jan 1, 1435 - eel-ark

Description:

Eel Ark Hill is a rare and unexplained place-name in Eshton in the Yorkshire Dales (PNWR6/47) and it focuses attention on a deed of 1562 which confirmed a division of lands in Steeton near Tadcaster. These included ‘the great stang ... and all the pools, ponds, and waters there running from the Eele ark unto Bolton lordship’. The editor explained ‘Eele ark’ as an enclosure for catching fish (YRS50/128), a meaning confirmed in the OED with an example noted in Scotland in 1883. An earlier Latin reference is proof of the word’s much longer history 1435-6 Pro arcis anguillarum de Alanwath Tarne, Skipton (Whit2/362). No doubt the hill owes its name to an eel-ark fixed in Eshton Tarn centuries ago.

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