Tenant Lain and Westlain Belt
Early-attested site in the Parish of Falmer
Historical Forms
- the Westlayne 1580 SRS29
Etymology
Tenant Lain and Westlain Belt (both 6″), the Westlayne 1580 SRS 29. For these names we may quote from the NED s. v. lain , 'Outside the boundary were five large tracts of land, known as the Tenantry Laines, and called the East Laine, Little Laine, Hilly Laine, North Laine and West Laine.' They were arable lands at the foot of the Downs. Similarly in AD ii we have mention of 'lands in the tillage of Ditchling called Middelleyne ' (t. Ed 1) and this is the origin of the so-called 'lanes' in Brighton.The origin of the word is obscure. It may be the same word as the ME leyne , 'layer,' v. PN Wo 391.