House History Tool – Local History
Quick Links
Page 4 of 5
4. Prior Settlement
Many towns have lived through several stages of British history, such as Celtic, Roman, Anglo-Saxon, Viking and Norman. You can discover if your town has its origins in these eras in a number of ways.
Firstly, try typing the name of your town into our search engine to see if it corresponds to our records of Roman and Anglo-Saxon settlement or if it appeared in the Doomsday Book.
Another key to establishing the origins of your town is by examining the origins of its name. The name may indicate who the town or city was founded by for example, towns ending in by - meaning settlement in Old Norse were often originally Viking settlements.
The links below can provide useful information when attempting to trace the origins of your town:
- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_generic_forms_in_British_place_names
- http://www.eng-villages.co.uk/vill_names.html
- http://www.nottingham.ac.uk/english/ins/epntest/keytoepn.html (under development)
Further information on local records can be found in Dr Nick Barratts article on your research desk.
