Field-Names

IF we are to be accurate in our use of terms, ‘field-names’ should be used only of the enclosed areas of arable and pasture land which are never found on the Ordnance Survey maps. They are largely a creation of the post-enclosure period and belong to the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries. Many of them preserve ancient names of earlier and larger areas of unenclosed land, but new names had to be found for the numerous new units newly enclosed. Some were named from distinctive local features of historical or topographical interest, but very many of the names are commonplace and uninteresting, relieved from sheer monotony only by sporadic examples of rustic humour. In the parish of Barby (Northants), out of some 340 fields, 200 or more have names like Long Close, Short Ground, Ryeland and the like, whilst a mere 20 or 30 present any features of interest. In Cambridgeshire, surviving field-names, on the whole, lack distinction. In Newton, 22 out of 45 fields are now nameless. In Eltisley, the first six fields are simply numbered First, Second Field, etc., whilst such names as Allotments, Engine Shed Field, Station Field and Tin Sheds Field have every appearance of modernity. Soldiers Field was devoted to allotments for ex-service men after the 1914-18 war. In the North and East Ridings of Yorkshire modern field-names are similarly uninteresting; the numerous names of minor places found in medieval documents have been completely forgotten.