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.

St Aylotts

Early-attested site in the Parish of Saffron Walden

Historical Forms

  • St Ailet 1248 Ch
  • (aput) Sanctum Ayletum 1326 Walden
  • capella de Aylotts 1444 EASxvi

Etymology

St Aylotts is St Ailet 1248 Ch, (aput ) Sanctum Ayletum 1326Walden , capella de Aylotts 1444 EAS xvi. The first reference above deals with the grant of a field called Stocking to Walden Abbey by Humphrey de Boun. The Bohuns were Lords of Brecon and it has been suggested that they carried with them to Essex the veneration of the Welsh St Eiliwedd to whom the chapel mentioned above was dedicated. v. Gould and Fisher, Lives of British Saints ii, 418 ff.