The names of the towns and villages in the UK and Ireland were largely derived from their environment. You can often tell from the name the time period in which they were founded. For instance, ‘cester’, as in Gloucester, denotes a Roman settlement, usually the place of a fort. (Cester, by the way, is pronouced ‘ster’ so Gloucester is pronounced ‘Gloster’.)
Here are some more examples The Origins of Place Names
