parish catalogue - north walsham

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summary

place names

Domesday Book entry: Walsam.¹

Name origin: Anglo-Saxon, Walh-, personal name. The -ham ending indicates a homestead or village. 'Homestead or village of a man called Walh.'² North part to distinguish it from South Walsham. Another source gives the personal name as W(e)alh.³

Other place names: Spa Common, uncatalogued origin for "Spa"; Lyngate, Lyn- possibly from Anglo-Saxon lin, meaning "flax" and part origin for "linen", and -gate from Old Norse gata, meaning a road from which "gate" as in walk, or Anglo-Saxon geat, meaning and origin for "gate"^4,7, therefore Lyngate means "flax road" or "flax gate"; Tungate, possibly meaning "site by a road" or "site by a gate", -gate origin as Lyngate, and Tun- from Anglo-Saxon meaning an enclosure⁷.

Discussion: Anglo-Saxon walh or wealh was also in general use to mean 'Briton', or a native person as in Walcott, 'cottage of the Briton'², among other place names. This word forms the origin of 'Welsh'⁴. I conjecture that it is possible either the personal name was a nickname or indicated that the owner of the homestead was British; or that it may have been pluralised to mean 'homestead of the Britons'. See catalogue entry AN-1 below. Bond et. al. (1990) suggest that the name does indeed derive from reference by Anglo-Saxons to a homestead of Britons, who they may have enslaved⁸.

Named water features: Parts of the River Ant, as the North Walsham & Dilham Canal, passes through this parish. See Antingham parish for name details [not yet catalogued]. Decoy Pond. The head of Skeyton Beck, from Skeyton hamlet, "beck" from Old Norse for brook, stream.

other features of interest

none catalogued.

sites

stone age sites

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.

mesolithic finds

neolithic finds

bronze age finds

none catalogued.

iron age finds

none catalogued.

roman and romano-british finds

anglo-saxon finds

none catalogued.

anglo-viking finds

unanswered questions

1. Do you know of any other finds or sites predating the Norman period in North Walsham parish?
2. What is the origin of "Spa" in the name "Spa Common"?
3. Do you know of any primary or secondary sources regarding AN-2, either as proof or refutation?
4. Do you know the grid reference for AN-1?
5. Do you know what was found in the site of AN-1?

primary sources

none catalogued.

secondary sources

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

²Mills, A.D. ( ed.) (1991). Oxford Dictionary of British Place Names OUP.

³http://www.nottingham.ac.uk/english/ins/epncurrent/php/detailpop.php?placeno=9678

⁴Allen, R.E. ( ed.) (1990) The Concise Oxford Dictionary of Current English, 8th Edition. OUP.

⁹http://www.museums.norfolk.gov.uk/

tertiary sources

⁵Anecdotal.

⁶"Your Official Guide to North Walsham 2006 - 2007".

⁷Rye, James (1991). A Popular Guide to Norfolk Place-Names. The Larks Press.

⁸Bond, Richard; Penn, Kenneth & Rogerson, Andrew (1990). Norfolk Origins 4: The North Folk; Angles, Saxons & Danes. Poppyland Publishing.