naming conventions

I was going to pop this in “And Finally” but on reflection it seemed more apposite and serious than that – it signals part of the severing of agriculture and community. It tells us:

The tradition of farmers giving names to their land is at risk of dying out, a researcher has warned after compiling a new dictionary of English field names.

Field names are first recorded during Anglo-Saxon times and were essential for everyday life before mapping was established with first ordnance survey maps in the mid 18th century.

Some original names survive, others are lost or been renamed as the landscape has changed.

But few field names appear today on modern maps adding to the disconnection between town and country people.

Linguistics expert Dr Paul Cavill fears changing farm practices are driving out historic names for parcels of land that make up the British countryside.

He said: “The demand for bigger fields which has destroyed hedgerows and stone walls has led to the disappearance of many place names that were once well-known in communities.”

Dr Cavill, who has just completed a new dictionary of English field names, said: “People looking at names on maps today would not know the history of the land. Field names used to give clues to what was happening on the land, whether it was a field for crops or cattle, which birds or wild animals were  seen there, what locals used it for, as a Mayfield for May Day celebrations or a Lovers’ Lane.”