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.

Harrow

Major Settlement in the Parish of Harrow

Historical Forms

  • gumeninga hergae 767 BCS201
  • (æt) Hearge 825 ib
  • Hergas, (apud) Hergan 832 BCS402 c.1250
  • Herges 1086 DB 1232 Cl 1235 Ass
  • Her(e)ghes 1232 1235 1265 Pat
  • Hareghes 1258 FF 1294 Ass
  • Her(e)wes 1234 Ch 1249 FF 1251,1269 Pat 1261 Ch 1270 Ipm 1272 FF
  • Hergeg' 1240 FF
  • Hergh 1243 1270 Ipm
  • Heregh' 1294 Ass
  • Har(e)wes c.1250 MP 1291 Tax 1294 Ass 1307 Cl
  • Harwys 1295 Ipm
  • Har(e)we 1278 FF 1294 Ass 1313 Ch 1316 FA 1341 NI
  • Haruwe 1348 FF
  • Hargwe 1397 Pat
  • Harghe 1299 Pat
  • Harwo 1347 ib
  • Harogh' 1368 FF
  • Harowe 1369,1377 ib
  • Harow(e) atte Hille 1398 IpmR 1468 FF
  • Harow on the Hull 1400 Pat
  • Harow of the hyll 1421 FF
  • Harowe on the Hill or Harwe on the Hull 1426 Pat
  • Harowe upon le Hill 1474 ib

Etymology

This is OE  hearg , 'heathen temple or shrine,' cf. Harrowden (PN Nth 125). Harrow is on a prominent isolated sand-capped hill, rising to about 300 ft. above the Middlesex plain, the ground falling away steeply on all sides. There must have been a site of ancient heathen worship here, perhaps on the site of the present church which stands on the summit of the hill. The early and persistent use of a plural form side by side with the singular one is curious. gumeninga would seem to be the gen. pl. of some tribal or folk-name, cf. linga hæs (supra 39). Nothing further is known of it.