Amongst hills of lesser elevations than the five abovementioned are
Billing Hills, where the Scots camped in 1327; Scaud Hill, in Burnhope,
from the Anglo-Saxon _sceawian_, _scewian_, to look; Batable Hill,
debatable land; Scrog Hill, Anglo-Saxon _scrob_, _scrobb_, a shrub, the
hill of shrubs; Dun Hill, Ancient British _dun_, a height or hill fort
(Gaelic _dun_, as Dun Fell, in Teesdale). Dod Hill and Dodder Hill are
mountains with rounded summits, as Dodd Fell, in the Lake District.
Cross Hill, in Stanhope, is where an ancient cross stood. We had a Paper
Hill and a Poperd Hill, which were the hills where the priests preached.
We have hills known or distinguished as _hard_, _long_, _windy_,
_slate_, _black_, _green_, _white_, _gold_, _quarrel_ (quarry), _hungry_
(poor), _stony_, _great_, _low_, etc. Animals contribute their names, as
in Hog Hill, Lamb Hill, Plover Hill, Fairhills (Norse _faar_, sheep),
and Cowshill, the hill where cows congregated.
_Law_, Anglo-Saxon _hlaw_, _hlæw_, rising ground, an elevation, a hill.
In the south it is _low_, as Ludlow, the people’s hill. Killhope Law is
2,206 feet above sea-level, Collier Law 1,692, Bolts Law 1,772, and Pow
Law and the Three Laws are the names of other hills in the district.
_Seat_, Anglo-Saxon _set_, a sitting; _sæta_, settlers, inhabitants. The
root _sæte_, _set_, or _seta_, enters into several names of places in
England, some of which are county towns, as Dorset, Somerset;
Old Norse _setr_, a seat. The Norwegian _seter_ is a pasture or
mountain-side--Burnhope Seat, Dora’s Seat, and Raven’s Seat. One was the
settlement of a person named Raven, or Rafn; the other that of Dora, or
Dore. In 1614 we find Dorry Sette. Bishop’s Seat was the place where the
lords of the Bishopric settled when hunting in Weardale Forest. Another
name is Laverock Seat, evidently Leofric’s Seat, modernized into
Lark-seat.
_Head_, Anglo-Saxon _head_, _heafod_, a head. In a district full of
undulating lands and small valleys there are several places deriving
their names from being the top or head, or finished part of something,
as Lanehead, Wearhead, Dalehead, Sidehead, Nag’s Head, Lamb’s Head, and
others.
_Rig_, _rigg_, Anglo-Saxon _rig_, _hrycg_, and various other forms;
Danish _ryg_; Icelandic _hriggr_, a ridge, a back. Stangend Rigg is
2,075 feet above sea-level.
_Plain_ and _pike_ are sufficiently expressive--the one a broad stretch
of land, and the other a peak or pointed eminence. Five Pikes are near
Paw Law Pike, a south-eastern boundary point on the hills. Ireshope
Plains is a euphonious name; and Bewdley Plain, Sedling Plain, Outberry
Plain, may be mentioned in the list.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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