Bernwood (Fm)
Early-attested site in the Parish of East and Botolph Claydon
Historical Forms
- Bernewude Ri P
- Bernewode 1255 For
- Brenewode 1366 Cl, Pat
- Barnewode 1489 Ipm
- Berwood 1529 LP
- Barnwood 1610 D
Etymology
This farm-name is the last relic of the name of the great forest of Bernwood. It is difficult to dissociate the name of that ancient forest from that of Bicester (O), DB Bernecestre , 1274 QW Burcestre (v. PN O). Each seems to contain an OE Byrne - as its first element. If this association is correct, it is impossible to derive either name from a personal name Byrna (v. Burnham infra ) for the ASC form of Bernwood is long previous to any possible reduction of Byrnan - to Byrne -. Bicester lay outside the bounds of the medieval forest of Bernwood, but was only 2½ miles west of them (v. Nashway Fm supra for the bounds at this point), but the original Bernwood may have extended far to the west of these limits and even have linked up with the wooded country round Shotover and Woodstock. Such an extension would accord with the statement in the Chronicle (loc. cit .) that the Danes harried the land between Bernwood and Aylesbury, a phrase more appropriate to a forest centring on Bicester than to the forest of the 13th cent. perambulation, whose boundary was the Thame, only 1¼ miles from Aylesbury.
The etymology of the name cannot be fixed with absolute certainty but it may be noted that to the south of Bicester there is a conspicuous hill, now called Gravenhill, and Professor Ekwall suggests that the Byrne - of Bicester and Bernwood may be the British word corresponding to Welsh bryn , 'hill,' with the same metathesis which we find in Malvern (Wo), containing fryn , a mutated form of bryn . v. IPN 25. It may be suggested that this British word was contained in the unknown Romano- Celtic name of the settlement at Alchester near Bicester, and passed from that into the ME forms of Bicester quoted above.It would be more satisfactory for our purpose to assume a settlement at Bicester itself but no remains have hitherto been found which would justify this assumption.