Survey of English Place-Names

Historical Forms

• Piniel 1862 ValS

Etymology

Pinhill Top, Piniel 1862ValS ; this is a fairly common f.n. in the parish, cf. Pen Hill ii, 162, Pendle Hill ii, 235, Pinhill Gap iii, 70, Pinhill 122, Long Pinnel 131supra , the Pinnel 144, Pinneal 157, Pinhill Lock 184, Piniel 196, Pinniel 209, Pinnell 269 infra , mostly not recorded before the nineteenth century, though the Pinnel 144 is recorded as the Pynnell in 1585, Piniel and Pinniel as Pynnel (l ), Pinnel (l ) in 1627 and Pinnell in 1672; the modern forms vary between pinnel and piniel . It is without doubt dial. pinnel (La, Cu, Nb) 'a subsoil of clay and gravel, coarse gravel' (EDD s.v.), and used of a piece of land full of stones and suitable only for rough grazing (HAS 31, 136). It is independently recorded from 1766 (NED s.v.) and is probably a derivative of pin in the sense 'fill up the hollow of a wall with small stones'.