In Burnhope, a lead-mine in 1666 was called Hesley Gill—the hazel gill. In Witton Gill we may have a very important place-name, for here may be the gill of the witness—the spot where the inhabitants met, similar to the meetings held in primitive times at particular stones. Leo says: "By the names Wittan-ig, Wittan-mor, Wittan-mær, and Readan-stan, we are informed of those national and provincial meetings for self-government which have always characterized our race." Anglo-Saxon witan, to know; Icelandic vita; German wissen, to know. The Witena gemot Bosworth explains as "the assembly of the wise, the supreme council of the nation." Edred the Saxon King held a witan at Ginge, in the parish of West Hendred, Berks, and there is a Witan Dyke at Worthe in Hants, whilst in our valley there is the village of Witton-le-Wear. Mirke Gill in Bolihope is the dark gill from the Anglo-Saxon myrc, Icelandic myrk, dark. It is curious to notice how the Danish and Saxon cleugh, the Norwegian gill, and the Anglo-Saxon burn, are intermixed in Rogerley-Gill-Burn, Willowgreen-Burn-Gill, and Stock-Gill-Cleugh; but such are many names of places, for if the term burn was not understood by a Norwegian settler, he would add his own term, gill; if this was not sufficiently clear to a Saxon, burn would be added to convey his own meaning of a mountain-stream, and in a similar manner the various races of mankind have stratified and built one upon another the various components of place-names which are ethnological and historical landmarks too invaluable not to be closely investigated.
Sike or syke is a very common local name. It is from Anglo-Saxon sic, sich, Icelandic sikje, Norse siki. Sullivan says a sike is the drainage of a marsh, and that all sikes were once marshes. Natural productions have given names to several sikes, as the marshy hollows were the homes of trees, grasses, and animals; hence we have Rowantree Sike, where there is an excellent ironstone mine; Saugh Sike, two Aller Sikes, Rushy Sike, Bents Sike, Moss Sike, and Birk Sike. Where we find trees we find birds, so we have Hawk Sike, Hawk Sikes near Stanhope, and Snipe Sike. Todd Sike is where the fox haunted, and Goat Sike wants no explanation. Chisholm Sike, Anglo-Saxon ceosel, ceosl, gravel, sand, the sike by the gravelly or sandy holm. In Teesdale there is a Whey Sike, in Burnhope a Whoe Sike, and in Ireshope a Hoe Sike. In Middlehope there is Scar Sike, the sike of the rock. Anglo-Saxon carr, Danish skær, Swedish skar, a projecting or prominent rock, a cliff—as Scarborough, Scarthwaite, Scarcliff, and Scarsdale, written in Doomsday Book, Scarnesdele. At Middleton on the Tees there is a place called Skears, and scarr, skarr, skire, are forms found in place-names. Whetstone Sike is where the whetstone sill is exposed.
A linn is a deep or still pool, from the Celtic llyn, water, a lake, flood; Anglo-Saxon hlynna, a brook. In the North of England, however, a linn is understood to be a cascade or cataract, evidently owing to the waterfall being a more attractive feature in a river scene than the linn or pool, which is always found at the bottom of a fall. In Scotland a lin, lyn, is described as a cataract, and in a secondary sense the pool below. In Ireland lin is a pool; and the Icelandic form of the word is lind. The most attractive linns in Weardale are Linnkirk, on Shittlehope Burn, near Stanhope—a romantic spot where there is a tiny waterfall and a cave close by in the great limestone; the Dunter Linn and Holm Linn at Eastgate; and the Linny—a waterfall on the Harthope Burn, near St. John’s Chapel. The Danish dundre is to make a noise like thunder, and the Scotch dunder has the same meaning. The Saxon Donar is the god of thunder, hence Dunter Linn is that which makes a great noise.
Kern is from the Anglo-Saxon cyrn, cyrin, cerene; Danish kjerne, a churn; Icelandic kirna; Scottish kirn. The primary meaning appears to be to turn, the act of turning, allied to quern, the ancient mills for grinding corn. Kern-holes, found in the bed of rivers, are holes worn out by the churning motion of water mixed with sand. On Chapel Fell there is a watery hole called Jackson’s Kern, owing to one Jackson being accidentally drowned in it whilst coming from Middleton; but this might be cairn, a heap of stones. In Burnhope Burn, at Six-dargue, a deep hole in the stream is called Kern Pool.
Pool, Anglo-Saxon pol, Welsh pwll, Icelandic pollr. There are in the Wear and its tributaries a large number of pools which have names. Holm Pool is the pool by the holm, and Wash Pool very probably was a place where the good wives washed their linen in the days when spinning, weaving, and various other methods of manufacturing household requisites were in full operation. Winn Pool, from the Anglo-Saxon winn, gewin, contest, struggle, to win—the pool where the meeting of the waters cause a fight, and struggle, as it were, to win.
The eale and ealand are our isle and island, and are the names given in Weardale to alluvial land on the margins of the main river. In the river and place-names Greta, Ea, Eamont, Batters-ea, Aldern-ey, Pont-eland, ea or a represents water or a river. Bishop Egelwin, 1069, "after having, with all his people, passed three months and some days at Ealande, returned to the church of Durham," according to the Saxon writers. In the Boldon Buke we find in a charter of Bishop Flambard—“R. Biscop greteth well all his thanes and drenghs of Ealandscire and Norhamscire." In Wolsingham parish we find in Hatfield’s Survey, Papworth-ell, Small-eys, and in the same record Catherine of the Ele is mentioned. The names of places containing the Anglo-Saxon root ea, in the parish of Stanhope, are about a dozen.
In 1380, according to Hatfield, the parson of Stanhope held the Frith, and a place parcellum del Ele, containing one acre. In 1608, in a list of lands held by the rector of Stanhope, we find "one close called ‘The Parson Ele.’" A few hundreds of yards eastward, just below the Butts, we have Bond Eale, a stretch of land subject to be flooded, and formerly held by bond tenants, who had to perform services in connection with the land, such as thatching and carrying the running gear for Stanhope corn-mill.
Thomas Morgan, by will dated 1641, left for charitable purposes amongst other lands: "One parcel of arable ground in ye said Frosterley lying and being at ye west end of ye same town in a place there called Hudse Eale, and one acre and a rood of ground lying and being in ye said Frosterley in a place called ye Mille Eale, and all other my lands and tenements with ye said appurtenances in Frosterley aforesad—Barnes Eale—excepted."
A mile and a half west of Eastgate we have, between Hunterley Well and Parkhouse Pasture, the interesting Cammock Eale, locally called "Cammo Keel," for the derivation of which we have the adjectival component from the Celtic cam, crooked, and the ending og, diminutive, Celtic ock—hence the little crooked isle.
Holm is akin to ealand. Taylor says: "The suffix in the name Durham is properly not the Saxon ham, but the Norse holm; and Dunelm—the signature of the Bishop—reminds us also that the Celtic prefix is Dun, a hill-fort, and not Dur, water. In the Saxon Chronicle the name is correctly written Dunholm." Holm is also Anglo-Saxon, and is described by Bosworth as "a river island, a green plot of ground environed with water—hence holmes."