Coleshill
Major Settlement in the Parish of Coleshill
Historical Forms
- Colleshyl 799 BCS295 11th
- Coleshelle 1086 DB 1162 P
- Coleshula t.Hy1 Kenilworth
- Coleshull(e) 1161 RBE 1222 ClR 1276 Cl 1625 Sess
- Colyshulle 1285 FF
- Colushull 1354 Dugdale
- Colleshull(e) 1181 LibAlb 1247 SR
- Colleshull in Ardern c.1290 Ipm 1316 FA 1354 ADv 1545 LP 1628 Sess
- Collishille 1500 KnowleG
- Colshull 1322 Pat
- Colsull 1365 ib
- Colsyll in Arderne 1394 Ass
- Colshull in Ardern 1441 Pat
- Coley 1468 KnowleG
- Colsell 1540 BM 1626 FF
- Colsill 1554 FF
- Colesell al. Coleshill 1718 Recov
- Kelsull al. Colsull 1503 Pat
- Coulshull 1634 FF
Etymology
The difficulties of this name were dealt with very fully in PN Sr 282, s. n. Coleshill, and it was suggested that as we have a Colesleys infra 43, which is not on the Cole but on a hill above the Blythe, it might well be that the hill and woodland alike took their name from a man bearing the name Col (l ) and that the fact that Coleshill was on a river Coll or Cole might be a coincidence (as first suggested by Ekwall, RN 86). It is impossible to make any fresh suggestion with regard to this name, but it should be noted that Zachrisson (StudNP vii, 35) has removed one objection to the river-name interpretation by showing that genitival compounds in which the first element is a river-name are frequent in OE. Two clear examples are Exanceaster for Exeter and Ascanmynster for Axminster (D).