Book excerpt: An enlightening journey into the languages, meanings, and history behind the names on England’s map. The origins of the names of many English towns, hamlets, and villages date as far back as Saxon times, when kings like Alfred the Great established fortified borough towns to defend against the Danes. A number of settlements were established and named by French Normans following the Conquest. Many are even older and are derived from Roman place names. Some hark back to the Vikings who invaded and established settlements in the eighth and ninth centuries. Most began as simple descriptions of the location; some identified its founder, marked territorial limits, or gave tribal people a sense of their place in the grand scheme of things. Whatever their derivation, place names are inextricably bound up in history—and these are the stories behind them.