84 TEESDALE PLACE-NAMES. 



riem. gracM, canal, fosse, graf, tomb, grop, fosse, groef, mine, 

 cave, holenmijn, coal pit ; graven, to dig. 



Wei. ^05, from Lat. fossa, claivclcl, camlas, ditch, fosse, ' pwll 

 ^/o,' coal pit. ^ret. pouU-glaou. ib. 



Corn, gravio, from Engl, grave, to carve, engrave, hwel-glow, 

 a coal pit, a mine; Mod. ivheal, e.g. Wheal Basset, i.e. Basset 

 Mine ; Manx ny lioolgyn, the pits. 



Lat, fodina, puteus, fossa, pit, mine, well, fosse. 



It., Sp., and Port, mina ; !Fr. mine, id. Coal mine, houilliere. 



Groove and graft belong, according to the above, to the Greek 

 and then to the Icel., Scand., Tent., and A.-S. languages, in 

 their origin. See Mine. 



^^ K grove, Lincolnshire, a ditch or mine; from Belg. groeve, 

 fossa, to grove, to grave, a Belg. gra/ven, fodere." Eay's Gloss. 



" Graff, graive, a grave ; graffe, a ditch, trencli, or fosse ; Belg. 

 graft, a ditch or trench." Jamieson. 



" Grave, grove, groove, are the past tense, and therefore past 

 participle of grafan, A.-S. fodere, insculpere, excavare." Home 

 Tooke's Div. of Purley, vol. ii., p. 376. 



" Groove, amine or shaft. North. Groovers, miners." Halliwell. 



" Groove, a lead mine. Lead mines are generally worked by 

 a groove or level." Erockett. 



The lead miners of 'the western dales of the ]S"orth of England 

 e.g., of Teesdale, Weardale, Swaledale, and Cumberland, are 

 called grovers, groovers, or grienvers, from the grove, or groove, 

 or grieuve — the mine. The coal workers of Northumberland 

 and Durham used a few years ago to be called pitmen, but have 

 lately assumed the name of miners, this being, as one of their 

 number, on being asked the reason of the change, told me, he 

 considered " a more genteeler kind of a name." 



Examples : — 



Eed Grooves Lead Mine — a pleonasm. 



Grafts, near Wycliffe — ditches, trenches, or diggings. 



Lead Mines — many. 



