Pudseys in the Snow.

Pudseys in the Snow.

*******************

Once again with thanks to Dennis Adams, we have been able to come up with a beautiful black and white photograph of a Cookham Dean cottage called "Pudseys." How it came by that name is yet to be discovered.

The original of the photograph above won first place for Dennis in a national amateur photographic competition, and now hangs pride of place on his living room wall.

If the present owner has a picture of the cottage I would love to see it so that I may pass it on to Dennis. Also if anyone knows how the cottage got its name? I would love to be able to record that as well.

I have found this that may help:

Anglo-Saxon Pudsey.

Perhaps the first substantial settlement occurred in Pudsey during the Anglo-Saxon period. Certainly they gave it the name it has now. The name Pudsey is derived from two Old English words (the language spoken by the Anglo-Saxons). The first element Pudoc is a personal name and the second is derived from either heeg or haagh which means ‘high ground’. The whole name might therefore be translated as ‘Pudoc’s hill’.

Pudsey is only one of many place names in the Aire valley which date back to the Anglo-Saxon period. Many of these place as Armley or Wortley end in the element ley meaning a clearing in a wood. Taken together they suggest that the Anglo-Saxons settled on land in the area which was not used by others and had to clear it from the heath or woodland. This probably happened in the 7th century AD.

The effects of the Norman Conquest:

Pudsey is first mentioned by name in the Domesday survey compiled for William the Conqueror in 1086 where the name is spelled Podeschesaie. Domeday is essentially a revenue document in which William’s agents compare the value of each manor with its value in the time of Edward the Confessor (1043-1066). In Edwards’s time a Pudsey was said to be worth 40 shillings.

From The Darby History of Cookham:

Re. Pudseys. These derivations are very interesting. However, in this case, the property bears the name of a former owner.

Cookham historian Stephen Darby recorded that, in 1758, Pudseys was owned by Thomas Pudsey of Cookham Dean, who was by trade a higler.

(Usually this occupation refers to a door-to-door seller of provisions, etc. - a pedlar, who would probably have had his own horse and cart. However, independent farm workers who moved from place to place offering their services were also known as higlers. Both were also often known as hagglers, as their occupations suggest).