230 



A HISTORY OF LONGRIDGE. 



[Chap. H. 



But the best modern authorities give an altogether difierent 

 derivation of the word Goosnargh. The Rov. J. Davies, Monsignor 

 Gradwell, and other writers, ' say that the word is derived from the 

 name of a Scandinavian hero, and from the A.S. hearh, O.H.G. 

 haruc, and old Norse horgr. The following learned derivation of the 

 latter part of the word "Goosnargh" wiU be useful: '■'Horgr [A.S. 

 hearg : O.G.H. haruc] a heathen place of worship. Distinction is to 

 be made between hnf (temple) and horg ; the hof was a house of timber, 

 whereas the horg was an altar of stone erected on high places, or a 

 sacrificial cairn (like haugr) buUt in the open air, and without images, 

 for the horg itself was to be stained with the blood of the sacrifice ; 

 hence such phrases as to ' break ' the horg, but to ' burn ' the 

 temple."' 



The true meaning, then, of the word Goosnargh appear to be "the 

 Sacrificial Cairn of an old hero." 



As will be seen from the map on which the course the Roman roads 

 took is traced, the roid from Ribchester to Lancaster, after passing the 

 river Loud, ran for three miles through Goosnargh, crossed over 

 Beacon Fell on the Eastern side, and then dipped down to the river 

 Brock, passing close by Windy Arbour. 



Mr. Cookson, in his Goosnargh, Past and Present, states that 

 there are no Roman roads passing through Goosnargh, a statement 

 quite erroneous, as may be seen from the map of the district on which 

 the Roman roads are traced. 



In the Domesday Book, Goosnargh (Gusanarghe), had one carucate 

 ratable to the gelt, Whittiugham (Witingeham),' two carueates ; and 

 Newsham' (Neuheuse), two carueates. There must have been a great 

 deal of forest and morass in the district at the time. 



'Both Professor Blackie and Dr. 

 Taylor fight shy (apparently), of 

 tackling the derivation of "argh'" 



''Icelandic-English Dictionary. — R. 

 Cleasby and G. Vigfusaon. Oxford, 

 1874. 



'The derivation of Whittingham and 

 Newsham appears to be : Ham, Heim, 

 Hjem, Heim (Teut. & Scand. i, a home 

 or family re.sidence ; literally, a place of 

 shelter, from heimen, Ger. {to cover), 

 hama, A.S. (a covering), cognate with 



the Greek "heima;" and Witing, pro- 

 bably the name of a Saxon clan, or a 

 Scandinarian hero. The mearung of 

 Whittinghnm is, then, the home of the 

 Witing.s. 



The meaning of Newsham appears to 

 be "the new home" from Ger. New., 

 cognate with the Lat. Novus, and the 

 Greek Neos. 



Dr. Taylor's observations on the 

 sufJi.x " ham " are extremely interesting. 



