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diff --git a/43910-0.txt b/43910-0.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..b233389 --- /dev/null +++ b/43910-0.txt @@ -0,0 +1,6532 @@ +*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 43910 *** + +The Danes in Lancashire + + +[Illustration: Canute.] + + + + + The Danes in Lancashire + and Yorkshire + + BY + + S. W. PARTINGTON + + _ILLUSTRATED_ + + SHERRATT & HUGHES + London: 33 Soho Square, W. + Manchester: 34 Cross Street + 1909 + + + + +PREFACE. + + +The story of the 'childhood of our race' who inhabited the counties +of Lancashire and Yorkshire before the Norman Conquest, is an almost +blank page to the popular reader of to-day. The last invaders of our +shores, whom we designate as the Danes and Norsemen, were not the least +important of our ancestors. The History of their daring adventures, +crafts and customs, beliefs and character, with the surviving traces in +our language and laws, form the subject of this book. + +From the evidence of relics, and of existing customs and traditions, +we trace their thought and actions, their first steps in speech and +handicraft, and the development of their religious conceptions. Our +education authorities have realized the fact that "Local Names" contain +a fund of history and meaning which appeals to the young as well as +to the adults; and the county committees have been well advised to +recommend the teaching of History and Geography from local features and +events. + +Some articles written by the late Mr. John Just, M.A., of Bury, on +our early races, and elements of our language and dialect, formed the +incentive to the writer to continue the story of our Danish ancestors. + +To the following writers we are indebted for many facts and quotations: +H. Colley March, Esq., M.D.; W. G. Collingwood, "Scandinavian Britain"; +W. S. Calverley, "Stone Crosses and Monuments of Westmorland and +Cumberland"; Dr. W. Wagner's "Tales and Traditions of our Northern +Ancestors"; Mr. Boyle, "Danes in the East Riding of Yorkshire"; Mr. +J. W. Bradley, B.A., of the Salt Museum, Stafford, "Runic Calendars +and Clog-Almanacs"; Rev. J. Hay Colligan, Liverpool; Professor W. A. +Herdman, Liverpool; Mr. Jas. T. Marquis, of the Battle of "Brunanburh"; +Dr. Worsäac, "Danes in England." + +Messrs. Titus Wilson & Son, Kendal, Plates, "Map of Races," etc.; Swan, +Sonnenschein & Co., London; Williams, Norgate & Co., London. + +To Charles W. Sutton, Esq., Free Reference Library, Manchester, for +valuable advice and assistance grateful thanks are now tendered. + + S. W. PARTINGTON. + + BURY, _October 4, 1909_. + + + + +CONTENTS. + + + PAGE + Invasion and Conquest 1 + Settlements 11 + Place-Names 45 + Patronymics 59 + Physical Types still existing 77 + Political Freemen 87 + Husbandry 109 + Stone Crosses 117 + Runes 135 + Memorials 161 + Literature 167 + Mythology 187 + Superstitions 203 + Agriculture 213 + + + + +LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS. + + + Canute _Frontispiece_ + PAGE + Viking Settlements 13 + Extwistle Hall 34 + Brunanburh Map 36 + Old Dane's House 40 + Ancient Danish Loom 80 + Heysham Hogback 120 + Danish Ornaments, Claughton-on-brock 124 + Halton Cross 125 + Ormside Cup 131 + Clog Almanac Symbols 144 + Runic Calendar 155 + Carved Wood, with Runes 170 + Bractaetes 174 + Halton Cup 176 + Calderstones, No. I. 184 + Calderstones, No. II. 185 + + + + +Invasion and Conquest + + + + +CHAPTER I. + +INVASION AND CONQUEST. + + +A victorious people have always a wide-spreading influence over the +people subdued by them. An inferior race never withstood a superior +one. The very fact that the Danes gained not only an ascendancy in +many parts of England during the Anglo-Saxon dynasties, but even the +government of them all, is a proof that they were at that period a race +of individuals superior to the natives of the land. The indigenous +Britons felt the ameliorating influence of the Roman superiority and +the civilisation which formed an element of the Roman sway. The Danes +exercised and maintained an influence equal to the extent of their +amalgamation for the general good of the country. The Romans were as +much superior to the aboriginal Britons as the English of the present +day are to the Africans and Sikhs. The Saxons were an advance on the +Romanised Celt, while on the Saxons again, the Danes or Northmen +were an advance in superiority and a great element of improvement. +Leaving the Danes to tell their own tale and write their own histories +in favour of their own fatherland, we undertake to sketch out their +connection with our own county of Lancaster, with the permanent, +and still existing, effects of that connection. Hitherto history +has unfolded nothing as to the date when the "Vikings" first visited +the Lancashire coast, plundering the county, and slaughtering the +inhabitants. The Danes first visited the eastern coasts about the year +A.D. 787, as narrated in the Saxon Chronicle. In the year 894 the city +of Chester fell into their hands, under the redoubtable Hastings. This +celebrated place the Danes fortified, and henceforward, along with +the other cities of Derby, across the island, held at intervals until +their power waned by the amalgamation which eventually constituted +one people. Local names are the beacon lights of primeval history. +The names of places, even at this remote period of time, suffice +to prove that the Danes left an impression of superiority by their +invasion. At this time the Danes invaded the coast of Lancashire, and +formed settlements therein. Cumberland and Westmorland were under the +dominion of Cumbrian Britons. At this early period the Danes have +so intermingled with the Anglo-Saxons, as to influence the names of +the hundreds into which the shire was sub-divided. No chronicle may +register this fact, but the words do, and will do, so long as they +constitute the signs and symbols of ideas and things. The northern +hundred of the shire was named Lonsdale, and extended not only over +the district of Lunesdale, but also included the territory north of +the sands. The second hundred into which the shire was divided was +Amounderness. If we allow "ness" to be of strictly Scandinavian origin, +then this hundred has a strictly Danish or Norse name, "Amounder" +being the first Viking who settled in the Fylde country. Blackburn, +pronounced "Blakeburn," is the third name of a hundred which lies more +inland, but having little or no coast line within the shire. Inland +the Scandinavian influence diminished. Hence the genuine Anglo-Saxon +name of this division; in the early times "Blagburnshire." The fourth +hundred is that of Salford, also inland, hence under no Danish +influence. The name is genuine Anglo-Saxon and perhaps this hundred +includes natives less mixed with Scandinavian population than any +other in the north of England. The broad Anglo-Saxon frame is seen to +perfection in the country districts, and the light, ruddy complexion. +The men were made for endurance and slow in movements. It would be a +difficult task to get them to move if they felt disinclined to do so. +The last hundred has much sea coast, and came therefore much under +Danish influence. Hence the name, West Derby Hundred. No one who knows +anything of our early history will hesitate to pronounce this name +altogether Danish, so that three out of the five hundreds into which +the county was apportioned were under Danish domination. "Bi," Danish, +in modern English "by," was the common term given by Danish settlers to +their residence. Derby or Deorby means not the residence or home of the +deer, but a locality where the animals abounded. The Danes had, more +than any other people, a reverence for the dead. Wherever a hero fell, +even if but a short time sufficed to cover his remains, this was done; +and if nothing better to mark the spot, a boat which brought him hither +was placed over him, keel uppermost. Failing a boat, a "Haugr" or mound +was raised over his grave. When Christianity upset these "Hofs," or +sacred enclosures of Odin and Thor, then crosses were erected over the +Christian graves. This accounts for the universal number of "Crosbys" +in the Danish district of the kingdom. Conquered Rome converted and +conquered its barbarian and heathen masters to the Cross. Anglo-Saxon +converted his Danish neighbour, and subdued him to the Cross. The +higher the superstitions of the Pagan the greater the devotee when he +is converted. + +When the Danes were converted to Christianity by their intercourse +with the Anglo-Saxons they transferred all their superstitious +feeling to the emblems of Christianity. Churches were also built by +the naturalised Danes in all places where they settled; and just as +easy as it is to recognise their dwellings by their "bys," so it is +to know the places where they reared their churches. Their name for +a church was "kirkja." Hence in whatever compound name this word +enters as a component, there it indicates a Danish origin. Hence +Kirkby, Formby, Ormskirk, and Kirkdale are places appertaining to the +early Anglo-Danish history. Dale is likewise a genuine appellative, +as in Kirkdale as already noticed. Besides, in this hundred we find: +Skelmersdale, Ainsdale, Cuerdale, and Birkdale. The only two places +which the Danes seem to have noticed in their navigation of the Ribble +were Walton-le-dale and the more important Cuerdale, now renowned in +archæology for the richest find of ancient coins recorded in history. +The Danes brought a treasure of 7,000 pieces to Cuerdale. Mingled with +the coins were bars of silver, amulets, broken rings, and ornaments +of various kinds, such as are recorded by Scandinavian Sagas. Many +countries had been rifled for this treasure. Kufic, Italian, Byzantine, +French, and Anglo-Saxon coins were in the booty; besides 3,000 genuine +Danish pieces, minted by kings and jarls on the Continent. Another +discovery of Danish treasure was made at Harkirke, near Crosby. The +coins here found were of a more recent deposit, and contained but one +of Canute the Great. From the Mersey to the Ribble was a long, swampy, +boggy plain, and was not worth the Romans' while to make roads or to +fix stations or tenements. From the Conquest until the beginning of +the 18th century this district was almost stagnant, and its surface +undisturbed. The Dane kept to the shore, the sea was his farm. He +dredged the coast and the estuary, with his innate love of danger, +till Liverpool sprang up with the magic of Eastern fable, and turned +out many a rover to visit every region of the world. The race of +the Viking are, many of them, the richest merchants of the earth's +surface.[A] + +About half of England--the so-called "Danelag," or community of +Danes, was for centuries subject to Danish laws. These laws existed +for 200 years after the Norman Conquest. The Normans long retained a +predilection for old Danish institutions and forms of judicature, and +their new laws bear the impress and colour of the older time. This +is established beyond doubt, in spite of the boast of the famous Sir +Robert Peel in Parliament, that he was proud "The Danes tried in vain +to overcome the institutions of England instead of securing them." + +The English word "by-law" is still used to denote municipal or +corporate law, which is derived from the Danish "By-Lov." This shows +they must have had some share in developing the system of judicature +in English cities. The "Hustings" were well known in the seven cities +under Danish rule. + +The earliest positive traces of a "jury" in England appear in the +"Danelag," among the Danes established there; and that long before the +time of William the Conqueror. The present village of Thingwall, in +Cheshire, was a place of meeting for the "Thing" or "Trithing," a court +held in the open air to settle laws and disputes in the same manner as +that existing at Tynwald, Isle of Man. The division of "Ridings" in +Yorkshire is also derived from this Danish custom. + +The "Trithing" was a Danish institution, so also was the wapentake. +What are called "hundreds" in some counties, are called "wapentakes" in +others, thus from the Norse "taka," which means a "weapon grasping." +Tacitus says the ancients used to "express assent by waving or +brandishing their weapons." If the sentence pleased they struck +their spears together, "since the most honourable kind of assent is +to applaud with arms." From this practice the word came to mean the +sentence or decree had been thus authenticated. "Vapantak" in the +grafas of Icelandic parliament means the breaking up of the session, +when the men resumed their weapons which had been laid aside during the +assembly. (Cleasby.) + + +LOCAL NAMES. + +As a maritime race the Danes brought to our county not only a knowledge +of the sea, how to navigate its perils, and the secret of successful +trading, but also possessed the art and craft of shipbuilding to a +higher degree than any then known. We still have the old Danish name +in Liverpool of David Rollo and Sons, shipbuilders and engineers. The +following Danish maritime terms have become part of our language: Vrag, +a wreck; flaade, fleet; vinde, windlass; skibsborde, shipboard; mast, +mast; seile, sails; styrmand, steersman. + +From the fact that "Thingwall" in Cheshire and "Tynwald" in the Isle +of Man afford the memorial of the assizes, and that "wald" or "vold" +signifies a "bank" or "rampart," where these courts were held in order +to be safe from surprise, may we not presume the local name "The +Wylde," in Bury, to be derived from the same source, as the "bank" or +"rampart" would be used previous to the building of the old castle? The +Danish "byr," or "by," means a settlement, town, or village, and as the +word "berg" means a hill, and "borough," "bury," "brow," and "burgh" +are similar terms for a fortified hill, we may suppose "Bury" to be +taken from this source, instead of from the Saxon "byrig," a bridge, +when no bridge existed. + + + + +Settlements + + + + +CHAPTER II. + +SETTLEMENTS. + + +From the year 876 the Danes became colonists and settlers. Raid and +plunder gave place to peaceful pursuits. The English Chronicle says +that in "this year Halfdene apportioned the lands of Northumbria; +and they henceforth continued ploughing and tilling them." This +colonisation of Deira by the Danes was soon followed in other +districts. The greater part of central Britain with the whole of the +north and east came entirely under Scandinavian rule. + +[Illustration: THE VIKING SETTLEMENTS] + +In 877 trading is recorded by the Sagas from Norway, in a shipload of +furs, hides, tallow and dried fish, which were exchanged for wheat, +honey, wine and cloth. Thus early was established the increase in +comfort and wealth, as evidenced by the erection of Christian monuments +early in the tenth century. + +The origin of "long-weight" and "long-hundred" count is traceable to +the Danish settlements. This peculiar reckoning survives in the selling +of cheese 120 lbs. to the cwt., and in the counting of eggs, 120 to the +hundred. The timber trade counts 120 deals to the hundred. On the East +Coast fish are counted 132 to the hundred. Six score to the hundred is +still popular in Westmorland measure of crops and timber. This Danish +method of count was derived from the Icelandic term "hundred" which +meant 120. + +Professor Maitland, in his "Domesday Book and Beyond," says that the +number of sokemen or free men, owing certain dues to the Hundred +Court, or to a lord, who were masters of their own land, like the +customary tenants of Cumberland, was greater in Norfolk and Suffolk +than in Essex, and that in Lincolnshire they formed nearly half the +rural population. At the time of Domesday the number of serfs was +greatest in the West of England, but none are recorded in Yorkshire and +Lincolnshire. In the manors bearing English names the sokemen numbered +two-fifths of the population, while in those manors with Danish names +they formed three-fifths of the population. (Boyle.) + +In the Danelaw they represent the original freeholders of the +settlement and owed obedience to the local "Thing" or "Trithing Court." +In those districts which were not conquered by Edward the Elder the +freeholders settled and prospered, and with the spread of Christianity +they became independent proprietors and traders. + +The presence of Danish place-names marks the district which they +conquered, including the counties of Lincoln, Nottingham, Derby, +Leicester, Rutland, and Northampton. In the rest of Mercia few of these +names are to be found, viz., in Cheshire, Shropshire, Staffordshire, +Worcester, Gloucester, Hereford and Oxfordshire. The eastern part +of the Danish district came to be known as the Five Burghs, namely, +Derby, Leicester, Lincoln, Stamford and Nottingham. From the year +880 when Halfdene divided the lands of Deira among his followers the +conditions of life became those of colonists, and the Danes settled +down to cultivate their own lands, learning the language of the earlier +Angles, teaching them many words, and ways of northern handicraft, and +gradually intermarrying and forming the vigorous character of body and +mind which denotes the modern Englishman. + +From the middle of the tenth century men bearing Anglo-Danish names +held high positions in the Church; Odo was Archbishop of Canterbury, +his nephew Oswald was Bishop of Worcester and afterwards Archbishop of +York in succession to Oskytel, and many Norse names appear as witnesses +to Royal Charters. + +The hatred still existed against these barbarous Danes, and it is +recorded in the Saxon Chronicle that the Saxons learned drunkenness +from the Danes, a vice from which before they were free. This character +is strangely contrasted by the story of John of Wallingford, that "they +were wont, after the fashion of their country, to comb their hair +every day, to bathe every Saturday, Laugardag, 'bath day,'--and to +change their garments often, and to set off their persons by many such +frivolous devices. And in this manner laid siege to the virtue of the +women." + +If we are to accept the evidence of Lord Coke, we are indebted to the +Danish invasion for our propensity to make Ale the national beverage. +This eminent authority says that King Edgar, in 'permitting' the Danes +to inhabit England, first brought excessive drinking among us. + +The word Ale came into the English language through the Danish öl. +At any rate after the advent of the Norsemen, the English left off +drinking water and began to drink ale as the regular everyday beverage +of the people. + +The term 'beer' was used by the Anglo-Saxons, but seems to have fallen +into desuetude until the name was revived to distinguish 'ale' from +hopped ale.'--_From "Inns, Ales, and Drinking Customs of Old England," +by Frederick W. Hackwood_. + +Green the historian in his "Conquest of England" says the names of the +towns and villages of Deira show us in how systematic a way southern +Northumbria was parted among its conquerors.... "The English population +was not displaced, but the lordship of the soil was transferred to +the conqueror. The settlers formed a new aristocracy, while the older +nobles sank to a lower position, for throughout Deira the life of an +English thane was priced at but half the value of a 'northern hold.'" +The inference to be drawn from this passage is that the English lords +of the soil were replaced by Danish ones, the English settlers remained +in possession of their ancient holdings. In the course of time the +two races amalgamated, but at the Norman Conquest this amalgamation +had only been partially effected. In the districts where the Danes +settled they formed new villages, in which they lived apart from the +general Anglian population. Had they not done so the memory of their +settlement could never have been perpetuated by the Danish names given +to their homes. Every group of isolated Danish place-names teaches the +same fact, and there are many such groups. This is the case in the +Wirral district of Cheshire, the peninsula between the Mersey and the +Dee, where we find such names as Raby, Greasby, Frankby, Irby, Pansby, +Whitby and Shotwick, and in the centre of the district the village +called Thingwall. While throughout the rest of the county scarcely a +Danish name can be found, and as these names were conferred by the +Danish settlers it is impossible not to believe that under analogous +conditions the names in other districts were conferred in the same way. +Where a new village was planted midway between two older villages, its +territory would be carved in varying proportions out of the lands of +the earlier settlements. Sometimes certain rights of the older villages +were maintained in the territory of which they had been deprived. Thus +in a Danish village of Anlaby, the lands whereof were carved out of the +adjoining townships of Kirk Ella and Hessle, the respective rectors +of these parishes had curiously divided rights to both the great and +the small tithes; whilst in the neighbouring instance of the Danish +Willerby, carved out of Kirk Ella and Cottingham, the rector of Kirk +Ella took all the great tithes, and the rector of Cottingham took all +the small tithes. This method of Danish _village formation_ explains +a curious point. The foundation of the earlier Anglian settlements +preceded the development of the great road system of England. Leaving +out of consideration the Roman roads and the comparatively few British +roads, the former of which have relation to nothing but the military +needs of that all conquering people, our existing road system is due +to the Anglo-Saxon. Our old roads lead from one village to another and +each village is a centre from which roads radiate. The Danish villages +were, on the contrary, usually roadside settlements. New settlements +were formed on the vast fringes of wood and waste which surrounded +the cultivated lands of the older English villages. The road existed +and the one village street was formed along the line. Such wayside +settlements are Carnaby and Bessingby, on the road from Bridlington +to Driffield. When, as was sometimes the case, the new settlement was +planted at a little distance from the existing road a new road running +at right angles from the old one and leading directly to the settlement +was formed. Skidby, Towthorp, Kirby, Grindalbythe and many others +are cases in point. One consequence of such conditions of formation +would be that where the English settlements were most numerous the +Danish settlements would be few and small, because there was less land +available in such districts for their formation. While, on the other +hand, where English settlements were more sparsely scattered the Danish +settlements would be more numerous, and comparatively large. Taking a +large district like the East Riding, the average area of the Danish +townships may be expected to fall below that of the Anglo-Saxon. The +facts comply with all these tests. + +Thus to take the townships with Danish names, and compare with similar +districts of Anglo-Saxon names, we arrive at the conclusion as to +whether the district was thickly populated before the coming of the +Danes. Many Anglo-Saxon villages are to be found along the course of +the Roman road, which coincides with the modern one of to-day. The two +classes of population found only in Danish districts, the Sochmanni and +the "liber tenentes," are wholly absent in purely English districts. +Both held land exempt from villain services, which was a condition of +tenure introduced by the Danes. This fact shatters the theory of Green +that English settlers were communities of freemen. They were in fact +communities of bondmen, villains, bordars, cottars, and serfs, the last +holding no lands, but being bound to the soil as chattels, and the +rest holding their lands, "at the will of the lord," and in return +for actual services. What then was the Sochman? The lawyer of to-day +will answer, "He is one who held land by 'socage,' tenure." Although in +Domesday this "sochman" is confined to Danish districts, a fact which +is recognised in the laws of Edward the Confessor. After the Conquest a +type of tenure more or less closely corresponding to that by which the +earlier sochman held his land, was gradually established over the whole +kingdom. + +Tenants who owned such tenures were called "sochmen," and the tenure +itself was called "socage." A distinction was drawn between "free +socage" and "villain socage." The fuller development of the feudal +system which followed the Conquest greatly complicated all questions +of land tenure. New conditions of holding superior to that of "socage" +were introduced. Thus in the pages of Britton, who always speaks in +the person of the King, we read: "Sochmanries are lands and tenements +which are not held by knights' fee, nor by grand serjeantries, but by +simple services, as lands enfranchised by us, or our predecessors, +out of ancient demesnes." Bracton is more explicit. He defines free +socage as the tenure of a tenement, whereof the service is rendered in +money to the chief lords, and nothing whatever is paid, "ad scutum et +servitium regis." "Socage," he proceeds, "is named from soke, and hence +the tenants who held in socage are called sochmanni, since they are +entirely occupied in agriculture, and of whom wardship and marriage +pertain to the nearest parents in the right of blood. And if in any +manner homage is taken thereof, as many times is the case, yet the +chief lord has not on this account, wardship and marriage, which do not +always follow homage." He then goes on to define "villain socage." The +essential principle of socage tenure is rent in lieu of services. It +is to this fact no doubt that the vast impetus which was given to the +coinage of England soon after the coming of the Danes is largely due. + +As Mr. Worsaäe says, the Danish coiners increased to fifty in number +from the reign of Aethelred to Edward the Confessor, and the greater +number exercised this vocation at York and Lincoln. Thus the sochmanni +were found only in the settlements of the people who had created in +England a tenure of land free from servile obligations. + +The manner of fixing these early settlements of land was the same in +Ireland, in the East Riding of Yorkshire, and in Lincolnshire. The same +custom is still observed by our modern colonists who launch out into +the Australian bush. The land was staked out by the settler from the +highest ridge downwards to the creek of the river or shore. By this +means the settler obtained on outlet to the open sea. The homestead +was built by the bondr or husbandman, on the sheltered ground between +the marsh and hill. These settlements became byes, and were encircled +by a garth, or farmyard. The names of some Norse farms and settlements +became composed of a Norse prefix and Saxon ending. Thus we find Oxton +"the farm of the yoke," in the hollow of a long ridge. Storeton, from +stortun or "big field." + +Many of these names are repetitions of places which exist in +Cumberland, Denmark, and the Isle of Man. Raby and Irby were smaller +farms on the boundary of large byes, and were derived from the Danish +chief Ivar. Each homestead had its pastures and woods, which are +denoted by the terminals "well," "wall," and "birket," found in such +names as Crabwall, Thelwall, Thingwall. + +"Thwaites" or "Hlither" were sloping pastures, cleared of wood, +between the hill and marsh, used for grazing cattle and sheep. This +system of agriculture is of Norse origin, and many such "thwaites" +are to be found in Wallasey, Lancashire, and the Lake district. +Calday and Calder, recorded in Domesday, "Calders," derived from +kalf-gard, are names existing in Calderstones, at Wavertree, and +Calday near Windermere, as well as at Eastham and in Scotland. Each +large settler had summer pastures for cattle on the highland or moor, +called "soeters" or "saetter," a shelter seat for the dairymaids. From +this custom we derive the names Seacombe, Satterthwaite, Seathwaite, +Seascale, and Sellafield. As the population increased the large estates +were divided among the families of the early settlers, and these upland +pastures became separate farms. Evidence that these early Norsemen +were Christians is found in the name Preston, in Domesday. Prestune, +the farm of the priest: who in these early days farmed his own land. +From its position this farm became known as West Kirby. + +The stone crosses of Nelson and Bromborough prove that these churches +were founded early in the eleventh century. + +The Danish character of Chester at this date is shown by the fact that +it was ruled by "lawmen," in the same manner as the Five Boroughs +(vide Round's "Feudal England," p. 465), and its growing wealth and +importance was due to the trading intercourse through the Danish ships +with Dublin. + +Coming from the north-east another Norse and Danish settlement sprang +up round Liverpool. Though we have no distinct historical record, +the place names indicate the centre was at Thelwall (Tingwall). Such +names are Roby, West Derby, Kirkby, Crosby, Formby, Kirkdale, Toxteth, +found in Domesday as "Stockestede," Croxteth, Childwall, Harbreck, +Ravensmeols, Ormskirk, Altcar, Burscough, Skelmersdale. + +Out of forty-five names of places recorded in Domesday in West Derby +Hundred, ten are Scandinavian, the rest might be interpreted in either +dialect. + +All other names in Domesday in South Lancashire are Anglo-Saxon, which +only amount to twelve: the reason for the small number of names being +that the land was for the most part lying waste, and was thus free from +assessment. Thus we find on the present map that Norse names form a +large number which are not recorded in Domesday. Many of these would be +later settlements. In West Derby the names of three landowners appear +in this survey with Norse names, while three others are probably Norse, +and seven Saxon. + +Following the fall of the Danish dynasty the districts of South +Lancashire formed part of Cheshire and we find the names of six +"Drengs" around Warrington, possessing Norman names, while only one +bears a Norse name. The word "Dreng" being Norse, would infer that the +tenure was of "danelaw" origin and not of Anglo-Saxon. + +The founder of the Abbey of Burton-on-Trent, Wulfric Spot, held great +tracts of land in Wirral and West Lancashire, which are named in his +Will dated 1002. Thus the "Bondr" here held his land under Mercian +rules, from which the hides and hundreds were similar to those of the +previous "danelaw." + +Lancashire was the southern portion of Deira, which was one of the +two kingdoms, Bernicia being the other, into which the conquests of +Ida, king of Northumbria, were on his death divided. In 559 A.D. Ida +died, and Aella became King of Deira, and afterwards sole King of +Northumbria, until 587 or 589. In 617, Edwin son of Ella was King +of Northumbria, the greatest Prince, says Hume the historian, of the +Heptarchy in that age. He was slain in battle with Penda of Mercia. In +634 the kingdom was again divided, Eanfrid reigning in Bernicia, and +Osric in Deira. Then Oswald, saint as well as king, appears to have +reunited the two provinces again under his kingship of Northumberland. +Authorities, in more than one instance, vary as to the exact dates, +within a year or two. + +The Saxon kingdom of Northumbria reached from the Humber to the Forth, +and from the North Sea to the Irish Sea. For two centuries after the +death of Ecgfrith the Saxon king and the battle of Nectansmere, history +only records a succession of plunder and pestilence. + +Green the historian says "King after king was swept away by treason and +revolt, the country fell into the hands of its turbulent nobles, its +very fields lay waste, and the land was scourged by famine and plague." + +The pirate Northmen or Vikings as they were called first, began to raid +the coast of England with their fleets with the object of plunder. The +English Chronicle records their first attacks in the year 787. "Three +of their ships landed on the western shores, these were the first ships +of Danish men that sought the land of Engle-folk." + +The Monastery of Lindisfarne was plundered six years later by their +pirate ships, and the coast of Northumbria was ravaged, Jan., 793. + +The following year they returned and destroyed the monasteries of +Wearmouth and Jarrow. This was the beginning of the Norse raids on our +Eastern shores. + +In 875 Halfdan returned from his campaign against Alfred and the year +after he divided the lands of Northumbria amongst his followers. In +many parts we find groups of Scandinavian place-names so close and +thick, says Mr. W. G. Collingwood in his "Scandinavian Britain," that +we must assume either depopulation by war, or the nearly complete +absence of previous population. + +There is no reason to suppose that the earlier Vikings depopulated the +country they ravaged. Spoil was their object and slaughter an incident. + +As Canon Atkinson has shown in his "Analysis of the Area of Cleveland +under Cultivation at Domesday Period," very little of the country in +that district was other than moor or forest at the end of the eleventh +century, and that most of the villages then existing had Scandinavian +names. His conclusion is that these districts were a wilderness +since Roman and prehistoric days, and first penetrated by the Danes +and Norse: except for some clearings such as Crathorne, Stokesley, +Stainton, and Easington, and the old monastery at Whitby. + +This conclusion receives support, says Mr. Collingwood, from an +analysis of the sculptured stones now to be seen in the old Churches +and sites of Cleveland. It is only at Yarm, Crathorne, Stainton, +Easington, and Whitby, that we find monuments of the pre-Viking age, +and these are the products of the latest Anglian period. + +At Osmotherley, Ingleby, Arncliffe, Welbury, Kirklevington, Thornaby, +Ormesby, Skelton, Great Ayton, Kirkdale, and Kirkby-in-Cleveland are +tombstones of the tenth and eleventh centuries. It is thus evident +that the Angles were only beginning to penetrate these northern parts +of Yorkshire when the Vikings invaded and carried on the work of land +settlement much further. Further extension was made by the Norse from +the West Coast, as the place-names show. Monuments of pre-Viking art +work exist at places with Scandinavian names, such as Kirkby-Moorside, +Kirkby-Misperton, and Kirkdale; while in other cases only Viking age +Crosses are found at places with names of Anglian origin, such as +Ellerburn, Levisham, Sinnington, Nunnington. + +This would indicate that some Anglian sites were depopulated and +refounded with Danish names, while others had no importance in Anglian +times but soon became flourishing sites under the Danes. + +In the west of Yorkshire the great dales were already tenanted by +the Angles, but the moors between them, and the sites higher up the +valleys, were not the sites of Churches until the Danish period. (See +"Anglian and Anglo-Danish Sculpture in the North Riding," by W. G. +Collingwood. _Yorks. Arch. Journal_, 1907.) + +Yorkshire at the time of the Domesday survey was carucated and divided +into Ridings and Wapentakes. Thingwall, near Whitby. (Canon Atkinson, +site lost.) Thinghow, near Ginsborough (now lost), and Thinghow, now +Finney Hill, near Northallerton. (Mr. William Brown, F.S.A.) Tingley, +near Wakefield; Thingwall, near Liverpool; Thingwall in Wirral, may +have been Thingsteads. (W. G. Collingwood.) + +Names of places ending in -ergh, and -ark are dairy-farms from setr and +saetr. Names with ulls- as prefix, such as Ulpha, Ullscarth, Ullswater, +record the fact that wolves inhabited the hills. + +Beacons were kept up in olden days on hills which bear the +names of Warton, Warcop, Warwick and Warthole. Tanshelf, near +Pontefract, is derived from Taddenesscylfe, Blawith and Blowick from +Blakogr--blackwood. Axle, Acle, arcle from öxl, the shoulder. + + +THE BATTLE OF BRUNANBURH. + +WAS IT FOUGHT IN LANCASHIRE? + +"There is one entry in the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle which must be +mentioned here as it throws light upon an archæological discovery of +considerable importance. In 911 the Chronicle records that the Danish +army among the Northumbrians broke the peace and overran the land of +Mercia. When the King learned that they were gone out to plunder, he +sent his forces after them, both of the West Saxons and the Mercians; +and they fought against them and put them to flight, and slew many +thousands of them...." + +"There is good reason to believe," as Mr. Andrew shows (Brit. Numis. +Jour. i, 9), "that the famous Cuerdale hoard of Silver coins, which +was found in 1840 in a leaden chest buried near a difficult ford of +the Ribble on the river bank about two miles above Preston, represents +the treasure chest of this Danish army, overtaken in its retreat to +Northumbria at this ford and destroyed." + + * * * * * + +Then follows a process of reasoning in support of the above conclusion, +based upon the place of minting and the dating of the coins. + +"The bulk of the coins, however, were Danish, issued by Danish Kings of +Northumbria, many of them from York." + +Besides the Cuerdale find of 10,000 silver coins and 1,000 ounces +of silver there are records given of other Danish finds.--From the +Victoria County History of Lancashire, Vol. I., see Coins. + +Each historian of this important event has claimed a different site, in +as many parts of England. In Grose's "Antiquities" we find the allied +Scotch, Welsh, Irish, and Danes, the Northumbrian army, under Anlaf +were totally defeated, in 938 at Brunanburgh (Bromridge, Brinkburn), +in Northumberland, when Constantine, King of the Scots, and six petty +Princes of Ireland and Wales, with twelve Earls were slain. This +description is given in the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle. The honour of +claiming the Lancashire site on the river Brun near Burnley, belongs +to the late Mr. Thomas Turner Wilkinson, a master of Burnley Grammar +School, who claimed it for Saxifield in 1856. + +We are indebted to Mr. Jas. T. Marquis, a member of the Lancashire and +Cheshire Antiquarian Society, for the following summary of evidence +which he placed before the above Society during the winter session of +1908-9, and which will be found recorded in the Transactions of the +Society. He says, "There is overwhelming testimony in favour of the +site on the Lancashire Brun." + +The reasons for claiming this site are simply two. An old writer spells +Brinkburn--Brincaburh, and there is an artificial mound proving a fight. + +Camden gives Brunford, near Brumbridge in Northumberland, as the place +where "King Athelstane fought a pitched battle against the Danes." This +might easily be, but not the battle we refer to. There is no reason +given except the word "ford." + +Gibson suggests that it must have been "somewhere near the Humber," +although he finds a difficulty in carrying Constantine and the little +King of Cumberland so high into Yorkshire. The other places suggested +are Brumborough in Cheshire, Banbury in Oxfordshire, Burnham and Bourne +in Lincolnshire, Brunton in Northumberland, but no good reason beyond +a name, and an embankment in some cases, but not all. Brownedge in +Lancashire has been suggested, with excellent reasons. + +Dr. Giles and others suggest that the name should be Brumby instead +of Brunanburh. Ingram in his map of Saxon England places the +site in Lincolnshire, near the Trent, but without assigning good +reasons. Turner observes that the "Villare" mentions a Brunton in +Northumberland, and Gibson states what may still be seen in maps of a +century old, "that in Cheshire there is a place called Brunburh near +the shores of the Mersey." This last would be a serious competitor if +there was a river Brun, or tumuli, or ford, or battlefield: but nothing +is claimed, only the name suggested. + +Brunsford or Brunford. Let us first establish the site of the "burh," +which is a hill that shields or protects a camp, town, or hamlet. +The question is, where was the "tun" or village on the Brun? It was +in Saxon times usual for the folk to settle near a "burh" for the +protection afforded by an overlord who occupied it. + +It was also the custom of the early missionaries to establish a +feldekirk by setting up a Cross near to the hamlet, where they used to +preach Christianity and bury their dead. + +Tradition says it was intended to build the Church on the site of the +Cross, but that God willed it otherwise. God-ley Lane would be the lane +which led from the village in Saxon times to God's Lea or God-ley, on +which was the new church and burial ground. Thus the new town would +take its modern name from the ground on which the Church stood, namely +Brun-ley, Bron-ley, and Burn-ley. + +The cross, built in Saxon times to mark the spot where Christianity was +first preached, stood at the foot of the "burh" near the Brun, and thus +the early name would be Brunford. + +The records of Domesday Book contain no mention of Burnley. To the +east and west would be the vast forest of Boulsworth and Pendle, while +the valleys would be marshes and swamps. The ancient roads went along +the hill sides, and there is an ancient road from Clitheroe by Pendle +passing along the east side of the hill, now almost obliterated, +leading to Barrowford. The ancient road on this east side of the +valley, was on the Boulsworth slope from Brunford, via Haggate and +Shelfield, to Castercliffe, Colne, and Trawden which gave its name to +the forest, and Emmott. + +Dr. Whitaker tells us that in his day, "in the fields about Red Lees +are many strange inequalities in the ground, something like obscure +appearances of foundations, or perhaps entrenchments, which the +levelling operations of agriculture have not been able to efface. +Below Walshaw is a dyke stretching across from 'Scrogg Wood' to 'Dark +Wood.'" + +The ninth century annalist says, "The Northmen protected themselves +according to custom, 'with wood and a heap of earth,'" A Walshaw +would therefore be a wall of wood. Nothing was safer, when attacked +by bowmen, than a wood. Such was the Brun-burh. This burh at Red Lees +with mounds and ditches, in a half circle on each side of the Causeway, +would have the same appearance on being approached from the east and +south-east as the eleventh century "burh" at Laughton-en-le-Morthen in +Yorkshire. + +The ancient way referred to in Dr. Whitaker, from Burnley to Townley, +would be from the Market Cross, along Godley Lane to the Brunford +Cross, up over the ridge to the top of Brunshaw, along the Causeway to +Lodge Farm, through the Deer Park, through the Watch Gate at the foot +of the hill, and up to Castle Hill at Tunlay. + +Although Egbert was called the first King of England, his son Alfred +the Great at the height of his power only signed himself "Alfred of the +West Saxons, King." + +England was still governed under the three provinces at the time of +Henry I., namely Wessex, Mercia, and Danelagh. The latter province +comprised the whole tract of country north and east of Watling Street. +Mercia included the lands north of the Mersey. Danish Northumbria or +Deira comprised the lands to the west of the Pennines. + +Amongst the hills north of the Ribble the hostile nations could meet +in security. Saxon-Mercia north of the Mersey, surrounded by alien +nations, and having been itself conquered from that claimed as the +Danelaw, would be the most likely where those nations could meet in +time of peace, and was the debatable land in time of war. + +After the death of Alfred, when Edward the Elder claimed overlordship, +the Danes rose in revolt in the north. It is recorded that he and his +warrior sister "the Lady of the Mercians" abandoned the older strategy +of rapine and raid, for that of siege and fortress building, or the +making and strengthening of burhs. + +Edward seems to have recovered the land between the Mersey and the +Ribble, for soon after leaving Manchester, the Britons of Strathclyde, +the King of Scots, Regnold of Bamborough who had taken York at this +period, and the Danish Northumbrians take him to be father and lord. +The place is not mentioned, but must be somewhere between Boulsworth +and Pendle. + +[Illustration: Extwistle Hall, near Eamott, marks an ancient boundary.] + +The same thing happened when Athelstan claimed his overlordship. +Profiting by following his father's example, he would travel from +burh to burh, and his route would not be difficult to trace, namely, +Thelwall, Manchester, Bacup, Broad Dyke, Long Dyke, Easden Fort, Copy +Nook, Castle Hill, Watch Gate, Brunburh, Broadbank, Castercliffe, +Shelfield, Winewall, Eamot. + +The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle says that "A.D. 926, Sihtric perished, and +King Athelstan ruled all the Kings in the Island, the Northumbrians, +Constantine King of Scots, Ealdred of Bamborough, and others, which +they confirmed by pledges and oaths at a place Eamot on the 4th of the +ides of July and they renounced idolatry." + +Everything points to the fact that Brunanburgh gave its name to this +battle. This part of the Saxon king's dominions being the one place +where all the hostile nations could meet before the attack. + +There is no other river Brun in northern Mercia, and the Saxon +Chronicle says the battle was fought near Brunanburh. + +Ethelward says Brunandune (river and dale). Simeon gives Wendune +(Swindon). Malmesbury and Tugulf names Brunanburh or Bruford. Florence +of Worcester "near Brunanburh." Henry of Huntingdon gives Brunesburh, +and Gaimar has Brunswerc, which we have in Worsthorne, which is +known to be derived from Wrthston, the town of Wrth. In the _Annales +Cambriae_ it is styled the "Bellum Brun" (the Battles of the Brun). +This would explain the many names. + +William of Malmesbury says that the field was "far into England." We +have Brownedge and Brownside. In addition to all this we have "Bishops +Leap," S'Winless Lane, Saxifield, Saxifield Dyke. We have also a +Ruh-ley, a Red Lees, directly opposite to which we have a traditional +battlefield and battlestone, also a High Law Hill, and Horelaw +Pastures, a number of cairns of stones, a small tumuli; all of which +may be said to be near the hillfort Brunburh. + + +DESCRIPTIONS OF BATTLES FROM THE MAP. + +From the two Ordnance maps, "six inch to the mile," one of Briercliffe, +and the other of Worsthorne, it may be seen that the roads from Slack, +near Huddersfield, pass through the Pennine range, one by the long +Causeway, on the south of the position and on the southern side, near +Stipernden, is "Warcock Hill. From here running north, are a series +of ridges, Shedden Edge, Hazel Edge, Hamilton Hill, to the other road +from Slack, passing through the hills at Widdop, and immediately on the +north side at Thursden is another Warcock Hill. From Warcock Hill to +Warcock Hill would stretch the army of Anlaf in their first position. +From the north end of the position a road north to Shelfield and +Castercliffe, by means of which he would be joined by his Welsh allies, +from the Ribble, via Portfield, and his Strathclyde and Cumbrian allies +from the north. From this end of the position there is a road due west +to the Broadbank, where there is the site of a small camp at Haggate. + +[Illustration] + +From here Anlaf would send his Welsh allies under Adalis, and his +shipmen under Hryngri, for the night attack on the advancing Saxons +as they crossed the Brunford. They fell on them somewhere on the site +of Bishop's House Estate, but were afterwards beaten back across the +estates known as Saxifield. Two days afterwards both sides prepared +for the great struggle near the burh, and Anlaf, taking his cue from +his opponent, advanced his left and took possession of the hill near +Mereclough, afterwards called High Law (Round Hill), and the pastures +behind still known as Battlefield, with a stone called Battlestone in +the centre of it. + +Constantine and the Scots were in charge of the hill, and the Pict, and +Orkney men behind. His centre he pushed forward at Brown Edge, to the +"Tun of Wrst." While his right touched S'Winden Water under Adalis with +the Welsh and shipmen. + +Two days before the great battle Athelstan marched out of Brunburh at +the north end, and encamped somewhere on the plain called Bishop's +House Estate, his route by the Brunford, and probably S'Winless Lane. + +We are told that Anlaf entered the camp as a spy, and ascertaining the +position of Athelstan's tent, formed the night attack for the purpose +of destroying him. Athelstan, however, leaving for another part of his +position on the Brun, gave Wersthan, Bishop of Sherborne, the command. + +The Bishop met his death somewhere on the estate, the Pasture being +known as Bishop's Leap, which undoubtedly gave its name to the estate. + +Adalis, the Welsh Prince, had done this in the night attack, probably +coming by way of Walshaw, and Darkwood. Alfgier took up the command, +with Thorolf on his right and Eglis in support in front of the wood. +Alfgier was first assaulted by Adalis with the Welsh and driven off +the field, afterwards fleeing the country. Thorolf was assaulted by +Hryngr the Dane, and soon afterwards by Adalis also, flushed with +victory. Thorolf directed his colleague Eglis to assist him, exhorted +by his troops to stand close, and if overpowered to retreat to the +wood. Thorolf or Thorold the Viking was the hero of this day, near the +Netherwood on Thursden Water. He fought his way to Hryngr's standard +and slew him. His success animated his followers, and Adalis, mourning +the death of Hryngr, gave way and retreated, with his followers back +over Saxifield to the Causeway camp at Broadbank. + +Whatever took place at Saxifield the enemy left it entirely, and the +decisive battle took place at the other end of Brunburh. In walking +up S'Windene, by S'Winden Water, the district on the right between +that river and the Brun is called in old maps Roo-ley and in older +manuscripts Ruhlie, marked in Thomas Turner Wilkinson's time, with a +cairn and tumulus. Some distance further on we find Heckenhurst. The +roads down from the burh are at Rooley and at Brownside and at Red Lees +by the Long Causeway leading to Mereclough. + +Athelstan placed Thorolf on the left of his army, at Roo-ley, to oppose +the Welsh and irregular Irish under Adalis. In front of Brownside +(Burnside) was Eglis with the picked troops, and on Eglis' right +opposite Worsthorne, Athelstane and his Anglo-Saxons. + +Across the original Long Causeway on the Red Lees, with the burh +entrenchments immediately at his back, was the valiant Turketul, the +Chancellor, with the warriors of Mercia and London opposite Round Hill +and Mereclough. + +Thorolf began by trying to turn the enemy's right flank, but Adalis +darted out from behind the wood, now Hackenhurst, and destroyed +Thorolf, and his foremost friends on Roo-ley or Ruhlie. Eglis came up +to assist his brother Viking, and encouraging the retreating troops by +an effort destroyed the Welsh Prince Adalis, and drove his troops out +of the wood. The memorial of this flight was a cairn and tumulus on +Roo-ley. + +Athelstan and Anlaf were fighting in the centre for the possession +of (Bruns) Weston, neither making much progress, when the Chancellor +Turketul, with picked men, including the Worcester men under the +magnanimous Sinfin, made a flank attack at Mereclough, and breaking +through the defence of the Pict and Orkney men, got to the "Back o' +th' Hill." He penetrated to the Cumbrians and Scots, under Constantine, +King of the Grampians. The fight was all round Constantine's son, who +was unhorsed. The Chancellor was nearly lost, and the Prince released, +when Sinfin, with a mighty effort, terminated the fight by slaying the +Prince. + +On Round Hill, down to one hundred years ago, stood a cairn called High +Law. When the stones were made use of to mend the roads, a skeleton was +found underneath. That would, I believe, be a memorial of the fight. + +At "Back o' th' Hill," a blind road leads through what in an old map, +and in tradition is called "Battlefield," and the first memorial stone +is called "Battlestone." Another similar stone is further on. Following +the blind road through Hurstwood, the Chancellor would find himself at +Brown End, near Brown Edge. At the other end of the position, Eglis +having won the wood, would be in the neighbourhood of Hell Clough, +ready to charge at the same time as Turketul, on the rear of Anlaf's +army. + +[Illustration: Old Daneshouse] + +At this point of the battle, Athelstan, seeing this, made a successful +effort and pushed back the centre. Then began the carnage, the +memorials of which are still to be seen on Brown Edge, Hamilton +Pasture, Swindene, Twist Hill, Bonfire Hill, and even beyond. Those +who could get through the hills at Widdop would do so: others however +would take their "hoards" from the camps at Warcock Hill and other +places, and burying their "treasures" as they went along, pass in front +of Boulsworth, and over the moor through Trawden Forest, between Emmott +and Wycollar. + +If the Saxon description of the battle, in Turner's "History of the +Anglo-Saxons" be read and compared with the Ordnance maps before named, +the reader will see that there is no other place in England which +can show the same circumstantial evidence nor any place, having that +evidence, be other than the place sought for. + +Danes House, Burnley, is thus referred to by the late Mr. T. T. +Wilkinson, F.R.A.S.:--"Danes House is now a deserted mansion situated +about half-a-mile to the north of Burnley, on the Colne Road. It has +been conjectured there was a residence on the same site A.D. 937, when +Athelstan, King of the South Saxons, overthrew with great slaughter, +at the famous battle of Brunanburgh, Anlaf, the Dane, and Constantine, +King of the Scots. Tradition states that it was here that Anlaf rested +on his way to the battlefield from Dublin and the Isles, hence the name +Danes House. The present deserted mansion has undergone little change +since it was re-erected about the year 1500." This house has now been +pulled down. + + +THE DYKE OR DYKES, BROADCLOUGH, BACUP. + +This mighty entrenchment is over 600 yards in length and for over 400 +yards of the line is 18 yards broad at the bottom. No satisfactory +solution has yet been offered of the cause of this gigantic work or +of the use to which it was put originally. Speaking of it Newbigging +("History of Rossendale") says:-- + + "The careful investigations of Mr. Wilkinson have invested + this singular work with more of interest than had before been + associated with it, by his having with marked ability and + perseverance, collected together a mass of exhaustive evidence, + enforced by a chain of argument the most conclusive, with + regard to the much debated locality of the great struggle + between the Saxons and the Danes, which he endeavours, and + most successfully, to show is to be found in the immediate + neighbourhood of Burnley, and in connection with which the + earthwork in question constituted, probably, a not unimportant + adjunct." + +Again, he says:-- + + "If Saxonfield (Saxifield) near Burnley, was the scene of the + engagement between the troops of Athelstan and Anlaf, then it + is in the highest degree probable that one or other of the + rival armies, most likely that of the Saxon King, forced, or + attempted to force a passage through the valley of the Irwell + and that there they were encountered by the confederated hosts + intrenched behind the vast earthwork at Broadclough that + commanded the line of their march. Whether this was taken + in flank or rear by the Saxon warriors, or whether it was + successful in arresting their progress, or delaying a portion + of their army, it is impossible to determine; but that it + was constructed for weighty strategical purposes, under the + belief that its position was of the last importance, so much + of the remains of the extraordinary which still exists affords + sufficient evidence." + + + + +Place-Names + + + + +CHAPTER III. + +PLACE-NAMES. + + +An eloquent modern writer has declared, with a good reason, that even +if all other records had perished, "anyone with skill to analyse +the language, might re-create for himself the history of the people +speaking that language, and might come to appreciate the divers +elements out of which that people was composed, in what proportion they +were mingled, and in what succession they followed one upon the other." +From a careful analysis of the names of the more prominent features +of the land; of its divisions, its towns and villages, and even its +streets, as well as the nomenclature of its legal, civil, and political +institutions, its implements of agriculture, its weapons of war, and +its articles of food and clothing,--all these will yield a vast fund of +history. + +The place-name Liverpool has been the greatest puzzle to local +etymologists. From the earliest known spelling--recorded in a deed +of the time of Richard I. 1189-99, where the form is Leverpool--to +the present, it has gone through more changes than any other local +name. As the Norse element in the vicinity of Liverpool has been very +great, we may assume the original derivation to come from "hlith," +the old Norse for a "slope." The north dialect also contains the word +"lither" meaning sluggish. It is an adjective bearing the same meaning +as the modern English "lithe," pliant, or gentle. The names Lithgoe, +Lethbridge, Clitheroe, and Litherland may be derived from it. + +From the peaceful reign of Canute, or Knut, we derive the nautical +term, some place-names--Knuts-ford, Knott End, Knot Mill, Knottingley. +Knot, from old Norse "Knutr," and "Knotta," a ball, was the name given +to the measurement of speed of a ship. Fifty feet was the distance +allowed between the knots on the cord, and as many as ran out in half a +minute by the sand-glass indicated the speed of the ship. And thus we +speak of a 10 knot breeze blowing.[B] + +Hope, as a place-name, is common from the Orkneys to the Midlands, and +is derived from an old Norse word "hoop," for a small land-locked bay, +inlet or a small enclosed valley, or branch from the main dale. Hope is +a common place-name, as well as a surname. In compounds we find it in +Hopekirk, Hopeton, Hapton, Hopehead, Dryhope. + +From "Trow," a trough, we derive Trowbridge, Troughton, Trawden, and +probably Rawtenstall. + +The battle of Brunanburg, which took place in the year 937, is supposed +to have been fought on the site of the modern Burnley, on the river +Brun. King Olaf brought his men over in 600 ships, many containing +over 100 men each. He was defeated by Athelstane and his brother +Edmund. There was until recently pulled down in Burnley a house called +Danes-house. Though the Danes lost this battle, the northern bards +recorded its bravery in their war songs, of which their Sagas or +legends still preserve some remains. + +Among the chief followers of King Athelstane in 931, who subdued the +Danish kingdom in England, we find the names of the following Jarls: +Urm, Gudrum, Ingrard, Hadder, Haward, Healden, Rengwald, Scule, +and Gunner. It is not difficult to recognise modern surnames from +this list, such as Urmston, Guthrie, Hodder, Howard, Holden, Heald, +Reynolds, Scholes, and Gunning. + +"Northumbria was the literary centre of the Christian world in Western +Europe," says John Richard Green; and the learning of the age was +directed by the Northumbrian scholar Baeda, the venerable Bede. + + +YORKSHIRE. + +The population of Yorkshire, after the retreat of the Romans, was +composed of Angles. + +When the Vikings invaded the county, the wide dales only had been +occupied by these early settlers. The higher valleys were densely +wooded, the broad moors and mosslands had not been penetrated until the +coming of the Norse in 900 A.D. + +Some Anglian districts were refounded under Danish names, and became +flourishing settlements. Canon Atkinson has shown by his analysis of +Cleveland, that at Domesday, very little of that district was under +cultivation. To the end of the eleventh century it consisted of moor +and forest, and that many of the villages had then Danish names. The +name Ingleby shows the passing of the Angles, by the addition of the +Danish 'by.' + +At Domesday Yorkshire was divided into Ridings (thrithings), and +Wapentakes. + +Such names as Thingwall near Whitby, Thinghow near Gainsborough, +Thinghow near Northallerton, and Tingley near Wakefield, though some +of the sites have disappeared, remain to show the centres of Danish +government. The presence of many Scandinavian places and names suggests +that the country before then was a wilderness. The condition of the +country may be gathered from the records and traditions of Reginald +and Symeon of Durham. In 875 Halfdan the Dane began his raid into +Bernicia, and the Abbot of Lindisfarne, Eardwulf fled before him, +taking the relics of St. Cuthbert. These wanderings, says Symeon, +covered a period of nine years. The leader of this band was Eadred, the +Abbot of Carlisle (Caer-Luel), whose monastery had been destroyed, and +with the city, lay in ruins for two hundred years. At the places where +these relics rested during their wanderings, Churches were afterwards +erected, and dedicated to this Saint. The direction taken by the +fugitives has been traced by Monsignor Eyre and the late Rev. T. Lees, +first inland to Elsdon, then by the Reed and Tyne to Haydon Bridge, +and up the Tyne valley; south by the Maiden way, and then through the +fells by Lorton and Embleton to the Cumberland coast. At Derwentmouth, +Workington, they determined to embark for Ireland, but were driven back +by a storm and thrown ashore on the coast of Galloway, where they found +a refuge at Whithorn. + +Mr. W. G. Collingwood says in his "Scandinavian Britain," that in this +storm the MS. Gospels of Bishop Eadfirth (now in the British Museum) +were washed overboard, but recovered. At Whithorn the bishop heard of +Halfdan's death, and turned homewards by way of Kirkcudbright. + +The fact that the relics of St. Cuthbert found refuge in Cumberland and +Galloway shows that the Danish invasion, from which they were saved, +took very little hold of these parts. The Vikings of the Irish Sea were +already under the influence of Christians, if not christianised, and +were not hostile to the fugitive monks, while the natives welcomed them. + +The early historians relate the curious story of the election of +Guthred, Halfdan's successor. Eadred, Abbot of Carlisle, who was with +St. Cuthbert's relics at Craik, in central Yorkshire, on the way home, +dreamt that St. Cuthbert told him to go to the Danish army on the +Tyne, and to ransom from slavery, a boy named Guthred, son of Hardecnut +(John of Wallingford says, "the sons of Hardecnut had sold him into +slavery"), and to present him to the army as their king. He was also +to ask the army to give him the land between the Tyne and the Wear, as +a gift to St. Cuthbert and a sanctuary for criminals. Confident in his +mission, he carried out its directions; found the boy, ransomed him, +gained the army's consent, and the gift of the land, and proclaimed +Guthred King at "Oswigedune." Eardwulf then brought to the same place +the relics of St. Cuthbert, on which every one swore good faith. The +relics remained until 999 at Chester-le-Street, and there Eardwulf +re-established the bishopric. + +In these records of the Saxon historian Symeon, we have the curious +illustration of the Viking raiders becoming rapidly transformed from +enemies into allies and rulers chosen from among them. The history +of Guthred's reign was peaceful, and he became a Christian King. His +election took place about the year 880. During the reign of Guthred, +his kingdom became christianised, the sees of Lindisfarne and York +survived the changes. Guthred died in 894 and was buried in the high +church at York. + +In 919 Ragnvald, called by Symeon "Inguald," became King of York. He +was one of the most romantic figures of the whole Viking history. His +name bore many forms of spelling: Ragnvald, Reignold, Ronald, Ranald, +and Reginald. + +Coming from the family of Ivar in Ireland, Ragnvald mac Bicloch ravaged +Scotland in 912, fought and killed Bard Ottarsson in 914 off the Isle +of Man. Joined his brother at Waterford in 915 and set out for his +adventure in North Britain. Landing in Cumberland, he passed along +the Roman wall, and becoming King of York, was the first of the Irish +Vikings who ruled until 954. + +The attacks of Vikings who were still Pagans continued, and many +curious lights are shed by the chronicles of Pictish writers. The +power of St. Cuthbert over the lands given for a sanctuary to Eadred +the Abbot, is recorded in the legend of Olaf Ball (from 'ballr,' the +stubborn), a Pagan who refused rent and service to St. Cuthbert, +for lands granted to him by Ragnvald, between Castle Eden and the +Wear. This Pagan came one day to the Church of St. Cuthbert at +Chester-le-Street. He shouted to Bishop Cutheard and his congregation, +"What can your dead man, Cuthbert, do to me? What is the use of +threatening me with his anger? I swear by my strong gods, Thor and +Uthan, that I will be the enemy of you all from this time forth." Then, +when he tried to leave the Church, he could not lift his foot over the +threshold, but fell down dead. "And St. Cuthbert, as was just, thus got +his lands." + +The succession of races which gave many of our place-names, and the +order in which they came, has been pointed out in the following names +by the late Canon Hume, of Liverpool: Maeshir, now called Mackerfield, +was called Maeshir by the Britons, meaning longfield; to which the +Saxons added field, which now becomes Longfield-field, Wansbeckwater +is Danish, Saxon, and English, three words meaning water. Then we have +Torpenhowhill, a hill in Cumberland, composed of four words, each +meaning hill. + +In addition to maritime terms, and terms of government, we derive from +Danish sources titles of honour and dignity, such as king, queen, earl, +knight, and sheriff. + +The Danes have left us traces of their occupation in the word gate, +which is of frequent occurrence, and used instead of street in many of +our older towns. The Saxons, who were less civilised, left many terms, +such as ton, ham, stead, and stock. But they had no word to denote a +line of houses. "Gata" was therefore not the English word used for +gate, but a street of houses. From the Norman we have row, from rue, a +street. + +The names of many of our streets and buildings are full of historical +associations and information. In Bolton, Wigan, and Preston we find +some streets bearing the name of gate, such as Bradshawgate, Wallgate, +Standishgate, and Fishergate. In the towns of York, Ripon, Newcastle, +and Carlisle many more of these gates are to be found. York has no +less than twenty gates. + +To the roads of the Romans, the Danes gave the name of "a braut," +_i.e._, the broken course, or cleared way. (From this "a braut" +comes the modern English word abroad, and the adjective broad.) The +Anglo-Saxon took the name of street from the Roman strata. Thus we get +the name of Broad Street, being two words of similar meaning. + +Lone, lonely, and alone come from "i laun," which means banishment, and +those thus outlawed formed the brigands of the hill districts. We thus +get Lunesdale, Lune, and Lancaster, from which John of Gaunt took his +English title. + +Skipper was the Danish term for the master of a small vessel. In the +game of bowls and curling the skipper is the leader or director. + +"Hay," the Norse for headland, pronounced hoy, furnishes us with +several local place-names, such as Huyton, Hoylake, Howick. + + +A NORSE FESTIVAL. + +Trafalgar Day is celebrated by the usual custom on October 21st--by +the hoisting of the British flag on the public buildings and by the +decoration of the Nelson Monuments in Liverpool and London. This +battle was fought in 1805, and decided the supremacy of Britain as a +sea power. Long may the deathless signal of our greatest hero continue +to be the lode star of the man and the nation: "England expects that +every man will do his duty." + +Let us trace the connection between Lord Nelson and the Danes in our +own county. Admiral Nelson bore a genuine Scandinavian name, from +"Nielsen," and was a native of one of the districts which were early +colonised by the Danes, namely, Burnhamthorpe, in Norfolk. His family +were connected with the village of Mawdesley, near Rufford, which still +has for its chief industry basket-making. Fairhurst Hall, at Parbold, +in the same district of Lancashire, was the home of a Nelson family for +many centuries. + +This recalls the fact that we have still in existence a curious +survival. "A strange festival" is celebrated each year on January 31st +at Lerwick, or Kirkwall, the capital of the Orkney Isles. The festival +called "Up-helly-a" seems to be growing in favour. Lerwick becomes +the Mecca of the North for many days, and young people travel long +distances to witness the revels that go to make up the celebration of +the ancient festival. All former occasions were eclipsed by the last +display. At half-past eight o'clock a crowd of about 3,000 people +assembled in the square at the Market Cross. In the centre stood a +Norse war galley or Viking ship, with its huge dragon head towering +upwards with graceful bend. Along the bulwarks were hung the warriors' +shields in glowing colours, the Norse flag, with the raven, floating +overhead. On board the galley fiddlers were seated. Then a light +flared below Fort Charlotte, which announced that the good ship Victory +would soon be on the scene. And a stately ship she was, as she came +majestically along, hauled by a squad in sailor costume, while a troop +of instructors from the Fort walked alongside as a guard of honour to +the good vessel. The Victory immediately took up her position, and the +guizers began to gather. Torches were served out, the bugle sounded +the call to light up, and then the procession started on its way round +the town. The guizers who took part numbered over three hundred, and +seen under the glare of the torches the procession was one of the +prettiest. The Norse galley led the way, and the Victory occupied a +place near the centre of the procession. The dresses were very tasteful +and represented every age and clime. There were gay Cavaliers, Red +Indians, Knight Templars, and squires of the Georgian period. The +procession being over, the Victory and the Norse galley were drawn +up alongside each other, near the market cross, while the guizers +formed a circle round them. Toasts were proposed, songs were sung, +and thereafter the proceedings were brought to a close by the guizers +throwing their flaming torches on board the ships. As soon as the +bonfire was thoroughly ablaze, the guizers formed themselves in their +various squads, each headed by a fiddler, and began their house to +house visitation. The guizer was costumed as an old Norse jarl, with +a sparkling coat of mail, and carried a prettily emblazoned shield +and sword. The squad of which he was chief were got up as Vikings. +Curiously enough, these were followed by Dutch vrows. + +The Orkneys and Shetland Isles were ceded to James III. of Scotland, +as the dowry of his wife, Margaret, in 1469, and became part of Great +Britain on the union of Scotland with England. James I. married Ann +of Denmark, and passed through Lancashire in August, 1617, when he +visited Hoghton Tower. The effusiveness of the Prestonians was outdone +at Hoghton Tower, where His Majesty received a private address in which +he was apostrophised as "Dread Lord." He is reported to have exclaimed +"Cot's splutters! What a set of liegemen Jamie has!" + + + + +Patronymics + + + + +CHAPTER IV. + +PATRONYMICS. + + +We are sprung from the sea; a county of seaports is our dwelling-place, +and the sea itself our ample dominion, covered throughout its vast +extent with our fellow subjects in their "floating cities." These are +filled with our wealth, which we commit to the winds and waves to +distribute to the extremities of the four quarters of the world. We are +therefore no common people, nor are they common events which form eras +in our history; nor common revolutions which have combined and modified +the elements of our speech. + +Though we have kept no genealogies to record to us from what particular +horde of settlers we are sprung--no family chronicles to tell us +whether Saxon, Dane, Norse, or Norman owns us as progeny--still our +names serve partly to distinguish us, and "words" themselves thus still +remind us of what otherwise would be totally forgotten. It has been +claimed that two-thirds of us are sprung from the Anglo-Saxons and +Danes, and had our language kept pace with our blood we should have had +about two-thirds of our modern English of the same origin. But we have +more. Our tongue is, hence, less mixed than our blood. It is therefore +easier to trace out the histories of words than of families. + +It is difficult at first sight to determine whether family names have +been derived from family residences or the residences have obtained +their names from their first proprietors. The Romans imposed their +military names upon the towns of the early Britons. The Danes added +their own descrip-names, and previous to becoming converted to +Christianity gave the names of their heathen deities to the mountains +and landmarks. To these were added the names of Norse and Danish +kings and jarls. After the Norman Conquest, when the land had been +divided by William the Conqueror among his followers, comes the period +when surnames were taken from the chief lands and residences. Pagan +deities supply us with many surnames. From "Balder" comes Balderstone, +Osbaldistone. "Thor" gives us Tursdale, Turton, Thursby, Thorley, +Thurston, and Thurstaston, in the Wirral, near West Kirby. "Frëyer" +supplies Frisby, Frankby, Fry, Fryer, Fraisthorpe, and Fraser. "Uller" +or "Oller" gives Elswick, Ullersthorpe, Elston, Ulverston. From "Vé," +a sacred place, like "Viborg," the old Jutland assize town, we derive +Wydale, Wigthorpe, Wythorpe, Willoughby, Wilbeforce, Wigton, and +Wyre. Some of our earliest Lancashire names are derived from "Gorm," +"Billingr," "Rollo," who were Norse and Danish kings. Their names +and their compounds show us that the Danes were Christianised, as +"Ormskirk," which provides very many surnames, such as Orme, Oram, +Ormsby, Ormerod, Ormeshaw; and another form of Gorm, "Grim" as Grimshaw +and Grimsargh. Formby and Hornby may also be traced to this origin. +From "Billingr" we get Billinge, the village near Wigan, standing on +a high hill and having a beacon, Billington and other names of this +construction. From "Rollo" we derive Roby, Raby, Rollo, Rollinson, +Ribby. From "Arving," an heir, we get Irving, Irvin, and Irton. From +"Oter" we have Otter, Ottley, Uttley. The Danes sailed up the river +Douglas, and gave the name Tarleton, from "Jarlstown." Many Christian +names come from the Danish--Eric, Elsie, Karl, Harold, Hugo, Magnus, +Olave, Ralph, Ronald, Reginald. Surnames formed by the addition of +"son" or "sen" are common to both Danes and English, but never appear +in Saxon names. Thus we have Anderson, Adamson, Howson, Haldan, +Matheson, Nelson, Jackson, Johnson, Thomson, and Stevenson. + +The different names we find given to the same trees arise from +different settlers giving and using their own form of name: "Birch," +"Bracken," "Crabtree," and "Cawthorn." "Wil-ding" is also known in +Westmorland and Yorkshire. "Whasset," which gives its name to a small +hamlet near Beetham, in Westmorland, is Danish; "Wil-ding" is probably +Flemish, and also Wild, Wilde, as this name dates from about the year +A.D. 1338, when Edward III. encouraged numbers of Flemings to come +over from the Netherlands to introduce and improve the manufacture of +woollens. He located them in different parts of the country, and we +find them settled in Kendal and in the vicinity of Bury and Rochdale. +This will account for this surname being so frequently found in +Lancashire. + +From Copenhagen "the harbour of merchants," we derive many important +place-names and surnames. A Copeman was a Chapman, a merchant or +dealer; and thus we derive Cheap, Cheapside, Chepstow, and Chipping. +In surnames we get Copeland, Copley, Copethorne, and Capenhurst. The +common expression "to chop or change," comes from this source. In the +London Lyckpeny of 1430 we find: "Flemings began on me for to cry +'Master, what will you copen or buy.'" In 1579, Calvin in a sermon +said: "They play the copemaisters, and make merchandise of the doctrine +of this Gospel." These early copmen remind us of the Lancashire +merchant who had visited the States after the American Civil War. He +said to the late John Bright: "How I should like to return here, fifty +years after my death, to see what wonderful progress these people have +made." John Bright replied: "I have no doubt, sir, you will be glad of +any excuse to come back." + +To the abundance of surnames derived from Danish origin the following +are important:--Lund, Lindsey, Lyster, Galt or Geld, and Kell. Lund was +a grove where pagan rites were conducted. Lindsey is a grove by the +sea. Lyster is Danish for a fishing fork composed of barbed iron spikes +on a pole for spearing fish. Galt or Geld, an offering of the expiatory +barrow pig to the god "Frëyer." From Kell, in Danish a "spring," we get +Kellet and Okell. + +Surnames of a distinct Danish character, and customs derived from +Viking days are to be met with in our local Fairs and Wakes. Writing +on this subject, the Rev. W. T. Bulpit of Southport says that, "Robert +de Cowdray, who died in 1222, was an enterprising Lord of Manor of +Meols, and obtained a Charter from the King, with whom he was a +_Persona-Grata_, for a weekly Wednesday market, and a yearly Fair, +to be held on the Eve and Day of St Cuthbert, to whom the church is +dedicated. + +The Charter probably did but legalise what already existed; Cowdray +was a man of the world, and knew that it would be an advantage to his +estate to have a fair. + +Soon after his death the Charter lapsed. Enemies said it interfered +with pre-existing fairs. + +Though legally it had no existence the fair continued for centuries +in connection with St. Cuthbert's wake in March. It was also the end +of the civil year, when payments had to be made, and thus farm stock +was sold. This caused the market and wake to be useful adjuncts, and a +preparation for welcoming the New Year on March 25th, St. Cuthbert's +Day, the anniversary of his death was held on March 23rd, and a Viking +custom demanded a feast. The old name of the death feast was called +Darval, and the name was transferred to the cakes eaten at the wake, +and they were called Darvel Cakes.[C] + +Long after the event commemorated was forgotten Darvel Cakes were +supplied in Lent to guests at Churchtown wakes. + +Connected with these fairs there was a ceremony of electing officials, +and at these social gatherings of all the local celebrities a Mayor +was elected who generally distinguished himself by being hospitable. +Similar ceremonies still exist, where charters no longer survive, at +such places as Poulton near Blackpool, and Norden near Rochdale. + +Traces of the Norman are found in Dunham Massey and Darcy Lever and a +few others, but along the whole of the east and north of the county the +Saxon and Danish landholder seems to have held in peace the ancestral +manor house in which he had dwelt before the Conquest, and the haughty +insolence of the Norman was comparatively unknown. Speke, the oldest +manor house in South Lancashire, near Liverpool, is derived from +"Spika," Norse for mast, which was used for fattening swine. "Parr" +is a wooded hill, and this word enters into many compound names. +"Bold," near St. Helens, signifies a stone house, and is the surname +of one of the oldest Lancashire families. The Norse "Brecka," a gentle +declivity, is much in evidence in West Lancashire, as in Norbreck, +Warbrick, Swarbrick, Torbrick, Killbrick in the Fylde district, and +also Scarisbrick, in the vicinity of Ormskirk. This name used to be +spelt Scaursbreck, and is a compound of "Scaur," a bird of the seagull +type, and "breck" from the natural formation of the land. Birkdale, +Ainsdale, Skelmersdale, Kirkdale, Ansdell, Kirby, Kirkby, Crosby, are +all place-names of Danish origin which provide many surnames in the +county. Where Danish names abound the dialect still partakes of a +Danish character. + + +ENGLISH SURNAMES. + +A great majority are derived from trades and callings. Some may be +traced from ancient words which have dropped out. "Chaucer"[D] and +"Sutor" are now meaningless, but long ago both signified a shoemaker. +A "pilcher" formerly made greatcoats; a "Reader," thatched buildings +with reeds or straw; a "Latimer" was a writer in Latin for legal and +such like purposes. An "Arkwright" was the maker of the great meal +chests or "arks," which were formerly essential pieces of household +furniture; "Tucker" was a fuller; "Lorimer" was a sadler; "Launder" +or "Lavender," a washerman; "Tupper" made tubs; "Jenner" was a joiner; +"Barker" a tanner; "Dexter," a charwoman; "Bannister" kept a bath; +"Sanger" is a corruption of singer or minstrel; "Bowcher," a butcher; +"Milner" a miller; "Forster," a forester; a "Chapman" was a merchant. +The ancestors of the Colemans and Woodyers sold those commodities +in former generations; "Wagners" were waggoners; and "Naylors" made +nails. A "Kemp" was once a term for a soldier; a "Vavasour" held rank +between a knight and a baron. Certain old-fashioned Christian names +or quaint corruptions of them have given rise to patronymics which +at first sight appear hard to interpret. Everyone is not aware that +Austin is identical with Augustin; and the name Anstice is but the +shortening of Anastasius. Ellis was originally derived from Elias. Hood +in like manner is but a modern corruption of the ancient Odo, or Odin. +Everett is not far removed from the once not uncommon Christian name +Everard, while even Stiggins can be safely referred to the northern +hero "Stigand." The termination "ing," signified son or "offspring." +Thus Browning and Whiting in this way would mean the dark or fair +children. A number of ancient words for rural objects have long ago +become obsolete. "Cowdray" in olden days signified a grove of hazel; +"Garnett," a granary. The suffix "Bec" in Ashbec and Holmbec is a +survival of the Danish "by," a habitation. "Dean" signifies a hollow +or dell, and the word "bottom" meant the same thing. Thus Higginbottom +meant a dell where the "hicken" or mountain ash flourished. "Beckett" +is a little brook, from the Norse "beck." "Boys" is a corruption of +"bois," the French for wood. "Donne" means a down; "Holt," a grove, +and "Hurst," a copse. "Brock" was the old term for a badger, hence +Broxbourne; while "Gos" in Gosford signified a goose. + + +ON DIALECT IN LANCASHIRE AND YORKSHIRE. + +The district of England which during the Heptarchy was, and since has +been known by the name of Northumbria, which consists of the territory +lying to the north of the rivers Humber (whence the name North-humbria) +and Mersey, which form the southern boundaries, and extending north +as far as the rivers Tweed and Forth, is generally known to vary +considerably in the speech of its inhabitants from the rest of +England. Considering the great extent and importance of this district, +comprising as it does more than one-fourth of the area and population +of England, it seems surprising that the attention of philologists +should not have been more drawn to the fact of this difference and +its causes. From an essay on some of the leading characteristics of +the dialects spoken in the six northern counties of England (ancient +Northumbria) by the late Robert Backhouse Peacock, edited by the Rev. +T. C. Atkinson, 1869, we learn that, when addressing themselves to +the subject of dialect, investigators have essayed to examine it +through the medium of its written rather than its spoken language. +The characteristics to be found in the language now spoken have been +preserved in a degree of purity which does not appertain to the English +of the present day. It is therefore from the dialect rather than from +any literary monuments that we must obtain the evidence necessary for +ascertaining the extent to which this Northumbrian differs from English +in its grammatical forms,--not to speak of its general vocabulary. + +The most remarkable characteristic is the definite article, or the +demonstrative pronoun--"t," which is an abbreviation of the old Norse +neuter demonstrative pronoun "hit"--Swedish and Danish "et." That this +abbreviation is not simply an elision of the letters "he" from the +English article "_the_," which is of old Frisian origin, is apparent +from the fact that all the versions of the second chapter, verse 1, for +instance, of Solomon's Song, "I am the rose of Sharon, and the lily of +the valleys," the uniform abbreviation for all parts of England is the +elision of the final letter "e," making _the_ into "th"; on the other +hand, out of fourteen specimens of the same verse in Northumbria, eight +give the "t" occurring three times in the verse, thus, "I's t' rooaz o' +Sharon, an' t' lily o' t' valleys." + +The districts where the Scandinavian article so abbreviated prevails +are found in the versions to be the county of Durham, Central and South +Cumberland, Westmorland; all Lancashire, except the South-eastern +district, and all Yorkshire; an area which comprehends on the map about +three-fourths of all Northumbria. + +The next leading feature is the proposition--i, which is used for in. +This is also a pure Scandinavianism, being not only old Norse, but used +in Icelandic, Swedish and Danish of the present day. Two instances +occur in the 14th verse of the same chapter, where for "O my dove, thou +art in the clefts of the rock, in the secret places of the stairs, +etc.," we have idiomatic version: "O my cushat, 'at 's i' t' grikes o' +t' crags, i' t' darkin' whols o' t' stairs." + +Another word which occurs in six of the Northumbrian versions is +also Scandinavian, viz., the relative pronoun _at_ for _that_. From +this illustration of a short verse and a half of Scripture, we have +established the Norse character of the dialect as distinguished from +common English, of five of the most ordinary words in the English +language, namely, the representatives of the words _the_, _in_, _that_, +_art_ and _am_. These instances from the Etymology of the Dialects +help to establish the following canon: That when a provincial word is +common to more than one dialect district (that is, districts where in +other respects the dialects differ from each other), it may, as a rule, +be relied upon, that the word is not a corruption but a legitimate +inheritance. Those referred to, we have seen, are the inheritance of a +whole province, that province being formerly an entire kingdom. + +Proceeding in the usual order of grammars, having disposed of the +article, we come next to the _substantives_. These differ from the +ordinary English in that they recognise only one "case" where English +has two. The Northumbrian dialect dispenses with the possessive or +genitive case almost entirely, and for "my father's hat," or "my +uncle's wife's mother's house," say, "my faddher hat," and "my uncle +wife muddher house." Upon which, all that need be remarked is that they +have gone further in simplifying this part of speech than the rest of +their countrymen, who have only abolished the dative and accusative +cases from the parent languages of their speech. Extreme brevity and +simplicity are eminently Norse and Northumbrian characteristics. +We have already seen some remarkable instances in the versions of +Solomon's Song, where we saw that the first three words, "I am the," +are expressed in as many letters, namely, "I's t'"; and again in verse +14, "thou art in the," by "at 's i t'." We have here another instance +in the abolition of the genitive case-ending, out of many more that +might be added. + +In pronouncing the days of the week we find: Sunnda for Sunday, Thorsda +for Thursday, and Setterda for Saturday, always with the short da. The +remaining days as in ordinary English. + +In pronouns we find "wer" for "our," in the possessive case, from old +Norse vârr. + + Relative--_At_ for who, which, that. + + Demonstrative--T' The. + That theyar--that one. + Thoer--these or those. + + Indefinites--Summat=something, somewhat. From old Norse sum-hvat, + somewhat. + +The two following are common at Preston and adjacent districts: + + Sooawhaasse=whosoever. + Sooawheddersa=whethersoever. + +Correlative adjectival pronoun: + + Sa mich=so much. + Swedish, Sâ mycket. + +Adverbs from Scandinavian: + + Backerds--backwards. + Connily--prettily, nicely. + eigh--yes; forrùt, forrud--forwards; + helder--preferably; i mornin--to-morrow; + i now--presently; lang sen--long since; + lowsley--loosely; neddher--lower nether; + neya--no; noo--now; + reetly--rightly; sa--so; sen--since; + Shamfully--Shamefully. + Shaply--shapely; sooa--so. + tull--to; weel--well; whaar--where. + +_Interjections._ + + Ech!--exclamation of delight. + + Hoity-toity!--what's the matter: from old Norse "hutututu." + + Woe-werth!--woe betide. + + +AN ILLUSTRATION. + +A good illustration of Danish terms may be gathered from the following +conversation heard by a minister in this county between a poor man +on his death-bed and a farmer's wife, who had come to visit him: +"Well, John," she said, "when yo' getten theer yo'll may happen see +eaur Tummus; and yo'll tell 'im we'n had th' shandry mended, un a new +pig-stoye built, un 'at we dun pretty well beawt him." "Beli' me, +Meary!" he answered, "dost think at aw's nowt for t' do bo go clumpin' +up un deawn t' skoies a seechin' yo're Tummus!" The word "mun" also is +in frequent use, and comes from the Danish verb "monne;" the Danish +"swiga," to drink in, as "to tak a good swig," and "Heaw he swigged +at it!" Many Danish words become purely English, as foul, fowl; kow, +cow; fued, food; stued, stood; drown, drown; "forenoun" and "atternoun" +became "forenoon" and "afternoon;" stalker, stalker; kok, cock; want, +to want. + +In popular superstition the races had much in common. The Danish river +sprite "Nok," imagined by some to be "Nick," or "Owd Nick," the devil; +but properly "Nix," a "brownie." He wore a red cap and teased the +peasants who tried to "flit" (Danish "flytter") in order to escape him. + +Though we have "Gretan," to weep, it also means to salute or bid +farewell, from the Danish "grata." "Give o'er greeting," we hear it +said to a crying child. While "greeting" is a popular word of Danish +origin, so is "Yuletide" for Christmas, and "Yule Candles," "Yule +Cakes," "Yule Log." The word "Tandle" means fire or light, and is given +to a hill near Oldham. From this we derive our "Candle." "Lake," to +play, is still used in our district, but never heard where Danish words +are not prevalent. In the Danish, "Slat" means to slop, and it is said, +"He slat the water up and down." A very common participle in Lancashire +is "beawn." The Danish "buinn" is "prepared," or "addressed to," or +"bound for," as "Weere ar't beawn furt' goo?" In Danish and Lancashire +"ling" means heath; but it does not occur in Anglo-Saxon. From the +Danish "Snig," to creep, we get "snig," eels. + +Locally we also have the name "Rossendale," which covers a large extent +of our county. May we not suppose this to be from "rost," a torrent or +whirlpool, and "dale," the Danish for valley? + +The names of places beginning or ending with "Garth," or "Gaard," shows +that the people were settling in "Gaarde" or farms belonging to the +chief, earl, or Udaller. With the Danish "Steen," for stone, we have +Garston, Garstang, Garton, as well as Garswood and garden. + +The Danish having no such sound or dipthong as our "th," must account +for the relic of the pronunciation "at" for "that," which is much used +in our local dialect, as "It's toime at he were here,"--"at" being the +Danish conjunction for "that." The word we use for sprinkling water, to +"deg," does not come from the Anglo-Saxon "deagan," which means to dye +or tinge with colour, but from "deog" or "deigr." Shakespeare uses the +word in the "Tempest," where Prospero says: "When I have deck'd the sea +with drops full salt." From "Klumbr," a mass or clod, we get "clump," +as clump of wood, and "clumpin' clogs." Stowe says, "He brought his +wooden shoes or clumpers with him." + + + + +Physical Types Still Existing + + + + +CHAPTER V. + +PHYSICAL TYPES STILL EXISTING. + + +As early as the eleventh century the names of English towns and +villages are written in the Domesday Book with the Danish ending "by" +or "bi," and not with the Norwegian form of "böer" or "bö." This +preponderance of Danish endings proves the widely extended influence +of the Danes in the North. That they should have been preserved +in such numbers for more than eight centuries after the fall of +the Danish dominion in England, disproves the opinion that the old +Danish inhabitants of the country were supplanted or expelled after +the cessation of the Danish rule (1042), first by the Anglo-Saxons, +and afterwards by the Normans. Mr. Wörsæ says: "The Danes must have +continued to reside in great numbers in these districts, previously +conquered by them, and consequently it follows that a considerable +part of the present population may with certainty trace their origin +to the Northmen, and especially to the Danes. The general appearance +of the inhabitants is a weighty corroboration of the assertions of +history. The black hair, dark eye, the prominent nose, and the long +oval face to be found in the Southerners remind us of the relationship +with the Romans, or a strong mixture of the British Anglo-Saxon and +Norman races. The difference in physiognomy and stature of the Northern +races are also easily be recognised. The form of face is broader, the +cheekbones stand out prominently, the nose is flatter, and at times +turned somewhat upwards. The eyes and hair are of a lighter colour, and +even deep red hair is far from uncommon. The people are not very tall +in stature, but usually more compact and strongly built than those of +the South." + +[Illustration: Example of Ancient Danish Loom; from the Färoes, now in +Bergen Museum.] + +The still existing popular dialect is an excellent proof that the +resemblance of the inhabitants is not confined to an accidental or +personal likeness. Many words and phrases are preserved in the local +dialect which are neither found nor understood in other parts of the +country. These terms are not only given to waterfalls, mountains, +rivulets, fords, and islands, but are also in common use in daily life. +The housewife has her spool and spinning wheel from "spole"; her reel +and yarn-winder from "rock" and "granwindle"; her baking-board from +"bagebord." She is about to knead dough, from "deig"; and in order +to make oaten bread, or thin cakes beaten out by the hand, we have +clap-bread or clap-cake, form "klapperbröd" and "klapper-kake." She +spreads the tablecloth, "bordclaith," for dinner, "onden"; while the +fire smokes, "reeks," as it makes its way through the thatch, "thack," +where in olden times the loft, "loft," was the upper room or bower, +"buir." Out in the yard or "gaard," is the barn, "lade," where is +stored the corn in "threaves." In the river are troughs, "trows," used +to cross over. These were two small boats, cut out of the trunks of +trees, and held together by a crosspole. By placing a foot in each +trough the shepherd rowed himself across with the help of an oar. He +goes up the valley, "updaal," to clip, "klippe," the sheep. It is said +that Canute the Great crossed over the river Severn in this manner, +when he concluded an agreement with Edmund Ironsides to divide England +between them. Blether, from "Bladdra," is also a common expression, +meaning to "blubber or cry," to gabble or talk without purpose. Another +form of the word is "bleat," as applied to sheep. + +Other words now in use from the Norse are "twinter," a two-year-old +sheep, and "trinter," a three-year-old. A "gimmer lamb" is a female +lamb. The lug-mark, _i.e._, a bit cut out of a sheep's ear that it may +be recognised by the owner, is from lögg mark." Lög is law, and thus +it is the legal mark. The "smit" or smear of colour, generally red, +by which the sheep are marked occurs in the Bible of Ulphilas in the +same sense as smear. Another proof may be found on the carving in the +knitting sticks made and used by the Northern peasantry of the present +day. The patterns are decidedly Scandinavian. + +Of the people of this district, it may be said that in their physical +attributes they are the finest race in the British dominions. Their +Scandinavian descent, their constant exposure to a highly oxygenised +atmosphere, their hereditary passion for athletic sports and exercises, +their happy temperament, their exemption from privation, and many +other causes, have contributed to develop and maintain their physical +pre-eminence, and to enable them to enjoy as pastime an amount of +exposure and fatigue that few but they would willingly encounter. +Thomas de Quincey, who lived thirty years among them, observed them +very closely, and knew them, well, after remarking that "it is the +lower classes that in every nation form the 'fundus' in which lies +the national face, as well as the national character," says: "Each +exists here in racy purity and integrity, not disturbed by alien +inter-marriages, nor in the other by novelties of opinion, or other +casual effects derived from education and reading." The same author +says: "There you saw old men whose heads would have been studies for +Guido; there you saw the most colossal and stately figures among the +young men that England has to show; there the most beautiful young +women. There it was that sometimes I saw a lovelier face than ever I +shall see again." The eloquent opium-eater gave the strongest possible +proof that his admiration was real by taking one of these "beautiful +young women" to wife. + +The men of our northern dales do not pay much respect to anyone who +addresses them in language they are not accustomed to, nor do they +make much allowance for ignorance of their own dialect. In a northern +village we once stopped to speak to an old lady at her door, and +began by remarking that the river was much swollen. "We call it a +beck," said the old lady, turning her back upon us, and telling her +granddaughter to bring out the scrapple. "Whatever may a scrapple be?" +we asked, deferentially. "Why, that's what a scrapple may be," she +said, indicating a coal-rake in the girl's hand. As we moved away, +we overheard her say to a neighbour, "I don't know where he has been +brought up. He calls th' beck a river, and doesn't know what a scrapple +is!" They have a very quick sense of humour, and often practice a +little mystification on inquisitive strangers. To a tourist who made +the somewhat stupid inquiry, "Does it ever rain here?" the countrymen +replied: "Why it donks, and it dozzles, and sometimes gives a bit of a +snifter, but it ne'er comes in any girt pell," leaving the querist's +stock of information very much as he found it. + +The first invasion of the Danes took place in the year 787, and to +Scotland they gave the name of "Sutherland," and the Hebrides were the +southern islands, or "Sudreygar," a name which survives in the title of +the Bishop of Sodor and Man. + +The Forest of Rossendale contains eleven "vaccaries," or cow-pastures +(we are told by Mr. H. C. March, M.D.), which were called "booths," +from the huts of the shepherds and cowherds. From this we trace +Cowpebooth, Bacopbooth, and Crawshawbooth. Booth is derived from the +old Norse "bûd," a dwelling, while from "byr" and "boer" we get the +surnames Byrom, Burton, Buerton, Bamber, Thornber. "Forseti" was the +judge of one of the Norse deities, and the word supplies us with +Fawcett, Facit, or Facid as it was spelt in 1781, and Foster. Unal +was a Danish chief, whose name survives as a surname Neal, Niel, and +O'Neil. From the old Norse "yarborg," an earthwork, we get Yarborough, +Yerburgh, Sedburg, and Sedberg. Boundaries have always been matters of +great importance, and "twistle" is a boundary betwixt farms. Endrod +was King of Norway in 784, and his name furnishes Endr, whose boundary +becomes Entwistle, and also Enderby. Rochdale is derived from "rockr," +old Norse for rock, and dale from the Norse "daal," a wide valley; +thus the Norsename Rochdale supplanted Celtic-Saxon name of "Rachdam." +"Gamul," meaning old, was a common personal name among Norsemen. In a +grant of land dated 1051, fifteen years before the Conquest, appears +the name of Gouse Gamelson, which is a distinct Norse patronymic. +Gambleside was one of the vaccaries or cow-pastures of Rossendale +Forest, and was spelt Gambulside. In Anglo-Saxon and Teutonic dialects +"ing" is a patronymic, as in Bruning, son of Brun, says Mr. Robert +Ferguson, M.P., in his "Surnames as a Science." But it has also a wider +sense. Thus, in Leamington it signifies the people of the Leam, on +which river the place is situated. From a like origin comes the name +of the Scandinavian Vikings, Vik-ing; the people from Vik, a bay. Sir +J. Picton, in his "Ethnology of Wiltshire," says: "When the Saxons +first invaded England they came in tribes, and families headed by their +patriarchal leaders. Each tribe was called by its leader's name, with +the termination 'ing,' signifying family. Where they settled they gave +their patriarchal name to the mark, or central point round which they +clustered." + +Considering the great number of these names, amounting to over a +thousand in England, and the manner in which they are dispersed, it +is impossible to consider them as anything else than the everyday +names of men. This large number will serve to give an idea of the very +great extent to which place-names are formed from the names of men +who founded the settlements. It must be remembered that the earlier +date now generally assigned for the Teutonic settlements tends to give +greater latitude to the inquiry as to the races by whom the settlements +were made, as well as the fact that all our settlements were made in +heathen times. From the neighbouring tribe of Picts we retain one form +"pecthun," from which we derive the surnames of Picton, Peyton, and +Paton. This may suggest that we owe the name peat to the same origin. +We have also the word pictures, probably formed from "pict," and +"heri," a warrior. + + + + +Political Freemen + + + + +CHAPTER VI. + +POLITICAL FREEMEN + + +Under the reign of Ethelred II. the supremacy of the Anglo-Saxons had +already passed away. As a people they sank, and left only a part of +their civilisation and institutions to their successors, the Danes +and Normans. The development of a maritime skill unknown before, of a +bold manly spirit of enterprise, and of a political liberty which, by +preserving a balance between the freedom of the nobles and of the rest +of the people, ensured to England a powerful and peaceful existence. + +Danish settlers in England conferred a great benefit on the country, +from a political point of view, by the introduction of a numerous class +of independent peasantry. These people formed a striking contrast to +the oppressed race of Anglo-Saxons. Turner says: "The Danes seem to +have planted in the colonies they occupied a numerous race of freemen, +and their counties seem to have been well peopled." The number of these +independent landowners was consequently greatest in the districts which +were earliest occupied by the Danes, where they naturally sprung up +from the Danish chiefs parcelling out the soil to their victorious +warriors. Twenty years after the Norman Conquest there was a greater +number of independent landed proprietors, if not, in the strictest +sense of the word, freeholders, in the districts occupied by the Danes, +and under "Danelag," than in any other of the Anglo-Saxon parts of +England. The smaller Anglo-Saxon agriculturists were frequently serfs, +while the Danish settlers, being conquerors, were mostly freemen, and +in general proprietors of the soil. + +Domesday Book mentions, under the name of "Sochmanni," a numerous class +of landowners or peasants in the Danish districts of the north, while +in the south they are rarely to be found. They were not freeholders in +the present sense of the term. They stood in a feudal relation to a +superior lord, but in such a manner that the "Sochmanni" may best be +compared with our present "hereditary lessees." Their farm passed by +inheritance to their sons, they paying certain rents and performing +certain feudal duties; but the feudal lord had no power to dispose of +the property as he pleased. + +The following is an abstract of a paper on Tithe and Tenure in the +North, by the Rev. J. H. Colligan:-- + + DANISH INFLUENCE ON LAND TENURE + + was originally a military one. In Westmorland the manors were + granted round several great baronies or Fees. The barons held + their estates "in capite" from the king, upon conditions that + were mainly military, while the lords of the manors held of + the barons, their chief duty being, to keep a muster-roll of + their tenants for the discharge of the military claims of the + barons. The tenants held of the lord by fines and services, + the latter being, until the close of the XVIth century, of a + military character. This baronial system, perfected by William + the Conqueror, gave enormous power into the hands of the barons. + + The Hudlestons, of Millum Castle, Lancashire, exercised the + prerogative of "jura regalia" for twenty-two generations. They + also had the privileges of "wreck of the sea." Some of the + barons had the power of capital punishment, others, again, had + the right to nominate sheriffs. They held their own courts and + could be either friends or rivals of the king, to whom alone + they owed homage, with service at home or abroad. The authority + thus obtained by the barons was distributed to the knights and + lords of the manors, who, in their turn, levied conditions upon + their dependants. + + This system of devolution of power received from the king was + enjoyed also by the church, and kept the counties always ready + for war. When the martial spirit began to forsake the land, + and peaceful and sporting pleasures arose, we find a new form + of tenure. Lands and tenements are given for the apparently + trifling conditions of keeping up eyries of hawks for the + baron, or of providing a gilt spur, or of producing a rose, + sometimes out of season but generally in the time of roses, or + of making presents of pepper, ginger, cloves, or some other + tasty trifle. A number of these rents require no explanation, + as they are only the reflex of the passion of the age. Horses, + dogs and hawks for the knight, pepper, ginger and cloves for + the monks, are easily understood. The reasons for the rose and + stirrup, the spur and the glove are not so apparent. It is + possible that originally they were symbolical of real rent or + service. The transition from the actual to the symbolical must + have taken place in the XIVth and XVth centuries. + + We have hitherto been speaking of the relationship between + the barons and the monks, the knights and the lords of the + manor. There is no reference to tenants, because there was no + such thing as a free individual tenure before the middle of + the XVIth century. The soldier-tenants clung round the barony + of the manor, and their position was defined as "tenantes ad + voluntatem." It was only in Elizabeth's reign that the demands + of the tenants began to be formulated, and the unique form of + tenure called "tenant right" appeared on the border. It is + difficult to discover when and how the movement for freedom on + the part of the tenants began, but it certainly is associated + with the Reformation, and is seen plainly in those places where + protestantism was vigorous. + + We shall examine the growth of this form of tenure as it + appeared in a Cumberland manor. In the neighbourhood under + consideration we find three kinds of tenants. At the one + extreme were the Drenges, who were probably Saxon slaves; at + the other were tenants by right, who were probably equal in + dignity and privilege in the early days to the lord of the + manor himself. In Cumberland and Westmoreland traces of the + Drengage tenements may be found, and the Bondgate, Appleby, is + an illustration of Drengage dwellings. The tenants by right are + found in Cumberland, where they are now called yeomen, and in + Westmorland, where they are known as statesmen (steadsmen), and + in North Lancashire, where, to the regret of the writer in the + Victoria County History, the yeomen are gradually disappearing. + Mr. J. Brownbill says that tenant right was frequently urged + all over Furness and Cartmel and in Warton and the northern + border of Lancashire. He refers to the particulars in West's + "Antiquities of Furness." + + We have not been able to ascertain the origin of the tenure as + it applies to North Lancashire, but on the borders it is the + outcome of an interesting and unique form of service called + Cornage. It is still a disputed point as to the origin of the + word. Some holding it to from the fact that the lord gave + notice of the enemies' approach by winding a horn; others that + it was much earlier in its origin, and arises from the horn or + cattle tax, still known in Westmorland as neat- or nowt-geld. + Whichever origin be taken, it is clear that, from the time of + Queen Elizabeth, the keeping of the borders was an important + service, and is seen from the fact that the tenant could not + hire another to take his place. + + In regard to this border service, known as Cornage, the lord + had several privileges which included wardship or control + over the heir, until he was 21 years of age; marriage, which + gave him the right of arranging a marriage if the inheritance + had devolved upon a female; and relief, which was the payment + of a certain sum by the heir upon taking possession of the + inheritance. The chief privilege which the "tenant-by-right" + possessed for his border service was that of devising his + tenement by _will_, a privilege which is much prized until + this day. At the Restoration the "Drengage tenure" was raised + into a Socage tenure, and it was under this tenure, with that + of Cornage, and sometimes with a combination of these forms, + that most of the tenements of the manors of Cumberland and + Westmorland were held. These holders came to be described + as customary tenants. The customary tenant is distinguished + from the freeholder, and the copyholder, in that he is not + seised of his land in fee simple, as is the freeholder, and + is not subject to the disabilities of the copyholder, nor + are his customary dues considered derogatory to the nobility + of his tenure. The customary tenant is therefore between the + freeholder and the copyholder, with a number of well defined + privileges. The two most important duties of the average tenant + in Cumberland and Westmorland were those of warfare and the + watching of the forests. The former depended entirely upon the + attitude of the other kingdoms, especially Scotland; the latter + was a long and laborious service laid upon the tenant until + the middle of the XVIth century. The counties of Cumberland + and Westmorland were dense forests until long after the Norman + Conquest, and the timber for the royal shipyards was grown in + these highlands of England. The forests were full of game, and + the regulations in connection with the preservation of game and + the upkeep of the forests were most exacting upon the people. + + From the middle of the XVIth century, however, these ancient + laws and services began to lose their force, and a new set + of regulations arose to meet the new environment. Slowly but + surely the feudal system had passed away. Here and there a + relic remained, but it was impossible to ignore the rights of + men who could no longer be bought and sold with a tenement. + From the first year of the reign of Elizabeth the border + service is well defined and the claims of the tenants became + fixed. Several years before, Lord Wharton, as Deputy-General + of the West Marches, drew up a series of regulations for the + protection of that part of the border. In an interesting + article by Mr. Graham, we find how the men of Hayton, near + Carlisle, turned out every night with their spears, and + remained crouched on the river bank in the black darkness or + the pouring rain. It is a typical example of borderers engaged + upon their regular service. This system had superseded the + feudal system. The feudal tenure survived in many instances + where a power. Like one of their own tumultuous forces, when + once directed into the right stream, they went to form that new + product which we call an Englishman. The documents, which were + discovered at Penruddock in the township of Hutton Soil--the + "kist" is in the possession of Mr. Wm. Kitchen, Town Head, + Penruddock--relate to a struggle between the lord and the + tenants of Hutton John, Cumberland, on the subject of tenant + right. So far as we are aware these documents are unique. The + various authorities on Cumberland history give reference to a + number of these disputes but no mention is made of the Hutton + John case, so that we have here for the first time a full + knowledge of what was probably the most important of all these + trials. In addition, while there are no documents relating to + the other cases, we have here every paper of the Hutton John + case preserved. The story of the discovery is that the writer + (the Rev. J. Hay Colligan) was searching for material for a + history of the Penruddock Presbyterian Meeting House when he + came across a kist, or chest, containing these documents. (A + calendar of these documents may be found in the Cumberland + and Westmorland Transactions for 1908.) The manor of Hutton + John had long been in the possession of the Hutton family when + it passed in 1564 to a son of Sir John Hudleston of Millum + Castle by his marriage with Mary Hutton. Her brother Thomas + had burdened the estate on account of his imprisonment lasting + about fifty years. It was the son of this marriage, Joseph by + name, who became the first lord of the manor, and most of the + manorial rights still remain with the Hudleston family. After + Joseph Hudleston came three Andrews--first, 1603-1672; second, + 1637-1706; third, 1669-1724--and it was with these four lords + that the tenants carried on their historical dispute. The death + of Thomas Hutton took place some time after 1620 and was the + occasion for raising a number of questions that agitated the + manor for almost a century afterwards. It flung the combustible + topic of tenure into an atmosphere that was already charged + with religious animosity, and the fire in the manor soon was as + fierce as the beacon-flare on their own Skiddaw. + + The position of the parties in the manor may be summed up by + saying that Joseph Hudleston insisted that the tenants were + tenants-at-will, and the tenants on the other hand claimed + tenant right. Whatever may have been the origin of cornage, + it is clear that by the XVIIth century it was synonymous + with tenant right. The details in the dispute cannot here be + treated, but the central point was the subject of a general + fine. This fine, frequently called gressome, was the entrance + fine which the tenant paid to the lord upon admittance. In + some manors it was a two years' rent, in others three. An + unusual form in the manor of Hutton John was a seven years' + gressome, called also a running fine or a town-term. This was + the amount of two years' rent at the end of every seven years. + The contention of the tenants was, that as this was a running + fine, no general fine was due to the lord of the manor on the + death of the previous lord. From this position the tenants + never wavered, and for over seventy years they fought the + claim of the lord. Upon the death of Thomas Hutton the tenants + claiming tenant right refused to pay the general fine to Joseph + Hudleston. After wrangling with the tenants for a few years, + Joseph brought a Bill against them in 1632. He succeeded in + obtaining a report from the law lord, Baron Trevor, which + plays an important part in the case unto the end. He apparently + disregarded the portion which applied to himself, and pressed + the remainder upon the tenants. The tenants thereupon decided + to send three of their number with a petition to Charles I. + and it was delivered to the king at Newmarket. He ordered + his judges to look into the matter. The civil war, however, + had begun, and the whole country was about to be filled with + smoke and flame. Needless to say the tenants took the side of + Parliament, while the lord of the manor, the first Andrew, was + described in the records as a Papist in arms. During the civil + war the whole county of Cumberland was in action. The manor of + Hutton John was mainly for the Parliament. Greystoke Castle, + only two miles from the manor, surrendered to the Parliamentary + troops. The termination of the civil war in 1651 was the date + for the beginning of litigation between the Hudleston family + and the Parliament on the subject of the manor. After this was + over the struggle between the lord and the tenants began again. + In their distress the tenants sent a letter to Lord Howard + of Naworth Castle, whose Puritan sympathies were well known. + This is a feature of the case that need not be dwelt upon, + but without which there can be no complete explanation of the + story. The struggle was in fact a religious one. The occasion + of it was the entrance into a Cumberland manor of a Lancashire + family, and the consequent resentment on the part of the + adherents of the manor, who boasted that they had been there + "afore the Hudlestons." The motives which prompted each party + were those expressed in the words Puritan _v._ Papist. The + year 1668 was a memorable one in the history of the dispute. + In that year the tenants brought a Bill of complaint against + the lord at Carlisle Assizes. The judge, at the opening of + the court, declared that the differences could be compounded + by some gentlemen of the county. All the parties agreed, and + the court made an order whereby Sir Philip Musgrave, Kt. and + Bart., and Sir John Lowther, Bart., were to settle the case + before September 21st. If they could not determine within that + time they were to select an umpire within one week, who must + make his award before Lady-day. Sir Philip Musgrave and Sir + John Lowther accepted the responsibility placed upon them by + the court and took great pains to accommodate the differences, + but finding themselves unable to furnish the award within the + time specified they elected Sir George Fletcher, Bart., to be + umpire. Sir George Fletcher made his award on March 3rd, 1668. + The original document, written, signed and sealed with his own + hand, is here before us. Its tattered edges prove that it has + been frequently referred to. Sir George Fletcher's award was + on the whole in favour of the tenants, and especially on the + subject of the general fine, which he declared was not payable + on the death of the lord. Other important matters were dealt + with, including heriots, widows' estates, the use of quarries + on the tenements, the use of timber, the mill rent, together + with the subject of boons and services. All the tenants + acquiesced in the award, and the lord paid the damages for + false imprisonment to several of the tenants. + + In the year 1672 Andrew Hudleston the first died, and + Andrew the second, 1637-1706, succeeded to the lordship. He + immediately began to encroach. He demanded the general fine + in addition to rents and services, contrary to the award. + The struggle therefore broke out afresh as fiercely as ever, + and both parties returned to the old subject of tenure. The + matter became a religious one owing to the Restoration and the + rigid acts which followed between 1662-1689. An extraordinary + incident occurred at this time in the conversion of the lord + to the protestant cause, but this did not affect the dispute + between him and the tenants. In 1699 the tenants moved again. + They requested the court to put into operation the award of + Sir George Fletcher. From that year until 1704 the strife + was bitterer than ever, and the kist contains more documents + relating to this period than to any other. In the year 1704, + after several judgments had previously been made against the + third Andrew Hudleston and his late father, the former appealed + to the House of Lords, and the case was dismissed in favour of + the tenants. + + Although the struggle lasted until the year 1716, the climax + was reached in 1704. The historical value of the case is the + way in which it illustrates the conditions of tenure in the + North-West of England, and at the same time pourtrays the + pertinacity in spite of serious obstacles of the yeoman class + in asserting its rights. + + _Tithe._ The subject of Tithe is one that can only be dealt + with in a restricted way and from one point of view. It + is well known that, through the influence of George Fox + in North Lancashire, Quakerism spread with frenzied force + through Westmorland and Cumberland. Many of those who had + been previously content with Puritan doctrines seceded to + the Quakers. The practice of declining to pay the tithe, in + the case which the documents before us illustrate, was of a + different character. It occurs in the parish of Greystoke, + in which the manor of Hutton John was situated. Five years + after the award of Sir George Fletcher on the tenure case, the + nonconforming section of the tenants of Hutton John raised + another question of a tithe called "Bushel Corn." This had + been regularly paid to the Rector of Greystoke from time + immemorial. Even the Puritan rectors had received this tithe + down to that great Puritan, Richard Gilpin, who was ejected + from the Rectory of Greystoke in 1661. The point in dispute was + not a deliberate refusal of the tithe, it was a declaration + of the parishioners that the _measure_ was an unjust one. The + contest was carried on by John Noble, of Penruddock, and Thos. + Parsons, the steward of the Countess of Arundel and Surrey, + Lady of the Barony of Greystoke. Associated with Parsons was + John Robson, a servant and proctor of the rector. Parsons and + Robson were farmers of the tithe, but the case had the full + consent of the rector, the Rev. Allan Smallwood, D.D. + + The immediate cause of the dispute was the question of the + customary measure. It resulted in the settlement of a vexatious + subject which was as to the size of a _bushel_. The matter was + one of contention throughout the country until standard weights + and measures were recognised and adopted. In Cumberland the + most acute form was upon the subject of the corn bushel. The + deviations in quantity were difficult to suppress, and several + law cases upon this matter are on record. In the Parish of + Greystoke the case was first begun in 1672. The bushel measure + had been gradually increased from sixteen gallons, which amount + the parishioners acknowledged and were prepared to pay, until + it reached twenty-two gallons. The case passed through the + assizes of three counties, being held at Carlisle, Lancaster + and Appleby, and a verdict for the parishioners was eventually + given. + + The documents, apart from their intrinsic worth, have thus + an inestimable value, in that they shed light upon and give + information in regard to the doings in a Cumberland manor + where hitherto there has been but darkness and silence, as far + as the records of the people were concerned. We are able now + to follow with interest and satisfaction a story that is equal + in courage and persistence with the best traditions of English + love of justice and fair play. + +The documents in this case were numerous but small, and were in many +cases letters and scraps of paper. As a piece of local history it is +not to be compared with the tenure case, but it contains valuable items +of parish life in the XVIIth century. Perhaps the best of the letters +are those from Sir John Otway, the well-known lawyer. John Noble the +yeoman has several letters full of fine touches. The depositions of the +witnesses at Cockermouth in 1672 are picturesque. The lawyers' bills, +of which there are many, are not so illuminating. There are several +letters of Henry Johnes of Lancaster, who was Mayor of that town on two +occasions. + +Public men regard it as a great honour to represent the northern +districts of England in Parliament, merely from the intelligent +political character of the voters; and it was certainly through the +adherence of the love of freedom in the north that Cobden and Bright +were able to struggle so successfully for the promotion of Free Trade +and for financial reform. Sir E. Bulwer Lytton, the great English +writer, says: "Those portions of the kingdom originally peopled by the +Danes are noted for their intolerance of all oppression, and their +resolute independence of character, to wit, Yorkshire, Lancashire, +Norfolk, and Cumberland, and large districts in the Scottish lowlands." + +Memorials of the Danes are mixed up with England's freest and most +liberal institutions; and to the present day the place where the +candidate for a seat in Parliament addressed the electors bears +throughout England the pure Danish name of the "Husting." When William +I. began to conquer England, and to parcel it out among his warriors, +it was the old Danish inhabitants who opposed him; who would have +joined him, their kinsman the Norman, especially as he gave it out +that one of their objects in coming to England was to avenge the Danes +and Norwegians who were massacred by Ethelred, but the Normans aimed +at nothing less than the abolition of the free tenure of estates and +the complete establishment of a feudal constitution. This mode of +proceeding was resented, which would rob the previously independent +man of his right to house and land, and by transferring it to the +powerful nobles shook the foundation of freedom. The Danes turned from +them in disgust, and no longer hesitated to join the equally oppressed +Anglo-Saxons. The Normans were obliged to build strong fortifications, +for fear of the people of Scandinavian descent, who abounded both in +the towns and rural districts. What the Normans chiefly apprehended was +attacks from the Danes who, there was good reason to suppose, might +come over with their fleets, to the assistance of their countrymen in +the North of England. + +The Norman kings who succeeded William the Conqueror dwelt in perfect +safety in the southern districts, but did not venture north without +some fear, and a chronicler who lived at the close of the twelfth +century assures us that they never visited this part of the kingdom +without being accompanied by a strong army. + + +ABOLITION OF SLAVERY. + +In those districts where the Danes exercised complete dominion the +custom of slavery was abolished. This fact is established by a +comparison of the population of those districts colonised by the Danes +with that of the older English districts. The population returns given +in Domesday Book prove that no "servi" existed in the counties where +Danish influence was greatest. Both in Yorkshire and Lincolnshire at +this time there is no record of slavery. In the counties where this +influence was less, such as Nottingham, the returns show that one serf +existed to every 200 of the population. In Derbyshire 1 per cent., +in Norfolk and Suffolk 4 per cent., in Leicestershire 6 per cent., +in Northamptonshire 10 per cent., in Cambridge, Hertford and Essex +11 per cent. Outside the influence of the Danelagh the proportion is +much greater. In Oxfordshire 14 per cent. were slaves, in Worcester, +Bucks, Somerset and Wiltshire 15 per cent., in Dorset and Hampshire +16 per cent., in Shropshire 17 per cent., in Devonshire 18 per cent., +in Cornwall 21 per cent., and in Gloucestershire 24 per cent., or +almost one-fourth of the whole population. These records were not made +by Danish surveyors, but Norman officials, and explode the theory +of historians like Green who assert that the English settlers were +Communities of free men. These conditions of tenure were introduced by +the Danes, and became so firmly established that the names given to +such freeholders as "statesmen" in Cumberland, "freemen" and "yeomen" +in Yorkshire, Westmorland and North Lancashire still exist at the +present day. + +As we have seen, records of struggles for tenant rights have come to +light in recent years which prove that feudal conditions were imposed +by successive landlords, and were resisted both before and after the +Commonwealth. + + +INVASION AND SETTLEMENT. + +The Norse settlement at the mouth of the Dee dated from the year 900 +when Ingimund, who had been expelled from Dublin, was given certain +waste lands near Chester, by Aethelflaed, Lady of the Mercians. This +colony extended from the shore of Flint, over the Wirral peninsula +to the Mersey, and it is recorded in Domesday by the name of their +Thingwall or Tingvella. Along with the group of Norse names in the +Wirral is Thurstaston, or Thors-Stone, or Thorstun-tun. This natural +formation of red sandstone has been sometimes mistaken for a Tingmount +or Norse monument. Several monuments of the tenth century Norse colony +are to be found in the district, such as the Hogback Stone in West +Kirby Museum, and the gravestone bearing the wheel-shaped head. A +similar monument was found on Hilbre Island, and other remains of cross +slabs occur at Neston and Bromborough. + +The Norse place-names of Wirral prove that these lands were waste and +unoccupied, when names of Danish origin were given, such as Helsby, +Frankby, Whitby, Raby, Irby, Greasby and Pensby. Some Wirral names are +composed of Celtic and Norse, as the settlers brought both Gælic and +Norse names from Ireland. These are found in the Norse Runes in the +Isle of Man and north of Lancaster. + +Socmen were manorial tenants who were free in status, though their land +was not held by charter, like that of a freeholder, but was secured to +them by custom. They paid a fixed rent for the virgate, or part of a +virgate, which they generally held; and, taking the Peterborough Socmen +as examples, they were bound to render farm produce, such as fowls and +eggs, at stated seasons; to lend their plough teams thrice in winter +and spring; to mow and carry hay; to thresh and harrow, and do other +farm work for one day ... and to help at the harvest for one or two +days. Their services contrasted with the _week-work_ of a villein, were +little more than nominal and are comparable to those of the Radmanni. +The Peterborough socmen reappear under the "Descriptio Militum" of the +abbey, where it is said they were served "cum militibus," but this +appears to be exceptional. Socmen were like "liber tenentes" frequently +liable to "merchet, heriot and tallage." Their tenure was the origin of +free socage, common in the thirteenth century, and now the prevailing +tenure of land in England. Socmen held land by a fixed money payment, +and by a fixed though trivial amount of base service which would seem +to ultimately disappear by commutation." All socmen as customary +tenants required the intervention of the steward of the manor in the +transfer or sale of their rights. ("Palgrave's Dictionary of Political +Economy," p. 439.) + +_Merchet._ Of all the manorial exactions the most odious was the +"Merchetum," a fine paid by the villain on giving his daughter in +marriage. It was considered as a mark of servile descent, and the man +free by blood was supposed to be always exempted from it, however +debased his position was in every other respect. + +In the status of socmen, developed from the law of Saxon freemen there +was usually nothing of the kind. "Heriot" was the fine or tax payable +to the lord or abbot on the death of the socman. The true Heriot +is akin in name and in character to the Saxon "here-great"--to the +surrender of the military outfit supplied by the chief to his follower. +In feudal time and among peasants it is not the war-horse and armour +that is meant, but the ox and harness take their place. (Vinogradoff, +"Mediæval Manors": Political Exactions, Chap. V., 153.) + +_Mol-men._ Etymologically, there is reason to believe that this term +is of Danish origin, and the meaning has been kept in practice by the +Scotch dialect (_vide_ "Ashley, Economic History," i, pp. 56-87.) + +_Tallage._ The payment of arbitrary tallage is held during the +thirteenth century to imply a servile status. Such tallage at will is +not very often found in documents, although the lord sometimes retained +his prerogative in this respect even when sanctioning the customary +form of renders and services. Now and then it is mentioned that tallage +is to be levied once a year although the amount remains uncertain. +("Villianage in England," Chap. v, 163, Vinogradoff.) + + + + +Husbandry + + + + +CHAPTER VII. + +HUSBANDRY. + + +The influence of the Norse has been felt in terms connected with land. +"God speed the plough" has been the toast of many a cup at many a +merry meeting for many a century past in this realm. Yet we seem not +generally to know by whom the name of the plough was introduced amongst +us. The Anglo-Saxon knew nothing of such an implement and its uses ere +they settled in the land. This is apparent from their not having a term +for it in their own tongue. Even when they were accustomed to the use +of the so-called plough of the Romans, which they found in the hands +of the British at their settlement in the country, they so confounded +the terms of husbandry that they gave the name of "syl" or "suhl" to +the Roman-British implement, from the furrow "sulcus," which it drew, +without attending in the least to the Roman-British name. The work +of one such plough during a season they have called a "sulling" or +furrowing. + +This so-called plough, from the figures left of it in the Anglo-Saxon +MSS., seems to have been but a sorry kind of an article, not fit to +be brought into comparison with the worst form of our plough in the +neglected districts of England. We owe both the framework and the +origin of the modern plough to the Northerners. We meet with the word +in the old Norse "plogr." In Swedish it is "plog"; while in Danish it +occurs both as "plov" and "ploug," as in English, and it was in all +probability introduced by that people during the eleventh century, +at the latter part of their dynasty within the island. There is no +root either in the Teutonic or Scandinavian tongues from which it is +deducible. The British name for their plough was "aradr," their mode of +pronouncing the Latin "aratum," the word for the Roman plough. The sort +of agriculture which was known in the very early times must have been +extremely simple, if we are to judge it by the terms which have reached +our times. + +Ulphilas, in his translation of the Greek Testament construes the word +for plough with the Gothic word "hôha," the origin of our modern term +"hoe." We may therefore surmise that in these primitive times natives +hoed the ground for their crops for want of better implements to turn +up the soil. + +While we owe to the Norse the name for plough, we are also indebted to +them for the term "husbandry." Among the Scandinavians, the common name +for the peasantry was "bondi," the abstract form of "buondi," dwelling +in, or inhabiting a country. As intercourse with more civilised nations +began to civilise the inhabitants of these northern climes, certain +favoured "bondi" had houses assigned to them, with plots of ground +adjoining for the use of their families. As the culture of such private +plots was distinct from the common culture of other land, the person +so favoured, separated from the general herd, obtained the name of +"husbondi," and the culture of their grounds "husbondri." When such +families obtained settlements in England, they brought over with +them the habits and names of the North; and from mingling with the +Anglo-Saxon natives, with whom adjuncts to introduced terms and titles +were common, the suffix of "man" was applied to the name of "husbondi," +who thus became "husbandmen," a term still kept up in the northern +counties for labourers on farms, who are styled husbandmen to this day. + +Names from trades and handicrafts were given to persons employed +therein both by Danes and Anglo-Saxons. Such names keep up their +distinction to the present day. The general name of artizans of every +kind was Smith. Simple "Smiths" are Anglo-Saxon, "Smithies" are Norse. +"Millars," from the trade of millers, are Anglo-Saxon. "Milners" for +the same reason are Norse. "Ulls," "Woolley" is Anglo-Saxon, "Woolner" +is Norse; "Fullers" and "Towers" are Anglo-Saxon; "Kilners" and +"Gardners," Norse. Some names derived from offices as "Gotts" from +"Gopr," a priest, or one who had charge of a "hof," or heathen temple +in the north. "Goods" comes from "Gopa," and "barge" from "bargr." + +As further instances we may notice the names of buildings. "Bigging," +applied to a building, shows it to be Norse, as in "Newbiggin" and +"Dearsbiggin." Such buildings were built of timber, and had an opening +for the door and an eyelet for a window. In the Norse this opening +was called "vindanga," or windeye, which term we have adopted, and +modernised it into our word "window." We have also chosen several +Norse names for our domesticated animals. "Bull" we have formed from +the Norse "bole." "Gommer," or "Gimmer" we retain in the northern +dialect for ewe lamb, from the Norse "Gimber." "Stegg," the name for +a gander, is in Norse "Stegger." In the north nicknames were general, +and every man had his nickname, particularly if there was aught +remarkable in his appearance or character. Some obtained such names +from their complexions, as the "Greys," "Whites," "Blacks," "Browns," +"Blakes." Short and dwarfish persons took the nicknames of "Stutts," +nowadays called "Stotts." Before Christianity found its way among the +natives, some bore fanciful names, as may be instanced in "Bjorn," a +bear, now "Burns." Prefixes to such fanciful names were also common, +as in "Ashbjorn," the bear of the Osir or gods, in modern times spelt +"Ashburns"; and "Thorbjorn," the bear of Thor, whence came "Thornber" +and "Thorburn." The name of "Mather" is Norse for Man, and as Norse +names are general, we may produce the following: "Agur" from "Ager"; +"Rigg" from "Rig"; "Grime" from "Grimr"; "Foster" from "Fostr"; +"Harland" from "Arlant"; "Grundy" from "Grunrd"; "Hawkes" from "Hawkr"; +and "Frost" from "Frosti," which are of frequent occurrence in the old +Norse Sagas. + +In the Vale of the Lune the Danes have left numerous traces. North of +Lancaster is Halton, properly "Haughton," named from the tumulus or +Danish "haugh," within the village. These are the names of the "bojais" +or farms belonging to "byes," or residences of their greatmen. Near +Hornby we find such places at "Whaitber," "Stainderber," "Threaber," +"Scalaber." Within the manor of Hornby are "Santerfell," "Romsfell," +"Litherell," or fell of the hillside. The name of fell for mountain +bespeaks Norse or Danish influence. + +The Raven was the national symbol of the Danes. We have Ravenstonedale +and Ravenshore, and we also find the name in Rivington Pike, from +Raven-dun-pike. Pike is a common name for a hill or spur standing away +from the mountain range, and is derived from the Picts. The derivation +of our common pronoun "same" is to be traced through the old Norse +"samt," "sama," and "som," and has been selected into our tongue from +the definite form "sama," the same. While we might expect to meet +with this word, in the Lowland Scotch, where the Norse influence was +greater, the people use the Anglo-Saxon "ilia" or "ylea," while in +the general English, where the influence of the Northmen was less, we +have adopted the Norse word "same," to the exclusion of the word we +might expect to consider as our own. Many a good word do we owe to the +Norsmen, whatever we may think about their deeds. + + + + +Stone Crosses + + + + +CHAPTER IX. + +STONE CROSSES. + + +The Parish Church of St. Peter, Bolton, was rebuilt entirely by Mr. +Peter Ormrod, whose surname is Danish, and was consecrated on St. +Peter's Day, 1871. Among the pre-Norman stones discovered during the +re-building were the broken head of a supposed Irish cross, of circular +type, probably of the tenth century; part of the shaft of a cross +bearing a representation of Adam and Eve, with the apple between their +lips, and an upturned hand; and a stone with carving of a nondescript +monster. At this period the Danes were the rulers of Ireland and the +Isle of Man, whose Bishops were men bearing Danish names, and therefore +we may assume that this memorial was erected under their influence and +direction. + +Some crosses, says Fosbrooke, in his Dictionary of Antiquities, owe +their origin to the early Christians marking the Druid stones with +crosses, in order to change the worship without breaking the prejudice. +Some of the crosses presumed to be Runic rather belong to the civilised +Britons, were erected by many of the Christian kings before a battle or +a great enterprise, with prayers and supplication for the assistance +of Almighty God. At a later period, not probably earlier than the +tenth century, a Scandinavian influence shows itself, and to a very +appreciable extent modifies the ornamentation of these monuments. It +went even further, and produced a representation of subjects, which, +however strange it may appear, are only explained by a reference to +the mythology of that part of Europe. The grave covers, to which, on +account of their shape, the name of hog-backed stones has been applied, +appear to have occurred very rarely beyond the counties of Cumberland, +Durham, York, and Lancaster, though some not quite of the ordinary type +have been found in Scotland, as, for instance, at Govan, on the Clyde, +near Glasgow. They developed ultimately, through a transitional form, +into the coped stone with a representation of a covering of tiles, the +roof of man's last home, and were a common grave cover of the twelfth +century. + + +STONE CROSSES. + +In pre-Reformation times there was scarcely a village or hamlet in +England which had not its cross; many parishes, indeed, had more than +one. We know that at Liverpool there were the High Cross, the White +Cross, and St. Patrick's Cross. While many of these crosses are of +undoubted Saxon origin, others bear distinct traces of Scandinavian +mythology. + +[Illustration: Heysham Hogback.] + +[Illustration] + + +NORTH LANCASHIRE RELICS. + +In the churchyard of Halton, near Lancaster, is the shaft of an +ancient cross. In 1635 the upper part was removed by the rector, in +order that the portion remaining might be converted into a sundial. +On the east side are two panels, one showing two human figures, in a +sitting posture, engaged in washing the feet of a seated figure; the +other showing two figures on either side of a tall cross. This is the +Christian side of a cross erected at a time of transition. On the west +side is a smith at work with a pair of bellows. He is forging a large +pair of pincers, as he sits on a chair. Below the chair is the bust +of a man, or a coat of mail. Above him is a sword of heavy type, also +a second hammer, a second pair of pincers, and a human body, with a +"figure of eight" knot, intertwined in a circle, in place of a head, +and an object at his feet representing the head. The half-panel above +has reference to some event in the Sagas. + +At Heysham, near Lancaster, also in the churchyard, is an example of a +hog-backed stone, a solid mass six feet long and two feet thick, laid +over some ancient grave. On the stone is a stag, with broad horns, +and as it is not a reindeer it is said to be a rude representation of +an elk. The scene on this side of the stone depicts an animal hunt. +The termination at each end is a rude quadruped on its hind quarters. +A fragment of a beautifully-sculptured cross is still remaining, +evidently part of a cross which fitted into the socket of the stone. + +In the churchyard of St. Mary's, Lancaster, was a fine cross with a +Runic inscription, meaning "Pray for Cynebald, son of Cuthbert." This +cross has been removed to the British Museum. + + +OTHER ANCIENT REMAINS. + +At Whalley are three fine specimens of reputed Saxon crosses. Tradition +says they commemorate the preaching of Paulinus in 625. Although they +have no remaining inscriptions, their obelisk form and ornaments of +fretwork were used in common by the Norwegians, Saxons, and Danes. + +In Winwick Churchyard is a great fragment of a crosshead, consisting of +the boss and two arms. On the arms are a man with two buckets and a man +being held head downwards by two ferocious-looking men, who have a saw +beneath them, and are either sawing him asunder or are preparing to saw +off his arms. This evidently relates to Oswald, for he was dismembered +by order of Pemba, and the buckets might refer to the miracle-working +well which sprang up where his body fell. + +At Upton, Birkenhead, is a sculptured stone bearing a Runic +inscription. Dr. Browne takes the inscription to mean: "The people +raised a memorial: Pray for Aethelmund." + +At West Kirby is a nearly complete example of a hog-backed stone. The +lower part is covered on both sides by rough interlacing bands, and +the middle and upper part with scales, the top being ornamented with a +row of oblong rings on each side, with a band running through each row +of rings. The work at the top, which looks like a row of buckles, is +very unusual. The stone, which is of harder material than any stone in +the neighbourhood, must have been brought from a distance, and in the +memorial of some important person, probably Thurstan, as we find the +name Thurstaston in the locality. There is also at West Kirby a flat +slab on the face of which a cross is sculptured. This is very unusual +in England, though not rare in Scotland and Ireland. + +At Hilbree, the island off West Kirby, there is a cross of like +character. + +Principal Rhys says that in the eleventh and twelfth centuries the +Norsemen were in the habit of largely recruiting their fleet in +Shetland and the Orkneys, not merely with thrales, but with men of a +higher position. They infused thus a certain amount of Pictish blood +into the island. The "Shetland bind"--Oghams distributed over the +island, in such places as Braddan, Turby, Michael, Onchan, and Bride. +The Norwegian language, says Mr. C. Roeder, was spoken practically from +890-1270; it was introduced by the Shetland and Orkney men, and from +Norway, with which connection was kept, as shown by the grammatical +structure of the Runic stones in the island, which falls between 1170 +and 1230. It was the only language of the rulers, and used at "Thing" +and Hall, resembling in this old Norman barons and their counts in King +William the Conqueror's time. + +The spirit of the Norsemen lives in the legal constitution of the +Government, an inheritance that produced a free Parliament, and +particularly in its place-names. The sea fringe, with its hundreds of +Norse rocks, creeks, and forelands, and caves, have left imperishable +evidence of the mighty old seafarers, the track they took, and the +commingling and fusion they underwent in blood and speech, and their +voyages from the Shetlands and Western Isles. + +[Illustration: Hammer.] + +[Illustration: Brooch.] + +[Illustration: Fibula of White Metal from Claughton.] + + +SOME HUMAN REMAINS. + +Claughton-on-Brock, near Preston, is named Clactune in Domesday Book. +The Danes have also left relics of their presence and influence as they +have done all over the Fylde district. The late Monsignor Gradwell, +a great student of local nomenclature and a Lancashire historian of +considerable repute, wrote: "In Claughton the Roman road crosses the +Fleet, a small brook in the Sixacre. About seventy years ago a barrow +was found on the west of the New Lane, about half a mile south of +the street. In it were found an earthenware urn containing the burnt +remains of a human body, with some delicately wrought silver brooches, +some beads and arms, a dagger and a sword. The brooch of fretwork was +precisely similar to many ancient Danish brooches still preserved +in the Copenhagen Museum, and this proves that the Claughton deposit +was also Danish. That the Danes were strong in Claughton and in the +neighbourhood is proved by the many Danish names. Thus, we have Dandy +Birk, or Danes Hill; Stirzacre, and Barnacre, respectively Stirs +land and Biorn's land. The Danish relics were carefully deposited at +Claughton Hall by the finder, Mr. Thomas Fitzherbert Brockholes." + + +THE HALTON CROSS. + +Now what is to be said about the subjects carved on these crosses and +about the date of the work? One of the subjects is most remarkable, +and gives a special interest to this cross; for here on the west face +and north we have the story of Sigurd Fafnir's bane; here is his sword +and the forging of it, his horse Grani, which bore away the treasure; +the roasting of the dragon's heart; the listening to the voice of the +birds, and the killing of Regin the smith. + +[Illustration: Halton Cross.] + +The story so far as it relates to our subject is this: We all know +that the love of money is the root of all evil. Now there were two +brothers, Fafnir and Regin. Fafnir held all the wealth, and became a +huge monster dragon, keeping watch over his underground treasure-house. +Regin, his brother, had all skill in smith's work, but no courage. He +it was who forged the sword wherewith the hero Sigurd went forth to +kill the dragon and take the treasure. This he did with the help of +his wonderful horse Grani, who, when the heavy boxes of treasure were +placed on his back, would not move until his master had mounted, but +then went off merrily enough. This story, Anglicised and Christianised, +is the story of our English patron saint St. George, the horse rider +and the dragon slayer. Here is the story written in stone. + +We know the ancient belief that the strength of every enemy slain +passes into the body of the conqueror. + + +ILLUSTRATION OF HOG-BACK STONE. + +The stone is perhaps more than a thousand years old, and has been a +good deal knocked about. It was once the tomb of a great Christian +Briton or Englishman, before the Norman Conquest; and you may still +see four other "hog-backed Saxon" uncarved tombstones in Lowther +Churchyard, marking the graves of the noble of that day. When a stone +church was built, our sculptured shrine was built into the walls of +the church, and some of the mortar still sticks to the red sandstone. +When this old church was pulled down to give place to a new one this +same stone, covered with lime and unsightly, was left lying about. +You will see something twisted and coiled along the bottom of each +drawing beneath the figures, and you will see some strange designs +(they are sacred symbols used long ago) on either side of one of the +heads in the lower picture; but what will strike you most will be the +long curls of hair, and the hands pressed to the breast or folded and +pressed together as if in prayer; and, above all, you will notice that +all these people seem to be asleep; their eyes are closed and their +hands folded or pressed to their breast, and they all look as if they +were either asleep or praying, or very peaceful and at perfect rest. +These people are not dead; look at their faces and mark generally the +attitudes of repose. + +Now let us find something worth remembering about all this. + +The tombstone is made like a little house to represent the home of +the dead. But at the time I am speaking of the people believed that +only those who died bravely fighting would have a life of happiness +afterwards; other people who were not wicked people at all--but all +who died of sickness or old age--went to the cold, dark world ruled +over by a goddess called "Hel," who was the daughter of the Evil one. +"Such is the origin of our word Hell, the name of a goddess applied +to a locality. Her domains were very great and her yard walls very +high. Hunger is her dish, starvation her knife, care is her bed, a +beetling cliff is the threshold of her hall, which is hung with grief." +All, except the warriors who died fighting, however good, went to her +domain. It might be thought that to be with such a goddess after death +was bad enough, but there was a worse place. For the wicked another +place was prepared, a great hall and a bad one; its doors looked +northward. It was altogether wrought of adders' backs wattled together, +and the heads of the adder all turned inwards, and spit venom, so that +rivers of venom ran along the hall, and in those rivers the wicked +people must wade for ever. + +The Christian wished to show that this terrible idea of man's future +state was to fire away to something better through the Lord of +Life, our Lord Jesus Christ, and so they set up crosses and carried +triquetra, the sign of the ever blessed Trinity, on their sculptured +tombs to teach the people to believe no longer in gods and goddesses of +darkness, but to look to one God, the Father, Son and Holy Spirit, to +drive away all evil spirits from their hearts, and to give them a quiet +time and a perfect end. Was there any wonder that years afterwards, +when the bright light shone forth from the Cross to disperse the dark +clouds of paganism, that men said that holy men, such as Patrick, +Kentigern and Cuthbert had driven all poisonous snakes out of the land? +The twisted and coiling thing beneath the figures is no doubt the old +serpent. The Cross of Christ and the ash tree Yggdrasil of the northern +tribes bore a like meaning at a certain time to the mixed peoples on +this coast. (W. S. Collingwood.) + + +ANGLO-DANISH MONUMENTS. + +The great variety of ornament found in the North Riding Monuments shows +that in four centuries many influences were brought to bear upon the +sculptors' art, and much curious development went on, of which we may +in the future understand the cause. + +Our early sculptors, like the early painters, were men trying hard +to express their ideals, which we have to understand before we can +appreciate their work. The Anglian people included writers and thinkers +like Bede and Alcuin, and that their two centuries of independence +in the country of which the North Riding was the centre and heart, +were two centuries of a civilization which ranked high in the world +of that age. The Danish invasion, so lamentable in its earlier years, +brought fresh blood and new energies in its train, and up to the Norman +Conquest this part of England was rich and flourishing. + +In writing the history of its art, part of the material will be found +in these monuments. + +The material of which these sculptures are made is usually of local +stone. They were carved on the spot and not imported ready made. + +In the progress of Anglian art we have the development which began with +an impulse coming from the north, and ending with influence coming from +the south. + +The monuments were possibly executed by Anglian sculptors under the +control of Danish Conquerors. Even under the early heathen rule of the +Danes, Christians worked and lived, and as each succeeding colony of +Danes became Christianised, they required gravestones, and Churches to +be carved for them. + +Following a generation of transition, at the end of the ninth century, +monuments are found displaying Danish taste. The close connection +of the York kingdom with Dublin, provides a reason for the Irish +influence. Abundant evidence is found in the chain pattern, and ring +patterns, the dragons, and wheelheads, which are hacked and not +finished into a rounded surface by chiselling. + +The Brompton hogbacks are among the finest works of this period. + +The Stainton bear, and the Wycliffe bear, are also of this period. + +The Pickhill hogback has an Irish-Scandavian dragon, and other dragons +are to be seen at Gilling, Crathorne, Easington, Levisham, Sinnington, +and Pickering. + +New influences came from the Midlands into Yorkshire, after the fall +of the Dublin-York kingdom, about the year 950. One instance of this +advance in the sculptor's art is to be seen in the round shaft, trimmed +square above, at Gilling, Stanwick, and Middleton, which came from +Mercia, and passed on into Cumberland, where it is to be found at +Penrith and Gosforth. These latter have Edda subjects and appear to be +late tenth century. + +Gilling has a curious device, which may possibly be the völund wing +wheel, and völund appears on the Leeds cross, and also at Neston in +Cheshire. + +The Scandinavian chain pattern, frequent on the _stones_ of the North +Riding, and in Cumberland, is entirely absent in manuscripts. There +must have been books at Lastingham, Hackness, Gilling, and other great +monasteries, but the stone-carvers did not copy them. + +[Illustration] + +[Illustration: Base and Side of the Ormside Cup.] + +The Ormside cup, on the other hand, has close analogies with the two +important monuments at Croft and Northallerton, which seem to be the +leading examples of the finest style, from which all the rest evolve, +not without influence from abroad at successive periods. It is to +relief work rather than to manuscripts that we must look for the +inspiration of the sculptors. + +In these monuments linked together we can trace the continuation of +the Viking age style during the later half of the tenth century and +the early part of the eleventh centuries. The stone carver's art was +reviving, stones were becoming more massive, which means that they were +more skilfully quarried, the cutting is more close and varied, and on +its terms the design is more decorative and artistic, though still +preserving its northern character among impulses and influences from +the south. But there is no room here for the Bewcastle cross or the +Hovingham stone. We have an example of this period's attempt to imitate. + +It is probable that the stone carving was a traditional business, +began by St. Wilfrid's, and Benedict Bishop's imported masons, and +carried on in a more or less independent development as it is to-day. + +With the Danish invasion began a period of new influences which were +not shaken off until after the Norman Conquest. + +The interlaced work was abandoned in the tenth century by southern +sculptors, remained the national art of the north. The Manx, Irish, +and Scotch kept it long after the eleventh century, and so did the +Scandinavians. + +The Bewcastle cross in the Gigurd shaft of the cross at Halton in +Lancashire, and if this development has been rightly described the +Halton shaft is easily understood. + +In the period covered by the eleventh century dials inscribed with +Anglo-Danish names date themselves. Interlacing undergoes new +development, becoming more open and angular, until we get right lined +plaits like Wensley, it is better cut, as the later part of the century +introduces the masons who rebuilt the churches and began the abbeys. No +longer was the work hacked but clean chiselled, and intermingled with +new grotesques; we find it at Hackness, in the impost, and in the fonts +at Alne and Bowes, where we are already past the era of the Norman +Conquest. + + Anglian work of the simpler forms and earlier types date 700 A.D. + + Full development of Anglian art, middle of eighth century to its + close. + + Anglian work in decline, or in ruder hands, but not yet showing + Danish influence, early ninth century. + + Transitional, such as Anglian carvers might have made for Danish + conquerors, late ninth century. + + Anglo-Danish work showing Irish influence, early half of the + tenth century. + + Anglo-Danish work with Midland influence, later part of tenth and + beginning of eleventh century. + + Eleventh century, Pre-Norman. + + Post-Conquest, developed out of pre Norman art. + +Recumbent monuments were grave-slabs, which may have been coffin lids, +such as must have fitted the Saxon rock graves at Heysham, Lancashire, +while other forms may have simply marked the place under which a burial +was made. They are found with Anglian lettering at Wensley, another has +been removed from Yarm, and those of the Durham district are well known. + +The two stones at Wensley may have been recumbent, like the Melsonby +stones. The Spennithorne slab bears crosses of the earlier Northumbrian +type, seen again in the West Wilton slab. At Crathorne are two slabs, +with "Maltese" crosses apparently late, all the preceding being of the +fine style. + +Levisham slab has an Irish Scandinavian dragon. + +Grave slabs are found of all periods and styles. Shrine-shaped tombs +are known in various parts of England, with pre-Viking ornament. (W. S. +Collingwood). + + + + +Runes + + + + +CHAPTER X. + +Runes. + + +Before dealing with the Norse and Danish antiquities of Lancashire, +of which we have some remains in the form of sculptured stones, and +ancient crosses, it would be profitable to inquire into the origin +and development of that mysterious form of letters known as Runes or +Runic. How many of the thousands who annually visit the Isle of Man are +aware that the island contains a veritable museum of Runic historical +remains? A brief survey of these inscriptions, which have yielded +definite results, having been deciphered for us by eminent scholars, +will help us to understand the nature of those to be found in our own +county. + +We are told by Dr. Wägner that Runes were mysterious signs. The word +Rune is derived from rûna, a secret. The form of the writing would +appear to be copied from the alphabet of the Phoenicians. The Runes +were looked upon, for many reasons, as full of mystery and supernatural +power. In the fourth century Ulphilas made a new alphabet for the +Goths by uniting the form of the Greek letters to the Runic alphabet, +consisting of twenty-five letters, which was nearly related to that of +the Anglo-Saxons. The Runes gradually died out as Christianity spread, +and the Roman alphabet was introduced in the place of the old Germanic +letters. The Runes appear to have served less as a mode of writing than +as a help to memory, and were principally used to note down a train of +thought, to preserve wise sayings and prophecies, and the remembrance +of particular deeds and memorable occurrences. + +Tacitus informs us that it was the custom to cut beech twigs into small +pieces, and then throw them on a cloth, which had been previously +spread out for the purpose, and afterwards to read future events by +means of the signs accidentally formed by the bits of wood as they lay +in the cloth. + +In his catalogue of Runic inscriptions found on Manx crosses, Kermode +says that "of the sculptors' names which appear all are Norse. Out +of a total of forty-four names, to whom these crosses were erected, +thirty-two are those of men, eight of women, and four are nicknames. +Of men, nineteen names are Norse, nine Celtic, three doubtful, and one +Pictish." This proves the predominance of Norse and Danish chiefs to +whom these monuments were erected. Runes are simply the characters in +which these inscriptions are carved, and have nothing to do with the +language, which in the Manx inscriptions is Scandinavian of the 12th +Century. + +To speak of a stone which bears an inscription in Runes as a Runic +stone is as though we should call a modern tombstone a Roman stone +because the inscription is carved in Roman capitals. Canon Taylor +traces the origin of Runes to a Greek source, namely, the Thracian or +second Ionian alphabet, which, through the intercourse of the Greek +colonists at the mouth of the Danube with the Goths south of the +Baltic, was introduced in a modified form into Northern Europe, and had +become established as a Runic "Futhork" as early as the Christian era. +The main stages of development are classified by Canon Taylor as the +Gothic, the Anglican, and the Scandinavian. + +The Rune consists of a stem with the twigs or letters falling from +left or right. This is the most common form to be found, allowing for +difference of workmanship, of material, and space. The progress in the +development of the Rune may be observed from the most simple plait +or twist, to the most complex and beautiful geometric, and to the +zoomorphic. The latter has the striking features of birds and beasts of +the chase, and also of men, many being realistic; and except the latter +are well drawn. The forms of the men are sometimes found with heads of +birds or wings. In addition to decorative work we find on three of the +cross slabs illustrations from the old Norse sagas. On a large cross +at Braddan is a representation of Daniel in the lion's den; and at +Bride, on a slab, is a mediæval carving of the fall of Adam, in which +the serpent is absent. Both Pagan and Christian emblems derive their +ornamentation from the same source, "basket work." + +Long after the introduction of Christianity we find the Pagan symbols +mixed up in strange devices on the same stones, which were erected as +Christian monuments. In the "Lady of the Lake," Sir Walter Scott gives +an account of the famous fiery cross formed of twigs. + + "The grisly priest, with murmuring prayer, + A slender crosslet framed with care, + A cubit's length in measure due; + The shaft and limbs were rods of yew." + + "The cross, thus formed, he held on high, + With wasted hand and haggard eye." + +Basketmaking is the parent of all modern textile art, and no other +industry is so independent of tools. It is the humble parent of the +modern production of the loom, and the most elaborate cloth is but the +development of the simple wattle work of rude savages. Plaiting rushes +is still the earliest amusement of children, the patterns of which are +sometimes identical with the designs engraved by our earliest ancestors +on their sculptured stones. Interlaced ornament is to be met with on +ancient stones and crosses all over our islands. Ancient pottery also +shows that the earliest form of ornament was taken from basket designs. + +The Lough Derg pilgrim sought a cross made of interwoven twigs, +standing upon a heap of stones, at the east end of an old church. This +was known as St. Patrick's Altar. This is recorded by a certain Lord +Dillon in 1630, who visited the island known as St. Patrick's Purgatory +on the Lough Derg, in Ireland. The wicker cross retained its grasp upon +the superstitious feelings of the people after the suppression at the +Reformation. He says of this miserable little islet that the tenant +paid a yearly rent of £300, derived from a small toll of sixpence +charged at the ferry. This was probably the last of the innumerable +crosses of the same wicker and twigs. (Lieut.-Col. French, Bolton.) + + +RUNIC ALMANACS. + +When the northern nations were converted to Christianity the old +Pagan Festivals were changed to Christian holidays, and the old Pagan +divinities were replaced by Christian Saints. The faith placed in the +early deities was transferred to the latter. As certain deities had +formerly been supposed to exercise influence over the weather and the +crops; so the days dedicated to them, were now dedicated to certain +Saints. + +The days thus dedicated were called Mark-days, and as it may be +supposed it became the office of the Clergy to keep account of the time +and to calculate when the various holidays would occur. + +Owing to the fact that many Christian feasts are what are called +movable, that is, are not fixed to a certain date but depend on Easter, +the reckoning was more difficult for the laity than it had been in +Pagan times. + +In those days the fixed holidays could be easily remembered. An +ordinary man without knowing how to read or write could keep a list of +them by cutting marks or notches on strips of wood. + +The successors of these are called Messe, and Prim Staves. The Messe +staves are the more simple--_Messe-daeg_ means Mass day, and the stave +only denoted such days. The Prim stave contained besides the marks +for Sundays and the moon's changes. Hence their name from Prima-Luna, +or first full moon after the equinox. The Messe-daeg staves are +frequently met with. They consist generally of flat pieces of wood +about a yard or an ell long, two inches wide, and half an inch thick, +and have frequently a handle, giving them the appearance of a wooden +sword. The flat side is divided into two unequal portions by a line +running lengthways. In the narrow part, the days are notched at equal +distances, half the year on each side, or 182 marks on one side and 183 +on the other. In the wider space and connected with the days are the +signs for those which are to be particularly observed: on the edges the +weeks are indicated. The marks for the days do not run from January +to July and from July to December, but on the winter side (Vetr-leid) +from October 14 to April 13, and in the summer side (Somar-leid) from +April 14 to October 13. The signs partly refer to the weather, partly +to husbandry, and partly the legends of the Saints. Seldom are two +staves formed exactly alike. Not only do the signs vary but the days +themselves. Nor are they always flat, but sometimes square, _i.e._, +with four equal sides: when of the latter shape they are called clogs, +or clog almanacs. + +They are called Cloggs, _i.e._, Logg, Almanacks = Al-mon-aght, viz., +the regard or observation of all the Moons, because by means of these +squared sticks, says Verstegan, they could certainly tell when the new +Moons, full Moons, or other changes should happen, and consequently +Easter and the other movable feasts. They are called by the Danes +Rim-stocks, not only because the Dominical letters were anciently +expressed on them in Runic characters, but also because the word Rimur +anciently signified a Calendar. By the Norwegians with whom they are +still in use, they are called Prim-staves, and for this reason, the +principal and most useful thing inscribed on them being the prime or +golden number, whence the changes of the moon are understood, and also +as they were used as walking sticks, they were most properly called +Prim-staves. + +The origin of these Runic or Clog-calendars was Danish (vide Mr. J. W. +Bradley, M.A., Salt Library, Stafford). They were unknown in the South, +and only known by certain gentry in the North. They are quite unknown +in Ireland and Scotland, and are only known from the few examples +preserved in the Museums. + +Owing to the changes of custom in modern times these wooden perpetual +almanacs have become quite superseded by the printed annuals. + +The inscriptions read proceeding from the right hand side of the +notches, are marks or symbols of the festivals expressed in a kind of +hieroglyphic manner, pointing out the characteristics of the Saints, +against whose festivals they are placed, others the manner of their +Martyrdom; others some remarkable fact in their lives; or to the work +or sport of the time when the feasts were kept. + +Thus on January 13 the Feast of St. Hiliary is denoted by a Cross or +Crozier, the badge of a Bishop. + + +EXPLANATION OF THE CLOG ALMANAC. + +The edges of the staff are notched chiefly with simple angular +indentations but occasionally with other marks to denote the date of +certain special Festivals. + +[Illustration] + + Jan. 1.--The Feast of the Circumcision. Sometimes a circle. + + Jan. 2, 3, 4, 5.--Ordinary days. + + Jan. 6.--The Feast of the Epiphany. Twelfth day. In some examples + the symbol is a star. + + Jan. 7.--Ordinary day. + + Jan. 8-12.--The first day of the second week is shown by a larger + notch. + + Jan. 13.--Feast of St. Hilary. Bishop of Poictiers, with double + cross. + + Jan. 14.--Ordinary day. + + Jan. 15, 16.--First day of third week. + + Jan. 17.--Feast of St. Anthony. Patron Saint of Feeders of Swine. + This is the Rune for M. + + Jan. 18.--F. of St. Prisca, A.D. 278. Not noticed. + + Jan. 20.--F. of S. Fabian. Not noticed. F. of S. Sebastian. Not + noticed. + + Jan. 21.--F. of S. Agnes. + + Jan. 22.--F. of S. Vincent. Not noticed. + + Jan. 25.--Conversion of St. Paul. Symbol of decapitation. + + No other Saints days are noticed in Jan. + + Feb. 2.--Candlemas. Purification of Virgin Mary. + + Feb. 3.--St. Blaise, bishop and martyr. The Patron Saint of + Woolcombers. Bp. Sebasti. Armenia. A.D. 316. + + Feb. 4.--St. Gilbert. Not noticed. + + Feb. 5.--St. Agatha. Palermo. Patroness of Chaste Virgins. + + Feb. 6.--St. Dorothea. Not noticed. + + Feb. 9.--St. Apolmia. A.D. 249. Alexandria. + + Feb. 14.--St. Valentine (historian). M. A.D. 271. Plot gives + + Feb. 16.--St. Gregory. Pope X. A.D. 1276. + + Feb. 20, 22, 23.--St. Mildred, St. Millburgh, sisters. + + Feb. 24.--St. Matthias, Apostle. + + Mar. 1.--St. David, Bishop. Symbol a harp. Patron Saint of Wales, + A.D. 544. + + Mar. 2.--St. Chad. A.D. 672. + + Mar. 12.--St. Gregory the Great, A.D. 604. + + Mar. 17.--S. Patrick, Patron of Ireland. + + Mar. 20.--S. Cuthbert. Not noticed. + + Mar. 21.--S. Benedict. Not noticed, A.D. 543. + + Mar. 25.--Feast of Annunciation. Blessed Virgin Mary. Usual + symbol heart. + +These complete one edge of the staff. + +Thus each edge contains three months or one quarter of the year. + +Turning the staff over towards the reader who holds the loop or ring in +the right hand. + + April 1.--All Fools Day. Custom. Not noticed. S. Hugh. A.D. 1132. + + April 2, 3.--S. Francis of Paula, A.D. 1508. S. Richard, Bishop + of Chichester, A.D. 1262. + + April 4.--St. Isidore, Bishop of Seville. + + April 5.--St. Vincent. Terrer Valentia. 1419. + + April 9.--S. Mary of Egypt. Not noticed. + + April 11.--St. Gultitae, Abbot of Croyland. + + April 19.--St. Ælphege, Archbishop of Canterbury. 1012. + + April 23.--St. George, Patron Saint of England. Of Garter legend. + + April 25.--St. Mark. Alexandria. Apostle and Evangelist. + + April 30.--St. Catherine of Siena. + + May 1.--May Day. St. Philip and St. James the Less. + + May 3.--Invention or discovery of the Holy Cross. + + May 5.--St. Hilary of Arles. A.D. 449. + + May 7.--St. John Beverlev. A.D. 721. + + May 8.--St. Michael Archangel. + + May 19.--St. Dunstan, Archbishop of Canterbury. A.D. 988. + + June 8.--St. William, Archbishop of York. 1144. Note the W. on + the line. + + June 11.--St. Barnabas, Apostle. Commencement of the Hay harvest, + hence the rake. + + June 24.--Nativity of John Baptist. + +Turnover staff for rest of June. + + June 29.--St. Peter, symbol of key. + + July 2.--Visitation of S. Elizabeth. + + July 7.--S. Ethelburgh. + + July 15.--S. Swithin, symbol as A.D. 862. Bishop of Winchester. + Shower of rain. + + July 20.--St. Margaret. + + July 22.--St. Mary Magdalene. + + July 25.--St. James, Apostle the Great. + + July 26.--St. Anne. + + August 1.--Lammas Day. + + August 5.--St. Oswald. + + August 10.--St. Lawrence. + + August 15.--Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary. + + August 24.--St. Bartholomew. + + August 29.--St. John Baptist. + + Sept. 1.--St. Giles. Patron of Hospitals. + + Sept. 6.-- + + Sept. 8.--Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary. + + Sept. 14.--Exaltation of the Cross. + + Sept. 21.--St. Matthew, Apostle. + + Sept. 29.--Feast of S. Michael the Archangel. + + Oct. 9.--St. Denis. + + Oct. 13.--St. Edward the Confessor. + + Oct. 18.--St. Luke the Evangelist. + + Oct. 25.--St. Crispin, Patron of Shoemakers. + + Oct. 28.--St. Simon and St. Jude. + + Nov. 1.--All Saints. + + Nov. 2.--All Souls. + + Nov. 6.--St. Leonard. + + Nov. 11.--St. Martin. Bishop of Tours, A.D. 397. + + Nov. 17.--S. Hugh. Bishop of Lincoln, A.D. 1200. + + Nov. 20.--St. Edmund, King of East Anglia. + + Nov. 23.--St. Clement. + + Nov. 25.--St. Catherine of Alexandria. + + Nov. 30.--St. Andrew, Apostle. + + Dec. 6.--St. Nicholas. + + Dec. 8.--Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary. + + Dec. 13.--St. Lucia. Patroness Saint of diseases of the eye. + + Dec. 21.--St. Thomas, Apostle. Shortest day. + + Plot 25.--Christmas Day. + + Plot 26.--St. Stephen, First Martyr. + + Plot 27.--St. John the Evangelist. + + Plot 28.--Innocents. + + Plot 29.--St. Thomas of Canterbury, 1171. + + Plot 31.--St. Sylvester, Pope 335. Made a general Festival 1227. + +The more ancient almanac called Runic Primitare, so named from the +Prima-luna or new moon which gave the appellation of Prime to the Lunar +or Golden Number, so called because the Number was marked in gold on +the stave. The Rim Stocks of Denmark so called from Rim, a calendar and +stock a staff. The marks called Runic characters were supposed to have +magical powers and so were regarded with dread by the Christians and +were often destroyed by the priests and converts to Christianity. + +They were derived from rude imitations of the Greek letters. Two of +these staves now in the Museum at Copenhagen are 4 feet 8-1/2 inches +and 3 feet 8 inches long respectively. They are hand carved and not +in any sense made by machinery. This accounts from them being rarely +alike, and often very different from one another. + +The Sun in his annual career returns to the same point in the Zodiac in +365 days, 6 hours, nearly. The Moon who is really the month maker, as +the Sun is the year maker, does 12 of her monthly revolutions in 354 +days. So that a lunar year is 11 days shorter than the solar, supposing +both to start from the same date. The actual lunar month contains about +29-1/2 days. Therefore in order to balance the two reckonings, it was +agreed at a convention of Scientist Christians of Alexandria in the +year A.D. 323, two years previous to the Council of Nice, to make the +distances between the new moon alternately 29 and 30 days, and to place +the golden number accordingly. Now these Egyptian scholars observed +that the new moon nearest the vernal Equinox in 323 was on the 27th day +of the Egyptian month Phauranoth, corresponding with our 23rd of March, +so the cycle was commenced on this day. This is the reason why the +golden number 1 is placed against it, 29 days from this brought them +to the 21st April, and 30 days from this to the 21st May, and so on +through the year. + + +RUNIC CALENDAR. + +The explanatory engraving of the Calendar shows the year begins on the +23rd December. That this date is correctly given for the first day of +the year is proved by the agreement between the Saints days and the +days of the month on which they fall and the Christian Sunday Letters. + +In thus beginning the year this Calendar exhibits a rare peculiarity. +No other Runic Calendar begins the year in the same manner, while +numbers could be shown which begin the year at Yuletide, commencing on +the 25th December. + +Of the two modes of beginning it there is no question that the one here +exhibited is the genuine heathen while the other is genuine Christian. +It is worth noticing that as Winter takes precedence of Summer in the +sense of a year: so night takes precedence of day generally in the +sense of a civil day of 24 hours in old Icelandic writers, a manner of +speech which to this day is far from having gone out of use. + +Considering the heathen tradition preserved in this Calendar in +the number of days given to the year and in the date given to the +commencement of the year, in which it stands unique, in the fact that +the interval between 1230 and 1300, _i.e._, out of 160 years rich in +famous local and famous general Saints, not one should be recorded +here: that Saints of universal adoration in the Catholic Church, such +as St. Thomas of Canterbury, St. Benedict, and others, should not have +a place here: we cannot escape referring it to an age when it may be +fairly supposed that these heathen traditions were still believed in by +at least a considerable number of the community. + +Anterior to 1230 it cannot be, long posterior to that date it can +scarcely be. That it must be a layman's Calendar, is shown because +it exhibits no golden numbers, and gives consequently no clue to +the Paschal cycle or movable feasts. It is a very valuable piece of +antiquity and ought to be well taken care of. + +On 2nd February were anciently observed all over the Pagan north +certain rites connected with the worship of fire. In some places the +toast or bumper of the fire was drunk by the whole family kneeling +round the fire, who at the same time offered grain or beer to the +flames on the hearth. This was the so-called Eldborgs-skäl, the toast +of fire salvage, a toast which was meant to avert disaster by fire for +the coming year. + +Fire and Sun worship mingled together, no doubt in observance of this +feast: for where it was most religiously observed amongst the Swedes +it was called Freysblôt and was a great event. In early Christian +times only wax candles which had received the blessing of the +priest, were burnt in the houses of the people, in the evening. Hence +Candlemas,--see illustration in Stephens' Scandinavian Monuments. From +a remarkable treatise by Eirikr Magnusson, M.A., on a Runic Calendar +found in Lapland in 1866, bearing English Runes. (Cambridge Antiq. Soc. +Communications, Vol. X., No. 1, 1877.) + +[Illustration] + + +THIS ENGLISH (?) OR NORWEGIAN RUNIC CALENDAR IS DATED ABOUT A.D. +1000-1100. + +What distinguishes this piece is that seemingly from its great age +and its having been _made in England_, it has preserved in the outer +or lower lines several of _the olden Runes_. These are the "Notae +Distortae" spoken of by Worm. Some of these as we can plainly see are +provincial _English_ varieties of the old northern Runes. + +The Calendar before us is of bone, made from the jaw-bone of the +porpoise. We know nothing of its history. Worm says, "Probably to this +class must be assigned the peculiar Calendar carved on a concave bone, +part of the jaw-bone of some large fish." Although it shows three rows +of marks the signs of Festivals, the Solar Cycle and the Lunar Cycle, +this last is here very imperfect and has even some distorted marks as +we see in the engraving. + +Each side, the concave as well as the convex, bears near the edge +its girdling three rows of marks, so that every series comprehends a +quarter of a year, beginning with the day of Saint Calixtus. As Worm +has only given one side of this curious Rune-blade, we cannot know the +peculiarities of the other half, which contained the Solar Cycle, and +the three sign lines for two quarters. + +On the side given, the Runes on the right hand are reversed and read +from top to bottom; those on the left hand are not retrograde. It may +often have been carried on the person, being only 18 inches long. The +clog calendars range in length from 3 to 4 feet, to as many inches. + +Whenever we light upon any kind of _Runic_ pieces, we are at once +confined _to the north_, Scandinavia and England. Though so numerous in +the Northern lands, no Runic Calendar has ever yet been found in any +Saxon or German province, except a couple bought or brought by modern +travellers, as curiosities from Scandinavia. + +Stephens says this whole class of Antiquities has never yet been +properly treated. It offers work for one man's labours during a long +time and many journeys. It would produce a rich harvest as to the signs +and symbols, and Runes as modified by local use and clannish custom. +All the symbol marks should be treated in parallel groups. The various +and often peculiar Runes should be carefully collected and elucidated. +All this is well worthy of a competent Rune-Smith, Computist, and +Ecclesiologist. On many of the _old_ Runic Calendars, especially in +Sweden, we find a "_lake_" or game long famous all over Europe, but +now mostly known to children, called "the Lake" or game of Saint Peter. +This is an ingenious way of so placing 30 persons, that we may save +one half from death or imprisonment, by taking out each ninth man as a +victim, till only one half the original number is left. These 15 are +thus all rescued. Of course the man thus taken must not be counted a +second time. + +Formerly the favoured 15 were called Christians and the other Jews. +Carving this in one line, we get the marks so often found on Rune-clogs: + + xxxx|||||xx|xxx|x||xx|||x||xx| + +The story about it is this: Saint Peter is said to have been at sea +in a ship in which were 30 persons, the one half Christians and the +other half Jews. But a storm arose so furious that the vessel had to be +lightened, and it was resolved to throw overboard half the crew. Saint +Peter then ranged them in the order we see, every ninth man was taken +out. The crosses betoken the Christians and the strokes the Jews. In +this way all the Jews were cast into the deep while all the Christians +remained. Herewith the old were wont to amuse themselves. + +_Folk-lore of children in rhyme and ritual._ The child is surrounded by +an ancient circle of ritualism and custom. Visitors to see the infant +must take it a threefold gift. In some districts in Yorkshire the +conditions are a little tea, sugar, and oven-cake. Another Yorkshire +practice is to take an egg, some salt, and a piece of silver. The child +must not be brought downstairs to see the visitor, for to bring it +downstairs would be to give it a start in life in the wrong direction. +The form of this idea is to be found in certain (Japanese) customs. The +child's finger-nails must not be cut with scissors, for iron had such +close association with witchcraft. The nails must be bitten off with +the teeth. This practice survives in some adults, much to the disgust +of their friends. + +Of children's games, that known as "Hopscotch" was originally a +religious rite practised at funerals. It was symbolical of the passage +of the soul from the body to heaven or the other place to which the +ancients gave various names. The pattern which is drawn for the purpose +of this game has been found on the floor of the Roman Forum. + +Another game called "Cat's Cradle" was played by the North American +Indians, and has recently found on an island north of Australia. When +children could not play on account of the rain they recited a little +rhyme which is still known to-day by the people of Austria and in the +wilds of Asia. The game of "Ring o' Roses" is the survival of an old +incantation addressed to the Corn Spirit. When the wind rippled across +the cornfield the ancient harvesters thought the corn god was passing +by, and would recite the old rhyme, closing with the words, "Hark the +cry! hark the cry! all fall down!" Sometimes the corn spirit was +supposed to become incarnated in the form of a cow, hence the line in +the nursery jingle, "Boy Blue! the cow's in the corn." When the boy +donned his first pair of breeches he must pass through a ritual. He +must be nipped. The significance of the nip was a test to see whether +the boy in the new breeches was the same boy, or whether he had been +changed by the fairies or evil spirits. This idea of a change by evil +spirits might seem far-fetched, but so recently as 1898, in the records +of the Irish courts there was a case in which an Irishman was tried +for accusing his wife of not being the same person as when he married +her, and of the woman being branded in consequence. Superstitions as +to the cure of certain childish complaints survive in the cure for +whooping cough, to take the sufferer "over t' watter." That is the only +medicinal use of the river Aire, near Leeds. + + + + +Memorials + + + + +CHAPTER XI. + +MEMORIALS. + + +At the time of the Conquest the population in some of the largest +and most important cities is said to have been almost exclusively of +Scandinavian extraction. + +In the north the Norwegian saint, "St. Olave," has been zealously +commemorated in both towns and country. This proves that churches were +built and Christian worship performed during the Danish dominion, and +that these Northmen continued to reside here in great numbers after the +Danish ascendancy ended. + +In the city of Chester there is a church and parish which still bears +the name of St. Olave, and by the church runs a street called St. +Olave's Lane. This is opposite the old castle and close to the river +Dee. In the north-west part of York there is a St. Olave's Church, said +to be the remains of a monastery founded by the powerful Danish Earl +Sieward, who was himself buried there in the year 1058. Long before the +Norman Conquest, the Danes and Northmen preponderated in many of the +towns of the North of England, which they fortified, and there erected +churches dedicated to their own sainted kings and warriors. Olave +is derived from "Olaf the White," who was a famous Norse Viking. He +subdued Dublin about the middle of the ninth century, and made himself +king of the city and district. From this time Ireland and the Isle of +Man were ruled by Norwegian kings for over three centuries. + +It may therefore be inferred, by a natural process of deductive +reasoning, that during this period the Danes were founding their +settlements in Lancashire. Although we have no distinct traces of +buildings erected by them, the names given by them to many places +still survive. In these compound names the word "kirk" is often met +with. This must establish the fact that the Danes erected many other +churches besides St. Olave's at Chester and York. From Chester and +West Kirby, in the Wirral district, to Furness, in the North, we +have abundant evidence in the name of Kirk, and its compound forms, +that many Christian churches were erected. At Kirkdale, Ormskirk, +Kirkham, Kirkby Lonsdale, Kirby Moorside, and Kirkby Stephen Norman +churches have superseded Danish buildings. Kendal was known formerly +as Kirkby-in-Kendal, or the "Church-town in the valley of Kent." +And further memorials here survive in the names of streets, such as +Stramongate, Gillingate, Highgate, and Strickland-gate. + +The name Furness is distinctly Scandinavian, from "Fur" and "Ness," +or Far promontory. The abbot of Furness was intimate with the Danish +rulers of Manxland, for he got a portion of land there in 1134 to +build himself a palace. He was followed by the Prior of Whithorn and +St. Bede. In 1246 the monks of Furness obtained all kinds of mines in +Man, and some land near St. Trinian's. By the industry and ability of +these monks Furness became one of the wealthiest abbeys in England, and +thus were laid the foundations of one of the greatest industries in +Lancashire, viz., the smelting of iron ore. + + + + +Literature + + + + +CHAPTER XII. + +LITERATURE. + + +During that period when the Danes were making their conquests and +settlements in the North of England, art and literature did not hold +any high position in Europe. The fall of the Roman Empire gave a shock +to the pursuits of learning which had not recovered when Christian art +was in its infancy. The Northmen early distinguished themselves in the +art of shipbuilding, and also in the manufacture of ornaments, domestic +utensils, and weapons. This taste had arisen from the imitation of the +Roman and Arabesque articles of commerce which they brought up into the +North. Some Scandinavian antiquities have been discovered belonging +to the period called "the age of bronze," and also the later heathen +times, known as "the iron age." The Sagas record that the carving of +images was skilfully practised in the north, and the English Chronicles +provide records of richly carved figures on the bows of Danish and +Norse vessels. The Normans from Denmark who settled in Normandy were +first converted to Christianity, and early displayed the desire to +erect splendid buildings, especially churches and monasteries. + +Long before the Norman Conquest, the Danes devoted themselves to +peaceful occupations. Several of the many churches and convents +were erected by Danish princes and chiefs, in the northern parts of +England, which have now been re-built, or disappeared; but their names +survive to distinguish their origin. It has been said that these +early buildings were composed of wood. This is proved from the work +recently issued by Mr. J. Francis Bumpus, in his "Cathedrals of Norway, +Sweden, and Denmark." The touching life story of the martyred Saint +Olaf is there told. A wooden chapel was built over his grave about the +year 1047. This became the centre of the national religion, and the +sanctuary of the national freedom and independence. Trondhjem, says Mr. +Bumpus, is the eloquent expression in stone of Norway's devotion to the +beloved St. Olaf. Despoiled of much of its ornamentation by Protestant +zeal, it retains in the octagon of its noble choir a true architectural +gem, equal in delicate beauty to the Angel Choir of Lincoln. + +[Illustration: Example of Danish Carved Wood-work, with Runes, from +Thorpe Church, Hallingdal, Denmark.] + +The phrase "skryke of day" is common to South Lancashire, and is the +same as the old English "at day pype," or "peep of day." "There is a +great intimacy," says Dr. Grimm, "between our ideas of light and sound, +of colour and music, and hence we are able to comprehend that rustling, +and that noise, which is ascribed to the rising and setting Sun." +Thomas Kingo, a Danish poet of the seventeenth century, and probably +others of his countrymen, make the rising of the Sun to pipe +(pfeifen), that is to utter a piercing sound. + +Tacitus had long before recorded the Swedish superstition, that the +rising Sun made a noise. The form in which our skryke of day has come +down to us is Scandinavian. Grimm says, "Still more express are the +passages which connect the break of day, and blush of the morning, with +ideas of commotion and rustling." Goethe has in "Faust" borrowed from +the Pythagorean and Platonic doctrine of the harmony of the spheres, +and illustrated Grimm's proposition of the union of our ideas of light +and sound by describing the course of the Sun in its effulgence as a +march of thunder. Jonson regarded noise as an essential quality of the +heavenly bodies-- + + "Come, with our voices let us war, + And challenge all the spheres, + Till each of us be made a star, + And all the world turned ears." + +The noise of daybreak may be gathered from the fracture of metal, and +applied to the severance of darkness and light, may well have sound +attributed to it. The old meaning of "peep (or pype) of day" was the +joyful cry which accompanied the birth of light. "Peep," as sound is +most ancient, and a "nest of peepers," that is, of young birds, is now +almost obsolete English. Milton, in "Paradise Lost," shows the setting +Sun to make a noise from its heated chariot axles being quenched in +the Atlantic. Once, at Creation, the morning stars sang for joy; but +afterwards moved in expressive silence. + + +BALLADS AND WAR SONGS. + +As a consequence of the Danish and Norman conquests, a peculiar +composition arose called Anglo-Danish and Anglo-Norman. These +legends and war songs were produced by the Danish wars, and were +the expressions of an adventurous and knightly spirit, which became +prevalent in England. The most celebrated of them were the romances +of "Beowulf," "Havelock, the Dane," and "Guy, Earl of Warwick." In +the older romances of Scandinavian songs and sages, combats against +dragons, serpents, and plagues are celebrated; in later romances of +the age of chivalry, warriors are sung who had fallen in love with +beautiful damsels far above them in birth or rank, and whose hand +they could only acquire by some brilliant adventure or exploit. The +heathen poems of the Scandinavian North are all conceived in the same +spirit, and it is not unreasonable to recognise traces of Scandinavian +influence in English compositions. In later times, even to the middle +ages, this influence is still more apparent in the ballads and popular +songs, which are only to be found in the northern or old Danish parts +of England. + +Many parts of the Edda or Sagas have been founded on songs in honour +of the gods and heroes worshipped in Scandinavia. + +In Shakespeare's "Hamlet" the young prince is sent to Britain with a +letter carried by his two comrades. But he re-writes the letter and +saves his life. + +In the original Amleth legend of Saxo Grammaticus the two companions of +Amleth, carry a wooden rune-carvel. But he cuts away some of the staves +and adds others, so that the letter now tells the British king to slay +the messengers, and to give his daughter in marriage to Amleth. + +In the "Historie of Hamlet," London, 1608, we read, "Now to bear him +company were assigned two of Fengons' ministers, bearing letters +engraved on wood, that contained Hamlet's death, in such sort as he +had advertised to the King of England. But the subtle Danish prince, +being at sea, whilst his companions slept, raced out the letters that +concerned his death, and instead thereof graved others." + + +LAY OF THE NORSE GODS AND HEROES. + + Step out of the misty veil + Which darkly winds round thee; + Step out of the olden days, + Thou great Divinity! + Across thy mental vision + Passes the godly host, + That Brugi's melodies + Made Asgard's proudest boast. + There rise the sounds of music + From harp strings sweet and clear, + Wonderfully enchanting + To the receiving ear. + Thou wast it, thou hast carried + Sagas of Northern fame, + Didst boldly strike the harp strings + Of old Skalds; just the same + Thou span'st the bridge of Birfrost, + The pathway of the Gods: + O name the mighty heroes, + Draw pictures of the Gods! + +These fairy tales of the giants, dwarfs, and heroes, are not senseless +stories written for the amusement of the idle; but they contain the +deep faith or religion of our forefathers, which roused them to brave +actions, and inspired them with strength and courage. These Sagas +existed for over four hundred years, until they exchanged their +hero-god for St. Martin, and their Thumar, for St. Peter or St. Oswald, +when their glory in Scandinavia fell before the preaching of the Cross. + + +ART. + +[Illustration: Bractaetes.] + +Previous to their conquest of England, the Danes are said to have been +unacquainted with the art of coining money. They are said to have +imitated the Byzantine coins, by making the so-called "Bractaetes," +which were stamped only on the one side, and were mostly used as +ornaments. The art of coinage was very ancient in England. It +was the custom of the Anglo-Saxon coiners to put their names on the +coins which they struck. In the eighth and ninth centuries the names +of the coiners are purely Anglo-Saxon. But in the tenth century, and +especially after the year 950, pure Danish or Scandinavian names begin +to appear; for instance, Thurmo, Grim, under King Edgar (959-975), and +Rafn, Thurstan, under King Edward (975-978); also Ingolf, Hargrim, and +others. + +These Scandinavian names are mostly found in the coins minted in the +North of England, or in districts which were early occupied by the +Danes. Under King Ethelred II., who contended so long with Canute the +Great before the Danish conquest of England was completed, the number +of Scandinavian coiners arose rapidly, with the Danish power, and the +names of forty or fifty may be found on the coins of Ethelred alone. +Even after the fall of the Danish power, they are to be met with in +almost the same number as before on the coins of the Anglo-Saxon +King, Edward the Confessor. These coins prove much and justify us in +inferring a long continued coinage. + + * * * * * + +The great hoard of silver coins found at Cuerdale in 1840, some two +miles above Preston, were buried in a leaden chest, near an ancient +ford of the river Ribble. This treasure composed the war chest of +the Danish army, which was defeated at this ford early in the tenth +century, on its retreat into Northumbria. It contained nearly one +thousand English coins of Alfred the Great, and some forty-five of +Edward the Elder. The latest date of any of these coins being of the +latter reign, the date of the hoard being buried may be fixed between +the years 900 and 925. Many of the coins were continental, belonging +to the coast of Western France, and from the district round the mouth +of the river Seine. The appearance of this money agrees with the early +records of the Saxon Chronicle, that of the year 897, which tells us +that "the Danish army divided, one part went into the Eastern Counties, +and the other into Northumbria, and those who were without money, +procured ships and went southwards over the sea to the Seine." + +The other Chronicle of 910 states that, "a great fleet came hither +from the south, from Brittany, and greatly ravaged the Severn, but +there they afterwards nearly all perished." It may be supposed that the +remnant of this band became united with the main Danish army, and would +account for the large proportion of foreign money. The bulk of the +coins were Danish, minted by Danish kings of Northumbria. + +[Illustration: Halton Cup.] + +[Illustration] + +From these circumstances, we may believe, this hoard to have been the +treasure or war chest of this retreating army. This Cuerdale hoard is +by far the largest found in Lancashire; it contained 10,000 silver +coins, and nearly 1,000 ounces of silver ingots. A smaller find, +made at an early date, was the hoard of 300 silver pennies, discovered +in 1611 at Harkirke, which lies on the sea coast between Crosby and +Formby. Of this collection, some 35 coins were engraved at the latter +part of the tenth century. + +This engraving shows that these coins were minted by Alfred, Edward the +Elder, and the Danish king Canute, and the ecclesiastical coinages of +York and East Anglia. These coins were buried within a few years of the +deposit at Cuerdale. We have numerous records of other Danish finds. + +At Halton Moor, five miles above Lancaster, the discovery was made in +1815 of a silver cup of graceful design, containing 860 silver coins +of Canute, with ornaments, which included a torque of silver wire. Mr. +J. Coombe, of the British Museum, describes the coins as 21 Danish, +and 379 of Canute. The latter being nearly all of one type, having on +the obverse side the Head of the King with Helmet and Sceptre, and on +the reverse a cross, within the inner circle, with amulets in the four +angles. + +The silver cup found on Halton Moor contained, in addition to the +coins of Canute, a silver torque, which had been squeezed into the +vessel. Both these silver articles are highly decorated and of great +interest. The cup weighed over ten ounces, and was composed of metal +containing three parts silver with one part copper. It appeared to +have been gilt originally, some of the gold still remaining, which +was of very pale colour. The ornamentation consisted of four circular +compartments, divided by branches which terminated in the heads of +animals, in Arabesque style. In these compartments are a panther and +a butting bull alternately. This ornament is included inside two +beautiful borders, which encircle the cup in parallel lines. The torque +is of equal interest, and is a peculiar example of Danish wire-work +metal rings, twisted and plated, with the ends beaten together for a +double fastening. The face of this portion of the necklace, which is +flattened, was decorated with small triangular pieces fixed by curious +rivets. It was of pure silver and weighed six ounces six penny-weights. + +Along with these deposits were some gold pieces, struck on one side +only, with a rough outline of a human head. Similar pieces have been +found in Denmark, and the Danish element is predominant in the whole +decoration. + + +THE VIKING AGE. + +Before the Normans came our district was Scandinavian. From the year +876 they began to settle and behaved not as raiders but as colonists. +They wanted homes and settled quietly down. + +In the course of 200 years their descendants became leading landowners, +as we see from the Norse names of the 12th century records. + +Naturally the art of the district must have been influenced by such +people: especially by the Scandinavians who had lived in Ireland, till +then a very artistic country. Whether Irish taught Norse or _vice +versa_, we see that there was a quantity of artistic work produced +especially along the seaboard, and we are lucky in having analogies not +far to seek. + +In the Isle of Man the earliest series of Crosses have 11th century +runes and figure subjects from the Edda and the Sigurd story which were +late 11th century. Mr. Kermode, F.S.A., Scot., dates them 1050-1150 +(Saga book of Viking Club, Vol. I., p. 369). We have them in the +remains in Man a kindred race to ours in the age before the Normans +came: and we find resemblances between these Manx Crosses and some of +ours both in subject and in style. In subjects the 11th century Crosses +of Kirk Andreas, Jurby, and Malew find a parallel at Halton, which Mr. +Calverley places late in 11th century and attributes to people under +strong Scandinavian influence: but Danish as it happens rather than +Norse. + +The Halton Crosses are not Norse in style. They are like the late +pre-Norman work in Yorkshire where the Danes lived. + +Then the Hogback stones have to be placed. We have fixed the Gosforth +and Plumland examples by their dragonesque work as of the Viking +settlement. + +All these have the chain pattern, which Mr. Calverley called the Tree +Yggdrasil or Tree of Existence, which shows that these monuments are of +Viking origin. + +From what models or pattern did these early sculptors copy their +designs? It is sometimes said that they imitated MSS.: assuming that +MSS. were fairly common and placed in the stone carver's hands. This is +far less likely than that sculptors, at a distance from good models in +stone, copied patterns from metal work which were the most portable, +and most accessible of all forms of art, in the days before printing +was invented. + +Suppose, to make it plainer, the sorrowing survivor bids the British +workman carve a Cross for the dead. "What like shall I work it?" says +the mason. "Like the fair Crosses of England or Ireland, a knot above, +and a knot below, and so forth." "But," says the mason, and he might +say it in the 10th century, "I have never been in England or Ireland +or seen your Crosses." Then answers the patron, "Make it like this +swordhilt." (Calverley.) + +The earlier Irish Christians were highly intellectual and literary, but +not at first artistic. Literature in all races precedes art; it would +be contrary to all historical analogy if Patrick and Columba had lived +in the artistic atmosphere of the eighth and ninth century in Ireland. +Patrick's bell is no great credit to Assicus his coppersmith: his +crosier was a plain stick. There is no indication in our remains that +Irish missionaries of the seventh century brought a single art idea +into the country. It was the Irish Viking Christians of the twelfth +century who did. + +Mr. George Stephens, in his "Old Northern Runic Monuments of +Scandinavia and England," vol. iii., under the heading "Runic Remains +and Runic Writings," says:-- + +"I believe these stones, however altered and conventionalised, were +all originally made for worship as gods or fetishes, elfstones, or +what not, but in fact, at first as phallic symbols, the Zinga and the +Zoni, creation and preservation, placed on the tumulus as triumphant +emblems of Light out of Darkness, Life after Death. And the _priapus_ +and _cups_ sometimes seen on burial-urns, must have the same meaning. +Several of the grave minnes bearing old Norse runes were worship +stones, carved with regular cups, etc., _ages before_ they were used a +second time for funereal purposes." + +Prof. J. F. Simpson, M.D., Edinburgh, has a paper "On the Cup Cuttings +and Ring Cuttings on the Calder Stones near Liverpool," in the +Transactions of the Historic Society of Lancashire and Cheshire, vol. +xvii., 1865, in which he states that-- + +"The Calder Stones near Liverpool afford an interesting and remarkable +example of these cup and ring carvings upon this variety of +stones--or, in words, upon the stones of a small megalithic circle. +Some of the Calder Stones afford ample evidence of modern chiselling +as marked by the sharpness and outray figurings. But in addition to +these there are cut upon them, though in some parts greatly faded +away, sculpturings of cups and concentric rings similar to those found +in various parts of England and Scotland, remarkable for not only +their archaic carvings, perfect and entire similarity to those found +elsewhere, but still more from the fact that we have here presented +upon a single circle almost every known and recognised type of these +cuttings. + +The Calder circle is about six yards in diameter, consists of five +stones which are still upright and one that is fallen. The stones +consists of slabs and blocks of red sandstone, all different in size +and shape. The fallen stone is small, and shows nothing on its exposed +side, but possibly if turned over some markings might be discovered on +its other surface. Of the five standing stones the largest of the set, +No. 1, is a sandstone slab between 576 feet in height and in breadth. +On its outer surface, or the surface turned to the exterior of the +circle, there is a flaw above from disintegration and splintering of +the stone: but the remaining portion of the surface presents between +30 and 40 cup depressions varying from 2 to 3 and a half inches in +diameter, and at its lowest and left-hand corner is a concentric +circle about a foot in diameter, consisting of four enlarging rings, +but apparently without any central depression. The opposite surface of +this stone (No. 1) is that directed to the interior of the circle, has +near its centre a cup cut upon it, with the remains of one surrounding +ring. On the right side of this single-ringed cup are the faded remains +of a concentric circle of three rings. To the left of it there is +another three-ringed circle with a central depression, but the upper +portions of the ring are broken off. Above it is a double-ringed cup, +with this peculiarity, that the external ring is a volute leading from +the central cup, and between the outer and inner ring is a fragmentary +line of apparently another volute making a double-ringed spiral which +is common on some Irish stones, as on those of the great archaic +mausoleum at New Grange, but extremely rare in Great Britain. At the +very base of this stone towards the left are two small volutes, one +with a central depression or cup, and the other seemingly without it. +One of these small volutes consists of three turns, the other of two. + +The cup and ring cuttings have been discovered in a variety of +relations and positions. Some are sculptured on the surface of rocks +_in situ_--on large stones placed inside and outside the walls of old +British cities and camps, on blocks used in the construction of the +olden dwellings and strongholds of archaic living man, in the interior +of the chambered sepulchres and kistvaens of the archaic dead, on +monoliths and on cromlechs, and repeatedly in Scotland on megalithic or +so-called "Druidical" circles. + +The name Calder Stones is derived from Norse Calder or Caldag, the +calf-garth or yard enclosed to protect young cattle from straying. + + +NORSE AND DANISH GRAVE MOUNDS. + +Amongst the ancient monuments of Britain the well-known remains called +Druidical Circles hold a foremost place, though their use, and the +people by whom they were erected, are questions which still remain +matters of dispute. The Stone enclosures of Denmark, which resemble the +Circles of Cumbria in many respects, mainly differ from them, in that +they are found in connection with burial chambers, whilst the latter +are generally situated on the flat surface of moors, with nothing +to indicate that they have ever been used for sepulchural purposes. +Therefore wherever no urns or other remains have been found, we have +negative evidence that the place was not intended for a place of +sepulture. + +[Illustration: CALDER STONE No 1 + +OUTER SURFACE.] + +[Illustration: INNER SURFACE.] + +Cairns which are the most undisputed form of a Celtic burial place +were once very numerous in the northern districts: but a great many +have long since been removed. The graves of Norway bear an outward +resemblance to the Celtic Cairn, but the main cause appears to be +that in mountainous countries stones are more easily procurable than +earth. Where a doubt exists as to the proprietorship of these mounds, +the only means of deciding is by an examination of the interior. The +Norse Cairn should enclose a stone chest or wooden chamber and iron +weapons. The Norwegians burned the body until about their conversion to +Christianity. + +[Illustration: CALDER STONE No 2. + +OUTER ASPECT, TWO SIDES.] + +[Illustration: INNER SIDE.] + +[Illustration: CALDER STONE No 3. + +OUTER ASPECT TWO SIDES.] + +[Illustration: INNER SIDE] + +Tumuli or barrows still remain in great numbers. As far as records +have been kept of those removed, nearly all must be claimed for the +Bronze age, and the main part of those yet standing are essentially of +a Danish character. In the description of this class of graves, we have +no actual mention of iron antiquities. + +The Cairn called Mill Hill, Westmoreland, appears to have been a Celtic +burial place, whilst Loden How was more probably Danish than Norse. +Four different names are found in connection with sepulchres of this +kind, viz., "how, raise, barrow, and hill," but the distinction is +principally that of age, and the order of the words as here placed +indicates the period to which each belongs. + +Few traces of the Iron age can be regarded as exclusively Norwegian +wherever the body has been burned. Ormstead, near Penrith, was possibly +a Norse burial place; while Thulbarrow, in the same neighbourhood, was +in all probability Danish. + +Memorial stones still remain in considerable numbers, the most +remarkable of which is the Nine Standards in Westmoreland. Several +villages called Unthank take their names from Monuments no longer in +existence, the word being in English "onthink," and the phrase "to +think on" is still current in the dialect. + + + + +Mythology + + + + +CHAPTER XIII. + +MYTHOLOGY. + + +The religious conceptions of the most famous nations of antiquity +are connected with the beginnings of civilisation. We are told by +Dr. Wägner, in his work "Asgard and the Gods," of the traditions of +our northern ancestors, the story of the myths and legends of Norse +antiquity. The first of their heroes was Odin, the god of battles, +armed with his war spear, followed by the Walkyries, who consecrate the +fallen heroes with a kiss, and bear them away to the halls of the gods, +where they enjoy the feasts of the blessed. Later, Odin invents the +Runes, through which he gains the power of understanding and ruling all +things. He thus becomes the spirit of nature, the all-father. Then the +ash tree, "Yggdrasil," grew up; the tree of the universe, of time, and +life. The boughs stretched out to heaven, and over-shadowed Walhalla, +the hall of the heroes. This world-tree was evergreen, watered daily by +the fateful Norns, and could not wither until the last battle should be +fought, where life, time, and the world were all to pass away. This was +related by a skald, the northern bard, to the warriors while resting +from the fatigue of fighting, by tables of mead. + +The myths were founded on the belief of the Norse people, regarding the +creation of the world, gods, and men, and thus we find them preserved +in the songs of the "Edda. The vague notion of a Deity who created and +ruled over all things had its rise in the impression made upon the +human mind by the unity of nature. The sun, moon, and stars, clouds +and mists, storms and tempests, appeared to be higher powers, and took +distinct forms in the mind of man. The sun was first regarded as a +fiery bird which flew across the sky, then as a horse, and afterwards +as a chariot and horses; the clouds were cows, from whose udders the +fruitful rain poured down. The storm-wind appeared as a great eagle +that stirred the air by the flapping of his enormous wings. These +signs of nature seemed to resemble animals. On further consideration +it was found that man was gifted with the higher mental powers. It +was then acknowledged that the figure of an animal was an improper +representation of a divine being. They thus inverted the words of Holy +writ, that "God created man in his own image," and men now made the +gods in their own likeness, but still regarded them as greater, more +beautiful, and more ideal than themselves. + +From the titles of these pagan gods we derive the names of our days +of the week, and thus we continue to perpetuate in our daily life the +story of Norse mythology. The first day of the week was dedicated to +the worship of the sun. The second day to that of the moon. The third +day was sacred to Tyr, the god of war. The fourth day was sacred to +Wodin, or Odin, the chief deity. The fifth day was sacred to Thor, +the god of thunder. The sixth day of the week, Friday, was sacred to +Frigga, the wife of the great Odin. The seventh or last day of the week +was dedicated by the Romans to Saturn, one of the planets, their god of +agriculture, whose annual festival was a time of unrestrained enjoyment. + +The "Eddas" were two Scandinavian books, the earlier a collection +of mythological and heroic songs, and the other a prose composition +of old and venerable traditions. These books were meant for the +instruction of the Norse skalds and bards. It is believed that the +learned Icelander, Saemund, the Wise, compiled the older Edda in 1056 +from oral traditions, and partly from runic writings. The younger Edda +is supposed to have been compiled by Bishop Snorri Sturlason in 1178, +and this collection goes by the name of Snorra-Edda. The language was +developed by means of the sagas and songs which had been handed down +among the people from generation to generation. + +The Norns were the three fatal sisters, who used to watch over the +springs of water, and appeared by the cradle of many a royal infant +to give it presents. On such occasions two of them were generally +friendly to the child, while the third prophesied evil concerning it. +In the pretty story of the "Sleeping Beauty" these Norns appear as the +fairies. + + +MYTHICAL GODS. + +Bragi was the son of the wave maidens and the god of poetry. He was +married to the blooming Induna, who accompanied him to Asgard, where +she gave the gods every morning the apples of eternal youth. + +Tyr, the god of war, was tall, slender as a pine, and bravely defended +the gods from the terrible Fenris-Wolf. In doing so he lost his hand, +and was held in high honour by the people. Baldur, the holy one, and +the giver of all good, was the son of Odin. His mother Frigga entreated +all creatures to spare the well-beloved, but she overlooked the weak +mistletoe bough. The gods in boisterous play threw their weapons at +Baldur, and the dart made of the fatal bough was thrown by the blind +Hödur with deadly effect. + +Forseti, the son of Baldur, resembled his father in holiness and +righteousness, was the upholder of eternal law. The myth shows him +seated on a throne teaching the Norsemen the benefits of the law, +surrounded by his twelve judges. + +Loki, the crafty god, was the father of the Fenris-Wolf, and the snake. +He was the god of warmth and household fire, and was held to be the +corrupter of gods, and the spirit of evil. It was Loki who formed the +fatal dart, which he placed in the hands of the blind Hödur, which +caused the death of Baldur. After the murder of Baldur, Loki conceals +himself on a distant mountain, and hides himself under a waterfall. +Here the avengers catch him in a peculiar net which he had invented +for the destruction of others. They bind him to a rock, where a snake +drops poison upon his face, which makes him yell with pain. His +faithful wife, Sigyn, catches the poison in a cup; but still it drops +upon him whenever the vessel is full. From this myth it is supposed +that Shakspere derived the story of his greatest drama and tragedy, +"Hamlet," of the Prince of Denmark. Our forefathers notion of the last +battle, the single combats of the strong, the burning of the world, +are all to be read in ancient traditions, and we find them described +in the poems of the Skalds. The Norse mythology makes amends for the +tragic end of the divine drama by concluding with a description of the +renewal of the world. The earth rises fresh and green out of its ruin, +as soon as it has been cleansed from sin, refined and restored by fire. +The gods assemble on the plains of Ida, and the sons of Thor bring with +them their father's storm-hammer, a weapon no longer used for fighting, +but only for consecrating what is right and holy. They are joined by +Baldur and Hödur, reconciled and united in brotherly love. + +Uller is recorded in the Edda as the cheery and sturdy god of winter, +who cared nothing for wind and snowstorm, who used to go about on long +journeys on his skates or snow-shoes. These shoes were compared to a +shield, and thus the shield is called Uller's Ship in many places. When +the god Uller skated over the ice he carried with him his shield, and +deadly arrows and bow made from the yew-tree. He lived in the Palace +Ydalir, the yew vale. As he protected plants and seeds from the severe +frosts of the north, by covering the ground with a coating of snow, +he was regarded as the benefactor of mortal men, and was called the +friend of Baldur, the giver of every blessing and joy. Uller meant +divine glory, as Vulder, the Anglo-Saxon god, was also characterised. +This was probably because the glory of the northern winter night, +which is often brilliantly lighted by the snow, the dazzling ice, and +the Aurora-borealis, the great northern light. The myths exist in the +present like the stately ruins of a past time, which are no longer +suitable for the use of man. Generations come and go, their views, +actions, and modes of thought change: + + "All things change; they come and go; + The pure unsullied soul alone remains in peace." + +Thousands of years ago our ancestors prayed to Waruna, the father in +heaven; thousands of years later the Romans entered their temple and +worshipped Jupiter, the father in heaven, while the Teutonic races +worshipped the All-father. After the lapse of centuries now we turn in +all our sorrow and adversities to our Father which is in heaven. In the +thousands of years which may pass we shall not have grown beyond this +central point of religion. + + "Our little systems have their day; + They have their day and cease to be; + They are but broken lights of Thee, + And Thou, O Lord, art more than they. + + We have but faith; we cannot know; + For knowledge is of things we see; + And yet we trust it comes from Thee, + A beam in darkness, let it grow!" + +In his masterly work on "Hero-Worship," Carlyle traces the growth of +the "Hero as Divinity" from the Norse Mythology in the following words: +"How the man Odin came to be considered a god, the chief god? His +people knew no limits to their admiration of him; they had as yet no +scale to measure admiration by. Fancy your own generous heart's love +of some greatest man expanding till it transcended all bounds, till it +filled and overflowed the whole field of your thought. + +Then consider what mere Time will do in such cases; how if a man was +great while living, he becomes tenfold greater when dead. + +What an enormous 'camera-obscura' magnifier is Tradition! How a +thing grows in the human memory, in the human imagination, when love, +worship, and all that lies in the human heart, is there to encourage +it. And in the darkness, in the entire ignorance; without date or +document, no book, no Arundel marble: only here and there some dumb +monumental cairn. Why! in thirty or forty years, were there no books, +any great man would grow 'mythic,' the contemporaries who had seen him, +being once all dead: enough for us to discern far in the uttermost +distance some gleam as of a small real light shining in the centre of +that enormous camera-obscura image: to discern that the centre of it +all was not a madness and nothing, but a sanity and something. + +This light kindled in the great dark vortex of the Norse mind, dark +but living, waiting only for the light, this is to me the centre of +the whole. How such light will then shine out, and with wondrous +thousand-fold expansion spread itself in forms and colours, depends not +on _it_, so much as in the National Mind recipient of it. Who knows +to what unnameable subtleties of spiritual law all these Pagan fables +owe their shape! The number twelve, divisiblest of all, which could be +halved, quartered, parted into three, into six, the most remarkable +number, this was enough to determine the Signs of the Zodiac, the +number of Odin's sons, and innumerable other twelves. + +Odin's Runes are a significant feature of him. Runes, and the miracles +of "magic" he worked by them, make a great feature in tradition. Runes +are the Scandinavian alphabet; suppose Odin to have been the inventor +of letters as well as "magic" among that people. It is the greatest +invention man has ever made, this of marking down the unseen thought +that is in him by written characters. It is a kind of second speech, +almost as miraculous as the first. + +You remember the astonishment and incredulity of Atahaulpa the Peruvian +king; how he made the Spanish soldier, who was guarding him, scratch +Dios on his thumb nail, that he might try the next soldier with it, to +ascertain whether such a miracle was possible. If Odin brought letters +among his people, he might work magic enough! Writing by Runes has some +air of being original among the Norsemen; not a Phoenician alphabet, +but a Scandinavian one. + +Snorro tells us farther that Odin invented poetry; the music of human +speech, as well as that miraculous runic marking of it. + +Transport yourself into the early childhood of nations; the first +beautiful morning light of our Europe, when all yet lay in fresh young +radiance, as of a great sunrise, and our Europe was first beginning to +think,--to be! + +This Odin, in his rude semi-articulate way, had a word to speak. A +great heart laid open to take in this great universe, and man's life +here, and utter a great word about it. And now, if we still admire +such a man beyond all others, what must these wild Norse souls, +first awakened with thinking, have made of him! The rough words he +articulated, are they not the rudimental roots of those English words +we still use? He worked so, in that obscure element. But he was as a +light kindled in it, a light of intellect, rude nobleness of heart, the +only kind of lights we have yet: he had to shine there, and make his +obscure element a little lighter, as is still the task of us all. + +We will fancy him to be the type Norseman; the finest Teuton whom that +race had yet produced. He is as a root of many great things; the fruit +of him is found growing, from deep thousands of years, over the whole +field of Teutonic life. Our own Wednesday, is it not still Odin's day? +Wednesbury, Wansborough, Wanstead, Wandsworth: Odin grew into England +too, these are still the leaves from that root. He was the chief god to +all the Teutonic peoples; their pattern Norsemen. + +The essence of the Scandinavian, as indeed of all Pagan mythologies, we +found to be recognition of the divineness of nature; sincere communion +of man with the mysterious invisible powers, visibly seen at work in +the world around him. + +Sincerity is the great characteristic of it. Amid all that fantastic +congeries of associations and traditions in their musical mythologies, +the main practical belief a man could have was of an inflexible +destiny, of the valkyrs and the hall of Odin, and that the one thing +needful for a man was to be brave. The Valkyrs are choosers of the +slain, who lead the brave to a heavenly hall of Odin: only the base +and slavish being thrust elsewhere, into the realms of Hela, the Death +goddess. This was the soul of the whole Norse Belief. Valour is still +valour. The first duty of a man is still that of subduing Fear. Snorro +tells us they thought it a shame and misery not to die in battle; and +if a natural death seemed to be coming on, they would cut wounds in +their flesh that Odin might receive them as warriors slain. Old kings +about to die had their body laid into a ship, the ship sent forth with +sail set and slow fire burning in it; that once out at sea, it might +blaze up into flame, and in such a manner bury worthily the old hero, +at once in the sky and in the ocean." + + +THE DESCENT OF ODIN. + +(From the Norse Tongue.) + +By THOMAS GRAY. + + Up rose the king of men with speed, + And saddled straight his coal black steed. + Down the yawning steep he rode + That leads to Hela's drear abode. + Him the Dog of Darkness spied; + His shaggy throat he opened wide, + While from his jaws with carnage fill'd, + Foam and human gore distill'd; + Hoarse he bays with hideous din, + Eyes that glow and fangs that grin, + And long pursues with fruitless yell + The father of the powerful spell. + Onward still his way he takes, + (The groaning earth beneath him shakes) + Till full before his fearless eyes + The portals nine of Hell arise. + Right against the eastern gate + By the moss grown pile he sate, + Where long of yore to sleep was laid + The dust of the prophetic maid, + Facing to the northern clime, + Thrice he traced the Runic rhyme, + Thrice pronounced in accents dread, + The thrilling verse that wakes the dead. + Till from out the hollow ground + Slowly breathed a sullen sound. + What call unknown, what charms presume + To break the quiet of the tomb? + Who thus afflicts my troubled sprite + And drags me from the realms of night? + Long on these mouldering bones have beat + The winter's snow, the summer's heat. + The drenching dews, and driving rain, + Let me, let me sleep again. + Who is he with voice unbless'd + That calls me from the bed of rest? + Odin: A traveller to the unknown + Is he that calls; a warrior's son, + Thou the deeds of light shall know; + Tell me what is done below. + For whom yon glittering board is spread, + Dress'd for whom yon golden bed? + Proph: Mantling in the goblet see + The pure beverage of the bee, + O'er it hangs the shield of gold: + 'Tis the drink of Balder bold: + Balder's head to death is given: + Pain can reach the sons of heaven! + Unwilling I my lips unclose: + Leave me, leave me to repose. + Odin: Once again my call obey; + Prophetess! arise and say + What dangers Odin's child await, + Who the author of his fate? + Proph: In Hoder's hand the hero's doom; + His brother sends him to the tomb, + Now my weary lips I close, + Leave me, leave me to repose. + Odin: Prophetess! my spell obey; + Once again arise and say + Who th' avenger of his guilt, + By whom shall Hoder's blood be spilt? + Proph: In the caverns of the west, + By Odin's fierce embrace compress'd, + A wondrous boy shall rind a bear, + Who ne'er shall comb his raven hair, + Nor wash his visage in the stream, + Nor see the sun's departing beam, + Till he on Hoder's corpse shall smile, + Flaming on the funeral pile. + Now my weary lips I close, + Leave me, leave me to repose. + Odin: Yet awhile my call obey; + Prophetess awake and say + What virgins these in speechless wo, + That bent to earth their solemn brow, + That their flaxen tresses tear, + And snowy veils that float in air? + Tell me whence their sorrows rose, + Then I leave thee to repose. + Proph: Ha! no traveller art thou: + King of Men I know thee now: + Mightiest of a mighty line. + Odin: No boding maid of skill divine, + Art thou, no prophetess of good, + But mother of a giant brood! + Proph: Hie thee hence, and boast at home, + That never shall enquirer come + To break my iron sleep again, + Till Lok his horse his tenfold chain, + Never till substantial Night, + Has re-assumed her ancient right, + Till wrapped in fumes, in ruin hurl'd, + Sinks the fabric of the world. + + + + +Superstitions + + + + +CHAPTER XIV. + +SUPERSTITIONS. + + +The most remarkable instance of the tenacity of superstitions is the +survival of the practice of "bringing in the New Year." Not only does +it exist among the poor and uneducated, but even amongst educated +people at this festive season. It is considered an omen of misfortune +if the first person who enters your house on New Year's morning has a +fair complexion or light hair. This popular prejudice has never been +satisfactorily accounted for, says the late Mr. Charles Hardwick, in +his "Traditions and Superstitions." He says: "I can only suggest that +it most probably arose from the fact that amongst the Keltic tribes, +who were the earliest immigrants, dark hair prevailed. This dark +characteristic still prevails amongst the Welsh, Cornish, and Irish +of the present day. When these earlier races came in contact with the +Danes and Norse as enemies, they found their mortal foes to possess +fair skins and light hair. They consequently regarded the intrusion +into their houses, at the commencement of the year, of one of the hated +race, as a sinister omen. The true Kelt does not only resent, on New +Year's Day, the red hair of the Dane, but the brown and flaxen locks +of the German as well." An old writer, Oliver Matthew, of Shrewsbury, +writing in the year 1616, at the age of 90 years, says it was the +custom of the Danes to place one of their men to live in each homestead +of the conquered race, and this was more resented than the tribute +they had to pay. This affords another proof that these fair-haired men +were the cause of this present superstition. It is also considered +unlucky to allow anything to be taken out of the house on New Year's +Day, before something had been brought in. The importation of the most +insignificant article, even a piece of coal, or something in the nature +of food, is sufficient to prevent this misfortune, which the contrary +action would render inevitable. This sentiment is well expressed in the +following rhyme:-- + + Take out, and then take in, + Bad luck will begin. + Take in, then take out, + Good luck comes about. + +It would be rash to speculate how long superstitions of this kind will +continue to walk hand in hand with religion; how long traditions from +far-off heathen times will exercise this spell not only in our remote +country places but in enlightened towns. In the realms of folk-lore, +many were firm believers in witchcraft, in signs and omens, which +things were dreaded with ignorant awe, while the romantic race of +gipsies look upon occult influences from the inside, as a means of +personal gain. + +The prophetic character of the weather during this period is a +superstition common to all the Aryan tribes. So strongly is this +characteristic of the season felt in Lancashire at the present day, +that many country people may be met with who habitually found their +"forecast" on the appearances of the heavens on Old Christmas Day. +The late Mr. T. T. Wilkinson relates a singular instance of this +superstition, which shows the stubbornness of traditional lore, even +when subjected to the power and influence of legislative enactments. +He says: "The use of the old style in effect is not yet extinct in +Lancashire. The writer knows an old man of Habergham, near Burnley, +about 77 years of age, who always reckons the changes of the seasons in +this manner. He alleges the practice of his father and grandfather in +support of his method, and states with much confidence that 'Perliment +didn't change t' seasons wen they chang'd day o't' month.'" A work +named "The Shepherd's Kalender," published in 1709, soberly informs us +that "if New Year's Day in the morning opens with dusky red clouds, +it denotes strife and debates among great ones, and many robberies to +happen that year." + + +THE HELM WIND. + +In the neighbourhood of Kirkoswald, on the Eden in Cumberland, a +district prolific in Arthurian legends, it is said that a "peculiar +wind called the 'Helm Wind,' sometimes blows with great fury in that +part of the country. It is believed by some persons to be an electrical +phenomenon." This fact may have some remote connection with the +superstition under consideration. Sir Walter Scott's version of the +legend is as follows: "A daring horse jockey sold a black horse to a +man of venerable and antique appearance, who appointed the remarkable +hillock upon the Eildon Hills, called the Lucken Hare, as the place +where at twelve o'clock at night he should receive the price. He came +and his money was paid in ancient coin, and he was invited by his +customer to view his residence. The trader in horses followed his guide +in the deepest astonishment through several long ranges of stalls, in +each of which a horse stood motionless, while an armed warrior lay +equally still at the charger's feet. 'All these men,' said the Wizard +in a whisper, 'will awaken at the battle of Sheriffmoor.' At the +extremity of this extraordinary depôt hung a sword and a horn, which +the Prophet pointed out to the horse dealer, as containing the means of +dissolving the spell. The man in confusion, took the horn and attempted +to wind it. The horses instantly started in their stalls, stamped and +shook their bridles; the men arose, and clashed their armour; and the +mortal terrified at the tumult he had excited, dropped the horn from +his hand. A voice like that of a giant, louder even than the tumult +around, pronounced these words: + + "Woe to the coward that ever he was born + That did not draw the sword before he blew the horn!" + +The mistletoe was supposed to protect the homestead from fire and +other disaster, and, like other mysterious things, was believed to +be potent in matters relating to courtship and matrimony. It is to +this sentiment we owe the practice of kissing under the bush formed +of holly and mistletoe during Christmas festivities. This matrimonial +element in the mistletoe is artistically presented in the Scandinavian +mythology. Freigga, the mother of Baldr, had rendered him invulnerable +against all things formed out of the then presumed four elements, fire, +air, earth, and water. The mistletoe was believed to grow from none of +these elements. But she overlooked the one insignificant branch of the +mistletoe, and it was by an arrow fashioned from it that the bright +day-god Baldr, the Scandinavian counterpart of Apollo and Bel, was +killed by the blind Hodr or Heldr. The gods, however, restored him to +life, and dedicated the mistletoe to his mother, who is regarded as the +counterpart of the classical Venus. Hence its importance in affairs +of love and courtship. It is not improbable that the far-famed dart +of Cupid may have some relation to the mistletoe arrow, to which the +beautiful Baldr succumbed. + +The medicinal qualities of the mistletoe tree were also in high repute. +Its healing power was shared by the ash tree, which was the "Cloud +tree" of the Norsemen. The ash (Norse "askr,") was the tree out of +which the gods formed the first man, who was thence called Askr. The +ash was among the Greeks, an image of the clouds, and the mother of men. + +Other Christmas customs and superstitions are peculiar to Lancashire. +The white thorn is supposed to possess supernatural power, and +certain trees of this class, in Lancashire called Christmas thorns, +are believed to blossom only on Old Christmas Day. Mr. Wilkinson +says that in the neighbourhood of Burnley many people will yet +travel a considerable distance "at midnight, in order to witness the +blossoming." The Boar's Head yet forms a chief object amongst the +dishes of Christmas festivities. Among the impersonations of natural +phenomena, the wild boar represented the "ravages of the whirlwind that +tore up the earth." In all mythologies the boar is the animal connected +with storm and lightning. There yet exists a superstition prevalent in +Lancashire to the effect that pigs can "see the wind." Dr. Kuhm says +that in Westphalia this superstition is a prevalent one. The tradition +is at least three or four thousand years old. Lancashire has many +stories of the pranks played by the wild boar or demon pig, removing +the stones in the night on the occasion of the building of churches. +Stories of this nature are to be found respecting Winwick, where a rude +carving resembling a hog fastened to a block of stone, by a collar, +is to be seen built into the tower of the present Church. Burnley and +Rochdale Churches, and Samlesbury Church, near Preston, possess similar +traditions. + +All Celtic nations have been accustomed to the worship of the Sun. It +was a custom that everywhere prevailed in ancient times to celebrate +a feast at the Winter Solstice, by which men testified their joy at +seeing this great luminary return again to this part of the heavens. +This was the greatest solemnity of the year. They called it in many +places "Yole," or "Yuul," from the word "Hiaul" and "Houl," which even +at this day signifies sun in the language of Cornwall. "Heulo" in +modern Welsh means to "shine as the Sun." And thus we may derive our +word halo. Some writers, including the Venerable Bede, derive Yule from +"hvoel," a wheel, meaning the return of the Sun's annual course after +the Winter Solstice. + + + + +Agriculture + +A COMPARISON OF PROGRESS BETWEEN DANISH AND BRITISH + + + + +CHAPTER XV. + +AGRICULTURE. + + +While the Scandinavian element is regarded by modern writers as the +predominating feature in the composition of Englishmen, the Danish +has been the pre-eminent force in forming the character of the race +which dominates the Lancashire people of to-day. In our survey of +the progress of the race, from the earliest settlement of the Danes, +we find the impression of their footprints in the place-names of the +county, which are our oldest and most enduring monuments. Following +their character of daring and venture, we have established a maritime +power which is the envy of the world. The same spirit which formed our +early settlements in Lancashire has founded colonies in every quarter +of the globe. The enterprise of the early "copemen" has developed into +our mercantile fleet, which controls the carrying trade of the seas. +The voice of their language still resounds in the names of our laws, +the "hundreds" of the county, and in our system of administration, and +also in the political freedom which has established the saying that +"What Lancashire says to-day, England will say to-morrow." + +In the earliest record of agricultural progress we find the Danes have +given us the name of "husbandry," and the modern implement called the +"plough." Therefore, in forming an estimate of the benefits which have +resulted from our intercourse with the Danes, the primary industry +of agriculture and dairy produce must not be omitted. In all other +branches of commercial activity, by the application of scientific +methods, unbounded progress has been achieved. Has the oldest industry +of the county had a share in this attainment of wealth, or its rural +population derived advancement? For a period of half-a-century our +agricultural leaders have held competitions known as agricultural +shows, where valuable prizes have been given for live stock of all +descriptions, and rewards for every design of mechanical appliance for +agriculture. To a stranger visiting these shows, it would appear that +we brooked no rival in the production of dairy produce. What are the +facts disclosed by the figures for the past 25 or 50 years? In the +"Year Book of the Lancashire Past Agricultural Students' Association" +we are told that Parliament handed over, in the year 1890, to local +authorities, large sums of money for purposes of technical instruction, +and that "this marks the really substantial beginning of agricultural +education in Lancashire." + +With this statement, made at the opening of the twentieth century, it +may be interesting to notice the increase of our imports of Danish +dairy produce for a period of eleven years:-- + + Year. Imports. Exports. + 1897 £10,968,397 £3,476,663 + 1898 £11,703,384 £3,919,326 + 1899 £12,432,977 £4,399,025 + 1900 £13,187,667 £4,724,181 + 1901 £14,234,102 £4,163,478 + 1902 £15,556,780 £4,033,897 + 1903 £16,594,565 £4,398,088 + 1904 £15,911,615 £3,925,836 + 1905 £15,416,456 £4,476,624 + 1906 £16,433,648 £5,162,428 + 1907 £18,262,542 £6,124,039 + + +DANISH AGRICULTURE. + +During the past ten years, says Mr. Consul L. C. Liddell in his report +for 1908, Denmark has witnessed a considerable increase. + +The exports of agricultural produce, which in 1904 were worth +£18,400,000, reached £22,400,000 in 1908. The amount of butter exported +to the United Kingdom reaches 96.1 per cent. of the total; of bacon, +97.5 per cent.; and of eggs, 98.8 per cent. The remainder of the butter +and bacon goes principally to Germany. Nearly the entire export of +horses and cattle is absorbed by the German market, whilst three-fifths +of the beef also finds its way thither, the remainder going to Norway. + +The labour question has, as in other years, attracted much attention. +The number of Swedish and Finnish labourers is decreasing, and it is +from Galicia that Denmark would now appear to recruit her farm hands. +The number of Galician "season" labourers in 1908 reached 8,000, +or about 1,000 more than in 1907. The co-operative organisations +approached the Prime Minister with the proposal that free passes should +be granted on the State railway system to any unemployed at Copenhagen +having a knowledge of field work to help in farming. This attempt to +organise a "back to the land" movement is not expected to be attended +with success. + +These figures show an increase of nearly double in eleven years, or an +increase of eight millions, and an increase of two millions from 1906 +to 1907. + +It must be remembered that the bulk of Danish produce comes to the +Manchester market, and is distributed from that centre. An analysis +of the 1907 imports from Denmark gives the following details:--Butter +£10,192,587, eggs £1,774,319, fish £91,031, lard £17,723, bacon +£5,385,275, pork £200,000. The item of bacon for 1907 shows an increase +of one million pounds over the year 1906. + +The import of Danish produce began in the early sixties of last +century, and the quality was so indifferent that we are told it +was fortunate if two casks of butter were good out of every five. +Even then the quality was superior to Irish butter in its taste and +appearance. The population of Denmark is two and a half millions, and +the cultivated area of land is seven million acres. The yield of crops +to the acre is 28 bushels of wheat, while in England it is 33 bushels. +In barley the yield is 30 bushels to our 35 bushels, and in oats it is +33 bushels to our 42. These figures show the comparative fruitfulness +of the land to be in favour of England. The live stock per 1,000 +population in Denmark is 711 cattle to our 267, and pigs 563 to our 82. +The total imports for twenty years show that our dairy produce from +abroad has doubled, and is increasing at a rapid rate. + +Comparisons of Danish methods of farming to-day cannot be made with +the present conditions existing in Lancashire or Yorkshire, but can +only be made by the modern conditions now obtaining in Essex under Lord +Rayleigh. + + +CROPS DIMINISHING. + +What has been the course of our agriculture for the past sixty +years? Mr. Cobden maintained that Free Trade would do no injury to +agriculture. The following is a comparison of prices in the years 1845 +and 1907:-- + + 1845. 1907. + [E]4lbs. loaf of Bread 6d. 5-1/2d. + [F]1lb. Butter 7d. 1/1. + [F]1lb. Cheese 2d. 9d. + [F]1lb. Bacon 3d. 9d. + [F]1lb. Beef 4d. 8d. + +Sixty years ago home-grown wheat produced flour for twenty-four +millions of our population.[G] To-day it produces flour for four and +a half millions. The acreage under wheat has been reduced in the +last thirty years to one-half in England, to one-third in Scotland, +and to one-fifth in Ireland. The same is true of green crops. Nine +hundred thousand acres less are under crops than were thirty years +ago. The same may be said of the area under hop cultivation, which has +been reduced every year. The only bright spot in the review of our +agricultural position, extending over many years, is to be found in the +growth of fruit, although this has not increased as rapidly as foreign +importations. + +The result of these changes during the last thirty years has been an +increase of imports of agricultural produce of eighty millions. Our +imports of wheat have increased by thirty-two millions, our imports +of dairy produce have increased by twenty-one millions, and eggs +alone have increased by four millions sterling a year; while fruit +and vegetables have increased by ten and a half millions. The effect +of this must be the increased dependence of our population on foreign +supplies. Agriculture finds employment for a million less than it did +sixty years ago. These are facts and not opinions, and we are compelled +to use the figures of the general national imports, as the details of +the counties are not available. + + +NATIONAL SAVINGS. + +Statesmen tell us that the Post Office Savings Bank deposits are a fair +indication of the industrial prosperity. In the report of these Post +Office Savings Banks we find that Denmark heads the list with £15 11s. +per head of the population, while the United Kingdom comes ninth in the +list with a sum of £4 11s. per head of the population. + +The economy of waste has been the keynote of wealth to many industries, +and the adaptability of labour to changed conditions has marked the +survival of more than one centre of commercial activity. Individual +cases are not wanting to prove that men who have been found unfit to +follow their work in mills and town employments through weak health or +the effect of accidents, have succeeded, by the aid of a small capital, +in becoming model farmers, and have demonstrated the variety of crops +and stock which can be raised on a single farm. The bye-products of the +manufacturers are often the source of success, and these are the most +neglected in the itinerary of the farmer. + +The greatest problem which confronts our municipal authorities is the +profitable disposal of sewage. Where sewage farms are maintained they +are invariably conducted at a heavy loss to the ratepayers, while the +adjoining farm tenants often succeed in making profits. To reclaim +the land which has gone out of cultivation, by the application of +unemployed labour and the disposal of waste and sewage, provides the +solution of a difficulty which may become a source of wealth, and +restore the prosperity of a lost industry. + + +COST OF AGRICULTURAL EDUCATION. + +A White paper just issued by the Board of Education gives particulars +as to the amount spent by County Councils in England and Wales on +agricultural education. + +The amounts vary considerably in the different counties for the year +ending March, 1908. In England, Lancashire takes the lead with £7,485, +and in Wales the county of Carmarthen is prominent with £597. + +The gross total amounted to £79,915, of which £21,662 was in grants to +schools and colleges, £9,876 for scholarships, and £12,433 for dairy +instruction. + +The figures are approximate owing to the difficulty of analysing +education accounts. + +There are not wanting those who say that farming cannot be made to pay +in England. Essex has quite a different experience. For here farms, +varying in size from 250 acres to 5,000 and over, have been made to +return very good profits. The whole secret lies in the work being +conducted on scientific principles, and the careful watching of every +penny expended, as well as giving the labourers a direct interest +in getting good results. On Lord Rayleigh's estate, Terling, which +comprises about 5,000 acres, striking results have been obtained during +the past twenty years, his successes being attributed to the use of +business and scientific methods. For many years past his lordship's +brother, the Hon. E. G. Strutt--probably one of the most experienced +practical farmers in England--has had the management of the property, +and has shown that farming can be carried on with a profit in this +country. + +Essex is described as flat, but in the neighbourhood of Terling, which +abuts on the Great Eastern Railway line at Witham, there are numerous +gently undulating plains, and even at this time of the year a stroll +along the lanes in the neighbourhood reveals many pleasant surprises. +Here and there the hedgerows are already bursting into delicate green +buds, and in some places the crops sown during the early winter for +spring are showing above the rich dark brow soil. And many are the +birds which are already, as it were, getting into voice for the spring. +The county hereabouts is heavily wooded, the chief trees being oak, +ash, and elm. Many of these are veritable giants and monarchs of the +forest, now standing out alone on the sky-line in all their nakedness +of winter outline, then in small groups, again in such numbers as to +become forests. On every hand are signs of activity. Ploughing for the +moment is all over, though there are still fields of stubble which have +to be turned over and prepared for crops in the near future. Fields +which have already been ploughed are being heavily manured in readiness +for sowing. And herein lies one of the secrets of the successful +farming prevailing in this favoured neighbourhood. Everyone knows, but +not everyone acts upon the knowledge, that as the fertility of the soil +is exhausted fresh nutriment must be given. The observance of this rule +brings its own reward, as many have learned to their advantage. Hedging +and ditching are in progress, and by the time that all hands will be +required on the land for ploughing, scarifying, harrowing, and sowing, +hedges will have been trimmed and ditches cleaned. + +Some eighteen or twenty years ago Lord Rayleigh decided to offer all +his farm labourers, who number about 250, bonuses on the profits of +their industry. This scheme proved eminently successful; so much so, +indeed, that Lord Rayleigh has now gone a step further and offered +to give every man who cares to invest his savings in his farms 4 per +cent. interest on such money, and a share in any profits which may +accrue after that dividend has been paid. A very large proportion of +the men employed have taken advantage of this offer, which gives them +close upon 2 per cent. more than they were getting from the Post Office +Savings Bank, where they had been in the habit of putting their money, +for they are a thoroughly respectable, self-respecting, and frugal +community. It is now just a year since this offer was first made, and +the employees put up over £1,000, in sums ranging from £1 to £100, the +latter sum coming from a man who had banked all the bonuses he earned, +along with savings from twenty-five years' earnings. + +Lord Rayleigh's idea was to get the men not only to study thrift, +but to take a keener interest in their daily work. It has been said +that that man is a public benefactor who gets two blades of grass to +flourish where but one grew before. His lordship has a far higher +satisfaction in advancing the position of the men in his employment. +In effect this is what he said to them: "My farms represent so much +money to me; now for every £1 which you put in I will guarantee you 4 +per cent. After we have all had our 4 per cent., such surplus profit +as may be left, if any, will be divided between us _pro rata_." The +result of the first year's farming under this form of co-partnership +has been very satisfactory. Everyone has not only been paid the +guaranteed 4 per cent., which was distributed recently, but each +labourer has also received a share in the sum which was over after +paying out that amount. While Mr. Strutt declined to disclose the exact +amount of the remaining profit, he hinted that the extra interest +might quite possibly be as much as a further 4 per cent. Whatever it +is, every labourer who put his savings into Lord Rayleigh's hands is +congratulating himself upon his good fortune, and, as saving begets +saving, there is a prospect that none of these beneficiaries will ever +need the old age pension. + +Lord Rayleigh has made only two stipulations with his men, both aimed +at unity of administration. One is that they cannot have any voice in +the management of the estate, which Mr. Strutt naturally works to the +best advantage, and the other is that only the savings of the labourer +himself and his wife may be offered for investment in the farms. + +Probably there is no farm where such intricate or such useful books are +kept as on the Terling estates. Practically every field is treated as a +separate farm in itself. Say, for instance, a field is to be sown with +wheat. It has to be ploughed, the cost of which is charged in the book +against that field, as also the value of the manure used, the price of +the seeds sown, and all the time occupied in preparing the land, and, +later on, in cutting the wheat, threshing, and sending it to market. +On the opposite page of the ledger is put the amount obtained for the +grain, and the value of the straw, whether sold or used on the farms. A +balance can then be struck, and the profit or loss shown at a glance. +On the profit shown, those who did the various necessary labours +receive their bonus. So with every field. But the system does not end +here. A most careful record is kept, for example, of every cow--the +original cost, if bought, the amount of milk she yields per year, of +her calves, and what they fetch when sold, or their value if retained +on the estate. Every Friday, the morning and evening milkings are +accurately measured, and at the end of the year these figures are added +up and multiplied by seven for the seven days of the week. In this way +it is known exactly how much milk each cow gives. The annual average +should be about 800 gallons, which is regarded as a very fair amount. +There is, however, one cow, Lilac by name, which seems to despise that +average. Last year her yield of milk was no less than 1,457 gallons, +which is a big record, even on the Terling estates. + +Mr. Strutt reckons that a cow should give on an average 650 gallons of +milk per year, and the cowmen get a bonus when the yield of the cows +in their charge average that amount. The advantage of such records are +enormous. If a cow does not give 650 gallons of milk per annum, she is +at once sold, as she does not pay for her keep. As there are no less +than 800 cows on the estate, the keeping of such records involves an +enormous amount of work, but it is work which has a profitable result, +facilitating, as it does, the weeding out of poor dairy stock. + +The same attention is paid to other departments. Records are kept of +the sheep, of which there are considerable flocks scattered over the +fifteen farms comprised in the estate. It is the same with poultry, +of which there are thousands roaming about the farms, grubbing much +of their food, but, of course, some is thrown down for them in the +various poultry yards. No hens are penned up on the estate. While that +course is necessary where prize-show birds are reared, in the case of +table poultry and poultry kept for eggs pens are neither essential +nor profitable. With freedom the birds lay more regularly, and are +generally in better condition for the table. + +Asked as to whether eggs were not lost owing to the hens laying in the +hedges, Mr. Isted, who is in charge of the office where all the various +books of record are kept, said that few, indeed, if any, are overlooked +by those responsible, because of the system of bonuses given by Lord +Rayleigh, to which reference has already been made. Those in charge of +the hens receive a reward on every score of eggs brought in. Every head +of poultry reared also means a monetary benefit to the workers. + +Daily between 60 and 80 17-gallon churns of milk are despatched to +London. It is said that from no station along the Great Eastern +Railway line is more milk sent to the Metropolis than from Witham. At +present about 100 of these churns leave the station every day, all +the milk coming from the immediate neighbourhood. Eggs are also sent +to the Rayleigh Dairies in vast quantities. Every egg is carefully +tested before it leaves the estate. The poultry is disposed of through +middlemen. Other produce is sold in the Essex markets--at Chelmsford, +Colchester, Witham, and Braintree. This would include all the cereals +not used on the farm, and such hay as was not required for the stock +during winter. + +Down in Essex wages are regarded as generally good by the farm +labourers. At least there is a distinct tendency on the part of the +men to remain on the soil. Horsemen receive 14s. a week, cowmen 14s. +and 15s., the head cowmen getting generally 18s. and 20s., while other +farm hands earn from 13s. to 15s. Living is very cheap, and rents are +low. A good, comfortable cottage, with a decent bit of garden, where +vegetables can be grown, can be had for £4 or £5 a year. Should a man +require more ground he can get it at a nominal annual rent of 3d. per +rod--that is, a piece of ground measuring 5-1/2 yards each way. Quite +a number of men avail themselves of this offer, and as they knock off +work at five p.m., they put in their evenings on their own "estate." + +It is true that Lord Rayleigh has only tried his new system of +investment, as well as interest in the farms, for a year, but the +results amply justify the experiment. So satisfied are the men +themselves that many have asked to be allowed to invest their share +of the interest earned and their new bonuses in the estate. It would +seem that here, at least, is a possible project for checking the +ever-increasing rush of young men to the towns, where, while wages +may be higher, the conditions are not conducive to either personal or +patriotic well-being. The great feature of Lord Rayleigh's plan is +that it is a distinctly profit-sharing one, for no reform, however +attractive, can be economically good unless it is financially sound. + +With wheat in a rising market at 50s. a quarter, the granaries of the +world holding back supplies a considerable proportion of which are +already cornered in America--and bread dearer than it has been for many +years, the question of the moment is, Can England become her own wheat +grower? + +Fourteen weeks after harvest the home supplies are exhausted. Britain +needs altogether, both home and foreign, 30,000,000 quarters of wheat +per annum to provide her people with bread. Out of the total area of +32,000,000 acres under crops of all sorts in the country only 1,625,000 +acres are devoted to the growth of wheat. English climatic conditions +can be relied upon to allow an average production of three and a half +quarters per acre. + +The solution of the problem, therefore, is simplicity itself. A matter +of 8,000,000 acres taken from those devoted meantime to other crops, to +pasturage (to say nothing of deer forests, grouse moors, golf links), +or even lying waste, and developed for wheat growing would produce, +roughly speaking, the extra 28,000,000 necessary to our annual national +food supply. + +Millions of acres of the land at present in other crops has grown +wheat at a profit in the past. In the sixties and seventies the staple +commodity was at its most remunerative price. In 1867 it touched the +enormous average of 64s. 5d. per quarter, while later, in 1871 and +1873, it stood at 56s. 8d. and 58s. 8d. per quarter. + +With the countries of the East--India, China, Japan--awakening to the +potentialities of wheat as a food in place of rice, with America's +prairies becoming used up and her teeming millions multiplying, and +with Canada, Australia, and Argentina remaining at a standstill as +regards wheat production, it is clear that England ought to become +self-sufficing. + +To attain the desired end the vast possibilities of the agricultural +science of to-day must be appreciated and developed by every possible +means. + +What can be done within England's own borders is the chief point to be +considered, and some experiments and experiences may point the way. + +The first question is, would home produced wheat pay? Farmers tell +us that at 30s. a quarter wheat is just worth growing, but that each +shilling over 30s. means about 5s. clear profit. Would not wheat at +40s. an acre be worth cultivating? + +As to the practical ways and means of obtaining this sum out of the +soil, I must detail some of the more modern scientific methods in +agriculture. + +I have said that 8,000,000 acres of the present area under crops could +make us independent of foreign supplies. By applying certain simple +rules of selection regarding seeds, a much smaller area of land would +give the same result. + +Instead of 3-1/2 quarters per acre--the present average--the yield +could be doubled, or even trebled. Thirty years ago, in France, three +quarters an acre was considered a good crop, but the same soil with +improved methods of cultivation nowadays yields at least four quarters +per acre; while in the best soils the crop is only considered good when +it yields five quarters to six quarters an acre. + +The work of the Garton brothers and of Professor Biffen, of Cambridge +University, has clearly shown that by careful selection and crossing of +the best breeds of wheat the yield can be actually quadrupled. + +Hallet's famous experiments in selection demonstrate that the length of +the wheat ear can be doubled, and the number of ears per stalk nearly +trebled. The finest ear he developed produced 123 grains, as against 47 +in the original ear, and 52 ears to one plant, as against ten in the +original. + +In agriculture, as in other matters in which England claims to take a +leading part, we have something to learn from the Continent. France, +Belgium, and Germany have adopted a system of co-operation which has +reduced the cost of farming to the smallest possible limit. From a fund +supplied partly by the Governments of these countries and partly by the +farmers themselves, small farms, manures, seeds, machinery, etc., are +provided on a co-operative basis. Would not a system on similar lines +have far-reaching results in this country? + +Perhaps the most interesting suggestion, the newest in the fields of +scientific agriculture research, is the inoculation of the soil with +bacteria. Through these wonder-working germs which live in the nodules +of plant roots multiplication of the free nitrogen in the air goes +on with great rapidity, and this, united with other elements, forms +valuable plant food. + +Recent experiments, the results of which have not yet been made public, +show that good crops of wheat may be grown in the poorest soil; indeed, +the Scriptural injunction about sowing seeds in waste places no longer +bears scientific examination. On an area which was little more than +common sand crops inoculated with bacteria gave an increased yield of +18 per cent. + +Wheat grown on the lines I have touched upon within the United Kingdom, +and paying the grower 40s. per quarter, would go far to solve every +social and economic problem known. There would be work for all in +the country districts, and consequently less poverty in the towns, +and to the nation's resources would be conserved the enormous annual +expenditure on foreign wheat of £67,000,000. + + +OCCUPYING OWNERSHIP. + + "A time there was, ere England's griefs began, + When every rood of ground maintained its man," + Behold a change; where'er her flag unfurled, + It presaged forth--goods-maker to the world. + Then wealth from trade, pure farming handicapped + While glittering towns the youthful swain entrapped. + In trade, no longer, England stands alone, + Indeed, too oft, John Bull gets "beaten on his own." + Dependent on the world for nearly every crumb, + Is this a time when patriots should be dumb? + For England needs to guard 'gainst future strife + That backing up which comes from rural life. + Though all indeed may use both book and pen, + The nation's weal depends on robust men + Inured to toil--a hardy, virile band. + And these are bred where owners till the land. + + +SUPPLY OF WHEAT. + +STRIDES IN THE SCALE OF LIVING. + +Earl Carrington, President of the Board of Agriculture, presided at +a meeting of the Society of Arts, when a paper upon the production +of wheat was read by Mr. A. E. Humphries. His lordship gave some +very interesting jottings from family history, showing the great +advance that had taken place in the scale of living. The subject +of the lecture, he said, reminded him that over 100 years ago his +grandfather, who was President of the Board of Agriculture, made a +speech in which he said that one of the most important subjects with +which the Board had to deal was the scarcity of wheat. It was curious +that they were discussing the same subject to-day. His father, who +was born 103 years ago, had often told him that in the early part of +last century they did not have white bread at every meal, as it was so +scarce. If that happened at the table of old Robert Smith, the banker, +at Whitehall, what must the bread of the working classes have been like! + +In the five years from 1878 to 1882, said Mr. Humphries in his lecture, +we produced 117 lb. of wheat per head per annum, and imported 238 +lb., while in the years from 1903 to 1907 we produced only 68 lb. +per head, and imported 284 lb. For many years British wheat had been +sold at substantially lower prices than the best foreign, and in the +capacity of making large, shapely, well-aerated and digestible loaves +the home-grown grain was notably deficient. It was commonly attributed +to our climate, and people said that Great Britain was not a wheat +producing country. The real reason was that farmer did not grow the +right kind of wheat. It was not a matter of climate or of soil, but +of catering for the particular kind of soil in which the grain was to +be grown. The crux of the whole question was to obtain a variety of +seed that would suit the environment. Farmers, instead of aiming at +quality, had striven to get as large a yield per acre as possible. + +The Hon. J. W. Taverner, Agent-General for Victoria, said that he had +heard a lot of talk about the efficiency of the Territorial Army and +the safety of the country. If only the men were fed on bread baked from +Australian wheat England had nothing to fear, for the men would be +equal to anything. + + + + +FOOTNOTES + + +[A] From an article by the late John Just, M.A., of Bury. + +[B] Knott is also used for the name of a mountain or hill, as in +Arnside Knott, in Westmoreland, but near the Lancashire border. + +[C] From Darvel--death and öl--feast. + +[D] The ancestors of the poet were, however, more likely "Chaussiers," +makers of long hose. + +[E] From "Free Trader," issued by the Liberal Free Traders, Dec., 1904. + +[F] From "The Hungry Forties," written by Mr. Cobden's daughter. + +[G] From Report of Agricultural Committee of the Tariff Commission. + + + + +INDEX + + + Acle, 28. + + Adamson, 63. + + Adalis, 32, 38, 39. + + Aella, King, 24. + + Agriculture, 215. + + Ainsdale, 7. + + Aire, 159. + + Ale, 16. + + Alexandria, 152. + + Alfgier, 38-39. + + Alfred the Great (illust.), 26, 33. + + Altcar, 23. + + Amleth, 173. + + Amounderness, 5. + + Anastasius, 68. + + Anderson, 63. + + Angel choir of Lincoln, 170. + + Anglian population, 17. + + Anlaby, 13. + + Anlaf, 25, 32, 35, 36, 37, 41. + + Anstice, 68. + + Aradr, 112. + + Aratum, 112. + + Arcle, 28. + + Arnside Knott, 48. + + Arncliffe, 27. + + Art, 174. + + Athelfloed, Lady of the Mercians, 104. + + Athelstan, 26, 30, 33, 34, 35, 37, 49. + + Asia, 158. + + Augustin, 68. + + Austin, 68. + + Australia, 158. + + Austria, 158. + + Axle, 28. + + Ayton (great), 27. + + + Back o'th' hill, 40. + + Bacup, 34. + + Balder, 62. + + Ball (Olaf), 53. + + Ballads and War Songs, 172. + + Ballr, 53. + + Balderstone, 62. + + Bamber, 84. + + Banbury, 31. + + Bannister, 68. + + Barker, 68. + + Barrowford, 32. + + Basket making, 140. + + Bath-day, 15. + + Battlefield, 37. + + Battlestone, 37. + + Beck, 69. + + Beckett, 69. + + Bede, 49. + + Beer, 16. + + Bellum Brun, 35. + + Bernicia, 24, 25, 50. + + Bessingby, 18. + + Billingr, 62. + + Birkdale, 7. + + Birket, 22. + + Bishop's House Estate, 37. + + Bishop's leap, 31, 35. + + Blagburnshire hundred, 5. + + 'Blakogr,' 28. + + Blawith, 28. + + Blowick, 28. + + 'Boer,' 84. + + 'Bois,' 69. + + 'Bondr,' 24. + + Bonfire hill, 40. + + Booth, 84. + + Boulsworth, 32. + + Boys, 69. + + Bractaetes, 174. + + 'Breck,' 67. + + Bridlington, 18. + + Britons, 1. + + ---- of Strathclyde, 34. + + Broadclough Dykes, 41. + + Broad Dyke, 34. + + Broadbank, 35. + + Brock, 69. + + Brincaburh, 30. + + Brinkburn, 30. + + Bromborough, 31. + + Brownedge, 35, 40. + + Brownend, 40. + + Brownside, 35. + + Brun, 28, 29. + + Brunanburh, 28, 31. + + Brunford, 30. + + Brunton, 31. + + Brumbridge, 30. + + Brumby, 31. + + 'Bud,' 84. + + Buerton, 84. + + 'Burh,' 31. + + Burnley, 29, 48. + + Burscough, 23. + + Burton, 84. + + Burton-on-Trent, 24. + + Bushel-corn, 99. + + 'By-law,' 8. + + 'Byr,' 84. + + Byrom, 84. + + Byzantine Coins, 174. + + + Cairns, 185. + + Calday, 22. + + Calders, 22. + + Calderstones, 22, 182. + + Canute, 5, 177. + + Candlemas, 155. + + Capenhurst, 64. + + Castle hill--Tunlay, 33-34. + + Cat's cradle, 158. + + Causeway, 33. + + Carnaby, 18. + + Castercliffe, 32, 35. + + Celtic burial, 185. + + Chapman, 64. + + Cheap, 64. + + Cheapside, 64. + + Chepstow, 64. + + Chester, 4, 23, 163-164. + + Chester-le-street, 53. + + Children's games, 158. + + Childwall, 23. + + Christian 'Sunday Letters,' 153. + + Churches, 163-164. + + Churchtown, 164. + + Claughton-on-brock, 124. + + Clitheroe, 32, 48. + + Clog almanacs, 143. + + ---- ---- symbols, 144. + + Coinage, 175. + + Colne, 32. + + Constantine, King of Scots, 30. + + Copeland, 64. + + Copeman, 64. + + Copenhagen, 64. + + Copethorn, 64. + + Copley, 64. + + Copynook, 34. + + Corn spirit, 158. + + Cottingham, 13. + + Craik, Yorkshire, 51. + + Crathorne, 26. + + Crosby, 6, 23. + + Crosses, 195. + + Croxteth, 19. + + Cuerdale, 7, 28, 175. + + Cumberland, 53. + + Cuthbert, Saint, 50, 53. + + Cutherd, Bishop, 53. + + Cup-cuttings, 182. + + + 'Dale,' 7. + + Danelag, 8. + + Danes house, 41. + + Darvel cakes, 66. + + Darvel deathfeast, 66. + + Dean, 69. + + Deira, 9, 11, 12, 24. + + Dell, 69. + + Derby, 5. + + Dialect, 69. + + Drengs, 24. + + + Eadred, Abbot of Carlisle, 50. + + Eanfrid, 25. + + Easden Fort, 34. + + Easington, 26. + + Ecclesiologist, 156. + + Ecfrith, 25. + + Edward the Elder, 34. + + Edwin, King, 24. + + Egbert (illust.), 33. + + Eglis, 39. + + Egyptian scholars, 152. + + Ellerburn, 27. + + Elston, 62. + + Elswick, 62. + + Emmott, 41. + + Enderby, 84. + + 'Endr,' 84. + + Endrod, 84. + + Entwistle, 84. + + Equinox, vernal, 152. + + Ernot, 35. + + Everett, 68. + + Everard, 68. + + Extwistle Hall, 35. + + + Facid, 84. + + Facit, 84. + + Fairs and Wakes, 65. + + Fawcett, 84. + + 'Feldkirk,' 31. + + Fire and sun worship, 154. + + Folklore for children, 157. + + Formby, 6, 23. + + Forseti, 84. + + Foster, 84. + + Fraisthorpe, 62. + + Frankby, 62. + + Fraser, 62. + + Freyer, 62. + + Frisby, 62. + + Fry, 62. + + Fryer, 62. + + Furness, 164. + + Fylde, 5. + + + 'Gaard,' 75. + + Galt, 65. + + Gamelson, 84. + + Gambleside, 84. + + Gamul, 84. + + 'Gata,' 54. + + Garnett, 68. + + Garstang, 75. + + Garswood, 75. + + Garth, 75. + + Garton, 75. + + Geld, 65. + + Godley, 32, 33. + + Golden numbers, 144. + + 'Gos,' 69. + + Gosford, 69. + + Grave mounds, 184. + + Grindalbythe, 18. + + Guthred, King, 51, 52. + + + Hackenhurst, 39. + + Haggate, 36. + + Halfdan's death, 51. + + Halfdene, 13, 15, 26. + + Halton, 121, 125, 177-179. + + ---- Crosses, 179. + + ---- Torque, 177. + + Hamilton Hill, 36, 40. + + Hamlet, 173. + + Hapton, 48. + + Harbreck, 19. + + Harkirke, 7, 177. + + 'Haugr,' 6. + + Hay, 55. + + Haydon Bridge, 51. + + Hazel Edge, 36. + + Hell Clough, 40. + + Helm Wind, 208. + + Heptarchy, 25. + + Heriot, 107. + + Hessle, 18. + + Heysham, 121. + + Highlawhill, 36. + + 'Hofs,' 6. + + Horelaw pastures, 36. + + 'Hlith,' 48. + + Hoe, 112. + + Hogback stone, 105, 121, 179. + + Hoop, 48. + + Hope, 48. + + Hopehead, 48. + + Hopekirk, 48. + + Hopeton, 48. + + Howick, 55. + + Hoylake, 55. + + Hudleston, 96. + + Hundred Court, 14. + + Hutton John, 96. + + Hurstwood, 35. + + Husbandry, 111, 112. + + Hustings, 8. + + Huyton, 55. + + Hyngr, the Dane, 37, 38. + + + Ida, King, 24. + + Ingleby, 50. + + Invasion and Conquest, 1, 2, 3. + + Irby, 22. + + Ireland, 180. + + Irish Christians, 180. + + Ivar, 22. + + + Jarls, 49. + + Jarrow, 26. + + + Kell, 65. + + Kellet, 65. + + Kendal, 164. + + Kingo, poet, 170. + + Kirk Ella, 17, 18. + + Kirk Levington, 27. + + Kirkby, 6, 18. + + Kirkby in Cleveland, 27. + + Kirkby Lonsdale, 164. + + Kirkby Misperton, 27. + + Kirkby Moorside, 27, 164. + + Kirkby Stephen, 164. + + Kirkdale, 5, 6, 19, 27. + + 'Kirkja' Church, 6. + + Knott End Mill, 48. + + 'Knotta,' 48. + + Knottingley, 48. + + Knut, 48. + + 'Knutr,' 48. + + Knutsford, 48. + + + 'Lake,' game, 157. + + Land Tenure, 90. + + Laugardag, bath day, 15. + + Lawmen, 23. + + Lay of Norse gods, 173. + + Leamington, 84. + + Lethbridge, 48. + + Levishan, 27. + + Lindsey, 65. + + Lindisfarne, 25. + + Litherland, 48. + + Literature, 168. + + ---- 'skryke of day,' 170. + + ---- sunrise, 170. + + Lithe, 48. + + Lithgoe, 48. + + Liverpool, 23, 47. + + Log-law, 81. + + Long hundred, 13. + + Long weight, 13. + + Lonsdale, 4. + + Loom, Danish, 80. + + Lorton, 51. + + Lorton-en-le-Morthen, Yorks., 33. + + 'Lug-mark,' 81. + + Lunar cycle, 155. + + Lund, 65. + + Lyster, 65. + + + Mackerfield, 54. + + Maeshir, 54. + + Maiden Way, 51. + + Manchester, 34. + + Manorial exaction, 106. + + Manx Inscriptions, 138. + + Memorials, 161. + + 'Merchet,' 106. + + Mercia, 25. + + Mercians, Lady of, 34. + + ---- rule, 24. + + Mereclough, 39. + + Mersey, 34. + + 'Messe staves,' 142. + + Moons, changes, 143. + + Mythology, 189. + + + Names, Norse and Anglo-Saxon, 113. + + Neilson, 56. + + Nelson, Admiral, 56. + + Norns, 189. + + Norse Festival, 55. + + Northumberland, --. + + Northumbria, 25, 27, 70. + + Nunnington, 23, 27. + + + 'Occupying ownership,' 234. + + Odin, 6, 197. + + ---- 'The descent of,' 199. + + 'Ol,' 16. + + 'Oller,' 62. + + Olave, Saint, 63. + + Oram, 63. + + 'Orm,' 63. + + Orme, 63. + + Ormerod, 63. + + Ormesby, 27. + + Ormeshaw, 63. + + Ormside cup, 131. + + Ormskirk, 23, 63. + + Ormstead, 185. + + Osmotherley, 27. + + 'Osric,' 25. + + 'Oswald,' 25. + + 'Oter,' 63. + + Otter, 63. + + Ottley, 63. + + 'Oxl,' 28. + + Oxton, 22. + + + Paton, 85. + + Patronymics, 60. + + 'Pecthun,' 85. + + Penda, 25. + + Peyton, 85. + + Phauranoth, 152. + + Physical types, 79. + + Picton, 85. + + Picts, 85, 115. + + Picture, 85. + + Piko, 115. + + Place names, 14-47. + + 'Plogr. plov.,' 112. + + Plough, 112. + + Political Freemen, 89. + + Preston, 23. + + Prestune, 23. + + Prim-staves, 142. + + Prima-luna, 142. + + + Quakers, 99. + + + Raby, 22. + + Rachdam, 84. + + Ragnvald, 52. + + Raven, 115. + + Ravenshore, 115. + + Ravensmeols, 23. + + Rawtenstall, 48. + + Red-Lees, 33-36. + + Regnold of Bamborough, 34. + + Ribble, 29-34. + + 'Ridings,' Yorkshire, 9. + + Rimstock, 143-144. + + 'Rimur,' 143. + + Rivington Pike, 115. + + Roby, 23. + + Rochdale, 84. + + Roman days, 26. + + Rooley, 39. + + Rossendale, 84. + + Round Hill, 40. + + Royal Charters, Norse witnesses, 15. + + Rûnâ, 137. + + Runes, 137. + + Runic Almanacs, 141. + + ---- Calender, 155. + + ---- Characters, 143, 153. + + ---- 'Futhork,' 139. + + ---- Inscriptions, 138. + + ---- Monuments, 181. + + 'Ruthlie,' 39. + + + 'Saetter,' 22. + + Sagas, 169, 174. + + Salford hundred, 5. + + Satterthwaite, 22. + + Saxifield, 30, 35, 42. + + Scarisbrick, 67. + + Seacombe, 22. + + Seascale, 22. + + Seathwaithe, 22. + + Sellafield, 22. + + 'Servi,' 103. + + Settlements, 12. + + Shakespere, 193. + + Sherborne, 37. + + Sheffield, 35. + + Shotwick, 17. + + Sieward, Earl, 163. + + Sigurd-Story, 179. + + Sinnington, 23. + + 'Sinfin,' 39, 40. + + 'Sithric,' King, 35. + + Skelmersdale, 78. + + Skelton, 27. + + Skidby, 18. + + Skipper, 55. + + Slavery abolition, 103. + + 'Socage,' 16, 20, 21. + + Sochman, 14, 20. + + Sochmanni, 19, 91. + + Sochmanries, 20. + + Socmen of Peterboro', 105. + + Sodor and Man, 83. + + Solar cycle, 155. + + Speke, 66. + + 'Spika,' 65. + + Statesmen, 104. + + Stainton, 26-7. + + Steadsmen, 104. + + Stigand, 68. + + Stiggins, 68. + + 'Stockstede,' Croxteth, 23. + + Stokesley, 26. + + Stone Crosses, 119. + + Storeton, 22. + + Sudreyjar, 83. + + Sun, 152. + + Superstitions, 159, 205. + + Sutherland, 83. + + Swarbrick, 67. + + Sweden 'lake' game, 156. + + Swindene, 40. + + S'winden water, 37. + + S'winless lane, 35, 37. + + + Tacitus, historian, 138. + + 'Tallage,' 107. + + Tanshelf, Taddnesscylfe, 28. + + Thane, 16. + + Thelwall, 23, 34. + + 'Thing,' trithing, 8. + + Thinghow, 28, 50. + + Thingstead, 28. + + Thingwall, 8, 13, 28, 50. + + 'Thor,' 62. + + Thorley, 62. + + Thornaby, 27. + + Thorold, 38. + + Thorolf, 38. + + Thursby, 62. + + Thurstaston, 62. + + Thurston water, 38. + + Tingley, 28, 50. + + Torque, 177. + + Towneley, 33. + + Towthorp, 18. + + Toxteth, 23. + + Trawden, 48. + + Tree-yggdrasil, 180. + + 'Trithing,' 7, 10. + + Trithing Court, 14. + + Troughton, 48. + + Trowbridge, 48. + + 'Trow'-trough, 48. + + Turketul, Chancellor, 39. + + Turton, 62. + + Tursdale, 62. + + Twist hill, 40. + + Tynwald, 8. + + + Ullersthorpe, 62. + + Ullscarth, 28. + + Ullswater, 28. + + Ulpha, 23. + + Ulverston, 62. + + Unthank, 22. + + + Valkyrs, 199. + + Valour, 199. + + 'Vë,' 62. + + Verstigan, 143. + + 'Viborg,' 62. + + Viking age, 178. + + + Wallhalla, 189. + + Walkyries, 189. + + Wallasey, 22. + + Walshaw, 33. + + Walton le dale, 5. + + Wandsworth, 198. + + Wansborough, 198. + + Wanstead, 198. + + Wapentake, 8-9. + + Warcock, 28. + + Warcock-hill, 36. + + Warthole, 28. + + Warton, 28. + + Warwick, 28. + + Warrington, 24. + + Watling street, 33. + + Wavertree, 22. + + Wearmouth, 26. + + Wednesbury, 198. + + Wednesday, 198. + + Wellborough, 27. + + West Derby, 23. + + ---- ---- hundred, 5. + + West Kirby, 23. + + Whasset, 63. + + Whitby, 17, 26, 27. + + Whithorn, 51. + + ---- prior of, 165. + + Wigton, 62. + + Wigthorpe, 62. + + Wilbeforce, 62. + + Wild, 64. + + Wilde, 64. + + Wilding, 63. + + Willerby, 13. + + Willoughby, 62. + + Windermere, 22. + + Winewall, 35. + + Winter Solstice, 211. + + Widdop, 36. + + Wirral, 12, 24. + + Woollen manufacture, 64. + + Worsthorne, 37. + + Worsthorne, 36. + + Wulfric Spot, 24. + + Wycollar, 41. + + Wydale, 62. + + Wylde, 10. + + Wyre, 62. + + + Yarborg, 84. + + Yarborough, 84. + + Yarm, 27. + + Yerburgh, 84. + + Yggdrasil, 189. + + Yorkshire children's folklore, 114. + + Yule, origin, 211. + + + Zinga, 181. + + Zodiac, 152. + + Zoni, 181. + + + + +Transcriber's Notes + + +Punctuation and spelling were made consistent when a predominant +preference was found in this book; otherwise they were not changed. + +Simple typographical errors were corrected; frequent unbalanced +quotation marks not remedied except as noted below. + +Page 16: "hopped ale.'" either is missing an opening quotation mark or +has a superfluous ending one. + +Page 36: 'is "Warcock Hill.' either is missing a closing quotation mark +or has a superfluous opening one. + +Page 62: "descrip-names" was printed that way; may be misprint for +"descriptive names". + +Page 65: Text beginning with '"Robert de Cowdray, who died in 1222' has +no closing quotation mark. + +Page 71: "proposition" probably should be "preposition". + +Page 72: Ending quotation mark added to "I's t'". + +Page 73: "helder--preferably;" the semi-colon was printed as a colon, +but changed here for consistency with the rest of the list. + +Page 80: "are also easily be recognised" was printed that way. + +Page 80: "or clap-cake, form" probably should be "from". + +Page 81: 'lögg mark."' either is missing an opening quotation mark or +has a superfluous closing one. + +Page 106: Likely superfluous quotation mark after 'by commutation."' + +Page 114: Missing quotation mark added after 'is in Norse "Stegger."' + +Page 117: There is no "CHAPTER VIII" in this book, but the chapter +names match the Table of Contents. + +Page 132: Paragraph beginning "The Bewcastle cross in the Gigurd shaft" +was printed as shown here. + +Pages 144-151: Runic symbols appeared to the left of each entry in +the Clog Almanac on these pages, and between some of them. To avoid +clutter, this eBook does not indicate where those symbols appeared. + +Page 147: "St. John Beverlev" may be alternate spelling for "Beverley". + +Page 149: No entry for Sept. 6. + +Page 158: "and has recently found" was printed that way. + +Page 172: "songs and sages" may be misprint for "sagas". + +Page 181: '"The Calder Stones near Liverpool' has no closing quotation +mark. + +Page 182: "between 576 feet" is a misprint, possibly for "5&6". + +Page 190: 'songs of the "Edda.' either is missing a closing quotation +mark or has a superfluous opening one. + +Page 195: '"How the man Odin' is missing a closing quotation mark, or +its mate is on page 199. + +Page 199: 'the sky and in the ocean."' is missing an opening quotation +mark, or its mate is on page 195. + +Page 220: "last thirty years" was misprinted as "vast"; changed here. + +Page 223: "rich dark brow soil" probably should be "brown". + +Page 234: Unclear whether "Occupying Ownership" is a Section heading or +just the title of the poem. + +Page 235: "but of catering" contained a duplicate "of"; changed here. + +Some alphabetizing errors in the Index corrected here. Index references +were not checked for accuracy. + +Page 243: No page reference given in the Index for "Northumberland, --". + + + + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Danes in Lancashire and Yorkshire, by +S. W. Partington + +*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 43910 *** |