Buckfast
Early-attested site in the Parish of Buckfastleigh
Historical Forms
- on Bucfæsten 1046 KCD1334
- Bucfesten, Bucfasten 13th Buckfast
- Bulfestra 1086 DB(Exon)
- Bucfestre
- Bucfastria 1136 France
- Buchfastria 1150 France
- Bucfest' 1186–90 HMCiv,55
- Buckfestr' 1228 id. 66
- Bucfestre c.1270 Gerv 1286 Ass
- Buffestr(e) 1251 Cl 1263 Exon
- Buckefast' 1286 Ass
- Bucfast(e) 1286 Ass 1353 Ch 1357 Ipm
- Bugwastene 1292 BM
Etymology
The name is apparently a compound of OE buc , 'buck,' and fæsten , 'stronghold,' possibly used of a thicket where a buck once took shelter. The r is an AN spelling, cf. IPN 106, strengthened perhaps by the existence of an OE form fæstern side by side with fæsten . Cf. The Vasterne on the outskirts of Reading.