Place-Name and Archaeological Evidence for Anglo-Saxon and Viking Settlement in the East Midlands - page 3
Keywords: Nottinghamshire, Derbyshire, Lincolnshire, East Midlands, Anglo-Saxon Settlement, History, Anglo-Saxons, Anglo Saxons, Vikings, Place-Names, Archaeology, Place Names, Nomenclature, Onomastics
By elliot5200 on 18/02/2007
Level: Bachelor Honours Degree (BA, BEng, BSc etc)
Page Number: 3 of 6 pages: 1 2 3 4 5 6
Anglo-Saxon barrow burials from the seventh century to the north of the Trent. The little Anglo-Saxon evidence, together with this distribution, suggests that this settlement was not by a mass movement. Instead, there was a gradual movement from the south and south east, into South Nottinghamshire and the Trent Valley.
Field walking in Sherwood Sandstones and areas in the Trent Valley, such as South Muskham has demonstrated very little early and middle Anglo-Saxon material, however. The little settlement evidence indicates that the early and middle Anglo-Saxons did not significantly transform the landscape. There is also no evidence that prehistoric fortifications were reoccupied when the Anglo-Saxons arrived. Instead, it appears that settlement was mainly scattered across re-organised Roman landscapes. This supports Cox as towns with early place-names such as Nottingham are believed to have been previously occupied by the Romans, indicating that the Anglo-Saxons were more attracted to ready-established settlements with attractive features such as fertile soil, rather than finding virgin land, which they would have to build up themselves.
The –ton elements and personal names which started to become apparent in the place-name elements in the eighth and ninth centuries could be evidence of settlements growing and starting to develop. This development of Anglo-Saxon settlements is apparent in the middle Anglo-Saxon settlement at Girton, which does not appear to have been occupied in the late Anglo-Saxon period. It has been suggested that perhaps its occupants had moved to the modern village on the other side of a stream.
Like Nottinghamshire, archaeological evidence in Derbyshire indicates a late Anglo-Saxon arrival with very little evidence before the seventh century barrows such as Benty Grange and Borrowash. Stafford (1985) notes however, that the Roman exploitation of the rich mineral deposits in Derbyshire and the situation of the Hurdlow and Galley Low barrows close to the Roman road from Derby to Buxton should have attracted the Anglo-Saxons earlier. This is supported by the fact that the majority of Derbyshire’s archaeological records are from poor nineteenth century excavations and although noble barrow burials are recorded, many peasant burials could have gone unrecorded. Thus, the date of the arrival of the Anglo-Saxons in Derbyshire is still inconclusive.
Grimston hybrids generally represented the first stage of the Scandinavian colonisation. Cameron (1996) notes that the place-names are usually located in the valleys of major rivers, such as the Trent, where the –by place-names are absent. With regard to geographical
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