PLACE-NAMES.
An eloquent modern writer has declared, with a good reason, that even
if all other records had perished, "anyone with skill to analyse
the language, might re-create for himself the history of the people
speaking that language, and might come to appreciate the divers
elements out of which that people was composed, in what proportion they
were mingled, and in what succession they followed one upon the other."
From a careful analysis of the names of the more prominent features
of the land; of its divisions, its towns and villages, and even its
streets, as well as the nomenclature of its legal, civil, and political
institutions, its implements of agriculture, its weapons of war, and
its articles of food and clothing,--all these will yield a vast fund of
history.
The place-name Liverpool has been the greatest puzzle to local
etymologists. From the earliest known spelling--recorded in a deed
of the time of Richard I. 1189-99, where the form is Leverpool--to
the present, it has gone through more changes than any other local
name. As the Norse element in the vicinity of Liverpool has been very
great, we may assume the original derivation to come from "hlith,"
the old Norse for a "slope." The north dialect also contains the word
"lither" meaning sluggish. It is an adjective bearing the same meaning
as the modern English "lithe," pliant, or gentle. The names Lithgoe,
Lethbridge, Clitheroe, and Litherland may be derived from it.
From the peaceful reign of Canute, or Knut, we derive the nautical
term, some place-names--Knuts-ford, Knott End, Knot Mill, Knottingley.
Knot, from old Norse "Knutr," and "Knotta," a ball, was the name given
to the measurement of speed of a ship. Fifty feet was the distance
allowed between the knots on the cord, and as many as ran out in half a
minute by the sand-glass indicated the speed of the ship. And thus we
speak of a 10 knot breeze blowing.[B]
Hope, as a place-name, is common from the Orkneys to the Midlands, and
is derived from an old Norse word "hoop," for a small land-locked bay,
inlet or a small enclosed valley, or branch from the main dale. Hope is
a common place-name, as well as a surname. In compounds we find it in
Hopekirk, Hopeton, Hapton, Hopehead, Dryhope.
From "Trow," a trough, we derive Trowbridge, Troughton, Trawden, and
probably Rawtenstall.
The battle of Brunanburg, which took place in the year 937, is supposed
to have been fought on the site of the modern Burnley, on the river
Brun. King Olaf brought his men over in 600 ships, many containing
over 100 men each. He was defeated by Athelstane and his brother
Edmund. There was until recently pulled down in Burnley a house called
Danes-house. Though the Danes lost this battle, the northern bards
recorded its bravery in their war songs, of which their Sagas or
legends still preserve some remains.
Among the chief followers of King Athelstane in 931, who subdued the
Danish kingdom in England, we find the names of the following Jarls:
Urm, Gudrum, Ingrard, Hadder, Haward, Healden, Rengwald, Scule,
and Gunner. It is not difficult to recognise modern surnames from
this list, such as Urmston, Guthrie, Hodder, Howard, Holden, Heald,
Reynolds, Scholes, and Gunning.
"Northumbria was the literary centre of the Christian world in Western
Europe," says John Richard Green; and the learning of the age was
directed by the Northumbrian scholar Baeda, the venerable Bede.
YORKSHIRE.
The population of Yorkshire, after the retreat of the Romans, was
composed of Angles.
When the Vikings invaded the county, the wide dales only had been
occupied by these early settlers. The higher valleys were densely
wooded, the broad moors and mosslands had not been penetrated until the
coming of the Norse in 900 A.D.
Some Anglian districts were refounded under Danish names, and became
flourishing settlements. Canon Atkinson has shown by his analysis of
Cleveland, that at Domesday, very little of that district was under
cultivation. To the end of the eleventh century it consisted of moor
and forest, and that many of the villages had then Danish names. The
name Ingleby shows the passing of the Angles, by the addition of the
Danish 'by.'
At Domesday Yorkshire was divided into Ridings (thrithings), and
Wapentakes.
Such names as Thingwall near Whitby, Thinghow near Gainsborough,
Thinghow near Northallerton, and Tingley near Wakefield, though some
of the sites have disappeared, remain to show the centres of Danish
government. The presence of many Scandinavian places and names suggests
that the country before then was a wilderness. The condition of the
country may be gathered from the records and traditions of Reginald
and Symeon of Durham. In 875 Halfdan the Dane began his raid into
Bernicia, and the Abbot of Lindisfarne, Eardwulf fled before him,
taking the relics of St. Cuthbert. These wanderings, says Symeon,
covered a period of nine years. The leader of this band was Eadred, the
Abbot of Carlisle (Caer-Luel), whose monastery had been destroyed, and
with the city, lay in ruins for two hundred years. At the places where
these relics rested during their wanderings, Churches were afterwards
erected, and dedicated to this Saint. The direction taken by the
fugitives has been traced by Monsignor Eyre and the late Rev. T. Lees,
first inland to Elsdon, then by the Reed and Tyne to Haydon Bridge,
and up the Tyne valley; south by the Maiden way, and then through the
fells by Lorton and Embleton to the Cumberland coast. At Derwentmouth,
Workington, they determined to embark for Ireland, but were driven back
by a storm and thrown ashore on the coast of Galloway, where they found
a refuge at Whithorn.
Mr. W. G. Collingwood says in his "Scandinavian Britain," that in this
storm the MS. Gospels of Bishop Eadfirth (now in the British Museum)
were washed overboard, but recovered. At Whithorn the bishop heard of
Halfdan's death, and turned homewards by way of Kirkcudbright.
The fact that the relics of St. Cuthbert found refuge in Cumberland and
Galloway shows that the Danish invasion, from which they were saved,
took very little hold of these parts. The Vikings of the Irish Sea were
already under the influence of Christians, if not christianised, and
were not hostile to the fugitive monks, while the natives welcomed them.
The early historians relate the curious story of the election of
Guthred, Halfdan's successor. Eadred, Abbot of Carlisle, who was with
St. Cuthbert's relics at Craik, in central Yorkshire, on the way home,
dreamt that St. Cuthbert told him to go to the Danish army on the
Tyne, and to ransom from slavery, a boy named Guthred, son of Hardecnut
(John of Wallingford says, "the sons of Hardecnut had sold him into
slavery"), and to present him to the army as their king. He was also
to ask the army to give him the land between the Tyne and the Wear, as
a gift to St. Cuthbert and a sanctuary for criminals. Confident in his
mission, he carried out its directions; found the boy, ransomed him,
gained the army's consent, and the gift of the land, and proclaimed
Guthred King at "Oswigedune." Eardwulf then brought to the same place
the relics of St. Cuthbert, on which every one swore good faith. The
relics remained until 999 at Chester-le-Street, and there Eardwulf
re-established the bishopric.
In these records of the Saxon historian Symeon, we have the curious
illustration of the Viking raiders becoming rapidly transformed from
enemies into allies and rulers chosen from among them. The history
of Guthred's reign was peaceful, and he became a Christian King. His
election took place about the year 880. During the reign of Guthred,
his kingdom became christianised, the sees of Lindisfarne and York
survived the changes. Guthred died in 894 and was buried in the high
church at York.
In 919 Ragnvald, called by Symeon "Inguald," became King of York. He
was one of the most romantic figures of the whole Viking history. His
name bore many forms of spelling: Ragnvald, Reignold, Ronald, Ranald,
and Reginald.
Coming from the family of Ivar in Ireland, Ragnvald mac Bicloch ravaged
Scotland in 912, fought and killed Bard Ottarsson in 914 off the Isle
of Man. Joined his brother at Waterford in 915 and set out for his
adventure in North Britain. Landing in Cumberland, he passed along
the Roman wall, and becoming King of York, was the first of the Irish
Vikings who ruled until 954.
The attacks of Vikings who were still Pagans continued, and many
curious lights are shed by the chronicles of Pictish writers. The
power of St. Cuthbert over the lands given for a sanctuary to Eadred
the Abbot, is recorded in the legend of Olaf Ball (from 'ballr,' the
stubborn), a Pagan who refused rent and service to St. Cuthbert,
for lands granted to him by Ragnvald, between Castle Eden and the
Wear. This Pagan came one day to the Church of St. Cuthbert at
Chester-le-Street. He shouted to Bishop Cutheard and his congregation,
"What can your dead man, Cuthbert, do to me? What is the use of
threatening me with his anger? I swear by my strong gods, Thor and
Uthan, that I will be the enemy of you all from this time forth." Then,
when he tried to leave the Church, he could not lift his foot over the
threshold, but fell down dead. "And St. Cuthbert, as was just, thus got
his lands."
The succession of races which gave many of our place-names, and the
order in which they came, has been pointed out in the following names
by the late Canon Hume, of Liverpool: Maeshir, now called Mackerfield,
was called Maeshir by the Britons, meaning longfield; to which the
Saxons added field, which now becomes Longfield-field, Wansbeckwater
is Danish, Saxon, and English, three words meaning water. Then we have
Torpenhowhill, a hill in Cumberland, composed of four words, each
meaning hill.
In addition to maritime terms, and terms of government, we derive from
Danish sources titles of honour and dignity, such as king, queen, earl,
knight, and sheriff.
The Danes have left us traces of their occupation in the word gate,
which is of frequent occurrence, and used instead of street in many of
our older towns. The Saxons, who were less civilised, left many terms,
such as ton, ham, stead, and stock. But they had no word to denote a
line of houses. "Gata" was therefore not the English word used for
gate, but a street of houses. From the Norman we have row, from rue, a
street.
The names of many of our streets and buildings are full of historical
associations and information. In Bolton, Wigan, and Preston we find
some streets bearing the name of gate, such as Bradshawgate, Wallgate,
Standishgate, and Fishergate. In the towns of York, Ripon, Newcastle,
and Carlisle many more of these gates are to be found. York has no
less than twenty gates.
To the roads of the Romans, the Danes gave the name of "a braut,"
_i.e._, the broken course, or cleared way. (From this "a braut"
comes the modern English word abroad, and the adjective broad.) The
Anglo-Saxon took the name of street from the Roman strata. Thus we get
the name of Broad Street, being two words of similar meaning.
Lone, lonely, and alone come from "i laun," which means banishment, and
those thus outlawed formed the brigands of the hill districts. We thus
get Lunesdale, Lune, and Lancaster, from which John of Gaunt took his
English title.
Skipper was the Danish term for the master of a small vessel. In the
game of bowls and curling the skipper is the leader or director.
"Hay," the Norse for headland, pronounced hoy, furnishes us with
several local place-names, such as Huyton, Hoylake, Howick.
A NORSE FESTIVAL.
Trafalgar Day is celebrated by the usual custom on October 21st--by
the hoisting of the British flag on the public buildings and by the
decoration of the Nelson Monuments in Liverpool and London. This
battle was fought in 1805, and decided the supremacy of Britain as a
sea power. Long may the deathless signal of our greatest hero continue
to be the lode star of the man and the nation: "England expects that
every man will do his duty."
Let us trace the connection between Lord Nelson and the Danes in our
own county. Admiral Nelson bore a genuine Scandinavian name, from
"Nielsen," and was a native of one of the districts which were early
colonised by the Danes, namely, Burnhamthorpe, in Norfolk. His family
were connected with the village of Mawdesley, near Rufford, which still
has for its chief industry basket-making. Fairhurst Hall, at Parbold,
in the same district of Lancashire, was the home of a Nelson family for
many centuries.
This recalls the fact that we have still in existence a curious
survival. "A strange festival" is celebrated each year on January 31st
at Lerwick, or Kirkwall, the capital of the Orkney Isles. The festival
called "Up-helly-a" seems to be growing in favour. Lerwick becomes
the Mecca of the North for many days, and young people travel long
distances to witness the revels that go to make up the celebration of
the ancient festival. All former occasions were eclipsed by the last
display. At half-past eight o'clock a crowd of about 3,000 people
assembled in the square at the Market Cross. In the centre stood a
Norse war galley or Viking ship, with its huge dragon head towering
upwards with graceful bend. Along the bulwarks were hung the warriors'
shields in glowing colours, the Norse flag, with the raven, floating
overhead. On board the galley fiddlers were seated. Then a light
flared below Fort Charlotte, which announced that the good ship Victory
would soon be on the scene. And a stately ship she was, as she came
majestically along, hauled by a squad in sailor costume, while a troop
of instructors from the Fort walked alongside as a guard of honour to
the good vessel. The Victory immediately took up her position, and the
guizers began to gather. Torches were served out, the bugle sounded
the call to light up, and then the procession started on its way round
the town. The guizers who took part numbered over three hundred, and
seen under the glare of the torches the procession was one of the
prettiest. The Norse galley led the way, and the Victory occupied a
place near the centre of the procession. The dresses were very tasteful
and represented every age and clime. There were gay Cavaliers, Red
Indians, Knight Templars, and squires of the Georgian period. The
procession being over, the Victory and the Norse galley were drawn
up alongside each other, near the market cross, while the guizers
formed a circle round them. Toasts were proposed, songs were sung,
and thereafter the proceedings were brought to a close by the guizers
throwing their flaming torches on board the ships. As soon as the
bonfire was thoroughly ablaze, the guizers formed themselves in their
various squads, each headed by a fiddler, and began their house to
house visitation. The guizer was costumed as an old Norse jarl, with
a sparkling coat of mail, and carried a prettily emblazoned shield
and sword. The squad of which he was chief were got up as Vikings.
Curiously enough, these were followed by Dutch vrows.
The Orkneys and Shetland Isles were ceded to James III. of Scotland,
as the dowry of his wife, Margaret, in 1469, and became part of Great
Britain on the union of Scotland with England. James I. married Ann
of Denmark, and passed through Lancashire in August, 1617, when he
visited Hoghton Tower. The effusiveness of the Prestonians was outdone
at Hoghton Tower, where His Majesty received a private address in which
he was apostrophised as "Dread Lord." He is reported to have exclaimed
"Cot's splutters! What a set of liegemen Jamie has!"
Patronymics