Category: Histories of British towns, villages and cities

By Tim Lambert Medieval Maidstone Maidstone began as a Saxon village. From the 10th century, it was owned by the Archbishop of Canterbury. At the time of the Domesday Book (1086), Maidstone was a large village with a population of perhaps 250. (Most villages would have 100-150 inhabitants). At that time it had 5 watermills,… Continue reading A History of Maidstone

By Tim Lambert Roman Manchester Manchester began when the Roman army built a wooden fort on a plateau about 1 mile south of the present cathedral in about 80 AD. The Romans called it Mamucium (breast-shaped hill) probably because the plateau resembled a breast. The fort was rebuilt in stone about 200 AD. Soon a… Continue reading A History of Manchester

By Tim Lambert Market Harborough was founded by the Saxons. They built a little village and we believe they called it haefera beorg, which means oats hill. In time the name evolved into its modern form. At the time of the Domesday Book, in 1086 Market Harborough was still a tiny village. However, in the… Continue reading A History of Market Harborough

By Tim Lambert Early Marlborough Marlborough is a market town in Wiltshire. It began as an Anglo-Saxon settlement. We are not sure what its name meant, but ‘borough’ is probably a corruption of ‘beorg’, meaning hill or mound. The ‘marl’ may have come from a man’s name. Maybe it was Mærla’s mound. Or it may… Continue reading A History of Marlborough

By Tim Lambert Early Melksham The town of Melksham in Wiltshire began as a Saxon village. Its name was probably once meolc ham, which means milk settlement. There must have been a dairy farm there. At the time of the Domesday Book, Melksham probably had a population of about 850. By the standards of the… Continue reading A History of Melksham

By Tim Lambert Early Meonstoke In 1984 a Saxon man was discovered at Meonstoke. Furthermore, a Roman building was discovered about 1 kilometre north of Meonstoke. In 1987 a Bronze Age woman from about 3,000 BC was discovered. There is an old legend that the Romans tried to build the city of Winchester on Old… Continue reading A History of Meonstoke

By Tim Lambert Early Middlesbrough Until the 19th century, Middlesbrough was a hamlet. In 1829 it had only 40 inhabitants but things were about to change dramatically. From 1825 coal from the South Durham coalfield was taken by train from Darlington to Stockton on Tees. From there it was taken by train to other parts… Continue reading A History of Middlesbrough

By Tim Lambert Early Milton Abbas Milton Abbas was originally called Middleton, which meant middle tun the middle farm or hamlet. In about 933 a Saxon king, Athelstan founded a monastery there. In 964 King Edgar replaced the monks there with Benedictines. The settlement of Middleton thrived during the Middle Ages and eventually, it grew… Continue reading A History of Milton Abbas

By Tim Lambert Early Milton The Saxons landed founded small villages on Portsea Island. One of them was middle tun. The word tun meant farm or small village. This one was in the middle between Froddington (Fratton) and the sea. Eastney was eastern eg (the Saxon word eg meant island). In the Middle Ages Milton… Continue reading A History of Milton, Portsmouth

By Tim Lambert The village of Montacute gets its name from the Latin words Mons Acutis, which means pointed hill. (In the Middle Ages all educated people spoke Latin and the names of places were often given in Latin in documents). In the 11th century, according to an old legend Tostig, a lieutenant of King… Continue reading A History of Montacute