Friday Fields forever

YOUR exploration of historic field names (‘Your name written in mud’, November 17) evoked memories of a rich toponymic tradition in the countryside. Happily, some echoes of this survive in our towns and cities. In the early 19th century, fields in the Northumbrian village of Jesmond had names including Long Friday and Great Short Friday. Now a leafy suburb of Newcastle upon Tyne, Jesmond’s fields are long since built upon, but their name is remembered in Friday Fields Lane: a footpath that follows the line of an age-old farm track.

Christopher Goulding, Newcastle upon Tyne

ILOVED reading the article on field names. We farm on the South Downs and our fields are named after past owners: Smith’s Field, Mrs Johnson’s and Lees. Then, there are shapes: The Ham, The Snipe and Onion Hill. The best, however, despite being completely unfathomable to us, is The Devil’s Race.

Emma Wettern, East Sussex