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.

Gagingwell

Early-attested site in the Parish of Enstone

Historical Forms

  • Gadelingwelle c.1173 Winchcombe 13th Winchcombe c.1280
  • Gadelingewelle 1193 Winchcombe 13th
  • Gudelingwell' 1207 Cur
  • Gedelingwell 1221–32 Winchcombe
  • Galdingewell 1316 FA
  • Gageinwell early18th ParColl
  • Gogingwell 1797 Davis

Etymology

Second element w(i)elle. Ekwall (DEPN) takes the first to be OE  gædeling , 'kinsman, relative.' This word is recorded in ME, however, as a term of reproach, and later, in the 16th century, with the meaning 'wanderer, vagabond.' If it is used in one of these latter senses here, the name is similar to that of Sugarswell in Shenington (403 and PN Wa 285) and Hook Norton (354).