When it comes to British place names, Anglo-Saxon origins tend to dominate in the south and Scandinavian languages in the North, mixed in with Old British or Celtic terms for natural features such as hills and rivers. Derbyshire still shows the influence of all three factors in the names we find today.
Often towns and villages share common endings such as -tun (settlement), -ham (homestead), -feld (farmland), -by (village), -caester (Roman stronghold), -worthig (enclosure), -dun (hill), -halh (nook of land) – but these usually follow a first element which is much harder to define, especially when a personal name is concerned.
The famous Domesday Book – a land survey commissioned by William the Conqueror and completed in 1086 – shows Derbyshire names which have been modernised but otherwise changed very little in all that time.
To understand where they came from, we went looking in the Oxford Dictionary of British Place Names.
13. Matlock
Recorded as Meslach in 1086, and Matlac 1196, meaning: ‘Oak-tree where meetings are held’. Photo: Rachel Atkins
14. New Mills
Earlier called Midelcauel 1306, ‘the middle allotment of land’, it was renamed New Miln by 1625, and then pluralised as local industry built up. Photo: jason chadwick
15. Killamarsh
Known as Chinewoldemaresc in 1086, the origin is: ‘Marsh of a man called Cynewald’. Photo: Waistell staff
16. South Normanton
Recorded as Normentune in 1086, this fairly common name in the North and North Midlands means farmstead of the Northmen or Norwegian Vikings. Photo: Anne Shelley