Looking at the map below it's easy to see that Prestwick Carr is a low area defined by the 55m contour line and lies in a valley stretching east -west from Ponteland to Seaton Burn so delving into Stan Beckensalls Place Names book, it was fascinating to see this reflected in the place names of the area, the majority dating from 1242.
Carr as I have noted means fen, mire or bog and is derived from Scandinavian (ker) through Middle English. This is atypical for Northumberalnd where Carr generally would mean rock derived from Old English such as Carrshield, Carrheugh. Prestwick pronounced Prestik translates as Priests Farm and later blogs will identify the religious influence on the area.
Ponteland of course is the major local town and derives from Old English egland through ealand to eland and means island on the Pont so the whole area was probably in the marsh and what is Ponteland is a raised cultivated area, by the River Pont.
Next in size is Dinnington on the raised ground to the south of the Carr probably originally Donigton and meaning settlement on the hill (although could be named after Dun as in the town of Dunna's people). The raised land to the north is identified by Berwick Hill, Berwick meaning barley farm from the Old English bere-wic
Mason was once of equal stature to Dinnington as an ancient township and originates from Maerheards fen indicating it was, and is, on the lower ground as indeed was Horton Grange from the Old English horth meaning farm on muddy land and the more obvious Moory Spot at the base of Toft Hill which was an ancient settlement and today forms the southern boundary of Newcastle Airport.
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