Peak District Toponyms...I've limited the list to placename elements that are unique to the Peak District, their meanings aren't obvious, or they are quite rare elsewehere.
BOOTH: Several locations in the Vale of Edale incorporate this word in their names. The word means 'vaccary' or 'cattle farm'.
BRINK: The dictionary definition is, 'the extreme edge of land before a steep slope or a body or water.' The only example I know of is 'Hope Brink.'
CLOUD: A local dialect word for 'hill'.
CLOUGH: A steep valley or ravine in the highest parts of the Peak District.
COP: The only example I can think of is 'Fin Cop' - I don't know what it means here though.
DALE: There are also cloughs and valleys in the Peak District...and, of course, the Vale of Edale. Most of the uses of 'dale' are in the limestone areas of the White Peak.
EDGE: A geological feature only found in the Peak District, and the Welsh Marches I think. It's a linear stretch of cliff.
GROUGH: Found at the top of Kinder Scout and Bleaklow - a natural channel or fissure in a peat moor.
HAG: Also found on Kinder Scout and Bleaklow, and probably other areas too - a peat mound left after water has created the groughs.
LOW: Derived from the Anglo-Saxon word for a covering; probably means that there was a burial place here. There are actually several places called 'Highlow' in the Peak District.
MOSS: An extensive area of bog.
OVER: Found in the placenames, Ashover, Birchover, and Oakover. There seems to be some disagreement as to what it actually means; 'beyond' and 'on the slope' are the two alternatives. I find it interesting that it only occurs in conjunction with a word for a specific type of tree.
PEAK: In the name of the Peak District the word refers to the original inhabitants, the Pecsaetan.
PIKE: 'A hill with a peaked top'. Same as Scafell Pike in the Lake District.
RAKE: 'Lead rakes are linear mining features along the outcrop of a lead vein resulting from the extraction of relatively shallow ore'. In the shallow workings and the spoil piled up at the sides there are a lot of rare wildflowers growing.
SITCH: A Derbyshire dialect word meaning 'A brook; ditch; gutter; drain; ravine'. It's only used to define small streams high up on the moors.
SOUGH: An underground channel for draining water out of a mine.
TOR: A rocky outcrop. I think the word was originally introduced to the Peak District by lead miners who were brought into the area from Cornwall.
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