Place Name Origins
WITTON - Old English: “Witta’s enclosure/village”
First named as thus in 1246.
REDLAM - Old English: “Red lum(b)/pool/pond”
Written ‘Reddlomme’ in 1609.
LIVESEY - Old English/Norse: “Island in the marsh ground”, or:
Old English: “Island of Leof” – maybe Leofwin of Pleasington? The idea of the ‘island’ denoted a “firm area surrounded by marsh” (G. C. Miller, p. 7).
The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle entry for 1002 AD mentions a Leof, or Leofsy, the fleet Alderman, who slew Eafy, high-steward to the king, Ethelred II, and was sent into exile by the monarch.
The Blackburnshire area being, at that time, little more than forest and rough pastureland, under only nominal control of the king of “Englaland” at best, this may well have been his destination.
“Ey” is an attested Norse word, thus possibly implying the presence of settlers of this race in the area. Maybe the first part of the name denotes a Danish or Norwegian Leif rather than an Anglo-Saxon Leof?
Written ‘Liveseye’ in 1227.
On one occasion noted by this researcher, the parish was named ‘Liveslay’, which must convey the meaning of “Leof’s ‘ley’, or meadow”, although this appears to have been a later innovation.
CHERRY TREE – named for the old house here, the ‘Cherry Tree in Livesey’, or Cherry Tree House, which was occupied in the 18th century. The house was named in honour of the cherry trees planted in the garden.
FENISCOWLES - Old English: “Huts in the marsh” – fenny = ‘marshy’, scholes = ‘huts’
It is possible that the “scholes” part is derived from Old Norse (cf Brinscall).
Written ‘Feinycholes’ in 1276.
One interesting idea of the derivation of this name is found cited in -------------, which casts doubts on the above derivation due to the proximity of the name FENISCLIFFE, where the idea of a “marshy cliff” is illogical.
The source states that the name of the village was written as “Phenixcoles” in a will dated 1688.
The suggestion is that the “coles” part comes from the Welsh word coel.
The source also mentions a Phoenix Mill east of Witton, although this is much closer to Blackburn’s ancient centre than to any old settlement at Feniscowles, and the text chooses to ignore the name of the closer Griffin Mill and area, also named in honour of a mythical being.
This hypothesis relates to the so-called PENDLE ZODIAC, in which the cap of the Virgin is located around here.
This could also indicate that the “Fenis” part comes from the Norman French word finis meaning “end”.
A word on the Phoenix Mill. Whereas many of the old mills in the Blackburn area have been demolished, this one still stands, and is now a glue factory – it has risen, phœnix-like, from the ashes of the dead cotton industry to live anew, The name has proved to be apt.
FENISCLIFFE - Old English: “Outcrop in the marsh”
On maps until the 1930s, the name was always spelt “Finiscliffe”, thus throwing up the possibility that the first part of the name is derived from the Norman French finis (see FENISCOWLES).
This was the name of a farm near Billinge View before the development of the village.
PLEASINGTON - Old English: “Plessa’s village”, “the village/enclosure of the Plessingas, i.e. clan of Plessa”
Spelt ‘Plesingtuna’ in 1196. Often spelt ‘Plessington’ in days of yore.
BILLINGE – possibly “of the Billingas, i.e. the people of Billa”, or from Old English bill = ‘sword’. If the name is for the Billingas, this would be the oldest topographical evidence for Anglian settlement in the immediate area.
First known in 1429.
EWOOD – Old English?: “the wood by the river”
First used in 1246.
TOCKHOLES - Old English: “Toche’s hollow”
HOGHTON - Old English: “Hilly/high village?” (cf. “Hoch-town”)
MELLOR - Old British/Welsh: “moelfre”, “Barren/bare hill”
Written in 1130 as ‘Malver’.
‘The Lancashire Village Book’ (p. 148) suggests that “Moel, from the Celtic word for a small round-topped hill” was the original name.
The area in these early times was mainly wooded, therefore a barren hill would be conspicuous. There is much evidence of early settlement here to possibly give weight to this hypothesis.
SAMLESBURY – “burh” is Old English for a fortified place.
It has been hypothesised that the “Samles” part comes ultimately from the name of the River Ribble – a Dr. Webber states that the Roman geographer Ptolemy, who circumnavigated the island in the pre-Christian era, called the Ribble “Belisama“. This may indicate a possible Roman fort on the Ribble in the immediate locality.
BLACKBURN - Old English: “murky river”, although it is possibly “clear river”
In the Domesday Book, it was called ‘Blacheborne’.
The area of Blakey Moor in the town was formerly ‘Blacheley’, “the bleaching meadow”, suggesting a place where people cleaned their garments in the river, possibly suggesting that the latter interpretation is correct.
DARWEN - Old British *derventio, Old Welsh derwenyd = ‘through the oaks’
This is analogous with Derwent, a name of many Northern rivers, and the former name of the present one, known to Oliver Cromwell as the ‘Darwent’.
BRINDLE - Old English: “Burnt hill”
BRINSCALL - Old English: “Burnt” + Old Norse “huts/hall”
This is the closest confirmed Norse place name, although this does not preclude settlement by Danes and Norwegians in the immediate area at this time.
OLD ENGLISH - West Germanic language of Anglo-Saxons, spoken in these isles from the fifth century AD to approximately 1150 AD.
OLD NORSE - North Germanic language of the Norwegian Vikings, who began to filter into Lancashire from Man, Ireland (whose present capital, Dublin, was one of this group’s major cities) and the Hebrides, about 900 AD.
OLD BRITISH - Celtic language of most of Britain from about 600 BC to around 500 AD, at which point it began to develop, giving rise to Welsh, Breton, Cornish and, possibly, Cumbric.
