The Saxons named their fields from ordinary things, or surroundings, or the animals who fed in the meadows. The following Saxon words may be found occurring constantly as field-names: _Æcne_, fruitful; _Æcer_, field; _Æbesn_ or _Æfesne_, pasture; _Ata_, _Atih_, tares, or oats--the latter were common. _Birce_, birch-tree. _Cyrc_, _Cyrce_, _Cyrice_, _Circ_, _Circe_, church--the last two most common; _Culfre_, a dove; _Cealc_, chalk; _Ceorl_, churl or husbandman. _Ent_, a giant; _Eorisc_, a bulrush; _Errich_, stubble; _Enid_ or _Ened_, a duck; _Emn_, even. _Fearras_, _Ferris_, oxen; _Fearh_, a little pig; _Fearh-Cwæl_, swine-fever. _Getreminc_, fortress; _Gat_ or _Yat_, a Goat. _Halga_, a saint; _halig_, holy; _Hyd_, hide, a land measure; _Ham_, home, homestead; _Hurst_, or _Hyrst_, a wood; _Holt_, a grove; _Hleotan_, to cast lots (meadows were held in lots, or allotments, from a very early period, and so continued up to the time of the Enclosure Acts); _Hluton_, part allotted; _Halm_, stubble. _Ith Yrnth_, arable; _Ilt_, a sow. _Ley_, _Lea_, _Leaze_ or _Lay_, _Lye_, meadow or grassland. _Neolnes_, more properly spelt _Neowlnes_, an abyss. _On-œl_, a burning. _Riip_, harvest. _Sul_, a plough; _Stret_, or _Stræt_, a street or public highway. _Wong_, a meadow; _Welig_, a willow; _Wegleast_, a going out of the way; _Wer_, an enclosure. As a whole the English language has changed more during the past century than at any time of the preceding ages. Railway and telegraph have brought all parts of the kingdom into closer contact, and intercourse with foreign countries accounts for constant alterations in language and customs. New words are introduced and old ones die out; it is the same in every language. [Illustration] [Illustration] CHAPTER IV. OLD DEEDS. Among old family papers it is rare to meet with many dating further back than the Reformation; first of all, this may be accounted for by the enormous amount of land possessed by the monks, who, instead of having to search through deeds, entered these grants and gifts of property into their charter-book. The monastic estates, after the Dissolution, were managed through the Augmentation Office; many of the original deeds were destroyed or lost in the general confusion, and a new distribution of the lands took place by the King irrespective of the former owners, whose claims were totally ignored, although in such grants or deeds of gift the name of the monastery formerly owning the property is usually named.