A large audience gathered to hear Dr David Peacock give a talk on the place names of Berkshire. David noted that whilst many names date to the Anglo-Saxon period, some have their roots much earlier dating from pre-Roman times. The later includes the River Thames (Temesa) and Rive Kennet (Cynetan). David noted several place names and where they originate from including: Combe – adapted in to Anglo-Saxon and means a bowl shaped valley. An example would be Combe Town, which today we know as Compton.
David noted that in Berkshire there are no surviving Roman place names, although there are several with Latin origins such as Caleva, which we know today as Silchester. Some names may have been influenced by the Romans such as Wickham. This originally came from the word “Wic” from Anglo-Saxon referring to a dairy farm or Roman settlement.
David went on to say although there are exceptions, most names have their origins in the Anglo-Saxon period. There are ways to identify where place names originate from, and although not foolproof, generally give a very good idea. The way this is done is to break the place names down in to parts and then examine those parts.
Burh – refers to ‘burry’s’ or rather hill forts such as Membury. This can be applied to others such as Grimsbury, which is also a hill fort. David warned that it can be tempting to stick with such associations, but that they can be wrong. For example, Kintbury. This refers to the River Kennet, or Kint, as it would have been known and perhaps a borough, evolving into Kintbury.
Ford – dates to the Saxons and after with places like Hungerford and Shefford. We generally associate this with a stream/river crossing, a ford. David gave several examples including Welford, which suggest a well and a ford. Tracing the name back we find originally the place name did not start with ‘Wel’ but rather ‘Welis’, which means willow. So we have a ford with willows surrounding it.
Ham – a more difficult place name ending as it can have multiple meanings. One refers to a homestead, / hamlet and another meaning a settlement near a river meadow.
David highlighted this issue with our own Thatcham. Samuel Barfield noted in his history of Thatcham that the name derived from a Saxon Chief, Tace, who set-up his settlement, or hamlet, here. Hence Tace’s Ham changing over the years to Thatcham. There is little evidence to support this, although it is possible. David put forward two alternative suggestions:
- Thatcham is a combination of the Saxon word for Thatch, the local roofing material and ham for hamlet, creating Thatcham. This is nice and simple, but introduces one minor issue. That is the fact the most buildings would have been thatched across the country so why are not more places named Thatcham?
- Thatcham is named after the river meadow, giving us the ‘hamm’ and thatch referring to the reed beds and not the style of roofing. Hence we get Thatchamm.
Obviously these examples would not be spelt as spelt here. All three of these have their own merits, and documentary there is little to support one over another.
The meeting ended with one of the longest question and answer sessions we have had showing just how good David is and how much interest there is in place names. A vote of thanks was given by committee member Peter Lavarack.