FloyerHayes Exeter 1765Map BenjaminDonne

-hay (also hays, hayes, etc.) is a place-name word-ending common in England. It derives from the

Old English Old English (, ), or Anglo-Saxon, is the earliest recorded form of the English language, spoken in England and southern and eastern Scotland in the early Middle Ages. It was brought to Great Britain by Anglo-Saxon settlement of Britain, Anglo ...

word ''hege'' or ''haga'',

Middle English Middle English (abbreviated to ME) is a form of the English language that was spoken after the Norman conquest of 1066, until the late 15th century. The English language underwent distinct variations and developments following the Old English p ...

''heie'', in Icelandic ''hagi'', meaning "an enclosed field", and is from the same root as the English word "

hedge A hedge or hedgerow is a line of closely spaced shrubs and sometimes trees, planted and trained to form a barrier or to mark the boundary of an area, such as between neighbouring properties. Hedges that are used to separate a road from adjoini ...

", a structure which surrounds and encloses an area of land, from the Norman-French ''haie'', "a hedge". Haw (from O.E. ''haga'') and Hay (from O.E. ''hege'') are cognate and both mean "hedge".

Examples

*''Cheslyn Hay'', Walsall, meaning "a fenced or hedged enclosure", here perhaps around an ancient

cromlech A cromlech (sometimes also spelled "cromleh" or "cromlêh"; cf Welsh ''crom'', "bent"; ''llech'', "slate") is a megalithic construction made of large stone blocks. The word applies to two different megalithic forms in English, the first being an ...

or burial-mound. *Pipe Hayes ("hedges"),

Erdington Erdington is a suburb and ward of Birmingham in the West Midlands County, England. Historically part of Warwickshire and located northeast of central Birmingham, bordering Sutton Coldfield. It was also a council constituency, managed by its o ...

.Johnston, p.402

Derbyshire

The Findern Hays

Devon

Exeter

In the vicinity of

Exeter Exeter () is a city in Devon, South West England. It is situated on the River Exe, approximately northeast of Plymouth and southwest of Bristol. In Roman Britain, Exeter was established as the base of Legio II Augusta under the personal comm ...

: *

Floyer Hayes Floyer Hayes was an historic manor in the parish of St Thomas on the southern side of the City of Exeter in Devon, England, from which city it is separated by the River Exe.Risdon, 1811 Additions, p.374 It took its name from the ancient fam ...

* Northern Hay *Southern Hay * Shill Hay *Fryers Hay * Bon Hay *

Princesshay Princesshay is a shopping precinct in the city of Exeter, Devon, England. It was built in the early 1950s to replace buildings that had been severely damaged in the World War II Baedeker Blitz. From 2005 the precinct and some surrounding buildin ...

Tiverton

In the vicinity of Tiverton: *

Moor Hayes Moor Hays (''alias'' Moore Hays, Moorhays, Moorhayes, etc.) is a historic estate in the parish of Cullompton in Devon, England. It is stated incorrectly to be in the nearby parish of Burlescombe in Tristram Risdon's ''Survey of Devon''. The es ...

Cullompton Cullompton () is a town and civil parish in the district of Mid Devon and the county of Devon, England. It is north-east of Exeter and lies on the River Culm. In 2011 the parish as a whole had a population of 8,499 while the built-up area of t ...

* Passmore Hayes * Buck Hayes * Rashleigh Hayes * Gorn Hay * Wid Hayes * Moor Hayes,

Washfield Washfield is a village, parish and former manor in Devon, England, situated about 2 miles north-west of Tiverton. The parish church is dedicated to St Mary the Virgin. It was within the jurisdiction of the historic West Budleigh Hundred. Histor ...

Sources

*Johnston, Rev. James B., ''The Place-Names of England and Wales'', London, 1915, p. 14

References

Place name element etymologies, Hay Infixes English suffixes