Survey of English Place-Names

Historical Forms

• Wich 1086 DB 1527 AddCh

• Wicche in the parisshe of Acton 16 AOMB397

• The Wyche towne Elizi Rental

• Wike Malb' c.1130 Cott.Faust.Bviii 1479

• (in) Wico Maubanc 1136–76 Chest 1679 AddCh

• le-, la-, the- 1359 BPR

• -alias Namptwych, Namptwich 1397,1398 Pat

• Wecumalbang 1272–1307 AddCh

• Wymabank 1256–7 AD

• Wymauban 1309 Cl

• Wychic Maubanc 1288 Ch

• the Quiche Malbanke 1492 AddCh

• Wico Malbus 1535 VE

• Wicus Malwini, Wicomalba 1556 Pat

• Nametwihc 1194 AddCh

• (de) Nametwico 1193 Dugd

• Nametwich 12–13 Harl. 14

• le Namtewych(e) Maban(k) 1301 ChancW 1452 Sheaf

• La Namt(e)wich, La Namt(e)wych 1360,1361 BPR

• (le) Nampt(e)wich(e), (le) Nampt(e)wych 1322 1775 Sheaf

• Nampt(e)wych alias Wich Malbank 1397 Pat

• Nonewich 1208–29 Dieul

• Nantwich 1257 Pat

• Nantwich apon Wiver c.1536 Leland

• Nantwich Malbanke 1553 Pat

• Nantwich alias Wychemalbanke 1560 Chol

• Namntthwych 1349 Eyre

• (de) Wycombe Albano 1359 Pat

• Wycombmalban 1387 Trev

• Wycumalban 1482 Trev(Cx)

• (in) Wicom Albano 1527 ChCert

• (in) Wico Albano 1560 Sheaf

• Wychenmabank 1479 BM

• the Nomptwich 1514 Sheaf

• (the) Nuntwich 1516,1517 Sheaf

• Nauntwiche 1517 AD

• (le) Nawnt(e)wiche, (le) Nawnt(e)wyche 1583 Sheaf

• Nauntwiche alias Wich Malbain 1559 Pat

• Nawnewiche 1553 Pat

• Wich-banke 1655 Sheaf

• Nanptwich 1658 Sheaf

• Namwich 1744 Sheaf

• Nantewich' 1340 Sotheby

Etymology

'The wīc', later 'the famous wīc' from wīc 'an industrial- or trading-settlement', and ME  named 'well-known, renowned'. The manorial suffix -Malbanc , etc. is taken from the surname Malbanc (Tengvik 349) of the post-Conquest barons of Nantwich. The el. wīc is used in the sense 'a collection of buildings for a particular purpose' –here the manufacture of salt, cf. 2192–3, 242–3, v. Wych House Bank infra . For the p.n. Salinis RavGeog, often identified with Nantwich, v. 2238. Nantwich was noted for the excellence and the whiteness of its salt, which is alluded to in an epitaph of 1637 'apud Wici Malbani candidissimas salinas' (Orm2 iii446), and in the Welsh name for Nantwich, Nant yr Heledd Wen 'stream of the white salt- pit' (Hewitt 112, ArchCamb IV, vii, 91–93 and n. 3), cf. 'the Britons called the town Hellath-wen , the White-pit', 1621 (1656) Orm2 iii290 (Webb's Itinerary in King's Vale Royal ). Professor Richards observes a reference to Nantwich in o dir yr helet 'from the land of the salt- springs', in a poem of Prydydd y Moch (1160–1220) to Gruffudd ap Hywel ab Owain Gwynedd (The Myvyrian Archaiology , 206 a). The modern form of the p.n., Nantwich, appears from 1257 in Pat, Misc, Ipm, AD, ChRR, Fine, BPR, Cl, all printed calendars. In MS. sources the earliest instance noted is Nantewich '1340Sotheby . It appears that editors of documents have often supposed it necessary to translate Wich Malbank into Nantwich , as if the former were in a foreign language. Perhaps this is the result of the prevalence, in the Latin contexts of official and legal documents, of the series Wicus Malbanus (< Wich Malbank ) which led to its being regarded as the peculiar Latin version of the vernacular series Nametwich , Nantwich . Cf. Addenda xv supra (2x).