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.

Ardington

Major Settlement in the Parish of Ardington

Historical Forms

  • Ardintone 1086 DB
  • Ardint' c.1130 OxonCh
  • Ardintona c.1182 AddCh
  • Ardinton' 1220,1235–6 Fees 1241 Ass 1268 Cl 1327 SR
  • Ardinton 1275–6 RH
  • Ærdintona 1182 AddCh
  • Ærdinton' 1192 P
  • Herdinton' 1194 P 1222–3 FF
  • Herdinton c.1210 BM
  • Erdinton' 1200 Cur 1218–19 FF 1222 Cur
  • Erdintona 1222,1259 Os
  • Erdington' 1241 Ass
  • Erdyngton 1320 Os
  • Erdyngtone 1344 ib
  • Herdetune, Herditun' 13th ReadingC
  • Hardinton 1275–6 RH
  • Ardington' 1284 Ass
  • Ardyngton 1340 Cl 1362 1378 Fine 1517 DInc
  • Ardyndton 1300 Ipm

Etymology

There are good historical reasons for identifying this place with æt Æþeredinge tune 961 (c. 1240) BCS 1079; v. Stenton, The Latin Charters of the Anglo -Saxon Period (1955), 71. Instead of bounds the charter has a statement in Old English that the nine hides lie among other lands held in shares. In 1066 a tenant named Sawin held an estate of nine hides in Ardington, (one of the two estates there), and Sir Frank Stenton identifies this with the nine hides granted in BCS 1079. Linguistically, however, the connection is not so certain as could have been wished. Æþeredinge tune means 'farm of Æðde (l )rǣd 's people, v. -inga-, tūn . The later forms are not necessarily inconsistent with this etymology, but it is necessary to assume that, owing to the length of the compound, a considerable contraction took place between 961 and 1086. Without the charter form, the post-Conquest spellings suggest an original *Eardingtūn , 'estate associated with *Earda', identical with Yarnton O 296–7 and Erdington Wa 30.