According to the fourth edition of The Concise Oxford Dictionary of
English Place Names,
SHOCKLACH means "Goblin
stream"
.
The name appears in the Domesday Book
(1086) as "Socheliche" and in
the County Court,
City Court and Eyre Rolls of Chester (1260) as "Schoclache".
The Old English for goblin was scucca
and lache (according to the Oxford
English Dictionary)
is a variant of letch which means "wet ditch or
bog" or
"a stream flowing through boggy land; a muddy ditch or
hole".
Some go further and suggest the name means "A boggy stream
haunted by an evil spirit".
R. D. Blackmore in "Lorna Doone"
and Philip Pullman in "The Subtle Knife" both describe
spectral forms
drifting like a mist over streams - sometimes hardly there at all -
a white fog trembling and the moon
drawing up the fog. It is easy to imagine a weary, hungry,
ill-clad labourer walking home in the dusky evening,
seeing a column of mist twisting over the boggy stream, rising and
bending like some intangible person,
disappearing and returning and bringing fear.
Just out of interest, there is a village in Devon near Crediton called Shobrooke
and the Dictionary compares the original meaning of this name
(goblin brook) with that of Shocklach.
Also, Shocklach is divided into two parishes: Shocklach
Church and Shocklach Oviatt.
The latter is recorded in 1309 as Shocklach Ovyet
and it is thought that this may
mean "Ufegeat's part of
Shocklach" or possibly "Wulfgeat's
part of Shocklach".
The names Vluiet and Vuiet appear in the Domesday Book as tenants in Shocklach.
SHOCKLACH MAY HAVE BEEN SETTLED BY THE VIKINGS ...
Click on St Edith's Church for more information
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