In his introduction, the author explains how the county's place names are influenced by its history even before the 1st-century Roman occupation, to when it was lived in by the Brigantes who spoke a hybrid form of Celtic, a mixture of British and Irish Gaelic. This was followed by the Angles and the Saxons speaking a form of early English which then assimilated some Latin and Norman-French. Early place names reflect natural features or ownership by a particular person. Besides giving some historical background to each town or village featured, including the wonderful No Place, Paul explains the most likely origin of the name. There's a small section on notable hills and a chapter on pub names. This is a great book to dip in and out for interesting wee snippets. You'll learn plenty!
ISBN: | 9781840338713 |
Publisher: | The Place Names of County Durham |
Imprint: | Stenlake Publishing |
Published date: | 04 Jun 2021 |
DEWEY: | 914.2860014 |
DEWEY edition: | 23 |
Number of pages: | 128 |
Weight: | 360g |
Height: | 166mm |
Width: | 238mm |
Spine width: | 9mm |