ESSEX RIVERS AND THEIR NAMES.
293
Margaretting, and Widford, to near the village of Writtle.
Within the parish of Writtle, it joins the Can, close to the junction
of that river with the Chelmer.
As to the name Wid : it is so modern that it is not to be found
on any map of Essex more than about fifty years old.62 There is
evidence that, twelve centuries ago, the river had no name,
properly so called ; for, in a charter of King AEthelred, dated
March 692 or 693,63 it is spoken of as the "Writolaburna" (that
is, the "Writtle Bourne"), no doubt because it encircled almost
completely and bounded the manor of Writtle.64
There can be no doubt that Wid, as the name of the river,
is a back-formation from the name of the parish of Widford.
But that name is itself a back-formation ; for the present
parish (which does not appear in Domesday Book) has evidently
been formed, in fairly-recent times, out of Writtle, and its
name was clearly derived, not from the so-called "Wid," but
from the ford in it by which the Roman Road crosses the
river. Moreover, Widford does not mean the wide ford, as
is commonly supposed,65 but the willow ford ; for it comes
from O.E. "wipig," a withy or willow ; not from O.E. Wid, wide.
As a matter of fact, the ford is not particularly wide. In any
case, to this day, there are willows growing close beside it, as
there are beside many other fords in Essex and elsewhere.66
Obviously, then, "Wid" is not the ancient name of the river,
as commonly supposed, but a recently-invented name, due to
a misconception. The river might have been back-named more
appropriately the "Writ," inasmuch as its course lies mainly
in and around the parish of Writtle.67
(14).—The Ter (length about 15 miles), yet another tributary
of the Chelmer, rises at Porter's Hall, in Stebbing, and flows
eastward through Felsted and Great and Little Leighs, passing
62 The fact that the river was called the "Can" (probably in error) on Jeffery's Map (about
1720) of English rivers has been noted above.
63 Printed by Kemble, Cod. Dipl. AEvi Saxon., i., p. 39 (1839) ; see also Trans. Essex
Archaeol. Soc, n.s., v., p. 243 (r895).
64 After a Perambulation of the Forest of Essex in 1301 (see ante, p. 283), it was reported
that "All the Hundred of Chelmsford remains without the Forest, except the villate of Writtell,
"which remains wholly within the Forest, with its appendages, because it is an ancient demesne
"of the lord the King." Writtle remained a Royal Chase till 1641.
65 Morant, for instance, says (ii., p. 59) it is derived "from the width of the ford there."
66 There are in England other places named Widford, which get their names, no doubt,
similarly. There is one, for instance, just beyond the Essex boundary, near Ware, in
Hertfordshire.
67 The name Writtle (which appears as Writola in Domesday Book and does not occur else-
where in Britain) is itself puzzling. It has been regarded as one of our few Essex place-names
of Celtic origin, and as being unexplainable.