Roman Place Names

The other day, I got to pondering about the legacy of the Roman Empire in English place names. I have identified sixty places which derive their modern name from the Latin ‘castra’. This is the most likely source for Roman derived names although I could have extended the study to include Street as in Stretford or stratford which carries memories of Roman roads.

The results are set out below.

Acaster Yorkshire West Riding
Alcester Warwickshire
Alchester Oxfordshire
Ancaster Lincolnshire
Bewcastle Northumberland
Bicester Oxfordshire
Binchester Durham
Brancaster Norfolk
Caister Lincolnshire
Caister St Edmunds Norfolk
Castleford Yorkshire West Riding
Chester Cheshire
Chester le Street Durham
Chesterfield Derbyshire
Chesters Northumberland
Chesterton Huntingdonshire
Chesterton Warwickshire
Chesterton Northumberland (in Newcastle upon Tyne)
Chichester Sussex
Cirencester Gloucestershire
Colchester Essex
Corchester Northumberland
Doncaster Yorkshire West Riding
Dorchester Dorset
Dorchester Oxfordshire
East Caister Norfolk
Ebchester Durham
Exeter Devon
Gloucester Gloucestershire
Godmanchester Huntingdonshire
Grantchester Cambridgeshire
Great Casterton Rutland
Great Chesterford Essex
Great Chesters Northumberland
High Rochester Northumberland
Horncastle Lincolnshire
Ilchester Somerset
Irchester Northamptonshire
Kenchester Herefordshire
Lancaster Lancaster
Lanchester Durham
Leicester Leicestershire
Littlechester Derbyshire
Mancetter Warwickshire
Manchester Lancaster
Muncaster Cumberland
Papcastle Cumberland
Porchester Hampshire
Ribchester Lancashire
Rochester Kent
Rodchester Northumberland
Roper’s Castle? Westmoreland
Silchester Hampshire
Tadcaster Yorkshire West Riding
The Chesters Gloucestershire
Towcester Northamptonshire
Winchester Hampshire
Woodchester Gloucestershire
Worcester Worcestershire
Wroxeter Shropshire

(My sources are;-
E.Ekwall, The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Place Names ( fourth edition, Oxford, 1960)
and
Ordnance Survey, Map of Roman Britain (third edition, Chessington, 1956 )

It is not surprising that Northumberland, with Hadrian’s Wall, has the most entries or that Cornwall has none but why no such names in Bedfordshire, Berkshire, Hertfordshire (which contains Verulanium), Middlesex, Staffordshire, Suffolk., Surrey or Wiltshire?