32 TEESDALE PLACE-NAMES. 



" Carr^ a wood or grove on a moist soil, generally of alders." 

 Forby, Yocab. East Anglia. 



It is interesting to find the Scandinavian meaning of this word 

 continuing in East and West Yorkshire and in East Anglia — 

 parts of the Danelagh. 



There were in pre-railway times Morden Carrs and others in 

 Durham, and there was a Prestwick Carr in Northumberland, 

 marshy places with pools of water of various sizes and depths, 

 and liable to be flooded in rainy seasons. They were the resort 

 of all kinds of water birds, and the habitats of rare plants and 

 insects. They have been drained and improved to the discour- 

 agement of naturalists, and for the benefit of the landowners 

 who have cultivated them, or the railway companies whose lines 

 run through them. 



The A.-S. carr, a rock, scar. North Country carroch, of Bos- 

 worth, and the carr, rupes, scopulus, petra, of Lye, convey a very 

 different meaning from the Scandinavian hjarr or carr, which in 

 North and East England is followed. 



The A.-S. and South English carr answers to our scar, or broken 

 bank, rugged face of a rock, such as is often left by a landslip. 



In Celtic tongues we find corn, earn, a rock, a rocky place, a 

 high rock, shelf in the sea, a heap of stones. Carrag, a stone 

 or rock. 



Wei. carreg, carrec ; Arm. earrec ; Gael, carraig, curragh ; 

 Manx carric ; Gr. x"P"^- 



The Icel. and Dan. hjarr and kjcer, have left their impression 

 on popular English speech in the South of England and in 

 Dublin. In the latter place it is heard in the mouths of the 

 car men, who call their car hjar or hiar. The gearden of the 

 South of England is from the A.-S. geard, a hedge, garden, &c., 

 fr. gyrdan, to gird, bind round. 



Examples : — 



Carr's Hill — from a personal name. 



Goldsborough Carr — marshy ground near Gulesburg, q^.v. 



Ore Carr— where lead ore was found. 



The Old Carrs — ? never drained. 



Selaby Carrs — low lying wet ground near Selaby. 



