English Place-name Society

Survey of English Place-Names

A county-by-county guide to the linguistic origins of England’s place-names – a project of the English Place-Name Society, founded 1923.

Underditch Hundred

Hundred in the County of Wiltshire

Historical Forms

  • Windredic 1086 DB
  • Wynderdich 1255 RH
  • Wundredic 1191 P
  • Wunderdiche 1255 RH
  • Wonderdych 1249 Ass 1402 FA
  • Wonderdich 1274 Ipm 1275 RH 1289 Ass
  • Wondirdich 1289 Ass
  • Wondredych 1346 FF

Etymology

The ditch from which the Hundred takes its name is said by Hoare (133) to run across a valley to the south of Little Durnford and to ascend the down between that place and Stratford (-sub-Castle) and to adjoin the boundary between the Hundreds of Amesbury and Underditch. In BCS 1083 we have a grant of land at a place called Afene and in the bounds of that land we have mention of a windryðedic . This must be Avon Fm in Dumford (supra 363) and windrydedic must be an early form for Underditch. There can be little doubt that the dic took its name from its one-time owner, a woman bearing the name Wynðrȳð .The name is not actually found, but both elements are common in OE names and the corresponding OGer  Vundrud is on record (Förstemann PN 1664).

Parishes in this Hundred