As an historical landscape archaeologist, over the past twenty-five years, place names have formed a vital resource in my toolkit. From castles to churches, settlements to saints, tings to trade each topic involved researching place-name evidence to better understand past societies. This paper will present some ideas that have formed during this research concerning high-status medieval settlement form and change (focussing on bœr, bú, skáli, hus and Stove names) particularly drawing on the work of William P L Thomson from whom the title quote is taken.