Sheldon
Major Settlement in the Parish of Sheldon
Historical Forms
- Scelhadun 1086 DB
- Schelehaddon' 1230 P
- Sceladon 1250 BelCh 1272 LichChart
- S(c)heladon(e), Shelladon(e) c.1250 BelCh 1262 LichChart 1275 RH 1476 DbCh
- Shelledon 1278 Pat
- Scheudon 1282 Ch
- Shellatone 1330 Ass
- Sheldon 1355 DbAxxii 1364 DbCh 1610 Speed
Etymology
This must clearly be taken with Haddon supra 106, as Ekwall (DEPN) suggests, the whole hill on which both the Haddons and Sheldon stand being the 'heath hill'. He can hardly be correct, however, in considering the first element to be scēla 'summer-hut, cottage etc.', in spite of the 1230 form, since this word does not seem to be used outside the most northerly counties and in Scotland.More likely it is scelf, which has various meanings in p.ns., but here seems clearly to have reference to the characteristic situation of the village, on the very edge of a comparatively flat limestone hill, about the 1000′ contour, at the head of a tributary valley shelving steeply to the R. Wye.