10 SECOND FIELD MEETING. 
“ Whattles” and “ Thropples,” in which this good old ending has: 
reached the last shape of corruption, and the whole word has: 
been utterly debased. 
The name of Ovingham, itself, belongs to a very interesting 
class of names, indicating the homes or abodes of particular 
Anglo-Saxon families ;—in this case, it is the home of the Offings, or 
sons and daughters of Offa, whosoever that patriarch may have 
been. The Anglo-Saxon word would be Offinga-ham; literally, 
“of the Offings the home.” ‘There is an excellent early English 
spelling of this name, among others of like structure, in the old 
records called the Pipe-roll and the Ecclesiastical Inquests, which 
well represents our pronounciation of the soft g in such cases, al- 
though in most other parts of England that letter would be hard. 
When written Ovingeham, as we may find it in the old national 
documents, etymology and actual pronunciation are at once con- 
ciliated. 
Before endings in ton like Ovington, though the meaning of the 
first part of the word is the same, a different analogy prevails and 
the common spelling is as correct, as in Ovingham for Ovingeham 
it is inaccurate. Just over the water is Eltringeham, the well- 
chosen abode of the Eldrings or offspring of some patriarchal settler 
called Eldric or Eldred, who no doubt had an eye to fish and 
fowl as well as to the picturesque. 
I trust that the meeting will forgive this passing digression, 
which has been made partly in the hope of inducing some anti- 
quarian brothers to come and wander over the country with us 
next summer. 
SECOND FIELD MEETING. 
3rd May, 1846. 
The second field meeting was held at the pleasant village of 
Shotley Bridge. The party breakfasted at that place, and then 
proceeded up the Derwent to the Snape, visiting the Sil- 
ver-tongue lead mine in their way. On an eminence over- 
