Names denoting Hills. 



171 



with c< Fobban-wylle/" the former portion looking like a 

 possessive case, and so possibly denoting the name, in a 

 corrupt and abbreviated form, of an ancient owner. 

 Erch-font. Near Devizes ; spelt Erches-fonte, Ierehes-fonte, and 

 Urches-font. The former portion is probably the Celtic word 

 Iwrch (= a roebuck), and the whole word may mean the 

 " drinking'-place of the roebuck." Lhuyd, author of the 

 Arch. Britannica, considers that this name Iwrch (olim lurch) 

 meaning originally a " roebuck, " is given to a river in 

 Shropshire as indicative of its swiftness. There is a river in 

 Lancashire, Irk by name, that flows into the Irwell. 



But the Celtic element is found also in names denoting other 

 natural features of the country, such as its hills, — its valleys, — its 

 woods and forests. A few examples of each are given; — others will 

 be included in a general and supplementary list given hereafter. 



II. — Names denoting Mils : — 



13. Pen-hill. Now corrupted into " Pennel's/' near Calne. This 

 word is simply a reduplicative, one portion being Celtic, pen 

 (= the head, or top), the other Teutonic, with a similar 

 signification. In the immediate neighbourhood we have 

 High-pen, and Low-pen. There are also places named 

 Pen-hill in Stratton St. Margaret, and by Kingston Deverel; 

 and Pen-ley, by Westbury. 



Hack- pen. The former part of this name is probably from the 

 Anglo-Saxon heag (== high), and so appropriately denotes the 

 highest part of a ridge of down forming Overton Hill, not 

 far from Avebury. 1 The name Hack-pen is also that of the 



1 Other derivations have been suggested for this Name. Mr. Kemble was of 

 opinion that it meant simply 11 Haw's pen" or enclosure, — though, he adds, 

 " Haca may have been some mythical personage not yet identified," — and might 

 refer to the large stone-circle at Avebury. In this opinion he does not carry 

 the assent of other Arehreologists, as has been shewn by Mr. W. Long ( Wilts 

 Mag., iv., 360), and by the late Dr. Thurnam, in the pages of the Gentleman's 

 Magazine. The name is not confined to Wiltshire, nor to neighbourhoods such 

 as that of Avebury, and the interpretation given above seems the simplest. See 

 Archceol. Journ,, No. 54, and Cod. Dipl., 1120. 



P % 



