KAS 2012 Place-Names Conference
By Val Barrand-Davies (Hon. Secretary, Place-Names Committee)
Around 60 delegates attended the Place-Names Conference at the Rochester Visitors Centre on 3rd November 2012 to enjoy four fascinating talks on the related themes of Kentish place-names and surnames.
Following an introduction by the KAS President, Ian Coulson, Dr Paul Cullen of the Bristol Centre for Linguistics, University of the West of England, spoke on ‘Locative surnames on the move: when Kentish names leave Kent, and when newcomers arrive’. The ongoing research project Family Names of the United Kingdom (FaNUK) is using P H Reaney’s Dictionary of British Surnames as a springboard for new work which takes into account the geographical distribution of surnames recorded in the 1881 census as mapped by Steve Archer’s Surnames Atlas. Paul gave examples of the importance of distribution, such as Rochester, which might look like a Kentish surname but actually comes from Rochester in Northumberland. Canterbury has become a Dorset surname, and Maidstone has settled in Norfolk, while many characteristically Kentish surnames such as Tapsell, Ayerst, Lovelid and Missing turn out to be well-disguised intruders from other counties. The Surnames Atlas is available from www.archersoftware.co.uk for £15.
Dr Richard Jones of the Centre for English Local History, University of Leicester, talked on ‘The case of Northminster and other Thanet mythologies’, examining place-names in which cardinal points of the compass appear as part of the core name, e.g. Eastwell and Westwell, Norton and Sutton. Some are directly aligned, others are not, reflecting a wandering of magnetic north from about AD 600 to 1000, and this variation should be considered when dating place-names and when reading descriptions of boundaries in Anglo-Saxon charters. The derivation of the name of Thanet, the legend of the Anglo-Saxon princess and her pet deer, and the myths about snakes were discussed in the second part of this wide-ranging talk.
Liz Finn, Collection Development Officer at the Kent History and Library Centre, spoke on ‘The Canterbury Cartae Antiquae Project: a major source of names’. The aim of the project, completed in 2004, was to catalogue the great collection of ancient documents known as the Cartae Antiquae, which belong to the Dean and Chapter of Canterbury and are held in Canterbury Cathedral Archives. This collection of c. 7000 items dates from the eighth century onwards and includes title deeds, French royal charters, Papal letters and diplomatic correspondence. The title deeds and charters are particularly useful for onomastic, topographical and genealogical study: with the names of the parties, a description of the property, and witnesses’ names, they are an invaluable source of both place-names and surnames. The new catalogue website is http://archives.canterbury-cathedral.org
The conference concluded with Paul Cullen’s second talk, entitled ‘Place-names and boundaries: from Goudhurst to North Woolwich’, which looked at references in Kentish place-names to the boundaries of parishes, hundreds, estates, manors, fields, lathes and the county. For example, Staple, a parish near Wingham, has a name which comes from the Old English word stapol ‘a post or pillar’, and it is noteworthy that the church is sited on the parish boundary, at a point where the boundary changes direction, an arrangement which seems to reflect the position and function of the now lost pillar (perhaps of particular importance, as this was also the boundary of a detached part of Downhamford hundred). After asking why Sutton is ‘at Hone’, why Marden is the ‘boundary pasture’, why Goudhurst might be the ‘battle wood’, and what exactly Thanington is ‘Without’, Paul embarked on an illustrated perambulation, beating the bounds of an Anglo-Saxon estate.
The conference was a successful and enjoyable day, and the wide diversity of the talks shows how much this topic offers to be explored.