Part 9

_Kern_ is from the Anglo-Saxon _cyrn_, _cyrin_, _cerene_; Danish _kjerne_, a churn; Icelandic _kirna_; Scottish _kirn_. The primary meaning appears to be to turn, the act of turning, allied to quern, the ancient mills for grinding corn. _Kern-holes_, found in the bed of rivers, are holes worn out by the churning motion of water mixed with sand. On Chapel Fell there is a watery hole called Jackson’s Kern, owing to one Jackson being accidentally drowned in it whilst coming from Middleton; but this might be _cairn_, a heap of stones. In Burnhope Burn, at Six-dargue, a deep hole in the stream is called Kern Pool.

_Pool_, Anglo-Saxon _pol_, Welsh _pwll_, Icelandic _pollr_. There are in the Wear and its tributaries a large number of pools which have names. Holm Pool is the pool by the holm, and Wash Pool very probably was a place where the good wives washed their linen in the days when spinning, weaving, and various other methods of manufacturing household requisites were in full operation. Winn Pool, from the Anglo-Saxon _winn_, _gewin_, contest, struggle, to win--the pool where the meeting of the waters cause a fight, and struggle, as it were, to _win_.

The _eale_ and _ealand_ are our isle and island, and are the names given in Weardale to alluvial land on the margins of the main river. In the river and place-names Gret_a_, _Ea_, _Ea_mont, Batters-_ea_, Aldern-_ey_, Pont-_eland_, _ea_ or _a_ represents water or a river. Bishop Egelwin, 1069, "after having, with all his people, passed three months and some days at _Ealande_, returned to the church of Durham," according to the Saxon writers. In the Boldon Buke we find in a charter of Bishop Flambard--“R. Biscop greteth well all his thanes and drenghs of _Ealand_scire and Norhamscire." In Wolsingham parish we find in Hatfield’s Survey, Papworth-ell, Small-eys, and in the same record Catherine of the Ele is mentioned. The names of places containing the Anglo-Saxon root _ea_, in the parish of Stanhope, are about a dozen.

In 1380, according to Hatfield, the parson of Stanhope held the Frith, and a place _parcellum del Ele_, containing one acre. In 1608, in a list of lands held by the rector of Stanhope, we find "one close called ‘The Parson Ele.’" A few hundreds of yards eastward, just below the Butts, we have Bond Eale, a stretch of land subject to be flooded, and formerly held by bond tenants, who had to perform services in connection with the land, such as thatching and carrying the running gear for Stanhope corn-mill.

Thomas Morgan, by will dated 1641, left for charitable purposes amongst other lands: "One parcel of arable ground in ye said Frosterley lying and being at ye west end of ye same town in a place there called Hudse Eale, and one acre and a rood of ground lying and being in ye said Frosterley in a place called ye Mille Eale, and all other my lands and tenements with ye said appurtenances in Frosterley aforesad--Barnes Eale--excepted."

A mile and a half west of Eastgate we have, between Hunterley Well and Parkhouse Pasture, the interesting Cammock Eale, locally called "Cammo Keel," for the derivation of which we have the adjectival component from the Celtic _cam_, crooked, and the ending _og_, diminutive, Celtic _ock_--hence the little crooked isle.

_Holm_ is akin to ealand. Taylor says: "The suffix in the name Durham is properly not the Saxon _ham_, but the Norse _holm_; and Dunelm--the signature of the Bishop--reminds us also that the Celtic prefix is _Dun_, a hill-fort, and not _Dur_, water. In the Saxon Chronicle the name is correctly written Dunholm." _Holm_ is also Anglo-Saxon, and is described by Bosworth as "a river island, a green plot of ground environed with water--hence holmes."

Holmside, in the county of Durham, and Midge Holm, Holmwath, and Yallow Holm, are names of places by the river in Teesdale.

By the Wear, at the west end of Rogerley Park, is situated Burry Holm. In the year 1583 Thomas Blacket, Esq., of Woodcroft, demised to Peter Maddison, gent., three closes of land being part of Woodcroft estate; one close was on the west side of the low pasture, and another close of meadow was called "Buiri Holme." It might be the holm of the burdock (_Arctium Lappa_), or the berry holm from Anglo-Saxon _berie_, _berige_, a berry, or the _bere_ holm or place where barley grew, Anglo-Saxon _bere_, barley. Again, the spear plume-thistle (_Cnicus lanceolatus_), called in Scotland the bur-thrissil, might flourish here, or the burtree, the common elder (_Sambucus nigra_).

The names _flask_, _swang_, _bog_, and _wass_, indicate wet land, and are kindred terms to a certain extent. Those accustomed to travel on the highlands of Weardale will be familiar with lands denominated _boggy_, _swampy_, _swangy_, _marshy_. The term _wass_ may be considered obsolete, and that of _flask_ nearly so.

In Hatfield’s Survey there were in Bolihope lands called the Wasses and Seggefeldland. _Wass_ is from the Anglo-Saxon _wæs_, water, and _segg_ from the Anglo-Saxon _segg_, _seeg_, a reed or sedge, which commonly grows on wet land.

A pasture in Killhope, between Low Moss and the Rush, was some thirty years ago called the Flask. Langtay Flask is in Burnhope, and a lead-mine here was known by that name 200 years ago. In the bailiffs’ roll under Queryndon, we find in Hatfield, lands called _fennes_, _flasskes_, and a place called Atthillswang. In Quesshowe there was le _Flaske_. At Framwelgate, Broom cum le _Flassh_, at Cotam les _flaskes_.

_Bog_, Gaelic _bog_, Irish _bogach_, marsh, morass, quagmire, needs little explanation. Riggy Bogs, Boghouse, White Bog, and Bog Hole, are amongst names of places in the dales.

_Den_, from the Celto-Saxon, is a deep wooded valley, and has already been considered under valleys. The most important _denes_ are Easter Black Dene and Wester Black Dene.

Hot Hill is no doubt the wooded hill, but Hotts has another derivation, and appears to be from _hut_, an abode or sheltered place. Another name, _hurst_, pure German, a thick wood, is confined, as far as Weardale is concerned, to Shield Hurst.

The termination _shaw_, a thicket or small wood, is frequently met with in place-names. The Danish _skov_ is a wood or forest, Icelandic _skogr_; the Anglo-Saxon _scua_, _scuwa_ is a shade, the same as the Swedish _skugga_. Anglo-Saxon _sceaga_ seems to mean shaggy wood. In the Hatfield’s Survey, a place in Bolihope is called Watteshawe--a wet wooded place. Near Allergill we have Birkshaw, the place shaded by birch-trees. In Shittlehope there are two places on the expanding moorlands called Bashaw and Mogshaw. The former was probably the badger shaw or wood. In the latter we have an important root, the Erse _magh_, Welsh _maes_, a plain. Taylor gives _magh_ as a Gadhelic test word, and says that it is found in more than a hundred Irish names of places.

The various place-names embracing _mea_, _may_, are from the same root, and probably Migg Clos, held by the parson of Stanhope in 1380, is a kindred name. A place on the south side of Bolihope is named Harnshaw--written in 1614 _Hornyshawe_, and in 1666 _Harnshaw_--from Anglo-Saxon _hyrne_, _hirne_, an angle or corner, a resemblance to a horn--hence the _hyrne_ shaw would be the horn-shaped wood. Ramshaw,

## particularly known for its well, is evidently the ram wood, Anglo-Saxon

_ram_, _ramm_, a ram; but some authorities derive _ram_ from _raven_. These etymological conclusions give us a broad birch, a horn-shaped and a wet wood, a wood on a plain, and a wood frequented by the ram and the badger.

_Wood_, Anglo-Saxon _wudu_, _wode_, woodland, enters into a few local names, as Bradwode or Broadwood.

In Rookhope there is a Foul Wood, a lead-mine so named over two hundred years ago. Its name is evidently from the Anglo-Saxon _ful_, rotten, the same as Foul Sike was the impure watercourse. In 1401 Roger Thornton leased a lead-mine in Weardale at a place called Old Wode Clough.

In _field_, _ley_, and _ridding_, we have indications of clearings in the forest--places where cattle might feed. In Weardale there are some thirty _leys_, numerous _fields_ but very few _riddings_. The latter word is from Anglo-Saxon _hreddan_, to rid; _hredding_ a ridding; Danish _rydde_, to clear, grub up; _rydning_, clearing. The Weardale people are familiar with _rid-up_, a house; _rid-out_, a quarry; and similar terms. It is different from the _riding_, from Anglo-Saxon _thri_, _thry_, three; _thridda_, the third; _thrithing_, a third part of a province, as in the Yorkshire Ridings. Five hundred years ago John Migg held at Stanhope four acres of land in the _Ridding_, Robert Todd held _j Ridding_ over an acre, and Alexander Brancepath held five acres and one rod in the _Riddying_. In Queen Elizabeth’s time Michael Fetherstonhalgh of Stanhope Hall purchased of Follinsby a parcel of ground called Pathemairidding. In Path-mairidding we have the ridding on the plain over which there was a path.

_Ley_, _lea_, _lee_, _lay_, is an open place, a pasture or field where cattle may lie; from the Anglo-Saxon _leah_, _leag_, _lege_, _lea_, _leah_; from _licgan_, _liggan_, to lie. The _lea_ was an opening or forest clearing where cattle might be depastured, but where a good deal of woodland might exist. Gray, in the opening lines of his beautiful "Elegy," sings--

"The lowing herd winds slowly o’er the _lea_."

This terminal occurs in over twenty names of places in Boldon Buke. In Weardale there are five names of places having this suffix which are very important, as they give names to extensive stretches of land, and very probably the adjectival components may all be derived from personal names. These are Frosterley, Bishopley, Rogerley, Horsley, and Brotherlee.

On the hill north of Eastgate is situated Bewley, where once a cross existed, and in former days a watch for invaders was kept here. This place-name is probably more correctly Bewdley. In 1380 and 1590 it was written _Bowdlye_, and may be derived from the Anglo-Saxon _bige_, _biga_, _bigan_, a turning, corner, bending, angle, the ley, or field, on the bend or bow of the hill, the bowed ley.

Amongst the highest hills in Weardale are Fendrith Hill, Knoutberry Hill, Noon Hill, St. Cuthbert’s Hill, and Horseshoe Hill. _Hill_, _hyl_, _hyll_, is Anglo-Saxon, Norse _holl_, a name given to large and small elevations. One of these hills is named after the patron saint of the Bishopric of St. Cuthbert. Like Outberry Plain on the southern ridge, Knoutberry Hill on the north, evidently derived its name from the cloud-berry, _Rubus Chamæmorus_, which grows on the Weardale fells. In 1614, however, it was written Nookhill. Fendrith was written in 1539 Fenrake. The word _rake_ is common in Weardale, and means to walk or range, or the extent of the walk--hence a sheep-_rake_, Swedish _reka_, to travel, journey. A _fen_ is land covered with mud, a morass--hence the Fenrake was the district covered by a large morass. The hill known as the Horseshoe might be so shaped, or the suffix may be _shaw_, a wood--the wood of Horsa.

Amongst hills of lesser elevations than the five abovementioned are Billing Hills, where the Scots camped in 1327; Scaud Hill, in Burnhope, from the Anglo-Saxon _sceawian_, _scewian_, to look; Batable Hill, debatable land; Scrog Hill, Anglo-Saxon _scrob_, _scrobb_, a shrub, the hill of shrubs; Dun Hill, Ancient British _dun_, a height or hill fort (Gaelic _dun_, as Dun Fell, in Teesdale). Dod Hill and Dodder Hill are mountains with rounded summits, as Dodd Fell, in the Lake District. Cross Hill, in Stanhope, is where an ancient cross stood. We had a Paper Hill and a Poperd Hill, which were the hills where the priests preached. We have hills known or distinguished as _hard_, _long_, _windy_, _slate_, _black_, _green_, _white_, _gold_, _quarrel_ (quarry), _hungry_ (poor), _stony_, _great_, _low_, etc. Animals contribute their names, as in Hog Hill, Lamb Hill, Plover Hill, Fairhills (Norse _faar_, sheep), and Cowshill, the hill where cows congregated.

_Law_, Anglo-Saxon _hlaw_, _hlæw_, rising ground, an elevation, a hill. In the south it is _low_, as Ludlow, the people’s hill. Killhope Law is 2,206 feet above sea-level, Collier Law 1,692, Bolts Law 1,772, and Pow Law and the Three Laws are the names of other hills in the district.

_Seat_, Anglo-Saxon _set_, a sitting; _sæta_, settlers, inhabitants. The root _sæte_, _set_, or _seta_, enters into several names of places in England, some of which are county towns, as Dorset, Somerset; Old Norse _setr_, a seat. The Norwegian _seter_ is a pasture or mountain-side--Burnhope Seat, Dora’s Seat, and Raven’s Seat. One was the settlement of a person named Raven, or Rafn; the other that of Dora, or Dore. In 1614 we find Dorry Sette. Bishop’s Seat was the place where the lords of the Bishopric settled when hunting in Weardale Forest. Another name is Laverock Seat, evidently Leofric’s Seat, modernized into Lark-seat.

_Head_, Anglo-Saxon _head_, _heafod_, a head. In a district full of undulating lands and small valleys there are several places deriving their names from being the top or head, or finished part of something, as Lanehead, Wearhead, Dalehead, Sidehead, Nag’s Head, Lamb’s Head, and others.

_Rig_, _rigg_, Anglo-Saxon _rig_, _hrycg_, and various other forms; Danish _ryg_; Icelandic _hriggr_, a ridge, a back. Stangend Rigg is 2,075 feet above sea-level.

_Plain_ and _pike_ are sufficiently expressive--the one a broad stretch of land, and the other a peak or pointed eminence. Five Pikes are near Paw Law Pike, a south-eastern boundary point on the hills. Ireshope Plains is a euphonious name; and Bewdley Plain, Sedling Plain, Outberry Plain, may be mentioned in the list.

_Moor_, _fell_, _common_, are well-known terms. Anglo-Saxon _mor_ is waste-land, a moor, a heath; Danish _mor_ is a moor, or morass; we have Killhope, Burnhope, and Wellhope Moors. _Fell_ is Old Norse. All the Weardale moorlands are called fells. Chapel Fell is 2,294 feet above sea-level; A _common_ is a tract of unenclosed pasture or outside land on which the tenantry of the inlands have a common right, or right of common for their sheep.

_Bank_, _band_, _brae_, and _brow_, are common in place-names, as Brook Bank, Owsen Bands, Whitfield Brow, etc. _Batts_, low, flat ground near water; Anglo-Saxon _bæth_, a bath, land subject to be soaked with water. _Berry_, as Knoutberry Hill, Bleaberry, and Snodberry, are from the Anglo-Saxon _beorg_, _beorh_, a hill. _Cut_, _cove_, as Cove’s Houses; _crooks_, as Milncrook, Seggecrok, Crawcrook, are found. Also _end_, as Hill End; and _edge_, as White Edge, Band Edge. _Flat_, _green_, and _ground_, are also found in several place-names, as Barnflat, Willow Green, and Trodden Ground. In the Boldon Buke we have Pelhou, Quesshow, and Dunhow, from _haw_, Anglo-Saxon _hæge_, a hedge.

_Haugh_ is a common name in Northumberland for low-lying grounds close to rivers. It is frequently met with on the Tyne, but it is not so common on the Wear. Worsaae returns _haugh_ in no other county than Northumberland, to which he ascribes ten, the _haugh_, or _how_, being given as the Scandinavian _haugh_, a hill; but the _haugh_ of the Borderland is low-lying and sheltered meadow-land close to the winding rivers. In 1380, at Stanhope, there was a Castle Hogh, known as the Castle Haugh until within fifty years ago. There is a _haugh_ at Softly, and a _haughing-gate_ at Eastgate. There are various _haughs_ in and about Blanchland, and it might appear that Weardale, where it is very rare, formed the southern boundary. But there are, however, three _haughs_ in the West Riding.

_Hooks_, _height_, _hole_, and _howl_. We have Fairy Holes--caves in the limestone--Foxholes, Brockholes, and Catholes, as names of places; Hole House, Clay Holes, and many others. Cuthbert Heights is from St. Cuthbert. _Knot_, _loc_, _lake_, _land_, as the Knotts, the Locks, Cocklake, and the Lands. _Mea_, Welsh _maes_, Erse _magh_--a plan--is very common in the Durham dales. In Teesdale there is Flushy Mea, Sow Mea; and, in Weardale, Broad Mea, Mea Sike, Pitty Mea, Rimea, and others. _Mound_, moss, _nook_, _rake_, _pit_, and _pot_, occur in many names.

_Side_, a Saxon word, Icelandic _sida_, the edge, a hillside, enters into a number of names of places, as Fell Side, Kirk Side, with _siders_, as Cuthbert Siders; and also _sedeing_, a sideling or sloping. _Slack_, _spot_, _wick_, _wham_, _clints_, _crag_, _carr_, _scar_, are amongst other words forming place-names.

Habitations and enclosures have their special names.

When the Angles and Saxons arrived in our island they planted settlements in fertile districts. By the margins of some meandering river, which had already been named by the earlier Celtic race, the Saxon families located themselves and established homes, many of which are now large towns. The forest growth was cleared, and, with that love of home characteristic of the Saxons, a portion of the cleared land was enclosed, guarded, or protected, with the _tines_ of forest growth--the tines or twigs of the wood; hence _tun_ occurs in 137 Anglo-Saxon names of places in the 1,200 taken from Kemble’s Charters. This termination became to mean, not the tines or twigs alone, nor yet the hedges of which they were made, but the whole enclosure or estate was the _tun_ or _ton_ of some person; or the _ton_ otherwise distinguished, as Stockton, the stockaded town; Middleton, the middle town; Willington, the town of the family of Willing--sons of Will. Other terminations indicate Saxon homes, as _ham_, _worth_, _stoke_, _stow_, _fold_, _bury_. In the Boldon Buke we find the Danish _toft_; and the universal description of small holdings in Hatfield’s Survey is a _toft_ and a _croft_. We also find in primitive days the villagers holding _dales_ of land--land divided into long, narrow strips or divisions, each villager knowing his own strip. When Weardale was more under cultivation, it was customary for the inhabitants to _take in_ land from the moors; hence we find the place-name _intake_, locally _intak_. And at a later period still, when Acts of Parliament dealt with the division of moorlands, we got the name _allotment_, abbreviated to _lotment_ and _lot_--the allotted land.

_Acre_ is mentioned, as in Farnacres, in the Boldon Buke; and in later surveys are Longacre and Etheredacres. _Barn_, _berry_, _beeld_, _byre_, and _by_, _bower_, _cave_, _castle_, _chesters_, _close_, _croft_, _dale_, and _darg_--as six darg, from Anglo-Saxon _dæg-weorc_, day’s work. _Fold_, _farm_, _faw_, _frith_, _gate_, _garth_, _hot_, _ing_, _ham_, _kirk_, _lodge_, _park_, _meadow_, _pry_, _shield_, _stead_, _ton_, and _wall_, are common in the dales of the county of Durham.

Amongst the names referring to buildings we have _cross_, as Killhope Cross and Edmundbyres Cross. Stone crosses to guide the wayfarer were once erected at these places. _Brig_ is from bridge, whether built of stone or wood. _Currock_, a pile of stones erected on the moors or fells as a landmark. _Peth_ and _lonnon_ and _way_ are also common names. And all these have their adjectival component, as Lodge Field, Leases Park, Mill Houses, Pry Hill, Old Faw, Shield Ash, Watch Currock, etc.

DURHAM CATHEDRAL

BY THE REV. WILLIAM GREENWELL, M.A., D.C.L., F.R.S., F.S.A.

In the year 875 the great Scandinavian invasions were assuming large proportions, and among other parts of England where the Danes landed and harried the country was the coast of Northumbria. The monks fled from Lindisfarne, which had been selected by Aidan principally because of its resemblance to Iona. There was probably another reason for the choice: its neighbourhood to the stronghold of Bamborough, the seat of the Northumbrian Kings. Lindisfarne is very near to it, and naturally would be under the protection of the King who lived there.

Bamborough, however, proved no protection against the Danes, who came oversea, and, landing on the coast, overran not only a great part of the North of England, but also a considerable portion of the South of Scotland. The monks, fearing lest they should be deprived of St. Cuthbert’s body and their other treasures, and of their lives as well, fled from Lindisfarne, carrying with them the body of the saint. Many churches dedicated to St. Cuthbert in these parts probably mark the spots where the monks in their journeying rested for a while.

After wandering from 875 to 883, having remained for a short time at Crayke, they settled at Chester-le-Street, which was given to them by Guthred, a Danish King then reigning in Northumbria, and who had become a Christian.

There the body rested, and from it the Bernician See was ruled until the removal of Bishop Aldhun and the congregation of St. Cuthbert (after a short sojourn at Ripon) to Durham in 995. The difficulties of an adequate defence probably proved to the monks that Chester-le-Street was not a suitable place for their protection. The superior position of Durham was no doubt the reason why it was selected for the site of the see. This, then, was the commencement of the church and city of Durham.

In 999 Bishop Aldhun, having commenced it three years before, completed the building of a stone church, to which the body of St. Cuthbert was transferred from a wooden building (_æcclesiola_, Symeon calls it), where it had been at first placed. Of that church no part remains visible to the eye, though there are no doubt thousands of the stones belonging to it enclosed within the walls of the present church.

The first building remained until after the Norman Conquest, a great change having taken place in the meantime. The monks who, with the Bishop, had originally constituted the congregation of St. Cuthbert, had fallen from the rule which was first observed. There was in those days a great tendency among the regular clergy in the Saxon Church to degenerate into a kind of secular clergy. Symeon says those at Durham were neither monks nor regular canons. At Durham, as at Hexham, some members of the congregation were married and had families, and there was springing up at Durham possibly, as there certainly was at Hexham, an hereditary system, son succeeding father; and had the system gone on, there would have arisen a sacerdotal caste, with all the evils attending such a body. The Norman Conquest happily did away with that, as it did with other abuses. It is probable that some remains connected with these married members of the congregation were discovered in 1874, when the foundations of the east end of the old chapter-house, which was so ruthlessly destroyed in 1796, were laid bare. The graves of Bishops Ranulph Flambard, Galfrid Rufus, and William de St. Barbara were met with, each covered with a slab bearing his name--probably not quite contemporary--and in them were found three episcopal rings of gold, set with sapphires, and in the grave of Flambard, the head, made of iron, plated with silver, and the iron ferrule of a pastoral staff, all of which are now preserved in the cathedral library. Below the level of the Bishops’ graves there were found a considerable number of skeletons of men, women, and children, with one of which was deposited the iron head of a spear, having the socket plated with gold. There can be little doubt that these bodies belonged to the married portion of the congregation and their families, who occupied the monastery at Durham from the time of Aldhun to their being dispossessed by Bishop William of St. Carileph.