h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

While discussing the topic of Celtic Devon, we often talk about the cultural history of Cornwall and its similarities and differences to that of Devon. Somerset also gets a fair mention, particularly the still Celtic-influenced Exmoor region.

But what of Dorset? I cannot remember it being mentioned at all, yet realistically it is as much a part of the scene around Devon as Cornwall and Somerset are.

I have read from local history web sites in Dorset that the county contains quite a few Celtic-era placenames, like Caundle and Chideock.

http://www.thedorsetpage.com/locations/Place/S320.htm
http://www.chittick.com/history/erminda/chittick_lineage.html

The BBC article below discusses the finding of a medieval grave slab with a Celtic-style cross design at excavations at Torre Abbey in Torquay, and also mentions that ‘similar designs’ have been found in Dorset.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/devon/4671702.stm

St Mary’s church at Wareham in Dorset has, in its nave, some very ancient and interesting inscriptions;

“In the north-east corner of the nave, some loose and some set in the wall, are rather insignificant looking scratched carvings, memorials, in Latin and a strange script dating from between the late 7th and early 9th centuries, a tenuous link with the Celtic population of Dorset, as their form is purely Celtic.”

http://www.visitingdorset.co.uk/wareham.htm

I have tried to find out more about these inscriptions, but have met with no success so far. If anyone knows more, or finds out more, please post it.

These examples show that there are definitely Celtic elements in Dorset, my interest is in how much of that heritage remains, and how it compares to that found in Devon.

The ancient history of Dorset is very interesting in the context of what happened to the Britons in the South West because, during late Roman times, it was heavily populated and quite extensively settled. The archeology shows this. Devon in contrast, was mostly uninhabited wilderness. There is a big difference in the level of Roman-era settlement and population between the two counties.

Despite its early absorption into the mainstream of Wessex, Dorset should actually show as much, if not more, evidence of Celtic culture—like placenames—than Devon, simply for the fact that there appear to have been many more Britons, and presumably Brythonic speakers, living there at the time of the Saxon invasion. Dorset was much less of a blank slate.

Has anyone here or any study you know of tried to compare the placenames of Devon and Dorset, and come to any conclusion about which county has the most Celtic-derived placenames? I would be very interested to know the results.

ExeValleyBoy,

The answer to your question very much depends on how you define Celtic. Certainly in the late 7th century there must have been a significant number of Brythonic speaking Britons living in this area, judging by Ine’s law codes and their discriminatory wergilds for these “Welsh” people, as Dorset was definitely under the jurisdiction of Wessex by this time. There is also the evidence of a number of Brythonic place-names, although these are somewhat less numerous than in Devon (maybe because Dorset is less than half the size of Devon). It is unwise to assume that Devon was sparsely occupied at the end of the Roman era. Roman influence in Devon was far less than it was in Dorset, and the dwellings were probably far less durable than the Roman inspired houses of Dorset, so archaeological remnants of the former would be less obvious. Certainly there was considerable trade between eastern Dumnonia (Devon) and the Mediterranean at that time, with the exchange of tin for exotic goods, such as wines and spices.

In terms of the place-names, Coates and Breeze show a similar density of Brythonic derived names in Dorset as in Devon, although for both counties the surveys covered only major names. Names that you have mentioned, such as Chideock, are mirrored in Devon (Dunchideock), as are the names derived from ‘crug’, meaning a ‘mound’ or ‘tumulus’. However, there does not seem to be any evidence of the later forms of Brythonic place-name elements (such as those containing the ‘ek’ or ‘ick’ adjectival suffix) in Dorset, such as the few to be found in Devon (e.g. ‘Dowrich’ and ‘Gaverick’), which probably indicate that the Brythonic language did not survive much after the Norman Conquest in Dorset. Although Dorset has its fair share of ‘combe’ names, these occur far more frequently in Devon, which has more of these names than the rest of England put together.

Celtic cultural survivals in Dorset, other than language apparent in place-names, seem to be all but absent, whereas in Devon such survivals rival those to be found in Cornwall, such as Celtic style wrestling and step dancing. The harvest-time ceremony of ‘Crying the Neck’ also seems to be peculiar to Cornwall and Devon.

Another major difference was that Dorset and Devon were parts of different Celtic kingdoms during the Roman period (those of the Durotriges and Dumnonii respectively). The most recent genetic surveys (by Sykes and his team from Oxford University) seem to indicate that there exists quite a marked step in the relative contributions of the Atlantic coastal Y-Chromosome haplotype and the typically north west German continental haplotype at the eastern border of Dumnonia, although it would now appear (due to finer scale analysis) that the ‘Germanic’ element was probably largely due to Neolithic migration to Britain rather than 5th century Anglo-Saxon invasions. Sykes has divided Britain into regions for the purpose of presenting his data, and Dorset is the most westerly of the counties included in the “South of England” region, whereas Cornwall, Devon and West Somerset (the approximate extent of Dumnonia) form Sykes’s “South West” region. It is therefore impossible to determine whether the Dorset data is characteristic of the rest of the “South”, or is closer to the “South West” data. Although the typical Atlantic type Y-Chromosome is found to be in the majority in all parts of England, only in the South West is the percentage in the same high range as it is in Wales and most of Scotland. It will be interesting to see what Stephen Oppenheimer has to say about this when his book “The Origins of the British: A Genetic Detective Story” appears shortly.