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.

Evesham

Major Settlement in the Parish of Evesham

Historical Forms

  • Ethom 706 BCS117 14th BCS127 710 BCS134 14th 716 14th
  • Homme 709 BCS125 c.1200
  • Cronuchomme 706 BCS116 14th 708 14th 716 14th ib
  • Cronochomme 706 BCS511 14th
  • Cronuchamme c.860 BCS511 c.1200
  • Eveshomme 709 BCS124 c.1200
  • Eouesham 714 BCS130 16th KCD723 1016 c.1200
  • Eoueshamme, Eofeshamme 1017–23 Earle
  • Eoueshom 1033–8 Earle
  • Heofeshamm 1037 ASC 12th
  • Eofeshamm 1045 D 1054 ASC 12th
  • Euesham 1077 ASC 12th
  • Euesham 1229–52 Ch 1232 Cl
  • Euesholm vulg. Esam 1675 Ogilby
  • æt Ecguines hamme c.874 BCS482 c.1200

Etymology

The place must have been originally named from the great hamm or bend in the river here, the prefixed Et - being a late spelling for OE  æt . It seems at times to have been distinguished from other such hamms by the distinctive addition of Cronuc -, from OE  cornoc , cranoc , 'crane,' or (possibly) 'heron,' from the presence of one or other of these birds. An alternative method of distinguishing it was to associate it with the name of one Ēof , an OE  name only found elsewhere in the Kentish forms Iab , Iof , and this was the name which was destined to survive.This Eof is, in a 16th cent. copy of a charter of Bishop Ecgwine's, said to have been a shepherd to whom the Virgin Mary revealed herself at this spot, but as the form of his name there given is Eoves , clearly a back-formation from Eovesham itself, one should not attach too much weight to the story, especially as the vision is ascribed to Ecgwine himself and not to Eof in another charter (BCS 125). Finally, the place seems to have been occasionally named after Bishop Ecgwine himself, the founder of the monastery established there.

Places in the same Parish

Early-attested site