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.

Barrow Elm

Early-attested site in the Parish of Hatherop

Historical Forms

  • la Berge 1400 BGix,333
  • Brighthallesbarrowe Feld 1540 MinAcct, AOMB

Etymology

Barrow Elm, 1766EnclA , 1777 M, la Berge 1400 BG ix, 333, may be identified with Brighthallesbarrowe Feld 1540MinAcct , AOMB (though that is possibly in Kempsford (40infra )); it would be the name of the hundred meeting-place (cf. 22supra ). The name refers to a tumulus in the centre of the hundred at the crossing of the Fairford-Hatherop road and the Lechlade-Barnsley road (grid 157–161043). The modern name referred to a large elm growing on the low flat-topped barrow; v. beorg 'tumulus', elm .