The Placename: Scrooby
Graham Robbins
Scrooby as a place-name can be found in historical documents from the Domesday Book of 1086 onward. The spelling of the placename was not constant or fixed; the documents have slightly differing forms of the name:
1086 | Domesday Book | Scrobi |
1185 | Pipe Rolls | Scrobi |
1225 | Registers of the Archbishops of York | Scroby |
1267 | Calendar of Patent Rolls | Skroby |
1280 | Assize Rolls | Scrobby |
1527 | Letters and Papers Foreign and Domestic of Henry VIII | Scorby |
1557 | Wills and Inventories | Scruby |
1582 | Feet of Fines | Scrowbye |
1593 | Wills and Inventories | Skrowbe |
1601 | Wills and Inventories | Scrooby & Scroobye |
However it was written down, the placename is formed from a personal name and the -by ending. This is a Scandinavian village name originating in the Ninth Century AD, when Nottinghamshire, and the wider East coast of the Midlands, had close links with Danish and Scandinavian people. Scrooby is one of 21 -by place names in Nottinghamshire. The ending is also common in Leicestershire and Lincolnshire.
Gover, Mawer and Stenton, who wrote The English Place-Name Society's book The Place-Names of Nottinghamshire suggest that there may be an even earlier form of the place-name. A Saxon document of 1044 refers to Scroppen Thorpe. This place was at least very close to the later Scrooby, and the two may well be identical. Like the -by names, Scroppen Thorpe is formed from a personal name and a Danish word, 'thorpe', meaning settlement. Skroppa was a women's name in Icelandic, and Skropi was an man's name in Old Norse. It is not clear which particular name is fossilised in Scrooby.
The Place-Names of Nottinghamshire states that "we must be content to take Scrooby as a by-name with a personal name as the first element, and attempt no further definition." (page 97). In either case (-by or -thorpe) the place-name is composed of a Danish name and a Danish word meaning settlement; i.e. it is all Danish.
In the introduction to The Place-Names of Nottinghamshire the authors point to "the remarkable group of names in by in the angle formed by the Maun and the Idle - Thoresby, Budby, Bilby, Ranby, Serlby, Barnby Moor, Scrooby". They contrast the sandy forested areas of north west Nottinghamshire, where these pure Danish names occur with the eastern Trent Valley areas where English and hybrid English-Scandinavian names (like -ton names) occur more often. The frequency of 'new' Danish names, with little residual older names, may imply that the sandy forested areas were very sparsely settled before the Ninth Century.
References
Gover, J E B, Mawer, A and Stenton, F M 1940 The Place-Names of Nottinghamshire London: Cambridge University Press English Place-Name Society Volume XVII.
The local STAR newspaper is now available at the-star.org.uk.
New site maintained by Scrooby's Bill Arrowsmith.
Scrooby Village Hall
Celebrate the beginning of Christmas!
Roast pork rolls courtesy of Gordon, mince pies and mulled wine
Bar
Carols and entertainment
Tickets: £8 per adult, children by donation
Contact: Gordon (01777 818332), Izzi (01302 719190), Maurice (01302 710078)
At Scrooby Village Hall
From Scrooby, your very own:
Full Fat Funk
Doors Open 7pm
Licensed Bar - Real Ale
Tickets £5 from Ed Marshall
01302 719190
edcharlesmarshall@gmail.com
The schedule for autumn/winter 2019 is:
- December 15: Bohemian Rhapsody
- November 17: Of Time and the City
- October 20: Double Bill with food between - The Triplets of Belleville and The Rose
Full details will be published each month in the STAR and on this site.
Scrooby Community Cinema | film@scrooby.net | Scrooby Village Hall | Doors 7:30 | Start 8:00 | £4 on the door | Licensed bar
