Thynghowe was an important

Viking Era The Viking Age () was the period during the Middle Ages when Norsemen known as Vikings undertook large-scale raiding, colonizing, conquest, and trading throughout Europe and reached North America. It followed the Migration Period and the Ger ...

open-air assembly place or , located at

Sherwood Forest Sherwood Forest is a royal forest in Nottinghamshire, England, famous because of its historic association with the legend of Robin Hood. The area has been wooded since the end of the Last Glacial Period (as attested by pollen sampling cor ...

, in

Nottinghamshire Nottinghamshire (; abbreviated Notts.) is a landlocked county in the East Midlands region of England, bordering South Yorkshire to the north-west, Lincolnshire to the east, Leicestershire to the south, and Derbyshire to the west. The trad ...

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

. It was lost to history until its rediscovery in 2005 by the husband and wife team of Stuart Reddish and Lynda Mallett, local history enthusiasts. The assembly mound is at Hanger Hill, close to a parish boundary stone. As a result of continued research, Thynghowe is now included on the English Historic England Archive. ''Archaeologists to probe Sherwood Forest's Thing'' (BBC)
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Name

Toponym

* The mound where the assembly meet Thynghowe: (''Thyng..howe'') The first element '' 'Thyng' '' is from

Old Norse Old Norse, Old Nordic, or Old Scandinavian, is a stage of development of North Germanic dialects before their final divergence into separate Nordic languages. Old Norse was spoken by inhabitants of Scandinavia and their overseas settlemen ...

' Þing ' - (''"thing"'') (''"assembly place"''). The next element '' ' howe ''' is from

' haugr ' (''"mound" or "grave-mound"'' ).

Name history

The name changed and evolved over time : * Þing-haugr - (

) c. 9-10th century * Thing-haugr * Thynghowe * hynger howe * Hanger Hill - c. 17th century * Thynghowe - rediscovered 2005

History

The site lies amidst the old oaks of an area known as the Birklands in Sherwood Forest. Experts believe it may also yield clues as to the boundary of the ancient Anglo Saxon kingdoms of

Mercia la, Merciorum regnum , conventional_long_name=Kingdom of Mercia , common_name=Mercia , status=Kingdom , status_text=Independent kingdom (527–879) Client state of Wessex () , life_span=527–918 , era= Heptarchy , event_start= , date_start= , ...

and

Northumbria la, Regnum Northanhymbrorum , conventional_long_name = Kingdom of Northumbria , common_name = Northumbria , status = State , status_text = Unified Anglian kingdom (before 876)North: Anglian kingdom (af ...

. It functioned as a place where people came to resolve disputes and settle issues. The name Thynghowe is of

origin, although the site may be older than the

Danelaw The Danelaw (, also known as the Danelagh; ang, Dena lagu; da, Danelagen) was the part of England in which the laws of the Danes held sway and dominated those of the Anglo-Saxons. The Danelaw contrasts with the West Saxon law and the Mercian ...

, perhaps even

Bronze Age The Bronze Age is a historic period, lasting approximately from 3300 BC to 1200 BC, characterized by the use of bronze, the presence of writing in some areas, and other early features of urban civilization. The Bronze Age is the second prin ...

. The word '' howe'' often indicates the presence of a prehistoric

burial mound Burial, also known as interment or inhumation, is a method of final disposition whereby a dead body is placed into the ground, sometimes with objects. This is usually accomplished by excavating a pit or trench, placing the deceased and objec ...

. The ''thyng'' or ''

thing Thing or The Thing may refer to: Philosophy * An object * Broadly, an entity * Thing-in-itself (or ''noumenon''), the reality that underlies perceptions, a term coined by Immanuel Kant * Thing theory, a branch of critical theory that focuse ...

'' was historically the governing assembly in

Germanic peoples The Germanic peoples were historical groups of people that once occupied Central Europe and Scandinavia during antiquity and into the early Middle Ages. Since the 19th century, they have traditionally been defined by the use of ancient and e ...

and was introduced into some Celtic societies as well. It was made up of the free people of the community and presided over by law-speakers.

Notes

Citations

Sources

Online

*Gaunt, Andy (Jun. 30, 2011)
A Topographic Earthwork Survey of Thynghowe, Hanger Hill, Nottinghamshire
NCA-016.
Stuart Reddish & Lynda Mallett: ''According to Ancient Custom: Research on the possible Origins and Purpose of Thynghowe Sherwood Forest''

Books

* * * * *

External links

The News, History, and Archaeology of The Real Sherwood Forest
{{coord, 53, 12, 31.71, N, 1, 6, 6.51, W, region:GB_type:landmark, display=title 2005 archaeological discoveries Buildings and structures in Nottinghamshire Anglo-Norse England Archaeological sites in Nottinghamshire Thing (assembly) Sherwood Forest