Early Saxon Times
The conquest of South Britain by the Saxons took a long
time--considerably over one hundred and fifty years. A great many
people are born, and live their lives, and die, in such a period of
time as that. It was only little by little that the various tribes
of Saxons got a footing in England. They were the stronger and
fiercer race, and the Britons were gradually subdued or driven into
the mountainous regions by them.
Those early tribes of Saxons, who came to Britain, brought with
them, of course, their own special manners and customs. As they
settled down, the face of the country was gradually changed by
them. They disliked and suspected everything Roman, and destroyed
the towns and villas. They hated the idea of walled towns. These,
therefore, were left in ruins, and the great highways, being
neglected in most places, were, in the course of years, overgrown
with brushwood and hidden in thick forests.
In some parts of the country the Saxons seem to have completely
swept the Britons away, and almost all traces of them vanished;
but in other parts there certainly were some of them left, because
we have still their marks upon our language. Although most of the
place-names in use now are Saxon or Danish, there are still a good
many of British, or partly British, origin.
The names of many of our rivers are British or Celtic, such as
Axe, Exe, Stour, Ouse, and Yare. So are many names of hills;
and in some parts of the country the names of the villages are
partly British and partly Saxon. Take, for instance, such a common
name as Ashwell. Some learned men think that it is made up of
two words "Ash" and "Well", both meaning pretty much the same
thing, _ash_ being British for "water", and _well_ being Saxon
for "watering-place". Now, if the Saxons had quite got rid of the
Britons, they would not have known that a particular place was
called "Ash"--they learned to call it "Ash" from the natives, but
they did not know what it meant. They knew that there was a spring
of water there, which they called a "well"; and so, to distinguish
it from other wells in the neighbourhood, they got into the habit
of calling it "Ashwell"--and the name has stuck to the place. In
North America, in Australia, New Zealand, and South Africa there
are many instances of English names being grafted on to original
native names, and often you find places with well-known English
names and others with picturesque and descriptive native names
almost side by side.
In some such way as this many other place-names, partly British
and partly Saxon, were formed; and they teach us this--that Saxons
and Britons must have lived near each other closely enough for the
Saxons to take up and use some British names.
There are some English counties in which you will hardly find one
place-name which is not Saxon. This shows us that the Britons
were either killed or completely driven away. That is the case in
Hertfordshire. But in Hampshire, while most of the names are Saxon,
there are many partly Saxon and partly British. The same thing can
be noticed in the county of Gloucester. The Britons, then, must
have been in these districts long enough for the Saxons to pick up
a good many place-names. They did not understand the meaning of
them, and so tacked on to them names which they _did_ understand,
much as British settlers have done in various parts of the world
during these last few centuries.
[Illustration: REMAINS OF A ROMAN HOUSE, EXCAVATED AT SILCHESTER
[See page 17]]
The place-names of the old towns and villages all had a
meaning, and when we can get to know what that meaning is it
tells us something of the history of the place. But we have to be
very careful in studying place-names not to jump to conclusions
as to what the name means. To get at the truth a knowledge of
the old language and the alterations it has undergone, and also
of the different ways in which the word was spelt, according to
the earliest documents that can be found, is necessary. In days
gone by, before the study of the old forms of the language was
properly grasped, antiquaries often made guesses at the meaning of
place-names which have turned out to be very misleading. So we must
not be in a hurry to jump to conclusions, and should be always on
the look-out for more and better information. We frequently meet
with the syllable _ing_ in a place-name. "Ing", amongst those early
Saxon settlers here, usually meant "the sons of". When they made a
new home in this strange land the little band naturally gave the
place the name of their family. Thus, the sons of a man named Offa
were known as Uffingas, and called the name of the place where they
settled Uffinggaston, or Uffington--and the name stuck to the place
long after the family itself had died out. The sons of Rede settled
at Reading; the sons of Billinge, the Billings, at Billingham; the
sons of Hôc at Woking and Wokingham; the Ardings at Ardington; the
Thurings at Thorington--and so on. You must not, however, conclude
that every name you come across with "ing" in it has the same
meaning; but it will be quite worth while to ask for information
about it from someone who knows, or who can put you in the way of
getting information upon the point.
We cannot go further here into other syllables found in a large
number of place-names, such as _feld_, _yard_, _stock_ or _stoke_,
or _ham_, but it is quite possible for you to find out first of all
what is the meaning of the name of the town or village in which
you live, and what that tells you about its history.
The Saxons made their settlements at first away from the Roman
towns and British villages. In the course of time, in a good many
cases, they made settlements very close to these old sites, and we
know that Saxons lived in such places as Winchester, Gloucester,
and London. We find, especially in Hampshire and Gloucestershire,
that near, or in, certain villages with Saxon names, Roman remains
have from time to time been dug up.