English Place-Names Explained

Their Origins and Meaning

Charles Whynne-Hammond

• Publisher: Countryside Books
• Year: 2013
• Topic: History
• eBook ISBN:
  9781846748448
• Subtopic: British History
• Index: History

Blubberhouses, Stanstead Mountfitchet and Melbury Bubb! English place—names can be curious and amusing. They can also tell us about our past. England's towns, villages farms, and even fields, have names whose beginnings stretch back over 2, 000 years. In this well—researched book Charles Whynne-Hammond explains the meanings and derivations of these names. He also covers the names of cinemas, theatres, football clubs, and even shopping centres.

SECTION

B

COUNTY
GAZETTEER

Bedfordshire

AMPTHILL

The early versions of this name – Ammetelle in the Domesday Book and Amethull in 1202 – tell us that it derives from the Saxon words ‘aemett’ (ant) and ‘hyll’ (hill). Ant-hills, or ant infested hills, must have been common in the neighbourhood. The word aemett, incidentally, not only gave us the modern word ant but also the dialect word ‘emmet’.

BEDFORD

This was once Bieda’s or Beda’s ford, an important Saxon crossing point over the river Ouse. It is not known who Bieda or Beda was but he is likely to have been a local tribal leader. In AD 880 the place was called Bedanford, in the Domesday Book (1086) Bedeford. A little way upstream was once the ‘tun’ (farmstead) by the ‘cambo’ (a Welsh or Celtic word meaning a bend in a river) called Camestone. This is now called KEMPSTON.

BIGGLESWADE

This was originally Biccel’s Gewaed, which grew into Pichelesuuade (Domesday Book 1086), Bikeleswada (1181) and Bygelswade (1486). Biccel or Bicca was probably a tribal leader and ‘gewaed’, or just ‘waed’, was a ford – literally where people and animals could wade across the river Ivel.

CARDINGTON

The Domesday Book version of this name, Chernetone, was a corruption of the Saxon ‘Cenred-inga-tun’, the farmstead of Cenred’s people. The initial letter of the personal name was probably pronounced softly (senred) until the Scandinavian settlers arrived, which led to a harder sound – as found in the 13th century spelling (Kardinton) and the present pronunciation.

DUNSTABLE

This has long been an important junction settlement, situated where the ancient Icknield Way was crossed by the Roman Watling Street. The Roman posting station or fort of Durocobrivis was replaced by a Saxon village. Called Dunestaple, or Dunestapla, in the 12th century, this was earlier known as something like ‘Dunna’s Stapol’ – the latter word meaning a post or landmark, probably a route marker or mile-post. It is not known who Dunna was.

FLITWICK

This place-name, together with nearby FLITTON, derives from the Saxon word ‘fliet’ or ‘fleot’ meaning fleet or stream. Thus we had the ‘wic’ (dairy farm) by the stream’ and the ‘tun (farmstead) by the stream’. In the Domesday Book (1086) the former was Flicteuuiche and the latter Flictham. The river Flitt was named after these settlements and not the other way round.

HOUGHTON REGIS

Known simply as Houstone in 1086 this name derives from two Saxon words: ‘hoh’ meaning a hill-spur and ‘tun’ meaning a farmstead or village. In the 14th century the estate passed to Royal ownership and the Regis was added. The present spelling was first used as early as 1323.

LEIGHTON BUZZARD

This name goes back to the Saxon words ‘leac’ and ‘tun’, the former meaning, originally, leek, but later vegetables generally, and the latter meaning farmstead. Hence, this settlement began life as a vegetable farm or market garden. In the Domesday Book it was Lestone and in 1140 Lectona. The appendage has nothing to do with birds of prey, but derives from the name of the village’s first resident clergyman or prebendary Theobald De Busar. In 1254 the name was recorded as Letton Busard.

LUTON

This name has the same origin as Leyton in East London, for it was the ‘tun’ (homestead) on the river Lea. That river, in fact, rises in the hills just outside Luton and flows southwards to the Thames just below Leyton. Luton has had various spellings: Lygetun (792), Loiton (1086), Leuton (1293). It is thought that the river Lea derives its name, not from the Saxon word for meadow, but from a Celtic root meaning ‘bright river’.

SANDY

As might be expected, this derives from the Saxon words ‘sand’ and ‘eg’, meaning sandy island. In the Domesday Book (1086) it was Saneia. This village stands at the north-eastern end of an infertile greensand ridge that rises above the clay lowlands which would once have been marshy and well forested. Nearby POTTON was Pottun in the 11th century, probably meaning ‘farmstead where pots were made’ – this place being sited on the clay.

STOTFOLD

Recorded as Stodfald and Statfalt in the 11th century, this village was probably the site of a stud fold or horse enclosure. The Saxon words ‘stod’ (stud or herd of horses) and ‘falod’ (animal enclosure) are common place-name elements since rearing horses was an important part of medieval farming.

TODDINGTON

The Saxon suffix here probably derives from ‘dun’ (hill) rather than ‘tun’ (farmstead) since the early spellings were Totingedone (1086) and Tudingedon (1166). Thus it was ‘the upland of Tuda’s people’, the inga element signifying a tribe. The early use of ‘tot’ in the same name might lead to confusion since such a prefix might come from ‘totaern’ meaning look-out post, as it does further south at TOTTERNHOE (look-out house).

WOBURN

The Domesday Book lists this name as Woburne, suggesting a direct link with its origins – from Saxon ‘woh’ (crooked) and ‘burna’ (steam). So it was a place built next to a winding river; called Wauburn in 1200. However, in pre-Norman times the name probably referred less to a village and more to a district. In AD 969 we find Woburninga Gemaeru meaning ‘the boundary of the people of the crooked stream’, which suggests a valley-based group of inhabitants.

Berkshire

ALDERMASTON

Aeldremanestone in the Domesday Book (1086) and Aldermannestun in 1167 clearly indicate that this name derives from ‘Ealdorman’s tun’ – the homestead of the alderman – the chief shire officer.

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Table of contents

• Cover
• Title
• Copyright
• Contents
• Preface
• Section A – The Heritage and Evolution of Place-Names
• Section B – County Gazetteer
• Common Place-Name Elements
• Index