The English immigrants had settled into the area in 1643, originally naming their settlement as New Meadows. Tradition has long held that the local native Americans (the Agawam tribe) had called the place "Shenewemedy," meaning "the pleasant place by the flowing waters" but more recent historians now believe that Shenewemedy was how the Agawam pronounced New Meadows, rather than a word in their own language The General Court of Massachusetts renamed the place as Topsfield in 1648, undoubtedly named after Toppesfield, England, a small parish in the county of Essex, north of London.