Upper Beeding
Major Settlement in the Parish of Upper Beeding
Historical Forms
- æt Beadingum c.880 BCS553 c.1000
- Bedinges 1073 France 1325 Ipm
- Beddinges 1080–1108 France 1086 DB
- Bedingh', Bendeng' 1232,1234 Cl
- Bedyngge 1296 SR 1398 IpmR
- Beding 1327 SR
- Bydyng 1330 Sele 1332 SR
- Bydyngge 1338 Ass 1362 FF
- Seale al. Beedinge 1600 MarL 1626 Recov
- Beden 1727 MarC
Etymology
'The people of Bēada ,' v. ing and cf. Beddingham infra 357.Upper and Lower Beeding are several miles apart but it is clear that they are to be reckoned as one settlement, for in the Subsidy Rolls we find mention of Beeding alone and yet some persons taxed in this Beeding belong to what we now know as Lower Beeding, and Upper and Lower Beeding formed one parish until modern times. Probably Lower Beeding was the district in the Weald which formed the swine-pastures of the original settlement of Beeding. The application of the terms Lower and Upper is obscure and paradoxical, for Lower Beeding is on higher ground and further up country than Upper Beeding.Possibly 'Upper' is used like 'High' in High Street, to denote the chief or more important part of the parish.