SOME NATURAL HISTORY OF DOMESDAY ESSEX 243
"There is one in the west of the Rochford Hundred—still well-wooded—
five of the names being those of parishes, and another in the centre of the
county from Purleigh north-west to Stane Street, with a small group west
of the Chelmer. North of the line of Stane Street there are three distinct
groups in Uttlesford Hundred, between the Colne and the Stour, and in
Tendring Hundred. Another element, 'hey' (enclosure), also implying the
presence of woodland, is often used in Essex. Names containing this
element are particularly common in the area from Great and Little
Waltham running roughly north-east to the Colne, with a series along the
Roman road to Colchester and a few examples along the Lea and the
Stort. None of these is a parish-name and we may safely assume that,
in general, names in 'ley' are earlier than those in 'hey', especially as the
latter element occurs chiefly in districts either still well-wooded or known
to have been well-wooded as late as 1086. On the whole, too, they fit into
the blanks on the 'ley'-map. They occur mostly on the boulder-clay and
the chalk".
When one comes to analyse those groups of place-names con-
nected with the fauna, one finds that those connected with birds
almost hold their own with those connected with mammals, even
if one includes with the latter those which one would now call
the domesticated ones. There is a complete lack of 'lesser breeds'
—insects and the like. These place-names are in no significant
groupings, but the north-eastern part of the county has only one
reference to the fauna.
To deal with the mammals first, we have:
Berden Swine pasture valley 1085-89
Borley Boar clearing DB
Broxted Badger's head or hill 11th century
Bull (Farm) (Great Hallingbury) Bull-pasture 1280
Catley (Park) (Great Chesterford) Wild cats' 'leah' or
clearing 1288
Easter (Good and High) Sheep-fold 1017-35
Fairy hall (Felstead) Pig enclosure 12th century
Foxearth Fox hole or burrowing place DB
Hartford (End) (Felstead) Hart (deer) ford 12th century
Oxleys (Wood) (Waltham Holy Cross) Ox pasture 1277
Oxney (Green) (Writtle) Enclosure for oxen 1274
Rayleigh Wild she-goat clearing DB
Reddens (Field name in Great Parndon) Roe valley 1207
Rochford Ford of the hunting dog DB
The three references to oxen set up an interesting train of
thoughts: the usual plough team consisted of eight oxen; there
are many references in the survey to 'wicks' or dairy farms; cheese
and butter were important articles of the agricultural economy,
but these, with milk, came not only from the cow, but also from
the sheep and the goat. To follow on these random thoughts,
mention should be made of the many saltpans recorded in Domes-
day, particularly in the north-east, salt being required to add to
the butter and cheese and to preserve the meat.