East & West Molesey

ETYMOLOGY

In the earliest known document referring to Molesey it is called "Mulesegie",which may derive from the Old English word "Eg" (pronounced ey) meaning an island or well-watered ground, compounded with "Mūl", a personal name; therfore Molesey may have been Mule's Island. The prefixes "East" and "West" were not used until about the year 1200. In the Middle Ages the name appears under many different spellings, mostly variants of "Mulesey" or "Molesey", and about Tudor times "Moulsey". The latter was much used in Victorian times, but was superseded by the older "Molesey", which was finally adopted by the post office as the official spelling.

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