Worcestershire Place Names #231470

Nearly all English place-names have their root in anglo-saxon the principal exceptions are rivers and hills, which frequently maintain their earlier names (especially large rivers), and then their construction is almost hopeless. On the west side of Severn a few names appear to be of Welsh origin (e. G. Malvern, Mathon, Pendock, Pensax, and should therefore be dealt with by a Welsh scholar. Before commencing my work I was of opinion that the Norsemen had left no permanent traces of their invasions in Worcestershire but I now think it pretty clear they made a settlement in the neighbourhood of Clent and Hagley, probably on one of their raids up Severn. The same thing happened in North Staffordshire, where several place-names and words are clearly of Danish origin. The anglo-saxons appear to have been a homely race, for their place-names have the simplest origins, very different to the Welsh, Irish, and Scotch, whose names largely savour of poetry, sentiment, and history.