During the Anglo-Saxon period the area became known as "Glanford". The second element of the name is not disputed, but the origin of the first element is unclear. It is possibly derived from the Old English "gleam" meaning joy or revelry, and thus the full word is interpreted as "ford where sports are held". Another suggestion is that the first element refers to a 'glamping' track—a walkway formed by placing interlocking planks or logs over boggy ground—and thus describes a ford crossed in this manner. A third possibility is that it means "smooth ford" although its etymology is not specified. Local lore has it that the original name was "Glamis' Ford," i.e. a ford beside which a man named Glamis lived (and who possibly charged a toll for crossing the ford?). This became corrupted to Glamford and then to Glanford. When a bridge was finally built, the name of the town became Glanford Bridge. Bridge then became corrupted to Briggs and then Brigg, and the Glanford part was dropped. <Graham R Briggs, resident of Brigg from 1939 to 1962 and friend of Simon Henthorne, son of Dr Frank Henthorne, author of several histories of Brigg; also the town is shown as Glamford Briggs on the Ordnance Survey map of 1 March 1824, Sheet 23 HULL.>