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.

Bearse Common & Bearse Fm

Early-attested site in the Parish of St Briavels

Historical Forms

  • (la) Bers(e) 1270,1282 For 1618 SPDom
  • Bearse Coppe 1549 StBr
  • the Bears 1641 Comm
  • Bearse Common 1830 M

Etymology

Bearse Common & Bearse Fm, (la ) Bers (e )1270, 1282For , 1618SPDom 4, Bearse Coppe 1549 StBr, the Bears 1641Comm , Bearse Common 1830 M. From ME  *berse probably in some such sense as that of MedLat  bersa 'hedge made of stakes' and MLG  bersa 'pleached hedge' (cf. EPN i, 32 and Berse in Wo 389); Ducange (s.v. bersa ) defines it as 'a fence of osiers or stakes enclosing parkland or woodland to prevent the egress of deer'; v. also copp 'hill-top'.