PLACE NAMES
IN KENT.
BY
CANON J. W. HORSLEY,
Late Vicar of Detling.
Price 3/6 Net.
MAIDSTONE:
“South Eastern Gazette” Newspaper Co., Ltd.,
4, High Street.
1921.
INDEX
- Page.
- Place-names of Celtic Origin 9
- Roman Names in Kent 17
- Teutonic (Jutish) Names in Kent 20
- Saxon or Jutish Suffixes 26
- Some Common Saxon Elements in Place-names 29
- The Northmen in Kent 42
- The Islands of Kent 46
- Variations in the Spelling of Place-names 49
- Ecclesiastical Place-names 52
- Place-names from Persons 54
- Absurdities in Derivation 57
- Our “Tons” and “Stones” 60
- Our “Hams” 63
- Our “Soles,” “Burys” and “Hithes” 68
- Our “Cold Harbours” 71
- Anderida 74
- Land Divisions of Kent 78
INTRODUCTION.
When I was a school boy at Canterbury, inthe fifties and sixties, my first interest inphilology was evoked by Trench on TheStudy of Words, and by the more elaboratepioneer work, Isaac Taylor’s Words and Places,while oral instruction was afforded by the lecturesof Dean Alford and the class teaching of myHeadmaster, Mitchinson. All four of theseleaders having been clergymen, it is perhapsfitting that, at a considerable distance, both oftime and of ability, another cleric should attemptto localize some of their general teaching.
Becoming aware in 1920 that there was nobook dealing with the Place Names of Kent, suchas has been produced by individuals or smallcommittees in the case of some other counties,twenty in number; finding also by correspondencethat McClure, the author of British PlaceNames in Their Historical Setting, says “Kentis one of the most difficult regions in England totrace its topographical history,” I set to work toread all I could that bore upon the subject.Especially when laid up by an ailment, I readthrough twenty-six volumes of ArchælogiaCantiana, and found therein a productive quarry.Then, to facilitate the future labours of thosemore competent to deal fully with the subject, Iwrote a series of weekly articles in the SouthEastern Gazette last winter, which were foundivof interest, Mr. E. Salter Davies asking me towrite something for the Kent Education Gazetteto enlist the co-operation of school teachers, andto remind them of the educational benefit totheir pupils of a study of l