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.

Barfold Copse

Early-attested site in the Parish of Chiddingfold

Historical Forms

  • Berefold 1484 AddCh
  • Berfeld 1486 Loseley
  • Barfeld t.Hy8 MinAcct
  • Barfold 1548 LRMB

Etymology

Barfold Copse (6″) is Berefold 1484AddCh , Berfeld 1486Loseley , Barfeld t. Hy 8MinAcct , Barfold 1548LRMB . This place must be associated with Barfold Fm in Lurgashall (PN Sx 111), just across the county boundary. The one early form for that name (which the context shows to be somewhere in Lurgashall parish) is Burifold , from the Durfold Cartulary. As the four forms for the Surrey name, though of later date, yet all agree with one another and with the present-day form, it is perhaps best to assume the isolated spelling from the cartulary to be an error and to take the first element to be the OE  bære, 'pasture in wooded districts,' etc., since the place is in the Weald, v. falod .