The Breaking of Britain 1216-1314

Locations of Norman-style mottes plus adjacent farms with Gaelic names Stewratry of Kirkcudbright

Researching the medieval society and history of Galloway, I have found the Paradox of Medieval Scotland database a very useful source. The project is now being extended to include a database of charters from Northumberland, Cumberland and Westmorland as The Breaking of Britain Cross Border Society and Scottish Independence 1216-1314.

Researching the Contraction of Gaelic in Galloway [also see post below], one of the problem areas was trying to work out what impact the settlement of Middle English (Older Scots) speakers associated with 'Norman-style' mottes on the language mix in Galloway might have been.[See map above]

 The situation is confused since there is an overlap between some of the place names Daphne Brooke [Northumbrian Settlement in Galloway and Carrick, PSAS 1991] identified as Old English and locations Chris Tabraham  [Norman Settlement in Galloway, 1984] identified as possessing either 'Norman-style' mottes and/or charter evidence for non-native (usually Cumbrian) land-ownership.

I suspect that most of Brooke's Northumbrian/ Old English place names are actually twelfth/ thirteenth century in origin, but it is difficult to prove.