If, however, we look at the district from another point of view, we shall find further evidence against the Chroniclers. It was a part of the Natan Leaga[1]—a name still preserved in the various Netleys, Nateleys, and Nutleys, which remain—the Ytene of the British, that is, the furzy district, a title eminently characteristic of the soil.[2] Again, too, the villages and manors, such as Lyndhurst, Brockenhurst, Ashurst, and half a dozen more hursts, point to the woody nature of the place. Such names, also, as Roydon, the rough ground; Bramshaw, the bramble wood; Denny, the furzy ground; Wootton, the Odetune of Domesday; Stockeyford and Stockleigh, the woody place; Ashley, the ash ground; besides Staneswood, Arnwood, and Testwood, all more or less afforested in Domesday, clearly show its character.
- ↑ See Dr. Guest's Early English Settlements in South Britain; Proceedings of the Archaeological Institute, Salisbury volume, p. 57.
- ↑ "Nova Foresta, quæ linguâ Anglorum Ytene nuncupatur," however, says Florence of Worcester (vol. ii. pp. 44, 45, ed. Thorpe); but the Keltic origin of the word is better.
but by no means necessitates that the church was standing at the afforestation. Thus we know that in Leland's time a chapel was in existence at Fritham (Itinerary, ed. Hearne, vol. vi. f. 100, p. 88), which has since his day disappeared. It would, of course, be absurd to argue that all ruins which have been, or yet may be found, were caused by the Conqueror. Rose's Red King was privately printed, and I know the book only through Ellis's Introduction to Domesday (vol. i. p. 108), and a notice of it in the Edinburgh Review (Jan., 1809, vol. xiii. pp. 425, 426); but it is amusing to see certain recent writers trying to prove William's devastion because the remains of brick have been discovered. This certainly shows that long since the Conqueror's time the people have endeavoured, with very ill-success, to live on the barren soil of the Forest. I may, perhaps, add that Mr. Ackerman, the well-known archaeologist, when, a few years since, exploring the Roman potteries in the Forest (for which see chapter xvii.), in vain tried there, or in other parts, to find any traces of old buildings. (Archaeologia, vol. xxxv. p. 97.)
