Survey of English Place-Names

Historical Forms

• Stillingtune c.1190 RD

• Stilligtune c.1190 Godr

• Stilingtone c.1324 GD

• stilingtun' 1362 Ct

• Stilyngton 1366,1415 IPM 1408 AD

• Stellyngton 1382 Hatf

• Stelyngton 1417,1471 IPM

• Stelington 1561 ib

• Stillyngton 1400 IPM 1406 Pont 1423etfreqto1549 IPM

• Stillington 1433 ChancH 1563,1582 Wills 1604×5 IPM 1609 Lond 1623 IPM

• stillington within the p'rish of Readmarshall 1560 Wills

Etymology

Gillian Fellows Jensen's explanation of this name, Sydsvenska Ortnamnssällskapets Årsskrift (1974), p. 55, as an -ing formation on OE  still 'a place for catching fish' “as in dialect stell ' is impossible both on phonological and topographical grounds. In other instances of stell , i - spellings do not occur before the 17th cent. In any case, i -spellings would not be expected in the Northumbrian dial if, as seems probable, stell is an i -mutated variant of OE  stall , steall 'a stall'. Furthermore, Stillington lies on an utterly insignificant stream incapable of supporting the kind of fishing station implied by the term stell (see Watts SNFN I, p. 92 n. 6).Probably, therefore, the 'estate called after Styfel(a)', OE  pers.n. *Styfel or *Styfela + -ing- + tūn. The pers.n. *Styfel or *Styfela is not on record but would be a normal diminutive form of the pers.n. Stuf found in ASC s.a. 514, 534. The identical p.n occurs at Stillington North Yorkshire SE 5867, Stiuelinctun 1086, Stivelington (e ), Styvelington (e )1280–1351, Stillyngton 1371, 1442 PNYN 27, and the pers.n. in Stillingfleet North Yorkshire SE 5941, Steflingefled , Steflingefeld , Steflinflet 1086, Stiuelingflet (e ) 12th–1416, Stelingflet (e ) 1269, 1371, Stillingflet (e ) 1330–1568, 'stretch of the Ouse belonging to Styfela and his people' PNYE 260. The absence of forms with medial -v - is noteworthy but not fatal to this explanation in view of the paucity and lateness of the evidence.