Harestock
Harestock, Littletoncounty:
coords:
Hampshire
SU4631
otherwise: heafod stoccan, 854-12; heafod stoccum, 909-11; heafod stoccam, 961-12
HARESTOCK, hamlet in Littleton, now suburb of Winchester
These are all boundary marks in adjacent parishes; clearly something very conspicuous is denoted. We probably have Old English 'heafodstoccas'='posts on which criminals' heads were exposed' (see AElfric's Lives of the saints I, 492). Similar gruesome objects are common in boundaries, and give rise to parish names in eg 'Hewstock' (Dorset) 'Warter' (Yorkshire, East Riding, from 'weargtreow').
