86
PHYSICAL ASPECTS OF SUFFOLK
PHYSICAL ASPECTS OF SUFFOLK, ii : A THOUSAND YEARS A G O . B Y CLAUDE M O R L E Y , F . E . S . , F . G . S . ,
F.Z.S.
bore a very different aspect in the seventh Century from that it now presents. All our marsh-land was open water ; all our hills were tangled wood, except upon the Breck. At that time Anna's three great Dykes were being thrown up across the Icenhild Way, EAnglia's sole vulnerable entry. Since that time the whole •of our east coast has been modified to a quite unknown degree : there the County has lost a vast number of acres by sheer erosion ; Ptolomy's ' Exoche ' is the most eastern point of England in Roman days and computed to have extended five tniles further seaward than does Easton Bavents now ; and it has been, perhaps rashly, said that Dunwich extended seven. On the other hand, many stretches such as Lowestoft denes, the Hollesley salt-marshes, and most particularly the low-lying land about Iken, have considerably silted up to at least some compensating extent. Suffolk then possessed a second sea-board westward, for the Cambridge fens were the old Fen Sea with very few islands, such as Ely, showing above its waves. The erstwhile coast-line from Lakenheath to Exning, where King Anna was doubtless anticipating Penda of Mercia's attack which razed Botwulf's 654 monastery just north of Iken church, when Saint /Ethelthrvth (Latinised ' Etheldreda ') was born about 644, is still traceable ; it is clearly discernible from the coast-castle, yet a considerable and complex earthwork, at Freckenham, the ' warrior's home'. Adown this west boundary sailed the Norsemen who slew King Eadmund in 870. Its drainage and that of the east coast marshes has had the prevalent effect of reducing the volume of all our streams by (I do not hesitate to assert, after examining the ' dip ' of the fen water-mills, which was five feet in 1825 and only 2J in 1895) fully five feet. Add these feet to existing water-level and we find Framlingham to show a lake of many acres between its Castle and College ; that Debenham church stands forth upon a promontory jUtting into a broad expanse of water ; the Blyth to be a half-mile wide as far inland as Haiesworth ; Breydon Water again becomes the great estuary, Hierus Fluvius ; Gipping cattle-marshes are submerged from Barking Lion to Shrubland Park ; and the pre-Christian I pswich dead have to be poled across the ' seven-arches ' ferry to Crane Hill for burial. There can be little doubt that four centuries later, King Guthorm in 870 was attracted to Hadleigh by the fine estuary running down through Shelley to Higham on the Stour; this Geoffrey de Fontibus in 1150 terms' fluvium cursu rapidissimum ', which it is not now ! In fact Est Engle was, as Abbo describes it in the tenth Century, ' washed by waters on nearly every side ' except the south-west chalk across which stretched the Dykes. Desiccation was further hastened by the gradual felling of the vast SUFFOLK
PHYSICAL ASPECTS OF SUFFOLK
87
forests that covered at least the entire boulder-clay of High Suffolk, where all but the latest villages are upon banks of rivers, then navigable though now mere runlets and in summer often dry! The water-shed of the County risss from Shadingfield in north-east to Stansfield in south-west, and this is still the most sparsely populated line here. Our upland water was mainly derived from orographical rain, the precipitation of which is caused by the interposition of lofty objects in the wind's path, so the rainfall is in direct ratio to the extent of forest. No wonder ' bridgebuilding ' was one of the great Trinoda necessitas perpetuated from Roman through all Saxon times. For this sketch (Suff. Inst, xviii, 51) conveys a picture of Suffolk with streams, broad-splayed at intervals, everywhere ramificating between gently undulating plateaux, that were densely timbered up to at least 1500 A.D., throughout the central and south-west districts. A ten-mile-broad strip of sandy soil extended irregularly inland down the whole east coast; a roughly circular patch of chalk, some fifteen miles in diameter, occupied the north-west corner of the County ; and these two outliers were narrowly connected along V a l l e y s of the Gipping, Blackburn and Lark by Glacialgravel eroded from Boulder-clay. Similar but broader V a l l e y s limited the County throughout its north and south boundaries ; and from westward three arms of the Fen Sea ran in, to Thetford,' to Bury, and to Herringswell, the last emitting the River Kennet that southward nearly joined the infant Stour. The proposed series of articles upon the above subject feil through, or was crowded out, by more topical matter ; but Mr. Engleheart's comprehensive (the periods were at first intended to be given in much greater detail) summary at Trans, iii, page 1, shows the earliest phases. It would take a John Ellor Taylor or Alfred Bell to adequately present the vast Fauna of the Pliocene crags; and the Pleistocene drifts need considerable research. Till their local exponent be forthcoming, I propose to leap at or.ce to the first Historie Records.—An occasion recently arose to investigate our County's place-names, in the course of which it became increasingly evident that the old Anglo-Saxons who invented them must have lived so close to Nature that a large proportion had been evolved from those geological, botanical and zoological objects surrounding their homes at that time. Archaists habitually concentrate upon social and economic subjects, wherewith to erect historical details into systematic form ; thus Kemble truly considered " it remarkable how many modern parishes may be perambulated with no other direction than the boundaries found in Codex Diplomaticus [a series of ASaxon charters]. To this very day the little hills, brooks, even meadows and small farms, bear names they bore in the time of Alfred the Great, and the Mark may be traced with certainty upon the local information
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PHYSICAL ASPECTS OF SUFFOLK
of the labourer on the modern estate ". No less interesting to us Naturalists are the physiographical items ; and, in unexpectedly many cases, actual species of Plants and Animals then observed are yet exactly recoverable T h e local titles under review were bestowed at periods ranging from the advent of the Angles, if indeed they were not already mercenaries of the imperial Eagles*, to so late as shortly after the Norman conquest in the case of Boulge, &c. Most striking of all our series of names are the thirty bearing the suffix ' field ' (Trans, ii, p. elvi) which bisects the whole County from Pake-field in the north-east to Withers-field in the south-west. This suffix indicates a belt of such dense timber that the toil of its felling left a record so permanent as to be traceable today. Moreover, we are certainly justified in regarding it about the year 500 as a wild terra incognita, into which for some centuries sons, of those families who were already settled in more open areas, pushed in order to clear new farms for themselves. That Thwaite (Old Norse, meaning Clearing in forestland) was not felled tili circa 880, shows the Roman road immediately through it to have penetrated primeval woods for over five centuries. Hessett (AS. settlers by the fence or barrier), where King /Ethelbeorht is alleged to have sojourned in 793, seems so named before the three adjacent Bradfields (broad Clearings) swept away that obstruetion. I find that the Suffolk place-names, preserved in AS. wills and the 1086 Domesday Book, instruet us mainly upon three subjects, of which I shall first deal with (i) Physics, including CLIMATOLOGY and GEOLOGY. Nothing is vouchsafed respecting Weather beyond its severity in Caldecot, i.e. cold cottage, in Fritton and Wyverstone ; Coldfair, i.e. AS. faren, to feel, in Knoddishall; and Coldhall in Lawshall, &c. N o stone formation outcrops in all Suffolk, so Stonefield in Raydon and the yet existant Chedes-stone are those carried here in boulder-clay; Lang-stone off Felixstow is taken from the eocene London-clay, like the West Rocks off Harwich ; but our Stone-streets at Spexhall and Hadleigh are Roman causeways, artificially paved at first with stone-blocks, probably imported (as were those I have excavated at Burgh Castle) from the Rhine and composed of Niedermendig lava, joined by mortar of .pounded brick. For the same reason, AS. churches were of timber (St. Botwulf ' timbered ' his monastery at Iken in 654, says the Chronicle) or mortared flints ; the little hewn stone employed came from either Caen or Barnack in Northants, as I have shown in ' AS. Architecture', 1922. No * H o n o r i u s recalled t h e legions f r o m Britannia in 410. His coins of 395—423, some of which t u r n e d u p during 1781 at C l i n t - f a r m in E y e and twenty-five d u r i n g 1938-9 at T u d d e n h a m M a r t i n , are t h e latest R o m a n ones f o u n d here ; and imitations, bearing Saxon runes, suggest n o lapse in a succession of m i n t s . Prosper T v i o gives 441 as t h e date of t h e final influx of Continental Saxons to England.
PHYSICAL ASPECTS OF SUFFOLK
89
reference to chalk or lime (AS. calc) emerges ; but its superincumbent Clay-don appears by the Gipping and Hinder-clay by the Waveney. Where this boulder-clay was erosed by rain were left dales, as at Dallinghoo and Arestede (the swelling dale) in Gazeley, and V a l l e y s as at Depden, AS. deop denu, deep valley. Water has, as a matter of fact, played a paramount part in modelling the County, more especially as in Saxon times it was everywhere five feet higher than now, which is best seen by the old hithe by the fen lake at Lakenheath, whose final dessication causfed the great ' sand flood ' that covered Sandy Downham (never Santon) in 1699, before which the 1674 Hearth Tax shows as normal the district of the Breck that was ploughed- or Brecked-up, probably in Kniit's reign. That water-level was just as high on the east coast as that of the Old Fen Sea, we are assured from the height of the Domesday ' portus maris ' at Frostenden ; and the streams at Blythburgh, Brettenham, Cläre, Cratfield, &c. Hills, AS. don, are retained in Brandon,Thorndon, &c; but especially noticed were such prominent hill-spurs (hÜh) as jutted out over streams : Hoo, Clovenho in Mildenhall, Linhoo in Alpheton and Dallingho, down which runs a ' gull', hollov.ed by floods, that scoured its banks as also did the AS. scurum well in Ickworth. Smaller rivers that were termed Beck and Bourn have well-nigh died out, though perpetuated in Newbourn, Sudbourn, Lyn (lake) bourn in Homersfield, and the Hundred of Blackbourn. Spong, with a hard g, a water-soaked meadow, is found in Fornham's Long Sponge ; and lakes or wells were f r e q u e n t : Babwell there, Bardwell, Bradwell, Brightwell, Bromeswell, Eriswell where the AS. wad haest shows violent current at that time, and a well in Wordwell churchyard : most are now cattle-marshcs. Earlier lake-dwellings then persisted, and are still traceable at Barton Magna and Lawshall. But this greater water-height is most evident in the travel difficulty produced by fords, after which a score of townships and four Hundreds were named, including Cosford Hundred that is derived f r o m Latin and AS. chores, for the Hundred Court gathering was held at the ford of the Brett River in Kersey (AS. chores ig), i.e. Assembly I s l a n d : Corsfield occurs in Alpheton. Comparative depths of each ford may be gauged by their titles : Glem (clam) sford, Gos (goose) beck, Gosford in Felixstow, Cran (crane) sford,, Brock (badger) ford, Yox (yoke of oxen) ford, Wain (waggon) ford, Lackford and Fordley from AS. leah, a meadow. West of Snape are found Thelford and Gromford, the plank and fierce fords. Bridges were either so rare or so general as to be very little noticed : Tay (tie) bridge in F o r n h a m ; Risbridge Hundred,, probably over the Stour ; but Wood-' bridge ' I believe to have been originally -ridge. Others must have existed to such islands as Eye (isle), Bawdsey and Ethereg (hedge-isle) in Framlingham and Istead (isle-place) in Weybread.
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PHYSICAL ASPECTS OF SUFFOLK
T h e second subject upon which we are afforded some insight is (ii) BOTANY, whereon the Saxon looked with the true eye of agricola. But first he had to prepare the land. T h e above ' -field' townships were not confined to the oblique forest belt, but lay scattered all over the boulder-clay of central Suffolk, perhaps densest at Cratfield and Crowfield, persisting nearly to our time in Aldwood Forest at Rickinghall; smaller ' woods ' are commemorated in Southwold and the existant name Dallingho ' Weald '. Some of the Clearings were specifically indicated by such words as slades, e.g. the piain and open country at Wingfield ; the crofts or enclosed pastures like Crosscroft, in Sotterley, and Woodcroft, a m?nor in Monks' Soham ; and tofts or open ground by a homestead as Stow Langtoft, Lowestoft and the simple h a m h t of T o f t in Raydon. Park is a Pic.-French word, unknown before the 1066 conquest: Parham comes, not from Parkham but, from AS. home by the pearr-oc, an allied phrase to a barred-in enclosure. As today flowers that were everywhere are illustrated by Blowfield in Trimley, with personal Bloomfields ; nor were their individual species ignored as the following list, sec. Hind's Suffolk Flora, of thirty-five kinds indicates :— Linum usitatissimum, L. Linstead village, one entity through all mediaeval times, was lin stede, the place of Flax.—Ulex Europaus, L . No discrimination is made between this and the next species, which grows so reluctantly on clay that where it is alluded to at Bromefield in Letheringham, Thick-broom in Fressingfield, &c, the present plant is doubtless intended.—Sarothamnus scoparius, Koch. F r o m Broom were certainly named the townships of Brome, Bromeswell, Bramfield, Brampton, &c.—Ononis arvensis, L., rather than true Erica, is the probable origin of Boulge. —Vicia faba, L. Bean is an AS. word, but I am not sure their species was the same as our originally Egyptian one, here given. Benacre is the Bean-acre of land.—Pisum sativum, L. Similarly their Pea, perpetuated in Peasenhall, may not have been quite like our south European kind.—Prunus communis, H u d . Plum-trees are still common in thickets and emerge in the feminine Plomeyard manor of Trimley, but not the masc. Plomesgate Hundred which is a personal name.—Prunus spinosa et Crataegus oxyacantha, L. Surely both Blackthorn and Whitethorn must be comprised in Thorndon, the thorny hill, and its Hall called Hestley i.e. meadow by quiekset hedge ; also we had Shimpling-thorn and Thorney, the early title of Stowmarket.—Rubus fruticosus, L . Prof. Skeat is of opinion that Bramford comes from AS. brame, a Blackberry, not from Broom.—Rosa canina, L. Hepwo;th, AS. heope worth, means a place that is rieh in hips.—Pyrus malus, L. Naughton village is nowhere mentioned tili after 1066 ; but, like Nayland which means at-the-island, one can hardly doubt its composition of AS. atten awal tun, i.e. at the orchard farm.—Carduus arvensis, Ct. A n early Thistly manor emerges in Burgh.—Ilex aquifolium, L .
PHYSICAL ASPECTS OF SUFFOLK
91
Hulver, the provincial Engl, word for Holly, is preserved at the Hundred River's ford in Henstead ; it comes from Old Norse, hulfr.—Fraxinus excelsior, L. Ash-worship of the pagan Saxon settlers is shown in numerous village-names : Ashfield in Onehouse, Ash-street in Semere, Campsey-Ash, Dodn-ash in Bentley, Stoke-Ash, &c.—Plantago major, L. I am not satisfield that Skeat is correct in ascribing Weybread village to the greater Plantain or Waybread : it has a peculiarly wide street.—Buxus sempervirens, L. Nor am I more so about this plant, despite ' in early times it flourished upon many of the barren hills of England ' ; though why it should be thought indigenous to Kent, and not Suffolk, is obscure. Our records from Boxford and Bixley (AS. byxen leah, meadow of box-trees) in Rushmere by Ipswich, seem rather too marshy situations & the vowel-sounds are deceptive, e.g. bucks. —Urtica dioica, L. Nettlestead, AS. netele stede, is the place of Nettles.—Ulmus campestris, Sm. Elmsett and perhaps Elmham, but not Elmswell which comes from a distinct source. Salix alba, L. T h e meaning of Willow-ford for Wilford H u n dred is ' not impossible '.—Salix viminalis, L. Wissington is from AS. wisc withig tun, the Withy- or Osier- meadow farm.—Populus tremula, L. Aspall village and Aspal Hall in Mildenhall are from AS. aesp heale,i.e. shelter-house among Aspens.—Betula glulinosa, Fr. Barking is from Mercian bercingas, the Birch-grove dwelling. —Alnus glutinosa, Goert. Alderton means farm by the Aliertrees —Fagus silvatica, L. Rare as the wild Beech now is in east Suffolk, the derivation of Box-ford leads one to Beech-tree rather than Box.—Quercus robur, L. Copd-ock refers to the copped, i.e. pollarded, Oak ; Oakley is the Oak meadow ; Occold is AS. ac holt, at the Oak-copse ; Eyke is the Norse form eik, at the Oak-tree, &c.—Corylus avellana, L. Literally represented by Hazlewood near Aldeburgh —Iris pseudacorus, L. T h e AS. laefer meant our Yellow Flag and those in the park-lake there gave name to Livermere ; others were in Darmsden at the fish-ponds which are termed Livermere in Faden's 1783 map —Juncus conglomeratus, L. T h e undrained condition of land in early times gave rise to Rushes, AS. risc, noted as Rushford next Euston, Rushbrook, Rushmere ftear Mutford and near Ipswich, in Brettenham, Friston, Hazlewood and Reydon.—Cladium mariscus, Br. Other undifferentiated genera are doubtless mixed with the last Rush and this Sedge, which is obvious in only Seeford, at first Sedgeford, in Bealings. Other indications of extensive marshland are found in the AS. edisc of Brundish, wicendish in Mendham, and saeland in Syleham.—Agrostis vulgaris, With. Bentley means the meadow of Bent-grass.—Pteris aquilina, L. Common Bracken is doubtless the ' fern ' referred to in Farnham.—Of C o m we hear surprisingly little, it was too general to be distinetive. Lolium or Rye-grass was the commonest kind, associated with Barton Magna in Eadweard the Confessor's time, Barton Mills and
90
PHYSICAL ASPECTS OF SUFFOLK
The second subject upon which we are afforded some insight is (ii) BOTANY, whereon the Saxon looked with the true eye of agricola. But first he had to prepare the land. The above ' -field' townships were not confined to the oblique forest belt, but lay scattered all over the bouMer-clay of central Suffolk, perhaps densest at Cratfield and Crowfield, persisting nearly to our time in Aldwood Forest at Rickinghall; smaller ' woods ' are commemorated in Southwold and the existant name Dallingho ' Weald '. Some of the Clearings were specifically indicated by such words as slades, e.g. the piain and open country at Wingfield ; the crofts or enclosed pastures like Crosscroft, in Sotterley, and Woodcroft, a m?nor in Monks' Soham ; and tofts or open ground by a homestead as Stow Langtoft, Lowestoft and the simple h a m b t of Toft in Raydon. Park is a Pic.-French word, unknown before the 1066 conquest: Parham comes, not from Parkham but, from AS. home by the pearr-oc, an allied phrase to a barred-in enclosure. As today flowers that were everywhere are illustrated by Blowfield in Trimley, with personal Bloomfields ; nor were their individual species ignored as the following list, sec. Hind's Suffolk Flora, of thirty-five kinds indicates :— Linum usitatissimum, L. Linstead village, one entity through all mediaeval times, was lin stede, the place of Flax.—Ulex Europceus, L. No discrimination is made between this and the next species, which grows so reluctantly on clay that where it is alluded to at Bromefield in Letheringham, Thick-broom in Fressingfield, &c, the present plant is doubtless intended.—Sarothamnus scoparius, Koch. From Broom were certainly named the townships of Brome, Bromeswell, Bramfield, Brampton, &c.—Ononis arvensis, L., rather than true Erica, is the probable origin of Boulge. — Vicia faba, L. Bean is an AS. word, but I am not sure their species was the same as our originally Egyptian one, here given. Benacre is the Bean-acre of land.—Visum sativum, L. Similarly their Pea, perpetuated in Peasenhall, may not have been quite like our south European kind.—Prunus communis, Hud. Plum-trees are still common in thickets and emerge in the feminine Plomeyard manor of Trimley, but not the masc. Plomesgate Hundred which is a personal name.—Prunus spinosa et Cratcegus oxyacantha, L. Surely both Blackthorn and Whitethorn must be comprised in Thorndon, the thorny hill, and its Hall called Hestley i.e. meadow by quiekset hedge ; also we had Shimpling-thorn and Thorney, the early title of Stowmarket.—Rubus fruticosus, L. Prof. Skeat is of opinion that Bramford comes from AS. brame, a Blackberry, not from Broom.—Rosa canina, L. Hepwo;th, AS. heope worth, means a place that is rieh in hips.—Pyrus malus, L. Naughton village is nowhere mentioned tili after 1066 ; but, like Nayland which means at-the-island, one can hardly doubt its composition of AS. atten awal tun, i.e. at the orchard farm.—Carduus arvensis, Ct. An early Thistly manor emerges in Burgh.—Ilex aquifolium, L.
P H Y S I C A L ASPECTS
OF
SUFFOLK
91
Hulver, the provincial Engl, word for Holly, is preserved at the Hundred River's ford in Henstead ; it comes from Old Norse, hulfr.—Fraxinus excelsior, L. Ash-worship of the pagan Saxon settlers is shown in numerous village-names : Ashfield in Onehouse, Ash-street in Semere, Campsey-Ash, Dodn-ash in Bentley, Stoke-Ash, &c.—Plantago major, L. I am not satisfield that Skeat is correct in ascribing Weybread village to the greater Plantain or Waybread : it has a peculiarly wide street.—Buxus sempervirens, L. Nor am I more so about this plant, despite ' in early times it flourished upon many of the barren hitls of England ' ; though why it should be thought indigenous to Kent, and not Suffolk, is obscure. Our records from Boxford and Bixley (AS. byxen leah, meadow of box-trees) in Rushmere by Ipswich, seem rather toomarshy situations & the vowel-sounds are deceptive, e.g. bucks. —Urtica dioica, L. Nettlestead, AS. netele stede, is the place of Nettles.—Ulmus campestris, Sm. Elmsett and perhaps Elmham, but not Elmswell which comes from a distinct source. Salix alba, L. T h e meaning of Willow-ford for Wilford H u n dred is ' not impossible '.—Salix viminalis, L. Wissington is from AS. wisc withig tun, the Withy- or Osier- meadow farm.—Populus tremula, L. Aspall village and Aspal Hall in Mildenhall are from AS. aesp heale,i.e. shelter-house among Aspens.—Betula glulviosa, Fr. Barking is from Mercian bercingas, the Birch-grove dwelling. —Alnus glutinosa, Goert. Alderton means farm by the AI lertrees.—Fagus silvatica, L. Rare as the wild Beech now is in east Suffolk, the derivation of Box-ford leads one to Beech-tree rather than Box.—Quercus robur, L. Copd-ock refers to the copped, i.e. pollarded, Oak ; Oakley is the Oak meadow ; Occold is AS. ac holt, at the Oak-copse ; Eyke is the Norse form eik, at the Oak-tree, &c.—Corylus avellana, L. Literally represented by Hazlewood near Aldeburgh.—Iris pseudacorus, L. T h e AS. laefer meant our Yellow Flag and those in the park-lake there gave name to Livermere ; others were in Darmsden at the fish-ponds which are termed Livermere in Faden's 1783 map —Juncus conglomeratus, L. T h e undrained condition of land in early times gave rise to Rushes, AS. risc, noted as Rushford next Euston, Rushbrook, Rushmere near Mutford and near Ipswich, in Brettenham, Friston, Hazlewood and Reydon.—Cladium mariscus, Br. Other undifferentiated genera are doubtless mixed with the last Rush and this Sedge, which is obvious in only Seeford, at first Sedgeford, in Bealings. Other indications of extensive marshland are found in the AS. edisc of Brundish, wicendish in Mendham, and saeland in Syleham.—Agrostis vulgaris, With. Bentley means the meadow of Bent-grass.—Pteris aquilina, L. Common Bracken is doubtless the ' fern ' referred to in Farnham.—Of C o m we hear surprisingly little, it was too general to be distinetive. Lolium or Rye-grass was the commonest kind, associated with Barton Magna in Eadweard the Confessor's time, Barton Mills a.id
92
PHYSICAL ASPECTS OF SUFFOLK
Cornard ; but both Triticum Wheat and Hordeum Barley may have been stooked, i.e. shocked, at Stockerland in Sutton and Yoxford. Oat Hill tumulus in west Wangford is unlikely to be an early name. T h e third subject to be considered is how much is recoverable respecting the (iii) ZOOLOGY of that remote period. Nearly all the Pisces, Amphibia, Aves and Mammalia are large and conspicuous things, farmers' sheltered stock or those feral Birds and Animals directly inimical to it. Of Insects we naturally hear little, yet more than would be expected. In Honington is preserved the honey everywhere used in mead ; and hives of Bees, presumed to be our present south European Apis mellifica, L., are a frequent manorial asset in Domesday Book.—It is very interesting to find that, from the present use of the word Stout for the Tabanid biting-fly, known as the Grey Horse-fly in Suffolk and Cleg in Scotland, we are able to actually identify the species that gave name to both Stutton and Stuston villages as Hcematopota pluvialis, L.—And not the least doubt remains that Knettishall is derived from AS. gnaettes healh, the sheltered place of Gnats, the more especially because all over this breckland the Biting-gnat Simulium vennstum, Say, is commoner and more troublesome than elsewhere in Britain to this day.—Clams, the freshwater Mussei called Anodonta cygtiea, L., have always been frequent with us ; and the Domesday spelling Clamesford for the village of Glemsford, and Glemham, leaves no doubt whence the names are derived.—That Frogs, Rana temporaria, L., were prevalent is shown by Frostenden's original AS. Froscan denu, the Valley of Frogs.—Laxfield is more likely, Prof. Skeat considers, to have come from the Norse personal Leaxa, a fisherman for Salmon, than from the actual fish Salmo salar, L., itself (AS. lax) or Domesday would not have inserted the medial syllable Lax-e-felda. About a score of B I R D S are more or less directly mentioned. Crowland Hall in Walsham is named from Corvus corone, L., like the famous Croyland of the Fens &, perhaps, Crow's Hall in Debenham.—Doves Streptopelia turtur, L. and Pigeons Columba palumbus, L., are hardly distinguishable under the Culverdestuna (with intrusive d) in Levington and Shotley ; and Culeslea in Hollesley also shows this.—The Lark and Linnet rivers at Bury are both Bird-titles, Alauda arvensis, Carduelis cannabina, L. ; but all trace of an origin seems lost in the mists of eld.—Golton Way, running SW. from Fornham All SS. in Gage's map, is Way to Place of Nightingales, Luscinia megarhyncha, Breh.—The Crane Megalornis grus, L., no longer indigenous, persists in the village of Cransford and manor of Cranley in Eye.—Yaxley is our debased form of the AS. geaces leah, meaning Meadow of the Cuckoo Cuculus canorus, L.—Old Mercian hafoc-dun refers to Hawkdon where hawk may indicate the Bird Falco tinnunculus, L. or a man so termed from his hawk-like attributes.—Sparrowhawk or AS. spear-hafoc, Accipiter tiisus, L., is preserved in a street-
PHYSICAL ASPECTS OF SUFFOLK
93
name by St. Mary's church in Bury, perhaps taken from that ' freeman Sparavoc who in 1086 held thirty acres in T h o r p ' by Ixworth ; but Falkenham township comes direct from the Bird of falconry Falco peregrinus, Tun., for AS. fealcan hamm shows it to be the Falcon's enclosure, suggesting nests.—Gull Larus canus, L., does not emerge very early, for such terms as Gull Slough in Aldwood Forest may be mere gulleys ; and Gulls' Stone is a false derivation for Gorleston.—Gosbeck was such a brook as a Goose Anser ferus, L., could wade ; and Gosford Häven, opposite Bawdsey, would have a similar signification.—Hencote hamlet in Hawstead shows the doubtless very general AS. hen cot, a shelter for Barn-door Fowels Phasianus gallus, L. ; with about the same reference as Chickering in Wingfield. M A M M A L S entered more intimately into one's everyday life and so are better represented, though the ' coney ' or rabbit of Weston by Barningham was originally a (vi)king, conig ; but Hares Lepus timidus, L., are shown in Hargrave and a lake at Harpole manor in Wickham Market.—Streams must have been obstructed by the work of Beavers Castor fiber, L., as we see by the 1086 ' Beuresham ' bridge between Glemham and Blaxhall. Harting's 1880 ' Extinct British Animals ' gives a disappointing resume.—No less than three townships commemorate the Marten Mustela martes, L., though Martlesham was its home ; in Easton we find Martley Hall at its meadow, and in Bentley is another which is named from the same or Weasels Mustela nivalis, L.—Foxhall is a misnomer, for the origianl AS. foxa hola shows here was not a hall but holes of Foxes Canis vulpes, L.—Places directly named from Wolves Canis lupus, L., are Wool(f)pit and in Debenham (W)ulverston Hall for, though frequent, other Wulves are Compounds of such personal names at St. Botwulf, Gorwulf of Gorleston, Ingwulf of Foxhall and Wulfric of Alpheton.—The Dog Canis domesticus, L., survives as Houndstoft in Sutton ; the Badger Meies taxus, Sehr., in the townships of Brockford, Brockley and Broxley Park in Hundon.—All references to Cat Felis domesticus, L., are suspicious because more likely from AS. cyt in the personal Ulfcytel, like Catesfield in Ilketshall, i.e. Ulfcytel's shelter ; & Cat's bridge in Thorndon.—Deer, both Cervus elephas & C. capreolus, L. (also possibly Reindeer), the staple stock for the pot then, occur at Darsham, at first deor's home ; the hart at H ä r t e s t ; the hind at Hinton Hall in Blythburgh ; and bucks at Buxhall and Buxlow.— Prof. Skeat took the AS. haefer of both Haverhill and Havergate Island to represent he-Goat Caprus hirca, L.; but I do not agree that the prefix of Gedgrave is AS. gat, a Goat.—In Flowton we have a whole flock of sheep Ovis aries, L., for it was at first Flocktun ; and the old bell-weather remains in Wetherden, Withersdale and Withersfield.—Neat stock is seen in Nowton, from Old Norse naut, meaning Cattle Bos taurus, L. ; there is yet a Bull farm in Blythburgh, but not Sproughton where Bull Hall comes from the
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PHYSICAL ASPECTS OF SUFFOLK
personal Bordshaw's.—Swine Sus scrofa, L., were everywhere : and their sow is shown in Ufford manor of Sugano, AS. suganho, sow's hill-spur, of which a second was in Alderton.—We hear little of the Horse, Equus caballus, L., in a Crowfield manor and the hamlet of Horsecroft in Horningsheath, considering that the AS. Chronicle says the Norse army was ' horsed' during 865 in EAnglia. Dies infaustus ; 26 June 1947.
THE DIPTERA OF SUFFOLK. (Cont. from p. 8.) F A M I L Y vii: C H I R O N O M I D / E . (sec. Trans. Ent. Soc. 1929, 2 8 6 . - 3 7 3 Brit. spp.) Subfamily t a n y p o d i n ^ . Pentaneura carnea, Fab. & melanops, Mg.—Both found in Newmarket garden (Collin). P. barbitarsis, Zett.—Mildenhall, taken by Edwards (Tr. Ent. Soc. 1929, 293). P. pygmaa, Wulp. (? cingulata, Wik.).—Sept. in Newmarket garden (Collin). P. brevitibialis, Gcet.— Orford (King) ; MS. (i.e. Monks* Soham) garden in May 1908. Anatopynia nebulosa, Mg.—Bentley Woods, Bawdsey, Bramford, MS. windows frequent, at light beside Fritton Lake ; Barton Mills, Lakenheath. A. notata, Mg.—Uncommon on MS. walls and windows, v-vi; Sizevvell ' gap ' on wall, 9 ix 38. A. punctata, Fab.—One on MS. window, 28 ix 1940. A. nugax, Walk.—MS. window, 21 v 1943 ; Heveningham Park on car, 6 ix 1944. A. varia, Fab.—Ipswich, W'hitton, MS. windows and on 10 ix 1945 dancing in small band six feet high in open paddock at one hour before dusk, Pakenham Fen ; sometimes noted in frost & snow. Procladius choreus, Mg.—In Newmarket garden (Collin). P. culicifurmis, L.—Southwold salts on Reeds, 20 iv 1910 ; Brandon staunch, 25 viii 06. P. lugens, Kief.—One ? taken at Timworth, circa 1913 (Col. Nurse). Diamesa obscurimana, Mg.—Manv busily Aying over stream in Bentley Woods, 3 May 1902; Easton Broad. Newmarket garden (Collin).