Survey of English Place-Names

Historical Forms

• monasterium quod nuncupatur Heruteu id est Insula Cerui c.730 BedeHE 8th

• Heorotea c.890 OEBede c.1000

• h'terpól c.1160×94 Spec

• herterpol 1189×99 Reg 1336

• sigillum burgensium de herterpol 1214 Ct 1258×90 Spec

• Herterpol c.1200 Elemos

• villa de Herterpol early13th 1235,1242×3 Guis 1259 Ass

• burgi de Herterpol c.1260 Elemos c.1280 Spec

• h'terpol c.1210 Pont

• uilla de h'terpol c.1230 Spec

• H'terpol 1214 Ct

• Hert'pol 1214 Ct 1218×34,1233×44 Spec 1255 c.1260 Elemos c.1280 Elemos 1283 Pont c.1300 Spec

• Het'pol c.1230 Spec

• h'terpol' 1233×44 ib

• Herterpoll 1258×90 Ct

• hert'pol c.1260 Elemos

• Herterpol' 1283 Bek

• Hert'pole 1308 Ct 1310 Bek

• h'tt'poll' 1315 Spec

• Hert'poll' 1335 ib

• Herterepol 1724 Proc

• Hertirpoll 1322 GD

• Hertrepol 1200 FF

• burgum de Hertrepoll' 1306 RPD 1521 Spec

• Hertrepol' 1314 ib

• Hertrepoll 1314 RPD

• hertrepolle 1521 Spec

• hertrepole 1521 ib

• h'tepol 1211 Pipe

• H'tepol 1214 ib

• Hertepol c.1225 Guis 1242×3 Ass 1309 Bek c.1310 Spec

• villa de Herdepol c.1230 ib

• Hartrepol(') 1312 RPD

• hartrepoll' 1473 Spec

• hertilpol c.1230 Sacr

• hertilpoel' 1260 Spec

• Hertilpol' late13th AnnS 1314 RPD 1351 Spec

• Hertilpol a.1300 GD c.1310 Spec

• Hertylpole 1306 RPD 1316 Spec 1420 FPD

• Hertilpoll c.1310 Spec 1338×9 Rot 1347 Spec 1376 Halm

• H'tilpoel 1322 Spec

• h'tilpoel' 1323,1324 Spec

• h'tilpool' 1323,1324 ib

• H'tilpoel' c.1325 Spec

• Hertilpoel' c.1325 ib

• Hertilpole 1325etfreqto1511 Spec 1371 Wills 1382 Hatf 1406 Pont 1407–8,1410 Lang 1420,1423,1436 Wills 1436etfreqto1531 IPM 1476 et freq

• Hertilpoll' 1329×30 ManAccts 1336etfreqto1393 Spec

• Hertilpell' 1332 ManAccts

• Hertylpoll 1345 Spec

• H'tilpole 1362 Elemos

• Hertipoll' 1376×7 ManAccts

• hertilpoll' 1384 Spec

• Hertylpole 1411 Lang 1420 FPD

• Hertipol 1305 Bek 1343 Wills

• Hertipole 1305×6 Ct

• Hertypole 1337×8 ManAccts

• Hertipull' 1420 Spec

• hertylpole 1429 Wills 1454(p),1467,1510 Spec

• h'rtylpole infra com' Northumbr' 1432 Ct

• hertylpol' 1472 Spec

• hertilpole 1510 ib

• Hertilpoole 1531 Wills

• Hertilpull' 1342,1386,1420 Spec

• Hertilpulle 1348,1360(p),1419×20 GD

• Hertilpule 1350,1399 Spec

• h'tilpull 1359 Ct

• Hertilpul 1363 Spec

• h'tilpull' 1364 ib

• H'tilpule 1397 ib

• H'tilpull' 1397 ib

• h'tyllpull' 1473 ib

• Hertilpoyle 1545×6 SurteesIII119

• Hertpol 1310×11 Bek 1382 Hatf

• Hertpole 1382 Hatf

• Hertelpole c.1225 Guis 13th GD 1305×6 ManAccts 1314–5 GD

• h'telpol c.1250 1315 Spec

• Hertelpol' 1293 Bek early15th RPD 1306

• Hertelpoll 1304 Bek

• H'telpoll early14th Salvin

• Hertelpoll' 1306 RPD c.1325 Spec

• Hertelpol 1308,1310 Bek 1314–5 GD c.1330 Spec

• h'telpoll' c.1325 ib

• hertelpull' 1397 Spec

• Hertelpule 1433 ChancH

• Hertelpool 1724 Proc

• Hertlepoul 1344 Spec

• Hertlepoole 1612 SurteesIII117

• Hartilpole 1435 Wills 1438×9 Vis 1522 GD 1559×63 IPM

• hartylpol 1472 Spec 1552 Ct

• hartylpolle 1512 Spec

• hartylpoll' 1512 ib

• Harthilpoile 1485 ib

• Hartilpoole 1580 Surv 1724 Proc

• Hartellpole 1667 SurteesIII105

• Hartlepool 1531 Wills 1586 1723×4 Hud 1760 CC 1834 NRCbox8

• Hartlepooll 1590 Wills

• Hartlepoole 1559,1586 1609,1613,1622,1635,1665×6 IPM 1644×5 GD 1673 DX4871/107 1723×4 Hud 1724 Proc 1770 BakerBaker

• Hartlepol 1590 Wills

• hartlepoole 1591 Ct

• Hartlepole 1610 GD 1614 IPM

• Hartelpoole 1675 Ogilby

• Hertispol (sic, probably misreading for Hertilpol) 1349 IPM

• Hartinpoole 1630 SurteesIII118 1642 1644×5 GD 1692 Man1/84 1697 SurteesIII118

• Hartinpool 1647 Swaby

• East Hartlepool 1892 Boyle

Etymology

'Stag island', v. heorot , ēg . An appositional/stem compound like Hartford, heorot-ford , Hartham, heorot-hamm , and Hartley, heorot -lēah , loosely translated by Bede as the 'island of the stag' whence no doubt the genitival variants Heor (u )tesig and perhaps Einarr's genitive sing. form hiartar poll 'stag's pool'. If the genitive pl. form hiarta poll is a genuine variant it may point to an OE  variant heorta pol 'stags' pool' like Hartburn, heorta burna , possibly reflected in 13th cent. Hertepol spellings although they may rather be due to omission of the er /re suspension.

The mother church of the district was at Hart of which St Hilda's church in Hartlepool seems to have become a chapel in the 12th cent. (VCH III264). Some scholars (Mills 2003 s.n., Townend 1998, 37 following Ekwall's ambivalent treatment Studies1 78; see discussion of Hart supra ) have accordingly identified Bede's form with Hart rather than Hartlepool in spite of the obvious topographical appropriateness of a name in ēg for the peninsula at Hartlepool. Furthermore the medieval spellings for Hart q. v. do not support derivation from OE  heorot -ēg . A possible alternative sense of the name may have been 'Hart island', the island or peninsula at, near or belonging to Hart.

The usual medieval form Herterpol could represent ON  hiartar poll but in the almost complete absence of evidence for Scandinavian settlement in the district this seems unlikely. The best alternative explanation is that of Ekwall, Studies1 75–8. He proposed that the form Herterpol was a popular analogical re-formation of Herte-pol 'Hart island pool' on the model of the district name Herterness < OE  Hert - hērness 'the lordship of Hart' which may have become misinterpreted as Herter-ness 'Herter headland' referring to the peninsula, cf. The Ness infra .

The development to Hertilpol is a dissimilatory change in the sequence r-r to r-l . The modern spelling from 1531 onwards has been influenced by the sixteenth-century vogue for connective le in place- names (for which in was occasionally substituted in the 17th cent.) as if the name were Hart-le -pool 'Hart by the pool' on the pattern of Chesterle-Street etc., see V. E. Watts, 'English place-names in the sixteenth century: the search for identity' in A. Piesse ed., Sixteenth -Century Identities , Manchester 2001, 51–2.

Hartlepool seems to have had an alternative name as 'the Isle of St Hilda', VCH III283, and in the 19th cent. was sometimes known as East Hartlepool for distinction from the newly developed West Hartlepool.

In the 1432Ct reference, h 'rtylpole infra com ' Northumbr ', William Eure was attempting to undermine the bishop of Durham's powers and dues, and claimed that Hartlepool in the Wapentake of Sadberge did not belong to him.