Which early medieval goat farm has now become a modern British airport?

lanfranco

Well, I ran down the list of British airports in my mind and decided that, etymologically speaking, this was probably Gatwick. This site was the best I could do (see the third paragraph): http://www.rideau-info.com/ken/genealogy/wickenden/surname.html Sep 23 05, 3:11 PM

JoshCaleb12

I'm guessing Prestwick up in Glasgow... There seem to be a number of places around that airport that have "goat" in their names... A pub, for one... and "Goat Fells" nearby... Although, I'm having trouble pinning down the exact reason for this in my research... I'm guessing that these goat references refer to the former goat farm... Sep 23 05, 3:15 PM

TabbyTom

Brewer's Dictionary of Names confirms lanfranco's etymology for Gatwick. Sep 23 05, 4:18 PM

Flem-ish

Gatwick derives from OE gat (goats) + OE wic, a farm, dwelling, settlement.See http://www.etymonline.com . By the way wich-names such as Droitwich, Woolwich and Harwich also refer to a "wic". But in Lerwick the link is with old Scandinavian vik: bay (as in Narvik). Prest-wick is a "wic" belonging to priests. So the Yay is for Lanfranco, whose "etymology" can be found at http://italian.about.com/library/name/blname_lanfranco.htm Sep 23 05, 9:08 PM