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.

Filching Manor

Early-attested site in the Parish of Jevington

Historical Forms

  • Felthinge, Felchynge 1288 Ass 1296 SR
  • Filching(e) 1302 FA 1327,1332 SR
  • Fylethyng 1318 Lewes
  • Fylchyng 1460 Add
  • Fulchinge 1303 SAC43,194
  • Folchinge 1322 GT

Etymology

Filching is adjacent to what was once a detached part of Folkington. Folkington contains OE  Folca and Filching contains an OE  *Fylca . It is impossible not to think that the names are connected with one another, Fylca being a mutated derivative from the stem Folc -. This suggests that in this neighbourhood a small group or family settled who favoured the element Folc - in their personal nomenclature. The forms are so late that the absence of any final es -forms (v. ingas ) need not surprise us.