Survey of English Place-Names

Historical Forms

• Panhal(e) 1170 P e.13 YDiv 13 YDx 1280 Ch 1291 Tax 1304 Percy 1475 SpfCt

• Panhalle 1301 YI

• Panehal(e) 1271 Ebor 1280,1281(1312),1304

• Penhale 1275 Ebor

• Panall 1301 Font 1377 FF 1414 Pat

• Pannall 1409,1441 DiocV 1511 KnaresWill 1590 WillY

• Pannell 1597 SessnR 1658 PRFrn

Etymology

A compound of OE  panne 'pan' and halh 'nook of land'. The exact topographical meaning of panne is not certain; it could be 'a hollow or valley shaped like a pan, broad and shallow' or it might well be a much earlier example of the application of the word to 'a hollow or depression in the ground in which water stands' (from 1594, NED s.v. pan ). The latter seems more probable here, and would denote some hollow near the junction of Crimple Beck and Clark Beck.