The pyghtle

Busy writing away, and my character went to visit an old house in a little village. There was an area of land like a village green, and I was trying to think of a name for it when the word ‘pyghtle’ popped into my head. I’ve tried to remember where I saw it – there was an area that I’ve been to which had a Pyghtle, or maybe a Pightle, but I can’t recall where it was. However, the word was just right for the imaginary place I was writing about.

So pyghtle, pghtle, picle or pingle, is an old word, maybe of Anglo-Saxon origin, or maybe a dialect word from Norfolk, meaning a small plot of land or a croft, or maybe a small portion of a bigger plot, a pitch (as in cricket or football pitch). I’ve come across one definition which mentions that there are shrubs or trees, or even a spinney, surrounding it or in it. I would guess that in different areas there is a slightly different understanding, and it might be what otherwise would be a meadow, or a paddock.

I’ve looked on maps and found streets, roads, and other features with the word pyghtle or pightle, mostly in East Anglia, but also in Northamptonshire, and Bedfordshire,  Reading and Buckinghamshire. I have also noticed that there are new, modern housing developments using it as part of the name, no doubt to give the modern housing a rural and old world feel!