Survey of English Place-Names

Historical Forms

• Belahe 1044–7 (13 Sawyer 1055) KCD 785

• Belaga 1086 DB

• Belhag' 1147–9 Holme

• Belage 1206,1208 P 1267 Ch

• la Belage 1209,1210 P

• Belhage 1209 Ass 1254–75 Val 1254 NfA 1267 HMC 1302 FA

• Belawe 1210 Cur 1257,1269 Ass 1271 Pat 1274 Cl 13 Holme

• la Belag' 1211 P

• Belagh 1228 Cur 1237,1331,1332 FF 1308 DeBanco 1323 Ipm 1346 FA

• Belhae 1239,1256 Holme

• Belhawe 1237–51 1250 Ass 1270,1327 Cl 1329,1330 FF 1397 Pat

• Belaye 1237–51 Holme 1273 Ipm

• Belhac c.1240 Bodl

• Belhagh 1249 Ipm 13 Holme 1308 DeBanco 1367 Ch 1369 FF 1401–2 FA

• Belhaghe 1249 Ipm 1333 SR 1344,1348 Cl

• Belaghe 1257 Ass

• Bellache 1257 Ass 1288 NoLeet

• Bellawe 1269 Ass

• Belhaye 1270 Ipm l.13 HMC

• Beylaghe 1303 Pat

• Bilawe 1398 BM

• Belowe 1535 VE 1610 Speed

Etymology

Schram gives the local pronunciation as /bi:læ/. The pronunciations /bi:lɑ:/ and /bi:lɔ:/ are given by Miller and Forster.

The second element of this name is no doubt OE  haga1 'hedge, enclosure'. The first element is more difficult to determine and a matter of debate. Mills, following Smith in EPNE, suggests it is OE  bēl1 (Angl) bǣl (WSax ) 'funeral pyre', the compound bel-haga denoting 'an enclosure where the dead are cremated', to be compared with Belstead in Sf and Ess. Bylaugh in Eynsford Hundred would seem to be of identical origin. Ekwall (in Studies2 159 ff.) discusses a great number of names beginning with Bel - in the light of Continental names which contain the element bel - and suggests instead a word not otherwise evidenced in English with the meaning 'open land in a forest' or 'a piece of dry land in a fen'.