Abigail Lloyd

Thesis title:

Investigating hill toponyms and their use as medieval settlement-names.

‘When is a hill not simply a hill? Investigating nuance in (early) medieval place-names.’

Place-names often arose as descriptive labels in everyday speech. They provide an unparalleled insight to historical understanding and perceptions of the landscape and its social, economic and cultural significance. A very large proportion of English places are named from landscape features, using specialised and nuanced vocabulary. Focusing on a major subset of this corpus, place-names referring to hills, my research tests and explores what it is that makes these names distinct and precise in their application. It considers the processes by which places, including settlements, came to acquire such names.

This work builds on the important work of others, but uses newly available data and technologies to test and refine existing theories. Having carried out a systematic national survey of a targeted group of names, the corpus is combined with archaeological, geological and historical records and mapping. GIS software is used, together with site visits. Important conclusions about the roles of visibility and of recognisable topographic profile in motivating naming practice are evidenced by this work.

In the second half of the work, compound names are analysed linguistically, revealing Old Scandinavian influence in certain areas. The extent of Brittonic and Goidelic influence on a particular Old English element is also explored. The aim is to establish the geographical extent of particular language nuance and to try to quantify where, when and why patterns break down.

Research Area

History and Development of the English Language
Languages and Literature

Publications

‘Rendering the historic landscape visible: sustaining and enriching our connections to places through onomastics’ in Onomastica Uralica, forthcoming.

‘Medieval ‘road signs’ – travelling by the name of a hill: Does it work and, if not, where next?' in Quaestio Insularis, forthcoming.

'Life goes on? Landscape and language use following a linguistic "invasion" as revealed through place-names' in the Proceedings of the Háskóli Íslands Student Conference on the Medieval North, Reykjavík , April 11-13 2024: Calamity and Fate (2024), 6-10. Available at https://opinvisindi.is/handle/20.500.11815/5031

The Undercrofts of Westgate Street, Gloucester: Historic Buildings Assessment, Historic England Research Reports RRS 31/2023, (2023)

Review of Townley, S. (ed), 2022, The Victoria History of the County of Oxford: Volume XX, The South Oxfordshire Chilterns: Caversham, Goring, and Area in the Agricultural History Review (2023) 71.1

‘Stonyborow: a clue to a Roman settlement in rural Oxfordshire? The symbiotic relationship between field-names and archaeological data’ The Journal of the English Place-Name Society, 52, (2021), 5-20

‘High Wood: Some Documentary Research’ in the SOAG Bulletin, Vol. 73, (2019)

‘Explaining Re Rose: The Search Goes On?’ in the Cambridge Law Journal, July (2003)

Conferences

'GIS, berg and dūns: a new approach to Kentish hill-names in the national context' (invited paper) Kent Place-Names Annual Conference, Kent History and Library Century, 19^th October 2024.

'Rendering the historic landscape visible: sustaining and enriching our connections to places through onomastics' (paper) The 28^th International Congress of Onomastic Sciences, University of Helsinki, 19^th-23^rd August 2024.

'New light on the early undercrofts of Westgate Street, Gloucester' (invited lecture/ public engagement) Festival of Archaeology, Gloucester Civic Trust, 16th July 2024.

'Life goes on? Landscape and land use following a linguistic 'invasion' as revealed through place-names.' (paper) Leeds International Medieval Congress, University of Leeds, 1st - 4th July 2024.

Norse in the North, University of Durham, 19th June 2024, 'Truth and Illusion: Tracing the lie of the English northern landscape after a linguistic "invasion", as revealed through place-names' (paper)

Society for Name Studies in Britain and Ireland, Dublin City University, 10th-12th May 2024, 'Learning from Celtic predecessors or creation from scratch: What then is a dūn?' (paper)

The Háskóli Íslands Conference on the Medieval North, University of Iceland, 11th-13th April 2024, 'Life goes on? Landscape and language use following a linguistic "invasion" as revealed through place-names.' (paper)

Cambridge Colloquium in Anglo-Saxon Norse and Celtic, University of Cambridge, 17th February 2024, 'Medieval 'road signs' - Travelling by the name of a hill: Does it work and, if not, what does that mean?' (paper)

OAHS and OBR Joint Annual Lecture, Rewley House, University of Oxford, 17th October 2023, 'New light on the early undercrofts of Westgate Street, Gloucester, and comparisons with Oxford.' (invited lecture/public engagement)

Leicestershire's Names, Places and History Conference, University of Leicester, April 2023, 'A changing scene: Charting oronyms in Leicestershire.' (invited paper)

Oxford Medieval Graduate Conference, 20th-21st April 2023, 'How to find a medieval settlement by the name of a hill? A challenge to the Gelling and Cole hypothesis.' (paper)

University of Nottingham Symposium, February 2023, 'Investigating hill toponyms and their use as medieval settlement names.' (paper)

Public Engagement & Impact

Research Affiliate in the Institute for Name Studies and for the English Place-Name Society: Developing a web app for public access (at all levels of interest) to place-names in Shropshire and Staffordshire with potential to be expanded elsewhere in England. Helping to collect medieval name-forms for the Staffordshire survey with other members of the public, using local archives and The National Archive. Indexing volumes of the Shropshire survey, including work on Welsh place-names.

Working on the High Street Heritage Action Zone with Gloucestershire City Council and Historic England, improving public awareness and understanding of the rich and early heritage on Westgate Street, Gloucester.

Presentations on vernacular and ecclesiastical historical buildings for Oxfordshire Buildings Record.

Lectures and talks on place-name research and the historic landscape for local history and archaeology groups and societies.

Teaching the use and benefits of lime in traditional buildings, including the lime cycle for the SPAB/National Trust plastering course at Coleshill.

Gallery lectures and talks to all interested on Ancient Near Eastern languages, history and archaeology at the Ashmolean Museum, Oxford (2012-2016).

Lecturing at a popular level on aesthetics, law and philosophy at Friday Forum, St Andrew Holborn, City of London (2007-2010). (I co-set up this lecture series in the heart of the City.)

Other Research Interests

Place-names

Hills, landscape and geology

Early Medieval and Medieval history and archaeology

Historical buildings (vernacular and otherwise), churches and their conservation

Memberships

Member of The English Place-Name Society: Collecting and recording historic place-name forms from Medieval records for the Staffordshire project and indexing volumes of the Shropshire survey.

And a member of The International Council of Onomastic Sciences, The Society for Name Studies in Britain and Ireland, The Scottish Place-Name Society, The Medieval Settlement Research Group, The Landscape Survey Group, The Society for Landscape Studies, The Vernacular Architecture Group, The Scottish Vernacular Working Buildings Group, The Society for the Protection of Ancient Buildings, The Churches Conservation Trust and The Society for Church Archaeology

Also:

Secretary of State nominated member of the Statutory Advisory Committee and the Church Buildings Council, advising on history, architecture, archaeology and aesthetics relating to national historic churches.

Chair of the Oxford Diocesan Advisory Committee (2022 - ) advising the Chancellor on historic churches within the faculty jurisdiction (ecclesiastical equivalent of listed buildings protection), and the nominee of the Joint Committee of the National Amenity Societies on the same (2020-2022).

Society for the Protection of Ancient Buildings Guardian sitting on the SPAB Casework Committee.

Member of the Oxfordshire Architectural and Historical Society's Listed Building Committee commenting on applications relating to listed buildings, heritage assets and conservation areas.

Member of the Oxfordshire Buildings Record Committee, recording historical buildings and carrying out academic research into their history.

Affiliate of the Institute of Historic Building Conservation.

Recording assistance working with the Finds Liaison Officer for the Portable Antiquities Scheme, Northamptonshire.

Field worker for the Corpus of Romanesque Sculpture of Britain and Ireland.

Research assistance for the Oxfordshire Victoria County History (2019).

Surveying, recording, GIS and documentary research for the South Oxfordshire Archaeological Group at a Romano-British temple site in the Chilterns (2019-2021).

Tutoring

Tutoring equity and trusts for Fitzwilliam, Kings and Lucy Cavendish Colleges, Cambridge University (2002-2004).

Lecturing on Levantine history at St. Mellitus College, London (including taking participants around the evidence in the British Museum) (2008-2010).

Teaching on historic buildings and landscape on the fieldweeks for the MSc in Applied Landscape of Archaeology, University of Oxford and for the Undergraduate Certificate in Archaeology (2022-ongoing).

Course tutor and team leader for the Public Inquiry workshop, Oxford University Continuing Education Courses in the Historic Environment (2022-ongoing).

Teaching ArcGIS Pro and ArcGIS Online to academics and researchers in the Institute for Name-Studies, University of Nottingham and for the English Place-Name Society (2023).

Post-Graduate Teaching Assistant: 'The Beginnings of English' core undergraduate module, School of English, University of Nottingham (2023-2024).