Blennerhasset NY178414

Blennerhasset NY178414 Blennerheiseta 1188, Blendherseta 1188, Blen'sete 1190, Bllenherseta 1194, Blenhersetta 1194, Blenreheyset 1230, Blennirhaiset 1290, Blenerhaysette 1308 

PNCu go with Ekwall's suggestion that this is Norse heysæt(r) 'hay sheiling' to which added to a (pre-existing place-name) containing blaen "top, front". They explain the d + r  by saying the British (Cumbric) name was blaendre - name does occur in Blaendref Isaf at Llandrillo near Corwen. But I prefer to explain it as an 11th Century context where the Cumbrians are borrowing Anglo-Norse words and phrases as their language fades (if you listen to modern Welsh speakers, or Urdu speakers in Britain, you will hear that their native language is increasingly full of English words and phrases).

 I see this as Blaen yr heysæt  - hill top of the hay sheiling where Cumbric speakers have borrowed the phrase heysæt(r). Coates is clear that the final -r is not found in Scandinavian place-names in Britain (Coates, 1997). With sætr we find ON hey "hay".

So we have the word sætr which means summer pasture or shieling. The trouble with this is that Blennerhasset ison the Solway Plain - lowland to which the hillfarmers bring down their sheep in winter, not up to in summer.  However, Nina Jennings when discussing practices on the Solway Plain says that place names such as Shield Farm at Lonburgh and Scales shows that there were shielings on the Plain. She cites  August Winchester's evidence that the shielings were not necessarily far away such as the men of Thursby who had sheilings in Westward Forest a mere 2 miles away in 1638 (Jennings, 2003: 4)

James considers Blaendre + heysæt as per PNCu and Ekwall, and also Richard Coates suggestion it might be Blaen-tir "upland". The issue with this is that this is lowland - especially compared with the nearby hill country.  I still stick with Blaen yr heysæt .

Turning from the Norse to the Cumbric, the form  where there is a generic + the definite article + the specific element is very common, usual in fact, in Brittonic names in Britanny, Cornwall, Wales and Cumbria and James discusses this "name form" (James, 2011: 74). My suggestion is that Cumbric speakers, under the influence of the Anglo-Norse dialect they eventually gave up Cumbric for, borrowed Anglo-Norse words and phrases and used them in naming places.  Compare Betws y Coed, where Betws is Middle English "Bead-house" meaning prayer house or alms house.

There was a Roman fort at Blennerhasset - see here, but south east of the current farm at NY190413

Gaelic Incursion

We have seen that the whole of our region was British at the time of the Roman Occupation. We have also noted the incursions of the Anglo-Saxons from the east but there was also raiding, and later settlement by the Irish Gaels. Gaelic influence on Cumbria was considerable, but varied depending on geography. The heartland of the Clyde was subject to Gaels coming south and east from the kingdom of Alba. From the west, the Gaels were dominant in Galloway and Gaelic was the main language of western Galloway until relatively late.  It seems probable they crossed the straits from Ulster. Livingston suggests this happened suddenly over a brief period with the collapse of Northumbrian power due to attacks by the Norsemen. Livingston notes that Gaelic was the main language of the Douglas lordship up until 1455 and the language was spoken later as evidenced by Gaelic personal and place-names [48]. Gaelic personal names are found in the southern parts of Cumbria in place-names and in monastic documents from St Bees. A number of churches have dedications to the Irish St Bridget (though it has been argued that this is in part a remembrance of the pagan Celtic goddess Brigantia, who was Christianised).  Gaelic settlement in west Cumberland seems likely to have been from Man or Ireland.  Gaelic influence in Dumfriesshire is certain in Nithsdale but there are also Gaelic place-names further east even towards Langholm and then south into north west Cumberland.

The Britons living in Galloway may have first been Anglicised under the Northumbrians, then Gaelicised and then reverted back to Scots, itself deriving from Northumbrian Anglo-Saxon. However there remain in Galloway, Cumbric names of late form, indicating that the Cumbrians continued to exist there even under Gaelic rule.

Jensen-Fellows, when discussing the Norse names in Galloway says that Gaelic was established there before the Norse settlement  [44]. That is before 902 at the earliest. The Gaels were advancing east from the Rinns of Galloway into British speaking territory (and English speaking territory) before the Norsemen arrived. Jensen-Fellows then makes an argument that much of the Gaelic influence on place-names in Cumberland and Westmorland came from Galloway and possibly the Scottish islands [44]. This south-eastward migration is also what has been proposed for the expansion of Cumbric with incoming Britons from Strathclyde.

In the face of Gaelic power in Galloway, David I, Prince of Cumbria, settled Normans and Flemish settlers on their marches - including the Stewarts and Bruces [48].

Blencogo NY 193 480

Blencogo NY193480  Blencoggou 1190, Blengoggou 1255, Blenghogou 1279, Plenecogo 1195, Blencogau 1220, Blencogou 1278, Blenecoghow c. 1270, Blencoggehow

PNCu notes Ekwall's suggestion this is blaen + cog "cuckoo top", + Norse haug(r), but then prefers the plural blaen + cogou and compares the Cornish Talcogou, Talgogou 1302. That seems right.  

A late borrowing because medial -g- did not appear until early Middle English due to Norse borrowings where the Norse medial geminate /gg/ developed into /g/  - where the English /gg/ became /dʒ/.

Geographically, Blencogo Farm stands on top of a gentle rise at 43m above sea level.

Cumbrian Expansion

Woolf discusses the evidence for the re-taking of Cumberland  by the Cumbrians. Evidence comes in the form of place-names. Carlisle is no longer just Luel but Caer-luel. Churches are dedicated to saints connected with the kingdom on the Clyde such as Kentigern (Mungo), Patrick and Constantine. I would mention Ninnian here too and recall that in earlier material, Mungo is said to have carried out missionary work around Keswick in the 600s  By the time of the peace conference of 927, Woolf feels that Cumbria was composed of Lanarkshire, Dumbartonshire, Peeblesshire, West and Mid Lothian, east Dumfriesshire and Cumberland [8]. However we see Cumbric place-names, probably from this late period rather than survivals, in Westmorland and that part of Lancashire which is now in the modern county of Cumbria as I will discuss below.

Stenton argued that the meetings of the king of England with the kings of Scotland and Cumbria in 927 at Eamont Bridge (the recent border between Cumberland and Westmorland) was at the boundary between Cumbria and England.

In 934, King of England, styling himself as King of the English, but also Ruler of Britain, went north with an army, in part composed of Welsh allies. He invaded Scotland going as far as Caithness with his ships. The Scots and Cumbrian kings were forced to attend at Aethelstan's court in Cirecencester along with Hywel of Deheubarth, who, notes Woolf, took third place behind the kings of Scotland and Cumbria, despite Hywel being the English king's ally and the Scots and Cumbrians his recent enemies. At Christmas at Dorchester, Owain was again Aethelstan's guest [8]. But the friendship didn't last.

Woolf then discusses the Norse King Anlaf (Olaf) based in Ireland whom he feels had strong influence over Man, Galloway and probably Furness and Copeland in modern Cumbria. In 937 A battle was fought at Brunanburh.  It was Dun Brunde in Gaelic sources and Brune in the Welsh annals. The site is unknown. It was between Aethelstan on one side against the Norse King Anlaf, Constantine, king of the Scots and a king of the Cumbrians. Aethelstan won.  However, his victory did not last long because he died in 939 and after that Anlaf returned and harried the English lands, including Mercia and up into Northumberland and East Lothian.

In 945 the English king harried Cumbria, with the aid of the Welsh king Hywel, so-called "The Good". He blinded the two sons of the king Dyfnwal and gave Cumbria to the king of the Scots to be his ally. In the annals, Dynfwal is spelled Dunmail, and so we have the Cumberland legend of the last king of Cumbria who fought his last battle at Dunmail Raise on the boundary between Cumberland and Westmorland at the top of the pass that connects the two. There is a large cairn there "a raise" (from the Norse word for cairn) and local stories say Dunmail's sons ran up the mountains to the east and took the Cumbrian crown and cast it into Grisedale Tarn so the "Saxon should not flaunt it".  Woolf suggests that Dunmail's two sons were hostages previously held by King Eadmund and that the blinding (and castrating) was done in response to Dynfwal breaking his pledges - presumably by giving succour to the Norse. However, Dyfnwal did not die at Dunmail Raise and does not lie under it, because he lived until 975 [8].

As part of the consolidation of what became Scotland, the Gaelic kings of Alba, captured Edinburgh. Woolf notes that it is usually presumed that they took it from the Northumbrians, but he suggests it might have been in the hands of the Cumbrians. I would note that there are lots of Cumbric names in the Edinburgh region and there were Cumbric speakers there until relatively late.  In 971, Cuilen, king of the Scots  was killed by Rhydderch, whose name appears in garbled form as Amdarch. Apparently the killing was done in Lothian in response for Cuilen raping a British girl - possibly Rhydderch's daughter. It may have been at West Linton, which was originally Linton Ruderic - Rhydderch's Linton [8]. 

Woolf describes the Scots King Cinaed son of Mael Coluim ravaging the lands of the Britons, until the Scots were defeated at Moin Uacoruar, which he suggests is the Fords of Frew near Stirling. Woolf sees this as possible disputes over lands the Britons had in Lothian. The Scots are said to have raided "Saxony" - usually meaning the lands of the English down as far as Stainmore to Cliua which he takes as possibly the edge of the Lake District and the lakes of Derann, which would seem to be Derwentwater and Bassenthwaite Lake. As Woolf points out, this area is seen to be English at this time.

In 997, Mael Coluim son of Dynfwal,  a king of the Cumbrians, with a Gaelic name, was succeeded by his brother Owain. The English King Ethelred in 1000 mounted an expedition against "Cumberland" and ravaged nearly all of it. Woolf speculates this was because of Cumbrian alliance, or at least tolerance of the Norse.

In 1018, Owain Foel, king of the Cumbrians was in alliance with Mael Coluim king of the Scots and they fought against the English at Carham, near Coldstream.  It has been speculated that in reward for the victory, south east Scotland was added to Cumbria - and thence David I's later inclusion of it within Cumbria. Cumbric place-names are relatively rare in this area and it was not part of the ethnic heartland of the Cumbrian Britons at this late stage.

There is an account that after the English invasion of Scotland on 1054, that the Scottish king Mac Bethad was replaced by Mael Colum, son of the king of the Cumbrians. If so, had the Cumbrians put themselves under English protection? Woolf also wonders whether it was this campaign that returned the Solway plain of Cumberland and Dumfriesshire into Northumbrian hands.

Another note is that the Archbishop of York between 1055-60 consecrated two bishops of Glasgow. One was Magsuen, which looks like the Brittonic name Macsen  - though it could be Gaelic Mac Suthain, and the other Johannes, Woolf does not dismiss the idea that Glasgow was already the Cumbrian see even thought the cathedral was not built until the time of David I (1124-53). Davies, citing Edmonds, sees Siward of Northumbria as a patron of the Cumbrian dynasty and installed Mael Coluim, probably the son of Owen the Bald, as king in 1054. Siward was installed as Earl of York by Canute (Knutr) around 1031 and invaded Scotland on Mael Coluim's behalf in 1055.   Broun wonders whether Mael Coluim as son of one of the former kings of Strathclyde was taken to York as a protégé of Siward, Earl of Northumbria and later set up again in Cumbria as, Siward's man. 

Woolf notes the end of an independent Cumbria when it was subjugated violently by Mael Coluim, king of the Scots in 1070 (a common name). Mael Coluim was also at war with Earl Gospatric, a Northumbrian Earl with holdings around Dunbar, ironically with a Cumbric name (whose father Maldred, also had a likely Cumbric name Maeldryd) .  Edmonds has looked at reasons why the Northumbrian nobility adopted Cumbric names [7], but one might be because they had Cumbrian ancestry.

Gospatric I had three sons. They were were Dolfin, who ruled Carlisle until 1092, Waltheof who ruled Allerdale and Gospatric II, who died as leader of the men of Lothian in the battle of the Standard in 1138. Clearly Gospatric I and his sons had great influence in the areas "that were Cumbrian", but in Lothian and Cumberland, and so peripheral to the holdings that passed to David I as Prince of Cumbria.  However both Gospatric II and his brother Waltheof  are witnesses to David I's Inquisition into the Cumbrian holdings of the Bishopric of Glasgow  [47]

Driscoll dates the end of the Cumbrian kingdom to the foundation of Glasgow Cathedral in around 1118.  Driscoll associates the founding of Glasgow Cathedral as being under the influence of York and the revived post-Viking kingdom of Northumbria [31]. The rise of Glasgow is associated with the cult of Kentigern, whereas the Royal Church of the Cumbrian kings at Govan was dedicated to St Constantine. 

Broun describes a situation whereby Cumbria disintegrated and was chewed over by the Northumbrians, Scots and the  Gall-Ghàidheil - the Norse-Gaelic raiders and settlers who took over the Isle of Man, Galloway, the Western Isles and settled heavily in Cumberland and Westmorland.  The Kingdom of Galloway had expanded north and east as far as Nithsdale if not Annandale and up into Clydesdale and Strathgryfe [42]  Broun notes the Irish chronicles reference to a ravaging of the Britons by the English and the Foreigners of Dublin (i.e. the Norse-Gaels).  However, much of Cumbria by this time had been taken by the Scots  as told by Simeon of Durham - "not possessed by right, but subdued by force" [42]

Bewaldeth NY 212 347

Bewaldeth NY 212 347. Bualdith 1255, Bowaldef 1260, Boaldith 1278,

Ekwall gives it as the bú of Aldgȳþ (Ekwall, 1960) and Whaley agrees but helpfully notes that the Norse bú 'farmstead, estate' is common in Norway, but rare in English place-names. She also notes that this is an inversion compound - that is it uses Celtic syntax to express the genitive, not Norse or English (Whaley, 2006). PNCu follows Ekwall (Armstrong et al., 1950) So, there is some Celtic influence on the name-givers. Ireby (the farm of the Irish) is four miles distant.

There is an account dating from 1794 (Hutchinson, 1794) that Waldeof first Baron of Allerdale with his seat at Cockermouth gave Bewaldeth and other land to Waldeof son of Gilmyn.I don't know if Ekwall or Whaley had sight of this snippet, but instead of the unknown Aldgȳþ, it would make sense if Bewaldeth was named after its owner "bú Waldeof".

Waldeof's father Gilmyn has a Norman French name, but he called his son Waldeof and his daughter Ochtreda - English names - which is odd so early after the Conquest. I wonder if later scribes assimilated Gilmyn's true name with the French Gilmyn because it was later more familiar. If so, Gilmyn has the look of a Gaelic name in Gille - which are common. This would make more sense in this area in the late 11th Century than a French one, but it's just speculation. There is a record of a Gilbert McGillyn as a tenant farmer in Galloway in 1587 (Livingston, 2011), presumably a version of Mac Gille Eain, more normally Anglicised as MacLean, but now I'm a long way from evidence of any sort..

According to Hutchinson (1794), Waldeof son of Gilmyn's heairs took the surname Bowet (?from Bewaldeth). The family later became prominent, marrying into the Dacres, producing an archbishop of York and inheriting lands in Horseford, Suffolk through marriage (Miller, 1809)

Blencathra (NY 320276) or Saddleback

Blencathra (NY 320276) Blenkarthure c.1589 Blencarter, Blenkarthur 1794. PNCu give Welsh (Cumbric) blaen as the first element but find the rest too obscure. Blaen regularly appears as “blen” in this area. Among the meanings of blaen given by GPC are “summit, headwaters, uplands”. John Morris Jones gives meanings as “point, front”.

Whaley (2006) suggests the earlier spellings may belie an association with King Arthur and suggests that the second element is cadair such as in Cadair Idris in Meirionnydd SH710130.

Cadair would suit the shape of a mountain, which does look like a chair. When Owen and Morgan discuss the element cadair under Cadair (Cader) Idris "Idris' Chair" and say it occurs regularly in hill-top names "…occasionally refers to a hill shaped like a chair but more commonly extended 'fortress, fortified settlement' (Owen & Morgan, 2007: 61). There was no fortress on either Blencathra or Cadair Idris to the best of my knowledge.

Interestingly, Blencathra (868m) and Cader Idris (893m) are similar mountains with high wide-ish ridges running south west to north east that drop off on south and north sides steeply for Cader Idris but only on south and north east side for Blencathra - both drop into coombs that contain small lakes. The ridge leading to the summit of Cader Idris is called y cyfrwy "The Saddle" and Blencathra is also known as Saddleback. Cader Idris is composed of Ordovician age igneous rocks, while Blencathra of Ordovician age mudstones and sandstones. I like to think they would be friends.

In their Manual of Modern Scots, (Grant & Dixon, 1921:23) note a feature where Scots develops a voiced fricative where standard English has a voiced stop before the sequence -er /ər/ so, blether for bladder, consither for consider.

MacAfee notes in the first half of the 15th Century (in Scots) /d/ gives /đ/ between vowels or between a nasal/liquid and a vowel (MacAfee & Aitken, 2002 §6.31.4), e.g. father from OE fæder, and similarly mother and weather which all had original /d/. This happened in English too of course.

So, it is phonologically possible that Blaen Cadair "Chair Summit" became "*Blen Kather" in the 15th Century through the sound change just described, and then the magic of King Arthur influenced it to become Blenkarthur 1794. It suffered metathesis (very common with /r/) to make it Blencathra. My only slight reservation is that the -th- in Blencathra is voiceless so /θ/ not the /đ/ it should be if it was created from /d/ in the development noted by MacAfee. It was this that made me wonder whether Blencathra was actually Blaencaethfre - or at least contained the element ceith (from Latin captus) that we see in Cricieth (Crug Ceith) "Hill of the Captives". The village below Blencathra is Threlkeld, Norse for the the "slaves' well."

On reflection it is still more likely to be Blaen Cadeir but the /θ/ does bother me.

James (2016) also comes to the conclusion that Blencathra is Cumbric blajn cadeir.

Blencathra / Blaen Cadair

with Cadair Idris for comparison (links click through to copyright owners):

Bikby NY059373 - Brets and Cumbri

Birkby NY059373 just outside Maryport Brettebi 1163, Bretteby 1224, Bretby 1260. PNCu gives "the bȳ of the Britons". They give a similar etymology for Birkby near Muncaster SD119963 which is Bretteby 1215, Breteby 1279.  They note that there has been a later misunderstanding of the element as being from birk "birch tree." (Armstrong et al., 1950).  Ekwall notes a similar name in North Yorkshire Bretebi  in the Domesday Book in 1088 and one in West Yorkshire Bretebi in the Domesday Book, all with the same meaning (Ekwall, 1960).

We also find Briscoe, outside Egremont which is Brethesco NY018114 in 1203, Bretscoh .c 1205, Bretscough in Edward III's time.  Ekwall and PNCu both go with Bretaskóg(r)  "the wood of the Britons", though other Briscoes Ekwall feels are Birkiskóg(r) "birch wood".

There is Brethstrette at Ambleside and Brettestreet above Broughton in Furness - droving roads used by the Britons (James, 2008) or perhaps roads so ancient that they were ascribed to the Britons by the Anglo-Norse in the way stone circles were ascribed to the Ancient Britons/Druids/Picts etc.  James also notes Brethomor and Bretteroum  near Claughton  just east of Lancaster (SD564665)where Britons had some rights over the marginal land (James, 2008)

The general name for Britons/Welsh in Norse was bretar  but Fiona Edmonds discusses the use of kumbrar to refer to Britons specifically from the northern kingdom of Strathclyde/Cumbria as opposed to the Britons of Wales or Cornwall (Edmonds, 2014).  James discusses the native cömbröɣ  which appears in English and Norse place-names such as Cummersdale near Carlisle, Cummertrees in Dumfriesshire, Great Cumbrae and possibly Camerton (James, 2016).

There are place names much further south such as Comberbach in Cheshire, Cumberworth in Lincolnshire, Cumberledge, and Comberton in Herefordshire, Cambridgeshire, Shropshire and Worecestershire. There is a good discussion of this in James (James, 2008) There is a view that these refer to Cumbrian or Stratchlyde Britons moving there as immigrants - or they could refer to men with the personal name Cumbra  (I like to think this was a nick-name like all the Taffs and Jocks and Paddies that can be found in England these days).

Fiona Edmonds discusses the emergence of the term Cumbrian  as representing an Anglo-Saxon (and Norse) recognition of the expansion of the Cumbrian polity under the Strathclyde kings in the 10th Century (Edmonds, 2014).  I wonder then whether the names in Bretar reflect a more old-fashioned nomenclature? Alex Woolf speculates that Cumbrian was a Northumbrian English habit of talking about any Briton (Woolf, 2007) but Alan James suggests that the names in Cumber- further south represent migrants from Strathclyde/Cumbria (James, 2008).  I wonder whether English ears would have been keen enough to detect the dialectal differences between a Welshman and a Cumbrian, or even a Cornishman, given they had traditionally referred to them all as Wealas - and even in Glasgow much later the bishops still made play that they were Welsh, but that's another topic - see Dauvit Broun (Broun, 2004).  

But maybe the English people in Cheshire and Shropshire, who were very familiar with Welsh speakers did differentiate the Cumbrians because of where they had immigrated from?  Most English people today couldn't differentiate Polish from Russian by ear, but they would be able to tag a Pole or Russian because of their geographical origin. Anyway, I muse on.

The point is that the (Anglo-) Norse called some settlements by the Britons/Cumbrians Bretby and some Cummersdale.  These names would all date from the 10th Century or later.