All gone - almost!

 

Before the Romans came, every farm and village, every river and hill had a name in the Ancient British language (Modern Welsh is a descendant of that language today.)

 

After the Romans left, the Anglo-Saxons began to settle in England and changed almost of all the village names to Anglo-Saxon ones.

 

In Cornwall, in Wales and in Scotland, many Ancient British names survive, but in England there are very few. And in Nottinghamshire there are only two places which include an Ancient British word.

 

Carburton, a tiny village in Sherwood Forest, has an Ancient British name which comes from 'cair' meaning a fort' plus 'Briton' - the Britons' fort. In Anglo-Saxon times this must still have been a stronghold of Ancient Britons who continued to speak the Ancient British language. 

 

Lenton is a suburb of Nottingham. Its name is Anglo-Saxon added onto an Ancient British word. 'Tun' was the Anglo-Saxon (Old English) word for a farm or settlement. But 'len' comes from the name of the river here, the River Leen. Its name is Ancient British and simply means 'flowing'. So Lenton means Leen farm (flowing river farm).

 

River names

Across England few towns and villages have Ancient British names, but many rivers do.

The name of the River Trent is Ancient British and means 'strongly flooding'.

The River Thames is 'dark water'. 

River Avon - 'Avon' in Ancient British meant 'water', so the River Avon is the 'River Water'.

Dover Beck is a small stream in Sherwood Forest. 'Beck' is the Viking word for 'stream'; 'Dover' comes from 'dwr', the Ancient British word for 'water'. So here we have 'Water Stream'.

    

 Now this is funny  . . .

    

 Breedon on the Hill is a village in nearby Leicestershire. Its name comes from the Ancient British 'bre' meaning 'hill' plus Anglo-Saxon 'dun' meaning 'hill' with modern English 'hill'. 

So it's - 'Hill Hill on the Hill'! 

   

 

No survivors!

 

The Romans were here for 400 years and we do know some of the names of the Romans towns and fortresses. However, after the Romans left Britain in 410 AD, most of their towns were abandoned. The only placenames that have survived are based on Ancient British names.

London is a famous example. The Romans called it Londinium but this was not a Latin name; it was based on its Ancient British name (though nobody knows what that was). 

 

There are no names like this surviving in Nottinghamshire, 

but not too far away -

 

Lincoln in Roman times was an important city. Originally a military fortress, it became a 'colonia', a settlement for retired Roman soldiers: Colonia Lindum. 'Colonia' is Latin, but the word 'lindum' is not Latin - it comes from the Ancient British word for a pool.   

  

Leicester was the capital of this area in Roman times. It was called Ratae Corieltauvorum, Latin for 'fortress of Corieltauvi people', an Ancient British tribe. This name has not survived. The city is now known by the name of another British tribe, the Ligore, plus the word 'ceaster', a word the Anglo-Saxons used for a Roman military camp or fort (Latin 'castra').

 

Roman Names in Nottinghamshire - all gone  . . .

 

The names of some places in Nottinghamshire are known from Roman authors who wrote about Britain, but they are not used now. They were all Roman military sites.  

• Ad Pontem, was a Roman fort on the Fosse Way whose name in Latin meant, 'By the bridge' (over the River Trent). The site is at East Stoke near Newark.
• Crococalana was a Roman road fort also on the Fosse Way at Brough near Newark. The meaning of its name is not known.
• Margidunum, Castle Hill, another Roman fort and a town on the Fosse Way, near the East Bridgford exit on the A46. Nobody knows the meaning of its name.
• Vernemetum, a Roman road fort near Willoughby on the Wolds, not far from Langar and also on the Fosse Way. Its name may come from the Ancient British meaning 'a sacred grove'.
• Segelocvm, was a small Roman settlement on the Roman road from Lincoln to Doncaster. The Romans made a ford across the River Trent here with paved slabs. The name is a mixture of Ancient British, 'sego' meaning strong and Latin 'locum' meaning place - the strong place. Its Anglo-Saxon name, Littleborough comes from from the Old English 'lytel burh' and means little fortified place. 

 

Strange!    Nottinghamshire's most famous Roman road is the Fosse Way. However, nobody knows its Roman name. But Fosse Way, its Anglo-Saxon name, uses the Latin word 'fossa' which means a ditch. Roman roads were cambered so that the rainwater drained off to a ditch on each side.

 

Langar 

 First written record: Langare - 

1086 in the Domesday Book

Old English (Anglo-Saxon): langa gar 

Meaning: a long triangular strip of land

Barnstone 

 First written record: Bernestune - 

1086 in the Domesday Book - 

Old English (Anglo-Saxon): Beorn's tun

Meaning: Beorn's farm (Beorn was a common Anglo-Saxon name meaning 'hero'.)

    

 

The name of the village was originally Barnston but it was spelled as Barnstone throughout the 19th century. This was corrected back to Barnston in 1888. In 1865 the Barnstone cement factory opened and they used a picture of a barn with a millstone as the company logo which appeared on their cement bags with the name Barn-stone Cement. The company managed to get the name of the village changed back to Barnstone in 1905. 

(See also Barnstone Cement Works.)

 

Bingham

First written record: 1086 in the Domesday Book - Bingeha

Old English (Anglo-Saxon): Bennings' ham

Meaning: home of the Bennings (tribe) or home of Benn's people

 

Colston Bassett

First written record: 1086 in the Domesday Book - Coleton

Old English (Anglo-Saxon): Col's tun 

Meaning: Col's farm, plus a later owner's name, Bassett; the Bassetts were a noble family after the Norman Conquest of 1066.

 

Cropwell Bishop

First written record: 1086 in the Domesday Book - Crophille

Old English (Anglo-Saxon): cropp hyll

Meaning: rounded hill.

 

Cropwell Bishop and Cropwell Butler (below) were both one manor originally, though in later Anglo-Saxon times they were divided between a number of different landowners. The hill in the name is Hoe Hill just west of Cropwell Butler, and a very small hill it is! The Anglo-Saxons used the word 'hoh' to mean a particular shape of hill; the word actually means 'heel' - a sharp hill in an otherwise flat area.

This manor was the property of the Archbishop of York - hence Cropwell 'Bishop'.

 

 

Cropwell Butler

First written record: 1086 in the Domesday Book - Crophille

Old English (Anglo-Saxon): cropp hyll

Meaning: rounded hill.

(See Cropwell Bishop above.)

 

Sometime after 1154 the wealthy Earl of Chester owned lands in this area but he gave one of his manors at Cropwell to his butler. The word 'butler' comes from the Anglo-Norman French word 'buteillier', the chief servant in charge of wine. (French 'bouteille' = 'bottle'.) The position of butler at that time would be that of a steward or agent in charge of the Earl's estates and properties. 

 

Nottingham

First written record: 868 in the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle - Snotingaha

Old English (Anglo-Saxon): Snotings' ham 

Meaning: home of the Snotings (tribe) or home of Snot's people

 

Saxondale

First written record: 1086 in the Domesday Book - Saxeden 

Old English (Anglo-Saxon): Seaxe denu

Meaning: Saxons' valley

The name was also recorded as 'Seaxe dalr' which also means Saxons' valley. 

  

The Anglo-Saxons who came to Britain were of different tribes from across Denmark, northern Germany and the Netherlands. They spoke similar languages and could understand each other, but their accents were very different. It was the Angles who settled across the Midlands - the Saxons settled further south. However, here at Saxondale a family of Saxons must have set up their farm among the Anglian people. 

 

Whatton

First written record: 1086 in the Domesday Book - Watone

Old English (Anglo-Saxon): hwaete tun

Meaning: 'wheat farm'

 

Wheat at this time was an expensive cereal crop and only for wealthy people. The poor ate barley, oats or rye. Wheat grows best on light well-drained soil and fetched a good price for farmers. 

 

 

- And a few more - 

 

• Bottesford - 'bothl ford' = 'ford by a house' - there is still a ford here a thousand years later.

After the time of the Anglo-Saxons and Vikings very few new placenames were created. Some of the French lords who were given land by King William after the Norman Conquest of 1066 gave French names to their estates.

 

Belvoir  Robert de Todeni fought alongside William the Conqueror at the Battle of Hastings and was given land in Lincolnshire. He built a castle on a high ridge of land and named it in French, Belvoir, meaning beautiful view. 

 

Colston Bassett  This is an Anglo-Saxon settlement with the surname of Ralph Bassett added. He was a wealthy Norman lord and a royal justice to King Henry I. Colston was one of many manors given to him a reward for his services to the King.

 

Holme Pierrepont  A Viking settlement on a 'holmr', higher dry land in the middle of marshy ground by a river. Pierrepont was added later and is the name of Norman family who owned the land here. The name is first recorded here in 1281.

 

Cropwell Bishop and Cropwell Butler (above) are also placenames like this with the name of a later owner added on.