8 



smaller eminence, is Ilo7v^ from the O.N. haugr. Though generally 

 used in reference to a smaller hill, it is in one or two cases, such 

 as Silver How, applied to one of considerable height. It is often 

 coupled with a personal name, Scandinavian or otherwise, for 

 which there may be two reasons. It was a custom among the 

 Northmen, as we learn from Icelandic records, for a man to have 

 a "how" near his house, so that from the top of it he could 

 survey his farm and see what was going on (rather an easy-going 

 kind of inspection, it would seem to us, for one of such an 

 energetic race). This, then, might be one reason why the word is 

 so often coupled with a personal name, though probably not the 

 principal one. The term "how" was applied to the mound of 

 earth that was raised over the grave of any man of consequence, 

 and in most cases in our district it seems probable that the name 

 is commemorative of the chieftain who was buried there. Hence 

 we have Lowden How, Gunner's How (sometimes incorrectly 

 Gummer's How on the maps), Scout How, and Torpenhow. 

 Lowden is from the Scandinavian man's-name Lodinn, signifying 

 " shaggy," and it is noteworthy that though the name Lowden is 

 not a common one in England generally, it is one that still 

 flourishes in the surrounding district, being, among others, that of 

 a mighty wrestler, who does not disgrace his Scandinavian ances- 

 tors. Torpenhow has been derived from three words, tor, pen, 

 and how, all signifying, though in different languages, a height. 

 But, I think, that the name is derived most naturally from the 

 Danish Thorfinn, whence, as supposed, came the name of the 

 noted Dick Turpin, out of whom the civilization of centuries had 

 not eradicated the predatory instincts of his ancestors. The 

 name, I may observe, is found in its more correct form in 

 Thorfinssty, from sti, a foot-path. There are some other cases in 

 which "how" is found in conjunction with a name not dis- 

 tinctively Scandinavian, and one, Hunting How, where if a man's 

 name at all (which I rather suppose it to be) it may be either 

 Anglo-Saxon or Danish. 



In the neighbouring county of Northumberland our word how 

 changes into haugh, whence the name Featherstonhaugh, repre- 



