A "-''wich'' town" is a settlement in
Anglo-Saxon England
Anglo-Saxon England or early medieval England covers the period from the end of Roman Empire, Roman imperial rule in Roman Britain, Britain in the 5th century until the Norman Conquest in 1066. Compared to modern England, the territory of the ...
characterised by extensive
artisan
An artisan (from , ) is a skilled craft worker who makes or creates material objects partly or entirely by hand. These objects may be functional or strictly decorative, for example furniture, decorative art, sculpture, clothing, food ite ...
al activity and tradean "
emporium". The name is derived from the
Anglo-Saxon
The Anglo-Saxons, in some contexts simply called Saxons or the English, were a Cultural identity, cultural group who spoke Old English and inhabited much of what is now England and south-eastern Scotland in the Early Middle Ages. They traced t ...
suffix , signifying "a dwelling or fortified place".
Such settlements were usually coastal and many have left
material traces found during
excavation.
Eilert Ekwall wrote:
As well as ''-wich'', ''-'' was the origin of the endings and , as, for example, in
Papplewick,
Nottinghamshire
Nottinghamshire (; abbreviated ''Notts.'') is a ceremonial county in the East Midlands of England. The county is bordered by South Yorkshire to the north-west, Lincolnshire to the east, Leicestershire to the south, and Derbyshire to the west. Th ...
.
Four former "-''wīc'' towns" are known in
England
England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...
as the consequence of excavation. Two of these
Jorvik (Jorwic) in present-day York and
Lundenwic near Londonare waterfront sites, while the other two,
Hamwic in Southampton and Gipeswic (Gippeswic) in
Ipswich
Ipswich () is a port town and Borough status in the United Kingdom, borough in Suffolk, England. It is the county town, and largest in Suffolk, followed by Lowestoft and Bury St Edmunds, and the third-largest population centre in East Anglia, ...
are further inland.
[R. Hodges, ''The Anglo-Saxon Achievement: archaeology and the beginnings of English society'', 1989:69–104; and, as emporia, C. Scull, "Urban centres in pre-Viking England?" in J. Hines, ed. ''The Anglo-Saxons from the Migration Period to the Eighth Century: an ethnological perspective'', 1997:269-98.]
By the eleventh century, the use of ''-wich'' in placenames had been extended to include areas associated with salt production. At least nine English towns and cities carry the suffix although only five of them tend to be associated with salt:
Droitwich in
Worcestershire
Worcestershire ( , ; written abbreviation: Worcs) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in the West Midlands (region), West Midlands of England. It is bordered by Shropshire, Staffordshire, and the West Midlands (county), West ...
and the four -''wich'' towns of
Middlewich
Middlewich is a town and civil parish in Cheshire East, Cheshire, England. It is located east of Chester, east of Winsford, south-east of Northwich and north-west of Sandbach. The population of the parish at the United Kingdom 2021 census, ...
,
Nantwich,
Northwich and
Leftwich in
Cheshire
Cheshire ( ) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in North West England. It is bordered by Merseyside to the north-west, Greater Manchester to the north-east, Derbyshire to the east, Staffordshire to the south-east, and Shrop ...
.
See also
*
English "-''wich'' towns" and the history of salt
*
Emporium
*
Wick, Caithness
Wick ( ; ) is a town and royal burgh in Caithness, in the far north of Scotland. The town straddles the River Wick and extends along both sides of Wick Bay. "Wick Locality" had a population of 6,954 at the time of the United Kingdom Census 2011 ...
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Wich Town
English toponyms
History of salt
Place name element etymologies
English suffixes