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.

Cresselau Hundred

Hundred in the County of Worcestershire

Historical Forms

  • Cresselau 1086 DB
  • Kerselau c.1150 Surv

Etymology

This Hundred consisted of 12 manors assessed at 100 hides.It lay compactly to the north-east of Doddingtree Hundred.The site of the meeting-place is unknown. In the 13th century this Hundred, with the exception of Wolverley and Hartlebury, was merged in the Hundred of Halfshire in which it still remains. The name itself is a compound of OE  cærse and hlaw, hence 'hill on or by which cress grows.'