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distinction to trees planted by the band of man. In reference to 

 Eossendale, tbe word Forest was probably taken from the 

 German forst or the Norman-French, fores, a forest ; and we 

 know that the district was j)laced, after the Conquest, under the 

 strict Norman Royal Forest Laws. That Eossendale corres- 

 ponded, in its earlier days, to the description of forest, just given, 

 the names occurring in its various parts, will clearly show. The 

 etymology of " Eossendale " has been the subject of considerable 

 controversy. Dr. Whitaker, in his erudite history of Whalley, 

 after suggesting the Cymric or Welsh Celtic word rhos, which 

 he says means " a bottom," abandons it, and adopts the russet, 

 or reddish-brown colour of the native herbage, as giving origin 

 to the name. Rhos means however, a moor, not "a bottom," 

 or valley. The first syllable Eoss, (Ehos) then points out the 

 district as Moorland. The second syllable en or an in the Irish 

 or Gaelic Celtic, means water, and in the form of in, means " the 

 country," and like an and ain, is an intensitive particle. " Eossen " 

 then, means " a very watery moorland country." Again in the 

 Irish Celtic, Ros means, among other things, " a grove, a wood," 

 and Rosan, "a shrub," hence, if this be admissible, Rossen becomes, 

 in addition to its other characteristics, " a woody land." Add to 

 these, the Norse dol, "a valley," in its Northumbrian form. Dale, 

 and the district of the Forest of Eossendale becomes " the 

 Country of the Woodjj Moorland- Dale." 



As the names of Hills and Elvers, are not only the oldest, 

 but the most permanent, we shall now take up the hills in order, 

 beginning at the South West corner of the range which roughly 

 bounds the district ; and first on the list is Cribdon, Cridden or 

 Cribdun. Crib, in the Welsh Celtic, means a sharp ridge, and is 

 frequently applied to hills in Wales, which present the lo7i[i, 

 hotise-ridge-lihe appearance of Cribdon. Dun, and Don, both 

 mean hill, the former, "a fortified house or hill, a fortress, a 

 fastness, a city." Dun is piire Gadhelic Celtic, and Don, Celto- 

 Saxon, meaning the same as Dun a hill fort, but, ultimately, 

 both were applied to hills, whether fortified or not. Cribdon 

 then, means " the narrow or sharp-ridyed hill." 



A little further North stands Hameldon Hill, which was, 

 probably, the hill fort, and the burial place of a Scandinavian 

 Viking of the name of Hamill. The etymology of Hameldon is, 

 however, to me, very obscure, so far as the first two syllables are 

 concerned. The word Hill after HamehZon, is, evidently, a tau- 

 tological redundancy, added by a people who had lost the 

 meaning of don. With regard to Hameldon being the burial 

 place of Hamill, it is worthy of notice that, on the Northern 

 slope of the hill, there is a good sized Mound, known as " Little 

 Hameldon," which is clearly a Barrow, with a smaller twin 

 barrow near it, as is often the case where a chief has been buried. 



