Moreover, the clan was answerable as a whole for the ill-deeds of all its members; and the fine payable for murder or injury was handed over by the family of the wrong-doer to the family of the injured man.
Each little village of the old English community possessed a general independence of its own, and lay apart from all the others, often surrounded by a broad belt or mark of virgin forest.

It consisted of a clearing like those of the American backwoods, where a single family or kindred had made its home, and preserved its separate independence intact.

Each of these families was known by the name of its real or supposed ancestor, the patronymic being formed by the addition of the syllable _ing_.

Thus the descendants of AElla would be called AEllings, and their _ham_ or stockade would be known as AEllingaham, or in modern form Allingham.

So the _tun_ or enclosure of the Culmings would be Culmingatun, similarly modernised into Culmington.