Survey of English Place-Names

Etymology

In ASC, the reference to Cwichelmeshlæwe occurs in the account of the journey which the Danish army made in 1006 through Hants and Berks to Reading, and then across the Chilterns to Wallingford.Cf. Stenton, Anglo -Saxon England 376 'At this point (i.e. Wallingford) it was nearly sixty miles from the sea. But out of sheer bravado, instead of returning directly to its ships, it struck out in a great curve along the Ridge Way…It halted in order to invite an attack at Cuckhamsley Knob, the meeting-place of the local shire-court…' Cwicelmeshlæwe is described as the meeting-place of the scirgemote in the reference from 990–2 quoted above. The passage in the Chronicle is (ASC D) 'and wendon him ða andlang Æscesdune to Cwichelmeshlæwe, and þær onbidedon beotra gylpa, for þan oft man cwæð, gif hi Cwichelmæshlæwe gesohton, þæt he næfre to sæ gangen ne sceoldon'.