The ancient history of Lynn continued—the town supposed to have been founded by a colony of foreigners, introduced by the Romans—etymology of its name—mistakes of Camden, Spelman, &c. pointed out.
The great project formed by the Romans of embanking, draining, and improving these fens and marshes, is said to have been executed by a foreign colony, [220] brought over and settled here for that purpose, but, without doubt, powerfully assisted by the natives. This colony is presumed to have been of Batavian or Belgic origin; for where could the Romans have found a people so fit for their purpose as among the inhabitants of a country that so much resembles this, and who must have been, while at home, habituated to the work in which they were here to be employed? The vicinity of those countries to this, and their then subjection to the Romans, may be considered as further corroborating this opinion. From the exposed situation of Marshland, and its lying next to the inhabited part of the country, it may very reasonably be supposed, that these colonists would begin their work there, and even on its eastern side, about where Lynn now stands: and as they would immediately want habitations, it is very natural to conclude, that the town of Old Len, or Lynn, was built for, or by them, and that they were the very people that gave it its name. These conclusions appear remarkably countenanced and supported by that very name itself; for LEN, in the Celtic (or Belgio-celtic) dialect, or language, is said to signify a Fen, Morass, or Marsh. [221] LEN, therefore, as they applied, or used the word here, might mean a town by a morass, the town in the marsh, or the chief town and mother town of Marshland and the Fens. This seems to be, by far, the most tenable and satisfactory explanation of the name of this ancient town, that has ever yet been offered or suggested.
Camden derives the name of Lynn from the British word Llyn, which signifies a lake; but circumstances do not at all support that idea. There was anciently at Lynn no very large collection of waters: its very river was inconsiderable, consisting only of the water of the Little Ouse, and the Wissey, together with that of the Nar, or Setch river, formerly called Len, and sometimes Sundringham Ea. [222a] The very harbour also, for many ages, was remarkably narrow. As to the waters below, in the roads, “It is very unlikely that the Britons should call them Llyn, (i.e. Lake,) a name which they never appear to have given to similar collections of water: but if we were to admit, that they actually gave that name to these waters, still it would seem exceedingly improbable, that this place should derive its name from thence, any more than Rising, or other towns that are situated near to the like estuaries, or arms of the sea.” Spelman’s conjectures on this point are weaker and more untenable still. He would have the name to be derived from the Saxon Læn, or Lean, signifying, as he says, a farm, or tenure in fee; but which sense, according to Hicks, is unusual: nor is it likely, as Gough has observed, that this tenure should be more particularized here than elsewhere. [222b] Equally futile is what he further advances, “that Len is Saxon for church-land; whence Ter Llen, in Welsh, is church-land:” which is most strangely confounding those two languages, as if the one had sprung from the other. Nor is it strictly true, that Ter llen in welsh means church-land, or even that there is such a welsh word in being. Tir llan might, indeed, have such a meaning, but it does not seem to be ever used in that sense. Llen or Llëen, in that language, means literature, and not church; and as an adjective, it means literary, scholastic, or clerical; whence gwyr llen, or llëen, signifies the clergy, as gwyr lleyg, or lleygion does the laity. But all this can make nothing for Spelman’s point, and it must, of course, fall to the ground.—That Lynn ever went by the name Maidenburg, from saint Margaret the virgin, seems to be another of the idle whimsies of dreaming antiquarians. Of all such dreamers none perhaps ever exceeded Parkin, the continuator of Blomefield the Norfolk historian: whenever he is at a loss for the etymology of the name of any town or village, he generally refers to the British, and pretends to explain it accordingly. Never is he more ready or flippant than when speaking of the signification of British words; of which, at the same time, he knew nothing at all.
Section IV.
Lynn the mother-town of the Fens—further account of its supposed founders and original inhabitants—remarkable works executed by them—great improvers of the country—the account continued to the extinction of the Roman power.
Lynn, as has been already suggested, was, in all probability, the very first town built by the above mentioned colonists, and so the mother town of that extensive country, which they were the means of recovering, improving, and securing from the annoyance of the salt and stagnant waters. Being their original dwelling place, it may naturally be supposed, that it would continue afterward to be their principal habitation or settlement, although in the progress of their work, and as they advanced further on, other dwellings and villages would of course be constructed and inhabited. Considering these people as originally from Belgium or Batavia, than which nothing is more likely, it may from thence be inferred, that the intercourse between Lynn and the Low Countries must have been of very early origin. Some connection or traffick between these colonists and their mother country may fairly be supposed to have commenced from their very first settlement here: so that the trade and intercourse between Lynn and the Netherlands may be concluded to be now of above seventeen hundred years standing.
Those industrious colonists seem not to have, in the least, disappointed the hopes or expectations of their employers. They appear to have carried on and executed the work with great diligence, skill, and success. It is probable, as before hinted, that they began on the eastern side of Marshland, (that being nighest the habitable or inhabited part of the country, and where also their first town or settlement would naturally be erected) and from thence extended their labours to Wisbeach, and so on to the Marshes of Holland, in Lincolnshire, and other parts of the country which they were to recover and improve. The Banks which they constructed in their progress were large, high, and firm, and such as effectually secured the country from the incursion and depredation of the sea. They are still known, in most places, and even on the eastern side of the Ouse and in the vicinity of Lynn, by the name of the Roman Banks. Nor does it appear that they were less judicious or successful in their attempts to drain and improve the parts which they had so well and effectually rescued from the Ocean’s destructive power; for by accounts handed down from ancient writers, it would seem that the country within their banks, at least a great part of it, was soon brought to an admirable state of cultivation, improvement, and fertility, like another paradise, and remained so for many ages. [225]
Even roads, of considerable length and width, appear to have been made by the same people in this new recovered and marshy country, constructed of gravel of no small depth and breadth, and formed in a most masterly manner: of which that leading from Denver to Peterborough, or rather, perhaps, to Castor, or Caister in Northamptonshire, is a most remarkable, and very striking instance. This road, according to Dugdale (as has been already observed in the Introduction) was composed of gravel, three feet deep, and sixty wide: at present, it is said to be covered with a moorish soil, from three to five feet thick. The constructing of such a road, and carrying it for so many miles, through a country almost totally destitute of gravel, stone, or any other materials proper for road-making, which must therefore have been procured from a vast distance, and with immense labour and difficulty, must have been a very extraordinary and stupendous achievement. In comparison with which, how puny are the efforts and performances of our modern adventurers, or commissioners of roads, in this flat country! A proof of this we have in the great Turnpike Road that leads from St. German’s to Wisbeach, where attempts have been making now for some years to cover it with gravel, but hitherto with no very great effect. At any rate, it must appear, that those ancient Colonists, introduced by the Romans, for the purpose of recovering and improving this great fen-country, were eminently qualified for the work in which they were employed, and ought to be still held in grateful remembrance by the good people of England, especially those of Marshland and the Fens, and esteemed among their very best benefactors.—The merit of those works and improvements, however, should not be all ascribed to them: the Romans, who introduced, employed, and maintained them, and who projected the undertaking, should be allowed some share of it. Nor are the natives, or Britons, who laboriously, powerfully, and effectually assisted in carrying on those works and improvements, to be entirely overlooked or forgotten on this occasion. The latter are said to have borne so large a share in those laborious undertakings, as to occasion very serious complaints and remonstrances from some of their countrymen to, and against the Romans, as having cruelly exhausted their strength, by the excessive hardships and fatigues they had been obliged to undergo in that service. Nor is this at all incredible; for the Romans are known to have been often very unfeeling, severe, and cruel task-masters to the nations they had subdued. If the country was improved it was always at the expense of the sweat and treasure, and not unfrequently of the groans and lives of its inhabitants.
The improvements begun in and about the fens, as well as in other parts of the country, were probably in some measure attended to during the whole continuance of the Roman power in this island. On the decline of that power, and especially after the departure of the Roman legions, there is reason to believe that they were neglected and relinquished. The grievous and calamitous scenes which then ensued, would leave no room or opportunity for such pursuits as could be attended to only in the happy seasons of internal tranquillity.
Although we have considered the original inhabitants of Lynn, Marshland, and the Fens, as consisting for the most part of colonists from the continent, we are probably not warranted to conclude, that they were in fact, a Roman Colony, or invested with the rights and immunities of Roman citizens. It may, however, be very reasonably supposed, that they were favoured with some particular privileges, to which, indeed, they appear to have been very justly entitled. But whatever they might be, it is not likely that they enjoyed them for any great length of time after the dissolution of the Roman government here: the country then soon fell a prey to foreign and merciless invaders, and everything was involved in universal confusion and ruin.