_Names first given to Parishes_ (Vol. iv., p. 153.).--I wish to repeat this
Query in another form, and particularly in reference to the termination
_-by_. I suspect that wherever a cluster of villages, like that given by
F. B., occurs with this Danish suffix, it is a proof that the district was
originally a colony of Danes. The one in which I reside (the hundreds of
Flegg), from its situation is particularly likely to have been so. Its
original form was evidently that of a large island in the estuary of the
Yare, which formed numerous inlets in its shores; and this was flanked on
each aisle by a Roman garrison, one the celebrated fortress of Garianonum,
now Burgh Castle, and the other Caistor-next-Yarmouth, in which a camp,
burying-ground, &c., besides its name, sufficiently attest its Roman
origin. The two hundreds of Flegg, (or Fleyg, as appears on its common
seal) comprise twenty villages, thirteen of which terminate in _-by_. These
are Ormesby, Hemesby, Filby, Mauteby, Stokesby, Herringby, Thrigby,
Billockby, Ashby or Askeby, Clippesby, Rollesby, Oby, and Scratby or
Scroteby.
Professor WORSAAE, I believe, considers Ormesby to have been originally
Gormsby, _i.e._ Gorm's or Guthrum's village, but I have not his work at
hand to refer to. Thrigby, or Trigby as it is vernacularly pronounced, and
Rollesby, may take their names from Trigge or Tricga, and Rollo, names
occurring in Scandinavian history. I should feel obliged if Professors
WORSAAE and STEPHENS, or other Scandinavian antiquaries and scholars, would
kindly inform me if my surmises are correct, and if the rest of the names
may be similarly derived. I should add that Stokesby fully hears out the
suggestion of C. (Vol. v., p. 161.), as there is even now a ferry over the
Bure at that point. The district is entirely surrounded by rivers and
extensive tracts of marshes, and intersected by large inland lakes, locally
termed "Broads," which undoubtedly were all comprised in the estuary, and
which would form safe anchorages for the long galleys of the Northmen.