Comment by louthy
1 month ago
I've just bought a house in Alderwasley in Derbyshire, the nearest town is Wirksworth [1]. I assumed that, because this area was the heart of the industrial revolution [2], the town was an eponymously named workers town built for mill workers (there are actually entire towns in the area that were built for mill workers).
Then I read the history on wikipedia:
The name was recorded as Werchesworde in the Domesday Book of 1086 A.D. Outlying farms (berewicks) were Cromford, Middleton, Hopton, Wellesdene [sic], Carsington, Kirk Ireton and Callow. It gave its name to the earlier Wirksworth wapentake or hundred. The Survey of English Place-Names records Wyrcesuuyrthe in 835, Werchesworde in 1086, and Wirksworth(e) in 1536.
The toponym might be "Weorc's enclosure", or "fortified enclosure".
I just love how place names in the UK have evolved.
I agree, it's fascinating. I've lived in four countries, including England and the US, but I haven't seen anything quite like the UK names elsewhere. You do see a lot of indigenous names in the US, but they haven't evolved in the same way, probably largely because it's all so much more recent, but also because there was only one really one actual invasion, not waves of them coming from all different directions - Beakers, Celts, Roman, Norse, Anglo-Saxon, Norman.
> I've just bought a house in Alderwasley in Derbyshire
Congratulations! A quick check of the map shows you're right near Whatstandwell, Nether Heague, Shottle, Hognaston, and of course Knockerdown. It all makes Tolkien and Pratchett seem a bit unimaginative!
Placenames like that really tickle me
Some dude name Weorc built a small fortified homestead somewhere ages back, and here we are still using his name to refer to that same place
It really blows my mind