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.

Aldborough

Major Settlement in the Parish of Aldborough

Historical Forms

  • Aldeburc, Aldeburg, Aldebur 1086 DB
  • Aldeburc 1177 P 13 AD
  • Aldeburg' 1202 FF 1230 Bract 1275 RH
  • Aldeburgo 1230 Bracton
  • Aldeburg 1245 Pat 1272 AD 1399 BM
  • Aldeburge 1269,1286 Ass
  • Aldeburgh 1283 FF 1307 Ipm 1313,1346 FF 1316 FA 1327 NoD 1338,1372 Fine 1365,1367 AD 1367 Pat
  • Aldeburghe 1286 Ass
  • Aldebergh 1325 Pat
  • Alborowgth 1435 AD
  • Alburgh 1476 FF
  • Alderburgh 1535 VE
  • Audeburg 1219 FF 1269 Ipm 1275 Cl
  • Audiburge 1254–75 Val
  • Alteburg 1410 AD

Etymology

OE  eald, ald (Angl) 'old' and burh 'fortified place'. As at Burgh St Margaret in West Flegg Hundred (PN Nf II47 f.), archaeologists have so far looked in vain for traces of an earthwork or the site of a fort at Aldborough. Ekwall argued that burh sometimes meant simply 'fortified manor', which may have been the case here. Cf. Burgh-next-Aylsham on the edge of a Roman fort in South Erpingham Hundred infra .