Rowlands Castle
county:
coords:
Hampshire
SU7310
otherwise: Rolokescastel, 1307-1327; Roulandes Castell, 1369; Roulakescastel, 1381
ROWLAND'S CASTLE
Whatever this name originally was, it became associated with the hero Roland of the 12th century French romance. The first part is indeed likely to be a man's name, and, to take it at face value, it may be a descendant of a hypothetical Frankish (continental Germanic) 'Hrodlak' or hypothetical Scandinavian 'Hrothlaug' (the latter a woman's name), which would have been introduced after the Norman conquest. 'Castel'='castle' is also a borrowing from Norman French; the whole thing is a medieval rather than a Dark Age name.
