Survey of English Place-Names

Historical Forms

• Beieministre hundret c.1086 GeldR
• (Hundr' de) Bemin(i)str(e) 1212 Fees 1244,1268 Ass 1275 RH 1280,1288 Ass
• Bemenistr(e) 1226–8 Fees 1268,1280 Ass 1285 FA
• Bemyn(i)str', Bemynystr' 1244,1288 Ass 1395 Salis
• Bemunstre 1244 Ass
• Bemestre 1330 FF 1457 Cl
• Bemystre 1428 FA
• Bymenistre 1280 Ch
• Hundr' de Beministre Episcopi 1288 Ass 1327 SR
• Hundr' de Beminystre intrinsec' 1288 Ass
• Bed(e)ministre (sic) 1303 FA
• Beymistre 1316 ib
• Beymunstr' 1332 SR
• Beymenstr' 1340 NI
• Redehane hundret c.1086 GeldR
• (Hundr' de) la Redehan(e) 1235 FineR 1286 Ass
• la Radehan' 1236 Orig
• (Hundr' de) (La) Redehone 1244,1280 Ass
• Bymenistre and Redehone 1280 Cl
• Redehone et Beministre extrinsecu' 1288 Ass
• Beminstre and Redehone 1301 FF
• Redehone and Bemyster 1486 Ipm
• La Redehoue (sic) 1330 FF
• Redhove (sic) 1432 Fine
• Hundr' de Beministre Gorges 1244 Ass
• La Rydehawe (sic) 1251–2 Fees
• la Ridehone 1265 Misc
• Ridehoue 1292 Ipm
• la Rydehone et Beymunstr For' 1332 SR 1340 NI 1340 Forde 15
• Rydehove, Ridehove (sic) 1346,1428,1431 FA
• Beministre Foreign (hundred) 1265 Misc, Ipm
• Bemynstr' For' 1340 NI
• Beymenstre Forinsecum 1384 Fine
• Beymynstre Forum 1412 FA 1432 Fine
• Bedmynstreforum (sic) 1432 IpmR
• out-hundred (forinsecum) of Beministre 1446 Fine
• Hundred' de Bradpole et de Bemynstre 1340 Forde 15
• Rod(e)hove (sic) (et Beymynstre Forum) 1384 Fine 1412 FA
• Redhoane 1653 ParlSurv
• Beminster Forum and Redhond 1664 HTax
• Broadwindsor Liberty 1795 Boswell
• 'the free manor of Windesore' 1275 Hutch3
• man' de Wyndesor' (man' Lib' Hug' de Wyndesor' ffil' Joh'is de Wynd') 1280 Ass
• 'manor of Brodewyndesore and the hundred of the same manor' 1344 Hutch3
• hundredo de Brodewyndesor' 1344 Forde 15
• the hundred of Wyndesore Mortestorne 1399 Cl
• Libertie of Broad Windsor 1664 HTax

Etymology

Named from Beaminster par. infra . This was the 'in-hundred', hence the affix in 1288 from Lat  intrinseca 'within, lying within the bounds', cf. the 'out-hundred' of Beaminster Forum & Redhone infra . The hundred belonged to the Bishops of Sherborne and (later) Salisbury from early times (Hutch3 281, 153), hence the other affix Episcopi 'of the Bishop'.

'(Place at) the red stone', from OE  rēad (wk.obl. -an ) and hān , cf. the analogous Redhorn Hill W 316 (where it is speculated that the boundary stone in question may have been artificially coloured) and the several occurrences of readan hane in OE charter bounds, including three in Brk (PN Brk 779, 786), two in W (PN W 316) and one in Tarrant Hinton par. 2 122. The spellings in Ryde -, Ride - reflect the ME  raising of -e - to -i - (cf. Redlane hundred 3 1), and those in -hawe , -houe , -hove an early misreading or mistranscription of -hane , -hone (this error persisting up to the 19th cent., thus the insistence in Hutch3 2 153 regarding 'Redhove or Redhone Hundred, commonly so called, but more properly Redhove Hundred'.

The DB hundred of Redehane seems to have been associated or united with the 'out-hundred' of Beaminster at an early date, v. Hutch3 2153.The affixes are from Lat  extrinseca and forinseca 'outside, lying outside the bounds' (the latter rendered 'Foreign' in the two forms from 1265), cf. the 'in-hundred' of Beaminster supra . A misreading of the medieval abbreviations Forin ' or For 'um for the affix Forinsecum has led to its being understood as Forum (as pointed out by Hutch3 2 153), cf. the occurrence of this Lat affix in Blandford Forum 287–8 (also it would seem a reinterpretation of Forinsecum , v. the recent article by Paul Cullen, JEPN 38 17–24). The spurious affix Forum has now of course been transferred (but only since the 18th cent.) to the par. name itself.The affix Gorges in one of the forms from 1244Ass relates to the de Gorges family who were lords of the manor of Bradpole infra (Hutch3 2153–4), cf. Shipton Gorge par. infra , note also the form Hundred ' de Bradepole et de Bemynstre in 1340 (15) Forde which relates to the fact that in early times 'this hundred was an appendage of the manor of Bradpole' (Hutch3 2153).

The site of the 'red stone' (and therefore of the original meeting place of the hundred) is uncertain, but it was probably some 3 miles SE of Beaminster in North Poorton, v. Redhone in that par. infra for a discussion of this elusive name. Cf. also the statement in 1653ParlSurv that the hundred court 'for the Turne and Hundred of Redhoane [meets] at Seawardston near Askerswell', v. Askerswell par. infra , and note that this par. was a detached part of the hundred of Redehane at the time of DB (ThornDB Appendix).