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.

Foxton

Major Settlement in the Parish of Foxton

Historical Forms

  • Foxtone 1086 DB Wm2,e.12 Dugd 1109 Nichols
  • Foxtune e.12 Dugd 1109 Nichols
  • Foxtunia c.1147 BM
  • Foxtun' 1160(p),1180 P
  • Foxton 1109 Nichols 1174 P
  • Foxon 1674,1679,c.1690 Terrier
  • Foxestone 1086 DB

Etymology

Most probably 'the farmstead, village where foxes are frequently seen', v. fox , tūn . Note the tell-tale Foxborough in f.ns. (a) infra . The unique DB form Foxestone with its genitival construction hardly points to an unrecorded pers.n. Fox in the possessive case as the specific, although Toue fox (1154 × 89) of Saleby in Lincs. (with ODan  Tovi , ON  Tófi ) indicates that fox was used as a by-name from at least the middle of the 12th cent.