MR. PARKIN'S PREFACE.
The History of the County of Norfolk, (a county of a very great ex-
tent,) being left unfinished by the Reverend Mr. Blomefield, at
his death, who had treated chiefly on the southern parts of it, and no
person since that time proposing, or inclining to complete the same:
as I was known to have made, for many years past, considerable col-
lections on that subject, and had assisted Mr. Blomefield, present-
ing him with the entire history of the hundreds of Grimshow, and
South Greenhow, several gentlemen solicited me to undertake this
work, which I complied with, in hopes of its being acceptable, not
only to the gentlemen of Norfolk, but to all lovers of antiquity in
general.
The materials and assistances, that I have made use of, will best
appear from my vouchers and quotations herein cited, viz. large col-
lections of antique, original, authentick manuscripts, in publick and
private libraries, registers, &c. of religious houses, in particular of the
voluminous ones of the cathedral church of Norwich, its many In-
stitutions, and Will-books, from the reign of King Edward I. to this
time. To all these I had free access, from Dr. Tanner, (the late
Bishop of St. Asaph,) when Chancellor of that church, from the late
Right Reverend Dr. Hayter, when he presided there, and from the
present worthy Chancellor, the Reverend Dr. Atwell: to these I
may add, Records in the Tower of London, in the Rolls, Pipe-Office,
those of the Eschaetors, and Fines levied in the King's-Court.
Here I must not omit the most ancient manuscript of England,
Domesday Book, deposited in the Exchequer, the spring and fountain
of all English chorography, composed in the reign of William the
Conqueror: by the help of these, the reader will observe, and find a
series, and succession of the lords of every manor and town in this
history, brought down from the reign of Edward the Confessor, to this
present time, and without the assistance of this ever-valuable manu-
script, vain, weak, and imperfect, must every attempt be in a history
of this nature.
At the head, therefore, of every town and lordship, I have placed
the account which I find of it, and its lord, as taken from the aforesaid
book; and besides those towns that are now in being, it will appear
that at the grand survey there were also many other towns, which at
this time are so totally ruined, that even the site of several of them is
unknown, destroyed, and mouldered away with their ancient lords
and inhabitants:—Nunc seges est ubi Troja fuit.
Give me leave also to mention that valuable collection of the an-
tiquities of this county, which Peter le Neve, Esq. Norroy, King at
Arms, was employed in about 40 years, being, for the most part, extracts
out of ancient records and manuscripts relating to temporal tenures;
and though wrote in very minute pieces and fragments of paper, and
undigested, were of singular and eminent service; for the favour, and
help of these, I am obliged to Thomas Martin, Gent. of Palgrave
in Suffolk, and thank him in this publick and grateful manner; Bishop
Tanner and he being entrusted with the same, by the worthy
collector of them.
From all these materials, an account will be here given of the ab-
beys, priories, and other religious houses, of the churches with their
monuments, &c. of the rectors, vicars, &c. Also of the ancient and
present nobility and gentry of this county, with their arms, quarterings,
and many pedigrees, in a more complete manner than has ever yet
appeared in publick.
As every reader will observe, that I differ in my derivation of the
names of the towns herein mentioned, from the generality of historians,
I look upon myself obliged, and in duty bound, to assign my reasons
for so doing, and must say, that our ancient historians were bad ety-
mologists, and that some modern ones may be ranked in the same class.
We are informed by them, that the town of Appledore in Kent de-
rives its name from apple-trees. (fn. 1) —Barham Downs, from a hill where
boars abide;—Barton from wood, or barley corn. (fn. 2) —Whereas Apple-
dore is derived (as the town of Appleby in Westmoreland is, where a
famous Roman station was, called by Antoninus, in his Itinerary, Abal-
laba) (fn. 3) from the British word ab, or av, which word signifies a river, or
water; le and by are Saxon additional words, expressing a dwelling by
the water: thus we find the towns of Appleton, Appleford, and the
hundred of Appletree in Derbyshire.—Barham is a ham or dwelling on
a hill, from Bergh; thus, Barley and Barkway, (a way over the hills,)
in Hertfordshire, and Barton, a town on, or by a hill, and Barrow, a
tumulus.
Stow says, (fn. 4) that Hunstanton in Norfolk takes its name from sweet-
ness, (I presume he means honey,) but it is more reasonable to believe
from a little rivulet here, the Hun; and we meet with Hunworth in
Norfolk, Hunwick, in the county of Durham, and Hunstede, a town
in Denmark, seated on the river Hun.
I cannot forbear taking notice of a remark made by Fuller:—
"Mount Libanus, so called (as some say) from the Greek word, sig-
nifying frankincense, of which there is plenty here produced; but,
as parents give names to their children, not children to their parents,
so I conclude it called from the Hebrew word, libanus, from its
whiteness; the faithfull snow forsakes not the top of it, but remains
there all the year long," (fn. 5) —and that his conclusion is just, may be
proved by the Alps, so called for the same reason;—Ab albis rupibus.
A modern author asserts, that Snestesham in Norfolk is so corruptly
called, for Netesham, its ancient name, being fambus for herds of cows, (fn. 6)
whereas, in Domesday Book, it is wrote Snetesham, from a rivulet,
called Snet.—Snetterton is also a town in this county; Snet or Snyte,
is a river in Leicestershire and Nottinghamshire, and Snetre, one in
Northumberland.
Cambden, in his history of Northumberland, calls Risingham a
town of venerable antiquity, standing on the river Rhead; and that
it signifies, in the old English, and high Dutch languages, a town of
giants, from riese, a word for a giant; but rie and rey, are well known
to be names of rivers, giving names to towns adjoining to them;—as
Ryegate in Surrey, Rydale in Yorkshire, Riburgh, and Rising, in
Norfolk.
The said author thinks, that Buckinghamshire has its name from
beech-trees, and some think from its plenty of bucks.—There are four
towns in this county of Norfolk, called Buckenham, or Buckingham;
all these have their site by some stream of water, or river, and are
wrote in the grand survey, Bokenham, Bukenham, and Bucham. Bo,
or bu, denotes the winding of any stream; thus, Bow (by Stratford)
in Middlesex;—Bows in Yorkshire (the ancient Roman Levatre;)—
Boethorp by Norwich.—Ken is the British name of rivers in many
counties, Lancashire, Wiltshire, and Berkshire; from this proceed Ken-
ford and Kenet, towns in Cambridgeshire; and Leland calls Kenlet a
pretty brook, in the vale of Montgomery; and Aken a famous city in
Germany, called by the French, Aix-la-Chapelle.—Buckworth or Bu-
cheworth, (fn. 7) in Huntingdonshire, is seated at the confluence of two rivers,
as worth always implies, (thus Keyserwart in Germany;) and Buxton.
in Norfolk is wrote in the grand survey, Buchestuna and Bukestun.
Kess and chess are also words for a river, or water, as Chiswick in Mid-
dlesex, Keswick in Norfolk, &c.
Hertford is called also, (as is said, (fn. 8) ) from an hart, and the arms of
that town (an hart couchant in a river) is brought to confirm it, which
is a mean, low rebus, the name being owing to the British word rit,
and so is a ford or passage over a river or water; He-Rit, or E-Rit;
ford being added by the Saxons. Erith is a town (in the parish of
Bluntsham) in Huntingdonshire, where was the grand ford or passage
out of that county into the Isle of Ely, over the river Ouse; so that, to
make the aforesaid rebus complete, the hart should have been at least
passant, or trippant, to set forth the ford. The famous city of Utrecht,
in the Netherlands, is of the same original, and is called in Latin, Tra-
jectus ad Rhenum.
Derham is interpreted to be a place for deer, but its true derivation
is from the British word dur, (water,) as in Durham, Derby, Dort, or
Dortrect, a city in Holland, is a ford over the water or river.—God-
slow is (as some will have it (fn. 9) ) a stow, or dwelling dedicated to God;
whereas it expresses only a dwelling by good water, as Godstow in
Oxfordshire,—Godeston in Norfolk, and in Surrey.
It would be an endless task to enumerate more instances, wherein
historians seem to me to have greatly erred in the etymology of towns,
and shall here make this general remark, that as far as I have consi-
dered this subject, it appears that towns derive their names from their
natural site, from something durable, lasting, and permanent for ages
to come, and what would set forth, and easily explain itself, and so
justify the Britains, and after them the Saxons, and prove the reason
of their being so named. And it appears, that this was generally from
some river, or water, by which they had their site; and though the
names of most rivers (little ones especially) are, by length of time,
lost and unknown, yet the continuance, and constant flow of their
streams, will endure to confirm this remark:
— Labitur et labetur in omne volubilis ævum.
A learned gentleman and Saxon antiquary, (fn. 10) long since observed:
"That our Saxon ancestors were a very wise and understanding
people, that they did not, as men do now a-days, for the glory of a
short continuance, name the places of their conquest after them-
selves, or some of their great masters, but even according to nature's
self."
There are some towns in this county that still retain their British
names entire, and from their site; viz. Lynn, Winch, Geist, Trows,
&c. as at first given them by the Britons, the aborigines of this isle;
and to many the Saxons have added the final syllables, of ham, ton,
ley, thorp, worth, den, dale, ing, how, sted, wold, ferd, burgh, &c.
Many Roman towns also retained part of their old British names, as
appears from the Itinerary of Antoninus, &c. (fn. 11)
To the remark above made, it may be objected, that there are many
towns that take their names from trees of different kinds, which are
subject to decay, and not from any natural, durable site; as Ashwell
in Hertfordshire; Ashill in Norfolk; Ashsted in Surry, from ash
trees.
To this it may be replied, that the real, true, and old names of
towns are to be taken from the Book of Domesday, which being com-
posed in the reign of the Conqueror, remain there, as they were in
the time of Edward the Confessor, and in the Saxon age; since that
time they are much corrupted, and falsely spelt.—Ashwell, in that
book, is wrote Escewell, (seated on the river Read,)—Ashill in Nor-
folk, Escelea, seated on wet, spongy meadows; the hundred being
called Weyland. Ashsted in Surry, standing by the river Mole. Ash
is the name of a river in Hertfordshire;—Esse and Esh, rivers in Der-
byshire, Leicestershire, &c. In Sussex, we find the river Ashburn,
from which the ancient and noble family of the Earl of Asburnham
derives its name. How wide from truth then must the derivation of
Ashingdon in Essex be? so called, (as an old historian says,) as being a
mount or hill of asses. (fn. 12)
Okeley in Surry, and in Essex, is generally said to be so called
from trees of oak, but their site is near the water, (fn. 13) the first near the
head of the river Mole, wrote in the grand survey, Aclea.—Oke and
Ock are rivers in Devonshire, Berkshire, &c. — Okeburn, a town in
Wiltshire, and Okebrook and Okeworth, in Derbyshire and York-
shire.
Boxley in Kent, and Boxwell in Gloucestershire, (fn. 14) thought to be so
named from box trees, are wrote Buceslea, and Buceswella, one stand-
ing on a winding stream, as has been above observed; and thus
Bokestede, or Boxstede, in Essex, on the river Stour;—and thus is it
with Willoughby in Nottinghamshire, wrote at the Conquest Wil-ge-by,
that is by a well, or fine spring of water; Willy is a river, and a town
in Wiltshire, and hence comes Wilton and Wilford, &c. And as
towns thus appear not to be derived from any particular kind of trees,
so are they not from wood in general. Woodstock in Oxfordshire, is
Vudeston, seated by a river;—Woodburgh in Nottinghamshire, Ude-
burgh; as Woodbridge in Suffolk, and Woodford in Essex, all bearing
a near relation to the Roman udus.
The Britons used several monosyllables, to denote and express
water;—a, ea, and e, as in Acle, or Akele in Norfolk, &c. Eaton in
Buckinghamshire, &c. and Ely in Cambridgeshire.—Eu and ew, as
Euston in Suffolk, Ewell in Surry, &c.—Guy and Wy, as Guyton, in
Norfolk, Wye in Kent, &c. Here I cannot omit observing, that a
famous chancellor of Cambridge University, who lived in the reign
of Richard II. wrote himself at times, Wido, Eudo, Guydo, and Ivo de
la Zouch, as appears from the registers of that University, and of the
see of Ely.
Just therefore is the remark of an eminent antiquary, Edward
Lloyd, who asserts, (fn. 15) that the most general way of naming towns
among the Britions, was from their rivers, on which they were
seated; and I may add, if we reflect rightly on this subject, that
even the names of most of our counties, and those of our hun-
dreds, are also derived from the said original; water being one of the
greatest blessings, one of the most necessary supports of human
life; for as Pindar styles it, [Arizon then Udor].
Another observation that I shall here add, is, that no town in the
British age took its name from its lord or owner; the monks were
the first who gave the name of some saint, or person eminent for his
piety, &c. St. Alban's, a town in Hertfordshire, where Offa, the
great King of the Mercians, founded a monastery in 793, (fn. 16) which being
dedicated to St. Alban, (called the Proto-Martyr among the first
Christian bishops,) assumed that name. This St. Alban is said to
have suffered at a place called Holm-Hurst, near the ancient Roman
city, called Verulam, by the Romans, and Verulam-Ceaster, or Wat-
ling-street, by the Saxons, before it had the name of St. Alban's.
St. Ives in Huntingdonshire, so called from a Persian bishop Ivo,
whose relicks being here discovered, (as is said,) about the year 1001,
its ancient name being Slepe; and Slepe is said (fn. 17) to arise out of the
ruins of the Roman Ritomagus.
Ivo is undoubtedly a Saxon name; and how this Persian bishop
could be of this name, is a quære; but as the monks might be his
godfathers, historians copy after them.
St. Neot's, in the said county, on the removal of St. Neot's body
here, assumed his name; the cloister-historians disagree about him,
and the time wherein he lived; they assert him to have been one of
the sons of Adulf, King of the West Saxons, and brother of King
Alfred; whereas Alfred was the son of Athelwolph, King over the
greatest part of England, who died in the year 857, and had no son
named Neot, (as the Saxon chronicle proves; (fn. 18) ) and this town was
called Eynbury, or Eynolvesbury, before the time of this Neot; and we
find Eynford, a hundred in Norfolk, and Eynesham, a town in
Oxfordshire.
Thus Peterburgh was first named Medeshamstede, standing on a
river by the meadows; and St. Osyth, in Essex, was called at first
Chick, from the adjoining river: from these instances it is plain, that
the Saxons altered the ancient names of some towns, taken from their
natural, real site, and imposed new names on them, coined by the
monks in their cloisters.
After this inquiry into the names of towns, I shall here adjoin some
remarks relating to the names of persons in general.
The Britons had but one name, and that not hereditary, as Arvi-
ragus, Cingetorax, Taximagulus, Cassivellanus, famous kings; Cuno-
beline, the great King of the Iceni, had these three sons, Adminius,
Caratacus and Togadumnus; and Androgeus was the son of Immanu-
entius, King of the Trinobantes.
The same custom prevailed among the Saxon kings. Sigebert,
Egbert, Edgar; (fn. 19) Ethelwolph, the son of Egbert, (the great West
Saxon king,) succeeded his father, and left four sons, Ethelbald, Ethel-
bert, Etheldred and Alfred, who were all kings, in their order of the
West Saxons. About the time of the Conquest, we find the Kings
Etheldred, Canute, Harold, &c. Among the chief nobility, Leofric
Earl of Mercia succeeded by his son Algar, who was father of Edwin
and Morker, two famous earls.—Godwin Earl of Kent had six sons,
Swain, Harold, Ulnoth, Tosti, Guert, and Leofwine; and, at the sur-
vey, we find a great number of the Saxon thanes, and nobility, who
were deprived of their lordships; as Thoke, Osmund, Bondo, Orgar,
Edric, &c. in this county.
Sirnames were first assumed in France, about the year 1000, and
were local, taken from those towns, or places, of which the persons
who assumed them were lords and owners, and were soon after
brought into England. In the troublesome reign of King Etheldred,
this kingdom being cruelly ravaged by the Danes, that King, with
his queen and family, took refuge in France, (Emma, his queen, being
sister to Rich. Duke of Normandy,) where he continued till the death
of the Danish King Swain; but his two sons, Edward and Alfred, staid
in Normandy, and were there educated. After the death of King
Etheldred, and of the Danish kings, Canute, Harold, and Hardi-
Canute, Edward was sent for by the English nobility, and chose king
in 1041, (as the Saxon Chronicle, (fn. 20) ) and introduced this Norman custom.
One of the first that I find to have used it in England, was Thorald
de Bukenhale, who assumed his sirname from his lordship and town
of Bukenhale in Lincolnshire; he was brother to the famous Lady
Godiva, wife of Leofric, the noble Earl of Mercia, had great posses-
sions, and was founder of the priory of Spalding in Lincolnshire, in
1052.
Soon after this, in the reign of King Edward, we meet with Edric
de Laxfield, lord of Hickling, Rachel de Gimingham, lord of Repps,—
Alwi de Thetford, lord of Kirby in Norfolk, all deprived at the
Conquest, whose descendants continued the said sirnames; so that it
is a mistake to say, "that after diligent inquiry made, no sirnames,
descending to posterity can be found before the Conquest." (fn. 21)
At the time of making the Book of Domesday in 1086, this Norman
custom had much prevailed. Selden, in his preface to Eadmer,
gives us the names of several persons of different hundreds in Cam-
bridgeshire, then sworn by commissioners appointed to make it.
In Stapleho hundred, Nicholas de Chenet, (Kennet,) William de
Chippenham, Warin de Saham, Alan de Burwell, Alfric de Snaille-
well, &c. and in the said county we find Giffard de Drayton, Gilbert
de Histon, Roger de Childerley, Brun. de Chesterton, Almer de
Cotenham, &c.
These were chiefly Normans, and probably some were Englishmen;
for, on this great occasion, many, both Franci and Angli, were sworn
to the truth of what they knew relating to the tenures of those places.
Undoubtedly they were relations, friends, dependants, and of the re-
tinue of those Norman lords, who held the aforesaid towns (by grant
of the Conqueror) in capite, and by knight's service, and were en-
feoffed therein by the said lords, and so held under them, and assumed
their sirnames from the towns, wherein they were thus enfeoffed, ac-
cording to the Norman custom. Hence it appears, that local sirnames
of noblemen, gentlemen, &c. were seldom used in England before the
reign of the Confessor, and that towns did not take their names from
any lord or owner, but gave names to their lords.
It is impossible in a work of this nature to prevent mistakes and
errours made by the author, or the press; it is therefore humbly re-
quested that the reader will excuse and pardon them, and be of the
same humane and candid sentiment with the poet:
— Non ego paucis
Offendar maculis, quas aut incuria fudit,
Aut humana parum cavit natura. Hor.