This week, we have been looking at local place names like Warley, Oldbury, Smethwick, Dudley, Kingswinford, Coseley, Erdington, Rowley and Birmingham and thinking about how this is evidence of Anglo-Saxon place names.
Can you spot any of these words in any other place names..?
The Anglo – Saxon word barrow means wood.
- bourne / burn means stream
- burh (borough) means town
- bury means fortified place
- dun (don) means hill
- ford means shallow river crossing
- ham means village
- hurst means wooded hill
- leigh / ley or lee means forest clearing
- mar / mar / mere means lake
- ney means island
- port means market town
- stead means place
- stowe means meeting place
- ton / tun means enclosed village
- wick means farm
- worth means fenced land
Here’s a link to an interactive map that you can use to explore them locally and further afield:
https://wikishire.co.uk/map/#/centre=53.049,-7.747/zoom=7
Find out more about Anglo-Saxon Britain by exploring these links: