67 



Easby and Ingleby. but part in Ingloby and part in Broughton." 

 I replied that the o iginal Aystangarthes in all probability 

 adjoined both Broughton and Easby By return of post he said, 

 " The Broughton part of Aystangarthes was in Little Broughton, 

 which, (unless I am mis-informed) does not extend to the Easby 

 'marches '." To this I responded that thi' Broughton adjoining 

 Easby luas Little Broughton. Atkinson, however, rightly or 

 wrongly, eventually gave up his opinion that in the name 

 Aystangarthes there was probably latent a very interesting bit 

 of old history, and came to the conclusion that it was simply due 

 to a personal name. On January 27th, 1896, he wrote pointing 

 out that the place-name Asenby, in the parish of Topcliffe, is in 

 Domesday written Estanesbi, and later Aystenby, Estanby, 

 Aystanby. The old Scandinavian personal name Eysteinn is 

 common enough in old records, sagas, etc., and no less than a 

 dozen men of this name are chronicled in the Landnamabok 

 alone. It was no wonder if two or three persons of the name 

 found their way into England, and gave their names to their 

 lands. " Thus Aystandale, even with the (as we call it now- 

 adays) ' cockney ' li stuck on to it, is fully accounted for." 



In the early days of the year 1890, in the course of a 

 correspondence regarding the meaning of local place names, I 

 called Atkinson's attention to the names " Burrow Greens " and 

 " Castle Hills " occurring in the township of Easby. He replied, 

 January 14th, 1890, " I have long been perplexed over the 

 Castle Hills as well as Burrow Greens. There must have been 

 (if no traces are extant) a considerable earthwork there — and 

 likely analogous to Levington 'Castle.'" A while afterwards, on 

 making an excursion to the place, I discovered that an earthwork 

 still existed these in a remarkably perfect state of preservation. 

 This I described in the " Yorkshire Weekly Post." Atkinson 

 was greatly interested and visited the spot at least three times 

 in spite of his increasing infirmities. He also proceeded to 

 make pilgrimages to other earthworks of like character of which 

 he subsequently gave some account in the " Weekly Post." 



Referring to the Easby earthwork he said, " It is of the 

 same description, and aj^proximately of the same date, as the 

 so-called Castle from wliich Castle Levington takes its name ;" 

 and in a communication to a member of the Cleveland Field 

 Club, he says : " The day I was able to join the excursion party 

 at Kildale, a few weeks ago, I succeeded in getting measurements 

 of the Easby Castle Hill, which is a singularly interesting 

 analogue of the Castle Levington ditto, for they are both on 

 the verge of an exceedingly steep bankside, and have also had, 



