Notes on Staffordshire Place Names (Paperback)

This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated.1902 Excerpt: ... CRAKEMARSH--CROXALL 47 Salop. I think here it means crooked, bent, or twisted hill. The base of the hill is decidedly tortuous. Creighton, h., 2 m. NW. of Uttoxeter. 1241 Cratton. With only one root, and that a 13 c. one, our material is slight, but I think sufficient. A. S. crcet, crat means a cart, and the probable origin of the name is a cart-house. A. S. tun meant any enclosed place (v. Ton; v. also Drayton and Mixon). Crat, in M. E., becomes carte, and I have no doubt is the root of ' cart' (by metathesis or shifting of the r). The H. E. D. suggests, without adopting, this view. CreBBwell, 2 m. NW. of Stafford. D. Cressvale; 13 c. Cresswalle. This is a common local name, frequently met with in A. S. charters. Both forms are corrupt on their face. Vale was not an A. S. word, being M. E. from O. F. D. scribes often blundered between v and w. Walle is a mistake for welle, a common error in mediaeval times; cress (watercress) does not grow on walls, but by wells, i. e. springs. The original form would be Ccerse, or Cerse-wiell, the (watercress well. I have alluded (v. Birchills) to the remarkable manner in which r sometimes shifts its position, and precedes or follows the vowel. This is an example. From A. S. cerse we have Mod. Eng. cress. The change occurred in M. E., where we find cresse and kerse used indifferently. Hence our saying, 'not worth a curse, ' means 'not worth a kerse, ' i. e. a leaf of cress. Crowborough, h., 6 m. W. of Leek. 13 c. Crowbarwe. A. S. crawe, M. E. crawe, crowe, a crow, raven, and bearwe, dat. form of bearu, a wood--the Crow's wood. In common parlance rooks are and were called crows, and probably the meaning is 'a rookery.' Strictly speaking, A. S. and M. E. hroe means a rook. Crows are not gregarious birds, and are therefore les.