Quabrook
Early-attested site in the Parish of Hartfield
Historical Forms
- ate Quabbalke 1285 CplM
- Quabbock 1292 Ct
- Quabback 1546 FM
- Quabocke, Quavrocke 1642–9 VCHii.319
- Qualbat 1296 SR
- Quaylooke (sic) 1560 FM
- Quavocke, Quavockegill 1564 DuLa
- Quavoke 1724 B
- Quabrooke 1625 FM
- Quavebrooke 1658 ParlSurv
Etymology
The first element is certainly the dialectal quob , earlier quabbe , 'boggy place,' carrying the history of the word back some 300 years earlier than the first recorded instance in the NED. We may note also on heahstanes quabben (BCS 1218, a ME version of a Dorsetshire charter), Quob (Ha), FF , 1311 Ipmla Quabbe , Quobwell (W), 1292, 1349 Ipm Cuabbavella , Quabwall .See also PN BedsHu 136 n. The second element is doubtful.Was it a balk of timber used for crossing a miry place, so that in the first case we have a man living 'at the bog-balk'? For gill , v. Inholms Gill supra 203.