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.

Starmore (earlier Stormsworth)

Major Settlement in the Parish of Westrill and Starmore

Historical Forms

  • Stormeorde 1086 DB
  • Stormode 1086 DB
  • Stormesworth(e) 1156×73,a.1250 Selby 1276 RH 1424 Wyg 1578 Braye
  • Stormesword 1229,a.1250 Selby
  • Stormysworth(e) 1497,1518 Braye 1530 CoPleas 1536 Braye
  • Stormsworth 1559 Ipm 1606 Terrier
  • Stormeworth 1239 Cur a.1250 Selby 1316 Banco 1352 Peake
  • Stormworth 1208 Cur a.1250 Selby 1497 Braye 1519 Wyg 1638,1674 Terrier
  • Stormwurth 1243 Fees
  • Stormysworth alias dict' Stormore 1518 Braye
  • Stormore alias Stormysworth 1518 ib
  • Stormer 1703,1733 Terrier
  • Starmer 1733 Terrier
  • Starmor 1724 ib
  • Starmore 1765,1781 ib

Etymology

'The enclosure belonging to a man called Storm', v. worð . The OE  masc. pers.n. Storm is unrecorded. It is probably an original by-name, cf. OE  storm 'storm, tempest, attack' which may be compared with the OScand  masc. pers.n. Styrmir , itself a by-name meaning 'one who storms forward in battle; the impetuous one' (SPNLY 269). The lost settlement lay in the north of the modern parish where it is still remembered in the field-name High Starmore .

There is little record of moorland hereabouts to suggest late influence of mōr on the form of the generic. The development of the name may be presented simply as: Stormesworth > Stormsworth > Stormworth > *Stormorth > Stormore > Starmore .