Keith Briggs wrote:
> The traditional story about St Martin-in-the-Fields is that received
> its name from being built in open country outside the city of London.
> This is given by Mills (Dict. of London place-names) p 201, who first
> records "lez Feildes" 1493.
>
> But this seems to ignore the Paris church recorded already as
> Saint-Martin-èz-Champs in 1079 (cartulary online at
> http://elec.enc.sorbonne.fr/cartulaires/smchamps/ - the introduction
> says that it was built in a place called les Champs).
I think Keith is on to something - there are in addition seven communes in
France with the name Saint-Martin-des-Champs, plus one
Saint-Martin-aux-Champs. I suspect that this may be to do with some
attribute of St Martin of Tours. I have asked the question on the Medieval
Religion list.
(The open countryside is outside Westminster, rather than London. I seem to
recall that until the late 17th century it was one of only two parishes in
Westminster.)
John Briggs
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