Kelmarsh
Major Settlement in the Parish of Kelmarsh
Historical Forms
- Cailmare, Keilmerse 1086 DB
- Chailesmers c.1155 BM
- Keylesmerch 1332 Ass
- Keylmers 12th Survey
- Keilmers, Keylmers late12th BM 1428 FA
- Kelmers(e) 1199 FF 1223 WellsR
- Kelmersh 1322 ADiv
- Kailmers(e) 1201 FineR 1204 FF 1233 Bracton 1247 Ass
- Keylemers 1242 Fees
- Keylemerthe 1315 ADiii
- Keylemersh 1317 Cl
- Keyllemerssh 1326 Cl
Etymology
This is a difficult name. Lindkvist (66) would take it to be a hybrid compound of an unrecorded OWScand *keill , or the recorded keila , 'rift, rent, cleft, fissure,' or OWScand kíll , 'narrow bay,' 'wedge.' Cf. also Yorkshire dialect keill , 'triangular bit of ground, gore.' kíll cannot phonologically give rise to Keil -, and neither word gives good sense for the topography of Kelmarsh itself. Kelmarsh is on the top of a hill. The marsh is presumably the bottom of the broad valley, full of small pools, which runs down to the Welland on the north-west. With this topographical difficulty and the further difficulty of a hybrid of a rare Scandinavian word and a common English one, it is probably better to take the first element to be an OE pers. name *Cægl (a ). Cf. Keysoe (PN BedsHu 14–15). Hence, 'Cægla 's marsh.'