Hazel (Corylus avellana L.) catkins & miniscule! flowers in the February woodland. Used in early-medieval remedies for treating skin wounds & headaches, & as a useful material for baskets & fences, OE hæsel occurs in many place-names like le haselenehurst #Staffordshire (1290)

#Snowdrops (Galanthus nivalis) looking down a lane in #Staffordshire where it was thought unlucky to bring them into the house (Grigson). A #neophyte plant, it doesn't occur in older #PlaceNames but can be found in house names. AKA Candlemass Bells since they flower in February!

Favouring shade, primroses (Primula vulgaris) are blooming in hedgerows & woods. The prima rosa (first rose) of #Spring, it isn't always clear (Grigson) whether the name referred to the #primrose or #cowslip (P. veri, OE cúslyppe). As ME primerole it occurs in many place-names.

Bit of a milestone today - we received our 300th enquiry! If you have any questions about place names, whether you're looking for your grandparents' cottage, want to know the name of a field, or searching for the Grail (it happens), you can ask us here: historicplacenames.rcahmw.gov.uk/contact

Thanks Mike Poole -Tillerman Beads for this beautiful reproduction of a Viking age necklace discovered in a woman's grave on St Patrick's Isle, Isle of Man = lovely gift to celebrate recent confirmation of my PhD 🎉 Nottingham English UoN CSVA Midlands4Cities Arts and Humanities Research Council English Place-Name Society SNSBI

Morning! It’s #WorldBookDay: here are my currents. I’ve always been fascinated by the geopolitics leading up to WW1 ; 1913 by Charles Emmerson is beautifully composed & written. As an English Place-Name Society member I’m researching my next local history book: fulfilling one of my new life goals

It is now easier to explore very detailed, large scale historic Ordnance Survey mapping of Scotland in the 1950s to 1970s with new georeferenced layers of 1:1,250 and 1:2,500 scale maps in our Georeferenced Maps Viewer. maps.nls.uk/os/national-gr… maps.nls.uk/geo/explore/#z…

It's #MapMonday! How about this wonderful detail of the village from a plan of the estate at Harlsey, 1762, from the Earl of Harewood's estate collection [ZNS]

Are you interested in Welsh place names? Do you want to help record and protect them? Well now you can! More information here: historicplacenames.rcahmw.gov.uk/blog/now-you-c…

And what does it mean? That is the question!

Very nice to see @EllieWry feature in a BBC News article discussing punctuation and place-names - and why one local authority is removing apostophes throughout : bbc.co.uk/news/uk-englan…

We're at the MSRG spring conference today in Nottingham, on the theme of 'Bringing Disciplines Together in Medieval Settlement Studies'. And what better way to begin the day than with place-names? Our Susan Kilby is presenting on 'Knowing your place'

Really interesting to see and chat with the huge variety of people using mapped data to understand the landscape. Historical time-depth awareness is vital (as well we enriching)! English Place-Name Society Institute for Name-Studies Esri UK Hattie Gwilt

Back on the #Staffordshire #PlaceNames project today! Looking at a 1629 survey of the Manor of #Uttoxeter 'Ottoxator'!

My favourite names from the 1629 #Uttoxeter Survey today are: Musterd Field, Owlers alias Owles, Amberlands, the Knights Launt, and Buddy Close! #StaffordshirePlaceNames

THE MOST ENGLISH OF ENGLISH PLACE NAMES: an impromptu election week battle by yours truly. the rules are as follows:

Speaking in 20 mins on all things berg-ish and Old Scandinavian...IMC_Leeds Tristan 'countfingers' Alphey Institute for Name-Studies #jameschetwood English Place-Name Society

At long last, it is time for the FINAL SHOWDOWN in THE MOST ENGLISH OF ENGLISH PLACE NAMES! Are you ready to meet your finalists??