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.

Three Legged Cross

Other OS name in the Parish of Verwood

Historical Forms

  • Three Legged Crosse 1591 DLMB

Etymology

, 1811 OS , Three Legged Crosse 1591DLMB , perhaps a term for a T - junction , v. cross , but Three Legged may be an allusion to the gallows , nicknamed Three legged mare ( NED from 1685 ) . Cf . ' The name is … from a tripod surmounted by a wooden cross that was a direction beacon … to persons crossing the heaths ' ( TGuide ) .