merseyPlaceNames Home Page

Introduction

This site presents a comprehensive survey of local place names and their origin. I have given the original meaning of the place name in the language of the time, along with information on the local context, where possible, that might have given rise to the name. 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.

Regions

1		Liverpool and Suburbs
2		Around Liverpool
3		Wirral
4		South of the Mersey

Acknowledgements

I have consulted many sources and it is clear that quite a lot is open to interpretation. As much as possible, I have given alternatives, but I have had to be selective sometimes.

These are the major internet sources consulted:

The Domesday Book Online

A Key to English Place-Names (Nottingham University, Institute for Name Studies)

The Victoria History of the County of Lancaster (1907 - British History Online)

What's in a Name? (Merseyside Maritime Museum)

I have also consulted the following books:

Domesday Book, Cheshire: including Lancashire, Cumbria and North Wales, Philip Morgan (ed.), Phillimore, 1978.

Viking Mersey, Stephen Harding, Countyvise Ltd., Birkenhead, 2002

The Place-names of the Liverpool District, Henry Harrison, Elliot Stock, London, 1898