SOME NATURAL HISTORY OF DOMESDAY ESSEX 237
Some Natural History of Domesday Essex
(based mainly on the meanings of place-names)
By T. H. C. Bartrop, F.R.S.H.*
The face of our county in bygone days is often the subject of
inquiry and many of the answers must, of necessity, be based on
conjecture. Our main sources of information on this subject are
historical records, archaeological discoveries and geological
sections.
In this paper, my story is restricted to one period of our history,
to one aspect of the face of our countryside and to one main
source of information.
The period chosen is what could be rather loosely called the
Domesday period, but this has been extended to 1300 in order
to broaden the picture. In most cases an indication will be given
as to whether pre-Domesday, Domesday or post-Domesday
records have been used. Those relating to the pre-Domesday
period include the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, Bede and Anglo-Saxon
wills and charters; the post-Domesday records include ancient
deeds, assize rolls, close rolls, cartularies, charters, fees, feet of
fines, pleas, ministers' accounts and pipe rolls. This period was
chosen because the great survey of William the First, carried out
in 1086, is the earliest source of systematic information on the
county. It should be noted, however, that the great survey of
Essex, Suffolk and Norfolk is published separately from that
relating to the rest of the country and is called The Little Domes-
day.
The aspect of the face of the countryside chosen is that which is
thought might interest members of the Club—in other words, the
term 'natural history' has been taken in a wide sense.
The main source of information has been The Place Names of
Essex by Dr P. H. Reany. This is Volume XII of the English
Place-Name Society's publications, published in 1935. In building
up the picture, the meanings of Essex place-names from Dr
Reany's book have been accepted without question. The actual
origin of the place-names themselves to which reference is made
has not been the subject of this study and only in a few cases
is any comment made on this aspect. Where there may be more
than one meaning of a place-name and one of these has a natural
history connection, this has been accepted as a probable meaning
and used to help fill in the picture and any alternative meaning
disregarded. Reference has also been made to Volume I of the
Victoria County History (for a translation of the Domesday Sur-
vey) and to A History of Essex by A. C. Edwards.
My search for information often led into the by-ways of such
aspects of our county story as the development of communities
* Presidential Address, 1964.