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.

St Herbert's Island

Early-attested site in the Parish of Above Derwent

Historical Forms

  • island of Herbertholm 1343 Cl
  • insulam Herberti 1374 NB
  • S. Herebertes isle c.1540 Leland
  • Sancte Harbartes, Insula voc. Sancte Harbart Isle 1560 Cocker

Etymology

This is the island in which Hereberht , the friend of St Cuthbert, lived the life of a hermit in the 7th century (Bede, Historia Ecclesiastica iv, 28). The addition of the Scandinavian holmr , in the precise sense of 'island', to St Herbert's name is remarkable. v. supra Derwent Water 33.