TOPOGRAPHICAL ETYMOLOGY. 81 
where there is every reason to believe was placed the 
old HaTcH or GATE to the unenclosed forest ; we have, 
stretehing on our right, the Blagdon hills; on the very 
spine of which the practiced eye of the antiquary (in 
spite of the thick and rapid growth of the plantation) may 
yet recognize the deep foss of Castle Neroche—a fine 
encampment, well deserving of the attention it has lately 
received from one of our most experienced and successful 
antiquarians. NEROCHE is so Norman in its sound, that 
I long thought its meaning would be got at only through 
the French. Had it stood near or upon a rock, LE ROCHE 
would naturally occur as the probably original form of the 
name. There being no such physical characteristie ; and, 
which is of equal importance, the name prevalent among 
the peasantry of the neighbourhood being CAstLE RachH, 
we are necessarily led to seek in some other source for its 
true meaning. Having been in the habit, on principle, of 
giving the preference to those forms of the names of 
places which are preserved by the peasantry of the neigh- 
bourhood, it was with no small pleasure I found this 
prineiple confirmed, by the reference to this place, in 
the “ Perambulations of the Royal Forests,” made by the 
command of Edward I. The part which applies to our 
subject opens as “ Perambulatio forest de Nerachist, in 
Comitatu Somerset.” In this there is reference made to a 
former Charter of Henry, the father of Edward, which 
relates—“‘ De forresta videlicet :—quidam mons qui vocatur 
Castrum de Rachich.”* Taking this as an approximation 
to the more ancient form of the name, I am disposed to 
regard it as derived from RuaAg, or RHAc, which signifies 
in Welch, “that which is uppermost,” as the spine of a 
quadruped : and Castell-Ruac would thus be the camp on 
* See Phelps’ History of Somerset, vol. I, p. 45. 
1854, PART II. L 
