Benhall Wadd is a marshy area next to a
ford in Benhall Green in Suffolk. A sign put there
by the Suffolk Wildlife Trust says that "Wadd [sic] is Old English for a
ford". Wadd Lane is marked on the OS 6" map.
As far as I can tell, all other East Anglian place-names which descend
from gewęd now have the form wade, as in
Cattawade. Where does this short-vowel form come
from? (There are Great and Little Wadd Farms at TQ797408, near
Frittenden in
Kent.)
Keith