Survey of English Place-Names

Historical Forms

• Bodeha'sted' 1199 Cur

• Bodenhampstede 1317 Ch

• Bodemhamstede 1335 ib

• Botelhamested' 1237 Cl

• Botenhamsted' 1241 Ass

• Botenhampstede 1284 1328,1349 Ipm

• Botenhamstede 1338,1349 ib

• Botenhampsted 1345 Cl

• Bottenamstede 1391 ib

• Bottom Hampsted 1593–7 AD

• Bottompstead Green 1761 Rocque

• Bottomstead 1830 OS

Etymology

'Homestead in a valley', v. botm , hāmstede . DEPN discusses the name under the spelling Bottomstead, but the modern O.S. maps give Bothampstead. Bothampstead Fm (GR 505762) is on a flat shelf of land, not in a valley or hollow. The farm marked Trumpetts on 1″ map but Little Bothampstead on 2½″, about ½ mile south-east of Bothampstead Fm, is in a situation which suits the p.n. There is also Lower Bothampstead Fm, on the same shelf of land as Bothampstead Fm.