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.

Thurland's Drove

Early-attested site in the Parish of Upwell

Historical Forms

  • Trillinga c.1155 Thorney
  • Trillinge c.1175 ib
  • Trillingishord 1284 Peterb
  • Tryllinge 13th Chateriz
  • Thrilling(e) 1175 Thorney 1251 ElyCouch
  • þrillinge 1221 ElyA
  • þrinlinge 1221 ElyA
  • Thyrlingewere 13th ElyM
  • Thirling(e), Thirling(e) Halle 1551 Pat 1589 BM
  • Thurlings 1706 Moore
  • Thurland' 1461 Ct
  • Thurlands Drove c.1840 TA

Etymology

This is described as a piscaria . Cf. also the 13th-century Thyrlingewere . The drove is on the Upwell boundary, near Laddus Bank, but the exact site of Trillinga is unknown. We may well have here OE  þȳrelung , 'a piercing, a hole,' with reference to a gap or break in some fen-dike. Cf. Hole in the Wall Fm in Upwell (Nf). The early metathesis is, however, a little disturbing.