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.

Belstone

Major Settlement in the Parish of Belstone

Historical Forms

  • Bellestam (sic) 1086 DB
  • Belstana 1166 LN
  • Belestan 1167 P 1231 Pat 1254 FF
  • Belestone 1259 Exon
  • Belston 1292 Ipm
  • Ballestan 1238 Ass

Etymology

A compound of OE  belle , 'bell,' and stan. According to LGS 96, “the bellstone was a remarkably fine logan rock that rolled like a ship in a gale…It has been thrown down and broken up by quarrymen.”

Places in the same Parish