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.

High and Low Grains

Other OS name in the Parish of Askerton

Historical Forms

  • Graynes 1552 CW(OS)xiii
  • Lowe Graines 1618 NaworthA
  • the highe Graines 1622 Boothby

Etymology

are Graynes 1552 CW (OS) xiii, Lowe Graines 1618 NaworthA, the highe Graines 1622Boothby . Low Grains is in Bewcastle . The word grayn or grain , from ON  grein , meant originally ' branch of a tree , ' whence the meaning ' tributary . ' It commonly denoted the meeting - place of two streams . It probably has this meaning here , with reference to the meeting of two or more of the streams which unite to form Kirk Beck .