Place Name Evidence: -botl names

Essentially, therefore, the case is based on two pieces of evidence: firstly the Old English derivation of the place name Harbottle - here-botl - previously interpreted as 'army building' or 'station of the army' (Mawer 1920, 101); and secondly the apparently anachronistic obligation of ten townships outside the Liberty, in Coquetdale and the Ingram valley, to serve in defence of Harbottle. These may be dealt with in turn.

Harbottle is one of a number place names in northern England and southern Scotland which incorporate the Old English suffix botl, generally translated as 'lord's hall'. It is perhaps the equivalent of the Latin term villa, which is used frequently in the works of Bede and his contemporaries to denote royal and ecclesiastical estates (cf. Higham 1986, 293). This class of placename has been considered to represent an early element in Anglian place name formation, i.e. belonging to the fifth-sixth centuries, but it has recently been the subject reconsideration by Barrow (1998, 67-9), who points out that its distribution across southern Scotland suggests some of these names could have originated later on, in the 7th - 8th centuries.

Other examples of this toponym in Northumberland include Shilbottle and Walbottle. The latter is particularly interesting in this context as it has been identified with the 7th Century Northumbrian royal estate centre located close to Hadrian's Wall mentioned by Bede (Hist. Eccles.), the villa regia ad murum. Antiquaries from Camden onwards have more often proposed locating this centre at Heddon on the Wall (cf. Camden 1607, 218), but Walbottle would appear to represent a more convincing translation of Bede's Latin and would accord better with his indication that it lay 12 miles from the sea.

However decisive archaeological confirmation is lacking. Nor was any evidence of early medieval occupation found during the recent extensive excavations in advance of development at another site which has been included in this 'bottle' category, namely Bottle Bank on Gateshead bank of the Tyne above the historic bridgehead.