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.

Allesley

Major Settlement in the Parish of Allesley

Historical Forms

  • Alleslega 1176 P 1538 ADiii
  • Allisleye 1279 Nott 1325 Ipm
  • Elleslege 1250 Cl
  • Aleslegh 1251 ib
  • Alesleye 1275 RH 1332 ADvi
  • Alesle 13th FW
  • Aleslie 1256 Pap
  • Aleslee 1325 Cl
  • Aliesley 1279 Nott
  • Allesley oth. Awsley 1782 Recov
  • Alvesley 1535 VE
  • Alvisley 1540 Monast

Etymology

'Ælle 's clearing or wood,' v. leah . In 1356 (StoweCh ) there is mention of an Allesbrok , a 'rivulus' dividing Allesley parish from Stoneleigh. The same man probably gave name to the brook and the leah and to the neighbouring Alspath (supra 64). Duignan (PN Wa 10) quotes the form Alvisley from the Monasticon without date and on the basis of that form interprets the name as 'Aelf 's leah.' The true date of this form is 1540 (cf. Monast iii, 201) and it can hardly be quoted therefore against the long series of forms from the 12th century onwards which show no trace of a v. Zachrisson (StudNP vi, 42–3) identifies the Aelfricesleage of KCD 724 with Allesley and quotes Duignan's Alvisley as a ME form in support of this but does not note its true date. The identification is however extremely improbable.All the rest of the land dealt with in KCD 724 is in the neighbourhood of Stratford on Avon and Warwick and it is a far cry from there to Allesley near Coventry. Furthermore, KCD 724 is a grant by Leofsige, bishop of Worcester, while Allesley is in the Coventry-Lichfield diocese.