Congress of Archaeological Societies in Union with the 

 Society of Antiquaries. July nth, igoo. 



Notes on the Systematic Study 



OF 



OUR ENGLISH PLACE=NAMES. 



By J. HORACE ROUND, M.A. 



I HAD the honour, some years ago, of reading in this room 

 before the Society of Antiquaries, a paper on the Settle- 

 ment of the Saxons in Essex and Sussex, in which I dwelt on 

 the great value of the study of Place-names for our early 

 history, and urged "the practical impossibility of accom- 

 plishing any scientific work in this department of research 

 until the place-names of England have been classified and 

 traced to their origin."* I ventured then to express the hope 

 that we might see "this urgent work undertaken, county by 

 county, on much the same lines as those adopted by the 

 Government in France. It seems to me," I added, "to be 

 eminently a subject for discussion at the Annual Congress of 

 Archaeological Societies." Consequently, when Mr. Nevill 

 suggested that the time had now come for the Congress to 

 take up some fresh work, I brought forward this subject, and 

 it received at once the Committee's approval. Since then the 

 British Museum has rendered a great service to antiquaries by 

 the publication of an index to the place-names contained in 



* This paper has since been printed in my Commune of London and 

 Other Studies (Archibald Constable and Co.). 



VVUUUCJj O. J.., KJLH&LLl W UUU., utUiOUUIJ 



