Patchway
Early-attested site in the Parish of Falmer
Historical Forms
- Petteleswige c.765 BCS197 c.1300
- Peccheleswia 12th Lewes
- Piceleswia 1121 AC
- Pac(c)heleswy(e) 1263 FF 1279 ADA15527
- Pac(c)heleswy(e) in parochia de Falmere 1279 Lewes 1342,1389 Ct
- Patteswye 1557 Rental
- Pattiswye 1787 SAC37 1842–3 TA
- Patchwye t.Jas1 LRMB
Etymology
Patchway is a small meadow inside Stanmer Park, the last relic of a series of fields of that name on the Falmer-Stanmer boundary mentioned in the Tithe Awards for those parishes, near the NW corner of the detached part of Falmer. The first part of the name is a pers. name Pæccel or Peccel , a diminutive of the name Pæcci which is found in Patching. The second element is of great interest as it is clearly the word wig or weoh , already noted in Weedon (Bk, Nth) (PN Bk 85), Weoley (PN Wo 350) and Willey (Sr). As a suffix it must mean 'sacred place' or even 'temple' and is clearly a relic of ancient heathenism, Pæccel being the name of the one-time owner of the site. We have one other such name of a heathen site in cusanweoh in Surrey (BCS 72). -way is a modern corruption of the correct and persistent -wye .