Page:Notes and Queries - Series 11 - Volume 2.djvu/305

 us. VIH, OCT. ii, 191&] NOTES AND QUERIES.

299

Place-Names of South-West Yorkshire. By Ar- mitage Goodall. (Cambridge University Press.)

THE Preface to this important addition to the history of place-names shows what a labour of love the work has been to Mr. Goodall. He had been accumulating the material during the last seven or eight years, and " it owes its existence to the interest aroused during journeyings almost daily in and about the northern part of the district dealt with." Eivers are included, and in " an area covering less than half the Riding is a list of about 1,500 names. So as to secure the advantage arising from comparative methods, names have frequently been considered in groups ; and, in order to make the work as valuable as possible from the historical point of view, an attempt has been made to put on record every existing name where such elements as by, thivaite, thorpe, and scholes are involved."

It is surprising that the scientific study of place-names in our country is quite modern, and that nearly all the really helpful works on the subject have been published during the present century.

Mr. Goodall expresses his gratitude to many friends for personal assistance, but chief of all is the late Prof. Skeat, " whose unrivalled stores of knowledge and experience were willingly placed at my disposal on several occasions."

Mr. Goodall conducts his inquiry on historical methods, and his first step is to discover as far as possible early records of the names to be con- sidered. He shows how attractive is the story of gradual development, and takes York as an example, which he traces from its name Eburac, two thousand years ago, until it became Yprwick, and finally York. But while York provides an example of continuity, Whitby gives one of entire change. In the seventh century Bede records the name as Streanaesbalch. " But in the opening words of a twelfth-century document dealing with the foundation of the Abbey we find its situation described as ' in loco qui olim Streoneshalc vocabatur, deinde Prestibi appel- labatur, nunc vero Witebi vocatur.'

" Thus the Angles described the site of the Abbey as Streoneshalc, while under the Danes it was called Prestebi, the opposite bank of the Esk being Witebi. At a later date Prestibi became subordinate to Witebi, and finally was altogether superseded by it ; and so to-day Whitby reigns supreme."

As showing the limitations of place-names Mr. Goodall instances Yorkshire, where " we must not expect such examples of poetic appropriateness as are occasionally found among the Celtic peoples. We shall not tind, as in Ireland, a brook called ' little silver.' We shall discover little of the heroic, the romantic, or the legendary. Indeed, there will be much that is frankly pedes- trian, for the chief characteristic of our English place-names is to describe the simplest facts in the simplest way."

Another characteristic to be noted is " the profound difference between names of modern creation and. hose which came down from ancient

times. The latter were never merely conven- tional, like our modern Bellevues and Clare- monts ; they were the offspring of the automatic operation of the human mind, and possessed in every case a meaning, at once simple, appropriate, and well defined."

Among trees mentioned, the oak, thorn, holly, and hazel are the most frequent ; while under the form " aller," which is Anglian, and " owler," which is Scandinavian, the alder also is very common. Other trees which occur occasionally are the elm, yew, birch, willow, maple, poplar,, and aspen. Quite a number of places are designated by a simple tree-name. Chief among the wild animals was the wolf, referred to in at least eight names, such as W T oolley, Wooldale, Woolrow, and Woolgreaves. The hart also has given rise to several names. The two places called Earn- shaw bear witness to the former existence of eagles ; and the two called Brockholes to the presence of the badger, which was formerly called the brock.

The book is divided into sections treating, respectively the Anglian element, the Scandi- navian element, and the Celtic, Roman, Norman,, and modern elements. There is an alphabetical list of names, with early forms and explanations.

Mr. Goodall closes his Introduction with these modest words : " All that can be hoped for in the present attempt is that it may prove sound in it& general principles, and that, in spite of short- comings, it may show elements of solid value."

' Place-Names of South- West Yorkshire ' is a work of "solid value, "and we are glad to see that the Cambridge University Press has in prepara- tion a companion volume entitled ' Place-Names of Nottinghamshire,' by Dr. H. Mutschmann.

Archceologia JEliana. (Newcastle-on-Tyne, Reid

& Co.)

THIS is the ninth volume of the Third Series of the miscellaneous tracts published by the Society of Antiquaries of Newcastle. Facing the title is a likeness of Dr. Hodgkin, who joined the Society in 1865, and was an active member until his death. The obituary notice by Dr. Dendy speaks of " his cheery presence, his ready power of expression, and the vivid imagination with which he conjured up the life of the past." He died on the 2nd of March last, at the age of 82, and on the following day a long memoir of him appeared in The Times. He was connected by birth and marriage with members of the Society of Friends in every part of England.

The papers read include ' Pre-Conquest Dis- coveries at Greatham Church,' by the Rev. Edgar Boddington, the vicar. Mr. Boddington- states " that while the discoveries are not in themselves numerous, they have the merit of variety, and they supply one more definite link in the chain of evidence already accumulated both of pre-Norman and of early Norman work in the southern area of the county of Durham.'' Mr. Richard Welford read a paper on ' Newcastle Assemblies,' and the Rev. Matthew Culley one on ' Akeld Tower.'

Dr. C. Clark Burman gave a report of the examination of human remains from an ancient British grave discovered at High Buston, North- umberland, on 18 October, 1912. Dr. Burman states that " the collection of bones forwarded