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From: "Chris & Caroline" <>
Subject: ORIGINS OF SOUTHAMPTON PLACE NAMES
Date: Tue, 7 Sep 2004 11:59:19 +0100


A subscriber on another list asked where Woolston, Shirley and Bitterne
got their names.
So we thought this might be of interest to other lists.
Chris and Caroline

ORIGINS OF SOUTHAMPTON PLACE NAMES

Coates 1989
WOOLSTON
Old English 'Wulf's farm'. In 1284 a form 'Wolverichestone' appears
apparently referring to this place, and this clearly means 'Wulfric's
farm'. The two names could conceivably have referred to the same man,
but the true significance of the alternating forms is not known. A
Wulfric was the grantee of 7 hides of land at Millbrook, four miles
away, by king Eadwig in 956 (document BCS 926, S 636). But the name was
a common one and not too much should be read into this fact.

SHIRLEY in Millbrook, suburb of Southampton
There are two possibilities: either Old English 'bright wood/clearing',
in a compound form with an uninflected adjective; or 'shire
wood/clearing', but there is no evidence that a shiremoot ever met here.
If such evidence ever turns up, it will probably show that the name
dates from the period when Southampton was the capital of the county and
gave it its name. Cf SHERFIELD-ON-LODDON, where Shirley hundred is also
discussed. If the second interpretation is right, there may be an
implied contrast between PORTSWOOD 'wood of the town' and Shirley 'wood
of the shire'.

Coates 1989
BITTERNE
Ekwall derives this from hypothetical Old English 'byhtaern'='building
by a bend' with reference to a 'horseshoe shaped ridge' close by. Gover
accepts this formal origin but sees a reference, in 'byht' to the
prominent bend in the river Itchen here; this is more likely. But old
Bitterne is a good mile from the bend. An alternative possibility might
be hypothetical 'bit(e)aern'='building for bits' ie: in one of the
senses associated with tools or horse tackle. The word 'aern' in Old
English often formed compounds with words denoting what it contained.
It is generally thought that Bitterne riverside was the site of the
Romano British town of 'Clausentum' and it is regularly marked on local
maps. This name is interpreted by Rivet and Smith (1979) as if from
British words meaning 'nail' and 'path', and they speculate that there
was a causeway or pontoon or suchlike here to give rise to the name.
However, this does not precisely suit the Antonine Itinerary distances
to Winchester and Chichester, for which Wickham gives a better match
(Rivet and Smith 1979: 166 7). The origin just proposed for the Romano
British name is less obviously suitable for Wickham.

For more names go to
OLD HAMPSHIRE GAZETEER
http://www.envf.port.ac.uk/hantsgaz/hantsgaz/hgdndx_f.htm

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