History 03f the Parish'and Town of Bampton, Ms'rmc'r To

197 Pages·2016·7.85 MB·English

FREDERICK WHITAKER ESQ U IRE
, OF BAMPTON,
’
ONE O F HER MAJESTY S JUSTICES O F THE PEACE
FO R THE COUNTY OF OX FORD
,
THIS H ISTORY OF HIS NATIVE TOWN
IS DEDICATED
BY HIS SINCERE FRIEND AND FAITHFUL SERVANT
,
THE AUTHOR.
The eo ra h of Britain as of all the m oderncountries of
g g p y ,
Euro e has undergone at least two perhaps in some parts
p , ,
three changes ofnomenclature since the beginning of the Chris
tianera. The names of places which occur inearl British
, y
histor whilst the ancient Britons still enjo ed independence
y, y ,
were mostl altered or modified b the Romans. The Italian
y y
pronunciationstill delights to give euphon to the Teutonic and
y
Celtic names of the north b adding vowels and s llabic termi
,
y y
*
nations to the uncouth consonants of the native idiom.
A fter the departure of the Romans the countr now called
, y
England but at that time Britain was invaded and conquered
, ,
The British prince
, who bravely opposed the inva sionof Julius Ca sar, is thought to
have beencalled Caswalloninhis native tongue but the clas sic ears of the Rom aninva
ders softened the term into the m ore fl owing m a esty of Ca ssibellaunus.
j
Cunobelinor Cunobelinus was another British prince ofnote he is called Cym beline b
y
Shakespeare .
Many instances of this change of nam e occur inhis tory. Insom e ca ses whenthe sound
suits the idiom s of both languages a change of spelling alone takes place. Thus
_ ,
xii
HISTO RY OF BAMPTON.
b the
Saxons. The first leaders of this tribe of barbaria s
y n
,
Hengist and Horsa
, landed inthe ear of our Lord 4419 and at
y ,
the end
of a hundred and fift
y years, during which there were
continual wars betweenthem and the Britons we find t
hat the
,
n
ames of most of the towns were changed or in som
e Wa
y
"'
-
modified b the new comers.
i
y
Inthe
year 1 066, William the Conqueror landed at Hastings
,
and inthe
course of his reignnearl all the baronies
and great
y
fiefs
of the crownchanged hands and became the prop
ert of
y
the
Norman lords who accompanied the Duke. We ca
n
not
doubt that man places of less note or situated inremote
y ,
districts
, received new names according to the fanc or caprice
y
f
o their new owners .
To these causes m a be mai
nl ascribed the great difficult
y y y,
which we have inidentif ing places as described in ancient
y ,
authors with towns and villages still existing.
,
There is little doubt that the townof Bamptonis one of the
oldest inEngland. The et molog of the name shows it to
y y
be of Ancient British or gin unchanged b the tide of Anglo
,
i y
Saxon invasion which s wept awa so much of British laws
, ,
y
-
customs and la guage. The termination TON which m arks
n ,
so many names of towns all over the island is spelt innearl
, y
’
Daubigny
, a freebooting captainof the fifteenth century, is called D O bigni by the polite
'
I tali ans whose purses he took from them .
,
f Inproof of thi s observation, we have several instances inthe Ecclesiastical H is
tory of Venerable Bede , where two nam es are givento the sam e place . Thus in the
“
second chapter of the first book, he says , The blessed A lbansuffered deat h onthe
'
22nd of June, nea r th e city of Verulam , which is now by the English nation called
Verlam acestir or Varlingacestir .
Hi sr onx or BAMPTON. xiii
all old manuscripts -TUNE and was probabl at first ronounc
, y p
ed as the modernScotch pronounce it A large num
,
-
ber of English towns end with the s llable DON and this
,
y
~ -
termination also is written DUN or DUNE in ancient manu
scripts .
-
It is not to be denied that these terminations TON and
*
-
DON are also Anglo-Saxonforms and pass for such among
,
lexicographers : but those who reflect on the numerous
-
names of towns ending in DUNUM &e. and existing over
,
all Ancient Britainand Gaul long before the invasionof the
,
Saxons can hardl avoid the inference that the Celtic language
, y
was the source from which flowed those Saxon names
-
of towns ending in DON and as was before observed.
—
If thenthis theor be correct and I think it is hardl
y , y
—
susceptible of a doubt it remains to enquire what was the
,
'
- - -
primitive si nification oi these s llables TON DON TUNE
g y , ,
‘
- - -
DUNE DUNUM DINUM &c. from which are derived the
, , ,
- -
modernEnglish words TOWN and DOWN. Now the theor
y
that these words are of Briti sh or Celtic origin is much
strengthened b the fact that the French language wh ich like
,
y ,
the English derives man words from the old Celtic still
, y ,
retains the word DUNE denoting a HEIGHT or EMINENCE
,
generall of an epen or exposed charac ter and similar in
y ,
-
It is the prevailing opinion
, tha t the Anglo Saxons entirely exterm inated the Britons
but this is surel
y a m ista ke. The inhabitants of all the south of Bri tain, inthe tim e of
Julius Cae sar
, were of Belgie, not of Celtic descent , and it is probable that they were a
kindred race to the Anglo-Saxons . I f so
, the victorious Anglo-Saxons would not exterm
xiv HISTORY OF B
AMPTO N.
appearance to that particular kind of countr which w
e call
y
a DOWN. If therefore we can discover an connectio
nbe
y
tween the idea of a town as we at present underst
and
,
the word and that Of a down w
e shall have no difficult
, ,
y
'
- - - -
in proving that rON nuns DON DUNE DOWN and TOWN
, , , ,
are different m odifications of the sam e word and as f
ar
, ,
as et m olog is concerned denote the same thing. Such a
,
y y
connection is not difficult to find whenwe reflect that the
,
towns of the Ancient Britons were all strongholds erected
,
on DOWNS or heights according to the description given
,
of them b Caesar and other ancient writers .
y
ll
These observations wi lead the reader to erceive from
p
et molog that the word Bam pton is at all events as Old
y y
'
-
as the Anglo Saxons
, and probabl
y of Ancient British originsl
This inference would be conclusive if we could trace the
,
'
first s llable of the word Bampton to an equall earl
y y y
origin but I am not acquainted with an Celtic or An
, y
cient British wor d from which the s llable BAM canhave been
y
inate,but am algam ate with the subdued Britons , and the ir future dialect woul d show traces
of the union. Th e sam e view of the subject is takenb
y Sir Francis Palgrave. It m ay
he rem arked tha t the influence of conquest wa s often counteracted and neutra lized
,
b the affini ty of the conquering and the conquered nations . Th e waves which fl owed
y
"
1 the sam e channel usuall
y proceeded from the sam e .,source . Thus, in England, the
original Belgic population of Lloegria , and their despoilers , and those whs subdued the
-
vanquished victors were all brethren: Britons and Anglo Saxons, Danes and Norm ans
were all relat ions , however hostile , they were all kinsm en, shedding kindred blood : and
evenwhenthe races were not so nearly connected,the pervading resem blances of the laws
of the earli er ages contributed to lightenthe yoke of conquest , and to disguise the innova
”
tions which were really effected by the transfer of sovereignty.
’
-
P A LGna vns R I SE A ND P R O GR E SS O F T H E A NGLO SA X O N CO MM ONWE A LTH . 4to,
Part I , London, 1 832, p . 3 5 .
t Since writing as above, I have received a letter from the Rev. JohnJones, Vicar
HISTORY OF BAMPTON. xv
derived its et molog is pure Saxon and it is written 111
;
y y ,
that language BEAM which like BAUM inGerman signifies a
,
‘ ’
tree though the term has after man centuries beennar
,
y
rowed in application until it signifies no longer the living
,
tree but the log or trunk of it after it has been felled and
,
-
hewn and placed as a m aintimber or beam to support the
,
‘ ‘
roof or ceiling Of a honse. l
It would appear then from this et molog that the name
, ,
y y
’ ‘
-
B AMPION is equivalent to tree town and we are at once
,
’
of Nevern, and one of our first Welsh scholars . He refers m e to Dr. JohnDavies s
’
Welsh-Latindictionary printed inLondon, A . D . 1632, and to Dr. OwenBughe a English~
Welsh Dictionary.
From the form er of these works I extract the following m eanings
“
D I N idem quod Dnus .
,
D I NA B civita s urbs . nan. Pa n. in Dun. Arab. Medinaton.
, , g
From the latte r
“
D IN a fort ifi ed hill or m ount a cam p 8 fort . I t form s the nam es O f a great num
, ;
ber of places inthose countries which were inhabited b the CYM RY or Ancient Britons.
y
- - - a
Hence the m es on
, D I NU K or the D IN IU M , of the Rom ans ; TUNE, m ore, rc s ,
"
and TOWN of the English .
’
-
To these extracts m a be added the following from Boswort h s Anglo Saxon
y
dictionary.
“ '
nuns
, f. [Plat . Ger. Da , f. Dut. nurs e s , m . pl. . Dan. nr nnnnn, f. pl. Frs . DU NE f.
Celt . Bret . m . I. a m ountain hill DOWNS m ons then follow references to
) , , , [
passage s inthe Anglo-Sax onBible
] 1 of none , a nnnn, D OWN, D OWN-WA RDS .
run
, a s m . [Plat . runs , m . a hedge, garden: Dut . r vm , m . a garden, hedge : Ger. Z A UN ,
m . a bedge
; old Ger . runs , zen Not. sr zrnzun, a wall ; Icel. run. n. viridarium , pratum
-
dom es ticum
; Wel. m n,nm a s ,a city: Gael . T U I N ,f. a dwelling place : Ir . Gael. D UN ,m . a for
—
tress
, tower , a fort ified bill, a hill , hedge, heap : Ir. r a m , f. a town m a rs to enclose.]
l . a place fenced round or enclosed
; septum quodvis . 2 . A close, field, yard, farm , local
po ssession: praedium
, fundus, ager, posses s io. 3 . A place of residence, house, dwelling,
village
, TO WN, a territory lying withinthe bounds of a town habitaculum , dom us, vicus ,
”
villa
, oppidum . 4. A clas s , course, turn classis .
Thenfollow exam ples of the use of the word .
’
-
t The explana tionof B eam dune found inBosworth s Anglo Saxondictionary.
-
B EA M DUNE. B E AM a tree D U NE a hill.
,
Th e nam e of m any places in England
, so called from their elevated position, covered
with wood
,now corrupted into Bam pton. Chr. 8 14.