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.

Owlscastle

Early-attested site in the Parish of Horsham

Etymology

Owlscastle may have been one of the hiding places of the owlers who engaged in Surrey and Kent in the trade of smuggling wool or sheep out of England (v. SAC 24, 141 and NED s. v .). For another possibility, v. IPN 149, but it should be noted that no archaeological remains have been found here.