The name first appears in the 14th century as "Honemor".[1] Originally common land called Homer Wood, the settlement developed from squatters' cottages encroaching on the common during the 17th century.[2] During the 19th century it served as accommodation for quarrymen and farm labourers.
The village expanded in the later 20th century with the construction of modern houses.[3]
A short distance to the west of Homer is a very small hamlet with the unusual name Wigwig. Wigwig was an ancient township of Much Wenlock parish: its name, recorded in the Domesday book as "Wigewic", is probably derived from an Old English personal name Wyga, along with wic, "settlement" ("Wyga's settlement").[4] It has also been spelt Wig Wig or Wigwick. There is a ford across the Harley Brook here.
Wigwig once had a mill on the Harley Brook; mentioned as early as 1291, it operated variously as a fulling mill and corn mill but closed during the 19th century,[2] although it is still referenced in the name of the Mill Farm nearby.
The villages' names inspired the title and main characters of a 1969 children's book, Wigwig and Homer (Oxford University Press) by Philip Turner.
↑Gelling and Foxall, The place-names of Shropshire, part 3: Telford New Town, the northern part of Munslow Hundred and the franchise of Wenlock, English Placename Society, 2003, p.270.