A HISTORY, &c. THERE is no doubt that Swine was known as a manor, and a place of considerable resort in Saxon times, when Beverley was the chief town near the river Hull, and long before Kingstonupon-Hull had a foundation. It is probable that the ground on which the town of Kingston-uponHull now stands, was in those times, a swamp, or morass, and that the road from the higher parts of Holderness to Beverley, and to the Yorkshire wolds was not by the margin of the Humber, across the creeks and washes at the mouth of the river Hull, but in a direct line through the present parish of Swine, and across the Hull, where it was fordable, or where a bridge could be easily thrown over it. B THE NAME. The ancient Britons, and after them the Romans, had probably some name for the village of Swine, or the place where it stands, although no record of the name has been preserved. The Saxons came into Holderness about the middle of the sixth century, and there is no doubt they gave the village the name of Swin, or Swine, whatever might be its former name. Sometimes the Saxons translated the old names of places into their own language; and it might afford some amusement to the antiquary, to endeavour to discover from the Saxon names, the ancient British or Roman names, and thus improve the system of ancient topography. There were "very few cities, towns, villages, passages, rivers, woods, fields, hills or dales," to which the Saxons did not give new names; and this has involved the ancient topography of Britain in great confusion and uncertainty. The Saxons often gave such names to places in Eng. land, as in their own language were suited to the situation or nature of the places themselves; or they gave names similar to the names of like places in Germany, from which they came. Thus the name of Oxford, or Oxenford, on the river Thames, was given after the town of the same name in Germany, on the river Oder; and the same may be said of Hereford, Swinford, Bradford, Mansfield, Swinefield, and many other places.* Some of the Saxons who settled at Swine, might have emigrated from a place of the same name in Germany; or, as the Saxons of Holderness probably kept numerous flocks and herds at Swine, and in the neighbourhood, this circumstance might tend to fix the name of the place. The name is undoubtedly of Saxon origin, and is, in fact, the Saxon word Swin (porcus) with the addition of the final letter. Suillus was sometimes used in ancient writings for a flock of sheep or goats, as well as of swine; and when we find the name Swinhey, instead of Swine, it implies that the place was fenced round like standing corn, or inclosed like a park; but still it is not easy to prove that the name, Swine, is of better or more honourable descent than from the Saxon, Swin.t The Saxon lords in England, kept innumerable herds of swine, in the forests which then covered a great part of the country; and the village of Swine might be a convenient place * Verstegan's Antiq. p. 133. ↑ Vide, Du Cange on the words Suillus and Swinhey; and Skinner on Swine, ab A. S. Swin, &c. into which to drive the swine from the woods of Holderness, for examination or sale. When herds of swine were spread through the country, the word Swine became the precedent syllable in the names of several places in England, and especially in Yorkshire, as, Swinefleet, Swinethorpe, Swinecoates, Swinestead, Swinedale, Swineton, or Swinton, &c. The tradition that Swine derives its name from the Danish king Suein or Sweine, and that this king died at Swine, and was buried there, is not supported by any evidence. There is in the low grounds of Swine, to the west of the church, a large tumulus, in which it is supposed the king was buried; but the tumulus has not been examined, and it is now covered with trees. The similarity of the name of the village to that of this king of the Danes, seems to be the only foundation for the tradition, as the historians of the eleventh century mention the particular circumstances of the death of Sweine, and assert that he was buried at York.* CHURCH OF SWINE. In Domesday book, the most ancient topographical record which is known in England, the manor of Swine is described in the following words: * Drake's History of York, p. 489, and see Ocellum Promontorium, p. 39. |