Bersted
Major Settlement in the Parish of Bersted
Historical Forms
- Beorgan stede, north beorgan stede 680 BCS 10th
- beorganstedinga mearc 988 KCD663 14th
- Berkestede 1248 Ass
- Beregested c.1250 SAC51,61
- Suthberg(h)ested 1272 RH 1327 SR
- Northberghested 1327 SR
- Burgested 1271 Ass
- Suʒbursted 1279 Ass
- Bursted 1375 IpmR 1640 Wills
- Barsted 1535 VE
- Barstyd 1563 SAC61,113
- Birsted 1649 Wills
Etymology
'Beorga's stede,' presumably in the sense 'property, estate.'Compounds of stede with a pers. name are very rare but there can be no question of the common noun beorg , either topographically or from the form of the name in the 7th cent. A pers. name Beorga is unknown in OE though it has numerous Germanic parallels, cf. Förstemann PN 273 ff. The element beorg is also unknown in OE pers. names except in the numerous forms in Bede in which the name Aeðilburg of the daughter of Ethelbert of Kent appears as Aedilberg and the like. There were two distinct settlements, at North and South Bersted.