OF ANGLO-SAXON DERIVATION. 343 
village hill, (or cross-ways hill,) whereas the common spelling is 
either unmeaning or worse, that is to say, ludicrous. Some of 
the various places called Ryle, were once Rye-hill, others Rye- 
hall. (See Hall.) 
Down,—don, A.S., dun, a height, or ridge of uplands, like the 
downs along the South Coast, also sometimes a detached hill or 
elevation. This word occurs in Brandon, Heddon, Lumsdon, 
Fawdon, Biddlesdon, Humbledon, Halidon, Boldon, Marsdon, 
(that is MWeres-dun, equivalent to Sea-down,) Cleedon, (formerly 
Clivedon.) 
Sometimes we cannot easily decide, even from ancient muni- 
ments, whether a locality has received its appellation from a 
Down, or from the very different feature, designated in Anglo- 
Saxon times a den; for the best account of which I would refer 
the reader to Mr. Kemble’s “ Saxons in England.” 
In other instances, there is room for doubt whether the ane 
stantive element has been originally don, or, on the other hand, 
merely ton, or town. In the case of Hmbleton, (in Bamborough 
Ward,) written also, in old documents, Hmldon, (an ancient 
township and parochial centre, situated at the foot of an eminence 
or down,) it is highly probable that the name might fluctuate be- 
tween the two forms, even from the early times when the spot 
first fell into Saxon hands. In regard to the first, or definitive 
element, there can be little doubt that it represents the appella- 
tion of the founder, or first settler of the dominant race, or, 
{through the loss of a patronymic syllable,) the family name of 
his descendants. 
Law, A.S. hlew, a heap, barrow, mound, or seputeral hillock ; 
in a secondary sense probably, a natural knoll or elevation. 
The Laws, in Northumberland, are often high conical hills, but 
these were, in numerous instances, surmounted by artificial bar- 
rows or cairns; which last may have been the feature to which the 
name referred, since, in other localities, the site constitutes a 
mere gentle rising. 
Lye, in his Anglo-Saxon dictionary, observes that from hlcew 
or hlaw are derived the names of places terminated by low, as 
Houndslow, Ludlow, Winslow, Merlow; and these appear to have 
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