Old English Godpoles & Sacred Trees

Sacred trees and groves are often referenced in Old English place-names. Blair 2005, p. 50. suggested that the use of the Old English word bēam ("tree") in Anglo-Saxon place-names may be a reference to a special tree. He also suggested that the place-names containing stapol ("post" or "pillar") represented trees that had been venerated when alive and which were transformed into carved pillars after their death. For instance, both place names Thurstable Hundred in Essex and Thurstaple in Kent derived from the Old English Þunres-sOld English God poles & Sacred treestapol, meaning 'Pillar of Þunor'.