286
THE ESSEX NATURALIST.
as applied to the river, is comparatively modern and is derived
from the fact that the river flows through the group of nine
parishes known as the Rodings or Roothings28—High Roding,
Aythorpe Roding, White Roding, Morrell Roding,29 Leaden
Roding, Margaret Roding, Berners Roding, Abbess Roding,
and Beauchamp Roding. These are all very small parishes,
covering all together little more than some of our larger single
parishes. They lie in a compact group, about 5 miles in length
from north to south and 4 miles in breadth from east to west,
which sits a cheval upon the river, not actually at its source,
but a mile or two only below it. As John Norden wrote in 1594,30
"The Roding firste appeareth nere Takeley; whence, as she
"passeth, she greeteth her nine daughters, all the Rodinges."
They get their common name, in all probability, from the O.E.
rod,31 a clearing in woodland, and ing, a meadow. The name
suits them perfectly even to-day; for they consist of extensive
riverside meadows, with much woodland (though a mere rem-
nant of the ancient forest) on the higher ground.
Without doubt, the name Roding, as that of the river, is a
back-formation and is derived, as stated above, from the common
name of the nine parishes among which, for all practical purposes,
it rises: not their names from the river. Nevertheless, the
name, as applied to the river, is fairly old. Its use by Saxton
(1576), Harrison (1587), Norden (1594), Speed (1610), and other
early writers shows that it was well established at least as early
as the sixteenth century. Probably it was in use very much
earlier; but, as to this, I have no evidence.
(6)—The Bourne, Rom, or Beam (length about 11 miles)
rises near Brook House, in Navestock, and, crossing Curtis Mill
Green, flows southward, passing under Bourne Bridge, in Staple-
ford Abbots, past Havering, through the town of Romford,
and thence directly to the Thames. The whole way from
Romford to the Thames, it forms the boundary between the
parishes of Dagenham and Hornchurch.
For a river with so short a course, it bears a curious variety
of names at different parts. In its uppermost stretch, it has
28 The local pronunciation is "Roothing," and hunting men always speak of "The
Roothings," but I have never known the river called by that name, except on Greenwood's map
of 1824. The form "Roinges," which occurs in Domesday Book (1086), is probably due merely
to the accidental omission of the d.
29 Now combined with White Roding.
30 Descrip. of Essex 1594, fo. 12 (printed ed., p. 11: 1840).
31 Said to be met with in Charters only.