Fig. 263.—Banwell Cross. From Earthwork of England (A. Hadrian Allcroft).
With this Chester Meeting may be noted Goodwood near Chichester. Chichester is in Sussex, and was anciently the seat of the Regni, a people whose name implies they were followers of re gni or Regina, but the authorities imagine that Chichester, the county town of Sussex, owes its name to a Saxon Cissa, who also bestowed his patronymic on Cissbury Ring, the famous oval entrenchment near Broadwater. At Cissbury Ring, the largest and finest on the South Downs, great numbers of Neolithic relics have been found, and the name may be connoted with Chisbury Camp near Avebury.
Near Stockport is Geecross, supposedly so named from “an ancient cross erected here by the Gee family”. Presumably that Geecross was the chi cross or the Greek chi: the British name for Chichester was Caer Kei,[482] which means the fortress of Kei, but at more modern Chichester the famous Market Cross was probably a jack, for the four main streets of Chichester still stand in the form of the jack or red rood. The curious surname Juxon is intimately connected with Chichester; there is an inscription at Goodwood relating to a British ruler named Cogidumnus[483]—apparently Cogi dominus or Cogi Lord—whence it seems probable that Chichester or Chichestra (1297) was as it is to-day an assize or juges tree, or even possibly a jockey’s tre.
The adjacent Goodwood being equivalent to Jude wood, it is worthy of notice that Prof. Weekley connotes the name Judson with Juxon. His words are: “The administration of justice occupied a horde of officials from the Justice down to the Catchpole.[484] The official title Judge is rarely found, and this surname is usually from the female name Judge, which like Jug was used for Judith and later for Jane.
“Janette, Judge, Jennie; a woman’s name (Cotgrave). The names Judson and Juxon sometimes belong to these.”[485]
The word Chester is probably the same as the neighbouring place-name Goostrey-cum-Barnshaw in Cheshire, and the Barn shaw or Barn hill here connected with Goostrey may be connoted with Loch Goosey near Barhill in Ayrshire.
Chi or Jou, who may be equated with the mysterious but important St. Chei of Cornwall, was probably also once seated at Chee Dale in Derbyshire, at Chew Magna, and Chewton, as well as at the already mentioned Jews Walk and Judges Walk near London.
In Devonshire is a river Shobrook which is authoritatively explained as Old English for “brook of Sceocca, i.e., the devil, Satan! cf. Shuckburgh”: on referring we find Shuckburgh meant—“Nook and castle of the Devil, i.e., Scucca, Satan, a Demon, Evil Spirit; cf. Shugborough”. I have not pursued any inquiries at Shugborough, but it is quite likely that the Saxons regarded the British Shug or Shuck with disfavour: there is little doubt he was closely related to “Old Shock,” the phantom-dog, and the equally unpopular “Jack up the Orchard”. In some parts of England Royal Oak Day is known as Shick Shack Day,[486] and in Surrey children play a game of giant’s stride, known as Merritot or Shuggy Shaw.[487]
Merrie Tot was probably once Merrie Tod or Tad, and Shuggy Shaw may reasonably be modernised as Shaggy Jew or Shaggy Joy. It will be remembered that the Wandering Jew, alias Elijah, wore a shag gown (ante, [p. 148]): this shagginess no doubt typified the radiating beams of the Sun-god, and it may be connoted with the shaggy raiment and long hair of John the Baptist. As shaggy Pan, “the President of the Mountains,” almost certainly gave his name to pen, meaning a hill, it may be surmised that shaw, meaning a wooded hill, is allied to Shuggy Shaw. The surname Bagshaw implies a place-name which originated from Bog or Bogie Shaw: but Bagshawes Cavern at Bradwell, near Buxton,[488] is suggestive of a cave or Canhole[489] attributed to Big Shaw, and the neighbouring Tideswell is agreeably reminiscent of Merrie Tot or Shuggy Shaw.