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.

Thornborough

Major Settlement in the Parish of Thornborough

Historical Forms

  • Torneberge 1086 DB 1175 P 1227 Ass
  • Torneberga Hamonis 1167 P
  • Turneberg 1200 Cur 1209 Abbr
  • Thornburn c.1218 WellsL
  • Tornebyr' c.1218 WellsL
  • Thorneberge 1227 Ass 1242 Fees871
  • T(h)orneburuwe 1235 Fees462,465
  • Torenbergh c.1238 Fees 1241 Ass
  • Thorenberg 1241 Ass
  • Thornburgh 1247 Ass

Etymology

'Thorn-hill' v. þorn , beorg . As the village lies rather lower than the surrounding country, the reference is probably to the hill to the south-west of it. From the fact that the neighbouring parish is Thornton we may perhaps infer that when they were named the whole district was thickly overgrown with thorn- scrub. One might have taken beorg as 'barrow' and associated it with the two large bowl barrows near the western side of the parish but these seem to be referred to in the Thornborough Deeds (no. 1244) as les Lowes .

Places in the same Parish