May Williamson: The Non-Celtic Place-Names of the Scottish Border ...

xv
The majority of Northumberland names in -ingas and -ingahm are either near the coast or in
the chief river-valleys. It is not necessary to suppose that the Anglo-Saxons sailed up the
rivers. To invaders arriving by sea the river-mouths would offer the most suitable access to
the interior of the country, since the shores are mainly rocky and inhospitable. In a hilly
district the easiest routes invariably lie in the valleys of the rivers. The earliest types of names
in the Border area are all within easy reach of the sea, and it was not until the period when
names in -ingtn and hm were being formed that settlers ventured deeper into the country.
The colonisation of Dumfries and Galloway must either have been from the settlements in
Cumberland or from upper Tynedale in Bernicia. The position of the names, which are near
the coast or on rivers draining to the Solway, suggests that the Anglo-Saxons crossed the firth
from Cumbria, and there is no concentration /xl/ in the most easterly districts to suggest that
they came across the Roman Wall.
With these names the settlement period comes to an end. The next category is still very early,
but the names in it belong to a time when the colonists were beginning to clear and cultivate
the land they had annexed.
Since agriculture in this area could be pursued with any success only in the alluvial soil of the
river-bottoms, the next group of names will be found in much the same area as the earliest
examples. To it belong names in -worð, -wc, -burh, -btl, -tn, -cirie, -hs, -lah and -halh,
recorded before 1200 and containing an OE grammatical ending, personal name, or
topographical term. It will be seen that these are not precisely the same terms which occur
first in England. -Cot and -stede are not among the earliest habitative names in South
Scotland, nor is -feld so early as -lah and -halh. Some of the topographical endings, -hh,
-dn, -denu, -wudu, -mere, seem to be quite as early as those above, although it is unlikely
that they were formed until slightly later.
/xli/ THE BATTLE OF DEGASTAN
The fullest account of this encounter between the Angles and the Scots is to be found in
Bede’s Ecclesiastical History, Book I, Chapter 34. From it we learn that Æðelfrið had been
ravaging the territory of the Britons. The extent of his campaigns is not stated, but evidently
they were extremely thorough for Bede says that the inhabitants of the conquered territories
were treated with great brutality. They were either driven out entirely or forced to serve under
Anglian rule. No doubt the reference to Saul and the “ravening wolf” can be discounted, as
Bede, like Gildas before him, was not unbiased in his opinions. Nevertheless, Æðelfrið’s
methods were evidently unusual as we are told that no other English king “made more of their
lands either tributary to the English nation or habitable by them”.
The reason of Ædan’s rising against Æðelfrið is not stated. It is unlikely that Æðelfrið had
penetrated to Scottish territory but no doubt he had advanced sufficiently far into the British
area to endanger Scottish integrity. That Ædan received support from Ireland we learn from
the Annals of Ulster. Mael-umae, who came to his aid, probably sailed up the /xlii/ Firth of
Clyde to meet him, for Ædan’s seat was at Aberfoyle (CPNS, 129, 225).