Survey of English Place-Names

Historical Forms

• Nostresfeld(a) 1086 ICC c.1300 AddCh 1311 FF

• Nostrefeld(e) t.John BM 1401 Cl

• Nostrefeud 1235 FF 1272 Ass

• Nostrefeuld ib.

• Nostrifeld 1287 FF

• Nostrisfeld 1347 SR

• Ostre(s)feld' 1179–81 P

• Osterfeld' 1236 Cl

• Rostresfeld 1309 Pat

• Nosterfeud 1231 FF

• Nosterfeld(e) 1232 1360 Ipm

• Nosterfild 1381 FF

• Nostelfeld' 1233 Cl

• Nosturfeld 1298 Ass

• Nousterfeld 1359 IpmR

• Nostirfeld 1360 Ipm

• Nostredfelde 1429 Cl

• Northfeud, Nostrefeud, Nortstretesond 1272 Ass

• Nostesfeld c.1275 AddCh

• Nostefeld 1327 Pat

• Nesterfeld vel Nosterfeld 1436 IpmR

• Noffeld 1519 Coleiv

Etymology

This name has been explained by Skeat (PN C 62) as possibly short for Paternoster Field , in PN NRY 223, s. n. Nosterfield as 'at the sheepfold field,' from OE  æt ðǣm ēowestrefelda , ME  at then (e )ostrefeld , (atte ) Nostrefelde , and by Ekwall (DEPN) from an element oster , 'hillock,' postulated by Wallenberg for Osterland (KPN 286) and related perhaps to OE  ōst , 'a knot, knob,' in the sense 'hillock.' Cf. also Oyster Bridge (PN Ess 506) and Osterley (PN Mx 25).

None of these etymologies satisfactorily fits all the forms given above. The most interesting are Northfeud , Nortstretesond and Nostredfelde . The first two of these suggest the possibility that the first element is really norþ followed by a second element strǣt , while the third one (admittedly a late one) also suggests the possibility of strǣt .The possibility of such elements being present in this name is strengthened by a reference to Nordhoustret in Horseheath in 1205 (FF), which in its turn clearly links up with Northey supra and possibly with Northgate in Horseheath (1279 RH) and Northgate in Camps, near Nosterfield (1313AddCh ). gate may possibly show substitution of Anglo-Scandinavian gate , 'road,' for English strete in the compound Northoustret . Just what road is so named it is a little difficult to say. There is no known Roman road to which strǣt can refer. From Nosterfield End the road runs west to Shudy Camps Park and then divides, encircling the park to north and south, a diversion clearly due to the enclosing of the park, beyond which it continues the alignment from Nosterfield, past Street Fm, south of and below Northey Wood, to Bartlow, where there are entrenchments, and on to Linton, the site of a Roman villa. Street Fm certainly suggests that we are on the line of this street, but the road here does not actually pass over North-ho . From the northern branch of the fork round the park, a road leads north to Horseheath, passing a tumulus, and crossing the higher ground north-west of Northey. This road winds more than one would expect from a Roman road, but footpaths cut off various bends and it looks from the map as if there might once have been a fairly straight road from near Mark's Grave on the Via Devana towards Steeple Bumpstead. On Fox's map of the Roman Age, this route is marked by a Series of finds of coins and by the site of a single burial.Cf. also AnctC 34–5. It is difficult to choose between these two possibilities for the line of Northoustrete , but it is clear that it must be brought into account in explaining some at least of the forms of Nosterfield, possibly all of them. Our choice lies between taking the original form of the name to have been Norðhōhe (s ) strǣt feld with very early reduction of this to Nostresfeld , Nostrefeld and chance archaic survival of the fuller form in the 13th century, or believing that the early forms derive from (æt ðǣm ) ēowestre felda and that the difficult 13th-century forms are due to contamination by the name of a neighbouring topographical feature. On the whole the former is the more likely process. A word oster , 'hillock,' would not suit the site of Nosterfield. v. Addenda lix.