Survey of English Place-Names

Historical Forms

• Bacfort 1150 Chest R1 Orm2

• Bacford 12 Sheaf 1258 Whall

• Bakford e13 Sheaf

• Bacford 1663 Sheaf

• Bacford(e), Bacforda, Bacfort(he), Bakford(e), Bakforda, Bakfort(he) 1693 Sheaf

• Backford 1186–94 Chest 1291 Tax 14 Chest 1394 ChRR 1544 Pat

• Bakeforde 13 Orm2 1315 ib

• Bakeford 1512 ChRR 1535 VE

• Bakeforth 1537 Dugd

• Backeford 1310 Orm2 1541 Dugd

• Backeforde (lit. Barkeforde) 1534–7 Dugd IV 242, Orm2 ii 462

• Backeford 1632 Sheaf

• Bacceford 1347 ChFor

• Bachforth c.1554 Whall

• Bagford 1535 VE

• Bakesforde 1553 Pat

Etymology

'Ford under a hill', v. bæc , ford . The location of a ford which could be so named can hardly have been at Backford Bridge infra .The only obvious 'ford under a hill' would have been at 109–396716 where a footpath to Lea crosses Backford Brook at the foot of the 50 ft. hill on which the village stands. The location of Briggegrene infra would be useful as an alternative if it were known. The p.n. appears as Beckford in a nineteenth-century form for Backfordcross Fm in Great Sutton 194infra .