In the Dark Ages Newark and the surrounding area was in the Anglo-Saxon kingdom of Mercia . The Vikings were regularly invading, and the Mercians made peace with the Vikings on several occasions. The Vikings started to leave their influence through place names. Two suffixes most indicative of a Danish influence ‘by’ (a Scandinavian equivalent for the English ‘ton’ or ‘ham’) and ‘thorpe’ are very common in this area. The Saxons and Danes settled quite amicably along the river valleys, even to the extent of sharing farming equipment. The settlements were almost alternate along the valley of the Witham as indicated from village names ending in ‘ham’, ‘ton’ and ‘by’. Barni is a Danish personal name and, therefore, Barnebi was possibly first settled on the bank of the River Witham by a Dane of that name after 877 AD.
In 1951 an iron arrowhead was found at Barnby and dated by the British
Museum as 9th -11th century, late Saxon or early medieval.
Photograph courtesy of Newark Museum
Last updated: 10 February 2001