Barnwell All Saints
Major Settlement in the Parish of Barnwell All Saints
Historical Forms
- (æt) Byrnewilla(n) c.980 BCS1130 12th
- Bernewell(e) 1060 KCD809 1350 DB 1086 ADiii 1424
- Beornwelle 1077 ChronRams 13th
- Bernwell 1322 Ipm
- Kyngesbernewell(e) 1344 Pat 1353 Ipm
Etymology
The spelling in the first form shows the same substitution of y for e that we find in Helpston infra 236, and we must take the correct form of the name to be Beornewelle , later Bernewelle . The interpretation may be 'warriors' spring' from OE beorna-wielle .beorn is only used in poetic texts in OE , but since this is an important settlement in the Nene valley, we may take it to be of early origin, made at a time when the word beorn may well have been still in ordinary use. We may note other compounds of beorn in Barnhill in the East Riding of Yorkshire, Beornhyll (BCS 1052), and Barnham (Sf), Byornham c. 1000 AS Wills. See further Barnack infra 230. Skeat (PN C 36s. n. Barnwell) would prefer to assume a pers. name Beorna , from the same stem, a pet-form of one or other of the OE names in Beorn -. This might suit Barnwell, but will not suit Barnhill or Barnham. Bridges (ii, 392) writes 'About the town are seven or eight wells, from which, and the custom of dipping Bernes or children in them, the town is supposed to be denominated.' The form of the OE word for 'child' is, however, bearn , and would have given Barn - and not Bern - in ME. The manor was held by the king in 1086.