East Riding place names

Although most Welsh and Gaelic place names are still comprehensible to speakers of those languages,  the meanings of Yorkshire place names are obscure to modern English speakers. But Yorkshire place names have a fascinating story to tell - indeed, they chart the history of the whole of England between prehistoric times and the Middle Ages.

The oldest names are Celtic, for this area was once occupied by Briton tribes like the Brigantes and the Parisi who were first dominated by the Romans and then gradually pushed back into Cumbria and Wales by the Anglo-Saxons, but not without leaving behind a few place-names, especially the names of rivers. Local examples inlcude Roos (Welsh rhos: a moor), Leven (Welsh llyfn: smooth), and the rivers Derwent (‘oak river’), Ouse,  Hull and Humber.  The Romans also left behind a few placenames, primarily military in nature, like Doncaster and Tadcaster

Next came the Angles who vied for domination with the Danes. As the latter eventually gained the upper hand and established their capital in York, Danish (and to a lesser extent Norse) place names predominate in North East Yorkshire.  There are still a good many Anglo-Saxon place names in the area, such as Goodmanham (‘Godmund’s home’, the site of the most important pagan shrine in the Kingdom of Deira), Bridlington (‘Beohrtel’s farm’) and Pocklington (Poca’s people’s farm). Saxon place names can often be identified from elements such as –ham, -ton, - ing, -ley  and –field, and Viking place names by elements such as –by, -thorpe, -dale etc but caution is needed as many mixed place names exist (e.g. Grimston) and because a lot of words were similar in the two languages (e.g. holm which can be a Saxon or Norse element). One important illustration of this is the word ‘wold’ which is an Anglo-Saxon word (c.f the Kent Weald) but the local use of it is probably Norse, as the meaning of the related Norse word vall (rolling upland pasture) better describes the landscape than the meaning of Old English ‘wold’ which means forested uplands.

Common Viking place names elements include -by (village e.g. Willerby, Anlaby, Skidby), thorpe (farm e.g. Fridaythorpe – possibly Freya’s Thorpe, Everthorpe, Foggathorpe. Tibthorpe) and –kirk (church, as in Kirkella, Kirkby Underdale). Ferriby is a particularly interesting example, as our word ferry comes from Norse ferja- meaning to carry across water. This suggests that Ferriby has been a crossing on the Humber since a very early date. Watery place name elements in the SE of the area demonstrate the former topography of the area e.g.  holme (a water meadow,as in Wilfholme), carr (marshy woodland)  and keld (a spring, as in Keldmarsh, Cawkeld and Dunkeld which are all wet places in the Hull valley). A toft was a homestead, as in Langtoft. A burgh was a fort or stronghold, as in Flamborough – Flam’s stronghold. Use of dale rather than valley or vale in the Wolds is Norse (e.g. Thixendale) as it is in Dales and Hebridean placenames. Sea, in the names Hornsea and Skipsea means a lake, as does mere. The common use of beck for a stream in the East Riding is also Viking in origin. another expression which has Norse origin is the use of ‘bottoms/botton’ to refer to a valley bottom (as in Melton Bottoms) and is also found in Dales place names (c.f. Starbotton). Where ‘wick’ occurs inland it is Anglo-Saxon in origin, meaning a field, but on the coast it originates from the Norse vik  meaning bay (e.g. Thornwick) which also occurs frequently in Hebridean placenames as –vaig.

Finally the Normans arrived in 1066 and a number of  French or ‘Normanised’ place names can be seen in the area e.g. Meaux, Wharram le Street, Thorpe le Street, Kirkby Malzeard.