April 2013 (issue 129) - The Sussex Archaeological Society

Books
BOOK REVIEWS
BOOK REVIEWS
Books
East [& West] Sussex
Place Names
THESE are very green books. They
contain a lot of recycled material.
The technique of the author (APS)
is to take entries from standard
works, namely the English Place-
Name Society’s (EPNS) volumes
for Sussex, Ekwall’s Concise
Oxford dictionary of English
place-names or Mills’ Oxford
work of similar national scope,
give a couple of old spellings, and
sometimes expansively paraphrase
one or more entries, using curious
wordings, e.g. that the recorded
spellings “speak of” or “tell us of”
what is denoted, or “refer to” a
meaning when he means “mean”.
He then adapts material selectively
from some books written by local
experts, mainly on pub names and
street-names, and includes this
under the relevant town or village
name. As regards major placenames,
therefore, he is dealing
with opinions often between 53
and 84 years old, and he takes no
account at all of respectable recent
work such as Watts’s monumental
if flawed Cambridge dictionary
of English place-names (2004),
Forsberg’s book on Lewes (1997)
or the vast amount of new material
and reinterpretation in the 11 years
of the Sussex Locus focus series
(1996-2007) and the Journal of
the EPNS, let alone Cox’s work
on pub names (1994). This leads
APS into etymological howlers
such as those found under Weald
(in both books!), and into out of
date pronouncements on e.g. East
Grinstead and Firle.
The reliability of the material does
not even match up to that of the
elderly sources, and there are quite
a number of dreadful failings. The
entry for Eastdean (East Sussex)
mentions the minor names Open
and Closed Winkins, which are
really in the East Dean in the other
half of our county, and which seem
to have, along with Malecomb,
cloned themselves into lands of
the East Sussex village, hopefully
unbeknown to programmers of
satnavs. The river Limden is in the
wrong book, having been diverted
into the wrong river Rother. The
entry for Kingston by Lewes is
really about Kirdford. Arundel
contains stuff from Ashburnham.
Langney appears in both volumes
with identical wording. These facts
suggest that this was originally one
book which has been carelessly
ruptured into two (you’ll pay for
the same impoverished preface
twice if you buy both). At a more
picky level, there are transcription
errors such as those in the names
or words which give rise to the
first elements in Landport (St
John Without), Iping, Duncton and
Raughmere (Lavant) and the whole
of Heene (Broadwater) and Worth
(and many others), indicating a
disdain for accuracy. Pulborough
is explained invertedly as ‘the pool
by the hill or mound’. Sometimes
unsophisticated readers are likely
to be led off into unlit bogland, as
with Maresfield, where alternative
etymologies are given but it is left
to readers’ expertise or insouciance
to decide how on earth mere feld
can give rise to the current name.
Even where there is basic accuracy,
the reader is sold short – no
clue is given about why Marden,
Westham, Barcombe, Newhaven
or Frostbourne in Fairlight are
interesting in their various ways,
or how the Domesday spelling
Cloninctune can possibly be
relevant to Donnington.
The imbalance of the urban
material can be judged by the
entry for Eastbourne. It is 15 pages
long, has three lines on Eastbourne
(correct, but omitting to say that
the mentioned contrasting and
far less well known Westbourne is
not even to be found in the same
book), about two pages on streets
and minor places (largely adapted
from John Milton’s book of 1995),
about five on pubs, and nine pages
infested by gloomy b/w photos,
some irrelevant (like that of Warren
Hill, not mentioned in the entry).
In Lewes, far more is said about
the woodcock of Cockshut Road
than about the name of the town
itself, dismissed in a bare two lines
(including a mistake) because APS
does not investigate the relevant
history.
Now I would be the first to agree
that the standard books can be
formidable. Over the decades
the EPNS has missed a trick by
not getting out something more
accessible to the general reader
than its academic tomes. This
matter is in hand, with its ‘popular’
dictionaries available for some
counties, not at the moment
including Sussex. But APS has not
even provided a stopgap, and he
is not the man to do it. He shows
signs of mis- or not understanding
key points (Clapham, Amberstone
in Hailsham, Warbleton, Slinfold,
and the true import of some Old
English elements like -ing(a)-;
most hilariously of all Grevatt’s in
Easebourne) whilst at the same time
lacing his text with authoritativeseeming
but curdled remarks such
as: (Cowfold) “Found as Coufaud in
1232, this early record is easy to see
as Old English cu fald and ‘the small
enclosure for cows’”, and a bizarre
one on the supposedly posthumous
naming of Etchingham.
The reviewer would recommend
the out of print and by no means
faultless single-volume popular
book by Judith Glover (Batsford,
especially the unextended second
edition of 1986) as much superior
to these pretty-covered but
pretty depressing books, which
are regrettably already available
on Kindle and in National Trust
bookshops. Find a way of recycling
your copies if you already have
them.
Richard Coates
By Anthony Poulton-Smith, 2012.
East Sussex Place Names and West
Sussex Place Names. DB Publishing.
ISBN 978-1-78091-016-1 (191 pp)
and 978-1-78091-017-8 (189 pp).
Paperback. £9.99 each.
Sussex Coast
Through Time
THERE are many books of
photographs of the beautiful
Sussex coastline, but Douglas
d’Enno in his book Sussex Coast
Through Time is more concerned
to focus on the social changes
which have occurred over the last
150 years on or near the shoreline.
He does this by presenting us with
a series of contrasting images
beginning with Camber Sands in
the east, and ending 90 miles away
in Chichester Harbour using a
mixture of paintings, postcards and
photographs dating from the latter
part of the 19th century.
An early pairing is labelled ‘Rye
Harbour Postmaster’ and shows
Mr A G Hedgler looking out of the
front door of the Post Office in the
1920s, compared with the current
use as residences of both the
Post Office and the neighbouring
Methodist Chapel. Similar
contrasts are shown by those of
central Shoreham, whilst those of
East Brighton show what Brighton
people are missing whilst the Black
Rock site still awaits development.
In researching the book the author
made use of many local experts
who shared their knowledge of
building use and offered glimpses
into the lives of the people in the
images. A 1939 postcard of the
Pagham Riviera Lido Holiday Club
was sent by someone who had
to leave because of evacuation. ‘I
wish Hitler at the bottom of the sea’
the sender cries.
It is noteworthy that many of
the photographs have never been
published before in a book, and
this distinguishes Sussex Coast
Through Time from other volumes
of before and after images. It
should be of interest to both general
readers and social historians.
Maria Gardiner
By Douglas d’Enno, 2012.
Amberley Publishing. ISBN:
978-1-4456-0546-3.
Paperback, 96pages, £14.99.
Lewes
Through Time
IN respect of the photographic
heritage of the town and its
accessibility to researchers and
other interested parties, Lewes
is fortunate – and doubly so.
Firstly, there survives a friendly
photographic business (with a
magnificent archive) that has
been active in and around the
town since the 1850s. Secondly,
the Lewes area is home to a
number of indefatigable collectors
of postcards of local views who
recognise the potential value of
their respective collections to the
social and local historian. One of
the infatigables has selected some
treasures from his collection (2,000
strong – and counting, I am reliably
informed) and joined with Amberley
Publishing to present this latest title
in the ‘Through Time’ series.
The conjoining of ‘then’ and
‘now’ images is well-tried and
tested (though this book does not
stick rigidly to the familiar formulaic
format), and results in a graphic
presentation of the changes in
townscape, traders and traffic over
the last 100 years or so. Changes
in businesses and road use are
a given; alterations in the fabric
of the townscape, also, are to be
expected, but the amount of change
can vary from town to town.
On the whole, and here I disagree
with the tag to the photograph
on page 2, Lewes has not been
decimated, whether ‘in the name of
progress’ or in the name of anything
else. Change occurs – slum
clearance in the 1930s (Westgate
Street, page 48; lower North Street,
page 70); war damage (Stag Hotel,
North Street, page 68); post-war
concern with inter alia traffic flow
and car parking (Malling Street,
pages 9, 11-13; Cliffe crossroads,
page 22; Little East Street, page
69). And, always there will be a
destructive fire or two or three
or four – Lewes Sanitary Steam
Laundry, now housing (page 5);
The Bear Hotel, rebuilt as JCH
Martin and now Argos (pages 27-
8); Smith’s, now Mimi and A & A
Nails (page 41); Dusart’s, now A &
Y Cumming and Lewesiana (page
45).
But, the impression gained from
reading and viewing Bob Cairns’
informed and informative ‘through
time’ journey around Malling, Cliffe,
Lewes and Southover, is that much
of the townscape fabric recorded
in the early-20th century has
survived. Further to this, some of
the buildings that have appeared in
the intervening years – the art deco
of Argos, the restrained balconied
statement of Mimi and A&A Nails,
for example (both new builds on
fire sites, I note) – are undoubtedly
adornments to an essentially 19thcentury
and earlier townscape.
John Bleach
By Bob Cairns, 2012.
Amberley Publishing.
ISBN: 978-1-84868-807-0.
Paperback. £14.99.
14 Sussex Past & Present April 2013
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