456
NOTES AND QUERIES. iiis.ix.
entirely ceased yet. And the ' Soga Mono-
gatari,' apparently composed about A.D.
1300, speaks of the twelfth-century warriors
sometimes using Triton tritonis for a drinking -
vessel, although this shell was not admitted
into the Imperial Court.
KTJMAGUSU MINAKATA. Tanabe, Kii, Japan.
GKIMOL (11 S. ix. 410). St. Aniies-on the -Sea is part of the old parish of Lytham where in the time of Richard I. (1189-99) was founded a cell dependent upon the Priory of Durham. Jn the foundation charter the boundaries of the lands forming the endowment are clearly denned, of which the following is a portion :
"To wit, from the ditch on the western side of the burial yard of Kityrimol, above which I have erected a crop, westward unto the sea."
In an agreement as to the boundaries between Lytham a,nd Laton, dated 9 Feb., 1271, between the Sheriff of Lancashire and the Prior and monks of " Lithum," mention is made of pasture land lying between Kelgrimoles and Laton, and reference to the ancient cross on the Croshowe, and another cross erected by the Prior between Lytham and Laton. It is well known that, centuries ago, many acres of land on either side of the Ribble became submerged, and were said to have been "drowned and adnichilate," as one old record puts it. The original church of Lytham shared this fate, and all that was left of it was the old burial-ground named in the above charter (' History of Lytham,' Chetham Soc., Ix., New Series). As to the meaning of Grimol, authorities may differ. Several other places in the district 'had the terminative meols, meles, melys, all of which \vere situate on the sandy shore of the river. In Domesday Book one'Wilbert held lands in West Derby known as Erengermeles in 33 Hen. III. (1248-9). Thomas de Betham died seised of Argarmell: this latter place was, before the end of the fourteenth century, swept away by the encroachment of the riv er. HENRY FISHWTCK.
Domesday Book tells us of five thanes who held Otegrimele or Otringemele, which Dr. Farrer identifies with North Meols in his ' History ' of that parish. He suggests that they were descendants of Odda, son of Grim, a Norse settler among these sand- hills, or mels, and states that these names occur in the ' Landnama-bok,' iii. 17, as ancestors of one Mark de Melis.
The Pvev. J. Sephton, in his 'Handbook of Lancashire Place-Names,' says the first
theme of Otegrimele is Ohthere (see Searle's
- OnomasticonAnglo-Saxonicum,' 365), which
name is found, he says, in King Alfred's Orosius. Argarmeols (the Erengermeles of Domesday) is now partly represented by Birkdale. The first theme of this, according to Mr. Sephton, is a personal name Earngaev, the Norse Arngeirr. Dr. Wyld and Mr. Hurst, in their * Place-Names of Lancashire/ agree in this, and also that Meols is from melr, a sandhill, but do not appear to notice Otegrimele. No such form as Grimol seems to occur. R. S. P>.
THE AGE OF COUNTRY BRIDGES (11 S. viii. 270, 315). In case my query at the first reference may have interested others the following gleanings which I have made subsequently may also be of interest.
The Act regulating the construction of country bridges, which my query was pro- bably in search of, was the County Bridges Act, 1803, or Lord Ellenborough's Act, 180a to give its two popular names otherwise Act 43 Geo. III. cap. 59. In its section v. it- provides
" That no bridge hereafter to be erected or- built in any county ... .shall be deemed. .. .tt> be a county bridge. .. .unless such bridge shall be erected in a substantial and commodious manner, under the direction or to the satisfaction of the county surveyor."
It ia to be noted that no measurement is- given, but old by-laws of different counties- might give minimum measurements as a definition of " the satisfaction of the county surveyor." In any case, it is evident from the above extract that county bridges which are not " substantial and commodious " are older than 1803 at least.
Acts bearing on country bridges are few and far between, and a good authority informs me that he knows of none which prescribes, for them a minimum width. Here is a list, given me by the above authority, of Acts- relating to country bridges : 22 Henry VIII. cap. 5 ; 14 Geo. II. cap. 33 ; 43 Geo. III. cap. 59 ; 54 Geo. III. cap. 90 ; 5 & 6- William IV. cap. 50 ; 33 & 34 Vic. cap. 73. T. LI.ECHID JONES.
Yspytty Vicarage, Bettws-y-Coed.
" BIJZARP " AS A SURNAME (11 S. ix- 290, 396, 437). Blizard or Blezard seems to be a Lancashire name. The earliest in- stance of it which I have met is in the Whalley Parish Registers, wherein the burial of Elizabeth Blesard is recorded in 1580. The name, spelt Blessard, Blezard, and Blessard again, appears in the
