The Place-Names of Northumberland and Durham ;

(fncnell Utttuerattg Hibtarg Sttiaca, Neva ^atk BOUGHT WITH THE INCOME OF THE SAGE ENDOWMENT FUND THE GIFT OF HENRY W. SAGE 1891 Cornell University Library DA 670.N8M46 Place-names of Northumberland and Durham 3 1924 028 042 996 Cornell University Library The original of this book is in the Cornell University Library. There are no known copyright restrictions in the United States on the use of the text. http://www.archive.org/details/cu31924028042996 €^mhxtbqz ^trtkaeokgital anb Sthnotogwal §txks THE PLACE-NAMES OF NORTHUMBERLAND AND DURHAM ; The Cambridge Archaeological and Ethnological Series is supervised by an Editorial Committee consisting of M. R. James, Litt.D., F.B.A., Provost of Eton College; P. Giles, Litt.D., Master of Emmanuel College; A. C. HADDON, Sc.D., F.R.S., University Reader in Ethnology Sir William Ridgewa y, Sc.D., F.B.A., Disney Professor of Archaeology ; E. J. Rapson, M.A., Professor of Sanskrit; and W. H. R. Rivers, M.A., F.R.S. THE PLACE-NAMES OF NORTHUMBERLAND AND DURHAM by ALLEN MAWER, M.A. Joseph Cowen Professor of English in Armstrong College, University of Durham. Late Fellow of Gonville and Caius College CAMBRIDGE AT THE UNIVERSITY PRESS I 920 CAMBRIDGE UNIVERSITY PRESS C. F. CLAY, Manager LONDON : FETTER LANE, E.C.4 NEW YORK : THE MACMILLAN CO. BOMBAY 1 CALCUTTA > MACMILLAN AND CO., LTD. MADRAS J TORONTO : THE MACMILLAN CO. OF CANADA, LTD. TOKYO : MARUZEN-KABUSHIKI-KAISHA ALL RIGHTS RESERVED Printed in Great Britain ij> Turniull &' Spears, Edinburgh IN PIAM MEMORIAM FREDERICI GVLIELMI MOORMAN VIRI LITTERATI POETAE SOLLERTIS AMICI FIDELIS QVI IPSE INTER PRIMOS HVIVSMODI STUDIA COLEBAT HOC OPVS DEDICATVM EST — PREFACE 'T^HE study of English place-names is steadily advancing *- in its methods and extent and in the present volume an attempt is made to deal with two more counties. Work on them has taken much the greater part of eight years, sadly interrupted by the war and other circumstances. These interruptions have had their bad influence in making it more difficult than usual to secure that uniformity of handling and presentation which is desirable in a theme of this kind. On the other hand, they have enabled the author to take advantage of the ever-growing literature English and Scandinavian—^that deals with these matters. As one reads it, the unhappy conviction is more and more brought home to one that no single county can be dealt with satisfactorily apart from a survey of the field of English place-nomenclature as a whole. In the disorganised condition of English place-name study it is impossible to look for those happy results that have already been attained in Norway, and are fast becoming possible in Sweden and Denmark, as the result of organised research, aided by the State. Those who recognise the importance of these studies must labour to secure similar co-operation in England, and, in the meantime, endeavour to keep interest alive by such single-handed efforts as they can individually make. The present volume follows the general lines of study laid down by Skeat, Wyld, and. Moorman, but there are a few points in which it endeavours to work on newer and b vB — Vlli PREFACE more definite lines than those hitherto followed: They are roughly as follows : 1. An attempt is made to deal with all names found in documents dating from before 1500, which can be identified on the modern map, and the study is, with some half dozen insignificant exceptions, rigidly confined to such. Books which deal with imdocumented names on the same lines as documented ones stultify themselves and the newer methods of place-name study generally. 2. Topographical conditions have been carefully studied by the aid of maps, guide-books, personal observation, and local enquiry. Explanations, satisfactory from the philological point of view, which do not harmonise with these conditions have been rejected. 3. Special attention has been given to sixteenth, seven- teenth, and eighteenth century spellings, which are of interest as suggesting pecuUar local pronunciations. A rich harvest of phonetic spellings has been gathered from the Parish Registers, and one's only regret is that only too often pedantic misunderstanding has brought it about that names are now pronounced as spelled, rather than speUed as pronounced. Again and again local enquiry has failed to discover any trace of some perfectly legitimate pronunciation which must at one time have prevailed. 4. Many parallel names are quoted from other counties, but these have been rigidly limited to those in which old forms justify the parallel. Identity of modem form is often only misleading. For this and for certain details in Part II a detailed study has been made of aU names which can now be identified in (i) Birch, Kemble, and Earle, (2) D.B., (3) Charter Rolls, (4) Index to Charters in British Museum, (5) Feudal Aids. In some counties other documents also have been studied. PREFACE ix Early documents are not plentiful, especially for Co. Durham. There are no Anglo-Saxon charters for these counties. Boldon Buke, with its thirteenth or fourteenth century spellings is, for the philologist, a poor substitute for Domesday Book, and for a large number of Durham place- names no forms have been found earlier than Bishop Hatfield's Survey (1382). This has made much of the interpretation uncertain, at least in the case of these last names, and the comments should perhaps have been seasoned with " probably " and " possibly " a good deal more frequently than they have been. Work on a book of this kind means an ever increasing sense of indebtedness to the labours of other writers and scholars. This indebtedness is in some measure indicated by the Hsts of books on pp. xxviii.-xxxvi., but one must mention in particular the New English Dictionary, Wright's English Dialect Dictionary and Grammar, Hodgson's History of Northumberland, Surtees' History of Durham, Raine's History of North Durham, the publications of the New- castle Society of Antiquaries { Archaeologia Aeliana), the Surtees Society, and the Northumberland and Durham Church Register Society. Without the aid of these the book could hardly have been written, and would certainly have lost any merit it may now possess. Very cordial thanks are due to the Newcastle Society of Antiquaries for the use of the transcript of the Lay Subsidy Roll in their possession; to the Northumberland County History Committee for the use of His Grace the Duke of Northumberland's transcripts of the Coram Rege, De Banco, and Placita Forestce Rolls temporarily in their possession, and for the use of the transcript of the Feet of Fines (1514-1603) ; to Mr M. H. Wood, Secretary of the Northumberland and Durham Parish Register Society, for X PREFACE the use of the invaluable series of unprinted transcripts of registers in his possession and for the most part copied by College, him personally ; to Dr J. A. Sm3rthe, of Armstrong whose unique knowledge of Northumbrian topography was most helpful in checking conclusions reached on philological grounds alone ; to Mr T. W. Moles, of Rutherford College, for imtiring efforts in gleaning local pronunciations ; to scholars and friends too numerous to mention who have been most helpful in elucidating problems referred to them; to the many clerg5mien and others who so readily answered enquiries about local pronunciation. Finally, the author feels himself pecuUarly fortunate in having had help in the proof stage from the Rev. Canon Fowler, of whom all Northern scholars and antiquaries are so justly proud, and Mr Hamilton Thompson, whose anti- quarian and topographical knowledge have alike been most helpful. ALLEN MAWER. Newcastle-upon-Tyne, October 1920. CONTENTS PAGE Preface . vii Introduction ........ xiii Note on Names in -ing ...... xxiv BiBLIOGIUPHY (with ABBREVIATED REFERENCES) . XXviii Abbreviations . xxxvii Symbols used in Phonetic Script .... xxxviii Part I. Place-Names of Northumberland and Durham in Alphabetical Order, with the Older Forms, and Explanation and Discussion of their Meaning and History ..... i Part II. Elements found as the second part of Place-Names or used by themselves . 223 Part III. Personal Names found as the first ELEMENT IN PLACE-NaMES ..... 243 I Phonology ....... 255 Appendix. Change of Suffixes in Place-Names . 267 Addenda ......... 271 — INTRODUCTION § I. The Names of the Counties and their Divisions. Northumberland is one of those counties which, like Surrey, Essex, and Sussex, have taken their rise from the ruins of an ancient kingdom. The Anglian settlements of England north of the Humber Nordhymhraland—were originally grouped in two kingdoms, Bernicia and Deira, of which. Bernicia extended roughly from the Tees to the Forth and was bounded by the Pennines on the west. Of the name Bernicia not a trace remains, and the application of the term Northumberland was gradually restricted. The kingdom was reduced to an earldom, with its centre at Bam- burgh, Lothian passed to the Scots, Durham developed into a palatinate under the rule of the Bishops of Durham, and from the nth century on the term is used with increasing definiteness of an area corresponding, apart from certain notable exceptions (v. infra), to the modern county. The Durham area, when first distinguished from the rest of the earldom of Northumberland, was known as Hali- wer{es)folc or Haliwersocn=t'h.e people or soke (i.e. jurisdic- tion) of the holy man or saint, a term which is the equivalent of the common Latin expression terra or patri- monium Sancti Cuthberti. This term is found in the forged charter of Bishop WiUiam in 1093, and, technically at any rate, did not at that time include certain parts of the present county (e.g.

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