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.

Bewdley

Major Settlement in the Parish of Bewdley

Historical Forms

  • Buleye 1316 Ipm
  • Beudle 1335 Ipm, Orig
  • Beudeley 1349 Pat
  • Beaudeley 1381 IpmR 1465 Pat
  • Bewdeley 1547 Pat

Etymology

A well-known type of French place-name. The nearest parallel to this Anglicising that has been noted is Beadlow (PN BedsHu 147).

'Worthily so called for the Beautifull site thereof' (Camden's Britain , tr. Holland, 573). Leland (Itinerary ii. 87–8) waxes even more eloquent, culminating in the statement that 'at the rysynge of the sunne from este the hole towne gliterithe being all of new buyldynge, as it wer of gold.'

Places in the same Parish

Early-attested site