Place Names in Kent

by J. W. Horsley

Our “Hams.”

In considering the three score and ten, or more, place-names in Kent which end in ham, we are met with the initial difficulty that there are two Saxon words Ham—home, and Hamm—land drained by dykes, an East Friesian word, though the far more common Ham is the Teutonic heim, familiar as a suffix in Germany, which in Picardy becomes hen, and in Friesland um. Either ton or ham as a suffix after ing denotes where a Saxon family or clan had settled and made its toun or heim. Thus the Pæfings made a Pevington in Kent and a Pavingham in Bedfordshire, and the Aldings an Aldington in Kent and Worcester, and an Aldingham in Lancashire, the Leasings a Lossingham in Kent and a Lissington in Lancashire. Such instances do not uphold what some have held—that there were two words spelled the same, the one meaning home and the other an enclosure.

As to the Hamm or Haam for marshy ground, it would seem to be found in Kent as accounting for Ham Ponds, near Sandwich, marshy ground dear to botanists, and Mersham (A.S. Mersc—marsh) in Romney, and Merston (Merxton in 74), near Rochester. Ham Green and Ham Street are also Romney Marsh names. Waterham and Wetham would suggest the same origin, the latter being in the Rainham marshes and the former, I think, not far from the Faversham marshes. Dagenham also (as elsewhere) is Decca’s marsh land. But the ordinary hams, as we may call them, have again to be subdivided into those which indicate the settlement of a Saxon family; those which enshrine a personal name; and those which relate to the environment or situation of the home.

In the first division would came the cases in which ham followed the patronymic ing, denoting “the sons of.” Thus Gillingham (Gelingham in Domesday) was the settlement of the Gillings, who are also found at Gilling in Yorkshire, Gillingham in Norfolk, and Gillingham in Dorset. The home of the Mottings was at Mottingham, and that of the Leasings at Lossenham. Our Chilham would not at first sight seem to come in here; but in a charter of King Wihdraed in 699 it is called “Cilling,” and in another of 814 “the port which is called Cillincg” (the Stour was then navigable up to here for small craft), and a manor in Chilham is Shillingfield, so that a connection with the Gillings may be suggested. Farningham might seem prima facie to add another to this unexpectedly small class; but there is no known tribe of Farnings, and the old name was Fremyngham (again with no tribe name to support it). It has been suggested that it derives from the A.S. Frem or foreign, and denotes a settlement of foreigners (possibly Danes) coming from the Thames up the Darenth valley.

In the second division we might place any hams recording the personal names of those who founded them. Here Isaac Taylor may err in saying: “In the Anglo-Saxon charters we frequently find this suffix united with the names of families—never with those of individuals.” In this he follows Leo in his Anglo Saxon Names. And yet on another page (compare p. 331 with p. 131) he gives a list of places derived from the names of individuals. But certainly Godmersham and Rodmersham suggest personal names, and no one has ascribed any other origin to Harrietsham, which, even down to the fifteenth century, appears as Heryotesham. In one probably illiterate will of 1594 it is called “Henry Etisham alias Harrysam,” the latter being no doubt the vernacular pronunciation. So surely Meopham is Mepa’s Home. No letter o appeared in the name before or during the 14th century, when Simon de Mepham was Archbishop of Canterbury. It is a modern intrusion, left unpronounced. Icelham, McClure gives as meaning the Home of Icel, like Icelsham in Sussex, thus contravening the dictum of Taylor and Leo as to personal names. So Offham, and probably Otham, is said by the learned Sussex Place-Names to be named after King Offa, who had such power and made such great benefactions to the Church in Sussex and Kent. Finglesham, called Flenguessa in Domesday and Fengesham in 1206, suggests a person rather than a family when the common ing is not then found in the name, and so does Wittersham, especially in its old forms of Westricheshamme and Witrychesham. Faversham was Febres-ham in 811 (Charters and Rolls), and Febresham in 858. In Domesday (1086) it appears as Faversham, and as to this McClure, a great recent authority in Saxon, says: “The first element is a personal name in the genitive.” As, however, there seems to be no similar Saxon designation, he suggests a possible survival of the Latin Faber, i.e., Smith, in a thoroughly Latinized part of Kent. But this pre-supposes that the place was named from a single unnamed operative. Betsham is obscure, but when we find, also in Kent, Betshurst and Betteshanger, a personal origin seems likely. As McClure says, our Luddesdown seems to involve a personal name; he might say the same of Luddenham.

The third division introduces us to settlements or homes named from their environment or situation. Thus Higham (Heahhaam in a charter of 770, and Hehham in one of 774), is plainly from the A.S. Heah, whence our High; and so is Hougham (earlier Hugham), near Dover. Burham is the fortified place or Burh, found in 1498 as Borowham, in 1511 as Borougham, and in 1549 in its present form. Homes between Rochester and Aylesford had to be strong in the days and the place of constant maraudings and wars. Mersham is the Mersc home in Romney Marsh. Westerham, of old Ostreham (compare Westenhanger alias Ostringhanger) is the little white “home in the west” of Kent. Ickham—Ioccham in a charter of 785, in Andrededa—otherwise Yeckham, is probably the settlement on the yoke of arable land, from the Saxon measure Yeok. Chartham (Certeham in Domesday) is the home in the forest, chart and hart being varying forms of the Teutonic word for forest, the former more common in England, the latter in Germany. Perhamsted, says McClure, is the homestead where pears were cultivated. Thornham (though Turnham in Domesday) is said to derive from Hawthorns, Thynne being Saxon for thorn, and haegathorn later for hedge-thorn—whence also probably our Kentish Eythorne (anciently Hegythe Thorne), and Eyhorne (Haythorne in Plea of Henry III.), as place-names. Weald, Wold, Wald, and Wood (A.S., Wudu and Weald), all mean woods, so that we can understand our Wouldham and Waltham. Lenham must be the settlement of the Len, unless it could be proved that the river ever had another name, Celtic as it probably is.

The following is a full list of the “Hams” in Kent according to Kelly’s Directory of Kent, and I have extracted them in the hope that it may save some trouble to a future writer on our place-names. I am not of the class of those who say: “Posterity has done nothing for me, so why should I do anything for posterity?”

Adisham, Alkham, Barham, Bagham, Beckenham, Burham, Bentham, Betsham, Bayham, Cudham, Cobham, Clapham, Chatham, Chartham, Chilham, Crowdleham, Crockham, Dagenham, Eltham, Elham, Fawkham, Faversham, Farningham, Finglesham, Frogham, Godmersham, Gillingham, Ham ponds, Ham Green (two), Ham Hill, Ham Street, Heverham, Ham, Harrietsham, Hougham, Higham, Horsham, Ickham, Ightham, Lenham, Luddenham, Lossenham, Meopham, Mersham, Mongeham, Mottingham, Newnham, Offham, Otham, Otterham, Petham, Peckham, Rayham, Rainham, Rodmersham, Sydenham, Shoreham, Teynham, Thornham, Waltham, Waterham, Wetham, Wickham, Wickhambreux, Westerham, Wrotham, Wingham, Wittersham, Wouldham, Yaldham. Kilburne wrote that there were 49, but here I enumerate 71, and one might add Perhamsted, Iselham, Freckenham, Mistelham, and the Hundreds of Kinghamford and Downhamford, making 77, all of undoubtedly Saxon origin.