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PLACE NAMES ROUND BINGLEY
Celtic Names |
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The names on a modern map of Yorkshire show few clear linguistic traces of Celtic or pre-Celtic Britain but they do remain, mostly in the names of hills and rivers. The element pen for hill is familiar (Bingley historian Speight suggests bryn, another Celtic word for hill, as the origin of Yorkshire's many Brown Hills). The rivers Aire and Wharfe and the Otley Chevin are also thought to be Celtic in origin. The Aire is possibly the strong river, the Wharfe the crooked or winding river and the Chevin a ridge (Welsh Cefn means a ridge). Further north, Craven is thought to derive from a Celtic word meaning garlic (Welsh Craf). Creic, meaning rock has been put forward as the basis for Creak Moor Silsden and ecluysmeaning church is suggested as an element in Eccleshill and Exley. |
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Old English and Old Norse
Baildon, Bingley and Keighley were Anglian settlements but after the series of Viking invasions they became part of the Danelaw. Consequently, though the majority of place names come from Old English others derive from Old Norse. Key Anglian place name elements are ley, ham, ton, ing,and royd whereas places or features of landscape that include the words or word elements: thwaite, by, laithe, garth, beck, carr and thorpe usually indicate the influence of Viking settlement. But the two groups intermingled linguistically. Old Norse provided Yorkshire dialect with words like laik(play), addle (work), lig (lie) and lug (ear), which survived long after the immediate settlement, as did topographical words like carr, holm and beck. Moreover, Old English and Old Norse are related Germanic languages of the Indo-European family with many cognates (words deriving from the same source). For example, the place name, dale, for a valley can derive from either Old English dael or Old Norse dalr. |
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| Old English and Scandinavian personal names |
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| Beaghild, a possible source for Baildon, which Moorman thinks, may have been Beaghildedun the hill of Beaghilds people. Many English "dons" are preceded by a personal name but though the Baildon "don" as in Yeadon and Rawdon, obviously denotes a hill, the first element has led to much speculation.Smith is certain Baildon derives from begel, Old English for bend or curve. In this sense Baildon would be the round or curved hill, which certainly fits its round, flat topped shape. More fanciful etymologies abound. Crowther, in Round About Bradford suggested a Celtic source, Baille,a farmstead,which gives the familar "Bally" in Irish place names. |
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| Benna/Bynna,� a probable� source for Bingley, contracted from Benningaleah the meadow of Benna's sons though there was an Old English word bing, meaning a hollow. |
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| Cotta, as in Cottingley, the meadow of Cotta's sons. |
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| Cyha, as in Keighley. |
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| Culla/Colla, as in Cullingworth, from Collingaworth, the farm of Colla's sons. |
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| Hagena, as in Hainworth. |
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| Helgi,an Old Norse personal name, as in Eldwick, Helgi's farm. |
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| Rethel, as in Riddlesden. |
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| Rumbald-the name of the moor has been the source of much debate but the English Place Name Society gives this personal name as its origin. |
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| Wifel or Wilsige are Old English names which may have given us the first element in Wilsden. Local historian, Speight, in his speculative mode, preferred "Wealhasden" implying the valley of the "foreign"Celtic Brits pushed out of the Aire valley. Walshaw and Walsden in Calderdale have been put forward as places of the Celts. |
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| Old English, Middle English, Old Norse and dialect words in place names |
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baillie-Middle English- a bailiff, as in Bailey Hills, Bingley. There has been considerable debate about the possibility of a fort or castle on Bailey Hills and some haveught bailey to derive from the term meaning the outer wall of a castle (motte and bailey). The local name Castlefields seemed to reinforce this. But though there was early settlement on Bailey Hills no convincing evidence for this castle exists. |
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| bekkr-Old Norse- a beck or stream- as in Lodepit Beck. Smith derives Lode from Old English lad meaning a water channel. Gelling points out that lad became Middle English lode and is a common place name element in other parts of England |
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| bel-Old English-a beacon, has been suggested as the origin of Bell in Bell Bank Wood, Bingley |
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| butte-Old English-we are familiar with grouse butts on the moor but when the word butt appears as a landscape name as in Butts, East Morton,� it can denote a strip of land in a common field. |
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| by- Old Norse- a village. |
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| copp- Old English- summit or crest. as in Coplowe Hill near Wilsden (the Old English hlaw which becomes law or low(e) also means a hill) and Cop Hirst. Coppa, however, was an Old English personal name |
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| cot- Old English- cottage, as in March Cote Farm, near Cottingley |
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| croft-Old English-an enclosure, as in Barcroft, meaning barley enclosure.�� |
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| delf- Old English-quarry, as in Lanshaw Delves on Rombalds Moor |
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| denu- Old English- a valley, as in Harden, Chellow Dene etc. |
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| dimple- Old English-pool or hole/quarry, as in Dimple Beck. This meaning predates the use of dimple in reference to the face. Other names for pool are dubb, as in Dubb Lane, Bingley and lummas in Elam Grange. |
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| dun-Old English- a hill, as in Baildon, Yeadon and Rawdon. |
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| eng- Old Norse-a meadow. This is one source of the place name element ing or ings. Many of the valley ings have disappeared but can be found on old maps. Dodd in his history of Bingley reproduces two old estate maps, the 16th century map of Priesthorpe showing Vickers Ing and Ponde Ing while the 18th century Ferrand estate map shows Marthdale Ing. Though these have gone, many other fields have retained the designation ing. However, when ing occurs in compounds like Cottingley or Girlington and Bingley it usually occurs with a personal name and derives from the Old English inga/ingas,which indicates "the people/sons of" or "belonging to". |
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| garth -Old Norse, an enclosure. This is rare llocally and is most often found as an "olde worlde" name in Victorian or modern streets and houses/housing developments. |
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| gata -Old Norse -a track or way as in Keighley Gate, Golcar Gate, Hope Gate, Lobley Gate. |
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| gaukr-Old Norse- a cuckoo, as in Gawthorpe.� Crow Nest, Dove Hall or Cuckoo Nest are immediately recognisable as referring to birds but other local place names are less obviously ornithological. Crawshaw is crow wood, Dowley, dove clearing and there are other old bird names which survive in place names and dialect. Gledr is a hawk, tewit-a lapwing, dunnock- a sparrow, ruddock- a robin, laverock- a skylark. According to David Hey, the surname Speight, first recorded locally in 1307, began as a nickname and means a woodpecker. |
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| haer-Old English- rock, as in Harden or Hardgate Lane though Old English hara, hare, is another possibility. |
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| halh-Old English-a nook, probably the source of Hallas |
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| ham-Old English- a home house or dwelling |
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| haugr-Old Norse- a barrow or raised mound-as in Acrehowe on Baildon Moor |
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| hebble -Middle English- a wooden bridge or stream crossing, as in Hebble Bridge, crossing Morton Beck or Crag Hebble crossing Lodepit Beck. There's a Hebble Brook over Halifax way that gave rise to street/bus/boat names. |
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| hlatha-Old Norse-a barn as in Currer Laithe. Barns became farms as agriculture and families expanded. Other names for outlying� buildings housing animals are byre, Old English, and stall, Old Norse, as in Birstall and Heptonstall. The place name scales or scholes derives from the Old Norse skali, meaning a temporary shelter, rather like the highland bothy or shieling. The element booth has a similar meaning. |
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| hvin- Old Norse-gorse, as in Whinny Hill to the South West of Black Moor near the Dog and Gun, Oxenhope. |
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| hvamm -Old Norse- valley or hollow, as in the Wham, Rombalds Moor. Whams are usually boggy upper reaches of streams. |
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| hyrggr-Old Norse-a ridge- as in the Riggs, the area of land east of Heights Lane, Bingley |
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| holmr-Old Norse- an island or a low lying area by a stream, as in Holme House Wood, Bingley, Mytholmes or Mytholmroyd. The first element of Mytholmes indicates a stream junction, from the Old English gemythe. The Old Norse for a fork in a stream was grein which is apossible source for Grainings Head, Ilkley Moor.As the Norse� holmr was, like many other words,adopted in English, its presence as� a place name element is not evidence of specific Scandanavian settlement in that locality. |
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| hop -Old English- this can be a valley or an enclosed area of marshy or moorland ground, as in Oxenhope, Hope Hill and possibly Bradup. |
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| intak-Old English- cleared land, as in Intake Gate and Intake Wood. It's a common name for fields near the edge of the moors. J.B. Priestley in his description of "Bruddersford" in The Good Companions uses the word as a metaphor for the city's expansion. |
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| kjarr- Old Norse- a marsh or bog- as in Carr Lane, Micklethwaite. |
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| kringla-Old Norse- a curve or circle, as in the Cringles, near Silsden.� � |
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| lawerce-Old English- a lark as in Laverock Hall. |
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| leah-Old English- an area of cleared ground or a meadow as in Bingley, Keighley, Shipley. |
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| mersc-Old English -a swamp/bog/marsh as in March Cote. Another name for a swamp is sugga,hence Sugden |
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| nabbi -Old Norse-the shoulder or projection of a hill, as in Nab End, overlooking Silsden or Nab Wood, Shipley |
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| pinfold , as in Pinfold Hill near Rough Holden- a pinder was a person authorised to round up stray animals and put them securely in a pinfold or enclosure. Dick Hudson's dad, Thomas, was, Speight tells us, a pinder and constable before he became a publican at the Fleece. |
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| rodu - Old English-a clearing- royd and worth are� frequent elements within the Bradford Metro area but much less common further North. Waddington-Feather suggests this pattern reflects the relative influence of the old Saxon kingdoms of Mercia and Northumbria. However, others have argued that the word royd indicates clearings made later than those with the element ley. In medieval Calderdale "royd land" was the term commonly used to describe land cleared or "assarted" for farming. It's tempting to suggest a historical chronology of word elements to describe land brought into cultivation : ley - worth - royd - intake; but alas it's never that simple. The common Yorkshire surnames Ackroyd, Boothroyd, Holroyd, Murgatroyd and Illingworth derive from these local place name elements. |
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| risc - Old English- rush, as in Ryshworth which must have been a marshy area where Morton Beck comes down to the River Aire. |
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| rydding- Old English- a clearing as in Dobrudden.� Places called� Rid(d)ing or Rid(d)ings usually derive from the same source though the old division of Yorkshire into ridings comes from the Norse thrithjugr meaning a division into three which is why, except in fiction, there was no South Riding |
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| sceaga -Old English- wood as in Glovershaw or Shay Lane Wilsden. It usually refers to a small wood. Old English has a rich vocabulary of words to describe woods and clearings. Names deriving from� Old English fyrhth,� gr�fe, hyrst� holt and Old Norse, lundr and vithr, all designating woods, can be found locally. Buskr meaning bush can result in the place name busk whilst scrogge meaning shrub gives us the local Shroggs. Another interesting word is spring, as in Milner Spring, Bingley.Like the word gate it has two meanings. Especially in the 16th-18th centuries, it was used to describe a wood, usually a plantation of young trees often enclosed for the rearing of game. Hawksworth Spring is a wood not a water source and its game was once protected. Baildon local historians tell of the infamous murder of a gamekeeper. There are many other Spring Woods in the neighborhood. The names of trees also influence place names: alor-alder, as in Allerton and Eller Carr; birki- birch; withign-willow as in Withins; ac-oak, as possibly in Rivock, the "riven oak", holegn holly as in Hollin plantation and Hollins Hill (holly leaves and bark once provided winter fodder for animals); aesc ash, as in Esholt; slah-treow sloe tree (blackthorn)--hence the misleading Slaughter and Slaymaker Lanes; cwicen-mountain ash- as in Wicken Tree Crag. |
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| sic-Old English- a stream as in� Syke Beck� which flows into the Aire� before Cottingley Beck. |
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| slakki- a hollow- as in Green Crag Slack, Rombald's Moor. |
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| stede-Old English- a site or place, as in Castle Stead Ring or Gilstead, probably meaning the place of the guild or guild house. |
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| stocc- Old English- a tree stump or post, as in Goit Stock or Stockbridge (wooden bridge). Another name for stumpy cleared ground is stubbing. |
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| tenter-as in Tenter Croft, Baildon- tentering was the stretching of cloth on a frame after fulling and dyeing. |
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| thorp- Old Norse- a hamlet as in Gawthorpe, Bingley. |
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| thveit- Old Norse-clearing, meadow, as in Micklethwaite, Braithwaite and Thwaites Brow. |
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| tun -Old English - an enclosure or farmstead, as in Morton. |
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| wic -Old English- a farm as in Eldwick, Helgi's farm |
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| worth -Old English- an enclosed place, an enclosed homestead or farm, as in Hainworth, Cullingworth, Haworth, Ryshworth etc. |
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m�re mearc-stapa, se �e moras heold fen ond fasten |
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Meres, marshes, moors, and fens -the haunts of the monster Grendel in the Anglo-Saxon Beowulf) |
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