totynghylle' is glossed by specula, and in a footnote to the word Wright says: 'To tote was to spy or watch. A toting-hill would be a mound, or hill, in a prominent position, raised or occupied for watching.' This description exactly agrees with the hamlet of Totley. The hill was, in fact, a natural tower of defence.[1]
In a Derbyshire Poll Book, dated 1734, the hamlet, or some part of it, is called 'Totley Head.' The existence in any district or parish of the birelaw[2] is a proof of Norse occupation. The parishes of Sheffield, Ecclesfield, Bradfield, and Rotherham were and are divided into birelaws, but it is to be remarked that these division are not to be found on the Derbyshire side of the Sheath. In the adjacent Derbyshire manor of Holmesfield, the divisions of the manor are called quarters and never birelaws. Birleymen are, however, mentioned. There is an exception to the rule in Eckington parish, just on the border, where there are birelaws. (Eastwood's Ecclesfield, p. 20.) Otherwise there are no birelaws in the Derbyshire villages. As regards dialect the difference on the immediate sides of the boundary is not perceptible, but the dialect of the High Peak differs materially from that of South Yorkshire. Old Norse place and field names occur on both sides of the stream, but far more abundantly, I think, on the Yorkshire side.
To return to the A.-S. Chronicle, it is a difficult matter to determine what is meant by 'hwitan wylles geat.' Prof. Earle, in his edition of the Chronicle, renders the words 'Whitewell's gate,' and he adds: 'Not far from Dore we find Whitewell, and both of them on the verge of the shire.' The village of Whitwell, however, is nearly twenty miles distant, and is close to the border of Nottinghamshire. It seems clear that some other explanation must be sought. I have shown that the source, or at least one of the sources, of the Sheath is in a fen or marsh called from its appearance
- ↑ In the earlier Wicl. version 2 Kings v. 7 is thus rendered: 'Forsothe David toke the tote hil Syon (arcem Syon) that is the citee of David.'
- ↑ The spelling byrelawe in the Cath. Angl. gives exactly the present pronunciation. Strictly speaking Bradfield is a chapelry within the parish of Ecclesfield, and not a parish. The birelaws were four in number: Waldershelf, Westmonhalgh or Westnal, Bradfield, Dungworth and Stannington. Hunter's South Yorkshire, ii. 191; ibid., ii. 74. Dungworth and Stannington are included in one birelaw.
