When it comes to British place names, Anglo-Saxon origins tend to dominate in the south and Scandinavian languages in the North, mixed in with Old British or Celtic terms for natural features such as hills and rivers. Nottinghamshire still shows the influence of all three factors in the names we find today.
Often towns and villages share common endings such as -tun (settlement), -ham (homestead), -feld (farmland), -by (village), -caester (Roman stronghold), -worthig (enclosure), -dun (hill), -halh (nook of land) – but these usually follow a first element which is much harder to define, especially when a personal name is concerned.
The famous Domesday Book – a land survey commissioned by William the Conqueror and completed in 1086 – shows Nottinghamshire names which have been modernised, but otherwise changed very little in all that time.
To understand where they came from, we went looking in the Oxford Dictionary of British Place Names.

5. Kirkby-in-Ashfield
The town's name betrays a Danish origin: Kirk by is Old Danish or Old Norse for "Church Town". Photo: Mansfield Chad

6. Sutton-in-Ashfield
Its Anglo Saxon place name of 'Sutton' (meaning 'south estate') as recorded in the Domesday Book was extended at a later date to include 'in Ashfield' (meaning 'in the open land where the ash trees grow') to distinguish it from other places named Sutton. Photo: Mansfield Chad

7. Eastwood
"Eastwood" is a hybrid place-name, formed from Old English Est, for "East", and Old Norse Þveit /ˈθweɪt/, for "meadow", "cleared meadow", or "clearing in a wood." Photo: Eastwood Advertiser

8. Retford
The origins of the town's name have been subject to much debate, but consensus seems to conclude that it gets its name from an ancient ford crossing the River Idle. In early usage it was usually spelled Redeforde or Redforde. A common explanation of the name is that the river water was tinged red due to the frequent crossing of people and livestock disturbing the clay river bed. Other traditions include that it refers to the reeds that are plentiful in the river, or that the name references the Battle of the River Idle which was said to tinge the river red with blood. Photo: Google Maps