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Haven’t done this for a while (for which I have my reasons) but please join me as I wind the clock back to last December, when I strode along the verge of the A25 in east Surrey to look at a moot site and one of the county’s ugliest memorials.
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THREAD 1/8
My destination was Undersnow, or Hundredsnowe, or Hundred’s Knoll, a place named in 17thC and later records as the assembly site of Tandridge Hundred (+ elections of some parish/tithing/borough officials from Reigate Hundred to the west). You won’t find it on (m)any maps...
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...and you’ll find even less evidence for it on the ground at its reputed road junction location because the site first had a lodge built on it and later was partly quarried away, as the OS 2nd and 3rd Edition 25” maps covering the locality show ( https://maps.nls.uk/view/103315981 )
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But this didn’t deter those behind a quite-lot-of-expense-spared 
roadside monument to Undersnow and Tandridge Hundred meetings erected a couple of hundred metres away uphill.
Apparently this was done as recently as the late 1960s/early 70s, following widening of the A25.
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roadside monument to Undersnow and Tandridge Hundred meetings erected a couple of hundred metres away uphill.Apparently this was done as recently as the late 1960s/early 70s, following widening of the A25.
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Intentionally or not, the chosen location may be meaningful. Early Medieval English hundreds often took their names from their meeting places. Tandridge means “[something] ridge” — no-one’s sure of the 1st bit’s derivation — which fits the landform the monument stands upon.
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![Intentionally or not, the chosen location may be meaningful. Early Medieval English hundreds often took their names from their meeting places. Tandridge means “[something] ridge” — no-one’s sure of the 1st bit’s derivation — which fits the landform the monument stands upon.5/8](https://pbs.twimg.com/media/EhUvnwpXcAARqL6.jpg "Intentionally or not, the chosen location may be meaningful. Early Medieval English hundreds often took their names from their meeting places. Tandridge means “[something] ridge” — no-one’s sure of the 1st bit’s derivation — which fits the landform the monument stands upon.5/8")
![Intentionally or not, the chosen location may be meaningful. Early Medieval English hundreds often took their names from their meeting places. Tandridge means “[something] ridge” — no-one’s sure of the 1st bit’s derivation — which fits the landform the monument stands upon.5/8](https://pbs.twimg.com/media/EhUvn0CWAAEx6mg.jpg "Intentionally or not, the chosen location may be meaningful. Early Medieval English hundreds often took their names from their meeting places. Tandridge means “[something] ridge” — no-one’s sure of the 1st bit’s derivation — which fits the landform the monument stands upon.5/8")
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Bit of a sidebar, but here’s the link to a 1999 note written by onomast Gillis Kristensson in which it’s argued that the first element, ie. Tan-, means something that in my opinion is unlikely (it’s to do with fires — sorry been ages since I read it!) https://academic.oup.com/nq/article-abstract/46/3/316/4594149
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Not that it explains things much better but on page 175 of this @surreyarch Collections article I co-authored — now available via @ADS_Update! — Kristensson’s suggestion is deemed ‘philologically sound, but in practical terms lacks credibility‘. Meow. https://archaeologydataservice.ac.uk/archiveDS/archiveDownload?t=arch-379-1/dissemination/pdf/vol_99/surreyac099_165-193_turner.pdf
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I know WOWEE what an adventure that was, right? Roads all over the world have this sort of random, purely local interest memorial beside them, so next time you spot one why not stop and take a look if you have time/it’s safe to do so/you’re braced for mild disappointment...
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