74 PLACE AND FIELD NAMES OF DERBYSHIRE. 
not unfrequently, in Jater times gave the name to the house, 
or houses, which had sprung up in their shade. Thus we find 
Barrow Ortp Em, THe AsH Cross, Cuirr AsH, LITTLE Oak, 
Broap Oak, ONE ASH GRANGE, THREE BIRCHES, GOSPEL ELM, 
two SHIREOAKS (one near Glossop, and the other near Belper), 
and many other names of. similar import. Coppock refers to 
the oak on the cop, or top of the hill, and Cuappock and 
CHARNOCK point out the trees which respectively bounded the 
lands of Chad and Cerdic. GospEL ELM, in the parish of 
Church Broughton, possesses a peculiar interest. The parochial 
boundaries, which, for the most part, marked the limits of the 
jurisdiction assigned to the founder of the church, were some- 
times distinguished by stones or crosses, but more often by 
trees. These trees were called Gospel trees, because it was the 
custom once a year for the Priest with his parishioners to 
make a procession to the boundaries, and (zz/er alia) to read 
the Gospel for the day under or near them. The ceremony 
took place during Rogation-tide. Queen Elizabeth’s Injunctions 
of 1559 ordered that this pious custom should not cease. In 
many places the parish perambulation degenerated into a purely 
civil ceremony, but it is now being gradually revived in several 
districts by the Church, with all the ancient rites. 
«<___ Tearest, bury me 
Under that Holyoke, or Gospel tree ; 
Where (though thou see’st not) thou may’st think upon 
Me, when thou yeerly gos’t Procession.” 
GospiIn Knowi (T.C. North Winfield) is a corruption of 
Gospel knowl or hill, which, doubtless, was so called from 
being a boundary of a similar nature, and the GosPEL STONE, 
near the village of Hathersage, must have served for a like pur- 
pose. In the latter village local tradition speaks of the recent 
existence of two other Gospel Stones, which were placed near 
the limits of the township.* There are several other Gospel 
Closes marked on different parish maps of the county. 
* On this subject see Shaw, Hist. of Staffordshire, vol. i. p. 165. Brand, 
Popular Antiquities, vol. i. p. 170. Fosbrooke, Antiquities, vol. ii. p. 467. 
