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.

Rockmoor Down, Rockmoor Pond

Early-attested site in the Parish of Buttermere

Historical Forms

  • þrocmere 863 BCS508 c.1150 961 c.1250 ib
  • þorcmere, þoroc- mere 961 c.1225 ib
  • Trokkemere 1410 Peramb
  • Rockmoor c.1840 TA

Etymology

Rockmoor Down, Rockmoor Pond (6″). This is þrocmere 863 (c. 1150) BCS 508, 961 (c. 1250) ib. 1080, þorcmere , þoroc - mere 961 (c. 1225) ib. 1080, Trokkemere 1410Peramb , Rockmoor c. 1840TA . This name probably repeats itself in the first part of Throckmorton (PN Wo 169). Ekwall (DEPN s. n. Throckenholt) calls attention to OE  þroc , 'table, timber on which the ploughshare is fixed,' which, in the form drock , was still used in the 18th century in Gloucestershire of part of the plough (EDD s. v .). See further s. n. Throcking (PN Herts 187) where reference is made to Drockbridge (Ha), þroc - briggæ BCS 393 and Throckley (PN NbDu 196).drock is also used in Wiltshire and in Gloucestershire, Berkshire and Somerset of a covered drain, a small water- course, a ditch, a flat stone across a ditch, and there can be little doubt that we have it in one or other of these senses in Drock Piece in Winterbourne Bassett (supra 310) and in field- names The Drocks in Westbury, Drock Bottom in Huish, Drock Piece in Alton Barnes.

Places in the same Parish

Major Settlement