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.

Old Town, formerly Old Barnsley

Early-attested site in the Parish of Silkstone

Historical Forms

  • veteris Berneslaye 12 Pont
  • Old(e) Barnesley, Old(e) Barneslay 1536 FF 1545 WillY 1597 SessnR 1619 FF
  • Old Barnsley 1822 Langd
  • veteri villa 12 Pont
  • Old(e)ton(a) c.1280 Hntii,253 Ed2 BM
  • Old(e)ton(a)de Berneslay, Old(e)ton(a) de Bernesley 1379 Hntii,254 1467 YDx
  • Oldtown 1407 Hntii,242
  • Holdton 1433 Hall
  • Olde towne 1539 WillY
  • Old Barnesley als. Oldtowne Barnesley 1611 FF

Etymology

v. ald , tūn ; cf. Mickletown ii, 127infra for this use of ME  toun . The district called Old Town lies half a mile north-west of the ancient centre of the modern borough, and not far from the lost Barnscliff ; it may have been the site of the original pre-Conquest settlement.

Places in the same Parish

Other OS name

Early-attested site