Articles from the Thoroton Society Newsletter
It’s Grimr Up North
By Nick Molyneux
Well, it is in Nottinghamshire……
The modern place-name element “Grim” in Nottinghamshire is generally presumed by the English Place-name Society (EPNS) to refer to the Anglo-Scandinavian personal name “Grimr”. This name, common in mediaeval Norway, Iceland, Sweden and Denmark, was also popular in the English Danelaw. It is believed to derive from one of the many nick-names for the Scandinavian god Odin. Grimnir, meaning the “masked one” (1).
The element Grim also occurs in English place-names in areas without evidence of large-scale Scandinavian settlement, where it is often associated with the work of giants or the devil. Here the accepted derivation is that these Grim names represent by-names for the supreme Anglo-Saxon god in pre-Christian times, Woden.
In this, the motif of the supreme god being masked, or disguised, would seem to be an old pan-Germanic concept.
Another Supernatural Entity?
The word Grima is also used in Anglo-Saxon to mean spectre or goblin, which is for example suggested for Grimley (Worcestershire) and Grimshaw (Lancashire) (2). The extent to which the original sense of Grim as a name for a supreme god was later associated with lesser supernatural beings and earth-moving giants was perhaps a product of the Christian conversion.
The term gríma may also refer to a boundary marker, and EPNS gives the name of the stream The Grimmer south of Bottesford and along the boundary of the parish of Redmile (Grimmer Furlong (1736)) (3). Is there a possible connection here with the liminal nature of larger linear earthworks which bear Grim’s name?
The Known Grim Locations
Perhaps disappointingly for a Danelaw county, the EPNS confirms the location of only three
Grim place-names in Nottinghamshire:
- Grimesmoor; Woodborough, South Division, Thurgarton Wapentake (Grymesmore 1335);
- Grimston Hill; Wellow, South Clay Division, Bassetlaw Wapentake (Grimestune, -tone 1086);
- Grim’s Wong; Widmerpool; South Division, Rushcliffe Wapentake (Grimswonge (No date given))};
The EPNS notes that there is also a reference to a Grymesbrig inter Wodeburgh et Epperston (1280). EPNS concludes that this must have been the earlier name of Wash Bridge over Dover Beck, about half a mile from Grimesmoor and to have been erected by the same individual who named the moor (4).
The “Missing” Grim Names
Perhaps rather unhelpfully, in their 1940 Place-names of Nottinghamshire, Gover, Mawer and Stenton give four examples of other Grim names in Nottinghamshire without giving their locations.
Grimisdale 1335;
Grimesdik 1275;
Grimeshill 1203;
Grymesdyke 1506.
This is a shame. It would be really useful to know whether there is any close correlation between these unstated locations and the three Grim names the EPNS gives us a location for. Are the Grimesdik and Grymesdyke above references to the same feature? Is Grimeshill a shortening of Grimston Hill at Wellow? Stenton, Mawer and Gover neglect to tell us (5).
John Insley
Writing in 1978, the philologist John Insley questioned whether some of the references to Grim in Nottinghamshire place-names might be derived not from the personal name but could be just as likely to be from the supernatural.
He suggested that the Widmerpool reference to Grim’s Wong probably did relate to a personal name because it referenced a piece of property. The word “wong”, meaning a “piece of meadow land” (from the Scandinavian vangr), was often compounded with personal names (6).
Other Nottinghamshire examples ofsuch personal “wong” compounds include Arnaldeswang (1226), Askylwong (1335), Eadmundeswong (1220) and Mabilwong (1317) (7).
However, Grimesdik, Grymesdyke, Grimeshill and Grimesmoor refer to topographical features and Insley suggested that these might well be places associated with Grima the goblin, or Grim as either Woden or Odin.
Grim and Linear Earthworks
The late Margaret Gelling nicely summed-up Grim place-names associated with prehistoric linear earthworks, the ancestor of our modern word “ditch” being the Anglo-Saxon dic (8).
It would seem that our Nottinghamshire Grimesdik and Grymesdyke are likely to be part of this tradition and probably refer to what were then still recognisable as significant linear earthworks.
A quick look through the Nottinghamshire Historic Environment Record (HER) suggests a possible candidate for a missing Grimesdic / Grymesdyke. In the parish of Cotham, a Neolithic to Iron Age multiple-boundary system (M18705) to the east of the River Devon is noted as being similar to a triple-ditch system at Moor Drain in Lincolnshire, between Cotham and Long Bennington. The HER entry speculates that these may have been part of a boundary system controlling access between the Devon and the River Witham (9).
Another may be a parallel linear ditch system in the parishes of Arnold and Calverton (M18216). Dated to the early Iron Age to Roman period, this system runs across the top of the valley through which the Oxton Road runs (10).The argument for this possible site may be strengthened by the close proximity of the Woodborough Grimesmoor and Grymesbrig.
The Grimston-hybrids
The repeated use of the Scandinavian personal name Grimr and the Anglo-Saxon “tun” (farm or estate) for Grimston settlement names in different places in England led to the term “Grimston-hybrid” being introduced to describe Anglo-Scandinavian compound place-names in general. However, the late Professor Ken Cameron pointed out that there were a number of uncertainties in Grimston place-names which made it unsafe to assume that all Grimstons followed this pattern, not least the fact that not all “Grims” are derived from Old Norse.
Cameron suggested that the use of a Scandinavian personal name and the Anglo-Saxon “tun” might be better described as “Toton-hybrids”, where the South Nottinghamshire place-name Toton is an Anglo-Scandinavian compound of the Old Norse personal name Tofi and the Anglo-Saxon element “tun” (11).
Conclusion
Although there may be fewer “Grim” place-names in Nottinghamshire than one might expect from a Danelaw county, those examples we have may represent either personal names or those associated with the supernatural. As a place-name element, it appears to have had a considerable longevity and it is quite possible that some may arise in the pre-Viking Anglo-Saxon era or even in the period after the Norman Conquest.
Nick Molyneux
If readers know of the location of Nottinghamshire’s “missing” Grim sites, please get in touch at n.molyneux@live.co.uk.
Sources:
(1) Dictionary of Norse Myth and Legend; Andy Orchard (2022); Weidenfeld & Nicholson, London (p 145).
(2) English Place Names; Kenneth Cameron (1996); B.T. Batsford, London (p 123).
(3) EPNS On-line Survey: The Grimmer, Bottesford, Framland Hundred, Leicestershire; epns.nottingham.ac.uk
(4) The Place-names of Nottinghamshire; J.E.B Gover, Allen Mawer & F.M. Stenton (1941); English Place-name Society, Cambridge University Press. Grimesmoor p 180; Grimshill p 65; Grim’s Wong p 324; Grymsbrig p 180.
(5) The Place-names of Nottinghamshire; J.E.B Gover, Allen Mawer & F.M. Stenton (1941); English Place-name Society, Cambridge University Press. Grimisdale p 279; Grimsdik p 279; Grimeshill p 285; Grymesdyke p 279.
(6) Addenda to the Survey of English Place-names: personal names in field and minor names; John Insley; Journal of the English Place-name Society, Volume 10 (1978) (pp 61-62, Note 27).
(7) The Place-names of Nottinghamshire; J.E.B Gover, Allen Mawer & F.M. Stenton (1941); English Place-name Society, Cambridge University Press. p 292.
(8) Place-names and the Archaeologist; (C ) Linear Earthworks: Grim and the Devil; Signposts to the Past; Margaret Gelling (2005 Reprint); Phillimore & Co, Chichester (pp 148 - 150).
(9) Nottinghamshire Historic Environment Record; M18705;
(10) Nottinghamshire Historic Environment REcord; M18216;
(11) Two languages, one name: Hybrid place-names in the East Midlands; Cassidy Croci; 15th June 2020; Vikings in the East Midlands Website; https // emidsvikings.ac.uk / blog / two-languages-one-name-hybrid-place-names-in-the-east-midlands /
< Previous