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.

Dry Drayton

Major Settlement in the Parish of Dry Drayton

Historical Forms

  • Draitona a.1086 YCh c.1280 InqEl 1086
  • Draitone 1086 DB 1362 Crowland
  • Draitun 1218 SR
  • Dratona 1086 InqEl 1130 P
  • Drydraton 1540 MinAcct c.1570 ChancP
  • Dreituna t.Stephen Ch 1307
  • Dreiton(e) 1199 Cur 1223 FF
  • Drie Dreiton 1286 Pat
  • Dry Dreiton 1478 Pat
  • Waldretton' 1176 P
  • Dratton 1227 FF
  • Drettone 1346 FA
  • Waldraittona 1176 CR
  • Woldrayton 1324 MinAcct
  • Driedraiton 1218 SR 1281 Ipm
  • Dreiedraiton 1227 FF
  • Dreredraiton 1300 Misc
  • Dridrayton 1254 Val
  • Dry(e)drayton 1272,1334 Ass
  • Drighdrayton, Dreghdrayton 1312 FF
  • Drydraytone cum Childerley 1316 FA
  • Dreydrayton 1405 PCC
  • Drayton(a), Drayton(e) 1231 FF
  • Draytun 1235 FF

Etymology

'Farm by the hill,' v. dræg , tūn . The road leaving the church on the left rises steeply and dræg here probably has the sense 'a stiff hill, a steep slope or ascent where more than ordinary effort is required.'Cf. Fen Drayton infra 166 and v. DEPN. Dry Drayton is on the western clay area which was once well-wooded and was formerly called Wald , cf. Croydon and Hatley Wilds supra 54, 56. The reason for the epithet dry is not obvious as the parish is well-watered. Cole says “Drye-Drayton, so called not from the Drynesse of the Soile , but for that it standeth in the Upland and Champion Countrie, thereby to distinguish it from the other Drayton , which taketh Appellation from the Fenne ” (xlviii, f. 156).

Places in the same Parish