Goadby Marwood

The image above shows the ordnance survey map from the late 19th Century overlaid on a contemporary image from Google Earth, with the field names taken from the 1839 Tithe Survey. The names of modern-day farms throughout the parish have been added for reference. Many of the field boundaries from 1839 survive to the present day, particularly those close to the village. In most cases the meanings of the field names are self-explanatory, for example, Great Field, Six Acres, New Meadow, Top/Bottom Pasture, etc., but some are more difficult to explain.

 

Near the western parish boundary lie Cransyke and Upper Cransyke Fields, an unusual name that has persisted and is still with us today, albeit with a slightly altered spelling, as Cranyke Farm. The origin may derive from the Middle English words, cran, meaning long/tall and thin, and syke, meaning a marshy area or stream. It possibly also refers to cranes or herons that may once have been common at the site.

​

Another unusual name is Fordlelion Close located on Eastwell Road close to White Lodge. Cox in his Place Names of Leicestershire (Part Two - Framland Hundred) describes the oddly-named field as ‘unexplained’, although he does note a similarity in nomenclature to Lionville just within the Scalford boundary near Cranyke Farm. The ‘ford’ may denote a crossing of a watercourse at some point in the past, of which no trace now remains.

​

Several large fields that existed on the 1839 Tithe Map had been subdivided by the late 19th Century. For example, Dale Field to the north-west of the village once covered a large area of around 60 acres. The name refers to level or gently sloping ground between low hills with a stream flowing through it, and is derived from the Old English dæl meaning vale or valley. The ancient Salt Way passes through this field and part of the track is still in use as a public byway. No trace of a stream exists today although the area is prone to flooding after heavy rain.

​

Near and Far Lamb Cotts, to the north of Hall Farm (marked as Park Farm on old OS maps) derive from the Old English word cot meaning a hut or shelter; the same fields are still used for grazing sheep and cattle today. To the south of Hall Farm lie Mill Field and Mill Meadow indicating the possible location of a medieval mill of which no obvious trace remains. Neighbouring Clay Field which lies to the south of The Laurels is a reminder that the old farmhouse used to be known as Clayfield Farm.

​

Baltimoor and Bullmoor, names used to describe various enclosures bordering the largest of the lakes belonging to Goadby Hall, are probably corruptions of Bellemere, the name of the lake dating from at least the mid-1700s, from belle, Anglo-Norman for beautiful and the Old English word, mere, meaning lake. Writing in the 1890s, amateur historian, Walter Manners, whose ancestors lived at Goadby Hall, bemoans the corruption of the name:

“The curious instance of the evolution of a name is afforded here. ‘The Belle Mere’ which is a particularly picturesque and graceful title, became corrupted locally into the ‘Bulla Mere’ and from that to ‘Bullamore’. So ugly and truculent a name can scarcely be suspected of such refined parentage; but it still survives, and in the ‘field’ newspapers of the present week there is an account of a meet of the Belvoir hounds at Goadby Hall on which occasion a fox was found in the ‘Bullamore Spinney’. It is usually known now among the chroniclers of hunting as ‘Goadby Bullamore’ which, if anything, renders it a shade uglier.”

 

Grange Field and Bull Paddock to the north west of the village mark the location of Blesswell Grange, a medieval estate farm belonging to the Cistercian monastic institution of Garendon Abbey near Loughborough. Cox states the most likely derivation is from the Old Norse blesi meaning a bare spot on a hill, and wella, Old English for a spring or stream. The site, listed by Historic England as a scheduled monument, retains the foundations of many stone buildings which, together with the associated enclosures and a fishpond, comprise an important medieval complex. One of the most notable earthworks is a circular feature, nine metres in diameter, which has been identified as the remains of a dovecote.

​

Just to the east of Blesswell Grange lie Great Park and Little Park, reminders of the medieval deer park that once surrounded Goadby Hall, and beyond them, the gently sloping Dove Hills, from the Old Norse dufá meaning gentle. An interesting feature on the boundary of Great Park and neighbouring Dale Field is the raised earthwork, now covered in small conifers, which may be the location of a Bronze Age burial mound. The Leicestershire Architectural and Archeologically Society made reference in their 1874 transactions catalogue to items of gold found in a tumulus within Goadby Hall parkland and exhibited at the Melton Corn Exchange by Mrs Louisa Norman, whose family lived at the hall.

​

East and West Amby Closes to the south of Blesswell Grange today form one large pasture, the old dividing hedge having all but vanished; this field was the last in the village to be farmed using the medieval strip system. Cox mentions a reference in the 1638 Glebe Terrier to Amby Bridge and immediately to the west of Grange Field there is an oddly shaped field named Stone Bridge Hole, which may be connected. The Goadby Estate map of 1715 records the field name as Auby rather than Amby, which may indicate a derivation from the Old Norse word áll meaning eel. Today the area is known as Orbis.

​

Gamble Field, close to Bellemere Farm, may derive from the Old English gamenian meaning to play, although Cox notes the proximity to Amby/Auby Close and suggests that the name may derive from an Old Norse personal name indicating a lost Norse farmstead in that area.

​

Kitching Close, Rimingtons Meadow and Wilkinsons Close, all located near to the centre of the village, take their names from families who lived in Goadby from as early as at least the mid-1600s, although by the time the tithe survey was carried out in 1839, all three family names had disappeared from the parish records.

​

The quaintly named Pingle Pool Close & Pond, located next to Kitching Close, is from the Middle English and refers to a small area of enclosed ground. The word is sometimes used to describe a small, metal pan or shallow cooking pot, usually with a long handle.

​

There are two areas named Goffs Cover, Goff being the old-fashioned, medial or long S spelling of goss or gorse, the familiar spiky, evergreen shrub which boasts bright yellow flowers in the spring. The name is still with us today with Goadby Gorse at the top of the hill often referred to as The Goss. The other Goffs Cover, located part way down the hill into the village, still retains remnants of gorse bushes which today provide welcome protection from the elements for the field’s equine inhabitants.

​

It is to be assumed that the field names associated with our beautiful village will continue to evolve over time as a result of various linguistic, cultural, political, and environmental influences. Old names may be shortened, altered in pronunciation, or simplified in spelling as the language of the local population evolves leading to significant changes over the years, with some original names becoming barely recognisable in their current form. These changes are not merely cosmetic but reflect deeper shifts in authority, identity, and memory, illustrating how place names serve as living records of history and culture.

 

References:

Key to English Place Names - University of Nottingham 

Place Names of Leicestershire - Cox

​