The Hall of Waltheof/Chapter XIV

HERE are excellent reasons, both philological and historical, for believing that Fulwood means folk-wood; I think, indeed, that the conclusion may be regarded as certain. Förstemann, in a long list of German place-names compounded with fulc, Old English folc, gives Folmaresdorf and Volkmarstorf, where, as will be seen, fol is equivalent to volk, or folk. He also mentions Folmudestede (folk-moot place ?) when fol also stands for folc, and other similar examples. Again, Mr. Sweet has shown that "final c in unstrest syllables often becomes h in Northumbrian," so that the Old English folc might be folh, and he has also shown that medial h is dropped before w as it would be before "wood" in Fulwood. Further, Mr. Sweet says that the Germanic o becomes u in Old English before a lip consonant, as in full, which is the Old High German vol. Here, then, we have exactly what we want, namely the English ful in Fulwood as the equivalent of Forstemann's fol, which, as we have seen, in certain compound place-names stands for folk.

But this conclusion would not be certain if it stood on philological evidence alone. Fortunately it is supported by clear historical evidence. By a charter without date the Thomas lord Furnival, who, as we shall see further on, in 1297 compounded with the Sheffield Burgesses for a fixed sum in payment of certain dues granted to "all the men of Stannington, Morewood, Hallam, and Fulwood, herbage and foliage throughout the whole of his forest of Riveling." The forest of Riveling, says Pegge is "plainly a part of Fulwood." This Furnival is said to have granted similar privileges to the inhabitants of many places near Sheffield, and Hunter speaks of him as "Thomas lord Furnival the great grantor." But what privileges did he grant, and what privileges had he the power to grant? He no more granted privileges to the inhabitants of all these places than, as we shall presently see, he granted lands to the Burgesses of Sheffield. The inhabitants possessed those rights already, and what the manorial lord did was merely to declare to the inhabitants that they should not be molested by him in the exercise of rights which they and their forefathers had enjoyed long before, these so-called grants being little more than ratifications of ancient rights. The men of Stannington, Morewood, Hallam and Fulwood had to pay to the lord £4 a year, but for what purpose it does not appear, unless, as is most likely, that sum was remitted by the lord to the Crown as taxes in like manner as the rent paid by the Sheffield Burgesses was remitted. Furnival also granted to the canons of Beauchief "common of pasture in his free chaces of Folewode and Ryvelingdene everywhere, sufficient for all their cattle, except goats," and many other privileges therein. This grant to the monastery was nothing more than a declaration that the monks of a neighbouring religious house should also enjoy the privileges of the forest, the declaration being made by the lord on behalf of the freeholders. Fulwood then was the folk wood, the folk forest; it was the common forest in which the inhabitants of the district had long been accustomed to turn their swine or other cattle, and to get heath, stone, turf, and rushes for the covering of their houses. "The charters of the Norman sovereigns," says Mr. Gomme, "did little more than cover with official or regal authority privileges which already existed; Mr. Peacock has urged the same view; and I myself have more than once brought forward proof of what is now admitted as a feature of charter-sanctions." And in like manner the charters of the feudal lord in Sheffield did little more than confirm ancient privileges and customs. How common folk-land was in Germany may be seen from the numerous "folk-fields" and other similar place-names which Förstemann gives. I might mention, as an illustration of our subject, his Folcharteswilare, meaning folk-wood-town, taken from a charter of A.D. 904—a name which might very appropriately have been given to the village of Fulwood in Hallamshire.

We must not regard folkland as property which belonged to the nation, or to the entire inhabitants of a particular manor or district. Only the freeman or freeholder was entitled to an undivided part thereof, just as he was entitled, upon the passing of Enclosure Acts, to an undivided part of the commons and waste lands of a manor. Grimm refers to an authority which shows that the land of freemen, known as terra salica to the French, and arimannia to the Langobardians, was known as folcland to the Saxons. Only the freeman could possess real property; it could not be held by the slave or bondman. The folkland then belonged to the body of freeholders, or freemen, holding lands within a township or manor, and it belonged to them in undivided shares, or in other words as a community.

There is a field called Boke Field in Ecclesfield, and some fields in Norton, at a little distance from Beauchief Abbey, are known as Bocking Fields. In a deed of the year 1816 I have noticed "Bocking holme" and "Bocking hole close" in Bradfield. It seems probable that Boke Field is book field, that is land granted by bóc or written charter to a private owner, as opposed to the folkland or land held in common by the freeholders, and possibly I shall be able to show that Bocking Field has the same meaning. In Scotch law "booking" was "a tenure peculiar to the burgh of Paisley, whereby the proprietors held their lands under, the magistrates, the conveyance being entered or 'booked' in the Burgh Register." This tenure was abolished by the Conveyancing (Scotland) Act, 1874. In Old Frisian law men were said to "book" land by their wills, and Richthofen in his dictionary, under the word bokinge, has a good deal to say on this subject. The Bocking Fields at Norton formerly belonged to the overseers of the poor. They have lately been sold, and I am told that there was great difficulty in making out a title. There is a tradition that these fields once belonged to a Norton man who was hanged at Derby, and whose property reverted to the Crown. Thereupon it is said that the Crown presented the land to the poor. As it stands the tradition may be corrupt, but it is a remarkable one, and it seems to me to be capable of the following explanation. In the eye of the populace, though not of course in the contemplation of law, the landowner who was hanged had done wrong in becoming absolute owner of the land at all, for folkland ought not, according to popular notions, to have been taken away from the folk or freeholders holding land in common. But ill-gotten wealth may bring its owner to a bad end, and so the man who had robbed his neighbours by turning folkland into bookland was hanged. The tradition may thus amount to an expression of popular dislike to several ownership in land. We must, however, remember that in former times land was forfeited to the Crown for felony.

The recorded history of these Bocking Fields is very obscure. In the Reports of the Charity Commissioners it is said that the title to them is contained in an indenture dated 1658, whereby William Bullock, who was lord of the manor of Norton, in consideration of £45 paid to him by the overseers of the poor granted to Francis Barker and others a close in Beauchief called Johnset Wood Field for the use of the poor of Norton parish. The rent, we are told, "appears to have been always carried to the account of the poor's rate." It is certain that William Bullock, the grantor, was not "hanged at Derby," for he died at Norton Hall. The tradition cannot be connected with him at all. And it would appear that Johnset Wood Field still retained the popular and earlier name of Bocking Field.

It is quite possible that in some cases Bocking is a personal name, or the name of a family, such as the Bocingas. Förstemann mentions such places as Bochinafeld, and Bokinavurdi, and refers them to boc, the beech. But I doubt whether the beech grew in Bradfield.

The Norsemen appear to have held "purchased land" in this neighbourhood. Thus there is a place in Bradfield called Cooper Carr, which in the supplement to the Sheffield Glossary I have ventured to explain as kaupa-kjarr, purchased carr, by analogy with the Old Norse kaupa-land, and kaupa-jörd, purchased land. By way of illustration I may mention the surnames Coopland and Copeland, both of which are found in Sheffield, and which seem to be the Old Norse kaupa-land, Old Frisian cáplond, purchased land.