Meaningful Origins naming Huthwaite

alias Hucknall Huthwaite & Hucknall-under-Huthwaite

Explaining how Huthwaite acquired its name often locally raises confusing issues of related interest.   Difficulty apparently stems finding this locality emerged into modern history with fuller title Hucknall-under-Huthwaite.   Around a new coal mine even called Hucknall Colliery, that pits prosperity rapidly housed what had then adopted name as Hucknall Huthwaite. Forming its own Town Council this flourishing Nottinghamshire mining community was finally officially renamed in 1907.

Choosing to drop all previous Hucknall associations confusingly shared between other localities, it did reclaim original identity descriptively offered Huthwaite. Earliest recorded spellings for best deducing translations are first claimed finding Hodweit dated 1199. Slight variations long remain common when simply indicating years of poorer literacy, interpreted through localised dialect changes and a general lack of written or surviving records. But documented evidence confirms 13th century settlement was well established, as spelling evolves through 1208 Hothweit into Hothweyt and Howthwaite.

Majority of Old English place names do appear being formed with some compound meaning. They frequently contain two identifying elements, often with a specific topographical subject and an additional adjective reference as used to uniquely identify this locality.   We today pronounce Huthwaite as Huth + wait, although original translations suggest composition would have better suited Hu + thwaite. This combination most aptly describes how Huthwaite firstly sited a:-

settlement in a forest clearing upon a high hill spur

Translating Huthwaite from its Old English spelling

the prefix Hu can be derived from Ho, Hod or Hoh.
Of Anglo-Saxon origin describing topography of a
high hill or ridge, steep bank or spur of land.

the suffix thwaite is commonly derived from thveit
showing later Viking origins it loosely describes a
meadow, glade or clearing when sited among a forest.

That unique topographical feature which firstly identified Huthwaite still dominates the local landscape. Its steep sided land spur later gained more precise addressing upon Strawberry Bank, whose summit is recorded measuring the highest natural point in Nottinghamshire. In times when the whole Midlands region largely remained covered by wild forests, a clearing amidst this treed landmark helped better distinguish the siting of its recognised settlement.

Earlier Saxon origins are exposed among neighbouring areas, between where later Viking invaders eventually settled. Portraying warring ferocity historically realises they ultimately sought familiar lands for establishing farms. Their combined tongues naming Huthwaite may well indicate how they peacefully mixed, spreading a rural English population inland before being claimed under one kingdom. The following Norman Conquest actually left less notable changes, giving only vague mention in King Williams Domesday survey to our primary parish town of Sutton-in-Ashfield. In those ancient boundaries Huthwaite separately emerged, all over ruled by Mansfield manor where local court records favoured Huthwaite references, until some higher authority started to insist calling this area Hucknall.

Produced 07 May 03 © Revised 14 Apr 07