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.

Tarporley

Major Settlement in the Parish of Tarporley

Historical Forms

  • Torpelei 1086 DB
  • Torpel' 1198–1216 Facs
  • Torpell' 1198–1216 MidCh
  • Torpelegh c.1208 Sheaf 17 Pat 1386
  • Torpele 1287 1357 Pat
  • Torpeley 1304 Chamb 1549 Pat
  • Torpurley alias Torpeley 1581 ChRR
  • Torpeleye 1307 Eyre
  • Torpelee 1328 Cl
  • Torpeles 1664 Sheaf
  • Torplei 1086 IpmR 1380
  • Torple 1284 Cl
  • Torplegh 1298 NotCestr 1724 ChFor 1348 Orm2 1387
  • Torplighe 1418 Rental
  • Torpley l15 Orm2 1512 ChEx 1560 Tab 1578 Chol 1618,1653 Sheaf
  • Torpleighe 1553 Tab
  • Torperley 1198–1216 MidCh
  • Torpurley l13 Tab 1665 Sheaf
  • Torpirley 1328 MRA
  • Torperleg', Torperlegh(e), Torperl(y), Torperle(e), Torperley(e), Torperleygh, Torperlighe, Torperleigh(e) 1781 Sheaf
  • Torparley 1441 ChRR
  • Thopperlegh 1235 Clif
  • Thorperleg(h), Thorperl(ey), Thorperle(e) 1280–1300 AddCh 1281 Orm2 18 Ch 1282 Pat 1284 ChFine 1287 Court 1288 Sheaf 1293 AddCh 18 1349
  • Thorple 1282 CRC 1344 Pat
  • Thorpleg' 1295 JRC
  • Thorpeleg' 1289 MRA
  • Thorpeley 1291 Tax
  • Torpereleye 1307 Eyre
  • Toperlegh 1311 Ipm
  • Toperley 1554 Pat
  • Toprelegh 1355 BPR
  • Terperlegh 1369 Bark
  • Terperley 1671 Sheaf
  • Tarporley 1394,1402,1663 ChRR
  • Tarporly 1585 Cre
  • Tarpurlegh 1499 Sheaf
  • Tarpurley 1522 Mere 1715 LCWills
  • Tarperley 1568 Orm2 1578 Chol 1593 LCWills 1670,1684 Sheaf
  • Tarperly 1660 ib
  • Turporley 1471 MinAcct
  • Turpurley, Turpurlegh 1508 ChRR
  • Tropley 1540 Sheaf
  • Tarpley 1665 Sheaf

Etymology

This is a difficult name. DEPN suggests that this p.n. is 'pear wood near a hill called Torr ', from torr, pere and lēah , in which an original p.n. Perley is modified by the prefixed hill-name Torr , as in Tormarton Gl (DEPN, cf. Didmarton, Gl, ib). This type of p.n. is not well attested, and Smith, EPN xxiii, doubts the correctness of the analysis. An alternative analysis is available for the Gl p.ns., v. Gl 356. There is one for Tarporley, which avoids the formal difficulty, but raises a more troublesome one of interpretation. The spellings suggest OE  *þorpera -lēah , from lēah and a gen.pl. form *þorpera from OE  *þorpere 'a man who lives in a hamlet', v. þorp , -ere 1 , cf. ON  þorpari 'a peasant, a cottager'. Although there is no p.n. in þorp hereabouts, the form *þorpere suggests a late-OE  hybrid formed from þorp . There may have been an ethnic minority of Scandinavians in this district to whom English neighbours had given the nickname 'the Thorp-ers'. There is some Scandinavian influence observed in the p.ns. of the neighbourhood, e.g. Kettles Croft, Whitegates, Scows, Colemon leye 313, 316, 322infra , 288 supra .