Ogerston
Early-attested site in the Parish of Morborne
Historical Forms
- Ogerestan(e) 1185 Templars c.1200 Ch 1227 Pat 1253 ADiv 13th
- Oggereston 1189 ChR
- Oggerston 1305 Cl 1360 FF
- Oggeston 1335 Orig
- Ogerston 1597 FF
Etymology
The site of Ogerston was marked as Ogerston Ruins as late as the first O.S. map. It was just south of the spot where the Billing Brook crosses the Bullock Road and was on the border of both the parish and county, so that the stan is probably a boundary-stone. The first part is clearly a pers. name, but one cannot accept Skeat's Ocg-here . There was an OE name Ocga , but one can only explain that as a pet-form for such a pers. name as Ord -gār , and it could not in its turn be used as the first element in a compound such as Ocg-here . On the other hand there is good evidence for a late OE and EME pers. name Oger (i )us , Odgar , Odgerus , Ogger which, as Forssner (197) shows, is an OGer name Autger , Odger , Og (g )er which may well have come in through French influence. Derivation from ON Auðgeirr or Oddgeirr is also possible. Ogier le Danois, a medieval hero of romance, corresponds to a Danish Otgerus , Udgerus . Hence 'Ogger's stone,' the pers. name being one of comparatively late foreign origin.