PLACE names are fascinating. You can learn so much from them about our history, for a start. Take Haxby. The town is named after a Viking who once had a farm here. His name was Hacca or Hakr, and Haxby is 'Hakr's Farm' (that -'by' at the end of 'Haxby' being the old Norse for farm or settlement).

We don't know much about Hakr, sadly - was he a Viking raider who settled here? Or the son of Viking settlers? But just realising that the town is named after a long-dead Viking gives you a sense of the deep history of this part of Yorkshire, and of the people who lived here and trod these fields before us. And you can't help thinking that Hakr himself would have been delighted to know that his name would last down the centuries...

Yorkshire has some wonderful place names. The oldest stretch back into the mists of time, before the Romans. Others are from the Roman period, the Anglo-Saxon period, the Viking years, or date from after the Norman Conquest. And each tells us something about the people who lived here when the names were given. They're like the fingerprints of our ancestors, lying across the land.

The most ancient names in Yorkshire tend to be attached to hills and rivers, says local historian Paul Chrystal in his new book 'The Place Names of Yorkshire'. That is because from the earliest times such geographical features were important to the people who lived here: they were where early Britons (the Celts and others) lived, farmed, fished, hunted or simply sought shelter.

York Press:

The River Nidd at Knaresborough. The river's name means 'brilliant'

So ancient British languages (often eerily similar to Welsh) can still be found in the names of hills and rivers: Peny-y-ghent, for example (where penno is the old British for hill) and the Rivers Nidd (where Nidd is old British for 'brilliant'), Wharfe (winding) and Ure (strong).

The Romans left their mark in countless names. Any name with a 'caster', 'cester' or 'chester' in it will more than likely once have been the site of a Roman (or possibly Anglo-Saxon) fort or camp, because caster is an old English corruption of the Latin 'castra' or camp. So Tadcaster, Paul writes, probably comes from 'Tad's Caster', land belonging to a man called Tad on the site of an old Roman fort.

York Press:

The John Smith's brewery at Tad's Caster

As for the Anglo-Saxons - they left a litter of place-names behind them. 'Tun' or 'ton' was their word for village (so Allerton is the 'village among the alder trees); burh was a Saxon fortified town (so Scarborough is 'Skarthi's fort', after a Viking who was nicknamed Skarthi, or 'hare-lip', in old Norse); and 'ing' simply meant 'belonging to' or 'belonging to the people' (as in the case of York's many Ings).

All this history has left us with a wonderful legacy of weird and wonderful place names. Paul has his favourites - they include Wham ('Marshy hollow' from the old English hwamm); Crackpot (from the Viking word 'pot' meaning a deep hole or rift, and the old English kraka, or crow); and Booze (nothing to do with, well, booze, but actually derived from the old English 'boga' and 'hus', making 'the house by the bend').

York Press:

Scarborough, or 'Skarthi's Fort'

Paul pored over maps (old and new) and atlases of Yorkshire, gazetteers, local directories and previously published books to investigate the origin and meaning of countless Yorkshire place names. In the interests of thoroughness, he also forced himself to look into the names of Yorkshire pubs. This involved many exhausting 'site visits'. "The pubs were helpful, when the landlords and ladies knew their history and had memorabilia to show me," he says.

The result is a compact 150 page book containing an A-Z of Yorkshire place names and Yorkshire pub names, plus extra chapters on things such as the street names of York, the rivers of Yorkshire, and Yorkshire lakes and waterfalls.

York Press:

It is a delight - and once you've read it you'll never look at a map of Yorkshire in quite the same way again...

  • The Place names of Yorkshire by Paul Chrystal is published by Stenlake, priced £15-00.

SOME FAVOURITE YORKSHIRE PLACE NAMES

Askham Bryan: the 'village of the ash trees', from the old English 'aesc' or ash, plus 'ham', or settlement. Bryan was Bryan Fitzalan, a 12th century landowner who was brother-in-law to King John of Scotland.

Bedlam: Nothing to do with an old lunatic asylum. It actually comes from the old English 'botlum', or 'at the buildings', says Paul.

Blubberhouses: Probably from an old English word meaning boiling or foaming, says Paul. "It may have been a description of the nearby lake."

Osbaldwick: the 'farm belonging to Osbald'. Osbald was an earl in the Kingdom of Northumbria, Paul writes, while 'wick' comes from the Latin vicus, which in Roman times described a settlement around a camp or fort. Eventually it became another word for village.

Fridaythorpe: The 'thorpe' (or farm) belonging to a Viking named Frigdaeg Fulford: Anglo-Saxon name meaning the 'foul' or dirty ford.

Goathland: Goda's land, probably a Viking name Harrogate: a Viking name meaning 'grey hill road' (har low gata) Masham: Maessa's ham, or Maessa's settlement, from the Anglo-Saxon.

Pickering: 'Picer's people'. Picer was possibly a powerful or wealthy Anglo-Saxon landowner, Paul writes. Or it may have been a name for a tribe who lived on the edge of the 'pic' or hill.

York Press:

The North York Moors railway at Pickering. The town's name means 'the place of Picer's people'

Pocklington: 'Pocel's farm'. Pocel may have been an Anglo-Saxon farmer: 'ton' was the old English word for farm or settlement.

Malton: possibly 'tribute town', or the town that had to pay tribute, from the old English 'm(e)alt' (tax) and 'ton' or settlement River Swale: The 'rushing river' from the old English sualuae, meaning rapid and liable to flood

Swine: It's near Hull, in case you're wondering, and it means just what it says: the place of the pigs (from the old English 'swin', or swine)

Wetherby: The farm or village ('-by') where castrated rams (wethers) were kept. More boringly, it could also be the 'settlement on the bend of a river', Paul admits. Our money's on those rams...

Wetwang: possibly 'the wet field', from the Viking word 'vangr' (field) and the old English wet

York: The Romans called it Eboracum, possibly after the Gaulish tribe the Eburorovices (the 'warriors of the yew tree') who lived here, says Paul. The Anglo-Saxons corrupted the name into Eoferwic (settlement of the wild boar), and the Vikings then turned this into Jorvik. It's not hard to see how Jorvik became York

SOME YORK STREET NAMES

Blossom Street: Nothing to do with flowers, this was once known in old English as Ploxwaingate, or the 'street of ploughmen' or of the 'men who repaired ploughs'

Jubbergate: Once Brettegate (the street, or 'gata' in Norse, where the Bretons lived) this became Joubrettgate in 1280 when Jews moved in

Micklegate: The 'Great Street', or Myglagata as the Vikings knew it

York Press:

Micklegate, the 'great street'

Nunnery Lane: Named, obviously enough, after the convent. But it was also once known as Beggargate. Again, probably no explanation needed...

Ogleforth: No suggestion of old men in dirty Macs leering through peepholes in the wall. This name simply means 'Ugel's place'. Don't ask us who Ugel was.

Whipmawhopmagate: A remarkable mix of languages are included in this name, Paul writes, including Latin, Anglo-Saxon, Norse, early English, early French and Norman French. And what does the name mean? "Some say it was the place where dogs called whappets were whipped on St Luke's Day," Paul writes. H'mm.

SOME PUB NAMES

The Burton Stone Inn: Named after the curious stone in front of the pub. This may have been a rallying point for soldiers going off to war, Paul writes - or a plague stone, where money would have been deposited to allow those quarantined beyond it to buy food.

The Cross Keys: Crossed keys are a common symbol in York, particularly near the Minster. "They represent St Peter's keys to heaven," Paul writes. The same St Peter to whom York Minster is dedicated.

Ye Olde Starre Inn: York's oldest licensed pub is actually named after King Charles I, who was popularly known as 'the Old Star', Paul writes. The building was used as a morgue, field station and operating theatre during the Civil War, apparently - much to the disgust of the Royalist landlord...