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Details: Written by D. Glendinning; Category: Book; Published: 31 January 2024; Hits: 377

Chapter 28

Appendix 4

The Brigantes

1 Introduction

1.1 The Brigantes tribe is discussed briefly in “Ptolemy’s Celtic Tribes in Britain” accessible from the main menu above. The subject will be discussed in more depth here to try to establish where the people who came to be called the Brigantes came ashore in Britain when they arrived from the Continent, where they settled and how they developed to the point where Ptolemy could say that they extended to both seas, i.e. right across the north of England from the Irish Sea to the North Sea, and Tacitus could report that some people regarded them as the most populous tribe in Britain. Like the great majority of British Celtic tribal names the name Brigantes is clearly based on a topographical place-name, presumably the name of the tribal centre at the time the tribal name was coined. The elements of the place-name may be Br and gant, but might equally well be Br and gand or Brig and ant. In all three cases the later hill-letter in the name is n₂, so this will be the hill-letter used by the Brigantes (for readers unfamiliar with the term ‘hill-letter’ an explanation is given below in paragraph 1.2).

1.2 In the interests of brevity no explanation is given below for the structure of individual Celtic place- and river-names. The structure of Celtic place-names is explained in Chapters 1 and 2, that of Celtic river-names in Chapter 19. The structure of individual place-names is explained in the Alphabetical List, accessible from the main menu above. But a brief recapitulation might be useful here for the benefit of those readers who have not read the earlier chapters. Different waves of Celtic settlers arriving from the Continent used different letters of the alphabet to signify ‘hill’. These letters are n, s, m, r and l, though each of the letters n and l appears to have been used by two different groups of settlers arriving at different times. The normal chronological order of the hill-letters appears to have been n₁, s, m, r, l₁, n₂, l₂, though there is some regional variation, for example in Lincolnshire the hill-letter n₂ appears to have arrived before l₁, this being seen in Croconcalana (apparently the Celtic form of the Crococalana of the Antonine Itinerary) and Banvobalum (the Celtic form of the Bannovalum of Ravenna). There are three different types of Celtic place-name – old-style names, transitional names and inversion-type names. In old-style place-names a hill-letter is used as generic term and a qualifier is placed before it. The qualifier may be the letter b signifying ‘high’, as in the br of Brinavis, or a c/g signifying ‘steep’, as in the Cer of Cerma. In transitional place-names the hill-letter has two qualifiers, one before it and the other after. The qualifier ‘high’ may come before the hill-letter, in which case it is represented by the letter b, or after, in which case it is represented by the letter t. The qualifier c/g meaning ‘steep’ may appear before or after the hill-letter. Examples of transitional place-names or name-elements include the broc of Brocara, the cunet of Cunetio, the cent of Gabrocentio and the bulg of Bladobulgio (the Blatobulgio of the Antonine Itinerary). In an inversion-type place-name the hill-letter is again used as generic term but the qualifier comes after it. The qualifier may be a t signifying ‘high’ as in Litana or a c/g meaning ‘steep’, as in Alicuna and Isca. The letter d is used in some place-names to represent ‘summit’, ‘top of hill’. This d is used as the generic term and is qualified by one of the hill-letters. The hill-letter comes before the d in old-style names and after it in inversion-type names. And the qualifying hill-letters may themselves be qualified by letters signifying ‘high’ or ‘steep’ as set out above for old-style names and inversion-type names. Bereda and Corda are examples of old-style place-names of this kind, the dert of Omiretedertis an example of an inversion-type place-name element. The writer is not aware of any transitional name or name element employing the letter d signifying ‘summit’. The letter v is used in some place-names to represent ‘side of hill’, ‘slope’. This v is used in the same way as the d signifying ‘summit’. We thus see old-style place-names such as Banva (Ravenna’s Banna) and Glevon, and inversion-type names such as Venta and inversion-type name elements such as the Ver of Verulamium. As explained in Home/Chapter 23, 6.1 the changeover from old-style names to inversion-type names occurred during the second half of the second century BC. For convenience and in the interests of brevity it will be assumed here that old-style place-names were coined prior to 130BC, transitional place-names in the ten year period from 130BC to 120BC and inversion-type place-names after 120BC. These dates are probably not exactly correct, but they can’t be very far from the truth. Note that the different waves of settlers also used different letters of the alphabet to signify ‘river’. Those who used the hill-letter s used the river-letter b. Those who used the hill-letter m used the river-letter r. Those who used the hill-letter r used the river-letter s. Those who used the hill-letter l used the river-letter t. And those who used the hill-letter n used the river-letter m for major or main rivers and the river-letter l for minor rivers, tributaries of major rivers or headwaters of main rivers.

1.3 In the interests of brevity reference will sometimes be made below to n-people as an abbreviation for ‘people who used the hill-letter n’. The same is done with regard to the other hill-letters. The letter used in that expression is always a hill-letter, never a river-letter.

1.4 Further in the interests of brevity and to avoid cluttering up the text below with too many explanations in parentheses a concordance is given here showing Celtic place-names in the forms restored by the present writer and the corresponding place-names given by the ancient sources. AI is used as an abbreviation for the Antonine Itinerary, ND for the Notitia Dignitatum.

Bamvocalia Pampocalia in Ravenna

Banva Banna in Ravenna

Banvobalum Bannovalum in Ravenna

Calavum Calagum/Calatum in Ptolemy

Cambaglanda Gabaglanda in Ravenna

Cambroduno Camboduno in the AI Iter II

Cambrolanda Cambroianna in Ravenna

Cardadoriton Tadoriton in Ravenna

Concanata Congavata in the ND

Condo/Convo Onno in Ravenna

Croconcalana Crococalana in the AI Iter VI, VIII

Gambildandi Habitanci (in an inscription found at Risingham, Northumberland)

Glevon Glebon in Ravenna

Lagendion Lagentium in Ravenna

Locsa Loxa in Ravenna

Maboridon Maporiton in Ravenna

Masandion Mantio in Ravenna

Smedriladunum Smetriadum in Ravenna

Vresmedenaci Bresnetenaci in Ravenna

1.5 Notes on individual names

1.5.1 The study below will start by listing all the old-style place-names in the hill-letter n₂, the hill-letter used by the Brigantes, in the north of England. There is a slight problem here in that it is not entirely clear whether Iron Age Binchester was old-style Binovia or inversion-type Vinovia. One could argue in support of either form if the Iron Age fort/settlement had been on the same site as the Roman fort, but since we do not know the exact location of the Iron Age fort/settlement we cannot settle the issue one way or the other. However, Binchester lies between inversion-type (L)incobigla at Lanchester and inversion-type Lugunduno high above the north bank of the Tees in the Dinsdale Park area, so it seems safer to assume that Binchester was inversion-type Vinovia.

1.5.2 The Almond of Almondbury appears to be a perfectly acceptable Celtic name for a hillfort. We see the name again in Almond/Lamond, apparently the name of the hillfort on the north side of the river Almond at a point just north of Edinburgh airport. The name was transferred by the Romans to their Antonine fort at Cramond, at the mouth of the river, and subsequently to the river itself, still today called the Almond (it was previously the Rumabo). We see the name again in the hillfort on East Lomond Hill in east Fife. The artefacts found there suggest that it was a high-status site. It might even have been the tribal centre of the l₂-people who lived around Abernethy and in the easternmost part of Fife. The writer thus proposes to accept Almond (with some ending) as the actual name of the hillfort at Almondbury. Against this is that there are apparently medieval documents which refer to the village of Almondbury and there is no letter d in the name as given in those documents. In addition the name Almond is inconsistent with the conclusions drawn by archaeologists to date. The archaeologists say that the hillfort at Almondbury had been abandoned by 300BC at the latest, perhaps even as early as 400BC, and was not reoccupied until the twelfth century AD, when a motte-and-bailey castle was built on the hilltop. But a place with the name Almond must surely have been occupied during the second century BC and probably into the first century BC as well. On the other hand, the name Almond is fully consistent with the development of place-names in that part of Yorkshire and so, as noted above, will be accepted here as the name of the hillfort at Almondbury. It is actually not of importance if the writer is wholly wrong on this point, since even if one ignores all references to Almondbury in the text below this does not materially affect the arguments put forward.

2 The n₂-people in the north of England

2.1 It appears quite clear that in the period prior to 130BC there were three separate groups of n₂-people in the north of what is now England.

2.1.1 The presence of a first group, hereinafter called the northern n₂-people, can be seen in the place-names Concanata (the Con element) at Bowness-on-Solway, Cambaglanda at Birdoswald, Banva at Throp, Magnis at Carvoran, Vindolande (the and element) at Chesterholm and Convo/Condo in the Halton area. Moving north from that point we see Gambildandi at Risingham on the river Rede, this place-name corresponding to a river-name somewhat of the form Bretemena, this form, with deletion of et and modification of the ending, having been applied by the Romans as Bremenium to their fort upriver at High Rochester (note that the initial B of Bretemena corresponds to the hill-letter s, which does not appear in Gambildandi). Further north still we have a Lenda, apparently on the river Till, and a Voltandinion (the and element) at Yeavering (this form, with deletion of the hill-letters l and n, yields the tribal name Votadini).

2.1.2 The presence of a second group of n₂-people, hereinafter called the central n₂-people, can be seen in the place-names Clindum and Carbandium and in the river-names Swale and Leven (the river-letter l corresponds to the hill-letter n), the Swale being a tributary of the Ure and the Leven a tributary which rises in the Cleveland Hills and joins the Tees at Yarm. Iron Age Clindum will have been in the vicinity of Clint, on the north side of the river Nidd to the northwest of Harrogate. Iron Age Carbandium may have been a promontory fort, now called Gates Hill Camp, on the north side of the Nidd a little upstream from Knaresborough, the name having been transferred by the Romans in the form Carbantium to a post/settlement at Harrogate.

2.1.3 The presence of the third group, hereinafter called the southern n₂-people, can be seen in the place-names Lagendion at Castleford, Almond at Almondbury and Cambrolanda at or near Slack, just west of Huddersfield. In addition some of these n₂-people may have crossed the Pennines and founded or taken over the Castlesteads promontory fort at Bury on the river Irwell, the name of this fort probably having been of the form Masandion (as discussed in the entry for Mantio in the Alphabetical List).

2.2 As to when the three groups of n₂-people came to Britain it seems probable that the northern and central n₂-people came to Britain around the same time as the Atrebates and the Canti (the early Catuvellauni : they lived south of the inner end of the Thames estuary) who also used the hill-letter n₂. The southern n₂-people discussed above may have come to Britain around the same time, but it is here assumed that they were n₂-people who had been displaced from what is now Lincolnshire when their land there was taken over by an l₁-people, namely by Trinovantes displaced from their own land by northward expansion of the Canti. One can see this population change in Lincolnshire in the place-names Croconcalana and Banvobalum.

2.3 We can see that prior to 130BC the northern and central n₂-people were separated by the land between the Tyne and Tees, and the central and southern n₂-people by the land between the Nidd and Aire. This second area is of some interest. The earliest hill-letter we see is the s in Locsa at Exley Head in Keighley. But then we see the hill-letter m in Bamvocalia at Ilkley, Camulodono at Skipton, Cambrolanda in the Slack area, Cambroduno at Eccleshill in Bradford, Almond at Almondbury and Maboridon at Barwick-in-Elmet. Note that Romano-British Cambroduno appears to have been at Eccleshill, but Iron Age Cambroduno may have been somewhere else in that area, perhaps even north of the Aire – there is no shortage of high, steep hills in the Bradford area and so no shortage of sites suitable for a Cambroduno. But the m-people later lost control of all of those places. Thus Cambrolanda, Cambroduno and Maboridon were taken over by an r-people, presumably the r-people of Eburacum at York and Cardadoriton at Tadcaster, and Bamvocalia and Camulodono were later taken over by an l₁-people, as indeed was Cambrolanda. It was into this region, controlled partly by an r-people and partly by an l₁-people, that the southern n₂-people later arrived. They appear to have founded Lagendion at Castleford and to have taken over Almond and Cambrolanda. In addition they may have crossed the Pennines to Bury on the river Irwell, but neither they nor the central n₂-people seem to have been able at that time to penetrate the territory between the Nidd and the Aire.

2.4 The above gives us a picture of the distribution of n₂-people in northern England around 130BC. Life went on after 130BC, but now people were coining transitional and, later, inversion-type names.

2.4.1 We thus see the northern n₂-people moving south down the Cumbrian coast, for the name of the river Esk appears to have been Alavna before the Romans arrived in that region, and this river-name includes the river-letter l corresponding to the hill-letter n. We also see the transitional element cent in Gabrocentio, a name later transferred by the Romans to their fort at Hard Knott pass, though we do not know the location of Iron Age Gabrocentio. Away to the east we see the northern n₂-people in Vintovala, a hillslope fort in Horsley Wood, a little southwest of Vindovala at Rudchester, and further east we have Serduno in the Wallsend area. The northern n₂-people also moved into the area south of the Tyne, for we have (L)incobigla at Lanchester, Vinovia at Binchester, and Lugunduno high above the north bank of the Tees in the Dinsdale Park area. Lugunduno will have been a frontier post founded by an l-people with the aim of discouraging the central n₂-people from moving into the territory north of the Tees, and will later have been taken over by the northern n₂-people with the same aim in mind.

2.4.2 The central n₂-people appear to have made little progress after 130BC. They apparently took over North Rigton, southwest of Harrogate, from an r-people, the name of the post/settlement there now becoming Rigodunum (listed by Ptolemy). They may have continued south and taken over the Bradford area, Cambroduno, and Skipton, now Camulodono, but these two places may alternatively have been taken over by the southern n₂-people. In addition it is possible that the central n₂-people moved up the valley of the Ure and took possession of a hillfort at Bainbridge, this now becoming Smedriladunum. And some of the central n₂-people may have moved further west from Bainbridge to the valley of the Lune, settling in the area around the confluence of the Leck Beck with the Lune. The writer’s reason for suggesting this is that we see the river-letters m and l, corresponding to the hill-letter n₂, in Moricambe, Ptolemy’s name for the river Lune, and Alone, apparently the Celtic name of the Leck Beck, transferred by the Romans to their fort at Burrow-in-Lonsdale, close to that river.

2.4.3 The southern n₂-people may have taken over Bradford and Skipton, as mentioned above, and they presumably did take over the hillfort known as Portfield Camp, a little southeast of Whalley in Lancashire, the name of this hillfort now becoming Vresmedenaci. The denaci part of the name is presumably an early inversion-type place-name element since the southern n₂-people continued to apply their river-letters m and l in the old-style manner, i.e. they placed them at the end of existing river-names. We thus see the river-letter m at the end of the river-name Berisama (Ptolemy's Belisama) and the river-letter l at the end of Ribelena (possible Celtic form of Ribble).

2.5 But the history of the n₂-people in the north of England was not a story of continual territorial expansion. At some time after 120BC the northern n₂-people lost Lenda and Voltandinion to an l₁-people who came to be called the Votadini and the southern n₂-people suffered a setback when they lost Castleford and Almondbury to newcomers who used the hill-letter l₂. These new settlers also took control of Keighley (Locsa) and founded a new settlement called Alitacenon somewhere in the Leeds area. We know that the letter l at the front of Lagendion, Almond, Locsa and Alitacenon is l₂ because the th at the end of the river name Worth, the Worth being a tributary which flows past Locsa to join the river Aire at Keighley, is a modified river-letter t corresponding to the hill-letter l₂.

2.6 We can thus see that in the period prior to 130BC the territory of the central n₂-people was rather small, a strip of land extending from the Tees down to the Nidd. And there was limited expansion of that territory after 130BC. But we can see that the core area of the central n₂-people, the strip of land between the rivers Tees and Nidd, includes both Aldborough and Stanwick, so it seems safe to assume that the central n₂-people were in fact the people who came to be called the Brigantes. And it seems safe to say (for reasons set out in paragraph 2.7 below) that Aldborough was the tribal centre, the tribal capital. The Romano-British name of Aldborough is normally taken to have been Isurium Brigantum, though this form is not actually on record. The nearest we come to it is the Isubrigantum of the AI Iter V, though the expansion to Isurium Brigantum seems entirely reasonable, given that we see the form Isurium in Ptolemy and in the AI Iter I. Brigantum is normally accepted as a declined form, the genitive plural, of the tribal name Brigantes, rather than as a mere latinised version of the Celtic place-name upon which the tribal name is itself based.

2.7 But we still haven’t settled what the form of the name of that tribal centre was, and here it seems sensible to look at the probable historical development in that region. So far as one can see there is no evidence in the place- and river-names that the Brigantes ever settled in the area east of the Ouse-Ure-Swale axis other than the river-names Swale and Leven in the north of that region, where the l in Swale and Leven is of course the river-letter l corresponding to the hill-letter n. It thus seems quite clear that the n₂-people who came to be called the Brigantes entered Britain by the bay at the mouth of the river Tees, that they spread along the south side of the Tees and then moved south, crossing the Swale and Ure and proceeding as far as the river Nidd, and there stopped. Iron Age Clindum and Carbandium on the river Nidd will have been frontier posts of the Brigantes. It is likely that there was an important crossing of the Ure at Aldborough since there is highish, dry land close to both banks of the river and so there was no marshland to impede movement across the river. Moreover the point a little downstream from Aldborough where the river Ure changes its name to Ouse may well mark the frontier between the territory of the r-people of Eburacum at York and that of the Brigantes. And bearing in mind that the tribal name Brigantes is based on a topographical place-name then if Aldborough was indeed the tribal centre we can deduce that the Celtic place-name for Aldborough would include the element Brigant- or Brigand-, each of these elements indicating that the Brigantes had seized Aldborough from the r-people (the Br element includes the hill-letter r). It would surely have been vitally important for the Brigantes that they should hold Aldborough against any attempt on the part of the r-people to regain that territory and so create a barrier between the Brigantes who had settled between the Tees and the Ure and those who lived between the Ure and the Nidd. It thus seems clear that Aldborough was indeed the place for the chieftain of the Brigantes to reside, together with whatever military forces he had at his immediate disposal. But even when the Brigantes got as far south as the Nidd they were still coining old-style place-names, as is clear from Clindum and Carbandium. It is therefore in the highest degree probable that the Celtic name of Aldborough was Brigand- with some ending such as on or ion. Brigandion (to keep to this one form) is a pure old-style name which indicates that at some date prior to 130BC an n₂-people had taken over a settlement occupied by r-people, exactly as in the case of Carbandium on the river Nidd. Note that the gand element means ‘steep hill summit’, so in all probability Iron Age Brigandion was up on the top of Studforth Hill. New Isurium was built down the north/northeast slope of the hill, straddling the point where the relatively steep slope meets the more level ground on the south side of the river Ure. Presumably Brigandion remained occupied while the new town was being built and equipped with all the public buildings and facilities the Romans thought a tribal centre should have. But with the passage of time it is possible that the population of the hilltop settlement moved down the hill into new Isurium and the hilltop became available for other construction projects. And indeed one reads that within the past ten years or so traces of a Roman amphitheatre have been found up on the hilltop. Perhaps if the archaeologists find the time and money to excavate the hilltop to study the remains of the amphitheatre they could keep their eyes open for signs of an earlier settlement, of Brigandion, tribal centre of the Brigantes tribe before the arrival of the Romans in Britain. Note that the tribal name Brigantes is derived from the place-name Brigandion with the common change d → t.

2.8 There are many scholars who believe that Stanwick was the tribal centre of the Brigantes, but it seems safe to conclude that Stanwick cannot have been the location of Brigandion. This is because Stanwick appears not to have risen to prominence until after about AD50. Indeed we are told by the archaeologists that construction of the ramparts at Stanwick started around the middle of the first century AD and was perhaps not even complete by AD70. However, there were apparently diplomatic relations between Rome and the southern British kingdoms during the period between Caesar’s invasion of 54BC and the Claudian invasion of AD43. We may therefore safely assume that the Roman high command had done its homework before the invasion of AD43. It will have gathered intelligence and will have been aware of the Brigantes tribe and the whereabouts of its territory. We can therefore assume that the place-name Brigandion and the tribal name Brigantes existed before AD43, thus before Stanwick rose to prominence. In other words Stanwick cannot have been Brigandion. The significance of Stanwick is probably that it was selected as the new tribal centre following a union of the Brigantes with the northern n₂-people. It was near the frontier of the two old tribes, apparently the Tees, but actually on Brigantian territory. Something similar occurred further north where the hillfort on Dumyat, northeast of Stirling, appears to have been selected as the new tribal capital following a union of the Damnoni and the Venicones. Dumyat was close to the frontier of the two old tribes but actually on Damnonian territory, so it will have had a name including the hill-letter m, the hill-letter used by the Damnoni. It is suggested elsewhere on this website that the name of that hillfort will have been Megaton (where megat means ‘hill steep high’) and the name of the new, unified tribe was then Megatae (again, a tribal name based on a topographical place-name). Deletion of the intervocalic g then yields the tribal name Meatae, known from the ancient sources (e.g. from Cassius Dio). But in the north of England case the tribal name Brigantes was retained for the new, unified tribe, which may tell us something about the relative strength of the Brigantes and the northern n₂-people. The union of the two tribes probably came about as a reaction to the threat posed to both n₂-people by the presence of the Roman army in southern Britain.

2.9 But the n₂-people discussed above were not alone in the north of England. There were also other tribes. Some of them used the hill-letter l₂, for example the Parisi, who lived north of the Humber, the Setanti, who lived around the mouth of the river Wyre in Lancashire and perhaps down as far as the Ribble estuary, the Textoverdi who lived south of the Tyne and South Tyne rivers, and the Lopocari, who lived in County Durham. There were also the l₂-people mentioned above in paragraph 2.5. They held Castleford, Almondbury and Keighley and founded a new settlement called Alitacenon somewhere in the Leeds area, but they obviously occupied some land further south as well. This is because rivers of the Don/Eden family are normally associated with l₂-people. This is true of the river Don in Aberdeenshire and the rivers Eden in East Fife, Cumbria and Kent, so it is presumably also true of the river Don in Yorkshire. In other words there must have been l₂-people living somewhere along the course of the Yorkshire river Don. And the river-letter t at the end of the river-names Trent and Derwent corresponds to the hill-letter l₂, so there must have been l₂-people living somewhere along the course of those two rivers. There were also r-people living in the north of England. One reads, for example, of a civitas Carvetiorum. Whatever status the people of the civitas enjoyed in the late Roman period they were probably earlier an r-people who lived in the Eden basin (one thinks of Bereda at Plumpton Wall, Brovonacis at Kirkby Thore and Verteris at Brough-under- Stainmore). It is believed that in the late Roman period the capital of the civitas of the Carveti will have been Carlisle. That may well be so, but in an earlier period the people of Carlisle and the people who lived around the Cumbrian river Derwent will have been another l₂-people (the initial L in Lagubalium and the corresponding river-letter t at the end of the river-name Derwent). And of course there were the r-people of Eburacum (York), Cardadoriton (Tadcaster) and Maboridon (Barwick-in-Elmet). There were also l₁-people, seen in Caluvo at Yarlsber Camp near Ingleton, Galava at Lancaster and Gabluvion at Castle Hill near Casterton on the river Lune, this name being transferred by the Romans as Galluvio to a post at Casterton itself. We see these l₁- people also at Lavaris, apparently at Castle Steads hillfort near Bowes, Valteris, apparently a hillfort near Dike House to the east of Brough-under-Stainmore, Calavum at East Witton Camp/Castle Steads, near Caldbergh to the west of Healam Bridge, and Bamvocalia at Ilkley. The Parisi are identified by Ptolemy as a tribe and so were presumably independent of the Brigantes. But the other tribes mentioned above, not identified by Ptolemy as tribes in their own right, may well have come under the control of the chieftain of the Brigantes. Whether this came about as a result of military pressure, peaceful negotiation, intermarriage amongst the ruling families of the various tribes or by some other means is not something one can deduce from the place- and river-names. But if that is indeed what happened then maybe the Romans came to regard all of those people as Brigantes, in which case perhaps Tacitus was right when he referred to people who held the Brigantes to be the most populous tribe in Britain, and Ptolemy right when he said that the territory of the Brigantes stretched “to both seas”, i.e. right across the north of England from the Irish Sea to the North Sea. There is one other group not so far mentioned, the n₂-people who lived south of the Humber. One sees the hill-letter n₂ of these people in the place-name Gambrand, referring to South Ferriby or a location up on the high ground immediately southeast of South Ferriby, Gambrand being seen in adjectival use in Ptolemy’s Gabrantuicorum bay, the Humber. Ptolemy refers to these people as being Brigantes living below the Parisi. This probably just means that they had at some stage been absorbed into the enlarged Brigantian state, but initially they will have belonged to the n₂-people who occupied the whole of what is now Lincolnshire. Those to the south of the area close to the Humber appear to have been taken over, some of them perhaps displaced to become the southern n₂-people discussed above, by Trinovantes who migrated north consequent to northwards expansion of the Canti.

2.10 One last point: the range of artefacts found by archaeologists at Stanwick, in particular the high percentage of imported items amongst them, suggests that Stanwick did in fact take up its role as capital of a new, enlarged Brigantian state (see paragraph 2.8 above) and exercised that role for some years. But after the Roman conquest that state will have been broken up, with much of its territory placed under military rule. Stanwick, with its raison d’être as capital of a new state abolished, was probably abandoned, left to the birds and sheep, while Brigandion at Aldborough resumed its old role as capital of the (now reduced) Brigantes. At some stage the Romans apparently decided that one region, maybe just the old core area of the Brigantes between the rivers Tees and Nidd, or perhaps that area enlarged by the addition of some neighbouring territory if the Romans thought that convenient, should be given some form of civilian administration. With that in mind they built a new town down the hill from Brigandion and at some point the name of the settlement will no doubt have been officially changed to Isurium Brigantum, presumably when the new town was ready for business.

[This page was last modified on 30 September 2024]

Details: Written by D. Glendinning; Category: Book; Published: 12 May 2021; Hits: 731

Explanatory alphabetical list of Romano-British place-names

Part 8: M

Part 8b: Me to Mu

[For information as to which names are included in this list and which not, and an explanation of the abbreviations employed, click on Alphabetical List menu provided above]

MEDIBOGDO

(Celt)	(Rav)	(Mod)
Probably	Medibogdo (114)	Kitridding
Medibogldo		(Cumbria)
or
Mediboglodono

Note 1:

Rivet and Smith see Mediobogdum as the correct form, this being derived from hypothetical Celtic medio taken to mean 'mid, middle' and (following Williams and Walde-Pokorny) a hypothetical root beugh given the meaning 'bend, curve', the name as a whole thus meaning 'place in the middle of the curve' which, Richmond and Crawford thought, exactly described Hard Knott in relation to the Esk valley. Unfortunately, however, Medibogdo was not at Hard Knott.

Medibogdo will have been the name of an Iron Age hillfort or settlement transferred to a Roman post built somewhere in the vicinity. Ravenna lists Medibogdo between Galluvio at Casterton on the river Lune and Cantiventi at Watercrook on the river Kent. It thus seems clear that Medibogdo was between Casterton and Watercrook. And in that region of few hillforts there is in fact a hillfort lying more or less on a straight line drawn between Casterton and Watercrook. That is the hill-fort at Kitridding (NGR: SD 583 843). It stands at around 220 metres on a platform at the top of a steep, high hill, with views to the north, east and south, though the true summit, at 238 metres, is a little to the west.

There seems little doubt that Medibogdo is a topographical name, but it is incomplete. The initial med element is an old-style element meaning 'hill-summit'. The second element has the b meaning 'high' and the g meaning 'steep', but the hill-letter is missing. Given that the place-names in the Lune valley, just to the east, use the hill-letter l, as in Galluvio at Casterton, and that the river-letter t in Cantiventi at Watercrook, a little to the west, corresponds to the hill-letter l, it is probable that the missing hill-letter is l, thus giving a place-name of the form Medibogldo, where bogldo means ‘high steep hill summit’. But it is also possible that do is an abbreviation of dono, meaning ‘summit of hill’, so the place-name would comprise the three elements med, bogl (meaning ‘high steep hill’) and dono. In this case there may have been a linking vowel between the l and the d, thus giving a Celtic place-name of the form Mediboglodono. But, as noted above, the name will have been transferred to a Roman post built somewhere in the vicinity and it is that Roman post which will have been the Medibogdo of Ravenna.

Note 2:

Example of missing letter

Example of abbreviation

[The entry for Medibogdo was last modified on 22 March 2021]

MEDIOLANUM see MEDIOLANO

MEDIOLANO

(Celt)	(Rav)	(Ptol)	(AI)	(Mod)
Mediolano	Mediolano	Mediolanum	Mediolano	Whitchurch
	(84)		(Iter II, X)	(Shropshire)

Note:

This name is generally regarded as being derived from hypothetical Celtic medio, taken to mean 'mid, middle', and hypothetical British lano, taken to mean 'plain, level ground', the name as a whole perhaps meaning, so suggest Rivet and Smith, '(place) in the middle of the plain', or, according to Jackson, 'central plain'.

But the location of the Roman fort at Whitchurch cannot sensibly be described as being in the middle of a plain, nor as a central plain. The fort was in fact built on top of a hill, which is actually what the name indicates. The med part of the name is the old-style element med meaning 'hill summit', and the l is just the hill-letter l. The river-letters corresponding to the hill-letters m and l are r and t, both of which are present in the river-name Rutunio, which the Romans transferred to the fort which they built close to the river (now the Roden) at a point, so Iter II indicates, 12 Roman miles south of Whitchurch on the road to Wroxeter. It is thus clear that the people who used the hill-letters m and l did settle in the region around Whitchurch. There can thus be little doubt that Mediolano is indeed a topographical name in the hill-letters m and l and has no connection with any plain, whether central or not.

But note that the relationship between Mediolano and the river Roden may be much closer than is suggested above. There is apparently no record of any Iron Age structure in Whitchurch itself. It would appear, then, that Mediolano was not a free-standing place-name in the Iron Age but was part of the name of the hillfort now known as Bury Walls (SJ 577 274), on the eastern side of the river Roden to the south of Whitchurch. The full name of that hillfort was probably Bicsimediolano, but there may have been a qualifying b (meaning ‘high’) or c (meaning ‘steep’) between the i and the o. The composite river-name of the river Roden (such names are explained in Home/Chapter 19, 11) will have been somewhat of the form Bortobicsimediolano, though the vowels used are not important. Note that the river-letters b, r and t of the river-prefix Borto correspond respectively to the hill-letters s, m and l of Bicsimediolano. The Romans took the mediolano part of the name and applied it to the fort which they built at Whitchurch. The river-prefix was transferred to a Roman post built close to the river Roden and presumably on the road from Whitchurch to Wroxeter, the name of that post appearing as Veratino (with initial B changed to V) in Ravenna and as Rutunio (with initial B omitted) in Iter II of the Antonine Itinerary. The Romans used what was left of the composite river-name after removing mediolano, namely Bortobics, to coin a name for the tribe. They omitted the initial B and the hill-letter s, changed the t to d and the second b to v to give the modified composite river-name Ordovic, and on the basis of this form they called the tribe the Ordovices. Note that Ptolemy assigns his Mediolanum to the territory of the Ordovices.

[The entry for Mediolano was last modified on 13 May 2021]

MEDIOMANO

(Celt)	(Rav)	(Mod)
Nediomano	Mediomano (81)	Tomen-y-Mur
or		(Gwynedd)
Mediolano

Note:

Rivet and Smith see this name as a duplicate of Mediolano at Whitchurch. That is, however, unlikely to be correct. Ravenna has come over from Brinavis at Bicester to Wroxeter, continues to Caer Gai at the southern end of Bala Lake and after Mediomano goes from Seguntio at Caernarfon to Sandonio at Sandon on the river Trent via Caerhun and Whitchurch. Mediomano is most likely to have been between Caer Gai and Caernarfon. Tomen-y-Mur is in the right place to have been Mediomano and the latter name is appropriate for the location. In addition it is just conceivable that the Tomen part of Tomen-y-Mur is derived from the dioman part of Mediomano.

The original Celtic name is, however, unlikely to have included the hill-letter m twice - the first m was probably originally some other hill-letter, n being the most likely, though s would also be possible. The original name was thus probably Nediomano, this comprising the old-style element ned meaning 'hill summit', the hill-letter m and an ano ending. The name is thus entirely appropriate for Tomen-y-Mur, which is indeed at the top of a hill. It is of course possible that the Tomen of Tomen-y-Mur has an origin quite different from that suggested above and that the Romano-British name for the fort was indeed Mediolano - the meaning of the name remains the same. But there was apparently no Iron Age settlement at Tomen-y-Mur, so the place-name must have been transferred to Tomen-y-Mur from some other location in that region. The nearest Iron Age hillfort is that at Bryn-y-Castell, Ffestiniog (SH 728 430), which is thought to date back to around 370 BC. The hillfort does indeed stand on the summit of a hill. Presumably that hillfort was called Nediomano/Mediolano and the Romans simply transferred the name (modified at some stage to Mediomano) to their fort at Tomen y Mur.

[The entry for Mediomano was last modified on 13 May 2021]

MEDIONEMETON

(Celt)	(Rav)	(Mod)
Nedionemedon	Medionemeton (196)	Bar Hill
		(East Dunbartonshire)

Note 1:

The first part of this name is normally considered to be derived from hypothetical Celtic medio, taken to mean 'mid, middle', and the second part is believed to be a Celtic word nemet, having a meaning such as 'sacred place' and thought to be based on hypothetical nem-os, taken to mean 'heaven'. The name as a whole is thus thought to have a meaning such as '(place) in the middle of the sacred grove' or perhaps 'middle grove'.

Medionemeton is, however, a topographical name, though one which has been modified. The med part of the name appears to be an old-style element meaning 'hill summit' and the met part an inversion-type element meaning 'hill high', but the elements are then in the wrong order within the name. The met element must therefore have been the old-style element med originally, but one cannot have a med at the beginning and end of the name. The first letter of the name must therefore have been some other hill-letter originally, presumably an n or s, assuming that the hill-letters in the names in that area appear in the normal chronological order - n₁, s, m, r, l₁, n_2, l₂. The earlier name of the place will thus have been Nedion (or, possibly, Sedion), where ned means 'hill summit', and then the people who used the hill-letter m arrived on the scene and added their element med, which has the same meaning. The name is similar in structure to the conionemedo part of Elconionemedo (Launceston), where the earlier name was Conion and the med element was added by later settlers. And of course neither name - Nedionemedon or Conionemedo - has any connection with a sacred grove. But Nedionemedon will actually have been the name of the Iron Age fort on Castle Hill, some 200 metres northeast of the Roman fort on Bar Hill, and was simply transferred by the Romans to the early Antonine fortlet which stood on the same site as the later Wall fort. No doubt the name was retained by the Wall fort when this was built. For a discussion of the role of the early Antonine fortlet in the Antonine frontier see Chapter 22 (The Antonine Wall) of the Home menu. Note that the names Cerma and Cermium indicate that the hill-letter r reached central Scotland earlier than the hill-letter m, so the first element of the Celtic name may possibly have been Redion rather than Nedion or Sedion.

Note 2:

Example of d → t

Example of n → m

[The entry for Medionemeton was last modified on 26 September 2020]

MELAMONI

(Celt)	(Rav)
Lelamon	Melamoni (15)

Note 1:

Rivet and Smith see this name as a duplicate of Moriduno. Richmond and Crawford offer no derivation, but suggest that Melamoni was in Devon, not far from Exeter.

It seems clear from the order of names in Ravenna that Melamoni was somewhere between Tavistock and Exeter. The i at the end of the name will belong to the next-following Ravenna name, Scadum Namorum. We are thus looking for a meaning and identification for Melamon. The Celtic name will have been Lelamon, since this place-name corresponds precisely with the river-name Dart, and between Tavistock and Exeter we see a West Dart and an East Dart river. The earliest hill-letter in the place-name is m, corresponding to the river-letter r in Dart. The hill-letter l in the middle of the place-name will be l₁ used in an inversion-type manner, and the corresponding river-letter t, changed to d, is also used in an inversion-type manner, i.e. it comes before the r in Dart. The initial L of Lelamon is l₂ and, as usual, the people who used the hill-letter l₂ placed their river-letter t at the end of the previous river-name, thus yielding the new river-name Dart. This river-letter t, placed at the end of the previous river-name by the people who used the hill-letter l₂, can also be seen in the river-name Derventio and in Trisantonis (the second t), as well as in the modern river-names Teviot, Tweed (t changed to d) and Teith (t changed to th). The Celtic settlement called Lelamon will thus have been located close to the West Dart or the East Dart river. The Roman fort appearing as Melamoni in Ravenna will have been built in the vicinity of that settlement and will have taken its name from it, though with the initial L changed to M.

Note 2:

Example of l → m

Example of t → d

MELEZO

(Celt)	(Rav)	(Mod)
Meletio	Melezo (36)	Melbury
or		(Dorset)
Meledio

Note:

Williams suggested a British root cognate with hypothetical melisso-s, taken to mean 'sweet', the name thus having a meaning such as 'honey place' or 'honey-stream place'. Rivet and Smith think this semantically dubious and suggest derivation from a root such as mel or mell, apparently following Pokorny, who referred to a root mel, given the meaning 'height, swelling', or Dauzat, who proposed a hypothetical pre-Celtic mala, taken to mean 'mountain'. On that basis Rivet and Smith suggest a meaning 'hill-(place)' for Meletio.

The name appears to be a topographical compound in the hill-letters m and l, where the inversion-type element let means 'hill high' (z = ti). But this element may originally have been old-style led meaning 'hill summit'. From the order of names in Ravenna Melezo appears to have been at or in the vicinity of Melbury Hill in Dorset. There are ancient earthworks on that particular hill, so perhaps there had been a native settlement up on top of the hill prior to the arrival of the Romans, assuming that the earthworks date from that period.

[The entry for Melezo was last modified on 06 Auigust 2020]

MEMANTURUM

(Celt)	(Rav)	(Mod)
Melantvrum	Memanturum (216)	Dunfermline
		(Fife)

Note:

Rivet and Smith see this name as a corrupt form of Ptolemy's Novantarum peninsula, i.e. the Rhinns of Galloway, though it seems quite clear from the order of names in Ravenna that Memanturum was not in southwestern Scotland. Richmond and Crawford appear to go the other way and place Memanturum in northeastern Scotland. They see the name as probably being a scribal error for Nemanturum, and so think it might be a place of the Nemanturi, probably a sept or pagus of the Taexali tribe.

Memanturum appears to be a topographical name, but it should not include the hill-letter m twice. One of the two will thus originally have been some other hill-letter, l being perhaps the most likely, this yielding possibly the place-name Melanturum. But it would appear that the name would actually have been Melantvrum or Melantverum. Melantverum is a topographical compound in the hill-letters m, l, n and r, where the inversion-type elements ant and ver respectively mean 'hill high' and 'slope of hill'. At some stage the ver element moved to the front of the name and in the post-Roman period a Gaelic dun was added at the front, the name then becoming Dunvermelantum, and it is this form which developed further, via Dunfermelitane in 1128, to the modern name Dunfermline. It is not clear whether the vr/ver element had this form in the original name, or whether the element was originally the old-style element br/ber meaning 'high hill'.

MESTEVIA

(Celt)	(Rav)	(Mod)
Mestevia	Mestevia (18)	Tiverton
		(Devon)

Note:

Rivet and Smith see this name as a corrupt form of Ptolemy's Antivestaeum promontory, i.e. Land's End in Cornwall. Williams considered the name to be derived from a root mess or mest, taken to mean 'acorns', the name then meaning 'place of acorns'.

Mestevia appears, however, to be a straightforward topographical compound in the hill-letters m and s, where the inversion-type element st means 'hill high'. The evia part of the name will just be an ending, which may or may not have had some meaning. The Roman fort at Tiverton was just north of the modern town, on the other side of the A361 and east of the river Exe. But it will have taken its name from Iron Age Mestevia on the other side of town. This is the hillfort now known as Cranmore Castle (SS 959 118) standing high above the confluence of the Exe and its tributary, the Lowman. For the reason for identifying Tiverton as Mestevia see Home/Chapter 10, 7.

[The entry for Mestevia was last modified on 13 May 2021]

METAMBALA

(Celt)	(Rav)	(Mod)
Nemedonbala	Metambala (50)	Lydney
		(Gloucestershire)

Note:

Rivet and Smith, following Richmond and Crawford, see Nemetobala as being perhaps the correct form of this name. They see the first part of the name as being hypothetical nemeto, taken to mean 'sacred grove', and the second part as being derived from hypothetical Celtic balma, taken to mean 'pointed rock, peak', the name as a whole perhaps meaning 'grove-hill' or 'hill-sanctuary'.

Ravenna gives two adjacent names as Iupania Metambala. The original names were presumably Luba Nemedonbala, but this text was at some point wrongly divided to yield Lubane Medonbala, Lubane then changing to Iupania. The earlier name of the place called Metambala in Ravenna will have been Nemedon, this comprising the hill-letter n and the old-style element med meaning 'hill summit'. And then the people who used the hill-letter l arrived on the scene and added their element bal meaning 'high hill'. There was presumably n/m confusion at some stage of medieval copying, so that Nemedonbala became Nemedambala and the initial Ne was lost to the previous name, Luba, thus leaving Medambala which, with the minor change of d → t, became Metambala. It may of course be that Nemedon was the name of the Iron Age hillfort just southwest of Lydney and that the name became associated with the hill itself, this being known as 'Nemedon high hill', i.e. as Nemedonbala. The Roman fort, assuming the Ravenna name refers to a Roman fort, will thus have taken its name from the hill, and may actually have been located at the foot of the hill, though so far as the present writer is aware no traces of such a fort have yet been found. In later times there was indeed a temple precinct inside the old hillfort, but the name Nemedonbala is topographical and has nothing to do with any sacred grove or indeed anything else sacred. Note that the river flowing down the east side of the hill on which the hillfort stands is called the Lyd, which comprises the river-letters l and t (changed to d) corresponding to the hill-letters n and l, both of which are present in Nemedonbala. The modern town Lydney will have taken its name from the river.

MILIDUNUM

(Celt)	(Rav)	(Mod)
Milidunum	Milidunum (19)	South Molton
		(Devon)

Note:

Rivet and Smith see this name as a duplicate of Moriduno and provide a derivation on the basis of the latter name. They think Moriduno might possibly have been at Sidford, Devon.

But Milidunum is an acceptable topographical name as it stands. It is a compound in the hill-letters m, l and n, where the inversion-type element dun means 'summit of hill'. The order of names in Ravenna appears to indicate that Milidunum was at South Molton, and there are several locations both within the modern town and in the immediate vicinity which would be suitable for the name Milidunum, the most likely being a promontory of higher land within the town, this promontory stretching eastwards towards the river Mole and being bounded by lower ground to both north and south. But note that Milidunum is most likely to have been the name of the hillfort on Whitechapel Moors, at SS 757 264, some 4 kilometres east of South Molton. The name will have been transferred by the Romans to a fort which they built at South Molton itself.

MORBIO

(Celt)	(ND)	(Mod)
Morvio	Morbio	Castleford
(a river)		(West Yorkshire)

Note:

Rivet and Smith offer no derivation of their own and quote no derivations proposed by others. They think the name may be slightly corrupt.

Morbio is a river-name transferred by the Romans to a fort which they built close to the river concerned. The fort-name appears in the Notitia Dignitatum between Dano at Doncaster and Arbeia at Newton Kyme (not South Shields as is commonly assumed). Now, the river-letter m is normally applied to major rivers (by those Celts who used the hill-letter n) and the only major river between Doncaster and Newton Kyme is the Aire, so Morbio was presumably the then name of the river Aire. But the name was probably Morvio originally, where vio is just an ending, for if the b in Morbio were the river-letter b this would imply that in that region the hill-letters were not applied in the normal chronological order n₁, s, m, r, l₁, n₂, l₂. But we know from Loxa (at Exley Head, Keighley) and the modern river-name Worth (a tributary joining the Aire at Keighley) that the hill-letters were indeed applied in the normal chronological order in that region. The initial W of Worth is the river-letter b (corresponding to the hill-letter s) changed to v changed to w. The r in Worth is the river-letter r corresponding to the hill-letter m, so we know that in that region the hill-letter s was indeed used earlier than the hill-letter m, and so the river-letter b was used earlier than the river-letter r. The river-letter b should not therefore follow the river-letter r in Morbio, so Morbio was probably originally Morvio, the v simply having changed to b at some stage, a fairly common change in Romano-British names. There is no problem with the m and r in Morvio - they correspond to the hill-letters n and m in Camulodono, further up the Aire at Skipton. The river-letter r corresponding to the hill-letter m in Camulodono appears in both names Eller (the tributary of the Aire on which Skipton stands) and Morvio. Those Celts who used the hill-letter n (in the dono element of Camulodono) applied the river-letter l to minor rivers, including tributaries, and the river-letter m to major rivers. We thus see the river-letter l in the tributary, the Eller, and the river-letter m in the major river, the Morvio. Note that the river-letters in each river-name are in the correct order. The element dono comes at the end of Camulodono (indeed it normally appears at the end of place-names) but it is of course an inversion-type element and the corresponding river-letters l and m are used in an inversion-type manner, that is to say the l comes before the r in Eller and the m before the r in Morvio. Turning to the Morbio of the Notitia Dignitatum we can be sure that this fort was between Doncaster and Newton Kyme and on the river Aire. Now there was of course a well-known Roman road from Doncaster to Newton Kyme and that road crossed the Aire at Castleford. It thus seems sensible to presume that Morbio was a late Roman fort at Castleford. The change of name from Flavian Lagentium to Morbio rather suggests that Lagentium (and perhaps its vicus, too) had been abandoned some time before the later fort was built.

The modern river-name Aire is presumably derived from Morvio. The m and v were dropped or lost, thus leaving orio, and this form later changed to Aire.

MORIDUNO

(Celt)

(Rav)

(AI)

(Mod)

Moriduno

Moriduno (23)

Moriduno

Hembury Hill

(Somerset)

(Iter XV)

Note:

The first element is thought to be from hypothetical British mori, taken to mean 'the sea', and the second element to be Celtic duno, from hypothetical dunos, which is thought to have meant 'hill' originally and to have taken on the meaning 'fort' later. The meaning of the name is thus taken to be 'sea-fort'.

The m and r of Moriduno are the hill-letters m and r and duno is an inversion-type topographical element meaning 'summit of hill'. By considering in conjunction the order of names in Ravenna, the mileage given in Iter XV for the stretch between Moriduno and Isca at Exeter, and the mileage and location shown on the Peutinger map, it is clear that Moriduno was the hill-fort on Hembury Hill, a location having no connection with the sea. What is not clear is whether the name in Ravenna actually refers to the hill-fort or to a Roman post established inside the hill-fort after the occupants had been forced out, or to a Roman post on lower ground nearby, to which the name Moriduno had simply been transferred by the Romans. One sees the same m, r compound in Maridunum at Carmarthen, and Carmarthen, although not far from the head of the tidal section of the river Tywi, is also some considerable distance from the sea. Note that it is possible that r is the earliest hill-letter in the name so that the place-name may have existed in the Riduno form before the Dumnoni added their hill-letter m in the inversion-type manner. Note further that the Peutinger map does actually give the form Ridumo.

[The entry for Moriduno was last modified on 01 February 2024]

MORIONIO

(Rav)

(Mod)

Morionio (30)

Norton Camp

(Somerset)

Note:

Rivet and Smith see this name as a duplicate of Moriduno. Richmond and Crawford refer to Williams' suggested derivation from hypothetical morion, said to mean 'ants', the place-name then perhaps meaning 'a place infested by ants'.

Morionio appears to be a straightforward topographical compound in the hill-letters m and r, though there may originally have been a consonant between the first i and the following o. The order of names in Ravenna appears to indicate that Morionio was between Omiretedertis (Ham Hill/Martock) and Bolvelaunio (Wiveliscombe). There appears to have been only one pre-Roman fort along that alignment and that is the hill-fort known as Norton Camp, at Norton Fitzwarren to the west of Taunton. That hill-fort was presumably Ravenna's Morionio, though it is not clear whether the name as it appears in Ravenna refers to the hill-fort itself, to a Roman post built inside the hill-fort after the locals had been persuaded to leave, or to a Roman fort built nearby, to which the Romans simply transferred the name of the hill-fort.

MURIDONO see MARIDUNUM

MUTUANTONIS

(Celt)

(Rav)

(Mod)

Mutuandonis

Mutucandonis

Mutuantonis (69)

Hastings

(East Sussex)

Note:

Richmond and Crawford appear to have regarded this name as a conflation of a name beginning with Mutu and the river-name Trisantonis. Rivet and Smith thought this possible, but thought it more likely that initial Mu is simply a garbled version of the abbreviation Fl for Latin Flumen.

Neither of the views expressed above seems likely to be correct. Ravenna has come over from Caleba (Silchester) to Mutuantonis via Anderelionuba (Pevensey), and is about to go on to Lemanis (Lympne). It seems hardly likely that there could be any confusion with the name of a river in West Sussex (the Trisantonis is now called the Arun). Mutuantonis appears to be a straightforward topographical compound with two inversion-type elements mut and ant both meaning ‘hill high’. It is a compound name with two hill-letters and so refers to a Celtic settlement which existed prior to the Roman invasion. Now, there is high ground on or near the coast all the way from Hastings to Rye, but the only clear structural evidence of a Celtic settlement (so far as the present writer is aware) is that on the East Hill in Hastings, so in the absence of any alternative that settlement on East Hill is here identified as Mutuantonis. The structural evidence takes the form of a rampart built across the eastern end of the hill, and it is thought that the lowest level of that rampart might date back to the first millenium BC. (For detailed information on that rampart see Fradley M. and Newsome S.: “East Hill, Hastings, East Sussex - A Landscape Survey and Investigation”, English Heritage Research Department Report Series no. 35-2008). However, since the settlement was actually on top of the hill it is likely that the Celtic name was Mutuandonis, in which name the old-style qualifying element and means ‘hill summit’. But the ua letter combination is unusual, so it may be that the name was actually Mutucandonis, where Mutuc is an inversion-type element meaning ‘hill high steep’ – it is the same element as the Macat of Macatonion (at Dymock in Gloucestershire) but with the adjectival c and t in reverse order. Ravenna’s Mutuantonis, however, was most probably a Roman post, so either the Romans built a post inside the old settlement after evicting the inhabitants, or they built a new post somewhere in the vicinity, that new post simply taking its name from the Celtic settlement.

Details: Written by D. Glendinning; Category: Book; Published: 08 March 2021; Hits: 1030

Longus

Identification: river Add, Argyll

Longus is a place-name transferred to a river. The Epidi tribe appear to have used the hill-letter n₂, this being seen in the old-style nd element (meaning ‘hill summit’) in Lemandonius (Lemannonius in Ptolemy), the Clauchlands hillfort high above Lamlash bay on Arran. At some time after 120BC the Epidi appear to have expanded north and west and to have founded a new settlement at Dunadd. This new settlement will have had a name such as Denconion, where Denc is an inversion-type element meaning ‘summit of hill steep’. At a later date that settlement was taken over by the Caledoni, who used the hill-letter l₁. The name of the settlement was now Lodenconion. This form, with loss or omission of de, the common c→g change and modification of the ending, became Longus. This modified place-name was then transferred to the river now called the Add.

[NB. Detailed information as to the different hill-letters is given in Chapter 1 and information as to how the hill-letters were combined to form compound place-names is given in Chapter 2]

Details: Written by D. Glendinning; Category: Book; Published: 12 May 2021; Hits: 789

Explanatory alphabetical list of Romano-British place-names

Part 8: M

Part 8a: Ma

[For information as to which names are included in this list and which not, and an explanation of the abbreviations employed, click on Alphabetical List menu provided above]

MACATONION

(Celt)	(Rav)	(Mod)
Macatonion	Macatonion (61)	Dymock
or		(Gloucestershire)
Demacatonion

Note:

Rivet and Smith appear to follow Richmond and Crawford in preferring the form Magalonium, this being thought to include a hypothetical river-name Magalona, taken to mean 'noble river', Magalonium then meaning 'place on the noble river'.

But the macat of Macatonion appears to be a straightforward inversion-type topographical element meaning 'hill steep high'. On the assumption that the first Roman fort stood where the centre of the modern village lies (and it is assumed here that the name does indeed refer to a fort), the hill or slope in question is presumably that which goes down to the river Leadon from the fort. The modern name Dymock may just be a rearrangement of Macat, with the t changed to d and the c to ck.

It is, however, much more likely that the name was transferred to Dymock by the Romans from a nearby Iron-Age hillfort. The nearest appears to be Haffield Camp (SO 723 339) about four kilometres northeast of Dymock. The hillfort stands on the summit of a steep, high hill. Ravenna does sometimes omit the initial consonant of Celtic place-names (see Alphabetical List/Changes in names over time, paragraph 8), so the Celtic name may have been Demacatonion, meaning 'summit of hill steep, high'. Modern Dymock is then presumably derived directly from the Demac part of the old name.

[The entry for Macatonion was last modified on 29 July 2020]

MAGIOVINTO

(Celt)	(AI)	(Mod)
Magiovinto	Magiovinto	Dropshort Farm
	(Iter II)	(Milton Keynes)
	Magiovinio
	(Iter VI)
	Magionvinio
	(Iter VIII)

Note 1:

Jackson thought the first element of this name might be hypothetical British magio, probably meaning 'great'. He, and others, appear to consider the second element obscure.

Magiovinto is normally identified as the Romano-British town close to Dropshort Farm, on the A5 just outside Milton Keynes. The name appears to be a straightforward topographical compound in the hill-letters m and n, where the inversion-type elements mag and vint respectively mean 'hill steep' and 'slope of hill high'. The name is thus entirely appropriate for the location. The hill in question is that which rises up to Little Brickhill, identified in this study as Ravenna's Iaciodulma (95), the Celtic form of which may have been Inacisodulno. The hill-letter n in Inacisodulno and Magiovinto corresponds to the river-letter l in Lovat, the name of the river flowing past the Romano-British town (the river also being known as the Ouzel). Magiovinto is presumably the earliest of the forms given in the AI, the t simply having changed to i in the forms given in Iter VI and Iter VIII. The Iter VIII form also shows an intrusive n.

Note, however, that Magiovinto was probably the name of the hill-fort now known as Danesborough, to the NNE of Little Brickhill. That hill-fort stands not on the summit of a hill but on the slope, on the hillside, and the slope below the hill-fort is certainly steep. The hill-fort is thought to have been occupied from the first century BC to the first century AD (see, for example, the Pastscape website of Historic England), which would tie in well with the form of the name - both elements mag and vinto are inversion-type and the changeover from old-style to inversion-type names appears to have taken place during the second half of the second century BC. The Romans may have moved the inhabitants of the hill-fort down to the new town which they built at Dropshort farm and they may simply have transferred the name of the hill-fort to the new town.

Note 2:

Example of intrusive letter - n

[The entry for Magiovinto was last modified on 06 August 2020]

MAGIS

(Celt)	(ND)	(Mod)
Magnis	Magis	Carvoran
		(Northumberland)

Note 1:

Rivet and Smith see this name as being derived from hypothetical British magos, taken to mean 'field, plain' originally, and later 'market', the meaning of the name then being 'at the plains'. They tentatively locate the ND's Maglone at Old Carlisle and Magis at Burrow Walls.

However, it would appear that Old Carlisle and Burrow Walls could be fitted in to the ND list more comfortably amongst the names coming down the west coast, i.e. together with Congavata (Bowness-on-Solway), Axeloduno (Maryport) and Gabrocentio (Hard Knott). The ND list comes over from Chester-le-Street via Bowes and Brough-under-Stainmore to Kirkby Thore. It then goes via Maglone and Magis to Longovico at Lanchester. It seems much more likely, then, that the list heads north after Kirkby Thore to go via Whitley Castle to Carvoran, and then east along the Stanegate in the direction of Lanchester. If this is correct then Magis will just be a modified form of Magnis at Carvoran. No copying error need be involved here as the name Magnis may simply have developed to Magis by the time the ND was compiled. That the two names Magnis and Magis date from different historical periods seems clear, since the ND indicates that Magnis was manned by an old-fashioned cohort and Magis by a new-fangled numerus.

The magn element originally in Magis is an old-style element in the hill-letters m and n, where gn means 'steep hill'. The Roman fort at Carvoran stands at the top of a steep slope on the east side of the Tipalt Burn.

Note 2:

Example of deletion of internal letter - n

[The entry for Magis was last modified on 12 May 2019]

MAGLONE

(Celt)	(ND)	(Mod)
Maglone	Maglone	Whitley Castle
		(Northumberland)

Note:

Rivet and Smith appear to regard this name as being derived from hypothetical mag or magal, taken to have the general sense 'great, noble', the name as a whole perhaps meaning 'high, outstanding place' or 'noble place'.

But, as it stands, the name appears to be a topographical compound in the hill-letters m and l, the old-style element gl meaning 'steep hill'.

The name is commonly associated with the Roman fort at Old Carlisle, presumably on the basis of an inscription found there and including the text Vik Mag. This text is traditionally expanded to read Vikenses Maglonarum, though there can be no guarantee that this is correct. And indeed the name Maglone is not entirely inappropriate for Old Carlisle, since there appears to be a steep drop down from the fort to a stream which flows past the western side and part of the northern side of the fort. Nonetheless the present writer identifies Whitley Castle as Maglone. For the reasons for this see Magis. And the Roman fort at Whitley Castle is most certainly located on a steep hill.

[The entry for Maglone was last modified on 12 May 2019]

MAGNIS¹

(Celt)	(Rav)	(ND)	(Mod)
Magnis	Magnis (130)	Magnis	Carvoran
			(Northumberland)

Note:

Rivet and Smith see this name as being derived from hypothetical British magno, apparently taken to mean 'stone, rock'.

The magn of Magnis is, however, just an old-style compound in the hill-letters m and n, where gn means 'steep hill'. The Roman fort at Carvoran stands at the top of a steep slope on the east side of the Tipalt Burn.

[The entry for Magnis was last modified on 12 May 2019]

MAGNIS²

(Celt)	(Rav)	(AI)	(Mod)
Magnis	Magnis (57)	Magnis	Kenchester
		(Iter XII)	(Herefordshire)

Note:

Rivet and Smith see this name as being derived from hypothetical British magno, apparently taken to mean 'stone, rock'.

The magn of Magnis is, however, just an old-style compound in the hill-letters m and n, where gn means 'steep hill'. Magnis will have been the name of the hill-fort in Credenhill Park Wood, a little to the northeast of the Roman fort (and later town) at Kenchester (cf. Noviomagno, the name of a new settlement down below Magno, the Maiden Castle hill-fort in Dorset). That hill-fort in Credenhill Park Wood is at the top of a steep hill. The name of the hill-fort was simply transferred by the Romans to their fort (later, town) at Kenchester.

[The entry for Magnis was last modified on 22 September 2019]

MAIA

(Celt)	(Rav)	(Mod)
Maga, Mada, Mala	Maia (154)	Fingland Ridge
or		(Cumbria)
Magia, Madia, Malia

Note:

Richmond and Crawford suggested a derivation from hypothetical British maios, comparative of hypothetical maros, the sense of the name being 'larger (one or ones)', and Rivet and Smith suggested that this might refer to the size of promontories (Bowness contrasted with Drumburgh).

Maia appears within a group of Ravenna names which actually defines the Trajanic frontier, so Maia was presumably the Trajanic fort up on Fingland Ridge. The Ravenna name after Maia, Fanococidi, would then be the Flavian fort at Kirkbride, simply incorporated in the Trajanic frontier as its most westerly fort. If one assumes that the i of Maia was originally some other letter, then the Celtic name may have been Maga, Mada or Mala, where mag means 'hill steep', mad means 'hill summit' and mal is just a compound in the hill-letters m and l. If, on the other hand, one assumes that there was originally a consonant between the a and i of Maia then the Celtic name might have been Magia, Madia or Malia.

MAIO

(Celt)	(Rav)	(Mod)
Malio, or	Maio (120)	Workington
Matio, or		(Cumbria)
Macio

Note 1:

Richmond and Crawford suggested derivation from hypothetical British maios, comparative of hypothetical maros, the sense being taken to be 'larger (one or ones)'. Rivet and Smith thought this might refer to the size of promontories (Bowness contrasted with Drumburgh), though this is presumably because they equated Ravenna's Maio with its Maia, which they identified as Bowness-on-Solway.

The vowel combination aio is rather unusual, so one suspects that there was an additional consonant in the original Celtic name. Now, the fort at Workington stands at the western end of an area of high ground, so the name is probably topographical, the m of Maio being the hill-letter m. The name of the nearby river Derwent includes the river-letters t (changed to d), r and b (changed to v and then to w), the corresponding hill-letters being l, m and s. The hill-letter l is chronologically later than the m, so the name of the fort may have been Malio. But the name of the fort may alternatively refer to the height or steepness of the raised ground to the east, so the name may have been Matio (the t meaning 'high') or Macio (the c meaning 'steep'). But whatever the intervocalic consonant was, it was at some point omitted, thus leaving the Maio of Ravenna.

Note 2:

Example of omission of internal letter - l, t or c.

MAMCUNIO/MAMUCIO see MANTIO

MANDUESEDO

(Celt)	(AI)	(Mod)
Manduesedo	Manduesedo	Mancetter
	(Iter II)	(Warwickshire)

Note:

This name is generally considered to be derived from hypothetical British mandu, taken to mean 'small horse, pony', and hypothetical essedo, taken to mean 'war-chariot', the name as a whole perhaps meaning 'horse-chariot'.

Manduesedo, however, appears to be a straightforward topographical compound in the hill-letters m, n and s, where the old-style elements nd and sed both mean 'hill summit'. The name must therefore have been that of the Roman fort built up on high ground on the western side of the river Anker, the name later being transferred to the civilian settlement on Watling Street, on the other side of the river. It seems most likely, however, that the name was originally that of the nearby Oldbury hillfort and was simply transferred by the Romans to the fort which they built at Mancetter.

It is likely, however, that the initial M is used in an inversion-type manner and that the name of the Oldbury hill-fort was just Anduesedo. Manduesedo, meaning 'hill called Anduesedo', may then have been a new Celtic settlement (replacing the hill-fort) built on low ground at the foot of the hill. The later Roman fort will then have taken its name from that new settlement.

MANTIO

(Celt)	(Rav)	(AI)	(Mod)
Mandio	Mantio (109)	Mamucio	Manchester
or		(Iter II)
Masandion		Mamcunio
		(Iter X)

Note 1:

Rivet and Smith see Mamucium as the correct form, and Jackson considered this form to be derived from hypothetical British mamma taken to mean 'breast; round, breast-shaped hill'.

Mantio appears to have been a Flavian fort, so it is possible that this fort was abandoned at some time and then, sometime later, a new fort was built on the site and given the name Mamucio/Mamcunio. Whether the new name had anything to do with breasts is debatable - confusion of n and m did occur in other names during medieval copying and the letters t and c are sometimes interchanged. It is thus entirely possible that the Mamc of Mamcunio was originally Mant, as in Ravenna's form. The change of the ending from io to unio would not appear to be of great significance. Note that there is a variant spelling Mancunio for the AI's Mamcunio. It does seem most likely, then, that the development was Mantio → Mancio → Mancunio, the second letter m in both AI forms just being the result of n/m confusion during medieval copying.

Ravenna's form may be correct as it stands, the m being the hill-letter m and ant being an inversion-type element meaning 'hill high'. However, the Manchester fort is described as being up on a bluff, so it seems more likely that the Celtic name had been Mandio, where and is an old-style element meaning 'hill summit'. But there is apparently no evidence of an Iron Age settlement on that bluff, so the place-name must have been transferred to Manchester from some other location in that region. Mandio was probably the name of the promontory fort known as Castle Steads, Bury (NGR: SD 797 130), higher up the river Irwell. The fort is up on high ground adjacent the river.

It is possible that the modern river-name Irwell is derived from a Celtic river-name of the form Irbelena, where the river-letters r, b and l correspond respectively to the hill-letters m, s and n. It thus seems possible that the Iron Age fort was in fact called Masandion, which, with loss or omission of intervocalic s and the common change d → t, was transferred by the Romans as Mantio to the fort which they built downstream at Manchester. Irbelena will have changed to Irwell with b → v → w.

Note 2:

Possible d → t

Possible confusion of n and m

Possible interchange of t and c

Example of modification of ending - io to unio

[The entry for Mantio was last modified on 02 February 2024]

MAPORITON

(Celt)	(Rav)	(Mod)
Maboridon	Maporiton (163)	Bramham
		(North Yorkshire)

Note 1:

Rivet and Smith see this name as being derived from hypothetical British mapo meaning 'boy, youth; son' and hypothetical ritu meaning 'ford', Maporiton thus meaning 'the young man's ford' or 'son's ford'.

The above seems somewhat far-fetched. Maporiton appears to be a topographical name, but it has been altered. The p will have been a b originally and the b meaning 'high' comes before its hill-letter. The b thus belongs to the hill-letter r in the name and not to the m. But then borit is impossible, since t also means 'high', and a hill-letter cannot be qualified by both b and t. The t must therefore have been a d in the original Celtic name, the name thus being of the form Maboridon, where borid is an element like the name Bereda (the fort at Plumpton Wall) - it simply means 'high hill summit'. Maboridon is thus a straightforward topographical compound in the hill-letters m and r and was the name of an Iron Age hillfort or settlement at the top of a high hill. There was apparently no hillfort in the immediate vicinity of Bramham, the nearest being some six kilometres away at Barwick-in-Elmet. But wherever Iron Age Maboridon was the Romans will have transferred the name to a Roman post at Bramham. For the reason for identifying Bramham as Maporiton see Home/Chapter 15, Part 2, 11.

Note 2:

Example of d → t

Example of b → p

[The entry for Maporiton was last modified on 12 May 2021]

MARCOTAXON

(Celt)	(Rav)	(Mod)
Marcotacson	Marcotaxon (224)	Castle Craig
		(Perth and Kinross)

Note:

The first part of this name is thought to be derived from hypothetical British marco or marca, taken to mean 'horse'. For the second element Williams suggested a derivation from hypothetical tag, taken to mean 'to rule, order, array', the name as a whole then perhaps meaning 'horse array', or perhaps, as Rivet and Smith suggest, 'assembly point for cavalry' or 'horse-trading fair'.

The order of names in Ravenna indicates that Marcotaxon was on or close to the Ruthven Water, a tributary of the river Earn in central Scotland. Marcotacson is a topographical compound in the hill-letters m, r and s. The earliest element of the name is acs, meaning 'steep hill', then came the inversion-type element arcot, meaning 'hill steep high', and finally the hill-letter m. Note that the river-letters corresponding to the hill-letters m, r and s are r, s and b, and the r and b appear, with the b changed to v, in the modern river-name Ruthven (the en just being a name-ending). Presumably the Celtic river-letter s changed to th at a date later than the Roman occupation. The place-name as a whole refers to a location adjacent a steep, high hill, and there are several places on the banks of the Ruthven Water which appear suitable for such a name, possibly Damside and certainly Auchterarder and Kincardine Castle. It is probable, however, that the name was that of the hill-fort now known as Castle Craig, just south of Pairney in Perth and Kinross, and was simply transferred by the Romans to a fort which they built nearby, close to the Ruthven Water.

Note that it is possible that the hillfort had been called simply Acson and that Arcotacson was a new Celtic settlement (replacing the hill-fort) built on low ground at the foot of the hill. That new settlement will later have been taken over by the Damnoni (who appear to have used the hill-letter m) and the still later Roman fort took its name - Marcotacson (Ravenna's Marcotaxon) - from the Damnonian settlement.

[The entry for Marcotaxon was last modified on 26 June 2020]

MARGIDUNO

(Celt)	(AI)	(Mod)
Margiduno	Margiduno	Croxton Kerrial
	(Iter VI, VIII)	(Leicestershire)

Note:

Rivet and Smith appear to follow Jackson in seeing a derivation from hypothetical marga, taken to mean 'marl', the meaning of the whole name then being 'marly fort', i.e with an earthwork of marly soil. Coates sees a derivation from hypothetical mrogi, taken to mean 'boundary', the meaning of the name then being 'boundary fort'.

Margiduno, however, appears to be a straightforward topographical name in the hill-letters m, r and n, where the inversion-type elements arg and dun respectively mean 'hill steep' and 'summit of hill'. The name is entirely appropriate for Croxton Kerrial, where there is a peninsula of land extending northwards from the Roman road (Margary 58a), that peninsula being bounded by steep slopes on its E, N and W sides. It is traditional, however, to identify Margiduno as a place on the Fosse Way. The writer's reasons for removing the Iter VI names from the Fosse Way are given in the entry for Ad Pontem.

MARIDUNUM

(Celt)	(Ptol)	(AI)	(Mod)
Maridunum	Maridunum	Muriduno	Carmarthen
		(Iter XII)

Note:

The first element is normally considered to be derived from hypothetical British mori, taken to mean 'the sea', and the second element is thought to be Celtic dunon, from hypothetical dunos, which is thought to have meant 'hill' originally and to have taken on the meaning 'fort' later. The meaning of the name is thus taken to be 'sea fort'.

But Maridunum will have been the name of the Iron Age hillfort on Merlin's Hill, a little to the east of Carmarthen, and was simply transferred to Carmarthen by the Romans. It seems highly unlikely that the place-name has anything to do with the sea. Moreover, Ptolemy assigns Maridunum to the Demetae tribe and the Demetae used the hill-letter m (see Chapter 27). It thus seems quite clear that the m of Maridunum is the hill-letter m used in the inversion-type manner. This appears to be borne out by the only other place-name Ptolemy assigns to the Demetae, Luentinum. This name is not yet entirely clear (there is a consonant missing between the u and the e) but the final element of the name is an inversion-type place-name element in the hill-letter n₂ (nt means 'hill high') as is the dun element of Maridunum (dun means 'summit of hill'). And the first letter of Luentinum is the hill-letter l (though this might originally have been an m, at some stage subjected to the l/m interchange). The structure of the name Luentinum is that of an inversion-type topographical place-name, so it is probably safe to assume that Maridunum is also an inversion-type topographical place-name, the earliest element being dun, using the hill-letter n₂. The hill-letter r was then added in the inversion-type manner and finally, as noted above, the Demetae added their hill-letter m, also in the inversion-type manner.

It is, nonetheless, possible that r is the earliest hill-letter in Maridunum so that the place-name may have existed in the form Ridunum before the hill-letter m was added in the inversion-type manner.

[The entry for Maridunum was last modified on 02 February 2024]

MAROMAGO

(Celt)	(Rav)	(Mod)
Lacerocomaguve	Maromago (180)	Learchild
		(Northumberland)

Note:

Rivet and Smith appear to see this name as a corrupt form of the tribal name Vacomagi. Ptolemy places the Vacomagi in Scotland, though scholars are not in agreement as to where in Scotland the tribe lived. However, the order of names in Ravenna appears to make it clear that Maromago was not in Scotland. Richmond and Crawford took Maromago at face value and saw a derivation from hypothetical maro, taken to mean 'great', and hypothetical mago, taken to mean 'plain', the name as a whole then meaning 'great plain'. They suggested that Maromago might have been at Inveresk or at a site in the Midlothian plain.

But Maromago is a topographical name, though one which has been modified. The name was transferred to the Roman fort at Learchild from the Iron Age promontory fort at Brinkburn Priory, on the river Coquet. Note that the promontory fort is only about one kilometre from the Devil’s Causeway, the Roman road to Learchild. The name of the promontory fort will have been Lacerocomaguve (discussed in more detail in the entry for Coccuveda), comprising three inversion-type elements lac, roc and mag all meaning ‘hill steep’, with an uve ending. If one rewrites this as La [ce] ro [co] maguve, deletes the letters in brackets and replaces the uve ending with a simple o, one obtains the form Laromago. The l/m interchange then yields the name Maromago (cf. Celtic Lelamon → Ravenna’s Melamoni).

[The entry for Maromago was last modified on 23 January 2021]

MATOVION

(Celt)	(Rav)	(Mod)
Matovion	Matovion (207)	Cargill
(a river)		(Perth & Kinross)

Note:

Rivet and Smith see this name as a duplicate of Maulion, but prefer the form Matovion, seeing a derivation from hypothetical Celtic matu, taken to mean 'bear', the name then perhaps meaning 'bear-place'. Alternatively, they suggest the name might mean 'place of Matuvos', where Matuvos is a hypothetical name corresponding to the name Matuus, which is recorded in Latin sources.

But Matovion is actually a river-name, the then name of that part of the river Isla downstream from Cardean. It includes the river-letters m and t corresponding to the hill-letters n and l appearing in the name Ugrulentum, which was the fort upstream from Cargill at Cardean. The Romans simply transferred the name of the river to the fort which they built on the banks of the river at Cargill.

MAULION

(Celt)	(Rav)	(Mod)
Maculion	Maulion (202)	Malling
or		(Stirling)
Matulion

Note:

Rivet and Smith consider that the name Maulion might be corrupt, but if the name originally included an element Matu then it might be derived from hypothetical matu, taken to mean 'bear', the name then perhaps meaning 'bear place'. They do take the view, however, that the name is more likely to be based on a hypothetical personal name Matuvos, the meaning of the name then being 'place of Matuvos'.

Maulion appears, however, to be a topographical name, but there is a consonant missing between the a and the u. That consonant is most likely to have been a c or a t, thus giving a name of the form Maculion or Matulion, where mac and mat are inversion-type elements respectively meaning 'hill steep' and 'hill high'. Either form would be entirely appropriate for the location of the fort at Malling. Note that both forms would be consistent with statements made elsewhere in this study to the effect that m was the hill-letter used by the Damnoni, m being the hill-letter most recently added to the compound.

Details: Written by D. Glendinning; Category: Book; Published: 28 February 2021; Hits: 693

[If the text below uses any of the terms ‘hill-letter’, ‘river-letter’, ‘old-style name’, ‘transitional name’ and ‘inversion-type name’ a reader who is not familiar with those terms may wish to refer briefly to ‘The Celtic names of hillforts’, where an explanation of those terms is given].

The Celtic names of hillforts

Borough Hill

Location: immediately east of Daventry in Northamptonshire

OS map reference: SP 589 626

Celtic name: Bandion

Source: Antonine Itinerary (Iter II) – Bannaventa

There are in fact two hillforts on the summit of Borough Hill, a large one taking up most of the summit and a smaller one inside the large one at its northern end. The large one is thought to date from the late Bronze Age or early Iron Age, the small one from a later date.

The name Bandion of the hillfort was incorporated in the name Bandaventena, this being the name of the stream (one of the headwaters of the river Nene) flowing north-south down the eastern side of the hill. The Romans built a new town near the stream at Whilton Lodge and simply transferred the name of the river to the new town, the known nd→nn change (cf. Cambaglanda → Amboglanna) yielding the name Bannaventa listed in the Antonine Itinerary. The river-name Bandaventena is of a known structure, comprising a river-suffix, here ventena, attached to a place-name, here Band(ion). The river-suffix ventena will be the origen of the modern river-name Nene. Perhaps the initial v of the suffix changed to n and the nen part of the modified suffix changed later to Nene. Or perhaps the t of the suffix was lost or omitted and the nena part of the modified suffix changed later to Nene. And it is probably not a coincidence that the modern town-name Daventry (Daventry is immediately west of Borough Hill) includes the davent part of Bandaventena.

The Brigantes tribe

Part 8b: Me to Mu

Longus

Part 8a: Ma

Borough Hill

Subcategories

Celtic river-names

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