If we take a map of the West Riding of Yorkshire and draw a line betwixt Wakefield and Pontefract, Pontefract and Leeds, and Leeds and Wakefield, we shall find these three old market towns standing on the three corners of a rough triangle. Within this triangle we shall find a comparatively large number of towns and villages of varying size and importance.
Among these will be found the township of Normanton which is situated about three miles east of Wakefield and within a mile of the River Calder, where that hard-worked river rolls its polluted waters close by Newland, a place rich in old-time association, about which I shall have much to say in a later article.
To discover the origin of the name of a town or village, is in some cases, no difficult matter; a church, an abbey, a castle, a stream or the name of the lord of the Manor sometimes supplies a full explanation. But in seeking the origin of the name of our town we have none of these things to assist us, hence we are left to find it as best we can. We can almost rest assured that it is a town of Norman origin.
The name itself is suggestive of that, and notwithstanding the fact that we find Normanton mentioned in the Domesday Book, we cannot find any traces or indications that it was ever occupied by the Saxons - the predecessors of the Normans in this country, Mr. A.C. Price, M.A. a very interesting writer on Yorkshire history assumes that Normanton means Northman town, or the town of the Northmen But it seems to me that our geographical position is not far enough north to justify the assumption.
Another famous writer of local history, W.S. Banks, writing of Normanton sixty years ago advances a theory which seems more feasible. I will quote a paragraph from his writings:-
''on the side of Normanton Common is an elevation called on the ordnance map Haw Hill, and locally How Hill, which some have deemed an ancient height. It is a natural mound and at this day the hill itself does not exhibit an artificial character, the surface having been ploughed and thrown into lands; but north and west are steep banks, which probably are artificial. From this hill southward, and again west toward the church are inequalities which are said to be part of a great entrenchment that encircled the village and justified the name, Normanton, as applicable to a place really enclosed.
These are now too much altered to enable one to come to a decided conclusion on the subject.''
In the absence of any data of a definite character, I am inclined to accept this as the most satisfactory solution to the problem. I am also strengthened in my belief because it is well known that in the early days of the Norman settlement in this country they threw up in many places, artificial hills or mounds similar to Haw Hill, which they enclosed with walls, ditches and entrenchments, and top of these hills they erected a stockade or "keep" from which they obtained an uninterrupted view of the surrounding country and in which they found protection and defence against the assailing enemy. It should be remembered that the early part of the Norman reign was a very turbulent period and William had great difficulty in subduing the men of the North: hence the reason for providing themselves with whatever kind of defence they could devise. These mounds and stockades were the forerunners of the Norman castles, those great impregnable fortresses in whose ruins the county of Yorkshire is so rich.
There have been other theories advanced to explain the existence of Haw Hill, some have supposed it to be a ''barrow'' but if we agree that Normanton is a town of Norman origin, such a supposition is, I think, ruled out.
Barrows (sometimes called Tumuli) are artificial mounds of earth or stones raised to mark the resting place of the dead, and distinguished according to their shape, as long, bowl, bell, cone, or broad barrows. The practice of barrow burial is of unknown antiquity and almost universal, they are found all over Europe, in Northern Africa, Asia Minor, Afghanistan India and in America. In the earliest barrows the enclosed bodies were simply laid upon the ground, with stone or bone implements and weapons beside them. In barrows of later date the remains are generally enclosed in a stone cist or chest. Frequently cremation preceded the burial, the ashes being enclosed in an urn or cast. This seems to me to dispense with the supposition that Haw Hill is a barrow.
