A

Notes

Definitions

Acre

AS. aecer

Originally meant one of the strips of ploughland in a 'furlong'. (q.v.)

Aller

AS. alor

Dialectical form of Alder.

Appledore

AS. appuldor

'Appletree'.

B

Barebones

One of the numerous field-names signifying bad land.

Batch

Derived from two AS terms, baec, which are accidentally similar. (1) 'Ridge': (2) 'intermittent stream'. The former is the prevailing meaning in Somerset.

Bear- Beer- Bere

AS. baere

'Woodland producing acorns and beechnuts on which swine could be pastured'.

Biggin

'Building'.

Black

May refer to the colour of soil; but refers more frequently to its badness.

Bow

'Bridge', e.g. Stonebow.

Bovate or Oxgang

A single Bovine or Ox

An eighth of a carucate or 15 acres.

Bridewell

Means sometimes 'Bird Spring'.

Brun-

In compounds represents generally the AS brun, 'brown'.

Buddle

The corn marigold.

Burgett

A small enclosure.

Burrow

May imply the existence of, present or former barrow or camp.

Bury

See last. Came in comparatively late time to imply merely an enclosure.

C

Caruca

A plough team of eight oxen.

Carucate

Land for one Caruca equivalent to 120 acres.

Castel-Castle

AS. Ceastel

Where these go back to an ancient date they generally imply the remains of a Roman villa.

Chessil- Chissel- Chizel

AS. ceosol

'Gravel'.

Clapgate

A gate that shuts on two posts joined by a bar to a third post.

Cleave- Cleeve

AS. clif

'Steep slope'.

Clever

AS claefer

'Clover'.

Clyse-Cluse

'Floodgate'.

Coldharbour

A name much more common than would appear from the small-scale ordnance maps. Refers probably to a ruined dwelling. There is no reason to connect it especially with buildings of Roman date. The idea that it is only common in the neighbourhood of Roman roads is a mistaken one. No term resembling it either in form or meaning is found in the AS charters.

Conergre

'Rabbit warren'.

Coppett

Probably the AS. coppede, applied to that which has its top apparently or really cut off, e.g. a pollarded tree or a flat topped hill.

Copple

That which stands up straight on the head of anything; e.g. hair on the head. Perhaps refers to stiff grass in a field.

Crate

A hurdle made of twisted withies or hazel. Used in former days to keep the cattle off the arable land while the crops were still on it. They were removed after the crops had been harvested.

Craten

Either an old plural of or an adjective derived from Crate..

Craught

Appears in the form crawt or crawte in the field-names of Selborne, Hampshire, but nowhere else in that county.

Crindle

The field thus named has a quarry in it, which shows that the word is derived from the AS crundel, a quarry of irregular shape.

Culver

AS. culfre

'Woodpigeon'.

D

Damask

A not uncommon field-name in the southern counties. May indicate that the damson was grown on the ground.

Dench

'Dainty'.

Disle

Dialectic for 'thistle'.

Dod-Dodpits

The plant called the cat's tail, and quarries in which it grows.

Dole

Not, as stated in some dictionaries, the strips of the 'common field'; but pieces of land, generally of the 'mead', which were in some communities allotted each year to members of the community by the drawing of lots.

Dun

May refer to a hill; may refer to the brown colour of ground.

E

Ennicks-Ennox-Enox

See Inwicks.

F

Fardel

Like another field-name Farthing, which means the fourth part of something, especially of a hide, virgate, or acre.

Forbury-Forebury

An enclosure on the edge of a village or town.

Frink

Meaning not known

Frith

Land with brushwood on it.

Furlong

Came to be applied to groups of strips of the ploughland of the village community. All the strips in one furlong were, in the south of England, left fallow once in every three years.

Garston- Garstone- Gasson-Gaton

AS. gaerstun

'Grass field or enclosure'.

Gatcombe

AS. Geat-cumb

'Valley with a gate in it'.

Gore

AS. gara

A triangular piece of ploughland originally. Might be applied in modern times to any field of triangular shape.

Great-Ground

A term found frequently in parishes of the south of England; but very rarely occurring more than once in the same parish. It probably had a technical meaning.

H

Hale

AS. healh

A hollow in a hillside. Occurs frequently near rivers and streams because they have a tendency to cut into the sides of their valleys.

Ham

Generally from AS. hamm, an enclosure; but sometimes from AS ham, a house. May be found anywhere with the former of the two meanings; but is most frequent near steams. This is because in late AS times and later the tendency was to divide up the meads, which had originally been held in common by the holders in the village community, into private allotments held in severalty, which the allotees fenced in. Meads were always near streams.

Haw

AS. haga

Originally a peculiarly strong kind of fence used to keep game and swine within the woodlands, and to prevent them from straying on to cultivated land. Came apparently to be used of the woodlands themselves that were so fenced. Haw seems to apply to a fence only.

Hatchett

A diminutive from the AS. haec, a word used with the meaning of hatchgate, i.e. a wicket-gate or half-door, such as often divide parishes or manors; but used sometimes of a sluice gate in a weir.

Hanging

May be used as a noun or adjective. Implies in either case a field on a hillside.

Hay

Appears in modern place-names that contained the AS. hege, 'Hedge'. Modern form probably due to the French 'Haie'.

Hell

In most cases implies to L-shaped field or wood.

Hen

Besides being a female bird, seems to mean a waterfowl, especially a water hen.

Herne

From AS. hyrne, 'Angle', 'Corner'.

Hewish

AS. hiwisc

A family land holding. Used as a synonym for 'hide', indicating a homestead.

Hook

A very common element in field-names in south England. Has various meanings: (1) a piece of land on a slope; (2) land tilled every year; (3) a projecting corner, point, or spit of land. The latter is probably its ordinary meaning in field-names.

Hooked

Adjective from Hook.

Huish/Hewish

A Homestead

Hungerford

For some inexplicable reason the AS. hangra, 'a handing wood', frequently takes the form Hunger- when compounded with 'ford'.

I

Innex-Innix- Innocks-Innox-Inwicks

All of these seem both in Somerset and in other southern counties to be a curious series of which Inwicks is the original form. They would apply to diary farmsteads that were near the house of the owner.

J

Jugum

Or Yoke

Derived from a pair of oxen, which made up a quarter of the normal plough team.

L

Lake

AS. lacu

A slow-flowing stream. Still used as an independent term in Hants. Otherwise hardly ever survives except in composition: e.g. Stanlake.

Land

AS. land

Seems to have always implied ploughland. Probably the 'land' of most of the present field-names is a survival of that use.

Lang

AS. lang

'Long'.

Laver

AS. laefer

The 'yellow flag or iris'.

Lawn

Variant of launde, an open space in a wood.

Leg

A long, narrow meadow, generally running out of a larger piece.

Lintern

Probably a variant of the Somerset dialect word 'lintorm' - Lintel of a door.

Lynch

A shelf of ploughland of the side of a hill formed by ploughing in such a way that the clods are turned down the slope. A common feature of AS. times when the area under the plough was very large. Some may be due to the very extensive ploughing of the post-Napoleonic period.

Lypeat or Lypeate

AS. hlyp-teat

'Leap gate'. A gate of an enclosure so constructed that it would be easy for a deer or some such wild animal to leap over it into the enclosure, but not out of it. Such gates would probably be found mostly in haga's. (See 'Haw').

M

Man

This element in modern names often represents the AS. maene, 'common', applied to land on which all the holders in the village community had rights.

Mead

AS. maed

In the days before grass seeds were obtainable this was the only hay land of the community. It consisted always of land near streams, since that was the only kind of land on which hay grew in any quantity.

Meare-Meer-Mere

All three terms represent either the AS. maere, a balk of a ploughland, or mere, 'pond'. In Berks field-names we find mereway applied to accommodation roads running long the lines of the former balks of ploughland.

Minchin

'Nun'.

Mizmaze- Mismaze

A 'maze'. Probably a reference to land with numerous bushes on it.

N

Nashet

Possibly a diminutive of Nash, i.e. at ten asshe, 'at the ash tree'.

O

Oar-Oare-Ore

AS. ora

'Slope'.

Over

As a first element in a name, AS. ofer, 'upper'. As a final element, AS. ofer, 'bank' or 'hillside'.

P

Paradise

May perhaps refer to the good qualities of a piece of land. But sometimes due to the fact that a field was used for the growth of a seed called 'paradise', which was introduced into this country from N. Africa in late mediaeval times. One area in Burnham Somerset is named so.

Peak

An enclosure one angle of which at least, is acute.

Perry

AS. pirage

'Peartree'.

Picked

AS. picced(e)

'Having an acute angle'.

Portway

AS. Portweg

Probably implies a road leading to the nearest market.

Pux

Probably derived from AS puca, 'goblin'.

Q

Quar-Quarr

'Quarry'.

R

Riding

A way cut through a wood. In Yorkshire it is a division of land.

Rivey

Meaning not known.

Roath

Very uncertain. Possibly applied to land on which coarse grass grows.

Roundabout

A very common field-name in the south of England. From actual cases of its use in Hampshire, it would seem to be applied to fields that have a copse in the middle of them, or to fields that have a belt of woodland round them.

Row

Line or belt of trees planted as a wind shelter. Cf. AS. raewe, hegeraewe, 'hedgerow'.

Rudge

Variant form of 'ridge'.

S

Sarch

'Sieve' or 'Strainer'.

Shard-Shord

Implies something, which is cut, or cut off. A shard gate is a gap cut in a hedge to permit the passage of carts. Applied to fields it implies probably one, which has been cut off from another after having been originally part of it. Also used to describes certain archaeological finds.

Shear

A crop of grass.

Sheet

A very common field-name in Hampshire although its meaning is not clear. Is perhaps a variant of 'shoot', which means a field or a road running downhill.

Shill-Shil

Perhaps refers to thin or poor soil.

Shot

Very common as a field-name in Hampshire Berkshire, and Essex. Sometimes means a detached piece of land. But the term seems to have acquired some wider meaning in modern times. Very common in some parishes, and very rare or non-existent in others. Possibly a later meaning of the term is land which has been hedged or marked off in some way from neighbouring land from which is was previously undivided. It is also possible that this noun may be connected with the verb 'to shoot', which is quite commonly used in Berkshire field-names in such forms as 'Furlong shooting on Orchard', which means a piece of ploughland running down to an orchard.

Showl

A shovel. May also refer to the shape of a field.

Shute

Variant of 'Shoot', which means a field or road running down hill. 'Shute' is the form commonly used in the Isle of Wight, whereas 'Shoot' is that commonly found on the mainland of Hampshire. It is also found in Somerset.

Shuttle

Can mean 'slippery' or 'sliding' as well as the lower cotton holder in a sewing machine

Sideland- Sideling-Sidelong

Applied to fields, which run length-wise along a slope.

Skilling

A rough shed.

Sleight-Slate-Slait

A sheep pasture.

Slough

AS. sloh

A quagmire.

Sole

AS. sol

'Pond'.

Standle

AS. Stan-del

'Stone quarry'.

Starveall

Very common in Berkshire, implies poor land.

Steart, Stert

AS. steort

'Tongue of land between streams'. A peninsular of land in Somerset is named as such.

Stent

A right of pasturage.

Stitch

The land between two furrows of a ploughed field. In the Isle of Wight it means a rood of land.

N.B. The original acre was a strip of ploughland 22yds by 220yds. The furrows were 51/2yds apart, therefore the area of a strip between two furrows was one rood.

Strap

A long narrow piece of land.

Stroud

AS. strod

'Marsh'.

Stud

In compounds means a horsefold.

Synder-Sunder

AS. sundor

'Separate'. Seems to be applied to pieces of land, which are in individual ownership.

T

Thirt

AS. thweorh

'Transverse', 'Crosswise', 'Oblique'. Often applied to a ploughland, the furrows of which are not parallel to those of neighbouring lands.

Thong

Probably connected with the Somerset dialectical 'thongy', which means 'viscid'. Applied perhaps to fields with sticky soil

Tining-Tyning

A hedged enclosure.

Twindix

Possibly means 'Twin Ditches'.

Twizzle

Something twisted.

W

Wad-

In compounds, seems to imply generally ground on which wode grew.

Warth

Dialectic form of 'worth'? but more usually described certain areas of enclosed land.

Week

See Wick.

Wick

Originally the common dairy farm of the village community, where butter and cheese were made and the cattle were kept in the winter season. Had to be near the mead of the community, i.e. near the hay land. Consequently 'Wicks' are nearly always in the neighbourhood of streams. In later times when the meads of many communities were divided up in several ownerships the tendency was for individual owners to set up their own 'Wicks'.

Worth

AS. weorth, wyrth

In compounds this AS term is nearly always compounded with a personal name in the possessive case, hardly ever with a descriptive term. This shows that Worths were originally a class of farm, which was in some sense the subject of private ownership. It is probable that Worths were farms or cultivated lands carved out of the waste left over after the first settlers in a district had taken up the ploughland, which they could cultivate. This new cultivation would be enclosed in some way in order to keep animals off it. Hence the term may in later times have come to be used of rather large enclosures.

Worthy

AS. weorthig, wyrthig

This AS term is a diminutive of weorth. Some modern writers, however, have supposed that it came to be used in the West of England as synonymous of that term. Worth is by no means a common field-name in the southern counties proper; whereas Worthy is a common field-name in Somerset. Generally speaking Worthy is a field-name, and Worth a place or farm name.

It may be conjectured that while Worth was applied to the comparatively large area of the cultivated land of an isolated farm, Worthy was applied to some areas like a modern field carved out of former wasteland and enclosed.

Y

Yate-Yeate-Yet

AS. geat

'Gate'. It is sometimes stated that at a certain period in middle English this 'y' spelling super

 Yoke

 or Jugum

Derived from a pair of oxen, which made up a quarter of the normal plough team.