Survey of English Place-Names

Historical Forms

• Stanesfelt 1086 DB

• Stanesfeld(e) 13,1238 YDii 1246 FF 1265 YI 1275 WCR 1309 et freq

• Stanesfeud 1275 ib

• Stanisfeld 13 YDvii

• Stansfeld(e) 1246 DodsN 1276 RH 1309 Ext 1327 WCR 1596 PRHept

• Stansfeud 1286 WCR

• Stansfeild 1653 PRHept

• Staynsfeld 1246 DodsN

• Staynesfeud 1275 WCR

• Stainsfeelde 1590 WillY

• Stancefeld(e) 1383 MinAcct 1543 WillY 1549 Arm

• Stanfeld 1513 FF 1535 VE

• Stanfield 1641 Rates

• Stanes-, Stenesfelda 1086 DB

• Stanesope 1086 DB

• -hop 1227 Ch

• Staneude 1086 DB

• Staneswode 1296 Pat

Etymology

This name is usually interpreted as 'Stān's stretch of open country' from an OE  pers.n. Stān and feld. Such a pers.n. is not recorded independently, though this and other p.ns. like Stansfield Sf (Stanes -, Stenesfelda 1086 DB), Stanshope St (Stanesope 1086 DB, -hop 1227 Ch), Stanesgate Ess 227, and Stanswood Ha (Staneude 1086 DB, Staneswode 1296 Pat) are adduced for its use in p.ns. As noted for Stannington i, 227supra , there are certain rather late OE  dithematic pers.ns. in Stān - (Stānflǣd , Stānwine , etc.) found mostly in East Anglia, but this theme may be simply an anglicising of the common ON  theme Stein - (cf. Feilitzen 371–2); -stān is quite common as a second el. in such OE  pers.ns. as Ælfstān , Æþelstān , Dūnstān , etc., and Stān could be conceived as a pet-form of some such name (of the type found in Heaburg cognomento Buggae , cf. Redin 115, Sx 234), but this is a rare formation. The evidence for an OE  Stān is therefore none too good. Formally, it is of course possible that Stān is an anglicised form of the common ON  pers.n. Steinn , ODan  Stēn , and the rare spellings like Stayn (e )s - or Stenes - for the two Stansfields may be vestiges of such an origin; this is likely enough with the Sf p.n. for it is in that region where OE  pers.ns. in Stān - (potentially from ON  Stein -) are most plentiful. In the case of the YW p.n., however, an OE  stanes-feld 'open land marked by a stone' or 'open land belonging to a place called Stān ' is more probable; there is in fact a stone marked on the 6″ O.S. map immediately on the top side of Stansfield Hall (grid 942247) and indeed the rocks called Bride Stones (infra ) have been proposed as the stone alluded to (Stanf 76); cf. also Stones 13 Wads (p), the surname of a Stansfield man. v. stān , feld , and on the possible use of the gen.sg. in -es 2 in such compounds v. EPN i, 158–9. It may be added that Stansfield in La 58 some 6 miles away is possibly derived from a family-name which originated here.