Amounderness

Coordinates: 53°52′N 2°47′W / 53.86°N 2.78°W / 53.86; -2.78

The Amounderness Hundred is one of the six subdivisions of the historic county of Lancashire in North West England, but the name is older than the system of hundreds first recorded in the 13th-century and might best be described as the name of a Norse wapentake. In the Domesday Book, it was used for some territories north of the River Ribble included together with parts of Yorkshire. The area eventually became part of Lancashire, sitting geographically between the Rivers Lune and Ribble, in the strip of coast between the Irish Sea and Bowland Forest.

Etymology and history

In the 19th-century, the name was said to have been first recorded in 705, as Hacmunderness. The Domesday Book in 1086 spells it Agemundrenessa.

There are two suggested etymologies for Amounderness. The traditional 19th century reading was that the name derived from ac (oak) and mund (protection), "a ness or promontory sheltered by oaks". This was given currency by Porter.