Place name evidence for armchair archaeologists
The study of place-names is called toponymy in academic circles (good one for pub quizzes)
Here's a basic overall guide from Ordnance survey: https://www.ordnancesurvey.co.uk/resources/historical-map-resources/origins-of-placenames.html
Here's a basic overall guide from Ordnance survey: https://www.ordnancesurvey.co.uk/resources/historical-map-resources/origins-of-placenames.html
A good basic introduction can be found on Wikipedia. Written by an American Institute, with a family history background, but well-explained and doesn't make crazy claims www.familysearch.org/wiki/en/England_Understanding_Elements_of_Place_Name_Terms_(National_Institute)#Old_British_Place_Names
Another useful website - but limited by being a work in progress - is The Key to English Place Names,from Nottingham University kepn.nottingham.ac.uk/
Another useful website - but limited by being a work in progress - is The Key to English Place Names,from Nottingham University kepn.nottingham.ac.uk/
For serious academic study, the English Place Name Society is essential. Bad news being, they aren't very digital, and getting the volumes will mean being able to go to an academic library, badgering the ever-stretched public library service for loans, or buying some pretty expensive volumes. http://www.nottingham.ac.uk/research/groups/epns/
One of the works consulted and referred back to all the time in this region was published in 1922, by the Norwegian academic Eilert Ekwall: The Place Names of Lancashire
Task: download and search Ekwall's Place Names of Lancashire
Below: A Very Useful Map from Brilliant Maps (http://brilliantmaps.com/celtic-languages/)
Below: A Very Useful Map from Brilliant Maps (http://brilliantmaps.com/celtic-languages/)
How place names come about
Try not to fall into the Trap of bad History Research, namely simply repeating what other people have written without checking sources. The downside of this is you'll end up saying 'nobody really knows' quite regularly. Boo.
In the British Isles, our modern place names are layered descendants from three main languages:
- the oldest layer are the Celtic languages. Many distinct features such as rivers and mountains still carry Celtic names despite the language having fallen out of use in the surrounding landscape (modern Welsh, Gaelic, Manx, Kernow, and Cumbric which died out in 1300s)
- a Germanic language was introduced after 500 AD by Anglo-Saxon settlers ("Angle-ish")
- Scandinavian settlers who spoke 'Old Norse' left a distinct linguistic mark on the north and east of England after 800 AD, especially around the later 900s-1000s
Ascertaining the origin of a name can only be done through detailed examination of archival material.
There is no short cut. Most archival material isn't digitised so you have to sit long hours in regional archival repositories. Most regional archives are undergoing severe cutbacks that will limit access. Go figure.
Guessing at a place-names meaning is a very inexact procedure
It may lead to howling inaccuracy and ridiculous nonsense.
Example #1: the name 'Doffcocker' is of unclear origin. A locally repeated piece of guesswork involves a wandering Scotsman and his socks. Seriously.
It may be pre-Anglo-Saxon (Celtic, Gaelic or British if you like). To examine this we need earlier forms of the name from distant times. W D Billington for Horwich Local History Society (History of Doffcocker, Bolton Archives) cited an entry in the Cockerham Chartulary that points to two place name elements meaning 'dark twisting stream'.
However I couldn't find his reference in the available transcription of this medieval document. Maybe someone needs to access the original and re-read the medieval Latin to clear this one up.
W D Billington also quotes the pre-1600s name for Doffcocker being Water Hey Yate. He quotes the 'Township Books of Halliwell' (Bolton Archives) for this information.
Example #2 Lothersdale, a lovely hamlet in Craven, east of Earby. Local legend insists Oliver Cromwell gave the name, after a long hard ride. He apparently said to his men, 'Lo, there's a Dale....'
I struggle to find polite terms to apply to nonsense of this type.
Example #3 Salt Pie Lane, Kirby Lonsdale
Claims are made that this name comes from salted mutton pies made by a local inn.
The name occurs in several locations (google Salt Pie Lane, Salt Pie Hall, Salt Pie Farm and see)
Have a go at the place name tasks
W D Billington also quotes the pre-1600s name for Doffcocker being Water Hey Yate. He quotes the 'Township Books of Halliwell' (Bolton Archives) for this information.
Example #2 Lothersdale, a lovely hamlet in Craven, east of Earby. Local legend insists Oliver Cromwell gave the name, after a long hard ride. He apparently said to his men, 'Lo, there's a Dale....'
I struggle to find polite terms to apply to nonsense of this type.
Example #3 Salt Pie Lane, Kirby Lonsdale
Claims are made that this name comes from salted mutton pies made by a local inn.
The name occurs in several locations (google Salt Pie Lane, Salt Pie Hall, Salt Pie Farm and see)
Have a go at the place name tasks
The notes and images below were prepared for a Bolton-based course.
The pre-industrial farming economy of western Bolton needs unpicking. The maps after the 1840s show a pattern of dispersed isolated farmsteads, or 'folds'. But the names used for most of these farmsteads suggest an origin after 1600 or so, eg Horrobins, Lord's Fold etc. One or two are evocative of an older time eg Old Hall, Sheep Cote Green.
Vaccaries were important. These were medieval cattle ranches set up not to produce meat, but (effectively) living tractors ie oxen for haulage. I stumbled across this after chattering about the better-known vaccaries in Pendle, where lots of study has been undertaken to locate these ranches in the modern landscapes.
The problem for western Bolton is The Trap of Bad History.
Everyone is quoting a throwaway line, something like 'Horwich was the home of vaccaries in the middle ages', without saying how they got the information. Bad, bad, bad.
I think I've tracked down the original source of the quotation, which is the old Victoria County History, now online as British history Online - click here for the page
Check the footnotes about vaccaries as locations are named, which can be the starting point for trying to locate them.
The pre-industrial farming economy of western Bolton needs unpicking. The maps after the 1840s show a pattern of dispersed isolated farmsteads, or 'folds'. But the names used for most of these farmsteads suggest an origin after 1600 or so, eg Horrobins, Lord's Fold etc. One or two are evocative of an older time eg Old Hall, Sheep Cote Green.
Vaccaries were important. These were medieval cattle ranches set up not to produce meat, but (effectively) living tractors ie oxen for haulage. I stumbled across this after chattering about the better-known vaccaries in Pendle, where lots of study has been undertaken to locate these ranches in the modern landscapes.
The problem for western Bolton is The Trap of Bad History.
Everyone is quoting a throwaway line, something like 'Horwich was the home of vaccaries in the middle ages', without saying how they got the information. Bad, bad, bad.
I think I've tracked down the original source of the quotation, which is the old Victoria County History, now online as British history Online - click here for the page
Check the footnotes about vaccaries as locations are named, which can be the starting point for trying to locate them.
Map extracts from Bolton Archives - use these for field and place names, field boundaries, paths etc that may illuminate the past landscape