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.

Pilton

Major Settlement in the Parish of Pilton, East and West

Historical Forms

  • Piltone wið Bearstaple 10th BurghalHidage 12th
  • Piltona 1086 DB(Exon)
  • Wiltone
  • Pilton 1121 France 1167 P
  • Pelleton 1256 FF

Etymology

'Farm by the creek,' v. pyll , tun , referring to the spot where the little river Yeo enters the Taw and becomes tidal. For Wiltone cf. Pickwell supra 44. wið here denotes 'opposite.'