Apologies to EPNL for broadcasting a personal reply!
Richard
------------------------------------------------------------------------
--
Richard Coates
Professor of Linguistics ~ Professor of Onomastics and
Director of the Bristol Centre for Linguistics at UWE
Hon. Director, Survey of English Place-Names
(w: http://www.nottingham.ac.uk/english/ins/epns/)
Secretary, International Council of Onomastic Sciences
(w: http://www.icosweb.net/)
Contact details:
e: [log in to unmask]
t: +44 (0)117 328 3278 (internal 83278)
f: +44 (0)117 328 2295
h: Room 5E26
Dept of Languages, Linguistics and Area Studies
University of the West of England (Frenchay campus)
Bristol BS16 1QY, UK
w: http://www.uwe.ac.uk/hlss/llas/staff_coates_r.shtml
-----Original Message-----
From: Richard Coates
Sent: 11 December 2007 10:57
To: 'The English Place-Name List'
Subject: RE: [EPNL] Muck
Richard,
Thank you for this fascinating reply. I have to admit that the main
reason for my asking was not so much Quidhampton as my home suburb of
Shirehampton (medieval Shernyhampton 'dungy Hampton'). This is the only
case of _sherny_ that I know of, but _cwead_ appears in Quidhampton (W,
Ha), Quadring (L), Quither and Quoditch (D).
I had certainly concluded, like you, that names of this kind need not be
derogatory, though Watts in CDEPN implies, probably correctly, that they
may have been considered so by Tudor times (where they were still
transparent as probably in the case of Shirehampton).
Many thanks again. Am in the middle of your MV book right now.
Hope you're keeping well and not pining for Sx!
Richard
------------------------------------------------------------------------
--
Richard Coates
Professor of Linguistics ~ Professor of Onomastics and Director of the
Bristol Centre for Linguistics at UWE
Hon. Director, Survey of English Place-Names
(w: http://www.nottingham.ac.uk/english/ins/epns/)
Secretary, International Council of Onomastic Sciences
(w: http://www.icosweb.net/)
Contact details:
e: [log in to unmask]
t: +44 (0)117 328 3278 (internal 83278)
f: +44 (0)117 328 2295
h: Room 5E26
Dept of Languages, Linguistics and Area Studies
University of the West of England (Frenchay campus)
Bristol BS16 1QY, UK
w: http://www.uwe.ac.uk/hlss/llas/staff_coates_r.shtml
-----Original Message-----
From: The English Place-Name List [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf
Of Richard Jones
Sent: 11 December 2007 10:49
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: [EPNL] Muck
Richard
I have not come across any instances where land is held for a render of
dung. On the other hand, we do get an impression of how important dung
was in Anglo-Saxon society by the fact that it is mentioned in the
Rectitudines Singlarum Personarum, the Gerefa, and Aelfric's Colloquy.
Of these references, the first is perhaps the most interesting since it
notes the entitlement of a shepherd to have 'twelve nights' dung at
Christmas' from his lord's fields (a significant perk of the job).
Generally, I think we must assume that whilst those in authority had
access to dung through higher stock numbers, those required to render
payments in kind cannot have drawn on substantial manure supplies.
The Laws of Hywel Dda, parts dating to AD942-9 provide rather enigmatic
instructions regarding ploughing and manure as follows
A fallow, two years it is to be ploughed. Rotten-dung truly the same.
Ley-land, truly the same. Yard-dung, three years it is to be ploughed.
Car-dung, four years it is to be ploughed. Woodland, truly the same.
Manured fallow, four years also.
Here then we see the quality of manure being assessed and ranked, and
whilst a Welsh example, show farmers and estate managers of the early
medieval period to be concerned about dungs of different types and their
utility. The curation of this manure is also clear from these laws. It
lays down for instance that 'the wife of a taeog can give nothing but
her head gear; and lend only her sieve, and that as far as her voice can
be heard from the dung-hill, requesting its return.'
Which brings us on to the subject of muckheaps as boundary markers in
Anglo-Saxon charters; where mentioned they tend to be described as old
(i.e. that manure has accumulated, year on year its spreading has not
kept apace with its production). And we might consider why these
features in the landscape have been place apparently so far from their
source, and we might consider the labour involved in its movement and
the subsquent failure to make use of it. I am grappling with what all
this means at the moment!
I acknowledge that I have failed to answer your question directly. On
the other hand, I think that we can assume that dung was important in
the Anglo-Saxon period, that attitudes to this dung are not the same as
those that we now hold (the Normans I think had different attitudes to
dung hence the santising of names such as Belgrave, Leics).
Anglo-Saxons were very comfortable with the stuff, hence their
willingness to associate their settlements with dung such as the meox
names like Mixbury, Oxon. There is a general context, therefore, for
Quidhampton - to have dung as a place specifier would not have been
considered either unusual or derogative.
Are there any other possible place-names using cwead?
Richard
Dr Richard Jones
Centre for English Local History
5 Salisbury Road
LEICESTER
LE1 7QR
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