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.

Garrigill

Early-attested site in the Parish of Alston

Historical Forms

  • Gerardgile 1232 Ch 1285 For
  • Gerardesgyle 1279 Ass
  • Gerardegile 1292 Ass
  • Garrardgylle 1443 Cl
  • Gareygill, Garrygill 1631 Derwent
  • Garragill 1754 DKRxiii

Etymology

'Gerard 's gil,' from the Continental-Germanic personal name Gerard , Girard . Cf. Gerardgill in Wamphrey (PN Dumf 127 recorded in 1372) and Gurston (PN W 205). But the possibility should not be excluded that Gerard in this name is the demon several times recorded in ME  literature (Times Literary Supplement , 1941, p. 55, and Transactions of the Yorkshire Dialect Society , vii, 13). There was a Thruswell (v. þyrs ) in the parish in 1479 (Hexham).

Places in the same Parish

Early-attested site

Other OS name

Major Settlement