Ce - N Ame S of C E Lti C Origi N
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I N D E X . P l ace - n ame s of C e lti c Origi n R om an N am e s i n K e n t T e u ton i c (J u t ish) N am e s i n K e n t S a xon or J u ti sh S u ffi xe s S ome C o mmon S axon E l e m e n ts i n P l a ce - n a m e s 2 9 T h e N orthm e n i n K e n t T he Isl an d s of K e n t V ar ia tion s i n th e Sp e lli n g of Pl a ce - n a m e s E ccl e si ast ic a l P l ace - n a m e s Pl ace - n ame s fr6m P e rson s Ab s urdi t i e s i n D e r ivation O ur Ton s an d Ston e s O u r Ham s ” ” O u r S o e s B ur s a n d H th e s l , y i O u r C old Harb ours An de rid a L a n d D i vi si on s of K e n t E tue u s u LO C A L. INTRODUCTION . I C H EN was a school boy at anterbury , in a n d the fifties sixties , my first interest i n philology was evoked by Trench on Th e S t u d o W or d s y f , and by the mor e elaborate ’ W o r d s a n d la c e s pi oneer work , I saac Taylor s P , while oral in stru ction was afforded by the lectu res of Dean Alford and the class teaching of my M i in s n t c h o . H eadmaster , All four of these leaders having been clergymen , it i s perhap s fitting that , at a considerable distance , both of time an d of ability , another cleric shou ld attempt t o localize some of their general teaching . Becoming aware in 1920 that ther e was no la c e a m e s o K e n t book dealing with the P N f , such as has been produced by individuals or s m all committees in the case of some other counties , twenty i n nu mber ; findi ng also by correspond M c C lu r e o B r i t is h la ce ence that , the auth r of P “ a i n Th i r Hi r i c l S t tin K N m e s e s t o a e g , says ent i s one of the most difficu lt regions i n England to ” I trace its topographical history , set to work to read all I could that bore upon the subject . I E specially when laid u p by an ailment , read through twenty - six volumes of Ar c h ae olog i a C a n ti a n a . , and found therein a productive quarry Then , to facil itate the future labou rs of those I more competent to deal fully with the subj ect , wrote a series of weekly article s in the S ou t h r n G a t t e E a s t e ze last winter , which were found In troducti on . of interest , Mr . E . Salter Davies a sking me to write something for the K e n t E du ca ti on G a ze t t e co - to enli st the operation of school teachers , and to remind them of the educational benefit to their pupils of a study of local names . I n some parts of England and Wa les thi s stu dy of local place names has been taken up with enthu siasm by teachers and scholars , and in thi s connexion i t should be noted that the names of every lane , hou se , and field and wood , should be a scertained and recorded , even i f n o meaning can be found . N ames of thi s kind change , and the old folk who could say why a name was given “ will not be always with u s . Terriers and Tithe Maps , which can be consu lted , if not bor rowed , will give more names than ordinary map s . To such enquiries we may be stimulated by shame when we know that K en t i s one of the counties without a work on its place names , and even more by the fact that Norway has been at work in thi s di rection since 1896—the Church and the State collaborating and a S tate grant helping in the production of the nineteen volumes already . t oo publi shed So , i n Sweden , a committee was 1901 appointed by Royal authority in , and one province has alrea dy been dealt with exhau stively . 1 910 Denmark also from , u nder the Ministry of Educati on , and with State grants , thu s recog n i se d the lingui stic and hist or ico - arch aeological importance of such stu dies . And yet none of these enlightened and p rog re s sive kingdoms have anything like the advanta ge that E ngland possesses in its Saxon C harters and its Domesday Boo k . More honou r to them , more shame to u s ! In tr oducti on . Le t it be clearly understood , however , from the fi rst that I am not writing as an expert on these matters , nor as having a direct knowledge of I Celtic or of Saxon . All have attempted has been simply to collect , for the benefit of those who shall be attracted to the study of ou r place - names as elucidating the ancient history of the Cou nty , i nformation from many sources whch will save them the time and labour of finding out for them selves whether a particular name i s old enough to be found i n Domesday Book , or in later Saxon charters and wills ; and especially there has been i n my mind the hope that a committee may be appointed to deal a s well with K ent a s other Counties have been , e specially by the great o- Angl Saxon scholar s , Professor Skeats , Pro fe ssor C raigie , of Oxford , and Professor Mawer , r iz n of Newca stle . For such literary a t a s and I I architects a s h ope may sho rtly ari se , am more than content to have been bu t a day labou rer , a collector of material which others may find worthy of scrutiny and perhaps of u se . PLACE NA M ES IN KENT r L PLACE N A M E S o C E TI C O RIG IN . EN OF K ENT mu st not make too much In i c a v t . of their cou nty motto , As a matter of fact , we have been conquered at variou s times , and sometimes before the rest of England succumbed to the invader . The aborigines , wh o were probably somewhat like the E s u im e a u x q , a small race , having only stone weapons and tools , lived on the fringe of the great glacier of the last I ce Age (perhaps years ago) , which enabled one (though doubtless no one tried) to walk from what i s now M iddlesex and K ent to the North Pole ; even th e present North Sea being part of the great sheet of ice which covered all ou r land down to the north bank of the Thames . When climatic condition s ca ll altered for the better , England (to it by its much later name) became desirable to the great - t h west ward migration of e Celts, who had - already over ru n all North Eu rope . Thi s was the first of the five great waves of peoples who from the East seized on Eu rope , each driving its predecessor westward . The Celtic is , at any a r te , the first to be clearly traced . I t was divi s ible into the Gadhelic an d the Cymric (or Bry t ho n ic ) element , from the former the E rse , Gaelic , and Manx languages being derived , and from the latter the Welsh and the B reton (Ancient Briti sh a n d Gau li sh , the Corni sh , and probably the Picti sh) . The first branch i s said to have passed into 800 B C Britai n about , and the second about 6 30 B C . T henceforward , but for a few place 10 Pla ce N a m e s i n K en t . names , chiefly of rivers and heights , and still fewer word s which have survived in ou r tongue , we know little until the vi sit of Juliu s C aesar i n 4 G li r B C . 5 a l c IVa , from whose we learn of - - some of the Celtic tribe names and place names . Otherwi se we know little apart from the river ro ots which we find all over N . Eu rope (and - hardly any in England are non Celtic) , especially the five mai n word s for river or water—Afon — — — Dur E sk Rhe and Don .