Survey of English Place-Names

Historical Forms

• Coresle 1285 Bay 1332 SR

• Corsle 1291 Lewes

• Coseley 1758 FM

• Corslea 1813 O.S.

Etymology

Corsley (6″) is Coresle 1285Bay , 1332 SR (both p), Corsle 1291Lewes , Coseley 1758FM , Corslea 1813 O.S. In another area, or if the earliest forms were not uniformly Cores -, one might associate this place and Cousleywood infra 386 with the element cors postulated by Ekwall (RN 95–6) for certain river-names and associated with Welsh cors , 'fen,' 'bog,' but apart from one or two river-names and the loan-word torr we have no evidence of any Celtic place-name element in Sussex, and where cors is found in English place-names it never appears as Cores - (cf. the forms for Corsley (W) in Ekwall loc. cit .). No certain suggestion is possible but it may be that this name contains a pers. name found also in Corringham (L), DBCoring (e )ham , Corringham , Lindsey Survey Coringheham .