Category: Articles

By Tim Lambert Saxon Hereford Hereford means the Ford used by the army. The Saxons arrived in this part of England in the 7th century and a settlement grew up at the ford. In 676 AD it was made the seat of a bishop. By 700 AD Hereford had grown into a town. In 760… Continue reading A History of Hereford

By Tim Lambert Horsham in the Middle Ages Horsham began as a Saxon village. Ham is the Saxon word for a village. No one is quite sure where the first part of the place name comes from. Perhaps this ‘ham’ was famous for horses. Or maybe it belonged to a man named Horsa. Horsham is… Continue reading A History of Horsham

By Tim Lambert Early Horndean Horndean began as a little Saxon village. Its name may be a corruption of the Saxon words Hearman denu meaning dormouse valley. Horndean stood in a great forest that stretched from the border of Hampshire to Winchester. It was called the Forest of Bere. A track led through the forest… Continue reading A History of Horndean

By Tim Lambert Early Hornchurch Hornchurch began as a small village in Essex. It was not mentioned in the Domesday Book of 1086 but there might have been a tiny hamlet at Hornchurch at that time. Certainly, a village grew up at Hornchurch by the middle of the 12th century. By about 1163 a church… Continue reading A History of Hornchurch

By Tim Lambert Saxon Bristol Bristol began life as a village called Brigg stow, which means the meeting place at the bridge in the old Saxon language. At some point, a wooden bridge was erected across the Avon. (Avon is a Celtic word meaning ‘water’). The bridge was used as a meeting place and a… Continue reading A History of Bristol

By Tim Lambert Roman Ilchester Ilchester began as a Roman town. The Romans invaded England in 43 AD. When they subdued the Celtic tribe in this area, the Durotriges, they built a fort to guard a ford over the River Yeo. Soon they built a town on the site of the old Celtic settlement. It… Continue reading A History of Ilchester

By Tim Lambert Hull in the Middle Ages The town of Hull was founded late in the 12th century. The monks of Meaux Abbey needed a port where the wool from their estates could be exported. They chose a place at the junction of the rivers, Hull and Humber, to build a quay. The exact… Continue reading A History of Hull

By Tim Lambert Buckland was founded by the Saxons who came from what is now Germany. They invaded Hampshire in the early 6th century. They settled on Portsea Island and they founded three villages. One was called boche (meaning book) land. In Saxon times any written document was called a book and if the king… Continue reading A History of Buckland

By Tim Lambert Saxon Cambridge In the Bronze Age and the Iron Age, there were settlements on the site of Cambridge. Then in the 1st century AD, the Romans built a fort on Castle Hill. However, this fort was abandoned at the beginning of the 5th century AD as the Roman Empire declined. The modern… Continue reading A History of Cambridge

By Tim Lambert Anglo-Saxon Bury St Edmunds Bury St Edmunds began as an Anglo-Saxon settlement called Bedric’s worth. Worth was a Saxon word meaning an enclosure such as a farm or hamlet surrounded by a stockade. In 630 Sigebert the king of East Anglia founded a monastery there. In the 9th century, Edmund was king… Continue reading A History of Bury St Edmunds