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.

Toseland Hundred

Hundred in the County of Huntingdonshire

Historical Forms

  • Toleslund 1086 DB
  • Touleslund 1227 Ass 1303 FA
  • Touleslond 1316 FA 1364,1370 Cl
  • Tousland 1428 FA
  • Toseland 1585 D

Etymology

The name is of pure Scandinavian origin (v. Toseland infra 272), and it is a matter of interesting speculation whether one should believe in any definite connexion between the religious associations of the old word lundr (cf. Holland supra 220) and the ceremonial of the meeting of the Hundred. A large stone, which might have been the base of a cross, is in the churchyard, and is locally said to have been the 'moot-stone.' Part of the fragmentary Roman road from Sandy to Godmanchester is known in the neighbourhood of Toseland as 'Moats' or 'Moots Way'.