place names

England is famous for its traditions and quirky ways - cream teas, cucumber sandwiches, roast dinners, Bonfire Night and those Morris Men dancers!

It's also known for its very unusual place names, the study of which is called Toponymy.

Who would have thought of calling an Essex village, Ugley? We look into how these places got their names, where they came from and why.

English place names come from a variety of languages. These include British, Latin, Old English, Old Norse and Norman French.

Place names ultimately fall under three categories.

Topographical - Describing Landscape/Geographical features. For example trees, flowers and bushes are often found in place names.

High Beech - Essex
Elstree - Hertfordshire
Buckhurst Hill - Essex
Ash - Kent. It's name is taken from the tree whose name dates back to the Old English ¦sc.
Foxfield - Cumbria

These name types suggest to us what the landscape looked like, how much it may or may not have changed over the years, and what kinds of nature and animals inhabited the area.

Habitative - defining a settlement.

Place names that contain words such as farm, home, settlement, enclosure and patch grew to convey the meaning of village. These words meaning 'a form of habitation' or 'a meeting place' were combined with other letters and words to give more detailed information about a place.

For example,
Chalk Farm - London
Farmington - Gloucestershire
Farmoor - Oxfordshire
Homersfield - Suffolk

The word Tun/Ton (enclosure, farmstead, manor, estate) dates from around 750-950. It's original meaning is 'huts built together' and often had the name of the Anglo-Saxon chief or the name of the tribe who built it added to it. Tonbridge for example means the bridge of the estate.

Folk Referring to a people or tribe.

It made sense to name places by the people/s who inhabited the land. For example, Essex means (territory of) the East Saxons and 'ington' points to the homestead of the people of that area so Winnington near Mucklestone means "the homestead of Winna's people. There are a number of examples such as Pratt's Bottom in Kent which is named after the family called Pratt who lived there in 14th century and Great Snoring near Walsingham in Norfolk means the greater place of Snear's people.

If place names were a mixture a landscape, tribe name and other letters then it's hardly surprising that some of our place names in England are far from normal! Check out these place names and their meaning.