Survey of English Place-Names

Historical Forms

• Brunburg 1100–35 Ch 1285 Chest 1155 Sheaf 1285 1278

• Brunburch e13 JRC e13 Chest 17 JRC 13(p),e14

• Brunburh 1214–22 Chest 1217–30 JRC

• Brunburgh 13 Orm2 1330 Vern 1421 Bark

• Brunnburh 1356 Eyre

• Bruneburgh 1153 Chest 1285

• Brunebur' 1291 Court

• Brumburg' 1153 Chest 1280 Pat 1153 1300

• Brumburgh 1535 VE

• Brumburth in Wiral 1297 Werb 15

• Brombur' 1153–9 Chest 1305–23

• Bromburth 1221 17 ChGaol 1347

• Bromburg c.1232 Eyre 1307

• Bromburgh 1308 Pat 1474 ChRR

• Brumburgh 1474 ChRR

• Brumburough 1558–79 ChancP

• Brumboreh c.1200 Bark

• Brumbrough 1237 Chest 17 Sheaf 1610 Orm2 1656

• Brumbrogh 14 Chest c.1538 JRC

• Brumborgh c.1310 Chest

• Brumboro 1504 ChRR

• Brumborowe 1552 Sheaf 1615 Orm2

• Brumborrow 1664 JRC

• Brumbrow 1579 Dugd 1694 Sheaf

• Brumbro 1579 Dugd 1692 Sheaf

• Brunbrock 1214–22 Chest 17

• Broneburgh' 1260 Court

• Bronburgh 1657 Clif

• Brumbergh 1277 Sheaf

• Brumber 1286 ChFor

• Bromborough 1277 1415 ChRR 1558–79 ChancP

• Bromborough 1831 Bry

• Bromborw, Bromborth 1291 Tax 1348 ChGaol

• Bromborht 1297 Port

• Bromborogh 1534–47 Dugd

• Bromborow(e) 1539–47,1541 Dugd

• Bromborow 1840 TAMap75

• Brombroe 1549 Sheaf

• Brombro 1579 Dugd

• Brombroghet 1549 Sheaf

• Brombrough(e) 1560 ChRR

• Brombrough 1724 NotCestr

• Brombrow(e) 1565,1619 Cre 1579 Dugd

• Brombrorow(e) 1579 ib

• Brounburg' 1297 Port

• Brounburgh 1398 Add

• Brownborowe 1550 Pat

• Braumburgh 1315 Plea

• Brambrowe 1610 Sheaf

• Brunnburh 1356 Eyre

• Bromeburgh 1367 JRC

• Bromeborrow 1541 Dugd

• Bumbrough 1658 Sheaf

• Brumbara 1676 Sheaf

Etymology

'Bruna's stronghold', from the OE  pers.n. Brūna and burh, cf. Burton 3270, Brimstage, Brimston 234, 236supra . The burh may have been at Court Ho infra . The etymology in DEPN, 'burh where broom grows', from brōm , will not do on the evidence of the forms, cf. Brimstage loc. cit. Bromborough is probably the Brunanburh near which Athelstān defeated a great invasion of Norsemen and Scots in 937 at the battle celebrated in heroic verse in ASC, v. LMSI i 56, Sagabook XIV 303, Sheaf3 32 (7227), Campbell Brunanburh 57–80. The place-names Brunanburh and Bromborough are identical. The places may not be. The best arguments for the identity of the two places are presented in LMS and Sagabook, loc. cit . Against their identity, one circumstance is that the battlefield is referred to by many names, not all synonymous with Brunanburh nor otherwise recorded as p.ns. in the Bromborough district, cf. LMSI i 56 n.2, Campbell loc. cit. , E & P I I 141. The names of the battlefield in ASC are (ymbe ) Brun (n )anburh (A), (ymbe ) Brunanburh (D), (embe ) Brunnanburh (C), (to ) Brunanbyrig (E), (to , in ) Brunan byri (F), and this tradition is followed by in loco qui dicitur Brunanburh FW (c.1118), SD (c.1130), and the Brunebirih of Flores Historiarum (cf. LMS loc. cit .). These forms suit Bromborough. SD 1 76 names the battlefield apud Weondune quod alio nomine Etbrunnanwerc vel Brunnanbyrig appelatur . The forms Etbrunnanwerc (OE  æt Brūnan (ge )weorce , 'at Brūna's fortification') and Bruneswerce 12 Gaimar have suggested Burnswark in Dumfriesshire, the only other proposed site for which a strong case can be made out on the basis of p.n. forms. However, the -werc (e ) forms are no more than a paraphase of Brunanburh (burh replaced by the almost synonymous (ge)weorc) and they would suit Bromborough as well as Burnswark. In the p.ns. of the Bromborough district there is no trace of the alternative names of the battlefield, Weondune c.1130 SD ('holy hill', v. wēoh 2 , wēoh DEPN, dūn ), Brunandune 975–998 Æthelweard ('Brūna's hill', v. dūn ), Brunefeld 12 WM ('Brūna's tract of country', v. feld , cf. Bruningafeld BCS 713, 727 (v. -ingas ), also Brunfort Liber de Hyda, which may be a form of Brunfeld , if not' Brūna's ford', from ford ). The forms quoted in LMS loc. cit. , from Welsh chronicles, Brune (c.1100, c.1460), Brun (c.1380), Brunawc (c.1380), Brynner (c.1470), arise from the first el. of Brunanburh treated as a simplex p.n. (cf. bryn 'a hill'). The ON  name Vinheiði við Vinuskóga in Egils Saga Skallagrimssonar is shown by Campbell to be irrelevant to geography. The non-appearance of certain alternative names for Brunanburh in the Wirral area does not disqualify Bromborough from identification with the battlefield. There is evidence which suggests that before 1086 Bromborough was the capital of an extensive tract of country, cf. Brimstage, Brimston 234, 236supra . The parish of Bromborough anciently included Eastham parish, v. 187supra , and perhaps also Bidston parish 307infra . The ecclesiastical parish of Eastham, created as a chapelry of Bromborough c.1152, coincides with and represents a division of the earl of Chester's great DB manor of Eastham (held by Earl Edwin TRE). The DB manor of Eastham would seem to have included the territory of Whitby, Brimstage, Oxton, Tranmere, Bidston, Birkenhead, Claughton, Moreton, Saughall Massie, Great Stanney, Stanlow, Eastham, Bromborough, Childer Thornton (probably) and perhaps also Higher Bebington and Netherpool, v. Orm2 ii407, 405, 430, Tait 111, LCHS NS xv21–5. As late as 1291, Orm2 loc. cit. and Tax, Eastham was a chapel of Bromborough, 'ecclesia de Bromboro' cum capella de Eastham', cf. Chest i129–130. Although Bromborough is not named in DB, it is to be supposed that it was the seat of the priest supported by the DB comital manor of Eastham, of whose later divisions Bromborough parish church long continued to be the mother church and Bromborough Court the manor house. As Bromborough was originally the parish church of the DB manor of Eastham, and as the ecclesiastical and manorial organisations correspond so clearly in their division as to suggest original identity, it might plausibly be inferred that Bromborough's parish ought to have been co-extensive with the manorial territory and to have included also the territory of Bidston parish. It is quite possible that the battle was named either after several localities in one large district, or after a district which had several names, or after a place whose name was repeatedly paraphased, and it should be noted that although the alternative names Brunandune , Brunefeld and Brunfort , which have as first element the OE  pers.n. Brūna , do not appear among Wirral p.ns., analogous ones do, at Brimstage and Brimston , in Bromborough parish itself.

Another circumstance arguing against the identification of Bromborough and the battlefield is that Florence of Worcester places the invasion, defeated at Brunanburh , as a landing in Humber, cf. Sagabook xiv314, but this may well be irrelevant, op. cit. 315 and n.48, as the point of re-embarkation need not be near that of landing.

A third argument against Bromborough is that there is no evidence about the identity of Dingesmere ASC (A, C, variant spellings Dinnesmere , Dyngesmere , Dynigesmere ) the water over which the defeated Norsemen fled from Brunanburh to Dublin. If it were discovered that this was a name for the Irish Sea, then Bromborough's claim could be emphasised further. As it happens, the sea-name Dingesmere , a poetical nonce-word, analyzes into mere 1 'a lake, a mere' and here, in a poetic text, 'the sea', with the gen.sg. of a proper name *Ding . An attempt was made in LCHS cxix 2 n.11 to explain this as a sg. -ing formation from the r.n. Dee 121, OE  *Dē -ing contracted to *Ding , meaning 'that which is called after Dee, the Dee water, the sea into which the Dee flows' (v. -ing 2 ).However, OE  *Dē -ing would contract to *Deng rather than *Ding , and the poem-text is too early for the late OE , eME  change -eng > -ing , so this attempt cannot be maintained.

The identification of Bromborough with Bremesburh 909 ASC (D), 910 ASC (C), probably Bromesberrow (near Ledbury) He or Bromsberrow Gl, is discounted, and with it the tradition of Æþelflæd's foundation c.915 of a monastery at Bromborough, v. Sheaf3 19 (4582), Orm2 ii427, Dugd vi1616, Gl 3166.