Survey of English Place-Names

Historical Forms

• Prumeleg' 1198,1199 P

• Prummeslegh 1252 FF

• Prumesley head 1598 Digby

• Primeslee 1204 Cur

• Primesleg' 1244 Ass

• Primesley 1583 Digby 1870 Hutch3

• Prymesley Hill 16 Digby

• Prymysley 1558 Shepherd2

• Prymmesleighe 1563 Digby

• Primsl(e)y (hedd) 1569–74 Map

• Prymsley 1575 Digby

• Prymesley (Mannor) 1600,1614 Digby

• Primsley Mannor, Prymsley Farme 1677 Digby

• Pruneslegh 1244 Ass

• Prinnesl[e] 1285 FA

• Prini(e)sley 1614,1617 Pitt

• Bromesley (sic) 1288 Ass

• Promeslegh(') 1327 SR 1332 SR

• Promesle 15 Digby

• Promesley 1426 Sher 1535 VE 1552 Shepherd2

• Prommesley 1426 Sher

• Prommesley Wodeyate 1496 Digby

• Promysleygh' ys curte 1460 Digby

• Pro(u)mysleygh', Proumisleygh' 1462 Digby

• Promsleygh' 1516 Digby

• Promysleyshedd 1531 Digby

Etymology

v. lēah 'wood, clearing in a wood', with hyll , hēafod , wudu , geat , court . The first el. would seem to be an OE  pers.n. Prym , perhaps a variant of the Prim recorded as the name of a moneyer in the time of Edgar (959–975, v. England before the Conquest , Cambridge 1971, p. 203) and found in Princelett Wt 171, cf. also Primethorpe Le (DEPN) and Primley D 518. Primesley is said by Hutch3 4 298 to have been 'about a mile south-east from Sherborne'.