Minor and field-names of Thurgarton Wapentake, Nottinghamshire

This thesis investigates the minor and field-names of twenty-two parishes in Thurgarton Wapentake, a historic division of Nottinghamshire. It investigates the agricultural history of the region, and explores the usage of Old English and Old Norse-derived place-name elements in the late medieval period. The parishes studied are Averham, Bleasby (with Gibsmere and Goverton), Bulcote and Burton Joyce, Carlton on Trent, Colwick, Cromwell, Fiskerton and Morton, Fledborough, Gedling with Carlton and Stoke Bardolph, Gonalston, Grassthorpe, Lowdham with Caythorpe and Gunthorpe, Hoveringham, Kelham, Marnham, Normanton on Trent, North Muskham (with Bathley and Holme), Norwell (with Norwell Woodhouse and Willoughby), Rolleston, South Muskham (with Little Carlton), Staythorpe, Sutton on Trent and Ossington, and Thurgarton. The thesis presents a new collection of minor names for this area, collated from both unpublished and published documentary sources, supplementing the English Place-Name Society’s survey for Nottinghamshire. The collection is presented as a survey, and forms a significant part of the thesis. The data collected are selectively analysed in two case studies of place-name elements, and in an examination of the names from a single parish. It is shown that place-name elements have precise technical meanings, and that loan words form a significant part of the onomasticon, selected for a particular semantic purpose. The development and longevity of microtoponyms is also explored, and it is shown that field-names in Nottinghamshire frequently survive across a number of centuries. The thesis contributes significantly to the available corpus of English minor and field-names, and demonstrates the ability of this material to address questions of land use, language contact, and agricultural and economic change