English Place Names Ending in “-ing”

English Place Names Ending in “-ing”

The suffix “-ing” is a hallmark of Anglo-Saxon toponymy, originally denoting “the people of” or “the settlement of” a particular leader or tribe. Hundreds of English towns and villages bear this ending. Below is a curated list of notable examples, organized alphabetically.

• Basingstoke (Hampshire)
• Billingshurst (West Sussex)
• Brentwood (Essex)
• Bridlington (East Riding of Yorkshire)
• Buckhurst Hill (Essex)
• Clavering (Essex)
• Corringham (Essex)
• Faringdon (Oxfordshire)
• Goring-by-Sea (West Sussex)
• Hameringham (Lincolnshire)
• Haslingden (Lancashire)
• Horsham (West Sussex)
• Hildenborough (Kent)
• Kelvedon (Essex)
• Leatherhead (Surrey)
• Liss (Hampshire)
• Marden (Kent)
• Orpington (London Borough of Bromley)
• Purfleet-on-Thames (Essex)
• Rainham (London Borough of Havering / Medway)
• Rayleigh (Essex)
• Spalding (Lincolnshire)
• Stanningfield (Suffolk)
• Sittingbourne (Kent)
• Uckfield (East Sussex)
• Wallingford (Oxfordshire)
• Woking (Surrey)

Note: Some names (e.g., Basingstoke) appear in multiple counties; the list above reflects the most prominent instances. The “-ing” suffix often combines with a personal name (e.g., Basa + ing + stoc = “Basa’s people’s outlying farm”). Exploring these names offers a glimpse into the early medieval landscape of England.