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.

Ingham

Major Settlement in the Parish of Ingham

Historical Forms

  • Hincham 1086 DB
  • Ingham 1127–34 Holme 1209(p),1269,1286 Ass 1209to1367 FF 1214 RP 1254–75 Val 1275 RH 1283 Orig 1289 NoRec 1302to1428 FA 1303,1351 Ipm 1305 Bodl 1315 AD 1330 SR 1335 Ch 1344,1378 Cl 1396,1401 Pat 1427 Fine 1535 VE
  • Ygham 12 HMC
  • Yngham 1212 Fees
  • Engham 1460 Past
  • Ingeham 1189–99,1202 PR 1199–1201to1208 P 1196 Cur 1205 Fine 1209,1250(p),1257 Ass 1222 Bract 1226 Cl 1247,1248 Ch

Etymology

The traditional explanation of this name is 'Inga's hām'. The preponderance of spellings without medial -e - and the total absence of forms with medial -n - (v. Ekwall in Studies1 33) would seem to tell against this interpretation. For an alternative theory, according to which the first el. is a term for the Anglian king as a member of the Ingwionic dynasty, indicating a royal estate, v. Sandred in Leeds Studies in English 18 (1987) 231 ff. There are Inghams in L and Sf, and there is a place called Ingham House in O (PN O I96).

A priory of friars of the Trinitarian order was founded here by Sir Miles Stapleton in 1360, when the parish church was rebuilt to become partly the church of the priory. At the Dissolution the priory had already ceased to function. Small remains of the conventual buildings can be seen on the north side of the church (v. Pevsner 176 f.).