216 Essay Introductory to the Archaeology of the fVest of England. 



have altered into Acs or Acsc, Eacs or Eax, Ox, or Ux j hence we have Acemannes 

 Cester, city of Bath ; Acsanminster, Axminster ; Exceaster, Exeter ; Exanmuth, 

 Exmouth ; Oxnaford, Oxford ; Uxbridge, etc. 



Alcester Alauna Exeter Isca 



Burchester Vinovium Gloucester Glevum 



Bere Iberium Ilchester Ischalis 



Bangor Banchorium London Londin 



Cambridge Camboritum Lincoln Linduru 



Caerwent Venta Silurum Manchester Mancunium 



Catterick Cattaractonis Neath Nidum 



Caermarthen Maridunum Reculver Regulbium 



Dorchester Durnovaria AVinchester Venta Belgarum, etc. 



Dover Dubris 



The Romans also retained the names of many of the old roads : such are Ryckield 

 Street, Ermyn Street, Ikeman Street. 



We annex a few of the most common Celtic geographical names or parts of names. 

 H^n, old; Maes, a plain ; V en, a head ; Din or Tin, a fortified mount. Thus Din- 

 bren in Denbigh, Tin Sylny and Tin jEthny in Anglesey, are townships containing 

 fortified hills. The word is now obsolete, but it seems to be of similar origin with, 

 or possibly to have given rise to, the Latin Dinum, Dunum, Dinium, so common 

 over Gaul and Britain, and the Welsh ' Dinas,' a city or fortress. Ychel-dhin, ax- 

 elodunum, Bryn-dhin, Brannodunum, Kam-dhyn, Cainbo-dunum. 



Dhu, black; Bri, Bre, Vre, at/ill; Khyn, a promontory ; Ard, high; hence, pro- 

 bably. Garth, Harlech or Ard-lech, high rock; Drim, a hack; hence Trim or Drim, 

 a ridge; Traeth, a sandy shore covered at high ivater ; Tal, a front ; Blaen, the head 

 of a combe; Sarn, a causeway ; Coed, a wood; Dol, a holme ; Llan, a level spot ; used 

 secondarily in Welsh for a church; Llyn, a grove. 



Out of 45 parishes in Great Britain, whose names commence with Hen, 32 are in 

 England, 13 in Wales, including Monmouth and Hereford. Bod, 8 in England, 9 in 

 Wales. Tal, 7 in England, 71 in Wales. Aber, 2 in Yorkshire, 20 in Wales, 14 in 

 Scotland. Pen, 52 Wales, 5 Scotland, 41 England. Llan, 2 Salop, 431 Wales. 

 Eglwys, 7 Wales. Ac or Ak, 31 England, 2 Wales. Bettws, 3 England, 13 Wales. 

 Kir, 52 Yorkshire, 8 Westmoreland, 9 Northumberland, 12 Cumberland, 29 rest of 

 England, 33 Scotland. Most of the southern names commence with Kir ; those of 

 the north with Kirk. Kil, 37 England, 52 Scotland, 9 Wales. 



The mountains, lakes, rivers, counties, villages, towns, churches, in Ireland, are 

 for the most part Celtic. Some are English, such as Lanesborough, Hillsborough, 

 Newtown, Newcastle; some mixed, as Lifford, Banfoot, Abbey-feal. 



The terminations ' ey' for island, and ' ster,' Ul-ster, are said to be Scandinavian. 



Chalmers states that out of 3,842 topographical names in Ireland, 3,028 are Gaelic, 

 171 mixed, 623 English, and 20, chiefly of border lands or islands, Scandinavian. 



In the isle of Anglesey, there are 82 ecclesiastical divisions, rectories, vicaridges, 

 and chapelries ; of these the names of 79 are pure Celtic, of 2 English, and of 1 bar- 

 barous Latin. Of the Celtic, however, very many are evidently modern, as they are 

 composed of Llan, church, with usually the name of the patron saint as an adjunct. 

 In one case Eglwys is used as a termination. 



The two English names are Newborough and Holyhead. The one Latin-French 

 is Beaumaris, the church of which is dedicated to the " blessed Mary." 



The prefix Llan occurs 66 times. In 56 cases the name of the patron saint is the 

 adjunct. In composition Mary becomes Vair, Var, Varn ; Michael, Hangel, or "the 

 angel ;" Patric, Badric ; Peter, Bedar, etc. 



