Sotwell
Major Settlement in the Parish of Sotwell
Historical Forms
- æt Suttanwille 945 BCS810 12th
- (æt) Suttanuulle 948 12th ib
- æt Stottanwille 957 c.1400 ib
- (æt) Stottanwelle c.957 ASWills c.1400
- Sotwelle 1086 DB
- Sotwell Synt John, Sotwell Stonore 1494–5 Ipm
- Sothuwella, Sotewlle, Sothewlla c.1160 OxonCh
- Sot(e)wlle 1155–66 Queen
- Sottewella c.1195 Gor 1523 RentSur
- Suttew'lle a.1243 PubLib
- -Doc (p), Sotewell', Sutwell', Suttewell', Suthewell' 1284 Ass
- Sottewell' Stonor', Sottewell' seynt Joh'e 1509 RentSur
- Sattewell' 1220 Fees
- Sattwell 1742 ArchJ
- Sat(t)well 1761 Rocque
- Satwell 1830 OS
- Shottewell 1234–5 FF
- Shokewell', Shottewell' 1241 Ass
- Schotwell c.1400 BCS990
- Sortwell 1316 FA
Etymology
BCS 864 is headed æt Suttunæ wylle . This should probably be dated c. 1150, the date of the manuscript, and it is not safe to base an etymology simply on this form. It suggests that the first part of the name means 'south farm', and this would give an etymology 'stream by the place called Sutton' for the whole name. In the absence of any confirmation of this form, however, it is perhaps safer to take the first el. as a pers.n. Sutta , unrecorded but apparently occurring also in Sutcombe D 168. BCS 810, 864 are not genuine charters, but they incorporate OE material. 'Sutta's spring or stream', v. w(i)ella. The 6″ map marks Sat Well in Gothic script N.W. of Sotwell Fm. The adjacent village of Brightwell 515–16 is also named from a spring.
Sotwell St John and Sotwell Stonor were separate manors, held for part of their history by families surnamed St John and Stonor, v. VCH iii, 508–10.