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.

Lodmoor

Early-attested site in the Parish of Preston

Historical Forms

  • (to) lodomor 978×984 Add(S938) 14
  • Loddemor(e) Hy3 Cerne 14 Weld1 1496
  • Loddemor' ysdych 1505 ib
  • Lodemor(e) 1297 Pat 1451 Ct
  • Warenna domini apud Lodemor(e) 1471 Weld1 1496 ib
  • Lodemor(e) Lake 1503 l17 ib
  • Lodemoure 1452 Ct
  • Lod(e)more(s)mede 1461 Rent 1465 1476 Weld1
  • Lodemor ys mede 1503 ib
  • Lodymour 1529 ib
  • Lodmore 1460 1461 Rent 1465 MinAcct 1638 Weld1
  • Lodmoresoutlete 1460 ib
  • Lodmowr 1525 ib
  • Lodmoure 1541 ib
  • Lodmoore 1638 ib
  • Lodmoor, Lodmere 1838 TA

Etymology

The first el. is difficult; derivation from (ge)lād 'track' as is proposed for Lodmore Ch 397 is precluded by the absence of Lad - spellings. It should instead no doubt be related to the names Lod (e )broke 1451, 1452Ct , 1461Rent , 1496Weld 1, firma querri domini super Loddon 15MinAcct , (terr ' super ) Loddon 1451Ct , 1461Rent , 1476Weld 1, quarret ' super Loddon 1481MinAcct , Gt Lodden , Quarry Lodden 1838TA , terr ' in Loddynges 1451Ct , Loddyngys 1461Rent , all of which occur in this par.; Lod - in all these names may represent a Brit name from lūta 'mud', a derivative of which is suggested by Ekwall RN 258 to explain the r.n. Loddon Brk, Ha (cf. Jackson 578, PNBrk 13), and which may also lie behind names like Ladford D 108 (Loddeford 1244, on a stream called Loddan broc 938) and Lodfin D 531 (Lodefenne 1288), cf. also Laddingford K 170; the name could have been applied, appropriately enough, to what is now Lodmoor, mōr 'marshland' being an explanatory OE addition.Lod (e )broke and Loddon may then be interpreted as the same Brit name with the addition of brōc 'stream' and dūn 'hill', and the fact that the f.ns. Great Lodden , Quarry Lodden are located near Chalbury supra , over one mile from Lodmoor, may suggest that the Brit  name was once applied to the whole western part of the present par.; the lost Loddynges may then represent an -ingas derivative denoting the people occupying this area. On the other hand, as Professor Löfvenberg points out, the first el. of Lodmoor and of the other Lod - names in this par. may well be an OE  pers.n.*Lod (d )a , v. Forsberg 150–1. The other additions are dīc 'ditch', lacu 'watercourse', mǣd 'meadow', and utlete 'outlet, channel'.