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.

Gadfield Elm

Early-attested site in the Parish of Eldersfield

Historical Forms

  • Gatefeld 1275,1327 SR

Etymology

These places are within a quarter of a mile of one another and should probably be associated. The second is clearly OE  gāta -feld , 'open land of the goats' (v. gat , feld ). Gadbury Bank is a conspicuous hill and may be the Berewe (v. beorg ) of the first quotation. The full form of the name may have been OE  gāta -beorg , ME  gate-berewe , or it may simply have been influenced by the neighbouring place-name.