Signs of the old times...

AB KETTLEBY

According to Wikipedia, the name Ab Kettleby is of Danish origin and the Kettleby bit of the name means “Ketil’s homestead”.

Then Ketil’s land was split in two and the new owner, Ab, named his bit after himself, while the other bit became Eye Kettleby.

ASHBY-DE-LA-ZOUCH

The historic market town started out as just plain “Ashby”, meaning ash tree settlement, and after the Normans invaded the La Zouche family were given the town and decided to make it sound a bit posher.

BARTON IN THE BEANS

According to Wikipedia, the village started out as Bartone, meaning a farm with an estate, and picked up the rest of its name from the broad bean crops in Leicestershire.

The website says: “A popular saying in the county is ‘shake a Leicestershire man by the collar and you may hear the beans rattle in his belly.’

“Leicestershire was once noted for cultivating the broad bean and in this way the bean has been perpetuated in place names.”

BURTON LAZARS

The small village near Melton was originally Burtone, meaning a fortified farm, and got the second part after a leprosy hospital run by The Order of Saint Lazarus was opened nearby.

The village has a natural sulphurous spring which was probably a major reason for the location of the hospital.

CARLTON CURLIEU

The small village in Harborough district is a combination of Carlton, meaning farm of free peasants and the name of William de Curley, who owned the village in the 13th century.

In 1086 the Domesday survey listed 24 inhabitants and by the time of the 2001 census, the parish population had shot up to, erm, 30.

COPT OAK

The tiny village, known these days for its busy crossroads just off the A50, was named after its most distinctive tree. The word copt just means pollarded.

CROXTON KERRIAL

The Croxton bit refers to the farm of Krok, while the Kerrial part was added in honour of Bertram de Criol, who was the lord of Croxton Manor in the 13th century.

EYRES MONSELL

Not as historic as the others, but the Eyres Monsell name was given to the Leicester estate after it was bought by the city council for housing from Councillor Bolton Eyres-Monsell – or Bolton Eyres-Monsell, 1st Viscount Monsell, to his mum – via a compulsory purchase order in 1950. He got £40,500 for the then rural land.

FENNY DRAYTON

The village on the A5 near the Warwickshire border takes its name from the flat, fen-like ground and Drayton meaning a farm where people used to carry things from one river to another river.

GRIFFYDAM

Wikipedia state: “The place name actually derives from ‘Griffith’sDam.’ A man-made pond and remnants of the bank built for this dam can still be seen below the lane called The Tentas.”

HUSBANDS BOSWORTH

The village website states that the Bosworth bit was originally Baresworde, meaning Bar’s farm. Later, to distinguish it from nearby Market Bosworth, it was given the name Husbandmen’s Bosworth – the farmers’ Bosworth.

JOHN O’GAUNT

The village takes its name from John O’Gaunt Railway Station, which served Twyford and Burrough on the Hill between 1883 and 1953. The railway station had previously been named after a thicket that was popular with fox hunters. It’s not explained on Wikipedia where the thicket got its name, though.

KIRBY MUXLOE

The first part of the name is from a Dane called Caeri who set up a community in the area in the 10th century.

As you drive around Leicestershire, it’s not unusual to pass a road sign that makes you think “where does that come from?” or even “what a stupid name for a village”. Tom Mack had a trawl through Wikipedia and some other sites to find some of the explanations behind the weird place names dotted around the county, ranging from ancient settlements with Old Norse names to a city estate named after a councillor in the 1950s

In the Domesday book from 1086 the village was identified as Carbi. The origin of the second part is believed to be from a family name, although the village has been variously referred to in past centuries as Kirby Muckelby, Kirby Mullox and Kirby Muckle.

LEICESTER

Okay, this is not that odd, but we thought we would sneak it in anyway.

The name of the city, known as Ratae Corieltauvorum in Roman times, comes from Ligor, the former name of the River Soar.

The early ninth century name was Legorensis civitatis, meaning Ligor citizens. By the time of the Domesday book in 1086 they were calling it Ledecestre, with the second half of that word meaning a Roman fort.

NEWTON BURGOLAND

Back to odd names, the North West Leicestershire district village appears in the Domesday Book as Neutone, meaning new village.

By 1390 the name had changed to Neuton Burgilon, with the second part referring to the Burgilon family who lived there, their own name deriving from Burgundy in France.

NEWTON HARCOURT

The first bit is an amalgamation of New and “tun”, meaning an enclosure, farmstead or village – in this case new far,/settlement, and it was held by Richard de Harcourt in 1236.

ODSTONE

There are two theories about the name of the Hinckley and Bosworth district village, according to Wikipedia. Either it was the village of someone called “Odd” or the name comes from the Old Norse word oddr, meaning a protruding point of land.

PLUNGAR

The Melton village’s name means the triangular plot where plum trees grow. It is thought it ultimately comes from the Old English word plume and the Old Scandinavian word garthr.

QUENIBOROUGH

Previously spelled as Cuinburg, Quenburg and Queniburg, the village’s name comes from the old English term Cwene-burg, meaning the queen’s manor.

QUORN

The name comes from the Old English cweorndun, meaning the hill where millstones come from. It underwent a relatively recent name change, going from Quorndon to Quorn in 1889 because the postal service were getting it mixed up with Quarndon up the road in Derbyshire.

SMEETON WESTERBY

Originally Smeeton and Westerby were two separate hamlets of Smeeton and Westerby but they merged some time ago to become the village that it is today.

The two names come from the original Smiths’ farm/settlement (tun, in Old English) and the Westerly farm/settlement.

The “by” part of Westerby comes from Old Norse, meaning farmstead.

TUR LANGTON

The Langton part of the name, which it shares with neighbouring villages, is from the Anglo-Saxon for a long town.

But the village was previously named Terlintone. Wikipedia says: “Tur Langton’s present day name does not appear to have been established until at least the late 16th century.”

TWYCROSS

The village gets its name from the fact it lies at the intersection of three roads. Nice and simple, that one!

WHITWICK

The village near Coalville used to be called Witewic in the 11th century when the Domesday Book was written.

According to Wikipedia there are different theories based on different translations of wite and wic, but it either means guardhouse, The White Farm or Hwita’s Farm.

WILLOUGHBY WATERLEYS

The name Willoughby Waterleys was formerly Willoughby Waterless, according to Wikipedia, with the two parts meaning a willow tree farm or settlement and water meadows.