_Sike_ or _syke_ is a very common local name. It is from Anglo-Saxon _sic_, _sich_, Icelandic _sikje_, Norse _siki_. Sullivan says a _sike_ is the drainage of a marsh, and that all sikes were once marshes. Natural productions have given names to several sikes, as the marshy hollows were the homes of trees, grasses, and animals; hence we have Rowantree Sike, where there is an excellent ironstone mine; Saugh Sike, two Aller Sikes, Rushy Sike, Bents Sike, Moss Sike, and Birk Sike. Where we find trees we find birds, so we have Hawk Sike, Hawk Sikes near Stanhope, and Snipe Sike. Todd Sike is where the fox haunted, and Goat Sike wants no explanation. Chisholm Sike, Anglo-Saxon _ceosel_, _ceosl_, gravel, sand, the sike by the gravelly or sandy holm. In Teesdale there is a Whey Sike, in Burnhope a Whoe Sike, and in Ireshope a Hoe Sike. In Middlehope there is Scar Sike, the sike of the rock. Anglo-Saxon _carr_, Danish _skær_, Swedish _skar_, a projecting or prominent rock, a cliff--as Scarborough, Scarthwaite, Scarcliff, and Scarsdale, written in Doomsday Book, Scarnesdele. At Middleton on the Tees there is a place called Skears, and _scarr_, _skarr_, _skire_, are forms found in place-names. Whetstone Sike is where the whetstone sill is exposed. A _linn_ is a deep or still pool, from the Celtic _llyn_, water, a lake, flood; Anglo-Saxon _hlynna_, a brook. In the North of England, however, a _linn_ is understood to be a cascade or cataract, evidently owing to the waterfall being a more attractive feature in a river scene than the linn or pool, which is always found at the bottom of a fall. In Scotland a _lin_, _lyn_, is described as a cataract, and in a secondary sense the pool below. In Ireland _lin_ is a pool; and the Icelandic form of the word is _lind_. The most attractive _linns_ in Weardale are Linnkirk, on Shittlehope Burn, near Stanhope--a romantic spot where there is a tiny waterfall and a cave close by in the great limestone; the Dunter Linn and Holm Linn at Eastgate; and the Linny--a waterfall on the Harthope Burn, near St. John’s Chapel. The Danish _dundre_ is to make a noise like thunder, and the Scotch _dunder_ has the same meaning. The Saxon Donar is the god of thunder, hence Dunter Linn is that which makes a great noise. _Kern_ is from the Anglo-Saxon _cyrn_, _cyrin_, _cerene_; Danish _kjerne_, a churn; Icelandic _kirna_; Scottish _kirn_. The primary meaning appears to be to turn, the act of turning, allied to quern, the ancient mills for grinding corn. _Kern-holes_, found in the bed of rivers, are holes worn out by the churning motion of water mixed with sand. On Chapel Fell there is a watery hole called Jackson’s Kern, owing to one Jackson being accidentally drowned in it whilst coming from Middleton; but this might be _cairn_, a heap of stones. In Burnhope Burn, at Six-dargue, a deep hole in the stream is called Kern Pool.