| What
is merseyPlaceNames? |
| This new feature
for allertonOak presents a comprehensive
survey of local place names and their origins. |
| I have given the
original meaning of the place name in the
language of the time, along with information on
the local context that might have given rise to
the name (where possible, of course). If
relevant, I have given the name as it appeared in
the Domesday Book of 1086 (marked DB),
otherwise the earliest version of the name I have
been able to find. I have avoided giving the
(often many) orthographic variants down the
centuries, but apart from this merseyPlaceNames
is probably the most comprehensive collection of
this kind of information in one place on the Web
at the moment. |
| If, like me, you
sometimes try and conjure up a picture of how a
place must have been long ago, a knowledge of the
origin of the place name can sometimes provide a
significant clue. For example, the name Wallasey
comes from the Anglo-Saxon for 'Island of the
Britons'. It was an island because Wallasey Float
once extended to the sea at Leasowe, but what's
so unusual about 'Britons'? Well, the Wirral was
flooded with peaceful Viking immigrants from
Ireland in late Anglo-Saxon times and Wallasey
could have been an isolated enclave of Brits.
Furthermore, it was named thus by the latter
rather than by the Vikings, so maybe there was a
bit of xenophobia going on here? Enjoy browsing
(and daydreaming) ... |
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