Suffolk Place Names

A couple of months ago someone asked about the meaning of a village name so I reserved the library book  'The Dictionary of Suffolk Place-Names". I've finally got around to writing a post .

So many of our village names in Suffolk date back to Old English - that is mid 5th to mid 12th Centuries. They often feature the name of  Anglo Saxon settlers who came here after the collapse of the Roman Empire from areas in and around what is now Germany. 

If not named from the landowner then the name often derives from the landscape where the village began.

The Doomsday Book from 1086 has the first references to almost every parish, later mentions are on  estate maps for villages belonging to the Lord of the Manor or belonging to religious Abbeys and Priories.

The names have changed bit by bit over the years until the time most people could read and write and then the spelling became more fixed, this usually happened around the mid 1700s.

These are the meanings  of  a few of the villages  in Mid Suffolk.............

Haughley = Hawthorn wood or clearing. Earlier recorded names were Hagenet,Haugle,Hawleigh

Mendlesham = Myndel's Homestead. Earlier recorded names  Melnesham, Meldeham

Wetherden = Wether Valley. (Wether is a castrated ram) Earlier names were  Wederdena, Wethirden

Bacton = Bacca's estate, farmstead. Earlier names were Bachetuna, Baketuna.

Cotton = Codda's estate farmstead. Earlier names were Codetuna, Cottuna

Stowmarket = Meeting place with a market. Earlier names were Stou, Stowe Sancte marie and but more mentions of Tornai or Tonei which became Thorney Green an area of open land on the edge of Stowmarket.

Ipswich (County Town) =. Probably from Gip or Gippis trading port/ harbour. Or an old English noun gip meaning gap or opening referring to the estuary. Earlier names were Gypeswich, Gippewici,Ipswyche. 

Something I didn't know was that while we think some village names come from the rivers that run through them it's actually the other way round. Rivers were not named until maps were needed and in common use - and the map makers would name the river from the village  sometime making up names that sounded right. 

For instance the River Lark  that runs through Bury St Edmunds, is a back formation from Lackford and has tributaries called 'The Linnet' and 'The Dove' -  names unknown until they were labelled on an early map.

Thank you to whoever asked about a village name meaning and I can't remember which name they asked about - but looking through this book has been interesting.

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