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THE village of Commondale to the south of Guisborough has a name that deceives.

After all, Commondale sounds as if it is describing common ownership of a patch of land or a grass common at the villagefs centre or perhaps a common or normal valley.

But, in fact, Commondale has origins that stretch back into the Dark Ages and that are not common in any shape or form. Before the generations and centuries twisted the name Commondale out of shape, Commondale was Colmanfs Dale: a form hiding behind the earliest reference to the settlement in 1273 when it was written as Colemandale.

Now Colman should grab our attention and hold it. The interesting thing is not that Colman is a male name: menfs names are often found in placenames that, after all, frequently have to do with landowning.

No, the strange thing about Colman is that it is an Irish manfs name. So someone here in the eighth, or the tenth, or perhaps the 12th century had an Irish name.

Of course, today, Irish names are all the rage: but back when Colmanfs Valley was named, they were used exclusively by the Irish or by Vikings who had been born in Scandinavian colonies in Ireland.

So when we think of Colmanfs Valley there are two possibilities. Either we have a Gael or a Viking Gael who came to North Yorkshire a long thousand years ago. If the first, we are probably dealing with a Christian hermit, one of those that converted the north.

If the second, a warrior off a Viking Dragon boat.

And the balance of probabilities is, in fact, for the second.

Simon Young is a historian and author of AD500.

1:26pm Friday 11th April 2008

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