Hi Richard - Brisley is a parish in Mitford district, Norfolk. Whether this has a link with your road name I can't say, but Oxford Dictionary of English places names says that through various references back to c.1105 when it was spelt 'Bruselea' obtained from the Charters & Rolls in the British museum - OE is 'Briosa' meaning a Gad-fly. So do we have a Gad-fly Hill? Can't comment on Bears - too furry for me! Cheers Roy -----Original Message----- From: old-english-bounces@rootsweb.com [mailto:old-english-bounces@rootsweb.com] On Behalf Of Richard Talbot Sent: 17 February 2009 19:17 To: OLD-ENGLISH-L@rootsweb.com Subject: [OEL] origins of a name A road name in the village of Penkhull, Stoke-on-Trent goes under the name of 'Brisley Hill' which name could go back to mediaeval times. Would anyone know the origins of the name. The ancient name of the field names nearby used to go under the name of 'Bearshill' until the early 19th century. Wonder of there is any connection with the two as in Grisley Bear? Richard ==================================== WEB PAGE: http://homepages.rootsweb.com/~oel/ ARCHIVES: http://archiver.rootsweb.com/th/index?list=OLD-ENGLISH ------------------------------- To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to OLD-ENGLISH-request@rootsweb.com with the word 'unsubscribe' without the quotes in the subject and the body of the message