Thorps in a Changing Landscape

Considering the minor settlements of England's Danelaw--villages known as thorps or throps--this history demonstrates how place-name evidence can be used to understand early cultures. By integrating linguistic and archaeological approaches, it establishes a compelling connection between the creation of these place-names and the fundamental changes taking place in the English landscape between AD 850 and 1250. The integral role of thorps in revolutionizing agricultural practice at that time is thoroughly analyzed.

Paul Cullen is a research fellow in the Institute of Name-Studies at the University of Nottingham. He is editor of the English Place-Names Survey of Kent and a consulting editor of the Journal of the English Place-Names Society. Richard Jones is a lecturer in landscape history in the Center for English Local History at the University of Leicester. He is the coauthor of Medieval Villages in an English Landscape: Beginnings and Ends and the coeditor of Deserted Villages Revisited. David Parsons is Reader in Name-Studies and director of the Institute of Name-Studies at the University of Nottingham. He is also Deputy Director of the Survey of English Place-Names and English Place-Names Survey editor for Suffolk.