David,
Thank you for giving me the preview re Abbey site photos: work
commitments and late home returns prevented me making any contact both last
night and that before it. I suspect that some of our co Cat*ley name
associates are disappointed to see that no building remains above ground but
I have been telling them this for the last three years so they should have
been ready for such "bare field view"shots!
On the point of no stones being above ground:- I remember that somewhere I
have seen a copy of a report written circa 1750's by a military man engaged
on Ordnance Survey work of the area where he recorded that at that
time, parts of the original buildings were still to be seen as "ruins".
Since then obviously the stonework has been robbed out and I wonder if the
"Catley Cottages" buildings were constructed from them?
One can only wonder at the commitment of the original constructors of the
Monastery quarrying stone blocks from goodness knows where, transporting
them by cart first and then ferrying them across the marshes and open water
courses, onto the
Island that you describe.
Am also interested in that you too are disinclined to the theory of any
feline cat placename association on the grounds that the fens could surely
not have supported sufficient hardwood trees of any size to be in any way
called a wood and in anycase surely any self respecting wild cat would
hardly enjoy a habitat of reed beds, fresh water courses and boggy ground.
I was watching a nature program last night on the Somerset Levels which are
also a low lying area of marshes, reed beds and water channels and it was
interesting to see that the only deciduous hard wood trees that had the
tolerance necessary were seemingly Alder and Sallows with a few Birch as
well, all quite low lying. Feel certain the same can be said of the
Lincolnshire Fens and such clumpings of small trees (large bushes?) hardly
qualify as a wood.
Must thank you for going to the trouble of driving out from Nottingham to
take the photographs, last year saw me doing some training courses in Newark
and had high hopes of getting off early enough to travel to the Abbey site
in daylight but it was not to be.
Best wishes Timcatt
----- Original Message -----
From: L L Milnes <landairwater(a)xnet.co.nz>
To: <CATLEY-L(a)rootsweb.com>
Sent: Friday, February 03, 2006 9:32 PM
Subject: Re: [CAT...] The Catley name
Terrific idea, and such interesting detail. Thanks David. I am
now
muttering "cat-isle-y" (isle-y as in island) to myself.
Do we have traces of the name pre-Anglo Saxon times, I wonder?
Of course this could be the local way for this district that this
particular
name evolved. Other districts may have arrived at the same name in
different ways.
Lyn Milnes
----- Original Message -----
From: "Meredith-Fam-Hist" <meredith_meredith(a)ntlworld.com>
To: <CATLEY-L(a)rootsweb.com>
Sent: Saturday, February 04, 2006 7:49 AM
Subject: [CAT...] The Catley name
> 'Catley Priory' revisited:
>
> The Catley site is a piece of elevated land, perhaps the size of a
couple
> of football pitches' which was annexed from a rather larger
elevated
> marrow-shaped land mass running north-south comprising the villages of
> Billinghay, Walcott, Thorpe Tinley and couple more which together were
> surrounded by low lying marsh/peat land.
>
> We know that the site was given over to the Gilbertine's in the time of
> King Stephen by the Lord of the Manor of nearby Billinghay. It is
> unclear as to whether there was any human occupation by way of a
> settlement either at the time of, or prior to, the grant of this land to
> the monks. Certainly it was the site of a Neolithic or iron age burial
> ground, as per the 'barrow' that has been found there along with
evidence
> of a causeway linking it with Walcott to the east and Digby to
the west.
> I rather thought that such burial grounds tended to be set aside from
the
> main settlement, being a revered place to visit as opposed to
one of
> habitation, but of course settlement may have occurred much later. If
we
> chose to go down this road then we might suggest an Anglo-Saxon
presence
> at some point in time, because certainly neighbouring Walcott had one.
>
> Much has been muted as to the origins and meanings of the Catley place
> name, or perhaps more correctly in the case of the Lincolnshire example
we
> should say location name. Given that this area was effectively
sitting
on
> top of a marshy water-logged bog, surely this rules out the
presence of
> our feline friend the 'Cat'!
>
> Despite the question mark over actual habitation, I am inclined to
> substitute the Anglo-Saxon male name of 'Cata' to perhaps give us
'Cata's
> Island' as a viable derivative.
>
> David Meredith
> Nottingham, ENG
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
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