parish catalogue - knapton

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summary

place names

Domesday Book entry: Kanapatone.¹

Name origin: Anglo-Saxon, Cnapatun. An enclosed farm or settlement, -ton, belonging to a person called Cnapa, or to a boy or servant², or a young man⁵. Anglo-Saxon cnafa, "boy", "servant" or "young man", is the origin of the word "knave"³.

Discussion: The author posits another possibility, though tentatively, that the name refers to Knapton village's location on the crest of a hill, dialectic "knap" from Anglo-Saxon cnaep(p), meaning such a location, and related to Old Norse knappr, "knob"³.

Disambiguation: It is unlikely to refer to flint knapping, even though flint is used extensively in Norfolk for building, since the origin of this meaning of the word "knap" is from Middle English, and so postdating the Domesday Book entry³.

Other place names: Old Hall Street, see AN-3 below.

Named water features: Part of the River Ant, as the North Walsham & Dilham Canal, passes through this parish. See Antingham parish for name details [not yet catalogued].

other features of interest

none catalogued.

sites

stone age sites

none catalogued.

bronze age sites

none catalogued.

iron age sites

none catalogued.

roman and romano-british sites

anglo-saxon sites

none catalogued.

anglo-viking sites

none catalogued.

finds

finds of uncatalogued age

stone age finds

none catalogued.

neolithic finds

bronze age finds

none catalogued.

iron age finds

none catalogued.

roman and romano-british finds

none catalogued.

anglo-saxon finds

none catalogued.

anglo-viking finds

none catalogued.

unanswered questions

1. Do you know of any other finds or sites predating the Norman period in Knapton parish?
2. Do you know of any primary or secondary sources regarding AN-3, either as proof or refutation?

primary sources

none catalogued.

secondary sources

¹Williams, Ann & Martin, G.H. ( eds.) (2002) Domesday Book, A Complete Translation. Penguin Classics.

² http://www.nottingham.ac.uk/english/ins/epncurrent/php/detailpop.php?placeno=9166

³Allen, R.E. ( ed.) (1990) The Concise Oxford Dictionary of Current English, 8th Edition. OUP.

⁴ http://www.domesdaybook.co.uk/places.html

⁵Mills, A.D. ( ed.) (1991). Oxford Dictionary of British Place Names OUP.

⁶ http://www.museums.norfolk.gov.uk/

tertiary sources

none catalogued.