Survey of English Place-Names

Historical Forms

• Motre 1086 DB

• Motterom 1240 Adl 1349 JRL

• Motterum c.1280 Fitt c.1310 Chest

• Motteram 1651 Dow

• Mottorum 1357 BPR

• Mottrom m13 Chest

• Mottrom iuxta Prestebur' 1313 Plea

• Mottrom Andrew(e), Mottrom Andreu 1362 Dav 1365 BPR 1379 IpmR

• Mottrome 1329 Pat

• Mottram m13 Chest

• Mottram Andrewe 1408 ChRR

• Mottram St. Andrew 1848 TA

• Mottrum 1285 et freq

• Mottrum iuxta Prestebur' 1309 Plea

• Mottrum Andreu, Mottrum Andrew(e) 1350,1369 Eyre 1387 Adl

• Mottroum 1357 BPR

• Motrum 1285 Court

• Motrom 1288 ib

• Motrom andreus 1351 BPR

• Motram, Motrem, Motrem andrew(e) 1408 Adl

• Moterum 1286 Court

• Moterum Andreu 1381 Eyre

• Motern 1304 Chamb

• Mottrun c.1330 Fitt

• Mottron 1333 Misc 1347 Eyre 1355 BPR

• Mortrome 1552 Pat

• Motterham 1692 Sheaf

Etymology

This difficult place-name appears again in Mottram in Longdendale 313infra . It may be '(at) the assembly trees', from (ge)mōt 'a meeting, an assembly' and trēo(w) (nom.pl. treo (w ), dat.pl. trēowum , trēum ) 'a tree, a pillar, a cross', the DB form representing the nom. pl., and the later ones the dat.pl. Alternatively, Professor Smith suggested OE  *(ge )mōt -rūm , 'meeting-space', v. (ge)mōt, rūm , which requires the DB form to be corrupt. The second of the two explana- tions given in DEPN is based on a spelling for Mottershead infra , which is not supported by the original MS. The first (OE  (ge )mōt -ærn 'council-house', v. (ge)mōt, ærn ) depends much upon the local- surname form Motern 1304 Chamb 64, v. ES 64, 223. It would reconcile the Motern , Mo (t )t (e )rum forms if the basis of Mottram were OE  mōtere 'a councillor, a speech-maker', (cf. Mottershead infra ) in the dat.pl. form mōterum , meaning 'at the speakers'. Cf. Knight's Grange 332infra for a personal designation used as a simplex p.n. For the apparently sg. form in DB, the result of a reduction -um > -en > -e in the inflexional ending, cf. Studies3 29–34.

The suffix St Andrew has not been explained, save that 'up to that century (i.e. the eighteenth) this township was always called Mottram Andrew, the Saint being a modern addition', Earw ii 347. For a spurious Saint introduced before the personal element of a manorial p.n., cf. Cotton Edmunds, Lach Dennis 331, 332infra . It is suggested in Orm2 iii692, that the old suffix Andrew was 'perhaps derived from the patron saint of some long forgotten domestic chapel' (cf. Chapel Fd infra ), but it also appears with Wincle 164supra in a late example, and the same word may occur in Andrew's Edge 142supra . An unimportant family surnamed Andrew was in the area late in the fifteenth century, cf. Andrew's Knob 133supra , but there is no evidence of a manorial connection with Mottram or Wincle.

In the earliest instance, Motromandreus 1351, the affix appears to be disguised as Latin, and it may well be a Latinisation of some form like -andre or -andreu (s ). Such a form could easily have been taken as the gen.sg. of the pers.n. Andrew , or as the nom.sg. of the pers.n. Andreas . If the affix were a significant expression -andreus or -andre , it might represent ON  anddyri 'a porch', with hūs or ON  hús, i.e. 'house with a porch', alluding to some such structure at Mottram.