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.

Potton

Major Settlement in the Parish of Potton

Historical Forms

  • Pottun c.960 BCS1062 13th BCS1306 c.960 KCD1352 12thcent. DandCLincDii90/3no.22 1241 Cl
  • Potone 1086 DB Hy2 Ch 1329
  • Potton 1203 FF
  • Potton juxta Sutton 1384 IpmR

Etymology

This would seem clearly to be 'pot-farm,' but in what sense we cannot be sure. It may be so because pots were once made there. pot is also used topographically to denote a deep hole or pit. Such an application is unsuitable here (unless one can apply it to a very wide and shallow depression) and the word in this sense seems to be confined to the North Country. The only use of the word in OE  charters is in pottaford (Sf) BCS 1269.This is ambiguous as it may mean 'ford of the (broken) pots,' just as much as 'ford with the holes,' Potcote (Nth), if we may judge by the early forms, similarly, does not contain a pers. name.

Places in the same Parish

None