Survey of English Place-Names

Historical Forms

• Drakelow(e) 1310–30 Chol 1346 BPR 1357 ChRR

• manerium de Drakelow(e) E3 Surv

• le demaynes de Drakelow(e) 1391 ChRR

• Drakelow(e) in Ruddehethe 1441 Orm2

• Draclo Hall 1724 NotCestr

• Drakeslowe 1351 BPR 1378 Pat

• Drakenlowe 1359 BPR

Etymology

'Dragon's mound', v. draca , hlāw . Cf. Db 633. The name alludes to the ancient folk-belief in the dragon which guards the burial- treasure, as in Draca sceal on hlæwe , frod , frætwum wlanc 'it is for the dragon to be on the burial mound, to be old and wise, and resplendent with treasure' (Maxims II 26–27, in Dobbie, Anglo -Saxon Minor Poems 56), and in Beowulf (ed. Klæber) 2212 et seq . Cf. Hordfeld infra .The earliest reference is campus quod vocatur Drakelowe 1310–30Chol , a field which probably contained the tumulus, cf. Drakeloweflat '1350MinAcct , E3Surv , Long Drakelow & Three Nook 'd Drakelow 1841TA , v. flat , lang , three-nooked. There was another Drakelowe in Lower Bebington, 325infra .