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@surreymedieval.bsky.social

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@surreymedieval.bsky.social · 2mo ago

Wrote something recently featuring an etymological analysis of the name Updown Wood in Surrey. It’s not such an easy name to gets to grips with. And this makes me want to write an article about it with a title like ‘The Ups and Downs of place-name investigation’. How about it @snsbi.bsky.social? 😉

Neat piles of wooden hurdles stacked in front of an oak tree bare of leaves Sign titled Coppicing in Norbury Park, mounted on a stick driven into the ground in front of the trunk of a beech treeLarge information board about Woodland Management beside a path, with deciduous woodland behindLarge earth bank forming the boundary of Updown Wood, with a large beech tree growing on top of it. Lots more trees stand in the background
@surreymedieval.bsky.social · 3mo ago

Of all the things that have happened in the past few weeks, I didn’t expect the one that caused me to hop back on here would be Surrey’s first reported button brooch, but here we are. It is quite exciting in its own small (very small) way, got me smiling like ☺️ finds.org.uk/database/art...

Front, back and side colour photographs of an early medieval copper-alloy button brooch. Below and to the left side of the photos are scales divided into centimetres and millimetres
@surreymedieval.bsky.social · 4mo ago

Completing my series on early medieval metalwork from the ex-Surrey Thames foreshore, here’s my fave + most shockingly small one IRL; an 8thC drinking horn terminal from Lambeth. A fiend to photograph so 3rd image from its ?only published outing, in a John Naylor chapter ora.ox.ac.uk/objects/uuid...

Early medieval metal drinking horn terminal mounted for display in a museum exhibit Piece of an early medieval carved drinking horn mounted to the left and slightly above the metal terminal Montage of two colour photographs of different sides of an archaeological artefact above the following label; Fig. 8: An 8th-century zoomorphic drinking horn terminal found on the Thames foreshore at Lambeth. PAS LON-EFCF31. Image: K Sumnall (PAS).
@surreymedieval.bsky.social · 4mo ago

With my usual alacrity, a post looking back at last weekend’s @snsbi.bsky.social spring conference in Bury St Edmunds. Featuring names, a rental flat with the best backstory, books, more names, pubs, churches, and even more names. Plus my paper on 5th-6thC archaeology, history, names and languages.

Presentation title slide; A long overdue catch-up? Recent work in archaeology and history concerning the fifth and sixth centuries CE in lowland Britain and its implications for English place-name studies. Presenter’s name and conference details also given. Professor Mark Bailey giving the Friday night keynote lecture, stood pointing at an image on a projector screen in front of a seated audience Bury St Edmunds’ 12th century abbey gateway and cathedral behind Framed text stating: The Secret Bunker During the early 1960's Cold War period, the residents of Thingoe Hill were intrigued as their Danish neighbour at Viking's Forge began digging a huge rectangular hole in his back yard. Although hidden behind a 2 metre high fence, over the following months a nuclear bunker emerged. This construction was prompted by Russia's targeting of the two United States Air Force bases nearby. Once the bunker was completed the present day house was built on top. A subsequent owner turned the space into an illegal, underwater themed, 'gentlemen's' club. The walls were blue and decorated with fish, (a small section is retained behind the pillar next to the desk). Also the seashells seen on the beams to this day. There was also a bar, and photographer's darkroom! It was closed down by the police, in full riot gear, despite their initial struggles to locate it! The present owners removed the nuclear filtration system and the massive blast door. To add light and ventilation they reduced the soil level on one side and added three small windows, not a simple task due to the reinforced concrete construction.
@surreymedieval.bsky.social · 4mo ago

Maps of #Roman period Surrey and Southwark, from William Page & Edith Keate’s chapter in Volume 4 of @vch-home.bsky.social of Surrey, published 1912. Safe to say both long since superseded — Southwark especially feels like the setting for an almost constant stream of new discoveries from the period.

Foldout printed map of Romano-British Surrey, with sites of settlements, buildings and find-spots marked in red and all other features in blackMap titled Roman Discoveries in Southwark, printed on almost a full page of an open book. Sites of Roman buildings and other discoveries are marked using red symbols
@surreymedieval.bsky.social · 5mo ago

Absolutely fascinating insights into 21st century place-naming here. Family names as uncompounded place-names. No new generics only ones that have been in use for centuries. A hideous adaptation of a surname from a locative byname. All that and some “stan” sounds close enough to -ston” reasoning!

Politics UK@politicsuk.com · 5mo ago

🚨 NEW: The proposed names the Government is considering calling its new towns - Elizabethtown (after the Queen) - Pankhurst (after suffragette Emmeline) - Attleeton (after ex-PM) - Athelstan (first King of England) - Seacole (after nurse Mary) [@thetimes]

@surreymedieval.bsky.social · 5mo ago

It’s happening again. I’m back talking place-names + archaeology at the @snsbi.bsky.social Spring Conference at the end of March. Wild all the things I’ll cover in 20 minutes. Cooking it down to the tastiest examples of how disciplinary divides might be spanned. Ideal fare for a Saturday 9.30am slot

Detail from a presentation slide with the title ‘A long overdue catch-up? Recent work in archaeology and history concerning the fifth and sixth centuries in lowland Britain and its implications for English place-name studies’ plus the speaker’s name and date, 28 March 2026, when the presentation will be given. Black text on a plain white background. A pile of four books about the late Roman to early medieval period in Britain Scale plan of the excavated series of settlements and cemeteries, dating from the 5th to 7th centuries, at Mucking in Essex. Different dates phases of settlement are denoted by dashed lines, and the cemeteries by dense grey hatching. From Helena Hamerow’s book Rural Settlements & Society in Anglo-Saxon England. The three hardcover printed volumes of the excavation report for the three early medieval cemeteries excavated at RAF Lakenheath in Suffolk. The book covers are a dark blue with white writing and also feature images of gold coloured artefacts.
@surreymedieval.bsky.social · 10mo ago

Yesterday I made it through 22 post-medieval deeds (plus a few others that were too faded to be of use) looking for field-name spellings in under 4 hours. Surely some kind of record? For someone of my middling palaeographical skills anyway. Here’s a pic of the most fun one from the outside.

Folded deed from the 17th century with original writing, archival stamp and several red wax seals attached to it
@surreymedieval.bsky.social · 12mo ago

What I’ve read of this so far has been informative and enjoyable. Runes etc. are very much outside of my immediate research interests but relevant to a little big project I’ve had simmering on a low heat for the past couple of years. Anyone else read it? (I’m only 50 pages in so no spoilers pls)

Book cover of The English Language Before England, by Bernard Mees, partly illuminated by sunlight and lying on a wooden table
@surreymedieval.bsky.social · last yr.

Most definitely missed that first wave of positivity on here but… My name’s Rob and, among other things, I’m writing a book about Surrey in the 4th—12th centuries, meaning I’ll have questions (mostly pdf requests) And yes I did once go to Samarkand and yes I did cry at the beauty of the Registan

Man standing in public square, head turned away from camera towards the historic Sherdor Madrassa in Samarkand, which is illuminated by electric light at dusk