet imes wi thout a stream .

The purport of a l l th is is surely c lear , namely, that i t is notcorrect to exp lain Cel tic cwm , a val ley, for i t is equa l ly Saxon ,Norse , and I rish . Thus the word has wider possib i l i ties in itthan is genera l ly supposed .

A combe of specia l in terest is that of Eng lish Combe, inwhich parish a lso is found the loca l name of Eng lish Batch.

I t is seductive , i nteresting, and enticing to find in these namestraces of the boundary l i ne between the rivals , the Engl ish andthe Welsh or the Saxon and the Bri t ish in qui te early days

,

and be l ieve that th is Southern dyke forms the boundaryl i ne after the battle of Derham ,

A .D . between these hos

ti le peop les . 1 According to this the Welsh held the east sideand the E ngl ish the west side of the fence as far as the Parrett ;a nd Engl ish Combe and Engl ish Batch are parts of the l ine .

After a prolonged study of p lace - names i t i s somewhat unfortunate to those in search of origi ns romantic , heroic or historical , to rea l ise that names were not usual ly given in thisfashion , to be so convenient for historica l theory as to boundaries of rival peop les . The mai n question is what do thespel l ings tel l us ? What do para l le l names in England or partsof Germany te l l us if these are discoverab le ? I f the facts, thusascertai nab le

,bear out the theory, we are more than content,

gratified , and rejoiced . Few care pat ien tly and impartial ly totry to unravel the skein

,and those who have tried least are

often most confident even of si l l i nesses . The Domesday Book

( 1086) spel l i ng is I ngel is- combe . The Taxatio E cclesiastica

( 1291 ) drops the n ,”and reads Ige l iscombe . In A .D. 1362 it

is again Ingles - combe , and Engles - comb in the reign of HenryVI . Ingles - batch natural ly fo l lows these spel l ings , and in the14th century names of vi l ls i t is E ngel

’

s - batch . The spel lingo f the T .E . taken alone wou ld give us a pretty historical solution . Igles - combe is , we might say, the Welsh Eglws- combe,but, of course , Eglws i s i tse lf a loan word from the GreekE cclesia , meaning a church . Then the p lace - name would

mean the Church - combe . Very interesti ng ; i nasmuch as

lA rchaeolog ica l j ourna l , vol . xv i. p. 1 05.

47

there was very early a church existent there and the church ofI ngles- combe was given in A .D. 1 1 12 by the Lady Hawisia (aname rela ted to the word Huish) de Gurney to the C lun iacPriory of Bermondsey , and by the C lun iacs in thei r turn wasmade over i n A .D. 1239 to the monks of Bath . Butwe cannotthus ignore the spel l ings that persist throughout with the let ter

n ,”Inge l

’

s combe , and we must conc lude that the form in theTaxatio E cclesiastica is a case of imperfect spel l ing . Anothera ttractive ci rcumstance which has no doub t suggested the ex

p lanat ion above a l luded to is the fact that the Wandsdyke

the border dyke or ridge—o ld h igh German , as a l readysaid , want , a wal l or side , and the o ld Saxon and Dutch wand)runs th rough the parish . On th is dyke beacon fi res may havebeen l i t . As early as the 9th century we have the word Ingle ,and i n Gae l ic Engeal meaning l ight , fi re . These must be seta s ide , however attractive , when we find al l over the countryE ngle - fields, I ngle - leas , Ingle - hams , and Inge l - tons, wherethere were ne i ther boundary nor wand dykes , nor beaconfi res . Then when we travel over to Germany we find Ingleheim and other s imi lar names . The evidence then clearly isthat th is i s the Saxon personal name Ingold , that is I ngwald ,and i t is I ngold

’

s combe , and Ingold ( Ingwald’

s) batchshortened to Inge l . The way i n which i t has become Engl ish

Combe is clearly traceable i n the spel l ings . The other side ofthe ridge ought , we might be tempted to th ink, to have been

cal led Welsh Combe , if one side was the combe of the Engl ish ,but we have found no trace of this . And in German Ingelheimis Iugwald - heim

,the home of Ingo ld , or Ingwald . We have

tracked thi s out at length to show the method pursued , andwe may add ,

that we rea l ly feel vexed if the evidence wi l l not

a l low us to fa l l i n with pretty theories . As Combe is by i tse lfan indefini te designation

,we are not surprised to find that

most of them have a disti nguishing ep i thet . M any are doub le

names,and are noted under that heading, as Abbots , or Abbas

Combe, or have a personal name as p refix . Ads-Combe, i n

Overstowey,is the abbreviation of a persona l name or the

s imp le name Ad or Aad , a known and extant name . There is

s t i l l the name Addy .

There are a lso the loca l names Ashcombe, Balcombe, i n

48

North Petherton , and as there is Balford , th is is an evidenceof the Saxon persona l name Beald , and Bald and Bal l and

Ba lford is Bealdfrith .

1 Baldaeg was the name of a Saxon god .

Birdcombe, i n Wraxa l l , i s p robab ly descrip tive , but is quitepossib ly merely a corrup tion of Beorht or Bert (an owner

’

s

name elsewhere found) , as Brinscombe is the name Beorn (asin Beornhard) .Ramscombe, i n the Quantocks, i s doubtless the personalname Hram, and is shortened from Hraban, a raven . Thename Raban is sti l l found in Somerse t i n a clergy l ist ; Hra

banus was the name of a wel l—known theologian in the 10thcentury in Germany . Thus the rea l exp lanat ion of al l thesenames is not from Ram, a male sheep . If monkish writersrendered Rams- ey insu la arietum, th is only proves that theytrans lated into Latin thei r own idea of the interpretation and

meaning of a Saxon name .

Syndercornbe (Domesday Book , Sindercoma) is in C latworthy . Sindercombe was one manor

,and M idd leton

another , i n the parish of C l a tworthy . The A . S . Sinder meansscoria , s lag . The phrase is not necessari ly connected withcoa l -workings or mine débris . Where this word occurs incompound p lace - names i t is possib le to interpret i t as a namedescrip tive of the permanent physica l , or accidental localcharacteristics . Synders and scori a are found in this combe .

Z

Again , sondern is a German word meaning to separate , andi n AS . synder, syndor, meant separate , s ingular, pecul iar,private . Thus Sunderland , i n Durham ,

i s i nterpreted as

meaning separate , p rivi leged land .

3 Sunder - edge,Sundridge,

i n Kent , i s sa id to mean the privi leged p lace on the ridge .

”

What i t was privi leged for we cannot tel l . The separationmay perhap s be physical or lega l . There are i n the parish ofStowey lands cal led Sinderlands. A deep gul ly wi thout much

obvious reason for i ts existence separates i t from the next“ground This etymologica l exp lanation , however, does

not suffice for M idd leton,which is the personal name M i lda .

I t is thus sti l l possib le , then , in the other case prima facie the

name is due to ownership,and is accounted for by the Saxon

1See the Chapter on Fords .

2Wickham Records by Spade and Terrier, p. 257.8Edmond s T races of H istory in Place- names .

49

l ady’

s name , Syndthryth , a lso spel t Sinedrud is, or Sindred .

The final syl l ab le drud is is the same as trude in the prettyname Gertrude . Syndred or Sintrude

’

s combe could becomeSindercombe qui te easi ly . The ownership names are everywhere so abundant as to suggest tha t th is is often the mostl ike ly exp lanation . Butwhen a name (unl ike Gertrude) hasutterly d ied out , and no pretty gir l now bears i t , i t i s not received back again wi th open arms , a l though i t i s feminine .

Sind , the fi rst component , i s found in Sinderbeo rht and Sind

perht. Whi le i t is usefu l to point out the possib i l i ty of th isexp lanation , i nasmuch as i t i s the fact that the i ron industrywas carried on in early days in the western part of the county ,and i t i s stated that a flourish ing industry once existed a tSundercombe and Treborough , and many Roman rel ics werefound among the heaps of i ron i n the district , the mostna tu ra l exp lanation sti l l is that i t was named from these existing scori ae .

Is Ho lcombe i n a hol low? As i t cannot be anything else

( as i s supposed) than ho l lowcombe, that i s, hol low- hol low,i t

must be i n a va le . As a matter of fact , an old church , nowdisused , l ies i n a dingle i n some fields a mi le away from thevi l l age . The name has thus been transferred from the o ld tothe new vi l l age h igher up the land . This is Holcombe , nearRadstock . There is also , we bel ieve , an Holcombe in Ashol t .Ashol t is near Bridgwater . The church of Ashol t , or Aisho lt ,i s h idden away in a smal l combe . As the name combe a l readydenotes a ho l low,

the ho l i n the Ho lcombe has been explai nedas real ly from hol t , a wood . Ho lton means (Domesday Book,Haltona , Al - tone) , accord ing to this , the wood - town , and

Ho lcombe the wooded combe . We may as wel l connect , fo rthe l ight i t throws on the severa l p lace - names , Ho lford ( i n

Lydeard St . Lawrence and e lsewhere) , spel t in a two - fold wayin Domesday Book—Hu lofort and Ho lefort. In Register ofabbey of Athelney i t is ca l led Ho leford St . M ary M agda lene .

Now Hulfritwas (A .D . 943) the name of a Cornish dux , andthese spel l ings show that we have not here to do with a hol lowford or a wood - ford

,but wi th an owner

’

s name far back inh isto ry

.This i s the same name as Ealdfrith . And so a l so the

l Pul lan on Loca l Nomenclature, p . 1 25 .

50

other names are l i ke ly enough the persona l names Ealh andHealh . Hol ton is the tun of Healh . I n the Bath Chartulary1

Hol ton ( if the same) is spel t Healhtune .

2 Hea l is sti l l a persona l name . Ho lcombe thus may not be the hol lowho l low,

”but the combe of Healh . At any rate Healh (and

Ealh) i s a name found compounded in Ealhwine , Eahlwulf,and other names . There is also the p lace- name Alcombe

,in

Dunster, which is spe l t Ancoma i n Domesday Book. Thev arious spe l l ings of the latter are Alcombe, Aldcombe , Awlecombe . Aucoma i s c learly a softened Norman spel l ing of thesame name as Ho lcombe , unless i t is the persona l name Ealhcyma , of which , however , there are no recorded examples ,though Ealh is combined , as above said , with any number ofnames , Ealhfrith , Ealhe lm, Ealhgyth ; and there might beEalhcym. The p lace - name Aldwich i s not the old vicus

(Latin) for wick or hamlet , that is the old hamlet, but anass imi lation from the persona l name Ealdwig . An ancientspel l ing is Ealdwicke .

Shoscombe would natural ly be regarded as a combe ofcopses .

”Very pretty .

In Summer when the shawes be sheynoAn d leves be la rg e and long ,

Hit is ful l mery in feyre foresteT o hear the foulys song .

"—Old Song .

The earl iest spel l ing we have met with appears in A .D. 1298,when i t is Schascombe . I n the reign of Henry V I . i t is Shevescombe . We have noticed that a local pronounciation introduces a s l ight sound of

“f , Schafscombe . In addi t ion , in the

county there is Chascombe, now Chacombe, erroneously in

terpreted as Chalk - combe ,3 and there is a lso a hamlet nameShascote . These three throw l ight on each other and clearlypoint to a persona l name . As an i l lustration of simi lar changesShurton i s spel t Schreveton and Shurreton ,

which final ly is

shortened to Shurton . But for the spel l ings no one would

guess th is origin of Shurton, and there i t seems clear that it isthe

“town of the shi re - reeve , Scir- gerefa ( long e) . This

lKemble '

s Codex D iplomaticus, No . d cx civ .

2Hea ld dat: sing : bea le is very

common in O . E . Charters . Skeatsays itmeans a hollow. T here is a

h amlet Hea lh on the West s ide of Curry R ive l l . T he persona l name

H ea lh occurs in the pa rchment reg ister of the parish of Stowey, mA.D. 1 570 .

8Ki rby'

s Quest. Preface, p. x xx ii .

5 1

Sceaf i n Sheves- combe is also found in Shapwick, and possib lyin Shep- ton . Sceaf i s a notab le name . The descent of theroyal house of Cerd ric (Chard , Cheddar, Ceodr) was tracedeven by a Christ ian B i shop (Asser) up to VVoden, who was theson of T realaf , who was the son of Frithawulf, who was descended from Sceat,

“the son of Noah ,

” who was born in theArk .

”And Sceaf was a common name

,and is connected with

the history of Alfred in Somerset . 1 And remember to pronounce Sceaf

”with a soft sound of the

“sc, Sheaf , and

not wi th a hard c ,”or you wi l l stumble at th is word .

I t is when pa tien tly p lodding through the l ists of localboundary names i n descrip tions of ownerships , private ormonastic , and in the interest ing accounts of perambulations offo rests , that you meet with numerous names which overthrowyour fa i th i n merely etymologica l exp lanations of p lace - names

( repos ing on no obvious foundations of fact) , whi le atthe sametime they aff ord a clue to the exp lanation of other nameswhich are better known , and sti l l extant . For i nstance, inthe Cartulariurn Saxonicum, in a boundary descrip tion , youread sic ad rivulum Neg lescumb. Neg lescumb i s the nameof a stream according to this . Gumb here may be directly

connected with kumpr, a water course . And Negles is d istinctly i l l uminative . I t surely throws l igh t on the origi n ofthe p lace- names Nai l sea and Nai lsworth ( i n G loucestershi re) .Neagle i s a persona l name , Negle , Nagle would be p ronouncedNayle . Naa lsoe is a Norwegi an name, i n which oe is anis land

,and Naal (Nayle) the viking

’

s name (or a personalname) who carried h is spoi l there . Nai lsea a l ready mentionedmay be compared . There are three Domesday subtenu resmentioned under the name N ige l , one of whom , N ige l

Medicus, the conqueror’ s doctor , was a l arge p roperty owner

in various counties . So far as we can make out from noticesof the name

,th is may be the I rish name N ie l , Saxonised , or a

cognate name . I n the same descrip tion is Leo lles- camb, i n a

foresta l perambulation,and ca l ls to mind the loca l name of

Li llicornb, i n L i t ton . Li l l ies grow there , and therefore i t is

supposed wi thout question to be the Li ly Combe . Very

1 The name Sca ife is stil l extant.

52

natural , and very possib le . The compari son , however, suggestsa personal name in each case . This idea is further strengthenedwhen you examine such p lace - names as Li lstohe (Domesday

Book , Lule - stoc) , i n the hundred of Wi l l i ton . In addi tion isLu lsgate, i n Fel ton Common , Lul lington (Lo l ig- tona) and

Lu l lworth . Further afie ld are Li lbourne , i n Northampton ,and Li l l is Hal l , i n Salop . There are simi lar names in Germany a l l derived from the name Lol le , Lu l la . I t is indeedpossib le that Lilcombe , i n Litton , throws l ight on the originof that parochia l name . I t is spel t Li- tuna in Domesday

Book , and i t i s so spel t on a cha l i ce of 16th century date .

Now this m ight be Lil - tona , and the 1 has become assimi lated ,

or,if not

,i t i s far more l ikely the persona l name Luti ,

Liut, Lutto , Lioda, and Lyde , which l ast are Frisian forms .

I f th is be so , a Lyde has been associated wi th the neigh

bourhood to wi thin a decade or so . Lyte - ton is easi ly become

shortened into Li - ton .

In the same Carta of Adu lf of Tantan Taunton , A .D.

848) i n which Negles- combe is found , we also read ad rivulum

Beannancumb. Bunscornbe H i l l i s described as a ferny andwoody slope . The name is usua l ly taken to p ieces and

etymologica l ly i nterp reted as pen - i- combe , the head of thevale .

”No doubt i t answers to this descrip tion , and hence the

attractiveness and p lausib i l i ty of the exp lanat ion . Pen- i

combe is thus supposed to be thoroughly Ce l tic . Pen, cwm;but the spel l ing of Beannan - cumb te l l s a different tale . Itreminds us at once of Beannan- hangar , which is the originalspel l ing of the compressed word B inegar and may even carryus to Beannan-wyl for Banwel l and other names . Andwe see that Bean (Beouma , and Beon) was a name of owners ofproperty . These are here given at the risk of repeti tion tomake some attemp t to show the connection of names throughthe county .

There is one strange boundary mark worth mentioning . Iti s cal led Ceartuncombesford . I t seems to be a genuine ford .

Then a casua l examination finds the e lements combe, tun,ford , and , perhaps, stops at Cear as a batfler . I n realitythe tun is a mere misleading assim i lation . The name is

Carthegn or Garthegn (gar, a spear , and thegn , a thane) andcombes is the ending of the personal name Cyme , and so

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S4

find the variant C rockham in a l aw- sui t in the time of E l izabeth . I t i s natura l a l so to connect the p lace - name Crowthorne . We might wel l find in such a name the Cel tic Carw,

the stag,and so i t i s the Stagcombe .

”The Carew family

owned the manor , bu t before them the Biccomb fami ly . I tis curious that a John Croke and Hugh Bickham had a lawsuit

about the manor as l a te as the time of Henry VI I I . Is i t thenp roperly to be divided as Craw -Combe or as C roke - combe?as i t may eas i ly be ei ther . Crawthorne suggests Craw- combe

,

and that Croke - combe is a mere vagary of spel l i ng . The oneth ing fai r ly certain i s that Crow or Grawe is here , as in Crowthorn , a persona l name . In 960 A .D . Grawe is the name ofa feminine relat ive of Ethe lflaed , the second wife of KingEdmund the Fi rst . Personal names were given from animalnames . The animals were supposed to be typ ica l of the menor the women . The nob ler species of animals were chosen

for the emblem of the ship’

s p row or banner . They wereV iki ng symbols , l ike the dreaded b lack raven flag of theDanes . A crow as a woman

’

s name is exp l icab le . Or thelocal name Craw may be the Ce lt ic Garw, and is sti l l anan imal name . We do not know who or what the fi rst owner,Grawe , was . We want an earl ier spel l ing than that of Domesday to determine whether Crawcombe may not be a readingfor Crocum, that is , Croke - ham , and thus derivab le from thesame Scandinavian name Krokr . I t is to be noted thatcrawan1 hyl le is a boundary mark near Weston , Bath .

Thorncombe is in the same neighbourhood , for an i tineraryover the hi l l country of West Somerset and the Q uantocks

brings you through a constant succession of coombes . Thero l l ing steeps of Exmoor are channel led by many a deepcombe , each the bed of a torrent . Thorncombe has a barrow

on i ts crest . I t wi l l be thought that Thorn is just what theword says, a p lace abounding with thorns . In Germany thereis the triba l name Thurninga Diirningen i n Alsace . Thename Thorn is found in l ists of early sett lers , and is Norserather than Saxon . And so the personal names Thorne andThorn ing arise , and a number of p l ace - names in thorn and

dorn find th is natural exp lanat ion . The origi n , i f i t were

1B irch’

s Ca rtula rium Sax on icum, No . 1 009 . AS . Grawan g en. of Crawe.

T he g enitive ca se sug g estthatGrawe wa s a woman .

55

Saxon , might be shortened from Thorwin,which has a root

Thoran , meaning boldness .Weacombe i s a deep glen . The late author of The Harvest

of a QuietEye1 has in that book described the glory of Weacombe , or a glen just l ike i t . He ends

T hese are word s ,T here beau ty is their beauty.

But what ( for the p icturesque is not our present business) i sthe meaning of Wea- comb ? I t i s i n West Quantoxhead andis spel t (Domesday Book)Waie - comb . This seems to say thati t is the V

V

aycomb . And so i t is spel t Comparisonhelps us to rea l ise the possib i l i ties . To take each p lace - nameby i tse lf , as i f i t had no connection wi th other names , is su relya mistake , though this is the p l an usua l ly fo l lowed . I n Yattonthere is the loca l name Waymeram. And in Domesday Bookthe obso lete name Weimorham ( i n Congresbu ry) Pascua deWeimorhan . This is easi ly i n terp reted to mean just

“way

moor- ham .

”In real i ty i t is the personal name Wimer, that

i s, Wigmaer. Again in C rewkerne there is Wayford . This i smean ingless as the wayford , a l l fords are way- fords . I t i sshaped out of Wigfrith . Simi larly Weacombe i s Wig, Wih ,orWeoh combe , or even the comp lete personal nameWigcymas the origin of the modern nameWiccomb, Wickham . Andthere is a Wacame i n the parish of St . Cuthbert

’

s Wel ls, whichis usua l ly spel tWalcombe and exp lained accordingly, tha t is,i t i s the Weal th - combe or Welsh - combe . What is the earl iestspel l ing?B ittiscombe i s the name of a manor in Upton Nob le . Therewas such a manor i n the days of Queen E l izabeth . Now

Biddisham,i n Wedmore

,i s, i n Domesday Book , identified

with Bodeslega . In the names of vi l ls (1343) i t is Bydesham,

and from the tongue - cl ipped spel l ings arise the egregious anduninte l l igib le forms Bitsum and Bytsam. The la tter must beregarded as a rea l poser, i f i t stood by i tse lf wi th no l ightthrown upon i t by the histo ry of the spel l ings . These are

popular c l ipp ings of the word Bedes - ham the name is widesp read—Bed - borough , B iddenden , Biddenham , Bidd iscote,

Bidd is- ton, Bedford . No one would recognise in i t the name

1The late Rev . J . V ernon, Rector of S. Aud ries.

56

which in i ts Northumbrian owner has acqui red the permanentep i thet

“Venerab le ,

”Bede . Bitsum helps us to see that

Bittiscombe i s Bede’

s combe , and i n addi tion is the local nameBidstone, whi le Pitcombe, i n the hundred of Bruton , is inDomesday Book Pide - combe , and i n 1343 Bide - combe .Croscombe is i n Domesday Book Coriscombe . In a chartersupposed to go back to A .D. 705 the name is Corregis- comb .

Cross- comb may be a p lace of which th is name is a l i teraldescrip tion , for ought one knows, but even i f that is so theorigi n of the word is the name Correg wi th the g dropped.

This is not the only case of the sort, we note that Curry,i n Curry Rive l , is the name Cyrig . We make but l i ttle doubtthat al l these mysterious words i n Domesday Book—Cur in

Curl and , Curi in Curry M al lett, Chori i n North Curry (Nort

Chori) , Curry-Pool i n Charl inch (Domesday Book, Curriepol) , Churi i n Curry Rival , are al l words i n which— in themanner of which we find so many i l lustrations—the “ g ”

disappears in a vowel , and that the original name is Curig .

We find no indication of a Saxon origi n of the name . Crosscomb is thus, s trangely enough , and a lmost incredib le , whentaken at one leap—Cyrig

’

s combe . Corston is i nterpreted

Cors , Celtic , a bog . Now i n the l ight of the above may notthis be Coristun, Corig, or Curig, or Cyrig

’

s ton? In Domesday Book i t is s imp ly Cors- tuna, and the guess etymologistcould make noth ing of i t ; but we know that tun is usual lyp receded by an owner

’

s name .

Triscombe i s si tuate i n the C ross- combe just deal t with .

Here occurs a lso the local name Tris , or Tres- stoke . Theexp lanat ion given is to decompose Tris i nto three Celticwords, Tre - is- comb , the dwel l ing at the foot of the hi l l .

”

So i t is, and the si tuat ion suggests the derivation just as awaterfa l l i n a glen close by suggests for Treborough thederivation Tre -berw, the p lace of the water- fa l l , andTrendle for Trul l i s tre - yn - dol ,

” “ the habi tation of thebend of the stream but Treadles Ring is a l arge earthwork,said to be from Anglo - Saxon trend le , a ci rcle on a s lope of a

hi l l beh ind Bickno l ler . The word Le Trendle is often foundin old churchwardens

’

accounts ; the word trend le meanscorona .

“I t was the circul ar meta l ho lder of the wax candle

which hung before the a l tars of the saints .”C loses of pasture

57

on which the charges were made for the cost of these l ightswere ca l led T rend les, and the leases T rend leases.

1 We canthus understand why . Treborough is

,however

,para l le led by

T reberg, i n the Schwarzwald , and is of Saxon origin . Now

T riscombe and Tris- s toke on the ana logy of Cori’ s combe

suggests to us forcib ly that Tris is an abbreviated persona lname . At present we have found no early spe l l ing wi th thesupp ressed g ,

”though the name Thrag, Trag , or Trig does

exist as a persona l name in compound names ; and there isthe name Dryga . The name T reggan is s ti l l extan t in di rcetories .Drucombe Wood . The name has, l ike tha t of Stanton

Drew , suggested Dru idism and i ts homes . I t is east of a fa rmca l led Slowly Farm , and at no great distance on a s lope towards S lowly Wood are stone heaps . There is from thecharacter of these stones no obvious connection with Druidica lc i rc les . Dru is , we think , the Domesday Book persona lname Droga

,ca l led “ the young Dru ,

”as i n Stanton Drew .

1

H estercombe is a ham le t name i n the hundred of Taunton .

The spe l l ing is Hesticomb , whi le Hethcombe and Heticombare 17th century spe l l ings , i n which Hetcombe i s a shorteningof Hesticomb and Hethcombe , a further confusion . Thep reva lence of the sib i lant i s the true index . Haesta and Haeth

are both persona l names . The fact is , Haestacombe andHeeth - combe are two dist inct names . I n B l agdon there is a

field - name Hester’ s corner . This is not the Christ ian name

E sther or Hester, but the Saxon persona l name Haesta ,

H aestan ,found in the extant persona l name Hastings . In

C ambridgesh ire is the p l ace - name H iston , which is spel t H is

tone, Hestona ( 1 165) Hesti- tona .

2 Haestan is the name of a

Danish ch ief (A .D .

E lstone Combe, i n Yeovi l , is clearly the personal name

Ede lestan ,

4 which sometimes emerges as E stan and Easton .

Meeting wi th such a name we usua l ly consider where i t iseast ” of . E lston is in the hundred of Stone , or Stan , whichis p robab ly an abbreviation of a longer name . M any of thesepuzz l ing names begi nning wi th the p refix E l

”are ei ther

lWickbam : Records by Spa de and Terrier : Greg ory, Bath (no date).2Skeat

P lace- names of Cambridg esh i re, p . 1 1 .

3Onomasticon Sax on icum, p. 277 .

4Ad he lston and Ae lstan occurs a s names of Abbots and Duces”in

ea rly Ca rtu la r ies.

58

shortened forms of names or disguised forms . Elworthy, asa p l ace and personal name , i s not the worth or farm of El ,

”

but the persona l name Eah lweard , as Elborough i s Eahlbeorht. E lworthy is spel t Elworth (E lweard ) , and then withthe possessive Eyl lesworthy (Henry and then adopts theasp i rant as Hu l leworthe (Henry whi le in Domesday

Book , as Elwrda , i t i s nearer to the original form .

O ther combes are derivab le from the personal names whichare e lsewhere mentioned as But- combe (Buda or Beadu) , earlyspel t Budancombe . We may be disposed to derive i t fromthe Cel tic Cornish Boudi ,

”which means a cattle - shed

,but

of thi s we have no real evidence , and the analogy of namessuggest that th is has i ts origin i n an owner

’

s name , as does theearly spel l ing Budan , son of Buda . Buda may itselfbe a sho rtened word as the spel l ings sh ow in the case ofButleigh . Batt- combe i s from the name Bada , and may beonly another form of Beadu . Batt is an extan t personal name,and thus has a long ancestry .

H i l lcombe is a corruption apparent ly of I lecombe, fromthe river name , as the spel l ings indicate . This exp lains theapparent contradict ion in the name unless i t is supposed to bea combe on a h i l l . I t is Hyle combe in the 12th

century in the Muchelney Cartu lary . There are alsoI le wych and I lelegh , spel t H il legh . M ancombe is also apersonal name , Man, Manning . Gat- combe may be Godecombe ; Farncombe i n Doul ting i s Farewine combe . Smallcombe appears to be self- explanatory ; Wit - combe is, weimagine , the personal name Hwit, or i t may be another formof the word wid , as i n ‘

vVid - combe . Odcombe is Odda’

s

combe . Al l these receive fu rther not ice . M any combes takethei r names from the p laces to which they are adjacent . No

doubt there are many other combes in thi s l and of nooks

and corners, and we have met wi th many in charters andother documents too numerous to exhaust . They mightrepay investigation and tabul ation .

59

CHAPTER VI .

Names from local Characteristics .

Marsh and Moor Names.

The physica l features of Somerset, even in the present daysof dra inage and recl amation , are indicative of the immenseamount of marsh and moor once existent . The area of Somerse t is rough ly over a m i l l ion s ta tute acres

,out of which must

be taken nearly twenty thousand acres of estuaries and watersurfaces . The Somerset of the 1 1th centu ry was b igger thani t is now . Dorset and Bristo l have absorbed some . A good

part of th is to ta l was not reckoned in at the time of theDomesday survey . The vast moors which characterised thecounty were worthless fo r fisca l purposes . During this shortperiod from Domesday date , on the secu l ar scale of geo logict ime , no vast changes have taken p lace . The sea that ro l ledin to Banwel l , to Gl astonbury, and washed the steeps of Blagdon , where now i s an artificia l lake ( the reservoi r) made onthe spot where rol led the sea ,

”ceased long before Wi l l iam

the Conqueror measured his length on E ngl ish soi l , andwi tti ly said he had thus taken possession of i t . Butmarshesand moors have been transformed . Someth ing l ike onehundred and e ighty thousand acres ignored in the survey were ,for the most p art

,moorl ands . I t i s l i t tle wonder, therefore ,

that marsh and moor names are found in some abundance ,some obsolete

,some extant , some clear, and some disguised .

There are the wel l -known names of M arston, which is A . S .

M ersc,a marsh ; or Sedgmoor, a name derived from p lant

l i fe,the abundance of the characteristic secg, a sedge ; of

M erriott, usua l ly supposed to be a form of Mere - gaet , the

marsh gate or road ; of Wedmore, of which various exp lanations are given

,which find mention elsewhere ; and there are

less known names of interest here spoken of . There is a d is

t inction to be made between the words moor, mere , andmarsh

. E tymological ly and physica l ly a moor (mor) i s soft

60

yie ld ing bog or turfy bog . M ere is more common in thesense of marsh lands, boggy swine wa lks, and p laces adjoiningmorasses . 1 M arsh is from the m iddle Latin , mariscus. Otherwords i ndicat ive of marshy ground are ryse, a rush . Ruishton

is curiously spel t Rise- tune , Riston , Ruston , Ryscedon,Rys

ton , Risstetone ( 14th century) . The earl iest spel l ing is Risctune : Grant of land at Risctune by King Alfred to Denewulf , B ishop of Winchester .

”2 There is a Rush C lose inSouth Cadbury . Mere , i t may be noted , is sometimes theending of a personal name , M aer, meaning disti nguished

,

”

as i n such names as Eadmaer, Wadmaer ; and often as a prefix , M aergaet, M aerwin, and the l ike .

G l astonbury Abbey was surrounded by moorland . Thecul tivab le portions were part of the monastic possessions . Itis interesti ng to read the monkish descrip tion of the

“beating

”

of i ts boundaries , as set forth in Cartu laries or charters . Ifthe names are not a l l of the dates of the charters , they areyet evidence of the trad it iona l early names .In such descrip tions we find the mention of numerousl akes .

”A lake is not , as so found , the geographical lake

defined as an enclosed p iece of water . These lakes are , in fact,s luggish streams flowing through a marsh , a bog, a fen, ormere . The name fen , common in the eastern counties, in thefen country of Huntingdonshi re , Cambridgeshi re , and theneighbourhood , is no t found in Somerset , un less i t occurssparingly in the tru ly Somerse t form of Ven . I n M i lbornePort, for i nstance , is the name Ven . There is a Ven,

”not

easy to identify, i n a wi l l Francis Luttre l l , of Ven, Somerset . In West M onkton is the local name Venacre . In

Bishop’

s Lydeard Venn M ansion . But Venacre is clearly a

corrup tion of the name Winegar , o ld German , and Winagar,Anglo - Saxon , and the name Wenna and Wen in such formsas Wen - stan , Wenric, Wentryth , and sim i lar names (withwhich the p resent- day persona l name Venn is connected) mayaccount for a l l these . And the curious name Venelcross, in

Yeovi l , is p robab ly the personal name Wendel . Such a nameas Wendel

’

s Combe i s found . Thus the word fen does not

lLeo Ang lo

- Sax on Names of P laces, p. 96 .

2Ca rtula rium Sax on icum, No. 549.

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6 2

Wooton by Edmund the E lder (A .D. 946) to h is thegnEthelnod , the Pyl le stream is ca l led White lake ; and Dinganburst i s the name given to a tract of land extending along it

.

Other interesti ng loca l names occur in this document . Greylake may possib ly be the name derived from the grey appearance of the bog p roduced by the masses of l ight - colouredsphagnaceae or bog-mosses , i n search of which we have

travel led far across the moors , rejoicing to find them cappedwi th those marvel lous urns , the

“frui t

”or rather spore cases

,

which exci te admi ration , and baffle the draughtsman to copyw i th his penci l , as seen under the microscope . In North Currythere is a Westernlake, i ndicat ive of a former water- course .

Lichelake i s thought to be a rel ic enshrin ing in a name allthat is left to human memory of some long bygone tragedy

,

o r b loody confl ict , when , after batt le and slaughter,dead

bodies slowly gl ided down the s luggish stream . I t is , of course,wel l - known to everybody that a lychgate is a gate at theentrance to a churchyard , where from a time immemorial

custom the dead body is rested before the final entrance intothe sleep ing p lace of the departed . Lic i s a dead body . As

an i l lustrat ion , the p lace - name Lichfield is sa id to be so namedfrom the historica l fact of the martyrdom of a thousand

C hristi ans in A .D. 304. We note that a byname for the pondsat Emborough , i n the parish of Chewton Mendip , is theLeachmoor ponds . Leachmoor is more l ike ly Lechmere, thed ead or stagnant poo l , and the addi t ion of ponds is needless ;and i t wi l l occur to the reader that Lich lake or Lech- lakerea l ly means the same th ing, the slow, s luggish stream,

”

wi thout cal l ing for sl aughter . No doubt other examp les maybe found in these Somerset lakes .

”

I f wi th the monkish guide in our hands we return to Glastonbury and beat the bounds of the Abbey lands, we find suchnames as Bitwynehorde , Y lake, Ywere, Abbed isdich , insula

d e Northlade ,” Wethmore, Tunsingwere , Kymp ingmere,

Scearphorde , Mere , and as we are travel l ing through themidd le of the moor per medium moram over bridges, the

j ontem de Keneward or Kyneard , and fontem de Bledeney,

the descrip tion makes i t clear that these b ridges are artificialfosseways. Such , perhaps , was the Bitwyne- horde mentioned .

T his we have elsewhere suggested is Bedwyn horde , and the

6 3

name is a remin iscence of Ki ng Arthur and the round table,

t hough i t looks temptingly l ike Between - horde . But hordei tse lf means a d ivis ion . A hord was a boundary of watt les orf rame of wickerwork form ing an enclosure or d istrict . Scearphorde i s such a boundary in the marsh . Scearp may eas i lyremind us of the scirpus or ta l l and gracefu l bul rush springingup and adorn ing the boundaries of the bog— a monkish Latinname—but i t is , we think , the o ld word from which the wel lknown term escarpment

”i s derived . A scarp is a curte in

o f a wal l ,”and is so cal led because i t is sharp or steep . There

i s sti l l the p lace - name Scharp- ham as a loca l name . I n thecharter we read at passing through the m iddle of the moorsubter Scherpham below , Sharpham . In G l astonbury thereis a Sharpshaw and another in Nunney , which according tothis ought to mean Steep -wood .

”

These and the l ike obscure names must not be dismissed asw i thout in terest , s ince they afford clues to the exp lanationsof otherwise prob lemat ica l local names of farms , fields , andhamlets , and are a caution against wi ld guesses . In the l i ttleknown names reci ted Tusingwere or Tunsingmere , Tunsingis the persona l name Tunsig . Tunn or Tun occurs i n the nameT unweald of Tunwealds stan , now Tunstone i n G loucester

shire . In the eastern counties a tunmere is exp l ai ned as thel ine of p rocess ion in perambulat ing the bounds of a parish .

Possib ly some might think i t i nteresting if th is name meantsing a tune here . I n Kymp ingmere , Kymp ing is p robab ly

a disguised form of Cymwine . I t is i n this charter that thereoccurs the name Osgar i n the phrase domus Osgari , as aboundary mark

,and when we find Goathurst spel t Gahers i n

the earl iest spe l l i ngs (Domesday Book) and discover the localname Gaersh il l , we may see that these words are corrup tionsof the persona l name Osgar . This carries us far away from

Goat- burst as natura l ly meaning goa t-wood , and i t is only by

fo l lowing the steps tha t you real ise how such corruptionsarise

.And again we read of insu la de Hcorti . Now th is name

o ccurs local ly i n such names near Chard as Hertham and

Hurtham.

Another mere is Saltmere . Saltmere was an appanage of

the Is l and of Athelney . Sal t was a necessary of l i fe then as

now,and from the brackish l ake i t may have been derived .

6 4

There are spel l ings Sa lmore and Salmere , but these are late

Saltmore i s north of Athelney in the angle between theParret and the Tone , contain ing more than a thousand acresof pasture . I t is Saltmore i n A .D. 1382- 3 . Saltford on the Avonis in original spel l i ngs Salford , and this is rather from sahl

,

”

sea l (as al ready given in Selwood) , the sa l low-wi l low, faneifu l ly ca l led the pa lm , flowering always about E astertide .

Such ep i thets and descrip tive parts of compound minornames are worth enumerating as i l lustrat ive of the pastphysical characteristics of Somerset . The reader probablyknows how much of i ts most interesting history (natural andciv i l) i s due to i ts moors . In Exmoor the Ex i s the river name(as before exp lained) aecs , uisg, esk (compare E skdale in thenorth) . Stanmoor i s l ikely the stony-moor , though Stan maybe an abbreviat ion of a longer word if discoverab le , that isof some persona l name beginning or ending in Stan , as, forexample , Eahlstan . Warmoor i s not the batt le -moor, that is,reminiscent of the clash of warrior

’

s stee l , but wor , as perhapsi n VVor- sp ri ng (which , however, i s p robably Worla- spring orWorla

’

s wood) means stagnum, or a swamp . Thus War-moor

would be in meaning a doub let , the moor -moor .” Weste

wa lmoor i s found as a part of Wales between QueenCamel and Camel -Abbots or West Cammel . We suppose thatth is local name Wales is i n rea l i ty a form of the wordWeallas,

meaning the strangers , or of the personal name Wealh , withthe same meaning . A l lerrnoor i s a lso a moor near Athelney .

The vi l lage of Al ler is on this moor , and we find that i ts namehas been derived from Aldor, a p rince ; a l so from the abundance of the alder trees which is mentioned as a characteristicto a late period . I t i s i ndeed very possib le that Al ler is in factthe cl ipped form of the personal name Alheard ,

Aelheard,

or Alhard . I n Westmoor, Curry Moor, Haymoor, in North

Curry , Brentmarsh , and Chen (or Kenn) -moor , the names are

taken from the p laces to which they are adjunct . As also areWeston Moor , Na i lsea Moor , C lap ton M oor . Blackmoor

i n North Buckland,and Houndsmoor i n M i lverton , are the

re l ics of the racial names , the B lacks or swarthy race , and theHuns . Kingsmoor, on the Yeo near Ivelchester or

I lchester , was royal p roperty . There are accounts of the late

Queen i n the reign of Edward I . I t was p in -money , perhaps .

6 5

I lemoor i s on the I sle . Heathmoor i s on the Po ldens. I nBurtlemoor, Burtle has an al ias , that is , i t i s a l so cal ledSprawlesmead , i nterest ing as the seat of a priory . In the 16thcentury the spel l ing is Barkle moor . The letters “ t ” andc are easi ly confused in manuscrip t

,and i t is possib le that

the true word is not Burt le bu t B i rele , though the former go ti tse lf estab l ished . B i rele i s in the very sink of the marisch

on the river which runs to Hunsp il le , and a p lace very fi t fo ra hermitage , according to the taste of these so l i taries , concerning whom our p resent task does not cal l upon us to em

l arge or exp l ain . For though there be a stone - ford cal ledBurtlesteening

’

t is not passable or the p lace anyway accessib lei n winter .

”1 The descrip tion ci ted is as late as the 18th century .

Bure le i s Berke ley or the B i rch - lea . I f Burtle is the truereading this i s extremely interesti ng, as Bris l ington has thespe l l i ng Burtle - ton and Burstleton , al l i ndications of the name

Beorte lm, Beorhthelm, Brihtstelm, Beorte l’

s- ton and variouscorrup t ions . Kinnard M oor i s Cyneheard2 Moor . A Gyneheard was brother of Sigebeorht, King of Wessex in the 8th

century . The modern name is Kennard . Godney M oor, near

G l astonbury , i s Godeney Moor , the name Gode or Good .

But as ey means a watery p lace , not necessari ly an is land ,this i s obviously a doub let . But th is p lace - name is of somewhat doub tfu l ending

,and shou ld possib ly be classed among

the hayes, as i t i s spel t Godeneya ( 1344) i n Bri tish Museum

Charters , and Godenhay i n the time of Henry V I II . Theending ey i s

,however

,the more probab le . There is a

Gedney i n L i ncolnsh i re , that is , Gaedan- ey, which embodiesthe persona l name Gaed . The curious p lace - name Edvin Ralph

i n Herefordsh i re is anciently spel t Ged - fen wi th the same per

sonal name attached . The letters have been transl i terated ,and Gedfen or Gaedwine becomes Edvin . But for this , themost easy exp lanation of such a name would be to suppose

that i t was Edwine Ralph , and be content . Two local namesmentioned in connecti on with Yeovi l are Huntley M oor and

Snowden, Snouwedon i n l a M arsh . In A .D . 14032 there is a

grant of th is Snowdon i n the M arsh . We must not think of a

down and of snow This is doubtless a corruption of the AS .

2B“

tish1 h Stra che L i st a th e Rel ig i ous Hou . .es i n Somersetsh i re,1 730 . n

Joll’l useum Cha rters/

£

836 , or Cynewea rd , the name of a B ishop of We lls ,

cir . , A .D . 975 .

T .‘

6 6

Snaedan . A snaed i s a p iece of land separated from the ownership of the mass of land around it— an i sol ated b i t . Huntley

i s spel t Hauntelemersh i n the reign of Edward II I . This is anabbreviated persona l name Hund or Huntulf, that is Hundwulf . Shortenings of th is kind are too numerous to excitequestion , or p rovoke surprise .

In the documen t above ci ted another boundary mark is thatof Renmere , probably hrefn -mere, that is Raven (name), a

pool which has been drained , but as l ate as A .D. 1662 wasa marshy bog cal led Raw-mere , and actual ly now known asRodmer and Rodmead . There is a lso a Herdy-moor

,the

o lder form of Sedge -moor, and Herdy gate from Hreod , a

reed or sedge .

Of names compounded wi th Marsh we find Peasemarsh, ahamlet name in I lminster . This is Pega

’

s marsh or Peya ’smarsh as a lso in such widely- sp read ana logous names as Pesford m Northamptonshi re , Pease -more in Berkshire, andPeasenhal l and Pea- ki rk in Suff olk . All point to a Saxonname , Pega , and the church of Pea- ki rk , i n Northamptonsh ire , i s in fact dedicated to a Saint Pega , and the name wascommon . We sti l l have the hard sound as i n the name ofPegg . St . Pega l ived at the beginning of the 8th century .

A Saxon would speak of Peya’

s church . There was a Paegawho was a Worcestershi re abbot . This is the origi n of Peasedown , i n Peasedown St . John, near Camerton . M r. Healey

’

sH istory of Parts of West Somerset i nterprets Peasey

’

s

Pool”as Pixies pool . I t i s Pega

’

s poo l more l ikely, thoughwe lament the d isappearance of the p ixies . There are ofcourse M oretons, as i n Compton M artin and in Fivehead .

There is a Goosemoor i n Bromp ton Regis, which is probablyCors -moor , that is , a doub let, as cors a l ready means a marsh .

Lidmarsh is Lyde marsh , the persona l name . M oorlinch is

misleading, as the Moor is from gemeare , a boundary .

L i nch is e lsewhere exp lained .

As a district name there is that arisi ng from what is cal ledthe river name the Wring, Wringmarsh near to Wrington.

Wring as a river name is not distinct from Rhin (comparethe Rhine) which means etymological ly that which runs . If arhyn means a p romontory , i t i s because i t runs out to sea or

i s a projecting tongue of l and as Pen- ryn in Cornwal l .

6 7

CHAPTER VI I .

Fords .

We have more than once pointed out that some of thenames end ing in ford are in rea l i ty assim i lat ions

. Colour is

given to the exp lanation in cases where even a bi t of a fordacross an insign ificant b rook actua l ly exists . As a ford maymean a way apart from crossi ng a s tream ,

some of the namesmay be thus accounted for . Others,wemay say ,are shaped from

the end ing to a personal name , as frid , fri th , i n such a nameas Wilfred , Wynfrid (Winford) . Frid means peace

,the

modern German Friede . Others again are difficul t to determine owing to confus ions that have crep t in unawares .Such a name is Keyford , near Frome .

Keyford i s of some ecclesiastica l interest . Stracheyi n h is account of the formerly existent re l igious houses in theDiocese of Bath and Wel ls, mentions the tradi tion of a nunnery a t Gayford , near Frome , belonging to C i rencester . Theo rigin of i t is dated as far back as A .D. 705 . The spel l ings may

be described as excruci ating . Begi nning with DB . Kaivert

and Caivel , we find later spel l i ngs Keyferz, Cayver , Kayver,and West Kayver, Cayfords i n A .D. 1493 , and in the court ro l ls

( 1478) Cayford . There is a lso a Kayford near Yeovi l whichi s also spel t Cokerford : Lands at Keyford or Cokerford

g iven to St . Augustine’

s Abbey by N icholas FitzRobert,FitzHard ing . Here there must be some confusion . Keyford is not connected etymological ly with Cokerford , and isscarcely a form of i t . If Caivert and Caivel stand side by sidethey are not names of one manor but of two , the two manorsin to which the local i ty is parted in Domesday Book . Agal lant attemp t has been made to find the exp lanation as a

surviving Cel t ic name . This app l ies to the form Caivert as

supposed to be derived from Caegwyrdd , which qui te easi lybecomes Caewyrdd and Caewyrt. This compound is then in

terpreted as meaning the green enclosure .

”I t is suffi cient ly

obvious that Caivert and Caivel are attempts to rep resent

68

sounds awkward to Norman clerks . Caivert i s a corruptionof an owner

’

s name , Gefheard , and Gifheard i s the presentname Gifiard ; and Caivel i s a sim i lar corrup tion of the Saxonpersona l name Caewulf , both known names . Calvert andKeyford as names of the same p lace are real ly both of themcorrup tions of Gefheard , and Keyford , l ike so many others ,i s thus not a ford a t al l so far as the origin of the name is concerned . Gefheard was a Domesday tenant near Frome at thespot wi th the disguised name of E lm and at Woodboroughin Wel low . Gifheard , i n the Stoke Gifl ard of Somerset (nowStoke Rodney) and of Stoke G ifford in Gl oucestershire, i sthe name of a whi lom importan t and considerable Saxonfami ly . I t is possib le that the components a re Gif or give,and ward or weard , that is , Gifweard . I t wi l l be observedtha t a l l the diverse spel l ings here find thei r exp lanation

,even

that of Keyferz .

Of other names besides those given elsewhere (underother headings) which are disguised from persona l names

,

there is that of A lford , a sma l l vi l l age on the Brue . Alfordis an i l lustrious name , and i t is connected wi th the county .

Peop le get puzzle - headed in dea l i ng wi th the relat ionshipbetween names of persons and names of p laces . No one wesuppose , denies that large numbers of persons have derivedthei r names from the p laces from which they came . Whenother means of disti nction , nicknames or by- names and othermethods , fai led , then resort was had to the p lace , as, forexample , we might say Alford of Winterbourne , and then thep reposi tiona l connection was left out . So John Alford mighthave derived thi s means of identification from the fact thathe was born by the Brue at the vi l lage ca l led Alford . Or this

John Alford might go and buy an estate and cal l i t Alford byhis beloved personal name . Or , i f incl ined to think thatnames are per se aristocrat ic or otherwise , he might proudlyappear as John de Alford . Such considerations do not disturbfor one moment the fact that Alford is , after a l l , an abbreviatedpersona l name . And , i n fact , i n Domesday Book i t is spelt at

large , Aldedeford . In A .D . 1315 i t is curiously Allecheford .

I t i s not only curious but an instance with a wonderful powerof conviction for the most obstina te , provided there is present

the saving grace of patience wi th what is novel to him . It is

https://www.forgottenbooks.com/join

70

as a l ready noted , for such names as Wemb - ton (from Wad

mendon) , Wadbury, and Wadmaer, or Wedmore . There isi n Domesday a Saxon owner Wado i n Ashbri tt le who l ived inthe days of the Confessor . The derivation may be gwada

,a

mole ; but is more l ikely wado , an immigrant or wanderer .If Wado was a tribal name, a stream along whose banks thetribe l ived may give the name to that river . Here Wedmoremay be compared .

Edford i s another examp le of the same kind of assimi lation .

I t i s in Holcombe . When we find that Eds- ton is a shortenedform of

“Eddeve

’

s- ton ,”and that Eddeva i s i tself derived

from Aedgifu , and that th is is a l ady’

s name , we are quiteprepared to understand that by some changes Edford may besimi larly accounted for .

“Ead i s a very frequent prefix

,

said , by a great authori ty i n such component parts of names,to mean p rosperi ty .

”We know i t i n Edward and

“Edwin . We are not prepared to embrace Eadfrith or

Eadfrid , and Eadbeorht, Eadfrid , i s mostly a Mercian ratherthan a Wessex name . Like the rest, i t becomes disguised as

Edford , and is thus no ford at a l l i n the physical sense . Of

course , there is a stream at Edford , and the si te of the oldvi l l age appears to have been on the stream in the woods,where i s the si te of an old m i l l . I n any case , Ed .

”is short

ened from some personal name .

Ho lford , i n Lydeard St . Lawrence, i s in Domesday BookHulofort. Hulfrit and Hulfrid i s the name of a dux

”in

the l 0th century . Broford , i n Exton (Domesday Book, Bro

fort) , i s the persona l name Beorhtfrith , found also as Bri

ferd and Brigferd . Donniford is a corrup tion of Dunfrith orDunfrid , a compound name , Dun and frid , found elsewhereas a loca l name . Croford i s p robab ly Crawe- ford . We do notdiscover any quoted and extant personal name , Crawfrid or

the l ike . For M udford , which might be at once set down asa muddy ford ,

” there is the personal name M undford , and .

i n fact , the name is spel t Mundiford i n Domesday Book, and

Mudford is a corrup tion . A l lerford i s el sewhere mentioned .

Bayford , i n o r near Stoke Trister , i s an instance of thepreva lence of the name Beaga , Bege , and Bagge1 i n Saxon

1The name occurs in a cha rter of Muche lney Abbey, Ahtbegon is Possessio,

i . e. E adbeg a'

s property, p. 95, vo l 1 4

7 1

Somerset . I t i s Bega - ford . Exford would seem to exp lain i tself .I n Domesday Book i t i s Aisseford , which , on the analogy ofother names, shou ld come out as Asford , since Aissa i si n such names a form of Aesc

,the Ax . But here thi s

i s the river name Esk, Usk, Uisg, Ax, and Ux ,as i n

Axbridge, a l ready referred to . There i s l i t tle or no doub tthat th i s i s b rugia a b ridge , as i n Bridgwater, and notBrugia as Burh corrup ted . Riotord , i n B l agdon , i s a hamlet name , and from the ownerships i n Saxon times this looksl ike a somewhat unusua l shortening of the original name by al apse of the fi rst syl l ab le . There were severa l owners i n theneighbourhood of the same hundred ofWinterstoke with suchnames as Saric, Bristric, Godric , Edric, and Ric ” may beone of these end ings ; or i t may have been the simp le nameRic now found in the Frankish form of Rich

,a loca l and

Somerset name . And here i t may be remarked that to derivesuch a name as Rich from a pecul iar n ickname or soubriqueti s superficia l . I t is a Frankish form of Reich

,Ric

,Rich

,

Anglo - Saxon signifying“ru le . Richmonti n RichmontCastle ,

i n E ast Harp tree , i s u l t imate ly the name Rikemund of theHundred Rol ls, and

“Richman has nothing to do with

weal th , but is the old German Ric-man . Rich is the Riki ofthe Liber Vitce . Uxford hard by is most l ike ly to be anothertrace of the same name that we have found in Wookey,namely, tha t of Ucca, Ucco , and i t i s Uccasford . There is ,however, the persona l name Uchferth, which was a Wil tshi rename and more clear ly accounts for i t . Cheddenford is Ceadda

ford (Chad’ s ford) . Stoford , i n the doub le name Berwicks

Stoford , i s in A .D. 1316 written Berewick Stan- ford ,”

and ,

assuming the correctness of th is, we have l i tt le difficul ty i nrecol lecting the stepp ing- stones that consti tutes some fordingp laces . In a charter of Barl inch Priory i s the name Inefl ord ,

and we are wondering whether this is a trace of the famousSomerset name of Ki ng Ina . Ufiord i s s imp ly shaped out ofthe personal names Uvert and Uflert, as in Ufiords H i l l ( i n

Henford, i n Henford Matravers , i s again a compound of frid from the name Eanfrid , a frequent name in the7th , 8th , and 9th centuries, and is not hean ,

”high (Saxon) ,

or hean,

” o ld (Ce l t ic) , old or high ford .

”

Washford i s i n C leeve . I t is Watchetford i n A .D. 1367 .

72

E arl ier, i n A .D. 1 188, i t i s Washford . The connection withWatchet seems definite ly clear . Watchet i nDB . is spel tWaced .

I t is Wachet , Watchet , or Wechet in the reign of Henry III .This is i nterp reted as the wa tched head ,

”and exp lained as a

look- out p lace from the head land . The name certainly ap

pears descrip tive . Wacetand Wash are Frankish softenings ofWac, as Rich is of Ric i n Gooderich for Godric . Wac andwach mean a moist p lace . Wacsan i s Anglo - Saxon for towash and the same word . Wak i n Lowland Scotch hasthis same meaning . I n Norfolk a wake is an unfrozen bitof wa te r . As bearing on this meaning we note the local p lacename Watchfield , i n H ighbridge ; that is , Wac- fel t . I t is themoist or marsh meadow,

”and is no more a watched field than

Watchet is a watched headland .

Tel lisford is spe l t Tab les - ford (Domesday Book) . This isthe name T ahnel . I n A .D . 1 166 B unhat, that isDownhead , was held by Richard Rive l in partnersh ip with M argaret , daughter of Ra lph T abuel , assessedwi th Pi tney Lortie i n the taxation of A .D. 1327.

This name is a lso in the Liber Vitce , and occurs besidesin the Muche lney Abbey Cartul ary . But T abuel i tself isshortened from the name Tai l lebois , found in such shapes asT alboys, Tables, T abuels, and Tal l i s . As to meaning , the persona l name from a local name means b rushwood . Duboisappears to be the equiva lent of our Atwood .

Westford is the name of a tything in Wel l i ngton , and is nottaken from a poin t of the compass . Waes i tself means water ;or i t is qui te possib lyWaese- ford , or the washing- ford . Without here enumerating a l l the p lace- names in which the epithetwest may be as descrip tive of s i tuation undoubted or doubtfulwe mention Weston i n Combe St . N icho las , i . e . , Wes- ton , asshortened from an i ntermedi ate form

“Wast- ton ,

”and this

agai n may be traced to a longer word , Waterleas- ton , appeari ng asWaterlesston . In other counties th is has been oppositelyi nterp reted as the water leas , and as water- less . Facts speakfor the former , Waterless has actual ly become West . West

combe , i n Batcombe , is Domesday Book Weste - combe , which

may be Wastecombe . Freshford , near Frome , is diversely

F i r- forda, Fechefo rd ,and Freekeford , and (on one identifica

t ion) Vexford ,and may be deal t wi th as a curiosi ty . Other

fords may rece ive mention in other chap ters .

73

CHAPTER V I I I .

Names w ith Loca l Characteristics— Lea , Leys ,

Leighs , and Leaze .

Leah is one of the words by which our Saxon ancestorsd esignated uncu l t ivated ground , though to us, i n poetry, thecatt le wandering o

’

er the lea”rem inds us of lush meadow

land . Other words are fe ld (Dutch ve ldt) , wudu (for wood) ,weald , ho l t , beara , den or dene , hyrst , grafe , and perhaps byse ,sceaga , and wride . Beara , as a wooded district , i s not uncommon in our county . I t has sometimes d isguised i tse lf asBorough and Barrow . Dene is not uncommon

,and Kemble

says , i n his Saxons in Eng land , that in one d istrict in thesouth of England , from Hythe to M a ids tone , there are up

wards of th irty towns or vi l lages ending in den , i . a . , dene .

G rafe is an estate with boundary stones , and is in significationthe same as snad or snaed , a part cut o ff . An estate surroundedw i th a fence of stakes was ca l led pearrocas, or park . We knowthe name Chew-Park , and there are many such loca l names .

The other words are not common in Somerset .The proportion of leahs to felds i s that which prevai ls e lsewhere . I n Kemble

’

s charters the ratio is sa id to be seventy to

e ighteen . Leigh occurs simp ly and i n compounds . Of theform Leigh - on-M endip (pronounced Li) is an examp le . In

o ther chap ters instances of th is word in compounds are given .

I t may be convenient to co l lect a few under one heading ,regardless of the origin of the prefix or affix , whether, as often ,i t occurs wi th a personal name or wi th a descrip tive qual ifica

t ion . Chard leigh Green ,in Chard , is an examp le of tauto logy,

for leigh is sufli cientwi thout green , as they p ractica l ly meanthe same thing . Chard leigh has become a proper name , andthen a dist inctive descrip tion becomes necessary . The simp lename Lega occurs in Domesday Book at least e ight t imes, iden

tified with Abbot’ s Leigh , Angersle igh , Leigh in Carhampton

74

Hundred , and in Old C leeve , as part of Street in Ringoldsway

‘Hundred and Leigh in Winsham , besides Leigh - land inOld C leeve . Leage is the geni tive form of Lea .

Lang ley, i n Wivel isc’

ombe, exp lains i ts own meaning if i t bedescrip tive , that is, the long meadow . In Overleigh, i n Street ,the prefix is the Anglo - Saxon form ofre , a dative of ofer, ashore or bank of a river . Sometimes the river has shifted itsbed , or the fen or marsh has been dra ined , and there seems noreason why the spot should be over,

”as i t does not appear to

be above anyth ing in particu lar . O ther examples ofover in other connections are noted . There are Eastover

,

i n Bridgwater ; a Northover, near I lchester ; and one inDitcheat . The modern German ufer means a bank . Therei s actua l ly a puzzl ing local name Underover, Under- ofre,You want to know how a thing can be both underand over and we al l know it is when we find that overhere means a bank .

We llesley is exp la i ned by a persona l designation . We readGrant of confi rmation by Richard le Waleys , the Lord ofStowey (near Bridgwater) . Le Waleys means the Wa l lace,the stranger, perhaps the Welshman . Welsh , of course, meansstranger, and to the German - speaking peop le on the borders ofI ta ly the I ta l i ans are Welsh , Wae lsch . There is a Drewley, inWi tham , and Drew is the persona l name . Some of these localnames are in truth modern , as Paddoxmead was, says Mr.

Dickenson in a note in Kirby’

s Quest, named after John Padokof Hurcott . 2 If ancient , we must , l i ke Stanton Drew, traceback to a Drogo , as Drogo de M ontacute , the young Dru , ofA .D. 1286 . A mead is d ifi erent from a leah , or lea . This ia

deed may include land covered with brushwood and a clearing,whi le the former means mowing l and (found in after-math),i ts root meaning to mow (A . S . mawan , Gothic mai tan) . One

of the pretty shepherd’

s songs i n Schi l ler’

s Wi lhelm Tell”

begins“I hr M atten leb t wohl

” “Ye meadows farewell .

The words occur i n Swiss p lace - names Z ermatt , Andermatt .

But the name as a loca l designation is very infrequent, and

l Ring old tswe i is a n ancient road a long the ea stern pa rt of Golden Hill

M r . D ick inson (Preface to K i rby'

s Quest, p. x i. , vol . 3) callsit Reynold

'

s way.

”Ibid ., p. xx x i i .

75

sometimes qui te modern , as Stowey Mead . I do not knowa place

- name in Somerset compounded with this word that isanc i ent .Edgerley, i n G l astonbury , seems simply to be the ley ofsome Edgar , that is , Eadgar, which was i n point of fact a wel lknown M ercian name . I t is p ronounced Eggerley but Eggeri s the cl ip t fo rm of B adgar . This i s included in Edersige , butcan scarcely be the same as the name of the manor InsulaEdersige adjacens Glastingberie .

1 Edersige embraced Egger

ley and Wick, according to Eyton . We do not see easi ly howEdgerley can be the same as Edersige . There is a furtherinterest in the name Edgerley, i nasmuch as those who considerthat the batt le of Ethandune (Edington) was fought i n Somerset, and not i n Wi l ts or elsewhere , identify Edgerley with theIglea of Alfred

’

s n igh t- hal t . If Eggerlea was cal led Edglea ,

and Iglea I dglea , the identification is not impossib le , whetheri t ca rry a long or on ly a short way to the h istorica l conclusionsought by a l ate wri ter i n Blackwood

’

s M agazine and byothers . Edersige sti l l remains a separate name . I t is Eadred

(sometimes Heardred) I s land if we are to divide the syl lab lesEdersig, as seems most l ikely, or i t may even be Eadredsigas a proper name . Names i n Sige (Sieg means victo ry) dooccur . A correspondent has most kindly pointed out a namewhich we have not met wi th in any l ist— one doubtless amongmany others of ph i lo logical or racia l interest—Brinsea orBrinzey, a low hi l l su rrounded mostly by marsh l and justsouth of Congresbury .

”Bryn is a Cel tic word meaning a h i l l .

Bryn - gwyn is a compound word meaning a“white hi l l .

Sea or zey then remains . This compound of a Ce l ticand a Saxon root is not impossib le but susp icious . Sea is veryfrequently the end ing of a persona l name Sige , of Sig, and ,

as a matte r of fact, the name Beornsige , also spe l t Byrnsi ,was a 9th century name . The consonants have been interchanged by Somerset tongues . From i ts s i tuation i t mayhave been Beorn

’

s- ige,but i t i s p robab ly the ful l name ,

Beorn - sige . Beorn is one of the commonest p refixes andaffixes i n personal names, as in Beornheard , Osbeorn

Bernard and Osborne .

1Domesday stud ies, Eyton, vol . l l . , p. 41 .

76

I n Domesday Book of Somerset there are seven place

names that are simp ly ca l led Lega . Now th is is a genitivalform of l ay, ley, mean ing unf il led l and , Anglo - Saxon leah .

I n the gel d l ist of names of Somerset hundreds the names arewri tten in the geni t ive case of which the final e ,

”with a

mark of contraction , i s the Sign . The Legas of Lea’

sa re Leigh , i n Street ; West Leigh and Chapel - leigh , in

Lydeard St . Lawrence ; Lega for East Lynge or Lenge isp robab ly a mis - spel l ing ; Abbot

’

s Leigh ; Lega in M i lverton

is now only Leigh Farm Leigh in Winsham ; and Leigh in Old

C leeve . We have a loca l name Bare legs, which is probably

j ust the corrup tion of Bare lega or bare - leigh . There is a lsoa lega wi th no modern name of which Chep in was the tenanti n Carhampton hundred . This might be Chep in lea , Chapley.

Angersleigh appears to be Lega only in Domesday Book, andthen the name Anger must have been l ater superadded , for,from thei r number , i t is evident that dist inctive names werebound to grow up fp r leas .

”I t is spel t Angarslegh (1360

1427) with a variant Aungers- legh . The modern personalname is Ainger . The name in the form (as we take i t) Ansger

i s ancient in Somerset . There were no fewer than five of thisname tenants o r officia ls recorded in Domesday Book . Ans

gar i s compound , ans a god , and gar a spear . Ansis found , for instance , i n Anshelm . We think there are ob

scure traces of th is name in several instances . Gaer Hi l l , inW i tham , may be Ansgar abbreviated or Osgar . What particular Ansgar or Angar, Ainger or Aunger, i t was we do not

know who fixed his cognomen to Angers- le igh . Names surv ived or sank in the sea of t ime . Sometimes they reappear asb i ts of wreckage . Hanger, a slop ing meadow or wood , as an

affix is different . A col lection of them with thei r prefixes is

i nterest ing . I n the 15th century is the wi l l of a Thomas Ainger .

Mudge ley, i n Wedmore , i s derived by M r . Harvey, in the

Wedmore Chronicle , from Mote - ley , the lea on which the“mote

”or fo lk meeting or counci l was he ld . This con

j ecture i s made on the strength of a spe l l i ng in the time of

Q ueen E l izabeth , Muddes- ley, and in the early 14th century

(Nomina Vi l larum) i t i s M odesle . I t is d ifficul t if not im

possib le to see how an origi na l mote - lea could grow into

M udgeley . There is a M idgeley near Ha l ifax, a M idgeham

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78

doub le spel l ings Obbe and Ubbe , as wel l as (with a single“b”)

Obeleygh , that the name is personal , but not necessarily the

great V i king Dane . The name Obba occurs frequently as aMercian and a Wessex name as Ob-a, and in the 14th centurythere is the name , i n a l ist , of a parish priest named Obba.

Richard de Hoveden says that Hubba the Dane was buried atCynwich , and near Combwich , on the Parret, is a tumulus,by some considered more l ike ly to be his grave than the

mound at Stogursey .

”Upper Cock Farm is presumed to

be a corrup tion of Ubba-Cocs, or Ubba’

s heap . Of Cynwich,Combwich , and Cynwit, i nvolved in the controversy of theb att le of Edington , we have elsewhere spoken .

Warleigh, i n Bathford , may be the leigh on the weare .Wor also means a swamp . There is a Worminster, speltWarmester, where Court Barons were held up to the 16thcentury in Di nder, which seems to be a corruption of a persona l name , Waermodestre,

”or Waermunds ; as Warleigh

is p robab ly Worla as a persona l name found in Worle,and perhapsWorspring (Woodsp ring) or Wor ( l) springea, orWorle

’

s p lantation . There is a Wirral l i n Cheshire . Thereare Worle H i l l (and the rid icu lous exp lanation of Worrallas Weary- al l h i l l) , Worlebury, and Worleston . Worla, Wor,and Worr (Warr and Weare) are al l personal names . Thereare many other Leighs . Cotleigh i s Cotta or Goda

’

s Lea.

Bonnyleigh i n Beckington is Bonna’ s Lea, with which the

numerous Bonhil ls ( i n Chew) and Bonhams ( in Stourton) maybe compared . There is the name Buna in the Liber Vita ,

and there are those who own to the name Bunn .

”Bine- ham,

i n Long Sutton , and Bin- ham,i n Old C leeve , are relics of the

name Beana ,”as in Banwel l and Beana - hanger , i . e . , Bine

gar . Chip- ley, i n M i lverton , i s Ceob (Cheob) lea , and Bick

ley i s B ica , a Saxon name , as i n Bickanhul le ,Bickenall .

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CHAPTER IX .

Wicks .

The p lace- names end ing in wic and wick are not so simp leas the tyro i n p l ace - names, desi rous of a short cut , supposes .They are of d iverse o rigin . I t is not easy to determine whichof the possib i l i t ies is p resent, so far is i t from the simp l ici ty ofa mere al ternative . I t is true that wick denotes a hamlet orinhabi ted p lace , usua l ly wi th re lation to the p rincipal p l acewith which i t is connected . But th is easy method leads theamateur astray . We may instance Stanton Wick . A spe l l ingp reserves the rea l o rigi n , Stanton - eswick, which is run intoone word , and become Stantoneswick . This Eswick is forAes- ewig, the name of an Abbot of Bath , A .D . 965 . Here ,then , i t i s no t a township , but an abbreviation . Stantones

wick i s difficul t to accoun t for as a geni tive form unless thename Stanton were supposed to be a persona l name . I t is ,i ndeed , not un l ikely that Leo i s right i n asserting that only asmal l p roportion of the whole of the wicks refer to cul t ivat ionand the inhab i ted p lace ; Wic ( long i , and rel ated to the Ger

man weich soft) mostly denotes marsh land . Wic , a township , i s a root referred to the same origin as the La tin v icus .

I n Gothic i t is veihs ; i n o ld German wich ; and in Frisian ,f rom which we get our form , i t is wik . Occasiona l ly i t is re

ferred to wice,the mounta in ash . Those p laces on the

seashore visi ted by V i kings are ca l led W ies, where there is a

bay that bends in , or a creek or in let from the sea . The wych

e lm i s so cal led because i t bends downwards . I t is graceful ly

p endu lous . Wicker b askets are from p l iab le wi thies , and ( to

moral ise , with the reader’ s forgiveness for a moment) wicked

ness i s p l iab i l i ty or weak - ness . To add to the embarassment

of choice there is the persona l name Weeks, Week, connected

w i th Wig war , and found disguised in numerous modernnames ; for i nstance , Wyatt for Wig

- 0 d . Weeks’

Green , i n

Bishop’ s Sutton

,i s f rom a personal name . Sometimes we think

that these Weeks’ must be the last of the West -Country race ,

80

the Gewiccas. Besides , some of these persona l names may behero names . Wieg is Anglo - Saxon for a horse

,and Wiega for

a beetle . Names are sometimes given from some fanciedflatteri ng resemblance , or deris ively . I n the Durham LiberVita are the personal names Uicga (Wiega) , and the Frisianform Wicco . We need not be surp rised if we find then suchcommon persona l names as Wicks , Weeks , Wigg,Wickenden.

The Wicks, therefore , i n Berrow , Camerton , Langport,G lastonbury, Spaxton , Stanton Drew , Yatton , M ark, Otterhamp ton , Beckington , and others i n a perambulation of thewhole county, are not to be settled off - hand as to the originof the name i n each several case . l’Voodwick (DomesdayBook Udewica) , i n Freshford , as a vi l lage and a parish is nowdestroyed . There are fields cal led Woodward , which thusbears some trace of the name . This is p robably not the wickin the wood as the amateur wou ld be l ike ly to conclude , butqu ite possib ly Wodwig, i n which the fi rst component is areminiscence of the name Wodan . Bathwiclz is most l ikelythe hamlet i n re lation to the l arger p lace . This is usual lyc lear when quite local ly and memoria l ly connected . InDomesday Book i t i s s imp ly Wica , that is Wic with probablylong vowel . In the Nomina Vi l larum ( 1315) i t is Batewyke .

Alured de Wica (1084) had th is de from his connection

with Bathwic, as set forth in Domesday Book .

Swainswick i s not i n Domesday . I t is hidaged i n some other

manor . There we find , however , tha t three thegns held Tad

wick, which are p laces close together . This latter name is in

Domesday Book as T atewica . I t is ( i n the names of vi lls)spel t Catewyk and T atwick . The letters 0 and t

”are so

much al ike i n mediaeva l MSS. that they are often confused .

I t is a lso found as Tata Wick in the hundred of Bath .

”It

i s T atewick (Richard II . ) and T atwyk (Henry VI . ) and Tatwicke (E l izabeth) . So that al though Catewyk has an inter

pretation a longside other names in Cat and Cad , as elsewhere

mentioned,there i s no doub t that i t is Tat -wick .

”It is

i l l uminative further to find the fi rst component in other

p lace - names,as e .g .

,Tat-worth, i n Chard ; Tad - hi ll , near

Wookey ; Tat- ton ,i n Kingston ; and Ted - bury, i n E lm. Fur

ther afield,and out of the county , are T ad - ley, near Souffl

ampton ; Tadlow ,near Cambridge ; and Tedston . Tat- ton, m

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Ki ngston , as , perhaps, the Somerset Domesday Book name

found as Tedinton, i . e . , Tedan - ton . Spe l l ings i n the reign ofHenry I I . are Tuth ington and Tothindone ,

which mighteasi ly be fa lsely interp reted as Tyth ing- down

.Teddington

,

on the Thames , wi th i ts famed locks , i s we l l known , whi lethe Somerset Teddington is an obscure spot . This survey ofthe component name i s abundant . I t is clearly the personalFris i an name Tad , Tada . The root of this personal name isnot perhaps tod , a fox, e .g . , Tad - caster is interp reted as thefoxes

’

camp , and Tedstone , in Herefordshi re , as“ the fox

town .

”Tedstone has two add i tiona l attractive names

,Ted

stone Delamere and Tedstone Wafre , which we should feeldisposed to stop and look at ; but they are not i n Somerset .However , th is Tedstone is in Domesday Book Toddes- thorn .

Nor i s the root word tad a toad . I t is Dad and Tad , whichmeans a progeni tor . But i t is c learly a personal name

,and

very ancien t , going back to primitive roots and the fi rst articul at ion of babyhood . I t may be added Tate -wick has , with afar search fo r meaning, been exp la ined as Tythe -wick— that is ,a t i th ing . Obviously there has been no wide comparison ofnames before arr iving at such a conclusion as to the meaning .

The wick appears to be in this case clearly derivab le from theword vicus, a hamlet , as part of Sweynswick . And of this wemay say that , not in Domesday, i t is in the Taxatio E cclesias

tica ( 1291 ) as Sweyn - burh and Wyk , i n which , therefore , theburgh has become obsolete , and the wyk (clearly the hamlet)has at tached i tse lf to the persona l name Sweyn Swegn) .

This is Danish . Of course , there were any number of

Swegens, Swains , Suyns, and Sweyns ; but the name does notdate in England earl ier than the middle of the eleventh century . Perhaps this p articu lar Swegen who has left h is namehere in Somerset was the son of E arl Godwine , who was Earlof Hereford , G loucestershi re , Oxford , and , be i t wel l marked ,also of Somerset

,about (A .D . 1043) the middle of the 1 1th

century.If so

,i t i s i nterest ing enough to find such a rel ic .

Standerwick i s a disguise if Domesday Book is right , as i t

c learly is,i n i ts form Estarerewicca . The vowel at the begin

n ing and at the end ing are merely the Norman tricks of spel ling to soften the harsh double vowels , and so you get Stalrwic,

82

or Stalr-wic . I t was formerly a manor . There is now Standerwick Court in Beckington , near Frome . The spel l ings are inthe names of vi l ls (Nomina Vi l larum) , Sandewick, which iscorrup t , and there is a lso Stanwyck but , as i f for recovery ofa clue , i n the Exchequer lay - subsid ies we find the spel l ingStaunrwike .

”We see that one consonant has got substi

tuted for another, and a substi tution which is not infrequent,l and n in careless speech . The Domesday spell ingc learly saves us from going qui te astray . Stal lere is not ap roper name , though i t may have become so in Stal lard . Astal lere i s a marshal , a stabularius, a master of the horse , andso an offi cia l , a governor of a p lace . When in the summer ofA .D . 1086 the sons of Harold sai l ing from Ireland had fai ledin thei r at tempt on Bristo l they retu rned to p lunder the seaboard of Somerset , they found themselves confronted byEadnoth the Stal lere .

”E adnoth , with his variously spelt

name, Alnod , Ednod ( that i s the original form of

“Ealhd

noth was ca l led Dap ifer , Constab le , and Stal lere . He was

not the only stal lere (which was the name under Harold) , butqui te possib ly this Standerwick was his manor , though underthe Confessor the owner

’

s name is Smeyn , and we find that

Smewine was, as appears, an extant name .

I t is certa i n ly enticing when we find tha t Wil l i am the Con

queror cal led the officia l name of his Stabularius or Stallere

by the queer name of Eke , to find that Eastwick, in Camerton,i n the ancient hundred of Wel low, is Ecchewica . This is

Ekewick according to Mr . Whale . M r. Eyton has also an

obsolete p lace - name, Ecwicke , spel t Hecuiwicca, i n the hun

dred of Bempstone . But the la tter i s put wi th a query by Mr.

Wha le as equiva lent to E l lwick, i n B lagdon . Ashwick is spelt

Escuuica (Escwica) i n the hundred of Kinmaersdon (Kilmersdon) , and i s , of course , as before said , the personal name

Aescwig, and has noth ing to do wi th the word wick in any of

i ts possib le senses . Escwicke could , without much difficulty,

find i tself transformed into a p lace“east of somewhere .

But according to our p resent considerat ions Eastwick, as

Ekewick,was the residence or wick of an eke or stabularius or

stal lere . I n Hecuiwicca the asp irate at the commencement

and the closi ng vowel a re otiose , and the name is clearly the

83

same , Ecwic or Ekewic. Ellwick is another name . I t is thepersonal name Ealdwig, name of b ishop , priest , and commonman . Nor can we lose s ight of the fact that attract ive as is theidea of the Eke

’

s or marshal ’ s ham le t,that Eccewic and

Hecwic are p robab ly the persona l name Ecgwig . The origina lEcgwig would not know himself as Eastwick i n the presentd ay form of the name . E l lwick i s i n Bl agdon

, and ei therthe same or hard by is Alduuica (Aldwica) , c lose ly connectedwith Ragio l (Redghil l) manorial ly, and set down as in Butcombe (Budi - coma) . This is the same name , Ealdwig . Thisis , we be l ieve , known as Aldwick , the modern designation .

Shapwick‘ appears i n the Domesday spel l ing in the extra

ordinary shape Sapoes-wick . Sapoesuuica is an unusua l fo rm .

We find , however , Carta Adel hardi Regis de Shapwick. Peo

p le were ki ngs on the sma l lest p rovocation in those days .Adelhard was i n fact squi re of Shapwick . In a supposedcharter of King I na we find the spel l ing Scapewick . Theseforms at least give us the tradi t ion . Probab ly the Domesdayform is meant for Scepes-wick , and there is a rare name ,Scapius, which , however , must be the same name , Skepe , thatis , Sceaf and Sceatt . We have a l ready noted , however , that

Shipham,in another part of the country ( in the hundred of

Winterstoke) , i s spe l t Sipe - ham. Shepton Beauchamp is

Seep - tona ,and Shepton Ma l le t , Sepe - tona . T hese are a l l

a l ike founded in the personal name Sceaft and Skepe . Shapwick is then Sceafw ick ,

or Sceaf’

s hamlet . If , however, theDomesday spel l i ng is origina l and correct , this must be a formof the name Saeba, which is found as a shortened form of

Saebeorht. I t i s thus Saebeorht, or Saebas-wick .

Shockerwick,a lso spel t Shakerw ick i n the 17th century ,

ought to be the originat ing p lace of the Shakers . But earl ierspel l i ngs are Sokerwyk , Sokerw ickes, Sokwyk , and Scho

kewig .The name is Socaw ig . Soca is a Saxon name in A .D .

958.Soc

,i n Soc Dennis , is spel t in Domesday Book Socca

and Socche , which is just th is name . The name also occurs in

Soc Dennis .Sewardwick i s i n Compton Dando . Seward has i n the 17th

century been made inte l l igib le as Steward’

s wick .

”T his is

1T here is a Shapwick Pleng in Dorset.

84

comfortab le , as we have no diffi cul ty in knowing what as teward is . However , Saward and Seward are the names ofDomesday tenants . One of this name was Saxon owner ofStri ngston , and another of Hemington , whi le sti l l a third ,Seward Hundrannus, was lo rd of Adber, i n Trent . The nameis interesting in Compton Dando ( l ike that of Sain t Wul fric

the hermi t there) as one of the Engl ish - born thanes who kepthis p lace at Adber over the conquest and enjoyed his own

.

Hundrannus means the hundred man . The name Hawker, orHundred man , would attach to any gheld - col lector . ”

There was thus a Seward in Compton , whether the same ornot . 1 But now in A .D . 1405 i s the strange form Z ecereswyk i nth is vi l l age , which we cannot th ink is the same word . Thisreminds us of the modern name Sev iour, which is old NorseSebar , Sevar , Saebiorn , the Sea - bear , as a viking name . Whatidentification there may be possib le we know not

,but this

being interp reted looks l ike Sev iour’

s-wick .

T here is a Berwick i n Somerset found in Stoford and Berewyk in the names of vi l ls , and Berwick is the name of anold hundred . I t i s sa id tha t Barwick as a manorial name wasleft out of Domesday Book in error . The si tuation is betweenYeovi l and Sutton . I t i s genera l ly exp lained to mean “

the

fenced vi l l age from bar and wick . I t must , however, beremembered that Bere was a persona l name , as in Beer

”

C rocombe , and there must be some good reason why a par

ticular p lace should be a barred p lace . This i s l ike ly enoughas to Berwick - ou-Tweed .

H one -wyk must cast i n i ts lo t wi th the p lace- names in Hun .

z

I t was not a p lace for honey above al l others , and Yatewick,i n the hundred of Wel low , may find a p lace among the Goths

from Geat . ButGeat also means a way or road . I t has now

descended to a monosyl lab le , and is known as Wick Farm.

Grobbes-wyk, i n Compton Dando , i s Grobbe, short for Gaer

burh as a personal name .

1 It is interesting to show the persistence of names in a parish and find the

la st o f this name in this place d ied late ly (Aug .,

2See Chapter

on Racia l N ames .

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86

i ntel l igib le assim i lation where an unusua l name has not beenunderstood) s ignifies a humb le dwel l ing, as Healh possiblydoes a stone edifice of more p retensions . This is the meaninggiven to Ba l h and Healh by Leol , who says that i t general lysign ifies the house of a king or palace , and i ts origina l signifiation was temp le . In a boundary defini t ion of A .D. 814 thereis mention of a Cyning

’

s healh . When , however , we find thepersona l name Hea l , and the terri toria l Heal l inga , the originfrom a personal appelat ive accounts for the p lace - names incases , as e lsewhere referred to . I t is d ifficul t to think thatHealh and Hea l a re d istinct words . Seta and seota mean asett ler or squatter , or even enclosed pastu re grounds, and i nSomerset p lace - names we find th is word in the county nameSumersaetas . A Westensaeta i s no t a settler a t Weston

,but

a sett ler i n the waste ,”and i t is observed that this is how

we get some Westons that are west of everywhere . Stede isanother such word , as i n homestead , but a survey of ourcounty p lace - names does not give us specimens, of which somecounties afford a p lentifu l supp ly .

Now , Haga meant a lesser estate , or even a single field .

The strong mascu l ine inflection hege (gen) , heges , or heagessignifies a hedge or fence . In Germany there are many namesof p laces end ing in hag . I t i s a name frequent i n DomesdayBook as a terri toria l defini tion . A hayne , too , i s an enclosure ,as a park , and to hayne up is to remove al l animals from a

field or ground to let the grass grow for hay . Hayne is foundin old Engl ish books relat ing to forests . Haga is obviouslya l l ied to our word hedge ; a haw- haw i s a sunk fence . AHayward is a hedge -warden , but not of quickset hedges , butof boundaries of properties . I t by no means fol lows that thename Hayward i s always from the emp loyment . Hayward as

a persona l name may rep resent an o ld Saxon name Agward ,and old German Eguard , became spel t as p ronounced , Ayward , Eahward , and then asp i rated . The Heigrove men

tioned below is possib ly the name Ecg- grove . Ag is a root, ag,ac, ec meaning poin t edge The relations of the word aresuffi ciently clear from al l th is .An obsolete manor in Ston E aston , cal led in Domesday

l Leo Ang lo- Sax on N ames of Places, pp. 52 - 53 .

87

Book Haia , has left , as we bel ieve , a re l ic of i tsel f i n the nameHay Street. No doub t i t is , local ly, mysterious why the spoto r road shou ld be so ca l led . I t has nothing to do wi th catt lefood , nor is i t connected with the word of which we have beenspeak ing . I t might be a Hag, or Hay, as an enclosed property .

C learly here i t is the persona l name Haga , or Hago . Haganawas a common name . Hagebert becomes Haicbert. Hagais p ronounced Haia . Thus i t was an owner

’

s name . Stree tis , of course , an early word , as early as the Roman roads ,stratum .

Nor i s th is the only instance in which there has been assim ilation calcu lated to mislead . We may refer to the instance ofAvishayes, which Mr . Pul lan interp rets as B i rd - hays . I t i strue that avis i s Latin for a b i rd , but how remote such a derivation i s from l ikel ihood only a l i t tle reflection conv incesus . The truth is that Av ishays i s a corrup tion of the persona lname Av icia . Before the Puri tan era of Scrip ture names seti n our forefathers were very fond of giving thei r gi rls qui tecurious names , as they seem to us . In five minutes in the 13thcentury we p ick out such names as Idonia , Dionysia , Sab ina ,

M ariota, Alvina , Avicia , and others we have noted in Some

AncientFemale Names in Somerset.

1 Avis- hayes is Av icia’

s,

or less l ike ly Avice hayes . Avicia i s i n an old German

Namenbuch (Name - book) Avagisa, of which each part i s

i nterpretab le .

Doverhay, we have al ready suggested , may be an interestingre l ic of the Cel tic sain t name S . Dyfrig (Dubritius) . We hopethat th is is so

,and that the suggestion is a right one . But i t

i s to be observed that the spel l ing Doveri may be a form Of

the word Defer,as found wri tten in Domesday Book , Devre .

Kemble regards th is as a Celt ic word , connected wi th theWelsh words dyfran ,

to water , dyj redig , watered , dyfr- d ir ,

wet- l and, dyfr- lan ,

a water brink , dyfr- le, the bed of a river .

Defer is sa id to be p robab ly the Anglo - Saxon pronunciat ionof dwir, wa ter , p lura l dyfroedd , waters .

2 M icheldever is derived from this word , as a lso i s Dover , and Condover in

Salop (Cendefer) .

Now Sparkhaies is a lso i n Porlock , and here we clear ly have

1 T imes a nd M i rror Article .

2Leo Ang lo- Sax on N ames of P laces, p. 70 , note .

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the personal name as i n Sparkford and Spraccombe . Therewas a fami ly of Sparkes , going back to the early Edwards .

”1

As in Sparkford we may here say the original name is Spraga,of the Liber Vitae, and the o ld Norse Sprakr. Sp rack andSpark are simp ly instances of the interchange of consonants ,as any sprack or l ive ly person wi l l see . Here c learly

, as i nmany other local names which we have not persona l ly heardof , the Hays are d isti nguished usua l ly by the owner

’s name .

Sometimes they are Hays, as in Stowey, without a qual ifyingprefix , and a lmost everywhere in Somerset local ly known asWesthay, Easthay, Upbay , Culverhay . There is a Heigrove

i n what was the manor of Bridgwater, a Hayne i n Otterford .

H eydon , near Taunton , appears to be a shortening of a longername, Hayder- don , which we should th ink was an abbreviation of Hahweard , or Haward ; th is is the same name asHeahweard .

Screedhay, i n M i lverton , i s an examp le . Screed is the sameas Seard and Scarth as a persona l name . Those who know theSomerset twists wi l l understand how the curious name Screedwould become Seard . No doub t, T auberZ is right i n his newresearches i nto mountain names in tracing the element skrato a root mean ing rock . He i nstances Skaraborg , in Norway,named from its jagged rocks . Scra is sa id by M r. Edmundsto mean a sea swal low .

”So perhaps a V i ki ng ca l led his

vesse l the Sea Swa l low . The former i s correct . We do notfind this latter i n Larsen

’

s Dansk-Norsk Dictionary .

lAl istory of Pa rtof WestSomerset Cha dw ick Hea ley .

2Neuen - Gebi rg snamenForchung en .

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Stowel l , i n that county , i s spel t Stanuel le . This and Stawel lare a l i ke in Somerse t E stan -well a for i n the case of Stawel l

(E sta -wel le) there is clearly the el i sion of the consonant , andi t should be spel t E stan -wel la . We confess our strong incl ination to regard these names as rel ics of the persona l nameEastan, or Athels tane , and we do not mean here AthelstaneRex , for G loucestershi re had i ts Athelstane B ax , and Somerset and Wi l ts a lso i ts Athelstane Dux , and there was an Athelstane abou t A .D . 967 who is designated Semirex ,

a monk of

G lastonbury ; and Athelstane Comes i n Somerset and Wilts ;and an Eah lstan , Bishop of Sherborne , i n the 9th century ;and without further words , the name was frequent , popular,and local . And

,i n our opinion , these names may be traces .

I t i s sa id that the Stowel ls came into possession of th isproperty soon after the Conquest . We do not know whatth is may mean . The three p lace - names contai n the element,E stan , Stan , and wel le may be a form of wi la

,a hamlet , as

Pedwel l , near Greinton , i s Pedwil la . But for th is spel l ing,most persons wou ld be sat isfied to say that Stowel l means av i l lage , and so the meaning is simp ly the vi l l age wel l .

”1

Stawley , near Wel l ington , on the borders of Devon , standsa lone in Somerset and out of i t , and so do the severalStawe ias so far as we have been ab le to make out by search .

At least the gazetteers do not take note of any such namesout of the county ; and i t wi l l be observed that Stawley is givenas Domesday Book Stawe ia and Stawe i , and i t becomes Stawley i n the 14th Century, or i t may be earl ier . In the NominaVi l larum i t is spel t Stau leye . In Stawe ia we perceive the usualconsonanta l e l i s ion , and we should be incl ined to supposethat i t was n

”that had dropped out , i . e . , Stanweia, and

then the exp lanation usual ly given is that a Stone -way was a

Roman road . This might pass i f i t were not that , by thesevera l authori ties , Nether Stowey i s read in the remarkableform Estalweia i n Domesday Book . This is accompanied bya note informing us that Nether Stowey was added to thel ands of Aluni (Alwi , modern name Olvey and Holvey) .

1 In a h istory of the family of Stowel l the author interprets East-we ll ,omitting to note that the initia l vowe l , a s frequent ex amples show, is a

euphonic vowel be fore two consonants , a s the fina l vowe l is euphonic

by Norman Spe l lers and so th e form is Stan - we l l .

9 1

Then we are temp ted to in terpret the name as E ast Aluni .But th is i s clearly on ly a curious coincidence

,as the other

names , Staweia, show , and as the defini te and significantendi ng, weia, c lear ly indicates . A col lection of the wordsending in wei a i n the boundary l ists of charters and the foresta l perambulations gives us a strange assortment of namesof ancient roads and ways worth further i nvestigation . Onlyoccasional ly do you come across a M agna Strata , and get thesu rvival i n Streetand Stratton Stratona) , with the qui teneedless exp lanation on the fosse way .

” And there is OverStratton , i n South Petherton Stratona) . They areoften cal led by names of persons , and you ask , Who wasRingo ld ?

”i n such a boundary name as Ringoldt

’

s weia (a lsospel t wel le) . Stawley, with the origina l spel l ing Stawei,i s indirect evidence of the existence of the form Stalwei, ofwhich Stawley exh ib i ts the usua l , or not unusual , misp lacement of the consonants . Staweit is a mere mis - spe l l i ng .

Stowey, as Stalweg and Sta -weia , means ( i f we repeat)“the

steep way”; and i t is steep out of Stowey juxta Chew .

Of Stewleys there seem to be severa l in Somerset . Thereis a Stewley, a lias Stileway, i n M eare . This Sti le -way means“the steep way in fact , Stowey over again . There is thename , whether the same or d ifferent , of Stiveley and Stivele igh and Stivel - l igh ( i n 1580) i n a foresta l perambulatory ofNeroche , and there i s the name in Ashi l l , Stewley . In these lf - same perambu lation we drop across the

“hamlet of

Estafway . Among the Somerset chapel ries there is also agrant of a p rivate chapel to Si r Wi l l iam Everard , of Stiveleg.

The date i s A .D . 1262 . This is a portion of the civi l parish ofAsh i l l (curiously spel t Hashul l i n the names of vi l las , makingus think Ashi l l i s a corrup tion of Has le , the persona l name) .

Stewley i s, therefore , Stive - leg o r Stine - leg, and“st ive

”and

staf are the same as stab , a staff , and thereby reminding usof the name Stavordale . The meadow was staff -marked , and

so was the way in Staf-way . No one would guess th is fromthe form

, Stewley, which shows that Stiue- ley was read as

Stiw- l ey,not Stew - ley

,and then th is i s (as is most l ikely) the

same as Sti le -way and Stowey, the steep way .

Wookey , Oaktrow.

—It seems odd to bring these two p lacenames together

.Wookey and Wookey Ho le are so wel l

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known , whi le Oaktrow is a hamlet i n Cutcomb , of which wesuppose that many never heard . Our reason fo r doing thisi s that i n Domesday Book Oaktrow i s actua l ly spel t Wochetreu—whatever treu (usua l ly rendered by trow) maymean , whether treu, i . e . , trev, tref, Cel t ic for a vi l lage , ortreo , for treou, a tree , or a softened ending of a personalname in trud . How does Woche d iff er from Wookey?Wookey i s , a lmost wi thout question , usual ly derived fromOgos and Ogo . Vugg, or voog, i s a natural cavi ty i n a minesometimes

“found beautifu l ly encrusted wi th minerals .

” Thevarious spel l ings of this Cornish word are worth recording .

They are vooga, vou , vugga, vug, vugh , vugo ,fogo

, fo - gru,

fou , goo - goo , ogov , and ogo . Vooga, or some such form ,

can avowedly eas i ly become Wookey, or the Woche ofDomesday Book now cal led Oaktrow . Some of the earlyspe l l i ngs (Edward I . ) are Wokey and Wooky, and then thereare other variet ies , as Okey, Okye , Wokey, Woky, and

Wookye . Wookey Ho le wi th such a derivation is clearly a

doub let for Wookey, which i tse lf means a hole . The nameWokyhol i s found in A .D . 1290 '

“Lands in Wokyhol

”

(grant by Richard de Bamfield , Canon of Wel ls) .We have never thought to question so apparently satisfactory an exp lanation unti l we l ighted upon Woche - trev asthe Domesday representative of Oaktrow . Oaktrow should ,on the same princip les, be Okey or Wookey- trev , or cavev i l l age . Is i t? Wochetrev (Oaktrow) i s , we note , thespel l ing of a Norman clerk . In the wel l - known Wookey weare not helped by ei ther a Domesday spel l ing or by the l isti n the Taxatio E cclesiastica . And the earl ies t spe l l ings appearto be in the reign of the Edwards , andWookyho l i n A .D . 1296

i s ci ted . Our be lief is that a Saxon persona l name is at thebase of both these p lace - names . We meet wi th the personalname Wookey in Somerset . I t is easy to say that th is nameis derived from the p lace . This is often so , of course ,and is frequently traceab le ; but in many cases , where thisis assumed wi thout further cons ideration , we bel ieve thati nvestigat ion shows that an ancient persona l name is veryoften at the back of both . The w is no d ifficulty, whetheryou take the Cel tic derivat ion of Ogos or a Saxon namel ike the Fris ian name Hoco , found in the names Hockey,

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mighty oak or some memorab le event under the oak,or i t

was a boundary mark . Oak, a p arish three mi les south - east

of M i lverton , i s , i n Domesday Book , Accha . There is noapparent reason why i t should be so ca l led . And , i ndeed ,Acca was a very common Wessex and Somerset immigrantname in the eight and nin th centuries . Nor is i t certainthat th is , as a persona l name , is taken from the oak as asymbol of s trength or manhood . Some of those names ratherhark back to a form Ag , Ac , Ecg, an edge or point .There i s an obsolete manoria l name whose identification

is doub tfu l . M r . Whale gives Acche leia as Oakley, i n Chi lthorne Domer , and the various spel l ings—Ach ileium i n the

Ghe ld Inquest , Achelaia i n the Exon Domesday , and Achelaii n the Exchequer— rep resent the name of an estate (accordi ng to Eyton) now only known as Hurst, i n M artock . Weare on ly concerned about the name . I t is p lai n ly Accha leia ;that is

,Akey

’

s lea , as a persona l name . T he name Ake -man

i s,i n ful l , Ecg-mund . Oakley, i n Chi l thorne Domer, is not

i n Domesday Book , but i s Okele i n the names of vi l ls .

Okele and Okel and Acle ( i n Norfo lk) are frequent names .

I n the Lay Subsidies (Edward I II . ) Oakley is spel t the sameas Acle

,i n Norfolk , by the sounding deep b lue North Sea,

as we remember as a boy . I t i s the shortening of a personalname . Perhaps Oskete l , Oscyte l , became O ikel , Oke le , and

then was i n terp reted as Oakley . Oke - le scarce ly represents

Oak - lea,nor wou ld this be , so late , spel t Acle . We do not

know whether Oakhi l l i s a modern name . We have not

fa l len across i ts ancient track .

In the same document there i s Fayrok , i n BerkeleyBerche - lee) . The p lace - name is now Fairoak. Berche

lee is the Bi rch meadow , as usual ly taken ; Fayrok i s , however

, a disguise of the compound Saxon name , Faerecg . Wehave explained faer and ecg as to thei r e tymologica l meaning .

Already mentioned,we may add that E astwick , of Camer

ton,as the Domesday Book spel l ing shows , i s not Wick

to the east of somewhere , but the persona l name , with

the same syl l ab le in it— Ecg, Ecchewig .

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CHAPTER XII .

Mount and Hill Names—~Po lden , Mendip and

Quantock .

The genera l ru le with regard to mountain and river namesi s that they have a Cel tic origi n . This is true of manywide ly- sp read E uropean names . We might in i t ia l ly expectthat Somerset mounta in and stream names would prove noexcep tion to this extensive ru le . If Po lden were derivedfrom Pwl l , a poo l found in such p lace - names as Pi l l , and

d un, a hi l l or down , then both these words are not Ce l tic ;Pwl l is a Saxon loan word to Welsh . A more e laborateC elt ic exp lanation is that given in a paper pub l ished in theProceed ings of the Somerset Archaeo logical Society, i nwhich Po lden is exp lained in harmony wtih i ts physica ls i tuation . Po l is, according to this, an examp le of thatmutation of letters which is so p rofound a mystery to a l lbut the born Welshman . For examp le , as i n the p resentcase P wi l l in certa in col locations of vowels and conson

ants become M .

”T he mutations are too ka leidoscop ic

for untutored intel l igence , and qui te bewi lder the sober andsol id Saxon . The origina l form on these p rincip les is M oel

y - don , and changed to Voel - y- don,and by a further muta

tion to Po ldon . Now M oel i s Cel t ic for a promontory . In

geography we are fami l i ar with the p lace - name , the M u l lof Canti re . M ul l in Gael ic is a promontory and a hi l l . Donor dun is a lso a h i l l o r down , and thus M oel - y - don is a

doub let or a tautologica l name . This exp lanation has the

meri t of being true to the facts of physica l h istory, for oncethe restless sea ro l led to the base of the hi l l . I t was a

p romontory in fact . Pl ace- names did not originate in these

p re - historic t imes . I n i ts aboriginal posi t ion i t was surrounded by the swamp of the River Parret .

I t is scarcely possib le to take seriously the suggestion that

Polden is a reminiscence of the heathen god Ba ldr , a Scan

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d inavian dei ty, i nteresting as such an origin confessedly is .What names there are connected wi th mythologica l gods andheroes in Somerset, when tracked down , are rea l ly due tothe fact that these re l igious names of gods become part andparcel of personal names, precise ly as i n the sacred scrip tureswe find numerous names compounded with the abomination of the heathen ,

”Baal , i n the Canaani te nature worship

and the de i ty of Israe l , Jehovah , and Jab . Thor,for ex

ample, in Thorlac, and the p lace - name Thorlac’

s ton , Thurloxton, of which Luxton i s p robabably a lso an abbreviation ,and other examp les may be found in these papers . Theheathen god Pol for Baldr o r Pol s imp ly may be dismissedas fanciful and wi thout any certain evidence .We ought to remember in deal ing wi th the name that i tis scarcely so much a hi l l o r mountain name as a districtname, of which type of name we have severa l i n the countyGordano , Winterstoke, Wedmore , and the l ike . The nameappears p roperly to include a distric t which extends to aconsiderab le distance north of the Cary . Pawlett embracesa good part of the Po lden H i l ls . We think i t is a true ia

stinct which discerns and traces a connection between thenames Pawlett and Polden . In fact , s ixty manors cal led

Poho lt comprised the whole or a greater p art of PoldenH i l l . Pouholt becomes Poue lt, and then , by popular

usage,an interchange of consonants takes p l ace and it

i s Powlett . The personal name Pow, st i l l common , i s.

at the base . Pfau is a peacock . Pouhold and Pafuhild are

V iking names l ike Wulfhild and Wulfhold , thus Pfauhold

don or dun becomes Pouelt- don , and by a further popularabbreviation Poulden and Po lden . This exp lanation has also

the considerab le meri t of aff ording the key to the meaningof the persona l name Polden , or rather Pouldon, and Poulton

,found in directories and clergy l ists . Persons hearing

thi s name are not a l l of Somerse t origin , nor did they derivethei r cognomina from the p lace . Po lden is thus wri tten atfu l l l ength Pauholddun . The same exp lanat ion app l ies tothe name of the col l iery v i l lage Paulton, which is not Paul

’

s

ton,ei ther St . Paul or any other Pau l , nor the god Pol , but

Pauhild - ton, Pauelt- ton , and Pau l - ton in easi ly traceable

steps,or p robably as once spel t, Pauhild - don (not ton) .

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Now ih this name Skeate takes ea to be ig, an is l and ofwhich form we have (as we have seen) qui te a number ofspecimens in Somerset ; and Man i s the name M anna , whichoccurs i n the l 0th century as a persona l name . I t is theo rigin of such names as M anley and Manton

, M anning,M anningford , and M annigham. Now th is persona l nameprobably accounts for the obsolete manor name Mena also .

There is , be i t noted , a M i nehead in Bedfordshire , and thesame authori ty exp lains i t as derived from man and head

,

whatever may have been the reason why this name becameaffixed . M ane -wurda i s thus the worth or fa rm of M annaM ane - hefva i s the head of the p roperty owned by Manna .M aneheva and Cond icombe were Domesday names ofhundreds , and so d istrict names . I t seems difficul t to dispose of M endip i n the same way . The usua l ly accep ted exp lanation is that i t is a name of Cel tic o rigin . M aen is Cel ticfor rock , and dippa is Cel tic -Cornish for p i ts . In the sameway hefva wi th maen is the rockhead i n M inehead ; or if hefvais taken for haefen, a port (which is very possib le) , then thename means the rock - harbour . Another guess

,made without

regard to the Domesday spel l i ngs , i s Hafod,

“a summer

residence . I t is clear that a l l these and other i nstances ofmane , mene , cannot thus be brought under one explanation,as probab ly they ought to be . But what is the origi n of thisword M an, Manning , or M anna as a personal name?Probab ly i t may be from M aegen, great , b ig ; and so i t is atonce a persona l name , as M aen , M ann , and a descrip tiveword , than which none is more common in Somerset . No

where e lse d id we ever so freely hear the expressions,“He

i s main bad ,” “I t

’

s main hard ,”and the l ike . I t is thor

ough ly characteristic and a qui te archaic exp ression . Therei s a trace of th is i n modern German vernacular i n ma-nigand some other words . Stone p i ts (maen - dippa) is not sothoroughly characteristic or strik ing as the steep descents ofth is range of hi l l - land ca l led M endip . Here i t may be par

enthetical ly noted that there is a loca l name Sparryho le ,evident ly a spot where spaer- stan) sparry gypsum wasfound . Deop i s Anglo - Saxon for steep , and main - deop , orthe heavy or great steeps , i s possib ly, after al l , the true ex

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p l anation . The personal name M ann may of course be moreimmediately connected wi th the root word mann , meaning

p erson , anybody, i n whatever way the name became attachedto some particu l ar individua l as a persona l name . M inehejva may thus, i n the same way, be the great headland orthe steep harbour . But i t is to be observed that hefva is sof requent for head that the second derivation from haefen

may be safe ly d ismissed . The spel l ings are M ineheva ,M anehevda (T . and this assumes unimportant v ariationsM inhed , Mynehedde , Mynnett, and so on . The Anglo - Saxonheafod has a Danish form , heved , much l ike the Domesdayspel l ing , heva . Grimm has treated the word at length .

Heafod i s descrip tive of the extreme point (source or end)of a sheet of water . I t is a lso app l ied to heights figuratively .

M aen is certainly Welsh , a stone , but i t is more probab ly

that the Saxon heafod has a teutonic p refix, mai n , meaninggreat ; M r. Skeat

’

s exp lanation of Mannhead”i n Bedford

sh ire1 may, after al l , be sub ject to the same exp lanat ion as

M i nehead on the Severn Sea .

Quantoxhead , East and West. Domesday Book, Canto

cheheve .

” Quantock, near C rowcombe Cantoca) .

The Quantock H i lls as such are not mentioned in DomesdayBook .

“ The etymology of the p lace- name Quantock is aninteresting but rather elusive study .

”So i t has been said .

This is true . And that th is is so may be i l lustrated by the

e numeration of a series of i ngenious attemp ts to exp la in thisword

. Gael ic or Gadhel ic has been introduced here as i nthe explanation of the Somerset l inches as i nches, to whichan intrusive ini tia l consonant has become affixed . We want

some more conclusive evidence of the presence of Gael ic i nSomerset before accep t ing such an exp lanation as that cuan

means i n Gael ic a h i l l and toich a country . Hence Quantock is the “ hi l l country . Agai n the far more probab ly

Cel tic source is suggested . And so i t is said that i t is perhapsfrom the Bri tish gwaun ,

a mountai n meadow, and taeawg, atenant in v il lenage .

Z Hence QuantockH i l ls means the moun

tai n meadow of the tenants in vi l lenage and Quantoxhead ,

1Skeat P la ce- names of B edf ordsh i re, pp. 27, 28.

2Edmund s Traces of H istoryin the Names of Places, p. 270 .

1 00

the head or end of the Quantock range of bills. We mayadd that i n the Mabonogian waun is spel t gwaun,

and thatth is is exp lained i n a glossary as meaning a wi l lowmeadow ; and in the same romantic source teg means fai r

,

c lear, beautifu l , fine . Thus gwaun - teg means fai r wi l lowmeadows .

”Teged is (we may note) an obso lete Welsh word

mean ing fai rness . Gwantog, i t i s again said , means ful l ofopenings , and of the p icturesque combes that run down intothe sea and the in land th is is accurate ly descrip tive . We mayadd to these suggestions that (wi thout any resort to com

pounds) gwyntog i s modern Welsh for windy, stormy, andwe bel ieve that the sto rmy wind from the Bristo l Channeldoes make i tself fe l t i n the openings . Gwyntog may thus befu l l of wi nd , or , as

“wg

”i n Welsh means a country and

gwynt is cognate with the Anglo - Saxon wind and the Bretongwent , i t may be

“the b lowy or windy country .

” Then,fur

ther, Cantioc has been taken as a d im inutive meaning l i ttleheadlands . Without any jest i t may sure ly be sa id that considerable doub t hangs round the meaning of this fami l iarp lace - name . Some may not have heard the story whichsurely is passi ng- strange . I t is the tradi tion that Ju l ius Caesarreached as far west as these bil ls, and standing on one of theloft iest summits surveying the attractive l andscape he cried“Quantum ad hoc .

”Of course i t must have been his re

porter who shortened this to Quant - hoc . Yet anotherexp lanation is Cantock headlands , the water headlands .

Oc,” too

,is supposed to stand for oak, and cant is short for

centum, a hundred . And so i t has been exp lained as receivingi ts name from the abundance of i ts oaks . After th is surveywe may wel l fl i ng up our hands i n despai r .

Now i t i s said that an earl ier mention of Gantok than thati n Domesday is in the composi te word Cantuc- udu , i . e . ,

Cantuc-wood,i n a famous charter of the 7th century, that is

to say,i n Centw ines famous West Moncton charter . This is

a grant of land by Centwine (A .D . 682) to Hamegils, Abbotof G lastonbury . These are the words , in loco juxta si lvam

famosam quae d icitur Cantucudu .

”What Centwine did in

A .D . 681 may be read in the words of Freeman . He drovethe Welsh up the val ley where C rocombe was given for the

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1 0 2

And al l the analogies of these p lace - names are in favour ofsuch a p lain so lu tion . Cyntoch i s the origin of Quantock, butwho th is Cyntoch was we do no t know any more than weknow who Wifela was, of Wivels- combe, or what particu larWinfred i t was who affixed his name to Winford . TheBri tish origina l of the lat inized name Carantacus i s Caradawgor Caradawe, a hero celeb rated in the Mabonogian romance .

Caradawe was the son of Bran . Candawg i s thus a Cel ticname . Of the Cel tic exp lanations we th ink our suggestionpossib ly the best, because i t is a l ready found ful l - b lown as ap lace- name in Mabonogian,

but we do not find any paral lelsfor Gwantog,

“ ful l of openings ,” and the l ike p retty attrae

t ive devices .

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CHAPTER XIII .

Hams and lng s .

I t is surprising how l i ttle we real ly know of the history ofmany periods that have p roved to be turning points of history . H istory sometimes turns i ts cu rves with no rude andawakening shocks, but wi th the smoothness and sti l lness ofcelesti a l movements , and when i t is otherwise i t is beyondhuman foresight to see the ul t imate mighty issues . The fi rstinroads of the Saxons were a series of shocks, but much wasdone quiet ly . Perhaps the quiet and gradual sett lement ofSaxons in Somerset is partia l ly recorded in i ts p lace - names .I t is not a l together unworthy of note that we have moredetai led information (whether re l iab le or not from the poin tof View of scientific history) of the Saxon invasion and

aggress ion which drove a wedge into that Western district ofthe county in which Bri tons dwel t, and for ever separated thepart of the Cymric race which became known as the Welsh ,that is

,the strangers— it i s a curious irony that the name

affi xed to them should be the one which the in truding Saxon ,who was the rea l stranger , gave to the race he subdued , whowere the origina l possessors— from that part which reti redinto Cornwal l , i ncluding the considerab le number who sti l lfound homes in the fastnesses and swamps of Somerset . Thatthese must have been extensive in area is clear from the im

portant fact that over one hundred thousand acres of landescaped va luation in the Domesday survey . These probablyconsis ted for the most part of the moorlands . The namemoor persists in at least twenty- one instances in relation toconsiderab le areas , asWedmore and Kenn M oor, and othersnoted .

According to Winke lman , Geschichte der Angelsachsen ,

such fragments of historica l lore as the upcoming of Cedric ,his a l l ies

,and his army from the di rection of Southampton ,

and the check met with at Bath in A .D. 516 , when the Bri tonwon a victory over the uni ted forces of Cedric, E l la , and Aesc

1 04

of Kent ; and the story of Cymric and Ceawl in,i n A .D. 560,

who final ly took Bath and penetrated somewhat further intoour county of Somerset, do at leastgive us more than meresurmise . For Norfo lk and Suffo lk , and for earl ier and laterimmigrations of whole fami l ies and tribes , with al l theirSaxon habi ts and pecul iari ties and s laves , we have not evenso much satisfaction as this aff ords . For the stories of Hengistand Horsa , and of those sons of Woden , Wilhelm , Wechta,and his son Uff a— after whom , of course, his descendants werecal led Ufii nggas— do not convey much i nformat ion , though ,l ike al l legendary ta les , they conta in more than one grain oftruth .

We are led to insti tute some such inqui ries by the phenomena presented to us by p lace - names ending respectively iningham and ington . I n order rea l ly to enjoy statistics youneed to have a consuming passion for figures . The Whirl igigof numbers , especia l ly pondus , so l idum , and pennyweight ,are to some as entrancing and absorb ing as the intricateevolutions of a p leasan t dance . To others they are abhorrent .Thus men supp ly each other

’

s lack . I t wi l l , however, probab ly prove to be no very serious annoyance to the formerclass , if i t do not del ight the latter, to be informed that , aftersome search

,we can te l l h im that of p rincipa l vi l lages there

are at least a score and four inghams in Norfo lk , and onlyone ington, bes ide one ingthorp , whi le in Somerset we maycount nearly two score of the class of vi l lages , properly socal led , and of the ham lets and ti th i ngs a ttached to those vi ll ages— so far as any ordinary di rectory aff ords informationwhich terminate in ington . Al l of these are not genuineingtons, for some are the imi tat ion article . Is th is variationof inghams and ingtons an accident? The inghams of Somerset are scarce indeed . In Bedfordshi re there are no inghamsand fifteen or sixteen ingtons. Suff o lk has two inghams andonly three ingtons, and amongst these a Lavington , whichreminds us of a Somerset name . Cambridge appearsto have seven ingtons and only two inghams . These numbersare suffi ciently correct to show that there is a curious diff erence that may be accounted for on the ground of dialecticalpecul iari t ies— Jutes , Angles, Saxons , are the usual categories

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1 0 6

the two fol lowing components are not a mere agglomeration,

as a t fi rst sight appears . The name in the Domesday l ist iss imply Hamtona , i . e . , the tun in the meadow land . InDi tcheat , which is Dices—yat , t. e . , dikes - yat or dyke

’s gate,

there is found the hamlet of Al - ham- ton ,which ought to

aff ord excel len t sandwiches ; i t i s , however , spel t by Normanclerks i n the suggestive form of Alentona . I t stands on astream now cal led the A lham. I n the Bath Charters i t isspel t Ham- tune and Hamtona from the 10th to the 14th centuries. The names of vi l l age and river have , we think,a l ike often accep ted an intel l igib le but intrusive ending inham. The true spel l i ng easi ly suggests a Ce lt ic river name ,the Alyn , a river with steep banks or flowing by a steep hi l lcountry . Simi larly, i n Denbighshi re , a vi l l age , T revalun,

“the vi l l age on the Alum ,

”has become Alington . There is

said to be a hamlet i n the parish of Al lerton of this veryname . I t is given i n a l ist of Somerset parishes , and if thephysica l ci rcumstances were accordant this might be i ts meaning , though , as we have no very early spel l ings to guide us, i tmay be Alwyn - ton , that is , the persona l name Alwine- ton , asAl lerton arises from Alward - ton (D .B . Alwardi - tona) . Herewe may i ntrude the remark that as Alynton becomes Alington , Edantune , that is , Edwinton, may eas i ly shape i tself toE dington ; yet in the absence of some other evidence, i t isp recarious to set aside such early spel l ings as are not obviouslymere Norman caricatures of Saxon speech , or where we areunab le to see how the jealous Saxon changed a Bri tish wordto the nearest Saxon that sounded just l ike i t , and in Domesday Book it i s Edwine - ton .

Of these apparen t agglomerations we have a l ready mentioned Seavington , Seven - ham- ton ; and there is a lso men

tioned before , Car- ham- ton . The famous register here givesus Carenton . The antiqui ty of the name is certified by thefact that i t i s the ancien t ti t le of a hundred .

I n the vi l lage of WestBradley, i . e . , Broad lea, or meadow,

there i s a hamlet or ti th i ng cal led Lottis- ham. This is derivedfrom a persona l name , Lott i or Lotto . This Lot can scarcelyhave been named after the sl im Hebrew who chose al l thefai r and wel l -watered p lain , and left h is unselfish uncle the

1 0 7

dry up land . Female owners were not unknown in those days,

and some personal names now existen t had thei r origin in

female names . Lotti is p robably a shortened form of thewel l - known name , not now so fash ionab le as in the days ofthe queen , Charlotte . The German wel l - known pet name isLotta . Lottis - ham is the home or the hamme of Lotta . Thename Lott is s ti l l found in the d irectories of the county .

Isidore Lotto was a great vio l in ist i n Germany . We mentionsuch facts, not on ly for the l ight they throw on nomenclature ,both of persons and p laces

,but as corroborative evidence of

the persistence of a name affixed to a p lace .

Ga l- hampton , a ham let in North Cadbury, may possib ly bethe persona l name extant of Gal land - ton . The name doesnot stand alone . There is a Galby, or Gaulby, i n Leicestersh ire , and a Gal - ton in Dorset ; also a Galmington1 i n Somerset . These Gals look as if they were a form of the wordGavel - kind , which is known to be a sort of tenure . The middle Engl ish i s Gavel and the Saxon Gafo l . Gafo l - ge ldas weretenants paying some kind of sma l l rent among the Northmen .

The p lace has no mention i n Domesday Book , and at thep resent moment we have not the guide of various forms ofspel l ings . Gal is sometimes cl aimed to be Cel tic . Gel l i isthe hazel - tree . I t is then Hazel - ton . Green- ham, i n Stawleyor Ashbri ttle , would seem to be self- exp lanatory, as Ham

G reen or the low meadow land green , but the DomesdayBook spel l i ng i s Grinde - ham , and this a t once shows that i tis no t a characteristic Danish green , but the persona l name

Grinde , which is , we cons ider, a shortening of the inte l l igib lecompound word Grimond , t. e . , Grim -mund , and Scand ina '

vian . Altham i s in Batcombe . There is another Al tham in

Lancash i re , and an Alt - car . The al t”is possib ly the Bri tish

al t, a steep p lace or highland . Al lt is in Gadhel ic a stream ,

and found as such in numerous H igh land p lace - names . Wedo not expect to find this in Somerset . Al lt i s a shortenedname

,but we have no spel l ings for certai n guidance . Ald and

Eald are persona l names ; the name Aldanhamal occurs . I tm igh t even be Althelm became Altham . North and South

1T hat is Ga lmund - ton . Ga land is the Ga lamtof the Hund red Rolls . Ga l in

numerous names signifies spirit, cheerfulness .

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Brew- ham are , i t i s sufli cient to say , on the River Brue , themeadow lands of the Brue ,

”or homes on the Brue . Muchel

ney Ham i s the meadow of the great is l and .

”M ichelney

i s great is l and , as Litte lan - eia is the l i tt le is l and,and Middl

ney, i n Drayton , describes i tself . Huxha in i n East Pennard,

i s Hucca’

s ham , a known Saxon name wh ich survives i n thename H icks , which i s common i n the West Country, withwhich may be compared what i s said on thi s personal nameearl ier . In Yatton there is Claver—ham, reminding us of thevi l l age name C l aver- ton , i n Domesday Book as Clafer- ton .

Llawr means ti l l age , a spot c leared out of the surroundingforest or swamp . I n M onmouthsh i re there is Clawr-p lw ,

“the peop le

’

s c leared spot,” or common land . C l aver- ham

is thus regarded as synonymous with this , but C laver- ton hasthe early spel l ing C la t- ford - ton .

1 The suggestion has beenmade that Laverton i s the H laford

’

s town . H laford i s theloaf-winner, and then the master or lord . H laford in later

Engl ish became Laverd .

T hat day after thaym ne went

T o do the ir Laverd command ement."—Guy of Wa rwick.

But Laverton i s spel t i n Domesday Book Lauretona . Weknow laurus is Latin and laur is native Saxon for laurel , as inOld French lorier, in Welsh l lorwyz . Laverton might befai rly expected to be Laferton, and they knew the word lor forl aure l . Here the u may rep resent the w of the Celticword Llawr. Have al l these a common root , as has been

asserted ?To comp lete the hams as far as avai lab le l ists enab le us todo so , leaving out such as are qui te obvious , as Harnbridge

z

seems to be, M r. Harvey, formerly vicar of Wedmore , i n his

Wedmore Chronicle, i n troduces to us the qua int localname of Picked Ham, i . e . , a corner field , and Pi l l Ham, i .a. ,

the poo l meadow . Crickham, i n which Crick i s the Cel ticcrug

,a hi l l , ra ther than krik , a bend . Here in his pages we

posit ive ly meet with an ending i n ingham , i n the local name

Dunningham, i . e . ,the home of the Donnas , Dunas, or

Donnes . The fact that i t has few, if any, compan ions makesi t a lmost susp icious . Dun is a down or hi l l , and the name

1See p. 43 . 9A Spel ling is however He lm- bridg e.

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1 1 0

CHAPTER XIV .

Names in lngton .

Ashington is (Domesday Book) Essentuna . Ashington is not alone There is Ashindune, a parishi n the hundred of Rochford , i n Essex . I t is spel tAssandune i n the records of the defeat of Edmund Ironside

,

by Canute the Dane . There is an Ashington in Northumberl and , and one in Sussex . Our Ash ington is i n the hundred ofStone . E ssen represents the Saxon aescen, meaning ashen .

The sixteenth century spel l i ngs are Assyngton ,Astynton,

Astington . The two lat ter do not appear to be more thanmere instances of the tendency to interchange the consonants .Babbington is a Somerset name accounted for in Domesday Book , Babbing- tona . This seems to be the patronymic,t he p lura l form inga . In the Liber Vitce is the Anglo - SaxonBabba and the Frisi an Babe. This i s interesting onaccount of i ts exh ib i t ing the spread of this name onthe conti nent

,as wel l as i n Engl ish vi l l ages named Bab

worth (Nottinghamshire) , Bab ing- ley (Norfo lk) , and perhaps

Bab- Cary ,i n Somerset , whi le others in Bab and Bob are

derived from a personal name known to be early extant, andsurviving in our names Babb , Babbs , Bebb . I t means, then ,the town of the Babbs , Nennius, the 9th century Bri tishmonk

,or his i nterpola tor— an ancient edi tor who bore the

ingenuous name of Samuel , and performed his work so careless ly or wi lfu l ly that we are left i n doub t what belongs to

Nennius and what to Samuel— te l ls us that Eadfered reignedtwe lve years in Bernicia and twelve i n Dei ra , and gave toh is wife Bebba the town Dynguany, which from her iscal led Bebban- burg . The same is Bamborough , i n North

umberland , to this day . Bebba i s in this case thename of another female l andowner . I n Germanythere is the town Bamburg (which is just Bam

borough) and the ruins of the Castle Bamburg, the Stamm

burg der Babenberger, that is , the original or race town of

the Babbas. The knightly fami ly is Babenberg. I n Hesse

1 1 1

there is a lso a p lace ca l led Babenhausen,the houses of

the Babbs, and another i n Suabia which is the name of aM ark . I t is poss ib le that Baba or Bebba may in i ts origin beconnected with Babe . I n the Farmer

’

s Directory we sti l l findBabb , Bebb , Babbs , and even Baby, which has thus a veryremote connection indeed wi th a tender infant and longc lo thes , and possib ly , and l ikely

,the wel l - known and

purely Somerset name of Baber is just a corrup tionof Baba . Babba is the name of a “ moneyer ” froma stem which Foerstenmann th inks is original ly derived

from ch i ldren’

s speech . Babba is Anglo - Saxon and BabeFris ian , both i n the Liber Vitce .

Names in ington requi re some discrim ination . Ing is ap tto be a delusive particle . Ing

,meaning a water-meadow

,

i s Scandinavian , and not l ike ly to be found in our p lacenames ; and ing or incga, meaning descendants , i s foundin others ; whi le i n many i t is a mere case of assimi lat ion .

Thus , we have such words as Cannington , Burrington , Yarl ingion , Lovington , and Woolav i ngton , and the rest . IsBurrington the home of the Burringas? This might possib lyi ntroduce us to the i nterest ing mytho logy of the Scandinavianrace , the Norsemen . The Norse ship , wi th i ts V ikings , wasa terrib le appari t ion , fi l l i ng earl and churl i n saxon Englandwith the same terror that thei r own advent had fi l led the formerpossessor of the land , the ce l tic Bri ton , to whom a sassenachwas the equ iva lent of Satan . God fulfi ls h imself in manyways

,and lest one good custom should corrup t the

world,he sent the hornet among the comfortab le

Saxons,the V i kings, or sea - rovers, the hel l - skins

”

c lear skins— oi the snowy and icy North . They were sonsof the Al l - fadi r or Odin . Such was Borr or Burr . Thawingice - drops took the shape of a cow . She l icked sal t from thes tones

,and the fi rst day there came out of the stones a man

’

shai r ; the second day a man

’

s head ; the th ird day came forththe comp lete man

,whose name was Buri , the father of Odin .

The name Burr was the name of a tribe of descendants , the

Burringas. This is undeniably p retty , and poetical ly striking .

Burrington is a p l ace - name found i n the county of Herefordwhich would perhaps favour th is derivation . I t is a word of

which the spe l l i ngs seem to be consistent . Langford , Bur

1 1 2

rington , and Berrow formed one manor in A .D . 1086 . This belonged to E arl Haro ld , and was given to Gl astonbury Abbeyby King Rufus . M ost l ike ly Burrington was the motherchurch of Langford , Berrow,

and Rowberrow . Burrington

is thus close ly connected with Wrington (Rhin - ton) and i tm ight seem natura l to trace the name to this as Burh - rhinton

and thus account for i t . We do not find any ready authori tyfor these Burringas or any German paral le l . The derivationsfrom bwr , an embankment or entrenchment , or bura , a croftmeadow , may be left to take care of themselves . This lastis apparent ly the same as the North Country word , byre , apent - shed or cow - house ; and the same word as Anglo - Saxonbur or bower . I t is worth noting that the persona l namesBurr and Burrington are found in a p resent - day Court Directory , as is a lso the name Barrington .

The vi l l age Barrington was formerly cal led Barentona

Regis , because i t was an appanage of the King’

s Royal Manorin South Petherton . King Edward the Confessor was owner

,

Ablata de Bari tona . This name, according to some , meansthe tun of the Barings, and the deriv ation has been given ofBer- ern - ton , the bar ley ton or p lace , from which we getour word barn, as Barton is Bere - tun , or the barley - rick yard .

Bar, a rai l , is a middle Engl ish word , derived from old Frenchbarre , and is not therefore l ike ly to account for a wordknown to Anglo - Saxon thanes . The sense is barn - town .

Berin is a bear . Berin and Beorn are known personal names ;Bern and Beri n and Beorn in such names as Bern - hard .

Barri ngton is Berin’

s- ton . This name Bera is found in BeerC rocombe , Beer i n Cannington , and Beer Regis i n Dorset .Brislington is an instance of a word which may easi ly lead

you o ff i n very various di rections i n search of i ts meaning.

Of a l l the p laces whose names end in ington found in Som

e rset, th is appears one of the most puzz l i ng, somemay even th ink indeterminate with any approach to

dogmatic posi t iveness . The p lace i tse lf is of someantiqui ty . Remains and traces of a Roman vil la

are found 1 Yet i t is not separate ly mentioned inei ther of the compi lations known as the Exchequer or

1.S'

omerset and Dorset Notes and Queries, vol . V i i .

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1 14

i s i n the Engl ish Church Calendar . He was 3 Bishop of

Tours , and died in A .D . 444. There is a church named afterhim i n Oxfordsh i re , Brize -Norton . Bris l ington is

,however

,

scarce ly another i nstance of such a connection . The formBris- ington would be accounted for as

“ the p lace of Brice ’sdescendants

”where Brice is an ordinary personal name

,

which is , we observe , st i l l found in the county . This spel l ingmay we think, be safely d isregarded . We may observe thatthe l

”is persistent , and must be accounted for in Bristel

ton , Burstle - ton and Bristle - ton . These are the earl iest formswe have met W i th , and they most obviously show that tendency to the interchange of consonants exemp lified , for example , i n the name of the hamle t Stert for Straet, i . e . , streetor way— a Roman rel ic i n the parish of Fodd ington— and thedel ightful fami l iar co l loquia l ism

“gert for great . Bristle !

ton seems to give us the type to work on . The name remindsus of i ts b ig neighbour , whose inhab i tants , taught by themasters of local h istory, are doubtless al l of them aware thatSeyer, i n h is h istory of Bristo l , enumerates forty- sevenvariet ies of orthography for the name of the ancient ci ty ; butthe on ly two , i t i s sa id , worthy of notice , as leading to a

solution of the prob lem of i ts etymology , are Bris - tu i and

Bric - s tow . The“ s t ” represents1

“

gh ,

”and Bright- ric was

l ord of th is domain in A .D. 1064. The name Brightricius appears as that of a tenant of the abbot of G l astonbury at least

five or six times in the Domesday record of Somerset . Now,

Brightricius or Brightrics- lea - tun the meadow farm of

Brightric”—might by the impatient usage of speech be

cl ipped down into Brist - lea - tun , just as Brighton is usuallyrecognised as the lopped form of Brighthe lmstone . Now,

th is is spel t i n the Sussex Domesday Book Bristlems- tone,and Brightl i ngsea i s spel t Bristl ingsea- eye and Brystl ings- eye .

A Brighthe lm was a monk of G lastonbury, and subsequentlyArchb ishop of Cante rbury, transferred from Wel ls in A.D.

959 . He was buried in Wel ls Cathedra l i n A .D. 973 , according to Col l inson . We cannot discover any connection of this

Archb ishop with Bris l ington , though Bristletonwould as easilyarise from Brighte lm as Brighton from Brighthelm or

1Skeat g ht wa s a d iffi cult sound , a s itrepresented the Ang lo- Saxon ht!

T hey wrote“st

"for

“ht a s Lestene for Le ig hton.

1 1 5

Beorthelm, and th is last accounts for Burtle’

s- ton as a formof spe l l ing . The persona l name at i ts base is thereforeprobab ly Brightric or Brighte lm,

which becomes Bristelm.

This may seem too much of considera tion to devote toonly one name , and such length is only permissib le (as i tis certainly of value) as i l l ustra tive of the diffi cul ty of tracking

down some e lusive names , and a lso of the fact tha t i t is onlyon the groundwork of h istory, as wel l as of etymology

,tha t

we can arriv e at any certain , or even probab le , conclusions

wi th regard to some names . We may just add that Bright ,meaning i l l ustrious , i s s ti l l a wel l - known name , wi thout theaddi t ion of e i ther ric or helm . This would certa in ly be infavour of deriving Bris to l —anciently , Bris- stow— from Brigh t ,not as a qua l i tat ive or rather descrip tive

,name— that is ,

“

the b right vi l lage — but from an abbreviated persona lname . Brist le - ton reminds us forcibly of the name Bristo l .To what date does the form Bristowe go back ? I n the LaySubsid ies of Edward I I I . i t appears as Bristel - ing- ton .

Boss- ing - ton is the name of a hamlet near Porlock . TheDomesday spel l ing is Bosintona . I n the seventeenth century ,

i n wi l ls, i t i s Borsing- ton . The earl iest spel l ing thus connectsthe p lace wi th a Saxon owner, whose name is also found inthe l i t tle south coast vi l lage of Bosham , on the creek , now

fas t s i l ting up ,on which tossed Alfred

’

s fleet , and where , i nthe most ancient and qua i n t of churches , i s the tomb , on thechancel step , of Canute

’

s daughter . Bosa was the name of a

Saxon thane or thegn . Por- lock, Port - loc the“en

c losed harbour” 1— is a p lace of considerab le antiqui ty . I t

was the residence of Saxon kings , who had an extensivechase here . Bosa was the name , too , of the fi rst consecratedbishop of East Angl ia . The name , therefore , was not in

frequent . Bosington is a name found near Southampton .

I t is found in Bos -worth , Bos - ley, and some other p laces ;but these

,perhaps

,requi re examination , as, e .g . , Bos- ton is

shortened from Botolph ’ s - ton , and Bosworth is Bos

1Gera rd , in Pa rticula r H istory of the County of Somerset, S . R . S . vol . x v ., p . 10 ,

fol low ing Hol inshed , d er ive s it“ from that notable rover named Port,

a Saxon, who in the yea r 703 d id much inf est the coa st of Eng land ,

a nd lefthis name in Portland , Portshull and Portbury , and other pla ce s .

Port- locan s ig nifies the place or residence of Port. T he name is

Pohta , and this would account for the spe l l ing Potesbury .

1 16

word . I n Bede occurs the name Bosan - hamm ; that is ageni tive form .

Beckington —DE . Bechintona ; T .E . , BekyntonMSS. Bekenton ; fifteenth century, Bekynton

and Bekyngtone i n wi l ls . Bacc is a beech tree . AccordinglyBaecantona i s interpreted to mean

“the town of the beeches

.

The Domesday Book spel l ing is Bechintona . Beocca i s aname found in Wi l ts, Hampsh ire , and Dorset , and is here inSomerset . Bech in i s but the Domesday Book spel l ing ofBeoccan . Thomas de Bekynton , the M aecenas of hisage ,

”bui l t a fa i r condui t i n the market p lace of

Wells , and derived his name from this p lace . As a pun onhis name , he was ca l led a

“burning and sh ining—beacon

.

”

Henry V I . made h im Bishop of Bath and Wel ls,for

,besides

his undoub ted learning and vi rtue , did he not wri te a“j udicious book to prove the right of the Kings of Englandto the crown of France , desp i te the Sa l ique law He wasthe son of a Beckington weaver, and sen t to Winchester longbefore the so - cal led modern

“reform

”of scholarships to

school and Universi ty made them the perquisi tes of the rich,

i nstead of a help to the poor . ( i t is curious to see how somewiseacres are just finding this out . ) His monument is inWel ls Cathedral , i n more than one sense .

Canning- ton does appear to be a tribal name , derivablef rom the persona l name Cari n , which Bosworth thinks arosefrom the triba l name of the Can - gi . Thei r origi n was possibly i n the lovely and fru i tful vale of the Neckar , for hereis a great town , Cann - stadt or Kann - stadt Cann - town .

The same authori ty thinks that the origi n of the name isoriginal ly descrip tive of the p lace from whence the tribecame , Kan or Ken , a descrip tive term l ike our Kenn , theDomesday Chen . Cannington is thus the home of the Cangio r Canns . The names Canning and Cannington surv ive in

Somerset as personal names . The Domesday Book spel ling

is Cante - tona, which does not bear out this theory . Can

nington with th is spel l ing is clearly a corrup tion of Centwine

ton .

Chi l lington .

— The doub le 1 i s sometimes a mistake in

decipherment for tl ,” and the reverse , and here is an ia

stance of the confusion , as one early spel l ing is Chetlington,

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1 1 8

i s often represented by the Norman 0 . Coccel i s ci ted inBosworth from an authori ty as a word used for darnel ortares , and appears in our

“corn - cockle .

”But Cuckl ington

is scarcely the town or farm with a specia l l iking for tares .I t is Cuckwin

’

s- ton .

Dinnington . Dunintona . I n the sixteenth centurywi l ls i t appears as Denyngton, Dynnyngton,

and Dynynton .

There is very l i ttle doubt that th is is the same name as Donington , and means the town of Donne , or Dunn , and Dunnings, Dinnings, and D

'

enings— names sti l l found . Donna

and Dunna were known saxon appel lat ives . We have elsewherenoted that there is a Dunningham near Wedmore . A fieldin the parish of B lagdon is ca l led Li tt le Dinnings. Edington

,

i n Moorl i nch , and Farrington we have a lso dea l t wi th .

Di l lington is a hamlet in the parish of I lm inster , on theeast , and i s clearly an ancient manor , as i n the seventh centuryA .D. a saxon Cartu lary contai ns an account of a grant ofl and by one saxon p rincelet to another , his kinsman . Theancientness of the name gives colour to the suggestion thatconnects i t wi th saxon idol worship . The earl ier spel l ingsappear to be Di l intou and Dylynton . If Di l l ing is apatronymic name ( there is a Dil ingen i n Bavaria) the rootDi l l is one of the o ldest i n the language . There is a placename Church Di lwyn i n Herefordshi re , between Leominsterand Hay . B i l l i ngton is Di lwyn - ton . I t is a l so an enduringpersona l name . I ts derivation is connected wi th a root,meaning an ido l . Dedwo l - god is an idol , and the Welshdelw , an idol , i s p robab ly a saxon loan word in thatlanguage . These are connected by Skeat wi th do], dull ,german tol l , mad , as a weak grade of dwe l l ian , to be stupid,and welsh dal l

,b l ind . I t is interest ing to note that the

present Cornish for a dreamy, s leepy, s tup id muttering isca l led dwal ing, which is at leas t expressive enough , as somany dia lect ical words are , as wel l as often funny . We findDi l - stone , Di l l -worth , and a Dil l ington i n Norfolk . Thesep lace - names show us that there is a personal name at thebase— Ti l l . T ilwine (Di lwyn) i s a name in the Liber Vitre

and T ilhere the name of a B ishop of Worcester . And thereare names Di l ler , Ti l le r, Di l l icar, Di l lon , Ti l ley (perhapsTi ley) . At Dil - stone , i n Northumberland , Bede says that

1 19

O swa ld , armed wi th fa i th i n Christ , ki l led a Bri tish tyrant .He ca l ls i t Devi ls - bourne , which evidently bears ou t the reputation of th is p lace as one where heathen idolatry had beenmore or less p ractised . Dil l ington would thus be on this supposi tion , ido l farm or enclosure , the seat of Saxon idol worship .

Fiddington . Fitington . At the Domesday surveyforty- three acres of moorland are subject to va lua tion

,but i ts

ecclesias tica l value in A .D. 1291 ( i n the Valor E cclesiasticao f Pope N ico las) i s not , i t seems, worth speaking of . Laterspe l l ings i n the fi fteenth century do not stray far from thoseof the Doomsday clerks . They are Fedyngton and Fyd ington ; and , t ime of E l izabeth , Fetington and n d ington . InSomersetPleas, twelfth century, F itin - ton . There is a nameFitel extant , and a P i te l - ford i n Somerset . Fitin may beshortened from th is name Fitelan - ton , or i t is from Feda .

I n the eighteenth century we find Finnington . This mayc learly be neglected as a corrupt spel l ing . The variat ion ofd and

“t”is of no importance , as i t i s wel l - known that

the Anglo - Saxon d”

(usual ly printed in that language bya specia l le tter) varied between d and th . There is aF idd ington in the neighbouring county of Gloucester, andM r . Bosworth , i n his wel l - known Anglo - Saxon Dictionary,derives the name of the p lace cal led Fethan- leage in the AngloSaxon Chronicle (where Ceawl in, King of Wessex , obta ineda v ictory over the Bri ta ins in A .D . 584) from Fedam, an army,and leage , a meadow . The same is Fretherne , on the banksof the Severn , to this day . Fedan- ton may thus mean armytown , but as we may compare Fyd - ock and Fid iock (name ofa hamlet i n Bishop ’ s Hul l) , probab ly i t is a persona l Danishname . There was a Feada, or Featha —also spel t Feader

( ci r . , A .D. 1025) —who was a Danish officer i n the army ofH ard icanute , and was k i l led atWorcester i n 1042 . The name

survives in Featha, spel t Fether and Feather, as i n Fether

s tone,and the l ike . The meaning, then , is Feada

’

s tun orfarm

,

” as Fidi - ock, i n Bi shop’

s Hul l , is Feda’

s oak . Fydock

i s spel t Fydok i n A .D . 1391 , and Fydeoke i n A .D . 1570,

Fyd iok a century earl ier, and also Fidok as the name of a

manor . This is one of the traces of Danish influence in Somer

set. Fidiok i s a unique name , and we think i t is possib ly a dis

guised Cel tic name ending in dawg, l ike Madawg (Badawg) .

1 20

In the absence of variety of early spel l ings the exp lanationgiven is the most feasib le .

Foddington is a ham let i n the parish of Babcary . I n Domesday Book (1086) i t is d iverse ly spel t Fod indona andFod intona . In the Court Ro l ls of 13 Henry VI . i ti s Fodyndon, and in Somerset P leas, twelfth century,Fodia - don . I t is Fodyngdon i n the Nomina Vi l larum (of13 15 - 16 wri ts) . In wi l l s i n A .D . 1572 i t is Fordington . Thislatter is evidently a corruption in the di rection of intell igibil ity . Fodd ington is rare . Fords and Fordings abound .

The ass imi lat ion is thus easy and tempting . M oreover,the

don is evidently original , and the ton a corruption . Therareness of the p lace - name is para l le led by the rari ty of thepersonal name Fodwine , which , however, i s found . A dunis app l ied to almost any elevat ion . The meaning is Fodwine

’

s

down . Both holdings were once of equa l importance, t. e . ,

Babb’

s Cary and Fodwine’

s down . T he spel l ings Ffarington andForyington are ( if the identificat ion is correct) mere vagaries .H amington . Hamintona and Hamingtona . In theecclesi astica l va luat ion of Pop e N icho las , 1291 , or TaxatioE cclesiastica , i t i s Hemyngton . Hama is a Fris ian name

,found

in runes , on a smal l gold coin , and not uncommon . Later,as i n the early Norman period , i t is Hamo . In A .D. 1084

there was the M anor of Hama , now H igh Ham and LowHam

, i n Whi tley hundred , which is, from this personal name,tempting as i t may be to connect i t wi th hamm , meadowland , or ham,

with a long vowel , a home . In Trent is acurious hamlet name , Hummer , which is said to be a corruption of Hamo , but is more probab ly from the personalname Humbehrt. A Bishop of Lichfield was so cal led . Per

haps this is the same as the commoner name Humbeorht.

We th ink i t is Hamon - ton , or the town of Hama or Ham.

The personal name Ham is sti l l extant , and a lso Hem

ming . Haming was a known name in which in i t may bethat here , i ng is the wel l - known patronymic son of . Hamomay be derived from the o ld h igh German Lihhamo, abody , which late r meant merely covering or dress . Such aderivat ion is i nteresti ng , as i t shows us how the commonestnames in modern t imes , having a lmost ludicrous associations,had original ly a qui te diff erent s ignificance .

“Where did

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1 22

A Harding may have fough t in Somerset for or against thegreat Alfred ; may have been at the peace of Wedmore ; andpossib ly a Harding may have wi tnessed the unvei l ing of them i l lenia l memorial to the peerless Saxon king

, and l istenedto the eloquent panegyric of that monarch by the bishop ofBris tol . Names may be dead things ; we prefer to regardthem as buttons which , merely pressed , kindle electric l ightsin al l di rections .H orrington i s a hamlet near the cathedral ci ty ofWel ls notmentioned in DB . nor T .E . Later i t is spel t Horyndon . Inawil l ofA .D . 1583 i t i sHorringdon . In the 17th century i t becomes Horring- ton . The dun is o riginal . EstHoryndon isthe earl iest spel l ing we have found in the Nomina Vi l larum,

A .D . 1328 (Kirby’

s Quest) . Now Hornings and Horningdons

abound . In E ssex there are three Horndons . In the Isle ofWight i s Horri ngford , and Horringer i n Suff olk . In the farnorth of Jut land is the town of H jorring and a peninsulacal led Oringe , pronounced the same as the Suff olk townthat is , the fina l vowel i s voca l . I t appears from Sternstrup

’

s

danish p lace- names1 that O ringe was i n the thi rteenth century cal led Worthing, and Oringhburh , Warthingburgh . AsWar leigh (Bath) is Heor- le ia , or Worle igh , or Warleigh,Horrington may be in origin the same name as Worthington ,i n which VVortha ( that is, Wyrta, an art isan) i s a known and

i n tel l igib le name . I t is to be observed , however , that wehav e no indications of th is i n spel l ings . I t is p ronounced Har

ri ngdom, doubtless . Leo i nterp rets Harandene and Harandun from the Saxon Haran , the bare . Some of these may befrom the name Horn , but the Wel ls name and perhaps thosein E ssex may be from the geni t iva l form of Heor, a Saxonpersonal name ; Heoran , Heoran - don . The name Warleigh,near Bath , thus gets i ts exp lanation . On the princip les prev iously al luded to , Heor becomes War . This is clear, be

cause the Domesday name is Heor- le ia or Heor’

s lea . We

are sorry to give up the pretty concei t that here the borehound once was found in great p rofusion . Is th is medicinalherb discovered here

An heved hor a s horhowne .

1Quoted in a letter by the Rev . Leonard Wilk inson, of Westbury—on- Sevem.

( Sternstrup'

s Danske Stedna vn , p. 72)

1 2 3

A head whi te (hoar) as the flower of the horehound . To the

student of p l ace - names i t may be instructive to note howthe name of th is flower has assumed the form of a wel lknown word , bound , by adding on the consonanta l grip - letterat the end . The Anglo - Saxon is harhune . Harhune - donmight be attractive etymology though wrong .

H orsington . Horstentona ; T .E . , Horsington . Thespel l ing has therefore endured since A .D . 1291 . K.Q . , 1315

1316 , i s a lso Horsington (Nomina Vi llarum) . The namesHen

gest and Horsa , the Castor and Pol lux of our Saxon ancestors ,occur i n the county , for H enstridge is in Domesday bookHengestrich . I t does not , however , fo l low that we can findthe cul t of the heavenly twins

”i n the p laces concerned .

For both Hengest and Horsa were names in common use .

The root meaning of Horsa is s imp ly a runner , but that ofHengest i s not exactly known . I t was only at a l ate periodthat Hengst i n German got the meaning of sta l l ion , for ,curiously enough , earl ie r i t meant a geld ing, and further backthan that was an appelative perhaps meaning nimble .

Horsington is p re tty p l ain ly a corrup tion of Horsten - tonaof the Domesday spell i ng , when al ready i t was forgotten thathorsthegn or horstain was the name of an officer equiva len tto marsha l as an official designation . T he name Horsa i sfound in the names Horsleaze and Horseford , Horsey inBridgwater, and Horsey Pignes i n North Petherton . In thenames of a charter of Dunster monastic cel l occurs the nameH orstones- dene .

‘This Horstone i s a form of Horsten perhaps .

The name is compounded in a lmost innumerab le names dis

persed through the country . Horsey occurs in Norfo lk, andthere are Horsham and Horsel l i n Sussex, and a rep l ica ofthe name itself, Horsi ngton , i n Li ncol n, of which the de

rivation may not be the same as that of the Somerset name ,but another form of Horsa . Of the companion name Hen

gest,H enstridge is Hengest- ridge ; D .B . , Hengesterich ; (Rich .

I I I . ) Henxstrige . In the s ixteenth century are the formsHendstrendge , Hengestrigg, Henghstrige , Hengystirge ,

Hendstriche

,Henxtrigge ,

and Henstrige . Hengesterich has a precise para l le l in German p lace - names , as Hengst - rij eke . Hens

lBath Cha rtula ry, Lincoln

'

s Inn MSS . , No . 845, p. 1 70 . S . R . Soc . , vol . v ii.

1 24

ley and Hensman are, as persona l names, shortened formsof Hengst - ley and Hengst -man . This may be the key to thetransformed Somerset hamlet name ca lled Endestone, nowcal led Yeanstone , which was formerly spel t

“Yenstone .

”

T he ha l f- vowel sound is the dropped asp i rate , l ike yeat forheat in South Somerset , and so was Hens - ton— that is,Hengst - ton . The persona l names Hengston , H inxham, andH i nks are forms of th is Saxon name Hengeste which are nowin use . H enskridge i s thus Henk

’

s ridge , and Yenstone, Eudestone , Yenstone, i s Henks- ton . Yenston is a hamlet between Henstridge and Temp lecombe

,where formerly was an

al ien p riory . Hence the loca l name , The Priory Plot .”We

did not l ike to separate the Siamese twins, Hengest fromHorsa .

Ki lmington , i n Somerset , and Ki lm ington with Ki lmeston ,i n Devon , point to a Saxon derivation . Cwealm means inAnglo - Saxon slaughter, and Cwealm- staw signifies a p lace ofexecution , and as i n th is neighbourhood King Alfred gainedv ic tories over the - Danes , i t i s thought that Cwealman - tonhas historic reference to this . On the other hand , Po lwhilei n h is Devon has among many other precarious derivationsthat of Ki lmington from ki l l i

,a grove , and maen , Celtic

Cornish for stone or rock . To fol low a fashion once establ ished , the neighbourhood was the abode of the Culmingas.

Leo , i n h is Anglo - Saxon p lace - names , says that tun is oftenun i ted with the names of i ndividua ls , but never with thoseof fami l ies . This is , we consider , the tun of Ceolmund, aknown saxon name . Ceo lmund becomes in Frankish , Gil

man . T he“ g ”

and the c”are dist inctive dia lectical marks .

By process of assimi lat ion to other names , Ceo lmund (andGilman and C ilman) becomes Ki lmington . Ceo lmund is theorigi n of the name Co lman . I t is a compound word , andapparent ly means bulwark , or a keel of vesse l . The sameword Ceo l i s p robab ly found in the common personal nameKeel .Lovington seems to be accounted for by the existence of apersona l name in the usefu l records we must needs mentionso often , for there we read of a Thane whose name was Levine

of Luv inc. He was a lso ca l led E l fstan . The existence of this

personal name is certified , too , by the charter ( if re l iab le) of

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1 26

Loki , the Norse god of misch ief . He is not qui te theequiva lent of the Hebrew satan , as interp re ted i n the laterreco rds, excep t that he is the backbi ter of the gods andspokesmen of evi l counsel .

”Fai r in face is he

,but i l l in

temper” —

a combination not unknown i n human kind ata l l times— and

“fickle of mood ,

”he bath but a l l that craft

cal led s leight , and he cheated in a l l th ings . Ful l oft hathhe brought men and gods into straights , and set them freeby clever counsel . This is the veri tab le M ephis tophelesportrayed by the immorta l poet Goethe in the fi rst part ofthe great drama of Faust. The name Loki may have beenthe persona l designation of some great V i king . But howeveroriginating , i t i s a persona l name , found i n other names thanthose above mentioned, as Locking, Locksbrook, andLochesl ie (Lock

’

s meadow) , as the name of an o ld Somersethundred , which , as a hundred name , has been extinct forcenturies . O ther l ike names are Lockington , i n Leicestershi re ; Loxbere and Loxhore , i n Devon ; Loxley, i n Staffordshi re ; Loxwood , i n Sussex . Lexworthy i s spel t Lochesworthi n the Nomina Vi llarum, and is of the same origin . Lux

borough i s, however , a shorter form of Lo l igsberia , and is ani nstruct ive example of the way in which we may be so easi lymis led if we p roceed without any regard to the history ofthe word . I t is , i n fact , connected wi th Lu l l ington .

Lul lington .

—Domesday Book , Lo l igton . In the NominaVi l larum

,Lo l l ington , and the Lay Subsid ies (20 Edw .

Lul l ingstone . In the earl ie r Taxatio E cclesiastica , Lul lyngdon . In early Chancery p roceedings there are the vagaries orcaprices of spel l i ng, Lolkington and Ho lyngton . Lol igton

is a spel l ing by a Saxon scribe wi th whom the g would

be so soft as to evanesce in pronunciat ion , and become Loli .

However , before A .D. 1000 the names Lul la and Lul l ingare extremely common . I t is mostly a man

’

s name of pre

fect, p rincelet , so ldier , priest . Lul la occurs as the name ofa matron , and in a charter of Glastonbury Abbey we readof Carta Lu l lae Christi anci l la de Baltonsherge . Lu l la l ived

at Baltonsberge , and was a handmaid of the Lord . Lull

ington ,therefore , may have had a male or female p roprietor .

The same persona l appel lat ion accounts for the p lace - namein Somerset of Li lstock Lul istoc) , and Luxborout.’h

1 27

Lo l igsberia) . Beria is not the equivalent of burga,

burh , al though in the name in question . it has deve loped intoborough .

”Beorh i s a castle , or fortified spot, whi le borh

is a town . Lulsgate—that is , Lul la’

s gate—was formerly thename of St . Catherine

’

s , Fe lton Common , and thename sti l l exists i n the loca l i ty . Gate , we may note,obiter , may mean a way, or road . This meaningis st i l l p reserved i n the north . In Yorkshi re l ips

,

Getout of my geat means Getout of my way Gangthee own geat ,

”Go your own way . As bearing out the

personal o rigi n we note that there are Lul l ings- tons i n Kent ,Derbyshi re , and Sussex, a Lul lworth i n Devonshi re , a Lulsley in Worcestershi re , and a Lo l -worth in Cambridgesh i re .

The persona l name Lowle occurs i n a Somerset di rectoryof to - day , and doubtless elsewhere .

Pointington is an ancient Somerset parish , which was transferred to Dorset on M arch 31st, 1896 . We , therefore , takenote of i t here . In Domesday Book i t is spel t Pond itone . Inthe Taxatio E cclesiastica i t i s Pontyndon . In the Archeo logiawe find that the manor of Poynkington was held by Johnde Montacute

.

i n the t ime of Richard 11 . In early Chanceryproceedings i t seems if the identificat ion is correct , to bespel t Portenton . Th i s i s a t the time of Henry VI . E arl ier ,i n A .D . 1 198 (Richard we read of Geoff rey of Pond inton .

Poth inton is a lso a spel l ing , and i t is Pontinton and Pond inton pers istent ly in the Montacute Cartu laries . 1 InA .D . 1490 andonward i t is Poyntyngdon . The variants are interesting . I f ,for i nstance

, Poynkington was our only clue we might easi lygo astray, as also with Portenton . But these are mis- spel l ingsor m istakes , as the type is persistent . The root is e ither Pund

or Pout— the Anglo - Saxon peond , from which we derive ourword pound

,the vi l lage p rison for strayed animals , which is

now i n most vi l lages gone to ru ins . In middle - low german ,Beunde i s an enclosed p lot . This would then mean the en

closed tun . In Dunster is a hamlet cal led Bondington . Thisis no diff erent from Pond inton . In the Liber Vitae and

Frisian is the name Bonde and the modern Engl ish Bond .

To take Poynkington as the clue is to forsake the type for

an iso lated spel l ing . Point is a lso an Anglo - Saxon name , as

S . R . S . vol . v iii.

1 28

i n Pointes - stan . The origin i s the personal name Pont, Bondor Point .Puckington . Pokintona ; T .E . , Pokyngton ; Nomina

Vi l larum Pokynton . I f the ident ification is correct,

th is actual ly becomes Perkinton i n the Charters of WardourCast le (dated In A .D. 1557 we read of the manor ofPokington . We may note that i n a charter of a grant of landmade in the time of Edward I . there is the name Poke- land inCannington . We much desi re to connect these , and otherl ike - spel t p lace - names mentioned , with the Somerset p ixies .Now, c a i s a hobgob l in , and c antun would be the townof the elfs , fai ries , or p ixies . But why these shy creatureschose this part icu lar spot might be diffi cul t to exp lain . SomeSomerset people cal l a hedgehog by the del ightfu l and suggest ive name of a poking . The word is h igh ly descrip tive ofthis muscul ar- pawed quadruped , who burrows underground ,and , l ike po l i tici ans of a certai n type , on ly lets you knowwhere he is by the di rt he throws up from his tunnelledt racks . They a lso ca l ls i t a weant ,

”the derivation of which at

present we do not know . Let us observe that Pightley, a

hamlet in Spaxton , i s spel t in Domesday Book Puche - lega,and that in the vi l lage of Ash there is a local name , Pyke

’

s

Ash . Al l these suggest to me qui te clearly the personal name

Puca , Pucco , and Puch . O f one of the latter name , a comes,l iv i ng A .D . 700, i t i s related that h is wounds were miraca

lously hea led by St . John of Hexham . In Frisi an this assumes

the form Buco . The names Buck , Pook , Puck are'

sti l l extant .

Puckan- ton , i . e . , Puckington , as i t i s spel t by assimi lation to

p l aces i n ing , i s the fun of Pueca . Pightley i s spe l t Puchel iga

,and i s the meadow of Pueca . Pyke

’

s Ash i s Pucca’

s Ash.

Puxton would seem at fi rst sight also to have the same origin,and mean Pucca

’

s Ton . But i n the days of Queen E l izabethi t is Puckerel lston, and earl ier, i n the time of Richard II . ,i t is Pokerleston . Here i s an in terchange of consonants . Apuckrel is a smal l fiend or puck , and a puckle is a dialecticalword for a ghos t or puck . She had three of four impes.

Some cal l them puckre ls. One l ike a grey cat, another l ikea weasel

,another l ike a mouse . A vengeance take them It

i s a great p ity the country is not rid of them . So says Gif

fa rd ’ s Dialogue on Witches, dated the last year of Queen

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1 30

bourhood there is one of the most perfect specimens of aRoman road known to archaeo logists . I f this were the derivation we might fai rly expect an early i ndication of i t . As amatter of fact , i n Domesday Book i t is s imp ly Stoca, and i thas not the dist ingu ishing p refix unt i l long afterwards . I t isRadestoke i n the Lay Subsid ies of Edward I II .— that is, inthe fourteenth century . Now , rad as a prefix occurs in differentparts of the country, i n p laces where the red- sandstoneformation is a characteristic , very many times . Sixteen clearcases are easi ly enumerated on geologica l maps . Radlow

,

near Hereford , is Raden - low, or the red hi l l . There is aRat- cl iffe in Notts as wel l as Somerset .Rodden ,

spel t Reddena (we read of Wi l l iam de Radene in1255 and E l izabeth Radon in or Red - dene , may meanthe red lowland pastu res ,

”or Rodden , the clearings,

”

according to the meaning given be low ; and Red- lea in UptonNob le , i s the red pastu re . Rad -way (with Fitzpame superadded) i s easi ly deciphered as the red -way, but an examinat ion of the Domesday Book spel l ing confronts us with thesurprising form Rachedeworde , and reminds us of what isabove said as to the pronunciation Radged -worde , i . e . ,

“the

watered farm of Rached or Regenild ,

”from which i t has been

shortened , as we elsewhere note . And th is Rachedewordemay , as in the ana logous cases e lsewhere given , be a fullname , Regenweard . Regen is i ndeed compounded withmany names , as Wealh , Wulf , Wig, and many more .

There are other roots besides those mentioned .

As, for example , we know that rood is Anglo - Saxon for across, or ra ther a stone p i l lar for a ga l lows, as wel l as a cross

i n stone wi th the cross cut i n re l ief on i ts ci rcular head.

Road, i n North Petherton , and Road , near Frome , spel t inDomesday Book Roda , and l ater Roode and Rowde , may befrom this derivation of Anglo - Saxon Rod ,

the Holy Rood orC ross . In Domesday Book i t i s Roda . But there is a personalname , Hrod , known to Saxon ant iqui ty . And Roden meansa cleari ng, a p l ace where wood has been cut . I t is, indeed,d ifiicult to say which , but the balance of p robab i l i ty is in

favour of the persona l name , as ownersh ip was so often thedetermining element in naming spots not o therwise so p lainlydis tinguished as to over - ride th is tendency . Is i t not so now

1 3 1

in common speech when speaking of dwel l i ng- p laces andlocal i t ies , especia l ly when ownership in a fami ly has been solong cont inued as to impress the popular imagination ? Rod

huish i s Radehewis . Wha t Hewis means is dea l t wi th e lsewhere , as a l so Radlet, i n Spaxton , spel t Ratdeflet i n Domesday Book . Rud lake, North Curry , i s the Red - lake .

Runnington , a l i ttle vi l lage close by Wel l ingtonD.E . , Runetona ; Edward II I . and later, Ronetone ; i n earlyChancery p roceedings , Rowyngton ; i n 17th century, Rownington, and ( i f correct) East Rommington, which spel l ingsare cap ricious . The vi l lage is on the Tone , and i t is a verynatura l thought that , as the stream is here swift, the p lace

on i ts bank is cal led Runningtone . At least such a suggestionhas been made . The spel l ing Runetona i s by a Normanscribe . A Rune is a magical letter or h ieroglyph . The AngloSaxon run ( long vowel) , rune , means mystery, whisper, ormurmur , Runa is a secret counsel as i n the Welsh rhin , meaning a secret . I t goes back to a G reek word meaning To findout .

”Runnymede , as is wel l known , is interpreted as the

meadow of the counci l where King John signed the MagnaCharta . Rhin , or watercourse , i s wri tten runen in a mediaevaldocument . In certa in inquisi tions at Bridgwater referring toChynioc, i t seems the abbot of G lastonbury had choked upcertai n watercourses cal led runes . Running is Anglo - Saxonfor a watercourse . Running- ton is then the tun on the watercourse .

“ The town of the counci l i s a lso assigned as themeaning,1 but the a l lusion is far more l ike ly to the flowingstream , unless there is some historica l basis for the idea thatany counci l ever met here . Wrington is (as pointed out)Rhin - ton . Roncombe Gurt i n Axmouth M arsh , where gurtand gurts, which in Cel t ic Cornish has become gut (andSomersetshi re , a trench or passage for water . Thea l l ied Dutch is gote for a channel . Roncombe is the watercourse in the combe . In South Cadbury we find Runney

’

s

mead and Roam- ham ferry , near Long Ashton . Wringmarshi s a regional name and means the Rhin -marsh . Rimpton isin Domesday Book Ri ntona , and is referab le to the sameroot . There are early charters of Ki ng Athelstan to the

1 Traces of H istory in the Names qf P laces .

1 32

thegn Athel red , A .D. 938, and by King Alfred to Brightric,A .D . 956, and i t i s then spel t the same as Wrington . A mil lstream runs th rough the vi l l age . Rimpton is the town onthe rhin , or stream . Rinwell is a flowing spring, as a placename in E ssex .

Besides Seavington and Wel l ington , mentioned in p reviouschapters, there are the p lace - names Wal l ington , Whittington,and Withrington,

near to Stoughton , mentioned in Mr .

Harvey’

s“Wedmore Chronicle .

”There is Wi lmington in

Preston Plucknett, and the curious name Nugingham. Bythe wri ter mentioned , Wallington i s eas i ly derived from thethree syl lab les Wal l - i ng- ton . Wa l l i s Welsh for stranger ; ingis the patronymic ch i ldren of— that is , i t means the townof the chi ldren of the stranger , or Bri tons . The Saxonadded insul t to injury when he ca l led the race that he finallydisp laced of et armis, the stranger . This exp lanationmay , in the main , stand , save tha t the ing is sooften merely an assim i lat ion , and is so in this casei n al l p robabi l i ty . I t is true that there is the Frisianname Wal le found in the Durham Liber Vitae, withthe existen t persona l names , Wal ler , Wal l , and Wa l ls . TheLiber Vitae i s a continuous record of Engl ish names for manycenturies . But th is very persona l name is p robab ly of thesame meaning, and an indicat ion of Celt ic descent . Let us

observe that Wel l ingtons are on the border l ands of Wales,i n Shropsh i re , and Herefordshi re . Wealand actual ly denotesthe Cel tic district of Armorica . In Germany are the p lacenames of Wa l lenstadt Wal lenton) and Wal lensee onthe frontier of the Grisons . Wa l l achia is the German namefor Bulgari a . And thus VVal lenton i s the foreigners

’

town , orthe town of Wal le . A derivation has a lready been mentionedconnecting i t wi th the Saxon god , which is (a l lowing for thediff erences of the mythologies) the Lati n god Vulcan .

Warrington .

—Curiously enough , the Shropsh ire Warrington is in Domesday Book Wal l inton, and we ask , with somepause

,whether this is possib ly the case wi th the Somerset

shi re hamlet of Warrington . This is , i n the p resence of theother hamlet named Wal l ington , scarcely l ikely . The name

Werenc i s i n a wel l - certified l ist of Anglo - Saxon names.

Werenc i s l i tt le d iff erent from the Waring given by Kemble

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1 34

as i n Wi lman - l eah - tun , and Wi lman - ponda . I t is , original ly,we think , Wilmund , occurring as early as A .D. 844 in documents , and is a Wessex name . I t is thus Wilmund - ton . Thenames Wil low, Wil l , Wil ley, from an o ld German Wil lo

,

”

are found among early set tlers , and is most l ikely just ourword wi l l ,

”i n the sense of a reso lute person , as a mental

characteristic , and mund is p rotection . Once more theing is an assim i l at ion when Wilmund was forgotten .

Woo lavington , near Bridgwa te r . Wulflaf is i ndeed a frequent name , occurring most ly i n Wessex, but the DomesdayBook spel l ing is Hunlav ington . Nevertheless the spel l ingsare so persistent and the nameWulflaf occurs as a witness thatwe suspect some confusion , and that th is is the true form .

Woo lfrington .

—Wulfric i s a name found from Edmundthe F i rst of Saxon days to Edward the Th i rd of Normanmedieval ism . I t is Wul fric- ton . I t may be from the closelycognate feminine name VVulfrun , the name of a Bishop . Thefi rst is no doub t right, and S . Wulfric was a wel l knownSomerset saint . And the name occurs i n the Bath Chartularies . Woo lfryngton is sure ly distinct from Woolverton ,which is Wu lfweard - ton . Wulfrige was a Bi shop in A .D. 901

to 930 .

Writhlington , Domesday Book Writelinc- ton .

—There is aprecisely simi lar form in Wurtemburg, Reuth ingen . TheDomesday Book form may be wri t ten Ridl ing- ton , but if thew is origina l then the name origi nates in some such nameas

“ Wryt,”which is Anglo - Saxon for arti san , our Wright .

I n E ssex there is a p lace - name Wri t tle , and there is themodern name Riddle . Yrthl ing, a husbandman , farmer yieldsRith l ing by the sh ifting of the r .

”This may be the origin of

the name Riddle . Reutl ing would i n mean ing be closeakin , as reuten means to make ferti le by p lough ing or grubb ing up . The Anglo - Saxon Ri the

,a stream

,i s sometimes given

as the origin of th is name .

Yarlington i s spel t in Domesday Book Gerl incton . Thepronunciat ion of these two words is but l i tt le different . Thespel l ings later are Yerl inton Yearl ington,

and the l ike .

Some attractive fancy etymlogies have been given . Jar orYare

,as in the river of that name , is water . There is a re

markab le stream here ( i t i s sa id) that di sappears for a while

1 3 5

underground . The latest guides do not mention i t . Yar andlyn , as in Lyncombe , are the two component parts . I n th iscase i t is Cel t ic . Again , Yarl is, of course , the same as Jarl insound , and Jarl i s the old Scandinavian for a Chieftain , orearl . This wou ld not accoun t for the ing

,which the deriva

tion from a Saxon persona l name Gerlac or Gerl inc does .The persona l name local ly found , of Gi r l ing, confi rms theoccurrence of this name as an ancient p roper name .

A curious name , Twington , is that of a hamlet in Selworthy .

I t is suffi ciently pecu l i ar to be puzz l i ng should a significantetymology be sought from local o r other characterist ics . Thedifficul ty ceases when , as might be in i t ia l ly expected , we havea Saxon

’

s tun to dea l with . We find the personal nameTwicga, found in our name Twigg . A Twicga was a moneyerof St . Edmund ; and th is may be Twicg- ton

,or more p rob

ab ly as we find the p lace - name Twyn - ing in G loucestershire ,Twinehan i n Sussex , Twin - stead in Sussex, we have here a

personal name Twyn . Twyn is a lso said as a descrip tive nameto mean a curved h i l lock or bank . Joined to ham , stead , ton ,not al l answering to this descrip tion , i t i s more probab ly thename given by Searle , Tuini , as the name of one of Edward

the Confessor’

s thanes . I t i s indeed possib le that the persona lname originates in a b i rth - fact , a Twin , as does also Twicga,in Twiccan- ham .

Here i t may simp ly be remarked tha t clearly i t was cerfa in ly a predominant characteristic of the Saxon to cal l h isl ands by his own name , and i t was of the Cel t to give des

criptive names .“Proputty, Proputty, Proputty, I th ink I

hears’

em zaa ,”i s tru ly Saxon .

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CHAPTER XV .

Racia l Names— Introduction .

There are more points at which p lace - names touch personal names than is usual ly supposed by the tyro in p lacenames . The study of these names is attended wi th , perhaps ,even more difficul ty than p lace - names . The personal namesare of course significant , and the meaning of the personalname is assigned to the p lace . If, as a ready example, apersona l name Aesc

”means an ash , then , though the

p lace - name was ca l led from the owner, i t i s supposed thatthe p lace abounded in ash trees . I t is not denied that placesd id take thei r names from such ci rcumstances, as N i ne E lms,and F ivashes, and Seven Oaks , from the growth of the treesnamed . Al l we are saying is tha t there are many cases inwhich this ready explanation is not correct as a matter ofhistory . There is a lways a tendency to an obv ious exp lanation and to assimi lation of names .In the i ntroduction of heredi tary surnames the late Pro

fessor Freeman , the h istori an , discove red the greatest and

most immediate change wrought by the Norman Conquest ;and i t p roduced , moreover a revolu tion in Christ ian names .

Camden was the p ioneer in the part icu lar b ranch of studywhich rela tes to investigat ions of the origin of names ofpeop le . I f we are studying antiquarian remains , we are

under no abso lute necessi ty to visi t a museum . The studyof the names of the peop le i n your town and vi l lage (and

perhaps your own) - if you are an o ld col lector of such

trifles of knowledge , and va lue a l i terary cu rio as much ormore than one that assumes the sol id shape of gold or si lvero r ivory— wi l l save you from a needless p i lgrimage .

We have no concern here wi th mere surnames , as such,i n thei r manifo ld o rigi ns . One th ing the p rofessor men

tioned makes clear is that they bring before us the sociall ife of the M iddle Ages . They took thei r rise in themed ie val period . The trades of the time and the ir titles ;

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1 38

I t sometimes requi res a hard blow of the professionalhammer to l ay bare the internal secret of a p iece of rock,and i t is recognised that i t i s often no easy matter to ex

p lore the his tory of a name . The most obvious exp lanationis , i ndeed , often the least sat isfactory, and frequently thefarthest from the truth .

“What

’

s in a name ?” A town or

v i l l age wi l l flouri sh or decay as wel l or i l l under one nameas another . I f you know the name of the street or countryl ane in which you l ive , and from which you can convenientlydate a business letter, why troub le yourse lf any more? Intruth , we al l have the making of a Phi l istine in us . Whatwe most diff er i n i s our view of what i s worthy of our attention , and whi le ph i losophy, or science , or art, or music ared istasteful to some , various phases of past history, such asthe science of names, i s qui te without interest to others .The romance of the p resent is not sufficiently obvious tothe ordinary mind . I t is even curious to watch the shockof surp rise wi th which some persons are visi ted when askedwhat i s the meaning and origi n of the name of your vi l lage,or farm , or your own ?I n the Ashmolean Museum , at Oxford , there is a stonewith this inscrip tion : E arl Odda had this royal hal l bui ltand ded icated i n honour of the Holy Trin i ty, for the goodof the sou l of h is b ro ther E lfric, who in this p lace qui ttedthe body . B ishop E aldred dedicated i t on Apri l 12th, inthe 14th year of the reign of Edward , Ki ng of the Engl ish .

”

Earl Odda d ied in 1056 . The stone was found at Deerhurst,near Tewkesbury . Odda is Scandinavian or Frisian, and

may perhaps serve to remind us of Odin, the Scandinavian

god of war . The name Odstone assumes the form of Hod

d isdon i n Hertfordshi re , at which p lace there is said to bea tumulus or barrow made to commemorate a Danish chiefta in of this name . There are also the forms B oddington,Odd ingly, Hodnel , Oddington . We are also reminded ofthe personal name of the p resent day, Hodson . Odda is afrequently recurring name in the l oth centu ry and in the1 1th (936 No doubt Odo is a form of the same name ,and i t is compounded in such names as Odwine and Odweard .

In Westphal i a and Bavari a we find the Odinga , and the

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name Oda occurs i n the Liber Vitae and Odde in Frisian .

The name is a lso found in Oddy . In Worcestersh i re is thep lace - name Hodsoak, i . e . , Odda

’

s oak, and in Somerse tOdcombe .

C l ose ly ana logous is the exp lanation of the name of theinterest ing vi l l age of Ub ley, a p l ace of rivers and streamsof wandering waters . This characterist ic of the loca l i ty hasnot i nfluenced the naming of the spot

,and i t is indeed

ini t ia l ly tempting to be content wi th the surface exp lanation .

Uh - ley is just up - lea , the meadow on the s lopes , for i ndeedmuch of the parish does l ie p icturesquely on the dark l ingsides of many-wooded M endip . Uptons are numerous, butin some cases even thi s is only a popu lar form of a verydifferent word , even as Upton

”- on - Severn is a name of

a Roman town wi th a Roman name put by sl ipshod speechinto intel l igib le shape . The old spe l l ing of the name is

variously Oba , Ubba , and Hubba . I n Domesday Book i tis supposed to be Tumbeli . An imaginat ive etymo logistof poetic m ind refers to a p assage in a canto ofM alory

’

s M orte d’

Arthur . Ubbley- bredes are sacramenta l cakes . An ob le is a kind of wafer cake . Ete the

obletes and thou sha l t have del iverance bathe aboyne and

bynethe .

” An oblete to our med iaaval German cousins wasthe l ike . I t is clearly ob lata or offerings our ob lations .

”

But i n what way the vi l l age name so ca l led can be so ex

plained is not so easy to see .

Ubley i s clear ly derived from a persona l name . That thename was by no means an unknown one is i l lustra ted by thestory of Edmund , Ki ng and M artyr . I t was a certain Ubbaor Hubba ( i t was a Wessex and a Mercian name) who wasa Danish or Frisi an ch ief i n 870 A .D . , who offered l ife to

Edmund if he wou ld renounce Chri st ian i ty . The off er was

made in vain . Edmund was steadi ly fai thfu l . They tied

Edmund to an oak tree , and he was shot by Ubba , whosebol t l ay embedded in the martyr

’

s heart ; and i t is said thatthe actual bol t so d iscovered is one of the obiects of his

torical i n terest in the Bri t ish Museum . I t is not , however ,hereby suggested that th is b loodthi rsty Dane , and un

righteous sl ayer of the sai nts , was the same who del ighted

140

i n the possession of a p re tty l i tt le p roperty under the deepshadow of the M endip . I n the Somerset Pleas ( 13th century)the spel l ing is Hubbelegh . In various existent legal documents of the parish of Ubley , at the court of the parson,the name is spel t invari ab ly with an Ob ley and Obbeleyi n the 17th century . I n the North , where there is often avery great and unreasonab le p rejudice in favour of p refixingthe asp i rate to words where i t is not requi red—possib ly exp ressive of the Northerners

’

superflous voca l energy—itassumes the form Hubber

,i n Hubber

’

s- holme,and even in

Pembroke i t is Hubberstone . There is a loca l name inFarmborough ca l led Hobb

’

s Wa l l , which i t may be suggestedis a popular corrup tion of Obbesal or Obbe

’

s h i l l . Thepersona l derivab le names are Hobbs and Hobson .

A very sim ilar instance is a lso found in the name of aDanish V i k ing, Otheré . The Saxon otyre i s given as a translation of the Latin latricias, the otter . Personal names wereoften taken from anima ls , or the figure - head of a vessel

in which the ancient seafaring adventurer went i n search ofa conquest and a sett lement i n a p leasan t , frui tfu l pasturewould give the name to the owner - chief . In the numerous

p lace - names (of which a fai rly large number can be reckonedi n the diff erent counties) beginning wi th otter, as our Otter

ford , and O ttery St . Mary, i n the neighbouring Devon , andO tterhampton and O ttersey, whether the name is that ofthe V i ki ng or the animal , the meaning is p recise ly the same .

In Yorksh i re Huddersfie ld is cal led , i n popular parlance,Huthersfield , which is most evidently the same name .

Ba ltonsborough has the somewhat rare characteristic ofstanding a lone in any l is t of the towns and vi l lages ofEngland . There is noth ing qui te l ike i t . This is a personalname . I ts varied spel l ings are Balstonburie , Baltesburgh,

Ba l ton , Baltonsbe rghe ,Be lchinborrowe , and perhaps Balse

burghe . I n Domesday Book i t is spel t Baltunesberga . This

is not Bal l - tun - berg , but Baldhun- berg,and proves the ex

istence of the name Baldhun or Bealdhun,as wel l as Balt or

Baldhere and Beald or Bealt and Balthhild is or Balthild .

But, of cou rse , th is name has a root -meaning , for“bald

means bold or swift , and hun is apparently a racia l ending.

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of land , a bank , or boundary for the divis ion of l and , andalso a ledge or wooded cl iff . The e lement occurs in Moorlynch , Red lynch , Stocklynch M agdalen , and Stocklynch

Ottersay . Stock is , of course , Stoke , from stoc , the stemor main part of a t ree , for i t was around the sacred treethe v i l l age and p rim itive hamlet rose , and on which , as amongsome savage races , an image of the god was carved . Sti l lanother Saxon nob le to keep Cerdric and the Scandinaviansi n countenance is Kinwardstone , whose name is changed into

a form the hero ( if he was one) would scarcely recognise , thatof Kingweston , that is Cyneweards- ton .

Badgworth is near Axbridge (3 mi les) . The various spelli ngs are these — Bageworth and Baggeworth i n the fourteenth

century ; a lso ca l led North and Nethyr- baggeworth . TheDomesday Book spel l ing is Bagewerra . In the same Domesday hundred of Bimastone (Bempstone) is Werra , identifiedwith Weare (over and under) a large vi l l age near theAxe . This is curious , as then Badgworth is Bagwear andthe ending worth , a farmstead (usua l ly watered) , i s a corruptform . I t is Baggeworth i n 1297, Taxatio E cclesiastica, and

henceforth . In the time of E l izabeth and onward we findBadgworth . The

“d”appears, therefore , merely a l iteral

sign of the soft p ronunciat ion of the and does notsuggest to us Badoc or M adoc . Bougi and Boudi are alikeCel tic Cornish for cattle shel ter ; whi le gwer is Bri tish fora meadow . Amid the surrounding damp moors of Wedmore,where grew the sphagnum or bog moss ; the cotton grasswith i ts whi te tufts ; the weide or wi thy ; and where revel ledthe snipe ; where the moor- hen popped in and out of leafyshel ter ; where the whi rr of the wi ld ducks

’

wings was heard,there up l ifted i tself a place of grass and shel ter for sheep and

kine . I n the Lay Subsidies we read Upweare cum hamel

(with the hamlets) of Bagworth , Clywore (Clewer) WereBurgos Weare as a borough) . I n Saxon l ists of nameswe find the names Bago , Bego, and this is e i ther the nameof the Weare or, assuming the inco rrectness of DomesdayBook in l ight of subsequent spel l ings

,then i t is Bag

’s-worth .

We meet wi th this persona l name more than once . The Celticderivation must be abandoned .

1 43

Churchi ll is a s traggl ing vi l lage si tuated in a p leasant va l ley

screened by the steep ascent of Sandford H i l l . I t i s,of

course , variously spe l t Curichil l , Cheirchil , Chercheile ,

Churchul l , and Church i l l . One of the important wordswhich Chris t ian techno logy gave to Ce lt , Bri ton , and Teutonal ike was tha t derived from a G reek ecclesiast ical source ,which appears as cyric, circe , ki rk , cherche , church . Theforms are not wi thout order . The Anglo - Saxon is cyrice

,

and accoun ts for the fi rs t and this became later circe,whence

kirk . The M iddle Engl 1sh i s chi rche , ch ireche . The nameindicates Church p roperty, as dis tinguished from that of theBaron . At the end of the 12th century

,i n the time of

Regina l d F i tz Jocelyn , B i shop of Wel ls, we read the nameRobert de Ce rce les .

1 This is identified wi th Churchi l l i nBanwel l . The name has , however , been connected wi th thatof Roger de Corcel le befo re mentioned . There were not sixhundreds of Somerset i n which this ubiqui tous feuda l landgrabber — to use the sweet phrase of the modern Socia l i sthad not some in terest . In 1086 he held no fewer than onehundred and eigh t estates p revious ly held by his father . Awri ter who is content wi th Delineations of Somersetshire ,

2

confining himself to interest ing notes on the north -westerndivis ion , te l l s us that the p l ace derived i ts name from Rogerde Coure i l , or Curcel le ,

a famous Chieftain who came overat the conquest who , amongst o ther rewards for his services, had the grant o f the lordship of Churchi l l , where hetook up his abode , and assumed the name of Courcil , i ns teado f the Norman surname de Leon . Co l l inson , who attemp tedto describe the whole county, and thereby took on his

shoulders a burden which the strongest l i terary Atlas could

scarcely carry , ca l l s th is a fab le . He appears to be right,for

Church i l l as a manor had no existence a t the conquest, andhas no mention i n the survey . I t is apparently i ncluded inBanewe l la , as the acreage shows . The p lace arose l ater, asthe name spel l i ngs imp ly . I t was further part of the Bishop

’

smanor of Banwel l— hence i ts name as an ecclesi astical esta te .

At the date of the above i tem from the Bruton Chartu laryi t appears that p roperty here was held by others than the

l B r uton Ca rtula ry ,S .R . S . , vol . v iii . , p. 30 .

QRutter.

144

Church . Eyton shows that Courcel le had property hard byl

at B l ackmore in Churchi l l and at Pantesheda i n Banwel l .This seems to favour the deriva t ion from the personal name

Courcel le , as also do the 12 th and 13th century spel l ings .Timsbury would clearly appear to have i ts origin ina persona l name such as the Saxon Timbra or T inber . The

Domesday Book spel l ing i s Timesberua , and later spel l ings areT imsboro , Tymesborowe , and Tymsbrey . In the BathChartu lary

2 there are gifts of tythes of T immbres- baur to the

C lun iac Priory of Monkton Farley i n VViltshires” This is in

the midd le of the 12th century (cir . In the TaxatioEcclesiastica i t i s Tymbris- barwe . I t is known that land wasgiven for the reparation of churches , Terra data ad aedficia

reparanda , and monastic bui ld ings . O ther p laces i n Somersetare supposed to bear interest ing wi tness to the care our forefathers had for those sacred fanes ,

“the bulwarks of our

land,

” such as T immer- combe (and Timbra- combe) in thehundred of Carhampton , and perhaps T entlands, pronouncedTemp - lands , a l oca l i ty near Wedmore .

4 The personal nameis in each case far more l ikely , and may be regarded ascertain . We have the modern name Timbs , supposed to bea modificat ion of Tim , short for Timothy . And Timbercombe is from the Saxon persona l name a lso .

Of Harptree the exp lana tion of a local savant was that bythe water course , where are the withys , the dispersed Jewshung thei r harps . To him the Engl ish are the lost ten tribes .

Another exp lana tion,less far fetched , i s that here was a tree

having much the shape of a harp and thi rdly , i t is derived from

the local si tuation,from two Cel t ic roots hwpp , a slope, and

tref,tre , a vi l l age . The man i n the meadow cal ls i t Artre,

and s i ngularly enough , i n an ancient mediaeval map this is the

spel l ing given . Here we are nearer the right exp lanationthan in the above , or in the further suggestion that this was

one of the p l aces i n which a gui ld of harpers dwelt : theharpers who frequented the merry board of prince and noble,and aff orded the assembled guests the only musical and

l i terary entertainment they ever got i n those days . In the

l Eyton Domesday Stud ies , vol . ii. , p. 6 2 . vol . vii. , p. pt. 2.3See Dug da le M onastz

'

con , v . 24.

4Wedmore Ch ron icle.

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146

other cases of h is immense l anded possessions . I ts extent isonly half a hide . I t only has one servum or serf on the spot

.

I ts va lue is five so l id i . But now the church of Kenn—whichd id not exist i n the e leventh century— is surrounded by aparish of over a thousand acres of whi lom moorland . Somuch for the physica l ci rcumstances . There is a Kenn situateon a river of that name near Exeter , and there is anotherriver ca l led the Kennet . Chen , if Ce l tic , is short for Cefn,and this abbrevia ted from Ken -

y- v igyn , a mound on the

moor, a ridge of l and ri sing out of a flat and boggy place .A frequent saxon name is Coen , a l so Gen and Ken

,simple

and in compounds . This may be the origin a l ike of thep lace~name and the persona l name Kenn . The saintly ThomasKen , Bishop of Bath and Wel ls , the pure -minded and un

worldly prelate in a time - serv ing age , was a descendant ofthe fami ly which possessed this estate for four centuries, fromthe thi rteenth to the seventeenth , i n fact . I t is clear theytook thei r name from the p lace . Kennet , i n the Cambridgeshire Domesday Book , s i tuate ou the river of that name,is spel t Chenet . The v i l lage of East Kennet in Wil tshire iss i tuated upon a river of that name, which jo ins the Thamesat Reading . I t is stated that the Berkshi re Kennet is derivedfrom an old form Cunetis . Cynwydd , i n correct sequence,i s a Welsh river name . The origin of the name Kenn as ariver name is not clear . In real i ty Kenn may be simplythe qual ifying word for Afon— the head river . Inal l these cases the river name is the o ldest , and probably des

cribes the river, as in the Somersetshi re vi l l age , Kenn des

cribes the p lace .

The designat ion Breach H i ll— a p icturesque slope thatleads from the grassy vale of Chew Stoke to the mysteriouslynamed vi l l age of Nempnett Thrubwel l— is a lesson in placenames . When you look down into the combe i t is a palpablebreach between you and the Vi l l age you descry . The descenti nto the combe and the cl imb to the church , if a straightcourse were taken , would prove a somewhat serious per

formance . Wings would be a convenience , or, as we havefancied , a car running on two wires stretched between the

two points . When mid -way you would look down a dizzy

1 47

height . No more straightforward exp lanation could be foundthan th is , the h i l l i s ca l led from this b reach . And yet i t would

appea r to be m isleading . In our love of saints we th ink ofSt . Brychan, of whom so many legends are to ld in the l andacross that water which you may decry sh immering in thesummer sun from the top of Knap H i l l . There is no clue toa sa in t here . But we are to ld that the manor of NempnettThrubwel l was early in the possession of a F landers fami ly of

the name of Bretesche .

1 Indeed , the lord of the manor ofThrubwel l had the audaci ty to trespass— it does not appearthat he was

“

i n pursui t of conies — in the Roya l fo rest ofCheddar or Winford . I t was as far back as 1 177

,i n the

reign of the feuda l reformer Henry the Second . He was dulyfined . Bret - esche is good low German , as Brei t - esche is goodhigh German , and Broad Ash good Engl ish . From the daysof Wi l l iam the Conqueror F lemings were encouraged to settleon the land , and bring with them thei r p rofi tab le woo lstap l i ng indust ry . Later on , i n the days of Edward the Third ,th is trade developed on a l arger scale , and i t was i n these subsequent days that the wool - stap lers ’ mark— a pai r of shearswas carved on the north wal l of Stowey Church . Richard deBretesche may have been or may not have been the fi rs t tohold this estate of Thrubwel l , and perchance of Nempnett .

But he has ev ident ly left behind the fami ly name in Breach

H i l l . Bret- esche became Bretche , and Breach . We think

that th is case may help us to give serious consideration tomany other names for which faci le exp lanat ions are so

tempting .

2Gerard spel ls it B ritische , who anciently possessed Bag borow . Richa rd d e

B retesche d ied in 1 1 98 at T hrubwe ll . T hey ha d la rg e possessions and

a mansion. Gera rd , p. 49 .

148

CHAPTER XVI .

Racia l Names (continued) .

The Saxons were very fond of the intoxicating beverageca l led mead . I t was made from honey . And so i t is declaredthat i t is by no means an unl ikel i hood that p l ace - namessuch as Honibeere and many others are due to this fact .Honey was a stap le p roduce . Thus Honiton , as a wel lknown name, was, i t is cheerfu l ly said , a p lace famous for

honey . This is soberly said . The land flowed with milkand honey , l i ke Canaan of old . Bea-minster, on this theory,might wel l be a p lace famous for i ts p roductive bees . Ex

p lanat ions of th is kind are clearly unscientific, and merelypopular catch - straws . P lace - names such as Huntworth, inNorth Petherton , Huntsile , i n Chi l ton Trini ty, Honewyk,

i n Pi tcombe , Huntsp i l l (Honysp il l) , Honestone , i n Brimpton , Honybere (Frome) , Houndsborough Hounstone (Hun

derstone , Hunstone) , Houndstreet (Honistreete and Hun

s treet) , are too numerous and varied to be thus accountedfor . T he personal names Honnywil l (Hunweald ) , Humphrey

(O . G . , Humfrid) , and many more are indicative of another,and certai n ly a racia l origin . I t is p robab ly Huntsile thatassumes the form Hunsel l , given as a M ercian name .

Whether so extensive as to be tribal sett lements is anotherand separate question , on which we do not feel so confidentas some enthusiast ic theorists .H onibere, i n Ki l ton , is an al teration and assimi lation , asthe history of the p lace - name shows . Honibere is joinedwi th L i l stock . I t is D .E . , Hedenberia, and in the Ex

chequer Book , Hedernberia, according to M r . Whale’

sidentificat ion of manors . M r . Eyton regards Hedernberia

as an obsolete name , and th is identifica tion is not by anymeans certain . In one spel l ing there is an indication of thechange . I t is Honibeere , which becomes Honnybeare and

Honybeare . Heddern means a hedge or house . Butwe have

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1 50

the curious name Honeyreere -Froome . This looks l ike arel ic of the roman name Honorius , but we want some his

tory of the name .

In such names as Houndstreet, which is between Chelwoodand Compton Dando ; Houndsborough, as the name of ahundred ; and Houndestown , i n Odcombe , Hundwood (D.E.

Hunteworda , Hounteworthy , i n the time of Richard

in North Petherton , the forms arise from the forms Hunt ,Hunting . The name Hunta existed as a M ercian name in765 . I t seems l ike ly that Hunt is i n rea l i ty a primitiveword

,meaning a captor or taker of p rey . Hence the German

hund and our hound , a dog . Numerous compound namesof p l aces wi th Hun and Hunt are found i n North Germany,and the Huni were a teutonic tribe . The wel l - known name

Humboldt is O . H . G . Hunbo ld , and in Baden there isHuntingun,

from the name Hunt . There is a lso a localname Hand - comb i n the charter of Wi tham Priory, timeof Henry I I .

Woo lavington , mentioned in the series of p l ace - names onington, is in DB . Hun - lavington . This is curious , as Hun

l avington is a real ly disti nct name . We suspect some confusion in the identificat ion of Woolavington and Hun

l avington .

1 Hunlaf is a Wi l ts and Wessex name . Hunlafing

is even given as the name of a Jute warrior, wherelafing i s shortened from Leofing, and this is thesame name as Leofw ine as the name of the Bishopof Bath and Wel ls Such names as Honeychurch ,Honeychercha , and Hunnesan (Hunna

’

s Ham) occur . Adetached part of Monmouthsh i re is ca l led Hunts- ham

sh i re . Hunsti l la , i n Chi l ton Trini ty, i s Hustilla,

and is from a personal name , Husse, Hose , and so

means Hosett- hi l l . In the Somerset D .B . is thename Wi l l i am Hosatus, as an abbot of Bath and

abbot of G lastonbury , and i t is the name of a thegn ofWi l l iam I . Hosatus is , of course , lat ini sed . Besides thosenames that afl ord some evidence

,the weight of which is

variously estimated , of Hunnish , Jutish , and Wendish im

1Eyton Domesday Stud ies .

1 5 1

migrants , there are others which in the extraord inary mix

ture of race elements have gone to make up the stamina ofthe conquering race that has won a world -wide empi re . Theparticu l ar races a re not a lways disti nguishab le by the names .The cont inent of America is , i n the present age , the theatreon which ana logous phenomena are being exhib i ted . Thereis a start l ing admixture of races

,the resu l ts of which wi l l in

due t ime develop . How far a p ractica l ly new race wi l l emergeis i n the h idden womb of time . Every admixture does not

resu l t i n strength , as the Eurasi ans of I ndi a show . An inquiry of th is kind is not merely of etymological i nterest

,

but is ethno logical ly and h istorical ly of importance .

Ulfilas was the great Arian apostle of the Goths , and , as

al ready indicated , the name is p robab ly Goth ic in Woo lver

ton (Ulfertona i n in Wil lton hundred,and in one

near Road . Ulvert i s the name of one of the tenants ofthe abbot of G l astonbury in the p re - conquest period

, and

i n 1066 and 1086 . Ulfer and Ulvert are shortened forms ofWulfweard . The name of the B ishop of Hereford (9thcentury) i s spel t thus and in the form Uulfward , and Wulward (Woolard) . Woolford

’

s - hu l l , i n the M anor of Banwel l ,i s mentioned i n documents of the reign of Edward I I I .

1

Another name is Ulmaer, found in Woo lmers- don, i n NorthPetherton (D .E . Ulmer

’ s - tona) . Ulmar was a thane of Queen

Edi th , the l ady of Bath ,”and Ulph i s again discoverab le

in Ulftona , Ulfetona near Witham in the charter above mentioned (D.B . Ulftona and Ufetona) . There is a Woo lstonenear North Cadbury which is the name Ul fstan, Wulfstan , and

Ulphstane . In addi t ion , we have Wi lmaers- ham , i n Stoke

Pero , on the borders of Exmoor, and as the hundred is

Winemaers- ham th is is from the name Winmaer . Winemeans a friend , and maer, strong ; and Mr . Chadwyck Hea ley2 te l ls of a Wil l iam Winmaer as lateas 1325 . Woo lminstone, i n Crewkerne , i s Ulmund or

Wulfmund’

s- ton . Woo lstone i s no t Ulfstan, i n Bicknol le r

,but i s spel t Ulwardstone and so is trace

ab le to Wulfheard or Ulfheard’

s- ton . E ard or hard means

lB ath Cha rtu la iy . S . R . S . , vol . v ii. , p. 1 45.

“H istory of Pa rtof WestSomerset.

1 52

brave , and this is the origi n of the hamlet name in ComptonDando cal led Wol lard , Woo leard , i . e . , Wul fheard . Ulward

occurs as the name of a Saxon thane in I lminster in A .D.

1066 . Wul fward is the name of a tenant of the Bi shop ofWinchester and anothe r of Roger de Courcel le . I t occursfifty- eight t imes . Let us observe the differences caused bydia lectica l spe l l ing . Our Wi l l iam is the Frankish Gwil laume,as a simple instance . Ulf , Wolf is the Frankish Guelph . Isnot this the Royal Fami ly name ?Redghi l l , Regi l l , or Ridge H i l l is again a comp lete disguise .

I t is a hi l l and a ridge . In D.E . i t is Ragio l , and earl ier , say, to1000 . Scarce ly removed from th is we read of John Sprot (a del ightfu l name) , of Ragge l , i n 1287 . In 1304 Norton , Raggel ,and Wodewyk, and Hundes- l igh (a name which may beadded to the above l ist i n this chap ter) juxta Raggel .

”In

1318 i t is Ragel . These are al l c learly abbreviations . Thefolk there now ca l l i t Radgel or Rudgel , with the modifiedsound of the vowel . Hard by is an o ld manor p lace cal ledRegi lbury ,

i n Nempnett , and there is very l i tt le doubt that

both the names are traceab le to persona l designations . Onthe one hand , Redghil l is a shortened and i n te l l igib le changefrom the fema le personal name Regenhild ,

Ragenhild , aname found on Danish runes , the daughter of King Thurstan,and as late as the twelfth century . Who knew Regenhild?Ridge H i l l , which seems a needless te- dup l ication and a

tauto logy , a ridge and a hi l l , i s in real i ty a form of Regenh i ld , and Regilbury is another shortening of the same name .

Regenilda burh eas i ly becomes Regi l - burh . I t is true thatA . S . wrycg is a ridge and rhigo l a groove or notch . Thecompound Regel - bury is fata l to this exp lanation . In thecurious spel l i ng Roche lsbury i t i s evident that the p ronunciation was Rotchel

’

s burg .

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1 54

accounts for the number of spel l i ngs of an otherwise un

i n te l l igib le name .

Among local p lace - names which originate in a personalname are Planesfield and Perleston . The name Planesfella,now Planesfield , i n Overstowey, i s a corrup tion of the Saxonname Blanda , B l anda

’

s field,a name cognate wi th b lend

,a

m ixture , as in the names B l i ndman , B l i nman . I t i s Teutonic .

Perlestone , now Pardlestone , farm is Perlo’

s tun .

”Perlo is

the name of a Saxon thane in the Somerset survey .

Wiveliscombe is a better- known p lace than some of theseobscure loca l n ames . I t is a combe : a gentle eminence inan extensive val ley . A comic exp lanation (as i t must be considered) i s that of wifeless combe ,

” with the suggestion of amonastic estab l ishment to account for such an origin . Fai lingth is, i t i s said to mean weevi l

’

s combe , from the abundanceof a particu l arly i nteresting species of beetle , curcul io , thebarn -weevi l , the curcu lio granarius . The artfu l and slywease l has a lso been cal led into requisi tion , anda lso guive l , a widgeon . In rea l i ty i t is, we thinkfrom the name Wifhe lm, a known name . This be

comes Wife l i n Wife ls- ford . I n 925 there is a Bishopof Bath and Wel ls ca l led Wu lfhe lm, which might easily

account for the form . In D .E . i t i s spel t Wivels- combe , andin T .E . , Wyvels- coma . At various times the word has been

diverse ly spel t—Wiv is- combe , Wils - combe , Wivel l is- combe,Wel les- combe , and perhaps Wines - combe , which last is amere confusion of copying . A spel l i ng Wrodis- combe is asheer b lunder . This i s another combe , i n which the persona l name Hrod appears . A curious ci rcumstance is that in

Cambridge Pl ace -Names a name Wive ling- ham (probablyWiflan - ham) i s subject i n documents to simi lar varieties of

spel l ing . Wife l ingham appears as Wene lingham. When you

note that thi s is Uiu for Wiv , i t is easy to see how mis

reading occurs in such forms . Wivel ing- ham is now called

Wi l l i ngham , as our p lace is ca l led Wil lscombe . That allthese are persona l names is clear from the less - known placenames Wiflehurst, Wiflesford , Wifleshal l , Wifles- l ake . Itmay, after al l , be an i ndependent name , Wifela,a javel in , and so a V ik ing name , or, as I prefer,from Wulfhelm, the b ishop , as fi rst suggested . It

1 55

i s the popu lar p ronunciation that shortens i t to Wi lscombe , and so i t appears in a wi l l varied by

Wel ls- combe . Is Wi l ls - neck to be so exp lained ? I t is possib le that th is was ep iscopa l p roperty right on from Wulf—helm

,

as i t certain ly was at Domesday part of the estate of Giso , thesaxon b ishop of Wel ls . Wi l l ’s Neck is

,however

,exp lained as

the Weala’

s neck , that is , i t marks a boundary of the Wealas

or Welsh . I n King Alfred’

s wi l l the counties of Somerset,

Devon , and Cornwal l a l l appear under the name Weal cyme.

They were in documents cal led Wealhas, and thei r terri torytheWyl isc, and so Wi l ls

’

combe would be theWeala’

s combe .

This i s the a lmost natura l exp lana tion unless some namewhich has undergone abbrevia tion is discoverab le

,a thing

by no means unl ike ly to have happened .

Sheerstone is in the parish of Petherton (Domesday Book ,Sireds- tona) . The Saxon owner bore the name Siret or Si redin the time of King Edward the Confessor . In the time ofKing Edward I I I . ( i n Ki rby

’

s Quest and the Lay Subsid ies) i tis sti l l Siredstona . But Si red is an abb reviation of Sigered orSigred ; and i t i s a fema l e name , Sigrida . We are beginningto see , from these numerous fema le names , tha t womenowners were of some account i n Saxon times . In the sameparish is another Anglo - Saxon name , now obsolete— Siwo ld

’

s

tona . This is Sireweald in ful l , and i s a lso a known man’ s

name . Sig means victory , and red is rede , or counsel whi leweald means power or ru le . This wa ld is frequently m1staken

i n p lace - names for the descrip tive word wald , a forest , orweald , a heath . I n the parish of East Harp tree is a localname of a ham let Shrowle . Without the h istory of the spe l l

ings i t seems impossib le to make much of th is . Shrowl doesnot exhib i t early spel l i ngs apparently , but i n 1387 grantsin Shrowle , E ast Harp tree , the name is spel t Schirwold , a lias

Shirwel l and Shyro ld . In 1405, i n a Bri t ish Museumcharter feofment. i t i s spe l t Shirewo ld and Sherald . Thenlater i t becomes Sherro l , i n which the d sound is dropped .

The fina l c l ipp ing is Shrow le . The name Sirewo ld , Syrewald ,

Schyrewald i s the name of one of Edward the Confessor’

sthanes

,and another of the name is owner of Cricket St .

Thomas in the Domesday Book survey, and yet a thi rd the

owner of H a l l atrow .

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The persona l name Wintr is found very often compounded wi th persona l names in Wilts . and Dorset . I t is alsodiscoverab le in Somerset . The name Winestoc for the hundred of Winterstoke given in Domesday Book is p robablymeant for Winta- stoc . Winta was the name of a son of themythologica l Woden . The name Wia tr, Wintar , is not infrequent . Hereward

“the Wake

’

s handyman , with the

sharp axe , brought wi th fa ta l efl ect on a foe’

s brainpan,was

ca l led Winter . I t is sti l l a known name , which , of course ,never origi nated at al l i n the season - name , winter . Wint is aregiona l name , variously exp lai ned . I t is real ly the name ofan owner, and is p robab ly racia l ly al l ied wi th Windisch , andWendisch . The name is Norse , and may be tribal , as in

d icated by such a name as Winterbourne . Wintret is nowWinterhead . as the name of a hundred , and is probablyanother tribal mark ; or i t may not be the head , as the region,but the name Wintr- heard , shortened to Wintred .

Wi l let i s a local name . There are such names asWill i ton,Wi lton , and Wiltown , i n Curry Revi l l , Wil l i ton in St . Decumans , Wi lton near Taunton , and a wel l - known Wil ton inWi l ts . The name Wil lett is from an ancient compound name,Wilh ild , a lso spel t Wil leh i lt. Wilyt and Wi l lett are racialnames . Wiltshire is often exp lai ned to mean the shire of theWil ts .As a Scandinav i an name we also have that of Cottle in

Cothe lstone , or Cottle - town . The Danish name Cheto l appears a lso in the form Kettle , and Cheto lwald as Kettlewellboth in p lace and persona l names . Cheto l i s the name of aSomerset Saxon thane . I t is possib le that a Chetol was oneof the eight thanes , set down i n Domesday Book , who heldCottlestone under Archb ishop Stigand at that t ime ( inKett le is a name not uncommon in compounds in the Danishdistricts of England . Ankete l , Anscyte l , was one of the com

panions- in- arms of Guthrun , the Danish antagonist of KingAlfred . After bap tism and a treaty Guthrun , we may be sure,did not depart without leav i ng some fol lowers behind him .

Carnicott, i n Camerton , is in Domesday Book Creed l ingcot.

This is a lso spel t Creed ilcot. I t is i l lustrat ive of a growthThe persona l name Cridagot, or Cridagaud , has received aeuphonic consonant and become Cridalgot. As

“got

”was

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1 58

early spel l i ngs this m ight easi ly lead us to infer Charlecombe,that is Ceorl - combe . But the name of a p lace from

Ceorl - combe , or Charles- combe , or Churle’

s combe

(Domesday Book , Cerla- cuma) is sti l l found in a separatei tem . The

“f”i n Charf must be taken account of . I t is in

truth a part of the personal name Ceofa , sti l l found as Cuff andsome simi lar names . Col l inson derives i t from gaf sharpas an etymologica l guess . Such conjectural exp lanations ofinteresting names are of course numerous . There ought forthei r accep tance to be some fai r background of ev idence .

As an i l lustrat ion,in such a name as Battleborough, for in

stance , it i s conjectured that th is means Battle Brow, orBattleburh ,

from an occurrence of a fight there . I t is close byBrent Kno l l . The Wessex men , i t is said , made use of thisspot as an importan t and invincib le stronghold , and KingAlfred

,ever worthy of the name

“Great , here defended

himself against the Danes . I n rea l i ty i t is another femalename , Beth ild . The spe l l ing Bati l - borough , or Bati l -berga,means Bethild

’

s hi l l (berg) . Sometimes this word battle is a

form of the Teutonic biitte l , a vi l l age , hamlet , or dwel l ing,and not the p roof of whi lom fighti ng .

How the name Bi l l ” became an aff ectionate and familiard esignat ion for Wi l l iam is at least interest ing . The immortalruffian Bi l l Sykes is d isguised as Wil l iam . CertainlySykes never ought, having regard to etymology, to be pretti lyand affectionately ca l led Bi l l , for B i l l and B i l le are ancientnames that appear to be more connected wi th b i l l ing, as wellas cooing , than with murder , arson , and burgl ary . There isa name Bi l - ric

,which ought to mean mi ld rule , and it is

found i n both Nai lsea and in Witham as a qui te local name,Be l lerica , and has even travel led to New England , and ismentioned by the original -minded but concei ted Thoreau in

his book , A Week on the Concord , as Bel lerica .

’

Thereis Bi lbrook , i n Old C leeve ; that is , Bil lebroc . A compound

persona l name as Lydbrook is Luth - broc . B i l l occurs in veryvaried compound names , such as Bil lnott, Bil lstan,

Bilswith,

Bil - thegn , Bilweald . Some of these names in al tered form

may be found on grave - stones in the ancien t churchyards Of

Somerset . B i l l i ng i s , of course, a common name as a pat

ronymic.

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CHAPT ER XV I I I .

Racia l Names (continued) .

The names into which the word ash enters are worthyof some further no tice . They are too widesp read to permitus l ight ly to d ism iss them wi th the assertion that they uniformly take thei r origi n in the growth of a wel l - knowntimber tree . The various spel l ings i n DB . are curious .

Asc, Aissa, Hetse , Aisa , Aisxa , E sse , Esk, and Ese a l l appearas Ash . The root i n o ld high German is essisc, and middle

high German is esch , and there are the fo rms ax , axen ,aschs, asc, and asch i . Ask or asc is the Scandinavian form .

I t is to be observed that many continental , and particu larlySwiss , names are derived from the same root . Myth ic loreis perpetuated , or at least h i nted at, i n some of them . Aesc

was the name of a son of Hengist . Esa was the forefatherof the Kings of Bernicia . The ask , aesc , was a tree associated wi th d ivin i t ies ]Ll Sl

'

. as were the oak , the elm , and the

l ime with war . Th 1s may be recognised i n the poems whichhand down to us the o ld German fab les ; and in runes andrunic- poems . In some of the Swiss forms i t is said , on some

evidence , that the root meaning is a meadow enclosed bybrushwood . I t is certain that some of the p lace - names arederived from persona l names . I n the Somerset Domesday

there is the old l iberty of Ascleia identified with Ashi ll ,which la tte r is more sure ly the same as Aissel la or Ashi l l .

The name at the base is Ascytel , which assumes the formAski l l and Aschetil lus. Asce l in (us) is the name of a Somerest

thane. Asclei is a Norman ised form of this , and of course is

only too readi ly interp reted as ash - lea . We have the hamletname Ashwick, which is most clearly the personal name

Aescwig ; one bearing the name was an early Prior of Bath

Abbey in the l 0th century . The name Ashway, i n Hawkridge ,is no t the way adorned with the gracefu l ash - trees , but thismore prosa ic personal name Aescwig . Ashington is Domes

1 60

day Essentona, and may mean the tun of Esa or Asa , al readymentioned as a personal name in the names ending withington as i s a lso Ais - coma , Ashcomb, i n Weston - super-Mare

,

and Aisecota, Ashcott , which , however, is a compound name,As - got (compare Ascott) . The p lace- name Ash i s Aissa orAisxa , as given in the case of Ash Priors . In theNorth the Scandinavi an form appears i n the vi l l age nameof Asqwith or Askwi th . Ask (Aesc) i s softened to Ash in thesouth , as noted p reviously . Askwi th i s the personal nameAsqu id ; Ascuit i n D.B . , i . e . , Ash -wid or Ashwood , and isnot a wood of trees at al l . Warl i ke spears were made ofthe ash .

Allercote, Al lermore,A l lerton , and simp le Al ler may go

together . Al lerton is Alward itone from the personalname Alweard , which is i tself a shortening of Aelfweard , andi s therefore Aelfweardton . The spe l l ing Alverton is anotherproof of th is origin inasmuch as Alverd i s the mere abbre

v iation of the fu l l name . Aller i s spel t Al ra i n DB . ( i t isAlre as late as the reign of Henry and Allerford isAl resford . The present p ronunciation is O l ler , and in the17th century are the forms Auler and Aw ler . Alra is thecurt form of the name Alhere , which in fu l l is Ealhhere . Itgoes wi thout saying that such hard forms were unpronounceab le by Norman scribes . Ealhere is we th ink the originalform of the puzzl i ng Al ler . There is Al ler in Somersethundred which has been read as Aure and confused with thename Oare , of Lorna Doone fame . There was anotherAl ler in Carhampton hundred . The curious name C are

must wai t i ts turn . Now al l these are in DB . spel t Alra,and , i n addi t ion , so is Al lerford , i n H i l l Farrance, simplyAl ra , whi le Al lerford , i n Selworthy on the Horner, i s Alres

forda And besides these is Al ler, or doub led nameA ller Butler, i n Sampford Brett . Al ler is an interesting vill age not far from Langport . I t wi tnessed the baptism of

Guthrun after h is defeat at Ethandune Alington,

i n the parish of Weare , i s spel t at l arge Al lerington. Alleris evidently an abbreviation of a longer name . The name

Ealhhere i s a Wessex name . This easi ly assumes al l the

shapes th is p l ace - name has taken . Al la r, Awler, Alre , Auler.

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1 6 2

spel l ings are Sparke - ford and Sparcke - ford . Very consistent .Besides there is the local name in the county, Sparkshayesor Sparks- hay . These al l indicate a personal name . I t isthe name Sp raga of the Liber Vitre , and in other l ists extant .I t is the old Norse Sprakr . The name is cognate with thecol loquial word sprack in the sense of nimble , l ively . Wedo sometimes a lso speak of a

“young spark . In Spart - grove

the t”was dropped in the 16th century , and then , as an

i l lustration of the pure ly etymologica l exp l anat ion of p lacenames , minus al l h istory, i t was interp reted as bar , meaning

a house or dwel l ing- p lace , a place with a bar .

Pawlettwears a Norman look . Yet i t is good old Saxon .

T he aristocratic ai r disappears on investigation . I n the CartaAthelardi Regis de Schapwick of G l astonbury Abbey i t isspel t Pouho lt, that is , Pow

’

s wood . Pou i s sti l l a personalname in the county . The word Pfau means a peacock , andwas a 6th century word in German and Saxon . I t may havebeen the cognizance of a V ik ing , and then his name . I t mayhave been Peacock wood , but the name is clearly personal .Then we find Pouho lt shortened to Poul t . By the date ofthe DB . book i t had become Pawlet . But before this, as

early as 705 ( if the record be genuine) , i n a grant ofKing Ina to Abbot Beruuald (Berwa ld) of land on the riverTone and at Poue lt (Pouho lt) ; and i n 729, grant by

Ethelheard , King of Wessex , to G las tonbury Abbey of land

atPouho lt. I n the reign of Henry VI . th is becomes Paulet’

s

l and . These are among the devices to turn the vulgar tothe gentee l by the change of a letter, as M iss M i tford

shrewdly remarks i n Our Vi l lage . As a specimen of transformation

,note that Bagsho lt has become changed to Bag

shott . In the Po lden H i l ls , Polden is possib ly a shorteningof Pouho lt- down .

How fa l lacious some ini t ia l syl l ab les i n wel l - known placenames may be when taken merely at thei r face value is clearly

i l lustrated by the name Pitminster . This has been explainedas the minster in the deep val ley or p i t . In 938, how

ever , it is cal led Pip ing-ministra . In 1086 i t has become Pinpeministra, whi le the Taxatio E cclesiastica makes

i t Pypminstre and Pypenministre I n the 16th century

1 6 3

i t i s Pyttemista . These three spel l ings i ndicate the geni tiva l

form Pipan of the personal name Pippa or Pipe . The voweli s sho rt . There was a Pipe or Pippa who was a saintand a b ishop . The two things are not uncommon

,

and the name is found in the forms Pippen and Phippen . In 1086 there was a Pipe or Pippa tenant of theAbbot of G l astonbury in Winscombe . Near Pi tm insteri s a spot now ca l led Piper ’ s I nn

,which is surely a

corrup tion of Pippa or Pipe . Piple-pen , i n NorthPerrott , is perhaps Pippa- Pen ,

i n Piplepen Thornes and

Pipplepen-Downe . I n Somerset dia lect a pip l in is a popular

t ree , and the names may be descrip tive . We are more incl ined to connect Pip le wi th Pop le , as i n Pob le - lowe

, Pub

low . Pipe - and -Lyde is a curious compound name for aparish i n Herefordshi re , probably indicative of doub le ownersh ip , and Pipe i s said to be the fi rst Saxon sain t to whom thechurch is dedicated . The Norman suppressed the Saxon saintand ca l led the church after St . Peter . Lyde is also a Somersetname .

Pitcot, i n Stratton - on - the -Fosse , i s D .E. Pico ta , and thisis obviously the name for which no unimpeachab le accountcan be given , namely, P iggott , Bigot , and Bigod . The mostprobab le is that i t i s an Anglo - Saxon name Picced , whichrep resents the form Fichad , Bighad (qui te l ikely the origi nof the name Bigwood and Bidgood by easy interchange ofconsonants i n pronunciat ion) . The name Picota occurs as

a witness to a deed of gift , by Wil l i am de Molone , of the

Church of S . George ol unster to the Priory of Bath .

1

Al l these names in Pit, as Pitney, Pitcombe , Pitt,2 i n Tim

bercombe , and Sutton Montis, Pad -we ll , i n North Grei nton

Pede -V i l la , and i n 1 102, i n Charter of G lastonbury,Pede -wel l) are in teresting as connected with the Anglo - Saxon

‘B atlz Cha rtu la ry , No . 34, p. 38, vol . vn .

“From a Bath Charter itappea rs the monk s of Dunestorr g ave to R ichard lo Fort land in

T immercumbe and La Pitte in the 1 3th century . T his is probab ly the

persona l name stil l extantand we l l known . A coa lescence of the a rticle

w ith the name would prod uce a crux in place- name etymology Lapit.

T here is a Pitt"in Odcombe , where S ir T homa s Phe lippes builta

mansion at it in a . pla ce wel l d eserving the name Here the

name is taken from the situation. Gerard , Pa rticula r Description, etc.,

p. 1 03 .

1 64

name of Peoht (Peat , Peada) , and as this is c lose ly a l l iedwi th Peet, i n Pectgils, Pechthe lm, Pectwald ,

and other

simi l ar names , i t i s i ndeed possib le that this name (whichwas not made in Germany and then travel led to England , butoriginated here) is connected wi th the racial name Pict . Butthen i t is held that the Picts were rac ia l ly Teutons . Pitney

i s , D.E. , Petene ia, and in 1315 i t later became Putteneyeand Pytteneye . As Pi tney in i ts ante -Domesday condi tionappears to have been an appanage of the Abbey of Muchelney (of St . Peter of Muchelney) , i t is not unnatu ra l to connectthem . Peteneye is thus cons idered to mean Peter

’

s island .

Hadspen and Godminster, i n Pi tcombe, belonged to the

same al legiance . The former p resence of fishponds is st i l lmarked by the embankments wh ich remain . After al l , thenames are older, and these and Petworth (D .E. Petewurda)are traceab le to Peada , or more p robab ly ( if these are notthe same) Peoht. Panborough i s short for Padenbeara, al

ready mentioned as perhaps a trace of a Cel t ic sai nt . Thename into which the word Pidd ingbeara , i n Sussex , Piddington , i n Northamp ton , and Oxford Pid lea , i n Huntingdonshi re , are traces of the same name .

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1 66

Wi nn ipeg is a poetic word , the smi le of the great sp i ri ta des ignation that is as fu l l of poetic fi re as the wordAeschylus put i n the mouth of Prometheus when at last ,after impat iently l istening to awkward consolers

,the rivals

of“Job

’

s comforters,”he at last b reaks forth into apos

trophe and speech of the many dimp l ing ocean ”

T he Spring s of rive rs and of ocean waves

T hat smile innumerous .

I t is qui te l ike this that we occasiona l ly find the old Cel ticname alongside the new Saxon or Norman name , and theone supp lants the other . When we reflect that some of thesep lace - names were but transp lanted , transferred from theorigina l homes of Jutes and Saxons , Goths or Huns orNorthmen , we are led to look for paral le l cases in thesecontinenta l corners, and , of course , we find them . A theoryis founded on the settlement of the Saxons and thei r tribes .The period embraced is from the midd le of the fifth to themiddle of the seventh century, accord ing to Bede , wri ting ofcourse , on tradi tions handed down through six generations .

Anthropologica l evidence is ca l led i n to support and supp lement the theory . I t is the theory of p lace - names as ind icative of great triba l and racia l sett lements . The B lacksand the Browns are adduced as evidence of racia l marks ofdist inction , whi le o ther names point to Goths and Huns .The Hunsings were Fris i ans , and the Goths and the Getaewere Jutes . Certain tribes of the Wends were ca l led Wintrby the Scandinavians . Rel ics of these sett lements a re lookedfor in such district names as Winter- stoke , before -mentioned,the name of a Somerset hundred , i n Winter- bourne inG loucestershi re , and a long the banks of the Thames .

So Barrington , Barton , and the l ike are supposed to conceali n themselves remembrances of the former denizens, the sonsof Bera . Bera means a bear, and was perhaps, i t is suggested

by this theory , original ly a by- name or a triba l cognizance .

According to this theory , if we look fo r the racia l characteristics of swarthy peop les we find them recorded in p lacenames invo lving the verba l e lements of b lack and brown .

Of examp les there are instanced such names as Blackford,i n Wincanton , and another B lackford i n Wedmore . Simi larly

1 67

B lagdon (D.B . Blache - don) , Bl ake - down in Kirby’

s Quest1315 and 1343 , i s B lack - down

, B lackenhi l l , B lackland (Blake

l and B lackmore , i n Cannington and Church i l l ,B lackwel l , Blackamore, i n Carhampton hundred , an obso letename , Blackesa l la , i n Andresfield hundred in Enmore . Thusa lso of Browns there are Brunfel la Brunfe ld (Edward

which is Brownfield,now spel t Broomfield , and by i ts

fo rm tempting us to derive i t from the Planta Genista orBroom ; a lso Brown ,

i n Treborough . The derivable personalnames B lake , B l akeman , Bl ack , B l acker , Brown , and so

forth are , of course wel l known .

I t 1 8 , however, by no means a certain ty that the nameBlack and i ts congeners are to be traced to a root meaningswarthy , or that Brown or Brun refers to colour . Some ofthe modern bearers of the name are not dark , which mightbe accounted for by admixture of b lood . No doub t bearersof the name Black or Brown were among the early sett lers .A man named Blecca, which is modern B lacker , was thegovernor of Li ncoln in 627, and B lac is a Domesdayname , though not i n the Somerset l ist of owners and ocenp iers . Curiously enough , in meaning the root is more l ike lythe very opposi te of dark . Bl ic, found in some o ld Germannames , actual ly means to shine . Thus Bl ack as a name meansl ight rather than dark , curious as th is sounds and seems .

I t is easi ly seen that the name White is from colour ideas .I t may

,however

,often be derivab le from wiht, which means

wit, or wight , meaning l i tt le , as in the name Wightman ,sometimes the name of a b ig man . L i t t le John , Rob in

Hood’s companion , was , i t appears , a big man . The name

was,of course

,only given i ronica l ly . Nor i s Brun neces

sarily the colour of a dusky race . I t may be Brun , Born ,Brunner

,Bourne , a spring, the Goth ic Bruna and old high

German Brunne , from Norse brunnr, a spr i ng . All that ,after a l l

,can be affirmed with any certainty is that a t the

base of these names are the words Blecca and Brun , which havebecome persona l names . A Blecca was an a lderman of

L i ndsey , i n L i ncolnsh ire ,“converted

”by Paul inus, and

B laecman ,the son of Ealric, or E l ric, of Bernicia . The

obsolete Somerset name (Blackesal la) mentioned above is an

1 68

i ndication . Blackes- al l or Bleceas- al l i s , i n the reign of EdwardI I I .

,spel t Blackeso le ,

whether ha l l,hi l l , or hole i s doubtfu l .

The B lackamore mentioned is not now identifiab le with anyknown manor . I t is e i ther the name B lec or a descriptivename , as Bleakmoor . At anyrate , as we are not now busiedwi th an ethnologica l i nvest igation so much as phi lo logical ,th is knowledge of the names is sufficien t for an exp lanationof the p lace - names and thei r origin .

The Goths and Huns of Somerset a re of considerab le interest if we can find them . Gothi , Getae , and Guthi aresaid to be al l names of the same peop le . The Jutes were ofthe same race as the no rthern Goths . King Alfred was

descended on his mother’

s s ide from the Goths and Jutesof the Isle of Wight . Ulph , Ulf is a Gothic word of whichan instance has been given in Woo lverton , Ulferton . I t isassumed

,i n the search for gothic triba l and racia l names ,

that the traces are to be found in many if not i n a l l wordsbeginning wi th God , Godi , and Geat . Goda and Geat , i ti s asserted , mean a Goth or Jute . In such names for instance as Godstow, Godmanchester , Godmeston . In Charlcombe

,i n Somerset , we meet wi th the name Gautheney

Godelega) , Goathi l l natural ly reminds us , as does

Goathurst, of the goat kep t for mi lki ng purposes . Goathi l li s D.B . Gatelma , and Goathurst is very curiously Gahers.

In addi t ion is Godney M oor . These are a l l c laimed as signs,proofs

,and indications of a Jutish occupation of the ferti le

fields of Somerset . Gautheney may be identifiab le in a

manoria l survey wi th Godelega of Domesday , but the names

are not so as they stand . Gothen - ey might be Goth or God

Is land,or a form of Goden - hay, and Gode - lega is Goth or

God - lea or meadow . Goath i l l is a decided corruption and

abbreviation of the Domesday spel l ing Gat- elma . Geat ,

Geta was i n Scandinavian mythology the son of Taetwa,ancestor of Woden

, accord ing to Kemble’

s Saxons, and

sim i larly Geat was an ancestor of the Goths . ButGaethelm

i s a name of a sim i lar type to Aldhelm . I t i s easy tosee how th is significant compound name has become Gatel ,and then made into Goathi l l . And then , of course , theexplanation is given that i t was of yore a famous p lace for

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1 70

ancien t name , as we have seen . God was the name of anEngl ish wri ter of the 13 th century . Gode has become Good

,

as such a name God would sound i rreverent to Engl ish ears .Among the wi tnesses to a charter of E the l red is God ,

minister, that is an official . I t a lso appears i n the lessstart l ing form of Codd . T he various spel l ings of GodneyM eare

, the moor near to G l astonbury, suggests to us thatth is is God

’

s Hay, or enclosed field , for i t is Goden - eya in1344 and Godden - hay i n the 16th century . But that “

eya”

is doubt less“ige of the Saxon , Godenige , that is God

’

s

i s land , the abbot of G lastonbury had jurisd iction here , and

so i ts o rigi n may real ly be God’

s is land in the d ivine senseof God , and not the everyday man

’

s name of Good . InDunweare there is Godwines Bower, and we also find Gotton,

a hamlet i n West Monkton,whi le four and a half mi les

from Bridgwater is Gothewif (“the water -mi l ls at Goth

usua l ly supposed to be a" surname derived from a

woman’

s name . T here is a name on record in the county ofWi l l iam Goodwife . Wil l iam was thus both husband and

undeniab ly“wife a lso , without the need of disturbance of

domestic b l iss and household peace . Remembering thedia lectical i nterchange of

“f”

and“ p

in various periodsthis is p robab ly the same name as Godwip . I t is the namewip or w ippa found for instance in the modern nameWhipp le . T here is a loca l name cited of Wippanhoh,Whipp , Whippy , Wh ifl , Wipp le , Wipp ing, and Wipkin.

The Wipp inga (so ca l led) were early sett lers . Wip or wifmeans woman . This name easi ly accounts for Wap ley, inG l oucestershi re . Of course , the easiest etymologica l exp lanat ion is se ized upon , and i t is supposed to mean theweapon lea , where the Saxon terri toria ls dri l led in the daysof yore . In the midnight hour i s heard the clash of ghostlyweapons . A Wipo by name was chap lain of the Emperor

Conrad II . The name is thus not unknown . In a

14th century l ist of men’

s names in Somerset we are amused

by the nicknames Wi l l iam le Wop , as wel l as Wi l l iam le

Rat, Wil l iam le Coiner, Hugh le Blod - le ter,Adam le Pud

dying, and John de Smal lfish l I t may be supposed that

le Wop is for wopse , and not the genuine name Wippa .

1 7 1

The Terra Co lgrini , Co lgrin’

s l and , mentioned as an obso

le te name is p ut , i n arrangements of manors , i n Charlinch,D .E . Cerdesl inc, i . e . Cedrics - lynch . Terra Tedrici , the landof Tedric . Tedric is the same as the wel l - known frankish

name of the eighth century, Theodric . A Tedric was a thaneof Ford (Eford , D .B . , i . a . , Eadfirth) , in Norton F i tzwarren .

T heodwu lf , Theodwig, Theodfirth , T heod - red also occur .From these i t may be fa i r ly inferred that in Terra Olta ,

Olta isthe re l ic of a persona l name

,which Asho l t p reserves . Ash

ho l t , taken at i ts face va lue wi thout further inquiry , meansAsh -wood . In real i ty i t is the doub led persona l nameAescwald , and became Ashald and then Ashol t . This seemsto corrobora te Eyton

’

s identification .

1

Cho lwell i s the name of a sma l l d is trict in the parish ofTemp le C loud , as a part of Cameley . We find , i n the l istof fie ld names in Blagdon , a spot ca l led Cho lwe l l . Andthere i s at least a th i rd in the south of the county mentionedin the boundaries of the cel l of Dunster, Codecomb apud

Cha ldewel le . This is a spel l ing of 1201 , and l ater, i n

the Pedes Finium, i t is Cealdv il le and Ch ildwel le . The l i tt ledistrict we best know is usua l ly b leak and cold enough , as

i t i s a l l a long Clutton Slade, or Slatt and Sle ight as theyca l l i t . Obiter , Slade is a word with a meaning ; i t means ab readth of greensward in a ravine or a wood . But whatS lat t means who knows ? Why corrup t names? I t is done ,as the student of p lace - names knows , without either whyor wherefore

,by the etymological s l attern . I am hop ing to

see on a farmer’ s cart S lade Farm some day in p lace of

S le ight . I t is cold enough , we say, to be derivab le from

Ceald , co ld . We do not know where the wel l is to makei t mean Cold Wel l . Wea ld , we find , does occur in Somerset ,

( if M r . Pul lan is right) i n the name Monkton Weald (Westbut i t is so rare tha t we are not disposed to

make C lu tton Slade into a Wealden . We have always to

bear in m ind that the influence of what is origina l ly afrankish p ronunciat ion affects the form of words . Andthus hard letters are softened ; 0 , for examp le , i n to the

l Eyton'

s Domesday Stud ies.

1 72

soft ch . Whether the in i ti a l le tter assumes th is form orno t seems to be a lmost a matter of caprice . Thus , Ceo l isKeel ; i n Ceo lw ine i t has become Col l in , and after the usualfashion adds a ridicu lous sib i l an t . Col l i n has an etymo

l ogica l meaning , but Col l ins none . H i l l means somethingas a triba l name , but H i l l s is ludicrous . Geol , too , becomesChel and Cha l , and Cho lwe l l i n the th ree instances givenwi th doubtless others— i s the persona l name Ceo ldwald ,

andChe lwood , with i ts Domesday spel l i ngs , noted , i s Geolworth . Chelwood is a very late corrup tion , for the p lacename is spel t Che lworth when Stowey and Chelworth were

joined together i n one ecclesiastica l charge . The Domesdayspel l ings of Ce l lewert and Ce leworda are thus become Geolworth . Wrda and urda are usua l ly forms of worth

,a

watered farm,but wert and worda i n this case seem to give

indication that the origi na l name is Geol -weard , and Geolweard is a M ercian name , but here found in Wessex . Ceo l

weard i s a known and intact name , answering precisely tothe DB . spel l ings . In the same neighbourhood there is inComp ton Dando a local name , Che l - grove ; that is, Ceolgraf— graf as before expla ined . But thi s is s ti l l further softened i n loca l p ronunciation to Shelgrave , and people maywel l wonder what Shelgrave means , who he was, and whenShel was buried . There is a lso Chel - lynch in Doulting, whichmay probably have th is origin .

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1 74

mon in the county . Again , the district of Gordano isl im ited by a ridge which so p leasantly overlooks theshining Severn sea , where , under a hedge you may enjoy

yourse lf“with a book (on p lace - names)

“ i n a nook .

”

Accordingly , what i s to hinder us regarding the derivationas deducib le from a doub le Cel tic word (which is certainly preferab le to the above -mentioned hybrid) , and saygor means a l im it , which is actual ly the case , and denua vale? E i ther of these , the marsh - va le or the ridge - vale

,

are correspondent to facts . There are other ingenious andsuggestive exp lanat ions . I t is said , for i nstance , that onceupon a time there was a fish ing wear or were or waer or

Gwaer , and i t i s Gwaer - don . This is very far- fetched andforced . We might a lso say Gyrwa i s Saxon for fenny land .

This i s true to fact in part . The prose of fact is often a bi tterdescent from the poetry of the imagination . The truth isthat no h istorv of the p lace - name bears out these conjec

tures,however del ightfu l ly p l ausib le . The facts seem to be

that if we are to go back to remote Cel tic or even later

Saxon for the geographica l and etymologica l exp lanation ofthe name , we in vain search the records ava i lab le . Wemight , as i n other cases , fa i rly expect to find some relics .But, as far as our research goes, Gordano as a district namedoes not appear unti l the thi rteenth and fourteenth centuries affixed to thi s loca l i ty . In 1270 i t i s described as

Gordeyne . In a th i rteenth century l ist of landholders wasThomas de Gardino , who held a knight

’

s fee in Side and

Gardina . The p lace - name is not i n DB . or mentioned inthe Taxatio of Pope N ichol as In the 14th centurywe find the descrip tion

“i n Gordones- land .

”And grant

in 1404 (Henry and in 1430 Earl M ort imer held themanor of Easton i n Gordano . The name occurs elsewhere , asi n the H istoria Wa lteri H emingford Walter was a canon of

Gisselburne . I t i s a h istory, i n Latin , of the reigns of

the three Edwards ( I . , I I . , and is i n point of factcop ied from the origina l work of that p ri nce of archw

ologists and hagio logists , Wil l iam of Tynemouth , to whosecease less and prodigious l abours we owe nearly a l l we knowof the mediaeval sai nts of England , Somerset included . He

1 75

was a marve l for h is era . And i t is he who tel ls us of Wi l

helmus de Gard ina and Humfridus de Gordino , the fi rs t ofwhom perished cum valentibus, i . e . ,

forces numbering onehundred and sixty , i n the Scotch border wars ; and

the second was, with Adam Gordoun,i n the fi rst

l ine of batt le among the Scots who were worsted by EdwardI I I . at Berwick I t i s a coincidence in date that i n1330 Edward I II . we meet wi th the name in Gordano . I ti s in origin a personal name . As these men were Scotsmen

,

the name would seem to be as north - country as the surname Gordon . Now, i n the Somerset Domesday Book thisname , nearer perhaps to i ts origina l form ,

does occur .Godroano was the lord of Carnicot, i n Camerton . In al ater charter the name is spel t

“God renes land .

”Now,

Godrene is as exp l icab le as Godwine, Godho ld , and Godric .

The prefix god we know , and“rene

”means

“pure

”i n

Scandinav i an . I t occurs in the name Rainho ld , the name ofthe priest who was confessor to the p ious King Edward himselfca l led the Confessor . And we a lso find Raine lf , Renewaldus,and is there not the p lace- name Rains -worthy, i n Gloucestershire ? Now Godrene I S a known Saxon name . I t ismuch l ike God run . In the p lace- name the consonants haveinterchanged , Godrene has become Gordene, whi le thea ristocratic Norman becomes Godroana and Godrano . Thename is not Norman save so far as i t is the name of aNorthman . The curiosi ty of this name would appear to

consist i n the app l ication of a persona l name to a wholed istrict , but i t does not stand alone as Winterstoke test ifies .If D .B . Winestoc i s correct , the persona l name Wine , as

i n Winsford , i s the explanation of the fi rst sy l lab le, or thename Wintr, prev iously mentioned . That the name does

not appear unti l the mediaeval period is strong evidence

tha t Gordones, namely, Godrene’

s l and , is no mistaken ap

pe lation , but arises from some ci rcumstance of possession,

of which we do not appear to be ab le to find any precise

account . A Cel t ic compound is not l ike ly to shoot upsuddenly after th is unusua l fashion . I t is needful

,i n such

a case , as i n Si lver i n M onksi lver and Si lver Street , to enteri nto a detai led explanation .

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I f Godrene i s Scandinavian or Norse , C lappa , i n Claptonin-Gordano , i s C l appa

’

s - ton , Saxon . A C l appa was a King

of Bernici a . An Osgod C lappa was father - ih - law of TofigPruda By the way, we may express our wonder thatT ofig or Tovey , has not left a mark in loca l nomenclature .

The personal name is st i l l to lerab ly frequent in Somerset and

the neighbourhood . The name C lappa , therefore , was extantand wel l - known . And there are several p lace - names inSomerset that show this . There is a C lap ton in C rewkerne,another in Cuckl ington , a thi rd in M idsomer Norton , anda C lap ton -wick and a C lypton i n M arston B igot . We maycompare C lap - ham , so wel l known for i ts rai lway junction ,and in Norfo lk we find C l ippes- ly, and C l ippes- ton elsewhere .

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1 78

was a p riory cal led Bablew Priory . I t was two mi les fromI lchester and annexed to Montague Priory, which , being

a l ien , was early supp ressed (2 Henry According toStrachey there was i n the time of Henry V I I I . a l icence toSi r Thomas Wyat t (who had the grant of Montague Priory)to a l ienate lands in Balhow (evident ly a vari ant and corruption or mis - spel l ing) , i n Bearcroft, and other l ands in Tintinhul l to the use of E l izabeth Darre l l , and later (6 Edward VI . )a l icence to John Light to al ienate the cap i ta l messuagecal led Bablew Priory , i n Tin tinhul l , to John Cuff and John

T imbresburg . This name helps to the solution ofboth . I t is the known name of an owner , Babi lo and

Pabi lo , names which are st i l l perhaps akin to Pep l ig. The

interchange of“b and

“ p is easy and frequent . Thus

nei ther of these p lace- names are compound words . Babi lo isc i ted as an extant name . The name is , of course , Babi l or

Pap il , and i t is possib le that the p lace - name is Babi l - lowe or

Bab i l - haugh , there being no diff erence in the meaning, i . e . ,

hi l l . As a l ready h inted , the loca l name Pipple-pen maythrow addi t iona l l igh t on the subject . Pap il , Babi l , Piple,and Pippel are forms of a name . We met a l abourer namedPoble , and when fi rst greeted wi th i t we pondered i t much .

I t seems to be a very rare name even now . Thus the puzzleof Pub low reso lves i tse lf i nto the rari ty of a personal name .

Pipp le - pen farm stands on an eminence close to the roadleading from Grey Abbey Br idge to South Perrot . In thetime of Richard I . there were the De Pipp le - pens of Perrotte,and ,

i n the days of Henry I I I . , Thomas de Pupe l - pennes .

T his is clearly the same name . Pen means a head land , Poble’

sheadland

,as Pub low is Pob le - lowe or Pop le - haugh , if not

just the one whole name Pabi lo , as above suggested .

We have perhaps a change from this series of Saxon andScand inavian names in that of Discove, a hamlet name in theparish of Bruton . The Domesday spel l ing i s Digenescove .

Cofa in AS . is fi rst a bed chamber and then means general ly

a hut . In the Va lor Ecclesiasticus (Henry VI II . ) th is has gotspel t Discowe . In 1428 i t is Dishcove . I t is a lso spelt

Dickenscove , which is i nteresti ng . Diga is a monk’

s name asearly as E the l red . And Dyoga was the name of a priest in the

1 79

d i ocese of Hereford in the year 803 . The name is,we th ink

,

Cel t ic , and the same as T igawny or Digawny, i . e . ,the name

of a Welsh sain t . But i t i s found in Saxon compound names

and may have been original ly of Teutonic origi n . PerhapsDycga was an early Somerset herm it . Is Digene the origi n ofthe name Dickens as the above spel l ing at least suggests?Bo lestan i s the name of a hundred , and i t has been derivedfrom bole , meaning the stump of a tree

,very much l ike

Bempstone i s the beam or hem , meaning a p i l l ar “ I ledthee by a p i l lar of cloud is

“ In Bern of cloude Ich laddethe .

”Bo lestan is i n fact Bula

’

s stone, or even the whole persona l name Bulstan , of which , however , we discover noexample or an existent i l lustra tive personal modern name .

Bula is no doubt the modern Bul l , Boley, Bu l , which is notfrom the animal name . The same e lement i s found in theloca l Somerset name Be llysmere, which is a twist of the man

’

sname Bul lmaer . There is a Bols- ton in Glamorganshi re ,and a Bou ls- ton in Herefordshi re (where no expl icative stonesare found) , a l l of which are interpretable on the same l ines .Bempstone may be a corrup tion of Bins- tone , as i n Bi negar

as elsewhere suggested .

A lfoxton , i n Stri ngton , i s Alfages- ton in DB . I n 1498 i tappears as O lfoxton , l ater as Alfoxdon . Alfage i s in971 Alfegus. The stem fag, i n the p lace- name as a doub lename , Fage and Vage , and the modern Fagge, is taken byFoerstenmann to be from the Gothic Faheds, A . S . , faegen ,

agreeab leness or cheerfu lness . The name is real ly Ae lfegus orA lfegus, as Aelf—red or Alfred . This name V age , Fage , Faggus

,and Veggus, as i t i s variously spel t , was the name of the

legendary highwayman of the West who is said to have hadhis robber ’ s retreat atOare . The author of Lorna Doone wasthe son of a former rector of Oare . Was Vage the prototype

o f a Doone?Emborough is not, i t appears on examination , s imp ly Elm

borough,because of the presence of the wide - spread ing,

shal low- rooting ornament of an English l andscape , the tree so

cal led . We have no very early spel l ings . We find in DB .

t he spel l ing Ame lberga . Three centuries l ater, i n the Nomina

Vi llarum, i t i s but l i tt le d iff erent , Emeleberga . In 1419 we

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have , perhaps , a freak of spel l ing, Empnebergh .

1 C learly Emborough is an abbreviation . We migh t suppose that amel isfor hamel , an old French word of which hamlet is a d iminutive . I n the l ists of manors cum hamel i s not i nfrequent . Andas berg is a hi l l , th is would yie ld us the amel , or vi l l age on thehi l l , which i t is . But, p laus ib le as th is seems , the hamelmeaning hamlet is a l ater word . Imela i s anothe r name

,and is

the c l ip t form of the female name Imhild . But the fi rst vowelshows no variat ion . Now, Amal i s the name of a mythicalforefather of the Goths , and , qui te i n the usua l way , thisname was used both s ingly and i n compounds , as i n Amalheard , Amalgaer, Amalbeo rht. This is Amalberga , p robablythe name Amalburh . The modern names are Hami l l and ,perhaps , Haml ing and Hambl ing . Amal is Goth ic .

I n Thurlbeare we find Scandinavian . The name is not in

DB . I t is spel t Thorlbeare i n 1270 . Manor of T horlebere,held by Wil l i am de Monte Acuto . In Kirby

’

s Quest i t isThurlbear . A sixteenth century spel l i ng is Thure lbare . In

a map of Somerset publ ished in 1799 the name is spel t Thrulbeare . This reminds us of the p lace - name Tru l l , a lso nearTaunton , two and a half m i les south - west of th is town , as

Thurlbeare is three and a ha lf mi les south - east of i t . Nor is

this in DB . Nor i n the l ists of vi l ls and manors . There is aspel l ing T rowle . Among the names in the Somerset domesday is filius Turaldi . This is Thoro ld . Thoro ld i s a lso foundas Toral . The fu l l name , with significant syl lab les , is Thorwea ld

,or Thorvald . The steps are seen . Thurl and Trul l

are the same word diff erentiated . Bearw is flat land . Trull

has been exp lained as a Cel tic word , a huddled - up form ofTrev - l lan , the vi l lage church . Why this shou ld be cal led thevi l lage church more than any others does not appear . I t is ,we fear , an etymologica l p rettyism . Trul l is the Somerset

way of saying Thurl . Thurlbeare we have heard in that vi l

l age cal led someth ing l ike Drul lbeer.

Thurloxton i s a simi l ar name . I t is Thorlac or Torloc’

s

tun . Thurlac and Durlac and T horlac are names fo r which

evidence is p roducib le , as mentioned p revious ly . I t is inter

1See on Nempnettwhere is the sug g estion thatth ismay be an orig ina l spe ll ing .

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1 82

save by boat , came to be visi ted by dry- shod pedestrians . Thename Wedmore

’

s l and in 1242 was rea l ly right i n the use ofthe possessive—Wil l iam de Wedmo resland— and is as evi

dently historica l ly correct as the expression“i n Gordone

’

s

l and .

Other cognate names are Wadbury, a hamlet of Mel ls .Wembdon is i n Domesday Book Wadmen- dun . This is, infact , Wadmund , as in Edmund wi th the l ike meaning ofmund .

”This has been exp lai ned to mean

“women - down ,

”

the reason for which , i t is further said , i s no t now known .

Aga in there is a Wadford near Neroch . They say i t is theford that can be waded . M ost fords can . I t is Wadafrid ,

as Winford is Winfrid .

Traces of a very ancient name wi th i ts easi ly i nterpreted

(and not in this case so inco rrectly as i n many other instances)modern representative Gold and Gould as persona l namesis discoverable i n the hamlet - name Go ldonscott, Go ldenscott.

I t is a l so spel t Gildencota . The fo rms of the name are Gi ld ,Gald , and Go ld . The D .E . spel l ing is Go ldencota . I t is Gildencota i n 3 Edward I . , and was a ti th ing . In 1069 the nameWil l iam Goue ld occurs . Wi l l iam Guald and Brien , bothcounts of Bretagne , two of the Conqueror

’

s l ieutenants , defeated two sons of Haro ld , the only time these elder two sonsof the unfortunate Saxon appear in Engl ish history . Theywere leading an I rish expedit ion against Devon . The name

Goueld occurs in reference to lands the p roperty of St .

Saviour’

s Abbey, Bermondsey . In the Liber Vitae is theAnglo - Saxon form Go lde , and the Fris ian form Gio lt. Theorigin does appear to have reference to va lue , but not neces

sarily metal l ic va lue . Gelten means to be worth . I t wi l l be

seen that the sib i lant is i ntrusive . I t is no t Goldson . Nor

are we sure that Coat is here a cot , or house , any more thanin some other cases . Cot is often the Anglo - Saxon form ofthe Goth ic gaud , god , geat , and Go ldengyt thus may he

a compound name,as Sidcot, i n Winscombe , Sidagaud , or

Sida ’ s cot . Sida is the o ld German name Sido , and there isthe loca l name Syde -mann , Sidewine , and Sideflaed . Siden

ham i s i n North Petherton , and has , we know ,become a per

sona l name taken from a p lace , and not given to i t . There

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i s a curious name , Nightcott, i n Brushford . How easy to sayA p lace of nigh t refuge for some now unknown reason .

I t is the name Noedt, Nytta, Nette (Fris i an form) , Ni th i nmany names compounded in the customary way with heard

,

weard , mund , and perhaps gaud , a Goth , Nihtgaud . And soi n Ashcott, i n Horethorn, is aesc, the personal name askand cott , Ascquid . And Wal—cottwould thus

,by analogy of

these forms , be the personal name Wealh or Wal l , frommeaning the stranger . I t must no t be forgotten that the wordWelsh is i tse lf Saxon .

There is a lso a Wi l l- cot i n Alms-worthy (Eahlmundesworth) . The prefix Wi l corresponds to a Wi ltoun i n CurryR ivel , a Wi lhayne i n Combe St . N ichol as . There is no morefrequent el ement i n persona l names Wilmund , Wilhild , anda dozen or more others . And in th is case , the name Wil legod occurs . Wil lcot is th is name disguised , and Wi lhayne i sno t a hayned up p lace any more than Pighaynes i s a p laceof enclosure fo r p igs . Wilhayne i s Willehun, as Pighanes i sPighun . Pigo is an o ld German name, but i t has nothing todo with swine , but wi th the sword . Grimm says the wordhun became a synonym for a gi ant , and a metrica l wri ter ofthe ninth century describes the giant Polyphemus as thegroose hun ,

”the great giant . Pigou is a name we know .

Wilhun i s known as a M ercian name , and here inWessex, too .

How nearly connected this name is with Wil l , Wil ls, Wil la ,i n such names as Wi l - helm , Wil - frid , Wil -maer (as in Wi lmers- ham) may be seen from the Frankish spel l ing of thep lace - name Wil l i ton , i n St . Decumans, and as the name of ahundred ,

“Wil l i ton and Free -M anors hundred .

”Wil le t

H i l l i s in E lworthy, a l ready mentioned . The Frankish spel li ng in the form Gil letona, precisely as Wi l l iam or Wi l- helmis i n French Gui l laume , and in Welsh Gwil lym. I t was in

1 170 tha t Reginald Fi tzurse inheri ted his father ’s estate ofG il letona, and in this twelfth century that Regina ld Fi tz - urse

(of Becket fame) granted to his brother, Robert Fi tz- urse , amoie ty of Gil lestone . In Henry I I .

’

s reign this grant is con

fi rmed oi l ands i n Wil leton. I n 1 192- 1205 Bishop Savaric of

Wel ls a l lows that a chap lain sha l l reside i n the vi l l of Wi letone . In the fourteenth century i t is Wi l l i - tone and Wyle

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ton . In 1403 i s a grant near Terra Templariorum. This isworth note as beari ng on names wi th Temp le , as Temple

Combe , Temple C loud , and Temp le Hydon . The namesWyly and Wi l ly are extant names of peop le i n Somerset wi th

whom we are acquainted .

Foxcott is on or near the wel l - known Fosseway, and so we

might say that thus i t gets i ts name . The D .B . spel l ing isFus- cota . In 1291 i t is Foxcote and Fors - cot . The name isFurs - a, as i n Furseman , a modern name . This name occurse lsewhere , as i n the Fescheford , now Freshford , of which thisappears a not unl ikely exp lanation , but as i t is s i tuated nearthe confluence of the Frome and the Avon the puzzle of thespel l ings may find some other exp lanat ions .A pretty instance of the tendency of the popular tongue toget a good grip of a word is seen in a mysterious local namein Nunney , near Frome . I t is Trul lox H i l l . Now, we should

say th is was T horlacs H i l l , as i n Thurloxton , if i t were not asixteenth - century spe l l ing (as would appear) of earl ier forms,T ricox (which means T ritox , by confus ion of the o ld form ofthe letter c and T rotox and the spel l ing T ruddox . Thisi s Drud

,or Trud , as Drud - here (Drury) , the same as Trid ,

Tri t and Trot,and the name T ruttuc existed in A .D . 706 .

Drudhere or T rothere has become Trotter and you wonderwhy your friend bears such a funny name , Tom Trotter .

”

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1 86

raised to posi t ion and possessions for thei r se rvices to theirl iege lord

,the king . More than once were the ownerships

shifted a t success ive crises i n national aff a i rs . Rebel l ious

nob les with thei r reta iners in strongholds were as thorns inthe side of a monarch , and in civi l s tri fe the p lunder went asusual to the v ictors , and the vanquished were rebuked , degraded , and beggared . The wheel of l ife , of war and ofpol i t ics has raised the lowl iest and depresesd the highest .Blue b lood is as much a fiction as the ep i the t is shockinglym isapp l ied and physio logical ly absurd. The peers are thepeop le and of the peop le , and ra ised from the peop le . Theinheri tor of a fool ish face yie lds p lace to a commoner with awise one often enough in the h istory of th is l and . The surv iv ing names make you ask the question Where are theirdescendants ?” And the answer is often enough Dispersedamong the peop le , i n shops of trade , i n shops for manualwork , even in lowly cottage homes .

”

The names , too , remind us of re l igious cond i t ions that havelong si nce passed away . We fol low the tracks of monastici nsti tutions, and the surviving names are fossi l marks l ikeferns in coal shale , or tri lob i tes in ool i te rock , of cond 1tionsof vi l lage and land over which the waves of t ime have swept .

Occas iona l ly they are descrip tive , geographica l , and personalra ther than merely manoria l or monastic . I n a l l respectsthey are interest ing . Sometimes they wear the appearance ofbeing the p roducts of vaul t ing ambi tion . The name is lowly,but is capab le of exal tat ion . The ginger- bread is p la in , buti t may be edged with gi l t . Human vani ty and the cravingfor d ist i nction , the wish ch iefly to o

’

ertop your fe l lows nowhere comes out i nto clearer l igh t than in names . Breed isnot to be desp ised . The record of a race is of immense value .

But breed wears out , and needs renewal . How long on anaverage does a great fami ly l ast ? Nei ther one good custom

nor one good fami ly is a l lowed to corrup t the world . With

some such reflections do we ever and anon pause in the studyof these added names . As far as possib le , we take them inalphabetical order .Abbas Combe is a lso ca l led in the Taxatio Ecclesiastica

Combe Temp ler, and the name Temp le Combe has ousted

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t he older name . The names strike two strata of histo ry . Abbas Combe is i n real i ty Abbess Combe , fo rthe land of this manor was a t Domesday in the pos

session of Lenora Abbess of St . Edward , Abbess ofShaston, Abbatissa Sancti E dwardi , who was theDomesday tenant i n capi te . Abbas has become AbbotsCombe i n some documents . Combe Temp ler, now TempleCombe, i s a name of considerab le interest , because connectedwi th the famous order of Knight

’

s Temp lar , founded early inthe twelfth century .

“The M aste r of the Temple in those

days was not a cassocked and surp l iced clergyman ho ld ing a

dignified posi t ion in the Temp le Church in London,but the

head of a dignified mi l i tary order set apart to guard the waysto Pa lest ine , and to protect the ho ly p laces . The earl iestPrecep tory known in England was i n 1 136, at C ressing, givenby M aud . With in fifty years of th is Serlo Fitzado founded ap receptory of the order (1 185) at th is Combe . I n 1309C lement 5th supp ressed the Knight

’

s Templars , and thei rl ands were given to the somewhat o lder order of Knight

’

sHosp i ta l lers , so ca l led because they began with the bui ld i ngof a hosp i ta l for p i lgrims at Jerusa lem . These were supp ressed by the burly monarch , Henry V I I I . , i n 1540, and inthe 35th year of Henry V I II . the manor of Temp le Combewas granted to Lord C l i nton ,1 and of course a grant — fora consideration—made to a usefu l person . Of so much ihterest i s th is name , which is a lso doubt less shared by Temple

C loud . John Strachey, i n 1730, p laces this as a cel l of theTemplars ’ house in Temple Street , Bristo l . 2 O ther names ofl ike kind elsewhere are Temple Brewer , i n L i ncol nshi re ;Temp le Newsom ,

i n the county of York ; Temple Beverley ,i n Westmoreland . There were on ly eighteen in the country .

Other re l ics are Temple Down , i n West Harptree , and the

name of Temple -Hydon , a lso cal led Hydon Grange , or Char

terhouse Hydon , where the lands were possessed by the

Knights Temp lars . Temple -H idon is i n the register of lands

1List of the Rel igi ous H ouses in Somersetsh i re. Strachey, p. 663 .

”B ristow

wa s one of the chief seats . T he owners of T emple Combe may befound in Somerset and Dorset Notes and Queri es, iii. , 88 ; SomersetA rchaeologi ca l Soci ety

'

s P roceed ings , XL IV . , ii. , 63 . See a lso Gerard ,

pp. 1 63 - 4, and M r. Bates-Harbin'

s note .

188

belonging to the Precep tory of Temple Combe . I t is i n thereport fo r 1338, Camden Societies

’

pub l icat ions ,“Knights

Hosp i ta l lers in England . Templeton , in Devon , andWestcombeland , i n Buckland St . M ary, and C l ayhanger , onSomerset borders , are also in this l ist . A picture of the re

mains of the Chapel of the Precep tory may be found in the

fifth volume of Somersetand DorsetNotes and Queries . TheBri tish M useum charters contai n records of a grant of landin Heidune to Bruerne Abbey in A .D. 1 180- 1 190 . In thetime of Henry I I I . there was notification of an exchange forland in H idon wi th Bruerne Abbey . This Bruerne , or Temple Bruer , or Brewer, must have been the one mentionedabove in L inco lnshi re , and not the C i stercian one in Oxford .

This the name Temple tel ls us . The Charterhouse Hydon isl and connected wi th Charterhouse H i nton , probab ly, wherethere was a Carthusian monastery .

Abbot’

s Leigh formerlybelonged to the Hundred of Bedminster , and when the Church lands were confiscated , i t, aswas commonly the case , was transferred to another hundred ,that of Portbury . I t was on ly Lega , or Lea , i n DB . RobertF i tz -Harding gave this part so indicated , and another part tothe Augusti nes , of Bristo l . And so i t acqui red i ts d istinctivename . O ther names—Abbots Camel , Abbots I le , AbbotsBuckland— occur, and are mentioned hereafter under theirmore modern designations . There is a lso found in theboundaries of the manor of West Norton (Edmond the E lder,946, to his thegn Ethe lwod : Dunning- lea , leading to

Crich - hul le , the boundary through midd le of Abbing- leah ,i . e . , Abban - le igh or Abbots - le igh , to the Dulting stream . Thename has been changed to M ap leaze , probab ly a corruption .

Ash Brittle .

—We have observed that in DB . Ash is not uniformly spelt . This is no wonder, but here the vari at ions are

suggestive . Ashley i s spel t Asc - lea . Ash Bri tt le i s Aissa, Ashcombe is Aisecoma, of which the spe l l ings in the NominaVi llarum Hesecombe, Hececombe, and Hetsecoma arevariants . Ash Priors is Aisca and Aisxa ; Ashcombe inWeston - super -M are i s Aisecoma ; Ashcott , A isecota , Ashington , Essentona ; Long Ashton , Eshtuna ; Ashway i n Hawkridge , Ascwei ; Ashwick , Esewice . Now the personal name

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1 89

Aesc , Aes, As , Aesc , Aescmann, i s thus variously spel t , and isfound in numerous compound persona l names

,As - cytel (Ash

kett le) , Aescbeorht (Ashbert) , and the l ike . I n those very o ldnames when the Saxon thought more of his persona l possessions than physica l features of h is ownership

,the name

,as in

A sh ton , i s personal , i . e . , Aesc - ton . This same e lement is i nAsh -with . Asee was the name of the son of Hengist . No

doub t u l t imate ly you get back to the tree for,mythologica l ly

,

the o rigin of the name is in the “ conceit that man sp rangout of the ash tree . Further , i t was the wood out of whichspears were made , and the name secondari ly imports warl ikestrength and vigou r .From this to the second name Bri ttle ( though the two are

commonly wri tten as one word Ashbri tt le) i s from mytholo

gical Saxon to a Norman name probab ly having a Cel t ic base ,for words of th is origin are as common in the stretch of countryonce ca l led Armorica as i n Cornwal l . In D.B . the sub tenurewas that of Brittel de St . C l are . I n 1343 the name is read asEsse Bri te l , though in DB . i t is only Aissa . Montague Brete lderived h is cognomen from a vi l le in Normandy . But thename is Celt ic ; Brithyl l i s Cel tic Corn ish for a trout . I t is a lsoWelsh . The root idea of Bri th is that of dapp led . Thename was appended very early, i f not continuous , from theconquest .Ash Herbert i s p robab ly the p lace now known as Ashington

Essentune) . The super- added designation is that of aSaxon name Herebeorth . A penny of L incol n coinage bearsthe so l i tary name of Heribert , who was an ealderman . I t isof frequent occurrence in the eighth and n inth centuries, andusual ly of those who were leaders of men . Har is army orsoldier

,and Beorhtbrigh t or i l lustrious , which appears i n the

name Bright , Bertrand , and the l ike . Ashington i s s i tuatedin the hundred of Yeovi l , and here Herbertus was a subtenant under Alured de H ispania , Roger de Corcel le , andWm . de ’Ou . The Saxon name in the county has , whether

cont inuous o r not,shown a remarkable persis tence .

Ash Priors, or Priors Ash , Aissa i n DB . Esse Prior in

Taxatio E cclesiastica I t is doubly surveyed in DB .

Part of the land was , i n the time of Ki ng Edward the Goufes

190

sor , under the feofdom of the l ast of the Saxon b ishops ofWel ls , Giso ; another part was held in chief by Roger Arundel ,who gave i t to Taunton Priory . According to Dugdale , thiswas a priory of Augustin ian monks, and according to Speed ,a nunnery

,founded by Henry de B lois , B ishop of Winchester .

A prior Stephen is mentioned in the Wel ls Register in A .D.

1 175 . The Vicarage of St . M ary M agda len had some dozenchapel ries a ttached to i t , among wh ich was Ash Priors . Thename , accordingly , may be , as the connection certainly is,hoary with age . I n 1438 i n B . M . Charters is Compotus ofl ands of Taunton Priory of E sse , i n which i t wi l l be notedthe descrip tive name is not given .

Ash M ayne is in M artock as a local name . If th is is a personal name

,M ayne , i t i s a very old one , for the name

M aanus and Meinus i s found on old Roman pottery, and isCel t ic , or more probab ly Gothic , and a word indicatingstrength . The forms are M agan , Main , M agnay . In GermanMehne, and French M agne , I ta l ian Magini . We have some

susp icion tha t i t i s the same name as M o ione (of whichGerard considers Mohun a corrup t spe l l ingl ) of DomesdayBook . De M o ione of Dunster was not only a considerableowner of landed estate i n the county

,and Sheriff of Somerset,

but also King Wi l l iam’

s custos of escheated estates for theConqueror , of which a manor in M artock , primari ly ownedby Queen Edi th , was one . As i t i s

“i n dominio

,

”i t is just

possib le that M ayne may be the remanet of the fu l l worddesmesne , but scarce ly l ike ly . Of other names wi th the prefix ash are Ashley, near Bath ; Ashway ,

i n Ash i l l,Dulverton,

probab ly from the tree , as also Ashcombe and Ashford , in I leAbbots ; Asko ld, also spel t Ashault. Aysseho lt i s ash wood .

On the other hand Ash -wick , as we may here again say, is a

compounded personal name , Aesc and Wig .

Z

Long Ashton , with Ashton Keynes within i ts borders .There are tythings Ashton Dando and Ashton Alexander,from Alexander Dando . Rutter3 says i t was ca l led Easton ,because east of Portbury , and the most important p lace this

vo l . xv . , p. 1 9 .

2See a lso p. 42.

“D el ineation: of the North WesternD iv is ion of the County of Somerset, by John Rutter. Lond . , 1 829 .

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192

The reverse is more l ikely . The fami ly is of importance in the

Tudor period .

Barry Gooseford , or Barrey Goseford i s an obscure name

l i tt le known out of i ts loca l i ty . I t i s a hamlet name inOdcombe . The hamlet and loca l names must not be left out ofaccount . What they lack in importance is made up for inetymologica l and historical i nterest . Goesford is not the gooseford . Gose is poss ib ly a form of cors a hog, and Cel tic ford ,the way or road across the marsh . Gosemoor, i n Broughton

Regis , i s then a doub let, forGose al ready means a moor . Barry

Goosefo rd and Barreys Goseford i s a name found in Bri tishM useum charters of the time of Edward I . I t goes so far backas the 13th century . We find no such name in Somerset D.B .

Gosford is more p robab ly the Saxon name Gosfrid and Gos

fri th , or Gosa . The name is wide - sp read— Gosfield i n Essex,Gosford in Oxford , Gosforth in Cumberland , and also inNorthumberland , Gosport , Goswick . Gos i s a supposed high

German fo rm of gaud , a Goth . The Engl ish name Casswel l isthe o ld German name Gausvald , or Goswa ld . In 1294 we areinformed of an Anthony de l a Barre , and Christiana , his wife,i n a question of p roperty in East Luccombe , that is i n the timeof Edward I . We cannot abso lute ly determine whether Barryis the origina l p lace - name or a personal name . Barry is somet imes derived from the Welsh with the prefix ap , and is thesame then as Parry . This to us is doubtfu l .Barrow Gurney —A barrow is , shortly, a mound of anykind . I t has come to mean often specifical ly, a burialmound . This is a specia l ised mean i ng . The words parson and person are precise ly the same word in origin .

The middle Engl ish of Bergh , a hi l l , is Berw . The modern

German is Berg . The high road through Barrow Gurney un

mistakab ly passes under the lee of a tolerab le mound , and

a longside an i nto lerab le streamlet . We need not look for thebones of the dead . The D .B . spel l ing is Berua , and , needlessto say

,with no addi tion of manoria l owner . The fina l vowel

is only the Domesday spel le r’

s trick of a final vowel , as intona

,for ton .

”I t is thus precisely Berw . I t is Barwe in

1304 ; feofment i n Le Barwe . Barough and Berghes i n the

t ime of Henry V I II . At the time of the much-mentioned

1 93

survey, Nige l de Gurna i he ld a sub - tenure of i t underGeoff rey de Moubray, Bi shop of Coustance . Notwithstand

i ng this early connection with this fami ly the name did notbecome inseparab ly affixed i n documents unti l a much later

period . In 1297 the Taxatio Ecclesiastica has only Barwe i nthe Deanery of Redclyff e .

Barrow M inchin i s another name for Barrow Gurney, orfor some manoria l port ion of i t . The explanation of this isthat a Benedicti ne nunnery was founded there ( i t i s sa id) asearly as the re ign of Richard I . In 1296 we read of a questionarising E ast Harpetre and the Prior of Muneschinbarwe .

”

In 13 16 Joanna de Gurney was e lected p rioress , and in 151 1 i tappears th is nunnery atM i nch in Barrow , as i t i s ca l led, hada pens ion of two marks out of the appropriated tythe of thechurch of Barrow . Speed says i t was of B lack Nuns dedicatedto St . M a ry and St . Edwin , bu i l t by Gournay . I t i s cal led

M i nch in Barrow in the time of E l izabeth , and as l ate as 1768i n a wi l l . M i nchin is A . S . muncen,

a nun . A nunnery at

Brittlemo re was ca l led the minchery .

”M unkin is short

for monach ina . The root , of course , ult imate ly is Greek ,monachos. I t is found also i n Buckl and M i nchin , also knownas Buckl and Sororum of the sistersThe origi na l fami ly of Gurneys in the male l ine appears tohave died out . Eva de Gurney married a Thomas Fi tzWi l l iam F i tz John , of Harp tree , and the latter took the nameof h is wife

, Gornai . I t is from this time and fami ly that weget the names of Barrow Gurney, Farrington Gurney, GurneyS lade .

1 The latter name Slade is of frequent local occurrence . We have seen that i t is app l ied (from A .S . slaed) to ane levated open country

,as i n C lutton Slade , corrupted to

Slate,as i n Sl ate Farm .

”

In the hundred of Whitley are the geographical ly- distin

guished names of North Barrow and South Barrow, i n the

south of the county,represented in DB . by Berua and Ber

rowena.I n Wincanton there is a loca l name, Barrow lands, and

there is Berrow in Row- berrow . Between the vi l lage and thebeach on the Bristo l Channel there is a natura l barrier of high

1T here is a lso Gournay Street in Cannington. T he orig ina l name is fromGyvernay, in Normandy.

1 94

and extensive sand h i l ls , or dunes, or barrows . Row, the prefixis ruh , which means rough , as i n Ruborough , a lias MoneyF ie lds , near Broomfield . Some regard this as the p robablesi te of the famous batt le of Brunanburh .

B ishop Lydeard , or Lydeard Episcopi .

—We may conveniently bring together a l l the p lace - names which have thisaffix or sufli x i n the county . Such are Compton Bishop,

B ishops Hull , B ishops-worth, Bishops Wood , Bishop Sutton(Chew Ep iscop i) , Huish Episcopi , and in the Axe DrainageCommiss ion of 1810 we find Bishop Axbridge . Not al l thep l aces that belonged to B i shops have preserved the record inthe name . The principa l Ep iscopa l landowners of Somersetat the t ime of the survey were the b ishop of Wel ls, G iso ; thebishop of Coutance , Geoff rey de Mowbray ; the bishop ofWinchester , Walche line ; and the fi rst of these is credi ted withabout eighty thousand acres . Among the manors belongingto G iso were Chui , i . e . , Chew ; Huish , Lidegar or Bishops

Lydeard , Compton Bishop ( as part of Banwel l) , whileLydeard St . Lawrence , O tterford , and B ishops Wood in

O tterford , some part of B i shops Lydeard , and B ishops Hullwere parts of the manor of Walchelinus, b ishop of Winchester , chief tenant on the Domesday survey ;1 at the time ofEdward the Confessor the l atter p lace was held by eightthanes under Stigand , the Saxon archb ishop of historicalfame .

Lydeard i n both names mentioned above is a personalname , Lidhard . Lu idhard i s the name of a b ishop of Senl is,chap lai n to Queen Bertha . The D.B . spe l l i ng is Lidegar (pronounced Lide -

yar) , and the T .E . Lid iard . The Saxon name isa compound of Lid , Leod , found in other p lace - names and inmodern persona l names as Lloyd , Lyde, and Cornish Floydand Gaard ,

Yeard , or Yarde , a lso an ancient name of a person .

There is a p lace - name Lyde i n Yeovi l . How early is the occurrence if th is name is seen from the interest ing fact

,else

l Ca l led B ishop’

s Lyd iard ever after King Edwa rd the Eld er, during the

rule of ye Saxons, g ave it to the bishopp of She irbourne, butwhen, as

the B ishopricke of We l ls wa s taken out of that church , th is among stother lands fe ll to that bishop .

"Gera rd : Pa rticular Description of

Somerset, p. 54, S .R .S. , vol . xv.

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196

E l izabeth . In Bower-H i n ton or Hean - ton (Hea- ton) , H intoni s p robably Hean- to n or h igh - town (Hean , Cel t ic high), andis compound . ButH i nton also became , and is , a persona lname . These p l ace - names transformed to persona l namesarose from designating , as is wel l known , persons by thei rabodes, John atte Bower or Wi l l iam de la Bure , which becomes Bury . When the addi t iona l names were very latethey often thus arose . I n Domesday there is a tenant Hugode Bures , which now, of course , would be Hugh Bury.

These names Bures, Buri , or Burs are noticed in the fi rstvolume of Domesday as synonymous wi th Col iberti . In DuCange

’

s G lossary this word Co l iberti is derived from Romancivi l l aw as meaning tenants i n free socage, free rent, amiddle sort of tenant between servi le and free . If this beso

,the various Bowers and Bures are re l ics of ancien t modes

of tenu re .

Flax -Bourton i s no t separately mentioned in the Survey,and there was no cause for i ts separate va luation in the

Taxatio Ecclesiastica . I n H istorica l M anuscrip ts of the time

of Henry VI . (1422) i t i s ment ioned as Bourton only in agrant of lands . In the time of Queen E l izabeth , in acalendar of Chancery p roceed ings, we have the dist inctivename F lax-Bourton . But i t i s clear that the name originatedlate from some specia l c i rcumstances connected with thep lace , and nothing is so l ikely as the connection wi th thep riory of Flex- ley, i n G loucestershi re . The Prior of Flexleyhad an esta te at E ast Brent valued at twenty marks a year,i n 1444 ,

and possessed lands in or near Regi l l . 1 The originof Flex- ley is not fa r to seek . Flaec or Flecg i s a personalname

,with the modern form F leck . I t is ra ther Scan

d inav ian than Saxon , Floki . And this is borne out by theoccurrence of the word in the North Country p lace - names

F lex-by i n the West Riding of Yorkshi re , F l ax- ton on themoor in the East Riding , F leck- ney in Leicestershi re . The

basis is Fl aka , a rover, perhaps a viking, and the word flag,i ndicating the iri s waving in the wind , and our word flag,an ens ign , are connected etymologica l ly . The p lentiful

l Strachey : Rel igi ous Ho uses in Somerset.

1 97

growth of th is p l ant wi l l of i tse lf hardly account for al l thesesepara te i nstances . Fl ax Bourton is Flex- ley Bourton , andthe persona l name origi nated wi th Flex- ley in G loucestershi re , o r Flecg

’

s meadow .

Bratton Seymour is simp ly Broc- tuna in 1086 . Broctuna

a lso in TE . 1297, and in 1315 i n the Nomina Vi llarum also ,and i n the Bruton Cartu lary passim. Broc is a brook

,and

brock a badger . But broc , a badger,became

,l ike so many

animal names , a persona l designation from some supposedresemblance i n appearance and character . There are numerousp lace - names wi th the persona l name Broc , as Broc - ley

,Brock

hampton . Brockington is a patronymic name . The Broc -menwere East Frisians , and , adop ting this , the exp lanation of thenames is raci al . Broctuna evidently becomes Brot- ton byassim i la tion of the consonants , and Brat - ton is but a Somersettwist of the vowel . Some may sti l l p refer to think of a brook ,especia l ly as a b rook rises there , and note that Broctonsbecome Broughtons a l l the country through . But thisp reva l ence of the name is an argument i n favour of theracia l origin , rather than that from the loca l ci rcumstance ofthe existence of a brook , or the possib i l i ty of badgers . Theaddi t iona l name of Seymour must have arisen at the end ofthe 14th or beginning of the 15th century, when a Roger deS . Maur, a great - grandson of Wm . St . Maur , apparently bya l l iance wi th the Lovel ls, Lords of Wincanton and CastleC ary , brought to the Seymours this manor . Thus , later i nbecame distinguished by this family name . Wm. St . Maur,i t i s exp lained

,took his name from St . Maur- sur- Loi re , i n

Toura ine . Another p lace - name , with the addi tion of Seymour

,may here conveniently be considered . Kingston Sey

mour is so ca l led in the T .E . , that is i n the 13th century .

In 1 197 th is manor was granted by Richard I . to M i lo de

Sancto M auro . T his was, therefore , earl ier than the former .

I t must not be forgotten that Semaer i s a Saxon name .

Bratton in M inehead i s i n DB . Bradeuda . Bratton hasthus a twofold derivation . Whatever the exp lanation ofthis may be , i f the identification is correct , Bradeuda means

Broad -wood . There are several Brattons, but they are confined to Wi l ts

,Devon , and Somerset . The one in Wi lts is

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famous as identified by some wi th the histo ric Eddingtondown . Probably they are Broad - tons, but the h istory of thep lace - name spel l ing needs i nvestigation before a conclusionworth so ca l l ing can be arr ived at .There is a lso a l i tt le - known loca l name i n Somerset

,

Bratton Lyndes . Lyndes may be a persona l name . Inthe Pedes-Finium, beginning of the 13th century, there occursthe name John de la Lynde and the name Lynde- cumb.

Lin and L i nd is a Saxon persona l name . This exp lains Lyncombe I t is found in compounds as L i nd -win and Lindwulf . La Lynde becomes a loca l name , l i ke some otherswith the article La . Bratton and Lynde were separate manors . 1

Brympton D’

Evercy .

—No one would guess that what theDomesday spel l ing gives as Broc in Brock - ley and the l ikeis by some supposed to denote a racia l d istinction . According to this the Brocmen were East Fri sians . Nor wouldBrympton as i t stands in i ts modern form suggest anotherrea l or supposed racia l d ist inction . What is meant wi l l be

readi ly seen when we remark that the Domesday spel l ing ofBrympton is Bruneton . This becomes Brempton i n 1297.

That is , Brune is Normanised into Bremp as a nasal isedp ronunciat ion . Brun is s imp ly Brown , and Brun a lone andin compounds as Brunhe lm and Brunh i ld , Brun -man andBruning (as a patronymic) , Browning is p revalent from theseventh century onward . Racia l ly , i ts members were of abrown tinge . There is 3 Brown in Treborough as a localp lace - name . Broomfield i s i n DB . Brunefe l la . Besides,there is King

’

s Brompton , and the o ld hundred of Brompton

Vicecomitis are a l l spel t Brune - ton , and Brompton Ralphnoted below . Brom- ley i n Stanton Drew is Brun- lea . Thename is Brampton in Henry the Thi rd

’

s reign . In this reignthe manor of Brymp ton came to the family of D

’

Evercy.

Peter D’

Evercy was patron of the church in 1321 . I t is presumed that the fami ly sprang from Evercy, a p lace situatea few mi les from Caen . The fami ly was found in Englanda t an early date . There is a Robert Evercy who obtained

l See Mr . Bates -Harbin'

s note , p . 1 95, Gera rd'

s Pa rticu la r Description ofCounty of Somerset, S .R . S .

, vol . xv .

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1 99

confi rmat ion of grant of lands i n Yate, and i t is l ike ly that

i n 1226 Thomas D’

Evercy purchased Brympton . TheG loucestershi re and the Somerset fami l ies were one Thep revious possessor was Richard De Cilterne (Ch i l thorne) .

Si r Peter d’

Evercy, Knight sa t for Somerset in Parl i ament

summoned to meet a t Carl i sle i n 1306 and also in the Parl iament which met at Westminster i n 1314, and was a lsoreturned for Southampton i n the Parl iament of Edward II .i n 1318.

Brompton Ra lph ,1 alias Fulford .

-Ra lph de M olone was adescendant of the grea t Domesday lord , Wil l i am de Moione .

At that date there existed a hundred of Brunetona Vice

comitis . This d igni tary, the Domesday sheriff of Somerset ,was Wi l l iam de Mo lone . In the Taxatio E cclesiastica i t i sentered as Brompton Radi and Brompton Rant, and valuedat twe lve marks . Radi is short for Radulphus . Therefore , fromthe thi rteenth century onwards i t has this name Rauf . Radiand Rauf are short forms of Radulphus . Another t i tle isBrompton Fu lford , a ti t le wh ich i t derives from a fami ly

Fulford . Sir John Fulford , Kt. , was i n possession in thetime of E l izabeth .

Brompton Regis or King’

s Brompton , wasa Roya l demesne of Wi l l i am the Conqueror . The Kingholds Brune - ton , disp lacing the Saxon owner , the CountessGytha , widow of E arl Godwin . I n the time of Henry II I .Ralp h F i tzurse he ld two parts of a knight

’

s fee . In the reignof Edward 1 11 . there is a grant by, and to , John de Fi tzurse,the parson . Curiously enough , i t i s cal led King

’

s Bruntoni n a wi l l of the days of Edward VI . , and also King Brimton .

Buckland Denham.

— Buckland is of frequent occurrence inlocal nomenclature . There are twenty fa i r ly wel l known ,besides many of not sufficient importance to find mention in

name - l ists . Of these twenty , a l l but four are in the West of

E ngland , and none are in the Northern counties . I t is aname descrip tive of a particu lar kind of tenure . Boc means

lGera rd d e rives from the abund ance of the broom plant. It wa s

encrew'

d w ith broom. So a re many other spots .

“I t

'

s ca lled

B rompton Ra fe because Ra fe F itzurse he ld it."

( i 4th Edwa rd 1 st. )S . R . S . , vol . xv .

200

a book or parchment . But copyhold has apparently reference to the manoria l tenancy which arose subsequently

,the

“tenure of estate by copy of court rol l .

” These rol ls wereof the natu re of court memoranda . Buckl and is spel t Bochel and in DB . Charters were granted by Saxon kings tothanes free from al l fief , fee , fines . Boc - l and is said to beland taken from the fo lc- l and and held in private tenure .

Now i n the time of Edward the Confessor a Saxon thaneheld this estate , whose name was Donna , Donno , Dun , or

Dune , and continued tenant i n ch ief under the Conqueror .I t is , however , s imp ly ca l led Boc- l and in A .D . 1297, andthe name Denham is not traceable c learly to this Donno

’

s

ham or home . This name occurs i n the charter of KingWi l l iam restoring Banwel l to the Church of St .Andrew of Wel ls

, as B inni . This Dun had IX . hides, and

the local name may have continued side by side with thatof Boc- land . I n the time of Henry III . , Geoff rey Dinantwas Lord of the M anor , as we find from the grant of a marketatM ichaelmas . I t looks as i f the descendants of Donnus orDun continued , and (of course) Normanised their name ,and came over wi th the Conqueror from Dinant . 1

Buckland M inchin , also ca l led Buckland Sororum, TheSisters

’

Buckland , owes i ts name to the existence of anunnery . But i t has another name , which arises from an

ear l ier fact , Buckland Prioris, the Priors’

Buckland . Williamde E rlegh founded here a priory and a convent of sevencanons of the O rder of St . Augustine . The canons ki l ledthe steward of thei r founder, and Henry I I . ( 1 182) placedin their room a prioress and eight sisters of the O rder of St .

John of Jerusa lem . The Notitia M onastica mistakes i t for

Buckland St . Mary , whereas th is p lace was i n the parish of

L i ng , four mi les from Br idgwater and two from Boroughbr idge . The tything is i n the hundred of N . Petherton , and

ca l led Buckland Fee . I ts subsequent history has no influenceon the origi n of the interesting names, and we are thereforenot concerned with i t . I t appears a lso to hav e been confused

1 “ T he noble family of Dyrham d educted the ir descent from Little Britta ine in

France,"says Gera rd , p. 1 99 .

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202

i s shortened to Alnod , the name of a tenant of the Abbot,j ust as E s tan i s short for Athels ton and Eahlstan, the nameof a B ishop of Sherborne in A .D. 871 .

Wootton Courtney1 may as wel l be d isposed of here , toavoid repet i t ion . Courtney is a fami ly name going back tothe Domesday record in Somerset . I t i s sa id that thissecond name is traceab le to the Wi l l i am de Courtney whofounded the Priory of Worsp ring, now Woodspring , whowas descended from Wil l i am de Tracy (one of the assassinsof Thomas Becket) , or , according to some , of Reginald Fi tzurse , and his last descendant . In 1297 i t i s i n the official l istof TE . only Wooton . The fact is these second names mostlyorigi nated when the feuda l system in i ts origina l rigid mil itary form had given way to the la ter medie val manor, andthe ho lder became an owner , and marked a stage in thedevelopment of the modern squi re .

1 “ Itwa s firstca l led Wooton Bassettuntil that Ph ilip Bassettg ave itto Johnd e Courtney, Gera rd , p. 1 3 .

20 3

CHAPTER XXIII .

Doubled Names (continued) .

Camel Abbots, a lso Queen Camel and E ast Camel . Besides

this , there is West Camel . I t is convenien t also againto reca l l the name Camerton , which in fu l l is Came larton .

These are si tua te in d iff erent hundreds,and i t would

,i n

sp i te of the p revalence of Camel as a river name, appear

that they are derived from persona l names . Camel is spe l tCantmae l i n an ancient charter of M uchelney ,1 and thismust be Kentmael . In that case we must take i t that theriver names are taken from the personal name and are notCel tic . This is in a Confi rmation of Roya l Charter of E the lread the Unready in A .D . 995 . Cameleia is Cameley orCamley, and there is every p robabi l i ty tha t th is is a re l ic ,as to i ts fi rst component, of the Cel tic gam , cam , al readymentioned under river names, and this is the name of a

bending , tortuous stream l ike the many winding Wye .

”

Gama l is the p resent - day persona l name Gamble , and hasnoth ing to do wi th stakes , cards, and games of chance . Theconsonant is brought in to strengthen the word . Cameleiathus appears to mean the Cam M eadow . There is, however,a b ishop of L landaff name Came lge- geag and Cameleac .

The designation , Queen Camel (East Camel) (Cantmae l) ,also less known as Cammel Rumara . This name was derivedfrom the fami ly Rumara . Of this fami ly was Wil l iam de

Rumara , the founder of C leeve Abbey .

2 I t is at the samedate ( 1277) ca l led Estcamme l . I t is enti tled to this designat ion by a doub le right , for Queen Camel was, i n the daysof Edward the Confessor, the p roperty of Gytha or

Guitda , the widow of Godwin . However , i t real ly derives

l Cha rtu la ry of M uchelney , p. 70, vol . x iv .

2l bid . Intro . p. 7, a lso

p. 44 .

204

i ts add i tional appel l ation of Queen from the fact that Edward the fi rst granted to Queen Margaret the manor ofGammel , of which the

“letters patent ” are st i l l found in

the Bri t ish Museum . This was in the 32nd year of the reignof that monarch . And in the Lay Subsid ies the hundred of

Somerton Forum is headed Domina M argareta Regina, andi t is ca l led there Camme l Regis

,or Ki ng

’ s Gammel . Thedoub led consonant is accounted for by the derivation fromCantmae l , which becomes Cam-me] . Cant and ma] or maela re names found , but I have found no instance of the compound form excep t this . The manor of Cammel subse

quently came into the possession of Henry the E ighth,

th rough the Countess of Richmond . I n deeds of the 16thcentury i t is often simp ly ca l led East Cammel .Came l Abbatis (or West Camel) , also in o ld records cal led

Cammel l Downhead , because there the h i l l begins . Downheadi s a hamlet on the western slope . The origi n of the designationgoes back to the t ime of Ki ng E the l red , who confi rmed anear l ier gift of Abbot Leofric of certa i n lands at that p lace .

M r . Bates-Harb in regards the name Cantmae l as a joke,“the

poin t of which is not now apparent . Surely i t is the Saxonname . The abbot was that of the famous M uchelney Abbey .

I t is en tered as the manor of St . Petrus (Peter) de Mucelneia .

Chapel Al lerton — The fu l l spel l i ng of Al lerton is

Alward itona, th i s is, Alward’

s town . ButAlward i s an abbre

v iation of the significant compound , Aelfweard , which is a

name of frequent occurrence . In 990 one of this name wasAbbot of G l astonbury . Al lerton was therefore Aelfweard

’

s

town . A trace of this is found in the spel l ing A lwerton

i n charters of grants of l and . I n the reign of Edwardthe Fourth , Alwartone . The Chapel dates from an earl iert ime than the addi tions made in the 17th century tothe church . There were then rectors or chap l ains of the

libera cape l la , who i n the great number of instances werecanons residentiary or priests

’

vicars , whose duties at Wellscame fi rst and at Al lerton second . This was i n the 15th

century . The libera capel la was i n existence in the 13thcentury

,and there was a chapel s tandi ng in 1247 . I t is not

improbab le that th is free chape l existed in the days

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206

I n an i nsti tution i n 1402 i t i s on ly Cary . There are,

however, earl ier i nstances i n the 13th century : Castel l

Cairoc, and later“Richard Lovel l , lo rd of Caricastel .

Cairoc i s suggest ive , as this looks l ike a reminiscence ofGareg, rock . The name F i tz - paine is i nterest ing . Paine isan o ld name Paga (Baga) , Pago , Pagan , i n which the

“ g ”

i s e l ided in pronunciat ion . Probab ly i ts root i s bagan,to

contend . Pagan becomes Pa ine or Pane , and Fi tz -Norman

ises the Saxon name . I n 1084- 6 there is an Edmund FitzPai ne , a servan t of the King . He was a king

’

s thane,

an oflicer of the C rown or roya l sargeant , and in spi te of hisSaxon name he is put down as a Norman thane (FrancusT hegnus) . The name is thus ancient in the county, but i ti s l ater attached to this Cary , as a lso to Cheddon Fitzpaine,Rodway Fitzpaine, and Staple Fitzpaine , not earl ier thanl ate 14th century apparently .

1 A usefu l examp le of anabsolutely uninte l l igib le abbreviation of this name is foundi n the days of Queen E l izabeth . I t is ca l led Phippens Cary,Phippens Cary Farm , and Cary Phippen . The historica lmethod shows this as an abbreviat ion of Fi tz - paine . Muchetymological i ngenui ty might o therwise be exercised in vain .

Cary Ta chares, or Tucker’

s Cary , is another name , seemingly,of the same p lace . Whatever Tucker may have been , hisname is o ld Norman French Toquer , to beat, which becamethe name of the cloth - beater or fu l ler . Hence the loca l nameTuckingmi l l

,and perhaps , Tuckmarsh , i n Frome . Bab- cary is

Bahha’ s Cary, and Lyte is a persona l name . Lyte is probably

the same as Lyde . I t is an o ld Fris ian name , and may beul t imately Cel tic . I n the Durham L iber Vitae are Lioda and

Ludde .

Cheddon Fitzpaine , or Over Cheddon . The Exeter andExchequer Domesday spel l i ngs show that some mistake hasarisen difficul t to account for . Cheddon F i tzpa ine i s spel t intwo ways, c ed ina and Opecedra, that i s Over Cheddon

1 In 1 308 the hund red of Cannington, with the ca stle and manor of Stoke

Curcy and the manor of Radwaye , were committed to the charge of

Robert Fitzpayn (Close Rol ls , Edwa rd I L ). In 1 3 22 the manors of

Cary, Cha rleton, Radwaye , and Stokecurry were settled on the familyof RobertFitzpayn (Pedes F inium, 1 6 Edwa rd

207

and Over Cheddar , and Lower or Nether Cheddon is alsoSuccedena and Cedra . This is a part of Cheddon Fi tzpaine .

I n Bri tish M useum Charters we have “ bond concerning themanor of Gedene , and a lso in the T .E . , 1297, and this name

has persisted . The spel l ing Cedra , i . e . , Cheddar, must be alapse of a scribe . Cheddon is correct . Ceddan- leah is aloca l name , as also Geddis field , o ld and new forms of genit ive . The name Ceada , Ceadda, Gedda , and the betterknown form Chad , i s widely sp read , both as a simp le formand uni ted wi th other names , as Ceadwal la , Ceadman,

andthe l ike . In p l ace - names there are such forms as Chadmede ,

Gedda’

s mede , and Gedda’

s marsh . I t is found in Chedzoy,Chad

’

s marsh . In 1328 Richard de Fitzpayne , Kt. , i s thepatron of the l ivi ng of Cheddon .

1 In 1310 Robert Fitzpaynei s the patron of Stap le . The names are frequent as patronsand wi tnesses . As owners of property they appear i n the p receding century The addi t ions are therefore 13th or 14thcentury .

F i tzp aine i s a lso attached to the name Stap le , i n StapleF itzpaine . Stap le means a prop , support , to begin wi th , buti n the middle ages i t was app l ied most ly to p laces , bui ld ings ,towns in which commodities were stored . The old Frenchestap le , low German stap le , a heap , then a store or emporium .

How far th is i s borne out by historic facts in regard to theSomerse t names Stap leton , Stap legrove , and Stap le Fi tzpainemay be d iflicultto say . We may note that stap le is spel t steep le ,that Stap leton is perched on the h igh shoulder of a hi l lf rom which the view is very fine , that Stap le Fi tzpaine is onthe steep

,and the derivation is from the AS . steap , high , and

that a stepel is a lofty height , and hence the specia l ised senseof steep le for a church tower . The low German is stipe l .

Stip leton i s the spel l ing in 1355 . These Fitzpaines were al ladded permanent ly i n the 14th and 15th centuries . In theSomersetWrits we find one issued to Johannis Fi tzpaine in

1315 .

Queen Charlton, Charlton Adam, Charlton M akrell ,

Char lton Musgrove , Charlton Horethorne . There is a Charl

lDrockenj b rd s Regi ster, p. 291 , S.R. S. , vol . i.

208

ton a lso in Wraxal l , and one in Creech St . M ichae l and onein Doul ti ng .

Queen Charlton .

—Queens have certa i nly been connectedwi th this smal l vi l l age near Keynsham . I t was an appanage

of the Saxon Queen Edi th , Eaditha Regina ,the lady of Bath .

I n 1 179 there is evidence given in the Archaeo logia of landbelonging to Bath . But the ep i thet Queens does not dateso fa r back . I t was C rown p roperty (Rex in dominio at theConquest) , and in the time of Henry V II I . , who granted i t toCatherine Parr . In 1573 Queen E l izabeth made a royal progress through the vi l l age , and granted i t the privi lege of afai r . A culp ri t i n the days of Queen E l izabeth confessed tohaving approp riated a quarter of an acre of Queen

’

s lands .Charlton Adam, or E ast Charl ton .

—Adam is a personalname . T h is vi l lage is near Somerton . I n the 8th year of KingJohn

,Wil l iam Fi tz -Adam , gent , cla imed al l his right in the

advowson to the prior of Bruton . I t is ca l led Cherleton Adamat this date in a grant of an acre of land to Bruton .

1 Withregard to the name Adam , i t is too easi ly supposed that thiswas derived from the Hebrew name of the first man . I t is

found in runic characters on a coflin l i d in the tenth century .

Scrip ture names were not common even among monks . I t is,i n some cases, at any rate , an abbreviation of Aldhelm andAdhe lm, which uttered rap id ly easi ly becomes Adam . Thisancient name has very l ikely in some cases a lso dropped to itsfina l sy l lab le E lm i n p lace - names . Adam too , arises fromAtte -Ham, that is , probab ly, at the Ham.

Charlton M ackre l l . Cerleton, or Churl’

s town .

This is the spel l ing in a l l the cases of i ts occurrence . Charltons are numerous . This Ceorl is one of the numerous references to gradat ions of personal rank in Saxon civi l isation .

Above the servi le cl ass or the thral ls , the nat ion was b roadlydivided into eorl and cheorl , a l l of whom were freemen , theformer gent le - born and possessi ng p rivi leges of precedencewhich gather round certai n fami l ies . Charl ton M akrel l bears

this name in the Taxatio , which shows that in 1297 i t was ofsome ecclesiastica l value . The name is found in a deed of

lB ruton Cha rtula ry , S .R. S., vol . viii.

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2 10

Mucelgros should remind us of M uce l - ney and Muchelney .

Sha lford, a hamlet name in Charl ton , is ea rl ier spel t Shaldeford .

1 This i s p robably the name Scyld ( as Schyld - )fri th , andnot Shal low- ford .

Char lton Horethorn is a lso ca l led earl ier Charl ton Canvil .This ceorl - tuna derives i ts name of Horethorne from theancient hundred name . I n documents o lder than the Domes

day I nquest it i s Haretuna . I n 1086 , however, th is Hundred

was ca l led Meleburn, and Horethorne is a revival of theancient name , and appears as the name of a Hundred inNomina Vi llarum, Edward I II . The origin of the word istraceable to the idea of a boundary tree , l ike the Haranstanes

or boundary stones . Trees of pecul iar sizes and beauty, oftencarved wi th the figures of b i rds and beasts for some specialreason served the purposes of de l imination i n the days beforeordnance surveys . A hore - thorne was a boundary thorn .

l Archaeolog ica l and Natura l H istory Society Proceed ing s, vol . l . , p. 94.

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2 1 2

and the former cilde- te rna , chilterna . Chiltona Domer is.

Chiltene i n 1297, and Charl ton , i n Shep ton Ma l let , is Cerlatona and Chi l ton in 1297, T .E . , also cal led CharltonB o lting , a member of the same manor . Chi lcompton is Conttuna in D.B . , and in T .E . Ch ildercompton and Childecompton . In Kirby

’

s Quest i n two words , Chi ld Cumtone . I t isChildecompton i n 1384 and 1419, and Chyldecompton in 1397.

I n the Nomina Vi larum (Kirby’

s Quest) we have ChilterneDunmere , Chi l ton Trini ty ( in which the consonant is a lreadydropped) . I n the l ist of vi l l as we have Chi l ton Cauntelow,

Chilterne Dommere , and Chi l thorne V age . I t seems clearthat i n some cases, as mentioned , chi l and chel are softenedabbreviations of ceorl , and in others of the significant prefixchi ld . Chi ld i s the Anglo - Saxon cild , meaning an infant .

Chi ld is agai n a Frankish form of hi ld , war . The asp irate ofthe Saxon was frequently changed to the Norman soft ch .

”

This was one of the pecul iari ties of the Frankish dialect , andespecia l ly

,i t i s said

,during the M erovingian period . Thus the

Cedric and Cedre of DB . and Ceadd become Chard , Chad,and the l ike

,as when H ilderic changes to Ch ilderic, H ildebert

to Ch ildebert, and perhaps in the p lace - name Cheddar from

Ceodre Cedric rather than di rect from Chad , Cead . Childthus became a ti tle, as in Farmborough and Compton Dando ,the owners under Edward the Confessor , Edric and Aluric,a re respectively designated ei ld , not i nfant , but knight .Gi ld is translated into the Lati n puer, i n the sense of youthfu l knight . I t then passed into a persona l name . The surnames Domer and Fage are both persona l or fami ly names .“The vi l lage of Dummer , ancient ly cal led Dumere , Dunmere,and Domer, near Basingstoke , was the berceau from whichthe Somersetshire Dummers original ly sp rang .

” 1 And this

l atter vi l lage derives , i t may be added , i ts name Dummer

from a Saxon name , Domhere . Dom i s the Anglo- Saxon

dom ; Old H igh German , tuom , corresponding to our doom .

Domhere is the Doom Herr , or doom - lord— judge . Herr in

Old H igh German is Here and Héro . Page is a lso a personal

name , as our p resent names Fagg and Fagge show . In his

l SomersetArchaeolog ica l and Natura l H istory Society Proceed ing s, vol . xvu.

2 1 3

A lt- deutsches Namenbuch the great authority, Foerstemann,

derives i t from a Goth i c root— faheds, joyful ness ; AngloSaxon faegen, j oyful , with a correspondent Cel tic stem ,

as i nthe Ir i sh name , Fagan . In a M ontacute charter of re ign ofHenry I . i t i s found as Ci lterne Fageth and Faget . 1 Earlyi n the 14th century is the name Robert Faget . The doub lename is very early . Fage becomes Vagge i n pure Somerset,as fi re is p ronounced vier . Hence the name Chi l thorne V agei n Nomina Vi llarum. Then the name occurs of JohannesVage . There is a p lace - name Vagge i n Yeovi l , John C l arke ,of Vagge , i n Yeovi l .

”

Skeat exp lains Chi l ton in Berks , found spel t Gi lda - ton in1015, as ch i ldren

’

s town or farm , and says the a l lusion may beto a farm carried on by young men whose parents had died .

He exp lai ns Chi lderley ( in Cambridgeshi re) spel t Cilderlaias meaning chi ldren

’

s lea . Gi ld has a double geni tive ,cilda and cildra . Childern is the true p lural of i t, of which our“chi ldren is a corrup t form . Hence Chi l tern Domer wouldbe Chi ldren ( there is no tun added here) whatever the exp lana

t ion of chi ldren may be . Also Ch ilford (1 168 Pipe Rol l) andC ildeford ( in DB . ) i s exp l ained as the chi ldren

’ s ford,because

of i ts shal lowness ,2 and is analogous to Ox - ford and Swinford . We confess to a preference for the explanation as tothe Somerset names that Childthorne i s a true form of Chi lte rn , and that the p l ace - name Thorne elsewhere found hasthe p refix Chi ld as a form of H i ld , as i n Chi ldhey, near

C rewkerne .

Chi lton Cantelo .

—Col l inson derives from Ceald , meaningcold

,but i t wi l l a l ready have been seen from what has been

said that th i s is Chi ld , too , as a personal designation , as in

Chi l - compton , and Childcombe i n the M ontacute Cartu lary .

The word is repeatedly found fo r Knight in Chaucer’

s Canter

bury Tales . Cantelo is interesting . At the beginning of thereign of King John , Walter de Cantilupe granted the wholevi l l e of Chi ldeton to Robert de Cantelupe subject to the usual

feudal service . In the time of Edward I .,Richard de Cante

vol . v iii . , pp. 1 22, 1 35 .

2Skeat : Cambridge Antiqua rian Society ,

No . xx x v i.

2 1 4

l upe held the fief . In the days of Edward IV . i t passed to theWadhams . Cante lo is thus a shortened form of Cantilupe .

The fi rs t baron was Wi l l iam de Cantilupe i n 1239 . I t is Gi ldtona on ly in DB . I t is Cannteloos 2 Richard I I I . , and variesbetween Cantloos and Cantloye i n the 16th century . In the

Pedes Finium, 1201 , we read of Wal ter de Cantilupe for al lthe vi l le of Ch ildeton .

”

Chi l ton i n Moorl inch , or Chi lton -Po lden . Po lden is thename of a range of hi l ls deal t wi th in the names of Mount andM arsh in the county . This Chi l ton is identified with DB .

Ceptona by Eyton . In Whale’

s Somerset Domesday the nameis given with an index number which fai ls to be found in hisl ist . Certai nly etymological ly there is no connection . Lateri t is spel t Ch itton . Assuming that Chi l ton is right, this, too,is p robab ly , Chi ld - ton .

Ci lela ,i n Chew Stoke , is now cal led Chi l ly H i l l . The

spel l ing is by a saxon clerk, disti nguished by a particul ar styleof wri t ing et,

”according to Si r Wm . E l l is . 1 The hi l l may

be ch i l ly, but a Saxon scribe would scarcely have so spel t it .I t is the name of the owner , Ceola , which was a known name .

A messenger of St . Boniface (Wynfrid) was so cal led . The

lea is added—Ceo la - lea , and th is becomes Chi l ly H i l l , when

Ceola was softened to Cheol , and when the name was utterlyforgotten . This is no doubt the exp lanation of Chelshi ll , nearChard (Ceols) , and Chelecote, i n Bultecote—Chelecote in theLay Subsidies, 20th Edward I I I .Chi lton West, i n Cannington , is C il letona i n D.B . , and

Chi l ton in 1315, N .V . , and is ca l led Chi l ton T rep it; alsospel t Trevet . These spel l ings and Chi ll i ngton , Cheleton,yield no trace of the prefix Chi ld , and the origin is thusdiverse . I t may be Geo l . This d iverse spel l ing may point tothe persona l name , C i l l i , found in the l ist of names . The

name T rep it, T refit, Trivet , C i l l i , and C i l l occur in theCartularium Saxonicum. Trivet is p robab ly a form of thename T ruefit, and th is of T reufot, i . e . , a trusty runner .

Combe Florey —This is a Combe that has added on a distinguished name . Of names wi th the addi t ion F lorey there

1 Introduction to Domesday.

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2 1 6

Nygenhude M onachorum. Now, Nithenhide may be readNidenhide , and the g

”i n the other two is the soft and not

the hard consonanta l sound ; that is , Nedgenhide , as is sug

gested by Nidenhide . I n 1519 i t is Nihed Florye i n a sui t, andin the preceding century, i n a peti t ion by Richard Percivalfor the manor, i t is Nienhides F lori . I t is Nynhide Flori inthe reign of Henry V I . These are Shortenings of nideh ,

andnithen, and i t i s far more p robab le that they underwent thisp rocess of abbreviation than the contrary unpopular usage oflengthening a name . We think , then , that Niden, or Nithenas a geni t ive , i s the original form . Even in N ichehead the chwas hard , according to the prevai l ing ana logy of the word .

N iched is a sti l l further abbreviation . N i the and nied and nieden are middle high German words for below, beneath,al l ied to our nether , and hide is the Saxon , and GermanHeide, a heath , i . e . , low- lyi ng meadow land ; or i t may bethe measure of land estimated at from 120 to 100 acres, but inthe absence of the measure thi s is not , i t must he confessed,qui te so l ike ly . Neghenhude and Nygenhyde do favour theinterpreta tion nine hides , as neghen meant ninth , as a dialectical form from the o ld Saxon migum, nine ; but , if we take

the earl iest spel l ings, the interpretation must be otherwise .

Rev . L . Wilkinson1 points out that the Exon Domesdayspel l ing probab ly aff ords the true solution . Denichehede isreal ly Denithehede ( the c shou ld be read a t as often) ; andthen fol lowing the spel l ings 1 have given . This name isshortened successively to Denyth , N i th , and Nithen (a genat ive) , and so to N ien . I bel ieve this is r ight . Denegyth is aname , and hede is head , tha t i s the ch ief- p lace , or if h ide iscorrect , Denegyth

’

s hide . If there is a ful l name Denegythed

(which we have not found) th is gives the origi n of the name,and the various forms aff ord a bri l l i an t i l lustration of the wayin which names can undergo metamorphosis . Nothing iseas ier than the exp lanation F lori had nine hides . If ithad this would merely be a coincidence and show how theN ien hide was evolved . Withie l Flory reminds us of theCornish p l ace - name Lostwi thiel . Withie l i s clearly Celtic.

1A kind and helpful correspondent.

2 17

however i t became app l ied to the Somerset location . Gwyd

de l is, i n modern Welsh , an I rishman . I rish Cel t ic m ission

aries were found trave l l ing in districts wide apart . I t i s, perhaps, Gwyddel i— the doub le consonant is , of course,

“th ,

”

and the g is the same as the Welsh Gwyl lym for Wi l l iam .

Withie l means bushes or b rakes . I t is descrip tive of thelocal i ty .

Combe Hay—Hay, we have seen earl ier, i s short for haga ,

a hedge or enclosure . But thi s wi l l by no means ho ld as aninterp reta tion when confronted with the earl ier spel l ings . Ina charter in Wardour Cast le i t appears as Combehaweye . I nKirby

’

s Quest, Comberhaweye . This might be confoundingdid we not find that th is was the p rel im inary shortening fromthe form in TE . Combe- hatheway . I t gets to CombeHaweye i n the time of Edward I I . There i s a lso a Haweye

i n Wi lton Hundred in the Nomina Vi llarum—Hathaway . I tis in Stogumber or Crowcombe , and Halsway or Ha lfway areapparently mis- spel l ings . Hathaway is a persona l name foundin Saxon l ists , Heathuwig and Hadwig, and O ld GermanHathuwi , a warrior . Both had and wig are words importing war . No Hathaway was a Domesday tenant . So faras we know this war-man left no memorial , and was p robab ly a peaceful denizen of Saxon race under Norman kings .A simi lar shortening is that of Combebrey for Congresbury,which is far away from the origi nal word .

Compton Dando .

—Compton Dando is cal led Compton

Godfrey in the Amercement Ro l l . 1 No doub t the fu l lname of Godfrey was Geoff rey de Anno . This veri tab le

Combe was, i n D .E . , simp ly cal led Comtuna . There is ad ispu te , or a series of speculations , among the investigators ofthe Domesday location of manors and the h idage of thecounty whether this is , as Co l l inson afli rms the mysteriouslost manor of Contetona . Apparently th is i s a wrong iden

tification . Count Eustace held this latter manor, wherever

i t was,and he did not hold Compton Dando . Consequently

we may neglect th is spe l l ing . I t clear ly means Combe town .

In TE . ( 1297) Dando is now added ; and at the time of

1Somerset Pleas, S.R . S., p. 49 .

2 1 8

Edward I .

— that is , i n the same period when this ecclesiasticalvaluation was made —we read of A lex . Danno Dominus deCompton Danno , i n Harlean MSS. , i n the Bri tish MuseumCharters ; and also there is a lawsui t i n Compton Danno , timeof Richard II . , a century l ater . In L i ncolns I nn and other

MSS . th is Alexander Danno is ci ted as a wi tness . A Walterde Anno was Prior of Bath . Two curious names occurring inthe 15th century, Severeswyke and Grobbyswyk, as names ofmanors , may hereafter receive attention . In a map of a twovo lume edi tion of Camden i t is curious that Compton Dandois spel t Compton David . If left a lone wi th this phenomenonwe might associate Compton wi th the Welsh Saint , as doubtfu l as St . David in Barton St . David . Danno is an ancientpersona l name . I t is o ld German , of which Dando is theoriginal form . In

“B l i nd O ld Danda lo

”th is l atter is a

d iminutive . I t was the fash ion to Latin ise names accordingto the rea l or supposed meaning, and so Danno spelt Daunaybecame D

’

Aune , and this was trans lated into De Alno , D’

Alno .

In 1217, i n the Pedes Fin ium, we read : Between Geoff reyde Anno and the Prio r of Bath a l l the l and between Wodensdich .

”There i s a lso a Father Fulco de Anno . A Hugh de

Alueto or D’

Auynay , was p rior of the Hosp i ta l of St . Johnof Jerusalem in 1227 . Ashton Dando received i ts name fromthis source . Adam de Herun, i n the time of Henry I . , hada daughter , who married a De Alno , and thus the name camei nto Long Ashton .

Compton Dundon .

—~Dundon Beacon is a striking- lookinghi l l , with a camp at the top . In D.E . i t i s Contona as partand Dondena or Dondene as another part of the locali ty,that is two manors . I n 1397 i t is Compton Dondene . Theseare clearly an agglomerate of two names of manoria l proper

ties . The Comb - town part and the higher part the down,with the fortress on i t , may be Donna

’

s dene , as B oucham , inNorth Petherton , is Dunn - ham . Donehetva and Dunehefde

i s Down - head , i n the Whi tstone Hundred , as the head ofthe down , Donyatt (Donieht and Doniet i n D B ) . Compton

(not Dunden) was held by the fami ly of M a let unti l 1216, whenWi l l iam M alet (son of G i lbert) , who gave eight acres of landin Compton and half an acre of the meadow of Raddeker (Red

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220

who , according to Col l inson , was son of the famous Martinde Tours , the conqueror of Kemeys-Land and founder of St .Dogmaels . succeeded to h is barony . In the Lay Subsidies,Edward II I . , we find Compton M artin - cum -Hamel (hamlet) .Morton , and Comton M artin in Kirby

’

s Quest. In the reignof Edward 1 1 . i t went to co - hei resses married to Columbiersand to Audley . The name lasts . In the parish is Moreton,

low- lyi ng moorland , answering to i ts name . I t is Morthona

i n D.B . , and part of Serlo de Burci’

s estate .

Compton Pauncefort Comtona . As early as T .E . ,

1297, i t is Compton Pauncevot. There was a considerableDomesday owner, Turstin FitzRo lf, who had a tenant ofDunkerton , Bernard Pancevo ldus, whose descendants ihherited or obtained most of Turstin

’

s manors . Turstin heldContuna, and this was one of them . Pauncefot, therefore,dates from about the middle of the thi rteenth century, i n thetime of Henry I I . The Latin ised form , Pancevo ldus, appearsi n the I nquisitio Ghe ldi ( 1084) as a tenant in the Frome Hundred . I n the reign of Henry II . Wal ter de Pauncefoot heldlands in Maperton of Alexander de Alno . In 1316 John de

Pauncefoot, lord of Compton Pauncefoot , bestowed the l ivingof Compton P . on Wal ter de Pauncevot, who held one

knight’

s fee i n Compton Pauncefoot . How many centuriesth is name lasted is i nterestingly i l lustrated by finding that SirWa l ter Pauncefortheld the manor in the time of Henry VIII .

Who wil l deny i ts right to the surname ? In 1672 this is speltPanisford i n a record of John Caine or Caines , of ComptonPainsford , a Jesu i t , buried at Somerset House, if th is identifi

cation is correct . The names Caines and Keynes occur in thisparish as Jesui ts and Recusants . We find no trace of Pens

ford having been cal led Compton , though i t is a veri tablecombe ending here . The spel l i ngs Pauncevo ltand Pauncevol

dus are , i n the l ight of those which persist in Paunceford andPauncefort ( i n a Whi tworth pedigree) , specimens of the con

fusion of the consonants . The persistence of the Paunce is

evidence of the Cel ti c origi n of the name , Pantes - ford , or theva l ley way,

”which is possib ly found in Pens- ford, on the

Chew . I n Banwel l is Panteshed , and in M i lverton Pantisheye

(Po lehil l) , with the same Ce l t ic root .

22 1

Compton Bishop, or Ep iscopi , was part of the estate ofG iso , Bishop of Wel ls , according to p revai l ing authorit ies .But th is Compton Bishop may have been part of Wal ter deDouai

’

s manor, subsequently given by him to the see of Wel ls .In wri ts of 1315- 1316 i t is Combe Ep iscop i .Compton, Eastand West, i n the parish of Pi l ton , exp lai nthemselves , as also Compton Magna, surveys of the manorsof Comp ton Magna and Axbridge .

”Did Compton Ep iscop i

become Compton M agna in the 37th year of the reign ofE l izabeth ? There are other Comptons where th is is thesecond name .

Combe Sydenham i s in the parish of Stogumber . This isthe fi rst , after leaving E lworthy, of the most del ightfu l ofSomerset Combes . Combe Sydenham is

“a very deep and

narrow va le , luxuriously clothed wi th fine trees and“wa tered by a bright trout stream . The name as an affix

appears to have originated after the day of Richard I I . , asp reviously i t was ca l led Combe Al lei n (Alwin) , thusbearing a Saxon name . One of these Al leins so ld the

p roperty to Richard de Sydenham , a j udge in thatre ign . Yet the Sydenhams possessed i t in the re ignof King John and earl ier . A Richard Sydenhamheld a messuage and one carucate of land at Combe Sydenham . Apud Combe juxta M onkynseluyr i n 1370, i . e . , Monksi lver . In 1468 John Sydenham was

“ seized ” of severa lmanors . Combe Sydenham is haunted by Si r George Sydenham , a Royal ist officer who died in 1596 ; i t is a p i ty he hasnot been seen of late years . The parent stem of th is Sydenham fami ly originated near Bridgwater , a fami ly that flour

ished exceedingly in the county, and overflowed i n to Devonand G loucester . They owned Brympton , Bossington , and

Combe Sydenham . They continued unti l the 18th century,and the fami ly st i l l has i ts representat ives . Of course , Sydenham may original ly be a p lace - name , but more p robab ly afo rm of Sidemund , an ancient Saxon name . There is a lso

SydenhamKittisford This is in Domesday Chedesford , owned

by Roger Arundel . In o ld evidences i t is cal led Kedeford .

”

Sidenham is not in this parish . Ghedes (Gedda) fo rd is over

the Tone .

222

Corton Denham.

—D.E. reveals to us the fact that this isspel t Corfe - ton , and tha t Corton is, therefore , an abbrevia

tion . I t is near to M arston M agna, whi le there i s a parish

Corfe a few mi les from Taunton . Whether the Cortons ofdiff erent counties have a l ike origin is a matter of separateinvest igation in each case . The historic Corfe Cast le, in thecounty of Dorset , i s the best known from i ts weird , tragici nterest . There is a personal name Corff , of which evidenceexists i n the days of the Danish kings . Corfe may be a nameof Cel tic origin from Corfryn, a hi l l ock . Corfe Castle standson an eminence , as does also the Somerset Corfe . On thewhole , i t i s i n the p l ace - name Corfeton probab ly the personalname, Corff . Denham has al ready been a l luded to in connection wi th Buckland Denham . There is a p lace- name Denhami n Bucki nghamsh i re , and one in Suff olk and elsewhere . Den

i s Degu, i . e . ,thegn—ham the Saxon thane—and ham , the

home or the low - lying ham of meadow land , accordingto the origina l vowel length . An I nquisitio of King Johnshows that the fami ly of Dynham possessed the manor and thati t was earl ier Corfeton Dynham . I t is Corton Dynham in

1309 i n a clerical subsidy to the Ki ng, found in Droken

ford’

s Register. The name is sometimes spel t Dinham andidentified wi th the French p lace - name Di nant .

Cricket Ma lherbie and Cricket St. Thomas.

—These twol ike names are diff erently spel t i n DB . The formeris Cricket and the l at ter Cruca . They are in diff erenthundreds, the fi rst in Abdich and the second in South Petherton . Beside these there are Cruca or C ruce in North Petherton , now qui te obsolete ; C reech St . M ichael , i n the hundredof Andersfield , i s Crice . Crewkerne , too , i s Chruca in DB .

Obviously, these names are a l l connected . I n the Taxatio

Ecclesiastica ( 1291) we have the Cruk Deanery, and in it

Cruk (Cricket Ma lherb ie) and Cruk Thomas and Crick, te

presenting Crick of DB . i n North Petherton . I n the Nomina

Vil larum ( 1343) Cricket Thomas is Suth Croket (SouthCroket) . I t is S E . of Cricket M a lherb ie . I t is clear that

Croket i s the origina l p lace - name , and Cro'

k, Cruca and Cruk

are Saxon personal names . We can scarcely resort to theLatinCrux, a cross, for the Saxon name for th i s was rood , as in rood

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224

origin of the name M a let is known . Wil l i am Malet, or Mal

le tt , flourished as a great landowner or feudal lord in theperiod f rom 1 166—1215 . He was Baron of Curry Mal let andShep ton Ma l let, and Sheriff of Dorset in 121 1 . M al let maybethe name of a doughty knigh t, who struck hammer- l ike blowsas wi th a mai l let,

”and was rewarded with a propertied

esta te in the disturbed t ime when the Norman kings had morethan enough to do wi th powerful barons , who knew no masterbut themse lves . The estates which fe l l to Robert Malet in thet ime of King Henry I . co - ordinated with those vast landedpossessions previously held i n 1086, the date of Domesday, byDe Courcel l . The caput, or chief centre , was , i t is said , Shepton M alet . The previous re ign had been one of revol t, andthe immense areas of l and which had fal len to the Crownthrough forfei ture were given to new men , dependent onRoyal favour . The angl icisation of 3 Norman word and Norman name is a p icture of the fact that, i n the days of this greatk ing, Norman was giv i ng way to Engl ishman . Mai l letbecomes M a l let .More must be read in the p roper authori ties

,as we are

so lely concerned to show that a persona l designation affixed toa town

’

s name is connected with a defini te period of Englishh istory, and occasional ly marks great changes i n socia l l ife .I f Curri , or Curry, i s, i ndeed , S . Curig,1 and the name enshrines the influence of a cel tic sai nt , M a l let brings before thestudent the country

’

s l ife after severa l cen turies have lapsed ;when the Teutonic conquerors have disp laced the Celtic andRoman inhabi tants ; and the Teuton and Norman are becomi ng merged into one Engl ish peop le . In his Western

Europe in the Fifth Century, Freeman says“The Teutonic

kingdoms in Gau l were formed in a moment ; al l save one fel li n a moment . The Teutonic kingdoms in Bri ta i n were thework of generations . The Teutons became the peop le of theland , and absorbed the norman e lement . The Normans, wemay say, were the conquerors i n arms, the Saxons in the sociall ife .

I f we might thus defini te ly connect Curry M a l let wi th aNor

1See p. 25 .

225

man knight and a Bri tish sain t, Curry Riva l does not p resent

qui te the same sort of fami ly history . I n Domesday the namei s Chori Regis , or King

’

s Curry . Hard incus, i n which werecognise the name Harding , was one of the greatest of theSomerse t Anglo - thanes, and received a p iece of waste l and

in 1086 of Regis Chori . That is, i t was a Royal manor . The

two Stocklinches were appendages of i t . I t is cal led Couri orChori or Churi i n DB . In Ve ry early charters

,pronounced

spurious , i t is Cori . I t is Curirivel in an agreemen tdated at M uche lney in M ay, In the Bri t ish Museumcharter , at the date of 1344, there is a Compotus of the man

nor of Cory Ryve ll . I t was a fami ly name . We haveev idence of the Rival l or Revel l fami ly in the reignof Henry the Second . Some derive the name from Revi l le orRav il l i n Normandy . Rev ills were among the principa l baronsof Somerset i n the t ime of Henry I I . Curry Rival l and Langport were granted by Richard I . to Richard Revel l . He

was a l ive i n Revel l was evidently, i n receiving the gran t

of Regis Chori , which henceforth bore his name , one of theNew men

”created in the time of Henry the Fi rst , a pro

cess conti nued by Henry the Second , who ini t iated the ru leof law ,

”and fought the lawless feuda l party in thei r defiance

and determination to secure thei r own independence . Thosekings rep laced the old conquest tenures by the creation of anew baronage , of which Curry Rive l l reminds us . The namethus marks a step in the emergence of the England of the conquest to the England of the charters of freedom . I t was the

day when Archbishop Langton hung twenty- four knights andthei r retai ners before the besieged castle of Bedford , whi lethe lay lords were comfortab ly dining . During those d is

turbed years estates were“ to let ,

”and new men arose .

There is a Rev il l’

s H i l l near Minten , i n Dorset . There was

a Wil l i am Revel l in Wi l tsh i re , and Hugh Revel l i n North

amptonshire . I t is from the time of Henry the Secondthat King

’

s Curry becomes Curry Rive l ], or Reval l .

l Cha rtu la ry of M uchelney Abbey , vol . x iv .

2See P ipe P ol ls and Liber

Ruber.

226

To bring these simi lar names together is a convenience,and

avoids repeti tion . Butnow of the doub le names , Thomasin CricketThomas exp lai ns i tse lf, but i t may be , and probablyis , Thomas Beckett , and not , as we are ap t to think, the

doubter i n the Gospel narrative . llf a lherbie, i n CricketMal

herbie, occurs as the name of a p lace in Henry I I .

’

s

charter of the foundations of the Carthusi an Priory ofWitham . In 1 166, Robert M a lherb ie held one knight

’sfee of Wi l l iam M a l let . M alherb ie is not found inSomerset Domesday Book , but this fami ly were thedi rect heirs of Drogo (de Montacu te) , a tenant of the

Count M oretain, and so came early i nto possession of thismanor . The name is Norman -French . In the Pedes Finiumfor 1 197- 1 198 there occurs the name of Robert Malherbiei n a case i n which he is c la imant

”as against M i lo de St .

M aur, tenent re lat ing to p roperty in Cheritone . In theLay Subsidies of Edward II I . , Wilhelmus M alerbe wasassessed for the marriage of the king

’

s daughter for

Stoke Malarby . In 1314 there is a Hugh Malerbe,of Schipham. Curiously enough , th is is cal led Veater Stokei n the Lay Subsid ies . Veater is an extant name which ispuzz l i ng . I t is p robab ly a corrup tion of V i teau , which again

is a form of the Saxon Wido (Frankish , Guido) , found inthe Liber Vitae of the 12th century . Wido i s p robably “

awooden weapon

,

” as in the“with of Askwi th . Malerbie,

on the other hand,is clearly a n ickname , a bad weed .

”

I t is,i n fact , a name for one of the poisonous unbeliferaa,

perhaps the foo l’

s parsley”of our hedges .

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228

from 1369, when the manor was purchased by Sir ThomasHungerford from Bartholomew , Lord Burgherst. Col l insoninforms us that i t was origina l ly cal led Farley Montfort because on Roger de Corcel le

’

s death (who was the Domes

day tenant i n cap i te) Wil l iam Rufus gave i t to Hugh deMontfort . This name , however, was not found in theTaxatio or the other l ists quoted in thi s book

,and that is

simp ly Ferlega right on into the 14th century . Farmboroughi s a comp lete disguise . It i s D .E . Feren - berga . The earl iestspel l ing is an AS . charter of date A .D. 901 ,

“Grant of land

to Malmesbury Abbey of land at Hawkerton, Wilts, in exchange for land at Fearnbergas.

”This Feren is of similar

bu t compound origin . I t is the Saxon personal name forFaerwine .

Of Flax Bourton we may say i t i s , i n the great survey, subsumed under Wraxal l , and has no separate mention . ButBourton is the origina l name , to which F l ax is a prefix, andi n this respect is unl ike the majori ty of the doub le placenames, as wi l l a l ready have been seen . But Bower occursas Bur in DB . i n East Bower and West Bower in Bridg

water . These Bowers turn the compass , for there are also

North Bower and West Bower . Besides this,we have Bower

Ashton , Bower Henton , Bower M ead , i n M artock, Bowerwaic (or Bower Way) i n Thorne St . Margaret . Moreover,there are other Bourtons i n the county, and p lenty in thecountry, of this name , i n the form Burton ; the best known

i s the celebrated brewery town on the Trent, where thewater from the gypsum p roduces the best beer . In Somersetwe have Bourton, or Burton , i n Compton Bishop,

and simpleBower (Boure , Edward Bure , and Bower, where,according to the journal Archeologia , there i s an ancientfortress . Bur might be connected here with Burh or Burg,a fortress , a fortified h i l l . Bur i n AS . means a cottage,from which we derive our word bower . Boer (modern

German Bauer) means a peasant , our word boor . Thewidespread name , where there i s no pretence of hi l l or fort,gives evidence once more of a persona l name Bur, Bure,softened forms of Burg very frequent ly indeed in compounds

as Burgheard , Burghelm, Burgh ild , Burglaf, and Burgman .

229

Burg means p rotection , s trength , app l ied to a man as wel las a p lace . This is fa r more according to phi lo logical

analogy than the o ld German Baior, the modern Bowyer,or the triba l name Bo ioaria, which appears in Bavaria . Buryis a modern name (pronounced Boory) . What has a lreadybeen sa id of the Bures , rep resenting the Colberti , may becompared , and p robab ly this accounts most satisfactori ly fo rthese Bures and Bowers .As to the prefix , as l ate as Henry V I . i n documents i t is

Bourton only , as i t is now loca l ly . I t is clear , then , thatF lax is a l ate edi t ion , and therefore here i t d id not arisefrom local c i rcumstances , such as the abundance in the lowlying grounds of the i ris , the flag or flack , which is , indeed , the modern Welsh form for sedge , with cognate wordsin other languages . The leaves make excel lent thatch , andwere grown for this purpose . The word has, i n fact , a re

l igious or ecclesiast ica l i nterest . According to Eyton , 1 the

whole parish of Nempnett Thrubwel l cons isted of parcels ofground taken from diverse Domesday manors

,and became

p arochial ly consol idated by most of them having beengranted sooner or later to F laxley Abbey, i n G loucestershi re .

I n 1444 the prior of Flex ley held an estate in Eas tBrent va l ued at twenty marks a year . There seems , therefore ,every p robab i l i ty that Rutter

’

s2 statement is true as wel l as

Eyton’

s, that one of thei r estates was i n Bourton , and soi t was cal led Flex ley Bourton . I t is frequently spel t F lexBourton

,but is very often Bourton only in wi l ls and deeds .

F laxley Bourton is a mouthful , and readi ly yielded to cur

tailment. Flex is a prefix in p lace - name , as i n Flaxby,F l axton , i n Yorkshi re . I t is a persona l name , Flec, F lace ,F lack , re - appeari ng i n such p resent - day names as F l ick ,F legg, and the l ike , and is Scandinav ian rather than Saxon .

In the Charter of the Carthusian Priory of Witham (HenryII . ) occurs the name Flec- stoka and F ley- stoke .

Farrington Gurney—Farrington , D.B . Ferentona ,

Farmborough is D.E. Ferenberga . Feren is

l Eyton Domesday Stud ies , i i . , 1 48 .

2D el ineatz'

orzs of the North Westof the

County of Somerset, p. 1 6 .

230

fern , but a shortened form of the persona l nameFaerwine (compare Hul leferun,

H i l l Farrance) . In

1242 , i n Bath Chartu lary, i t i s Ferenton . In 1401i t is Faryndon, and the spel l ings are Farnton, Feren

don . The form in“i ng

”i s 14th to l 6th century

,and is

an assimi lat ion . Don and ton are confused , but ton seemsthe older . In receiver

’

s accounts of the possessions of Thomasde Gornay we have the spel l ings Farmton , Franton,

andFarington Gurney Town . There is a Farringdon inStogursey, where Faringdon B luet seems to be . Gurneywas, as i n Barrow Gurney, clearly added to dist inguish fromother Faringdons and Faringtons, and , as such , dates fromthe 14th century . The Domesday Gornai was Nigel de

Gornai , a tenant of the Bishop of Coutance . The later

Gournays of these Somerset names appear to have been,according to Col l inson , descendants of Baron Fi tz - John of

Harp tree , and the Gurney of Gurney Slade a possible des

cendant of Asce l ine , a considerable tenant under the Bishopof Coutance . The Slade i s l ike ly enough the same as the DB .

Es l ida .

1 The ini t ia l vowel i s for ease of Norman pronunciation , and so Sl ida is the word , and l ike C lu tton Slatt isfrom the Saxon slaed , a plain or open tract of country .

H ardington M andevi l le —The obv ious connection of thefirst component wi th the personal name Harding has beenmentioned earl ier . Whether this was the interest ing Hearding , son of Eadnoth , of the Cartul ary of Muchelney Abbey,z

cannot be said wi th certai nty . Harding may represent thename Heardwine ,

and probab ly does . Among the Somersethermi ts , besides Wulfric, was Herduin . Curiously e

'

nough,both these names Herduin and M andevi l le occur i n a charterthe date of which must be before 1 166 . The donor, Rogerde Mandevi l le , and the thi rd Roger, son of Stephen Mande~v i l le (1 147) gave to the Church of S . Peter and S . Athelwin

(also a hermi t) by the entreaty and prayer of Herduin, thehermit , the is l and which is cal led Andreseia3 (Andersey, on

the bank of the Parrett) . Ander is the Saxon name Andhere.

l See Eyton’

s Domesd ay Stud ies , vol . i i . , pp. 2 16 , 21 7. vol . x iv . , p. 1 07.3Batten H istorica l Notes on South Somerset.

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2 32

i nfrequent name in the county . I t is apparently at once interpretable , and i t is usual ly said Heathe is A . S . for heath

.

In the one case i n which i t does occur i n DB . i t is, how

ever , a corrup t ion of Herfe lt. This is i n the Tauntonhundred . I t is not uncommon to put i n a strengthening

consonant wh ich d isguises a name , especial ly after a l iquid .

Herfe lt i s thus Hertel . Thus , Bromfie ld has arisen out ofBrunfel la , i . e . ,

Brunfe l , the vowel being merely the usualeuphonic addi t ion . Fil , fu l , and fe l mean great as a name .

Her, as i n the names He reward , Herepath (a current name) ,means army, or warrior . Harvey is an addi tiona l example

,

the Saxon Herewig became Herewi (Herv i) . Heathfield

is here one of a number of comp lete transmutations , and

another instance of the determination of the man on themeadow to turn a mysterious or puzzl ing cognomen intosomething intel l igib le . In 1517 i t i s comp lete

“Grant of

the manor of Hethefie ld .

”There is a lso a Heathfield with

Adsborough i n C reech St . M ichae l . The latter of these isextremely interest ing

, and ,fo rtunate ly , we have a clue to

i t . The fu l l name is of considerab le antiqui ty, going backto the ninth century . In the Cartu larium Saxonicum thereis a grant of land by Alfred King of the Saxons , to

Aedelstan the theyn . The d is the Saxon letter for

which no equiva lent is usua l ly kep t (as we suppose) in theprin ter

’

s repertory , un less he sets up Saxon type , which is

between our d and th .

”We have often wondered that

we do not come across two names that sure ly ought to haveleft a l arger impress in loca l termino logy . The fact is that,as in wel l -worn coins , the image and superscrip tion getspartial ly effaced , so that you have to infer the ful l name

f rom the fragment left , and do so with some certainty when

other clues do not fai l you . So here . I nscrip tions on

monuments would often enough convey much less informa

t ion than they customari ly do to the antiquary but for thismethod of i nference . The two names are Athelstan and

Aldhelm or Adhe lm. There were three moneyers whosenames appear on coins struck at Bruton— dates from Canute toEdward the Confessor— namely Aelfe lm,

from which a placename Ale lm, Alam , Alham wou ld eas i ly arise , Leofwine

233

(place - name Lewin , Leofington) , and E lfwine (p lace - nameAlwine , Aling- ton) . They do occur in abbreviations . Ad

helm is reduced to He lm and E lm,and Athelstan to E stan

i n the name , for intsance , of a Bishop of Hereford in 101256—and even to

“Ads .

”I n other words

, fEde lstan- burhhas just been cl ipped down to Ads - burg, the persona l name .

E stan actua l ly occu rs as . the name of an owner underEdward the Confessor in severa l cases . Who in the world

,

even in less busy times than ours,i s going to keep on saying

Aede lstan’

s borough ? He says Adels- burgh,and then Ads

borough ; and Adescombe i n the wri ts of Edward I I I . is avi l le then existent s i tuate i n Over Stowey . Adstan ,

i n thesame p lace , is clearly an abbreviation

,perhaps of Eadstan

stowe . Adborough may be cl ipped to Adbeer . There are

Adbeer, Nether Adbeer , and Over Adbeer . Now,the

Domesday spel l i ngs are Eatteberia , Etesberia , or Ateberia .

These may equal ly wel l be spel t Eadber, Ades - beria , and

Adeberia . We have no posi t ive clue , as i n the o ther case ,but the ana logy is clear .H ase lbury Plucknett, Preston Plucknett, Wearn P lucknett.

H aselbury is Hal - berga in DB . I t is not mentionedi n T .E . In the Nomina Vi l larum of Kirby

’

s Quest i t isHaselbere only . Dugdale

’

s M onasticon mentions thep riory of Austin Canons atHase lborough . In 1 150 Wm.

F i tzwal ter was lord of the town of Hazilberg . In theBri t ish Museum charters we read of “

F ine in H isbere ,

”

and th is is the frequent spel l ing , varied by a vowel— H isbere ,Hysbere , and Hysebeere— a l l through Edward I I I .

’

s re ign .

I n the sixteenth century we have i t wi th Haselbare , Hasse lbeare , Hasilbeare , Hase lborowe ; and i n the seventeenthcentury Hassibo rough and H aze lborough . Hasse l is c learlythe correct spel l ing of the persona l name , of which Hazel ,remind ing us of the shrub , is the

“Z umerzet

”rendering .

C learly then , the Hal - berga of DB . is an abbrev iat ion . Thename is not Saxon , but Scandinavian , as a persona l name .

Hase l and Hese l a re Anglo - Saxon for the bush - name ex

tending through the cognate languages . Names of personswere derived from trees , as , perhaps , the o ld Gothic Asi lo ,connected in dark mytho logy with the Scandinavian root

234

as or os , a demi - god . The name is widespread . Therei s a Fri sian name Hesse l , and in the Liber Vita i t appearsas E sel . There i s a p lace - name Hasal ing, near Bremen .

The p lace - names, too , are widesp read , and certain ly are notal l derived from local ci rcumstances , where many nuts growloved of boys . For examp le , Hase l - ey, i n Warwick andOxford ; Hasels M arsh and Haeslan- den , i n Lancashire ;Hasel ing (Haeslan- ton) and Hessle , i n Yorkshi re .

Plucknett is a name of which the origin is not too clear .The I rish Plunketts consider that thei r name is of Danishorigin . Bardsley lets i t down to B l anket—P lucknett isBl anquette . I t may be from Plen, a vi l lage in Bri ttany, andgwent , fai r, open region . Cel tic name , Planquenet, nearRennes . The doub le name does not appear to have comeinto use in documents unti l qui te l ate , but the connectionof the fami ly goes back to the days of the rebel l ious baronsi n the reign of Henry II I . Alan de Plugenet, as the namei s spel t , we may conjectu re , made himself of use to thatmonarch in the struggle who shou ld be master , the King orthe Peers . He fought for the king in the Battle of Evesham,

1265, and was made custodian of Dunster Cast le . Alanmore, i n Herefordshi re , i s cal led after h im By feudalr ight , the great over - lord could disp lace one manorialpossessor for another . So in A .D . 1270 there was grantedto this usefu l person the manor of Hase lbere . In Kirby

’

sQuest ( 12 Edward Alan appears as Lord of Haselbere.

A .D. 1272 was the death year of Henry I II . , and EdwardLongshanks confi rmed him in his new possession . Sir Alande Plugnett i ti s sa id to have been a Breton .

Preston P lucknett1 was a lso held by Si r Alan by mili taryservice . I t is in the hundred of Stone . The former possessor, Wil l iam M arshal l , took part in the rebel l ion againstHenry . Preston is D .E . Preste - ton , found also in Preston

Bowyer, Preston Torre l ls, Preston Kingweston, Presbridge,

i n Ashbri tt le , Presrnead , i n Stowey (a vicar’

s glebe , and else

1 In his a ccount of Preston Plucknett M r . B atten, H istor ica l Notes on South

Somerset, traces the d escent of Ha se lbury P lucknett (a ba rony) fromre ig n o f King Stephen down to the th ird and la stAlan Plucknett, and

Col l inson down to re ig n o f Edwa rd I I I .

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2 36

as spe l t , Bichen - stoke , probab ly Beechenstoke or Bi rchens toke , or even By- chen - stoke . Hatch Mercatorum

,as our

a l ias of Hatch Beauchamp , is an earl ier fixed name, which died

out . The fi rst baron obtained the grant of a fai r and market in1 301 . I t was , tha t is , M arket Shep ton as an important businesscentre i n the mediaeva l manoria l period .

H i l l Farrance — It is D.B . H i l l a , T .E . Hul leferun . Thereare the court ro l ls of H il lferoun of Edward I I . Kirby

’

s

Quest, I l leferun . Then the spel l ings i n E l izabeth ’s timebecame H il lfarence (Chancery p roceed ings) and H i l lfarrance ;i n wi l ls of the 16th and 17th centuries Hyl lfarens, H ilfarrints,F lorence viz . , i n a wi l l John Lane left a quarter mark

,

three sh i l l i ngs and fourpence , for the bui ld ing of the churchtower . In the Exon Domesday H i l la is spel t Bi l la , a clearb lunder , as the persistence shows , and the Exchequer givesH i l la . Both are persona l names . Both are Saxon . I t is av i l l age on the Tone , and this H i l l is doubtless agai n the rivername I le

,disguised by the asp i rate .

H i l l a is a persona l name , which sometimes assumes theF rankish form H i l lo . I t is used in compounds , E lfhil laand Alfhil la , as the name of a woman . As early as A.D.

744 H i l la was a benefactor of G lastonbury Abbey . I t is,therefore , a very o ld Somerset name . But i t is not veryparticu lar about i ts county . I t is a name as common inSaxony to - day as i n England . I t is a triba l name . Mr.

Kemble , of course , has the H il l ingas, and there is an I llengen

i n Bavari a . When you discover a p lace cal led H i l l si tuatei n a vale i t is obvious that the physica l ci rcumstances do

not account fo r it . At-H i l l i s no t necessari ly the man who

l ived at the hi l l . Atta- hi l l is a compound Saxon name, and

may even be Athe l len, whose name occurs i n a G lastonbury

d eed (A .D . H i l l , aga i n , is sometimes shortened from

H i lde , as H i l lman from H ildeman ; sometimes i t is Hyl , ahol low or hel l ; again , i t has deve loped from 1 1, is la , or a

watery spot , i n p lace - names , and as seen1 from Ive l , a veryancient Cel tic river name , found in various d isguises i n manyparts of the country . I t is l i tt le wonder if we find Bishop

’

s

1Chap. 1 .

237

Hu l l i s H ilbishops, H i l l B i shop, Hulbishops, and H i l l

Bi shops . And so wi th H i le , i n S . Petherton,and Chi l

thorne ; H i lborough, H i llcombe , and I llcombe, H i llgro 've,

H i l lhouse L iberty , and H i l l , near Ki lve . In the Liber Vitcethe name is spe l t Yl l a and H i l le . The great H i l l fam i lythus appears to be of d iverse origin . Not to say that Heale ,as in Curry Riva l , may be a variety . I n H i l l B i shop and othe r

cases i t is no t clearly a persona l name of an early prop rietor ,but a form of I le as si tuate on a risi ng over the river . TheBishop is the Bishop of Winchester

, Walche l inus i n DB .

Farence i s a disgu ised form of Ferun , become Feruns with theaddi tion of the s so frequent and th is aga i n is the originalname Faerwine , i n which faer means as a l ready given

,and

wine means friend .

Horsey Pegues, i n Bridgwater .—Horsey is here a personalname . I n D.E . i t i s Peghenes only . This has been exp lainedto mean Pig- haynes , or enclosures . In 1315 i t i s Pegennese .

Pig appears , however , to be a mid -Engl i sh word , and certainly swine , as singular and p lural , is the more usua l wordPig would scarcely have been found in the Domesdayrecord . There is a Swin - dun i n Carhampton Hundred . Peg

is short for the name Pegg or Pega or Pecga , an AS . name ,found also in Peglinch, i n Wel low, also ca l led Peglegs (Pega

’

s

lea) , Pegl in,as wel l as Pegl inch , and here c learly i t is the Saxon

name Peghun or Pighun, i . e . , Horsey Pighuns.

H inton Blewitt and H inton St. George are both simplyHantona i n D .E . , Henton T .E . Also , there are Henton

Charterhouse, H enton in M artock, cal led Bower H inton

H i nton Charterhouse is , besides , ca l led H in ton Abbot and

H inton Grange . Other names wi th the same sl ightly- variedprefix are Hendford , or H enford , and Hyndeford and Hyne~ford

,cal led Hendford M atravers, and H eniton, or H enning

ton H i l l , i n Ashbri t tle . I t i s usual to derive H i n ton fromSaxon heah , heane, high , chief , but th is does not account

for al l the cases . In G lastonbury there is Henley . T he

truth i s that Hean is a saxon persona l name . I t occurs asa prefix in Heanfled , Heanfrith ,

Heanric, Heantan, andthe l ike

,persona l names . A Hean in 690 was the

founder of Ab ingdon monastery . This i s the name Anna

2 38

and Hanne , of the Liber Vitce . The forms of the personalname are E ama , Enna, Hean , Onna , and Hona . Hanny isa Somerset name now, as wel l as Hannay and Hanning

,

Hean , Heaney, Honne . Henton is even given in some booksas meaning pou ltry town .

”The origin of the name is the old

German Ano , meaning ancestor . I n Hendford the d ” isa grip letter and i n trusive . Enmore is mysteriously Animerain DB . This is a compounded name of Ano and maer .M aer is found also in M ergeat (modern M erriott) .Blewi tt is Norman . The crad le of the fami ly appears tobe Briquev il le- la - Blouette , i n Normandy . Randulphus, i . e . ,

Ralph Blouet had six and a half h ides of th is manor,and

Hugo M atravers two vi rgates under Wi l l iam d’

Ou (Howe) .I t is curious that the same tenant in chief a lso held Hantona

(H i n ton St . George) , spel t Henton S . George (21 Edwardin the C rewkerne Hundred , and in each case disp laced

Alestan de Boscomb i n Edward the Confessor’

s l ist . TheBlouets remai ned connected wi th H i n ton for many centuries .This Ralph held a sub - tenure of Al ler, Worth , and Yeovi lton

(Alre , Worda, G ife ltona) , under the same chief lord , andagain disp lacing Alestan de Boscomb , who must have beenone of the beggared Saxons . There are other p lace - nameswith the addi tion B loet . The name occurs frequently invarious documents as witnesses i n the 14th century, i n differentlocal i t ies i n the county . A Robert Bloet , brother of Hugh,B i shop of Bayeux , the Conqueror

’

s Chancel lor, was conse

crated Bishop of L i nco ln in 1094, and was justiciary underHenry I . 1 123 . The name is spe l t B loet . B lewitt more nearlyrep resents the Norman Blouette .

Ho lford Trebbles, or T rebbles Ho lford , i s i n Lydeard

S . Lawrence , spe l t i n DB . Hulofort, Holefort, and Holeford .

But Hulofort as a spel l ing represents a form of the nameHulfirth , which occurs in 943 as the name of a Cornishdux (a l ready mentioned) . The names Ho l loway, near Bath,and Ho l loway, near Taunton , and in the parish of Corton,are forms of Ha lui , or Alwi , rep resented by the FrenchH alevy and the Engl ish Ho lvey . I t i s commonly supposedthat these old Engl ish names were taken from p laces . Thereverse is true . The p lace - names were most frequently taken

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240

Huish i s ca l led Episcopi because the lands were the

property of the See of Wel ls . I f.

Eyton’

s identification and

that of Whale is correct , the Domesday name is Littlelaneia

(Lite land i n the Exchequer copy) , then i t was the propertyof Gi so , the Saxon b ishop . There are keepers

’

accountsof the See of Bath and Wel ls from 20 Edward I . to 8Henry VI . extant . The name Lamporte i s later , and arisesfrom i ts p roximity to Langport , and i n the 18th century John

Bush was vicar of Huish- cum-Langport.Huish Champflower (D.E . Hywis only) i s Hywes Chamfluri n 1316 . In 1397 i t i s i n early Chancery proceedingsHwyss- chamfiour, and , of course , i n 16th century there are

numerous vagaries , such as H . Chaumflowers, Huishcham

fiore . Of the fami ly not much seems to be on record .

1 It isa grand normanised form , as we suspect (and are led tothink by the spel l ing) of a compound saxon name , Coenflur,or Cyneflohere . There is a M ati lda de Chamflur in

1262 , of Batheneaston,

2 who has a perpetua l mass on account

of her devotion to the Priory . Chamflours, a lso ca l led de

Campo F lorido of Stert , from severa l gifts to Bruton Priory3 inthe late 13th century (1276 , In 1349, John de

Chaumflour has an assize case which he lost to the Prior,whom he had disseised of certain lands in Stert (or Steorte) .This John said that he was wrongly named in the attachment .

H is name was Chaumflour, not Chanflour . Anyhow, i t isgrand . Lud - huish leads us into the question of the origin of

Lud ,found as Lyde and Lyte , as L loyd and Floyd (Cornish) .

There are no doubt the Saxon names Leod (peop le) (modern

German Leute) , Lod , and Lud , and th is i s found in com

pound names as Lydgeard (p lace - name Lidyard) . This

Somerset and Welsh and Cornish name is, however, probablymore connected with the Welsh name of the god Nodens,known as King L lud , the Loth or Lot of the Romances .

This name has been wi th some p lausib i l i ty connected with

1T he family of De Campo Florido he ld two knig hts' fees und er Mohun in

1 1 66 . T homa s he ld Hew ish and Atherstone in White La ckington.

T he la st owner of Hew ish of th is name wa s in 1 227.

2B ath Cha rtulary ,

p. 26 , and Feet of F ines , p. 208 . T his is another branch.

aB ruton Cha rtula ry , S .R . S . vol . v iii . p. 52, etc.

24 1

the p lace - name London , and the Welsh name for London i sCaer Lud , or Lud

’

s fort , and with more certai nty in LudgateH i l l . A temp le on a h i l l found at Lydney on the Severnriver is para l le led by a possib le more ambi tious temp le on ahi l l on the Thames . Lud was the Ce ltic Z eus . 1 Whether i tis the Saxon or the Cel tic Lud , i t has become a persona l namein Lud -Huish . We find Lydford (as Ludeford Edw . IV . )and Estludeford i n 1397 . Thus we read of Richard Backwel l

persona of Estludeford, and Lydford West (Luddefordand Lud i s part of the name Luthbro and the name Luthbroka Ludbroc, as ment ioned previously , i n WithamPriory Charter) .Baggearn Huish (D .B . Hewis) . —Beggearn i s clearly a corruption of some Saxon name . The fi rst part of the word isa personal name , p lain ly enough Baega, a lso Bagge andBegga

,found in other local names, such as Baggebere (D .B .

Bageberge) , now Bagboroug h, that i s Bagge , and Burg . The

German etymologis ts of authori ty tel l us tha t the compoundnames are the earl iest of which the extan t names are oftenthe cl ipped forms . O ther names are Baggeridge, loca l nameof a farm

, i . e . , Bagga - rich , and Bagga - rig , made into ridge ;Bagbury, near Evercreech (same origin as Bagborough)Baghayes, Bagingeham,

i n the pari sh of Al ler (Bagan - ham ,

a geni tive form) . The r sound in Baggearn and

Beggearn i s i ntrusive for the sake of a fi rmgrip in the original form , Bagan or Baegam, seenin Bagan - ham . There is also a Bag - ley, i n Wedmore,and another in Exford Badgeworth i s D .E . Bagewerra .

“ In A .D . 1308 grant in Bageworth . But as in DB .

worth usual ly appears as wurd (th) , th is“

werra”i s no doubt

the river wear or fish ing p lace , or pond . The name Bageoccurs

,as we sha l l see , i n Bawdrip , D .E . , Baga - terpe , t. e . ,

Bagathorpe , which may be added to the other occurrences of

th is form thorpe in Somerset .

Beggars- bush, i n Long Ashton and elsewhere , is, we arepersuaded

,a thorough - going corruption of Bega

’

s -Batch .

t ys : Lectures on Celtic H eathena’om

, p. 1 29 . Wil liams and Norg ate , 1 898 .

242

Bechery I sland is a name in a Gl astonbury charter . Becaria

quae parva H ibernia dicitur, i . e . , which is cal led LittleI reland . Now, S . Begga (A .D. 630) or Becca , was an Irishp rincess , and S . Begha was an I rish V i rgin sai nt

,and St . Bega

was a Cumbrian sain t of uncerta in h istory, probab ly Irish,from across the Channe l , when I rish missioners were“mission ing England and e lsewhere disp reading them

selves . This might account for the name of Li ttle Ire land .

Bega , further , was the name of an I rish nun at Hackness, nearWhi tby . The persona l name Becker has some such origin .

I n a supposed charter of Ina , the name Beganus, which is alat in form of Bega , occurs .

Cushuish has, of course , become Cowshuish . We knowwhat a cow is and what a cowhouse is , but Cushuish is apartia l ly defaced inscrip t ion . This is a local name, a tything,comprising the hamlet of Toulton, i n the parish of Kingston,about five mi les from Taunton . There are numerous p lacenames cal led Cow- leas, Cow- pens, Cow- thorns, thorps, andbys, folds and wicks some of which may have originated inthe

“l acti ferous ma ids

”and others i n the Saxon personal

name, Gusa . Each needs dea l ing wi th according to its

history . I t is observab le that such a name as Constantinebecomes Custantin,

and Cus- huish may be Cunds- huishimperfectly p ronounced . Cunds i s a frequent Saxon name in

the 8th century . I n the absence of early spel l i ngs we are

unab le to determine . If Colins- huwys is an ancient name, itis p robab ly the compound Saxon name , Cylne- hawis .

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244

ordnance maps . The river Somer is , for examp le, markedand so named by the surveyors ; but what historical authorityis producib le for this name of the stream flowing through this

wel l - known vi l l age ? We have not found any . But thepresence of the name Somer in such a document easi lysat isfies most men that th is Norton is in

“the middle of the

Somer ,”and so i t is cal led

“M idsomer . John Wesley’s

exp lanation in his famous Journa l has more meri t . I t was,he suggested , so cal led because i t was so surrounded by bogas to be only approachab le at mid - summer . Perhaps i t is asgood a name as any . The truth is , this river name is inferredfrom the p lace - name , and is absolutely of no authori ty thatwe can discover . As another i nstance , the ordnance mapgives Battle- gore, with the date of a battle , for which noauthori ty exists , but the dub ious name . The facts are thatth is p l ace has no separate mention in Domesday Book .

I t was origina l ly , as other p lentifu l h istorical evidencesshow

,c losely connected wi th Ciewe - tona ,

”

Chewton Mendip . But in the Taxatio E cclesiastica of PopeN icholas i n 1297 i t appears as Norton Canonicore , which isshort for Norton Canonicorum . I t was a lso known as Norton

Friars . I ts connection with Chewton poin ts to the origin ofthe name Norton .

“Agreements as to Tythes of Chewton

and Norton Northona i n DB . I t is north - east ofChewton , the manor to which i t was joined ; the advowsonof which was p reviously held by the prior of AugustinianCanons of Merton in Surrey . I t is

,however , due north of

Stratton - ou- the -Fosse , but the connect ion is not discerniblei n DB . So i t became known as Norton Friars and Norton

Canonicorum. I t is sa id that the former of these namesappeared in maps as la te as the 18th century ; also that in thebooks of Christ Church , Oxford , to which the advowson wasgiven at the disso lution of the monaster ies , i t is entered in thelatter name . These names date back to the 12th century .

The ep i thet M idsomer is of late origin . In the Feetof Fines

John and G i les de F leury two carrucates of l and in Mid

somer Northton 1271 In 1334 i t i s ca l led M idsomer

Norton .

“In the bai l iwick and hundred of M idsomer

Norton , Compton Dando ,’

and Stoney E s ton , which is

245

east of Chewton , and earl ie r in 1303 i t is M idsomeres Norton .

I t has been po inted out1 that the derivation is due to the fact

that the patronal fest ival of the church is a t M idsummer onSt . John

’

s Day . Of this derivation we were scarce ly conv inced , unti l on investigation we find tha t besides, of course ,the numerous dist inguishing surnames derived from dedications , as Norton St . Phi l ip

’

s or Phi l ip’

s Norton , there areothers that have dropped out of use , derived from suchseason - feasts . An example of this is Wode Advent. WodeAdvent i s i n the hundred of Wi l l i ton , and is mentioned inthe Nomina Vi llarum of 16 Edw . I I I . If the name had anything to do with a river (which does not appear as a r ivername to be easi ly paral leled) , traces would be earl ier found .

This may a lso be sa id of the persona l name Somer , the Saxonpersonal name , which the form

“Someres

”as a geni t ive

wou ld seem to favour , as in Somer- ton ; but (as al ready said)i t does not appear unti l the 13th century, at a period whencountry rejoicings and wakes were in vogue on M idsummerday, and were known as summerings . I n the p lace mentionedcal led Wode Advent, i n Nett lecombe , the wake was atth is

season . These feasts were , of course , evidently in great loca lrepute, and so wel l known and popular as to give a name to avi l lage . Whether the wake is st i l l kep t up we know not . Perhaps St . John

’

s Day is of no specia l importance in M id -Norton ,as they now provokingly cal l i t and lose the p icturesquenessof the p lace - name . I t is not a red letter day now ,

and wealso note Stogursey Whitweek i n Stogursey, which , however ,may be a corrup tion of the persona l name Hwittuc, but is moreprobab ly from the feast week .

Pitney Lortie .

—The second name has apparently ceased tobe distinctive i n any way . This befal ls easi ly where there areno competi t ive names demanding dist inction . Pi tney is D .E .

Petencia . In the Nomina Vi l larum 1315, Pi tney is spe l t

Putteneye ,Puttene cum hame l de Kno l le i n Long Sutton .

In the “Fi nes

”1341 i t is

“Putteneye Lortie manor and

advowson .

” In 1425 i t is Putteneye et Werne ,”and

Pytheney Wearne manor”t ime of E l izabeth . This easi ly

1Somerseta nd DorsetNotes and Queries , vol . iii. M r . Alan T hatcher’

s note .

246

reminds us of p lace - names derived from the man ’s namePutta . The question is whether the u sound has not inPi tney arisen by mistake in spel l ing, and , as the original eof a stem syl l ab le changes to i by the process known inGerman h istorica l grammar as Brechung , we conclude thatthe

“e of the Domesday spel l ing is original

,and the

derivation is from Peoht, Pet, a known name ; or, as clearlyconnected wi th the manoria l p roperty of St . Peter ofM uchelney Abbey, i t is a form of Peten - eye , t. e . , St . Peter

’sI sland , or Poehts, Pet

’

s I s land in the former case . We liketo think that the derivation from

'

St. Peter is the more l ikely .

Pet as a persona l name is found widely spread , as Petsoe

(Buckingham) , P'

ett (Sussex) , Pettaugh (Suff olk) , Pettistree

(Suff olk) , Pet- ton (Salop) , Pet-worth (Sussex) . Lortie is aspecimen of a type of name of which others may be found,i n which an ancien t Saxon name has become Normanised,Lorta, as i n Lortan- hlaew . This fanciful ly and proudlybecame L’

Ortie , the nett le , and then is translated into Latinwi th swel l i ng importance as De Urtiaco . There is Lort - tonin Cumberl and . I t is l ike ly that i n modern nomenclature

th is name disports i tse lf as Lord or Lording . In 1719, in thel ist of names of marriage l icenses, granted in the royalpecul i ar of I lminster , i s the curious name of Susan Loarding,which is in fact Lortan . Lorty, as an adjective in the NorthCountry , means di rty , fi l thy . Lord as a persona l name is, ofcourse , i n numerous cases simp ly our word Lord master,from hlaford , the

“breadwinner, i . e . , loaf -ward .

Podymore M i lton .

—According to the ana logy of the namesal ready treated , we shou ld be apt to conclude that M i l ton wasthe added name to an origi nal Podymore . I t appears to bea case , however (of which there are other examp les) of the

juxtaposi tion of two loca l names , Podymore and M i l ton . Asfar back as 966, i n a charter of King Edgar

’

s to abbotof G lastonbury, th is i s spel t M idd leton . To this monasteryi t belonged i n time of the Confessor , and in DB . i t is speltM ideltona, and i t is M ideltona i n t ime of Edward II . inaccounts of l ands belonging to G l astonbury Abbey . In the

Taxatio E cclesiastica, which is given to abbreviations, oftenwith the sign of such abbreviation , i t i s spel t Mylton. On the

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248

C levedon was added to M i l ton (M idd le ton) . I t is M iltoneC levedon in 1315 . I n 1 166 aid to marry Maud the

daughter of Henry II . , to the Duke of Saxony,” we have the

certificate of Henry Lovel l that Wi l l i am de C levedon heldtwo knights

’

fees (as is concluded) i n M iddleton .

” In 12291230 (Testa de Nevi l l) a Ma tthew of the same fami ly held oneof the two knights

’

fees i n M idd leton .

M i lton Fauconbridge is M i lton - in -Ash (M artock) . M i l toncum -Amel (hamlets) i n 1315 . We have no spel l ing of M i l tonin D .E .

, but i n T .E . i t is M idde ltone only In thedays ( 1435- 6) of Henry V I . i t is M el ton or M ultou Fauconberge M el ton Fulcumberge Me l ton Faucanbridge in the time of Edward IV . and later is M i l tonFawconbridge and Haukenbridge . There were three V i l lesin M artock, Ash, M i lton , and Witcombe, and this wasp robab ly the middle of the three . There is a Fauquenbergenear St . Omer in France , said to be the berceau of the family .

The fami ly is found in Somerse t i n the 13th century andearl ier . In the Feet of Fines, 16th Edward

“At West

minster in the octave of St . M arti n between Peter deFauconberge querent and Richard de Younglomb concerningland in -Bul len . This is i n 1287 . Williamde Fauconbridge married Mati lda , a s ister of Robert deMandevi l le , and Peter , a son , died in 1350 . M i lton,

near Kewstoke , i s D .E . M idd le ton . In 2nd Richard 111 . i t isM iltone (as we suppose) between Kewstoke and Worle , or,as in h istorica l MSS. or reign of Richard I I I . (2nd ) , there isconveyance of lands in Bartone , M iltone , and Wurle, i t isperhaps the middle one of these th ree manors .M i lton Ski lgate .

- This is a compound of two manors find

i ng separa te mention in DB . as M i lde - tona and Schil legeta

(now Ski lgate) . The name Milde has been referred to above .

Schillegeta is a Saxon name of Goth ic o rigin . Scealda, Scela,

Sceald was the mytho logical ancestor of Woden and Geata lso , according to Kemble

’

s Saxons . I t became a personalname . The interest is i n the mytho logy which l ies soinnocently ( to a l l appearance) embedded in the name .

M i lton (cal led M i l l Town and M idd le - ton) is in Clotworthy .

249

Newton S . Loe .

—The spel l ings vary . In 1481 i t is S .

C 10 and Segn C low ,and numerous other spel l ings of the

fami ly name S . Loe . Newtons obviously gained thisname from the upsp ri nging of a fresh group of housesi n the neighbourhood of, or as p art of , an older vi ll age . So in Domesday Book there are N ieue- tons

(with long“i”

Thus in the hundred of Wil l itonethere was N iewtona, now I suppose no longer existent, aspart of Chilvetona (now disguised as Ki lton) . I t was a lsoca l led Duictona , perhaps because i ts owner , Wilhemus deMo ione , was Sheriff of Somerset ( 1084 The Neuuentons

mentioned in DB . separately number seven , and five of theseare parts of Newton , in North Petherton , i n which there weresevera l ownerships . Another is Neuuetone i n Newton S .

Loe . Of Engl ishcombe , Twerton , Tel l isford , and Newtonfourteen thegns were the Saxon owners . All th is became thep roperty, at the conquest , of the Bishop of Coutance . Thename indicates the rise of new ownerships and fresh d ivisionsamong IX Thegni pariter long before the Conquest .Curiously enough , Neuetona, i n North Petherton , was he ldby at least six thegns pariter, and the manors remainedseparate (unl ike Newton S . Loe) . After the Conquest , however, the Bishop of Coutance was Geoff ray de M owbray , orS . Lo (Latinised into Sancto Lawdo) , from a p lace of thatname in Brittany . He i s frequently ca l led the B ishop ofS . LO, i n the Gheld - I nquestof 1084 and in charters . He diedin 1093 . Sti l l , i n Pope N icho las

’

Taxatio ( 1291 ) the p l ace hasno distinguishing surname . I t is Nyweton only . Whensomebody sto le a chal ice and a vestment from the churchin 1340, i t was from the Church of N iewton .

”

In 1328, i n the Inquisi t ion of Edward I I I . , i t was foundthat John S . Lo held two - th irds of the manor of Seyntlo .

In B .M . Charters there is exchange of land of Crockenhul le , near Newton (S . Loe) l ate i n reign of Henry 1 1 1 .

I t has conti nued to be so ca l led from the fourteenth centuryor late th irteenth . I n 1310 a John de S . Lo manumi tteda slave in Chew Church . I t is in 1428 that John Saintelo ,

a younger branch of the Newton family, i s cert ified to haveheld half a knight

’

s fee in Sutton M il itis or Knighton , a

250

part of Chew Sutton or North Sutton . The fami ly of St .Lo or Lando was evidently descended from one of the

vassals of the Bi shop , brought over by him from St . LOi n Bri ttany .

1

Newton Somervi l le, N . Yeovi l . —It i s easy enough to derive this from a persona l name originating in S . Omer inNormandy, or Somervi l le , now Somerv ieux , near Rouen .

This might pass if we did not find in the Nomina Vi llarumof reign of Edward 1 11 . the names Newton Sermonvi l le andNyeton et Sarmabil le . Now , Sermon or Saraman is aknown Saxon name , and Saraman has become Sermon , whichis also a modern name , and V i l l a is d isgu ised as Bi l le . InEdward the Confessor

’ s time, Samarus tenuitin firma Regis in

mansione qui vocatur Petret, i . a . , N . Petherton . Samarus isl ati nised from Saraman

,or Sarma . This is the name in Somer

ton . It i s a lso wri tten Semar and Saemaer, which suggests tous the name Seymour , which , of course , becomes St . Maur,putting on a Norman cloak . I t is , however , not even so simpleas th is, i nasmuch as i t is by no means absolutely certain whatthe original form of the name is . Sarmav ile i s a corruption ofSalmav il le . Before 1225 Phi l ip de Salemunv il le purchased Newton for one hundred shi l l i ngs

,and Somervil le

represents perhaps the modern French spel l ing of the originalhome of the fami ly . Seleman is an extant name . There area l so names Selefrith , Seleheard . Salaman is old German , from

a supposed root sa lo ,” dark or swarthy . Perhaps this may

be a characteristic of the - Somervi l les .I le Brewers i s cal led i n DB . Is l a and I l a only . I t is noti n T .E . I t is I lbruere ,

i n a Charter i n 1335 and in1425 . I t is on the east bank of the River Ivel , or Isle .

I lbrewer and I lbruweri . Wil l iam Brewere was Lord ofNorthover in the time of King John . Briewere is the samename as the Norman Bruyere , and of course has nothingto do wi th the art of brewing . Certain ly the name Brewermay be derived from the trade in some cases . The originof thi s form is the Saxon Bregowar, i n which Brego means

l Some a ccount of the family ped ig ree in Eng land may be found in Wood'

s

M ateria ls for a H istory of Chew M agn a , F . A . Wood , B ristol , 1 903 .

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252

ing i s Melda - bourne . There are numerous Me lbournes andM i lburns scattered up and down the country . I t has alsobeen carried across seas , just as Saxon names of p laces were

imported in the Saxon immigrations i nto our country solong ago . M i l l - stream is an easy exp lanation which wil lnot a lways su i t . A glance at the land valuation made at

the uncontested order of Wi l l iam the fi rst shows thatnearly every parish , and , of course , every manor, had i tsM o lendinus, or m i l l , valued at so much . M i lborne Port isi n the va le of Blackmore , on the border of Dorset , wateredby a streamlet ris ing at Bradley Head . Here are the elementsrequired— the stream and the gate— as is supposed . Un

fortunate ly , th is does not exp la i n the ancient spel lingswhich the Norman modified from M e lda to Mele . Asal ready pointed out , there are Saxon personal names Mildeo ,

M elda Bourne . M i lbourne Wick is i n the vale by Kingsburya Crown domain) and hereWick is the vi l lage . From the

same Saxon owner’

s name we have a lso M elcombe Paulet, in

South Petherton , which in DB . is merely M ele- combe , i . e . ,

M el (d)e - combe . There is a lso a M i lcombe in the parish ofMel ls . The addi t iona l Port might conceivab ly be derived from

one of two roots,from porta , a gate , or portus, a haven . In the

l at ter case i t comes to mean a tower bui l t at a harbour ; awal led town on a mi l led stream , is M r . Pulman

’

s exp lanation .

Port here means entrance into a forest , or mere , or as a

border town where dues were taken . I t is Mu leborne Port in

1315, Nomina Vi llarum. M elbourne is the name of an ancienthundred now mostly represented by Horethorne : Ecclesia

S’

ti Johannes in M eleburna . I t is i nterest ing to note thename of the Domesday incumbent cal led Reinbald,

Presbyter— appearing in other p l aces (e .g Road) as Sacerdos—who had been chancel lo r of King Edward the Confessor .

I ts Saxon owner was named V ite l , and we are wonderingwhether any local names reca l l i t, p robab ly much disguised.

I n 1086 i t is the Roval borough of M e lbourne .

”The origin

of the name M e l ls may properly and conveniently come in

here . Let us observe that M iddlecote, mentioned prev iously, is p roperly M il lescote . In the time of Co l l inson

i t was depopulated , but i ts s i te is known . I t was a separate

253

part of Mel les . That M il lescote became M idd lecote, and

Mel ls is a lways i n thi s (not p lura l , but geni t ive) form , in

d icates the origina l p resence of the“d neglected by the

Norman spel lers, and i t i s M i lde’

s, Meald or Melde’

s ; and

M il lescote is Me lde’

s Cot. In the DB . i t i s spel t Mul l (a)i . e . , M uld (a) . M el l s is thus a personal name , l ike thoseal ready noted—M iddlecote (M i l les , i . a . , M i lde

’

s Cote) inBabbington , and M iddleton (M i lde- tuna) in C latworthy . I f

the l ist of mo lendi or mil ls be examined , there is only onecredi ted to M e l ls , and so i t has no superflu ity of mi l ls toaccount for the origin of the name . The M i l l - leaze i nKingston Seymour and the M i l l -piece on South Cadbury areprobab ly named from a mi l l si te . A local name , M arsh

M i l ls, i n Over Stowey, appears in DB . as theMulse

’

e l la, which is clearly not marsh mi l ls , but the“el l

”

i s a form of hel l or hole or low- lying p l ace or hi l l o r i le ,a stream , i t may be according to the condi tions

' and mul isthe personal name or the form would not be gen i tival , Muls

el l . I t is a manorial name . M i lverton i s mos t eas i ly explained as

“the tun of the mi l l -weare .

”As there were many

tuns with mi l l -weares there must have been someth ingspecial ly distinctive of th is M i lverton to secure i t this name .

I t i s M ildweard , a compound name from which we get ourcommon Somerset name of M i l l ard . I t is the tun of M i ldweard ,

”and , of course, the hard consonants have as usua l

disappeared .

M onkton Combe is D.E . Cuma . I t was there the p ropertyof Sewo ld Abbas de Bada and the Domesday tenant in cap i tewas

“Abbas Ste Petri de Bada .

”I ts connection with Bath

Priory therefore gave the addi t ional name of Monkton .

There i s a Monks’

Ham i n M arston Biggott probab ly repre

senting G lastonbury property, as a lso did Monacheton, now

West M onkton . The spel l ing Morcheton is a vagary inwhich the letters have been wrongly copied . I n the Cartularium Saxonicum there is a grant by Centwine King ofSaxons to Hamgils, abbot of G l astonbury . Date 682 .

I t is the property of thi s abbey at Domesday . The spe l l ingsMonton , Mounketon, Muneketon, Muncketon are too persistent to al low the idea of a corrup tion from Morcheton .

254

Orchard Portman .

— There are a lso Orchard Leigh and

Orchard Wyndham. Orchard is a personal name . The

fi rst of the fami ly that we have any account of ( i t is said)was James , the son of Baldwyn le O rchard . In this casethe name is thus from an employment Le Orcharder.

Simi l arly there was le Ferrer, the Pear -man . The name

i tsel f is a compound , ort - geard , probab ly wyrt (wort orherb) garden . The Goth ic is Aurtegard , a garden . Ofcourse i ts ul t imate is the Lati n hortus, a garden . And when

O rchard - le igh , watered by the Frome , is spel t Hord - cerlei a i n D.B .

, Orcher- le ia i n T .E . , we see at once that thisis the personal name . Hordgar and Ord - gar, a frequent

Saxon name of the same origin , and indeed the name

O rchard , so frequent , has p robab ly this as i ts real origin .

Baldwyn le Orchard l ived in the reign of Henry I II . in1241 . M r. Chadwyck Hea ley te l ls us of a James de Horcherd in 21 Henry I II . of whom a carucate of land wasbought i n Doverhay, or Dovery . For several generationsto the time of Henry VI . i t passed down in the Orchardfami ly

,but at th is t ime i t came , i n defau l t of male issue,

to Wal ter Portman , by a marriage wi th an Orchard . Walterd ied in the re ign of Edward 4th . And so i t became Orchardand Portman . Wyndham is a name close ly connected withthis p lace O rchard from the Stuart period . The pedigreeis started wi th Si r John Wyndham , Kt. , of Orchard, whomarried a daughter of Si r Henry Portman . He died in1641 . T he historica l MSS. Commission gives an accountof the Wyndhams of Orchard . The adventures of Carew,

the King of the G ipsies , and Si r Wi l l iam Wynham and

Lord Bol i ngbroke are to ld in Carew’

s l ife .

Preston Bowyer and Preston Torre l ls ; Preste - townboth in M i lverton . The descendants of Alured de Hispania,who disp laced the Saxon Alwi (Ho lvey) , gave the formerto Goldcl iff Priory in M onmouthshi re . But i t was Presteton earl ier than this, aris ing from i ts conne ction perhapswith M i lverton Church . The prior of Taunton had lands

i n M i lverton in 1293 valued at ten sh i l l i ngs, and the account of

lands to the Priory would not disp lace the name . Thename Bowyer is, accord ing to Col l i nson , a corruption of

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2 56

i t i s a tun north of the mother parish of Chew ,to which

Hawkfie ld sti l l be longs . B ishop Sutton is south of thisparish of Chew , of which i t i s a p art civi l ly . Hawkfield isidentified by Co l l inson wi th the Hauckewel la of Domesday

,

and is so fixed in M r . Eyton’

s1 scheme . With this Mr.

Bates Harb in2 disagrees . In h is five - hide scheme he identifiesth is Hauckewe l la with Hawkwel l i n the south of the county

.

I t i s ca l led Hawkwel l i n chancery p roceedings i n the timeof E l izabeth . This Havechewe l la is, of course , Hafoc (AS )a hawk , and wel la a wel l . As a matter of names the present

designation , Hawkfield , is more l ikely to be a corruptionof Hautv il le than of Hawkwel l , and we have noted thatthe loca l p ronunciat ion of the old people i s A-vi l l as

nearly as one can re - produce i t . A later spel l ing, Hawtfeld,

i s a stage in the process of corrup tion . I n 1325 a l icenceto Si r Geoff rey de Hautevi l le to choose a confessor forone year is granted .

3 Then Si r John de Hautv il le was Lordof Norton—perhaps earl ier . In 1316- 1324 Si r Geoff rey wasMP . for Somerset , Bucks , and Wi l ts . This Hautville

fami ly is identified with tha t of one of the most i nterestingin Europe , a branch of the Norman kings of Nap les andSici ly , descended from a Norman viking, H ialt, or Healthene , and traceab le to the ninth century, and of the l ine ofTancred de Hautevi l le i n the diocese of Coutance .

If Eyton is correct, the DB . spel l ing is Hauckewel la, and

after tha t the fi rst mention is i n a deed , according to whichb ishop Jocelyn ( 1229) gave Thomas de Al tavi l la half a hide,or sixty acres of land in Dundry , i n return for service ofknight

’

s fee i n Rockesburg and Draycott . This l and was held

by Regina ld de Hautevi l le .

4 In 1620 i t i s Hautefield or

Hawkfie ld i n a conveyance . A most easy , but real ly false,exp lanat ion of the name as i t stands wou ld be to resolve iti nto the two words, a hawk and a field , and further suggestthat these were the emb lems of an escutcheon , or preserved

some trace of legendary lore .

1Eyton Domesd ay Stud ies, vol . i i . , p. 2 1 .

2S . A . Soc . Proceed ing s, Article on

F ive H id e Un it. 8Drokenford’

s Reg i ster, p . 250 , S .R . S . , 1 887.

4Somerset

F ines, vol . vi. , pp. 72 - 73 .

257

John de Hautevi l le,the hero in question , cal led by the

roice of war to martia l fame,i s said to have been wi th

Edward the F i rst i n Palest ine , and he may or may not havemen the first of his fami ly to possess the manor as the gift) f that king . If the question be asked , Did the fami ly take:heir name from the p lace or give thei r name to it? —whichs variously spel t Hautevi l le and Altavi l l a— it may beanswered that i n regard to the origin of persona l names thearefix de is significant of origin from a place and le

3 1 origi n from an emp loyment . Now Altavi l l a is evidentlythe lat in fo rm of the French Hautevi l le , and must meanhigh - town or high - hamlet . Si r John Hautevi l le is the

subject of more than one fai rly wel l - known legend . There is thestory of the quoi t . This man of muscle flung a huge stone fromthe top of that portion of theWansdyke cal led M aes Knol l , al ladown the steep gradient to a spot ha lf-way between Pensfordand Stanton Drew— a distance of two mi les, ca l led , from thiswonderfu l feat

,the Quoi ts Farm . The quoi t is there by the

door of the farmhouse . What more evidence do you want ?True , i t weighs some tons . Butnow, quoi t i s a cel tic word , spel tby Borlase, the distinguished author of Cornish Antiquities,koeten . A cromlech in Cornwal l is ca l led the giant ’ s quoi t .Koeten means a broad , thin stone , and some modern menconnect the one in question wi th those other great stonesat Stanton Drew, usua l ly cal led druid stones . Is the

quoi t the serpent’

s head of this great ci rcle ? The sto ry isalso told that when S . Looe , of Southetown (Sutton) M anorHouse , i n Knighton Sutton , was bui lding his batt lementedwa l l , Hawkwel l passed by, and asked what th is wal l was mean tfor . On being to ld

“to keep out such fel lows as you .

” th i swarrior stepped over i t , having legs as long as his arms werestrong .

Norton M a lreward —The usual exp lanation of the fami lyname M al reward is the tradi t ion that the name was given

) y John de Hautevi l le when the manor was granted to h im) y Edward I . as a reward for his services in the Holy Land ,and to which he scornfu l ly app l ied the ep i thet i ndicating that

258

he had received but a poor reward .

1 Whatever may be theorigi n of the name Ma l reward , i t i s found in Domesday . Gos

frid M alruard was a tenant of the Bishop of Coutance , dis

p lacing the Saxon thegn Alvered . In 1260, John Maureward and Thomas de Alta V i l l a are wi tnesses to grant byp rior of Bath of a p iece of garden ground .

2 The Maurewards a lso possessed estates i n Devonsh i re, Dorsetshire, andWi ltsh i re . Si r Wm . M a l reward gave the church of Twerton to the nuns of Ki ngton S . M ichael , Wiltshi re , a grantconfi rmed in reign of Henry II I . by h is grandson

,Sir Geof

frey . The name is thus ei ther M al reward or Maureward ,and the l atter is p robab ly a Norman softening of the former

,

and thus we get the names M arwood and Morewood,to

which fancifu l exp lana t ions may be given . In the BattleAbbey Ro l l there is a name M aulard , i . e . , a nickname , theMauler . If M aureward is the origi na l mar , meaning famous,and weard defence , th is exp lains the personal name . Nortonwas cal led by this addi t ional manoria l name in 1257 and

therefore a t least early i n the 13th century. In SomersetI tinerant Justices

’

P leas : The assize of novel disseisin

which Thomas de Hautevi l le arrangeth against Wil liam

Malreward,John M aureward ,

touching h is pasture in Nor

ton Mal reward .

”

1Col lections f or a Pa roch ia l H istory of Chew M agna . F . A . Wood , Bristol,

1 903 .

2B ath Cha rtu la ry . Lincoln’

s Inn MSS . , p. 25.

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260

conquest i tsel f . Wil l i am disposed of this manor to RogerArundel (which some consider a form of d

’

hirondel le,swal low or swift , as a sobriquet , which assumed the wel lknown form of Arundel) , disp lac ing Ailward and two thegns,who were the tenants p revious ly There is a Sir JohnArundel , t ime of Henry III . , and so l ate as 1541 Si r ThomasArundel , Knight of Wardour Cast le , had large possessionsi n Somerset . The Domesday Arundel was rapacious evento sacri lege , and had tenants i n a l l p arts of Somerset . Thepersis tence of a name so long is some evidence , if i t wereneeded , of the deep impression made by Norman occupation .

Sampford Brett.

— 1329, Sandforde Bret ; 1404, SampfordBri t . In 1579 Samforde Birte , which , by mistake, actual lybecomes Sampford B i rke . I t is close by Wi l l i ton . I t wasa member of the fami ly of Bret t that took part in themurder of St . Thomas of Canterbury . Sampford Bret washeld by Simon le Bret of the honour of Dunster , by theservice of ha l f a knigh t

’ s fee . H is brotherWi l l i am of Sandford,is mentioned in Fina l Concords 1230- 1250 . Th i s Simon had

two sons— R ichard,who was ca l led Bri to ( the murderor of

Thomas Beckett) , and Edmund , who from this p lace was cal ledSanford . Richard died in Pa lest ine , fighing the Saracens asa penance . I t was his granddaugh ter Al ice who was abenefactor to Woodsp ring Priory, dedicated to St . Thomasof Canterbury . Mr . Chadwick Hea ley tel ls us a story of

1280 i n which there was a quarre l i n a tavern at Por

lock . Walter Barfoot struck E l i as le Barun , and kil ledh im . The coroner on the occasion of the inquest wasWi l l iam le Bret , i . e . , Wil l i am the Breton . There is a sealextant of Simon le Breth , or Bri to , of the t ime of KingJohn . I n Domesday Book there i s an Ansgar Bri to , Francus

Tegnus, tha t is Norman thane , descended from Walter Brito ,Baron of Odcombe . But there i s no traceab le connectionbetween this fami ly and Sandford Brett . I t may sti l l have

existed .

1

Sampford Orcas.

—Col l inson informs us that Richard de

1See Honour of Odcombe and B a rony of B r it, by T . Bond . S .A . S . Proceed ings,

XXL , ii . , 8 . Also Pa rticula r Description of County of Somerset, S .R. S. ,

vol . x v., p. 1 05.

Pyramidum d icta rum specimen j ux taM a lmesbur i i descriptzonem.

T H E Two PYRAM IDS ,WI TH NAM ES OF B ENEFACTORS , BOTH K INGS AND B I SHOPS .

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262

Shepton Beauchamp1 i s Sceptona Skeptona i n D.E. , T .E .,

1297 . A curious spel l i ng in the Exchequer Lay Subsidies

(Edward is Shep ton Bealchamp . I t is qui te possible,

as has been previously suggested , with the known mod ificat ion of consonants, that scep i s a form of the name Sceaft.Scaeftwine i s a known Saxon name , easi ly corrupted to

Sceptone . This wou ld certa in ly account for the severalnames better than the idea that they were great emporiumsfor sheep . For were they so at this early period ? Sceaft

wine was a great saxon land lord . In Pipe Ro lls of thetime of Richard I . ( 1 196 E scheats) i nclude Stoke , Merston,

and Babcary, l ands of Robert Beauchamp , son of the firstRobert, and i n 1251 the son of the second Robert diedse ized of the manors of Stoke , Merston , Shepstone , and

Hache . The fi rst mention of the Beauchamp family inconnection wi th Somerset i s i n 1002, when RobertBeauchamp

,possib ly the son of Robert Fits o , of D.E. ,

witnesses to a charter by which Ansger Bri to gave his landof Prestitone to the Priory of Bermundsey Abbey, Surrey .

In Creech St . M ichael is Sheepham M oor . This may bethe sheep pasture or Sceatt - ham . Shepton Bokeland,or a part of it 18 a lso ca l led Shep ton M a l let .Sock Dennis i s a del ightfu l ly mysterious name , and besidei t is also ca l led Sock Ma lerbie ,

Z and in Mudford there is

O lddesock also cal led M udford Soc, later companion

manor to Woodford Terry, which is Old Sock . This Old

Sok is the same as Sok Ma lerbe . The Domesday spel lingsare Socca and Soca , a l ias Soche, and the Saxon owner is,oddly enough , Tochi or Stochi . Tochi is , no doubt, theWessex name Toke . The word soke , soc, i n such namesas Soc - burn , Soc- lege (Suckley) preserve the memory of an

ancient form of tenure . A soc i s a“franchise , i . e . , land

held by socage . I t a lso has an interest ing al lusion to

the possession of the power , confined wi th in certain pre

l For numerous notices of the B ea uchamp family, S .A . S . Proceed ing s , XXV IL,ii. , 20 ; B a rony of B eauchamp ; a lso the interesting notes of the Rev.

S . H . Bates- Ha rb in in Gera rd'

s Pa rticu la r H istory of the County ofSomerset, vol . xv .

2Ca l led by Gera rd now Socke and Bealy,ibid . , p. 207.

26 3

cincts, of hearing sui ts and administeri ng justice . Socu is

seeking into ,”and sacu is A . S . , a l awsui t or inqui ry . The

verb is sacan , to contend . The derivative word,

“be

seech ,

”has thus a sidel ight cast on i t . Socage is a certain

service of a tenant other than knight ’ s service .

The name Soc Denneis occurs as early as 1256, 1278- 9 .

Release i n Brudenwere , i n the manor of Sok Denis .Grant of seisi n in the manor of Sook Denys

,

”1389 . Sea l

of John de Berke ley, or Bercley, of Sockes Denys Manor ,”

1389 . On the other hand,in 1 175 - 1 189, the manor of Soc

is confi rmed to Richard , b ishop of Winchester , and in 12161272,

“grant for taxes in the church of St . John Baptist

of Sok . Hence the name Denis is late thi rteenth century .

With this name Denis may be connected SeavingtonDenis . In , i . e . , Edward IV .

’

s reign there are receivers’ and

wardens’

accounts for Sevenhampton Denis and Denys

(Seofonamtona) . The name Deneys occurs as early as the12th century as the name of the holder of Edgborough , andM r . Healey mentions that i n 1260 John le Deneys andRobert le Deneys met at Roger de Cokerny

’

s tavern inDovery . Denise is a name occurring in B ede, Denisesburna . As a matter of hagio logy , Denis is , as i n

“ Denisburn ,

”a shortened form of Dionysius , the Saint . The per

sona l name is , however, usual ly derived from Dane , LeDenis , the Dane .

1 A Denis came into possession of Soc inthe 13th and of Seavington in the 14th centuries . Any particulars of the fami l ies we know not . As there is a lsoSeavington Abbas, i t may just be mentioned that abbas arisesfrom the possession by the abbot of Adel inensia, or Athelney .

Sutton Bingham,or Sutton Calvel . These Suttons are ,

of course, Sutona, or south towns, general ly south of the p lace

near to one which is more important , or of which they were

manorial ly or ecclesiast ical ly a part . I t was convenient todesignate them by points of the compass or as New- tons .

The Norton to Sutton Bi ngham appears to be Norton

1 “ King John ha v ing wrested outof ye citizens ex chang ed itw ith Will iam ye

Dane for ye park e of Pethe rton ,

”ibid . Will iam the Dane is Wil l iam

Dacus . Bea ly mig ht be shortened from the Saxon Bea ldthun, but it is

probably a curious corruption of Ma lerbie .

264

sub -Hamdon . A previous name was Sutton Ca lvel .Roger Arunde l was Domesday tenant , and his tenantwas Roger Bo ise l lus, who is also identified wi th RogerCa lvus . In 1 162, time of Henry II . , there was a RobertCalvel . Calvus may be a lat inised form of this (or a nickname and Ca lve l is very l ikely to be the AS .

name Caefe l , which again appears i n North Petherton,as

Clavels—hay, a hamlet , and obsolete . This became C lassy,C lawsey, and Classway absolute ly uninterp retab le unti lt racked down . Caefel i s cal led C l avel , eas i ly i n popularp ronunciat ion . I t changed to Sutton Bingham not earl ierthan the reign of Henry II I . , when Wi l l iam de Bingham ,

ofthe fami ly of Binghams , of Melcombe , Dorset , the founderof the Melcombe branch , married Ceci l ia , daughter of

Geoff rey de M andevi l le , and was by this marriage broughtin to connection with the county and this p l ace .

1 Bing maybe a shortened form of Binning, a patronymic of Binna .

Bing - ham i s i tself a p lace - name , become a fami ly name . Itis true that b ing is a Scandinavian word , meaning a heapof corn

,and so by a twist , i f the vowel be short in ham,

Bingham means a corn - fie ld . There is a B i ngham in Notts,Bing-Weston in Salop , Bingley in Yorks . B inns is a frequentname , and to the persona l name the p lace - names are

traceab le .

Sutton M a llet i s a chape lry in Shep ton M a l le tt , and SuttonMontis is short for Sutton M ontacute , found in SheptonMontacute . I t is a lso cal led Sutton M ontague and SuttonM ontaigne

,and is mentioned in DB . as Sutuna only . Sutton

Abbas (of Athelney) is now Long Sutton .

Stanton Drew,Stanton Pr ior . The number of Stantons

in the land is immense , as any gazetteer wi l l show . We do

not fee l confident that they are al l from stony places . Cer

tainly not al l from characteris tic ancient remains cal ledDruidica l . Stanton Drew may be unique among them inthis respect . That some of them are d isguised forms of per

sonal names we feel convinced . Now , among the thanesof Edward Confessor, Taini Regis Edward i, A .D. 1086, the

1John d e B ing ham l ived in the re ig n of Henry I .

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26 6

name beyond recogni tion . I t i s Age l ineston,and Egel ingeston.

I n the Domesday account this is Asce l in’

s- ton . Ascel in wasunder tenant of Weston - in-Gordano . Whatever this is

, Ege

l i ngs- ton is near Tiche - ham (T ichen- ham) . Whereas Estana ,ca l led Stone Farm , i n M udford ; E stan - tona

,Stanton Drew ;

Stana in Hutton , (E) Stan - tona , Stanton Prior, and Stantuna

(E stan - tona , modern White Stanton) , Stawel l , Estan -wella,

1

the persona l name so wel l known may be at the base . I t is confessed ly difficul t to account for the name stone - town in manycases by any appea l to the loca l characteri st ics

,past or

present , and i t is obvious that the exp lanations of this kindthus attempted go astray . In the vicin i ty of Stanton Prior,Adelstan , the king , gave land i n Presti - tona to the priorof Bath i n 931 . And that E stan - tona was king

’

s landl ater i s clear from the fact that there was a grant of land byKing Eadgar to Aescwig, abbot of St . Peter

’

s , Bath ,965 . Aescwig i s, no doubt , the modern persona l nameE astwick , and not a wick at al l i n the sense of a hamlet .Stanton Wick is a part and tyth ing of Stanton Drew . Fromth is possession of the p riory is derived the name StantonPrior . I ts earl iest clear use is qui te late , as i t is not soca l led in the Nomina Vi l larum— that i s, l ate fourteenth

century .

Stanton Drew ,on the other hand , i s so cal led in 1297

Stanton Dru . In the Bath Chartu lary i t is Standondru,

which looks l ike Stone- Dundry . And th is is spel t Dundrayand Dendray , al l probab ly freaks of spel l i ng . The YoungDru was the name of B rugo de Montacute . I t i s a personalname which we may trace back . In 12th Edward 1 11 . ( 1339)Walter Dru is said to hold a knight

’

s fee in Stanton . In 1248

Al ice,who was the wife of Drogo de Stanton , was tenant in

a cause for three fertings of l and in Stantonerwick . In what

way Drogo fi rst became connected wi th Stanton does not appear

,but Col l inson vaguely says Geoff rey de Stanton bore the

appe lation of Drogo , and gave the p lace his name by wayof distinction . I t does not need again to be pointed out

how evanescent the“ g sound is . Drogo is p robab ly the

1Th is is probably the Stone We l l .

26 7

o ld German Trago , derived by Forstenman from a Goth icroot meaning

“to run ,

”which assumed the forms Tray,

Drage, and possib ly accounts for such a p lace - name as Drayton , as wel l as Stan ton Drew . There are n ine Draycotts anda score of Draytons to lerably wel l known , and severa l Drewtons and Dreggs . A Bristo l fami ly of Drew remained connected with the neighbourhood so far on as the reign ofHenry V II I .

, for the disso lved rel igious house at Barrow

Gurney the house and demesne lands of the Priorywere granted to John Drew, of Bristo l . I f Drew were theorigina l name from dreagh , an oak , and referred to thedruidical remains

,earl ier indications of the use of the name

would be found than the 12th and 13th centuries . In thecounty of Devon there is a Teignton Drews, where , curiouslyenough

,there is a cromlech on the Shelstone estate , a flat

a l tar - l ike stone,mounted on stone legs, and a logan stone ,

the latter,perhaps, artificial . Don - Cai rn , i n Breconshi re ,

is interpreted as the Druids- heap . I n the l ight of thenumerous other p l ace - names , i t i s the personal name Drew ,

Trew, as i n Trewern .

268

CHAPTER XXVI I I .

Doubled Names (continued ) .

Stones and Stokes and other Names .

The p lace - names ending in stone are of specia l in terest when

they have thei r origin i n remarkab le cromlechs, or in boundarys tones and stones of meeting . Where thi s is not the casethey are often the cl ipped forms of persona l names . I t mustnot be forgotten that , phi lo logica l ly, the longer name is theoriginal form .

Whitstone Hundred appears clearly to be named from ahuge monol i th . Beside th is , the stones at Battlegore , nearWi l l i ton , are the few remains of a crom lech or dolmen . Inthe l i tt le va l ley of Prestleigh , running up to the east , anda t the head of the va l ley on the north side and almost on

’

t he sky- l i ne,seven hundred feet above the sea level , is a lane

leading from Whitstone Farm ,where stands a monol i th four

and a ha l f feet h igh and three and a half broad , square inshape . This is the white - s tone . I t is of oo l i tic formation . Per

haps i t was the trysting p lace of the hundred . The possibi l ityof a landowner Wihtstan must not be forgotten .

1 Bemstone,near to Al lerton , is in DB . Bimastone . This appears to someto be derived from the Saxon beam , which means a pi l lar,original ly a tree - s tump . The Stone , Bemstone (D.B.

Stana) i s known , but not that of Bulstone . Thereason of th is lat ter is because i t is a personal name ,Bol lo

’

s ton . Hore stones , as boundary stones , are ftc

quent . Hare means white or grey ; haran or graegan , graystones . Stone (D .E . Stana) i n Eas t Pennard is p robab ly from

the name of one of the thegns who held under the abbot of

G l astonbury , as may be Stane in M udford ; Stanbury2 is prob

1T he name Whetstone is found a s an inscription on the head stone of a.

picturesque fa rm house where the courts of the hund red of Ahdieh and

Bulstone used to be he ld . Gera rd , p. 1 43 .

“Now ca l led Stammery Hill.

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270

M ichael . Stoke Lane the other name of Stoke M ichael , is inreal i ty Stoke Land , e i ther the vi l lage land or , i t is said , fromthe root wi th the longer vowel stoc , meaning the bole of a tree,and so means wood - l and . Butwe do not find this doub le rootin authori t ies . This is the meaning of Stocklan in StocklandBristo l , ca l led Stoke land and Stokelonde Gaunts from its connection wi th the Hospitale Sancti Marci de Gauntsive Byleswyke juxta Bristo liam.

Stoke Trister is sa id to be a vagrant form of D’

Estre,or

Del E s tre , so ca l led from Richard de l E stre , who in 1166possessed the manor, as appears from the Libe r Niger, as

ho lding V i l la del E stre . Wil l i am del E stre was a feofee ofthe Comte de Moretain at Domesday, and i t is thoughtR ichard was descended from him . I n Domesday Book i t isStoca only , and at present i t is a mere mean hamlet with amodern church . I n the Pedes Finium, we find the nameRichard de E stre , under the date of 1220 . In 1284

i t i s T risterestok , and Stoke T ristres i n Drokenford’

s

Register . I n the Nomina Vi l larum i t i s spel t T ritestoke.

Trister has actua l ly been exp lai ned by Ducange as meaningthe p lace of tryst , or meeting for a hunt . In the parishregister of the 18th century i t suff ers the ind ignity of beingcal led Stoke -Fuster . Obviously the mark in the initialconsonant was in tended to be the stroke of the second .

Our own op inion of this d’

Estre i s that i t is , afterthe usual s i l ly fashion , a transmuted form of the Saxon nameThrista Trista— and the peop le p reserved the namewhen the wou ld - be aristocrat disguised i t . We sti l l havethe Engl ish surname Trist . O therwise the more probableexp lanat ion is tha t Del E stre is mere ly a form of De Lestra

Leicester) , a tenant of the Count of Moretain at Bickenha l l and Poyntington . But how does this account for the

“t”

i n Trister ?Names that are rea l ly doub le which have crushed into oneword are Stogumber and Stogursey, that is Stoke -Gummaer

and Stoke Courci . I n 1243 and 1246 we find Stoke -Gumber,

and i n 1257 Stoke Gomer, and i n 1285 Stoke Gowmer. In 1291i t i s Stokgommer . I ts vagaries are del ightful : Sock

gumber, Stogomere, Stowgummer, and even Stoke Gunner,

27 1

i n the SomersetPleas . Gummaer1 is a persona l name foundalso as Gumbeorht and Gumburh . I t may seen strange

that , probab ly , the loca l names Amers - ham ,have al l a

name Ambre , l at inised to Ambrosius at thei r base . Amesbury was spel t Ambres - bury, the Bri tish form of i t isAmbrius, which was the name of a monk . An estatein Stogumber held as a l iving was E cclesia Sanctae M ariae

in Warverdines .

”2 Warverd ine i s a Saxon name , and that isWaerweard . Waer is wary , and weard is guard . The end,i ne ,

”i s sho rtened from the lat inised form inus .

Stogursey, or Stoke Courci, was so cal led in the 12th

century . In D .E . Estocha, i t is Stok Curcy in TE . 1297 ,

and i n a charter grant of the manor of Stoke Curcy, 1241 ,and Edward I .

, 1299, i t is d istinctively so ca l led . But i t waseven earl ie r . There was a Wi l l iam de Courci, who diedin 1 176 , great grandson of Wi l l iam de Faleise . John de Coa reiwas the conqueror of U lster , and a soldier of fortune . He ,

with his b rother , Jordan de Courci, appears as a witness to a

grant by Wi l l i am de Courci to St . Andrew of Stoke , whichfoundat ion , i n days of Henry I .

,Wil l iam de Fale ise , the

Domesday owner , or his son , had bestowed on the abbey ofLonlay , i n Normandy . I n the beginning of the reign ofStephen , a Robert de Curci was chief butler to the EmpressMat i lda , and founded Cannington Nunnery . The De Courceyshad a cast le in Stoke

,of which there are st i l l some remains .

I t becomes Stogursey in the 15th century , or a l i t t le ear l ier, i ndocuments .Rodney Stoke ,

a lso cal led Stoke Rodney . I n D .E . stocca ;i n the T .E . , 1291 , i t i s Stokgiff ord . T here is , of course , a

G loucestershire Stoke G iff ord . The G iffords were not a

Norman baronia l fami ly . A Wa l ter Gifard (made Earl of

Buckingham) held Ma iden Bradley in time of Edward the

Confessor . This was Wa l ter Gifard , son of Osborne de

Boleto,a re lat ion of Wi l l iam the Conqueror . 3 The name

1T he orig in of the Sa x on name is guma or gumman , a man, and ma er , d i stin

g uished , a s in brydguma , a brideg room. T h is is the g oodman, or

“g umman, of the house in the pa ra ble , i . e.

, the lord or maste r.

Gummow is a common name in South Somersetnow .

2Eyton id entifiesStokeg ome r w ith this church . Stokeg ome r itse lf d oes not occur in

Domesday.

3 I-I oa re’

s Wi ltsh ire, vol . i.

272

i s Saxon , and appears to be original ly Gifweard , Gifheard ,also Giforth .

1 Gifweard becomes Gifard ,and with the

asp ira te Gifheard . This name is perhaps a p leasing instance o f a Saxon holding up his head in the flood of

Normans . I t i s an ancient name in the county of Somerset .A Wal ter Giffard was one of the heroes of Hastings and a

Domesday commissioner . An Osbern Gifard i s a tenant ofCanola— that is , Canola or Knowle (Bristol ) i n DB . The

fami ly was, however , widely sp read . The a”i n Canola

i s oniy the Norman way of easi ng the unpronounceableconsonants of which examples have more than once been

given . Knowles abound in Somerset, and some of them

are tru ly ca lvaries, hi l locks shaped l ike a skul l the p laceof a sku l l

,

” as that in Chew Magna . AWalterus Giftheard is a wi tness i n 1086 to a charter giving Banwel l tothe church of St . Andrew ,

Wel ls . In 1266 a Geoff rey Giffard became chancel lor of England and bishop of Worcester .

He was younger b rother of a Wal ter Giff ard who in 1264

was Bi shop of Bath and Wel ls and in 1266 transferred toYork . He made Geoff rey canon of Wel ls and rector of

M el ls . The name Stoke G iff ar’

d commenced in the thi rteenthcentury and lasted unti l the fifteenth , when i t gave way toStoke Rodney . Rodney is a persona l name . In the timeof Henry V I I I . i t was st i l l Stoke G iff ard , for the inhabi tants

of Stoke Giff ard brought an action aga i nst Si r John Rodneyi n Star Chamber p roceedings for enclosure of commons,stopping of roads

,and other h igh - handed p roceedings of a

mediaeval squi re , or rather, lord of the manor , as the“ squi re ” i s a modern product . The Rodneys were there,but i t is not unti l late i n the l 6th century that the namebegins to change . George Bridges Rodney was an admiral ,the “ saviour of Jamaica , and the fi rst Baron Rodney of

Rodney Stoke (November, The name appears therefore much later than most of th is cl ass . As to Rodney, this

i s a Scandinavian name , Rhodni , meaning rhod , glory, and“ni, young . The vi l l age named Road is from this per

sonal name Hrod i n al l probab i l i ty .

1See page 68.

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2 74

Athelney of an acre of meadow in Dunmere, a HughF ichet of Spaxton , and a Wi l l iam F iche t of Merridge .

Fitchet is a dia lectica l Somerse t word for a stoat o r po lecat.

I t is therefore most l ike ly in o rigin a nickname . Furneaux isregarded by Bardsley1 a form of Furner

,the ovener

,

” or

baker . There was a Sir S imon de Furneaux,lo rd of Ki lve

,

who died in 1328. The origina l name appears to beFurnel l . A person of th is name held lands of theb ishop of London in M iddlesex A footingi n the county of Somerse t was ob tained in the reignof King John by marriage wi th a daughter of Robert FitzW i l l iam . De Furnel l , De Sal ice , De Popham ( the only onewho is not

“de

”i s Fi tchett) are co -witnesses frequently .

Dunwere i s on the opposi te side of the Parrett , and Hamp ,i . e .

, Hamme , and Dunwere is clearly the name of a river wear .On the Tian (or Tone) three fisheries are given ( 1170)to S . Athe lwin of Athe lynganye cal led Est-were , Mere -were,another he ld by Janswine (Eanwine an 8th century name ,Janwin , probab ly origi n of Jenn ing) and another ca l led Hen

gestwere .

Stockl inch Otters- ay, Stoke l inch , is a compound name,Stoke - l inch . There is a lso Stoke - linch M agda len,

vil lesabout which Domesday is si lent . Nor does T .E . helpus . We find Stoke - lynch Ostriter i n the time of EdwardI I I . As ay or

“ey,

” “ig,

”means an is land , Otters- ey

'

would seem to be s imp ly and easi ly to be taken to meanmean the otter

’

s is land . We need to find the otters . Col l insonderives i t from a name which , as a search discovers , is mentioned i n the Edwardian ( 1st) perambulat ion of the forest ofNeroche . O ter- schaw is the name of a wood of Isle Abbotsmanor . I n 1290 we find the name Simon le Ostricer, i .e. ,

Simon the Fa lconer, and the spel l ing Ostriter”points to

this derivation . Oter- schaw is p robab ly a shortening of the

same name , the Fa lconer’

s wood .

”An Ostricer (Ostrigier)

i s a term of falconry genera l ly l im i ted to a keeper of goshawksand tercels . I t assumes the forms Ostringer, and in Shake

speare Astringer . A modern persona l name from this is

1 Ou r E ng l ish Surnames, Bard s ley Chatto and Wind us .

275

Ostrich , so easi ly confused wi th the mighty b i rd . In Kirby’

s

Quest 14th Edward 1st, Wil l i am le Ostricer, i . e . ,Will iam le

Fa lconer, i s said to have he ld the manor of Stockl inch Ottersay of Alan Plukenett by the serv ice of bringing up onegoshawk .

Stoke Abbots.

—In the Lay Subsid ies (Edward I . ) we findthis Stoke in the hundred of Chew- and the abbot is theabbot of Kynesham Keynsham)—alongside Timsbury

,

C lutton , Staweye , Norton Ma l reward (spel t Marleward ) , andNorton Hautevi l le , Sutton M il itis (now known as KnightonSutton) and Stok M il itis. In the reign of Henry V III . , JohnSeyntlo was seized of the manors of Stoke Abbot , Farneborrowe, Ed ingwo rth , and tenements in Stoke Bychen,

anda lso of the manor of Stoke Knight , that is Chew- Stoke andthe si te of the p riory of Worspring granted to John Seyntloby the king . Stoke Bychen was he ld of the Queen as ofthe honour of G loucester . Are Abbots Stoke and KnightonStoke part of Chew Stoke , l ike Beechen - Stoke , which hasbeen ca l led Beauchamp Stoke by mistake ? In D

'

.B . ChewStoke is divided into five manors, and the name variouslyspe l t (without Chew) Stocca , Estoca , Stoche , Estochet, andStocket , and , as noted before , an obso lete manor nameC ile la .

1 M r . Whale (Somerset Domesday) has a note pointi ng out the etymology, as he cal ls i t , given in Somerset

Records . Bychenstoke juxta Chew , i . e . , by the King’

s Stoke .

How i t is the king’

s Stoke does not appear .“Thos . de

Barry holds ha lf fee i n Bychenstoke of John de Humfra

vi l le . Lucas de Barry holds Stoke M il itis . Bychenstoke

i s then Stoke M il itis, represented most l ike ly by the modernStoke V i l l ici . I t is possib le that this Bychen- stoke isBy- chew - stoke misread , and then we get a succession offa lse deductions . I t is Beechenstoke and then Beauchamp Stoke

,when , accord ing to the competent

authori ty of M r . Batten , there is no trace of any connection of the Beauchamp fami ly with Chew Stoke . As“Staweye

” i s mentioned , i t is conjectured that th is , too ,was of the honour of G loucester,

”and is not mentioned

1Col l inson identifies this Cilela with Cholwe ll in T emple Cloud .

276

i n D B . as Col l inson , by a confusion with another of thesevera l Staweyes

”i n the county , wrongly states and Mr .

Wood1 repeats .Stoke - sub-Hamdon i s a l so E . Stoke, 15 mi les west of

M ontacute . Above the vi l lage rises what is ca l led HamdonH i l l , at a height of 250 feet , celebrated for i ts Ham Hi l lstone , a brownish yel low oo l i te . I t is wi th the name we areconcerned . Ham- don is curious as i t i s not easi ly compounded of either ham , a home , or hamme , low meadowland . The clue seems to be given by the name John deE lmedone,2 i n which R . Love l l , lo rd of Caste l Cari , quitsclaim to the prior and convent of Montacute , al l righti n the manor of Tyntenhul l and Estchinnok

”

(reign of

Edward Also in the Lay Subsidies of Edward II I . wefind

,Stok Suth Amel - don and Stoket or E . Stoke .

”

Ham- done is therefore a corrupt ion , and abbreviationof

,a persona l name , l i ke Emborough , which is also spelt

Amel - bergh . This name is p robab ly Hamel in de Cornubia,a signatory of an early document re lat ing to Hamedon . This

name becomes H ampden . I t has been derived from Afondon , the hi l l - fort by the river . Stoke is two hundred feetbelow the down .

H ambridge i s a l so spel t He lm - bridge , th is origina ting in a

personal name , Helm - don .

Thorne Coffin and Thorne Falcon , Thorne S . M argaret,

Thorne Farors, and Thorne Prior .

— The three fi rst occurin DB . s imp ly as Torna, and the fi rst is only Thornenow . They were al l i n the ancient hundred of Givela .

Perhaps the word Coffin has been dropped as too lugu

briously suggest ive of the wrapp ings of the dead . But

i n real i ty i t is a most interesti ng old name . Therewas a fami ly of th is name at Thorne in the 13th century . In 1340 Si r Edmund Clyvedon presented to therectory of Thorne Cofli n i n succession to Robt . Coffin.

In 1348 a Wil l iam Coffin p resented . Emma Coffyn and

Isabel la Coff yn held by i nheri tance from Sir Edmund

1Collections for a H istory of Chew Mag na .

2l ldontacute Cha rtu la ry . S. A. S.

p..21 2 .

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278

Ottona , and North Wootton , Utona . I t thus appears thatWootton is not wood - town ,1 but that the modern spe l l ing is theusual phenomenon of the insert ion of the semi - vowel sound

.

Ut and Ott are re l ics of the persona l name Huda whichappears also as Wada , Hudo , and Hudda . Hutton is veryprobably Huda - ton . The dist i nct ive name Courtenay is derived from John de Courtenay . Phi l ip Bassett gave i t untoJohn de Courtney in the time of Edward I . I t was Wi l l iam deCourtenay who founded the p riory of Augusti ne monks to thehonour of St . Thomas (Becket) of Canterbury at Woodspring .

The addi t iona l name goes back therefore to the 13th century .

I t is supposed that th is Wi l l iam de Courtenay was thegrandson of one of Becket

’

s assassi ns , Regina ld F i tz Urseand his l as t descendant . Camden gives thi s name as oneof those introduced from Normandy, Bri ttany , and other

p arts of France in the 1 1th century . Among these are St .Lo , S . Maure

, Ferrers , Bonvi l le , Dinant (now Dinham),Balun , Val letort, Bluet , Bohun— a l l found in Somerset .Dinham for Dinant is doubtful . We have to take intoaccount the numerous F rench sett lements i n subsequent history and the very many ambi tious imi ta t ions of Normannames . The supersti t ion has not yet died out . A Wil l iamde Courtenay ( 1342 - 1396) was Archb ishop of Canterbury, andheld prebends in Wells and Exeter cathedrals . I t is at

least worthy of note that Stoke Courci, Wooton Courtenay,and Worspring were connected together i n one ownershipat or shortly after Domesday Survey .

Wake Dowlish, or Dowl ish Wake , Dowl ish in DB .

Dovel is. The Wake occurs i n Taxatio E ccl . as DowlisWac . The spel l i ngs are Do l ish , Dowlyschwake , EastDawlish ,E astdowl ische , Eshdov l isch , chiefly 16th century varieties .Dowlysh i s a river name ,of which other examp les i n theC rawford charters . There is a Dowl is i n Salop , on theborders of Wales, and one in Devon , which is spel t Doe - l is .

We bel ieve the ul timate origin i s cel t ic, Dow and Doeand Dee are forms of Tav and Dove , river names , and“lys or l lys,

”means slop ing meadow land . The

l T houg h Gerard says , which name is certa inly took from wood .

279

super- added name is a fami ly name . The fami ly of Wakesderive thei r ancestry from Hereward the Wake . There

were a fami ly of Wakes at Dowl ish early i n the 12th century . Lopen was farmed by John Wac at thi s date . Lopeni s La Penne , i n which the La, the Norman way of cal l ing

p laces , has coalesced wi th Pen . Wac, of course , is derivedfrom Wac , watchfu l .Wel lisford i s i n Langford Budvi l le . The name Wel isforda

is that of a manor of which the domesday tenant is Robertde Odburvel la . I t was the manor of We ll isford of whichRobert was owner . The bridge over the Tone is cal ledHarford and Harpford . Langford is , of course , Langa - ford ,i n which Langa is the persona l name , or may possib lybe descrip tive . Is i t ? There are numerous Langs and

Longs in persona l names . Wel l isford i s We lhiford ,

Wel lhisc or Weal las- ford . The name Richard le Waleys,the lord of Staweye , occurs in 1225 . This Staweye i smerely a manor in the parish of F ivehead and not to beconfounded wi th Nether Stowey , Upper Stowey , or Stowey

juxta Chew . This is the same name in We l is- ford . Le

Waleys is , I suppose , the stranger .” We l lhisc i s a name

attested in 688, and earl ier in 679, as a Wessex name .

Budvi lle , which is a personal name , appears to have undergone some transformations . In 1568 there occurs the amusing variant Longford Budfil l . The form in 1070 i s Botterv i l le , in a Wa l te r de Bottev il le . This name is said to beconnected wi th the p lace - name Bouterv il le , i n the cantonof St . Mere Egl ise , Arrondissement de V alois . There isa Wil l iam Bottev il le as l ate as 2ud Henry V . , and anotherfami ly of Botev il le who came into E ngland from Francein the reign of King John . T his monarch sent for foreigntroops to aid him in his wars wi th h is barons . I t is at leastcurious tha t the domesday tenant of.Welesforda i s Robertde Adburv ila . He was a king

’

s ‘florester, and ousted theSaxon forester of Edward the Confessor . Now strangertransmutations of persona l names have secured vogue than thatof Odburv il la i n to Budv il la . The schedule of the serjeantries

gives five estates, and the name is one of the finest specimens of caprice we have met with . In the I nquisitio Gheldi

280

of 1084 is Robertus de Othburgiv il la and Otburguilla, whohad th ree h ides in M i lverton

,of which Longford was a part .

I t is a lso spe l t Aubervi l le , and is the same fami ly name

connected with Wel lisford . I t m ight possib ly be the sameas Budvi l le .

I f we can find that grand o ld heathen Penda in thename of the vi l lage of Pendomer because this redoubtableking of M ercia may possib ly have made a conquest of themere in that loca l i ty, we are del ighted . Penda is an in

teresting person . He was a determined o ld heathen whena l l the kings about him were adop ting the new rel igion ofChrist ian i ty . We admire dogged cons istency and persistenceeven when the cause is bad . We recognise the va lue ofstaying power . By being the cause of the death of Oswa ldof Northumbria in the seventh century this long- l ived kinggave to Anglo - Saxon Christi an i ty i ts fi rs t certified saint . He

i s thus a p icturesque figure . Alas ! th is exp lanat ion whichhas been given seems scarcely ab le to hold up i ts head inthe face of the o ther p lace - name we , who l ive in the county,have heard oi— that is Chi lthorne Domer . I t must therefore be Pen- domer, and not Penda -mere . We are not umfami l iar wi th the prefix Pen . I t is ,

we know,particularly

abundant i n Wa les as a prefix , as, for examp le , i n such aword as Pen-maen -mawr , the

“end of the great rock ,

”as

wel l as i n the Cymric Cornwa l l . Pen means an end or ahead . Penselwood is the name of a Somerse t vi l lage , and

i ts interp retation is , the end of the sa l low wood .

”The

Engl ish Se lwood is added on to the Celt ic pen , which theDomesday Norman inquisi tors spe l t Penna , j ust as theywrote tona for ton or tun . Pennard , as a name , rep resentstwo vi l lages , namely , East and West Pennard , which is um

adulterated Cymric . Across the Channe l in Gl amorgansh ire is the wel l - known loca l appendix to Cardiff , Penarth .

I t is a headland jutting out i nto the Bristo l Channe l , and asarth means a bear, i ts meaning is sa id to be Bear- head ,from i ts shape ; but as Ardd is p ronounced Arth , i t mayperhaps simp ly be Land end .

”Pennard is p loughland

end”— beyond was forest or swamp . There is a Pen- hi l l

on Mendip . Other examples may be easi ly accumulated .

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282

i n that reign interest in O ld knol le and Berdesley passedto Si r John Trevelyan . The name Moun gave p lace to that

of Rawleigh i n the 15th century , and nei ther name nowcleaves to the p resent p lace - name . I t i s, of course , possiblethat Cut, Code , Coude represents the persona l Saxon nameGudda as i n other Somerset p lace~names, Cud -worth,Gudda s farm , and elsewhere, Cuddes- don , Cuddington , Cudham . There i s a Cudworth in Yorkshire , where we scarcelyexpect to find rel ics of Cel tic, and , of course , Cudworth

Cudeworda) , i n the hundred of South Petherton . Thisis an i ndication that the personal name is at the base

,

which , as i n other cases, Cudeworda may represent Cuth

heard or Cuthweard (Cuthred) as a compound persona l name,and worda i s not for worth .

”Nettlecombe is i tself a

compound of a personal name with the descrip tive combe .

”

Nettle might easi ly be supposed to be the aggressive hedgep lant, whose st ing is an i ngenious i nstrument of tortureto the del icate cuticle . I t is D .E . Netelcombe, and inEdward I I I .

’

s reign Netelcombe ; T .E . , 1297, Nettelcombe .

The A . S . i s Nete le and the Dutch Nete le . The persona l name is indicated also by Nette lcombe ,

a hamleti n Dorset ; a Nettleham in L i ncolnshi re , a Nettlstead in Norfo lk , and Nett le - ton in L incoln and Wi l ts . The personalname de Nette lton occurs . 1 T he ul timate origina l of theword may have indicated in the human bearer of the namethe characterist ics which fixed i t on the no li me tangere nettlep lant .A lmsworthy Blewitt.

—Almsworthy is st i l l found . I t is inExford . This i s ident ified wi th Edmondsworthy in D.B . , inwhich , i n that case, Edmondsworthy i s rea l ly a mis - reading forE lmond . Almund , or Eahlmond , is a known name . In1461 i t i s Almondesworth Blewi tt . The Bloets or Blowetts

held several Domesday sub - tenures i n the county , but thisi s not one of them . I t is a sign of the spread of the family .

Almond and E lmund are known Saxon names in which Al

or E ] i s said to mean foreigner , and mund means p rotection .

This prefix has , therefore , nothing to do with any supposed

1Ca lend a r of the M anuscripts of the D ean a nd Chapter of Wel ls ( Ind ex ) .

283

former custom of the distribution of alms . Almsford , foundas Ansford i n the supp lementary l ist of Kirby

’

s Quest, 14th

century, and in 1291 as Almenesford and Almans - ford , whi lei n Kirby

’

s Quest i t is s imp ly Alem,has p recise ly the same

explanati on . I t is E lmundsford or Eah lmundsford .

Chinnock M onachorum, or E ast Chinnock , a lso M iddleChinnock , West Chinnock .

—The Domesday spel l i ng isCinioc. The consonant became doub led as early as 1 174,i n the time of Richard 11 . This is found in a charter in theBodleian L ib rary, i n which the churches of Chynnock are

approp riated to the use of the priory of St . Peter de Montacute . It was granted to the p riory by the Earl of Moretaine ; the others had diff erent ownerships . In the TaxatioEcclesiastica ( 1297) i t i s Chynnok . The spe l l ing Chernockei n the 16th century is purely arb i trary . This connectionand i ts appropriat ion to the use of the priory ofSt . Peter gave i t the name Monachorum , which hasnot been mainta i ned as an ab iding disti nction , noteven as Monk

’

s Chiniok . C i ni is good Saxon . The“i”ending is characteristic of Saxon , as

“a” is of

gothic persona l names . The prefix cyn, cin , kin , or cyn

means nob le . T he spel l ings are Chinnock , Ch innoc, Cynoc,C innok , C innoc . T he Welsh have a loan word , C in iog,meaning chief , princip le . The exp lanation King

’

s - oak is notfar away , save that C i n i is a proper name . I t is found incompound names

,as Cynulf , Cyneheard (Kennard) , Gym

ba ld (Kembal l) . C i n i appears in modern names as Keen ,Kinney .

Churcheye Stathe i s a loca l name in North Curry . Bothnames indicate the presence of a stream . Church - eye i s

Cerc - eige,ciric- ige , or the church island , the p roperty of the

church . Eye or ige does not , we may repeat , necessari lymean a patch of land surrounded by water , but is e loquentof the p resence of rich and lush meadows by the river - s ide .

So does sta the mean the bank of a streamlet , M . H . G .

stade,old Saxon stath ,

a bank of a river . The Aryan rootis sta, meaning a bank in the sense of so l id ground on which

you step from o ff the l iqu id way . Modern German in thissense prefers the word ufer , a bank of a river , found in

284

p lace - names as over , e .g . , Northover, near I lchester, andone in Ditcheat , i n Devon , and the l ike . In Somerset thereare other examp les of words end ing in over

, Eastover, inBridgwater . Strodham i s a local name in South Petherton

,

derived from stathe and ham , l ow- lying meadow land onthe Parret .Bradon Govia , or Goose Bradon , i s Gosebradone in LaySubsidies, 14th century . There are two dist inct parishes

,

South Bradon and Goose Bradon . Bradon at the time ofDomesday was the name of a group of four manors . Of thefour , Bradon I vaus was N . Bradon . The name Ivaus is probab ly a form of Ivo , a known name . No th ing is known ofthe fami ly ca l led Ivaus. Goosebradon is a part of Ham

bridge . North Bradon is now a part of Is le Brewers andsouth of Puckington . The present parish is ca l led Bradon,and the hamle t therein North Bradon . Bradon Gov iz hasd isappeared , l i ke many another ancient dwel l ing- place,leaving no wreck behind . Gose Bradon is only cal ledBrada i n DB . Bredene is a manor of South Bradon inPuckington , and Bretda is a part of North Bradon , also speltBredde . Breda , too , is the name of a ci ty i n Brabant . Thewidespread personal name Breda , formed in the modernnames Bread and Breading, and possib ly Bord and Board, isattested by such forms as Bredan - eia

,the Domesday form

of Bradney i n Broad l ip ; Breda , i . e . , Breda’ s is land , in

Sussex , Bredgar (Breda’

s Court) i n Kent, Bredon in Worces

tersh ire ,and Bred - hurst , Bredi - cot i n the same county, Bray

down in Wi lts , Breads- al l i n Derbyshi re and Breden -buryin Herefordsh i re , and others . Bradfie ld , Broad Marston,

(or Marston M agna) , Broadway, Bradford ( i ntersected bythe Tone) , Broadway (ancient o ld Roman road passed here),and Broadwood are no doubt from the adjective broad . Theboundaries of Ham

,now ca l led Hamp , occupying the

southern portion of the parish of Bridgwater, west of theRiver Parrett

,has a stream cal led Braden-flot. Another

watery p lace is Swanmore, and a muddy river cal led Hol lowbrook

,which is a name found in many parishes , as in Chew

Magna , and a dyke ca l led Candel - dick . This Braden is prob

ably the word broad . Gov iz has been shortened to Gose,

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286

and the o ld German name , Howchin, is a Norfo lk name ,Ecghun . A part of Northmoor under Lyng is cal ledH i tchings, and Henry de Erlegh granted to Athelney ameadow cal led Muridones Leching, which extends from ameadow cal led Flokesmede and Nordmore . Is lands nowcal led Steep and F la t Holmes were anciently cal led Eeching .

There is an Eckington in Worcestershi re . This is said tobe Cel tic, narrow p laces, and a modern Welsh word isEching, a stra i t . Ecke is German for a corner . Ecchingas the name of the is lands is p robab ly Hecan- ige

, Heca orEcca

’

s is land .

Winsford Rivers — From Winsfo rd the fami ly name ofR ivers has been dropped . The ford is on the Exe . Winsford , Winsham , and Winscombe have kep t up the possessiveform , and are from the name Wi ne (friend) , the ford, theham (meadow or home , according to the length of thevowel) , and the combe . The spel l ings Winchcombe andWintcombe are late and give no clue . Wynes- combe goesback to Domesday , and is i n a charter of 1340 . Thedoub le name , W

’

ynesford Rivers M anor, is found in1324. Of course , Rivers is l ati n ised , i n the comic fashion ofthe day , to de Ripariis . The name is said to be from Riviere,near Creu l l i , in the arond issement of Caen . A Richard deRiviere he ld a barony in Dorset in 1086 . In 1 107 a deRivers was Earl of Devon . I t seems that the Somersetmanor had th is fami ly ownership in the 12th century .

1

Winsford Bosun is another manoria l name . Bosun appearsto be the ancient name Bosa or Boso , a lready noted inBosan - tun (Boss ington) .The manoria l names in West Harp tree are i n teresting, as

Harptree Ti l ly . A fami ly of this name held the manorin 1 194 (Richard According to the aris tocratic accountthe origin is from an i l lustrious Norman fami ly, who took

thei r name from the cast le and barony of Ti l ly, near Caen,of which they were Caste l l ans . At this date Henry de Tilly

of West Harp tree , pa id scutage . I n Kirby’

s Quest a Ti llyheld of Anselm de Gurnay ( 13th century) , and a Johannes

1Escheats 7 Edw . I . j ohannes Ripa ri i s tenu itHamlettum vocatum Wins/27rd.

287

Til l i , i n the Nomina Vi l larum,he ld Porteshevede (Portis

head) , and Johannes Ti l l i and Thomas Gurney in Est

Harptree .

1 The fami ly may have been Norman French .

The name is Scandinavian . Tol i occurs i n Somerset, D .B . ,

as a thane of Edward the Confessor , ho lding a t Shep tonM ontague . The root i s Ti l (Di l) , meaning good . I t is theold Norman Th i lo , Dil l i , Ti l l i . In French i t is Ti l lé, andI tal i an Ti l l i . Di lke is a diminutive , and the fami ly sa id tobe Danish . I t occurs in numerous ancien t compound names ,as T ilbeorht, T ilwine (Di l lwyn) , T ilfrith , which might easi lybecome Ti lfo rd . Tiley is a name in the neighbourhood now .

The name Ti l ly has thus l asted in West Harp tree someeight hundred years . The last of th is name to ho ld themanor was L ione l Ti l ly i n 1476 . There is a Theale (Dil lo)near Reading, and i t is in the parish of Ti le- hurst . Also a

Thelbridge in Devon,and a Thelwa l l (T ilwa ld ) in Cheshi re .

Harptree Gourney,now cal led the Prince

’

s M anor , be

cause it became , i n the time of Edward II I . , part of theDuchy of Cornwa l l confiscated to the C rown by Sir Thomasde Gournay, who , wi th others , had the custody of EdwardII . i n Berke ley Cast le , and was accused of being accessory

,

to the murder . The fami ly name Gourney occurs in otherSomerset p lace - names , as noted .

2

I dstock I nverne .

— I dstock i s in Chi l ton Trini ty . This is adoub le disguise . The Domesday spel l ing is I chetok . Thereis a lso Ichestoke i n Cannington hundred , spel t H ichestok i n

Kirby’

s Quest, which is , I suppose , the same p lace . In the

16th century we read of a Perce l la possessionumHenrici Ducis

Sufio lc, i . e . ,Henry Duke of Suff o lk , in I destock Inverne .

I chetwas ev idently p ronounced hard , and we must divide the

syl lab les of the early spel l ing , Ichet- ocha . The name I cca

occurs i n local names, Iccamora and c an- tun . The pro

nunciation ,however

,more clearly points to icht and accha ,

i n which icht is eaht (Saxon) , acht (German) , and our eigh t

before i t received i ts softened pronunciat ion . As i l lustrat ion

,there is Igbt- ham in the county of Kent, and Ight- held

vol . V ., p. 70 .

2Account of these interesting manors may be foundin Rutter.

288

i n Shropshi re , pointing to some division of the soi l whenworked on the common field system . The

“e ” is the

Norman intrusion of a vowel to ease the pronunciation.Icht

ocha thus appears to be eight oaks , l ike nine elms, whenthe elms have disappeared . In the hamlet of Widcombe

,

near West Harptree, i s a spot , the Nine e lms,” and the

trees are fast disappearing to stumps and remains . In suchnames as Idstone in Berks and I dson , I tson , i n Stogursy wehave spel l ings which show that these are such abbreviationsas would scarcely be guessed . The former is in fu l l Edwyn

’

s

ton , and the l atter i n fu l l Edelm’

s- ton wi th the spel l ings Edestone , Ed ighston, Ed istone , Edmes- ton , Edmys- ton , Eduston,

Edyston, and that Edelm i tself is Ealdhelm, Aldhelm . InInverne , if the name is ancient , we may have an exampleof the French form of the Cel t ic gweru , an e lder tree, or

gwern, a swamp ; i . e . , Verne . Also in gwerne orWearne, as inWearn-wych . The spel l ing of I chestoke , i n Canningtonhundred

,would lead us to think of the personal name,

c a or H icca , found in very varied forms : H ig, H iggs,H icks, Huc, Ugo , Hug, Hogo (Hugo) , and the root meansthought study . There is a local name H iggesho le, i n Broom

field , and other local names wi th this root .

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290

spot . Saxons were not so fancifu l , even if they were super

stitious, as certain ly they were . Perhaps a doub t may even

cross our minds when an authori ty assures us that here iso r was a medicinal sp ri ng , good for the cure of

“ banes,

” ord iseases . Pi ty i t should not be rediscovered and uti l ised

.

The former p rohib i ted wood might soon be covered withnumerous hydropath ic estab l ishments . And a terrib le doubtstea ls into our minds when we find i t questionable whetherthe word bane was, so ea rly as th is p lace- name arose, usedwi th the meaning of disease . The A . S . bane appears to meana murderer and death , ra ther than ai lment that is curable .

I ts meaning could thus only be the death wel l”as early

as 1068. And this assumes that the la tter component,wel l

,i s what i t seems, a sp ring and not a corrup t form of

vi l l or vi l le . Sometimes this wel l —not derivab le fromquel le ,

” a spring,which is a form fi rst b rought into vogue

in German by M artin Luther— i s a form of the old Germanwi l a

,

” a hamlet , modern German wei ler, with the samemeaning . I t is further worth notice that there is mentionedin D.B . as i n or near Banwel l a spot wi th the p lace- namePantes-Heda . Pantes is Cel tic for a val ley, and thus withthe Saxon addi tion i t wou ld mean head of the va l ley, andPantes -wi la would simi larly mean the ham let in the vale,which is a lso a Cymric and a Saxon compound . The spel ling wel l

”is so persistent that th is is p robab ly the true

ending and meaning . Barnev il l , as a local p lace - name , isdoubtless the Saxon name Barnwulf and Barnulf , butwe can find no clue to th is being the rea l origin of Ban

wel l . Barnewel l was a name of one of the abbots of

M uchel ney . This would never have occurred to us butfor this existence of the name Pantes - heda , just as

Panis- ford is perhaps Pantes- ford , as earl ier exp lained,the va l ley ford , which i t emphatical ly is . Our explanation of Banwel l is Saxon prose . I t is perchance a pi ty that those Saxons would fix thei r names onthei r p roud possessions . Now Beonna, Benna , Benno , and

Bean were amongst the commonest of Saxon names , andthus i t is very probable that Bean4wila, or Bean -wel l , if youl ike to assume that a former Saxon owner gave his name to

29 1

the spring rather than the area . In D.B . the spel l ing i sBanuel la . I n the time of Richard I I . , Banewell , and then

later Benwel l . I n TE . ( 1297) i t i s not va lued , and so doesnot appear . Because i t was ep iscopa l p roperty? The spel l

i ngs from the Banuel la of D.B . to Banwel l of to - day havevaried but l i tt le . A lready noted wi th the same name isBinegar , which in B i shop Bowet

’

s Register, 15th century , i s

Benehangre . There is a lso B incombe i n Crewkerne , Benn’ s

Combe .

Backwel l i s absolu tely mysterious in the Domesday formas Bacoila . I n 1297 i t i s Bacuel la , and i t has varied but l i t tlesi nce . I n a thi rteenth century Norman charter of BathPriory i t i s Bacuuil that i s Backwil , and as the Normanspel l ings often have 0 for u ,

”these spel l ings Baco ila and

Bacwil are the same . They shut out the idea of a wel l andleave us to dea l wi th Bac-wil , or Bac - ul . There are vari ants i nwi l ls , such as Bakewel l and Backwa l l . Back -wel l m ight besaid to mean the ridge -wel l , from the word

“back mean

ing a ridge , as , i n the geologica l phrase , hogs - back . The churchstands on something l ike one . As the Normans hated theasp irant after a vowel this may be Baga- hi l l . I t might befrom Bacco , a personal name , and wi la , a hamlet , as beforesuggested for Banwel l . The Domesday spel l ing i rresistab lysuggests to us a word that is a uni t in i tsel f, and the nameBaco la is such a name found in the 8th century . I t is thename of a Mercian abbot , and of others who were not abbots .We meet the name Baco ise as the name of a ti th ing in connection with Backwel l . Baco ise i s clearly the Norman nameBaieuse , Baico is, and Baieuse . The manor is d ivided intotwo tyth ings ca l led Sores and Bayouse, from the de Baiocisand the de Baiose and the de Sore or Sores , two fami l ies ofd istinction , to whom these marshes were granted more than

700 years ago by Wi l l iam Rufus on the death of the Bishop of

Coutance .

1 This is wri tten Ba ioc, to which the ending isensis . ”We find John de Baioc . I f the p lace - name originated

with th is sub - tenure Bacoil i s Baioc - hi l l . But the name seems

to be older, and the derivation from the name Bacul is the

lRutter : Del ineations of Somerset, p. 1 8.

292

most l ikely . Backwel l is Baco , Baga - vi l l , or the ful l name ,Baco la , or Bacula ( that is Bacul ) . Such exp lanations as Backand wel l that i s a wel l i n the

'

rear of the hi l l,are evident

shifts . Back 0’

hi l l”as an exp lanation of the Domesday

spel l ing Bacoila is undeniably futi le .

Great Elm and Little E lm . E lm i n D .E . is Telma andTe lwe . I t is sa id that the Normans put a t ” before suchnames, and that th is accounts for such Domesday book formsas Tetesberga and Tegesborough for the modern Edgeborough . And , aga i n , that th is is a rel ic of the prefix aet orat . Thus aetE lm becomes Telm.

”So i t i s said the Nor

mans put a t”before such a name as Umbel i for Ubley,

which is spel t Tumbel i i n Domesday Book . Col l inson identifies Tumbel i with Tunley,

and , etymologica l ly judged , without regard to the struggles to systematise the Domesdayestates into five hide or other un i ts, Col l inson seems to beright . Tumbel i is a nasal spel l ing of Tun ley . Telm appearsto us to be a shortened form not of At E lm, but of thepersona l Adhe lm, Athe lm, Ate lm, as variously spel t . Of

paral lel instances of such shortened names,i n Herefordshire

Almley is t raceab le to the fu l l name Age lnods lea , a solutionthat no mere etymologica l ski l l cou ld conjecture . There isElmworthy, i n Dunster . The D .E . name Almar or Aelmar,l at inized to Almarus, occurs as a Saxon owner in the hundred in which this p lace is s i tuate . And Ae lmar is shortenedfrom Ae lfmaer . I t was the name of b ishops , priests archdeacons , abbots , l andowners , and al l sorts and condit ions ofmen . E lmworthy and E lworthy are shortened forms of personal names , the former of Ae lfmaer, Ae lmer, and then onlythe stump left , E lm, the latter p robab ly of Ethelweard . I tis i n D .E . i n fact , E lurda, and i n the T .E . E l leworthy . Similarly, T elm

”i s , we conjecture , a re l ic of the Aldhelm who

was the founder of the monastery atFrome . In 1799 Stracheysays that some part of the o ld bui ld ing

“converted into tene

ments for poor fami l ies may be discovered in that part of thetown ca l led Lower Keyfo rd . I t was never i nhab i ted by themonks after the Danish depredations . That Great E lm and

L i t t le Elm are re l ics of th is great name is fa r more p robablethan the exp lanation from big t rees and l i tt le trees or the

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293

prefix at . We have al ready noted the extraordinaryfact that in the ordinary theories of etymologica l derivation two great names , Aldhelm and Athe lstanefnames close ly associated with Somerset—have left notraces i n p lace - names . I t seems to us that they havein these much abbreviated and disguised forms . Thep lace - name H i lton might easi ly be said to mean hi l l - town , or,dropp ing the asp i rate , I I or Is le ton , the town on the RiverI le . But , now, i t i s spel t i n Domesday

“Atilton.

” There isno reason for the prefix at .

”The p lace belonged to the

abbey of Athel ingey, and is Adel in - ton , became“Ati l

ton , and then cut down i n the popular speech to I l ton andthe asp i ran t put i n front , and so you get your utter disguise .

The names are mere fragments, l ike the ru ins of the monas

tery at Keyford and the abbey of Athel ingey . At any rate ,th is accounts for the Domesday spel l ing .

A further curiosity i n the way of an abb reviated and thor

oughly disguised name is that of A lston M aris, i n Huntsp il .

Mary, i s , we suppose , the V i rgi n . The Domesday spel l ing of

Alston is Alesis- ton , and th is is a form of Alsis- ton or E lsis- ton ,and this i n turn is an abbreviation of Egelsige, which is a formof Ethelsige and spel t Aelsi, Ailsi , Alsi . The Norman spel ling inserts the e ,

”Alesis. The name is (with a query as to

the identity) spe l t i n a bu l l of pope Alexander 1 11 . Athelston .

1

This would easi ly become Alston,but the D .B . spel l ing is i n

favour of the former . Aleston i s a form favoured . Aethel

i s a later form of Aegel , and the hermi t of Athelney,Egelwine , i s usual ly ca l led Athelwin, as the variouschartu laries show . Though the derivation from Athel ingey,

“the island of the nob les,

”i s a lmost too sacro

sanct to touch , yet Athelw in - ey, Athel in- ey, is easy,and p lausib le , if not (as I am incl ined to think) probab le . Andyou may be excused for pausing in front of such names as

Elborough Hi l l , i n Hutton , and E lbridge, i n North Cadbury .

C loses cal led Great and Li ttle E lb ridge”

We do

not know the age of these names . I t is certainly curious thatwe read ( 1stM arch , 20th Edward

“Grant of manors

1Ca lenda r of the M SS. of the Dean and Chapter of Wel l s, p. 534.

294

and l ands to Si r Thomas Burgh and the reversion to John,

Bi shop of E ly,

”tempting us to think that E lborough is E ly

Burgh , from the doub le ownersh ip . If the name is older,

then E lborough is p robab ly for Ethe lburh , a l ady ’s name,

and , i n fact , the name of Ina’

s Queen and E l

bridge is only another form of the same name . Ethe lburh

becomes Ethelbrig, and then E lb ridge by abbreviation andmisapp rehension . Alston Sutton , i n Weare , i s D .B . , Alnodes

tuna , that is , Aege lnothes tun or stan (stone) , a later form ofAethe lnoth .

Edgborough i s a further instance where a letter is supposedto be capricious ly p refixed by the Norman spel lers , for inD .E . i t is diversely spel t Tetesberga and T egisborough . Oncemore there is the customary manuscrip t confusion of

“

t”and

c,

” which exp lai ns this inconsistent variety of spel l ing . I f

the identification with Edgbo rough i s correct, as seems l ikely,th is form shows that Tecesborough is the origina l word . Itis odd that the names of the v i rgins to whom Aldhelm dedicated his treatise , De Laudibus Virginitatis, were Tecla and

H idburga . T he l atter is certa i n ly Edgborough . The syl lable

burga is the end of a persona l name , not a burg ” or' borough , and T ecesborough may be T eclaburh . Twonames of p laces adjunct may be confused . Edgborough is in

North Petherton .

Chiselborough is Ceoso lburgon i n D.B . and Cise lburgh in

1250 . Cyce lberge i n a Wel ls M andate , 1341 . There arethe names Chiselhurst , Chiswick , Ch islett, and Chelstone, i n West Buckland , which are usua l ly derived

from Ceosil , a sandbank , as a physical characteristic .

O ld German is kisi l ,”and modern kiesel .

”Kieselstein

means fl in t . This is p robably the root of the personal name,Gisl . G islburh i s the name of a woman . Geise l is a hostage

i n modern high German , but the origina l root is an old teutonic word , and perhaps an o ld Saxon warrior name . Chiselhurst and Chis -wick are the hurst or wood and wick or hamelof Gi sel . Chislett, as a personal name , i s the o ld name Gisla,with the consonanta l grip addi tions become Gislat. Chiswick

need not , however, be an abbrevia tion,but simply Giso, a

name of a Saxon b ishop known in Somerset annals as the last

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296

wrda or C louesworth , which is C lowes -worth or Clovesworth . This is Ceo lf

’

s worth , or the name Ceo lfweard . The

name Ceo lf occurs frequent ly . Co lfig is Ceo lfwig . C lovesworth becomes Golf

’

s-worth and C los-worth easi ly . Theexplanation of the name Cloford Claford) , withlate r spel l ings exhib i t i ng no great variety or change

(excep t Clatforda) may be compared .

1 There are also

Co lefords, one near Radstock and one near Stogumber,and there is the G l oucestershi re Co leford in the royalforest of Dean , which are simp ly variants of Geolfri th , and have no more to do wi th coa l and a ford than

Claford has to do with c lay and ford ; albei t there is a certainsimi l i tude , i nasmuch as coa l is found , but scarcely gave thep lace the name in the Saxon epoch centuries before the coalp i t became the fly-wheel of modern civi l isa tion . C loford , alsospel t C lover, i s probably , l ike C l iff ord , i n Cannington and in

Beckington , a lso a form of th is persona l name , Ceo lfrith . Thename underwent loca l developments . Of th is fact of local

development there is abundant evidence .

Clewer, i n Wedmore . I t is C luvere i n the seventh century ;C l ive -weare in D .E . ; C lyware in a forest perambulation ofthe t ime of Edward I . ; Cluor i n a wi l l of the late sixteenthcentury . This is exp lai ned as the C l iff -weare . I t is at thesteep sudden ending of the h i l l , which makes the name a suitab le one . Lower down the Axe are Weare and LowerWeare, and i t has been pointed out tha t Badgeworth is in

D .E . spel l ing Bagewerre .

2 We may note that when we havea cl iff name the designation does not cover merely the idea

of a rocky p rominence— the cl iff— but that , according to itsetymological meaning C leofdan, to sp l i t , to hol low

out) , i t a l so imports a c left , a slope , or hol low . Thus, Hol

ford glen is a C lee‘ve i n the h i l ls watered by a stream running

between banks of turf , and hence the p lace - name . Anothername is Portus de Radclifie , on the river Axe , two and aha lf m i les from Axbridge . The red - cl iff e is said to be ac

counted for by the outcrop of red marl . As a curious exampleof abbreviat ion , note that th is p lace - name is pared down to

1See p. 6 9 . vo l . vn . , p. 6 1 .

297

Reckly and Rackly ; and these names are i n themselves quiteuninterp retab le .

Hurcott i s near I l ton . The spel l i ng is Herd icott i n thetime of Henry I I I . There are a lso other spel l i ngs . Hurcott

we may bring into comparison wi th the local names H er

combe and Hurt- ham, near Chard . Hurcott is a transformation . I n such forms as Hurd - cot, Herd - combe

,and Hurdham

the“d”sound disappears , and , as so often happens at the c lose

of a syl lab le , i s only left i n the earl ier spel l ings . Hurcott is notthe cot of Hur or Hurd or Heord (a l l names) , but a corrup tionof Haergod or Hargod , the old German name Herigard . We have the modern persona l name , Hargood .

Hurt- ham is Haerhama , and Herdcombe Haerthcyn (Heardcym (probab ly) . The Somerset farmer

’s name of Hurford isHaerdfrid .

1 The less known loca l names thus throw light onthe origi n of names, both p lace and personal . Hartcl iff e ,

Harclyve D.E. , may nei ther be hi r long nor har rough ,nor hare ,

”the four- footed creature , prefixed to describe the

cl iff , but the Saxon name Haercylfa ; but the most naturalexp lana tion is the etymologica l d ivis ion i nto Harclyve . Thespel l ings are Harecl ive i n 1 148 and 1280 . Hardene, i n Kingsdone , i s Hardwin .

Nannay is a del ightfu l curiosi ty , as al l who have stud ied thename wi l l a l low . Starting wi th D .E. i t is Nonin ,

with thevariation Nouin . This is p robab ly a mis - reading of a letterand a confusion between

“n”

and“u .

” But which isoriginal ? Wil l iam Mo ione held Nouin , disp lacing the usua lmiserab le Saxon , Colo , whom we should name Cole, and p robably put a sib i l ant to complete and cal l h im Co les . Thisname existed when the Norman gentleman came fromMohun , Mowne , which Leland ca l ls

“Mooun,

”2and Gerard

says that the fi rst Wi l l iam ( i n Domesday) is wri tten Moion,a

l ittle '

p lace near St . LO , i n Bri ttany, with stout knights i nhis train , a mul ti tude, and is stated to have possessed no lessthan sixty- five manors i n Somerset . This is surely worthbestrid ing a horse and weild ing and flourish ing a sword for .We then wonder that so considerable a p rop rietor has to al l

1See Chapter on Ford s.

“T he persona l name Moon is frequentenoug h inSomerset.

298

appearances left so l i tt le mark in the p l ace- names . We havelooked for this M ohun under quai n t disgu ises wi thout success , unless th is i s one Nouin for Mo ion . Dunster was his

cast le . Wil l iam de Mo ion bui l t th is cast le . He was inthe trai n of Wil l iam the Conquero r . Probably thenumber of h is manors is exaggerated . Cutcombe Mohunhas a l ready been mentioned . In T .E . the spel l ing isNony, and i t is Nunye and Nunney later . Nouin isa form of munne . But we are not herebycompel led to think of nuns and a nunnery . Nonnus

i n low Latin means father , and i ncluded and meant monks .The

‘

history of the p lace shows at least a very probab le connection with G l astonbury Abbey . Glastonbury had a claimof the highest ant iqu ity i n Nunney .

”Co l l inson posit ively

says that i t was cal led Nunney G laston , as to a manoria l port ion of i t , i n contradiction to Nunney de la M are (a l atername) . King E ldred , brother of King Edmund , granted tothe monks of G l astonbury part of two hides in this vi l l .

Some evidence of this l ies in the fact tha t after the disso lution lands in Nunney and Trudoxhi l l (another remarkab lename) were granted to Queen E l izabeth among a number ofestates belonging to G lastonbury Abbey . The monastic connection with G lastonbury was lost i n the changes of ownership this manor underwent . There was a presbyter, or priest,named Sp irtes, which assumed the form of Sp iri tus , spiri t .

A Sp irtes was a canon of Shrewsbury, and another was apriest atAbingdon . Probab ly Sp irtes i s a disguise of the oldSaxon Domesday name Sprott , modern name Spratt, old

German sprutho , and Gothic sprauto (a n imble person innames . Monks lati nized this name of an ecclesiast ic diverselyi nto Spiritus (sp i ri t) and Speratus (hoped) , no doubt as a goodjoke . There i s a curious story of h is many possess ions invarious (ha lf- a- dozen) counties , and how N ige l , Wil l iam the

Conqueror’

s doctor , somehow la id ho ld of th is varied property . Now th is Sp irtes held Nunney unti l the death of

Edward the Confessor , and after him the doctor N ige l ; and

then at the Conquest the doctor was succeeded by the Nor

man abbot of the abbey of St . M ary de M ontebourg . But

i n the Taxatio E cclesiastica ( 1297) nei ther G lastonbury nor

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300

sonants , and i t is equa l ly certa i n , from so many examples,that if Pedrida or Pethritha were the origina l— ei ther from

the Saxon king, or as M r . Ferguson,i n his River Names of

Europe , connects the form of Pedreda wi th pi , to drink,and does not cal l i n the King of Wessex— then the Normanmasters wou ld in al l these documents tend to drop the uncouth incumbrances . When did the modification set in ?Anyhow , Pedreda has not left i ts p resence so l ikely fe lt anywhere as in Petherton and Petherham. On the authori ty ofa writer in the Transactions of the SomersetArcha ological

Society1 the British name of the river was Perydon,and this name occurs i n a poem of the 7th centuryby a Welsh bard . A transl at ion of the poem is foundin an appendix to Th iery

’

s Norman Conquest. Pery

don i s p lura l i n form . I t is not easy to say why this is so,save that the name may have been app l ied to the Tone , theIvel

,and the Parrett , the uni ted waters . The name has

a l so the meaning assigned to i t as i ts origi n , a stream possessing some wonderfu l vi rtue— a Divine river .

” We do notknow the ev idence on which th is assert ion is based . From

the ancient bard the coup le t is quoted

T hese is a d ream of Peryd don,

T hat a long strong hold would r ise on its border .

"

If the form Pedrydon were sought for i n Celt ic (Welsh) , theni t is sa id to mean that which spreads in four directions .

”

On the conti nent of Europe we note that the late FelixDahn gives a fai rly equal number to river names of real ly

Germanic and those of rea l ly Cel tic derivat ion , and amongthem the V irdo . This may be a re lated name . Peryd and

and Beryd or Bride and Bri t a re the same origina l ly . Peret and Parret , preserved through so long and throughsuch varied h istory , are , we are persuaded , nearer the originalthan the confusing Saxon corruptions or forms of i t . Bri tford , i n Wi l ts , may even be the

“ford on the Bri t ,

”Brith,

Bri t , Pirt, Peart . In Cel tic Cornish , Bri t is a characteristicword to describe the gl isten ing sca les of the l issom trout

and the movements of the dapper water wagtai l . The name

lVo l . v .

30 1

s imply imports the ripp l ing stream . M r. Edmonds , without tracki ng the spel l ings

,says , ou the authori ty of the

Anglo -Saxon Chronicle , a river named from Pederida , Ki ngof the West Saxons . ”

The fo l lowing appeared in the Guardian1 I t is general ly supposed that the River Parre t in Somerset takesi ts name from the fami ly name of Perret .

” Thewriter found F lu'

vius Pareda i n a very old Latin map ,and so he derives i t from pareda , a barge , and says the nativescal l i t

“the barge river . Dr . Hugh Norrisz, comment ing

on th is , bel ieves the word to be of Cel t ic origi n and derivesfrom pared , a border, and says i t was a border river forming a boundary or division between the Bri tish and theSaxon . He says that the Saxons adop ting a word , p laceda

“d before a syl lable commencing wi th

“r , and thus

pared of the Ce l t became padred of the Saxon . As theNorman spel l ing is for centuries Paret , I th ink this cla imof Cel tic origi n is correct, and the Normans wou ld find thisspel l ing and p ronuncia tio n easier than Pedryd , which

curiously enough has been preserved in the p lace - namePetherton , but not in the river - name Parrett . How Paredcomes to mean a barge I do not know . Pared means aboundary wal l and is not a river name , and wou ld be , Ith ink , qui te unique if so wri tten .

I n Debrettwe have North and South Perrot thus accountedfor :

“The Perrot fami ly were of ancient Bri tish descent .

Edward , Lord of Perrot , married Alfwynia, granddaughterof Alfred the Great, and had i ssue Wil l i am , styled

‘

dePerot ,

’

from his cast le i n Armorica . H is grandson returnedto England wi th the great Wi l l i am , and founded North and

South Perrot , i n Somerset . The latter companion vi l lageof South Perrot is in Dorset , and not Somerset . Perrot iscal led Peredt i n D .E . , and Peret in T .E . The name Perrott isa Somerset name . In B l agdon field - names occurs the persona lname Perrott . Whatever may be the truth of the above story

of a fami ly in Armorica , the p lace - name is clearly from the

1 The Gua rd ian , Nov . 27, 1872.

2South Petherton i n the Olden Time, by Hug hNorris, 1 9 1 3 .

30 2

river- name , and i t is possib le that th is ancient fami ly ofBri tish descent , beari ng the Bri tish name of Pert , Peret, tookthe name out wi th them , or , as the Armoricans were Celts,found another there .

Bes ides these we have a group of names beginning withPeri , as Feri ton and Puri ton , i n Bridgwater , and a hamletname in M i nehead . We have Crandon- cum-Puriton ; PerryM i l l , Perri Street, near Chard ; Per- ridge and Fur—ridge,Perry-more, i n Drayton ; and the doub le names , PerryFitchett, i n Wembdon , near Bridgwater (Pury, sub Wembdon) and Perry Furneaux are a l l simp ly spel t Peri in D.E.

Stoke Pirou i s a lso cal led Stoke Perry . Per- ridge is probablya corrup tion of a persona l name , Bauderich , which becomesBu rh - rich , Pur- rich , and Perridge . The present form of thatname is Burridge as a frequent Somerset name . Perry andPerry Fi tchet and the l ike names show a simi lar interchangeof the lab ia l s . The name Perry no doub t , i n some instances,originates i n the frui t - tree as a boundary . For i n the Register

of the Abbot of Athe lney a boundary mark is thus givenin arborem fructuosum id est Perie . This is at Ham, nearBridgwater ; but there is equal ly no doubt that a personalname Bera , meaning a bear , may account for such personal names as Burman , Berry , Barratt , and possib ly Ferratt,and Perrott , and a lso for the name Perry . Perry Fitchett

i s p robably, then , a doub le persona l name in which Beta is abear and Fi tchett means a stoat, accidental ly brought together,i n a name , on account of an earl ier and a later ownership . Astoat was, perhaps, a viking cognizance or a by- name .

F i tchett was a name assumed by Hugh M al lett when hisfather was i n disgrace for p lott ing against Henry I . The

Fi tchetts held in Spaxton , Merridge , and Stringston . Pury

Furneaux : The fami ly of Furneaux , or Furne l l is, accordingto Gerard , were Lords of Ki lve in the time of Edward 111 .

M ost of the not ices of them date from the 13th or 14th cen

turies. The Fi tchetts , too , of Stringston , are ca l led a noblefami ly, and a daughter of a Fi tchett (Sir Hugh) marriedSi r M athew Furneaux . Pury is given , with the arms, by

Gerard as a personal name , which no doubt i t was, namely,Perry, Pury, Perrott , may be al l from Bera . Perro tt is the old

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304

CHAPTER XXXI .

Curiosities of Nomenc lature (continued) .

Nempnett Thrubwel l — The meaning of the second name

of these two , commonly conjo ined , has been deal t wi th .

Thrub-wel l is not an intermi ttent sp ring , but is a form ofthorpe . Thorpes are mostly found in Li ncolnshi re , Essex,and Norfo lk , but thorpes occur elsewhere in the formsthrub , tourbe , dorf and trev in the severa l l anguages represented . Besides others mentioned , Thrupe and Thrupe

M arsh Farm are local names and cognate forms . Nempnett,i s , we must confess , one of the most e lusive names in thecounty of Somerset . The spel l i ngs are i ndeed remarkab le .

Some later spel l ings are Nemett, Nemnet, Nempnett,Nymet . I t is an easy matte r to fo l low the method of decomposing this name and assigning a mean ing to each component . Nemp is thus said to be a form of Nym, and so ,probab ly , a contraction of Nehemiah .

1 So Nempnett meansNym

’

s hut . And then , have we not Nymett Rowland andNyms - fie ld i n Gloucestershi re , Nymton i n Devon , andNymet ? The place - names thus exp lai ned may or may notbe rightly interpreted . Only research can p rove . Nemet isCelt ic for a grove , and th is m ight satisfy as an exp lanat ionwere we not confronted by the fact that all the prevai l ingforms of spel l i ng p reserve the lab ial sounds . We turn tothe popular p ronunciation , and find that the peop le irequently say N ib lett . And we discover also that the hi l l isca l led Knap H i l l . Knap we know better in i ts form

of knob . As the name of a height or h i l l i t is noti nfrequent . Knapp H i l l is, then , a tautology . We feeli ncl ined to connect the popular p ronunciat ion wi th this

Knap or Gnap . Then , as we find that there is elsewhere 3

loca l name Hnibban- leah extant , i t i s no t unnatura l to think

l Edmund s Traces of H istory in Place-N ames.

305

of one of the oldest names on record , that of Hnaf, wri tte nin the Trave l ler

’

s Song about the fifth century . Cniva

is the name of a Gothic king in the th ird century . Thetermination is then hard to interpret , unless i t is a corrup tion of lade , as in Cog load , Coglett, near Durstone ,

Longload , i n M artock , Ship- lett, i n Bleadon , meaning a courseor road . O r i t might be the name Onibla, and not

Cnibba . N ib lett would perchance be Cnibla- head . Weare led to revise such speculations when we discoverthe earl iest spel l ing ( 1242) and find that Si r JohnBretasche (compare the name Breach H i l l over againstNempnett church) , i n his court of T rubbewel l , decided thatthe chap la i n of Empnete i s to swear fea l ty to the rector of

Compton (Marti n) and that al l the lords and ladies of

Compton are to visi t the church of Empnete on the p rincipa lfeast days . 1 T hen we may at once connect th is spel l ing wi tha puzzl i ng field name , mi les d i stant away in Batheneston

(Batheston) . We read ,“F ive acres in the field cal l-ed

Empnete .

”2 The date is 1258 . For Nempnett we have

no Domesday spel l i ng . I t is worthy of notice , too , thatEmborough is spe l t Emne - berg and Empne - berg,3 then i tbecomes Emme - berg and Emborough . I t is natural to connect these names . I t is clear that there is a personal nameat the base of al l . And this name may be found in the man

’

sname Imp in , Ympa , as i n Ympanleage , i n Worcestershi re .

Now , the old form of Impan or Ympan i s Emp . From thisform Kemb le inferred a triba l name , Imp ingas andEmp ingas . These tr ibal names are mostly inferentia l . Thepersona l name is enough for us . This name accounts forseveral p lace - names in Somerset . The curious personalname Empey is found sti l l . The root is p roblematical lytraced to imp , as i n

“to imp ,

”to feather . If these early

spel l ings be taken as the bas is , then by a process of cor

rup tion in pronuncia t ion , which may easi ly be understood ,

and may be proved by tria l , Empnete, or Empanead ,wil l

1Ca lenda r of M anuscripts of the Dea n a nd Chapter of Wel ls , p. 485 .“Somerset

Fines, 47 Henry I I I. , p. 199 .

8Lay Subsid ies of E dwa rd ! I ] .

306

get spoken as N- emp - ete . I t thus comes out as Empan’

s- et,or Empa

’

s headland , and the popular p ronunciat ion mustthus be considered a further corrup tion . The Batheastonfield name shews that the persona l name was not confinedto Nempnett .Hal latrow, i n H igh Li tt leton , i s far from being easy ofdecipherment . The D .E . spel l i ng is Helgetreu . I f th is wereHe l ig- trev i t would be the sa l low or wi l low vi l l age as adoub le Cel t ic word ; or i t might be pure Saxon , helig- treu

,

or holy tree . Stone cofli ns have been discovered , i ndicatingthe si te of an ancient buria l p lace . The Domesday spel l ingwi l l , of course , easi ly give the modern p ronunciat ion ofHe lye - treu , or Ha l la trow . There is a del l cal led Ha l lowor Ho l low Lane , which may be a co incident name or merelydescrip tive . In the examination of the history of the namewe are even led to bel ieve that H igh L i tt le ton may be athorough - going corrup t form , and tha t Ha l l atrow and HighLittleton have one origin . In the document in which the

church of this parish is made an appanage of the Priory ofKeynsham ( 1 1th century) the spel l ing is curiously Heglhington or Heglo - l itelton . Hugh Lutte lton i s only of valueas i ndicating a p rocess of change . Helgetreu is Halghetre

i n Ha lwel l is spe l t Halgawil le i n I t isclear that Ha lga is a persona l name , which may accountfor Ha l la trow , H igh Li te l - ton (or Ha lga Lite lton) , andHol low Lane . In the spel l ing Heglhing- ton we discoverthis name Helga or Ha lga , and H igh L i t t le ton may be acomplete disguise of the origina l form . There is the femininename Hal igtryth or Haligtrud

—of which the last consonant has

been softened to tru— and Hal igtryt has become Hal latrow,

whi le H igh Li t t le ton is the ton of Ha lga . This is spel t Hegling

ton in the 14th century . H igh Li t t leton does not occur inD .B .

, whi le Hal latrow does as the more important manorp lace . Halging- ton for Ha lgan- ton as a geni tive form be

come by transpos i tion of the consonants , Heglhinton . It

is a l so local ly spelt Heghel itle- ton . These spel l i ngs certainly

’Ca lendar of M anuscripts of the Dea n and Chapter of Wel ls, p. 1 44.

2B uckland

Cha rtu la ry , vol . xxv . , p. 1 59 .

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308

name Cern , as i n Kernbridge , over the Wye , but as there arerugged stones hereabouts i n p lenty, as we remember from

our botanis ing days , perhaps this is Ca i rn - bridge . Then thereare Cerne - abbas and Ceren - ceaster, now C i rencester, and theQuern - ford , i n the bounds of the forest of B lackmore , foundmentioned in Hutching

’

s Dorset. Then,again

,the Celt ic

Aune , said to mean water , has a lso been suggested with considerably more p lausib i l i ty . This would easi ly i n popularspeech become Homer . Now , the p lace - name Homer

, in

Luckham , i s in D. B . spel t Herno la i n the Exeter , and thetrifl ing variant , E rno le , i n the Exchequer or Great Domesday both . Once more we may note that the fina l vowel is amere euphonic ending . The word is Herno l . I t is not d ifli cultto imagine this i n popular p ronunciation becoming Hernor byconfusion of the final consonant . We are not helped by any

mention in the Taxatio Ecclesiastica , or Kirby’

s Quest, withi ts names of vi l ls or manors . I t is thought1 that Eyton

’

s identification is wrong , and that E rh ole , or Herno la, is the p lace

variously cal led Ouele Cno l le , Owlekno l le ,and Old Knol l ,

held from the earl iest times by the Mohuns as tenants inchief . And M r . Wha le , we observe ,2 identifies this withKnowle, i n Timberscombe . Herno l , however, and Erno le ,

cannot easi ly be reso lved in to Ouele Cno l le . M oreover, thespel l ing of Knowle in that document is Canola and Cheno lla .

I t then becomes a diffi cul t question what is the meaning ofher

”or

“er . The truth seems to be that Herno l or

Erno l is not a compound word , but is an abbreviation of thename E reno lt, which , aga in , is spel t Eerenald . This is thesame as B arnwa ld and Herenwald and Herno ldus . Ouel

Cno l le , on the other hand , appears to be the same as Hauel,

a form extant of the name Avi l , i n Dunster , curiously spel tAvena i n Domesday . The identification of d isputed modernnames of ancien t manors is not our p resent business . Andal l we can say is that the mysterious name Horner , if Eyton

’

s

identification is correct , has sprung from the personal name

Earnwald (Arnold) , and possib ly thus -Earnwald or , with

1 The H istory of Pa rt of WestSomerset. A . E . H . Chadw ick - Hea ley, Sotheran

and Co ., 1 90 1 .

2Wha le Domesday of Somerset.

309

the asp i rate , Hearmvald , i s shortened to E rnald , a form extant , and E rna ld or Hernald drops the final consonant

,as in

many cases, and appears as Herna l or Herno l , the Domesdayform , and then Herno l i s further corrup ted in popular speech

to Hernor and Homer . Hernal (B arnwald) i s a Saxonowner , giving h is name to the district he possesses

,i ts vi l l

,

and i ts stream . E rnald is , anyhow,the exp lanation of the

manoria l name Herno l , i f the further inferences cannot bepronounced certain when a basis of identification is uncertain . In 1 153 , i n a Bath charter , occur the names E rnald deBaa lon , Rodbert de Hornai . The persona l name Horner

,

as a not uncommon surname , is derived from a trade of greatimportance , the use of horn fo r drinking vessels , window.panes , trumpets , horn - books, l an terns , John le Hornare .

Horner for Herno l may thus be an easier assimi lation whenthe meaning of the original name was lost sight of .Desp ite this popular etymology from a trade , Horner as apersonal name is p robab ly from Arnheri , become Harmor ,in which am or ern is an eagle and hari a warrior . In thesame parish of Luccombe is Harewood , which is a persona l

name ; that is , Heordweard become Heorwood . And this isthe origin a lso of Horwood , i n Horsington , and we need notto cal l into requ isi t ion ei ther har, an army, or hore , whi te , orhar, hare , or the fou r- footed hare , to account for the name .

Perhaps connected wi th the fi rs t component of the nameEarnweald is the p l ace - name Earnshi l l , near the river Is le .

I t is in Chori Rive l l , and said to be now merely representedby a farm . I t i s variously spel t i n the Exeter DomesdayErnesel , and in the Exchequer Domesday i t is Erneshele , andthere is the spel l i ng E rneshe lt. In Kirby

’

s Quest i t is Herneshul le , i n the hundred of Bo lestone , and in the Nomina Vi l

larum Earnhul le . I n the hundred of VVel low is Harnsrugg ,

or ridge,probab ly the same name . The later spel l ings in the

17th and 18th centuries are I rnsil l , Yearnsel l , and Earnsil le,of an ancien t parish i n the ecclesiastica l district of Hambridge .

The examp les of spel l i ng show us how easi ly a terminationmay become hi l l

,hu l l

, bo lt, and assume various disguisesa hi l l or a ho lt

,according to fancy . Earn is wri t l arge and

taken from a root meaning the eagle , or earn , or hern , a horn ,

3 1 0

or heron , the b i rd . In harmony with what has been said before , and the examples given , th is ending hi l l may indeed besimply a corrup tion of the river name Isle

,and this indeed is

the more p lausib le , as wel l as the more di rect exp lanation.

I n a charter of Muchel ney Prio ry ,1 which may have a genuinecharter at the back of i t , dating in the midd le of the eighthcentury , we find a boundary mark inter duo flumina Earn,

and Yle . Here Earn is a river name , and the two rivernames coa lesce into one word , Earnil , and then i t gets variouslywri tten . I n Bri ttany there are two river names , the E l le andthe Iso le , precisely l ike our I le and Is l a . Kemper , whichreminds of the Scandinavian kumpr, and meaning a confluentcoalesces with E l le into one word , and is the origin of thep lace - name Quimperle . Earnhil l i s p recisely analogous .E arn is sti l l the personal name given to the river name unlessEarn is a corruption of ean, wa ter .

On another remarkab le name l ike Horner we maypause with curiosi ty . I f there is the H orner Water, there isa lso the Q uarme Water , which has i ts source i n some wetground in Dunkery . Then we have this wonderfu l name

a lso i n Q uarumKitnor and Beggar Q uarm, both in Winsford .

Beside these we find Quarum M onceaux ; a Quarum in

Frome , and North and South Quaram i n Exton . In thenames given in those of vi l ls in 1315 is the curious compound

Quarumbogg . At the same date Q uarum Monceaux isreversed in order , and written Monceaux Q uarum. TheDomesday spel l ing of this strange word is Co - arma and

Carma . Co - arma seems to be an attemp t to represent thekw or gw sound

,which is e i ther a Frankish o r a Celtic

form of spel l ing,as i n Gui l laume and Gwil lym fo r Wil l iam .

But possib ly not , and as Gantok has become Quantock , or

Carma has become Kwarma , or Q uarma and Quarum, Carmais

,then

,a much disguised persona l name for Garman , and

this represents the Saxon name Garmund , of which Jarmanis a present- day form . Q uarumbogg seems to suggest adoub let

,i n which

,i n that case , Q uarum is s ti l l a much mis

shapen form of gweru , a morass, which the Domesday spel l

‘Chartu la ry of M uchelney P riory , S . R . S . , p. 47.

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3 1 2

Bi shop of St . Lo . M ansel may be a re l ic of th is name,a mere

hamlet name , i n North Petherton , and there is a HopeM ansell , near Ross, Herefordshi re . I t is a p leasant amphitheatre . The popular name in Somerset is M ountsey.

Mounts- ey is qu ite descrip tive . This is how the people cal ledthis stone rampart of a h i l l - fort ress and thi s defence of theapproach to Exmoor— namely , Mouncey

-Cast le . Mouncey

i s certain ly a h ighl and h i l l , and we suppose that there is morethan the evidence of the name for connecti ng the spot withthe great family mentioned . The meaning of Monceaux and

Moune- ey would be the same . M ansel , as a personal name,

occurs i n the Bath Li ncoln’

s Inn Chartu lary1 i n the 12th century . The personal name spel t Mancel l , Maunce l l , Maunsel l , and M ansel l is found in the Buckl and Chartu lary . M r.

Bardsley2 derives the name from M anicip le , which was aname of office , a caterer for a pub l ic i nst i tution ; and oncein a Bath Charter i t is le Mansel l .Beggar- Quarm brings to our minds such loca l names as

Beggar’

s Bush and the l ike a l ready mentioned , and traced to

the persona l name Bega ,

”Baega , and Begha .

”Bega

was the name of a Cumbrian sai nt of uncertain history, of anI rish princess , and Begha (St . Bees) was an I rish v i rgin .

Beaga is i n history a Saxon name . The form was common .

How these names can get twisted appears i n such a form as

Lousy Bush . Bush is a copse or wood , and Lousy is , perhaps,a lazy shortening of the name M alousel or Maloyse l , Maloysa,

a name found repeatedly in the Muchelney Chartu lary , whereR ichard Ma loysel

3 of I lminster paid tax there . Also foundin the register of abbot of Athelney .

Danesbury ,Dawes Cast le , Dawesbury, Dinasborough (near

Nether Stowey) . T he hi l l i s loca l ly known as Dousborough.

I t is the king of the hi l ls in i ts neighbourhood , being nearlyfeet above the sea - level . I t is connected doub tful ly with

the Danes,and then Dinasborough is considered to mean the

h i l l fort . In ancient documents i t is Dawesborough , and the

exp lanat ion is advanced that i t is a form of Dawns - berg or

vol . vu., pt. 1 1 , Nos . 2 1 , 23 , 24, and 46 .

2Ou r E ng l ish Surnames.3T a x Ro ll , 1 3 27.

3 1 3

Beacon - hi l l , which were cal led dauntrees.

1 There is an un

doubted camp here , which Col l inson thinks is Roman , and

others , perhaps with more p robabi l i ty , Cel tic . The author ofThe Quantocks and theirAssociations, i n an article , th inks thatDansborough is a corrup tion of Howes- borough (we supposefrom the Domesday owner- name , Wil l iam d

’

Ou) , which ,however , he interprets as the hi l l fort . I n a sixteenth centurywil l i t appears to be Dawberia . Now Dauberia , Dousborough ,

and Dawsebury are corrup t forms of the Saxon persona lname

, Daegburt, that is , Daegbeorht. This in Frankish formis Dagobert , and i n low Saxon Day - bury or Daw - bury, and

the other forms are mis- readings and corrup tions . This iscorroborated by the local name near Enmore , of Dawburgs

combe , i . e . , Daegbeorth’

s combe . The spel l i ngs Danesburyand the l ike appear to be pure corrup tions through misreadings or mis - spel l ings . There are earthworks on the summit which M r . Page considers are Cel t ic i n origin , and theDanes certain ly had nothing to do with i t .

Endestone, i n Henstridge , on the River Stour , may be fur

ther noticed . I t would seem to be most simp ly exp lai ned asthe End - stone , that is , a boundary mark , or End - town on thebank of the river . There are la rge numbers of p laces to whichend forms a part , meaning l imit . The spel l i ngs lead us to atruer , more satisfactory , and more attractive exp lanation thanthe possib le earl ier suggestion . As early as 1052 i ts spel l ing isEynes- ton , and the further spel l ings are Yan - stone and Yenstone , Yenson and Enson . Yenston is an E l izabethan form ,

and End iston appears in the 17th century . The persistenceof the half- vowel rep resentative of the letter g may ind icatethat the origi nal word is not Henx , but Gean , Gen, Genny .

At the date mentioned there was an a l ien priory here , according to Dugdale

’

s M onasticon . I t was a ce l l belonging to St .Sevier in Normandy . I t is not mentioned in Strachey

’

s

Account of Re ligious Houses in Somerset. M any ofthese spots where priories and abbeys were founded had been

widely known , and acqu i red a sacrosanct character as theabode of a sa int or hermi t . St . Cenuu was thus possib ly a

‘Exploration of E xmoor, p. 296 . J . H . Pag e Seeley Co., 1 893 .

3 14

Somerset lady- hermi t . The forms of this name of Cenue, adaughter of Brychan, Prince of Brych iniog, are Genue ,

Genny, as in L lan - genny . There is a lso a St . Gennys i n

Cornwal l on the coast , the ul t imate confines of the B risto lChannel . A farm name in or near Oare is cal led Yeanworthy . This, too , is the name Gean or Genny . Enmoor i snot end -moor , but , as a l ready pointed out, the Saxon Ani

Animere) , and there i s a loca l name I nwood probab lyof this origin . If any excuse is needed for exam ining hamletnames

,i t i s found in the fact that often they turn out the

most i nteresting from a historical or ethno logica l po int of

view .

Another Bri tish hermi t sai n t m ight possib ly be found in St .

Wonna under the disguised p lace - name of Vanhampton, a

hamlet - name in Norton Fi tzwarren . The vicar is the lord ofthe manor of Wooney, and so Vanhampton might in fu l l be

Woona- ham- ton . Woona was a Welsh sai nt . The form is ,however

,more easi ly accounted for by the Saxon name

Wanhelm or Vanhelm. Wan occurs i n many names wi th the

customary terminations Wanwulf , Wangeard , Wanfrith . Themanor of Wooney, however , st i l l is reminiscent of the Welshsaint St . Wonno , as i n Wonna - stow, i n Monmouthsh i re , andL lan -wonno over the wa ter i n G l amorganshi re . And Herefordshire has i ts St . Wonards. Wan , on the other hand , takesus back possib ly to the heathen god , for Wan - helm is exp lained as Wodenhelm as a personal name . Thus heathenmythology and Cel tic Christ ian i ty jostle one ano ther in thesame geograph ical area of a Somerset ham let . We are moreincl ined to the ethnographica l exp lanation of Wan or Wen asa racia l name , as , i n fact , a Wend or Wendish name . Therei s a Danish p lace- nameWamby or Wand -by . And Wanstrowmay be Wanda

’

s treow or tree . I t is a border town at anancient foresta l entrance .

Oare in the Exchequer D .B . is spel t Are , and i n the ExeterAr . There is a confusion aris ing from the fact that Al ler

Al ra) , i n the Somerse t hundred , has got i tself spel tAure . I t is Ar in Kirby

’

s Quest, Oar in Lay Subsid ies

(Edward and in the Exchequer Lay Subsid ies we findOre and Yauer . These are the variet ies . I n a foresta l

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3 16

of brug , that is bridge , over burh . Spel l ings are Briggwal ter i n 1201 ; i n the Taxatio Ecclesiastica , 1297 , i t i sBruggewate and Bruggewaut, and plai n Brug . In 1315 i t isBurgus de Bruggewate . I n 1256 i t i s Brugewalt : lands of

Si r Edward (that is , Edward e ldest son of the ki ng,at

Bruge -wa l t .”These we have noted , and other references are

numerous . For the conjectu re of St . Bridget1 there is notsufli cient ev idence . We may note in passing tha t Brushfordis D.E . Brigfort. This is exp l icab le when i t is recognisedthat we have here changed and assimi lated forms of Burgfridand Burgfrith , and that burg means p rotection , and frid peacei n the persona l names .I t wi l l be observed that Wa l ther , that is , Walter , degen

erates i nto the form Wate . As Wa l ter is toned down from

i ts origi na l form Waldhere , so Wa l te r i s again softened inhasty speech to Wate . An example of th is is found in thelocal name in Frome , Whatcombe , the spe l l ing of which , asl ate as the 15th century ( 1419- 1470) i s VValt- combe . This is in

a lega l conveyance found in Bri tish Museum charters .

Whatley i s near Frome , and i ts origi n may be the sameWate - le ia) , that is Wa l ter

’

s lea . A trace of this maybe found perchance in the Domesday , a sub - tenant of thisdemesne of four h ides under the abbot of Gl astonbury,whose name was Wal ter Hosatus . There is another Whatleyi n Wi nsham Wate lega) . This may be the same asWate - le i a , but the variat ion in spel l ing makes us wonderwhether Wate leg i s not the persona l name Withleg, whosemodern forms are Whitelegg— the l i tera l meaning of which islud icrous as accounting for a surname— and Whitlaw . Theetymologica l exp lanat ions are scarcely satisfying , which deduces both names from watel or watt le , or hurdle , and eia,an is land— the watt led - i sl and , or p lace where wi th ies grow,

or from wet lea,on account of the moist s i tuat ion . Wheat

hi l l , i n the hundred of Whi tley (five mi les from Cast le Cary) ,i s spel t i n D .E . VVatehe l la . In a charter purporting to havethe date 965, i n a grant by king Edgar to Sigar of G las

tonbury i t i s Wet - hul le . Early in the 14th century and in the

l Pring Traces of Celtic Chu rch in Somerset.

3 17

Court Rol ls of Edward 11 . i t is Wet- hul le and Wethul le ,and

in the 17th century i t is Wheat- hal l and Wheat - hi l l ind ifferently . This might be Wal ter

’

s hol low . Hel l as a p lace- nameon earth is i nteresti ng . There are severa l about

,and some

hell - bottoms . The ancien t hundred of Whitley is d isp readthrough severa l modern hundreds , and there are many spotsso- cal led , as Whit ley Batch , i n or near Chelwood .

Theseare re l ics of names Wigtleg and Hwitlac (modern nameWedlock Lac, lag, leg means law as a root -word .

Rodwater i n O ld C leeve and Roadwater i n NorthPetherton , are forms of a personal name as Hrodbert

(Rodbard) , Hrodgard , H rodni, as i n the name Rodney Stoke

( the appelation is modern , as al ready seen) . Rod as a rootmeans glory , and Rodwater i s Hrodwaldhere as its u l t imateexp lanation . Rodway , i n Rodway Fitzpaine , i s not the roadway but Hrodwig (Rodwi) . Rodden , near FromeReddena) , Radene Raddon , Raden and Roydon in16th century is , judging by the Domesday form , the nameRaddwin . Road is one side of Frome and Rodden on theother . There is a local p lace - name Road in North Pether

ton . Radehewis (Rodhuish) and Rodgrave , i n Wincanton ,are simi larly derived , and i t would be qui te possib le that withthis preva lence of the name in the county Radstock is Hruad

stoke from a persona l name , on ly the prefix rad i n th is p lacename is not ancient . Grave means a demesne (Graf, a district) ,The names Rowden and Rowdon , i n Stogumber , occur . Roadis sometimes derived from Cel t ic rhywth , a c learing .

Watergore is in South Petherton . There are several Goresin the county . Comparison may put us on the right scent .

When you see a name like this you look out for a triangular p iece o f l and , as i s supposed erroneous ly in the distriet name Gordano , or a triangular p iece of water at low

tide as in Battlegore , between Wi l l i ton and Watchet . Gore ,too

,is sometimes associated with a deed of b lood , a murder ,

an execution,or a batt le . Batt le is , however, AS . and

German Buttel , a vi l lage , as i n the German p lace- name

Lorbott le . These Gores are sometimes persona l names or

remnants of persona l names . We are not , of course , denyingthat many names originate i n the character of the local i ties,

3 1 8

but affi rming that behind the p lace - name there i s most trequently a persona l name as the source . Gore , for instance,i s from gar, a spea r, as a persona l name . Battle- gore would

thus be the Gore vi l l age . In the name at the head of thissection , Watergore, we may have a corrup tion of the nameWadd igar, Wadd icar. Waddi is said to mean activi ty . Andi t is l ikely that Battlegore is a corrup tion of an Anglo - Saxonname , Beadhildcar, Bad ilcar ; and then , a batt le (we read onthe Ordnance Survey) was fought here . The names Bataile,i n I lchester (Badhild , Bathild , Bati l) and Batelberg occur inthe Feetof Fines.

1

Waterlip, i n East Cranmore, sounds much l ike the waterleap or waterfal l . Is i t? Le ix leip , a vi l l age at the fal ls ofthe L ippy, i s Lachs (a sa lmon) , leap . On the other hand,Dudleipen, i n Germany, i s Dudoc

’

s i nheri tance (we haveseen this name B udoc in Daddocks) , because l ip is the wordlaib , which according to tha t great authori ty, Foerstenmann,means inheri tance . Here Wal ter, sometimes Wate, appearsas Water . I t is then Walter

’

s i nheri tance , but which Walterdoes not readi ly appear .

Iwood , i n Congresbury, is of possib ly doub tfu l interpretation . In the Court Rol ls of 1364 we find Inwood Bluet .The Norman name has been dropped , though p reserved in

H in ton B l ewi tt . This Bluet goes back to the conquest, ashe held a sub - tenure for six and a ha lf h ides a long with

Hugh M atravers (survives i n the name Travis loca l ly) , but

Congresbury belonged in Saxon times to Haraldus Comes,and then to the Conqueror . I n o de Elwet the additionmust have been of a l ater possession . I t is o de i n the

13th century, for which bai l iff s’

accounts exist . The mostobvious interpretation is that here we have Saxon , meaning

a yew ,and ude , that is , wood , and so i t is the yew-wood .

Certai nly, yews for bows were much in requ isi t ion and weregrown elsewhere than i n the churchyard

“Old yew that gra speth at the stones

Which name the und erlying d ead .

"

In Kent there is a name l ike i t , Iwade . There is a creek

1Pag es 96 , 98. S.R. S. , vol. vi.

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320

Urgishay, i n West Camel , is another remarkab le name ,and is clear ly re lated to another odd name

, Urchinwood .

Urchinwood , i n Congresbury, is not a“

hay . Nor, for thatmatter , is i t a wood . Urgis , Urchin , and Urch , i n Urchfont

(near Devizes) are the same persona l name , namely,Eorcon, pronounced Erchon soft and not hard . Urgis- hayis th is name simp ly , Etchou s- hay . Urchinwood is a disgu ised form of a doub le name known and extant as Eorconweald . The shap ing of this i nto Eorconuld , Eorconud , andEorconwood presents no diff icul ty . Urchin no doub t meansa hedgehog, which , however, i s not a Saxon word , but aFrench - Lati n word . The Lat in is ericius ( the ini tia l voweli s long) , the old French , irecon (wi th soft and inthe Norman dia lect , herichon and herisson . The namewou ld thus be late and mean the hedgehog wood , and then,natura l ly

,we desi re to know why? So very many hedge

hogs? Eorcon as Saxon means a gem or pearl , and weald,and wa ld , power ru le , and thus the personal name is doublysignificant . This introduces us to the interest ing name inthe Somerset Domesday Book of Erchenger, the Priest of

Cannington almoner of the King . Aluric presbyterwas disp laced by or succeeded by E rchenger presbyter . He

was exemp ted as the holder of the glebe , the p roperty of

Cannington Church , of two vi rgates , from charges . Wewonder if the present p riest holds this glebe ? I t is , however,not the globe and i ts history but the name that has i nterestedus in this E rcheu ger and , i n fact , the origina l turns outto be Eo rcongaer (gar means a spear) . I t is a lso writtenHerchengar . Now wri te i t Eorcongaer, and then is therea possib i l i ty that Congresbury is short fo r Eorcongaer

beorht? No doub t we find the simp le persona l name

Gunigar , which seems to be a qui te simp le so lution . And isthe sai nt to which a Somerset church is ded icated St .

E rchenger (Eo rcongaer) ? These are questions that do not

aff ect the origi n of Urgishay and Urchinwood as above given .

The different spel l ings of Congresbury are earl ier given

D .E . , Congresberia ,whi le the name of the hundred adds a

t, Congresberiet. Nor i s that

“t perhaps fool ish or

an accretion , but is decided ly a surviva l . I t is a survival of

32 1

the name Eorcongaerbeorht become Congaerberiet. Con

gresberia i s thus shortened , and became Congresbury , around

which a legend easi ly grows . This possib i l i ty is certainlyworth considering . The alternative i s to suppose Congresberiet an enti re mistake in the name of the hundred

.

At Woodspring , which l ies in a ho l low wi thin sound ofthe moaning Severn there are sti l l the remains of the p riory .

Woodspring wou ld natu ral ly seem to mean the sp ring i nthe wood .

”But other things sp ring besides founts of l iving

water . Spring is the season of bursti ng buds . And a spring ,or sprinca, i s a young wood or p lantation . As the origina lspel l ing is Worsp ring, and as Worle is Worla, a persona lname , hard by, Wo rsp ring i s p robab ly Worla- sp ring .

Tyntesfield is a loca l name in Wraxal l , and i n the churchare (or were) memoria ls of the Tynte fami ly , in particularof John Tynte , who died in 1616 . The founder of the fami lyis said to have disti nguished himself at the siege of Asca lon ,under that doughty monarch Richard of the L ion Heart .

His white surcoat was Tynctus cruore Saraceno . This is a verypretty story to connect with the origi n of a personal name .

Probably that tinctus was a poetic pun on the supposed meaning of Tynt, as derived from the Lati n tinctus . A tinctureis fami l iar to us

,word and thing . In real i ty the name prob

ably contai ns a p iece of socia l and racia l history . The Bri tonmade a clearing , and l ived on i t . The Saxon took possession ,and gathered together a great estate of fru i tful clearings ,which ultimate ly came into the possession of that mostvoracious of ep iscopa l landowners, the bishop of Coutance

(called Ep iscopus Constatiensis i n the Norman Survey) , asoverlord . No doubt he was a great statesman , and madehimself indispensable , and was wel l rewarded . Tinto is a

fire hi l l,or fi re cleari ng . That whole p lot was covered with

forest trees,and a fi re c learing was made in the thick brush

wood,as is now done in the backwoods of new-world forests

by fresh settlers. T in- tin - hu l l is spel t Tinte—hel la in the oft

quoted survey of the Conqueror . I t is T intel le andTynthul le i n the 1 1th century, 1 and the spel l ings do not

l lll ontacute Cha rtula ry , S.R .S ., vol . v iii.

322

greatly vary, T intenhulle, T inteshul l , and the l ike . Andth is is Tinto - hi l l , where the h i l l i s a Saxon re - dup l ication ofthe word

“to .

”There are para l le l names

,such as Clontinty

and others . That the word, i n th is sense , i s 3 west countryvocab le is shown by the Cornish and Armoric words— teen,tend , or tine— to l igh t, as

“teen the candle

”

; and M i l tonborrows the word when he says, Tine the fierce l ightn ing.

”

Teening time is cand le - l ighti ng time , and to tend is to set al ight to . Pulman thinks tha t t int in , or tending , has possiblereference to an ancient beacon , and even thi nks t in- tin maybe tun - tun town - town) , which la tter suggestion istrifl ing .

In M aes Knowle, i n Norton M a l reward , M aes is Bri tish ,and i s employed as the prefix - noun to many parishes in

Wa les , and means an open field , appl ied al ike to hi l l andv a le meadows .

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324

at Rome That i s i nteres ting,bu t we note that Dr . Wade

,

i n hi s pret ty l i t t le book on Somerset, tel l s u s nothing qui teso notab le o f the place . But of course this etymologica land his torical explanat ion i s by no means the only one.

M r . Pulmanl,i n his book

,is responsib le for two other

sugges tions . These are M earc—ac the M ark - oak or M aer- acthe great or famous oak

,i n which it wil l be seen that the

t i s ei ther regarded as an intrus ive let ter or “ t and

c are confounded as often in documents where thelet ters are s imi larly formed . But t he Domesday spel l inghas t he “ t

,

”and t hi s form has continued

,rendering that

explanation improbab le . T he spel l ings scarcely vary, M ar

tock and M ertock . W i th regard to mar t and oak,to us the

ques tion ari ses when d id mart become a s hortened form of

mark t,a market ? and the reply seems to be that this was

somewhat late,

and t herefore canno t accoun t for theDomesday form M aertoch . I n M ear - ac

,it is said

,meare i s

s hortened from gemaer,which means a boundary, and ac

means oak . I t is known that maer means famous in personalnames as in Wado - maer

,and then

,used as a prefix, M aer

—ac,

must mean the famous oak . On the o ther hand,mearc

i s,of course

,a mark or l imit

,and there was here an oak

which marked a boundary. It is certain t hat marks areboundaries

,as i n M ark—bury (if this i s origi nal) become

M emébury (M ercesbury), and we have M ark - Causewaybecome M ark

’

s Causeway, t hat i s , the chausee or rai sedroad through the mars h (sometimes al so cal led brig

,

”or

bridges) , which is the place—name M ark to this day. And,as noted

,the moor land round Wedmore was once cal led

M ark - moor,whi le we find that in one case M ark sbury (not

t hat on the Bat h road) has become M aesbury. M aesbury i sthus a d i sgui se and a puzz le unti l you read i n a Glas tonburycharter of a boundary thus d efined , s traight through themidd le of M arksbury, which

,in this case

,i s identified with

M aesbury. T his origina l form continued to the midd le oft he 1 5th century. M earc denotes col lective ly t he meadows ,pas tu res , and wood s in a tract of land belongi ng to anownership. M arksbury near Bath i s i n 1 279 M erkesbire,

1Pulman Loca l Nomenclature.

3 25

and i n the 1 3th1 centu ry M arcusbury and M erksbur. Thislook s l ike the personal name M ark

,whether because the

property of the Abbot of Glas tonbury i t was the appanageof a chapelry t here (or el sewhere) ded icated to St . M ark .

Now M artock does not s how any derivations in spel l ingind icative of having lost a letter or

,on the other hand, of

having as s umed a grip le t ter . In D .B . i t i s M aertoch ;TE . M ertock

,and right on through thirteen

centuries . I t i s one of those names that has preserved i t sidentity o f spel l i ng most consi s tent ly. M aer and Tochimake up t he compound name M aertoch

,and the early 9th

century forms M urdac and M urdoc are then extant personalnames

,giv i ng r i se to the curious present - day name of

M urdock and M urdoch .

M eare M era) was an oas i s in the mid s t of abou teight thou sand acres of swamp, which in his reckoning of

the number of hides the Domesday s urveyor ignored asval ueles s . T his M eare was original ly i n ful l cal led Ferramere

,and i t was i n the j urisd iction of the abbot of

Glas tonbury. And t hough the word meare means often aboundary, shortened from gemeare, as above mentioned

,

and mere i s often near ly the equ ivalen t of moor, which so

far as can be seen in the in terpretation of M orlema’,in

Withycombe, M erlinc/z or M oorlinch,and perhaps al so of

M erridge, i n Spaxton, though the las t i s doubtful, in Fer mmere i t i s pos sible that this i s the personal name Faermaer

,

as Farun i n Farringdon i s Faerwine—don, and there i s inSomerset a hamlet- name Farthing, which i s Faerthegn thetravel led t hegn . Faermaer was the name thus of an originalor ear ly owner of the dry bi t of land around the

.

marsh,

who perhaps watched the mars h—gras s , in serial sh immersand shades

,

”and had his eye on the wi ld duck sai l i ng round

the r im of hi s i s land property. M erriott too i s clear ly notthe mere—yat or moor

- gate,as usual ly i n terpreted . I t I S

D .E . M eriyet, and th us i s not the et or head of themere

,ei ther

,bu t the wel l- known personal name M ergeat or

M aergaet, i n which both component s are i nterpretablemaer famous and gaet a Goth . I n 10 17 there was an abbot

1B ath Cha rtula ry , p. 6 . Lincoln'

s Inn MSS ., vol. vn.

326

of Glas tonbury cal led M erewit,M erewit qnz

’

et Brig/haw.

H e was bis hop of Wel l s and a native of Lorrai ne . In

France the same name has become M erigot and M argot .In Eng lis h thi s has degenerated i n to M aggot

,which is not a

sweet name,

and M errywit is pleasanter . M erridge, inSpaxton, is af ter all probab ly a compound Saxon name,M aerrick or M aerrich

,maer and reich

,as Goodric (a l so

Good rich and Good ridge,compare Dodderidge from Dodric)

i s Godreich . Reich i s k i ngdom or ru le . The mention ofthe Lorraine name of bishop M erewit remind s us of anotherLorrai ne or Lothringen name of Dudoc

,which was the

name o f the fourteenth bis hop of Wel l s,i n the year 1 03 1 ,

that is before the Domesday or Conques t date . T here i s aloca l uame near Wedmore of Daddocks. M r . H arvey, a

former Rector,i n his Wedmore Chronicle

,made a shot at

this,deriving i t from dead oaks as a pos s ibil i ty. C learly

i t i s Dudoc’

s . B is hop Dudoc was a Saxon of Lorraine,and

was presen t at a Synod i n Rheims . This i s more i nteres tingas a loca l as sociation than dead oak s can be .

O nce more thi s form geat occurs in the mys terious name

a yntt Green, i n Burr ington, which is spel t in D .E . A tti

geat . This i s s ubj ect to the facile interpretation that i tmeans “ at ye gate

". H avyatt as a form i s not eas i ly

identifiable wi th the Domesday spel ling Attigetta save asregard s the las t syl lab le geat . And

,indeed

,i t i s probable

t hat Att i s a mis read i ng or mis spel l ing, and is poss iblymeant for Al f .

”T he name wou ld t hen be Ael fgeat, and

the Av - or H av —yatt gai n s its explanation, and

reconci les both forms . We have a l ready seen that Attemere in a wi l l is not atye mere, but a corruption in the

place- name of H athemaer as a persona l name .

Priddy. This name appears to have the merit o f uniqueness in B r iti s h gazeteers . We do not find anyt hing l ike ite l s ewhere in E ngland . I t i s an interes ti ng Somerset name .Unfortunately, we have no Domesday spel l ing . Nor havewe a Taxatio val uation in 1 297, and so are d eprived of thisevidence . I n this val uation the land i s incorporated in

Wel l s,as was al so the case i n the time of t he las t of the

Saxon b ishops, Gi so, b ishop of Wel l s . H owever,in the

B ri ti s h M useum charters in t he 1 2th century it i s men

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328

i n Barwick (Staford and Berewick are conjoined), Stogursey,and Broadway. T he Staford i n Barwick i s said to be fromthe ford there

,now bettered by a bridge "1 over the Ivel l .

T hen what does Sto mean P I t may be the Staff ford orStow a vi l lage . Also in the Bath Chartulary ( Lincoln

’

s I nn

M SS. )2among some s trange boundary names bes ides Wul

lega Wol ley) and Lincumb we read' “J. de Wes ton

claimed to hold at Stareford half an acre . I t is a l so i n theCambridge Corpus Chri s ti Col lege o f M S. of a Bat h P riorycharter spel t Stareford . And the name is a l so spel t Stoffardand Stoppard . Usual ly these names are d er ived from stave,a s taff

,o f which stavor i s a Scand i navian form . Staves or

upright s tones were fixed i n the marshes and fords as guidesto s how the depth and how and where the s tream was

pas sable . T here are s uch s taves now near M oreton M arsh,

s tand i ng i n the pari sh of Compton M ar tin . T he placename Staff ord is said to be so derived . And

,bes ides

, you

have Staveley, in Derbys hire, and Staverton,in Devon.

These names Starford,Stoford

,Stavord

,are l ikely enough

forms of the personal name Steaf hard and Staf hard . Atany rate thi s l i s t explai ns Stafordale . T he ending i s

possib ly a d iminutive l ike the end ing et may be in somenames

,though sometimes interpreted to mean

“ head .

”

The end i ng “al i s l ike al in Wraxa l l

,ei ther “ hul l

or hi l l,a hol low

,or hi l l

,over which circums tances throw

light . Stavordale i s noted for i ts former P riory of Aus tinCanons

,of which we bel ieve some remains are found .

Dunkerton i s in a deep hol low on the ancient fosse road .

By Col l inson and others the explanation of t he name isfound i n the exis tence of a cai rn or carnedd

,which

,it is

affi rmed exis ted on Duncorne H il l . North - eas t of thechurch

,says Cooke

’

s Topography (date“ there is a

remarkable eminence,whereon once s tood a carnedd

,or hi l l

of s tones,cal led Duncorne

,erected by our B ri tis h ances tors

to commemorate some victory or extraord i nary event .H ence it i s Dun—cai rn—ton . The Domesday spel l i ng i sDuncre—ton . As ear ly as 1 297 i t i s Dunker—ton . T he

above his torical fact seems to give the mos t natural explana

lGerard Pa rticula r Description of Somerset, vol. xv .

”S. R .S., vol . v ii.

3 29

tion of t he name . I f we divide the word d ifferently, as

Dun- ketton , we certai n ly find that ketton has i t s analogiesin other place

- names in which kerton i s derived fi-

om ki rk,cerc. So Dunk i rk i s the church on the dune or down

.

Dunker ue, i n Normandy, i s s i t uated amid t he sandydunes o the coas t . Names of places wi th thi s element arefound before the begi nning of the eighth century i n Europe .The maj ori ty of t hese ki rk names are found i n predominantly Danis h sett lements . T hey often are so ca l ledbecause they ind icate t hat the property i s ves ted in someecclesias tical corporation, as Ki rby ( t hat i s, Kirk- by) LeToken

,i n E s sex

,was a par t of the property of St . Pau l

’

s,

London . H owever,we do not d i scover these ind ications

of former church ownership i n the case of Dunkerton . Asa s idel ight on t he place- name

,we think of a s imi lar name

in Dunkerry Beacon, in Cutcombe . This i s spel t Duncre,and i s Duncairn s hortened apparently. We may add that acairn does not neces sari ly mean an artificial accumulat ion ofs tones

,bu t may mean a nat ural rock . On Dunkerry there

may have been the remain s of ci rcles of s tones or a carnedd .

The original form is in both cases probab ly Dun- ceryg,meaning a stony height . On the top of Dunkerry thereare now many loose s tones, perhaps the remain s of largefire- hearths

,bu t the s tones were al ready there wi th which to

cons truct them .

Dinder i s another case of a dun or down , as after prolongeddeliberation we are conv inced . T his is an i ns tance in whichthe earl ies t spel l i ng appears to be mis lead ing if taken qui tealone

, and as the key to s ubsequent forms, as has been done .The ear l iest spell i ng, Denten, i s that of 1 064 in a record of

fifty manors belonging to the home es tate of Gi so, the las tof the Saxon bis hops . T hen we have the spel l ings Dynr

Dynre and Dynra ( 1 223 and then i toccurs in a form remarkab ly l ike Dund ry, and appears as

B indra i n 1494 . The ear l iest spel l ings are clear ly abbrevia

tions,wi t h the el imination of a consonant . T he Domesday

regi s ter and other l i s t s give clear ind ications of t his .

We have quoted i ns tances before . Den- ren is taken byitself

, and i n terpreted as Den- ren as a two—syl labled word .

Ren i s a watercourse, as i n Rhin, Rhine, Rhone, Riana, and

330

t he rhines of Somerset . 1 In A lpine s tream- names we find

Ron and the like . I n fact,t here i s a preci se correspondence

in meaning i n the name Rien—tal,in Uri

,Switzerland .

2

Rien—tal means the val ley of the s tream . Dinder s tands

picturesquely at t he gate of the hi l l s,where the s tream

which has come down through the combe to the wel l ofSt. Aldhelm at Dou l ton bend s into the val ley. T he riverSheppey ob ligi ng ly runs through the charmi ng rectorygarden and ripples t hrough the ground s of t he squire withstrict impar tial i ty of treatment . T he trou t may j ump forboth a l ike . The rugged

,bald dun

,wit h i t s l ight l ias s tone

(as it seems) overlooks the s tream. Dene- ren wouldaccord ing ly mean the same as the Swis s Rien—tal . In thiscase the “ d

”i s a late i ntrus ive let ter . We doubt this

from an examination o f the forms am id which Den—renseems i so lated . Fur ther

,thi s s ingu lar name has not merely

i ts analogue,but i ts very precise paral le l in D inedor, s ituated

four mi les from H ereford,on the Ross road

,near which flows

the “ many wi nd i ng Wye .

"T hi s rugged H erefordshire

D i nedor hi ll overlookin t he river is an abrupt eminence, onwhich are the traces or

ga Roman encampment, which we

have purposely vis ited . We have not yet been able to tracethe spel lings of the H ereford shire D inedor . I t wouldcertai n ly be s trange if the

“ d”i s a l so in thi s case a mere

intru s ive let ter . I t seems more likely t hat the“ d has

been d ropped i n the spel l i ng, though preserved in thetrad i tiona l pronunciation, and find i ng i t s paral l e l in H erefordshire . And

,further

,t hi s H ereford s hire correspondent

name ind icates an ul timately Cel tic origin . I n t hat case iti s,as we bel ieve

,Dinas or dun and dwr

,water . There are

names—Dan—dris,i n Congresbury, and Dundry

—which are

s imilar,and in t he Bath Chartu lary Stanton D rew i s spelt

Standondru in 1 292,a depar ture however, from the ear lier

Domesday spel l ing, Stantona .

T hese lat ter names are,however

,more likely connected

wi th the prim itive root, daur, an oak . T auber quotes

Jaccard (on Conti nenta l names) , i n which he says :“Les

l Canon Church , in Somerset A rchaeologi ca l Societjy'

s P roceed ings .

2 'I‘

auber

Ortsnamen a nd Spraehwz’

ssenschaf t, Z urich , 1 908 .

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3 32

The D ing seems to be an abbreviation of,Di nga

,

D ingat, agai n a Wels h sain t ’ s name,hidden away in

a corner . I t i s found i n M onmouthshire,Dingastow in

Carmar thenshire,L lan—dingat, St . Dingat

’

s Church . Dinghurs t is thus St . Dinga

’

s Wood . As H urs t was original lynamed Achelai i n D .B .

,or oak—lea

,this was an oak wood .

We find accord i ngly s uch names as H azel—hurs t,Lynd~

hurs t,Dew—hurs t

,spel t Duerhurst

,i . e.

,Deer - hurs t . T he

personal name H i r s t i s taken from the place“ de la H irs t .

"

And,

of course,so may H ol t be

“ de la H ol t and

equa l ly, of course, the name may be the ancient Saxon personal name H old

,as al ready mentioned , and itmay be hard

to determine in a given case which i t i s . We do not findmany

“ s haws”in the coun ty. T hat we need to d i scr iminate

i s s hown by t he principa l name, wi th which we are nowdeal ing, Stretcholt. I t i s Stragel or Strygel on ly in itsorig i nal form . There was a name Stry el extant which wast hat of a pries t in the d iocese of H ere ord ear ly in the 9thcentury. The o ld German and Gothic names Strago and

Staracho occurred wi th ear ly and later forms,Stragin and

Stragget. All these names are derived by competentauthori ties from a root

,strg, strac, strag, with the meaning

violent, powerful , or the root idea of s traight

,s trict

,

s trenuous . T hus are probab ly derived the modern names,Stracey, Strachey, which look so mys teriou s and unique .T he modern German s trecken is to s traighten and maketense . Accord i ng ly, we get nearer the origina l s hape of

th i s name when we read o f a Sir John Streache (alsospel t Streeche, Streche, Streech) .

1 There i s a l so the nameStrechleigh . Sir John Stretche, knight, was lord of Sevenhampton (Seavington) and held property el sewhere in thecounty in the reign of Richard t he Second .

2 We are,of

course,merely concerned wit h names and thei r origins,

regard les s of other interes ts . Stretch—hi l l and Strech - hol t arebut the forms o f t he word

,as persona l name, Stragil . The

end ing i s a diminu tive .

lGera rd’

s P a rticu la r Descr iption of Somerset, pp. 1 39, 1 66 .

“See Ca lenda r ofM SS. of Wel ls Cathed ra l , Index ; B ruton Chartula ry , No . 91 , S .A.S

vol . v iii.

333

Stringston is st i l l a p arochial name , just as Stragel orStretcho ltwas manoria l . Another spel l ing is Strenxton . The

origin of th is name is akin to the l ast . Stri ng is an ancientpersona l name , String , Strang, and found in the modern

forms , Strong, Stringle , Stringer, and the l ike . Thus i tmeans String

’

s ton . Streng and strong mean tense,tight

.

Lufton i s a few mi les from Yeovi l . Lufton is identified

with the Locu - tona of Domesday Book . This is spel t Luketon in 1227, Loke - ton in 1417, and Luke - ton andLuc- ton in the fifteenth century . In Camden

’ s map we findLufton , but not Lucton . Gerard says that the p lace - nameis taken from the Bri tish Luff on,

1 which , he says , s ignifieselms . Le land was struck wi th the growth of elms in thedistrict . But th is ignores the early spel l ings . A furthervariety is Lutton i n 1386 , and Col l inson cal ls i t Lustonclearly a mistake . The name of Luf and Lufie occurs inthe Bruton Chartu lary ,2 and the name of a bishop Lufie in theWel ls Ca lendar , and Lufton appears to be later than

Lucton . In the wi l l of Robert Gybbes, clerk, formerlyPrior of Montacute , the

“parson of Lufton

”i s a witness

I t is no t easy to see how Loc- ton couldbecome Luf- ton as a name of one and the same place .

Usual ly,we have found that when there is an incompre

hensible varia tion of this kind , and the identification iscorrect

,there is a word at the back of both forms which ,

various ly abbrevia ted , conta ins both . Such a personal nameis Lovick, or Lofick ; a lso Luv ick and Lufick . This curiousname is found in the pecul i ar name Lovecocks- hayes, i n

Marston Biggott, i n the county . Lov ick - ton may be short

ened ei ther to Lov or Luf - ton , or to Lock - ton . Lov ickitself is

, as before exp lained , a form of Leov ing, Leofinc,

Lufinck, Lufinc, Leov ing, Leofwing ( that is Leofwine) and

Leofwig was the name of a b ishop at the commencementof the thi rteenth century . M r . Pring, i n h is book on

Celtic sai nts i n Somerset , mentions the name of St . Luifa,

which is the same Saxon name .

Oath is a wonderfu l p lace- name . Oath is a hamlet name ,

1Pag e 95, ibid .“Pag es 287, 289 .

3 34

and i t i s near Olre (D.B . Alre) . There are court ro l l s foOthe in the days of Queen E l izabeth . In Smi th ’ s Wi l loccurs the form Woothe, which is Somerset pronunciatiofor Oath . Oth is a very common Saxon name

,found boti

s ingly and in compounds . What is Othery but the personaname Oth - here? And so a lso we have Oth - grim

, Oth

helm , and others . Most students of h istory know the namOtho .

Cibewurda i s i nteresting as an obsolete name , because ireminds us of another Welsh saint- name , St . Cybi, or StGybi, as i n L la ngibby . I t is the name of a manor in ExfordWa rda here appears to be a form of Worth , a homesteadand so in a modern form i t would , perhaps, emerge aGibsworth or Gibbswood . The modern persona l name i

Gibb , or G ibbs, and Cibewurda i s l ike ly enough the Sam ]

name Gebeorht or Gebheard , and not a compound of Cib i

and worth .

Dulverton i s i n D .E . Dulver- tona I n T E . ( 1297i t is Dulv

’

ton . Dilverton is a mere variety . I n 1314 i t ii n Drokenford

’

s Register Dulverne (Wil l iam de) . The mosremarkab le variat ion is that of Duber- tona , which is foum

i n a charter of Taunton Priory I f th is lasspel l ing were to be taken as correct

,the explanation W0 11 ]!

be from dwir , water . The usua l exp lanation reso lves thword into three parts : Dul , ver , ton . Dul is said to mea la bend . We do not know in what l anguage . While, 0 1

the other band , do] i s known as a form of tal , thal , a valeand , again , do] is known as meaning a tab le - land or a hi llas Jacard derives the west Swiss names dole

,do la

,and doli :

from a Cel t ic root wi th this meaning . I n the former sensdo] is the same as del l . Dol is a lso taken from thei l or tei l

a part , the Yorksh i re dialectica l word tho il , which we re

member as a puzzl ing word , to a boy , from the l ips ofgrandmother , and the common words, dea l and dole . Anso the Do lemoors on Mendip are exp lained as a sort of a110 1

ments . As is a lso the case with Do lberry, i n the countyThere is a p lace - name Dole in Bri ttany . Sampson , schola

of St . l l ltyd , consecrated by Dubritius, was abbot of Do]among the Bretons . Deal , i n Kent , i s so derived . V6 ]

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3 36

Twynhoe is i n Wel low, and here we might suppose thatthe prefix is certain ly a form of twain .

”Curiously enough ,

twyn is Ce lt ic for hi l lock , and hoe is Dansk , with the samemeaning . If descrip tive , th is is evident ly a doub let . Herewe have an instance of the corrup tion of a personalname . In 1329 i t i s Twynyhoe , and in the 17th centuryreverts to nearer i ts original form , Twinio , the personalname Tuinui . There is a name assuming a patronymicform , Twining . The o ld Engl ish name of Christchurch , i nHampshi re , was Tweonea, the Normans shaped this intoThuinam. I t was a lso ca l led Twinham- burn . The prioryname final ly ousted both . This name Twine appears tous to be an abbreviat ion of the wel l - known name historica l lyconnected wi th Somerset , the Saxon conqueror of Somerset ,Kentwine . Twywi ll is the name of a manor known by thisname in the days of Queen E l izabeth . I t has been inter

preted as tw l l , Cel tic for a hol low , or tue l l , a covert . I t isc learly the corrup tion of T ou ilda , i . e . ,

T oulhilda . This isthe origi n of the curious extant name occasiona l ly met with

of Towel l (pronounced Tou -wi l) . This might be supposedto be derived from the ind ispensab le to i let requisi te after abath . T ouh ilda is a Saxon fema le name , and Twywil l preserves a memory of i t .Bitwynhorde .

— This name is found in a G lastonburycharter : ad quendam trencheam quae vocatur Bitwynhorde.

Horde is , of course , a kind of fence . The Dansk word hordemeans a hurdle . We have i t i n hoarding and hurdle . I tmust necessari ly be between something , and scarcely needsthe descrip tive addi tion . I n rea l i ty we i ncl ine to the op inionthat i t is Beadwine horde , and the name has got changed tosomething more obvious . I f this were so i t would be interesti ng , as Bedwine is given as the name of one of the knights ofKing Arthur

’

s round tab le . The name is a l so found inBeadding—broc, i . e . , Beadwine brook , i n foresta l perambulations . Another boundary name i n the same document is

Scearp- horde . This is the persona l Saxon name Sceorf andSceat. Wynerd , i n Winscombe , is the personal name Wine

heard .

We l low and Vellow .

—Wel low is near Bath . Ve l low is a

3 37

hamlet name i n Stogumber as a manoria l name . I t is oddto note that Wel low, Welton , and , un less there is confusion ,even Wel ls, have a l l the same spe l l ing . Under the date725 we find Gran t by Ki ng Cyneulph , King of theSaxons or Gewissi, to St . Andrew

’ s monastery,Wells

,of

land on Welewe River . The spel l ings of Wel low areWelewe , Weluue , and We lwe . Of Welton

,near M idsomer

Norton , Welwe - ton , We lue - ton , We lwer- ton . The hundredname is Welwe i n Domesday . In 1329 and in 1362, earl ierand later , we have Welwe , Welewe , and Walton . Weltonis thus an abbreviation of We lwe - ton .

We l ls is in D .E . Wel la , doubtless from its sp rings . Of

roots suggested (as a l ready noted in Banwel l) there is theCeltic gwelgi , a flood . This is un l ikely . Weal lan meansto bubb le up as Saxon , but this obviously does not accountfor the persisten t strange forms of We lwe . The ludicrousexp lanation from the mid - Engl ish Weilaway,

wa l a wa”

or wei la wei ,”tha t is

“woe , woe ,

”has even been

suggested . Th is i s the ne plus u ltra of fo l ly . We lwe is , we

believe , a shortened and softened form of an owner- name ,Wealhwine . Wealdwine i s a more frequent spel l ing . Allthe hard consonants are dropped as usual , which seems tous to explai n the puzzle . There is a Wel lsford i n LangfordBudvi l le

,which is the persona l name Wealh . The modern

personal name Wel ls is very l ike ly indeed from this rootwith the added sib i l ant .Va llis is a monkish name . Between Roadwater and Washford a val ley opens out into bright green meadows intersprinkled with ancient orchards . In monkish records thisis Va llis F lorida , i n the m idst of which are the crumblingremains of the ancient abbey of C leeve , founded nearly a

mil lenium ago by Wil l iam de Romara, E arl of Lincoln .

Va l lis, near Frome , has possib ly the same meaning . Theexplanation from La Valaize , a bank , appears needless .

In the Montacute Chartul ary1 there occurs the name Sir

Nicholas de V a lers , which appears to be the same as thename V ilersz and V il iers . There is a possib i l i ty that th is.

IS.R. S., vol . viii. , p. 141 .

2Eyton'

s Domesd ay Stud ies .

3 38

name Va lers has been corrup ted to Val l i s . We have notdiscovered any connection of th is name wi th the local i ty .

Fai land , i n Wraxal l , i s a d istric t name . We are not helpedby any very early spel l i ngs . I n 13SQ i t is Foyland , and laterFe iland , Phayland , and Fayland . P i land is i n the easterncounties a name for unenclosed arable land , that is, l andwhich , before enclosure acts were passed , was t i l led incommon co - partnership . This appears to be a shortening offeld or veldt l ands . In Somerset th is wou ld emerge as veal~l and .

”A piece of arab le glebe is ca l led , i n the parish of

Stowey, Law vea l (Low- field) . The softer form Fay i s notthus accounted for . Then , again , faw, fow , vow is fromBri tish ffau the den of a wi ld beast . This requi res a stretchof imaginat i on . Feoh i s the same as fee , a lordship or payment , a fee or fief . Peoh is A . S . for catt le , i n which paymentsi n kind were made . There i s a legal phrase

“i n fee

simple . What pecul i ari ty of tenure of Failand would givecolour to this exp lanation we do not know . Faer is a sheep ,as i n Faroer, the Faroe Is lands , and i n west Switzerlandthis becomes fea , and there is the p lace - name Faye . Thisi s p ractical ly the same as feoh i n meaning . In Somerset wedo not tri l l our This is p robab ly the exp lanation .

If we could find any early spel l i ng to bear out this we should

say that , as there a re four p l aces Fy- field traceab le to anowner

’

s name , Fyva (and Fivehead i n Somerset and Fifehead i n Dorset may be so derived) that Failand is from apersona l name also . I t is anyhow probab le that Failand is

an abbreviated name . The persona l name Free land is acorrup t form of a compound Saxon name , Fridul ind , andthere would be nothing wonderfu l i f we found a name Pi lu

l ind . Li nd means gentle .

Dompo ll i s near I lminster . I t is said to be Dune-pwil ,

that is, Dunna

’

s pool . Domp is the name of a farm nearI lminster . I n a charter connected wi th the name of king

I na there is the curious name king Domp . Now Domp wask ing of Devon . This p l ace - name and the farm - name maybe reminiscences . I t is usual ly said to be a form of Dunepol ,ei ther the down - pool or the pool of Dunna . There are thenames Donyat, B unma

’

s gate or way ; B angrai , B unus’

s

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340

done . There is therefore no ground for specia l p leadingas to the form of the p lace - name . I t is clearly Edwin - ton .

This wri ter’

s identification of Cynwitwith Combwich ,where

the grea t ski rmish took p lace , is another matter . If thet”i s a confusion for

“c”once more , then Cynwic may

be the same as Combwich . But th is name receives separatenotice . Edingworth i s the name of a hamlet a few mi lesfrom Axbridge , i n the parish of East Brent . The Domesdayspel l ing is remarkable enough . I t is Jodena Wirda . Thefina l vowel of Jodena i s merely euphon ic, and the j

”i s

the half - vowel“ g

,

”and so the form to be deal t wi th is

Goden . Wirda may be for worth , i . e . , Godworth , but morep robab ly we have here the extant landowner

’

s name of

Godenweard ,a lso spel t Godeuert. I n the t ime of Edward

I I I . ( i l lus trative of the ha lf- vowel sound) , i n the court rol ls

i t is Yadensworth . In the Domesday we get the apparentlyi rreconci l iab le form of Lodena . Now th is is an instance ofwhich we ought to reci te severa l , where the prefix

“La,

"

the article , has coa lesced and become Lodena for La

Godena , s ince the g ” i s a ha l f- vowel . O ther examp les inSomerset are Luminster for La Minster , Lopen for La Pen,

and E lborough,spel t I l lebergia, becomes Liberia , and grows

unrecognisab le . There are other noteworthy instances .

Two names , n ord , i n Whatley Hecford intona) ,and Edgecott, i n Seavington St . Mary, are respectively thepersona l names Echfrid or Hechfrid , a shortened form of thename Aege lfrid , and spel t Heggeford i n a charter . Edgecott

is not the cot on the ridge or edge or corner (eck , a corner) , but a disguised form of Hechgod , or Hechagoz ,

as Hur

cot is from Heregod . La Folde , i n Drayton , is shortenedfrom La Filogaud . The name Filogaud becomes Fil lgate in

current speech . I t is the“Fi lo

”in Filo l ind , a l luded to above

as a possib le derivation of the mysterious“Fayland .

”

341

CHAPTER XXXIII .

Silver Stree t .

We have purposely left the consideration of a name thatis of more than county interest . Si lver as part of a placename is one of those words on which the speculation hasbeen almost endless . To appreciate the curiosi ty of thename we cannot do better than give some of these specimens .In the fi rst p l ace we must note how widely- disp read thename is, and so wide as to suggest that a t least some of thesenames are mere fancy names, and not of real ly ancientorigin ; and that others are assim i lations from various wordswhose meanings have been forgotten , and not therefore al lfrom one word ; and that even the genuine name, Si lver,may be from several sources ; from , for i nstance, such a Scandinav ian name as Sii lvar, a V iki ng name as ci ted byauthori ties, or the persona l name Selua (Selva) , a lso givenas such in l ists . At least , i n one instance Si lver

’

s - ton is ex

plained as a mere shortening and popular corrup tion of St .Si lvanus . I t is in Northamp tonshi re . Consequently, onlythe history so far as ascertai nab le can help in the solutionin each individua l case .

How widely sp read the name is i s wel l known to a l l whohave given any attention to p lace- names . Si lver Street i s aname found i n many p laces i n the county of Somerset . Andbeside this there i s the form M onksi lver, doub ly interestingin i ts simple state as Domesday Selura or Selvra, that is,Selvr, and Selva , and the add it ion Monk is, of course , i n i tsmonastic connection

,of la ter origin . The exp lanation of this

prefix - name Monk, or Munksylver, and Munkeselver, as i tis spel t in the 16th centu ry and earl ier, i s found in the fact

that as early as 1248 i t was connected with Go ldclive

Priory . We read of an act ion between Thomas, the parsonof the church of Stokegumer, querent, and Henry, the prior

of Goldclive, deforci ant, about oats due to Thomas . I t might

be thought-

odd that i n the Engadin and in Switzerl and there

342

is a p lace - name spel t exact ly the same , Sel va and Selvaggia ,which a conti nenta l student of these names exp lains as connected with Si lver— with whatever origi n— as many do inEngland .

1 So there i s Selvretta, which is actua l ly a tree lessAlp ine heath , and the Si lbern Alps, origina l ly Silbrin andSilbrinon . As mere iso lated (and not p roviding an exhaustivel ist) instances we find Si lver - da le i n Lancash i re , Si lver Stoneor Silverston ( just mentioned) i n Northamptonsh i re , Si lvertoni n Devon , Se lv ington i n Salop (compare Selv inch i n Somerset) , and many more . Si lverton in Devon is exp la i ned afterthe method that used to be deemed qu i te satisfactory, suchexplanations too easi ly serving to slake an innocent curiosi ty .

T his Si lverton i n Devon is in D .E . Sulfreton , and is by Po lwhe le resolved into three components , Sel - fare - ton ,

“the

great wood town .

” Sel is taken to mean a wood , and fare isvaur

,signifying great i n many Welsh p lace - names . But

clearly,whatever the underly i ng meaning, Sulfre i s one word .

An al ternative exp lanation is aff orded by this author . Si lverton means very simp ly the rich town . This is comforting

in the mere reflection . This is of a p iece with h is exp l anationof Ki lmingon as Ki l -maen - ton ,

“the town of the stony

bridge p lace ,”where sure ly i t is the persona l name Ceo l

mund ; as Ga lmington i s Galmund - ton and Boudington isBondan - ton ( the name Bonda) . A loca l name in the countyis Selvinch, a lso spel t Silv ing and Sylv inch and Silvayne .

z

Gerard p laces Silvayne or Silveyne i n the parish of White

lackington, which gave i ts name to the fami ly so cal led . Si lvineh is thus a corrup t form . Silvayne finds i ts exp lanation inthe name Se lewan, the name of a bondsman or sl ave in theBruton Chartulary, and the name Se lewine , Sel a , is an extantname , and as a root word of sa l low perhaps means swarthyor dark . But Selv ington above points to a persona l name .

C learly there is the name Selva i nvo lved . And this , i ndeed ,looks l ike a corrup tion of Se lwick (as Selwig) . The o ld name

Selewine sti l l survives as Selwyn , with the same originalsyl l ab le sel .

l ’I‘

auber Swiss Place- names.

“Gerard Particula r Del ineation of Somerset,pp. 1 35, 1 40 , vol . xv .

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344

i s the Saxon corrup tion of the Lati n Si lva , a wood , and Si lverStreet shou ld be Si lva Strata , or the road to the wood ,

”

and in Selwood Forest the word se l is for him an abbreviation of Selva . These roads , he says , led to some sacred grove .

We might suggest that the Sulev iae were the pet goddesses ofthe Roman soldiers and the natura l p rotectors of peasants .I n the West the legionary soldiers were much attached to theM atres or Suleviae . Hence he might say the

“Sulev iae

Strata .

”He quotes the late M r . E l lworthy, who exp lains

Little Si lver in Well ington as ad si luam, and one of theancient roads of our town leads to Si lver Stree t and to St .Phi l ip

’

s Wel l .”And both in Taunton and Wel l ington , Silver

Street lead south , where there was most woodland .

The method of argument is thus app l ied by Mr . Llewel lyn ,of Sandford V icarage , Devon , leading to a qui te diff erentand apparently equal ly val id conclusion . Sometimes theevidently substantive Si lver is a hamlet , at others i t i s a farmor a cottage

,or two cottages , but always a dwel l ing . In the

parish of Northam (Devon) stands a farm - house ca l led Si l

ford . I t stands close by a ford or a p lace where a road passesthrough a stream . Al l the Si lvers , or Sulvers, he knowsare close by ancient fording- p laces o r on the road to them .

Perhaps a nameless modern br idge has eradicated thememory of the ford , excep t Silverbridge ,

near Yealampton

(where the ford has given the name to the bridge) . M r .

Llewel lyn bel ieves that the origi na l fo rm of the word isSul hford , a p lace - name which occurs six or eight times inthe boundaries of ancient charters i n Kemble

’

s Codex Diplomaticus . I t a lso occurs in a copy of a C redi ton grant ofland The name is non - existent now . But ine i ther di rection there occurs a group of Si lvers L i t tle Si lver,Si lver Street , and Si lverton . This spot is a l and of Si lvers,al l on or near or leading to brooks and fords . We notethat , i n Chew M agna , Si lver Street passes over the River

Chew , where there is now a bridge , and the same thing is

true of other Si lver Streets in Somerset,as we l l (of yore ,

we are to ld) of the Si lver Street i n Bristol . 1 I t seems a safe

1Note a l so und er the name Twerton (in Devon) the menton of Little Silver

B rid g e . I f S ilver is Suhl - ford , the a d d ition of brid g e is a.

natura l ad d ition when the orig in of the name ha s be en forg otten.

345

conclusion that the word is connected wi th a ford . Thisingenious gent leman accordingly derives Si lver from sulh,meaning a p lough . Z u low is a Danish word meaning a

p lough , and twenty years ago , i t i s interesting to note, atLong Ashton , zulow was a word used for a p lough . I t isa p lough , and nothing else ,

”he confidently says ; and so

Sulhford , al i as Silford , corrup ted to Si lver and Silvur, i s ap lough - ford ; or, as he interp rets, i n a way not satisfying,a narrow ford .

”We suggest that su lb in th is case is more

l ikely connected wi th su lh , dirty puddle , wa l low slough , andthe Saxon su l , meaning mud , and thus the ancient Saxon namewould be descrip tive of a shal low ford . Sn] and swale meanfit- p laces, watery ground . Su ls is a brook in a Swiss p lacename .I f these Si lvers were invariab ly connected wi th fords, thi sinductive reasoning wou ld be conclusive and unimpeachab le .But th is does not appear to be so . Of the two WestburySi lver Streets , one leads to a look - out or elevated spot, andso the name may be Cel t ic syl la , to gaze ; sylu, a sight . I tappears

,however

,that Ce l tic schol ars wi l l not al low that

“ man,

” meaning a p lace,may be commuted into vau or

fan or fa, and thus p rovide us with the form syl lfa, a lookout p lace, an espying or wa tching p lace . One Si lver Streetin Westbury leads di rectly to a high cl ifl overhanging theriver (and not a ford) cal led Garden C l iff , where watch andward may have been kep t . From this point there is a veryextensive view on al l s ides, at which the ancient watchmenof Westbu ry

,mentioned in 1653, may have kep t thei r

watch . The other Si lver Street debouches on a wide open

Prospect . Si lverstone Farm ,above mentioned , is near the

edge of a sha rp decl ivi ty,from which there is a notab le

view for a long way of a wooded val ley . In Morgan’

s book

on We lsh Place-names, Llanfihange l Diu Sylwy (Anglesea)is derived from diu

,hi l l ; syl lu , to gaze . Aisyl lfa i s Welsh

for an observatory . O ther p lace - names wi th this e lementthus interpreted and answering the descrip tion are Diusol

(St . M ichae l’s Mount) , Sol i hu l l (Warwicksh ire) , Selsdon

(Surrey) , 550 fee t high at the cross - roads . Solva in Pem

brokeshire is a lofty spot overlooking a creek seawards .

346

Going further afie ld and on to the continent we find that inTyrolese p lace - names quoted by Tauber as connected withSi lver i n a specia l ised sense are Salfeur, Salfhof, Se lfenhof .Selfen i s very much l ike the Domesday spel l ing of Si lver inMuneksilver, as above given . Very much resemb l ing thisthere is a charter connected wi th Woodspring PrioryM aud Off re

’

s daughter Al ice and Robert de Ofl re gaveto the Priory four acres in Su lesworth, and one acre in Su lfbroadacre , three acres in La Heye and half an acre in Estredolmore , and ha l f an acre in Westredo lomore .

”The Sil

b retta Alps, near Klosten, the Silbren Alps in Klovtar, Si lbertal (or val ley) , near Arlberg, Silberhast and Silberstock inSwitzerland , are none of them suggestive of woods or fords .There are numerous names in Su l para l le l to those quotedfor our own land . Sulzgraben , Sulzfluh , and the l ike , arefrequent .There is a Silverley i n Cambridgesh i re , and that in Domesday Book is spel t Severlai . 1 Skeat is content wi th derivingthis from the Anglo - Saxon seo lfor, meaning si lver , as thel ater spel l ings suggest that Severlai i s the usua l Normansoftening of the word seo lfre . He says the ep i thet is a

strange one , but not infrequent . He suggests no exp lanation . Tauber does . Si lver (si lber in German) is i n o ld highGerman , s i l abar ; Gothic , silubi . The meaning is bright,c lear , and the root of al l the words quoted , su l and sal invarious names above given is that of

“meadow land .

”I t

is the brightness of the meadow land , the Alps , or the stonethat has fixed these ep i thets . Si lva i tself is a word that doesnot , according to this authori ty, mean wood , but original lymeadow . One thing seems clear, and that i s th is exp lanationappears to sui t al l the cases , both where there is a ford andwhere the name is affixed to a tree less heath or to meadowland on snow- clap t mountains . I t must not be forgottenthat in each separate case i nvestigation is needed into originalspel l ings where accessib le . We are indebted to M r. Wil

k inson fo r the fo l lowing most i nterest ing and instructive instance . Si lverda le near Carnforth (Lancashi re) was Sines

l Skeat : Cambridg e Antiqua rian Society , NO. x x x iv .

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348

CHAPTER XXXIV .

Misce llaneous Names .

As there may sti l l be loca l names which are reminiscent of

obsolete manoria l names,and are doubt less d ifli cult and

puzzl ing , i t may be worth whi le to notice some of these asfound in the Domesday l ists . There is an obsolete manorialname Ai li , i n time of Richard I I .

,a lso wri tten A ilgi, showing

conclusively that we are here dea l ing wi th an abbreviatedname . I n the time of Richard I I . i t i s Ayl ly i n the hundredof Carhampton , and i n that of Cante - tone (Cannington) asAley i n Over Stowey , with st i l l a th i rd i n Stogumber . I tis a modified form of Ealdgyth , the Saxon persona l lady

’

sname . T his i s shortened to Aldgid , then Ailgi and Aylly.

This was the name of one of the v i rgi ns to whom Aldhelmdedicated his treatise de Virginibus . I t appears to haveDanish connections mostly, and was formed by a Norman

dropp ing of a l l the hard doub le consonants .Another curious name a l ready mentioned is that of Aatll,i n Dunster . The Av il l flowing down the va l ley of the samename .

”We note that the spel l ing of the manoria l name is

Avena , Avene , and Wi l l iam de Avene occurs inI n the Bath Charter, as part of the possess ions, i t i s Ave ll

hamme . Avene is a spel l ing of the river Afon in documents,and i l l i s possib ly I sle or I le , the river name . Av il l i s thusshortened from Afon I le

,the river Isle ,

”and Avel lhamme

of the Bath Charter , the low - lying meadow land near theriver . The D .E . spel l ing was Avena . Av il l i s the name ofa stream cal led the Laun at Dunster . This is noteworthy .

The persona l female name as a district name , and giving i tsname to the stream perhaps , which combines a l l these

elements, i s that of Avel i na , t. e . , Evelyn . The name Avel ingis extant according to Forstenmann . Avo is an ancestorobviously connected wi th Anus . Avel ina may be shortened

1Lincoln’

s I nn Cha rtu la ry of B ath P riory , S .R . S . , vol . x i i . , p. 1 03 .

349

to Avena or Av ill , and the end is the Lauri . Anyhow,th is

is a p lausib le exp lanation of Av il l and Avena as names of thesame spot .Bocsita be longed to St . Peter

’

s of Bath Abbey . Is thereany local name resembl ing i t? I t is found in the Bath Chartulary spel t Evesty and Evescia, 1 but also il luminatively asGeofanstiga . I n Kemble

’

s Codex Diplomaticus, Evestia and

Ascewic (Aescwig) , Ashwick , are jo ined in a charter p ronounced spurious . I t i s an obso lete name of an estate

,wh ich

in 1086 belonged to the Abbot of Bath , and is noted in the survey, between Corston and Ashwick . The Bath Priory charterseems to p lace th is spot on the river, near Camelar- ton

,that is

,

Camerton . Geofanstiga becomes Evestia by the g ” beinga ha lf- vowel sound both at the beginning and end of a word .

Geofan i s clearly the form of the modern personal nameJevons . Stiga seems to mean a steep footpath . Geofan,

however, i s evident ly Gebwine and Gefwine . This showsat least how old some names are i n the county, for Gebwineis the wel l -known name G ibbons, and Gibbons and Jevonshave developed out of the same Saxon name , Geb, Gif,give . But who wou ld immediate ly recognise Evestia as

Gibbons? Unti l we find the key and trace the steps i t seems

incredib le .

Another name, G ibb or G ibbs , with the inevi tab le mean

less p lura l form,i s Chibbet, which is poss ib ly in Exford . This

is from the Domesday name C ibeweard , also Gibheard ,

which is the modern name G ibberd .

Eppsa i s perhaps Episbury i n Wick St . Lawrence , and i tis the persona l name Eps . E bbs H i l l i s a loca l name , A .S . ,

Ebba, as also in Ebden , and Eppsa ; and Burshi l l , a hamletin Shep ton Ma l let , i s Deorweald become Deoral , and acereting the s ib i l an t as a possessive form , Deorsal , and thenbecomes Darsel l . M aneurda, an obsolete name in M i lverton ,is Manweard , with the two elements man for magen ,

strength,and weard . Imela i n St . Decumans looks mysterious

enough,but i t is a softened and abbreviated form of Imhild .

Lanshore, i n West Quantoxhead , and Lancherley are both

1Bat/z Chartulary , S.R.S. , vol . V i i .

350

i nterest i ng loca l names , recal l ing the time when the greatestpart of the cul tivati on of the land was by common fields .Landshore i n Devon is the head land of a field . I t i s Laensci re - l i a or landshores, meaning separa t ions . The Laenmeans the part let out for ti l l age . Another reminiscenceis to be found in the p l ace- names more than oncenoted ending in l inch . The fol lowing is the explanationof the l i nches given in Seebohm

’

s Vi l lage Community.

Under the ancient open system of agricu l ture, when thecommon field lay on the h i l lside , i t was usual to divide i tinto strips, rarely up and down the slope . Each strip wasseparated from its neighbour by the usual ba lk of agriculture land . The observant eye in the country may see relicseven now of this system . Every tenant p loughed his stripso as to throw the sod down hi l l , the p lough returning oneway idle . I f the whole had been p loughed as one field thesoi l would gradual ly have travel led from the top to thebottom but as every tenant was stopped a t the balk or landshore , it fol lowed that in course of t ime the field becamedivided into a series of terraces ris ing one above another .These terraces are the lynches or l i nches found in the p lacenames as e .g . , Sticklinch, i n West Pennard , and Linch, inSelworthy . Stick is p robab ly as stiga i n Geofanstiga , steep .

Freshford , near Frome , is a doubtfu l name to which aclue is afforded by the spe l l i ng found in Kirby

’

s Quest ofFurs- ford . I t is the personal name , i n that case , of Fursa,found in Fursman, a curious name extant i n Bristo l . Thereare two manors, Firford and Fescheford , i n D .E .

, as givenby Eyton . But this l atter is ident ified by M r . Whale withVexford , i n Stogumber , and the addi t ional manor Firford asthe Freshford near Bath . This seems easy enough , but thelater spel l ing gives a clearer exp lanat ion , Furs- ford , or theFersford of Kirby

’

s Quest,1 or Furs - fird has become Fres- ford .

and then , of course , th is can only ( i t is supposed) be Fresh !

ford , as an i n te l l igib le name . The 16th century spel l ingFrecke - ford is curious . Frecke i s an Anglo - Saxon personal

name , as in Frecken - ham , i n Suff olk , but here i t is a com

IS . R . S. , vol . iii.

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352

vi l lage . The name Pixton , i n Dulverton , is l ike some othermetamorphoses , a curiosi ty of change . The Domesday

spe l l ing is Potesdona . The exp lanation seems to be thatth is origi nates in the persona l name Peoht, also p ronouncedPeoct. Pixton as a 15th century surviva l of th is p ronunciation is decided ly worthy of note . This certa in ly exp lainshow Potesdun could possib ly be cal led Pix - ton from Peoctsi

dun . Potts is found in Potsgrave, Poth ington, and the l ikep l ace - names . There is a Putsham i n the parish of Ki lve ,said to be a Celt ic camp .

B o lting and Dulcote —Do lting i n D .E. i s Do ltin . Thep lace is ancient and interest ing on account of i ts connectionwi th St . Aldhelm , to whom the church is dedicated . Dol f ini s in form very closely a l l ied to other ancient names as anAlp ine s lope ca l led Dolden , and the name in Dolden - horn .

Now , these are derived from an o ld h igh German form ,

Doldo , meaning a dome , dul , or dhe l , and descrip tive ofconfiguration , and to this Dulcote H i l l corresponds . Tonis not ting , a counci l , but din , or den , as Dolden . This,too

,exp lai ns Dultingcote, which is earl ier spel t Doulte - cot,

tha t is , Doulden- cote . Tarnoch, a tything near Kingsway inBadgeworth , is another i nstance of a name wi th a primitiveroot at i ts base . The Domesday spel l ing is T ernoc, laterTornok, Tournock, Tornok , Turnok . The form TartenGower occurs in Pembrokeshi re in which

,in Welsh

,T arren

means a tump or batch . But th is is only another instance ofnames such as Tornova

,i n Bohemia

,Turnan

,i n Austria ,

Terne , i n I ta ly , a l l traceab le to a prim itive root tar andtarn , meaning wood . The ock is possib ly og, fu l l of

”

or woody . We have met wi th the persona l name Turnock,but i ts derivation , unless from a p lace, we do not know .

To lland could be most easi ly grasped as meaning the“land

subject to tol l , but i t is Talam in D.B . , and in the ExeterD.E. Talanda and Ta lam . I n 1263 and 1300 the nameappears as The la , Tela , and Tyla , as a form of a personalname . I t is , we think , the name Towle shortened fromTouhild , a l ready mentioned , that is , Towle - l and or Towle

ham .

“Where does this road lead to ? said the motorist to

353

the stoop ing l abourer, and got the startl ing reply That’sthe way to ’

el l , s i r .”So i t was—to Healh. Have you seen

my descent i nto hel l ?”said the artist . No,

but I shouldl ike to .

”This you may do i n severa l p laces

,as at Heljord ,

which was once a shal low estuary from Eyl or Heyl withthis meaning . Some of these hel ls are from the personalname E l , Ayl , Hel , or E l la . Hel i or hal an means sal t

.Or

i t is a hul l or hol low . Healh i s a frequent name of lands,

and is usua l ly the persona l name Ealh and Healh, as i n SouthPetherton and Curry Rivel l , and Hole, i n Wh i te Stanton .

I n these days of s trikes a paterfami l ias would l ike to gowhere coa l i s cheap . He had better visi t Colefree l and , i nKingston Seymour . This , l ike Co leford , i n Stogumber, is,however, only Ceo lfrith or Ceo lfrid , a whi lom possessor, asCo ley, near Li t ton , i s Ceo la . Co ld Harbours are everywhere .The name is l ike Si lver Street, a never- ending subject ofspeculation . Our numerous Co ld Harbours are mostly i nshel tered si tuations , and so Leo th inks the name was giveni ronical ly . The Lati n derivations , Co l lis arbour and the l ike ,are simp ly stup id . There is a Co ld Harbour in Somerseton the road to Thorncombe . A Saddle Street joins thefosseway at St . Re igne

’

s H i l l . Harbour is undoubtedly fromHerberge , a shel ter , and the ep i thet i s p robab ly just whati t says . There are Kal te -Herbergs i n Germany .

The meaning of the termination“hanger

”as a hanging word

is wel l known . One of the best- known p lace - names whichcontain the word is Binegar . I ts origina l spel l ing as Beananhanger is formed

,as a l ready noted , of the persona l name

Benna,others a lso are found so compounded . In the charter

of Barlynch Priory are Swyn- hangre , that is , Swegen’

s or

Sweyen’

s hanger, Fuges- hangre , Rades - hangre , Chobes- hanger .

Rades-bangre is p robab ly H rod’

s hanger . Fug i s a name inthe eighth century . There are others too numerous to

enumerate and some so loca l as to escape attention . Chobs

hanger is the name Coppa or Cop . C lay- hanger or C leyhanger ( 1232) is p robab ly descrip tive oi the slop ing clay .

Wyche- hanger is the persona l name Wich ,Wiching.

3 54

Much also might be wri tten of great interest on the ancientroads and ways , the streets and weias and geats , as , for ins tance , the very ancient name of Lufelsgeat, which opensup the h istory of the name Love l l , as our observation hasi ncl ined us to th ink , and shows that the story of i ts beingd erived from Lupel ius, on account of the savage temper of thedog and wolfl ike lord of Cast le Cary , i s doubtfu l . Lupus andLupel lus were doubt less n icknames lat in ised from thei r l ikeness to the good o ld Saxon name Leofel . Leof means Sir

,

and Leofel , Liufe l , are abbreviat ions of Leofh ild . This nameis i n French Luval , with the same origin . So much for thestory repeated with p ious persistency . The Lord of CastleC ary, the baron of 1 138, was Ralph Love], and thefather of this Ra lp h has his name spel t Luval . The ancientforms are p reserved in a charter of G lastonbury Abbey ,where we meet with Love legeth , that is , Lovelgeat, i n whichgeat is a form of gaud or gath , or , maybe , geat , a roadway ,which is the more p robab le . I f we meet wi th a local name ,as we do , Lovehi ll , and seek an amatory exp lanation , i t is ,we fear , only this persona l name . In the Pedes Finium isLovelles- stoc- land .

1

The names of roads , ways and byeways scattered throughcharters , and used as boundary marks are v ery numerous . I ti s impossib le to examine a comp lete l i st of them in a chapter .Some of the principa l names have been noted . The streetswere rightly taken to mean the ancien t Roman roads . Thereis Streetnear Merriott , Stony Stretton in Evercreech , Strattonon the Fosse (Stratton St . V igor in Street i n Winsham ,

spel t Estrat or Strete , and then Estrat. The initial phoneticvowel has induced the spel l ing East- Street . Over Stratton

(D .E . Stratona) i n South Petherton , cal led Stratton M inoremin 1315 , Street (stret , s trete) by G lastonbury . Stree t was i n 680

ca l led Lantloca l . There are Broadways equa l ly indicative ofh ighways , Broadway on the Foss , Brodeway with Apse ,curiously ca l led Les Apses , and then emerging as Rapps . AtMerriott a part of the road leading to Lopen and South

Petherton is cal led the Broadway . Westowe in Lydeard St .

’SomersetF ines, vol . xx .

“SomersetFines, vol . viii .

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356

1st) the name Ol ude throws l ight on C lude- ton or C lu tton andTemp le Cloud .

Of p laces with the commencing word Up , Updown i nM idsomer Norton seems contradictory . Upcot in N inehead ,and perhaps Uph i l l , spel t Uphul l , Uphul le , Opopu l le, Upton ,exp la i n themselves . Upmudford ,

“which name i t very wel l

brookes , being exceedingly di rty and miry .

”1 In the time ofRichard I . or Henry I I . Mudford had but one lord ; shortlyafter i t acknowledged three , which accord ingly were knownby ye names of M udford Terry (A .D. Westmudford ,and Up -M udford .

”2 Uppington is i n Withypool , and Upweare in Weare .

Ditton Street, between I lminster and West Dawl ish , i s Diketon Street , meaning the street by the d ike , or ra ised way .

The Roman road from G lastonbury to West Pennard passesbetween two hamlets , E ast Street and Woodland street . Onthe Glastonbury s ide of these hamlets there is a raised wayca l led Ponter

’

s Ba l l , which latter word is thought to be a corruption of Ve l lum . Plaice Street runs towards North Camp ,near Taunton . Perhaps this is connected with the namePlecy,

”as in Newton Plecy . Broom - street is near Culbone ,

spel t Brum - s tert . This i s Brun street or steo rt.

Slow occurs very frequent ly as a loca l name . John AtteS lew, of Slow Comb , i n West Cammel l—and the name Sloworth occurs here— and la Slo , S loo , Slou and Slow Comb inNorth Curry . There i s a s lough farm in Bishop Sutton ,and a Slowly in Luxborough . Leo3 derives Slastede fromthe sloe

,the frui t of the b lack - thorn . I t may, however, be

s lough , a muddy poo l o r mi re ; as the mid -Engl ish ofthis is s lough and of the form

“slo ,

”th is is the more

l ikely derivat ion . Slowe , near Stoke St . Gregory , i s sure lySlawe .

Newton Plecy was a manor in North Petherton , and took

i ts addi t iona l name from Hugh de P lacetis, t ime of HenryI I I . The spe l l ings i n the 13th century .

4 Richard de Placetis

or Plecy died in 1292 . Previously to this i t bore the

1Gera rd P a rticu la r Description of Somerset, pp. 1 78 and 1 79 .

21 bid .

3See

Ang loFSax on N ames of P laces , p. 1 9 (note ).

4Ca lerzda r of M anusmlbts ofthe Dean and Chapter of Wel ls .

357

name Newton Forrester . Richard I . made Wi l l iam deWrotham forester of Exmoor, and a lso gave h im theBarony of Ambrevi l le ,1 i n the hundred of North Petherton .

This name is the same as Auberv ile and Adburv ile .At the

time of Domesday Robert de Auberv ile held a smal l estate atWearne , on the north of Langport . But according to Eyton ,D

’

Auberv il le was a man of many smal l estates,somewhat un

sett led , as in Langford Budv i l le . Auberv ile i s near Caen .

The p lace - names Yard , i n West Hatch , and near CombeFlorey , i n Taunton ; Yard - ley in Wookey

,and Yard -wal l in

M ark , are p robab ly a l l derived from the name of a manGeard .

”There are four Yard leys . The name is spel t Yerd

and Yurd . I t is , of course , qui te as l ikely that the derivationis from geard ,

”an enclosure or court , or even a fo ld .

Yard ley would then be the same as O rchard Leigh in meaning .

A name i n Charleton cal led Bugges- ache (A .D . twovi rgates and a ha lf

,

”i s exp lai ned by the name of an Abbess

Buggu, mentioned by Dugdale . This Abbess Bugu or Bucga

gave four h ides at Ore to G lastonbury . Stibbear is a localname righ t on the boundary of the parish of I lminster . Ina Saxon charter i t is Stibbe , and as there is a loca l nameStybbansnaed , i . e . , that is , Stibba

’

s a l lotment or apportionment , th is is a Saxon persona l name become Stibbear . Acurious local name is Stickleba l l H i l l . This i s a threefoldagglomeration : Stickle means steep , bal l means a knol l or

top,and then h i l l is added ; and there is a Stikelpath -mere .

But al l the h i l l - names requi re a separate examination , andto obtain a l is t is not easy . In Winsford field names are

G reat Broombal l and N . and S . Horsebal l . 2

The names La Seo and Jordan occur in I lminster . Seo isa lso spel t Sea

,and Jordan

, Jurdan . La Seo is merely adi lap idated farm near Dimpo le on the south side of I lm inster .

Sea and See and Sae are l ikely forms of Sige . Seaborough

i s the name Seabar, for Seabiorn or Sigbiorn, rather than

sea, a lake ; and Jordan is the same as the French Jourdainand p robab ly original ly a name of re l igious character . Atleast th is is the only origi n given , but i t may be a d isguise ,

1Gera rd ibz'

d . , p. 1 3 3 .

2Somersetand DorsetNotes and Queries, vol . ii.

358

though not very l ikely . Smynge is i n M i lverton , and Sminhay is a local name , both indicative of a name Smeyn . NearFrome is a hi l l cal led Mortuary H i l l . This has been supposed to be a mortuary, that is a buria l p lace . Impossib le ifthe name is ancien t . Li ke M urder Combe in Whatley, i t represents the very o ld name M uatheri, the origi n of the personal names Modar, Mutrie , and Murtrie .

Rapps, a hamlet between I l ton and Broadway, i s remarkable . It is wri tten La Apse and Les Apses i n the reign ofEdward I . The owner was Ra lph , and these three words,Ralph La Apse , appear to have coa lesced into one word . Thename Rapps is extant, apparently originating in the p lacename . Whether Apses is not i tsel f a corrup tion of Earpsis a question . In Winsford he ld- names is Long and Li tt leRap . A rap of ground is a Somerset exp ression , and brepis a measurement , brep or rope . Sussex is the on ly countydivided into rapes .

”Districts of Ice land are cal led hreppar.

The name Rapp or Rapps may thus be a Scandinavian re

miniscence , whether it i s Ra lp hs (Rapps) o r from the measure .

La Fo lde i s usua l ly exp lai ned as meaning a deer enclosure ,but perhaps i t is shortened from the name Filogud .

Pennard (East and West) was ca l led Pengeard M i nister,or was so frequently wri tten according to Co l l inson , and

a lso Peunar .“ The Church i tsel f holds Pennar M i nster .

This i s the name Penheard , Penheard ing, or Peneard ingof the 10th century and earl ier, as

“Six manentes or home

steads were given at Pennard M i ns ter to abbot Hemgise l

of G lastonburyAtherstone i n the parish of White Lackington i s Addreston , Alardstone Athalardstone (26 Henryand Atherestone (47 Henry This is the name Ethelo

weard , a loth century name .

Wike Perham now Wick , i n the parish of Curry Rivel .

The Perham fam i ly were owners of Wyke i n 1234. At Wyke ,John held four carucates of land . A Bu l l for the foundation

of a Chapel was granted in 1254 i n the pontificate of Alexander

IV . on the p lea of bad roads . 1 Perham is conjectura l ly and

l B irl l’wp Sa lopia'

s Reg ister.

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360

ADDENDA .

( Accidenta l ly omitted f rom the text. )

i s a river name . Bosworth,i n his d nglo

- Saxon

D ictionary, says the river- name Drouent i s from the

winding cour se of the stream . M ore l ikely i s the derivation from y dwer went as a Cel tic origin . In Derb s hirei s the Derwent. I n Ken t the name Dar tford

,the ford of the

Dwr- gwent or Darent . There i s al so a Derwent i n Yorks hi re . Trent i s an abbreviation o f t hi s

‘

longer word .

Gwent means a fair and open region . T here is t he nameT rient in S . Tyro l, supposed to be abbreviated f rom the

Lati n Triden tum,and T aranto (T arentum) i n Lower I taly.

T rien t i s connected by I saac T aylor with the Cymric tre, avi l lage . There i s an A lpi ne vi l lage name T orrent, nearLenk

,t he “ fores t—s tream . T he river origi n i s the most

l ikely.

Vobster i s a hamlet of M el l s . I n the SomersetFines,1 233

we read of the water of M elnecumbe above Fobbestor,

and the enclos ure which Ra lph Fobbestor formerly held .

Vobster i s t hu s a form of Fobbe’

s- T or,and Fobbe i s t he

name Fobba . This can scarcely be a form of Forres ter,as

s tated . Fob i s an old low German word,meaning a

pocket, whatever may be the s ignificance of t he personalname Fobb . Tor is the hi l l . Fobban—Wyl i s a local name .

Wraxall i s spel t i n Domesday Book,Werocasala . This i sa Norman spel l ing wi t h the helpi ng vowel s inser ted, and

the form to be d eal t wi th is Wrocs—al . Wero - cas—al has

been interpreted , as Cel tic,to mean “ t he hal l of bi tter

s trife .”

Examination of pers i s tent spel lings clears thisdoubt

,and we see t hat it i s Wroc

’

s hal l or hil l,i n which

36 1

Wrac is a personal name . T he name occu rs el s ewhere inthe form of Wroc. T here i s Wroxhall i n the paris h of

Marston M ontague in Bedford s hire.

M isterton i s spel t M inster- ton, and doub t les s thi s i s thet rue spel l i ng . T his i s in t he reign of Edward 1 . Thereis a M i ster ton i n Nott inghamshire

,which Edmunds explain s

as from maeste,mas t

,t hat is the swine- feed ing town .

"

I t have been the res idence of a mini s ter - t hegn .

ERRAT A .

Page 81 , l ine 3 from bottom, for Esta rerewicca"

read Esta lrwick .

Page 85, l ine 4 from bottom, for bolt rea d holt.

Pag e 96 , l ine 1 4 from bottom, for Pa fuh ild rea d Pfanh ild .

36 2

INDEX OF PLACE NAM ES .

Abbas Combe, 47, 186 1838Abbot's Buckianh.Abbotsa 21Abbot! s l Came l , 188Abbot/s Leig hAbbot.’s Sutto ix. 21Ahd ieh ,

A ,oha 93AO (root) , 94Aethe l:a

éi , 94, 332

Aol e. 9Adber ,

484. 235

Agnes Wel ls , 17Au - la. 12Album Monastorium, 3)Ah ! m eb , 50Al dwick , 50. 03A ,bey 348Al f oxton , 1 79Al ham, 6Al h ampbonAl l er , 42, 64. 1 60

Butler , 160Al len—fond . 160Al l-m oor 64, 1 60Ail liertio'n , 106 , 160Almswo rth y

., assAl ston Mame , 293A lwa r, 107

Alth am, 1 07Al um. 111 1 06Amerdown. 26And emfie ld . 93Ang ers le igh , 73, 76Ansf ord . 11Ar root) , 31 5Ard a nd , 28“ 11 1-60Ashbri ttl e , 188, 189Ash bul l en , 248Ash cott 42. 1 10, 160, 183, 188Aehoom o, 42 1 60. 188. 1 90Ash ington , 1 10 , 159Ash herrbert, 189As h i l l , 91 , 159Ash olt. 49 . 1 80

1 90

As h Priors . 21Ash ton Alexander, 100

Dando, 190, 218Ph il ipe, 1 91

As hwa y , 1” 73Ath e luwy , 293 307 B id d isham, 55 . 57Ath erstori. 368 B id denham , 55Avi l l 348 B id di scote , 55Avena , 340 Bid ston-e, 157Avon -bmoo, 16 8Axbn d ge. 8 B i l l eswickAxe , 12 B in 31 . 52. 353Axminste r , 8 B ing

M ord.Brownfi e ld , 194Br oml ey . 198B rompton. Ra lph , 199

Reaia . 60 . 198 . 199B roomb a l l . Great. 351

Babbi ngton , 1 10B abb ing liey . 1 10B abca ry . 11 0Babenh eiim. 1 1 1BalbLerw. 178Backwel l , 227, 290Basd dmley , 157Ba dg ewo rth , 142 , 241 . 296Ba gboroug h .

Ba: yes , 2412“Ba gimg ham.

Ba lbonsborougm, 1 40Bag ley ,

319Bamborough ,B amwd ll . 78, 289Bar 110 0 9

7617

Bar li nch . 71B arl e (river ) .B am‘ing ton , 1 12, -1

16963B am orw

M inchi n, 193N . a n:d S . , 193

Ba rtl enmow 65Batcomb e, 58 , 72, 88 1 61Battlebord-ugih , 158Bath , 16B auh iampton . 1 05Ba theas ton , 305Bathf omd, 78

Battle Genre , 1 73, 31 70 rd , 70 , 71

Ba p 303Bea ch

,42

BM I 'DSW . 1 48, 269

Beannaneomb . 52B eauch amp Stoke , 236B eek ing bon fl 80 11 6B eckemy I sl an

ad, 292

B edlborr orwgh , 55Be dlflocrd , 55B edmi nster , 21B eer . 1 12

310 512Begga r Qua rm.

B e ea rn Huish ,

B el Lea , 1 58B entuton, 319B e l l yawwk ,

197

Bemstone, 1 268Berke l ey , 65

7991 351

B errow , 80Benwiiok , 71 , 84

B itumen-sh , 48B i rde ombe , 48B ishop

'

s Axbrid ge, 194Hul l , 194 1 59Lydeard , 22, 194Sutton . 5, 194 , 256

B ishopswou'th , 196

B ieh opew ,oo-d 194B itwynehordeJ

‘Z 336Bla ckdown,

B la ckfmord , 1 66B 13 .

B ondiug ton , 127

asse ss;if; 221i n

Ba sh am, 1B oston , 1 15

15

Bosworth ,

Bower Ashton , 195, 228

, 228aet,West, 95 228H inton, 31. 32, 1196. 228

North , 284Bm dfle ld , 284Bm d enflot, 284B ra tton Seymour , 197

Lyndues , 198B reach Hi l l , 146 , 147B rent Marsh , 64Brew (r iver ) , 5Br ewh am , N . a nd S 1109B rid gwa ter ,

B rid geh ampton, 315B ri gh ton . 1B r ineea , 75

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Elmwick , so, 83E lm, 265. 292

E lworth , 58, 183

E lmworthy , 292

Emboroug h. 43 , 62, 179Empnete . 305

Emdestone, 313Eng l i sh Gommbe, 46

Batch . 46

Eppea. 349

Esk (Ux, 21 . 71Berwick . 79, 82

Estimd on. 32E vercre ech ,

Evertorn; 38Evestia. 349Exmoor . 64, 11 1 , 1 12

Fairle ig h Hungerford 227Mon

Fammsborroiiig h , 228Farri na B

'

Duet, 230Gu rney , 193 . 229

29 . 127

3 184,F la x BOW 228F lexl ey ,

Fl eclmey , 196Friog lmemq $5Frome, 10, 41

Gaer, 76Gaersh il l ,Ga insboroug h fiGa lmi 'ngto n . 107Gadby , 107

Goathi l l

69Gobl in Con he,

lloGo dminster ,Gedne y .

Godmiiiie s B owe r, 170eelode 61

Go denewtt, 188Goose ford . 192

Gr eat E lm (see E lm)Grey la kie. 61

27Grims d itch fl ?Grobbeewyk , 84Grobes combe, 84Gwmey Street, 1 93

Slad e, 193. 230GWYflfl d YT Bf .

Gwamu (root) , 1200

364

Hors ell - AKHHors ington, 123Ho rs eford 123

BM W ,

Horsham, 123

Horwood , 309Hound sboreug h . 150

er , 240

Ham, 21hHambri d ge , 108, 276Hlaxming

‘oon , 120

Hampton , 106

Ha nge r , 76 . 353Ha rd ene , 297E artcl ifi

‘

e , 2

Ha rdmgton , 230, 231Hamd ingh am, 123Hh xfl e nhurifl h , 121E a rprfond

’

,279

Blamturee, 39, 286 , 287Hamm gg , 309Has elbury Pl ucknett, 233Has el -by , 234Hh s elmg ,

Ha eslanden; 234

Hlaibch B eauchamp 235Mercatorum, 236

Ha tchwa y . 217Havrrem, 2Hawkfi eld , 236Hawkwe ll , 256Hawtl

bom e, 89

I lla/m lRh yme, 86 , 88Hays treat. 87Heal h . 50 , 353

M bo -t 231Heatbmoon

s

v

s. 65

He i orve ,

1 1 gensmaadt 41Hemingsby , 1121E emmington Hil l , 237

1 -211 21

Henford , 71Ma tr avers , 237, 238

Hensbr ivdg e, 123B erd y Mo orr . 64Her -them 63Herl eia, (or Worle igh ) , 122

10 . 234Hester

'

9 Corner , 57Heth comb e, 57Hi 11 Littleton . 306

8 . Georg e 237Hog geshole , 93Holc ombeHolf ord , 49

T imbb lses; 2380

Holt. 85Ho lton , 49 , 50Honeych urch , 15 0Honeycote 1149Honueywyk , 84Honeyr eere Emme , 150

0 .

E omnb lo-t’oom, 323Horrjmg f om. 122Homnnger , 122Hornd on . 122Hoa'ngr , amRom-

n1 1g . 122Horsov , 1 23

Pignes .237

e st. W. 1 50Hutton , 278Huxh am, 108Hwa et, 11110 0 11 , 32Hwitvuos cad ,

Hwnp ( 110 0 -t). 23Hyd on ma nge , 186

I d sto ck I nverne ,

lea . 75I c esrbar, 8Ilminster , 8 , 1 0I le B r

gwtms 8, 250

I ng lefielc

d . etc 47

I rnsil l , 309I sar Is le , etc 7 8 12I scha l is , 8

8Isenth a l ,I sleggmbe

8(Hil l combe)

Ive l , 9I WO

'

Oda, 318

Keinton Mandev il le , 231

23Keynsham,

K i lmington , 124, 324Ki lmersdon ,

Ki lto n , 295K i lne , 295K ing

'

s Curry , 225King ston

1Seymour ,

Kna p?Hil l 147

Know e , 272. 285, 308Kno l leworth Sk reg ham, 285Kyrewood .

Lad (lode) , 61Lake 60Lamoberl ey , 349

5Lan gfor d

“m i

Budv il le, 279Lam

Ll ambmdar n. 17Lland ilo . 18L la n- ding ab, 332Ll-anflha neel , 345Lhamg'enny . 314Lansdown ,

42

Leachmoor , 62Leig h , 73Lexworth y , 106Lic (root), 62

Lich lak e. 62Li-umuran, 66Lil burn- 52e.

Lilsto ck 51 ,Li l l i

'

s fl an’

52

Liminea. fi ver) , 10mp le

76, 200Mitt ency , 08Littleton, 306Litton, 51 . 52

L0 1 1) ere . 126

Luccombe . 18Luck ing

’ton, 1125Lude Muchg rosLud Hu ish , 240Lul lworth . 52. 127Lul li ng tonLulsg ate, 29,Luxborough , 126Luxton , 96Lyd e, 194Lydbrook 158L dyd ea d 8 . Lawnence, 22

Ep is cop i . 194Ly df ordLympsfiel d ,

109Lympsh am. 109Lyncomb , 198Lyons Ashton, 19 1Lytes 205

Maegan (moot) , 98Maergeam, 59MaesbumyMacs Kno l l , 257 322Ma lmesmead . 315Malms bury , 315Mancombe, 58Manea.

Manewida , 349Ma nnhead , 97Man self

aa‘d3 12

97

181Mark sbu , 324Mam-ih M 253Marsvom. Ma gna , 59, 243E B igot, 243Ma rtock 42, 248, 324, 325Mawan (mob) ,Mea d 74Meare, 91 , 325Me lcombe Paul et, 253Me l bourne . 210 252

Port. 2517

Mendi p. 97. 98Merl and , 325Herr idge, 325, 376

M id d elwn , 4.

M id d lecot, 253Mid g eh i ll] . 77 , 269M idmmer Nombon , 176, 243 ,

244,M iglestoke , 269Mi lverton. 64, 253Mmeheml . 98, 99

36 5

Nempnett, Th rubwel l , M4.3 05 , 306

Nerocbe ,

Nether S howay 90Nettlecombe. 245. 281 , 282NettlehNettiebon , 282Nettlnespea d , 282New H11boh ings , 285Newton Pile cy , 356

Somervi l -leS . Lee.

2649

250

N ine Elms

gigl iwott, 1§§9o ni ng bon ,

No rth over. 74North Penrott, 163Nor-ton Ha lwkfiel d . 255

F itzwar nen , 171;M a lrewa rd ,

No rbone ub -Huamd on , 264Nun ney , 297 , 298Ny nehead , 22 , 215

M ilton. 246, z47é4248

LevFauconbr id g e. 248— Sk i lg a,te, 248

M inster , 21

Monk s Hem, 253Monks i lver , 221. 341Montacute, 26 1M -oo1rll in10h . 38. 325Monet/0 1 1 220Mortuary Hi l l , 358Mountsey , 312Muchelney 210Mudf ord . 268, 356

Soc. 262Mud ge ley , 76

Na a lsoe. 51Na i ls ea, . 13 , 17, 51

Oa k . 93Oakh i l-l . 94Oakey Hol e (v 'Jd-e Wookey )Oaktrow, 91 . 92Oak ley , 93 . 94Game , 314,

333Odcomb e , 58Ohil ‘durusf 303Old Cl eeve ,

0 11111 Kmo11 308

830 5

10 11011 0 09. 92

mb ard roman ,

Leig h ,

Wynd h am , 254Ottery , 140Otterf ord , 140Otterh ampton , 80. 265Ottersay . 140Ottersh aw, 274Over (root) 74Over Leaze, 74

Stowey , 1 1 . 47. 154. 348Stratton ; 91 , 3541

Pa ddock’

s Mea d , 74

Pad enberia,, lPa 11b oroug -h , 17. 164P anfiel d , 17

254

Panteshead , 220, 290Pantesh ay , 220Piamdl e (B ard l e). 17Par leston Lane . 17— 0 0m 17P

—arnett. 78?95, 299, 300. 301

Pa ulet Gainnte, 97Paulton. 96

edowmBeas emansb, 161Peasemone, 66Pea senh a ll .Peak irk . 66

66

B edwe l l ,Penna rd . 268, 280Pendomer ,

Penryn , 66Pens elwood , 280Pens ford , 220, 290F eri ton. 273Par les ton, 154Perri d ge . 302Berrott,

_

N . and S 299, 30 1Perry F 1tchett, 273. 302

Funneaux. 273M i l l , 302

Peter’

s Wel l , 17Pei/$10 9 , 246Petton , 246Petta11 g

'h , 246Petworth , 164. 246Pethe rh am, 299Peth erton, 299Pi

‘

cked Ham. 108Fighe nee , 183Pig -ht 1 28P i p l aden Down , 1 63P 1 ton 29P i~n1l ak>e 61Pitcombe, 163P itcot, 16 3Pitminster ,

P itney ,

Lor‘tie , 245. 246Pitt, 165 (note)P ixton ,

P ix ies Poo l , 66P lanesrfisel d . 154Pleg i d ic, 355Podymore M i lton , 243Po inti ngton, 127Pok e- l and ; 1 28Po l d en .

Poles -h i ll , 97Poppl eton , 1-77Popp le f ord , 177

Portb1u’

y , 37, 1 18Porl ock . 16. 18. 87

Portl a nd , 11 5Portish ea d 1 15

Prankets 331Pneebr id g e,

Prestl ey , 2

P re stmoo r .

Preston ,

B ermondqey . 234

B ower , 234Phuck nett. 234

Torrel l s. 234

Monachorum. 23a

Pr id d y .

Priston , 25

Pub low.

Puck ington , 128

Puck lechmrch 129

P'ud decombe . 247

Pun iton , 302

Purv Furneaux , 302

Puxton,

36 6

Fyk es Ash , 128Pynkeney , 18Pwl l iroota) ,

Quae (cae ) root. 23

Qua ntock , 99Fa rm, 17

Hea d , 99

Quar umbogg , 310

Qua rum, 310K itnor , 310

Monceaux , 310

Quaver Lake. 5Queen Camel , 4

Ch arlton, 31

Rad d ington, 129B a deehmn 129

Ra d low, 130B a dway , 1 30

Rad stock , 1 29. 1 30

Ramsoombe, 4

Ramsey , 48

Rawme re, 66Red clyfi

'

e, 129Rod iRed l

.

e. 61

Red lmoh , 129Regh i l l , 83 , 1129, 152, 1 53

Reg fl bury , 152

Rexworth y . 163

Rh ine (rh iun), 7 . 66. 1313 11-0 (root), 71w ord . 11

R ienta l , 33R1mp bon , 132Ringold stwe-m,

74, 91 , 355

B inwel l , 1 33

Roa d . 130 , 272

Rod de n , 130 . 317

Rodfirave, 317

Rod ru iah . 131 , 317

Rodmea d . 66

Rodney Stoke ,68 . 270

Rodwater ,.

317

Bodway F 1tzpame. 317

Roncombe. 13Rowbarton , 193Rowberrow 193B owdon,

Runningt'

on , 131

Rusp id g e (note), 28Rye . Rea , Ray , etc . , 1 1

Sa d d l e 3S ah ad a, (moot 41Sa lf ord , 64, 259Sa ltmere . 63Samgf ord Arundel ,rett. 260Orcae. 259. 261

Saule (8 0 1110 ) 41Scea rp (root), 63Scea rph orde , 62Scobimabru , 1 61

Scroed h ay . 88Seav ington , 26, 106

Den i s ,Sed gemoor . 59Se ls don . 345fi el igenatadt 41Se lvretta,. 342Selvmg‘bo-n, 342Sel worth y . 41Se lwood . 41

Promo, 41 , 64

Sec, 357Seven Oa lm, 26

Sistema. 26Well s. 26

Sha pwick , 83

Pleng . 83

Sha rph am. 63

Sh a rpeh aw, 63

Sheerstone, 1 65Sheppey (r iver )Sh eeph am. 262Sh epto n l

geauch amp , 83, 235,

1 , 26Buck land , 262

Ma l let. 29, 411261

Sh iph am,.

40Shockerwwk . 83Shoscombe, 50Sh rowle , 155Shureton . 50

Sid enh am, 182Kittis f ord , 183

Si dcot. 182S i g e, 75Si l bern Al ps , 342Si lverda le , etc. , 342S i l ver 816 , 20, 173, 175, 341 , 347Si lverton , 342S i lver l ey , 347B1mon8 B a rrow, 283Sk araborg , 88Sl a ed (Matt). 43Slow. 356Snowdon (root) . 161Sn-olflee -oOfm-be. 53Soobua'n , 2628 0 0 Dennis . 83 , 262

Ma l erb ie . 262S ol i -htu -l-l , 346Solebury , 26Somenset, 2Some r l id a , 2South am. 303Sparkf ord . 88, 161 . 162Spark s-h ay s . 87. 1 62Spra coombe, 88Some rton . 2 , 205. 245Sparzrov e. 161Spaxton, 80Standerwick , 82Starimoor , 64Stanton Drew, 57 , 80 . 257 ,

264 267Pr ior , 21 . 264Wick , 79

Stantoneewwk , 267Stap l e (root), 40S haphetorn, 207Stap l e Grove . 207Stavord a le . 91 . 327Stawe l l , 89. 265Stibbear . 357Stert. 355Stewle y , 89, 90Stie kleba l l H i l l . 3578 10 0 . 85Stock l and Gaunts, 271Stock l i nch Otbm

'

ay , 274a Mag d al en . 274Stocl land Gaunts . 97Stofo rd , 71Stogumber . 270Stogursey . 245. 270. 271Stone , 268Stoke . 5, 23. 269Abbots , 273

Bychen , 275Gl fl a rd , 68. 291Tr ister , 270

Stoke Malethia. mM i l itis

.;275

8 . Greg ory 22. 264, 269- sub -Hamb on, 276

8 Mary 26 1

Stone Easton. 86

Stonilamd , 269

Stoney Littleton. 269Stratton, 269Stoke , 269

Sbour (t1ve r) , 6Stowe Farm, 89

Stowey , 3, 7. 17, 40. 89, 90, 91

Bottom, 44

Over , 17Stratton, 91. 244

Streboh ho lt. 331 , 332

Street, 74. 91 .Stringston , 84.Buck l ey , 262

Sul esworth , 346

Sun der (Synd er ) root. 48

Sunde rl and , 48

Sund ered e. 48

Swa n’

s_

ea,d , 43

Sweynwwwk , 8,Sweynhnange r, 353

Synd ercombe , 48

T am (T amer), 7T amoek . 352

T atworth , 80

T -at ck , 80'Daxu-nbon ,

7 , 21T aw (T avey ,

7

Te lm, 77

T erm. Col g rini , 17 1Ted r ici. 171T emp l ariorum. 184

T one , etc" 6, 7. 9.'Padb ury . 80Te d into n , £1Tedstone , 80, 81.'Jle i e nffm Drews , 267

72T emp l e B rewer , 1 87

Combe, 124, 186. 187Cl oud , 18. 184. 187

Down . 187

Hydon , 184. 187

Temp leton. 18T h ames . 7T horne . 21 , 27

Coff i n , 275Combe. 54Fa l con , 276 , 277S . Mar

g'za

éret, 277

Farors . 277T horpe , 304T hu-1 '

pe , 209'l ‘h r u well 303, 304, 305Th rune, 303T hurl oxton,

T h url befne, 180'I ‘iokemham, 37T intinh ul l , 178'1‘1w, 6'l 'ol l and , 352Toomer , 359T ram: (d ime ) . 57T reborough , 49. 56. 57

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368

INDEX OF PERSONAL NAM ES.

Ad am, 208Ad elh ard , 83Adh elm, 265Ad el stan , 57, 233Adulf of Taunton, 52Aed g ifu, 70Aelf nelm, 232Ae lfma er, 292Ae l fweard , 64Aels i ,

n

z93s7Ae lsta,

Aes c,Aescwa l d , 171Aes cwid 82 ,

Aethe inod (Elnod ), 82 201A lf ag e, 1A lf 0 1 11 , 68Al dor, 64, 1 60, 204A l dhceLm, 29ZA 1mnmd , 282Almar, 292Alur ic,

320Alwine, 307Al f red (King ) 51 , 69Alf wyn ia,, 301Ama l , 180Ari -dare , 1 61 , 230Anscytel , 156, 159Ans ganr , 76 , 260Anshe lm,

M oehne . 266Asgo-t, 160As hman. 189Ashwood . 1 60Amer , 51Atterbury , 233Athe lstan , 33. 57 , 61 , 90,

232 , 265, 293Athe lwin , 293Av icia (Av i sh ayes) , 87

Baa l , 95B aud och a r , 201

etc ”)1 1

B abenberg , 1 10

B abi lo, 178B aco , 292B adh i l d , 157. 16 8B aco l a, 291B aoomse , 291

B ad (B a da , etc”) 157

B adhe i-m, 157

B a dul f , 157B adoc (Mad oc) , 77B a l daeg , 48

B a ldh un , 100B al d r , 95 Ca doc, 23

Ba rnwulf , 290 Ca ff o (Chep in, Cofl‘m), 26 ,

Ba ring . 112 277

B a rratt, 302 Caeg

Barn ewel l. 290 Gaerwmze , 101B aude i ich , 302 Caewul f , 68

B att, 58 Ca ine , 220

B eai é

Ba ggo), 42. 241 , 242.

B eal d 351B eaga

, (Beouma,, 79,

BedB ed h lld , 157

,me.

Be er , 1 12BunB eornsige , 75

B ifodi5231 63, 243

B i l ] 1 11 g ,

8158

B i l li ng sl ey, 85B i l lth egn, 158B i l lstan , 158B i l l snot, 158B inn s (B inning ) 264B la ck , 166B l akeman , 167B lacker, 166B le ed 36p l .Bl ecca , 1 67Bond , 12 8B ord , 284

11151 150 o p

B ower , 229B retesch e, 147Brewer , 250B rice , 1 13B riglhitri c 1 14B rightheim, 1114, 1 15B ri str ic, 1 1B rito, 260B ritte l . 189B rock , 40B rodmip , 303Brown , 1 67, 198B rowning , 198B roughton. 197B runh elm, 198B runh i l d , 1 98B ry ch anB uck . 128B uda n , 58Bug ge . 121B ul a , 22B ul l (Bu l lo ) , 268B u l lmaer , 179Hum 229B urg eard , 228B urg h elm,

B urgh i l d , 228Bur r (Borr ) 1 11 , 1 12

Ca ld a . 38Ca lway (Kelway ). 295Came leao, 2Camul os, 26Canning , 1 16Canti lupe, 2114

Cantmae l , 204Ca ranta cus, 101Ca r ew, 53, 54

53Ga rw (root) ,Ca rth eg n

1

(Ga rthegn) 52Cassw el l ,Ceaiiz

na

l, (0 11 111

9

11

2

. Gedd ) , 58, 207

Cea dmamOea dwa l d , 207Ceawl in, 104Cewy d d S 23Ced rio, 51 , 144, 157Centwine, 1 06, 339Geo 7b , 8Ge0

2]9(Col -e. Keel ), 172, 214,

Ceohbeorn, 31 1C ,eolf 296Ceolf rith , 69, 296Ceol fwig , 296Ceolmu nd

59(Colman).

Ceols ig , 2C eolwealrd

5

,

9172

Ceo lwi g , 195Ceo lwyn (Ke lwyn) , 1 1?

(0 0 1111 1618 ) 172

Ch etol , 1Ch etolwa l d (Kettlewe ld ) , 156Ch is l ett, 259, 294Ch oke,

C in i , 283Ol ifi

‘

oa'd , 69, 296

Cniva , 305Oock ing as , 64Col g r ign, 171Cour ci, 271Courtney , 202Coke , 1 17Cri d ag aud , 156

Crock er (Krok r ; 53Cuckwin , 1 17Cul bone S 31 1Culxning a s , 128Cun ig ar ,

Cuthw eard , 282Cyd da . 31 1Cyneu1p1 ,h 337Cymbal d (Kembal l ) 283Cyna,, 24, 25Cyneg yth , etc . , 25Cynhe lm (Kenelm), 20Cyne ga r (Coni ga n), 20Cynehear d. (Kennard ) . 65,

Cyntoch (Kintoch ). 102283

Cyr ig (Curig ),

D hootch (Dawb 313

Dav idDel Estre,

"0

Denham. 2222Dennis, 263Deninz . 118Donnus 4Dionys 1us ) . 263

3m ”

(13

) 178lgu y a.

Di llwyn. 1gDill icar, 1 18Dil lon, ebo. . 1 18

31King ,

Durd e:re (Dru-1~y , Duty) ,Drew (Dru), 5 267Dmgo- dJe-M-ongacume , 74, 26 6 ,

31 1Dubritius, 1 6 18, 19. 30, 87Dunn, 120Dum n iae1n

964

Durvi l le.

Dyf rig . 18 19. 87

Eadbeorht, etc 70Ea at,

und ,Eah lstan , 64, 90, 265Eal d f rith . 49, 50, 69, 70, 171Ba l dh ara. 1611Ea lh h elmmart. 50Ea lweard (Elworth y ). 58Eamfzfi d ,Eamo n, 33 34Ecgwig .

E d deme . 70Edric.Edern (Hedern) 149Egel sige (Els i ), 293E1enth erus, 22El lenshaw, 42E lworthy . 292Emp , etc , 306'Eo fesr 39norm-11mm (Evemmd ) , 39

FaerWIii l f , 227

Faggagyaac). 179Fara 227Fax-111m , 325Faux aux) , 277Foo

gedfl x

il (i

flgieaf28ther) . 119

Fitch ett, 273. 274, 302F‘ilwa ,1d 29Emitzurse. 199

219FitzmartmFlaioo (F leck ). 196

amx ,

Fursa,, etc 164

Ga lmund . 107Gamalb em. 46 41111vGebwine, 349

Gif el , etcGGibby b i). 334Gi bbs. 1149

36 9

Gif heard . 0 60 68. 272Girl ine. 135Giso.Goda . 65, 1 69, 170Godmae r , etc, 1 69Godwin, 811. 199

80 d‘

1111n,

6175, 181

0 80

Goueid6

2111 0 11 111 , e tc 1. 132

6 0 11111 85

Grimbi id ,

'

7z7, 1 13

GouhwifGurney , 1

1930

, 330

Guth run ,

a , 199. 203

Hasting s 67an) .

Haesta,HagaHa lga , Ha ndo . 307Ham-o etc. , 120HambHa nn. Hannay . 238

144. 225

11 11 111Lyd e.

veto , 184, 355Lyons . 28

Ma docikMa eg (Mazes

Romania , 3 7

salmawi lflle (Somerv i l le) ,Scamd. 88Schm wu l d ,Seab iorn, 84

J. 343

(Huish ,239

Hi l deric (Ch imeri c) . 212Hil l , etc . 23611 0 011 12 , 26Ec etc . 331 , 332Hord g ar (Orr dg ar ) , 254Hmbam (B aba 48B rod (Rod ) .Hugo, etc.

Hulf rit, 49,Hun beorht (

thamn ot), 120

Hwit, 33Hwitgyth , 53

Imh i l7d1. 180, 349

I ngwa l dx. etc. 46, 47

Jor dan 367

Leer, 25Leofwine (Lewin), 124. 125 ,

Osga r, 63, 76Osgo od , 176

Pna1d1asm (Paternrus) . 17Patrick S . , 15

370

Sida . 1820 0m ounds of . 182

Siret ed ) . 155

S

'I‘h -ou' , 96Tho rol d etc. . 180Thom , 54

Thu-ismThunor .

Tod:‘

1g . 176Z6

Terrel l . 180, 164'DOfuzh i -lxi (T owel , 336T revet. mnwefit. 214Tunn, 65Tunnweabd , etc 63Tynte. 321

n g (Twicga ). 135Twyn , 135, 336

Ubba. (Hubba ) ,Ucca. 71 . 95Ulf er (Ul vert), 151Ul fweard (Wu lf weard ). 54,

III-maer (Woolmer). 151

Vage , 22

Wad o , 59, 131 . 278

Waermund , 78. 79

Wal l is. 74.389. 279

‘VNVa

60Wend ish: 27

0

156. 314Wic (W1 0 m 55Wizei

t,

"m y

Wig 'ifid

1717

1525

1

793;

amWilmun , 156

1114Win at.

Wino il dw 67w 336

itherwni 135Wod en! , 26 515

W314

g

Wonna.

W183 . 314

Worl s , 64, 78. 321Wul fm , 1134Wyn au

‘

, 55133

m th (Withey). 53

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372

Hoskyns H W P . ,North Perrott. Manor, Crewkerne .

Hope, W. H . B . , Esq. , a stHarptree , near B ri stol .

Humph rey s ,BA .

OL . , Esq. 1 87 , Picca d i l ly , London , W

Hunt, Rev . B . Wa lton Rectory , Cl evedon

Hy lton , Lord , Ammerd own Park , Rad stock .

Isa ac, Ch as , Esq. , 1 5, Coth am Val e , B ristol .Johnson Rev

BJ M .A. Nailsea Rectory .

Joseph , H. W Dind er , Wel l s .

Kembl e, C . A Esq. J P Ha ll atrow, High Littl eton , Somerset.

Kettlewel l , W. W. , Esq. , Harptree Court, East Harptree .

Ki dner , T . B . , Esq. Ca l g a ry , Alberta , Cana d a .

Kirng , Dr . J . E Cl if ton Col leg e .

Leng , W. L . , E sq. Hi l l Roa d , Weston - super Ma re .

Leth bri d ge , Sir Wroth , B art. , San d h i l l Park , Ta untonLeWis , Winsor , Cad g an Place, LondonLlewel lyn , 0 0 1 . H . , Lan g ford .

Lyon, Rev Gi l bert, M .A . , C loford Vi cara g e, F ro-me .

Lysagh t, G. S . , Esq We l l ingtOn .

M arsh a l-1 , P T . Esq. , Lang f orrMa rwood E lton , Ma j or Wm

IdHeath field , Taunton .

M ead e-n , Edwa rd , Esq. , Seven E lms, Stoke Bish opMi les , 0 0 1 . S . B . H i rilton Ch arterhou se .

M i lne -Redh ead , G. Esq. , M i l l ard'

s Hil l . Frame .

Ol ivey , Hugh P . , Esq. , Al bion House , My l or , Penryn .

Pa ge, HerbertW. E sq , Hinton Bluett Manor , T emp le C loud .

P a e

mand Sons , Stationers , B r i d gwater .

Pa , .R H , Esq. Norton Court, B risto l .Parsons , Rev . C . J , Knowl e .

Paynter q,Y eov i l .

Perw vai. M iss We lsh View, Wa l ton , Cl eved on Somers etP eroeval , Ceci l H . Spencer , g

len. Longwittorn Hal l , Northumbe rland .

Plons onby’l lh-eolb-a ld , E9

?”Upper Georg e St

Price , L Ra l ph , Esq , J Cl averh am House , Y atton .

Pr idh am, Ha rvey , E sq. , Montrose Cotta g e , Cly d e Roa d , Knowl e .

Pynns M . Tay l or , Esq Princeton , New Jersey , G AS .

Re eder , Rev . W. T . , M .A Selworthy Rectory , Al l erf ord , Somerset.

Rend e lnl , Rev . L . T M .A Clevedon, Torquay .

R itson , Howe l l , Es c/o Winni p eg . Manito ba . Cana d a .

Robin son , Ed g ar , sq. , Th e Grove , Wr ington .

Robins on , Rev . R Hayles, M .A Y atton Vica rag e .

Rolbins on , A E'

qJ .P . Ba ckwel l Hous e Ba ckwel l , B r i stol

Rogerson , Rev . G A Ubl ey Re ctory , nea r B ristol .

Rol leston , Col . V , Sal tf ord House , B r i stol .

Sa ge , F . S E sq. , 1 1 , St. Stephen Street, B ri stol .Sa lt. Mrs . Gordon , Ch ew Ma gna.

Gan-dens Ho rns ey , N .

Savory , J . Harry , Esq. , 4, Rodney Pl ace, C l i fton .

Scobe l l , Lt. Co l . B arton , Kingwel l Ha l l , B ath .

Scott, M .

E. ,H E sq. , 5, Lansdown Place , West, B ath

Shickle , Ré

ev C . W. , M . .A St. J ohmfs ital , B .arthSi bba l d , J . G E . , Esq , Mount Pl ea sant, orton St. Ph il ip , B ath .

Simmon d s , T . G Esq , T he H i l l , Cong resburSherr att a nd Hughes , 34. Cross Street Ma n ester .

Skrine , M i ss , Th e Red l and s , B ish op Sutton .

Somers, B . E . E sq. , Lan g ford .

Somervi l l e , Arthur J . , Esq. Dind er House, Wel l s .

Stanton , J . Gi lmore , E sq. Nel son Lod ge , Queen'

s Roa d , Cl i fton .

Strach ey ,H , Esq. , Stowey .

Stra chme, Right Hon . Baron . Sutton Court.

Stoats , Wm E sq. , Gord en Haven , 2 South Si de, Weston - super -Ma reStoc

’d art, F . Wa l l i s , E sq. , Gra fton Lod ge , Sneyd Park .

Sul ly , T hos N . , Esq. Ava lon , Queen’

s Road , Weston super -MareSwann , Edwa rd J . , E sq , Leig h Wood s , B r i stol .

T a l bot, Rev . Canon , D .D . , B r istol .'Daxte Stoarte, Rev. W. M . ,

M .A Pebworth .

Ta unton Pu bl ic Librar y .

Tay lor , L . Good enough , Esq. , Sion Hi l l , Cl i fton .

Th atchers Col l ege Green, B ristol

373

Th atcher, Al len, Esq. , M id somer Norton .

T h atcher , Edward J Es J .P . , Manor House, Chew Magna .

Th atcher , J . Esq. a gma .

Rev . H. J. Ker , M .A . , Pens ford Vi carage , Bristol .Arch er , Weston Pa rk , Bath .

P . P . , W e Cairy .

Scarth Road , Ta unton .

Tok e. Les l ie on-the Eosse , near B ath .

T row, E . B D .C .L . Eelsted . Essex .

Turner , Rev . H . M .A . Ch elwood .

Ty rwh itt, Rev . 0 . B , M .A. , Nempnett.

Vaugh an , Rev . Preb . H . , M .A . , B .D. , Wraxa l l ( 12 copies) .

Wa inwr ight, Ch a s . B . , Esq. , Summer l eaze, Sh epton Ma l l ett.

Wa rry , Capt. B . A . , Sh apwick House, nea r B r i dgwater .

Watson , E . J . , E sq. , etc. , 12, John Street, B r istol .Way , Lewi s J . Upton , E sq. , 15, Ca ledonia Pl ace , Cl i fton .

Wel l s , Ch a s . , Esq. , 1 34, Cornwa l l Roa d , Montpel ier .

Were, Franci s , E sq. , Wa lnut T ree House , Druid Stoke Avenue, Stoke B ishopWh ittuok . E . A Esq. , Cla verton Manor . Bath .

Wi lk inson . Rev . Leon ard , M .A . , Westbumyo n - Severn .

Wi l l s , H . H . , Esq. , J .P , , B arl ey Wood , Wr i n gton .

Wi ll s, Georg e A . , Esq. , Burwa l l s, Lei g h Wood s .

Wil l s , W. Melvil l e , E sq. , B rack en Hi l l , Leigh Wood s .

Willlsx, M iss M . M . , B ishop Fox’

s School , Taunton .

Wood ,Jose h Foster , Esq. , 35, Park Street, B r i stol .

Worsley ,P i l ip J E sq. , Rod ney Lodg e , Cl i fton .