And not only can you see their history in how they have impacted the land physically, in buildings and monuments – you can also get a window into the past through the enduring names given to those places, with some of them coming from bizarre sources.
When it comes to British place names, Anglo-Saxon origins tend to dominate in the south and Scandinavian languages in the north, mixed in with Old British or Celtic terms for natural features such as hills and rivers. Sheffield still shows the influence of all three factors in the names we find today.
Often towns and villages share common endings such as -tun (settlement), -ham (homestead), -feld (farmland), -by (village), -caester (Roman stronghold), -worthig (enclosure), -dun (hill), -halh (nook of land) – but these usually follow a first element which is much harder to define, especially when a personal name is concerned.
The famous Domesday Book – a land survey commissioned by William the Conqueror and completed in 1086 – shows some Sheffield names which have been modernised but otherwise changed very little in all that time.
To understand where they came from, we went looking in sources including the Oxford Dictionary of British Place Names, to put together this gallery.
They give an insight into history.
Take a look at the gallery below.
9. Eckington
Eckington: This is thought to mean an estate associated with a man called Ecca or Ecci Photo: Google streetview
11. Gleadless
Gleadless: Recorded in the 13th century as Gledeleys; Woodland clearings frequented by kites Photo: Google streetview
12. Hallam
Hallam: Mentioned in the Domesday book as Hallun, it may mean place at the rocks. Photo: David Kessen