Bethersden in its earliest form is Beatrichesdenne (1194), which, on the analogy of other places, would seem to point to the church being dedicated to a local S. Beatrice; but at the same date, and since, its patron saint was S. Margaret. Possibly an heiress Beatrice held the manor, as Patrixbourne is called, not from the saint of the Church, but from one who held the manor, which in Domesday was simply called Bourne. Later I find Beterisdenne 1389, Betrycheden 1468, Betresden 1535, Beatherisden 1552, and later Beathersden, Beddersden (by Kent dialect change of th into d), and Bethersden. Charing is Ciorminege in a Saxon charter of 799 A.D., which proved too hard for old English or middle English mouths, so that one finds many later variants, such as Cheerynge 1396, Carings, Cerringes (and Cherinche in Domesday Book 1036), Cherrving (temp. Edw. 3rd), and at last Charing in 1505. Cuxton, probably derived from a personal name, like Cuckfield in Sussex, is Codestane in Domesday, Coklestone 1472, Cokston 1503, Cokynston 1533, Coxston 1538, Cokestone 1559, and Codstan, Coklestane, Colestane, Cukelstane, and Cookstone in other documents. Goodneston, near Ash and Wingham, is no doubt Goodwin’s Town, and once had the name of “Godstanstone-les-Elmes, alias Nelmes, near Wingham.” In 1208 it was Gutsieston, but in 1512 had settled down into Godenston, previous variations having been Goldstaneston, Gounceston, Groceston, Gusseton, and Guston. Saxon or Jutish Suffixes. In the earliest days of which we have knowledge all Kent was practically either forest or marsh, with a little cornland in Thanet and sheep pastures in Sheppey, and it was plainly on the edges of the forests (Blean and Anderida running right across the county from Whitstable to Cranbrook) that the early settlers from Jutland made their homes. Like pioneer backwoodsmen in Canada and elsewhere, they had first to clear of trees, and then to fence, the spot each family had chosen. For 25 years I have passed annually through the agricultural districts of Belgium, Alsace, Lorraine, and Switzerland (and sometimes France), and two things always strike me—that English agriculturists are not on the whole so thrifty, so tidy, or so hardworking, as their Continental brethren, and that abroad they seem to have neither need nor desire for hedges or other fences. Our colonists in England, however, show in place-names how necessary they thought enclosures to be.