English Place-name Society

Survey of English Place-Names

A county-by-county guide to the linguistic origins of England’s place-names – a project of the English Place-Name Society, founded 1923.

Big Ditchley & Little Ditchley

Early-attested site in the Parish of Audlem and Wrenbury

Historical Forms

  • Big Ditchley & Little Ditchley 1842 TA
  • quadam terra que vocatur Dicheley c.1130 Cott.Faust.Bviii 1479
  • (a land called) Dycheley 12 Harl. 14
  • Dycheley Magna 1540 Dugd
  • Ditch ley c.1130 Sheaf328 18
  • the Ditchley 1293 Sheaf 18
  • Ditchleys 18 ib
  • (grangia de) Dyghleg' 1287 Court

Etymology

Big Ditchley & Little Ditchley, Big Ditchley & Little Ditchley 1842TA , quadam terra que vocatur Dicheley c.1130 (1479) Cott . Faust. B viii (Dugd v 323 reads Sycheleya ), (a land called ) Dycheley 12 (14) Harl . 3868, Dycheley Magna 1540 Dugd, Ditch ley c.1130 (18) Sheaf3 28 (6118), the Ditchley 1293 (18) Sheaf, Ditchleys 18 ib, (grangia de ) Dyghleg '1287 Court 68, 69, 'clearing at a ditch', v. dīc , lēah , cf. Dychefeld c.1550Surv . v. feld . In DEPN the 1287 Court form is wrongly connected with Disley 1269, cf. Diglee 1178.