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.

Claxton

Major Settlement in the Parish of Bossall

Historical Forms

  • Claxtorp 1086 DB
  • Claxton(a) 1282 YI
  • Clauston 1295 For

Etymology

The first element is probably the OEScand  name Klak , recorded in Swedish runes as KlakR and as the ODan  personal name Klak (Nielsen), gen. Klaks . The one example of the name recorded by Lind in West Scandinavia is a Klakkr , reconstructed from Reider Klagsson , but this man is said to have come from Bohuslän, which then bordered on and is now part of Sweden. This would suggest that the name Klak (commonly found in the Danelaw) is a definite test of East Scandinavian settlement. The form Clacc is found in clacces wadlond (BCS 216) in the bounds of an Oxfordshire charter dated 774. These bounds are certainly not original and probably belong to the 11th cent. by which date an Anglo-Scand personal name might well be found in Oxfordshire.

Places in the same Parish

Early-attested site