Sylvia Laverton. Shotley Peninsula: the making of a unique Suffolk landscape.

Sylvia Laverton. Shotley Peninsula: the making of a unique Suffolk landscape. 160 pages, 60 figures. 2001. Stroud & Charleston (SC): Tempus;0-7524-1937-4 paperback 14.99 [pounds sterling] & $24.99. This attractive book focuses on the nine parishes south of Ipswichbetween the estuaries of the Rivers Orwell and Stour in the southeastcorner of Suffolk. Essentially a local study in landscape archaeology Landscape archaeology is a body of method and theory for the study of the material traces of past peoples within the context of their interactions in the wider (typically regional) social and natural environment they inhabited. ,it spans the period from Iron Age to Norman Conquest Norman Conquest,period in English history following the defeat (1066) of King Harold of England by William, duke of Normandy, who became William I of England. The conquest was formerly thought to have brought about broad changes in all phases of English life. , which is mostformative in terms of settlement pattern and nomenclature. The area isremarkable for its density of prehistoric material, particularly BronzeAge Bronze Age,period in the development of technology when metals were first used regularly in the manufacture of tools and weapons. Pure copper and bronze, an alloy of copper and tin, were used indiscriminately at first; this early period is sometimes called the barrow groups and ritual monuments, but that is not the object ofthis study. It is a very `soft' landscape of sandy gravels, claysand mudflats. There are some significant areas of coppice woodland and a13th-century hunting park. The settlement is characteristicallydispersed and remarkably unaffected by modern intrusions, apart fromSecond World War defence sites. The early chapters are very brief andtend to be narrative and descriptive rather than analytical. However,there is a good appreciation of the archaeological limitations and itsucceeds in placing the area in its wider geographical and historicalcontext. The book is structured as 15 short chapters; although the last fourare lists of place-names being appendices with brief introductions.Other chapters serve as general introductions to the primarysources--archaeology and place-names in particular, with very littlelocal material. This is essentially a book about place-names in theShotley Peninsula, with one chapter on the historical background andfour on the archaeology. It follows a chronological sequence Noun 1. chronological sequence - a following of one thing after another in time; "the doctor saw a sequence of patients"chronological succession, succession, successiveness, sequencetemporal arrangement, temporal order - arrangement of events in time , very muchin the older tradition of local historical writing, with considerablespeculation about the context of local place-names and their possibleinterpretation in the light of local knowledge. The chapter on `TheCeltic years' is more substantial than the rest combining aerialphotographs with archaeological interpretation and place-names. It is apity that this did not extend back to the Bronze Age where somesurprising material can be found in the Shotley Peninsula. Inconsequence, the structure is very `lumpy'; the chapter on`Settlement evolution' is two-and-a-half pages long with oneillustration, while the chapter on the Celts The following pages provide lists of nations or people of Celtic origin, arranged by branch of Celtic ethnicity or language grouping:Goidelic Celts list of Irish people list of Scots list of Manx people Brythonic Celts is 17 pages long with 18illustrations. Inevitably the emphasis on place-names, drawn from sources mostly12th-century and later, sits uncomfortably beside the archaeologicalevidence. The interpretation of Kirkton as evidence for Danishsettlement, when the earliest spelling is clearly `Cherchetuna', isproblematic. There is evidence for dialect change at about the time ofthe Norman Conquest. An unreferenced mention of `metalwork' fromKirkton attesting to the place's `Anglo-Scandinaviancharacter' is unconvincing. This type of argument is used toofreely by local historians, including, it has to be said, the author ofthis review! We struggle to relate what are entirely unrelated sourcesand make some sort of sense out of them. There is a danger at the end ofthe day that one can convince oneself of the authority of sucharguments. Other underlying assumptions are more beguiling than real.The fact that personal names such as Kettle and Brand are numerous inthe modern telephone directory and are also recorded in Domesday Book Domesday Book(dmz`dā), record of a general census of England made (1085–86) by order of William I (William the Conqueror). for the same area is fascinating. But what is one to conclude from it?From my own research in the area immediately north of the ShotleyPeninsula, I was only able to pinpoint one such personal name to aparish, but then only as far back as the 14th century, 400 years from1086. We use such evidence to read continuity into the landscape becausethat is what we want to read there and because we may genuinely believeit to be there. In spite of such misgivings, this is a very attractive book, fullof nuggets of information. It is highly granular in its detail,particularly the use of fieldnames and minor place-names. Knowing thearea, I enjoyed reading it and it was a useful stimulus for my own ideasabout landscape and its interpretation. Students of landscapearchaeology should read it, but approach it with caution and sensiblecriticism. The book is generally well referenced, particularly tosecondary sources. It relies on the interpretations of Smith in`Place-name elements', which some writers would now regard asrather old fashioned n. 1. A cocktail consisting of whiskey, bitters, and sugar, garnished with with fruit slices and often a cherry.Noun 1. old fashioned - a cocktail made of whiskey and bitters and sugar with fruit slices in terms of place-name interpretation. As theEnglish Place-Name Society The English Place-Name Society is a learned society based in England concerned with toponomastics, in other words, the study of place-names (toponyms). Its survey covers the 39 traditional counties of England. Survey has not yet got around to Suffolk,local writers have little option but to fall back on older establishedworks. The purists need to remember this. Laverton is to becongratulated on a most enjoyable work of local history that I hope willinspire others in the area to do the same thing.PETER WARNERHomerton College, University of Cambridgepmw21@cam.ac.uk