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.

The Elms

Early-attested site in the Parish of Hallow

Historical Forms

  • Helme 1240 WoP 1275 SR

Etymology

This is probably the ordinary tree-name, with inorganic h in the ME forms. Habington (i. 499) thinks, from the phrase in an early document 'In Elemes Wm. de Winchester holds ½ yard-land,' that the real name of this place was 'in Elemosinam,' and that the name refers to the tenure!