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.

Hallow

Major Settlement in the Parish of Hallow

Historical Forms

  • Heallingan, halhagan, (halhagan wudes), heallinga, (heallinga weallan), (of halhegan), halhegan, (æt halheogan), halheogan, hallinga, (hallinga homm) 816 BCS356 11th
  • Hallege 964 BCS1135 12th EveB c.1086 1190
  • Halhegan 1086 DB
  • Hallaga, Hallage c.1150 WoC c.1240 WoP 1240
  • Halh c.1240 WoC
  • Hallauwe 1240–50 WoC c.1250 SR 1275 BM 1298
  • Hallowe 1291 Tax 1327 SR
  • Hallewe 1428 FA

Etymology

The history of this name seems clear in spite of the somewhat bewildering variety of forms. The first element is the OE  healh and the second is haga with occasional variants containing the closely allied hege . Cf. kyninges hagan in Grimley (BCS 462).Thus the name means 'enclosure on the nook or corner of land.'This will account for most of the forms, including those like Hallege , Hallage which show early loss of h , while the latest forms are due to ready confusion with ME  lawe , lowe , lewe from OE  hlaw, hlæw . From the healh on which this 'haw' or 'hay' stood, the people themselves could be spoken of as the Healhingas (v. ingas ), which would readily become Heallingas . The cisburn of the bounds of Hallow (BCS 356) survives as chiseburn in WoP (1240). It means 'gravel-stream,' v. cis .