Stockerston
Major Settlement in the Parish of Stockerston
Historical Forms
- Stoctone (×2), Stotone 1086 DB
- Stocfaston' c.1130 LeicSurv 1220 MHW 1299 Ipm 1305 BelCartB e.15
- Stokfaston' 1285 Banco c.1291 Tax 1330 FA 1333 Peake 1428,1437 Banco 1519 EpCB 1576 Saxton
- Stocfateston' 1167 P
- Stokfatestona 1167 ChancR
- Stokefaston' 1254 Val 1304 Ch 1609 Ipm 1618 Fine
- Stokeuaston' 1284 BelCartB e.15
- Stokewaston 13 SlCart 16
- Stokeston' c.1291 Tax 1402 Banco 1417 BelCartB 1437 Banco
- Stokerston 1526,1530 AAS 1634 ISLR 1697 LML
- Stockerston 1567 AAS
- Stockerson 1572 SR 1573 LEpis
Etymology
This is a difficult name. The erratic DB forms indicate an original 'settlement with an attached dairy farm' (v. stoc , tūn ), a direct parallel with Stoughton infra . However, the numerous forms from the earlier 12th cent. suggest rather 'the stronghold constructed of heavy timbers' (v. stocc , fæsten ), a name perhaps recording an early forest border fortress facing an independent kingdom of Rutland, v. Ru xxxiii-xxxvii. Ekwall DEPN, presumably to account for the repeated -ton spellings, proposes that tūn may have been added to the original place-name form, hence a *Stocc -fæsten -tūn . A further possibility is that Stockerston represents a *Stoc -fæsten (v. stoc , fæsten ), where the generic would indicate a secure and sheltered herding-place for a dairy farm's cattle which were nurtured in the local oak woodland-pasture. Such a site may once have related to Stoke Dry, one mile to the south-east in Rutland.