Bird - OE brid, cocc, fugel, hana, hen - ON fugl

Unsurprisingly, generalist bird terms form one of the largest categories of avian place-names. In certain habitats and circumstances, of course, early inhabitants of these locations may well have known and intended an individual species or a group of birds by these words (more specific local knowledge is implied behind the generic). In other cases, simply the wider essences or properties of ‘bird’ taken in a more abstract sense may have been understood or recognised as powerfully evocative or defining (such as we might say today, for instance, with waders on a shoreline, or the congregation of species in a woodland dawn chorus). Some of these names will have denoted domestic birds as well as wild ones. (See the page for ‘woodcock’ as well for OE cocc place-names that likely refer to that species.)

Note: asterisks at the end of names denote ambiguity about the meaning, the bird referent in the name being just one possible interpretation).

Birdbrook (Esx)

Birdham (W Ssx)

Birdlip (Glos)*

Birdsall (Yorks)*

Birdwell (Yorks)

Birdwood (Glos)

Bridford (Dev)*

Bridgemere (Ches)

Chicheley (Bucks)*

Chickney (Esx)*

Chignall St James (Esx)*

Cock Clarkes (Esx)

Cockernhoe (Herts)

Cockey Moor (lost, Lancs)

Cockfield (Co Dur)*

Cockhampstead (historic, Herts)

Cocklaw (Northumb)

Cockleyhill (lost, Northants)

Cockthorpe (Norf)*

Coggeshall (Esx)*

Cople (Beds)*

Foulden (Norf)

Fowlmere (Cambs)

Foulness (Esx)

Foulney Island (Cumbs)

Foulsham (Norf)

Fugglestone (Saint Peter) (Wilts)

Fulbourn (Cambs)

Fullerton (Hants)

Fulmer (Bucks)

Fulscot (Berks)

Fulshaw (Ches)

Fulstone (Yorks)

Fulstow (Lincs)

Hampole (Yorks)*

Hanborough (Oxon)*

Handforth (Ches)*

Hanford (Staffs)

Hanham (Glos)*

Hannah (Lincs)*

Hannington (Wilts)*

Hanwell (GLond)*

Hanwood (Shrops)

Hanworth (GLond)*

(East and West) Hanney (Oxon)

(East and West) Hendred (Oxon)

Henfield (W Ssx)*

Henheads (Lancs)

Henhull (Ches)*

Henhurst (Kent)

Henley (Shrop)

Henlow (Beds)*

Henmarsh (lost, Herts)

(Great and Little) Henny (Esx)*

Hensington (Oxon)*

Henstead (Suff)

Henthorn (lost, Lancs)

Henton (Som)

Henwood (Corn)

Hinnegar (lost, Glos)

Honicknowle (Dev)*

Honley (Yorks)*

Field names: Hennacre, Leicester (Leics), Henle, Stottesdon (Shrops), Hennelandes, Winksley (Yorks), Hennelandys, Cossington (Leics), Hen Wong, Thurlaston (Leics). For OE cocc field names see the pages for woodcock and grouse.

Birds appear in charters relating to the following places: Battesea, GLond (10th cen.), Bishops Cleeve, Glos (8th cen.), Brokenborough, Wilts (?), Crediton, Devon (8th cen.), Dawlish, Dev (11th cen.), Didlington, Dor (10th cen.), Evenlode, Glos (10th cen.), Evesham, Worcs (?), Ewen, Glos (?), Hampstead, GLond (10th cen.), Hurstbourne Tarrant, Hants (10th cen.), Isle of Wight, Hants (10th cen.), Ladbroke and Radbourne, Warks (10th cen.), Littleham, Dev (11th cen.), Norton, Wilts (?), Osanlea, lost (10th cen.), Pusey, Berks (10th cen.), Fovant, Wilts (10th cen.), Rodbourne, Wilts (?), Sandford, Dev (10th cen.), Southham, Warks (10th cen.), Stoulton, Worcs (10th cen.), Tarrant Hinton, Dor (10th cen.), Watchfield, Berks (10th cen.), Water Eaton, Oxon (10th cen.), Witney, Oxon (10th cen.), Wivelsfield, Ssx (8th cen.)

Sources (see ‘About’ page for the full bibliography): Watt, Cambridge Dictionary; Ekwall, Oxford Dictionary; Gelling and Cole, Landscape of Place-Names; epns.nottingham.ac.uk; www.langscape.org.uk.