Survey of English Place-Names

Historical Forms

• Eleburne 1086 DB

• Alburn(ia), Alburne 1135–40,13th Bridl 1285 KI 1446 Ch

• Alburun 14th Percy

• Alborn(e) 1402 YI 1448 Bridl

• Audeburn' 1208 FF

• Aldeburn 1333 FF

• Aleburne 1246 Ass late13th Misc 1300 YI

• Olburn 1413 BodlCh

• Awborn 1461 Pat 1542 NCWills

• Awburne 1557 FF

• Auburne 1650 ParlSurv

Etymology

'Eel stream,' v. æl (replaced after DB by the cognate OScand  ál ), and burna .

Auburn is depopulated. The site of the village is known (O.S. 6″). In 1731 the township of Awburn had been “so washed away by the sea that there are only one messuage and two cottages left therein,” housing fifteen people, of whom six were Quakers, and the chapel had become “ruinous and scarce fit for publick use, for the want of the inhabitants within the said chapelry for many years last past to contribute towards its repairs” (1731Ebor fol. 113–4).