  —HAM = Ham means homestead, but—hamm an enclosure or bend in a river, the former being the more common. It is only by early Saxon documents that we can tell which word is meant. Alkham for the first, perhaps the Hundred of Ham for the latter. —ING, in the middle or end of a name means “sons of.” A final ling is also a patronymic when the name ends in ol or ele. Thus Donnington is the settlement of the sons of Donna, and as Didling or Dudelyng in Sussex (with 13th century forms of Dedling and Dedlinge) was derived from Dyddeling as descendants of Dyddel, this may throw some light on Detling in Kent. —MERE = lake, or gemÆru boundary. Lakes are few in Kent, so Baddlesmere may indicate a boundary, while Mereworth (anciently Marewe) may indicate neither. Mearesflete in Thanet, and Mere, a manor in Rainham, may point to a personal name. Walmer is said to be named from the marshy ground behind the Wall, or old raised beach, which begins by Walmer Castle. Broc = a brook, as in the dialects of Kent and Sussex, also low-lying ground, not necessarily with running water. So Brook, and Brookland, and Kidbrook. Burna = stream. So Bourne, Littlebourne, etc. Cnoll = hillock (Cnol in Welsh and knÖl in Swedish). So Knole, and perhaps Knockholt. Cop = a top or head, German kopf. Our Copt Point. Cumb, or comb = a hollow in a hillside, or a narrow valley. So Ulcombe. A word borrowed from the Celtic. Dell = low ground or valley. Hence Deal. Ea = water, river. So Stur-ea, now Sturry, or watery land. So probably Romney, from Ruimea. But ey also is ieg, or eg = an island. Sceapige, now Isle of Sheppey. Denu is a valley, and denn a retreat, but these often interchange in early forms with dun, which survives in our downs, and Down, the village. Ford.—Here we have to distinguish between the Saxon ford (a natural place-name when bridges as yet were few), and fiord, which is purely coastal, and comes from our Norse marauders. Thus Ashford and Deptford come from quite different words. Graf, in Saxon, is our grove, so that Ashgrove is pure Saxon, Æsc-graf. Heall means a hall, or larger house, and may be simply the Latin aula, especially as place-names ending in hall are more frequent near Roman centres. But there is also halk, a corner or angle, which may suit other places. Our several Whitehalls would indicate the former word. The Saxon HEATH survives unaltered in some cases, and also as Hoath, and perhaps as Hoth in Hothfield. Hlinc, a slope, accounts for the Linch and Linchfield in Detling, a cultivated slope at the foot of the Downs. More common in Sussex. Golfers will recognise the word. Hoh = a hough or heel of land, whence our Hundred of Hoo. Hyrcg is our ridge, and names Eridge, and Colbridge, and Sundridge. Hyll = our hill, partly names many places, Bosehill, Hinxhill, Maze Hill, Ide Hill, etc.; but I think there are more in Sussex, where Roberts enumerates forty-eight. Mersc = march—whence Stodmarsh, Burmarsh, Mersham, Westmarsh, Marshton. Ofer and Ora are difficult to distinguish in use, the former meaning bank or shore and the latter bank of a stream. Bilnor and Oare may come from the former, and Bicknor and Denover (on the Beult) from the latter. Ell, WIELL, WYLL, as a prefix, becomes our well. Wudu = wood. So Saltwood is Sautwud in 1230. Beorg = a hill, dative beorge, is easily confused with Burg = bush, dative byrg, a fortified place, and then a city. From the former we get our modern beogh, ber or barrow; from the latter our prefix Bur, and the suffixes borough, burg, boro, and bury. The first syllable of Bearsted may be either Beorg or Beorc, birch. Canterbury is the burg or fortified city of the Cantwara or Kent-folk. Hlu = a burial mound, developing later into the suffix low, lane, and lew, may be found in Hadlow, and perhaps in the Hundreds of Ryngelo and Cornilo in the Lathe of Borowart (now S. Augustine’s). Considering the mainly forestal character of Saxon Kent, it is not strange that many places Apuldor, as for appletree, remains in Appledore; Birce or beorc, perhaps in Bearsted, Birchington (?), Bekehurst. Box, or byxe (derived from the Latin buxus) names many places, and early forms in Bex, Bix, Bux, are found both as to Boxley and Bexley, as with Boxhill and Bexhill in other counties. Holegn = holen, adj. of holly, survives in Hollingbourne and Holborough; Per (pear) in Perhamstead; Cherry in Cheriton; Plum in Plumstead; Elm in Elmley, Elmstone, Elmstead, but only the wych-elm was indigenous, and called Wice by the Saxons. Thorn we find in Thornham. Haga, a Saxon name survives in our Hawthorn, and may help us to understand the meaning of Eythorne, near Dover, and the Hundred of Eyhorne, in which Detling is situated. The early name of Eythorne is Hegythorne, i.e., Hawthorn, and the Hundred of Eythorde or Eyhorne (so from 1347 A.D.) might well be the same, and named from the hamlet of Iron Street is The Rev. E. McClure, in his British Place-Names, gives (p. 207 et seqq.) a list of words in old Saxon glossaries, ranging from the 7th to the 9th centuries, which appear in British place-names. I extract those which seem to apply to place-names in Kent. Bodan = bottom, common in Kent for a narrow valley, e.g., East Bottom at Kingsdown, near Walmer. Hoegu-thorn = hedge-thorn, hawthorn, whence our Eythorne (anciently Hegythe Thorne), Hundred of Eyhorne (Haythorn, temp. Henry III.), and Iron Street, a hamlet in Hollingbourne in that Hundred. Mapuldur = maple-tree, in our Maplescombe, i.e., the bowl-shaped valley where maples abound. Holegn = holly. Our Hollingbourne, and perhaps Hollandon. Holt-hona = woodcock, or more exactly woodhen, like moorhen. Worhona is Saxon for pheasant. So our Henhurst, Henwood, and Hengrove are the same. Boece = beech. So our Mark Beech and Bough Beech, near Chiddingstone. This derivation is also one of those suggested for Bearsted, whereof the Saxon name is Beorhham-stede, and the first syllable would be either Beorg-hill or Beorc-beech. Goss = furze. Gorsley Wood, in Bishopsbourne. Fleota = estuary or creek. Our Northfleet, Southfleet, Ebbsfleet, and Mearesflete, and Flete. Haesl = hazel. Hazelwood Hill, in Boughton Malherbe. Beber = beaver. Beavers flourished in England even in historical times, and gave their name to Beverley, Beaverbrook, etc. May Beaver, near Ashford, derive thus? And the Beverley at Canterbury? Pearroc = literally a grating—a place fenced in for deer, etc. So Park and Paddock. Paddock Wood. Hreed = reed. Our Reedham possibly; but it is not on marshy ground. Hythae = a harbour. Our Hythe, Greenhythe, New Hythe (East Malling), Small Hythe (Tenterden), West Hythe, and Erith (Erehithe—the old landing-place for Lesnes Abbey on the Thames). Thyrne = thorn. Our Thornham. Cisil = gravel. Our Chislehurst (Cyselhurst in 973), or gravelly wood. Cnol = hill-top, as in Knowle, Knowle Hill (in Boughton Malherbe), and Knowlton. Beyr = shed, cottage. Dr. Sweet makes it the same as Bur (modern Bower). Hence perhaps our Burham and Burmarsh; but the old forms of Burham would point rather to Borow or Borough—the walled settlement. Aesc = ash. Our Ash, Ashenden, Ashford, Ashley, and Ashurst. Hlep = leap. Hence Hartlip, of old Hertelepe. There are two places thus named. Pirge = pear tree. Possibly Perrywood and Perry Street. And Perhamstede according to authorities. Plum-treu = plum tree. Hence Plumstead—and Plumpton? Faerh = a young pig, whence our word “farrow.” Considering that the rearing of swine was the chief occupation in the dens, I wonder that no one has suggested this word for the first syllable of Farleigh and Fairlight. Brycg = bridge. The Saxon had the word, but not many bridges. Most of our eleven place-names in Kent containing this word are of post-Saxon date, while we have fifteen “fords.” Sae = sea. So our Seasalter and Seabrook. Aac = oak. We have Ackholt, Acol, Acryse, Oakhurst, Oakley, and Ockholt (now Knockholt). Elm, borrowed from the Latin Ulmus. The Witch-elm, called Wice in Saxon, is indigenous, the other elm imported. We have Elmley, Elmstead, and Elmstone. Mistel = mistletoe (ta. fem.—tdig) may appear in Mistleham, near Appledore. Caelf = calf. The Saxon name for Challock was Caelf-loca-n, i.e., enclosed place for calves. The second syllable suggests the Latin locus, but is the source of our English Lock, i.e., shut up. So the locks on the river; and pounds for straying cattle are “lokes” in East Anglia. Pleg-huses = theatres (or recreation grounds). Our Plaistow and Plaxtol. Syla = wallowing place. So our numerous Soles, which I later enumerate. Dimhus and Dimhof = hiding or dark place. Our Dymchurch are instances. Crocc and Hweras are both Saxon for pots. Few know what pure Saxon they use when they talk of crockery-ware. Pottery was always a great industry from Sittingbourne to Sheppey, and the Romans appreciated and extended it. This may account for our Crokham Hill, Crockham, Crockhurst Street, and Crockshard. Cocca, gen. plural = chickens. Cock St., Cockham Wood, Cockshill, Coxheath, Cockadam Shaw, while in Detling we have Cock-hill, Upper and Lower Cox Street. Some may, of course, be modern and personal names; but I cannot so trace them. Boley Hill, near Rochester, was undoubtedly a place of civic importance in very early days. It was a Danish meeting place corresponding to our shire-mote at Pennington Heath, and we may best trace its name to a Danish word which we still use—the bole of a tree. This is found in various parts of the Danish district of Lincolnshire, and the reference may be to the hill with a famous tree under which the court of the community was held. Trees, as well as cromlechs or great stones, were common landmarks in Saxon times—hence our various Stones in Kent. Others, however, consider it a corruption of Beaulieu, a name given by the Templars to the sites of their preceptories, and they instance a Boley or Bully Mead in East London, which belonged to the Templars. And others, because of its ancient legal associations, think it should be Bailey Hill, and refer us to the Old Bailey in London. Farleigh.—On a clear day from Detling Hill we can see, not only Farleigh, near Maidstone, but Fairlight Church, near Hastings. In Saxon days and documents these place-names were the same, and so in Domesday (1086), each is Ferlega, the passage or fareing through the pastures or leys, just as our modern Throwley is Trulega, with the scribes’ variations in 12th century deeds of Thruleghe, Trulleda, Trulea, Thrulege, and Trudlege. Fairlight, therefore, is simply a modern corruption after a fashion which once corrupted the name of Leigh, near Tonbridge, which I find written Legh in 1435, Ligth in 1513, Lyghe in 1525, and Lyght in 1531. It has been suggested that the first syllable may indicate a personal name, FÆr; but this seems less tenable. Borstall, from the Anglo-Saxon Beorg, a hill, and stal, a dwelling (as in Tunstall), means a path up a steep hill. So there is Borstall Hill near Rochester, Bostall Hill near Woolwich, and Borstall Hill by Whitstable. And I have noted Eastry.—Lambarde thought this village was so named to distinguish it from West-Rye, now called simply Rye, but the places are too far apart, especially when the great forest of Anderida came between them. McClure, our most recent authority on British place-names, would refer it to the Rugii, a Continental clan from the Island of Rugen in the Baltic, whom he finds represented in SÛthryge (Surrey). So he would make the word East-ryge, and in a charter of 780 it is Eastrygena, and in another Eastryge. But amongst the various early spellings is Eastereye, i.e., EÁstoregg (No, not Easter Egg!), the island of EÁstor. In a will of 929, “Æthelnoth, the reeve to Eastorege,” is mentioned. Now the next parish is Woodnesborough, the town of Woden, the Saxon god. So here may well be, named at the same time and by the same people, the name of EÁstor, the goddess of spring; while, as to its suffix, the centre of the village stands higher than the rest, and is almost entirely surrounded by a valley, though not now by water. Fewer greater authorities than Professor Skeat are to be found, and he inclines to this interpretation. Folkestone.—Here we find several interpretations, the more modern being the most absurd. Thus Phillipott suggests the town full of folk! and Murray’s Handbook to Kent Fulke’s Town (whoever this Fulke may have been)! Both, however, forgot that the final syllable is always stane or stone, and not ton. Another imaginative worthy says that its stone quarries were much used in the 13th and 14th centuries, and belonged to the community, and so it was the Folks’ Stone! Folcland we know; Folcmote we know; Plaxtol, near Sevenoaks.—In many Kentish parishes (and elsewhere) the name Pleystole or Playstool clings to a piece of land on which miracle and other plays were acted when amusements had to be mainly home-grown. So at Lynsted, Herbert Finch, in the sixth year of Queen Elizabeth, bequeathed the “Playstall et Playstollcroft” fields. A variant of the name we may find in Plaistow, by Bromley. So in Selborne (Gilbert White’s renowned village) the Plestor is the old playground. Would that in all villages, especially since the looting of old commons, there might be a field thus consecrated to healthy recreation. Amongst the sources of enlightenment as to the meaning of our place-names I have turned to the volume of the English Dialect Society, which is on the Kentish Dialect and Provincialisms, and was prepared by the Revs. W. D. Parish and W. F. Shaw. It does not contain, as I have found, nearly all our local words, and not a few of the words it does give are by any means peculiar to Kent. Still, it is useful and interesting, and it may well be that some of our Kent place-names are almost peculiar to Kent, especially as the neighbouring counties of Sussex and Essex were populated by Saxons, but Kent was populated by the Jutes, and no doubt their common tongue had its tribal variations. I take from this dictionary all the words which are illustrative of place-names. Forstall = “a farm-yard before a house; a paddock near a farm house; or the farm buildings.... As a local name, Forestalls seem to have abounded in Kent.” Two instances are given; but I have noted Broken Forestall, Buckley; Clare’s Forestall, Throwley; Mersham Forstall; Forstall Farm, Egerton; The Forstall, Hunton; Preston Forstall, Wingham; Painter’s Forestall, Ospringe; Hunter’s Forstall, Herne; Fostal, Herne Hill; Forstall, Lenham; Forstall, Aylesford; Shepherd’s Forstall, Sheldwich—and no doubt there are more. Tye.—“An extensive common pasture, such as Waldershare Tie and Old Wives’ Lees Tie, and in a document of 1510, a croft called Wolves’ Tie.” I would add the places called Olantigh, one near Wye and another near Fordwich. Teig-r is really a Norse word meaning a piece of grassland, and when borrowed or used by the Saxons it became Tigar, Tig and Tey in such place-names as Mark’s Tey. Yokelet.—“An old name in Kent for a little farm or manor.” Cake’s Yoke is the name of a farm in Crundale. The yoke was a measure of land, probably such as one yoke of oxen could plough. Thus it corresponds to the Latin jugum, which means a yoke, and also a land measure. We have also West Yoke in Ash-next-Ridley; Yoklet, a borough in Waltham; land so named in Saltwood; and Ickham was of old Yeckham or Ioccham, from the A.S. yeok, a yoke of arable land. Iocclet is also given in the dictionary as a Kenticism for a small farm. Bodge.—“A measure of corn, about a bushel.” May this suggest a derivation for Bodgebury, some land with a cottage thereon, part of the old glebe of Detling? Brent.—“The Middle-English word Brent most commonly meant burnt; but there was another Brent, an adjective which signified steep.” Thus Brentwood in Essex is the same Court, or Court Lodge.—“The manor house, where the court leet of the manor is held.” So in Detling we have East Court and West Court because, in default of a son, the old manor was divided between two co-heiresses in the 16th century. So we have as place-names North Court in Eastling, a Court at Street in Lympne, besides very many names of old houses, such as Eastry Court, Selling Court, etc. Down.—“A piece of high open ground, not peculiar to Kent, but perhaps more used here than elsewhere. Thus we have Updown in Eastry, Hartsdown and Northdown in Thanet, Leysdown in Sheppey, and Barham Downs.” I may add Puttock’s Down (the Kite’s Down), three villages called Kingsdown, Derry Downs, Downe, Hackemdown, Harble Down, Housedown, Kilndown, two Underdowns, besides probably some of the names ending in don. The Celtic dun, a hill-fortress, found all over Europe, is directly found in our Croydon, as in London, Dunstable, etc., and the Saxon extended its use, especially in the plural, to high ground, whether crowned with a fort or camp or not. Trevisa wrote in 1398 “A downe is a lytel swellynge or aresynge (arising) of erthe passynge the playne ground ... and not retchyng to hyghnesse of an hylle.” Fright or Frith.—“A thin, scrubby wood.” So the Fright Woods near Bedgebury. And I learned to skate as a boy at the Fright Farm on Dover Castle Hill. This may account for Frith by Newnham, and possibly also for Frittenden. Polder.—“A marsh: a piece of boggy soil.” A place in Eastry now called Felder land was of old Polder land, and nearer Sandwich is a place still called Polders. Poll (Celtic), Pool (Early English), Proll (Welsh), is a common prefix to the name of a brook. Polhill, however, in Harrietsham, is more likely to come from the great Kent family of the Polhills. So we have Polhill Farm in Detling, and a Polhill was Vicar in 1779. Rough.—“A small wood; any rough, woody place.” So Bushy Rough in the Alkham Valley, where rises one of the sources of the river Dour. Hence also Rough Hills in Hernhill; Rough Common near Canterbury; and perhaps Roughway in Plaxtol, the wood being used in the Kentish rather than the usual sense. Saltings, or Salterns, or Salts.—“Salt marshes on the sea-side of the sea-walls.” A North Kent word, naming Saltbox, and Salterns, both in Sheppey, and probably Seasalter near Whitstable. We must find, however, if we can, another derivation for Saltwood Castle. Selynge.—Toll, custom, tribute. The Prior of Christ Church, Canterbury, used to take in the Stoure a certain custom, which was called Selynge, of every little boat which came to an anchor before the mouth of the said Flete. The compilers of the Dictionary say: “The parish of Sellindge, near Hythe, probably takes its name from some such ancient payment.” Is it possible that the old name of Sentlynge, given to S. Mary’s Cray in Domesday Book, may point to another place of tolling craft on the Cray? |
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