manton, Blackemanstone, Hunmanbie, Osmenton, Ockementone, Sevamantone, Salemanesberie, Galmentone, Walementone, Elmenham, Godmanston, are examples. It is hardly possible that such names as these could attach themselves to places, except as the abodes of men described. These, or nearly all of them, are Old English, and occur in the Charters or in Domesday Book. Brocmanton is also met with in the thirteenth century,[1] and may probably be traced to a tribal Brocman.
The philological evidence bearing on the subject of this inquiry is of two kinds (1) The evidence of the old names in use during the Saxon period; (2) the evidence of the old dialects.
The anthropological evidence is also of two kinds, viz.: (1) The evidence of human remains, chiefly skulls from Anglo-Saxon burial-places, and that of similar remains of the same period from old cemeteries on the Continent; (2) the racial characters of people in various parts of Northern Europe and in parts of England at the present time.
The archæological evidence that will appear is not only that relating to objects found, but also to customs that prevailed, especially those relating to inheritance, which are among the most persistent of early institutions. In several parts of England accounts have come down to us in the folk-lore or traditions and in historical references of a clan-like feeling between people of adjoining villages or districts. Traces of dislike or jealousy between village and village have been reported in several counties, notably in Hampshire and Cambridgeshire.[2] In the latter county Conybeare mentions the rivalry between the men of Barrington on the Mercian side of the Cam and those of Foxton on the East Anglian side. He shows that this rivalry was of ancient date, and quotes a reference to a faction fight between the two villages in
- ↑ ‘Testa de Nevill,’ 62b, 68.
- ↑ Conybeare, E., ‘History of Cambridgeshire,’ 139.
