Dear all,
David Parsons, Paul Cullen (Institute of Name Studies) and I are working
on the knotty issue of thorps and throps, e.g. Scunthorpe (Lincs) or
Althrop (Northants). What were these settlements? Did they have a
specific function? Can they be differentiated from settlements in -by
etc.? Do they form a coherent group? Were contemporaries seeing
something particular in their form or their landscape position which
dictated that they took the discriptive term -thorp or -throp? We would
be very interested to learn of any work being carried out in areas which
contain thorps or throps, especially any archaeological investigation of
their historic cores or more extensive field survey around them. Please
reply to the list, since I am sure that this subject will be of interest
to many who are subscribed.
Richard Jones
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