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The Role and Origins of Mercian Settlements with the Place-Name Worth
Graham Aldred
It is commonly recognised that in the Anglo-Saxon world, the naming of geographical features and settlement names was far from arbitrary. Settlement names were specifically descriptive, communicating more than simply the name of a landscape aspect. Previous examinations of settlements containing the Old English term worth, along with its cognates worthy and wardine, have been limited to small regions or county-level analyses. Uniquely, this monograph examines the characteristics of these places in the wider context of the kingdom of Mercia (6th century AD-9th century AD). Worths are found clustered near boundaries and at the junctions of major lines of communication, as well as shared by similar topographic features. Mercia controlled territory spanning from Offa’s Dyke in the west to the North Sea, and the Thames Valley in the south to the rivers Humber and Dee in the north. This expanse allows for the study of a broad geographical and political context. Offa’s Dyke, the most prominent feature of Mercian power, confirms the assertion of local control in defence of the kingdom’s land wealth. The remarkable placement of worths throughout the landscape hints at a level of control previously unrecorded in Anglo-Saxon England.
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Front Cover
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Title Page
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Copyright Page
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Of Related Interest
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Acknowledgements
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Contents
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List of Figures
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List of Tables
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List of County Abbreviations
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List of Other Abbreviations
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Conventions
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1. Worths were special places we just haven’t worked out why
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1.1. Introduction
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1.2. What is interesting about Worths?
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1.3. Worths—an overview
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1.4. The geographical and temporal limits of this study
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1.5. Previous studies of worth settlements
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1.6. Theory methods and sources
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1.7. Structure of the Study
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2. The scope and extent of this study
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2.1. Geographical outline
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2.2. Worths in Mercia
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2.3. Extant, lost and deserted sites
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2.4. Localised distributions
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2.5. Place-names, qualifiers and personal names
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3. The historical and geographical context of Mercia
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3.1. Introduction
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3.2. Authorial bias
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3.3. Mercia—Waxing and Waning
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3.4. Mercia—Rulers and Realms
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3.5. Land ownership and obligation
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3.6. Borders in Mercia
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4. The historical and archaeological evidence for Mercian worths
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4.1. The evidence for Worths in Anglo-Saxon charters
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4.2. Overview of charters and references
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4.3. Individual charters
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4.4. Reconstruction of Specific Grants
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4.4.1. Wulfric ‘Cufing’
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4.4.2. Eadric – Thegn, Minister
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4.4.3. The charters of King Coenwulf of Mercia to Abingdon
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4.4.4. The Wills of Oswy 995 and Leofflad 1017x1049
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4.4.5. The will of Ealdorman Brihtnoth of Essex dated 991
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4.5. Worth Place-names mentioned in boundary descriptions
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4.5.1. Berkshire
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4.5.2. Gloucestershire
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4.5.3. Huntingdonshire
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4.5.4. Hertfordshire
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4.5.5. Lincolnshire
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4.5.6. Middlesex
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4.5.7. Oxfordshire
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4.5.8. Surrey
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4.5.9. Wiltshire
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4.5.10. Worcestershire
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4.5.11. Summary
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4.6. Boundaries and Communications
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4.7. Domesday Book as a source of worth populations and values
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4.8. Archaeological data
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4.8.1. Comparison of the archaeological data
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4.8.2. HER data
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5. Landscape and movement
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5.1. Frequency and proximity
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5.2. Worths, counties and numbers
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5.3. Worths and boundaries
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5.4. Distribution analysis—A county case study
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5.4.1. Leicestershire a test-case of distribution
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5.4.2. Spatial distribution
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5.4.3. Distribution relative to county boundary
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5.4.4. Relative elevation above ordnance datum (AOD)
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5.5. Worths in their groups
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5.5.1. South Leicestershire group (reference Lei03)
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5.5.2. Papworth group (reference Cam01)
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5.5.3. Meon Hill Group (Group Glo01)
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5.5.4. Other groups
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5.6. Worths, rivers and roads
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5.6.1. Worths and rivers
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5.6.2. Worths, crossroads and junctions
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5.6.3. The Icknield Way (Margary 21, 163, 333)
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5.6.4. Watling Street (Margary 1d–1g)
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5.6.5. The Fosse Way (Margary 5c–5f)
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5.6.6. Ermine Street (Margary 2a–2c)
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5.6.7. Ermine Street westerly diversion (Margary 28)
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5.6.8. Rykneld Street / Buckle Street (Margary 18a–18e)
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5.7. Synthesis
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5.8. Relationships—Crossroads, Boundaries and Roles
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6. Conclusions
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6.1. The written records
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6.2. Archaeology: the hard evidence
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6.3. What did Worths do?
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6.4. Questions and answers
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6.5. Options and alternatives
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6.6. Future investigation and research
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6.7. Archaeological strategy
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6.8. Summary
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6.9. …and finally
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7. Postscript
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Bibliography
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Appendix I. Worth Charters by date
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Appendix II. Domesday Book Assessments for Worth Settlements, listed by Geld Value
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Appendix III. List of random comparator settlements used in table 4.10
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Appendix IV. Charters, by date which include worth place-names
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Appendix V. List of worths in the current corpus, alphabetically, by county
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Appendix VI. List of Singly Occurrent Personal Name Qualifiers
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Appendix VII. List of Worth Groups listed by group reference
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Appendix VIII. Tables relating to Chapter 4
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Appendix IX. Tables relating to Mercian History
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Back Cover
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Citable Link
Published: 2023
Publisher: BAR Publishing
- 9781407315553 (paper)
- 9781407315775 (ebook)
BAR Number: B679