Survey of English Place-Names

Historical Forms

• Stanmoir c.990 CWxxvii

• Stanmore Hy2 Ch 1348 Drayton 1622

• Stãmore 1577 Harrison

• Stanemore 1706 CWiii,45

• East-, South- 1739 NB

• Steinmor(e), Steynmor(e), Stainmor(e) c.1230 RogWend 1279 Ass22d c.1280 Weth 1281 Pat 1292 1295 Pat 1785 PR(Mlb)

• -moor(e) 1602,1606 PR(B) 1680 et freq

• Steynemore 1325 Pat

• Stainemoor 1673 CWv,191

• Staynesmore 1325–50 M 1327 Ipm 1334 FF 1429 FA 1523 SheriffAcct11d 1547 Rent32

• Staynsmore 1571 Comm 1580 PR(B)

• Stanesmoore 1577 Harrison

Etymology

'Rock moor' or occasionally 'moor of the rock', v. stān (mostly replaced by ON  steinn, gen.sg. steins ), mōr . The moor itself, which is a great mountainous tract of peat resting on carboniferous limestone bestrewn with many boulders and exposures of rock, is referred to in 1281 Pat, 1327 Ipm. A depression in the hill-range at Rey Cross provides a crossing of the Pennines which has been used from at least Roman times (Road I, i, 19).