Brōc= a brook, as in the dialects of Kent and Sussex, also low-lying ground, not necessarily with running water. So Brook, and Brookland, and Kidbrook.
Burna= stream. So Bourne, Littlebourne, etc.
Cnoll= hillock (Cnol in Welsh and knöl in Swedish). So Knole, and perhaps Knockholt.
Cop= a top or head, German kopf. Our Copt Point.
Cumb, or comb = a hollow in a hillside, or a narrow valley. So Ulcombe. A word borrowed from the Celtic.
Dell= low ground or valley. Hence Deal.
Ēā= water, river. So Stur-ea, now Sturry, or watery land. So probably Romney, from Ruimea. But ey also is īēg, or ēg = an island. Sceapige, now Isle of Sheppey.
Denuis a valley, and denn a retreat, but these often interchange in early forms with dun, which survives in our downs, and Down, the village.
Ford.—Here we have to distinguish between the Saxon ford (a natural place-name when bridges as yet were few), and fiord, which is purely coastal, and comes from our Norse marauders. Thus Ashford and Deptford come from quite different words.
Grāf, in Saxon, is our grove, so that Ashgrove is pure Saxon, Æsc-graf.
Heallmeans a hall, or larger house, and may be simply the Latin aula, especially as place-names ending in hall are more frequent near Roman centres. But there is also halk, a corner or angle, which may suit other places. Our several Whitehalls would indicate the former word.
The SaxonHEATHsurvives unaltered in some cases, and also as Hoath, and perhaps as Hoth in Hothfield.
Hlinc, a slope, accounts for the Linch and Linchfield in Detling, a cultivated slope at the foot of the Downs. More common in Sussex. Golfers will recognise the word.
Hōh= a hough or heel of land, whence our Hundred of Hoo.
Hyrcgis our ridge, and names Eridge, and Colbridge, and Sundridge.
Hyll= our hill, partly names many places, Bosehill, Hinxhill, Maze Hill, Ide Hill, etc.; but I think there are more in Sussex, where Roberts enumerates forty-eight.
Mersc= march—whence Stodmarsh, Burmarsh, Mersham, Westmarsh, Marshton.
OferandOraare difficult to distinguish in use, the former meaning bank or shore and the latter bank of a stream. Bilnor and Oare may come from the former, and Bicknor and Denover (on the Beult) from the latter.
Ell,WIELL,WYLL, as a prefix, becomes our well.
Wudu= wood. So Saltwood is Sautwud in 1230.
Beorg= a hill, dative beorge, is easily confused withBurg= bush, dative byrg, a fortified place, and then a city. From the former we get our modern beogh, ber or barrow; from the latter our prefix Bur, and the suffixes borough, burg, boro, and bury. The first syllable of Bearsted may be either Beorg or Beorc, birch. Canterbury is the burg or fortified city of the Cantwara or Kent-folk.
Hlu= a burial mound, developing later into the suffix low, lane, and lew, may be found in Hadlow, and perhaps in the Hundreds of Ryngelo and Cornilo in the Lathe of Borowart (now S. Augustine’s).
Considering the mainly forestal character of Saxon Kent, it is not strange that many placesare named from trees. Thus Ac = oak, appears in Ockholt, Ackhanger, Ockley. Æsc in Ashford, Ashhurst, and several Ashes. Our Nursted was Nutstede earlier. Perhaps to Ac also we may refer Hocker’s Lane in Detling as a prefix to another Saxon word, ofer, a shore or bring, though it may also be but a corruption of Oakham. In numerous place-names, especially those derived from trees, we find this suffix: Oakover (in Derbyshire), Ashover, Haselover, Birchover, commonly shortened into Oaker, Asher, Hasler, and Bircher. So the lane near the oak-tree or oak-wood would be Oakover Lane, Oaker or Ocker Lane, and eventually Hocker’s Lane. With but one cottage in it, I can find no tradition or trace of any personal name from which it might be called.
Apuldor, as for appletree, remains in Appledore; Birce or beorc, perhaps in Bearsted, Birchington (?), Bekehurst.
Box, or byxe (derived from the Latin buxus) names many places, and early forms in Bex, Bix, Bux, are found both as to Boxley and Bexley, as with Boxhill and Bexhill in other counties.
Holegn= holen, adj. of holly, survives in Hollingbourne and Holborough;Per(pear) in Perhamstead;Cherryin Cheriton;Plumin Plumstead;Elmin Elmley, Elmstone, Elmstead, but only the wych-elm was indigenous, and called Wice by the Saxons.Thornwe find in Thornham.
Haga, a Saxon name survives in ourHawthorn, and may help us to understand the meaning of Eythorne, near Dover, and the Hundred of Eyhorne, in which Detling is situated. The early name of Eythorne is Hegythorne,i.e., Hawthorn, and the Hundred of Eythorde or Eyhorne (so from 1347 A.D.) might well be the same, and named from the hamlet of Iron Street isHollingbourne, where Iron is plainly a late corruption of an old word.
The Rev. E. McClure, in hisBritish Place-Names, gives (p. 207et seqq.) a list of words in old Saxon glossaries, ranging from the 7th to the 9th centuries, which appear in British place-names. I extract those which seem to apply to place-names in Kent.
Bodan= bottom, common in Kent for a narrow valley,e.g., East Bottom at Kingsdown, near Walmer.
Hœgu-thorn= hedge-thorn, hawthorn, whence our Eythorne (anciently Hegythe Thorne), Hundred of Eyhorne (Haythorn, temp. Henry III.), and Iron Street, a hamlet in Hollingbourne in that Hundred.
Mapuldur= maple-tree, in our Maplescombe,i.e., the bowl-shaped valley where maples abound.
Holegn= holly. Our Hollingbourne, and perhaps Hollandon.
Holt-hona= woodcock, or more exactly woodhen, like moorhen. Worhona is Saxon for pheasant. So our Henhurst, Henwood, and Hengrove are the same.
Boece= beech. So our Mark Beech and Bough Beech, near Chiddingstone. This derivation is also one of those suggested for Bearsted, whereof the Saxon name is Beorhham-stede, and the first syllable would be either Beorg-hill or Beorc-beech.
Goss= furze. Gorsley Wood, in Bishopsbourne.
Fleota= estuary or creek. Our Northfleet, Southfleet, Ebbsfleet, and Mearesflete, and Flete.
Haesl= hazel. Hazelwood Hill, in Boughton Malherbe.
Beber= beaver. Beavers flourished in England even in historical times, and gave their name to Beverley, Beaverbrook, etc. May Beaver, near Ashford, derive thus? And the Beverley at Canterbury?
Pearroc= literally a grating—a place fenced in for deer, etc. So Park and Paddock. Paddock Wood.
Hreed= reed. Our Reedham possibly; but it is not on marshy ground.
Hythae= a harbour. Our Hythe, Greenhythe, New Hythe (East Malling), Small Hythe (Tenterden), West Hythe, and Erith (Erehithe—the old landing-place for Lesnes Abbey on the Thames).
Thyrne= thorn. Our Thornham.
Cisil= gravel. Our Chislehurst (Cyselhurst in 973), or gravelly wood.
Cnol= hill-top, as in Knowle, Knowle Hill (in Boughton Malherbe), and Knowlton.
Beyr= shed, cottage. Dr. Sweet makes it the same as Bur (modern Bower). Hence perhaps our Burham and Burmarsh; but the old forms of Burham would point rather to Borow or Borough—the walled settlement.
Aesc= ash. Our Ash, Ashenden, Ashford, Ashley, and Ashurst.
Hlep= leap. Hence Hartlip, of old Hertelepe. There are two places thus named.
Pirge= pear tree. Possibly Perrywood and Perry Street. And Perhamstede according to authorities.
Plum-treu= plum tree. Hence Plumstead—and Plumpton?
Faerh= a young pig, whence our word “farrow.” Considering that the rearing of swine was the chief occupation in the dens, I wonder that no one has suggested this word for the first syllable of Farleigh and Fairlight.
Brycg= bridge. The Saxon had the word, but not many bridges. Most of our eleven place-names in Kent containing this word are of post-Saxon date, while we have fifteen “fords.”
Sae= sea. So our Seasalter and Seabrook.
Aac= oak. We have Ackholt, Acol, Acryse, Oakhurst, Oakley, and Ockholt (now Knockholt).
Elm, borrowed from the Latin Ulmus. The Witch-elm, called Wice in Saxon, is indigenous, the other elm imported. We have Elmley, Elmstead, and Elmstone.
Mistel= mistletoe (ta. fem.—tdig) may appear in Mistleham, near Appledore.
Caelf= calf. The Saxon name for Challock was Caelf-loca-n,i.e., enclosed place for calves. The second syllable suggests the Latin locus, but is the source of our English Lock,i.e., shut up. So the locks on the river; and pounds for straying cattle are “lokes” in East Anglia.
Pleg-huses= theatres (or recreation grounds). Our Plaistow and Plaxtol.
Syla= wallowing place. So our numerous Soles, which I later enumerate.
DimhusandDimhof= hiding or dark place. Our Dymchurch are instances.
CroccandHwerasare both Saxon for pots. Few know what pure Saxon they use when they talk of crockery-ware. Pottery was always a great industry from Sittingbourne to Sheppey, and the Romans appreciated and extended it. This may account for our Crokham Hill, Crockham, Crockhurst Street, and Crockshard.
Cocca, gen. plural = chickens. Cock St., Cockham Wood, Cockshill, Coxheath, Cockadam Shaw, while in Detling we have Cock-hill, Upper and Lower Cox Street. Some may, of course, be modern and personal names; but I cannot so trace them.
Boley Hill, near Rochester, was undoubtedly a place of civic importance in very early days. It was a Danish meeting place corresponding to our shire-mote at Pennington Heath, and we may best trace its name to a Danish word which we still use—the bole of a tree. This is found in various parts of the Danish district of Lincolnshire, and the reference may be to the hill with a famous tree under which the court of the community was held. Trees, as well as cromlechs or great stones, were common landmarks in Saxon times—hence our various Stones in Kent. Others, however, consider it a corruption of Beaulieu, a name given by the Templars to the sites of their preceptories, and they instance a Boley or Bully Mead in East London, which belonged to the Templars. And others, because of its ancient legal associations, think it should be Bailey Hill, and refer us to the Old Bailey in London.
Farleigh.—On a clear day from Detling Hill we can see, not only Farleigh, near Maidstone, but Fairlight Church, near Hastings. In Saxon days and documents these place-names were the same, and so in Domesday (1086), each is Ferlega, the passage or fareing through the pastures or leys, just as our modern Throwley is Trulega, with the scribes’ variations in 12th century deeds of Thruleghe, Trulleda, Trulea, Thrulege, and Trudlege. Fairlight, therefore, is simply a modern corruption after a fashion which once corrupted the name of Leigh, near Tonbridge, which I find written Legh in 1435, Ligth in 1513, Lyghe in 1525, and Lyght in 1531. It has been suggested that the first syllable may indicate a personal name, Fær; but this seems less tenable.
Borstall, from the Anglo-Saxon Beorg, a hill, and stal, a dwelling (as in Tunstall), means a path up a steep hill. So there is Borstall Hill near Rochester, Bostall Hill near Woolwich, and Borstall Hill by Whitstable. And I have noteda passage in White’sSelborne—he made a path up the wooded steep hill near his vicarage called the Hanger, and he writes: “Now the leaf is down, the Bostall discovers itself in a faint, delicate line running up the Hanger.”
Eastry.—Lambarde thought this village was so named to distinguish it from West-Rye, now called simply Rye, but the places are too far apart, especially when the great forest of Anderida came between them. McClure, our most recent authority on British place-names, would refer it to the Rugii, a Continental clan from the Island of Rugen in the Baltic, whom he finds represented in Sûthryge (Surrey). So he would make the word East-ryge, and in a charter of 780 it is Eastrygena, and in another Eastryge. But amongst the various early spellings is Eastereye,i.e., Eástoregg (No, not Easter Egg!), the island of Eástor. In a will of 929, “Æthelnoth, the reeve to Eastorege,” is mentioned. Now the next parish is Woodnesborough, the town of Woden, the Saxon god. So here may well be, named at the same time and by the same people, the name of Eástor, the goddess of spring; while, as to its suffix, the centre of the village stands higher than the rest, and is almost entirely surrounded by a valley, though not now by water. Fewer greater authorities than Professor Skeat are to be found, and he inclines to this interpretation.
Folkestone.—Here we find several interpretations, the more modern being the most absurd. Thus Phillipott suggests the town full of folk! and Murray’s Handbook to Kent Fulke’s Town (whoever this Fulke may have been)! Both, however, forgot that the final syllable is always stane or stone, and not ton. Another imaginative worthy says that its stone quarries were much used in the 13th and 14th centuries, and belonged to the community, and so it was the Folks’ Stone! Folcland we know; Folcmote we know;but what is this? TheAnglo Saxon Chroniclesays that Harold seized ships at Folcesstane, and in Domesday it appears as Falchestan. Harris simply Latinizes the name and calls it Lapis populi, the stone of the people, and as in Ninnius (8th cent.) there is a reference in his description of England to the “stone of inscription on the Gallic sea,” which some would identify with Folkestone; he may be more right than he knew.
Plaxtol, near Sevenoaks.—In many Kentish parishes (and elsewhere) the name Pleystole or Playstool clings to a piece of land on which miracle and other plays were acted when amusements had to be mainly home-grown. So at Lynsted, Herbert Finch, in the sixth year of Queen Elizabeth, bequeathed the “Playstall et Playstollcroft” fields. A variant of the name we may find in Plaistow, by Bromley. So in Selborne (Gilbert White’s renowned village) the Plestor is the old playground. Would that in all villages, especially since the looting of old commons, there might be a field thus consecrated to healthy recreation.
Amongst the sources of enlightenment as to the meaning of our place-names I have turned to the volume of the English Dialect Society, which is on theKentish Dialect and Provincialisms, and was prepared by the Revs. W. D. Parish and W. F. Shaw. It does not contain, as I have found, nearly all our local words, and not a few of the words it does give are by any means peculiar to Kent. Still, it is useful and interesting, and it may well be that some of our Kent place-names are almost peculiar to Kent, especially as the neighbouring counties of Sussex and Essex were populated by Saxons, but Kent was populated by the Jutes, and no doubt their common tongue had its tribal variations. I take from this dictionary all the words which are illustrative of place-names.
Forstall= “a farm-yard before a house; a paddock near a farm house; or the farm buildings.... As a local name, Forestalls seem to have abounded in Kent.” Two instances are given; but I have noted Broken Forestall, Buckley; Clare’s Forestall, Throwley; Mersham Forstall; Forstall Farm, Egerton; The Forstall, Hunton; Preston Forstall, Wingham; Painter’s Forestall, Ospringe; Hunter’s Forstall, Herne; Fostal, Herne Hill; Forstall, Lenham; Forstall, Aylesford; Shepherd’s Forstall, Sheldwich—and no doubt there are more.
Tye.—“An extensive common pasture, such as Waldershare Tie and Old Wives’ Lees Tie, and in a document of 1510, a croft called Wolves’ Tie.” I would add the places called Olantigh, one near Wye and another near Fordwich. Teig-r is really a Norse word meaning a piece of grassland, and when borrowed or used by the Saxons it became Tigar, Tig and Tey in such place-names as Mark’s Tey.
Yokelet.—“An old name in Kent for a little farm or manor.” Cake’s Yoke is the name of a farm in Crundale. The yoke was a measure of land, probably such as one yoke of oxen could plough. Thus it corresponds to the Latin jugum, which means a yoke, and also a land measure. We have also West Yoke in Ash-next-Ridley; Yoklet, a borough in Waltham; land so named in Saltwood; and Ickham was of old Yeckham or Ioccham, from the A.S. yeok, a yoke of arable land. Iocclet is also given in the dictionary as a Kenticism for a small farm.
Bodge.—“A measure of corn, about a bushel.” May this suggest a derivation for Bodgebury, some land with a cottage thereon, part of the old glebe of Detling?
Brent.—“The Middle-English word Brent most commonly meant burnt; but there was another Brent, an adjective which signified steep.” Thus Brentwood in Essex is the sameas Burnt Wood in Detling, but the Brents or North Preston near Faversham, and the Brent Gate therein refer to the steep contour of the land. A Celtic root, found in Welsh as bryn, a ridge, accounts for many such names as Brendon Hill, Birwood Forest, Brandon, a ridge in Essex, Breandown near Weston-super-Mare, and many Swiss and German names for steep places.
Court, or Court Lodge.—“The manor house, where the court leet of the manor is held.” So in Detling we have East Court and West Court because, in default of a son, the old manor was divided between two co-heiresses in the 16th century. So we have as place-names North Court in Eastling, a Court at Street in Lympne, besides very many names of old houses, such as Eastry Court, Selling Court, etc.
Down.—“A piece of high open ground, not peculiar to Kent, but perhaps more used here than elsewhere. Thus we have Updown in Eastry, Hartsdown and Northdown in Thanet, Leysdown in Sheppey, and Barham Downs.” I may add Puttock’s Down (the Kite’s Down), three villages called Kingsdown, Derry Downs, Downe, Hackemdown, Harble Down, Housedown, Kilndown, two Underdowns, besides probably some of the names ending in don. The Celtic dun, a hill-fortress, found all over Europe, is directly found in our Croydon, as in London, Dunstable, etc., and the Saxon extended its use, especially in the plural, to high ground, whether crowned with a fort or camp or not. Trevisa wrote in 1398 “A downe is a lytel swellynge or aresynge (arising) of erthe passynge the playne ground ... and not retchyng to hyghnesse of an hylle.”
Frightor Frith.—“A thin, scrubby wood.” So the Fright Woods near Bedgebury. And I learned to skate as a boy at the Fright Farm on Dover Castle Hill. This may account for Frith by Newnham, and possibly also for Frittenden.
Polder.—“A marsh: a piece of boggy soil.” A place in Eastry now called Felder land was of old Polder land, and nearer Sandwich is a place still called Polders. Poll (Celtic), Pool (Early English), Proll (Welsh), is a common prefix to the name of a brook. Polhill, however, in Harrietsham, is more likely to come from the great Kent family of the Polhills. So we have Polhill Farm in Detling, and a Polhill was Vicar in 1779.
Rough.—“A small wood; any rough, woody place.” So Bushy Rough in the Alkham Valley, where rises one of the sources of the river Dour. Hence also Rough Hills in Hernhill; Rough Common near Canterbury; and perhaps Roughway in Plaxtol, the wood being used in the Kentish rather than the usual sense.
Saltings, or Salterns, or Salts.—“Salt marshes on the sea-side of the sea-walls.” A North Kent word, naming Saltbox, and Salterns, both in Sheppey, and probably Seasalter near Whitstable. We must find, however, if we can, another derivation for Saltwood Castle.
Selynge.—Toll, custom, tribute. The Prior of Christ Church, Canterbury, used to take in the Stoure a certain custom, which was called Selynge, of every little boat which came to an anchor before the mouth of the said Flete. The compilers of the Dictionary say: “The parish of Sellindge, near Hythe, probably takes its name from some such ancient payment.” Is it possible that the old name of Sentlynge, given to S. Mary’s Cray in Domesday Book, may point to another place of tolling craft on the Cray?
AFurore Normanorumwas a petition in an old litany in England before it had gained that name. And with reason, for the success of Angles, Jutes and Saxons in the conquest of England drew the attention of Scandinavian and other Vikings, who found that booty could be gained by rapid raids. It was at the end of the eighth century that the Danes (as they came to be called, although the wider “Northmen” would be a better term), reached the land of the Angles, coming from Norway to Dorset, and generally harrying the eastern and southern coasts for a couple of hundred years. They also remained and settled, mainly to the north of the Humber, until at last the greater part of England came under their power, and in 1016 Cnut became the Danish King of England.
Our forefathers in Kent should have our sympathy for the continuous state of alarm in which they were kept. In 832 Scandinavian pirates ravaged Sheppey. In 838 they won a battle in Merscware (i.e., the land of the Marsh-folk,i.e., Romney Marsh), and slew many in Canterbury. In 851 nine of their piratical ships were taken in battle at Londovic (Sandwich) by Æthelstan, the under-king of Kent; but they remained to winter in Thanet for the first time, and in the same year 350 of their ships entered the Thames and took both Cantwaraburg and Lundenburg (London). In 853 the men of Kent, under the Alderman Ealchere, with the men of Surrey, fought in Tenet (Thanet), but were worsted. Next year they wintered in Sceap-ige (Sheppey). In 865 the men of Kent tried to buy off the heathen invaders, who, however, ravaged all East Kent.
Then arose the great man, Alfred, who in 871had eight battles with the Danes south of the Thames. In 885 they besieged Hrofceastre (Rochester), but King Alfred relieved it, and the Danes took to their ships, having lost all their horses. In 893 two hundred and fifty Danish ships came to Limenemouth (Lympne), took their fleet four miles up the river, and made a strong fort at Apuldore, while Hasting with 80 ships entered the Thames estuary, made a fort at Milton, and later one at Sceobyrig (Shoebury). In 969 Eadger orders Tenet land to be pillaged, and in 980 Thanet is overrun by the Danes. In 986 the bishopric of Hrofceastre was devastated. In 993 a fleet of nearly four hundred ships came to “Stone,” which may be the one in the Isle of Oxney, or another near Faversham on the Watling Street, or another on the Swale, and went on to Sandwic, which was their chief southern haven, and embodies in its name the Scandinavian wic or bay (Sandwic is a common place-name in Iceland and Norway).
In 994 Anlaf, King of Norway, and Sweyn, King of Denmark, with a fleet of nearly 500, failed to take London, but ravaged Kent and other counties. In 998 they sailed up the Medway estuary to Rochester, and there beat the Kentish army. In 1005 a fleet came to Sandwic and despoiled the country.
In 1007 England despaired, and paid a tribute of £36,000, while Thurkell’s army came to Sandwich and thence to Canterbury, where the people of East Kent bought peace at the cost of £3,000, while the Danes spent the winter in repairing their ships. In 1012 they took Canterbury and martyred the Archbishop Ælfheah, better known to us as S. Alphege. In 1013 Sweyn came again to Sandwich; but in 1014 Eadmund (Edmund Etheling) attacked the Danes in Kent, drove them into Sheppey, and met their leader in battle at Æglesforda (Avlesford). But in 1016 Cnut (Canute) became King of all England, and to him in 1018 £72,000 was paid in tribute.
In 1203 the body of S. Alphege was allowed by Cnut to be taken to Canterbury, and England remained a Danish province. In 1040 Harda-Cnut was brought from Bruges to succeed Harold as King, and landed at Sandwich. In 1046 Thanet was ravaged again by the Northmen; but in 1049 King Edward gathered a great fleet at Sandwich against Sweyn, and later this fleet lay at Dærentamutha (i.e., Darentmouth,i.e.Dartford). In 1051 King Edward’s brother-in-law, Eustace, lost some followers in a fracas at Dofra (Dover).
But a great change was imminent, and England was to change one domination for another, and in 1052 Wilhelm (afterwards the Conqueror) visited King Edward the Confessor (or Saint) with a great host of Normans, and he exiled Earl Godwin, who came from Bruges to Nœsse (Dungeness) was driven back. Returning with his son Harold to Dungeness, they took all the ships they could find at Rumenea (Romney), Heda (Hythe), and Folcesstane. Thence to Dofra and Sandwich, ending up with ravaging Sheppey and Middeltun (Milton, near Sittingbourne). Then, in 1066, Harold dies in battle at Hastings, and William begins our Norman dynasty, Northmen being succeeded by Normans.
Traces of the visits to Kent are found in various place-names, though more common in other parts of Britain, and indeed in other countries, since as marauders, colonists, or conquerors they were for three centuries the terror of Europe, from Iceland to Italy. The many places with the suffixes byr or by, thorpe, throp, or trop, toft, thwaite, ville in Normandy, or well and will in England, garth, beck, haugh, with, tarn, dale, force, fell, are all almost exclusively northern to Kent and mainly Norwegian. As to “by” for town, there are 600 north of the Thames and east of Watling Street, and hardly any in the south. The one apparent exception inKent—Horton Kirkby—is no exception, for it was simply Horton until the time of Edward the First, when Roger de Kirkby,from Lancashire, married a Kentish heiress and the manor and place were re-named after him.
We have, however, certain records of their piratical visits, as at Deptford and Fordwich, where the termination is not the Anglo-Saxon ford, meaning a passage across a river, but the Norse fiord, a roadstead for ships. Deptford is the deep fiord, where ships could anchor close to the bank, and Fordwich, the smallest “limb” of the Cinque Ports, was once the port of Canterbury on the Stour, and gives us wic, the Norse for station for ships, a small creek or bay. So, in Kent, we have also from the same source Wick in Romney Marsh, Greenwich, Woolwich, and Sandwich. Inland, however, Wich or Wick, is an Anglo-Saxon borrowing from the Latin vicus, and means houses or a village.
Another Norse word in Kent is Ness or Naze, a nose or promontory, such as Dungeness, Shoeburyness, Pepperness, Foulness, Shellness, Sheerness, Sharpness Cliff at Dover, whence criminals were hurled, Whiteness, Foreness, Bartlett Ness and Oakham Ness. The Nore, in Kent, is the Norse, or perhaps Jutish, Nôr, a bay with a narrow entrance, and the word is unique in Britain, unless we may find it also in Normarsh, near Rainham. Again attributable to our invaders, and again purely coastal, are the places ending infliot, a small river or creek, such as Northfleet, Southfleet, Ebbsfleet, with Purfleet on the opposite bank of the Thames. Thanet and Sheppey were for us their chief points of attack and their naval stations, while the Danelagh or Kingdom whence the Norse element predominated had the Wash as the chief entrance whence they radiated out.
The suffix “gate” may be either from the Saxon geat or the Scandinavian gata, but whenwe find Ramsgate, Dargate, Margate, Westgate, Kingsgate, Snargate, and Sandgate, all on the coast, while in Romney Marsh “gut” takes the place of “gate,” as in Jervis Kut, Clobesden Gut, and Denge Marsh Gut, we may incline to a Scandinavian origin.
It is in the north, and the north only according to the best authorities, that the suffix ing represents the Norseengfor grass-land.
Most islands are attached portions of the nearest mainland, severed in prehistoric times by subsidence of the intervening soil and the action of strong currents. Thus even England is a portion of the Continent, as its fauna and flora proclaim, while Ireland was severed earlier still. Thus also the Isle of Wight is Hampshire. So our Kentish islands, now only two and neither now to be effectually circumnavigated, are practically absorbed in the mainland. “Sheppey, Thanet—what else?” most would say. Yet the early geographer Nennius, writing in the eighth century, has the following quaint passage:—“The first marvel is the Lommon Marsh” (i.e., Limen, now Romney), “for in it are 340 islands with men and women living on them. It is girt by 340 rocks, and in every rock is an eagle’s nest, and 340 rivers run into it, and there goes out of it into the sea but one river, which is called the Lemn.” Truly a picturesque account of the numerous spots, where dry land first appeared in the shallow bay, and the countless sluices which intersected them.
“Romney” is probably formed by the addition of the Saxon Ige, By, or Ea—island, to the earlier Celtic Ruim—marsh, and so gives an idea of what the district was before the Romansreclaimed much by building their great Rhee Wall. Certain names in Romney Marsh preserved the same history.Oxeney(still we have the Island and the Hundred of Oxney, containing Wittersham and Stone parishes) is even now insulated by two branches of the Rother, and here, in the ancient and now diverted channel, was found in 1824 an oaken ship buried deep in sand and mud. Its name is said to mean the isle of the fat beeves. On pagan altars discovered there oxen were carved, and still it is a great cattle-raising district. We should look now in vain for the three ferries by which it was once entered. In its centre isEbony, no doubt originally a sort of island, once called “Ebeney in Oxney,” and in an early document it appears as Hibbene. It has been suggested that the first part of the word is the old Celtic Avon,i.e., water or river, and I find that a Saxon charter of 793 A.D. calls the Gloucester Avon by the name of Aben. The third syllable is, of course, the Saxon word for island. Scotney Court, Lydd, and Scotney Castle, Lamberhurst, no doubt preserve the name of the Barons de Scotini, who came from Scotigny in North France, and possessed, in the 12th century, much land, which they held until the reign of Edward the Third, while Scot’s Hall, near Smeeth, was the seat of Knights of that name down to the time of the Armada. But for this history one might have classed Scotney with Oxney and Ebony.
Coming now toSheppey, still an island, washed on the north by the estuary of the Thames, on the west by that of the Medway, and insulated by the Swale (Saxon Suala), crossed by a railway bridge and two ferries, the Celtic name is said to have been Malata, from Mohlt, a sheep, which the Saxon conquerors translated into Sceap-ige, Sheep Isle. It includesElmleyandHarty, once its little islands, and now peninsulas. An old name for Harty was Hertai,in which we may perhaps find the Saxon Heorat—stag, hart—as in Hartlip and Hartbourne, and ea—island. And Elmley, which island would simply denote the ley or glade in the forest in which elms were frequent, might here be Elm-isle. And another islet wasGraven-ea, the grain island, on the opposite side of the Swale, now in the Faversham marshes.
Thanet, the best known and most important island, was in the 5th century separated from the mainland by the Wantsum and the estuary of the Stour, which gave an expanse of water mainly two miles broad, so that vessels from or to London sailed from Reculver to Richborough, and avoided the longer and rougher route round the North Foreland. To guard this sea-way the Romans had placed their forts of Regulbium (Reculver) and Rutupia (Richborough) at its northern and eastern entrance. Now, and for long, by the dwindling of the Stour and the practical extinction of the Wantsum, Thanet is but in name an island. Even writing in 1570, Lambarde calls it a peninsula. It is said that its Celtic name was Rimn—a headland, and that its later Saxon name, Tenet, means a beacon. Solinus, who wrote about A.D. 80, calls it Ad-Tanatos (Thanatos, Greek for Death, because its soil killed snakes even when exported for that purpose!). Nennius, in the 8th century, says Guorthigern handed to Hengist and Horsa the island, “which in their language is called Tenet, but in British speech Ruoihm,” or Ru-oichim. In a charter of 679 it appears as Tenid. The name, says McClure, may involve the Celtic Tann for oaks, as in Glastenec, an early form of Glastonbury, surviving in the English, Tanner, Tanyard, etc. From this root is derived the Breton place-name Tannouet. Tenid is its oldest Saxon form, and theSaxon Chroniclerecords that in 969 Eadgar ordered Tenetland to be pillaged.
In the search for the meaning of a place-name it is necessary to go back as far as possible and discover, if we can, its earliest form. TheAnglo Saxon Chronicle, and the later Domesday Book of 1086; the gradual blending of Saxon and Norman into the English tongue; and then the invention of printing; all may have had an effect on the pronunciation, and so the spelling, of a word. Also there is the tendency to shorten a long word, as when Pepingeberia becomes Pembury, or Godwinston, through Gusseton, becomes Guston. And before the standardization of spelling which printing to a great extent effected, and in written documents such as charters or wills, the most remarkable variations will occur according to personal varieties of pronunciation. Even now, though every one reads “I am going,” in one county you may hear “I’m a gowin’,” in another “I be gooin’,” in another “I be gwaine,” and so forth, and so one wonders less at the various forms in which a name appears in writing in Saxon, in Norman, or in Early English days.
As a general rule the earliest form will be best and most likely to indicate why a name was given. To illustrate this source, both of information and of error, let me take two Kentish place-names—Westenhanger and Tenterden—giving the dates at which I find the various forms.
Westenhanger.—There is a Teutonic stem hanh which means to hang, with the Anglo-Saxon later forms, Hôn, Hêng, from which we get our place names of hanger, Ongar, etc. A hanger is a wood or copse hanging on the side of a hill, and in Kent we find Betteshanger,Hangherst, and Ackhanger, as well as Westenhanger, concerning which Leland in his Itinerary writes of “Ostinhaungre ... of sum now corruptly called Westenanger.” I find it spelled Ostrynghangre in 1274 and 1291, Westynghangre in 1343, Westingangre in 1346, Ostrynhangre in 1376 and 1381, Estynghangre in 1383, Westynganger in 1385, Ostynhangre in 1409, Ostrynghanger in 1468, Westinganger in 1472, Ostrynhanger in 1478, Westynghanger in 1511, Westhanger in 1519, and Oystenhanger in 1541. The changes of the first syllable illustrate the continuance of the Saxon Wœst and the Norman Ouest until there is the reversion to the Saxon form in our West.
Tenterden, again, has a long list of variants. Probably its Saxon name indicated the place where the Theinwarden, or Thane’s Warden or Guardian, looked after the rights and dues of various other dens where his swine had pannage and his tenants tended them. It is not mentioned in Domesday, as not of sufficient importance or taxability; but in 1190 I find it as Tentwarden, in 1252 as Thendwardenne and Tentwardenn, in 1255 as Tentwardene—this early and probably original form cropping up at intervals for another three hundred years. But in 1259 we get nearer to the extant form, as Tendyrdenn. In 1300 there is Tenterdenne, and in 1311 Tentredenne. From this point I take the spellings from the Archbishop’s register of the institutions of its parish priests, and here the earliest record is Tenterdenne in 1311. Thenceforward Tent’denne and Tant’denn in 1322, Tentrdenn in 1327, Tenterdenne in 1333, Tentwardene in 1342, Tenterdenne in 1346, Tentwardyn in 1390, Tynterden in 1394, Tent’den in 1404, Tenterden (for the first time exactly in its present form) in 1407, Tendirden in 1436, Tentwarden at various dates from 1464 to 1531, Tentreden in 1501 and 1525, Tenterden in 1511, 1523, 1539, and 1546, “Tentwardenalias Tenterden” in 1541, Tynterden in 1546, Tenterden in 1556, Tentwarden in 1560, Tenterden in 1571 and 1615, Tentarden in 1619, Tendarden in 1626, Tentarden in 1627 and 1636. Henceforth it is always Tenterden in the Lambeth Registers. These variations are the more noticeable as all occurring in one office, where one would have expected a settled and continuously adopted form, whereas in such documents as wills the testator, or even the scrivener who wrote the will, would have only the current or the personal idea as to the right spelling of a name.
Elsewhere I have given variations of the places we now know as Edenbridge, Cuxton, Shepherdswell, Bethersden, Eastry, Throwley, etc. One might add the cases of Freondesbyry (Saxon), Frandesberie (Domesday), Frenesbery, and Frendesbury, for ourFrindsbury; of Estbarbrenge, Barmyage, Barmling, Barmelinge, and Berblinge, for ourBarming; Æpledure (Saxon), Apeldres (Domesday), Apoldre (1381), Apeltre, Appledrau, and Appuldre, for ourAppledore; of Pœdlewrtha (Saxon), Pellesorde (Domesday), and Pallesford, for our threePaddlesworths; Hertlepeshille (temp. Edw. II.), Herclepe, Hertelepe, and Harclypp (1534), for ourHartlip; and Ok’olte (i.e., Oak Wood), Ocholte, Sud-Acholt, Scottesocholt, and Nokeholde, for ourKnockholt. The etymological advantage of going back is seen in the case ofRingwould, which becomes more intelligible when down to the time of Henry 3rd it was known as Ridelinwalde or Rydelynewelde (i.e., the settlement of the clan of Ryddeling by the wood), whereas not till 1476 do I find Ringeweld, and Ringewold in 1502.
There are not so many as one would expect considering the importance and power and the possessions of the Church in Kent. Taking some as they occur to me, there areAll Hallows, in Sheppey, so named from the dedication of its church to All Saints’. The Latin Sanctus and the Teutonic Helige are the same in meaning. So we have, too, in Lower Halstow the Saxon helige stow—the holy place. In a list of Jack Cade’s Kentish followers, in 1450, the parish of Omi Scor is mentioned, which puzzled me for a moment until I saw it was a contraction for Omnium Sanctorum, All Saints’.
The twoMinsters, one in Thanet and one in Sheppey, both of Saxon foundation, are the Latin Monasterium, found later as Moynstre and then as Menstre.Monkton, earlier Moncstun and Monkynton, marks a manor given A.D. 961 by Queen Eadgiva to the monks of the community of Holy Trinity, which afterwards became the greater Christ Church, Canterbury. There are also, for the same reasons, Monks Horton and Monks Hill, by Herne Hill, in Blean.Bishopsbourne, earlier Bishopstone, and Bishopsdenne, denotes an episcopal manor. The old nucleus ofLyddwas Bishopswic, and in DomesdayBoughton Malherbeappears as Boltone Archiepiscopi.Preston, near Wingham (there is another by Aylesford, and a third near Faversham) is Priest’s Town, and denotes a place where there was a small college of clergy. That near Wingham is recorded in Domesday as Prestetune, and in a fine of Edward II. we have: “Preston next Wengham and Wykham Brewouse.” It belonged to S. Augustine’s Abbey at Canterbury.S. Nicholas at Wadeis named from the dedication of the ancient church. At Wade represents the Latin AdVadum, at the ford, over the Wantsum, into Thanet, near the existing-bridge at Sarre.
S. Margaret’s Bay andS. Margaret’s at Clifferetain their Norman dedications. The church originally belonged to S. Martin’s Priory at Dover.LillechurchHouse, near Higham, marks the site of the old Priory of Higham. The Hundred of Lesnes (A.S. leswes, pastures) is the district once attached to the Augustinian Abbey (whence the present name ofAbbey Wood) founded in 1178 by the Chief Justice and Regent Richard de Lucy.
Of the five parishes named from the river Cray two are named from the patron saints of their churches.S. Mary Crayis, however, called Sentlynge in Domesday Book.S. Paul’s Crayis a misnomer, since the dedication is to S. Paulinus, Bishop of Rochester, and afterwards Archbishop of York. So in a deed of 1291 I find it as Creypaulin, and in a fine of Edward II., 1314, as Paulynescraye. In 1560, however, it appears as Powle’s Crey.
Brenzett, in Romney Marsh, does not suggest in its present form either a Celtic or a Saxon origin; but as its old church was dedicated to S. Eanswith, a popular Saxon Saint, also commemorated in the S. Mary and S. Eanswith of the original church at Folkestone, it has been suggested that Brenzett has been evolved in process of time out of Eanswith. Bresett and Brynsete (1416) are variants of the place-name. There is also the parish ofS. Mary in the Marshhard by.Newchurch, also in the Marsh, is Neucerce in Domesday (1036), but as there is no Norman work in the church, which is of Early English architecture, it is supposed that shortly before Domesday an older church had been pulled down. Then and still it gives its name to the Hundred of Newchurch in the Lathe of Limea or Limowart, which was re-named Shepway in the time of Henry the Third. Also in the MarshisDymchurch, earlier Demchurche. But earlier still it is said to have been called simply Dimhus or Dimhof, which would mean in Saxon the dark or hiding place; so that “church” may be a later addition to an old name.Eastchurch, in Sheppey, was, and is, the easternmost church in the island.
We have seen how common in Kent are place-names derived from patronymics of the name of a family or clan, such as Kennington, the settlement of the Cennings, but there are others, mainly more modern, which include the name of an individual, who usually would be the lord of the manor. Thus some have imagined thatSwingfield, near Dover, is Sweyn’s Field, as if the Saxons would have named a place after their piratical enemy. The older forms, Swonesfelde and Swynefelde, would more naturally point to swine, the keeping of which was the chief pastoral pursuit of the Saxons in the dens and clearings of the forest.Queenborough, or Quinborowe, however (earlier known as Bynnee), was named by Edward the Third (who built a strong fort there) in honour of Queen Philippa in 1368.Roshervilleis very recent, being named after Jeremiah Rosher, lord of the manor in the nineteenth century.Sutton Valencewas Town Sutton until 1265, when it became part of the possessions of William de Valence, half-brother of Henry the Third.
Boughton Aluph—Bocton Anulphi in a charter of Edward the Second—was the seat in the time of Henry the Seventh of the family of Aloff, to which Wye belonged.Boughton Monchelsea(Bocton Chanesy in the time of Edward the Second) owes its additional name toa Norman noble; andBoughton Malherbe(another Bush-ton, or town in the woods) was given as a manor to the Norman family of Malherbe.Bethersdencan be traced back to Norman times as Beatrichesdenne, probably as held by an heiress of that name. SoPatrixbourneappears earliest as Bourne until a Patrick held the manor.Capel le Ferne, near Dover, was originally Mauregge; but in 1175 the Capel family owned Capel’s Court in Ivychurch, and had estates in several parts of Kent. In the fifteenth century it was called sometimes S. Mary Marige and sometimes Capelle le farne, and in a deed of 1511 it appears as “Capelferne or S. Mary Merge.”
Shepherdswell, near Dover, has nothing to do with a shepherd or a well; but is an early corruption of Sibertswalt, as it appears in Domesday,i.e., the wood of Sibert. The phonetic changes are found in later charters and wills, Sybersysweld in 1474, Sybberdiswold 1484, Shipriswold 1501, Shepswold 1506, and Sheperterswold in 1522. Suabert, or Sieberht, was a great Saxon thane, and granted land in Sturgeth (Sturry) and Bodesham to St. Domneva’s new Minster in Thanet, while in a charter of 814 we read of Selebertineg-lond. Great Chart was originally Selebert’s Chart. Sibbertston (or Selebertston) was a sub-manor in Chilham, and there is still the Hundred of Sebrittenden or Selebertsden in what was the old Lathe of Wye.
Mongehamis probably Monyn’s Home, for the Monins family have been there or near there since the time of Henry the Third, and are there still.Goodneston, commonly called Guston, was no doubt Godwinston, as in the territory of the great Earl Godwin, and we trace its present name through the earlier forms Gounceston, Goceston, Gusseton, to Guston. Another Goodnestone, near Faversham, appears as Gudewynston in 1469 and Goodwinston in 1529. TheBreux, ofWickham Breux, is another Norman addition to a Saxon name.
Ebbsfleet, the so important landing place, first of Hengist and then of S. Augustine, has, of course, been explained by ignorant guessers as the place where the sea ebbs! But its earliest name to be traced is Ypwine’s fliot,i.e., the creek where some Jute of that name settled. Yp is probably the Eop in Eoppa, which is a common Saxon name, also found as Eobba, so that Eobbe’s fleet easily becomes Ebbsfleet.Upper Hardresmay take us to the Norman family which came from Ardres in Picardy, although it is possible to find a common Celtic origin for the name both of the French and the English village in the Celtic Ardd, that is, ploughland. It is Heg Hardres,i.e., High Hardies, in early documents.
Horton Kirbywas simply Horton until the reign of Edward III., when a Lancashire Kirby married the heiress of the manor and rebuilt the castle. Even in 1377 I find it still called Hortune only.Offhamis Offa’s home, and several places, including probablyOtham, bear his name. Here this Christian King of Mercia is said to have conquered Edmund of Kent. So Old Romney was earlier Offeton, Effeton, or Affeton. Offa ruled Sussex and Kent, and so we have Offham near Lewes, Offington near Worthing, Offham near Arundel, and Ufton near Tunstall. But the name of Offeton for Old Romney disappears after 1281.Foot’s Cray, and Footbury Hill near there, is named from Godwin Fot the Saxon.Chelsfieldis said to record the name of a Saxon Ceol, a shortened form of Ceolmund, or Ceolbald, or Ceolwulf, all of which were common names.Scotney Castle, Lamberhurst, belonged in the 12th century to the Barons de Scoterni, who came from Pontigny, in N. France. They had also Scotney Court, at Lydd.
One may add to these samples of places named from persons, two or three that very probablytake us back to mythical personages.Woodnesborough(Wodenesbergh 1465, Wynsbergh 1496), was named by the Jutish conquerors after their god Woden, whom they commemorated among the Teutonic names they bequeathed to our names of the week. There is another Woodnesborough in Wilts, and Wednesbury and Wednesfield in Staffordshire. And we note that the next parish isEastry. For the name of this very old and important place in Saxon time various derivations have been proposed, but it is more than possible that it is the town of Eástor or Eostre, the goddess of Spring, whose name survived when the conversion of the heathen Saxons gave a new light to the festival in the Spring, which henceforth was to celebrate a greater Resurrection than that merely of the flowers. And possibly a third instance may be found in the name ofAylesford, which is Egelesford in theSaxon Chronicle, and Elesford in Domesday. Amongst various possible derivations that of Eigil, the Teutonic hero-archer or demigod, is worthy of consideration, since it is found as naming places elsewhere; for example, Aylesbury, in Buckinghamshire, which in theSaxon Chronicleappears as Ægelesburh.
When a language is not pure, but the result of the intermingling and interaction of several tongues as distinct as Celtic, Saxon and Norman; and when, by the wear and tear of daily use through centuries, place-names have altered in detail of spelling and pronunciation; and when for a long time spelling and reading were arts known but to a small minority ofthe population, it is plainly inevitable that the original form and real meaning of a place-name should often be difficult to trace. But always in an enquiring mind there was the insistent WHY? which is a characteristic and a glory of man as a reasoning animal, and hence often a meaning was given to a word that is simply a sort of pun, an endeavour to explain a word by what it looks like in current speech or dialect when there was not the knowledge of earlier times and older tongues which elevates mere guessing into the science of etymology.
Some Kentish examples of this source of error may be useful. Thus, when we traceMaidstoneback into the earliest records we find that it has nothing to do with either Maid or Stone, but comes through many variations from the Celto-Saxon Medwegston, or town on the Medway. Yet though Lambard knew and quoted this in 1570 he suggested also a meaning of “mighty stone, a name given for the quarry of hard stone there!” So, too, Hasted thinksLooseis so called because the stream loses itself underground (like the Mole in Surrey) for some eight hundred yards at Brishing! He might as well have ascribed the name to Loose and Detling having been long only Chapelries of Maidstone, but at last having been cut loose and made into separate parishes in Elizabethan times!
Tenterdenis named, says an old Kentish writer, as “some vulgar fancies conjecture, from the tenderness of its soil”;Feversham, says another old Kentish writer, Phillipott, useful as an historian, useless to etymologists, “is an unhealthy town, and carries the tokens of it in its name.”Id. est., the home of fevers!Harbledown, says Black, is so-called “in allusion to its grassy downs and hills,” as if grassiness were not a characteristic of any and every down and hill in Kent.Gadshill, we are solemnly told, is named from “gads,” clubs used by footpads whowere not unknown there (or anywhere else) on Watling Street. We should smile less if the name was Padshill.
And one of the most ancient, and indeed prehistoric, names in Kent is Penypot, a hill opposite Chilham. “Here once,” one old rustic would say, “they dug up a pot full of pennies.” “Nay,” another would respond, “it was where they used to sell ale for a penny a pot in the good old days!” To such vile meanings may descend the venerable Celtic Pen y wlh—the Head of the Mound.
One of the earliest Roman geographers heard of Thanet under its earliest name of Tanet, and because he knew a Greek word Thanatos, which means death, he so interpreted Thanet. On this absurdity he based a baseless legend which Lambarde in 1570 thus describes: “There be no snakes in Tanet (saith he), and the earth that is brought from thence will kill them.” (Why death to snakes any more than to sheep or shepherds? Why not go further and make Thanatos a lifeless place like the Dead Sea?) “But whether he wrote this of any sure understanding that he had of the quality of the soil, or only by conjecture at the woord Thanatos, which in Greeke signifieth death, I wote not.” This is as strong an example of conjectural derivation, with nothing but a superficial resemblance to support it, as we could find. But Lambarde himself, great as he is in many ways, gives derivations almost as baseless,e.g., Blackheath, “called of the colour of the soil!” Wrotham, “given for the great plentie of woorts or good hearbs that growe there.” Farley, “interpreted the place of the Boares, or Bulles” (which? and why?). Sittingbourne, “one interprets it Seethingbourne, Rivus Fervens aut Hulliens” (i.e., the boiling or bubbling river—in that flat country!). This is too much even for him and his times, and so he adds, “but how likely let others see.”