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.

Worthygate

Early-attested site in the Parish of Parkham

Historical Forms

  • Wrdieta 1086 DB
  • Weredeget 1193 Oliver
  • in portu de Wordyate 1281 Ass
  • Wirtheyate 1492 Ipm

Etymology

This is probably a compound of OE  worþ and geat, hence 'enclosure- gate,' denoting presumably a gate in the hege which surrounded it. The natural phonological development would have been to Worthyate , but in modern times StEng  gate has taken the place of dialectal yate .