Chester (placename element) explained

The English place-name Chester, and the suffixes -chester, -caster and -cester (old -ceaster), are commonly indications that the place is the site of a Roman castrum, meaning a military camp or fort (cf. Welsh caer), but it can also apply to the site of a pre-historic fort.^[1] Names ending in -cester are nearly always reduced to -ster when spoken, the exception being "Cirencester", which (commonly nowadays) is pronounced in full.^[2] However, names ending in -ster are not necessarily related, as the Irish province of Leinster, which comes from the tribe Laigin + Irish tír or Old Norse staðr, both meaning "land" or "territory". The pronunciation of names ending in -chester or -caster is regular.

A

• Acaster Malbis
• Acaster Selby
• Alcester
• Alchester
• Ancaster

B

• Bewcastle, formerly Buthcaster (1263).^[3]
• Bicester
• Binchester
• Brancaster

C

• Caister-on-Sea
• Caistor
• Caistor St Edmund
• Casterton, Cumbria
• Casterton, Great, Rutland
• Casterton, Little, Rutland
• Castor, Cambridgeshire
• Chester
  • Cheshire, Chester-shire
• Chester, Little, Derby
• Chesterfield
• Chesterford, Great
• Chesterford, Little
• Chester-le-Street
• Chesterton (disambiguation)
• Chesterwood
• Chichester
• Cirencester
• Colchester
• Craster^[4]

D

• Doncaster
• Dorchester
  • Dorset, Dor-chester-seat
• Dorchester-on-Thames, Oxfordshire

E

• Ebchester
• Exeter

F

• Frocester

G

• Gloucester
• Gloster Hill (near Amble, Northumberland)^[5]
• Godmanchester
• Grantchester

H

• Hincaster
• Horncastle, known in Old English as Hyrnecastre^[6]

I

• Ilchester
• Irchester

K

• Kenchester

L

• Lancaster
  • Lancashire, Lune-caster-shire
• Lanchester
• Leicester

M

• Mancetter
• Manchester
• Monkchester, modernised form of Munucceaster, the Old English name for Newcastle upon Tyne.
• Muncaster

P

• Portchester

R

• Ribchester
• Rocester
• Rochester, Kent
• Rochester, Northumberland

S

• Silchester

T

• Tadcaster
• Towcester

W

• Winchester
• Woodchester
• Worcester
• Wroxeter

Notes and References

1. Book: Ekwall, E.. Eilert Ekwall. 1960. The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Place-Names. OUP. 4th. 92. 0-19-869103-3.
2. Book: Wells, John C.. John C. Wells. 2000. Longman Pronunciation Dictionary. 2nd ed. Longman. 0-582-36468-X. registration.
3. Book: Sedgefield . Walter John . Place names of Cumberland and Westmorland . 1915 . Manchester University Press . 13 . 22 December 2024.
4. Web site: Key to English Place-names - Craster, Northumberland . University of Nottingham . 22 December 2024.
5. Web site: A Key to English Place-Names - Gloster Hill, Northumberland . University of Nottingham . 22 December 2024.
6. Web site: Key to English Place-names - Horncaslte, Lincolnshire . University of Nottingham . 22 December 2024.