Kingdom of England under Eadgar and Cnut), the
markland of the Weald seems to have been gradually encroached upon from
the south. Most of the names in that district are distinctly
'Anglo-Saxon' in type; by which I mean that they were imposed before
the Norman Conquest, and belong to the stage of the language then in
use. Even during the Roman period, settlements for iron-mining existed
in the Weald, and these clearings would of course be occupied by the
English colonists at a comparatively early time. Just at the foot of
the Downs, too, on the north side, we find a few clan settlements on
the edge of the Weald, which must date from the first period of English
colonisation. Such are Poynings, Didling, Ditchling, Chillington, and
Chiltington. Farther in, however, the clan names grow rarer; and where
we find them they are not _hams_ or _tuns_, regular communities of
Saxon settlers, but they show, by their forestine terminations of
_hurst_, _ley_, _den_, and _field_, that they were mere outlying
shelters of hunters or swineherds in the trackless forest. Such are
Billinghurst, Warminghurst, Itchingfield, and Ardingley. On the
Cuckmere river, the villages in the combes bear names like Jevington
and Lullington; but in the upper valley of the little stream, where it
flows through the Weald, we find instead Chiddingley and Hellingley.
Most of the Weald villages, however, bear still more woodland
titles--Midhurst, Farnhurst, Nuthurst, Maplehurst, and Lamberhurst;
Cuckfield, Mayfield, Rotherfield, Hartfield, Heathfield, and
Wivelsfield; Crawley, Cowfold, Loxwood, Linchmere, and Marden. _Hams_
and _tuns_, the sure signs of early English colonisation, are almost
wholly lacking; in their place we get abundance of such names as
Coneyhurst Common, Water Down Forest, Hayward's Heath, Milland Marsh,
and Bell's Oak Green. To this day even, the greater part of the Weald
is down in park, copse, heath, forest, common, or marshland. Throughout
the whole expanse of the woodland region in Sussex, with the outlying
portions in Kent, Surrey, and Hants, Mr. Isaac Taylor has collected no
fewer than 299 local names with the significant forest terminations in
_hurst_, _den_, _ley_, _holt_, and _field_. These facts show that,
during the later 'Anglo-Saxon' period, the Weald was being slowly
colonised in a few favourable spots. Its use as a mark was now gone,
and it might be safely employed for the peaceful purposes of the archer
and the swineherd. Name