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Wich ------Derivation of the place name
According to Dodgson's Cheshire Place Names, the name "wich" is derived from the old English "wic"
which is a building or collection of buildings for special purposes, a farm, dairy farm, a trading or industrial
settlement. In the Cheshire context this special purpose is salt making and hence we have Nantwich,
Middlewich, Northwich and Dirtwich. Likewise Worcestershire has Droitwich with its Middlewich and Upwich.
The Domesday Book entry for Nantwich describes the wich as an area enclosed between the river and a ditch
and a tax was paid on the salt leaving the area..
Hence elsewhere in England the name "wich" may or may not relate to salt.
I guess the general routes taken by droveways and packhorse roads were decided for economic reasons with some occasionally following a cow path where this happened to be convenient.
Ref. "Packmen, Carriers and Packhorse roads", David Hey. Leicester University Press, 1980.
ISBN.0-7185-1192-1
"Saltways from the cheshire Wiches", W B Crump, Trans. Lancashire and Cheshire Antiquarian Society.
Vol. 54 (1939) pp 84-142
George Twigg
----- Original Message -----From: fountalnpen@...Sent: Sunday, February 17, 2002 3:47 PMSubject: Re: hunter gatherers and salt, replyIn a message dated 17/02/2002 15:13:36 GMT Standard Time, wmarcj@... writes:
also interested in the alternative derivation for "-wich" (salt or white) inand
English placenames: how can this be distinguished from its other meaning,
town? and how recent is this derivation?
are the old droveways sometimes connected to places where animals would
go to find salt? and has anyone written about this in more detail?
Dear Will,
I shall watch with interest to see what people think.
Penny
Cheshire pages, Staffordshire/Shropshire pages
www.fountalnpen.com
Everything is connected.
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