Medbury
Early-attested site in the Parish of Elstow
Historical Forms
- Meidebir' 1227 Ass
- Mayden(e)byr', Maydenbur' 1276 Ass
- Maydeburn' 1287 Ass
- Maide-burie 1616 NQiii
Etymology
OE mægða -byrig (dat.) or mægdenabyrig , 'maid(en)s' fort' (v. burh ), the exact equivalent of Germ. Magdeburg , but why these places were so called it is difficult to say. There are a good many modern place-names in which the element Maiden appears, combined with Way, Bower, Castle, and then it often refers to an ancient road or earthwork, but for none of these have we evidence of the early use of the name. In OE charters we only have mægidna brycg (BCS 428) and mædena coua (BCS 948), perhaps so called because frequented by maidens. Maidenhead (Berks) goes back to at least the 13th cent. and means 'maidens' landing-place,' which Skeat suggests may have been so called because there was an easy landing-place here. Similarly Maidenesford in a Beds fine of 1202 is presumably a very shallow ford in contrast to the Mucheleford mentioned immediately after. Maidencourt (Berks), earlier Maidencote , goes back to the 13th cent. and may well be 'dairymaids' cote.' Note also Maidwell, Maidford (Nth). Maiden Castle, applied to the Castle at Edinburgh (c. 1600), is found in Latin as Castrum Puellarum and, as suggested in the NED, may mean 'castle which even maidens could defend.' That is of course a possible sense for Medbury, but there is no evidence for any kind of 'castle' or even earthwork. Perhaps it may be 'manor' which was at one time held by 'maidens,' but these suggestions for this name and those for the others are more or less idle speculations. Such names have arisen from particular incidents or ideas which are now lost beyond recovery.