I have been scrutinizing maps of Salisbury lately on Google

Can anyone tell me about the “common” that appears in several places, in addition to the bare name.

I mean,
Lyndlinch and Lyndlinch Commons
Bagber and Bagber Commons

Others are nearby.

Please, would whoever first announced their discovery of that giant maggot at some manor in Salisbury,

please post it here again?

Have you found out anything curious about Salisbury (or Wilts) that is not recorded in KAP?
not just simple google-fu
although black belt quality discoveries are welcome
I have no interest in anything that happened after 1500.

Does anyone on this list live in Wilts? Or nearby?

Can anyone tell me about the “common” that appears in several places, in addition to the bare name.



Wouldn't it just be publicly owned land near the center of the village? Like the Village Green? An area for common grazing.

Is this a question about what the term "common" means?

http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O48-commonland.html
"common land (or common): Land that is subject to rights of common. These are rights to take the produce from land of which the right-holder is not the owner, for example a right of pasture. They are private rights, and need not be open to all. The right may be restricted, for example, to a portion of the year. The first commons were usually woodland or rough pasture for the villagers' animals in medieval England. By the Statute of Merton (1236) the lord of the manor or other owner of a village was allowed to enclose waste land for his own use only if he left adequate pasture for the villagers. ENCLOSURE of common land started in the 12th century, and increased dramatically in the second half of the 18th century, often arousing opposition and claims of theft."

It's the land that is probably collectively owned by the village, or at least the villagers have right to graze or play or do some other stuff there.

Maggot was posted by Calarion at http://www.gspendragon.com/roundtable/index.php?topic=227.msg3380#msg3380

The Blood Maggot is from "The Lore of the Land" by Jennifer Westwood and Jacqueline Simpson, published by Penguin in 2005. (It seems to be an expanded revision of an older book called "Albion" which I've seen in the second-hand bookshops around here).

Summarised version: There's a church in Little Langford (about where Steeple Langford is), and over the doorway is a medieval carving of a bishop beside a tree with a crozier, and some dogs attacking a boar. Local legends say that it depicts 'The Maiden and the Maggot', about a girl who went looking for nuts in Grovely Woods, and found a maggot inside one. She kept it and fed it until it got so big it bit her; she died. It was then hunted to death by the villagers. Apparently the bishop is the girl and the crozier is the maggot.

There are other stories - I'll post more later.

As for the use of the word commons in modern place names in England, it is fairly frequent. Doesn't it just mean a place that is a place that is common for all, ie anybody is free to make use of it? Have a picnic, play ball or whatever. Often it is just a patch of grass or something, like a little park. I strongly suspect that this does not date back to the middle ages.

But I'm guessing.

I understand what commons are.
I am wondering about the specific places, which seems to have a place, and nearby the same place with commons after it. I am wondering if there is a fashion in naming.
It apears almost like some of them ae jus the name of a house...

--g



As for the use of the word commons in modern place names in England, it is fairly frequent. Doesn't it just mean a place that is a place that is common for all, ie anybody is free to make use of it? Have a picnic, play ball or whatever. Often it is just a patch of grass or something, like a little park. I strongly suspect that this does not date back to the middle ages.

But I'm guessing.

Ahhh I didn't realise you were looking at modern maps (even though you did state that clearly).

Common or Commons is now just part of a place name. It hails back to the village common or village green, but is just a place name - many places have geographical features as parts of their name, like lake, or dell, or grove. It doesn't mean anything at all beyond that. So yes, it is part of a wider fashion of naming, that encompasses the different recognizable local features an area can have.

Some of them could be, as you suspect, house names or perhaps more commonly, street names.

More stuff from the Wiltshire chapter of my book. I can give more detail on any of these if you want it.

Adam's Grave: NE of Devizes a bit. A prehistoric long barrow, called "Wodnesbeorh" in an Anglo-Saxon charter - Woden's Barrow. The name Adam's Grave is much older.

Avebury: Standing stones a la Stonehenge but more extensive. Parts of it are called the Devil's Chair, Devil's Chimney, Devil's Quoits. A nearby village existing since Saxon times was suspicious of the stones and tried to take them down and bury them; in the 14th century a man was crushed to death trying to fell a stone.

Bishopstrow: On the Wylie River, east of Warminster. Village is from at least 1083, name means 'Bishop's Tree', named after St. Aldhelm (639 - 709), Bishop of Sherborne, who while preaching planted his staff and turned it into a tree, a la Joseph of Arimathea. 'Tree' might also refer to an outdoors cross that he preached at.

Cley Hill: This myth is recorded quite modernly, but it sounds like the sort of story that might be much older. Located west of Warminster. The Devil wanted to drop a sack of earth on Devizes, got tricked into dropping it outside Warminster. On top of the hill are the remnants of a prehistoric hill fort and two round barrows. The barrows are home of a spirit who protects the nearby hamlet of Bugley, and showed them a nearby well that cures sore eyes.

Edington: NW of Imber. The Battle of Ethandum in which Alfred defeated the Danes was probably near here. Several legends about Alfred in the area.

Great Wishford: Just north of Sarum. Thomas Bonham was upset because his wife gave birth to twins; travelled the world for seven years; returned home; she had septuplets. They were buried here 1469 and 1473. There are other variants of this myth (involving witches!) but this is the oldest.

Hackpen Hill: North of Avebury. Fairies dance on it. Many small round barrows in the area.

Kit's Grave: south of Sarum. Burial mound called by the Anglo-Saxons Ceotelsbeorge, Chettle's Barrow. Kit was either a local girl or an old gypsy woman who committed suicide. No birds sing in the area leading up to it.

Little Langford: The maggot.

Longleat: SW of Warminster. This story has no attached date. A ghost of a Marquis of Bath returned and pestered (possibly amorously?) his widow; she warded him off with lamb's-wool, got twelve parsons to exorcise him.

More later.