Todays post is something bit different and perhaps a bit niche, but I’d like to share an image about the name evolution of my hometown, Alston.
Alston has a population of only about 1000 people, and is nestled among the hills of the North Pennines in Cumbria, England. It is England’s highest town, and probably one of its most isolated.
I think it makes an interesting case study on how English placenames developed over time.
For most of history place names (like all words) were pretty fluid things, with multiple different spellings being used all at once. On top of that, makers of maps and documents often had to work with second-hand names given by people who mostly couldn’t read or write, so it’s no surprise that Alston has had a pretty long list of different spellings over the years.
From Halfdansby to Alston
I’ve split the name up into the 3 elements of its etymology, to show the general trends of name-evolution over time.
The town is first recorded in 1164-1171 as “Aldeneby”, a clearly Norse (Viking) name that probably comes from something like “Halfdansby”, meaning “Halfdan’s settlement”. “Halfdan” was primarily an Eastern Norse (Danish and Swedish) name, literally “Half Dane”.
Halfdan would be taken into Old English as “Halfdene”, and then the “h” and “f” were dropped to give us Aldeneby.
Next the “by” was swapped out for a more English “toun”/”ton” (town).
Over the next 400 years that central “denes” spelling was really unstable, recorded as a variety of different sounds, before finally reducing to a “ds” or “s” giving us “Aldston” and “Alston”.
“Aldston” was sometimes spelled as “Aldstone”, probably because it was misinterpreted as “Ald+Stone” (old stone), rather than the “Alds-ton” we get from the real etymology.
After the Ordnance Survey Act of 1841, place names basically got solidified as one spelling or another, and so “Alston” became the official name, and it probably wont change any time soon.
Alston’s name cousin
The small village of Holdenby in Northamptonshire also has a name probably coming from Halfdanby, but they kept their name closer to the original.
So it’s kind of a distant etymological cousin of Alston!
A very brief history of Alston
Alston is an old town with a very layered history.
Like all of England it’s earliest history is Celtic, and the remains of iron age structures can be found nearby.
It was then near the northern extreme of Roman Britain, and a few miles down the valley we can find the earthwork fortifications that were the site of the Roman fort of Epiacum, which protected Alston’s silver and lead mines.
Altars to Roman gods have also been found around the town, even buried in the foundations of a local barn.
When Rome fell it was Celtic again, and probably on the edge of the Celtic Kingdom of Rheged, then Strathclyde. I’ve seen stone heads that were found in neighbour’s fields that were probably carved by the ancient Celts of the area.
Then the Viking age in Britain really kicked off, and Alston was founded. Most of Cumbria was settled by the Norse of Norway, although “Halfdansby” suggests Danish settlement, which might make Alston the most Northern town of the Danelaw, which dominated Eastern England. Many toponyms around Alston retain Norse etymology.
And finally Cumbria became one of the last additions to England, being conquered by the Normans after they took over the kingdom of England.
Alston remained weirdly independent for a lot of its early English history, being part of the Liberty of Tynedale, a property of the Scottish Kings within the borders of England, which confused everyone enough that they were basically left alone. I like to imagine that when the English asked for taxes they called themselves Scottish, and when the Scots asked they called themselves English.
It remains a strangely independent and lawless place to this day, and is populated mostly by a mix of farmers whose families have been there for centuries, and newcomers trying to get away from the rest of the world. It is beloved by poets, artists, hippies, and nature lovers, as a beautiful place that has been largely forgotten by the rest of the world.
