Etymology.
Not only should the etymology of the name of the parish be carefully considered, and its various forms of spelling be collected, from Domesday Book downwards, but a list should be made of the whole of the names of the physical features, such as hills, streams, and lanes, and especially of the field-names. Field-names—which will often establish the sites of disused chapels or manor-houses, of Celtic burials or Roman roads, as well as help to decide the nationality of the colonists that predominated in the district—can be sometimes gleaned from old private estate maps, or other exceptional sources, but the “Award” maps of Inclosure Commissioners from 1710 downwards, or the Tithe Commutation maps of 1836, are the chief and most reliable sources. These maps should be in most parish chests, but they have often illegally strayed into the private hands of solicitors, churchwardens, etc. When lost or difficult of access, the original maps can usually be seen at the offices of the Copyhold Inclosure and Tithe Commission, 3, St. James’s Square, on payment of 2s. 6d.; but under certain Acts the originals will be found, or rather ought to be found and to be accessible, at the Clerk of the Peace’s office for the county.
The best hand-books on local etymology are—Taylor’s “Words and Places,” and Edmund’s “Names of Places.” Leo on “The Local Nomenclature of the Anglo-Saxons,” Charnock’s “Local Etymology and Derivative Dictionary,” and Ferguson’s “River Names,” and “Teutonic Name System” may also be consulted with advantage.
