Category: Histories of British towns, villages and cities

By Tim Lambert Dedicated to Lucinda Wilde Early Clapham The Roman road called Stane Street, which ran from London to Chichester went through the area where Clapham now stands. However, Clapham began as a Saxon village. Its name was originally clopp ham, which meant the village (ham) by the short hill (clopp). At the time… Continue reading A history of Clapham

By Tim Lambert Roman Colchester Colchester started life as a centre of the local Celtic tribe, the Trinovantes. It was a group of settlements and farmland surrounded by a network of ditches. The site was about 12 square miles or 20 square kilometers. The Romans invaded Britain in 43 AD and they built a fort… Continue reading A History of Colchester

By Tim Lambert The first people to live in the Congleton area were Neolithic (New Stone Age) farmers. The Stone Age farmers built a chambered stone tomb called the Bridestones. There is also evidence that people lived in the area during the Bronze Age, which followed the Stone Age at about 1,800 BC. However, we… Continue reading A History of Congleton

By Tim Lambert Early Conwy Llywelyn ap Iorwerth or Llywelyn the Great (1173-1240) founded an abbey at Conwy and he was later buried there. However, the town of Conwy was founded by the English king Edward I. After subduing Wales Edward decided to build a chain of castles in Wales to hold down the Welsh.… Continue reading A History of Conwy

By Tim Lambert Early Copnor The Saxons settled on Portsea Island in the 6th century. One of them was called Coppa. He owned a stretch of shoreline, in the Saxon language an ora. Today we put an apostrophe ‘s’ at the end of a person’s name but the Saxons put the letter n so it… Continue reading A History of Copnor

By Tim Lambert Early Cosham Cosham started as a Saxon village in the 6th century. It was called Cossa’s ham, which meant Cossa’s village or estate. However, until the 19th century, Cosham was only a small village. At the time of the Domesday Book in 1086 England was divided into areas called manors. Cosham was… Continue reading A History of Cosham, Portsmouth

By Tim Lambert Coventry in the Middle Ages Coventry began as a Saxon village. It was called Coffantree, which means the tree belonging to Coffa. Trees were often used as meeting places. In this case, a settlement grew up around the tree and it eventually became called Coventry. Then in 1043 Leofric, the local Earl,… Continue reading A History of Coventry

By Tim Lambert Old Crawley Crawley began as a Saxon village. It was originally called crow leah. The old English word leah meant a clearing so it was the clearing with crows. However, by the 13th century, Crawley had grown into a small market town. (This was partly because it lay on an important road… Continue reading A History of Crawley

By Tim Lambert Early Crewkerne The name Crewkerne is believed to be derived from words meaning house by a hill. The house may have been an important building. At any rate, a settlement grew up around it. Crewkerne was first mentioned in history in the late 9th century. By the 11th century, Crewkerne was an… Continue reading A History of Crewkerne

By Tim Lambert Early Darlington Darlington began as a small village. It first appeared in writing in the early 11th century when it was called Dearthingtun. Its name was probably originally Deornoth ing tun. Deaornoth was a man. The word ‘ing’ meant belonging to and tun meant farm or hamlet. So it was the estate… Continue reading A History of Darlington