Leatherhead
Major Settlement in the Parish of Leatherhead
Historical Forms
- (æt) Leodridan 880–5 BCS553 c.1000
- Leret 1086 DB
- Lered 1250 Misc
- Ledred(e) 1155 RBE 1504 Ipm
- Lereda 1156 P
- Lerred 1212 Fees
- Lareda 1158 P
- Ladrede 1210–12 RBE
- Leddred(e) c.1190 Deed 1195 P 1420 BM
- Ledered(e) 1241 Ass 1428 FA
- Ledreth 1255 Ass
- Leddret 1255,1376 Ass
- Ledride c.1270 Winton 1327 Pat 1391 FF
- Ledryde 1279 Ass
- Leddride 1337 SR
- Ledderede 1279 Ass
- Lethered 1470 FF 1603 SrWills
- Letherhed 1504 Merton
- Letherhedde 1578 FF
- Letherhede t.Eliz ChancP
- Ledred al. Lethered 1604 Recov
- Leatherhead 1630 FF
Etymology
This name must remain an unsolved problem. With its first element so suggestive of OE lēod , 'people,' and its second element so obscure, the name looks very much as if even the OE form was really the result of some piece of folk-etymology, just as the present-day form is the outcome of folk-etymology working on the OE and ME forms. What the ultimate (and possibly Celtic) sub-stratum may be, it would be hazardous to conjecture.