Ismere House
Early-attested site in the Parish of Churchill
Historical Forms
- Husmeræ 736 BCS154
- Provincia Usmerorum c.760 BCS220 11th
- in Usmerum, Usmerum 781 BCS241 11th
- Usmere 964 BCS1134 11th
Etymology
In the first reference we have the name of a provincia , in the third the name is presumably in the dat. pl. after the preposition in . In the second we have a latinized gen. pl. of Usmere . The lake or rather chain of lakes from which this district took its name is that which runs from the present Broadwaters in Kidderminster to Churchill (v. mere ). The first element is difficult. Professor Ekwall (Anglia Beiblatt xxxvi. 279) and Professor Zachrisson (English PN and River-names 15), take the first element here to be the common river-name Use with early loss of e from the compound Use-mere . They note a further compound of this river-name and mere in the usanmere of BCS 123 (not 125, as in Zachrisson's text). Ismere House must take its name from the province rather than from the 'meres' themselves for it lies more than a mile to the north-east of them.