Seat, Anglo-Saxon set, a sitting; sæta, settlers, inhabitants. The root sæte, set, or seta, enters into several names of places in England, some of which are county towns, as Dorset, Somerset; Old Norse setr, a seat. The Norwegian seter is a pasture or mountain-side—Burnhope Seat, Dora’s Seat, and Raven’s Seat. One was the settlement of a person named Raven, or Rafn; the other that of Dora, or Dore. In 1614 we find Dorry Sette. Bishop’s Seat was the place where the lords of the Bishopric settled when hunting in Weardale Forest. Another name is Laverock Seat, evidently Leofric’s Seat, modernized into Lark-seat.
Head, Anglo-Saxon head, heafod, a head. In a district full of undulating lands and small valleys there are several places deriving their names from being the top or head, or finished part of something, as Lanehead, Wearhead, Dalehead, Sidehead, Nag’s Head, Lamb’s Head, and others.
Rig, rigg, Anglo-Saxon rig, hrycg, and various other forms; Danish ryg; Icelandic hriggr, a ridge, a back. Stangend Rigg is 2,075 feet above sea-level.
Plain and pike are sufficiently expressive—the one a broad stretch of land, and the other a peak or pointed eminence. Five Pikes are near Paw Law Pike, a south-eastern boundary point on the hills. Ireshope Plains is a euphonious name; and Bewdley Plain, Sedling Plain, Outberry Plain, may be mentioned in the list.
Moor, fell, common, are well-known terms. Anglo-Saxon mor is waste-land, a moor, a heath; Danish mor is a moor, or morass; we have Killhope, Burnhope, and Wellhope Moors. Fell is Old Norse. All the Weardale moorlands are called fells. Chapel Fell is 2,294 feet above sea-level; A common is a tract of unenclosed pasture or outside land on which the tenantry of the inlands have a common right, or right of common for their sheep.
Bank, band, brae, and brow, are common in place-names, as Brook Bank, Owsen Bands, Whitfield Brow, etc. Batts, low, flat ground near water; Anglo-Saxon bæth, a bath, land subject to be soaked with water. Berry, as Knoutberry Hill, Bleaberry, and Snodberry, are from the Anglo-Saxon beorg, beorh, a hill. Cut, cove, as Cove’s Houses; crooks, as Milncrook, Seggecrok, Crawcrook, are found. Also end, as Hill End; and edge, as White Edge, Band Edge. Flat, green, and ground, are also found in several place-names, as Barnflat, Willow Green, and Trodden Ground. In the Boldon Buke we have Pelhou, Quesshow, and Dunhow, from haw, Anglo-Saxon hæge, a hedge.
Haugh is a common name in Northumberland for low-lying grounds close to rivers. It is frequently met with on the Tyne, but it is not so common on the Wear. Worsaae returns haugh in no other county than Northumberland, to which he ascribes ten, the haugh, or how, being given as the Scandinavian haugh, a hill; but the haugh of the Borderland is low-lying and sheltered meadow-land close to the winding rivers. In 1380, at Stanhope, there was a Castle Hogh, known as the Castle Haugh until within fifty years ago. There is a haugh at Softly, and a haughing-gate at Eastgate. There are various haughs in and about Blanchland, and it might appear that Weardale, where it is very rare, formed the southern boundary. But there are, however, three haughs in the West Riding.
Hooks, height, hole, and howl. We have Fairy Holes—caves in the limestone—Foxholes, Brockholes, and Catholes, as names of places; Hole House, Clay Holes, and many others. Cuthbert Heights is from St. Cuthbert. Knot, loc, lake, land, as the Knotts, the Locks, Cocklake, and the Lands. Mea, Welsh maes, Erse magh—a plan—is very common in the Durham dales. In Teesdale there is Flushy Mea, Sow Mea; and, in Weardale, Broad Mea, Mea Sike, Pitty Mea, Rimea, and others. Mound, moss, nook, rake, pit, and pot, occur in many names.
Side, a Saxon word, Icelandic sida, the edge, a hillside, enters into a number of names of places, as Fell Side, Kirk Side, with siders, as Cuthbert Siders; and also sedeing, a sideling or sloping. Slack, spot, wick, wham, clints, crag, carr, scar, are amongst other words forming place-names.
Habitations and enclosures have their special names.