Place Names in Kent :: Our "Tons" and "Stones."

Our "Tons" and "Stones."

As given in Kelly’s Kent Directory, our Tons and Stones are: Addington, Aldington, Allington, Barfreston, Bedmonton, Bilsington, Birchington, Blackmanstone, Bonnington (two), Bossington, Boughton (four), Brompton, Charlton (two), Cheriton, Chiddingstone, Chilmington, Chilton, Cliftonville, Cossington, Cozenton, Crofton, Culverstone, Cuxton, Davington, Denton (two), Doddington, Dumpton, Dunton Green, Eddington, Ellington, Egerton, Eggerton, Elmstone, Elvington, Folkestone, Foston Green, Funton, Garrington, Goldstone, Goodnestone (two), Guston, Hackington, Hampton (two), Hamptons, Holmstone Camp, Horton (two), Horton Kirby, Hunton, Kenardington, Kennington, Keston, Kingston or Kingstone, Kippington, Knowlton, Langton Green, Linton, Littlestone, Liverton Street, Loddington, Lullingstone, Lowton, Luton, Maidstone, Manston, Milton (two), Milton Regis, Milton Street, Monks Horton, Monkton, Murston, Nackington, Newington (three), Nonington, Horton, Orlestone, Orpington, Pevington, Plumpton, Poulton, Preston (two), Ripton, Salmestone, Scuddington, Seaton, Sevington, Sibton, Stone (four), Stonebridge (two), Stonebridge Green, Stone Cross (three), Stone Crouch, Stone Hill, Stone House, Stone Stairs, Stone Street, Stonehill (two), Sutton (three), Swanton Street, Tankerton, Teston, Thanington, Tilmanstone, Tottington, Twitton, Ufton, Upton, Wanstone, Weddington, Wierton Street, Wilderton, Willington Street, Wilmington, Wootton (three)—147 in all. One may add, for purposes of investigation, Stone, an old borough in Maidstone.

First, one must endeavour to separate the tons and the stones—the Saxon settlements or towns and the places named from stones set for boundaries or for marks where manor courts or motes were held. And this is not always easy, since mediÆval spelling was vague, and in some cases an original “stone” has become “ton” in later years, or vice versa. Generally, a reference to the earliest forms (where such can be found in Saxon or Norman, or even Early English documents) will settle the point. Thus Folkestone is by some identified with the site of the “stone of inscription on the Gallic sea,” mentioned by Nennius, the Saxon geographer. It is Folcesstane in the Saxon Chronicle, and Falchestan in Domesday, and therefore no explanation involving ton need be entertained. Keston, again, is Cystaninga, hence in Saxon charters between 862 and 966, as being or having a boundary mark stone. It is Chestan in Domesday. But Chiddingstone should probably lose its final e and derive from a Saxon patronymic, although a modern and grotesque suggestion is that the dolmen there was used as a Chiding or judgment stone by Celtic or Saxon priests. Maidstone, again, should probably be Maidston, being Medwegston in the Saxon Chronicle, and almost certainly meaning the town on the Medway; although it is fair to say that an ending in stane is early found. Tilmanstone was earlier Telmeston, and Elmstone was Elmerston, and the earlier spellings of Goodnestone are Goodwinston, Gudewynston, and Goodneston.

Stones are much fewer than “tons,” although no doubt the number of such marks (origin of our milestones) was increased by the Romans. Thus the place Stone, two miles west of Faversham and on their great main road Watling Street, is thought to mark the site of their military station of Durolevo, and thus to be named from the distance mark. We must also note that stone bridges were practically unknown to the Saxons, except those the Romans had left, and Stone Cross would not appear as a place-name until after their conversion, while a stone house, except as the castle of a Norman noble, would be of quite late date.

As to the Tons, some are named from geographical position, such as Norton (Northtown), near Faversham, and the Suttons (South-town), on the edge of the Weald or south of Dartford; and, whatever may be the case with others, the Milton near Sittingbourne is called Middeltuna in the Saxon Chronicle and in Domesday, since it was reckoned the central town of Kent when Watling Street was far the greatest and most frequented route to be considered, being 42 miles from London and 31 from Dover. Our various Boughtons are “settlements in the wood,” as are also the Woottons. Monkton and the Prestons were settlements of monks and of colleges of priests.

The great majority, however, denote the settlement of some Saxon (i.e. Jutish) family, such as Seafings or Sevingas at Sevington, the Ælings at Allington, the Noningas at Nonington, the Cennings at Kennington, and so forth. We find this Saxon patronymic “ing” in 37 of our Kentish place names ending in ton, and when we add the ings like Barming (Bamling, Barmelinge, and Berblinge in Early English documents), Beltring, Bilting, Birling, Bobbing (Bobing-seata in a Saxon charter of 798—compare Bobbingsworth in Essex), Bramling. Bazing (at the junction of Kent, Sussex and Surrey), reminds us of Basing and Basingstoke in Hants and Basingham (in Domesday Book) in Sussex. Charing, Chevening (although this may be earlier and Celtic), Cooling, Detling, perhaps Drelingore, Eastling, Etching, Garlinge, Geddinge, Hacklinge, Hailing, Hawkinge, Hucking, Kemsing, Lidsing (not Lyminge, however), Mailing, Nullinge, Ospringe, Ottinge, Pedlinge, Postling, Ratling, Rawling, Reading Street (three), Rowling, Ruckinge, Sandling (two), Selling, Sellinge, Shelving, Spratling Street, Stelling, Stowting, Weavering Street, Welling, Witchling, and Yalding; and when to these we add the “inghams” I have given in a previous article, we might alter Tennyson’s “Saxon, and Norman, and Dane are we,” into “Mostly Saxon are we as to our place-names in Kent.” Our two Charltons are of old Ceorletone—the town of the ceorls or husbandmen. Some “tons” come from personal names also, e.g., Cuxton (compare Cuckfield in Sussex), Cuca and its diminutive Cucola are found as Anglo-Saxon names, and as Cockstane the place appears in Domesday, and as Cokelstone in 1472, nearly 400 years later, with other forms Cockston, Coklestane, Cukelestane, Cookstone, etc. (all pointing to stone, and not ton, being properly the final syllable).

There is, however, obviously much to be done before we can know—or even in some cases guess—as to the origin of some “tons” or “stones.”

Our “Hams.”

In considering the three score and ten, or more, place-names in Kent which end in ham, we are met with the initial difficulty that there are two Saxon words Ham—home, and Hamm—land drained by dykes, an East Friesian word, though the far more common Ham is the Teutonic heim, familiar as a suffix in Germany, which in Picardy becomes hen, and in Friesland um. Either ton or ham as a suffix after ing denotes where a Saxon family or clan had settled and made its toun or heim. Thus the PÆfings made a Pevington in Kent and a Pavingham in Bedfordshire, and the Aldings an Aldington in Kent and Worcester, and an Aldingham in Lancashire, the Leasings a Lossingham in Kent and a Lissington in Lancashire. Such instances do not uphold what some have held—that there were two words spelled the same, the one meaning home and the other an enclosure.

As to the Hamm or Haam for marshy ground, it would seem to be found in Kent as accounting for Ham Ponds, near Sandwich, marshy ground dear to botanists, and Mersham (A.S. Mersc—marsh) in Romney, and Merston (Merxton in 74), near Rochester. Ham Green and Ham Street are also Romney Marsh names. Waterham and Wetham would suggest the same origin, the latter being in the Rainham marshes and the former, I think, not far from the Faversham marshes. Dagenham also (as elsewhere) is Decca’s marsh land. But the ordinary hams, as we may call them, have again to be subdivided into those which indicate the settlement of a Saxon family; those which enshrine a personal name; and those which relate to the environment or situation of the home.

In the first division would came the cases in which ham followed the patronymic ing, denoting “the sons of.” Thus Gillingham (Gelingham in Domesday) was the settlement of the Gillings, who are also found at Gilling in Yorkshire, Gillingham in Norfolk, and Gillingham in Dorset. The home of the Mottings was at Mottingham, and that of the Leasings at Lossenham. Our Chilham would not at first sight seem to come in here; but in a charter of King Wihdraed in 699 it is called “Cilling,” and in another of 814 “the port which is called Cillincg” (the Stour was then navigable up to here for small craft), and a manor in Chilham is Shillingfield, so that a connection with the Gillings may be suggested. Farningham might seem prima facie to add another to this unexpectedly small class; but there is no known tribe of Farnings, and the old name was Fremyngham (again with no tribe name to support it). It has been suggested that it derives from the A.S. Frem or foreign, and denotes a settlement of foreigners (possibly Danes) coming from the Thames up the Darenth valley.

In the second division we might place any hams recording the personal names of those who founded them. Here Isaac Taylor may err in saying: “In the Anglo-Saxon charters we frequently find this suffix united with the names of families—never with those of individuals.” In this he follows Leo in his Anglo Saxon Names. And yet on another page (compare p. 331 with p. 131) he gives a list of places derived from the names of individuals. But certainly Godmersham and Rodmersham suggest personal names, and no one has ascribed any other origin to Harrietsham, which, even down to the fifteenth century, appears as Heryotesham. In one probably illiterate will of 1594 it is called “Henry Etisham alias Harrysam,” the latter being no doubt the vernacular pronunciation. So surely Meopham is Mepa’s Home. No letter o appeared in the name before or during the 14th century, when Simon de Mepham was Archbishop of Canterbury. It is a modern intrusion, left unpronounced. Icelham, McClure gives as meaning the Home of Icel, like Icelsham in Sussex, thus contravening the dictum of Taylor and Leo as to personal names. So Offham, and probably Otham, is said by the learned Sussex Place-Names to be named after King Offa, who had such power and made such great benefactions to the Church in Sussex and Kent. Finglesham, called Flenguessa in Domesday and Fengesham in 1206, suggests a person rather than a family when the common ing is not then found in the name, and so does Wittersham, especially in its old forms of Westricheshamme and Witrychesham. Faversham was Febres-ham in 811 (Charters and Rolls), and Febresham in 858. In Domesday (1086) it appears as Faversham, and as to this McClure, a great recent authority in Saxon, says: “The first element is a personal name in the genitive.” As, however, there seems to be no similar Saxon designation, he suggests a possible survival of the Latin Faber, i.e., Smith, in a thoroughly Latinized part of Kent. But this pre-supposes that the place was named from a single unnamed operative. Betsham is obscure, but when we find, also in Kent, Betshurst and Betteshanger, a personal origin seems likely. As McClure says, our Luddesdown seems to involve a personal name; he might say the same of Luddenham.

The third division introduces us to settlements or homes named from their environment or situation. Thus Higham (Heahhaam in a charter of 770, and Hehham in one of 774), is plainly from the A.S. Heah, whence our High; and so is Hougham (earlier Hugham), near Dover. Burham is the fortified place or Burh, found in 1498 as Borowham, in 1511 as Borougham, and in 1549 in its present form. Homes between Rochester and Aylesford had to be strong in the days and the place of constant maraudings and wars. Mersham is the Mersc home in Romney Marsh. Westerham, of old Ostreham (compare Westenhanger alias Ostringhanger) is the little white “home in the west” of Kent. Ickham—Ioccham in a charter of 785, in Andrededa—otherwise Yeckham, is probably the settlement on the yoke of arable land, from the Saxon measure Yeok. Chartham (Certeham in Domesday) is the home in the forest, chart and hart being varying forms of the Teutonic word for forest, the former more common in England, the latter in Germany. Perhamsted, says McClure, is the homestead where pears were cultivated. Thornham (though Turnham in Domesday) is said to derive from Hawthorns, Thynne being Saxon for thorn, and haegathorn later for hedge-thorn—whence also probably our Kentish Eythorne (anciently Hegythe Thorne), and Eyhorne (Haythorne in Plea of Henry III.), as place-names. Weald, Wold, Wald, and Wood (A.S., Wudu and Weald), all mean woods, so that we can understand our Wouldham and Waltham. Lenham must be the settlement of the Len, unless it could be proved that the river ever had another name, Celtic as it probably is.

The following is a full list of the “Hams” in Kent according to Kelly’s Directory of Kent, and I have extracted them in the hope that it may save some trouble to a future writer on our place-names. I am not of the class of those who say: “Posterity has done nothing for me, so why should I do anything for posterity?”

Adisham, Alkham, Barham, Bagham, Beckenham, Burham, Bentham, Betsham, Bayham, Cudham, Cobham, Clapham, Chatham, Chartham, Chilham, Crowdleham, Crockham, Dagenham, Eltham, Elham, Fawkham, Faversham, Farningham, Finglesham, Frogham, Godmersham, Gillingham, Ham ponds, Ham Green (two), Ham Hill, Ham Street, Heverham, Ham, Harrietsham, Hougham, Higham, Horsham, Ickham, Ightham, Lenham, Luddenham, Lossenham, Meopham, Mersham, Mongeham, Mottingham, Newnham, Offham, Otham, Otterham, Petham, Peckham, Rayham, Rainham, Rodmersham, Sydenham, Shoreham, Teynham, Thornham, Waltham, Waterham, Wetham, Wickham, Wickhambreux, Westerham, Wrotham, Wingham, Wittersham, Wouldham, Yaldham. Kilburne wrote that there were 49, but here I enumerate 71, and one might add Perhamsted, Iselham, Freckenham, Mistelham, and the Hundreds of Kinghamford and Downhamford, making 77, all of undoubtedly Saxon origin.

Our “Soles,” “Burys,” and “Hithes.”

The word Sole occurs frequently as a Kentish place-name, and is purely Saxon. Dr. Bosworth’s Anglo-Saxon Dictionary gives Sol as meaning “soil—dirt—a wallowing place”; while Lewis defines it as “a dirty pond of standing water.” The Saxon verb is Sylian, “to soil or cover with mud.” So an old Kentish will has the words “beside the wateringe sole in trend (i.e., the end) of Yckhame streete.” Now, as the chief industries of the Saxons in Kent were pigs and pots—as now they are bricks and beer—it is obvious that pigs, especially in clay soil, would create many wallowing places. So we find Sole Street, near Broadstairs (now corrupted into Sorvell and so made unmeaning and unintelligible), another by Cobham, another by Crundale, and another by Selling. We find also Bradsole (S. Radigund’s near Dover), Buttsole in Eastry, Blacksole at Wrotham, Maidensole, Longsole Heath by Allington, Thewsole, and Hangmansole in Romney Marsh, Eastsole, Newsole near Coldred, Esole near Nonington, Podsole near Headcorn, a Mote-sole Street in Sandwich, Mudshole by Hawkinge, Barnsole Lane, Gillingham, Capel Sole, Barnsole in Staple, Westfield Sole in Boxley, Rigsol Road in Otterden, and last, but not least, Paddisole, or Padsole, at Maidstone.

Our “Burys.”

There are two Anglo-Saxon words which have to be distinguished—Beorh, like the German Berg, meaning a hill; and Buruh or Byrig, which comes later into the suffix Bury, which again later comes to be used for a division of Hundred or simply for a town. In the south of England we have most of the distinctively Saxon or Jutish Bury, while in the north we have the Anglian and Norse forms of Burgh, Brough, Borough, more common. And one must add, as a variant of the same word, Barrow, which in modern use we confine to a tumulus for the sepulture of a great warrior or leader. As these British camps were generally on high ground for observation and for defence, the ideas represented by Beorh and by Buruh would inevitably intertwine. The British and Saxon camps were no doubt numerous when we consider the centuries of marauders and invaders which kept our earliest forefathers in a constant fear. They were usually round or oblong, whereas the fewer and later camps or forts of the Romans were rectangular. Surrounded by a deep ditch, the earth of which was thrown up to make a wall, into them in troublous times were collected families and flocks, so that the transition of meaning from the Byrig or fort to the Borough or town was easy. Canterbury, for example, began as Cantwara-byrig, the fort of the folk of Kent, long before it developed into its most important borough or city. So, in another county, GlÆstingaberig became Glastonbury.

In Kent we find Farnborough, Frindsbury, Wateringbury, Hildenborough, Pembury, Cobhambury, Southborough, Oldbury, Bigbury, Glassenbury, two Hawkenburies, Holborough, Howbury, Scadbury, Goodbury, Eastbury, Fallburie, Stockbury (where the ditch and bank had been supplemented by a palisade of stocks, the predecessor of our fathers’ cheveaux de frise in warlike defence), Binbury, Westborough (in Maidstone above and defending the Medway), Woodnesbury, Willesborough, Queenborough, Richborough, Bidborough, Marshborough, Statenborough, Tattlebury, Downbury, Hockenbury, Dunbury and Tatlingbury—a long list which predicates long years, or rather centuries, of fighting in defence, as much as my previous list of forestal names proves how much of Kent was covered with woods.

Some of these, like Oldbury and Bigbury, are undoubtedly old British camps or forts; others were adapted, or newly made, by Romans and, later, by Saxons, while again later still a Norman castle might be reared on the old strategic spot, as in the case of Thornham Castle, near me. Flinders Petrie, however, says that “many sites which by their name of bury suggest a camp or fort are now bare of remains.” So he writes after examining Downbury Farm, near Pembury, Hockenbury, and Dunbury, near Staplehurst, Tattlebury near Headcorn, Tatlingbury near Capel, Perry Hill near Cooling, Pembury, Frindsbury and Wateringbury.

Our Barrows in Kent are mainly small, graves rather than mounds, but we have the place-names Barrow Green, Barrow Hill near Ashford, and Barrow Hill by Sellindge.

Our “Hithes.”

Hithe is the Saxon for haven, or place where ships could lie, and Hythe (Heda in Domesday Book, and Hee in a deed of 1229) was near the edge of the sea when history begins; but West Hythe, which is now three miles from the sea, was the old port used by the Romans and by them called Limene, the harbour. Hence our modern Lympne—Portus Lemanis, in which the p is a modern addition. I find it Limene in 1291, Lymen in 1396, Limne in 1475, and Lymne in 1480.

Then, right in the Weald, is the hamlet of Smallhythe, three miles south of Tenterden. Down to 1509, however, there was a channel from the sea up to here.

Newheth, or New Hythe, is a hamlet of East Malling—and it was a sort of port (or perhaps a wharf) on the Medway for shipping goods from South Kent and the Weald.

On the Thames, below Dartford, is Greenhithe, which has kept both its name and the justification thereof from the times of the Saxons to the present day. There the Danish King had an entrenched camp as a winter station for his soldiers. Here William the Conqueror was stopped by the men of Kent until he confirmed them in their old Saxon laws and privileges. From here Sir John Franklin and Captain Crozier sailed in the Erebus and Terror (in the year and month of my birth) on their last and fatal voyage to the Pole. Here still the hithe discharges its lime and chalk, and has an environment and background of green fields and woods.

Ærrehythe, “the old haven,” known to us as Erith, the landing place for what was from 1178, when it was founded, the important Abbey of Lesnes, which still gives its name to the Hundred.

Our “Cold Harbours.”

Perhaps the most common place-name in England is that of Cold Harbour; though Sutton and Norton may run it close. Over one hundred and seventy have been enumerated in England, a number which would be brought up to over two hundred if we added the Caldecots and the Calcotts (we have a Calcott in Sturry parish) which are names with the same meaning. And yet in a sense Cold Harbour is not a place-name, for the only parish of that name was not formed and named until 1842. It is near Dorking. However, as a name of a manor or a farm it is common. Thus in London (where we should hardly expect Cold Harbours of the kind found in country places) there was the Manor of Coldherberghe, of which we know much since 1327. Situated on the bank of the Thames near London Bridge, its mansion was tenanted by royal dukes, a bishop, a Lord Mayor, and afterwards became the Hall of the Watermen’s Company, and at last the City of London Brewery. The other is in Camberwell, which was one great manor at the time of the Conquest, but later divided into minor lordships, to two of which the name of Cold Harbour was given, of which one was Cold Herbergh, Hachesham (Hatcham now), while the other survives in the well known Cold Harbour Lane, in Camberwell. In early 19th century maps Cold Blow Farm was the representative of the old manor (Kent has a Cold Blow in Bexley). A curious 15th century corruption was Coldabbeye, though there was never an abbey there. The farm succumbed to suburban expansion in the 19th century; but Harbour Road, Cold Harbour Lane, and Cold Harbour Place, tell us of its site.

The Cold Harbours in Kent are thirty in number, while ten are found in each of the contiguous counties of Surrey and Sussex. They are found at Addington, Aldington, Aylesford, Barham Downs, Bishopsbourne, Bridge, Chislehurst, Deptford, Ditton, Eltham, Higham, Hildenborough, Eltham, Lamberhurst, Lymne, Maidstone, Newington, Northfleet, Penshurst, Sellinge, Sittingbourne, Stoke-in-Hoo, Sutton-at-Hone, Tenterden, Trench, Tunbridge, Woodnesborough, Woolwich, Wrotham, and Wye. The majority of these are upon or near Roman sites, or on the Roman main roads, a fact to be borne in mind when we come to consider their origin. For Isaac Taylor says of early travelling: “Where no religious house existed to receive the traveller he would usually be compelled to content himself with the shelter of bare walls. The ruins of deserted Roman villas were no doubt so used, and such places seem commonly to have borne the name of Cold Harbour. In the neighbourhood of ancient roads we find no less than seventy, and about a dozen more bearing the analogous name of Caldecot or ‘cold cot.’” His figures have now been shown to be very much under the mark. So Forbes and Burmester, in their Our Roman Highways, say: “The appearance of such names is believed to be a sure indication of the use in comparatively modern times of Roman buildings for purposes of temporary shelters; and the occasional discovery of tessellated pavements injured by fires lighted in the corners of rooms suggests their utilization by wayfarers.”

Not that all would have been villas or private residences. The orderly and practical Romans on their great military roads had a colonia at each 15 or 20 miles with a mansio or government posting station, and between each, at about five miles distance, was a mutatio with less accommodation, and used by a humbler class. The manager of each was called a Strator—like our Way Warden. In many cases we find that the Cold Harbours come exactly where we should look for the regularly set mutatio. The same kind of arrangement is found in the Hans or Khans of the East, which provide shelter for traveller and stabling for his horse or other beast of burden; but no bed or food. Analogous also are the dak-bungalows familiar to us in India.

The name, however, is pure Saxon, like the German Kalt Herberg, and the surviving French Auberge for a small place of rest and refreshment. Mr. Unthank, a friend and church-worker of mine in Walworth, enlisted my interest in the name a dozen years ago, and since he has written learnedly on the subject in Notes and Queries (1914) and the Home Counties Magazine (1912). He calls them “the leanest shadows of our cheerful inns,” and though bare walls and a bit of a roof would be better than nothing to a traveller over Barham Downs, yet, compared with the “warmest welcome in an inn” experienced elsewhere, he would no doubt call it a cold harbour. Later, and in Middle English, the Heribeorg, shelter for a host, became as Herberg a synonym for any inn, and later still Harbourers or harbingers were the caterers or victuallers, who at last gained the right to sell ale in competition with the more normal hostelries. Then the trade-name became a surname, and John le Herberger appears, and perhaps the Harpers of to-day indicate an innkeeper rather than a musician as their ancestor.

Of course, the perverse ingenuity of some has invented strange derivations for the name. Stow suggests that they were coal-stations! Another writer (who apparently only knew of one Cold Harbour near London Bridge) that it was where the KÖln or Cologne merchants had their headquarters! Another derives from Col (ubris) arbor—the tree or staff round which a serpent twines. This is the emblem of Mercury the messenger of Jupiter, and may have been therefore the sign of the Roman posting-stations!

Anderida.

As I have already said, Kent was once mainly either dense primÆval forest, or marshland, which fringed nearly all its coastal border from Sussex to London. The greater part of the forest was that which extended along the northern border of the South Saxons with a breadth of thirty and a length of one hundred and twenty miles. But the royal forest of Blean (in which I was born) is continuous with Anderida, although it bears a separate name in a charter of King Offa in 791. This would make the forestal land extend from Whitstable through East and Mid Kent, Northern Sussex, Southern Surrey, and Eastern Hampshire, right down to Petersfield. Distinct, but contiguous, was the Cestmwarowalth or Cestersetta Wald, of which part remains in the woods between Rochester and Maidstone, although some would place it near Lyminge.

This primÆval forest is still marked by a great survival of woodland and parks, as a coloured map of Kent would show, and also by the abundance of the characteristic terminations of burst, den, ley, holt, and feld. It names the Weald (Teutonic Wad—wood), although therein more cleared than anywhere else, and the less known Roman road, Well Street, which ran through it from Maidstone, should be probably the Wald road.

Generally called Anderida from the name the Romans gave to their fort and garrisoned place near Pevensey, this is only a change from the earlier Andred. Coed-Andred was its Celtic name, from Coed, a wood, which word appears also in Ked Coed (the hollow dolman in the wood), which was corrupted into Kits Coty House; while the Cotswolds give the Saxon addition to the Celtic name, so that the meaning is Wood-wood, just as Durbeck or the Ravensbourne mean Water-water by the Saxon surnaming of a Celtic name. In early Saxon charters, which are written in Latin, it appears as Saltus-Andred, Silva-Andred, Saltus communis, or Silva regalis, while in Saxon it is Andred, Andredsleage, or Andredsweald.

As to the meaning of the name, Edwards thinks it a proper name, which is very improbable considering its extent. Lambarde says Andred in the Celtic means great, which is simplest and best, provided that such a word is proved to exist. Dr. Guest refers it, less probably, to a Celtic negative an and dred, a dwelling, and Lewin to “an” for the “deni,” for oak-forest, and by a “dhu” for black.

It may be here interesting to give a list of the names borne nearly a thousand years ago by some towns and villages in Kent, especially those in the Weald. In a map in Furley’s Weald, he gives the manors and places mentioned in the Domesday Book (A.D. 1086), and by this it appears that settlements and cultivation were nearly all on the north and east edges of the great forest of Anderida. The only exceptions are Tivedale (now Tudely), Benindene (Benenden), Tepindene (Tiffenden), and Belicedene, which are deeper in the forest.

Taking the line of the Kentish Weald from west to east, we find fringing the primÆval wood, Distreham (Westerham), Briestede (Brasted), Sondresse (Sundridge), Brotenham (Wrotham), Nargourde (Mereworth), Pecheham (W. Peckham), Pecheham (East Peckham), Otringebury (Wateringbury), Nedstede (Nettlestead), Hallinges (Yalding), Meddestane (Maidstone), Boltone Monchensei (Boughton Monchelsea), Certh (Chart Sutton), Suttone (Sutton Valence), Sudtone (East Sutton), Olecumbe (Ulcombe), Boltone Archiepiscopi (B. Malherbe), Bogelei (Bewley in B. Malherbe), Piventone (Pevington), Pluckelei (Pluckley), Rotinge (Roting in Pluckley), Litecert (Little Chart), Certh Mill, Certh (Great Chart), Eshetesford or Estefort (Ashford), Merseham (Mersham), Aldingtone (Aldington), Limes (Lymne), Boningtone (Bonnington), Bilsvitone (Bilsington), Rochinges (Ruckinge), Orleverstone (Orleston), Werahorne (Warehorne), Tintintone Dene (Tinton in Warehorne), Apeldres (Appledore), Palestre (Palster in Wittersham), Newedene (Newenden).

In the rest of Chenth (Kent) the chief places mentioned in Domesday were Bromlei (Bromley), Lolingstone (Lullingstone), Tarenteforte (Dartford), Gravesham (Gravesend), Rovescestre (Rochester), Esledes (Leeds), Scapige (Sheppey), Favershant (Faversham), Wi (Wye), Goversham (Godmersham), Cantuaria (Canterbury), Forewic (Fordwich), Roculf (Reculver), Tanet (Thanet), Sandwice (Sandwich), Estrei (Eastry), Addelam (Deal), Douere (Dover), Fulchestan (Folkestone), Heda (Hythe), and Romene (Romney).

One thing that strikes one at once is the proof any list of Kentish villages gives of the forestal character of Kent. As one of my aims is to save trouble on the part of some future writer who shall produce the long overdue History of Kentish Place-Names, I will here transcribe all which indicate a woodland origin. About a few I am doubtful, but probably others which I have in ignorance left out would balance them. There are in this list 20 of the characteristic dens, although far more survive as the names of manors or now uninhabited parts; there are 15 hursts and 35 woods—some of the last being no doubt modern as names of places. I make 174 of these forestal names as under:—

Abbey Wood, Ackhold (Oakwood), Acol (alias Wood), Acrise? (Oakridge), Appledore, Arnold’s Oak, Ash, Ashenden, Ashford, Ashley, Ashurst, Bargrove, Bellegrove (Benenden), Betteshanger, Bircholt, Boghurst Street, Bough Beech, Boughton (four), Boxhurst (Boxley), Bredhurst, Broad Oak, Brogueswood, Broome, Broomfield, High Brooms, Broomstreet, Bush, Challock Wood, Chart (four), Chartham, Chartham Hatch, Cheriton, Chesnut Street, Cobham Wood, Cowden, Cockham Wood, Colds Wood, Comp Woods, Crookhurst Street, Denstead, Denstroud, Denton (three), Denwood, Dingleden, East Malling Woods, Eastwood, Eggringe Wood, Elmley, Elmley Ferry, Elmstead (two), Elmstone, Eyehorne Hatch, Eyhorne Street, Eythorne, Hawkenhurst, Filmer’s Wood, Five Oak Green, Forest Hill, Four Elms, Frogholt, Goathurst Common, Gore Wood, Forsley Wood, Goudhurst, Grove, Grove End, Grove Ferry, Grove Green, Hatch Green, Hawkhurst, Hazelwood Hill, Hengrove, Henhurst, Henwood, Heronden, Hoaden, Hockenden, Hollingbourne, Hollanden, Holm Mill, Holmstone, Holt Street, Holwood Hill, Hookstead Green (Oakstead?), Horsmonden, Hurst, Ivy Hatch (Ileden), Kidbrooke?, King’s Wood, Kingsnorth, Knockhall, Knockholt, Lamberhurst, Leywood, Maiden Wood, Maplescombe, Marden, Mark Beech, Marwood, Mereworth Woods, Molash, Mussenden, Nagden, Northwood, Norwood (two), Nurstead (old Nutstead), Oakhurst, Oakley, Old Tree, Otterden, Oxenden Corner, Paddock Wood, Penenden Heath, Penshurst, Perry Street, Perry Wood, Pickhurst Green, Pinden, Plumstead, Plumpton, Quarry Wood, Rainden, Ringwould, Rolvenden, Saltwood, Sandhurst, Sevenoaks, Shadoxhurst, Sibertswold, Shottenden, Silcox Wood, Sissinghurst, Smarden, Snoll Hatch, Snoad Street, Southernden, Southwood, Speldhurst, Standen, Staplehurst, Swanscombe Wood, Tenterden, Thornham, Three Beeches, Eickenhurst, Waldershare, Waltham, Warden, Weald, Westenhanger, Westwood (two), Wissenden, Womenswould, Woodchurch, Woodcut Hill, Woodlands (two), Woodruff, Woodside Green, Wouldham.

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