 Through having its name derived from "welig" rather than "sealh" (the more commonly cited Old English word for "willow"), "Welwyn" is possibly cognate with "Heligan" in Cornwall whose name is derived from "helygen", the Cornish word for "willow" that shares a root with "welig".The nearby modern village of Digswell (around Welwyn North railway station) was originally called 'High Welwyn' when first developed at the beginning of the 20th century.Situated in the valley of the River Mimram, Welwyn has hosted human activity since the Palaeolithic with stone tools from that era having been found alongside the river and further inland across the area.