George Broderick: Placenames of the Isle of Man / Sheading of Ayre (Kirk Andreas, Kirk Bride and Kirk Christ Lezayre)

Sheading of Ayre embraces the three northern parishes of Kirk Andreas, Kirk Bride, and Kirk Christ Lezayre (the largest parish in Man). The material appears in alphabetical form with discussion of any problems of interpretation, and a listing of the elements making up the names. Field names are also included under their respective farms. This volume has so far yielded the richest pickings, with name-forms and elements appearing which do not turn up in the literature or the dictionaries. As all but a handful of names pre-date the Scandinavian period (9th-12th century) and as documentary material from that time till 17th century for Manx Gaelic is largely absent, the testimony of place-names is important for the distribution of name elements showing patterns of settlement, whether Celtic, Scandinavian, etc., and for comparative place-name research in adjacent areas, particularly Ireland, south-western Scotland, and northern England.