Winsor
Winsor, Copythornecounty:
coords:
Hampshire
SU3114
otherwise: Windesore, 1167; Windlesore, 1222; Windlesovere, 1272
WINSOR, manor and village in Copythorne
This belongs to a class of names (including 'Windsor' (Berkshire)) which Ekwall was thought to have solved once and for all as hypothetical Old English 'Windelsora'='windlass bank', ie: a bank equipped with a device for hauling boats out of the water. The trouble with Ekwall's theory is illustrated by the Hampshire place. Winsor is between what are no more than two trickles, left tributaries of the Bartley Stream. No boat can ever have got within miles of here. Gelling (1984: 181-2) hesitantly suggests instead that the etymology is correct but that it refers to the means of pulling vehicles up steep or muddy slopes, but this is least convincing for Winsor. The late 13th century apparent substitution of the descendant of Old English 'ofer'='flat topped ridge' for 'ora'='bank, shore' is not unusual.
