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.

Slapton

Major Settlement in the Parish of Slapton

Historical Forms

  • Slapetone 1086 DB
  • Slaptone 1223 WellsR 1237–40 Fees145 1241 Ass 1284 FA

Etymology

'Farm on the slape ' v. slæp . The village lies on a slight slope. Lipscomb's statement (iii. 449) that Slapton 'occasionally suffers from excess of humidity and partial inundation: the soil is a deep stiff clay' makes the existence of a slape highly probable. Cf. Slapton (Nth).

Places in the same Parish

Early-attested site