frames denoting ancient Clans or Families. 93 



Beaces-hljew. This is named among" the land-limits of Chalk 

 (Cod. Dipl., 436). Among those for Bed win (Cod. Dipl., 

 1266) we have Beocces-heal — we cannot at all, as far as I know, 

 identify this name, but it seems at all events to have been 

 once known in Wilts. The more modern name Beech may 

 be its counterpart. 



Ceorles-huew. This name is not of infrequent occurrence. We 

 meet with it in in the charter for Downton (Cod. Dipl., 698), 

 and no doubt can from it explain the meaning of Charlton 

 (in the charters spelt ceor la-tun), which is included in the 

 parish. It may be open to question whether the reference 

 be to a personal name, or to a class. The term ceorl designated 

 a class of free peasants in ancient times. 



57. Then we have allusions not unfrequently to tumuli which 

 had been injured. There were " spoilers of tombs," in ancient as in 

 modern times. Thus we often read in an ancient charter " to bam 

 brocenan beorge/'' i.e., "to the broken barrow " (Cod. Dipl., 763), 

 and in one case we have the fact stated yet more explicitly in the 

 words : " to be westan 'Sam beorge $e adolfen wees," i.e., u to the 

 west of that barrow that was dug (or delved) into/'' (Cod. Dipl., 

 1033.) These are interesting extracts as explaining to us the name 

 of Brokenborough, near Malmesbury. It appears in the charters 

 as Brocene-herg , and was no doubt so termed from some " broken," 

 or rifled, sepulchral " barrow/'' on or near the spot. 



58. There is one other form in which personal enter into the 

 composition of local names, on which a few words must be said. 

 They are those which may be called patronymics, and which denote 

 clans or families who derive their designation from that of some 

 chieftain or head of the tribe or settlement. 



These local denominations are to a great extent irregular com- 

 positions, of which the former portion is a patronymic ending 

 generally in -ing, and declined in the genitive plural -inga, when fol- 

 lowed by some other name descriptive of the special locality, such as 

 mearc, — ham — wic — tun — die, and the like. In a few cases the 

 patronymic stands alone in the nominative plural, the termination of 

 which is -ing as. Thus Cannings, the name of two parishes in Wilts, 



