TRACES OF HISTORY

IN THE

NAMES OF PLACES.

•209)

LONDON: PRINTED BY

SPOTTISWOODE AND CO., NEW-STREET SQUARE AND PARLIAMENT STREET

IN THE

NAMES OF PLACES.

WITH A VOCABULARY OF THE ROOTS OUT OF

WHICH NAMES OF PLACES IN ENGLAND

AND WALES ARE FORMED.

BY

FLAVELL EDMUNDS.

'The best and most forcible sense of a word is often that
which is contained in its etymology.'-COLERIDGE.

NEW EDITION.

LONDON:

LONGMANS, GREEN, AND CO.

1872.

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PREFACE.

IN THIS BOOK, the result of many years' reading and study, I have aimed to do, for names of places in England and Wales, something like what has been done for the ordinary words of our language by the Archbishop of Dublin and other writers. In defence of my choice of this neglected branch of antiquarian lore, I feel that nothing in the way of apology is necessary: a knowledge of place-names seems to me to be essential to a right understanding of the history, topography, and antiquities of a country. The place-names of any land are the footmarks of the races which have inhabited it, and are numerous and important in proportion to the length of the stay and the numerical strength of each race. Thus the map supplies a clue to the history, and the history explains and confirms the hints of the map. While the latter gives us dates and details, leading incidents, and sketches of character, the former gives localities, preserves names of persons