Northumbria, as of old, may be divided into two provinces in respect to its place-names—Deira, the district of the Danes, and Bernicia, the district of the Angles, the central boundary-line being the River Tees. The Norse beck and Anglo-Saxon burn distinctively mark this line between these districts in the upper reaches of the valleys of the Wear and Tees. The mountain-range from Burnhope Seat, at the western confines of Durham, eastward to Paw Law Pike, forms the south division between the parishes of Stanhope in Weardale and Middleton in Teesdale. The principal tributaries of the Tees, on the south of this ridge, are becks, whilst those on the Wear side are burns. In Weardale, at the north-western extremity, Scraith Burn and Langtay Burn contribute to Burnhope Burn. On the Tees side, rising within half a mile or so of the above burns, Ashgill Beck contributes its waters to Harewood Beck. Farther eastward we have Harthope Burn on the Weardale side, and Harthope Beck, which runs into Langdon Beck, on the Teesdale side, both streams rising on Harthope Fell, and within a few yards of each other.
Continuing eastward, we find several becks on the southern border of the county of Durham. In 1672 a Teesdale stream was named Raygill Burn, having the Celtic ray, the Norse gill, and the Saxon burn. In the adjoining parish of Wolsingham, in the Wear valley, nearly all the tributaries are named becks in the Ordnance map, but these are, with one or two exceptions, originally all burns. In an old document of Queen Elizabeth’s time we find in this parish, Wascrow Burn, Westerharehope Burn, Hadderly Clough Burn, Houselop Burn, Bradley Burn, Collier Beck and Ells Beck. There do not appear to be more than two becks in this parish, Ells Beck and Holbeck, the latter a small runner near Holbeck House, the home of the Craggs family, one of whom was the Right Hon. James Craggs, Secretary of State.
In the Wolsingham names of streams that of Wascrow is generally now called Waskerley; its real name, however, appears to be Westcrau, from crau, a crag or rock, and west; or its adjectival component might be wæs, water. Houselop is Ouselhope, the hope of the Ousel or Ouse, Welsh wysg, Erse uisge, water. Ouse is a common river name.
Having so many Anglo-Saxon names of places in the eastern part of the Bishopric of Durham, it is natural to suppose that the settled families of the Angles would send offshoots along the banks of the Wear, up into the dale where the river had its source. Wolsingham—the Saxon metropolis of Weardale, for its ancient manor included the whole of the Wear valley westward—is the ham or home of the sons or descendants of a family of Franks, represented in Kemble’s English settlement names in Wælsingas, and in the German Walasingas, a family who probably settled in the South of England and sent their sons to the North, for Durham, according to Taylor, contained no original Anglo-Saxon settlements.
East of Wolsingham but a few miles is Witton, the ton, or town of witness, Anglo-Saxon witena-gemot. North of Weardale lie Hunstanworth and Edmundbyres, so the dale of the Wear is surrounded by towns having the Anglo-Saxon suffixes, ton, ham, and worth, except the Danish byre of St. Edmund.
Along the banks of the Wear, three miles west of Wolsingham, is situated the village of Frosterley. Here early settlers appear to have had an abode on the banks of the river. The present name of the village is evidently derived from the forest or foresters of the Bishops of Durham, who resided here to manage the great forest westward, but the Scandinavian personal name, Frosti, is worthy of consideration. There appears, however, to have been a far earlier settlement here. A very small enclosure near the river-side is named Bottlingham, but not a vestige of a settlement remains, and the name of the small plot of ground is all that is now left. Bolihope, a tributary valley to the Wear, and which empties its burn into the river a hundred yards or two below the place under consideration, was called, in Bishop Bec’s time, Bothelinghopp. In these two names we have the hope and the ham of some Anglo-Saxon settlers, named Pottel, which by the law of interchange might become Bottel. Bodvulf, who died in 655, was canonized, having founded the monastery of Ikano. This saint’s relics were dispersed, hence several churches are dedicated to St. Botolph, and Bottlebridge is St. Botolph’s bridge. The old chapel at Frosterley was, according to tradition, dedicated to St. Botolph, and close to the chapel site there is Bot’s Well, a name which would appear to confirm the local tradition in respect to the dedication.
Stanhope, too, with its Anglo-Saxon initial syllable stan, a stone, and Celtic hope, had an older settlement in all probability than the present town, which takes its name from the adjoining Hope, which is full of rocks or stones. At the west end of Stanhope town there is a small stream called Allerton Burn, which gathers its waters near Allerton Riggs, lying north-west of Stanhope. The stream joins the Hope Burn, near Stanhope Hall, but where is Allerton? which is, or was, the ton or town beside the allers or alders, or more probably the enclosed place of some Saxon named Alder or Ealder, from Anglo-Saxon ald, old, and hari, warrior. The site of this place was most likely near Allerton Bridge at Stanhope Hall, and this old hall residence—the seat of the Fetherston-halghs, from the days of King Stephen—probably represents the spot which we are in search of; it occupies a tongue of land between the confluence of the Allerton and Stanhope Burns.
Seven hundred years ago, persons bearing the Saxon names of Osbert, Ethelred, Meldred, Goda, Aldred, Collan, and others, held lands at Stanhope, and did service under the Bishops of Durham.
Considering the close proximity of the principal Danish settlement in England, that of Yorkshire, it would not be surprising if an inquiry into local names of places revealed the fact that the followers of Odin’s prophetic raven had left a footprint of some value in the Durham dales. The most remarkable, if not unique, footprint of the adventurous Northmen is preserved in the word thing, pronounced ting, which in names of parishes and places points out the localities where the Vikings, in their days of rule, held their outdoor national assemblies, and promulgated their national laws.
When the daring Northmen touched the shores of England, subdued in the year 867 Northumbria, and set up Inguar, the first Danish King, as ruler, they brought with them, and implanted, their traditions and customs.