Place-Names 105 



the old course of the Nene, here once known as hradan ea "the wide river". 

 The extensive area known as Byall Fen was formerly called Byee from a 

 river which formerly flowed across the fen from Chatteris to Downham.' 

 Very common, too, are the terms lode and gate (meaning some kind of 

 stream), ditch, delph, used of an artificial watercourse, and lake, "a sluggish 

 stream". 



Of the numerous fenland meres, Whittlesey Mere and Soham Mere 

 were probably the largest. But the names of others survive, and many 

 more are lost. With the draining of the fens, these meres became marshland 

 and now often appear as moors. Redmoor was "the reed-mere", Gosmoor 

 was frequented by geese, and Foulmire was the home of wild fowl. 

 Fisheries, too, were common, and were called ireirs as at Upware. There 

 are many references also to landing-places, or hyfhes, not always easy to 

 recognise in their modern form, e.g. Horseway, Willey, Aldreth, S wavesey, 

 and Witcham Hive. The old industries of the fens, digging for peat 

 (always called turf by the fen folk), the cutting of sedge for thatch, and 

 the growth of fodder for catde, are commemorated in the common names 

 Turf Fen, Sedge Fen, Fodder Fen, and Mow Fen. The Joist Fen at Water- 

 beach was one in which catde were agisted, i.e. allowed to feed for a fixed 

 rate per head. 



Many fenland names owe their origin to the exigencies of draining or 

 commemorate the reclaimers of the fens. Adventurers' Land and The 

 Undertakers represent part of the land assigned to the Earl of Bedford 

 (after whom the Bedford Level is named) and his associates in return for 

 their undertaking, and adventuring upon, their immense task.^ "The Lots" 

 preserve a common term "the lot or dole" used of the allotment of land 

 in the fens, while Lockspit Hall owes its name to the lockspits or small 

 trenches used to divide these lots. Cradge Bank was so called because it 

 was backed with clay to prevent water from trickling through. Stampfen 

 Drove, Gravel Dike, and The Stacks, preserve local names for "letts or 

 impediments hindring the fall of the waters". Other terms of interest are 

 found, particularly in names now lost, but with these there is not space to 

 deal. Sufficient evidence has, however, been given in this brief and in- 

 complete survey to show that the place-names of Cambridgesliire and the 

 Isle of Ely are full of interest and that the nomenclature of each locality has 

 its peculiar characteristics. 



' This is marked on Saxton's Map of Cambridgeshire (iii W. Camden's Britannia, 

 1607) as Thefyrth dyck, so called, no doubt, from Doddington Frith. 

 * For "Undertaker" and "Adventurer" see p. i8i below. 



