Droitwich
Major Settlement in the Parish of Droitwich
Historical Forms
- Wiccium emptorium 716 BCS134 14th
- in Wico emptorio salis quem nos Saltwich vocamus, Wico emptorio salis quem nos Saltwich vocamus 717 BCS138 12th
- Saltwic 888 BCS557 13th
- æt þære sealtwic, sealtwic 1017 KCD1313
- Wich 1086 DB
- Drihtwych, Dryghtwych 1347,1356 Pat 1466 IpmR
- Drytwyche 1353 FF 1397 Pat
- Dertwych 1396,1426 Pat 1469 IpmR 1485 Ipm 1486 Pat
- Drythewiche 1446 Pat
- Dirtewychy, Dyrtwyche 1460 Pat 1485–97 Ipm 1480,1491 StratGild
- Dertwich vel Droitwich 1466 IpmR
- Droittewich 1473 IpmR
- Drethwyche 1503 Ipm
- Droytwiche, Droytwych 1515–40,1547 LP
- Draytewiche 1533–42 LP
- Dartewyche 1536 LP
- Dortewych 1538 LP
- Durtewiche 1540 LP
- Droitwich vulg. Durtwich 1675 Ogilby
Etymology
The use here of OE wic is fully discussed in EPN s. v. It is simply descriptive of a settlement. That the word wic itself has no such sense as 'brine-pit' is shown further by the fact that sealt could be prefixed to it. Such a compound would be pointless if the word wic itself implied the presence of salt. There can be little doubt that the first element in the present form of the name is the ordinary word dirt (v. NED for the various ME forms of it). The place is low-lying and would doubtless be muddy and 'dirty.' For such a name there is a curious Cheshire parallel. There is a Fullwich (Ch) near Malpas, earlier Ful (l )euuic (Chartulary of Chester Abbey , ed. Tait, 18, 55) which doubtless means 'foul or dirty wic.' It was low-lying and there were salt-pits there. This place was apparently known alternatively as Dirtwich or at any rate there was a place of that name quite near it, for the Egertons, who had land in Over and Nether Fulwich, also had lands in Droytwich al. Durtwich in the manor of Malpas. Leland (Itinerary , ed. Toulmin Smith iv. 7; v. 6) speaks of this Dertwich or Dyrtwich as lying in a low bottom.Later corruptions of the name are doubtless due to attempts to disguise the unpleasant associations of the name. The only difficulty in this explanation is the presence of the forms Dryghtwych , but these are probably simply bad spellings. One might take them to be for OE dryhten , ME dryght (en ) 'lord,' but that word is extremely archaic except in application to the deity himself, and it is inconceivable that it should have given rise to a place-name in the 14th cent.
In addition to the main wic of Droitwich there were also