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Ashfield has been occupied continuously back to Celtic times at least, and the survival of bronze-age tumulii suggest that it was important to Bronze Age people as well. However, as with most areas of England, there is little evidence surviving in place-names of the Celts or Romano-Britons who settled here; the Anglo-Saxons invading from the continent pushed the British Westwards and occupied their land through force not assimilation. Only natural features such as rivers and hills managed to retain their earlier names.

The next wave of invaders, the Scandinavians (mostly from Denmark, in this area), settled more peaceably despite the image we popularly have of pillaging Vikings. Consequently we find Anglo-Saxon place-names (e.g. Sutton) existing adjacent to Viking settlements (e.g. Kirkby) without apparent conflict.

The Normans did surprisingly little to affect place-names, and it is only around manorial estates that you find Norman French place-names (e.g. Belvoir, Leicestershire) or family name additions (e.g. Ashby de la Zouch, also Leicestershire). To some extent the Normans did a lot to fossilize place names by recording them in the census of William I, the Domesday (or Doomsday) Book of 1086, though the scribes obviously had difficulty with Old English and often tortured the spelling.

The attraction of the area was in no small part due to the presence of Sherwood Forest to the East, important for its wood as a building material and as fuel. It is no surprise then to find name elements connected to trees and clearings and to woodland and tree species (as in the name 'Ashfield' itself).

The other great resource of the area is coal, but this wasn't discovered and its properties exploited until much later, and by that time the main settlements of the area were well established (unlike for example Coalville in Leicestershire).

So, below is a directory of the place-names of the larger settlements in Ashfield and the nearby area, with the most likely derivation of their name.

Annesley Woodhouse and New Annesley

First recorded as Aneslei in the Domesday Book of 1086, the name later changes into Anseleia circa 1190 before gaining the Woodhouse addition as Annesley Wodehouse in the thirteenth century.

The -ley ending is from the Old English leah, indicating a woodland clearing, and we can only guess that An is the name of the original owner of the glade.

Woodhouse is common to many settlements in the Sherwood Forest area and means, as you might imagine, 'a house in the wood' (see the separate entry for Woodhouse for full details).

The adjacent village of Annesley (formerly called New Annesley) grew up around the coal mine of that name, sunk in 1868.

Nearby features named after the original Annesley are Annesley Hall, Annesley Park, Annesley Forest, and the sandstone spur of land called the Hills of Annesley (described by Byron as 'bleak and barren').

Ashfield

This old name for the area is revived in modern times as the local government District Council of Ashfield.

Its name is Old English and means (as you might have guessed), 'the open land (feld) where ash-trees (aesc) grow'.

It is first recorded as Esfeld in 1216 as part of the name Kirkeby in Esfeld.

Bagthorpe

The name ending -thorpe is Viking and indicates an outlying settlement, but outlying to what is more problematical as all the nearby settlements are Anglo-Saxon, not Viking. It is therefore possible that the original settlement to which it was an outlier has been subsumed (perhaps by Selston), or has vanished.

The first element of the place-name is probably a Danish personal name such as Bakki.

Fulwood

First recorded in the 13th century as Folewode, the name unfortunately derives from Old English ful (long 'u' sound) which means 'foul', and wudu which means 'wood', that is 'foul or dirty wood'.

One can only imagine what went on in this part of Sherwood!

Hucknall

Recorded in the Domesday Book (1086) as Hochenale. Possibly derived from the Anglo-Saxon personal name Hucca (with the genitive -n) combined with the Old English word halh, indicating a nook or corner of land, often in a hollow or river-bend. Therefore: 'the nook of land belonging to Hucca'.

Huthwaite

The -thwaite ending (thveit in Old Scandinavian) is a common Viking place-name suffix and indicates a clearing in the forest with a house built on it.

The Hu- element is actually Anglo-Saxon, and is given to a spur of land, hoh in Old English. So, the name means 'the settled forest clearing on a spur of land' and is a cultural hybrid containing both English and Viking elements.

The town is first recorded as Hodweit in 1199, and the later date (post Domesday) perhaps indicates that by then the two cultural communities were living closely together and sharing each other's language.

Jacksdale

Simply derives from the common man's name Jack, with the English word for a hollow or valley, dale (originally the Old English dael).

Kirkby

A common name in the Midlands and North. The -by ending signifies a Danish settlement, whereas kirkja is Old Scandinavian for a church.

The town is recorded as Chirchebi in the Domesday Book (1086), and in 1216 as Kirkeby in Esfeld.

The church that gave Kirkby its name is St. Wifrid's.

Linby

Misspelt by the Norman scribes of the Domesday Book (1086) as Lidebi, the correct spelling is recorded in 1163 as Lindebi.

The common suffix -by is Danish for a settlement, and lind is Old Scandinavian for a lime tree. Hence: 'the farmstead where limetrees grow'.

Mansfield

Just north of Ashfield, this town was recorded in the Domesday Book as Mamesfelde (1086).

The field part is from the Old English feld meaning open land (i.e. outside Sherwood Forest).

Mamm evolved into the name of the River Maun, and so the full name means 'open ground by the river Maun'.

The name of the river predates all the other place-names in this list and is actually Celtic. It derives from mamm, meaning 'breast', and was a religiously significant name for the 'mother goddess' worshipping Celts (compare Mam Tor in Derbyshire, 'the breast-shaped hill' occupied as an iron-age hillfort by the Brigantes tribe). The name of the river was possibly conferred because it had life-giving properties, in analogy to mother's milk.

Newstead

Recorded in Latin as Novus Locus in the 12th Century, and as its Old English translation Newstede in 1302, the name means 'new (monastic) site', i.e. niwe + stede. Newstead Abbey, from which the village of Newstead gets its name, was created by Henry II as part of his penance for the murder of Thomas Beckett, Archbishop of Canterbury, in 1170.

Nottinghamshire

The county name derives from the city of Nottingham at its heart.

In the 9th century the name was Snotengaham, later becoming Snotingeham by the time of the Domesday Book (1086), and means in Old English 'the homestead (-ham) of the family or followers (ing) of a man called Snot'. Thankfully the initial 'S' was dropped under Norman influence during the 12th century!

Papplewick

In the Domesday Book (1086) this place is spelled Papleuuic. The -wick element in place-names is Old English -wic, sometimes indicating an earlier, Romano-British settlement. More often it refers to a farm or building specialising in something, e.g. as a dairy.

The first part of the name is perhaps from Old English papol (conjectural), meaning 'pebble'. So Papplewick probably means something in the sense of 'the dairy farm in the pebbly place'.

Portland ...

The name Portland has been used within the District to refer to streets, terraces, a park, a square, a college, an industrial estate, and a former colliery. These are all named for the Lords of the Manor and principle landowners in the region, the Bentinck (and then Cavendish Bentinck after intermarriage with the family of the Dukes of Devonshire) family, who have been titled Earls and Dukes of Portland.

The family name Bentinck also appears in a number of road names in the District, as well as once being the name of a colliery at Kirkby.

Selston

Simply the homestead (-tun) of an Anglo-Saxon man named Seli. Recorded as Salestune in the Domesday Book (1086).

Sherwood

This ancient Royal forest once covered a third of the county of Nottinghamshire and is first recorded as Scirwuda in 955. The name is Old English and simply means 'the wood (wudu) belonging to the shire (scir)'.

Skegby

Recorded as Schegebi in the Domesday Book (1086).

Probably means 'the settlement of a Danish man named Skeggi' , i.e. from the personal name Skegg plus the common ending -by.

As skegg also means 'beard' in Old Scandinavian, an alternative derivation is 'the settlement on a beard shaped promontory'.

It might also be possible that Skegby once had the Anglo-Saxon name Norton (North Settlement) in comparison to Sutton (South Settlement). If so it is likely that Norton was over-run by Vikings and acquired a Scandinavian name-change, while Sutton survived as an English enclave.

Stanton Hill

A common Anglo-Saxon place-name, derived from stan meaning 'stone' and tun meaning 'farm or homestead'. Therefore, 'farmstead on stony ground', with the addition that it is also on a hill.

Sutton

Another very common place name, meaning 'south farmstead or village', derived from Old English words Suth (south) and tun (farmstead).

The name probably indicates its position south of the settlement of Skegby and not, as you might assume, the larger town of Mansfield (which is more to the East).

Recorded in the Domesday Book (1086) as Sutone, and in 1276 as Sutton in Essefeld.

Teversal

Spelled Tevresham in the Domesday Book (1086), the -ham ending is a common Anglo-Saxon suffix meaning a 'homestead', and later a 'village, manor or estate'.

The first element could be an Anglo-Saxon personal name, Teofer, in which case the name indicates his homestead. Alternatively, tiefrere is Old English for both a painter and a sorcerer. So, 'Teofer's Farm', or 'the homestead where a painter or a sorcerer lives', take your pick.

Underwood

Like many settlements in the Sherwood area, the name meaning has a forest connection. In this case, first recorded as Underwode in 1287, the name derives from the Old English words under (within or near) and wudu (forest).

Westwood

No surprises; this indicates a settlement on the western edge of the wood, in this case Sherwood.

Woodhouse

The affix Woodhouse is added to a few place-names in the area, for example Annesley Woodhouse described at the top of this page.

Woodhouse is derived, as you might expect, from Old English wudu + hus (long 'u') and means 'house(s) in or near a wood'. The wood in question is of course Sherwood Forest.

Note that it doesn't mean a house made of wood. If you think about it, most houses in earlier times were made of wood, so describing one as such would hardly single it out from the rest.

Sources

Oxford Dictionary of English Place-names, A.D.Mills, 1998
English Place-Name Society