-hay (place name element)

-hay (also hays, hayes, etc.) is a place-name word-ending common in England. It derives from the Old English word hege or haga, Middle English heie, in Icelandic hagi, meaning "an enclosed field", and is from the same root as the English word "hedge", a structure which surrounds and encloses an area of land, from the Norman-French haie, "a hedge". Haw (from O.E. haga) and Hay (from O.E. hege) are cognate and both mean "hedge".

Examples

• Cheslyn Hay, Walsall, meaning "a fenced or hedged enclosure", here perhaps around an ancient cromlech or burial-mound.
• Pipe Hayes ("hedges"), Erdington.

Derbyshire

In the vicinity of Derbyshire:

• Floyer Hayes
• Cotmanhay
• Idridgehay
• Lower Hartshay
• Marehay
• Parsley Hay
• The Findern Hays
• Upper Hartshay

Devon

Exeter

In the vicinity of Exeter:

• Floyer Hayes
• Northern Hay
• Southern Hay
• Shill Hay
• Fryers Hay
• Bon Hay
• Princesshay

Tiverton

In the vicinity of Tiverton:

• Moor Hayes, Cullompton
• Passmore Hayes
• Buck Hayes
• Rashleigh Hayes
• Gorn Hay
• Wid Hayes
• Moor Hayes, Washfield

See also

• Hayes (surname), sometimes derived from this topological source

Sources

• Johnston, Rev. James B., The Place-Names of England and Wales, London, 1915, p. 147 https://archive.org/stream/placenamesofengl00john/placenamesofengl00john_djvu.txt

References