In Weardale there is a Thimbleby Hill, on the south side of the Wear, opposite Stanhope, and if the Danes were in this dale for the purpose of assembling a thing or council, this hill is the one above all others which they would have chosen. It has on the top a considerable flat, and it overlooks Stanhope Town on the north, commands a most excellent view down the valley eastward, and up the valley westward, whilst to the south lies a rising heath-covered ridge. The position of the hill would at once recommend itself to the Danes, who always took care to have their national courts held in places which would be free from surprise; and it is possible that Shield Ash represents the shealings of ash bows, erected for the accommodation of those attending the court. Stanhope is in Darlington Wapentake, which word is Danish, and each wapentake had its court or thing. Presuming that the Danes held a council at Stanhope, they do not appear to have established themselves to any extent; but, as we find the Danish toft, as in Toft Well, and a place in Bolihope, named in Hatfield’s Survey Turpenstanes, the boundary stones of Thorfinn, a Danish personal name, and that in A.D. 1183 persons holding the Scandinavian names of Russell, Thore, Arkil, and a son of Turkill, held lands at Stanhope, it would not be a matter of surprise if a Danish council did take place in Weardale, which is situated so close to the Danish district, and which was under the rule of the first Danish King in England.
One of the most striking instances of the Norwegian element in Weardale, is what was fifty or sixty years ago the "national" winter sport of the dale. This was skeeing, the national sport of Norway. Within the memory of a few of the oldest inhabitants no snowy winter passed in Weardale without this sport being practised to its full extent.
In the mountainous district of Weardale, one of the most important North of England rivers is cradled, and into this isolated highland dale the Celtic name of the Durham river has penetrated. Almost all the English rivers have retained the names given to them by the Celts, and avon, dur, esk, rhe, and don, are Celtic roots repeated, over and over again, in names of streams, not only in England, but on the Continent. In the name Nent Water, in Cumberland, we have the simple name "water," and the Cymric nant, a hollow or valley formed by water—a common name in Wales. Writers mention Nant Lle as+ the vale of Lle; Nant Gwyrfai, the vale of fresh water; Nant Frangon, the beavers’ hollow or ravine; and Pennant, the head of the valley. The little village Nenthead, on the western slope of Killhope, is the head of the valley. From the root dwr, water, and the frequently occurring Celtic gwent, an open region, comes Derwent, the name of the stream on the north of Weardale, and of various other rivers in England. The local pronunciation, however, in the district of Derwent is Darwen, which suggests dwr and gwen, the clear water.
The River Wear is formed by the joint streams of Killhope and Burnhope Burns, which meet at Wearhead village. Its course through the dale is rapid, receiving many tributaries from the hopes. On reaching Auckland it takes a north-easterly course. "And now," says Camden, "the river, as though it proposed to make an island, compasseth almost on every side the chief city of this province standing on an hill, whence the Saxons gave it the name Dunholm. For as you may gather out of Bede, they call an hill dun, and a river island holme." The Wear, which enters the sea at Sunderland, was called Vedra by Ptolemy, Wirus by Bede, and in Bishop Pudsey’s time (1153-94) the name was written Were, the same as we find in Hatfield, 1380, Holinshed 1577, and Camden 1604. The latter form is the proper modern spelling up to about the last century, when Were became Wear, the present form of the name of St. Cuthbert’s stream. Ferguson, on the authority of Pott, gives the Sanscrit ud, udon, water, from which comes the German wasser, English water, as the root of Ptolemy’s Vedra.[8] Wirus suggests the Celtic gwyrhe, rapid water. Perhaps gwy or wy, water, and garw or arw, rough, form the roots. The former root enters into the names of several rivers, as the Wye, Edwy, Elwy, and others. In all the forms of spelling the river-name of Durham the letter "r" is conspicuous. It is the principal one in arw, which enters into the names of several streams—the Ayr, Are, Aire, Arre, being variations of this widely diffused root. The Welsh rhe, rapid, with gwy, may show equal claim to notice as first mentioned—namely, gwyrhe. Omitting the initial g in the first, and the middle letter in the second, root, we have wyre.
A hope is a small opening running up to the mountain ridges as a tributary to a main stream. From the burns again branch out grains, which, fed by springs, issue from brocs. The cleugh, gill, and sike, contribute their waters generally to the burns, whilst a well may come from a dene, and empty into the main stream. The western dales of Durham are pre-eminently dales of hopes. This word is the Celtic hwpp, a slope or hollow between hills—a little dale in which a stream of water gathers. These openings at the sides of the dale may very properly be termed places of refuge, places of shelter for animals, such as the deer, and in these days we find sheep located in the various hopes, where they have their heft—a locality to which they become attached; Anglo-Saxon hæft, from the having a holding or place. The Norse hop is a place of shelter or refuge. An inquiry into the Bishop’s possessions of game in Weardale, nearly three hundred years ago, particularly mentioned forests, parks, hopes and pastures. The place-name hope is common throughout the hilly parts of Durham, Northumberland, Yorkshire, and Derbyshire. In the neighbouring parish of Wolsingham there are Harehope, Ouselhope, and Thornhope; in Allendale Swinhope, Sinderhope, Ellershope, and Mohope; the Boldon Buke records in the Bishopric, Ayleshope, Rokehope, Cazhope, Refhope, Horsleyhope, Histeshope, Baldingehope, Burnhop, and Roueleiehope; and in Teesdale we have Egleshope and Hudeshope. In Weardale we have the Hope, sometimes called Stanhope Hope, probably to distinguish it from the town of Stanhope.
In Weardale there are sixteen hopes, distinguished in name by some characteristic feature, as represented in their respective initial components.
Burnhope and Killhope, with Wellhope, are the three vales which contribute their streams to form the Wear at Wearhead. The initial components burn, kil and wel, are all Anglo-Saxon, meaning water, and have been given according to the custom of the early settlers. From the head of the River Wear, the hopes, striking into the hills encircling the head of the dale, are those out of which come water. Burnhope is the hope of the burn, Anglo-Saxon burne, a stream; Killhope is from Anglo-Saxon keld, a fountain; we have also Icelandic keld, Danish kilde, Norse kill, a fountain or brook; Wellhope from Anglo-Saxon wyl, wel, a well or fountain—hence they are all the hopes of water. Kil is the Scotch and Irish word denoting a church, and if the situation had been favourable, and had there been any evidence of a St. Godric having been located here, as at Wolsingham, we might have had the hope of the kil, kirk, or church, but in Camden we find Kelhop and Welhop. Leland, at an earlier date, gives Kelhope and Welhop, and Holinshed Kellop. Brocket says keld is a word used in Yorkshire, Westmorland, and Cumberland, for a well or spring. Taylor gives kell and well as synonymous terms for a place from whence water flows. We read in Simeon of Durham of the Scots, in A.D. 1070, having marched through Cumberland and devastated Teesdale and the parts bordering; then they came to the place called in English, Hundredeskelde—that is, "the hundred springs." Barnard Castle water-supply comes from a place called Spring Keld.
One of the Bishopric knights at the Battle of Lewis was Sir Henry Merley, of Herkeld, in Witton; and Besanskeldes is a Boldon Buke place-name. We thus have, at the western confines of the county of Durham, the hopes of water, and which pour forth their streams to form the main river of the historic county of Durham.
Ireshope, Middlehope, and Westernhope, derive their initial components from their position. Middlehope occupies a central position in the forest. The first tributary burn to the Wear after its formation is, of course, the most western one, Ireshope, from Erse iar, the west. Snowhope, sheltered under the southern hills, retains patches of its winter covering long enough, no doubt, to have warranted its name—Snawhope, as it was formerly written, Anglo-Saxon snaw, Danish snee, German schnee, Belgic sneeuw—a name given to many mountains subject to being covered in winter, as Snafell in Iceland, Sneekoppe in Bohemia, Sneeuw Bergen at the Cape of Good Hope, Snee Hatten in Norway, Snafell in the Isle of Man, and Snowdon in Wales. In respect to Ireshope, there is the Anglo-Saxon yrfe, erfe, irfe, inheritance, from the root ar; Old English ear, earth, as the Aryan races were the tillers of the ground. There is also a root ar applied to rivers, as the Ayr, Are, and Aire: Welsh araf, gentle; Gaelic ar, slow; Celtic arw, violent—some of which might apply.
Stanhope and Rookhope are characteristic names in a district of stone and rock. In the Boldon Buke and Hatfield’s Survey we have Stanhope, Rokhop, and in the times of Bishop Beck, Stanehop, and Stanhop. The first components in these names are from Anglo-Saxon stan, German stein, Icelandic sten, Danish steen, a stone; and Gaelic roc, a mass of stone. The district is full of stones, as the many stone fences which net the whole of the inlands and the higher lands to the moors testify. From Boltsburn village the Rookhope stream runs over successive edges of limestone and freestone, and culminates in a grand display by leaping over several picturesque linns at Eastgate.