Place-Name and Archaeological Evidence for Anglo-Saxon and Viking Settlement in the East Midlands - page 6
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: 6 of 6 pages: 1 2 3 4 5 6
were being incorporated into the East Midland dialect. Thus Stafford (1985) argues that whilst place-names ‘may indicate the role of the Vikings, as new lords purchasing or taking land…they clearly do not indicate numbers and density of Viking settlement.’
In conclusion, evidence indicates that the areas of early pagan burial sites, usually with -ham place-names were the Anglo-Saxons’ primary settlements, whilst the -inga and -ingas place-names represented their secondary settlements. Most evidence also suggests that both the Vikings and Anglo-Saxons shared a preference for forming their early settlements on previously settled land. The archetypal image of Vikings as hostile invaders, clearing out land and naming new villages is an exaggeration in Nottinghamshire and Derbyshire. In the East Midlands, English place-names are undoubtedly more common. There are very few recorded examples of the Vikings taking over English settlements and renaming them. This is supported by Cameron (1971) who suggests that ‘there was a much larger English than Danish element in the racial complex of these districts’ when the settlements were named. This is because, as Stafford (1985) suggests, ‘The existing [Anglo-Saxon] population was too dense, the existing cultural, social and economic structures too coherent, the new settlements too small to produce a major change’.
Bibliography
Cameron, Kenneth 1996. English Place-Names. London: B T Batsford Ltd
Cox, Barrie 1973. ‘The significance of the distribution of English place-names in -ham in the Midlands and East Anglia.’ English Place-Name Society Journal 5, 15-73;
Kuurman, Joost. 1975. ‘An Examination of the -ingas, -inga Place-names in the East Midlands.’ English Place-Name Society Journal 7, 11-44;
Reaney, P. 1960. The Origin of English Place-Names. London: Routledge and Kegan Paul
Stafford, Pauline 1985. The East Midlands in the Early Middle Ages. Leicester: Leicester University Press;
Unwin, P. 1982. ‘The Anglo-Saxon and Scandinavian Occupation of Nottingham and Derbyshire.’ English Place-Name Society Journal 14, 1-31;
Yorkshire Dialect: website at http://www.yorksj.ac.uk/dialect
Accessed on 2/1/07;
Anglo-Saxon Nottinghamshire: website at http://www.le.ac.uk/archaeology/research/projects/eastmidsfw/pdfs/30nottas.pdf
Accessed on 3/1/07.
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