Survey of English Place-Names

Historical Forms

• Ses(s), Seace 1292 Stowe

• Ses 1416 CtMartham

• Sesse 1424,1507 ib

• Cess 1845 White

Etymology

, the westerly hamlet of Martham , Ses (s ), Seace 1292Stowe , Ses 1416Ct Martham , Sesse 1424, 1507ib , Cess 1845 White ; Cess is considered to be a word of uncertain derivation by all dictionaries . It is derived from cesspool , not evidenced until the 18th cent. , which is explained in ODEE as “ alteration , with assimilation to pool , of cesperalle , susprall , suspirel settling tank ” . This does not seem applicable to the simplex Sess , Seace from 1292 . It is more plausible that this is the cess ' peat-bog ' which is recorded as a dial . word from 1636 in OED . It seems worth considering derivation from OE  seað ' pit, hole ' , if we assume that the final dental fricative instead of being lost , which often happened as a result of Norman influence in final position ( v .