Place Names of Exmoor

Most Exmoor place names are of Old English origin and represent features of the landscape. Valleys derive their names from their nature or from the animals there. Smallacombe in Molland was narrow and Liscombe in Dulverton had a "loose" (pigsty). Such names may be English translations of the older British. Many names refer to water, revered by Celtic peoples, such as Hawkwell (crooked stream), Dulverton, Wellshead, or Ludslade (valley of the torrent), Exford.

Names ending in "cott", "ley" (leah, a glade) or "worthy" indicate Anglo-Saxon settlement or places taken over by them. "Worthy" names are often attached to large farms, believed to be early Anglo-Saxon, which may have utilised late prehistoric intakes from moorland. The "ley" names are mainly in Molland, a well-wooded parish, including Bremley (bramble glade), and around Winsford Hill.