We have seen how common in Kent are place-names derived from patronymics
of the name of a family or clan, such as Kennington, the settlement of
the Cennings, but there are others, mainly more modern, which include
the name of an individual, who usually would be the lord of the manor.
Thus some have imagined that Swingfield, near Dover, is Sweyn’s Field,
as if the Saxons would have named a place after their piratical enemy.
The older forms, Swonesfelde and Swynefelde, would more naturally point
to swine, the keeping of which was the chief pastoral pursuit of the
Saxons in the dens and clearings of the forest. Queenborough, or
Quinborowe, however (earlier known as Bynnee), was named by Edward the
Third (who built a strong fort there) in honour of Queen Philippa in
1368. Rosherville is very recent, being named after Jeremiah Rosher,
lord of the manor in the nineteenth century. Sutton Valence was Town
Sutton until 1265, when it became part of the possessions of William de
Valence, half-brother of Henry the Third.
Boughton Aluph—Bocton Anulphi in a charter of Edward the Second—was the
seat in the time of Henry the Seventh of the family of Aloff, to which
Wye belonged. Boughton Monchelsea (Bocton Chanesy in the time of Edward
the Second) owes its additional name to a Norman noble; and Boughton
Malherbe (another Bush-ton, or town in the woods) was given as a manor
to the Norman family of Malherbe. Bethersden can be traced back to
Norman times as Beatrichesdenne, probably as held by an heiress of that
name. So Patrixbourne appears earliest as Bourne until a Patrick held
the manor. Capel le Ferne, near Dover, was originally Mauregge; but in
1175 the Capel family owned Capel’s Court in Ivychurch, and had estates
in several parts of Kent. In the fifteenth century it was called
sometimes S. Mary Marige and sometimes Capelle le farne, and in a deed
of 1511 it appears as “Capelferne or S. Mary Merge.”
Shepherdswell, near Dover, has nothing to do with a shepherd or a well;
but is an early corruption of Sibertswalt, as it appears in Domesday,
_i.e._, the wood of Sibert. The phonetic changes are found in later
charters and wills, Sybersysweld in 1474, Sybberdiswold 1484,
Shipriswold 1501, Shepswold 1506, and Sheperterswold in 1522. Suabert,
or Sieberht, was a great Saxon thane, and granted land in Sturgeth
(Sturry) and Bodesham to St. Domneva’s new Minster in Thanet, while in a
charter of 814 we read of Selebertineg-lond. Great Chart was originally
Selebert’s Chart. Sibbertston (or Selebertston) was a sub-manor in
Chilham, and there is still the Hundred of Sebrittenden or Selebertsden
in what was the old Lathe of Wye.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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