_Moor_, _fell_, _common_, are well-known terms. Anglo-Saxon _mor_ is
waste-land, a moor, a heath; Danish _mor_ is a moor, or morass; we have
Killhope, Burnhope, and Wellhope Moors. _Fell_ is Old Norse. All the
Weardale moorlands are called fells. Chapel Fell is 2,294 feet above
sea-level; A _common_ is a tract of unenclosed pasture or outside land
on which the tenantry of the inlands have a common right, or right of
common for their sheep.
_Bank_, _band_, _brae_, and _brow_, are common in place-names, as Brook
Bank, Owsen Bands, Whitfield Brow, etc. _Batts_, low, flat ground near
water; Anglo-Saxon _bæth_, a bath, land subject to be soaked with water.
_Berry_, as Knoutberry Hill, Bleaberry, and Snodberry, are from the
Anglo-Saxon _beorg_, _beorh_, a hill. _Cut_, _cove_, as Cove’s Houses;
_crooks_, as Milncrook, Seggecrok, Crawcrook, are found. Also _end_, as
Hill End; and _edge_, as White Edge, Band Edge. _Flat_, _green_, and
_ground_, are also found in several place-names, as Barnflat, Willow
Green, and Trodden Ground. In the Boldon Buke we have Pelhou, Quesshow,
and Dunhow, from _haw_, Anglo-Saxon _hæge_, a hedge.
_Haugh_ is a common name in Northumberland for low-lying grounds close
to rivers. It is frequently met with on the Tyne, but it is not so
common on the Wear. Worsaae returns _haugh_ in no other county than
Northumberland, to which he ascribes ten, the _haugh_, or _how_, being
given as the Scandinavian _haugh_, a hill; but the _haugh_ of the
Borderland is low-lying and sheltered meadow-land close to the winding
rivers. In 1380, at Stanhope, there was a Castle Hogh, known as the
Castle Haugh until within fifty years ago. There is a _haugh_ at Softly,
and a _haughing-gate_ at Eastgate. There are various _haughs_ in and
about Blanchland, and it might appear that Weardale, where it is very
rare, formed the southern boundary. But there are, however, three
_haughs_ in the West Riding.
_Hooks_, _height_, _hole_, and _howl_. We have Fairy Holes--caves in the
limestone--Foxholes, Brockholes, and Catholes, as names of places; Hole
House, Clay Holes, and many others. Cuthbert Heights is from St.
Cuthbert. _Knot_, _loc_, _lake_, _land_, as the Knotts, the Locks,
Cocklake, and the Lands. _Mea_, Welsh _maes_, Erse _magh_--a plan--is
very common in the Durham dales. In Teesdale there is Flushy Mea, Sow
Mea; and, in Weardale, Broad Mea, Mea Sike, Pitty Mea, Rimea, and
others. _Mound_, moss, _nook_, _rake_, _pit_, and _pot_, occur in many
names.
_Side_, a Saxon word, Icelandic _sida_, the edge, a hillside, enters
into a number of names of places, as Fell Side, Kirk Side, with
_siders_, as Cuthbert Siders; and also _sedeing_, a sideling or sloping.
_Slack_, _spot_, _wick_, _wham_, _clints_, _crag_, _carr_, _scar_, are
amongst other words forming place-names.
Habitations and enclosures have their special names.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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