Keswick-by-bacton
Early-attested site in the Parish of Bacton
Historical Forms
- Casewic 12,t.Hy2 CAcre c.1150 Crawf 1254–75 Val 1239–43 Bromh
- Casewyk(e) 1254 NfA 1286 Ass 1316to1405 FF 1327 Banco 1328,1374,1381 Pat 1328 Bromh l.14 HMC 1381 BM 1405,1428,1448 AD 1531 CtBromh
- Caswyk(e) 1275 RH 1324 Stiffk 1371 FF
- Cassewyk 1275 RH 1341 Orig 1342 Pat 1537 Monast
- Kasewyk 1291 Bodl
- Casewik 1444 Past
- Caswike 1547 EANQ
- Caswycke 1548 Pat
- Cesewyk 1291 Tax
- Kesewike 1316 FA
- Kesewyk 1321,1428 FF
- Keswyk 1461 Past 1535 VE
- Keswicke 1558–1603 NfRec
Etymology
Ekwall explained this name, and the identical Keswick in Humbleyard Hundred, as Scandinavianized from OE cēsewīc 'cheese farm' (v. DEPN s.n. and OE wic 56). v. cēse (Angl) and wīc . The spellings Casewic , Casewyk , etc., raise a difficulty which Ekwall discusses at some length in an article in SNPh 2: 33 f. As OE ē in many cases corresponded to OScand ā , as in OE lētan , wēt as against OScand lāta , vātr , OScand ā was sometimes substituted for OE ē in the Danelaw. The preservation of long ā , instead of development to ō , is quite common in names of Scandinavian origin in L, according to Ekwall. The current pronunciation, also recommended by BBC, is /'kezik/ (v. Miller, Forster s.n.).
Keswick-by-Bacton once had a church of its own, dedicated to St Clement, and standing in 1382 (Norris III 329 f.). In Blomefield's time the ruins were still visible north-east of the priory (Blomefield XI27), but they are now “washed away by the sea” (EAA 51: 54).Norris comments on the high valuation of the temporalities of the Prior and Convent of Bromholme in Keswick. He says that it “confirms the supposition that Bromholme was rather in Keswick than Bacton” (Norris III 330).