In Kersey's _English Dictionary_, 1708, we have thus:
"GNAR or Gnur, a hard knot in wood."
In Bailey's _Dictionary_, 1753, we have it thus:
"GNARR [Knorre, Teutonic], a hard knot in a tree.--_Chaucer._"
May it not thus mean a knot or clump of trees?
It is also allied to _quarry_, from the French _carré_, which signifies
a bed, not only for digging stones for building purposes, but also as
they are sometimes called, _osier-beds_, _alder-beds_.
The towns "Narborough" and "Narford" in Norfolk are so called from their
being situated on the river "Nar;" the one a city or town on the river;
and the other being, by means of a ford, originally over it. Both were
originally written _Nere_ as the prefix.