Sometimes a mouse may help a lion. As I was scampering through PN Cheshire, I noticed a possible etymology not contemplated in that regal work: one instance at 1 p276, Wodewalhurst 1384, and the other at 2 p95, Wodewallebrouk c.1300. Dodgson derived these from wudu wēl and wudu wælla but it seems unlikely that more or less the same primary name should have disappeared at two separate locations, only surviving in an additive form with a secondary generic. Surely these contain ME wodewale ‘woodpecker’ – and if so, has anyone come across the word anywhere else?

 

Jeremy Harte