counties differ.[1] This may have arisen from Danish influence, and be a result of direct settlements on the coast. The maritime parts of North Wales have many old place-names to attest their settlements, and Chester appears to have been largely a Danish town during the later Saxon period. It was governed by twelve judges or lahmen, who were chosen from among the vassals of the King, the Bishop, and the Earl.[2] As the institution of lahmen is Scandinavian, it is clear that there must have been a population of that race at Chester. Other circumstances that point to Northmen are the prevalence of family names ending in -son, corresponding to the Norse -sen, which survive in Cheshire, and the mention in Domesday Book of certain fines in the city of Chester being paid in oræ or by Danish money computation. The place-names of the Wirral district between the Mersey and the Dee show that it was occupied by the later Northmen. The discovery, however, of a runic inscription, which Stephens assigned to the seventh century,[3] at Overchurch in the Wirral, proves that Anglians advanced into this district soon after the Battle of Chester in 613. Among the Domesday place-names that were apparently derived from those of early tribal settlers in Cheshire are Englefeld, Englelei, Inglecrost, Wareneberie, Leche, and Cocheshalle.
The Cheshire dialect, as spoken in different parts, shows certain well-marked differences in respect to vocabulary, pronunciation, and grammar.[4] In the formation of place-names in the south of the county there was apparently little or no Danish influence. The speech in this part is broad and rough, differing in pronunciation from that of the northern part, and approaching more to that of north Staffordshire and Derbyshire. These are the counties in
