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.

Hurcott

Early-attested site in the Parish of Kidderminster

Historical Forms

  • Worcote 1086 DB
  • Hurchcote Hy2 LyttCh
  • Hurecote 1227 FF
  • Holecote 1275 Ass
  • Horecote, Horkote 1275 SR 1390 ADiii
  • Harcote, Harcoote 1294 Ipm 1579 Wills
  • Harpcote 1315 Ipm 1477 Pat
  • Hurdecote 1545 LP
  • Hurcott 1570 Wills
  • Hutchcott 1652 FF

Etymology

It is clear that there has been corruption in some of the forms given here. Probably behind them all ultimately lies OE  hierde-cot (u ), 'herdsmen-cottages.' The normal development of this, in this area, would be to ME  hurdecote . The d would tend to be lost from the consonant group rdc and then confusion must have arisen with the various words beginning with Hor - (from har and horh ) and possibly also with names like Hardwick, from OE  heordewic, cf. Hurcott (So), Hurdcote and Hurdcott Ho (W) which undoubtedly have the etymology suggested for this name.