Some local field and road names, and the name of Sale itself, are Anglo-Saxon in origin, which indicates the town was founded in the 7th or 8th centuries. The Old English "salh", from which "Sale" is derived, means "at the sallow tree", and Ashton upon Mersey means "village or farm near the ash trees". Although the townships of Sale and Ashton upon Mersey were not mentioned in the "Domesday Book" of 1086, that may be because only a partial survey was taken. The first recorded occurrences of Sale and Ashton upon Mersey are in 1199–1216 and 1260 respectively. The settlements were referred to as townships rather than manors, which suggests further evidence of Anglo-Saxon origins as townships were developed by the Saxons.