|
I have an interactive flash map showing details for these places here. You might need to wait a few moments, and use the zoom in the bottom right of I Explorer to 200% to see the detail which appears over Liverpool when you roll the mouse over any location.
Norse:
The Hiberno-Norse (Irish Norweigan Viking’s) arrived in Wirral in 902AD under Ingimund, after his folk had been driven out of Ireland. Evidence of their community abounds in the area. A longship has been discovered near Meols, A Runestone was found in Overchurch and various Viking crosses and other physical relics testify to Norse times; it is in placenames we find particular clues as to their ethnicity which likely included groups of Irish and French, their heritage and geographic distribution.
Norse <tún> courtyard, (enclosed) field; home meadow; (pl.) farmstead; abodeThe tun element is common to both Norse and Old English, it is often quoted as meaning farmstead (Norweigan sted =locality) or settlement, though it originally meant ‘fenced enclosure’, in Icelandic translates as ‘hayfield’, while in Swedish tun means ‘fence’. One modern english language derivative is the ‘townland’, this word is still used extensively in Ireland, townlands cover the whole country and convey the idea of a locality with a peculiar geographic, cultural or functional point which differentiates it from its surroundings.
Norse <bœr> farmhouse, farmstead; farm, landed estate; townThe ‘by’ element is perhaps more closely related to settlement, village or stronghold. Note how Frankby(French), Irby(Irish) and Kirby(Church) ‘by’s‘ all suggest a community.
Bidston
Old Norse ‘bheid / bíta’ split /bite +steinn’ ‘split rock’
Or Old English bythle + stán. ‘rocky hill with a house or building’ has been proposed (though I couldn’t find ‘bythle’ in my dictionary).
Brimstage
An alternative term for 'tun' was 'stadr', and this can be seen today in Brimstage, formerly Brynston
Caldy . (Calders in 1086)
Either from Norse Caldei. ‘Cold island’
Or Calder, in Old Celtic means ‘rapid stream’
Or 'calf-dales' has been proposed.
Claughton
Old Norse Klakkr-tun, means "hamlet on a hillock".
Frankby
Old Norse ‘Stronghold belonging to Frenchmen’
(or ‘to a man called Franki’ has been proposed);
Gayton (Gaitone in 1086)
Old Norse geit ,Geitatún: ‘Enclosure where goats are kept’.
Greasby (Gravesberie in 1086).
Old Norse graf / ghrebh to dig, scratch ‘Settlement of tilled land’
(This concords with its proximity to the main local population centers)
Or Old English grǽf + burh ‘Stronghold at a grove or copse’. .;
The Domesday's spelling 'Gravesberie' has nothing to do with a cemetery. The component 'grave' might also refer to charcoal, or areas where peat was dug.
Heswall. (Eswelle in 1086)
Norse ‘hestr/ hross’ horse völlr ‘Field for horses’
Or Old English Esul /esol ass (Donkey)
Or Old English Hasel Hazel + wielle a spring ‘Spring where hazels grow’
This may be unlikely as Hazel was ubiquitous.
Irby
Írabær. ‘Settlement of the Irish’.
Meols, (Melas 1086)
Old Norse melar ‘The sand dunes’.
Moreton
Old Norse (or Old English) mór + tún ‘farmstead in moorland’.
Or Gaelic mor (big) + Norse ‘tún’
Ness (Nesse 1086)
Old Norse nes (or Old English næss) ‘headland, promontory’.
Neston (Nestone 1086)
Old Norse nes (or Old English næss) ‘headland, promontory’+ tun
Oxton
I got into an interesting local debate about this one. Thanks to local historian John Green for his work in helping elucidate it. I’ve asked to put details here.
Old Norse or Old English 'Oks-tún' ‘Enclosure where oxen are kept’
Or 'Oks-tún' ‘the farmstead on the ridge’.
Poulton (Pontone 1086)
Old Norse Pollr or Old English pull \ pól + tún ‘farmstead by a pool/ pond’
Prenton (Prestune 1086)
Old Norse prestr or Old English Preóst priest Prentún. ‘farmstead of the priest’.
Or Old British pres.;brushwood or thicket’. A Celtic name reputedly meaning a forest 3 miles wide by 3 miles long has been advocated.
Or ‘Præn’s farmstead’
Raby (Rabie 1086)
Old Norse Rábær. ‘Stronghold by a boundary’.
It is believed to be so named because it lay by the boundary which existed in the 10th and 11th centuries between the autonomous Norse Gall Gaedil enclave or ‘republic’ in North Wirral, and Anglo-Saxon Mercia to the south.
Storeton (Storeton 1086)
Old Norse stórr (great, huge) 'big enclosure'
Or ‘farmstead near a young wood’ has been suggested
Thingwall (Tuigvelle 1086)
Old Norse thing-völlr ‘Field where an assembly meets’.
Likely to be near ‘Dingesmere’ referred to in the Anglo Saxon chronicles on the Battle of Brunanburg 937 since ‘Ding’ occurs elsewhere as a variant of ‘Thing’ (especially where there are Irish Norse and maybe one of the first recorded instances of ‘scouse’! Ding-le (in Liverpool) may have the same etymological root). ‘Mere’ occurs commonly in the area and is old English for pool or lake e.g. Tranmere, Raby mere, Ellesmere, Burton mere and Mer sey. This is reckoned to be the Eastern Dee estuary by Thing-wall where the Norse ships would have berthed.
“Then the Northmen, dreary survivors of the spears,
went in the nail studded ships on Dingesmere
over deep water to seek Dublin,
went back to Ireland ashamed”
Thurstaston (Turstanetone 1086)
Old Norse Thorsteinn + tún ‘Thorsteinn’s farmstead or village’.
Thor was the Nordic god of thunder and lightning (who gave us Thurs day). Old Norse steinn means ‘stone’ There is a large glacial erratic or outcrop on the hill, which may well have been ascribed to ‘Thor’ as it is the highest point on the peninsular and is known for its lightning strikes ‘A Hammer of Thor’. Some say that there is no proof of it being noted before Victorian times, though it does seem to show signs of natural long term erosion, even if its shape elsewhere has altered through quarrying.
Tranmere
Old Norse ‘Pool (or sandbank) of the crane bird’
Upton (Optone1086)
Old Norse or Old English upp + tún. ‘Upper/Inland/Higher farmstead’.
West Kirkby
Old Norse Kirkjubær ‘West village with a church’.
The ‘West’ element was introduced to differentiate it from the other Kirk at Wallasey. The dedication of the church to St Bridget ( a 5th centuary Irish Saint) implies the Gall Gaedil settlers were already Christian. Carvings on the Hogback Stone here reveals a fusion of Irish, Norse and some Saxon influence.
Dane
The eastern part of Cheshire saw Danes who had spread from the Yorkshire areas, and Denhall in Wirral, near to Neston is thought to derive its origin from the Danes
Celtic & Welsh
Welsh or ‘foreigners’ is an Anglo saxon label referring to the survivors of the indiginous people of Britain (‘Brytons’) who were pushed into the hills in Wales, Cornwall, Cumbria and Brittany. The Celtic tribe in this area were known as the Cornovii. As Norse and Old English are related, so is Gaelic with other Celtic languages creating similar uncertainty about certain placenames.
(Egremont)
Old British Auc ar mont ‘ Hill by the water’ The name of this part of Wallasey is ascribed to Captain Askew who built a house in the area in 1835 and is said to have named the village after his Cumberland birthplace.
Arrowe Park
Gaelic Celtic 'airidh' or 'ergh' 'summer grazing'
Or from Old Norse ‘aergi’ farmland
Dee (river)
Tíva. From Deoua. ‘An ancient Celtic river-name meaning ‘the godess, the holy one’. (Roman name for Chester was Deva)
Liscard
Gaelic or Old British lis+carreg (rock).; ‘Court or chief house at the rock’.
Landican (Landechene 1086)
Gaelic 'Lann-Aedhagain' the chapel of Athacan
Or Old British llan-Tegan.
Noctorum (Chenoterie 1086)
Gaelic 'Knock Tirim' or 'Dry Hill'
Pensby
Old British Pen ‘head/top of a hill’ with Norse ‘by’ (settlement)
Wallasey (Walea 1086)
Old English ‘The Island of Waley’ (I.e. Welsh or ‘British foreigners'). This is listed as Celtic as it clearly relates to a settlement of Celts.
Anglo- Saxon
Anglo-Saxons ‘domesday’ names predominate south of Raby as is evidant on the map. Due to the similarities between Old English and Norse, many placenames cannot be catagorised conclusively. Bear in mind that many placenames derive from more recent times when the Wirral had lost its Gall-Gaedil culture and was being urbanised.
Barnston (Bernestone 1086).
Old English bærn ‘barn’ Enclosure with a barn
Or ‘Farmstead of Beornwulf’ has been suggested
Or Old Norse ‘barn’ child ‘Enclosure where children are fostered’
Bebington
Old English ‘Estate associated with Bebba (Name of a Queen)’
Or Old English be-byrigan / be-byrian ‘Place of burial of the dead’, ‘to cover with a mound’. (This derivation might suggest the battle occurred here rather than on the golf course)
Birkenhead
Old English Birchen Head. ‘Headland where birch trees grow’.
Bromborough
Old English Brun an burh. ‘Fort on the brown’ (heath)
Or ‘Stronghold of Brúna (Brúni)’.
Brookhurst
Old English hyrst (Wooded hill) ‘brook by a wooded hill’
Burton (Cheshire)
Old English Burh tun – ‘Farmstead at the fort’
‘Kings residence/ manor house’ is also proposed
Eastham (Estham in 1086).
Old English ‘East homestead or enclosure’.
Hooton (Hotone 1086)
Old English hóh (heel, hough); ‘farmstead on a spur of land’.
Hoylake
Old English hygel ‘Tidal lake or channel at the hillock (or sandbank)’. Hoyle Lake refers to a channel of water between Hilbre Island and Dove Point.
Or Old Norse ‘Hug’ ‘hill’
Leasowe
Old English Lea sowes ‘Meadow pastures’
Seacombe
Old English sǽ + cumb ‘Combe by the sea’.
Shotwick (Sotowiche 1086).
Note the Domesday suffix "wiche" after a town's name, indicates that it is a salt-mining location, like Nantwich and Middlewich. (From latin ‘Vicus’; salt was so valuable it gave us the word ‘salary’ as people were paid with it). Records at the church testify to its importance as a salt trading post. (‘Sotto’ means lower / down in Latin, or from Old English súth ‘south’).
A Norse derivation is proposed by some due to it’s modern spelling ending in ‘wick’ (‘vik’ means bay).
Others suggest ‘Dwelling on a steep heel of land’. scéot +hóh (promontory)
Spital
Old English "spital" was a term given to a place or building (or "spital house") that acted as a hospital or colony for lepers. In 1283, the brethren of Bebington were given licence to use land where Spital stands today to be used as a hospital for lepers
Sutton, Little & Great (Sudtone 1086)
Old English súth + tún ’South farmstead or village’.
Thornton Hough (Torintone 1086).
Old English thorn + tún ‘Thorn-tree enclosure or farmstead’. ( hough / hóh ‘heel’)
Or Old English ‘tor’ ‘tower or rock’ + tún
Wallasey. (Walea 1086)
Old English ‘The Island of Waley (Britons’ island).
'Walea' simply means 'foreigner' or 'stranger', and could be a term applied to any unfamiliar group. So the Germanic Saxons referred to the settlers on the eastern tip of the Wirral as 'the strangers' and they became 'Walea'. But nearby the same term was used for those occupying the entire neighbouring county - the Welsh. Hence 'Wallasey' and 'Wales' have the same derivation.
Willaston (‘Edelaue’ 1086)
Old English Wir heal or Wirral stone.
There is an ancient set of 3 stone steps which appear to have been suitable for an elder to mount a platform at ‘Hadlow’ (‘Edelaue in 1086’ - Ed was a common prefix like ‘re-’ implying the making good of an imbalanced situation, láð (causing injury) or lǽuw see léow (fine for breach of the laws of protection or guardianship of the king’s peace) related to laur - lawer).. Perhaps this was an early site for assembly and justice.
Or ‘wiella’ (well, fountain, spring) may suggest the 'mysterious origin' of the green as a watering point. (One of the roads is called Dam head lane and another ‘The Knowe’ ‘cneow’ or knee (ling place?))
Referance to an ancient administrative area the ‘Hundred of Willastone’ (not Wirral) was made in the doomsday book, and it remained an important assembly point during the Middle Ages. . It was probably one of the first Anglo-Saxon settlements, and from here the early settlers established a branch to the east named Eastham, one to the south named Sutton, and one at Hinderton to the west. (‘Hinder’ back. Behind, on the further side, down). These placenames appear to be relative to Willaston.
‘Wígláf’s farmstead or village’ has also been suggested.
Wirral
Occurs in the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle as Wir heal, literally "myrtle corner", from Old English ‘wir’, a myrtle tree, and ‘heal’, an angle, corner or slope.
It is supposed that the land was once overgrown with bog myrtle, a plant no longer found in the area but plentiful around Formby, to which Wirral would once have provided a similar habitat.
Wood Church
Old English ‘Wude Church’ is first mentioned in 1093.
|
