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.

Garford

Major Settlement in the Parish of Garford

Historical Forms

  • (æt) Garanforda 940 BCS761 c.1240
  • Garanford 960 contemporary ib
  • Wareford 1086 DB
  • Gareford William Abingdon c.1240
  • Gareford' 1175 P 1396–7 ObAcc
  • Garreford 1316 FA
  • Garfordia, Garsfordia 1223 Bract c.1250
  • Garford' 1242–3 Fees 1256 Cl
  • Garford 1517 DInc

Etymology

'Gāra's ford', or 'ford at the triangular piece of land', v. gāra , ford . The bounds of Garford in BCS 761 begin at the ford, which was where a Roman road crosses the R. Ock, about ½ mile E. of the village. Garforth YW 4, 95, is formally identical. If the Berks name contains a topographical term rather than a pers.n., gāra might mean 'narrow strip of raised ground in a marsh', a sense which would be appropriate in some other p.ns., e.g. Langar Nt, Plungar Lei.

Places in the same Parish