The Scandinavian Element

D ANE Court (K), Dane End (Beds), Danehill (Sx), Danes Brook (Bk) and such-like names have no connexion whatever with the Danes. They are dialectal forms of the common dean ‘valley’ and are limited to Kent and Essex and some neighbouring counties where ME dene regularly appears as dane. Dane John in Canterbury is a corruption of the French donjon which has also given us the Essex Don Johns , the local pronunciation of Dungeon Farm. The common desire to find Danish influence in the south is due to a misconception. The Danes who wintered in Sheppey and Thanet in 835 and 850 were plundering pirates whose sole object was loot. They came, murdered and devastated and departed with their booty. The Danish settlement was, as we shall see, the result of later and more intensive incursions, largely limited to the area which later came to be called the Danelaw.