137 



Thorns naturally lead us to Gorse and Furze. There is a hill 

 near Lansdown called Frizen Hill, now generally corrupted to 

 Freezing Hill, and believed to be so named as being the coldest 

 part of Cold Ashton, iu which parish it lies. I was sorry to see 

 this mistake perpetuated in two publications of great authority, 

 the " Ordnance Survey " and the " Proceedings of the Bath 

 Field Club " * — for it is a mistake. Frizen, or Frysen, is merely 

 the old form of furzen, and within the memory of man the hill 

 was an open hill covered with Furze, and I have conversed with 

 men who helped to grub up the furze that gave the name and 

 enclose the land, and a lane leading from it is called Corse Lane. 



I know of no place near Bath named after fruits. In some 

 parts the Apple has given a name to a few places, but not here. 

 The nearest approach is such a name as Orchardleigh. 



But we have places named from the Vine — not parishes, but 

 fields. I believe there is no parish named from the Vine, but 

 there are many places that have Vines and Vineyards. Bath is 

 one, and the position of the Bath Vineyards, facing due south, 

 with full protection behind and a warm brashy soil, must have 

 been the best possible for the growth of the Vine. At 

 Claverton there is another, and I have to thank Mr. Skrine, not 

 only for showing me the old position, iu some respects almost 

 better than the Bath one, but also for giving me much interesting 

 history connected with it. Vineyards have now gone from Bath, 

 as they have from other parts of England ; but I am sure that a 

 search into the names of fields in many parishes round Bath 

 would bring to light the former existence of many old Vineyards. 

 It is the same with hops. The time was when it paid the farmer 

 to grow his own hops, and in many parishes there are fields 

 called Hop Gardens (there is one at Bitton), but the cultiva- 

 tion ceased to pay when it was cheaper to buy hops grown on 

 more favourable soils. 



Of more humble plants I can only name the nettle as giving 



* Vol. iv., p. 290. 



