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.

Risborough (Monks and Princes)

Major Settlement in the Parish of Monks and Princes Risborough

Historical Forms

  • Risenbeorgas c.1000 KCD714 12th
  • Risebergh 1086 DB 1175,1180 P 1199 Cur Ri P 1243 Ch 1262 Ass 1336 Pat 1337 Pat 1341 Cl 1349 Pat
  • Risesbirie c.1155 BodlO49
  • Risemberga 1173–4 Fr Hyii Ch 1313
  • Rysemberg 1300 1315 BM
  • Risenberg 1175 P 1195 Cur(P) Ri P 1200 RC 1227 Ass 1241 ib
  • Riseuilla 1226 Bract
  • Risingbergham 1226 Bract 1244 Pat
  • Magna Riselburwe 1235 Fees468
  • Riselbergh 1241 Ass
  • Riseburg' 1237 Ch
  • Parva Risenburgh 1237–40 Fees
  • Riseburne 1241 Ass
  • Rysenberg' 1244 Ipm 1262 Ass
  • Ryseberg 1247 Fees 1247 Ass 1290 ADiii 1318 Fine
  • Rissenberg 1247 Ass
  • Rissebergh 1262 Ass
  • Rysburgh 1290 Ipm 1399 Pat 1359 IpmR
  • Ryseborowe 1302 FA
  • Risborough 1308 ADi
  • Risburgh 1318,1343 Pat 1374 Cl
  • Riseburgh 1341 Cl
  • Ryseburghe 1344 Ipm 1346 FA
  • Monekenrisbourgh 1346 Pat
  • Munken Rysebergh 1392 Pat
  • Risburgh Moyne 1347 Pat
  • Pryns Risburgh 1433 Pat
  • Monkyng Rysburgh 1509 LP
  • Pryncyn Ryseborough 1509 LP

Etymology

The forms of this name may be explained if, as suggested by Professor Ekwall, we take the first part of the name to be the OE  adj. hrīsen a regularly formed adj. from hris. The hills above the two Risboroughs could not be better described than as grown over with hris or brushwood and their name must have been þā hrīsenan beorgas , 'the brushwood-covered hills.'The hill above Monks Risborough was called the 'eastern' Risborough, while in the third form quoted above we have the picturesque description of the two Risboroughs as 'by Chiltern eaves.' The medial en in hrisenan would early have been lost.The forms with m are due to assimilation of nb to mb , those with l are AN spellings (IPN 106).

Monks or Little Risborough was so called because it belonged to Christ Church, Canterbury, from pre-Conquest days.

Prince s or Great Risborough was so called from the Black Prince into whose custody the manor passed in 1343 (Cl). It was originally a royal manor and was often in royal hands, hence 'King's.' When it is called Earl 's in 1337, it was in the possession of the Earl of Cornwall. The Hrisbyri of BCS 552, identified by Birch with Princes Risborough cannot be reconciled with the other certain forms for Risborough and there are other grounds too on which the identification should probably be rejected. It is therefore left out of count here. The charter in which it occurs purports to have been made in a Mercian witenagemot at Hrisbyri in 884. The charter, which is only known from Smith's edition of Bede, is probably genuine, but it is very difficult to believe that in 884 central Buckinghamshire was sufficiently settled under English rule to permit the holding of a witenagemot at Princes Risborough. The charter itself relates to land at Himbleton (Wo).