Wokefield
Major Settlement in the Parish of Wokefield
Historical Forms
- (æt) Weonfelda c.950 BCS888 c.1240
- Hocfelle, Offelle 1086 DB
- Wekefelda, Wechefelda 1167 P
- Wogefeld' 1214 OblR
- Woghefeld' 1242–3 Fees
- Wohfeld 1325,1328 Cl
- Woghfeld 1327 SR 1337,1338 Cl 1354 Ipm 1374 Pat
- Woghefeld 1334 Cl
- Weghfeld' 1220 Fees 1269 FF
- Wegh'feld' 1239 FineR 1241 Ass
- Weghefeld' 1242–3 Fees
- Wocfeld' 1220 Fees
- Wocfeld 1252–5 FF
- Weoufeld(e) c.1240 ClaudiusBvi
- Wugefeld' 1241 Ass
- Wogthfeld 1338 Cl
- Wokefeld 1367 Fine
- Wookefeld 1552 LRMB
- Wokefield 1846 Snare
Etymology
The Weonfeld of BCS 888 has not previously been identified with Wokefield. The grant is of 3 hides, and the boundaries include grægsole burnan and hagan (v. Grazeley 166), fulan riþe (i.e. Foudry Brook 10) and the boundary of Burghfield (204–5). This makes it clear that the estate included Wokefield and Sulhampstead Bannister, which two parishes form a triangular block of land between Foudry Brook, Burghfield and Grazeley. Two estates at Wokefield are described in DB, and are said to have been assessed at 1½ hides each T.R.E. This may be a historical reason for identifying the 3-hide estate of BCS 888 with Wokefield.
The linguistic history of the name is extremely difficult to interpret.It has generally been explained (DEPN, Skeat) as 'Wocca's feld', from the same pers.n., and probably the same man, as Woking (Sr 156) and Wokingham (139). These names may have influenced its development, but (even without the charter-form Weonfelda ) it is very difficult to derive Wokefield, with its ME spellings in Woge -, Wegh -, Woh -, from a base *Woccan feld . Weonfelda (without being associated with Wokefield) has generally been derived from wēon -, dat. of wēoh 2 , adj. 'holy'. It is tempting to suggest that Weonfelda contains the inflected adjective, and Wokefield either the noun wēoh 1 'heathen temple', or an uninflected form of the adjective. Unfortunately this last derivation does not seem possible, as a run of ME spellings like those for Wokefield only seems to occur when the base has -hh -, as opposed to the -h of wēoh . A partial parallel is provided by the forms for Beckenham K (KPN 212–13), the OE form of which was Beohha hām . A pers.n. Weohha would be a likely formation from names such as Weohhelm , Weohhere . Wehha occurs in the genealogy of the Kings of East Anglia. '*Weohha's open land' is perhaps the likeliest etymology for Wokefield, but Dr O. von Feilitzen points out that the numerous and early -o - spellings presuppose shift of stress, Weohha < Wohha . The charter-form Weonfelda , which refers to the same estate, may have a different first el. or may be a poor spelling for Weohhanfelda . The scribe of ClaudiusBvi has written Weoufeld (e ) in his heading and introductory remarks to the charter, which may indicate that he was trying to equate Weonfelda with 13th-cent. forms like Wogefeld '.