THE WILTSHIRE MAGAZINE. 66 MULTORUM MANIBUS GRANDE LEVATUR ONUS."-Ovid. No. CXXXV. DECEMBER, 1921. VOL. XLI. THE PLACE-NAMES OF WILTSHIRE. By G. B. GRUNDY, D. Litt. The standard work on the place-names of Wiltshire is "The Place-Names of Wiltshire, their Origin and History," by Einar Ekblom (Upsala, 1917). The book will be known to many people in the county; but for the information of those who do not know it, I may mention that it is in English. All that will be attempted in this paper is :-(1) to suggest possible emendations of Ekblom's interpretations; (2) to add various names which he has not included in his work, though old forms of them are known. The emendations will be put in the alphabetical order followed by Ekblom; the additions will be classified under parishes named in alphabetical order. EMENDATIONS. Aldbourne (N.E. of Marlborough), E. rejects "eald," "old," as the first element of this name, because he thinks it to be an unlikely attribute to apply to a brook. Yet it is applied to a "lacu," "slow stream," in the charters, and to various other apparently unlikely objects, such as "ig," island. I fancy Aldbourne is, after all, "the Old Bourne." On this Dr. Henry Bradley says:-" No doubt there were streams called 'Old Burn.' But there is evidence of a pre-English stream named Alde; and in compounds with 'burn' one may choose either interpretation." Alton Priors (N.W. of Pewsey). The charter B. 390, which E. quotes, is not a charter of Alton, Hants, but of this very place. Atworth (N.W. of Melksham). E. quotes K. 706 as dating from A.D. 1001. The forms of words in the survey show that it, at any rate, is much later in date than that. The form of the name in that charter is Attenwrth. There is an Attendene in another Wilts charter (B. 1216, K. 543), spelt Aettan Dene in yet another charter (B. 782). In a late charter, the ME, "At ten Wrthe," descending from an A.S. locative "æt thære Wyrthe," "at the Farm," might possibly produce the modern VOL. XLI.-NO. CXXXIV. 2 A name. I fancy that the name Attendene, despite the variant Aettan Dene, had the same origin. On this point, however, Dr. Bradley has sent me an important note:-" on the ground of accent I disbelieve in the common notion the names in At(ten) are of prepositional origin. and both Atta and Aetta are authentic names." Bedwyn (S.E. of Marlborough). E. derives from the plant-name, “ Bed- Beechingstoke (E.S.E. of Devizes). E. does not quote the earliest form The Boscombe (S. E. of Amesbury). Surely E. has gone out of his way in taking late forms rather than early as a clue to this name. He has thus to invent a personal name. BOSAN-CUMB, "Bosa's Combe," seems to be the natural derivation. Brigmerston (N. of Amesbury). E. is undoubtedly right; but he does not mention the interesting fact that Brismar is mentioned in D.B. as as holding land here T.R.E. (See notes on Brixton Deverell.) Brixton Deverell (S. of Warminster). Brictric is given in D.B. as a landholder here T.R.E. This, and the case at Brigmerston above, are two examples of a phenomemon which I have only come across in Wiltshire, though examples might, no doubt, be found in other counties, where a place gets its name from an owner of a date contemporary with the extant evidence as to the form of the name. There are other examples in Wiltshire, e.g., Aldred was landholder in Alderstone, in Whiteparish, T.R.E. It suggests that "tuns" might change name with change of owner, just as in modern times such changes of name occur with regard to farms, so that the Brown's Farm of one age may be the Robinson's Farm of the next. It conveys a moral which I have not seen inculcated in books on place-names, viz., that we cannot be sure in the case of A.S. personal names attached to a locality, especially to any form of property, that that name was attached to the locality from the time of its foundation. The "booking," or chartering, of lands, and, too, such a survey as Domesday, would give such names a permanence such as they can hardly have possessed in ages in which they seldom appeared in writing. Brokenborough (N.W. of Malmesbury). The BEORH in this name is almost certainly a barrow, not a hill, judging from the almost invariable use of BEORH in the charters. Tomb robbing is not a pastime of recent invention. Burbage (S.E. of Marlborough). I do not think that the second element has anything to do with BECE, " beech-tree." I suggest BURH-BAEC, "the intermittent stream by the camp." The forms agree with this; for BAEC developed into BACHE, and later into BEC. The meaning given above is drawn from the Hampshire charters, where the word is frequently used of such streams; and, as a fact, the actual BURH-BAEC is mentioned in the charter B. 1067, K. 736, where the boundary is described as going "along BURGH BECES." The camp has vanished, I believe. But this would be a peculiarly natural place for one, as it is at the meeting-place of several old ridgeways.' Buttermere (S.E. of Marlborough). The second element is probably not MAERE, "boundary," but MERE, "pond." The district of Hants E. of this is covered with charters containing frequent references to Meres, TANMERE, THROCMERE, etc. They are the rain water (mistakenly called dew) ponds so common on this upland. Castle Eaton (N.E. of Cricklade). Of course EA refers to the Thames. But in the charters it is not used as E. supposes, in the general sense of "water," but always of a stream the size of a river. Chapmanslade (S. W. of Westbury). Of course E. is right. But it is interesting to note that a later form, CHAPMANNESWEIE, is found. Chilmark (E. of Hindon). E. has not got hold of the earliest mention of the name, which is K.641. In that charter the brook which runs through the parish is called CIGEL-MEARC BROC. I cannot interpret the name; but it has certainly nothing to do with CILDA," children's." It is probable that CIGEL is a Pre-Saxon name. Chitterne (E.N.E. of Heytesbury). In reference E. recites the Saxon term AERN as meaning "house," "dwelling, "place." There are various other A.S. terms which had those meanings; and from a study of the A.S. Lexicons one would be led to believe that there were many synonymous terms in the language. I have not found any in the charters, except in one or two instances in which there seems to have been a borrowing from the Latin, and an Anglicised Latin term has come into use side by side with an A.S. term having practically the same meaning. Dr. Bradley thinks that the first element of the name Chitterne may be British. My impression is that AERN meant a building either as a store or a a place where something was deposited or shut up, and sometimes perhaps as a building for manufacturing purposes. Cf. SEALT-AERN, a 1 See article on the Ancient Highways of Wilts, &c., in "The Evidence of Saxon Land Charters on the Ancient Road-system of Britain." Arch. Journal, lxxiv., pp. 79-105. [For another view as to the derivation of Burbage see Wilts. Arch. Mag., xli., 299, June 1921.-ED. H. GODDARD. salt house, or possibly factory; BER-AERN, a barn, where barley was stored; EORTH-AERN a grave, where a body is deposited. Colerne (W. of Corsham). E. says CULAN AERN, "Cula's House." See notes under Chitterne. I suggest COL-AERN, "a building where charcoal was stored or made." Dauntsey (S.E. of Malmesbury). E.'s interpretation of the name is correct; but he has added a most inapposite note to the effect that "IEG" here means marshy land, as is always the case with Wilts place-names." As a fact DOMETES-IG as the survey of the Dauntsey charter (B. 453, K. 363) shows, is the actual eyot in the Avon near the village. Elcombe (S. of Swindon). E. says ELLAN-CUMB, " Ella's Combe," which may be right, for ELLANDUN is but a few miles away. But it is also possible that it is ELLEN-CUMB, "combe of the elder-trees." Gore (N.W. of Tilshead). E. says from GAR, "spear," because the ridges of the downs are spear-shaped. This seems fanciful. Surely it is the very common GARA, "a triangular piece of ploughland," the word from which the modern term "Gore" is derived. Grim's Ditch (near Salisbury). E. says from GRIM, a Scandinavian personal name. But why in the world should this particular personal name have been applied to so many dykes in this country? There were in Saxon times two more of them in Wiltshire. Whatever GRIM is, it must be a "common term of some kind. My impression is that the original A.S. adj. GRIM, "fell," "dire," was converted from an attribute into a name of the devil, or of a devil. The attribution of these pre-Saxon dykes to superhuman agency is well attested in A.S. nomenclature, and in modern nomenclature, too, cf. the common "Devil's Dyke." Harden Huish (N.W. of Chippenham). Pace Ekblom, I am inclined to think that Birch's identification of HEREGARDINGC HIWISC with Harden Huish is right, though the elucidation of the survey of the charter (B. 439, K. 270) presents difficulties. If that is so, the name means "lands of the Heregeards." Imber (E.S.E. of Westbury). E. is quite right. But he might have quoted YMMAN DENU of the Edington charter (B. 1215), which is the name of the valley in which Imber lies. Knighton (near Broad Chalke). E. might have quoted the CNIHTA LAND of the Chalke charter (B. 917, K. 436). Lake (S. W. of Amesbury). Why does not E. give A.S. LACU, a term implying a slow-flowing stream? In the charters the term is applied on many occasions to the backwaters of the Avon and the Wylye. Liddington (S.E. of Swindon). E. is quite pardonably wrong. The place was named from the stream which flows through it. The name occurs as LYDEN or LIDEN in the Liddington charter (K. 386). It appears to be pre-Saxon. But it got rationalised in A.S. times into HLYDA(N), for HLYDAN AEWIELMAS, "Liden springs," occurs in the Wanborough charter (B. 479, K. 1053). Midgehall (near Wootton Bassett). E. supposes MEGGAN HEALH. But why not MYCG HEALH, "Midge hollow"? Oare (near Pewsey). E. interprets ORA as meaning "border," "edge." ORA in the charters means "bank" or "hill slope." Ogbourne (near Marlborough). E. says Oc(C)AN BURNA. It is, of course, the name of the stream on which Ogbourne stands, which E. says is now called by a back-formation from the place-name. But may not the first element be a variant of the stream-name Ock which is found in other parts of England? I suppose that Ock is a pre-Saxon name to which in A.S. times a second element, BURNA, was added. Potterne (S.S.W. of Devizes). Esuggests PUTTAN AERN, " Putta's house." See note on AERN under Chitterne. I suggest POTT AERN, "a building where pots are made." Quemerford (near Calne). E. gives this up, as far as interpretation is concerned. Perhaps he is right. But he has not cited all the old forms of the name; and those he has come across are indeed calculated to make a philologist despair. He cites Quemerford, 1240-5; Quimerford, 1293; Quemerford, 1370; Quimerford, 1404. To these may be added Kinemorford, 1257; Querenford, 1274; Camerford, Cameresford, Quemerford, 1272-1307; Comerford (twice), Kemerford, probably 13th -14th century. The Qu element in forms of this name is admittedly a difficulty which cannot be ignored. It ought to represent an A.S. Cw. But the Kinemerford form of 1257 bears a very marked resemblance to the old name of Kempsford (Gloucs.) as given in the S. Chr. under the year 800, KYNEMEREFORDE, which means "ford of Cynemaer." Ramsbury (N.W. of Hungerford). Why should the numerous Ramsburys which survive in various parts of the country, and the various HRAEMNES BURHS of A.S. times, have all been, as E. assumes, named after gentlemen with the Scandinavian name of RAF(E)N? Surely Ramsbury is, like other Ramsburys, HRAEMNES BURH, "Raven's Camp," Semley (N.E. of Shaftesbury). This is not SEMAN LEAH, "Sema's Lea," as E. suggests. It is named after that tributary of the Nadder which forms its N. boundary, a stream called SEMENE in the Tisbury charter (K. 641), and now called Sem. Standlynch (S.S.E. of Salisbury). E says A.S. HLINC means "rising ground," or "ridge." It never means anything of the kind in the charters. It always means a "lynch," i.e., a ledge formed on a slope by the use of the plough. Stoford (in N. Newington). E.'s explanation, STOW FORD, ought to be right. But I must mention that the STANFORD, "Stone ford," of the Newington charter of the Wilton Cartulary (Dugdale, Mon. II., p. 325,) was almost certainly at this place. Dr. Bradley says:-"If Stoford |