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.

Lower Slaughter

Major Settlement in the Parish of Lower Slaughter

Historical Forms

  • Sclostre 1086 DB
  • Sloustr(e)' 1252 Ch 1274 RH
  • Sclotris 1159 P
  • Slouctres 1174 P
  • Slochtre(s) 1168,1190 P
  • Slochtr' 1221 Eyre
  • Slouchtre 1286 FF
  • Scloctre(s) 1195 P
  • Sloctres 1204 P 1211–13 Fees 1219 ClR 1220 Fees
  • Scloutres 1195 P
  • Sloutre 1274 RH
  • Sloutre superiori 1290 Episc
  • Over Sloutre 14 ADii
  • Sloutr' Inferiori 1286 Episc
  • Slohtre(s), Slohter 13 WinchLB 1221 Ass c.1232 ADiii c.1275 For
  • Slokhter, Slogtre, Schlochtres 1221 Ass
  • Slouthtre 1275 Ipm
  • Sloghters, Sloghtre, Sloghtir' 1229 Pat 1276 Cl 1459 MinAcct
  • Ouer Sloghtir' 1398 MinAcct
  • Slouhtre, Slouhter 1266 FF 1277 Cl
  • Shouʒter superiori Hy6 AddCh
  • Slougehtre superior' 1291 Tax
  • Sloughtre, Sloughter 1328 Misc 1355 Ipm 1391 FF 1496 Pat
  • Sloughtre supr, Sloughtre superior(i)' 1291 Tax 1327 SR
  • Sloughtre Infr, Sloughtre inferior' 1327 SR 1535 VE
  • Over Sloughtre, Ouer Sloughtre 1328 Banco 1411 Ass 1504 FF
  • Nether Sloughtre 1328 Banco 1435 MinAcct 1504 FF
  • Slaughter c.1560 Surv 1584 Comm
  • Ouer Slaughter, Over Slaughter 1572,1627 FF
  • Nether Slaughter c.1560 Surv 1572,1627 FF
  • Uper Slater, Lower Slater 1698,1699 PR

Etymology

The spellings for Upper and Lower Slaughter are included here, as in earlier documents the two parts of the manor cannot easily be differentiated; indeed the grouping of the two parts accounts for the early plur. forms like Slotris , Slochtres , etc., as well as the present-day usage, The Slaughters. The spellings clearly point to an OE  slōhtre and this is confirmed by the OE  spelling of the lost Slaughterford (infra ). OE  slōhtre is known only from these p.ns. and possibly Slaughterford (Sx 177–8), though spellings of the latter (Sloghtreford 1276, etc.) are not early enough to rule out OE  slāh-trēow 'sloe-tree' for the Sx name. The word has been connected with a MHG  *sluohter , which is the source of several German p.ns. like Schlochtern , etc. (FörstemannON ii, 810), and with the Du  p.n. Slochteren ; the German sluohter is stated to mean 'uneven ground with pools, holes and ditches' (cf. Bach ii, § 290) and LG  slochter is equivalent to Lat  fossa 'ditch' (Middendorff 118). It appears to be connected with OE  slōh 'slough, mire' (esp. 'a miry place in a road'), which occurs in one or two Gl p.ns. The name Slaughter may be the old name of the stream which runs through both villages to join the R. Dikler, and have denoted some patch of muddy ground in its lower reaches, or, if the meaning of slōhtre was more that of LG  slochter , a ditch, possibly one which carried the water of the stream across the Fosse Way in the neighbourhood of Slaughterford . The local topography is no longer decisive.

Places in the same Parish

Early-attested site

Other OS name