Crab Marsh
Early-attested site in the Parish of Wisbech St Peter
Historical Forms
- Crabbemershe 1508 Ct
Etymology
Crab Marsh (6″) is Crabbemershe 1508Ct . This is on the seaward side of Roman Bank (supra 206) and is so called from the growth here of crab-grass or glasswort (salicornia herbacea ), a medicinal plant common in saltmarshes. Cf. Crab Grasse 1597, the only reference in NED before 1861. In 1617 one of the questions asked of deponents was whether “sampier, crabbegrasse or sea wormwodd growe upon any (sic ) the marshes” in Leverington and Newton (Depositions ).