Why Tickhill?
By
May 18, 2004, 17:07
In pre-Norman times there was a Saxon settlement named Dadesley with a church at All Hallows Hill just to the north. The castle appears to have been founded soon after the Norman conquest but the name Tickhill is first recorded in a monastic register at Nostell Priory, 1109-1119. But why the name? - there are various theories.
Our local historian, the late Tom Beastall, in his book on Tickhill states that the most favoured origin is from a personal name -‘Tica’, perhaps the head of a group of families or a landowner of some note. The sandstone outcrop which became the hub of the castle may have been called ‘Tica’s Hill’.
The Dutch word for brick is ‘Tickel’ but that seems an unlikely source in a limestone area.
An article in The Saturday Magazine in 1844 reports that Rev John Hunter supposes the name to be a corruption of ‘the Wick Hill’, a wick being a common name for a fortified mount. Yorkshire speech would quickly turn this into ‘Th’ Wick Hill’ and that could easily slip into being Tickhill. It seems we are all free to choose whichever theory sounds most likely.
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