Survey of English Place-Names

Historical Forms

• Mayden Castel(l) c.1540 Lelandv,147 1577 Harrison37

• Mayden Castle 1594 NCWills

• Maiden Castle 1777 NB 1792 Hothf

• Mayden castel 1292 Ass3

Etymology

Maiden Castle, Mayden Castel (l )c. 1540 Leland v, 147, 1577 Harrison 37, Mayden Castle 1594 NCWills, Maiden Cast : 1777 M, Maiden Castle 1777 NB 578, 1792Hothf (A. 2); the identification of Mayden castel 1292Ass 3 is not certain. The name refers to a rectangular Roman fort at grid 84–872131 near the Roman road over Stainmore. An account of the fort is given by W. G. Collingwood in CW xxvii, 170–7 and RCHM 215–6. The name Maiden Castle, which means 'maidens' fortification' (v. mægden , castel ), occurs several times and usually refers to prehistoric earthworks and fortifications; besides the famous one in Dorset (R. E. M. Wheeler, Maiden Castle , Dorset , Oxford 1943), it occurs in Ch, Cu (v. esp. Cu 255–6, where a list of occurrences is given, cf. also CW xii, 143–5), YW iv, p. xi, 70 (this being the earliest recorded one, dating back to 1175), Cl i, 233, several in Scotland (including the old name of Edinburgh Castle, called castellum puellarum by Geoffrey of Monmouth), and another example in Kirkby Thore (ii, 119infra ). Parallel names (also meaning the same thing) include Maborough Castle, Maiden-hold and Mayburgh (ii, 119, ii, 102, 205 infra ), Maydenbury and Maidenburg (C 29, 39), Maidenburgh (Ess 371), Medbury (Bd 71), and there is a Knave Castle ('youths' fortification') in G1 i, 208. The name Maiden Castle is, from the use of castel , of post-Norman Conquest origin, and can hardly be descriptive of a prehistoric fortification as a defensive work, either as 'a virgin fortress' (that is, one that has never been taken) or as 'an impregnable fortress' (that is, one that can be defended by maidens), which are suggestions made in Cu 256 and NED s.v. maiden §B. 5. A meaning 'old earthwork frequented by maidens' has also been suggested (YW iv, 71, G1 i, 233, iv, 59); it is possible that such places were associated with games and the like in which maidens took part (cf. also Julian Bower ii, 130infra ), and some may be transferred names from the Do p.n.