Place-Name and Archaeological Evidence for Anglo-Saxon and Viking Settlement in the East Midlands - page 4
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: 4 of 6 pages: 1 2 3 4 5 6
location, it has been noted that these hybrids are rarely found in areas where locations in bý cluster together, and that they generally intermingle with English place-name settlements. It has, therefore, been suggested (e.g. Cameron, 1971; Fellows-Jensen, 1972) that these hybrids are in fact English settlements that were taken over by the Vikings and renamed. In the Trent valley, the hybrids are usually earlier villages that were taken over and partially renamed by the Scandinavians. This is supported by Stenton, who suggests that the Grimston hybrids were English villages ‘acquired by a Danish owner when the Great Army of the Danes divided out the land which it had chosen for settlement.’
Morris (1982) supports a notion of coexistence, claiming that the retention of the Old English element –ton in many towns in the East Midlands, suggests that the existing Anglo-Saxons ‘lived on undisturbed’ when the Danes arrived. This is supported by the fact that to the west of Car Dyke, Lincolnshire, despite the concentration of Viking place-names, there is much evidence of pre-ninth century settlement. This indicates a Scandinavian take-over from Anglo-Saxon rule, accepting their existing framework, rather than completely replacing it with their own.
Cameron (1996) suggests that the –by places-names were formed in the second stage of Scandinavian settlement. They were near tributary valleys and streams, usually with sandy soils. With the Scandinavian colonisation and expansion, the number of these -by names grew and also gave life to many –thorpe names. Unlike counties in the East Midlands further east such as Lincolnshire, where medieval records demonstrate at least 82 –by place-names and only seven –tun place-names, Nottinghamshire and Derbyshire have a relatively high number of Grimston hybrids compared to ¬–by place-names.
In Nottingham, Scandinavian settlements tend to be found less in the Trent valley than in its tributaries and many are concentrated in the less attractive areas in the north of Sherwood Forest. In Derbyshire, the majority of the -by are located around its border with Nottinghamshire and Leicestershire, where Appleby, Ashby de la Zouch and Blackfordby are found. This cluster of ¬–by ¬names indicates a compact Scandinavian colony here. Stafford (1985) claims that ‘Many of these names seem to occur on poorer soils, on intractable boulder clay rather than easily-worked gravel terraces; they are close to river-and sea-borne routes of access, but out of the major river valleys, on tributaries.’ She points out that these unattractive settlement areas
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