The notes which follow must be taken rather as suggestions than as final conclusions.
The common suffix—ley—indicates a ley of the character denoted by the first element in the name, and “meadow” is not, I think, the right interpretation. The numerous Leys Hills are not likely to be so called from meadows.
The suffix—ton originated by a mark stone on the ley becoming the nucleus of a homestead, and perhaps later a town.
The suffix—bury clearly indicates a mound which was a sighting tump. It is a strange development that these tumps were coveted both as places to be buried in and to live on. Mrs. Gillespie (who lived at Trewyn, Pandy, for 17 years) writes me: “I suppose you know that Trewyn was built on a burial mound,” and goes on to describe the discovery of a cist with human remains which they dug up under one of the rooms. I had told her how Trewyn was on two leys (therefore on a sighting point), one being down the avenue of ancient pine trees straight for Alt-y-Ynis.
Barrow (another mound name) occurs at Cradley, Pembridge, and Wheelbarrow Castle, Leominster; Canon Bannister shows that Coldborough was formerly Colbarwe, and he also associates borough and bury as from the same root. A variation is berrow as in Broomsberrow. Just as the sighting stone—ton became the site of our modern town, so the mound evolved into the borough.
Low—the universal name for the mound in Derbyshire—is not so common here. But Wormlow Tump, Ludlow, Warslow, and Bradlow indicate sighting points.
Bury is used alone as the name for a tump, as in the many Bury Farms, or as at Ivington Bury. A farmer still calls the earth covered tump in which he winters his roots a bury. Towns like Ledbury first grew round a sighting mound.
“Broom” occurs with great persistence on leys, with its variations brom and bram. Bromley and Bramley, Bromton and Bramton, Bromfield (where is the Old Field with a number of tumuli), Broomsgreen, Broomsberrow, and the many Broomy Hills are examples. It is not confined to one form of sighting point, and I surmise (from a faint line of evidence) that a component part of our modern broom was an essential working implement of the skilled ley man, and was continued as the staff of the mediæval pilgrim. Whether the plant broom was the original root word or a derivative I cannot say.
Lady Lift (a hill-point mound) is on a ley with Lady Harbour Farm, and the prefix Lady is applied to court, grove, ridge, oak, and meadow in the county. The Lady Harbour of Hereford Cathedral is on one of the leys which form Church Street, and had the name before any church was built there. It might possibly indicate a woman’s shelter on the road.
The suffix—tree, probably originated in a single tree planted as a sighting point, either as at “Cross of the Tree” in Deerfold Forest, or to mark the apex of a natural hill as illustrated in [Plate XII]. Webtree is on such a hill with two leys passing through it. Its name signifies that it is the spot where the webbe or weaver met his buyers. He travelled along the webbe-ley, and there are three Weobleys (formerly Webbeley) in the county, at Weobley Ash, and Weobley Cross, also the better known townlet. He also met others at a mark-stone now known as Webton. The surnames Webb, Webber, and Webster still survive.