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.

Sixpenny Handley

Major Settlement in the Parish of Sixpenny Handley

Historical Forms

  • (at) Hanlee 871–7 ShaftR(S357(1)) 15
  • (in) henlee 871–7 15 ib
  • (at) heanlegen, Hanlee (rubric) 956 14 ib
  • Hanlege 1086 DB
  • Hanleige 1166 RBE
  • Hanle 1230 Cl
  • Hanle juxta Craneburn 1325 FF
  • Hanleg(h)' 1244 Ass
  • Hanlegh 1327 Pat
  • 'by Craneburn' 1371 1440 ib
  • Hanley(e) 1340 1618 Map
  • Hanleygh(') 1371 Salis c.1500 Eg
  • Hanlee 1425 Pat 1441 Cl
  • Hanleigh 1454 Hutch3
  • Hanleigh als. Hanley, Hanleyghe als. Hanley 1575 Ilch
  • Henleʒe Hy1 ShaftR 15
  • Henle 1182 P 1265 Misc 1268 Ass 1280 FF 1291 Tax 1340 NI 1428,1431 FA
  • Henleg(h)(e) 1212 Fees 1249,1268 FF 1268,1280 Ass 1428 FA
  • Henleye 1270 Pat 1288 Ass
  • Henlee 1280 Ass
  • Henly 1303 FA
  • Henleigh 1316 FA
  • Hengh' 1327 SR
  • Henelegh 1280 QW
  • Hennele 1331 Cecil
  • Hanghelegh 1327 Pat
  • Handeleygh 1496 Pat 1498
  • Handly 1664 HTax
  • Handley 1795 Boswell
  • Sexpennyhanley 1575 Saxton
  • Sixpenny Handley 1741 M.H.

Etymology

'(Place at) the high wood or clearing', from hēah (wk.obl. hēan ) and lēah (dat.sg. lēage , lēa (e )), a common p.n. The comparatively late addition Sixpenny is from the hundred name q. v. supra . In the N of the par. the ground rises to 500′, and the whole par. is within the bounds of Cranborne Chase (2 193). However, Ekwall's supposition (DEPN) that Handley is probably the old name of Cranborne Chase is unlikely, since he is mistaken in thinking that the form (at ) heanlegen (cited above) occurs in the bdy of Compton Abbas.The bounds of Handley are given in 956 (14) ShaftR (S 630).