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.

Medhone Fm

Early-attested site in the Parish of Petworth

Historical Forms

  • Medehone 1279 1314 Ipm 1397,1423 IpmR
  • Meadhone 1610 Norden

Etymology

The second element would seem to be OE  hān , 'rock, stone,' but as the soil here is deep clay, if that is the word which we have here, it can only be used of a boundary-stone (cf. Marringdean infra 149). Medhone is only a quarter of a mile from the parish boundary. Possibly the whole name means 'boundary- stone in pasture land' (v. mæd ) but no certainty is possible.