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This article comes from a 2003 NCC Heritage Newsletter:

Have you ever wondered where the name Eakring comes from? What about the village of Spion Kop? It should come as no surprise that the origin of many English place-names is a complicated one.

Although the study of place-names is a development of modern scholarship, interest in the subject can be traced back as early as the 8th century in England when the Venerable Bede (673-735 AD) included Latin explanations of some of the place-names he mentions in his ‘Ecclesiastical History of the English People’, completed in 731 AD.

The study of place-names is based on a patient and careful collection of as many early spellings of a given name as possible. Even so, it would be wrong to simply regard the study of place-names as the sole preserve of linguists. Today, it owes much to the fields of social and economic history, historical geography and archaeology.

Place-names of Celtic, and even pre-Celtic origin (some of which still survive), were already in use before the coming of the Anglo-Saxons in the second half of the 5th century. By the time of the Norman Conquest in 1066, the vast majority of our old place-names, whether of cities, towns, villages, parishes or even farms, were in existence. Because many of our place- names are so old it is necessary to trace the forms back to the earliest possible date and thereby the earliest spelling if we are to fully understand their meaning. Unfortunately, this is not as easy as it sounds. During this period, our shores suffered a multitude of foreign invasions, and therefore today’s place-names derive from a variety of languages including pre-British, British, Latin, Old English, Old Norse and Norman French. The situation is further complicated by the fact that comparatively few spellings from pre-conquest times have survived, mainly because of the loss of early documents.

Above: Venerable Bede writing the Ecclesiastical History of the English People, from a 12th-century codex at Engelberg Abbey, Switzerland (by e.codices, Public Domain)

Place-names, whatever their origin, can be divided into two principal types; habitative and topographical. The first type denotes inhabited places such as farmsteads, enclosures or villages. These habitative place-names can usually be split into two parts. In names of this type, the second element usually describes the kind of habitation, while the first may be a descriptive word. For example, Higham (‘high homestead’), or Woodborough (‘stronghold by the wood’). In other forms, the first element may actually be a person’s name, such as Ragnall (‘Ragni’s hill’), or the name of a tribe or group of people, as is the case of Beckingham (‘the homestead of Becca’s people’).

The second type of place-names consisted originally of a description of some topographic feature, such as a hill, wood or stream. Examples include Blackburn (‘dark stream’) and Greenhill. More local examples included East and West Leake which are situated on the banks of a small stream that joins the River Soar at Kingston. In this case, both names derive from the old Norse word ‘loekr’. A further example is that of Eakring. The name here comes from a compound of Old Norse ‘eik’ (oak) and ‘hringr’ (ring or circle), and may have originally referred to a circle of oak trees.

Unlike the name Eakring, which as been with us for around a thousand years, Spion Kop (near Warsop) is a relatively recent settlement which takes its name from the 1900 battle of Spion Kop, which took place in South Africa during the Second Boer War (1899-1902). ‘Kop’ is an Afrikaans word meaning ‘look-out hill’ and is therefore c17th Dutch in origin.

It should come as no surprise that the name Eakring is Scandinavian in origin, as Notts was one of the earliest parts of England occupied by Viking invaders. Nottingham, along with Derby, Leicester, Stamford, and Lincoln, formed one of the Five Boroughs of the Danelaw, an area of England subject to Danish Law and recognised by King Alfred of Wessex who signed a treaty with Guthrum, leader of the Danes, in 886 AD. For those of you interested in discovering the Viking origins of some of Nottinghamshire’s place-names here are some of the most common Scandinavian elements used in English place-names.

This fascinating articles originates from our Winter 1998 Heritage Newsletter:

It was the builders, early in the eighteenth century who started the charming practice of placing semi-circular fanlights over their front doors. At first these were of wrought iron, lead, or wood; Robert Adam used wrought iron with delicate enrichments in copper or brass for splendid country houses. But soon he, and his brothers James and John, were all devising fanlights intended for mass production, so that it was not long before cast iron captured this market; some of the designs were very light and dreary.

Wood was used for the glazing bars of fanlights in the early eighteenth century, but by the 1740’s the call for elaborate shapes, difficult to make in timber, gave rise to the use of leaded metal fanlights. During the 1770’s the decorative ideas of Robert Adam had spread to even quite modest houses and the use of leaded fanlights with delicate radiating tracery enabled multitudes to make a show of keeping in fashion. The years 1780 to 1810 were the high point in fanlight making, both for popularity and for elaboration in design. It was in this period that the specialist trade of Fanlight Maker started, including Underwood, Bottomley, and Hamble of High Holborn; in 1793 a partner of this firm, Joseph Bottomley published his influential book of designs.

The trade of Fanlight Maker (and repairer) has been revived in recent times by one man, John Sambrook of Northiam, East Sussex. His fanlights are careful copies of authentic designs made in the traditional way with leadwork soldered to a metal armature and glass fixed in putty. The whole essence of an elegant Regency fanlight with its ‘spider web’ pattern is delicacy, and the most frequent modern mistake in painting them is to carry the white paint over on to the glass far too much, making the fine bars look heavy and clumsy.

This wonderful articles comes from our Summer 1999 Heritage Newsletter:

The summer months are an appropriate time to catalogue the air photograph collection held in the HER. Cropmarks appearing in the fields of the county at this time of year can add greatly to our knowledge of Nottinghamshire’s past. Often these cropmarks reveal sites and features that cannot be discovered through other types of investigation. Cropmarks show as variations in colour which highlight areas where the crop has grown or ripened at different rates. So how have peoples’ activities created these cropmarks?

There are two types of cropmark that can form (see illustration above). In the first case, a buried feature, such as the remains of a wall or foundations of a building, can affect the make up of the soil in that area and cause it to be better drained. This means that the crops in this area are receiving less water than those in the rest of the field. Therefore, they grow slower and ripen quicker. These buried features show as yellow lines of ripe crop in an otherwise unripe green field.

Secondly, features cut into the ground, such as ditches and pits, usually retain more moisture than the rest of the surrounding crop due to the nature of the material that has filled the features over time. The material washed into the holes tend to contain more organic material than the surrounding soil and so holds more moisture. This means that the crops will grow quicker in the spring and show as darker green lines in a green field. Then, as the crop ripens in the summer, the plants over the ditches have more water and are later to ripen, showing as green lines in ripe cereals.

Cropmarks can give us a wealth of information about archaeology of many different periods. Aerial photographs of cropmarks in the Muskham area, for example, show vast areas of land marked out with complex field system and possible settlement sites that may date from the Iron Age and Roman periods. We would know a great deal less about the county’s past if it were not for this perspective from the air.

This wonderful article was first published in our Summer 1998 Heritage Newsletter:

We owe much to the Ancient Greeks and the Romans, even in Nottinghamshire (the Greeks they didn’t get a far as Britain in their conquering days – too cold for their sunny dispositions). But did you know, for example, that we owe them for the columns that adorn many buildings around us?

The Greeks originally used columns to make their public buildings more majestic such as their temples and government offices. How many of us have seen pictures of the glamorous Parthenon in Athens? It can be said that the Ancient Greeks refined the systems of the orders originally begun by the Egyptians and arrived at works of architecture of rare beauty.

What constitutes an order? It’s the entire column, consisting of the base, the shaft, and the capital, plus the entablature above, meaning the areas above the column including the frieze. Each order is slightly different. Please remember, these are Greek orders, and are different again from the Roman orders, as the Romans later copied the Greek ideas.

The simplest of columns is the Doric order. This order has no base and the column shaft as placed immediately on the top step of the building. It has a fluted shaft, tapering towards the top, with a simply curved capital under a square block. The frieze has divisions, known as triglyphs and metopes, one often decorated with sculpture.

The Ionic order is further enriched with sculpture. The capitals are the most recognisable features, ornamented with four spiral projections (known as volutes or ears), arranged to exhibit a flat face on the two opposite sides of the capital. The entablature is either left plain or decorated with a continuous sculptured frieze.

The Corinthian order was the most decorated, the capital being ornamented in a variety of ways, usually with figures or foliage plus similar volutes to the Ionic order.

And why are these so important to English architecture? In the late eighteenth century, travel to Greece and Rome became fashionable and a deep interest in the ancient forms of architecture arose. This was also influenced by archaeological discoveries at this time, such as at Pompeii, and by the removal of the Elgin Marbles from Athens to London, where the noble simplicity and serene grandeur was admired and therefore copied. The resulting form of architecture is known as the neo-classical style.

Above: Doric orders on the Roman style seat alcove at the Roman Temple Garden, Clumber Park, Worksop

Look out in the towns of Nottinghamshire, for examples of the Classical orders, both Greek and Roman, the difference mainly being that Roman orders tend not to have fluted columns. What is the most popular order that you can see?

This interesting piece comes form our Summer 1999 Heritage newsletter:

The year 1649 saw the trial and execution of Charles I, a monarch who had strong connections with Nottinghamshire during the English Civil War, especially Newark and Southwell. Centuries later, the start of the 21st century saw the climax of the anniversary celebration of events across the whole of the country, for groups involved in Civil War re-enactment – people who in their thousands recreate the life and battles of the 17th century. Events began in 1992, with the raising of the King’s Standard at Nottingham Castle, and the people of Nottingham continued to participate in events just as they did in the actual conflict, following in their ancestors’ footsteps!

Many people may have heard of Lucy Hutchinson, who wrote a famous set of memoirs describing the life of her husband John. John Hutchinson was the governor of Nottingham Castle, which was held by the Parliamentarians during the war. But as his portrait shows, he looked a long way from the stereotypical Roundhead! John Hutchinson, who lived in Owthorpe before the war, took control of the city at the start of the war and became Governor in the summer of 1643. He was also given charge of a regiment of foot soldiers. 3 companies of ‘Nottingham’ infantry took part in the Second siege of Newark, and these were probably soldiers from Hutchinson’s own regiment, based at Nottingham Castle.

Hutchinson was also present in 1646, when Newark – the last major Royalist garrison in the region – surrendered to the Scots in May. The Royalist governor at the time was Sir John Belasyse. His own personal regiment, again of foot, also took part in the summer of 1642, again from Nottinghamshire men, and also by soldiers from Yorkshire. It was part of the ‘Oxford Army’, the main Royalist field army, and fought in many of the major engagements of the First civil war, up to Naseby, in Northamptonshire, in 1645.

In various major re-enactment societies today, both these regiments still exist, Hutchinson’s being in the historically correct ‘Northern Association’ – echoing a group of counties that were brigaded together in Parliamentarian organisation over 375 years ago. Belasyse’s also exist, wearing all-blue uniforms that we know were worn by the ‘Oxford Army’, and carrying the colours that research has shown as being most likely those carried by their forbearers.

Maybe today, within these recreated regiments, there exists people who are the descendants of the soldiers of Nottinghamshire, who fought for different reasons beneath different flags, over 375 years ago!