first appears in 1444. Scholars agree that the last element of the name comes from the Old English word leah ("cleared land among woodland"). As to the first part, however, there are many variations on the name, which the place-name scholar Victor Watts divided into three varieties:

Type 1 looks like it comes from an Old English personal name Weorc, in which case the place-name meant "Weorc's clearing". Types 2 and