18th October, 2006
Settlements received their names for a number of reasons. For example, some were named after the people who originally settled there: e.g. Woolston which is thought to have meant the farmstead (tun) where Wulf lived. Others were called after a local geographical feature: e.g. Ashton - the farmstead where there was a distinctive ash tree or a special ash grove.
Interpreting the meaning of place-names is definitely not an exact science. Most of the individual elements in a particular name appear strange and unintelligible to our modern understanding. That is because most settlements were originally named in "Old English", a language spoken by our Anglo-Saxon ancestors. This bears only a slight resemblance to modern English. Other settlements have Celtic origins and were in existence before the incursions of the Anglo-Saxons. Later Danish and Norse settlers added yet another mix to the linguistic weave.
Furthermore, over the centuries, original meanings were often forgotten and pronunciation and spelling distorted.
So, from which language is the place-name "Wigan" derived and what is its meaning?
The earliest written record of the name "Wigan" (dating back to the Lancashire Pipe Rolls of 1199) shows the word was spelt the same as it is today. This is quite unusual for place-names. So what does it mean?
Several explanations of the name have been attempted by past antiquarians. William Camden, in 1580, suggested that "Wibiggin" was the original name on the basis that "biggh" is a Lancastrian name for houses. In 1764 "Pibiggin" was proposed, "pi" being Old English for "sacred". There have been several attempts to link Wigan to "wichen" or "wiggin", alternative names for the rowan or mountain ash tree.
David Sinclair, 1882, makes the apparently sensible suggestion that the "Wig" element in the place-name is connected with the Old English word "wig" meaning fight. (The word still exists in modern day Wigan slang - to give someone a good "wigging" is to give them a good hiding.) He suggests that Wigan was the site of an ancient battle, perhaps involving the legendary King Arthur.
The study of the meanings of place-names took a huge leap forward in the early 20th century with the work of a Swedish scholar called Eilert Ekwall. He was the first writer to study closely the old languages whose words were used in the formation of English place-names. Among his excellent publications are "The Place-names of Lancashire" (1922) and "The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Place-names" (1936).
He suggests that the origin of the name "Wigan" is not Old English but dates further back to the Celtic language spoken by the "Ancient Britons" who inhabited the area before the Anglo-Saxon incursions. In the Wigan area there are several place-names with Celtic origins, the most obvious of which is Bryn. (The word "Bryn", meaning hill, is still used in modern Welsh.) Ekwall concludes that Wigan's original name was either "Tref Wigan" or "Bod Wigan". Both phrases mean the homestead of someone called "Wigan". As evidence for his conclusions he quotes a place-name on Anglesey named "Bode Wygan" which is mentioned in a document of 1294.
Within the last few years Dr. Andrew Breeze writing in the "Lancashire History Quarterly" has refuted Ekwall's conclusions and suggests that Wigan's original name was "Gwigan" a word of Celtic origin meaning "village" or "settlement".
Conclusion
It seems that the meaning of the place-name "Wigan" has been greatly obscured with the passing of time. Personally, I'll go with the greatest expert, Eilert Ekwall, who gives the original name as "Tref Wigan" meaning the settlement belonging to someone called Wigan. Although he wrote a long time ago Eckwall's work is still relevant. The modern version of the "Oxford Dictionary of English Place-Names" (2nd Edition, 1998). by A.D. Mills still supports Ekwall's conclusion.