Most Derbyshire towns can boast a history which stretches back hundreds, if not thousands, of years – leaving legacies on the landscape, built environment and local economies, and in the enduring names given to those places.Most Derbyshire towns can boast a history which stretches back hundreds, if not thousands, of years – leaving legacies on the landscape, built environment and local economies, and in the enduring names given to those places.
Most Derbyshire towns can boast a history which stretches back hundreds, if not thousands, of years – leaving legacies on the landscape, built environment and local economies, and in the enduring names given to those places.

What's in a name? The meaning of 37 Derbyshire place names - from bees and deer to stones and streams

Most Derbyshire towns can boast a history which stretches back hundreds, if not thousands, of years – leaving legacies on the landscape, built environment and local economies, and in the enduring names given to those places. If you have ever wondered where your community’s name comes from then read on!
By Ed Dingwall
Published 20th Jun 2023, 15:33 BST
Updated 21st Jun 2023, 20:31 BST

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. Derbyshire 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 Derbyshire names which have been modernised but otherwise changed very little in all that time.

To understand where they came from, we went looking in the Oxford Dictionary of British Place Names.

Recorded as Deoraby in the 10th century, then Derby in 1086, the Viking name of the historic county town means 'Farmstead or village where deer are kept', but is also influenced by the Roman Derbentio and the river Derwent, which has the Celtic meaning "valley thick with oaks".

1. Derby

Recorded as Deoraby in the 10th century, then Derby in 1086, the Viking name of the historic county town means 'Farmstead or village where deer are kept', but is also influenced by the Roman Derbentio and the river Derwent, which has the Celtic meaning "valley thick with oaks". Photo: Brian Eyre

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Known as Cesterfelda 955, then Cestrefeld by 1086, the name means: ‘Open land near a Roman fort or settlement’.

2. Chesterfield

Known as Cesterfelda 955, then Cestrefeld by 1086, the name means: ‘Open land near a Roman fort or settlement’. Photo: jason chadwick

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Recorded as Tilchestune in 1086, then Elkesdone in the early 11th cent, meaning: ‘Hill of a man called Ēalāc’.

3. Ilkeston

Recorded as Tilchestune in 1086, then Elkesdone in the early 11th cent, meaning: ‘Hill of a man called Ēalāc’. Photo: Lindsay Colbourne

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Known as Beurepeir in 1231, the name comes from the French for ‘Beautiful retreat’.

4. Belper

Known as Beurepeir in 1231, the name comes from the French for ‘Beautiful retreat’. Photo: Brian Eyre

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